Hong Kong: Carrie Lam on leave

The Executive Council meeting today and the preceding media session have been cancelled as Chief Executive Carrie Lam is taking leave due to an elbow injury.

Mrs Lam fell at Government House last night and went to hospital by herself. She was diagnosed with a minor right elbow fracture.

On the doctors advice, Mrs Lam stayed in hospital for observation and will be on leave for the time being.

During her absence, Chief Secretary John Lee will be Acting Chief Executive.

This story has been published on: 2021-10-19. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
RTHK: N Korea fires ballistic missile, Seoul says

North Korea fired a ballistic missile into the sea on Tuesday, South Korea's military said, its latest in a series of tests with analysts saying it could have been a submarine-launched weapon.

The "unidentified ballistic missile" was fired from Sinpo into the sea east of the peninsula, Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement.

"South Korean and US intelligence are closely analysing for additional detail," it added.

Sinpo, where the missile was fired from, is a major naval shipyard and satellite photographs have previously shown submarines at the facility.

The North is known to be developing a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) and previously carried out an underwater launch, although analysts said that one was likely to have been from a submerged platform rather than a submarine.

"There is a high possibility the North launched an SLBM," said Shin Beom-chul, a researcher at the Korea Research Institute for National Strategy.

It comes after the nuclear-armed North in recent weeks tested a long-range cruise missile, a train-launched weapon and what it said was a hypersonic warhead, sparking global concern.

It also mounted a rare weapons exhibition, showcasing the gigantic international ballistic missile (ICBM) revealed at a night-time military parade last year.

"The fundamental reason for the North's provocation is because the US is not changing its position on talks," Shin told AFP, adding: "Pyongyang is trying to demonstrate that it can carry out a bigger provocation."

Opening the weapons exhibition, leader Kim Jong Un  who has overseen rapid progress in the North's military technology, at the cost of international sanctions  blamed the United States for tensions, dismissing Washington's assertions that it does not have hostile intentions.

Something of a regional arms race is developing on the peninsula, with the South last month testing its first SLBM, putting it among the elite group of nations that have demonstrated proven technology, and unveiling a supersonic cruise missile.

Following Tuesday's launch, the South's presidential office said it was convening a meeting of the National Security Council.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said two ballistic missiles had been fired, called the launch "very regrettable".

Pyongyang's latest move came with Avril Haines, the US director of national intelligence, visiting Seoul for a three-way meeting with her South Korean and Japanese counterparts on North Korea Tuesday, according to reports.

It also followed a US envoy renewing his appeal for talks.

"We harbour no hostile intent toward the DPRK and we are hopeful to meeting with them without conditions," said Sung Kim, the US special representative on North Korea, following talks with his South Korean counterpart in Washington.

But he added that the allies had "a responsibility to implement UN Security Council resolutions", referring to sanctions that North Korea seeks to see lifted.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in is pressing for a formal declaration that the Korean War is over  hostilities ceased in 1953 with an armistice rather than a peace treaty  before his term ends next year.

Kim met three times with former US president Donald Trump, who boasted of stopping a war but failed to reach a comprehensive agreement on ending North Korea's nuclear programme.

The talks process has been largely at a standstill since a second meeting in Hanoi the following year collapsed over sanctions relief and what Pyongyang would be willing to give up in return.

The Biden administration has said it is willing to meet North Korean officials at any time or place, without preconditions, in its efforts to seek denuclearisation.

Pyongyang is under multiple international sanctions over its banned nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes, which it says it needs to protect itself against a US invasion.

In 2017, it tested missiles that can reach the whole of the continental United States and carried out its most powerful nuclear explosion to date. (AFP)

This story has been published on: 2021-10-19. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
South Africa: 167 928 new COVID-19 vaccines administered

South Africa distributed 167 928 new COVID-19 shots in the past 24 hours, pushing the total to 20 381 262 administered doses to 14 197 617 people.

Meanwhile, the Department of Health on Monday reported that 10 891 296 adults are now fully inoculated, with 122 826 adults having received either one dose of the Johnson & Johnson jab or the second dose of the Pfizer vaccine.

This means that 35.7% of the adult population has had at least one jab, with those who are aged 60 and above topping the leader board at 61.7%.

In addition, 54% of South African adults in the 50 to 59 age group are jabbed, followed by 39.6% in the 35 to 49 age group, and 20% in the 18 to 34 age group.

The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) said 15 026 tests were conducted in the past 24 hours, with 210 new cases, representing a 1.4% positivity rate.

The majority of new infections were logged in the Western Cape after 43 people were confirmed to have contracted the virus.

The province is followed by KwaZulu-Natal with 41 cases, Gauteng 38, Free State 31, the North West and Northern Cape with 15 each, Eastern Cape 14, Mpumalanga 11 and Limpopo two.

A further seven COVID-19 related deaths have been reported, bringing total fatalities to 88 619 to date, the NICD said, adding that 24 more patients were admitted to hospital across the country.

The public health institute has urged citizens to continue to adhere to preventative measures by being vaccinated for COVID-19, wearing masks properly to cover the nose, opting to gather in ventilated spaces, avoiding unnecessary gatherings, keeping a social distance of one meter or more, and washing hands regularly with soap and water.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2021-10-19. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
South Africa: NERSA, Eskom head to court over pricing

The National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA) says it is studying a court application by Eskom, which seeks to compel the energy regulator to reconsider Eskoms tariff increase application.

This as NERSA rejected Eskoms multi-year electricity tariff increase application at the end of September.

On Monday, the power utility said it had filed an application in the High Court to review NERSAs decision to reject the tariff increase, citing the move as its only option.

Regrettably, this is the only available option to avoid extremely serious and negative consequences for Eskom and by necessary consequence, to National Treasury. The urgent High Court review requires NERSA to urgently process the Eskom revenue application for at least one year, as required by law.

The proposed timeframe allows for a decision to be made in time for implementation by 1 April 2022, Eskom said.

At the end of September, NERSA announced that it had rejected Eskoms price application and had published a consultation paper on principles to be used when determining pricing.

The new price determination approach will also take into consideration the rapid transformation of South Africa's electricity sector, respond to the transformation of the Electricity Industry and associated energy security concerns, rising electricity prices as well as the increase in self and private sector electricity generation, NERSA said at the time

Now Eskom says Nersas approach to price determination is impossible to apply.

NERSA requires Eskom to make a new application based on a methodology yet to be developed. This is impossible both from a legal process and timing point of view. It is hoped that NERSA will respond in a manner that allows for the stability of the countrys economy and the electricity industry, the power utility said.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2021-10-19. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
South Africa: Public inquiry into Denel Munitions fatal incident resumes

The inquiry by the Department of Employment and Labour to investigate events leading into the Rheinmetall Denel Munition (RDM) fatal incident is set to get underway from today until Thursday this week.

This is the second sitting since the incident took place at the premises of Rheinmetall Denel Munition in Macassar at the magisterial district of Somerset West in 2018 where an explosion at the plant led to the deaths of eight workers and fatal injury to one worker.

The first sitting took place in May 2021 where 13 witnesses were cross examined before the commission.

Since the incident in 2018, the Department of Employment and Labour says its inspectors continued with the investigation in terms in terms of section 31 of the Occupational Health and Safety Act, 85 of 1993 and concluded the investigation in 2019 and the report was submitted to the Chief Inspector.

The department then ordered the establishment of a section 32 inquiry to investigate violations of Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) thus appointing Mphumzi Dyulete as the Presiding Inspector but the inquiry could not continue in 2020 due to COVID-19 restrictions.

According to the presiding officer Dyulete, a total of 17 witnesses are lined up to give evidence.

The inquiry is continuing this week and the commission will hear testimony from all interested parties as to what transpired during that fatal day. Once the commission of inquiry has established what had happened it will compile a report and recommendations to the departments Chief Inspector who in turn will hand over the report to the National Prosecutions Authority for consideration, Dyulete said.

Interested parties in the inquiry include the employer, employees, organised labour, family members and the Department of Employment and Labour.

The sitting will be held from this morning until 16:30 at the Community House in Salt River at 47 Salt River Road.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2021-10-19. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
South Africa: New police station for Daggakraal residents

The rural community of Daggakraal in Mpumalanga will have some measure of comfort, knowing that a fully-fledged police station has been built nearby.

This comes after Police Minister Bheki Cele, accompanied by National Police Commissioner General Khehla Sitole and Mpumalanga Community Safety, Security and Liaison MEC, Vusi Shongwe, on Monday officially opened the newly built police station.

During his address, Cele emphasised that access to a responsive police service is not a privilege but a right.

Cele called on the South African Police Service (SAPS) to continue to fast track the accessibility to a police officer or policing services for all South Africans and those who live within the countrys borders.

The rural community of Daggakraal was grappling with high incidents of stock theft, house breaking and varied cases of assault and sexual violence. Residents of the area had been reliant on a satellite station to access police services.

As part of efforts by the SAPS to bring services and resources closer to the people, the newly unveiled police station boasts a community service centre, holding cells and victim friendly rooms (VFR) to accommodate victims and survivors of Gender Based Violence amongst other things.

Fifty-one operational and non-operational officers will report to work at the station to better service the 35 000 people living in Daggakraal.

The occasion of the official opening of the Daggakraal police station also saw the Police Ministry and the SAPS top management conduct a community engagement session, to better understand and respond to the needs of people living in and around the area.

Responding to community concerns during the opening, which included the long distances residents had to travel to report a crime as well as the slow response time of law enforcement, Cele told the residents that the SAPS continues its service delivery programme informed by population growth and spatial development.

The access to a responsive police service should not be a privilege but a right that we as government are working each day to achieve. The strategic deployment of resources must mean that residents of any community dont have to walk kilometres on end or rely on an expensive taxi or bus ride to access policing services. People should not have to choose between putting food on the table and going to report a crime, said Cele.

The Daggakraal police station joins the list of 1 159 police stations that are servicing communities across the country. - SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2021-10-19. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
South Africa: FBI, Hawks net R100m internet scam suspects

Eight foreign nationals, aged between 33 and 52, were on Tuesday morning arrested for their links to an alleged R100 million internet scam during a large-scale operation in Cape Town.

The group was arrested in a joint operation led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), United State Secret Service (USSS) Investigations, Interpol and with assistance from the Hawks Serious Commercial Crime Investigation unit.

Also assisting in the operation was Crime Intelligence (CI), K9, National Intervention unit, Special Task Force (STF), Tactical Operations Management Section (TOMS), Criminal Record Centre and Cape Town Metro police.

The suspects are alleged to have been involved in money laundering and international-wide scale financial fraud.

In a statement, the Hawks said the operation was initiated based on the Mutual Legal Assistance from Central Authorities of the United States of America that was approved by the Republic of South Africa.

Hawks spokesperson, Colonel Katlego Mogale, said all suspects will be charged with a variety of financial crimes, including conspiracy to commit wire/mail fraud and money laundering.

The suspects in this investigation are alleged to have ties to a transnational organised crime syndicate originating in Nigeria.

It is alleged that these suspects preyed on victims, many of whom are vulnerable widows or divorcees, who were led to believe that they were in a genuine romantic relationships but were scammed out of their hard earned money.

Mogale said the suspects used social media websites, online dating websites to find and connect with their victims.

Another modus operandi used by the suspects was business emails, where email accounts were diverted in order to change banking details.

They assumed fake names and trolled dating sites.

Once they had ingratiated themselves to their victims, they allegedly concocted sob-stories about why they needed money  i.e., taxes to release an inheritance, essential overseas travel, crippling debt, etc., and then siphoned money from victims accounts to the amount of R100 million.

Mogale said the crimes allegedly committed by the suspects hit close to home.

Neighbours, parents, friends and family would be targets of this organisation.

The fraudsters intimidated and berated their victims, ruined their lives and then disappeared. We are confident that this investigation will have a significant impact on this region and beyond, said Mogale.

The FBI estimates that more than 100 people lost more than R100 million in romance scams from 2011 till to date.

To report any suspected online scam fraud, file a report via the nearest police station. - SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2021-10-19. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
South Africa: Zikalala condemns shooting of Durban entrepreneur

KwaZulu-Natal Premier Sihle Zikalala has warned that incidents such as the shooting of the owner of Max's Lifestyle, has the potential of derailing governments efforts of growing township tourism and the township economies in general.

Zikalala was reacting to the shooting of the owner of the world-renowned Shisanyama, Maxs Lifestyle in Umlazi, on Thursday night.

The Durban entrepreneur, Max Mqadi, was attacked by unknown gunmen, as he was leaving the establishment.

Despite being injured, Mqadi managed to drive himself to Florida Road in Durban where he received help.

The KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government has strongly condemned the attack and called on police to act swiftly and ensure the arrest of suspects responsible for the shooting.

Zikalala warned that the provincial government will do everything possible to ensure that Mqadis shooting does not lead to negative sentiment towards township tourism in the province.

Law enforcement agencies must ramp up efforts to hold accountable those behind this senseless attack. This barbaric act has left many citizens shocked and fearful.

Incidents such as these have the potential of derailing our efforts of growing township tourism and the township economies in general, Zikalala.

Zikalala added that Maxs Lifestyle remains one of the premier drawcards to local and international tourists, and has contributed immensely to creating jobs in uMlazi.

Attacks such as these may therefore reverse the gains we have made in this regard. As part of governments plan of building better communities, we will ensure that security especially in townships is strengthened and that the latest technology such as drone technology is used to police some of our areas.

The province cannot afford to have gun totting thugs roaming our streets freely especially in our townships and rural areas where we are stimulating economies. Building safer communities remains one of our key priorities. We will be watching the developments around this case very closely, the Premier said.

In a statement issued by Maxs Lifestyle Village family, Mqadi was discharged from hospital on Monday and he is recuperating.

We wish Mqadi a speedy recovery, but most importantly we look forward to those behind this heinous act being brought to book, Zikalala said.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2021-10-19. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
South Africa: African leadership can help realise continental potential

President Cyril Ramaphosa says Africa is in need of strong democracies, accountable institutions, capable leaders, peace and stability if the continent is to take advantage of the potential of its vast human capital and mineral resources.

He was speaking during the commemoration ceremony of the 35th anniversary of the death of Mozambiques first post-independence President, Samora Machel.

The commemoration ceremony was held at the site of Machel's death, in conjunction with the Mozambican government and attended by that country's President Filipe Nyusi.

We have enough sun, wind and minerals to become a global leader in the green economy. We are a continent of young people, [possessing] the energy, initiative and skills to establish Africa as a new frontier of production and innovation.

We need societies that strive for the empowerment of women and the achievement of gender equality in every area of life. We need leaders who follow in the footsteps of Samora Machel, who are selfless, who are committed, who are dedicated to serve and who are prepared to sacrifice. We need leaders who put the needs and the aspirations of the people above all else, President Ramaphosa said.

President Machel died when the airplane that he and at least 42 others  including crew members  were flying in, crashed into the Lebombo mountains at Mbuzini in Mpumalanga in 1986.

It is alleged that the plane crash was caused by the apartheid government because of Machels support for South Africas liberation from apartheid at the time.

President Ramaphosa said the commemoration of the deaths of Machel and those he was travelling with helps to keep alive the memories of the lives that were lost in the fight for the liberation of Southern Africa.

[T]his site is a reminder of the dreadful past from which we come and the sacrifices many people made to achieve a better world in which all can enjoy peace, freedom, dignity and equality.

As South Africans, we will never forget the contribution made by President Machel and the people of Mozambique in ensuring that freedom reigns in country, President Ramaphosa said.

Africas contemporary challenges

Turning to present day challenges, President Ramaphosa emphasised that although much has been done for the prosperity of African people, much is still to be done to overcome the struggle to which Machel dedicated his life.

The people of Southern Africa  and indeed of our continent  have yet to know the dignity, prosperity and security that they seek and deserve. They have yet to recover from the ravages of colonialism and iniquities of apartheid. They still face major challenges of poverty, unemployment, inequality and violent conflict. We must decisively deal with these challenges and work towards lasting peace in our region and continent, President Ramaphosa said.

He highlighted that global crises like the COVID-19 pandemic have amplified the need for African countries to work together to overcome this disease and ensure an inclusive and sustained social and economic recovery.

We must continue to encourage our fellow countrymen and women to be vaccinated against COVID-19 and to continue observing critical prevention measures like washing hands with soap and water, wearing masks and social distancing.

We must intensify the struggle for equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines, ensuring that as many people as possible are vaccinated as rapidly as possible. No country, no community and no person must be left behind, he said.

President Ramaphosa vowed that the Southern African Development Community (SADC) will continue to do all it can to drive the alleged insurgent and terrorist group that has caused conflict, violence and insecurity to erupt in Mozambiques Cabo Delgado province.

President Machel and his compatriots laid down their lives to ensurethat Southern Africa realises their dream of freedom from hunger, inequality, injustice and conflict. When it comes to conflictthe Southern African people, acting through their governments, have all decided to act in solidarity to help the people of Mozambique to push out and to fight the insurgents.

I have one message for those insurgents: We will come after you. We will make sure that Mozambique becomes a country where you will not spread violence. Southern Africa will act together. This is what Samora Machel will have committed himself to and we are following in his footsteps.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2021-10-19. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
RTHK: Kidnappers in Haiti demand $17 mn for missionaries

Kidnappers holding a group of 17 US and Canadian missionaries in Haiti including five children are demanding a ransom of US$1 million for each of their hostages, security sources said on Tuesday.

The kidnapping by one of Haiti's brazen criminal gangs has underlined the country's deepening woes following the assassination of president Jovenel Moise in July, with lawlessness mounting in the Western hemisphere's poorest nation.

A gang known as 400 Mawozo, which for months has controlled the area where the missionaries and members of their families were abducted, wants a total of $17 million, sources said.

Haitian Justice Minister Liszt Quitel confirmed that the gang was behind the kidnapping of 16 Americans and one Canadian.

He told The Washington Post that kidnappers normally demand huge sums of money which are reduced during negotiations, saying his officials did not take part in the talks.

The missionaries work for US-based Christian Aid Ministries, which said in a statement that the group was abducted east of Port-au-Prince while returning from visiting an orphanage situated between the Haitian capital and the border with the Dominican Republic.

On Sunday the organisation said the captive group is made up five men, seven women and five children whose ages it did not disclose.

In April, 10 people including two French clerics were kidnapped and held for 20 days by 400 Mawozo in the same region.

The United States in August issued a red alert on Haiti, urging Americans not to travel to the Caribbean nation because of rampant kidnapping, crime and civil unrest.

On Monday a general strike was called to protest the rapidly disintegrating security situation highlighted by the latest kidnapping.

In Port-au-Prince, shops, schools and government buildings were shuttered but schools were opened in several other towns around the country. (AFP)

This story has been published on: 2021-10-19. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Films to be screened from Thailand, South Korea, China and the Philippines



Thai Film The Con-Heartist to have its UK premiere in Chiswick

The Chiswick Cinema is to host part of this years London East Asia Film Festival. The sixth annual festival is taking place from October 21October 31 and will feature 33 films.

The cinema on Chiswick High Road will be presenting four including a Thai romantic-comedy, a South Korean documentary, a Chinese slow-burning drama and a Filipino natural-disaster drama.

If great films arent enough, were spoiling you further with a Limited Edition Menu by Michelin Star Guest Chef Joo Won.

The Con-Heartist will have its UK premiere at the Festival. It tells the story of college graduate Ina (Pimchanok Leuwisetpaiboon) who has been left broken-hearted and broke by her former boyfriend. A year ago he skipped town, taking with him money that she now owes. So, when small-time crook Tower (Nadech Kugimiya) fails in his attempt to dupe her, instead of getting the police involved, Ina hatches a plan to take revenge on her ex and solve her financial problems.

From Korea there is the International Premiere of Jikji Route; Terra Incognita which explores the claim that the metal types were first developed in Goryeo.

Chinese film Stars Await Us gets it UK Premiere in Chiswick. Its the 1990s. The USSR has collapsed and Ma Biao returns home after time in prison, to a small town occupying a hinterland between China and Russia. His reason for returning is to see Karinna, his love. But she appears to have left. Nevertheless, Ma Biao seems to find traces of her in the women he encounters and the places he visits. In particular, he is reminded of his relationship by young couple Wei and Xixi. Wei has fallen foul of a local gangster and so Ma Biao takes it upon himself to shield his new acquaintance, while putting some old grudges to rest. But the ghosts from the past are not that easy to eradicate, like the woman he loves. Dalei Zhangs atmospheric film makes much use of its seemingly timeless location to capture the forlorn nature of a lost love.

Also being shown in the UK is Whether the Weather is Fine. Filmmaker Carlo Francisco Manatads home town of Tacloban was severely damaged when Typhoon Haiyan made landfall in November 2013. His feature directorial debut focuses on the aftermath of this event.

While the festival is on a Limited Edition Menu from Michelin Star Guest Chef Joo Wan will be available and cooked in Chiswick by Michelin starred chef Redmond Hayward and his team. He said of his Taste of Asia menu, It is very much my pleasure to be a part of London East Asia Film Festival. We are ready to amuse all of London with flavourful food along and well made world class films!



Chef Joo Wan

The menu will be available through the festival from 12pm to 8.30pm and you dont need to be attend one of the films to try it.



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October 17, 2021
Sustainable Transport Conference draws blueprint for global sustainable development

17:29, October 18, 2021 By Xian Jiangnan ( People's Daily Online

The Second UN Sustainable Transport Conference was held from October 14 to 16 in Beijing, capital of China. (People's Daily Online/Xian Jiangnan)

The Second UN Sustainable Transport Conference, which brought together thousands of government leaders, industry experts and civil society groups from over 100 countries, concluded on October 16, 2021 in Beijing, with a call to adopt integrated, interdisciplinary, and cross-sectoral approaches to sustainable transport.

With the theme of "Sustainable Transport, Sustainable Development", the three-day conference focused on the challenges and opportunities for the transition to sustainable transport and sought to provide concrete solutions for how to plan and design transport systems to ensure that the pathway to achieving sustainable transport  transport that is safe, accessible, green and resilient  is at the scale and speed required.

Speaking highly of the conference, participants agreed that without a profound shift towards sustainable mobility, achieving the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) would be impossible.

Teaming up for global solutions

Government leaders, industry experts and civil society groups attended the Second UN Sustainable Transport Conference both online and offline. (People's Daily Online/Xian Jiangnan)

Transport is one of the single largest contributors to air pollution and carbon dioxide emissions globally and has an important bearing on sustainable development globally. Sustainable transport is being mainstreamed across several SDGs and targets, especially those related to food security, health, energy, economic growth, infrastructure, cities and human settlements.

With the world grappling with global challenges such as climate change and COVID-19, the conference, which has been delayed a year and a half later than originally planned due to the pandemic, came as a highly relevant one as the world stands on the cusp of a transport revolution that requires sound direction.

Chinese President Xi Jinping said at the opening of the Conference via video message that major changes unseen in a century, compounded by a once-in-a-century pandemic, are posing serious challenges to the global efforts of growing the economy and bettering people's lives. "It is imperative that we follow the prevailing trend of world development, advance global transport cooperation, and write a new chapter featuring connectivity of infrastructure, unfettered flows of trade and investment, and interactions between civilizations," Xi said.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres noted that COVID-19 has pushed an estimated 120 million people into extreme poverty, 160 million into a state of hunger, and set back education for around 100 million children, adding that we are further from realizing the Sustainable Development Goals on climate, ocean, and biodiversity than we were when they were agreed six years ago.

There is increasing recognition that sustainable transport can spur economic growth and protect the environment. According to the World Bank, a transition to sustainable mobility could deliver savings of US$70 trillion by 2050, when considering full transport costs, including vehicles, fuel, operational expenses, and losses due to congestion. Better access to roads could help Africa become self-sufficient in food and create a regional food market worth US$1 trillion by 2030.

Photo shows a demonstration zone at the Second UN Sustainable Transport Conference in Beijing, capital of China. (People's Daily Online/Xian Jiangnan)

Participants said the COVID-19 pandemic underlined the significant role that the transport sector plays in building communities and supporting livelihoods, and new technologies can help to further revolutionize this sector.

Gong Ke, President of the World Federation of Engineering Organizations, reckoned that the advent of a new round of scientific and technological revolution and the fourth industrial revolution has opened up possibilities for new energy sources, materials and technologies, providing unprecedented opportunities for the development of sustainable transport.

According to Nebojsa Nakicenovic, Deputy Chair of the Group of Chief Scientific Advisors to the European Commission, new technologies such as virtual mobility, hydrogen energy and digitalization are laying a foundation for achieving sustainable transport. Resilient, low-carbon and environmentally friendly mobility is needed in the digital age, and it requires synergy at intergovernmental levels, rather than partial solutions, he concluded.

During the Conference, the UN Secretary-General called for the decarbonization of all means of transport in order to get to net-zero emissions by 2050 globally. He specifically called for phasing out the production of internal combustion engine vehicles by 2035 for leading manufacturing countries, and by 2040 for developing countries; for zero emission ships to become the default choice, and commercially available for all by 2030, in order to achieve zero emissions in the shipping sector by 2050; and that companies start using sustainable aviation fuels now, in order to cut carbon emissions per passenger by 65 per cent by 2050.

Chinese wisdom for the world

Photo shows a demonstration zone at the Second UN Sustainable Transport Conference in Beijing, capital of China. (People's Daily Online/Xian Jiangnan)

As a major country that shoulders its responsibilities, China is committed to implementing the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and takes an active part in global transport governance so as to contribute Chinese wisdom and strengths to sustainable development throughout the world.

According to Liu Zhenmin, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic, Social Affairs, China has made remarkable progress in sustainable transport and has some experience to offer to other developing countries, and that partly explains why the UN has chosen China to host this year's Conference.

"Convinced of the importance of global connectivity, we have become the economy best connected to the global shipping network and with the highest volume of trade in goods," Xi said, citing that during the COVID-19 pandemic, the China-Europe Railway Express and ocean-going cargo vessels have been running day and night to keep global industrial and supply chains stable, showcasing China's sense of responsibility in the global community.

China's Minister of Transport Li Xiaopeng noted that China's transport sector has actively responded to the pandemic, providing strong support for epidemic prevention and control as well as the resumption of work and production, thus consolidating the achievements in poverty alleviation.

Li added that China has provided vaccines to over 100 countries and international organizations, exported epidemic prevention materials to more than 200 countries and regions, and shared its epidemic prevention and control experiences with other countries through platforms such as the International Maritime Organization.

Xi stressed that China will continue to advance high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, strengthen infrastructure connectivity with other countries, and develop a green Silk Road and a digital Silk Road at a faster pace. He announced that China will set up a Global Innovation and Knowledge Center for Sustainable Transport, as a contribution to global transport development.

The Conference concluded with the Beijing Statement, which called for adopting integrated, interdisciplinary, and cross-sectoral approaches, supported by greater international cooperation.

"The Beijing Statement depicts the future of global sustainable transport development," Li said. "It proposes strengthening international cooperation in the transport sector, which offers a framework for the implementation of related goals sought by the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development."

(Web editor: Xian Jiangnan, Du Mingming)
True democracy: people are masters of their country

Xinhua) 07:40, October 19, 2021

BEIJING, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- How is democracy defined? What makes a system democratic or not? Is China's political system democratic? President Xi Jinping addressed these questions at a central conference on people's congresses earlier this month. His answers offer insight into how democracy works in the country.

In a democratic political system, people should administer national, social, economic, and cultural affairs in accordance with the law, various sectors of society should participate effectively in national political affairs, and state decision-making should be rational and democratic, Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, noted.

"Democracy is not an ornament to be used for decoration; it is to be used to solve the problems that the people want to solve," he stressed.

China's application of democratic principles follows an approach Xi has termed "whole-process people's democracy." The concept was put forward about two years ago, during a visit by Xi to a civic center in Shanghai.

Earlier the same year, Xi had visited residents of a traditional "hutong" courtyard community in central Beijing and joined them for a "courtyard meeting hall" session. The "courtyard meeting hall" provides a platform for residents to discuss and debate public affairs. Residents' discussions that time focused on the renovation and preservation of the traditional architecture and heritage.

"When the residents enjoy the right to discuss and decide their affairs, they will have a stronger sense of belonging and being masters, and community governance and service will be more accurate and meticulous," Xi noted after talking with the hutong residents.

Whether a country is a democracy or not depends on whether its people are really the masters of the country, Xi said at the October conference.

If the people are awakened only for voting but enter a dormant period soon after, if they are given a song and dance during campaigning but have no say after the election, or if they are favored during canvassing but are left out in the cold after the election, such a democracy is not a true democracy, he added.

(Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Liang Jun)
Former U.S. State Secretary Powell dies of COVID-19 complications

Xinhua) 07:43, October 19, 2021

This file photo taken on Sept. 26, 2003 shows US Secretary of State Colin Powell addressing the media after the Mideast Quartet meeting of the United Nations, the United States, Russia and the European Union in New York. (Xinhua Photo/Peng Zhangqing)

Colin Powell was best known and most controversial when he served as secretary of state under former President George W. Bush between January 2001 and January 2005, regarding his push for the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 under the excuse that the Middle Eastern country possesses weapons of mass destruction, which was never proven.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- Colin Powell, a former and the first African-American secretary of state, has died at 84 of COVID-19 complications, his family said Monday.

Powell's family said in a statement on Facebook that Powell, who also served as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff before his role as the top U.S. diplomat, died Monday morning despite being fully vaccinated.

A professional soldier, Powell became the first African-American national security advisor during the end of Ronald Reagan's presidency and the youngest and first African-American chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under former President George H. W. Bush.

Yet he was best known and most controversial when he served as secretary of state under former President George W. Bush between January 2001 and January 2005, regarding his push for the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 under the excuse that the Middle Eastern country possesses weapons of mass destruction, which was never proven.

In an address to the United Nations (UN) in February 2003, Powell presented what the U.S. intelligence community claimed was proof that Iraq had cheated on inspectors and hidden the WMDs.

"There can be no doubt," Powell said then, "that (then Iraqi President) Saddam Hussein has biological weapons and the capability to rapidly produce more, many more."

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell (L) listens at the opening of the Special ASEAN Leaders' Meeting on Aftermath Quake and Tsunami Summit at the Jakarta Convention Centre in Jakarta, capital of Indonesia, Jan. 6, 2005. (Xinhua Photo/Yao Dawei)

The United States launched a war against Iraq six weeks after Powell's speech, and eventually toppled Hussein's government.

Such WMDs, it turned out, were never found in Iraq, and a report published in 2005 by a presidential commission said the intelligence community's assessment that Iraq had WMD capabilities before the U.S. invasion was "dead wrong."

"This was a major intelligence failure," said the Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the United States Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction in the report.

In September 2005, Powell, who had stepped down from the post of secretary of state, confessed in a television interview that his 2003 UN speech was a "blot" on his record that would never go away.

Born in New York City to Jamaican immigrants, Powell is survived by his wife and three children.

(Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Liang Jun)
Russia halts mission to NATO, alliance's bodies in Moscow

Xinhua) 07:44, October 19, 2021

Xinhua file photos of the Russian Foreign Ministry in Moscow (L) and the NATO headquarters in Brussels.

Russia is also suspending the activities of the NATO Military Liaison Mission and terminating the work of the NATO Information Office in Moscow.

MOSCOW, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- The Russian Foreign Ministry announced Monday that Moscow has decided to suspend the operation of the Russian Permanent Mission to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in retaliation for the alliance's "unfriendly actions."

Russia's ambassador to Belgium will be authorized for emergency contacts with the NATO headquarters, while an ambassador of the NATO member states in Moscow can perform similar functions, the ministry said in a statement.

Russia is also suspending the activities of the NATO Military Liaison Mission in Moscow and the accreditation of its staffers will be revoked on Nov. 1.

In addition, Russia is terminating the work of the NATO Information Office in Moscow.

The Russian side has informed the NATO International Secretariat of its decision.

NATO announced the expulsion of eight members of the Russian mission in Brussels on Oct. 6, calling them "undeclared Russian intelligence officers." Additionally, the number of Russian staff at the mission was reduced by half from 20 to 10.

Before that, the size of the Russian mission in Brussels was reduced twice unilaterally by the NATO in 2015 and 2018, after the alliance's decision on April 1, 2014 to suspend all practical civilian and military cooperation between the two sides.

(Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Liang Jun)
China urges Japan to make clean break with militarism

Xinhua) 07:45, October 19, 2021

BEIJING, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- Japan should be prudent about its words and actions on historical issues such as the Yasukuni Shrine and make a clean break with militarism, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said here Monday.

Zhao Lijian made the remarks at a daily news briefing in response to a question on Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida sending a ritual offering to the notorious Yasukuni Shrine, which honors 14 convicted Class-A Japanese war criminals from World War II and is deemed by neighboring countries to be a symbol of Japan's past militarism.

Zhao said Japan's recent move on the Yasukuni Shrine issue once again reflects its wrong attitude towards its history of aggression, and China has lodged solemn representations through the diplomatic channel.

Japan should earnestly abide by its statements and promises of facing up to and reflecting upon its history of aggression, be cautious in its words and deeds on historical issues such as the Yasukuni Shrine, make a clean break with militarism, and take concrete actions to win the trust of its Asian neighbors and the international community, he said.

(Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Liang Jun)
Chinese FM urges U.S. to adopt rational, practical China policies

Xinhua) 07:46, October 19, 2021

BEIJING, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson on Monday urged the United States to forego its Cold War mentality and zero-sum mindset, view China and China's development from an objective perspective, form a deep understanding of the mutually beneficial nature of China-U.S. relations, and adopt rational and practical China policies.

Spokesperson Zhao Lijian made the remarks at a press briefing when asked to comment on recent remarks on U.S.-China relations by U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman.

The remarks by the U.S. side are the repetition of the old rhetoric of the so-called approach of "competition, cooperation and confrontation," Zhao said, adding that the stated U.S. position is in essence a cover-up for its containment and oppression of China under the pretext of competition, the root cause of which lies in the false perception by the U.S. side, which stubbornly views China as a strategic rival.

Zhao said that the way in which the United States and China understand and get along with each other has implications for the fundamental interests of the two peoples, and draws attention from the regional countries and the international community, adding that China holds the view that China and the United States share extensive common interests and profound cooperation potential.

"Competition does exist in some areas, such as trade, but it should not be used to define the overall picture of China-U.S. relations," the spokesperson added.

He pointed out that the United States' constant slandering and smearing of China does not constitute "competition," nor does the decoupling and suppressing of Chinese enterprises by using national security as an excuse, still less the strengthening of military deployments around China or form various anti-China cliques.

"The U.S. side should enhance dialogue and communication with China, deepen mutually beneficial cooperation, properly handle differences, and embark on a path of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation," Zhao said.

(Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Liang Jun)
Premier Li meets Merkel via video link

Xinhua) 08:16, October 19, 2021

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang meets with German Chancellor Angela Merkel via video link in Beijing, capital of China, Oct. 18, 2021. (Xinhua/Liu Bin)

BEIJING, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel via video link on Monday, vowing that China stands ready to work with Germany to tackle global challenges.

Li spoke highly of Merkel's vigorous efforts to promote Germany and Europe's practical cooperation and friendly relations with China, and said both China and Germany are committed to expanding their common interests on the basis of equality and mutual benefit.

Noting that China-Germany cooperation has taken the lead in China-EU cooperation, Li said the stability and growth of bilateral relations are mainly due to the fact that both sides adhere to equal treatment and focus on practical cooperation, adhere to mutual respect and properly handle differences, adhere to multilateralism and work together to tackle challenges.

The healthy and stable development of bilateral relations benefits not only the two countries, but also the world, he added.

Li said that China will, as always, attach great importance to developing relations with Germany and hopes that the new German government will inherit the positive and practical China policy, consolidate the keynote of cooperation in China-Germany relations, give full play to the inter-governmental consultations and strengthen the existing cooperation.

Li said China is willing to work with all parties, including Germany, to jointly address climate change and strengthen anti-pandemic cooperation.

Underlining that China's door will only open wider, Li voiced the hope that both sides will maintain two-way opening, jointly safeguard the rule-based multilateral trading system, and maintain the stability of the global industrial and supply chains.

Li invited Merkel to visit China after her resignation and hoped she would continue to support the development of China's relations with Germany and the EU.

Merkel said that, over the past decade or so, Germany and China have maintained close exchanges, deepened mutual understanding and expanded cooperation in various fields.

Commending China's vigorous development, she said that Germany stands ready to work with China to continue enhancing practical cooperation and expanding people-to-people exchanges, and hoped that German enterprises would have equal access to China's market.

Merkel said she believed the new German government would continue to attach great importance to relations with China and hoped that the two sides would take the opportunity of celebrating the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries in 2022 to promote the further development of the all-round strategic partnership between the two sides.

(Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Liang Jun)
Chinas routine space vehicle test a transparent act for peaceful use, not militarization

Global Times) 08:18, October 19, 2021

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian

The Chinese Foreign Ministry on Monday said the Financial Times-reported "China's test of new space capability with a hypersonic missile in August" was in fact a routine test of technology for reusing a space vehicle, and Chinese experts said that China has the right to test such technology for peaceful purpose regardless of how the US or the West demonizes it. If the US launches a space arms race, non-Western powers like China and Russia would be forced to turn their advanced capabilities into military use for strategic deterrence and self-defense, experts said.

Zhao Lijian, a spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said at a routine press conference on Monday that such a test is meant to lower the cost of using a space vehicle, and it can provide more low-cost measures for the peaceful use of space.

Many companies in the world have conducted similar tests," and after separating from the space vehicle before its return, the supporting devices will burn up when it's falling in the atmosphere and the debris will fall into the high seas, said Zhao.

China will make joint efforts with all other countries on the peaceful use of space to benefit humanity, Zhao noted.

On Sunday, the FT reported that "China tested a nuclear-capable hypersonic missile in August that circled the globe before speeding towards its target, demonstrating an advanced space capability that caught US intelligence by surprise."

The FT interviewed "five people familiar with the test" and they said "the Chinese military launched a rocket that carried a hypersonic glide vehicle which flew in low-orbit space before cruising towards its target," and "the missile missed its target by about two dozen miles, according to three people briefed on the intelligence."

But two said "the test showed that China had made astounding progress in hypersonic weapons and was far more advanced than US officials realized."

The FT report suggests that China is using space for military purposes but the report was based on anonymous sources and without evidence. Chinese experts said that the West is getting nervous as they have underestimated China's space capability for a very long time. So when China shows its advanced space technology - even though it's for peaceful use - some Western media will try to hype the "China threat theory," because they believe that as long as non-Western countries acquire advanced space technology, the US' hegemony in using space for non-peaceful purposes will be threatened.

Wang Zhicheng, a senior expert on aerospace science and technology, told the Global Times that the reusable spacecraft technology will reduce the cost of transportation from Earth to space, and some companies exploring the possibility of suborbital space tourism and developing new technology for the future of the civil aviation transportation industry are investing in the Earth-space reusable spacecraft.

Wang Zhicheng said the US uses Western media to hype the test and spread the "China threat theory" so that they can win support to increase its defense budget to develop space weapons.

"After China displayed the DF-17 missile during the military parade in 2019, some US elites believe that China has taken the lead in hypersonic weapons development, and within the US, developing hypersonic weapons is a controversial issue, so they might want to exaggerate that China makes progress in developing such a weapon in order to unify their public opinion within the US," Wang noted.

"It is normal for China to test such reusable spacecraft technology, and common for such spacecraft to shed parts such as boosters when the main capsule re-enters the atmosphere. Based on the Foreign Ministry's statement, the purpose of such a study is for the peaceful use of space," as it's a reusable space vehicle, not a missile that needs to hit a target, said Song Zhongping, a military expert and TV commentator.

Song noted that by releasing the information about the test, China has also shown its transparency in making such a test for the peaceful use of space, and China has the confidence to refute the rumors that suggest China is militarizing space.

The US is the one who started an arms race and militarization of space. The US has established the United States Space Force as its space service branch of the US Armed Forces, one of the eight US uniformed services, in 2019, which openly militarizes space.

Wang Ya'nan, chief editor of the Beijing-based Aerospace Knowledge magazine, told the Global Times on Monday that "the US had used a reusable spacecraft such as the space shuttle for military purposes, and the US also considers its X-37B craft an important weapon to rapidly develop a military force."

"The West led by the US would often hype and smear China's breakthrough as militarization because they see all breakthroughs done by non-Western countries as a threat. This is meant for a technology monopoly, which is unfair to other countries. This mindset serves only Western-dominated hegemony," Wang noted.

China will not compromise on such an unreasonable and unfair logic by some Westerners, and will keep making efforts to push its own development and research for the peaceful use of space. This does not only serve China's national interests, but also the interests of all countries to fairly enjoy the use and exploration of space, to break the unfair monopoly that the US wants to build, said a Beijing-based expert on space affairs who requested anonymity.

Wang said that on the use of space vehicles, China is still far behind the US. At least at this stage, China has no intention and ability to launch an arms race with the US. But in the future, under pressure from the US, or after the US has militarized its use of space to threaten China's national security, China would be forced to turn its advanced space technologies into military use.

Experts said that non-Western major powers like China and Russia would be forced to join the arms race started by the US for self-defense and to deter the US from using its technologies to attack China and Russia.

In September 2020, China successfully tested a reusable spacecraft. The Xinhua News Agency reported that the spacecraft was successfully launched on September 4, 2020 from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, which has witnessed multiple milestones in the country's manned space exploration. The carrier rocket was the Long March-2F, the "go-to" launch vehicle for China's manned space projects.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
Snow leopards filmed in livestream in Yushu, Qinghai Province

CGTN) 08:38, October 19, 2021

Snow leopards made a special appearance during a China Media Group (CMG) livestream show in Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, northwest China's Qinghai Province, on October 17. This is the first time CMG has captured the vulnerable species live on camera.

In the video, a mature snow leopard slowly walks along a ridge, followed by three young cubs.

The snow leopard is a Class-A protected animal in China, while the International Union for Conservation of Nature classifies it as vulnerable.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
Interview: Kunming Declaration ushers in new era for biodiversity conservation, says FAO official

Xinhua) 08:46, October 19, 2021

ROME, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- The Kunming Declaration ushers in a new era for biodiversity conservation and sustainable use, Maria Helena Semedo, Deputy Director-General of the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), has told Xinhua.

The declaration was adopted last week during the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP15) held in Kunming, southwest China's Yunnan Province.

Semedo said in a recent interview that this landmark conference came at a particularly critical time as mankind faces a triple planetary crisis -- climate, biodiversity loss and pollution.

"This milestone meeting is an important global opportunity to urgently respond to global challenges, including growing food insecurity, poverty and inequities -- especially among the most vulnerable -- resulting from the degradation of our biodiversity and ecosystem services," Semedo said.

She told Xinhua that the Kunming Declaration, the main achievement of COP15, "will guide our actions over the next decades as the parties to the convention commit to adopt and implement the post-2020 global biodiversity framework, an ambitious blueprint that mainstreams biodiversity across all decision making, puts the accent on the full and effective participation of all stakeholders and local communities, and aims to fast-track and scale up financial and technical support."

Recalling that biodiversity underpins food security, productivity, nutrition and livelihoods, Semedo emphasized that agrifood systems should be put in the center of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework and relevant actions.

According to her, restoring fisheries can improve nutrition and marine environments through the sustainable development of their maximum sustainable yield, increasing aquatic production by 16.5 million tonnes, with an annual value of 32 billion U.S. dollars. Likewise, the revival of agroforestry could increase the food security of 1.3 billion people.

"Only by working together -- connecting, cooperating and collaborating -- in a coherent manner can we unlock the potential solutions that can help reverse the alarming trend of biodiversity loss we are currently witnessing," the FAO official said.

In this spirit of collaboration and engagement, she also mentioned the "Global Dialogue on the Role of Food and Agriculture in the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework," an event co-hosted by FAO and the Convention on Biological Diversity.

"The global dialogue identified solutions to scale up biodiversity-friendly practices, including through enabling policies and markets," Semedo said.

"In particular, it emphasized how we need to connect the post-2020 framework to the daily realities of the world's family farmers, small-scale producers, fisherfolk, livestock keepers, foresters, indigenous peoples and local communities -- the true stewards of our biodiversity," she explained.

According to Semedo, the FAO also co-leads the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration with the UN Environment Program, which is "an important opportunity to mobilize our joint efforts and catalyze the implementation of the post-2020 biodiversity framework."

Regarding China's role in global biodiversity governance, the FAO deputy director general said that the Asian country's complex terrain and diverse climate gave birth to unique ecosystems, abundant species and a rich genetic variety.

"As one of the most biodiverse countries in the world, China has a profound understanding of biodiversity," Semedo said, "as manifested in traditional Chinese culture: 'Man is an integral part of nature' and 'Dao follows the laws of nature'."

She noticed that with a long history, agriculture in China has showcased many good practices of combining rich natural resources with human ingenuity, providing local rural communities with food security, nutrition and livelihood, while maintaining environmental sustainability and even improving the biodiversity.

"I look forward to China's continuous support to FAO's Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems program and many other important initiatives," Semedo said, "in order to share China's experiences and lessons in conserving agrobiodiversity, addressing the impacts of the climate crisis and managing natural resources, especially through South-South and Triangular Cooperation (SSTC)," a broad framework for promoting and supporting collaboration among countries of the South.

(Web editor: Shi Xi, Liang Jun)
China sees continuous growth in imports and exports during first three quarters of 2021

09:02, October 19, 2021 By Du Haitao ( People's Daily

Chinas foreign trade in goods registered a total value of 28.33 trillion yuan ($4.4 trillion) during the first three quarters of 2021, up 22.7 percent year on year and a 23.4-percent increase compared with that during the same period of 2019, according to statistics from the General Administration of Customs of China (GAC).

The countrys goods exports and imports totaled 15.55 trillion yuan and 12.78 trillion yuan respectively in the first nine months of 2021, witnessing an increase of 24.5 percent and 22 percent respectively from the same period of 2019.

Aerial photo taken on July 13, 2021 shows a container terminal in Jiaxing, east China's Zhejiang Province. (Xinhua/Long Wei)

Chinas imports and exports grew at a reasonably fast pace during the first three quarters of 2021, showing strong resilience and steady improvement in quality, said Li Kuiwen, GAC spokesperson and head of the Department of Statistics and Analysis of the GAC.

According to Li, The volume of Chinas exports and imports grew with each quarter this year, with the figure hitting 8.51 trillion yuan, 9.59 trillion yuan, and 10.23 trillion yuan in the first, second, and third quarter respectively.

The country experienced relatively fast growth in major economic indicators, including the value-added of industrial companies with annual revenue of more than 20 million yuan, the total retail sales of consumer goods, and fixed-asset investment, during the first eight months of this year.

As the global economy and trade bounce back, Chinas exports have benefited from the rising global market demand. The World Trade Organization (WTO) recently predicted that global merchandise trade volume would grow 10.8 percent in 2021.

From January to September, Chinese exports to the U.S., the European Union (EU), and Africa all expanded more than 20 percent, while the exports from China to Latin America increased by more than 40 percent.

These figures have proven that Chinas policies on stabilizing foreign trade growth have continued to be beneficial. Since the beginning of this year, the country has introduced a series of policies and measures to maintain a steady foreign trade growth.

The country has bolstered enterprises confidence in the Chinese market by speeding up the development of new forms and models of foreign trade, further deepening reform to facilitate cross-border trade, optimizing business environment at ports, and advancing reform and innovation in trade and investment facilitation in free trade zones (FTZs).

China has contributed to the increase in global aggregate demand with a robust domestic market. During the first nine months of the year, Chinas imports rose 22.6 percent year on year to hit a record high of 12.78 trillion yuan.

The total value of the countrys imported consumer goods increased by 14.7 percent to 1.29 trillion yuan during the period, accounting for 10.1 percent of the total value of the countrys imports.

The country imported 265.04 billion yuan worth of passenger vehicles during the first three quarters of this year, up 31.5 percent from a year earlier.

Quarterly growth in the countrys imports and exports has slowed, with the growth rate of foreign trade in September being 3.5 percentage points lower than that in August.

Chinas economic fundamentals that will sustain long-term growth remain unchanged, according to Li, who believes that China can achieve relatively fast growth in its foreign trade this year despite the fact that it is still faced with many unstable and uncertain factors.

Foreign trade companies have shown stronger vitality, and new progress has been made in the high-quality development of foreign trade, Li said.

A total of 526,700 companies in China imported or exported goods during the first three quarters of this year, 34,000 more than that in the same period of 2020, according to Li, who disclosed that imports and exports by private enterprises rose 28.5 percent year on year to 13.65 trillion yuan, accounting for 48.2 percent of the countrys total value of foreign trade during the period.

China remained the worlds largest trading nation in goods in the first half of the year. The global market shares of Chinas total foreign trade, exports as well as imports stood at 13.2 percent, 14.5 percent, and 12 percent during the first half of the year, up 0.8 percentage points, 0.9 percentage points, and 0.8 percentage points, from the same period last year.

Platforms of high-standard opening-up in China have played an increasingly important role in driving foreign trade.

In the first nine months of the year, the total imports and exports of comprehensive bonded areas across China grew by 26.3 percent to 4.08 trillion yuan, registering a growth rate 3.6 percentage points higher than the countrys overall foreign trade growth rate.

Meanwhile, FTZs across the country witnessed 4.67 trillion yuan worth of imports and exports, up 27.6 percent year on year, while the total amount of money spent on goods in south Chinas Hainan province under the provinces off-shore duty-free policy surged 120.8 percent to 35.54 billion yuan.

China saw booming development in new business forms and models in the first three quarters of this year, with the imports and exports in cross-border e-commerce rising 20.1 percent and exports through market procurement trade, a trade facilitation scheme designed for small businesses, increasing by 37.7 percent year on year during the period.

The countrys exports have enjoyed sufficient driving forces of growth. During the first three quarters of the year, intermediate goods exports increased by 29.2 percent, contributing 13.2 percentage points to the growth of Chinas exports and effectively underpinning the smooth functioning of global industrial and supply chains.

During the same period, Chinas exports of mechanical and electrical products grew by 23 percent year on year, with the proportion of the category in the countrys total exports rising 0.1 percentage points from the same period of the previous year. The exports of some labor-intensive products have maintained relatively fast growth momentum.

According to Li, Chinas trade with its major trading partners continued to grow in the first nine months of the year. The ASEAN remained its largest trading partner.

In the first three quarters of the year, Chinas foreign trade with the ASEAN expanded 21.1 percent year on year to 4.08 trillion yuan; the countrys imports and exports with the EU, the U.S., Japan, and South Korea totaled 3.88 trillion yuan, 3.52 trillion yuan, 1.78 trillion yuan, and 1.7 trillion yuan respectively. The countrys trade with countries along the routes of the Belt and Road and countries participating in the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) grew by 23.4 percent and 19.3 percent respectively.

Chinas central and western regions have witnessed faster growth in foreign trade than the countrys overall foreign trade performance since the beginning of the year.

Imports and exports of these regions reached 4.95 trillion yuan during the first nine months of 2021, logging an increase of 27.2 percent, 4.5 percentage points higher than the countrys foreign trade growth rate during the period. Meanwhile, they accounted for 17.5 percent of the countrys total foreign trade volume during the period, up 0.6 percentage points from a year earlier.

Provinces in central China, including Henan and Hubei, saw an increase of over 30 percent in foreign trade during the first three quarters of the year.

China-Europe freight trains have effectively helped regions in central and western China explore markets along the routes of the Belt and Road.

Data released by the China State Railway Group Co., Ltd. indicate that during the first nine months of 2021, China-Europe freight trains made 11,300 trips and transported about 1.09 million twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) containers of goods, with the figures representing an increase of 29 percent and 37 percent respectively from the same period last year.

From January to September, foreign trade between central and western China and countries along the routes of the Belt and Road totaled 1.56 trillion yuan, accounting for 18.8 percent of the countrys total imports and exports with such countries during the period.

In the meantime, imports and exports between Chinas central and western regions and countries along the routes of the Belt and Road transported via railways grew by 21.8 percent.

(Web editor: Hongyu, Liang Jun)
Yunnan germplasm bank provides a safe home for wild species

09:05, October 19, 2021 By Zhang Fan, Li Maoying ( People's Daily

Located in the suburbs of Kunming, capital city of southwest Chinas Yunnan province, the Germplasm Bank of Wild Species in Southwest China is the only national preservation facility for the storage of wildlife germplasm resources in China, as well as one of two such facilities in the world built to meet international standards.

Photo shows an aerial view of the Germplasm Bank of Wild Species in Southwest China in Kunming. (Photo from the website of the Germplasm Bank of Wild Species in Southwest China)

In recent years, researchers there have made active efforts to collect and store plant seeds. Statistics indicate that the bank has preserved 85,046 samples of seeds of 10,601 species, accounting for 36 percent of the total number of flowering plant species found in China since it started operations.

The preservation and utilization of germplasm resources is of vital importance for biodiversity protection. Proposed by Chinese botanist and academician with the Chinese Academy of Sciences Wu Zhengyi, the germplasm bank started construction in 2004, and three years later in 2007, it started operations. Affiliated to the Kunming Institute of Botany of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the seed bank was jointly built by the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Yunnan Province.

In June 2021, the seed bank, together with the forestry and grassland bureau of Honghe Hani and Yi autonomous prefecture in Yunnan, carried out an investigation and survey of germplasm resources at sinkholes in the prefectures Mengzi city.

Photo shows plant seeds preserved at the Germplasm Bank of Wild Species in Southwest China. (Photo from the website of the Germplasm Bank of Wild Species in Southwest China)

To collect and preserve the valuable seed resources, the researchers had no choice but to cross mountains and rivers to look for the plants, requiring accurate timing to acquire seeds suitable for depositing in a seed bank. A complete seed sample contains at least 2,500 seeds, and it is ideal if there are at least 10,000 seeds in all. Moreover, no more than 20 percent of the seeds produced by any individual plants should be collected in order to make sure that the research activities have a limited impact on local seed communities.

Seeds from rare, endangered and special plants as well as those plants having a high economic and ecological value, not to mention having an important value for scientific research, will be the first ones to be stored. The storing process, starting from transportation of the seeds to final cryopreservation and involving several procedures such as weighing, drying and cleaning of the seeds, also follows a complete set of standards, and all relevant data have to be uploaded into the database in a proper and timely way.

We test the status of the seeds every five to 10 years to make sure they are still full of vitality, said Cai Jie, head of the preservation department at the seed bank, who disclosed that most of the seeds can be preserved for a period of several decades or even more than 1,000 years when the temperature is kept at minus 20 degrees Celsius.

In addition to preserving plant seeds, the bank is also a place where in-vitro materials of important wild plants, DNA of important wild plants, cell lines of important animals and microbial strains are stored.

The storage of the plant seeds guarantees the security of Chinas wildlife germplasm resources, especially endemic, rare and engendered species, as well as those having important economic, ecological value, making rapid and efficient research and utilization of wildlife germplasm resources a reality, said Yu Fuqiang, deputy head of the Germplasm Bank of Wild Species in Southwest China.

Scientists from the Germplasm Bank of Wild Species in Southwest China pose for a photo on Mount Qomolangma during a seed collecting mission in 2021. (Photo from the website of the Germplasm Bank of Wild Species in Southwest China)

According to Yu, the germplasm bank has conducted studies on evolution of plants, the plants adaptation to the environment and protection and utilization of wildlife germplasm resources from the perspective of genomics and molecular biology. It also looked for plant genetic resources under special circumstances and explored innovative technologies in preservation and utilization of wildlife germplasm resources, Yu introduced.

In 2017, a platform for sharing germplasm of important wild plants built under the support of the Germplasm Bank of Wild Species in Southwest China was approved by the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Finance as one of the 28 national platforms for the sharing of technological resources. Two years later, the name of the platform was changed into the National Wild Plant Germplasm Resource Center, with the center becoming one of the 30 national germplasm and experimental material pools in China.

To share germplasm of wild species is also an important direction of our job, said Cai, who introduced that through relevant websites, the Germplasm Bank of Wild Species in Southwest China has realized sharing of basic botanical information, information regarding storage of resources, and status of storage, as well as sharing of germplasm resources.

(Web editor: Hongyu, Liang Jun)
Chinese spokesperson refutes U.S. accusation against Xinjiang

Xinhua) 09:14, October 19, 2021

BEIJING, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson on Monday said the United States with poor human rights record is not qualified to be a "human rights defender."

"Raising the 'Xinjiang human rights issue' is a bare political conspiracy, with an intention to undermine the prosperity and stability of Xinjiang while hindering China's development," spokesperson Zhao Lijian said at a press briefing in response to a question concerning U.S. President Joe Biden's remarks on China's Xinjiang.

Noting that Xinjiang is a place with social stability, economic development, ethnic unity and religious harmony, and the Xinjiang people of all ethnic groups enjoy happy lives with their legitimate rights fully guaranteed, Zhao said that the so-called "oppression" and "forced labor" problems among the Uygur people in Xinjiang are a total lie.

"The United States claims to be a champion of democracy and human rights, yet its own record has been quite poor," he said.

More than 700,000 American people have died during the COVID-19 pandemic due to the government's poor response, and the United States has wantonly waged wars, killed civilians in other countries, and created humanitarian disasters by imposing unilateral sanctions, according to Zhao.

The facts have proved time and again that the self-styled "beacon of democracy" of the United States has collapsed, and the country is not qualified to be a "human rights defender", still less a "presumptuous preacher", he said.

"The United States should deeply reflect on its poor human rights record, mind its own affairs, and stop interfering in other countries' internal affairs and undermining their interests on the pretext of human rights," Zhao added.

(Web editor: Shi Xi, Liang Jun)
Innovation fuels China's seed industry

Xinhua) 09:25, October 19, 2021

Photo taken on Oct. 10, 2021 shows a wall showcasing seed diversity during an exhibition held by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) in Kunming, southwest China's Yunnan Province. (Xinhua/Jin Liwang)

TIANJIN, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- Innovative agricultural products, ranging from 40-kg watermelons to screw-like chilies, have caught the eyes of visitors to the ongoing Tianjin International Seed Expo 2021, which opened Saturday in north China's Tianjin Municipality.

Ji Xingwang, 52, bought some pumpkin and cucumber seeds at the three-day event for his parents. "We plan to plant the seeds in our home's small yard. It is so delightful to see various kinds of seeds here. That's beyond my imagination," Ji said.

China has made the development of the seed industry a major task of the country's agricultural and rural modernization. Many companies in the seed industry seek ways to develop new kinds of seeds to meet customers' increasing demands.

"We brought more than 30 varieties of chilies to the fair. As living standards have greatly improved, Chinese people now have a bigger appetite for high-quality chilies, said Dai Yunzhi, chairman of Hebei Linglan Agricultural Technology Co. Ltd. His company invests 20 percent of its annual sales revenue in seed research and development.

According to Dai, over one thousand hybrid varieties must be created each year before dozens are selected and possibly released to the market to meet different environmental and climate conditions.

"The screw-like chilies look good and taste better to make them more popular. Also, they can bring more earnings to farmers," Dai said. "One hectare of plantation can produce about 52.5 tonnes of screw-like chilies, bringing in a revenue of about 450,000 yuan (about 70,000 U.S. dollars) this year."

"After over ten years of innovation, our watermelon varieties and breeding technologies have become more and more mature. Currently, our products cover the entire Chinese market," said Zeng Xiangdong, general manager of a watermelon seed producer in the northeastern Chinese city of Harbin.

"Through a large-scale, streamlined, and modular seed breeding process, our seed products are welcomed by the market. Our annual sales revenue can reach about 220 million yuan," said Ma Dehua, president of Derit Seeds.

Derit Seeds, a leading vegetable seed company established in 2003 in Tianjin, invests more than 20 million yuan in its cucumber and melon seed cultivation every year.

China once relied on importing broccoli seeds from other countries, said Sun Deling, a researcher at the Tianjin Academy of Agricultural Sciences. Sun has engaged in broccoli seed breeding for decades.

After years of scientific research and industrialization promotion, the market share of domestic broccoli seeds in China is about 15 percent and will likely reach 20 to 25 percent in five years, Sun said.

Sun added China has made great progress in vegetable seed industry in recent years, it is even leading the world in genome research of vegetables.

According to data from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, the coverage rate of improved crop varieties has exceeded 96 percent. The country's independently developed varieties occupy more than 95 percent of the total crop planting area.

China's seed market is growing. As the world's second-largest seed market, China had more than 6,900 licensed seed companies, with a seed market size of about 120 billion yuan in 2020, said Zhang Yanqiu, president of the China National Seed Association.

China will strengthen the protection and utilization of germplasm resources, promote seed industry innovation, support high-quality seed enterprises, and enhance intellectual property rights protection, said Liu Huanxin, vice minister of agriculture and rural affairs. Liu made the remarks at the China Tianjin Seed Industry Revitalization Conference, held together with the seed expo.

"We are pleased to see the government's increasing efforts on intellectual property rights protection in the seed industry, which is to see a golden period of self-innovation," said Ma, president of Derit Seeds.

(Web editor: Shi Xi, Liang Jun)
Former agent of Chinese actress fined in tax-evasion case

Xinhua) 09:27, October 19, 2021

BEIJING, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- Zhang Heng, the former agent of Chinese actress Zheng Shuang in a Chinese TV drama project, has been fined 32.27 million yuan (about 5 million U.S. dollars) for helping the actress evade taxes, according to the State Tax Administration on Monday.

Zhang was responsible for the actress' contracts, remuneration and other issues in the TV series "A Chinese Ghost Story" in December, 2018, said an official with the Shanghai Municipal Tax Service.

The investigations revealed that Zhang had detailed the payment method of actress Zheng with the producer of the TV series, and made the plan to split the payment contract totaling 160 million yuan into two to evade taxes over the sky-high remuneration.

One contract stated that the actress' pay was 48 million yuan, and the other showed that the rest of the actress' income would be paid through capital replenishment to a company under Zheng's de facto control.

Previously, actress Zheng was fined a total of 299 million yuan in the tax fraud case.

(Web editor: Shi Xi, Liang Jun)
China sends COVID-19 task forces to 4 provincial-level regions

Xinhua) 10:06, October 19, 2021

Aerial photo taken on Oct. 14, 2021 shows the red leaves in Zhaojiamao Village of Guta Town, Yulin City, northwest China's Shaanxi Province. (Xinhua/Tao Ming)

BEIJING, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- Task forces have been dispatched to four of China's provincial-level regions, including Inner Mongolia, Gansu, Shaanxi and Ningxia, to guide local COVID-19 response efforts.

The working teams were sent by the National Health Commission and the national administration of disease prevention and control, according to authorities on Monday.

(Web editor: Shi Xi, Liang Jun)
Upcoming FOCAC meeting to boost China-Africa ties across range of sectors: Ethiopian expert

Xinhua) 10:58, October 19, 2021

Photo taken on Sept. 14, 2021 shows Getachew Adem Tahir, former deputy commissioner of the National Planning Commission of Ethiopia, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.(Xinhua/Michael Tewelde)

ADDIS ABABA, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- The upcoming meeting of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) is poised to boost Sino-Africa ties across a range of socio-economic and political sectors, a development planning expert has said.

In a recent interview with Xinhua, Getachew Adem Tahir, former deputy commissioner of the National Planning Commission of Ethiopia, said African and Chinese leaders would cement existing development and political partnerships during the approaching FOCAC meeting, slated to be held in Senegal later this year.

According to the expert, the forum would bring about tangible outcomes on rebuilding African economies from the brunt of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic as well as strengthening Sino-Africa ties across diverse cooperation areas.

"I believe, African and Chinese leaders at the forum would address issues on how to deal with the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic as the development aspect is very critical," the expert said.

"How developing countries in Africa can cope with the aftermath of the pandemic is also one important issue that the leaders in the forum would address, and try to support Africa in addressing the problems in filling the gap in terms of resources," he added.

Noting that developing countries in Africa and elsewhere across the globe are presently facing daunting challenges in accessing COVID-19 vaccines, the expert stressed that better access to COVID-19 vaccines in Africa would be an important aspect among leaders at the FOCAC.

"On the political dimension, African countries are having problems such as conflict, security problems and terrorism. To this end, how countries can respond to these challenges and problems is another dimension that the leaders would deal with," Tahir said.

The expert stressed that China can help African countries in addressing the development problems that the continent is facing in reinstating COVID-19 affected economic sectors, mainly the hard-hit service sector.

Tahir had worked in development planning and research at the Ethiopian Ministry of Finance and Economic Development.

The veteran economist, who is undertaking a doctoral program at Peking University's Institute of South-South Cooperation and Development, also praised China's comprehensive support to African countries in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

He emphasized that the FOCAC presents a conducive platform to augment China-Africa cooperation in the fight against the pandemic.

Photo taken by mobile phone on Sept. 13, 2021 shows Getachew Adem Tahir, former deputy commissioner of the National Planning Commission of Ethiopia, speaking in an interview with Xinhua in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.(Xinhua/Michael Tewelde)

(Web editor: Shi Xi, Liang Jun)
Chinese mainland reports 9 locally trasmitted COVID-19 cases

Xinhua) 11:19, October 19, 2021

BEIJING, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese mainland on Monday reported nine new locally transmitted COVID-19 cases, the National Health Commission said in its daily report on Tuesday.

Of the new local cases, five were reported in Shaanxi, two in Inner Mongolia, and one each in Hunan and Ningxia.

Also reported were 16 new imported cases, of which five were reported in Shanghai, four in Yunnan, three in Guangdong, two in Hunan and one each in Fujian and Gansu, according to the commission.

One new suspected case, arriving from outside the mainland, was reported in Shanghai as well, the commission added.

No new deaths related to COVID-19 were reported on Monday, said the commission.

A total of 9,438 imported cases had been reported on the mainland by the end of Monday. Among them, 8,981 had been discharged from hospitals following recovery, and 457 remained hospitalized. No deaths had been reported among the imported cases.

The total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases on the mainland had reached 96,571 by Monday, including 514 patients still receiving treatment, one of whom was in severe condition.

A total of 91,421 patients had been discharged from hospitals following recovery on the mainland, and 4,636 had died as a result of the virus.

A total of 19 asymptomatic cases were newly reported, of whom 17 were from outside the mainland. There were a total of 356 asymptomatic cases, of whom 341 were imported, under medical observation as of Monday.

By the end of Monday, 12,299 confirmed COVID-19 cases, including 213 deaths, had been reported in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), while 77 cases had been reported in the Macao SAR, and 16,337 cases, including 846 deaths, had been reported in Taiwan.

A total of 11,994 COVID-19 patients in the Hong Kong SAR had been discharged from hospitals following recovery, while 66 had been discharged in the Macao SAR, and 13,742 had been discharged in Taiwan.

(Web editor: Shi Xi, Liang Jun)
Interview: China contributes a lot to world public health: WHO assistant director-general

Xinhua) 13:12, October 19, 2021

GENEVA, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- China has made great contributions to the world in the public health domain, Ren Minghui, assistant director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO), has said.

"Many of China's early experiences in public health, for example the barefoot doctors and primary healthcare policies and plannings, have been recognized by the World Health Organization as well as the international community," said Ren, the WHO's assistant director-general for universal health coverage and communicable and noncommunicable diseases, in a recent interview with Xinhua.

"China's contributions in traditional medicine have also been accepted by the WHO and many more countries, and have been incorporated into the WHO strategies, with more and more countries actively considering incorporating them into their formal health service systems," he said.

He added that China's work in prevention and control of infectious diseases such as polio, malaria, lymphatic filariasis, trachoma, etc., has reached the goals of the WHO's strategic plan for the elimination or eradication of infectious diseases.

China and other countries, Ren said, are facing many common public health problems, such as unbalanced distribution of health resources, insufficient technical personnel, and lack of medicine and healthcare, while China is gradually solving these problems through efforts, and its successful experience can be taken as a reference for other countries.

Describing China's cooperation with the WHO as mutually beneficial, he said: "On one hand, China is sharing experience, technology and funding in its cooperation with the WHO, which is conducive to China's improvement and adjustment of disease prevention and control strategies as well as the promotion of domestic public health; on the other hand, China's practice, experiences and technologies are also being recognized, learned, and promoted by the WHO and the international community."

On the future prospects of cooperation between China and the WHO, Ren believes that the areas of cooperation between the two sides are expanding.

"From the field of primary health care in the past, to the prevention and control of some major infectious diseases, China still has many technologies or programs that can provide lessons for other countries," he said.

"In particular, China has recently achieved the goal of eliminating malaria, which has been highly praised by the international community. In the area of noncommunicable diseases, such as diabetes, hypertension, and cancer control, the two sides need to learn from each other," he said.

Noting that this year marks the 50th anniversary of the restoration of China's lawful seat in the United Nations (UN), Ren said China has become a very important member in the UN and the international community as a whole.

"I have attended the UN General Assembly, the World Health Assembly and some other technical committees many times. China's active participation are seen more often, and there are increasing numbers of Chinese delegates," he added.

China, a firm believer in multilateralism and a strong supporter of the future development of the United Nations, "will certainly play a more active role in the future multilateral international organizations," Ren said.

(Web editor: Shi Xi, Liang Jun)
China calls for enhancing cooperation with Brazil under BRI: ambassador

Xinhua) 13:34, October 19, 2021

RIO DE JANEIRO, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- Brazil, as the largest economy in Latin America, has a solid foundation and great potential for cooperation with China, and therefore has every reason to be an important player in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Chinese Ambassador to Brazil Yang Wanming said on Monday.

Politicians, business leaders and diplomats from both countries took part in the virtual 4th Seminar Brazil-China Dialogue "Belt and Road &Brazil: Rules and Coordination," organized by the Center for Brazil-China Studies of the School of Law of the Getulio Vargas Foundation in Rio de Janeiro, which aims to discuss a wide range of topics on Sino-Brazilian relations, such as 5G technology, and new investment and financing within the BRI framework.

During the start of the seminar, Yang said China's robust economic recovery and opening of its market will open up new spaces for cooperation under the BRI.

He added China not only provided COVID-19 vaccines for Brazil, but also helped it become the first Latin American country to produce vaccines.

"By making good use of the mechanisms of bilateral dialogue, we can strengthen cooperation for economic recovery in essential sectors, such as infrastructure, energy and mining, agriculture, trade, and science and technology," Yang said.

Eduardo Paes, mayor of Rio de Janeiro, said his city wants to be the Brazilian and South American capital of China's BRI, while highlighting the complementarity between the Chinese initiative and the needs of Brazil's second largest city.

Both the BRI and Rio de Janeiro have "an agenda of innovation, sustainability and concern for the environment," said Paes, adding "there are a lot of opportunities in infrastructure, new energies and technology".

(Web editor: Shi Xi, Liang Jun)
China busts major maritime oil smuggling case

Xinhua) 16:17, October 19, 2021

HAIKOU, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- A major refined oil smuggling case has been handed over to the procuratorate in south China's Hainan Province for prosecution.

It involved an oil tank and four fishing boats, said the China Coast Guard. A total of 21 suspects were detained and 4,730 tonnes of refined oil were seized on the spot.

Coast guards caught the vessel in waters off east Wenchang, Hainan. A prompt interrogation of suspects led to the seizure of fishing boats that have engaged in the illicit oil trade.

(Web editor: Shi Xi, Liang Jun)
China's Jiangsu reports robust foreign trade in first three quarters

Xinhua) 16:28, October 19, 2021

NANJING, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- East China's Jiangsu Province, one of the country's major foreign trade hubs, saw robust foreign trade growth in the first three quarters of 2021, local customs authorities said Tuesday.

Jiangsu's import and export volume rose by 16.5 percent year on year to more than 3.75 trillion yuan (about 580 billion U.S. dollars) from January to September, according to Nanjing customs.

Exports soared to over 2.32 trillion yuan, marking an 18.2 percent increase from the same period last year, while imports reached over 1.43 trillion yuan, up 14 percent year on year.

In the nine months, the province's trade volume with the European Union, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the United States, and the countries along the Belt and Road increased 17 percent, 19.8 percent, 13.2 percent, and 21.6 percent, respectively.

The foreign trade of Jiangsu's private enterprises saw a strong performance, with the total volume up by 28.6 percent year on year to 1.42 trillion yuan, the customs noted.

(Web editor: Shi Xi, Liang Jun)
Chinese railway worker builds a "train world" with Lego bricks

People's Daily Online) 16:46, October 19, 2021

Photo shows Chen Xiangdong and his train models. (Photo/Xu Lingbo)

Chen Dongxiang, a power distributor with China Railway Lanzhou Group Co.,Ltd. born in the 1990s, has been obsessed with trains since he was a little boy. After taking up the post of power distributor at the state-owned railway company, he combined his hobby with his career and devoted himself to his "dream of trains".

During his spare time, Chen built a "train world" with Lego bricks, encompassing various train types. In fact, all the train types that Chen encountered in real life have been recreated in his "train world".

Chen started to make a miniature scale model train system in 2017. In a bid to make the models more realistic, he learned how to use 3D software to create blueprints and put together fine pieces meticulously according to the designs. In addition to locomotive circuits and mechanical principles, he also learned to "lay" tracks and "set up" signal machines and stations. Eventually, Chen got these hand-made trains to run in his miniature train system.

As Chen became more skilled in making train models, he began to think about getting engaged in something more meaningful -- thinking of his father, who works in the railway engineering section, he decided to make models of engineering trains.

"Compared with passenger trains and freight trains, the structure of engineering trains is more complicated, and it is quite difficult to achieve the latter's functioning using Lego bricks," said Chen.

For this reason, Chen taught himself relevant knowledge and cleverly used the pneumatic system to provide power for a tamping hammer. In 2018, he took his work to a national Lego train summer vacation competition, where his tamping wagon model won second place.

This award was a great encouragement to Chen, who then went on to build a material truck and a rescue crane. At the beginning of this year, he started to create his new work, a ballast cleaning machine. After making these model trains, Chen learned the main parts and working principles of engineering trains just like the back of his hand.

"I hope to promote railway culture through Lego trains so that people can understand more about the rapid development of Chinas railway," said Chen.

(Web editor: Hongyu, Liang Jun)
China sees increasing number of people return or move to countryside to start businesses

People's Daily Online) 15:11, October 19, 2021

In recent years, China has seen an increasing number of people who have returned or moved to the countryside to start their own businesses or make innovations, thanks to the efforts of local governments to create a better business environment for countryside-based entrepreneurs, including offering favorable policies.

Photo shows Yu Donghong, who has returned to her hometown to start her own business in Qingliangfeng township, Linan district, Hangzhou city, east Chinas Zhejiang province. (Xinhua/Xu Yu)

The size of this group reached a record high number of 10.1 million people last year, an increase of 19 percent from that in 2019. This marks the largest and fastest growth in the number of people moving back to the countryside to start their own businesses or pursue innovations in China. Statistics showed that each project initiated by people who returned or moved to the countrys rural areas to start their own businesses or make innovations could provide stable employment for 6.3 people and flexible employment for 17.3 people on average.

One typical example is Zhao Shan, a man born in Zhengan county, Zunyi city, southwest Chinas Guizhou province. Zhao returned to his hometown and founded his own company, Guizhou Baikal Musical Instrument Co. Ltd., in the countys international guitar industrial park in 2016. Before that, he worked in the IT industry in Guiyang, the capital city of the province.

Zhao said he came up with the idea of the business when he learned that the local government was determined to develop the guitar industry.

Although it was something I had never touched upon, I was confident about the online sales of guitars due to the personal experience in e-commerce that I gained in my previous job, he noted.

Compared to other guitar producers in the industrial park, Zhao has put more effort into selling guitars on e-commerce platforms, a move that is now paying off. Last year, Baikals sales revenue stood at nearly 100 million yuan (about $15.58 million). The companys success has also attracted many young local people to join the companys e-commerce department, helping them find jobs in their hometown.

Another example is Li Weihu, an ex-serviceman who was born in Heze city in east Chinas Shandong province. Originally, Li set up his business in Changzhou city, east Chinas Jiangsu province. After Li learned about Hezes efforts to attract investment in 2016, he decided to establish an entrepreneurship incubation base in his hometown. However, Lis partners doubted the idea, pointing out that Li didnt know much about his hometown as he had left for several years and might lack the resources necessary to start a successful business.

Fortunately, the local government lent a helping hand to Li by providing him with 20,000 square meters of space free of charge, preferential tax incentives, and subsidies for the business to attract talents, among other favorable policies. Thanks to the support from the local government, Lis base has now expanded to about 30,000 square meters.

Heze has built 73 entrepreneurial parks (bases), where entrepreneurs can enjoy some of the most preferential policies, according to Zhen Junhua, an official.

Furthermore, governments across China have also introduced new credit policies to provide financing support for people who returned or moved to rural areas to start their own businesses. For example, central Chinas Henan province has set up a 10-billion-yuan fund to encourage migrant workers to move back to the countryside to start their own businesses.

(Web editor: Hongyu, Liang Jun)
In 2002, gastric cancer claimed the life of Wu Lang, 82, who lived in Shushan district, Hefei, Anhui province. As his last wish to donate his body for medical research was realized, 37 more people from his community followed Wu's example. The eldest volunteer is 92 and the youngest about 50. Fu Jie, an official with the body donation center at the Red Cross Society in Anhui, said some 12,000 people in the province have volunteered to donate their bodies after death, and about 1,200 donations had been made as of August. About 5,000 people have signed up with the body donation center at Anhui Medical University in Hefei, the largest of four such centers in the province. Fu, who has worked at the center since 1990, said about 75 percent of the donors are older than 60. "We refer to a corpse as 'the teacher who never speaks', but medical students in China don't have enough of these special teachers," Fu said. "We hope that every four to six students can have a corpse for anatomy courses, while the stark reality is that eight of these students from Anhui Medical University can barely get one body," he said, adding that the situation at other universities could be worse. Although more people are becoming aware of the shortage and importance of body donors for medical progress, most of them are seniors, Fu said. He added that medical teachers and students fully respect a body. For example, they stand in silent tribute every time before a corpse is used for teaching purposes. Donors from Wu's community said that sometimes it was hard to persuade their children to agree to their decision to donate. Such agreements were required until this year. In January, the Civil Code took effect. The first such code in China since 1949, it stipulates that anyone can donate their body or organs of their own free will, as long as the donor bears liability for such an act. "It means a donation can be completed without the agreement of the donor's spouse and children," Fu said. He added that he has noticed that awareness of such donations has been increasing among younger people. "Since 2012, about 60 percent of new applications have come from people below the age of 60," Fu said.


Community in Anhui overcomes prejudice to aid medical studies Years ago, Zhu Xiufang heard by chance that a number of residents in her community in Hefei, Anhui province, were talking about her. "They said I was a cruel woman, claiming that I had sold my husband's body for money," said Zhu, 75, whose spouse died in 2013." Donating his body for medical research was a voluntary decision made by my husband. I just helped him fulfill it." Zhu, who has also volunteered to donate her body, said she felt sad hearing the residents' comments, but found comfort from a group of elderly neighbors. A total of 38 residents from her community, which has more than 700 households and a population of about 2,000, have volunteered to donate their organs and bodies after death. Four of them have died and their wishes have been fulfilled. Zhu has lived in the Youdianxincun in the urban district of Shushan since about 1998, when the community was completed. With a name that translates as "new village of posts and telecommunications", the community is the location of the former provincial posts and telecommunications administrative bureau and its affiliated institutes. Wu Rongkun, one of the volunteer donors from the community, said, "We know each other very well and are more willing to spend time together, especially after retirement." The first donation of a body for medical research from the community was made in 2002, Wu said, when Wu Lang, former head of the bureau, died of gastric cancer at age 82. Ma Yixing, Wu Lang's widow, said, "One day when he was hospitalized in the 1990s, he learned during a casual conversation with a doctor that medical institutes only had a limited number of bodies for research." At the time, Ma was at her husband's side, listening silently and carefully to the doctor and her husband. "After that conversation, my husband told me he wanted to donate his body. I thought this was a gesture of goodwill and didn't oppose it, but didn't decide then to make such a decision myself," Ma said. Zhou Fengyi, 92, who worked with Wu Lang before retirement, helped contact the Red Cross Society to sign the necessary forms, and Wu Lang's body was donated after his death in March 2002. Fu Jie, an official with the body donation center at the Red Cross Society in Anhui, said: "Organs are transplanted as soon as possible after the donor's death. A donated body is anti-septicized for about one year and used for medical studies for a further year." Shortly after the donation was made, Ma told Zhou she also wanted to donate her body for research. Zhou and Wu Rongkun had the same idea, along with two seniors who were close to Wu Lang. Zhou proposed they sign the forms together, and the five donors did so in 2006. As Wu Rongkun, now 82, was the youngest member of the group, he volunteered to contact the local Red Cross Society. "Neighbors then kept joining us, some of them volunteering to donate their entire body, while others pledged to donate organs such as corneas," Wu Rongkun said. "Among the volunteers, there are eight couples. The others are brothers, schoolmates, colleagues and best friends," he said, adding that four of the 38 people pledging donations have died and their promises have been fulfilled. Donors are reluctant to talk about their decisions publicly, as they want to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings. Some of them even hesitated to tell their families, Zhou said. For years, he did not tell his wife, Cao Guoying, of his own decision. The couple married when Cao, who was a school teacher for many years, was 19. One year during the Qingming holiday in early April, Zhou and Cao visited the public cemetery at the foot of Shushan mountain in Hefei, where many names are inscribed on stone tablets put up by the Red Cross Society in memory of body and organ donors. As the couple located Wu Lang's name, Zhou told Cao that he had registered to donate his body for medical research. Cao remained silent then, but after celebrating her 80th birthday in 2017, she submitted forms to donate her body. The stories of these donors only became more widely known a few months ago, following a local media report. Wu Rongkun said, "Some people traveled long distances to find me and consult me about the procedure." He added that some of his neighbors got to know about the group of donors through television programs. Twelve of the volunteers have signed donation papers with Wu Rongkun's help. "The Red Cross Society requires two printed photos of each volunteer, while I ask each of them to give me one more, as I fear I will forget the faces I am not familiar with," he said. Numerous battles People's Liberation Army veterans Wu Lang and Zhou Fengyi fought many battles before the founding of New China. Zhou said, "To survive all the battles was good luck for me, and I consider every day I live beyond age 80 to be an extra gift from life. "I am happy to witness the progress China has made and hope to make my last contribution to society in this way." Zhou added that he believes that donating his body will save his children from having to arrange a funeral. Some seniors said it was not hard to decide to donate their bodies, but getting their children's agreement wasn't easy. In 2017, Zhu Xiufang's husband, Chen Xiuqing, was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, and the family gradually accepted that he would live with the condition for the rest of his life. "He once told me that if the disease could not be cured, he would rather donate his body and let researchers study his brain," Zhu said, adding that she hoped medical workers would find a way to cure the disease through continuous research. "I told my husband, 'If you donate your body, I will, too'," Zhu said. In the days before Chen died, the couple signed their donation papers together and browsed their albums to select commemorative photographs. As she knew Chen was dying, Zhu said she insisted that their two daughters should agree to the donation. "They begged me to withdraw the decision. They cried and then proposed that I only donate their father's corneas," she said. "I told them that their father wanted medical professionals to study his brain," Zhu said. She prevailed, and the children contacted the Red Cross Society after their father died in 2013. Some two years later, Chen's body was cremated after being used for research. The family buried his remains under a tree in the cemetery at the foot of Shushan mountain. Zhu asked cemetery workers to add her name alongside that of her husband, and they agreed to this. "I wanted to show the children that my decision could not be changed and that this place will be my final destination," she said.


Members of the 9th Chinese peacekeeping engineering contingent to Mali assist the Burkinabe peacekeeping police force in hoisting the communications antennas.

MALI, Oct. 19 -- At the request of the Engineering Department under the Sector East of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA), the 9th Chinese peacekeeping engineering contingent to Mali sent a crane operation team to assist the Burkinabe peacekeeping police force in hoisting the communications antennas.

The communication antenna is more than 23 meters long and weighs about 200 kilograms. The Chinese peacekeepers overcame the difficulties of narrow operating space, poor lifting balance and high technical requirements, and installed the communication antenna precisely in the designated position.
By Zhao Yang and Du Jiangfan

Ships assigned to the 39th Chinese naval escort taskforce sail in formation. (Photo by Zhao Yang)

GUIDED-MISSILE DESTROYER URUMQI, Oct. 19 -- The guided-missile destroyer Urumqi (Hull 118), guided-missile frigate Yantai (Hull 538), and comprehensive supply ship Taihu (Hull 889) of the 39th Chinese naval escort taskforce carried out a great deal of targeted training such as rescue by force, ship-and-aircraft coordinated anti-piracy training, and training with authorized weapons and equipment, while en route to the Gulf of Aden and the waters off Somali.

Since its departure, the 39th Chinese naval escort taskforce has successively carried out realistic combat training in multiple subjects including anti-terrorism and anti-piracy, temporary inspection, visit, board, search and seizure (VBSS) operations, joint search and rescue, and cordon and patrol, to further enhance the fleet's capability to perform escort missions.

Guided-missile destroyer Urumqi (Photo by Zhao Yang)

The ship-borne helicopter takes off for reconnaissance task in the key sea area. (Photo by Zhao Yang)

Special operations team members conduct shooting training. (Photo by Zhao Yang)
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida inspects the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant on October 17. (Photo by The Asahi Shimbun)

By Chen Yang

Japanese newspaper The Asahi Shimbun reported on October 18 that Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida inspected the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Fukushima Prefecture on October 17, and said in an interview that the discharge of contaminated water into the sea shall not be delayed any longer and relevant work shall be kept transparent. Besides, also thisThe new prime minister also, on the very same day, sent the masakaki tree offering in his new official capacity to the Yasukuni Shrine on October 17th.

From supporting the discharge of nuclear contaminated wastewater to the sea to paying homage to Yasukuni Shrine, the latest moves by Japans new prime minister go contrary to his usual dovish profile and reflect his eagerness to cater to the conservative forces at home at the cost of his own image. But wWith such a sudden change of face, how does the Kishida administration expect to gain trust from its Asian neighbors and the international community? Japans new administration is playing with fire and is very likely to get burned itself.

Before being elected as prime minister, Kishida had never sent the masakaki offering to Yasukuni Shrine and has kept his distance from Shinzo Abe and other conservative forces within the Liberal Democratic Party on issues such as revision of the constitution, historical issues and the increase of military budget. Yet soon after he took office, he quickly pledged to continue pushing the discharge of contaminated wastewater in Fukushima to the sea and offered the masakaki to the shrinethings have changed so fast. Such a mode of action that goes completely contrary to the dovish image he has carefully kept for so long makes people wonder what his real political intention is.

When Yoshihide Suga governements announced his decision to discharge the wastewater in Fukushima nuclear sewage into the sea, he had aroused vehement opposition in Japanese society. Asahi Shinbun, a mainstream media outlet in Japan, published a poll in January this year that showed 55% of the respondents opposed this decision.

The offering of masakaki by prime ministers to Yasukuni Shrine has also been a target of objection in Japan. Asahi Shinbun has many times criticized Shinzo Abe and Yoshihide Suga for sending offerings to the shrine in the name of the president of LDP and prime minister because that would make people think Japan has given up reflecting on history and is trying to defend its history of aggression before the war.

The latest moves by Kishida are obviously an imitation of his two predecessors, but theywhich has betrayed the mainstream public opinions of the Japanese people. A poll published by Kyodo News Agency on October 18 showed that 68.9% of the respondents held that Kishida should not continue down the path left by the Abe and Suga administrations.

The new prime minister has also let down Japans neighbors. He has held phone conservations with the leaders of many neighbors recently, including Russia, China, and ROK, expressing his wish to mend the diplomatic relations with them that were strained during Sugas reign. To everyones surprise, the Kishida administration didnt change its plan for disposing of the radioactive wastewater, but chose to stick with the plan of sea discharge against opposition from all sides.

The presentation of offerings to Yasukuni Shrine only made things worse, which by has makingde it harder for Japan to form a relationship of trust with its neighboring countries. The spokesperson of ROKs Foreign Ministry said that the ROK government urges the Japanese side to take the formation of the new administration as an opportunity to face up to history and take concrete actions to reflect on history, sincerely and modestly. The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Zhao Lijian, also said on October 18 that the Chinese side has lodged solemn representation with the Japanese side through the diplomatic channel. The Japanese side should earnestly honor its statement and commitment of facing up to and reflecting on its history of aggression.

Since the LDP was founded in 1955, its Kochi-kai faction has turned out several prime ministers including Hayato Ikeda, Masayoshi Ohira and Kiichi Miyazawa, who during their term contributed to the deepening of Japans diplomatic relations with surrounding countries to varying degrees. Historical experience, both on the upside and downside, is worth learning from by Fumio Kishida, the latest prime minister produced by the faction.

Editors note: This article is originally published on haiwainet.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, Oct. 19  Chinese Defense Spokesperson Senior Colonel Tan Kefei on Tuesday urged the United States to make clarification on the recent collision of the US Navy Submarine USS Connecticut (SSN-22) with an unidentified object during the diving operation in the South China Sea in a written statement released on Oct.19.

According to reports, the collision caused some damage to the USS Connecticut (SSN-22) and some injuries. When being asked to comment on this incident, the Chinese defense spokesperson said that China is seriously concerned about the incident and requests clarification from the US side. "Being the responsible party, the US has the responsibility and obligation to elaborate on the circumstances of the incident," he added.

The spokesperson pointed out that for a long time, the US military has frequently dispatched aircraft carriers, strategic bombers, nuclear submarines and other advanced weapon systems to show muscles and stir up troubles in the South China Sea in the name of "freedom of navigation and overflight", which has seriously threatened regional national security and exacerbated regional tensions. "This is exactly the root cause and harm of this incident," he stressed.

"We believe that the above-mentioned actions of the United States are bound to affect the navigation safety in the South China Sea, bring about serious concern and anxiety among countries along the South China Sea, and pose serious threat and risk to regional peace and stability," the spokesperson said, noting that the US should stop its close-in reconnaissance of the adjacent seas and airspace of China's islands and reefs in the South China Sea and its military deployment against China, and stop the so-called "freedom of navigation" operations in the South China Sea.

"We noticed that the US military deliberately delayed and concealed the details of the incident," the spokesperson continued. The US issued an ambiguous short statement five days after the collision on October 2. Such irresponsible and secretive practice, lacking transparency, could easily lead to misunderstanding and miscalculation. China and countries around the South China Sea have no choice but to question the truth and the US sides intention.

The spokesperson also mentioned that recently, the United States, the UK and Australia have recently established a trilateral security partnership to carry out cooperation on nuclear-powered submarine, giving the non-nuclear state Australia access to nuclear material that could be used to make nuclear weapons, which would exclude weapons-grade HEU from necessary supervision, and pose huge nuclear proliferation risk. "This act seriously violates the spirit of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), impacts the international nuclear non-proliferation regime, triggers the arms race, and undermines the construction of Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone in Southeast Asia," said the spokesperson, adding that the possibility of nuclear accidents may also significantly increase, posing great challenges to regional peace and security.

In the end of the written statement, the spokesperson reiterated that China urges the United States to take seriously the concerns of all parties, take a responsible attitude, and give a detailed account of the incident as soon as possible, so as to give a satisfactory explanation to the international community and regional countries.
According to a survey by Statistics Korea on Monday, only 42.1 percent of employed people prioritize work over family, down 11.6 percentage points from 2015. Some 44.2 percent place equal importance on family and work, overtaking those who favor work for the first time and up 9.8 percentage points from 2015.

Korea's traditional hardworking ethos appears to be changing as a younger generation embrace the shorter working week and put quality of life above slaving for a corporation till they drop. But at the same time social mobility is disappearing, and many young people face a lifetime in dead-end jobs.

Around half of respondents or 50.9 percent said yes when asked, "Do you trust Korean society?" and only 3.2 percent to a high degree. But younger people are losing confidence in Korean society, with 54.9 percent in their 20s and 51.5 percent in their 30s.

The result is that they are more reluctant to donate money to charity. The proportion who said they donated money to a good cause fell from 36.4 percent in 2011 to 25.6 percent this year, while the proportion who plan to make charitable contributions in the future fell from 45.8 percent to 39.9 percent.

A growing number are pessimistic about the prospect of ever climbing the social ladder. Only 28.9 percent felt that hard work alone would ensure that their children will be able to rise in socio-economic status, down from 48.3 percent in 2009. The survey also showed that the higher the social status of a respondent, the more they felt that their children will be able to climb the social ladder.

Some 48.6 percent of those who consider themselves comfortably off believed their children will have chance of rising socially, compared to only 21.5 percent among those who consider themselves poor.

Meanwhile, one in three Koreans is not preparing for old age. Only 34.9 percent of adults are making financial plans for retirement, though it slightly rose from 34.6 percent in 2017.

When asked why they are not preparing for retirement, 40.1 percent said simply do not have enough money to set aside. Some 33.7 percent said they plan to do so and 17.6 percent said they have not even started thinking about it.

Yet the proportion of senior citizens who rely financially on their children has declined from 31.4 percent in 2009 to 17.7 percent this year, while those who rely on government support increased from 8.6 percent to 12.4 percent over the same period.

Some 69.9 percent of senior citizens said either they themselves or their spouses support them financially, up from 60 percent in 2009.
North Korea has unveiled what it says is a new submarine-launched ballistic missile, the latest apparent development in its fast-advancing weapons program. Several of the SLBMs rolled through Pyongyang's central Kim Il-sung Square during a nighttime military parade, state media said Friday.

Using typically flowery language, the state-run Korean Central News Agency called the missile the "world's most powerful weapon." North Korea also showed off a new short-range missile during the parade.

Wearing a shiny black leather jacket and fur hat, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un attended the Thursday event, which marked the end of a major multiday meeting of the ruling Workers' Party. It is North Korea's second military parade in about three months. At an October parade, North Korea showed off its largest intercontinental ballistic missile, which appears designed to overwhelm U.S. missile defenses.

The parades are a reminder that Pyongyang continues to develop new nuclear weapons and ballistic missile capabilities despite economic hardships brought on by the coronavirus and international sanctions. Submarine-launched missiles would add an unpredictable component to North Korea's arsenal. They are mobile, potentially increasing the range of North Korea's ballistic missile arsenal. They are also easier to hide.

Analysts say the new SLBM, labeled Pukguksong-5, appears bigger but looks similar to the Pukguksong-4, which was unveiled at the October parade. But some caution the latest missile may still be under development. "The appearances (of the two missiles) have few differences, so it is highly likely a mock-up -- not the real missile," said Kim Dong-yub, a North Korea expert at Kyungnam University's Institute for Far Eastern Studies, in a Facebook post.

The rapid development of SLBM technology is puzzling to some defense experts, who point out North Korea does not currently have a functional submarine capable of shooting ballistic missiles while submerged. "The only thing that makes sense to me is that these developments are setting the stage for a solid fuel ICBM. To me that has to be the end game here," tweeted Vipin Narang, a nuclear specialist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
According to the Joint Chiefs of Staff here, the North fired the two short-range ballistic missiles into the East Sea from South Pyongan Province at 12:34 p.m. and 12:39 p.m. Wednesday.

North Korea lobbed two ballistic missiles with a range of 800 km into the East Sea on Wednesday in an apparent bid to draw attention to itself as its bigger neighbors gathered for talks. They come hard on the heels of two long-range cruise missiles it tested over the last weekend.

The JCS believes they have a range of 800 km and flew at a 60 km altitude. They are presumed to be an improved version of the Iskander KN-23 missile that the North fired last March, extending the range by 200 km in just six months.

The launch was the fifth armed provocation by the North this year.

It came immediately after President Moon Jae-in met Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi at Cheong Wa Dae the same day. It is unusual for the North to put on a show of force with missiles that could hit South Korea at a time when the top diplomat of its closest ally is visiting Seoul.

About an hour afterwards, Moon watched the test launch of South Korea's own first home-grown ballistic missile from a submarine. "The improvement in our missile capabilities can be surefire deterrent against provocations by North Korea," he said.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's younger sister Yo-jong shot back with a statement late in the afternoon that homed in on the word "provocations" and saying it would be "foolish to call him a nation's president."

"If the president joins in the slander and detraction [of the North], this will be followed by counter actions, and the North-South relations will be pushed toward a complete destruction," she added.

On Thursday morning, the North released a photo of a missile ostensibly being launched from a train in an undisclosed location. It said it succeeded in launching ballistic missiles from a train for the first time as part of continuing efforts to bolster its "war deterrence."

The North's missile launches flagrantly violate UN Security Council resolutions.
"We're seeing the European Union and Germany converge with the U.S., and that convergence is something that China would like to stop, as soon as possible," Nagy said. Convergence could isolate China in the developed world, complicating its global political and economic goals.

Western Europe has been staunchly U.S.-leaning since World War II, though differences do surface -- for example, France's anger over a U.S.-UK-Australia military technology sharing deal (AUKUS) of nuclear-powered submarines reached last month.

China hopes to build trade and investment ties with individual European countries as it seeks partnerships that can counter a half decade of acrimony with its superpower rival the United States, said Stephen Nagy, senior associate professor of politics and international studies at International Christian University in Tokyo.

Xi spoke with German Chancellor Angela Merkel last Wednesday and with European Council President Charles Michel on Friday. The council is a policymaking body for the European Union, an economic bloc of 27 nations including Europe's largest countries.

Chinese President Xi Jinping aims to bolster relations in Europe, a traditional stronghold of support for the United States, as a buffer against shaky Sino-U.S. ties, analysts believe.

 Series of Sore Spots in China-U.S., China-EU Relations

Beijing and Washington have disagreed strongly since 2018 on the use of internet technology, the rules of international trade and China's expansion in Asia including the South China Sea. Washington is especially watching to see whether China attacks Taiwan, a self-ruled island that Chinese leaders call their own.

EU-China relations have deteriorated as well for the past year over Beijing's treatment of its Muslim Uyghur minority and support for Taiwan's autonomy among leaders in Lithuania and the Czech Republic.

On the economic front, movement and discussion toward ratification of the EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI) has been "justifiably been frozen" in May because of China imposing sanctions "on several European individuals and entities," according to the European Parliament.

France, Germany and the UK further irked China this year by sending military vessels into the South China Sea where they joined Washington in keeping an eye on Beijing's movements. Four Southeast Asian states and Taiwan call parts of the resource-rich sea their own, but China claims 90 percent of it.

Multiple countries in Europe now "recoil at the PRC's illiberal policies at home and overreach abroad," said Sean King, vice president of the Park Strategies political consultancy in New York.

 Up Trend in China's Ties with Individual European Countries

While China-EU relations have been tense, China is still the EU's No. 1 trading partner and the source of billions of dollars per year in direct investment, particularly in energy. Its relations vary from one member country to the next, with east-central European peers such as Hungary and Serbia eager to engage while Western European peers more skeptical -- though seldom as harshly as the United States.

"Xi Jinping has presumably, and rightly, long seen the European Union as an easy mark and would doubtless be pursuing deeper relations there, whatever the state of Beijing's ties with Washington," King said. Beyond politics, he said, "the Communist Party of China surely craves access to European technology, markets, universities and think tanks."

In his video meeting with Merkel, head of Europe's largest economy, Xi said both sides support trade and "believe that the common interests of China and the EU far outweigh contradictions and differences", according to the official Xinhua News Agency.

Beijing has been locked in a trade dispute with the United States since 2018, affecting US$550 billion in two-way trade with an especially hard impact on Chinese exports.

China and the EU, "as two important forces in the world, have a responsibility to strengthen cooperation and work together to deal with global problems in the face of increasing global challenges and rising instability and uncertainty," Xi said.

Xi said to the European Council President, it was "not surprising that competition and differences have emerged" between China and the EU, according to China's CGTN news website. He suggested that the two sides work together more in technology and that China extend its multi-trillion-dollar, pan-Eurasia Belt and Road infrastructure building initiative.

Chinese leaders could attract European countries with open access to the Chinese market, where middle-class consumers still buy luxury brands from France and Italy, Nagy said. Trade "inducements" would appeal to the EU as it recovers economically from COVID-19, he said.

European nations want more investment in energy and clean technology, while both sides are looking for intellectual property protections, said James Berkeley, managing director of the advisory firm Ellice Consulting in London.

His 8-year-old consultancy does most of its business today with a U.S. focus, but it anticipates new interest in China if Sino-U.K. ties improve, Berkeley said. Chinese automotive companies, for example, may be able to refine intellectual property in Europe and reapply those rights in their home market, Berkeley said.

"There are Chinese investors that have an international perspective and they're looking to deploy capital into businesses internationally in which they can build out the intellectual property and then reverse that intellectual property," he said.

Brisker trade and investment ties won't sway pro-U.S. European nations toward China politically, experts say. However, China may be able to improve ties with central and Eastern European countries and "split" the EU, Nagy said. He likened that approach to Southeast Asia. Chinese aid on the Asian subcontinent has won the loyalty of Cambodia and Laos but missed that mark in Vietnam and the Philippines, where citizens have long distrusted China.


In a tribute, Bush said he and former first lady Laura Bush were "deeply saddened" by Powell's death. "He was a great public servant, starting with his time as a soldier during Vietnam," Bush said. "Many presidents relied on General Powell's counsel and experience. He was such a favorite of presidents that he earned the Presidential Medal of Freedom -- twice. He was highly respected at home and abroad."

Powell had multiple myeloma, a white blood cell cancer that suppresses the body's immune response, U.S. news outlets reported. Even if fully vaccinated against COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, immunocompromised people are at greater risk.

His family announced his death in a Facebook posting, saying, "We have lost a remarkable and loving husband, father, grandfather and a great American." The family said Powell was fully vaccinated against the virus. They thanked the medical staff at Walter Reed National Medical Center outside Washington "for their caring treatment" during his final days.

General Colin Powell, the first Black U.S. secretary of state and a former chairman of the military's Joint Chiefs of Staff, died Monday from complications of COVID-19. He was 84.

President Joe Biden called Powell "a patriot of unmatched honor and dignity." "Colin embodied the highest ideals of both warrior and diplomat," Biden said. "He was committed to our nation's strength and security above all. Having fought in wars, he understood better than anyone that military might alone was not enough to maintain our peace and prosperity."

Former U.S. President Barack Obama offered his tribute, as well. "General Colin Powell understood what was best in this country and tried to bring his own life, career and public statements in line with that ideal," said Obama in a statement Monday. "Michelle and I will always look to him as an example of what America -- and Americans -- can and should be."

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Twitter, "It will be impossible to replace Gen. Colin Powell. He was a tremendous personal friend and mentor to me, and there's a hole in my heart right now as I think about his loss."

Powell, a four-star Army general and 35-year veteran, was the Pentagon's military leader, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1989 to 1993 under Bush's father, President George H.W. Bush, and for months under his successor, Democratic President Bill Clinton. Prior to that, he was the U.S. national security adviser under President Ronald Reagan from 1987 to 1989.

Powell was viewed in U.S. political circles as a moderate Republican and pragmatist. He considered running for president in 1996 against Clinton but decided not to, as his wife, Alma, voiced fears for his safety. In 2008, he broke ranks with the Republican Party and endorsed the presidential candidacy of Democrat Barack Obama, who went on to become the first African American elected to the White House.

 Military Campaigns

Powell played a key role two decades ago in some of the country's major military conflicts. In 1991, when he was the top military officer, the elder Bush ordered U.S. combat troops to expel Iraqi forces from neighboring Kuwait, a short conflict that for a time sent Bush's political popularity soaring in the country.

But in 2003, while he was the country's top diplomat, Powell also played a key role in leading the U.S. into its ill-fated invasion of Iraq on the erroneous intelligence that Iraqi strongman Saddam Hussein had amassed weapons of mass destruction -- stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons -- that posed an imminent threat to world peace.

On Feb. 5, 2003, Powell addressed the UN Security Council, advancing the case for war sought by President George W. Bush and key officials in his administration, including Vice President Dick Cheney. Powell asserted that "there can be no doubt that Saddam Hussein has biological weapons and the capability to rapidly produce more, many more."

By September 2005, however, he acknowledged that his UN speech was rife with inaccuracies based on faulty U.S. intelligence. In a television interview, he described his support for the U.S. invasion of Iraq as a "blot" on his record. The U.S. did not discover weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. "It will always be a part of my record," Powell said. "It was painful. It's painful now."


Russia is retaliating for the recent expulsion of its diplomats from its NATO mission in Brussels, saying Monday it will suspend its mission to the alliance and ordered NATO's office in Moscow shuddered.

Earlier in the month, NATO said eight Russians working at its mission in Brussels were intelligence officers and removed their accreditation. NATO also cut the staff at its Moscow office from 20 to 10.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov dismissed the allegations, saying "NATO isn't interested in any kind of equal dialogue or joint work." "As a result of NATO's deliberate moves, we have practically no conditions for elementary diplomatic work. And in response to NATO's actions, we suspend the work of our permanent mission to NATO, including the work of the chief military envoy, probably from Nov. 1. Or it may take several more days," he said.

"The alliance's line towards our country is becoming more and more aggressive," he added, accusing NATO of overblowing "the Russian threat" to maintain its "relevance."

Lavrov said issues between Russia and NATO would be handled by the Russian Embassy in Belgium.
North Korea fired another ballistic missile on Tuesday morning, the Joint Chiefs of Staff here said.

The JCS said it detected launch from Sinpo, South Hamgyong Province at 10:17 a.m. The missile was fired toward the East Sea and flew an estimated 450 km. The Korean and U.S. intelligence officials are working to discover further details.

Sinpo has a shipyard where the North is building a submarine capable of carrying ballistic missiles, suggesting that Tuesday's launch was a test of one of them, the first in two years.

It came a day after national security adviser Suh Hoon met on Monday with visiting U.S. Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines to discuss North Korean issues.

Haines also meets with National Intelligence Service chief Park Jie-won and their Japanese counterpart Hiroaki Takizawa on Tuesday. It is their first meeting in five months. Also on Tuesday, the top nuclear negotiators of the three countries are meeting in Washington, and the missile launch may well have been a cry for attention from the North.

Only a day earlier, Unification Minister Lee In-young told lawmakers at a National Assembly audit that the government is considering providing coronavirus vaccines to North Korea.

"The possibility is growing as there is public consensus and we can secure enough vaccines to share," he said. Lee added that Seoul is working with the U.S. to help North Korea to fight the pandemic on humanitarian grounds. But he admitted that North Korea must accept the offer first and the cooperation of the international community is also needed.
Three scholars honored by World Forum on China Studies

By:Wu Qiong | From:english.eastday.com | 2021-10-19 14:52

Three scholars were honored by the ninth World Forum on China Studies which is running from October 18-19 in Shanghai.

The recipients of the Awards for Outstanding Contributions to China Studies include: Michael Loewe, academician of Clare College, University of Cambridge; Joseph W. Esherick, professor emeritus at the University of California, San Diego; and Ye Jiaying, director of the Institute of Chinese Classical Culture of Nankai University.

As a British sinologist, historian and writer, Michael Loewe has published dozens of monographs and papers in the fields of ancient Chinese language and ancient Chinese history. As he said, it has been many years since he started to cooperate with Chinese scholars, through which process, he fully appreciates their contributions to the study of the history of Chinese civilization, and it is their contribution that has greatly expanded the research on this topic. Both Eastern and Western scholars benefited a lot from these contributions, according to Michael Loewe.

Having studied Chinese history with John King Fairbank at Harvard University in the United States, Joseph W. Esherick has devoted his life to the study of modern Chinese social history, with particular focus to the history of social movements. He has published many well-received books on the Revolution of 1911, the Boxer Movement and the Ye family, which have all been translated into Chinese.

As an expert on Chinese ancient poetry and a poet, Ye Jiaying has been teaching Chinese classical poetry for the past four decades. In 2016, she set up the Jialing fund in Nankai University with an aim to support the research of Chinese traditional culture.
Boris TadicChina gives a broader picture of development options

From:english.eastday.com | 2021-10-19 18:33

Boris Tadic, former President of Serbia gave a video speech at the plenary meeting of the 9th World Forum on China Studies held on October 18.

The following are excerpts from Tadic's speech

When we talk about Chinas success, we can line-up and enumerate fascinating numbers and illustrations of Chinese achievements, but in my opinion, above all these figures it is important to point at the wider picture in which China is changing the whole world.

Giving a new meaning to the term modernisation, China is offering a role model to the whole world that has been stuck for a long time in the trap where the traditional Western meaning of modernisation does not respond to contemporary challenges anymore. In other words, regardless of the fact that modernisation as a theory, vision and practice has its origins in the West, I believe we are facing a revolution where it will be reborn and transformed in Chinese ideological and practical implementation.

Let us recall at this point, the thoughts of Confucius, who said that only great inequality is worse than poverty. And that is exactly why the time has come for a New Global doctrine of Harmonization, which is a precondition for sustainability and global peace, not just development.

While not denying the enormous contribution of Western civilization to the overall development of the world, we must bear in mind the terrible sufferings and problems that the same world faced during global and regional wars and the huge socio-economic differences resulting from neoliberal political philosophy and global order in which humanity still functions today.

Every country has the right to choose its own modernization path. The Chinese model of modernization offers a new option to other countries and nations who want to speed up their development while preserving their independence. It also offers Chinese wisdom and a Chinese approach to solving the problems facing humanity.
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After special legislation seeking to retire aldermen name passes

Members of City Council will now be known as councilors
PRESS RELEASE

12500 N.E. Tenth Place  Bellevue, WA 98005  JPFO.org  800-869-1884  info@jpfo.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  Oct 19, 2021  Contact: Floyd Neeland

Wokeness has a dark side

Inclusion sounds nice at first blush, but the truth is in the outcomes

The inalienable human right to protect yourself and your familyor even strangersfrom violent criminal attack is being systematically excluded from political and social scenes. Not only by gun-ban proposals, but legal obstacles and prosecutors who side with criminals instead of the innocent. And by failing to teach schoolkids about the value of arms, or the equitable laws of self-defense, society is becoming more dangerous and hardened vicious criminals are gaining an upper hand.

When police are not around for deterrence and protection, people must fend for themselves. It is one of the main reason this nation was founded with the right to keep and bear arms at its core. The public has known from the beginning, when the chips are down you must be self-reliant. The feminist movement used to trumpet this ideayour safety primarily depends on you. Expecting some "man" to come to your rescue is not only misogynist and offensive, it's not true. With trans-men now being admitted to women's schools and prisons, because it's "woke," rape is increasing where safety ought to be assured. So-called "inclusion" at that level is phony, with dire results.

Eight million new gun owners since 2020 attests to the fact that people are starting to overcome the offensive bias that says guns are a man thing, and women are simply too weak. More than half the newcomers are women. They are making life more dangerous for rapistsas it should be!

JPFO is leading an effort to make self-defense, protective laws more robust and inclusive. No woman, man or child should fear the legal system if they justifiably act in the democrat-inspired era of defund-police. Law must be on their side, from warning an approaching bad guy to the person's inevitable demise, cut down in the act of attempted rape, murder, kidnapping or other felony.

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Susan Judelle poses near a tree in the Union City Cemetery. Judelle has recently formed Friends of the Union City Cemetery, to help preserve the beauty and history of the cemetery. The group has begun a project to clean and repair many of the damaged gravestones.
The State Board of Education is crafting a new accountability system for Indiana schools that seeks to go beyond a single "A" through "F" letter grade by assigning additional grades to schools based on a variety of student performance measures.

The Republican-appointed panel last week gave unanimous approval to five student-centered characteristics around which the board plans to develop in the months ahead measurable indicators that eventually will go into determining the sub-grades for each school.

The characteristics are: academic mastery; career and postsecondary readiness; communication and collaboration; work ethic; and civic, financial and digital literacy.

A 2021 state law enacted by the Republican-controlled General Assembly requires standardized test scores remain the "primary and majority" means of assessing school improvement.

But the state school board believes rating schools using the additional characteristics, as permitted by the law, will more fully capture how effectively Indiana schools are preparing students for success after high school, whether at a job, in college, or military service.

"Expanding our focus on the development of skills and the disposition of students  and not just a single test score  is a move away from a perceived punitive system and toward one that is aspirational through the transparent display of multiple data points," said Jason Callahan, Indiana Department of Education (IDOE) assistant secretary of student pathways and opportunities.

Ron Sandlin, IDOE senior director of school performance and transformation, explained that once the measures are established and applied they'll be available to all Hoosiers on a new data dashboard known as the "Indiana Graduates Prepared to Succeed (GPS) Framework."

"We want to provide actionable information, and then buttress that with clear and concise programing, guidance and support to help activate communities to really rethink the educational opportunities that are provided to all of our students, and also elevate the great ones that are out there right now  because it is happening," Sandlin said.

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For example, Sandlin said under the Indiana GPS Framework digital literacy won't just be a yes-or-no measure of whether all students know how to write computer code.

Instead, it will aim to encourage schools to promote broad-based digital literacy so students long after graduating high school can successfully operate any computer system they encounter in a real-world environment with limited additional training required.

"It's about building competency around these things," Sandlin said.

Callahan said IDOE is working with state and local educational stakeholders to devise measures for each characteristic. He pledged that process will continue as the individual dashboard components are prepared by IDOE for approval by the state school board.

House Enrolled Act 1514 requires the Indiana GPS Framework go online no later than July 1, 2024.

In the meantime, Indiana school grades continue to be based on 2017-2018 ISTEP test scores after state lawmakers authorized repeated "hold harmless" protections due to the steep drop in standardized test scores following adoption of the new ILEARN test, as well as the educational disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Press Release

October 19, 2021 De Lima dispels spread of false information about her alleged disqualification from running for reelection; urges voters to be smart and vigilant Opposition Senator Leila M. de Lima fought back against the recent proliferation of fake news on social media falsely claiming that she is not qualified to seek reelection because of her detention. De Lima, the most prominent political prisoner under the Duterte regime who remains detained over bogus drug charges, maintained that she has all the qualifications for Senator as set forth in the 1987 Constitution. "Nakarating po sa akin na may ipinapakalat na naman na fake news ang mga bayarang trolls na ako daw ay hindi kwalipikado na tumakbo sa Halalan 2022 dahil nakakulong ako. Huwag po kayong maniwala," she said in a handwritten statement. "I have all the qualifications for Senator as set forth in the 1987 Constitution (Sec. 3, Art. VI) and none of the disqualifications provided under the law (Sec. 12 & Sec. 68, Omnibus Election Code)," she added. Most importantly, De Lima said she is allowed to seek reelection because "I have not been convicted, let alone by final judgment, of any criminal offense." De Lima urged the public to be smart and vigilant against fake news, stressing that the fake news claiming that she is not qualified to seek reelection is obviously part of disinformation campaign against her as she declared her candidacy. "Labanan ang mga kasinungalingan, lalo na ngayong election period. Let's be very discerning and vigilant," she said. In a separate statement addressing the Filipino public, De Lima added: "Let us always make it a habit to check the legitimacy or veracity of any pieces of information that we read online before believing them. Ngayong papalapit na ang eleksyon, asahan na ang paninira at pagpapakalat ng maling impormasyon ng mga gustong manatili sa poder at ng kanilang mga kasabwat para patuloy na pagtakpan ang kanilang kalokohan at nang hindi sila mapanagot sa hinaharap." De Lima filed her Certificate of Candidacy last Oct. 8, sharing that among the reasons she decided to seek reelection include her goal to further advance her five foremost advocacies, namely, Social Justice, Human Rights (which encompass the rights to food, health and decent standards of living), Criminal Justice Reform, Good Governance and Rule of Law, and National Sovereignty. The lady Senator from Bicol also said that she would hold Mr. Duterte and his lackeys accountable for the thousands of killings, corruption and other human rights abuses that ran rampant under his administration.
Press Release

October 19, 2021 Drilon: PITC to return P2-B unused funds to national coffers State-run Philippine International Trading Corp. (PITC) assured Senate Minority Leader Franklin M. Drilon that it will return about two billion of its funds to the Bureau of Treasury. Drilon got the assurance from Christabelle Ebriega, acting President and Chief Executive Officer of PITC, during the agency's budget hearing Monday that PITC will return P1.965 billion unused funds that were previously transferred by different government agencies within the month. Ebriega, a career official, took over as officer-in-charge of PITC upon the resignation of its former CEO, Dave Almarinez, who was grilled by Drilon last year for his agency's refusal to return billions of parked funds. Alminarez reportedly filed his certificate of candidacy for a local post. The minority leader welcomed the PITC's move "especially that every cent counts in the fight against COVID-19 pandemic that left thousands, if not millions, of Filipinos jobless and hungry." It was Drilon who exposed in 2020 the huge sum of funds parked in the PITC dating back as far as 2010. Following Drilon's expose, the trading firm has started to return unused and parked funds to the national coffers. Recently, it returned about P10.2 billion to augment the government's COVID-19 pandemic response. "Mayroon din pong use ang senado. When we exposed these shortcomings, the PITC remitted P10.20 billion and more are coming," he said. "We showed to some people in the executive branch na mayroon din nagagawang tama ang senado. Mayroon din namang nangyayari sa ginagawa natin." Drilon noticed that PITC had an accelerated return of the funds to the treasury in the past one year and a half, which coincides with the period when he made public the huge sums of money being parked in the PITC. "I think you have to admit that there were a lot of erroneous assumptions particularly on your obligations to remit dividends and return unused appropriation. Because of that, we were able to return about P10.20 billion," Drilon said. "It is when I said that PITC's holding onto these funds are not in accordance with the law. Records will show that it was in 2019 and 2020 when I started making noise that fund transfers were made," he added. Based on the PITC data, the PITC received a total of P50.7 billion funds from various government agencies from 2014 to 2020. Of which, P33 billion or 65% of that total amount constitutes government accounts, while the remaining P17 billion or 35% constitutes military accounts. In 2014 and 2015, the fund transfer to PITC only amounted to P1.10 billion and P3.01 billion, respectively, according to Drilon. It has started to grow exponentially since 2016 when it reached P6.49 billion and P11.21 billion in 2017, P14.89 billion in 2018, P9.66 billion in 2019, and P4.35 billion in 2020, he emphasized. Ebriega defended these huge transfers over the past years and cited PITC's aggressive marketing campaign to get different government agencies to transact with PITC. But the minority leader countered this, saying that agencies were using PITC to skirt procurement and accounting laws. Nevertheless, Ebriega said that the agency has started the funds transfers in 2019, especially for projects funded by the 2019 General Appropriations Act. She vowed to provide a report on unreturned funds to be remitted to the national treasury which amounts to P1.96 billion. Not only did the PITC return unused appropriation, Drilon's expose also forced PITC to accelerate the disbursement of funds worth of procurement. These funds have been parked in PITC accounts for years. "Because we called out this unconscionable act of parking funds, bumilis din po ang procurement," Drilon said.
Press Release

October 19, 2021 More help for farmers, fishers as oil and food prices surge: Pangilinan SENATOR Francis "Kiko" Pangilinan urges swift action from government to ease the impact of spiraling prices, pitching subsidies to the affected sectors, and steady assistance, especially in times of calamities. "Mabigat ang pasan-pasan ng mga Pilipino ngayon. Meron nang COVID, meron pang pagtaas ng presyo ng langis at pagkain," Pangilinan said. "Para magtagumpay laban sa COVID at gutom, kailangan ng mas steady na suporta para sa mga magsasaka at mangingisda laban sa mga pagsubok tulad bagyo at baha. Kailangan nila ng subsidies," he added. As of October 18, the Department of Agriculture reported at least P2.17 billion damage in agri-fishery in the Cordillera Administrative Region, Ilocos Region, Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon, Mimaropa, Bicol Region, Western Visayas, and Soccsksargen, affecting 76,442 farmers and fishers, with volume of production loss at 101,818 metric tons (MT) and 85,744 hectares of agricultural areas. DA said it had allotted an initial P822 million worth of various interventions to farmers and fisherfolk, including P650 million allocated for the provision of emergency loans to affected farmers and fishers. Each affected household can borrow P20,000, at zero interest, no collateral, and payable in 10 years. Aside from the loan, the DA has allotted P172 million under its Quick Response Fund (QRF) to rehabilitate affected areas in the three regions by providing hybrid and certified rice seeds, corn seeds, fertilizers, and livestock livelihood assistance (chicken, goat, and cattle), drugs and biologics, plus feeds. Pangilinan urged local agricultural offices to reach out to all affected farmers and fishers to make sure they receive the assistance. "Dapat lahat ng magsasaka at mangingisda ay makatanggap ng tulong. Di pa nga nakakabangon sa COVID at sa over-importation ng bigas, gulay, at baboy, binagyo pa at binaha," he said. Pangilinan said that the Sagip Saka law would also play a key role in helping farmers recover during calamities and shield consumers from high prices of vegetables and rice. The law, authored by Pangilinan, will provide assistance like agricultural extension services; skills development; provision of production inputs, equipment, and facilities; and infrastructure for production and post-production activities. It should also help improve farmers' and fisherfolk's access to credit grants, crop insurance, and new technologies. Another form of assistance is helping their trade grow by improving their access to markets. The law also orders all government entities to directly purchase agricultural and fisheries products from local farmer and fisherfolk enterprises. This has proven beneficial to both the farmers and consumers amid the pandemic as over 400 local government units purchased almost P3 billion in food supplies for their constituents directly from farmers' groups at a lower cost. "Kung sakto ang suporta sa mga magsasaka natin, magkakaroon sila ng kakayahang itago at sagipin ang kanilang ani at masiguro ang supply kahit may bagyo. Kung sapat ang supply, hindi tataas ang presyo," Pangilinan said.
Press Release

October 19, 2021 Zubiri Visits Albay to Inaugurate Coop Building, Donate Evacuation Tents, Meet Educ Assistance Beneficiaries On Monday, Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri met with the cooperative sector and educational assistance beneficiaries in the province of Albay, as he turned over projects and donations in the Municipality of Camalig and the City of Legazpi. Cooperatives Zubiri attended the inauguration and blessing of the Albay Provincial Cooperative Building in Camalig. Built through Zubiri's legislative amendments in the national budget, it is the first cooperative building in the province. The building will be available for the use of local cooperatives looking for a place to hold their meetings, trainings, seminars, and other activities. "Hindi niyo na po kailangang maghanap ng lugar sa labas. This building is completely yours to use," Zubiri said, addressing the cooperative sector representatives at the inauguration. He chairs the Senate Committee on Cooperatives. "Naniniwala po ako sa kakayahan ng coop sector na tulungan ang ating mga kababayan na umahon mula sa kahirapan. As I always say, cooperativism is about helping the Filipino help themselves. And with this building, I hope lalo pong lumakas ang coop movement dito sa Albay, para masmarami po tayong matulunganhindi lang mga miyembro ng koop, kundi pati rin po ang iba't ibang komunidad dito sa Albay." Apart from the Albay Provincial Cooperative Building, Zubiri also had an inspection of other projects in Legazpi City, including the Legazpi City Exhibition Center, also spearheaded through his institutional amendments in the national budget. Evacuation Tents Zubiri also turned over his donation of eight hundred units of evacuation tents to Albay. Gov. Al Francis Bichara received four hundred tents for the province, while Mayor Noel Rosal received another four hundred for Legazpi. The cube tents are ideal for evacuation sites, spacious enough to provide temporary shelter for an entire family. Zubiri made the donation along with friends from the Singapore-based Temasek Foundation. "We hope these tents will be useful in Albay's disaster management efforts, particularly in setting up proper evacuation sites for disaster-struck communities," he said. "Napakahalaga po ng maayos na evacuation sites lalo na ngayong pandemya, and these tents can hopefully help maintain a measure of social distance and protection for our evacuees." Social Assistance The Provincial Government of Albay and the Department of Social Welfare and Development distributed funds under the Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation (AICS) program to some two hundred beneficiaries at the Albay Astrodome in Legazpi. Zubiri had allotted one million pesos for Albay's AICS program. The assistance was marked as educational assistance, intended to supplement tuition fees and budget for school supplies and other school fees. "Napakahalaga po kasi na maituloy ang pag-aaral ng ating mga anak, kahit na po may pandemya," Zubiri said. "Naniniwala po talaga ako na edukasyon ang sagot sa kahirapan, kaya educational assistance po ang prayoridad nating maipamahagi ngayon. At sana po makatulong ito, para hindi matigil ang eduksayon ng ating mga anak." Zubiri also allotted five million pesos for the Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers (TUPAD) program of the Department of Labor and Employment in Albay. To date, the implementation of the TUPAD program in the province has benefited 877 individuals.
[October 18, 2021]

OpsGuru announced as an AWS Networking Competency Launch Partner

VANCOUVER, BC, Oct. 18, 2021 /CNW/ - Cloud consulting company, OpsGuru, a Carbon60 Company, announced that it has been recognized as an Amazon Web Services (AWS) Launch Networking Competency Partner . This achievement reflects OpsGuru's advanced technical validation, deep industry experience, and proven customer success in AWS Networking technologies and best practices.

"We are proud to be recognized as a launch partner of the AWS Networking Competency. This distinction validates our capabilities and expertise against AWS' high standards and highlights OpsGuru as a strategic AWS partner for our customers," said John Witte, President & CEO at Carbon60.

AWS Networking Competency Partners are Advanced APN Partners that provide network solutions to assist customers in adopting, developing, and deploying applications across Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud instances and additional AWS services.

As an AWS Advanced Partner, OpsGuru offers a set of specialized solutions that auto-scale, align with cloud design principles, and make it easier to use networking features in an Amazon Virtual Private Cloud. OpsGuru's solutions also offer a new way of routing traffic through private backbones and cloud cores, provide secure and convenient on-ramps into clouds, improve availability and enhance application experience, and provide visibility and control in cloud networking.

"Our team is dedicated to helping companies achieve their business transformation goals by leveraging the agility, breadth of services, and innovation that AWS provides. Typically the first complex step of AWS migrations, networking is key to securely unlocking the power of the AWS platform," said Dave Lindon, General Manager at OpsGuru.

What This Means for Customers

The AWS Networking Competency takes on the heavy lifting of identifying and validating OpsGuru's proven customer success and technical proficiency.

AWS Networking services help OpsGuru provide an improved digital customer experience by providing tools for network performance and monitoring.

About OpsGuru

Acquired by Carbon60, OpsGuru is the Canadian AWS Consulting Partner of the Year - specialized in Cloud Adoption , Application Modernization , Kubernetes Enablement , Managed Cloud Operations , Cloud Security and Data Analytics services. In addition to the AWS Networking Competency, OpsGuru holds the AWS DevOps Competency , the AWS Migration Competency , and the AWS SaaS Competenc y. OpsGuru provides customers with guidance in solutions like Networking, Big Data, DevOps, Migration, and IoT; in markets such as Financial Services, Retail, Mining, Public Sector, SaaS, and Digital Media; and with enterprise business applications like Microsoft Workloads and SAP. For more information, visit www.opsguru.io .

SOURCE OpsGuru, a Carbon60 Company
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a compilation of select statements in solidarity with the people of Afghanistan (aug-oct 2021)

SAAPE stands in solidarity with the people of Afghanistan

Statement on Afghanistan - The Network of Women in Media

Radical Socialist Statement on Afghanistan: A Double Tragedy

Indian Muslims must reject the Islamic Emirate in Afghanistan: IMSD

UN Expert - Protect Artists & Cultural Heritage after Taliban Takeover in Afghanistan

Statement: UN Women, calls on the Taliban leadership to include women in govt

Mobilise Indians & Pakistanis for Solidarity with people of Afghans - PIPFPD Statement

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SAAPE stands in solidarity with the people of Afghanistan

18 August by SAAPE

SAAPE extends its solidarity to women, men and children of Afghanistan who are once again at the toxic crossroads of war and violence, political instability and an uncertain future.

The return of the Taliban in the Afghanistan government is a setback for the progressive forces in the world, particularly for South Asia. We condemn the forcible takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban fighters. Their victory is not at all a sign of stability and peace but a perpetuation of the civil war. The establishment of another religious fanatic state in South Asia will promote religious sectarianism throughout the region and anti-peace measures will continue. We apprehend that a theocratic state that the Taliban intends to install will not only be disastrous for Afghanistan but also for its neighbours and beyond.

We as South Asians, committed to long-term just peace in the region, understand and empathise with our Afghan friends who have suffered over two decades of war, political crisis, economic destitution, total collapse of basic services such as clean water, basic public health care, safe housing and uninterrupted education. We stand in solidarity with Afghan women and girls who have regularly suffered due to the denial of womens right to education and right to work. We understand that they have suffered over and above the structural and well-entrenched barriers of patriarchy. The devastating multi-prong impact of the Covid-19 pandemic adds to the misery and gravity of the situation now facing women, girls and the Afghan people.

We call upon the South Asian governments to take a public and principled position in favour of the Afghan people and denounce any external interference in the name of peace and conflict resolution.

We demand that the UN and the international community take immediate and sincere efforts to resolve the political crisis which has brought tragic humanitarian devastation. Any such efforts must prioritise the Afghan peoples rights and dignity. Providing relief in the remote regions of Afghanistan has become urgent.

We urge the governments of South Asia and the neighbouring countries of Afghanistan to ensure safe passage and provide asylum to the fleeing refugees especially vulnerable families.

We condemn the proxy war that has escalated around Afghanistan involving regional and global powers as it contributes to the exacerbation of humanitarian crisis and vulnerability.

We condemn imperialist or other foreign invasions and occupations that that has played a huge role in fomenting the current crisis. We denounce the widespread corruption and misgovernance or the lack of governance in Afghanistan that has created this kind of situation and perhaps, have legitimised the Taliban actions.

We are concerned about the South Asian regional inter-governmental mechanism, South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) being a mute spectator and not having any role to address this regional issue of major significance. We urge the governments of South Asia to review their positions and find avenues for revitalising the SAARC to ensure peoples dignity and sovereignty in the region.

On behalf of SAAPE members

Netra Timsina

Regional Coordinator

August 17, 2021

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Statement on Afghanistan - The Network of Women in Media

August 17, 2021

The Network of Women in Media, India stands in solidarity with journalists and all other beleaguered civilians in Afghanistan, especially women, as the situation rapidly deteriorates amidst the Taliban take-over of the country. We urge the Indian government to extend all possible support to vulnerable civilians and journalists, particularly women journalists, in Afghanistan.

Women journalists that the NWMI has been in contact with are bearing witness to the utter chaos, terror and uncertainty as the nightmare of a brutal Taliban reign becomes a reality, pushing back decades of hard-won progress for women and girls, upon whom the Taliban has meted out particularly horrific treatment merely on account of their gender.

The period 2020-21 has been one of the deadliest for journalists in Afghanistan. According to the IFJ South Asia Press Freedom Report, from May 2020 to April 2021, eight journalists (four of them women) were killed, 20 were wounded and some imprisoned. At least 100 resigned from the industry and 50 were forced to flee beyond its borders. Such violence and a declining security situation represent a serious counter threat to the achievements of the last two decades in the field of freedom of expression and a free press in Afghanistan, says the report. At least one female journalist has been killed since the report came out.

The voices of women journalists in Afghanistan tell of extreme precarity and risk:

 Things are horrible and will get worse. If you dont have money, you can do nothing to save your life.

 We are living in a very risky situation and day by day we lose hope. We are concerned about our safety but also the loss of our achievements. I am not afraid of killing and death but afraid of their (the Taliban) cruel behaviour. I am really afraid for the young women journalists live in the provinces. They are under pressure from this trauma and cannot escape.

 The situation is very bad and we are in danger. Our radio station is not working right now because the Taliban attacked and ruined my radio station I really love my work and my country but I need to find safety for myself and my family, at least for a few months. I hope the international community will get us to better and safe living.

 Last week, I was a news journalist. Today, I cant even write under my own name or say where I am from or where I am. My whole life has been obliterated in just a few days.

 I want to come to India by unfortunately the visa became closed. I need financial help. I really love my work and my country but my family and life is also important.Automatic word wrap

 Kabul is captured by the Taliban. We are really worried and concerned about the safety of all women journalists. I hope we have Internet connection and access. Pray for us. We fight and give sacrifice for nothing.

 The biggest help is to facilitate visas for journalists to safer countries to keep us alive and hear our voice against injustice and violations.

The NWMI urges the Government of India to immediately facilitate visas for Afghan journalists, especially women journalists, and their families, especially elderly dependents and minor children. Such evacuation must be without any discrimination whatsoever, especially any based on religion or ethnicity.

We hope that the Government of India, as well as Indian civil society and journalists bodies will arrange for the evacuees accommodation and sustenance in India during this catastrophic crisis.

The Network of Women in Media, India

17 August 2021

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Radical Socialist Statement on Afghanistan: A Double Tragedy [Aug 18, 2021]

We mourn with the Afghan people their double tragedy. The first tragedy---the USs illegal and utterly unjustified military invasion twenty years ago---helped prepare the ground for todays tragedy, the accession to power of the Islamo-fanatical Taliban. Condemnation of the latter must not mean any softening of the criticism of US and Western imperialism or in shedding tears at its departure from the country. The single most important democratic advance in the whole of the second half of the 20th century was the end of foreign colonial and imperialist rule even where this unfortunately resulted in the emergence of indigenous dictatorships. In a world where peoples are constituted as belonging to separate and multiple states, the fundamental moral-political principle to uphold (minus the rarest of exceptional cases) is respecting the freedom of agency of a people to overthrow their own tyrants. This is why it was the responsibility of Indians to overthrow British rule, of Indonesians the Dutch, of South Africans against Apartheid, and so on. Calling for external help of all kinds, even military aid, was one thing; calling for external military liberation, No!

In the 1978 Saur Revolution a secular and reform-minded pro-Soviet Communist party, the PDPA (Peoples Democratic Party of Afghanistan) came to power but was bedevilled by internal armed faction-fighting and had no real social base beyond Kabul. The Soviet invasion in 1979 to support this government was morally unjustified and condemnable while politically disastrous, handing over as it did the mantle of popular nationalist struggle against the foreign invader, to a host of ethno-tribal Islamist groups including Al Qaeda and Taliban. The primary military aiders, equippers and trainers of these were the US, its British/French allies along with Pakistan. The Soviets finally withdrew in 1989 with its factotum government collapsing three years later amidst a civil war waged by the various Islamists until the Taliban capturing 90% of the territory established its dominance in 1996.

In 2001 the US government deliberately refused to characterise the assault on Twin Towers and Pentagon as what it was, namely an international crime against humanity. For that would have meant going after the criminals and their network only. Instead, by declaring a Global War on Terror and claiming that no distinction would be made between the guilt of the perpetrators and that of the governments of countries which the US declared to be housing terrorists---the way was cleared for the US to transform a conflict between itself and a non-state network into one against any number of countries in West and Central Asia in keeping with its wider geo-political ambitions of achieving global dominance. In the new millennium Afghanistan was the first of many to suffer such military assaults. The US foreign policy establishment had already identified China, Iran and Russia as the ones to watch out for and were accordingly well aware that Afghanistan, apart from Pakistan, abuts Iran, China and pro-Russia Central Asian Republics, the latter also a region having large relatively untapped sources of oil and gas.

In these 20 years the US military and its puppet regimes (themselves corrupt and internally fractious) have carried out massive bombings (daisy cutters, cluster bombs), drone attacks (extending into Pakistan) and brutal and indiscriminate search and destroy missions against unknown insurgents and their families. US deaths (soldiers and contractors) have been around 6500. In contrast, by extremely conservative estimates, total Afghan deaths up to the end of 2019 (government soldiers/police, opposition fighters, civilians) were around 160,000. Other sources which try to take account of unreported deaths have estimates of civilian casualties alone running from a few hundred thousand to over a million in an overall population between 35-40 million. Four million Afghans have been internally displaced with another 2.7 million external refugees. As of now around 48% are below the national poverty line. Some progressive laws and reforms have taken place but they no more justify US presence and rule than the fact of the British building hospitals, schools and introducing some legislatures, elections and limited franchise would have justified the persistence of colonial rule in India.

That the 300,000 plus official Afghan forces (soldiers, police, special militias) numbering 5 to 6 times more than Taliban fighters and also equipped with the most advanced arsenal of weapons and having full mechanical control of airspace should have so dramatically collapsed, indicates that the Taliban did have a measure of ground support and public acquiescence (no doubt considerably fear-induced) beyond its predominantly Pushtun base. However, it is strongly hostile to the Persian-speaking Tajiks who make up 27% of the population as compared to the 42% of Pushtuns which means there is every reason to fear serious internal repression and even a possible civil war type situation in the future. Taliban may or may not have learnt something from its past international isolation and avoid some forms of social and civic repression. But given its history and social/civic programme of religious sectarianism, anti-democratic, anti-women measures---it has declared it will impose Sharia Law---there is every reason to oppose it forthrightly and without equivocation.

Governments everywhere including Indias, will shed crocodile tears for the Afghan people, but are in fact (accompanied by respective bus loads of strategic experts) only motivated by the crude and amoral considerations of realpolitik. Claiming to pursue the national interest---standardised subterfuge for the actual pursuit of ruling class interests that these different states actually represent---they will decide whether or when to establish diplomatic relations of some kind with the new Taliban government; or else to join hands with other self-serving major powers and their cohorts be these the Western Alliance or the possible front of Russia, China and Pakistan that looks more favourably at the new dispensation in Afghanistan. No Afghan government has ever accepted the Durand line and the Taliban with even stronger sympathies with Pushtuni nationalism is not as beholden to Pakistan as the Islamophobic Modi government (some of whose Hindutva prescriptions are as debased as those of radical Islam) would like to make out for the purpose of whipping up anti-Pakistan sentiment domestically which then pays dividends for deepening repression in Kashmir.

It is the good of the Afghan people not our supposed national interest that must be our point of departure for reflecting on what we must support and oppose. There should be no economic sanctions against Afghanistan. These hurt the people much more than the elites that govern. Humanitarian aid on an appropriate scale routed through progressive international and civil society organisations to this war-torn country is a must. No recognition to the Taliban regime while political, diplomatic and cultural pressures of various kinds (but not military) can play a role in pushing it to be less repressive in its laws and actions against women and ethnic and religious minorities. A basic test for the West and many other countries will come with regard to the posture they adopt towards the flow of Afghan refugees now and afterwards. There should be no restriction to those seeking refuge or asylum and adequate provision be made for them to stay or relocate to where they can. This holds for India as well. Even before the advent of Modi, India was and remains a non-party to the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol which among other things rejects refoulement (forcible return of refugees to their places of displacement/persecution). This Modi government has carried this out to a number of Rohingyas simply because they are Muslims. This hostility to Muslims and Islam is also reflected in the Citizenship Amendment Act applicable to Afghanistan. While New Delhi may in current circumstances allow for selective refugee influx this is not enough. Free flow must be allowed even as there can be discussion among neighbouring states for sharing the responsibility. Moreover, those Afghans, students and otherwise who are already in the country and wish to remain must have their visas extended until such time as they feel confident of returning back or they can in due course apply for Indian citizenship.

NO TO IMPERIALISM, NO TO THE TALIBAN

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Indian Muslims for Secular Democracy (IMSD)

August 23, 2021

Press release:

Indian Muslims must reject the Islamic Emirate in Afghanistan: IMSD

Indian Muslims for Secular Democracy (IMSD) rejects the very idea of a theocratic state anywhere in the world. It therefore questions the legitimacy of the Islamic Emirate the Taliban seek to impose on the war-torn, war-weary people of Afghanistan who are yearning for peace.

We are deeply disturbed by the euphoria evident among a section of Indian Muslims, including religious leaders such as the office bearers of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, Maulana Umrain Mahfuz Rahmani and Maulana Sajjad Nomani, and the Jamaat-e-Islami-Hind, over the Talibans capture of power.

It is nothing but sheer opportunism and hypocrisy to stand in support of a secular state in a country like India where Muslims are in a minority and applaud the imposition of Shariah rule wherever they are in a majority. Such rank double-standard gives legitimacy to the sangh parivars agenda for a Hindu Rashtra.

IMSD respects the views of the growing tribe of Islamic scholars, religious leaders and Muslim intellectuals across the globe who argue that the very notion of an Islamic state is antithetical to the core teachings of Islam. According to them, the core values of Islam are not in conflict with the basic principles of a secular-democratic state and religious pluralism.

IMSD stands in solidarity with the beleaguered millions of Afghan women and men who for too long have been trapped between the corrupt-to-the-core puppet governments propped up by the occupying American and Nato forces and the regressive Taliban who during their earlier rule had trampled over the most basic rights and freedoms of the people of Afghanistan.

It is one thing to welcome the ouster of the occupiers and the overthrow of their puppets, quite another to celebrate the return to power of those who with their barbaric version of Islam have contributed in no small measure to the demonization of Muslims and their faith across the globe.

Some leaders of the Taliban have been making appropriate noises about general amnesty, press freedom and womens rights even as other leaders are asserting that it will be Shariah law and not democracy in Afghanistan. However, heart-wrenching images of panic-stricken women, men and children being broadcast across the world, and news reports of house-to-house hunt for journalists and dissenters tell their own story.

We call on the global community to launch a 24/7 Afghanistan Watch to mount decisive pressure on the Taliban to ensure and show to the world that, unlike their earlier brutal rule which had turned Afghanistan into a veritable hell on earth especially for the women, this time they will respect the liberties and rights of all its women, men and children.

Meanwhile, IMSD calls upon the democratic world in general and the US in particular to open its borders to Afghans who are forced to flee from their country. It calls upon the BJP-led Indian government to immediately sign the 1951 United Nations Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol and act in consonance to that convention. India must open its doors to all Afghan refugees, irrespective of religion.

Signatories to the statementAutomatic word wrap

(Includes IMSD members and others who support this statement)

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Heed the warning from UN Expert - Protect Artists and Cultural Heritage following Taliban Takeover in Afghanistan

GENEVA (17 August 2021) A UN human rights expert today warned of a "cultural disaster" in Afghanistan after Kabul fell to Taliban forces, and urged States to provide urgent assistance to human rights defenders, including those working on womens and cultural rights, as well as artists, trying to flee the country.

[ . . . ]

http://www.sacw.net/article14724.html

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unwomen.org

Statement: Pramila Patten, Executive Director a.i of UN Women, calls on the Taliban leadership to include women in the upcoming governance entity

Date: Tuesday, August 31, 2021

"I take note of the public commitments made by the Talibans spokesperson to uphold womens rights within the framework of Islam, including womens right to work, to pursue higher education and to have an active role in society, as well as the right of girls to attend school. The immediate inclusion of women in the governance structure of the new leadership in Afghanistan will be the ultimate litmus test for the Taliban," stated Ms. Patten.

The full and complete development of Afghanistan and the cause of peace require the equal and meaningful participation of women in all fields including public and political life. Womens full participation is essential not only for their empowerment but also for the advancement of society as a whole. The Taliban leadership must take bold steps to fully include women in decision-making at all levels, both nationally and internationally, so that they may continue to make their contribution to the goals of equality, development and peace.

The supreme law of Afghanistan, its Constitution adopted in 2004, includes clear provisions on the equal rights of all citizens including womens participation in the political life of the country. Afghanistan also ratified, without reservation, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and adopted, in 2015, a National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security to ensure the full implementation of Security Council resolution 1325. These commitments are binding and must be acted upon immediately.

"As Afghanistan embarks on building a new future, I call on the Taliban leadership to: (1) reaffirm their commitment to comply with constitutional provisions and international treaties which guarantee equality to all citizens; (2) guarantee the full and equal participation of women in the political and decision-making processes; (3) ensure women are protected from gender-based threats and attacks, which violate their rights and impede their effective participation; and (4) reaffirm the aim of achieving broad representation in public life, by ensuring women have full equality in the exercise of political and economic power," said Ms. Patten.

"Further to the United Nations Security Council resolution adopted yesterday, 30 August, reaffirming the importance of upholding human rights, including the rights of women, and encouraging all parties to seek an inclusive, negotiated political settlement that ensures the full, equal and meaningful representation of women, I call on the international community to sustain its attention and action to ensure womens rights are non-negotiable," added Ms. Patten.

Afghan womens rights activists have fought for their rights and have made considerable progress. These hard-won gains cannot be reversed or rolled back. The inclusion of women in the governance architecture will be the litmus test for the new political leadership of Afghanistan. Urgent action is needed now to ensure the full participation of women in the public and political life of Afghanistan.

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Mobilise Indians and Pakistanis to Stand in Solidarity with people of Afghanistan - PIPFPD Joint Statement released on 19th October 2021

Afghanistan continuing political social and economic crisis - the deepening humanitarian catastrophe was at the core of the urgent concerns that motivated a host of civil society and human rights advocates to join the PakistanIndia Peoples Forum for Peace and Democracy (PIPFPD) in a singular online conversation that went beyond state narratives of security and competitive national interests, to surface civil society perspectives of Afghan peoples struggles. PIPFPD, one of the oldest civil society movements with members from Pakistan and India hoped to mobilise collective cross border strategies for action.

http://www.sacw.net/article14762.html
by Mridula Mukherjee, Aditya Mukherjee, Sucheta Mahajan

The Indian Express, 13 October 2021, tells us that Shri Rajnath Singh, the Indian Defence Minister, has claimed that A lot of falsehood was spread against Savarkar. It was repeatedly said that he filed multiple mercy petitions before the British government. The truth is he did not file these petitions for his release. Generally a prisoner has right to file a mercy petition. Mahatma Gandhi had asked that you file a mercy petition. It was on Gandhis suggestion that he filed a mercy petition. And Mahatma Gandhi had appealed that Savarkar ji should be released. He had said the way we are running movement for freedom peacefully, so would Savarkar.. He also said that You can have differences of opinion, but to see him condescendingly is not right. The act of demeaning his national contribution will not be tolerated. (Note the threat. Setting up Godse temples and hero worshipping him can be tolerated but no criticism of Savarkar!)

What are the facts?

Rajnath Singhs statement is presumably based on documents pertaining to the year 1920: a letter from ND Savarkar, brother of VD Savarkar and Ganesh Savarkar, to Gandhiji, Gandhijis reply, and an article in Young India by Gandhiji.

The facts are somewhat at variance with the claim made by Rajnath Singh. The first mercy petition was filed nine years earlier by Vinayak Damodar Savarkar in 1911 itself, within six months of his conviction, and numerous other petitions followed in subsequent years, without any evidence or claim of it being at Gandhijis suggestion! To quote from one such petition, submitted personally to the Home Member, Sir Reginald Craddock, when he visited the Andamans jail in 1913, for his release, offering to be loyal to the British Government:

If the Government in their manifold beneficence and mercy release me, I for one cannot but be the strongest advocate of constitutional progress and loyalty to the English government which is the foremost condition of that progress. I am ready to serve the Government in any capacity they like, for as my conversion is conscientious so I hope my future conduct would be. The Mighty alone can afford to be merciful and therefore where else can the prodigal son return but to the parental doors of the Government?

Further, as testified by GS Khoparde, a Savarkar supporters question in the Imperial Legislative Council on March 22, 1920, Mr Savarkar and his brother had once in 1915 and at another time in 1918 submitted petitions to Government stating that they would, during the continuance of war, serve the Empire by enlisting in the Army, if released, and would, after the passing of the Reforms Bill, try to make the Act a success and would stand by law and order". In his reply, the Home Member, Sir William Vincent, confirmed that : "Two petitions were received from Vinayak Damodar Savarkar - one in 1914 and another in 1917, through the Superintendent, Port Blair. In the former he offered his services to Government during the war in any capacity and prayed that a general amnesty be granted to all political prisoners. The second petition was confined to the latter proposal.

Thus, it is very clear that Savarkar had submitted numerous petitions between 1911 and 1920, without any advice or prompting from Gandhi,. offering loyalty to the British government, and expressing his willingness to serve them in any capacity. Therefore the Defence Ministers statement that Savarkar did not file mercy petitions but did so only on the advice of the Mahatma is not borne out by the actual historical record.

So where does Gandhiji come into the story? Only in 1920, when N D Savarkar, the younger brother of the two Savarkar brothers who were in jail, wrote to Gandhiji seeking his advice, when he found that the list of prisoners being released under the Royal Proclamation of Clemency by the British did not include the names of the brothers. Gandhiji replied saying it was difficult to give advice but suggested that he might draft a brief petition. In addition, he wrote an article in Young India on 26 May 1920, titled Savarkar Brothers, where he refers to the Royal Proclamation of Clemency and notes that while many other political prisoners had been released under this but the Savarkar brothers were not.

He says Both the brothers have declared their political opinions and both have stated that they do not entertain any revolutionary ideas and that if they were set free they would like to work under the Reform Act (Government of India Act of 1919) They both state unequivocally that they do not desire independence from the British connection. On the contrary they feel that Indias destiny can be best worked out in association with the British.

It is to be noted that nowhere in Gandhijis article is there an appeal for Savarkars release, as stated by the Defence minister. Mahatma Gandhi had appealed that Savarkar ji should be released. Gandhiji questions the government decision not to release them as they appear to pose no danger to public safety or danger to the state, but does not appeal to the British. Nor does Gandhiji anywhere say in his article, as claimed by the Defence minister, that the way we are running movement for freedom peacefully, so would Savarkar. On the contrary, Gandhiji is emphasizing that the Savarkar brothers do not want independence, and want to work under the Reform Act.

There is a strange irony in this entire episode. That Mahatma Gandhi is being roped in to establish Savarkars nationalist credentials, that too on such flimsy grounds! The attempt is to create a picture in the public mind that Gandhiji and Savarkar had a close relationship, to the extent that the latter took Gandhijis advice on such crucial issues as mercy petitions and that Gandhiji appealed for his release. It is a clear attempt to try and normalise Savarkars begging for mercy when numerous other nationalists refused to do so and Gandhiji even demanded the severest punishment for himself.

What are the facts, which we are expected to forget?

In January 1948, when Gandhi was assassinated, Savarkar was arrested as he was suspected of being the mastermind behind the conspiracy. Sardar Patel, who was overseeing the whole case as the Home Minister, being a fine criminal lawyer, was personally convinced of Savarkars guilt, otherwise he would not have agreed to put him up for trial. He told the Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, in unambiguous terms, It was a fanatical wing of the Hindu Mahasabha directly under Savarkar that [hatched] the conspiracy and saw it through. (Durga Das, Sardar Patel Correspondence, 194550, Vol. VI, p. 56.)

In response to the Hindu Mahasabhas disclaimer, Patel wrote to Shyama Prasad Mookerjee, the Hindu Mahasabha leader, on 6 May 1948:

we cannot shut our eyes to the fact that an appreciable number of the members of the Mahasabha gloated over the tragedy and distributed sweets. Further, militant communalism, which was preached until only a few months ago by many spokesmen of the Mahasabha, including men like Mahant Digbijoy Nath, Prof. Ram Singh and Deshpande, could not but be regarded as a danger to public security. The same would apply to the RSS, with the additional danger inherent in an organization run in secret on military or semi-military lines. (Sardar Patel Correspondence, Vol. VI, p. 66.)

Patel further pointed out to Shyama Prasad Mookerjee, The activities of the RSS constituted a clear threat to the existence of Government and the state. (18 July 1948, Sardar Patel Correspondence, Vol. 6, p. 323.)

The Chief Minister of Bombay, B.G. Kher, explained the political situation in Maharashtra to Patel, The atmosphere of hatred against the Congress and Mahatma sought to be created by the Hindu Mahasabha culminated in the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi at the hands of a few Maharashtrians. B.G. Kher to Patel, 26 May 1948, ibid., Vol. VI, pp. 7778.)

Savarkar was eventually not convicted in the Gandhi Murder Trial due to a technical point of criminal law: for lack of independent evidence to corroborate the testimony of the approver.

However, the Commission of Inquiry set up in 1965 under Justice Jiwan Lal Kapoor, a former judge of the Supreme Court of India, got access to a lot of evidence which was not available to the trial judge. Two of Savarkars close associates, A.P. Kasar and G.V. Damle, who had not testified at the trial, spoke up before the Kapur Commision, now that Savarkar was dead, and corroborated the approvers statements. It is possible that If they had testified at the trial, Savarkar would have been proven guilty. In fact, the Kapur Commission came to a conclusion very similar to that of Sardar Patel: All these facts taken together were destructive of any theory other than the conspiracy to murder by Savarkar and his group.( Report of Commission of Inquiry into Conspiracy to Murder Mahatma Gandhi, 1970, p.303, para 25.106.)

Immediately after Gandhijis assassination, the Government of India, with Sardar Patel as Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister, banned the RSS and put some 25,000 of its members in jail. The Hindu Mahasabha chose to dissolve itself when confronted with a ban. Tainted by its link with Gandhijis murder, the Hindu Mahasabha beat a tactical retreat and Shyama Prasad Mookerjee, its main leader, founded the Bharatiya Jan Sangh in 1951. This was to be the main political vehicle of Hindu communal articulation from then onwards, its frontline political party, till it merged into the Janata Party after the Emergency and then was replaced by the BJP.

It is indeed ironic that the political forces who lay claim to being the most ardent nationalists today played no role at all when the actual struggle for Indias freedom was being fought. Savarkar, after his release from prison in 1924, never took part in any anti-British politics. In fact, he was the originator of the theory of Hindutva, which defined authentic Indians as those whose fatherland and holy lands, pitribhumi and punyabhumi , were in India, thereby excluding Muslims and Christians, whose holy lands were outside India, from the fold. The Hindu Mahasabha also became increasingly loyalist in the 1930s and 1940s. Though the loyalist tendency was there earlier, initially some of its leaders participated in Congress-led movements. But from 1937 onwards, when Savarkar became the President and undisputed leader, they joined the Muslim League in competing for the crumbs thrown from the Imperial table. The outbreak of the Second World War brought the differences with the nationalist forces out into the open. While the Congress provincial ministries resigned in protest against the British Governments decision to make India a party to the War without her consent, Hindu Mahasabha leaders offered cooperation to the British, and advocated that Indians participate in the war-effort and join the Army. Savarkar, as President of the Mahasabha, appealed to Hindus to participate in all war-efforts of the British Government and not to listen to some fools who condemn this policy as cooperation with Imperialism.( Savarkar, Hindu Rashtra Darshan, pp. 203ff.)

In private, Savarkar told the Viceroy in October 1939 that the Hindus and the British should be friends and made an offer that the Hindu Mahasabha would replace the Congress if the Congress ministries resigned from office.( Linlithgow, Viceroy, to Zetland, Secretary of State, 7 October 1939, Zetland Papers, Volume 18, Reel No. 6.)

In accordance with this pro-British policy, when the Quit India movement was going on in 1942, and the entire nationalist Congress leadership including Gandhiji was in jail, Shyama Prasad Mookerjee of the Hindu Mahasabha was a minister in the Fazlul Haq Ministry in Bengal. The Hindu Mahasabha also formed coalition governments with the Muslim League in Sind and the NWFP. It is another matter that all this loyalism could not get them electoral success and they suffered a rout in the 1946 elections!

The RSS too, as an organisation did not participate in any of the major battles for freedom from colonial rule. The RSS was founded in 1925, and apart from the Simon Commission Boycott in 1928, at least two major movements, the Civil Disobedience Movement of 193034 and the Quit India Movement of 1942 were launched by the Congress after that date. In none of these did the RSS play any part. Hedgewar, the founder of the RSS did go to jail in his individual capacity in 1930, but he kept the organisation and its members away from the Civil Disobedience movement. The government was very clear that it had nothing to fear from the RSS. A Home Department note on the RSS reported that, At meetings of the Sangh during the Congress disturbances (1942), speakers urged the members to keep aloof from the Congress movement and these instructions were generally observed.

It is of course legitimate to ask why there was a silence on Savarkar in the RSS and Jan Sangh-BJP camp for over four or five decades after Gandhijis murder. Was it because it was politically suicidal to mention Savarkar as he was associated in the public mind with Gandhijis murder, and now that much time had lapsed, it could be assumed that public memory was short and Savarkar could now be resurrected? Also, with the new public emphasis on Hindutva as part of the new aggressive phase, it was difficult to ignore the original creator of the concept. Further, for a party claiming to be nationalist, it is a little embarrassing not to have any freedom fighters to show. Therefore, in a desperate effort to discover nationalist icons, Savarkar was sought to be cast in that mould.

A nationalist veil is drawn over Savarkars communalism by remembering him as Krantiveer, the Andamans revolutionary. That Savarkar shamed the revolutionaries by repeatedly asking for pardon in the Andamans and that he never took part in any nationalist activity after his release as he had promised to the British government, was sought to be forgotten. And in 2003, when the BJP-led NDA government was in power, despite considerable opposition, Savarkars portrait was installed in the parliament. One would imagine that even if there is a whiff of suspicion about Savarkar this should not have happened. And now the latest: an effort to legitimize Savarkar by normalizing his embarassing mercy petitions as being sanctioned by the Mahatma! The aim is also to project a close and friendly relationship between the two, and thus hide the fact that they had nothing in common. Savarkar as the ideologue of Hindutva and leader of the Hindu Mahasabha was a consistent and vehement critic of Gandhiji, especially of his non-violence and inclusive attitude towards the Muslims. There could not be a sharper contrast between their formulations of who India belongs to. Savarkar clearly says that India must be a Hindu land, reserved for the Hindus. He unambiguously asserts that Hindus should be masters in our own house, Hindusthan, the land of the Hindus. (Hindu Rashtra Darshan, pp 92, 63). Gandhiji, on the other hand, in his famous speech in Bombay in August 1942 where he gave the call for Quit India, declared unequivocally: Those Hindus who, like Dr. Moonje and Shri Savarkar, believe in the doctrine of the sword may seek to keep the Mussalmans under Hindu domination. I do not represent that section. I represent the Congress. The Congress does not believe in the domination of any group or any community. It believes in democracy which includes in its orbit Muslims, Hindus, Christians, Parsis, Jewsevery one of the communities inhabiting this vast country.Millions of Mussalmans in this country come from Hindu stock. How can their homeland be any other than India?

One cannot help thinking what a contrast there is between Savarkar and his men, and revolutionaries like Bhagat Singh who prided themselves on never asking for clemency, choosing to suffer all punishment, including death. In fact from the very early days Indian nationalists had evolved the practice of bravely accepting responsibility for committing anti-British acts, face trials, using the trials for further propagation of nationalist goals and then willingly accept imprisonment, exile or even death as punishment.

It is pertinent to note that Savarkars habit of petitioning the government for release from internment and making offers of good behaviour did not end with his release from British jails in 1924. Within three weeks of his arrest in connection with Gandhijis murder, on 22 February 1948, he made a representation to the Police Commissioner from Arthur Road Prison expressing his willingness to give an undertaking to the Government that  [he would] refrain from taking part in any communal or political public activity for any period the Government may require in case I am released on that condition. Even the most brilliant advocate would find it difficult to prove that this too was on Gandhijis advice, unless of course so strong was the bond between the two that the atheist Savarkar could claim communion with Gandhijis spirit!

To be carried by the Peoples Democracy in its forthcoming issue of (October 18-24)]
PakistanIndia Peoples Forum for Peace and Democracy (PIPFPD)

Afghanistan continuing political social and economic crisis - the deepening humanitarian catastrophe was at the core of the urgent concerns that motivated a host of civil society and human rights advocates to join the PakistanIndia Peoples Forum for Peace and Democracy (PIPFPD) in a singular online conversation that went beyond state narratives of security and competitive national interests, to surface civil society perspectives of Afghan peoples struggles. PIPFPD, one of the oldest civil society movements with members from Pakistan and India hoped to mobilise collective cross border strategies for action.

What captured the imagination of the 115 persons drawn to the webinar on The Afghanistan Crisis and The Region on Oct 4, 2021, was the passionate and extremely grim and defiant accounts by three tall Afghan women: Mahbouba Seraj in Kabul, and Judge Najla Ayoubi and Huma Shafi in exile. They spoke of a complete collapse of governance and voiced anger and foreboding at Afghanistans ill-intentioned neighbours (including non-regional US) that were waiting to rip the country apart.

No less compelling were the disturbing implications of the fall out of the Afghanistan crisis, especially in Pakistan but also in the extended region spanning Iran and Tajikistan. The unacknowledged Afghan refugees streaming across Pakistans fenced border was the most visible aspect of this spillover, PIPFPD co-chair, the film-maker and rights advocate Tapan Bose stated. But less obvious and more threatening to peoples security, as lawyer and rights activist from Lahore, Hina Jilani emphasized was that the crisis was exacerbating existing authoritarian trends, reinforcing the fusion of religion and politics, emboldening extremists calling for Sharia law in Pakistan since it was a land created in the name of Islam. Significantly, former Pakistan Senator and rights activist Afrasiab Khattak saw a break in the darkening clouds. In Pakistan Punjab, even as triumphal voices celebrated the goal of securing strategic depth in Afghanistan, there were fears of the armys adventurism going wrong.

Overwhelming was the overhang of the imminent humanitarian disaster facing Afghanistans 34 million people as winter approached. Already, they were struggling against drought, the snapping of all assistance, empty government coffers as access blocked to Afghanistans $9.5 bn central bank assets, tens of thousands displaced from homes, without shelter food medicines or money.

The extreme nature of the crisis situation made Afghan womans rights advocate Mahbouba Seraj outraged at the Talibans lack of any sense of urgency to halt the collapse. No one knows who to go to  who has authority... Taliban doesnt believe in hierarchy. We dont know who is ruling.. Extreme statements are made and then acted upon about erasing two decades of education, and professionalism. There is no government, especially outside Kabul. No trucks are moving, no goods are coming, banks are not working, I cant even draw out my own money. We are looking at millions facing starvation. When frontline womens rights advocates were fleeing to the airport, Mahbouba Seraj (73yrs) was determined to stay on and fight determinedly hoping that the Taliban would talk to her, to the women of Afghanistan. Nobody is able or capable of talking to the Taliban. Afghanistans proud free media is silenced. Plaintively she appealed to the Taliban to listen to the people, to talk to people like her. The problem was less about what the Taliban represented, and more about the chaos of an absent government. Questions such as holding back on recognition of the Taliban as the only means of leverage seemed secondary to the immediate need - humanitarian assistance.

Politician and rights activist Afrasiab Khattak, took a long view of the Taliban forces. In the 1990s young Talibs burst onto the Afghanistan war-scape of fighting warlords, claiming no interest in power. The Taliban today is different. They have been systematically brainwashed in the 36,000 religious seminaries of Pakistan, to displace their Afghan identity with an exclusivist Islamist, not Afghan identity. Pakistan generals are deeply invested in this military-ideological project of creating strategic depth, it is next only to the prestigious nuclear programme.

However, as Mabouba Jan emphasized, Afghanistan of today too is different. The last two decades, despite corrupt and crony governments, have seen the growth of modernized urban centres, the spread of university graduates and professional women and men. Resentment over the closure of schools, colleges and universities, ban on girls accessing educational institutions, severe clamp down on the media and restrictions on movement have brought people, particularly women out on the streets in protest.

.Afghanistan has become the centre of the New Great Game. We feel like a cow, surrounded by butchers with sharp knives, waiting to cut out a piece of body, she stated, appealing to neighbouring powers to not fight their battles in Afghanistan. While China, Russia, Iran and Pakistan are openly talking to the Taliban, the western powers are resorting to subterfuges to legitimise the Taliban by pretending to take at face value the Taliban assurances of keeping its territory free of terrorist menace. They ignore the Talibans record of deception and reneging on its promises, blocking out the hard reality of continuing human rights abuses. Indian journalist Jawed Naqvi emphasised the doublespeak of the great powers, Pushpa Pathak with years of professional work in Afghanistan, reminded of mutual affection of the peoples of Afghanistan and India.

So what then can civil society activists across the states of Pakistan and India do? Moderator, Hina Jilani, saw this as a moment for reasserting peoples participation, too long deemed irrelevant by our governments.

Proposed Civil Society Support Group Initiatives

Recognising both the strength and limitations of the scope of civil society collective action and the urgency of the need to respond to the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, it was decided to prioritise targeted advocacy with relevant actors at national and multi-lateral levels in support of humanitarian assistance initiatives, and also to support specific action undertaken to alleviate the distress of vulnerable groups of Afghans in our countries. As civil society actors, it was imperative that we act in an open and transparent manner.

 Humanitarian Assistance: Indian and Pakistani civil society groups to actively and effectively lobby with i) our own governments to respond positively, urgently and concretely to the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, ii) to collectively advocate in support of humanitarian assistance initiatives to be undertaken by UN and multilateral agencies, and iii) to urge that assistance must be offered and monitored in a manner that it should be for the benefit to the people and not be motivated for stabilizing the Taliban control.

 Protection and Assistance to distressed Afghans and those at risk: Distressed Afghans in Pakistan and India, especially those in need of security, material assistance and legal refugee status recognition.

Civil Society to advocate with relevant national and international agencies, especially UNHCR, and reach out to global and regional human rights defenders networks, etc.

Action to take measures to ensure the security of vulnerable Afghans who are already in our respective countries against harassment and intimidation: includes documentation and exposure of any such incidents.

Organizing of material assistance

Advocacy for recognition of their legal: refugee status and protection.

Outreach to global and regional human rights defenders networks

 Stranded Afghans medical cases in India: children, women and men who had come for life-saving treatment, are stranded because land and air routes are blocked. Their savings have run out and they need immediate material assistance and return facilitation.

Support advocacy of their case with relevant government authorities for the provision of material relief, and innovative emergency initiatives for their return following examples such as the Iran Air flight of Delhi-Teheran and Kabul. [Contingent on the scope for such advocacy of relevant authorities by cross border civil society groups, to lobby for a one-time overland transit corridor.

Publicising their plight and Mobilising provision of relief

Pakistan India Peoples Forum for Peace and Democracy (PIPFPD)

October 2021
Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian's Regular Press Conference on October 18, 2021

2021/10/18

CCTV: Recently, a handover ceremony of Lancang bullet train for China-Laos railway was held in Vientiane, the capital of Laos. According to media comments, China-Laos railway will bring happiness and prosperity to people in these two countries. Do you have any comment?

Zhao Lijian: China-Laos railway is a landmark achievement of dovetailing the Belt and Road Initiative and Laos' strategy to convert itself from a landlocked country to a land-linked hub. The handover of Lancang bullet train, an important milestone, signifies that the development of China-Laos railway is going to enter a new phase of operation from construction. It is good and joyful, and will deliver benefits to our peoples.

At the opening ceremony of the Second United Nations Global Sustainable Transport Conference, President Xi Jinping pointed out that "it is imperative that we follow the prevailing trend of world development, advance global transport cooperation, and write a new chapter featuring connectivity of infrastructure, unfettered flows of trade and investment, and interactions between civilizations". President Xi's remarks serve as a guide to the operation of the China-Laos railway. The railway embodies the spirit of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits, and will effectively improve infrastructure and connectivity in Laos and the region to boost sustainable economic development.

This year marks the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Laos, and the China-Laos Friendship Year. China stands ready to take the opportunity to work with the Lao side, to actively dovetail development strategies, deepen comprehensive strategic cooperation, steadily advance the construction of railway and other projects, so as to build a community of shared future between our two countries.

Xinhua News Agency: The symposium commemorating the 30th anniversary of the publication of the white paper on human rights in China was recently held in Beijing, during which in-depth discussions were held on the theoretical significance of the white paper and China's achievements in human rights. What is the foreign ministry's comment on this?

Zhao Lijian: Thirty years ago, The State Council Information Office published a white paper on China's human rights situation. This is China's first release of an official document on human rights. It gives a comprehensive and systematic account of China's basic position and views on human rights and the fact of the Chinese people fully enjoying human rights. It is an important milestone in the development of China's human rights cause.

China has created the remarkable miracle in respecting and protecting human rights and blazed a path of human rights development with Chinese characteristics, bringing tangible benefits to the Chinese people. The happy life and delightful smile of the Chinese people can best reflect and represent China's human rights situation. For a long time, the Chinese people's satisfaction rate of the Chinese government exceeds 90 percent. This is the most powerful response to attacks and smears against China by those with ulterior motives under the guise of human rights.

China's remarkable achievement in human rights development is also a major contribution China has made to the world's human rights cause. China has always earnestly fulfilled its international human rights obligations, conducted extensive exchanges and cooperation on human rights, actively participated in international human rights governance, promoted the building of a community with a shared future for mankind, and contributed Chinese wisdom and solutions to enriching and developing the diversity of human rights civilizations. The process of China's realization of great national rejuvenation is also one of realizing social fairness and justice and advancing human rights progress. Looking ahead, we have every reason to believe that China will make greater contribution to the progress of human rights in the world.

Hubei Media Group: On October 15, Russian foreign ministry released information on Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov's meeting with UK Ambassador to Moscow. Ryabkov said that the trilateral security partnership of Australia, the UK and the US (AUKUS) won't facilitate the resolution of the tasks of strengthening the international security and stability, and will create difficulties in the sphere of arms control. Russia hopes that the AUKUS participants can strictly adhere to their obligations of nuclear non-proliferation. Do you have any comment?

Zhao Lijian: China agrees with the views expressed by the Russian side on AUKUS.

As China has stressed many times, the establishment of this trilateral security partnership and their nuclear submarine cooperation have a series of seriously negative impacts: First, the three countries, drawing lines along ideology, have built a new military bloc which will heighten geopolitical tensions. Second, it will encourage regional countries to accelerate the development of military capabilities, and even seek to break the nuclear threshold, thus leading to arms race and increasing the risk of military conflicts. Third, the nuclear submarine cooperation poses serious nuclear proliferation risks and violates the spirit of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT).

I want to stress that this cooperation would be the first time that a nuclear weapon state transfer nuclear submarine to a non-nuclear weapon state. That means the US and the UK will export to Australia highly enriched uranium with purity of 90% or more, but the current safeguards mechanism of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) cannot verify whether Australia will use the highly enriched uranium for nuclear weapons. Therefore, what these three countries are doing runs counter to the purposes and goals of NPT and gravely undermine the international non-proliferation system. The US, on the one hand, sanctions and suppresses some countries with the excuse of developing nuclear technologies, and flagrantly transfers weapon-grade nuclear materials to non-nuclear states on the other. This is typical double-standards. It will create far-reaching, negative impact on the political and diplomatic settlement of regional nuclear hotspots.

For years, the US, the UK and Australia have been calling themselves leaders of international non-proliferation efforts and defenders of the international non-proliferation system. But what the three countries did have proven that they actually engage in proliferation and undermine the international non-proliferation system.

China believes that all regional mechanisms should follow the trend of peace and development, enhance mutual trust and cooperation among regional countries rather than target any third party or harm their interests. We urge the three countries to listen to the appeals of the international community, abandon the outdated Cold War, zero-sum mentality and narrow-minded geopolitical perception, reverse the wrong decision, faithfully fulfill their international non-proliferation obligations and do more that benefits regional peace and stability.

MASTV: The missile destroyer USS Dewey and the Canadian frigate HMCS Winnipeg sailed through the Taiwan Strait on October 15. Do you have any response?

Zhao Lijian: The spokesperson of the PLA Eastern Theater Command already made remarks on the issue. The Chinese side was closely following and monitoring, and on the alert against the US and the Canadian military vessels' passage through the Taiwan Strait from start to end. US warships have repeatedly flaunted their prowess in the Taiwan Strait, provoking and stirring up trouble, and even gone further to collude with its allies to provoke, disrupt and mess around. The vile acts of the US are by no means commitment to freedom and openness, but rather deliberate disruption and sabotage of regional peace and stability. The international community sees this crystal clear.

I want to reiterate that China is unswervingly determined to safeguard its national sovereignty and territorial integrity. The Chinese military is always on high alert and will resolutely respond to all threats and provocations. The US side should change course and redress mistakes. The Canadian side should proceed from its own interests and overall situation of China-Canadian relations, and reject acting as a cat's paw of others.

Beijing Daily: Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told reporters after visiting the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant on October 17 that the disposal of wastewater stored at the plant is crucial and cannot be delayed further. "We will provide explanation about the safety (of the disposal) from a scientific viewpoint and transparency in order to dispel various concerns," Kishida said. Do you have any comment?

Zhao Lijian: The Japanese government's unilaterally-made decision of discharging the nuclear contaminated water from Fukushima nuclear power plant into the ocean in April has been questioned and opposed by people of Pacific-rim countries as well as Japanese citizens. Japan made this decision without exhausting all safe ways of disposal, fully disclosing relevant information, fully consulting with neighboring countries and other stakeholders, or coming up with arrangements for effective monitoring and verification. It is entirely legitimate and reasonable for the international community to express concern and opposition to this, and Japan cannot ignore it.

China has repeatedly stressed that the disposal of nuclear contaminated water in Fukushima is not a private matter for Japan itself, but a major international issue concerning public health of Pacific-rim countries and the global marine ecological environment. The international community has raised concerns over the rationality and scientificity of Japan's ocean discharge plan, the credibility of the data supporting its decision and the reliability of its equipment to purify the nuclear contaminated water. Japan should heed the call of the international community, revoke its wrong decision and stop preparations for the ocean discharge. Japan should not start the discharge process before reaching consensus with all stakeholders and relevant international institutions.

Shenzhen TV: US media recently reported that on September 24, a White police officer in Indiana kicked a handcuffed tramp of African descent in the face during law enforcement activities, which has drawn strong criticism in the US. The US government paints normal law enforcement activities of other countries as suppression of freedom and violation of human rights, while police brutality in the US keeps surfacing. What is your comment?

Zhao Lijian: There are countless reports on shocking and heinous brutality of white police officers in the US. A study in The Lancet by experts of Washington University and other institutions found that 30,800 people died from police violence in the US between 1980 and 2018, and 17,100 of them were unreported in official statistics reports. It is also found that Black Americans were 3.5 times more likely to be killed by police than white Americans. But this is just a tip of the iceberg of grave human rights violations in the US.

In February 2021, Independent UN human rights experts called on the US to adopt wide-ranging reforms to put an end to police brutality and vigorously address systemic racism and racial discrimination. In June, Chairperson of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) and 27 experts of the Special Procedures of the Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent of the Human Rights Council published a joint statement, which condemned the racial lynching and prosecution in the US, and called on the US government to conduct independent investigations, look into all cases where police are accountable for the use of excessive force, and resolve systemic racism and racial prejudice in US criminal justice system.

As the US was newly reelected to the UN Human Rights Council, we hope it can take this as an opportunity, discard double standards and stop politicizing human rights issues. It should start with facing up to and addressing police violence and human rights violations and stringently punish the perpetrators, so that racial minorities suffering from grave systemic racial discrimination no longer live in fear and that tragedies like the one of George Floyd won't take place again.

AFP: Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida sent a ritual offering to the Yasukuni Shrine yesterday. Do you have any comment?

Zhao Lijian: The Yasukuni Shrine, where 14 World War II Class-A war criminals with heinous crimes are honored, is a spiritual tool and symbol of the Japanese militarism's war of aggression. The negative moves of some Japanese political figures on the issue of the Yasukuni Shrine once again reflect Japan's wrong attitude toward its history of aggression. The Chinese side has lodged solemn representation with the Japanese side through diplomatic channel. The Japanese side should earnestly honor its statement and commitment of facing up to and reflecting on its history of aggression, talk and act with prudence on historical issues such as the Yasukuni Shrine, make a clean break with militarism, and win the trust of its Asian neighbors and the international community through concrete actions.

Yomiuri Shinbun: The US is to allow international travelers who have been inoculated with WHO approved COVID-19 vaccines, Chinese ones included, to enter. What's China's view on this?

Zhao Lijian: China advocates that issues related to vaccines should be handled in a scientific way. We stand ready to strengthen cooperation with relevant countries, and facilitate the cross-border flow of personnel against the background of COVID-19 in a proper manner.

Associated Press of Pakistan: On October 16, while addressing a launching ceremony of farmer portals, Prime Minister Imran Khan asked Pakistani farmers to learn from Chinese experience to increase agricultural production and said that agriculture sector is a part of China Pakistan Economic Corridor cooperation framework. Do you have any comment?

Zhao Lijian: China and Pakistan are all-weather strategic cooperative partners. Agricultural cooperation is an integral part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which is an important pilot project of the Belt and Road Initiative. For years, China-Pakistan cooperation in cultivating rice, corn, soybean, sugarcane, juncao and other crops has yielded fruitful results and achieved remarkable outcomes, and has played an important role in promoting the development of bilateral relations and deepening the friendship between the two peoples.

As CPEC has entered the second phase, there will be more Chinese agricultural technologies flowing into Pakistan, which means huge potential in China-Pakistan agricultural cooperation. China will continue to uphold the Silk Road spirit of peace and cooperation, openness and inclusiveness, mutual learning and mutual benefit, maintain close communication with Pakistan, and work to form an efficient and practical cooperation mechanism to continuously promote socioeconomic development and improve people's well-being and build an even closer China-Pakistan community with a shared future in the new era.

The Paper: It is reported that on 15 October EST, US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman stated in her remarks in Washington that with regard to China, the position of the US is clear, and that the US will compete with China where necessary, work with China when it will be in the interests of the US and the world, and challenge China when necessary. Do you have any comment?

Zhao Lijian: The relevant remarks by the US side are the repetition of the old rhetoric of the so-called approach of "competition, cooperation and confrontation". What the US stated is in essence a cover-up for its containment and oppression against China under the pretext of competition, the root cause of which lies in the wrong perception by the US side who stubbornly views China as a strategic rival.

How the US and China understand and get along with each other bears on the fundamental interests of the two peoples, and draws attention from the regional countries and the international community. China holds the view that China and the US share extensive common interests and profound cooperation potential. Competition does exist in some areas such as trade, but it should not be used to define the overall picture of the China-US relations. We must point out that US' constant slandering and smearing against China is not "competition"; decoupling and suppressing Chinese enterprises by using national security as an excuse is not "competition"; still less should it be "competition" to level up military deployment around China or form various anti-China cliques.

The US side should forego Cold War zero-sum mentality, view China and China's development from an objective perspective, form a deep understanding of the mutually beneficial nature of China-US relations, and adopt rational and practical China policies. It should enhance dialogue and communication with China, deepen mutually beneficial cooperation, properly handle differences, and embark on a path of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation.

China Daily: According to reports, US President Joe Biden said at the dedication ceremony for the Dodd Centre for Human Rights at the University of Connecticut that "when we look around the world today, we cannot say that the specter of atrocity is behind us", adding that the world is seeing "the oppression and use of forced labor of the Uyghurs in Xinjiang; the treatment of the Rohingya by the military junta in Burma; the rampant abuses, including the use of starvation and sexual violence, to terrorize civilian populations in Northern Ethiopia". Do you have any comment?

Zhao Lijian: The so-called "oppression" and "forced labor" are sheer lies. Xinjiang now enjoys social stability, economic development, solidarity among ethnic groups and harmony among religions. People of all ethnic groups live a happy and fulfilling life, with all rights and interests prescribed by law fully guaranteed. The so-called human rights issues in Xinjiang are an outright political conspiracy. The true intention is to undermine prosperity and stability in Xinjiang and contain China's development.

The US, a self-styled defender of democracy and human rights, has a poor record itself. The US is facing swelling racial discrimination. Its negative response to COVID-19 claimed 700,000 lives. It wantonly waged wars and killed civilians in other countries with a test tube of laundry power and a piece of fake intelligence report as the evidence, and created humanitarian disasters by imposing unilateral sanctions. The US adopts double standards and a selective approach when it turns a blind eye to the acts of killing civilians in Afghanistan.

Facts have proven time and again that the "beacon of democracy", a title that the US prides itself on, has long collapsed. It is in no position to claim to be a defender of human rights or lecture others on the issue. The US side should seriously reflect upon its own human rights abuses, manage its own business well, and stop interfering in other countries' domestic affairs and undermining their interests in the name of human rights.

TASS: According to Financial Times, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that the new doctrine of the alliance for the next 10 years will address threats coming from China's rise. The current version of the NATO doctrine was adopted in 2010 and doesn't mention China at all. I wonder if China has any comments on this statement.

Zhao Lijian: Peace, development and cooperation are the trend of the times. It's the common aspiration of all to pursue solidarity, multilateralism and cooperation, rather than division, unilateralism and confrontation. As the largest military alliance, NATO should abandon Cold War mentality and ideological bias, view the development of China in an objective, positive and open manner, and do more to uphold international and regional peace and stability.

RIA Novosti: Just now the Iran foreign ministry spokesperson said that next Wednesday, October 27th, Iran will hold the meeting between the foreign ministers of Afghanistan's neighboring countries. I wonder if Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi already has any plans to go and participate in this meeting?

Zhao Lijian: Foreign Ministers' Meeting on the Afghan Issue among the Neighboring Countries of Afghanistan is an effective mechanism related to the Afghan issue. The first foreign ministers' meeting was held in time and effectively. The Chinese side supports Iran in hosting the second meeting, and is now in communication with Iran and other parties regarding the attendees and other related issues.

AFP: On the COP26 climate summit which will be organized in November in Glasgow, do you have any updates on whether the Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend the summit or not?

Zhao Lijian: Last week, I stated China's position on this issue. I do not have further information to share for now.

Bloomberg: The Financial Times has reported that China tested a nuclear-capable hypersonic missile. Could the foreign ministry confirm if China has such a missile?

Zhao Lijian: As we understand, this was a routine test of spacecraft to verify technology of spacecraft's reusability. It is of great significance to reducing the cost of using spacecraft and providing a convenient and cheap way for mankind's two-way transportation in the peaceful use of space. Several companies around the world have conducted similar tests.

After separating from the spacecraft before its return, the supporting devices will burn up when it's falling in the atmosphere and the debris will fall into the high seas. China will work with other countries in the world for the peaceful use of space for the benefit of mankind.

AFP: Is the missile you mentioned the same missile reported by the Financial Times?

Zhao Lijian: As I just said, it's not missile, but a spacecraft.

Radio Television Hong Kong: When will China pronounce judgment on the case of Yang Jun, an Australian citizen charged with spying?

Zhao Lijian: We elaborated on the case many times. I don't have any further information to offer.

Global Times: On October 15, Russian Deputy Prime Minister and Chief of the Government Staff Dmitry Grigorenko and Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin visited the southern Kuril Islands. Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said Japan has lodged solemn representations with Russia. What is your comment?

Zhao Lijian: It is China's consistent belief that the outcomes of the victory of the Anti-Fascist War should be earnestly respected and upheld. We hope issues related to the southern Kuril Islands can be properly handled by Russia and Japan.

China News Service: Media reports show Italy, with its G20 presidency, plans to establish the Global Health Financing Board and Financial Intermediary Fund. This is widely supported by G20 members but opposed by BRICS countries including China. The international community could thus miss the rare opportunity of reforming the global health governance system. What is China's comment?

Zhao Lijian: The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed the shortfall in the global pandemic response and deficiencies in the health governance system. There is indeed the need for improving global health governance and mobilizing more finances to shore up the weak links. China firmly supports strengthening global governance system, enhancing the leadership and coordination of the WHO and improving anti-pandemic financing cooperation. China matches its words with deeds as it has made active contribution to the global fight against COVID-19.

China supports G20 in playing a positive role in building consensus on and mobilizing resources for global health cooperation. In the meanwhile, China believes that such efforts should not undermine the authority of the WHO and the effectiveness of global health governance. This is widely shared by many other G20 members and a number of countries in the international community. Global health governance concerns the common interests of all countries. The opinions of the entire international community, especially developing countries, should therefore be listened to, and decisions should be made through discussion of all members under the WHO framework. We hope developed countries can take real actions, support developing countries in responding to COVID-19 and make contribution to improving the global public health system. China will continue to participate in relevant discussions in a constructive manner.

Bloomberg: I'm going to follow on the routine test of the space vehicle. And could you confirm when the test happened and what kind of space vehicle it was?

Zhao Lijian: As I understand, it was in July. This is a test of spacecraft to verify the technology of spacecraft's reusability.

Reuters: The Financial Times reported that it's hypersonic missile. Are you saying that the missile mentioned in the report should be a space vehicle?

Zhao Lijian: Yes.
Michael Glenn Whittington, Jr., 30, of Surfside Beach, SC (formerly of Mechanicsville, MD) passed away unexpectedly on Thursday, October 14, 2021 at his residence. He was born on September 13, 1991 to the late, Michael Glenn Whittington, Sr. and Jeanne Whittington of Surfside Beach, SC. Mike and twin brother, Jeffrey joined big brother, Brian and completed their rambunctious family.



Mike graduated from Chopticon High School in 2009. After graduation, he would become an electrician and work for IBEW Local Union 26. He enjoyed working and made many wonderful friends. He continued his electrical career once he relocated to SC and worked for Carolina Cool. Recently, Mike was laid-off, but he continued working as a handyman and helping out family and friends with projects.



A kind and fun-loving man, Mike was close with his family. He was born with his best friend, Jeffrey and was happy to be born first. He was close to his brother, Brian and considered his sister-in-law, Kylee his sister. The people who brought Mike the greatest joy of his life were his nephews, Jackson and Rylan. He loved teaching them the good and sometimes bad things. They spent many hours goofing around in the pool and hearing their laughter always brightened his darkest days.



He was a gamer and computer whiz. He could spend hours playing on the computer. He enjoyed skateboarding and cruising around with his friends on their boards. He was happy in his new town and loved the close proximity to the beach.



Mike fought hard against his demons and made his mom so proud of all of his accomplishments. If you are struggling, talk to a loved one or reach out, someone is always there for you. Do this in memory of Mike and continue his legacy of love and friendship. As the autumn leaves changes color and drift to the ground, remember Mike's bright smile and infectious spirit that was as bright as the colors surrounding you.



Mike is survived by his loving mother, Jeanne Chick Whittington of Surfside, SC; brothers, Brian Michael Whittington (Kylee) and Jeffrey Allen Whittington of Newburg, MD; nephews, Jackson and Rylan Whittington; grandmothers, Dottie Chick and Billie Whittington; and many aunts, uncles, cousins and extended family. He was preceded in death by his father, Michael Glenn Whittington, Sr. and grandfathers, John Chick, Sr. and George Whittington.



The family will receive friends for Mike's Life Celebration on Thursday, October 21, 2021 from 5:00 p.m. until 7:00 p.m. with a Prayer Service at 6:00 p.m. at Brinsfield Funeral Home & Crematory, P.A., 30195 Three Notch Road, Charlotte Hall, MD. A Mass of Christian Burial will be held on Friday, October 22, 2021 at 11:00 a.m. at St. Mary's Catholic Church, 13715 Notre Dame Place, Bryantown, MD 20617 with Father Rory Conley officiating. Interment will follow immediately in the church cemetery.



Condolences to the family may be made at www.brinsfieldfuneral.com.



Arrangements by the Brinsfield Funeral Home & Crematory, P.A.
Warm gas coming from the active supermassive black hole at the centre of the Nest200047 system: the activity of such a black hole crucially impacts the evolution of the galaxy and the intergalactic environment hosting it. CREDIT University of Bologna

An international team of researchers, including scholars from the University of Bologna and the Italian National Astrophysics Institute (INAF), observed for the first time the evolution of warm gas coming from an active black hole.

They were able to look at these structures, strongly reminiscent of the smoke streams produced by volcanic eruptions, with unprecedented detail and on a time scale of a hundred million years.

Their study, published in Nature Astronomy, focused on the Nest200047 system - a group of roughly 20 galaxies approximately 200 million light-years away. The central galaxy of this system houses an active black hole around which researchers observed many pairs of gas bubbles diverse in age, some unknown filaments of magnetic fields and relativistic particles in special relativity as big as hundreds of thousands of light-years.

These observations were possible thanks to LOFAR (LOw Frequency ARray), the largest low-frequency radio telescope in the world. LOFAR can intercept radiation produced by the oldest electrons that are currently detectable. This state-of-the-art tool stems from the great effort of nine European countries and allowed researchers to "go back in time" to more than 100 million years ago and retrace the activity of the black hole sitting at the centre of Nest200047.

"Our investigation shows how these gas bubbles accelerated by the black hole are expanding and transforming in time. Indeed, they create spectacular mushroom-shaped structures, rings and filaments that are similar to those originating from a powerful volcanic eruption on planet Earth", states Marisa Brienza who is the first author of this study and a researcher at the Department of Physics and Astronomy "Augusto Righi" of the University of Bologna and a member of INAF.

BUBBLES MADE OF PARTICLES

At the core of each galaxy sits a supermassive black hole. The activity of such a black hole crucially impacts the evolution of the galaxy and the intergalactic environment hosting it. For years researchers have been trying to figure out how and at what rate the action of these black holes produces those effects.

When active, black holes consume whatever surrounds them and, in that process, they release enormous quantities of energy. Sometimes this energy comes in the form of particle streams moving at close to the speed of light and producing radio waves. In turn, these streams generate bubbles of particles and magnetic fields that, by a process of expansion, can heat and move the intergalactic medium surrounding them. This has an immense influence on the evolution of the intergalactic medium itself and, as a consequence, on star formation rates.

This study proposes that active black holes have effects on scales that are up to 100 times bigger than the hosting galaxy and that that impact lasts up to hundreds of millions of years.

"LOFAR gave us a unique view of the activity of black holes and their effects on their surrounding environment", explains Annalisa Bonafede, one of the authors of the study and a professor at the University of Bologna as well as INAF member. "Our observations of Nest200047 crucially show how magnetic fields and the very old particles accelerated by black holes and consequently aged play a central role in transferring energy to the outer regions of groups of galaxies".

For this study, researchers also exploited observations in the X-ray band obtained using the eROSITA telescope on board the SRG space observatory. X-ray data allowed researchers to better study the characteristics of the intergalactic medium surrounding the radio-emitting gas bubbles.

GAS FILAMENTS

These observations brought about other unexpected discoveries: thin gas filaments as long as a million light-years made of particles moving at approximately the speed of light and magnetic fields.

According to the researchers, these filaments are the remnants of the bubbles that the Nest200047 black hole produced hundreds of millions of years ago and that are now shattering and mixing with the intergalactic medium. It is believed that studying these structures will lead to discovering new and important information about the physical features of the intergalactic matter and the physical mechanism regulating the energy transfer between the bubbles and the outer environment.

"In the future, we will be able to study the effects of black holes on galaxies and the intergalactic medium with increasing detail. Eventually, we will be able to unveil the nature of the filaments we discovered thanks to the angular resolution of LOFAR combined with the data from international LOFAR stations", adds Gianfranco Brunetti, co-author of this study as well as an astrophysicist at the INAF Bologna and Italian coordinator of the LOFAR consortium.

TELESCOPES

LOFAR is managed by ASTRON, the Netherland Institute for Radio Astronomy, and is composed of thousands of antennas hosted by 51 radio stations scattered over different European countries. LOFAR can intercept the lowest frequencies of radio waves on Earth (between 10 and 240 mega-Hertz). The National Astrophysics Institute (INAF) is the head of the Italian team of LOFAR and contributes to the development of a new generation of electronic devices for the telescope and of the software regulating its functioning.

The SRG spacecraft was designed by the Lavochkin Association, as part of the Roskosmos corporation and launched on July 13, 2019 with a Proton launcher from the Baikonur cosmodrome. The SRG observatory was built with the participation of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in the framework of the Russian Federal Space Program by the initiative of the Russian Academy of Sciences represented by its Space Research Institute (IKI). The eROSITA telescope was built under the leadership of the Max-Planck-Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics (MPE) and DLR. The SRG spacecraft is operated by the Lavochkin Association and Deep Space Network Antennae in Bear Lakes, Ussurijsk, and Baykonur funded by Roskosmos.

THE AUTHORS OF THE STUDY

This study titles "A snapshot of the oldest AGN feedback phases" and was published in Nature Astronomy. It is the result of a combined effort of experts in radio, optical and X-ray astronomy from: Universita di Bologna, INAF-IRA, INAF-OAT, INAF-IASF, ASTRON, Leiden Observatory, Hamburger Sternwarte, Kazan Federal University, Academy of Sciences of Tatarstan, Space Research Institute (IKI), Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics, University of Hertfordshire, DIAS, SRON, University of Tokyo, Observatoire de Paris (GEPI, USN), Rhodes University.

In particular, among those took part in this study are Marisa Brienza and Annalisa Bonafede, from the University of Bologna (Department of Physics and Astronomy "Augusto Righi") and affiliated with INAF, working within the framework of the European Project DRANOEL - Deciphering RAdio NOn-thermal Emission on the Largest scales (ERC Starting Grant N. 714245). Among the authors are also Francesco de Gasperin, Gianfranco Brunetti, Alessandro Capetti and Fabio Gastaldello, who are affiliated with INAF.

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Two microphones aboard the six-wheeled spacecraft add a new dimension to the way scientists and engineers explore the Red Planet.

Thanks to two microphones aboard NASA's Perseverance rover, the mission has recorded nearly five hours of Martian wind gusts, rover wheels crunching over gravel, and motors whirring as the spacecraft moves its arm.

These sounds allow scientists and engineers to experience the Red Planet in new ways - and everyone is invited to listen in.

"It's like you're really standing there," said Baptiste Chide, a planetary scientist who studies data from the microphones at L'Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planetologie in France. "Martian sounds have strong bass vibrations, so when you put on headphones, you can really feel it. I think microphones will be an important asset to future Mars and solar system science."

Perseverance is the first spacecraft to record the sound of the Red Planet using dedicated microphones - both of which were commercially available, off-the-shelf devices. One rides on the side of the rover's chassis. The second mic sits on Perseverance's mast as a complement to the SuperCam laser instrument's investigations of rocks and the atmosphere.

The body mic was provided by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, while the SuperCam instrument and its microphone were provided by the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in New Mexico and a consortium of French research laboratories under the auspices of the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES).

The Era of Space Microphones

SuperCam studies rocks and soil by zapping them with a laser, then analyzing the resulting vapor with a camera. Because the laser pulses up to hundreds of times per target, opportunities to capture the sound of those zaps quickly add up: the microphone has already recorded more than 25,000 laser shots.

Some of those recordings are teaching scientists about changes in the planet's atmosphere. After all, sound travels through vibrations in the air. From its perch on Perseverance's mast, the SuperCam mic is ideally located for monitoring "microturbulence" - minute shifts in the air - and complements the rover's dedicated wind sensors, which are part of a suite of atmospheric tools called MEDA, short for the Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer.

MEDA's sensors sample the wind's speed, pressure, and temperature one to two times per second for up to two hours at a time. SuperCam's microphone, on the other hand, can provide similar information at a rate of 20,000 times per second over several minutes.

"It's kind of like comparing a magnifying glass to a microscope with 100 times magnification," said MEDA's principal investigator, Jose Rodriguez-Manfredi of the Centro de Astrobiologia (CAB) at the Instituto Nacional de Tecnica Aeroespacial in Madrid. "From the weather scientist's point of view, each perspective - detail and context - complements one another."

The microphone also allows for research on how sound propagates on Mars. Because the planet's atmosphere is much less dense than Earth's, scientists knew higher-pitched sounds in particular would be hard to hear. In fact, a few scientists - unsure if they'd hear anything at all - were surprised when the microphone picked up the Ingenuity helicopter's buzzing rotors during its fourth flight, on April 30, from a distance of 262 feet (80 meters).

Information from the helicopter audio enabled researchers to eliminate two of three models developed to anticipate how sound propagates on Mars.

"Sound on Mars carries much farther than we thought," said Nina Lanza, a SuperCam scientist who works with the microphone data at LANL. "It shows you just how important it is to do field science."

Sound Check

There's another aspect of space exploration that could benefit from an audio dimension: spacecraft maintenance. Engineers use cameras to monitor the wheel wear on Curiosity rover and dust accumulating on InSight's solar panels. With microphones, they could also check a spacecraft's performance the way mechanics might listen to a car engine.

The Perseverance team is amassing loads of recordings from the rover's chassis mic, which is well-positioned to listen to its wheels and other internal systems. While there aren't enough recordings yet to detect any changes, over time, engineers may be able to pore over that data and discern subtle differences, like additional electric current going to a particular wheel. This would add to the ways they already monitor the spacecraft's health.

"We would love to listen to these sounds regularly," said Vandi Verma, Perseverance's chief engineer for robotic operations at JPL. "We routinely listen for changes in sound patterns on our test rover here on Earth, which can indicate there's an issue that needs attention."

More About the Mission

A key objective for Perseverance's mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planet's geology and past climate, pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith (broken rock and dust).

Subsequent NASA missions, in cooperation with ESA (European Space Agency), would send spacecraft to Mars to collect these sealed samples from the surface and return them to Earth for in-depth analysis.

The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission is part of NASA's Moon to Mars exploration approach, which includes Artemis missions to the Moon that will help prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet.

JPL, which is managed for NASA by Caltech in Pasadena, California, built and manages operations of the Perseverance rover.

Additional information and audio files



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Relatively dark slope streaks are common on steep dust-mantled slopes of Mars. When imaged under high sun illumination they appear to be just a dark stain without topographic relief.
Tattoo Artist inked his name next to Theartofconfusion A and American History in the record book at Yonkers Raceway by winning the $48,000 Open Handicap Pace on Monday night in 1:49.3 to tie the all-age track record.

With Dexter Dunn in town to handle the driving, Tattoo Artist left quickly from the outside post seven and worked his way to the front prior to the :26.4 opening quarter. Tattoo Artist maintained the top spot to a :54.4 half, but Shadow Cat, driven by George Brennan, vacated the three-hole to go first-over prior to that station. All that Shadow Cat did after tipping out was spin his wheels, though, as Dunn stepped on the accelerator with Tattoo Artist and zipped a 27 second quarter to put three-quarters up in 1:21.4. That tempo also put pocket-sitter Dragon Said, steered by Joe Bongiorno, into retreat mode.

Around the far turn Tattoo Artist maintained a clear lead over his foes, and although closing Funatthebeach N, with Jordan Stratton in the bike, and Belmont Major N, piloted by Tyler Buter, did gain ground through the stretch drive, it was after the result was no longer in doubt. Tattoo Artist hit the wire a length and a quarter to the good over Funatthebeach N, who was the 8-5 favourite, and Belmont Major N was the third-place finisher.

Chris Ryder trains Tattoo Artist, a four-year-old son of Hes Watching, for owners Let It Ride Stables Inc, Frank Cannon, Diamond Creek Racing, and J&T Silva Stables LLC. This was his 18th career victory, and he has now earned $1,115,984. Tattoo Artist paid $5.70 to win.

Racing resumes at Yonkers on Tuesday (October 19) with first post at 7:15 p.m. Starting in the third of 12 races on the program, there will be a $1,629.12 carryover in the Pick 6.

(With files from Yonkers)
Longtime harness racing industry participant Eric Ledford of Dayton, Oh. passed away on Oct. 14, 2021 at the age of 50.

As a youngster, Eric first started working for his father, Seldon, at Lebanon Raceway in Ohio before going out on his own at age 18. He began driving regularly in 1990 and captured his first driving title two years later at the fall meet at Lebanon.

Ledford moved his base to Chicago in 1997 where he competed at Maywood Park and Balmoral, and he also drove at Hoosier Park in Indiana. In 1999 he won 529 races to place him sixth on the U.S. national list, with his purse earnings of $4.8 million placing him ninth on that list. As a result of his accomplishments that year, Mr. Ledford was voted the Rising Star of the Year Award winner by the U.S. Harness Writers Association.

Eternal Camnation was the 1999 Two-Year-Old Filly Pacer of the Year and she went on to win three more divisional titles with Ledford as the primary driver. He celebrated his only Hambletonian victory in 2002 with Chip Chip Hooray. Some of his other major victories came with Tejano in the 2000 World Trotting Derby, Bettors Delight in the 2000 Governors Cup, and Royal Flush Shark in the 2005 Cane Pace.

Other star horses Ledford drove in his career include Looking For Art, French Panicure, Dex The Balls, Sagebrush, Musical Dreamer, Roddys Bags Again and Restive Hanover.

Over his career, Mr. Ledford drove 5,362 winners with $61,183,597 in earnings. He last drove in 2017.

Predeceased by his mother Hazel Ledford, Eric is survived by his children, Tyler Ledford, Alexa Ledford, Noah Ledford and Pypar Ledford; his father, Seldon Ledford; the mother of his children (Noah & Alexa), Tonya Ledford; and many other loving family and friends.

Visitation will be held from 11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m., on Saturday, October 23, 2021, at Newcomer Funeral Home, 4104 Needmore Rd., Dayton, where Funeral Services will begin at 1:00 p.m. Burial will be held at Laurel Point Cemetery in Oneida, Kentucky, on Sunday.

Please join Standardbred Canada in offering condolences to the family and friends of Eric Ledford.

(with files from USTA)
Announcing International Week of Prayer and Fasting (October 2331, 2021) to Wage Spiritual Battle Against Increasing Attacks on Our Faith, Our Families, & Our Freedoms





NEWS PROVIDED BY

International Week of Prayer and Fasting

Oct. 19, 2021



WASHINGTON, Oct. 19, 2021 /Standard Newswire/ -- In this time of intense battle between good and evil, join faithful believers from around the world to wage spiritual warfare against the forces of evil at the 29th Annual International Week of Prayer and Fasting Virtual Conference (IWOPF), October 23 - October 31, 2021.



As Pope Saint John Paul II said, "Jesus Himself has shown us by His own example that prayer and fasting are the first and most effective weapons against the forces of evil" (Mt 4:1-11).



Registration for this virtual conference is FREE, but attendees must sign up online at www.iwopf.org. The conference features nine days of 30 dynamic speakers, Daily Mass, the Rosary, Eucharistic Adoration, and the Divine Mercy Chaplet.



Bishop Joseph Strickland (Diocese of Tyler, Texas) will offer the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass via livestream on Monday, October 25; Bishop Thomas Olmsted (Diocese of Phoenix, Arizona) will close the Conference on Sunday, October 31, with a talk; he will lead Conference participants in a Prayer of Consecration to the Hearts of Jesus, Mary, and St. Joseph.



Some of the other speakers include Kathleen Beckman, Fr. Frank Pavone, Susan Brinkmann, Fr. Chris Alar, Joan & Dave Maroney, Susan Tassone, Fr. David Gunter, Monsignor Stephen Rosetti, Mother Gabrielle Marie, Fr. Tom Celso, Fr. Greg Bramlage, Fr. Timothy Byerley, Ted Flynn, and many more!



Topics include:

Spiritual WarfareHow to Deal with It in Your Family & Your Life



Are We Close to the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart?



How to Protect Your Marriage & Family from Today's Toxic Cultural Influences

In the words of Coalition Coordinator Maureen Flynn, "The current grave crisis in the Church and the world can only be fully remedied by Heaven's spiritual weapons of the Holy Mass, Eucharistic Adoration, the Holy Rosary, and Fasting. Our Lord, His Blessed Mother, and the saints have told us that these spiritual weapons will destroy evil."



The goals of this 9-day Conference are to Pray & Fast for the following intentions:

for the Conversion of all Peoples & Nations



to Build a Culture of Life



for all Priests, Vocations, & Holiness for the Members of the Church



to Defend the Sanctity of Marriage & Family Life



for Peace and to Implore God's Mercy

Over the past 29 years, the conference has been endorsed by many prominent Catholics, most notably two saints: Pope Saint John Paul II, who gave the Movement two Apostolic Blessings, and Saint Teresa of Calcutta, who also gave her support for this Movement.



Registration: www.IWOPF.org



Related Link:



International Week of Prayer & Fasting Conference Promo Video (https://youtu.be/KzMo7tMjqmM)



SOURCE International Week of Prayer and Fasting



CONTACT: Maureen Flynn, 703-447-3571


Afghan Girls 'In Terror' of Becoming Taliban Brides

SAT-7 is 'lifeline of hope' for women, girls facing rape, trafficking, forced marriage to Taliban fighters





AFGHAN CHRISTIAN GIRLS 'TERRIFIED' OF BECOMING TALIBAN BRIDES: Young Christian women and girls in Afghanistan are living in terror of being abducted as child brides for Taliban fighters -- and they're turning to a unique ministry for help. "(We) are terrified," 16-year-old Nisha told satellite and online Christian broadcaster SAT-7 (www.sat7usa.org).



NEWS PROVIDED BY

SAT-7

Oct. 19, 2021



EASTON, Md., Oct. 19, 2021 /Standard Newswire/ -- Young Christian women and girls in Afghanistan are living in terror of being abducted as child brides for Taliban fighters -- and they're turning to a unique ministry for help.



"(We) are terrified," 16-year-old Nisha told satellite and online Christian broadcaster SAT-7 (www.sat7usa.org). "Everyone is afraid and scared of the Taliban. I cannot take what is happening around me. I'm crying out to God right now -- someone please help us. My family's situation is very bad."



Nisha is one of many desperate people in Afghanistan using phone apps like WhatsApp and Telegram to call or message the Middle East-based broadcast ministry, begging for prayer and help.



"For Christians like Nisha living in isolation and in total fear of the Taliban, being able to talk directly in real-time with Christian counselors who speak their language via their phone apps and texting is their lifeline of hope," said Rex Rogers, president of SAT-7 USA.



Urgency 'On Steroids'

"The urgency to bring hope and pray with them is intense right now as we hear reports of the Taliban taking young Christian women and girls as child brides," Rogers said.



One viewer sent a blunt message: "Our hope is cut off." Another wrote: "In (the capital) Kabul, complete fear reigns."



Some who've come to faith in Christ through the ministry's satellite and online broadcasts in local languages -- which are virtually un-censorable and unstoppable -- have never even met another Christian in person.



Children watching live shows asked the presenters: "Is Jesus there in the studio with you? Can we meet him?"



The Phone: A Dangerous Lifeline

"It's dangerous for believers to carry phones because the Taliban check phones and other devices for any evidence of Christianity, such as Bible apps or telltale messages," Rogers said.



But, still, viewers are reaching out to the ministry's Middle East hub.



A frightened father sent this message: "I came to Christ a year ago. The Kabul situation is dreadful. My (8-year-old) daughter's life and my life are both in danger. She has no one else except me."



A widowed Christian mother with two children -- including a vulnerable 15-year-old daughter -- pleaded: "I don't know what to do. Please help me and speak to me."



Many Afghans have let SAT-7 know of the hope they've received through the free-to-watch Christian programs they stream on their phones and view on their televisions -- even in remote mountain areas.



A viewer named Sargez said: "I've become captivated by the kindness and love in Christianity. A weight has been lifted from me."



About SAT-7

Launched in 1996, SAT-7 (www.sat7usa.org) -- with its international headquarters in Cyprus -- broadcasts Christian and educational satellite television and online programs to an estimated 25 million people in the Middle East and North Africa. Its mission is to make the gospel available to everyone, and support the church in its life, work and witness for Jesus Christ. SAT-7 broadcasts 24/7 in Arabic, Farsi (Persian), Dari, and Turkish, using multiple satellite channels and online services.



SOURCE SAT-7



CONTACT: Matti Stevenson, 719-360-0586, mstevenson@inchristcommunications.com


Al Salam Bank recently unveiled a refreshed logo, in line with its new human-centered Brand DNA, which prides itself on an ethos of forming deep relationships with clients.

The bank took a bold step by engaging the public for the design process wherein starting from inception, the logo was a result of a collective local effort and created by a Bahraini graphic designer, Masooma Dhaif, who was selected as the finalist as part of a design challenge launched on Al Salam Banks Social Media in February earlier this year, which called upon artists, creatives, and professional designers across the kingdom to take part in developing a new logo for the bank.

The refreshed logo is a reflection of the banks strong market presence and promise of nurturing relationships by creating enriching and transformative client experiences, in keeping with the banks journey of embodying its newly formed Brand DNA.

The DNA comprises revived Brand Values that support the banks collaborative work culture and vision, as well as the following Guiding Principles; We Enchant our Clients, We Inspire Our People, We are Digitally Native, We Do the Right Thing, and finally, We Act with Empathy.

An art piece featuring the refreshed logo, was unravelled on the face of Al Salam Banks new headquarters on October 19. The art piece was curated as a result of month-long community-led art activations as part of the banks newly launched Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) platform, Al Salam Helping Hands, which seeks to support the social and financial wellbeing of the local community.

Launched in partnership with the artist Abbas Al-Mosawi, who conceptualised the art piece to celebrate the banks human-centered values, and incorporate the inspiration behind the logo creation.

The first art activation started with the banks employees at the banks internal Brand DNA Launch event. Art pop-ups were then extended to the community at large, across key Al Salam branches, followed by the Avenues Mall and City Centre. For every participation, the bank donated BD1 ($2.65) to the Royal Humanitarian Foundation.

Commenting on the occasion, Group Chief Executive Officer of Al Salam Bank, Rafik Nayed, said: Ultimately, our logo encapsulates a new era for the bank underlined by our brand promise which revolves around nurturing relationships by enriching experiences. It was inspired by our connections with our people, with our clients, and with the community. For this reason, with the help of the talented local Bahraini artist, Abbas Al-Mosawi, we wanted to involve the public as part of this journey, all while giving back to the community. The final piece includes the contributions of our very own employees at the bank, of our clients and of the Bahraini community at large  which all went towards a good cause.

Mahmood Qannati, Head of Marketing and Communications at Al Salam Bank, added: Our logo is a representation of who we are at Al Salam Bank: elegant, timeless and innovative. The outer edges of our former logo were maintained to represent our commitment to preserving the heritage and Islamic values of the bank, all while illustrating the refined service that we provide to our valued clients. It is a reinforcement of our co-existence with the community, and our desire at Al Salam Bank to bring positive change from the inside out.-- TradeArabia News Service
Dubai Aerospace Enterprise (DAE), the global aviation services company, today announced new financing actions that further enhance the companys liquidity strength.

The financings include:

 $780 million of new senior unsecured term financings with a weighted average maturity of 7.7 years in two transactions, each underwritten by a leading bank in the region

 $800 million of 24-month revolving credit facility maturity extensions from 2023 to 2025

Firoz Tarapore, Chief Executive Officer of DAE, stated: These new financings and facility extensions underscore DAEs commitment to maintaining exceptional liquidity and a strong balance sheet as we navigate challenging trends in the aviation industry. This, combined with the diversity of our approximately 400 lender and investor relationships, has allowed us to operate confidently during the period.

Our capital strength along with capital from our managed asset mandates has allowed us to provide in excess of $3 billion of purchase commitments to our airline clients and OEMs during the pandemic, he said. - TradeArabia News Service
Gulf Islamic Investment (GII), a leading UAE-based Shariah-compliant financial services firm with over $2 billion of assets under management, has announced its foray into Karnataka, India with plans to open an office in Bengaluru.



GIIs investment approach in India is sector-agnostic and the firm plans to invest another $500 million in India in the next three years. The company is also keen to partner with Indian start-ups and growth companies in their Middle East expansion plans and is open to collaborating with Indian or global investors in future Indian investments.



Dr Aman Puri, Consul General of India, Dubai said: We are elated to announce that GII would be opening its office in Bengaluru, Karnataka. Karnataka is the Partner State at India Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai this week and is the start-up capital of Asia with Bengaluru housing 40% of Indias unicorns. The UAE is an important partner in India's emergence as an investment destination and in its vision of becoming a $5 trillion economy.



Mohammed Alhassan and Pankaj Gupta, Founding Partners and Co-CEOs of Gulf Islamic Investments, said: We are delighted to officially announce our plans to establish a GII office in Indias technology capital of Bengaluru and deeply grateful to the Honorable Dr. Reddy, the Karnataka government, Dr. Puri and CGI Dubai for their diligent and steadfast support as we set-up our very first international subsidiary.



India represents a prime investment destination for GII and this expansion demonstrates our commitment to future investments in the countrys burgeoning start-up and high-growth enterprise space. Given the success of our preliminary investment rounds through the India Growth Portfolio series, valued at over INR1,000 crores, we look forward to expanding our footprint in India and strategically contributing towards enhancing the India- UAE investment corridor.



In 2020, GII made its Indian investment debut with India Growth Portfolio (IGP-I) comprising significant minority stake investments in a portfolio of healthcare companies, including an award-winning chain of multispecialty hospitals and the countrys leading in-vitro diagnostics firm.



Since its establishment in 2014, GII has successfully closed over 45 transactions with asset values ranging from $10 million to $500 million across real estate, private equity and venture capital investments. The firm's clients include UHNWIs, family offices, banks, institutions, and sovereign wealth funds in the GCC and Asia.  TradeArabia News Service
Master-developer Dubai South Properties has announced the launch of The Avenue, a key project offering limited number of freehold plots that can be purchased on a payment plan and developed by investors for commercial use.

The new launch comes following the vast development of Dubai South, the successful sell-out of several freehold projects as well as sales of residential plots at the Residential District that were launched earlier by the company.

The Avenue will vary in sizes, with plots ranging from 30,000 to 55,000 sq ft, while the built up area (BUA) will be in the range of 50,000 to 90,000 sq ft. Prices are highly competitive in comparison with the market, and start at AED250 ($68) per sq ft on BUA.

Dubai South Properties will also offer a payment plan of up to three years. Interested investors will benefit from the dual licensing system whereby, they could obtain all required licenses directly from Dubai South Freezone, saving them time and giving them an abundance of facilities.

Interested land owners will also benefit from the strategic location of the plots in Dubai South, which will also be connected to an upcoming metro station that will be built in the area, in addition to its proximity to Expo2020 alongside the same road and Al Maktoum International Airport, which is set to be the largest airport in the world once completed, as well as, Dubai Souths VIP Terminal which is a 10-minute drive.

"Following the successful sell-out of other mixed-use developments that we had launched over the last few years, and the surge in demand from investors on both residential and commercial properties, we decided to launch The Avenue, hence create an exceptional opportunity for those who are considering owning their private commercial land for their various business needs," stated a spokesperson from Dubai South Properties.

Dubai South is home to a community of freehold as well as leasehold residential, commercial, office, and retail properties. It caters to different lifestyles and is designed to create a vibrant living environment, in line with Dubai Souths drive to enrich the emirates urban lifestyle projects to support its economic growth.

"We are also confident that Expo 2020 will play a pivotal role in attracting investors, who will be keen to explore investment opportunities in Dubai. We at Dubai South Properties are committed to cater to the aspirations of potential and existing clientele as well as support the governments initiatives and plans in attracting foreign direct investments to the emirate" he added.-TradeArabia News Service
Dubai Investments, a leading diversified investment company, has signed an agreement with Marjan, the master-developer of freehold properties in Ras Al Khaimah, to acquire land to develop a AED 1 billion ($272 million) mixed-use beachfront residential, beach resort and lifestyle destination on Al Marjan Island.

The agreement was signed by Khalid Bin Kalban, Vice Chairman & CEO, Dubai Investments and Eng Abdulla Al Abdooli, CEO of Marjan.

Epitomising a masterful orchestration of contemporary elegance with simple and subtle sophistication, the project is designed to provide a perfect amalgamation of hospitality, and residential elements inclusive of a beachfront resort, beachfront serviced apartments and beachfront villas plus, waterfront residential buildings, retail and F&B components along with other recreational facilities.

Dubai Investments is excited about this new venture as we believe Ras Al Khaimah (RAK) is fast gaining traction as a hub for tourism in the region with the emirates government channelizing resources and investing in a range of wellness initiatives to leverage its natural assets. Catering to the growing demand for such projects in Ras Al Khaimah and in line with strengthening Dubai Investments real estate portfolio with the addition of more high-end hospitality projects, the Company is optimistic this new project will further accentuate the well-being appeal, providing a comfortable lifestyle seamlessly integrated with nature, said Kalban.

Al Marjan Island has become a preferred hub for visitors and investors from around the globe and we are looking forward to expanding our offering through world-class projects such as the one being developed by Dubai Investments. This will further support Ras Al Khaimahs positioning as a vibrant tourism, hospitality and residential destination  inspired and guided by the vision of our leadership, said Eng Al Abdooli.

Designed to be situated on the View Island, set at the heart of Al Marjan Island, the projects design will offer a private enclave with water-front views, providing a perfect gateway for social gatherings, family unions, business meetings or just personal relaxation, set amidst a conducive environment.

Dubai Investments aims to promote the new project to serve as a benchmark in mixed-use infrastructure development, designed and developed to add long-term value to the economy of Ras Al Khaimah, it said. - TradeArabia News Service
UAE-based Azizi Developments said it has extended its agreement with RAK Ceramics, one of the largest premium ceramic brands in the world, for supply of its floor and wall tiles for the apartments at its prestigious Phase 3 of Riviera in MBR City.

Rivieras corridors will be tiled with the Aleppo Stone Collection, and balconies with porcelain tiles from the Concrete Collection. Bathroom floors and walls will be fitted with modern glazed porcelain tiles, inspired by natural earthly rocks, from RAKs shine stone collection.

Further to this, wooden design living and bedroom porcelain flooring will add a contemporary rustic timber style to Rivieras sophisticated homes.

CEO Farhad Azizi said: We are pleased to announce the extension of our agreement with RAK Ceramics, which comes in light of the appointment earlier last year. This signing highlights our commitment towards procuring high-quality, locally made materials."

"We pride ourselves on our developments embodying unparalleled modern luxury  a design and construction philosophy that sets us apart and ensures investor satisfaction. RAK Ceramics world-renowned, premium collection of ceramic products was selected as the ideal fit, perfectly matching Rivieras remarkably high-quality standards, he added.

A specialist in ceramic and gres porcelain wall and floor tiles and sanitaryware, RAK Ceramics produces 123 million sq m of tiles and 5 million pieces of sanitaryware per year at their 22 plants across the United Arab Emirates, India, and Bangladesh.-TradeArabia News Service
Bupa Arabia, a provider of cooperative insurance has partnered with Okadoc, a leading regional health-tech company aiming to enhance customer experience and elevate the level of its digital healthcare services.



The strategic partnership, which was recently further solidified through an equity investment in Okadoc, represents a key milestone in the MENA region, in general, and Saudi Arabia, in particular.



One of Bupa Arabia's key strategic priorities is to expand its investment portfolio in innovative tech companies said Nader Ashoor, CFO at Bupa Arabia.



The partnership comes in line with the aspirations of the Ministry of Health, the Council of Cooperative Health Insurance (CCHI), and the Central Bank (SAMA) in driving digital transformation in the sector in accordance with the objectives of the Kingdoms Vision 2030.



Bupa Arabias equity investment in Okadoc is a unique occasion to strengthen the Companys relationship with its members and provide them with innovative digital services that are engaging, interactive and accessible.



We will always need doctors offices, but its up to digital health innovators to facilitate the right mix of in-person and virtual interactions said Nader.



Through the partnership with Okadoc, Bupa Arabias insured members will be offered instant medical appointment with doctors across more than 60 specialities, including some of the Kingdoms largest hospital groups.



Once logging in to the mobile app, patients can view in-network doctors and book an appointment within 30 seconds, including the ability to search for doctors by name, clinic name, specialty, language spoken, gender, country of education, location. They will also receive reminders and can reschedule, cancel or even request earlier availability online.



Fodhil Benturquia, Okadoc CEO and Founder, said: Our mission at Okadoc has always been simple: to improve the healthcare experience for all. Our white label solution is currently adopted by some of the regions largest providers and payers. Through our technology, patients will have direct access to top hospitals and clinics throughout the Kingdom  this is exactly the type of game-changing technology that the sector needs. We look forward to our strategic partnership with Bupa Arabia to help us achieve our mission and prepare us for our next stage of growth



Okadocs solution is the only one-stop shop patient engagement platform that is directly integrated with providers health information system (HIS/EMR), allowing patients to see real-time availabilities and book video and in-person appointments seamlessly without any admin support.



Not only does Okadocs technology reduce administrative burdens, but it is also proven to reduce no-shows by as much as 75%, increase patient satisfaction, offer new revenue streams via online consultations, increase operational efficiency by optimizing appointment bookings, and increase payment options for patients.  TradeArabia News Service
dnata, a leading provider of ground handling, cargo and catering services at airports, has been named Cold Chain Service Provider of the Year at the 8th Payload Asia Awards.



The award recognises the most outstanding companies in the air cargo supply chain across Asia Pacific to celebrate their certified track record of excellence and industry compliance in the airfreight market. The award was presented at a gala event in Singapore.



Charles Galloway, Regional CEO for Asia Pacific, dnata, said: We are proud to be recognised by the industry as a trusted member of the air cargo ecosystem. We continue to work closely with our partners across the supply chain to consistently provide world-class safety and services to our customers.



dnata has recently invested significantly in infrastructure, equipment and training to ensure that it provides shippers with a transparent and reliable cool chain product. The company has been using the latest technology, best practices and certified warehouses to deliver best-in-class services for customers.



dnata added a total of six high-tech 'cool dollies to its cargo fleets in Australia and Singapore, becoming the first air services provider in both markets to offer a fully integrated, temperature-controlled cool chain for pharma and perishable shipments.



In the Asia-Pacific region, dnata operates cool chain facilities in Singapore, Melbourne and Sydney. Designed and built with flexibility and unique product requirements in mind, the facilities enable dnatas cargo teams to offer an uncompromised temperature-controlled handling and storage solution to airline customers.



dnata consistently improves training and processes to transport temperature-sensitive shipments to the highest international standards. Teams receive specialised training and temperature-sensitive cargo is given priority loading and unloading to ensure that it is moved quickly with minimised temperature fluctuation.



dnata is the only air services provider in Australia that has been awarded the World Health Organizations (WHO) Good Distribution Practice (GDP) certification for the pharmaceutical handling services at its facilities. In achieving the certification, dnata proved its capability of handling pharmaceutical products safely and reliably.



In addition to its CEIV Fresh certification, dnata holds IATAs Center of Excellence for Independent Validators in Pharmaceutical Logistics (CEIV Pharma) accreditation at Singapore Changi Airport. dnata has also earned the ISO 9001:2015 certification for cargo handling services, and been awarded Halal certification by Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura (Muis) for a special storage room in its Coolchain facility.



dnata is a global member of Pharma.Aero, a cross-industry collaboration of pharma shippers, CEIV certified cargo communities, airport operators and other air cargo industry stakeholders.



dnata operates at 15 airports in the Asia Pacific region, delivering reliable and safe ground handling, cargo and catering services to over 80 airlines with a team of highly trained, customer-oriented aviation professionals.  TradeArabia News Service
DP Worlds leading trade and logistics hub Jebel Ali Free Zone (Jafza) has signed an agreement with Arab Bank for Investment and Foreign Trade (Al Masraf) to support business operations of SMEs and other enterprises licensed within Jafza.



The memorandum of understanding (MoU) aims to strengthen DP Worlds commitment to facilitate the business activities of more than 8,700 customers operating within the free zone, helping Jafza achieve its goal of empowering SMEs and attracting entrepreneurs from around the globe.



The MoU was signed by Abdulla Bin Damithan, CEO & Managing Director of DP World UAE and Jafza and Charles Doghlass, Acting  Chief Executive Officer of Al Masraf in the presence of senior officials from both parties.



Through this partnership, Jafza will enable SMEs to streamline their financial processes such as account opening, financial documentation, and automation of the remediation process for its partners. The MoU will fully support both Jafza and Al Masraf in terms of record-keeping of the licensed businesses in the free zone.



Ahmad Al Haddad, Chief Operating Officer - Parks and Zones, DP World UAE said: The SMEs sector contributes to more than 53 per cent of the UAEs non-oil GDP.As per the Ministry of Finance, this figure is set to rise to 60 per cent by end of 2021.We have countless success stories of SMEs that are now international companies with a global reach. To maintain our growth momentum and adhere to the national goals, we are committed to supporting new startups through our trade accelerators, business incubators and partnerships with financial institutions.



Our agreement comes at an important time as EXPO 2020 Dubai, a gateway for many business opportunities for SMEs and startups has commenced successfully. The MoU will support both Jafza and Al Masraf to achieve our shared objective of enhancing economic and commercial engagement. We are confident that it will open new business and trade opportunities by enabling seamless transactions within the free zone, he added.



Charles Doghlass, Acting  Chief Executive Officer, Al Masraf, said: In line with UAE governments ambition to enhance the contribution and performance of the SME sector as the SME represents 94% of the total number of companies operating in the country providing jobs for more than 86% of private sector workforce, Al Masraf is proud to partner with DP World in its relentless efforts to enhance and facilitate the business setup and operations of SMEs within Jafza.



We believe that SMEs and startups are vital to the growth of the economy and enabling them to take advantage of premium financial services will simplify their operations and enhance their ease of doing business. We have been assigned as a Long-Term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) of A in 2020& 2021by the leading global credit rating agency Fitch Ratings, and this achievement only demonstrates the bank's resilience and efficiency. We are confident that through this partnership, we will be able to provide the essential support for SMEs and startups in Jafza based on quality and excellence.  TradeArabia News Service
SAL Saudi Logistics Services (SAL), a leading ground handling and logistics company, has signed an agreement with Classic Automotive Relocation Services (CARS) to provide comprehensive logistics support for all its car shipments.



The agreement includes shipments passing through the Kingdoms main airports, landports& seaports, including Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam, and Medina.



The agreement was signed at SAL HQ with SAL CEO Hesham Alhussayen and CARS Managing Partner James McSweeney.



The companies agreed to collaborate on all logistics services on a comprehensive scale, including first-mile, last mile, custom clearances, warehousing, and end-to-end services, as well as other bespoke solutions for different shipments. Their agreement covers shipments both within and outside of KSA.



For more than three decades, CARS (Classic Automotive Relocation Services) has handled some of the most irreplaceable motorcars in the world. It has been a trusted name in handling the worlds finest automobiles to car shows, concours delegance, exhibitions, trade shows and other global events.



Facilitated by its own offices in the UK, Amsterdam, New York, Miami, Los Angeles, Dubai, and Tokyo and via a network of specialist global agents, CARS offer a specialised worldwide car transportation service by Air, Sea and Land.



Hesham Alhussayen said: We are extremely delighted to forge this agreement with CARS, known worldwide for safely transporting rare and high-value vehicles. This not only reflects our growing network of partnerships across a broad spectrum of international businesses, but as well the trust in our brand. SAL has highly-skilled people to handle this delicate task, the experience and the infrastructure in providing the best logistics and ground-handling services to the highest international standards.

James McSweeney commented: We are extremely honoured to form this partnership with SAL. SAL is a forward-thinking company with plans to deliver a first-class product in the high-end automotive sector and with CARS expertise and SALs vision we are very confident to deliver a successful and long-term partnership between our companies for the mutual benefit of our regional and global customers.



SAL provides premium cargo chain support for multiple airlines operating into and out of Saudi Arabias airports. It is also broadening its services within airports and will extend its logistics network to increase connectivity between sea, air, and land, in line with the Vision 2030 objective of transforming the Kingdom into a global logistics hub.  TradeArabia News Service
The Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) has announced the launch of Space Ventures, a launchpad for startups in the space sector from the region and around the world.

The purpose-built ecosystem enables businesses to collaborate with MBRSC on long-term projects, gain access to technology and support, and receive aid in communicating with regulatory agencies around the world in order to achieve viability and long-term growth.

Space Ventures has partnered with the leading incubators and accelerators in the region to provide the right kind of push for established as well as promising space startups.

HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubais call to focus on innovation, research, science, and technology to form the pillars of a knowledge-based, highly productive and competitive economy has contributed to the realisation of Space Ventures.

The initiative by MBRSC aims to inspire innovation across the ecosystem and create a completely new market for space related companies in the UAE and the wider region.

From small companies with big ideas, to established entities with a desire to expand, Space Ventures is looking to build solid partnerships in the upstream, downstream areas of the space sector, including communications, data storage, IoT, satellite manufacture and launch, robotics, space hardware and software, among others. Startups that partner with Space Ventures will need to be based in the UAE and will benefit from the countrys active and progressive space programme.

Yousuf Hamad AlShaibani, Director-General, MBRSC, said: The UAE space sector is looking to further expand its horizon and create a new space economy landscape in the country through a self-sustaining space ecosystem. This is only possible through partnerships with ambitious companies focused on emerging trends in the upstream and downstream areas of the space sector as well as space exploration and sciences, which will add further impetus to the countrys space sector. MBRSCs commitment towards space research and development has garnered the attention of the world, which in turn has inspired us to start the Space Ventures initiative.

Adnan AlRais, Programme Manager of Mars 2117, MBRSC said: We would like to leverage our advanced scientific and technological hub, to partner with and support startups that are looking to make an impact in the space sector. Space Ventures will help in establishing a strong and sustainable space ecosystem that will contribute to achieving the goals of the Mars 2117 Programme, which aims to establish human settlements on Mars by 2117, as well as other space programmes in the UAE. With niche focus areas in the space field, the Space Ventures initiative provides both MBRSC as well as private players to collaborate and capitalise on each others strengths and expertise.

Space Ventures initiative is funded and supported by the ICT Fund of the Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority.-- TradeArabia News Service
Africa Oil Week is expected to stimulate upstream transactions, drive investments into African energy projects, and facilitate new partnerships and networking opportunities for the African upstream.

Hosted for the first time in the Mena region, the event will connect the African oil and gas industry to the rest of the world under the theme Succeeding in a Changed Market - providing attendees with business intelligence and opening-up new in-market business opportunities.

The leading oil and gas show in Africa, has announced a stellar line-up of speakers for the 27th edition, scheduled to be held from November 8 to 11, 2021, at Madinat Jumeirah in Dubai.

Attendees can look forward to engaging and forward-thinking discussions which are designed to support the African upstream as it emerges from two years of transition and disruption caused by an accelerated energy transition and the global pandemic. Uniting under the theme of Succeeding in a Changed Market, esteemed speakers will tackle topics on how the industry has responded to the evolving market landscape, identify opportunities for new players and high-value assets on the horizon, and analyse the macro-effects of the global energy transition on the African upstream.

The senior line-up of 150 speakers includes Hon Thomas Camara, Minister of Petroleum, Energy & Renewable Energies, Cote d'Ivoire; Nicolas Terraz, President of Exploration & Production, TotalEnergies; Chaher Boulakhras, CEO, Sonelgaz; Rahul Dhir, CEO, Tullow Oil; Simon Flowers, Chairman & Chief Analyst, Wood Mackenzie and Irene Waage Basili, CEO, Shearwater GeoServices.

The event has also received overwhelming support from leading organisations from across the globe including Eni, Chevron, Shell, Equinor, Perenco, ReconAfrica, Seplat Energy, Africa Oil Corp, PGS and Fugro.

Alongside a week full of networking functions, roundtables and in-person meetings, 2021 sees the inclusion of the revived Africa Independents Forum a platform designed to showcase the most exciting farm-out, JV and asset opportunities on the continent. Content briefings dedicated to energy financing will help delegates capitalise on business and project opportunities presented by the energy transition.

Foday Mansaray, Director General, Petroleum Directorate, Sierra Leone, said: We are very much looking forward to attending Africa Oil Week in Dubai in November. We look forward to participating in the event and presenting opportunities that Sierra Leone has, and reuniting with key industry stakeholders from leading global organisations, governments and business partners from Africa and the UAE once again at this important event.

As the upstream moves to embrace digital solutions more than ever before to alleviate the impact of the pandemic on operations, Africa Oil Week will spotlight the critical role innovation and technology plays in Africas future energy landscape, specifically examining how it can be utilised to safeguard and strengthen Africas upstream portfolios from future disruption. An expert panel including representatives from Maersk Drilling, Baker Hughes and Schlumberger will unpack this during a high-level conference session.

Africa Oil Week will also maximise its one-year placement in the UAE to create an investment channel between the two regions by bringing in the Middle Eastern financial community to the event to showcase the countless prospective energy opportunities Africa has to offer. Another interesting session will be dedicated to the sharing of best practice across the Middle East and African upstreams, with Alexandre Araman, Principal Analyst  Middle East Upstream Research, Wood Mackenzie and Eng. Abdul-Amir Ajmi, External Affairs and Value Creation Director, Petroleum Directorate Oman (PDO) scheduled to present.

Paul Sinclair, Vice President of Energy & Director of Government Relations, Africa Oil Week & Future Energy Series Africa said: The Africa Oil Week conference provides four days of pioneering insights, from ministerial panels to strategic outlooks and sessions designed to drive investment into the African upstream. The agenda, as always, is focused on strategic business intelligence and deal-making opportunities. The past two years have seen an accelerated transition towards clean energy solutions. At this year's edition, our curated programme has an impressive line-up of industry experts who will explore opportunities created by the energy transition for the African Upstream.

The event will also serve as an ideal platform for experts to work on an economic blueprint to harmonise energy development in Africa that will help achieve a clean energy future for the continent and ensure the affordability of clean energy projects and funds available to facilitate the transition.

-- TradeArabia News Service
UAE's leading telecom services operator Etisalat has joined hands with Sharjah's Roads and Transport Authority (SRTA) for further cooperation in a host of smart services and solutions in bid to enhance sustainable transport in the northern emirate.

Under a partnership agreement, the parties will jointly develop and establish a long-term strategic collaboration, with Etisalat appointed as the transport authoritys digital, ICT and smart solutions service provider.

Both are set to embark on a joint project to fulfill SRTAs existing and future requirements, transforming its services into smart services.

Etisalat UAE CEO Masood M Sharif Mahmood signed the agreement with SRTA Chairman Youssef Al Othmani in the presence of senior officials on the sidelines of Gitex Global in Dubai.

Abdel Aziz Hamad Taryam, General Manager - Northern Emirates, said: "Etisalat is keen to enable SRTA access to the latest technologies and smart solutions to help realise its sustainable transport objectives."

"These efforts epitomise Etisalats strategic vision of Driving the digital future to empower societies. We look forward to working closely with the SRTA in developing technologies and initiatives to address its existing and future requirements," he stated.

Al Othmani stressed the importance of government partnerships to enhance the development process in Sharjah, thus enabling institutions to unify their efforts to execute development projects according to the highest international standards and to meet the needs of citizens and residents in all sectors.

The partnership will also contribute to opening horizons for upcoming projects, characterised by the use of the latest technologies and the best ways to enable the authority to harness artificial intelligence to fulfill its future projects, he added.-TradeArabia News Service
iQIBLA, a leading smart wearable technology brand, has launched, the worlds first smart ring, the Zikr Ring, at the ongoing Gitex Technology Week 2021.

The smart device is expected to set new trend in the global wearable technology market.

Developed in collaboration with Umeox Innovation, a leading international smart wear company based in Shenzhen, China, iQIBLAs Zikr Ring is crafted to carry innovative functions to assist its users in their religious rituals and daily worship.

The features of the newly introduced wearable technology serve as a unique timepiece thanks to its sleek digital clock display.

The Smart Ring combines the classic ring shape and intelligent wear technology into one. Made of new alloy material and is manufactured according to the highest standards of quality, the IP68-waterproof ring is also comfortable to wear.

Younes Alaghbary, Founder, iQIBLA, said: The landmark launch of our modern device reflects our brands dream to bring a revolutionary life experience to our customers worldwide through smart wear solutions. Our pioneering smart ring leverages advanced technologies to elevate the experience of its users.

Through our ground-breaking innovation, we are confident that our smart ring, the first of its kind globally, will set a new trend in the global wearable technology market, said Rajesh Kumar, General Manager, iQIBLA.

iQIBLA, which is exhibiting at Gitex until October 21, 2021, will display the Zikr Ring at its exhibition stand located at Booth H5-2 of the Dubai World Trade Centre.

Apart from showcasing the features of its smart ring, the company has joined the regions biggest technology show to also build new investment partnerships in the Middle East and North Africa. These collaborations will support its ongoing efforts to expand its portfolio of smart wearable technology products and services.-- TradeArabia News Service
As part of its strategy to build and enhance cloud computing technical skills and capabilities in the Abu Dhabi government, the Abu Dhabi Digital Authority (Adda) has signed an agreement with Amazon Web Services (AWS).

The deal was signed during Addas participation at Gitex Technology Week 2021, which runs until October 21 at the Dubai World Trade Centre.

The collaboration aims to support the digital transformation journey, promote capacity building in the field of cloud computing in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, and encourage the exchange of experiences and best international practices in this increasingly important field.

The Abu Dhabi Digital Authority and Amazon Web Services will accelerate the activation of the agreement by forming a specialised working group comprising government entities representatives from the departments of business development, information technology, and Legal Affairs.

The team will review and follow up on the work plan and discuss areas of common interest to further accelerate the cooperation between the two parties.

AWS will be launching data centres in the UAE in the first half of 2022, providing advanced cloud technologies that enable organisations of all size across the private and public sectors to innovate faster and accelerate their digital transformation.-- TradeArabia News Service
The Festival is set to bring the best in Arab and World Cinema

With over 100 films from around the world showcasing the best cinematic works from the region and a carefully curated selection of international titles, the Red Sea International Film Festival will take place from December 6 to 15.

The inaugural edition of the Festival is set to bring the best in Arab and World Cinema to the Unesco world heritage site of Jeddah Old Town.

The Festival will showcase a compelling slate of new and diverse films, alongside a retrospective programme celebrating the masters of cinema as well as introducing audiences to exciting new voices from the region and beyond. It will provide a platform for Arab filmmakers and industry professionals from around the world to connect, host feature and short film competitions, and present a series of events, masterclasses, and workshops to support emerging talent.

The Festival will provide industry professionals with the exclusive opportunity to see a selection of films and be part of a unique experience.

It has opened its doors to cinema world enthusiasts to register and receive their accreditation and be part of the film festival in KSA, the most anticipated cinematic event of the year.

From dazzling red carpet premiers and concerts, an unrivalled industry programme, exciting workshops and talks, interactive community events to acclaimed festival gems and beautifully restored treasures, the Red Sea International Film Festival is the place to be this December 2021!-- TradeArabia News Service
Huawei Digital Power has signed a key contract with SepcoIII for the Red Sea Project with 400 MW PV plus 1300 MWh battery energy storage solution (BESS), which is currently the world's largest energy storage project.

The contract was announced at the Global Digital Power Summit 2021 in Dubai, UAE.

The two parties will cooperate to help Saudi Arabia build a global clean energy and green economy centre, said a statement.

This 1300 MWh off-grid energy storage project is the largest of its kind in the world and represents a milestone in the global energy storage industry.

The Red Sea Project has been listed in the Saudi Vision 2030 as a key project. Its developer is Acwa Power, and the general contractor of EPC is SepcoIII. Located on the Red Sea coast, Neom is also known as the city of the future, powered entirely by renewable energy. It will lead a new way of life and drive new economic growth, as resources such as oil are increasingly depleted.

With more than 10 years of experience in researching and developing energy storage systems as well as more than 8 GWh energy storage system applications, Huawei Digital Power is committed to integrating the digital information technology with PV and energy storage technologies to build a more efficient, stable, and safe smart string energy storage system using the string, intelligent, and modular designs, aiming to help PV become the main energy source and build a green and bright future. -TradeArabia News Service
Oman Air has won three awards in the Middle East category at the World Travel Awards 2021, voted for by air travellers based on their own experiences. They are Leading Airline, Leading Airline for Customer Experience, and Leading Airline - Economy Class.

The awards were announced online this year. The Leading Airline - Economy Class follows consecutive wins in the same category from 2014 to 2020.

Chief Executive Officer Abdulaziz Al Raisi said: Oman Air is delighted to once again be recognised for our products, services, and customer care, both in the air and on the ground. Our commitment to deliver an exceptional journey for all our guests has always been a priority, and these latest accolades from the World Travel Awards let us know that were delivering on that promise.

Oman Air has continued to receive awards from industry bodies, consumer groups and publications around the world. Earlier, the airline won 'Best Airline Staff in the Middle East' at the Skytrax World Airline Awards 2021, a Five Star rating in the Major Airline category from the Airline Passenger Experience Association (APEX), the Skytrax 5-Star Covid-19 Airline Safety Rating, and the Skytrax 5-Star Covid-19 Lounge Safety Rating for its lounge at Muscat International Airport.

The carrier and its Holidays division also earned the Safe Travels Stamp from the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC).

Oman Air Vice President Marketing Abdulaziz Al Rashdi said: Winning these awards confirms that our guests appreciate our products and the Omani hospitality offered by our staff. Oman Air ranks high for onboard comfort, luxury and service, and for the level of customer care received on the ground, whether arriving, transiting or departing.-TradeArabia News Service
World-class market research firms will be at WTM London and Travel Forward to reveal their insights and forecasts about the future of travel in a post-pandemic world.

As borders around the world re-open for international tourism, professionals from across the global travel industry will reunite physically once more at ExCeL London on November 1-3.

As well as WTMs own annual Industry Report, which looks at key consumer and trade trends, there will be wide-ranging, in-depth market research presented by leading specialists such as Euromonitor, ForwardKeys and Oxford Economics.

The opening conference of WTM London will unveil the WTM London Industry Report 2021.

Taking place on the WTM Global Stage on the opening day, the report will set the agenda for conversations and negotiations that will be taking place on the exhibition floor. Travel expert Simon Calder  a journalist  will be the moderator for the session.

Later the same day, ForwardKeys will present New Markets, New Opportunities  The new paradigm to post-Covid travel. Taking place on the Travel Forward Stage, the session will showcase examples of destinations that are forging ahead with their recovery.

Further insights will be revealed on the second day of WTM by Oxford Economics  a leader in global forecasting and quantitative analysis. Oxford Economics Managing Director - Europe and Middle East David Goodger will be joining a panel on the WTM Global Stage for the session entitled Fixing travels broken business model for 2022.

Another traditional highlight for WTM London is the annual Euromonitor International report. This year, it will be presented on the third day during a session called Travel Rewired: Innovation strategies for a Resilient Recovery.

Euromonitor Head of Travel Research Caroline Bremner will present the market research specialists report about tourism forecasts, consumer preferences and priorities across digitalisation, sustainability, health and wellbeing for key regions.

The travel research specialists will also reflect the calls from consumers and campaigners to take heed of the climate emergency and ensure a sustainable, resilient recovery.

WTM London & Travel Forward Exhibition Director Simon Press said: With the substantial pent-up demand for travel in 2022, its crucial for delegates to gain a competitive advantage by learning about the opinions and intentions of consumers and trade professionals.

The scale of the challenge is shown by stats from the World Travel and Tourism Council  it says the travel and tourism sector generated nearly $9.2 trillion around the world in 2019 but that fell by 49% in 2020 as the pandemic struck.

The sectors contribution to the world economy has recovered by 31% this year but that was mainly driven by domestic spending. Next year could see another year-on-year rise of about 32% as the recovery continues  but travellers still face restrictions and uneven vaccine rollouts.

Our own research, along with studies from Euromonitor, ForwardKeys and Oxford Economics, will help delegates formulate their strategies for that recovery and discuss the best ways to rebuild and innovate, as they reconnect with fellow professionals on the exhibition floor.-TradeArabia News Service
Help India!



In India, the judiciary needs to check that every authority of law is doing its duty in accordance with the rule of law. It is also the responsibility of the judiciary to make sure that those judges who are hearing sensitive cases and are critical of the government agencies are not transferred in such an arbitrary manner.

Aasif Mujtaba | TwoCircles.net

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The month of February 2020 was one of the darkest chapters in the history of communal riots in the national capital of India. After the anti-Sikh pogrom of 1984, the violence against Muslims in February 2020 continued unabated for more than a week. A total of 53 people, mostly Muslims lost their lives and properties worth crores were destroyed. How the Muslims, who were protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), were targeted makes a strong case of the anti-Muslim pogrom that took place not only with the connivance of the State but also with its active sponsorship. The law & order situation in the capital was crippled and Muslims were mercilessly murdered on the streets. Over 750 FIRs were filed and hearing of these cases was taking place mostly in the Karkardooma court Delhi.

For over a year now, the Delhi Police was at the receiving end of the judiciary who had been making critical remarks against the conduct of the force. Recently, in a surprising move, Additional Sessions Judge Vinod Yadav was transferred from the Karkardooma Court in the North East Delhi to Rose Avenue Court as a special CBI judge. ASJ Yadav who was hearing several Delhi riots cases was transferred along with 10 other judicial officers including Metropolitan Magistrate Fahad Uddin.

ASJ Yadavs stance over Delhi Polices probe of Delhi riots

There are several instances where the remarks of ASJ Yadav had been critical of the conduct of the Delhi Police. In the State Vs Mohammad Nasir case, he imposed a fine of Rs 25000 on Delhi Police which challenged the order of the court in filing an FIR in a case where the applicant lost one of his eyes. The court also noted that police officials had miserably failed in their statutory duties. In the State Vs Ashraf Ali and Others case, his court came down heavily on Delhi Police, stating that not only the level of investigation is very poor but the police are filling half-baked charge sheets in several cases. He remarked that the police are not bothered about taking these cases to any logical end. In the State vs Shah Alam and others case, the court not only discharged the three accused Shah Alam, Rashid Saifi and Shadab but also made a damning remark for Delhi Police as to when history will look back at the worst communal riots since partition in Delhi, the failure of investigating agency to conduct a proper investigation by using latest scientific methods will surely torment the sentinels of democracy. Even a day before his transfer, ASJ Yadav in State Vs Dinesh case, remarked that the police witnesses are lying on oath and the state of affairs of the police is indeed pathetic.

Beyond an iota of doubt, ASJ Yadav was becoming a nightmare for the Delhi Police and was time and again criticizing the poor and biased standard of investigation in most of the cases. His transfer at this hour is raising natural suspicions.

The curious case of Justice Muralidhar

In a similar manner, Justice S Muralidhar was transferred last year after a bench comprising of him and Justice Talwant Singh came down heavily on Delhi Police for not registering FIRs against BJP leaders Kapil Mishra, Anurag Thakur, Parvesh Verma and others for giving inflammatory speeches that led to the Delhi riots.

Justice Muralidhar even had an emergency sitting at 1 am at his residence amid the peak of communal violence and directed the Delhi Police to ensure the safe transit of about 20 patients from Al-Hind Hospital to GTB Hospital for better treatment. The timing of this notification and his unceremonious removal amid hearing of an extremely sensitive case that resulted in the deaths of several innocent citizens was criticized to be disturbing and mala fide. What solidified the ground of suspicion was that though the same collegium on the same day recommended the transfer of another Judge, Justice Subramonium Prasad, his transfer notice was not issued with the same alacrity.

The conflict

Governments without separation of powers commit the worst crimes,  James Cook

The apparent instance of the executive usurping the powers of the judiciary and disturbing its working is to be seen in the lights of schemes of separation of power by the Indian Constitution.

One of the major features of the Constitution of India is that it not only separates power between various organs of the State i.e. Legislative, Judiciary & Executive but also limits the arbitrariness with which any organ can behave. This is also called the practice of check and balance. But, even then, the compartment separating the powers are not water-tight and there are many instances where one organ of the State infringes upon the power of the other. After the famous Keshwanand Bharti judgement of 1973, the manner in which one judge of Supreme Court, Justice Ajit Nath Ray was elevated to be Chief Justice leaving behind three of his seniors (Justice J.M. Shelat, Justice AN Grover and Justice K.S. Hegde) or in 1977 when Justice Khanna was superseded by another judge for Chief Justiceship after his dissent in ADM Jabalpur vs Shiv Kant Shukla Case are clear cut examples of legislature infringement over the judiciary.

In general, a strong executive (with a single majority party) at the centre always creates a weak judiciary. There have been several instances in the past where a government with an absolute majority tried to overtake the judiciary thereby infringing their powers as allocated by the Constitution.

Way forward

A judicial system is corrupt if the truth is denied the right to be a witness,- Suzy Kassem

It is important for the judiciary to check that every authority of law is doing its duty in accordance with the law. It is also the responsibility of the judiciary to make sure that those judges who are hearing sensitive cases and are critical of the government agencies are not transferred in such an arbitrary manner. Like the historical Keshvanad Bharti Judgement of 1973 where the constitutional amending powers of the legislature were limited or the Advocate on Record case (Second Judges case) of 1993 where the Supreme Court stopped the arbitrary manner of appointment of the Judges by the executive, it is a high time that the court should bring some decision in this regard too so that the faith in institutions of the state is not lost.

Aasif Mujtaba is a research scholar of IIT Delhi and an independent journalist based in New Delhi. He tweets at @MujtabaAasif.
Help India!



The family of 51-year-old Malik Noor Mohammad Fayyaz, who is currently in prison for the killing of a BJP member and his brother in 2018, has contested the claims of the National Investigation Agency (NIA). The NIA has accused Fayyaz of being a co-conspirator in reviving terrorism in the Chenab Valley. Maintaining that Fayyaz, a primary school teacher, is innocent, the family stated that the arrest is the continuation of harassment meted against Fayyaz.

Shadab Farooq and Anzer Ayoob | TwoCircles.net

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JAMMU  It had just been a year when Malik Noor Mohammad Fayyaz was released from Kot Bhalwal jail in Jammu after obtaining bail in the Unlawful Activities and Prevention Act (UAPA) on April 2, 2020. A year later on, July 27, 2021 he was arrested, again, by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) for 2018 killing of a BJP member and his brother.

Fayyaz is a co-conspirator for reviving terrorism in the Chenab Valley, the NIA said in a statement. He had also visited Assam and Nagaland with slain Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist Osama-bin-Javid for the aim of procuring weapons, NIA said, adding that he was instrumental in encouraging and recruiting gullible Muslim youth to join the cadres of HM.

Since his first arrest in 2008, Fayyaz has been arrested seven times. On October 1, 2008, he was arrested for the first time in Kishtwar by Jammu and Kashmir Police under FIR number 87/2008 at Police Station Kishtwar.

Currently being incarcerated at Kot Bhalwal jail in Jammu, Fayyazs family told TwoCircles.net that he has been falsely booked.

Who is Malik Noor Mohammad Fayyaz?

Malik Noor Mohammad Fayyaz, a 51-year-old primary school teacher from Phagsoo village in the subdivision Thathri of Doda district in Indian Administered Kashmir, lives with his two boys, wife, and elderly mother in a dented one-story house.

We wouldnt be living in poverty if my father had done something wrong, Idrees Malik, Fayyazs elder son told TwoCircles.net. Even after earlier bails, my father was required to inform the police, even for medical reasons.

Before teaching, Fayyaz worked for the Hurriyat Conference, a socio-political front based in Kashmir. He worked as an office employee and left in 2013. Before leaving Hurriyat, two further FIRs on Fayyaz had been filed against him.

He quit his job and returned to his village, but they continued to harass him for false accusations, claimed Fayyazs brother-in-law, Mohammed Rafi Sheikh.

After leaving Hurriyat, Fayyaz became a teacher at Jamia Marfiya Academy in Kishtwar. He and his wife used to live in a rented apartment in Kishtwar.

The harassment continued after Fayyaz left Hurriyat. Following his departure from the Hurriyat, an FIR was filed under CrPC 8/2014 at the Jammu Police Station Bus Stand, Jammu. Fayyaz travelled to Jammu to see his sons but was arrested and imprisoned for something he never did, only to be released after two months. He was found not guilty and freed after spending two months in jail.

To avoid harassment and long-standing injustice, Fayyaz returned to his hamlet in Phagsoo. Fayyaz had finally moved to his village, eager to start his new life, and he was relieved that things would change now, Mohammed Rafi Sheikh said.

Constant police harassment

Fayyaz accepted the position of Principal at Unique School Phagsoo, a primary school owned by Fayyazs father-in-law, Ghulam Qadir Sheikh. Especially because he had no income, I gave him the responsibility of the school, and ever since our school shines in the village, Ghulam Qadir Sheikh said.

But they didnt let us live in peace, Maqsooda Begum, Noor Mohammed Malik Fayyazs wife told TwoCircles.net. In 2018, he was detained on December 3 under FIR no. 44/2018 at Police Station Kishtwar and then released on December 15 under 169 CrPC, which states that there is no proof against the accused, Maqsooda Begum said.

Javed Ahmad, a member of Phagsoo panchayat claimed, We never observed him doing anything unlawful when he returned to Phagsoo in 2017 and worked in the school. Even though my children attend this school, I have always considered him to be sincere and a wonderful educator.

In 2019, he was arrested by J&K Police under FIR number 232/2019 and jailed on October 3, until being freed from Kot Bhalwal Jail on April 2, 2020, in the Unlawful Activities case when the court granted his bail.

Idrees, Fayyazs son, claims that following the 2019 Unlawful Activities case, his father never held a cellphone. From that day forward, he kept his phone in the police station.

My husband intended to live peacefully with us, but he was again arrested by the police a year later. Why is our family being abused and harassed if they dont have any evidence against my husband?, asks Maqsooda Begum.

A local Imam, Abdul Kabir Malik, affirmed that Fayyaz is a truthful and simple person. I always noted that he lived a simple existence. I agree with his family that he is being maligned and harassed unfairly because he is a poor person, he said.

Charges against Fayyaz

The NIA charged six people in May 2020, including three slain Hizbul Mujahideen militants and three of their associates, with the murder of J&K BJP secretary Anil Parihar and his brother Ajeet Parihar in Kishtwar on November 1, 2018. However, Fayyazs name was not in the FIR but his house was raided by the NIA on January 30, Fayyazs family claimed.

The NIA raided our home last winter but found nothing, Maqsooda Begum said. Now a year later, before my husbands arrest, on July 22, we started getting calls from the agencies three to four times a day. I knew they were going to do something bad. Soon they ordered him to come to Jammu, she added.

Maqsooda Begum further said that on July 25, the police phoned Fayyaz and told him not to appear since the matter had been revealed. However, he received a call from NIAs Sanjay Nath Pal and was quickly summoned to their office.

He had also visited Assam and Nagaland along with slain Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist Osama-bin-Javid for procurement of weapons for the said purpose, the NIA said after arresting Fayyaz on July 27, 2021. He was instrumental in motivating and recruiting gullible Muslim youth to join the cadres of Hizbul Mujahideen, it added.

However, Maqsooda Begum refutes NIAs claims, arguing that Fayyaz did not travel with the militant to Assam but for a wedding ceremony. A poor worker from Assam used to live near our rented home in Kishtwar. The seller asked my husband and me to the wedding of his relative, but I was unable to attend due to health difficulties. However, I insisted my husband to attend the wedding, Maqsooda Begum said. She went on to say, The vendor had also sent us the marriage card.

The law forbids arbitrary detention and arrest, but Fayyaz has been arrested repeatedly under the same. Special security regulations are often used by police to delay judicial investigations of arrests.

For some time, the police did not divulge the location where Fayyaz was being held, said Fayyazs lawyer, Mohammad Wajahatullah. We have filed an application asking on what grounds they have arrested Fayyaz, and we have begun the procedure. Wajahatullah added.

Its difficult to witness the anguish that our family has endured for the past fourteen years, Idrees Malik said, adding, We have lost our minds.

Masking the brittle fracture in Idreess voice, Maqsooda Begum said, The police discovered nothing against him all these years but kept harassing us. My husband is innocent.

Maqsooda said that all their savings have been spent in visiting courts and procuring bail all these years. The difficult times will get fixed but what never fixes is the brittle fractures that we are left with, she added.
GUANGZHOU, Oct. 18 -- A meeting aims to promote national border and coastal defense infrastructure construction was held in China's Guangzhou from October 14 to 15.

Chinese State Councilor and Defense Minister General Wei Fenghe, as well as heads of member units of the State Committee of Border and Coastal Defense, and leaders of military and civilian departments from China's border and coastal provinces, attended the meeting.

The meeting emphasized on accelerating the construction of national border and coastal defense infrastructure, focusing on serving combat readiness and improving the level of scientific and technological border control, in a bid to build a strong and modern border and coastal defense.

During the meeting, attendees viewed the pilot projects of smart border and defense construction in Guangdong Province.
By Wang Suoyong and Wang Yunsheng

SHIJIAZHUANG, Oct. 18 -- The 2nd Chinese peacekeeping helicopter contingent to Abyei left Shijiazhuang, North Chinas Hebei Province, on October 16, for a 12-month peacekeeping mission in Abyei of East Africa.

Peacekeepers of the contingent are mainly from an army aviation brigade of the 82nd Group Army under the PLA Central Theater Command. Under the unified deployment of the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA), the contingent will focus on 15 tasks of two categories including force projection, search and rescue, material transportation, and air patrol.

It is reported that all the peacekeepers have learned about foreign affairs activities, local social conditions, and local climate in accordance with the mission requirements. According to the rotation plan, the second batch of 43 peacekeepers will depart in early November.
The ship-borne helicopter prepares to take off on the deck of the Chinese Navy's destroyer Nanchang (Hull 101). (Photo by Sun Jingang)

BEIJING, Oct. 18 -- The China-Russia joint naval exercise, Joint Sea 2021, conducted round-the-clock anti-submarine drills in waters near Russia's Peter the Great Bay from October 16 to 17, local time, which was one of the highlights in this joint military event.

The Chinese and Russian navies sent multiple types of main battle equipment respectively to the drills. In addition to the surging winds and waves on the day of the exercise, the submarine searching operation this year was full of expectation.

As the drills kicked off, the command post of the Chinese side guided the fixed-wing anti-submarine patrol aircraft through the real-time command system to deploy a number of sonar buoys, which formed a large submarine searching zone in the designated sea area. Then, upon obtaining information on the suspected "enemy submarines", the commander issued an anti-submarine combat order to the warship formation.

The ship-borne helicopters onboard the Chinese Navy's guided-missile destroyer Nanchang (Hull 101) immediately took off, flew over the search area, and used a dipping sonar to perform a spiral search on the water surface to gradually narrow down the research scope.

"Compared with fixed-wing anti-submarine patrol aircraft, the ship-borne helicopters feature faster speed and better maneuverability. They can locate the target more accurately," said Sun Xiangjie, a sonarman assigned to the helicopter regiment.

The sea conditions reached a critical value during the drills, and the pilots must constantly adjust the flight attitude to relieve the violent vibration of the helicopters, making it more difficult to conduct search for submarines, added Sun.

Based on the target range identified by the ship-borne helicopters, the command post ordered the warships to conduct divisional searches. From morning to evening, fixed-wing anti-submarine patrol aircraft, ship-borne helicopters and surface warships worked closely and formed a three-dimensional hunting net towards the target step by step.

"Anti-submarine warfare is an acknowledged difficult issue for navies all over the world as it poses higher requirements for the combat capabilities of underwater detection, search and positioning, and fire strike," said Chen Weigong, political commissar of the destroyer Nanchang. In the Joint Sea 2021, Chinese helicopters conducted the anti-submarine drills over the Russian airspace for the first time and these new changes benefit from the continuous enhancement of the integration of the China-Russia naval systems and the in-depth development of the comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination between China and Russia in the new era.
Screenshot of the notice on the website of China's Maritime Safety Administration on Oct. 18, 2021.

BEIJING, Oct. 19 -- According to a notice released by Chinas Lianyungang Maritime Safety Administration on October 18, live-fire drills will be conducted in the middle of the Yellow Sea from October 19 to 22, 2021, local time.

LYG0072/21MIDDLE YELLOW SEA GUN FIRING 0000UTC TO 1000UTC DAILY FROM19 TO22 OCT IN AREA BOUNDED BY THE LINES JOINING 34-48.085N/119-19.339E34-47.592N/119-20.699E34-49.760N/119-19.671E34-48.891N/119-22.089E

ENTERING PROHIBITED.

LIANYUNGANG MSA CHINA.
Skyharbour Resources (CVE:SYH) (OTCMKTS:SYHBF) holds an extensive portfolio of uranium and thorium exploration projects in Canada's Athabasca Basin and is well positioned to benefit from improving uranium market fundamentals with six drill-ready projects. In July 2016, Skyharbour acquired an option from Denison Mines, a large strategic shareholder of the Company, to acquire 100% of the Moore Uranium Project which is located approximately 15 kilometres east of Denison's Wheeler River project and 39 kilometres south of Cameco's McArthur River uranium mine. Moore is an advanced stage uranium exploration project with high grade uranium mineralization at the Maverick Zone. Drill results have returned up to 6.0% U3O8 over 5.9 metres, including 20.8% U3O8 over 1.5 metres at a vertical depth of 265 metres. Skyharbour has signed option agreements with Orano Canada Inc. and Azincourt Energy whereby Orano and Azincourt can earn in up to 70% of specific segments of the Preston Project through a combined $9,800,000 in total exploration expenditures, as well as $1,700,000 in total cash payments and Azincourt shares. Preston is a large, geologically prospective property proximal to Fission Uranium's Triple R deposit as well as NexGen Energy's Arrow deposit. The Company also owns a 100% interest in the Falcon Point Uranium Project which hosts a high-grade surface showing with up to 68% U3O8 in grab samples from a massive pitchblende vein, the source of which has yet to be discovered. The Company's 100% owned Mann Lake Uranium project on the east side of the Basin is strategically located adjacent to the Mann Lake Joint Venture operated by Cameco, where high-grade uranium mineralization has been identified. Skyharbour's goal is to maximize shareholder value through new mineral discoveries, committed long-term partnerships, and the advancement of exploration projects in geopolitically favourable jurisdictions.
by Dario Salvi

Twenty-three year old Abdallah Jeldah has made his vows of religious profession. After the novitiate he will enter the Institute of the Incarnate Word (IVE) and continue his studies in Italy, visa permitting. The vocation was born while attending the parish of the Holy Family. The ideal of peace in justice.

Gaza (AsiaNews) - From Gaza, an open-air prison, to the world to bring the Gospel, the witness and message of Christ "wherever it is needed" in a spirit of "obedience". This because being Christians in the Strip is "a mission, a grace and, at the same time, a responsibility".

These simple but direct words have been entrusted to AsiaNews by the 23-year-old Abdallah Jeldah, and they tell of a strong faith, formed in a strip of land where four wars have taken place in less than 15 years.

This path, which led him to embrace Catholicism in 2019 from the Greek Orthodox faith of his family, matured over time. On October 10, he made his initial vows of religious profession, become the first local person to take up religious vestmente after decades without native priests or religious.

After completing his novitiate, he will join the Institute of the Incarnate Word (Ive), the same order of which Gaza's pastor Fr. Gabriel Romanelli is a member, an Argentine priest who celebrated the service in a festive atmosphere for the entire community.

"My vocation - he recounts - was born by attending the Holy Family parish and the then through parish priest Fr. Mario da Silva, observing the pastoral activities and the experience with young people." The discovery of wanting to become a priest and missionary "gave me a great inner peace".

He recently professed four vows: charity, chastity, obedience and consecration to Jesus through Our Lady.

From Gaza to Bethlehem, from Nazareth to Jerusalem "we are the descendants of the first Christians and we want to live and bear witness to the faith, proclaiming the Gospel everywhere in the world, through works and prayer".

This witness iis greatly needed in the Strip, where for years there has been a harsh economic blockade imposed by Israel against Hamas, which governs a territory where two million people live with very heavy restrictions on movement.

Last May, a devastating blitzkrieg was fought that caused hundreds of victims. In the following weeks there have been other moments of tension, with the launch of incendiary balloons from a front and targeted air raids of the air force in response, but the skirmishes have not degenerated into open conflict.

According to Israel, the blockade is necessary to prevent the rearmament of Hamas, an Islamic extremist movement that has repeatedly threatened the destruction of the Jewish State. Activists and critical voices object that the closure amounts to collective punishment.

"I have lived through four wars, even I have almost a doctorate in conflict - he adds - but I have always left room for hope, without forgetting the evil. For peace we need a firm, constant and permanent justice, and for this I want to spend my mission."

Now Abdallah Jeldah is waiting for his visa to enter the seminary of the congregation (founded in Argentina in 1984 and present in 26 countries on five continents) in Montefiascone, in the province of Viterbo. From an open-air prison to the four corners of the world, to bring a light that shines in those who are minorities in their own land and witness the faith to Muslims with their lives.

"His vocation," stressed Fr. Romanelli, "is a grace and a joy for everyone, from the parish of Gaza to the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem and other congregations, because it is a sign of hope. He, born and living among wars, is not afraid to go where the Church will send him."

"A Christian from the Strip - concludes the parish priest - knows how to be light and hope, sharing daily life with those who do not believe in Jesus, but pointing out to them that the Lord has come for everyone."
300 people died in the attack on a shopping center in the capital, at the end of the day of fasting. He was arrested in a foreign country, and extradited in recent days. He is responsible for a series of attacks between 2016 and 2017. Defeated militarily, the Islamic State is still active with isolated cells and lone wolves.

Baghdad (AsiaNews/Agencies) - Iraqi security forces have arrested a top militant of the Islamic State (IS, formerly Isis), considered the mastermind of the bloody 2016 Baghdad suicide bombing that killed some 300 people.

Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi broke the news reporting that Ghazwan al-Zawbaee was captured in recent days "in an intelligence operation" carried out "outside the country." For the chief executive he is "the first culprit" of the atrocities in Karrada "and many others."

The 2016 attack in the center of the capital was the bloodiest since the 2003 US invasion. A truck packed with explosives blew up near a crowd gathered in a shopping mall to celebrate the end of the daily fast during Ramadan, the holy month for Muslims.

Many of the victims were killed by a fire that broke out inside the building soon after the bomb went off. "Bringing to justice those who are complicit in the shedding of our people's blood," Kadhimi added, "is a national duty. The head of the government did not want to clarify where the arrest took place, but two intelligence officials behind anonymity explained to Ap that the operation was carried out by Iraqi forces "with the cooperation of a foreign state" and that he arrived in Iraq "three days ago."

In addition to the Karrada massacre, Zawbaee is responsible for a series of bloody attacks in the capital and other provinces of the country between 2016 and 2017. These include the detonation of a car bomb also in Karrada on May 30, 2017, and the attack on a group of Shiite pilgrims intent on crossing a bridge in the Shawaka area, resulting in 26 casualties.

Last week, intelligence officials had arrested Islamic State's head of finance, Sami Jasim al-Jaburi, in a similar operation outside its borders. Security sources told Reuters that Jasim, also considered deputy to jihadist leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, was hiding in northwestern Syria and Turkish intelligence was instrumental in his capture.

In spite of the military defeat, still today there are isolated cells and lone wolves that continue the insurgency in Iraq, operating above all in the rural areas and carrying out rapid and sudden attacks against the Security Forces and infrastructures.
According to activists, the mass release is a ploy by the junta to regain international credibility after its exclusion from the ASEAN summit later this month. Three Baptist clergyman from Kachin are among the people released. Some freed prisoners were detained and sent back to prison before they could get home.

Yangon (AsiaNews/Agencies)  Under international pressure from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Myanmars ruling military junta released more than 5,600 political prisoners, including priests, journalists and activists.

Myanmars Armed Forces (Tatmadaw) announced a general amnesty for the Buddhist festival of Thadingyut. However, like the releases in April and July, this one appears to be a ruse, some observers believe.

In fact, soon after being released, several prisoners were rearrested before they could even get home. Others were forced to sign a statement renouncing political activities.

Most of those arrested were in prison for exercising their right to protest against the military, which took power in a coup d'etat on 1 February.

Since then, anti-coup protests have been suppressed with violence while fighting has broken out between Myanmars military and resistance forces led by ethnic militias.

Activists from the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners report that out of 9,000 jailed political prisoners at least 7,355 have been tortured, some to death.

Three Baptist clergymen in Kachin State were also released last night; they had been arrested on 28 June for organising prayer groups.

The Baptist Kachin Convention continues to play a leading role in protecting the country's approximately 215,000 displaced people even after the bombing of some churches.

The junta seeks three things from the international community: money, weapons and legitimacy, said Tom Andrews, the UN special rapporteur on the human rights situation in Myanmar.

In his view, the prisoners release is clearly not because the junta has had a change of heart, but at least, The juntas actions demonstrate that, despite their statements to the contrary, they are not impervious to pressure.

This follows an unprecedented move by ASEAN, which excluded the head of the Burmese military, General Min Aung Hlaing, from its summit scheduled for 26-28 October, ostensibly because Myanmars military government made "insufficient progress" to restore peace in the country.

In April, the self-proclaimed prime minister agreed to a five-point plan with ASEAN which he has not yet been implemented, suggesting a de facto withdrawal from the deal.

Bruneis Foreign Minister, who currently chairs the association, put pressure on ASEAN not to invite the general, thus abandoning its traditional policy of non-interference in ASEAN internal affairs.

Singapore's Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan tweeted that it was a "difficult but necessary decision to uphold ASEAN's credibility."

Previous diplomatic attempts have failed, including a visit by ASEANs special envoy, who was not allowed to meet the countrys former civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who is still in prison and set to go on trial.
Seoul reported this this morning. Diplomatic envoys from Japan, South Korea and the United States are in Washington to discuss a joint strategy toward the North Korean regime. Experts, "Internal difficulties may be over."

Seoul (AsiaNews/Agencies) - North Korea has launched another ballistic missile toward the Sea of Japan. This was reported by The Joint Chief of Staff (Jcs) in Seoul, explaining that the rocket was launched from a submarine from the port of Sinpo (in East Korea) at 10:17 this morning.

"The intelligence authorities of South Korea and the United States are currently conducting a thorough analysis regarding additional information," the JCS said in a text message sent to reporters.

Meanwhile, diplomatic envoys from Japan, South Korea and the United States are in Washington to discuss a joint strategy toward Pyongyang and convince the communist regime to return to the negotiating table. "The US continues to reach out to Pyongyang to restart dialogue," Kim said after meeting with his South Korean counterpart in Washington on Monday. "We harbour no hostile intent towards (North Korea), and we are open to meeting with them without preconditions."

The two discussed South Korean President Moon Jae-in's recent proposal to sign a peace treaty with Pyongyang to end the 1950-53 Korean War, which never formally ended, and Kim Sung is scheduled to travel to Seuol later this week.

The communist regime has increased its military activity in recent weeks, testing a long-range cruise missile and a (presumed) hypersonic missile last month. Despite the resumption of lines of communication between North and South, the missile tests of late have dampened Seoul's optimism.

Chad O'Carroll, CEO of Korea Risk Group said on Twitter: "North Korea's renewed testing of ballistic missiles suggests the worst of domestic hardship between summer 2020-2021 could be over. Pyongyang tends to focus on one big strategic issue at a time, so the renewed testing could suggest military  later foreign policy  now priority."
by Vladimir Rozanskij

Moscow (AsiaNews) - The Kyrgyzstan Parliament has approved the composition of the new government. On October 15, the House unanimously confirmed the names proposed by President Sadyr Zaparov. The Prime Minister will be Alybek Zaparov (see photo), who is not related to the Head of State, and this is already surprising news for a Central Asian country.

The first statement of the new prime minister is an appeal with a clear populist flavor: "The rich will have to pay more taxes." The 57-year-old economist Alybek Zaparov is well known to the Kyrgyz; he has been a member of the ruling elite since the 1990s and has held various governmental positions. The new premier has also been the protagonist of some rather sensational initiatives, such as when as deputy prime minister of Kurmanbek Bakiev's government he proposed to give passports to all the nation's goats.

Now Zaparov "junior" proposes to implement an emergency economy program, with a state monopoly on energy and mining sources and digital services, subjecting them to a strict fiscal regime.

The economic plan has been criticized in Parliament by a young deputy, Dastan Bekesev, who while not formally opposing it has accused the new government of being too closely tied to the world of the oligarchs. He recommended to the new ministers "not to go to restaurants with people convicted of corruption": a reference to a recent scandal linked to the video of a wedding of a high official, in which was present the former director of Customs Raimbek Matraimov, arrested for corruption and then released after paying the Treasury a ridiculous part of the funds he embezzled.

The new government of the "two Zaparovs" is the result of last April's constitutional amendments, which effectively transformed the parliamentary republic into a presidential one, leaving the head of state in full control of the government. For some local human rights activists, this has meant the establishment of an authoritarian regime.

The charges of connivance with the economic powers are largely linked to the recent negotiations conducted by Alybek Zaparov with the Canadian company Centerra Gold Inc., the current usufructuary of the gold mine in Kumtor, and which would now be willing to sell it to the government in exchange for the exit of Kyrgyz people from the same company. The day after the agreements reached in Switzerland with the Canadians, Zaparov was appointed head of the government, announcing that "from now on we will be the masters of our gold."

The authorities have not disclosed the contents of the agreement with Centerra, although the Zaparovs claim that there will be no financial disadvantages for Kyrgyzstan, as confirmed by the director of the Kumtor mine, Tengiz Bolturuk, a key figure in the negotiations. The latter let slip that "the gain for us will be huge, although I cannot tell you how much."

Bolturuk claims that the government has "grandiose plans and a team ready to implement them". The value of Kyrgyz shares in Centerra would still exceed billion, and the company controls other mines in Canada, Turkey and Mongolia, whose profits are also important to Kyrgyz. The government had previously stated that Centerra had to pay Biskek .5 billion in ecological taxes and penalties.

Disputes between Kyrgyzstan and the Canadians will therefore be resolved by agreements, avoiding the courts, and Sadyr Zaparov triumphantly declared that "there is a long line of customers waiting for our gold, no one can stop us."

In the meantime, Kyrgyzstan has decided to allow students from its universities from Afghanistan to enter the country: they had been stranded after the Taliban took Kabul. About 200 male and female students will be able to continue their studies, according to the exchange program active since 2012. By the end of the year, more than 500 Afghan students will be in Biskek, partly financed by the United States, as President Zaparov had promised when speaking at the UN last September.
The King of Prussia, Pennsylvania-based firm offers technology for e-commerce websites as well as for product shipment and delivery, and runs 25 fulfillment centers that use robotic assistants. Its services have been in higher demand as the pandemic has accelerated a shift from physical stores to digital shopping.
For example, state data shows how many people have been vaccinated within Maryland, while federal data reflects how many residents of a given state or county have been immunized. And some of the nuances of the vaccination campaign may not be represented in the data at all, such as the percentage of people who received first doses but failed to show up for a second.
Vaughn Greene welcomed the zoning boards decision in a statement: Vaughn Greene Funeral Services has the highest respect for our neighbors and the communities we serve; we also have the highest respect for the zoning boards approval of the application on the merits and its thorough work over the last several months at the three public hearings with 10 plus hours of public testimony and many, many pages of formal briefs.
Around 2 a.m., Harford County Police responded to a home in the 1700 block of Dearwood Court, where they found 36-year-old Obrien Butler suffering from a gunshot wound to his upper body. The home was not Butlers, said Harford County Police spokesman Kyle Anderson, who declined to say in whose residence he was found.
The data proves that we must continue to move past the era of tough-on-crime prosecution and zero tolerance policing and no longer just default to the status quo of criminalizing mostly people of color for addiction, she said. I appreciate the hard work and detailed analysis by the Johns Hopkins research team.
One Marine, who requested anonymity because he is still in the service, put it this way: You lose two rifles at the Camp Lejeune Marines training base and the entire chain of command is relieved. But you lose tens of billions of dollars worth of weapons now in the hands of the Taliban, 13 service members (10 of them Marines) in the Aug. 26 terrorist attack at Kabul airport, and you lose Americas longest war, and there seems to be no reckoning.
Wait, that seems a little formal. Can we call you Joe? How about neighbor? After all those years representing Delaware in the U.S. Senate, we think of you as a near-Marylander. How many times have you been in Baltimore? Were guessing thousands over the decades, given that its a stop on Amtrak between Wilmington, Delaware, and Washington, D.C., and passenger rail is your favored mode of transportation. And so news that youve agreed to appear in a CNN Town Hall from Baltimore on Thursday, your first official appearance in Charm City since you got the new White House gig, got us thinking we might be able to pass you this note. Read it now or read it later. We trust you wont forget the state that gave you a whopping 65.4% of the vote last November. Baltimore voters went 8-to-1 for you, by the way, but whos counting? We just thought, well, maybe you needed a little reminder.
This is a very strange situation. Union leaders are supposed to advocate for safety in the workplace. The police have to interact with, sometimes arrest and sometimes rescue, people in the community who might be infected with COVID-19. The pandemic is still on.
The U.S. Department of Defense, however, is preparing for war, not arms control. Such a war with China could easily expand into a nuclear war, leading to the end of life on earth as we know it. The stakes are too high for the kind of macho posturing and misplaced planning on the part of the administration that Mr. Goodman describes. Lets tell Marylands U.S. Sens. Chris Van Hollen and Ben Cardin, plus each of our members in the U.S. House of Representatives, to vote to reduce the size of the military budget, seek dialogue with China and avoid activities that are highly provocative, such as the recent agreement to sell nuclear-powered submarines to Australia.
Use of discarded tissue for research is done routinely and is a part of the routine clinical consent for surgery now. Whether that was the case in 1950, I do not know (The Sun article says it wasnt standard practice). What we do know is that her discarded tissue, along with that of many others of varied ancestry and socioeconomic status, was being used in experiments to try to establish immortal cells. The miracle and her gift to the world is that her cells were, and still are, immortal. They have been used to benefit humanity since their creation, but no funds were collected for their generation or distribution for decades.
I was sorry to hear Gov. Larry Hogan pander to the Donald Trump base with his loaded language about the radical left (Bashing Baltimore and the radical left, Gov. Hogan pitches $150 million boost in Maryland public safety spending, Oct. 15).
Baltimore City Council members voted unanimously Monday evening in favor of the plan, which offers no specific vision for such signs but creates the boundaries of a district in which new signs may be allowed. The district would be bound largely by Howard Street to the west, Baltimore Street to the north, President Street to the east and Pratt Street to the south. The district would continue south to Conway Street along the Inner Harbor.
Democracy is a tough business, and hes a tough guy, said state Sen. James Rosapepe, a Democrat who represents Prince Georges and Anne Arundel counties and was the Maryland co-chair of Bidens 2020 presidential campaign. What youre seeing is exactly what Biden said he would do: use all of his skills and energy to bring people together to do big things for working people.
She described pushing for policies that will help businesses bounce back from pandemic disruptions as her top priority ahead of the Maryland General Assemblys upcoming legislative session, followed by pushing for increased diversity among business leaders. She also pointed to a handful of perennial Chamber of Commerce issues: Taxes, infrastructure needs, education and worker training efforts.
Chile

The novel begins in Chile. Emily and Kristen take a week-long vacation to the beautiful paradise and use their time to reconnect and relax. They fly into Santiago airport and then drive out to La Serena, which they thought was touristy. From there, they went inland to Pisco Elqui before leaving to explore Quiteria, a remote mountain village that was almost completely empty during the week. On their last night there, Kristen asks Emily to travel with her for six months. Emily says no because she has a new boyfriend, Aaron. Kristen decides to solve the problem of Emily's new boyfriend by killing Paolo and convincing Emily that he assaulted her. The two women drive into the desert and bury his body before leaving the country.

Wisconsin

Emily lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She loves the city and never wants to live anywhere else. She and Kristen both met...
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Duluth, MN (55816)

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Dakota graduated from Bret Harte in 2013 and went to Davidson College, NC where she earned a bachelor's degree in Arab studies. After spending time studying in the Middle East and Europe, she is happy to be home, writing about the community she loves.

Comment Policy Calaveras Enterprise does not actively monitor comments. However, staff does read through to assess reader interest. When abusive or foul language is used or directed toward other commenters, those comments will be deleted. If a commenter continues to use such language, that person will be blocked from commenting. We wish to foster a community of communication and a sharing of ideas, and we truly value readers' input.
Comment Policy Calaveras Enterprise does not actively monitor comments. However, staff does read through to assess reader interest. When abusive or foul language is used or directed toward other commenters, those comments will be deleted. If a commenter continues to use such language, that person will be blocked from commenting. We wish to foster a community of communication and a sharing of ideas, and we truly value readers' input.
Mungo was tried the first time over three weeks in June 2019. He admitted to smoking pot and wandering Canton looking for unlocked cars to steal, then to ditching the murder weapon and later to lying to detectives. But Mungo insisted he didnt pull the trigger, saying a casual acquaintance did it. The jury deliberated six days but could not agree on the eight most serious charges  including murder, robbery, gang participation.
I am concerned. Another thing thats challenging about a child with asthma in COVID times is that they cant go to school when they have symptoms, Finton said. We may know that its asthma, but the school is not necessarily going to recognize that a cough is asthma when it could potentially be COVID. It leads to missing more school days.
After 45 minutes of Jenkins displaying the gun and firing a shot toward an unoccupied area, officers used rubber bullets to disorient Jenkins without injuring him and were able to take him into custody, police said.
Im just excited that weve gotten to this point, and Im thrilled with the emotional response from it, Kay Carnahan, the Parks and Recreation commissioner who spearheaded the change, told The News Journal. I thought I was just asking for a name, and I was very amazed at what this has really meant to this community.
Hogan said during Saturdays ceremony that tapping Singh to lead Marylands National Guard was one of the first appointments he made as governor, and one of which he remains proud. . He lauded her leadership through the unrest that erupted in Baltimore in April 2015 after Freddie Gray died in police custody.
The driver of the Silverado, identified as Forrest Plowman, 56, of Joppa, was uninjured. The driver of the Toyota Corolla, Danielle Pollins, 30, was transported to the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore and the rear right seat passenger, a 6-year-old boy, was transported to Johns Hopkins Hospital Pediatrics.
Preliminary information indicates that the driver continued to drive against traffic for approximately 4 more miles and crossed all lanes of northbound I-95 to the slow shoulder into a construction zone where he made a U-turn and continued north on I-95, police said. An off-duty police officer, aware of the incident, followed the tractor-trailer as it exited I-95.
Even though its painful and it provokes us to tears that our friends and relatives, our dear brothers and sisters, are suffering right now in a very real physical, mental and emotional way, it is comforting to us that we can bring these heavy burdens to the God that we worship, she said.
The official, who wasnt authorized to speak to the press, said someone from the 400 Mawozo gang called a ministry leader shortly after kidnapping the missionaries on Saturday and demanded the ransom. A person in contact with the organization, Christian Aid Ministries, also confirmed the $1 million per person demand, which was first reported by The Wall Street Journal. That source spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the situation.
Around the same time, Buckley decided the city needed to change its zoning laws and introduced a sweeping zoning bill at the end of a long council meeting, after most witnesses had cleared the room. The bill  which thankfully was thwarted  would have wiped away bulk and scale limitations, thereby clearing the way for fellow restaurateur, Harvey Blonder, to build a seven-story hotel with five stories of underground parking on the site of his Latitude 38 restaurant. Along with Buckleys plan to eliminate surface parking on City Dock and turn the area in front of Latitude 38 into event space, his zoning change would have resulted in Blonder having the most valuable property in Annapolis.
Manthey denied participating in or being anywhere near the Capitol building that day. She also denied taking the photo on her Facebook. She admitted she was lathered in the movement, and decided to post it before later realizing it was a mistake. The photo, which racked up dozens of comments, remained on her Facebook until July when she announced her run for office.
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The most updated guidance from the city advised that unvaccinated people get tested one to three days before leaving for their trip. Upon return, they should get a COVID-19 test within 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 anticipating its going to be much busier because more offices are demanding that their workers come back, Moubayed said. Were going from zero workers who were downtown six months ago. Even if only 50% of those offices have workers back, and even if they only work three days out of five in the offices, its still better than what we had. I think its going to be a slow, steady trickle back to full-time office work in the next six months to a year.
Their relationships have traditionally suffered, however, from the platonic-soulmate bond ("We're each other's perfect enablers") between them, and the high time demands (with little financial reward) that being Yes Men has made on them. Bonanno once lost a girlfriend over this issue; she's seen but not heard here. Bichlbaum's beau might be headed for the exit too, unable to compete. During the movie's several-years progress, they have to make some life decisions that will potentially break their joined-at-the-hip partnership.
Its antithesis, jealousy, is very much present in the work being done by such skilled actors as Kelvin Roston, Jr. (who plays the title role), Erik Hellman and Sean Fortunato. And some performers, especially Cruz Gonzalez-Cadel and Karissa Murrell Myers, have keyed in to their characters existential angst and, most specifically, their awareness of peril abroad. Most characters in Shakespearean tragedies are traumatized, the genre largely being an exploration of the impact on humans of cascading chaos. That here is well understood, as are the performative aspects of human behavior, exemplified here by Raquel Adorno and Gregory Grahams multivalent costumes and by the fascinating presence of Darren Patin, sometimes lip-syncing, always watching.
The US continues to reach out to Pyongyang to restart dialogue. Our intent remains the same. We harbor no hostile intent toward the DPRK and we are open to meeting without preconditions, Sung Kim told reporters on Monday, referring to the Norths official name, the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea.
Jacob Sharvit, director of the Marine Archaeology Unit of the Israel Antiquities Authority holds a meter-long (yard-long) sword, that experts say dates back to the Crusaders is on display in Mediterranean seaport of Cesarea, Israel, Tuesday, Oct. 19, 2021. Israeli archaeologists say a scuba diver has salvaged an ancient sword off the country's Mediterranean coast that experts say dates back to the Crusaders. Israel's Antiquities Authority said Monday the man was on a weekend dive in northern Israel last Saturday when he spotted a trove of ancient artifacts that included anchors, pottery and a meter-long (yard-long) sword. Fearing the sword would be covered up by shifting sands, it says the man took it ashore and handed it over to government experts. Archaeologists believe that many ancient treasures are submerged in the area. The diver was given a certificate of appreciation for turning over the 900-year-old item. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit) (Ariel Schalit/AP)
In addition to this polio vaccination program, all parties have agreed on the need to immediately start measles and COVID-19 vaccination campaigns, the statement from the groups said. And a second polio vaccination program in Afghanistan will be synchronized with one in neighboring Pakistan that is scheduled to begin in December, it said.
One of the officers then yelled at the other that McPherson had a gun, and a struggle over the weapon began, Murphy said. McPherson said, Yall not gonna get this. Im too strong for this (expletive). As he sat in the car he pulled the gun underneath his legs and pointed it at one of the officers, who grabbed it to push it away from his face.
With court calendars stacked due to COVID-19 protocols the logistics of moving a jury trial at the last minute at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse are complicated. Only one trial per floor can start on any given week, and each trial must have an overflow courtroom for spectators. Jurors, witnesses and other trial participants are being tested for the virus twice a week.
He was the only survivor of an attack in the apartment down the hall. Two other men, Joel Diaz and Ramiro Mendoza, were killed, their throats slashed in the same fashion. Authorities say the attack was carried out by three men who belonged to a vicious drug and robbery crew linked to more than a dozen slayings from 2009 to 2011.
I also know, on the most personal level, that the vaccines are the best weapon we have in eradicating this scourge on our nation. And, all of that considered, I am telling our union members that you respect their views, thank them for their service and pledge improved support in the future. In return, I will ask that we drop our objections to the mandate as a goodwill gesture, allowing you to call off the lawyers and the court cases and put that money toward purchasing better safety equipment for the officers who now will be willing to roll up and get their shots like everyone else.
The home is going to be customized to our buyers specifications. Were working with the buyer now, Khan said. The benefit we offer to a buyer is to lock in a price with us and then well customize to your specifications and we take on the responsibility of all the tasks from construction and designing to completing the home and turning it over. We offer a very simple process thats efficient and effective.
An exhibition titled "Bangabandhu Folk Art and Folk Music" is underway at Nalini Kanta Bhattashali Exhibition Gallery of the Bangladesh National Museum in capital Dhaka.

The exhibition, held from Oct. 16 till Oct. 26 in commemoration of the father of the nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, brought together artists from across the country through folk arts.

"I highlight the heritage of my country, the tradition of my Sonargaon (a historic place in Narayanganj) at wall mat and Nakshi kantha (embroidered quilt)," said Hosne Ara, a folk artist who sells her works to to earn bread and butter for her family.

"For the last two decades, I've been trying to present our 2,000 years old paintings in my way," another folk artist Patua Nazir Hossain said.

"We should try to present our culture in our ways," he said.

The artist, who is trying to present the Royal Bengal Tiger to the whole world in his own way, said the Royal Bengal Tiger is on the verge of extinction.

Tanvir Hossain Abir, a visitor from Kishoreganj district, said he is very happy to visit the exhibition.

"Those who live in the city do not see these things. I would tell them to visit the exhibition and see the folk arts of Bangladesh," said the visitor.
The provincial government of Afghanistan's eastern Nangarhar Monday said in a release on its website that it has banned excavation and digging of historical and cultural sites in the province.

"In efforts to protect and preserve historical and cultural heritage sites, arbitrarily digging is banned in those sites all over Nangarhar province," Maulvi Amanullah, director of Eastern Region Historical Monument Directorate, was quoted in the release as saying.

It is the first move in protecting Afghan archeological, historical and cultural sites since the formation of a caretaker government by the Taliban.

The province, some 120 km east of Afghanistan's Kabul, is famous for historical and cultural sites. A total of 122 historical and cultural sites are located in Nangarhar while only 22 of them had been registered and protected in recent years, according to the release.

Scores of cultural relics and items were looted by traffickers and locals after illegal excavation of archaeological sites in Nangarhar in recent years, the release noted.
You are here: Arts

The 2021 China Jingdezhen International Ceramic Fair opened Monday in the city of Jingdezhen, a world-famous "porcelain capital" in east China's Jiangxi Province.

Covering an area of nearly 30,000 square meters, the fair has attracted over 800 enterprises from home and abroad. A total of eight projects worth 19.6 billion yuan (about 3 billion U.S. dollars) were signed at the opening ceremony, according to the organizers.

The fair, held both online and offline, will host a series of activities, including a ceramic auction, a ceramic-art exhibition and a forum on ceramic intellectual property protection.

First held in 2004, the annual China Jingdezhen International Ceramic Fair has become a major platform to showcase the world's finest porcelain and drawn enterprises from many countries and regions.
Southwest China's Sichuan province saw the value of its imports and exports in the first three quarters of this year grow 14.4% to nearly 670 billion yuan (about $104.2 billion), local authorities said Monday.

The province recorded its foreign trade value at about 196.6 billion yuan, 222.4 billion yuan and 250 billion yuan in the first, second and third quarters, respectively, which points to the momentum of its import and export growth, according to customs authorities in Chengdu, the provincial capital.

The robust export growth is mainly attributed to the rise of international commodity prices against the backdrop of the recovery of the global economy and trade, said Pan Xudong, head of the statistics and analysis department of Chengdu Customs.

In the first nine months, the foreign trade contributed by Sichuan's electronic-information industry logged about 475.6 billion yuan, up 11% year on year.

The development of electronic information, new-energy batteries and other industries in clusters also helps optimize the structure of the province's foreign trade and accelerate the transition of its driving forces, Pan added.
You are here: China

Task forces have been dispatched to four of China's provincial-level regions, including Inner Mongolia, Gansu, Shaanxi and Ningxia, to guide local COVID-19 response efforts.

The working teams were sent by the National Health Commission and the national administration of disease prevention and control, according to authorities on Monday.
Xu Qingqun, editor-in-chief of the International Talents magazine under China's Ministry of Science and Technology, announces the results of the annual survey, "Amazing China: The Most Attractive Chinese Cities for Foreigners 2020" at the 2021 Euro-Asia Economic Forum held in Xi'an, Oct. 18, 2021. [Photo by Xu Xiaoxuan/China.org.cn]

The annual survey, "Amazing China: The Most Attractive Chinese Cities for Foreigners," unveiled its results at the 2021 Euro-Asia Economic Forum held on Monday in Xi'an, Shaanxi province.

Xu Qingqun, editor-in-chief of the International Talents magazine under China's Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST), announced the results. Beijing topped the list, followed by Shanghai, Hangzhou, Guangzhou, Xi'an, Chengdu, Ningbo, Suzhou, Shenzhen and Qingdao.

The poll also rated 10 cities with the most potential to appeal to expats, namely Nanjing, Wuxi, Wuhan, Tianjin, Kunming, Dongguan, Changsha, Quanzhou, Hefei and Yantai.

Cities on the two lists were chosen from 45 candidate cities and ranked by the participants of an online poll conducted between May to August last year. The results were then analyzed by 149 top foreign experts including 14 Nobel Prize winners, one Turing Award laureate, 47 Chinese Government Friendship Award receivers and 16 academicians, as well as 3,727 votes from foreign professionals in China.

The line-up of the top expert panel this year was considered the strongest yet. Participants included Sheldon Lee Glashow, a 1979 Nobel Prize winner in Physics; Jean-Pierre Sauvage, a 2016 Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry; and Barry C. Barish and Kip S. Thorne, the 2017 Nobel Prize winners in Physics.

As China's comprehensive national strength increases, along with the introduction of easier visa permits for foreign professionals, more foreign experts and talents are coming to China to work and start businesses.

The annual poll, first conducted in 2010, is hosted by the Foreign Talent Research Center of the MOST. This year's poll was themed "city openness and talent attraction." The survey saw respondents evaluate Chinese cities according to 54 criteria and five distinct categories such as social environment as well as working and living convenience.

Wang Fenyu, deputy general manager of Great Wall Strategy Consultants, a partner to analyze the poll data, noted that the poll is a barometer for observing the international attractiveness of Chinese cities, and provides data support for China to further expand its opening-up.

The survey is also conducive to presenting a true, multi-dimensional and panoramic view of China and telling China's stories well to the international community. It can help cultivate and expand public friendship with China and enhance China's cultural soft power.

On this year's list of the most attractive cities, some inland cities in central and western China feature prominently. For example, Xi'an ranked first and fifth respectively for working convenience and living convenience. This demonstrates that Xi'an boasts competitive advantages in areas like an international working atmosphere, job opportunities and living environment, partly thanks to the city's efforts to build itself into an international metropolis and advance sci-tech innovation in recent years.
 Flash

A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson on Monday urged the United States to forego its Cold War mentality and zero-sum mindset, view China and China's development from an objective perspective, form a deep understanding of the mutually beneficial nature of China-U.S. relations, and adopt rational and practical China policies.

Spokesperson Zhao Lijian made the remarks at a press briefing when asked to comment on recent remarks on U.S.-China relations by U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman.

The remarks by the U.S. side are the repetition of the old rhetoric of the so-called approach of "competition, cooperation and confrontation," Zhao said, adding that the stated U.S. position is in essence a cover-up for its containment and oppression of China under the pretext of competition, the root cause of which lies in the false perception by the U.S. side, which stubbornly views China as a strategic rival.

Zhao said that the way in which the United States and China understand and get along with each other has implications for the fundamental interests of the two peoples, and draws attention from the regional countries and the international community, adding that China holds the view that China and the United States share extensive common interests and profound cooperation potential.

"Competition does exist in some areas, such as trade, but it should not be used to define the overall picture of China-U.S. relations," the spokesperson added.

He pointed out that the United States' constant slandering and smearing of China does not constitute "competition," nor does the decoupling and suppressing of Chinese enterprises by using national security as an excuse, still less the strengthening of military deployments around China or form various anti-China cliques.

"The U.S. side should enhance dialogue and communication with China, deepen mutually beneficial cooperation, properly handle differences, and embark on a path of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation," Zhao said.
 Flash

Former U.S. President Donald Trump filed a lawsuit Monday against the National Archives and a House special committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot in a bid to block Congress from obtaining certain documents related to the insurrection.

"The Committee's request amounts to nothing less than a vexatious, illegal fishing expedition openly endorsed by Biden and designed to unconstitutionally investigate President Trump and his administration," the lawsuit read. "Our laws do not permit such an impulsive, egregious action against a former President and his close advisors."

The committee requested in August that the National Archives, which is the custodian of the Trump White House's records, submit a long list of records from Trump's time in office and the aftermath of the Capitol riot.

The request is part of the panel's ongoing and intensifying investigation into how a mob of Trump's supporters breached the Capitol on Jan. 6 trying to stop a Congressional joint session from certifying the 2020 presidential election result to Joe Biden.

Trump has said he would assert executive privilege to shield the documents requested by the committee, but Biden, who legal experts said has the ultimate say over whether the information sought by the panel is covered by the executive privilege, determined that Trump's effort to conceal the documents was neither in the best interest of the United States nor justified.

In an Oct. 8 letter to Archivist of the United States David Ferriero, White House Counsel Dana Remus demanded that the archivist turn over a subset of the required documents that Trump identified as privileged to Congress. Remus added that those documents should be submitted 30 days after Ferriero notified the former president.

Trump, however, claimed in the lawsuit filed in the DC District Court that Biden has an interest in preserving his executive privilege, saying it amounted to "a political ploy to accommodate his partisan allies."

"As it relates to any materials being sought in situations like this, where fundamental privileges and constitutional issues are at stake and where a committee has declined to grant sufficient time to conduct a full review, there is a longstanding bipartisan tradition of protective assertions of executive privilege designed to ensure the ability to make a final assertion, if necessary, over some or all of the requested material," the lawsuit read.

In addition to seeking documents from the Trump White House, the special committee also sent subpoenas to and asked depositions from several former senior officials in the Trump administration, including Steve Bannon, Trump's former chief strategist who defied the subpoena and didn't show up at the scheduled hearing last week.

Bannon's no-show infuriated the Democrat-led panel, prompting it to set up a vote Tuesday to recommend criminal contempt charges against him.

In what could potentially be another blow to the former president, Democrat Bennie Thompson, who chairs the special committee, didn't rule out subpoenaing Trump.
 Flash

The United States will not join talks on Afghanistan hosted by Russia this week, the Department of State said on Monday.

"We will not participate in the Moscow talks," State Department spokesperson Ned Price told reporters in a press briefing. "The Troika-plus has been an effective, a constructive forum. We look forward to engaging in that forum going forward, but we're not in a position to take part this week."

Price said that the United States is unable to join the talks due to logistic difficulties, adding the U.S. side supports the process.

Meanwhile, Secretary of State Antony Blinken later in the day announced that U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad is leaving his post and will be replaced by his deputy Thomas West.

The departure of Khalilzad, who served as special envoy for Afghanistan under presidents Donald Trump and Joe Biden, came less than two months after the U.S. withdrawal from the country.

Russian special envoy for Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov said on Friday that Russia had invited the United States to participate in the upcoming talks on Afghanistan in Moscow, which would focus on post-conflict reconstruction and humanitarian assistance.

Russia has invited Taliban representatives to the meeting slated for Oct. 20. The Moscow-format consultations on Afghanistan were launched in 2017 on the basis of the six-party mechanism for consultations among representatives from Russia, Afghanistan, China, Pakistan, Iran and India.
 Flash

Iran will host a ministerial meeting on Oct. 27 about Afghanistan's political situation, Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh announced on Monday.

"Next Wednesday in Tehran, we will gather foreign ministers of Afghanistan's neighboring countries," Khatibzadeh said during his press briefing.

The agenda of the one-day meeting will focus on how the neighboring states can contribute to the formation of an inclusive government in Afghanistan with the participation of all ethnic groups, as well as the future of peace and security in Afghanistan, he noted.

The Iranian spokesman also said that Iran will take part in the imminent Moscow meeting about Afghanistan.

Iran has urged for the formation of an inclusive government in Afghanistan after the withdrawal of NATO forces from the country and the control by the Taliban.
 Flash

The Russian Foreign Ministry announced Monday that Moscow has decided to suspend the operation of the Russian Permanent Mission to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in retaliation for the alliance's "unfriendly actions."

Russia's ambassador to Belgium will be authorized for emergency contacts with the NATO headquarters, while an ambassador of the NATO member states in Moscow can perform similar functions, the ministry said in a statement.

Russia is also suspending the activities of the NATO Military Liaison Mission in Moscow and the accreditation of its staffers will be revoked on Nov. 1.

In addition, Russia is terminating the work of the NATO Information Office in Moscow.

The Russian side has informed the NATO International Secretariat of its decision.

NATO announced the expulsion of eight members of the Russian mission in Brussels on Oct. 6, calling them "undeclared Russian intelligence officers." Additionally, the number of Russian staff at the mission was reduced by half from 20 to 10.

Before that, the size of the Russian mission in Brussels was reduced twice unilaterally by the NATO in 2015 and 2018, after the alliance's decision on April 1, 2014 to suspend all practical civilian and military cooperation between the two sides.


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Chloromethane Market - Overview

Chloromethane are chemical compound that belong to a class of organic compound named haloalkanes. They are predominantly used as precursors for the production of silicone polymers and drug manufacturing. Chloromethane market is expected to witness strong growth due to its profound usage in automotive, construction, and medical. Methyl chloride accounted for the largest market share in 2016 and is expected to retain its dominance over the estimated period due to its wide utilization as a solvent in butyl rubber manufacturing & petrol refining, and for the manufacturing of lead-based gasoline additives. However, environmental concerns and shift in preference towards bio-based sources is set to challenge industry participants. On the basis of application, silicone polymers dominated the market in 2016 on account of its wide utilization in various application such as construction, medical, and automotive. Growth of global chloromethane market is predominantly driven by automotive industry. Furthermore, increasing construction activities in developed and developing countries across the globe is predicted to fuel the demand for chloromethane over the estimated period. In addition to this continuous growth of pharmaceutical sector is expected to propel the market growth.

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Geographically, Asia Pacific emerged as the leading market for chloromethane followed by North America and Europe in 2016. The Asia Pacific region accounted for largest market share and is estimated to register highest CAGR due to continuous growth of automotive, agrochemical, and pharmaceutical industry specifically in China, India, Japan, Vietnam, Malaysia, and South Korea. Furthermore, In Asia Pacific escalating investments and supporting government regulations is predicted to drive market growth. Furthermore, increasing investment by major companies and shifting of chloromethane manufacturing facilities as well as end use industries expansion in this region is expected to propel the chloromethane regional market growth. North American market is predicted to witness steady growth on account of expansion of personal care and pharmaceutical sector. Europe is expected to witness sluggish growth owing to the stringent regulations associated with industrial toxic gas emission and higher adoption rate of eco-friendly products. Additionally, high adoption rate by the end use industries is estimated to drive the market growth over the forecast period.

Key Players:

The Dow Chemical Company, Asahi Glass Co. Ltd, Gujarat Alkalies and Chemicals Ltd, Alfa Aesar, Akzonobel N.V., Solvay SA, INEOS Group, Tokuyana Corporation, Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd., Occidental Chemical Corporation among others are some of the prominent players at the forefront of competition in the Global Chloromethane Market and are profiled in MRFR Analysis.

Industry/ Innovation/ Related News:

May 2017- AkzoNobel and Gujarat based Atul chemical announced plans to set up a Monochloracetic acid (MCA) plant and the production is expected to commence by 2019. MCA plant is set to start with initial capacity of 32,000 tons per year. With this AkzoNobel strengthen its position in global chloromethane market.

March 2017- GFL is planning to restructure its chemical segment and separate its chemical business into a separate business group.

February 2017- Meghmani Finechem Ltd, a subsidiary of Meghmani Organics Ltd announced to setting up chloromethane plant of 40,000 metric tonne per annum at Dahej, Gujarat. With this expansion, the unit will manufacture chloroform, carbon tetra chloride, and methylene dichloride. The company will be able to meet the growing demand of agrochemical and pharmaceutical for methylene dichloride.

January 2016- AkzoNobel and Evonik Industries will start production for chlorine and potassium hydroxide solution in Germany. With this joint venture, the company expand its business and strengthen its position in chloromethane market.

November 2016- GACL will set up a chloromethane plant with annual capacity of 105,000 TPA or 315 MT per day at Dahej location. With this expansion the company expand its business and further increase its presence in chloromethane market across the Asia Pacific.

March 2016- The Olin Corporation took the decision to reduce the capacity of chlor alkali capcaity by 433,000 tons across three different locations namely, Henderson, Niagara falls, Freeport. The company will restructure its business segment and will shift their focus on other business areas

Access Complete Report @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/chloromethane-market-2417

Competitive Landscape

The Chloromethane report analyzes the degree of competition among the key manufacturers as well as industry growth and market scenario. The global Chloromethane market consist of various players operating in the market including large scale and medium size producers. The key market players operating in the global Chloromethane industry is concentrating towards growth association specifically by Asia Pacific as medium scale and key operating players are from this region specifically from China, South Korea, India, and Japan. Moreover, the company is focusing on enhancing their product portfolio by strategic acquisition and mergers, joint ventures, and exclusive agreements. Some of the companies are expanding their production capacity of chloromethane to meet the growing demand for chloromethane.
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The global bauxite market size is projected to reach USD 12.88 billion by 2027, expanding at a CAGR of 3.3% from 2020 to 2027, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. Continuous growth in the production of primary aluminum is expected to remain a key factor in driving the market over the coming years.

Bauxite is the key raw material used for the production of primary aluminum. As per the statistics released by the International Aluminum Institute, in 2018, the primary aluminum production increased from nearly 54,647 kilotons in 2014 to approximately 64,336 kilotons in 2018. This caused a subsequent increase in the demand for the product over the respective period.

The market is undergoing significant transformational change, driven by strong demand for aluminum. Until 2013, China targeted Malaysia and Indonesia for its bauxite supply, however both countries imposed bans or restrictions owing to poor mining practices in 2014. Since 2014, China has been sourcing its bauxite supply largely from Guinea and to some extent form Australia.

Browse Details of Market Report @ https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/bauxite-market

The lockdowns imposed by many countries across the globe owing to COVID-19 pandemic have stalled construction activities and caused a severe decline in terms of downstream demand for aluminum. However, major smelters and bauxite miners were largely unaffected, which has pushed inventory levels to a new high, putting additional pressure on product prices along the entire value chain.

Among the leading players operating in the market, Alcoa Corporation holds the largest market share. The company has a wide portfolio comprising joint ventures, subsidiaries, and affiliated companies in the industry. The company has carried out many strategic investments over the years to capture the largest portfolio of mined bauxite around the globe.

Bauxite Market Report Highlights

 Asia Pacific captured the largest share of 68.0% in 2019 in terms of volume as the region has the largest primary aluminum production capacity in the globe

 By product, metallurgical grade is expected to exhibit the fastest CAGR in terms of revenue from 2020 to 2027 owing to expanding manufacturing activities in Asia Pacific

 Based on application, alumina production dominated the market with a volume share of 91.0% in 2019. Alumina production is rising, especially in Asia Pacific, owing to growing demand from downstream industries, such as automotive and construction

 The cement application segment is poised to register a CAGR of 3.2%, in terms of revenue, from 2020 to 2027 on account of rising research & development activities to find new applications of product in cementitious materials

 In March 2019, Rio Tinto completed the construction of a new bauxite mine in Queensland, Australia. The total value for developing this project was around USD 1.9 billion. The company aimed to replace its production from depleting mines of Weipa.

Bauxite Market Segmentation

Grand View Research has segmented the global bauxite market on the basis of product, application, and region:

Bauxite Product Outlook (Volume, Kilotons; Revenue, USD Million, 2016 - 2027)

 Metallurgical Grade

 Refractory Grade

Bauxite Application Outlook (Volume, Kilotons; Revenue, USD Million, 2016 - 2027)

 Alumina Production

 Refractory

 Cement

 Others
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German womenswear company goes live with Centric PLM, saving teams hours of time and maximizing output

CAMPBELL, Calif., October 19, 2021  Leading German womens fashion company HALLHUBER has successfully implemented Centric SoftwareOs Product Lifecycle Management (PLM), increasing productivity in just four months. Centric Software provides the most innovative enterprise solutions to plan, design, develop, source, and sell products such as apparel, footwear, sporting goods, furniture, home decor, personal care, food & beverage, and luxury to achieve strategic and operational digital transformation goals.

For over 40 years, Munich-based fashion company HALLHUBER has been renowned as a stylish and feminine fashion brand, aiming to counter the trend of disposable fashion with its long-lasting garments. Offering high-quality and contemporary collections, special emphasis is placed on the high standard of the products, which are available through its online shop and in almost 200 stores and retail spaces across seven countries, including its own stores and concessions.

The brand launched Centric PLM at the beginning of October in 2020, a move perfectly timed to start the planning processes for the upcoming season. Previously, the company was using spreadsheets, e-mail and a very old-fashioned PDM system, and it required one single version of the truth to streamline design processes, save time and minimize mistakes.

Centric PLM was the obvious choice for HALLHUBER due to its features and functionalities tailored specifically to the fashion and lifestyle industry, as well as its constant development of new product features and effective growth strategies. HALLHUBER went live in under four months.

By incorporating information from previous collections, Centric PLM saves teams hours usually spent searching for crucial data. Increased visibility and efficiency at every stage of product development maximizes time to value, ensuring quantities and quality are on track to meet promised delivery and fulfilment commitments, says Junior Project Manager at HALLUBER, Annika Storck.

The greatest benefits of Centric PLM for us include increasing productivity by simplifying operational activities, minimizing errors by running everything in one system, creating greater transparency and digital documentation, accelerating decision making as well as enlarging evaluation possibilities.

HALLHUBERs teams are now enjoying the benefits of working in one tool that is shared across divisions among designers, sourcing and merchandisers. These teams are now communicating digitally, conducting meetings and documenting information  a feature especially valuable in times where more and more hours are spent working remotely.

We hope to further develop our system by implementing modules such as direct supplier integration and calendar management, concludes Storck.

Chris Groves, President and CEO of Centric Software, comments, We are delighted to be working with HALLHUBER to support its exciting digital transformation journey. We are proud of the trusting relationship and remarkable results we have achieved together so far and look forward to continuing this dynamic partnership together.

Request a Demo

HALLHUBER (www.hallhuber.com)

For over 40 years, HALLHUBER has been renowned as a stylish, feminine contemporary fashion brand for self-confident women, standing for high-quality and contemporary Affordable-Premium-Collections. The high-quality and up-to-date collections of the Munich-based fashion company are offered through its own online shop as well as stores in top locations, renowned shopping centres and as a concession concept.

Special emphasis is placed on a high-quality standard of the products. The garments should become favorite pieces that will give pleasure for years to come. HALLHUBER aims to counter the trend of disposing of garments with its long-lasting fashion. The design team, product management and suppliers all work closely together starting at the product development stage. All points of sale are managed independently and benefit from the companys decades of experience in merchandise management.

HALLHUBER distributes via stores, shops-in-shops, online shops, and outlets in seven countries. With more than 160 retail spaces, HALLHUBER is represented in Germany in all important areas and cities in top locations. The company has retail space partnerships with leading regional and national fashion houses. Germany is the most important market for HALLHUBER, and in Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Italy HALLHUBER operates a total of 30 points of sales as stores, shop-in-shops, concessions, and outlets.

In addition to Germany, Austria and Switzerland, the HALLHUBER online shop is also available in the Benelux countries, Ireland, and Italy. Other countries will follow step by step.

Centric Software (www.centricsoftware.com)

From its headquarters in Silicon Valley, Centric Software provides a Product Concept to Consumer Digital Transformation Platform for fashion, retail, footwear, luxury, outdoor and consumer goods including cosmetics and personal care and food and beverage. Centrics flagship Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) platform, Centric PLMTM, delivers enterprise-class merchandise planning, product development, sourcing, quality and product portfolio optimization innovations specifically for fast-moving consumer industries. Centric SMB focuses on core tools and industry best practices for emerging brands. Centric Visual Innovation Platform (CVIP) offers highly visual digital board experiences for collaboration and decision-making. Centric Software pioneered mobility, introducing the first mobile apps for PLM, and is widely known for connectivity to dozens of other enterprise systems including ERP, DAM, PIM, e-com, planning and more as well as creative tools such as Adobe Illustrator and a host of 3D CAD connectors. Centrics innovations are 100% market-driven with the highest user adoption rate and fastest time to value in the industry. All Centric innovations shorten time to market, boost product innovation and reduce costs.

Centric Software is majority-owned by Dassault Systemes (Euronext Paris: #13065, DSY.PA), the world leader in 3D design software, 3D digital mock-up and PLM solutions.

Centric Software has received multiple industry awards and recognition, including being named by Red Herring to its Top 100 Global list in 2013, 2015 and 2016. Centric also received various excellence awards from Frost & Sullivan in 2012, 2016, 2018 and 2021.

Centric Software is a registered trademark of Centric Software Inc. All other brands and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Centric Software is a registered trademark of Centric Software Inc.. All other brands and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Media Contacts:

Centric Software



Americas: Jennifer Forsythe, jforsythe@centricsoftware.com

EMEA: Kristen Salaun-Batby, ksalaun-batby@centricsoftware.com

APAC: Lily Dong, lily.dong@centricsoftware.com
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The Global RF Power Amplifier Market Report, in its latest update, highlights the significant impacts and the recent strategically changes under the present socio-economic scenario. The RF Power Amplifier industry growth avenues are deeply supported by exhaustive research by the top analysts of the industry. The report starts with the executive summary, followed by a value chain and Marketing channels study. The report then estimates the CAGR and Market revenue of the global and regional segments.

Base Year: 2020

Estimated Year: 2021

Forecast Till: 2027

The report classifies the market into different segments based on type and product. These segments are studied in detail, incorporating the market estimates and forecasts at regional and country levels. The segment analysis is helpful in understanding the growth areas and potential opportunities of the market.

Get | Download FREE Sample Report of Global RF Power Amplifier Market @ https://www.decisiondatabases.com/contact/download-sample-1966

A special section is dedicated to the analysis of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the growth of the RF Power Amplifier market. The impact is closely studied in terms of production, import, export, and supply.

The report covers the complete competitive landscape of the Worldwide RF Power Amplifier market with company profiles of key players such as:

NXP Semiconductors

Qualcomm, Inc.

Toshiba Corporation

Infineon Technologies

Broadcom Pte. Ltd.

Mitsubishi Corporation

Skyworks Solutions, Inc.

Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd.

Analog Devices, Inc.

II-VI, Inc.

Want to add more Company Profiles to the Report? Write your Customized Requirements to us @ https://www.decisiondatabases.com/contact/get-custom-research-1966

RF Power Amplifier Market Analysis by Type:

Below 10 GHz

10-20 GHz

20-30 GHz

30-60 GHz

60+ GHz

RF Power Amplifier Market Analysis by Application:

Consumer Electronics

Aerospace & Defense

Automotive

Medical

Others

RF Power Amplifier Market Analysis by Geography:

North America (USA, Canada, and Mexico)

(USA, Canada, and Mexico) Europe (Germany, UK, France, Italy, Russia, Spain, Rest of Europe)

(Germany, UK, France, Italy, Russia, Spain, Rest of Europe) Asia Pacific (China, India, Japan, South Korea, Australia, South-East Asia, Rest of Asia-Pacific)

(China, India, Japan, South Korea, Australia, South-East Asia, Rest of Asia-Pacific) Latin America (Brazil, Argentina, Peru, Chile, Rest of Latin America)

(Brazil, Argentina, Peru, Chile, Rest of Latin America) The Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Israel, South Africa, Rest of the Middle East and Africa)

Key questions answered in the report:

What is the expected growth of the RF Power Amplifier market between 2022 to 2027?

Which application and type segment holds the maximum share in the Global RF Power Amplifier market?

Which regional RF Power Amplifier market shows the highest growth CAGR between 2022 to 2027?

What are the opportunities and challenges currently faced by the RF Power Amplifier market?

Who are the leading market players and what are their Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT)?

What business strategies are the competitors considering to stay in the RF Power Amplifier market?

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DecisionDatabases.com is a global business research report provider, enriching decision-makers, and strategists with qualitative statistics. DecisionDatabases.com is proficient in providing syndicated research reports, customized research reports, company profiles, and industry databases across multiple domains. Our expert research analysts have been trained to map clients research requirements to the correct research resource leading to a distinctive edge over its competitors. We provide intellectual, precise, and meaningful data at a lightning speed.

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The Global Calcium Carbonate Market Report, in its latest update, highlights the significant impacts and the recent strategically changes under the present socio-economic scenario. The Calcium Carbonate industry growth avenues are deeply supported by exhaustive research by the top analysts of the industry. The report starts with the executive summary, followed by a value chain and Marketing channels study. The report then estimates the CAGR and Market revenue of the global and regional segments.

Base Year: 2020

Estimated Year: 2021

Forecast Till: 2027

The report classifies the market into different segments based on type and product. These segments are studied in detail, incorporating the market estimates and forecasts at regional and country levels. The segment analysis is helpful in understanding the growth areas and potential opportunities of the market.

Get | Download FREE Sample Report of Global Calcium Carbonate Market @ https://www.decisiondatabases.com/contact/download-sample-1986

A special section is dedicated to the analysis of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the growth of the Calcium Carbonate market. The impact is closely studied in terms of production, import, export, and supply.

The report covers the complete competitive landscape of the Worldwide Calcium Carbonate market with company profiles of key players such as:

Omya

Imerys

Minerals Technologies

Huber Engineered Materials

Calcium Products

Mineraria Sacilese

Fimatec

Takehara Kagaku Kogyo

Nitto Funka

Sankyo Seifun

Bihoku Funka Kogyo

Shiraishi Kogyo Kaisha

APP

Formosa Plastics

Keyue Technology

Jinshan Chemical

Jiawei Chemical

Changzhou Calcium Carbonate

Want to add more Company Profiles to the Report? Write your Customized Requirements to us @ https://www.decisiondatabases.com/contact/get-custom-research-1986

Calcium Carbonate Market Analysis by Type:

Ground Calcium Carbonate (GCC)

Precipitated Calcium Carbonate (PCC)

Calcium Carbonate Market Analysis by Application:

Paper

Plastic

Paints & Coatings

Carpet Backing

Adhesives & Sealants

Others

Calcium Carbonate Market Analysis by Geography:

North America (USA, Canada, and Mexico)

(USA, Canada, and Mexico) Europe (Germany, UK, France, Italy, Russia, Spain, Rest of Europe)

(Germany, UK, France, Italy, Russia, Spain, Rest of Europe) Asia Pacific (China, India, Japan, South Korea, Australia, South-East Asia, Rest of Asia-Pacific)

(China, India, Japan, South Korea, Australia, South-East Asia, Rest of Asia-Pacific) Latin America (Brazil, Argentina, Peru, Chile, Rest of Latin America)

(Brazil, Argentina, Peru, Chile, Rest of Latin America) The Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Israel, South Africa, Rest of the Middle East and Africa)

Key questions answered in the report:

What is the expected growth of the Calcium Carbonate market between 2022 to 2027?

Which application and type segment holds the maximum share in the Global Calcium Carbonate market?

Which regional Calcium Carbonate market shows the highest growth CAGR between 2022 to 2027?

What are the opportunities and challenges currently faced by the Calcium Carbonate market?

Who are the leading market players and what are their Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT)?

What business strategies are the competitors considering to stay in the Calcium Carbonate market?

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Although she was badly injured and reasonably intoxicated, the warrant said, police were able to talk to her. The woman told a detective she was injured when she went for a walk after being at a house party. A large man propositioned her for sex, and when she refused, he began beating her, she said, according to the warrant. She then was picked up by her friend, Larry, who brought her to the hospital, she said.
We are recommending them, but were not mandating them, South Windsor Town Manager Michael Maniscalco said Monday. So somebody can walk around the town hall without a mask on and no ones going to say anything to them. Prior to lifting this mandate if someone were going to walk around the town hall without a mask on they would have been told they need to wear a mask.
Our colleagues are our most valuable resource and the goal of this initiative is vaccination not termination, the health system said. We are providing education and support to those colleagues who have not yet submitted information about their vaccination status and are giving colleagues every opportunity to take action. We continue to remain are optimistic that these efforts will be successful.
More than 460 U.S. law enforcement officers have died from COVID-19 infections tied to work, making the coronavirus the top cause of death for officers in 2020 and 2021, according to the Officer Down Memorial Page. The New York Times reported last week that more American police departments in recent weeks are considering vaccine requirements, but are meeting resistance from officers and their unions.
Some of our system is 100 years old. Naturally that means tree roots have grown into it, ground water is seeping in all over the place, Stewart said. Weve been kind of patching things, but now weve gone through the entire system with cameras to figure out where the most infiltration is happening.
The key to establishing an effective dialogue with China could be arms control, but the Department of Defense recently removed its assistant secretary of defense for arms control and disarmament. The two powers need rules of the road for navigating the South China Sea. The United States could limit its aircraft carrier deployments; China could limit its anti-ship forces. And both sides need to stop the China-bashing/America-bashing syndromes that have worsened over the course of the pandemic. The agency of government that we sorely need is the one that President Bill Clinton eliminated 25 years ago: the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency.
Talking to my fellow governors, people are pretty impressed that weve got probably 99% compliance, Lamont told reporters. Thats incredibly important. Remember, just a month ago, we were saying maybe 70 or 75%. A lot of people could be lost [to firing or unpaid leave]. But thats not whats happening. I really give a shout out to state employees and our friends in collective bargaining who put together a deal that makes sense for people. Right now, I think were better than 99%. Im very thankful for that.
Lamont continued, I contrast that moment with watching some of the eulogies for General Colin Powell. I heard him say this morning, as I was on the Stairmaster, that democracy and American democracy are the last great hope on Earth. We have many, many faults, but go out and fix those faults. Dont curse the faults. Fix the faults. Thats what were trying to do.
Like Franzen himself at times, in the public arena if not on the page, Russ is so intolerable and so uncool, such an ungainly apparition from an earlier era, that you sense him on the verge of redemption, of coming out the other side. Franzens cultural situation these past two decades sometimes reminds me of Orson Welles comment to Kenneth Tynan: My trouble is that I exude affluence. I look successful. Whenever the critics see me, they say to themselves: Its time he was knocked  hes had it too good for too long. But I havent.
Of the 26 originally referred to Smith so far, nine have been accepted, 11 rejected and at least three are pending, the judge said via text message. Those rejected are either because they didnt meet the medical diagnosis or were habitually noncompliant with the programs rules, she said.
Sierra Jenkins Staff writer

Sierra Jenkins, a Norfolk native, covers social issues and breaking news for The Virginian-Pilot and Daily Press. She worked as an editorial researcher in Georgia before she joined the team in 2020.
Last years average was 13.89 fish. The survey has returned results above the long term average of 7.77 fish for five of the past 10 years, with one below average result in 2012. The 2021 return is considered to be average because it is within a range that statistical theory considers to be essentially equivalent because of the challenges of estimating wildlife populations.
Children represented close to 25% of the weekly reported cases Sept. 30 through Oct. 7. That increased share of new cases is in part because vaccines are not allowed for anyone under age 12. Though health experts say children are still likely to be asymptomatic or have mild symptoms, more are ending up in intensive care units and being put on serious medications than earlier in the crisis.
It has been a while since Neil Nitin Mukeshs last film came out. The film where he sparred with Prabhas was his last work at the turnstiles. But hes looking forward to theatres opening, and hopes that Rohit Shettys upcoming film Sooryavanshi will bring the audiences back into marquees.

I am very excited about theatres opening up. There are many projects which have been lined up for release and I want to watch them on the big screen. Starting with my dear friend Rohit Shettys film Sooryavanshi. It is the right film for the theatres to start off with, as it is the kind of film that will draw the audiences back due to the mounting and the making. Films are always made for the cinematic experience and we have kind of forgotten that for a while now. We just need one film to create that kind of magic again, he says.

The Johnny Gaddaar actor, who has worked in films like 7 Khoon Maaf, New York, Players, Jail and Wazir, has some important films coming up for release which were postponed due to the pandemic and lockdown. I have a few upcoming projects. They are quite exciting. Everything has gotten pushed and now they will all come in one after the other, he says, without naming any of his new projects.

The actor wants to celebrate Diwali like he usually does, but then there is a new factor to be considered  his two-year-old daughter Nurvi, who is also a celebrity on Instagram now.

I have been celebrating Diwali of late without crackers and made it a noise-free and pollution-free event. But my daughter Nurvi is growing up and she has various questions about Diwali and the crackers. I wonder what I am going to tell her and how I am going to tell her not to burst crackers. I guess I have to get her to light a diya or perhaps just get her a phuljhadi (sparklers), he smiles.
New Delhi: External affairs minister S. Jaishankar held talks on Monday on a wide range of regional and global issues with Israeli foreign minister Yair Lapid during his ongoing five-day visit to the Jewish state, after which both nations also announced their in principle mutual recognition of Covid-19 vaccination certification. The minister also welcomed Israel as the newest member so far of the International Solar Alliance.

India and Israel also agreed to resume talks on a free trade agreement (FTA) for which negotiations are expected to begin next month and are likely to conclude by June next year.

The latest developments in Afghanistan and Irans importance to India as a partner are also expected to have been discussed. Israel and Iran are major foes, while India and Israel are close defence partners, with Israel having supplied billions of dollars of state-of-the-art defence weaponry, equipment and platforms to India in the past two decades. Israel also has excellent ties with the United Arab Emirates, with whom New Delhi is also very close. All three nations are also close strategic partners of the United States.

The five-day Israel visit that began on Sunday has given Mr Jaishankar the opportunity to engage with the new Israeli leadership after the government led by Prime Minister Naftali Bennett assumed office a few months ago after several years of rule by Benjamin Netanyahu. Israeli foreign minister Yair Lapid, with whom Mr Jaishankar held talks on Monday, is also the Alternate PM of the Jewish state.

Welcomed Israel as the newest member of @isolaralliance. Very productive talks today with APM and FM @YairLapid. Discussed a wide range of regional and global issues. Agreed to resume FTA negotiations next month. Agreed in principle on mutual recognition of Covid vaccination certification, Mr Jaishankar tweeted after the meeting.

Paid homage to the victims of the Holocaust at @yadvashem. This memorial is a testimony to the human spirit of resilience and strengthens our resolve to fight evil, the minister also tweeted. Very pleased to meet the Indian Jewish community in Israel. Valued their manifold contribution to India-Israel ties. Confident that they will bring us even closer together in the coming years, he added.
Addressing the naval commanders, defence minister Rajnath Singh said the Indian Navys role in ensuring maintenance of peace and stability in the region was going to increase manifold in the years to come. (PTI)

New Delhi: With the Indo-Pacific region emerging as the new centre of international diplomacy and military alliances, top Indian Navy commanders kicked off their five-day conference on Monday to brainstorm on the maritime challenges facing the nation.

Addressing the naval commanders, defence minister Rajnath Singh said the Indian Navys role in ensuring maintenance of peace and stability in the region was going to increase manifold in the years to come. He said New Delhi will ensure that a rules-based order, freedom of navigation and free trade will prevail in the Indian Ocean Region, with the interests of all participating countries protected.

Being an important country in this maritime route, the role of our Navy becomes more important in ensuring the security of this region, said Mr Singh.

Speaking about rapidly changing economic and political relations across the world, the defence minister said these economic interests do cause some stress in relations. Therefore, there is a greater need to maintain peace and stability within the Indian maritime zones in order to boost trade and economic activities, he said. Only those nations have been successful in gaining dominance across the world whose navies have been strong, said Mr Singh. He said the Indian Navy was playing a key role in our maritime and national security.

The conference is being held when the Malabar naval exercises involving the Quad countries -- India, the US, Japan and Australia  just ended in the Bay of Bengal, which was aimed at keeping the Indo-Pacific region free from Chinese interference. The US Navy, along with Britains Royal Navy and the Royal Australian Navy, have increased their presence in the Indo-Pacific to challenge the growing influence of the Chinese PLA Navy, which is expanding rapidly in the region.

The Naval Commanders Conference from October 18 to 22 is attended by all operational and area commanders of the Navy. The conference will focus on addressing contemporary security paradigms while seeking ways to enhance combat capability of the Navy and make operations more effective and efficient, said Indian Navy spokesman Commander Vivek Madhwal. He said there will be a detailed review of performance of weapons, readiness of the Navys platforms and ongoing naval projects, with a focus on ways to enhance indigenisation through Make in India. The conference will also dwell upon the dynamics of the geostrategic situation of the region in the backdrop of recent events, he said.

The Chief of Defence Staff, and the Chiefs of the Indian Army and Indian Air Force will also interact with the naval commanders to address issues regarding the convergence of the three services with respect to the operational environment, and on avenues for augmenting tri-service synergies.
FabIndia was trolled on social media for what some said was unnecessarily uplifting secularism and Muslim ideologies. (Photo: Twitter/@FabindiaNews)

New Delhi: Clothing brand FabIndia has removed a promotional capsule about its new festive line after a backlash from right-wing groups.

While the brand was accused of "defacing" the Hindu festival of Diwali by naming its festive collection as Jashn-e-Riwaaz (celebration of tradition), the company insisted that it is not a Diwali collection, which will be soon launched under 'Jhilmil si Diwali' promo.

FabIndia was trolled on social media for what some said was unnecessarily uplifting secularism and Muslim ideologies in a Hindu festival, saying it hurt their religious sentiments.

After it put on Twitter the Jashn-e-Riwaaz collection on October 9, some social media users called for a boycott of the brand, making their campaign one of the top trends.

"We at FabIndia have always stood for the celebration of India with its myriad traditions in all hues," a company spokesperson said. "Our current capsule of products under the name Jashn-e-Riwaaz is a celebration of Indian traditions. The phrase means that, literally. The capsule is not our Diwali Collection of products. Our Diwali collection is called 'Jhilmil si Diwali' is yet to be launched."

Jashn-e-Riwaaz is a phrase in Urdu, a language that was born in India.

The tweet, which went viral on Monday, said: "As we welcome the festival of love and light, Jashn-e-Riwaaz by Fabindia is a collection that beautifully pays homage to Indian culture".

This was deleted after the backlash.

BJP Yuva Morcha President Tejasvi Surya was among those who slammed the ad in a post on Twitter. "Deepavali is not Jash-e-Riwaaz. This deliberate attempt of abrahamisation of Hindu festivals, depicting models without traditional Hindu attires, must be called out. And brands like @fabindiaNews must face economic cost for such deliberate misadventures," he said on Monday afternoon.

Author Shefali Vaidya, known for her views supporting right-wing, slammed FabIndia for 'de-Hinduising' festivals.

"Wow @FabindiaNews great job at de-Hinduising Deepawali! Call it a 'festival of love and light', title the collection 'Jashn-e-Riwaaz', take Bindis off foreheads of models but expect Hindus to buy your overpriced, mass-produced products in the name of 'homage to Indian culture'!" she tweeted.

Soon hashtag #BoycottFabindia began trending. FabIndia did not say why it removed the tweet.

The ethnic retail behemoth is not the first brand to face right-wing attacks and buckle under pressure.

Tata Group's jewellery brand Tanishq was forced to withdraw an advertisement that showed an interfaith couple at a baby shower organised for the Hindu bride by her Muslim in-laws.

It withdrew the advertisement after trolling soon spread to physical threats to company employees and stores.

Clothing brand Manyavar too was at the receiving end when its advertisement featuring Bollywood actor Alia Bhatt in wedding attire, appeared to question an old tradition.

Established in 1960, FabIndia sources its products from villages helping to provide and sustain rural employment in India.

According to reports, the products are currently produced by over 40,000 artisans and craftspeople across India.

In 2019, a Holi ad by Surf Excel had received similar flak by certain groups, as it showed children of two different religions celebrating the festival of colours.
Bengaluru: Karnataka Congress has deleted a controversial tweet against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and issued an apology.

President DK Shivakumar on Monday said that the post on the state Congress' official handle was regretted and has been withdrawn.

He said that the tweet was against the "civil and parliamentary language".

"I have always believed that civil and parliamentary language is a non-negotiable pre-requisite for political discourse. An uncivil tweet made by a novice social media manager through the Karnataka Congress official Twitter handle is regretted and stands withdrawn," tweeted Shivakumar.

The deleted tweet by the official Twitter handle of Karnataka Congress had called PM Modi an "angoothachaap" (illiterate).

The tweet in Kannada said that Modi neither went to schools built by Congress nor learned from the schemes set up by Congress.

Meanwhile, bypolls to two Assembly constituencies are set to be held in Karnataka on October 30.
The diplomatic jostling has increased between India and China after the in-person Quad summit hosted by President Joe Biden at the White House in Washington in September. The gradual tightening of the Chinese tourniquet in South Asia all around India is an old factor. A series of events demonstrate this phenomenon.

First is the situation in Afghanistan after the US military withdrawal and the swift capture of Kabul by the Taliban, with the support of Pakistan. India finds itself progressively pushed into the role of a bystander, largely dependent on multilateral pressure to handle the new Taliban regime. China, on the other hand, is dealing directly with the new power wielders in Kabul.

The G-20 special meeting of leaders on Afghanistan on October 1, hosted by Italy, saw both Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin giving it a miss. Instead, they had sent lower-level participants. While the G-20 agreed that the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan needed addressing, there was no agreement yet on whether or when to recognise the Taliban regime.

China also finds itself in a fix in dealing with the Taliban as its precondition that the Uyghur militants of the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) be handed over is proving problematic. The suicide bombing at a mosque in Kunduz, which killed 50 people, was done by an Uyghur.

The Islamic State (Khorasan), or ISIS-K, in a statement, claimed responsibility for the bombing, which it claimed was because the Taliban was wrongly negotiating about the fate of Uyghurs with China. Separately, President Putin claimed ETIM has deployed 2,000 fighters in east Afghanistan. There are reports that 30 ETIM fighters had escaped from Afghan jails during the transition of power.

The Indian governments concern is that the escalating terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir are flowing from an emboldened Pakistan in the aftermath of the Talibans victory and a more destabilised western neighbourhood. But the BJPs electoral needs, especially in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, and national security concerns are rubbing against each other. The sudden and unilateral decision to increase the operational control of Border Security Force (BSF) in Punjab from 15 km on the India-Pakistan border to 50 km is one such example. The reason given is the need to control drug smuggling and weapons. It can be argued that when tonnes of heroin are coming undetected via the Adani ports, why would smugglers need to send smaller quantities by drones. Also, such blatant seizure of power from the local police is a serious dilution of the federalism principle.

Turning to Sino-Indian relations, it has been clear for some time, and especially since the last round of the corps commander-level talks, that China was resisting accepting the status quo ante on incursions across the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh.

The 13th round of talks was held on October 10. The stalemate became obvious when neither side attempted to hide their disappointment. Global Times, the English propaganda tool of the Chinese Communist Party, went a provocative step further arguing that Indias demands were unrealistic and not in line with the real situation or its strength.

It even alleged India was being opportunistic. The implication was that India was exploiting the China factor to draw closer to the United States. The talks had been preceded by an intrusion on August 30 in the middle sector at Barahoti by 100 PLA soldiers on horseback who proceeded to destroy some Indian installations. Then, on September 30, Indian soldiers confronted the intruding PLA soldiers near Yangtze and Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh.

The visit by Indias vice-president M. Venkaiah Naidu to Arunachal Pradesh a day before the corps commanders talks was perhaps done recognising that China was anyway hell-bent on adopting a recalcitrant stand on the border issue. The outcome was thus more confirmation of what India expected, rather than any surprise.

Against this background, the October 14 agreement between Bhutan and China on a three-step approach to solve their border issue came as an unpleasant surprise. The external affairs ministry of course maintained public indifference by simply noting it, while adding that it was part of a process ongoing since 1984. But internally there would be concern that any exchange of territory between Bhutan and China, as proposed in the past by China, may lead to greater Chinese entrenchment in the Chumbi Valley. Four years ago, in mid-2017, there was the India-Bhutan-China standoff in the Doklam plateau, which is located dangerously close to the Siliguri Corridor. In case of any Chinese military action in the eastern sector in Arunachal Pradesh, the corridor has to remain open to enable an appropriate Indian military response. China, contrariwise, would like to get close enough to be able to threaten the choke point.

These series of episodes across the Sino-Indian Line of Actual Control indicate that China is determined to tie India down on the South Asian subcontinent by applying pressure across the unsettled border as well as by weaning away the last reliable buffer, Bhutan. Nepals reliability in this regard is already suspect. This seems intended to distract India from its Quad commitments across the maritime domain in the Indo-Pacific region.

Simultaneously, President Xi has mellowed his rhetoric as seen during his address at the 110th-anniversary commemoration of the XinHai revolution.

Also, there appears to be an attempt underway to engage the United States before the planned Xi-Biden summit before the yearend. On October 6, US national security adviser Jake Sullivan met top Chinese diplomat Yang Jiechi in Zurich, and the Chinese foreign ministry dubbed the meeting as constructive and conducive to enhancing mutual understanding. It seems that China has realised that its across the board obduracy has created greater convergence between most of the states in its neighbourhood, which the US has been able to exploit. Is it then adopting a differentiated approach, which involves its engagement of the United States and a stiffening of its stand vis a vis select neighbours such as India? That would be a reversion to the historical Chinese strategy of playing one barbarian against another.

India has to thus remain vigilant when playing the new game of balancing between the old hegemon US and the rising power China. Alongside, the BJP has to stop playing its communally divisive electoral games at home. Indias external environment is now too destabilised by the rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan and an increase in Chinas power grab to allow for such reckless electoral politics at home.
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This blog covers software patent news and issues with a particular focus on wireless, mobile devices (smartphones, tablet computers, connected cars) as well as select antitrust matters surrounding those devices.
For the first time since coming to the White House, Joe and Jill Biden went out in Washington, DC on Saturday night - and quickly broke the city's mask rule. The president and first lady dined at Fiola Mare, a Georgetown seafood restaurant renowned with Washington's political class.

Everyone over the age of two must wear a mask inside, regardless of vaccination status, according to CDC advice and DC Mayor Muriel Bowser's executive order. According to the restaurant's website, masks must be worn at all times in our restaurants, save when eating and drinking.

President, the first lady went to a restaurant without masks

Despite this, the 78-year-old and his wife went around the restaurant without masks, while their Secret Service detail wore black face masks. Despite publicly urging people to use face masks as much as possible, the president was seen carrying his mask but not using it.

President Biden has regularly worn his mask in what some critics have dubbed political theater despite being adequately vaccinated. He has stated that he is determined to set himself apart from Donald Trump, known for snubbing head coverings and not being photographed wearing one until July 2020, five months after instances began to arrive on US shores.

In August, Mayor Muriel Bowser of DC restored the mask mandate, threatening restaurants, bars, and other liquor-serving facilities with penalties if they don't follow the regulations. The Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration (ABRA) will issue a warning for the first infraction and a $1,000 fine for the second, Daily Mail reported.

The DC liquor board will examine the liquor license of a business after three or more infractions. Restaurants are not obligated to request proof of vaccination or a negative test, as they are in New York.

Read Also: Ex-Obama Ethics Chief Slams White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki's Dismissal of Public Concern Over Hunter Biden's Art

White House refutes to comment on the issue

President Biden was seen without a mask inside a Washington, DC restaurant on Monday, but White House press secretary Jen Psaki dismissed the issue, stating that people should focus on the president's policies rather than "moments in time."

Psaki was questioned about a video showing Biden and first wife Jill Biden strolling into a high-end Georgetown restaurant without masks on Saturday, breaking Washington, DC's indoor mask law, at her daily press conference by Fox News' Peter Doocy.

Per Fox News, Psaki reacted by erroneously stating that the dispute was about a photo rather than a video and that the Bidens were going out of the restaurant rather than through it. Earlier this year, Washington, DC renewed its need for masks inside businesses; the city also mandates masks on public transit.

Individuals can be fined up to $1,000 under the mayor's executive order, although the penalty is seldom enforced; in most cases, violators are ordered to leave or escorted out of establishments.

The Republican National Committee was among many who shared the footage, tweeting, "WATCH: Joe Biden goes into an upscale Washington, DC restaurant sans a mask, breaking DC's mask law."

The incident, predictably, sparked fury on the right, with comments like "rules for thee, not for me" and "Hypocrites gonna hypocrite."

"Joe Biden's mask policy: Masks for thee, not for me," the House Republicans said. "Joe Biden: You have to wear a mask. But, I don't," the House Judiciary Committee Republicans tweeted, as per the Washington Times.

Related Article: Democrats Disappointed as Joe Biden Fails To Get Sinema's Vote on $3.5 Trillion Social Spending Bill

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China has rejected claims that it recently launched a nuclear-capable hypersonic missile, claiming that it was just doing normal test flights in an effort to recycle spacecraft and save money on exploration.

"This was a routine test of a space vehicle to check the technology of their reusability," Zhao Lijian, a spokesman for China's foreign ministry, said during a regular briefing in Beijing on Monday.

He stressed that the launched item was "not a missile" with a military objective, but rather "a space vehicle" with civilian purposes. Zhao stated that the experiment was critical in lowering the costs of spacecraft usage, allowing the world to utilize space for peaceful reasons in a convenient and cheap manner.

China's foreign ministry denies launching hypersonic nuclear missile

His statements were in response to a revelation in a report that China had launched a nuclear-capable hypersonic missile in August that circled the globe before racing toward its target.

Even though the glide vehicle missed its target by almost two dozen miles, or over 40 kilometers, the test showed China had made incredible progress on hypersonic weapons and its space capacity had gone well beyond US intelligence expectations, according to the report.

Per SCMP, military analysts claim both a spacecraft and a missile would need rocket fuel to take off, which may have military implications. They thought, however, that China would not follow the old Soviet Union in launching nuclear weapons into space as "global strike weapons" since it was a difficult and expensive operation.

Hypersonic missiles, a crucial area of geopolitical competitiveness among major countries, pose a formidable challenge to US missile defenses because they can move and fly at high speeds along unexpected flight routes, making them more difficult to detect and intercept.

A FOBS strike may go undetected by those defending troops, further complicating matters. Williams suggested that the US might attempt an intercept if it could monitor the orbital launch platform, but intercepting hypersonic glide vehicles is beyond present capabilities.

It is unclear whether China is building and testing a FOBS or a system similar to it. Reports that China is testing a nuclear-capable hypersonic missile that can be fired from space have been dismissed by Chinese media.

As things stand, China, which appears to be increasing its ICBM force, is thought to have a nuclear strike capability sufficient to overwhelm US defenses. As a deterrent, the United States possesses its own nuclear weapons, as per Business Insider.

Read Also: 5 Japanese Demand North Korea's Kim Jong Un To Pay $900,000 Each For False "Paradise on Earth" Promise, Human Rights Abuses

US grows concerned over China's alleged missile test

Meanwhile, after China's alleged test of a hypersonic missile capable of carrying a nuclear weapon, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Monday that the US is "concerned" about its military expansion but that "we welcome tough competition."

The US military was taken aback when they learned of the missile launch. According to a source, it got close to reaching its objective after traversing the globe, marking a huge breakthrough in China's military capabilities. It was a space mission, not a missile test, according to the Chinese authorities.

"We closely monitor China's development of weapons and sophisticated capabilities and systems that will only raise tensions in the area," Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters during a trip to Europe on Monday, the NY Post reported.

US President Joe Biden is planning a virtual meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping later this year. Former President Donald Trump proposed brokering a massive nuclear weapons reduction pact between the United States, Russia, and China on several occasions, but the agreement never materialized.

Related Article: China's Military Airbases Upgrades Hint War Plans Against Taiwan, Satellite Images Suggest

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If the Cold War tensions finally break, Russia overcomes the US as the two have devolved relations when the new White House set in. As the US military lost footing when the Trump administration left, it has been slightly affected by the policies of the White House in a different thrust.

Russian, Chinese forces are more than ready for cold war

Now more than ever, Russian President Vladimir Putin supports the modernization of Russian armed forces and can project strength. While the US military allegedly failed against third-world insurgents, Moscow showed that its forces are more than prepared, with morale boosted the dynamic leadership of Putin.

One poll says that the US administration is facing China and Russia, held in September. The European Council on Foreign Affairs study revealed that 59% of Europeans are aware that Moscow and Washington are locking horns that could estrange voters in Europe, reported the Express UK.

The Kremlin had accused the US of interloping in joint drills with China when the USS Chafee, an Arleigh Burke-class missile destroyer, entered Russian waters close to the sea of Japan.

It was reported on Friday while Russia and China were exercising naval drills in their waters. As the report goes, the USS Chafee was not operating safely when the ships were too close for comfort, cited 25 Week.

The ASW ship Admiral Tributs said the American destroyer was not following safe procedures in entering an artillery zone to get close to the drill area.

Read Also: Communists Demand US to Reduce Nuclear Warheads While Increasing Their Nukes Before Joining Talks

Russia has most number of warheads

Washington did not acknowledge the charge of unsafe navigation, which signifies that Moscow will not let up but push back, according to a post-cold war low, is very dire, noted Business World.

In May 2021, the Kremlin has the most thermo-nuclear warheads compared to the US, with a total number in the hands of various countries that total 13,080 warheads in the world.

Russia has the most of them and a host of systems that can arm them and bring about Armageddon if the US fires first. The actual number said the Federation of American Scientists is 6, 257 of them connected to delivery systems, stockpiled for use, and that retired warhead for disarming.

A close second is the US with the most arsenal of a nuke at 5,550 less by 707 nukes which is a big deal. The Biden administration reveals this number. America with 3,750 nuclear warheads in its arsenal with 2,000 for dismantling, remarked the State Department because of transparency. This information is revealed for the 2022 meeting of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty conference.

The Biden administration chose to declassify the information that President Trump kept secret and release all info on nuclear warheads in a statement this month.

One of the reasons is that the decision to reverse the Trump decision to stay secret makes other nations follow suit. The Biden administration chose transparency over national security, unlike the Trump action.

Russia overcomes the Biden-led US based on the sheer number of nukes they possess and how Moscow is moving on a solid strategy.

Related Article: Putin and Biden Begin Work on Drafting an Extension of Nuclear Treaty

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United States President Joe Biden's administration is silently planning to restart the country's federal student loan early next year after the coronavirus pandemic has put a stop to the monthly payments and supported millions of American borrowers.

The information regarding the Democratic leader's quiet decision was brought to light by documents and two sources familiar with the plans. The documents and sources revealed that the Education Department was discussing ways to give borrowers more options in paying for their student loan bills for the first time in nearly two years. The list of options includes an initial grace period for missed payments.

Student Loan Payment Restarts

Authorities have also been said to look into policies that would make it easier for millions of American borrowers to stay enrolled in income-based payment programs. The programs allow individuals to avoid a sudden increase in their monthly payment costs. The Biden administration is also discussing a sweeping plan to remove borrowers' defaults who have been struggling to pay since before the pandemic began, Politico reported.

Some of the plans, which are still in their draft forms, aim to avert a possible surge in delinquencies when the Biden administration restarts payments in February. The president announced the plan to restart the federal student loan payments in August.

Due to the announcement, many borrowers are concerned about whether or not they would be able to afford to make the payments when they restart next year due to the economic impacts of the coronavirus pandemic.

Read Also: Joe Biden Struggles To Make America Normal Again Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic; Rising Prices of Goods, Empty Store Shelves Prove To Be a Problem for POTUS

Additionally, the Education Department's plans to alleviate those concerns may not be enough to address the issues fully. One of the solutions that the department has come up with is a "safety net period," which would have borrowers who failed to make payments during the first 90 days of the payment restart automatically be placed on forbearance. This process means their credit scores would not take a hit as opposed to what would typically happen if a missed payment happens, Business Insider reported.

Plans to Alleviate Concerns

On Friday, the Federal Student Aid office of the Education Department also announced a stricter set of standards for student loan services. In a statement, FSA Chief Operating Officer Richard Cordray said that the agency was raising the standards of service student loans borrowers will receive.

The official said that actions come at a crucial time as they continue to help millions of American borrowers prepare to start repaying their student loans once again early next year. Cordray said that his team was working tirelessly to meet the tougher standards or face the consequences.

The changes to the agency's standards were being made to ensure a "smooth transition for borrowers" when the student loan debt payment pause ends on Jan. 31, 2022. The decision also comes as a significant re-shuffling among servicers was ongoing.

Officials estimate that nearly 10 million borrowers will have their student loans transferred from one servicer to another by the end of the year. Over the next several years, millions more could possibly be affected by the switch.

"In a perfect world, these transitions would be seamless to the borrower, but it may not be. And so borrowers have to pay attention to make sure that, for no fault of their own, they don't miss payments," Kevin Walker, publisher of CollegeFinance.com, said, CNBC reported.

Related Article: These States Are Set To Receive New Stimulus Checks Worth $300 To $2,000 Before The Year 2021 Ends

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The latest round of stimulus payments in a $1,800 plan is on the way as requests for a fourth stimulus check increase.

The latest Child Tax Program has been handed out, with payments totaling $3,600 for children under the age of six in 2021 and $3,000 for children aged six to seventeen. Families with college students between the ages of 18 and 24 are eligible for a $500 grant.

Taxpayers can use the website to check their payments and determine whether they're eligible for advanced payments. The payments aren't a fourth round of stimulus funds. Fresh Golden State Stimulus funds are being distributed in California, thus the most recent round of payments was sent out.

To be eligible for the second round of stimulus payment, you must have filed your 2020 taxes by October 15, 2021, and have lived in California for more than half of the tax year and on the payment date, as per The Sun.

Federal stimulus payment coming this week

On October 15, new stimulus funds were deposited into bank accounts. The American Rescue Plan, enacted into law by President Joe Biden in March, enabled this payment. Most Americans received a $1,400 stimulus payment from the same plan. This was the third such stimulus check, Fox Baltimore reported.

For millions of families, there will be even more such payouts on Friday. Here's who'll be getting paid. The funds are part of the federal Child Tax Credit, which has been increased. The American Rescue Plan increased the tax credit to $3,600 for children under the age of six and up to $3,000 for those aged six to seventeen.

Between July and December 2021, the first half of the tax credit will be provided in monthly installments. The fourth payment will be received on October 15th. Two additional payments are scheduled for November 15th and December 15th.

For children under the age of six, the monthly cost is $300. The payment ranges from $250 to $500 for children aged 6 to 17. Each child in a household receives the same amount of money. It is possible to opt out of monthly payments, and the IRS makes the process simple. Although the time to opt out of the October payment has past, you may still opt out of the November and December payments.

Read Also: Is a Fourth Stimulus Check Likely To Happen Now That Petition Reaches 3 Million Support? President Joe Biden has a Better Idea!

What federal payments are still available?

Still hoping for a fourth round of stimulus? Although advocates and average Americans have not, Congress and President Joe Biden's administration have moved on from that notion due to their busy agenda.

Those suggestions are currently simply wishful thinking. Outside of another direct payment, if you could use extra COVID-19 help to cover expenditures and keep your debt under control, billions in aid money is still available.

Per MoneyWise via Yahoo, most families with children aged 17 and under are getting monthly cash payments as a result of a temporary extension of the child tax credit through December. Households can get up to $1,500 for each child aged 6 to 17, and up to $1,800 for each child under the age of 6.

The government's most recent stimulus packages included $46.6 billion in funding for Americans who have fallen behind on their rent as a result of the pandemic. Only approximately $7.7 billion has been dispersed so far, according to the Treasury Department.

Additionally, homeowners who have been unable to keep up with their mortgage payments and energy bills may still be eligible for financial aid under a $10 billion mortgage assistance program included in the huge stimulus package signed by Biden in mid-March.

Meanwhile, under a new program launched this month by the US Department of Agriculture, certain employees who have kept America sustained during the pandemic are now eligible for stimulus funding.

Related Article: What To Do To Be Eligible For The $1,400 Stimulus Check To Be Sent Out In 2022?



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Rep. Michael McCaul argued on Monday that China's reported missile launch could put the security of the United States at risk as the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee said this is exactly what he was "worried about."

The official said that China's missile test was a security threat to the United States whose defense system was still lacking. McCaul noted that Beijing's recent test launch, which it claimed was spacecraft technology, was the most advanced, most dangerous weapon system that America could not defend itself from.

New Cold War

McCaul argued that while the new missiles were seen in Tiananmen Square, the Chinese government has not actually used them. But the recent launches proved that the technology's capability to orbit the earth and land about 25 miles away from its target was a "disturbing" thing to think about.

During an interview, McCaul said that China's missile launch was like a wake-up call for the United States and its allies. The official said it was also a "Sputnik moment" where the country was being forced to win the global competition against the second-largest economy in the world that is China, Fox News reported.

Additionally, a top Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, Rep. Mike Gallagher, argued that China's missile launch could signal a "new Cold War" that the United States could lose. The official said that incident could happen within the next decade after Beijing caught U.S. intelligence officials off guard with its testing of new technology.

Read Also: Joe, Jill Biden Violate Washington DC's Mask Mandates After President and First Lady Spotted Maskless at a Restaurant

The official supported the idea that China's missile launch should serve as a "call to action" for the United States. Gallagher argued that if the federal government continued with its complacent course or continued to depend on "integrated deterrence", they could lose the new Cold War.

In a statement, Gallagher said that the People's Liberation Army of China now had powerful technology and increasingly credible capability to undermine the United States' missile defenses. They could use the armaments to threaten America using both conventional and nuclear strikes, the New York Post reported.

China's Missile Test

China's government, on the other hand, continued to deny that it tested a nuclear-capable hypersonic missile in August. Beijing argued on Monday that the test actually involved a "routine spacecraft experiment."

On Sunday, it was reported that China conducted testing of a nuclear-capable hypersonic missile in August. The missile allegedly circled the globe before speeding towards its target, demonstrating its advanced space capability that shocked U.S. intelligence officials.

During a regular press briefing on Monday, China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Zhao Lijian said that the test conducted in August was a "spacecraft." The official argued that the test was done to verify the reusable technology of spacecraft, which had great significance in reducing the cost of spacecraft use. Zhao said the technology could provide a more convenient and cheaper way for people to use space peacefully. He added that many worldwide companies have previously carried out similar experiments throughout history.

"China will work together with other countries in the world to benefit mankind in the peaceful use of space," Zhao said, noting that the piece of equipment that separated from the spacecraft before it returned was supporting equipment, CNN reported.



Related Article: Former British Intelligence Officer Christopher Steele Defends Claims Made in the 'Steele Dossier' Released in 2017

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Sen. Joe Manchin III of West Virginia, who has been a thorn for United States President Joe Biden's climate plan due to his continued opposition of the bill, lays out his demands for the Democratic president to meet.

Democrats require support from each and every single party member in the evenly divided Senate to push the package through. Due to Manchin's opposition to the bill, he has kept the legislation from being passed.

Manchin's Demands for Biden

Manchin's demands for him to give his support for the bill include a much cheaper, less generous, more targeted, and less environmentally friendly measure. The official's desires and concerns are driving negotiations among Democrats and what the final package would look like.

On Monday, Manchin spoke with President Biden, a person familiar with the call revealed. Manchin also met privately with Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington, who is the chairwoman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. The senator also told reporters that he previously met with Sen. Bernie Sanders, the chairman of the Budget Committee, the New York Times reported.

Manchin wants the fund of the bill to not go above $1.5 trillion, which is less than half of what the package initially includes. He also demanded more tax increase than many Democrats wanted, which he said would be used to generate money to pay for the plan. Additionally, the senator said the bill should include weaker climate change provisions.

Read Also: Joe, Jill Biden Violate Washington DC's Mask Mandates After President and First Lady Spotted Maskless at a Restaurant

The situation also comes as Manchin and Sanders are having an increasingly tense relationship over discussions of a reconciliation package. On Monday evening, the two lawmakers were pictured standing shoulder-to-shoulder outside the Capitol.

In a statement, Manchin said that he and Sanders were talking, a comment that the latter repeated. When the two were asked whether or not they would finally reach an agreement on the final form of the bill by the weekend, Sanders simply replied by saying, "We're talking," the New York Post reported.

Sanders Against Manchin

However, tensions between the two Democrats have been on the rise, especially after Friday, where Vermont Sen. Sanders said that polls have continued to reveal overwhelming support for Biden's agenda. The official criticized Manchin for being one of only two lawmakers who were in the opposition stand, the other being Kyrsten Sinema.

Immediately, Manchin argued back, saying it was not the first time that an "out-of-stater" had tried to tell West Virginians what was best for them. He added that Congress should take care to not spend too much, arguing that he would not vote for a reckless expansion of government programs.

During a previous interview earlier this month, Sanders said he could not speak for Manchin regarding the latter's continued opposition of the $3.5 trillion price tag for the safety net legislation. On the other hand, Manchin defended his opposition by saying that the United States should not turn society into an entitlement society.

"Manchin has a right to fight for his point of view, has not only a right to be hard, he has a right to get some compromises. He's a member of the Senate. But two people do not have the right to sabotage what 48 want, and what the President of the United States wants. That to me is wrong," Sanders said, CNN reported.



Related Article: Sen. Joe Manchin Continues To Oppose Crucial Biden Climate Change Plan; Risking Lives of West Virginia Residents

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Prince Andrew will claim that a sexual assault case filed against him is unconstitutional because his accuser made a secret pact with Jeffrey Epstein including the word "royalty."

Virginia Roberts Giuffre reached an undisclosed settlement with the convicted sex offender in 2009 after filing a criminal complaint accusing him of sexual exploitation and abuse.

Prince Andrew' legal team to use royal technicality

The private deal they signed in Florida, in which she reportedly promised not to pursue the financier or his colleagues any further, has remained sealed since then.

However, when Giuffre filed a lawsuit against the Duke for unknown damages, alleging she was forced to have sex with him three times when she was 17, the document has sparked the Duke's legal team's interest.

Andrew Brettler, the Duke's lawyer in the United States, testified last month at a pre-trial hearing that he thought it freed the Duke and others from "any and all conceivable responsibility." A court ordered the deal to be revealed to the Duke's legal team last week, The Daily Telegraph reported.

His legal team is expected to point to the reference to royalties as evidence that Ms Giuffre's claim is invalid. Because no other member of the Royal family has been implicated in the Epstein affair or is believed to have had contact with Ms Giuffre, they may claim that it solely applies to Prince Andrew.

Its reference to the phrase "royalty" has been exposed since it was handed to Andrew's legal team last week. Andrew Brettler, the Duke's lawyer in the United States, said at a pretrial hearing last month that he thought it absolved the Duke and others from "any and all conceivable culpability."

Per Express.co, they'll likely seize on this language to argue that it invalidates Giuffre's claim. This is due to the fact that no other member of the Royal Family has been implicated in the Epstein controversy or is suspected of having met Giuffre.

Read Also: Princess Diana Documentary Reveals She Witnessed Father Slap Her Mother; Here's What The Royal Has Been Through Before Marrying Prince Charles

Settlement agreement with the accuser may jeopardize the lawsuit

The ensuing agreement was used by Alan Dershowitz, Epstein's former lawyer, to have Giuffre's abuse claim dismissed. The news broke shortly after the Metropolitan Police stated that, following a review, no further action will be taken against the Duke.

According to Alan Dershowitz, a previous settlement agreement signed by Prince Andrew's accuser might jeopardize his rape lawsuit against Jeffrey Epstein. Virginia Giuffre has accused both of the high-profile men of sexual assault.

Giuffre claims the Duke of York raped her in New York, London, and the US Virgin Islands when she was 17 and an Epstein slave. She did, however, dismiss similar accusations against Dershowitz in relation to a previous settlement she reached with Epstein after suing him in civil court in Florida in 2009.

There is no indication that the sealed agreement invalidates Giuffre's claims; rather, it was designed to preclude additional litigation against Epstein's accomplices, Newsweek reported.

Prince Andrew's legal team has been given the same material to work on as they prepare their answer to the case against him, which has a court-imposed deadline of October 29. After the paper was used as evidence in Dershowitz's own litigation with Giuffre, he demanded that it be provided to Andrew in September.

Related Article: Future King Prince William Sees Prince Andrew as a Threat To the Royal Family, Will Not Let Uncle Return To Public Life, Sources Claim

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Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah declared on Monday for the first time that the powerful terror group has 100,000 trained fighters in its military, a statement that was made in an attempt to frighten domestic foes amid claims that a civil war could start.

In his first speech since seven fatalities were reported during gun battles on the streets of Beirut on Thursday, Nasrallah disclosed just how many fighters the group had. The incident was considered to be the worst street violence that the city has experienced in several years. It was a result of a long-running probe that looked into the cause of the massive port blast that happened in the city last year.

Hezbollah's Military Might

Despite Nasrallah claiming Hezbollah has 100,000 trained personnel, it was a difficult claim to verify due to the terror group's secrecy. But if the group leader's claims were true, Hezbollah's military might would be far larger than Lebanon's armed forces, which had an estimated force of 85,000 soldiers.

Nasrallah's claims also came at a time when tensions in Lebanon were running high after the clashes and investigations into the Aug. 4, 2020, port blast that killed 215 people. "We have prepared (those fighters) with their diverse weapons to defend our territory, our oil and gas that is being robbed before the eyes of Lebanese, to protect the dignity and sovereignty of our country from any aggression (and) terrorism and not for internal fighting," he said, the Times of Israel reported.

Read Also: Joe, Jill Biden Violate Washington DC's Mask Mandates After President and First Lady Spotted Maskless at a Restaurant

On top of his claims, Nasrallah argued that the violence in Beirut was a dangerous and crucial incident that marked a new phase in how the region dealt with internal politics. Additionally, the Hezbollah leader criticized the Christian Lebanese Forces party and its leader, Samir Geagea, repeatedly accusing them of being responsible for the deaths of the seven people during the violence.

However, the Lebanese Forces party, which has a close relationship with Saudi Arabia, has denied the Hezbollah leader's accusations. The allegations came as Nasrallah said that Hezbollah was not the Lebanese Christians' enemy. Nasrallah argued that the biggest threat for the Christian presence in Lebanon was actually the Lebanese Forces party and Geagea, Yahoo News reported.

Denial of Accusations

Nasrallah accused Geagea of trying to spark a civil war in the country and that it was the Lebanese Forces party's real program. The official said that the opposition had no qualms about causing events that result in bloodshed or deaths despite potentially causing a large-scale military confrontation of civil war.

The Thursday incident involved an unidentified gunman that fired at hundreds of Hezbollah and Amal supporters. The group of people were part of a protest by the Beirut Justice Palace and caused hours-long clashes that killed seven combatants and civilians while injuring over 30 other people.

On the other hand, Hezbollah members at the event were believed to have been armed, an accusation that Nasrallah has denied, saying they did not have weapons and made no security measures. The official said the group left the responsibility to security agencies due to the protest taking place in a sensitive area, Aljazeera reported.



Related Article: GOP Members Express Concern Over China's Missile Launch, Warns It Could Lead to 'New Cold War'

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A crocodile grabbed a young Indonesian girl while she was swimming with friends. Locals assume the beast has taken her as prey. Her friends saw the victim get dragged down into the water without a fight.

Saltwater crocs are common in Asia's freshwater bodies, where they wait for suitable prey. These apex predators grow to such large sizes that they can easily take a full-grown man, much less a child.

Eight-year-old Indonesian girl swallowed by deadly reptile

It happened on the island of Buru in Indonesia. The vicious reptile devoured the victim, an eight-year-old girl. The horrifying scene witnessed by her friends was terrifying, who helplessly watch beast drag her down into the water, reported the Sun UK.

The eight-year-old victim, Suci Ramadhani, was slain by the reptile lying in wait in the water. Based on reports that she and friends were swimming in the Teluk Kayeli river last Wednesday Her friends saw her screaming and terrified as Suci did not stand a chance of escaping once the crocodile got her in its jaws.

Local's hunt for the predator

According to a search and rescue official, Korpos Rahmad Namlea told media that some locals tried to catch up with the crocodile, which grabbed the young Indonesian girl while swimming. They were able to spear the killer crocodile with the young girl's head lodged inside its mouth, noted the Mirror UK.

Read Also: British Woman Seriously Injured After her Twin Fights Off Savage Crocodile in Mexican Lagoon

Those who caught the giant reptile had to check if they could get back the devoured child's remains and saw it was not inside its stomach. It took an extra two days to find her remains.

Namlea told the media that the Teluk Kayeli river is where many saltwater crocs live. There have been two more unfortunate attacks in the area during the past ten years.

These predators are enormous and can weigh up to 3 tons or less, then add their potential to grow as long as 20-feet or more, making them robust and imposing, cited Techno Trendz.

Salties or Saltwater crocodiles are top of its food chain, and they are opportunists waiting for hapless prey in the water or riverbanks. Once they grab an animal or person and drown it, it will swallow its victim as a whole when dead.

More victims of crocodile attacks in Indonesia

Indonesia had to kill 300 crocs in 2018 after the people made revenge attacks because a man-eating croc ate a guy in West Papau.

Way back in early March of the year, a flesh-eating salty croc which was a whopping 26-feet long had swallowed, an eight-year-old boy in Indonesia too. Dimas Mulkan Saputra got pulled quickly into the murky water while his father tried to save him but failed. According to the reports, the boys and his dad, Subliansyah, were fishing, but the boy stayed farther out.

Another victim, a fourteen-year-old boy, was eaten alive, and the remains were cut from the beast's belly later.

In 2020, Ricky Ganya was collecting snails on the River Kuching in Malaysia when the croc pulled him by the ankle. Then he was gone. Like him, a crocodile grabbed a young Indonesian girl while swimming and was eaten by the beast.

Related Article: Alligator Suspected of Devouring Louisiana Man During Hurricane Ida Captured, Human Torso Remains Found in Its Belly

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The FDA conducted two drug recalls and urged the people to stop taking them and contact their doctors immediately.

Lupin Pharmaceuticals Recall Batches of Its Tablets

Lupin Pharmaceuticals is recalling batches of Irbesartan Tablets and Irbesartan with Hydrochlorothiazide Tablets, according to the FDA. Doctors prescribe the drug to individuals with type 2 diabetes to manage hypertension, low blood pressure, and symptoms, as per MSN News.

N-nitrosoirbesartan levels were found to be high in certain batches of the medicine, according to a study. FDA said that the chemical is a potential human carcinogen. Irbesartan pills have been linked to four cases of sickness. Meanwhile, the pharmaceutical company said that Irbesartan and Hydrochlorothiazide have not been linked to many illnesses.

All batches of Irbesartan Tablets USP in 75, 150, and 300mg are included in the recall. Irbesartan and Hydrochlorothiazide Tablets USP, 150mg/12.5mg and 300mg/12.5mg are also provided, according to a published article in Miami Herald.

Read Also: FDA Recalls Hand Sanitizers Containing Bacteria, Cancer-Causing Chemicals

Drug Firm Lupin Releases Its Official Statement

"As part of Lupin's ongoing assessment, the analysis revealed that certain tested API batches (but not finished product batches) were above the specification limit for the impurity, N-nitrosoirbesartan," the company said in its official statement per Business-Standard reports.

The tablets were distributed across the United States. Lupin Pharmaceuticals Inc., is notifying its wholesalers, distributors, drug chains, mail-order pharmacies, and supermarkets via phone and recall notification and is coordinating the return of all recalled product lots.

Patients who are taking the pills should stop taking them and seek advice from their pharmacist, physician, or medical provider about alternate therapy. The Food and Drug Administration in the United States is aware of this recall. Lupin Pharmaceuticals, Inc., stated that adverse reactions or quality issues related to the use of this medication may be reported to the FDA's MedWatch Adverse Event Reporting program online, via normal mail or fax.

Teligent Pharma

Teligent Pharma's Lidocaine HCl Topical Solution 4 percent is another medicine the public should be aware of. The product comes in glass bottles with a screw top and a 50ml capacity. It has the NDC# 52565-009-50 and 63739-997-64 identifying codes, according to a published article in ONS VOICE.

According to the manufacturer, using this product may result in a greater than intended lidocaine dosage. Depending on the length of the therapy and the particular patient, this may lead to the development of local anesthetic systemic toxicity. As a consequence, the central nervous system may be harmed.

Excitation and sadness are two possible side effects of the drug. Bradycardia, hypotension; cardiovascular collapse appears to be a more severe symptoms. Local anesthetic systemic toxicity, according to the FDA, may result in severe morbidity and even death.

Furthermore, after swallowing a greater than planned lidocaine concentration, the elderly and youngsters with low body weights are more prone to suffer local anesthetic systemic toxicity.

Needless to say, Teligent Pharma, Inc., has received no complaints of adverse effects as a result of the recall so far. In the United States and Canada, the goods were supplied via wholesale and retail channels.

Related Article: Popular Painkiller Recalled Due to Unusual Issue Dangerous to Health



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On Friday, a major liberal watchdog group filed a Hatch Act complaint against White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, alleging that her apparent endorsement of Virginia Governor Terry McCauliffe during a White House press briefing may have violated federal law.

"We're going to do everything we can to help former governor McAuliffe, and we believe in the agenda he's representing," Psaki said at her daily press briefing on Thursday.

CREW wonder why public has no interest of Psaki's violations

Forecasters are describing the forthcoming Virginia governor race on November 2 as a national bellwether. According to recent polls, McAuliffe, a Democrat and former governor of Virginia, is neck and neck with his Republican opponent, Glenn Youngkin.

CREW claims the Hatch Act prohibits any executive branch workers from engaging in political activities in their official position, as per News Talk Florida.

Psaki's alleged Hatch Act violation, according to CREW, is "nowhere near as serious" as those committed by officials of the Trump administration. The organization claims it has filed several Hatch Act complaints against "an unprecedented number" of members of the Trump administration.

In May 2019, the Office of Special Counsel proposed that Kellyanne Conway, a former top adviser to former President Donald Trump, be dismissed for breaking the Hatch Act.

Psaki's remarks sparked the wrath of former White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, who wondered on Twitter why the media was so uninterested in holding her accountable for any Hatch Act breaches.

Read Also: Democrats Disappointed as Joe Biden Fails To Get Sinema's Vote on $3.5 Trillion Social Spending Bill

Psaki vows to be careful of her words

Per Republic World, after CREW filed a complaint saying she had breached the Hatch Act, White House press secretary Jen Psaki vowed to think about her comments more carefully. While the president has publicly expressed his support for McAuliffe, Psaki told Fox News that the White House will leave the race analysis to the press and the campaign.

She states that she takes ethics very seriously and that she will be more cautious in the future with her remarks. Psaki admitted that she had to be cautious about how much political analysis she could do from the platform during the Virginia gubernatorial campaign, which CREW criticized.

She went on to say that the president wants former Virginia Governor McAuliffe to be the next governor. According to Psaki, a lot of their agenda is in accord, whether it's the need to spend money on rebuilding roads, trains, and bridges, or making it easier for women to return to work. She added that they will do everything to help former Governor McAuliffe and that they support the cause he represents.

Meanwhile, Psaki chastised NBC News' Kelly O'Donnell for asking about President Joe Biden's health "all the time." At the conclusion of a press briefing on Thursday, Brian Karem, Playboy's White House reporter, asked Psaki when the president will get a physical exam.

Karem persisted, insisting that Biden have a checkup before the end of the year. Psaki then singled out O'Donnell as someone who frequently inquired about the subject. Although reporters can ask inquiries in other circumstances, O'Donnell brought up Biden's health during a briefing in September.

Another reporter followed up on that topic, inquiring about the timing of Biden's first physical since assuming office. Psaki told reporters in May that following the president's next medical test, the White House will be "transparent" with information, but she did not confirm if one had been planned at the time, Newsweek via MSN reported.

Related Article: Ex-Obama Ethics Chief Slams White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki's Dismissal of Public Concern Over Hunter Biden's Art

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Myanmar's military junta, which was responsible for the coup earlier in February to overthrow the elected government led by Aung San Suu Kyi, announced that it would free more than 5,600 prisoners who were arrested for protesting against the regime.

Many believe the announced release of the thousands of prisoners to be a gesture aimed at easing tensions and hostilities directed towards the junta by Myanmar's neighbors. The incident comes after the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) snubbed coup leader Min Aung Hlaing over the weekend when they excluded him from the Oct. 26 to Oct. 28 summit.

Release of Thousands of Prisoners

ASEAN authorities said they planned to invite an as-yet-unnamed nonpolitical representative from Myanmar to attend the summit on Hlaing's behalf. In a statement, the military junta warned the individuals they chose to free that if they committed crimes after their release, they would be forced to serve their remaining sentences in addition to any new sentence.

On Monday, Hlaing made a televised speech where he announced that Myanmar was committed to peace and democracy. The statement came as, in the last few months, the military junta has continued to arrest thousands of protesters who decried the ousting of Suu Kyi, who has remained under house arrest since February, NPR reported.

The majority of the arrested prisoners who were part of the announcement were taken into custody during a brutal crackdown earlier this year. Millions of residents took to the streets of Myanmar to decry the military junta's takeover of the country.

Read Also: Joe, Jill Biden Violate Washington DC's Mask Mandates After President and First Lady Spotted Maskless at a Restaurant

Soldiers and Myanmar police were believed to have killed more than 1,170 protesters, the majority of whom were shot in the head. They are also accused of detaining over 7,300 others, said the advocacy group Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.

However, the military junta has, in recent months, successfully suppressed street protests but struggles to reduce the number of guerrilla attacks in cities nationwide. Officials are also facing opposition from newly formed rebel units stationed in outlying areas, including Chin State, where witnesses say that military forces were increasing, the New York Times reported.

Military Junta's Rebels

During Hlaing's televised speech, he also criticized the provocations of terrorist groups as the reason why violence in Myanmar has surged. However, he said that there were very few who took the violence seriously, urging the ASEAN to take responsibility.

In a statement, Hlaing said that Myanmar wanted ASEAN's special envoy, Erywan Yusof, to travel to the country as previously agreed. Additionally, some of Hlaing's demands were non-negotiable and the official did not elaborate on the issue.

A broad alliance of anti-coup groups, called the NUG, includes members of Suu Kyi's ousted elected party. The group is responsible for the training and formation of militias, more commonly known as People's Defense Forces, that have conducted attacks on security forces in several regions nationwide.

Recently, the NUG declared a nationwide rebellion against the military junta's rule following its takeover of the country's government. On Monday, the NUG welcomed ASEAN's exclusion of Hlaing from the summit, arguing that it should be the legitimate representative, Reuters reported.



Related Article: GOP Members Express Concern Over China's Missile Launch, Warns It Could Lead to 'New Cold War'

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A notorious Haitian gang known as 400 Mawozo is believed to be behind the kidnapping of 16 American and 1 Canadian missionaries. According to reports, 17 individuals were kidnapped after they visited an orphanage last weekend.

Authorities revealed that the missionaries were traveling from the orphanage towards Titanyen, north of Port-au-Prince, when the gang members stopped their vehicle at gunpoint.

According to reports, the 400 Mawozo gang has been growing in strength throughout the past three years. They currently have a total of 150 members, and their taking control over Croix des Bouquets.

It's been commonplace for gang members to kidnap people in exchange for money. And their ransom does not usually go below $20,000.

Last month, the gang kidnapped several truck drivers from the Dominican Republic and held them hostage. The negotiations for the drivers' release are still ongoing.

Gang-related kidnappings in Haiti on the rise

Reports revealed that at least 600 kidnappings had taken place during the first three quarters of the year. Last year, approximately 231 kidnappings took place in Haiti.

According to the BBC, one of the kidnapped missionaries posted a message on WhatsApp asking for help and prayers. As of press writing, the missionaries are still in the custody of their kidnappers.

Read Also: Haiti Doctors Kidnapped By Gangs, Leaving Earthquake Patients in Dire Situation

Following the kidnapping, the US State Department released a statement regarding the incident.

"The welfare and safety of US citizens abroad is one of the highest priorities of the Department of State. We have been in regular contact with senior Haitian authorities and will continue to work with them and inter-agency partners," the spokesperson said via CNN.

Ohio-based Christian Aid Ministries also released a statement on Sunday confirming the kidnapping. They said that they were seeking God's resolution to bring the missionaries back to safety. And they are seeking the help of authorities to handle the matter.

Gang-related kidnappings tied to an assassination

The gang-related kidnappings in Haiti increased following the assassination of President Jovenel Moise in July. Last month, there were claims that Prime Minister Ariel Henry may have been involved in Moise's assassination.

Following Moise's death, rival factions started to fight to gain control of Haiti as the country's police force struggled.

Last month, a deacon was killed in front of a church in Port-au-Prince, and his wife was kidnapped. In April, one gang kidnapped five priests and two nuns. And the incident resulted in a major protest to decry the lack of security in the country, according to Abc.net.au.

The UN vowed to provide support, resources to Haiti

The publication revealed that last weekend's kidnapping came in the heels of the UN Security Council voting unanimously to extend their political mission in Haiti.

After which, several high-level US officials visited Haiti and promised to provide the country with more resources. They also pledged $15 million to help reduce gang violence in the country.

As of late, the 400 Mawozo has not confirmed or denied their involvement in the latest kidnapping of the17 missionaries. But officials are convinced that they are behind it because of their notorious track record.

Related Article: Haiti Prime Minister Ariel Hendry Called to Resign Due to His Possible Connection to the Murder of Former President Jovenel Moise.

@ 2021 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Is this a hint that Sony is planning early development of the enhanced PlayStation 5 Pro going around in the gaming rumor mill?

A job listing for a new API Rendering Engineer could provide an idea about Sony's plans with the opening in the company's Advanced Technology Group (ATG), which particularly focuses on the Rendering API of the PlayStation 5, Tweak Town reported. As such, the position's goal is to define or redefine the efforts for the PS5's next generation platform. Part of these efforts is strengthening tools needed to boost PS5's high-end performance.

Sony API Engineer Job Listing to Craft 'Multiple Generations' of PlayStation Consoles

Candidates for this new position will vie for an opportunity to contribute to the development of the graphics API used to power PS5 games, including GPU software stack optimization tools to provide genuine high-end experiences, such as ray tracing or native 4K rendering. The job listing also indicates that the API Rendering Engineer will assist in crafting "the architecture of multiple generations of PlayStation consoles."

As the opening is for a PlayStation 5 API engineer, the development could mean that the PS5 Pro is in the works, confirming that Sony is moving forward with its console advancement, Tweak Town added.

Read Also: PS5 Pro Release Date, Price, Specs: Will PlayStation 5 Upgrade Feature Zen 4 CPU, Support 8K Gaming?

The job listing read that the position is "unique" and "senior" and sits at the "core of PlayStation GPU technology". The chosen candidate would have "colleagues in ATG" that are tasked to develop "rendering and tracing libraries, GPU tools, shader compiler" and would contribute to the "architecture of multiple generations of PlayStation consoles."

The position also involves "coordination with other key hardware and software stakeholders" to provide game developers the ability to "push the boundaries of our platforms."

PS5 Pro Rumors on Release Date, Specs

Rumors revealed that Sony could release the PlayStation 5 Pro in the next few years, offering upgraded hardware, including the AMD Zen 4 System-on-a-Chip (SoC) with upscale GPU and CPU power.

Reports added that a PS5 Pro could even be released as early as 2023, but this is considered unlikely given that the current version, the PS5, has yet to be fully mature and besieged with component shortage that has affected shipments and fulfillment of ever-growing demand for the console. This shortage ranges from the SoC and memory controllers to power management processors.

But a more realistic eventuality is the unveiling of an improved PS5 set for 2022 with a more powerful six-nanometer SoC based on the N6 node, not an actual PS5 Pro. It's a basic PS5 with a smaller SoC, with practically no performance gains as they are technically part of the same node family at TSMC.

Some of the rumored specs of the PS5 Pro include a Zen 4 architecture CPU and RDNA 3 architecture GPU, expected to reach the 8K gaming aspect, which certainly a massive upgrade from the currently fabulous 4K the PS5 provides, The Teal Mango noted.

The PS5 Pro could also offer at least 300-watt thermal design power, virtual reality, and less bulky console design.

Related Article: PS5 Restock Tracker: Sony Drops Good News That Could End PlayStation 5 Shortage, Scalping
Amazon plans to hire additional 150,000 employees to meet customers' needs this coming holiday season.

To lure more applicants, the e-commerce company is offering up to $3,000 signing bonus and other perks. Despite the previous working condition complaints, Amazon will still provide a competitive salary and benefits for employees.

Amazon $3000 Signing Bonus for Seasonal Workers

According to Business Wire, Amazon has announced an employment opportunity for everyone of various backgrounds and skill levels. The largest e-commerce retailer company is opening 150,000 seasonal jobs across the U.S.

Aside from seasonal roles, all Amazon jobs available in the U.S will have an average starting pay of $18 per hour, signing bonus of up to $3,000, as well as an additional $3 per hour depending on the shift location.

PC Mag added that Amazon's goal is to include the hired seasonal workers in the 125,000 full-time and part-time roles.

In relation to this, Amazon's Senior Vice President of Global Customer Fulfillment Alicia Boler Davis said that they are delighted to offer the $3,000 signing bonus, great pay, and benefits for their part-time, full-time and seasonal jobs in the company.

"Our seasonal hiring helps us deliver on our promises to customers while also providing flexibility to our full-time employees during busy periods. Joining Amazon in one of our seasonal roles offers high-paying, part-time work, or a path to a full-time position, with benefits like our Career Choice program to help people advance their education and careers within Amazon or beyond," Davis furthered.

Additionally, Amazon's Staffing Coordinator Andrea Wilkerson said that the company's hiring of seasonal employees started on a trial basis nearly four years ago, and since then, seasonal workers have been an effective way to meet needs, especially during the holidays.

Business Wire added that the works in Amazon include packing, shipping, stowing, picking and more. The said job opportunity is on demand in California, Florida, Colorado, Illinois, New York, Ohio, Oregon, North Carolina and other cities.

For those curious about the jobs available, head to this site.

Read Also: 2021 MacBook Pro Hit With Major Delay Problem: Why Could You Get New Apple Device by December

Amazon Working Conditions

Despite the competitive package as well as the $3,000 signing bonus that Amazon offers, it is worth noting that the company has faced criticisms in the past for its working conditions.

The Strategic Organizing Center stated that Amazon warehouse workers are not only injured more frequently than non-Amazon warehouse workers, but they are also injured more severely.

Aside from that, The Guardian also reported in January 2020 that workers had complained that the performance expectations in Amazon are nearly impossible to meet. Moreover, company drivers revealed that they even opted to pee in a bottle to meet Amazon's quota, which the company has vehemently denied.

Amazon's job hiring and bonus might be a good opportunity, but interested applicants should certainly do their due diligence to assess the working conditions.

Related Article: Amazon Astro Robot Price, Review and Reactions: Why New Home Robot Is Dangerous For Your Privacy
The NASA James Webb Telescope is getting ready to launch out to space! NASA experts recently announced that the next 29 days after liftoff will be the most critical steps for the space telescope's success.

Webb will unfold like an origami, a million miles away from Earth, with no backups and no second chances.

Space fans anticipate the launch of the James Webb Telescope, also unofficially referred to as the successor of the Hubble Space Telescope. Webb promised to be the largest, most powerful and complex telescope ever built for outer space--if it would survive its deployment sequence.

NASA James Webb Telescope: The 29 Days After Launch

NASA recently tweeted a quick overview of their deployment sequence for Webb. The post said, "For the 29 days after liftoff, our @NASAWebb Space Telescope will unfold like origami step by step so it can begin telling the origin story of the universe. There are no second chances."

Weve never done any of this before.



For the 29 days after liftoff, our @NASAWebb Space Telescope will unfold like origami step by step so it can begin telling the origin story of the universe. There are no second chances: https://t.co/4JOcch1XiU pic.twitter.com/WV87kFARbe  NASA (@NASA) October 18, 2021

The eight-minute video clip featured different key figures and representatives working behind the James Webb Space Telescope. They explained some of the important events on deployment.

Read Also: NASA Lucy Launch Date and Time Around the World: How to Watch Rockets Launch for Jupiter Asteroid Mission

NASA James Webb Telescope Origami Deployment

According to the video, Webb will have the largest primary mirror and sunshield. When fully deployed, the sunshield measures almost 70 feet by 47 feet. However, this telescope will need to fit a 5.4-meter diameter rocket, the largest fairing size available on any rocket up to date. To cheat this, researchers "folded" Webb like an origami.

Taking that into consideration, NASA admitted the most challenging part of Webb's mission will be its unfolding. Remember, space has zero gravity, so Webb needs to work perfectly and remotely without having someone to fix it.

Webb will have approximately 50 major deployment mechanisms and 178 release mechanisms. It will also have 70 hinge assemblies, 400 pullies, 90 cables, eight deployment motors, bearings, springs and gears. Keep in mind that one faulty mechanism might cause errors and breakdowns to the whole deployment sequence.

The whole deployment sequence would take 29 days, with the first two weeks as the most nerve-wracking dates.

How to Watch James Webb Launch

James Webb is scheduled to launch sometime on December 18. For now, due to security protocols, NASA will keep the specific timeline confidential.

More details and related information will be released the closer Webb's launch date gets. For interested viewers, bookmark and visit NASA's official James Webb webpage, where they post all the necessary information. Fans should also follow their social media accounts, like the Twitter account mentioned above, for real-time updates on their space journey.

The James Webb launch and deployment sequence is the culmination of over two decades of study and space research. As a space fan, this is definitely one event that shouldn't be missed.



Related Article: NASA Hubble Images: Space Telescope Snaps Mysterious 'Double' Galaxy That Confuses the Hell Out of Astronomers
Bitcoin investors are getting some good news! Experts predict that the next market crash will be a lot less disastrous. Bitcoin price might also gain an increase in the coming months, so investors should carefully consider trading plans for the future.

Cryptocurrency markets are infamously known for its volatile nature, so it is impossible to predict the future trading markets with 100 percent accuracy. However, this has never stopped experts from taking data on previous market performance and making cryptocurrency price forecasts.

Using this strategy, the California-based hedge fund and investment firm, Pantera Capital, recently released a new Bitcoin price prediction.

Bitcoin Price Prediction: BTC Value Stabilizes

According to Pantera Capital, Bitcoin has a history of price crashes up to 83 percent. On one of the charts, all of the bull and bear market values was listed. Experts noted how Bitcoin prices always crashed after reaching its peak.

For example, Bitcoin peaked at $1,111.6 in 2013 but dropped to $189.84 in 2015, resulting to an 88 percent decrease. The aftermath showed a massive growth spike of $20,089 in 2017, which also declined to $3,236.8 in 2018, resulting to an 84 percent decrease. More recently, Bitcoin spiked at $64,863 this April but immediately dropped to $29,807 in July resulting to a 59 percent decrease.

See a pattern? After every peak, Bitcoin will drop to bear markets. However, keep in mind that the decrease percentage is getting a lot smaller, with 88, 84 and eventually 59 percent.

Experts in Pantera Capital predict that although bear markets might happen in the coming months, it would be a lot less dramatic in terms of price loss. Pantera Capital CEO, Dan Morehead, explained that "I long advocated that as the market becomes broader, more valuable, and more institutional the amplitude of prices swings will moderate," per blockchain letter.

Taking all of these into considerations, experts predict that BTC has renewed its bullish strengths on the $65,000 mark.

Read Also: 2021 MacBook Pro Price Is Super Expensive; Fans Share Sad Reactions Over Big Reveal

Bitcoin Price Rise, Should I Invest?

At the time of writing, CoinDesk recorded Bitcoin trading at $62,238.15, with a 0.79 percent increase in the last 24 hours. Notably, the positive growth is getting a lot more frequent this month compared to September.

CoinTelegraph also noted that last May, United States Securities and Exchange Commission finally approved Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) after years of rejection. New investment programs might grow out of this development. It has also raised investor expectations on the market.

In these last few months, Bitcoin valuations have grown as high as $100,000. Perhaps that increase is just around the corner.

Although it remains pure speculation, experts seemed confident that Bitcoin will grow in value "very soon." Trading BTC might be difficult for short-term investors, but long-term investors reportedly have a lot to look forward to.

However, take this Bitcoin price prediction with a grain of salt. As previously mentioned, cryptocurrency markets are highly volatile. Prices are subject to change at any moment without warning.



Related Article: Ethereum Price Prediction: Can ETH Value Increase to $4000 This October?
Shinhan Financial Group Chairman Cho Yong-byoung, left, poses with Nigel Topping, the U.K.'s high-level champion for climate action, at the 26th U.N. Climate Change Conference (COP26), at Shinhan headquarters in Seoul, Sept. 14. Courtesy of Shinhan Financial Group



By Park Jae-hyuk



Shinhan Financial Group Chairman Cho Yong-byoung will resume his overseas business trips next week, while the leaders of other financial holding companies here remain cautious about going abroad during the COVID-19 pandemic.



This is the first time for him to travel abroad for business, since his attendance at the IMF's annual meeting in Washington, D.C., in October 2019.



The main purpose of his forthcoming trip is to introduce Shinhan's strategies for net-zero emissions to the participants of the 26th U.N. Climate Change Conference (COP26) Finance Day event that will be held Nov. 3 in Glasgow, Scotland, following a two-day meeting of political leaders worldwide.



Nigel Topping, the U.K.'s high-level champion for climate action at COP26, met the Shinhan chairman in Seoul last month and invited him to the Finance Day event, which will be attended by representatives from global financial giants such as Citigroup, HSBC and BlackRock, as well as those from Korea's state-run banks  the Korea Development Bank (KDB) and the Export-Import Bank of Korea (Eximbank).



Cho will deliver a separate speech at another session of the conference, which will be held Nov. 9 by the Ministry of Environment and the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), a Seoul-headquartered intergovernmental organization dedicated to promoting sustainable economic growth.



On the sidelines of the conference, he will visit New York, London and Paris to meet investors and representatives from foreign companies serving that are Shinhan's major shareholders.



"Because we will announce our third-quarter earnings on Oct. 26, we decided to take advantage of our chairman's forthcoming trip to hold investor roadshows abroad," said a Shinhan executive who will accompany the chairman on his trip. "At this moment, we are arranging meetings with foreign investors."



In contrast, KB Financial Group said its chairman has yet to make any plans for traveling overseas. Hana Financial Group declined to comment on its chairman's schedule.



Woori Financial Group was once said to be pushing ahead with resuming investor roadshows this year in North America, the U.K. and Singapore, but its spokesman denied this rumor, saying it is still unclear whether its chairman can head overseas for business within this year.



"We may consider resuming our investor roadshows abroad, if the situations improve in other countries," the Woori spokesman said. "Instead of holding face-to-face meetings with foreign investors, we are aggressively holding contactless investor roadshows at this moment."



Before the pandemic, the chief executives of the nation's top four financial groups visited other countries frequently to direct investor roadshows abroad.



In 2019, the Shinhan chairman visited the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and Nordic nations to meet representatives from global asset management firms. KB Chairman Yoon Jong-kyoo also visited investors in Hong Kong and Australia in April that year. Woori Chairman Son Tae-seung traveled to the Middle East, Europe and North America in October that year to direct the group's overseas investor roadshows.


The Financial Supervisory Service's headquarters in Seoul / Korea Times file



By Park Jae-hyuk



The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) has ultimately not hired attorneys from major law firms for the second round of its court battle with Woori Financial Group Chairman Son Tae-seung.



The financial watchdog said Tuesday that it signed contracts with the state-run Korea Government Legal Service (KGLS) and private law firm Kim, Chang & Lee to overturn the Seoul Administrative Court's Aug. 27 ruling ordering it to revoke the heavy sanctions it had placed last year on Son.



"Kim, Chang & Lee may not be well-known to the public, but it is a competent firm," FSS legal affairs department head Yang Jin-tae said.



In the first trial, the institution was represented by lawyers from the mid-size law firm, HMP Law, but after they moved in August to another mid-size law firm, Jipyoung, there were fewer reasons for the FSS to maintain its contract with HMP Law.



The FSS was also unable to sign a contract with Jipyoung, because several other cases that are handled by the law firm could cause conflicts of interest.



"The large law firms have offered a variety of legal advice to financial companies and represented them in several lawsuits, so most of them cannot serve as our attorney," Yang said.



Despite these obstacles, the FSS was confident about winning the appellate trial, saying that the KGLS does not lag behind large private law firms in terms of its capabilities.



Another source familiar with this issue said on condition of anonymity that major law firms have been reluctant to defend financial authorities, due to the possibility that they could lose their clients in the private sector, which pay them more than public institutions do.



The FSS is said to have paid 30 million won ($25,000) to HMP Law, while the Woori chairman is thought to be spending more on his attorneys.



The chairman was represented in the first trial by the nation's leading law firm, Kim & Chang, and the sixth-largest law firm, Yoon & Yang, which has been recognized for enabling financial firms to defeat regulators in multiple legal battles. Yoon & Yang has also hired a number of lawyers who worked previously for the FSS.



Woori declined to comment on whether or not its chairman will maintain his contracts with the two law firms. The group said that it is irrelevant to the lawsuit, because the chairman is engaging in this litigation as an individual.






Exports still strong but complications could arise



By Lee Kyung-min



The impact of China's disappointing growth in the July-September period should be monitored closely by Korea, a trade-reliant economy which sends over a quarter of its exports to the world's second-largest economy, market watchers said Tuesday. China accounts for 26.1 percent of Korea's exports, a figure much higher than Korea's second-largest trading partner, the U.S., with 15 percent.



China's poor industrial output figures are feared to plunge further due to power shortages and plant operation shutdowns brought on by coal shortages, coupled with environmental curbs on heavily polluting steel and aluminum plants. Yet its exports and consumption remain strong, insulating Korea from an immediate adverse impact to a considerable degree.



Experts say Korea's exports  a key growth driver of the economy  remain relatively unaffected, as indicated by updates in high-frequency datasets. Korea's GDP by extension is not likely to suffer an immediate dent, they say, but complications could arise at any moment, leading to a sharp decline in growth figures.



4.9% in Q3



The National Bureau of Statistics of China said Monday (CST) that the country's GDP registered 4.9-percent year-on-year growth, undershooting forecasts by a wide margin.



The poorer-than-expected figure was due to property sector volatility from the country's largest developer, Evergrande, nearing the brink of default, exacerbated further by the fallout of factory shutdowns brought on by electricity shortages. The total industrial output regressed to the levels of early 2020, amid heavy anti-COVID-19 curbs.



"A slowdown in China's growth means Korea's exports to China decreasing as a result. The GDP figures can be adversely affected," Korea Institute for International Economic Policy (KIEP) Research Fellow Yeon Won-ho said.



Yet, the figures are not too grim upon a closer look, a reason why the China expert views fears of a China-triggered economic slowdown in Korea as overblown. "Exports and consumption in China are not bad, and the two key indicators paint a rather different picture for Korea," he said.



Final goods exports will not experience any difficulties, although intermediate goods will be subject to lingering uncertainty given the ongoing production shutdowns.



The ratio of intermediate goods to final goods was 7 to 3 in 2009, but it changed to 6 to 4 in 2019. This means less damage from China's current situation, in his view.



Consumption in the coming months will not be crimped, as inferred by the Chinese government's dual circulation strategy, a drive prioritizing domestic consumption while remaining open to global trade and investment.



"A major pillar of the strategy is bolstering domestic consumption, an initiative anchored by the importing of goods from other countries, including Korea," he said.



China's retail sales rose 4.4 percent year-on-year in September, overshooting previous market forecasts and the 2.5 percent figure a month earlier.



The world's second-largest economy has not veered off its growth path of over 6 percent this year, a target announced by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang in April, Yeon said.



"The growth figure for the first quarter was 18.3 percent and it was nearly 8 percent the following quarter. The Chinese economy faltering will not become too grave a concern."



Yi Gang, governor of the People's Bank of China, said Sunday (CST) that the economy is expected to grow 8 percent this year.



Park Chong-hoon, head of the Korea Research Team at Standard Chartered Korea, said Korea's exports remain robust, a notable feat compared to Japan, for example. Korea's overall industrial output has not experienced significant jitters, either.



"No major red flags have been raised thus far, but we will have to closely monitor the datasets that arrive in the coming weeks," he said.


Smoke rises from the chimneys of plants at an industrial complex in this undated photo. Yonhap



By Yi Whan-woo



Surging energy prices and the government's finalized plan to drastically cut greenhouse gas emissions are prompting concerns over "greenflation"  price hikes in metals, minerals and other natural resources needed for renewable technologies.



Industry sources said Tuesday that Korea "has plenty of reasons be nervous" about increases in utility costs, as the prices of major energy sources worldwide have been climbing sharply.



On Monday, Brent Crude oil hit a three-year high price of $86.04 per barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) Crude Futures reached a seven-year-high of $83.73 per barrel.



The shortages of natural gas and coal are in full view, as China is struggling with its energy supply and other key economies are facing higher energy demand as they rebound from the pandemic.



Against this backdrop, the official commitment made by President Moon Jae-in, Monday, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent from 2018 levels by 2030, is pushing businesses to alternate using fossil fuels with more expensive green energy.



Aimed at achieving carbon neutrality by 2050, the new goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissions has increased from the 26.3 percent previously set in 2020.



To meet this goal, manufacturing businesses will be required to undergo a major overhaul in their facilities, as coal and liquefied natural gas account for 60 percent of their energy supply.



Updating the facilities will be very costly. For instance, it costs 276 won ($0.23) per kilowatt-hour to generate electricity from a 20-gigawatt floating offshore wind farm to be built by the government by 2034, according to data released by main opposition People Power Party (PPP) lawmaker Han Moo-kyung.



The lawmaker said that this figure is more than five times the cost of using electricity generated through nuclear power plants, which the Moon government seeks to phase out.



"You can see why we have been against the government's plan," a Federation of Korean Industries (FKI) official said, referring to the business lobby group's statement released on Monday.



The statement argued that the government is "not being sufficiently cautious" in the implementation of its green campaign as well as "not considerate" about the difficulties faced by enterprises in the transition toward carbon neutrality.



"I would not disagree with those who say the country is being pushed to the brink of greenflation," the official said



Son Yang-hoon, an Incheon National University professor, said that the effects of greenflation are feared to be "felt across every corner of society, including households."



"The bigger concern is that such greenflation may persist and be passed on to future generations if it is not tackled properly," the professor said.


"Improvisation" (1913) by Wassily Kandinsky / Courtesy of the Primorye State Art Gallery



By Park Han-sol



Like many revolutionary art movements, Russian avant-garde faced numerous dynamic historical events during its early modern era, which led to its ups and downs.



It first emerged in the 1890s  born out of a thirst for artistic innovation and liberation from old dogmas  and reached its height both in creative output and popularity during the early 20th century, marked by the fall of the Russian Empire and the subsequent rise of the Soviet Union.



Its heyday was cut short, however, when the Stalin regime decided to label the movement as "bourgeois and elitist" in the mid-1930s, decreeing socialist realism as the sole state-sanctioned artistic style.



It wasn't until the mid-1990s, following the collapse of the Soviet Union, that this pioneering art genre, many of which works had been gathering dust for decades in the storage vaults of various regional museums, were brought into the global spotlight once again.





"Mowers" (1911) by Natalia Sergeevna Goncharova / Courtesy of Ekaterinburg Museum of Fine Arts



After having toured around Europe, the works of some of the most renowned Russian avant-garde masters will finally arrive in Korea this December at the exhibition, "Kandinsky, Malevich & Russian Avant-Garde."



Co-hosted by The Korea Times and its sister paper the Hankook Ilbo, the upcoming exhibition will offer a glimpse of this momentous wave of early modern art through the paintings of 48 leading figures  including Wassily Kandinsky, Kazimir Malevich, Alexander Rodchenko and Natalia Goncharova  from Dec. 31 to April 17, 2022, at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts.



"Most of the 75 pieces to be showcased have never been seen by viewers in Korea before, except for two  Kandinsky's 'Improvisation No. 217, Gray Oval' and Malevich's 'Suprematism'," Lee Hoon-suk, the show's curator and an art historian, told The Korea Times.



"Compared to the reputation and significance that Russian art currently holds in the global art scene, domestic interest  both mainstream and academic  in the genre has been extremely low," he said, adding that the large-scale exhibition will enable long-overdue recognition of Russia's avant-garde movement by Korean art experts, artists and the general public.





"Improvisation No. 217, Gray Oval" (1917) by Wassily Wassilyevich Kandinsky / Courtesy of Ekaterinburg Museum of Fine Arts



One of the show's highlights will be three pieces produced by Kandinsky, a trailblazer of abstract art, specifically from his "Improvisation" series. The artist defined the first stage of painting to be "Impressions," which should start from the observation of external reality. The subsequent stages  "Improvisations" and "Compositions"  should be more spontaneous and unconscious.



Another towering figure that the exhibition calls attention to is none other than Malevich, with his iconic piece, "Suprematism."



Often described as a pioneer of pure abstraction, he rejected basing his geometric forms on the existing natural reality, unlike Kandinsky or Mondrian, who took gradual steps in simplifying observable shapes and forms until they reached a stage of abstraction.



Instead, perfectly geometric shapes dominate his canvases  ones that cannot be found in nature. "He saw that only geometric figures can be the pure representations of human's creative power, spirit and reason, something that befits the art of the new era," Lee said.





"Suprematism" (1915) by Kazimir Severinovich Malevich / Courtesy of Ekaterinburg Museum of Fine Arts
U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Sung Kim speaks after a meeting with South Korea's Special Representative for Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs Noh Kyu-duk, back right, Oct. 18, at the U.S. State Department in Washington. AP-Yonhap



U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Policy Sung Kim will visit Seoul this week for talks on ways to restart dialogue with the reclusive North, including an end-of-war declaration, the U.S. diplomat said Monday.



Kim's trip to Seoul will follow his meeting with his South Korean and Japanese counterparts, Noh Kyu-duk and Takehiro Funakoshi, respectively, here in Washington this week.



"Special Representative Noh and I also discussed the end of war proposal, and I look forward to continuing those discussions and other issues of mutual concern when I'm in Seoul later this week," the U.S. diplomat said of his meeting with Noh at the State Department.



"Special Representative Noh and I had an excellent meeting this afternoon in advance of tomorrow's trilateral meeting with Japanese Director-General Funakoshi," he added.



South Korean President Moon Jae-in proposed declaring a formal end to the Korean War during the U.N. General Assembly in New York last month as a way of bringing North Korea back to the dialogue table and resuming its denuclearization process.



"A considerable amount of today's discussions were devoted to in-depth discussions on end-of-war declaration," Noh said. "I believe the U.S.' understanding of our end-of-war declaration proposal has deepened through a series of our recent discussions."










North Korea fired what appears to be a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) toward the East Sea on Tuesday, South Korea's military said.



The missile was launched eastward from a site in the vicinity of Sinpo, South Hamgyong Province, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS). It said the launch was detected at 10:17 a.m. but gave no other details.



"The intelligence authorities of South Korea and the United States are currently conducting a thorough analysis regarding additional details on the missile," the JCS said in a text message sent to reporters.



The North's latest missile test marks its eighth known projectile launch this year. It previously fired a new hypersonic missile, called the Hwasong-8, on Sept. 28.



Sinpo is where North Korea has been pushing to build a 3,000-ton submarine capable of carrying a submarine-launched ballistic missile.



The North previously conducted an SLBM test in 2015 and 2019. The South's military believes that it used a barge rather than a submarine platform during the past tests.



The launch came as the top nuclear envoys of the South, the U.S. and Japan are in Washington to discuss joint efforts to bring the North back to dialogue through humanitarian aid and other incentives.



Pyongyang's continued saber-rattling tempered cautious optimism that has emerged since the reactivation of inter-Korean communication channels earlier this month.













In Washington on Tuesday, Seoul's top nuclear envoy, Noh Kyu-duk, and his U.S. and Japanese counterparts, Sung Kim and Takehiro Funakoshi, plan to meet trilaterally to discuss a joint strategy on the North.



On Monday, Noh and Kim met bilaterally and discussed President Moon Jae-in's recent proposal for the declaration of a formal end to the 1950-53 Korean War, which Seoul believes is an effective measure to build confidence with Pyongyang.



The U.S. envoy plans to visit Seoul later this week to further discuss diplomacy toward the North. (Yonhap)
Kim Jong-nam / Yonhap



By Yoon Ja-young



Kim Jong-nam, the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, who was murdered in Malaysia in 2017, was linked to South Korea's National Intelligence Service (NIS), according to a report by South Korean broadcaster SBS, Tuesday.



SBS reported that it had confirmed from a number of former and current NIS officers that Kim Jong-nam had been providing information on top North Korean officials including Kim Jong-un for at least five to six years before he was killed.



The estranged half-brother was the eldest son of former North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, and was once regarded as the heir apparent to the regime. However, he lost his father's trust after he was involved in a series of problematic incidents, including trying to enter Japan on a false passport in 2001. At that time, he said he was attempting to visit the Tokyo Disneyland; and since then, he had been living in Macau, and traveling to other countries.



In February 2017, Kim was in Kuala Lumpur International Airport when two young women  one from Indonesia and the other from Vietnam  suddenly approached him and smeared the lethal XV chemical agent on his face. He died within an hour, and the brazen attack that occurred in broad daylight among a large crowd shocked the world.



According to SBS, NIS agents contacted Kim in "third-countries," and provided him with monetary compensation.



The report added that the NIS had basic information on Kim's whereabouts and that he sometimes directly contacted the spy agency through email.



At the time, there was speculation that Kim might have been seeking asylum in South Korea, but SBS reported that the former and current officer whom it contacted dismissed this, saying it would have put a considerable burden on inter-Korean relations.


In this Oct. 3, 2019 photo carried by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency, Pukguksong-3 submarine-launched ballistic missile is launched from a submersible barge. Yonhap



US envoy for North Korea to visit Seoul this week



By Nam Hyun-woo



North Korea launched a ballistic missile into the East Sea, Tuesday, despite the U.S.'s apparent efforts to entice Pyongyang to return to denuclearization talks by opening up the possibility of discussions to formally end the Korean War.



According to the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), North Korea fired a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) from Sinpo, South Hamgyong Province, at 10:17 a.m. However, Japan's military authorities announced the North launched two missiles.



The National Security Council held an emergency meeting shortly after the JCS announcement and expressed "serious regrets" over the incident, noting that North Korea had launched a missile again "despite the ongoing discussions between South Korea, the U.S., China, Japan, Russia and other neighboring countries on a peace process on the Korean Peninsula."



"The members of the council again stressed the urgency of stabilizing the situation on the Korean Peninsula, and urged North Korea to return to talks," Cheong Wa Dae later said.



The U.S. also criticized the North for the missile launch. "The U.S. military sees North Korea's missile launch on Tuesday as destabilizing, but not an immediate threat to the United States or its allies," the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said in a statement.





People watch a TV screen in Seoul Station, Tuesday, showing a news report about North Korea launching a ballistic missile accompanied by file footage. AP-Yonhap



The South Korean military did not immediately announce how long the missile flew or where it landed; but it was said to have flown 430 to 450 kilometers at an altitude of 60 kilometers. Reportedly, the military assumes that the North launched the missile from a floating platform or a submergible barge, but has not ruled out the possibility of an actual submarine being used.



"There seem to be two possibilities," said Kim Dong-yup, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies.









"First, there is a chance that North Korea launched its Pukguksong-3 SLBM from an actual submarine. The North tested it in October 2019 by launching it from a submersible test barge," Kim said. "The second scenario, which I think is more likely, is the test launch of a Pukguksong-4 or -5 from a test barge. The two missiles were revealed at North Korea's recent military parade. Either way, the North appears to be underscoring its military achievements to cover its economic difficulties stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic and sanctions."



The launch came on the heels of ongoing efforts by Washington to open dialog with Pyongyang. In recent weeks, President Joe Biden's administration has been showing a positive reaction to President Moon Jae-in's proposal for a declaration to formally end the Korean War, which he believes will entice the North back to denuclearization talks.



The two Koreas are still technically at war, as the 1950-53 conflict ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty. Moon suggested in a United Nations speech last month that the two Koreas and the United States, as well as China, declare a formal end to the war.



The North showed a positive reaction to the proposal, but set up preconditions, demanding Seoul stop its weapons development programs and joint military exercises with the U.S. At the same time, the Kim Jong-un regime continued with its missile programs, conducting four missile launches to test different technologies in September alone.





U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Sung Kim speaks after a meeting with South Korea's Special Representative for Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs Noh Kyu-duk, at the U.S. State Department in Washington, D.C., Monday (local time). AP-Yonhap
A man receives a Janssen coronavirus vaccine at a medical clinic in South Gyeongsang Province, June 10. Yonhap



By Lee Hyo-jin



Controversy is rising over the administration of booster shots for recipients of Johnson & Johnson's Janssen COVID-19 vaccine, as they have reported the largest number of breakthrough infections among fully vaccinated people.



While some medical experts believe the government should immediately offer additional shots to the group, others advise that the plan should undergo a more prudent review.



President Moon Jae-in ordered the health authorities Monday to swiftly come up with a plan to administer booster shots for people who received the single-dose regimen Janssen vaccine, as a recent study in the U.S. suggested that its protection drastically weakens after five months.



According to the study which examined the vaccine's efficacy among 620,000 discharged service members in the U.S., the prevention rate plunged to 3 percent in August, from 88 percent in March.



On Oct. 15, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) expert panel recommended a booster dose of the Janssen vaccine around two months after the first dose.



In Korea, among the 33.18 million fully vaccinated people, 1.46 million, or about 4 percent of the total, have received a Janssen shot, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). It was administered mostly to military-related personnel aged over 30 in June.









The country has reported 13,860 breakthrough infections as of Oct. 3. By vaccine type, people who received the Janssen shots made up the largest portion  216.1 out of 100,000 had breakthrough infections, followed by 67.9 people receiving AstraZeneca, 43.2 people receiving Pfizer, and 4.9 people receiving Moderna.



The KDCA said it will come up with a plan to provide additional shots earlier than initially scheduled for December.





Vials are seen in front of a displayed Johnson & Johnson logo in this illustration taken Oct. 31, 2020. Reuters-Yonhap
Solar energy facilities installed in mountainous areas near the rural village of Cheoncheon, North Jeolla Province, are seen in this Aug. 21, 2019, file photo. Korea Times photo by Kim Joo-young.



Rural residents near solar farms at risk of landslide damage



This article is the third in a series on various environment problems, government countermeasures and expert opinions on how to solve them.  ED.



By Lee Hae-rin



Thousands of solar energy facilities have been built in rural mountainous regions in recent years, in line with a government policy to increase the ratio of renewable energy sources in the country's energy mix.



However, many of them have become danger zones as the removal of trees for their construction has heightened the possibility of landslides, becoming a major headache for local residents during the nation's annual rainy season. What is of more concern is that the installations are feared to end up destroying the landscape and environment through massive deforestation.



Seokdong Village in Gangjin County, South Jeolla Province, is one such village, where over 25,400 square meters of forest there were cut down to install solar panels in 2016.



But since then, soil has been washed away from the facilities during each summer's rainy season, and in July this year two meters of stone embankments and 20 meters of barbed wire fencing collapsed.



"As the rain poured in July, the solar facilities collapsed and the village's rice paddies were completely flooded. Fortunately, nobody was on site and hurt but if there had been, it would have caused many casualties," Lim Jun-hyung, the village head, told The Korea Times, Friday. "The company that installed the panels won't come to fix it for months, no matter how many times we call them. I can't even stand the sight of those panels now."



Gangseong Village in Gangjin County, South Jeolla Province, is another place that faces seasonal flooding which the residents claim is a result of the installation of solar panels.



"About 30 millimeters of rain fell just a few days ago, and the rice paddies and fields were covered with watery red clay from the mountains, just like red bean soup," Lee Hun-jae, the head of the village, told The Korea Times, also on Friday.





Parts of a solar energy facility that collapsed following a landslide caused by heavy rainfall in Namwon, North Jeolla Province, are seen in this Aug. 9, 2019, file photo. Korea Times photo by Kim Joo-young



"Flooding and soil collapse like this never happened before the installation of the solar panels. It's all because the trees on the mountains were cut down and so water can't be absorbed on days with heavy rain," he said.



The villagers even built an embankment along the agricultural area with their own money to protect it from landslides, but it also collapsed under heavy rain and ruined their harvest. "We demanded the solar panel company repair the panels and solve the problem after the monsoon, but we didn't receive any proper help," Lee added.



Most of the residents in the affected areas grow rice and they have had substantial financial losses.









"For the damage to rice paddies this summer, we received government relief funding that only covered the cost re-establishing the paddies. It's not even close to covering the loss of the harvest that the villagers spent an entire year growing. It's a pity, but there's nothing we can do," Lee said.



The full-scale construction of solar facilities in mountainous areas began four years ago.





The construction of a solar energy facility is underway in a mountainous area of Namwon, North Jeolla Province, in this July 9, 2019, file photo. Korea Times photo by Kim Joo-young



The calls for renewable energy are growing worldwide, but only 2.4 percent of the energy in Korea was produced from renewable sources at that time, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). So in October 2017 the government announced an energy conversion roadmap to increase the ratio to 20 percent.



Two months later, the government announced that more than 95 percent of new energy-generating facilities would be for renewable sources, and be built in cities, farm reservoirs, tidelands and mountains, in cooperation with local municipalities.



As of now, over 12,500 solar energy "farms" have been built across the country, and in doing so, over 2.3 million trees have been cut down, covering an area nine times the size of Yeouido, according to the Korea Forest Service. The government aims to increase the size of solar energy facilities fivefold over the next 14 years.





In the left photo, a rural area in Iksan, North Jeolla Province, has forests and fields in August 2018. The same area is covered with solar energy panels in the right photo, taken Aug. 21, 2019, using a drone. Kakaomap / Korea Times photo by Kim Joo-young



However, residents near these clean energy facilities claim they have had a larger number of landslides, and consequent damage, caused by heavy rainfall. They say the facilities are to blame because the mountains can no longer absorb water from the rain without trees, leading to the landslides.



But following an investigation in 2020, the Korea Forest Service said only 0.8 percent of the landslides occurred near solar farms, virtually rejecting the claims of a causal link between the installations and the land erosion.



A "landslide" is legally defined in Korea as soil collapse in a mountainous area due to natural or artificial causes according to the relevant law. The forest service says the number of landslides is increasing, regardless of the solar energy facilities, as instances of torrential rain are rising due to global warming.





Officials of the Korea Forest Service inspect the construction of a landslide prevention wall in Bosong County, South Jeolla Province, in this July 2 photo. Courtesy of Korea Forest Service



But the agency admits more than 80 percent of the facilities in mountains were built before the relevant law was revised to tighten regulations for construction.



In South Jeolla Province where Gangseong and Seokdong are located, 238 out of 3,720 solar farms were built in mountainous areas at Level 1 or 2 on the "landslide danger scale." The forest agency grades the likelihood of landslides in all mountains nationwide on a five-tier system, and Level 1 or 2 means the areas are at high risk.



Experts point out that to minimize future damage from landslides near solar farms, the authorities need to expand facilities gradually and grant permission under stricter standards by reviewing the topography of the area, as well as communicating sufficiently with residents.



"Such damage from landslides near solar farms, which were built before the strengthened regulations, was not expected at the time of construction. To reduce the chances of future damage, the authorities and the industry should monitor the already-built facilities for two to three years, and then start to build more if no major damage takes place," Jerng Dong-wook, a professor at Chung-Ang University's School of Energy Systems Engineering, told The Korea Times.





Solar panels are installed on a mountain in Jangsu County, North Jeolla Province, in this July 8, 2019, file photo. Korea Times photo by Kim Joo-young
By Cho Hee-kyoung





With less than five months remaining until next year's presidential election, the primary races for the major political parties are in full swing. The ruling Democratic Party of Korea's candidate has been decided and the conservative People Power Party has narrowed down its list to the final four candidates.



Even the Justice Party has finished a run-off between its two leading female contenders. It already feels as if the primary race has been going on for a while, but voters are hardly any wiser about the main candidates' policies on issues as critical as climate change and the environment.



That man-made climate change is resulting in global warning and wreaking havoc on our environment is no longer in dispute. The Nobel Prize in physics this year went to a pair of scientists who have shown how humans have been affecting the earth's climate.



The frequent occurrences of what used to be dismissed as freak weather events  such as devastating deluges and droughts, sudden extreme cold snaps and record-breaking heat waves  are the inevitable consequences of our own profligate release of carbon and other greenhouse emissions.



Global warming is raising sea levels and turning low-lying islanders into climate refugees; higher sea temperatures are bleaching and killing the biggest living organism on earth, coral reefs; record-breaking heat is literally killing people and spontaneously combusting towns; then there are the unseasonal hurricanes and snow.



Rainstorms are wreaking havoc everywhere; and fires rage on in the unlikeliest places, devastating thousands of acres of forest and decimating entire animal populations. Climate change is a life-and-death emergency that affects every single one of us. But what are we doing about it?



Under the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, almost all the countries around the world agreed that we must act to make sure that global warming this century is limited to below 2 degrees Celsius, or better yet, 1.5 degrees. A central element for implementing the Paris Agreement is the nationally determined contributions, or NDCs, of each state party.



NDCs are national climate plans highlighting climate actions, including climate-related targets, policies and measures that governments aim to implement in response to climate change and as a contribution to global climate action. NDCs must be submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) secretariat every five years.



Previously, the Korean government had promised a 26.3-percent target for greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction by 2030. That figure was assessed to be highly insufficient by the Climate Action Tracker (CAT), an independent scientific analysis produced by two renowned climate research organizations.



According to the International Energy Agency, if each country carried out its NDC as submitted to the U.N., then South Korea would be the third-largest emitter of carbon per capita by 2030, after Russia and the U.S. Per capita emissions by Korea would in fact amount to twice that of the entire EU.



What's more, a major part of Korea's plan included purchasing carbon credits from abroad to meet the reduction goals, and not actually reducing the domestic emission of GHGs. No wonder CAT calls South Korea a "leading villain" of climate change.



It should be mentioned that not having any detailed GHG emission reduction plan beyond 2030 has been found to be unconstitutional in nations like France, Germany and the Netherlands, where the highest courts have held that for the lawmakers to leave too much of the burden of taking action to combat climate change to future generations deprives them of their fundamental freedoms, because all areas of human life are associated with GHG emissions. That is, the less we do to reduce GHGs now, the more our future generations will be affected, and their basic human activities may be curtailed.



Perhaps mindful of these criticisms, the Korean government announced Monday that it would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent from their 2018 level, the year that recorded the highest level of greenhouse gas emissions in Korea, since records have been kept. But there are scant details on how this goal will be achieved.



Policy road maps announced by the presidential committee on carbon neutrality seem to be more wishful thinking than realistic achievable options, as they rely heavily on not-yet realized technological solutions or economically non-viable alternative energy sources. They also expect industries to reduce their GHG emissions by 80 percent from the 2018 level of emissions by 2050 and, not surprisingly, this goal is being met with strong resistance from the business sector.



Unlike in Germany, where the Green Party won more than 15 percent of the votes in the recent federal election, the Korean Green Party is a mere blip on the political radar. It may be too much to expect that climate change will take center stage in the candidates' debates, but it is disappointing that the numerous rounds of debates by the presidential hopefuls from the major parties continue as a never-ending loop of mudslinging and muckraking, now even featuring shamanism and the use of magical charms. We deserve better from our would-be leaders.





Cho Hee-kyoung (hongikmail@gmail.com) is a professor at Hongik University's law school.


By Kim Sang-woo





For many decades, Taiwan has been the most serious political-military flashpoint in U.S.-China relations, and in recent weeks and months the Taiwan Strait has experienced rising tensions with dramatic increases in the frequency and seriousness of provocations by Chinese military aircraft within Taiwan's Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ).



Tensions between Beijing and Taipei have been acute since Taiwan's 2016 election of President Tsai Ing-wen whose Democratic Progressive Party was founded on a platform favoring independence for the island. Tsai's Kuomintang predecessor rejected the idea of Taiwan's independence and pursued growing political interaction across the Taiwan Strait, which were suspended after Tsai became president.



Her effective diplomacy with liberal democracies has frustrated Beijing, including her message that a successful takeover of Taiwan by Beijing will not only impact regional peace but also the democratic alliance system.



Washington has offered more support for Taipei on a number of fronts in recent years. The Trump administration integrated the island into its Indo-Pacific strategy, expanded arms sales to Taiwan and took other steps that expanded official contacts between Washington and Taipei. The Biden administration has affirmed its own commitment to Taiwan by beginning talks on a free trade agreement and inviting it to the Summit for Democracy, which the U.S. plans to host later this year.



In a major break with precedent, Taiwan has also been included in summit statements with Japan and Korea as well as the G7 making clear that represented nations not only support strengthening Taiwan's defense capabilities but would like to see Taiwan play a larger international role.



China made its anger known just days after Biden's inauguration with the largest number of military aircrafts into Taiwan's ADIZ, calling this a "solemn warning to external forces," of China's determination to deter interference in reunifying Taiwan with China



Since assuming office, Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen has been skeptical of pursuing closer ties with China, let alone unifying with the giant neighbor. And Beijing's action of undermining Hong Kong's autonomy further eroded support for closer cross-Strait ties.



However, President Xi Jinping still insists that Taiwan must unify with the mainland on the basis of "one country, two systems," but Hong Kong's fate reveals its fatal flaws. As a result, Tsai felt bold enough to formally reject the "one country, two systems," and her reticence toward the mainland was rewarded with a landslide re-election victory.



Today, Taiwan is the issue with the greatest potential to turn U.S.-China competition into direct confrontation. Until now, diplomatic finesse, backed by military deterrence, has maintained a precarious peace in the Taiwan Strait.



Cross-strait stability has allowed Taiwan to thrive and its people to build a democratic, pluralistic and economically vibrant society. China benefited from Taiwanese investment which contributed to its economic development. The U.S. maintained official diplomatic relations with China, but at the same time built a strong unofficial relationship with Taiwan.



Xi unlike his predecessors opted for a more assertive Chinese foreign policy. On his watch, China has militarized the South China Sea, fought border skirmishes with India, challenged Japanese claims on the Senkaku islands, and used economic leverage to punish countries critical of Chinese practices. Xi has also overseen efforts to intimidate Taiwan and signaled that the Taiwan question cannot be delayed indefinitely.



In an Oct. 9 speech in Beijing's Great Hall of the People, Xi vowed to retake Taiwan and blamed the decades-long separation of the island state as past Chinese weakness.



Meanwhile, the U.S. has been ramping up its defense posture in and around the region. The Biden administration has established the Quad, a quasi-alliance comprising the United States, Japan, Australia and India, whose obvious target is China, although they insist China wasn't in their minds at all.



Then the formation of the AUKUS partnership  Australia, United Kingdom and the United States  led to the purchase by Australia of a fleet of U.S. and British-made nuclear-powered submarines, which is also perceived to be directed toward China. But partly, China's increasingly aggressive rhetoric and activity have generated these responses.



Opinion toward China is hardening in Japan, highlighted by the recent high-level debate on how Tokyo should respond to a military threat to Taiwan.



Although South Korea's Moon Jae-in government remains more cautious in addressing issues involving China, the South Korean people have turned sharply against China due to its condescending attitude toward Korea, and in particular Beijing's economic retaliation over Seoul's cooperation with the U.S. on THAAD missile defense deployments.



Rising antagonism toward China is evident elsewhere, including in Europe, India and some ASEAN countries, the Philippines in particular. Although Beijing's "wolf warrior diplomacy" appears popular with the Chinese public, it is fostering greater foreign hostility, and military preparation.



The U.S. and China are threatening the interests and values of each other with an intensity seldom seen before. China is proclaiming its rise to great power status, equal or almost equal with the U.S. President Joe Biden has made out-competing China the measure of his administration.



The militaries on both sides have ramped up their capabilities to deter and defeat one another. The two nations have gone beyond competition to confrontation, and both have repeatedly made determining Taiwan's future the center of that confrontation.



For that very reason, reducing tensions over Taiwan could be the initial step to avoid a potentially disastrous situation and hopefully build a restrained confidence on both sides so that other potential conflicts, like the Korean Peninsula, can be successfully addressed.





Kim Sang-woo (swkim54@hotmail.com) is a former lawmaker and is currently chairman of the East Asia Cultural Project. He is also a member of the board of directors at the Kim Dae-jung Peace Foundation.
Demands for semiconductor info could harm Korea



The Moon Jae-in administration has announced its position regarding the controversial U.S. demands for global semiconductor makers, including Samsung Electronics, to hand over sensitive trade secrets. The government's statement was little more than a formality, saying it had delivered its concerns over Washington's request and would positively discuss the matter. Considering that the U.S. demands could infringe on Korea's national interest, Seoul's response was too timid.



"We need to respond to the matter based on three factors  corporate autonomy, governmental support, and Korea-U.S. cooperation," Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki said during the first External Economic Security Strategy Meeting, Monday. It is difficult to know how Seoul will cope with Washington's demands from Hong's remarks. It was just an expression of the government's position of, in principle, prioritizing the bilateral alliance.



The government's "passive" response comes in stark contrast to the Taiwanese reaction of openly expressing disapproval. Taiwan's TSMC is the world's largest foundry that contract manufactures and designs semiconductors. On Sept. 30, the head of Taiwan's National Development Committee showed the island state's determined position that TSMC would not provide its clients' confidential data or get involved in practices that threaten the rights of its clients and shareholders.



The detailed U.S. requests have a few incomprehensible points. For instance, the items for submission include the three largest clients for each chip brand, customers' share of total sales, and even technological levels of major products. The overreaching U.S. demands aim to exclude China from the semiconductor supply network while ensuring a stable supply to America. The U.S. is encouraging Intel to expand its manufacturing facilities even by offering subsidies. Under these circumstances, who can guarantee that Washington would not hand over Samsung's business secrets to Intel or other U.S. chip designing companies?



Once secret corporate information is leaked, it leads to irreversible consequences. The U.S. is a very important ally for Korea, but the Moon administration should draw the line as far as the core interests of its businesses and industries are concerned. Washington must withdraw its demands as soon as possible, realizing that they gravely damage mutual trust and do not help establish a U.S.-led technological alliance.


National Assembly audit turns into political battle



The National Assembly's audit of the Gyeonggi provincial government turned into a political battle over a land development scandal, Monday. Lawmakers of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) went all-out to defend Gyeonggi Province Governor Lee Jae-myung who was peppered with a barrage of questions from representatives of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP).



Regrettably, the fierce political wrangling resulted in a failure to get to the bottom of the simmering corruption-tainted scandal. It also overshadowed the Assembly's role of keeping the government in check. DPK lawmakers seemed to forget the principle of democratic checks and balances in favor of defending Lee, the presidential candidate of the ruling party, from growing allegations that he might have been involved in the scandal.



PPP lawmakers were not free from public criticism either. They showed their lack of preparation and inability to present evidence proving Lee's suspected connection to the controversial development project which was carried out in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, during Lee's time as the city's mayor. If the rival parties repeat their political bickering and blame game, they can do nothing to shed light on the case.



It is also disappointing that Governor Lee resorted to denial tactics all the time. He only tried to confine his responsibility for the scandal to his inability to properly supervise city officials. One of those officials is Yoo Dong-gyu, who served as acting president of Seongnam Development Corp. in charge of the development project.



During the audit, Lee apologized for appointing Yoo and other wrong people who were allegedly involved in corruption. Yet his apology sounded more like a lame excuse. He expressed regret for failing to return 100 percent of the profit from the project to the municipal government. However, he passed the blame on to the opposition PPP.



"It was the PPP's lawmakers  who shared the monetary gain in whatever form with the private company that took the development profits," Lee said. He was certainly referring to PPP Rep. Kwak Sang-do who resigned over his son's acceptance of 5 billion won ($4.24 million) in severance pay from Hwacheon Daeyu, the asset management firm in the project. There are allegations that the money was a bribe for his father who was a senior presidential secretary for civil affairs under the previous Park Geun-hye administration.



Lee spread the blame to the PPP, claiming opposition party members, including Kwak, took the development project profits as bribes from private companies carrying out the project. However, it is illogical for Lee to pass the buck to the opposition party because he was the top decision-maker who approved the project. He should admit his legal responsibility for causing damage worth 110 billion won to the municipality by refusing to include a clause in a development contract with the private firm calling for additional profits to be returned to city coffers.



Now the prosecution should double down on its efforts to reveal the truth regarding the public-private joint project, which has brought the private developer and its shareholders an estimated profit of 850 billion won, 1,000 times their initial investment into the project. Prosecutors must conduct a thorough investigation into the case to confirm allegations that Hwacheon Daeyu offered a huge sum in bribes to city officials, prosecutors, judges, lawmakers and other politicians in return for business favors. Most of all the probe should focus on how deeply Lee was implicated in the scandal.


A group of multiracial students taking part in Samsung Electronics Service's IT training program poses in this photo released by Samsung Electronics, Tuesday. The tech giant's repair services unit is supporting such students through various means, including IT classes, tuition subsidies and counselling sessions. Courtesy of Samsung Electronics Service
Korean space rocket Nuri is erected at a launch pad at the Naro Space Center in Goheung, South Jeolla Province, June 1. Courtesy of Korea Aerospace Research Institute



By Baek Byung-yeul



Korea is set to launch its domestically developed Nuri rocket, Oct. 21, which will be a historical step forward for the country to become a prominent player in the space industry.



The Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI), which will oversee the launch, said the 200-ton Nuri rocket will lift off from the Naro Space Center in Goheung, 473 kilometers south of Seoul, Thursday. It is expected to be launched at around 4 p.m., but KARI will announce the exact time in the morning, after considering weather conditions.



If the launch is successful, Korea will be the seventh country to launch a space rocket with domestically developed technology  following Russia, the United States, France, China, Japan and India  that has the independent capability of placing an over 1-ton satellite into orbit.





A single-stage launch vehicle, propelled by a 75-ton liquid-fueled engine is launched on a test flight from the Naro Space Center in November, 2018. Courtesy of Korea Aerospace Research Institute



Since 2010, Korea has invested around 2 trillion won ($1.7 billion) in the Nuri development project. As the October launch is a test, the rocket will carry a 1.5-ton dummy satellite into space to see if it can reach an orbital altitude of 700 kilometers, KARI said.



The Thursday launch could be delayed in case of bad weather or technological issues although there will remain a launch window from Oct. 22 to Oct. 28. The institute said weather conditions such as optimal temperature, humidity, wind and cloud cover, must be met for a successful launch. Regardless of the success or failure of the test, KARI's next trial launch is scheduled for May, next year.



"Currently only six countries have succeeded in developing medium and large engines with their own technology," Oh Seung-hyub, director of the Launcher Propulsion System Development Division of KARI, said during a media briefing, Oct. 12.



If Korea succeeds in the test launch, Korea could become a powerhouse in the space industry, Oh said.



"It is meaningful that KARI supported the creation of a space industry ecosystem with the launch vehicle and the strengthening of industrial capabilities while conducting the Nuri development project," he said.



"When it comes to a launch vehicle-related development project for instance, about 30 companies have joined the project. If we count companies associated with these 30 companies, around 500 people from 300 companies have taken part in the project," the director added. Hanwha Aerospace joined the project to develop a 75-ton engine for the space rocket.



At a time when even private companies are fiercely competing in the space race, Korea expects the Nuri will signal that the country is joining the industry with huge potential. Korea has been almost fully dependent on the U.S. for intelligence satellites, and so the rocket will provide the country an opportunity to build its own satellite-based navigation system and a sixth-generation communications network, and venture into other industrial sectors in the space industry.





A night view of the Naro Space Center in Goheung, 473 kilometers south of Seoul, where Korea's Nuri space rocket will be launched Oct. 21. Courtesy of Korea Aerospace Research Institute




By Kim Hyun-bin







Hyundai Glovis is preparing to strengthen its cooperation with Air Products, the world's largest industrial gas manufacturing company, to establish a liquefied hydrogen supply chain.







Hyundai Glovis and Air Products signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for this, Tuesday, through a video conference with Hyundai Glovis CEO Kim Jung-hoon, Air Products Asia President Wilbur Mok and Air Products Korea CEO Kim Kyo-young in attendance.







"There shall be a great synergy with Glovis, which has lots of experience in global gas transportation, and Air Products, which has lots of experience in gas manufacturing and sales technology," Kim Jung-hoon said. "We expect to concentrate and discuss a deeply developing liquefied and clean hydrogen supply chain."







Air Products & Chemicals is a global industrial gas company headquartered in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, with sales of $8.9 billion during the 2020 fiscal year.







As the world's largest hydrogen producer, with more than 60 years of hydrogen business experience and participation in more than 250 'hydrogen refueling station projects' in 20 different countries, Air Products provides overall systems throughout the hydrogen business logistic chain, from production, liquefaction, storage and transportation to charging and fueling systems, and related infrastructure.







Under the MOU, both companies will review various business projects, such as building up a domestic supply chain for liquid hydrogen, creating a domestic blue and green hydrogen supply network, participating in overseas blue and green hydrogen ocean shipping and the global joint development of overseas businesses.







To establish a domestic liquid hydrogen supply chain, Hyundai Glovis plans to secure stable supply sources for domestic distribution, while Air Products will investment and develop an operating plan for a liquid hydrogen plant.







The company plans to utilize its global network, along with the technology of Air Products, to target and discover new overseas business models.







Starting from the first half of 2021, Hyundai Glovis has introduced a dedicated hydrogen transportation "tube trailer," which can transport up to 340 kg of hydrogen at a time. Hyundai Glovis has allocated a dedicated vehicle at a hydrogen plant near Hyundai Steel's Dangjin steelworks to supply LPG to Hynet (Hydrogen Energy Network) charging stations.







The company plans to expand its hydrogen distribution business and infrastructure through 2030, including establishing nine hydrogen centers and supplying more than 360 charging stations nationwide.







"Our goal is to make a hydrogen-friendly ecosystem, so that anyone can use hydrogen anywhere and anytime, by establishing a hydrogen logistics infrastructure based on our strengths as a global SCM provider," a Hyundai Glovis official said.


People wait in the line to purchase Rolex watches at Shinsegae Department Store in downtown Seoul, Aug. 18. Korea Times file





By Kim Jae-heun







Korea's retail giants are accelerating measures to improve their business structures and cope with online shopping trends.







Lotte and Shinsegae are the two major firms battling for the title of the No. 1 retailer here. However, the pandemic has brought strong new rivals onto the scene: Coupang, Naver and Market Kurly. These three online retailers have grown explosively amid the social distancing measures that have forced people to stay home, boosting their sales through online shopping.







Lotte has decided simply to make its staff younger by hiring new workers and dismissing longtime employees. Lotte Department Store, in particular, is well-known for keeping its employees for years. About 2,000 of the company's 4,700 workers have worked there for over 20 years.







However, maintaining its staff for a long time without deliberately changing the organizational culture has led to the creation of a rigid work environment and a hierarchical corporate culture. Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin has been expressing concern about this issue and has ordered the company to develop a young and communicative work culture. At the same time, Lotte Group's retail unit, Lotte Shopping, is currently closing down its stores in order to reduce the rental costs for supermarkets and specific stores that have been suffering consecutive years of sales declines.







"We are opting to reform our company structure with the goal of rebuilding our workforce through new recruitment and preparing for future growth," a Lotte Shopping representative said.







The other retail giant, Shinsegae, is desperate to grow its e-commerce sector. It took over eBay Korea recently in order to beef up its online sector, together with its e-commerce firm, SSG.com.







Shinsegae needs to increase the number of its fulfillment centers in the country in order to increase its sales volume. It has already secured 3.5 trillion won ($2.96 billion) by selling real estate in Seoul, and it plans to reinvest the funds in eBay Korea and SSG.com.







Shinsegae is also preparing for the initial public offering of SSG.com. The preparations started in August and local securities firms estimate SSG.com's corporate value to be between 6 trillion won and 10 trillion won.







All of these efforts show how important Shinsegae is taking the transition of its offline businesses to online.







Its acquisition of eBay Korea is still pending approval by the Fair Trade Commission. E-mart is the largest retailer in the country, and it is operated by Shinsegae.







Meanwhile, Shinsegae recently dismissed the general manager of Shinsegae Department Store in Gangnam, over a water leakage incident on Oct. 12. A huge amount of water leaked out of the ceiling into the grocery area located on the building's basement floor.







The store showed the highest revenue among domestic department stores last year. Shinsegae's headquarters took instant action to punish the people in charge in order to protect its reputation.


















China Evergrande Group's deal to sell a 51 percent stake in its property services unit has been put on hold, two people with knowledge of the matter said, in a blow to the embattled developer's hopes of avoiding a potentially disruptive default.







Evergrande, teetering on the brink of collapse with more than $300 billion in debt, was in talks to sell the stake in Evergrande Property Services to smaller rival Hopson Development Holdings for around HK$20 billion ($2.6 billion), sources have previously told Reuters.







However, the deal has been put on hold as it has yet to win blessings from the Guangdong provincial government, which is overseeing Evergrande's restructuring, one of the people said on Tuesday.







It's not immediately clear why the provincial government has not approved the transaction. Some offshore creditors of Evergrande also opposed the deal, the person added.







When contacted, a Hopson representative asked Reuters to await an announcement. Evergrande and the Guangdong provincial government did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.







The sources declined to be named as they were not authorised to speak to the media. (Reuters)






People gather outside Insein Prison as Myanmar's military government releases prisoners including people that protested against the military coup, Yangon, Oct. 18. Reuters-Yonhap



Myanmar's military government has freed hundreds of political prisoners from the notorious Insein prison, including Aung San Suu Kyi's party spokesman and a famous comedian Zarganar, local media reported.



Minutes after military ruler Min Aung Hlaing's speech on Monday, state television announced more than 5,600 people arrested or wanted over their roles in anti-coup protests would be freed in an amnesty on humanitarian grounds.



The release was described by some activists as a ploy by the ruling military to try to rebuild its international reputation after the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) took the rare step of excluding the junta chief from its summit.



U.N. Special Rapporteur Tom Andrews on Twitter welcomed the release but said it was "outrageous" that they were detained in the first place.



"The junta is releasing political prisoners in Myanmar not because of a change of heart, but because of pressure," he said.



The junta has released prisoners several times since the February coup.





Family members wait for prisoners outside Insein Prison, Yangon, Oct. 18. AP-Yonhap



ASEAN decided to invite a non-political representative to its Oct. 26-28 summit, in an unprecedented snub to the military leaders behind the coup against Aung San Suu Kyi's elected government.



"They came to me today and said they will take me home, that's all," Monywa Aung Shin, a spokesman for Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) party, told local media Democratic Voice of Burma late on Monday on his way home from prison.



Monywa Aung Shin was arrested on February 1 and had spent eight months in prison.



Photos and videos posted on social media showed detainees reunited with weeping family members.



Other images showed a succession of buses leaving the rear entrance of the jail, with passengers leaning from windows and waving at crowds gathered outside.





A mother reacts after her daughter, left, was released from Insein Prison, Yangon, Oct. 18. AP-Yonhap
Released detainee Tu Tu Tha (L), 49, a writer and journalist, greets with her friend outside Insein prison in Yangon, Myanmar, 19 October 2021. Myanmar's junta chief Min Aung Haling announced the release of over 5,000 people who participated in anti-coup protests. EPA-Yonhap



Newly released anti-coup protesters in Myanmar were reunited with their families outside a Yangon prison Tuesday in tearful scenes on the second day of a junta amnesty as international pressure mounts on the regime.



The Southeast Asian country has been in chaos since a coup in February, with more than 1,100 civilians killed in a bloody crackdown on dissent and more than 8,000 arrested, according to a local monitoring group.



On Monday, the military said it would free more than 5,000 people to mark the three-day Buddhist Thadingyut festival, sending anxious families rushing to prisons, joyful at the prospect of reunions after months apart.



"I've missed you so much," a mother wept over her newly released son, as he cradled his young child. "I'm so proud of you."



She was among hundreds who had gathered again Tuesday morning outside the colonial-era Insein prison in Yangon, some carrying flowers and placards bearing the names of their relatives.



Buses pulled out, with former detainees inside giving the thumbs up gesture through the windows to the cheering crowd, some of whom flashed the three-fingered salute  a sign adopted by the democracy movement.



Than Toe Aung Was  imprisoned for around six months  was greeted by his jubilant sister outside.



"I would not say why I was arrested," he said, urging people to "move forward for the future".



"I'm happy for my release. But I will have to try for those who are not released," he added, flashing the crowd a three-fingered salute.



Meanwhile, Nwet Nwet San said he was hoping his son, a soldier who had run away from the army, would be freed.



"He's been in prison for eight months," he told AFP, adding that although he had heard it was mostly protesters being released, others would be set free too.



"That's why I'm waiting."



'Cynical' move



The amnesty was "a tactical response to a pretty hostile domestic and international environment," Richard Horsey of the International Crisis Group told AFP.



"These kinds of cynical moves may have worked 20 years ago... but it will do nothing to improve the standing of this regime."



Myanmar authorities released more than 2,000 anti-coup protesters from prisons across the country in June, including journalists critical of the military government.



Those still in custody include the American journalist Danny Fenster, who has been held since being arrested on May 24.



The amnesty over Thadingyut comes with the military under increasing pressure to engage with its opponents, nearly nine months after seizing power.



On Friday, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) decided to exclude junta leader Min Aung Hlaing from an upcoming summit of the 10-country bloc over doubts about his commitment to defusing the bloody crisis.



Often criticized as toothless, ASEAN took a stand after the government rebuffed requests for a special envoy to meet "all stakeholders" in Myanmar  a phrase seen to include ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi.



The coup snuffed out the country's short-lived experiment with democracy and the 76-year-old Suu Kyi now faces a raft of charges in a junta court that could see her jailed for decades.



Last week, her chief lawyer said he had been banned by the military from speaking to journalists, diplomats or international organizations.



The other lawyers on her legal team also face a similar ban  effectively muzzling the key sources of information on court proceedings, from which journalists are barred.



Nobel laureate Suu Kyi, who has spent much of her life resisting Myanmar's generals, is scheduled to testify in court for the first time later this month. (AFP)




The FarmHouse Fraternity house on Monday, Oct. 18, 2021, at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, Kentucky. Photo by Michael Clubb | Staff
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On Friday 28 May, forty thousand people gathered on Preseren Square in Ljubljana to protest against the reactionary policies of Janez Jansa. In a way, the protest is a culmination of social movements that began even before Jansas round of austerity measures in Slovenia. Trade unions; civic, student and academic organisations; as well as the Levica (Left) party, took part in the protests.

In form, these were civil protests that erupted in the wake of the failure of Jansa's government in managing the coronavirus epidemic, as well as against measures taken by his government at the cost of the working class, such as the attempts to privatise water supplies, cut social programs and restrict the rights of foreign nationals.

At a glance, the protesters seemed to have come from various political tendencies. The gathered masses had a heterogenous class composition. We can certainly say though, that the movement reflects the intensification of class struggle in Slovenia, evidenced by the numbers gathered and the demands raised for the improvement of livelihoods of students and workers, formulated as clear class demands but intermixed with demands for new elections and for the rule of law.

These protests are an indication of changed social circumstances and of emerging class struggle in Slovenia. These processes are mostly taking place beneath the surface of society, conditioned by the economic crisis that has intensified with the pandemic and the inability of the ruling class to handle it. The pressure from below has already yielded results. The working class of Slovenia won one small victory by forcing the government to give up its intention to privatise the water supply and to schedule a referendum on the issue for 11 July.

The way in which Levica was welcomed at the protest also indicated the manner in which the class struggle is intensifying. When the party appeared with its flags, marching in an organised manner, the demonstrators greeted it with applause. The climate is clearly once more changing in Slovenia, after the rise of the right wing at the last elections. It was apparent that the present protesters recognised Levica as a prominent opponent of Janez Jansa and as a potential parliamentary force capable of taking society in another direction.

The key difference between this protest and other social movements that we have seen in earlier years in former Yugoslavia, is the presence of trade unions and the connections that they have with the student and leftist organisations. The presence of the organised working class makes these protests a more developed form of class struggle, although it as yet retains the outward form of a movement of civil society. At the protests, Janez Jansa was presented not only as a product of the corruption and incompetence of the previous government, but  in the words of speakers at the Ljubljana rally  as a symbol of the political system of the past thirty years.

The water referendum and Janez Jansa

The referendum on the amendment of the Waters Act, held on 11 July, showed that the process of political radicalisation has resumed in Slovenia. Although the turnout was only 45.99%, 86.58% (674,114 voters) voted against the amendments, while 13.42% voted in favour. These figures testify to the fact that the class struggle has manifested itself over an issue of real significance to the working class in Slovenia. On the other hand, the referendums results also exposed the instability of the government of Janez Jansa, as well as the fact that his rule is unaccompanied by mass support. He embodies the general political instability of Slovenia. The outcome of the referendum represents a serious victory for the working class, forcing the government to halt the process of water privatisation at a time of intense political crisis in Slovenia.

Unlike Orban or Trump, Janez Jansa does not enjoy significant support in Slovenian society / Image: EPP, Wikimedia Commons

These figures are also indicative of large discrepancy in Slovenian society. The gap between the ruling policies, and the absence of support from below clearly show that Jansa as a phenomenon occupies a much weaker position than Orban, or Trump  two of the politicians with whom he is most often compared. Unlike Orban or Trump, Jansa does not enjoy significant support in Slovenian society. He did not come to power by winning a majority in the elections, but grabbed the prime ministers seat through bureaucratic calculations and negotiations on account of the impossibility of forming a clear majority government after the last elections. While Trump was a figure that the American ruling class eventually turned against, Jansa is a man that the Slovenian ruling class has traditionally placed its faith in to stabilise political crises that could easily be turned against it. Jansa is a proven figure from the process of the restoration of capitalism in Slovenia as well as in former Yugoslavia. He is a transitional politician who has completely fulfilled his tasks, and the ruling class recognises him as a faithful ally.

We can also see Jansas function in Slovenian society and his position as someone the ruling class can count upon in the way he has approached Levica. In Jansa's public discourse, Levica is presented as the greatest danger to Slovenian society, despite its relatively small influence in parliament. These attempts to turn Levica into a bogeyman in the media are an attempt on Jansas part to mobilise the most conservative parts of society through anti-communist ideology. But they also reflect the attitude of the ruling class, which regards Levica as a danger to its rule. It is worth noting that one of the first political initiatives that Jansa launched at the Working Group for Terrorism of the Council of the EU, during Slovenias presidency of the European Union, was a request to de facto criminalise left-wing organisations. On 7 July, the EU Council discussed the alleged problems of the supposed twin processes of radicalisation on the left and the right and the need for Europe-wide action against leftist and anarchist violence and terrorism, laying the foundations for broader actions against left-wing organisations.

This tells us one important thing: Jansa sees his biggest opponent in left-wing organisations and he wants them dealt with by any possible means. This does not mean that left-wing organisations have become a threat to capitalism in Slovenia, but that the ruling class recognises the developments in the situation and wishes to create mechanisms and a legal framework that would stem further radicalisation of the working class in the future. This is not an insignificant matter. It shows that class struggle is on the rise in Slovenia and that the ruling class is preparing its barricades.

Considering how the referendum demonstrated that only 13.42% of the population give their complete support to Jansa, this necessarily poses the question of who could form a government in the next elections? It is quite clear that Jansa will not have enough votes to impose himself as prime minister. But the question of political perspectives for Marxists is not limited to formal parliamentary democracy. In the given conditions of instability and crisis of the capitalist system and developing class struggle, the question arises of the leadership of the working class.

A chance for Levica?

Paradoxically, by trying to mobilise his most loyal voters by proclaiming the threat of Marxism, Janez Jansa has only contributed to the growing popularity of Levica and its importance in the eyes of the workers and the youth. If Levica is Jansas biggest enemy, then I guess they must be doing something good, is the thinking of many in the most combative layer of Slovenian society. Levica has thus entered the phase of being put to the test by the working class. The conditions that are developing in Slovenia will inevitably bring Levica to a crossroad. The party will have to choose its path: either it will place itself at the service of the class struggle and open itself up to the movements from below, or else it will have to kneel before capital, continuing to reduce politics to the level of parliamentary calculations.

The key task in front of Levica is to integrate with the labour movement and the working class  to become a genuine working-class organisation by connecting with the unions and the most militant workers / Image: MZaplotnik, Wikimedia Commons

How far Levica will succeed in becoming a representative of the exploited strata of society depends on how it presents itself to the working class and with what programme. The key task it must perform is to integrate with the labour movement and the working class  to become a genuine working-class organisation by connecting with the unions and the most militant workers. If Levica fails to turn fully towards the working class, if it fails to place a perspective of workers power on the agenda  that is, if it continues to operate on the level of mere electoralism and purely reformist demands that will be difficult to impose on the ruling class in the midst of the capitalist crisis  the same fate will await it as befell SYRIZA. The only other choice for Levica would be to turn sharply towards the working class and integrate it into the party through democratic mechanisms. Its further development and role in the upcoming events depends on whether it succeeds in performing this task.

Slovenia has been in a deep political crisis for many years, with periodic mobilisations of the working class and the youth on the streets. After everything that has happened in the latest phase of Jansas premiership, as well as the open offensive of the ruling class against the living standards of the majority, this country is entering a new round of sharpening class struggle. In Slovenia, political processes and crises are manifested along much clearer class lines than in the other countries of former Yugoslavia. We know from experience that a shift in class struggle in one country in the Balkans can have a big impact on the entire region. Levica itself was formed in the context of the general crisis of capitalism in the region in 2008.

Being forced to shoulder the burden of the crisis lead the Greek working class to put SYRIZA in power. This election victory in turn inspired left-wingers in a number of countries, including Slovenia. It was the processes in Greece that were the main inspiration for the founding of the Initiative for Democratic Socialism (one of the founding groups of what is today called Levica). The intensification of the class struggle in Greece has affected the entire Balkans region, and for some time we have seen growing radicalisation of the youth and the working class in the region, as well as the turn of the general political climate to the left. We know that most of the political crises in the Balkans have not yet been resolved. After the defeat of SYRIZA, the situation in Greece remains very unstable. In Macedonia and Bosnia, after the catastrophic management of the pandemic by their respective governments, anger among the population is boiling. In Serbia, which seemingly coped well with the pandemic, the autocratic government of Aleksandar Vucic is facing frequent mobilisations on the streets. In Kosovo, popular discontent was expressed through Vetevendosjes electoral victory on the basis of a programme of social reforms.

The development of events in Slovenia is therefore of crucial importance for Yugoslav communists. The conflict between the Slovenian working class and the reactionary government of Janez Jansa is evidence of a process which will drive events in all the surrounding countries. Regardless of its outward expression, we can plainly state that the escalation of the class struggle in the Balkans is on the order of the day. As a result of the defeat of the working class at the end of the 1980s, and the disintegration of the SFRY, over the past three decades we have become accustomed to the absence of a developed mass workers movement in our countries. But after the global crisis of capitalism in 2008 and the coronavirus pandemic, completely new circumstances have arisen. As we have said, developments will inevitably bring the working class onto the political arena in our countries. Our analysis has allowed us to see these processes in their very beginnings as a necessity of the social contradictions ingrained in capitalism. This same method helps us to see below the surface of events, beyond formal parliamentary policy, and to identify the conditions that have matured for the development of the labour movement in Slovenia at a much higher level of organisation.

Whether Levica will succeed in connecting with the working class and create a new workers movement in the course of this process depends on a number of objective and subjective factors, but it is important to note that it has been given a historical opportunity to do so. One thing is certain, the class struggle in Slovenia will flare up for some time to come and will create the potential for a historic breakthrough. We invite you to join the International Marxist Tendency with the aim of making the most of this potential and creating a new Marxist force in Slovenia.
A rush to transition to renewables at Africas own expense, with pressure to leave valuable oil and gas in the ground and less financial support to the companies that would extract it.

Make no mistake, we are going to Glasgow and will be proudly supporting the African energy sector and demand a just transition. We just got our winter jackets and gloves.

Despite all signs pointing to a warming planet, Europeans are bracing for the crushing effect a colder-than-normal winter could have on their pocketbooks. This year, theyve faced one natural gas price shock after another, with continental gas prices reaching multi-level highs and futures trading at 73.150 ($85.69) per megawatt-hour near the end of September.

If the winter months bring anything but the mildest of temperatures, Europeans are likely to be struggling to pay their bills or left shivering in the dark.

Theres no single reason for the substantial rise in natural gas prices. Instead, the upswing reflects the confluence of climate change consciousness, reduced investment in fossil fuels, and mankinds inability to control the weather. As Europe is discovering, a funny thing can happen on the way to well-intentioned plans for net-zero emissions. When an unseasonably cold winter depletes already tight gas supplies and is followed by a summer when there isnt much wind to convert to electricity, the only choice is to reconsider using coal.

Yes, this is what a rushed transition to renewables can bring  a return to the worlds most carbon-intensive fuel.

Yet the prospect of burning coal this winter hasnt stopped Europe from trying to force its climate change agenda onto Africa. Somehow, Europe expects Africa, which produces the tiniest fraction of the worlds greenhouse gas emissions, to accept an equal burden in eliminating them, even though that means abandoning the economic potential of its vast hydrocarbon resources.

Oh, and they want Africa to get on the renewables bandwagon now.

At the same time, Europe itself takes a giant leap backward.

What Europe forgets is that for the energy transition to be just, Africa has to first overcome significant hurdles, including those the African Energy Chamber outlines in its 2022 Africa Energy Outlook, (The State of African Energy 2022) to be released this month and available at the African Energy Week in Cape Town, South Africa.

Here are some of the issues the report includes.

The effect of COVID-19 on African-energy development: Africa is still reeling from the economic hardships brought on by COVID-19. While the rest of the worlds GDP has largely returned to pre-pandemic levels, sub-Saharan Africas recovery is expected to take until 2023.

The difference may lie in how hard the effects of the pandemic hit Africas oil-exporting countries. That could best be described as delivering a one-two punch.

Together, the continents top four oil exporters  Nigeria, Libya, Angola, and Algeria  produce more than 4.5 million barrels of oil per day, with much of it imported by the EU and Asia. (Yes, the irony that Europe is trying to cut off its own energy source is wasted on no one.) For these nations, and a handful of others that have entered the oil production market more recently, oil revenues provide a significant or growing contribution to government treasuries; in some cases, like Nigeria, the economy centers on oil exports, which represent as much as 70% of government revenue.

As energy demand dropped and prices bottomed out amid lockdowns, oil revenues dropped precipitously, making it more difficult for oil-producing nations to keep government-funded programs going and even to respond to the pandemic. Nigeria and Angola cut production by as much as 30% compared to 2019. As the 2022 African Energy Chamber Outlook notes, COVID-19 did what years of civil war in Angola could not, bringing offshore drilling to a standstill and reducing the overall number of wells drilled to half what it was in 2014.

At the same time, low prices forced international E&P companies operating in Africa to slash their development budgets and delay final investment and project sanctioning decisions. That alone is estimated to have eliminated as much as USD150 billion of exploration and development expenditure in Africa between 2020 and 2025, according to the 2022 Energy Outlook.

Fortunately, recovery has already begun as oil prices have inched up. Activity is on the rise: Nigeria is expected to launch more than 25 new projects by 2026; the Libyan government has greenlighted $1.6 billion for oilfield development and infrastructure maintenance; Angola is incentivizing exploration; and the government of Algeria is working on creating a more favorable environment to reverse the decline in upstream investment by international energy companies.

This is all great news arising out of the dark days of the pandemic. But theres a very real risk that pressure from climate activists and ESG investors could dampen expansion in the region and result in a serious and prolonged financial setback for oil-producing Africa.

Dangerous Forex Regulation in the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC).

While we confront market challenges, we must also confront regulatory issues that will hold us back. There is also another risk led by the Bank of Central African States BEAC and the IMF on their anti-investment Forex regulation that will essentially stop any of the international energy companies from investing in the region and put ongoing projects at risk.

Countries like Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon, Congo, Chad and CAR must repeal this dangerous regulation as its no longer required and will cripple the energy sector in the region, kill investment, create unemployment and reduce government revenues. They should consider having new hydrocarbon regulations to individually exempt energy companies and service companies. Investors are seating on the sidelines or going to other African regions and avoiding CEMAC given the uncertainty created by the IMF and BEAC.

Energy companies operating in the Forex markets transact internationally and want cash to move freely and quickly without round-tripping; material transactional costs and delays that will only impact investment. BEAC has given no assurances it will not mess up and their track record predicts, they will mess up for sure. What is troubling for investors considering energy projects in CEMAC is that their investment will become more expensive, with additional material transactional risks. There is no doubt the CEMAC region will become less competitive, and all data shows to that except those of bureaucrats playing politics with the lives of Africans.

This BEAC and IMF driven regulation will put a nail to fossil fuel investment and increase energy poverty at a time when many want to see increased investment in energy. In the end the countries in the regions will be forced to compensate energy companies at a times when they have no funds.

The threat of increased energy poverty for Africans

The fact that Africa is struggling more than the West to recover from the pandemic exposes the worlds widening wealth gap. Theres no doubt that many African nations lack the economic cushioning to bounce back easily or quickly.

Experts have long believed that one way to ramp up the economies of impoverished nations is by providing electricity. Yet the pandemic not only erased the progress many African nations had made toward reliable electrification, but it also increased the number of people without access to electricity. As unemployment rose during 2020, even the most basic services became unaffordable to many.

Theres no better example of how poverty and energy poverty are intertwined.

I dont mean to suggest that there hasnt been progress in the electrification of Africa of late.

The percentage of sub-Saharan Africans with access to electricity has indeed risen in recent years  the figure currently stands at 46%, up from 33% a decade ago. Still, Africa lags the worldwide average of 90% by a considerable margin. If the percentages seem bad, the raw numbers are astonishing: The United Nations estimates that 97 million people living in Africas urban areas dont have access to electricity; in rural areas, the population without electricity is more than four times that, at 471 million.

Considering how Africas population is expected to double by 2050, though, current efforts are not enough to reach full electrification. The 2022 Energy Outlook says that current electrification rates will have to be tripled, connecting 60 million people each year to reach a goal of universal access by 2030.

But if Africa is pressured to meet external climate change timetables, cant use its oil and gas resources domestically, and has to switch to renewables before its ready, how will that happen? As of today, at least, that kind of energy transition will create an undue financial burden on Africa, on top of its already significant economic woes. Matters are made even worse by the fact that sub-Saharan nations arent receiving their fair share of international financing for renewable energy, and that financial flows to the least-developed countries were actually lower in 2018 than they were a year earlier. In fact, the Brookings Institute reports, 46 of the least-developed countries combined together received only 20 percent of commitments.

So, there you have it. A rush to transition to renewables at Africas own expense, with pressure to leave valuable oil and gas in the ground and less financial support to the companies that would extract it.

Its like a cold winter in Europe followed by still winds: economically impossible to deal with and likely to leave people in the dark.

By NJ Ayuk

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Manipur police celebrates 130th Raising Day

Correspondent IMPHAL, Oct 19 | Publish Date: 10/19/2021 11:54:45 AM IST

Manipur police celebrated its 130th raising day on Tuesday at the parade ground of 1st Battalion Manipur Rifles in Imphal with state chief minister N Biren Singh as chief guest of the function. Cabinet ministers, MLAs, DGP and other top police officials attended the function.

On the occasion, the chief minister took salute from 16 march-past contingents of the police department. Addressing the occasion, N Biren Singh extended his best wishes to officials of Manipur police department and appreciated their dedicated and disciplined services towards maintaining law and order and welfare of the public at large. He said all sections of people should respect and honour police personnel as the latter had always been rendering services in every circumstance.

Stating that law and order of the state had considerably improved with efficient functioning of the police department, he added that the public could now feel free and safe while moving anywhere across the state. He acknowledged the role of police in successful implementation of War on drugs campaign of the state government and said that the Narcotics and Affairs of Border (NAB) of state police had been functioning to completely root out the drug menace in the state.

The government wouldnt compromise on any anti-national elements which hinder development of the state and the government would take all necessary actions according to the law of the land, he declared.

Singh informed that the construction of Manipur Police Memorial Park had already started at 1st Battalion Manipur Rifles complex to honour the supreme sacrifices of state police, was nearing completion. The same would be inaugurated soon by the Prime Minister or Union home minister on their likely visit to the state, he added.

The chief minister also appreciated the contribution made by police personnel during the governments fight against COVID-19 and any other crucial time.

In his speech on the occasion, Director General of Police, LM Khaute stated that Manipur police had always played a commendable role in maintaining law and order in the state.

He claimed that Manipur police along with Indian Army and paramilitary forces had conducted many counter insurgency operations and area domination and had helped bring certain members of underground organizations into the national mainstream.

The security environment of the state had now improved considerably, he said, adding that that 263 extremist had been arrested and 13 had been neutralized, arms and ammunition consisting of 149 weapons, 2,783 assault ammunitions, 75 hand grenades, 398 detonators, 3 kg explosive substances and other explosive materials among others were recovered. Apart from this, large amount of drugs had also been captured consisting of 36 kg of heroine, 841 kg of ganja, 479 kg of opium, 272 kg of brown sugar, around 9 lakh WY tablets, 18,710 SP capsules and more than 12,000 bottles of cough syrup among others, he claimed.

He also appreciated the chief minister for his guidance and support to the police department which had made certain achievements of the department possible.

On the occasion, the chief minister distributed awards, trophies and commendations to police officers as well as DGP Commendation Roll and Disc for different units.

The chief minister also released a souvenir highlighting the various achievements of the Manipur police department in the last one year.
Regional

Tripura CM urges Bangladesh government to protect minorities

Agartala/Guwahati, Oct 19 (IANS) | Publish Date: 10/19/2021 11:55:12 AM IST

Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb on Tuesday urged the Bangladesh government to protect the lives, properties and religious places of the minorities in that country.

While addressing the media, the Chief Minister said that it seems like the fundamentalist forces as part of their pre-planned conspiracies, have attacked the minorities and vandalised the idols and pandals of Durga Puja festivities, which ended last week.

The recent incidents are very shameful. I trust the Bangladesh administration. They will deal with the situation effectively. The friendship between India and Bangladesh is very old. We should keep it up. Fundamentalist or any other forces should not be allowed to destroy these relations, he said.

Deb spoke to the Indian High Commissioner in Bangladesh, Vikram K. Doraiswami, last week.

Talking about their conversation, a source close to the CM told IANS, Doraiswami informed Deb that he and other Indian officials in various diplomatic missions in Bangladesh have visited different places to know the details of the incidents at the ground level.

Many other organisations, intellectuals, political parties and NGOs in Assam and Tripura have condemned and organised protest rallies against the violent incidents in Bangladesh.

Different organisations and intellectuals met Bangladesh Assistant High Commissioners in Agartala and Guwahati and urged them to request their government to ensure action against those who attacked the minorities, vandalised Durga Puja pandals and properties belonging to the non-Muslim families.

As per media reports, the mob violence erupted in Comilla earlier last week, after unconfirmed posts went viral on social media about the alleged desecration of the Quran at a Durga Puja venue, following which Hindu temples were vandalised.

A large number of people have been detained in Chandpur, Chittagong and other places in connection with the cases filed over the attacks on Durga Puja pandals and clashes between the police and a mob in Chandpurs Hajiganj sub-district which left four persons dead.

Incidents of violence were also reported from Hajiganj, Chandpur, Noakhali, Coxs Bazaar, Chattogram, Chapainawabganj, Pabna, Moulvibazara, Kurigram and several other places.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has promised strong action against those involved in provoking communal disturbances by spreading fake photos of the Quran being placed at the feet of a Hindu deity at a Comilla temple during Durga Puja.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-10-18 19:53:26|Editor: huaxia

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An ambulance is about to transfer a man injured in a terrorist attack to Iran for medical treatment, in Kandahar city, southern Afghanistan, Oct. 18, 2021. Scores of families affected by latest terrorist attacks in two Afghan provinces have received humanitarian aid provided by Iran, local officials confirmed on Monday. (Photo by Arghand/Xinhua)

KABUL, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- Scores of families affected by latest terrorist attacks in two Afghan provinces have received humanitarian aid provided by Iran, local officials confirmed on Monday.

At least 93 worshippers have been killed and more than 230 people wounded in suicide bomb attacks against two Shiite Muslims mosques during Friday prayers in northern Kunduz and southern Kandahar provinces earlier this month.

In northern Kunduz province, 240 families of victims were provided by food and non-food items on Monday morning, Matiullah Rohani, director of provincial information and culture directorate, told Xinhua.

The assistance were dispatched to Kunduz airport a couple of days ago by planes, the official said.

Earlier on Monday, two planes transported 35 tons of relief goods consignment, including 10 tons of medicines, from Iran to Kandahar International Airport, according to Hafiz Abdul Hai, head of provincial health directorate.

A total of 30 patients, who sustained serious wounds, will be shifted to Iran from a regional hospital in Kandahar city, capital of Kandahar, the official noted.

The affiliates of Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility for the deadly explosions that occurred on Oct. 15 and Oct. 8 in Afghanistan. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-10-19 03:03:20|Editor: huaxia

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This file photo taken on Sept. 26, 2003 shows US Secretary of State Colin Powell addressing the media after the Mideast Quartet meeting of the United Nations, the United States, Russia and the European Union in New York. (Xinhua Photo/Peng Zhangqing)

Colin Powell was best known and most controversial when he served as secretary of state under former President George W. Bush between January 2001 and January 2005, regarding his push for the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 under the excuse that the Middle Eastern country possesses weapons of mass destruction, which was never proven.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- Colin Powell, a former and the first African-American secretary of state, has died at 84 of COVID-19 complications, his family said Monday.

Powell's family said in a statement on Facebook that Powell, who also served as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff before his role as the top U.S. diplomat, died Monday morning despite being fully vaccinated.

A professional soldier, Powell became the first African-American national security advisor during the end of Ronald Reagan's presidency and the youngest and first African-American chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under former President George H. W. Bush.

Yet he was best known and most controversial when he served as secretary of state under former President George W. Bush between January 2001 and January 2005, regarding his push for the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 under the excuse that the Middle Eastern country possesses weapons of mass destruction, which was never proven.

In an address to the United Nations (UN) in February 2003, Powell presented what the U.S. intelligence community claimed was proof that Iraq had cheated on inspectors and hidden the WMDs.

"There can be no doubt," Powell said then, "that (then Iraqi President) Saddam Hussein has biological weapons and the capability to rapidly produce more, many more."

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell (L) listens at the opening of the Special ASEAN Leaders' Meeting on Aftermath Quake and Tsunami Summit at the Jakarta Convention Centre in Jakarta, capital of Indonesia, Jan. 6, 2005. (Xinhua Photo/Yao Dawei)

The United States launched a war against Iraq six weeks after Powell's speech, and eventually toppled Hussein's government.

Such WMDs, it turned out, were never found in Iraq, and a report published in 2005 by a presidential commission said the intelligence community's assessment that Iraq had WMD capabilities before the U.S. invasion was "dead wrong."

"This was a major intelligence failure," said the Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the United States Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction in the report.

In September 2005, Powell, who had stepped down from the post of secretary of state, confessed in a television interview that his 2003 UN speech was a "blot" on his record that would never go away.

Born in New York City to Jamaican immigrants, Powell is survived by his wife and three children. 
Source: Xinhua| 2021-10-19 09:48:51|Editor: huaxia

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GENEVA, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- China has made great contributions to the world in the public health domain, Ren Minghui, assistant director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO), has said.

"Many of China's early experiences in public health, for example the barefoot doctors and primary healthcare policies and plannings, have been recognized by the World Health Organization as well as the international community," said Ren, the WHO's assistant director-general for universal health coverage and communicable and noncommunicable diseases, in a recent interview with Xinhua.

"China's contributions in traditional medicine have also been accepted by the WHO and many more countries, and have been incorporated into the WHO strategies, with more and more countries actively considering incorporating them into their formal health service systems," he said.

He added that China's work in prevention and control of infectious diseases such as polio, malaria, lymphatic filariasis, trachoma, etc., has reached the goals of the WHO's strategic plan for the elimination or eradication of infectious diseases.

China and other countries, Ren said, are facing many common public health problems, such as unbalanced distribution of health resources, insufficient technical personnel, and lack of medicine and healthcare, while China is gradually solving these problems through efforts, and its successful experience can be taken as a reference for other countries.

Describing China's cooperation with the WHO as mutually beneficial, he said: "On one hand, China is sharing experience, technology and funding in its cooperation with the WHO, which is conducive to China's improvement and adjustment of disease prevention and control strategies as well as the promotion of domestic public health; on the other hand, China's practice, experiences and technologies are also being recognized, learned, and promoted by the WHO and the international community."

On the future prospects of cooperation between China and the WHO, Ren believes that the areas of cooperation between the two sides are expanding.

"From the field of primary health care in the past, to the prevention and control of some major infectious diseases, China still has many technologies or programs that can provide lessons for other countries," he said.

"In particular, China has recently achieved the goal of eliminating malaria, which has been highly praised by the international community. In the area of noncommunicable diseases, such as diabetes, hypertension, and cancer control, the two sides need to learn from each other," he said.

Noting that this year marks the 50th anniversary of the restoration of China's lawful seat in the United Nations (UN), Ren said China has become a very important member in the UN and the international community as a whole.

"I have attended the UN General Assembly, the World Health Assembly and some other technical committees many times. China's active participation are seen more often, and there are increasing numbers of Chinese delegates," he added.

China, a firm believer in multilateralism and a strong supporter of the future development of the United Nations, "will certainly play a more active role in the future multilateral international organizations," Ren said. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-10-19 21:16:21|Editor: huaxia

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Li Zhanshu, chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, presides over the first plenary meeting of the 31st session of the 13th NPC Standing Committee in Beijing, capital of China, Oct. 19, 2021. (Xinhua/Shen Hong)

BEIJING, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- The Standing Committee of the 13th National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature, started its 31st session Tuesday in Beijing.

Li Zhanshu, chairman of the NPC Standing Committee, presided over the session's first plenary meeting.

Lawmakers reviewed draft laws on family education promotion and land borders. They also reviewed a draft amendment to the Audit Law.

In reports submitted to the session, the NPC Constitution and Law Committee said the three drafts are mature enough and suggested them be passed at the session.

The NPC Constitution and Law Committee also submitted to the session draft laws on wetlands protection and futures. Both of the drafts returned to the legislature for a second reading.

Lawmakers deliberated for the first time a draft law on anti-telecom fraud, a draft amendment to the Organic Law of the Local People's Congresses and Local People's Governments, draft revisions to the Animal Husbandry Law and the Law on Physical Culture and Sports, a draft amendment to the Anti-monopoly Law, a draft revision to the Law on Quality and Safety of Agricultural Products, and a draft amendment to the Civil Procedure Law.

The session reviewed a draft decision on authorizing the State Council to temporarily adjust the application of certain provisions of the Metrology Law in the pilot cities of business environment innovation, and a draft decision to temporarily adjust the application of relevant statutory provisions during the reform of the national defense mobilization system.

Lawmakers also deliberated legislative proposals on ratifying an extradition treaty between China and Chile and ratifying the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons who Are Blind, Visually Impaired, or Otherwise Print Disabled, among other bills. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-10-19 18:12:11|Editor: huaxia

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KAMPALA, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- Uganda's ministry of disaster preparedness on Tuesday said over one million people in the country have been affected by the ongoing heavy rains.

Esther Anyakun, minister of state of relief, disaster preparedness and refugees told reporters that the rains characterized with violent windstorms, hailstones and lightning have destroyed crops, human and animal lives lost and displaced thousands of people.

Anyakun said rivers and lakes have busted their banks causing flooding and displacement of communities. She said flooding in low lands and landslides in mountainous areas are causing a major security risk amidst deteriorating hygiene and sanitation.

Affected communities are now sleeping in churches, schools and other public places. Some have relocated to their relatives in safer zones, according to the ministry.

The weather department said the rains in most parts of the country are expected to peak during this month and then subside.

The minister said the government is working with local authorities to manage and provide the affected communities with initial coping mechanisms.

She said the government with support from partners is currently distributing food and non-food relief items to the affected communities.

She appealed to communities to remain alert and take early action in response to the early warning messages.

"Communities living in high-risk areas such as mountainous and flood-prone are advised to move away from the steep slopes of the mountains, go and stay with host families in safer zones," the minister said. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-10-19 20:09:49|Editor: huaxia

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LAGOS, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- One person was killed and two others injured after a building collapsed on Monday night in Lagos, Nigeria's economic hub, local authorities said on Tuesday.

The incident happened at around 10 pm local time on Monday in Lagos's crowded Ikorodu area, said Ibrahim Farinloye, an official with the national emergency management agency, who confirmed the accident in a statement.

"So far, two people have been rescued alive with injuries and one body has been recovered," Farinloye said, without revealing the cause of the collapse.

He said the emergency phase of search and rescue has ended with no additional bodies recovered.

According to the official, residents within the area mobilized themselves to carry out initial rescue activities immediately after the incident occurred.

Residents living in the area were quoted by local media as saying the building was an abandoned one, and its owner had asked the occupants to leave, but those staying there refused to leave. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-10-19 21:08:07|Editor: huaxia

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A student enters an office building at Addis Ababa University in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on Oct. 14, 2021. Ethiopia's Addis Ababa University (AAU) announced that it has finalized preparations to launch its first-ever Master of Arts (MA) program in the Chinese language in Ethiopia. (Xinhua/Michael Tewelde)

ADDIS ABABA, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- Ethiopia's Addis Ababa University (AAU) announced that it has finalized preparations to launch its first-ever Master of Arts (MA) program in the Chinese language in Ethiopia.

The Master of Teaching Chinese to Speakers of Other Languages (MTCSOL), also the first MA program in the Chinese language in the East African country, will be offered by the AAU with the help of the Confucius Institute at the AAU.

Emebet Mulugeta, Academic Vice President of AAU, said that commencing the MTCSOL would inject much-needed momentum in promoting the Chinese language in Ethiopia and boost the people-to-people ties among the two countries.

"We really appreciated and supported the program, and it was in a very short period of time that the evaluation assessment was done and approved by the senate, which is the highest decision-making body of the university," Mulugeta told Xinhua in a recent interview.

"The Chinese language department of our school has been offering Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree for quite some time, and those graduates need to have more capacity and more skill in the language. It was important to start this MA program so that we can upgrade those students who have already graduated from the department," she said.

According to the academic vice president, the program would help substitute the current trend of bringing Chinese teachers all the way from China due to the lack of qualified Chinese language teachers locally.

Mulugeta stressed that the newly announced program also offers a rare opportunity for graduates from other higher education institutions in the country to further upgrade their education.

"Chinese-Ethiopian relation, both diplomatically and politically, is growing; and this program contributes a lot from the academic perspective to training our own graduates at Master level and training teachers for other universities," Mulugeta said.

"It (Chinese language) would definitely expand, and that expansion would support social interaction, economic exchange, and businesses and may also encourage Ethiopians to travel to China and Chinese to come to Ethiopia so that the relationship grows," she said.

According to Mulugeta, the university and the Confucius Institute at the AAU should exert concerted efforts to bring about the desired outcome from the program.

"Now we are about to start the MA program and I really believe it will grow. A lot of efforts need to be made by the Confucius Institute as well as by the university so that we would have more students, and we have to promote the program," she stressed.

As part of its aspirations to promote the Chinese language, the AAU stressed that it would provide more space for Confucius Institute at the university to carry out its activities, while also availing more opportunities and initiatives such as cultural exchanges and exhibitions so as to promote the Chinese language across the country.

The Confucius Institute in AAU, which started operation in Ethiopia back in 2012, has so far registered over 10,000 students who passed through various levels of Chinese language studies. Among them, more than 100 were able to get their Bachelor's degrees in the Chinese language, according to figures from the institute.

Amenuael Alemayehu, Dean of College of Humanities, Language Studies, Journalism and Communications at the AAU, on his part stressed that the newly announced MA program was initiated due to the strong demand among students in the country.

"The Confucius Institute is one of the most vibrant institutes in our college. The way they teach their students, their relationship with their students, and the job market for students are other major reasons that initiated and forced us to start the MA program," Alemayehu told Xinhua.

Alemayehu further called on strong cooperation and partnership among the AAU and higher education institutes in China to bridge the gap in the shortage of skilled local manpower in the Chinese language teaching.

According to the Confucius Institute at the AAU, the MTCSOL is a two-year full-time program, in which students study core lessons based at the AAU in the first year, and qualified students will receive further education in Chinese language teaching in Tianjin University of Technology and Education in China.

"This program aims to cultivate the high-level and versatile Ethiopian talents who can teach Chinese language as foreign language," Gao Lili, Director of the Confucius Institute at the AUU, told Xinhua. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-10-20 00:05:00|Editor: huaxia

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NAIROBI, Oct. 19 (Xinhua)-- Chinese phone maker Vivo on Tuesday announced the launch of its latest Y-series model, the Vivo Y33s, in the Kenya market.

James Irungu, the brand and communications manager for Vivo Kenya, said that the mid-range smartphone will be available at a retail cost of 23,999 shillings (about 216 U.S. dollars).

"The all-new Y33s reaffirms Vivo's commitment to making innovative technology accessible to all consumers in the country," Irungu said in a statement.

The Y33s, designed to provide a premium and seamless experience to customers with segment-leading features like the ultra-slim design, has an impressive in-cell display that provides absolute clarity while watching movies and playing games. It also features a triple-camera setup on the rear that captures clear photos through the day and night to help capture special moments, according to Irungu. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-10-19 03:42:02|Editor: huaxia

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MINSK, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- The official representative of the Belarusian Foreign Ministry Anatoly Glaz announced Monday that the Belarusian ambassador to France had been recalled to Minsk for consultations after the French ambassador's departure.

According to Glaz, Nicolas De Lacoste came to Belarus in November 2020 as the appointed ambassador of France and handed over the copy of his credentials to the minister of foreign affairs of Belarus in December 2020. However, subsequently, the head of the French diplomatic mission would not complete the procedure of taking office as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Republic of Belarus in accordance with international law and generally recognized practice. The agreement to his appointment issued expired, and Lacoste left the country on Oct. 17 in accordance with the requirements of Belarus.

In turn, Belarusian Ambassador to France Igor Fisenko was recalled to Minsk for consultations. Glaz described French ambassador's departure as a "forced step". "We would like both diplomatic missions to function at the full capacity," he said.

On Aug. 9, 2020, presidential elections were held in Belarus, and Alexander Lukashenko won and was re-elected. Thereafter, demonstrations took place in a number of large cities, including Minsk, with protesters questioning the election results. Some Western countries did not recognize the results of the elections in Belarus. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-10-19 16:36:46|Editor: huaxia

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by Matthew Rusling

WASHINGTON, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- The clock is ticking for Democrats seeking to pass a massive social spending bill.

Democrats, with a razor-thin split in Congress, need every single one of their members to vote in favor of the package before campaign season for next year's midterm elections begins.

"Democrats need to pass the legislation by the end of 2021," Brookings Institution Senior Fellow Darrell West has told Xinhua.

Democratic Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema are the last two holdouts in a party champing at the bit to pass the legislation.

Neither lawmaker gave any hint of when -- or whether -- they will come to a resolution on the bill that will allocate trillions of U.S. dollars to healthcare, climate, and education, creating a high degree of frustration.

Manchin said he wants to keep the bill at 1.5 trillion dollars -- less than half of the 3.5 trillion dollars Democrats initially wanted -- while Sinema has not spoken publicly about her terms.

"Manchin's objections are going to be tough for many to his left to live with, while Sinema's seem to be all over the map and in some cases are at odds with Manchin's," Christopher Galdieri, assistant professor at Saint Anselm College, told Xinhua.

"In both cases the objections seem less about policy than simply performative centrism," he observed.

Complicating the situation further, leaders in the Senate and House will need to find a compromise between moderate and progressive members of the Democratic Party, amid a stalemate that has gone on for weeks. They will need to figure it out before the Oct. 31 deadline for the passage of a 1-trillion-dollar bipartisan infrastructure bill.

There's yet another bump in the road -- it appears that progressives won't support the infrastructure bill until the plan for the social spending bill is finalized.

There's also an ongoing debate on what parts of the social spending bill Democrats will have to cut, as the bill has been reduced from its initial 3.5 trillion dollars.

"We have some important decisions to make in the next few days so that we can proceed," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said last week.

"I'm very disappointed that we're not going with the original 3.5 trillion (dollars) ... But we will not diminish the transformative nature of what it is," she added.

Republicans have from the get-go lambasted the social spending bill, arguing that it will add trillions more dollars to the already inflated U.S. debt. Parts of the bill have also raised a red flag among conservatives and small businesses. Enditem


OPPOSITION MDC Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa yesterday said people in the rural areas were living in fear due to intimidation ahead of the 2023 general elections, adding that Zimbabweans from all walks of life were in perpetual grief over the worsening socio-economic crisis in the country. OPPOSITION MDC Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa yesterday said people in the rural areas were living in fear due to intimidation ahead of the 2023 general elections, adding that Zimbabweans from all walks of life were in perpetual grief over the worsening socio-economic crisis in the country.

Chamisa, who met traditional leaders, the business community, villagers, students and party supporters during his stakeholders engagement drive in Manicaland province, said his outreach programme had enabled him to appreciate the poverty levels in the country.

His tour of Masvingo province last week was characterised by violent scenes, which saw his convoy and security aides attacked by suspected Zanu PF supporters.

He was also teargassed while attending a meeting at a private residence in Masvingo.

Zanu PF described the alleged attacks as stage-managed ahead of the visit by the United Nations (UN) special rapporteur Alena Douhan who is currently in the country to assess the impact of sanctions.

In Manicaland, Chamisa addressed villagers in Chimanimani, Birchenough Bridge and Musikavanhu, where he said people were in grief over the worsening crisis bedevilling the country.

We cant have a country where everyone is complaining. Workers are crying, traditional leaders are crying, students are crying, women are crying, people in rural areas are crying and it is a difficult thing.

I am yet to see anyone who is happy and satisfied with the situation in the country. These are the things we are working on, he said.

Chamisa said there was so much fear in the rural areas where villagers were being intimidated.

Fear is the big issue, there is a lot of intimidation.

There is also weaponisation of food aid and fertilizer. Those are the issues people are generally saying that life is now unbearable. Those are issues that are everywhere. I am telling them that we must put a fullstop to these challenges and then let us win Zimbabwe for change.

The opposition leader, who narrowly lost the presidential race to Zanu PFs Emmerson Mnangagwa in the 2018 harmonised elections, said he was now focusing on rural areas, the ruling partys stronghold. Newsday
POLICE have launched a manhunt for over 70 MDC Alliance supporters who engaged in a voter registration campaign in Chitungwiza over the weekend.

Seven activists were arrested and yesterday, five of them were granted $6 000 bail each by Chitungwiza magistrate Sheunesu Matova and ordered to report to Zengeza Police Station once a week.

Among the arrested were juveniles aged 16 and 17 who were released into the custody of their parents. They are facing a charge of participating in a public gathering with intent to promote public violence.

The seven were represented by Tapiwa Muchineripi of the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights.

According to State papers, Detective Constable Lovemore Machazire stationed at CID Law and Order Harare, who is the investigating officer, said the activists were arrested after a tip-off as they were in a procession, clad in T-shirts inscribed Register to Vote at the front and Ngaapinde Hake Chamisa at the back, while chanting MDC Alliance slogans.

On October 16, 2021, around 1230hrs, the accused persons and their accomplices, who are still at large, numbering about 80 convened in Unit D Seke, Chitungwiza and conducted a procession along Hadzinanhanga Road heading towards Unit J Seke, the papers read in part.

They are accused of breaching peace or bigotry. Newsday
POLICE Commissioner-General Godwin Matanga yesterday ordered that all members of the force should be fully vaccinated to curb the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The police chief said this while bidding farewell to seven officers who are leaving for South Sudan on a United Nations mission, while also welcoming nine police officers who returned from the same country on tour of duty.

Matangas call for the countrys police officers to get fully vaccinated comes at a time when government has been threatening to withhold salaries and allowances of unvaccinated civil servants, starting this December.

Let me also highlight that in view of the COVID-19 pandemic that has wreaked havoc globally, we are all expected to be fully vaccinated, he said.

Government has demonstrated its commitment by continuing to secure sufficient quantities of the vaccines so that every citizen is vaccinated and no one is left behind.

He said the police should lead by example and be fully vaccinated.

As public servants and also as frontliners in the fight against crime, we should take the lead in this national drive that is aimed at achieving herd immunity, the police boss said.

Matanga said the police were actively working to achieve governments vision 2030, as well as the implementation of the National Development Strategy 1, which he said will take the nation halfway towards the attainment of an upper middle income economy by 2030.

Addressing the returning cops, he said: Now is the time to blend such experience with that of your colleagues back home as you collectively seek to make our country free from the malady of crime.

I wish to remind you that in order to deliver on our constitutional mandate, the organisation needs loyal and dedicated officers who put their country and people first before self-comfort. The need, therefore, to perform all duties professionally and diligently can never be over-emphasised. Newsday
LOADSHEDDING being experienced in the country will be a thing of the past in three months time as the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (Zesa) is employing a number of measures to ensure there is enough power supply in the country.

President Mnangagwa three months ago directed the Ministry of Energy and Power Development to come up with measures to end load shedding within the next two years riding on several interventions and support extended to the power utility by the Government.

The President said the ongoing implementation of the Hwange Power Station life extension project and cumulative operationalisation of mini-hydro, thermal and solar power plants will see the country become energy secure, self-sufficient and a net exporter of power as he urged the power utility company to adopt modern technology to curb vandalism, which is affecting Zesa.

Addressing journalists and Zesa staff during a media tour of Hwange Power Station yesterday, Zesa board chair Dr Sydney Gata said the country will be spared load shedding starting in January as some mitigatory measures being put in place will have started bearing fruits.

The tour was organised by Zesa in partnership with the Zimbabwe National Editors Forum (ZINEF) to give journalists from a cross section of the private and public media an appreciation of operational work going on at the power utility.

Dr Gata said the country is also sitting on about 100 independent power producers proposals awaiting Government guarantees, which if operationalised can add 300MW to the grid.

Zesa is also working on getting imports from Zambia and Mozambique which together with completion of rehabilitation of the Kariba Dam Plunge Pool and other interventions, will result in adequate supply in the country.

The country is generating about 1 400MW against a demand of 1 750MW.

As a result, some parts of the country are subjected to load shedding as Zesa seeks to control usage of power to close the deficit gap.

When I returned to Zesa, one of my first assignments was to end load shedding, but there was the biggest of all problems which was low staff morale. The whole of the first year was devoted to dealing with this as we invested in staff morale boosting. There were about 600 disputes at individual and company level, some going back to 2012, and we have reduced this.

Going forward, I am not saying we are ending load shedding, but come January you will see drastic change coming from improved operations in Hwange and maintenance of the plunge pool, which is nearing end at Kariba and by December we will be finished with it, said Dr Gata.

He said Zesa recently signed an agreement with Zambia and will soon be getting 100MW and another 200MW in January.

Dr Gata said Zambia has excess power as they are currently commissioning the Kafue power generation project.

Next month we will pay Cahora Bassa. We owe them US$88 million and we will be paying US$60 million in two weeks and we will get 180MW that should end load shedding. We have about 100 Independent Power Producers (IPP) projects which are mostly renewable. If they are given guarantees, we might have 300MW from IPPs alone, said Dr Gata. Chronicle
I know the highs and lows of cases is incredibly hard on people, particularly those in Tamaki Makaurau, said Ardern, referring to Auckland by its Indigenous Maori name. I just wanted to reinforce again that were not powerless. We do have the ability to keep cases as low as we can.
We are excited to work with a local partner for this pilot, which has game-changing potential to expand to more Metro-North stations as well as subway and LIRR stations throughout the New York City region, said Metro-North President Catherine Rinaldi.
I was the only one when I came on the job, the only Hispanic woman, she recalled of her early days at the Bronx firehouse for FDNY Engine 79, Ladder 37 and Battalion 27. And one of only 27 women. Its very exciting and nerve-racking, and Im ready to demonstrate to my peers that women are capable to work as lieutenants and to inspire others to move forward in the department.
An obsessed off-duty NYPD officer who laid in wait for her former girlfriend before going on a deadly shooting spree was ordered held without bail Monday pending an exam to determine if she understands the murder and assault charges against her.
Nolasco allegedly killed James Lopez, 42, when he t-boned the victims Nissan Altima while speeding in his white Mercedes. Nolasco was headed south on Third Ave. when he blew a red light at 4:25 a.m. Sunday. He was driving with a suspended license, according to court papers.
Medics were called to a home on Nichols St. in Cypress Hills at about 2:20 p.m. The 28-year-old mom told first responders that she was feeling dizzy and nauseous. Her three children, aged three months, 1 and 3, were unresponsive, police sources said.
In 2003, under an alias, Devine King, he was conditionally released after serving a short sentence for possession of stolen property. In 2009, he was conditionally released following a conviction for felony assault. He was paroled in 2014 after serving two years on the same charge, records show.
The wounded Samuel, 29, was thrown from a passing vehicle early Sunday and left to die on Clarkson Ave. near E. 53rd St. in East Flatbush, according to police. The victim, shot in the left thigh, was pronounced dead at Kings County Hospital following a 5:53 a.m. call to 911, cops said, with the killer still on the loose two days later.
No one should be in the care of the Department of Corrections if they cannot keep people safe, said the familys lawyer David Rankin. No prosecutor should be asking bail, no judge should be setting bail. No one, no one in our City should be subjected to this level of neglect.
It was boom, boom, boom, and he was shot in front of the salon. He fell face-up behind the tree, by the Chinese food place, said a man lives in a nearby building. He said he was headed to the store when he witnessed the violent scene.
Youth shove, wrestle, punch, kick and stomp the body, head, and face of other youth, the report said. Many occur unprovoked. Assaults occur in the housing unit day rooms and also when multiple youth crowd into an individual cell. An entire unit will engage in a brawl with another unit when they inadvertently encounter each other in the facilitys common spaces.
The 55-year-old victim, who was not immediately identified, was pedaling south against traffic on Nostrand Ave. in Sheepshead Bay when he was mowed down by a northbound green Audi just before 6 p.m. near Shore Parkway, authorities said.
Earlier in the evening Kenosha law enforcement officers and white nationalist militia persons discussed and coordinated strategy, the lawsuit states. It was not a mistake that Kyle Rittenhouse would kill two people and maim a third on that evening. It was a natural consequence of the actions of the Kenosha Police Department and Kenosha Sherriffs office in deputizing a roving militia to protect property and assist in maintaining order. "
Michael Hetle worked in NASAs headquarters on risk mitigation for the space agencys programs and activities as part of the Enterprise Protection Program. The 52-year-old, who also served as as a Bellevue police officer in Washington state, said he was acting in self-defense when he unleashed seven bullets last year into 24-year-old Javon Prather, who served as an infantryman with Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 175th Infantry Regiment for almost four years.
The teenager then lifted the weapon to his shoulder, charged it and took aim at the officers, who were hiding behind a car, according to Young.
You would think that if Alex was the one who did it, that SLED would have been able to establish that pretty easily that night. You would think they would have searched his house and found blood somewhere. You would think they would have found the murder weapons on the property. You would think they would come up with something to link Alex to the murders, forensically or independent evidence. To my knowledge, they have not done that.
Its been a tremendous amount of work and dough, but its worth it because people love it so much, Novak told the Dallas Observer. People get as tickled looking at my massacre as they do looking at puppies!
His symptoms reportedly included chills and a light fever. Prager said that at his age, he should be, and is concerned about getting sick, but rejects information that comes from medical experts at the CDC and is reported by some mainstream media outlets. He then turned his attention to others he feels have misled him, including President Biden.
When responding officers spotted McClain  who was sporting a face covering due to a health condition that caused him to get cold easily  they immediately tackled him to the ground, where he remained pinned for nearly 15 minutes as he desperately pleaded with the officers. On two different occasions amid the violent interaction, authorities placed McClain in a carotid hold, which reduces blood flow to the brain and can cause blackouts.
In its proposal, the agency said that the new rule would allow for the continued growth of innovation and would spark more competition by cutting the red tape that is currently in the way for new manufacturers to enter into the economy.
The indictment alleges that a cohost of the 2016 fundraiser told Fortenberry that the donations probably did come from Chagoury, but Fortenberry never filed an amended campaign report with the Federal Election Commission as required. It says he later made false and misleading statements to federal investigators during the March 23, 2019 interview.
Karen Harrison, whose trial was set to start this week, pleaded guilty to manslaughter and conspiracy to commit second-degree murder and was sentenced to 50 years behind bars. Shes one of three people accused of causing the death of 25-year-old Cyra Shantelle Marie Harrison, who had cerebral palsy and weighed only 65 to 70 pounds when she died.
The culprit was donning a blond wig as he was seen entering a bathroom stall next to a group of women and girls who were around 12 to 15 years old, according to police. An initial investigation revealed the suspect appeared to have a pen camera attached to his sneakers, making it easier for him to secretly record unsuspecting victims and later watch the footage on a computer or smartphone, authorities said.
Rice was born in 1930 in New York City to activist parents  her father was an obstetrician, and her mother held a Ph.D. from Columbia University. Rice went straight into the sisterhood at age 18, entering the Society of the Holy Child of Jesus to become a nun and taking her final vows in 1955, with the religious name Mother Frederick Mary. She earned degrees in biology from Villanova and Boston College, taught elementary school for more than 10 years, and then was assigned to work in Nigeria. She would spend 23 years in West Africa teaching and serving as a pastoral guide.
Cops said Dauphinais and Stapf told their associates to lie to Child Protective Services workers who were looking for Elijah in New Hampshire. After searching for six months, CPS reported the boy missing last week.
This settlement is fair and remarkable given the circumstances, Brill said. Still, he said, it is nowhere near enough money to compensate the victims. Indeed, there isnt enough money in existence to do that.
The Chase Center did not confirm or deny if the band stopped playing after the man fell to his death, instead asking for all questions to be relayed to the police.
The Milwaukee Police Department, joined by local, state, and federal agencies, said it is actively searching for Major Harris, who was last seen on Thursday. The same day, a neighbor discovered the body of the boys 25-year-old mother, Mallery Muenzenberger, in the backyard of a Milwaukee home showing obvious signs of trauma, according to authorities.
Long Beach and Los Angeles ports take in 40% of all shipping containers entering the U.S. Operations have been snagged not only by a rebound in demand but also by the coronavirus delta variant, a lack of vaccine access in some countries, and shortages of shipping containers and truck drivers, according to KCBS-TV.
Michelle Yi, who appeared in the Fiji edition of the reality show in 2007, was just opening the facility in Santa Monica about 6 a.m. on Thursday when a woman lunged at her in what police believe was one of three random attacks that morning.
Other issues New Yorkers say need to be addressed include systemic racism, with 61% of respondents saying they consider it to be very important. While 76% of Democrats believe racism is a major issue, only 39% of Republicans consider it a top priority. Whether COVID vaccinations were important was also split among party lines, with 91% Dems saying getting more New Yorkers immunized is important and only 57% of Republicans are of the same mind.
The issue has remained at the heart of the campaign as Donnelly and her fellow Republicans have repeatedly claimed incorrectly that Kaminsky authored the bail bill. Kaminsky had no hand in penning the original legislation and said he actively worked to add crimes back on the bail eligible list when Dems tweaked the reforms last year.
One place I went into the other day asked me for it to eat after I sat down and I said, No, we dont have that, as I continued to look at the menu and just carried on, he wrote before urging his supporters to frequent establishments that arent obeying communist illegal mandates.
Literally throughout the report, there are so many inaccuracies that I cant tell you that I know that that happened. I dont know that that happened. I dont have evidence that that happened. I havent heard of that happening, he said. So where I go is to say, Okay, NYPD look at this. Hes your employee  look at it. Theyve looked at it. They dont find anything. Now its been sent to the Manhattan DA. Well see what they say.
Harris, who has taken a lead role in plugging President Bidens two-tiered infrastructure plan in recent weeks, will be joined by Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra for the Bronx trip, the official said.
Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, one of just two Republicans on the committee, said: Mr. Bannons and Mr. Trumps privilege arguments do appear to reveal one thing, however: They suggest that President Trump was personally involved in the planning and execution of January 6th. And we will get to the bottom of that.
He sarcastically noted that it was wonderful to see the media treat Powell with reverence despite his missteps, especially his checkered role in the launching of the second war with Iraq.
They did so by bolstering endangered Republican incumbents in increasingly liberal suburbs by shifting their districts deeper into ruby red rural areas. That could make the districts impervious to demographic changes even if Texas Democrats are able to win statewide races.
Bolsonaro, the so-called Tropical Trump, scoffed at the news at a campaign rally. Following the reports approval, Brazils attorney general Bruno Bianco will have 30 days to consider charges against the president, possibly setting off a complicated legal process. However, that remains unlikely because Bianco is a Bolsonaro backer.
Christian Aid Ministries was founded as a nonprofit in 1981 to glorify God and help enlarge His kingdom, according to its website. Volunteers help distribute basic needs like food and clothes, deliver Bibles and help crisis victims in the U.S. and abroad, including in Haiti, where its missionaries support church planting and operate and support clinical facilities to treat the medical health needs of people.
We were trying to think how we could get them out, but we didnt know how to, Kinda, an electrician from India, who is Sikh, told NBC Asian America. So we walked for about 10 minutes to find help and then came up with the idea to tie our turbans together.
In three of the ICAs five busts, the tablets were not declared at all. In one bust, they were labeled health care products and in another they were described as a supplement pharma product. One of the no declaration shipments included 2,000 tablets of hydroxychloroquine, the ICA said.
Hutchings trial has become a hot-button issue in Northern Ireland as victims families seek justice after decades and some seek legislation that would create a statute of limitations for anything that happened before 1998s Good Friday Agreement, including for IRA fighters. As of now, just one other veteran is facing trial: David Holden, who allegedly accidentally fired his gun at a border checkpoint and killed Aidan McAnespie in 1988.
Speaking of which, wed like to see him drop his promised review of the sex-crimes convictions of Linda Fairstein; that pledge goes way too far to discredit decades of sound prosecutions due to questions surrounding the Central Park Five case. We also hope he revisits his plan to decriminalize most sex work, which we fear will make it easier for human traffickers to get away with terrible crimes. We worry, too, about plans to make it the default to decline to prosecute crimes including larceny under $250, which could encourage more shoplifting.
But of all the things we talked about that day  a UN resolution, growing up in the Bronx, his immigrant parents  what moved me most about Powell, who died Monday from COVID-19 complications, was his reverence for his wife, and how he thanked her for her service to the nation.
In October 2020, New York State announced a new round of grants to support integrated schools and classrooms. Instead of using the $2.5 million to pay consultants to offer training for teachers and parents, the funds should be used to make a district-wide enrollment plan that ends the privileging of some schools over others. All schools, not just zoned schools, should be required to reserve seats for newcomers. All schools student bodies should approximate the district in which they are situated terms of family income, English Language Learners, students in temporary housing and students with disabilities. Indeed, this is the commitment the city made in 2019, but has yet to implement.
One such couple recently shared their decision to adopt, waiting for babies who had been abandoned or surrendered with little notice, describing a rigorous process that included home studies and parenting workshops, writing up descriptions of their family values and ideal weekends. There was the excruciating rollercoaster of expectation and disappointment, once getting a promising call from a birth mother in labor, only to find out a few hours later shed changed her mind.
Youre dizzy because you cant believe this was just said to you, she added. And if he says it to me, then obviously he says it to many other people. I just did what I felt like I had to do. And it was to tell people that its not okay.
As I got more information and learned what was going on behind the scenes, it was really upsetting and disturbing, Couric said. I talked to people, I really tried to excavate what had been going on. And it was really devastating but also disgusting, and I think what I realized is there was a side of Matt I never really knew. And I tried to understand why he behaved the way he did and why he was so reckless and callous, and honestly abusive to other women.
My first number one. Id be lying if I said I didnt see this coming while I was writing my verse, Harlow shared on his social media accounts. Thank you for having me @lilnasx. This song is something I am gonna be proud to be a part of for the rest of my life. As for whats nextbuckle up
Set 40 years before the events of the film series, the project will center on the young version of Winston Scott, who is pulled back into a world of his past and takes on a harrowing attempt to seize control of the property.
State revenue investigators had been attempting to get back sales tax paid by the business for years, with visits stretching back to 2016. The latest push began in January 2020, when investigators interviewed Don Granatstein, who confirmed his son was managing the nightclub and in charge of the day to day activities of the business, including the responsibility to collect and remit the sales tax collections, according to their report.
While outside, one of the teachers, Darius Cohen, got into a scuffle with the male occupant, which was broken up by the other teacher, Akkua Hallback. While the male resident was returning to his apartment, Cohen chased him and fired four shots, striking him once in the back, according to an arrest affidavit. The mans injuries were not life threatening.
Petitos last social media post was made on Instagram Aug. 25. She was holding a crocheted pumpkin with the caption Happy Halloween. The post has over 4,000 comments  many of them doubting the legitimacy of the post and speculating Laundrie faked the post pretending to be Petito. However, Petitos family lawyer, Richard Stafford, revealed she was texting her New York family the same day and again on Aug. 27. The family believed the texts to be legitimate. On Aug. 30, the family received a text saying No service in Yosemite. According to Stafford, the family doubts this message was written by Petito.
A Florida man has been arrested after an incident at a Waffle House in which a suspect who stated he was high and drunk used his fingers in the shape of a gun to ultimately get away with some napkins, according to the Madison County Sheriffs Office.
I want to empower residents first off ... so that they can create the future, he said. Every neighborhood is going to have a different need. And Ill seek guidance from our residents. ... I think we can be a little more proactive in working constructively with developers.
The agenda item seeks to discuss options, and get direction as to whether or not to move forward with seeking a marketing firm to assist or develop a plan in-house.
We are now more than one year after VanderLey lost the election and the public has still yet to hear the truth about her political corruption, said Chuck ONeal, an environmental activist who filed one of the complaints. It is no wonder candidates abuse the public trust. The system is fixed to let them get away with it.
Praia, Cape Verde (PANA) - The ECOWAS Election Observation Mission has commended Cape Verdeans for their political maturity and praised the National Electoral Commission (NCE) and other election management institutions for their technical, organiaational and professional skills
New York, US (PANA) - The United Nations says it trying to verify details of alarming reports it has received of aerial attacks in the residential areas of Tigrays capital, Mekelle, on Monday morning
New York, US (PANA) - The announcement last week of a unilateral ceasefire in the Central African Republic (CAR) is among recent positive steps in the country, the top UN official there told the Security Council on Monday, urging continued support for peace and reconciliation efforts
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Prosecutors insist on detention of higher institution rector involved in embezzlement case

 AGN Moskva

13:01 19/10/2021

MOSCOW, October 18 (RAPSI)  The Moscow Prosecutors Office filed an appeal seeking to overturn a court ruling dismissing a detention plea and ordering the rector of the Moscow School of Social and Economic Sciences (Shaninka) Sergey Zuyev to be put under house arrest in a 21-million-ruble (about $300,000) embezzlement case, RAPSI was told in the Tverskoy District Court on Tuesday.

Zuyev is still a suspect in the case.

In late September, during the investigation, ex-employees of the Fund for New Forms of Education Development Maxim Inkin and Eugeny Zak as well as executive director of Shaninka Christina Kryuchkova were detained for two months in this case.

Former Deputy Education Minister and Sberbank vice-president Marina Rakova initially escaped but was arrested and put in detention on October 6 as well as her partner Artur Stetsenko, the common-law husband of Rakova and CEO of the Federal State Autonomous Institution "The Fund for New Forms of Education Development.

According to investigators, in 2019, Rakova, then Deputy Minister of Education, Stetsenko and other defendants were involved in large-scale embezzlement from the Fund during the execution of education state contracts.
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The Indian Army has gunned down six terrorists belonging to Pakistan based Laskhar-e-Taiba (LeT) in the ongoing encounter in the thick jungles of Rajouri sector with efforts on to neutralise the remaining three to four Islamic jihadists by the 16 Corps troops.




Eastern Army commander Lieutenant General Manoj Pande said that there has been an increase in the number of exercises by China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) in the Tibet autonomous region in the last few months as India considers alternate border management.

Speaking to the media at a forward location in Arunachal Pradesh about Chinese activities across the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the Eastern Sector, Lt Gen Pande said: "So far as the activities on the other side of the LAC is concerned there are three to four issues."

He said that firstly, annual training exercises carried out by the PLA have increased. "There has been some increase in the activities but in the depth areas," he said.

Secondly, some of the reserve formations of the PLA which were mobilised have continued to remain in their training areas that again is in the operational depth area, the officer said.

Lt Gen Pande pointed out that both sides are attempting to develop infrastructure closer to the line of LAC and which again leads to certain issue at times.

"Since these infrastructure has come up close to the LAC there has also been an marginal increase in number of border defence troops."

Explaining about the recent LAC face-off in the Eastern Sector, he said: "Along this LAC, we have a numbers of areas and number of points where patrols from both side interacts either in a scheduled manner or at times at chance encounter... We also have certain areas of different perceptions here wherein our perception of the LAC is different from what the Chinese perception is and especially in these areas sometimes the patrol comes face to face which then results in a face-off."

The officer added that the force have a robust mechanism, SOP protocols because of which they are able to resolve such situation as and when they arise.

"The role of our commanders and our junior leaders who are actually leading the patrols I believe extremely important in this context because they are the ones who have too develop correct understanding with the commanders on the other sides and then if they are any issues that arise we try and resolve it at the local Commanders level and that has worked out well," Lt Gen Pande said.

The officer said they have a robust conflict resolution management in terms of when required organising meeting between the two sides at different levels.

"We have a mechanism of hot lines, we also meet in what is referred to as border personnel meetings. So far in the Eastern Command we had three hotlines, the fourth one was recently operationalised."

Regarding the Chinese activities, the officer talked about the level of operational preparedness of the force.

"We have taken number of steps number of measures, the foremost is enhancing out surveillance both close to the LAC as well as in the depth areas now this we are doing by synergizing efforts of our all surveillance equipmentA right from the strategic level till the tactical level where our soldiers actually deployed on the LAC," Lt Gen Pande said.

"We have adequateA forces that are available in each sector to deal with any contingency that may arise and we are also practicing and rehearsing on various contingencies that may come about in certain areas where at deployment are thin."

The officer also stated that they have strengthened the deployment, largely in areas where it was thin.

"I would say there has been not major increase or increment in terms of the number of forces that are deployed at the LAC. We also are looking at maximising the potential by incorporating the technologies to the maximum extent possible be it in term of increasing our surveillance, ISR capabilities or in terms of communications and likewise," he pointed.

When asked about the Chinese continuously breaching the laid out agreement and protocols, the officer said it is being looked at on a higher level.

In terms of larger guidance, the officer said that strategic guidance in terms of dealing with situation on the LAC is to respect the mutually agreed protocols and agreements and that has been India's effort, not withstanding what has been the action or response from the other side.

"Consequent to what happened and what we need to do in the future, is something I reckon is being looked atA the larger level," he said.
Bharatiya Janata Party national vice president Dilip Ghosh on Tuesday lashed out at West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for keeping silent on the communal violence in Bangladesh where houses of Hindus were set on fire and temples were vandalised. So far six persons have died in one of the worst communal flare ups in decades in the country.

Dilip Ghosh made this comment while participating at an event organised to protest the violence against Hindus in Bangladesh, at Jantar Mantar in Delhi.

"These kinds of incidents have happened earlier also and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has taken strong steps. The numbers of such incidents have definitely come down but need to be stopped completely," Ghosh said.

Questioning Mamata Banerjee's silence over the Bangladesh violence, Dilip Ghosh said, "The so called 'secular' government of West Bengal, which runs to Tripura and Assam at the spur of the moment when something happens there, is totally silent on the issue of Bangladesh violence. Are there not Hindus in Bangladesh? They are being attacked by fanatics, maths and temples have been vandalised, women are being attacked, but the West Bengal Chief Minister is maintaining silence."

"Why the spokesperson of the party doesn't say anything? Are they worried about their vote bank? They only care about their vote bank, that's why she keeps quiet," he added.

According to Dilip Ghosh, more than 3,600 incidents of attacks on Hindus have taken place in Bangladesh since 2013, in which Hindu women were raped and temples were desecrated. "When the Ram temple movement took place in India, minorities in Bangladesh were attacked, lakhs of Hindus had to flee from their country and to take shelter in India," he said.

He said, "The Bangladesh incident is a well thought out conspiracy against Hindus and is very agonising."

Appealing to Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Dilip Ghosh said, "Hindus are also the citizens of your country, they have chosen you as prime minister and they are contributing to the progress of your country. Ensure security to Hindus so that they can live in peace in that country."

Speaking to IANS, Ghosh said, "Everyone knows that Hindu society is under attack in Bangladesh for a week, during Durga Puja. Durga temples were demolished, seers have been murdered, against which protests are taking place all over the world."

"Lakhs of Hindus have taken to the streets in Bangladesh, this is not the first time this is happening. Our demand is to ensure the safety of Hindus there. The Government should take responsibility for this and should not allow such incidents to happen again," he said.

He added, "The Indian government has issued a statement on the incident and is in constant touch with the Bangladesh government, which is a friendly country, but we want Hindu citizens to be safe there."

On the question if he is satisfied with the action taken by the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Ghosh said, "The incidents have not stopped, the violence should stop, then action should be taken."
Candidate Katie Britt speaks one-on-one with potential voters at an Albertville Rotary Club meeting last Tuesday hosted at the Sand Mountain Park. Britt said her husband, Wesley, has family who lives nearby in Marshall County.
Edison, NJ -- (SBWIRE) -- 10/18/2021 -- Latest Study on Industrial Growth of Burkina Faso Insurance Market 2021-2027. A detailed study accumulated to offer Latest insights about acute features of the Burkina Faso Insurance market. The report contains different market predictions related to revenue size, production, CAGR, Consumption, gross margin, price, and other substantial factors. While emphasizing the key driving and restraining forces for this market, the report also offers a complete study of the future trends and developments of the market. It also examines the role of the leading market players involved in the industry including their corporate overview, financial summary and SWOT analysis.



The Major Players Covered in this Report: Societe Nationale D'Assurances Et De Reassurances Vie, Union Des Assurances Du Burkina Vie, Sunu Assurances Vie, CIF Assurances Vie (Burkina Faso), Coris Assurances Vie, Saham Assurance vie, Generale Des Assurances Vie, Societe Nationale D'Assurances Et De Reassurances, Saham Assurance (Burkina Faso), Raynal Assurances IARD, Coris Assurances SA, Sunu Assurances IARD (Allianz Burkina Assurances), Generale Des Assurances, Union Des Assurances Du Burkina IARDT, Jackson Assurances IARD



Burkina Faso Insurance Market Study guarantees you to remain / stay advised higher than your competition. With Structured tables and figures examining the Burkina Faso Insurance, the research document provides you a leading product, submarkets, revenue size and forecast to 2027. Comparatively is also classifies emerging as well as leaders in the industry. Click To get SAMPLE PDF of Burkina Faso Insurance Market (Including Full TOC, Table & Figures) @ https://www.htfmarketreport.com/sample-report/3617806-burkina-faso-insurance-industry-2



This study also covers company profiling, specifications and product picture, sales, market share and contact information of various regional, international and local vendors of Burkina Faso Insurance Market. The market proposition is frequently developing ahead with the rise in scientific innovation and M&A activities in the industry. Additionally, many local and regional vendors are offering specific application products for varied end-users. The new merchant applicants in the market are finding it hard to compete with the international vendors based on reliability, quality and modernism in technology.



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Key Highlights

- Key insights and dynamics of the Burkina Fason insurance industry.

- A comprehensive overview of the Burkina Fason economy, government initiatives and investment opportunities.

- The Burkina Fason insurance regulatory framework's evolution, key facts, taxation regime, licensing and capital requirements.

- The Burkina Fason insurance industry's market structure giving details of lines of business.

- Burkina Faso's reinsurance business's market structure giving details of premium ceded along with cession rates.

- Details of the competitive landscape and competitors' profiles.

Scope

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the Burkina Faso insurance industry -

- It provides historical values for the Burkina Fason insurance industry for the report's 2015-2019 review period, and projected figures for the 2019-2024 forecast period.

- It offers a detailed analysis of the key categories in the Burkina Fason insurance industry, and market forecasts to 2024.

- It profiles the top life insurance companies in Burkina Faso and outlines the key regulations affecting them.



Regional Analysis for Burkina Faso Insurance Market:

- APAC (Japan, China, South Korea, Australia, India, and Rest of APAC; Rest of APAC is further segmented into Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, New Zealand, Vietnam, and Sri Lanka)

- Europe (Germany, UK, France, Spain, Italy, Russia, Rest of Europe; Rest of Europe is further segmented into Belgium, Denmark, Austria, Norway, Sweden, The Netherlands, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, and Romania)

- North America (U.S., Canada, and Mexico)

- South America (Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Rest of South America)

- MEA (Saudi Arabia, UAE, South Africa)



Furthermore, the years considered for the study are as follows:

Historical year  2015-2020

Base year  2020

Forecast period**  2021 to 2027 [** unless otherwise stated]



**Moreover, it will also include the opportunities available in micro markets for stakeholders to invest, detailed analysis of competitive landscape and product services of key players.



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Key takeaways from the Burkina Faso Insurance market report:

 Detailed considerate of Burkina Faso Insurance market-particular drivers, Trends, constraints, Restraints, Opportunities and major micro markets.

 Comprehensive valuation of all prospects and threat in the

 In depth study of industry strategies for growth of the Burkina Faso Insurance market-leading players.

 Burkina Faso Insurance market latest innovations and major procedures.

 Favorable dip inside Vigorous high-tech and market latest trends remarkable the Market.

 Conclusive study about the growth conspiracy of Burkina Faso Insurance market for forthcoming years.



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3. Thorough Evaluation the break-in for new companies who want to enter the Burkina Faso Insurance Market.

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Detailed TOC of Burkina Faso Insurance Market Research Report-



 Burkina Faso Insurance Introduction and Market Overview

 Industry Manufacture, Consumption, Export, Import by Regions (2015-2020)

 Industry Value ($) by Region (2015-2020)

 Burkina Faso Insurance Market Status and SWOT Analysis by Regions

 Major Region of Burkina Faso Insurance Market

i) Burkina Faso Insurance Sales

ii) Burkina Faso Insurance Revenue & market share

 Major Companies List

 Conclusion



Thanks for reading this article; you can also get individual chapter wise section or region wise report version like North America, MINT, BRICS, G7, Western / Eastern Europe or Southeast Asia. Also, we can serve you with customize research services as HTF MI holds a database repository that includes public organizations and Millions of Privately held companies with expertise across various Industry domains.



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Edison, NJ -- (SBWIRE) -- 10/19/2021 -- HTF MI recently released a research document on CNG Passenger Cars Market that includes survey highlights, in-depth interviews insights with industry experts, and a review of industry dynamics with help of our global network of consultants and executives within the OEMs & aftermarket. These market estimates have been evaluated considering base year as 2021 and by studying the impact of various macro-economic factors, local and regional regulatory regimes to better understand current market dynamics affecting the CNG Passenger Cars growth and further bottom-up approach is applied to deliver comprehensive company profiles of major and emerging players of the industry, including Volkswagen, General Motors, Daimler, Fiat, Ford, PSA Peugeot Citroen, Honda, TATA, Suzuki, Hyundai, Changan, Geely, Great Wall & Iran Khodro Industrial.



Assess aftermarket trends and their potential impact to derive implications for suppliers in CNG Passenger Cars industry. If you are a CNG Passenger Cars manufacturer or want to be in CNG Passenger Cars market then this research publication would help you understand the Sales & Pricing dynamics



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This CNG Passenger Cars research framework should serve as a basic structure to support the strategic decision-making process to the suppliers/manufacturers of CNG Passenger Cars. For instance, the question of whether a supplier wants to expand into other areas of the market value chain fundamentally determines its strategy. The market estimates and breakdown provided in the CNG Passenger Cars Market study are the result of in-depth secondary research, primary interviews and in-house expert reviews. Market Outlook and takeaway points are derived using current facts and statistics such as production, consumption, capacity, Export Import, trade data by category products in CNG Passenger Cars Market. The CNG Passenger Cars market includes sizing by value and sales volume by Type (, Small Car, Minibus & Bus), Application (Family, Commercial & Public Service), by Players and by Regions / Country.



New entrants in CNG Passenger Cars market and established manufacturers have seen changing their business models  a trend that will continue in the future



Competition / Manufacturers Analysis: The CNG Passenger Cars market provides detailed view on automotive manufacturing process analysis referenced via leaders and high growth emerging players from select profiled companies. Comparative market share analysis addressing Change in Segment Revenue and % Market Share of Individual Companies / OEMs along with their position is disclosed. A dedicated Chapter of CNG Passenger Cars Market Entropy covering activity such as M&A, Product Launches, R&D, Funding etc with a commentary on Top 3 players Strategic Moves & management effectiveness that help them maintain their rank and % market share in CNG Passenger Cars market. The Competitive landscape provides detailed profiles of Volkswagen, General Motors, Daimler, Fiat, Ford, PSA Peugeot Citroen, Honda, TATA, Suzuki, Hyundai, Changan, Geely, Great Wall & Iran Khodro Industrial that includes section such as business overview, market share, key financial metrics of past 3 years, SWOT analysis.



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Regional Size, Growth & Trend Analysis Includes Breakdown as



Geographically, CNG Passenger Cars Market research report is segmented into several key Regions, with production, consumption, revenue (million USD), and market share and growth rate of CNG Passenger Cars Market by Value & Sales Volume from 2016 to 2026 (forecast). In the global version of report following regions and country can be provided on request

- North America (United States, Canada and Mexico)

- Europe (Germany, the UK, France, Italy, Netherlands, Belgium, Russia, Spain, NORDICS, and Rest of Europe)

- Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India, Australia and Southeast Asia {Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia and Vietnam}, Others)

- South America (Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Rest of South America)

- Middle East and Africa (South Africa, Turkey, Israel, GCC Countries and Rest of Africa)



Demand & Supply Effectiveness; CNG Passenger Cars Market report additionally provides information about effective distribution / sales channels, Production, Consumption & EXIM (Export & Import) by Regions.



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What can be explored with CNG Passenger Cars Market study:



- Where the CNG Passenger Cars industry stands in scaling its end use implementations

- What concrete benefits can result from scaled initiatives

- Where OEMs / manufacturers should focus their investments cycle

- Success factors and recommendations for scaling future growth in CNG Passenger Cars Industry.

- Target Market / Country and Key Business Segments of CNG Passenger Cars.



Additionally Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Closest Competitors is being Provided for Each Listed Manufacturers



Market Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2016-2026) Table for each product type which include

Key Raw Materials Analysis & Price Trends

Supply Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream Buyers, Industrial Chain Analysis



........and view more in complete table of Contents



Check Complete Report Details @ https://www.htfmarketreport.com/reports/3638133-cng-passenger-cars-market-research



Thanks for reading this article; you can also get individual chapter wise section or Region/Country wise report version like North America, Southeast Asia, China, USA, Europe or APAC.
Northbrook, IL -- (SBWIRE) -- 10/18/2021 -- The report "Cooler Box Market by Type (Disposable, Reusable), Raw Material (Polyurethane Foam, EPS, EPP, XPS, Others), End-Use Industry (Pharmaceuticals, Food & Beverages) and Region - Global Forecast to 2025" The cooler box market is projected to grow from USD 4.6 billion in 2020 to USD 8.1 billion by 2025, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 12.1% during the forecast period. Growth in the pharmaceutical industry, ongoing COVID-19 vaccination drives, technological advancements in the cooler box industry for the transportation of processed and fresh fruits, vegetables, dairy products, and other perishable food products are contributing to the growth of the cooler box market.



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Based on type, reusable cooler box segment is expected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period.

The reusable cooler box segment accounted for the larger share of the cooler box market in 2019. Reusable cooler boxes available in the consumer market are becoming more robust in terms of their exterior, with hard shells being deployed in comparison to the cardboard and foam of disposable cooler boxes. These cooler boxes are primarily used in the pharmaceutical industry, wherein maintaining the temperature of products for a longer time is a critical factor.



PU Foam is expected to be the fastest-growing raw material segment of the cooler box market.

PU foam segment accounted for the larger share of the cooler box market in 2019. This raw material segment is expected to witness the fastest growth during the forecast period. PU foam has the lowest thermal conductivity among insulation materials, which enables space saving by using lower insulation thickness while achieving the same insulation efficiency as with other materials. This is especially important in space-limited cold chain logistics.



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Asia Pacific is expected to be the fastest-growing regional segment in the cooler box market.

The cooler box market in the Asia Pacific region is expected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period. China, Japan, South Korea, and India are the key countries contributing to the high demand for cooler boxes in the Asia Pacific region. Availability of cheap labor and raw materials has resulted in making Asia Pacific a preferred region for manufacturing facilities of cooler boxes. This makes Asia Pacific the fastest-growing region of the cooler box market.



Some of the leading players operating in the cooler box market include Sonoco ThermoSafe (US), B Medical Systems (Luxembourg), Blowkings (India), ISONOVA (Italy), Eurobox Logistics (Romania), Softbox Systems Ltd. (UK), va-Q-tec AG (Germany), Coldchain Technologies, Inc. (US), Sofrigam Group (France) and FEURER GmbH (Germany).



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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, "Knowledgestore" 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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Los Angeles, CA -- (SBWIRE) -- 10/19/2021 -- Los Angeles, United States   The report comes out as an intelligent and thorough assessment tool as well as a great resource that will help you to secure a position of strength in the global and China Hay market. It includes Porter's Five Forces and PESTLE analysis to equip your business with critical information and comparative data about the Global and China Hay Market. We have provided a deep analysis of the vendor landscape to give you a complete picture of current and future competitive scenarios of the global and China Hay market. Our analysts use the latest primary and secondary research techniques and tools to prepare comprehensive and accurate market research reports.



Each segment of the global and China Hay market is extensively evaluated in the research study. The segmental analysis offered in the report pinpoints key opportunities available in the global and China Hay market through leading segments. The regional study of the global and China Hay market included in the report helps readers to gain a sound understanding of the development of different geographical markets in recent years and also going forth. We have provided a detailed study on the critical dynamics of the global and China Hay market, which include the market influence and market effect factors, drivers, challenges, restraints, trends, and prospects. The research study also includes other types of analysis such as qualitative and quantitative.



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Global and China Hay Market: Competitive Rivalry



The chapter on company profiles studies the various companies operating in the global and China Hay market. It evaluates the financial outlooks of these companies, their research and development statuses, and their expansion strategies for the coming years. Analysts have also provided a detailed list of the strategic initiatives taken by the and China Hay market participants in the past few years to remain ahead of the competition.



Key players cited in the report



Anderson Hay & Grain, Border Valley, Knight Ag Sourcing, Hay USA, Bailey Farms, Hayday Farm, Barr-Ag, Standlee, Legal Alfalfa Products Ltd., M&C Hay



Global and China Hay Market: Type Segments



Hay Bales, Hay Pellets, Hay Cubes



Global and China Hay Market: Application Segments



, Dairy Cow Feed, Beef Cattle & Sheep Feed, Pig Feed, Poultry Feed



Global and China Hay Market: Regional Segments



The chapter on regional segmentation details the regional aspects of the global and China Hay market. This chapter explains the regulatory framework that is likely to impact the overall market. It highlights the political scenario in the market and the anticipates its influence on the global and China Hay market.



- The Middle East and Africa (GCC Countries and Egypt)

- North America (the United States, Mexico, and Canada)

- South America (Brazil etc.)

- Europe (Turkey, Germany, Russia UK, Italy, France, etc.)

- Asia-Pacific (Vietnam, China, Malaysia, Japan, Philippines, Korea, Thailand, India, Indonesia, and Australia)



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Report Highlights



- Comprehensive pricing analysis on the basis of product, application, and regional segments



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- Deep insights about regulatory and investment scenarios of the global and China Hay market



- Analysis of market effect factors and their impact on the forecast and outlook of the global and China Hay market



- A roadmap of growth opportunities available in the global and China Hay market with the identification of key factors



- The exhaustive analysis of various trends of the global and China Hay market to help identify market developments



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Northbrook, IL -- (SBWIRE) -- 10/19/2021 -- The global probiotics market is estimated to be valued at USD 61.1 billion in 2021 and is projected to reach USD 91.1 billion by 2026, at a CAGR of 8.3% during the forecast period. The demand for probiotics in fortified foods is projected to remain high due to the increasing awareness about their benefits, and willingness of consumers to purchase premium products incorporated with probiotics. The global demand for probiotics is increasing significantly due to the growing awareness among customers about their direct relation to digestive health benefits, the rise in demand for nutritious food, and increase in demand for quality animal-based products. Probiotics are found as a supplement form or are used as components in food & beverages.



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Food & beverage segment is projected to be the largest segment in the probiotics market during the forecast period.



The food & beverage segment dominated the probiotics market, on the basis of application, during the forecast due to the rising popularity of probiotic functional foods & beverages among consumers. Awareness, faith in their efficacy, and safety are some of the factors driving the market of probiotics. The food & beverages segment is the largest revenue-earning market across regions. Consumers are now taking a proactive approach towards preventing chronic conditions. China and Japan are the two largest markets in the Asia Pacific, and the Japanese market is projected to reach its maturity level during the forecast period.



The animal probiotics segment is projected to account for the fastest growth during the forecast period.



The animals segment is projected to record the fastest growth during the forecast. The ban on synthetic antimicrobial growth promoters (AGP's) in Europe is a factor driving the probiotics market. The motive behind the ban was to curb the practice of using antibiotics, antimicrobials, and other drugs for promoting the growth of livestock and increasing the production of meat, milk, and other products.



The demand for liquid probiotics from the yogurt and beverage industries is projected to dominate the probiotics market



The demand for liquid probiotics has increased as compared to dry probiotics, due to its application in yogurt, which is the most popular source of probiotics. Other products that use liquid probiotics include kefir water, probiotic juices, and yogurt-based drinks, which are healthy options for daily supplementation. The Asia Pacific region is projected to be a key market for yogurt in the coming years. China stands a huge opportunity for both domestic and international companies to penetrate the yogurt market as the country consumes yogurt on a large scale.



The rising health awareness among consumers in the Asia Pacific region is projected to account for the largest market size during the forecast period



Consumers in the Asia Pacific region are well aware of the health benefits of probiotics, due to the widespread presence of the Japanese brand "Yakult." China and Japan are among the largest probiotic markets in the region, whereas the Australia & New Zealand market is the fastest-growing, with a CAGR of 9.8%. The Asia Pacific region presents immense opportunities for animal probiotic products, as governments are becoming increasingly concerned about the health and productivity of farm animals. Health deterioration in animals due to the use of AGPs has also encouraged livestock owners to use probiotic-based feed. The application of probiotics is estimated to increase at a fast pace in the Asia Pacific, due to the rising consumer demand.



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The rising health awareness among consumers in the Asia Pacific region is projected to account for the largest market size during the forecast period



Consumers in the Asia Pacific region are well aware of the health benefits of probiotics, due to the widespread presence of the Japanese brand "Yakult." China and Japan are among the largest probiotic markets in the region, whereas the Australia & New Zealand market is the fastest-growing, with a CAGR of 9.8%. The Asia Pacific region presents immense opportunities for animal probiotic products, as governments are becoming increasingly concerned about the health and productivity of farm animals. Health deterioration in animals due to the use of AGPs has also encouraged livestock owners to use probiotic-based feed. The application of probiotics is estimated to increase at a fast pace in the Asia Pacific, due to the rising consumer demand.



Key players identified in this market include Danone (France), Yakult Honsha (Japan), Nestle (Switzerland), DowDuPont (US), and Chr. Hansen (Denmark). Key players in this market are focusing on increasing their presence through mergers & acquisitions and new product developments, specific to consumer tastes in these regions. These companies have a strong presence in Europe and the Asia Pacific. They also have manufacturing facilities along with strong distribution networks across these regions.



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, "Knowledgestore" connects over 200,000 markets and entire value chains for deeper understanding of the unmet insights along with market sizing and forecasts of niche markets.



Contact:

Mr. Aashish Mehra

MarketsandMarkets INC.

630 Dundee Road

Suite 430

Northbrook, IL 60062

USA : 1-888-600-6441
Page Content

The Minister of Public Health, Social Development and Labor, Omar Ottley extends his heartfelt condolences to the families and friends of the two (2) victims who passed away due to COVID-19. Much strength to the families during this time.





As of October 18th, there were four (4) persons who tested positive for COVID-19; however twenty (20) persons have recovered; bringing the total active cases to forty six (46). The total number of confirmed cases is now four thousand four hundred forty eight (4448).





The Collective Prevention Services (CPS) are monitoring forty four (44) people in home isolation. Two (2) patients are hospitalized at the St. Maarten Medical Center. The total number of deaths due to COVID-19 has increased to seventy three (73).





The number of people recovered since the first case surfaced on St. Maarten has increased to four thousand three hundred twenty nine (4329). Thirty five (35) people are in quarantine based on contact tracing investigations carried out by CPS.





The total number of persons tested is 53,297.





As the numbers continue to fluctuate, CPS will continue to actively execute its contact tracing measures.





Minister Ottley urges the public to remain vigilant and follow the protocols for your safety.
Page Content

Minister of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport and Telecommunications (Minister TEATT) Hon. Roger Lawrence met with Divi Little Bay Beach Resort President Marco Galaverna and General Manager Anne-Marie Brooks on Saturday October 16th, who outlined the ongoing construction that will be completed in early 2022.





Were thrilled to add Oceans at Divi Little Bay to our Caribbean resort offerings starting on St. Maarten in early 2022, said Marco Galaverna, President & COO of Divi Resorts. Since Hurricane Irma, the company has invested millions of dollars on improvements to Divi Little Bay, and our marketing and sales efforts over the last few years have shown the resiliency and popularity of the island continues to flourish and grow.





Nearly 100 new rooms will be built at Divi Little Bay Beach Resort, which will create new employment opportunities, help drive destination demand, and boost the economy.





Theres been a lot of buzz about our new buildings, and were excited to finally share the exciting news about our Oceans product, explains Anne-Marie Brooks, General Manager at Divi Little Bay Beach Resort. Over the years, weve seen trends change, and our guests have requested additional special touches and services. Oceans at Divi Little Bay will deliver an upper-tier experience, adding further cache and employment to the island.





We want to be known as the number one destination in the Caribbean and in order to do so, we need role models who strongly believe in our country and who have the confidence to invest.





We need to all move forward together, I applaud the Divi team for their outstanding vision and commitment in making our country the best it can be, you are an example, stated Minister of TEATT Hon. Roger Lawrence.





This shows the optimism that investors have in the St. Maarten product, despite the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have companies who continue to find niches, invest, and create opportunities. Tourism in St. Maarten is on the rise.





With Tourism numbers rising we have to ensure that our destination continues to appeal to the investors market so that the destination can continue to grow, which will open opportunities for the island.
When I joined the CIA a few years before 9/11, I imagined a rewarding career where I would serve my adopted country. I was expecting a stable life, with a stable salary, a fulfilling life overseas, representing the interests of the United States while getting to know different peoples and cultures.

by Anbereen Hasan

This paper is written by a South Asian, Muslim, female immigrant. She became a naturalized American citizen in 1996. The author has had a twenty-one-year career at the CIA, ascending to its senior ranks. The paper attempts to illuminate how the author was able to meet the challenges of self-fragmentation and othering, in the aftermath of the unprecedented events of 9/11.

On 9/11 I was at my desk at the CIA Headquarters in Langley, VA. We had just started our morning meeting when the planes hit the World Trade Towers in NYC. We sat in stunned silence, trying to absorb the catastrophe before our eyes; then we shifted to frantic action. Overnight, my professional world changed. I was now front and center in our fight against terrorism. The walls outside our embassies only got higher as the world saw the U.S as a target and a threat.

I had to adapt to this new post-9/11 climate where Muslims were considered public enemy number one, while my job required me to protect Americans from these Muslims. I felt aspects of myself at odds with each other: The Muslim part of me crashing and splintering through my Western foundation.

When I joined the CIA a few years before 9/11, I imagined a rewarding career where I would serve my adopted country. I was expecting a stable life, with a stable salary, a fulfilling life overseas, representing the interests of the United States while getting to know different peoples and cultures.

The fallout from 9/11 deeply colored what was already a complex emotional journey. There were moments of elation as I realized I had broken barriers as an immigrant when I joined the worlds premier intelligence agency a mere 4 years after becoming a naturalized U.S. citizen. I loved my work as a CIA officer. Every single day for twenty-one years, I have been deeply involved in some of the most complex and dangerous issues facing our nation: from planning operations, to fighting terrorism, to recruiting spies. The former is a daily dose of adrenaline from which it can be hard to wean yourself. The latter requires developing a sixth sense about human behavior  identifying the person who is willing to commit espionage, and then guiding them through a multifaceted process of keeping them protected from detection and arrest.

Am I the other?

My experience of feeling like the other happened in very subtle ways over 21 years at the CIA. It was through the lens of 9/11 that I became more attuned to these issues of otherness. No one ever came up to me and blatantly said you dont belong. However, because I was a recent naturalized U.S. citizen and a South Asian immigrant, I already considered myself an outsider and seemingly innocuous comments reinforced my sense of being the other. And then, there were times when the comments were not so innocent.

For instance, on my first day at the CIA, I was surprised and elated by the exceedingly warm welcome I received. My boss, a White female, walked up to me with open arms and a warm hug. She said she could not be more delighted to have me on board. An hour later, a senior CIA official congratulating me said: Welcome, you are categorized as a Caucasian by the American census, not a South Asian. In an institution founded by White males, what I heard was: We see you as one of us. But what I thought was: Are other new officers greeted by being advised of their racial categorization? And what does that have to do with the work I will be doing?  The inclusive welcome did not land as it was intended. If anything, it immediately made me feel excluded by making me wonder about my racial category. What did this mean? I was fairly certain others  White officers, or Black officers  are not helpfully told which racial category they fall under. This emotional whiplash would continue throughout my career.

A few years later, while attending a seminar on South Asia led by a senior CIA officer, I was incredulous as he pointed to the map of South Asia and said, All these strange little brown people are not that dumb after all. I turned to a colleague to say how insulted I felt. This colleague  a White male  said I should just ignore it and not say anything.

Over time, as I grappled with whether or not I was accepted, muffling my rage at the comments and actions meant to sideline me, I feared that this emotional turmoil was further splintering me.

I am not the other; you are the other

I could either succumb to this fracturing and give-in to my own and societys biases, to do to others what was done to me, or I could attempt to forge a new path. My colleagues reacted with a mixture of Its not you, Its them, or You are not tough enough, and have to fight harder. This translated to: I had to work harder at making others feel like they were the problem.

Uncomfortable with these options, I adopted another way. Through self-examination and reflection, with the help of friends and colleagues, I realized that the path forward is not to give in to the institutional/societal pressures to choose a side. In the aftermath of 9/11, I have struggled with these existential questions: Do I have divided loyalties considering my ancestry is from South Asia AND I am a Muslim ? Am I an American who can passionately fight for my countrys safety? Isnt what the CIA is doing (interchangeable with the United States Government) terrible ? During my time at the CIA, was I accepted or was I rejected ? Did my colleagues accept me or was I being sidelined? The answers to all these questions are yes and no. The way forward was to embrace these ambiguities.

Forging a new path

As I rose through the ranks in the CIA, there were multiple opportunities to salve my wounds by diminishing others. However, in conversations, I noticed that my peers and colleagues were also being sidelined and excluded. I realized that this was happening regardless of race or sex  they were White, Black, Hispanic and Asian. Male and Female. This was a major turning point for me, and I began to think about how to bring the disparate parts of myself together, not set one against the other. For me, the American ideal has always been the belief that I embody multiple identities.

In the work world, I translated this into solving our mission objectives through teamwork  at the CIA we are trained as individualists, so to create these diverse teams took enormous effort, and a constant reimagining of my goals to align with my team building perspective.

In my inner world, I managed to achieve a kind of cohesion by relying more and more on others. I spent hours in intense discussions with colleagues and friends which helped me notice how similar our narratives were. I began to understand that we can only know ourselves through others. More importantly, I grasped how much of ourselves we lose in the process of othering.

I would like to conclude this reflection with a comment on forging a new path for our children in this post 9/11 world: Just as my personal journey could only have been possible in an America I believe was founded on ideals of human rights, opportunity and equality, I imagine that the path forward for our children must reach toward our common humanity.

Anbereen Hasan, Directorate of Operations, Central Intelligence Agency, Langley, VA. She can be reached at anbereenhasan@gmail.com
The long unheeded and potentially bipartisan policy advocated by thinkers like the late Sherle R. Schwenninger, co-founder of the New America Foundation and my friend, may finally have its moment.

by James W. Carden

During the autumn of 2020, the United States lost one of its most brilliant, incisive, yet unheralded thinkers in Sherle R. Schwenninger.

One of Schwenningers many gifts was his ability to anticipate far in advance trends that would shape U.S. foreign policy and the global political economy. He was also one of the first thinkers to promote an alternative to the stale liberal internationalism and neoconservatism that have dominated the foreign policy discussion in Washington. According to Schwenninger, The progressive realist critique centered around international law; non-intervention; disarmament; and winding down the worst excesses of the post-9/11 period. Though he sadly did not live to see it, perhaps history is finally moving in Schwenningers direction as far as U.S. foreign policy is concerned.

The idea, progressive realism, was the focus of a special issue of the Nation on foreign policy that was edited by Schwenninger during the week Donald Trump took office in January 2017.

In an unsigned introductory note, Schwenninger wrote that progressives would be wise to avoid two tendencies in the coming years. He further said:

The first is defining a progressive foreign policy as simply a rejection of whatever Trump says or does. Of course, he has already appointed some dangerous extremists to important foreign-policy positions, and Trump himself is erratic at best But some of his statementshis calls to work with Russia, end Americas destructive wars, and create more equitable trade agreementsare not so far removed from ones that we ourselves have embraced. We will need to champion our own progressive version of these positions rather than simply reject them outright.

The second tendency we should avoid is falling into nostalgia for the Obama era.

The advice he offered American liberals and progressives, which now hardly needs pointing out, was resoundingly rejected.

Indeed, building a viable progressive foreign policy alternative after 2017 was made virtually impossible by the childish hysteria that marked the liberal reaction toward Trump. On Capitol Hill, meanwhile, out of the entire Democratic caucus, only threeBay Area Reps. Ro Khanna and Barbara Lee and Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkleyseemed receptive to such a policy, with hardly anyone else showing any enthusiasm for it. And attempts by Schwenninger and others on lobbying with stakeholders who should have been natural allies within the 2016 Bernie Sanders campaign to adopt such a policy were met with frustration.

Needless to say, for years there had been hardly any enthusiasm for progressive realist ideas at the leading think tanks and graduate schools of international relations in Washington. This was particularly true with regard to the New America Foundation, the think tank Schwenninger founded in the 1990s with Michael Lind, Ted Halstead and Walter Russell Mead, which is now known as New America.

The direction New America took in recent years was something of a sore spot for the otherwise equanimous Schwenninger, who was appalled by the turn it took in the years since it was taken over by Anne-Marie Slaughter, who served as foreign policy adviser under Hillary Clintons State Department. It was Slaughter who turned the organization into a well-funded platform for the very types of intellectuals Schwenninger distrusted most: Liberals in search of the next war.

By the time he and I became friends, the major organs of opinion in Washington and New York had become incredibly hostile toward the few of us who publicly objected to the idea that the U.S. must wage not only nine illegal and unconstitutional wars but a two-front cold war with Russia and China as well. Schwenninger could only shake his head at the spectacle of the otherwise intractable Trump opponents transforming themselves, in the blink of an eye, into his loudest cheerleaders when he decided to bomb Syria.

At the same time, Schwenninger caught sight of another troubling trend: the emerging alliance between Silicon Valley, the Pentagon and Wall Street. Schwenninger frequently lamented what he said was the progressive totalitarianism of the left when it came to foreign policy; during the Trump years, anyone who dared suggest that detente with Russia might be a sensible policy, or that, perhaps, the war in Syria was a bit more complicated than the pro-Islamist narrative being propagated by corporate media (particularly CNN and the Washington Post), would, more often than not, be immediately labeled as a Putin and/or Assad apologist or worse.

That these attacks were coming from liberals and progressives who were consciously turning their backs on their own tradition of anti-McCarthyism made this spectacle all the more pathetic.

But something has changed over the past year or so, owing, I believe, to a change in the atmospherics in Washington brought about by Trumps departure. All of a sudden, it now seems that space has opened up for those seeking to promote a kind of Schwenningerian foreign policy. The first mainstream group that appeared willing to do so was the Charles Koch and George Soros-funded Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, which was founded in 2019. In the years following, long-established think tanks such as the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and the Atlantic Council have established in-house programs that promote a more realistic and restrained U.S. foreign policy.

Still more encouraging, in his speech announcing the end of the 20-year occupation of Afghanistan, President Joe Biden repeatedly invoked national interest in defense of his decision to withdraw from Afghanistan. For Biden, this was the end of an era of major military operations to remake other countries.

In the speech by Biden on August 31, he further said:

To those asking for a third decade of war in Afghanistan, I ask: What is the vital national interest?

I respectfully suggest you ask yourself this question: If we had been attacked on September 11, 2001, from Yemen instead of Afghanistan, would we have ever gone to war in Afghanistaneven though the Taliban controlled Afghanistan in 2001? I believe the honest answer is no. Thats because we had no vital national interest in Afghanistan other than to prevent an attack on Americas homeland and our friends.

The fundamental obligation of a President, in my opinion, is to defend and protect America.

I simply do not believe that the safety and security of America is enhanced by continuing to deploy thousands of American troops and spending billions of dollars a year in Afghanistan.

In doing so, Biden seems to have adopted a number of themes that scholars like Schwenninger have long advocated.

Though he sadly did not live to see it, perhaps history is finally moving in Schwenningers direction as far as U.S. foreign policy is concerned.

This article was produced by Globetrotter.

James W. Carden is a writing fellow at Globetrotter and a former adviser to the U.S. State Department. Previously, he was a contributing writer on foreign affairs at the Nation, and his work has also appeared in the Quincy Institutes Responsible Statecraft, the American Conservative, Asia Times, and more.
At least 27 million students in the region were not able to attend any in-school education since the beginning of the pandemic.

The education of more than 800 million children  400 million in South Asia, 260 million in East Asia and 140 million in Southeast Asia  across Asia has been disrupted due to school closures since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, and of that number, more than 27 million children have been waiting for more than a year to return to their classrooms, according to the report, Situation Analysis on the Effects and Responses to COVID-19 on the Education Sector in Asia (hereafter Report or SitAn Report), released today by UNICEF and UNESCO.









The Report highlights the continued impact of the pandemic on childrens education and features various regional governments programmes and initiatives to respond to it. At a time of the year when children traditionally should have returned to school from annual holidays, the report urges governments to reopen schools as soon as it is safe to do so.

Responding to the advent and spread of the pandemic in 2020, schools in Asia were fully closed on average for 50 per cent of teaching days. In some countries, for example the Philippines schools have been closed throughout the entire pandemic to date, leaving an estimated 27 million students in pre-primary to secondary education without any in-person learning, a continuous period running from early 2020 to the present for over a year and counting. In Bangladesh, schools have been closed throughout the entire pandemic until 12 September, when they reopened again.

Even now, as the world enters the last quarter of 2021, many children are facing an unprecedented second year of school closures as new variants of the coronavirus spread across the region. The associated consequences of such continuous school closures are staggering and include learning loss; mental distress; missed school meals and routine vaccinations; heightened risk of drop out of structured education; increased, child labour; and increased child marriage. Many of these dire consequences are already affecting countless children, and many will continue to be felt in the years to come.

We cannot overlook the impact that the disruption of education services has had on children, particularly the most vulnerable. When schools remain closed, children miss out on the biggest opportunity to learn and develop to their full potential. The future of an entire generation is at stake; therefore, we need every effort to ensure a safe reopening of schools as soon as possible. Otherwise, the learning loss will be difficult to overcome, stated Marcoluigi Corsi, UNICEF Regional Director a.i. for East Asia and Pacific.

While countries across Asia are taking actions to provide students with distance learning, at least 28 per cent, or 220 million pre-primary to upper secondary students in the region, are not being reached. In addition to the lack of material assets and support to access technology, other significant obstacles that prevent disadvantaged children, and many girls, from accessing distance learning during these difficult times include a generally poor learning environment, an increase in pressure to take up domestic household chores and being forced to work outside the home.

This is why the report underscores the importance of delivering equitable and inclusive distance learning at scale to reach all children during full or partial school closures, while providing a package of support to ensure childrens health, nutrition and wellbeing. It also calls on governments and partners to strengthen teaching and teacher support, so as to address current low levels of learning and help narrow the learning divide, and protect and preserve education funding.

Unless mitigation measures are swiftly implemented, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) estimates an economic loss of USD $1.25 trillion for Asia, which is equivalent to 5.4 per cent of the regions 2020 gross domestic product (GDP). Existing evidence shows that the cost of addressing learning gaps are lower and more effective when they are tackled early on in a crisis, and that ongoing investments made in education will support economic recovery, growth and prosperity.

Governments, partners and the private sector will need to work together, not only to get the strategies and levels of investment right, but to build more resilient, effective and inclusive systems that are able to deliver on the promise of education as a fundamental human right for all children, whether schools are open or closed, said George Laryea-Adjei, UNICEF Regional Director for South Asia.

Estimates indicate that 7 million schoolchildren in Asia are at risk of dropping out of school due to the pandemic  reversing progress made in school enrolment in recent decades. According to the Report, education budgets in the region will need to increase by an average of 10 per cent to catch up with such losses if Asia is to reach the education targets of the UN 2030 Agendas Sustainable Development Goals in the next nine years.

While major efforts are needed to mitigate the learning loss of those children who return to school in the post-COVID-19 recovery phase, we must also remember that 128 million children in Asia were already out of school at the onset of the pandemic; this figure represents roughly half of all out-of-school children globally. This is a learning crisis which needs to be addressed, said Shigeru Aoyagi, Director of UNESCO Bangkok.

Since the start of the pandemic, UNICEF and UNESCO have supported national governments to maintain and improve interventions to ensure continuity of childrens learning and to safely reopen and operate schools.

UNICEF and UNESCO would like to acknowledge the generous financial contribution of the Global Partnership for Education (GPE), without which this SitAn would not have been possible.
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United Nations Day

Members of the Global Service Centre ARC (4U1GSC) are now active as 4U24OCT from Brindisi, Italy.

Activity is to mark 'United Nations Day' (October 24th), which has been celebrated since 1948.

The purpose of the UN Day event is to promote to people worldwide the principles of humanity, unity, and world peace.

Operations should be on 160-10 meters. Remember, this operation only counts for Italy for DXCC

QSL via 9A2AA or ClubLog

OPDX
Bir Lahlou (Liberated Territories), 19 October 2021 (SPS) - The President of the Republic, Secretary General of the Polisario Front, Brahim Ghali, has condemned the silence of the United Nations in the face of Morocco's violation of the ceasefire agreement on November 13, 2020 in the illegal breach of El Guergarate.

In a letter addressed Tuesday to the UN SG, Antonio Guterres, following his report to the UN Security Council, President Ghali said that the Frente POLISARIO deeply deplores the complicit silence of the UN Secretariat and its inexcusable reluctance to call a spade a spade and identify the occupying state of Morocco as the direct and only responsible for breaching the ceasefire that lasted for almost thirty years as an integral part of the UN-OAU Settlement Plan, which was accepted by both parties, the Frente POLISARIO and Morocco, in August 1988 and approved by the Security Council in its resolutions 658 (1990) and 690 (1991).

Contrary to the selective and reductive account of the events of 13 November 2020 as outlined in the Report (S/2021/843, para. 13 in particular), it is undeniable that it was the occupying state of Morocco that violated the 1991 ceasefire and related military agreements, including Military Agreement No. 1, by moving its armed forces early that day into what was then called the Buffer Strip in Guerguerat in the Sahrawi Liberated Territories.

Moreover, the well-documented violent assault carried out by the Moroccan forces on 13 November 2020 against the group of Sahrawi civilians who were protesting peacefully in the area against Moroccos illegal occupation is equally undeniable. Faced with the Moroccan act of aggression, the armed forces of the Frente POLISARIO were forced to engage the Moroccan forces in self-defence and to protect the civilians who were evacuated to safe locations, he added.

This is the full text of the letter:

Letter from the President of the Sahrawi Republic and Secretary General of the Frente Popular para la Liberacion de Saguia el-Hamra y de Rio de Oro (Frente POLISARIO) addressed to the Secretary-General of the United Nations

Bir Lehlou, 18 October 2021



Your Excellency,

The Frente POLISARIO takes note of the report of the UN Secretary-General (S/2021/843) on the Situation concerning Western Sahara, submitted to the Security Council on 1 October 2021, and would like to place on record its views regarding several elements contained in the Report.

The Frente POLISARIO deeply deplores the complicit silence of the UN Secretariat and its inexcusable reluctance to call a spade a spade and identify the occupying state of Morocco as the direct and only responsible for breaching the ceasefire that lasted for almost thirty years as an integral part of the UN-OAU Settlement Plan, which was accepted by both parties, the Frente POLISARIO and Morocco, in August 1988 and approved by the Security Council in its resolutions 658 (1990) and 690 (1991).

Contrary to the selective and reductive account of the events of 13 November 2020 as outlined in the Report (S/2021/843, para. 13 in particular), it is undeniable that it was the occupying state of Morocco that violated the 1991 ceasefire and related military agreements, including Military Agreement No. 1, by moving its armed forces early that day into what was then called the Buffer Strip in Guerguerat in the Sahrawi Liberated Territories.

Moreover, the well-documented violent assault carried out by the Moroccan forces on 13 November 2020 against the group of Sahrawi civilians who were protesting peacefully in the area against Moroccos illegal occupation is equally undeniable. Faced with the Moroccan act of aggression, the armed forces of the Frente POLISARIO were forced to engage the Moroccan forces in self-defence and to protect the civilians who were evacuated to safe locations.

The incursion by the Moroccan armed forces into the then called Buffer Strip and its construction of an approximately 20 km long new sand wall at Guerguerat (S/2021/843, para. 35) is therefore a blatant violation of the 1991 ceasefire and Military Agreement No. 1. Signed between MINURSO and the Frente POLISARIO on 24 December 1997 and between MINURSO and Morocco on 22 January 1998, Military Agreement No. 1 prohibited the entry, by ground or air, by the armed forces of both parties into the Buffer Strip (3.1) as well as the construction of new berm walls (sand, stone, and concrete) (3.2.1).

The failure of the Report to state, loud and clear, that the occupying state of Morocco is the direct and only responsible for breaching the 1991 ceasefire and related military agreements on 13 November 2020 is highly deplorable and totally indefensible.

Your Excellency,

The Report further recognises that the situation in Western Sahara has significantly deteriorated (S/2021/843, para. 2) since the last Report that asserted that overall calm prevailed in Western Sahara (S/2020/938, para. 2). As may be recalled, the Frente POLISARIO disagreed completely with this misleading reading of the situation prevailing in the Territory at the time in view of the unlawful, destabilising, and belligerent actions of the occupying state of Morocco, among others.



The recent events have reinforced the credibility of the position of the Frente POLISARIO and exposed those who sought to mislead the Security Council and the international community regarding the facts on the ground in the Territory.

In addition, the Report grudgingly acknowledges the resumption of hostilities between the occupying state of Morocco and the Frente POLISARIO (S/2021/843, para. 2), and consequently the collapse of the 1991 ceasefire and related military agreements. This fact is also undeniable despite the attempts by certain quarters to cover it up or diminish its impact on the current situation in Western Sahara and the operation of MINURSO in the Territory.

Undoubtedly, the recognition by the UN Secretariat of the resumption of hostilities in Western Sahara after almost 30 years of ceasefire refutes emphatically the repeatedly stated position of the occupying state of Morocco and its persistent assertion that there is a total absence of any armed conflict (S/2021/843, para. 16). It also deals a heavy blow to its mendacious propaganda aiming at misleading its own public opinion regarding the reality of the war that it has once again ignited in the Territory.

Nevertheless, such recognition is very far from being sufficient or objective. Besides providing an ambiguous account of the events leading up to the resumption of hostilities on 13 November 2020, the Report fails to identify and hold the occupying state of Morocco directly responsible for its well-documented breach of the 1991 ceasefire and related military agreements. This indefensible omission seriously undermines the credibility of the UN Secretariat in the eyes of the Sahrawi people and deepens their loss of faith in the United Nations and its Mission in the Territory.

The Frente POLISARIO cannot accept the selective and reductive account of the events of 13 November 2020 and subsequent developments, as described in the Report, because this description can in no way be the basis for a full and objective assessment of the situation in the Territory. The Frente POLISARIO calls upon the members of the Security Council to seriously take into account the implications of this gross omission when they convene to deliberate on the renewal of MINURSO mandate in the coming few days.

Your Excellency,

The Report points out that finding a just, lasting and mutually acceptable political solution that will provide for the self-determination of the people of Western Sahara in accordance with resolutions 2440 (2018), 2468 (2019), 2494 (2019) and 2548 (2020) requires strong political will from the parties, as well as from the international community (S/2021/843, para 85).

The guidelines provided by the Security Council as to the nature of the solution to the conflict in Western Sahara for which MINURSO was established in 1991 are not contained only in the above cited Security Council resolutions. Moreover, the Security Council has always recalled and reaffirmed all its previous resolutions on Western Sahara including in its resolution 2548 (2020).

Limiting the nature of the solution to the above cited Security Council resolutions is therefore a subjective and reductive interpretation that is supported neither by Security Council resolutions as an integrated whole nor by the letter and spirit of the peace plan that underlies MINURSO mandate and its raison detre.

Regarding human rights, the Report points out that, for the sixth consecutive year, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has been prevented from visiting Western Sahara, resulting in substantial gaps in human rights monitoring in the Territory (S/2021/843, para. 73). Once again, the occupying state of Morocco is not held responsible for obstructing the work of UN bodies nor for its continued restrictions on the rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association in Western Sahara, especially following the developments in November 2020 (S/2021/843, para 74).

The Report moreover refers to the use of force by Moroccan security forces to disperse protests and the conduct of house raids without warrants, arbitrary arrests and detention, unlawful and arbitrary surveillance, harassment, intimidation and destruction of property as well as torture and ill-treatment of protestors, journalists, bloggers, lawyers and human rights defenders (S/2021/843, para. 74) in the Occupied Western Sahara.

Nevertheless, due to the continuing lack of accountability and the absence of any UN mechanism for monitoring the human rights situation in the Occupied Western Sahara, the occupying state of Morocco and its security forces persist, with complete impunity, in their repressive actions against Sahrawi civilians and human rights defenders away from international scrutiny because of the continued military blockade and media blackout imposed on the Territory.

Given the persistent systematic human rights violations perpetrated by Moroccan occupying authorities against the Sahrawi people, it is imperative that MINURSO mandate be expanded to include a human rights component that would enable the independent, impartial, comprehensive and sustained monitoring of the human rights situation (S/2021/843, para. 92) in the Mission area, as called for repeatedly by the Secretary-General in his previous reports.

When mentioning the African Union (AU), the Report refers to the fourteenth extraordinary session on Silencing the Guns in Africa of the AU Assembly of Heads of State and Government, held on 6 December 2020, and to paragraph 15 of its decision 1 (XIV), in which the Assembly expresse[d] deep concern over the escalating military tensions between Morocco and the Sahrawi Republic in Guerguerat (S/2021/843, para. 79).

The Report however fails to mention that the decision taken by the AU Peace and Security Council (PSC) on 9 March 2021 requested the Sahrawi Republic and Morocco to immediately cease hostilities and create conducive environment for direct and candid talks in line with Article 4 of the AU Constitutive Act. Moreover, the Report fails, for the fifth consecutive time, to inform the Security Council that Morocco still refuses to allow the AU Observer Mission to return to Western Sahara and resume its collaboration with MINURSO.

Your Excellency,

In paragraph 88, the Report (S/2021/843) notes that it is essential that Frente POLISARIO immediately remove all limitations to the free movement of MINURSO ground convoys, air assets, and personnel east of the berm, and allow a free flow of logistics and maintenance services. This statement completely overlooks the evolution of the situation on the ground and its significant impact on MINURSO operations in the Sahrawi Liberated Territories and does not do justice to the position of the Frente POLISARIO in this regard.

It bears noting in this context that, in the face of the Moroccan act of aggression that put an end to the 1991 ceasefire and related military agreements and the UN total inaction, the Frente POLISARIO declared, by virtue of a Presidential Decree dated 13 November 2020, that it was no longer bound by the 1991 ceasefire and related military agreements and the obligations derived therefrom. It also declared that it was resuming its legitimate armed struggle in self-defence (S/2021/843, para 15).

This position was officially communicated to the UN Secretariat, the Members of the Security Council, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Western Sahara, MINURSO Force Commander as well as UN Member States and the African Union.

Nonetheless, the Frente POLISARIO remains committed to ensuring the security and safety of MINURSO military observers deployed in the Sahrawi Liberated Territories. In this regard, as recognised by the Mission itself, the Frente POLISARIO continues to do its utmost, under the most difficult circumstances, to secure safe passage, whenever needed, for MINURSO flights to do troop rotations, deliver essential supplies to the Mission Team Sites, and to conduct urgent medical evacuations. It also continues to provide safe passage for MINURSO ground patrols between the Mission Team Sites in the Sahrawi Liberated Territories for rotation operations, logistics and maintenance services. In addition, the Frente POLISARIO has also provided diesel fuel to MINURSO Team Sites on several occasions, and it remains committed to assisting the Mission as much as possible.

In view of the above, the invocation of the concept of freedom of movement in connection with the operation of MINURSO military observers in the Sahrawi Liberated Territories is completely out of the question. It also gives the impression that the UN Secretariat still deals with the situation on the ground as if nothing had happened. The UN Secretariat and all other stakeholders should therefore fully realise the fact that, as far as the Frente POLISARIO is concerned, the 1991 ceasefire and related military agreements and the obligations derived therefrom are no longer effective since 13 November 2020.

The UN Secretariat and all other stakeholders should also realise that the ability of MINURSO military observers to move freely, under the current circumstances, and to conduct regular patrols within a 20-kilometre radius from their respective Team Sites (S/2021/843, para. 29) in the Sahrawi Liberated Territories is not because of any obligation related to a ceasefire that is no longer effective. It is rather due to the good will of the Frente POLISARIO and its willingness to mitigate the operational and other effects on MINURSO personnel resulting from the ongoing war. It is also a demonstration of the Frente POLISARIOs continued commitment to the mandate for which implementation MINURSO was deployed in the Territory in 1991.

Your Excellency,

In the observations and recommendations, the Report observes that the status of the buffer strip as a demilitarized zone remains a cornerstone of a peaceful solution to the situation of Western Sahara and that daily incursions into this zone and hostilities between the parties have significantly undermined the arrangements that have been the basis for a ceasefire for the past 30 years (S/2021/843, para 84).

The realisation of the importance of the then called Buffer Strip for the ceasefire should logically lead to holding the occupying state of Morocco accountable for its continued incursions into the demilitarised zone in Guerguerat and therefore demanding it to immediately reverse the fait accompli that it had created by force in that zone. However, the Report remains silent on this issue as if the new situation in Guerguerat were irreversible (S/2021/843, para. 23), which the Frente POLISARIO rejects categorically.

The Frente POLISARIO has been repeatedly warning the UN Secretariat and the Security Council against the danger of not seeing the wood for the trees in relation to the situation in the then called Buffer Strip. The Frente POLISARIO has consistently underscored that the root cause of the continued tension in Guerguerat was the existence of the illegal breach in the Moroccan illegal military wall, which the UN had regrettably done nothing about. As it turned out, the UN failure to deal robustly and decisively with the illegal breach in Guerguerat has, among other things, led to the ongoing war.

In concluding, the Frente POLISARIO takes note of the Secretary-Generals call for the achievement of a solution to the question of Western Sahara through negotiation (S/2021/843, para. 86). However, the Frente POLISARIO stresses once again that no genuine, credible, and viable peace process, which would serve the cause of peace, security, and stability in the region, will ever be possible as long as the occupying state of Morocco persists, with complete impunity, in its unlawful actions and attempts to forcibly impose a colonial fait accompli in the Occupied Western Sahara.

The Frente POLISARIO further reaffirms that the only way forward to achieve a peaceful, just, and enduring solution to the decolonisation of Western Sahara is to enable the Sahrawi people to exercise freely and democratically their inalienable and non-negotiable right to self-determination and independence in accordance with the precepts of international legality and relevant resolutions of the United Nations and the African Union.

I would be grateful if you would bring this letter to the attention of the Members of the Security Council.

Please accept, Your Excellency, the assurances of my highest consideration.

(signed)



Brahim Ghali



President of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic



Secretary-General of the Frente POLISARIO

H.E. Mr Antonio Guterres



United Nations Secretary-General



United Nations, New York

062
The Implematic range was followed up with the launch of the Selectamatic 990 in 1965. The livery was changed from red and yellow to the iconic orchid white bodywork and poppy red wheels and mechanics. The term Selectamatic referred to the hydraulic system and the tractor boasted a multi-speed PTO as standard, differential lock and an engine uprated to 55hp.

The main production run lasted until 1971, with smaller runs being produced right up to 1980. More than 67,000 990s were built at the companys Meltham works, making it numerically the most popular David Brown tractor ever built.

The 990s sibling, the 880, also celebrates its 60th anniversary this year. It was offered alongside the 990 from 1961 as a four-cylinder Implematic developing 42.5hp from its diesel engine. In 1964 the first model was superseded by the new three-cylinder engine which produced higher torque and better pulling power.

A year later the 880 was upgraded again, adopting the same Selectamatic hydraulic system as the 990 and the new colour scheme. Production ran until 1971 with a total of nearly 40,000 machines having left the factory for use across the world.

The third key anniversary that will be celebrated at the show is the 50th year since the Hydrashift gear system was introduced in the 1212 tractor. This revolutionary gearbox, introduced in 1971, was one of the first semi-automatic powershift transmissions fitted to a tractor in the UK.

Through low, middle and high ranges and selectable without a clutch through 1,2,3 and 4 gears made tractors infinitely more controllable in the field. Such was the groundbreaking innovation, descendants of the Hydrashift still keep modern-day tractors working hard on the land, Mr Brereton says.

This importance to agriculture meant David Brown Tractors Ltd was awarded the Queens Award to Industry and the Design Council Award. Visitors to the Newark Tractor Show will be able to see a wide range of David Brown tractors, alongside other key historic brands and equipment.

The Newark Vintage Tractor & Heritage Show is organised by the Newark and Nottinghamshire Agricultural Society and supported by the Nottinghamshire branch of the National Vintage Tractor and Engine Club (NVTEC). The Newark and Nottinghamshire Agricultural Society is a charity whose main objective is to promote and champion agriculture throughout Nottinghamshire and the East Midlands region.
General Colin Powell at the Concordance Academy of Leadership Gateway Gala in St. Louis, Missouri in July 2016.
DGAP-Ad-hoc: Dexus Finance Pty Limited / Key word(s): AGM/EGM/Real Estate

Dexus Finance Pty Limited: 2021 AGM Chair and CEO address



19-Oct-2021 / 05:27 CET/CEST

Disclosure of an inside information acc. to Article 17 MAR of the Regulation (EU) No 596/2014, transmitted by DGAP - a service of EQS Group AG.

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.





Dexus (ASX: DXS)

ASX release

19 October 2021

2021 AGM Chair and CEO Address

Dexus releases the attached Chair and CEO address for the Dexus Annual General Meeting (AGM) which is being held today at 2.00pm (AEDT).

The meeting will be webcast and can be viewed by using the following link:

https://agmlive.link/DXS21

To view the full ASX release and presentation, download the PDF available at https://www.dexus.com/investor-centre/results-and-reporting/asx-announcements

Authorised by the Board of Dexus Funds Management Limited

For further information please contact:

Investors

Rowena Causley

Senior Manager, Investor Relations

+61 2 9017 1390

+61 416 122 383

rowena.causley@dexus.com Media

Louise Murray

Senior Manager, Corporate Communications

+61 2 9017 1446

+61 403 260 754

louise.murray@dexus.com

Dexus 2021 Annual General Meeting

Chair's address

Good afternoon everyone and welcome to our 2021 Annual General Meeting. I'm Richard Sheppard, Chair of the Board of Directors of Dexus Funds Management Limited.

On behalf of the Dexus Board, I appreciate your understanding of the changes we have made to the meeting format. It is encouraging to see the increased vaccination rates across the country and that restrictions have recently started to ease for vaccinated people in New South Wales, with a further easing in the coming months. We hope that next year we will be able to hold this meeting in person at one of our Dexus Place facilities, which is our preferred format.

I'll table my appointment as Chair of today's meeting and open the meeting.

I would like to acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we are presenting from today, and pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging. I would also like to extend that respect to, and welcome, any First Nations people who are joining our meeting today. This acknowledgement is important to us as we are starting our journey to implement the first stage of our Reconciliation Action Plan which is focused on initiatives that enhance our connection with First Nations peoples and promote reconciliation across our operations and communities.

I will start today's presentation by looking at our business. Dexus is one of Australia's leading real estate groups, managing a high-quality Australian property portfolio valued at $42.5 billion - up from $32 billion last year.

This includes our $17.5 billion investment property portfolio and our $25.0 billion funds management business. In addition, we have a $15.4 billion group development pipeline that will create future value. We have built significant scale across the office, industrial, healthcare and retail property sectors and believe our capabilities across these asset classes, along with our engaged workforce, enables us to stay connected to our purpose which is to create spaces where people thrive.

We released our 2021 Annual Report and Sustainability Report in August which reinforce our focus on creating long-term value from a financial and non-financial perspective and covers our key ESG achievements. Both reports are available on our website.

Each year, our strategy review process looks at our existing strategy and how we can better position Dexus to capitalise on new opportunities and be prepared for challenges. The pandemic has reinforced the importance of having a diversified business model, a high-quality property portfolio and a strategy that can deliver through the cycle.

Throughout the year, we maintained our focus on the strategic initiatives of increasing the resilience of portfolio income streams, expanding and diversifying the funds management business, and progressing the group development pipeline.

These initiatives have now been incorporated into revised strategic objectives that will guide the next stage of our business evolution. They include investing in sustainable income streams that provide resilience through the cycle, and being identified as the real estate investment partner of choice by expanding and diversifying our funds management business.

The strength of Dexus's balance sheet, our access to pools of capital and an agile, solution-based culture all enable us to deliver our strategy, along with our prudent approach to capital management and commitment to sustainability. The delivery of our strategy also requires us to maintain and develop a strong and experienced Executive team, which I will have more to talk about shortly.

As I just mentioned, one of our key areas of focus has been to grow and diversify the funds management business.

During the year we implemented some major strategic initiatives which grew the funds management business and positioned it for future growth including securing the merger of AMP Capital Diversified Property Fund with Dexus Wholesale Property Fund, simplifying the Dexus corporate structure (which you as Security holders approved earlier in the year), and acquiring APN Property Group.

Our funds management business provides a capital efficient way to increase our exposure to growth sectors. Our focus on growing and diversifying this business has resulted in funds under management increasing to $25 billion dollars across diversified capital sources incorpoRating wholesale pooled funds, listed REITs, joint ventures and real estate securities. Over the past nine years our funds business has achieved an 18% compound annual growth rate.

Notably, our healthcare fund now stands at more than $1.3 billion, and during the year we attracted a new capital partner to form a partnership to invest in an interest of 1 Bligh Street in Sydney. We are now integrating the APN Property Group business onto our platform and leveraging our expertise to support the strategies of those funds.

Dexus's activity during the year drove a solid financial result. From a challenging starting position during the pandemic, we provided guidance in October 2020 for a distribution per security amount that was consistent with last year. The expectation was that the operating environment would remain subdued, that our financial performance would be impacted by asset sales to maintain our balance sheet strength, and we were in the middle of the pandemic and its associated challenges and uncertainties.

A combination of better-than-expected outcomes across the property portfolio, as well as delayed settlements of asset sales and other initiatives, enabled us to announce in May this year an upgrade in our guidance to 3% growth in distribution per security. We delivered this guidance, with a full year distribution of 51.8 cents per security - resulting in a 5.5% compound annual growth rate since FY12 - or to put a bit differently, distributions have grown from 32.1 cents per security in FY12.

This result was achieved despite the ongoing impacts of the pandemic on our customer base and the extension of the government mandated National Commercial Code of Conduct, which saw rent relief provided to small and medium sized customers impacted by COVID-19.

We delivered a Return on Contributed Equity of 8.3% driven largely by Adjusted Funds From Operations and revaluation gains from completed developments at 180 Flinders Street, Melbourne and our industrial estate at Ravenhall, Victoria.

Our strong balance sheet was maintained with gearing well below our target range of 30-40%.

On behalf of the Board, I would like to acknowledge the efforts of Management and our employees in achieving these financial outcomes in what has been a very difficult operating environment.

Our properties demonstrated their resilience against the background of the pandemic and the associated lockdowns. Significant leasing was achieved over the year which resulted in office and industrial portfolio occupancy levels remaining high - and Mr Steinberg will discuss our current position on this shortly.

Obviously, the question that people are asking about office is: "what does the future hold?". Our experience based on leasing activity over the past year has shown that offices are still in demand, with a number of companies centralising into quality assets in the CBD from suburban markets.

The feedback we are getting from our customers is that workplace flexibility is here to stay, but to different degrees depending on the company. Many are adopting a blended or hybrid model that allows greater flexibility for employees to work from home but where offices continue to play an important role. The office will retain its role as a hub for collaboration, social interaction, career development and culture. This trend has some time to play out as our customers explore how to create the optimal blend of the physical and virtual workplace.

And with Prime grade assets making up 94% of our office portfolio, we have seen asset values supported through transactions, and in challenging markets tenants choosing to upgrade to better quality buildings.

We moved early in the pandemic, bringing forward some planned asset sales to enhance our financial strength at a time of heightened risk. This also ensured that we could fund the significant pipeline of growth opportunities in the development and funds business.

As you can see from this slide, we have been active in redeploying capital into opportunities across a range of sectors and into strategic transactions, all of which we believe offer attractive risk adjusted returns.

We will continue to selectively recycle assets to ensure that we maintain our balance sheet strength and reinvest into higher returning opportunities.

Our portfolio of city-shaping projects are the cornerstone of the development pipeline which has grown to over $15 billion, with the planning progressed at a number of these projects. The key projects in our development pipeline include:

Waterfront Brisbane, which is a major redevelopment of the Eagle Street Pier site and will make way for two office towers creating a vibrant retail and public space;

Central Place Sydney which is a large scale mixed-use development integrating a pedestrian and transport solution above Central station;

Right next door is the Atlassian development which will push the boundaries of what the future of workplace looks like and how it works, adopting leading sustainability credentials;

The Pitt and Bridge precinct which is a significant future office tower development in the financial core of the Sydney CBD; and

60 Collins Street, Melbourne which will create a Premium grade office tower across the road from our recently completed development at 80 Collins Street

As we emerge from the pandemic, our customers are looking to invest in their workplaces to ensure they support their business success- and so having iconic projects in prime locations is going to be an important part of meeting their future demands.

Environmental, Social and Governance, or ESG principles, are integrated across our business operations and continue to grow in importance for our customers and investors.

We are focused on managing ESG risks and opportunities while progressing our Sustainability Approach. This slide shows our achievements across key areas of our business for the year and shortly we will show you a video covering this in more detail.

Recognising the urgency to act on climate change, we have brought forward our net zero emissions target from 2030 to 30 June 2022. Through this action, which is a key focus for a number of our investors and customers, Dexus estimates it will avoid a further one million tonnes of carbon emissions from our original target. This will be achieved through continued investment in energy efficiency initiatives, transitioning to renewables, and supported by nature-based carbon offsets.

We have an experienced management team that continues to deliver on strategy. They have demonstrated their ability to capitalise on opportunities while also being able to address challenges.

Before I move on, I would like to address the topic of remuneration. While the poll on the Remuneration Report has not yet been taken, based on the proxy votes already received for Resolution 1, we expect a substantial vote against it.

The remuneration decisions made by the Board in FY21 were focused on ensuring key Executives are retained and motivated, while recognising the importance of strengthening our senior leadership succession planning and maintaining stability within a highly competitive market for talented executives.

We are dealing with an uncertain and complex operating environment and refocusing our strategy to funds management to drive long-term security holder returns, reinforcing the rationale for our decisions to retain key members of our executive team.

Our decisions were not made in isolation. We sought views from our major Security holders as well as proxy advisers to ensure their feedback was incorporated into the final decisions and structure of the retention awards granted during the year. During this engagement process, many of those consulted were supportive of measures to retain key Executives.

We value the views of our Security holders and are committed to consult, listen and consider all feedback when making remuneration decisions in the year ahead.

From what you have heard in my address today, Dexus has performed well across all financial and non-financial areas throughout FY21, including its financial performance during the COVID-19 crisis and across key non-financial measures of culture, engagement, safety and diversity.

Looking forward, we are confident of being able to deliver long-term performance beyond the recovery, through our scale and capability across traditional and emerging real estate sectors, our funds management business which provides a capital efficient way to increase our exposure to growth sectors, and our substantial city-shaping development pipeline.

Based on current expectations relating to impacts from COVID-19 and barring unforeseen circumstances, we expect to deliver distribution per security growth of not less than 2% for the 12 months ended 30 June 2022.

CEO's address

Thanks Richard and good afternoon everyone.

Despite the current complex operating environment, we had an active quarter across our business, and it is encouraging that with increased vaccination rates there is a roadmap out of the continual lockdowns that Australia has experienced over the past 18 months.

Leasing continued over the first quarter of the year, with over 129,000 square metres of space leased across our office and industrial properties, which is a strong result in a lockdown environment.

We've maintained our focus on rent collections which resulted in 97.9% of rent being collected and were involved in $1.6 billion of acquisitions which have supported the growth of our Funds Management business.

Looking at the performance of our $17.5 billion property portfolio, and over the past few months we've seen leasing activity continue and enquiry volumes remain buoyant across our office portfolio.

Our portfolio occupancy remained high versus the market at 95.1% for office and 97.2% for industrial. Across both our office and industrial portfolios, the Weighted Average Lease Expiry has increased slightly.

As Richard mentioned, our customers use of office space will continue to evolve, as it has done over time. The office is a key driver for culture, collaboration and innovation and quality workspaces will remain in demand by companies seeking to differentiate themselves in order to attract talent.

Over the past quarter we have maintained momentum from a transactional perspective through the acquisition of a portfolio of quality industrial properties alongside Dexus Industria REIT for a combined acquisition price of $1.5 billion, including Jandakot Airport and its associated industrial precinct in Perth.

These high-quality investments will further enhance the resilience of our property portfolio. The near-term development potential and scope to enhance returns by introducing third party capital is aligned with our priorities to grow our funds management business and recycle capital into high returning opportunities.

This transaction also provides the opportunity to achieve a step change in growth for the Dexus Industria REIT as it secures an interest in quality logistics-oriented real estate with embedded development potential.

We acquired a further healthcare property for Dexus Healthcare Property Fund and now have $1.8 billion of healthcare real estate on the platform.

So, to conclude, we are well prepared to continue to deliver for our investors.

We have a high-quality real estate portfolio that continues to remain relevant to our customer base.

Our diversified funds business with long-term partnerships continues to attract capital, providing secure annuity-style income and co-investment opportunities.

And our significant development pipeline provides embedded growth for Dexus and our third party capital partners.

All of this is enabled by our quality people, scalable and efficient operating platform, and strong balance sheet.

Before passing back to Richard, I would like to thank my fellow Directors and the Dexus team for their commitment and contribution over the past 12 months, and you, our investors, for your continued support.

ENDS
DGAP-Ad-hoc: Dexus Finance Pty Limited / Key word(s): Real Estate/Quarter Results

Dexus Finance Pty Limited: September 2021 quarter update - Platform expansion in line with strategy



19-Oct-2021 / 01:28 CET/CEST

Disclosure of an inside information acc. to Article 17 MAR of the Regulation (EU) No 596/2014, transmitted by DGAP - a service of EQS Group AG.

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.



Dexus (ASX: DXS) ASX release 19 October 2021 September 2021 quarter update - Platform expansion in line with strategy Dexus today announced an update for the quarter ended 30 September 2021 which saw the continuation of COVID-19 lockdowns in Sydney and Melbourne and acceleration of the COVID-19 vaccine roll out, with restrictions easing recently. Darren Steinberg, Dexus CEO said: "It's been an active start to the financial year, in which we have continued growth in our funds management business. We finalised the acquisition of APN Property Group and helped to deliver significant initiatives for both listed REITs through acquisitions and equity raisings. "Despite the disruption caused by the lockdowns in Sydney and Melbourne, leasing activity has continued across our portfolio and occupancy remains above 95%. Continued evidence of a flight to quality within our leasing results highlights the demand for quality workspace in well-located CBD assets." Highlights Following the approval by APN securityholders, Dexus implemented the acquisition of all the APN stapled securities on 13 August 2021 and rebranded to Dexus on 5 October 2021

Undertook equity raisings of circa $405 million for Dexus Industria REIT (Industria) and Dexus Convenience Retail REIT (DXC), facilitating quality acquisitions with Dexus investing alongside Industria to acquire a $1.5 billion [1] industrial portfolio and achieve transformational growth for Industria

industrial portfolio and achieve transformational growth for Industria Completed 95 leasing transactions[2] across 129,043 square metres in the Dexus office portfolio and Dexus industrial portfolio, and maintained high rent collections of 97.9% for the September quarter Funds Management Consistent with Dexus's strategic focus to expand and diversify the funds management business, Dexus undertook several initiatives in an active first quarter, including acquisitions and equity raisings for DXC and Industria mentioned above. The funds business now has 20 vehicles across $25.7 billion. Dexus Healthcare Property Fund (DHPF) recently acquired Arcadia Pittwater Private Hospital and day rehabilitation facility located in Warriewood on the Northern Beaches of Sydney, growing DHPF's funds under management to over $1.3 billion[3] across nine assets. Dexus now has $1.8 billion3 of healthcare property and investments across the group. Dexus Real Estate Partnership 1 has received first capital commitments, with multiple closes anticipated over the next 12 months. The fund is in the process of executing its first two investments and is actively pursuing further opportunities. In April 2021 when unitholders in both Dexus Wholesale Property Fund (DWPF) and AMP Capital Diversified Property Fund (ADPF) approved the merger of the two funds, ADPF was subject to a meaningful volume of redemption requests from existing ADPF Unitholders, which Dexus expects to satisfy on a pro rata basis over an approximate 18-month period through the divestment of a number of assets. During the quarter DWPF completed two asset sales from the portfolio of Dexus ADPF Identified Assets. This will enable the first partial settlement of redemptions of approximately $620 million to be paid to Dexus ADPF Unitholders in the coming quarter. Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) update Dexus has once again been recognised as a global leader in sustainability by Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB) in its 2021 Real Estate Assessment, with Dexus and Dexus Office Trust (DOT) ranking 1st in Public Disclosure for Australian Office entities, and DWPF was named Overall Regional Sector Leader for Diversified Office and Retail entities. DHPF also ranked 1st in Healthcare Centres and 2nd in Developments for Non-Listed Healthcare entities. In addition, DXS, DWPF and DOT each retained a 5 Star GRESB Rating, placing their portfolios in the top 20% of all GRESB participants globally. Property portfolio Dexus Office Portfolio Key metrics 30 Sept 2021 30 June 2021 Occupancy by income 95.1% 95.2% Occupancy by area 94.6% 94.6% Weighted average lease expiry (by income) 4.8 years 4.6 years Average incentives 31.3% 24.9% Over the quarter to 30 September 2021, a total of 45,138 square metres[4] of office space was leased across 73 transactions. In addition, 323 square metres4 was leased across one transaction at an office development. Dexus office portfolio occupancy reduced marginally to 95.1%. Key leasing activity included: In Melbourne, securing two new customers across 10,858 square metres at 180 Lonsdale Street

securing two new customers across 10,858 square metres at 180 Lonsdale Street In Perth, securing leasing across 2,141 square metres at 240 St Georges Terrace

securing leasing across 2,141 square metres at 240 St Georges Terrace In Sydney, renewing a customer across 3,139 square metres at 383-395 Kent Street and securing leasing across 8,575 square metres at 100 Harris Street, Pyrmont The lockdowns have extended for longer than anticipated back in early August, however enquiry volumes have remained buoyant, predominantly driven by the finance, government, IT and business services sectors. The path to recovery is clearer, with the return to work expected to gain momentum from early CY22. In addition, during the quarter a number of customers were secured from lower quality buildings, a continuation of the trend observed in FY21. While companies will continue to experiment with different workplace models, the majority see the office as a very important part of their organisational strategy. Average incentives in the quarter were elevated compared to FY21, driven by larger deals secured in lockdown-affected markets. As the return to work takes hold from early 2022, we expect incentives to moderate once again and continue to see the potential for incentives to decline in Sydney and Premium grade Melbourne assets, albeit the latest lockdowns could slow the rate of improvement.



Dexus Industrial Portfolio Key metrics 30 Sept 2021 30 June 2021 Occupancy by income 97.2% 97.7% Occupancy by area 98.2% 98.7% Weighted average lease expiry (by income) 4.6 years 4.4 years Average incentives[5] 8.2% 17.8% Over the quarter to 30 September 2021, 53,326 square metres4 of industrial space was leased across 15 transactions. In addition, 30,257 square metres4 was leased across 6 transactions at industrial developments. Dexus industrial portfolio occupancy reduced slightly to 97.2% following the completion of the development at 425-479 Freeman Road, Richlands. WALE increased slightly to 4.6 years due to development completions and acquisitions. Key leasing activity included: Renewing a tenant across 27,612 square metres at Kings Park Industrial Estate, Marayong

Securing a new tenant across 3,761 square metres at 1 Foundation Place, Greystanes

Securing development leasing of 6,099 square metres at 12 Frederick Street, St Leonards Development and Trading Dexus's group development pipeline increased to $15.4 billion, of which $9.0 billion sits within the Dexus portfolio and $6.4 billion within third party funds. During the quarter, Dexus completed a 51,600 square metre industrial development at Lot 401 Innovation Drive, Mickleham in Victoria and progressed five other industrial projects, all in Victoria. Transactions Continuing an active year of transactions, $1.6 billion of acquisitions were undertaken across the group in the industrial, healthcare and convenience retail sectors. The recently announced industrial portfolio acquisition including Jandakot Airport in Perth provides a meaningful industrial footprint in Western Australia and new Sydney product to service our growing customer base, with scope to enhance returns through development and the introduction of additional third party capital. Post 30 September, the Dexus Industrial Partnership completed the circa $123 million acquisition of

113-153 Aldington Road in Kemps Creek, NSW. Summary and outlook Darren Steinberg said: "Strong momentum has continued across our diversified property platform in the first quarter of FY22. Moving forward, we will continue to deliver superior risk-adjusted returns for investors by executing on our strategic objectives of increasing the resilience of portfolio income streams, while expanding and diversifying the funds management business. "It is encouraging that with high vaccination rates there is a roadmap out of the intermittent lockdowns that Australia has experienced over the past 18 months, and with the Australian economy in a good position we expect office markets to strengthen from early next year." Dexus maintains its guidance of delivering distribution per security growth of not less than 2% for the 12 months ended 30 June 2022 based on current expectations relating to COVID-19 and barring unforeseen circumstances. Authorised by Brett Cameron, General Counsel and Company Secretary of Dexus Funds Management Limited. For further information please contact: Investors

Rowena Causley

Senior Manager, Investor Relations

+61 2 9017 1390

+61 416 122 383

rowena.causley@dexus.com Media

Louise Murray

Senior Manager, Corporate Communications

+61 2 9017 1446

+61 403 260 754

louise.murray@dexus.com [1] Reflects combined acquisition price and includes the fund-through cost of Lot 2, 884-928 Mamre Road, Kemps Creek and excludes forecast future development spend. [2] Including Heads of Agreement and development leasing transactions. [3] Includes Dexus ownership interest on completion value of assets under development. Includes Spring Hill Medical Centre and Herston Car Park expected to settle in the coming months. [4] Including Heads of Agreement. [5] Excludes development leasing. FY21 industrial incentives were previously stated including development leasing at 19.1%. Including development leasing, industrial incentives were 15.3% for the quarter to 30 September 2021. Information and Explanation of the Issuer to this News:



About Dexus Dexus (ASX: DXS) is one of Australia's leading fully integrated real estate groups, managing a high-quality Australian property portfolio valued at $42.5 billion. We believe that the strength and quality of our relationships will always be central to our success and are deeply committed to working with our customers to provide spaces that engage and inspire. We invest only in Australia, and directly own $17.5 billion of office, industrial and healthcare properties, and investments. We manage a further $25.0 billion of office, retail, industrial and healthcare properties for third party clients. The group's $15.4 billion development pipeline provides the opportunity to grow both portfolios and enhance future returns. Sustainability is integrated across our business, and our sustainability approach is the lens we use to manage emerging ESG risks and opportunities for all our stakeholders. Dexus is a Top 50 entity by market capitalisation listed on the Australian Securities Exchange and is supported by more than 30,000 investors from 23 countries. With over 35 years of expertise in property investment, funds management, asset management and development, we have a proven track record in capital and risk management and delivering superior risk-adjusted returns for investors. www.dexus.com Dexus Funds Management Ltd ABN 24 060 920 783, AFSL 238163, as Responsible Entity for Dexus (ASX: DXS)

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As of now, we dont really recommend antibody testing as a way of directing your care because even if you have some antibodies after vaccination or disease, you should still get vaccinated or receive the booster, she said. This is because you dont know when the level will wane low enough to not really be protective anymore for you as an individual. Most labs will give you a reference number, above which you are considered to be protected but the number per se is not very indicative of what would happen should you become re-infected.
Bauman had showed up to the school with his daughter the previous three days protesting the COVID mask mandate. On that day, the victim walked up to Bauman, who was filming the confrontation on his phone, and said Im so sick of you doing this, and grabbed his phone, according to Honowitz. She goes on to say that Bauman grabbed the student only in an attempt to get his phone back.
We would just take drives in town with the kids. I know Boca. We got married here. Thats why we moved here, she says. We got to Mizner one day and I remember always thinking, this is the coolest venue. I just said to Dave, Honey, can you imagine if some day we could create a comedy venue here? And that was it.
Much of the opposition seemed to stem from fears that the Old School Square itself could disappear, but Petrolia said that the center itself is not in jeopardy. She just wants a different organization to run it.
But if theyre not and they abdicate that responsibility to the people of Florida, then I think at some point were going to have to do something to make sure things are being done properly, because at the end of the day, peoples lives are on the line.
What Ive been wanting to remind the public is that these are the types of calls that officers handle every day and every shift and what can seem very routine to the public ... This is a good example of how in one second it can go from just an interview to an officer fighting for his life, Skirvin said.
Another goal for the committee is looking into why U.S. Capitol Police  as well as federal, state and local law enforcement agencies  were so ill-prepared for the rally-turned-insurrection and whether their response, after it began, was inadequate. The factors that contributed to the attack, including the role of technology companies and online platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, is also under review.
The BSO dispatch transcript proves that during the merely four-and-a-half minutes that he was on the scene while Cruz was committing his atrocities, Peterson worked diligently to protect students, faculty and his fellow officers. For example, he repeatedly reported on his police radio, shots fired, provided his location, ordered a Code Red, instructed the assistant principal to review surveillance video during the shooting to ascertain the shooters precise location, and relayed information to the first responders on the scene. He did so much more to help save lives during the shooting, but the public was never informed of those actions. Instead, we were erroneously sold the narrative that he was cowering in the corner, doing nothing and saving his own hide.
He would be a forceful voice for stagnant communities desperate for a new generation of leaders. Like it or not, many Democrats are shifting leftward, a trend that appears likely to continue. Because Congress is a seniority-bound institution and the winner of this race could be there for decades, as Hastings was, people should vote with an eye toward the future, not just the present.
If you already subscribe to our print edition, sign up for FREE access to our online edition. Thanks for reading The Henderson News.
LOBAMBA  Some Members of Parliament (MPs) have called for the release of their incarcerated colleagues, at least on bail.

One of the submissions was made by Timpisini MP Nelson Mamba. He said it was clear that one of the major calls by emaSwati was the release of the MPs.

The MPs, who are in jail, are Hosea MP Mduduzi Bacede Mabuza and Ngwempisi MP Mthandeni Dube who were arrested in July 2021. Government must release the MPs because the unrest is caused by their continued incarceration, it must release them and stop being proud and peace will be restored, said the MP.

Matsanjeni South MP Bomber Mamba said the only forum they could address issues was in Parliament. He said there were many other concerns, but the main issue was the arrest of the MPs and wondered what government would lose if they were released. What does the country lose if the MPs are released, wondered Mamba. He said the public transport workers were also addressing the issue. Sithobelweni MP Bhekitje Dlamini said the main issue causing the mayhem in the country was the arrest of the two MPs and the warrant of arrest which was out for Siphofaneni MP Mduduzi Gawuzela Simelane.

I told the Sithobelweni people that I will address the issue because the House is sitting, but nothing has happened, he said. The MP said he was concerned how he would go back home because he had no solutions. Nkhaba MP Zakhele Magongo said the MPs must unite so that the duo could be released. Im telling you that the situation would be better because I am in the kombi industry and I know that once Bacede and Mthandeni are released, the situation will be better, he said. The Nkhaba MP said MPs needed to unite on that note.

Drunk

Angikabhemi, angikanatsi njengobabasho, said Magongo loosely translated to mean he was not high or drunk as said by some people. He said what Speaker Petros Mavimbela had done was wrong and referred to him as lobabe loya (that man). The Speaker was also accused of being captured. Lobamba Lomdzala MP Marwick Khumalo also said the MPs must be released on bail. He said it was shocking that people who had killed others were out on bail while others were still languishing in jail.Let Bacede and Mthandeni be treated justly, he said.

Meanwhile, the Timpisini MP said many people had died, but there was still no explanation of why or how they were killed and answers were needed. He said these were issues which had to be discussed in the House including the closure of schools. Manzini North MP Macford Sibandze submitted that he was deeply concerned because a good percentage of the protesters came from Manzini and these needed to be addressed in Parliament. He said Parliament had been labelled as irrelevant. We need to address these issues because we are able to calm people down as it happened during the Thabani issue, said MP Sibandze.

He said he was concerned that given the countrys culture, the King could soon go into seclusion and at this point, there was no need for a leadership vacuum.

Lomahasha MP Ndumiso Masimula said dialogue was needed, especially in his area where pupils had even burnt a police post. Government must make an effort as this situation is now out of order, he said.
Thriving Abu Dhabi-based start-up, Alma Health has recently acquired a six-figure funding from Hambro Perks to further the companys expansion across the GCC region.

Hambro Perks is a UK-based investment firm that focuses on private technology investing and has played a significant role in helping Alma Health develop its services and continue to offer seamless solutions to people with chronic conditions, a release said.

The significant funding will allow Alma Health the chance to secure numerous new healthcare licenses across various locations in the GCC, including Dubai and Saudi Arabia for example. Saudi Arabia is a major market for Alma Health as roughly 12 million people are living with at least one chronic condition and the Abu Dhabi-based company believes they can play a big role.

Alma Health strives to transform the typical healthcare experience for people with chronic conditions. The digital health company provides them with a fully digital experience, from a virtual doctor consultation at the tap of a button, to prescription delivery and ongoing care.

Since its launch in mid-2020, Alma Health has received funding from other distinguished investors including the Oman Technology Fund  Wadi, an Omani sovereign wealth fund, as well as strategic angel investors from Saudi and the UAE.

Alongside its diverse selection of licensed doctors, Alma Health is accredited by a number of reputable insurance providers in the region such as Thiqa, Daman, ANNEX, NAS Neuron and Oman Insurance.

Alma Health is fully licensed by the Emirates Department of Health and strives to update its services to ensure a seamless experience for users. The user's healthcare specialists, insurance providers and Alma Healths physicians and pharmacists are all connected via the Alma Health Operating System, to ensure every users experience is as seamless as possible.

Alma Health continues to revolutionise the healthcare industry in the region and looks forward to introducing its phenomenal services and expertise to Saudi Arabia in the coming months, with the help of its investors.-- TradeArabia News Service
UAE-based Damac Group has joined hands with Dataplex Group, a data centre colocation, engineering and construction solutions company headquartered in Dublin, Ireland.

The partnership will focus on brownfield projects involving retrofitting existing structures and larger greenfield projects, with specific focus on hyperscale and wholesale colocation customers.

Damac Group is the private investment arm of Hussain Sajwani, a Dubai-based billionaire known for his global property development company, Damac Properties.

The group has a diverse portfolio across various sectors including real estate, capital markets, fashion, and more. Earlier this year, Damac made its foray into the data centre industry by launching Edgnex, a global digital infrastructure company headquartered in Dubai.

Damac said it had invested heavily in Dataplex, which will result in a shareholding of up to 45% of the company over time.

Besides the Dubai developer, Dataplexs primary shareholder is Chirisa, which has acquired a land parcel in Abbotstown for a greenfield 70 MW+ data centre and industrial campus development in Dublin, Ireland.

"Damac Group, through its global digital infrastructure company Edgnex, is developing data centre facilities to support the growth of digital economies across the globe," remarked Sajwani.

"Our work with Dataplex enables us to serve exponential demand coming from local markets, driven by rapid digital transformation, booming digital economies, and growing internet users," he said.
The National Bank of Bahrain (NBB) has extended its support to the new King Hamad American Mission Hospital (AMH) to finance the construction of the hospital which includes installation of solar panels.

Set to open in 2022, the hospital will be the first eco-friendly hospitals in the kingdom covering up to 50% of its electricity requirements from photovoltaic energy.

Located on a 57,000-sq-m area in AAli, the hospital will include a maternity and childrens block, a multi-specialty block with an intensive care unit, a diagnostics centre, a fertility centre, a 300-seat auditorium and a special needs childrens development, assessment and treatment centre.

NBB said this latest initiative is in line with its commitment to support local commercial entities and small to medium enterprises alongside financing many sectors within the kingdom, particularly the healthcare sector.

The bank also seeks to promote the use of renewable energy sources in Bahrain by providing the necessary financing to major projects, as solar panels become more widespread across various hospitals and healthcare centres globally, it stated.

The hospital will be the first private hospital in the Kingdom to have a renewable energy source. The solar panels will be fully equipped with a net metering system and will be used to meet significant portion of AMHs power requirements, it added.

On the funding, Arif Janahi, Head of Commercial and SMEs, said: "We are pleased to provide the financing for construction of the upcoming state-of-the-art King Hamad American Mission Hospital which includes eco-friendly financing to install solar panels. At NBB, we remain steadfast in our support of strategic sectors within the Kingdom and are committed to working hand-in-hand with the healthcare sector to bring sustainable projects of this scale and magnitude to life."
Consolidating its position as the best connected country in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia has improved its performance on the United Nations Conference on Trade and Developments (Unctad) Liner Shipping Connectivity Index for the third quarter of 2021.

Recording the highest increase in the region on the index, the Kingdoms rating increased to 70.68 from 70.13 in the corresponding quarter last year as a result of its sustained efforts to strengthen its logistics competitiveness and bolster its position in international maritime transport networks, a statement said.

Under the supervision of the Saudi Ports Authority (Mawani), Saudi Arabia has sharpened its focus on further developing its ports and transportation infrastructure and expanding line shipping connectivity besides improving border and customs procedures and reducing trade costs. To meet the objectives of the National Transport and Logistics Strategy, the Authority has been promoting and supporting logistical and operational capacity-building efforts in the Kingdoms nine ports.

Mawani launched five new shipping routes over the past two years, including the IO3 line that was launched in January this year to link Jeddah Islamic Port with the Indian Ocean and northern European ports. The new lanes have contributed to the increase in the total volume of containers handled by 116% to reach 418,462 TEUs between January and September 2021.

Commenting on the announcement, Omar Hariri, President of the Saudi Ports Authority, said: Saudi Arabias continuing solid performance on Unctads index since 2019 signifies its distinguished position as a country increasingly connected to the world and global economy. Through infrastructural upgrades and operational capability enhancements, our national ports have significantly improved the Kingdoms maritime connectivity and competitiveness. At Mawani, we take pride in our contributions to these remarkable accomplishments and would like to extend our deepest gratitude to H.E. the Minister of Transport and Logistics Eng. Saleh bin Nasser Al-Jasser for his leadership and extensive support of our ongoing endeavors.

Hariri added: We remain committed to furthering our efforts to reach new successes as envisaged in Vision 2030 by bolstering our ports capabilities. We are keen on capitalizing on the Kingdoms opportunistic position at the crossroads of three continents to position it as a leading global logistics hub and contribute to the growth of the national economy in general and the local ports sector in particular.

The Unctad index measures a countrys level of integration into global liner shipping networks every quarter and aims to help nations identify challenges and find opportunities to develop and improve their performance in logistics services. The Liner Shipping Connectivity Index consists of six components including the number of scheduled ship calls per week in the country, total deployed capacity offered at the country in standard units, and the number of regular liner shipping services from and to the country. --TradeArabia News Service
Industrial assets across Africa are commanding attractive yields of approximately 12% on average compared to 9% for both retail and offices and 6% for residential. This makes the sector all the more attractive to investors, according to a new Knight Frank Industrial report.

Tilda Mwai, Senior Analyst- Africa, Knight Frank said: Appetite for industrial stock across Africa remains strong, with investors attracted to the sectors strong income profile and positive market fundamentals such as rising urbanisation levels. With limited stock options, developers have had to act fast and plug this gap. Still markets like Nigeria present developers with an opportunity, recording the highest deficit of 1,000,000 sq m.

Government industrialisation policies, infrastructure development and e-commerce top the list of the main drivers of growth for the industrial sector across Africa.

Knight Frank notes that increased competition for international investment has sparked a wave of new industrial policies and subsequently, a boom in the creation of special economic zones (SEZs) has ensued across Africa.

Agility Logistics Parks Senior Director of Strategic Planning, Ronald Philip, in an exclusive interview to Knight Frank said: Grade A warehousing can be a silver bullet solution for FDI to come back in a nimbler and asset-light mode, where they lease instead of needing or wanting to build and own their own facilities in Africa, with all the attendant risks and delays.

Overall, prime industrial rents have continued to portray a mixed performance. At $10 psm and $9.80, Kinshasa and Dakar, for example, rank as the most expensive cities for prime warehouses in Africa, while Blantyre ($2.50 psm) is the cheapest. Luanda, on the other hand, experienced the most substantial fall in average warehouse lease rates, which currently stand at $5.50 psm; down from $15 psm at the end of 2019.

Furthermore, prime rents have remained stable in some of the cities such as Cairo, Algiers and Maputo.

Mwai adds: Occupier requirements across the major markets are increasing with overall requirements ranging between 5000-10000 sq ft size brackets. Still, the flight to quality is evident, with occupiers only keen to take up the best space in most cities. This has resulted in the emergence of a distinct two-tier market across the major industrial markets we monitor.-- TradeArabia News Service
Zain Bahrain, a leading telecom services operator in the kingdom, has reported a net profit of BD1.613 million for the third quarter, reflecting a steady 4% increase year-on-year (Y-o-Y) from a net profit of BD1.549 million for the same period in 2020.

Announcing its financial results for the three-month period ending September 30, 2021, Zain Bahrain said its revenues for Q3 2021 amounted to BD15.291 million, a 3% increase as compared to BD14.833 million last year.

Operating profit in Q3 saw an increase of 5% to BD1.825 million, as compared to BD1.746 million recorded in Q3 2020. Its earnings per share remained at 4 fils per share similar over the same period in 2020.

Zain pointed out that the steady profit and revenue increase was a result of further network expansion, investment in pioneering and first-to-market technology, and consistent product and service innovation to meet user demand.

During Q3, Zain Bahrain accelerated its product and service offerings to meet increasing digital market needs, and focused on providing a seamless user experience in new housing areas in the Kingdom.

For the nine-month period ending September 30, 2021 year-to-date (YTD), Zain Bahrain reported net profit of BD 4.387 million, representing an 18.36% increase Y-o-Y from BD3.706 million for the same period in 2020. Earnings per share grew to 12 fils for the nine months in 2021 as compared to 10 fils in 2020 for the same period. Zain Bahrain generated revenues of BD48.020 million during the first nine months of 2021, an increase of 3.82% Y-o-Y as compared to BD46.252 million for the same period in 2020. Operating profit for the nine-month period in 2021 reached BD5.047 million, a 14.60% increase on the BD4.404 million recorded in 2020.

At a balance sheet level, Zain Bahrain's total equity as of 30 September 2021 grew to BD77.686 million, up by 5.29% from BD73.783 million for the same period in 2020. The value of the company's assets at the end of Q3 2021 stood at BD127.675 million, a slight increase of 4% from BD122.780 million as of 30 September 2020.

Commenting on the results, Chairman Shaikh Ahmed bin Ali Al Khalifa said: "Following Zain Bahrains record profit increase in the second quarter of this year, we have continued to see steady growth into the third quarter of 2021. Earlier this quarter, we outlined our plans for continued investment in our 4G and 5G network expansions, showing our unwavering commitment to driving further digitalisation in Bahrain, and enhancing our customers digital lives."

"We are strongly focused on expansion of 5G services to new areas across the country, investing in reliable and quality mobile coverage and setting new precedents for customer experience during this quarter, through expanding our relationship with Ericsson to deploy their Radio Access Network (RAN) solution in the kingdom," he added.

Shaikh Ahmed said Zain Bahrain remained passionate about addressing social challenges such as climate change by minimizing our environmental footprint, setting specific sustainable growth targets to reduce emissions, minimise waste, spread awareness, and mitigate the impact of climate-related risks.

"As part of these sustainability plans, we have invested in modernising our equipment rooms to outdoor-based enclosures that will reduce electricity consumption, space and operational complexity and decrease CO2 emissions," he observed.

"Moving into the final quarter of 2021, we are firmly focused on continuing our network expansion plans throughout the Kingdom, both at a commercial and individual level. We are dedicating significant resources to ensure a seamless customer experience and our team is committed to meeting the surge in digital demand with network efficiency, innovation and sustainability," he added.-TradeArabia News Service
Representatives from different sectors of the ICT industry in Bahrain, including start-ups and medium-sized businesses, government organisations, and educational institutions form part of the Bahraini National Pavilion (BNP) at Gitex 2021.

For the 15th year in a row, the Labour Fund Tamkeen, in strategic collaboration with the Bahrain Society for Technology Companies BTECH and WorkSmart for event management, is organising the kingdoms annual participation at Gitex.

This year's participation includes the Economic Development Board, 20 start-up companies, three universities, the Benefit company, and major sponsorship from Alba and Batelco.

Highlighting the critical role of information and communication technology in satisfying economic growth needs, particularly in light of present market conditions, Hussein Rajab, CEO of Tamkeen Labour Fund, commended the excellent prospects that the kingdoms economic climate is providing, as well as what it is accomplishing.

The kingdom has made clear efforts to encourage digital transformation in various economic applications, as well as the infrastructure and policies it provides to build a technologically sustainable economic system. This includes Tamkeen programmes and initiatives that emphasise the need to invest in opportunities, while enhancing its strength, performance, areas of growth and competitiveness at the global level, according to Rajab.

Ubaydli Ubaydli, Chairman of the Bahrain Technology Companies Society (BTECH), said BNP this year is distinguished by a harmonious presence between start-ups, small and medium Bahraini IT companies, which means that the current reality of the information technology sector in Bahrain heralds a more promising future growth.

Year after year, Bahraini participation in Gitex has grown on two levels: quantitatively in terms of the number of exhibitors, and qualitatively in terms of the variety of products and services they offer, which include business solutions, virtual and augmented reality, as well as various software and applications. I would like to extend my thanks to the Labour Fund Tamkeen for its ongoing support for BNP at Gitex, which helps to build technology firms and boosts their competitiveness, productivity, and contribution to the GDP, Ubaydli said.

Ahmed Al Hujairy, CEO of WorkSmart said: "We are pleased with our success in organising BNP at Gitex through a single platform that includes all of the technology companies and bodies working in the information and communications sector, demonstrating the spirit of collaboration and teamwork that has distinguished us throughout our digital transformation journey.

Al Hujairy concluded by explaining that Bahraini IT companies' participation in Gitex is an excellent showcase of the kingdom's digital infrastructure's readiness and development, as well as its digital capabilities and technical resources, which support and enhance the confidence of customers, including citizens, residents, visitors, and investors.-- TradeArabia News Service
Jerusalem/New Delhi, Oct 19 (UNI) Signalling a new four-way cooperation between India, Israel, the US and UAE, their foreign ministers held a virtual meeting during which they discussed working closely together on key economic and global issues, especially in the Middle East and Asia.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, who is in Jerusalem, along with his Israeli counterpart Yair Lapid, joined US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, in a virtual conference on Monday to discuss cooperation on issues including trade, combating climate change, energy cooperation, and maritime security.

The first-of-its-kind conference was closed to the media.

Jaishankar in a tweet said the four ministers discussed working together more closely on economic growth and global issues and agreed on expeditious follow-up.

A fruitful first meeting with Israeli APM and FM @YairLapid, UAE FM

@ABZayed and US Secretary of State @SecBlinken this evening.

Discussed working together more closely on economic growth and global issues. Agreed on expeditious follow-up, he posted.

Blinken in a tweet said the meeting focused on shared issues of concern in the region and globally, and the importance of expanding our economic and political collaboration.

The US State Department, in a readout, said the four ministers discussed expanding economic and political cooperation in the Middle East and Asia, including through trade, combating climate change, energy cooperation, and increasing maritime security.

The four ministers also discussed people to people ties in technology and science, and how to support global public health in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Secretary of State Blinken reiterated the Biden Administrations support for the Abraham Accords and normalization agreements and discussed future opportunities for collaboration in the region and globally", the readout said.

The meeting comes a year after the signing of the Abraham Accords and signals the keenness of Israel and the UAE to make the most of their new cooperation along with like-minded countries, the US and India.

US State Department spokesperson Ned Price, answering a question on the meeting at a briefing on Monday, said, This is a collection of four countries, the US, the UAE, Israel and India, with whom we share many interests.

"It was an opportunity for the ministers to discuss a range of topics, including expanding economic and political cooperation in their respective regions; they discussed climate change, energy cooperation, maritime security, a whole range of issues, he said.

The meeting comes days after the first trilateral summit between the UAE, Israel and the US, was held in Washington, during which the formation of working groups on religious co-existence, water and energy issues was announced.

In the spirit of the Abraham Accords, US Secretary of State Blinken and UAE Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed and Israel's Yair Lapid met over dinner at the residence of the UAE ambassador to the US, Yousef Al Otaiba, on Wednesday night.

The dinner coincided with the first anniversary of the Abraham accords that normalised relations between the UAE and Israel.

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has stated in recent weeks that the US is pushing for international cooperation agreements based on the Abraham Accords and would work to get additional countries to sign similar deals with Israel.

Israel has said that it wants India to play a greater role in the Middle Easts emerging strategic landscape. Israels Foreign Secretary Alon Ushpiz has said Israel wants to incorporate India into the opportunities emerging in the region.

The meeting also comes after a trilateral trade deal between India, Israel and the UAE in April this year, in the first such inked after the Abraham Accords. India is a close partner of the UAE and Israel.

With the four countries coming together to collaborate on key global and regional issues, talk of a new Quad on the block is doing the rounds.

UNI/RN
Kochi, Oct 18 (UNI) Kerala Industry Minister P Rajeev inaugurated seed capital financial assistance scheme here on Monday.

The assistance is given to Self Help Groups (SHGs) as part of the Pradhan Mantri Formalisation of Micro food processing Enterprises(PMFME) project.

Inaugurating the scheme, Rajeev said the government is working on the idea of starting an online platform to deliver products manufactured by Kudumbashree and other Micro, small, and medium production units. The government has already initiated preliminary level talks, the minister added.
Lucknow , Oct 19(UNI) Claiming to bring about historical change to counter the politics of caste and religion in the country, Congress general secretary and in charge of Uttar Pradesh Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Tuesday announced that the party will give 40 per cent tickets to the women candidates in the upcoming UP assembly polls next year to boost women empowerment in the state.



" I wanted to give 50 per cent tickets to women but consensus was reached at 40 per cent ticket to women candidates in the upcoming UP polls. Now it will be showcased in national politics too and if other states like Punjab and others want to give it they are free to adopt this policy," Priyanka announced in a press conference here where the banner also read," Ladki Hu, Larh Sakti Hu".



She said that Congress was determined to change the narrative of the politics in the county by pushing back the caste and religion system in politics by giving women and dalits their rights in politics. "Women have courage, determination, emotions and strength to change the society and take forward the state and the country. They just want an opportunity and chance, which will be given to them by the Congress this time in UP," she said.



"I am confident that this new Congress strategy will force the opposition parties to rethink their casteist and communal approach during the elections, which will certainly change the poll aspect of the entire country," she said.



However, Priyanka made it clear that the selection of the women candidates would be done purely on merit and there is no objection if she belongs to any political family. She also appealed to the women interested in politics to fill the application for contesting the assembly polls till November 15, the last date for filing of nominations.



The Congress general secretary also said that the party has not decided yet on the 'face' under which the Congress will contest the polls in UP and other issues connected with the upcoming assembly polls in the state.



On the occasion, Priyanka also hit out at the opposition, particularly the BJP saying that they should now stop terming her as a tourist. "I am staying in Lucknow and working for the people, how can you term me as a tourist," she said.



Giving reasons for taking the decision to give 40 per cent tickets to women in the UP polls, Priyanka said since 2019 during her visit to several places and her Ganga Yatra, girls and women have made several demands for education, jobs and other things. During my visit to Allahabad University a girl student said how the rules of the hostel was different for girls and boys; during Ganga Yatra, in Prayagraj, a small girl Paro wanted to become a political leader; in Chandauli, one Vaishnavi, sister of a martyr, wanted to become a pilot, in Unnao and Hathras, family members of girls wanted justice against crime against their daughters and in Lakhimpur Kheri a girl wanted to become PM," she said. She further said that in Sitapur during her detention, a couple of police women worked tirelessly, which shows their determination and courage.



"Everyone knows very well how the dreams of girls and women are crushed and now we just want to change this situation and empower women to achieve their dreams," she said.



During the press meet, Priyanka refused to take any question other than about her new announcement on women empowerment but assured that in the coming days she will make more announcements for the UP polls.

UNI MB ACL1446
Safe Treat Oct. 28 at UW

The popular community-wide Safe Treat for children returns to the University of Wyoming from 4-7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 28.

Trick-or-treating, face painting, a kid-friendly haunted house, storytelling, cookie decorating, mazes and games are on tap in the lower level of Washakie Dining Center and on UWs Fraternity and Sorority Mall. Safe Treat parking will be available in the Wyoming Union parking lot; the Cooper House parking lot, located at 14th Street and Ivinson Avenue; and lots to the north and east of the Buchanan Center for the Performing Arts.

Additionally, participants can purchase dinner at the Washakie Dining Center. Cost is $14 for adults and $10 for children 12 and under. On the menu will be Halloween-themed dishes including fun desserts, cotton candy and caramel apples.

UW Residence Life and Dining Services, Fraternity and Sorority Life, and various UW student organizations sponsor Safe Treat.

Safe Treat is a fun time to support and give back to the local community, enjoy the fun costumes and not worry about the stresses of being a student for a few hours by dressing up ourselves, says Cheyna Bradshaw, the Panhellenic Council president from Big Horn.

For more information about parking and participating buildings, visit the UW Fraternity and Sorority Life Facebook page here.
UW Graduate Students Receive Biodiversity Institute Research Grants

Nine graduate students studying biodiversity at the University of Wyoming received nearly $200,000 in grants from UWs Biodiversity Institute (BI).

The BI Graduate Student Research Enhancement Grants are awarded each year to multiple masters and doctoral students to enhance or expand ongoing research.

Through generous donors, the BI funded nine projects that investigate a wide range of biodiversity topics of conservation concern in Wyoming, the region and around the world. In addition to world-class science, successful applicants had to demonstrate how they would communicate their research to diverse Wyoming audiences and assess their communications effectiveness.

Jordan Von Eggers, a doctoral candidate from Redmond, Wash., says she is thrilled to receive the BI Graduate Student Research Enhancement Grant.

Support from the Biodiversity Institute will allow me to jump-start my Ph.D. program and get one step closer to understanding how biodiversity is created and maintained in alpine aquatic ecosystems, Von Eggers says.

Tanner Hoffman, a masters degree student from San Diego, Calif., is the first student to receive an award from the Hardy Family Fund. Hoffman is investigating the short- and long-term effects of fire on soil microbial and vegetation community recovery in the sagebrush-steppe ecosystems adjacent to forests. Beginning this fall, he plans to include community members in his research by training them to help sample his many sites.

The Hardy Family Fund was established to support a research project that incorporates community science that helps the public understand the impacts of the 2020 Mullen fire in the Medicine Bow National Forest.

I am extremely happy with the choice of Tanner Hoffman to launch the Hardy Family Community Science Excellence Fund. His research on the interactions of cheatgrass, herbicides and the soil biome are all personal concerns of mine, Bridget Hardy says. I also see solutions in this arena as potential bridges between our academic community and our local ranching community, since we all share the drive to contain cheatgrass and mitigate wildfires.

Rivertons Christie Wildcat, a masters degree candidate, is the first recipient of the Richard Baldes Award. The award is for Native American students conducting biodiversity research relevant to the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho tribes on the Wind River Indian Reservation.

Wildcat is exploring the tension between energy development, which creates jobs, and the preservation of biodiversity, ecosystem services and culturally significant sites. She also will observe tribal business council meetings and interview tribal members about decision-making on natural resources issues.

Biology major Albert Mason, from Lander, also received the Richard Baldes Native American Excellence Fund in Biodiversity Conservation award, which will enable him to communicate the results of his nearly-completed research project, as well as his experiences as a Native American student at UW, Central Wyoming College and Lander Valley High School.

Masons research focuses on the potential role of soil chemical composition and water biogeochemical characteristics as determinants of mule deer migration routes on the Wind River Indian reservation.

Recipients of the BI grants also were able to apply for grant supplements that were made available by the support of donors, such as the Don and Judy Legerski UW Teton Graduate Student Scholars in Biodiversity Fellowship, which supports biodiversity research associated with the mission of the UW AMK Ranch in Grand Teton National Park; the Baldes Fund for research relevant to Wind River Indian Reservation communities; and the Ann and Richard Boelter Biodiversity and Conservation K-12 Excellence Fund to support classroom education based on UW research.

The BI Graduate Student Research Enhancement Grant recipients, listed by hometowns, names, UW departments and project titles, are:

Atlanta, Ga. -- Janey Fulgate, Department of Zoology and Physiology, How do Ungulates Learn to Migrate? A Century-Long Case Study with Yellowstone Bison.

Charleston, S.C. -- Bailey Kirkland, Department of Economics, and Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources, The Natural Wealth of Wyoming Elk and the Implications of In-State and Out-of-State Hunting Prices.

Fountain Valley, Calif. -- Courtney Garrity, Department of Zoology and Physiology, and Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources, Dispersed Camping Characteristics and Impacts on Wildlife and Natural Resources in the Jackson Hole Highlands, WY.

Greenwood, Ind. -- Christina Sluka, Department of Zoology and Physiology, and Program in Ecology, Variations in Raccoon Behavior and Morphology Across Urbanization Gradients.

Jackson -- Bridger Huhn, Department of Botany and Program in Ecology, Testing Biophysical Mechanisms to Explain and Predict Rare Plant Locations in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.

Lander -- Mason, Department of Botany, Is Biodiversity Driving Mule Deer Migration Paths on the Wind River Indian Reservation? A Collaborative Research Project.

Laramie -- Christine Bell, Program in Ecology, Department of Zoology and Physiology, Investigating the Status of Declining Bumble Bees (Bombus spp.) in Wyoming.

Nanyuki, Kenya -- Douglas Kamaru, Department of Zoology and Physiology, Linkages Between Mutualism Breakdowns, Landscape Change, and Predator-Prey Dynamics in Human-Occupied Savanna.

Nevada City, Calif. -- Jeff Baldock, Department of Zoology and Physiology, and Program in Ecology, Evaluating the Role of Spring-Fed Streams to Snake River Cutthroat Trout.

Redmond, Wash. -- Von Eggers, Department of Geology and Geophysics, and Program in Ecology, Understanding Aquatic Biodiversity Consequences of Multiple Stressors Across the Western U.S.

Riverton -- Wildcat, Department of Anthropology, and Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources, Engaging the Northern Arapaho Tribal Community in Environmental and Energy Decisions on the Wind River Reservation.

San Diego, Calif. -- Hoffman, Department of Ecosystem Science and Management, Recovery of Below- and Aboveground Biodiversity Following the Mullen Wildfire.

To learn more about the Biodiversity Institute, research projects or grants, visit www.wyobiodiversity.org.
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Source: Xinhua| 2021-10-19 10:30:53|Editor: huaxia

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VIENTIANE, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- The China-Laos railway could be a game changer for the development of Laos but the government must have a clear plan on how to maximize the advantages offered by the railway, a businesswoman has said.

Local daily Vientiane Times on Tuesday quoted Vice President of the Lao National Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Valy Vetsapong, as saying that the railway will have a significant impact on Laos' economy and will provide huge momentum in strengthening Laos' connectivity with the rest of the region.

"Many business operators will surely switch to exporting products, particularly agricultural products, using the railway as it will save both time and money," she said.

"The railway will result in the growth of tourism, trade and investment, especially in the processing industry, with many companies being interested in setting up factories to process agricultural products for export."

When the first passenger train which will run on the China-Laos railway arrived in Lao capital Vientiane on Saturday, many business operators were excited over the prospect of benefits the rail transport could bring.

The 422.4-km railway is expected to cut the cost of transport through Laos by 30-40 percent compared to travel by road.

Laos' tourism industry is expected to benefit greatly from the expected rise in rail passenger traffic.

Following the opening of the China-Laos railway in December 2021, the development of secondary infrastructure is expected to take place along the railway corridor.

Valy said businesses are keen to learn more about the government's plans for development along the railway corridor so they can come up with plans and strategies that will tap the potential offered by the railway.

When more information is provided, Lao business operators will be well placed to study investment opportunities and consider joint ventures with other business partners when the railway comes into service, she said.

Valy said the government should carefully consider tax exemptions for railway-related projects as this could be of real benefit to the nation.

The China-Laos Railway is a docking project between the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative and Laos' strategy to convert itself from a landlocked country to a land-linked hub.

The project started in December 2016 and is scheduled to be completed and opened to traffic in December 2021. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-10-19 10:43:21|Editor: huaxia

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Servicemen from member states of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) take part in a joint military drills in Tajikistan, Oct. 18, 2021. The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) on Monday held its joint military drills at Kharbmaidon training ground in Tajikistan near the border with Afghanistan. Three operations, dubbed "Echelon-2021", "Search-2021" and "Interaction-2021", were held simultaneously amid the volatile situation in and beyond Afghanistan. Over 4,000 servicemen from CSTO member states took part in the exercises, which will end on Oct. 23. (Joint press center of the CSTO exercises/Handout via Xinhua)

DUSHANBE, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) on Monday held its joint military drills at Kharbmaidon training ground in Tajikistan near the border with Afghanistan.

Three operations, dubbed "Echelon-2021", "Search-2021" and "Interaction-2021", were held simultaneously amid the volatile situation in and beyond Afghanistan.

Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Tajikistan, Emomali Sobirzoda, welcomed the participants of the exercises, noting that the situation in the region remains difficult and tends to worsen.

The readiness of collective security forces to perform tasks, he said, is becoming more important and relevant.

The three operations focus on logistics, intelligence, and armed fighting in border conflicts, as well as terrorism responses.

Over 4,000 servicemen from CSTO member states took part in the exercises, which will end on Oct. 23.

The CSTO is a Russia-led military alliance created in 1992, grouping the six former Soviet republics of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-10-19 12:59:19|Editor: huaxia

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ULAN BATOR, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- More than 10 percent of Mongolia's population has been infected with COVID-19, according to the country's health ministry on Tuesday.

Mongolia, with a population of around 3.4 million, registered 1,303 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, bringing the national tally to 340,839, the ministry said in a statement.

Meanwhile, 18 more COVID-19 patients died in the past day, pushing the death toll to 1,501, said the ministry.

The resurgence of the virus has continued due to the highly contagious Delta variant, although 65.7 percent of the population has received two doses of COVID-19 vaccine.

Currently, there are more than 69,700 active COVID-19 cases, and most of them are receiving home-based care due to a shortage of hospital beds and medical staff, according to the ministry.

The Asian country reported its first imported COVID-19 case in March 2020 and confirmed its first locally transmitted case in November.

The country's health authorities have urged the public to avoid mass gatherings, wear masks in public areas and receive a booster shot.

More than 370,500 Mongolians have received a booster shot so far.

The ministry has said that at least 50 percent of the population need a booster. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-10-19 13:28:38|Editor: huaxia

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WELLINGTON, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- New Zealand announced new building intensification rules on Tuesday which allow up to three homes of three storeys to be built on most sites without the need for a resource consent.

The move aims to further cut red tape to boost housing supply to survive the current housing crisis resulted mainly from housing shortage.

Currently in New Zealand, district plans typically only allow for one home of up to two storeys.

New rules will result in at least 48,200 and as many as 105,500 new homes built in the next five to eight years, Housing Minister Megan Woods said in a statement.

First home buyers are set to benefit from changes to planning rules that will enable more medium density housing and cut red tape that acts as a barrier to development, Woods said.

"The housing crisis is a problem decades in the making that will take time to turn around. There is no silver bullet," she said, adding combined with other measures these changes will start to make a difference.

"New Zealand's housing shortage is being made worse in our biggest cities by limits on the number and types of houses that can be built," Woods said, adding these changes will enable more homes that are attractive to first home buyers to be built in areas closer to their work, public transport and community facilities.

Environment Minister David Parker said there will be exemptions in the medium density rules in areas where intensification is inappropriate, such as where there is a high risk of natural hazards, or a site has heritage value. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-10-19 13:46:11|Editor: huaxia

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SYDNEY, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- Plastic waste makes up more than 80 percent of all rubbish found across Australian beaches, according to a study based on one of the largest marine debris databases in the southern hemisphere.

More than 2,000 organizations and 150,000 volunteer rubbish beachcombers helped compile the Australian Marine Debris Initiative (AMDI) based on collecting and sifting through almost 20 million pieces of discarded plastic, glass, rubber, metal, and paper.

The Tangaroa Blue Foundation (TBF), an environmental organization dedicated to the removal of marine debris, began the massive database in 2004.

Now researchers from the Centre for Marine Science and Innovation at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) have worked with TBF to analyze 10 years of the database to create a national map of patterns in marine debris.

Their findings unveiled on Tuesday and published in Science of the Total Environment, noted that almost half the debris was from sources such as general litter while 7 percent was from rubbish dumped at sea washing back onto the shore.

The researchers also noted the mountainous presence of plastic dwarfed other waste items, and said about 42 percent of the plastic debris could not even be traced back to its source due to having broken down into minute fragments, known as microplastics.

TBF chief executive officer Heidi Tait, who co-authored the study, said the findings would be an effective way to monitor if international efforts to reduce plastic were working.

"We need to be really targeted in what changes are put in place to mitigate marine debris, and we need to monitor to make sure we are actually solving the problem," Tait said. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-10-19 14:03:55|Editor: huaxia

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SYDNEY, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- A study found coronavirus discovered in bats in Laos extremely adept at infecting human cells, which pours cold water on the theory COVID-19 is so infectious it had to be created by humans in a lab.

The study, featured last week in an article in local Australian newspaper, the West Australian, collected faecal samples from bats in the southeast Asian nation which were found to contain coronaviruses that were similar to COVID-19.

According to the virologists who analysed the samples, the viruses carry a molecular hook on their surface that resembles that of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that latches onto human cells.

"Our results contribute to understanding the origin of (COVID-19), they show that sequences very close to those of the early strains of (COVID-19) responsible for the pandemic exist in nature and are found in several... bat species," the report cited the study's authors as saying.

"Our results therefore support the hypothesis that (COVID-19) could originally result from a recombination of sequences pre-existing in... bats living in the extensive limestone cave systems of South-East Asia and South China which provides ideal conditions for interspecies interactions."

The study, which is currently awaiting peer review, was conducted by virologists at Institut Pasteur, a French non-profit private foundation dedicated to the study of biology, micro-organisms, diseases and vaccines, and researchers from the University of Lao. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-10-19 19:50:18|Editor: huaxia

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VIENTIANE, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- Authorities in northern Laos' Luang Prabang province have canceled the celebration of an annual light boats festival amid lockdown restrictions, as the number of COVID-19 cases keeps rising in Laos.

According to a notice issued on Monday by Luang Prabang provincial governor Viengthong Hatsachanh, celebrations marking the end of Buddhist Lent and light boats festival (Boun Lai Heua Fai Festival) have been canceled.

The notice also said that the traditional practice of making merit through almsgiving toward the end of Buddhist Lent will not be permitted in Luang Prabang Province, some 220 km north of Lao capital Vientiane.

During the Boun Lai Heua Fai festival, people adorned the city with lanterns, paraded with and later floated large dragon boats and small "boats" made from banana trees carrying flowers, incense and candles down the Mekong River to let bad luck drift away and good luck flow in.

This year, residents of Luang Prabang Province will not be permitted to leave their homes to float small candle boats along rivers or in lakes.

The end of Buddhist Lent and Boun Lai Heua Fai festival are major events that take place in Luang Prabang province every year with a three-day celebration, which is distinguished from other provinces in the country.

The National Taskforce Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control on Tuesday reported 656 locally transmitted cases and one new imported infection.

Among the community cases, 239 were reported in the capital Vientiane, 155 in Vientiane province, 126 in Khammuan, 72 in Luang Prabang, 25 in Bolikhamxay, 16 in Xaysomboun, nine in Savannakhet and Champasak, four in Saravan, and one in Bokeo province.

The imported case was detected in Savannakhet province.

As of Tuesday, the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Laos reached 32,971 with 45 deaths. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-10-20 05:28:13|Editor: huaxia

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NEW YORK, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) has test-fired a new-type submarine-launched ballistic missile, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported early Wednesday local time.

The test-launch was conducted on Tuesday by the DPRK's Academy of Defence Science, the report said. Enditem
" " Should you encounter any sort of diplomatic issue in the land of Nirivia, you could take it up with the "embassy," but don't expect much of a solution, as the embassy is actually a sauna. Zach Kruzins

Among the world's numerous micronations  generally, tiny realms tucked into nooks and crannies on the map, where someone has proclaimed sovereignty that's not recognized by the rest of the world  the Republic of Nirivia stands apart. It might be the only country in the world that was founded around a campfire, by a group of outdoorsy, whiskey-drinking Canadians who gave themselves fancy titles in jest, and mostly seem to have wanted to make a point about the importance of preserving a pristine natural area from logging and mining.

Nirivia comprises 59 islands situated on the northern part of Lake Superior, the biggest of which is St. Ignace Island. It's the sort of place that's a paradise for hikers and kayakers  full of verdant woods, sea caves, beaches and striking columnar basalt formations, home to an assortment of aquatic and avian creatures. It's a locale whose spectacular scenery has been compared to Norway.

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It was a place treasured by a group of friends who'd grown up in the area and spent their youth exploring its wonders. In a 2014 article by Charles Wilkins in Cottage Life magazine, one of Nirivia's founding fathers, Rusty Evans, explained that they seized upon a perceived loophole in a land claim filed by native people, under a 19th century treaty with the Canadian government. That claim was for a stretch of land along Lake Superior's north shore, but Nirivia's founders noticed that it didn't include the islands. Evans took that to mean that the natives hadn't ceded the islands to Canada in the first place, leaving their status murky.

"We oughta just swipe them from the government  declare our own country!" Evans recalled telling his friends, as recounted in the Cottage Life article.

They even came up with a name  Nirivia. "It was like Nirvana, but they had a little booze in them," explains Zack Kruzins, the owner of Such a Nice Day Adventures, an outdoor adventure and education company based in northwestern Ontario. (He's also co-author of "A Paddler's Guide to the Lake Superior National Marine Conservation Area.")

"They started this place, which is more like a state of mind. It's a pristine, beautiful wild place that's so far from everything that it seems like a separate country," Kruzins explains. "It's got this energy that's magical."

" " The coastline of the Republic of Nirivia on Lake Superior. Zach Kruzins

A Proclamation and a Flag-raising

Declaring their own country was an amusing idea, but one that they actually decided to carry out, if only to make a point about the importance of preserving Nirivia. As a Canadian Press wire service article in the Oct. 31, 1979 edition of the Ottawa Journal described, a group of 16 residents of Thunder Bay and Nipigon, Ontario gathered on St. Ignace Island  the largest bit of land in the archipelago  to proclaim the new nation of Nirivia and hold a flag-raising ceremony.

The Nirivians were willing to let their new country revert back to Canada, according to the Canadian Press, provided that the Canadian government met certain conditions, including developing hiking trails, protecting Nirivia from logging and mining, and cleaning up a trash dump left behind by hunters.

"Our declaration is an intention to point out the uniqueness of this place, rather than to secede," another founder, David Kruszewski, explained in the article.

The founders of Nirivia  who also included Jim Stevens, author of numerous books on northern Ontario  jokingly conferred upon themselves various titles, such as king and earl. As travel writer Bob Henderson noted in his 2014 book "More Trails, More Tales: Exploring Canada's Travel Heritage," one even composed a national anthem for the fanciful country, with lyrics such as "When the waters start to roll / The Nirivia spirit started to blow / Oh Nirivia, the island nation of Nirivia."

On St. Ignace Island, they also built a camp of wooden structures, including a sauna that they called the "Nirivian Embassy," and some geodesic dome-like structures for use as cabins when they visited, according to Elle Andra-Warner's 2019 article about Nirivia on the Northernwilds.com website.

" " Some of the geodesic dome-like structures that were built in Nirivia. Zach Kruzins

One thing they didn't do was settle in the new country year-round. "It's so cold in the winter, the unpredictability and challenge of the weather (means) nobody can live there," says Kruzins.

The Canadian government, of course, didn't recognize Nirivia's independence, and Ontario's agency in charge of developing natural resources were more inclined to view the Nirivians as squatters  along the lines of "You can't do this, it's Crown land," as Kruzins says. But eventually, Kruzins explains, a sympathetic official helped to work out a deal in which the Nirivians received a commercial land use permit for nature-based tourism, which enabled them to continue using the area, and helped protect it from resource development and extraction.

Though they didn't actually form a real country, Nirivia's founders essentially got what they wanted when it came to preserving their special spot on the planet. According to Henderson's book, much of Nirivia now is designated for conservation. Moreover, "the resource extraction industries along the northern Lake Superior coast have cleaned up their act from the 1970s," he wrote.

Today, the tradition of the fanciful nature-protecting micronation is continued by people such as Kruzins, who proudly flies the flag of Nirivia on his canoe. As he explains: "It represents the spirit and the energy of the place, which is unique."

HowStuffWorks may earn a small commission from affiliate links in this article.

Now That's Interesting The ranks of the world's micronations in recent years have included the Republic of Uzupis in Lithuania, an anarchist neighborhood known as Freetown Christiania in Copenhagen, and the Principality of Hutt River, which existed for 50 years in western Australia until the pandemic and a tax bill owed by its founder caused it to dissolve in 2020, according to CNN.)
press release

What: Civil society regional forum - Central Africa region

Who: The Civil Society and Community Engagement Division of the African Development Bank

When: 26 October 2021, 10.00-14.00 GMT +1

Where: Virtual

The Civil Society and Community Engagement Division of the African Development Bank will host regional forums across the continent this year, in lieu of the annual civil society forums held in the past. The overarching theme of the regional forums will be: "Engaging civil society in building resilient economies post Covid-19." The regional format will provide an opportunity for the Bank to share its regional vision and priority areas with participants as part of its vision of being closer to the communities it serves.

The first regional forum will take place virtually on 26 October and focus on Central Africa. The sub-theme is Regional Integration in Central Africa: The Role of Civil Society in Women's Economic Empowerment and Youth Skills Development.

The meeting will bring together civil society organizations, non-state actors, representatives of governments and the Economic Community of Central African States to discuss the participation of civil society in strengthening regional integration through greater economic empowerment of women.

For more information and to register for the forum, click here.

Media contact:

Solange Kamuanga-Tossou | Communication and External Relations Department | African Development Bank | Email: s.kamuanga-toussou@afdb.org
analysis

Police brutality is not unique to Nigeria. The menace is almost universal. It is the level of accountability and transparency in policing that makes the difference in some countries, such as the UK and Canada, which we see as models.

A year ago this month #EndSARS protests erupted in major cities across Nigeria. The protests were sparked by many reported cases of police brutality. The last straw was the video of a man allegedly killed by members of the infamous Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS).

The protests took a deadly turn on 20 October 2020 when security forces opened fire at the Lekki toll gate in Lagos. There were reports that at least 12 people were killed.

The protests did not eliminate police brutality - and they could not have. But they undoubtedly brought to the fore the crudeness of some police officers and the rot which had pervaded the Nigerian police for years.

Some of the major demands of the protesters included the disbandment of the robbery squad, justice for victims of police brutality, and improved welfare of police officers. Incidents of brutality have been reported in the year since then. This has included a report by Amnesty International citing police brutality and human rights violations in south-east Nigeria from January to June 2021.

Incidents in the past year have not been of the same magnitude as those before the protests.

President Muhammadu Buhari took two weeks to respond to the protests, delivering a speech on 22 October. This was two days after the shootings in Lekki.

He made a series of promises. They included: banning the Special Anti-Robbery Squad; bringing erring officers to book; and setting up committees of enquiry in all the states, including the capital city, Abuja.

But many felt his response did not adequately address the issues raised by the protesters. Many were of the opinion that the president deliberately ignored the shootings at Lekki but diverted attention to his poverty alleviation strategies. Others also described the president's address as grossly unapologetic.

What's been done, and what's not been done

The first decision taken in the wake of the protests was the disbanding of the tactical squad.

However, nothing has been heard about erring officers being punished.

Also, not all states went ahead to set up the panels of enquiry. To date, only 26 of the 36 states have panels of enquiry. Nigeria's human rights commission says noncomplying states do not have funds to set up panels.

The inspector general of police, Usman Alkali Baba, who took up the post in the aftermath of the protests, has taken some action. This has included:

recruiting more police officers to boost the understaffed force

attempting to improve police legitimacy by, for example, dismantling roadblocks across the country

undertaking a nationwide tour of major police formations to boost the morale of officers.

The efficacy or otherwise of these attempts remains debatable.

In addition, rising insecurity in the country due in particular to the activities of bandits and kidnappers has dwarfed the response of government to enhance security across the country. The strategies adopted by the kidnappers included mass abductions of travellers and school children.

The Nigerian government has put in place some plans to fight insecurity including allocation of more funds for the acquisition of arms and ammunition, and partnership with other countries.

These efforts, however, have been derailed by inadequate intelligence and information gathering, corruption and poor funding.

Most government-initiated investigations into the shootings and deaths that occurred during the two-week-long protests have not made much progress. The exception is the Lagos State Government. Independent investigations have been launched by several organisations within and outside the country including Amnesty International, CNN and the International Criminal Court.

Government investigations have stalled for a number of reasons.

Firstly, key players have not come to the party.

The Nigerian Army initially denied the involvement of its troops at the scenes. A week after, it admitted that troops had intervened at the request of the Lagos state government.

Nevertheless it didn't honour an invitation to attend the inquiry.

On top of this, little has been heard about the activities of the panels set up in each state with the exceptions of Lagos, Delta, and Rivers States. Issues of fairness have also been raised, with complaints that inadequate provision was made for everyone to be represented.

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Each of the panels is expected to come up with recommendations. If these aren't implemented it will amount to a double loss for the petitioners. Not only would they have been unjustly treated by the police but they would also have wasted their time and resources trying to get justice.

Structural barriers

Reforming Nigeria's police force will take a great deal more effort and commitment than has emerged in the past 12 months.

To begin with there's the structural problem of the fact that the police force is heavily centralised. States don't have power over the police. This will clearly have an impact on the outcomes of the different panels that have been set up at state level.

Secondly, if erring police officers aren't being punished, the panels won't be able to curb police brutality or ensure justice for victims of brutality.

Lanre Ikuteyijo, Senior lecturer, Obafemi Awolowo University
analysis

Internal displacement of people has been a recurring challenge in Nigeria. There are several factors that contribute to it, but violent conflicts caused by religious extremism and ethnic clashes remain the most important.

Violent attacks by Boko Haram since 2009 have displaced over two million people. Between 2005 and 2021, over 8,000 people lost their lives to clashes between farmers and herders across Nigeria, with hundreds of thousands also displaced.

Children account for about 60% of the internally displaced persons in Nigeria. Many of them live in camps and one in four are under the age of five. These children are vulnerable to abuse, violence and malnutrition. They also lack access to education, healthcare and a safe environment, among other basic amenities.

In my research, I examined the legal protection of children in five camps for internally displaced people. My study specifically focused on access to education, health and nutrition, protection from violence and child labour.

I collected data from five camps: Ngala camp in Borno state, Maraban Kajuru camp in Kaduna state, Kuchingoro camp in Abuja, the capital city, Daudu Camp 1 and Daudu Camp 2, both in Benue state.

My data covered the number of children and the infrastructure available to enable access to education, healthcare and protection from violence and child labour. I found that most internally displaced children faced violation of all these rights on a regular basis.

Nigeria's child's right laws

The major international instrument on the protection of the rights of children is the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. At the regional level, the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child is the instrument for protection for children. These instruments provide the basis for many national frameworks for child protection globally. In 1991, Nigeria adopted the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. And in 1999 it adopted the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child.

As required by section 12 of the Nigerian constitution, Nigeria domesticated the Child's Rights Act.

But despite the ratification and domestication of these laws, the Child's Right Act is not applicable to the whole country. It falls under the residual legislative list of the Nigerian constitution. This means that for the Child's Right Act to be applicable in any state in Nigeria, it must take legislative step to enact a state version of the act. To further supplement the Child's Right Act, the federal legislature enacted the Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act in 2015. It, too, requires state enactment.

Unfortunately, only one out of the six states of the north-east region, which has the highest number of internally displaced children, has domesticated the Child's Right Act.

Challenges of internally displaced children

The lack of structured classrooms, adequate teachers, writing materials and instructional materials is an impediment to education for displaced children. Schools in the host communities that could provide the opportunity for education often discriminate against displaced children. The schools require displaced children to pay higher fees. Consequently, many displaced children have to stay out of school. This happens despite a special project department under the Universal Basic Education Commission with the responsibility of education of children in emergency situations such as internal displacement.

Inadequate resources have made it challenging to realise the right to healthcare services too. Children have died of malnutrition and illnesses such as malaria and cholera due to lack of medication and quality food. I found that while there are medical structures in the camps I studied, the shortage of medicines and personnel at all times remains an impediment to providing quality healthcare services. Thus, many displaced persons rely on occasional interventions from humanitarian actors, which is not always a reliable source of healthcare.

Although camp officials and displaced persons have sometimes claimed not to be aware of any form of violence against children, my study and media reports show evidence of rape, gender-based violence, child or forced marriage and other forms of violence.

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Due to the shortage of resources and meaningful sources of livelihoods, many households resort to child labour. Children have to beg and hawk and are used as farmhands so that they can support their families.

Recommendations

The legal framework for child protection is robust in Nigeria but the enforcement of the laws is challenging because of the plural nature of legislative domestication.

To effectively protect the displaced children in Nigeria, child welfare and protection should be placed in the exclusive list - that is, the list of issues that the Nigerian government makes uniform law on. This would make laws on child protection uniform and applicable throughout the nation. It is also important to make children's rights a constitutional matter under the fundamental human rights section of the Nigerian constitution.

Olanike Adelakun, Instructor, School of Law, American University of Nigeria
analysis

Since 2015, parts of northern Nigeria have witnessed a steady increase in insecurity and violent attacks. Civilians and government security forces have been the victims. Numerous data tracking sources have shown an escalation of incidents since January 2021. But there appears to be a difference between perpetrators' actions and the way they are labelled. Government calls them 'bandits' and 'unknown gunmen'. Others have insisted that a more appropriate description would be 'terrorists'. Adejuwon Soyinka, West Africa regional editor at The Conversation Africa, asks Sallek Yaks Musa, a security and civil-military relations expert, to explain what might underlie the terminology used and how mistrust in the military hinders a solution.

Who are the attackers?

In the past few years, the identity of these groups was largely unclear. But the elevation of attacks and the atrocities they commit has created a pattern.

Survivors, eyewitnesses and security sector sources have singled out Fulani herdsmen who speak the commonly known Fulfulde dialect in the north-west and north-central regions in Nigeria as the major perpetrators. These sources further indicated an increasing collaboration between this group and other foreign Fulani who speak a different Fulfulde with an accent considered to be of French origin. This points to a possible ideological goal.

A common atrocity is the invasion of communities, destroying houses, property and crops. The motive appears to be to displace people and occupy their arable lands.

To finance their operations, bandits have been kidnapping civilians for ransom. Since January 2021, no fewer than 10 incidents of abduction of school children involving over 1,000 students have occurred. Improvised vehicle checkpoints have been used to abduct commuters and many rural communities have been invaded solely for abduction and looting.

On 24 August, bandits attacked the Nigerian Defence Academy, killing two officers and abducting another. This points to the strength and capacity of the groups. It also means the violence is assuming an insurgent nature.

The perpetrators freely operate a quasi-government, imposing levies on communities and demanding money as a condition for civilians to access their farms and communities.

The military appears unable to counter the threats or conduct significant rescue efforts. Recent attempts relied heavily on aerial bombardment, which tends to lack precision. This has resulted in civilian casualties and has failed to produce significant results.

Shutting down telecommunication services has not helped much. The recent release of the abducted students of Bethel Baptist School was facilitated by ransom.

What is their relationship with Boko Haram?

Anecdotal accounts indicate a growing relationship between the bandits and the violent extremist organisations in the north-east. Official communication within government agencies indicates that Boko Haram is training and equipping bandits.

The late Boko Haram leader also indicated the relationship between his group and the bandits in the north-west and north-central region. Bandit groups, however, have not said much about the alleged relationship with violent extremist organisations.

In April 2021, the Boko Haram flag was reportedly hoisted in Niger State, which is bordered by the nation's capital city, Abuja, to symbolise they had captured the area. The group responsible for this has yet to be confirmed, but high levels of banditry are experienced in parts of Niger State, including attacks on government forces and installations.

The attacks have become a trend in the north-west and north-central region. Military operations have failed to prevent the attacks and violence against civilian communities.

Why is the government reluctant to designate bandits as terrorists?

The atrocities and motivation of the bandits have assumed an insurgent-type criminality. But the government is reluctant to label the groups as terrorists or insurgents.

President Muhammadu Buhari has been accused of sympathising with the perpetrators, who appear to be of his ethnic affiliation. He has been accused of emboldening the groups over his quest to reclaim and reestablish grazing routes despite the open rejection of open grazing by half of Nigeria's 36 state governors.

Critics argue that his lopsided appointments of mostly northerners like himself, against the constitutional federal character principle, explain his failure to take a tough stance against the attacks on Nigerians by the Fulani.

The Niger, Kogi, Kaduna and Imo state governors have said that political elites sponsor banditry. Some bandit leaders operating in Kaduna and Niger states, which are among the most affected states, have made the same claims, though they are yet to be substantiated.

What are the likely consequences?

North-west and north-central Nigeria are facing what amounts to an insurgency. The government can prevent this from assuming the magnitude of the violent extremism experienced in the north-east.

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The first step is to call bandits terrorists. This is necessary to ensure that the requisite level of force, tactical and operational assets and resources are deployed against the groups. This has constrained the activities of Boko Haram, but strong institutional action is required to sanction perpetrators.

The military's air raids have yielded insignificant results because they lack coordinated support from ground troops. Increased collaboration within the military and with partner security agencies including the police and intelligence agencies is key to winning the battle against bandits.

Numerous victim civilian populations believe the military are complicit, unwilling, or unable to secure them. They distrust the military and are unwilling to share information or collaborate with them. The military could remedy this by rescuing kidnapped victims and responding swiftly when communities offer early warning information or come under attack.

This would increase the likelihood of reporting incidents to security forces, decrease the likelihood of civilians paying ransom, and make criminal abduction for ransom less lucrative. However, all these require political will, which appears to be lacking.

Sallek Yaks Musa, Lecturer, University of Jos
A section of the newspaper's head office in Abuja was razed by fire on Friday, destroying properties and documents.

Nigeria's leading investigative news platform, PREMIUM TIMES, has expressed profound gratitude to the country's citizens as well as the global community for their support after the fire incident at its headquarters in Abuja.

A section of the newspaper's headquarters in Abuja was razed by fire on Friday, destroying properties and documents.

The fire started from the office of the Editor-in-Chief, Musikilu Mojeed, shortly after he left for Jumat prayers before the spraying of soot to other parts of the offices which attracted the attention of editors in the next office.

Although the fire was doused by the combined efforts of staff and Abuja fire service, it had destroyed office computers, printers, furniture, documents as well as the personal belongings of Mr Mojeed.

In his reaction to the unfortunate incident, the publisher of PREMIUM TIMES, Dapo Olorunyomi, expressed gratitude to the friends of the newspaper across the world for their kind words and support.

"This is to express gratitude to all our friends who have called and offered their kind support after yesterday's fire that completely destroyed the Abuja offices of our editor in chief. Thankfully no one was hurt but new security protocols are being implemented. We cannot take your empathy and solidarity for granted.

"Thanks abundantly," Mr Olorunyomi said.

Mr Mojeed, in a separate statement, appreciated the acts of love pouring in from the newspaper's friends, partners and allies across the world.

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He reiterated its commitments to holding "powers and institutions" accountable for their actions and inactions for the best of the country and its citizens.

"We are overwhelmed by the outpouring of support from friends, partners and allies from around the world. We are further energised to continue to hold powers and institutions accountable while enhancing our people's right to know. We are grateful for the love shown to us.

"We will continue to do our best for our audience, country and humanity in spite of the odds we face every day," he said.

PREMIUM TIMES is among the 150 news organisations around the world participating in the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ)-led Pandora Papers project, exposing the shady dealings of top government officials across the world.

So far, the newspaper has published at least 10 investigative stories in the last two weeks, exposing financial inconsistencies of current and past elected officers, heads of agencies, business moguls in Nigeria.
Residents say the bandits circled the market and started shooting sporadically as they pressed in.

It was another bloodbath in Sokoto State Sunday evening as bandits reportedly gunned down at least 30 people and maimed many others during an attack on a weekly market in Goronyo local government area of the state.

Residents told PREMIUM TIMES that the bandits circled the market and started shooting sporadically as they pressed in on people attending the popular market in Goronyo, headquarters of the LGA.

This happened barely 12 days after bandits had killed dozens of people in a similar attack on Unguwar Lalle market in Sabon Birni local government area of the state.

Goronyo, Isa, Sabon Birni and Raba are local government areas in Sokoto State in the frontline of banditry.

To stem the tide of attacks, the state government cut off mobile telecommunications networks and banned the sale of animals in markets in the areas.

Goronyo attack

A human rights activist in the state, Basharu Guyawa, said the bandits raided the market with a force of about 200 men.

"What we learnt is that over 150 to 200 of them (bandits) on motorcycles rode through the Gundumi forest to Goronyo town. They went straight into the market and started shooting sporadically. They were not selective in their shooting; they obviously came to kill," Mr Guyawa, the Coordinator of Rundunar Adalci, said.

But Mr Guyawa said nobody could ascertain the number of those killed in attack that locals said lasted for several hours.

"The attack was horrendous," Mr Guyawa said, in Hausa.

Bashir Adamu, a retired civil servant from Sabon Birni, said Sunday was a black day for the people of the area.

"It was a black Sunday for us. Over 30 people were killed while more than 20 were seriously wounded," he said.

The police spokeperson in the state, Sanusi Abubakar, did not respond to calls and SMS sent to him on the attack.

Attacks by bandits have increased in Sokoto in recent weeks since the military launched an operation to flush out the terrorists from their forest hideouts in Zamfara State.

PREMIUM TIMES, on Sunday, reported how notorious banditry kingpins have been relocating their operational bases to forests in Sokoto State.
A peaceful protest by the residents to the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) yielded no positive results.

Some residents of Zone 6 Police Signpost, Lugbe, in the FCT, have cried out against the electricity blackout which has been lingering in the last four months, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.

An organised peaceful protest and complaints made by the residents to the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) have yielded no positive results.

The situation became more unbearable as several other zones within the same community have stable power supply while they remained in darkness.

A barber, Dauda Abdul, told NAN that his salon was his major source of income but the blackout has now forced him out of business.

"I use a borrowed generator but the prices of my services have to remain the same because it is not easy to increase prices and maintain my customers, so we have to bear it but this condition has affected me badly.

"Electricity bill is better compared to constant fuel consumption because in a day l spend over 1,000 naira on fuel and the amount we charge customers cannot foot the fuel bill unless when l have a lot of customers which is not always.

"I can tell you, like many others here, we have been weighed down, crippled and without any hope until when the power people decide to look our way," he lamented.

Many other residents made a similar complaint, saying they are now more exposed to insecurity because of darkness.

However, the General Manager, Corporate Communication of Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC), Oyebode Fadipe, said the problem was caused by the failure of the main transformer of the area.

"The transformer along with other required units are yet to be replaced, but all these are being looked into and as soon as all the materials are gathered, light will be restored to the area."

He assured the affected community that AEDC is aware of their problem, saying even though it may look like nothing is being done, the community members should be assured that AEDC is attempting to resolve the issue. (NAN)
After it was banned by the Kenya Film and Classification Board (KFCB) for reportedly promoting and inciting same-sex marriage, the queer-themed I am Samuel movie has been launched across Africa.

Directed and Produced by Peter Murimi and Toni Kamau respectively, the film, which was shot over five years and took two years to edit follows the life of a young man tormented by his sexuality while growing up in rural Kenya, who finds acceptance after moving to the capital, Nairobi.

Murimi was inspired to make this film because the voices of gay and lesbian youth go unheard and their issues are rarely discussed in the media or by mainstream policymakers.

"It is very rare for a poor, uneducated gay man to be given a platform to tell his story from his point of view, particularly in Kenya where such love is not accepted by society. Although it is not illegal to be queer and to fall in love, homosexual intimacy is criminalized under colonial-era laws," said Murimi on the film website.

People who identify as queer aren't able to love or live openly and face the threat of assault, abuse, and discrimination. "It was very important for this film to capture the reality of being poor and gay in Kenya, an experience shared by millions of LGBTQ+ people around the world," he told Marc Werman of The World.

Speaking in an interview with American news channel Cable News Network (CNN) on the day of the launch, Peter Murimi expressed his disappointment with the Kenyan film industry for rejecting the film that was intended for Kenyans and was made by Kenyans to sensitize the public on the subject of queer love and inclusivity in the country.

"I am very disappointed and really sad because this story is for Kenyans, by Kenyans and actually Kenyans would really connect with it because it's a story about a young man who struggles to live in a city, but it's also a love story between two young men. This film shows that we have more in common than uncommon. So I am really disappointed that Kenyans will not get to see this story," said the film director.

The documentary broadcasts across the African continent by AfriDocs, a South African-based platform, and will be available for African audiences to watch for free on www.afridocs.net.

However, in compliance with the ban by the Kenya Film and Classification Board, the documentary will be geo-blocked in Kenya. I Am Samuel is also distributed in the US and UK by Bohemia Media.
Security agents also rescued a hostage of the bandits during the operation.

At least 10 armed bandits were on Monday killed by security forces in some flash points in Kaduna State, the state government has said.

The security forces encountered the heavily armed bandits in Kwanan Bataru, on the outskirts of Fatika in Giwa local government area of the state and engaged them in a fire fight

The state's commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Samuel Aruwan, disclosed this in a statement on Monday.

Mr Aruwan said the security agents also rescued a hostage identified as Abubakar Usman during the operation.

"In the course of the gun duel, 10 of the bandits were eliminated while several others escaped with gun shot injuries," he said.

Mr Aruwan said the rescued hostage, Mr Usman, had been kidnapped in a neighboring state and was being held by bandits in the area. He said he was being debriefed after his rescue.

"The bandits who managed to escape left behind several motorcycles, one revolver, mobile phones, torchlights and some charms. One of the sheds used by the bandits to hold hostages was burnt," the statement said

Mr Aruwan said Governor Nasir El-Rufai commended the security forces for taking out the notorious bandits, adding that the governor wishes the troops and personnel more success in the ongoing operations across the state.

"Furthermore, the government is appealing to residents of Fatika general area to report to security agencies anyone found seeking medical attention for questionable injuries on these numbers: 09034000060 and 08170189999.

"All information received will be treated with the utmost confidentiality, the government official said.

Photo attached, the rescued hostage and the scene of the operation.
Mr Ibelli underscored the importance of STEM education to Nigeria's future prosperity and economic competitiveness.

Fifty teachers from the Lagos State Education District One have completed a five-day STEM training workshop tagged "Global Air Drone Challenge for Teachers."

The teacher capacity building workshop led by instructors from U.S.-headquartered Global Air Drone Academy was sponsored by the U.S. Consulate General in partnership with the Lagos State Ministry of Education.

Throughout the five-day training, the teachers drawn from public schools in underserved communities of Agege, Alimosho and Ifako-Ijaiye were introduced to basics of building and flying drones, computer coding, solar panel assembly, as well as various aspects of implementing an integrated approach to teaching Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) in the classroom.

Speaking at the grand finale of the workshop held at the Government Senior College Agege, U.S. Consulate Public Affairs Officer Stephen Ibelli explained that the workshop was aimed at offering innovative tools for teachers from public high schools to teach STEM subjects and better prepare Nigerian youth for 21st-century challenges.

Mr Ibelli underscored the importance of STEM education to Nigeria's future prosperity and economic competitiveness. According to him, developing tech skills can place students on a track to future careers in computer science, robotics and artificial intelligence, preparing them to solve real-life problems with more creativity, critical thinking and effectiveness.

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"The U.S. Mission in Nigeria is committed to supporting initiatives that promotes STEM education in Nigeria. Technological knowledge is an essential element of the 21st-century economy, and it starts in the classroom. This teacher training workshop will boost teacher confidence and capabilities in the areas of STEM teaching and learning," Mr Ibelli noted.

One of the teachers who participated in the workshop, Morayo Oyin-Adejobi, described her experience as "impactful."

Ms Oyin-Adejobi noted that she has been inspired on how best to encourage students' interest and participation in STEM-related activities in the classroom.

"Through this workshop, I have learned the various applications of drones in everyday life. I am taking everything I have learned to my students and to encourage them to pursue careers in the STEM fields," she added.

Following the completion of the training, the U.S. Consulate provided all 50 teachers with a "Drone in a Box" to take back to their schools and classrooms. This is expected to provide the teachers and their students with an opportunity to put their newly acquired skills to use.

The Global Air Drone Challenge for Teachers is one of the U.S. Mission's many initiatives that expand people-to-people ties and educational linkages between the United States and Nigeria, engage underserved communities, and strengthen human capital for inclusive Nigerian economic growth and human development.
Blog

It was a cold, serene morning in Garkuwa community of Wase Local Government Area (LGA), Plateau State and in a consulting room in Cottage Hospital, Sahura Kasimu sat with her two-month-old son, Mustapha nestled in her arms, as she spoke with Martina Dabot, the attending health officer. Kasimu gave birth to Mustapha in the same health facility and since then, they have both been receiving postnatal care over the phone and in person, an experience she did not have with her older child. "Both you and Mustapha are doing well," said Dabot as she ended the session, "I will call you within the week to check on you. Please continue the exclusive breastfeeding." Outside the room other women waited, some pregnant, some carrying newborn babies. Like Kasimu, they were there for either antenatal or postnatal checks.

Antenatal services are a standard practice in Cottage Hospital, however in July 2021 with the support of Rural Health Mission Nigeria under the Lifesaving Intervention Project implemented in Wase LGA, postnatal services were introduced for mothers and new babies. The aim was to improve the wellbeing of women and their newborns, before and after delivery, through improved antenatal and postnatal care, and facility delivery as described by Hassan Idris, Rural Health Mission Nigeria program coordinator in the LGA.

The program is being implemented in six communities in Wase, with more than 200 women registered and receiving antenatal and postnatal services. It also supports facility delivery with the donation of lifesaving kits. The kit, which is given to pregnant women at the point of deliver at health facilities contains sanitary pads, soap, gloves and methylated spirit.

Postnatal services at home and at health facility

Across the LGA, the program uses a network of health workers who have been trained in social mobilisation, maternal and child health awareness and maternal health service delivery, to improve awareness of antenatal and postnatal care among women, as well as provide the services. A follow-up system designed to take quality maternal health services to pregnant and breastfeeding women at home is a key component of the program. The health workers visit the women to enquire about their well-being and if need be, take them back to the health facilities for care. They also telephone the women periodically to check-up on them and provide counselling where necessary.

"At the start of the program, we collected the phone numbers of all the registered women and their husbands, so if we don't get them on phone, we call the husbands and if there is need to bring them to the facilities, we call the husbands to inform them as well," said Zainab Umar, a health worker in Kuyambana Community Health Centre, also in Wase LGA, where more than 40 women are receiving postnatal care under the program.

During a visit to Kuyambana Community Health Centre, Umar and her colleagues, Asiya Sunusi and Nafisa Jibril were seen attending to some women who were attending their postnatal visit and among them was a 25-year-old mother of four, Shamisya Usman. Carrying her two-month-old baby, Ibrahim, Usman said even though she had attended antenatal during her previous pregnancies, she relishes the idea of having a postnatal home visit and facility care. "I was pleasantly surprised and happy when Asiya (Sunusi) came to visit me one week after I delivered. Since then, she has visited me three more times," she said. Usman found the hospital visit quite productive as apart from counselling on exclusive breastfeeding and routine immunisation for Ibrahim, Sunusi discussed and advised her about the benefits of using contraception to space her children. "I discussed with my husband, and he agreed. We are starting soon," she added.

This initiative can be used to improve healthy practices like exclusive breastfeeding and the uptake of modern contraceptives, as evidenced by Sunusi's visit to Ibrahim. However, these home visits and phone calls could be viewed as alternatives to visiting health facilities. For instance, a woman could decide to wait for a visit or call from the health worker instead of going to health facilities when she or her baby falls ill. This is a potential unintended negative outcome Rural Health Mission Nigeria should anticipate, and devise strategies to prevent as they continue implementing the program.

Need for equity in implementation

Leveraging on skilled health workers resident in rural communities to improve maternal and child health is an approach deployed by governments and organisations across sub-Saharan Africa. Deliveries by skilled birth attendants are particularly low in Nigeria and according to NDHS 2018, only 39.4% of the deliveries were assisted by skilled health workers. However, a key limitation to these programs is that these health workers work as volunteers, mostly without renumeration. The health workers under the Lifesaving Intervention Project are engaged as volunteers and the health workers at both Cottage Hospital and Kuyambana Community Health Centre report that they have not received a stipend since the program started in July. This, they said, is demotivating. "We are putting in extra work in addition to our regular job at the health facility, yet we are still not renumerated," said one of the health workers.

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As the Mission continues to improve the lives of mothers and their newborns, it is imperative to ensure that health workers, who are the main drivers of the program, are well compensated. If through their work, they can prevent one maternal and child death, thus contributing to reducing the national maternal and child mortality burden, they must be encouraged to do more.

It is reassuring to see women like Kasimu, Usman and Suleiman, and babies like Mustapha and Ibrahim receive the care they need. The hope is that Lifesaving Intervention Project continues with its plans to expand the project to more communities in Wase and assist more health facilities to provide improved antenatal and postnatal care while also keeping in sight the objective of ensuring that these health facilities take ownership of the project in the long term.
The Federal Government has filed an amended seven-count charge against the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, before a Federal High Court in Abuja.

The fresh charges border on treasonable felony and terrorism following the pending charges he was facing since 2016.

Meanwhile, the court has issued hearing notice in the case, which is billed to commence on Thursday, October 21.

The notice titled Federal Republic of Nigeria Versus Nnamdi Kanu with suit number: FHC/ABJ/CR/383/15, was served on Kanu's lawyer, Ifeanyi Ejiofor and that of the prosecution, Shuaibu Labaran.

The notice indicates that the court presided by Justice Binta Nyako made fresh directives on the conduct of the proceedings throughout the case.

"This case will be transferred from the General Cause List to the hearing paper for Thursday 21st October 2021at 9 o'clock forenoon and will come on to be on that day if the business of the court permits or otherwise on some adjustment day of which you will receive no further notice," the notice reads.

"If either party desires to postpone the hearing, he must apply to the court as soon as possible for that purpose and if the application is based on any matter of fact, he must be prepared to give proof of those facts.

"The parties are warned that at the hearing, they are required to bring forward all the evidence by witnesses or by documents which each of them desires to rely on in support of his own case and in contradiction of that of his opponent.

"The proof will be required at the hearing and not on a subsequent day, and parties failing to bring their evidence forward at the proper time may find themselves absolutely precluded from adducing it at all, or at best only allowed to do so on payment of substantial costs to the other side, and on such other terms as the court deems fits to impose.

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"Parties desirous to enforce the attendance of witnesses should apply at once to the court to issue one or more summonses for the attendance of the witnesses required.

"It is indispensable that the application should be made so as to allow time for reasonable notice to the witnesses required.

"If the witness is required to bring books or papers, they must be particularized in the summons sufficiently to enable him to understand what is meant.

" Any party summoning a witness through the court thereby becomes liable to pay such witness reasonable sum of money to be fixed by the court for his expense and loss of time.

"The court may refuse to enforce the attendance of a witness unless such sum has been fixed and deposited in the court.

"If either party desires to use in evidence at the hearing, any book or document in the possession or power of the other party, he must give the other party, reasonable notice in writing to produce It at the hearing, failing which he will not be allowed to give any secondary evidence of its contents."
The United Nations Children's Fund, UNICEF on Monday said at least 3,500 young children were recruited as suicide bombers, spies, cooks and wives in the protracted conflict in the Northeast between 2013 and 2020.

The UNICEF Chief of Maiduguri Field Office, Phuong T. Nguyen, made this known in a statement issued to newsmen by the Funds Communication Officer, Folashade Adebayo to react to the delisting of the Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF) from the United Nations Secretary-General's report.

Nguyen said the delisting was one step forward for child protection while calling on CJTF and other armed groups and parties to the conflict to immediately stop the recruitment of children and safely reintegrate them with their families and communities, where they belong.

Part of the statement reads: "UNICEF today said the delisting of the Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF) from the United Nations Secretary-General's report on Children and Armed Conflict as one of the armed groups recruiting and using children in north-east Nigeria is one step forward for child protection.

"In his latest report released this year, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres credited the delisting to a significant reduction in the number of children recruited into the ranks of the CJTF and the armed group's commitment to the implementation of an Action Plan it signed with the United Nations Country Task Force on Monitoring and Reporting (CTFMR) in 2017 to stop the recruitment and use of children.

"Formed in 2013 with the stated aim of supporting efforts of the Nigerian military to protect communities from Boko Haram attacks, the CJTF expanded in size and influence in the region. At the height of its operations in 2016, the group was listed in the annexes of the Secretary- General's Annual Report for Children and Armed Conflict for the recruitment and use of children.

"Since signing the 2017 Action Plan, however, the CJTF has released more than 2,000 children from its ranks, with many of the children enrolled in school and provided with psychosocial support by UNICEF.

"Children have borne the brunt of the protracted conflict in north-east Nigeria. At least 3,500 young children were recruited by parties to the conflict as combatants between 2013 and 2020. Girls and boys have been used as suicide bombers, spies, labourers, cooks, messengers and wives. Girls recruited by armed groups often suffer gender-based violence, including rape.

"Children used as soldiers are at a great risk of death or disability while undergoing armed training and initiation rites, as well as during combat. They are forced to witness or participate in tortures and killings, triggering lifelong physical and mental health challenges. Similarly, they are denied access to education, nutrition and conducive living conditions, among other grave violations of their rights.

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"This is a welcome development for the children of Nigeria. But we must remember that this is the first step in a long journey. I urge the leadership of the CJTF to establish child protection units across its offices to prevent future recruitment and use of children and consistently model its agreement to not use children for any kind of role.

"Recruiting children into armed groups steals their innocence and the protection they need. We should not forget - deploying children as soldiers imperils peace and perpetuates the cycle of generational violence. I call on other armed groups and parties to the conflict to immediately stop the recruitment of children and safely reintegrate them with their families and communities, where they belong," Nguyen however stated.
Coltan is the colloquial name for the mineral columbite-tantalum ("col-tan"). Tantalum (pictured) is a hard, ductile heavy metal which easily forms a protective oxide layer, which makes it corrosion-resistant. Most tantalum is used for small capacitors with high capacity, like those in cellphones.

analysis

Laws and certification schemes aren't protecting the Democratic Republic of the Congo's most vulnerable - a fresh approach is needed.

Coltan is one of the world's most vital minerals, and 60% of reserves globally are found in the Democratic Republic of the Congo's (DRC) Kivu province. In 2019, 40% of the global coltan supply was produced in the DRC.

The mineral is used in cell phones, laptops and other devices because of its particular ability to store and release electrical energy. As 5G technology grows, the demand for Congolese coltan will increase. But this is not good news for everyone in the DRC.

Much of the country's coltan is extracted using the labour of over 40 000 child and teenage miners. Coming from remote villages and towns in Kivu, they either drop out of school or have never had the opportunity to attend. The informality of the extractive sector provides attractive job opportunities for vulnerable children, who serve as a pool of cheap labour.

Children work as washers and diggers in dangerous conditions. They also engage in petty smuggling, selling coltan for a pittance in towns along the borders with Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda. Doing adults' work in a hazardous environment, many child miners face harassment, abuse and ill health. Occupational hazards include daily exposure to Radon, a radioactive substance associated with coltan, which has been linked to lung cancer.

Child miners face daily exposure to Radon, a radioactive substance which has been linked to lung cancer

Faustin Kantanga, a civil society leader in Bukavu, told the ENACT organised crime project that coltan mines were rife with prostitution, sexually transmitted diseases and rape, and that child miners were exposed to these risks. Those travelling long distances to smuggle coltan are also vulnerable to child traffickers and recruitment by armed groups.

The quantity of coltan mined using child labour remains uncertified and untraceable. The illicitly extracted mineral is traded in the underground economy and funnelled into the global supply chain through smuggling, counterfeiting and collusion.

The DRC government has taken several steps to curtail the use of child labour in coltan mines. Laws have been passed, and the country has signed some of the certification standards in the extractive sector. The DRC's mining code was reformed in 2017 to penalise the use of child labour or the sale of ore mined by children. In line with national legislation and supply chain standards, traceability and certification schemes have also been adopted.

The Certification, Expertise and Evaluation Centre (CEEC) of precious and semi-precious mineral substances, established by the Congolese Ministry of Mines, is in charge of tracing and certifying coltan. The body is mandated to collaborate with international regulatory agencies, from mining sites to commodity markets in Asia, Europe and North America.

Informants and even government officials warn miners and extractive companies about upcoming inspections

Notable international certification protocols signed by the DRC include the Regional Certification Mechanism of the International Conference of the Great Lakes Region, the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme, and the Dodd-Frank Act. The country is also a signatory to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Due Diligence Guidance for the responsible processing of minerals from areas in conflict, and the Conflict Minerals Regulation.

However, all these commitments have not prevented children from being exploited in the DRC's coltan mines. Mineral certification schemes are not properly implemented, nor is the law regarding child labour and associated hazardous working conditions. While the frameworks are complementary, their feasibility in the eastern DRC is questionable.

Administrative capacity to ensure compliance is lacking, and funding and staffing for the provincial departments tasked with monitoring child labour on mining sites are insufficient. Miners and extractive companies also circumvent the mineral certification protocols. Fieldwork by ENACT in the DRC revealed that the infrequent inspections were sabotaged by informants and even government officials whose warnings about upcoming site visits allowed miners to hide child labourers.

In sum, illicit coltan mining and trading in the DRC is enabled by the weak implementation of certification schemes, ongoing attempts to bypass regulations, and inadequate law enforcement. This casts doubt on the usefulness of all the certification schemes signed up to by the country.

Enrolling vulnerable children in school should be incentivised to limit their recruitment by miners

A different approach is needed. The Congolese government should constitute and fund an independent task force with a mandate to prosecute private and corporate businesses culpable of recruiting child miners. The enrolment of vulnerable children in school should be incentivised through ring-fenced funding and awareness campaigns to limit their recruitment into mining work.

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Given the problem of child labour in coltan mines, the approach to mineral certification needs a fresh look. International pressure groups can advocate for the various certification schemes to be harmonised so that they can be uniformly applied in the eastern DRC's mineral-rich regions.

Development partners should help train and equip civil society observatory groups at the local level to monitor and submit regular incident reports covering child labour in coltan mines. Such 'shadow reports' would assist in validating or invalidating the certification audits carried out by state officials.

Oluwole Ojewale, Regional Organised Crime Observatory Coordinator - Central Africa, ISS Dakar

This article was first published by the ENACT project. ENACT is funded by the European Union (EU). The contents of this article are the sole responsibility of the author and can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of the EU.
The announcement was made by regional TV controlled by the Tigrayan People's Liberation Front and confirmed by humanitarian sources. They are the first air raids on Mekele since the conflict began a year ago.

Airstrikes hit the capital of Ethiopia's Tigray region on Monday, injuring several civilians, regional TV controlled by the Tigrayan People's Liberation Front (TPLF) reported. However, the government has denied the reports.

Tigrai TV said the attack on the capital city of Mekele was carried out by Abiy Ahmed, Ethiopia's prime minister.

Humanitarian officials confirmed that with AFP. "Airstrike now in Mekele," one humanitarian official in the city said via SMS to AFP on condition of anonymity. The attacks were also confirmed by a second humanitarian source, two diplomats and a rebel spokesman.

A resident of the city told Reuters one strike hit close to a market, behind a hotel. An aid worker and a doctor in the region also said there had been an attack and a diplomat shared pictures of what they said was the aftermath, including pools of blood and smashed windows.

Ethiopia's government spokesman, Legesse Tulu, denied launching an attack. "Why would the Ethiopian government attack its own city? Mekelle is an Ethiopian city," he said. "Terrorists are the ones who attack cities with innocent civilians in them, not government," Legesse added. He also accused the TPLF of killing civilians in neighboring regions.

'Designed to inflict civilian casualties'

The first air raid occurred in the morning on the outskirts of Mekele near a cement factory, the sources said. The second took place around midday in the city center near the Planet Hotel, which is often used by top officials from the TPLF. The TPLF said the aerial assaults were designed to inflict civilian casualties.

"While they are losing big in what they dubbed as a final offensive against Tigray, they will obviously continue to target civilians in a desperate move to exact revenge on the people of Tigray," TPLF spokesman Getachew K Reda said on Twitter.

The Ethiopian military and its allies have been fighting forces from the northern region of Tigray for 11 months. The strikes come as the government appeared to be pursuing a new offensive in the war against the TPLF, which dominated national politics before Abiy took office in 2018.

There were reports last week of new clashes between government and rebel forces in Afar, a region bordering Tigray, where fighting has also spread to.

(Reuters, AFP)
President Muhammadu Buhari has told bandits that they should be ready for crushing defeat.

The President gave the warning on Monday while reacting to the killing of over 30 people in Goronyo, Sokoto State on Sunday.

Buhari, in a statement issued by his media aide, Garba Shehu, said the days of the bandits were numbered because the military capabilities of our forces were being boosted by the acquisition and deployment of advanced equipment.

He appealed to all Nigerians "not to despair because this administration is determined more than ever before to protect Nigerians from murderous criminal gangs that have no respect for the sanctity human of life."

The president extended his sympathy to the families of the victims of the Goronyo attack and called on the people to continue to be patient as the military strategised on how to deliver the crushing blow to these bandits."

He said: "The clock of your ultimate destruction is ticking as you will no longer have a place to hide.

"The bandits are living in the fool's paradise of invincibility, but reality will soon dawn on them harder than ever before.

"The bandits are currently under desperate pressures because of the intense and sustained air and ground operations against them in their hideouts by our security forces.

"The cowardly attacks on innocent people by the bandits show a rearguard action of criminals under pressure. But they will have no place to hide and our gallant security forces will not relent in the current offensive to defeat these callous enemies of humanity," the President added.
The Federal Government has accused the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, of inciting the violence which has gripped some parts of the country.

This is contained in the evidence of the amended seven-count charges brought against Kanu before a Federal High Court in Abuja, where he is facing allegations of treasonable felony and terrorism.

The arraignment has been fixed for Thursday, October 21.

In the case summary signed by Director of Public Prosecutions of the Federal Ministry of Justice, M.B. Abubakar, dated 12th October, 2021, the prosecution averred that it will lead evidence that Kanu granted an interview with Sahara Reporters "wherein he asserted that Nigeria, which he refers to as the 'zoo', 'have come to an end.'"

The prosecution further averred that Kanu insisted in the interview that violence is the language people in the 'zoo' understand while adding that "if they fail to give us Biafra, Somalia will be a child's play; Somalia will look like paradise. We will kill everybody in that zoo called Nigeria.

"If they fail to give us Biafra, there will be no more living in the zoo."

The prosecution further averred that Kanu does not believe in peaceful approach to the realisation of Biafra because he insisted that he is not aware of anywhere peaceful approach worked.

"In his broadcasts, he invited his listeners to burn down as many police stations as police and kill any policeman and military personnel," the prosecution averred.

The prosecution averred that Kanu had in a broadcast on August 1, 2015, directed his members in Diaspora to identify families of Nigerian dignitaries abroad, their residences and schools for reprisal when security agencies attack Biafrans.

In the seven-counts charge, the prosecution alleged that Kanu had sought to carve out South East, South South, parts of Kogi and Benue states to form the Republic of Biafra against the provision of Section 41(c)of the Criminal Code Act, 2004.

The federal government further alleged that Kanu on 28th April, 2015 made a broadcast on Radio Biafra, London, monitored in Enugu referred to Major General Muhammadu Buhari, who is the Commander-in-Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as paedophile, terrorist and an embodiment of evil "knowing same to be false", which contravenes Section 357 of the Criminal Code Act, 2004.

Other charges read, "that you Nnamdi Kanu, male adult of Afarachukw lbeku Umahia North Local Government Area of Abia State between the month of March and April 2015 imported into Nigeria and kept in Ubulusiizor in Ihiala Local Government Area of Anambra state within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court , a Radio transmitter known as TRAM 50l concealed in a container of used household Which you declared as used household items and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 47 (2) of the Criminal Code of Act ,Cap C45, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.

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That "on the 16th of May, 2021 in London United Kingdom within the jurisdiction of this honourable court did commit and act in furtherance if an act of terrorism by making a broadcast that "in two weeks time, what will happen will shake the world, people will die, the whole world will stand still mark my word" and you thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 1 (2) (h) of the Terrorism Prevention Amendment Act, 2013."
? El presidente @PedroCastilloTe se reunio con el titular del @MEF_Peru, @pedrofrancke, para abordar temas relacionados al ambito economico como la inversion privada, evolucion y comportamiento del precio del dolar, economia familiar, entre otros.

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He visto de cerca tu lucha, entrega y perseverancia. Estas haciendo historia, Jose, al ser la voz y esperanza de los humildes. Tu amor y fortaleza en nuestra familia es el impulso para construir un mejor pais. Feliz cumpleanos, @PedroCastilloTe!

?? #SiempreUnidos pic.twitter.com/4gj2x67VID
During the meeting, held on Monday, both authorities highlighted the excellent level of strategic partnership between the two countries, which is based on political dialogue, trade, investment, cultural exchange, and scientific cooperation.

In addition, it should be pointed out that a framework agreement to start negotiations on a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) was signed in 2003, turning Peru into the first country in the region to negotiate an agreement of this kind with the Kingdom of Thailand.

Canciller Oscar Maurtua recibio la visita del Embajador de Tailandia, Sorayut Chasombat. Ambos resaltaron la importancia de la Asociacion Estrategica entre el Peru y Tailandia, que ha impulsado sustantivamente los vinculos bilaterales.

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" " MaxPixels The axolotl is known as a "walking fish" but is actually an amphibian. Given that picture, you can see why they're so popular in the pet trade, too.

In Julio Cortazar's short story "Axolotl," first published in 1954, a Latin American man living in Paris becomes infatuated with the axolotls living at the zoo, to the point that he eventually transforms into one. With their "pink, Aztec faces," "eyes of gold" and "rosy little bodies, translucent ... ending in a fish's tail of extraordinary delicacy," the narrator observes an "absolute lack of similarity between axolotls and human beings." In considering these feathery, pinkish salamanders, "It would seem easy, almost obvious, to fall into mythology."

Cortazar's narrator is, on the face of things, correct in his estimation of the axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum) or Mexican walking fish. For starters, the axolotl fell into mythology centuries ago  the Aztecs believed that the first axolotl appeared in the lake system around modern day Mexico City when the powerful underworld god Xolotl transformed himself into a small, feathery amphibian to escape capture. In ancient Mesoamerican culture, these close relatives of the tiger salamander were considered a food source supplied by Lake Xochimilco for the good of humanity.

And Cortazar was right about the axolotl's similarity to humans  our last common ancestor probably roamed Earth around 360 million years ago, and at first (or even 50th) glance, they're excessively different from us. Among the first modern zoo animals, 34 axolotls were brought from Mexico (along with a three deer and three wild dogs) to the Jardin zoologique d'acclimatation in Paris in 1864. And although they weren't as interesting to 19th-century zoo goers as the larger, more charismatic animals, scientists quickly realized these unassuming little animals were strange  almost mythological, in fact.

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Axolotls Live Underwater

In the wild, axolotls are  or at least used to be  top predators in their home ecosystem in the lakes and canals of central Mexico. They're unusual among amphibians because they remain underwater for their entire lives, breathing through gills, while most other salamander species walk around on land and breathe with lungs during the adult stage of life. Although they appear unassuming, they're actually ruthless carnivores, feasting on worms, mollusks, insects and insect larvae, and even small fish in the wild. Part of the Aztec mythology of the axolotl centers around the fact that, like a powerful god, they are difficult to kill. If an axolotl loses virtually any part of its body it can regenerate it, no problem.

While some lizards can grow back a tail, bisected flatworms can grow back their other half and starfish can regrow a limb, an axolotl can regrow its heart, a foot, part of its spinal cord  you name it.

"Of the animals that are closest to us  the vertebrates  salamanders are the only ones that can regenerate in this way, and can heal without scars," says David Gardiner, a professor in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of California, Irvine. "Other salamanders can regenerate, but axolotls do it best."

When the Europeans got wind of this, axolotls went from being a sort of boring exhibit in the zoo to one of the most important and longest self-sustaining lab animals in history. Georges Cuvier, popularly considered the Father of Paleontology, studied axolotls in an attempt to figure out whether Carl Linnaeus was correct in categorizing the classes Amphibia and Reptilia separately  it was a big question in those days, and Cuvier concluded that axolotls, because they breathe through gills their entire lives, must be some sort of lizard that existed as a perpetual larva  in the words of paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould, a "sexually mature tadpole." (Cuvier was correct sometimes, but not in this case.)

Because axolotls did incredibly well in laboratory and aquarium settings, 19th-century zoologist Auguste Dumeril took it upon himself to provide every lab in Europe with a supply of axolotls, which resulted in some truly horrific studies in which scientists chopped up lab axolotls just to test the limits of their regenerative powers.

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Axolotls and Regeneration

"These days, axolotls are hugely important model systems for our studies about regeneration," says Gardiner. "We've known for decades  centuries, even  that we can remove parts of a developing embryonic structure and the cells that are left behind will fill in, repair and regenerate that structure. But in most animals  mammals, for instance  the system sort of shuts down at the end of embryonic development. Salamanders seem to be able to revert back to that embryonic-like state, re-accessing the developmental program that's already there. Humans have the program, we just stop being able to access it when we're no longer an embryo. You could say we, like axolotls, have evolved the ability to regenerate just fine, but we've also evolved a mechanism that inhibits that."

Axolotls might be god-like in their evolved ability to re-access embryonic instructions to regenerate organs and limbs  captive axolotls might even be able to endure living in a nasty 19th-century aquarium or lab, cut up into little pieces  but what they're not able to endure is their home ecosystem being overrun with introduced predators and environmental toxins. The lakes in their home around ultra-urbanized Mexico City have become not only polluted by aging wastewater systems, but overrun by introduced tilapia and perch, both of which view axolotls as a delicious snack. In 1998, scientists counted around 6,000 axolotls per square kilometer in Lake Xochimilco, but these days fewer than 35 animals take up the same amount of space. It looks like the axolotl is on the fast track to extinction even in their home environment.

Which is something of a paradox, like the axolotl itself. While axolotls are a critically endangered species and a threatened species on the IUCN Red List, they're doing great in captivity. They're the most widely distributed amphibian in the world: Millions of them live in labs around the globe  many more, in fact, than live in the wild. And while axolotl research is important in science, pet axolotls are also popular  especially in Japan, a country where you can also get axolotls as a deep-fried snack in some restaurants.

Now That's Interesting The axolotl genome is the largest of any organism yet sequenced.

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Originally Published: Oct 14, 2019
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 19, ARMENPRESS. Russia is going to invest 1 billion dollars into Armenias economy in the near future, Deputy minister of economic development Dmitry Volvach told reporters in Yerevan on the sidelines of the Armenian-Russian Interregional Forum.

The trade turnover restoration rates between our countries in 2021 are not bad, 17%. This is in case when we had a 4% decline in the pandemic year. Our cooperation is developing in the field of investments, over 2.2 billion dollars jointly collected investments from Russia to Armenia. We know that there are concrete programs worth 1 billion dollars which will soon be invested into the economy of Armenia, the Russian deputy minister of economic development said.

He added that the investments will be very important for the development of economic, social and cultural relations between Armenia and Russia.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 19, ARMENPRESS. On October 18, Deputy Foreign Minister Vahe Gorgyan received the newly appointed Ambassador of Ireland to the Republic of Armenia Martina Feeney (with residence in Sofia), on the occasion of presenting the copy of her credentials, the Armenian foreign ministry said in a news release.

The Deputy Foreign Minister congratulated Martina Feeney upon assuming the responsible mission and expressed hope that the newly appointed Ambassador would further contribute to the strengthening of the Armenian-Irish relations and expanding the agenda of relations, both in bilateral and multilateral formats.

The sides reiterated mutual readiness to take steps towards intensifying the political dialogue, developing mutually beneficial cooperation in both bilateral and multilateral fields, as well as making full use of the existing potential.

During the meeting, the Deputy Minister comprehensively presented the current situation around the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. In this context, the importance of a full resumption of NK peace process within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs was highlighted.
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 19, ARMENPRESS. Citizens of Armenia, Iraq, South Korea, and Moldova are now allowed to enter the territory of Malta as long as they are able to present a valid COVID-19 vaccination certificate, ShengenVisaInfo reports.

The Maltese authorities announced last Friday, October 15, that the country has decided to recognize the certificates issued by these four countries as valid proof of immunity against the virus.

Accordingly, in line with the statement that has been made by Maltas official travel portal, VisitMalta, all nationals of one of these countries are now permitted entry to Malta provided that their vaccination certificate meets the requirements that the countrys authorities have set.

Based on the current rules that Malta has, in order for a vaccination certificate that has been issued in Armenia, Iraq, South Korea, and Moldova to be recognized, the document should indicate that the holder has been fully immunised with one of the vaccines that have been approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA).

This indicates that Armenians, Iraqis, South Koreans, and Moldovans will be allowed entry to Malta as long as their certificate proves that they have been immunised with AstraZeneca EU (Vaxzevria), Moderna (Spikevax), Johnson & Johnson (Janssen), and Pfizer/BioNTech (Comirnaty).

It has been highlighted that the vaccination certificate must indicate that at least 14 days have passed since the holder has received the last vaccine dose in order for it to be valid.
YEREVAN, 19 OCTOBER, ARMENPRESS. The United States Senate Committee on Appropriations released its Fiscal Year 2022 Appropriations Bills today, which includes a recommendation of $2 million in aid to Artsakh, ARMENPRESS was informed from the Armenian Assembly of America (Assembly).

Specifically, "the Committee recommends up to $2,000,000 for humanitarian demining and UXO clearance activities in areas affected by the 2020 fighting in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, subject to prior consultation with the Committees on Appropriations."

The report also called "for humanitarian assistance" for those that have been "displaced by the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh."

In addition, the Committee remained "concerned with the protracted conflict," and requested "the Secretary of State to consult with the Committees on Appropriations prior to obligating assistance made available under title IV of the act for Armenia and Azerbaijan."

The bill itself restates Section 907 of the FREEDOM Support Act, which was adopted in 1992 when Congress took a principled stand against Azerbaijani aggression toward the Armenian people. Section 907 states that U.S. funds "may not be provided to the Government of Azerbaijan until the President determines and so reports to the Congress, that the Government of Azerbaijan is taking demonstrable steps to cease all blockades and other offensive uses of force against Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh." In the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack on American soil, a national security waiver was added to Section 907. The exercise of the waiver is valid so long as it "will not undermine or hamper ongoing efforts to negotiate a peaceful settlement between Armenia and Azerbaijan or be used for offensive purposes against Armenia."

The Senate Committee's action follows the recommendation of $50 million in funding for Armenia and $2 million for Artsakh in the Bill and Report by the House Committee on Appropriations in relation to the Fiscal Year 2022 State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations legislation.

"The Assembly welcomes continued U.S. support for the Armenian people. As the House and Senate finalize the Appropriations bills, we urge Congress to allocate robust funding for both Armenia and Artsakh," said Assembly Congressional Relations Director Mariam Khaloyan.

Established in 1972, the Armenian Assembly of America is the largest Washington-based nationwide organization promoting public understanding and awareness of Armenian issues. The Assembly is a non-partisan, 501(c)(3) tax-exempt membership organization.
The United States on Monday did not confirm Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan's comment that Washington had made an offer to Ankara for the sale of F-16 fighter jets but added that it has not made Turkey a financing offer for the warplanes, Reuters reports.

October 19, 2021, 12:43 U.S. says it made no financing offers to Turkey on F-16 jets

STEPANAKERT, OCTOBER 19, ARTSAKHPRESS: Erdogan said on Sunday that the United States had proposed the sale of F-16 fighter jets to Turkey in return for its investment in the F-35 program, from which Ankara was removed after buying missile defense systems from Russia.

"We would refer you to the Turkish government to speak to its defense procurement plans. What I can say is the United States has not made any financing offers on Turkey's F-16 request," U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price said in a briefing.

Reuters reported earlier this month that Turkey made a request to the United States to buy 40 Lockheed Martin-made F-16 fighter jets and nearly 80 modernization kits for its existing warplanes. Previously Ankara had also ordered more than 100 F-35 jets, made by Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT.N), but the United States removed Turkey from the program in 2019 after it acquired Russian S-400 missile defense systems.
Russian companies plan to invest more than $1 billion in Armenia. Russian Minister of Economic Development Maksim Reshetnikov said this Tuesday during the Eighth Armenian-Russian Interregional Forum in Yerevan, news.am informs.

October 19, 2021, 14:57 Reshetnikov: Russia companies plan to invest more than $1 billion in Armenia

STEPANAKERT, OCTOBER 19, ARTSAKHPRESS: According to him, most of those Russian companies are the big taxpayers for the Armenian economy.

He said that representatives of more than 40 Russian companies which are interested in cooperation in various domains have arrived in Armenia to attend the aforementioned forum.

"We hope that the main results of the work of the forum will be the agreements on new joint projects, and, of course, the development of interregional cooperation is very important to us," he said.

Also, the Russian official emphasized that Armenia is Russia's key strategic partner.

"We develop our relations on the basis of the principles of good neighborliness and unconditional respect for mutual interests. Strong ties help us overcome the effects of the economic downturn, and we see that turnover has increased again this year.

It is very important that not only trade, but also investment cooperation is developing [between the two countries]. Currently, there are more than 40 large Russian companies operating in Armenia, which invest in Armenias economy, create new jobs. At the same time, it is important that there are plans to further strengthen this cooperation," the Russian minister of economic development concluded.
A documentary that was partially filmed in Auburn last Election Day will premiere next week.

"Women and the Vote" will premiere at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 20, at The Little Theatre in Rochester. It will then be broadcast at 9 p.m. Monday, Oct. 25, on WXXI, the PBS affiliate in Rochester.

Filmed at Fort Hill in Auburn and four other cemeteries across New York, the documentary covers the past 100 years of women's political action for equality, the present moment and the possibilities for the future, serving as a call to action for everyone to become a modern-day suffragist.

Filmmakers interviewed visitors at the Fort Hill gravesites of Harriet Tubman, Martha Coffin Pelham Wright, Eliza Wright Osborne and Jennie M. Pearson. They were asked about their first time voting, healing divisions in the country and more. Among the interviewees was Melina Carnicelli, the first woman elected mayor of Auburn.

"It's actually part of my family culture," she said of voting. "It's truly, I think, the most egalitarian way to express our democracy, and really to honor our democracy."

For more information, visit womenandthevotenys.com/thefilm or follow @womenandthevotenys on Facebook and Instagram.

'A much bigger story': Crew films election documentary at Auburn cemetery AUBURN  As voters turned out in what are expected to be record numbers this Election Day, a documentary crew asked some of them to share thei

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Beijing (Gasgoo)- Today, the chairman of Xiaomi, Lei Jun, disclosed that Xiaomis automaking progress has far surpassed his anticipations and mass production of vehicles will start in the first half of 2024.

Photo credit: Xiaomi



Lei Jun explained, his automaking endeavor is not attention-seeking. As the EV industry transitioned from mechanical to informational, Xiaomi will be obsolete if not participate alongside its peers. By virtue of the companys already formed smart ecosystem ranging from smartphones to home appliances and innovative office solutions, the company will be well positioned to integrate vehicle functions.

Xiaomi Auto has completed business registration on September 1st in Yizhuang District, Bejing. The company has received 20,000 resumes and recruited 453 talents in R&D upon establishment.

In addition, a tech blogger revealed in August that Xiaomis new energy team is in talks with French auto parts supplier Faurecia for cooperation, further accelerating its vehicle manufacturing process.

Early on, rumor has that Xiaomi will be releasing a new model each year three years after the debut of its first vehicle in 2024 and expects a three-year sales volume of 900,000 vehicles.

Notably, Lei Jun expressed during an interview that his interest in the electric vehicle industry could be dated back to 2013. In the past few years, Lei Jun and Xiaomi conducted numerous investments in a slew of diverse companies in the intelligent electric vehicle field. The adventurist said Xiaomi Automotive would be the last major entrepreneurial project in his life.
Shanghai (Gasgoo)- HT Aero, the electric flying car company owned by XPeng Motors, announced on Oct. 19 it nabbed over $500 million in the Series A funding round, which will value it at more than $1 billion.



Photo credit: HT Aero

The fresh financing round was led by IDG Capital, 5Y Capital, and XPeng Inc. Such renowned investment companies as Sequoia Capital China, Eastern bell Capital, GGV Capital, GL Ventures, and Yunfeng Capital also took part in the funding round.

This is the biggest round ever achieved by a low-flying aircraft company in Asia in term of the money raised, said HT Aero.

The success in the new financing means that the capital market is upbeat about the flying car business and highly recognizes HT Aeros technical capabilities. The company will further strengthen the investment in the R&D and manufacturing of flying cars, the pooling of high-end talents, and the airworthiness certification, said Zhao Deli, president of HT Aero.

Mr. Zhao revealed the company's next-generation flying car, which will truly realize the coupling of aircrafts and automobiles, is expected for launch in 2021.

According to Zhao's earlier speech delivered in mid-Sept., the yet-to-be-launched flying machine is dubbed Voyager X2, whose research and development is being underway. It is XPeng's first flying car to feature a closed cockpit, essentially designed for high-altitude flights. The X2 is able to accommodate two passengers under its maximum load of 200 kilograms.
LOS ANGELES  The Japan-based pleasure Item brand, Tenga, has announced its first single-use iroha itemthe Iroha Petit.

Available now at a MSRP of $8, the Iroha Petit is made of a completely new material that is composed of 98% water. The smooth gliding texture requires no additional lotion and offers new sensations that are unlike the touch of silicone or any other material, according to Tenga. The item can easily be cooled in the refrigerator or warmed in a bath for use at the desired temperature. Its self-contained nature and affordability makes it an ideal toy for beginners, Tenga said.

The Iroha Petit is available in three designs with differing surfaces: Shell, Plum and Lily.

In addition to being able to be cooled in the refrigerator, it also can be warmed in a bath for use at the desired temperature.

"It's simple, affordable and disposable nature makes it perfect for first-time users," said a company rep.

The Shell is pleated ribs for enticing pleasure; the Plum is rounded surfaces for bounding sensations; and the Lily is distinct edges for flickers of stimulation.

Click here for a YouTube demonstration of the Iroha Petit.
In June, long-time Charlotte Observer reporter Rick Bonnell passed away at the age of 63. Bonnell served as the Hornets beat writer from the teams first season through their most recent one, and the sudden loss shocked the community.

On Tuesday, the Hornets announced their plans to honor Bonnell this season, which include a scholarship, an annual award, and the naming of the media entrance at the Spectrum Center in honor of Bonnell.

Heres more from the teams release.

The Charlotte Hornets Foundation has created the Rick Bonnell Memorial Scholarship that will award $10,000 annually to a journalism student enrolled at a North Carolina college or university. Journalism students can apply online starting today. Applications will be accepted until November 30. The winner will be selected by a panel consisting of Hornets staff members, former Charlotte Observer colleagues and Bonnells children, Jack and Claire. The funding for this years $10,000 was supplied by donations made to the Charlotte Hornets Foundation in Bonnells memory. Starting with the 2021-22 season, the Rick Bonnell Award will be given annually to a Hornets player that best represents himself and the franchise with professionalism and cooperation with regards to his interactions with the media. There will be an on-court trophy presentation with the award winner prior to a Hornets home game. The Spectrum Center media and employee entrance will be rebranded as the Rick Bonnell Media & Employee Entrance. A photo collage of images from Bonnells career will greet media members on the event level as they make their way to the media work rooms.

The team will also honor Bonnell with a moment of silence and video tribute prior to the home opener against the Pacers on Wednesday.

This is quite a respectful set of gestures from the Hornets, and we tip our cap to the organization as they honor Bonnells life and work.

[Charlotte Hornets]
Thirty years ago, I helped organize the first National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit, which began in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 24, 1991. It was the first time in U.S. history that leaders would come together to address human rights with a focus on environmental justice.

An English teacher by love and training, I came to the environmental justice movement through nuclear weapons issues. The federal governments Savannah River Site, which produced radioactive material used in nuclear weapons, contaminated the river and environment near my hometown of Savannah, Georgia. Witnessing its impact on my community growing up ultimately caused me to expand my work beyond voting and civil rights issues.

At the summit, sitting next to giants who had been fighting for more than a decade against Louisianas Cancer Alley, I felt like I was being baptized in an incredible sea of movement work. Feeling the empathy from summit participants and knowing that people cared was overwhelming. For the first time, I felt like I wasnt alone in fighting against environmental injustices and racism.

The individual agendas we all brought to the summit became a collective agenda to go home and develop local, state and regional networks that would build power to advance equitable policies.

As for nuclear weapons complexes, we were able to get the federal government to establish a site-specific advisory board, which included community and environmental justice groups for every facility. It was monumental.

Nationally, the ethics around community engagement also began to change. At the time of the summit, when federal agencies received public input, it meant men in suits would use a stenographer to capture peoples two-minute statements. It was a check-the-box exercise.

We worked to change that. The National Environmental Policy Act became the mechanism for ordinary people to weigh in on projects that would affect them. Community members were provided with resources to travel to meetings and could use their own scientists to assess the data.

But many of those gains were eroded under the Trump administration. Enforcement of public health and environmental safeguards ground to a halt, and Environmental Protection Agency officials had limited contact with communities and environmental groups. As a result, hundreds of EPA officials retired or quit.

Now, we must build the EPA back up and move on past these setbacks.

Congress is currently considering the Build Back Better Act, which would address environmental injustices in myriad ways. One example of this is a provision that would beef up the EPA system that tracks companies air pollution and river waste discharges to ensure they follow federal laws.

The bill would also reduce air pollution concentrated in communities of color and low-income neighborhoods by addressing diesel truck emissions and providing climate justice grants to communities.

In addition, the bill would clean up legacy pollution and hazardous waste sites, assist in making affordable housing resilient to extreme weather events caused by climate change and provide training for people to enter the new green economy.

The bills comprehensive solutions would help address the enormous harm that people and the Earth are suffering  infractions that did not occur overnight. Now Congress must ensure that these vital provisions stay strong and are robustly funded. They must do the right thing by ensuring that the country builds back far better compared to what we had.

Its time  past time  to deliver on what environmental justice leaders called for at the National Summit 30 years ago.

Dr. Mildred McClain is the executive director and founder of the Harambee House Inc., the founder of Citizens for Environmental Justice, and a senior fellow with Partnership for Southern Equity.

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From the Dakotas to northern Wyoming, St. Vincent Healthcare in Billings serves more than just the state of Montana. With recent advancements in technology and specialty programs at St. Vincent, people in our region no longer have to fly to larger medical centers in Seattle or Denver to receive world-class specialty medical care. This is life altering to many in the area  especially for stroke patients.

It used to be that if someone had a stroke in Montana, they might have to take an air ambulance to a neighboring state to get the care they needed. Not only was this expensive, but it created a serious barrier to fast and efficient care when time matters most.

This all changed with the recent launch of the states first full-time interventional stroke program at St. Vincent Healthcare in Billings. As a result, most stroke patients are now able to stay in-state to receive life-saving treatment.

This is a game-changer for stroke treatment in Montana, said Dustin Strandell, Senior Director of Service Lines at St. Vincent. With this program, we can treat patients up to 24 hours after they had a stroke, and they wont have to be flown to a facility out-of-state.

The need to B.E. F.A.S.T

A stroke occurs when the blood supply to part of the brain is interrupted by a clot. This interruption causes brain cells to go without oxygen. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, every 40 seconds someone in the United States has a stroke. For these patients, time is of the essence, and immediate medical attention is crucial to ensuring survival and recovery.

Up until now, the standard of care available for stroke patients at St. Vincent has consisted of timely diagnosis and the administration of blood-clot-busting medication in hopes of clearing a blockage in the patients brain, explained Dr. Ali Kerro, Stroke Neurologist with the St. Vincent Stroke Program. We have a small window of time  usually only a few hours  after the stroke has occurred for this method to be a viable option for the patient.

In instances where too much time had passed or the medication didnt work as hoped, patients had to be transported out-of-state to receive the interventional treatment they needed. Now, that life-saving treatment can take place at St. Vincent.

Improving access to brain and spine treatment

The ability to keep patients at St. Vincent and save time when it is most crucial are the two best reasons to celebrate the launch of this new program, said Strandell. The new interventional

stroke program reflects a team effort from not only our neuroscience team but also the entire hospital and our community partners to ensure the health and safety of our patients.

The St. Vincent Neuroscience Center is well-known for providing comprehensive medical services to treat various disorders affecting the brain and spine, such as multiple sclerosis, Alzheimers disease, brain tumors, migraines and epilepsy. By partnering with experts in the field of stroke management, St. Vincent can now add interventional stroke treatment to its long list of services that keep patients close to home.

This program will complement other services in the neuroscience department, said Strandell. These techniques work hand-in-hand and will be beneficial to those who have had a stroke, an aneurysm or other disorders we are already treating in our center. This is a much-needed service in Montana and we are proud to provide our region with this treatment option.

For more information about the interventional stroke program, call 406-237-5577 or visit sclhealth.org. Those at other healthcare facilities wishing to access the interventional stroke program can call 800-331-0222.

This content was produced by Brand Ave. Studios. The news and editorial departments had no role in its creation or display. Brand Ave. Studios connects advertisers with a targeted audience through compelling content programs, from concept to production and distribution. For more information contact sales@brandavestudios.com.

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An Indiana man changed his plea Tuesday to a single count of rape before of Judge Mary Jane Knisely in Yellowstone County District Court.

James Anthony Poynter, 46, admitted he met a young woman in downtown Billings in late May and the two drank together until they were drunk. Poynter admitted the pair began having what was characterized as consensual sex," but when the woman passed out he continued to have sex with her until a pair of bystanders, which included a local firefighter, stopped the assault and contacted law enforcement.

Poynter had originally denied the allegations saying he had continued to have sex with her in an effort to revive her. He briefly alluded to that excuse during Tuesdays hearing saying he was trying to get a response from the unconscious woman by raping her.

Poynter entered his guilty plea as part of the deal with county attorneys office. The agreement calls for a suspended sentence of five years in the custody of the Department of Corrections. Under the deal Poynter would be able to receive treatment in the community while being supervised by probation and parole.
Acting U.S. Attorney Leif M. Johnson will join the Drug Enforcement Administration in support of the 21st National Prescription Drug Take Back Day on Saturday, Oct. 23. The biannual event will be from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at sites across Montana. The event is an effort to rid homes of potentially dangerous, expired, unused and unwanted prescription drugs.

This initiative addresses a vital public safety and public health issue. Medicines that languish in homes are highly susceptible to diversion, misuse and abuse. Rates of prescription drug abuse in the United States are alarmingly high, as are the number of accidental poisonings and overdoses from these drugs.

According to the 2019 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 9.7 million people misused prescription pain relievers, 4.9 million people misused prescription stimulants, and 5.9 million people misused prescription tranquilizers or sedatives in 2019. The survey also showed that a majority of misused prescription drugs were obtained from family and friends, often from the home medicine cabinet.
Four doctors from Intermountain Healthcare will make trips from Salt Lake City to Montana to provide health care for at-risk mothers. Outreach clinics will be held in Butte, Miles City, Sydney and Sheridan once a month in order to expand access to mothers in rural settings.

Each doctor will spend one week per month in the region with telehealth options available in order to provide care 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Thats the thing. Were present 24/7, 365. Were going to be there for any consult. said Hammad. We want to reach out to our patients and provide the service where the patient is. Our job is to provide that service as close as possible to home.

From Monday through Thursday, one of the four doctors will be available in person in Billings or for a telehealth consultation where doctors can help at-risk mothers manage their health. For example, insulin management, hypertension medication management or ultrasound assessments can be covered in a telehealth session.

Intermountain Healthcare is working on recruiting one employee to live in Billings. The promise of an MFM team will make the position more attractive to experts in the field, said Dr. Flint Porter, interim director.
Orsted said in an interview last week that he was concerned a similar fate could come to the two bears in the dumpsite, leading him to attempt the hazing. Orsted and others gathered at the dumpsite last week felt the county shouldve been proactive in making the dump bear-resistant rather than reactive after the incident.

When I heard these bears were sub-adults I just knew it wouldnt end well, he said last week. Thats why I came out here Monday and started blasting the social media stuff out.

A message left for Orsted on Monday was not retuned in time for this story.

Last Wednesday, the site was saturated with warning signs and caution tape as traps were set in. Several dumpsters had been emptied and their screens closed.

In an interview, Orsted and other locals said bears had been seen at the site at times in recent years, but both county and state officials said it was the first reported incident at the site near Emigrant. Bears have been an issue at other sites in the valley, according to the state, and the county has taken steps to secure dumpsites as incidents have arisen.

Wildlife officials have seen a surge in bear-related calls this year, Jacobsen said, adding he did not know if the uptick was related to the drought.
Gov. Doug Burgum has directed all government agencies to fly the U.S. and North Dakota flags at half-staff until sunset on Friday in honor of the late soldier and diplomat Colin Powell.

Burgum encourages North Dakotans to also lower flags at their homes and businesses, to help pay tribute to the man who was the first Black chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The governors directive is in accordance with a proclamation issued by President Joe Biden.

General Colin Powell was a trailblazing statesman, soldier and four-star general who served his nation with courage and dignity, serving two tours in Vietnam and receiving the Purple Heart, Bronze Star and Legion of Merit, Burgum said in a statement. As chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and through his foreign policy work as U.S. secretary of state, he had an unwavering commitment to defending freedom and advancing American interests, twice receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom."

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State revenues have started off well in the first quarter of North Dakota's 2021-23 budget cycle.

July through September, taxes to the state's general fund have come in 8.7% over the forecast the 2021 Legislature adopted, or about $61 million.

Office of Management and Budget Director Joe Morrissette called the early trend "a very positive track."

Sales taxes, the general fund's largest revenue source, are 10.5% over projections for the budget cycle so far, or more than $24 million.

Oil taxes, which are capped at $400 million for the general fund, have come in 22% over forecast through September, or nearly $70 million, according to an update to state lawmakers.

Oil was "kind of a wild card" in the forecasting process, due to price volatility and a production collapse amid the coronavirus pandemic, Morrissette said.

"On the oil side, we are tracking very close to the forecast in terms of production, but significantly over in terms of price," the state budget director said.

North Dakota oil fetched $74 per barrel last month, the highest price in over a year, according to the budget office.

In recent months, the Legacy Fund, North Dakota's voter-approved oil tax savings account, has received its highest monthly deposits of oil taxes since the pandemic emerged in North Dakota in March 2020.

October's deposit, set to occur Thursday, will be more than $49 million, according to state treasurer's Director of Finance Ryan Skor.

Motor vehicle excise taxes have continued a yearlong trend of being 8%-10% above forecast every month, Morrissette noted.

Auto inventory, though lower in stock, has sold quickly at a strong price, and recreational vehicles also have been selling at high levels, he recalled from speaking with an auto dealers representative on a state revenue forecasting advisory panel.

The revenue update, issued Tuesday, comes as the Legislature's budget writers are reviewing proposals for spending the state's $1 billion of federal American Rescue Plan Act coronavirus aid.

The Legislature will meet in a reconvened session next month to divvy up the money and to approve new legislative districts.

In his "Accelerate ND" proposal for the Rescue Plan money, Gov. Doug Burgum also recommends tapping the state's $410 million surplus from the 2019-21 budget cycle.

The general fund had a $1.1 billion ending balance from the last two-year budget cycle, which left more than $400 million in excess of what the Legislature estimated.

The governor wants that overage to go toward two-year income tax relief, economic development and an infusion to the state pension fund.

But that money most likely will be set aside until the 2023 Legislature, according to Senate Majority Leader Rich Wardner, R-Dickinson. He noted "a lot of uneasiness out there in the economy as we're going forward."

"Do you recall last biennium? Do you remember we were above forecast in oil revenue?" he said. "We were above forecast in general fund, and then the COVID hit. And thank goodness we were above forecast, because we were able to get through."

He expects the Legislature to take up tax relief in the future, but it likely would be something permanent.

Presentations to the House and Senate appropriations committees are set to wrap up Wednesday. The panels will meet next week to narrow the proposals to what will advance in a bill draft.

Reach Jack Dura at 701-250-8225 or jack.dura@bismarcktribune.com.

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Dont take your COVID advice from an Ag Commissioner from North Dakota. When he talks about hypocrisy, he forgets when he points his finger at someone, that three fingers point right back at himself. Republicans have said they dont want government mandates, but when businesses and local government decide to take matters into their own hands, (like Goehring and Republicans want), then they are over-reaching. He tries to compare trying to prevent spread of a virus, to the same as being overweight, too tall, ugly, etc., as reasons for an employer to fire employees. As Ag commissioner, he probably promotes vaccines required for livestock, to cross into North Dakota. And rest assured, he has no idea whats in those required vaccines. Had his Republican President, (Trump), actually promoted distancing, masks, in the early stages of this pandemic, we could very well be in a better place than we are. Doug seems to be more concerned about a vaccine mandate, than he was about the insurrection of Jan. 6! His priorities and his agenda, is definitely wrong.
The stabbing death of Sir David Amess as he met with constituents is both an occasion of mourning and horror but also a time to consider the animating principles of the best of our public servants, and the price they sometimes pay for their commitment to the public good. []

The name of Sir David Amess, a Conservative member of the British Parliament for 39 years, was little known in the U.K., and almost certainly not at all known in the United States. On Oct. 15, 2021, shortly after midday, he was murdered while meeting constituents in Belfairs Methodist Church, in his electoral district. He was stabbed multiple times. Police and paramedics fought for two hours to save him, but he died at the scene. The shock across the nation was palpable.

For the second time in five years, an elected politician had been murdered while carrying out their jobthe first occasion was the Labour Member of Parliament Jo Cox, in 2016. The arrested suspect in the case of David Amess, Ali Harbi Ali, had been previously reported to the governments anti-terrorist program.

David was a devout Roman Catholic, a social conservative on moral issues such as abortion and same-sex marriage, a libertarian on matters of COVID-19 restrictions and lockdown, and a proponent of Brexita mix of views and opinions far more representative of much of the British public than that represented by the mainstream media, not least the BBC. Sir Davids parliamentary district, Southend West, in the county of Essex, lies only 50 miles to the east of London, an approximately one-hour drive away. Yet in terms of outlook and political leanings, the area could not be further removed from the London metropolitan elite. In the 2019 general election, the Conservative Party won all 18 districts in Essex, polling around 65% of the vote. And the elected members are, for the most part, genuine conservatives like Sir David. Faith, patriotism, and concerns around immigration, alongside a resistance to socialism and a passion for community, characterize these districts.

The pictures of the vigils held for David and the shock across the community illustrate that here was an elected official who, contrary to the way politicians are often represented by the media, was genuinely loved in and by his community. Somewhat sadder was the refusal of the police to admit to the scene his Roman Catholic priest and friend, Fr. Jeffrey Woolnough, so that he could administer the Last Rites. Fr. Woolnough prayed outside instead.

It should be remembered that just three weeks earlier, the Labour Partys deputy leader, Angela Rayner, had described her Conservative political opponents as a bunch of scum, homophobic, racist, misogynist, absolute vile. She remains in office.

A politician motivated by passion, generosity, kindness, and a lack of ambition for high office, who simply wanted to serve his constituentsthis is the picture of Sir David that has emerged in tributes from across the political spectrum, illustrating how he had shown kindness to those he disagreed with politically, repeatedly resisting pressure from his own party to toe the line while remaining steadfast to his principles.

Here are some examples of those principles from his life and service:

Sir Davids robust kindness came from his deep-rooted Roman Catholic faith. The central importance of Christian faith needs to be allowed to shine forth again as a primary principle of public service. Faith underpins not only a determination to stand for what is right but also a character-forming and shaping spirituality that recognizes the dignity of all human beings. This is the combination that motivated David Amess.

One Labour MP, Ian Byrne, representing a safe socialist district in Liverpool, revealed that after his own maiden speech in Parliament, Sir David had written to him privately saying he had enjoyed his speech and wishing him a long and happy career in Parliament. A second principle of public service is surely seeing the best in others, recognizing that those called into public service enter the political arena with the highest of motives, to serve the nation and the people of their communities.

Another principle exemplified by Sir David was that of tenacity. For example, he campaigned for a memorial statue to Raoul Wallenberg, a Swedish diplomat who saved thousands of Jews in Nazi-occupied Hungary during the Second World War. He failed to secure the structure in 1990 but kept on fighting; a statue was eventually unveiled by Her Majesty the Queen in 1997.

He understood the importance of civil society and its institutions. Sir David campaigned for the disabled, particularly supporting the Music Man Project, which helps the disabled and those with learning disabilities play musical instruments. He even played a key role in organizing a concert at one of Londons premier concert venues, the Royal Albert Hall. He said, It is through active citizenship, through many voluntary organisations  that we demonstrate every day, week and month that we are a truly caring society.

Sir David was willing to embrace unpopular positions. He had passions that took him away from normal party-political campaigns and embraced concerns as wide-ranging as fuel poverty and animal welfare. In other words, he thought for himself and about where he could make a difference.

His principles could not be bought. On one occasion a call was received into the office suggesting that if Sir David voted the right way on a particular piece of legislation, he could be considered for ministerial office. He did not return the call. In fact, his former office manager Ed Holmes reported that he once spent a whole afternoon with the Member of Parliament searching his office for a lost invitation to a constituency charity event. Nothing was more important than that.

What does all this tell us about the principles of public service that underpinned the life and career of a little-known British politician? Well, we can learn about kindness and respect for others, the nature of the call to political service, a passion to make a difference and to serve people. We can learn about the honorable and selfless nature of public service. We can see why the vitriolic language that plagues our political discourse needs to be set aside. We learn of faith, those animating principles of life that have guided thousands of men and women into public service. And we can thank those men and women, pray for them, and affirm what ordinary politicians do on behalf of the people they serve.

There is no better way to end than by sharing part of the statement released by Sir Davids family the day after his murder, describing their pain and how their hearts were shattered. But they also wanted to emphasize that:

Strong and courageous is an appropriate way to describe David. He was a patriot and a man of peace. So, we ask people to set aside their differences and show kindness and love to all.

Sir David Amess (19522021), Member of Parliament for Basildon (19831997) and Southend West (19972021), married to Julia, with whom he had five children. A man of faith and service. Rest in peace.
A Georgia hospital dumped a seriously ill Black man, with tubes and a catheter still attached to him, on a sidewalk after his Medicare ran out. The 68-year-old patient, who had "a fever, signs of sepsis, a urinary tract infection and an elevated heart rate," according to WSB-TV, was found collapsed and unresponsive.

From WSB:

[Channel 2's Mark] Winne talked to Conyers Police Deputy Chief Scott Freeman, the officer who rescued the man near Piedmont Rockdale Hospital. "Common sense dictates that you do not treat human beings the way that we're seeing in this particular case," Freeman said.  Freeman said the 68-year-old man was discharged from the hospital Thursday. A hospital employee told officers that the man had been at the hospital for 35 days and that Medicare would not continue to pay for his treatment. The employee said that security dressed the man and walked him out. Freeman said an officer was told the man was cleared as "fit to leave" by two doctors and the hospital wanted him gone. "(He was) literally ejected out to the sidewalk with no help whatsoever," Freeman said. "I think it's inhumane. He was clearly incoherent. That's just not how we treat people here in this city or this country."

The unapologetic Piedmont Rockdale Hospital thought this to be an appropriate statement:

"At Piedmont, our purpose is to make a positive difference in every life we touch. We can only provide the best care with the cooperation and consent of the patient. We do our best to connect patients in need with community partners and social service organizations to provide appropriate after-hospital care, but ultimately accepting these services is at the discretion of the patient."

If that's their best, I'd hate to see what their worst is.

The patient, whose name wasn't released, was taken by ambulance right back to the hospital's emergency room.
The ACLU says police handcuffed, brought to jail, and questioned 10-year-old girl for a sketch she drew at school. Neither the school nor the police informed the girl's mother that she'd been taken from the school.

From an Oct. 18 ACLU press release:

On the morning of January 10, 2020, a parent complained to school officials about a sketch N.B. and other students had drawn in response to another student bullying N.B. The parent unreasonably insisted that school officials call the police.

After arriving on school grounds, police interrogated 10-year-old N.B., handcuffed her with excessive force, arrested her without probable cause, and transported her to the police stationall without letting N.B. see or speak with her mother. The police and school officials took these traumatizing actions despite the fact that N.B. was cooperative and did not pose any danger to any person or herselfand without accommodating N.B.'s disability, which was documented with the school.

That same morning, school officials called Ms. Taylor to the premises. After her arrival, however, the police and school officials detained her in another room, away from N.B. They refused to let Ms. Taylor see her daughter or fully inform her of the underlying situation, despite Ms. Taylor's repeated requests. After they finally released her from the room, Ms. Taylor learned, to her horror, that the police were taking her daughter to the police station. By the time N.B. was finally released to her mother at the police precinct, she was hungry, exhausted, and had been in the school or HPD's custody for over four hours.
A scared drum was stolen from the Samiipeople during the Vard witch trials in the seventeenth century, one of the first major witch trials in the Scandinavian region. Now, the indigenous people of the area want their artifact back  as the few that still exist are all in the hands of European institutions.

As Aili Keskitalo, the president of the Sam parliament, told The Guardian:

This is a ceremonial, sacred object of high cultural value  used to predict the future and get in touch with the spirit world by Sami shamans throughout history.

According to court records, the drum belonged to a Sami shaman named Anders Poulsson, who was arrested and imprisoned in 1691 because of "witchcraft"  in other words, for being an indigenous shaman. As The Guardian details its history:

It was confiscated and became part of the Danish royal family's art collection before being transferred to Denmark's National Museum in 1849. Since 1979, the drum has been on loan from the Danes to the Sami museum in Karasjok, Norway. The loan agreement expires on 1 December and the drum is expected to return to Denmark. But the Sami people want it back [] The National Museum of Denmark's head of research, Christian Sune Pedersen told the Norwegian newspaper Verdens Gang that his team was considering the claim. He added that repatriation cases took longer than lending cases since they had to be decided by the Danish minister of culture. Neither the Danish National Museum nor the Ministry of Culture were available to comment.

According to the head of research at the National Museum of Denmark, they are trying to consider the request in good faith  but, because of (non-Sami) bureaucratic standards, it's a complicated process that might take a while. Keskitalo has since appealed directly to the Queen Margrethe of Denmark on the behalf of the Sami people, hoping that the monarch can take some action and "act as the conscience of the Danish people and the Danish state." But so far, the Queen has not responded.

Sami people ask Danish queen to return sacred witchcraft trial drum [Helen Russell / The Guardian]

Image: Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons
Koalasa lot of koalas get chlamydia. And while humans can typically pop a few pills and get back to business in a few weeks, koalas don't respond well to chlamydia antibiotics. Current treatments disrupt the marsupials' gut bacteria, which are necessary to digest eucalyptus leaves.

Due to habitat destruction and raging STIs, koala populations are nearing endangered status. Researchers from Queensland developed a protein-based vaccine to combat chlamydia.

Chlamydia infection in humans is caused by a similar but distinct bacterium, Chlamydia trachomatis. While antibiotics can easily treat chlamydia is people, they are not ideal for the marsupials. The researchers hope the vaccine will help to improve the survival and reproduction of the animals, especially in parts of south-east Queensland and New South Wales where chlamydia affects more than half of koala populations. The Guardian

Chlamydia vaccine trials in humans are ongoing, but in the midst of powerful anti-vaxx movements, there's a chance that we'll eradicate chlamydia in koalas before humans.

Common STIs like chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis increasingly resist antibiotics.
"It's up to the State Legislature to do that," Brown said.

Walton had previously called for the city to "opt out" of the program, so it would no longer offer the incentive, calling it a taxpayer giveaway to rich developers.

Brown says that would be disastrous.

"Opting out would have created an environment where there was far less development in the City of Buffalo than weve seen," he said, citing more than $8 billion in development since 2006.

On Tuesday, Walton said she was "approached by a gentleman a couple of days ago," who told her he needed the incentive to support a smaller adaptive reuse project that resulted in retail space on the ground floor of a building and apartments upstairs. She's also heard similar stories from others. And that's the kind of project she wants to see, she explained.

"My opinion about that is beginning to change, but I also want the rules to be enforced," Walton said. "I know there are responsible developers, and I know there are other developers who just want to build buildings to make money. But if there are resources going into a building, it should serve a public good, should sustain development."
John Tsujimoto turned 70 in October, encouraged into retirement by his Social Security calculations, and the profound relief of not having to steer a bean-sprout-loaded Ram minivan through 20-stop runs in lake-effect snowstorms.

You know, the old Marv Levy saying, If you're thinking about retiring, you're retired?  He took a look at his Social Security calculations and decided I was done.

The fact Western New York had a Bean Sprout Guy is a direct result of Japanese-American families being forced out of their communities and into camps during World War II.

My grandfather was farming in the Imperial Valley, in California, real close to the Mexican border, Tsujimoto said. That's where my dad was born. My grandfather couldn't own any land until my dad was born, and he was automatically an American citizen, so they got to buy a farm.

After Pearl Harbor, the family was interned in Poston, Ariz. But if you could find a sponsor in the East you could you could move out of the camps, Tsujimoto said. So somehow my dad found a sponsor in Marilla.
Both candidates for mayor of Buffalo are wielding sharpened campaign knives this week with hard-hitting television ads and news conferences hinting at their apparent perceptions of a close race and the need for a negative message.

On Monday, challenger India B. Walton convened reporters outside her Ellicott Street headquarters to counter a new ad aired by Mayor Byron W. Brown that highlights her 2014 arrest and her plans to cut funding for the Police Department. The spot touched off some of the most intense crossfire of the campaign between the two camps, started by the Brown campaign's assertion that Walton "thinks she is above the law."

Walton, meanwhile, debuts a new spot Tuesday that addresses "campaign ads that are false and filled with lies," and that she will not "fire police"  some of the same themes she and her staff highlighted on Monday.

The Brown advertisement ignited the exchange by noting that Walton was arrested in 2014 after being accused of threatening a co-worker, that she resigned her nursing job after being confronted about taking a trip while on family leave, and that she left an apartment in 2018 after complaints of drug dealers visiting the home.

Walton has denied threatening a co-worker and has said her former landlord sought retribution for her neighborhood activism.
ALBANY  The good news for Gov. Kathy Hochul: A new poll shows her leading some of her potential Democratic primary opponents in 2022.

The bad news: June 2022 is a long way off and her job performance rating has dipped into negative territory just two months on the job.

Siena College this morning released a poll with three different primary race possibilities for Hochul, who is working hard to try to gain the Democratic Partys convention backing next February as a means to dissuade some Democrats challengers who might want to block her bid for a full term as governor.

In a head-to-head matchup against Attorney General Letitia James, Hochul leads 47% to 31%.

In a four-way race, Hochul gets 39% of the support among registered Democrats, compared with 20% for James, 10% for New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and 8% for New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams.

Hochul, a Buffalo Democrat who became governor in August, scored better among upstate and downstate suburban voters than those from New York City.

A final scenario  adding disgraced ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo into the field with those four candidates  Hochul still leads with 31% of the vote to Cuomos 17%. James trails at 14%, Williams at 7% and de Blasio at 6%.
New cases of Covid-19 in Erie County declined 1.7% over the seven days ending Oct. 16, the first weekly decline in new cases of the virus since July, according to statistics released Tuesday by the county Department of Health.

The Health Department received reports of 1,818 new cases of Covid-19 among county residents, 32 fewer than the 1,850 cases reported for the week ending Oct. 9.

Covid-19 prompts Erie County leaders to wonder: 'When is it over?' In recent weeks, many overarching patterns remain unchanged. Overall cases are still rising, thanks to the Delta variant, but not as quickly as before.

The case rate of 191 Covid-19 cases per 100,000 residents for the week ending Oct. 16 is a decrease from the previous weeks case rate of 194. But it is still well above the case rate threshold of 100 cases per 100,000 set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for a community to be considered to have high transmission of the disease.

The county Health Department reported that Buffalo accounted for 29% of the new Covid-19 cases in Erie County last week. Buffalo residents make up 29% of the county's population.

The ZIP codes with the highest seven-day case rates per 100,000 residents last week were in the Southtowns, including 32 new cases in the 14141 ZIP code in Springville; 30 new cases in the 14057 ZIP code in Eden; and 19 new cases in the 14085 ZIP code in Lake View. In the 14072 ZIP code on Grand Island, there were 68 new cases of Covid-19, and 68 in the 14086 ZIP code in Lancaster.

More suburban communities struggling with higher number of Covid cases Last week, Erie County crossed the 2,000 mark for the number of Covid-related deaths while towns such as Hamburg, West Seneca and Tonawanda had the highest number of confirmed cases.
ALBANY  Citing the unique situation of two Democrats vying to win the general election in the Buffalo mayors race, Gov. Kathy Hochul Tuesday sought to stay on the sidelines in the heated race in her hometown.

Hochul is among a number of top Democrats in New York State who have avoided choosing sides between India Walton, who won the partys mayoral primary earlier this year, and incumbent Mayor Byron Brown, who is waging a write-in effort after his primary loss.

Some supporters of Walton say party leaders like Hochul have a long-standing obligation to support Democrats who win primary contests.

Hochul, in a New York City news conference this morning, said she is supporting local parties and that she will be spending the next several weekends traveling the state backing an assortment of Democratic candidates.

With respect to Buffalo, we have a unique situation there," she said of the general contest pitting Democrats Walton and Brown against one another.

Im going to be looking forward to truly working hard, rolling my sleeves up, with whoever  emerges as the victor. Buffalos success is important to me personally. So that is my commitment: I will work with whoever the voters select. It is up to the voters," she said.
It was a start, but like the acid rain that couldnt be contained in the states that produced it, PFAS also migrate, threatening health beyond the places that manufacture or use them. In particular, PFAS have been identified as water pollutants, making the chemicals an especially obvious problem for Buffalo and other Western New York communities that get their drinking water from Lake Erie. Seven other states and the Province of Ontario border the five Great Lakes. No state or province alone can secure its safety from these substances.

In response, the Biden administration says it will require chemical manufacturers to test and publicly report the level of PFAS contained in household items. As with New York, its at least a start.

The regulations will be in place in a matter of weeks, but the debate is likely to continue. The American Chemistry Council says that 600 chemicals classified as PFAS are used in products such as solar panels and cellphones. It said alternative materials might not be available.

Thats significant, if true, but it doesnt mean the chemicals cant or shouldnt be regulated and their spread restricted as best as possible. The nation has largely flunked its Covid-19 test. It must do better with this one.

  

Whats your opinion? Send it to us at lettertoeditor@buffnews.com. Letters should be a maximum of 300 words and must convey an opinion. The column does not print poetry, announcements of community events or thank you letters. A writer or household may appear only once every 30 days. All letters are subject to fact-checking and editing.
We do not begrudge our neediest districts having the resources they need to do the tough job of educating children from many different socioeconomic backgrounds. New York, however, has a well-earned reputation for continuing to throw money at the schools and hoping for the best. Setting aside the disruption caused by Covid-19, including months of remote schooling, it has not been apparent that the majority of kids in our neediest districts have been making great strides in the classroom.

A March report from the Empire Center, a conservative-leaning think tank, showed that New Yorks spending on public elementary and secondary education reached $25,139 per pupil during the 2018-19 school year, the highest in the country.

Using annual data from the U.S. census, the report said New York State schools spent 91% more than the national average of $13,187 per pupil.

On a per-pupil basis, New Yorks public school expenditures in 2018-19 were 23% higher than New Jerseys, 18% higher than Connecticuts and 42% higher than Massachusetts, the Empire Center wrote.
Spice Up Your Life: These Women Are Bringing the Flavors of Their Heritage to Home Cooks Everywhere

This fall, let's all give pumpkin spice a break and update our pantries with globally inspired seasonings instead. With thoughtful flavors, pretty packaging, and ethical sourcing, these innovative women-owned brands are putting the zing in seasoning.

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SPICE TREE ORGANICS

Sisters-in-law Doaa Elkady and Freda Nokaly draw on their Egyptian roots and Queens, NY, upbringing to create intensely flavored, high-quality spice blends like Greek Table, Malaysian Curry, and NYC Halal Cart (each $8.95 for 2 oz.).

Spice Tree Organics sources spices from around the world and donates 2.5 percent of profits to grassroots relief efforts in places like Puerto Rico, Lebanon, and Yemen.

MY FABULOUS FOOD

Formerly a cooking blog, My Fabulous Food evolved into a thriving retail business for CEO Chanel Murphy-Lowe, who wanted to share the ingredients in her most popular recipes, with spice blends like Sweet and Spicy Sriracha Lime ($15 for 73g) and Citrus and Herbs Salt-Free Blend ($15 for 68g). The RedWine Sea Salt ($28 for 4.4 oz.) is a sophisticated way to finish desserts and plays well with cheese, while the quick-to-sell-out Ultimate Cake Spice ($15 for 108g) might just be the hint of sweetness your Sunday brunch is missing.

OMSOM

First generation Vietnamese American sisters Kim and Vanessa Pham are on a mission to reclaim and celebrate Asian flavors. Their convenient, authentic meal starter seasoning packets ($12 for a 3-pack), like Vietnamese Lemongrass Barbecue and Filipino Sisig, combine oils, sauces, and spices sourced directly from Asia or Asian-owned brands to deliver serious punch.

HOME BEIS

Through Home Beis, founder Scherise Merritt connects to her Dominican heritage while uplifting the community. I wanted to bring us back to our true roots with flavorful, organic spice blends, says Merritt.

Tradicional Spice Blend ($13.90 for 2.5 oz.) conveys the robust flavors of sazon and adobo, thanks to annatto, cumin, and lime, while By The Bayou Spice Blend ($13.90 for 2.5 oz) serves a creole combo of smoked paprika, garlic, and thyme.

DIASPORA CO.

With her brand Diaspora Co., founder Sana Javeri Kadri is decolonizing the spice trade one single-origin spice at a time, working directly with farmers in India to improve their quality of life with fair pay, equity, and access to health care.

Each jar is guaranteed same-year harvest, ensuring that your Makhir Ginger ($12 for 50g) and Nagauri Cumin ($12 for 55g) are at peak freshness. STEPHANIE GANZ

Top Photo by Andra Ion on Unsplash

Photos: Omsom: Deanie Chen, Diaspora Co.: Aubrie Pick

This article originally appeared in the Fall 2021 print edition of BUST Magazine. Subscribe today!
By Nafisa Eltahir, Malaika Tapper and Khalid Abdelaziz

CAIRO/KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Facebook says it has shut down two large networks targeting users in Sudan in recent months, as civilian and military leaders spar with one another over the future of an interim power-sharing arrangement.

The battle for public opinion, much of it happening online, is intensifying as Sudan reels from economic crisis and a shaky transition to democracy following 30 years under President Omar al-Bashir, who was ousted in a popular uprising in 2019.

Facebook said one of the networks of inauthentic pages it took down was linked to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the other was populated with people who researchers, hired by the civilian government, flagged as supporters of Bashir agitating for a military takeover.

This week, hundreds of protesters set up camp outside the presidential palace demanding that the military overhaul the cabinet, in what would effectively amount to a coup.

Earlier this month, Facebook said it had shut a network of almost 1,000 accounts and pages with 1.1 million followers run by people the company said were linked to the RSF.

The network boosted RSF official media feeds and other content related to the militia, led by powerful General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo who is deputy head of the ruling Sovereign Council and seen by some Sudanese as harbouring political ambitions.

Representatives for the RSF and Dagalo did not respond to requests for comment. The government had no comment on the RSF-related takedown. Dagalo, widely known as Hemedti, denies he is out for personal empowerment and has said in the past that he is committed to the democratic transition to civilian rule.

Facebook's director of threat disruption, David Agranovich, told Reuters the network was identified by the platform's own internal investigation.

The company also said it removed a second network in June, after being tipped off by Valent Projects, an independent research firm hired by Sudan's Information Ministry to look into activity linked to Bashir loyalists.

Story continues

Facebook said the network comprised more than 100 accounts and pages and had more than 1.8 million followers.

The Sudanese government's efforts to fight what it describes as ex-regime loyalists working to undermine the transition has not previously been reported.

Loyalists were "working systematically to tarnish the image of the government", the ministry said in a statement to Reuters, referring to social media posts in the network identified by Valent.

In both networks, posts mimicked news media but offered skewed coverage of political events, according to Facebook and some independent researchers.

Those Sudanese with internet access - estimated at about 30% of the 45 million population - depend heavily on social media for news.

The military-civilian partnership that replaced now-jailed Bashir in 2019 has been pushed to breaking point in recent weeks in the aftermath of what authorities called a failed coup attempt.

Civilian officials have accused both Bashir loyalists and the military of stirring up unrest, including in the east of the country where tribal protesters have been blocking shipping at Port Sudan, exacerbating shortages stemming from a long-running economic crisis.

Military leaders deny the accusations and say they are committed to the transition to democracy.

'AGITATION'

While Facebook says it uses technical signals on its platform to target groups working to mislead users about their identity, researchers like Valent Projects say they rely on analysis of content, noting for example when a single post is shared simultaneously by different accounts.

Valent Projects said the network it identified was more than three times larger than Facebook's assessment, attracting more than 6 million followers and continuing to grow.

It was active as recently as this week, agitating for a military takeover as protesters gathered in central Khartoum, and last month in the aftermath of the coup attempt, said Valent Projects representatives.

"It looks like they were trying to give the impression of grassroots support for such a move," said founder and director Amil Khan.

When asked about the differing assessments, Facebook's Agranovich said the company was confident it had shut down the entire network and that other accounts Valent identified were not connected.

He said Facebook would continue to monitor for any revival of the network.

Some of the network's posts say Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok is not a Muslim and accuse his staff of being paid in dollars, a charge they have denied.

Contributors promote the return of Bashir, jailed on corruption and other charges and wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of atrocities in the Darfur conflict. Bashir has denied all charges.

The network amplified calls for civil disobedience in the east, said Zouhir Al Shimale, Valent Projects' head of research.

It also promoted protests ahead of the June 30 anniversary of the coup in which Bashir took power in 1989, according to the research firm.

"People in Sudan thought there was just going to be a massive demonstration because they saw so much activity," said Khan, citing a movement called Akhtona ("Get out of the way") in local Arabic dialect. In the end some 3,500 people showed up.

Contacted by Reuters, three administrators of pages that Facebook left running denied being part of a network.

"The ruling bodies today categorise any criticism of their oppressive policies and poor economic and political management as being related to the former regime," said one of them, who declined to be identified.

The information ministry said it took no legal measures against the pages or administrators. "The Sudanese government is committed to protecting freedom of expression," it said.

Two takedowns previously announced by Facebook, in December 2020 and May 2021, targeted accounts boosting Dagalo and the RSF, according to researchers at Stanford Internet Observatory and the Atlantic Council's Digital Forensic Research Lab.

In both networks Facebook said it found links to the Russian Internet Research Agency (IRA), the officially defunct group accused of meddling in the 2016 U.S. elections.

Anna Bogacheva, who the United States accused of carrying out IRA operations to interfere with elections and political processes, declined to answer questions about IRA when reached by phone.

Agranovich said the most recently targeted network linked to the RSF did not reveal foreign links, and appeared part of a growing trend of domestic influence operations.

(Editing by Aidan Lewis and Mike Collett-White)
Germany must resist Russian 'blackmail' over pipeline -Greens co-leader The Greens hold a meeting to discuss the results of the exploratory talks in Berlin

BERLIN (Reuters) - The co-leader of Germany's Green Party accused Russian "blackmail" of causing high energy prices across Europe, saying Moscow is trying to leverage Germany to allow the Nord Stream 2 Baltic gas pipeline to begin operations.

The remarks by Annalena Baerbock, considered a likely foreign minister in the next government, hinted at a key faultline in talks that are due to start Thursday between her party, Olaf Scholz's Social Democrats and the Free Democrat liberals on forming Germany's next government.

"We can see a poker play by Russia," she told the Funke newspaper group in an interview published on Wednesday. While high demand and tight supply also play a role, "we hear that gas deliveries are being cut... We must not let ourselves be blackmailed."

Baerbock said it was important to enforce European Union rules that pipeline operators must not be the producers of the gas they transport. Gazprom both owns the Nord Stream 2 pipeline and produces the gas it would carry. Unless this changes, the pipeline will need an exemption to start operating.

"This could be used by Russia to force a quick authorisation of Nord Stream 2, even if all the legal boxes haven't been ticked," she added.

Scholz's Social Democrats, who would be the largest party if the three-way "traffic light" coalition is formed, have long backed the pipeline despite criticism it increases Europe's dependence on Russian energy and makes transit states like Ukraine more vulnerable to Russian interference.

Baerbock added that she thought it likely that the Greens would be successful in persuading the other parties to agree to bring a full exit from coal-fired generation forward to 2030 from 2038.

(Reporting by Thomas Escritt; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
Restrictions on indoor gatherings requiring a vaccine passport are being lifted as the two-dose vaccine requirements go into effect in B.C. (Maggie MacPherson/CBC - image credit)

Restrictions placed on indoor and outdoor gatherings are being lifted in British Columbia as the two-dose vaccine requirement for people attending them kicks in.

The revision to the provincial health order is effective Monday, Oct. 25, and comes as two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine are required for anyone over 12 to access those gatherings.

The order had previously restricted capacity limits to 50 per cent for indoor, organized gatherings, but as of Monday, these events will be allowed to operate at 100 per cent capacity in places where the B.C. vaccine card is in effect, Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry announced Tuesday during a live news conference.

However, regional health orders and restrictions currently in effect in Northern Health, Interior Health and the eastern Fraser Valley will remain in place.

These changes apply to:

Indoor sporting events.

Indoor concerts, theatre, movie theatres, dance and symphony events.

Indoor organized events such as weddings, funeral receptions outside of a funeral home and organized parties.

Henry said not all residents may be able to safely attend those events, including immunocompromised people who might not feel ready to be exposed to others in a large group setting. Mask requirements for indoor settings like these are still in place.

The order to remain seated at a table in restaurants and pubs will also be lifted Monday, though indoor mask requirements will remain in effect for all indoor gatherings and for people moving around within restaurants and pubs.

Henry said that by ensuring only fully vaccinated people are allowed into more populated venues, the risk of transmission will be reduced.

"We are not seeing transmission in those settings where the vaccine card is used, where people are checking vaccine status."

Henry said officials are looking into what other restrictions can be lifted as the COVID-19 situation continues to evolve.

Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix also shared their frustration with efforts to crack down on businesses flouting

COVID-19 safety rules.



"We're disappointed to be at this place because health authorities, as you can imagine, are unbelievably busy,'' Dix said.



The Fraser Health Authority is seeking an injunction against a restaurant in Hope that refuses to follow COVID-19 health protocols.



"It shows people they don't respect their neighbours, they don't respect their business neighbours, they don't respect their community,'' Henry said of the restaurant.



Dix said he understands other businesses may be frustrated by the delay in punishing the offending business, but the government is committed to cracking down on those who refuse to follow health orders.

Story continues

COVID-19 in schools

During the news conference, health officials announced that the B.C. Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC) will now provide data on COVID-19 in schools on a monthly basis with the first report released Tuesday, Oct. 19.

Each time a student or staff member receives a positive COVID-19 test, public health contact tracing will begin. If the COVID-positive person has been in the school while infectious, a notification will be sent to parents alerting them of a possible exposure, Henry said.

As of Oct. 19, 1,388 notifications of potential exposures for the current school year have been sent to 510 schools.

The BCCDC report says cases in young children, aged five to 11, peaked in late September but are now trending downward. It says the initial increase may have been due to increased testing among children as other respiratory viruses circulated at the beginning of the school year.

Most children are at low risk for getting COVID-19, Henry said, and if they do, they tend to have milder symptoms.

She said there have been 94 COVID-19 hospitalizations in children aged five to 17 since the beginning of the pandemic, 10 of which required critical care. There were no deaths reported in that age group.

The report also says rising cases in children have not resulted in a significant rise in hospitalizations.

As of Oct. 14, 82 per cent of eligible children in B.C. between the ages of 12 and 17 had received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, and 73 per cent were fully vaccinated.
Its easy enough to buy a heartfelt gift off the shelf at your local Target or Wal-Mart, but putting time and effort into a unique and custom product can be much more intimate.

Vinylus, a custom vinyl record cutting company based in Chippewa Falls, is providing the area with a unique outlet to express their love for music. Started in March 2020 by co-owners Eric and Izabella Warner, the couple runs Vinylus out of their home and provides individuals the opportunity to purchase custom cut 7, 10 and 12 vinyl records complete with custom artwork and track-listings.

Were at the intersection of peoples relationships with music, Eric Warner said. Its a gift thats incredibly heartfelt and personal. Its different than buying something that is mass produced. Like someone at a photo shop sometimes see images only meant for one person to another, the projects can become very personal and very fulfilling.

The story of the Vinylus co-owners begins when they met in Australia in 2001 while Eric, an ex-rave promoter was pursuing a masters degree in electronic arts. From there, the couple moved to Poland and their love for vinyl came to a head. The couple traveled to Germany to purchase a lathe machine from a well-respected audiophile and took it with them when they moved back to the United States.

From there the couple started a record label called Abstrakt Xpressions in 2018 and then partnered on Vinylus to make use of their lathe machine in their free time.

This is an experience people can live and then relive, Izabella Warner said. You dont just get to listen to a record and then its gone. Youll always have this memento. Music is the ultimate communication medium, because you dont have to have words, you can just have music and it will say everything you need it to.

The process for creating a custom vinyl record is incredibly intricate and detail oriented. The first step is Izabella making contact with the buyer and settling on a tracklist, arranging the custom artwork, and from there Eric takes over. A lover of all things audio, Warner takes the time to master the audio for each release prior to cutting their blank French imported raw record, and ensure the product is free of imperfections prior to shipping the final product out to consumers.

The majority of individuals who purchase products from Vinylus are couples looking for a unique gift for an anniversary, a birthday, or a vinyl LP with the music from their first dance at their wedding.

Music makes up the foundation of both the Warners relationship and business, so Vinylus is a labor of love for the Chippewa Falls couple. Their days consist of working full-time and raising a family, so spending their extra energy putting music out on vinyl is a project they both welcome with open arms.

If it isnt worth putting on vinyl, it isnt really worth putting out in my opinion, Eric Warner said. If it isnt etched into something that will outlast you, whats the point in putting it out at all?

You can find out more about the custom products available from Vinylus at their website https://vinylus.com/ or on Instagram at @custom_vinyl_records.

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An environmental group says the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources withheld communications by the embattled head of its policy board in violation of state laws.

Midwest Environmental Advocates filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the DNR and Natural Resources Board chair Fred Prehn demanding the department release text messages Prehn sent and received about his decision not to relinquish his seat.

Prehn, a Wausau dentist appointed by former Gov. Scott Walker in 2015, has refused to step down since his term expired May 1, denying Gov. Tony Evers appointee Sandra Naas a seat and maintaining a 4-3 majority for Republican appointees.

MEA requested all communications  including emails, texts and other written messages  Prehn sent and received in the year leading up to June 29, according to the complaint filed in Dane County Circuit Court.

On Aug. 13 the DNR released dozens of email messages  most from citizens demanding Prehn step down. No text messages were included, according to the complaint.

When MEAs attorney asked, the DNR said they had not located any text messages relevant to the request.

No text messages were released in response to a similar request from the State Journal.

MEA filed a second request on Sept. 13 for text messages between fellow board member Bill Smith and Prehn.

The DNR released a string of messages that included one Prehn sent on April 26 stating: Ive got to decide if Im going to stay on until the next appointee is confirmed. Evers notified me hes not going to reappoint me I guess he thinks theres some pretty big agenda items that I might not agree with LOL.

Because the message was unprompted by Smith, MEA contends it indicates the existence of additional text messages relevant to the request.

The group says Prehn and the DNR violated open records law by not disclosing the text in response to its first request and is asking the court to order the agency to turn over any additional records.

MEA staff attorney Rob Lee said the lawsuit is about holding public officials accountable.

Text messages related to government business are public records that officials have a duty to preserve and provide access to, Lee said in a statement announcing the lawsuit. The people of Wisconsin deserve a government that conducts its business lawfully and with transparency.

Spokespeople for the DNR and Prehn did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

Prehn maintains that a 1964 Supreme Court ruling means he does not have to leave until Naas is confirmed by the Senate, but Republicans who control the chamber have made no move to set a hearing or answer questions on their plans to do so.

He has retained control of the board even as the Department of Justice has asked the courts to remove him. A Dane County judge last month declined Kauls request, which the Democratic attorney general has now appealed.

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As Foxconn continues to try branching into the automotive industry, the Taiwanese iPhone maker's chairman is admitting the company has hurdles in front of it.

Our biggest challenge is we dont know how to make cars, Foxconn Chairman Young Liu said at a Monday event where Foxconn unveiled three new prototype vehicles of its own, The Verge and several other outlets reported.

Foxconn says it is still hiring at its Mount Pleasant facilities  a career fair there is scheduled for Saturday, with promises of on-the-spot job offers  although the company remains quiet about what's going on inside its campus, which comprises more than 1,000 acres.

As The Verge reported Monday: "Foxconn is one of the biggest tech companies in the world, but it has become infamous for failing to execute on some big international expansions. What was supposed to be a massive, multibillion-dollar LCD factory in Wisconsin, for instance, is still mostly just empty buildings."

In 2017, when then-President Donald Trump and then-Gov. Scott Walker brought Foxconn to Wisconsin, the state offered as much as $4.5 billion in tax incentives if Foxconn succeeded in certain hiring and production goals. After Foxconn's plans drastically changed from the original massive LCD factory to the more nebulous current situation, the deal was renegotiated under Gov. Tony Evers to $80 million in incentives.

Nilay Patel, The Verge's editor-in-chef, tweeted Tuesday: "If you can dream it, Foxconn can find a way to collect tax subsidies until you lose interest."

Foxconn's three prototypes, unveiled Monday in a flashy ceremony in Taipei, Taiwan, include a sedan (which can reportedly achieve 750 horsepower), an SUV and a bus. They are the current models under a new brand: Foxtron.

This follows Foxconn ostensibly considering using its Mount Pleasant holdings to build electric vehicles for California-based Fisker Inc., but instead purchasing a pre-built former General Motors factory in Lordstown, Ohio. That deal, with struggling prospective electric-truck manufacturer Lordstown Motors Corp., was announced Sept. 30

With the new Foxtron venture, it appears Foxconn is trying to move away from being the background company to brands like Apple and put its own mark on the things it makes, as well as continuing to work in the background for groups like Lordstown and Fisker.

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Assembly Speaker Robin Vos on Tuesday said those seeking public records related to the GOP-ordered investigation into the 2020 election are trying to torpedo the effort and he plans to release those records when the one-party probe is finished.

Vos comments came after liberal watchdog group American Oversight filed a second lawsuit this month seeking records related to the investigation into how the 2020 election was conducted. A Dane County circuit judge earlier this month ordered Vos to release records related to the probe, which have also been requested by the Wisconsin State Journal, as well as other media outlets.

During an interview with Wisconsin Public Radios The Morning Show, Vos, R-Rochester, said his hope is the investigation  which is being led by former state Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman and was originally planned to be finished by the end of October  will now be completed before the end of the year. Vos did not say if the investigation could cost more than the $676,000 in taxpayer dollars allocated to the effort in June.

It really depends on how we keep going forward, I mean we are discovering more and more on a regular basis about things that happened in the election, Vos said.

When asked for specifics, Vos pointed to voters who identified as indefinitely confined, for being confined due to illness, disability or infirmity. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of voters who identified as indefinitely confined increased significantly. Such voters dont need to include a photocopy of their ID when they mail in their ballot.

Vos also pointed to cities that received private grants from the Center for Tech and Civic Life, funded by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, to help administer the 2020 presidential election. The five cities at the focus of Gablemans probe  Madison, Milwaukee, Green Bay, Kenosha and Racine  all received CTCL funds. All told, the organization provided grant funding to more than 200 communities across Wisconsin.

Imagine it happened in reverse where the Koch brothers gave millions of dollars to only turn out people of white background in the suburbs, Vos said. People would say that is crazy. Well thats exactly what happened with the money from Zuckerberg in reverse, where they focused only on turning out minorities in large cities.

Republicans have claimed the private group essentially took over administration of the 2020 election in Green Bay, but officials there have said the allegations are completely without merit, and that it followed state and federal laws. A federal judge found nothing in the law to prohibit clerks from using the money.

Vos said he believes President Joe Biden won the 2020 election, but added he has reason to believe Wisconsins election was tainted.

A recount and court decisions have affirmed that Biden defeated Trump in Wisconsin by almost 21,000 votes. Four voters out of roughly 3 million who cast ballots have been charged with fraud.

Records request

With regard to records requests made by American Oversight and media organizations, Vos said releasing documents before the investigation is complete would be like a district attorney releasing records in the middle of a murder investigation.

They do not put out for public display, for everyone to read, who theyre talking to and who theyre investigating, giving an advantage to people who actually committed the crime to avoid prosecution, Vos said. Thats exactly what would happen if we decided to put all the documents out.

Dane County Circuit Court Judge Valerie Bailey-Rihn ruled on Oct. 8 that Vos and Assembly Chief Clerk Ted Blazel had unjustifiably withheld and refused to release the records requested by American Oversight. Bailey-Rihn ordered Vos and Blazel to immediately provide the documents or show cause to the contrary at a hearing scheduled for Nov. 5.

On Monday, American Oversight filed a new lawsuit identifying Vos as the sole defendant for not releasing the requested documents in a timely manner.

Speaker Vos has done everything in his power to protect this investigation from scrutiny, Austin Evers, executive director of American Oversight, said in a statement. Finger-pointing, name-calling, and indulging conspiracy theorists are all perfectly legal  but ignoring the open records statute is not. Its time for Speaker Vos to follow the law and make these documents available to the public.

Gableman in recent weeks pared back his initial request for election-related documents from the cities of Madison, Milwaukee, Green Bay, Kenosha and Racine and the Wisconsin Elections Commission. He also agreed, for now, to hold off on interviews with the WEC administrator Meagan Wolfe and mayors and city clerks in the five cities.

Gableman has said he reserves the ability to seek additional documents or demand interviews in the future if necessary.

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Mike Kendhammer used to look out his dining room window and see large groups of deer gathered in a field below.

In the morning, I would have my coffee and read the paper, and I would always see a dozen, 15 or 20, he said.

These days, the deer are gone.

Since last year, Kendhammer has found 15 dead deer on his 220-acre property just south of La Crosse. He said three other deer who died under similar circumstances have been found on a neighboring property. Last month, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources identified the cause of at least two of the deaths: epizootic hemorrhagic disease.

Kendhammer believes EHD killed the remaining 16 deer. He also believes there are dead deer on his and neighboring properties that have yet to be found.

Its devastated the deer herd in this valley, he said. Its like they all disappeared.

EHD has surfaced elsewhere in the area. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources reported Oct. 11 that confirmed cases were discovered in Houston and Winona counties. Later in the week, Wisconsin DNR confirmed a case in Juneau County and a third La Crosse County case in the town of Medary.

DNR biologists in Wisconsin and Minnesota dont believe EHD poses the same threat to the deer herd as chronic wasting disease. EHD is common in the southern and western United States and was identified for the first time in Wisconsin in 2002, when 14 deer died in Iowa County. There were reports of EHD last year in Buffalo and Oconto counties, but only 50 deer died statewide, according Wisconsin DNR.

However, Wisconsin DNR wildlife technician Paul Napierala isnt surprised that a local landowner would notice a population decline triggered by EHD.

Its usually a local die-off, and it stops at the local level, Napierala said. We typically dont adjust any hunting quotas, even at the county level.

The virus that causes EHD is carried by a biting gnat known as a midge. Infected deer with the most severe symptoms salivate excessively, have foam present around the nose (sometimes with blood), suffer from dehydration and lose their fear of humans. Deer with EHD may look outwardly healthy because the disease spreads rapidly through the body, and the deer shed little weight before they die.

Those symptoms match what Kendhammer has seen on his property.

We found dead deer by our tree stand, and we couldnt figure out what was going on, Kendhammer said of deer he discovered in 2020. The deer didnt show any sign of stress at all. I could see a little blood coming from the nose and ears.

Since the EHD is caused by an insect, the spread of the disease is halted annually with the arrival of cold weather, said Minnesota DNR wildlife health program supervisor Michelle Carstensen.

It ends as soon as we get the first frost, Carstensen said. Its really a short-term disease  generally late summer into the fall.

Unseasonably warm weather in western Wisconsin has given the disease additional time to spread. As of Friday, the La Crosse area had yet to experience its first frost, which normally arrives the first week of October.

A later frost would give the midge population a better climate to thrive, Napierala said.

Carstensen said Minnesota had been insulated from EHD until 2019, when the disease first appeared in Houston and Stearns counties. She said drought conditions in Minnesota played a role in the spread as deer congregated around shrinking water holes.

All of our neighboring states have been dealing with EHD for years, she said. We dont get a lot of reports in Minnesota  maybe a dozen overall  but its an underestimate of the disease.

Biologists say the virus doesnt infect humans even if a person handles infected deer, eats venison from infected deer or are bitten by infected midges. However, Carstensen said people shouldnt consume deer that exhibit any signs of poor health.

Carstensen said EHD is very different from CWD, which is linked to a prion with a much longer incubation period.

CWD is super slow, she said. Its a different pathogen. It has nothing to do with temperature or insects. It has a different cycle and presentation.

Kendhammer and his neighbors found four bucks and six does in 2020 and one buck and seven does this year. He said all four bucks from last year would have registered a Pope and Young score. Hes concerned about the impact of the disease and said it can transmitted to other hoofed animals.

He said the DNR needs to treat EHD with a sense of urgency.

It would be an extreme disaster for Wisconsin if deer keep tipping over, Kendhammer said.

Napierala said his department is monitoring the situation and asked for the publics help.

The biggest thing is for hunters and landowners to notify the DNR so we can better track the geographic distribution of the disease, Napierala said. We really depend on landowners and hunters in these situations.

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Banks are essential to any economy. They help people to save and grow their wealth as well as their businesses. However, in recent decades the banking sector has experienced many challenges. Cyber security is one of the most challenging security threats.

Cyber security is malicious damage or disruption of digital life through the theft of private data. Cyber security threats could occur in instances such as denial of services, breach of data, and computer viruses. So what is the importance of cybersecurity in banking?

The obvious reason for maintaining cyber security in the banking sector is the protection of customer assets. It is also important to safeguard customer information. But let us look at some of the advantages of cybersecurity in banking in more depth.

Securing Customer's Money

One of the most significant effects of a breach in cyber security in a bank is the loss of valuable institution and customer data. Not only would this be disruptive for the bank's banking process. It would also expose the institution to derailing legal procedures.

Moreover, the institution would have to undergo a tedious and time-wasting procedure of canceling cards, looking into payment transactions and banking statements, and closely monitoring operations in case of a data breach.

Safeguarding the Bank's Reputation

A single breach in cyber security could have devastating effects on a bank's reputation. It could make an institution lose public trust and experience customer insecurity. It, therefore, becomes essential to have a cybersecurity analyst and a robust antivirus to protect a bank from cyber security threats.

Keeping Customer Data Safe

Once a bank's cyber security is breached, cybercriminals go a step further to use the personal data of innocent bankers for criminal activities. Therefore, banks should encourage their customers to secure their data to prevent cybercriminals from using customer information to commit crimes such as fraud and voice phishing.

Penalization for Non-Compliance

In case of a cybersecurity threat, a bank is liable for non-compliance with cyber security regulations. Reserve banks fine banks for non-comply with cyber-security regulations several million dollars in case cyber security threats occur. Although these measures seem brutal, they ensure that banks adhere to guidelines and customers' data safety against security threats.

Keeping Data Secure

Digitization has made it possible for people to make business transactions online. More people are using digital online payment platforms to conduct business transactions and to order and pay for goods online using digital banking platforms.

Because of this, hackers are now actively hacking into applications to steal personal information and use it to steal money or commit fraud. Hence banking institutions need to regularly upgrade their banking information and cyber security measures to protect their customers against hackers.

How to Secure Banking Information from Cyber Attacks.

One of the ways that banks are protecting themselves against such cyber security threats is the use of antimalware engines. Recently, malware such as Cerberus have adapted a business model in which they offer subscription based services that provide services like keylogger to cyber criminals.

These malware mimic the legitimate login screen for banking apps allowing them to steal credentials and private data. Banks therefore need to secure their banking apps using strong antivirus programs that offer improved services over Windows in-built protections. Of course, you can use free antivirus for Windows and still get adequate protection. But, not all free antivirus programs can offer you adequate protection. So, you need to get a free Windows antivirus that has strong malware detection, and extra features like voice phishing, VPN and password manager.

Avira Free Security for Windows

This is one of the best and most commonly used free antivirus for windows. Avira free security for windows operates in the cloud, and hence the detection of viruses does not occur in the computer but instead in the cloud. Hence, this antivirus is fast, consumes minimal resources, and is relatively lightweight.

This free antivirus detects all malware files without slowing down the computer. Paid (News - Alert) programs like Norton and McAfee are just as effective in detecting malware, but they slow down the system so that users cannot run CPU-intensive programs. Avira antivirus is also common because it comes with other excellent and free features such as File shredder, shopping browser extensions that are safe for the user, firewall, password manager, privacy and performance optimizer, game booster, and VPN with a 500 MB monthly limit.

With Avira's safe shopping browser, extension a user can block phishing sites, unwanted ads, and web trackers. Its performance optimization and privacy tools also effectively clean out junk files, cookies, and any hidden privacy settings that could leak customer personal information.

Despite these advantages, there are a few limitations of using the Avira Free antimalware engine that you should know. Firstly, Avira's VPN is limited to 500 MB per month. This means that it can only be used to accomplish few tasks and only allows you to connect to one server location.

Hence, it limits your access to restricted content from various geographical locations around the world. You need to upgrade the antivirus from a free version to other paid versions to overcome these challenges.

Bottom Line

As technology advances, more and more people and banking institutions are finding it more convenient. For these reasons, the methods used by hackers and other cybercriminals to steal bank information, customer data and conduct fraud activities are also evolving. This is why cybersecurity in banking has become of utmost importance today. One of the most popular ways that banks are protecting the safety of their data is through the use of solid antimalware applications like Avira free antivirus.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines)  The French Chamber of Commerce and Industry in the Philippines (CCIFP) and the Embassy of France to the Philippines and Micronesia are presenting a two-day virtual event that aims to look into the Philippine F&B (food and beverage) industry, and provide support to French and Filipino restaurateurs, food retailers, distributors, and local farmers impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Behind the Cuisines" is a webinar with the theme "The Changing Phases of the Food and Beverage Industry: Defining the New Food Normal." It will be held on October 22 at 2 to 5 p.m.

This will involve a series of high-level online conversations from key individuals in public and private sectors to inform attendees about the current state of the country's F&B industry, key insights and practices presented by leading companies, and prominent market trends.

It follows a live cooking segment for the second part of its series - "A Fusion of French and Filipino Flavors" featuring Erwan Heussaff - that offers a platform for different French and Filipino food businesses to showcase their products and services amid the health crisis.

This will happen on October 23 at 2 to 4 p.m., and streamed live on the Facebook page of CCIFP.

Overall, CCIFP envisions both days of the event to complement one another by imparting vital information regarding the current situation of the F&B industry in the Philippines, and by providing the audience with ways on how they - in their own homes - can help support French and Filipino food businesses adversely affected by the pandemic, all while celebrating both cultures.

CCIFP warmly invites the public to get a glimpse of French and Philippine culture through "Behind the Cuisines" as this will be a free event.

Register to the webinar to also provide support to local farmers and communities.

Fifteen percent of the total revenue will be donated to the Chamber's partner beneficiary, AGREA.

For those who want to personally support this initiative, you may access this link: https://app.glueup.com/event/behind-the-cuisines-40061
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 19)  House Deputy Speaker Lito Atienza said presidential aspirant Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. should acknowledge the atrocities committed by his father and namesake, the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, instead of only touting the good things that supposedly happened under his regime.

Speaking to CNN Philippines' The Source on Tuesday, Atienza said the former senator and incumbent presidential aspirant should at least admit that Filipinos suffered during his father's 20-year rule.

"I am just asking him to recognize that martial law, and his father Ferdinand Edralin Marcos, did not do well, did not really benefit the Filipinos. Maraming atrocities na nangyari (So many atrocities happened)," Atienza said. "He can easily say, 'I did not participate in those tortures and if I become president I will never commit the same.'"

"Pero pag sinabi niyang 'walang masamang nangyari at di ako kasali diyan,'(But when you say nothing bad happened and you are not part of it) you are already a mature young man when you all fled the Philippines on February 26, 1986, when you rode the American helicopter to escape from the raging, oncoming, rushing crowd of Filipinos wanting justice from you," the vice presidential aspirant and running mate of Sen. Manny Pacquiao added.

"Anong sinasabi mong hindi alam? Naka-fatigue uniform ka pa noon eh. You were ready to do battle. Have you forgotten that? Palagay ko meron silang selective memory. Ang naaalala lang nila yung good times of martial law," Atienza further addressed the younger Marcos.

[Translation: What are you saying that you do not know? You were wearing a fatigue uniform. You were ready to battle. Have you forgotten that? Perhaps they have a selective memory, they only remember the good times during maartial law.]

Atienza also took a swipe at Senator Imee Marcos for claiming that martial law happened "one million years ago," when her father only ended his rule 35 years back. Atienza said this is part of the Marcoses' plan to revise history, but they cannot erase what Filipinos had to go through under the Marcos regime.

"That's very recent history and you are doing everything, using your money to distort history. Ang tawag dyan (you call that) historical revisionism," he said.

In an attempt for another Marcos to retake Malacanang in 2022, Bongbong Marcos is running for president under the Partido Federal ng Pilipinas.

He previously told CNN Philippines that he was not sorry for atrocities committed under his father's martial law rule  an era fraught with widespread corruption and human rights abuses such as extrajudicial killings and detention of dissidents.

READ: Bongbong Marcos not sorry for father's reign: 'I can only apologize for what I have done'

Under the Marcos regime, over 11,000 people fell victim to summary execution, torture, and other human rights violations, according to the Human Rights Victims Reparation and Recognition Act. Rights group Amnesty International estimates some 70,000 were imprisoned and 34,000 were tortured.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 19)  Three people filed a complaint against Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi, Udenna Corp. chairman Dennis Uy and 24 others for an alleged questionable sale of shares in the Malampaya gas-to-power project.

Geologist Balgamel Domingo filed the complaint Monday with the Office of the Ombudsman in Iloilo City, his lawyer Rico Domingo said in a Tuesday media briefing.

The other complainants are lawyer Rodel Rodis and businesswoman Loida Nicolas Lewis, both based in the United States.

Billions lost

Eduardo Manalac, former president of state-run Philippine National Oil Company (PNOC), said the government effectively forfeited billions of pesos in profits when it allowed Udenna to buy a 45% stake in the project from oil giant Chevron in 2019.

The government tapped private service contractors to explore waters off Palawan for gas deposits since 2001. The natural gas extracted from the project currently supplies over 20% of the country's power needs, with the government earning 60% from revenues and 40% for its private partners.

Shell Exploration BV and Chevron each owned a 45% stake in the project, with the remaining 10% maintained by the state through PNOC-Exploration Corporation. In the past two years, however, Chevron and Shell both sold their shares in the project to Uy's UC Malampaya, giving it a 90% controlling stake.

RELATED: Competition body OKs Dennis Uy's entry into Malampaya

"Kung gobyerno ang kumuha, pwedeng umabot sa 138 billion ang makukuha ng gobyerno. Dahil hindi kinuha at hindi rin kinuha ng PNOC, 'yun ang mga nawala [If the government acquired the shares, it could have taken up to 138 billion. Because neither government nor PNOC took the shares, we lost that amount]," Manalac said.

He added that without Uy's buyout, the government could have received an additional 42 billion if it took control for the remaining three years of the Malampaya contract  and could be higher given the recent surge in global oil prices.

READ: Fuel prices up for eight weeks in a row, but jeepney fare hikes off the table

The complaint stated that the Department of Energy (DOE) was remiss in its duties in reviewing Udenna's financial capacity, and in the process gave the company "unwarranted benefits" and caused "undue injury" to government.

"Despite knowledge of its right to match UC Malampayas offer and the anticipated good returns of the investment in Chevrons share, PNOC-EC failed to exert any effort to purchase Chevrons participating shares," the complaint read, adding that DOE under Cusi did not perform due diligence before clearing the deal.

"Sec. Cusi still proceeded to belatedly approve the questioned sale despite Udenna and UC Malampayas failure to meet the technical and financial qualifications of a Service Contractor," it added, pointing out that the newly-formed company did not have enough capital and was counting on loans to support the deal.

Cusi is also PNOC chairman.

Retired Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio said government should have stepped in, especially as the Malampaya facility's contract is expected to end in 2024 or when gas supply is expected to run out.

"We have people who can run that  Filipinos. Gagamitin lang ni Dennis Uy 'yun [Dennis Uy will only take advantage of that]," Carpio said. "This is the biggest presidential gift to a crony."

Based in Davao, Uy owns Phoenix Petroleum and was one of the biggest campaign donors of President Rodrigo Duterte in 2016.

Also charged are 10 other officials of PNOC, as well as executives of Udenna, Chevron, and Shell.

DOE reply

In a statement, Cusi dubbed the graft charges as a form of "harassment," saying it was politically motivated as the 2022 elections are heating up. He is also serving as president of one of the two warring factions of PDP Laban.

"The case is speculative, without basis and malicious. The questioned transaction is above-board," the Energy chief said, noting that the DOE will respond in the proper forum. "I have no doubt the truth will vindicate me and the innocent people dragged into this purported action obviously filed for the singular purpose of political propaganda."

"It should be noted that two of the alleged complainants are Filipino-Americans who were reportedly identified with the 'Oust Duterte' movement in the United States," Cusi added.

Meanwhile, the Udenna Group said it has yet to receive a copy of the complaint.

CNN Philippines is also trying to get the comment of Malacanang, Chevron and Shell.
(CNN)  A Brazilian congressional panel is set to recommend mass homicide charges against President Jair Bolsonaro over his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, according a leaked government report seen by CNN on Tuesday.

CNN Brasil received draft excerpts of a congressional investigation which accuses Bolsonaro and other government officials of allowing the lethal coronavirus to spread through the population in hopes of achieving herd immunity.

Over 600,000 people have died of Covid-19 in Brazil -- the second highest death toll in the world after the US.

The excerpts show that the probe's report effectively blames the Bolsonaro administration's policies for more than half of those deaths, and calls for murder charges against the president.

It also recommends criminal charges against 69 other people, including three of Bolsonaro's sons and numerous current and former government officials.

The Brazilian Senate Pandemic Parliamentary Inquiry (CPI) told CNN the nearly 1,200-page document is expected to be officially discussed in the Brazilian Senate on Wednesday. It is not clear if the results of that report would lead to criminal charges. Parts of the draft document could still be changed or updated ahead of its formal presentation.

Bolsonaro's office did not immediately respond to CNN's request for comment. However, the president has previously criticized the investigation into his pandemic handling as politically motivated.
(CNN)  Apple showed off its second batch of new products ahead of the all-important holiday shopping season.

At a virtual event on Monday, the company showed off two high-end MacBook Pro laptops powered by its next-generation silicon chip. It also unveiled AirPods 3, its entry-level wireless earbuds that borrow a few features from its higher-end AirPods Pro line.

Apple's event came amid ongoing concerns about global component shortages and logistics issues across the tech industry. Still, Google will unveil its Pixel 6 smartphone on Tuesday, and Samsung is hosting a mysterious press event the following day.

Here's a look at what Apple announced:

MacBook Pro

Apple announced new MacBook Pro laptops that use its new in-house M1 Pro and M1 Max processors, which promise to be 70% faster and more efficient than its previous M1 chip.

The Pro comes in two sizes -- 16 inches and, for the first time, a 14-inch model -- and features thinner bezels and improved displays, with a higher refresh rate. Other improvements include longer-lasting batteries and an advanced front-facing camera that can take 1080p video.

Apple also ditched its digital Touch Bar, a divisive feature that replaced the row of function keys at the top of the keyboard with text prediction and shortcuts. But the Pro does include a fingerprint sensor located in the power button.

The company is also bringing back the HDMI port, SD card slot, and a MagSafe charger, the last of which was removed when Apple introduced USB-C ports to the line.

The new 14-inch MacBook Pro model starts at $1,999 and the 16-inch MacBook Pro model starts at $2,499.

AirPods 3

Apple introduced an update to its entry-level AirPods that offers features of the AirPods Pro line.

AirPods 3 comes with spatial audio, better sound quality -- providing more powerful bass and crisp high frequency -- and is sweat and water resistant for workouts. It also comes with a new contour design and adaptive EQ, a feature previously found only on AirPods Pro. The wireless earbuds customize sound in real time by adjusting frequencies based on what your ear is hearing.

The latest model touts improved battery performance, promising up to 6 hours of battery life, and 5 minutes of charge time will get an hour of use. Apple is also adding MagSafe and wireless charging to the case.

AirPods 3, which are available for pre-order starting today, cost $179, while AirPods 2 are now $129. AirPods Pro will remain at $249 and its over-the-ear headphones, AirPods Max, cost $549.

A few surprises

The company is adding a splash of color to its HomePod mini line. In addition to black and white, HomePod mini will soon be available in orange, yellow and dark blue for $99 each, starting in November.

Meanwhile, Apple Music is getting a voice plan with Siri integration. For about $5 each month, subscribers can ask Siri to pull up playlists, songs and radio stations. The voice-only option is cheaper than its existing plan $9.99/month and the Family Plan at $14.99/month.

macOS Monterrey launch date

Although Apple previously teased new features coming to macOS Monterey back in June, it never formally revealed a launch date until now. The latest Mac software, which includes updates to FaceTime, support for AirPlay, a low-power mode and a tab-grouping feature in Safari, will be available for download starting October 25.

This story was first published on CNN.com, "Apple unveils new MacBooks and its next-generation AirPods."
How do you tell history through objects that people can relate to in terms of their body? shares Filipino artist Pio Abad, elucidating how grand historical events seemingly determine the way we live relating to his and Frances Wadsworth Jones approach in their installation The Collection of Jane Ryan and William Saunders (2019).

The 24-piece collection was recently acquired by Tate Gallery, United Kingdom, with funds provided by its Asia-Pacific Acquisitions Committee.

Theres something ergonomic about moving the historical away from this grand entity to things that relate to the body, says Abad. In The Collection of Jane Ryan and William Saunders, Abad and Wadsworth Jones retell an elaborated history of corruption during late dictator and kleptocrat Ferdinand Marcos regime, through all-too-familiar jewelry.

Similarly, in Abads 2017 iteration of his work at Art Basel Hong Kong, Not a Shield, but a Weapon, he explored Margaret Thatchers problematic legacy through 180 reproductions of bespoke black handbags which he draws connection with trade liberalization in Marikina City, Philippines.

Abad describes his body of work as manifestations of domestic accessories. He describes these domestic accessories as compelling but overlooked, referring to often forgotten histories and embedded narratives.

For the Collection, the names Jane Ryan and William Saunders were aliases used by former Philippine dictators Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos Swiss bank account in 1968, one of the few testaments of the stolen $10 billion from the Philippines making this their own personal wealth.

In this interview, Abad, together with his wife, Wadsworth Jones, talk about their ruminations on their process and product vis-a-vis their collaborative work The Collection of Jane Ryan and William Saunders (2019) which started as a research project in 2014.

Frances Wadsworth Jones (left) and Pio Abad (right) started The Collection of Jane Ryan and William Saunders as a research project in 2014. Photo courtesy of the artists

I viewed some of your recent exhibition shows, and Im curious about the materiality of narratives through your body of work and intersections in domesticity of power, political histories, concept of value, among others. How do you describe this in relation to your artistic process and The Collection of Jane Ryan and William Saunders?? Also considering translation of these into objects through a myriad of strategies also working with Frances.

Pio Abad: The idea of an inventory is central to how I approach making work and collaborating. An inventory is an account of how people live, it can be made precious and referred to as a collection and it can also function as a body of proof of how history has unfolded. And so, thats a key structure, the inventory in the sense of it being a collection of things that people have valued or people have lived with and the inventory in the sense of it being a body of evidence.

Correct me if Im wrong, but Ive read that there are 413 pieces of jewelry. How did you come up with selecting at least 24 for the 2019 iteration?

Frances Wadsworth Jones: The piece was originally commissioned by the Honolulu Biennial and so we focused on the jewelery that Imelda and Ferdinand brought with them when they fled to Hawaii, which is legally referred to as the Hawaii Collection.

Pio Abad: There is also the Roumeliotes Collection, which, if Im not mistaken, is also in the Bangko Sentral vaults alongside the Hawaii Collection.

I think the 24 out of 413 is also proof of how little pictorial evidence we have of their plunder. This is part of the Hawaii collection, which is why we chose them, but theyre also the only hi-res images that we could work with. As much as there is an element of speculation in the way we reconstructed these objects, weve had to base them on existing imagery.

Frances Wadsworth Jones: We only had images of 24 of the pieces, and not having the rights to the photos of the jewelery led us to reconstructing them as 3D printed sculptures. The process basically involved me working with photos and reconstructing the best that I could without making up any information of parts that I couldnt see, like the backs are blank, the scales may not be quite right, its all very speculative but its still rooted on as much visual evidence as we could gather.

Pio Abad: And I think in terms of the strategy of working, the role of collaboration particularly with this project is important. The project started in 2014 at UP Vargas Museum, and family has always been a big part of telling this story, family history has shaped (this) and the values behind the need to tell the story, but in this instance, family also extends into process, and this wouldnt be possible without Frances expertise. Shes been a jewelry designer and educator for ten years.

Weve been married for 12, together for 16, and so in some ways, weve lived through the political challenges of the last decades. But the actual intricacies of creating this jewelry from thin air is really Frances work. I always say that in this project Im in charge of political trauma and Frances oversees production. When we showed these in Hawaii, people assumed that we just really scanned the jewelry, that we got access to them, we 3D scanned them, I dont know, with an iPhone, and then just 3D printed them out. But actually, these works were painstakingly reconstructed, every facet of every gem has been reimagined digitally. I think theres one tiara which has like, how many?

Frances Wadsworth Jones: I think I went a bit ridiculously into detail, and it has about 22 million surfaces.

Pio Abad: We killed a few computers along the way.

A reproduction of a specific jewelry from the confiscated items which has value equivalent to support for 310 indigenous family beneficiaries. Photo courtesy of the artists

Thats fascinating. Im also curious what was your initial reaction to the acquisition by Tate? Were you surprised at all?

Pio Abad: It was amazing to be finally able to share the news and to get so much support and encouragement. Museum acquisition processes are often very lengthy. In this case, it was a yearlong process. When we finally got the official letter saying that it has been acquired, we were so thrilled. Having lived in London for the past 11 years, well, in Frances case, she was born here, it is incredibly validating. I think we both have very vivid memories of the first time we stepped into Tate Modern. It also validates the history that we talk about. Despite the massive effort at revisionism, the plunder of the Marcoses and the physical loss and trauma that it has brought does not belong to the past. It very much speaks of the urgencies of the present. Its very heartening to have the Tate recognize that and to commit to telling that story.

While you were answering the second question, I was thinking about how accessibility still plays an important role when we do artistic and creative work. Now, youve described the Collection as both effigy and evidence. Can you elaborate on this?

Frances Wadsworth Jones: Well, evidence is obvious. With these pieces were trying to bring something to light that had been hidden for a long time and we havent seen ourselves. In creating this body of evidence, people can finally visualise this act of plunder that has been rendered abstract by time. We also wanted the pieces to be ghostly.

Pio Abad: And you know, weve had some comments when we were making the work, When are you going to color it? We're not going to color it in. They do look like jewelry, but we want them to appear as specters, like ghosts that you can and can't catch and there's something about the 3D printed material that has an elusive quality. It suggests ivory, bone or even sugar.

Frances Wadsworth Jones: We wanted them to be beautiful, obviously, but we didnt want people to be too seduced by that beauty and that sparkle. We wanted them to be able to take a step back and see it in a slightly different way.

Pio Abad: And just to elaborate on their function as evidence, theres a textual element to the work as well. Its installed as you would see jewelry installed in a museum but instead of labels describing what the jewelry is, the text that accompanies it is the equivalent value of each piece of jewelry according to national development that we lost as result of Marcos plunder. For instance, theres a pink diamond that is equivalent to the costs of building two domestic airports or a tiara that can fund 2,000 college students.

Frances Wadsworth Jones: These pieces were also meant to be sold at auction in 2016 and the proceeds intended for national development, but the change in government put an end to those plans. So, the photographs that we saw were taken by Christies for the auction that never actually happened, and the installation is also the ghost of an unrealized exhibition.

Pio Abad: When we first showed it in Honolulu in 2019, this woman came up to us at the opening and she said, Ive been looking for these for thirty years. The woman was Sherrie Broder, the human rights lawyer who successfully filed a class suit against the Marcoses for two billion dollars on behalf of the human rights victims during the dictatorship. I think the most interesting and gratifying [thing] about this project is how it enters the realm of politics and legal history as well. There is an element of restitution, at least imagined restitution.

A reproduction of a specific jewelry from the confiscated items which has value equivalent to full immunization for 20,000 children. Photo courtesy of the artists. Photo courtesy of the artists

Youve mentioned in an interview with the British Council that Jeremy Deller, Cornelia Parker, and Cathy Wilkes have been influential to your practice. Subsequently, you also help oversee the management of Pacita Abad Art Estate. How have these been shaping your practice, trajectories, and process or specifically with the Collection?

Pio Abad: I think all three artists are invested in telling stories and we mentioned how accessibility comes into play. For me being generous with narrative is very important and therefore the works are materially seductive as a way to engage the viewer into the polemic. My aunt Pacita has always been a huge influence. Having an artist in the family makes choosing that life an easier proposition. Pacita was also the one who told me to check out the Glasgow School of Art, where I met Frances. Family history and how its entwined with politics, social issues, and with art history is at the center of my art, our collaboration, and my role in curating Pacitas body of work.

If I may just share my first encounter with Pacitas artwork, it was part of a corporate collection that I used to manage. When were doing collections management, I froze for a moment just to look at the textile. I could not believe it was literally in front of me as I was just reading about them in books.

Frances Wadsworth Jones: And you really must experience them physically. You don't understand them until they're there in front of you, and they mean something very different.

Pio Abad: Theyre very visceral. Going back to family and art, there are three of us in Tate, Pacita, me, and Frances. Alongside David Medalla, we represent Philippine art in the collection. I have also just come back from Dubai where I co-curated an exhibition of Pacitas work at Jameel Arts Centre, who also showed the jewelery in 2019. Theres something beautiful about the entwining of the personal, the political, the cultural, how family, friendships and these working relationships are all woven into each other.

I saw the show at MCAD Manila, it was actually very nice. You are co-curator for that show, Pio, right?

Pio Abad: Yeah, I did it with Joselina Cruz. Thats the show that started the rediscovery of Pacitas work. Now shes still breaking boundaries. The show in Dubai is the first exhibition devoted to a Filipino artist by a museum in the Gulf. When you think about how many decades of Filipinos working in the Gulf and building the Gulf, this is the first time that they're committing to a Filipino story. For me I really felt the enormity of that when I was putting together the show at Jameel and relating it to how we feel about being in the Tate, its a real honor to be able to have certain narratives present within museums spaces and to make sure that Filipino stories are visible in these big institutions.

I believe that they have a strong role in knowledge circulation and production.

Pio Abad: And we always talk about museums as universal places but theyre also specific places, and the moment that you see your story, your struggle represented within these institutions, it validates what youre going through, where you want to be, and how youve told your story.

Another iteration of The Collection of Jane Ryan and William Saunders is an augmented reality restitution and intervention for the jewelries. Photo courtesy of the artists

I understand that youve started your research for the Collection in London and mounted the first iteration of the show in 2014 (starting from postcards and eventually reproductions at Jameel Art Centre and Kiss the Hands You Cannot Bite at KADIST San Francisco in 2019). How do you approach both process and product? Do you have a specific criteria or considerations for such iterations? How do these iterations alter/modify certain factors like materiality and contexts, perhaps your relationship with the work working with Frances, among many other things?

Pio Abad: I started the research in 2011, when I was doing my MA at the Royal Academy in London. The first iteration was a joint exhibition in Manila and London in 2014: at the Vargas Museum with Patrick Flores and at Gasworks which is an organization that Ive been very much involved in here in London. Since then, the project has traveled pretty extensively, as youve mentioned. In terms of process, it always has to be in service of storytelling, like say transforming the Imeldas collection of old master paintings into postcards, for instance, that seemed a succinct way to democratize the collection, to share that work. And that element of generosity but also that element of seducing the viewer really informs both how I make things and what they become in the end.

The language of museum display has also deeply informed how the project has developed. I see it as a traveling museum for a history that needs to be revisited and made present. As it has traveled, finding ways to engage with the audience has also been central.

I like how you mentioned audiences and say integral, because it always affects the process and the product. You mentioned that you intend to bring the collection to the Philippines next year (2022), specifically at Ateneo Art Gallery. Can you share with us how the project is going along? What shall we expect in this iteration?

Pio Abad: Im still hoping that the pandemic will allow the project to happen in 2022. We're still planning like its going as planned. But for me it was always important that the entire project comes back home. By the entire project I mean the postcards, the jewelry, there's a whole section of the project that talks about the Marcoses use of mythology, specifically the legend of Malakas and Maganda, for propagandistic ends. There is also a whole section to do with the Samuels collection, where Imelda bought the entire contents of a Manhattan mansion in the 80s as the Philippine economy was dying, thanks to her spending habits.

I've always envisioned the entire project to return to Ateneo because thats where my parents met as labor organizers, thats they were held under campus arrest in 1981, and thats also where my mom taught. So again, it goes back to family, and it goes back to how embedded the trauma of the dictatorship and the costs of fighting for what you believe in, how it has shaped me, and my family and my relationship to art and history. And it shaped you (Frances) as trauma by osmosis, and I think that its always important that it comes back to the Philippines, and specifically to Ateneo. So that happens in April 2022, a couple weeks shy of the election. I think I now also need to find a way of incorporating the color pink into the exhibition.

***

Another iteration of The Collection of Jane Ryan and William Saunders is an augmented reality restitution and intervention for the jewelries. This iteration is part-commissioned by Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) and 21AM led by Marian Pastor-Roces. The virtual exhibition of the Collection and augmented reality restitution is accessible through this website. More details on this can be found on their Instagram account.
Imagine locking yourself up in your room for a focused study session. But instead of this session lasting a few hours, youre stuck at your desk for a year, desperately trying to make sense of your take-home modules and a glitchy video of your teacher by yourself.

It came as no surprise then that students all across the country clamored for a return to face-to-face classes, after 583 days of studying at home, with countless learners struggling to adapt to remote learning. The government has since heeded the call, and plans to reopen face-to-face classes this November 15 in 59 public schools, and in 181 colleges and universities.

Since the announcement, critics and supporters have been debating this move, weighing the need for a safe return to schooling vis a vis the risk of spreading COVID-19 among vulnerable students. But the voices missing in this national debate are the students themselves. Here are some of them who express their thoughts about the return to face-to-face classes.

Michaela Corinne Ayuro, 10 years old, Grade 5 student

For Grade 5 student Michico, online school has soured her relationship with math.

Online school is harder than face-to-face, she says. Its just when Im in face-to-face school, for some reason, I find math easy. Its okay. But when Im in online school, math is hard.

When asked why, she adds after some thought, I find it hard to ask questions.

Michico shares that their tests have been converted to performance tasks, which she finds hard to do on digital platforms such as MS Teams. But for the most part, shes found things to be happy about.

I like it that theres no tests; we dont have tests in [school] because its online. Im okay. Im talking to my friends, Im playing games with them [online].

For her, she would be fine with returning to face-to-face classes as long as the teachers and students are vaccinated. She hopes that the new school year would not be as hard, where she wont have to often ask her parents for help  especially with stressful math problems.

Lady Jhumyra Taha, 13 years old, Grade 8 student

One thing Lady misses about school is her classmates. Its been almost two years since she last saw them in person.

Masaya po kasi kapag nakakalabas ka papuntang school, and makikita mo yung mga friends mo. Grade 6 [ko po huling nakita mga kaibigan ko], she shares. Lady is now in Grade 8.

She actually agrees with the fears of COVID-19 spreading through face-to-face classes, but if theres one thing Lady is sure of, its that remote learning is really difficult.

[Pinakamahirap po] yung pagintindi sa teacher kasi po mahirap po talaga pag online. Mas madali po kapag kaharap mo yung nagsasalita o nagpapaliwanag, she says, adding that even her classmates are having difficulties understanding lessons via online.

Theyve since started classes again, but she hopes that someday, things can go back to the way they were before the pandemic. In the meantime, she hopes that the government can provide free gadgets, load, or Wi-fi as she faces yet another year of seeing her friends through the screen.

Dana Marie Buyo, 18 years old, first year entrepreneurship student

Its Danas first day of college, and yet shes experiencing it all online.

During her last year of senior high, she went through the modular setup. This meant going back and forth to pick up modules and answering them on her own at home. And while she found it easy to go through the process and the guides, what was difficult was the lack of feedback.

Mahirap pong matuto gamit yung modular kasi po wala pong nage-explain tungkol dun sa mga lessons... Kapag po nagtatanong kami sa mga teachers tungkol sa lesson, di po nila masyadong nasasagot. Magulo rin po sila kausap [kasi] through chat lang po.

So what Dana and her classmates did was to instead help and ask each other, but then this meant they only had their collective knowledge to rely on. Even research was difficult to plan online.

Dana shares that her older brother started college classes before her, and she observed that it really is a challenge. She admits she is still clueless about her current course, and hopes that she can learn more through the college experience  complete with amazing professors, and experiences inside and outside campus.

Sang-ayon po ako sa face-to-face kasi po mas nae-explain lesson, tsaka po mas maa-apply na po namin sa buhay namin na magagamit kapag nagtrabaho po kami. Di naman po siya nakakatakot kung nagiingat po tayo, kung vaccinated na po tayo.

Sonrisa Prada, 20 years old, second year nursing student

As a Nursing student, Sonrisas dream of getting hands-on hospital experience has been replaced by online classes on Blackboard.

Especially with my course, which is a skill based program, it really is hard to cope with the online setup since we dont really get the same experiences and opportunities as those who were able to actually conduct their duties or return demonstration with real people in a hospital or lab setup, she says.

While she says that she is learning, she feels those are not enough for her to say she is competent and confident enough to apply what shes learned. She also agrees with the return to face-to-face classes for areas with low COVID-19 cases, provided that students, teachers, and staff are vaccinated.

As a student in the health sector, Sonrisa proposes blended learning. She says, If ako masusunod, of course I would like to have a school year thats not fully online and not fully face-to-face, with this situation we should try to implement blended learning. Like we will still have our lecture classes in an online setup, but of course our lab and skills classes should be conducted in a face-to-face setup.

Taking the pragmatic route, Sonrisa reminds others of the balance that needs to be maintained between education and health. We should still consider the situation we are in right now, and to be honest it will take a longer time for us to recover and it will surely take a huge toll on those students who aim for a skill-based profession.

Jhenalyn Orque, 20 years old, third year business administration student

Jhenalyn is almost done with college, and shes afraid that she wont get to experience a real on-the-job training (OJT) like other business administration juniors and seniors did pre-pandemic.

Kasi third year na po ako. Ngayon po may business research po kami na subjects, so mahihirapan po kami gawin yun kung sa Google lang po kami hahanap ng [review of related literature]. Tapos kapag nag-OJT naman po kami sa fourth year, mas gusto ko po talaga na mag-OJT kami sa mismong field po talaga or sa mismong business, she says.

Jhenalyn had her fair share of difficulties with her blended online and modular setup as well, such as professors that dont teach online and instead send videos, or professors that send modules and leave them to self-study. She really wants to return to face-to-face classes, because then students and their well-being will be given more attention.

Kasi yung face-to-face dati, kunwari po yung mga pinapa-activity sa amin, isa lang kada araw o kaya minsan lang po sila magbigay. Pero ngayong online class po, dumoble po 'yun hanggang sa naiipon yung mga activities. Nagb-breakdown na po kami, she says.

In fact, Jhenalyn recounts that many students have already dropped out and are now out-of-school youth.

Mas magkakaroon po ng interest yung mga kabataan na mas mag-aral po nang mabuti. Kasi po ngayong online class po, talaga pong bumaba po 'yung mga bilang ng mga estudyante na nag-aaral po ngayon, kasi pinili po nilang huminto kasi wala din naman daw pong natututunan, or wala pong gamit na gadgets or pangload, o kaya po sobrang nahihirapan po, she says.

Jhenalyn proposes that aside from full vaccination for those in face-to-face classes, schools should establish other safety rules such as dividing students going to school by shifts, and enforcing wide social distancing. She prays that face-to-face classes will truly roll out, so that those who dropped out can have a shot at education again.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines Life, October 18)  This week, add more Filipino literature titles to your list, let your taste buds travel through France, snag some merch from a local brands collab with a popular volleyball anime, and view works from Filipino and Indonesian artists.

Check out Filipino printmakers works at Limbag Kamay

Limbag Kamay is a collaborative effort between Fundacion Sanso, Cartellino, and the Association of Pinoyprintmakers  which aims to celebrate local fine art printmaking. The fair runs from Oct. 18 to 25 online at cartellino.com.

Hundreds of works, such as intaglio etchings, drypoint, relief, collagraph, and serigraphs, will be available for purchase at the Limbag Kamay online fair. Photo courtesy of CARTELLINO

Hundreds of works, such as intaglio etchings, drypoint, relief, collagraph, and serigraphs, will be available for purchase. 30% of all profits will go to raising funds to build a prototype batch of small-size etching presses and help printmakers continue their practice.

Some of the artists in Limbag Kamay are Virgilio Pandy Aviado, Elmer Emong Borlongan, Manuel Rodriguez Sr., Juvenal Sanso, Wesley Valenzuela, Mars Bugaoan, Hershey Malinis, and Diokno Pasilan. Live printmaking sessions and discussions will also be part of the fair.

Visit cartellino.com to shop and learn more.  CNN PH LIFE STAFF

Explore the National Book Development Board's Frankfurt Book Fair catalog

The National Book Development Board has been promoting Filipino literature at The Frankfurt Book Fair since 2016. Happening again this Oct. 20 to 24 with the theme Myth, magic, and the city, this years catalogue features contemporary fiction, childrens and young adult literature, graphic novels, and non-fiction titles on culture, history, and cuisine. Some titles that they hope to highlight include Dead Balagtas by Emiliana Kampilan, The Quiet Ones by Glenn Diaz, and "White Lady, Black Christ" by Charison Ong.

READ: Read Local! A brief guide to reading more Philippine Literature

While we cant physically attend the fair being held in Frankfurt, Germany, you may expand your reading list through the NBDB's social media pages, which have actively been promoting the Philippine booth catalog composed of works from publishers such as 19th Avenida, Adarna House, Anvil Publishing, Ateneo de Manila University Press, Milfores Publishing, University of the Philippines Press, University of Santo Tomas Publishing House, Komiket.  CNN PHILIPPINES LIFE STAFF

Follow the NBDB Facebook and Instagram and visit their website to stay updated on the NBDBs online fair programs.

You can now shop for licensed Haikyu!! merch in-store and online thanks to local retailer Oxgn. Photo courtesy of OXYGN

Become part of the team with Oxgns Haikyu!! collab

When I had to isolate in my room a month ago, I turned to the Japanese anime Haikyu!! for company. My friend warned me: Parang walang casual fans ng show na yan ha, and shes right. Sports? I get it now. I fell hard for the Karasuno volleyball team: a ragtag group of high schoolers who grapple with their skills, determination, and passions on and off the court in every episode. Local retailer Oxgns new collab comes in at the perfect time. You can now shop for licensed Haikyu!! merch in-store and online beginning Oct. 15, and includes wearable, streetwear-inspired pieces with some of the most beloved teams on the show. Besides the Karasuno team, you can also cop casualwear from the Nekoma, Aoba Johsai, and Fukurodani teams  all done up in their respective colors. (Im obsessed with the Aoba Johsai ringer tee in teal and white.)

Best of all, you can get customizable jerseys of the Karasuno and Nekoma teams with your favorite players number at the back. For 649, you can pre-order the jersey until Oct. 31 and will be perfect to wear while out and about or if you (like me) are attempting to start a volleyball career and wear it on court. I know what youre thinking: Nice serve.  MARGA BUENAVENTURA

Pre-order the Oxgn x Haikyu!! customizable jerseys on oxgnfashion.com.

This year, Gout de France not only aims to promote French cuisine, but to also help the F&B sector bounce back from the impact of the pandemic. Photo courtesy of EMBASSY OF FRANCE

Let your taste buds travel through Gout de France

Food is the closest thing we can get to going on vacation right now; its an experience that invites our sense of sight, smell, taste (and sometimes, sound) to venture beyond our four walls. Safely, at least. The annual Gout de France campaign, started back in 2015 by the French government and chef Alain Ducasse, returns this year. This time around, Gout de France not only aims to promote French cuisine, but to also help the F&B sector bounce back from the impact of the pandemic. There are eight Manila-based chefs participating this year, with a special menu that takes you from starters to dessert: chef Marc Aubry, Brasserie Sagana; chef Sau Del Rosario, Cafe Fleur; chef Alain Raye, Dr. Wine Manila; chef Janus Florencio, Mireio; chef Miko Calo, Metronome; chef Robert Lilja, Pardon My French; and chef Patrice Freuslon, Society Lounge. French chef Didier Derouet will also be offering a special menu on Oct. 21 as part of the virtual Les Jeudis culturels organized by the French Embassy and by the Alliance francaise de Manille. Some of the participating restaurants also offer a wine pairing option for an additional fee.  MB

Gout de France runs until Oct. 22. To reserve a table or place an order, you may directly contact the participating restaurants.

Brent Sabas's "Restless Confinement" runs until Nov. 5 at Space Encounters Gallery. Photo courtesy of SPACE ENCOUNTERS GALLERY

View Brent Sabass Restless Confinement

Living under quarantine for almost two years now has been nothing short of surreal. This is what artist Brent Sabas explores in his solo exhibit Restless Confinement. In his new pieces, Sabas combines elements of the fantastic  from anthropomorphic creatures to colorful fairy tale-like fatalism  with the daily trauma of living under a pandemic that seems to go on forever.

Restless Confinement opens Oct. 23 and runs until Nov. 5. Space Encounters Gallery is located at Unit 7D, 7/F Padilla Condominium Building, F. Ortigas Jr. Road, Ortigas Center, Pasig City. Message @spaceencountersgallery on Instagram to book an appointment.  CNN PH LIFE STAFF

Akut ikat ikat is on view at Altro Mondo Creative Space until Oct. 24. Photo courtesy of ALTRO MONDO

Gain an appreciation for an Indonesian weaving technique at Altro Mondo Creative Space

Indonesian artist Agus Kama Loedins solo exhibition Akut Ikut Ikat explores the theme of movement of ideas through the ikat method, a decorative technique that makes use of an artists warp tie-dyed prior to weaving.

Akut ikat ikat is on view at Altro Mondo Creative Space until Oct. 24.  CNN PH LIFE STAFF

Schedule an appointment to view the exhibition by messaging the Altro Mondo Facebook and Instagram.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 18)  The Philippine Red Cross on Monday said the COVID-19 test results produced by its Subic laboratory were found "valid and reliable" by the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine.

In a statement, the humanitarian organization said the RITM completed on Oct. 13 its investigation into claims of inaccurate results from the Subic facility.

"In their letter, it states that it 'found no evidence of contamination for the forty-eight (48) cases tested by PRC Subic laboratory and the results were found to be valid and reliable,'" the Red Cross said.

Last month, President Rodrigo Duterte ordered the Department of Health to look into reports of false positive COVID-19 cases recorded in the PRC's testing laboratories.

Duterte said these include claims that over 40 hospital personnel were found positive for COVID-19 by the PRC's Subic laboratory, but later tested negative in another facility.

The Red Cross welcomed the RITM's conclusion, saying it has found itself "a victim of unsubstantiated allegations in recent months."

"The PRC is grateful to the RITM for its unbiased investigation into the matter," it said.

Both the organization and the DOH earlier explained that the timing of specimen collection may be among the factors behind the difference in test results.

Duterte's directive to probe the allegedly false positive cases coincided with his rants against PRC and its chairman Senator Richard Gordon, who heads the Senate panel investigating the administration's questionable pandemic response spending.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 19)  The Senate Blue Ribbon Committee has cited two Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp. officials in contempt and ordered their detention over their non-submission of subpoenaed company documents.

Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon on Tuesday made the motion concerning Pharmally president Twinkle Dargani and corporate secretary Mohit Dargani, noting they have refused to comply with the subpoena duces tecum issued to them. Sen. Kiko Pangilinan then seconded the motion.

The Chairman supports it. I dont think anybody in the committee will object to that, said Sen. Richard Gordon, who heads the panel.

The senators have been pressing the embattled firm on its source documents related to its supply transactions with the government. Pharmally has been scrutinized after bagging billions of pesos in deals despite only having 625,000 in capital.

Tax expert Mon Abrea told the committee that out of all source documents pertaining to their sales and purchases, Pharmally has so far only provided their delivery receipts. He earlier flagged 7.2 billion in purchases which the company failed to disclose, calling it a missing link.

Totoo ba ito? Nasaan ang dokumento na nagsasabi at sino ang mga nag-supply? Paano sila binayaran? Paano ito na-deliver sa kanila? Kasi wala po tayong mga dokumento at di ko din po nakita ang mga dokumentong pina-subpoena, he further explained.

[Translation: Is this true? Wheres the document saying so and who supplied it to them? How were they paid? How was it delivered? We dont have the documents and I havent seen the subpoenaed documents yet.]

Pharmally corporate secretary Mohit Dargani said at Tuesday's hearing that he is personally not refusing to provide the documents sought by the Senate, adding the firm is just acting upon the advice of their legal counsel.

This is not the first time the committee has ordered the detention of individuals from Pharmally. It earlier directed the arrest of director Linconn Ong in September for evading questions on the COVID-19 response fund controversy probe.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 20)  The supply of COVID-19 vaccines is no longer an issue, but vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. also admitted that distribution remains a challenge seven months into the national vaccination program.

During a taped briefing with President Rodrigo Duterte that aired late Tuesday night, Galvez said the country has so far received over 20.2 million doses this month alone.

It is the biggest vaccine delivery compared to previous months, according to him. It included some 7.3 million doses from the World Health Organization-led COVAX facility.

Right now, supply is not anymore an issue," Galvez noted. "We have more than 38 million doses in our warehouses.

However, the government's immunization program is being tested in terms of logistics in distribution of COVID-19 shots, he said. Galvez explained around 39 million doses remain in the country's stockpile.

The chief implementer of the National Task Force against COVID-19 said they are addressing this after they observed that deployment of vaccines from warehouses to the inoculation site takes seven to nine days.

In his presentation, he said the country has received over 91.5 million doses and is on track to hit 100 million before the end of October.

Over 24 million individuals have received full protection from COVID-19, according to Galvez.

President Duterte expressed optimism that most cities in the country will hit or surpass the COVID-19 vaccination target before Christmas.

He said 32% of the total target population have been fully vaccinated and they may meet the government's projections of 50% by the end of 2022.

However, this is still far from the 90% target to achieve the so-called herd immunity.

Galvez said the government will ramp up vaccination by administering 1.5 million shots per day  a far cry from current seven-day average of 388,000 shots daily.
(CNN)  A hacker appears to have compromised a section of former President Donald Trump's website and replaced it with a slogan and a speech from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Visitors to a subdomain of Trump's website were greeted Monday with a message from someone claiming to be a Turkish hacktivist. "Do not be like those who forgot Allah, so Allah made them forget themselves," the message read. Below was a link to an Erdogan speech in which the Turkish president quoted from the Quran.

The section of the Trump website was compromised as early as Oct. 8, according to internet archives.

A spokesperson for Trump did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

It appears to be a type of hack known as a defacement, in which an attacker gains access to a website and replaces it with their own content. These hacks aren't sophisticated and don't involve accessing an organization's sensitive computer systems.

The same Turkish hacker appeared to claim responsibility for defacing Joe Biden's campaign website in late November, weeks after Biden was declared President-elect. US intelligence agencies described the incident in a March 2021 report as one of a "handful of unsuccessful hacktivist attempts to influence or interfere in the 2020 US elections."

The breach of Trump's website comes amid a larger wave of hacktivism, or computer breaches meant to further political or social goals.

The hacking collective Anonymous in September claimed to have stolen and leaked reams of data held by Epik, a website hosting firm popular with far-right organizations like the Proud Boys.

This story was first published on CNN.com, "Section of Donald Trump's website appears to have been hacked."
(CNN)  In May 2015, emotionally hobbled from watching her son, Beau Biden, fight and then succumb to brain cancer, Jill Biden said "goodbye" to God.

"After Beau died, I felt betrayed by my faith, broken," the first lady said Sunday during a publicly unannounced visit to Brookland Baptist Church in Columbia, South Carolina, where she spoke at a special service honoring the 50th anniversary of the church's pastor, the Rev. Dr. Charles B. Jackson.

Biden talked about how lost she was after Beau died, how her consistent and abiding prayers for him to live ended up not coming true, leaving her angry and distraught. "Chemotherapy, operation after operation, weight loss, still I never gave up," said Biden. "I kept going, every day, I put one foot in front of the other, and despite what the doctors said, I believed that my son would make it," Biden said of her unwavering belief in her higher power. "In the final days, I made one, last desperate prayer, and it went unanswered."

It was one of her most personal and extensive speeches about her faith, revealing how shattered it was during that dark time -- her voice breaking more than once recounting the details.

Biden said following Beau's death that she went so far as to ignore emails from her own longtime pastor in Delaware, who was beseeching her to come back to the flock, renew her trust in God and worship.

"But I just couldn't go, I couldn't even pray," said Biden. "I wondered if I would ever feel joy again."

Biden stayed away from regular church attendance for the next four years.

Until she made her first visit to Brookland Baptist.

In May of 2019, during a campaign swing through the Palmetto State, then-candidate Joe Biden and Jill Biden stopped to worship at a service led by Jackson.

That day, it wasn't necessarily the reverend who moved her to action, but rather his wife, Robin Jackson. "Robin came up to me, and she sat beside me and she said, 'Doctor Biden, I would like to be your prayer partner,'" Biden said, recounting the day for Sunday's assembled congregation of about 100 people, which included the Jacksons.

Biden would later say she wasn't sure at the time what exactly a prayer partner was, or what being one entailed -- whether it was some sort of pen pal or church buddy program -- but something about Jackson's kindness struck her. "I don't know if she sensed how moved I had been by the service. I don't know if she could see the grief that I feel still hides behind my smile," she said. But in that moment, for the first time since her son took his last breath, Biden said she saw a path to recovering her faith. Looking back, Biden said it was through Robin Jackson that she heard God telling her, "Okay, kiddo, you've had enough time. It's time to come home."

Two strangers, connected by faith and text messages

On Sunday, Biden and Robin Jackson sat next to each other on the same pew, masks on, reunited as prayer partners in person. Jackson wore a fuchsia suit, Biden a light blue one, and both had matching corsages of big, red flowers on their wrists. It was a homecoming of sorts, since Biden's chief communication with Jackson has been via text message. The two women exchanged words of support every Wednesday in the beginning of their relationship, according to Jackson's son, the Rev. Charles Jackson, Jr., who introduced the first lady at the service.

"Following that Sunday, my mother would text a prayerful reminder of God's favor upon them," he explained. "My mother would text, she would return the text; my mother would text, this text would get a return text. And this would continue on until today."

In an interview with the PBS NewsHour in August 2020, Biden was asked what she and her prayer partner actually do. "We got in touch. We pray together," was the simple answer. "We text one another a couple of times a week. She gave me back my faith," Biden said. Delving deeper on Sunday, Biden quoted scripture saying her renewed belief was possible only because Jackson decided it was time she no longer walked in sadness alone. "We can't heal ourselves alone," Biden said. "Robin's kindness, her mercy and grace, pushed past the callouses on my heart. Like a mustard seed, my faith was able to grow once again."

In January 2020, prior to Jackson's participation as one of 32 speakers from around the country to speak at Joe Biden's Inaugural Prayer Service, she said in an interview that her own faith was bolstered by her experience with Jill Biden and their weekly texts. "Jill would text me back, and I know she was too busy to text me back," Jackson said. "But she would always text me back, and say, 'Thank you, my friend. I needed that.'"

Biden's visit Sunday was kept a surprise for Robin Jackson. (Her husband, the reverend, was told -- but only because it is well known, say his friends, he does not like surprises, especially during his church services.) When Secret Service started to show up earlier in the day on Sunday, and police presence around the church increased ahead of Biden's arrival, Robin Jackson got suspicious. "She was told it was because Whip (Jim) Clyburn was coming," Michael La Rosa, Biden's press secretary, told CNN about how the rouse sustained itself. The South Carolina congressman and third-ranking Democrat in the House has a security detail and has been to the church before. The lie, though told in a house of worship, was a small one and made in good faith, La Rosa said.

When Biden arrived, she slipped into a private room, carrying a large bouquet of flowers made by florists in the White House florist shop, and surprised Robin Jackson.

After Biden spoke to the congregation, Jackson's son took the microphone and shared with a laugh how difficult it was not to tell his mother that Biden was coming to see her. "It took everything in us to keep it from her," he said, saying the visit was "no political ploy," but an "expression of love and friendship."

La Rosa says the first lady and Jackson still "keep in frequent touch," and most of the time it is still via text.

For Biden, the encounter with Jackson was much more than a chance to text a stranger and now newfound friend. The spark that restored her faith, she says, restored something larger, too. "It reminded me of what was at stake," Biden said Sunday. "Not an election, not a partisan battle, but a country in need of healing."

Biden once again attends church regularly. On Saturday, prior to her surprise trip to see her prayer partner, she and the President, who is Catholic, attended Mass at a church in Georgetown, something the couple does nearly every weekend whether in Washington, DC, or back home in Delaware. Closing her remarks the following day, Biden said that when she came back to her faith, and decided to believe in God again, she learned, "We not only find mercy, we find each other."

This story was first published on CNN.com 'Jill Biden surprises the stranger who helped her rediscover her faith in God'
(CNN)  A murder suspect who garnered widespread sympathy from the Chinese public has died after more than a week on the run, triggering an outpouring of sadness and outrage on social media.

Ou Jinzhong, who was accused of killing two neighbors and injuring three others in China's southern Fujian province, killed himself while resisting arrest on Monday, police in the city of Putian said in a statement on Monday evening.

Ou was sent to hospital and died despite emergency rescue efforts, the police statement added.

Over the past week, hundreds of police and other search crew members had been looking for Ou in the hills, where he fled after allegedly attacking his neighbors in a seaside village in Putian on Thursday.

Police and paramilitary forces eventually found him in a cave on Monday afternoon and rounded him up, according to the police statement.

Police said Ou, 55, attacked his neighbors with a knife amid a long-running land dispute, killing a 78-year-old man and his daughter-in-law. The man's wife, 34-year-old grandson and 9-year-old great grandson were also injured.

The manhunt gripped millions in China, many of whom openly hoped he would never be caught. The level of sympathy and support is highly unusual for an alleged killer in China, where murder is punishable by death.

In the absence of initial official information, Chinese media and the public used accounts of fellow villagers, Ou's past social media posts, and previous media reports to piece together an unofficial version of events that could have led to the killings.

Many believed Ou was an ordinary man pushed to the brink of despair over a years-long housing dispute. Public sympathy surged further after reports emerged that he had saved a young boy from drowning at sea three decades ago and rescued two dolphins that were nearly stranded in 2008.

For nearly five years, Ou and his family -- including his 89-year-old mother -- did not have a home, according to Ou's Weibo posts and Chinese media reports. Instead, they lived in a tiny tin shack in a seaside village in Putian city.

According to the posts, Ou was repeatedly prevented from building his own house due to land disputes with his neighbor. He said he sought help time and again from police, village officials, the government and the media, but the problem remained unresolved.

A village official told state-run newspaper the Beijing News that local cadres had tried to mediate, to no avail.

Many blamed Ou's apparent transition from savior to murder suspect on the ills that have long plagued China's local governance, from abuse of power to official inaction. Others see it as a reflection of the broader failure of the country's legal and bureaucratic system, exacerbated by a besieged free press and a crippled civil society.

As the murders gained public attention, Ou's account on microblogging site Weibo vanished, and the local government of Pinghai county issued a bounty for Ou, offering a higher amount of cash rewards for proof of his dead body than any information leading to his arrest -- triggering further public outrage.

And on Monday evening, many were saddened by news of Ou's death.

"He hasn't enjoyed (the protection) of the law his whole life," said a top comment on Weibo. "This is the saddest news I've ever read," said another.

Others were said they were not convinced that Ou took his own life, and called for the police to release videos of the arrest (police in China are often required to record arrests and other law-enforcement activities with body-worn video cameras.)

"He killed himself immediately after he was found?" a comment said. "The public will not be so easily convinced."

This story was first published on CNN.com, "A murder suspect who gained wide public sympathy in China has died after a week on the run"
(CNN)  Former President Donald Trump answered questions under oath for about 4 1/2 hours Monday as part of a lawsuit brought by men alleging they were assaulted by his security during a demonstration outside Trump Tower in 2015, a lawyer for the plaintiffs said.

"We examined Mr. Trump on a variety of issues including statements he has made at various campaign events and rallies that counsel believes encouraged violence at those events or encouraged security guards to engage in violence or the confiscation of property," said Benjamin Dictor, attorney for the men who filed the 2015 lawsuit.

Dictor declined to characterize Trump's testimony or answer whether he believed it to be truthful.

"The President was exactly how you would expect him to be, he answered questions the way you would expect Mr. Trump to answer questions and conducted himself in a manner that you would expect Mr. Trump to conduct himself," Dictor said.

Trump's deposition was several years in the making. A New York judge first ordered Trump's videotaped deposition in 2019 but it was paused while Trump was in the White House.

The case centers around a lawsuit filed in 2015 by a group self-described as "human rights activists of Mexican origin" who were protesting Trump's rhetoric on immigration in front of Trump Tower in September of that year.

The men allege that Trump's then-head of security, Keith Schiller, hit one of the protesters, Efrain Galicia, in the head after Galicia tried to stop Schiller from taking their large cardboard signs, which read, "Trump: Make America Racist Again."

The lawsuit alleges that when Galicia tried to hold onto one of the signs, Schiller ripped it away from him, tearing it to pieces. Lawyers for the plaintiffs wanted to question Trump to discern whether he was responsible for his employees' conduct outside Trump Tower that day.

Dictor called Monday's testimony a victory for the rule of law.

"What I can say about what transpired in this building today is that there was demonstration that our processes, our legal processes still work. The judicial system still works. No one is above the law. Donald John Trump sat in a chair, put his right hand up and he took an oath, he took an oath to tell the truth. And nothing but the truth. And he answered questions for several hours with his counsel present and that is part of what we call due process in this country," Dictor said.

"And maybe some of us forget that that applies to everyone, in the course of the last several years but I think today serves as a demonstration that our institutions are intact and the rule of law is supreme above all else in this country," he added.

In a statement, the former President called the deposition "harassment."

New York state Supreme Court Judge Doris Gonzalez had ordered the deposition.

Earlier this month, the former President was ordered by another New York judge to answer questions under oath by December 23 in the defamation lawsuit brought by former "The Apprentice" contestant Summer Zervos. Zervos accused Trump of defamation when he denied her allegations of sexual assault. Trump has denied the assault.

This story was first published on CNN.com 'Trump testifies for over 4 hours in deposition about 2015 alleged assault at Trump Tower'
(CNN)  The gang that kidnapped a group of 17 American and Canadian missionaries in Haiti has asked for $1 million each for their release, a top Haitian official told CNN Tuesday.

The 16 American citizens and one Canadian were kidnapped by the powerful "400 Mawozo" gang on Saturday after visiting an orphanage in Croix-des-Bouquets, a northeast suburb of the capital Port-au-Prince, over the weekend.

Their abduction is part of a wave of indiscriminate kidnappings that has become more brazen as the country suffers from political instability, civil unrest, lack of quality healthcare and severe poverty.

Haitian Justice Minister Liszt Quitel told CNN the kidnappers have demanded a total of $17 million for the group's release and that they were being held in a location outside the suburb.

The missionaries are affiliated with the Ohio-based Christian Aid Ministries, which says the abducted group is made up of five men, seven women and five children.

The five children abducted include an 8-month-old baby and children ages 3, 6, 13 and 15 years old, Christian Aid Ministries said in a Tuesday statement. The ages of the adults range from 18 to 48, they said.

Quitel said that both Haitian police negotiators and the FBI are advising the missionary group on how to proceed and that negotiations are ongoing. FBI agents are on the ground in Haiti assisting with the investigation but are not leading the negotiations, nor have they spoken directly with the kidnappers, he said.

"The FBI is part of a coordinated US government effort to get the Americans involved to safety. Due to operational considerations, no further information is available at this time," an FBI spokesperson told CNN.

The hostages are being held somewhere outside of Croix-des-Bouquets, the Port-au-Prince suburb controlled by the gang, Quitel said.

"The gang has locations where they usually keep their hostages so that they can feel the hostages are safe. They feel comfortable keeping them there," Quitel told CNN.

"The kidnappers have been warned about harming the hostages and what may be the consequences for them [if that were to happen]. But they are not swayed by those warnings," said Quitel, adding that the kidnappers are sticking to their demands.

A source in Haiti's security forces said that for the moment all hostages are safe. The source added the gang members in contact with authorities appear calm and not nervous.

The ransom demands for the missionaries were first reported by the Wall Street Journal.

The missionaries were traveling in a sprinter-type van when they left the orphanage on Saturday, according to a person familiar with the matter. The driver of the vehicle was an American who was a part of the group, the person said.

Dan Hooley, a former field director for Christian Aid Ministries in Haiti, told CNN Sunday that all of the kidnapped people are believed to have been in one vehicle, and that some were able to contact the organization's local director before they were taken.

"A couple of fellows right away messaged the director and told him what was going on. And one of them was able to drop a pin, and that's the last thing (the organization) heard until the kidnappers contacted them later in the day," Hooley said.

The group had in recent weeks been involved in a rebuilding project for those who lost their homes in August earthquake, according to the Christian Aid Ministries statement.

Before the kidnapping, their work across the country included supporting thousands of school children, distributing Bibles and Christian literature, as well as supplying medicine to clinics, teaching Haitian pastors and providing food for the elderly and vulnerable, the statement said.

"This group of workers has been committed to minister throughout poverty-stricken Haiti," it said.

Among the kidnapped are members of a family from the congregation of Dunkard Brethren Church in Hart, Michigan, according to the church's minister, Ron Marks.

The family had arrived in Haiti earlier this month and were expected to stay for a few more months, Marks told CNN. He declined to name the family.

'Gangs have taken over'

Much of the rise in kidnappings in Haiti is due to the 400 Mawozo, according to the Center for Analysis and Research for Human Rights (CARDH), a Port-au-Prince-based nonprofit.

Gang members engage in near daily confrontations with Haitian police and tax local businesses.

The 400 Mawozo has been growing in strength for the past three years, numbering up to 150 members, and has essentially taken control of Croix des Bouquets, the source in Haiti's security forces told CNN on Sunday.

Kidnapping for ransom is a hallmark activity of the gang. They have abducted dozens of people this year alone, including foreign nationals, the source said.

Once notorious for car theft, the 400 Mawozo has pioneered "collective" kidnappings of large groups of victims from buses and cars, according to CARDH.

The majority of the gang's victims are Haitian citizens and kidnappings have surged in Haiti this year -- with a nearly 300% increase since July, CARDH said.

At least 628 kidnappings have taken place since January, including of 29 foreigners, according to data released by the center. The 400 Mawozo has typically demanded ransoms of around $20,000, it said.

Hooley said the members of the missionary group would have been aware of the risks they were taking.

"These are very dedicated people, people that have risked their lives, they knew the dangers that they were in, or at least were aware of what could happen, I'm sure," he said.

In a 2020 blog post, a Christian Aid Ministries missionary in Haiti described the risks they faced working there. The missionary wrote how the organization's home base in Titanyen, a village north of Port-au-Prince, had been threatened by a local gang.

"With all the political uncertainty in Haiti, gangs have taken over. Gangs fighting each other breaks the calm nights with rapid gun fire," they wrote.

The blog post does not state which gang was responsible, nor is it clear who authored the post. But the blog founders are a pair of missionaries who had been in Haiti for a number of years.

In the post, the author writes that the missionary eventually began "working with the gang trying to resolve the ugly situation."

"After much dialogue, they agreed to lay down their gang mentality and try to find a way to help out the community, instead of terrorizing it. Soon they agreed to work on rebuilding a road that goes through town," the author wrote.

This story was first published on CNN.com, "Haiti gang wants $17M ransom for kidnapped American and Canadian missionaries."
Hi-Lo Equipment Inc. owner Tom Blocker has stories for days when it comes to the past 70 years of his family's business in Eastern Nebraska.

Tom  who is quick to tell a joke while reciting such tales  said he has loved getting to know the community since he started working permanently with Hi-Lo over 50 years ago. The company, located at 3804 23rd St. Ste. 1 in Columbus, dates back three generations ever since Tom's grandfather, Clinton Townsend, purchased the business around 70 years ago.

Tom has worked on just about every kind of machinery or part -- whether it's fixing hydraulic cylinders, motors, pumps, valves, hoses, tractors, trucks and multiple other parts. Essentially, Tom has probably directly, or indirectly, helped almost every Columbus resident since the last 1960s.

However, fixing these various parts over the years has taken a toll, Tom said, adding he's planning to retire and close the business. The Blocker family recently announced the companys last day is on Nov. 5.

This is kind of a bittersweet thing for me, Tom said. I dont know if Im ready to retire. Nancy (his wife) is ready for me to retire.

Nancy echoed Toms sediments, saying his retirement is bittersweet. She commended her husband for all the tireless hours he put into the job.

Hes put all of the blood, sweat and a leg into it. He lost a leg too, Nancy said. Its very hard work.

Tom noted hes glad to be done with running the clerical side of the business, saying the office side of work wasnt his favorite.

Im good in the shop. Im good at what I do, he said.

Tom added though his job isnt rocket science, its a line of work not many people want to do.

Its hot, its heavy, its oily, dirty, Tom said.

The beginning

His grandfather on his mother's side, Clinton Townsend, originally bought the company from two men with the last names Hines and Lofshalt, hence the name Hi-Lo. Tom said the name also means "high-quality, low cost."

Eventually, Townsend passed on the company to Tom's father, Jack. And, Tom took over for his dad.

The business originally started in Omaha but moved to Columbus in 1950. According to Townsend's daughter and Tom's mother, Pat, the move was decided on because it made more economical sense if the business relocated. The parts and merchandise such as hay stackers, corncrib milo harvesters and loaders were shipped out of Columbus.

Around this time, Jack moved his family from Minneapolis to Columbus as a way to help his father-in-law with the business. Jack helped Townsend by installing corncribs in Minnesota, Wyoming, Iowa, Arizona and Colorado. Pat said Jack would take their three kids on one of the trips once a year as a way for Pat to jokingly have "a vacation."

Tom recalled as a young child he helped his family with the business but joked he was probably in the way more than anything else. Eventually, as Tom got older, he started getting paid while working at the shop in high school.

After graduating high school, Tom served in the U.S. Army. He bounced around from job to job following his service, unsure of what he wanted to do before returning to Hi-Lo.

It's a decision he's glad he made.

Tom said some of his best moments were when he conversed with his customers.

I like to talk, Tom said. I like to talk to guys and find out whats going on out on the farm and in the industrial sites. I wanted to know how they broke their stuff. So maybe somebody else wont have to break it the same way.

When the machinery broke down, a lot of the time came down to operator error, Tom joked.

Tom added he liked helping fix farmers equipment so they could get back to their operation. But, fixing broken-down produce compacters wasnt his favorite job. He said in the summertime he had to deal with maggots while in the winter he was forced to break the ice off the machines just to work on them.

I never charged enough for those jobs, Tom joked.

He recalled one of the funniest moments came when working on a loader. Jack found a pair of long underwear stuffed inside. The loaders owner told Jack that they believed the long underwear would stop the leak, Tom said, which got a laugh out of him and Nancy.

Ill never forget it, he said.

During his time with Hi-Lo, Tom joked he knows a lot about what not to do and if he could sell that information he would be a rich man. But Nancy added he also succeeded on several projects.

I just like fixing things and I hate it when mechanical stuff beats me, it really gets to me, Tom said.

But one thing that Tom is thankful for is the community support over the last seven decades.

We had some really great customers, Tom said.  I want to thank the community and the support that theyve given us and the patronage. They were loyal. And we tried. We would fail every once in a while  thats what everybody does.

Andrew Kiser is a reporter for The Columbus Telegram. Reach him via email at andrew.kiser@lee.net.

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The Platte County Lifestyle Coalition and area churches hope to see participants achieve better physical, spiritual and community health through the Walk to Bethlehem program.

Walk to Bethlehem is a free program in which participants log miles to account for the 7,500-mile distance between Columbus to Bethlehem, Israel. Depending on the church, there is also a curriculum with the walk that includes prayer, Scripture and meditation, PCLC Coordinator Gene Vis said.

Peace Lutheran Church, St. Lukes United Church of Christ, First United Methodist Church, 1C | The Sanctuary and Federated Church are just a few churches participating in the program. However, more churches still can sign up to join the Walk to Bethlehem.

Additionally, the walk is open to folks who are not affiliated with a church or faith-based organization.

The program started earlier this month and ends Saturday, Nov. 27. Folks may sign up if they are affiliated with any of the aforementioned churches. Those who are not may contact Vis at either 402-562-4686 or edvis@columbushosp.org.

PCLCs goal is to promote healthy lifestyles. PCLC includes two local coalitions from the East-Central District Health Department and Columbus Community Hospital, as well as folks from local businesses, schools, city offices, health care providers and service agencies. Additionally, community members are involved in the group.

For children or those with limited mobility, they can create their mile-equivalent logs. For example, First United Methodist Church has it to where those who may not be physically able to walk, can instead calculate the time they spent in prayer or reading the Bible, said First United Methodist Church coordinator of communications in laity development Lisa Nielsen.

Walk to Bethlehem is similar to the PCLCs Walk to Jerusalem program, which is usually held in the spring. Both walks are done leading up to the holidays, Easter and Christmas, respectively, Vis said.

Its about encouraging healthy lifestyles, Vis said of the programs.  Its time to do some good activity but its also a good time to reflect on coming up to Easter and Christmas and reflect on that as individuals and groups. Its a good thing to do.

First United joined the Walk to Bethlehem program as the church likes to offer physical activity incentives for its members, Nielsen said. The church has done the Walk to Jerusalem in the past, she added.

We thought it was a great idea and a great way to usher in the advent season, Nielsen said.

Nielsen said she hopes the walk has a two-fold purpose as it offers both a physical and spiritual experience.

Some people have told me if they are consciously walking, trying to take steps, theyre kind of more prayerful and mindful, she said.  We hope one supports the other.

Vis said he believes both walking programs offer more than just improving ones physical fitness.

For me, a couple of the takeaways are that it's healthy for the community and the individual, Vis said. You get a healthy walk in for your body but  as we know  there are so many different things attached to your health today.

Its not just about your body. Its about your spiritual health. Its about your community health (and) what kind of social network you have and what kind of support network that you have in your life. I think for me those are a couple of things the Walk to Jerusalem and Bethlehem are about.

Andrew Kiser is a reporter for The Columbus Telegram. Reach him via email at andrew.kiser@lee.net.

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Safi Raufs cellphone lit up with SOS calls even before Kabul fell to the Taliban.

The 27-year-old, who immigrated to Omaha from a refugee camp in Pakistan in 2010, still had relatives in Afghanistan, as well as many friends he met during four years of work in the war-torn country as a linguist and cultural adviser to American special operations troops.

The calls were frantic. Some expressed fears of being targeted for beatings and executions for helping foreigners. Others worried theyd be evicted from homes for social media posts.

And there were many messages from military veterans who had worked alongside Rauf and were worried about friends they had left behind when their deployments ended.

The only person they could call was me. They knew I had connections, Rauf said.

So in August, the 2012 graduate of Millard South High School put his studies at the University of Nebraska Medical Center on hold.

Instead of studying to become a surgeon, Rauf is now on the front lines of the continuing effort to get imperiled Afghans and Americans out of Afghanistan.

I was born in a refugee camp, lived as a refugee for 17 years. Its my story, he said. Someone helped me along the way and thats why Im here  Im paying back.

On Aug. 23, eight days after watching Kabul fall to the Taliban, Rauf formed a Nebraska corporation, Human First, to aid his efforts, and those of veterans, in evacuating those trapped in Afghanistan.

The creation of the Human First Coalition formalized work he had already started: calls to line up safe houses for those in danger and those expelled from their homes, and arranging a way out either over land or via air. Its an evacuation some have dubbed a digital Dunkirk after the World War II evacuation of more than 300,000 British and French troops trapped at a seaport by invading German forces.

I was (already) into the work, and the work was only increasing, Rauf said. Launching a formal organization, he added, allowed him to better accept donations.

So far, Human First has helped evacuate 6,700 people, including 1,200 American citizens, according to Rauf, who spoke by telephone from London. He said that immediate family and friends have spent $6 million of their own money in facilitating the evacuations. Another $3 million in donations have been received by Human First for additional charter flights out of Afghanistan.

To take off one plane, with 367 people, it costs upwards of $1 million, Rauf said, which includes an expensive insurance policy to fly in and out of the embattled country.

Rauf said that at least 25 other organizations are also working on evacuations. His efforts have taken him to Abu Dhabi, Pakistan and even Kabul in recent weeks. Two of his brothers, Zabih Rauf and Anees Khalil, are also helping.

This is not only about helping the Afghanistan allies who have stood by our side for the past 20 years, but helping those who believe in democracy and freedom, Rauf said.

It also serves to support U.S. veterans, he said. Unlike the exodus after the Vietnam War, veterans can see, via cellphone photographs and videos, what is happening to their friends left in Afghanistan. He has seen some of the horrific images of people being beaten or shot.

None of these veterans can be the same if something happened to the people they worked with in Afghanistan, he said.

Last week, Raufs organization helped arrange the escape of an Afghan man who had served as an interpreter for American forces, including once for then-U.S. Sen. Joe Biden in 2008.

The interpreter, Aman Khalili, had helped rescue a group of American dignitaries, which along with Biden included then-U.S. Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska after their helicopter was forced to land in a blinding snowstorm in a mountainous area crawling with Taliban.

Khalili helped guide rescuers to their mountaintop location, Hagel said, as fighter jets kept the enemy at bay.

Rauf, who works with a network of about 100 relatives and friends still in Afghanistan, was able to arrange a 50-hour overland trip, past 12 Taliban checkpoints, for Khalili and his family, who had been in hiding from the Taliban. The group was finally able to hike across the border into Pakistan on Oct. 5.

They dont have the kind of ground support that I have, Rauf said, referring to other groups that had tried and failed to evacuate the family.

U.S. Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, R-Neb., who has worked with Raufs group, praised its heroic work in a news release last week.

Organizations like Human First are, in a certain sense, replacing government efforts, Fortenberry said. But they need the support of the United States government and charitable organizations to finish this work so we can save more lives.

Rauf said that the congressman has helped clear passage for evacuees to neighboring countries, and put Human First in touch with U.S. State Department officials. The State Department, he said, recently began working with Human First on evacuation flights.

Rauf was granted permission to immigrate to the U.S. in 2010, 16 years after his first family member, his oldest sister, gained her OK, and four years after his parents.

It can take years to clear the proper immigration steps to come to the U.S., and many of those trapped in Afghanistan are awaiting their approvals, he said. Now, his 10 brothers and sisters and his parents are all based in the Omaha area.

After graduating from Millard South in 2012, Rauf got a job with the U.S. State Department, working in Afghanistan for four years. After that, he earned a pre-med degree from Georgetown University, and was deployed briefly during the COVID-19 outbreak as a Navy reservist in New York City.

He was scheduled to begin medical school at UNMC this fall, but now figures that may have to wait, perhaps two years. Rauf said that one conservative estimate is that 16,000 Afghans are still waiting to get out, with 3,500 people waiting in safe houses organized by Human First. So, he and his team have a lot of work to do.

It is a lot of personal risk to them. But they are moving thousands, Rauf said.

For more information, access the website: humanfirstcoalition.org.

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Nur-Sultan, the capital of Kazakhstan. Source: AdobeStock/rm

Bitcoin (BTC) and altcoin miners fleeing Chinas crypto crackdown to neighboring Kazakhstan have been hit with a fresh setback  with signs the nations grid may be struggling to deal with an increase in demand.

As the cold winter months approach, warning bells have begun to ring, with the Ministry of Energy announcing that disruptions had been experienced at three of the countrys biggest power plants.

Per Plus World, the ministry has responded by creating a draft law that would limit the total capacity of [crypto] mining installations operating in Kazakhstan to a maximum of 100 MW.

The news will hit industrial miners hardest of all: if adopted, the draft bill would also cap production at individual centers, with facilities told they can consume no more than 1 MW of electricity.

A special rate for crypto miners would also be introduced: Miners would be told to pay an additional USD 0.0024 per kilowatt of energy consumed.

Crypto mining is a major business and growth area in Kazakhstan, which per University of Cambridge figures from August 2021 now accounts for 18.1% of the global average monthly bitcoin hashrate.

However, it appears that the growth of domestic mining businesses and an influx of Chinese miners may have already stretched the grid to the breaking point.

Elsewhere in the CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) region, crypto mining has caused chaotic scenes, with mining-related power outages leading to months of social unrest in the de facto state of Abkhazia. Russian regions have also been complaining of power-related issues of late, with miners blamed again.

In a press release, Kazakhstans energy ministry wrote that large power units with a capacity of 500 MW at its Ekibastuz GRES-1 and Ekibastuz GRES-2 plants had failed, with boiler problems in the EEC JSC plant causing a decrease in power generation.

The press release made no direct mention of crypto mining, but the timing of the draft law appears to indicate that there is a correlation between the two.

The ministry said central and regional power grid companies had already moved to limit the consumption of electricity by consumers who use excess power, with restrictions introduced according to programs agreed with the local executive bodies.

Such emergency shutdowns, the ministry noted, could lead to unacceptable deviations in power at the border with the Russian power system, threatening to overload interstate power transmission lines, threatening a systemic accident.

It was important, the ministry concluded, to prevent accidents and minimize the consequences of a decrease in generation in the power network.

Plus World noted that grey mining was expanding, with many miners looking to use electricity intended to power homes as energy for their mining endeavors, causing shortages of electricity at certain times.

Alan Dordzhiev, the head of the Association of Blockchain and Data Centers of Kazakhstan, was quoted as stating that any form of limitation is not very good news, but adding that he understood the reasons for the governments actions.

He said:

We have definitely become a crypto power in terms of mining, but the question is now different  how should we regulate the industry so that only clean miners remain, and how can we stop the grey ones?

Dordzhiev remarked that only building new nuclear power plants would provide a carbon-free solution.

____

Learn more:

- Miners on the Move: Chinas Crypto Mining Losses May Be Kazakhstans Gain

- Canaan Diversifies Business by Becoming a Bitcoin Miner In Kazakhstan



- Bitcoin & Crypto Mining Costs Might Increase in Russia As Regions Complain

- US Becomes Largest Bitcoin Mining Hub After China's Miner Exodus

- Nordic Bitcoin Miners Face Double Challenge, But Industry Still 'Quite Optimistic'

- Bitcoin Miners Secure More Nuclear Deals Amid Climate Concerns



- Dominated by Institutions, Bitcoin Mining is also Possible from Home

- How Bitcoin Mining Might Help Nations With Domestic Energy Production
PHILADELPHIA  A man charged with raping a woman on a commuter train just outside of Philadelphia harassed her for more than 40 minutes while multiple people held up their phones to seemingly record the assault without intervening, authorities said.

More than two dozen train stops passed as the man harassed, groped and eventually raped the woman, the police chief for the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority said at a news conference Monday.

Police do not believe a single witness on the train dialed 911. They are investigating whether some bystanders filmed the assault.

Both the man and woman got on the train at the same stop Wednesday night in North Philadelphia. Officers pulled the man off of the woman at the last stop. They responded within about three minutes of a 911 call from a transportation authority employee, authorities said.

What we want is everyone to be angry and disgusted and to be resolute about making the system safer, SEPTA Police Chief Thomas J. Nestel III said at the news conference.

Arrest records show Fiston Ngoy, 35, was charged with rape and related offenses.

The affidavit of arrest for Ngoy detailed times of the assault, including that during those 40 minutes the woman appears to repeatedly push Ngoy away.

Nestel would not give an approximate number of witnesses and it was unclear from the affidavit how many passengers were present for those 40 minutes. Authorities have not released the surveillance video.

I can tell you that people were holding their phone up in the direction of this woman being attacked, he said.

Elizabeth Jeglic, a psychology professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, researches sexual violence prevention. She said if people feel uncomfortable physically intervening, there are other options like calling the police.

When we have multiple people, people dont necessarily intervene, she said. However, more recent research actually suggests that looking at video footage of more extreme circumstances that up to 90% of cases we do see people intervening. So it was actually somewhat of an aberration in this case that somebody did not step forward to help this individual.

Superintendent Timothy Bernhardt, of the Upper Darby Police Department, has said surveillance footage showed other riders were on the train and someone should have done something. Messages for Bernhardt were left Monday.

The New York Times reported that Bernhardt said that people who recorded the attack and failed to intervene could possibly be charged, but that would be up to the Delaware County District Attorneys Office to determine.

There were no calls made to 911 in Philadelphia. Nestel said police were still waiting for Delaware County 911, which covers the last two train stops, to determine if it received any calls.

Investigators said in the affidavit that Ngoy sat down next to the woman about a minute after he boarded the train car, shortly after 9:15 p.m. The video shows her pushing him away multiple times until he is seen ripping her pants down at about 9:52 p.m.

Bernhardt said officers arrived at the 69th Street terminal on the Market-Frankford Line, the busiest route on SEPTA, around 10 p.m.

A SEPTA employee who was in the vicinity as the train went past called police to report that something wasnt right with a woman aboard the train, Bernhardt said.

SEPTA police waiting at the next stop found the woman and arrested Ngoy, who they had pulled off of the woman. She was taken to a hospital.

According to the court documents, the woman told police that Ngoy ignored her pleas to go away.

Ngoy claimed in his statement to police that he knew the victim, but couldnt remember her name and said the encounter was consensual.

Ngoy, who listed his last address as a homeless shelter, remained in custody on $180,000 bail. His initial court appearance is scheduled for Oct. 25. Court records show he had not requested a public defender as of Monday.

SEPTA issued a statement calling it a horrendous criminal act and urged anyone witnessing such a thing to report it to authorities by calling 911, pressing an emergency button on every train car or using the authorities emergency safety app.

There were other people on the train who witnessed this horrific act, and it may have been stopped sooner if a rider called 911, the authority said.
HARRISBURG  President Joe Biden will travel to Scranton on Wednesday, the White House said, as the Democrat works to rally support in Congress for a social services and climate change package that had been a 10-year, $3.5 trillion proposal.

Biden's visit to his birthplace comes just a week after first lady Jill Biden visited nearby Allentown.

Biden said Friday he would prefer to cut the duration of programs in the package rather than eliminate some entirely, as Democrats aim to win support from moderate lawmakers by trimming the cost.

The fate of the legislation, branded Build Back Better by Biden, is also holding up a more than $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill that passed the Senate this summer.

House progressives are balking at supporting that roads-and-bridges bill until agreement is reached on a path forward for the social services and climate change package.

Democrats on Capitol Hill are working to reduce its cost to about $2 trillion in spending over 10 years, to be paid for with higher taxes on corporations and the wealthy.

The proposal includes everything from free child care and community college to dental, vision and hearing aid benefits for seniors and a number of provisions meant to combat climate change.

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Construction has begun at the historic Dills Tavern in Dillsburg on a working distillery that will use historically accurate equipment and 18th century recipes and techniques to make spirits.

The Northern York County Historical and Preservation Society hosted a groundbreaking ceremony Saturday to launch its Eichelberger Distillery Project. The goal is to complete the construction by spring 2023 and to raise $500,000 in donations by that time.

The vision of a historically accurate distillery was first conceived over 15 years ago, said Doug Riley, society president. Today, we are one significant step closer to making that vision a reality.

When completed, the project will portray a thriving Pennsylvania farm distillery where visitors can see, smell, taste and learn about early whiskey in America. Using programs, history focused events and hands-on demonstrations that engage the senses, the historical society will tell the story of those who made whiskey.

This year marks both the 279th birthday of Dills Tavern and the 20th anniversary of the societys acquisition of the original Dill and Eichelberger homestead, Riley said. A press release issued Saturday detailed the local history connected to the project.

The tavern was operated by three generations of Dill family from about 1742 until the sale of the property to the Eichelberger family about 1800. During that time, family members served food and whiskey to travelers heading to the frontier.

The Eichelberger family grew the farm distillery into a commercial operation that supplied whiskey to local and regional customers. The operation included the manufacture of wagons to transport spirits to such distant markets as Baltimore.

For more information on the project and how to donate, visit https://northernyorkhistorical.org/eichelberger-distillery/.

Email Joseph Cress at jcress@cumberlink.com.

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COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP)  A new Ohio law prohibiting the execution of people who had severe mental illness at the time of their crime has begun seeing its first implementations.

Republican Gov. Mike DeWine in January signed the bill into law covering killers diagnosed with schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder or delusional disorder when they committed their offenses.

Earlier this year, judges removed inmates in Butler and Franklin counties from death row after their attorneys successfully argued they met the mental illness criteria under the law.

And earlier this month, the law was invoked in a state Supreme Court decision upholding the death sentence of a man who killed four relatives in 2017, including an 8-year-old boy.

WHAT ARE THE LAWS ORIGINS?

Whether mentally ill people should be eligible for death sentences has long been debated. Ohio law already required weighing whether a death sentence was appropriate if an offender, because of a mental disease or defect, lacked substantial capacity to appreciate the criminality of the offenders conduct, at the time of the crime. That requirement was not a precursor to an automatic execution ban.

State law also allows for a not guilty by reason of insanity plea, though that is rarely invoked and difficult to prove.

Then, in 2014, an Ohio Supreme Court task force on the death penalty released a report with 56 recommendations for changing capital punishment in Ohio. Recommendation No. 8 outlined a ban on executions if offenders had specific mental illnesses at the time they committed their crimes.

The new standard was backed by former GOP state Supreme Court Justice Evelyn Lundberg Stratton, a longtime proponent for taking mental illness into consideration in the criminal justice system.

The evolving standards of decency which prohibit the execution of juveniles and those with intellectual disabilities should prohibit execution of those with serious mental illness, Lundberg Stratton testified before the Legislature in May 2019.

HOW HAS THE LAW BEEN USED TO DATE?

In June, a Franklin County judge threw out the death sentence imposed on David Braden, sentenced to die for the 1999 Columbus killings of his girlfriend, 44-year-old Denise Roberts, and her father, 83-year-old Ralph Heimlich. Braden's lawyers successfully argued he had paranoid schizophrenia with delusions.

The Death Penalty Information Center, a national clearinghouse on capital punishment that opposes the death penalty, says Braden was the first inmate nationally removed from death row by such a law. Ohio is the only active death penalty state with this law.

Tennessee considered but did not pass such legislation in 2020. Connecticut had a similar law on its books before abolishing the death penalty in 2015. The Virginia Senate considered a similar measure before the state also abolished its death penalty this year.

In a second Ohio case last month, a Butler County judge vacated the death sentence for Donald Ketterer, sentenced to die for the 2003 killing of 85-year-old Lawrence Sanders, his former boss. The judge said the evidence showed that Ketterer had bipolar disorder the day of the killing.

Then on Oct. 7, the state Supreme Court ruled 5-2 to uphold the death sentence for Arron Lawson for a 2017 quadruple slaying. Justice Sharon Kennedy, writing for the majority said his brutal killing of the four people, including an 8-year-old child, justified the death sentence and outweighed evidence presented on his behalf including a variety of mental health diagnoses. A three-judge panel sentenced Lawson to death in 2019.

At different times, Lawson, 27, was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, depression, and PTSD, and did not receive adequate treatment for those conditions, records show. As a result, Justice Michael Donnelly reluctantly concurred with upholding Lawson's death sentence. But he noted that Lawson has the ability to appeal under the new mental illness law.

A message was left with Lawson's attorney seeking comment.

WILL OTHER DEATH ROW INMATES INVOKE THE NEW LAW?

The legislation that took effect in April provides a one-year window for current death row inmates to file to have their death sentences revoked because of the serious mental illness clause. Inmates who successfully appeal their sentences are removed from death row but still face life in prison without parole.

Opponents of the law, including the Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys Association, argued that every death row inmate would file an appeal, further clogging up the courts.

It also creates more uncertainty for the families of victims of Ohio's most heinous crimes and allows the offender yet another opportunity to cause victims' families more pain, Vic Vigluicci, Portage County Prosecutor, testified in October 2019.

But Tim Young, the state public defender, said mass filings are unlikely. He noted in September 2019 testimony that only 9% of Ohio death row inmates pursued a claim when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2002 that executing people with mental disabilities was unconstitutional. and only 4%  eight people  were successful.

Meanwhile, the future of executions in Ohio is uncertain. DeWine said last year that because of Ohios difficulty in finding drugs for executions, lethal injection is no longer an option, and lawmakers must choose a different method of capital punishment before any inmates can be put to death.

Pending bipartisan House and Senate bills would eliminate the death penalty and replace it with life without the possibility of parole.

The states last execution was July 18, 2018, when Ohio put to death Robert Van Hook for killing David Self in Cincinnati in 1985.



This story was first published on October 19, 2021. It was updated on October 21, 2021, to clarify that Ohio law already required weighing whether a death sentence was appropriate if an offender, because of a mental disease or defect, lacked substantial capacity to appreciate the criminality of the offenders conduct, at the time of the crime. That requirement was not a precursor to an automatic execution ban.

Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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In the abortion debates, the polarized discussion often focuses on death. Which is a shame, as foster care and adoption are important, even crucial, parts of the pro-life platform.

In "No Way to Treat a Child: How the Foster Care System, Family Courts, and Racial Activists Are Wrecking Young Lives," Journalist Naomi Schaefer Riley highlights leaders "in a foster-care revolution happening across the country, even in some places you might not expect" using a "combination of evidence-based practical help and spiritual support."

As one example, Riley takes readers to Journey Christian Church in Greeley, Colorado, where 100 or so people are attending a foster-parent training run by Project 1.27, which was launched by a pastor and now run by a foster and adoptive mother. The name comes from James 1:27, about looking after orphans and widows in their distress -- a verse that has lit a fire under many large evangelical churches in the last decade to strategically mobilize their communities in service of this cause. At that particular training, around each table sat eight or 10 chairs, and around them were a foster couple -- in one case a single woman -- and at least four other adults who constituted their practical and spiritual support system. "Some have brought their parents and adult siblings; others have come with their grown children, or co-workers, fellow church members, and neighbors," Riley writes.

Those volunteering as foster parents through Project 1.27 complete 20 hours of training. Jason and Michelle Watts have fostered eight children, adopting one at age 12, about a decade ago. Their adopted son had behavioral issues, as is often the case, because of his "nightmarish upbringing with his biological parents, which included being starved." He's had run-ins with the law, but they are hopeful and are ready to open their home again. They find the faith-based training invaluable, even though they've been state-trained in the past and have fostering experience.

Project 1.27 and groups like it that are part of the More than Enough movement associated with the Christian Alliance for Orphans, which both motivates and equips families to welcome children with often severe trauma into their homes. The goal of More than Enough is to get at least one family in 10% of churches in the United States involved in foster care.

As Riley points out, foster parenting is difficult: About half of foster parents quit during their first year because they do not get the kind of training and support groups like Project 1.27 provide.

Charity Hotton of Utah Youth Village explains how confusing foster children can be as "they love you one minute and then they hate you the next." These faith-based approaches seek to avoid "disrupted adoption" -- where after months or years with a family, a child is sent back to foster care.

When they were previously fostering, the Watts family had a neighbor who would greet their biological daughters but shun their adopted son. And the church they attended was not welcoming toward foster children, treating foster parents as the child-welfare system tends to: as babysitters, not parents. In their current church, of about 100 families, at least six are fostering. "It may seem like a small number," Riley writes, "but when everyone knows someone engaged in this work, it can change the whole community."

In "No Way to Treat a Child," Riley issues a challenge that should motivate the rest of us. "Plenty of problems likely will not be solved in our lifetimes: poverty, racism, international conflict. But in the wealthiest, most enterprising, and most generous country on Earth, finding safe, loving, and permanent homes for our most at-risk children should not be among them."

We are getting into a heated season for the abortion debate -- which too often is all about adults and not the child who has a right to not just life but love. Let's work together to find solutions for children, families and communities. We have the resources. It's possible. It's happening. More of it, please.

Kathryn Jean Lopez is senior fellow at the National Review Institute, editor-at-large of National Review magazine and author of the new book "A Year With the Mystics: Visionary Wisdom for Daily Living." She is also chair of Cardinal Dolan's pro-life commission in New York. She can be contacted at klopez@nationalreview.com

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None of the three Albemarle County Board of Supervisors races is contested this year, but that hasnt stopped the candidates from raising money. Jim Andrews, who is seeking to represent the Samuel Miller district, has $21,774.21 on hand after raising the bulk of his money in the spring when he announced his campaign. Campaign finance reports show that most of the money is being spent on consultants, canvassing and campaign costs.

Meanwhile, board chairman Ned Gallaway has $14,809.40 on hand. He hasnt raised any additional money since bringing in $10,150 in the spring. Gallaway represents the Rio District on the Board of Supervisors.

Diantha McKeel, who represents the Jack Jouett district, has raised $18,777.99 this year and has $28,559.05 on hand. Her fundraising has slowed in recent months, and McKeel didnt bring any money during the last reporting period.

Candidates will have to file another campaign finance report by Oct. 25, which will be the last report released before Election Day on Nov. 2. The Oct. 25 report will cover donations and expenses from Oct. 1 to Oct. 21.
Branson said the shortage in federal funds was a common plight of many nonprofits.

Were still relying on funding that sometimes is at the whim of whos in office and thats the case of any organization that relies on federal funds, she said. Sometimes its a matter of it getting all gummed up in the works. It can get lost in the bureaucracy and the passage of different bills. Its not always a matter of someone saying thats not important to us. It just gets caught in the crossfire.

That, she said, is why the organization appreciates the upcoming fundraisers.

Were really trying to focus in terms of fundraisers to diversify that funding stream, she said. When one [source] gets caught up or goes sideways, we want to have other avenues. One of the things thats been a priority for me in the six months Ive been [director] has been to broaden our reach and let folks know who were are, to increase our private philanthropy.

Thats where Ben Miller and Ben Around Tattoos comes in. Miller came to Charlottesville in 2001 to open and manage Capital Tattoo. He formed his own shop in 2006.
Facebook has become the latest company that everyone loves to hate, and internal documents stolen by an employee have become an opening to blame the social-media giant for Americas ills. The company has made mistakes, but its worth sorting the genuine issues from the opportunism of politicians looking to censor opponents.

Both were on display as Frances Haugen, the former employee who leaked the documents, testified on Capitol Hill. One of her legitimate concerns is Facebooks negative influence on the mental health of teenagers. Its no surprise to parents that teens are emotionally fragile and especially vulnerable to peer and celebrity influences.

Ms. Haugens documents show that Facebook understands its impact on teens but has done little about it. According to its internal research, 82% of teens experienced emotional issues in the last month, including poor body image, anxiety and depression. More than half who experience anxiety, family stress and loneliness said they use Instagram to distract from their feelings. One in five U.S. teens said Instagram made them feel worse while 42% said it made them feel better.
The disease has had a significant impact on native populations, as well as feral and domestic rabbits which are also susceptible. Iowa State Wildlife Veterinarian Dr. Rachel Ruden said keeping this virus on Iowans radar is key to minimizing its impact should it show up here.

Eastern cottontails are such common yard visitors, we sometimes forget that they can get sick too and those reports are important, Dr. Ruden said. Infected animals die quickly, sometimes with blood or red-tinged foam visible around the nose, but often with no signs of illness. If you find a dead rabbit, and especially a cluster of dead rabbits, please reach out as early detection is key to stemming a larger outbreak.

While Iowas eastern cottontail population is expected to survive a disease incursion, there is some concern regarding Iowas declining jackrabbit population, which is concentrated in certain parts of the state and so might have difficulty rebounding.
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The family of Elijah McClain has reached a settlement agreement in its federal lawsuit with the city of Aurora. McClain died in August 2019 after Aurora police physically confronted him, putting him in a chokehold and paramedics sedated him with ketamine. McClain, 23, was walking home from buying iced tea at a nearby convenience store. He never recovered and died on Aug. 30, 2019, in the hospital when his family took him off of life support.

Attorneys for McClain's mother, Sheneen McClain, and his father, LaWayne Moseley, wouldn't divulge the amount of the settlement, but they say it's up to the courts to divide the money between his parents.

Moseley's attorney Mari Newman told the Denver Gazette in a statement, "Nothing will bring back his son Elijah, who he loved dearly, but he is hopeful that this settlement with Aurora, and the criminal charges against the officers and medics who killed Elijah, will allow his family and the community to begin to heal."

In a statement, Ryan Luby, deputy director of communications for the City of Aurora, confirmed the settlement, adding, "City leaders are prepared to sign the agreement as soon as the family members complete a separate but related allocation process to which the city is not a party. Until those issues are resolved and the agreement is in its final form, the parties cannot disclose the settlement terms. No amount was discussed in the recent telephonic court hearing.

In August, two years after McClain's death, a grand jury called by Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser returned a 32-count indictment against officers and paramedics involved in McClain's death with charges including manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide.
Continuing a neutral host theme that has been prevalent in infrastructure news in recent months, infrastructure operator Phoenix Tower International (PTI) has signed an exclusivity agreement with Outremer Telecom, a service provider serving Martinique, Guadeloupe and French Guiana, to own and operate tower sites across French West Indies.

The exclusivity agreement entered into by the two companies involves the acquisition by PTI of 203 wireless towers, together with newly constructed wireless towers over 10 years across the French West Indies through a build-to-suit programme.

The transaction, says PTI, could expand and solidify its leadership position as the largest tower infrastructure provider in the market with over 437 towers and grow its footprint across Europe and the Caribbean.

It is expected that PTI and Outremer Telecom will establish a long-term partnership whereby Outremer Telecom would occupy the sites for at least 20 years.

The increased presence of PTI, a neutral host independent tower company, in the region would facilitate increased coverage expansion for all wireless operators and ultimately enhanced connectivity for the population of French West Indies, stated Dagan Kasavana, Chief Executive Officer of Phoenix Tower International.

Phoenix, through its subsidiaries, owns and operates over 14,000 towers, 986 km of fibre and over 80,000 other wireless infrastructure and related sites throughout Europe, the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean.

Outremer Telecom provides integrated fixed telephony, mobile telephony, and internet access services for residential and business customers in Martinique, Guadeloupe and French Guiana.

The Altice group acquired Outremer Telecom in 2013. Following the acquisition of SFR by Altice, Outremer Telecom now operates under the SFR brand.
Aaron Jiang, President of Huawei's SRAN Product Line, launched the GreenSite and PowerStar2.0 solutions to help operators build green, low-carbon 5G networks in Dubai.

According to a press release, the GreenSite solution integrates innovative architecture, site construction, and algorithms with leading-edge software and hardware, improving energy efficiency by 20 times.

The PowerStar2.0 solution introduces new intelligent energy-saving features to base stations and networks to reduce energy consumption by over 25% through multi-dimensional coordination under typical configurations.

According to the release, Huawei's MetaAAU uses ultra-massive antenna arrays to significantly increase antenna gains. Compared with traditional AAU modules, it reduces power consumption by about 30% while providing the same DL coverage.

Huawei ultra-wideband RRU uses ultra-wideband power amplifiers, hardware units, and advanced algorithms to integrate multiple single-band devices into a single box with an ultra-compact form factor. This enables more bands to be supported with the same level of power consumption.

Meanwhile, the air conditioning in equipment rooms constitutes 3040% of a site's total energy consumption. Huawei offers a new outdoor cabinet APM5950 to help operators simplify site construction. It allows operators to deploy sites outdoors without using equipment rooms and air conditioners (AC), increasing E2E energy efficiency from 60% to 90% while saving 30% of site energy consumption. It also uses solar power and high-cycle lithium batteries to replace diesel generators, further reducing carbon emissions.

Based on a hardware design that favors maximized energy saving, PowerStar2.0 supports shutdown in milliseconds based on service load, helping extend energy-saving periods from off-peak hours to the entire day, it said. It further adapts deep shutdown to the estimated speeds required for network services to improve energy-saving precision. This helps further prolong energy-saving periods while also meeting user experience requirements.

In PowerStar2.0, power control is further used as the fourth dimension of energy-saving beyond the symbol, channel, and carrier levels. The enhancement enables RF modules to transmit less power by increasing scheduling resources, helping ensure user experience, and taking network energy saving to new heights, said the release.
Mobile Telecommunications Company Zain Group, which has presence in eight countries across the Middle East, announced the establishment of ZainTech, a new regional entity that unifies the group's ICT assets to offer comprehensive digital services for enterprise customers in the Middle East.

ZainTech will also incorporate NXN and Zain Data Park (ZDP) providing premium customer experience, local presence and support to enterprises and government clients across the region.

The launch of ZainTech, a first among Middle East operators, was made during a ceremony held at GITEX 2021 in Dubai that was attended by Zain Group Chief Technology Officer, Nawaf Algharabally; Zain Saudi Arabia Chief Business and Wholesale Officer, Saad Al Sadhan; and the newly appointed ZainTech CEO, Andrew Hanna and other distinguished business and telecom figures from across the region.

ZainTech will operate and leverage Zains global reach, unique footprint and infrastructure across its operations as well as other key markets in the Middle East. It will offer a single point of contact for sales and personalized customer care for multi-national corporations that have multiple presence across the region.

Moreover, the new entity will address a wide array of business needs ranging from solutions for cloud, cybersecurity, and associated managed and professional services. It will also provide standard and customized digital solutions addressing the unique needs of different verticals leveraging the latest innovations in IoT, Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, and emerging technologies.

Bader Al-Kharafi, Zain Vice-Chairman & Group CEO, said: ZainTech is a major step in Zains 4Sight strategy, signifying a vital development in our determination to transform Zain into a multi-core digital business. The new entity, a first among telecom operators in the Middle East unifies the Groups ICT assets to offer comprehensive digital solutions and transformation services under one roof, also incorporating NXN and ZDP, both specialized ICT establishments in their respective fields.
Statement by Amb. Byrne Nason, UNSC Open Debate-the Middle East, including the Palestinian Question

Statement

Thank you very much Mr. President, and its a privilege to see you in the chair, back amongst us today, and as always a sincere thanks to Tor for his comprehensive briefing this morning. I would like to welcome Ambassadors Mansour and Erdan with us today.

I want to say a very special thanks to Hanan Ashrawi, who has for so long been such an eloquent and powerful voice for the Palestinian people, and I wanted to recognise in particular your work in recent years, working as a strong advocate for a younger generation of Palestinian women and men, its much appreciated.

And thank you Daniel, for what was really a very valuable contribution, but also very thought provoking. It was really good to hear from you today and for your long standing contributions to Israeli-Palestinian discussions.

Mr. President,

We are deeply concerned about the briefing we had from Tor this morning and what we know about the rise in violence across the West Bank, particularly the increase in settler violence and use of live fire by Israeli Forces.

We call on Israel to hold those responsible accountable, to end the culture of impunity around such incidents of violence and to ensure that any response by security forces is proportional and in compliance with international law. Ireland condemns all acts of violence, including rocket attacks from Gaza, which fuel tensions and put civilian lives at risk.

Once again, I repeat Irelands call on Israel to halt all illegal settlement activity, including in East Jerusalem and in the E-1 area, as well as demolitions, evictions and seizures of Palestinian-owned structures. Israel should provide permits for legal construction and development of Palestinian communities.

Ireland remains firmly committed to a negotiated two State solution, which provides a viable basis for a resolution of the Israel-Palestine conflict. We condemn all acts that threaten to erode this prospect.

We call for the status quo at the holy sites in Jerusalem to be upheld in both word and practice, recognising the special role of Jordan.

Mr. President,

Last month, during Irelands Security Council Presidency, two young women addressed this same debate: Ms. Mai Farsakh underscored the terrible impact of illegal settlements on Palestinian women and girls, and Ms. Meredith Rothbart illustrated for us clearly the essential role, and the constructive role, of civil society in local peacebuilding. Clearly, we saw through them, the occupation has a disproportionate impact on women and girls. Ireland commends civil society in the occupied Palestinian territory, and in Israel, for their efforts to develop an approach of community-based womens empowerment.

Through those young women last month, we saw that they have the capacity to shape a more hopeful future for their societies.

We believe it is imperative that this Council, the parties to the conflict and the international community listen to their voices.

We strongly condemn recent targeting of Palestinian activists and civil society organisations. Ireland calls on all duty bearers - Israeli and Palestinians alike - to protect and uphold the rights of civil society and human rights defenders.

Mr. President,

Ireland commends the vital work of UNRWA, which is of critical importance to millions of Palestine refugees in the occupied territory, and across the region. Ireland once again appeals to donors, including our Gulf partners, to enhance support for UNRWA.

Mr President,

Despite some recent welcome steps, we remain deeply concerned about access into Gaza and obstacles to reconstruction efforts, five months after the end of the conflict.

As noted in the Rapid Damage and Needs Assessment, there are significant mental health consequences faced by Gazans from prolonged exposure to violence, loss of family and loved ones, and the frustrations of lack of control from worsening poverty, unemployment, and insecurity in the Gaza Strip. We renew our call on Israel to end the blockade of Gaza.

Mr. President,

We welcome the announcement by the Palestinian Electoral Commission that municipal elections will be held in December. Ireland reiterates its belief that legislative Palestinian elections across all of the occupied territory, with the full participation of women, are necessary to give a democratic voice to all Palestinians, to help progress toward intra-Palestinian reconciliation and renewal of the legitimacy of national institutions.

Finally Mr. President,

Ireland reiterates our call on the Middle East Quartet to enhance their efforts to work towards the resumption of a political process. We welcome ministerial-level contacts between the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority, which have taken place in recent weeks.

As we approach the 30th anniversary of the Madrid Conference, it is imperative that this Council, partners in the region, and the wider international community remain engaged in working for a solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

There can be no doubt that we need to rekindle the hope that took hold in Madrid. We need to work to build confidence to enable a political path for an end to the occupation that began in 1967, so that Palestinian rights, as well as those of Israelis, can be guaranteed.

Ireland stands ready, both through this Council and nationally, to assist in whatever way we can.

Thank you Mr. President.

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Statement by Ambassador Byrne Nason at Arria Meeting on Sea-level Rise

Statement

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, for bringing us together today for this important discussion.

I would also like to thank Mr. Khiari, Ms. Masson-Delmotte, and Ms. Pasisi for their excellent, though I have to say, very stark briefings today.

As we have just heard, the recent IPCC report demonstrates what the future holds if we do not act. Climate change is an issue that we believe the entire multilateral system should be addressing, working within their mandates, to mitigate and adapt to this crisis. If anything is clear from what we have heard today, this crisis is certainly not going away.

Deepening the Councils understanding of the links between climate change and international peace and security is a priority for Ireland. The Open Debate on this topic, which other speakers have referred to, was held last month during Irelands Presidency of the Council and illustrated broad acknowledgement that climate change is exacerbating conflict and insecurity globally. It is clear also that climate change is having a severe impact on women and girls.

We see it as essential that the Security Council utilises the tools it has at its disposal in delivering on its core mandate to address this issue. While to date the Council has rightly focussed on specific country and regional situations, todays timely debate highlights the current and future threats due to sea-level rise.

680 million people live in low-lying coastal areas, in more than 70 states. Those statistics speak for themselves. And we have just heard that the numbers are growing.

People will be directly affected by sea-level rise, with many more impacted through the displacement of people, through food insecurity, and through the lack of access to basic resources.

As with so many of the critical issues we discuss here at the UN, the impact of sea-level rise will be disproportionately be felt by people in low-lying areas and developing countries, particularly small island developing states (SIDS).

As an island state, Ireland is very aware of the urgency of the issue of sea-level rise. We have worked with our SIDS partners to build resilience and to amplify their voice in important multilateral fora. We recognise the need to address the specific vulnerabilities of SIDS. This was achieved in the 2030 Agenda, and a further important step will be to ensure that the international financial institutions too are able to take account of this vulnerability.

Legal aspects of the impact of sea-level rise are also crucial in our view. Further study of this area in relation to international law is timely in light of the various and unprecedented environmental challenges, particularly facing low-lying states and small island states.

Ireland certainly welcomes that this topic is currently on the agenda of the International Law Commission. We look forward to engaging on issues related to law of the sea, related to statehood, and to issues related to the protection of persons affected by sea-level rise.

The ILCs work will play a significant role in helping to identify gaps in the legal framework as we respond to the challenges which sea-level rise brings. The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea will be clearly a key consideration in any response.

To conclude Mr. Chairman, Ireland wishes again to stress again the importance of the Security Council recognizing its responsibility, and addressing how climate change is affecting its ability to deliver on its own mandate. This is why our Taoiseach on 23 September announced our intention to lead discussions on a thematic resolution of the Security Council on climate and security.

Action now to deepen our understanding of how climate change is impacting on insecurity and conflict is essential if we are to be able to begin to respond effectively.

Thank you Mr. Chairman.

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NEW YORK  A new rocket designed to launch humans to the moon, Mars and beyond will launch next year from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. On board, will be a familiar fuzzy figure  Snoopy.
BERLIN (AP)  Germany's network regulator said Tuesday that it has suspended its procedure to certify the operator of a new pipeline that would bring Russian gas to the country under the Baltic Sea because of an issue with the company's status under German law.
McDonald and Senior Planner Yvette Thomas explained the issue with planning board members as they reviewed drafts of the two options.

I understand the internet market has created this new approach to housing and thats fine, but it puts us in a position where we have to respond to these things and have a real firm way to deal with this, McDonald said.

The first option, which the planning department recommends, would prohibit non-owner-occupied rentals where a room or dwelling is rented out for 30 days or less in residential districts, but would allow them in multi-family and business districts. On the other hand, the second option would allow non-owner-occupied short-term rentals within residential districts, but only with special exception approval from the citys seven-member Board of Zoning Adjustment (BZA).

With either option, short-term rental unit owners would have to apply for a business license to continue to rent out their properties and adhere to certain guidelines and regulations including the requirement to provide proof of a commercial general liability insurance policy for non-owner-occupied residences and a limit of four non-related persons per household.
With the COVID-19 pandemic persisting well into its second year, the City of Dothan wants to purchase portable isolation facilities with leftover federal pandemic relief funds.

City commissioners agreed to submit an application to the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs for a Community Development Block Grant, funded by leftover CARES Act money recaptured by the state, to buy two 20-bed isolation facilities to use in COVID-19 response and recovery during their Tuesday meeting.

The city is asking for $476,784 for the project, which will provide other opportunities to care for the community beyond the COVID-19 health crisis.

Sean Gibson, training and EMS chief at the Dothan Fire Department, said the facilities are made of tent material and can be deployed by a trained person in 10 minutes. Each facility comes equipped with negative pressure rooms, which significantly reduces the transmission of contagions, air conditioners, oxygen  everything a healthcare worker needs to take care of a patient except for specialized equipment.

Its literally an on-site hospital; just having this resource really broadens our capabilities, Gibson said. Of course, were thinking beyond COVID.
Im excited for whats to come because it gives me more opportunities to give back to the community, and I do have Wallace on my list because this institution was so good to me, Vickers said. Its a blessing to come back home to share my story. I hope I have inspired you to start your own business and to put your community at the front and center of your business.
The 250-room Biltmore Estate outside Ashville, N.C., welcomes tens of thousands of visitors every year, but the estate, created by the Vanderbilt family, was once a household of obscene wealth tucked away on a large tract of land in the mountainous North Carolina countryside. In other words, a perfect place to hide.

When World War II broke out, the Vanderbilt family agreed to allow the National Gallery of Art to stash priceless art holdings in one of the mansions well-appointed rooms, where they remained safely until after the wars end.

It was a wise move, as nations all over the globe have lost untold riches in the aftermath of war. In the Hermitage museum in St. Petersburg, Russia, a docent in the halls filled with some of the worlds greatest paintings is likely to admit that much of the work in the galleries had been liberated through the years.

The Acropolis Museum in Athens keeps an empty space dedicated to the missing Elgin Marbles, which have been a source of contention for more than 200 years. The missing portions are on display in the British Museum, despite the Greeks demanding their return time and again.
Cambodia's exports to Vietnam nearly quadrupled to $3.7 billion in the first nine months of this year, according to statistics from the General Department of Vietnam Customs.

Cambodia increased its exports of vegetables and fruits by 61 percent, cashew by 595 percent, soybeans by 549 percent, and rubber by 391 percent.

Exports of wood products, fabric, scrap, and other goods grew by 5-300 percent.

Trade between Cambodia and Vietnam increased by 90.9 percent year-on-year in the first nine months of this year to US$7.2 billion.

According to the Cambodian Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, the country exported agricultural products to 90 countries and territories though Vietnam (64.11 percent), Thailand (21.49 percent) and China (9.69 percent) accounted for most of it with all others accounting for only 4.71 percent.
Following the recent People's Liberation Army Air Force operations in the skies over Taiwan, the United States called on the Peoples Republic of China to cease its military, diplomatic and economic pressure and coercion against Taiwan. State Department Spokesperson Ned Price said in a written statement, The United States is very concerned by the [PRCs] provocative military activity near Taiwan, which is destabilizing, risks miscalculations, and undermines regional peace and stability.

Starting on October 1 and coinciding with the PRCs National Day, the Peoples Liberation Army flew an unprecedented number of sorties into Taiwans Air Defense Identification Zone. The PLA aircraft included fighter jets and bombers, and the flights occurred both day and night.

In response, Taiwan scrambled fighters to monitor the PRC planes, issued radio warnings to the population, and deployed air defense missile systems.

Over the past year, the PRC steadily increased its incursions into Taiwans Air Defense Identification Zone, but the recent air operation by the PRC was unparalleled in its scope. It was also accompanied by threatening rhetoric in Beijings state-controlled media against the democratically ruled island. The Global Times boasted, The initiative of when and how to solve the Taiwan question is firmly in the hands of the Chinese mainland. The Global Times editor tweeted, It is only a matter of time before Taiwans separatist authorities fall.

In his statement, Spokesperson Price said the United States has an abiding interest in peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait. We will continue to assist Taiwan in maintaining a sufficient self-defense capability, and we will maintain our commitments as outlined in the Taiwan Relations Act, the three Joint Communiques, and the Six Assurances.
Cocaine is a popular but illicit and dangerous recreational drug. It is highly addictive and destructive to the user, and immensely profitable to the criminal organizations that manufacture, transport and sell it.

Cocaine is produced from coca leaves in regions of South America where coca has been used by the native populations for centuries. Almost 70 percent of cocaine produced globally comes from Colombia. Much of the coca crop there is grown in remote parts of the country where the government has less influence, and poverty is endemic.

In late September, U.S. government officials and Colombian officials discussed modernizing and refocusing counternarcotics efforts in Colombia. The U.S. and Colombian delegations agreed to a broad framework for a new bilateral, holistic counternarcotics strategy. The discussion on a new framework focused on three pillars: integrated reduction in cocaine supply, comprehensive rural security and development, and environmental protection. The approach is to focus on Colombias countryside, the hard-to-reach regions where government power is weak and criminal organizations dominate.

With assistance from the United States, the Government of Colombia will promote stability in rural areas, establish effective and sustainable national government presence and services, accelerate comprehensive rural development, beef up citizen security, guarantee the protection of human rights, and strengthen rule of law. At the same time, the Colombian government will work to break down drug trafficking supply chains, sustain coca eradication, disrupt the production of cocaine by interrupting the import of chemicals used to produce cocaine, and increase interceptions of drug shipments.

To reduce money laundering and strengthen asset forfeiture, the two sides also agreed to focus on reducing illicit cash transactions, while concentrating on the arrest, prosecutions, and extraditions of key traffickers and their enablers, and strengthening Colombias judicial system.

The Colombian government will continue to eradicate coca crops and seek to sustain these gains and prevent farmers from replanting. To help farmers transition from growing coca, the Colombian government will increase investments in coca-growing regions, including by the creation of new, legal opportunities and improving roads and productive infrastructure to contribute to rural development. The main goal of the new strategy is to transform rural areas, emphasizing a culture of lawfulness, above-board economies and advancement of rural Colombias transition to peace.

Colombia and the United States recognize that complex problems, such as drug trafficking, are a shared responsibility that require long-term solutions and a comprehensive, sustained political response.
ELKO  An Elko man who has been arrested more than half a dozen times this year was booked Friday on felony charges over the theft of an ATM machine at Southside Laundry in August.

William J. Grow, 33, was booked at Elko County Jail on a warrant for grand larceny, conspiracy to commit a non-felony crime, destroying the property of another, and burglary of a business.

An unsworn declaration from an Elko Police Department detective found probable cause that Grow and David L. Dearing entered the laundry on Aug. 7 and removed an ATM belonging to Nevada Bank & Trust that was bolted to the floor.

The machine was worth about $2,500 but it also contained $4,460 in cash at the time of the theft.

Laundry owner John Ellison told police that about $2,500 worth of damage was done to his building during the machines removal.

Grow waived his preliminary hearing on the charges Tuesday and remained in jail.

Dearing was charged on the same Oct. 12 criminal complaint as Grow. He was arrested Thursday on unrelated stolen-vehicle charges.

Elko County Jail records list multiple arrests for Grow, including one in September in which he is accused of attempting to dissuade a victim from reporting a crime.

In that case, police were called in July to a Lyon Avenue residence where two people had been stabbed and the suspect, Grow, was at large. One mans forearm had been lacerated and another man was stabbed in the chest with a kitchen knife.

The interior of the house was immaculate and organized, except for the bloodstains everywhere, stated the police report.

Police listened to voice mails that Grow left for one of the victims, including one in which he claimed self-defense and said I am going to have some people come talk to you.

He was booked Aug. 10 on two counts of battery with a deadly weapon, home invasion with a deadly weapon, and grand larceny of a gun. Bail was listed at $170,000.

Grow was also arrested Aug. 9 on charges of assault and second-offense domestic battery following a five-hour standoff with the Elko SWAT team at a South 12th Street residence.

Police found a woman in the residence with bruising and swelling on the side of her face. She said Grow battered her and when he was confronted by two witnesses, he threatened to stab all three of them.

Grow was also arrested July 1 on charges of destroying the property of another, harassment and disturbing the peace.

He was arrested three times in June; once for battery and attempted possession of a controlled substance, once for driving without a drivers license, and once for driving with a revoked drivers license, making a false statement to obstruct a public officer, failure to give information to party at vehicle accident, careless driving, and driving without a drivers license.

He was also arrested in April for skipping bail on a charges of driver disobeying peace officer and driving without a drivers license in January.

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In the first three quarters of 2021 there have been more than 600 reported kidnappings, compared to 231 over the same period in 2020 in Haiti. The latest is a group of US and Canadian missionaries, sponsored by the Ohio-based Christian Aid Ministries.

These latest kidnappings are a symptom of a society in total free-fall, one which has been subjected to some of the world's worst hardships in the last three decades.

What is the background of the kidnappers?

The group of between 15 and 17 people, including children, were being held by the '400 Mawozo' armed gang that for months has been engaged in theft and kidnappings in the area between Port-au-Prince and the border with the Dominican Republic, officials say.

The '400 Mawozo' gang normally demands a ransom. In April, it demanded $1m (722,000) for the safe return of the Catholic clergy. It is yet unclear if any demands have been made for the return of the missionaries, but a former field director for Christian Aid Ministries in Haiti told CNN that the kidnappers have already made contact with the organization.

Armed gangs control the poorest neighborhoods in Port-au-Prince, leaving citizens and foreigners helpless against exploitation.

What is the current situation in Haiti?

In July the President, Jovenel Moise, was assassinated by currently unknown perpetrators. Rumors have abounded about who could be involved, but so far nothing has been proven. While not the beginning of the crisis, the assassination reflects the great turmoil the country is facing.

From 1991 onwards Haiti has been mired in crisis after crisis. In 30 years there has been a coup d'etat, a US invasion, then another coup against the government, which may have been organized by the US, followed by a devastating earthquake in 2010 have left the country in pieces.

The reinstatement of the democratically elected president in 1994 was contingent on Haiti agreeing to a series of IMF and World Bank deals to 'liberalize' its economy, which means to subject it to extreme foreign influence. Haiti was at the whim of foreign markets and began to import food that it was lacking, due to much of it being sold abroad as tariffs were lowered on trade.

If you look at the [US invasion] now with hindsight, you can say that it was a major failure, it didnt change Haiti, it didnt democratize Haiti. If anything, the situation now is probably more catastrophic than it was in the mid-1990s It was a euphoric moment, which ended in disaster, says Robert Fatton, a Haitian-born historian who is now a professor in political science at the University of Virginia.

The 2010 earthquake saw at least 100,000 people killed and much of the destruction is yet to be cleared. All of this was compounded by another earthquake in 2021 which has left Haiti the poorest nation in the western hemisphere. With such a dire economic outlook for the country, Haitians are willing to put everything on the line for a chance of a payout while their country is crumbling around them.
Ho Chi Minh city is the most dynamic economic city and financial hub of Vietnam.

(Photo: laodong.vn)

The pandemic has indeed dampened the high growth seen in early 2021 and the GDP growth for the first nine months is less than the market forecast at 1.4 percent. Nevertheless, Maetha Peeravud, Assistant Vice President  Fund Management Group, BBL Asset Management, believed Vietnams economy has passed the lowest point, reported VNA.

Looking three to six months ahead, the outlook for the Vietnamese economy is positive, he was quoted by the Bangkok Post as saying.

The COVID-19 vaccination rate is increasing with large cities like Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi already giving the first shot to over 90 percent of their population, Maetha said, adding that the country is expected to achieve herd immunity in the first or second quarter of next year.

Geographically, Vietnam has a strategic location for its high-performing export sector. With the focus on education, free trade agreement, and labour skill enhancements, the global supply chain has paid great attention to Vietnam, including Samsung, the Korean multinational manufacturing conglomerate, which allocates over half of its mobile phone manufacturing capacity to Vietnam.

Illustrative image. (Photo: VNA)

Bloomberg forecasts Vietnam's GDP growth at 7 percent next year, one of the highest in the Southeast Asian region.

Maetha agreed with Bloombergs positive outlook, identifying three major big long-term themes.

First, urbanisation in Vietnam will lead to a demographic dividend, namely the economic growth resulting from a change in the age structure of the population.

Over half of the Vietnamese population is under 35. The number of workers in the industry and service sectors is increasing while that in agriculture is decreasing, suggesting a major shift toward higher income generation.

Secondly, Vietnam is benefiting from industrialisation growth from foreign direct investment (FDI).

Vietnam enjoyed strong support in developing more advanced technology and high-skilled labour training from global technology companies, which would in turn help produce more premium products, he said.

According to Maetha, digitalisation is the third factor contributing to Vietnams growth.

Along with its 5-year plan, the Vietnamese government also targets the digital economy share of GDP to grow from 5 percent in 2019 to 20 percent in 2025, he said.

In addition to economic growth, the Vietnamese equity market is bullish with many catalysts.

Jeff Suteesopon, ASEAN Equity Portfolio Manager and Vice President  Fund Management Group, BBL Asset Management, said the market capitalisation of the three stock exchanges in Vietnam is around 7 trillion baht, compared to Thailands 18 trillion baht, suggesting an opportunity to grow.

Another catalyst is its valuation, Jeff said. Even with the strong rise in 2020 and 2021, the valuations of Vietnam stock are not too high. The Forward P/E ratio in 2022 for the VN Index is only 13, compared to 16 on the Thai SET Index. Moreover, earnings growth is going strong. Forecast EPS growth of the VN Index in 2021, 2022, and 2023 is 25 percent, 18 percent, and 16 percent respectively, he said.

Jeff said the most important was that the Vietnamese government was working on elevating its market from frontier to emerging which will attract more investment to the country.

He emphasised that: The politics in Vietnam is very stable, as is the Vietnamese dong, especially over the past three years, with good export growth and consequently strong foreign reserves.

RoK and UK business associations support consumption of Vietnamese goods abroad

The Vietnam-Korea Business & Investment Association (VKBIA) and the Vietnam Business Association in the UK (VBUK) have signed a comprehensive co-operation agreement for a joint scheme to boost investment, business co-operation, and support for the consumption of local goods abroad, reported VOV.

Delegates join the virtual signing ceremony (Photo:VNA)

The signing ceremony was held virtually on October 18 in order to clearly demonstrate the companionship of overseas Vietnamese entrepreneurs and intellectuals towards the nation, whilst also celebrating the 17th anniversary of Vietnamese Entrepreneurs' Day on October 13.

This therefore represents an opportunity for foreign entrepreneurs and businesses who are co-operating, investing, and doing business in the nation, the Republic of Korea and the UK to exchange their experience and promote business co-operation across a variety of fields.

Tran Hai Linh, member of the Central Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front, and VKBIA shared, It has been 29 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations. In 1992, the relationship between Vietnam and the Republic of Korea has seen strong developments in multiple fields such as politics, national defence, security, economy, science and technology, culture, tourism and, people-to-people exchange.

Regarding economic co-operation, on the basis of the Vietnam-Korea Free Trade Agreement (VKFTA), which took effect in 2015, the two sides need to further expand trade and investment activities, striving to increase trade turnover to US$100 billion, Linh stated.

Along with boosting trade balance through the RoKs increased import of key local products, the nation desires for the RoK to continue encouraging their businesses to invest in the Southeast Asian nation, thereby creating opportunities for Vietnamese enterprises to engage in the global production and supply chain.

According to Hoang Viet Phuong, chairman of the VBUK, bilateral trade between country and the UK has surged by approximately 10 times, from between US$600 million and US$700 million in 2007 to US$6.5 billion at present.

During 15 years of operation, the VBUK has succeeded in connecting the business community in the country with that of the UK, whilst simultaneously supporting many businesses in both the UK and Europe to associate and enter into joint ventures alongside other domestic businesses.

The VBUK Executive Board for the 2021 to 2026 term has set a target of expanding and developing the connection between the local business community in the UK and Vietnamese businesses both at home and abroad. This is being done to promote trade between the Vietnamese business community around the world and develop the community moving forward.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, Kim Seok-pil, vice president of the VKBIA Association and former General Director - CEO of Samsung Group in Europe, said that VKBIA will co-ordinate efforts to ramp up co-operation between Vietnamese and Korean partners, as well as those in other nations.

The two sides will also strive to redouble efforts to boost all-around activites in seeking multilateral co-operation opportunities in Vietnam, the RoK, and the UK. This will be done through connecting networks of overseas businesses and entrepreneurs, agencies, and organisations of numerous countries, whilst increasing the use of partner networks in accessing different markets with specific objectives, he said.

Simon Jeong, vice chairman of the VKBIA Association, expressed his belief that in the near future, VKBIA and VBUK will launch a range of practical activities as a means of supporting Vietnamese businesses and localities. These efforts will help them to boost trade exchanges with agencies and relevant partners of the three nations and other countries.

Short films about Vietnamese beauty screened on YouTube

As many as 60 short films featuring a variety of attractive locations nationwide are being screened on the YouTube channel Vietnamsunday, reported VOV.

A scene of the short film that features the beauty of Ha Giang province

According to Vietnamese producer Chung Lan, the short films have been made by numerous young filmmakers, all of whom are majoring in film and architecture in both Vietnam and abroad. All of them share the same desire to introduce the countrys array of beauty and cultural identity to both local and international friends.

A scene of the short film that features the beauty of Ha Giang province

Lan added that each of the short films lasts between three to 15 minutes long and can be viewed with English subtitles.

Moving forward, the film crew expects to produce approximately 120 other short films by the end of the year.
A U.S. national flag flies at half-staff at the Capitol building commemorating former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell in Washington, D.C., the United States, on Oct. 18, 2021. Colin Powell, a former and the first African-American secretary of state, has died at 84 of COVID-19 complications, his family said Monday. (Photo by Ting Shen/Xinhua)

WASHINGTON, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- Colin Powell, a former and the first African-American secretary of state, has died at 84 of COVID-19 complications, his family said Monday.

Powell's family said in a statement on Facebook that Powell, who also served as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff before his role as the top U.S. diplomat, died Monday morning despite being fully vaccinated.

A professional soldier, Powell became the first African-American national security advisor during the end of Ronald Reagan's presidency and the youngest and first African-American chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under former President George H. W. Bush.

Yet he was best known and most controversial when he served as secretary of state under former President George W. Bush between January 2001 and January 2005, regarding his push for the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 under the excuse that the Middle Eastern country possesses weapons of mass destruction, which was never proven.

In an address to the United Nations (UN) in February 2003, Powell presented what the U.S. intelligence community claimed was proof that Iraq had cheated on inspectors and hidden the WMDs.

"There can be no doubt," Powell said then, "that (then Iraqi President) Saddam Hussein has biological weapons and the capability to rapidly produce more, many more."

The United States launched a war against Iraq six weeks after Powell's speech, and eventually toppled Hussein's government.

Such WMDs, it turned out, were never found in Iraq, and a report published in 2005 by a presidential commission said the intelligence community's assessment that Iraq had WMD capabilities before the U.S. invasion was "dead wrong."

"This was a major intelligence failure," said the Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the United States Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction in the report.

In September 2005, Powell, who had stepped down from the post of secretary of state, confessed in a television interview that his 2003 UN speech was a "blot" on his record that would never go away.

Born in New York City to Jamaican immigrants, Powell is survived by his wife and three children. Enditem

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Editor: Zhang Zhou
-- Jingdezhen's history of ceramic-making dates back over 2,000 years. Its role as an official and royal kiln pushed its porcelain-making techniques to the highest in history.

-- This year's Jingdezhen China International Ceramic Fair, scheduled from Oct. 18 to 22, has attracted more than 800 enterprises.

-- The fair is a platform displaying the latest exhibits in Jingdezhen, east China's Jiangxi Province, which connects all in the industry and serves as a window for tourists to know China's porcelain capital.

by Xinhua writers Ma Yujie, Zhang Xuan, Cheng Di and Gao Haoliang

NANCHANG, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- When Ekrem Yazici took a 16-hour slow train for the first time in 2009 from Shanghai to Jingdezhen, a city he had always wanted to visit, he saw his dream life.

"I arrived at about 4 a.m. and waited for the sun to rise. When the city gradually awoke, a magic scene unfolded in front of me. I saw a passer-by holding a large blue and white pattern vase and another hauling a load of porcelain blanks," recalled the 38-year-old Turkish ceramic artist.

"Porcelain can be seen in every corner of the city, and almost everyone in the street is doing things related to it. If you like ceramics, this is your paradise," he said.

A Turkish exhibitor (L) introduces exhibits to a visitor at the 2021 China Jingdezhen International Ceramic Fair in Jingdezhen, east China's Jiangxi Province, Oct. 18, 2021. (Xinhua/Wan Xiang)

Jingdezhen, a small city in the mountains of east China's Jiangxi Province, is best known as China's porcelain capital. On the world stage, it is another word for China's quality ceramics.

Jingdezhen's history of ceramic-making dates back over 2,000 years. Its role as an official and royal kiln pushed its porcelain-making techniques to the highest in history. Now it boasts over 8,300 ceramic enterprises and more than 9,800 self-employed ceramic practitioners. About one-tenth of its population is engaged in related businesses.

Yazici's first encounter with Jingdezhen was at the Topkapi Palace Museum in Istanbul, where the Chinese characters of Jingdezhen were engraved on a piece of blue and white porcelain, the most representative pattern of Chinese ceramics known to overseas art collectors.

A university student majoring in ceramic art in Turkey back then, Yazici made a bold decision after graduation -- to come to China. "There were 10 students in my class and nine of them went to the European countries. I had already learned so much about Western ceramics, but I barely knew how the art was in its cradleland and wanted to fill in the blanks," he noted.

Yazici immediately moved to Jingdezhen after finishing a language course in Shanghai.

Yazici combines Turkish patterns with Chinese blue and white porcelain. "About 70 percent of my artworks are orphan works. I often post my works on WeChat and those who are interested will come to purchase," he said.

Incomplete statistics show that Jingdezhen now hosts more than 5,000 foreign artists like Yazici. Every October, thousands of practitioners in the ceramic industry attend the annual Jingdezhen China International Ceramic Fair to seek cooperation and inspiration.

This year's edition, scheduled from Oct. 18 to 22, has attracted more than 800 enterprises.

Visitors view exhibits from Germany at the 2021 China Jingdezhen International Ceramic Fair in Jingdezhen, east China's Jiangxi Province, Oct. 18, 2021. (Xinhua/Wan Xiang)

"The ceramic fair is a platform displaying the latest exhibits in Jingdezhen. It connects all the people in the industry and is a good window for tourists to know Jingdezhen," said Yazici.

French artist Camille Kami moved between the Netherlands, Britain and Switzerland before settling down in Jingdezhen in 2015. "How can there be such a city where an industry has been going wholeheartedly for a thousand years?" She fell in love with the city instantly.

"It used to be difficult for me to stay in one place for two years, but Jingdezhen is totally different," she said. "I've been here a couple of times before settling down and every time I leave, it was like something powerful attracted me to come back."

Born in a small city in southern France, Kami now speaks fluent Chinese and runs two workshops in Jingdezhen. She sometimes draws inspirations from China's fairy tales, but spices up with a French-style imagination.

Visitors view exhibits from Japan at the 2021 China Jingdezhen International Ceramic Fair in Jingdezhen, east China's Jiangxi Province, Oct. 18, 2021. (Xinhua/Wan Xiang)

Japanese artist Ayao Takayanagi and her Chinese husband Wen Minxiong are obsessed with ancient Chinese porcelain craftsmanship Tenmoku.

Originated from the Southern Song dynasty some 900 years ago, Tenmoku uses iron black glaze and white ash glaze in making the porcelain, allowing the black pattern to appear on the surface after firing.

Takayanagi was deeply attracted when she saw a piece of Tenmoku in a museum in Japan. "You can see the interplay of light and shadow on the cup," recalled Takayanagi.

In 2013, the couple moved to Jingdezhen, which they deem "the best place for pottery."

"Constantly innovating while maintaining deeply rooted in life, in my perspective, is where the ceramic industry is heading," Wen said, adding that Jingdezhen is a place where ideas collide and inspiration never ebbs.

"Jingdezhen offers opportunities for all international artists to learn about Chinese culture, exchange on an international level and benefit from each other's cultural experiences," echoed British artist Guy Thompson.

Most foreign potters in Jingdezhen rely on the internet to sell their artwork. Livestreaming in recent years has also become a burgeoning industry in the city.

The Taoxichuan ceramic art avenue alone is home to over 2,600 livestreaming workshops on popular Chinese video-sharing app Douyin, with sales exceeding 2 billion yuan (about 311 million U.S. dollars) as of September this year.

Japanese artist Ayao Takayanagi works in Jingdezhen, east China's Jiangxi Province, Oct. 10, 2021. (Xinhua/Cheng Di)

At the ongoing ceramic fair, an online flagship store of Jingdezhen porcelain was also launched on Taobao, China's major e-commerce platform to help boost sales and expand the market.

"The store brings together famous Jingdezhen ceramics brands, which will surely become the first choice for purchasing authentic Jingdezhen ceramics," said Hu Xuemei, mayor of Jingdezhen.

"Being settled in one place and having my work going all over the world, I have felt the magic combination of the thousand-year-old history and the modern age of internet here," said Kami.

To ceramic artists, the glory of the ancient porcelain capital never fades. "There's no other city that validates porcelain in such a way. So I plan to stay here," said Ryan Labar, an American artist.

"Jingdezhen is very inclusive. Whether you are an artist, designer, businessperson or tourist, if you want to make porcelain, as long as you have an idea, the city can help you make it," said Yazici.

Editor: Zhang Zhou
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang meets with German Chancellor Angela Merkel via video link in Beijing, capital of China, Oct. 18, 2021. (Xinhua/Liu Bin)

BEIJING, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel via video link on Monday, vowing that China stands ready to work with Germany to tackle global challenges.

Li spoke highly of Merkel's vigorous efforts to promote Germany and Europe's practical cooperation and friendly relations with China, and said both China and Germany are committed to expanding their common interests on the basis of equality and mutual benefit.

Noting that China-Germany cooperation has taken the lead in China-EU cooperation, Li said the stability and growth of bilateral relations are mainly due to the fact that both sides adhere to equal treatment and focus on practical cooperation, adhere to mutual respect and properly handle differences, adhere to multilateralism and work together to tackle challenges.

The healthy and stable development of bilateral relations benefits not only the two countries, but also the world, he added.

Li said that China will, as always, attach great importance to developing relations with Germany and hopes that the new German government will inherit the positive and practical China policy, consolidate the keynote of cooperation in China-Germany relations, give full play to the inter-governmental consultations and strengthen the existing cooperation.

Li said China is willing to work with all parties, including Germany, to jointly address climate change and strengthen anti-pandemic cooperation.

Underlining that China's door will only open wider, Li voiced the hope that both sides will maintain two-way opening, jointly safeguard the rule-based multilateral trading system, and maintain the stability of the global industrial and supply chains.

Li invited Merkel to visit China after her resignation and hoped she would continue to support the development of China's relations with Germany and the EU.

Merkel said that, over the past decade or so, Germany and China have maintained close exchanges, deepened mutual understanding and expanded cooperation in various fields.

Commending China's vigorous development, she said that Germany stands ready to work with China to continue enhancing practical cooperation and expanding people-to-people exchanges, and hoped that German enterprises would have equal access to China's market.

Merkel said she believed the new German government would continue to attach great importance to relations with China and hoped that the two sides would take the opportunity of celebrating the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries in 2022 to promote the further development of the all-round strategic partnership between the two sides. Enditem

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Editor: Zhang Zhou
NJSC Naftogaz Ukrainy, which owns a controlling stake in the country's largest oil company, Ukrnafta, intends to use the capabilities of the national company to increase oil production, Yuriy Vitrenko, the head of the company board, has said.

"We want to significantly increase oil production as well," he said at the VI Kyiv conference of Newfolk Oil and Gas Consulting Center "Drilling. Intensification. Ecology and Labor Protection."

Vitrenko noted that work on the transformation of Ukrnafta continues.

"We want to use the capabilities of the national company in order to use the oil potential or oil production potential in Ukraine more efficiently," Vitrenko stressed.

The former head of the Naftogaz board, Andriy Kobolev, who was dismissed at the end of April this year, advocated the division of Ukrnafta's assets into business areas with minority shareholders.

At the same time, Vitrenko, after joining the management of Naftogaz, announced the need to further study this issue and proposed to consider the merger of Ukrnafta and Ukrtatnafta (Kremenchuk oil refinery) with the subsequent receipt of a controlling stake in the new vertically integrated company by the state. In this regard, the new head of Naftogaz admitted a refusal to divide the assets of PJSC Ukrnafta between the state and minority shareholders.

NJSC Naftogaz Ukrainy owns a 50% plus one share in Ukrnafta, while a group of companies associated with Ihor Kolomoisky and other former shareholders of PrivatBank hold about 42% of the shares.

NJSC Naftogaz Ukrainy owns 43.05% of Ukrtatnafta shares, another 28% are controlled by the structures of the ex-owners of PrivatBank and businessman Oleksandr Yaroslavsky.
The Verkhovna Rada passed at the final reading bill No. 5850 on the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU), which is necessary to close obligations to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The bill was supported by 255 MPs at a session on Tuesday.

As indicated in an explanatory memorandum, bill No. 5850 proposes to remove the requirement for a candidate for the position of a member of the NBU Council to reside permanently on the territory of Ukraine, as well as the requirement for a candidate for the position of NBU governor to have no criminal record.

In addition, the bill proposes to regulate the issue of the regulator's inspections of banks in relation to cash circulation, in particular in connection with the recent change in approaches to bank inspections, taking into account the SREP methodology. It is proposed to grant the NBU the right to conduct inspections in the following areas: the organization of cash work, the collection of funds and the transportation of currency values, the organization of the protection of premises and ensuring the safety of valuables.
More than 40 ships, including the Russian Black Sea Fleet's flagship, the Moskva cruiser, took part in large-scale maneuvers, which were held in Crimea.

The Black Sea Fleet's press service said that during a large-scale exercise with forces from the Southern Military District at the Opuk training range in Crimea, the troops worked out anti-sabotage defense of a section of the Crimean coast, as well as the fight against naval assault groups and shipborne assault forces.

In total, about 8,000 servicemen were involved in the command and staff exercises with the formations and formations of the Southern Military District, about 350 units of weapons and military equipment from the combined arms armies, air force and air defense formations, formations and units of the combat arms and special forces of district subordination, forces.

In addition, aviation exercises with practical missile launches and bombing were held in Crimea, over 30 aircraft were involved.

In April, the main stage of the exercise of the troops of the Southern Military District and the Airborne Forces of Russia took place in Crimea. In those maneuvers, according to the Ministry of Defense, more than 10,000 servicemen, some 1,200 units of weapons and military equipment, more than 40 warships and 20 ships were involved.

Then the United States and European countries expressed concern about the strengthening of the military grouping in Crimea and the movement of Russian troops near the border with Ukraine.
The Foreign Ministers of the European Union countries discussed the Eastern Partnership on Monday and set priorities in cooperation with the countries participating in this program, Leader of European diplomacy Josep Borrell said.

"We agreed today to work on they called the 'fundamentals.' And the fundamentals are: democracy, human rights, rule of law, anti-corruption. These are the cornerstone: democracy, human rights, rule of law, anti-corruption," Borrell said following a meeting at the level of EU foreign ministers.

He said the meeting participants discussed the preparations for the November EU-Eastern Partnership meeting at the level of foreign ministers, as well as the summit in December. As previously reported, their goal is to further bring the Eastern Partnership countries closer to the EU, both economically and politically.

Borrell said the ministers reiterated "the difficult geopolitical context: the situation in Ukraine," as well as "the ongoing energy crisis in Moldova and the continuous repression in Belarus," which, as Borrell said, suspended its participation in the Eastern Partnership.
The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has supported the appointment of first deputy head of the Servant of the People faction Oleksandr Korniyenko to the post of First Deputy Chairman of parliament.

The relevant decision was supported by 256 MPs at the Tuesday plenary session.

The appointment of Korniyenko, in particular, was supported by 222 MPs of the Servant of the People faction, some 13 and 17 MPs from the For the Future and Dovira factions, respectively, as well as four non-factional deputies. Only two MP from the Opposition Platform - For Life faction voted against and one MP each of the European Solidarity and Batkivschyna factions. Most of these MPs, as well as representatives of the Holos faction, abstained.

As a correspondent of Interfax-Ukraine said, before this vote, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Ruslan Stefanchuk put the candidacy of Korniyenko and MP of the European Solidarity faction Sofia Fedyna to the rating vote. In the course of the rating vote, some 248 MPs voted for Korniyenko, and Fedyna was supported by 73 ones, mainly MPs of the European Solidarity and Batkivschyna factions, as well as three MPs from Servant of the People. Then Stefanchuk proposed to vote for Korniyenko's candidacy for the post of first deputy chairman.

The Verkhovna Rada also relieved Korniyenko of his duties as a member of the Committee on the Organization of State Power.
Some countries of the European Union may temporarily restrict entry for citizens of Ukraine due to the increase in the incidence of coronavirus (COVID-19) and the exclusion of our country from the so-called "green zone," but at the moment such a decision has not yet been made, Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Oleh Nikolenko has said.

"The European Union has not yet made a formal decision. However, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine has previously reported that in the event of an increase in the incidence of COVID-19 in Ukraine, the EU may adopt a recommendation to exclude our state from the list of countries whose citizens can make non-essential trips to the European Union. Brussels reviews the list of countries every two weeks and adjusts it depending on the development of the epidemic situation," he said on Facebook.

The Foreign Ministry spokesperson said the epidemic situation is worsening not only in Ukraine and in recent weeks the EU has already significantly reduced the list of countries in the "green zone," and some EU countries have already started to strengthen quarantine measures for their citizens.

"It is important to understand that [...] if a decision is made, the EU does not automatically establish new rules for crossing the border, but only provides recommendations to the EU member states. [...] Up-to-date information on the conditions of entry of Ukrainian citizens to each individual country of the EU and other countries of the world is available on the interactive map of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine: https://tripadvisor.mfa.gov.ua. It is updated in real time," Nikolenko said.

He said that one should not expect a complete closure of borders, as last year, and vaccination in the future will remain one of the key conditions for unhindered entry into most countries.

The Foreign Ministry spokesperson also said that if the EU decides to exclude Ukraine from the green zone, it does not cancel the visa-free travel, but only introduces temporary restrictions on tourist trips to counter the spread of COVID-19 infection. "The decision can also be later revised at the next update of the list in case the epidemic situation improves," the representative of the foreign ministry said.

According to Nikolenko, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine and the embassies are actively working with foreign partners so that even in the difficult conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic, the circle of countries open to travel for Ukrainian citizens remains as wide as possible and further expands.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky believes that in the near future the anti-corruption agencies of Ukraine will resume their work in full, as well as accelerate the implementation of judicial reform and restart the Constitutional Court.

"There are challenges, certain inhibitions, but today, with some changes in the leadership of the Verkhovna Rada, we will speed up the voting at second reading of the law on the National Anti-Corruption Bureau," the presidential press service said, citing Zelensky as interviewing ICTV as part of the Svoboda Slova (Freedom of Speech) television program.

In particular, according to the president, steps will be taken in the near future towards the full implementation of the anti-corruption reform.

The head of state also said the implementation of judicial reform has been inhibited in Ukraine for many years, but there are already significant shifts in this direction. In particular, the Verkhovna Rada has already adopted laws on the High Qualification Commission of Judges and the High Council of Justice.

According to Zelensky, the reform of the judicial system of Ukraine received positive feedback from the leadership of the institutions of the European Union.

However, according to the president, there is some resistance to reform within the judiciary. Thus, the Supreme Court appealed to the Constitutional Court of Ukraine regarding the constitutionality of the provisions of the law on the procedure for the election and appointment of HCJ members. However, Zelensky believes that now the Constitutional Court will not block judicial reform.

According to him, the Constitutional Court itself will be rebooted soon.

"There will be a restart of the Constitutional Court as soon as its composition is completely renewed. We expected representatives from the Verkhovna Rada. This did not happen. In the coming weeks this will surely happen, and then the law on the Constitutional Court will be voted on. Now the process is underway," Zelensky said.

The president said that, in addition to the law on the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine and the law on reforming the State Security Service of Ukraine, there were delays in the adoption of other important bills through certain "influential people".

"I am sure that now we will speed up this process," Zelensky said.
Russia starts war in Donbas, hinders peaceful settlement of conflict  US Secretary of Defense

The culprit of the armed conflict in Donbas is Russia, which has started to show aggression, U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has said.

At a joint briefing with Ukrainian Defense Minister Andriy Taran on Tuesday in Kyiv, Austin said frankly speaking Russia started this war, and Russia is the stone that prevents a peaceful settlement. They began to violate the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine.

He said the United States will continue to provide Ukraine with the necessary support in the conflict with Russia.

According to him, the United States will do everything possible to support Ukraine, develop its ability to defend its territorial integrity and inviolability.
U.S. and Ukrainian Defense Ministers Lloyd Austin and Andriy Taran discussed strengthening partnerships in the Black Sea region to counter Russia's actions.

At a briefing following talks with Taran in Kyiv on Tuesday, Austin said the United States provides assistance in all regions on a regular basis and this is its commitment to its partners. Ukraine can expect the United States to continue its support. This region is very important to the United States, and it will continue the support to its partners to ensure security in this region.

At the same time, he said there are no changes in the positions and capabilities of the United States.

Austin said that today the United States discussed strengthening its partnership in the Black Sea region with its partners to counter Russia's destabilizing actions. the United States supported Ukraine together with Georgia, Romania, Bulgaria. The United States understands the importance of partnership and alliance between allies and partners in order to contain Russian aggression, he said.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin called on Russia to stop the war in Donbas, end destabilization in the Black Sea and along the Ukrainian borders, and stop cyber attacks on the United States and its allies.

At a briefing following talks with Ukrainian Defense Minister Andriy Taran in Kyiv on Tuesday, Austin said that President Joe Biden, during the visit of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to Washington, said that the U.S. support for Ukrainian sovereignty is unshakable. The United States condemns the occupation of Crimea and call on Russia to stop the war in the east of Ukraine, stop the destabilization of actions in the Black Sea and along the borders of Ukraine and stop cyberattacks against the United States, its allies and partners.

The U.S. Secretary of Defense said that since 2014, the United States has allocated over $2.5 billion for the Armed Forces of Ukraine to ensure the country's territorial integrity and protect its territorial waters.
Employees of the Territorial Administration of the State Bureau of Investigation in Mykolaiv have exposed the supply of diesel fuel to Ukraine from the Russian Federation at reduced prices by structures close to Ukrainian parliamentarian (Opposition Platform  For Life faction) Viktor Medvedchuk.

"According to operational information, in early October, a foreign ship flying the Panama flag arrived at one of the terminals of Mykolaiv seaport. A few days later, the same terminal received another foreign ship under the flag of one of the EU countries. According to the documents, the ships were delivered to the address of a Ukrainian limited liability company, which is associated with the MP, with oil products weighing more than 30,000 tonnes each," the press service of the SBI said.

It was found out that the price declared by the suppliers was almost half the market price. This allowed the dealers to minimize the payment of mandatory customs payments in the amount of millions of hryvnias.

In addition, the preliminary investigation established that the vessels had entered the ports of the Russian Federation over the past year, and the goods were of Russian origin.

Within the framework of criminal proceedings under Part 2 of Article 364 (abuse of power or official position) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, employees of the SBI with the involvement of specialists from the regional chamber of commerce and industry and the State Customs Service conducted a re-examination of the detained ships and the goods declared for customs clearance. Also, fuel samples were selected, which were sent for examination in order to confirm the declared quality and code of the Ukrainian classification of goods of foreign economic activity.

According to the results of the examination, the investigators of the SBI will take appropriate procedural measures.

Also, during the investigation, the possible involvement and the issue of bringing officials to justice is being verified.
The United States intends to support defense reform in Ukraine until it reaches the criteria for NATO membership, U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has said.

Austin said at a briefing after the talks with Ukrainian Defense Minister Andriy Taran in Kyiv on Tuesday that following the NATO summit in June 2014, NATO allies pledged support for Ukraine in its intentions to become a full member of NATO. The United States remains unwavering in support of Ukraine's defense reform, which will help achieve the criteria for full NATO membership.

He said that during the visit, he had effective negotiations with Taran on a framework agreement signed in Washington in August 2021. "This agreement provides us with a strategic framework for a defense partnership, and we are going to strengthen our strategic partnership," the head of the Ukrainian defense department said.

Austin said the United States has a duty to help Ukraine, and U.S. President Joe Biden has noted that on several occasions.

Austin also said that he likes Ukraine, the people of Ukraine, and the United States has a responsibility to help them. President Biden has emphasized this on several occasions  about the U.S. commitment to support Ukraine, its territorial integrity and integrity. He said that he is here to reiterate the U.S. serious intentions.
The Verkhovna Rada has backed bill No. 5459-1 on bringing the status of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine in line with the requirements of the Constitution.

Some 304 MPs backed at the second reading the bill at a plenary session on Tuesday.

The bill changes the status of NABU and makes it a central executive body with a special status. (Today, NABU is a state law enforcement agency.) At the same time, the requirements of the Cabinet of Ministers on appointing the main staff of the central executive body do not apply to the National Bureau.

The document provides that the change in the status of NABU does not require any additional measures related to the liquidation or reorganization of the body.

The bill also removes the norm according to which NABU is created by the president.

According to the changes, the Cabinet of Ministers coordinates the work of NABU within the limits and in the manner established by this law, but the government does not approve the regulation on NABU. According to the bill, the acts of NABU cannot be canceled in full or in a separate part by the Cabinet of Ministers. The Cabinet of Ministers appoints and dismisses the director of National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (currently the president).

"The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine only if there are grounds ... makes a decision to dismiss the director of the National Bureau from office if at least two-thirds of the Cabinet of Ministers backed this," the bill said.

The competitive selection for the post of NABU director is organized and conducted by a commission, which includes six people, of which three members of the commission are proposed by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and three more  by the Cabinet on the basis of proposals from partners who provided international technical assistance to Ukraine to prevent and combat corruption.

As Head of the parliamentary committee on anti-corruption policy Anastasia Radina (the Servant of the People parliamentary faction) said during the discussion of proposals and amendments to the bill, independent experts will work in the competition committee, as recommended by the Venice Commission.

According to an explanatory note to the bill, the Constitutional Court on August 28, 2020 recognized presidential decree No. 218/2015 on the appointment of Artem Sytnyk as director of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine unconstitutional, and on September 16, 2020, the Constitutional Court declared unconstitutional certain provisions of the Law of Ukraine on the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky and U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, who is in Kyiv on a working visit, discussed further deepening cooperation between Ukraine and the United States in the field of security and defense, as well as nited States' support for Ukraine on the way to NATO.

"I want to thank you for coming to Ukraine, as we agreed in the United States. Thank you and President Biden for the continued support of Ukraine, our sovereignty and territorial integrity," Zelensky said.

During the meeting, the parties paid special attention to the issue of further deepening practical cooperation between Ukraine and the United States in the field of security and defense in accordance with the agreements reached during the visit of the President of Ukraine to the United States.

"The United States remains Ukraine's key partner in security and defense," Zelensky said and expressed gratitude to the United States for the logistical assistance in enhancing the capabilities of Ukraine's Armed Forces to counter Russian aggression.

In addition, the President noted that Ukraine is trying to intensify the work of all negotiation formats in order to achieve peace in the east and restore sovereignty and territorial integrity.

The interlocutors discussed topical issues of Ukraine's cooperation with NATO and further support from the United States in the realization of our country's Euro-Atlantic aspirations.

During the meeting, Zelensky and Austin touched upon the issues of energy security of Ukraine and Europe.

The U.S. Secretary of Defense assured the Ukrainian President of the United States' resolute support for Ukraine's independence and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders.
On Friday, October 22, at 12.00, the press center of the Interfax-Ukraine news agency will host roundtable conference entitled "Ukrainian politics in October is between polarization and consolidation." Participants inlcude Director of the Institute for Global Strategies Vadym Karasiov; political expert Kostiantyn Matviyenko; Director of the Ukrainian Barometer sociological service Viktor Nebozhenko; Head of the Center for Applied Political Research Penta Volodymyr Fesenko (8/5a Reitarska Street). The broadcast will be available on the YouTube channel of Interfax-Ukraine. Due to quarantine restrictions, the number of seats in the press center is limited. Admission of journalists requires registration on the spot.
Unfinished houses and residential complexes have been a sensitive issue of the Ukrainian real estate market for several years. Big cities and their closest satellites are especially acutely aware of the situation.

Interviewed by Dmytro Streletsky

Local authorities are often unable to respond quickly to the problem on their own. It is then that the engineering and technical personnel and the resources of powerful local developers get down to business.

We are talking about the development experience with succession with Serhiy Musiyenko, the managing partner of Comfort Life Development, one of the largest developers in Kyiv region.

Let's start with the most difficult case. How did the process take place?

There are four such cases today. The first is the Pearl of Irpenskie Lipki large object. In 2012, another developer was under construction on the site adjacent to ours. Even at the initial stage, his project was stuck, but the apartments continued to be actively sold. We are talking about 8% of the construction readiness, in fact, about the concrete frame of six floors of one of four 12-storey sections.

An unscrupulous entrepreneur sent only half of the funds received to construction, leaving investors homeless.

Since the construction of the Irpenskie Lipki residential complex was underway, having lost hope, the deceived investors turned to us. The investors were advised to unite in a cooperative and put the problem object on the balance sheet.

After the completion of the procedure, Comfort Life specialists undertook the legal support of the cooperative. The main goal was the earliest possible acquisition of property rights for the deceived people. Only after that we were able to conclude new contracts with the owners for the completion of the residential complex, which had been in a "frozen" state for about three years. Today it bears the name "Irpenskie Lipki 2."

Irpenskie Lipki 2 residential complex

How about the other three? Did you feel big differences?

Regarding Irpen, significant are the cases of the Parkovy residential complex, one of its sections, and the actual shift from the foundation stage of the Royal Park residential complex. In the case of the latter, the developer, sensing the difficulties, turned to us himself.

A separate conversation is about the well-known Gold City residential complex with a long-term construction term in Bucha. Prior to Comfort Life, several developers took turns taking up the complex for three years. As a result, turning to us, the first owner actively assisted, organized meetings with the mayor, working groups. Today, a large facility called Central Bucha is at the final stage of construction.

Central Bucha residential complex

It must be emphasized that in each case we made significant improvements. Redevelopment, large-scale improvement works were carried out.

Are you planning to expand your experience to other problem objects?

Honestly, we never tried to do this.

The problem of unfinished construction is the area of responsibility of local authorities. It is in its competence to prevent and solve such issues. At the same time, we understand the limitations of its tools. We try to lend a shoulder.

Indeed, sometimes we finish building after others. At one time, the company managed to pick up several sites in Kyiv region. At the same time, we undertook exclusively promising, economically profitable business projects. We immediately rejected proposals, seeing at least a minimal risk. Everything was calculated carefully.

Today, the authorities and developers continue to contact us, since we have a great positive experience - we always finish building objects. In turn, Comfort Life Development is primarily focused on existing construction.

Managing Partner of Comfort Life Development Serhiy Musiyenko
BTS Releases Official Streaming Guide For 'Permission To Dance On Stage' Online Concert: Know How To Watch

BTS Releases Official Streaming Guide For 'Permission To Dance On Stage' Online Concert: Know How To Watch (Photo : REUTERS )

K-pop's global superstars BTS has released an official streaming guide for their upcoming online concert "Permission To Dance On Stage", which explains everything fans need to before the show.



To start with, fans and interested watchers have to check their devices. A maximum of two devices can be logged on simultaneously and the first device will be automatically logged out when a third device is logged on.



Advertisement

Those who have bought 4K tickets have to ensure their device is capable of supporting 4K tickets. Every ticket purchaser will have access to Chinese, Japanese, and English subtitles.



The viewing instructions are as follows:



But at Weverse Shop



Head to the live streaming page



Log in with the Weverse Shop account that was used to buy the ticket



Set the username



Click the "Validate ticket" button to authenticate the ticket. Those with a soundcheck ticket must click both "Validate ticket" buttons for the soundcheck streaming and the concert. Proceed to watch the concert.



You can watch the soundcheck streaming on Sunday, October 24 at 3 PM KST ( Sunday, October 24 at 2 AM EDT). The soundcheck streaming is a special streaming event, which will feature a part of the soundcheck rehearsal online for the Bangtan Boys' "Permission To Dance On Stage" concert.



The soundcheck will be streamed in single-view only, though those who have 4K tickets can see in 4k single-view.



The delayed single-view streaming will take place on Sunday, October 31 at 10 AM KST ( Saturday, October 30 at 9 PM EDT).



Ticket purchasers will have access to the delayed single-view streaming, which is only offered in HD single-view and does not include soundcheck.



The official streaming guide comes with copyright rules and forbids anyone from recording, editing, or distributing any of the content.



"Permission To Dance On Stage" is the first in-person post-pandemic concert by BTS. The concert, which will take place at SoFi stadium in Inglewood, Los Angeles, is the K-pop group's first live, offline performance in two years.



Naturally, there is a lot of anticipation, hype, and fan frenzy revolving around it. Those who cannot see the South-Korean boys' group perform live on November 27-28 or December 1-2, need not worry. BTS will host the same performance in the online concert on October 24, which comes across as relief and hope for fans and ARMY missing out on the live performance.


Head of Egypts Coptic Orthodox Church Pope Tawadros discussed issues of climate change and violence against women with Britains Crown Prince Charles on Thursday in Cairo, the Coptic Church announced.
Austria announced on Friday that it will impose a lockdown for all and make vaccinations mandatory, becoming the first EU country to take such stringent measures as coronavirus cases spiral.
'It is important to reach a legally binding agreement on the GERD and the international community must have a serious role in this issue,' said Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Monday that his country supported Egypt and its stance on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) dispute.

We support Egypt in its stance on the GERD issue, and the Nile Rivers water is a matter of life, Greek PM Mitsotakis said in Cairo in a press conference with President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi following their talks earlier.

Egypt is looking for peaceful solutions for the GERD issue, he added.

From his side, President El-Sisi said in the press conference that he discussed the latest developments of the GERD issue with the Greek Premier.

It is important to reach a legally binding agreement on the GERD and the international community must have a serious role in this issue, said the Egyptian president.

El-Sisi also reiterated the necessity of not interfering in the internal issues of countries and respecting their territorial waters, adding that Egypt stands in solidarity with Greece against any attempt to violate its sovereignty.

The Prime Minister stated that Greece wants the Mediterranean Sea to bring the people of the region closer to each other.

The maritime demarcation agreement between Egypt and Greece is a role model, it is a peace and cooperation agreement in the Middle East, I wish this agreement is extended to other countries, he added.

El-Sisi and Mitsotakis also discussed the recent developments in Libya.

Greece and Egypt agree on the necessity for the immediate withdrawal of the formal foreign armies and information foreign militias from Libya, as well as holding the elections before the end of the year on time, the Greek PM said.

The two leaders also discussed the latest developments in the Palestinian territories and the efforts of Egypt in the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip, and agreed on the necessity to revive the peace process once again.

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The special forces of Egypt, Greece, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates took part in a four-day special operations exercise dubbed HERCULES-21 in Greece from Monday 20 to Sunday 26 September.

Conducted in the wider area of the Attica District, the exercise included many activities, such as attending lectures and practical drills in the field of fighting terrorism, combat in closed and open areas, rescuing hostages, medical evacuation, as well as operations involving airdropping troops onto bodies of water.

The exercise is part of a series of training programmes being carried out by the Egyptian Armed Forces with friendly countries with the aim of exchanging military expertise.

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Egypts total number of deaths from the Coronavirus reached 18,015 fatalities, as the country registered 45 fatalities on Monday; the highest daily rise of coronavirus deaths since 7 June, a statement by the Ministry of Health said.

The health ministry also reported 883 new coronavirus cases on the same day, the countrys highest single-day rise since 3 June.

This brings the total infection tally to 319,339 since the outbreak began in February 2020.

As many as 639 patients have been discharged after recovering from the virus, raising the total number of recoveries to 269,482.

Egypt  which is witnessing the peak of the fourth coronavirus wave  has administered so far 31.7 million vaccine doses, Health Minister Hala Zayed said on Sunday.

The coronavirus high committee announced also on Sunday that unvaccinated employees would not be allowed to enter their workplaces after 15 November unless they receive a PCR test every week.

Moreover, the committee decided that unvaccinated citizens would not be allowed to enter any government facility starting 1 December.

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The Moroccan navy has rescued 310 Europe-bound migrants in the past three days, a military official said on Monday.

The Moroccan navy has rescued 310 Europe-bound migrants in the past three days, a military official said on Monday.

The migrants intercepted on board a variety of boats such as kayaks included nine children and 23 women, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Mostly from sub-Saharan Africa, they were brought ashore safely before being handed over to the police, the source told AFP.

At the end of August, the Moroccan navy rescued more than 400 migrants who had experienced difficulties on board makeshift boats in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic.

Morocco is a major transit route for migrants from sub-Saharan Africa attempting to reach Europe and only 15 kilometres (about nine miles) separate it from Spain in the Strait of Gibraltar.

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Egypt and Sudan launched on Tuesday their joint military exercise, dubbed "Guardian of the South-1", at Egypts Mohamed Naguib Military Base, which is the largest in the Middle East and is located in Al-Hammam area west of Alexandria city.

Elements of the Egyptian and Sudanese border guards will participate in the exercise that will last till October 29, a statement by Egypts Armed Forces spokesperson said.

The joint drill is one of several exercises executed by the Egyptian and Sudanese armed forces recently, including joint aerial exercises Nile Eagles 1 in November 2020 and Nile Eagles 2 in March and April 2021.

During May and June 2021, the two countries also launched the Guardians of the Nile joint drill in Sudan with the participation of ground, naval and air forces from both countries armed forces.



The Guardian of the South-1 comes as part of a series of joint exercises conducted by the Egyptian Armed Forces with other friendly countries with the view to sharing expertise and enhancing military cooperation, the statement said.

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Egypt, Greece, and Cyprus signed on Tuesday a trilateral agreement on power linkage, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi said during a joint press conference after a summit gathering the leaders of the three countries in Athens.

The ninth trilateral summit, focusing on energy and boosting trilateral cooperation, is part of a cooperation mechanism launched in 2014 between the three countries.

Egypt on Saturday signed an accord with Cyprus on linkage between the two countries electricity transmission networks. Two days earlier, Egypt also signed with Greece an agreement on an undersea cable that will transmit power from North Africa to Europe.

Energy cooperation

This is an introductory step that brings us closer to the common goal that our three countries aspire to, which is connecting electricity in the future with the rest of the European continent, El-Sisi said during the presser with Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades and Greeces Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

El-Sisi also called for similar progress regarding the endeavours to establish an offshore pipeline from the Aphrodite gas field in Cyprus to the two Egyptian gas liquifying plants in Damietta and Idku in northern Egypt.

The president said this step paves the way for dispatching liquified gas to Egypt and Greece then to many countries in the Eastern Mediterranean and perhaps to Western Balkans and Central European countries.

This is consistent with the great ambitions that were born with the establishment of the East Mediterranean Gas Forum, El-Sisi said.

Egypt, Cyprus, and Greece are part of the EastMed Gas Forum (EMGF), a Cairo-based international organisation that aims to establish a regional gas market in the eastern Mediterranean and enhance trade relations among the member states.

During the presser, El-Sisi hailed the EMGF as an entity that is reliable for the proper planning of regional cooperation projects.

He said the EMGF also maximizes the benefit of its member states and countries of the region from the reserves of natural gas and hydrocarbon resources in the Mediterranean Sea in line with the relevant rules of international law and respect of the sovereignty of states over their resources.

Egyptian Minister of Immigration Nabila Makram also signed on Tuesday a memorandum of cooperation pertaining to expatriates with Cyprus and Greece, Egypt's state news agency MENA reported.

In joint statements after the summit, the Greek prime minister called cooperation with Egypt and Cyprus at the bilateral level a beacon of stability in the Eastern Mediterranean region in fields including energy, tourism, environment, and trade, Greeces eKathimerini news service reported.

Mitsotakis said he agreed with Egypt and Cyprus during the summit on denouncing Turkeys activities in the Eastern Mediterranean, warning that Turkeys aspirations pose a threat to peace in the wider region.

The summit called on Turkey to respect the sovereign rights of all states in their maritime zones, according to Greek reports.

Neighbours Greece and Turkey, NATO members, have long been at odds over disputes including the energy exploration rights in the eastern Mediterranean, with tensions flaring last year over exploratory drilling rights in areas in the Mediterranean. In September, a Turkish warship banned a Greek research vessel from entering what Turkey considers as its continental shelf.

Regional issues, counterterrorism

During Tuesdays presser, El-Sisi said he discussed with Mitsotakis and Anastasiades a number of regional and international issues, especially in the Eastern Mediterranean region.

The president reiterated Egypts support for the endeavours by Cyprus and other relevant international parties to find a fair, comprehensive solution to the Cypriot issue based on the resolutions of the international legitimacy and the United Nations Security Council.

Despite UN diplomatic efforts to achieve a comprehensive settlement, Cyprus has been suffering for decades from a dispute between Greek and Turkish Cypriots as diplomatic.

The dispute has been fueled by a Turkish Cypriot announcement in July to partly reopen Varosha, Cypruss northern town emptied of its original Greek Cypriot residents and abandoned since the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974. Egypt expressed concerns about the step.

Other issues discussed during the summit included Libya, the Palestinian cause, the Syrian crisis, the situation in Lebanon, as well as efforts to counter terrorism and irregular immigration, El-Sisi said during the presser.

El-Sisi said he also highlighted during the meeting Egypts comprehensive perspective concerning human rights, affirming that it takes into consideration the economic, social, and cultural dimensions of rights.

The perspective also focuses on achieving a qualitative leap in the quality of human life and enabling states to provide a secure and stable environment in which citizens exercise all their rights stipulated in the constitution and the law, with the need to respect the privacy of societies and peoples, El-Sisi added.

Earlier in September, El-Sisi launched the National Strategy for Human Rights, the first of its kind in the country.

El-Sisi said he and the Cypriot and Greek leaders agreed during the summit on the need to hold elections in Libya as scheduled in December this year in accordance with the roadmap approved by the Libyans earlier.

They also affirmed the importance of the exit of all foreign troops and mercenaries from Libya in line with the relevant international resolutions in a way that restores Libyan sovereignty and protects its territorial integrity, according to El-Sisi.

The Egyptian president highlighted Egypts efforts to contain the recent escalation in the Gaza Strip as part of the countrys historic role in pushing forward efforts to find a fair, comprehensive solution to the Palestinian cause based on the two-state solution.

He affirmed the need for the empowerment of the Palestinian people to establish their independent state on the borders of 4 June 1867.

It is no secret that it [the Palestinian cause] is still the core of the conflict in the Middle East, El-Sisi said.

He indicated that the summit has renewed support to the efforts of the UN envoy to Syria with the aim of reaching a peaceful settlement in accordance with the relevant UN Security Councils resolutions.

Our meeting today was an appropriate opportunity to confirm the consistency of our three countries positions to preserve the unity and territorial integrity of Syria, El-Sisi said.

The summit also agreed on rejecting attempts by some regional parties to impose fait accompli through violating the Syrian sovereignty and attempting to forcibly carry out demographic changes to some parts of the country, El-Sisi said.

The leaders also called for facing the threat of terrorist organisations so that the Syrian people can restore security and stability.

El-Sisi said the summit also voiced support of the three countries to Lebanon and readiness to back all sincere efforts aiming at alleviating the suffering of the Lebanon community and contributing to achieving stability and improving the economic situation in the Arab country.

The three leaders also reviewed developments regarding the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), a statement by the Egyptian Presidency read.

El-Sisi stressed the utmost importance Egypt attaches to the water security file and the Egyptian rights in Nile River as a fateful issue, the statement read.

The Egyptian president also urged exerting all possible efforts to reach a legally-binding agreement on the filling and operation of the dam, especially in light of the presidential statement issued by the UN Security Council last month.

This comes while Egypt and Sudan are expecting an invitation by the African Union to continue its sponsored talks aiming to resolve the dispute over GERD with Ethiopia so that the three countries can reach a legally binding agreement on the filling and operation of the dam.

Ahead of the summit, El-Sisi held separate meetings with Anastasiades and Mitsotakis.

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On the second and final day of the second edition of Al-Ahram Pharmaceutical Conference, various participants in the session on "Digitisation and the future industry in the field of health care stressed to support Egypt as a regional center for the pharmaceutical industry" stressed the importance of digital transformation not only in the health care system, but in all areas and services.

Dr. Yousri Nawar, the president of Pfizer and the chair of the session, explained that the Corona pandemic prompted countries to accelerate the pace of digital transformation and expansion in the use of artificial intelligence technology to face the effects of the pandemic.

Nawar said that the world is going through a defining historical moment, as countries have started to recover from the effects of the Coronavirus pandemic and realised the need to think of different methods and ways to confront challenges.

He added that we also live in the heart of a defining moment in the history of the healthcare system in Egypt characterised by a great achievement in the form of the start of the implementation of the new comprehensive health insurance system, which will reshape the health system for future generations for tens of millions of Egyptians.

For his part, Engineer Hossam Sadek, the executive director of the Comprehensive Health Insurance, stressed that digital transformation has become an urgent necessity for any institution in the world, not only insurance institutions.

He explained that Egypt's Comprehensive Health Insurance Authority aims to facilitate procedures and provide services to all beneficiaries without obstacles.

He added that the authority will be responsible for 120 million citizens in the coming 8 years.

"No healthcare authority in the world is responsible for such a massive number of people," he stressed.

He explained that every citizen, according to studies and statistics, interacts and visits the healthcare system between 4 to 5 times a year, which means that we are dealing with 500 to 600 million annual visits, explaining that most of the interactions in the future will take place in digital form.

He stressed that digital transformation helps the state to plan well and provide services nationwide in a rational manner, and to build huge databases for beneficiaries.

In the closing session of the conference, Ibrahim Sarhan, the chairman and managing director of iFinance, explained that the company is expanding its services in the Egyptian market and that the digitization of health insurance services is one of the most important projects that the company is working on.

"We launched the 'iHealth card' for health insurance after 3 years of coordination and trouble-shooting with the Ministry of Communications," he explained.

"We contracted a highly specialized and experienced company to implement the digital health insurance system according to the highest technical standards and rational financial plans.

He said that we have accomplished a difficult task in cooperation with the government sector, which is collecting and systematising the data available at the Health Insurance Authority.

"The next task is how to deal with the service through the latest technology and its application will provide the best services to citizens," he said.

He concluded his speech by revealing that the offering of the company's shares on the Egyptian Stock Exchange received great interest from investors, and at the end of yesterday's trading, the stock was covered 61 times, which confirms confidence in the company's performance and its future.

For his part, Colonel Engineer Mohamed Mujahid, the director of the General Department of Statistics, Reports and Electronic Publishing in the Central Administration for Information Systems and Digital Transformation at the Unified Procurement Authority, said the authority has designed a unified database on health systems in Egypt from the largest to the smallest health unit in Egypt.

He pointed out that work is underway to establish 6 strategic depots to secure the country's needs for medicine and to transform Egypt into a regional centre for medicine in the Arab region and the African continent.

Technology to serve patients

Dr. Ola Ali El-Din, the Vice President for Business Development and Government Relations at Vezeeta, drew attention to the importance of using technology in serving patients, whether in communication with doctors or provision of medicine, as well as using technology to book health services in order to facilitate receiving treatment services.

Samia Abdou Gerges, the Deputy Executive Director of Ain Shams University Hospitals and Director of Infection Control, said there is a bright side to the Coronavirus pandemic, which is increased awareness of the importance of prevention and ways to combat infection, and accelerating the use of technology and digital transformation.

Meanwhile, Dr. Rasha Ziada, Assistant to the President of the Egyptian Medicines Authority for Technical Development and Capacity Development, stressed that "the processes of digital transformation is not an easy one."

"Although many companies have started digitisation, studies have shown that 37% of companies have failed to achieve any benefit from digital transformation processes, and about 50% of digital transformation efforts, since 2018, have failed to achieve their goals," she said.

The challenges facing digital transformation processes lie in the lack of competencies and the unwillingness of some institutions to change, in addition to the need to create the appropriate infrastructures, she added.

To face some of the challenges hampering digitisation efforts, she noted, the medicines authority has provided a 24-hour hotline 15301 to receive inquiries about drug consultations, drug shortages, and violations.

Dr. Ola Ali El-Din said that the Egyptian health sector has witnessed a historic transformation under the weight of the Covid-19 crisis as all sectors in the country rose to meet this challenge.

She added that about 30% of new investments went to the healthcare sector during the year 2020.

The company has increased reliance on technology over the past two years, she explained.

By doing this, she added, "We were able to reach and help many hospitals, whether in the public or private sectors."

"We have provided many services to the medical sector, starting with medical service providers, and the health insurance project in Egypt, and we also provided consulting services to more than one pharmaceutical company." she said.

She explained that software was developed and sold to doctors inside clinics, and linked with pharmaceutical companies, in order to increase reliance on technology and help them compile an electronic record of patients' data.

The Egyptian pharmaceutical industry and concerned authorities: Developing and changing

Dr. Sami Khalil, director of Takeda Egypt, confirmed that the international drug companies took it upon themselves - as part of the implementation of the policies of the New Republic - to cooperate with the new government bodies such as the Unified Purchasing, the Egyptian Medicine Authority, the Comprehensive Health Insurance Authority and the Healthcare Authority.

These bodies have proven the Egyptian ability to change, develop, and engage in true partnership by opening the markets for larger numbers of medicines, speeding up the registration process, and implementing unified purchase procedures while guaranteeing a drug with an actual value for the patient.

$200 billion annually for scientific research globally - Egypts share is 1%!

Dr. Hatem El-Wardani, the chairman of the Board of Directors of AstraZeneca, said during the session under the title "The Role of Multinational Companies in Promoting Scientific Research in Egypt - Challenges and Prospects" that the total annual expenditure globally on scientific research is about $200 billion annually.

He explained that AstraZeneca is one of the top ten global companies in spending on scientific research and alone spends about $6 billion annually.

"The Middle East region, however, is one of the least regions in benefiting from this spending with only 11% of research conducted in the Middle East and Africa. Turkey and South Africa are the two most attractive countries for research in that region because of the laws they have that help attract global research," he explained.

"Although there is a huge number of research being conducted globally in 2021, Egypt, despite its enormous scientific potential, is home to less than 1% of these researches," he noted.

He praised the current efforts made by the state to issue the Scientific Research Law No. 214 of 2020 in order to increase Egypt's share of global research expenditure.

He urged the speedy issuance of the executive regulations of the law in order for it to be activated quickly.

He also called for the need to unify and integrate review committees to reduce the complexities of the procedures of approvals for research.

He pointed to the benefits that Egypt accrues from participating in global research. He explained that such participation provides medicine and medical care for participating patients, contributes to improving the infrastructure of hospitals and universities participating in research, and is considered one of the sources of increasing national income. It also contributes to the transfer of the latest foreign expertise in scientific research to Egypt, he added.

Medicine production in Egypt: A historic transformation

Dr. Mohamed Swailem, the president of Roche Company, expressed his appreciation for the role played by the Al-Ahram Foundation in organising events related to the drug file.

He pointed out that the pharmaceutical industry in Egypt is witnessing a historical transformation, citing unprecedented cooperation and support between the government and local and international companies to provide the best level of treatment service to the Egyptian patient.

He said that the most important characteristic of the current stage in this transformation is the existence of a specific and clear vision that has been translated into legislation and laws, as well as bodies and institutions operating on the ground.

He explained that pharmaceutical companies support the state's vision in providing the best medical service to the Egyptian patient.

Roche Egypt, he said, strongly values the achievements of the Egyptian government over the past few years - particularly through presidential initiatives - in transforming the public-private partnership model in the health sector.

"These initiatives have led to a real transformation in the environment surrounding the healthcare system and improved quality of care," he added.

"For example, the presidential Breast Cancer Initiative - which we are proud to be a part of -provides Egyptian women with world-class care and the latest treatments, helping Egyptian women receive the same level of treatment in Egypt as abroad.

Serving the Egyptian patient better: Rapid changes

Dr. Samer Lazik, director of Bayer Egypt, said that "Egypt's Vision 2030 is moving at an incredible speed compared to other countries I worked in, including America, Germany and China."

"The Egyptian state and the government believe that all Egyptians have the right to receive the highest standards of quality in health," he noted.

He explained that he found during his work in America for 4 years that 100 million out of the 330 million American citizens did not receive any health coverage, even though the government there spends 18% of the national GDP every year on healthcare.

"The issue is not how much is spent, but the efficiency with which it is spent," he stressed.

"There has been an increase in health allowances every year in the last 4 years," he noted.

The government increased spending in the budget for the health sector by 2% to combat Covid-19 and presidential initiatives also provided more money for the health sector, he said.

"This is a terrific development. We are talking about 5 or 6% of the budget for the health sector, as stipulated in the constitution," he noted.

"Another title for the session today ought to be (the Egyptian patient is really fine and remains fine)," he added.

"There is already localisation of manufacturing pharmaceuticals since 89 percent of all boxes of medicine sold in Egypt is locally produced."

"This is an achievement that must be celebrated, and this can help facilitate the process of transferring technology to Egypt to produce drugs which are currently imported, especially those that treat rare diseases."

He also suggested that "there is an effective solution to ease the great pressures on the budget which is improving the process of analysis of information in the healthcare system to try to raise the efficiency of spending and achieve reliable figures on financial costs of diseases."

"In Egypt, they are working on this, and only 10 or 15% of the budgets are spent on medicine and the rest is spent on hospitals."

'Made in Egypt': The need to localize modern technology

Dr. Riad Armanois, the CEO of Eva Pharma Group, explained that 94% of medicines in the market are manufactured in Egypt, stressing that "the localisation of medicines requires localisation of modern technology,"

He said that the group has established the Mark Research Center to support Egyptian clinical research.

"The center has allocated EGP 20 million to support these researches until the end of this month."

"All researchers in all research institutions need technical support to reach results that benefit the idea of pre-clinical research in Egypt," he stressed.

Al-Ahram Pharmaceutical Conference: Bringing all parties together

For her part, Dr. Jihan Ramadan, director of the medical sector at the Swiss company Novartis, praised the success of the Al-Ahram pharmaceutical conference in its second edition in assembling all parties concerned from local and international industrial companies to develop the pharmaceutical industry in Egypt.

"Egypt is an attractive market, not only in the marketing of medicines, but also in the field of conducting clinical research."

"Is Egypt ready? The answer is yes, Egypt is ready."

Egypt is moving and imposing itself on the world map in scientific research for many reasons - a large population means a large pool of patients with varied diseases, which facilitates the presence and entry of patients into clinical studies.

Still, she warned, the culture of marriage among relatives increases the incidences of genetic and hereditary diseases, which require innovating new medicines and multiple clinical researches.

She stressed the importance of activating the law of real clinical research.

"There is a real boom taking place in the health system in Egypt during the past four years in many files and programs such as 100 million Healthy Lives initiative, the comprehensive health insurance program for early detection of many diseases, including Hepatitis C."

"This is what gives us greater hope and makes us need to focus on the scientific research file," she said.

Finally, Dr. Ali Omar, the head of the Pharmacoeconomics Sector at Novartis Pharma, said that providing the latest treatments and making them available in the Egyptian market is a process that requires the solidarity and cooperation of multiple health authorities.

"Here we must commend the effort made by the Egyptian Medicines Authority in accelerating the process of product registration and pricing," he noted.

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Addressing a virtual conference held as part of the IMF Annual Meetings, Azour added that through pressing ahead with Egypt's economic reform program, the government will be able to create more jobs and expedite economic recovery.



Egypt needs between 700 and 800 thousand job opportunities each year, which can be met by the private sector in case of upping productivity, enjoying access to new markets, and offering different types of finance, Azour said.



He noted that Egypt had obtained a $5.4 billion loan as part of a 12-Month Stand-By Arrangement to support the governments economic reform program during the pandemic.



Azour also commended the Egyptian government's efforts under the Takaful and Karama (Solidarity and Dignity) social protection program to protect those most vulnerable to the economic fallout from the corona crisis.

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The positive vibes in Riyadh and Tehran about improving their relations are not just good news for Saudi Arabia and Iran, but also for Lebanon, Yemen, Syria, and Iraq. That the mood music should be heard over such a vast area is testimony to how, over the last four decades, the Saudi-Iranian relationship has shaped much of the dynamic of the Middle East.

Iran has, till now at least, presented the more optimistic picture of the talks, while Saudi Arabia has contented itself with saying they are exploratory.

The two countries have held four rounds of talks since April, and steps have been taken to resume trade exchanges.

Irans Foreign Ministry Spokesman Said Khatibzadeh said on Monday that the talks have been cordial, and to the same degree serious. Speaking to reporters during his regular weekly briefing, Khatibazadeh said that the talks, which have been held in Iraq, had taken place in a friendly and positive atmosphere. He offered no details, beyond saying the talks must be allowed to proceed, and denying reports that a Saudi delegation will soon visit Iran.

Saudi Arabias Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan said this week that the kingdom is serious about talks with Iran, signalling Riyadhs desire to repair its relations with Tehran.

Though it all sounds promising, it is too early to know if Saudi-Iranian relations are entering a new phase or whether they will revert to hostility. The two countries, after all, disagree on a great many issues. That said, the ongoing talks, and hopefully a subsequent rapprochement, open possibilities to engage on many levels, not least the proxy wars in Yemen and Syria, and may also help reduce political divisions in Lebanon and Iraq.

To change the direction of the two countries relations in a way that will help foster stability in the region, however, will take time and effort.

That the Europeans and US support the Saudi-Iranian rapprochement is one cause for optimism. A European diplomat told Al-Ahram Weekly that EU and US officials actively encouraged the two countries to talk directly to each other to resolve their differences.

The message they sent to Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states is that the US and Europe will give priority to the resumption of the nuclear deal with Iran, and to ensuring that Tehran does not develop nuclear weapons, in return for other countries in the region engaging in a constructive dialogue with Iran in the hope of resolving crises in Yemen, Lebanon, and Syaria.

There is little doubt that improving relations with Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries is seen as a strategic goal in Tehran. Ibrahim Raisi, Irans newly elected conservative president, is keen to show that his country is not isolated and its relationships with neighbours are getting better.

As the resumption of nuclear talks in Vienna between Iran and the West approaches Tehran is keen to send signals that its powerful neighbours support the revival of the nuclear deal, and fully understands that, without solid regional support, a revived deal is unlikely to survive for long. For Iranian officials, the road to the Gulf states passes through Saudi Arabia, and it is only logical for Tehran to talk with Riyadh if it wants to show it is no longer isolated. Iran is also suffering severe economic problems, a result of international sanctions and the Covid-19 pandemic, and is desperate to ease the economic pressure on its people.

Saudi Arabia, for its part, is convinced the Biden administration is serious about reviving the nuclear agreement with Iran, and Riyadh does not want to stand in the way or appear as an obstacle to US interests.

Following the Biden administrations hurried withdrawal from Afghanistan, Riyadh also realised that Washington is serious about reducing its military commitments in the Middle East, leaving it with little option but to deal directly with Iran to address contentious issues.

In an attempt to show relations are improving, the Iranian Customs Organisation Spokesman Rouhollah Latifi announced the resumption of trade ties between Iran and Saudi Arabia, which he described as good news. Iran, he revealed, has just exported $39,000 worth of goods to Saudi Arabia, including $6,000 worth of tiles, and $33,000 worth of glass for use in traffic signs. He hailed the resumption of exports to the kingdom as heralding a thaw in political, economic, and cultural ties.

Meanwhile, a Saudi official said this week that Riyadh is considering allowing Iran to reopen its consulate in Jeddah but said the talks had not yet made sufficient progress to restore full diplomatic relations, something Iran has been pushing for. Riyadh is also considering allowing Tehran to reopen its representative office for the Organisation of Islamic Co-operation in the port city.

The slow and gradual improvement in relations does not, however, mean the road ahead is smooth.

Riyadh does not want regional security to be left to bilateral understandings with Iran. Riyadh wants the US role to remain strong because it does not trust Tehran and has seen only symbolic signs and statements so far, the European diplomat told the Weekly.

In a rare interview, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud told the Financial Times that talks with Iran had been cordial, emphasising we are serious about them. Prince Faisal also insisted that Riyadh does not pick fights.

The leadership has a clear policy that the priority is prosperity, building the country, Vision 2030, and you cant deliver those things with a region in turmoil.

So, while we will vigorously defend our national security and our sovereignty, we will try to resolve them through diplomacy as well.

He added that there was a confluence of events that made it feel like it was the right moment to talk to Iran. We were always willing to talk if they might actually be serious, he said. Various factors came into play.

The continuation of the Saudi-Iranian rapprochement depends on many factors, the success of the nuclear negotiations between Tehran and the West, and a de-escalation of tensions in Lebanon and Yemen, foremost amongst them. And what, by now, is abundantly clear, is that failure in the nuclear negotiations will signal not only the end of the road for any thaw between Riyadh and Tehran, but a raising of the temperature across the region.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 21 October, 2021 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly

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For its own good, and for that of the world as a whole, the United States must clarify its mission and understand its priorities, writes David Dumke

The recent US withdrawal from Afghanistan did not look good. Scenes of Afghans desperately trying to escape the victorious Taliban and the death of 13 service members served as a terrible explanation point and tragic end to American military involvement.

It cannot be forgotten that most of the young soldiers killed were toddlers when the US first launched military action in that battle-scared nation in the wake of the September 11 2001 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington. American pundits from across the ideological spectrum have since struggled to explain the conflicts bitter end.

In accepting responsibility for the failed Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba in 1961, former US president John F Kennedy stated that victory has a thousand fathers and defeat is an orphan. Today, fingers point at President Joe Biden, though in reality it is much more complex. To turn JFKs comment on its head, responsibility for American defeat in Afghanistan has many fathers and mothers, including all four presidents who occupied the White House during the course of the 20-year conflict.

Washington would be wise to assess what went wrong; such a review should first focus on strategy. What was the US trying to accomplish? Defeat Al-Qaeda? Destroy the Taliban? Build a modern, centralised state? Quite simply, America lacked a clear mission, and as a consequence much blood was shed and money spent in a futile slog. The speed of the final collapse speaks volumes.

Years ago, I had the honour of facilitating a visit by the US Congressional Black Caucus to Egypt. The delegation included seven African-American members of the US House of Representatives. One of the members was Representative Barbara Lee (D-California). Lee was the only member of the House to vote against authorising military action in Afghanistan, a position for which she was heavily criticised. Lee, who remained popular in her Berkeley-based district, explained to me at the time that the mission was far too vague for her comfort. Today a member of the powerful Appropriations Committee, she has been seen as something of a sage.

To paraphrase British author Lewis Carroll in his book Alice in Wonderland, if you dont know where youre going, any road will get you there. Such, unfortunately, is the story of US involvement in Afghanistan. More broadly, it explains American foreign policy today. The Global War on Terrorism, as Washington defined it, has had its successes to be sure, but in the end one can accurately say it has been a massive distraction. The world has changed a great deal since 2001. Has the United States adjusted to new realities?

Much has been written about the rise of China and the growing rivalry between Washington and Beijing. Clearly, Chinas economy has grown exponentially, and the country has global influence. Many see Beijing as a malevolent force, a country which throws its weight around with little responsibility for maintaining order or solving problems. Whether conflict between the established superpower and the emerging one is inevitable, or whether this relationship can be managed to create a new global order, remains unclear.

One can criticise Chinas gameplan, but cant rebuke it for having one. Chinas Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) lays out a strategy for global commerce, economic development and expanded diplomatic relations. BRI benefits China and places it in the centre of world affairs. China has funded massive infrastructure projects throughout the developing world, and many nations participating in BRI desperately need economic development. BRI has succeeded in enhancing Beijings ties around the world, even though there has been blowback as some nations allege the price of Chinese support has been far too high.

The United States needs a gameplan. One can go from continent to continent and find confusion about American strategy. In Latin America, the US long pursued a strategy of trade liberalisation and democracy. Today, there is a sense of drift as issues such as increased authoritarianism, government instability, economic stagnation and immigration proliferate.

In Europe, NATO allies openly debate American reliability. The new AUKUS pact  between Australia, the United Kingdom and the US  suggests to some that the Asian pivot is underway at the expense of traditional European allies like France. Relations with Turkey, a NATO ally, remain problematic. The response to Russian assertiveness, even interference in American elections, has been ineffective.

In South Asia, Washington and New Delhi continue to move closer, but there exists great discomfort in Washington with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modis religious populism. More generally, protectionist impulses and anti-immigrant policies suggest an American disengagement from the world it supposedly leads.

In the Middle East, the US long supported stability and the status quo, preventing large-scale conflict and guaranteeing global energy security. Today, regional allies and adversaries alike question Americas commitment to the region. What does Washington expect from major Non-NATO allies in the Arab world? These include Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco and Tunisia. What do these allies expect from Washington, particularly since Afghanistan very recently held the same designation?

The first decades of the post-Cold War world were an age of American hegemony. As the self-declared lone superpower, Washingtons missteps have been amplified and its successes minimalised, perhaps unfairly. Among the questions on the table is whether the American era is over. Regardless, the world is going through a period of profound transition. And for its own good, and for that of the world, the United States must clarify its mission and understand its own priorities.

*The writer is executive director of the University of Central Floridas Office of Global Perspectives & International Initiatives in the US and co-host of the Global Perspectives TV show.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 21 October, 2021 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly

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Last Thursday, Al-Ahram Weekly published an article by this writer under the title The state of the Arab world in which I tried to analyse the present situation in the Arab world after a decade of insecurity, instability and no prospects of a peaceful solution on the horizon to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

In this article, I will deal with the stability and future of the Arab system from the regional Middle Eastern angle, adopting the premise that the future of the Arab world is directly linked and impacted by the overall regional landscape.

The lofty goals of millions of Arabs, particularly the younger generations, manifested on the streets of some Arab capitals for democracy and good governance, were scuttled after 2011 by the intricate web of international and regional interference in domestic Arab affairs by the great powers, on the one hand, and by regional powers, on the other, through their proxies whether militias or indigenous political parties and forces.

To complicate matters further, the past decade has witnessed a tug of war between Iran and the US and its allies and partners in the Middle East. The battlegrounds on which this confrontation has been played out have been Syria, Lebanon and Yemen. Iraq has also been a battleground for this conflict, though the present Iraqi government has successfully managed to contain it by reaching an agreement with the US to withdraw its combat forces from Iraq in the near future.

At present, the fate of the Middle East hangs by a thread, with all eyes looking to the negotiations in Vienna, at a standstill at the moment, on whether Iran will agree to end its violations of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the Iranian nuclear accord of July 2015, from which the former Trump administration withdrew the US in May 2018.

After the US withdrawal from the agreement, Iran moved ahead with its nuclear programme to the extent that experts and intelligence analysts have now shortened the breakout time for Iran to manufacture a nuclear weapon to a few months. Three years ago, the expectations in this regard were about 24 months.

This month, Washington hosted several crucial meetings that discussed how to deal with the Iranian nuclear programme if the diplomatic track in Vienna fails to bring Iran back into the fold. The foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia and the UAE have held separate talks with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. There was also a trilateral meeting bringing together Emirati Foreign Minister Abdullah Zayed Al Nahyan, Israeli Foreign Minister and alternate Prime Minister Yair Lapid, and Blinken. The meeting was to commemorate the first anniversary of the signing of what are known as the Abraham Accords between the UAE and Israel.

But Iran and how to deal with it, barring its return to the limitations on its nuclear programme in the context of the JCPOA, held centre stage in the talks the US held separately with the Saudi and Israeli foreign ministers. The US position has been that all options are on the table if Tehran keeps obfuscating. On 27 August, when receiving Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett at the White House, Biden said that if all diplomatic options were exhausted, the US would examine other options, though he did not say what these might be.

In a joint press conference with the Emirati and Israeli foreign ministers last Tuesday, Blinken said that the US will look at every option to deal with the challenge posed by Iran.

Similarly, the discussions between Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal Al-Farhan and Blinken centred to a large extent on Iran and its nuclear programme. Al-Farhan met with reporters in Washington on 15 October and expressed Saudi concerns on the accelerating nuclear programme by the Iranians. He left no doubt that Saudi Arabia would not shy away from holding that all options are on the table if the diplomatic avenues with Iran do not bear fruit. He also called for a long-term process in which Iran would be prevented from acquiring a nuclear weapon. He further pointed out that his country is calling for a nuclear-free zone in the Middle East.

The Israeli foreign minister was more explicit. After his meeting with Blinken, he said that there are moments when nations must use force to protect the world from evil, adding that it was his countrys right and responsibility to do just that after Iran  as he put it  has publicly stated it wants to wipe us out. We have no intention of letting that happen.

Earlier this month, Jake Sullivan, the White House national security adviser, hosted his Israeli counterpart Eyal Hulata in the framework of the US-Israel Strategic Consultative Group. The White House readout of the meeting characterised the discussions as constructive and open. A senior administration official told reporters afterwards that the Biden administration was committed to talks with Iran to prevent it from obtaining nuclear weapons. But if diplomacy fails, the US will be prepared to take measures that are necessary.

There are different Israeli interpretations of what this could mean in practical or operational terms. Some believe that Washington is speaking of a military option, while others think that it could mean a harsher set of sanctions on Iran. One senior Israeli intelligence official said that at present there was no joint operational contingency plan against Iran should efforts to return to the nuclear agreement fail. He added that the US administration has no solution whatsoever to deal with such an eventuality and said that he believed its focus was on China and not Iran.

The present situation in the Middle East is frozen until the strategic dilemma of preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons has been sorted out, either through diplomacy or through the use of force. To expect long-term solutions to Middle Eastern crises absent a final solution of the Iranian nuclear programme would be tantamount to daydreaming. Even the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is being held hostage to the final outcome of this international and regional confrontation.

I believe the Biden administration would like diplomacy to deliver in Vienna and an agreement be reached to return the US to the JCPOA concomitant with Iran rolling back its violations of the agreement. However, if this optimistic scenario does not materialise, the question will be whether the US would be willing to resort to the military option against Iran. And if not, would Israel be prepared to go ahead and attack Iranian military installations on its own if there was undeniable proof that Iran was on the threshold of manufacturing a nuclear weapon?

No one in the Middle East wants to wake up one morning and find that Iran has become the North Korea of the region. Until the question of the Iranian nuclear programme is solved one way or another, it is questionable whether other Middle Eastern crises can be settled anytime soon.

It is also very interesting to discover, but not surprising, that the US, Russian and Israeli governments are discussing holding a meeting of their respective national security advisers to discuss the situations in Iran and Syria. This reminds me of Britain and France reaching their entente cordiale early in the 20th century to carve up the Middle East.

*The writer is former assistant foreign minister.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 21 October, 2021 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly

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Fears of a possible resurgence of Lebanons bloody 15-year civil war surfaced this week with images appeared of Christian Lebanese Forces fighters clashing with Shiite Hizbullah and Amal gunmen, exchanging bullets and rocket-propelled grenades. Children sought a hiding place in narrow alleyways and behind cars in Beiruts Tayouneh neighbourhood. One mother who dared to open her window to take a look was killed by a bullet to the forehead. Residents of Beirut, already suffering months of economic hardship and power shortages, started preparing for worse times to come.

On the surface, Hizbullah and Amal supporters said they were holding a peaceful protest to demand the removal of the judge investigating the August 2020 Beirut Port blast that killed dozens and destroyed nearly half of the city. They charged that snipers belonging to the Lebanese Forces, a right-wing Christian party whose leader was jailed for assassinations during the 1975-1990 Civil War, opened fire on the crowds, eventually killing seven and wounding dozens. In no time, Hizbullah and Amal fighters rushed to the scene, exchanging fire with the suspected snipers. The two sides turned Tayouneh and its surroundings into a war zone.

Meanwhile, the Lebanese Forces accused Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah of pushing his supporters to provoke the clashes, intentionally crossing the unofficial but well-known sectarian red line by protesting in a mostly Christian neighbourhood. While the latest clashes may seem sudden, the reality is that tensions have been simmering for months, particularly following the deadly blast.

After the investigating judge Tarek Bitar summoned for investigation, a former Amal Movement minister and other officials known to be close to Hizbullah, the Shiite party loyal to Iran accused him of politicising the investigation and demanded his removal. A Lebanese court had already turned down a case in which several former Lebanese officials and deputies asked for Bitars dismissal. Thus, Hizbullah and Amal supporters decided to take their demands to the streets.

Last weeks clashes occurred within a month of the difficult formation of a Lebanese government led by Naguib Miqati, a veteran politician close to the Sunni Mustakbal Movement led by former prime minister Saad Al-Hariri. Thus, the equation for Hizbullah and Amal was clear: either Miqati intervenes and approves the removal of judge Bitar, or the two largest Shiite parties would force their ministers to resign, leading to a quick collapse of the new government. This government was not just long awaited by the Lebanese people in the hope that it would take urgent steps to prevent a total economic collapse, but also by the international community and Lebanons friends who sincerely wanted to aid that country.

The key parties that have been dominating Lebanons political scene, and more importantly are in control of its wealth, should recognise two obvious facts. First, the majority of the Lebanese people, especially the young who have been leading peaceful street protests for two years to demand a non-sectarian government, are fed up with all of them. Secondly, the Lebanese people deserve to know the truth, and those responsible for the devastating Beirut Port blast must be held accountable.

Any Lebanese official, member of parliament or politician summoned by the judge investigating the blast must comply and accept questioning, if they truly have nothing to fear. That blast, which was described as one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history, killed 218 people, injured 7000 and caused property damage worth $15 billion, according to the Lebanese government. This huge loss, human and material, definitely requires a serious and transparent investigation. The families of those killed will never forget their loved ones.

But the sad reality is that many horrendous crimes committed in Lebanon since the end of the civil war in 1990 are still unaccounted for. Lebanese party leaders, nearly all of them former warlords, clearly want to continue with the same trade-off: either crimes committed go unpunished, or they push the country back into civil war. But if this was the case for decades, the new generation who have been protesting peacefully since 2019 will not accept the continuation of the status quo.

The international community and Lebanons supporters must stand by the Lebanese people, and stop feeding warlords and militia leaders who serve their interests. Historically, the Lebanese people have paid the heaviest price because other countries, regional and international, decided they would turn Lebanon into a front to settle their scores. Without outside support, Lebanese political parties will not be able to continue taking a hard-line or even to safeguard their posts and economic privileges.

A long time friend of the Lebanese people, Egypt stands ready to help. Even before the recent total power blackout that lasted a few days, Egypt had expressed readiness to provide gas and technical expertise. France, the United States and Saudi Arabia have also exerted tremendous efforts to help form the Miqati-led government. The world should not abandon Lebanon because, as last weeks deadly clashes proved, it is easy for the country to slide back into a bloody civil war in which all the pressures and grievances of the past decades will resurface.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 21 October, 2021 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly

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Hopes for the resumption of talks over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam wane, with no date for the next round set.

After last months United Nations Security Council (UNSC) presidential statement urging Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia to resume negotiations and reach a legally binding agreement on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) within a reasonable time frame, hopes grew that a date for the resumption of negotiations would be set. A month on, and nothing has happened.

Addis Ababa said last week that it is ready to resume negotiations, yet gave no indication it would compromise its earlier stances. Last month it repeatedly stated that it would soon begin operating the first two turbines of the dam, without any agreement in place.

Egypt and Sudan have made clear they are ready to resume on the outcomes of the UNSC statement and under the auspices of the African Union (AU), said a diplomat speaking on condition of anonymity. He added that unless talks aim to reach a binding legal agreement on filling and operating the dam within a reasonable time frame they will be a waste of time.

It is important, he argued, that observers attending the talks should be given space to suggest ways to bring the three countries positions closer given the time pressure. While GERDs second unilateral filling was far less than originally planned, buying time before the next rainy season, he warned that unless downstream countries press all out for a breakthrough, Addis Ababa is likely to embark on a third unilateral filling of the dams reservoir.

Abbas Sharaki, professor of geology and water resources at Cairo University, agrees that pressing for the resumption of AU-sponsored tripartite negotiations is now an urgent priority.

Egypt and Sudan have to push international parties and the AU to resume negotiations and explain to the international community the negative repercussions of more unilateral actions, he says.

Sharaki thinks the construction work needed for a third filling could start as early as next month if Ethiopia opens the drainage gates to dry the area around the dams middle wall, meaning that GERD will be ready, by the next rainy season, to store the 10.5 bcm of water it failed to hold this year.

Cairo has been using the delay in resuming the tripartite talks to highlight the issues involved at every available regional and international fore, and is actively encouraging the international community to intervene.

During President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisis meeting with his Hungarian counterpart Janos Ader last week, Al-Sisi reaffirmed Egypts commitment to negotiations, and underlined the importance of international players adopting a more influential role in solving the dispute.

Addis Ababas repeated insistence that GERD will not affect the flow of water to Egypt needs to be translated into a legally-binding agreement, Al-Sisi said at a press conference held with Ader in Budapest.

During a phone call with UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson last weekend, President Al-Sisi further stressed the need for the international community to play a more hands-on role in resolving the dispute.

During a meeting early last month with a delegation of international organisations working on water resource management, headed by the UN Coordinator in Egypt, Elena Panova, Irrigation Minister Mohamed Abdel-Ati reiterated Egypts willingness to continue with talks to find a solution that maintains the interests of all the involved parties. The meeting was attended by representatives of the EU, and diplomats from the embassies of the US, UK, Germany, the Netherlands, and Finland.

Abdel-Ati used a press conference last week to once again underline that Egypt is seeking a just, legal, and binding agreement.

Meanwhile, Addis Ababa has said that it is ready for talks, but conspicuously failed to mention the UNSC statement calling for a legally binding agreement in a reasonable time frame.

Last week, Ethiopias Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Dina Mufti told the media Ethiopia was ready to resume talks and that the Democratic Republic of Congo, current chair of the AU, would soon be contacting Khartoum and Cairo to fix a date.

The dam issue imposed itself during the 76th UN General Assembly in New York. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres stressed in his meeting with Ethiopian Foreign Minister Demeke Mekonnen the importance of the three countries resuming negotiations, while Egypts Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukri raised the subject during meetings on the sidelines of the UNGA.

The last round of tripartite talks, held in Kinshasa in April, concluded without an agreement on rules to fill and operate the dam. Ethiopia has repeatedly refused to sign such a deal, and says it wants nothing more binding than guidelines that can be modified at any time.

In July, Addis Ababa started the second filling of the dam despite Egypts and Khartoums insistence the filling should be contingent on an agreement being reached.

Egypt fears that GERD will reduce the amount of Nile water flowing to Egypt,while Sudan is concerned about the impact of GERD on its own dams.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 21 October, 2021 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly

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Egypts Unified Finance Law, now set for discussion by the House of Representatives, aims to correlate government spending better with performance

The Planning and Budget Committee of the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of Egypts parliament, completed discussion of the countrys new Unified Finance Law (UFL) this week in preparation for debating it in general session.

The law is meant to link government spending more closely to performance as one of the means to regulate public spending and consolidate accountability. The UFL aims to raise transparency during the preparation, implementation, and monitoring of the budget and respond to changes related to electronic spending and collection.

It will also facilitate the use of electronic signatures and the integration of laws on the state budget and government accountability into the new law. It reflects the governments determination to modernise expenditure and accounting.

The new law grants the Ministry of Finance the right to approve or reject laws that entail additional financial obligations. The ministry will also be able to propose public financial policies and follow up on their implementation as part of the countrys national strategy for sustainable development and the goals of economic and social development.

It clarifies the role of the Ministry of Planning in pinpointing strategic goals in each sector in coordination with the ministries concerned and independent entities. These goals will be presented to the cabinet for approval, according to rules stated in the general planning law.

Regulating the financial system is the primary target of the new law. This cannot be achieved except by merging Law 53/1973 on the state general budget and Law 127/1981 on government accountability, however, especially in the light of the ongoing digital transformation.

The law is also meant to raise the skills of employees in the financial departments of ministries and administrative bodies in order to enable them to keep up with various technological advances.

While the new law is making its way through parliament, experts offered suggestions on how to improve revenue collection at a virtual workshop organised by the Egyptian Centre for Economic Studies (ECES).

Amr Al-Mounayer, a former deputy to the finance minister for tax policies, told participants that the Egyptian Tax Authority (ETA) has not announced revenues from taxes for the 2020-21 fiscal year, fearing that revenues are less than targeted.

He had earlier called for a review of the targeted sum due to the coronavirus pandemic that has affected all state sectors.

Egypt expects to collect tax revenues to the tune of LE830 billion, or around 14 per cent less than the target for 2021-22.

Al-Mounayer also called for a commitment to constitutional aims to increase spending on education and healthcare by 10 per cent annually.

Tax exemptions on education and healthcare services should be calculated fairly. Many countries impose a value-added tax [VAT] on these services but provide the same sum to the two sectors allocations. It is no longer viable to assume that educational institutions should be non-profit amid the increasing number of private institutions in the education and healthcare sectors, he said.

Taxes slated for collection should have amounted to 18 per cent of GDP in the 2021-22 budget. However, at present the figure stands at 14 per cent, he said.

In some countries, social insurance premiums are regarded as part of public revenues, raising the ratio of revenue to GDP, he pointed out.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said that Egypt can increase the ratio of tax to GDP by three or four per cent, Al-Mounayer said, something which would positively reflect on the deficit and financial balances.

He proposed the establishment of a new Higher Council for Tax Policy that would be independent from the states tax authority and speed up the process of issuing e-bills for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Larger entities have been enrolled in the system of e-bills already.

Al-Mounayer also suggested reducing the secrecy of bank accounts, as other countries have been doing, to enable the ETA to gain information on the financial situations of taxpayers.

Regarding the Egyptian Stock Exchange, he said that foreign investors should be subject to capital gains tax instead of simply the stamp duty.

According to the new law, the state budget is prepared and implemented in line with the objectives of state economic and social development plans and strategic goals and evaluated according to international standards in this regard, he added.

Economic expert Hani Tawfik said that the budget should have an economic, as well as a financial, role, explaining that the absence of a ministry of the economy had put the burden of drafting it on the Finance Ministry.

The law carries over financial allocations to following years if they are not spent during the year in which they are accredited and includes regulations to help reduce the budget deficit, Tawfik said.

In addition, it contains rules to ensure wise financial planning and plans for the future financial performance of administrative bodies, he added.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 21 October, 2021 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly

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Tourism in the Red Sea region is gaining momentum, with occupancy rates of 80 per cent and rising, Chair of the Egyptian Red Sea Hotels Association Alaa Akel says.

Egypts Red Sea hotels are enjoying 80 per cent occupancy rates, and the easing of restrictions on movement previously in place due to the Covid-19 pandemic is expected to keep them even busier, Alaa Akel, CEO of the Jaz Hotel Group and chair of the Egyptian Red Sea Hotels Association, told Al-Ahram Weekly.

Over the last decade, Egypt has faced multiple challenges to tourism, starting with the 25 January Revolution, the halting of British and Russian flights to some destinations, and then the Covid-19 pandemic.

Before the pandemic started in early 2020, Egypts tourism revenues had drastically improved, recording $13 billion in 2019, Akel said. The following year was harsh on Egypts Red Sea resorts, and the country lost more than 75 per cent of its tourism revenues, recording only $4 billion in 2020.

The cabinets Coronavirus Crisis Committee brought all tourist activities to a halt in Egypt in March 2020. Hotel establishments reopened in May 2020 with an occupancy rate of 25 per cent, increasing in June to 50 per cent and in August 2021 to 70 per cent.

2021 started on a good note and is getting even better, Akel said. Tourist numbers from Germany, Poland, and some Eastern European countries, with the exception of Russia, to Red Sea destinations gradually improved in the first half of 2021. Russia decided to resume flights to the Red Sea in August after more than a five-year hiatus, Akel added.

In the first half of this year, Egypt received 3.5 million tourists who brought in revenues of between $3.5 and $4 billion, according to Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities figures.

Akel expects a tourist boom in Egyptian destinations during the last quarter of 2021, especially after many countries have lifted their travel ban on the Red Sea.

Several airlines have resumed or increased their flights to the Red Sea, he added. In late September, the UK updated its travel advice to move Egypt off its red list of travellers from countries deemed a coronavirus risk.

There are 69,000 hotel rooms in the Red Sea region out of a total of 210,000 in Egypt. They have increased their capacity by adding some 1,500-2,000 rooms, Akel stated.

The Red Sea hotels are also currently gearing up to participate in the World Travel Market held in London in November, Akel said, adding that this event is important in promoting tourist destinations during the winter season.

Egypt is a well-known destination for British tourists who favour the countrys cultural and coastal attractions, Akel said, saying they are known for their high-spending, long stays, and repeat visits.

Over the past two weeks, more British tourists have been staying in Red Sea resorts, recording higher earnings for Egyptian tourism than from Eastern European tourists, he said.

It will be difficult to judge the spending of Russian tourists before another six months due to the five-year halt of Russian tourism, he added.

At present, the majority of Red Sea tourists come from Germany, Russia, the Ukraine, Poland, the Czech Republic, Romania, and Kazakhstan, Akel noted, adding that Egypt ventured into new markets in Eastern Europe and Central Asia when there was a retreat from its main markets of Russia, the UK, and Germany.

Akel is optimistic about the winter figures, but he is concerned about the status of cultural tourism. Improvements have been recorded in coastal areas like Hurghada, Marsa Alam, and Sharm El-Sheikh, but tourism in Luxor and Aswan is still fragile, he said.

A boost in cultural tourism will require the collective effort of the public and private sectors, he suggested.

The Ministry of Tourism has recently decided to apply a minimum price of $40 and $28 for a five-star and four-star hotel room per night, respectively. The hotels are ready to apply the decree. These prices are very low anyway, especially for five-star hotels, Akel said.

The ministerial move is meant to prevent hotels from cutting prices too far when demand is low, he added.

The majority of hotels are striving to improve their revenues in the light of rising operating costs, and during the coronavirus crisis the government launched several incentives to help them out.

It assisted hotels in paying their electricity bills by reducing them to 40 per cent of the total, postponing the collection of late dues, and exempting them from paying real estate taxes until April 2021.

The government has strongly supported Egypts tourism sector throughout the pandemic, Akel concluded.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 21 October, 2021 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly

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With a cigarette in his mouth and careless attitude while riding his motorcycle to avoid being caught after his theft in Egypt's capital Cairo, a young man did not realize his face was being live-streamed to thousands of viewers through the mobile phone he had just stolen, which led to his arrest hours later on Tuesday.

Youm7 news website reporter was live broadcasting from a new Cairo highway near Al-Marg district to report the aftermath of an earthquake felt by Cairo residents when suddenly his mobile phone was snatched and viewers found out the mobile phone was airing the face of someone else running away on a motorcycle.

What started as a couple of hundreds viewers on a live stream of Youm 7 Facebook page early Tuesday turned into nearly 12,000 viewers who forgot the quake and focused on that live robbery taking place as the thief did not notice that the camera was on and put the mobile phone on what seems to be the motorcycle fuel tank while driving quickly in a careless way and smoking a cigarette.

Thousand of sarcastic comments made fun of him, describing him "the worst thief of the month" , "the most unfortunate thief in the world" and "highway to jail."

It took several minutes till he realised the mobile phone was on and needed to be shut down.

The thief was arrested later on the day, Egypt's Ministry of Interior stated on Wednesday evening.

The incident has been trending on social media with memes about "ill-fortuned thief" who was exposed in few minutes to millions of Egyptians.

Earlier on Tuesday, a magnitude 6.4 earthquake originated near Greece's Rhodes island hit the Eastern Mediterranean Sea with many residents in Egypt and other countries reporting having felt it.

*Correction: an earlier version of this report mistakenly stated that two others defendants took part in the robbery.

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The ninth trilateral summit between Egypt, Greece, and Cyprus kicked off on Tuesday in Athens with a focus on energy, regional developments and trilateral cooperation, according to Cypriot reports.

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi arrived in Athens earlier today to attend the summit.

El-Sisi met with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, where they discussed boosting bilateral cooperation at all levels.

The summit is being attending by El-Sisi, Mitsotakis, and Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades.

The ninth trilateral summit is part of a cooperation mechanism launched in 2014 between the three countries.

Todays summit will build on the achievements of the past eight ones, said presidential spokesman Bassam Rady.

Featuring high in the meeting are projects that are being implemented within the framework of the trilateral cooperation mechanism, Rady added.

The summit is also meant to enhance political dialogue between the three countries about how to counter challenges facing the Middle East and Eastern Mediterranean regions, the spokesman noted.

El-Sisi is set to hold a meeting with Anastasiades to discuss bilateral economic and trade relations, as well as regional files of mutual concern.

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Israel granted approval on Tuesday for 4,000 Palestinians to register as residents of the West Bank, the first such move in the Israeli-occupied territory in 12 years.

The newly regularised residents had already been living in the West Bank, including 1,200 people considered "undocumented" because they had not been registered with the Palestinian Population Registry and another 2,800 who had previously been identified as residents of the blockaded Gaza Strip.

Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz said he had approved the new registrations on "humanitarian" grounds as part of his "policy to strengthen the economy and improve the lives of Palestinians in Judea and Samaria," using the biblical terms for the southern and northern West Bank.

Israel has occupied the West Bank since the Six-Day War of 1967 and exercises full administrative control across much of the territory.

The new approvals will make thousands of people newly eligible to get Palestinian Authority identification documents and change their residential address.

The branch of the Israeli military responsible for civil affairs in the occupied Palestinian territories, COGAT, told AFP that Israel had not approved a new batch of Palestinian registrations in the West Bank since 2009.

Israel's governing coalition, which ended right-winger Benjamin Netanyahu's 12 straight years in office in June, is committed to boosting livelihoods in the West Bank.

Excluding annexed east Jerusalem, some 475,000 Israeli Jews live in settlements in the West Bank considered illegal under international law on land Palestinians claim as part of their future state.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, the former head of a settler lobby group, opposes Palestinian statehood and has ruled out formal peace talks with the Palestinian Authority during his tenure, saying he prefers to focus on economic improvements.

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The head of the UN nuclear watchdog agency expressed concern on Tuesday that Iran was holding up negotiations aimed at reviving the landmark accord that scales back its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.

International Atomic Energy Agency chief Raffael Grossi said he was still waiting for a "high level" discussion with Iranian officials in Tehran, as had been decided on in September.

"We agreed that there would be a high level discussion, and this has not materialized yet," Grossi told reporters in Washington. "I hope that this will be done soon."

Grossi said he is slated to return to Tehran for "a political discussion" with senior Iranian officials.

"It could be the president, could be the foreign minister, I don't know. It is for them to say," Grossi added.

On September 12, the IAEA negotiated with Iran a new compromise on monitoring Iran's nuclear program amid hopes for restarting talks in Vienna on bringing the 2015 deal with Tehran back to life.

Grossi also lamented that UN inspectors still did not have access to a centrifuge components manufacturing unit at the Tesa complex located in Karaj, near Tehran, contrary to the September deal.

"We have a problem because the cameras were affected by an act of sabotage that occurred there," Grossi said. "Something happened and our cameras were affected."

In late September, Grossi warned that Iran must make its equipment and facilities accessible to monitors.

Then-president Donald Trump in 2018 withdrew the United States from the deal negotiated by his predecessor Barack Obama, arguing that it did not address other concerns on Iran including its support for regional militants that target US allies Israel and Saudi Arabia.

Since then Iran has stopped honoring some of its commitments under the accord.

President Joe Biden's administration is working to restore the deal.

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A boast by the leader of Hezbollah that he commands 100,000 fighters came as a surprise to many Lebanese, not least because it was addressed to a domestic audience rather than the militia's archenemy Israel.

Experts say the figure, which exceeds the size of Lebanon's army by about 15,000 troops, is an exaggeration. But Hassan Nasrallah's brag is likely to further ratchet up anxiety about a return to sectarian fighting in the small country roiled by a series of devastating crises.

``This is more about flexing Hezbollah's muscles to demonstrate its power against other opposing political parties that want to undermine it,'' said Dina Arakji, a researcher at Control Risks, a Dubai-based global risk consultancy group.

Nasrallah made the declaration Monday as part of the growing confrontation over a judicial investigation into last year's massive Beirut port explosion that killed more than 215 people and devastated parts of the city. Hezbollah and its Shia allies from the Amal Movement led by Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri want the lead judge removed, accusing him of bias.

Deadly gunbattles broke out last week in Beirut during a demonstration organized by the two Shia parties, after their supporters came under fire as they marched through Christian neighborhoods on their way to the Justice Palace. Clashes with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, reminiscent of the 1975-90 civil war, played out for several hours along a former front line separating the Muslim and Christian sectors of the city.

The Iran-backed Hezbollah accused the Christian Lebanese Forces party of starting the fighting in which seven Shia were killed. Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea denied his group was the aggressor, but said residents of Christian areas could not be blamed for defending themselves against armed Hezbollah militiamen marching through their neighborhoods.

In Monday's speech, Nasrallah accused Geagea of seeking to reignite a civil war and said he was forced to announce the number of Hezbollah fighters ``not to threaten a civil war, but to prevent one.''

Hezbollah is a largely secretive organization and it is difficult to independently verify Nasrallah's claim about the size of the force.. Hezbollah rarely comments on its military structure, weapons or number of fighters.

Most estimates for the number of fighters, however, range between 25,000 and 50,000, including 10,000 elite troops known as the Radwan Force and a separate reserve force. Hezbollah is known to have stepped up recruitment in the years after the 2006 war with Israel. In the past decade, however, it lost nearly 2,000 members while fighting in Syria alongside Syrian President Bashar Assad's forces in that country's civil war.

Nasrallah said in his speech that those troops were armed and trained for warfare against Israel, not for an internal armed conflict. Arakji, the analyst, said it was significant that he chose a speech about the Lebanese Forces and last week's Beirut violence to reveal the figure.

Hezbollah's claim about a 100,000-strong fighting force was particularly jarring because Lebanon's army only has about 85,000 troops. The country's financial crisis and currency collapse have severely impacted the military as an institution, and affected troop morale.

Last week's fighting was a rare instance of members of Hezbollah clashing with internal rivals, something the group has repeatedly pledged to avoid.

The group's reputation took a major hit in 2008, after its fighters overran predominantly Sunni Muslim neighborhoods in Beirut. It was considered the first time Hezbollah used its weapons internally since the end of the civil war in 1990. It came in response to the then-government of Prime Minister Fuad Saniora's decision to dismantle Hezbollah's crucial secret telecommunication network.

Some observers say Nasrallah's implicit threats reveal a degree of vulnerability of Hezbollah, even though it is the most dominant political and military force in Lebanon.

Hezbollah's Shia constituency, like other Lebanese communities, has been thrown into poverty by the country's severe financial crisis. More Lebanese regard the group, which once had popular support across religious sects for its resistance to Israel, as being part of a corrupt ruling class that drove the country to bankruptcy.

The group's recent campaign against Tarek Bitar, the judge leading the port blast investigation, is further pitting the group against many Lebanese who support him and seek justice and accountability.

Civil strife pitting Hezbollah fighters against rival Lebanese groups would be disastrous for the group, which already lost popularity for its involvement in Syria's civil war. Hezbollah officials have repeatedly said the group will not be pulled into an internal war _ a weak point its opponents like the Lebanese Forces might be looking to exploit as a way to gain popularity ahead of general elections expected next spring.

Hisham Jaber, a retired Lebanese general who heads the Middle East Center for Studies and Political Research, said Hezbollah will avoid civil war at all costs.

Hezbollah could easily take control of most of Lebanon militarily within a week, but this would hurt the group in the long term, Jaber said. ``Whenever they storm and control areas it will be the countdown for its (Hezbollah's) existence, because their presence in Lebanon is a resistance movement and not a force to fight in a civil war,`` he said.

Sarit Zahavi, a former Israeli military intelligence officer who runs the Alma research institute in northern Israel, said Nasrallah greatly exaggerated his group's military capabilities with the aim of intimidating his domestic rivals.

``His message is `I'm the strongest player in Lebanon',`` Zahavi said.

She said it could backfire against Nasrallah and draw further criticism in Lebanon. ``What he's actually saying is `I've built up great power not only to fight Israel but to fight Lebanese',`` she said.

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Mohamed Hanaa Abdel-Fattah Metwaly (known as Hanaa Abdel-Fattah) was born on 13 December 1944 in Cairo to a family submerged in the arts. In fact, his voice-over career started when he was just eight years old, after he was accepted by Baba Sharo (renowned radio figure Mohamed Mahmoud Shaaban) for a radio show.

He began acting at the age of eight, landing a number of roles in both radio and then film. In his early years, he worked with a number of renowned Egyptian directors, appearing in films such as Bab El-Hadid (Cairo Station, 1958) by Youssef Chahine, El-Fetewa (1957) by Salah Abu Seif, and a few other roles, topping them with his voice-over in a popular Egyptian radio series.

Within a few short years, Abdel-Fattah became among the most sought-after child actors in the country.

"Hanaa was something of a star then, with plenty of acting experience as well as three years of professional training behind him; and yet, he was gentle, quiet, modest, and unassuming," wrote the late Egyptian theatre critic and friend of Abdel-Fattah, Nehad Selaiha, in an obituary titled Exit Great Theatre Maker, published in Al-Ahram Weekly in October 2012.

Referring to his radio roles, Selaiha also added: "For years he had been a household name thanks to a long-running radio drama serial about the daily life of an ordinary middle-class Egyptian family in which he played the youngest son. The serial (The Family of Marzouq Effendi) was broadcast daily as part of a morning show targeting housewives and, indeed, non-working women of all ages, married or otherwise."

Among many other radio roles, Abdel-Fattah was also the voice of the 1960s Sindbad, a role which was particularly close to his heart and which he remembered for years to come.

Hanaa Abdel-Fattah was the son of journalist Abdel-Fattah Metwaly Ghabn, who worked for the national radio and authored Shakhseyat La Tonsa (Unforgettable Personalities), a series of articles in which he explored the lives of largely forgotten and underappreciated artists.

Abdel-Fattah found great support in his father, who nevertheless was worried about the young man's meanders in the artistic field, pointing to the many hardships that characterise it. The father's worries were partially calmed by the fact that Abdel-Fattah developed a very close relationship with Amina Rizk (1910-2003), renowned late Egyptian actress, who, as Abdel-Fattah often put it, was his "second mother in the world of arts," and who accompanied or supported the young man in his many radio, film and theatre works.

The career of the "miraculous child," as described by one critic of that time, continued to grow, but directing began to call to him more than anything else. He entered the High Institute of Theatrical Arts in the theatre, acting and directing department. At the same time, he studied script-writing at the Egyptian Cinema Institute.

Among his first significant works as theatre director was a highly experimental work titled 'Dunshuwai', a play that recalled the British execution of the villagers in Dunshuwai in 1906 and in which Abdel-Fattah cast peasants from the Upper Egypt's village. The play was very well received, bringing the work onto the stages of Cairo's National Theatre.

Following his studies in Egypt in the early 1970s, Metwaly left to continue his education in Poland. In more than two decades he spent there, he studied at the directing department of Warsaw's State Institute of Theatrical Arts, where he was the only foreign student to ever be accepted by the institute.

By the time he graduated from the State Theatre Academy with honours, he had become a well-known figure in Polish theatrical circles, gaining the love and respect of many Polish artists, theatre critics and directors. Many of the professors who used to teach him at the State Theatre Academy became his close friends. Renowned Polish actor and professor at the Academy Zbigniew Zapasiewicz (1934  2009) was especially impressed with Abdel-Fattah's unique perspective on the meanings and undertones of Polish dramas.

Abdel-Fattah went on to earn his PhD in theatre theory from Warsaw University. He was actively involved in Polish theatrical and intellectual circles, directing a number of plays in Warsaw and other European capitals. In 1986, his production of Carlo Goldoni's The Servant of Two Masters received the Polish audiences first prize.

While still in Poland, Abdel-Fattah began translating numerous works by Polish writers to Arabic, making many theatre-related gems available to the Arab world. A number of his translations continue to be part of the basic curriculum at the Arab theatre institutes; they include The Aesthetics of Theatre Directing by Zygmunt Hubner (1930-1989), one of the leading Polish actors, directors and academics; and Lessons from the Grotowski Theatre (Jerzy Grotowski, 1933-1999), a Polish director, theatre researcher and educator, referred to as the founder of the new acting style. Abdel-Fattah also published a translation of Grotowski's book The Poor Theatre. Apart from his theatre-related translations, Abdel-Fattah also translated a number of theatre plays and short stories by renowned Polish writers, playwrights and poets. Poets such as Czeslaw Milosz and Wislawa Szymborska, winners of the Nobel Prize for Literature, in addition to the many poets introduced to the Arab world through Abdel-Fattah's translations and were presented in the Cultural Program in the radio series Poets and Their Poems from 1995 to 1999.

Abdel-Fattah received numerous awards from Polish and Egyptian governments and independent institutions. From the Polish government his awards include the Polish Literary Syndicate Prize and the International Theatre Institute award for promoting cross-cultural dialogue between Poland and the Arab world. In 2011, he was granted the Appreciation Award by the Egyptian government for his lifetime contribution to culture.

In June 2012, he was awarded the Gold Medal for Merit to Culture by the Polish Ministry of Culture, given to persons and organisations who make exceptional contributions to Polish culture and heritage.

Abdel-Fattah was among very few international artists to have received the Gloria Artis medal by the Polish Ministry of Culture and, as Selaiha recalled, the award boasts among its former recipients distinguished figures such as the Italian author and theatre director Eugenio Barba.

It was in the last decade of his life that Abdel-Fattah made his return to Egyptian cinemas. Among his numerous roles were those in films such as El-Sefara fi El-Omara (2005), El-Shabah (2007), Cairo Time (2009), among others, as well as television series such as Ayza Atgawez (I Want to Get Married) starring Hend Sabry. He played the role of Professor Badawi in Fair Game (2010), a USA drama directed by Doug Liman.

Abdel-Fattah died in Cairo on 19 October 2012 after a long battle with cancer. He left behind his Polish wife, Dorota Metwaly, who dedicated her life to supporting Abdel-Fattah in life, career and numerous translation works; and three daughters.

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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Al-Ahram Weekly reports on the escalating conflict between the London- and Turkish-based wings of the Muslim Brotherhood

On 11 October, Ibrahim Mounir, the London-based acting supreme guide of the Muslim Brotherhood, dismissed six of the groups leaders  Mahmoud Hussein, the Brotherhoods secretary-general; Mohamed Abdel-Wahab, chairman of the Association of Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood Expatriates; Hammam Ali Youssef, chairman of the Brotherhoods office in Turkey, and three members of the Brotherhoods Shura Council, Medhat Al-Haddad, Mamdouh Mabrouk, and Ragab Al-Banna  all of whom currently reside in Istanbul.

Mounir appointed London-based Osama Suleiman and Sohaib Abdel-Maqsoud as the groups spokespersons, replacing Turkish-based Talaat Fahmi.

In a statement, Mounir accused Brotherhood leaders in Turkey of corruption, telling the London-based Muslim Brotherhood TV channel Al-Hiwar on 15 October that the dismissals were part of an internal corrective movement that included dissolving the Brotherhoods administrative office and Shura Council in Turkey.

Mounirs decisions were rejected by the Muslim Brotherhoods office in Turkey which mooted the possibility of dismissing Mounir from his post as acting supreme guide. The Hussein-led wing in Istanbul said Mounirs decisions represent a coup against the group, and revealed that it was in the process of naming a new supreme guide who can gain the approval of Brotherhood members.

Amr Abdel-Moneim, a researcher on Islamist movements, told Arabiya TV there has long been talk of corruption among the Brotherhoods leaders in Turkey.

The groups Turkish administrative office receives an estimated $1.7 billion monthly in financial donations from different sources, said Abdel-Moneim, and younger members of the group, including many who fled Egypt following the removal of the Muslim Brotherhood regime in 2013, accuse the old guard of using the money to enrich themselves.

Amr Farouk, another researcher, told Sky News TV that the conflict between the groups two wings erupted some months ago, when Egypt and Turkey began to move towards reconciliation. As part of that process, Turkey clamped down on the groups anti-Egyptian television channels, and expelled a number of its media specialists.

Young members now face the threat of being deported from Turkey. They complain of the hardships they face and blame the groups leadership in Istanbul of doing nothing to help them.

MP Mustafa Bakri, editor of the weekly Al-Osbou, believes the Muslim Brotherhood is facing an existential crisis.

After losing power in Egypt, Sudan, Tunisia and Morocco, the group found many doors closing. Even Turkey and Qatar are moving to their support and reconcile with Egypt.

Turkey, which once welcomed the group, is now seeking to uproot it, says Bakri, noting that the only place in which the group now has a safe haven is London.

Bakri argues the crisis within the Brotherhood stems from its lack of credible leadership following the arrest and referral to trial on charges of terrorism and espionage of Mahmoud Ezzat, the groups supreme guide. Cairos Criminal Court announced last week that it will deliver its judgement on Ezzats case on 19 December.

In his interview with Al-Hiwar channel, Mounir conceded Ezzats arrest had left the Brotherhood rudderless.

This is one of the worst crises through which the Muslim Brotherhood has passed and it began when the group was removed from office in Egypt and its then supreme guide  Mohamed Badie  was arrested.

Farouk says young Brothers are angry not only at the corruption of the groups Turkish-based leaders, but at their failure to reach any kind of reconciliation with the government in Egypt, a step which would help towards the release activists currently serving jail terms.

Al-Arabiya.net reported on 16 October that some Brotherhood members in Istanbul had taken to social media, particularly Telegram, to accuse leaders of misusing funds, and that the vitriolic exchanges show how deep the crisis within the group goes.

This conflict, argues Farouk, could lead to Mounirs wing taking control of the Istanbul office, or the Istanbul office declaring its independence from London. The latter case will result in the Brotherhood being divided into two groups, with two heads.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 21 October, 2021 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly

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President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi flew to the Greek Capital Athens on Tuesday to attend the ninth trilateral summit between Egypt, Greece, and Cyprus.

During the summit, the three countries signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) covering energy cooperation. Last week, during the minister of electricity and renewable energys visit to Athens a MoU was signed to build an undersea cable connecting the Egyptian and Greek power grids. An almost identical MoU was signed between Egypt and Cyprus on Saturday, which will see the two countries exchange up to two gigawatts of electricity.

The memoranda are all part of the Euro-Africa $4 billion interconnector project, an electricity highway connecting the national grids of Egypt, Cyprus and Greece via a 1396km submarine cable.

The summit also saw the initialling of an agreement between the three states covering immigration.

This weeks summit will build on the achievements of earlier summits, says Presidential Spokesman Bassam Rady.

The ninth trilateral summit is part of a cooperation mechanism launched in 2014 between Egypt, Greece, and Cyprus. The summits quickly turned into a broad alliance fostering cooperation across a range of economic, political, and strategic interests.

During the sixth summit in Crete in 2018 the three countries decided to establish the East Mediterranean Gas Forum (EMGF). Headquartered in Cairo, EMGF also includes France, Italy, Jordan, Palestine, and Israel as members.

During this weeks summit, President Al-Sisi held bilateral meetings with the Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades to discuss economic and trade relations, and regional files of mutual concern.

The 10th tripartite summit is scheduled for December.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 21 October, 2021 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly

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The second edition of Al-Ahram Pharmaceutical Conference foregrounded the potential of Egypts pharmaceutical industry.

The manufacture of medicines is a national security issue, and is crucial for advancing the Egyptian economy, Mahmoud Al-Metini, president of Ain Shams University, told participants at the second edition of Al-Ahram Pharmaceutical Conference (APHC) held earlier this week.

APHC Chair Al-Metini added that developing the industry had become an urgent priority in the wake of the unprecedented global challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic, and providing safe and effective medicines to ensure better health outcomes is one of the UNs Sustainable Development Goals and a core ambition of Egypts Vision 2030.

The two-day conference kicked off on 16 October by reviewing the challenges and risks the industry faces and the measures needed to foster scientific research and facilitate technology transfer.

Egypt already has the infrastructure to develop and manufacture new drugs. There are 159 licensed drug factories, and 80 more are being built. In the first half of 2021 Egypt produced LE40 billion worth of medicines, seven per cent more than the year before, of which $250 million worth were exported.

According to Al-Metini, Egypts pharmaceutical industry ranks among Africas top five. Egypt also has research centres keen to participate with the international scientific community in developing new drugs. Throughout the APHC, attendees stressed the need to implement Law 214/2020 which regulates medical research and trials. Though approved by President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi, it still lacks executive regulations.

The Middle East currently spends $500 million on clinical research, providing 400 new job opportunities annually, said Al-Metini.

Research is core to localising the pharmaceutical industry in Egypt, said Hisham Al-Ghazali, head of the research centre at Ain Shams Universitys Faculty of Medicine, and much remains to be done to facilitate effective communication between clinical research centres.

Though Egypt already produces 94 per cent of its drug needs, reported Riad Armanious, the CEO of EVA pharmaceutical group, researchers still need technical support, particularly when it comes to pre-clinical trials.

As part of its efforts to roll out universal health insurance, Egypt has been scaling up its healthcare infrastructure, upgrading clinics and hospitals and constructing new health units. Universal health insurance is expected to cost LE210 billion ($13.38 billion) annually once the entire population is enrolled.

Localising the pharmaceutical industry requires mechanisms for strategic partnerships with global firms, argued Amr Mamdouh, chair of Egypts City of Medicine, aka GYPTO Pharma. The city is a hub for the manufacture of medicines and vaccines, occupying 180,000 square metres in Khankah, Qalioubiya north of Cairo.

Mohamed Mustafa, Ego Pharmaceuticals regional director for Egypt and Saudi Arabia, pointed out that Egypt is one of the fastest growing pharmaceutical markets in the Middle East and North Africa. The City of Medicine is key to achieving drug security and producing effective and safe medicines, and is being prepped not only to become a regional hub for international companies but also to pivot towards biotechnological industries.

Yousri Nawwar, Pfizers country manager for Egypt and Sudan and head of the Egyptian Society for Drug Production and Research (ESDPR), addressed the opportunities and challenges facing the pharmaceutical industry in Egypt and the localisation of drug manufacturing.

Nawwar underlined how President Al-Sisi had singled out developing the drug industry as central to Egypts Vision 2030, not only as a powerful economic engine, but as core to improving public health, a major goal of the Decent Life initiative.

ESDPR comprises 22 international pharmaceutical companies operating in Egypt. It seeks to consolidate strategic partnerships across the pharmaceutical sector and provide the latest treatments.

Covid-19, said Nawwar, had lent impetus to collaborations on research between pharmaceutical companies which are currently developing 4,100 medicines to combat communicable and noncommunicable diseases.

The ESDPR is committed to working with the government to effect policies and draft legislation to develop the pharmaceutical industry.

The government has repeatedly increased the budget for healthcare, said Minister of Finance Mohamed Maait. Allocations for childrens drugs and milk formulas increased by 43 per cent in 2021-22, and support for health insurance programmes had increased to the tune of LE1.2 billion.

Maait reiterated the words of President Al-Sisi during the UN meeting on comprehensive healthcare in 2019, saying that governments and development partners should work on finding quick and efficient solutions to boosting healthcare services which are essential to creating decent lives.

Comprehensive healthcare can only be achieved when access to medicines and to technological advances is available for all peoples, said Maait.

The coronavirus pandemic had underlined not only the need for solid and flexible healthcare systems capable of enduring economic downturns, Maait noted, but also how drug manufacturing is key to countries national security.

Maait pointed out that Article 18 of the 2014 constitution stipulates that every citizen has the right to access quality healthcare, to which end the government was pushing ahead with a universal health insurance system.

In March 2020, following the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, LE100 billion  or two per cent of GDP  was allocated to mitigating the impact of the crisis, of which LE16.5 billion was allocated to the healthcare sector.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 21 October, 2021 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly

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On Saturday, President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi inaugurated 13,800 residential units as part of ongoing efforts to relocate citizens who live in unsafe areas. The new homes will house more than 65,000 people.

In 2014, when Egypt launched plans to construct 250,000 housing units at the cost of LE63 billion, 14 million Egyptians were living in slum areas. Of these, says Housing Minister Assem Al-Gazzar, 1.7 million lived in unsafe areas and 12 million in unplanned areas.

If the state hadnt intervened, adds Al-Gazzar, the number of residents of unsafe and unplanned areas would have reached three million and 15 million respectively.

Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, Al-Gazzar said 210,000 of the planned 250,000 units had now been built.

This year will see the completion of the development of unsafe areas and the relocation of residents to alternative housing units, said Al-Gazzar.

In press statements issued the same day, Al-Gazzars deputy said the remaining 40,000 housing units would be delivered by the end of the year.

During the inauguration, President Al-Sisi called on the relevant authorities to cooperate to provide essential utilities and create job opportunities in the new neighbourhoods.

The housing projects inaugurated on Saturday include Rawdet October, which will rehouse residents of Nazlet Al-Semman, an unsafe area adjunct to the Giza Plateau, which is home to 4,000 people, or 829 families.

The first phase of the project comprises 2,500 three-room units built at the cost of LE1.5 billion.

According to head of the Armed Forces Engineering Authority Ihab Al-Far, the second phase of the Ahalina (Our People) project, overseen by the authority, was also among the inaugurated units.

Completed in just 18 months, Ahalina phase two comprises 1,400 units, 90 m2 each, in 34 residential blocs in Salam City east of Cairo. It extends over an area of 15 feddans, and costs LE1.1 billion.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 21 October, 2021 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly

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Is the military gaining more popular power in Sudan? Haitham Nouri dissects the body of alliances

Thousands of Sudanese protesters rallied outside the presidential palace on Saturday in support of the army, demanding the dissolution of the government and a cabinet of qualified ministers.

The demonstrations are seen as a response to the protests of 30 September, called for by politicians supporting the civil component of government.

Since the fall of Omar Al-Bashir in April 2019, Sudans sovereign council has governed through a power-sharing agreement between the military and civilians. But tensions between the two camps have been continuous.

Complicating the matter further, the civilian camp, represented by the Forces of Freedom and Change (FFC), is divided into supporters of the Charter of National Accord and loyalists to the Central Council. The former party declared their political accord last week, calling for expanding political participation, consolidating the institutions of the transitional period and forming a government of competent figures with broad political support.

Prominent forces that signed the declaration include the Sudan Liberation Army led by Minni Arko Minawi, the governor of Darfur  the largest region in Sudan, which endured a vicious war that claimed the lives of over 300,000 people  as well as the Justice and Equality Movement led by Jibril Ibrahim, the minister of finance. Both are armed organisations that fought against the Al-Bashir regime during the bloody conflict in Darfur.

These forces are maintaining closer ties with the military despite the fact that the vice-president of the sovereign council is Mohamed Hamdan Dagala, aka Hamidti, who is the leader of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

The majority of the RSF hail from Arab tribes that took part in the Darfur war. They were commonly known at the time as the Janjaweed militias and they are accused of war crimes.

In 2009 the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Al-Bashir together with tens of government officials, Janjaweed leaders, and members of opposition movements on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Meanwhile, east Sudan has been embroiled in large-scale protests for months, leading the Sudanese government to resort to Egypts port to import medicine, fuel and food.

According to the constitutional declaration of August 2019, Sudans legislative elections are slated for early 2024. However, the protests led by leaders of Beja tribes and supporters of the Charter of National Accord are demanding the installation of a government of qualified figures until the elections due date.

These demands are similar to the militarys.

Supporters of civilian rule demand the formation of a real revolutionary legislative council, the abolition of the Transitional Sovereign Council, restructuring the regular forces, reforming the judiciary and the formation of a Constitutional Court.

The Professionals Association, the umbrella group that led the protests that overthrew Al-Bashir, demanded ending partnership with the military council and abolishing the constitutional declaration. It called for putting in place a purely civilian rule, describing the transitional authority as void.

Tensions rose following the coup attempt of 21 September, where the civilian and military camps exchanged accusations.

President of the sovereign council and army leader Abdul-Fattah Al-Burhan said the regular forces  including the RSF  quashed the coup attempt, adding that the army is the guardian of the nation and the revolutions goals were lost amid the politicians  fight over power.

In response, the Minister of Cabinet Affairs Khaled Omar Youssef said Al-Burhans speech about the armys guardianship of Sudan due to political divisions is a direct threat to the transitional phase.

The conflict in Sudan is deeper than a struggle between the civilian and military sides, said Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok on Saturday. The current tensions are the result of rifts inside the military camp and divisions within the civilian side, in addition to tensions between the two.

This is the closest description to the reality on the ground, said Sherif Zein Al-Abidine, a professor of political science in Khartoum. The rifts within the military are not visible, due to the discipline of the army institution, unlike the case with the FFC, he said.

However, the military will suffer from the disagreement between their supports, such as the RSF and the Native Administration, that is the tribal leaderships of west Sudan Bedouins,on one hand and the loyalists of the Charter of National Accord on the other, Zein Al-Abidine added.

It remains unknown whether the Beja in the east will be in harmony with the warring parties of Darfur, he continued.

Many observers are monitoring the moves of the National Umma Party, spearheaded by Foreign Minister Mariam Al-Mahdi, and the Federal Gathering. Both are with the FFCs Central Council.

In addition, many fear splits will occur with the Professionals Association, being a reflection of the tensions brewing in Sudanese society, said Zein Al-Abidine.

Not only is the military known for its discipline, it is also counted on in matters of war and peace, he added. The military was able to stop the war, and it can disarm the militias, integrate them into the army or compensate them, and, of course, protect peace in Sudan, he stated.

The military will not be strong without popular support. It is currently working towards creating a political and public incubator, as the Khartoum media reported.

Indeed, the military is advancing on this track after armed movements in Darfur, the Native Administration and Beja leaders expressed their support.

Local reports point to rapprochement between the military and Sufi leaderships. These are influential elements in the agricultural regions of central and north Sudan.

Thus far, it is not foreseen Sudans Popular Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) will join the civilian camp. The SPLM-N represents the regions of the South Blue Nile, under the leadership of Malik Aqar, and Nubia Mountains to the south, led by Abdul-Aziz Al-Helw.

If these groups announce their support for the military, the army will be enjoying the backing of the majority of Sudans influential social forces, and some groups from the middle class will be left out.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 21 October, 2021 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly

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In the aftermath of World War II, amidst the massive destruction and loss of life it had caused, the victorious powers gathered together to create a world forum tasked with the preservation of international peace and security. The United Nations was born.

Realising that economic factors were the main drivers of international relations and conflicts, these same powers also founded a world financial system that aimed to enable international cooperation to prevail over friction, and free trade to prevail over protectionism. The result was the three organisations that would become known as the Bretton Woods Institutions: the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

Influence over these organisations has always been determined by two factors: the relative contributions of member states to global gross domestic product and the membership dues they pay. Accordingly, the US has had the greatest say in the World Bank and the IMF, controlling about 15 per cent of the votes in the former and 16.5 per cent in the latter.

For much of the post-WWII period, the state of the world economy ensured that the US remained unrivalled at the helm of the international political and economic orders. The same can no longer be said today, owing to the rise of China and of emergent economic blocs such as BRICS. These new forces have begun to demand changes to the rules governing voting rights in these organisations commensurate with changes in the two aforementioned factors.

Today, China has the second-largest economy in the world, with a GDP of $16.6 trillion in 2020, according to IMF figures. US GDP stood at $22.6 billion last year. China has closed the gap considerably since 1970, when its GDP was $91 billion compared to the USs $1 trillion. This has lent weight to mounting demands for reform, but these have always run up against the wall of the Western bloc. The resentment this has caused among the developing nations has been accompanied by a diminishing confidence in these institutions and their right to steer the global economy, at least in their current form.

Not only have the Western countries ignored the demands of the developing nations, they have also not increased their membership dues enough to meet the Bretton Woods Institutions growing burdens. Consequently, the organisations management boards have turned to the developing nations to increase their contributions to their budgets. This has given the emergent nations, China above all, unprecedented influence in these organisations, and has in turn caused the Western countries to lose some of their once absolute confidence in them.

The most salient expression of this diminished confidence was former US president Donald Trumps wrangle with the WTO during his term in office. If he had acted on his threat to withdraw the US from this organisation, it would have deprived it of a large chunk of its budget, not to mention the largest market in the world, equivalent to a fifth of the global economy. The WTO would have effectively collapsed. Why would other countries want to adhere to free-market rules when the largest and most advanced economy in the world refused to do so?

Trump went beyond threats to action when, for example, the US kept the WTO from performing its role in safeguarding free trade by exercising its adjudication rights and its right to penalise those breaking market rules. The Trump administration obstructed the appointment of judges to the WTO Appellate Body, the highest instance of that organisations dispute-settlement process. Without that bodys rulings, there can no enforcement, leaving the rules of the free-trade system without a crucial safeguard since countries could feel free to violate them with impunity.

The latest crisis of mistrust has hit both the World Bank and the IMF. It has taken the form of the World Banks allegation that its former CEO, Kristelina Georgieva, pressured staff working on the World Banks Doing Business report to inflate Chinas rankings in its indexes. The reports Ease of Doing Business rankings have become one of the most important guides for investors planning to do business in any country and helps them to direct their investments. Both the IMF and the World Bank have initiated a review of the rankings and an investigation into the allegations.

One might think that this would ultimately count in Georgievas favour, if she acted in a way that got China to increase its contribution to the World Bank. However, not only has she adamantly denied the allegation, but she has also countered that her predecessor as World Bank president, Jim Yong Kim, tried to persuade her to include Hong Kong data into Chinas in order to up Chinas ratings, but she refused, she said.

To developing nations, the allegations against Georgieva, who went on to become the managing director of the IMF, were not aimed at her personally but at developing nations as a whole. Firstly, as a Bulgarian, she is the first IMF chief from this category. Secondly, she has dedicated much of her energies in office to serving the developing nations. She fought to secure $30 billion in facilitated loans to help them overcome the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, and she pressured wealthy nations to reduce, reschedule and write off the debts of the poorest nations.

It is therefore little wonder that 16 African nations, most notably Egypt, Nigeria and Ethiopia, wrote to the IMF board of governors to voice their support for Georgieva, express their appreciation for her efforts, and urge fairness and precision in the investigations.

Unfortunately, rather than subside, this crisis in confidence in the Bretton Woods Institutions grew worse when the World Bank and IMF came to conflicting conclusions in their investigations on Georgieva. Whereas the former found that she had indeed pressured staff to fudge Chinas ratings, the IMF executive board released a statement expressing its full confidence in her, saying that the IMF investigation could find no evidence of wrongdoing on her part.

The situation has reached a stage where reform is essential before it is too late. From the developments described above, it is clear that the Bretton Woods Institutions have lost their autonomy and integrity. Unless trust is restored to the guardians of the world economy, international tensions will rise, especially now that the WTO Appellate Body has resumed its work.

What will happen if the parties to a dispute refuse to recognise and abide by its rulings and the penalties it imposes? One can only begin to imagine the consequences in the case of a transatlantic dispute or, worse, one between the West and China.

*The writer is a senior researcher at the Egyptian Centre for Strategic Studies (ECSS).

*A version of this article appears in print in the 21 October, 2021 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly

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Many questions surrounding fateful issues in the US remain unanswered. Some, such as whether the US Supreme Court will overturn Roe vs Wade  the ruling that protects a womans right to have an abortion on the grounds that the foetus is part of her body  are of little concern to us here in the Arab world. Other issues concern us to some extent in that they affect how the US government works. An example is the question of a possible ban on the filibuster because of how this practice affects the legislative process. Originally conceived as a means to protect the parliamentary minoritys right to speech, the filibuster involves speaking at great length in order prevent the passage of a particular law.

According to Senate rules, senators can speak for as long as they like on any subject. It initially took a two-thirds vote to end a filibuster, although this majority was reduced to 60 votes in 1971. The filibuster might force a parliamentary majority to negotiate with the minority in order to reach a compromise on controversial parts of a proposal. But what happens when compromise is impossible, as is the case more and more? They shut down the federal government by preventing the passage of the federal budget act. A bipartisan is needed if an agreement is to be reached at all, though this is generally only a stopgap measure.

The Supreme Court, the highest judicial body, has powers and jurisdictions that balance and check the authority of the executive and legislative branches. But a certain element of luck plays a part in its constitution. Unlike elected officials in executive and legislative government, the terms of Supreme Court justices are unlimited. Once appointed to the court, they serve on it for the rest of their life. The US Constitution did not stipulate a set number of judges on the Supreme Court, though the custom for decades has been nine. Trump had the good fortune to be able to choose three justices, making the ratio of conservatives to liberals on the bench six to three. The Democrats want to restrict or even abolish the right to filibuster, yet they are now feeling generous towards the Supreme Court, hoping to increase the number of judges in order to restore balance and keep the US justice system from collapse.

The most exciting question and the hardest to answer is whether the former US president Donald Trump will run for the presidency again in 2024. Although Trump has taken every opportunity to drop hints that he does plan to be the Republican candidate, he has yet to come out and say this openly. Apparently he likes to keep people guessing. His close associates say he will run, but they also know that everything he does is calculated to strengthen his voter base. At this point, saying nothing works in his favour makes his existing base, who support him unconditionally whether he is in the White House or out, cling to him more.

Trump has two main goals to accomplish before 2024. The first is to ensure the victories of his supporters in the midterm congressional elections in 2022 and to other important posts in state elections. The second is to eliminate all potential rivals in the Republican Party primaries. He wants total control of his party while managing his campaign against the Democratic candidate, be it Biden or someone else. Accordingly, Trump opposes all Republicans within the party who are playing both sides of the fence, who have bridges with the Democrats or, worse, support his main Republican opponent, the representative of the moderates, Liz Cheney, whose defiance against Trumps hegemony and prominent status in the party, as well as the fact that she is a woman, give her distinct advantages.

One of Trumps avenues back to the White House begins at a point that most Americans have grown fed up with: his rejection of the results of the last presidential elections. Trump continues to claim that the polls that gave Biden a win were rigged and that even dead people voted. Trump has never won a single suit challenging the results in this state or that, and none of the audits and recounts have altered the results in any significant way. All that he has reaped has been growing dislike for him and the Republicans because of the unfounded charges he hurls against Democrats, the electoral system and mail-in votes, and more importantly because of his attacks on civil servants involved in the electoral process, many of whom were members of the judiciary and of unassailable integrity. Trump probably knows all this, but reiterates the accusations anyway out of the conviction that repeating a lie will make it true.

Trumps other main route back to the White House rests on the failure of the Democrats and, specifically, Biden. The handling of the departure from Afghanistan, impasses on the national budget act and infrastructure bill, and problems fighting Covid-19, which has taken more lives in Bidens term so far than it had during the same number of months under Trump last year, have not reflected well on the current administration. Two major factors are working in Trumps favour. The first is the pressures the Democratic Party progressives are putting on Biden. With virtually every bill he proposes he has to overcome resistance from progressives even before dealing with the obstructionism of the Republicans. Pressures from the left have also opened the Democratic Party to the charge of being socialist. Secondly, by pressuring Biden, Trump whips up his base the effect of which is to force the Republican right to cling more closely to Trump, increase their donations and drum up votes. In addition to the foregoing, the Democrats have given Trump the opportunity to portray their party in the way the Republicans always have, as the party that spends too much and is weak on foreign policy (even though it was Trump, himself, who pushed for withdrawing from Afghanistan and the entire Middle East). The ease with which Biden returned to negotiations with Iran gave Trump additional fodder to call the Democrats soft.

So, will Trump become president again on 20 January 2025?

Most likely not. For one thing, there are still a couple of dozen civil and criminal lawsuits hanging over his head, and at least one of these could end with a conviction. Secondly, the ongoing stream of tell-alls about Trump published by family members and others close to him has revealed a lot of damaging information. There are also the investigate works such as Bob Woodwards and Robert Costas recently released Peril, which sets out to document the degree of peril to which the US was exposed under Trump.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 21 October, 2021 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly

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Looking for balanced reporting on Egypt in the Western media can be like trying to find a needle in a haystack, part of a phenomenon produced by the Muslim Brotherhood/

How does the West see us? is a question that anyone visiting Egypt often hears. Egypt is seen in the West as an authoritarian and tyrannical dystopia, would be the honest answer. Almost always, the wondering words, but, why? follow. Most Egyptians do not feel that this description matches the Egypt they are living in.

As a result, because there are no easy answers as to why the narrative on their country tends to be negative, arguments about the West plotting against the Arab countries tend to fill the void. Such conspiracy theories strengthen anti-Western sentiment and represent an obstacle towards peace, dialogue and cooperation.

However, the anti-Egyptian narrative is an equally unfortunate obstacle that ought also to be deconstructed.

Looking for positive or balanced reporting on Egypt in the Western media can be like trying to find a needle in a haystack. Little to no attention is given to the progress occurring in Egypt such as the increased protection of Egypts Christians, the renovation of previously damaged Jewish heritage sites and synagogues, the combating of extremism and terrorist recruitment, the reform of religious teaching and Islamic interpretation and the promotion of ideological diversity among scholars of theology.

Other areas where progress has been made lie in urging Egyptian immigrants in the West to respect Western values, improving the countrys infrastructure and housing challenges, combating childhood diseases and mortality rates and strengthening womens rights in society and politics.

As commentator Cynthia Farahat has noted, while there is certainly room for improvement in the regimes governance and policies, it is no less important to recognise President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi for the historic reformer he is. Celebratory descriptions aside, even moderately bright reports about, for instance, how Al-Sisi seems to have no weakness for corruption, as the US magazine New Yorker puts it, are quite rare. Instead, negative stories seem to dominate Western discourse, leading to a narrative that remains largely unquestioned.

An old and overused, but certainly valid explanation, is that orientalism still exists across most of Western media. For instance, a 2017 article in the New Yorker said that Egyptian pride sometimes drives policy, and officials have a reputation for being hot-tempered. A 2014 article in the US publication Politico noted that the US trained him and funds his regime. So why wont Al-Sisi listen?

There are countless more examples of such stereotypical portrayals and neocolonialist conceptualisations in the Western media. Taken together, they create an image of a country that cannot be trusted to govern and protect itself.

A case in point was when in November 2020 the Austrian police conducted more than 50 raids against members of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) in that country. Shortly after the terrorist attack that occurred in the same month, they announced a set of security measures aimed at preventing terrorism and curbing increasingly violent extremism. Despite some heavy criticism, the consensus was one of acceptance and understanding of the police actions given the circumstances.

Why should the same right not be granted to Egypt, which ranked 14 in the 2020 Global Terrorism Index, when most European countries rank far lower in terms of the terrorist threat?

At the same time, evidence of Eurocentrism can also be found in the pragmatic policies that many Western countries pursue. These policies are seen to benefit the West without regard for how they might negatively impact the other party, in this case Egypt.

The inclusion promotes moderation principle is a good example here. The assumption is that, once in power, the MB would become less extreme and act as a firewall between the West and more extreme terrorist groups such as Al-Qaeda or the Taliban. But history has shown us that this is not the case, since the same thing was argued about Hitlers rise to power in Germany in the 1930s, and his rule certainly proved the opposite.

While the MB cannot be compared to Hitlers Nazi Party, it does have the potential for danger and mayhem. But the West seems to focus on the positive (its self-declarations of non-violence) instead of the glaringly negative (its actual record of terrorism and extremism). The MB lobby has played an important role in skillfully manipulating the narrative to its benefit, something it is still good at doing.

Since the early 1990s, the MB has been expanding in the European public arena and promoting its ideological agenda through cultural, commercial and social functions. It has managed to present itself as the representative of Muslims in general and thus hide itself in moderate ranks. Combined with the perks of living in a tolerant society in Europe, the MB silences critical voices by accusing them of Islamophobia and intimidates anyone linking it to a particular organisation by simply suing.

Because of its immense funding, it can afford to do so. This financial backing also allows the MB to influence politics, the media and even academia in the West. What does this have to do with the Western narrative on Egypt? Everything.

By hiding behind cultural institutions and religious communities, the MB has been actively taking part in the Western discourse and shaping it in its favour. A big part of the MB effort is devoted to trying to ensure that Egypt gets a bad press in the West in order to demonise the Egyptian government. The more negative the coverage of the Egyptian government in the Western media, the more sympathy the MB can garner for itself. Countering such claims would be to question the alleged lived experiences of poor Muslim immigrants.

One recent example was provided by Amir Al-Shami, an Austrian socialist turned Salafi with Egyptian roots, who said that no one criticises us except for far-right politicians in an interview with a female journalist whose hand he had refused to shake. The fact that the left and centre in many European countries are afraid to touch the subject of the MB means that it will continue to be successful at hiding in plain sight.

Another camouflage technique is the MBs trick of linking itself to international justice movements such as the Black Lives Matter movement in the United States. This creates the image of the MB being for human rights and equality. The more successful it is at establishing this as a given, the more whatever follows from it is taken to be true.

In other words, if the MB is pro-democracy, then its enemies must be against it. If it is oppressed, then its enemies must be oppressors. As a result, it is no surprise that a negative narrative about Egypt can be built, propagated, and, with time, solidified. Egyptian counterterrorism is thus presented as tyranny, and tyranny needs to be resisted. Counterterrorism becomes crackdown, and terrorism becomes resistance.

It is high time for the MBs ideology to be unveiled as the totalitarian, radical and anti-democratic one that it is. At present, the dispersed members of the MB are not living in a democratic manner in the West, they are merely surviving it.

Western audiences need to be aware of the MBs influence on how the narrative on Egypt is shaped. Carefully navigating the paradox of an inwardly (mostly) tolerant and an outwardly (often) pragmatic and orientalist West, the MB has been tirelessly working to keep this narrative negative. If things stay this way, the MB will be able to continue to hide in plain sight while enjoying the perks of the victim.

On that note, it would be as well to assure Western readers that the Muslim Brotherhood are not your Muslim brothers.

*The writer is the general secretary of the IISES, a Vienna-based think tank for social and economic studies.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 21 October, 2021 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly

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Colin Powell, a US war hero and the first Black secretary of state who saw his trailblazing legacy tarnished when he made the case for war in Iraq in 2003, died Monday from complications from Covid-19.

The 84-year-old retired four-star general was fully vaccinated, his family said in a statement, making him one of the most high-profile US public figures to die of a breakthrough infection.

Former US Secretary of State Colin Powell listens to a question from a reporter outside the front doors of the State Department in Washington, DC. Colin Powell, a US war hero and the first Black secretary of state, has died from complications from Covid-19, his family said on October 18, 2021. He was 84. [File photo: Tim SLOAN / AFP]

President Joe Biden led an outpouring of tributes from home and abroad, describing the officer-turned-statesman, who had battled cancer and was reportedly immunocompromised, as a breaker of racial barriers who believed in "the promise of America."

"Colin embodied the highest ideals of both warrior and diplomat," said Biden, who ordered flags flown at half-staff at federal government properties.

"He was committed to our nation's strength and security above all."

After engineering military victory in the 1991 Gulf War, Powell was so widely popular and respected that he was considered a strong candidate to become the first Black US president.

He ultimately decided against running for the White House, although he later broke with his Republican Party to endorse Barack Obama.

A son of Jamaican immigrants, Powell frequently shattered glass ceilings in a career that took him from combat in Vietnam to becoming America's first Black national security advisor under Ronald Reagan.

He was also the youngest and first African American chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under Reagan's successor, George H.W. Bush.

Serving four presidents, Powell made his reputation as a man of honor distant from the political fray -- an asset in the corridors of power.

There were glowing tributes from all living ex-presidents except Donald Trump -- the pair had a public falling out -- with Barack Obama calling Powell "an exemplary patriot."

George W. Bush, who made Powell the highest-ranking Black US public official ever when he chose him as secretary of state in 2000, mourned a "family man and a friend."

(Story includes material sourced from AFP.)
KYODO NEWS - Oct 19, 2021 - 15:50 | All, Japan

A three-year prison term for former Japanese Justice Minister Katsuyuki Kawai for buying votes for his wife in the 2019 upper house election is set to be finalized as he intends to drop his appeal in the high-profile case, a source familiar with the matter said Tuesday.

Kawai will likely become the first former Japanese Cabinet member in over 10 years to have a prison term finalized. In its ruling in June this year, which found Kawai had handed out a total of 28.7 million yen ($251,000) to buy votes, the Tokyo District Court also ordered a forfeiture of 1.3 million yen.

The court ruled that Kawai handed the sum to 100 local assembly members and supporters in his wife Anri's constituency in Hiroshima Prefecture, western Japan, saying it was "an extremely malicious crime that significantly undermined fair elections, the foundation of democracy."

Kawai, who was a member of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Cabinet, pleaded not guilty in his first hearing in August last year. But he admitted to most of the charges in March and sought a suspended sentence.

His defense appealed on the day the ruling was given June 18, saying that it was "utterly unacceptable," but Kawai's side apparently concluded that it would be difficult to overturn the ruling in an appeal trial.

The ruling did not touch on the unusually large sum of 150 million yen that the Liberal Democratic Party headquarters provided to Anri Kawai's camp ahead of the 2019 House of Councillors election amid suspicion that the money was used by Kawai to buy votes.

While the LDP denied any such use of the money last month, based on corrected political funds reports the Kawais submitted, opposition parties are seeking a reinvestigation as the country heads into a general election at the end of this month.

Anri Kawai, 48, who won a seat in the 2019 election, was sentenced in January this year by the Tokyo District Court to 16 months in prison, suspended for five years, for also distributing money to local legislators in Hiroshima Prefecture. The ruling was finalized in February.

Meanwhile, the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office in July dropped a bribery case against 100 individuals including local assembly members who allegedly received cash from Kawai.
KYODO NEWS - Oct 19, 2021 - 18:57 | All, Japan

Campaigning for Japan's Oct. 31 general election began Tuesday, with new Prime Minister Fumio Kishida seeking a mandate for his COVID-19 and economic policies while opposition parties are banding together in a bid to loosen the ruling coalition's grip on power.

Some 1,050 candidates are contesting 465 seats in the House of Representatives, the powerful lower chamber of parliament, with Kishida's Liberal Democratic Party and smaller partner Komeito looking to retain their overall majority.

People listen to a politician giving a stump speech in Sapporo, Hokkaido, on Oct. 19, 2021, as campaigning for Japan's Oct. 31 general election began the same day. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

Kishida, who took office on Oct. 4, has pledged to realize economic growth and redistribute wealth to the middle class in a course correction of "Abenomics," which has been criticized as helping lift corporate earnings and share prices but failing to spark wage gains.

A stimulus package worth "tens of trillions of yen" to deal with the coronavirus pandemic will be drawn up within the year, he has said.

"We will distribute the fruits of economic growth in the form of salaries and income. We will break new ground for Japan by realizing a virtuous cycle of growth and distribution," Kishida said in his first stump speech in Fukushima, northeastern Japan.

Kishida later canceled his trip to Akita Prefecture after the government said North Korea fired two ballistic missiles into the Sea of Japan in the morning.

After returning to Tokyo for a meeting of the National Security Council in response to the missile launch, Kishida told reporters that he will consider his schedule for the coming days while making sure "there is no void in crisis management."

Opposition groups including the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan argue the consumption tax should be lowered from the current 10 percent and shift the burden to wealthy people and corporations, taking aim at the prime minister's backpedaling on promises to raise the capital gains tax.

"We have concrete plans for reviving Japan," said Yukio Edano, head of the CDPJ, which has been emphasizing the redistribution of wealth.

"Without distribution, there is no growth. We need your power to change politics," he said in Matsue, which is known as a conservative stronghold, in western Japan.

Kishida dissolved the lower house last Thursday for the first general election in four years. With just 17 days from the dissolution until ballots are cast, it is the quickest turnaround in the postwar era.

The decision to bring the date forward rather than wait until early November, as had been expected, was apparently aimed at capitalizing on a nationwide dip in COVID-19 cases and the fact that newly formed Cabinets typically enjoy high public support.

Kishida has met a less-than-enthusiastic response, however, with the approval rating for his lineup of ministers hovering around 55 percent in a Kyodo News survey conducted over the weekend.

Just under 30 percent of respondents said they will vote for the LDP in the proportional representation portion of the general election and 4.7 percent went with Komeito, while 9.7 percent said they will choose the CDPJ. Around 40 percent said they are undecided.

As well as being a gauge of confidence in Kishida, a 64-year-old former foreign minister, the vote will be a referendum on nearly nine years of LDP governance under his predecessors Shinzo Abe and Yoshihide Suga.

Kishida has said he will claim victory if the ruling coalition can retain an overall majority of at least 233 seats, a low bar considering it held 305 prior to the lower house's dissolution.

The CDPJ is looking to add to its 110 seats, stepping up cooperation with other opposition groups including the Japanese Communist Party by consolidating their candidates for a better chance at winning single-seat districts.

The opposition has also criticized Kishida's unwillingness to allow married couples to adopt separate surnames and recognize same-sex marriage, and vowed to reduce carbon emissions without using nuclear power.

The LDP, meanwhile, is promising to bolster Japan's medical system against future outbreaks of COVID-19 and boost defense spending amid China's growing assertiveness and missile threats from North Korea, pointing to the CDPJ's alliance with the JCP despite their vastly differing foreign policy stances as proof they are unfit to govern.

The previous general election was held in October 2017 under Abe, with the ruling coalition soundly defeating a fractured opposition amid low voter turnout.

The LDP has only been ousted from power twice since its founding in 1955, most recently from 2009 to 2012 by the CDPJ's forerunner, the Democratic Party of Japan.

The leaders of Japan's ruling and opposition parties pose before taking part in a public debate at the Japan National Press Club in Tokyo on Oct. 18, 2021, ahead of the Oct. 31 general election. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who leads the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, can be seen in the center. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

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KYODO NEWS - Oct 19, 2021 - 08:55 | All, Japan

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida called for an Oct. 31 general election for the House of Representatives on Oct. 14, only 10 days after taking office and with just a week remaining before the current members' four-year term expires.

Here are some basics and background of the election.

Electoral system

A general election to choose members of the lower house is held either just before the term of current members expires or in all but one case in postwar Japan during the term after the prime minister dissolves the house.

All 465 seats in the house are up for grabs, of which 289 are elected from single-seat districts and the remaining 176 through proportional representation in 11 regional blocks.

Each voter casts two ballots at a polling station -- one to choose a candidate in a single-seat constituency and the other to select a party for proportional representation.

A candidate who runs in a single-seat district on the ticket of a political party can also appear in the party's candidate list for proportional representation seats, submitted beforehand.

Even if such a candidate loses in the constituency, he or she could still secure a seat by the proportional representation vote, if the candidate's party wins enough votes, in what is known as a consolation round.





Key figures for the election result



The Cabinet approval rating and COVID-19 situations in Japan

Before Kishida took over, his predecessor Yoshihide Suga was struggling with the fifth wave of coronavirus infections and the public support rating for Suga's Cabinet hit a record-low 31.8 percent in August.

The approval rating for Kishida's Cabinet came to 55.7 percent shortly after its launch on Oct. 4.

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The general elections since 2000

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FOCUS: Opposition parties unite in bid to break LDP's grip on power
KYODO NEWS - Oct 20, 2021 - 02:49 | World, All

North Korea test-fired what appears to have been a short-range submarine-launched ballistic missile into the Sea of Japan on Tuesday, the South Korean military said, the latest in a series of military provocations amid stalled denuclearization talks with the United States.

The Japanese government said it detected two ballistic missiles, noting they may have been submarine-launched and flew in an irregular trajectory, indicating they are likely of a type never seen before. There were no reports of any harm to aircraft or ships.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida condemned the launch as a violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions banning North Korea from using ballistic technology and called it "extremely regrettable."

Kishida, who was in northeastern Japan to kick off campaigning for the Oct. 31 general election, rushed back to Tokyo to hold a National Security Council meeting.

"We are analyzing the details of North Korea's launch, including the possibility that they were SLBMs," Kishida told reporters afterward, adding that Japan will continue considering ways to bolster its missile defenses with one option being the acquisition of the capability to strike enemy bases.

Japan, the United States and South Korea reaffirmed their commitment to work toward the goal of ridding North Korea of its nuclear weapons, while agreeing to strengthen regional deterrence during a meeting of their senior officials in Washington, according to the U.S. State Department and a Japanese government source.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said it detected a short-range ballistic missile being fired from waters near Sinpo on North Korea's eastern coast at around 10:17 a.m.

South Korea's Yonhap News Agency reported the ballistic missile flew around 590 kilometers and reached an altitude of about 60 km.

Japanese Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi told reporters one of the two ballistic missiles flew around 600 km and reached a maximum altitude of about 50 km before splashing down outside of Japan's exclusive economic zone. Japan is continuing its analysis of the other projectile, he said.

North Korea last test-fired an SLBM in October 2019, from Wonsan, also in the country's east. North Korea has a submarine-building shipyard in Sinpo.

The country showed a new type of SLBM in military parades in 2020 and this year, as well as at a defense exhibition held earlier this month.

The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said in a statement that the launch "does not pose an immediate threat to U.S. personnel, territory, or that of our allies," while calling on North Korea to "refrain from any further destabilizing acts."

North Korea has test-fired a series of missiles in recent weeks. On Sept. 15 it launched two short-range ballistic missiles, the first such tests in nearly six months, and on Sept. 28 it launched what state-run media said was a newly developed hypersonic missile.

Japan's Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihiko Isozaki strongly condemned North Korea's continued test-firing of ballistic missiles as "threatening the peace and safety of Japan and the region."

Takehiro Funakoshi, head of the Japanese Foreign Ministry's Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, spoke by phone with Sung Kim, U.S. special representative for North Korea, and agreed to keep up trilateral cooperation.

North Korea's latest missile launch coincided with a trilateral meeting joined by Funakoshi, Kim and Noh Kyu Duk, South Korea's special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs, in the U.S. capital.

The Japanese government source who briefed reporters on the meeting said the U.S. and South Korean officials respectively expressed their concerns over North Korea's latest action.

The officials also agreed to continue "diplomatic efforts" in dealing with North Korea, as well as ensuring the complete implementation of U.N. Security Council resolutions targeting North Korea's missile and nuclear weapons and work toward beefing up regional deterrence, the source said.

The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden has been reiterating its willingness to engage with North Korea toward denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, but no progress has been seen so far.

During the meeting, Kim emphasized U.S. condemnation of North Korea's latest missile launch, and called on Pyongyang to refrain from "further provocations and engage in sustained and substantive dialogue," the State Department said in a press release.

While reiterating Washington's "ironclad" commitment to its key Asian allies, Kim also expressed support for humanitarian aid for the "most vulnerable North Koreans" and affirmed U.S. commitment to the immediate resolution of North Korea's past abduction of Japanese nationals, it said.

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KYODO NEWS - Oct 19, 2021 - 23:56 | All, Japan

Japan and France plan to hold security talks involving their foreign and defense ministers within the year, the French government said Tuesday.

Sources knowledgeable about the matter said the so-called two-plus-two talks will be held in the Japanese capital, likely between late November and early December.

France's Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian and Armed Forces Minister Florence Parly are expected to visit Tokyo for the first such talks since 2019.

Setting the stage for the two-plus-two meeting, a working-level dialogue between Japanese and French foreign ministry and defense officials was held on Tuesday in Tokyo.

In July this year, then Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and French President Emmanuel Macron met and affirmed deeper security cooperation to achieve a free and open Indo-Pacific in light of China's military buildup and assertive territorial claims in the region.

The Japanese Self-Defense Forces held in Japan a joint exercise in May that included the United States, Australia and France to boost the capability of defending remote islands.
KYODO NEWS - Oct 19, 2021 - 20:06 | World, All, Japan

A former South Korean resident of Japan, who had been convicted as a North Korean spy and sentenced to death in 1983 in South Korea, was acquitted Tuesday of illegally collecting intelligence, people once close to the now deceased man said.

The Seoul High Court ruled that Son Yoo Hyung, who was detained in the South Korean capital in 1981 for allegedly working under agents from Pyongyang's ruling Workers Party of Korea, was not guilty.

Son had been imprisoned for 17 years in South Korea until 1998, when he was released on parole. He died at 84 in 2014, and his family sought the retrial of the case.

The same court had earlier determined in the retrial of Son's relatives and others, who were charged as his conspirators, that intelligence agents illegally detained Son for 45 days without a warrant, and thus records of his subsequent interrogations should not be admitted as evidence.

From the 1970s to the 1980s, similar false accusation cases occurred in South Korea, which was then under military dictatorship, and at least 36 South Korean residents of Japan and their relatives were convicted of spying. They were acquitted in retrials.

South Korean authorities at the time apparently sought to fuel perceptions of the North Korean threat in a bid to suppress people's demand for democratization by detaining South Koreans who had lived in Japan, which hosts supporters of both Koreas, and accusing them of being spies.

Son, a native of Jeju Island in southern part of today's South Korea, moved to Japan during World War II and lived in Osaka while being involved in movements advocating rights of Korean residents and the activities of the pro-Pyongyang General Association of Korean Residents in Japan, known as Chongryon.

But after having a problem with the executives of Chongryon, Son acquired South Korean nationality and worked as a trader.

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KYODO NEWS - Oct 19, 2021 - 22:30 | All, Japan

Women account for 17.7 percent of the candidates running in Japan's Oct. 31 general election, a figure largely unchanged from the previous election despite government efforts to boost female representation in politics.

Of the 1,051 candidates contesting the 465 seats in the House of Representatives, the powerful lower chamber of parliament, only 186 are women, down 23 from the previous election in 2017.

By political party, the Japanese Communist Party has the largest share of women among its 130 candidates at 35.4 percent. Meanwhile, women only make up 33, or 9.8 percent, of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's 336 candidates.

In a set of policies announced with its campaign pledges, the LDP said it would increase the percentage of women in leadership positions to around 30 percent, but it failed to reach that goal.

The Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan has 44 women among its 240 candidates, equivalent to 18.3 percent, while the Japan Innovation Party has 14 among its 96 candidates, equivalent to 14.6 percent.

The Social Democratic Party is the only one in which women comprise the majority of those running, accounting for nine of its 15 candidates.

With Japan listed 120th overall out of 156 countries and in the bottom 10 in terms of political empowerment in the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Report for 2021, the government has set a goal of raising the proportion of women running in national elections to 35 percent by 2025.

As of Sept. 1, women accounted for just 9.9 percent of lawmakers in Japan's House of Representatives, and 23.0 percent in the House of Councillors, according to the Geneva-based Inter-Parliamentary Union.

Among other political parties running in the upcoming election, the LDP's junior coalition ally Komeito has four female candidates, the Democratic Party for the People eight, Reiwa Shinsengumi five and an anti-NHK fringe party 10.

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Pune :

Congress president Rahul Gandhi Friday said his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra was his "best friend", adding there can be no fights with her. Interacting with students here, Gandhi said he has seen a lot of violence affecting his family and referred to the assassinations of former Prime Ministers Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. Interacting with students in Pune, he gave an insight into his rapport with his younger sibling, who formally entered politics a few months ago, and childhood memories.

Asked if ever has fights or arguments with Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, he said, "There would be fights earlier. But not now. Since I was small, I have been through a lot of violence with the assassinations of my grandmother and father. My sister has been my friend and we understand each other well. If there is a situation of argument, sometimes she backs off and sometimes I do."

The Congress chief described his sister as his "best friend" and added, "We have been through life together." Talking about celebrating Raksha Bandhan, a festival that signifies the brother-sister bond, Gandhi said he follows an uncommon rule and wears the 'rakhi' (a protective thread tied on the right hand) till it breaks on its own.

He said he loves Prime Minister Narendra Modi and harbours no ill-will or hatred towards him. "Genuinely, I have no hatred or anger towards the PM. He doesn't feel the same way," he said. There were brief chants of "Modi, Modi" soon after this comment, to which Gandhi responded," Its fine.. its OK".

Asked about his childhood memories, he said," I would hide behind the curtains in my grandmother's room (Indira Gandhi) and scare her when she entered. But, she would know I am in the room and just pretended to get scared."

About a wish he would want from a genie, he said, "I would ask that all people I care for do well." To a question on retirement age for politicians, Rahul Gandhi said 60 years was a good age for them to call it quits.
New Delhi:

The Telangana State Board of Intermediate Education will declare the TS Inter Result 2019 for both 1st and 2nd year in the month of April 2019. The exact date for declaration of TS Inter Results has not been revealed by the board as of now. However, as per TOI, the board official has said that the intermediate result will be announced after the Lok Sabha polls in the state which is scheduled to be held on April 11, 2019.

"There are a lot of rumours that are doing rounds on social media and Whatsapp. All such online stories are unverified. We will be declaring the results only after the second week of April i.e. post the Telangana Lok Sabha elections conclude. Students should not believe such hoax news and confirm it with us,'' Abdul Khaliq, controller of examinations, Telangana State Board of Intermediate Education told TOI.



Soon after the official announcement of the results, students can visit the official websites of the Board i.e. bie.telangana.gov.in or results.cgg.gov.in to check and download their Telangana Board 1st and 2nd Year Intermediate Result 2019. For the convenience of the students, we have mentioned the steps through which they can check their results.

Step 1: Visit the official websites of the Board i.e. bie.telangana.gov.in or results.cgg.gov.in.

Step 2: Enter your roll number and other details as required.

Step 3: Cross-verify all the details and click on the submit button.

Step 4: Your Telangana Board Inter Result 2019 will be displayed on the screen.

Step 5: Download the result or take a printout for future reference.

About Telangana State Board of Intermediate Education:

The Telangana Board of Secondary Education and Telangana Board of Intermediate Education were established in the year 2014. The State Board of Telangana or Telangana Board is divided into two sections. While the Telangana Board of Secondary Education conducts the SSC exams, the Telangana Board of Intermediate Education conducts the Intermediate exams i.e. 11th and 12th. The Telangana Board of Intermediate Education regulates and supervises the system of intermediate education in Telangana state. It executes and governs various activities that include prescribing syllabus, conducting examinations, granting affiliations to colleges and providing direction, support and leadership for all educational institutions under its jurisdiction. Honourable Minister of the State for Secondary Education acts as chairman and secretary of Government, Secondary Education as vice-chairman of the Board. The secretary of IAS Rank acts as the chief executive of the Board.
Bhubaneswar:

In a major embarrassment for opposition Congress ahead of polls in Odisha, two party candidates for assembly elections Wednesday resigned from the primary membership alleging mismanagement in the grand old party.

Yudhistir Samantray and Bibhu Tarai, candidates for Pipili and Tirtol assembly seats respectively, said they have sent their resignation letters to OPCC president Niranjan Patnaik.

While Samantray claimed that the state leadership put party tickets on sale, Tarai alleged that Congress has fielded a candidate having criminal background.

"The party has fielded a candidate who was arrested on the charge of murder. Is it not criminalisation of politics by Congress" Tarai said.

In a video that has gone viral, Samantray said the party sold tickets for money.

He also alleged that though Congress has given him ticket to contest the assembly polls, the OPCC chief has been conspiring to defeat him in the elections.

"I will return the party ticket and will not contest this election," Samantray said.

Tarai, a former MP, claimed that there has been a secret understanding between the Congress and the BJD for which the party fielded weak candidates.

OPCC vice-president and spokesman Arya Gyanendra, however, rejected both the allegations and said: "There is some misunderstanding. The party will sort out the problem."

Sources said Tarai is likely to join the BJP and contest from Jagatsinghpur Lok Sabha seat as a saffron party candidate.
New Delhi:

In a grotesque case, abductors allegedly murdered son of a late JDU leader fearing arrest in Bihars Siwan. Body of the 14-year-old student was found from Siwan during late night search on Wednesday. "Abductors killed him fearing arrest after a search and rescue operation was launched," Siwan Superintendent of Police Navin Chandra Jha was quoted as saying by IANS. Giving further details, KK Mishra, ASP, Siwan, said that four people have been arrested, further investigation is underway.

The victim has been identified as Rahul Kumar. He was class 7 student of Kendriya Vidayalya. Son of late JDU leader Surendra Patel, Kumar was kidnapped on Wednesday. The abductors had demanded rs 50-lakh ransom from the family.

Official crime data from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) shows that the reported rate of child abductions has risen at a far sharper pace than the overall crime rate in the country. According to an Indian Express report, child kidnapping has seen a worrisome rise in recent times. In 2016, 54,723 children were kidnapped across India. The home ministrys report said that the 2016 number showed consistent rise vis a vis 2015 and 2014. In 2015, 41,893 children were kidnapped, in 2014 37,854 kids were abducted across the country. The government report also highlighted the fact the conviction rate was mere 22.7% in such cases.

More than 20 people have been lynched over the last two months on suspicion of child lifting, the latest being the killing of five men in Maharashtra's Dhule district on July 1. "Even though most of the lynchings in the recent past were fuelled by rumours of child lifting on social media, the statistics show that the fear of child kidnapping among people, especially those in the rural areas, is not completely unfounded," a ministry official said.

The MHA report said 1,06,958 cases of crime against children were registered in the country in 2016 compared to 94,172 in 2015, an increase of 13.6 per cent.

Crimes were committed against 24 per one lakh children in 2016, according to the report.

A major increase in crime against children was noticed (in 2016) under "human trafficking, kidnapping and abduction, Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses (POCSO) Act and Juvenile Justice Act", the report had said.

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Washington:

A top Democrat formally requested Wednesday that the US tax agency provide Congress with President Donald Trump's tax returns, setting up a likely legal battle with the White House.

Richard Neal, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee which writes tax law, wrote the Internal Revenue Service seeking six years of Trump's returns, saying he was using his oversight authority to learn the extent to which the IRS audits and enforces tax laws on a sitting president.

"Under the Internal Revenue Manual, individual income tax returns of a president are subject to mandatory examination, but this practice is IRS policy and not codified in the Federal tax laws," Neal wrote.

He told IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig to deliver the president's individual income tax returns, as well as those from eight entities connected to Trump, by April 10.

The president signalled he would not want his returns provided to Congress.

"We are under audit despite what people say," Trump told reporters, repeating his 2016 campaign excuse for refusing to release his returns.

"Until such time as I am not under audit I would not be inclined" to release them, he added.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said last month he would "follow the law" if Congress requested Trump's tax returns.

Trump, a self-declared billionaire, released a less detailed financial disclosure in 2017 but has kept his tax returns private, fueling speculation about his revenue sources and net worth.

Trump is the first president since Richard Nixon to refuse to release his returns.

Congressman Dan Kildee, a Ways and Means Committee Democrat, said there was "no question" the panel has legal authority to gain access to Trump's records.

"We expect the IRS commissioner to comply with the law and provide those returns," Kildee told CNN.

In a statement, the committee said that under IRS guidelines, a president's tax returns are subject to "mandatory examination." Kildee stressed that the request had nothing to do with the timing of the investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 US election, and the report recently submitted by special counsel Robert Mueller.

"This has nothing to do with the Mueller report," Kildee said.

"Obviously there are very serious other public interests that would be served by having access, but principally this is about the policy question." The panel's top Republican Kevin Brady rushed to Trump's defense, writing Mnuchin to warn of Democrats' "misguided rush to impeach" Trump.

"Weaponizing our nation's tax code by targeting political foes sets a dangerous precedent and weakens Americans privacy right," he wrote.

The committee said in its statement that Neal insisted the request "is not about impeachment," but legitimate oversight issues.

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New Delhi:

UK opposition Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn said on Tuesday he would be "very happy" to sit down with Prime Minister Theresa May and discuss a joint Brexit policy that could resolve the current impasse. This came after May decided to seek an extension from the European Union to give her time to forge a new approach and get her current deal with Brussels approved by parliament.



Earlier, Theresa May had said she will resign as Prime Minister once Brexit is delivered, according to a Conservative Party lawmaker in a meeting with her. She will not be in charge for the next phase, she told Conservative MPs. She did not give a date for her departure.



James Cartlidge, one of the MPs present at the private meeting at Westminster in London, told reporters, "She (May) said she would not remain in post for the next phase of the negotiations, the implication being that once the Withdrawal Agreement has passed, she would make way for someone else."

The latest development comes as MPs seize control of the Commons agenda to hold votes on alternatives to the deal.

In a major blow to May, MPs had voted through the debate earlier this week to seize control of the business of the House away from the government and set a new precedent in order to weigh up alternatives to the British Prime Minister's twice-defeated EU divorce bill through a set of "indicative" non-binding votes.

She faced further humiliation on Wednesday as the MPs' motion passed with 331 to 287 votes -- a majority of 44 -- setting the stage for votes on a series of Brexit alternatives later in the day.

May has already declined to commit herself to backing any option thrown up as a result of such a vote as it could prove undeliverable.

I must confess that I am sceptical about such a process of indicative votes. When we have tried this kind of thing in the past, it has produced contradictory outcomes or no outcome at all...No government could give a blank cheque to commit to an outcome without knowing what it is," she told MPs.

However, she is under mounting pressure from all sides of the House, with her own party demanding her resignation as a price for backing her withdrawal deal and the Opposition Labour Party accusing her of failure by running down the Brexit clock to leave MPs with very little time to debate options.

In the current scenario, the Commons entered into uncharted territory on Wednesday when it first debated a business motion put forward by former Conservative Party minister Oliver Letwin, who is being dubbed "Prime Minister for the day" as he is in charge of setting the course for the debate.

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New Delhi:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday slammed the Congress party for promising to scrap an 1870 sedition law in its manifesto. This Congress party put over 6000 people behind the bar on sedition charges. Why? Now they are preaching the world, PM Modi said in an interview to ABP news channel.

"Do you want to encourage things like 'desh ke tukre tukre'. Do you want someone to trample India's flag, insult India's national anthem...continue to break Baba Saheb Ambedkar's statue? What will you do to stop such things," asked PM Modi.

Talking about Congress manifesto which also mentions reviewing of AFSPA, PM Modi said that it has insulted country's Army in its manifesto.

"You (Congress) want to remove it but it's you who implemented it. You should have reviewed it but decided to keep your eyes closed. No one in the world wants that nation should be converted into a jail. But you should try to improve the situation as we did in Arunachal Pradesh. But removing the law, changing the law, speaking the language of tukde-tukde gang... how will the country run," he told the news channel.

The Congress in its manifesto, released earlier this week, promised to amend Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) and repeal sedition law. The BJP has upped its ante against the Congress after it released the manifesto.

Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code deals with sedition against the state and attracts three years to life imprisonment. Not too long ago, the law commission recommended doing away with the Colonial era.

In August 2018, the commission invited public opinion on the repeal or restructuring of Section 124A saying the right to free speech and expression was an "essential ingredient of democracy".

Interestingly, the Congress - which is talking about scrapping the law - faced severe criticism when it jailed cartoonist Aseem Trivedi under the sedition law in 2012 under the UPA government.

Seven years later, the party in its manifesto has said the sedition law has been misused and, in any event, has become redundant because of subsequent laws.
Kozhikode:

Congress president Rahul Gandhi, who is contesting from Wayanad Lok Sabha seat in Kerala, besides his traditional stronghold of Amethi in Uttar Pradesh, will file his nomination around 11.30 am on Thursday.

Rahuls sister and AICC in-charge of eastern Uttar Pradesh Priyanka Gandhi would accompany him to Wayanad, according to Mukul Wasnik, senior Congress leader and AICC general secretary in charge of Kerala.

The Congress president arrived at Kozhikode on Wednesday night to a tumultuous welcome by hundreds of party workers. Priyanka, who came separately, reached there shortly before her brother arrived.

A large number of young party workers holding Congress and ally Indian Union Muslim League flags were seen lustily cheering as Rahul Gandhi came out of the airport. He waved at them.

The Congress chief was received by Chennithala, Oommen Chandy, Mullappally Ramachandran, IUML leaders P K Kunhalikutty and E T Muhammed basheer and others.

Later he and Priyanka left for the guest house through a secure route from airport.

"Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka have already left for the guest house. Rahul might meet the senior leaders tonight. UDF workers are excited over his candidature," Chennithala said.

Chandy said Rahul's candidature in Wayanad will lead the UDF to a complete victory in the April 23 polls.

Rahul, who earlier in the day addressed a series of election meetings in Assam and Nagaland, reached Karipur Airport here around 9.30 PM.

After overnight stay at the guest house here, the two leaders will leave for Wayanad Thursday morning.

"The Congress chief will embark on a massive road show at around 9.30 AM before filing the nomination papers," Chennithala said.

Wasnik claimed the announcement of Gandhi's candidature in Wayanad has enthused the people of the constituency and made a major difference in other states, including Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

"It will get reflected in the voting," he said.

Earlier, sources said the Congress chief would board a helicopter to Wayanad, about 90 km from here, to file his nomination.

Tight security is in place in Kozhikode and Wayanad districts in view of the high-profile visits.

The Congress announced on Sunday that Rahul would contest from Wayanad constituency, besides his traditional stronghold of Amethi.

Rahul has claimed that the people in South India "feel hostility" from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said he decided to contest from Wayanad to send out the message that he stands with them.
New Delhi:

Every third elderly person suffers misbehaviour or mistreatment in Delhi and neighbouring cities, according to a new study an NGO has claimed.

Agewell Foundation in a statement on Wednesday said, it conducted a national-level survey for the fifth session of Open-ended Working Group on Ageing (OEWG) for the purpose of strengthening the protection of the human rights of older persons which will be held on July 31 and August 1 at the UN Headquarters in New York.

The OEWG is a UN working group that meets in New York. It was established by a resolution at the 2010 General Assembly. The survey sample respondents included 8,000 elderly people from Delhi-NCR and concluded that out of 2,743 affected elderly respondents, 985 persons ranked

misbehaviour as the most common form of abuse of elders, the NGO said in the statement. According to a study, this is the most common form of abuse of elders in the region. Population aging is a worldwide phenomenon, and India is no exception. Indian population has approximately tripled during the last 50 years, but the number of elderly Indians (above 60 years) has increased more than four-fold.

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The 2011 census has shown that the elderly population (60 years) of India accounted for 98.3 million, which was projected to cross the 100 million mark during the same year, it said. Agewell Foundation is a not-for-profit NGO, working for the welfare and empowerment of older persons across the country since 1999.

Agewell has set up a two-tier network of over 7,500 primary and 80,000 secondary volunteers spread across 640 districts of India and interacts with over 25,000 older persons on daily basis through its volunteers network, according to the NGO.

It has been granted Associate NGO status by Department of Public Information, United Nations (UN-DPI), it said.
New Delhi:

Hours after being conferred with UAE's highest civilian award 'Zayed Medal', Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday thanked Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the country's Armed Forces, for this honour. Accepting the honour with utmost humility, Modi further said under the visionary leadership of Zayed, the strategic ties between India and UAE have reached new heights and this friendship is contributing to the peace and prosperity of the planet. Modi was awarded the prestigious Zayed Medal for playing a "pivotal role" in consolidating the long-standing friendship and joint strategic cooperation between the two countries.

Taking to Twitter, Modi wrote, Thank you, Your Highness Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. I accept this honour with utmost humility. Under your visionary leadership, our strategic ties have reached new heights. This friendship is contributing to the peace and prosperity of our people and planet".

Thank you, Your Highness Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.



I accept this honour with utmost humility.



Under your visionary leadership, our strategic ties have reached new heights. This friendship is contributing to the peace and prosperity of our people and planet. https://t.co/gtAy00uffw a Chowkidar Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) April 4, 2019

Early in the day, President of the UAE Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan made the announcement to confer Modi with the award, the highest decoration awarded to kings, presidents and heads of states.

Extending her best wishes to the prime minister, Union Minister Sushma Swaraj said, "I am extremely happy to welcome the announcement of Order of Zayed for a great son of India Prime Minister Narendra Modi by His Highness Mohamed Bin Zayed".

The External Affairs Minister said the prestigious award was bestowed on Modi in recognition of his "stellar role" in ushering in a new era of strategic partnership with the UAE and the "best ever" relations with the Islamic world.

"On behalf of the people of India, I express our deep sense of gratitude to His Highness the President, His Highness the Crown Prince of UAE for this great honour. With this, you have honoured India and the people of India," Swaraj wrote in a series of tweets.

On behalf of the people of India, I express our deep sense of gratitude to His Highness the President, His Highness the Crown Prince of UAE for this great honour. With this, you have honoured India and the people of India. /3 @MohamedBinZayed @narendramodi a Chowkidar Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) April 4, 2019

Modi visited the UAE for the second time as Prime Minister in February last year and held wide-ranging talks with the Crown Prince. After their talks, the two sides signed five agreements related to the energy sector, railways, manpower and financial services. The Prime Minister's first visit to the UAE took place in August 2015.

In February, the Crown Prince telephoned Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Imran Khan as part of his efforts to de-escalate Indo-Pak tensions in the wake of the Pulwama terror attack claimed by the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed terror group which killed forty CRPF personnel.

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New Delhi :

Ahead of Congress president Rahul Gandhi's nomination filing from Kerala's Wayanad, his rival candidate in Amethi, BJP leader Smriti Irani gave a message to the people of the constituency. "If people in Wayanad have any questions about Rahul Gandhi's capability then they only need to visit Amethi to be convinced," the Union Textile Minister said.

Taking a dig at the Congress chief's decision to pick a south Indian state as his second seat, Irani said that Congress workers in Amethi knew that their leader's chances in Amethi this time were dim and that is why he decided to move to another constituency.

"Come elections, he has chosen to file nominations from another constituency. Congress workers in Amethi know that Rahul does not enjoy popular support," the BJP leader, who lost to Rahul Gandhi by 1,07,903 votes in 2014 Lok Sabha elections, said.

The BJP leader arrived in Amethi on a two-day visit. She will address a 'Kisan Sabha' in Rae Bareli's Salon before starting another round of campaigning in Amethi. Irani, who has lost Lok Sabha elections twice, is hoping to upset the Congress chief in his own bastion.

The Congress president Rahul Gandhi, who has been representing Uttar Pradesh's Amethi since 2014, will file his nomination from Kerala's Wayanad constituency on Thursday. The Congress chief said that he is moving to the south as people their feel "hostility" from Modi and he wanted to send a message that he is standing with them.

Rahul Gandhi arrives in Kerala to file nomination from Wayanad today

The Congress president arrived at Kozhikode on Wednesday night to a tumultuous welcome by hundreds of party workers. Priyanka, who came separately, reached there shortly before her brother arrived. The Congress leader will be accompanied by AICC in-charge of eastern Uttar Pradesh Priyanka Gandhi when he will go to file his nomination from Wayanad.

The Congress chief was received by Chennithala, Oommen Chandy, Mullappally Ramachandran, IUML leaders P K Kunhalikutty and E T Muhammed Basheer and others.


New Delhi:

At least two personnel of the Indian Air Force lost their lives while two others were injured on Thursday after the vehicle carrying them met with an accident in Jammu and Kashmir's Awantipora district.

The deceased personnel have been identified as Squadron Leader Rakesh Pandey and Corporal Ajay Kumar. Two other injuried personnel -- an officer and an airman -- are admitted to a nearby hospital.

The accident took place at Malangpora outside air force station in Awantipora.

The IAF will conduct an inquiry into the accident, according to news agency ANI.

The tragic incident comes nearly two months after a suicide bomber, belonging to Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed, rammed an explosive-ridden vehicle into a CRPF convoy, killing 40 jawans.

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New Delhi:

The Election Commission of India on Tuesday dashed a letter to President Ram Nath Kovind regarding Rajasthan Governor Kalyan Singh's alleged remarks supporting the return of Narendra Modi as prime minister in 2019, saying it was a clear violation of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC). Addressing the BJP workers at his Aligarh residence on March 23, Singh had reportedly said, "All of us are BJP workers and we want the party to win. We want Modi Ji to become the prime minister".

"Election Commission has written to the President against Rajasthan Governor Kalyan Singh for violation of model code of conduct," the news agency ANI reported.

Election Commission has written to the President against Rajasthan Governor Kalyan Singh for violation of model code of conduct. He had said 'We all are BJP workers&we want BJP to emerge victorious. We want that once again Modi ji should become the PM' on 23rd March. (File pic) pic.twitter.com/22NPW7579a a ANI (@ANI) April 2, 2019

Singh, a former Uttar Pradesh chief minister, reportedly made these remarks to placate some agitated BJP members who had gathered outside his house over ticket distribution.

Earlier, the Aligarh district magistrate submitted details and clip of the comments to the Uttar Pradesh chief electoral officer and the commission has examined his reported remarks in the light of possible violation of the Model Code of Conduct, as holding a constitutional post makes the governor "apolitical".

In the 1990s, the Election Commission had expressed displeasure over Himachal Pradesh Governor Gulsher Ahmed campaigning for his son ahead of the elections. He had later quit.

(With inputs from agencies)
New Delhi:

Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Thursday helped three journalists to reach to the ambulance after a barricade broke during his roadshow in Wayanad. According to reports, the barricade collapsed on three journalists when they were trying to record Gandhi's roadshow in Kerala. All three injured journalists were immediately shifted to the local hospital.

Earlier,A Gandhi, accompanied by his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and senior Congress leaders including KC Venugopal and Mukul Wasnik, submitted the nomination papers before the District Collector A R Ajayakumar at the district headquarters in Kalpetta.

Speaking to the media before boarding a helicopter to Kozhikode after filing his nomination papers, Gandhi said, "I have come to Kerala to send a message that India is one.A

Wayanad: Three journalists, including ANI reporter, sustained minor injuries after a barricade in Rahul Gandhi's roadshow broke. The injured were helped to the ambulance by Rahul Gandhi. #Kerala pic.twitter.com/JviwAgWX5h a ANI (@ANI) April 4, 2019

"I feel there is an assault on all institutions by (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi. I decided I will contest from south India and also from north India," he said.

Asserting that her brother Rahul Gandhi is the amost courageousa man she knows, Priyanka urged the people of Wayanad to "take care" of him.

"My brother, my truest friend, and by far the most courageous man I know. Take care of him Wayanad, he won't let you down," Priyanka Gandhi tweeted.




Mumbai:

The rupee appreciated by 9 paise to 68.65 against the US dollar in opening trade Wednesday, driven by weakening of the greenback in overseas markets and sustained foreign inflows. The rupee opened at 68.72 at the interbank forex market, then gained further ground and touched a high of 68.56. The local unit, however, pared some gains and was quoted at 68.65 against the American currency at 0926 hrs, displaying gains of 9 paise over its last close.

On Tuesday, the rupee had settled at 68.74 against the US dollar.

Forex dealers said, selling of the American currency by exporters, fresh foreign fund inflows and positive opening in domestic equities supported the rupee.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) remained net buyers in the capital markets, putting in Rs 543.36 crore on a net basis Tuesday, as per provisional data.

Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, rose 0.49 per cent to USD 69.71 per barrel.

Meanwhile, the BSE benchmark Sensex was quoted above 39,200-level and the NSE Nifty went past the key 11,700-mark in early deals Wednesday.

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New Delhi:

Union Minister of State for External Affairs General (retd) V K Singh has said that the Indian Army does not belong to any political party and that if someone calls it Modis army then he is a traitor to the country.

If someone says that the Indian Army is Modis army, then he is not only wrong but also a traitor to the country. Indias Army belongs to the country, it does not belong to a political party, Singh was quoted by BBC as saying.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, while addressing a rally in Ghaziabad on Sunday, referred to the Indian Army as Modi ji ki Sena (Prime Minister Narendra Modis Army).

Congress ke log aatankvadiyon ko biryani khilate the aur Modi ji ki sena aatankvadiyon ko goli aur gola deti hai (Congress fed terrorists biryani while Modis army feeds them bullets and bombs). Congress people use "ji" for terrorists like Masood Azhar but under the leadership of PM Modi, the BJP government is breaking the backs of terrorists by striking their camps, he had said.

Interestingly, Adityanath was campaigning for sitting MP and Union minister V K Singh.

On Wednesday, the Election Commission issued a show-cause notice to Adityanath and asked him to reply by April 5.

Sources in the poll panel said, prima facie, Adityanath has violated the EC's advisory of keeping armed forces away from political campaign.

The Election Commission had on March 19 asked political parties to "desist" from indulging in any propaganda involving actions taken by defence forces during their Lok Sabha poll campaigns.

The advisory was issued days after the poll panel asked parties and their candidates against using pictures of defence force personnel in their campaign material.

"...Parties/candidates are advised that their campaigners/candidates should desist, as part of their election campaigning, from indulging in any political propaganda involving activities of defence forces," it had said.

Former Navy Chief Admiral L Ramdas had Monday said he would approach the Election Commission against Adityanath for his remarks and claimed that many veterans and those in service were upset over it.
Paris:

Rising sea temperatures have wrecked the Great Barrier Reef's ability to regrow, researchers said Wednesday, highlighting for the first time a 90 per cent fall in new corals since back-to-back heatwaves bleached the World Heritage site. Following the unprecedented loss of swathes of the reef -- the world's largest living structure -- in successive ocean heatwaves in 2016 and 2017, the number of new corals measured a year later was found by a team of scientists to be 89 per cent lower than historical levels.

Coral reefs make up less than one percent of Earth's marine environment, but are home to an estimated 25 per cent of ocean life, acting as nurseries for many species of fish and a habitat for birds, sharks, dolphins and porpoises.

The study measured how many adult corals survived along the 2,300-kilometre (1,400-mile) reef, off the northeast coast of Australia, following consecutive summers of unusually warm seas that bleached and killed off numerous coral species.

It discovered a "crash" in coral replacement compared to levels measured in years before a mass bleaching event. The population of one species -- Acropora, a branching coral that supports thousands of marine species -- tumbled by 93 per cent.

"We never thought we would see disturbance on a scale to affect recruitment to this extent," said Andrew Baird, co-author of the study that appeared in the journal Nature.

The team estimated that it would take between five and 10 years for the reef's production of baby corals to fully recover -- but only if there isn't another bleaching event. Atmospheric temperatures have risen by around one degree Celsius (1.8 Fahrenheit) since the middle of last century, and coral is uniquely sensitive to fluctuating heat levels.

Last year an expert panel of international climate experts warned that coral structures -- including the Great Barrier Reef -- would most likely not survive a 2C rise. Bleaching occurs when warmer ambient temperatures cause coral to expel tiny photosynthetic algae, draining them of their colour.

The Great Barrier Reef has experienced four mass bleaching events in recorded history -- all within the last two decades. "Dead corals don't make babies," said Terry Hughes, director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies at Australia's James Cook University.

"Fever babies means recovery will be slower, and the shift in species means the reefs will not recover to the same configuration as before," he told AFP.

"The question is, will that recovery be interrupted by another mass coral bleaching event due to escalating global warming?" Hughes said there may however be some hope, as evidence suggested that some coral species are more resilient to temperature fluctuations than others.

The team found that while bleaching occurred in both 2016 and 2017, it took much greater heat exposure to cause the same level of bleaching the second time around -- meaning the reef was naturally adapting to house more heat-tolerant coral varieties.

"So the reef is now moving rapidly to a new configuration, with a greater proportion of the species that are resistant to bleaching, or that are capable of bouncing back the fastest," Hughes said.

The number of species, however, would likely be greatly reduced, earlier research has shown.

Co-author Morgan Pratchett however warned that there was a limit to the amount of warming the reef could take.

"It's highly unlikely that we could escape a fifth or sixth (bleaching) event in the coming decade," she said.

"We used to think that the Great Barrier Reef was too big to fail -- until now."

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New Delhi:

Rajasthan Governor Kalyan Singh is likely to face action for his political remarks in which he supported the return of Narendra Modi as prime minister. After the Election Commission concluded that Singh's remarks are violative of the model code, President Ram Nath Kovind on Thursday sent the file to the Centre for "necessary action".

Noticeably, this is the first time in the history of independent India that a Governor has been found violating the model code of conduct and campaigning for prime minister.

Addressing BJP workers at his Aligarh residence on March 23, Singh reportedly said, "All of us are BJP workers and we want the party to win. We want Modiji to become the prime minister. It is necessary that Modiji becomes the prime minister again".

Singh made these remarks to placate some agitated BJP members who had gathered outside his house over ticket distribution.

In the 1990s, the Election Commission had expressed displeasure over Himachal Pradesh governor Gulsher Ahmed campaigning for his son during the elections. He had later quit.

Kalyan Singh is a former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh. Singh quit the BJP in 1999 and returned in 2004. In 2014, soon after the BJP came to power, Kalyan Singh was appointed Governor.

On Wednesday, a plea was filed in Rajasthan High Court seeking dismissal of the Governor Kalyan Singh from his post for making statements which allegedly violated the provisions of the Constitution of India.

The petitioner demanded that the Governor either be dismissed or the "respondents" be directed to send a recommendation to President of India to remove him.

The complainant has also requested Union Cabinet Secretary and the Election Commission of India to be made "respondents" in the case.




Tokyo:

Former Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn was rearrested early Thursday in Tokyo while out on bail, local media said, as prosecutors investigate a new charge against the auto tycoon. Prosecutors entered Ghosn's temporary accommodation in central Tokyo in the early morning hours, and the Franco-Brazilian-Lebanese executive left shortly afterwards in a car with the investigators, public broadcaster NHK and others said.

The former head of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Motors alliance is facing allegations of falsifying financial reports and breach of trust. The breach of trust allegations center on a temporary transfer of Ghosn's investment losses to Nissan's books that he says caused no losses to the automaker. The charge also points to payments to a Saudi businessman that he says were for legitimate services. Earlier, Nissan had dismissed Ghosn as chairman. The 65-year-old was released on bail on March 6 after more than 100 days in detention.

The news came after it emerged that lawyers for RenaultNissans parent company that Ghosn also ledhave handed over documents to prosecutors showing millions of euros in payments to the firms distributors in Oman.

An internal probe by Nissan, which is cooperating with prosecutors, has found Ghosn had approved over $30 million in payments to a distributor in Oman, a person familiar with the matter confirmed to AFP.

Some of this money ended up in personal accounts, or used for purchases and investments by Ghosnmainly to buy a yacht and make investments via his sons firmaccording to this person.

In a bolt from the blue that rocked Japan and the business world, Ghosn was arrested on November 19 after prosecutors stormed his private jet at a Tokyo airport and took him into custody.

He spent more than 100 days in detention with limited access to lawyers before being released on bail of nearly USD 9 million.

Nissan swiftly removed him as chairman and is also expected to remove him from the board at an extraordinary shareholders meeting slated for Monday.
New Delhi:

In blistering heat, with folded hands and a smile on his face, Congress president Rahul Gandhi launched a new chapter of partyas battle in the Lok Sabha Elections from Keralaas Wayanad on Thursday. Along with him was one of his most trusted lieutenant a sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. Holding his bunch of papers, Priyanka was the perfect sister helping elder brother as he filed the nomination papers for the crucial poll battle. The brother-sister duo also took to the roads of Wayanad to appeal the voters with a mega show. Later, Priyanka also took to the Twitter and wrote a beautiful message for her brother.

aMy brother, my truest friend, and by far the most courageous man I know. Take care of him Wayanad, he wont let you down,a Priyanka tweeted along with a photo of his brother filing the nomination papers. A

A

My brother, my truest friend, and by far the most courageous man I know. Take care of him Wayanad, he wont let you down. pic.twitter.com/80CxHlP24T a Priyanka Gandhi Vadra (@priyankagandhi) April 4, 2019

Rahul Gandhi, who has been representing Uttar Pradesh's Amethi since 2004, is fighting the upcoming general elections from two seats. Gandhi said that he decided to contest from the south Indian state as people of the country's southern states feel "hostility from (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi" and he wanted to send a message that he and his party was standing with them.

"I have come to Kerala to send a message that India is one, be it North, South, East or West. My aim is to send a message, there is a feeling in South India that the way Centre, Modi ji and RSS are working its like an assault on culture and languages in South," Gandhi said.

On Wednesday, not impressed by Rahul Gandhi's decision, Left parties asserted that they will teach him how to "fight elections on the ground", even as the Congress said nothing will affect its chief's prospects in the state.

"Rahul Gandhi is like an invisible God. It will be easy for him to win polls in his family bastion Amethi (Uttar Pradesh). But the soil of Wayanad is something different. We will teach him on how to fight elections on the ground," CPI's Wayanad district leader, Vijayan Cherukara, had said on Wednesday.

The Left Democratic Front (LDF) -- a coalition of left-wing parties in Kerala -- has fielded CPI's PP Suneer from the Wayanad parliamentary constituency, which has seven assembly segments, three each in Wayanad and Malappuram districts and one in Kozhikode district.
Washington:

Having a pet can help older adults cope with mental and physical health issues, according to a US poll which showed that owning an animal lowers stress and gives people a sense of purpose.

While pets come with benefits, they can also bring concerns, and some people may even put their animals' needs ahead of their own health, the poll found. In all, 55 per cent of adults ages 50 to 80 have a pet, according to the new findings -- and more than half of those have multiple pets.

More than three-quarters of pet owners say their animals reduce their stress, and nearly as many say pets give them a sense of purpose. However, 18 per cent also said having a pet or pets puts a strain on their budget.

Two-thirds of all pet owners, and 78 per cent of dog owners, said their pet helps them be physically active, according to the findings from University of Michigan in the US.

For those who reported that their health was fair or poor, pet ownership appeared to offer even more benefits. More than 70 per cent of these older adults said their pet helps them cope with physical or emotional symptoms, and 46 per cent said their pets help take their mind off of pain.

"We have long known that pets are a common and naturally occurring source of support," said Cathleen Connell, a professor at University of Michigan.

"Although the benefits of pets are significant, social connections and activities with friends and family are also key to quality of life across the lifespan," Connell said.

"Helping older adults find low cost ways to support pet ownership while not sacrificing other important relationships and priorities is an investment in overall mental and physical health," she said.

The poll results indicates a need for physicians and other health care providers to ask older adults about the role of pets in their lives. More than half of those who owned pets said they did so specifically to have a companion -- and a slightly higher percentage said their pets sleep in bed with them.

Sixty-five per cent of pet owners said having a pet helps connect them to other people, too. "Relationships with pets tend to be less complicated than those with humans, and pets are often a source of great enjoyment," said Mary Janevic, an assistant research scientist at the University of Michigan. "They also provide older adults with a sense of being needed and loved," Janevic said.

One in six said that they put their pet's needs ahead of their own health needs -- a figure that was closer to one in four among those with health issues. "Later life is often a time when people have more freedom to travel, and a long list of things they want to do with their free time, and sometimes having a pet can get in the way," said Janevic.
New Delhi:

The BJP on Thursday forged an alliance with Hanuman Beniwal's Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP) in Rajasthan. He will contest from the Nagaur constituency. Beniwal was a former BJP member who had quit the party because of his differences with the then chief minister Vasundhara Raje and had formed the RLP. This development comes as a blow to the Congress in the state, who was in talks with the Jat leader for an alliance. Beniwal sealed the alliance after he arrived at the BJP office in Jaipur on Thursday morning and met the saffron partys Rajasthan election in charge Prakash Javadekar.

It was earlier reported that the Congress had tried to get Beniwal to support it in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, but failed to reach an understanding with the Jat leader criticising the Congress, saying it was in a weak position. Beniwal also hit out at chief minister Ashok Gehlots son Vaibhav and former Congress MP Jyoti Mirdha, saying neither would win their seats.

According to Beniwal, he enjoys the support of the Jat community and this will have an effect on at least 17 seats in Rajasthan. He is also a sitting legislator from Khinvsar in the Nagaur district and his party is also likely to contest from Barmer. The Congress has fielded Jyoti Mirdha from the seat. Jyoti is the granddaughter of late Nathuram Mirdha, a prominent Congress politician of his time.

The Hanuman Beniwal-led RLP had won 3 seats with a vote share of 2.4% in the 2018 Rajasthan Assembly elections. The BJP, which had received the backing of 38.8% voters, could have trounced the Congress with the RLP in the state polls as their combined vote share was 41.2% (BJP: 38.8% plus RLP: 2.4%).

The BJP, however, was leading in 13 Lok Sabha seats if we analyse the vote shares of the parties in the 2018 Assembly elections. The Congress was ahead in 12 seats. Rajasthan sends 25 representatives to the lower house of Parliament.



Upon forging the alliance, Beniwal said that the Congress has only looted the country while in power. By allying with the BJP, they will work towards saving the country. RLP workers, from today, will work towards making Narendra Modi the prime minister again.
New Delhi:

Poonam Sinha, Shatrughan Sinha's wife, will be contesting Lok Sabha elections against Union Minister Rajnath Singh in Lucknow on Samajwadi Party's ticket, news agency IANS reported.

It is further reported that the Congress has decided not to field a candidate from Lucknow and support the candidature of Sinha from the Uttar Pradesh capital.

Shatrughan Sinha recently resigned from the BJP and is all set to join the Congress on Saturday. He will be fielded from his current seat Patna Sahib seat, where he will be facing a direct contest with BJP's Ravi Shankar Prasad.

Associated with the BJP since the 1990s, Sinha fell out with the party's leadership in the recent past. While criticising Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP government's policies, Shatrughan continued his proximity with the RJD-led grand alliance in the state.

Rajnath Singh had won the Lucknow seat in 2014 garnering 55.7 per cent of the total 10,06,483 votes polled. He had won in all the five assembly segments of the constituency.

Rita Bahuguna Joshi, then a Congress MLA and former Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee chairperson, had remained runner-up in these elections by securing 2,88,357 of the total votes.
New Delhi:

The Election Commission of India has said it will take a final call on the release of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a Hindi biopic film, on Friday, as Opposition raised the pitch for deferring the release of the film by citing poll code violation. Early in the day,A producer Sandip SsinghA took to Twitter to confirm that the release of the biopic titled PM Narendra Modi has been pushed indefinitely and the team will update regarding the screening of the film anytime soon.A The biopic was set to be screened across the country on Friday, April 5. Originally, it was scheduled to hit the theatres on April 12, but producers had advanced it by a week, claiming "public demand".

Meanwhile, there are also reports that theA Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) is still undergoing due process of examination and is yet to give a certification or clearance to The Prime Minister Narendra Modi for theatrical release. In what could be another big blow for the makers of the film, the Supreme Court has also agreed to hear Congress' plea, seekingA deferment of theA releaseA of the biopic till the completion of upcoming Lok Sabha polls, on April 8.

Here's a glimpse of the trailer of our upcoming movie PM Narendra Modi. It has been a tremendous journey by far, all the hard work put forth herein. Hope you all will love it. @omungkumar @anandpandit63 @vivekoberoi

#jaihind #PMNarendraModi pic.twitter.com/dVk9QOLy5B a Sandip Ssingh (@sandip_Ssingh) March 22, 2019

EC to take a finalA call on the releaseA of PM biopic:

Speaking to reporters in the national capital, Deputy Election Commissioner Sandeep Saxena said, "We have sought comments from the producer of the movie and also from BJP's general secretary...that also has been received. The file is under examination and it has been listed for tomorrow". The Commission will take a final call tomorrow, Saxena added.

The official said the EC's decision, based on the directives of Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora and Election Commissioners Ashok Lavasa and Sushil Chandra, will be a response to the complaint raised by Congress in this regard.

Saxena said the Commission has already told the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) to take a call on the issue as it had "no role" in the issue. The EC officials said as Lavasa and Chandra were travelling to South India, the decision could not be taken earlier.

PM Modi biopic awaits CBFC clearance:

Sources in the CBFC said the film was yet to get a clearance. Prasoon Joshi,A the chairpersonA of Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), said the film is undergoing due process of examination and certification. Speaking to the news agency PTI, Joshi said, "Since there are a lot of queries around the certification of the film, (I) would like to give a clear picture: the film is going through the due process of examination and certification according to the requisite guidelines and is yet to be certified as the process is not complete at this point".

CBFC on "PM Narendra Modi" film: There's queries around the film's certification, we'd like to give a clear picture. The film is going through due process of examination&certification according to requisite guidelines&is yet to be certified as process isn't complete at this point pic.twitter.com/uZTUOACj03 a ANI (@ANI) April 4, 2019

Supreme Court to hear Congress' plea seeking post-poll release:

The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to hear a Congress leader's plea which sought deferment of the release of the biopic till the completion of upcoming Lok Sabha polls alleging that it was designed to "manipulate, influence and impress viewers and voters". A bench of Justices S A Bobde, S Abdul Nazeer and Indira Banerjee said it will hear the plea on Monday.A

Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for petitioner advocate Aman Panwar, spokesperson of the Congress, said two high courts have refused to interfere with the release of the movie. He sought urgent listing of the matter alleging that all four producers had "deep and pervasive links" to the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP). The bench initially observed that it would not like to entertain a fresh petition and would like to hear the appeals of the high court order.

The Congress made a formal complaint to the Election Commission over the release of the film. Opposition parties, including the Congress, said the film would give undue advantage to the BJP in electioneering and its release should be deferred till the elections are over.

The film, fronted by Vivek Oberoi and directed by Mary Kom maker Omung Kumar, was in the news with various political parties saying that releasing it less than a week before the general elections was a violation of the model code of conduct.

The seven-phased Lok Sabha polls begin on April 11 and end on May 19. The counting of votes for all phases will be taken up on May 23. The model code of conduct, which calls for a level playing field for all parties and candidates, came into force on March 10 as the elections were announced by the EC.
New Delhi:

The Madras High Court passed an order to prohibit the download and use of the popular mobile video-sharing app, TikTok. The Madurai bench of the high court passed the order after expressing concern that the app hosts inappropriate content, including pornography, which is available for access to children. The bench has also expressed its concern that minors are also exposed to strangers online through TikTok.

"Majority of the teens are playing pranks, gaffing around with duet videos sharing with split screen to the strangers. The children who use the said application are vulnerable and may expose them to sexual predators . Without understanding the dangers involved in these kinds of Mobile Apps., it is unfortunate that our children are testing with these Apps."

Justices N Kirubakaran and SS Sundar have also directed the central government to respond before the February 16 if it would enact like US' "Children's Online Privacy Protection Act" to prevent children becoming online victims. The order also observed pranks made using the app could violate privacy.

The petition was filed by a Madurai-based senior lawyer-cum-social activist Muthu Kumar. Citing pornography, cultural degradation, child abuse, suicides, he had sought a direction to ban TikTok.

Tik Tok, which was launched in 2019, is a social video app owned by China's Beijing ByteDance Co. It reached the one billion download mark in February. It is a popular app worldwide and was the fourth most downloaded non-game app in 2018.

The matter will be taken up next on April 16.

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Washington:

Former vice president Joe Biden, who is mulling a White House run, said Wednesday after coming under fire over his physical contact with women that he will be amore mindfula in the future about respecting personal space. aSocial norms are changing, I understand that, and Iave heard what these women are saying,a the 76-year-old Biden said in a message on his Twitter account.

aPolitics to me has always been about making connections, but I will be more mindful about respecting personal space in the future,a he said.

aThatas my responsibility and I will meet it,a said Biden, who is considering whether to seek the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020.

Two women have gone public in the past week with claims that Biden inappropriately touched them years ago.

aIt wasnat sexual, but he did grab me by the head,a Amy Lappos told Connecticutas Hartford Courant newspaper about an incident at a 2009 political fundraiser.

Social norms are changing. I understand that, and Iave heard what these women are saying. Politics to me has always been about making connections, but I will be more mindful about respecting personal space in the future. Thatas my responsibility and I will meet it. pic.twitter.com/Ya2mf5ODts a Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) April 3, 2019

Former Nevada state lawmaker Lucy Flores said she was amortifieda when Biden planted a abig, slow kissa on the back of her head as she waited to take the stage at a campaign rally five years ago.

Biden, in a video which accompanied his Twitter message, said that in his long political career he has aalways tried to make a human connection.

aThatas my responsibility, I thinkaI shake hands, I hug people,a he said.

aWhether theyare women, men, young, old, itas the way Iave always been, itas the way Iave tried to show I care about them and Iam listening,a he said.

Biden added that he agetsa that the aboundaries of protecting personal space have been reset.a aI get it,a he said. aI hear what theyare saying. I understand it. And Iall be much more mindful.

aThatas my responsibility and Iall meet it.a

Biden has yet to declare his candidacy, but he is already the early favorite to win the Democratic nomination and challenge Donald Trump in next yearas election.A

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New Delhi:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi to address two rallies in Uttar Pradesh and one in Uttarakhand. Congress President Rahul Gandhi to hold a rally in Chandrapur, Maharashtra. He will also hold an interactive session with students in Pune. AICC general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra to hold road show in Ghaziabad and then address a rally. BJP chief Amit Shah will address in Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur.

Here are the LIVE updates:



00:14 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In EC issues Censure to Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath over his 'Modi ki Sena' remark. The Commission has advised him to be more careful in future, being a senior political leader.

00:13 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Andhra Pradesh CM and TDP Chief N Chandrababu Naidu on transfer of chief secretary Anil Chandra Punetha: For what mistake did EC transfer the Chief Secretary? How can you transfer without telling the mistake he did? Election Commission should work in an unbiased manner.

00:13 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In EC writes to NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar over his remarks on NYAY scheme.

22:27 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In WATCH: BJD releases video of Odisha CM Naveen Patnaiks exercise regime. The CM says, "Getting ready to fight for the people of Odisha".



Biju Janata Dal (BJD) releases video of Odisha CM Naveen Patnaiks exercise regime. The CM says, "Getting ready to fight for the people of Odisha". pic.twitter.com/C15SqZRvoJ

 ANI (@ANI) April 5, 2019



22:14 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In PM unable to list even one achievement of his rule, says Priyanka Gandhi Vadra at Ghaziabad roadshow.

22:11 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In PM Narendra Modi to address two public meetings in Odisha on Saturday.

22:06 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Congress asks Election Commission to take 'decisive' action against Yogi, Naqvi for 'Modi ki Army' comment.

20:17 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Congress party releases list of 1 candidate in Jharkhand for Lok Sabha Elections 2019 and 4 candidates for elections to the state legislative assembly of Odisha.



20:08 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In PM Narendra Modi, the Hindi biopic film on the life of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, will hit the theatres on April 11, confirms director Omung Kumar.



Thank you everyone for your support. Heres the date when our film #PMNarendraModi will be releasing. 11th April. Jai hind pic.twitter.com/rY08rUhv7W

 Omung Kumar B (@OmungKumar) April 5, 2019



19:36 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel hit out at the Modi government over the ED charge sheet in the controversial Agusta Westland chopper case and said "baseless and laughable" allegations and "jumlas" are raining this election season.

19:33 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In If terrorism is not a factor, why are you having SPG security cover?: Sushma Swaraj asks Rahul Gandhi.



Union Min&BJP leader Sushma Swaraj in Hyderabad: Jis parivar ke 2-2 log aatankwad ka shikaar hue ho,uss parivar ka beta(Rahul Gandhi) ye keh raha hai ki aatankwad koi mudda nahi hai.Rahul ji,agar aatankwad koi mudda nahi hai to aap SPG ki suraksha liye kyun chalte hain?#Telangana pic.twitter.com/5SIC8C8Wfh

 ANI (@ANI) April 5, 2019



19:20 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In I'm pleading with you don't believe PM's colorful words.Why should we have enmity with neighbouring countries? 2 yrs ago a military officer told me PM will build a story before election to get votes.They don't ask for votes on development work: HD Kumaraswamy.

18:11 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In BJP releases list of star campaigners in Gujarat for Lok Sabha Elections 2019 and by-election in the state. Actor Vivek Oberoi is also included in the list.

18:10 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Delhi: A Congress delegation comprising Ahmed Patel, Randeep Surjewala, Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Jairam Ramesh reaches Election Commission of India.

17:19 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Modi government is misleading our farmers by saying there is no money for loan waivers, whereas Anil Ambani gets a30,000Cr worth Rafale deal: Rahul Gandhi.

17:18 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Chowkidar Modi has only served the interests of his industrialist friends. Contract for 6 airports were given to Adani when the nation was distracted during Pulwama terror attack, says Gandhi.

17:16 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Women of the families will receive a72,000 annually under NYAY scheme. We are doing this because Modi govt has given a3,50,000Cr to a handful of industrialist friends, whereas, farmers in Vidarbha were ignored: Rahul Gandhi.

16:52 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Ghaziabad: Congress General Secretary for UP east Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and party's candidate from the Parliamentary constituency Dolly Sharma hold a road show.

16:50 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Rahul Gandhi reiterates 'love' for Modi, says PM Modi is angry with him.

16:48 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Rahul Gandhi to file nomination from Amethi on April 10, Sonia from Rae Bareli on April 11.

16:45 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In The chants of Modi-Modi across the country shows that Modi ji is going to win this time with bigger mandate than 2014: Amit Shah.

16:39 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In The Right to Silence is available to an accused, not to a Prime Ministerial aspirant: FM Arun Jaitley.

16:38 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Alphabet Q appeared in Martin Ardbos diary in the Bofors Case with a comment that Q must be protected at all cost. It is only when the Swiss authorities in 1993 disclosed the names of one of the beneficiaries of the kickbacks of Bofors being paid as Ottavio Quattrocchi: Arun Jaitley.

16:38 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Arguments of probity in the public space demand more answers. Are RG, AP and FAM fictional characters or were they in a position to influence the deal? asks Arun Jaitley.

16:37 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In There is an erroneous belief among Indian politicians that a diary is never admissible as evidence. A diary constitutes an admission in writing and is admissible against the maker of that admission. It is admissible against the other co-conspirators as well: Arun Jaitley.

16:37 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Rahul Gandhi talks on several subjects without even having a nodding acquaintance with it. He makes wild and unsubstantiated allegations against all and sundry. Now, who are RG, AP and FAM mentioned in the chargesheet in the AugustaWestland case: Arun Jaitley in a press conference.

16:30 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Corruption and Congress go hand-in-hand. It's signature of the Congress government to have corruption on accelerator and development on ventilator: PM Modi.

16:30 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Tukde-tukde gang is happy with the Congress manifesto. In fact, their friends in Jammu and Kashmir demand a separate prime minister in the state: PM Modi.

16:30 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In The family which considered itself the destiny-maker of India is trying all tactics to save themselves from prison: PM Modi.

16:28 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Who are RG, AP and FAM? asks Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his latest blog post.

16:23 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In In AugustaWestland VVIP chopper scam case, people who recived bribery inclue - 'AP' and 'FAM'. ED charge sheet reveals that 'AP' stands for Ahmed Patel and 'FAM' for Family: PM Modi.

16:13 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan not to contest Lok Sabha polls, says she has freed party to make its choice.

16:10 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Narendra Modi's 'beti bachao, beti padhao' a flop, our 'Kanyashree' scheme got UNESCO award: Mamata Banerjee at TMC rally.

16:07 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Congress hurting morale of armed forces by seeking review of AFSPA in Jammu and Kashmir: PM Modi at rally in Dehradun.

16:06 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee in Naxalbari, West Bengal: We don't want 'Dilli ka laddoo'. We want a leader who is connected to the ground, one who stands with the people in their bad and good times.

15:49 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Delhi: A Congress delegation to meet the Election Commission of India today at 5:15 PM at Nirvachan Sadan.

15:08 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In BJP leader Smriti Irani on Friday met several party workers in different assembly segments of the Amethi Lok Sabha constituency, including Tiloi and Jagdishpur, and discussed issues related to the polls.

14:18 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In When players win medal in other countries, they are given Rs 15 lakh instead of Rs 8 lakh: Amit Shah.

14:18 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In 300 km highway has been built in Manipur. Five helipads have been built under the Udan scheme to travel across Manipur. The govt has started work on the expansion of Imphal airport and air cargo terminal: Amit Shah.

14:17 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In NDA govt building India's first national sports university in Manipur: Amit Shah.

14:16 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In The northeast was given 238% more funds in 14th finance commission under NDA as compared to 13th finance commission under UPA: Shah in Manipur.

14:16 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Do you want to support 'tukde tukde gang'? asks PM Modi.

14:14 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Biren Singh has served in BSF, he can be called true chowkidar: Amit Shah in Manipur.

14:13 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Five years ago PM Modi called himself 'Chaiwala' but now he has forgotten how to make tea and has become 'chowkidar': Mamata Banerjee in Assam.

14:10 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In The Election Commission has disqualified 493 losing candidates in 2017 Uttar Pradesh assembly polls from contesting elections for the next three years for failing to submit their poll-related expenditure accounts. The list includes six candidates from Muzaffarnagar district of the state.

14:09 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In This huge sea of people shows the mandate of Lok Sabha polls, says PM Modi at Saharanpur rally.

14:08 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In NRC and Citizenship (Amendment) Bill are two lollipops being doled out by PM Modi to fool people of Assam: Mamata Banerjee in Dhubri.

14:08 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Trinamool has stood beside all 40 lakh people -- Hindu or Muslim-- whose names have been left out of NRC: Mamata Banerjee at Dhubri in Assam.

14:06 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Prime Minister Narendra Modi is speaking at a rally in Saharanpur.

14:04 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Sumitra Mahajan also asked why a candidate has not been declared from Indore yet. She appealed to the BJP to name a candidate.





14:01 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan says she doesn't want to contest the 2019 elections, appeals to the party to name a candidate from Indore.









13:39 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In N Chandrababu Naidu: I'm warning PM, if you do like this, you will have to pay a heavy price. We are fighting to save democracy and India. Who are you? You are the outgoing PM. Even the officers I am requesting, don't listen to him, if you listen, you will also face serious consequences.

13:39 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Muslim League is a virus and Congress is infested with it: Yogi Adityanath

13:39 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Nitish Kumar made many attempts to rejoin grand alliance, says RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav.





13:38 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu: Raids being conducted on TDP leaders on instructions of PM. Once elections are announced everything has to be conducted under ECI guidance. All parties should have equal opportunity, even one party they can't suppress, another party they can't support.

13:38 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Congress has announced Dhirender Pratap Singh as its candidate from Shrawasti.

13:35 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Andhra Pradesh CM N Chandrababu Naidu on a sit-in protest in Vijayawada over reported IT raids on TDP candidates and supporters.



Andhra Pradesh CM N Chandrababu Naidu on a sit-in protest in Vijayawada over reported IT raids on TDP candidates and supporters. pic.twitter.com/GP0fmppVRA

 ANI (@ANI) April 5, 2019



13:11 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav attacks PM Modi, says BJP has hidden unemployment numbers.

12:32 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In What should I have done after terror attack? Stay quiet or retaliate? PM Modi asks.

12:33 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In I would like to thank the Government of UAE and people of UAE for honouring me with the Zayed medal. This is not an award given to Modi but to the Indian people.

12:30 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In A strong government takes strict actions: PM Modi in Amroha.

12:28 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In BJP wave can be seen in Amroha: PM Modi.

12:27 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In I have never let down the country: PM Modi.

12:27 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In The public is standing strong with the chowkidar: PM Modi.

12:26 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In I have toured every corner of the country, says PM Modi in Amroha.

12:24 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In PM Modi addresses a rally in Uttar Pradesh's Amroha.

12:23 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Nishikant Sapam, the editor of Sangai Express, Manipur's leading daily joined the BJP.

12:18 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Arunachal NPP to back BJP in 1 LS seat, 27 Assembly segments.

12:11 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Money won't be taken from the middle class, income tax won't be raised: Rahul Gandhi

12:11 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Rahul Gandhi promises to reserve 33% seats in Parliament, Assemblies: Rahul Gandhi.

12:01 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Truth is at times bitter, says Congress president Rahul Gandhi at an interaction with students in Pune.

11:58 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In I don't make false promises: Congress president Rahul Gandhi at an interaction with students in Pune.

11:27 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Arunachal Pradesh earned Rs 927 crore revenue and the credit goes to Prema Khandu ji. It's going to make this state financially independent: Amit Shah

11:27 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In It's for the first time that BJP fighting on all the seats of state assembly of Arunachal Pradesh. Our winning streak started with this region when three MLAs of our party were elected uncontested: Amit Shah

11:05 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In All parts of the Northeast are now connected with airways and railways. The govt gave Rs 50,000 crore for the development of roads of Arunachal Pradesh: Amit Shah.

11:05 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Modi ji instructed his ministers to visit northeast every fortnight. It was done to pay attention to the issues and resolve them: Amit Shah.

10:59 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Five years ago, the northeast was disturbed and there was hardly any development. After five years, BJP brought peace in the region and is on the path of development: Amit Shah





10:56 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In BJP chief Amit Shah addresses a public meeting at Changlang in Arunachal Pradesh.

10:40 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Karnataka CM HD Kumaraswamy: Election Commission and Income Tax Department are literally harassing me and my family. Let the Election Commission officials perform their duties, but dont harass us on mere suspicion.

10:12 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Andhra Pradesh CM N Chandrababu Naidu to sit on protest in Vijayawada over reported IT raids on TDP candidates and supporters.

10:12 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Samajwadi party leader Dimple Yadav to file nomination from Kannauj on Saturday.

10:11 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Congress president Rahul Gandhi will file his nomination from Amethi on April 10.

09:03 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Congress President Rahul Gandhi to hold a rally in Chandrapur, Maharashtra. He will also hold an interactive session with students in Pune.

09:03 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In AICC general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra to hold road show in Ghaziabad and then address a rally.

09:03 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In BJP chief Amit Shah will address in Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur.

09:03 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In The Noida Village Residents' Association (NOVRA) on Thursday launched a voter awareness campaign as it also raised demand for revival of panchayat system in villages and five per cent reservation for locals whose lands have been acquired. The registered body with 81 villages in Noida as its members said its functionaries will reach out to the people to raise awareness among them for voting in the April 11 election here and also raise their demands with the poll candidates.

07:31 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In He will then address a rally in the Uttarakhand capital of Dehradun.
New Delhi:

Pakistan on Friday announced that it will release 360 Indian prisoners, mostly fishermen, this month in four phases, as a "goodwill gesture" amidst tensions between the two countries after the Pulwama terror attack.

Foreign Office spokesperson Mohammad Faisal said the process of releasing the Indian fishermen will start on April 8 when 100 prisoners will be released. In the second phase on April 5, another 100 will be released. In the third phase on April 22, another 100 will be released and in the fourth and last phase on April 29, the remaining 60 prisoners will be released.

We are doing it as goodwill gesture and hope that India will reciprocate it, Faisal said while addressing his weekly briefing to the media in Islamabad.

The spokesperson said currently there are 347 Pakistani prisoners in India and 537 Indian prisoners in Pakistan.

"Pakistan will release 360 Indian prisoners, of which 355 are fishermen and 5 are civilians," he said.

The fishermen will be taken from Karachi to Lahore and handed over to Indian officials at the Wagah border.

Anwar Kazmi, a spokesman of Edhi welfare organisation, which helps the released fishermen with clothes and food, told PTI from Karachi that the process of releasing the fishermen will start from Sunday.

First a group of 100 fishermen will be taken from Karachi to Lahore on Allama Iqbal Express on Sunday," he said.

They are likely to be handed over to India on Monday at Wagah. They spent months and sometimes years before repatriated.

Pakistan and India frequently arrest fishermen as there is no clear demarcation of the maritime border in the Arabian Sea and these fishermen do not have boats equipped with the technology to know their precise location.

Owing to lengthy and slow bureaucratic and legal procedures, the fishermen usually remain in jail for several months and sometimes years.

Pakistan's announcement to release the fishermen came amidst escalating tensions between India and Pakistan after a suicide bomber of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terror group killed 40 CRPF personnel in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on February 14.

India launched a counter-terror operation against a JeM training camp in Balakot in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

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New Delhi:

Disgruntled AAP MLA Alka Lamba on Wednesday asked the people outside Jama Masjid in New Delhi whether she should resign from the Aam Aadmi Party as her "party people" were "repeatedly demanding" her resignation.A Her visit to Jama Masjid followed a bitter Twitter spat with party lawmaker Saurabh Bharadwaj, who had taunted her to resign from the party.A

Addressing a large crowd that gathered around her, Chandni Chowk MLA said the AAP was repeatedly demanding her resignation and sought to know from the people.A "I am fighting against the BJP but some people are fighting with me. My party people are repeatedly asking me to resign. I want to know what is my fault. Why should I resign? I want the people of my constituency Chandni Chowk to decide whether I should resign from AAP or not," Lamba said.

She also said the only way to defeat the BJP is that the AAP and the Congress join hands. Lamba said this was the second time her party had asked her to resign after Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal sought her resignation in December last year.A

03-04-2019 MLA alka lamba ji Chandni Chowk VidhanSabha jama masjid mai apni peyari janta kai sath .jai hind.. pic.twitter.com/UwJLTajY2t a Danish Ansari... (@Danishshabnama1) April 3, 2019

She said she was asked to resign as she had opposed the AAP's move to pass a resolution demanding the revocation of the Bharat Ratna honours, conferred to former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.

"On one hand, Kejriwal said he wants coalition with the Congress to defeat the BJP but on the other hand, he makes such statements. What does he want?" she said.

Soon after the public outing, Lamba tweeted that if the AAP and the Congress come together the figures in Delhi would be AAP-2 seats, Congress-2 seats, BJP-3 seats but if there is no alliance, then it will be the AAP-0, the Congress-0 and the BJP-7. Earlier, Lamba and Bhardwaj got into a verbal spat on Tuesday after the Congress released its manifesto.A

It all began when Lamba questioned the possibility of an alliance between the AAP and the Congress after the latter released its manifesto without any mention of giving full statehood to Delhi.A
New Delhi:

Reacting to Enforcement Directorates summon to his nephew Ratul Puri for interrogation in a money laundering case related to the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper scam, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath on Thursday said he has nothing to do with the formers business.

While Nath said that an investigation should be conducted, he wondered why such issues came up during elections.

He's independent, he has nothing to do with politics and I have nothing to do with his business. Whatever there is, it must be investigated but how these issues come up during elections only? he said.

The Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday told a Delhi court that Puri was summoned for interrogation in a money laundering case related to the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper scam.

Puri has reportedly denied any wrongdoing on his part in the AgustaWestland case. "I am cooperating with the investigation. I have no connection with AgustaWestland or defence. I run an independent business. I have no business dealings with any relative of mine," ANI reported Puri as saying.

According to ED sources, Puri's name appeared in the statement recorded by middleman and Dubai-based businessman Rajeev Saxena, who recently turned approver in the case.

ED told Special Judge Arvind Kumar that Puri, Chairman of Hindustan Powerprojects Pvt Ltd, was summoned for confronting him with Sushen Mohan Gupta, an arrested middleman in the case, whose custodial interrogation was today extended by three more days by the court.

Seeking the extension of Gupta's custody, ED told the court that he was required to be confronted with various people including Puri in the case pertaining to the now scrapped Rs 3,600 crore chopper deal.



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Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi and German Chancellor Angela Merkel discussed an array of regional issues of mutual interest as well as bilateral relations. They also discussed Egypt's key role and efforts towards settling this crisis permanently as well as Germany's valued role to coordinate international efforts on the Libyan crisis, reports.

During a video conference call, Egyptian President Sisi and German Chancellor Merkel tackled the latest developments in Libya, stressing the need to continue intensive consultations between the two countries on this important file, the Egyptian presidency said in a statement. Both sides agreed to move forward in the political process in Libya, leading up to holding national polls in December, highlighting the significance of the departure of all foreign forces and terrorists from the Libyan territories.

They also exchanged points of view on the Palestinian issue, the statement said, adding that Sisi reviewed Egypt's efforts to firm up the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and its efforts toward the reconstruction of the seaside enclave. Egyptian President also reviewed Egypt's steps and contacts on the bilateral and regional levels to revive the peace process and reach a just solution to the Palestinian cause, from side to side the resumption of peace talks based on international references.

Pakistan: Bomb blast outside Balochistan University kills one policeman, injures many

European Union ready to implement sanctions on Belarusian airline

US representative for North Korea Sung Kim to embark Seoul this week
New Delhi: Gangster Suresh Pujari, another famous name in the Mumbai underworld, has been arrested in the Philippines. Suresh Pujari has about 2 dozen criminal cases registered in Mumbai. Suresh Pujari had fled the country in 2007. In many cases of extortion in Maharashtra, the wanted criminal will be extradited to India soon.

According to sources, Suresh Pujari was arrested on October 15 and is now in police custody. Mumbai Police and CBI have been monitoring gangster activities for many years. The priest was arrested by the Philippines' Fugitive Search Unit. Suresh Pujari along with Ravi Pujari had started his criminal life. But Suresh Pujari formed a separate gang to create money and self-dominance.

Suresh Pujari has several cases of extortion, murder and criminal conspiracy registered against him. According to Mumbai Crime Branch sources, he was arrested 2 to 3 days ago. All the information in this related case was handed over to the Government of India by the Mumbai Police. Suresh Pujari was on Interpol radar and has now been arrested, now the culprit will be brought to India soon.

Parents loved more than other siblings, girl poisoned whole family to death

Drugs Case: Shiv Sena leader reached SC to defend Aryan Khan, accuses NCB

Moody's upgrades outlook for Indian banking system to stable from negative
New Delhi: India, which is facing a severe power crisis, has now requested Qatar to expedite the supply of natural gas. 58 ships of LNG from Qatar are coming to India. But the supply is getting delayed. With Qatar's state-owned Qatar gas maintenance work going on, 50 ships of LNG to India this year are being delayed.

As power generation is being disrupted due to difficulties in the supply of coal in India, efforts are now being made to get the supply of liquidated natural gas (LNG) at the earliest. The Oil Ministry has now written to Qatar Gas requesting it to send the supply at the earliest. The supply that India was supposed to get last year itself has not been completed. Because the demand for gas had come down drastically due to lockdown last year.

Petronet LNG, the largest importer of gas in India, has contracted to buy 7.5 million tonnes of LNG every year from Qatar. It also has an agreement to buy 1.44 million tonnes of LNG every year from Exxon Company from Australia.

Stock market swang in festive season, Sensex crossed 62000 for first time in history

Petrol-Diesel prices at historic highs, know today's price

Indias exports rise 40.5 percent in first October fortnight
Kathmandu, October 19

The Ministry of Health and Population has informed that Nepals Covid-19 tally has reached 900,086 as of Tuesday afternoon.

The ministry said 1,096 new cases were confirmed in the country in the past 24 hours.

In this period, 8,140 swab samples were tested in the RT-PCR method, of which returned 957 returned positive. Likewise, 1,776 people underwent antigen tests for the virus, of which an additional 139 tested positive.

Of total tests, 11.75 per cent of the PCR and 7.82 per cent of antigen samples returned positive, keeping the overall per-day positivity rate at 11.05 per cent.

As of today, there are 11,815 active cases across the country. Of them, 949 are hospitalised, 267 in intensive care units and 86 on ventilators.

In the past 24 hours, 1,004 people have achieved recovery whereas 12 deaths have been reported.

Of the total cases so far, 783,397 people have achieved recovery. Likewise, 11,305 died, according to the ministry. The countrys recovery rate is 97.1 per cent and the death rate is 1.4 per cent.

Meanwhile, 163,026 people were vaccinated today.
Home  Business  Nepal likely to give GMR 2 more years to generate funds for Upper Karnali Hydropower Project

Kathmandu, October 19

Once again, the government is preparing to allow the Indian company, GMR Group, to spend two more years to generate funds for the ambitious Upper Karnali Hydropower Project.

The company has been dillydallying the assignment for the past few years, yet the government seems helpless to do anything except extending the time.

A source in the Investment Board Nepal, the government authority that looks after projects involving foreign investments on a big scale, says the officials have informally decided to extend the deadline. However, a committee has been formed recently, under the leadership of the National Planning Commission Vice-chairperson Biswo Poudel, to recommend whether to extend the termjust to complete the formalities required for the extension.

The board formed the team on October 9 and gave it 45 days to submit a report.

Earlier, the Indian contractor had asked the board to extend the term.

It has been around 13 years since the government assigned Indias GMR Group to construct the 900-megawatt Upper Karnali Hydropower Project. However, the company is yet to manage funds for the project.
" " What have we created?! Bettmann/Bettmann Archive/Getty Images

"Hear my tale; it is long and strange ... "

Withered lips utter these words. The speaker's face seems nothing more than a rotting mask of skin, barely stretched into place over sinew and vein. Wild, black hair cascades down the figure's massive shoulders, and gleaming eyes stare out through the tangled strands. Tattered garments adorn his towering frame.

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Despite his size, the monster moves with agility and grace. Despite his brutish appearance, his speech betrays a formidable intellect. He is nameless. He is angry. His words steam in the cold air as he confronts the tormented chemist responsible for his very existence, a man named Victor Frankenstein.

Related in Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley's original 1818 novel, this encounter occurs halfway through a book already marked by the power of science and human misery. For Victor Frankenstein, this exchange is a confrontation with his brother's murderer, as well as the shameful fruit of his own scientific recklessness. For the creature, it is an audience with the man who formed his disfigured body out of cadavers and animal parts -- who gave him life only to abandon his creation to an unforgiving world.

This reunion of creator and creation results in a fleeting truce. Victor agrees to assemble a female companion for the creature, who in turn promises to spare the lives of Victor's remaining loved ones and depart for the wilds of South America. When Victor reneges on his promise, however, their peace collapses into a bloody feud.

This conflict is the backbone of the famous fictional work "Frankenstein: Or, The Modern Prometheus," a tale of vast scientific achievement and deep existential failure. The relationship between Victor and his creation is a complex one, far more nuanced than the man-versus-monster and brains-versus-brute scenarios splashed all over popular culture. Just who is this nameless, synthetic being? What cultural ideas does he embody, and why does his presence continue to haunt us?

In this article, we'll uncover the heart of Frankenstein's monster.
Mobile Farmers Market helps youth learn about nutrition

Media Contact: Trisha Gedon | Communications Specialist | 405-744-3625 | trisha.gedon@okstate.edu

Students at Zion Public School in Stilwell, Oklahoma, recently set aside their traditional reading, writing and arithmetic studies for lessons on healthy eating, produce and budgeting.

More than 100 students in first through third grades had an opportunity to shop at the Mobile Farmers Market set up in the schools gymnasium, thanks to the High Obesity Prevention Program through Oklahoma State University Extension.

Jessie Collins, HOP Program educator, said the goal of the Mobile Market was to help children learn about the variety of fruits and vegetables available, as well as how to budget $15 in veggie bucks they had to spend. Students took home 654.2 pounds in fresh fruits and vegetables, which were paid for through a grant from the Farm to School program and the HOP Program. All of the produce came from the Muskogee Farmers Market and the Arnold Fruit Co. After making their selections, the students had an opportunity to taste fresh peaches.

By creating a farmers market, were exposing children to a lot of different fruits and vegetables, and hopefully theyll try something new, she said. They also had to budget their veggie bucks and decide what they wanted to buy. One thing I did notice was some of the students would buy things they didnt like but knew others in their family did.

This was Collins second visit to Zion Public School. The first time the students went home with pre-packaged bags of produce. However, she wanted the children to get a more hands-on experience and set it up like a farmers market to allow them to make their own choices.

Kids are much more likely to try something new if they get to pick it out and also if they help prepare it at home, she said.

First-grader Aalyah Proctor chose cucumbers, onions, radishes, green beans, apples, zucchini and squash to take home to her family, along with a pint-size pumpkin for holiday decoration.

I like the way my grandma cooks zucchini in a skillet, but cucumbers and apples are my favorites, Proctor said.

Third-grader Blane Sidebottom bought pears, squash, cucumbers and apples. He likes fruits and vegetables and was looking forward to trying the pears.

I like to help cook at home and I know vegetables are good for my body because theyre healthy, Sidebottom said. I might make soup out of the stuff I bought.

Sharon VanDevender, a nutrition education assistant in Adair Countys OSU Extension office, works with the school-age children and teaches lessons about good nutrition and how to make wise decisions about food choices. At the Mobile Farmers Market, she was busy weighing everyones purchases.

I really like working with the kids, and the teachers here are great, VanDevender said. I like to give the kids simple recipes with just a few ingredients can that be fresh or canned.

Lainey Porter, president of the Healthy Oklahoma Nutrition Alliance, said HONA often partners with OSU Extension and always is glad to find ways such as the Mobile Farmers Market to expose kids to healthy, nutritious food.

Making children aware of various healthy foods, especially those that are locally sourced, is one of HONAs goals, Porter said. Through this organization, I try to emphasize how much value there is in shopping at a farmers market.

There are several programs that allow Supplemental Nutrition Assistant Program (SNAP) recipients to double their buying power for fresh fruits and vegetables. The Double Up Food Bucks program will match SNAP benefit dollars so recipients can buy twice as many fruits and vegetables.

Collins said the HOP Program began in 2018 and is available in Adair and Muskogee counties.

The obesity rate here is over 40%. Through HOP, were trying to lessen the high obesity rate so people can live healthier lives by making healthier food choices, she said.

For more information about the HOP Program, contact Collins by phone at 918-214-6125 or via email at jessie.garcia@okstate.edu.
Cybersecurity

CISA seeks 24-hour timeline for cyber incident reporting

The Biden administration favors a 24-hour timeline for cyber incident reporting for critical infrastructure operators and other key entities.

Brandon Wales, the executive director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, noted that Colonial Pipeline had notified customers "well in advance of 24 hours" that it was shutting down pipelines after the hack of its business systems in May.

"We do think that 24 hours is a good metric," Wales said during a live interview at Bloomberg's Policy Blueprint event on Tuesday.

That stance aligns the administration with a bipartisan cybersecurity bill offered by leaders of the Senate Select Intelligence Committee in July.

The Cyber Incident Notification Act of 2021, sponsored by Sens. Mark Warner (D-Va.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) requires covered entities to report breaches within 24 hours and sets up a new reporting system with classified capabilities to support the timely notification of cybersecurity incidents  especially those traceable to known state-sponsored threat groups  to CISA.

Separately, the leaders of the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee introduced the Cyber Incident Reporting Act of 2021, which sets a 72-hour deadline for a broad swath of companies to report "major incidents" to CISA. That bill passed committee, and Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.), a lead sponsor of the bill and the panel's chairman, said at a recent markup that he hopes to pass cyber reporting and a related update to the Federal Information Security Modernization Act in the must-pass National Defense Authorization Act.

In Senate testimony last month, CISA Director Jen Easterly said it was "long past time to get cyber incident reporting legislation out there." She also said that she favored fines as way to enforce compliance with an incident reporting regime.

"I do think a compliance and enforcement mechanism is very important here," Easterly said. "I know some of the language talks about subpoena authority. My personal view is that is not an agile enough mechanism to allow us to get the information that we need to share it as rapidly as possible to prevent other potential victims from threat actors. So I think that we should look at fines."

Industry has typically favored the longer reporting timeline. The technology trade group ITI recommends that government "allow for at least a 72-hour reporting window after an entity has verified an incident."
Congress

Senate funding bill zeros out TMF

Once again, Senate appropriators are offering zero dollars to the central revolving fund set up by the Modernizing Government Technology Act.

The Senate's Financial Services and General Government appropriation, released on Monday, includes no new money for the Technology Modernization Fund, which is currently flush thanks to a $1 billion addition included in the American Rescue Plan Act. More funding could be coming via the two-part infrastructure package sought by the Biden administration. Another $1 billion for the fund was included in the House Oversight Committee's markup of the Build Back Better legislation. However, that bill won't come to the House floor for a vote until there is a deal in place among Democratic lawmakers and the White House to advance the Build Back Better bill and a separate bipartisan infrastructure bill that has already passed in the Senate.

The House of Representatives did include a $50 million plus-up to the fund in an appropriations package that passed 219-208 in July.

"It has always been an uphill battle in the Senate," Mike Hettinger, a former senior congressional staffer who lobbies on technology issues, told FCW. "The Senate has always been focused on transparency and showing results."

In the past, lawmakers have usually split the difference, with annual funding boosts in the $25 million to $35 million range for TMF.

Additionally, Senate appropriators are seeking more oversight authority over efforts by the Department of Homeland Security to tap into TMF funding. So far, Customs and Border Protection has been awarded $65 million in TMF funding across two projects.

The legislative report accompanying the DHS appropriations bill states that the committee supports efforts at DHS to obtain TMF funding and that it wants to be notified "when the department or a component agency submits an initial project proposal to the Technology Modernization Board." In the event of an award, DHS must brief appropriators "on the project and the plan for paying back the TMF, e.g., identify projected cost savings."

Senate appropriators are also allowing DHS for the first time to set up its own pot of non-year money to support IT modernization. The DHS funding bill sets up a new "Nonrecurring Expenses Fund" for the agency, funded by "unobligated balances of expired discretionary funds." Any funds that go into this account are considered available until they are spent, and can be used for "information technology system modernization and facilities infrastructure improvements necessary" for DHS operations, subject to the approval of the Office of Management and Budget.

Agencies are authorized to set up their own revolving IT funds under the Modernizing Government Technology Act, but so far few have done so.

New TMF awards on the way

Federal CIO Clare Martorana said Tuesday at an event hosted by Bloomberg that the next set of TMF awards would be announced in a matter of weeks, and added that the program management office has been scaled to address a backlog of proposals. The board announced $311 million in awards at the end of September -- the first tranche of TMF funding since the $1 billion addition to the program in March.

Martorana, who heads the TMF board, described the investment as "the best seed funding" possible to ensure the government is making "strategic investments" in cross-agency service improvements, cybersecurity and modernization efforts. The board recently made a $187 million award to Login.gov, a public-facing identity and credentialing management program that provides users with secure access to participating government programs and services.

She said the board has been meeting weekly to go through over $2 billion worth of proposals for funding. The board has been receiving assistance from federal IT workers in reviewing project proposals.
FCW Insider: October 19, 2021

One of the government's most popular methods for buying emerging technologies and critical IT services faces significant challenges in an ever-changing marketplace.



An incumbent on a key Homeland Security data center contract says it should have been the one to manage the migration to a hybrid environment.

The General Service Administration plans to scale up the Login.gov program to make digital identity verification a more equitable and secure practice after it was awarded nearly $187 million through the Technology Modernization Fund.

Quick Hits

*** An Oct. 18 letter from Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi expressed a "high degree of confidence" that the United States will be able to pay its debts through December 3, 2021, thanks to a temporary extension of the debt limit. However, Yellen noted that the tight financial situation means that Treasury will have to suspend some investments of the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund and the Postal Service Retiree Health Benefits Fund until Congress passes a new debt limit extension. "Federal retirees and employees will be unaffected by these actions," Yellin wrote.

*** The Social Security Administration double-counted $100,000 of data center consolidation savings in its reports to the federal IT dashboard, according to an audit report from the agency's Office of Inspector General. The error only represented a tiny portion of the $541 million in cost savings reported by SSA. The report examined the accuracy of the agency's representations to the IT dashboard and found it to be "reliable".
The brighter side of Facebook

I have almost 3,100 Facebook friends, developed at retail over a 15-year period since a student first sent me a friend request on the platform. I am on Facebook pretty much every day, posting short comments and reacting to posts from others. The largest group of my Facebook friends is current, former, or retired federal civil servants, mostly met through executive education programs at the Harvard Kennedy School. There are also a good number of high school and college friends, as well as people from other countries in Asia, Europe, and Latin America.

Most, but by no means all, are mainstream Democrats like me. A smaller number are somewhat to my left. There are also some conservatives, including a one-time national chair of the Young Americans for Freedom and the general counsel for a Washington-based conservative organization. There are a few, but not many, Trump supporters.

The Facebook I experience is, frankly, nothing like the ones we learn about in the media and in Frances Haugens whistleblower account.

There is definitely debate and disagreement on my Facebook page. A number of my Facebook friends were furious about Bidens decision to withdraw from Afghanistan (not just the way the withdrawal was done), believing we had abandoned a country we had stood by and were leaving women to a horrid fate. But another friend, himself a veteran, has written repeatedly that we never had any business there and that U.S. foreign policy is controlled by defense contractors who profit from war.

I have been criticized on my page for reporting that I listen to Fox News every morning before the Today show goes on at 7 a.m.; some have expressed amazement that I could stand watching such a purveyor of disinformation (nobody has defended me).

Probably the two biggest topics being debated on my page right now are Israel and China. Most of my Facebook friends are broadly sympathetic to Israel (two are American Jews who live there), but others have been vocal recently criticizing violations of human rights in the West Bank and calling for greater understanding of the Palestinians. On China, I am in the minority on the page who are uneasy about anti-China hysteria in the U.S. (though I myself have written frequently on the page in support of Hong Kong and Taiwan), but people on the page are split about this.

Two topics about which there is more or less unanimity on my page are opposition to vaccine deniers and to mask mandate opponents, though one person has attacked me for blaming Trump for the continuation of the COVID-19 pandemic. This topic actually generates perhaps more emotion than any other, with a few of my Facebook friends writing that the unvaccinated dying of covid was a way to cull the heard.

However, the overall tone of the page is very open, tolerant and respectful, even though many of my friends  and especially those posting on the page  are very interested in politics and have strong views. People disagree with each other, but they almost never use insulting or extreme language. The friends who are former national chair of the Young Americans for Freedom and the conservative general counsel have more than once apologized on the page for language they used that they recognized went overboard. I did lose one Trump supporter on the page, who had been very active but told me he got tired of being attacked, but the other Trump supporters have stayed. And I get a stream of people writing that they learn a lot from the back-and-forth.

At the risk of being boastful, I would like to suggest how all this has happened. It takes mindfulness, and it takes work, but creating a respectful dialogue on Facebook requires no unnatural acts.

I think the two most important things are to show respect oneself and to work to nip in the bud words that could derail a dialogue. One thing I do is regularly to publish posts sending the relevant friends wishes for their Christian, Jewish, and Muslim religious holidays -- for a while I sent Hindu friends wishes for Diwali, but have lost my Hindu friends -- and greetings for their countries national days. (A number of friends have called this out as a feature of my page that they like.) More importantly, and very consciously, I frequently like posts that I disagree with, even when also posting something critical of what has been written. Very frequently I begin responses to posts with the words, Thank you for your thoughtful post or This is really insightful. When I am disagreeing with someone, I will often write, I understand your point of view, but I disagree.

Luckily I dont need to do this often, but when someone has gone overboard with strong language I will write a comment on the inappropriately worded post like, I think your language has gone overboard here. Lets always try to show respect on this page. A few times I have written a more general comment on my page like, I feel some of the language some are using on the page is excessive, and I ask people to be careful.

Fascinatingly, each time I have done this someone has written me privately on Facebook messenger apologizing  though in none of the cases was the apologizer a person I had in mind when I wrote the post! On very rare occasions I have written a private note on messenger to someone about a specific post.

The result of all this is that I experience Facebook more like the place described in Mark Zuckerbergs propaganda -- a platform that brings people together -- rather than the realm of insults, hatred, disinformation and extremism that clearly exists as well. I have no way of knowing whether the Zuckerberg version or the version that dominates coverage of Facebook is closer to reality. Speaking for myself, Facebook has let me stay in touch with many people I would otherwise never encounter, and I have learned a huge amount from the exchanges on my page. Lets keep in mind that this is part of what Facebook represents.

P.S. I am setting up a new blog called Steve Kelman on politics, culture, and life that runs my short Facebook posts.
Interview Opportunities: Eisenhower, Roberts, representatives of Garcia, Mahoney

Approximately 11:45 following ceremony

BONNER SPRINGS, Kan., October 19, 2021--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Three men who contributed to advancing American agriculture  former Sen. Pat Roberts, late horticulturist Fabian Garcia and late farmer activist Elmo Mahoney  will be inducted into the Agricultural Hall of Fame Oct. 23, at the National Agricultural Center in Bonner Springs, Kansas.

Giving remarks will be Mary Jean Eisenhower, granddaughter of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who signed the 1960 charter establishing the Agricultural Hall of Fame. Delayed by COVID, the Hall of Fame is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year.

The inductees join George Washington Carver, John Deere, Willie Nelson and other notables, with contributions including:

Former Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts supported Americas agricultural producers and advancement of bioscience, biotechnology and biosecurity. He was first to chair both the House and Senate Agriculture Committees and pass farm bills in both chambers. He supported bipartisan child nutrition programs, crop protection and insurance.

Roberts helped develop a production agriculture safety net, expand trade and ensure food sustainability. He wrote the bipartisan 2018 farm bill to support farmers and rural communities developing renewable production methods, bio-based products and advanced biofuels.

He helped bring to Kansas the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility and the Biosecurity Research Institute. A Marine veteran, he was chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee. As first chairman of the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities, he helped pass biosecurity legislation.

Fabian Garcia (1871-1948), "Father of the New Mexican Food Industry," pioneered breeding and growing sustainable plants that advanced agriculture nationwide. Born in Mexico, he became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1889.

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As director of the New Mexico Agricultural Experiment Station in 1914, he was the first Hispanic to lead a land-grant agricultural research station. He produced the first reliable chile pod and introduced the Grano onion breed.

He helped plant the first pecan trees in Mesilla Valley, including some still standing today. Garcia developed modern irrigated agriculture in the state. New Mexicos chile pepper, onion and pecan industries are attributed to his research.

Elmo Mahoney (1908-1979) worked to improve farming techniques, influence farm policy and promote farmers achievements. Born on a farm near Dorrance, Kansas, he invented the sickle-head drive used in harvester combine headers.

He was president of the Russell County Farm Bureau Association, director of the Kansas Wheat Growers Association and charter member of Kansas Flying Farmers. Mahoney served in the 1949-50 Kansas House of Representatives and was policy consultant through the U.S. Department of Agriculture for the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service.

Mahoney was an early preservationist of farm equipment and a national authority on Avery equipment. As its first curator he helped establish the National Agricultural Center and Hall of Fame.

Inductee photos available here.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211019005376/en/

Contacts

National Agricultural Center and Hall of Fame

913-721-1075 www.aghalloffame.com

Susan Pepperdine, 913-205-5304, susan@pepperdinepr.com
LOS ANGELES, October 19, 2021--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Air Lease Corporation (NYSE: AL) announced today that John L. Plueger, Chief Executive Officer and President, will be speaking at the Airline Economics Growth Frontiers New York 2021 conference on October 21, 2021 at 10:20am Eastern Time. This engagement will be a fireside chat format in conversation with Stan Deal, CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes. For further details, please visit the Airline Economics Growth Frontiers New York 2021 conference website at: https://www.aviationnews-online.com/conferences/newyork/. Any materials utilized for these engagements will be posted in advance of the presentation time to the Investors section of the Air Lease website at https://www.airleasecorp.com.

About Air Lease Corporation (NYSE: AL)

ALC is a leading aircraft leasing company based in Los Angeles, California that has airline customers throughout the world. ALC and its team of dedicated and experienced professionals are principally engaged in purchasing commercial aircraft and leasing them to its airline customers worldwide through customized aircraft leasing and financing solutions. ALC routinely posts information that may be important to investors in the "Investors" section of ALCs website at www.airleasecorp.com. Investors and potential investors are encouraged to consult the ALC website regularly for important information about ALC. The information contained on, or that may be accessed through, ALCs website is not incorporated by reference into, and is not a part of, this press release.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211019005460/en/

Contacts

Investors:

Mary Liz DePalma

Vice President, Investor Relations

Email: investors@airleasecorp.com

Jason Arnold

Assistant Vice President, Finance

Email: investors@airleasecorp.com

Media:

Laura Woeste

Senior Manager, Media and Investor Relations

Email: press@airleasecorp.com

Ashley Arnold

Manager, Media and Investor Relations

Email: press@airleasecorp.com
WECO Headlines BLDV Partnerships, New Announcements in Vegas

Denver, Colorado--(Newsfile Corp. - October 19, 2021) - Blue Diamond Ventures Inc. (OTC Pink: BLDV) The partnership between Blue Diamond Ventures Inc. and WECO, that was announced earlier this month, was only the beginning of a series of partnerships and announcements that are expected to be made public by the company in Las Vegas.

Projects that are currently being executed by BLDV and its operating entity Harvest 360 Technologies LLC are expected to greatly expand based on these new partnerships.

Harvest 360 Technologies LLC and H360 Labs Inc. have now been combined into one company, based out of Denver. This streamlined approach to having all cannabis technology efforts under one roof is already helping operators in Michigan, Missouri and Illinois solve problems across multiple value chains and allowing H360 to maximize their sales force in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.

In Las Vegas on Wednesday the 20th of October, BLDV will be featured in the WECO Booth C7423 at MJ BizCon. At 11am on Wednesday, in the WECO Booth, BLDV will be making an important announcement.

For More Information: Joshua B. Alper - CEO / Public Markets Manager for BLDV

info@bldvinc.com Tel: 312-296-8910 https://www.BLDV.us

About BLDV

Blue Diamond Ventures, Inc. seek to partner with individuals and companies that share a common synergy, mission and vision to enable products/services that are produced, delivered and consumed utilizing fewer natural resources, providing a sustainable alternative to traditional products on the market today. Blue Diamond Ventures, Inc. seeks opportunities in Medical & Adult-Use Cannabis markets and is driven by critical thinking and the scientific method combined with diversity and solid ethical practices.

About WECO

WECO is a workforce management company focused on providing turnkey solutions to the hemp and legal cannabis industry through its family of companies. Services include Compliant Banking - HR/Onboarding - Elevated Payroll - Employee Services. WECO.BLUE

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Safe Harbor:

This press release contains forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are subject to several risks, assumptions and uncertainties that could cause the Company's actual results to differ materially from those projected in such statements. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date made and are not guarantees of future performance. We undertake no obligation to publicly revise any forward-looking statements.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/100103
BEIJING (Reuters) -Chinese internet platforms have not gone far enough in unblocking external links, as instructed by authorities, and relevant government bodies should take further action to intervene, a state-run newspaper said on Tuesday.

According to the Economic Information Daily, a newspaper owned by the Xinhua News Agency, this showed companies could not be relied on to carry out "self rectification", and government bodies should take further actions including taking apps that do not follow the rules offline.

The article said Tencent's WeChat users still cannot access full links from Weibo, while ecommerce platforms still block keywords including "Weixin", WeChat's Chinese name.

Reuters checks showed that Weibo links can be opened directly in a WeChat browser, but the content cannot be shown in Weibo's mini app in WeChat.

China's internet space is dominated by a handful of technology giants who have historically prevented rivals' links and services from being shared on their platforms. The practice is often referred to as "walled gardens".

Last month, regulators ordered firms to rectify the practice, which they said has affected users' experience and damaged consumer rights, and gave the platforms a deadline on Sept. 17.

Tencent said in September it would implement the changes in phases, starting with allowing users to access links in private, one-to-one chats once they upgraded to the latest version of WeChat.

Some services owned by Alibaba, including food delivery app Ele.me, also started to allow WeChat Pay. However, Alibaba's flagship ecommerce apps Taobao and Tmall have yet to add WeChat Pay as a payment option.

(Reporting by Yingzhi Yang and Brenda Goh; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell)
Encompass Health, Baptist Health join efforts for new, freestanding 40-bed facility

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. and LOUISVILLE, Ky., Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Encompass Health Corp. (NYSE: EHC) and Baptist Health today announced they have received a certificate of need to build and operate a 40-bed inpatient rehabilitation hospital in Louisville, KY. The hospital is expected to operate as a joint venture between Encompass Health and Baptist Health.

(PRNewsfoto/Encompass Health Corporation)

The parties anticipate the future hospital will be located near the intersection of Blankenbaker Parkway and Bluegrass Parkway in Jeffersontown and will replace Baptist Health's 29-bed unit currently located on the Baptist Health Louisville campus. The new hospital is expected to begin providing inpatient rehabilitation services in the fourth quarter of 2023.

The project combines the expertise and resources of Encompass Health, the nation's largest provider of inpatient rehabilitative healthcare services, and Baptist Health, the largest non-profit health system in Kentucky, headquartered in Louisville, with nine hospitals and more than 2,700 licensed beds.

"We are excited to expand and grow our rehabilitation services in Kentucky with Baptist Health, a forward-thinking and wellrespected healthcare leader that has been a premier provider of acute inpatient rehabilitation to Louisville residents and beyond for more than 40 years," said Troy DeDecker, president of Encompass Health's central region. "Through the new inpatient rehabilitation hospital, we will work together to provide our patients with coordinated and connected care that meets them where they are in their healthcare journeys and makes a positive difference in their lives."

"As Jefferson County remains one of the fastest growing counties in the state with an increased demand for rehabilitation services, the addition of this highly specialized inpatient rehabilitation hospital will meet a critical need in our local communities," said Jody Prather, MD, Chief Strategy and Marketing Officer, Baptist Health. "The new freestanding hospital will improve patient access to rehabilitation services and allow us to be a regional destination for care, expanding beyond the Baptist Health network to accept and support patients from many facilities in the region that do not have inpatient rehabilitation services."

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Complementing local acute care services like those provided by Baptist Health, this inpatient rehabilitation hospital will serve patients recovering from debilitating illnesses and injuries, including strokes and other neurological disorders, brain injuries, spinal cord injuries, amputations and complex orthopedic conditions. In addition to 24hour nursing care, this hospital will offer physical, occupational and speech therapies to restore functional ability and quality of life.

About Baptist Health

Founded in 1924 in Louisville, Kentucky, Baptist Health is a full-spectrum health system dedicated to improving the health of the communities it serves. The Baptist Health family consists of nine hospitals, employed and independent physicians, and more than 400 points of care, including outpatient facilities, physician practices and services, urgent care clinics, outpatient diagnostic and surgery centers, home care, fitness centers, and occupational medicine and physical therapy clinics.

Baptist Health's eight owned hospitals include more than 2,300 licensed beds in Corbin, Elizabethtown, La Grange, Lexington, Louisville, Paducah, Richmond and New Albany, Indiana. Baptist Health also operates the 410-bed Baptist Health Deaconess Madisonville in Madisonville, Kentucky in a joint venture with Deaconess Health System based in Evansville, Indiana. Baptist Health employs more than 23,000 people in Kentucky and surrounding states.

Baptist Health Louisville is the system's largest hospital and has been recognized as the #1 rated hospital in the Louisville Metro area by U.S. News and World Report in 2021-22, receiving this designation nine out of the last 10 years. In June, the hospital earned The Joint Commission's Gold Seal of Approval and the American Stroke Association's Heart-Check mark for Thrombectomy Capable Stroke Center Certification.

Baptist Health is the first health system in the U.S. to have all of its hospitals recognized by the American Nursing Credentialing Center with either a Magnet or Pathway to Excellence designation for nursing excellence.

Baptist Health's employed provider network, Baptist Health Medical Group, has nearly 1,500 providers, including more than 750 physicians and more than 740 advanced practice clinicians. Baptist Health's physician network also includes more than 2,000 independent physicians.

Learn more at BaptistHealth.com.

About Encompass Health

As a national leader in integrated healthcare services, Encompass Health (NYSE: EHC) offers both facilitybased and homebased patient care through its network of inpatient rehabilitation hospitals, home health agencies and hospice agencies. With a national footprint that includes 144 hospitals, 249 home health locations, and 95 hospice locations in 42 states and Puerto Rico, the Company provides highquality, cost-effective integrated healthcare. Encompass Health is ranked as one of Fortune's 100 Best Companies to Work For. For more information, visit encompasshealth.com, or follow us on our newsroom, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

Forward-Looking Statements

Statements contained in this press release which are not historical facts, such as those relating to the likelihood, timing and effects of the completion of this joint venture project, are forward-looking statements. In addition, Encompass Health may from time to time make forward-looking public statements concerning the matters described herein. All such estimates, projections, and forward-looking information speak only as of the date hereof, and Encompass Health undertakes no duty to publicly update or revise such forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. Such forward-looking statements are necessarily estimates based upon current information and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Encompass Health's actual results or events may differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of a variety of factors. While it is impossible to identify all such factors, factors which could cause actual results or events to differ materially from those anticipated include, but are not limited to, the regulatory review and approval process, any adverse outcome of various lawsuits, claims, and legal or regulatory proceedings that may be brought by or against Encompass Health or its partner; the possibility this project will experience unexpected delays; the ability to successfully complete and integrate this project consistent with Encompass Health's growth strategy, including realization of anticipated revenues, cost savings, and productivity improvements arising from the related operations and avoidance of unforeseen exposure to liabilities; the continued spread of COVID-19, including the speed, depth, geographic reach and duration of the spread; the actions to be taken by Encompass Health or its partner in response to the COVID-19 pandemic; changes in the regulation of the healthcare industry at either or both of the federal and state levels; competitive pressures in the healthcare industry and Encompass Health's response thereto; the hospital's ability to maintain proper local, state and federal licensing; potential disruptions, breaches, or other incidents affecting the proper operation, availability, or security of Encompass Health's or its partner's information systems; Encompass Health's ability to attract and retain nurses, therapists, and other healthcare professionals in a highly competitive environment with often severe staffing shortages and the impact on Encompass Health's labor expenses from potential union activity and staffing shortages; changes, delays in (including in connection with resolution of Medicare payment reviews or appeals), or suspension of reimbursement for Encompass Health's services by governmental or private payors; general conditions in the economy and capital markets; and other factors which may be identified from time to time in Encompass Health's SEC filings and other public announcements, including Encompass Health's Form 10-K for the year ended Dec. 31, 2020 and Forms 10-Q for the quarters ended Mar. 31, 2021 and June 30, 2021.

Encompass Health contacts: Baptist Health contact: Media: Casey Winger | 205-970-5912 Media: Julie Garrison | 502-897-8375 casey.winger@encompasshealth.com julie.garrison@bhsi.com



Investor Relations: Mark Miller | 205-970-5860

mark.miller@encompasshealth.com



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SOURCE Encompass Health Corp.
EU appeals to shared values to tempt Taiwan's chip firms FILE PHOTO: MediaTek chips are seen on a development board at the MediaTek booth during the 2015 Computex exhibition in Taipei, Taiwan

TAIPEI (Reuters) - The European Union and Taiwan are democracies with shared values and are natural partners when it comes to semiconductors, a senior EU official said on Thursday, making a pitch for the island's key chip firms to invest in the bloc.

Tech powerhouse Taiwan, home to companies like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd (TSMC), has become front and centre of efforts to resolve a shortage of chips that has shut some auto production lines around the world and whose impact is now being felt in consumer electronics too.

While TSMC is building a $12 billion chip fabrication plant in the U.S. state of Arizona, it has given no suggestion of interest in a similar facility in Europe.

Speaking at a virtual Taiwan-EU investment forum, Sabine Weyand, director general of the European Commission's trade section, said the impact of the chip shortage on auto makers was a reminder of how essential chips are.

"With the European Chips Act, Europe will step up its efforts to increase production, but we also want to cooperate with our like-minded partners including Taiwan," she said, referring to legislation proposed by the commission last month.

"Not only because Taiwan excels in the production of semiconductors, but also because technology is ultimately a question of security. We want the EU's digital agenda to be shaped together with our like-minded partners and according to our common values."

Neither the EU nor its member states have formal diplomatic ties with Chinese-claimed and democratically-ruled Taiwan.

Taiwan's government is keen to sign a Bilateral Investment Agreement with the EU, which first included Taiwan on its list of trade partners for such a deal in 2015, the year before President Tsai Ing-wen first became Taiwan's president, but has not held talks with Taiwan on the issue since then.

Tsai told the same forum that Taiwan, with its democracy, freedom and respect for human rights, was a "natural" partner for the EU.

"Starting talks on a bilateral investment agreement can be the beginning of an even more concrete partnership for democracies like us."

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard, Editing by William Maclean)
SASKATOON, Saskatchewan, October 19, 2021--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Gensource Potash Corporation ("Gensource" or the "Company") (TSXV: GSP) today announces that it has completed the previously announced non-brokered private placement offering (the "Offering") of up to $2,000,000 principal amount of 5% convertible redeemable unsecured debentures of the Company ("Debentures") at a price of $1,000 per Debenture.

The net proceeds received by Gensource from the Offering are intended to be used to meet the Companys capital requirements for its previously announced intention to list its common shares on the AIM Market of the London Stock Exchange plc, which it hopes to achieve in early November.

Mike Ferguson, President & CEO, said, "I am so pleased to report that Offering was taken up by the core group of the Company. This direct and tangible support from the Gensource team should surprise no one. The team believes deeply in what Gensource is doing and is ready, as evidenced by this Offering, to stand behind that belief in a material way."

All directors and officers of the Company participated in the Offering, purchasing a total of $1,985,000 principal amount of Debentures (the remaining amounts were purchased by other employees of the Company). These insider subscriptions are deemed to be "related party transactions" as defined under Multilateral Instrument 61-101- Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions ("MI 61-101"). The Company is exempt from the formal valuation and minority approval requirements for related party transactions pursuant to Subsection 5.5(a) and Subsection 5.7(a) of MI 61-101, respectively.

The Debentures bear interest at a rate of 5% per annum from the date of issue, payable in arrears on the maturity date of the Debentures, which will be June 30, 2023 (the "Maturity Date"). The principal amount of each Debenture are convertible, in whole or in part, for no additional consideration, into common shares of the Company ("Common Shares") at the option of the holder at any time prior to the earlier of: (i) the close of business on the Maturity Date, and (ii) the business day immediately preceding the date specified by the Company for redemption of the Debentures, at a conversion price equal to $0.34 per Common Share.

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The Debentures issued pursuant to the Offering will be subject to a hold period of four months plus a day expiring February 19, 2022.

The Offering remains subject to receipt of all necessary approvals, including the final approval of the TSX Venture Exchange.

This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy these securities, nor shall it constitute an offer, solicitation or sale in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale is unlawful. These securities have not been, and will not be, registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or any state securities laws, and may not be offered or sold in the United States or to U.S. persons unless registered or exempt therefrom.

About Gensource

Gensource is a fertilizer development company based in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and is on track to become the next fertilizer production company in that province. With a small scale and environmentally leading approach to potash production, Gensource believes its technical and business model will be the future of the industry. Gensource operates under a business plan that has two key components: (1) vertical integration with the market to ensure that all production capacity built is directed, and pre-sold, to a specific market, eliminating market-side risk; and (2) technical innovation which will allow for a small and economic potash production facility, that demonstrates environmental leadership within the industry, producing no salt tailings, therefore eliminating decommissioning risk, and requiring no surface brine ponds, thereby removing the single largest and negative environmental aspect of potash mining.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Caution Regarding Forward-Looking Statement

This news release may contain forward looking information and Gensource cautions readers that forward- looking information is based on certain assumptions and risk factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the expectations of Gensource included in this news release. This news release includes certain "forward-looking statements", which often, but not always, can be identified by the use of words such as "believes", "anticipates", "expects", "estimates", "may", "could", "would", "will", or "plan". These statements are based on information currently available to Gensource and Gensource provides no assurance that actual results will meet managements expectations.

Forward looking statements include estimates and statements with respect to Gensources future plans, objectives or goals, to the effect that Gensource or management expects a stated condition or result to occur, including the use of proceeds received from the listing on the AIM Market. Since forward-looking statements are based on assumptions and address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements for many reasons such as: failure to finance the Tugaske Project or other projects on terms which are economic or at all; failure to settle a definitive joint venture agreement with a party and advance and finance the Tugaske Project; changes in general economic conditions and conditions in the financial markets; the ability to find and source off-take agreements; changes in demand and prices for potash; litigation, legislative, environmental and other judicial, regulatory, political and competitive developments; technological and operational difficulties encountered in connection with Gensources activities; an inability to predict and counteract the effects of COVID-19 on the business of Gensource, including but not limited to the effects of COVID-19 on the price of commodities, capital market conditions, restriction on labour and international travel and supply chains, failure to obtain required regulatory approvals; and other matters discussed in this news release and in filings made with securities regulators. This list is not exhaustive of the factors that may affect any of Gensources forward-looking statements. These and other factors should be considered carefully, and readers should not place undue reliance on Gensources forward-looking statements. Gensource does not undertake to update any forward-looking statement that may be made from time to time by Gensource or on its behalf, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211019006167/en/

Contacts

Gensource Potash Corporation:

Mike Ferguson, President & CEO

mike@gensource.ca
New informational flyer offers details energy careers and a day-in-the-life lineworker video

ATLANTA, Oct. 18, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Georgia Power is joining electrical utilities across the country to highlight Careers in Energy Week, October 18-22. Careers in Energy Week is dedicated to celebrating and raising awareness of energy careers and their importance to our communities, state and nation.

Georgia Power logo. (PRNewsFoto/Georgia Power)

As part of Careers in Energy Week this year, Georgia Power will promote an informational flyer on energy careers and a video on a "day in the life" of an apprentice line worker. The video will launch on Thursday, October 21 on www.poweringcareers.com, a career website launched in 2020's Careers in Energy Week that gives high school students, recent graduates and career influencers an opportunity to explore energy careers in power generation, transmission and operations. The website also includes information on technical training, test prep courses, and certification programs.

"The energy industry is growing, and we are always seeking skilled talent to fill key roles here at Georgia Power," said Georgia Power Workforce Development Manager Jamal Jessie. "Careers in Energy week is a great way for educators, students and job seekers to explore opportunities throughout our industry and our goal is to present information that helps students prepare for apprenticeships and plan their futures, from high school pathways to technical school programs."

This year's key event will be a virtual webinar set for Tuesday, October 19 at 10 a.m. The theme - "I AM Power Delivery." The virtual event will feature Georgia Power employees, Career, Technical and Agricultural Education (CTAE) instructors and technical school representatives who will share tips to prepare students for the journey of Georgia Power intern to employee. Webinar registration can be accessed here. View the recorded webinar free of charge at www.poweringcareers.com after the virtual event.

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Efforts in Workforce Development

Georgia Power has long recognized that workforce development is the number one driver for new and expanding industries. All year long, the company's workforce development team partners with schools across Georgia to be sure students are prepared for and aware of the jobs of tomorrow, helping equip teachers to talk to their students about future careers in energy. Through partnership efforts with organizations like the Technical College System of Georgia, the state's nationally ranked colleges and universities, and more, Georgia Power is helping to fill great jobs with a highly trained, skilled workforce. For more on the company's economic development and workforce development efforts, visit www.selectgeorgia.com.

About Georgia Power

Georgia Power is the largest electric subsidiary of Southern Company (NYSE: SO), America's premier energy company. Value, Reliability, Customer Service and Stewardship are the cornerstones of the Company's promise to 2.6 million customers in all but four of Georgia's 159 counties. Committed to delivering clean, safe, reliable and affordable energy at rates below the national average, Georgia Power maintains a diverse, innovative generation mix that includes nuclear, coal and natural gas, as well as renewables such as solar, hydroelectric and wind. Georgia Power focuses on delivering world-class service to its customers every day and the Company is recognized by J.D. Power as an industry leader in customer satisfaction. For more information, visit www.GeorgiaPower.com and connect with the Company on Facebook (Facebook.com/GeorgiaPower), Twitter (Twitter.com/GeorgiaPower) and Instagram (Instagram.com/ga_power).

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SOURCE Georgia Power
NEW YORK, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- GLG (Gerson Lehrman Group, Inc.), a leading global insight network, today announced that it has filed a registration statement on Form S-1 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") relating to a proposed initial public offering of its common stock. The number of shares to be offered and the price range for the proposed offering have not yet been determined. GLG intends to list its common stock on the Nasdaq Global Market under the ticker symbol "GLGX".

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Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC and Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC will act as joint lead bookrunning managers for the proposed offering. BofA Securities, Barclays, Jefferies, Baird and William Blair will act as joint bookrunning managers for the proposed offering. AmeriVet Securities, R. Seelaus & Co., LLC, Ramirez & Co., Inc. and Siebert Williams Shank will act as co-managers for the proposed offering.

The proposed offering will be made only by means of a prospectus. Copies of the preliminary prospectus, when available, may be obtained from: Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC, Attention: Prospectus Department, 180 Varick Street, 2nd Floor, New York, NY 10014, or by email at prospectus@morganstanley.com; or Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, Attention: 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.

A registration statement relating to these securities has been filed with the SEC but has not yet become effective. These securities may not be sold nor may offers to buy be accepted prior to the time the registration statement becomes effective.

This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy these securities, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction.

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About GLG

GLG is a leading global insight network. We connect decision makers to the right experts so they can act with the confidence that comes from true clarity and have what it takes to get ahead. We believe our network of experts is the world's largest and most varied source of first-hand expertise, and we recruit hundreds of new network members every day. We bring the power of insight to every great professional decision.

Contacts

Media

Brandon Messina / Paul Scarpetta

Sard Verbinnen & Co.

GLG-SVC@sardverb.com

SOURCE GLG
DUBLIN, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Flow Cytometry Market: Global Industry Trends, Share, Size, Growth, Opportunity and Forecast 2021-2026" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

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The global flow cytometry market exhibited moderate growth during 2015-2020. Flow cytometry refers to a biophysical and laser-based analytical technology that is used in the analysis of the cells or micelles that are usually suspended in a fluid using a laser beam. This technique aids in subclassifying cell types and detecting residual levels of disease through probes to develop the best treatment plan for the patient. Fluorescent probes, such as bisoxonol, can bind to proteins present on the cell membrane to facilitate the identification of various stages of cell injuries or necrosis. This technique also aids in understanding the structure and composition of the cells for chromosome analysis, cancer diagnosis, protein expression and diagnosis of diseases and hematological malignancies.



The increasing prevalence of chronic medical ailments, such as HIV-AIDS and cancer, is one of the key factors driving the growth of the market. The diagnosis of these diseases requires toxicity testing and an accurate, rapid and sensitive prognosis technique, which, in turn, is creating a positive outlook for the market growth. Furthermore, the widespread adoption of stem cell therapy is also enhancing the utilization of flow cytometry. Rising awareness regarding the benefits of this technique in immunophenotyping, cell sorting, cell proliferation assays and intracellular calcium flux is acting as another major growth-inducing factor. Additionally, several technological advancements, such as the integration of flow cytometry devices with artificial intelligence (AI) platforms, along with the advent of advanced methods, are also contributing to the market growth. Other factors, including improvements in the healthcare infrastructure, along with extensive research and development (R&D) activities in the field of biotechnology, are projected to drive the market further. Looking forward, the analyst expects the global flow cytometry market to grow at a CAGR of 8.2% during 2021-2026.



Competitive Landscape

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The report has also analysed the competitive landscape of the market with some of the key players being Agilent Technologies Inc., Apogee Flow Systems Ltd., BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company), Beckman Coulter Inc. (Danaher Corporation), Bio-RAD Laboratories Inc., Enzo Life Sciences Inc., Luminex Corporation, Merck KGaA, Sony Biotechnology Inc., Sysmex Partec GmbH, Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., etc.



Key Questions Answered in This Report

How has the global flow cytometry market performed so far and how will it perform in the coming years?

What are the key regional markets?

What has been the impact of COVID-19 on the global flow cytometry market?

What is the breakup of the market based on the product and service?

What is the breakup of the market based on the technology?

What is the breakup of the market based on the application?

What is the breakup of the market based on the end-user?

What are the various stages in the value chain of the industry?

What are the key driving factors and challenges in the industry?

What is the structure of the global flow cytometry market and who are the key players?

What is the degree of competition in the industry?

Key Topics Covered:



1 Preface



2 Scope and Methodology



3 Executive Summary



4 Introduction

4.1 Overview

4.2 Key Industry Trends



5 Global Flow Cytometry Market

5.1 Market Overview

5.2 Market Performance

5.3 Impact of COVID-19

5.4 Market Forecast



6 Market Breakup by Product and Service

6.1 Instruments

6.1.1 Market Trends

6.1.2 Market Forecast

6.2 Reagents and Consumables

6.2.1 Market Trends

6.2.2 Market Forecast

6.3 Accessories

6.3.1 Market Trends

6.3.2 Market Forecast

6.4 Software

6.4.1 Market Trends

6.4.2 Market Forecast

6.5 Services

6.5.1 Market Trends

6.5.2 Market Forecast



7 Market Breakup by Technology

7.1 Cell-Based Flow Cytometry

7.1.1 Market Trends

7.1.2 Market Forecast

7.2 Bead-Based Flow Cytometry

7.2.1 Market Trends

7.2.2 Market Forecast



8 Market Breakup by Application

8.1 Oncology

8.1.1 Market Trends

8.1.2 Market Forecast

8.2 Drug Discovery

8.2.1 Market Trends

8.2.2 Market Forecast

8.3 Disease Diagnosis

8.3.1 Market Trends

8.3.2 Market Forecast

8.4 Stem Cell Therapy

8.4.1 Market Trends

8.4.2 Market Forecast

8.5 Organ Transplantation

8.5.1 Market Trends

8.5.2 Market Forecast

8.6 Hematology

8.6.1 Market Trends

8.6.2 Market Forecast

8.7 Others

8.7.1 Market Trends

8.7.2 Market Forecast



9 Market Breakup by End-user

9.1 Hospitals and Clinics

9.1.1 Market Trends

9.1.2 Market Forecast

9.2 Academic and Research Institutes

9.2.1 Market Trends

9.2.2 Market Forecast

9.3 Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology Companies

9.3.1 Market Trends

9.3.2 Market Forecast

9.4 Others

9.4.1 Market Trends

9.4.2 Market Forecast



10 Market Breakup by Region



11 SWOT Analysis



12 Value Chain Analysis



13 Porters Five Forces Analysis

14 Competitive Landscape

14.1 Market Structure

14.2 Key Players

14.3 Profiles of Key Players

14.3.1 Agilent Technologies Inc.

14.3.1.1 Company Overview

14.3.1.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.1.3 Financials

14.3.1.4 SWOT Analysis

14.3.2 Apogee Flow Systems Ltd.

14.3.2.1 Company Overview

14.3.2.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.3 BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company)

14.3.3.1 Company Overview

14.3.3.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.3.3 Financials

14.3.3.4 SWOT Analysis

14.3.4 Beckman Coulter Inc. (Danaher Corporation)

14.3.4.1 Company Overview

14.3.4.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.4.3 SWOT Analysis

14.3.5 Bio-RAD Laboratories Inc.

14.3.5.1 Company Overview

14.3.5.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.5.3 Financials

14.3.5.4 SWOT Analysis

14.3.6 Enzo Life Sciences Inc.

14.3.6.1 Company Overview

14.3.6.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.7 Luminex Corporation

14.3.7.1 Company Overview

14.3.7.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.7.3 Financials

14.3.7.4 SWOT Analysis

14.3.8 Merck KGaA

14.3.8.1 Company Overview

14.3.8.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.8.3 Financials

14.3.8.4 SWOT Analysis

14.3.9 Sony Biotechnology Inc.

14.3.9.1 Company Overview

14.3.9.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.10 Sysmex Partec GmbH

14.3.10.1 Company Overview

14.3.10.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.10.3 Financials

14.3.11 Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.

14.3.11.1 Company Overview

14.3.11.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.11.3 Financials

14.3.11.4 SWOT Analysis



For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/isusqv

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

press@researchandmarkets.com



For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470

For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630

For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900



U.S. Fax: 646-607-1904

Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716

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SOURCE Research and Markets
First commercial shipment for Australian medical cannabis market

TGOD's organic portfolio provides patients with consistent and reliable products

TGOD continues to execute its international growth strategy

TORONTO, Oct. 19, 2021 /CNW/ - The Green Organic Dutchman Holdings Ltd. (the "Company" or "TGOD") (CSE: TGOD) (OTC: TGODF), a leading producer of premium certified organically grown cannabis, is pleased to announce it completed its first commercial shipment consisting of cannabis oils destined for the Australian medical cannabis market.

TGOD Australia packaging (CNW Group/The Green Organic Dutchman Holdings Ltd.)

Medicinal cannabis was federally legalized in Australia in 2016. In 2020, TGOD signed a distribution agreement with LeafCann for the Australian and New Zealand medical cannabis markets. The TGOD organic products portfolio provides health practitioners with a safe alternative for patients who rely on quality products that are certified organically grown. As shown by intensive stability studies conducted by LeafCann and TGOD, the TGOD oils are reliable in their consistency and maintain their cannabinoid content. The Company expects to introduce more cannabis products to the Australian and New Zealand markets in 2022.

"This shipment to Australia is an important milestone for TGOD as it marks our entry into the Asia-Pacific market" said Sean Bovingdon, TGOD's CEO and Interim CFO. Coming less than two months after its first shipment to South Africa, TGOD continues to lay the foundation for large-scale international market commercialization. "We remain laser-focused on execution as we chart the course for future growth, including opportunities in international markets," added Bovingdon.

"LeafCann is excited to be executing on its strategy to provide high-quality products at affordable prices into the Australian market. The Green Organic Dutchman's commitment to organic production is a real plus and a clear point of differentiation in the marketplace," said LeafCann CEO, Elisabetta Faenza.

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About The Green Organic Dutchman Holdings Ltd.

The Green Organic Dutchman Holdings Ltd. (CSE: TGOD) (USOTC: TGODF) is a premium certified organically grown cannabis company focused on the health and wellness market. Its organic cannabis is cultivated in living soil, as nature intended. The Company is committed to cultivating a better tomorrow by producing its products responsibly, with less waste and impact on the environment. Its Canadian facilities have been built to LEED certification standards and its products are sold in recyclable packaging. In Canada, TGOD sells dried flower and oil, and recently launched a series of nextgeneration cannabis products such as hash, vapes, organic teas and dissolvable powders. Through its European subsidiary, HemPoland, the Company also distributes premium hemp CBD oil and CBD-infused topicals in Europe. By leveraging science and technology, TGOD harnesses the power of nature from seed to sale.

TGOD's Common Shares and Warrants issued under the indentures dated December 19, 2019, June 12, 2020, October 23, 2020 and December 10, 2020 trade on the CSE under the symbol "TGOD", "TGOD.WS", "TGOD.WR", "TGOD.WA", and "TGOD.WB" respectively. TGOD's Common Shares trade in the US on the OTCQX under the symbol "TGODF". For more information on The Green Organic Dutchman Holdings Ltd., please visit www.tgod.ca.

About LeafCann

LeafCann is an Australian licenced, vertically integrated biotech company specialising in the production of high quality, pharmaceutical grade cannabis ingredients and medicines. Leafcann has become Australia's thought leading pioneer in the medicinal cannabis sector. As Australia's leading privately owned medicinal cannabis company, Leafcann's philosophy is Patient first. Our world-class management team and leading international professionals on our advisory board bring decades of combined experience working with and in regulated Medical Cannabis Schemes. LeafCann's promise is to provide the highest quality, consistent product, at affordable prices, creating great value for patients and reliable dosing for physicians.

Forward-Looking Information Cautionary Statement

This news release includes statements containing certain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities law ("forward-looking statements"). Forward looking statements in this release includes, but is not limited to, statements about the offering of any particular products by the Company in any jurisdiction and statements regarding the future performance of the Company, statements about consistency and potency of its products, statements about future revenue and expected revenue streams from international markets. 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. Various assumptions were used in drawing the conclusions or making the projections contained in the forward-looking statements throughout this news release. Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management at the date the statements are made and are 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. The Company is under no obligation, and expressly 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 law.

Neither the CSE nor the CSE's Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of CSE) accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

The Green Organic Dutchman Holdings Ltd. (CNW Group/The Green Organic Dutchman Holdings Ltd.)

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SOURCE The Green Organic Dutchman Holdings Ltd.

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DUBLIN, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Aquaculture Vaccines Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report By Product (Inactivated Vaccines, DNA Vaccines), By Route Of Administration (Injected, Oral), By Application (Bacterial, Viral), And Segment Forecasts, 2021 - 2028" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

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The global aquaculture vaccines market size is expected to reach USD 605.4 million by 2028, according to a new report by the publisher. It is expected to expand at a CAGR of 8.4% from 2021 to 2028.

The advent of vaccines for fish has significantly reduced the dependency on antimicrobial agents. Vaccination programs help in protecting the animal health and livelihoods of those who work with livestock as well as aid in ensuring food security. The development of some aquaculture sectors, such as the salmon industry in Norway, wherein fish farmers in the country moved from using antibiotics to vaccines by 1994, demonstrates the potential of vaccines in reducing the dependence on veterinary medicines.



Similar to other markets, the market for aquaculture vaccines has also been significantly affected. Some of the major impacts of COVID-19 on the market include supply chain disruptions, a decline in sales, low demand, growing awareness of animal to human disease transmission risks, and operational hurdles due to changing policies and restrictions.



The growing demand for aquatic animal-derived food products, such as oil, caviar, protein powders, and meat, is encouraging farmers to use vaccinations for aquaculture to gain higher profitability. Due to the rising urbanization, consumers are becoming more aware of the nutritious value of animal protein. The demand for healthy, sustainable, and high-quality meat products that have fewer or no drugs is also increasing rapidly. Thus, the need for healthy breeding of aquatic animals is increasing, which is expected to fuel the demand for aquaculture vaccines, thereby boosting the market growth.



The market for aquaculture vaccines is fairly competitive. The most notable participants in the market are Zoetis; Merck & Co., Inc.; and Elanco, along with other manufacturers of aquaculture vaccines. These players are involved in new product launches, acquisitions, and partnerships to gain a competitive edge over each other. For instance, in July 2020, Zoetis acquired Fish Vet Group from Benchmark Holdings, PLC. This added to the company's Pharmaq business, which is involved in fish vaccines and services.



Aquaculture Vaccines Market Report Highlights

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Based on product, the inactivated vaccines segment held the largest share in 2020 owing to its high acceptance globally

By route of administration, the injected segment held the largest market share in 2020 owing to its easy availability

The bacterial application segment held the largest revenue share in 2020 owing to the high prevalence of bacterial diseases in aquatic species

In 2020, Europe held the largest revenue share owing to the increasing adoption of aquaculture vaccines, especially in countries such as Norway and the U.K.

North America held the second-largest revenue share in 2020. The key driver in this regional market is the presence of major market players, especially in the U.S.

Asia Pacific is expected to witness lucrative growth over the forecast period owing to the rise in aquaculture production and favorable government initiatives, especially in developing countries

Key Topics Covered:



Chapter 1 Research Methodology & Scope



Chapter 2 Executive Summary



Chapter 3 Aquaculture Vaccine Market Variables, Trends & Scope

3.1 Market Lineage Outlook

3.1.1 Parent Market Outlook

3.1.2 Ancillary Market Outlook

3.2 Penetration & Growth Prospect Mapping

3.3 Aquaculture Vaccine Market Dynamics

3.3.1 Market Driver Analysis

3.3.1.1 High Aquaculture production

3.3.1.2 High prevalence of infectious diseases in the Aquaculture sector

3.3.1.3 Growing Demand for Aquatic Animal-derived Food Products

3.3.2 Market Restraint Analysis

3.3.2.1 Slowdown of global Aquaculture growth

3.3.3 Opportunities

3.3.3.1 development of novel vaccines

3.3.4 Challenges

3.3.4.1 challenges in fish vaccine development

3.4 Aquaculture Vaccine Market Analysis Tools: Porters

3.4.1 Supplier Power: Low

3.4.2 Buyer Power: Moderate to High

3.4.3 Threat of Substitutes: Low

3.4.4 Threat of New Entrants: Moderate

3.4.5 Competitive Rivalry: High

3.5 Aquaculture Vaccine Market Analysis Tools: PESTEL Analysis

3.5.1 Political Landscape

3.5.2 Economic Landscape

3.5.3 Social Landscape

3.5.4 Technology Landscape

3.5.5 Legal Landscape

3.6 Regulatory Framework

3.7 Impact of COVID-19

3.7.1 Covid-19 Prevalence

3.7.2 Covid-19 Impact and Future Scenario



Chapter 4 Aquaculture Vaccine Market Competitive & Vendor Landscape

4.1 Participation Categorization

4.2 Competitive Dashboard Analysis

4.3 Public Companies

4.3.1 Company Market Position Analysis

4.3.2 Heat Map Analysis

4.4 Private Companies

4.4.1 List of Key Private Companies



Chapter 5 Aquaculture Vaccine Market: Vaccine Type Estimates & Trend Analysis

5.1 Aquaculture Vaccine Market: Vaccine Type Movement Analysis

5.2 Live attenuated vaccines

5.2.1 Live Attenuated Vaccines Market Estimates and Forecasts, 2016 - 2028 (USD Million)

5.3 Inactivated Vaccines

5.3.1 Inactivated Vaccines Market Estimates And Forecasts, 2016 - 2028 (USD Million)

5.4 Subunit vaccines

5.4.1 Subunit Vaccines Market Estimates And Forecasts, 2016 - 2028 (USD Million)

5.5 DNA Vaccines

5.5.1 DNA Vaccines Market Estimates And Forecasts, 2016 - 2028 (USD Million)

5.6 Recombinant Vaccines

5.6.1 Recombinant Vaccines Market Estimates And Forecasts, 2016 - 2028 (USD Million)



Chapter 6 Aquaculture Vaccine Market: Route of Administration Estimates & Trend Analysis

6.1 Aquaculture Vaccine Market: Route of Administration Movement Analysis

6.2 Oral

6.2.1 Oral Market Estimates And Forecasts, 2016 - 2028 (USD Million)

6.3 Injected

6.3.1 Injected Market Estimates And Forecasts, 2016 - 2028 (USD Million)

6.4 Immersion & Spray

6.4.1 Immersion & Spray Market Estimates And Forecasts, 2016 - 2028 (USD Million)



Chapter 7 Aquaculture Vaccine Market: Application Estimates & Trend Analysis

7.1 Aquaculture Vaccine Market: Application Movement Analysis

7.2 Bacterial

7.2.1 Bacterial Market Estimates And Forecasts, 2016 - 2028 (USD Million)

7.3 Viral

7.3.1 Viral Market Estimates And Forecasts, 2016 - 2028 (USD Million)

7.4 Parasitic

7.4.1 Parasitic Market Estimates And Forecasts, 2016 - 2028 (USD Million)



Chapter 8 Aquaculture Vaccine Market: Regional Estimates & Trend Analysis



Chapter 9 Company Profiles

9.1 Phibro Animal Health Corporation

9.1.1 Company Overview

9.1.2 Financial Performance

9.1.3 Product Benchmarking

9.1.4 Strategic Initiatives

9.2 Elanco

9.2.1 Company Overview

9.2.2 Financial Performance

9.2.3 Product Benchmarking

9.2.4 Strategic Initiatives

9.3 KBNP

9.3.1 Company Overview

9.3.2 Product Benchmarking

9.4 Merck & Co., Inc.

9.4.1 Company Overview

9.4.2 Financial Performance

9.4.3 Product Benchmarking

9.4.4 Strategic Initiatives

9.5 Zoetis

9.5.1 Company Overview

9.5.2 Financial Performance

9.5.3 Product Benchmarking

9.5.4 Strategic Initiatives

9.6 CAVAC

9.6.1 Company Overview

9.6.2 Financial Performance

9.6.3 Product Benchmarking

9.7 Kyoto Biken Laboratories, Inc.

9.7.1 Company Overview

9.7.2 Product Benchmarking

9.7.3 Strategic Initiatives

9.8 Nisseiken Co., Ltd.

9.8.1 Company Overview

9.8.2 Product Benchmarking

9.9 Vaxxinova International BV

9.9.1 Company Overview

9.9.2 Financial Performance

9.9.3 Product Benchmarking

9.9.4 Strategic Initiatives

9.10 HIPRA

9.10.1 Company Overview

9.10.2 Financial Performance

9.10.3 Product Benchmarking

9.10.4 Strategic Initiatives

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/3n08gz

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

press@researchandmarkets.com



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SOURCE Research and Markets
RADNOR, PA / ACCESSWIRE / October 18, 2021 / The law firm of Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP reminds Hyzon Motors Inc. ("Hyzon") (NASDAQ:HYZN) f/k/a Decarbonization Plus Acquisition Corporation ("Decarbonization") (NASDAQ: DCRB) investors that a securities fraud class action lawsuit has been filed on behalf of those who purchased or acquired Hyzon securities between February 9, 2021 and September 27, 2021, inclusive (the "Class Period").

Deadline Reminder: Investors who purchased or acquired Hyzon securities during the Class Period may, no later than November 29, 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 Email atinfo@ktmc.com; orclick here.

Hyzon is a hydrogen mobility company that manufactures hydrogen-powered commercial vehicles and fuel cell systems. It focuses on developing medium and heavy-duty trucks, as well as city and coach buses. On July 16, 2021, the merger between Decarbonization and Hyzon Motors USA Inc. f/k/a Hyzon Motors Inc. closed. On that date, Decarbonization changed its name to Hyzon Motors Inc.

The Class Period commences on February 9, 2021, when Hyzon issued a press release entitled "Hyzon Motors, the Leading Hydrogen Fuel Cell Heavy Vehicle Company, Announces Business Combination with Decarbonization Plus Acquisition Corporation; Combined Company Expected to be Listed on Nasdaq," which touted Hyzon's deals and delivery schedule. Throughout the Class Period, Hyzon continued to tout its customer contracts, deals and partnerships, including a September 9, 2021 press release entitled "Hyzon Motors to supply up to 500 hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles to Shanghai logistics company."

The truth emerged on September 28, 2021, when market analyst, Blue Orca Capital, published a report about Hyzon which disclosed that Hyzon's largest customer, Shanghai HongYun, is a "Fake-Looking Chinese Shell Entity Formed 3 Days Before Deal Announced." The report also disclosed that Hyzon's next largest customer, Hiringa Energy ("Hiringa"), a tiny New Zealand startup company, is not really a customer. Rather, Hiringa is a "channel partner" for Hyzon's vehicles. Finally, the report stated that "Hiringa will account for 24% of the [Hyzon]'s projected deliveries in 2021. Yet, Hiringa stated point blank that no deliveries would be taken in 2021," which contradicts Hyzon's representations during the Class Period.

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Following this news, Hyzon's share price fell $2.58 per share, or 28%, to close at $6.63 per share on September 28, 2021.

The complaint alleges that throughout the Class Period, the defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (1) Hyzon was misrepresenting the nature of its "customer" contracts and severely embellished its "deals" and "partnerships" with customers; (2) Hyzon could not deliver its announced vehicles in 2021, on its stated timeline; and (3) as a result, the defendants' public statements were materially false and/or misleading at all relevant times.

Hyzon investors may, no later than November 29, 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 member's 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

SOURCE: Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP





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LJUBLJANA, Slovenia, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Slovenian company MESI, Ltd. was selected to join the Google for Startups Accelerator: Europe. The current three-month Google Accelerator programme brings together 15 of the most promising European tech startups in healthcare and well-being. As one of the top diagnostic innovators, MESI, Ltd. will focus on enhancing their solutions with AI, marketplace management, Big Data as well as inputs into their strategy and growth.

Jakob Susteric, CEO of MESI, Ltd.

MESI, Ltd. is a company creating digital diagnostic solutions for effective medical assessment in less time. Their innovative focus on predictive medical devices has landed them a place in the Google for Startups Accelerator: Europe. This virtual mentoring, education and training programme was created by Google for Europe's startups that provide technological answers to the challenges of our age. The Accelerator started on 5 October 2021, with 6 MESI staff members participating.

MESI, Ltd. see their focus over the next five years on all-round diagnostic solutions and smart data. The data collected on their MESI mTABLET multi-diagnostic tool will eventually serve the creation of predictive medical assessment (PMA) by means of artificial intelligence. Based on digital data from patient history and diagnostic apps, PMA will help detect conditions early, predict future outcomes based on past data, and recommend actions. All this will help medical professionals make diagnoses and decisions in less time.

"We are proud that our innovations and vision have resulted in our participation in the Google Accelerator programme. It shows that we are on the right path to serve the healthcare system with valuable diagnostic solutions," stated Jakob Susteric, CEO of MESI, Ltd.

About the company:

MESI, Ltd. is an innovative company located in Europe that develops and produces medical devices for diagnostic purpose. It is focussed on simplifying diagnostics, helping clinicians discover diseases in early stages. One of their solutions is the MESI mTABLET  a system combining 1-minute smart wireless ABI, a flexible pulse oximeter, fully digital ECG, wireless TBI, a blood pressure monitor for immediate readings, and a spirometer with real-time animated flow-volume curve. In this, ABI and TBI are considered crucial for timely detection of fatal cardiovascular conditions while the spirometer and ECG can help monitor the effects of long COVID at primary care level.

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Contact:

Manca Ursic Rosas

+386 1 620 34 87

manca@mesimedical.com

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1662647/MESI_CEO.jpg

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1470860/MESI_Logo.jpg
MILWAUKEE, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Northwestern Mutual advisors represent more than one quarter of the honorees within Forbes's newly released "Top Financial Security Professionals 2021" ranking, significantly outpacing all other wealth management and financial services firms.

Northwestern Mutual. (PRNewsFoto/Northwestern Mutual)

The Forbes list honors the nation's top-performing wealth advisors who provide holistic planning focusing on highly skilled financial guidance and risk mitigation. Honorees are selected based on a set of key criteria including industry experience, revenue, assets under management, client loyalty  also known as persistence rate  as well as qualitative factors like compliance record and the exhibition of best practices.

"We are thrilled to have such strong, industry-leading representation in this year's ranking, with more than a quarter of the honorees affiliated with Northwestern Mutual," said Tim Gerend, the company's chief distribution officer and a member of the Forbes/SHOOK Financial Security Professionals Leadership Advisory Board. "As more Americans seek financial advice during these times of uncertainty, our field force, the largest, most productive and most diverse in company history, is exceptionally well-positioned to serve their clients through their expertise and more sophisticated, comprehensive financial strategies."

America's Top Financial Security Professionals Ranking follows the recognition of five Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management advisors on Working Mother and SHOOK Research's 2021 Top Wealth Advisor Moms list and three advisors on Forbes Top Next-Gen Wealth Advisors list. Leading industry publications including Financial Planning, Financial Advisor, ThinkAdvisor and InvestmentNews consistently rank Northwestern Mutual Investment Services as a top independent broker-dealer by total revenue.

"No one delivers financial security to clients like Northwestern Mutual wealth advisors  and this list proves it," said Aditi Javeri Gokhale, the company's chief commercial officer and president of its investment products and services business. "Given the uncertainty of the last 18 months, many Americans' sense of financial anxiety is higher than ever. But when they have a comprehensive plan that grows and protects wealth, they can live more and worry less."

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Those Northwestern Mutual advisors recognized in America's Top Financial Security Professionals Ranking 2021 are:

John Adams Matt Carothers Matthew Greene Delynn Alexander Justin Charise Loren Hsiao Scott Ashline Michael D'Aquila Rick Hu Michael Bartenhagen Jerry David John Iezzi Rebecca Bast Scott DeSantis Mike Jones Bradley Baune James DiNardo John Kilch Douglas Benson Benjamin Feldman Mark Kull Art Blick Jim Fitzgerald Sam Laorenza Steve Braun Howard Goldman III Tyler Layne Zach Burton Daniel Gould Randy Lehman Lou Cannataro Todd Grandy Paul Ludacka Mark Lupton Michael Ryan Raul Tavdy Todd Marschall Theodore Sangalis Gary Taylor Todd McClure Ryan Saunders E. Peter Tiboris Ed McGill David Schimberg Peter Tillinghast Mike McGinley Stephen Schwartz Craig Volk Harry J. Mentonis Mike Sedjo Keith Wagner David Miller Michael Smith Adam Waitzman James Munder Kevin Spahn Thomas R. Wilmink William Newman Scott Sparks Mark Wise Shawn W. Phelps Keith Spengel William D. Yancey Andrew Rasmussen Brian Stanley Royce Zimmerman Adam Riegel John Sterner

Bob Roth Todd Tauzin



About Northwestern Mutual

Northwestern Mutual has been helping people and businesses achieve financial security for more than 160 years. Through a holistic planning approach, Northwestern Mutual combines the expertise of its financial professionals with a personalized digital experience and industry-leading products to help its clients plan for what's most important. With $308.8 billion in total assets, $31.1 billion in revenues, and $2 trillion worth of life insurance protection in force, Northwestern Mutual delivers financial security to more than 4.75 million people with life, disability income and long-term care insurance, annuities, and brokerage and advisory services. The company manages more than $200 billion of investments owned by its clients and held or managed through its wealth management and investment services businesses. Northwestern Mutual ranks 102 on the 2020 FORTUNE 500 and is recognized by FORTUNE as one of the "World's Most Admired" life insurance companies in 2021.

Northwestern Mutual is the marketing name for The Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company (NM), Milwaukee, WI (life and disability insurance, annuities, and life insurance with long-term care benefits) and its subsidiaries. Subsidiaries include Northwestern Mutual Investment Services, LLC (NMIS) (securities), broker-dealer, registered investment adviser, member FINRA and SIPC; the Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Company (NMWMC) (fiduciary and fee-based financial planning services), federal savings bank; and Northwestern Long Term Care Insurance Company (NLTC) (long-term care insurance).

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SOURCE Northwestern Mutual
Public reimbursement is effective October 20 th and will apply for children with SMA following the recommendation from the Institut national d'excellence en sante et services sociaux

Zolgensma is the first gene therapy to receive formal public reimbursement in Canada

DORVAL, QC, Oct. 18, 2021 /CNW/ - Novartis Pharmaceuticals Canada Inc. applauds the government of Quebec's decision to provide public reimbursement for Zolgensma (onasemnogene abeparvovec) for the treatment of children with SMA. The announcement, which takes effect on October 20th, was made today by Health Minister Christian Dube and follows the recommendation from the Institut national d'excellence en sante et services sociaux (INESSS) made earlier this year, which includes a pathway for children up to 6 months of age and case-by-case access for children beyond 6 months of age. The specific criteria for reimbursement will be added to the Liste des medicaments, available soon on the Regie de l'assurance maladie du Quebec (RAMQ) website.

Novartis Pharmaceuticals Canada Inc. (CNW Group/Novartis Pharmaceuticals Canada Inc.)

"This is a momentous day and one we know the Quebec SMA community has been waiting for. I want to thank the Quebec government for their leadership, both in moving quickly to cover Zolgensma, as well as adopting the INESSS recommendations, which acknowledge the societal impact of unequal access due to delayed diagnoses for Quebec children with SMA, " said Andrea Marazzi, Country Pharma Organization Head, Novartis Pharmaceuticals Canada. "We believe all Canadian children with SMA who may benefit from this treatment should have the same opportunity and will continue to collaborate with the provinces, territories and federal plans to provide timely and equitable public reimbursement."

"Today's news from Minister Dube brings hope to the families in my care who have been seeking access to Zolgensma for their children," said Dr. Nicolas Chrestian, Chief of Pediatric Neurology, specialized in neuromuscular disorders at Centre Hospitalier Mere Enfant Soleil, Universite Laval in Quebec City. "Prompt access to treatments like Zolgensma that can halt progression of SMA are critical for children to reach their developmental potential and having costs covered by the province helps remove some of the impact that SMA can have on families."

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About Zolgensma

Zolgensma is a gene therapy designed to address the genetic root cause of the disease by replacing the missing or defective SMN1 gene1. It is administered during a single intravenous (IV) infusion, delivering a new working copy of the SMN1 gene into a patient's cells, halting disease progression and restoring production of SMN protein1.

The efficacy and safety data supporting the approval of Zolgensma in treating pediatric patients with SMA are derived from completed and ongoing open-label, single-arm, clinical trials in patients with infantile-onset SMA and 2 copies of SMN2 gene; and presymptomatic genetically diagnosed SMA and 2 or 3 copies of SMN2 gene1.

About Spinal Muscular Atrophy

In Canada each year, approximately one in 10,000 babies are born with SMA, a rare, genetic neuromuscular disease caused by a defective or missing SMN1 gene2. Without a functional SMN1 gene, infants with SMA lose the motor neurons responsible for muscle functions such as breathing, swallowing, speaking and walking3. Left untreated, muscles become progressively weaker2,3. In the most severe form, this eventually leads to paralysis and ultimately permanent ventilation or death by age 2 in more than 90% of cases4. This is why it is imperative to diagnose SMA and begin treatment, including proactive supportive care, as early as possible to halt irreversible motor neuron loss and disease progression5.

About Novartis in Gene Therapy and Rare Disease

Novartis is at the forefront of cell and gene therapies designed to halt diseases in their tracks or reverse their progress rather than simply manage symptoms. The company is collaborating on the cell and gene therapy frontier to bring this major leap in personalized medicine to patients with a variety of diseases, including genetic disorders and certain deadly cancers. Cell and gene therapies are grounded in careful research that builds on decades of scientific progress. Following key approvals of cell and gene therapies by health authorities, new treatments are being tested in clinical trials around the world.

About Novartis in Canada

Novartis Pharmaceuticals Canada Inc., a leader in the healthcare field, is committed to the discovery, development and marketing of innovative products to improve the well-being of all Canadians. In 2020, the company invested $45 million in research and development in Canada. Located in Dorval, Quebec, Novartis Pharmaceuticals Canada Inc. employs approximately 1,000 people in Canada and is an affiliate of Novartis AG, which provides innovative healthcare solutions that address the evolving needs of patients and societies. The company prides itself on its commitment to diversity and to nurturing an inclusive and inspiring environment. Novartis is recognized as a Great Place to Work, ranked among the Top 50 Best Workplaces in the country and is proudly named on the 2021 Best Workplaces for Women in Canada and Best Workplace for Mental Wellness lists. For further information, please consult www.novartis.ca.

References 1. Novartis Pharmaceuticals Canada Inc. Zolgensma (onasemnogene abeparvovec) Product Monograph. June 9, 2021. 2. National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD). Spinal Muscular Atrophy. Available at http://rarediseases.org/rarediseases/spinal-muscular-atrophy/. Last accessed October 1, 2021. 3. Anderton RS and Mastaglia RL. Advances and challenges in developing a therapy for spinal muscular atrophy. Expert Rev Neurother. 2015;15(8)895-908. 4. Finkel RS, et al. Observational study of spinal muscular atrophy type I and implications for clinical trials. Neurology. 2014;83(9):810-817. 5. Govoni A et al. Time Is Motor Neuron: Therapeutic Window and Its Correlation with Pathogenetic Mechanisms in Spinal Muscular Atrophy. Mol Neurobiol. 2018 Aug;55(8):6307-6318.

Zolgensma is a registered trademark.

Novartis Gene Therapies has an exclusive, worldwide license with Nationwide Children's Hospital to both the intravenous and intrathecal delivery of AAV9 gene therapy for the treatment of all types of SMA; has an exclusive, worldwide license from REGENXBIO for any recombinant AAV vector in its intellectual property portfolio for the in vivo gene therapy treatment of SMA in humans; an exclusive, worldwide licensing agreement with Genethon for in vivo delivery of AAV9 vector into the central nervous system for the treatment of SMA; and a non-exclusive, worldwide license agreement with AskBio for the use of its self-complementary DNA technology for the treatment of SMA.

SOURCE Novartis Pharmaceuticals Canada Inc.

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Expands presence in Canada market; provides strong replacement demand opportunity

Immediately accretive to EPS in the first full year

MILWAUKEE, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Global water technology company A. O. Smith Corporation (the "Company") (NYSE: AOS) announced today that it has acquired Giant Factories, Inc., a Canada-based manufacturer of residential and commercial water heaters, with trailing twelve-month sales of approximately USD $105 million. The purchase price is approximately USD $192 million in cash, subject to customary adjustments. Taking into account an expected tax benefit of approximately $6.5 million that the Company will achieve as a result of treating the transaction as a purchase of assets for tax purposes, and projected operating synergies expected to be achieved over a two-year period, the purchase price represents a multiple of approximately 9.5 x adjusted 2023 projected EBITDA. The acquisition is expected to be neutral to fourth quarter 2021 EPS due to normal purchase accounting adjustments and accretive to EPS in the first full year post closing.

A. O. Smith Corporation logo. (PRNewsFoto/A. O. Smith Corporation) (PRNewsfoto/A. O. Smith Corporation)

This acquisition strengthens our leadership position as a global supplier of residential and commercial water heaters.

"The addition of Giant strengthens our leadership position as a global supplier of residential and commercial water heaters. The acquisition also supports our corporate strategy by increasing our North America market penetration, creating additional capacity and enhancing our distribution capabilities," said Kevin J. Wheeler, chairman and chief executive officer. "Along with its rich history, established relationships and talented team, Giant's values and business approach align with ours, and we look forward to welcoming Giant's employees to the A. O. Smith family."

Claude Lesage, Giant Factories, Inc. president, commented, "We are extremely excited about the benefits of a powerful combination with a world leader in global water technology. This natural and logical partnership with A. O. Smith will enhance prospects for our customers, employees, and suppliers."

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A family-owned business founded in 1945, Giant markets its water heaters under the Giant brand and employs more than 300 people, primarily in Canada. Giant manufactures water heaters at two facilities in Montreal and sells water heating products across Canada.

The addition of Giant to A. O. Smith's existing water heater operations enlarges the company's presence in the Canada water heater market, which is characterized by a high percentage of replacement demand.

The acquisition of Giant also supports A. O. Smith's decarbonization efforts by increasing the amount of water heating products in its portfolio that are supplied by a renewable energy grid  Giant's end markets are mainly served by a grid that is primarily hydro-sourced and non-carbon intensive.

A. O. Smith will release its third quarter 2021 financial results before the market opens on Thursday, October 28 and host a webcasted conference call at 10 a.m. (eastern daylight time). Additional details on the acquisition will be provided at that time.

Forward-looking statements

This release contains statements that the Company believes are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements generally can be identified by the use of words such as "may," "will," "expect," "intend," "estimate," "anticipate," "believe," "forecast," "continue," "guidance" or words of similar meaning. All forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated as of the date of this release. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from these expectations include, among other things, the following: negative impacts to the Company's businesses, including demand for its products, particularly commercial products, operations and workforce dislocation and disruption, supply chain disruption and liquidity as a result of the severity and duration of the COVID-19 pandemic; lengthening or deepening of supply chain bottlenecks; an uneven recovery of the Chinese economy or decline in the growth rate of consumer spending or housing sales in China; negative impact to the Company's businesses from international tariffs, trade disputes and geopolitical differences; potential weakening in the high-efficiency boiler segment in the U.S.; significant volatility in material availability and prices; inability of the Company to implement or maintain pricing actions; a failure to recover or further weakening in U.S. residential or commercial construction or instability in the Company's replacement markets; foreign currency fluctuations; the Company's inability to successfully integrate or achieve its strategic objectives resulting from acquisitions; competitive pressures on the Company's businesses; the impact of potential information technology or data security breaches; changes in government regulations or regulatory requirements; and adverse developments in general economic, political and business conditions in key regions of the world. Forward-looking statements included in this news release are made only as of the date of this release, and the Company is under no obligation to update these statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances. All subsequent written and oral forward-looking statements attributed to the Company, or persons acting on its behalf, are qualified entirely by these cautionary statements.

About A. O. Smith

A. O. Smith Corporation, with headquarters in Milwaukee, Wis., is a global leader applying innovative technology and energy-efficient solutions to products manufactured and marketed worldwide. Listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: AOS), the Company is one of the world's leading manufacturers of residential and commercial water heating equipment and boilers, as well as a manufacturer of water treatment products. For more information, visit www.aosmith.com.

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SOURCE A. O. Smith Corporation
Milestone marks rebirth of a sustainable, thriving shipbuilding industry of strategic importance to Canada that is delivering ships, economic growth, and jobs

NORTH VANCOUVER, BC, Oct. 19, 2021 /CNW/ - Seaspan Shipyards (Seaspan) is proudly celebrating ten years of building ships for Canada under the National Shipbuilding Strategy (NSS).

Thanks to the National Shipbuilding Strategy and the certainty it has created, Seaspan Shipyards is delivering jobs, a growing coast-to-coast supply chain, significant economic benefits for Canada and, of course, world-class ships. (CNW Group/Seaspan Shipyards)

On this day in 2011, Seaspan was selected as Canada's long-term strategic shipbuilding partner to construct large, non-combat vessels for the Canadian Coast Guard and Royal Canadian Navy.

As a result of the NSS and the certainty it provides, for ten years now, Seaspan has invested in its infrastructure and its people, helping rebuild a sustainable, competitive marine industry; built its cross-Canada supply chain; and renewed the federal fleet with ships built in Canada by Canadians.

Seaspan invested more than $185 million to transform its shipyard into one of the most modern in North America, with a purpose-built infrastructure to deliver much-needed ships for Canada's federal fleets. Seaspan's NSS program of work includes three Offshore Fisheries Science Vessels (OFSVs), one Offshore Oceanographic Science Vessel (OOSV), 16 Multi-Purpose Vessels (MPVs), and one Polar Icebreaker for the Canadian Coast Guard as well as two Joint Support Ships (JSSs) for the Royal Canadian Navy. These vessels will play a vital role in ensuring Canadian sovereignty; conducting climate and ocean research; and protecting the world's longest coastline, including our fragile Arctic waterways.

Seaspan's team has now delivered to the Coast Guard all three world-class OFSVscompleting the first full class of large vessels delivered under the NSS. Several other vessels are under construction and in design.

Seaspan also released today a new socioeconomic impact study, conducted by Deloitte, which highlights the significant economic and job creation engine that the NSS and Seaspan have become. Over the period from 2012 to 2021, Seaspan contributed $2.6 billion to Canada's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) through its NSS-related activities alone (and an additional $1.4 billion through its repair, refit and maintenance activities). Seaspan has awarded more than $1.8 billion in NSS-related contracts to more than 660 Canadian suppliers from coast to coast, many of which are small and medium-sized businesses. They, in turn, have been able to grow; develop advanced technologies; reinvest in R&D, infrastructure, and skills development; and leverage new opportunities at home and abroad.

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Over the past decade, Seaspan has also grown its workforce into a team of approximately 2,700 engineers, naval architects, procurement specialists, and highly skilled tradespeople  from welders, pipefitters, shipfitters, electricians and mechanics to millwrights, machinists, riggers, joiners, and painters. In the process, Seaspan has become a major employer in British Columbia and a workplace of choice not only for its employees and new graduates but also for hundreds of apprentices and interns. Seaspan is also a significant contributor to training and skills development initiatives across the region that will help ensure a pipeline of top marine talent for generations to come.

Watch Seaspan Shipyards' 10-year anniversary video.

QUOTES

"I want to congratulate Seaspan Shipyards as well as all those involved in Canada's National Shipbuilding Strategy (NSS) on ten years of successful work. The efforts of companies like Seaspan and its more than 660 partners contribute greatly to the success of the NSS. From renewing our fleets for the Canadian Coast Guard and the Royal Canadian Navy with made-in-Canada vessels, to rejuvenating Canada's shipbuilding industry and creating good jobs, the NSS is a cornerstone of our long-term plan for a stronger and more prosperous Canada."

- The Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister of Environment and Climate Change and Member of Parliament for North Vancouver

"Shipbuilding is in British Columbia's DNA, and we are proud to see a new generation of workers building on its rich history in our coastal communities. Seaspan is celebrating its 10th year in the National Shipbuilding Strategy by bringing Canada's next polar icebreaker to B.C. shipyards. Seaspan continues to rejuvenate the shipbuilding industry and play an integral role in a stronger, more resilient province, for everyone."

 The Honourable John Horgan, Premier of British Columbia

"The shipbuilding industry in Canada has benefitted significantly from the National Shipbuilding Strategy. It has eliminated boom and bust cycles in shipbuilding, provided benefits to the entire marine industry and created good-paying jobs both directly and indirectly. The NSS has helped position our domestic marine sector to become an engine of industrial development and economic growth."

 Craig Alexander, Chief Economist, Deloitte Canada

"Our first decade of NSS partnership has been a remarkable story of vision and transformation, of strength and resilience. We now have a sustainable, competitive industry on the West Coast that is enabling us to build world-class ships and a new generation of shipbuilders and marine experts here at home in Canada. The hard work and collaboration of the talented teams at Seaspan, across our marine supply chain, and in the Canadian Coast Guard and Royal Canadian Navy are setting the stage for success for many decades to come."

 Mark Lamarre, Chief Executive Officer, Seaspan Shipyards

A DECADE OF MILESTONES

2011  Government of Canada selects Seaspan to build Canada's non-combat fleet

2012  Signing of Umbrella Agreement to deliver Canada's non-combat fleet

2014  Completion of privately funded shipyard modernization

2015  Steel cutting on first Offshore Fisheries Science Vessel (OFSV)

2016  Steel cutting on second OFSV

2017  Steel cutting on third OFSV

2018  Steel cutting and start of construction of first Joint Support Ship (JSS), the longest naval vessel ever to be built in Canada

2019  Delivery of the Canadian Coast Guard Ship (CCGS) Sir John Franklin, the first OFSV and first vessel delivered to Canada under the NSS, now stationed in Patricia Bay, British Columbia; and the CCGS Capt Jacques Cartier, the second OFSV, now stationed in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia

2019  Government of Canada announces Seaspan will build fleet of multi-purpose vessels (MPVs) for Canadian Coast Guard

2020  Keel laying of the first Joint Support Ship

2020 Delivery of the CCGS John Cabot, the third and final OFSV now stationed in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, completing delivery of the first full class of vessels under the NSS

2021  Steel cutting and start of construction of Canada's most modern climate and ocean research ship, the Offshore Oceanographic Science Vessel

2021  Government of Canada announces Seaspan will build a Polar Icebreaker for the Canadian Coast Guard

QUICK FACTS

The NSS objectives are to develop a sustainable, competitive marine industry and to renew federal fleets with ships built in Canada by Canadians.

Seaspan has invested more than $24 million to support education, learning, research, and skills development in the marine industry, with a special focus on reducing barriers for underrepresented groups, bringing a broad range of new talent into the industry and the trades, including more women and Indigenous people, and creating opportunities for youth through internships and apprenticeships.

ASSOCIATED LINKS

National Shipbuilding Strategy

Seaspan NSS

Seaspan Shipyards

SOCIAL MEDIA

Twitter: @MoreThanShips

LinkedIn: Seaspan ULC

Instagram: @SeaspanULC

Facebook: @Seaspan Shipyards

ABOUT SEASPAN SHIPYARDS

Seaspan Shipyards, a division of Seaspan ULC, is a leader in Canada's shipbuilding and ship repair industry. With modern facilities and a dedicated workforce of approximately 2,700 in North Vancouver and Victoria, the company has proven itself to be a trusted and strategic partner on a range of complex projects for both government and the private sector.

Seaspan Shipyards is proud to deliver Canada's non-combat program of work under the NSS. The company is building state-of-the-art ships in Canada for the Canadian Coast Guard and Royal Canadian Navy. Through its NSS-related work, Seaspan Shipyards is creating thousands of jobs, generating significant economic benefits, and rebuilding Canada's shipbuilding and marine industries.

Seaspan Shipyards (CNW Group/Seaspan Shipyards)

SOURCE Seaspan Shipyards

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View original content to download multimedia: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/October2021/19/c3547.html
By Carolina Mandl

SAO PAULO, Oct 19 (Reuters) - Shares in Brazilian power generation company Companhia Energetica de Sao Paulo (CESP) rose more than 2.5% in early trade after conglomerate Votorantim SA and Canada Pension Plan Investments proposed to merge their energy assets in Brazil.

Votoarntim said the Brazilian assets the three companies owned and a proposed cash injection under the planned deal would have a total value of 17.2 billion reais ($3.09 billion).

Less than an hour after the Sao Paulo bourse started trading, CESP shares were up 2.5% at 24.89 reais.

The new renewable energy company will have net revenue estimated at 5.8 billion reais based on 2020 earnings, and a diversified energy generation matrix with an installed capacity of 3.3 gigawatts (GW), of which 2.3 GW is hydroelectric and 1.0 GW in wind power.

Under the proposed terms of the deal, CESP's minority shareholders will hold a 29.9% stake in the company, as it is being valued at 8.6 billion reais. Currently, CESP has both CPP and Votorantim as controlling shareholders.

Goldman Sachs' analysts said in a note to clients that the deal is positive for CESP as it will reduce its exposure to hydropower, as Votorantim and CESP operate wind farms and an energy trading business.

Still, analysts said they are waiting for more details about the assets' valuation to assess the deal. An independent committee will determine the final exchange ratio for CESP's shareholders. Analysts at Credit Suisse have criticized the proposed deal as detrimental to minority shareholders.

"The proposed terms seem not to favor minority shareholders especially because the value implied for Cesp's shares is below market consensus for fair value," Credit Suisse's analysts said in a note. ($1 = 5.5594 reais) (Reporting by Carolina Mandl; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
Luxembourg  19 October 2021 - Subsea 7 S.A. (Oslo Brs: SUBC, ADR: SUBCY) today announced a very large1 award by Petrobras for new long-term day-rate contracts for the pipelay support vessels (PLSV) Seven Waves, Seven Rio and Seven Sun. The contracts will be recorded in backlog in the fourth quarter.



Each contract comprises a firm three-year period and a subsequent one-year option. Seven Waves will commence the new contract in the first quarter 2022. Seven Rio will commence the new contract in the second quarter 2022. Seven Sun will commence the new contract in the third quarter 2022. Before commencing the new contracts, each vessel will undergo minor modifications requiring a short shipyard stay and modest capital expenditure.

The remaining period of Seven Waves and Seven Rios current contracts with Petrobras will be transferred to Seven Seas which will be deployed to Brazil in 2022.

Daniel Hiller, Vice-President Brazil, said: "We value our long-standing relationship with Petrobras and these new contracts reflect well on our track record of delivering successful PLSV activities in Brazil, achieving high standards of safety and a strong operational performance.

1 Combined value between USD 500 million and USD 750 million.

*******************************************************************************

Subsea 7 is a global leader in the delivery of offshore projects and services for the evolving energy industry, creating sustainable value by being the industrys partner and employer of choice in delivering the efficient offshore solutions the world needs.

Subsea 7 is listed on the Oslo Brs (SUBC), ISIN LU0075646355, LEI 222100AIF0CBCY80AH62.

*******************************************************************************

Contact for investment community enquiries:

Katherine Tonks

Investor Relations Director

Tel +44 20 8210 5568

katherine.tonks@subsea7.com

Contact for media enquiries:

Tracey Miller

Group External Communications Manager

Tel +44 1224 265 733

tracey.miller@subsea7.com

www.subsea7.com

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Forward-Looking Statements: This announcement may contain forward-looking statements (within the meaning of the safe harbour provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995). These statements relate to our current expectations, beliefs, intentions, assumptions or strategies regarding the future and are subject to known and unknown risks that could cause actual results, performance or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied in these statements. Forward-looking statements may be identified by the use of words such as anticipate, believe, estimate, expect, future, goal, intend, likely may, plan, project, seek, should, strategy will, and similar expressions. The principal risks which could affect future operations of the Group are described in the Risk Management section of the Groups Annual Report and Consolidated Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2020. Factors that may cause actual and future results and trends to differ materially from our forward-looking statements include (but are not limited to): (i) our ability to deliver fixed price projects in accordance with client expectations and within the parameters of our bids, and to avoid cost overruns; (ii) our ability to collect receivables, negotiate variation orders and collect the related revenue; (iii) our ability to recover costs on significant projects; (iv) capital expenditure by oil and gas companies, which is affected by fluctuations in the price of, and demand for, crude oil and natural gas; (v) unanticipated delays or cancellation of projects included in our backlog; (vi) competition and price fluctuations in the markets and businesses in which we operate; (vii) the loss of, or deterioration in our relationship with, any significant clients; (viii) the outcome of legal proceedings or governmental inquiries; (ix) uncertainties inherent in operating internationally, including economic, political and social instability, boycotts or embargoes, labour unrest, changes in foreign governmental regulations, corruption and currency fluctuations; (x) the effects of a pandemic or epidemic or a natural disaster; (xi) liability to third parties for the failure of our joint venture partners to fulfil their obligations; (xii) changes in, or our failure to comply with, applicable laws and regulations (including regulatory measures addressing climate change); (xiii) operating hazards, including spills, environmental damage, personal or property damage and business interruptions caused by adverse weather; (xiv) equipment or mechanical failures, which could increase costs, impair revenue and result in penalties for failure to meet project completion requirements; (xv) the timely delivery of vessels on order and the timely completion of ship conversion programmes; (xvi) our ability to keep pace with technological changes and the impact of potential information technology, cyber security or data security breaches; and (xvii) the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting;. Many of these factors are beyond our ability to control or predict. Given these uncertainties, you should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements. Each forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date of this announcement. We undertake no obligation to update publicly or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.





Attachment




$4.4MM of funding provided to elevate fertility patient experience in Canada and USA

TORONTO, Oct. 19, 2021 /CNW/ - FH Health announced that it has provided $4.7MM of funding to Pollin Fertility, a company that has a fertility focused technology platform to power a full suite of person-centric reproductive health services.

FH Health & Pollin Fertility Logo (CNW Group/FH Health)

The funding will enable Pollin Fertility to accelerate its engineering road map utilizing new innovative technologies that add intelligent clinic decision making, easy-to-use (Electronic Medical Records) EMR, and proprietary Artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms to dramatically enhance fertility outcomes and success rates. The company plans to build and deploy these technologies through its patient focused in clinic and at home offerings which transforms an individual's care journey.

"There is a lack of focus and innovation across US and Canada when it comes to fertility and health tech. To add to this, Patients facing fertility issues are often met with chaotic and confusing journeys," said Melody Adhami, FH Health's President. "We are excited that FH Health can support Pollin Fertility on its mission to re-imagine Reproductive Health. Through new innovative technologies and person centric approaches to care we are excited to push the bounds of what is possible in the incredibly important space of fertility ."



Since the 1980s the rate at which Canadian couples experience infertility has doubled to roughly 16% (one in six). During this time, medical and consumer technology have advanced at an unprecedented pace yet despite this need and availability of technology, the current service landscape fails to effectively integrate digital solutions into patient care.

This funding marks FH Health's first investment in reproductive health capabilities and its continued investment in developing world class technology enabled health services. Pollin will join the FH family of brands as the company continues to seek out opportunities to expand its footprint in the health space. FH and Pollin Fertility are uniquely positioned to bring a new and improved experience to families who want to know more about their reproductive health or who are starting their own fertility journeys.

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About FH Health

FH Health is a health-tech company on a mission to power the health industry globally through its innovative health-tech stack that modernizes care for patients and clinicians. FH Health's COVID-19 Pilot, has developed the foundations of its proprietary tech based approach that enable its clinical footprint. The company has developed partnerships with airlines, consulates, embassies and leading firms including Amazon, Apple, BMO and Brookfield Asset Management to promote better health outcomes locally and globally.

SOURCE FH Health

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View original content to download multimedia: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/October2021/19/c8111.html
Dallas-based MedTech Company Collaborates with Leading Hospitals to Improve Critical Care Infusion Line Management

VerifyTM modernizes distribution, application of medicine in hospital ICUs

Previously written by hand, the labels are now printed, as Vigilant's VerifyTM technology has been implemented in multiple, leading US hospitals and are drastically improving processes related to IV-line management. Critical care nurses using VerifyTM are experiencing enhanced patient safety, safe medication practice workflows and the reduction of time spent managing infusion lines during the COVID-19 pandemic. The VerifyTM platform is the product of research dedicated to improving both patient safety and nurse workflow efficiency and has been especially necessary during the onset of COVID-19.

Previously written by hand, the labels are now printed, as Vigilant's VerifyTM technology has been implemented in multiple, leading US hospitals and are drastically improving processes related to IV-line management. Critical care nurses using VerifyTM are experiencing enhanced patient safety, safe medication practice workflows and the reduction of time spent managing infusion lines during the COVID-19 pandemic. The VerifyTM platform is the product of research dedicated to improving both patient safety and nurse workflow efficiency and has been especially necessary during the onset of COVID-19.

Before vs. After: ICU IV medication

Previously written by hand, the labels are now printed, as Vigilant's VerifyTM technology has been implemented in multiple, leading US hospitals and are drastically improving processes related to IV-line management. Critical care nurses using VerifyTM are experiencing enhanced patient safety, safe medication practice workflows and the reduction of time spent managing infusion lines during the COVID-19 pandemic. The VerifyTM platform is the product of research dedicated to improving both patient safety and nurse workflow efficiency and has been especially necessary during the onset of COVID-19.

Previously written by hand, the labels are now printed, as Vigilant's VerifyTM technology has been implemented in multiple, leading US hospitals and are drastically improving processes related to IV-line management. Critical care nurses using VerifyTM are experiencing enhanced patient safety, safe medication practice workflows and the reduction of time spent managing infusion lines during the COVID-19 pandemic. The VerifyTM platform is the product of research dedicated to improving both patient safety and nurse workflow efficiency and has been especially necessary during the onset of COVID-19.

DALLAS, TEXAS, Oct. 19, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Vigilant Software, an innovative leader in medication management-safe practices, announced today the launch of the VerifyTM platform that creates efficiency in hospital ICU rooms in the distribution and application of IV medications. The VerifyTM technology is already implemented in multiple, leading US hospitals and are drastically improving processes related to IV-line management. Critical care nurses using VerifyTM are experiencing enhanced patient safety, safe medication practice workflows and the reduction of time spent managing infusion lines during the COVID-19 pandemic. The VerifyTM platform is the product of research dedicated to improving both patient safety and nurse workflow efficiency and has been especially necessary during the onset of COVID-19.

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Vigilants solution for infusion line management immediately, positively impacted our critical care nursing team, said Jewell Briggs, ICU Nurse Manager at National Park Medical Center. We have been dealing with critically ill patients during this pandemic struggling to keep up with the daily demands, so when we introduced Vigilants VerifyTM platform into the ICU the benefits were immediately felt, freeing up nurses while improving safe medication delivery.





Vigilants VerifyTM platform combines industry-standard direct thermal printing hardware with software specifically designed to solve medication management practices at the point of care. This unique solution, unmatched in the market, significantly reduces time spent managing infusion lines, allowing critical care nurses to focus on other tasks that lead to better patient outcomes.





Designed exclusively for healthcare, the VerifyTM platform enables nurses to manage infusion lines or syringe medications in a compliant, safe, and effective manner eliminating highly manual workflows around these life-saving medications. Feedback has been overwhelmingly positive in trials leading to at-scale deployments in several leading hospitals, with testimonials from nurses asking where this solution was previously.





We know this pandemic has been nothing but difficult for our incredible front-line workers. Vigilant is incredibly pleased to deliver the VerifyTM platform to healthcare providers and critical care nurses, to help bolster all their efforts to save more people from the virus, said Fox Holt, Chief Executive Officer of Vigilant Software. Now is the time to be deploying solutions easing the burden on ICUs and nurses, while differentiating your hospital as the best place to care for patients, and the safest,





About Vigilant Software

Vigilant is a leading medical software company creating solutions to automate drug preparation and documentation processes for clinical staff who work outside of the pharmacy such as the operating room, post-operative care, intensive care and the emergency room. Since 2016, the company has experienced growth delivering industry-leading solutions that improve patient care, safety, compliance, workflow and hospital revenue. Based in the Dallas, Texas-area, Vigilants team of employees focuses on improving patient outcomes through innovation and the necessary technology. To learn more about Vigilant, visit www.vigilantsoftware.io.

Additional images for Vigilant Software and VerifyTM can be found here.

Attachments

CONTACT: Carson Quinn ZindseyMEDIA for Vigilant 312-339-9779 carson@zindsey.com




DUBLIN, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Organic Baby Food Market Global Forecast 2021-2027, Industry Trends, Share, Insight, Growth, Impact of COVID-19, Opportunity Company Analysis" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

Research and Markets Logo

This report provides a detailed analysis of Global Organic Baby Food Industry.

Globally, babies are tender and sensitive; they respond differently to every stimulus. Babies are particularly vulnerable to foodborne illness because their immune systems are not developed enough to fight off infections. Hence, the reasons above have given rise to the organic baby food industry as it's prepared with extra care. Organic baby foods are food grown or processed without synthetic fertilizers or pesticides. The global demand for organic baby food is continuously increasing due to rising awareness among parents who adequately fulfil their babies' nutritional requirements. According to the publisher analysis, Global Organic Baby Food Market is projected to reach US$ 12.65 Billion by 2027.



Furthermore, in recent years the business of feeding babies with organic foods has developed into a multi-billion-dollar industry. Indeed, organic baby food is playing an ever more significant role in meeting the nutritional demands of infants and toddlers worldwide. Moreover, recently, the industry saw several transformations, primarily fuelled by parents' lifestyles and their growing interest in organic food. In addition, the professionally designed organic baby foods fill the kitchen shelves globally in various flavours of liquid and solid forms for customers. Hence, the global market for organic baby food by age group has food for 1-6 month babies, 7-9 month babies and 10-12 month babies since infants might be more susceptible to harm potentially caused by pesticides than are adults.



By Type: Dried Baby Food, either Refrigerated or Powdered inform products, is preferred on a Large Scale

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Global Organic Baby Food Market comprises Prepared Baby Food, Dried Baby Food and Infant Milk Formula. Amongst all the dried baby food, either refrigerated or powdered inform products, is preferred on a large scale, having a comparatively higher shelf life than traditional packaged food. Moreover, dried baby food is easy to carry and consume.



On the other hand, prepared baby food also represents a widely consumed type because it can be served instantly without the hassle of cooking. Nowadays, the population of working women and nuclear families is growing, and preparation of baby food needs lots of hard labour and time. This, in turn, is increasing the growth of prepared baby food products. As per the analysis, the Worldwide Organic Baby Food Market Size was valued at US$ 5.97 Billion in 2020.



By Distribution Channel: Rise of E-Commerce Companies Increases the Demand for Organic Baby Food Products through Online Purchases

The Global Organic Baby Food Market circulates its products through hypermarkets, supermarkets, pharmacy medical stores, speciality stores, hard discount stores and online. As per the analysis, the rising emergence of e-commerce companies and innovative strategies adopted by major players such as channel expansion increases the demand for organic baby food products through online purchases. Moreover, online channels are set to be the highest growing segment owing to the ease and hassle more minor nature of online service. Moreover, in the forthcoming years, the online channel for organic baby food holds massive potential for growth due to the increasing popularity of internet services and technological advancements.



Regional Analysis: North America and Europe have a higher demand for Organic Baby Food compared to the Rest of the World

Geographically, the Global Organic Baby Food Market revolves around North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific. Globally, the demand for organic baby food is comparatively higher in developed regions like North America and Europe than developing regions like Asia-Pacific. In North America, the market for organic baby food is enormous, owing to the enhanced awareness of the significance of proper nutrition for babies. Moreover, as per the analysis, the organic baby food market is expected to witness increasing demand in Asia-Pacific with an emerging economy such as India and China rapidly expanding witnessing intensifying demand for organic baby food. the research suggests that Global Organic Baby Food Industry is expected to grow at a CAGR of 11.32% from 2020-2027.



COVID-19 Impact on the Industry:

The global health crises and food scares have a long-term impact on consumer demand for organic baby food during COVID-19. COVID-19 has boosted consumer awareness of the relationship between nutrition and health. This has resulted in a surge in interest in organic baby food that benefits from a 'health halo', including functional foods. Initially, there was a global sales spike for organic baby food, as consumers fear food safety, and personal health drives product purchases. In addition, the fast pace recovery of developing economies leading to increased disposable income will further support the Organic Baby Food Market demand in the coming years.



Key Players Performance in Organic Baby Food Industry

The Global Organic Baby Food Market is profoundly organized and predominantly dominated by players, like Abbott Laboratories, Kraft Heinz, Nestle S.A., Danone SA and Kewpie Corporation. Meanwhile, the global organic baby food market companies focus on uncovering innovative marketing strategies and launching new products based on value-added ingredients to compete in the market. For instance, in June 2020, Heinz reinvented its baby food line with the launch of HEINZ BY NATURET baby food, a new line-up of baby food, including options that are organic and made with natural ingredients and acerola cherry.

Key Topics Covered:



1. Introduction



2. Research& Methodology



3. Executive Summary



4. Market Dynamics

4.1 Growth Drivers

4.2 Challenges



5. Global Organic Baby Food Market



6. Market Share Analysis

6.1 By Types

6.2 By Age Group

6.3 By Distribution Channel

6.4 By Region



7. Type - Global Organic Baby Food Market

7.1 Prepared Baby Food

7.2 Dried Baby Food

7.3 Infant Milk Formula

7.4 Others



8. Age Group- Global Organic Baby Food Market

8.1 1-6 Month Baby

8.2 7-9 Month Baby

8.3 10-12 Month Baby

8.4 Others



9. Distribution Channel -Global Organic Baby Food Market

9.1 Hyper Market

9.2 Super Market

9.3 Pharmacy Medical Store

9.4 Specialty Stores

9.5 Hard Discount Store

9.6 Online



10. Region -Global Organic Baby Food Market

10.1 North America

10.2 Europe

10.3 Asia-Pacific

10.4 ROW



11. Key Players

11.1 Abbott Laboratories

11.1.1 Overview

11.1.2 Recent Development

11.1.3 Revenue

11.2 Kraft Heinz

11.2.1 Overview

11.2.2 Recent Development

11.2.3 Revenue

11.3 Nestle S.A.

11.3.1 Overview

11.3.2 Recent Development

11.3.3 Revenue

11.4 Danone SA

11.4.1 Overview

11.4.2 Recent Development

11.4.3 Revenue

11.5 Kewpie Corporation

11.5.1 Overview

11.5.2 Recent Development

11.5.3 Revenue



For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/osfozm

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

press@researchandmarkets.com



For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470

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SOURCE Research and Markets
A forum for Fredericksburg City Council candidates on Oct. 9 couldve been mistaken for a School Board debate.

Education is at the forefront of discussion for the three contested ward seats in the city this fall. Thats especially the case in the race for Ward 3, which mainly includes College Heights and the Lafayette Boulevard corridor.

Incumbent Tim Duffy, the principal of James Monroe High School, and challenger Rene Rodriguez, a consultant for the Department of Defense, each said education is one of their top three campaign issues.

Its also a major topic in the city as a debate continues about whether to build a new middle school at an approximate cost of $65 million while other major capital improvement projects are on the table.

Candidate profile: Tim Duffy Incumbent Tim Duffy, the principal of James Monroe High School, is running for reelection to the Fredericksburg City Council.

We need to balance the needs of infrastructure and education, Duffy said. We need to do both. We need to diversity the revenue streams of the city beyond just retail, restaurants and property taxes. Im committed to find ways to do that.

When city officials were considering a third elementary school earlier this year, Duffy voted to support a resolution to construct the new facility. Hes also voiced support for Fredericksburg City Public Schools change of plans to build a new middle school instead.
Gerlach identified other key issues as working with businesses, developers and nonprofits to promote sustainable environmental policies, and managing growth to protect the special sauce that makes Fredericksburg unique. He favors creating a new Economic Development Authority to focus on developing the section of the city west of Interstate 95.

He also wants to see the city focus on business development and tourism to lessen the dependency on real estate taxes. Gerlach said he worries that with all the citys infrastructure needs, taxes may be raised to the point that many of the people who live in Fredericksburg now will have to move.

This is a track for gentrification that we need to figure out how to slow down, Gerlach said. Its absolutely disgraceful that so many folks are struggling to make ends meet.

Gerlach noted that the ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed) Campaign has found that 40 percent of the citys families are working and still struggling financially. He said a strong workforce development program would help local families earn higher paying jobs.
I have not seen the kind of energy that I see right now probably going back to [Gov.] George Allen, said Stuart. The energy is huge in all these campaigns and I predict the House of Delegates flips back to Republican control and Glen Youngkin wins.

Allen defeated Democrat Mary Sue Terry in a landslide governors race in 1993, leading a Republican charge that also captured the attorney generals office and a record number of seats in the legislature.

Youngkin, who spoke for about 25 minutes, reminded the crowd that they can vote early until Oct. 30. He said the nation will be watching the commonwealth on Election Day. Only Virginia and New Jersey have races for governor this year.

This is our moment to lead, Youngkin said. This is our time. Only with you can we do this.

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The Republican said, if elected, he will make several changes immediately after taking office.

On Day 1, we will cut taxes for all Virginians and bring down our cost of living, he said. Were going to eliminate the grocery tax. Were going to suspend the most recent gas tax increase. Were going to double standard deductions. Were going to declare the largest tax rebate in the history of Virginia.
Methodist Fremont Health will host a free head and neck cancer screening conducted by physicians at its campus next month.

Theyll undergo an exam, where the mouth and the nose and the neck and other relevant areas would be examined to look for any signs of any cancers, pre-cancers or other non-cancerous processes that might require further evaluation, Dr. Andrew Holcomb said.

The screening event will take place 10 a.m. to noon on Tuesday, Nov. 9, in the third floor auditorium of the Health Park Plaza at 450 E. 23rd St.

Appointments are required for the screenings, which can be made by visiting bestcare.org/freecancerscreening or calling 402-727-3439.

Holcomb and Dr. Robert Lindau, head and neck surgical oncologists at Methodist Estabrook Cancer Center, will be on site conducting the screenings.

Were excited that Dr. Lindau and Dr. Holcomb are bringing their expertise to the Fremont community, MFH President and CEO Brett Richmond said. These free screenings have the potential to make a significant impact in our patients lives.

At the screening, patients can meet with the physicians to identify and assess risk factors. Holcomb said participants can be expected to be asked questions about their history with symptoms, cancer or any other relevant medical history.

We generally do not have advanced equipment to do scope exams, biopsies, CAT scans or anything of that nature, he said. So patients who have anything that is identified on the exam may be referred for further evaluation in our clinic in Omaha at the cancer center.

Typically, Holcomb said appointments can last anywhere from 15 to 20 minutes, depending on the patients medical history or risk factors.

Because everything that we do is in real time, all of the results that you will be able to receive from the visit will be provided during the visit, he said. So any additional testing thats necessary would be ordered after the completion of the visit.

An estimated more than 68,000 Americans will be diagnosed with a head or neck cancer in 2021, according to the National Cancer Institutes.

The rate of head and neck cancer in the general population is relatively low, as it makes up about 4% of cancers overall in the United States, Holcomb said. However, screening has shown to be effective in patients that have risk factors for cancer.

Significant risk factors for these cancers are smoking, chewing tobacco, drinking alcohol or prior cancer in the head or neck regions. Sun exposure or sunburns may also increase risk for skin head or neck cancer.

For patients with those risk factors or with symptoms, its very important to try to identify tumors if they are present at an early stage, Holcomb said.

Holcomb said those with a head or neck cancer can typically detect some sort of sign or symptom, including pain, bleeding or an abnormal-appearing spot on the mouth, tongue, lips, cheeks or other areas of the mouth.

It may be a lump in the neck that doesnt go away after a couple of weeks or doesnt come along with a viral illness or something like that, he said. We also see many skin cancers in the head and neck, so that can be a new spot on the skin or something thats growing or changing.

With early-stage tumors, Holcomb said they are often highly treatable and curable, and the consequences of treatment can be limited.

By contrast, tumors that are large, maybe neglected or not caught for a period of time can be much more difficult to treat, he said. They may require multiple types of treatment and the chance of curing the tumor is lower and the side effects of treatment can often be significantly greater.

Holcomb said he was looking forward to and appreciates the opportunity to engage with the Fremont community and educate patients about head and neck cancers.

While many of the problems that we encounter ultimately are not cancer, were still able to offer patients advice about those types of problems in many settings, he said. We do usually find some problems that require further evaluation, and so we just encourage anyone who has a concern or feels that they may be at an increased risk to come and meet with us.

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The Nebraska State Patrol says two semi-truck drivers died Tuesday in a crash that closed westbound Interstate 80 west of Seward.

Cody Thomas, a State Patrol spokesman, said an eastbound semi crossed the median and struck a westbound semi at about 11 a.m.

Both drivers were killed in the crash.

I-80 remained closed at 3 p.m., with traffic being detoured to U.S. 34 from the Goehner exit. Thomas said the crash investigation is ongoing.

The detour suggested by the Nebraska Department of Transportation directs drivers north from the interstate to U.S. 34, west to Utica and back south to I-80.

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Rep. Jeff Fortenberry expects the federal government to charge him with lying to the FBI during its investigation of campaign contributions funneled to him from a Nigerian billionaire.

The nine-term Republican from Lincoln said he is being wrongly accused.

We will fight these charges. I did not lie to them, Fortenberry said in a videotaped statement obtained Monday by The World-Herald. This is wrong on so many levels.

Knowingly making false statements to a federal agent is a felony, punishable by up to five years in prison. A source familiar with the investigation said an indictment could come down as early as Tuesday.

The anticipated indictment grew out of an FBI investigation, launched in California during the Trump administration, regarding $180,000 in illegal conduit campaign contributions from Gilbert Chagoury, a Nigerian billionaire of Lebanese descent. The contributions, funneled through a group of Californians from 2012 through 2016, went to four U.S. politicians, including $30,200 to Fortenberry in 2016 and $10,000 to then-Rep. Lee Terry, who represented the Omaha area, in 2014.

Fortenberry apparently isnt in trouble for receiving the contributions; his campaign has said he was unaware that the money came from Chagoury. Instead, the congressman faces prosecution because of what he told or did not tell agents during their investigation into Chagourys scheme.

Fortenberrys wife, Celeste, said in a statement emailed to supporters early Tuesday that the expected indictment has all the marks of being a political attack, a bogus charge manufactured to take him out.

This accusation is entirely false. Jeff did not lie to the FBI, she said.

Both she and her husband asked for support and prayers, and expressed hope that justice prevails.

In their statements, the Fortenberrys said two FBI agents from California had come to the door of their Lincoln home in March 2019, just after a bomb cyclone hit Nebraska, causing record flooding.

Celeste Fortenberry said: Jeff did agree to speak with them (note: dont ever do that  your innocence wont protect you) without a lawyer (ditto) in our living room. But he did call the police and ask them to stay for the conversation, because the story the FBI used to gain access to our home kept shifting.

The congressman said he answered the questions posed by the agents and later, after conferring with a former GOP colleague and lawyer, Trey Gowdy, met again with the FBI to answer further questions.

At every step, the agents and prosecutors assured and reassured Jeff and Trey that Jeff was not a target, Celeste Fortenberry said. They knew he had no knowledge of the illegal donations, and was in fact a victim of that crime.

Rep. Fortenberry, in a video recorded in the front seat of his pickup with his wife sitting next to him, said he was stunned and shocked that he was facing an indictment.

I told them what I knew and what I understood, he said. Theyve accused me of lying to them and are charging me with this.

A spokesman with the U.S. Attorneys Office in Los Angeles said Monday evening that he could not comment.

A spokesman for Fortenberrys campaign said two weeks ago that the congressman was unaware that the $30,200 in contributions he received at an L.A. fundraiser in 2016 had originated from a foreigner, which is illegal.

It was reported in March that Chagoury, a resident of Paris, and two associates had agreed in 2019 to cooperate with the investigation. Fines against them  including $1.8 million paid by Chagoury  were made public this spring.

One of the billionaires associates, Toufic Baaklini of Washington, D.C., told investigators that he had run into Fortenberry after the fundraiser during which the $30,200 was given to the congressman. In that meeting, Baaklini said Fortenberry asked him if he felt that anything was wrong with the fundraiser. Baaklini falsely replied no and then asked why. Fortenberry reportedly responded because it all came from the same family, according to documents released by prosecutors in California.

In August, concern about the investigation prompted Fortenberry to establish a legal defense fund. The funds website said he was seeking donations because he was facing the Deep States bottomless pockets. Also this summer, he retained a new law firm that specializes in white-collar crime.

Chagoury is an international philanthropist known for his close ties to former President Bill and Hillary Clinton, including having donated at least $1 million to the Clinton Foundation. Other ties to a corrupt Nigerian president and Lebanese politicians have aroused significant suspicions, at one point placing him on the U.S. no-fly list over concern that he had funneled money to the terrorist group Hezbollah.

He returned an estimated $300 million held in Swiss bank accounts to the Nigerian government to secure immunity from prosecution after the death of Nigerian dictator Sani Abacha. In addition, Ray LaHood, a former Republican Illinois congressman and President Barack Obamas transportation secretary, admitted to federal prosecutors this year that he hid a $50,000 loan that came from Chagoury.

The purpose of Chagourys illegal conduit contributions to Fortenberry and others have not been made clear, but Justice Department documents said he was advised to contribute to U.S. politicians from less-populous states because the gifts would be more noticeable and provide greater access to the lawmakers.

Fortenberrys wife said her husband had gone to California in 2016 to accept an award from a Lebanese community in Los Angeles for his work in protecting religious minorities in the Middle East. That trip included the fundraiser during which Chagourys money  passed through Baaklini and another associate to the eventual donors  was given to Fortenberry. Campaign reports indicated that the Nebraskan received contributions from eight people; five of the donors had the last name Ayoub.

Baaklinis LinkedIn page lists him as president of a group called In Defense of Christians, which advocates for the rights of religious minorities, including Christians and Yazidis.

After questions about the 2016 contributions arose, Fortenberrys campaign said he donated the money to charity. Federal Election Commission records show that in September and October 2019, he gave a total of $30,000 to two Nebraska groups, the St. Gianna Womens Home and the Peoples City Mission.

While Fortenberry did not specifically ascribe a political motivation to the anticipated indictment, his wife did. In her statement, Celeste Fortenberry said there had been radio silence from federal prosecutors until the Trump Justice Department became the Biden Justice Department, shifting from a Republican president in charge to a Democrat.

She said the U.S. prosecutor handling her husbands case was in the running for a big promotion.

And dont forget the midterm elections right around the corner for control of the House, she added.

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Like hundreds of families in Ghor Province who once survived on payments from Afghanistans former government, 14-year-old Ahmad Zia and his relatives have been devastated by the Talibans seizure of power.

The men in Ahmad Zias extended family were members of an ethnic-Tajik Popular Uprising Force that fought the Taliban for years near their village of Qats on the outskirts of the provincial capital, Firuzkoh.

The Taliban retaliated against them in 2019, killing Ahmad Zias father and his three uncles while they were working on a nearby farm.

Then-12-year-old Ahmad Zia became the eldest male member of his extended family, forcing him to earn an income for his widowed mother, aunts, and their 24 children.

Ahmad Zia worked for nearly two years as a water bearer for Afghan security forces who were stationed at strategic positions in the remote mountains overlooking their village.

He earned about $60 a month filling plastic water jugs from a creek near his home and strapping them onto the backs of three donkeys.

He would then trek four kilometers up into the mountains -- sometimes in sub-zero temperatures and often within range of fighting -- to supply the Afghan Army outposts.

He also helped his mother, Bibi Asma, wash soldiers' clothes that he brought back down from the mountains.

This meager income was supplemented by payments from the former Afghan governments Martyrs and Disabled Ministry.

Now, all of the paltry sources of income for Ahmad Zia and his family are gone.

There is no work for Ahmad Zia. Payments from the ministry stopped when the government in Kabul collapsed on August 15.

The local Taliban authorities will not let Ahmad Zias mother or aunts work, either, refusing to even allow women in Ghor to work in their fields alongside male relatives as they have done for years.

Women in Ahmad Zias district are not allowed to leave their homes without being accompanied by an adult male relative as a chaperon.

Our situation is very bad. We have no money, Ahmad Zia tells RFE/RLs Radio Azadi. I was the only breadwinner in the house. I was earning money for 30 people by myself.

I dont know what I will do now, he says. I wanted to go to Iran to work and to support my family. But the border with Iran is closed now.

We have asked the Taliban to help us, Ahmad Zia says. But my only hope is in God.

Ahmad Zias family is not alone. Millions of Afghans are struggling to survive amid a deepening humanitarian and economic crisis. The United Nations has warned that many Afghans face the risk of starvation.

Doubtful Taliban Promises

Maulvi Shams Ullah Tariqat, Ghors Taliban-appointed deputy governor, claims the Taliban is planning to disperse humanitarian aid to the families of war victims.

But the financial holdings of the Afghan government at banks in other countries -- which total more than $9 billion -- have been frozen since August when the Taliban seized power.

The Taliban leadership in Kabul says that if those funds are not released to them soon, a humanitarian catastrophe will unleash a new wave of Afghan refugees westward.

However, Western governments say they will not release those assets to the Taliban unless it proves it has changed since its brutal rule from 1996 to 2001, when it was an international pariah notorious for massacring ethnic minorities, including ethnic Tajiks and Hazara.

The Afghanistan Analysts Network describes Ghor as a multi-ethnic and multi-tribal society that is fragmented by acute rivalries, extreme poverty, and a proliferation of weapons.

Residents of the predominantly ethnic-Tajik districts around Ghors provincial capital say they doubt they will receive aid from the Pashtun-dominated Taliban, even if the Taliban-led government had the funds.

They note that the Taliban has failed to keep its promises not to retaliate against Afghans who worked for the former Afghan government -- continuing to persecute people in Ghor and other parts of the country.

Hussain Hakimi, a civil activist from Ghor, says the Taliban is now seeking vengeance against ethnic Tajiks and Hazara who had fought against them.

He says that despite a general amnesty announced by the Taliban leadership in Kabul, Taliban forces act arbitrarily in Ghor and follow the command of their own local leaders.

Hakimi says the Talibans declaration of amnesty is a ruse aimed at deceiving the Afghan people and the international community.

Human Rights Watch says the Taliban has continued to target and kill people who worked for the former Afghan government or actively supported its security forces.

Abdul Samad Amiri, the acting head of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) office in Ghor, was abducted and shot dead in September while traveling on the Kabul-Ghor highway. The AIHRC blames Amiris kidnapping and murder on Taliban gunmen.

Retribution attacks have also targeted former members of various local Popular Uprising Forces -- a rag-tag mix of volunteer militia fighters who were not part of the former governments military but fought against the Taliban with whatever weapons they could muster.

Ghor Province was one of the first places where uprising forces emerged about a decade ago.

On October 14, the Taliban reportedly killed a former Afghan lawmaker from Ghor, Ahmad Khan, who led Popular Uprising Forces in his home district of Dawlat-Yar.

According to more recent reports, residents in the Maidan Bazarek area in the central part of Ghor say Taliban gunmen have been going house to house in two villages -- Qandsang and Shurak -- to demand blood money from relatives of those who had fought against the Taliban.

Those developments have dimmed the waning hopes of Ahmad Zias family.

The [previous] government used to help us, but now that government has fallen, Bibi Asam, Ahmad Zias mother, tells RFE/RL. Now we are waiting to see what this new [Taliban-led] government will do, whether it will help or not.

We are four families, Bibi Asam says. Which of us should this boy [Ahmad Zia] take care of first? Should he focus on getting firewood, shoes [for the children], or other things like food?

Written by Ron Synovitz based on reporting by RFE/RLs Radio Azadi.
WASHINGTON -- Zalmay Khalilzad, the top U.S. envoy to Afghanistan, is stepping down from his long-standing role following the Western military pullout from that war-ravaged country, the State Department said.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken on October 18 said Khalilzad, who led U.S. negotiators in talks with the Taliban in Doha, Qatar, prior to the Islamist groups takeover of Afghanistan, was leaving his position and that his deputy, Thomas West, would take over.

I extend my gratitude for his decades of service to the American people, Blinken said of Khalilzad, a former U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, Iraq, and the United Nations.

In his resignation letter, Khalilzad defended his record while also acknowledging that he did not accomplish what he wanted to do in his latest role.

"The political arrangement between the Afghan government and the Taliban did not go forward as envisaged," he wrote in the letter to Blinken.

"The reasons for this are too complex, and I will share my thoughts in the coming day and weeks," added the 70-year-old Khalilzad, who was born in Afghanistan and grew up in Kabul.

He said he was asked to join the administration of President Donald Trump after the decision had been made to substantially reduce or end the military and economic burden of the Afghan engagement on the U.S. and to free those resources for vital priorities, including domestic needs and the challenge of dealing with issues related to China.

Khalilzad, a naturalized U.S. citizen, first arrived in the United States as a high school exchange student.

Following a long diplomatic career, he returned to service and assumed the Afghan envoy role in September 2018, when then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo named him to lead negotiations and attempt to bring the Taliban and the Afghan government together.

Khalilzad was unable to bring the two sides to face-to-face meetings, but he managed to reach a U.S. deal with the Taliban in February 2020 that led to the end of Americas longest-running war.

That agreement called for the withdrawal of all U.S. forces from Afghanistan. In return, the Taliban vowed to stop attacking U.S.-led NATO forces in Afghanistan and not to allow the country to become a base for international terrorists.



The final withdrawal of U.S. troops took place during the early months of the administration of President Joe Biden, who took office on January 20.

Many critics said the pullout was haphazardly conducted, leading to thousands of Afghan citizens who worked for U.S. forces there over the past two decades being left behind.

The Biden administration has said the agreement that Khalilzad struck with the Taliban during the previous administration tied their hands when it came to the pullout and led to the rapid takeover of the country by the Islamist group.

Still, Khalilzad remained in his job during the Biden administration, although he did not participate in the first high-level U.S.-Taliban meeting in Doha following the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan.

His replacement, West, led the U.S. delegation in the last round of talks in Doha, traveling to Qatar with the CIA's deputy director, David Cohen.

West served as an aide to Biden during the current president's term as vice president and has worked for years on U.S. policy in South Asia.

CNN reported that West also traveled to Kabul in August with CIA Director William Burns.

However, the State Department said on October 18 that it will not be sending a representative to a Russia-hosted conference on Afghanistan this week, with a spokesman citing logistics as the reason U.S. official would not travel to the Moscow talks.

With reporting by AFP, The New York Times, and CNN
The Taliban's acting interior minister, Sirajuddin Haqqani, a wanted global terrorist and one of the country's most senior officials, has praised suicide attackers and promised their relatives money and land.

Haqqani, the leader of the notorious Haqqani network and listed as a terrorist by the United States with a $10 million bounty on his head, met with the relatives of several "matyrs" on October 18 at the upscale Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul, ministry spokesman Saeed Khosty said.

Khosty and pro-Taliban accounts on Twitter posted photos purportedly showing Haqqani praying and embracing men at the meeting, although he appears blurred in the pictures or is shown only from behind.

The Interior Ministry said in a statement that Haqqani welcomed the suicide bombers' families and paid tribute to the deceased as "martyrdom seekers" and "holy warriors."

"Haqqani praised the jihad and sacrifice of the martyrs and mujahedin" referring to them as the "heroes of Islam and the country," Afghan state broadcaster RTA reported, adding that he promised $125 and a plot of land for each family.

The Haqqani network, a feared militant group associated with the Taliban, is responsible for deadly attacks on U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan and the internationally backed government that collapsed in August following a blitz Taliban offensive.

Thousands of Afghans were killed in suicide attacks carried out by the network during the past two decades.

In January 2018, the Intercontinental Hotel in which Haqqani held the meeting was stormed by Taliban gunmen who killed 40 people, including 14 foreigners, and took dozens hostage.

This story is based on reporting by Radio Azadi correspondents on the ground in Afghanistan. Their names are being withheld for their protection.

With reporting by AFP and dpa
Building permits issued for the construction of single-family homes fell 20% in September, the second straight monthly drop, according to Pikes Peak Regional Building Department figures. Year to date, however, building permits are running 7.3% ahead of the same period in 2020. THE GAZETTE FILE
In a dramatic twist worthy of one of Matt Stone and Trey Parkers South Park episodes, the head of a local Casa Bonita restaurant fan group and potential investors Monday filed an objection to the pairs plan to buy the famous Lakewood restaurant.

Andrew Novick filed the objection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court case of Summit Family Restaurants Inc., which has owned the 47-year-old landmark at 6715 W. Colfax Ave. for 25 years.

Novick is asking Judge Michael E. Romero to halt the sale to Parker and Stone, who offered to buy it for $3.1 million, court documents show.

He leads the advocacy group Save Casa Bonita, which raised money with a GoFundMe campaign and bought some of the debt in the case. So it is part of the bankruptcy case.

"We actually paid off the money they owed the mariachi band," Novick sad Tuesday morning.

The group is working with a Denver investor who is willing to pay $400,000 more than the current offer, court filings show.

It is disheartening our group did not have a fair chance to negotiate for a purchase of the Debtors assets, according to Novicks objection. The sale motion states that the potential purchasers offer is in good faith, without fraud, collusion or an attempt to take grossly unfair advantage of other bidders. We believe that this sale should not be allowed due to the association with the landlord in these activities.

The objection states Summit Family Restaurants President Bob Wheaton had been negotiating with the group, but then suddenly stopped communications and in an email stated efforts were focused on reopening the restaurant, not selling it. The Stone and Parker announcement came two weeks later.

The group that I am working with strongly believes that the currently proposed sale was not, in fact, an arms-length deal, and that the landlord pressured Mr. Wheaton to sell to a preferred buyer, instead of finalizing an agreement with our group or otherwise allowing a public opportunity to present competitive bids for the restaurant," Novick said.

The judge has not ruled on the objec, nor finalized the sale.

"The judge could approve the motion, deny it or possibly schedule a hearing," Novick said. "We don't know how he's going to react to the objection."

Parker and Stone announced the deal in August during a sit-down interview with Gov. Jared Polis celebrating the 24th anniversary of their show.

Summit Family Restaurants has owned the colorful and expansive Casa Bonita for 25 years. It filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Arizona in April after the COVID-19 pandemic caused shutdowns and crippled operations.

The restaurant was known for its roaming mariachis, cliff divers, Black Bart's Haunted Cave and tabletop flags customers raise to get more sopapillas.

The 52,000-square-foot restaurant gained national and international attention after being featured in a 2003 episode of "South Park." It closed in March 2020, but recently began offering tours and the gift shop and arcade were opened.
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Colorado Politics senior political reporter

Joey Bunch is the senior correspondent and deputy managing editor of Colorado Politics. His 32-year career includes the last 16 in Colorado. He was part of the Denver Post team that won the Pulitzer Prize in 2013 and he is a two-time finalist.
How John Wesley Powell navigated the Colorado River and Grand Canyon in wooden boats | Pass It On
The poll released Tuesday indicates Latinos on the Western Slope had higher incidences of food insecurity compared to the rest of the state at 40%, as well as 64% of those west of the Continental Divide who had difficulty paying their rent or mortgage.
The city of Colorado Springs is expecting a sizable bump of $56 million to its general fund budget next year, an increase that could boost wildfire mitigation, pay for city employees, spending on police and public safety, and new crisis response teams, among other priorities.

The total general fund budget is expected to collect about $400.6 million in 2022 or about 16.26% more next year than this year. The general fund pays for many basic government services, such as police and fire protection and does not have the same spending restrictions as dedicated fees or taxes. For example, the city has a dedicated stormwater fee and trails open space and parks tax.

The healthy budget is a reflection of the local economy's resilience, including its strong construction market, said Mayor John Suthers. It also reflects $10.8 million held over from the federal coronavirus relief payments.

"The bottom line is Colorado Springs weathered the pandemic and is continuing to weather the pandemic as well as any large city in America, I can't imagine anybody doing a better job," he said.

The revenue growth exceeds a growth cap put in place by the Taxpayer Bill of Rights, and so the city will ask voters in November to retain up to $20 million to fund a new wildfire mitigation fund. The money could be invested and drawn down a few hundred thousand at a time to allow city crews to mitigate wildfire inside and outside city limits.

If the question passes, it would also allow the city to retain an additional $16.5 million expected to be collected in 2022 that could fund public safety investments like new fire and police stations, Chief Financial Office Charae McDaniel said. The Colorado Springs Fire Department is expected to need four more fire stations in the coming years, Fire Chief Randy Royal said previously.

The city is also budgeting $424,000 to introduce a new model of crisis response to help those who would normally interact with a police officer but aren't posing a threat to others. Instead of sending a police officer, a behavioral health clinical navigator, similar to a social worker, and a paramedic would be sent to assist, said Lt. Andrew Cooper, with the community and public health division of the fire department.

For example, if someone appeared to be talking to themselves on a street corner and passing residents' called 911, the new team of two could respond and help the individual get the proper mental health care, he said. The team could assist without involving the police at all, Cooper said.

"The idea here is to fix these problems," he said.

The city's current crisis response teams include an officer, an emergency medical professional and a licensed mental health specialist. Those teams will stay in place.

The fire department expects to have two teams under the new model, one that would respond to calls coming in and another that would work with people on an ongoing basis, to help them find the right behavioral health care, Cooper said.

The city's Law Enforcement Transparency and Accountability Commission Chairwoman Janice "JJ" Frazier said she was pleased with the inclusion of the teams in the proposed budget because they are in line with the commission's first recommendation to expand the city's crisis response.

"I think they could make a huge difference especially for the lower acuity calls, people who are repeat callers," Frazier said.

The absence of uniformed officers could also help situations from escalating, she said.

The police department could also see a boost from the funds to increase the overall number of positions and salaries. The city expects to fund 17 new police positions to fulfill Suthers' commitment of funding 803 new positions by 2022.

The city only employs about 703 officers right now and expects several large classes in 2022 of recruits to help fill new and open positions. Data provided by police show a class of 84 recruits is in training and two additional classes of 72 students are planned. The department doesn't expect all of those recruits to graduate or obtain employment.

The city is combatting higher attrition among more senior officers who qualify for their pensions and are retiring a bit early, Suthers said. However, the city is seeing well-qualified applicants, an uptick in women applying and good racial diversity.

"We don't need fewer police officers. We need more police officers. There's been a significant uptick in crime over the last couple of years," he said.

In 2020, Colorado Springs saw 36 homicides, the highest number since at least 1985, the Gazette reported.

Police and fire department employees will see raises as well next year. The city expects to set aside $9 million to fund cost of living and merit pay increases.

Outside of public safety, the city expects to spend $14.4 million next year to fund new positions and raises the city phased in during June. The new positions included six new planners, five new lawyers, five new public works employees, three stormwater workers and 11 new Colorado Springs Airport employees, the city said previously.

Raises are needed to stay competitive in a hot labor market, where skilled employees such as engineers and information technology professionals are in high demand, Suthers said.

"Keeping our stormwater engineers and civil engineers is a challenge," he said.

Some of the other budget highlights include:

 $5.4 million to reinstate spending from COVID-19 prompted cuts

 $2.2 million for facility maintenance - including work on police and fire headquarters, parks facilities, public works facilities, fuel island infrastructure, and the municipal courthouse

 $700,000 increased funding for animal law enforcement services

 $1.7 million of increased funding for city fleet and equipment replacement

 $500,000 of continued funding to support shelter bed operations for the homeless population

 $934,000 additional funding to Mountain Metro Transit for increased contract and other operating costs to sustain transit services

The Colorado Springs City Council will review and approve the budget in the coming months.

Gazette reporter Evan Ochsner contributed to this report.
Monument voters in November will get to decide whether the town should move to a home-rule form of government, and whether to raise the local sales tax to fund police services.
Report: Public-sector cyber forecast looks mostly sunny

The public-sector cybersecurity outlook is positive, according to a new report.

The Cybersecurity Trends in Government 2021 Report, which BeyondTrust released Oct. 13, gives four potential reasons why government IT managers are optimistic: Theyre identifying and implementing the right security technologies, targeting initiatives, appropriating funding, and seeing pandemic stressors decline. Working with ReRez Research, the company surveyed 200 senior IT and security professionals within U.S. defense, federal civilian, state and local government agencies, about their cyber concerns and activities now and in the near future.

The report looked at how respondents view security measures in three ways: basic, foundational and organizational. Today, 74% of respondents said that inventory and control of hardware assets is the most important basic cybersecurity measure, although 68% expect that importance to decrease in one to three years, and 56% said inventory and control of software assets is most important. Maintenance, monitoring and analysis of audit logs is critical to 63% -- and more than half expect it to be just as important in one to three years.

In terms of foundational cybersecurity measures, data protection (62%), data recovery capabilities (62%) and privileged access management (61%) are virtually tied for the top three, according to the report.

Boundary defense, which encompasses traditional perimeter controls such as firewalls, was rated the least important of the 12 foundational security controls, the report states. Other controls included secure configuration for network devices, DevSecOps, malware defense and email and web protections. We imagine that 5 -10 years back, this would have ranked near the top, the report states. However, our increasingly perimeterless world characterized by work-from-anywhere, edge computing, and hybrid environments is reducing the effectiveness of boundary defenses.

For organizational security measures, implementing security awareness training came out on top with 77% respondents citing is as the most important measure, although only 24% think it will stay that way. Application software security came in second at 65%, followed by penetration tests and Red Team exercises at 56%.

The report also states that perceived cyberthreats are changing. The biggest concerns today are remote worker or contractor vulnerabilities (65%), ransomware (61%) and phishing or social engineering (60%), none of which is surprising given how the pandemic shuttered offices and cyberattacks battered agencies in 2020.

In one to three years, though, 35% of respondents said they see fileless attacks being the biggest threat, followed by distributed denial-of-service attacks (31%). Remote worker or contractor vulnerabilities drops to No. 3, with just 29% of respondents citing it as a future concern.

Additionally, the report notes a shift in threat actors. Insiders are far and away the top cybersecurity concern for public-sector infosec leaders today, it states. Ill-intentioned insiders rank as the #1 concern (67% of respondents), with mistakes by insiders resulting in security incidents (55%) the #3 highest concern. Concern for external threat actors (57%) came in at #2, just a little ahead of insider mistakes.

Looking ahead one to three years, nation-state actors move to the No. 1 threat actor spot, with 36% of respondents citing them. Organized crime (32%) and external bad actors (21%) round out the top three, as malicious insiders fall to fourth (15%).

Federal initiatives such as the Biden administrations executive order on cybersecurity and requests to boost the Technology Modernization Funds allocations are also contributing to the sunny outlook, as are more targeted initiatives. For example, 38% said they believe the importance of National Institute of Standards and Technology policy will grow in the next one to three years, and 58% said StateRAMP is important today and 40% say it will be more important later. Similar to the Federal Risk and Management Program for assessing cloud security, StateRAMP aims to provide that assessment for state and local governments.

Perhaps the most surprising finding is that 96% of the respondents said they have adequate funding for their security budgets. The report also found that 82% of respondents believe the American Rescue Plan will increase cybersecurity, with 34% saying that improvement will be significant.

And despite concerns about budget shortfalls resulting from the pandemic, 56% of respondents said they received more cybersecurity funding than in the previous year, and only 13% said their cyber budgets decreased. President Joe Bidens fiscal 2022 budget requests $9.8 billion, up $1.2 billion from fiscal 2021, in cybersecurity funding to secure federal civilian networks and infrastructure.

Still, vigilance is always necessary. While the findings of this report support an optimistic outlook, cybersecurity processes and technologies must adapt to what attackers are doing in the future, not just what is occurring today, the report states. The threat landscape evolves continuously, and attackers are always seeking new weaknesses.
West Virginia maps out broadband investment plan

West Virginia is investing $1 billion to expand broadband availability to 200,000 more underserved homes and businesses. A plan unveiled by Gov. Jim Justice on Oct. 15 will combine funding from federal, state and local governments, along with matching investments from private-sector partners.

West Virginia has one of the nations lowest broadband connectivity rates, according to the Federal Communications Commission, which estimates that at least 30% of the states rural homes and businesses currently lack adequate broadband access. Expansion has been hindered by the difficulty of extending fiber into mountainous, sparsely populated rural areas.

For more than two years, the state has been mapping broadband access and now has a detailed inventory of underserved locations that will inform funding allocations.

The primary programs involved in the billion-dollar initiative include:

The FCCs Rural Digital Opportunity Fund, which offers internet service providers funding to extend service to underserved areas. The program features a reverse auction in which ISPs compete for grants to connect underserved census tracts, with each tract awarded to the ISP that can connect it with the least amount of federal subsidization. The RDOF funding will be complemented by investment from participating ISPs to create a minimum expected RDOF impact of $500 million. The program is expected to provide broadband availability to approximately 119,000 homes and businesses over five years.

The American Rescue Plan Acts Capital Projects Fund, which will devote $136 million, along with a $90 million appropriation of ARPA State Fiscal Recovery and a $10 million appropriation of state general revenue funds for broadband projects. Matching-funds requirements are expected to generate at least $150 million beyond the state contribution, for a total state-based program impact of at least $386 million. The West Virginia Broadband Office projects that the first homes and businesses connected in the state-based program will gain broadband access by the end of 2021.

Other existing funding sources  including those from the FCC, the Department of Agriculture, the Appalachian Regional Commission and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration -- are expected to contribute at least $120 million.

Broadband is essential to modern life, Secretary of Economic Development Mitch Carmichael said. This comprehensive strategy coordinates a wide variety of funding sources that add up to a record investment in high-speed internet.

West Virginia students deserve to be able to do their homework, Gov. Jim Justice said. Our seniors deserve access to telehealth. Our businesses deserve to be able to reach their customers and suppliers. And all our residents deserve to be able to interact with their government, stay informed as citizens, and do all the hundreds of things that take high-speed internet. Starting today, were going to make that possible.
A roundup of campaign news items of interest for Monday, October 18, 2021:

GRASSLEY FUNDRAISING: U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassleys re-election campaign raised just more than $824,000 during the most recent three-month federal reporting period, according to federal records.

Grassley, a Republican who is seeking an eighth six-year term in the U.S. Senate, finished the reporting period with just more than $3 million in his campaign account.

Grassley faces a primary challenge from Sioux City attorney and state legislator Jim Carlin; and five Democrats are running for the right to face him in the 2022 general election.

IOWAN HIRED: Zack Davis, who worked on multiple Democratic presidential campaigns, was named a new board member for NextGen America, a national organization that mobilizes young voters to progressive causes. Davis has been serving as a senior advisor to Tom Steyer, who founded NextGen America. Davis previous experience includes work on the presidential campaigns of Kamala Harris and Barack Obama.

NextGen has evolved since its founding to meet the political moment and address the critical challenges facing our democracy and the world, Steyer said in a news release. The new board of directors announced  represents the next step in that evolution, and positions NextGen to build the more representative, respectful political system our country needs.

GROUP ENDORSES AXNE: Vote Mama, a new PAC devoted to helping Democratic mothers, has endorsed U.S. Rep. Cindy Axne, D-Iowa. Axne has not yet announced whether she will seek a third, two-year term representing central and southwest Iowas 3rd Congressional District.

Working families need strong advocates in Congress now more than ever. I am so proud to support these candidates who will use their lived experiences as mothers to champion issues like universal child care and national paid leave at the federal level, Vote Mama founder and CEO Liuba Grechen Shirley said in a news release. We need their voices in Congress to stand up for women, children, and families who have been failed by our policies for generations. These mamas will fight for family-forward policies and work towards a better future for all.

By Lee-Gazette Des Moines Bureau

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Editor's note: this story has been updated to reflect the accurate timeline for the Hy-Vee's opening.

On Monday, the Clear Lake City Council met to review and make changes to its urban renewal plan. One of those changes was to accommodate for a new Hy-Vee grocery store.

The Hy-Vee grocery store will be located on North 20th Street along Highway 18 in Clear Lake.

Construction on the Hy-Vee grocery store is going to be headed by the Embree Development Group, which entered into a letter of intent with the Clear Lake City Council in its Sept. 21 meeting.

The Embree Development Group is based out of Georgetown, Texas, and the letter of intent stated the group had interest in building a new retail space in the Willow Creek area of Clear Lake.

According to Clear Lake City Administrator Scott Flory the proposed project, now known to be the Hy-Vee grocery store, will encompass 51,000 square feet of commercial and retail space along with 6.5 acres of parking space, Embree is anticipated to put a capital investment of $8 million on the project.

Clear Lake City Council approves two new letters of intent Clear Lake City Council met on Monday night to review a handful of projects, including two letters of intent that could be a major economic benefit to the city.

Flory said during Monday's meeting that he anticipates the site plan for the Hy-Vee to be reviewed at the upcoming Clear Lake Planning and Zoning meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 26.

In the Sept. 21 meeting, Flory said the developers intend to begin construction on the project by April 1 of next next year, but Flory said that timeline has now been accelerated. The developers intend to break ground at the end of this month with the aim for the project to be completed by August of 2022.

Members of the Clear Lake City Council were thrilled with the news of a Hy-Vee heading to town.

"Wow, that is fantastic," council member Bennett Smith said. "Great news."

Other projects added to urban renewal plan

While the Hy-Vee grocery store was the headliner for projects added into Clear Lake's urban renewal plan, a handful of other familiar projects were also added in Monday night's meeting. In total, six projects, including the Hy-Vee, were added into Clear Lake's urban renewal plan.

The alleyway reconstruction projects in the 400 block of Main Avenue and the 600 block of Buddy Holly Place were both added to the urban renewal area.

The two alley projects are part of a Clear Lake City Council initiative to repair alleys across the city; the city council set aside $300,000 for those projects. The two alleyways will not take up the entirety of the money budgeted by the city council, with the estimated cost of construction ranging from $143,511 to $166,191, depending on if decorative PCC and bollards are used.

The 600 block of Buddy Holly Places is currently in the reconstruction process, while the 400 block of Main Avenue was pushed back due to complications with the bidding process.

Clear Lake alley reconstruction project delayed Tuesday night's Clear Lake City Council meeting provided the community with updates on a var

The city council also expanded the urban renewal area to encompass the improvements along East Main Avenue, the ongoing work from RCP Investments on the former Five Star Cooperation building turned to a Greenlee storage facility and the Sea Wall rehabilitation project, which was discussed later in the meeting.

New billboard

The city council also discussed the possibility of selling city-owned land to Reagan Signs, from Rochester, Minnesota.

The property in question is located along Highway 18 between North 13th Street and North 14th Street in Clear Lake.

The plan is for the developers to construct an LED-style billboard on the property for advertisement purposes. Flory said during the meeting that the sign would be "almost identical" to the sign located on the North Iowa Fair Grounds Property.

As part of the agreement, Regan Signs would take down three of the billboards located between North 14th Street and North 20th Street. Flory explained the reasoning was that those billboards were in the way of other economic development plans that the city had in mind.

There is no firm date set for construction to begin, but Flory estimated that April or May of 2022 was likely.

Clear Lake acquired this land in 2010 from the Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT) at no cost, but Flory said the land has been of no use for the city since acquiring it.

"Essentially, we've had the property for about 11 or 12 years and all we've done is mow it," Flory explained.

The city will sell the land at $1 per square foot, with the total square footage of the property equaling out to 11,337 square feet.

The city council unanimously approved the resolution proposing to sell the land 5-0 and set a public hearing for the topic at the council's next meeting on Monday, Nov. 1.

According to Flory, final action on the sale will be taken at the Nov. 1 meeting.

Sea Wall rehabilitation

The Clear Lake City Council discussed the ongoing process of restoring the historic Sea Wall and took steps to begin the rehabilitation process.

The city council reviewed a second amendment to the professional services agreement with the RDG development group. The amendment would be for construction documents, bidding, construction contracts and administration.

The total cost of the new items on the professional services agreement will be $30,6000.

There is now a timeline for the Sea Wall restoration process. The aim of the project is to sign a contractor by February 2022, and for that contractor to be on site in April of the same year.

The substantial completion date for the project is set for June of 2022.

Flory later went on to say that it is "very likely" that the council would be seeing him again to discuss a revised schedule for the Sea Wall rehabilitation.

The original professional services agreement with RDG was just for examination, and the first amendment was to nominate the Sea Wall to be on the National Register of Historic Places, both of which were approved at prior city council meetings.

The total cost of the professional services agreement with RDG now sits at $44,900.

Flory said on Monday night that the Sea Wall could have had the opportunity to receive some federal funding for its restoration, but the application process to receive that funding was too long for it to be worth it.

"I think waiting a year or two for $5,000 simply does not pencil out," Flory said.

The Clear Lake City Council unanimously approved the second amendment to the professional services agreement, 5-0.

Zachary Dupont covers politics and business development for the Globe Gazette. You can reach him at 641-421-0533 or zachary.dupont@globegazette.com. Follow Zachary on Twitter at @ZachNDupont

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Our maritime defense manufacturing industry is vital to the nations security and a critical part of our economy, Northam said in the release. This groundbreaking partnership will help diversify and modernize the nations best maritime workforce to build and sustain the worlds best Navy, while providing young people a pathway toward fulfilling jobs in a high-tech, well-paid industry.

U.S. Sen. Mark Warner highlighted a shortage of skilled workers in the defense industry at an Accelerated Training in Defense Manufacturing Summit at the Institute in August.

The whole notion of manufacturing today is fundamentally different than it was ... five to eight years ago, Warner told a group of community leaders then.

The institute is leading a three-year pilot project to develop, exercise and evaluate the accelerated training program as a potential platform for a network of regional training centers across the United States.

The summit introduced those programs that included the accelerated training program and the National Imperative for Industrial Skills, which was launched by the U.S. Department of Defense in March 2020.
For the second time this month, the Pittsylvania-Danville Health District is hosting a COVID-19 and flu vaccination clinic at the Danville Community Market.

Walk-ins are welcome from 9 a.m. to noon Friday at the facility located at 629 Craghead St.

Residents may receive both vaccines at the same time if they want.

With the rise in COVID-19 cases due to the delta variant, we strongly encourage everyone to get vaccinated, Dr. Scott Spillmann, the director of the local health district, said in a news release. The COVID-19 vaccines are designed to reduce severe illness, hospitalization and death.

The clinic will offer first and second doses of the Pfizer vaccine at no cost to anyone 12 and older, according to the health department. Those under 18 must have a parent or legal guardian present.

Also, the clinic will provide third doses and boosters of the Pfizer vaccine in accordance with guidelines set forth by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The influenza vaccine will be also be available for free to anyone 18 and older.
Sheppard said many regular customers have already stopped by the stand for a meal and to say theyre happy to see him back behind the smoker.

Theyre excited to see us back, he said.

Proper barbecue takes time. A pork shoulder typically takes about eight to 10 hours to cook, but the shoulders he got for the fair this year are a bit larger than usual, so Sheppard expects them to take closer to 10 hours. Thats why he has to get to the stand by 2 a.m., when the only other noise on the fairgrounds is the hum of the street sweepers, preparing the paths for that days crowds.

Sheppards first stop of the early morning is his supply trailer, where he loads his truck with pork shoulders, charcoal and anything else heavy theyll need for the day. He then cleans the firebox, starts the fire, rubs the pork in blend of brown sugar, black pepper, paprika, kosher salt and other spices and lets them cook.

Even when the restaurant was up and running, Sheppard would always make the trip to cook at the fair. For a restaurant owner whose duties drew him to managerial tasks and away from the smoker, the fair represented a chance to return to his roots.

It was always fun to get up here and do this, he said.
Taking a cue from Tesla

Others say Humm deserves some credit for his decision to go meatless.

"The problem is [Humm's] going plant-based creates a narrative of novelty and freshness and vision on his part when there have already been chefs going in this direction who haven't gotten this attention," Alicia Kennedy, a writer who has written extensively about vegan and vegetarian food, told CNN.

Still, Humm's move has significance because of his place in the industry  similar to how a top luxury fashion designer refusing to use leather or fur still has meaning even now, Kennedy said.

"If Daniel Humm making this choice has influence on chefs who look up to him ... then it is serving a really good purpose," Kennedy said. If it trickles down even further, to neighborhood suburban spots, that's even better, she said.

As for Humm, he said he felt EMP could do with food what Tesla accomplished with cars.
So we walk off these juries and we leave open the opportunity for  for juries to exist with no African American sitting on them, to give an African American defendant a fair trial. So we cannot keep complaining if were going to be part of the problem.

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Cubbage added that, as a Baptist herself, she would have no issue serving as a jury member.

In the appeal, Campbell, who is Black, believes his rights were violated because the judge intimidated the jurors from exercising their beliefs, free will or judgment and because the judge interjected race into the trial.

Cubbages remarks constitute a structural error, Court of Appeals Chief Judge Donna Stroud wrote in the majority opinion for the three-judge panel, which ruled 2-1 for a new trial.

Despite Cubbages comments appearing to reflect her desire for Campbell to have a fair trial, her comments would likely make other jurors  especially Black jurors  reluctant to respond openly and frankly to questions during jury selection regarding their ability to be fair and neutral, particularly if their concerns arose from their religious beliefs, Stroud wrote.
Im not going to beat myself up further about our state adopting a budget somewhere down the way and either addressing or not addressing Leandro, Lee said, referring to an original plaintiff's name in a 1994 lawsuit that led to state Supreme Court rulings. Ive dealt with that one as long as I think I reasonably can.

Republican lawmakers have bristled at arguments that Lee can force the General Assembly to spend certain levels of money, setting up a potential constitutional standoff if they ignore Lee's order. GOP leaders also have complained that the plan was developed without the legislature's formal input.

But Lee said Monday that he is obligated to meet the mandate set by the state Supreme Court. The justices found in 2004 that while the states children have a fundamental right to the opportunity to receive a sound basic education, the state had not lived up to that mandate.

There is a remedy that is grounded in the ... states constitutional authority granted to (Lee) to deliver right and justice, Melanie Dubis, an attorney representing the school boards, told Lee. This court was instructed to and gave deference to the coequal branches of government for over 17 years, she added, but now is the time to act.
Some college towns plan to challenge the results of the 2020 census, claiming they were shortchanged because the pandemic forced students to leave campuses and complaining that the undercount could cost them federal money and prestige.

College communities such as Bloomington, Indiana; Tuscaloosa, Alabama; and State College, Pennsylvania, are exploring their options for contesting the population counts, which they say do not accurately reflect how many people live there.

When the pandemic struck the U.S. around spring break of 2020, it set off an exodus in college towns as classrooms went virtual almost overnight. The sudden departure of tens of thousands of students made it difficult to count them in the census, which began at almost the same time.

Because universities were able to provide the Census Bureau with records for students living in dorms and other on-campus housing, off-campus students ran the risk of being missed, said Dudley Poston, a sociology professor at Texas A&M University.

An Associated Press review of 75 metro areas with the largest share of residents between 20 and 24 showed that the census results fell well below population estimates in some cases but also exceeded them significantly in others.
State Rep. Zack Hawkins, a Durham Democrat:

Hawkins is in his second term in the state House, one of the reasons he said no.

Im just in round two of the House. I want to do some good work there, Hawkins told The N&O on Monday. Its not even on my radar right now.

He said that Price has set a pretty high bar for integrity and public service, and that a lot of potential candidates are just waiting for redistricting lines to be drawn.

I think its going to be an interesting race, Hawkins said.

State Rep. Graig Meyer, a Hillsborough Democrat:

Meyer said he is not interested in running for the seat.

I feel quite confident that there will be a lot of qualified people who would want to run. I think its an opportunity for us to elect someone who is a woman or person of color and expand the diversity of who Democrats are as a whole and who represents us in Washington, D.C. Its also a generational passing of the baton, Meyer told The N&O on Monday.

A new congressional district
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" " The Moderna and Pfizer mRNA COVID-19 vaccines have helped significantly reduce the number of cases of COVID-19 since they were first approved for emergency use. Dinendra Haria/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

For decades, researchers have dreamed about harnessing the power of genetic technology to prevent or treat a range of diseases. A synthetic version of a molecule in the human body known as messenger RNA (ribonucleic acid), or mRNA, held that promise.

Just how to make it work presented daunting challenges that much of the science community thought was a mountain too high to climb.

But a handful of researchers didn't give up. They spent years trying to solve the mystery of mRNA. Then, just like a made-for-TV movie, they cracked the code just in time to save the world from the deadly coronavirus pandemic.

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mRNA on a Mission

mRNA vaccines work by delivering instructions to cells that empower them to produce antigens and become the body's own antibody-producing factory. But to understand the technology even better and how it is being used to protect us from COVID-19, you first need to understand proteins.

Proteins are often referred to as the building blocks of life. They are essential for the structure, function, and regulation of the body's tissues and organs. Every cell in the human body contains tens of thousands of distinct proteins made up of several amino acids that attach to each other to create chains of varying lengths that fold into various shapes. Protein shape has a great deal to do with protein function.

For example, some regulate specific physiological processes, such as growth, development, metabolism and reproduction. Some proteins act as biological catalysts to help the body build muscle, destroy toxins and break down food particles during digestion. Others serve the immune system as antibodies that can fight infections viruses and bacterial pathogens.

Cells are assigned their amino acid sequence, and thus told the function of their protein via the body's messenger RNA, or mRNA.

Think of this process like a spy mission. mRNA hands the cell instructions to make a certain protein. Once the cell makes its protein, the cell destroys the instructions and then goes to work manufacturing that specific protein.

" " This graphic shows the structure and anatomy of the coronavirus, including its proteins, ribosomes, RNA and envelope. OSweetNature/Shutterstock

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Seemingly Endless Possibilities of mRNA Technology

A few researchers began to wonder: What if science could develop a synthetic mRNA with a specific coding sequence that could be delivered to the body and instruct cells to create any type of protein  growth agents to repair damaged tissues, enzymes to cure rare diseases or even antibodies to protect against infection.

In 1990, a group of University of Wisconsin researchers actually pulled off making a synthetic mRNA and tested it in laboratory mice. The problem was that synthetic mRNA was sensitive to the mice's defenses and was destroyed before ever reaching the target cell to deliver the coded message, says Paul Goepfert, M.D., professor of medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and an expert in vaccine design. Many in the scientific world saw this as a fatal flaw and turned their attentions elsewhere.

But two University of Pennsylvania researchers, Katalin Kariko, Ph.D., and immunologist Drew Weissman, M.D. Ph.D., still believed in the opportunities synthetic mRNA held. They set out to find a way to make mRNA more stable. In 2005, after a decade of painstaking research, they discovered that they could use tiny balls of fat called lipid nanoparticles, or LPNs, to protect the synthetic mRNA. This gave the fragile molecule stealth-like qualities that enabled it to travel outside the immune system's radar.

In the years that followed, researchers would explore the possibilities of mRNA using this new technology. In 2010, Cambridge, Massachusetts-based pharmaceutical and biotechnology company Moderna Inc., was founded to focus specifically on vaccine technologies based on mRNA. The name "Moderna" literally comes from combining the words "modified" and "RNA."

In 2008, German-based BioNTech, short for Biopharmaceutical New Technologies, was founded to develop pharmaceutical cancer immunotherapy candidates using mRNA technology. In 2018, the company partnered with U.S.-based Pfizer Inc. to develop mRNA-based flu vaccines.

And then the world was hit by a global pandemic. Researchers everywhere began directing all their efforts toward developing a vaccine for coronavirus.

" " This diagram shows an encapsulated mRNA vaccine from a viral spike protein (developed from COVID-19 or SARS-CoV-2) and how its work for immune response. BigBearCamera/Shutterstock

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How Did mRNA Vaccines Get Approved So Fast?

Viruses cannot reproduce on their own. They need host cells that they infect to begin the process, which in cases of infectious viruses, makes people sick. For an mRNA vaccine to work, researchers needed to know which protein the virus was using as its host cell. And for that, they needed to crack COVID-19's genetic code. This process was simplified because COVID was similar to two other coronaviruses that had previously infected humans  MERS and SARS.

By Dec. 31, 2020, when China first admitted the cluster of pneumonia-like viruses, Chinese researchers there were already working to identify the virus' genetic code. About two weeks later, Jan. 12, 2020, they released the gene sequencing data. This gave researchers everywhere the ammunition to start on a vaccine.

"We knew that the spike protein was the Achilles' heel," Goepfert says.

From there, vaccine development began to move swiftly. "mRNA vaccines are amenable to very rapid development. We got kind of lucky from that aspect," Goepfert says. "A week later, Moderna and Pfizer made their vaccines." The companies were then able to propel ahead of drug companies developing traditional vaccines, and move quickly into animal testing and, shortly thereafter, human trials began.

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Are mRNA Vaccines as Effective as Traditional Vaccines?

Both Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines are performing surprisingly well. Studies have shown that a full double dose of Pfizer's or Moderna's vaccine provides 95 percent and 94 percent protection against the original virus, respectively.

Yet barely half of all Americans are fully vaccinated.

"One of the reasons for vaccine hesitancy is that people have this misunderstanding that [mRNA COVID vaccines] were developed so quickly and that, in doing so, we skipped safety evaluation, which is not true at all," Goepfert says.

"This vaccine has been tested on incredible numbers of people and it actually underwent the normal safety testing of any products. And now that it's under Emergency Use Authorization we have millions more safety data  actually more than any other product that we've had for a vaccine."

These mRNA vaccines work so well because they induce multiple arms of defense in the immune system, Goepfert says. "They induce the neutralization of antibodies, which I think of as spears because they can knock out the virus before you even get infected. They induce functional antibodies, which utilize cells to be more effective. And they induce T-cell responses  both helper and killer cell responses  which are extremely important. T-cells help prevent severe disease and death." A neutralizing antibody (NAb) is an antibody that defending cells from pathogens.

Traditional vaccines also create neutralizing antibodies and induce antibody responses, but "they don't do the T-cell response as well," he says.

" " A woman displays a victory sign while she receives the first dose of a COVID-19 mRNA vaccine June 22 in Guwahati, India. India is recovering from a severe outbreak of the delta variant where more than 7,300 people died in 24 hours in June from COVID-19. Anuwar Ali Hazarika/Barcroft Media via Getty Images

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The Future of mRNA Vaccines

So what does the future hold for mRNA technology? This is likely just the beginning. In fact, in 2017, two clinical trials were already underway to test mRNA vaccines against several infectious diseases, including HIV, influenza, Zika and rabies  and then COVID-19 hit.

A team at MD Anderson led by Scott Kopetz, M.D., Ph.D., is already using mRNA on colorectal cancer in a Phase II clinical trial to test whether the technology could prevent the cancer from recurring.

"mRNA vaccines can be used to target almost any pathogen," John Cooke, M.D., Ph.D., medical director of the RNA Therapeutics Program at the Houston Methodist Research Institute, said in a press statement for the Association of American Medical Colleges. "You put in the code for a particular protein that stimulates an immune response. It's essentially unlimited."

That means scientists think diseases like malaria, tuberculosis, hepatitis B and cystic fibrosis could all be prevented in the future with mRNA vaccines.

"These vaccines are remarkable," Goepfert says. "Even in older adults, they work really, really well, which is unusual for most any vaccine that we have. So that's just remarkable."

Now That's Awesome It usually takes about 10 to 15 years for vaccines to be made available to the general public due to all the research and testing involved in developing them. But nearly a year to the day Wuhan, China officials revealed they were fighting an unknown contagion, the first COVID vaccine given outside clinical trials was administered in the United States Dec. 14, 2020.

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Originally Published: Jun 22, 2021
According to the National Coffee Association, coffee holds rank as the most popular beverage in America, with 58% of residents choosing it daily over tea, water, juice and soda, but how much do you really know about your cup of joe?

Where coffee comes from

A member of the cherry family, coffee grows on trees  mainly the Robusta and Arabica species  across a tropical swath of the world known as the coffee belt. Terroir lends its own distinctive flavor qualities and characteristics to the beans harvested in each growing region.

Some of the most widely recognized coffee-producing countries across the globe include Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Columbia, Brazil, Ethiopia, Kenya, Ivory Coast, Yemen and Indonesia. In the United States, Hawaii claims the lions share of coffee territory, although a specialty coffee farm industry is now emerging in Southern California as well.

Once the coffee beans, or cherries, are ripe, theyre hand-picked and removed from the branches before sorting, washing and drying. The husks are removed, then the green cherries are graded by size and weight before shipping around the world for roasting, grinding and drinking enjoyment.

The dynamics of roasting

Paige Gesualdo, head roaster for FRINJ Coffee, says roasting by its simplest definition involves heating a batch of coffee beans to augment their aroma, flavor and solubility.

Coffee beans are roasted according to a profile, or recipe, appropriate for their size, variety and desired flavor, she describes. The three main elements you have to pay attention to are time, temperature and volume.

The first phase is drying, heating the beans anywhere from four to eight minutes to pull the moisture out, which ends in the yellowing phase, an indicator that the beans are ready for the next phase.

This is the most crucial step because it determines the overall roasting time for each batch and sets the stage for the rest of the process, Gesualdo continues.

During the browning that follows, the coffee beans start to look more familiar and recognizable, but the final development stage is what really brings out the flavor and aroma.

You get to a point where the beans start to crack, Gesualdo says. It sounds like popcorn or Rice Krispies. Some will even puff up a little bit.

Roasting is not a one-size-fits-all proposition. The roaster must keep careful watch as the beans go through several colors in a matter of minutes and can quickly burn if not closely monitored. The temperature, the length of the roast and the spin speed of the roaster drum can all be adjusted as needed along the way.

For me, roasting is like meditation, Gesualdo muses. Its a very mindful, intuitive process that requires full concentration.

Roasting levels and caffeine content

Logically speaking, the longer coffee beans spend in the heat, the darker the roast will be. How dark to go depends on the desired result and the coffee profile for a particular bean. However, Gesualdo warns that too much caramelization can mask the subtle natural flavor notes of high-quality beans.

We do a lot of light to medium roasting at FRINJ, usually 9 to 12 minutes total, she explains. For most of our Arabica beans, a dark roast would overwhelm the floral and fruit-forward qualities were trying to create. We want our beans to stand alone on flavor.

Contrary to popular belief, dark roasted coffee doesnt contain more caffeine than a light roasted variety.

Caffeine is extremely stable throughout the roasting process, Gesualdo says. If youve got a light roast and a dark roast, the difference in caffeine is negligible when youre comparing bean for bean. But, it can vary if youre comparing bags of coffee beans by size and volume.

Robusta coffee contains more caffeine than Arabica, clocking in at 2.7% versus 1.5%. As Gesualdo points out, most specialty coffee growers work exclusively with Arabica beans for their prized flavors and adaptability.

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The University of Montana responded to a federal lawsuit on Monday, asking for one of the four plaintiffs' claims to be thrown out of the suit and refuting the allegations.

The lawsuit, filed in early August in federal court in Missoula by three former and one current UM employee, accused the university and Montana University System of sex-based discrimination and Title IX violations.

The University of Montanas response today shows these accusations are not based on facts and do not have legal merit," UM spokesman Dave Kuntz said in a statement to the Missoulian. "The complaint contains false and inflammatory allegations, fails to establish a viable claim under Title IX, and we look forward to defending the universitys actions.

In addition to the answer denying the factual allegations, the university has filed a motion to dismiss one of the complaints since it does not even meet the technical requirements to proceed further. We will rigorously defend the three other meritless claims in court, he added.

Saying UM fostered a toxic environment where women were discriminated and retaliated against, the four plaintiffs describe treatment from the university they say is part of the good ol boys club.

The plaintiffs  Catherine Cole, Barbara Koostra, Mary-Ann Sontag Bowman and Rhondie Voorhees  also specifically point to President Seth Bodnar creating a campus atmosphere where women were questioned and belittled.

Title IX of the federal Education Amendments of 1972 prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex.

The university is requesting Sontag Bowmans complaint be excluded from the suit because Plaintiff Bowmans claims are not actionable under Title IX, nor is Plaintiff Bowmans derivative claim for breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing, according to the motion for partial dismissal filed Monday.

In order for a Title IX complaint to have merit, there needs to be an adverse action on the part of the defendant, and Sontag Bowman fails to identify such adverse action on the universitys part, Kuntz said.

The factual allegations in her complaint fail to establish an adverse employment action that can be the basis of a retaliation claim, a brief in support of the motion said, adding no adverse employment action is alleged by the employee.

Bowmans complaint surrounds the School of Social Work.

At the encouragement of UM leadership, the only male faculty member and current chair sought a second 5-year term; effectively, foreclosing female leadership in the School of Social Work for a decade, Sontag Bowmans complaint reads.

It goes on to say, Had UM not discouraged other applicants by selecting its preferred choice, Dr. Sontag Bowman would have applied for this leadership position.

Since Bowman did not apply for the position, UMs argument is that Title IX does not apply in this situation.

On Aug. 19, 18 additional women joined the suit, prompting the plaintiffs to request class-action certification.

The amended complaint asks to include female employees employed by the university at any point since 2013 who have experienced harassment, retaliation or discrimination on the basis of sex, who were forced to resign, had their position terminated, or had limited options for professional growth.

It alleges sex-based discrimination continues today at UM and MUS.

The complaint cites John Doe defendants 1-50 but does not specify who John Does are or the allegations about them.

In a wider response to the lawsuit, UM said the defendants failed to provide notice to the school regarding claims of sexual harassment or a hostile work environment. It goes on to say the plaintiffs were not deprived of access to educational opportunities or benefits.

The four plaintiffs are represented by Hillary Carls and Sherine Blackford of Blackford Carls P.C. in Bozeman. The firm did not immediately return a request for comment.

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Sen. Jon Tester says he wants 100% of the $3.5 trillion human infrastructure spending bill now making its way through Congress to be paid for by budgetary offsets -- higher taxes or spending reductions elsewhere.

Unlike his colleague, West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, Tester is not insisting that the price tag come down.

The bottom line is if its not spent correctly, then were making a big mistake. If it is spent correctly then its the right thing to do, Tester said.

Testers definition of correctly remains fuzzy; he offered no specifics on what should be included or excluded from the package, danced around specifics on tax increases, and suggested no spending offsets of his own.

The plan already includes $2.9 trillion in taxes. While that would be the largest tax increase in more than 50 years as a share of gross domestic product, it falls far short of Testers 100%, especially considering that independent analysts have said the true cost is closer to $5 trillion.

But its still considerably more than Montana taxpayers should have to pay.

The top income tax rate would rise to 39.7% from 37%, and the incomes subject to the higher rate would be lowered to $400,000 ($450,00 for married couples).

If you add the 1.45% Medicare payroll tax and the 3.8% surcharge on investment income to fund Obamacare, plus Montanas 6.75% top rate, that brings the top marginal rate to over 50%. And there are additional taxes for higher-earning Montanans.

While some will have little sympathy for those at the top end of the income scale, its important to remember that these increases would mean taxes are going up on businesses that file as individuals, too. Farmers, ranchers and other small business owners would pay the higher individual rate, a 3.8% surtax, and more of their income would be taxed because the proposal would eliminate a 20% deduction on qualified business income. And the estate tax exemption would be cut in half, again hurting small business owners and family ranchers and farmers hard.

That means less hiring, fewer jobs, stifled innovation, and a stymied economy for all.

The measure also includes increases in tobacco taxes, which disproportionately hit lower-income people. Its an idea Montanans soundly rejected just three years ago.

And with all that, the spending in Sen. Bernie Sanders plan still wouldnt be fully paid for, as Tester says he wants.

What will Montanans get for $3.5 trillion in spending and $2.2 trillion taxes? Policies that would make the economy even worse off, including:

 Almost $1 trillion for Green New Deal-like projects that would replace consumer preferences with government mandates and subsidies for politically preferred industries and companies, driving up costs, hurting the economy, and killing jobs in Montana and across the country.

 New taxes on energy, including a carbon border tax that would devastate Montanas farmers, ranchers and small manufacturers, while doing little or nothing for the environment.

 A California-style electricity standard that would increase costs for every American, hitting especially hard the most vulnerable, who pay a larger share of their income on home heating and cooling.

But while costs will go up for ordinary Montanans, the politically favored get subsidized, with you picking up the tab. The measure includes subsidies for the affluent buyers of electric vehicles, as well as handouts to big insurance companies so they can subsidize coverage for families earning as much as half a million dollars a year.

This isnt human infrastructure, or infrastructure of any description. Its a partisan wish list.

Testers instincts are sound. The government should pay for the programs it creates. But his instincts fail him if he thinks the problems with this spending bill can be solved by taxing people even more than it already does or adding more accounting tricks to make it seem like the bill balances.

The other members of Montanas congressional delegation have already come out against this boondoggle. Tester should join his colleagues in voting to protect Montanas taxpayers, consumers, employees and employers from the harmful policies that no amount of pay-fors can fix.

David Herbst is state director of Americans for Prosperity-Montana.

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Eastern Illinois University will reconsider changing the name of Douglas Hall because of the association the historical figure for which it's named has with slavery.
DECATUR  More than two years after voting to opt out of allowing recreational cannabis dispensaries in the city, the Decatur City Council  spurred by a two of its more liberal members  briefly revisited the subject Monday evening.

The discussion took place after the council swiftly worked through a relatively unnewsworthy agenda.

When Mayor Julie Moore Wolfe asked if there was "other business" to discuss, Councilman David Horn urged his colleagues to reverse their 2019 decision to opt out of allowing recreational sales and other cannabis-related businesses.

"The city needs to find new sources of revenue, and a cannabis dispensary in Decatur, as well as other cannabis-related businesses, will bring a needed source of revenue to the city," Horn said.

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Horn, the lone "yes" vote on allowing recreational sales, has long been a critic of the move, saying that the city is unnecessarily leaving potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars in tax revenue on the tax.

This time, Horn found an ally in Councilman Bill Faber. Faber voted "no" in 2019, but said Monday that he wanted to make a motion to reconsider the vote, a procedural move he is entitled to make since he was on the prevailing side of the initial vote.

"I believe that the time has come and the impetus of the community is with us," Faber said, wishing to have it on the council agenda for November or December.

However, city attorney Wendy Morthland informed the council that they could not take any formal action on a motion since they were in the "other business" portion of the meeting. She said they could still have city staff put it on a future agenda if there was a consensus.

This led to an informal poll, with Faber, Horn and Councilman Dennis Cooper indicating their desire for the issue to be revisited.

Moore Wolfe and council members Ed Culp, Lisa Gregory and Chuck Kuhle said they did not want to revisit the issue, enough to squash the issue for now. The mayor subsequently adjourned the meeting.

The issue, though long simmering even after the 2019 vote, will soon come to a boil as the state of Illinois prepares to issue 185 new dispensary licenses, three of which would be located in Macon County.

The licenses were awarded in three lotteries held this summer, but their issuance has been halted due to pending court challenges.

However, once the licenses are awarded, the window will be short for Decatur to make a final decision on dispensaries as licensees must identify a physical location within 180 days.

Currently, there are three municipalities in Macon County that have opted in to cannabis sales: Argenta, Harristown and Maroa.

Harristown, with its proximity to Interstate 72 on the outskirts of Decatur, is thought to be the odds-on favorite location for a dispensary.

This would mean that the dispensary would likely serve mostly Decatur residents but the city would not benefit from the sales tax revenue generated.

"So the real question that we have before us is whether we want Decatur residents going to nearby municipalities like Harristown to purchase this legal product, or do we want the revenue to remain in Decatur?" Horn asked his colleagues.

There is public support for dispensaries, at least in Decatur Township. An advisory referendum in March 2020 found that 62% of voters supported cannabis sales. However, there are some city residents who do not reside in the township and vice-versa.

In a brief debate before the meeting adjourned, a majority of the council still indicated that they do not want recreational cannabis sales within city limits.

"I mean, we've already traded our morals for tax dollars when we allowed poker machines," Culp said. "And we're going to do it again? People who supported me to get in this office do not want cannabis. I'm with Councilman Kuhle on that."

Kuhle has long been one of the council's most vocal opponents of recreational marijuana sales.

"We could make just as much money if not more if we brought a Chick-fil-a in, so the money is insignificant," Kuhle said, repeating a line he invoked during a candidate debate earlier this year. "And we've had a death in this community because of cannabis, and I think it's a negative and I think you're going down the wrong path."

Kuhle referenced the death of Erma Graves, who was killed in an April 2020 crash involving a driver under the influence of cannabis.

The exchange was civil and polite, but Faber pointed told Kuhle that "you are on the wrong side of history."

Still, the anti-dispensary position remains the position of the majority of the council. But Horn, two years removed from being the lone pro-dispensary voice on the council, sees progress.

"I think that the closer Macon County gets to having a dispensary in the county, the more likely we are to have four or more votes," Horn said.

In other news

The council also approved a $30,166 agreement with the University of Illinois for hydraulic, sediment and nutrient monitoring in the upper Sangamon River watershed.

The agreement will provide monitoring and analysis at three Lake Decatur watershed locations: the Sangamon River, Friends Creek and Long Creek. It's the second year the city has partnered with the university for these services.

The council also approved the acceptance of a $110,808 grant from the Illinois Department of Transportation to pay for additional traffic enforcement.

The grant will pay overtime costs for DUI, speeding and distracting driving enforcement around holidays and other major dates like Super Bowl weekend.

The resolution passed unanimously, though it sparked a brief conversation about traffic enforcement, which Faber said appeared to be down this summer.

Interim Police Chief Shane Brandel said "an unprecedented violent crime surge" this summer led to the department to focus on higher priorities.

"Couple that with the fact we are at a crisis when it comes to staffing," Brandel said. "So we really, I hate to say it, have to prioritize what we do."

"And so when you have in the summertime, for example, in the month of July, we had 36 shootings, I basically had to divert our resources there," he said. "And we've seen a considerable decrease in shootings since July just from those efforts. So, it is a constant balancing act."

The council also approved this year's Halloween trick-or-treating hours. It will take place on Sunday, Oct. 31, from 5 to 8 p.m.

Due to COVID-19 concerns, those participating in trick-or-treating, including those passing out candy, are asked to maintain social distance of six feet and wear face coverings.

The city is also encouraging people from the same house to trick-or-treat together and is discouraging mixed household trick-or-treaters.

Children are asked not to consume treats during trick-or-treating or until inspected by an adult.

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DECATUR  Jason A. White is trying to convince a jury that he is innocent of luring a Windsor man to Decatur for a deal to buy cannabis and then shooting him to death so he could pocket $5,000 the victim carried as payment for the drugs.

White is pleading not guilty to four alternate murder charges in the Aug. 27, 2017, death of 22-year-old Zachary Hubbartt. He also denies a charge of robbery in his trial, which got underway Monday in Macon County Circuit Court.

Hubbartts body, shot multiple times, had been found in an abandoned house in the 1200 block of East Condit Street that White, 31, used to live in.

Macon County States Attorney Scott Rueter said Hubbartt was a cannabis dealer in his hometown. When his regular supplier didn't come through, he reached out through friends to White who had a reputation for being able to get the drug.

Rueter said the state will present witnesses and other evidence to show White, and a co-conspirator called Ryan D. Waters, ultimately hatched a plan to pretend they had the cannabis and then to rob Hubbartt of his $5,000 in cash.

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Zachary admittedly is not an angel, and Zachary had decided that one of his goals in life was to make money by selling cannabis, Rueter told the jury. But I would suggest to you that is not something for which he needed to die, because that is exactly what happened in the early morning hours of Aug. 27, 2017.

Rueter said Hubbartt may have resisted when he realized he was being robbed and that is when White pulled out a handgun and cold-bloodedly shot the man to death. He said the shooting was not actually seen by other witnesses who had a role in the crime and Waters, who had gone into the house with White and Hubbartt, had come running out while gunshots could still be heard going off.

This is likely to be a crucial point in the case as defense attorney Michelle Sanders told the jury the state has got it all wrong, and the real shooter was 24-year-old Ryan Waters.

Were submitting that what the evidence is going to show is that Mr. Waters came up on his own with a plan to rob Mr. Hubbartt and eventually pulls the trigger, she said.

Sanders said White thought Waters was supplying the cannabis in what would be a straight drug deal and didnt know the bag Waters carried contained a gun and not the drug.

Mr. White was going into the house in anticipation of this great drug deal where he was going to earn $5,000, added Sanders. Mr. Waters, who did not have the cannabis, had other ideas and instead pulled the trigger.

The trial continues.

In an unrelated case, White was sentenced to seven years in prison in 2018 after he pleaded guilty to the unlawful possession of a weapon by a felon. In that instance, he had been charged after a group of customers at Decaturs former IHOP restaurant, where White worked as a night manager, said he pulled a gun during a dispute on April 9, 2017, and chased them outside, firing a single shot.

Ryan Waters, who faces the same charges as White in the Hubbartt murder, is due in court for a pretrial hearing Nov. 4.

Contact Tony Reid at (217) 421-7977. Follow him on Twitter: @TonyJReid

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A 55-year-old man from unincorporated DuPage County was sentenced to 33 years in prison for beating and sexually assaulting a 65-year-old woman, according to the states attorneys office.

Kenneth Hatlen entered a guilty plea in connection with one count of aggravated criminal sexual assault and a separate count of aggravated battery for spitting on a deputy sheriff while in custody, according to a statement from States Attorney Robert Berlin.

Hatlen appeared before Judge John Kinsella on Friday in connection with accusations he sexually assaulted the woman outside of the Glendale Heights restaurant where she worked and where Hatlen also had been briefly employed. When she arrived at work about 4:15 a.m. May 10, 2019, authorities said Hatlen grabbed her and dragged her back to a grassy area near her car before she could enter the building.

He then choked her until she was unconscious and sexually assaulted her. Hatlen then fled on a bicycle and the woman was taken to a hospital. The woman identified Hatlen from a photo lineup, prosecutors said in 2019, and the Glendale Heights Police Department arrested Hatlen the next day in Darien.

According to prosecutors, Hatlen had been employed at the restaurant for just two days before he was fired, about two months before the attack.

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He appeared in court the day after his arrest and bond was set at $750,000, according to Berlin.

The fact that Mr. Hatlen pleaded guilty to his crimes does nothing to erase the memory of what he did or the pain and suffering he caused his victim, Berlin said in the statement. Mr. Hatlen will serve a significant amount of time behind bars where he will be unable to prey on innocent, unsuspecting women.

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DECATUR  The Macon County Health Department reported a total of 39 new COVID-19 cases during the weekend.

This brings the county's total number of COVID-19 cases to 15,365 since the start of the pandemic. One previously reported case was determined to be from another county.

According to the health department, the positive cases included 15 on Saturday, 11 on Sunday and 13 on Monday. Eight Macon County residents were hospitalized as of Monday.

The health department will be offering COVID-19 vaccination clinics again this week in Decatur.

The first dose of the Pfizer vaccine will be offered at the Macon County Health Department, 1221 E. Condit St., Decatur, from 1 to 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 20. Must return on Wednesday, Nov. 10, to receive a second dose.

The first dose of the Moderna vaccine and the single dose Johnson and Johnson vaccine will be offered to those 18 and older from 1 to 3:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Macon County Health Department, 1221 E. Condit St. Individuals who received the Moderna vaccine must return on Wednesday, Nov. 10, to receive a second dose.

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Do not attend if you are pregnant or nursing unless you have a doctor's note, or if you have previously received a COVID-19 vaccine of any kind.

Bring insurance card and photo ID if possible. Minors must be accompanied by an adult parent or guardian. If someone other than a parent or legal guardian is planning to bring a child, the permission/proxy form will need to be filled out and signed beforehand.

Contact Donnette Beckett at (217) 421-6983. Follow her on Twitter: @donnettebHR

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A very small number of Chicago police officers have been placed on no-pay status for refusing to comply with the citys requirement that they report whether theyve received a COVID-19 vaccination, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Monday afternoon.

But the president of the local Fraternal Order of Police, who publicly encouraged his members not to comply with the mandate before a judge ordered him to stop, reiterated his belief that the number could eventually reach about 3,000.

Lightfoot made her comments at a news conference where she highlighted the relatively high compliance with the citys vaccine mandate across most other city governmental departments.

Fewer than 65% of Chicago cops have met the citys vaccination reporting requirement, days after Fridays deadline for city workers to disclose their status.

About 72% of Chicago firefighters have met the requirement set by Lightfoot as a condition of city workers employment.

Chicagos data is a good news-bad news scenario for Lightfoot, who has been in a standoff with some labor leaders: The vast majority of city departments are at near 100% compliance after the mayors deadline came and went Friday night.

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But response rates remain comparably low for police and firefighters, an unsurprising development given the widespread opposition campaign mounted by Fraternal Order of Police local President John Catanzara before a judge ordered him to stop speaking publicly against the campaign.

Questioned about reports emerging Monday that noncompliant officers were being called to police headquarters and stripped of their duties, Lightfoot declined to give specifics but did acknowledge a small number of officers had been placed on no-pay status.

As part of the process, Lightfoot said, the city will ask officers if their non-answer is correct and give them a direct chance to insert the information into their portal. Police officials have been talking to officers since Monday morning to verify if theyve reported their status on the portal, she said.

Catanzara said he believes about 60 officers would be placed on no-pay status by the end of the day but that number could reach thousands in the coming weeks.

Eventually theres going to be a possible manpower issue, Catanzara said, adding thats the risk the city took when it decided to mandate the vaccine.

Aside from police and fire, the next lowest response rate is for Family and Support Services, at 83%. The City Council staff division is listed at about 84%. No other departments are under 90% compliance.

On Sunday, Chicago police brass issued a memo that threatens those who do not comply with Lightfoots COVID-19 vaccination policy with a disciplinary investigation that could result in the termination of officers who refuse to get the vaccine  but the police union, in its own memo to officers, maintains the order is invalid.

The police memo, sent Sunday night by a member of Superintendent David Browns office staff, also threatens officers who might choose to retire rather than get the vaccine. It says: sworn members who retire while under disciplinary investigations may be denied retirement credentials.

The FOP, in response, sent a document to its members that provides language officers can use should they be asked to go to Internal Affairs and given a direct order to report their vaccination status through the city portal, according to multiple law enforcement sources.

Complying with this INVALID order and the violation of MY Bargaining, Constitutional and Civil Rights has furthermore caused me severe anxiety while challenging both my religious and moral beliefs. I am in fact complying with this because I am being forced to do so under complete duress and threats of termination, the document reads.

The union told members who receive a direct order from a supervisor to have that supervisor add their name to the FOP-provided document and advised members to keep a copy for themselves and send another to the union. According to a law enforcement source, the union also is urging members to turn on their body cameras and record the encounters, a call Catanzara has made before.

Monday, Catanzara spoke to reporters outside police headquarters, saying the vaccine measure is not about stopping the spread (of COVID-19). Its all about control. He then referred to the mayor as a miserable human being. He spoke just as word broke that an officer had been shot on the North Side.

Mondays developments come after a judge on Friday evening issued a temporary restraining order against Catanzara, prohibiting him from making public statements that encourage members not to report their COVID-19 vaccine status to the city.

The restraining order is in place until Oct. 25, when another court session is scheduled. Both sides have filed dueling lawsuits and accuse each other of illegally risking the safety of the city over the issue.

Lightfoot announced in August that each of the citys more than 30,000 workers must be fully vaccinated against the coronavirus by Oct. 15, following numerous cities across the U.S. As the deadline approached, Lightfoot pressured city workers with unspecified consequences if they did not meet the vaccination cutoff.

After the back-and-forth with the police union, Lightfoot agreed Oct. 8 to allow city workers to remain unvaccinated until the end of the year  if they submit to twice-weekly testing at their own expense.

But Lightfoot then drew a line in the sand, saying all city workers must fill out the city portal form reporting their status, regardless of whether theyre vaccinated, or be placed on a no-pay status.

Catanzara previously posted a video urging officers to defy Lightfoots vaccination reporting requirement and prepare to be sent home without pay.

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A resolution is now being drafted that will ultimately be brought before the commission, the City Council and a public hearing before it can be approved.

The committee recommends no restrictions for zoning districts. They could be located in any residential property. It wouldnt just have to be in R-1 (single-family) or R-2 (multi-family). We have a lot of residential properties located in business or manufacturing districts, so we would not necessarily restrict the location, Detrick said.

The city expects to create a registry and is considering a $25 annual fee, although commission member Ed Harlow suggested it should be higher to cover all the costs.

Other considerations include a rule that only the owner of a property would be able to operate a short-term residential business, although they wouldnt necessarily have to live at the property.

If there are complaints for the operation of the rental, we feel there should be some type of consequence written into the code. A complaint would need to be legitimate and verifiable  such as a police report, not getting a phone call three days after saying somebody was loud at an Airbnb  that there should be a way to track that, Detrick said.
BRISTOL, Va.  With an eye toward rapidly evolving state law, the city Planning Commission voted on Monday to study potential measures to govern the location of cannabis dispensaries.

Commissioners voted unanimously to form a subcommittee to study possible amendments or restrictions that could be added to city zoning ordinances and possible definitions within zoning districts.

In 2020 the state of Virginia authorized the use of medical marijuana to be grown and dispensed by five state-licensed pharmaceutical processors. Part of that legislation allows for the location of five dispensing locations within each of the states health districts.

Additionally, the Virginia General Assembly this year voted to decriminalize marijuana possession with legislation that  if re-ratified again next year  would allow the commercial sale of recreational marijuana in 2024.

Dharma Pharmaceuticals was the first state-licensed processor, serving Southwest Virginia and the company recently relocated its operations from the former Bristol Mall to a site on Watauga Road near Abingdon.

The health district includes all of far Southwest Virginia and eastward to encompass the cities of Blacksburg, Christiansburg, Danville, Lynchburg and Roanoke.
In those days of the 19th century, the site was known as Round Hill. Goodsons plans included construction of his home, a mansion, atop Round Hill. Certain mischievousness led to the demise of Goodsons plans.

Not that Gen. Evan Shelby Jr. would know. He served in the French and Indian War and the American Revolution. In 1766, he settled in what would become Bristol. Tom Vaughan steps into the visage of Shelby during the Ghost Walk.

I am either 297, 299 or 302 years old, Vaughan as Shelby, who clearly relishes the experience, said.

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In years past during the Ghost Walk, Vaughan, 75, said, Ive seen everything from people who wanted to talk to me, which made the next group wait, to people exiting rather quickly.

They do not mean to spook or scare folks during the Ghost Walk. However, sometimes they do. For instance, several years ago, a woman in the darkened midst of the tour, which routes through the spooky graveyard, apparently could handle no more.

She took off, Vaughan said, cut right across the cemetery, and rather quickly, too.

Gen. Shelby died in 1794. After several prior burials around town, his bones were literally boxed up, carried to and buried in East Hill Cemetery in 1872.
Many constituents have contacted my office to express their concerns about this proposal. I agree that it would be an invasive and unnecessary expansion of power for bureaucrats who have not shown they can be trusted with it.

The proposal has not been finalized and is still under consideration by the Biden Administration and congressional Democrats as they write their multitrillion-dollar reconciliation bill, but anything they come up with along the lines they have suggested would have my opposition.

Similarly, the Biden Administrations vaccine mandate proposals have met with significant negative constituent feedback. I am vaccinated and encourage others to do so, but a government mandate is just plain wrong.

Like the IRS bank account monitoring proposal, these mandates infringe on the privacy rights of Americans. It is as if the Biden Administrations personnel read George Orwells 1984 and came away thinking Big Brother is the hero.

The government is your government. Representation in our republic based on democratic principles depends upon an active and informed citizenry making its views known. I cannot personally respond to each contact my office receives, nor will I agree with every request or concern, but I am listening.

If you have questions, concerns or comments, feel free to contact my office. You can call my Abingdon office at 276-525-1405 or my Christiansburg office at 540-381-5671. To reach my office via email, please visit my website at www.morgangriffith.house.gov. Also on my website is the latest material from my office, including information on votes recently taken on the floor of the House of Representatives.
And so on. Every possible point of compromise or consensus was rejected by one side or the other.

When Harris and two other Democratic commissioners walked out on Friday, commissioners had not even agreed to ask for a 14-day extension to finish work on the legislative districts.

This is not what voters had in mind last November when they overwhelmingly voted for the constitutional amendment setting up the Redistricting Commission instead of relying on partisan gerrymandering by the majority, as was always done in the past.

To be fair, commissioners were faced with the extremely difficult task of reconciling not only the placement of minority voters based on seemingly contradictory court orders that prohibit both packing and cracking, but also creating compact and contiguous districts that do not separate communities of interest. All while following statutory standards and criteria that prohibit unduly favoring or disfavoring any political party  and keeping the population of each new district relatively equal.
Michael McRee plans to attend every Catawba County board meeting until people stop trying to get the countys Confederate monument moved.

A group of Catawba County citizens, in August 2020, began asking the Catawba County Board of Commissioners to relocate the statue, which is located next to the historic county courthouse in downtown Newton.

The group speaks during public comment portions of nearly every meeting of the board of commissioners.

McRee believes the statue should remain. In August, he started speaking at board meetings in favor of keeping the statue. He plans to continue to submit a public comment at each meeting until the group stops trying to have the monument removed, he said.

McRee spoke at Mondays board meeting. No one spoke in favor of removing the statue.

The monument should remain because it is a memorial for those Catawba County soldiers who died but who were not brought home, McRee said.
A native of Greer, S.C., Cox earned his Bachelor of Science (graduating cum laude) in Civil Engineering from Clemson University. He also earned two post-graduate degrees, with a Master of Science in Environmental Health Engineering from the University of Texas (Austin) and a Master of Arts in Strategic Studies from the U.S. Naval War College.

Cox has served as the president of the Catawba and Central Piedmont chapters of the National Society of Professional Engineers and as state director for the S.C. Society of Professional Engineers. He is a member of several professional organizations and participates in local civic service including Kiwanis and the American Legion.

Married to Lisa, they are residents of Hickory and the parents of two adult daughters.

After driving to work in South Carolina for a decade, this opportunity to serve our hometown with Hickory Public Schools offers me the chance to help make a difference for our children  so they can do their best for a world that I know needs them. I possess a passion for supporting teachers and principals while helping to engage our community. I am very excited about joining Hickory Public Schools, a district with a sterling reputation," Cox said.

We are looking forward to Tony Cox joining Hickory Public Schools, said Superintendent Taylor. He brings a wealth of experience and knowledge that we believe will enhance our district in multiple ways.
" " Opinions differ as to whether Ambrose Bierce, who was a 71-year-old Civil War veteran at the time of his disappearance, died in Chihuahua, Mexico, while riding with Pancho Villa; by his own hand in Texas or the Grand Canyon; or as an old man in Saratoga Springs, New York. Wikimedia Commons/HowStuffWorks

Equal parts Mark Twain and Edgar Allan Poe, Ambrose Bierce was a journalist and novelist born in Ohio in 1842. Although he was well-known in his day, his legacy hasn't exactly had the same staying power as that of some of his peers.

A newspaper muckraker known for his biting sarcasm and caustic wit, Bierce was a contributor and editor for a number of West Coast newspapers and periodicals, including William Randolph Hearst's The San Francisco Examiner, beginning in 1887. Some of his greatest success came with Civil War stories like "The Devil's Dictionary" and "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge." He was also an accomplished psychological horror story writer who put his mark on the genre with spooky tales like "The Death of Halpin Frayser."

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What Happened to Ambrose Bierce?

It turns out that the story of Bierce's own demise may be more captivating than any of his literary works. Just how Bierce met his fate depends largely on whom you ask.

"It's one of the great literary mysteries in America," says Don Swaim, the author of "The Assassination of Ambrose Bierce: A Love Story." Swaim also runs a website devoted to all things Bierce. "My view is that it will remain a tantalizing mystery."

Was it a trip to Mexico and a run-in with Pancho Villa that marked the final chapter of Bierce's life story? Or was that just a head fake to keep folks off his true path? Some say Bierce called it a life in the middle of the Grand Canyon. Others claim he perished after drinking with the wrong crowd at a mining camp cantina.

What we know for sure is that Bierce's impact on culture and literature was unmistakable, even if he doesn't garner the same name recognition as some of the other great scribes of the 19th century. The list of writers that have cited Bierce as an influence range from journalist H.L. Mencken to satirical novelist Kurt Vonnegut.

Bierce was one of the first American news reporters whose byline became a personal brand. His work for The San Francisco Examiner helped scuttle a controversial bill that would have allowed two California rail companies to walk away from billions of dollars in federal loan obligations. He was also cited for predicting  and accused by rivals of encouraging  President William McKinley's assassination.

Bierce additionally made waves as an author of both war and horror stories. Still, it was his own disappearance that has most recently served as the inspiration for Hollywood filmmaker Robert Rodriguez in "From Dusk Till Dawn 3."

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Riding With Pancho Villa

It is widely believed that Bierce headed south in 1913, planning to cross the border and catch up with Villa in Chihuahua, Mexico. His last known letter was posted from the city in December of that year.

Opinions differ as to whether the 71-year-old Civil War veteran intended take up arms with the revolutionaries opposing Mexican president Victoriano Huerta or to simply observe the skirmishes as the basis for his next book.

Some suspect Villa may not have taken kindly to Bierce's company. Or he may have been captured by Huerta's forces. "He did go to Mexico at the height of the revolution," Swaim says. "If you're familiar with that period of time, then you know that they took no prisoners."

A California dentist named Adolphe Danziger claimed that Villa admitted that he ordered Bierce shot after the author said he was leaving to join up with another sectarian leader, Venutiano Carranza. An American soldier of fortune named Tex O'Reilly later advanced the theory that Bierce was killed by Mexican federal fighters while drinking at a cantina in a mining camp called Sierra Mojada. Bierce perished before ever meeting Villa, according to O'Reilly's version of the events.

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Could Bierce Have Died in Texas or in Arizona?

Others say Bierce died on the American side of the border.

Journalist Jake Silverstein in 2002 explored the theory that Bierce bid adieu to the physical world in Texas, not Mexico. Silverstein dug up an old letter to the editor of a tiny local newspaper in Marfa, Texas, from a man who claimed Bierce's body was buried there in an unmarked grave. That man told Silverstein that he had once picked up a hitchhiker who had fought for the Mexican federal forces as a teenager. The hitchhiker told the story of picking up an old gringo who appeared quite sick and called himself "Ambrosia." He paid the man and his friends to help get him back into the U.S. and during the trip he talked of the many books he had written, one with with the word 'devil' in the title. But "Ambrosia" didn't survive the trip back to the U.S., and instead died of pneumonia on January 17, 1914, his body buried in an unmarked grave in Marfa, Texas. It's possible that the man who called himself "Ambrosia" was Ambrose Bierce.

And then there's the Grand Canyon story. Some Bierce enthusiasts posit that he had the letter sent from Mexico to throw people off of his intended destination: suicide in one of his favorite places to visit.

Swaim floated a more mundane end to Bierce's story in his own novel. In that version, Bierce survives the fighting in Mexico and heads to Saratoga Springs, New York. There he falls in love with a local woman and lives out the rest of his life before dying from an asthma attack.

That's not a relatively bad way to go out, but it's most likely also not what happened.

"It's fiction," Swaim says.

NOW THAT'S INTERESTING Pancho Villa's death came with its own mystery. Authorities are still searching for the Mexican revolutionary's head, which was stolen from a gravesite in 1926 and has been rumored to be held by members of Yale University's Skull and Bones society.
The author is a vet who runs UdderWise-Global Mastitis Solutions, United Kingdom. To learn more about the author, visit his website at www.udderwise.co.uk.

Food safety is a major concern for the consumer. As veterinarians, we prescribe and dispense most medicines, and we have a responsibility to ensure that our farmer clients and their employees are following the correct milk withdrawal periods to avoid residues entering milk. Residues can come from antibiotics and other veterinary medicines.



In most situations, human error causes failures. From my observations, failures due to medicine problems are very uncommon. There have been a number of surveys showing the most common causes of failure. Alastair Macrae (and his colleagues at the University of Edinburgh) carried out a survey of bulk tank failures between 2015 and 2017. Farmers were asked to give their reasons for the failures, and the results are shown in Table 1. This analysis shows that all the residue issues in bulk tank milk were due to human error . . . with the exception of three cases where farmers presumed that antibiotic was excreted beyond the milk withdrawal period.



This study also looked at the types of product implicated in the failure, and these results are shown in Table 2. Over 80% of incidents relate to use of intramammary treatments and over half were due to lactating cow treatments.

Common causes of residue

Incorrectly identifying treated cows. Some farmers dont physically identify treated cows and rely on memory instead. It can be very easy to forget which animals have been treated and accidentally contaminate the bulk tank. There also are some farmers who dont have management tags, making identification of treated cows very difficult.

Accidental transfer of milk. Milking cows whose milk needs to be withheld from the bulk tank at the end of milking reduces the risk of residue failures. Thats provided the milk line has been taken out of the bulk tank. For large herds, milking through a separate hospital parlor is better still. If a farmer is milking a treated cow through a receiver jar, which he intends to dump after the cow has been milked, it is very easy to release this milk into the bulk tank. Its an automatic thing to do after the cow has been milked.



Modern milking parlors are often fitted with dump lines that work extremely well, provided the farmer remembers to milk treated cows into this line.

Failure to record treatments. It is easy not to record treatments. Farmers might forget to document some animal numbers when they are drying off large batches of cows. Some staff dont record all treatments because its an easy way to reduce disease incidence and helps stop grief from farm management! In other instances, if a veterinarian is treating a cow, this might not be written into the medicine book.

Not communicating with relief milkers. The relief milker might not be told which cows have been treated, so they milk all cows into the bulk tank. He or she might treat some cows and fail to pass this information on. In other circumstances, a milker might just jot this information down on a piece of paper, which gets lost, instead of writing treatment details in the medicine book.

Accidentally milking a dry cow. There are some farms that mix milking and dry cows. Occasionally, farmers will dry-off some cows, and one might escape or be accidentally put back into the milking herd. Dry cow therapy contains a large amount of antibiotic and can easily cause a hot load of bulk tank milk.



Failure to observe correct withdrawal for off-label use. Off-label treatment includes any deviation from the medicine data sheet such as changing frequency, route, dose, or length of treatment. If cows are treated off label, then the appropriate milk withdrawal period must be followed and your vet will advise on how to do this. Keep in mind that some mastitis treatments also are off label if farmers veer off the data advisory sheets.

Failure to observe the correct milk withdrawal periods. Regrettably, every industry has bad actors. There are a few unscrupulous farmers who try to break the rules. They might put milk from treated cows into the tank and rely on dilution, hoping that this milk passes any residue tests. Some farmers do not withhold milk when cows are treated with nonantibiotic treatments, such as some nonsteroidal injections that have a milk withdrawal period. Others might test the milk before the end of the withdrawal period to see if they can put this milk into the tank earlier.

Mechanical failures. Everyone assumes that milking equipment always works. It is not uncommon for valves to become faulty. For example, some milk from the receiver jar can leak into the milking system if the valve at the bottom of the jar is defective.

There are some milking systems where there is a lever switching milk between the milk transfer line and the dump line. If this lever is not working effectively, contaminated milk that should be going to the dump line could enter the general supply and cause a residue failure.



Cows calving early. Medicine records should be checked every time a cow calves to ensure that the milk withdrawal period for each and every dry cow therapy has passed. Often farmers will just check cows that they think calved early. There is a high risk of residue failure if cows treated with dry cow therapy calve early and some of this milk enters the bulk supply.

Drying off a quarter with dry cow therapy and milking the other three quarters. Farmers have been known to dry-off one problem quarter that might have chronic clinical mastitis or a high somatic cell count. They may treat this quarter with a dry cow tube and carry on milking the other three quarters. Under these circumstances, antibiotics can be carried from a treated quarter and secreted through the other quarters, resulting in a failure. Cows should only be treated with dry cow therapy at dry-off. It is essential that all milk from treated cows is discarded.

Intentional contamination of bulk milk. I am aware of at least two incidents where disgruntled staff members intentionally contaminated the bulk tank with antibiotics to cause financial losses and chaos to the farm. In both these instances, extensive investigations were carried out to find out the cause of failure. Eventually, these were traced back to previous staff members.
ROSEMONT, Penn.  Megan Rice, a nun and Catholic peace activist who spent two years in federal prison while in her 80s after breaking into a government security complex to protest nuclear weapons, has died. She was 91.

Rice died of congestive heart failure Oct. 10 at Holy Child Center in Rosemont, Pennsylvania, according to her order, the Society of the Holy Child Jesus.

Sister Megan lived her life with love full of action and zeal, said Carroll Juliano, American Province Leader for the order. Her commitment to build a peaceful and just world was unwavering and selfless.

Rice was born in New York to activist parents who would meet with well-known Catholic writer Dorothy Day during the Great Depression to craft solutions for societal problems, she said in a 2013 interview with the Catholic Agitator.

Her activism was also heavily influenced by her uncle, who spent four months in Nagasaki, Japan, after it and Hiroshima had been leveled by atomic bombs to hasten the end of World War II, bombings that Rice would later call the greatest shame in history.
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CHARLESTON  Eastern Illinois Universitys Academy of Lifelong Learning is hosting a free speaker event on The Power of Non-Violent Struggle for Social Change at 2 p.m. on Friday at the Carnegie Library.

Henry Cervantes is an educator and artist from Chicago. He currently works with Illinois Humanities, which the Academy of Lifelong Learning has worked with in the past. The presentation will touch on the history of social justice movements.

I've worked with Illinois humanities for several years, they have always provided awesome speakers, said the director of the academy, Marita Metzke.

The academy and Illinois Humanities worked together earlier this year in January to provide a discussion about racism and identifying prejudices.

We had a really nice group of folks that was interested in so I wanted to find another event that might speak to social change, said Metzke.

The Academy of Lifelong Learning offers non-credit classes, open to anyone in the community interested in maintaining their interest and knowledge, events, new ideas.

We have so much to learn about the challenges to our culture, said Metzke. And using nonviolence to affect change is the direction we, as a society, should go because we have seen violence is not successful.

Though the event is free to the public, those interested in joining the presentation should contact the Academy of Lifelong Learning to register at 217-581-5114.

The event will be held in the Rotary Rooms at the Charleston Carnegie Public library.

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Sometimes when she's feeding her infant daughter, Amanda Harrison is overcome with emotion and has to wipe away tears of gratitude. She is lucky to be here, holding her baby.

The number of new cases of COVID-19 remained on a modest decline in Forsyth County, while an additional related death was reported Tuesday.

The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services said Forsyth had 58 new cases between noon Monday and noon Tuesday. That follows on 66 cases Sunday.

That brings Forsyths total since the beginning of the pandemic to 51,051 cases and 546 deaths.

There have been 34 COVID-19-related deaths confirmed in Forsyth so far this month.

DHHS lists COVID-19 cases and deaths on the day they are confirmed by medical providers and public health officials, so people may have been infected or may have died days or weeks before their cases were counted.

Since the delta variant of COVID-19 became prevalent in early July, the vast majority of the COVID-related deaths in Forsyth, the Triad and Northwest N.C., and the state have been among unvaccinated individuals, public and local hospital officials say.

There also have been deaths involving individuals who were immunocompromised or who had other health issues.

About 32.5% of Forsyths COVID-19-related deaths, or 179, have occurred since April 15.
Of course a mother would feel that way about her son. Any parent would. But in this particular case, a slew of people who work, live in or travel through downtown stood to speak for him, too.

A portrait of him was commissioned and hung in the store, a few feet from where he unfailing greeted customers.

When you met him, you just immediately loved him, said Susie Pollock, an organizer of a GoFundMe drive that resulted in the portrait by local artist Kim Thore.

The weekend that TeOre Terry was killed, two other men died from gunshots, too. It was a particularly brutal weekend in a year marred by senseless killing and maimings.

Police were quick to say that the killings were not related, but havent offered much since other than occasional pleas for help from the public that largely fall on deaf and indifferent ears.

And thats the part thats eating away at Velma Terry, the casual Meh shrug of the shoulders.

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Somebody out there knows something and for whatever reason, theyre not saying anything, she said. Im saying to survivors and to the community, we need to wake up. Stop being scared. Speak up.
The stick was a series of measures that drew the ire of city employees later in the week as word circulated: No promotions for unvaccinated employees, and provisions leaving the door open for higher insurance premiums in the future, or even termination for employees who dont get their shots.

As last week drew to a close, council members were being heavily lobbied by city employees, especially police officers and firefighters, who made their objections to penalties for non-vaccination known to the city through their professional associations.

City officials responded by putting the stick away: Council Member James Taylor brought forward a motion to drop the non-promotion penalty, as well as any language in the policy that mentioned firing as a possible consequence of refusing to even get a COVID-19 test.

Under the policy approved by the council on Monday, employees who do not submit proof of vaccination after six weeks will still be required to submit weekly negative tests results in order to report for work. The city will pay for the testing. Employees can apply for medical or religious exemptions from the policy.

The six-week period for full-time employees to qualify for the $1,000 bonus starts on Oct 25.
But he will be remembered as much for his exceptional character as his exceptional resume.

Powell has died from complications from COVID-19, his family said on Facebook. He had been vaccinated twice but he was still particularly susceptible to the virus. He had been suffering from multiple myeloma, a type of cancer that creates malignant plasma cells in bone marrow and suppresses the bodys immune response. Those who are immunocompromised are at much greater risk from the coronavirus, even if they have been vaccinated (another argument for vaccinations, as if we needed one).

What a time to lose someone like him.

For all of his accomplishments as a soldier and as a diplomat, Powell was one of a precious few Washington leaders who also was willing to account for his mistakes.

Most notably, Powell called the ill-considered invasion of Iraq during the George W. Bush administration based on seriously flawed intelligence a blot on his record.

When asked about the speech during an interview in 2005, Powell said, It will always be a part of my record. It was painful. Its painful now.
The victim was taken to a hospital but died at about 4 p.m.

Dispatchers described an uncooperative 911 caller and a crowd of people on the scene, enough for police to request more officers to help interview everyone.

"Members of our criminal investigations team and uniformed street personnel worked immediately to secure the scene and began investigating the details surrounding the incident," Stille said.

He said he did not know if the men knew one another or what the fight was about. He also didn't answer whether either of the two lived at the home.

On Tuesday afternoon, the crime scene tape that once surrounded the multi-unit house had been replaced by a small memorial of flowers and candles outside an apartment door.

According to prison records, Adams had just been released on parole July 30 from a six- to 10-year sentence for second-degree assault for hitting a woman in the head twice with a combination lock at 37th Street and Baldwin Avenue in 2018.

Doug Koebernick, Inspector General of the Nebraska Correctional System, said his office works with Parole Administration to comprehensively review serious incidents like what's alleged to have happened Monday since a parolee is allegedly involved.
The search for Samuel Martinez, a University of Nebraska-Lincoln student who was last seen at the start of a weekslong hiking trip in Hawaii, has been halted again after it was briefly renewed by new findings.

Rescuers with the Kauai Police Department and other island first responders searched for Martinez on Friday after a camper found his backpack along Sugi Grove in Koke'e State Park on Wednesday, according to the police department.

After conducting a thorough search of the area  which investigators had combed during previous efforts  without further sign of Martinez, officials again discontinued their search, Lt. Darren Rose said.

There hasn't been a confirmed sighting of the missing 23-year-old since May 12, the day his flight landed on Kauai. Martinez intended to hike and camp for two weeks, according to his father, Ted Martinez.

The elder Martinez said his sons last contact with the family came the day he landed on the island.
The Nebraska Association of School Boards and Gov. Pete Ricketts said Monday that they disagree that federal assistance is needed to stop threats and acts of violence against school officials.

Ricketts urged members of the Nebraska State Board of Education to "push back" against what he called "overreach" that threatens the First Amendment rights of parents.

On his monthly radio call-in show and again at an afternoon news conference, Ricketts called the Department of Justice action an absolute outrageous abuse of federal power.

This will have a huge chilling effect, and its meant to, to browbeat those parents into not going to school board meetings, he said. Its just beyond the pale. We dont live in the old Soviet Union here.

The Nebraska association said it had no part in drafting the letter sent by the National School Boards Association to the Biden administration requesting help from federal law enforcement.

The Sept. 29 letter has drawn criticism from conservatives who feel that it equates parents upset over mask policies and critical race theory with terrorists.

"We did not approve of the letter and had no role in its drafting," the Nebraska group said.
The Lincoln Diocese recently reassigned a pair of priests  and restricted their public ministry  after investigating claims of priestly misconduct.

In statements posted to the diocese website Oct. 8, Bishop James Conley announced:

* Scott Courtney was assigned to minister to prisons, nursing and retirement homes, and provide administrative assistance to the chancery, effective early next January.

Courtney has been out of active ministry since September 2018, after allegations he had sexual contact with a woman, the diocese reported at the time.

His reassignment and restrictions followed a professional evaluation and a period of personal renewal, and hearing from the ministerial conduct board, Conley said in his statement.

Courtney was last with the Sacred Heart parish in Roseland and the Assumption parish in Juniata.

* Thomas Dunavan was assigned to provide administrative assistance to the chancery and help retired priests, effective Nov. 8.
On Aug. 23, eight days after watching Kabul fall to the Taliban, Rauf formed a Nebraska corporation, Human First, to aid his efforts, and those of veterans, in evacuating those trapped in Afghanistan.

The creation of the Human First Coalition formalized work he had already started: calls to line up safe houses for those in danger and those expelled from their homes, and arranging a way out either over land or via air. Its an evacuation some have dubbed a digital Dunkirk after the World War II evacuation of more than 300,000 British and French troops trapped at a seaport by invading German forces.

I was (already) into the work, and the work was only increasing, Rauf said. Launching a formal organization, he added, allowed him to better accept donations.

So far, Human First has helped evacuate 6,700 people, including 1,200 American citizens, according to Rauf, who spoke by telephone from London. He said that immediate family and friends have spent $6 million of their own money in facilitating the evacuations. Another $3 million in donations have been received by Human First for additional charter flights out of Afghanistan.

To take off one plane, with 367 people, it costs upwards of $1 million, Rauf said, which includes an expensive insurance policy to fly in and out of the embattled country.
Perre Neilan, a political consultant and lobbyist based in Lincoln, said he didnt see the issue impacting Fortenberrys ability to serve and be reelected.

Nebraskans know Jeff Fortenberry as a man of integrity, Neilan said. His only crime was saying yes when the government knocked on his door and let them in.

Josh Moenning, a former chief of staff for Fortenberry, said the congressman was a "good man and an effective and tireless advocate for the people" in his district.

"I've known him to show only the highest level of regard for the law and every obligation that comes with being an elected official," said Moenning, who was elected mayor of Norfolk in 2016 and reelected in 2020. "Nebraskans continue to elect him, in lopsided margins, because they know him, trust him, and respect his work on their behalf."

Under House GOP rules, Fortenberry will likely have to resign from his committee assignments for the time being. He would be reinstated if he is acquitted, or if the charges are dismissed or reduced. The rule also includes a provision allowing GOP House members to waive that rule with a majority vote.
The indictment alleges that, despite the phone call, Fortenberry did not file an amended 2016 campaign report disclosing the true contributors and amounts of their donations from the fundraiser. Nor did he attempt to return or give up the illegal contributions until after his second interview with federal investigators in July 2019.

According to the indictment, Fortenberry made several false and misleading statements when interviewed by the FBI and the U.S. Attorneys Office on March 23, 2019, and again on July 18, 2019.

Those statements allegedly included denying that he had been told about the illicit donations from the 2016 fundraiser or that Baaklini had provided the $30,000 cash. He also allegedly said that he would have been horrified to learn about the illegal conduit contributions.

After questions about the 2016 contributions arose, Fortenberrys campaign said he donated the money to charity. Federal Election Commission records show that in September and October 2019, he gave a total of $30,000 to two Nebraska groups  the St. Gianna Womens Home and the Peoples City Mission.
"This is a great place to find jobs," the governor said. "Nebraska offers an unmatched quality of life.

"Nebraska is one big small town," he said, a great place to live.

Ricketts said he hopes young Nebraskans who may have left will consider coming back to raise their families here.

And he said Nebraska should be attractive to people who may be "looking for a better quality of life."

The state is "a welcoming home for all walks of life," Goins said.

Earlier in the afternoon, Ricketts fielded questions from several Nebraskans on his monthly call-in radio show arguing against any government or employer mandate requiring individuals to be vaccinated and/or wear masks to protect themselves and others from COVID-19.

"I am grateful to have the vaccine. It's the best tool to fight the pandemic, and I encourage people to get vaccinated," Ricketts said. "But I agree 100% that it should always be a voluntary decision.

"No one should be mandating the vaccine."

When any vaccine mandate rules are promulgated by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the governor said, "we will take those vaccine mandates to court."
Calling for special session

Twenty-six state senators have signed a letter requesting a special legislative session be called in order to pass a law prohibiting businesses, governmental entities and schools from requiring employees be vaccinated.

Senators signing the letter were: Joni Albrecht of Thurston, John Arch of Papillion, Bruce Bostelman of Brainard, Tom Brandt of Plymouth, Tom Brewer of Gordon, Tom Briese of Albion, Myron Dorn of Adams, Rob Clements of Elmwood, Steve Erdman of Bayard, Mike Flood of Norfolk, Curt Friesen of Henderson, Suzanne Geist of Lincoln, Tim Gragert of Creighton, Mike Groene of North Platte, Steve Halloran of Hastings, Ben Hansen of Blair, Mike Hilgers of Lincoln, Dan Hughes of Venango, Brett Lindstrom of Omaha, Lou Ann Linehan of Elkhorn, John Lowe of Kearney, Mike McDonnell of Omaha, Mike Moser of Columbus, Dave Murman of Glenvil, Rita Sanders of Bellevue and Julie Slama of Sterling.
Thome said she remembers getting to the train station at about 3:30 p.m. that day and waiting until Reicks was to arrive at 4 p.m.

That was the longest half an hour of my life, she said.

That first-time meeting was an exciting moment, the women said, and only strengthened the bond theyd begun through their letters.

Since that first meeting, Reicks and Thome have gotten together at least once every three years, and the meetings have grown to include their families: Thome has four sons, and Reicks has five sons and a daughter.

Our families are close, Reicks said. I couldnt have a better family than Ive got.

On one trip to Wisconsin, Reicks son Dean said he remembers all nine boys sleeping together on the dining room floor one night. He said the children of both families have always had a lot in common and continue to keep in touch.

Even the next generation is very close, he said.

Before last week, the last time Reicks and Thome saw each other was in May when Reicks traveled to Wisconsin to visit Thomes husband, Moose, who was in hospice and has since died.
Nowhere was this made clearer than the issue of Rep. Don Bacons residence and the supposed need to include his future home into new district plans. Another distraction was the insistence by some members of the Legislature that special protection be given to districts in the western half of the state to insulate them from a loss of representation as the population has shifted to the east over the past decade.

In protecting incumbency and current district arrangements, the Legislature fundamentally misunderstands the purpose of redistricting. The goal of redistricting is to equally divide the voting power of every Nebraskan, not to allow politicians to pick and choose the voters whose votes they want to capture.

While the partisanship inherent in our redistricting process should be enough to make most Nebraskans consider re-envisioning the way we draw voting districts, there were several other problems with this years map drawing that should give us pause.

From the start, the Redistricting Committee was slow to release details on the process and leaned heavily on Census Bureau delays to justify a closed-door process. Once data was made available to the committee to draw maps, they released draft maps and announced hearings the week preceding them, giving voters little notice to provide input.
As I read Monsignor Witts letter ("No question on start of life," Oct. 7) regarding abortion, it seemed very clear to me that he was portraying the teachings and doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church as universal and binding upon all.

He presents his churchs moral imperative as if it should be accepted by all, and if not voluntarily then with the force of law behind it. Where in the Constitution do we find sanction for one religions supremacy over another?

He writes that he wishes to put God and science in charge of things, but does he mean God as interpreted by and science as accepted by the Roman Catholic Church only? Do the belief systems of others have no merit in his view?

There is a wide spectrum of thought on when life truly begins. Some religious traditions, for example, teach that life begins when a baby takes its first breath, some at fetal viability, while others hold, as his church does at the moment, that life begins at conception.
RACINE  Nearly $150,000 in cash, nearly 1.5 pounds of marijuana, more than one-fifth of a pound of cocaine and a 1-year-old child in a bathtub were allegedly found in a College Avenue apartment by police officers who went to the home following a report of a domestic dispute.

One of the two occupants of the home has been arrested; the other remains at large, according to police.

According to a criminal complaint: At about 8:30 p.m. Friday, Racine Police officers were dispatched to an upper apartment on the 1000 block of College Avenue for a report of a civil dispute with a child in the building. Upon arrival, they heard glass breaking and could see a man standing by a window near the balcony.

Police said they entered the unlocked door and heard a womans voice yell You are a liar! amid the sounds of more glass breaking. Police said they yelled Police but didnt get a response.

Upstairs, they encountered a woman  Vanessa Marie Lees, 25  walking out of a kitchen.

She appeared to be frantic and in a distressed state and advised officers (a 1-year-old) was in the bathtub. Lees had a bloody lip and officers could observe blood smears on the walls, a criminal complaint stated.

Inside the apartment, the man was gone, and police said that Lees claimed there never was a man inside.

Two other people arrived on scene and confirmed that Lees shared the apartment with Jalon Malone, 24. The two others, who were related to the 1-year-old, were allowed to take the child out of the apartment.

Another man arrived, but police did not let him inside the apartment. When that man left, an officer reported he saw someone in the passengers seat of that mans car. That someone was the same person (officers) had seen through the window of the residence when they arrived, police reported, and that man was determined to be Malone.

Malone, according to police, is currently on probation for a felony case involving the sale of marijuana.

Lees claimed everything in the home belonged to her, police said.

Inside the home, police found a cash counting machine, vacuum bag sealer and a package of rubber bands. According to police: There were several paper bands used to wrap cash containing amounts on the paper wrapping. In an open show box on top of a dresser, in a closet, (an officer) observed several plastic bags with green leafy substance suspected to be marijuana.

Upon a further search of the apartment, the following were found:

97.2 grams of cocaine

611.6 grams of marijuana

$148,972 in cash, much of it in grocery bags or in bundles elsewhere

Multiple boxes of ammunition

A loaded semiautomatic magazine

A loaded semiautomatic firearm with the serial number scratched off

An empty gun case

Creatine muscle powder, which police noted is a common substance used to dilute cocaine

A safe

Lees has been charged with felony possession with intent to deliver more than 40 grams of cocaine, felony possession with intent to deliver between 200 and 1,000 grams of marijuana, felony maintaining a drug trafficking place, felony neglecting a child under the age of 6 where specified harm did not occur, misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia, misdemeanor disorderly conduct and misdemeanor altering identity-marks manufacturer property.

No charges have been filed against Malone, although he is listed as a co-defendant on Lees case in court documents.

Lees was scheduled to appear in Racine County Circuit Court via Zoom on Tuesday afternoon.
KENOSHA  A public information meeting on the proposed reconstruction of Sheridan Road from Alford Park Drive in Kenosha to 21st Street in Racine will be held this week.

The informal meeting is scheduled from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Carthage College Campbell Student Union Auditorium, 2001 Alford Park Drive.

Attendees will be able to review project maps at the meeting, ask questions, and provide comments that will assist the Wisconsin Department of Transportation during the projects design and construction.

The project is scheduled for 2025. Masks are required to be worn inside all Carthage campus buildings, regardless of vaccination status.

DOT staff will be present to discuss the 5.5-mile project, the purpose of which is to to address the deteriorating pavement condition, decreased ride quality, and to improve safety for bicycles and pedestrians along that segment of Sheridan Road. The potential improvements being considered include:

Resurfacing Sheridan Road;

Updating signalized intersections;

A potential lane-reduction with a two-way left-turn lane in the center;

Examining possible sidewalks between Alford Park Drive and Highway A (Seventh Street);

On-road bike accommodations.

Project manager Roy Stollenwerk, who made a presentation at the Somers Village/Town Hall in September, said the project is in the preliminary design stage.

During the meeting in Somers, local officials voiced concerns about proposed sidewalks, among other issues.

One alternative adds sidewalks in various areas, such as on the east side of Sheridan Road from Carthage to Highway E, and on the west side of Sheridan Road from Highway E to Highway A.

Somers Village President George Stoner said he does not believe the public will support the addition of sidewalks, which would require a 20% cost share by the local community and require residents to maintain them.

For those unable to attend the public meeting in person, materials and exhibits will be shared on the DOT website under the projects and studies tab at https://wisconsindot.gov/Pages/home.aspx.

A second public information meeting on the project will also be held in 2022.

Comments or questions can be directed to Stollenwerk at roy.stollenwerk@dot.wi.gov or 262-548-6474, or final design manager Jesse Jefferson at jesse.jefferson@dot.wi.gov or 262-548-5942.

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Wisconsin closed out the 2021 fiscal year with a positive balance of $2.58 billion, more than double the previous years balance of $1.17 billion, the state Department of Administration announced Monday.

The administrations annual fiscal report also notes the state transferred a little over $967 million to the states rainy day fund, which is to be tapped during emergencies, bringing the total balance to about $1.73 billion, the largest amount in state history and more than five times the funds balance at the end of fiscal year 2018.

State officials have attributed Wisconsins positive financial outlook to a massive influx of federal coronavirus stimulus dollars allocated to states under the current and previous presidential administrations, as well as unprecedented tax revenues collected by the state.

A healthy rainy-day fund will help us face tomorrows challenges head-on, DOA Secretary Joel Brennan said in a statement. By prudently managing our way through this crisis, weve built the largest Budget Stabilization Fund in state history, making sure were ready for future challenges, and securing a strong pandemic recovery for our hard-hit communities, businesses and industries.

State general tax fund collections in fiscal year 2021, which concluded June 30, increased by 11.6% over the previous year  exceeding the most recent estimates by about $319 million.

DOA also released Monday the departments 2019-21 biennial report, which highlights key accomplishments over the last two years, including saving taxpayers $221 million through bond-refinancing efforts, awarding $748 million for clean-water programs through the Environmental Improvement Fund, and leveraging federal coronavirus stimulus funds to launch grant programs to aid businesses, individuals and communities with pandemic recovery efforts.

During an unprecedented global pandemic, as hospitalizations from COVID-19 increased, DOA was able to support the construction of an Alternate Care Facility to care for 170 Wisconsinites, facilitated COVID-19-related testing, hiring and technology needs statewide, and deployed more than $560 million in federal pandemic relief funds, Brennan said.

Before the latest state budget was signed into law this summer, the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau estimated Wisconsin would have a general fund balance of more than $5.8 billion at end of fiscal year 2023 as a result of unprecedented tax collections. That figure was more than $4 billion larger than previous estimates.

The unprecedented projected surplus left lawmakers with a range of options for the 2021-23 state budget, including a $2 billion income tax cut adopted by the Republican-led Legislature and signed by Gov. Tony Evers.

In August, Kroll Bond Rating Agency upgraded the states long-term rating for general obligation bonds from AA+ to AAA, citing Wisconsins substantial liquidity, evidenced by a near tripling of budget reserves over the past three years; continuing, healthy revenue growth, despite substantial tax cuts; and an ongoing, post-COVID-19 recovery, fueled by a mature and expanding economy and favorable business climate.

Wisconsins AAA rating from Kroll is the first time the states underlying bond rating has reached the AAA level since 1982.

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A Dane County judge has agreed to temporarily halt construction of a power line through southwest Wisconsin, provided opponents of the project can come up with millions of dollars to cover potential costs of a delay.

Utilities had planned to begin building the $492 million Cardinal-Hickory Creek transmission line between Middleton and Dubuque, Iowa, on Oct. 25, according to court documents.

Judge Jacob Frost granted a request Monday for an injunction to put the project on hold while the courts consider challenges to its permit, agreeing that clearing land would result in damage that could not be easily repaired if the line is ultimately stopped.

This power line could still very well happen, Frost said. The one bell that really cant be unrung is if I let the work go forward while the process is still being challenged.

A joint venture of American Transmission Co., ITC Midwest and Dairyland Power Cooperative, the 102-mile line is the subject of multiple state and federal legal challenges from the Driftless Area Land Conservancy and Wisconsin Wildlife Federation.

The plaintiffs said an injunction was necessary to prevent irreparable damage to Southwest Wisconsins landscape, natural environment, family farms, rural communities, and businesses that would result from cutting trees, bulldozing 150-foot-wide corridors and pouring foundations.

In a statement, ATC said it is disappointed by the order and that, if implemented, a delay could add $30 million to the price tag. The injunction will cause needless construction delays, postpone the delivery of essential project benefits to electric consumers, and add unnecessary costs to this essential capital project  costs which will ultimately be passed along to energy consumers, the company said.

The public shouldnt have to pay for an extra $30 million because DALC and WWF got an injunction they shouldnt have, ATC attorney Brian Potts told the judge.

A six-month delay would also cost ATC about $2 million in profits, according to the company.

Frost ordered the plaintiffs to post a bond of $32 million to cover those costs should the project ultimately go forward.

Howard Learner, the lead attorney for DALC and WWF, argued the bond amount is unaffordable and amounts to another due-process violation. Learner suggested a bond of $10,000, which is substantial for a not-for-profit group.

Frost said there was evidence to support the potential damages, and nonprofit organizations arent exempt.

My hands are tied by the statute, Frost said. The law is what it is.

Learner said the groups are still considering their options as they seek a similar injunction from the federal courts, where they have challenged three construction permits. A hearing on that request is scheduled for Friday.

That excessive bond provision defies common sense, impairs meaningful citizen participation, and inflicts irreparable harm without justification, Learner said. It is contrary to fundamental fairness and undermines public confidence in the fairness of the utility regulatory and judicial review system.

Case on hold

The case before Frost is on hold while the state Supreme Court considers whether a former regulators relationships with utility executives created a conflict of interest that could invalidate the permit.

The utilities, which have spent at least $126.4 million so far on the project, say it is critical to ensuring Wisconsin can transition to a cleaner, more reliable, and more affordable energy future by enabling the import of energy from wind turbines in Iowa.

DALC and WWF, along with Dane County and other local governments, challenged the PSCs unanimous approval of the project, which they argue is an unneeded boondoggle that will be a blight on the sensitive Driftless region.

The groups claim that former Public Service Commissioner Mike Huebschs personal relationships with executives connected to the project created an appearance of bias, which Frost said would be enough to invalidate the permit.

In September the state Supreme Court agreed to take up that part of the challenge after Huebsch argued that is an impossible and unlawful standard for public officials.

Subpoena blocked

The high court also blocked a subpoena requiring Huebsch to testify in court, effectively putting the lower court case on hold.

Huebsch applied to be CEO of Dairyland after leaving the commission in February 2020, though he did not get the job. In June, the project owners revealed that Huebsch had communicated with utility executives using the encrypted messaging app Signal and asked the PSC to revoke and reissue the permit. The PSC has not acted on that request.

Huebsch has testified he used Signal to send encrypted, ephemeral messages to longtime friends in the industry but never to discuss official commission business. And he says he applied for the job as a courtesy to Brian Rude, a friend and mentor who was the La Crosse-based utilitys director of regulatory affairs.

Huebsch, a former state legislator and member of Gov. Scott Walkers cabinet, argues such relationships do not constitute a conflict of interest.

While the question remains before the Supreme Court, Frost indicated that the plaintiffs are likely to succeed with their bias claims, which would undermine public faith in the PSC.

The problem is when you cant trust the process, when people look at it and say it doesnt look like it was fair, Frost said. If you dont have the process protected, what do the results matter?

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A Madison police officer inadvertently shot and injured a fellow officer during the arrest of a man who pointed a loaded handgun at police on State Street on Oct. 10, the Wisconsin Department of Justice said Monday.

The departments Division of Criminal Investigation, which investigates police shootings, said in a statement that it is continuing to review evidence and determine the facts of this incident and will turn over investigative reports to the Dane County District Attorney when the investigation concludes.

The disclosure comes more than a week after the Madison Police Department and DOJ announced the shooting, and DOJ said a person with a handgun had been arrested in the incident.

In a statement Monday, the Madison Police Department said the police officer  identified by DOJ as Keith Brown  fired his weapon and was put on leave pending the outcome of the investigation.

We respect the process and mandate of the state law requiring an independent investigation, the statement said. We recognize that DCI is still actively conducting this investigation and analyzing evidence collected in order to determine the entirety of this event.

Until Monday, both agencies had declined to provide more information on the case to the Wisconsin State Journal.

Shortly after 12:30 a.m. on Oct. 10, Madison police were attempting to arrest Katoine Richardson, 19, in the 500 block of State Street when Richardson ran from police, DCI said.

Richardson, who was wanted for felony bail jumping, pointed a loaded handgun at officers, DCI said. At some point during the arrest, Brown fired a shot that hit another officer, who was taken to a local hospital and has since been released, according to DCI.

Another officer sustained minor injuries during the arrest, and police took Richardson into custody without injury, DCI said.

Madison police said the officer who had been shot is expected to make a full recovery.

This incident highlights the dangers posed by individuals who choose to illegally possess and use firearms, and those dangers can no longer be tolerated by our community, the police statement said. We ask that the residents of our community remember the dangers our officers face every day as they try to keep this City safe.

Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne said his office had not received reports from DCI and did not have an estimate on when DCIs investigation would be complete.

Richardson later told an investigator he ran from police because he did not want to get caught carrying a gun while he violated a curfew imposed in other criminal cases pending against him.

Richardson already had open felony cases in Dane County for armed burglary and bail jumping, as well as five open misdemeanor cases for charges including criminal damage to property and being a passenger in a stolen vehicle.

Richardsons attorney, state assistant public defender Stanley Woodard, said when Richardson appeared in court on Tuesday that Richardson did not fire a gun and did not shoot anyone, and suggested the officer may have been shot by another officer.

Richardsons bail was set at $16,000 after he was charged with possession of a firearm by a person found delinquent in juvenile court, resisting an officer causing a soft-tissue injury, carrying a concealed weapon, and three counts of felony bail jumping. He also faces a misdemeanor bail jumping charge for an unrelated matter.

The complaint and a probable cause affidavit state that an officer, identified in the affidavit as Edward McKinley, told investigators he was on State Street and saw another officer, identified in the documents as Richard Bruess, tackle Richardson after a foot chase. McKinley said he saw Richardson holding a semi-automatic handgun.

McKinley said he grabbed Richardson and began struggling with him. The affidavit states McKinley told an investigator he saw Richardson pull out a semi-automatic handgun and try to get a round into the guns chamber. He said he grabbed Richardsons hand and struggled with him.

During the struggle, the complaint states, McKinley sustained a hip injury that resulted in numbness and nerve pain. It states he was admitted to St. Marys Hospital for treatment later on the day of the shooting.

DCI, which is being assisted in the investigation by the Wisconsin State Crime Lab and Wisconsin State Patrol, said no further information was available.

It is the first time in more than 20 years that a Madison officer has been shot in the line of duty, the police department said. Former Madison Officer Andy Garcia was shot in the leg and the chest on March 21, 1997, as he and Officer Tim Hahn were attempting to arrest a man on a La Crosse County warrant on the citys Southwest Side.

The suspect, Timothy Wing, 38, a failed Libertarian Assembly candidate from Madison who was wanted for not showing up to serve a nine-month jail sentence for indecent exposure, was shot and killed by Hahn.

The bullet to Garcias chest was deflected by a bulletproof vest, and Garcia survived the attack but suffered a deep chest bruise and injuries to his upper right thigh.

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BREAKING: Extinction Rebellion activists arrested in attempt to get politicians to act on the Climate and Ecological Crisis. We are walking dangerously close to irreversible climate collapse  this is what it has come to. #ExtinctionRebellion @HouseofCommons pic.twitter.com/4kcJnI6KeV
1. Yes. Council members appear to have taken time to review each section carefully.

2. Yes. The council has set up town halls and a public hearing to inform the residents.

3. No. The council should have set up a charter review committee, including residents.

4. No. Some of the items proposed so far benefit the council more than the community.

5. Unsure. Its hard to say until after the public has had more opportunities to weigh in.

Vote

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KEARNEY  A California semi-trailer driver has been found guilty of the unintentional deaths of three people in a construction zone near the Gibbon interchange in 2019.

Kenneth Kratt, 36, of Madera pleaded no contest today in Buffalo County District Court to three counts of felony manslaughter for the unintentional deaths of two Lincoln men and a Schuyler man. The charges accused Kratt of reckless and willfull reckless driving on Sept. 20, 2019.

A no contest plea is neither an admission nor denial of guilt, but the plea is treated the same as a guilty plea. Judge John Marsh accepted his plea and ordered the Nebraska Probation Office to do a presentence investigation on Kratt. Findings of that report  including background information on a defendant, family and criminal history, employment record and a substance abuse evaluation  will help Marsh to issue an appropriate sentence, which is scheduled in December.

Kratt faces up to 20 years in prison on each count. He remains free on bond.

On Sept. 20, 2019, Kratt was driving a 2020 Peterbilt semitrailer, 75 mph to 78 mph in a construction zone near the Gibbon I-80 interchange when he first hit the rear of a 2017 Chevrolet Silverado driven by Ryan Vanicek of Schuyler that had slowed for traffic in the construction zone, court records indicate.

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A 20-year-old Sparta man faces felony drug charges after an Oct. 16 traffic stop in La Crosse.

Jaxeryus T. Lezine was charged Monday in La Crosse County Circuit Court with felony counts of possession of cocaine with intent to deliver and possession of marijuana with intent to deliver and misdemeanor counts of possession of drug paraphernalia and carrying a concealed weapon.

According to the criminal complaint, a vehicle operated by Lezine was pulled over by police after traveling 43 mph in a 30 mph zone shortly before 1 a.m. on Rose Street. Police detected the odor of marijuana coming from the vehicle and observed Lezine making furtive movements. The complaint says Lezine had a suspended drivers license.

Police searched the vehicle and allegedly found 17.4 grams of cocaine and 107 grams of marijuana. The complaint says police also found a .45 caliber handgun with 11 rounds under the drivers seat.

Lezine, a first offender, was released on a $2,500 signature bond by Judge Gloria Doyle.

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U.S. Reps. Ron Kind (D-La Crosse) and Glenn GT Thompson (R-PA) have introduced a bipartisan bill to research and manage the spread of chronic wasting disease (CWD), a contagious, neurological disease affecting cervids  deer, elk and moose  that is always fatal.

There is no known cure for CWD, and its unclear how the disease is transmitted. As of August 2021, CWD has been confirmed in 25 states, and there are serious concerns that the disease will continue to spread to herds across the country.

The Chronic Wasting Disease Research and Management Act will support state and tribal efforts to develop and implement management strategies as well as fund research into methods to better detect and prevent CWD.

As an avid hunter, I know how important it is to maintain a healthy deer herd in Wisconsin so we can protect our outdoor traditions and economy, said Kind. CWD is a serious threat to our deer herds, and we need all hands on deck to combat this disease. Thats why Im proud to team up with my colleague Rep. Thompson and introduce this bipartisan bill that brings scientists, local officials, and hunters to the table to help manage and prevent the spread of CWD.

CWD has been a big problem for the deer populations of Pennsylvania and additional cervid animals, such as elk and moose, throughout the country, Thompson said. This bill was crafted with robust stakeholder support and will prioritize research in the transmission of, resistance to, and diagnosis of CWD. It is imperative we better understand the genetic implications of the disease, so we can develop policies best suited to solve the problem. I look forward to moving quickly with my colleagues in Congress to do our part in eradicating CWD.

The Chronic Wasting Disease Research and Management Act is also supported by several wildlife and sportsmen organizations, including: the Congressional Sportsmens Foundation (CSF), Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership (TRCP), National Wildlife Federation (NWF), Boone & Crockett, National Deer Association (NDA), North American Deer Farmers Association (NADeFA), Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation (RMEF), and the Mule Deer Foundation.

The Congressional Sportsmens Foundation (CSF) applauds Congressional Sportsmens Caucus Members Reps. Kind and Thompson for their leadership in introducing a practical, bipartisan, and comprehensive bill to address one of todays most critical wildlife management issues  chronic wasting disease (CWD), said CSF President and CEO Jeff Crane. This legislation unites all interested CWD stakeholders  including Americas 55 million sportsmen and women  in a focused policy effort, and is an unprecedented step forward in addressing this concerning disease.

Chronic wasting disease is one of the greatest threats facing deer, elk and moose populations across the country, jeopardizing hunting opportunities, ecosystems, and our nations outdoor economy, said Mike Leahy, director for wildlife, hunting, and fishing policy for the National Wildlife Federation. We are grateful for Representatives Kind and Thompsons steadfast leadership on this critical issue. The bipartisan Chronic Wasting Disease Research and Management Act will help ensure state and tribal agencies on the front lines of controlling this disease have the resources they need to better understand and stop its spread.

Chronic wasting disease is not only a significant threat to deer, elk and moose, its a threat to the management of all wildlife that is supported by the pursuit of these impacted species by hunters. The CWD Research and Management Act will help states and tribes manage the disease locally while providing much needed financial support to researchers working to find ways to stop it, said Nick Pinizzotto, National Deer Association president and CEO.

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In celebration of Altras 90-year anniversary, La Crosse Mayor Mitch Reynolds has proclaimed October 19, 2021, as Altra Federal Credit Union Recognition Day.

State charted on October 19, 1931, as Trane Employees Credit Union sponsored by 33 Trane employees, including Reuben Trane, it later became federally charted and in 2005 officially changed the name to Altra Federal Credit Union.

Its great to be recognized by Mayor Reynolds said Altra President and Chief Executive Officer, Steve Koenen. Altra is proud of our history and service to members in La Crosse and throughout the Coulee Region.

Altra serves members at 16 locations nationwide including Wisconsin, Minnesota, Tennessee, and Texas, as well as inside Trane plants in New Jersey and Colorado.

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Help name the new mascots

New to Rotary Lights this year  its 27th  will be glowing male and female mascots. And area Rotary clubs and the Tribune need your help to give them just the right names.

Give us your suggestions on this form. If yours are chosen by a committee you could win $100 in Rotary Lights gear.

Were accepting nominations at https://go.lacrossetribune.com/rotarymascot until Nov. 8. The winning names will be announced at the Bandstand after the Rotary Lights parade on Friday, Nov. 26. Good luck.

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A Madison man suspected of speeding and driving drunk before a crash that killed three high school seniors earlier this month was formally charged Monday with multiple counts of homicide.

In a criminal complaint filed Monday but not available until Tuesday, Eric N. Mehring, 30, was charged with three counts of homicide by drunken driving, three counts of second-degree reckless homicide and two counts of second-degree reckless endangerment in the Oct. 2 crash in the town of Middleton that killed the students, two from Middleton and one from Madison West.

According to the complaint, which largely mirrors a search warrant filed last week in Dane County Circuit Court seeking a sample of Mehrings blood taken by UW Hospital, Mehring told Dane County Sheriffs Detective William Hendrickson the crash happened because of too much speed and more drinks than I should have had to drive.

Killed in the crash were Madison West senior Simon Bilessi and Middleton seniors Evan Kratochwill and Jack Miller.

The complaint, like the search warrant, states a preliminary breath test found Mehrings blood alcohol concentration to be just over 0.24 percent, three times the legal limit of 0.08 percent for drivers in Wisconsin. Mehring also told investigators he was going 75 mph before the crash, a speed he attributed to overconfidence, the complaint states.

Sheriffs spokesperson Elise Schaffer said Tuesday that Mehring, who was hospitalized for injuries he sustained in the crash, was transferred to the custody of the sheriffs office Tuesday afternoon.

No court appearance has been scheduled yet.

According to the complaint:

A couple reported to investigators at the crash scene that just prior to the crash, they were driving westbound on Mineral Point Road when they saw a car coming at them going east in the westbound lane of traffic. They had to drive into the ditch to avoid a head-on collision, near Welcome Drive.

At UW Hospital, Hendrickson spoke with Mehring who said he was traveling from Morgans, a bar in Pine Bluff. He said he had been home most of the day but left around 7 p.m. to go to Target. He said he got to Morgans around 8 p.m. and stayed for about 1 to two hours. Mehring said he had one drink before he left his home to go out and two rum and Cokes at the bar.

Driving east on Mineral Point Road in his 2016 Jaguar, Mehring told Hendrickson he went over a small hill when he saw brake lights in front of him within his lane. He tried to stop, he said, but he was going too fast for conditions and was unable to stop, striking the car in front of him straight on from behind.

Mehring said he believed he was going 75 mph because he had looked down at his speedometer at one point and saw thats what it read.

Mehrings apartment on Rustling Birch Road is only about 1 miles from the crash site near the intersection of Mineral Point Road and Karls Court.

The 2013 Chevy Cruz struck by Mehrings Jaguar ended up in a cornfield where it burned. Autopsies of all three who were in the car found they died from blunt force trauma due to the crash impact.

A second search warrant, also filed Monday, sought permission to take a vehicle component called a restraint control module from Mehrings Jaguar. If the module is still in good condition, data about the operation of the car, such as speed, could be extracted from it, the search warrant states.

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An Eau Claire man pleaded guilty Tuesday to a misdemeanor charge related to his role in the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 as Congress was set to certify the election of Joe Biden as president.

Kevin D. Loftus, 53, pleaded guilty to parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building, a misdemeanor that carries up to six months in prison.

Appearing by video in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., Loftus answered a series of yes or no questions put to him by U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich before entering his guilty plea.

Loftus is scheduled to be sentenced by Friedrich on Jan. 31.

The plea agreement does not specify a sentence that will be sought for Loftus, but in addition to six months of possible prison time, the parading charge carries a fine of up to $5,000. The agreement will require Loftus to pay $500 in restitution to help pay for the estimated $1.5 million damage done to the Capitol during the riot.

According to a criminal complaint, Loftus was identified using a photograph taken of him in the Capitol, and others posted to his Facebook account. A witness also identified him.

The complaint states Loftus also posted to his Facebook page a link to a New York Post story about the riot at the Capitol, along with the admission, "I am wanted by the FBI for illegal entry." He also posted that he is in an FBI photo lineup of people wanted for the Capitol invasion, adding, "lol."

According to a statement of facts filed with the plea agreement, and quoted in court Tuesday, Loftus also posted on Facebook, "Some of us are in it to win it."

When interviewed by the FBI Loftus admitted he walked inside the Capitol on Jan. 6 and took several photos while he was inside the building.

At least four other Wisconsin men also face charges for entering the Capitol on Jan. 6.

Brandon Nelson, 29, of Madison, is to be sentenced on Dec. 10 after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor charge of parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol Building. Abram Markofski, of La Crosse, who traveled with Nelson and pleaded guilty to the same charge, is set for sentencing on Dec. 3.

Joshua Munn, of Melrose, is set for a status conference in November, while Michael Fitzgerald, of Janesville, is set for a status conference in December.
A Dane County judge has agreed to temporarily halt construction of a power line through southwest Wisconsin, provided opponents of the project can come up with millions of dollars to cover potential costs of a delay.

Utilities had planned to begin building the $492 million Cardinal-Hickory Creek transmission line between Middleton and Dubuque, Iowa, on Oct. 25, according to court documents.

Judge Jacob Frost granted a request Monday for an injunction to put the project on hold while the courts consider challenges to its permit, agreeing that clearing land would result in damage that could not be easily repaired if the line is ultimately stopped.

This power line could still very well happen, Frost said. The one bell that really cant be unrung is if I let the work go forward while the process is still being challenged.

A joint venture of American Transmission Co., ITC Midwest and Dairyland Power Cooperative, the 102-mile line is the subject of multiple state and federal legal challenges from the Driftless Area Land Conservancy and Wisconsin Wildlife Federation.

The plaintiffs said an injunction was necessary to prevent irreparable damage to Southwest Wisconsins landscape, natural environment, family farms, rural communities, and businesses that would result from cutting trees, bulldozing 150-foot-wide corridors and pouring foundations.

In a statement, ATC said it is disappointed by the order and that, if implemented, a delay could add $30 million to the price tag. The injunction will cause needless construction delays, postpone the delivery of essential project benefits to electric consumers, and add unnecessary costs to this essential capital project  costs which will ultimately be passed along to energy consumers, the company said.

The public shouldnt have to pay for an extra $30 million because DALC and WWF got an injunction they shouldnt have, ATC attorney Brian Potts told the judge.

A six-month delay would also cost ATC about $2 million in profits, according to the company.

Frost ordered the plaintiffs to post a bond of $32 million to cover those costs should the project ultimately go forward.

Howard Learner, the lead attorney for DALC and WWF, argued the bond amount is unaffordable and amounts to another due-process violation. Learner suggested a bond of $10,000, which is substantial for a not-for-profit group.

Frost said there was evidence to support the potential damages, and nonprofit organizations arent exempt.

My hands are tied by the statute, Frost said. The law is what it is.

Learner said the groups are still considering their options as they seek a similar injunction from the federal courts, where they have challenged three construction permits. A hearing on that request is scheduled for Friday.

That excessive bond provision defies common sense, impairs meaningful citizen participation, and inflicts irreparable harm without justification, Learner said. It is contrary to fundamental fairness and undermines public confidence in the fairness of the utility regulatory and judicial review system.

Case on hold

The case before Frost is on hold while the state Supreme Court considers whether a former regulators relationships with utility executives created a conflict of interest that could invalidate the permit.

The utilities, which have spent at least $126.4 million so far on the project, say it is critical to ensuring Wisconsin can transition to a cleaner, more reliable, and more affordable energy future by enabling the import of energy from wind turbines in Iowa.

DALC and WWF, along with Dane County and other local governments, challenged the PSCs unanimous approval of the project, which they argue is an unneeded boondoggle that will be a blight on the sensitive Driftless region.

The groups claim that former Public Service Commissioner Mike Huebschs personal relationships with executives connected to the project created an appearance of bias, which Frost said would be enough to invalidate the permit.

In September the state Supreme Court agreed to take up that part of the challenge after Huebsch argued that is an impossible and unlawful standard for public officials.

Subpoena blocked

The high court also blocked a subpoena requiring Huebsch to testify in court, effectively putting the lower court case on hold.

Huebsch applied to be CEO of Dairyland after leaving the commission in February 2020, though he did not get the job. In June, the project owners revealed that Huebsch had communicated with utility executives using the encrypted messaging app Signal and asked the PSC to revoke and reissue the permit. The PSC has not acted on that request.

Huebsch has testified he used Signal to send encrypted, ephemeral messages to longtime friends in the industry but never to discuss official commission business. And he says he applied for the job as a courtesy to Brian Rude, a friend and mentor who was the La Crosse-based utilitys director of regulatory affairs.

Huebsch, a former state legislator and member of Gov. Scott Walkers cabinet, argues such relationships do not constitute a conflict of interest.

While the question remains before the Supreme Court, Frost indicated that the plaintiffs are likely to succeed with their bias claims, which would undermine public faith in the PSC.

The problem is when you cant trust the process, when people look at it and say it doesnt look like it was fair, Frost said. If you dont have the process protected, what do the results matter?

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Shoppers and employees at Park City Center were stunned and shocked by a shooting on Sunday that left four people injured.

But older shoppers and Lancaster County residents may recall another shooting at the mall - an incident in 1984 that left one man dead and three wounded, and led to a trial that made front-page headlines for days.

Here's a look back at newspaper coverage of the fatal shooting at the Italian Delight pizza shop in 1984.

The shooting

About 10 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 9, 1984, a "wild exchange of gunfire" in the west mall of Park City left three men injured, one critically, the Intelligencer Journal reported.

In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, a fourth man was injured when he was struck on the head with the butt of a pistol.

The shooting was the result of an argument and fight between several men in the Italian Delight restaurant, which had its main entrance in the JC Penney mall. The fight spilled out the back door of the restaurant into the west mall, where gunfire erupted while dozens of mall patrons looked on in horror.

The next day, the mall had reopened - though the Italian Delight restaurant remained closed - and a clearer image of the chaotic events of the previous night began to appear.

The injured men were Mario Cumano, 22, who was in critical condition at St. Joseph Hospital after receiving 30 pints of blood; brothers Andrea and Antonio Romeo, 32 and 30, who were in serious condition after being shot in the abdomen and the leg, respectively; and Russell Geier, 21, a shopper who was pistol-whipped when he tried to tackle a fleeing gunman, initially believed to be Joseph Cumano, 20, brother of the critically injured Mario.

Police said the argument started in the restaurant after it had closed for the night, and the first shot was fired inside. The fight then proceeded into the mall, where three more shots were fired. Park City had closed at 9:30 p.m. but the west mall was still busy with bar and restaurant patrons from the nearby Barrels Whiskey & Rhyme.

More than a dozen people - witnesses and suspected participants in the fracas - were questioned by police. Also on the scene were representatives of the Pennsylvania Crime Commission, which was seeking connections between the shooting and organized crime.

Involved in the argument and gunfight were the Romeo brothers, who were employees of Italian Delight, the Cumano brothers, who were employees of Two Guys pizza shop in Mechanicsburg, Luigi Mazzella, owner of Italian Delight, and at least one other man.

Police said Mario Cumano and Antonio Romeo shot each other at about the same time in the west mall. Joseph Cumano fled the mall after the shooting, but was apprehended later that night at the Pizza Hut near the Manheim Pike entrance to the Park City parking lot.

By the end of the weekend, Mario Cumano had died of his injuries, and Antonio "Tony" Romeo was charged with homicide.

The aftermath

The following week, Antonio Romeo was released from the hospital and his bail was set at $1 million - said to be the highest bail ever set in Lancaster County at that time.

About a month after the shooting, Joseph Cumano, who initially faced charges related to allegedly pistol-whipping Geier, was released from Lancaster County Prison and all charges against him were dropped. Police said the charges had been based on "mistaken identity."

On Dec. 19, Michael Costagliola, 21, was charged with simple assault instead. Police said he was the one who attacked Geier, but he did not participate in the gunfight, rather choosing to flee as soon as shots were fired. (He was later convicted and sentenced to probation and a $1,000 fine.)

Antonio Romeo went to trial in May of 1985, claiming that Mario Cumano was the aggressor in the fight, and that he killed Cumano in self-defense. Prosecutors said they were not seeking any particular verdict, but asked the jury to consider first-degree murder, third-degree murder, voluntary manslaughter or involuntary manslaughter.

Andy Fulmer, a former Italian Delight employee who witnessed the beginning of the confrontation, testified that the Cumano brothers threatened and punched Romeo before Romeo pulled out a rifle and fired a warning shot into the floor. Fulmer testified that the Cumanos had entered the restaurant several times that evening, shouting at and threatening shop owner Luigi Mazzella and arguing loudly. He said he didn't know what they were arguing about, as they were speaking Italian.

Romeo's attorney, A. Charles Peruto Jr., said that the Cumanos had come to the Italian Delight to "collect a debt."

After a three-day trial, a jury found Antonio Romeo not guilty. Jurors who spoke to the Lancaster New Era after the trial said the jury believed Romeo had acted in self-defense, "protecting his brother and cousin (Mazzella)." Romeo left the courtroom a free man.

Throughout the coverage of this 1984 shooting and its aftermath, speculation about connections with organized crime appeared frequently in the local newspapers, fueled by the involvement of the Pennsylvania Crime Commission, which included the shooting in their annual report on organized crime. However, the subject of organized crime was largely absent from the trial.
Lancaster County residents are encouraged through the end of October to share their opinions online about health issues for the Community Health Needs Assessment survey, which is released every three years.

The survey is available in English and Spanish.

The assessment seeks to ascertain community health needs by identifying health risks and inequities as well as the social determinants that contribute to disparities in health outcomes. It takes less than 10 minutes to complete.

Non-profit hospitals are required under the Affordable Care Act to complete a health needs assessment every three years. The most recent needs assessment was released in 2019.

In November, Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health and WellSpan Health who are coordinating the county assessment  will hold three presentations to provide some countywide public health data as well as seek community feedback on the most pressing public health issues.

Organizers are encouraging the public to fill out the survey and attend a virtual public presentation, held on Nov. 4, 10 and 12.

Because some of the countywide public health data dates from 2019 to 2020, we want to understand whats happening right now, Brenda Buescher, a health promotion specialist at Penn Medicine Lancaster General Hospital, told LNP | LancasterOnline Monday.

Previous assessments have been used to guide hospitals community benefit initiatives and included four priority areas for: basic health needs that include safe housing, food and access to health care; mental and behavioral health; healthy eating and physical activity and the environment.

A final report is expected in mid-2022.

To take the health assessment survey in English, go to https://redcap.lghealth.org/redcap/surveys/?s=CHANT39AME

To take the health assessment in Spanish, to go https://redcap.lghealth.org/redcap/surveys/?s=MCKM4RDKC4
What turned out to be a typical Sunday afternoon at Park City Center in Lancaster turned to a chaotic one as gunshots rang out in the mall.

The initial shooting stemmed from an altercation between two males who knew each other and at least one of them  a 16-year-old boy  had a gun, according to police. They, and other people, then struggled for the gun and the 16 year old fired at least two shots, striking at least one of the people involved in the altercation.

Then, police say an uninvolved bystander in a nearby store heard the gunshots. Armed with their own, legally-owned firearm, the bystander fired shots at the people fighting over the gun, striking one of the people involved in the fight, police said.

The fight then ended, and the bystander waited at the scene until officers arrived.

The mall does have a no-weapons policy, which is posted at entrances.

But what does state law say?

Heres a look at what Pennsylvania state law says about buying a firearm, openly carrying a firearm and carrying a concealed firearm:

Who can buy a firearm?

The minimum age to purchase a long gun (rifle, shot gun, semi-automatic rifle) is 18. The minimum age to purchase a handgun is 21.

The minimum age to possess a firearm in Pennsylvania is 18.

Who is prohibited from purchasing a firearm?

Undocumented immigrants, people who have been convicted of a violent crime, people who are declared mentally ill, are addicted to drugs and/or alcohol or who are fugitives are prohibited from owning firearms.

Those convicted of three separate DUI charges within a three-year period or are subject to an active protection from abuse order are also prohibited from owning firearms.

How do you purchase a firearm?

There are more than 2,700 federally-licensed firearms dealers in Pennsylvania, 60 of which are in Lancaster County, according to state police data. Regardless of what type of firearm is being purchased, customers must fill out an application that asks for basic information as well as questions about their criminal and mental health history.

Then, the firearms dealer will plug that information into the Pennsylvania Instant Check System (PICS) to determine if the buyer is eligible to own a firearm. There is usually a fee associated with the application process.

Implemented in 1998, PICS provides instant access to background records on an individual to determine if theyre eligible to own a firearm or a license to carry a firearm.

Firearms can also be purchased at a gun show from a federally licensed dealer, which would involve a background check.

Purchasing from someone who is not a federally licensed dealer, however, is a little different. Someone can privately purchase a long gun, such as a shotgun or a rifle, without having to go through a background check if they buy it from a private individual. Despite not needing a background check, it is illegal to sell a firearm to someone who is otherwise prohibited from owning one, regardless of if the seller is aware of disqualifying factors or not.

For private handgun purchases, the buyer and seller would need to go to a federally licensed firearms dealer to complete a firearms transfer.

What do I need in order to carry a concealed firearm?

A license to carry firearms is issued so a person can carry a firearm concealed on ones person or in a vehicle within Pennsylvania.

If you dont have a license to carry but want to transport your firearm in your car, you would need to carry the unloaded firearm and ammunition in two separate containers inside the vehicle.

Who can carry a concealed firearm?

State law states that anyone who is 21 years old or older can apply for a license to carry firearms at the sheriffs office of the county they reside in.

For Lancaster County, theres a $20 fee per application.

Once the application has been submitted, the sheriff must issue the license to carry firearms within 45 days unless the Pennsylvania Instant Check System shows there are records that indicate the person is prohibited from owning a firearm.

In accordance with 18 PA C.S. 6109, a sheriff may deny an individual the right to a License to Carry Firearms if there is reason to believe that the character and reputation of the individual are such that they would be likely to act in a manner dangerous to public safety, according to state polices website. If the PICS check is approved and the subject is of good character, the sheriff may issue a License to Carry Firearms.

Once issued, a license is valid for five years unless sooner revoked.

Pennsylvania State Police reports that 9,679 licenses to carry firearms were issued in Lancaster County 2019.

When is an application denied?

There are a number of reasons why a license may not be issued, including:

An individual whose character and reputation is such that the individual would be likely to act dangerously in public.

An individual has been convicted of an offense under the Controlled Substance, Drug, Device and Cosmetic Act of 1972, or adjudicated delinquent for a crime in the last 10 years.

Being convicted of a crime relating to persons not to possess, use, manufacture, control, sell or transfer firearms, or adjudicated delinquent for a crime in the last 10 years.

An individual who is not of sound mind or has ever been committed to a mental institution.

An individual who is a habitual drunkard.

Once issued, a license is valid for five years unless sooner revoked.

Where can I openly carry a firearm?

As long as youre a law-abiding citizen and are allowed to carry a firearm, you can openly carry a firearm in public places.

State law requires people openly carrying a firearm to have a license to carry in cities of the first class, or cities with a population of over one million. The only first-class city in Pennsylvania is Philadelphia.

It also generally accepted that it is not legal to carry a firearm onto private property if the owner or a representative has requested or posted that no firearms are permitted.

Where cant I openly carry a firearm?

Open and concealed carrying of firearms is prohibited in schools, courthouses, federal buildings or prisons. Although, a person with a LTCF (concealed carry license) may carry a concealed firearm in Pa. state parks.

Can I wear a mask while carrying a firearm?

While in some states it's illegal, there's no statute that prohibits wearing a mask while carrying a firearm.

Lancaster County Sheriff Christopher Leppler confirmed that there's no Pennsylvania law that criminalizes carrying a firearm while masked.
A School District of Lancaster principal whose hiring was questioned in the spring resigned last week following an investigation into allegations made by several employees, LNP | LancasterOnline has confirmed.

David Krakoff, the former principal of Smith-Wade-El Elementary School, left his post months after the school board appointed him in March and, two months later, assigned him to the school, then named Buchanan Elementary School.

According to the school district, Krakoff had been working from home since Sept 10. Since then, the school district conducted a comprehensive investigation into allegations, the specifics of which the school district declined to provide.

In this case, we conducted a comprehensive investigation of allegations by several employees at Smith-Wade-El, district Superintendent Damaris Rau said in an email through the districts spokesperson. We interviewed every staff member in the building and confirmed written statements with employees.

The investigation, Rau said, found no evidence of wrongdoing by Krakoff at Smith-Wade-El Elementary School.

Still, the Lancaster school board approved Krakoffs resignation on Oct. 12 by a 5-4 vote. The four no votes belong to board Vice President Robin Goodson and board members Salina Almanzar, Ramon Escudero and Kareena Rios.

After the meeting, Almanzar said she was happy with the outcome, but she would not explain her vote because it dealt with personnel matters. Goodson and Escudero also declined to comment for the same reason. Rios, who attended the meeting virtually, did not respond to a request for comment.

There were no public comments about Krakoff's resignation during the meeting.

After a reporter attempted to contact Krakoff, his lawyer, Anthony Bowser of Krevsky Bowser in Lemoyne, responded via email, asking the reporter to send questions for consideration. Bowser has not responded to questions sent Thursday.

Parent concerns

When the school district hired Krakoff, Rau attempted to settle parent concerns over reports of sexual harassment at Krakoffs previous school district: Martin County School District in Florida.

In July 2018, Treasure Coast Newspapers in Florida reported that Krakoff violated the districts sexual harassment policy after sending inappropriate text messages to another educator on his staff.

Krakoff messaged the teacher: I think more of you than you know, Im afraid to tell you! and I hope you know I adore you, according to the report.

Ten days after he was reassigned to another school, Krakoff resigned, the report states.

I want to acknowledge that some of you may be aware of an online article from Florida that mentions Mr. Krakoff, Rau wrote in a May letter to parents. Please be assured that our human resources team has a rigorous process for candidates for employment, and includes many stakeholders in our search.

Suzanna Stoltzfus, a parent of a Smith-Wade-El third-grade student, said she wrote to Rau urging her to not hire Krakoff, but Rau vouched for him. When Krakoff began working from home last month, Stoltzfus and other parents were left in the dark, she said.

I am just heartbroken. Its such a great little school, and this should be a very exciting time for the community, and its just awful, Stoltzfus said of the school, which has a new name and a new building this year.

Parents received a letter from Rau on Oct. 12 informing them of Krakoffs resignation.

I acknowledge the frustration that your childs school is again under temporary leadership, Rau said. We will begin our search for a principal immediately and will not rest until we have found a candidate who meets our standards for a school administrator.

Raus letter continued: At the same time, we expect and fully support the staff at SWE will ensure students experience business as usual, and we are committed to ensuring the students and staff at SWE have all the support they need to learn and grow during this time of transition.

Rau held a parent-only meeting two days later.

Chris Lopez, the districts executive director of student services, is providing onsite administrative support at Smith-Wade-El at this time, a district spokesperson said. He will continue to do so until an interim principal or fill-time replacement is hired.
Lancaster Countys mail ballots require only one stamp to return, the countys top election official said Monday.

Nearby counties, including Berks and Cumberland, are receiving reports from voters that their post offices are requiring them to pay for extra postage or attach an additional stamp to send the heavier and lengthier municipal mail ballots to their county elections office. Postage is partly determined by the mails weight.

All of Lancaster Countys mail ballots for the Nov. 2 Municipal Election are printed on two sheets of paper -- meaning they should all be the same weight -- and only require one First Class stamp to return, said Christa Miller, the countys chief clerk and registrar for the county Board of Elections.

On Monday, Lancaster Countys Board of Elections received approximately 3,000 completed mail ballots, and Miller estimated that 99.8% of them had only one stamp. That other 0.2%, she guessed, were from people who routinely attach extra postage when placing their post in the mail.

Even if a voter did not attach the proper amount of postage, it is United States Postal Service policy to deliver the ballot and attempt to collect that postage cost from the county Board of Elections at a later date, a USPS spokesperson told LNP | LancasterOnline earlier this year.

Any mail would always make it to us, Miller added. Because its election mail, it will never get sent back to the voter. It will always get delivered to us.

In a text message to voters, the Department of State nudged voters to return their mail ballots as soon as possible to reach their local election office by Nov. 2 at 8 p.m. The text message also reminded voters to attach proper postage, adding it might take two stamps!

Lancaster County had first-hand experience with postage issues in Mays primary election. The countys previous vendor attached incorrect voting instructions for 2,700 voters. That vendor, now known as Plerus, accidentally attached mail ballot instructions intended for Delaware County voters. Delaware County did not require voters to add postage to their return envelopes, while Lancaster County did.

Plerus accepted responsibility for the error -- and several other errors that eventually led to a hand transfer of 12,600 mail ballots. The county severed its contract with the Kalamazoo, Michigan-based company earlier this year. Lancaster County now contracts with NPC Inc., a Blair County-based printer. The county already uses NPC Inc. to print its ballots used for in-person voting on Election Day.

Voters must apply for a mail ballot by next Tuesday, Oct. 26, at 5 p.m. to receive a mail ballot for the upcoming municipal election. Voters who apply for a mail ballot close to that deadline are encouraged to return their ballot in-person to the county Board of Elections drop box at the Chestnut Street entrance to the Lancaster County Government Center, 150 N. Queen St., Lancaster. Mail ballots must be received by 8 p.m. on Nov. 2.

The drop box is available weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. through Oct. 27, and until 8 p.m. Thursday and Friday, Oct. 28, and 29. It will be available from 8 a.m. to noon Saturday, Oct. 30; from 8:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday, Nov. 1; and from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Election Day, Nov. 2.

County officials are reminding voters that the Pennsylvania Election Code states that each voter may only return his or her own mail ballot.
When: Clay Township supervisors meeting, Oct. 11, in-person.

What happened: Supervisors voted 2-1 to amend the townships fencing ordinance. The ordinance will now allow a 6-foot height maximum and solid fences. Chair Tim Lausch and Vice Chair Keith Martin voted yes while Gary Landis voted no. Supervisors also unanimously voted to allow 8-foot-high fences with a rear access gate within the township's industrial zoning district.

Why it matters: Township manager Bruce Leisey said the township has received multiple requests for relief from residents to construct 6-foot solid fences. He added, over the last three or four years, with developments coming in with smaller backyards and people looking for privacy, weve had a lot more requests for solid fences, 6-foot-high fences.

Ordinance history: The ordinance dates back to 1988, when a 5-foot fence height was the maximum height. Township solicitor Jennifer Mejia said traditionally the township has allowed higher fences if the neighbor of the applicant provides consent. She added the topography of the land has dictated the height of the fence in some cases. The ordinance prohibited solid fences.

Background: Resident Michael Pritt was among the many residents who have requested relief in the previous ordinance to construct a 6-foot solid fence on his property. Earlier this year, he told the supervisors he was constructing the fence to protect his small children from his neighbors dog, and for privacy. He intends to construct the fence 3 feet from the property line.

Neighbors viewpoint: Pritts neighbors, Gary and Jennie Rothweiler, shared their opinions on the amendment change with Clay officials. Jennie Rothweiler said she and her husband enjoyed the view from their sunroom on the rancher, adding they wanted to keep the green. She said a 6-foot fence would essentially eliminate our entire view from our backyard, calling it, a real hardship. Rothweiler did say they agreed theyd be open to Pritt constructing a 4-foot fence to accomplish his objective of providing security for his small children.

The no vote: Supervisor Gary Landis, who voted no, acknowledged during an Oct. 12 phone call, there are some things the government has the responsibility. However, relating to a fence between two properties, he said, it's just those two people and not anybody else.

Quotable: Forcing people to get together and compromise, and they decide for each other what is the best thing for the both of them, in the end, is better than the government making the decision for them, Landis said after the meeting.

Whats next: Supervisors will hold their next meeting at 7 a.m. on Oct. 26 at the township building, 870 Durlach Road, Stevens.
THE ISSUE

Six shots were fired at Park City Center on Sunday afternoon, police said, resulting in multiple people injured. As LNP | LancasterOnlines Dan Nephin reported, police said an initial shooting stemmed from an altercation between two males who knew each other and at least one of them  a 16-year-old boy  had a gun. They and other people then struggled for the gun and the 16-year-old fired at least two shots, striking at least one of the people involved. An unnamed bystander, who had been in a store nearby, heard the shots, came over and  then engaged the subjects fighting over the gun and fired shots, striking one of the suspects.  Police said the 16-year-old was the initial shooter and would be charged; he was taken to a hospital for treatment, Nephin reported. Two males involved in the initial altercation were also shot, but their injuries are not life-threatening, police said. A fourth person, a female passing by with her family, was shot in the arm, police said; her injury also is not life-threatening. The Lancaster County District Attorney's office is investigating the bystanders actions. The unnamed bystander had a legal gun, but Park City Center prohibits weapons.

There are certain calculations that are made when a shooting takes place in a public space in the United States.

There is a threshold that must be met in order for a local story to become a national story. It usually depends on how many people are killed (the minimum needed to garner widespread attention keeps rising all the time), or whether there are any unusual circumstances (the age of the victims, for instance).

Sadly, there is nothing unusual about a shooting at a mall. (Google mall shootings  youll see what we mean.) Likewise Sunday afternoon shootings. Sundays used to be reserved for church services and family gatherings, but in this busy world, its become for many just another day to run errands, to grocery-shop, to go to the mall  where a shooting may take place, because gun violence is possible anywhere in 2021 America.

When a shooting occurs, its not just the police who search for evidence of a motive. We all peruse these news articles for some detail that will assure us that we were never really in danger, that this doesnt really concern us, that this was a private altercation that just got out of control, that gun violence is another communitys problem. As if bullets fired in a chaotic situation always find their intended targets. As if a shooting doesnt alter our perception of safety, no matter the circumstances.

We dont yet have enough information about what transpired Sunday at Park City Center to assess the actions of the bystander who intervened. But consider the following statistics. Guns rarely make us safer.

 According to the Harvard Injury Control Research Center website, Case-control studies, ecological time-series and cross-sectional studies indicate that in homes, cities, states and regions in the U.S., where there are more guns, both men and women are at a higher risk for homicide, particularly firearm homicide. And people in states with many guns have elevated rates of homicide, particularly firearm homicide.

 According to a 2014 Annals of Internal Medicine meta-analysis reported by Hopkins Bloomberg Public Health, having access to a gun triples a persons risk of suicide and nearly doubles the risk of being a homicide victim.

 As PBS NewsHour has reported, a 2017 National Bureau of Economic Research Study revealed that right-to-carry laws increase, rather than decrease, violent crime.

 And as the website of Childrens Hospital of Philadelphias Center for Violence Prevention states, people who die from accidental shooting were more than three times as likely to live in a home with a firearm.

Weve made no secret of our belief that our commonwealth and our nation need stronger gun safety regulations. We believe this because we want people to stay alive  which is the same reason we argue for mask-wearing and COVID-19 vaccination  and the research clearly shows that firearms are health hazards. (We know that many Lancaster County residents hunt. If youre among them, we just urge that you keep your hunting guns locked and unloaded, safely stored away from children and anyone else who might use them, accidentally or purposefully, in dangerous ways. And we thank you if you already do this.)

There are more guns in circulation in the United States than there are people  more than 393 million guns, approximately 120.5 guns for every 100 people, as the Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia website notes.

So perhaps it shouldnt surprise us when a shooting occurs at a movie theater or a grocery store or a college campus or in a neighborhood or home. Guns are everywhere.

And were supposed to live with this fact, as if its normal. Were supposed to be OK with the fact that only some mass shootings make the national news in the United States, and then only occupy our attention for a few days.

And were supposed to accept the fact that our kids have been drilled in how to respond to an armed intruder in their schools  run, hide, fight  so when they hear gunshots, they know how to react. A 24-year-old sales associate at a Park City jewelry store told LNP | LancasterOnline that when the shooting occurred, Your brain kind of shuts down in that instance and you just think Am I going to fight or am I going to run?  But she knew what to do: She quickly ushered customers behind the stores counters and told them to lie down. She later directed them to a back room. We greatly admire her composure and courage, but were also deeply sorry that she had been prepared for just this kind of situation because she lives in a country where gun violence is not surprising.

How long will we be asked to accept that this is just the way things are, to accept gun violence as a fact of American life?

It seems clear that were supposed to accept the reality that nowhere is safe, not even schools and places of worship. Or the mall on a Sunday afternoon in Lancaster County.
This is a desperate plea for all parents, grandparents  or any others who pay school taxes  to attend the next school board meeting in your district or your grandchildrens district and keep attending.

Why? We must not allow children to be brainwashed with social justice issues, critical race theory, social-emotional learning curriculum and the explicit sex education curriculum called Rights, Respect and Responsibility, which I believe will soon be taught in a school near you, if it isnt already. Keep school to academics, not social or personal issues.

School boards have been told to contact the FBI to report parents they deem to be a threat to any school board member. Dont we have local authorities to oversee those issues? Could this be an intimidation tactic to hinder our free speech?

These are our children! We need, should and want to be the ones to teach our children about how to treat people, about sex, about when they need a mask and other personal choices. These are exactly that  personal. It is not up to any curriculum, teacher, union or school to talk about or force our children to be involved in others personal choices. Again, these children are sent to school for an academic education, not to become social justice warriors.

Let these school boards know we are watching. We will continue to watch. We will not be intimidated or bullied any longer. Our children need us now more than ever.

Read about what happened in Loudoun County, Virginia. Lets pray we never have to stand in that fathers shoes.

Connie Pickel

Paradise Township
Colin Powell Made Incomparable Mark on History

Colin Luther Powell, the first African American to serve as U.S. Secretary of State and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, succumbed on October 18, and even though he is physically gone, his achievements leave an indelible mark on the nations history.

Powell passed away following COVID-19 complications and multiple myeloma or cancer of the plasma blood cells, which greatly weakened his immune system despite being fully vaccinated. Also, his advanced age, which was 84-years-old, was an extenuating factor.

However, the retired four-star general blazed an unmatched path as a soldier and a statesman and his death prompted an outpouring of condolences from presidents, veterans, activists and business leaders. Politicians weighed in on his legacy as well since Powell was known for his ability to work successfully with Democrats and Republicans.

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He served as national security advisor under President Ronald Reagan, appointed to head the Joint Chiefs of Staff by President George H.W. Bush and continued for the beginning of President Bill Clintons administration. Congress unanimously confirmed Powell as secretary of state in President George W. Bushs cabinet where he served until 2004. When then-Senator Obama entered the 2008 Democratic presidential race, Powell famously gave his endorsement although he was a Republican.

Photo Gallery: Remembering Colin Powell

Colin embodied the highest ideals of both warrior and diplomat. He was committed to our nations strength and security above all. Having fought in wars, he understood better than anyone that military might alone was not enough to maintain our peace and prosperity, said President Joe Biden.

Time and again, he put country before self, before party, before all elsein uniform and outand it earned him the universal respect of the American people. Having repeatedly broken racial barriers, blazing a trail for others to follow in federal government service, Colin was committed throughout his life to investing in the next generation of leadership.

Former President Obama stated, General Colin Powell understood what was best in this country, and tried to bring his own life, career, and public statements in line with that ideal. Michelle and I will always look to him as an example of what America  and Americans  can and should be.

Former President Bush called Powell a great public servant and former President Jimmy Carter said Powells integrity will be an inspiration for generations to come. Sharing similar reflections, Vice President Kamala Harris said, Because of what he was able to accomplish, it really did elevate our nation in so many ways. Congresswoman Barbara Lee added, General Powell served this country with decency, integrity, and showed respect to everyone he encountered. May he rest in eternal peace and power.

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The son of Jamaican immigrants, Powell was proud to be Black and worked tirelessly on behalf of African Americans and other marginalized groups. During an appearance on Face The Nation in July 2020, he indicated support for the Black Lives Matter movement while speaking to host Margaret Brennan about the legacy of late civil rights icon, Congressman John Lewis.

There is a need for more John Lewiss, not just one, but many. Weve got a lot of work to do. And its not just a matter of how do we get Black Lives Matter or all lives matter. Its a matter of teaching young people. Its a matter of getting young people educated. Most of my life now is spent on education of young people and helping out my fellow citizens who are on the lower economic scale., insisted Powell, who advocated on behalf of people of color throughout his career.

While in the military, he often sought out Black officers and soldiers to offer words of encouragement. Remembering Powells impact, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, the first African American in the position, said, The world lost one of its greatest leaders we have ever witnessed.

Retired Army Major Gen. Dana Pittard, another Black officer, said to KTLA Morning News on October 18, When I think of him, I think of him as I did as a young captain in the army. I first met him in 1987. He was very special. He could relate and connect with literally anyone  from the youngest private all the way to presidents.

Pittard served under Powell overseas and recalled, I watched him in Germany relate to the German people as well as to the men and women who served under his command. Gen. Colin Powell was a trailblazer and what a difference that made for young officers like myself who said, Maybe I can do that. He influenced multiple generations of soldiers.

The Long Beach Unified School District opened the Colin Powell Academy for Success in 1999, which Powell said was the most meaningful and treasured honor he had ever received. A humble man, he came to the dedication of the facility and declined the districts offer to rent a limousine to ferry him to the ceremony.

In an interview with KABC News, Carl Cohn, then-LBUSD superintendent, recalled, He said, No, I dont need a limousine. What kind of car does the superintendent drive? After being told that the vehicle was a Ford Taurus, Powell asked, Is he a safe driver? Hearing an affirmative answer, Powell said, Have the superintendent pick me up in his car and drive me to the school.

Cohn said Powell told the students to have pride in themselves, have integrity, to lead and to always do the right thing. Ill never forget how focused he was on the students there, the difficult circumstances of their background and talking to them about how important education was in terms of making a better life for themselves, said the superintendent.

A native of New York, Powell was born on April 5, 1937 in Harlem. Raised in the South Bronx, he graduated from Morris High School in 1954 and enrolled in City College of New York, where he entered the Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC). In 1958, he was commissioned a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army. He went on to amass a memorable military career, serving two tours in Vietnam, one tour in Korea and receiving multiple promotions.

Powell also earned a MBA from George Washington University in 1972 and attended the National War College followed by promotions to brigadier general, major general, and senior military aide to Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger before his assignment under President Reagan. After working in several presidential administrations, Powell retired and joined his wife, Alma, in working on their nonprofit foundation, Americas Promise Alliance, which focused on developing resources to assist children and youth from underserved communities in being successful in life.

Powell was also the author of a number of books. His 2012 memoir, It Worked For Me, is often cited for revealing insight on the values that guided his life and career. The book contains 13 principles that Powell recommended to people aspiring to leadership roles.

Those rules to live by are noted as (1) it aint as bad as you think, itll look better in the morning, (2) get mad and then get over it, (3) avoid having your ego so close to your position that when your position falls, your ego goes with it, (4) it can be done, (5) be careful what you choose, you may get it, (6) dont let adverse facts stand in the way of a good decision, (7) you cant make someone elses choices, you shouldnt let someone else make yours, (8) check small things, (9) share credit, (10) remain calm, be kind, (11) have a vision, be demanding, (12) dont take counsel of your fears or naysayers, and (13) perpetual optimism is a force multiplier.
Disney delays Indiana Jones 5, Black Panther 2 releases

The Walt Disney Co. is pushing back the release dates of many of its upcoming titles, including the untitled Indiana Jones movie and the Black Panther sequel Wakanda Forever.

The company said Monday that the fifth Indiana Jones, a James Mangold-directed and Steven Spielberg-produced installment which sees the return of Harrison Ford as the adventurous archaeologist, will be delayed almost a year and open in theaters in June 2023.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever has also been pushed several months, from July 2022 to November 2022. Both films are currently in production.

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Other Marvel titles like Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Thor: Love and Thunder, The Marvels and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania were also all delayed several months.
Jury selection begins in trial over Ahmaud Arberys death

As jury selection got slowly underway Monday in the trial of three white men charged with fatally shooting Ahmaud Arbery as he was running in their Georgia neighborhood, potential jurors said they came in with negative feelings about the case and worried about the personal consequences of serving on the jury.

The slaying of the 25-year-old Black man sparked a national outcry fueled by graphic video of the shooting leaked online more than two months after Arbery was killed. Father and son Greg and Travis McMichael and their neighbor William Roddie Bryan are charged with murder and other crimes in Arberys death on Feb. 23, 2020, just outside the port city of Brunswick.

With hundreds called, jury selection could last two weeks or more. Arberys father said he was praying for an impartial panel and a fair trial, saying Black crime victims too often have been denied justice.

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This is 2021, and its time for a change, Marcus Arbery Sr. told The Associated Press. We need to be treated equally and get fair justice as human beings, because weve been treated wrong so long.

The first panel of 20 jurors was sworn in and questioned Monday afternoon.

When Judge Timothy Walmsley asked the group if their minds were neutral regarding both sides of the case, only one raised a hand. Asked if they were already leaning toward either side, about half raised their hands to indicate yes.

Please raise your card if you would like to serve on this jury, prosecutor Linda Dunikoski instructed as she wrapped up her questions for the group.

At first, nobody did. Finally, one young man raised his hand.

Jason Sheffield, one of Travis McMichaels attorneys, asked the group whether they had any negative feelings about the three defendants. More than half raised their hands.

After being questioned as a group, the potential jurors were questioned individually. Their answers reflected the intense attention the case has attracted, their existing ideas about the case and their apprehensions about being involved in such a high-profile case.

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An Air Force veteran and gun owner who was the first to be questioned said he had a negative impression of Greg McMichael but not the other defendants.

I got the impression he was stalking, the man said, saying he based that on news coverage and from seeing the video of the shooting fewer than five times.

From what I observed, he appeared to be the lead dog, the panel member said of Greg McMichael, a retired investigator for the local district attorneys office. Still, he said he had not made up his mind about innocence or guilt.

Another panelist said he had seen so much about the slaying in the news and on social media that Im sick of it.

He said he shared the video of Arberys shooting on social media and discussed the case with his brothers  one of whom was also among the 1,000 people mailed a jury summons in the case.

A retired accountant said she had negative feelings about the defendants but tried to avoid an opinion on guilt or innocence. She also expressed misgivings about sitting on the jury.

How would I feel if I was asked to render a verdict that was unpopular? she said. Any verdict, guilty or innocent, is going to be unpopular with some people.

Maybe Id even feel unsafe, she added.

The court hasnt identified the race of any of the prospective jurors.

Arberys killing stoked outrage during a period of national protests over racial injustice. More than two months passed before the McMichaels and Bryan were charged and jailed  only after the video leaked online and state investigators took over the case.

Prosecutors say Arbery was merely jogging when the McMichaels grabbed guns and chased him in a pickup truck. Bryan joined the pursuit in his own truck and recorded the now-infamous cellphone video of Travis McMichael shooting Arbery three times at close range with a shotgun.

As she was questioned by defense attorneys, one potential juror  a young woman whos a teacher  had harsh words for Bryan.

His videotaping the scene was disgusting and vicious, she said. However, at the same time Im thankful that he did, because we are able to see what happened.

Defense attorneys insist the three men committed no crimes. Greg McMichael told police they believed Arbery was a burglar after security cameras previously recorded him entering a nearby home under construction. He said Travis McMichael fired in self-defense after Arbery punched him and tried to grab his weapon.

Investigators have testified that they found no evidence of crimes by Arbery, who was unarmed, in the Satilla Shores subdivision.

As a precaution against the coronavirus, 600 jury pool members were ordered to report to a gymnasium to provide room for social distancing. They were summoned to the courthouse in groups of 20, Glynn County Superior Court Clerk Ronald Adams said.

Ultimately, 12 jurors will be seated plus four alternates to fill in for any jurors who get sick or are dismissed before the trial ends.

The judge dismissed eight total potential jurors before adjourning Monday evening. Four others were individually interviewed but no final decision was made on their status. Jury selection was to resume Tuesday morning.

Once a jury is seated, the trial itself could take more than two weeks, Adams said.
LAPD Calls Ghost Guns an `Epidemic in LA, with 400% Increase Since 2017

The proliferation of ghost guns  some of which can be put together within 30 minutes  has increased exponentially over the last year and has become an epidemic, according to a Los Angeles Police Department report that will be reviewed by the police commission tomorrow.bThe virtually untraceable weapons, which dont have serial numbers, have increased by about 400% in Los Angeles since 2017, according to the LAPDs data on recovered firearms. The current trend shows these figures will continue to grow exponentially, the LAPD said in its report, which notes that 3D printing allows the components to be more accessible.

Ghost guns can be assembled by unlicensed buyers from legally purchased kits. The LAPD reported that a polymer 9mm ghost handgun takes between 30 minutes and two hours to assemble. The unfinished parts are inexpensive and not required under federal law to have serial numbers or a background check to purchase. According to the gun control advocacy organization Everytown For Gun Safety, an AR-15 ghost gun kit and lower receiver can be purchased for $345.

Ghost guns are replacing firearms people would normally purchase, with no background checks required, the LAPD report said. Ghost guns are often used in violent crimes in Los Angeles, according to the report. So far this year, 24 murders, eight attempted murders, 60 assaults with deadly weapons and 20 armed robberies involved ghost guns. Between January and June of this year, 863 ghost guns were recovered, more than the 813 that were recovered during the entire year of 2020. Ghost guns are an epidemic not only in Los Angeles, but nationwide, the LAPD report said.

Nationally, 8,712 ghost guns were recovered in 2020, while only 2,507 were recovered in 2017, the LAPD said, citing a report from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. The LAPD report, while citing an approximate 400% increase in the city in that time span, did not provide specific numbers.

The Los Angeles City Council on Aug. 31 took a major step toward prohibiting the possession, purchase, sale, receipt and transportation of ghost guns in Los Angeles by ordering the City Attorneys Office to draft an ordinance. When we see an increase in homicides here, and when we see that the LAPD reports that 40% of the crime guns recovered are ghost guns, we know that we have a very urgent critical situation that needs to be addressed, Councilman Paul Krekorian said on Aug. 31 before the unanimous vote to pass the

motion he introduced with Councilman Paul Koretz on Aug. 10.

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LAPD Deputy Chief Kris Pitcher told council members before the vote that 1,084 ghost guns had been recovered so far in 2021, and the department expects it could recover 2,500 by the end of the year. Ghost guns have been around for approximately nine years, however,

they have surfaced as a major problem in 2020, Pitcher said.

That motion also directed the LAPD to report on the impact of ghost guns in Los Angeles through the report presented to the police commission on Tuesday. Ghost guns were used during a 2013 shooting at Santa Monica College in which six people, including the shooter, died; a series of shootings in Tehama County in 2017, in which five people died; and the 2019 shooting at Saugus High School in 2019, in which three students, including the shooter, were killed and three others were injured.

Once the City Attorneys Office prepares the draft ordinance, it will be sent to the City Council for a vote. Krekorian introduced a motion approved in February to authorize City Attorney Mike Feuer to negotiate contracts with two law firms to receive their pro bono services to develop and implement legal strategies to combat ghost guns.
Lewiston, ID (83501)

Today

Heavy rain early...then remaining cloudy with showers in the afternoon. High 46F. Winds NNW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall around a quarter of an inch..

Tonight

Mostly cloudy skies this evening will become partly cloudy after midnight. Low 33F. Winds light and variable.
Hugo Cyr (University of Quebec at Montreal), Catherine Gagnon, Jonathan Hotz-Garber, & Valerie Kelly have posted Judicially Licensed Unconstitutionality (55:2 University of British Columbia Law Review) on SSRN. Here is the abstract:

Canada prides itself on being a country living under a Constitution governed by the rule of law. That being said, we recognize that, at times, it may appear that acting by the requirements of the law would put the very existence of the State at risk. American judges have pithily remarked that their constitution was not a "suicide pact". Without using such a colorful aphorism, judicial bodies applying the Constitution of Canada have taken similar views. The Privy Council, for example, not only allowed the suspension of the rules for the division of legislative powers in time of war, thus enabling the Canadian Parliament to adopt legislation that would normally come under the exclusive jurisdiction of the provincial legislatures, but it also left it to the central government to determine until when the suspension was justified beyond the end of the war. The Supreme Court of Canada, in peacetime, made it possible for the federal Parliament to adopt temporary legislative measures that would normally fall within the exclusive jurisdiction of the provinces to combat an economic crisis characterized as a "national emergency". These were creative jurisprudential developments that, while admittedly extending the four corners of the law, aimed at containing the exercise of State powers within the bounds of the law.

In response to the state of emergency caused by the fact that the Manitoba Legislatures persistent violation of the constitutional dictates of the Manitoba Act, 1870 resulted in the fact that all the statutes it had adopted since the end of the 19th Century were invalid, the Supreme Court went step further in bending the principle of the rule of law. The emergency, here, was not caused by external events, but by the very workings of the law itself. To prevent the chaos and large legal void that would have been created by the immediate invalidation of all Manitoba statutes adopted between 1890 and 1985, the Supreme Court took the unprecedented measure to declare that [a]ll Acts of the Manitoba Legislature which would currently be valid and of force and effect, were it not for their constitutional defect, are deemed temporarily valid and effective from the date of this judgment to the expiry of the minimum period necessary for translation, reenactment, printing and publishing. The Court wrote that it was [i]t is only in this way that legal chaos can be avoided and the rule of law preserved.

The Reference re Manitoba Language Rights engaged the Canadian judiciary down a slippery slope leading to weakened constitutional protections. Indeed, the Supreme Court has since developed a habit of endorsing the temporary maintenance of laws that it considers to be unconstitutional. Other courts have followed the Supreme Courts example and added this judicial mechanism to their judicial toolbox. Thus, the Reference re Manitoba Language Rights opened the door to what we call judicially licensed unconstitutionality (JLU). Contrary to the use of the notwithstanding clause of s. 33 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms that may be used by legislators to shield statutes from the risk of having them declared unconstitutional, JLU, by definition, shields provisions that we know are unconstitutional. Indeed, it is a practice whereby courts recognize that a statute is invalid, unconstitutional, but nonetheless, let it operate during a certain grace period to allow Parliament and Legislatures to remedy its deficiencies. The courts thus apply knowingly legally invalid norms during a set period. That period may also be judicially extended. Since the Reference re Manitoba Language Rights, what was meant to be exceptional, became normalized and courts came to use this technique rather casually  without all the media attention that is otherwise given to the rare moments where the use of the notwithstanding clause is contemplated by legislators.

In this article, we intend to offer reflections on the normalization of the exception in our constitutional order. We present a genealogy of judicially licensed unconstitutionality (JLU) based on an examination of all 147 appellate cases in Canada  be they from provincial courts of appeal, the Federal Court of Appeal, or the Supreme Court of Canada  where suspended declarations of unconstitutionality have been used or discussed between 1985 and 2020. We thus begin by explaining how JLU appeared in the Reference re Manitoba Language Rights and how its use evolved to finally become a mere tool of convenience, used to protect hypothetical popular sensitivities (I). We then examine the short period before Ontario v G when Courts started questioning such liberal use of JLU (II). After presenting the Supreme Courts ruling in Ontario v G (III), we show that the restraint on the use of JLU has been short-lived in light of the recent Reference re Code of Civil Procedure (Que.), art. 35 (IV). We conclude by offering a proposal to integrate most of the concerns of the three separate opinions in Ontario v G into a single analytical framework that would better respect the purposes of the rule of law (V).

Very interesting and recommended.
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Some versions of the model have included the creation of lists detailing priority offenders. Barnes believes that list creation isnt the right fit for Madison, so they most likely will not implement that part of it.

Ostensibly, the 15 full-time case workers would be in touch with people identified as potential victims or future perpetrators of gun violence. The specific method by which people will be identified as such has not been solidified, but people who are arrested for certain infractions, who seem at risk to either pick up a gun or have already, will be worked with.

They are brought into a neutral spot for the purpose of services that they need to get their life back on track, Barnes said. The police are willing to look the other way on small violations like drivers license, and things of that nature that may prohibit that person from becoming successful. And we make good on that promise. We help them find jobs, education and housing. And they can take that route. Many people who go through focused deterrence or violence prevention, they take that option, and they go on to live very successful lives.

There's a tremendous need for this approach in the Madison community, Barnes said.
Mike Kendhammer used to look out his dining room window and see large groups of deer gathered in a field below.

In the morning, I would have my coffee and read the paper, and I would always see a dozen, 15 or 20, he said.

These days, the deer are gone.

Since last year, Kendhammer has found 15 dead deer on his 220-acre property just south of La Crosse. He said three other deer who died under similar circumstances have been found on a neighboring property. Last month, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources identified the cause of at least two of the deaths: epizootic hemorrhagic disease.

Kendhammer believes EHD killed the remaining 16 deer. He also believes there are dead deer on his and neighboring properties that have yet to be found.

Its devastated the deer herd in this valley, he said. Its like they all disappeared.

EHD has surfaced elsewhere in the area. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources reported Oct. 11 that confirmed cases were discovered in Houston and Winona counties. Later in the week, Wisconsin DNR confirmed a case in Juneau County and a third La Crosse County case in the town of Medary.
A flurry of questions ran through Erika Rosales head during the college application process: Which schools might accept me? How can I afford it? Am I eligible for any scholarships? How should I answer the question of citizenship status?

Navigating college can be tricky for any student, but even more so for Rosales and the hundreds of thousands of other undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as young children and who remain here under the temporary, renewable protections of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program created by the Obama administration in 2012.

Rosales, who now works for UW-Madison, figured out the path to earning bachelors and masters degrees largely on her own. She always wondered how much smoother her journey may have been if there had existed a place for her to pose questions and seek help  something other states have to support DACA recipients but Wisconsin was lacking.

Rosales and Erin Barbato, a clinical professor at the UW Law School, teamed up to lead a statewide Center for DREAMers where they will coordinate legal representation, mental and social services, and career and educational counseling for the nearly 7,000 estimated DACA beneficiaries living in Wisconsin.
Assembly Speaker Robin Vos on Tuesday said those seeking public records related to the GOP-ordered investigation into the 2020 election are trying to torpedo the effort and he plans to release those records when the one-party probe is finished.

Vos comments came after liberal watchdog group American Oversight filed a second lawsuit this month seeking records related to the investigation into how the 2020 election was conducted. A Dane County circuit judge earlier this month ordered Vos to release records related to the probe, which have also been requested by the Wisconsin State Journal, as well as other media outlets.

During an interview with Wisconsin Public Radios The Morning Show, Vos, R-Rochester, said his hope is the investigation  which is being led by former state Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman and was originally planned to be finished by the end of October  will now be completed before the end of the year. Vos did not say if the investigation could cost more than the $676,000 in taxpayer dollars allocated to the effort in June.

It really depends on how we keep going forward, I mean we are discovering more and more on a regular basis about things that happened in the election, Vos said.
POCATELLO (AP)  A Pocatello man has been charged with two counts of voluntary manslaughter after police say his wife and another man were found shot to death inside his home.

Jesse Patrick Leigh, 39, was arrested Saturday, the Idaho State Journal reported. Leigh was expected to make his first court appearance on Monday afternoon, and has not yet had the opportunity to enter a plea. The public defender's office could not be immediately reached for comment.

The Pocatello Police Department said the bodies of Jennifer D. Leigh, 41, and Timothy D. Hunt, 21, were found inside Leigh's home after neighbors called 911 to report hearing gunshots late Friday night. Investigators said Jesse and Jennifer Leigh's 7-year-old son was inside the home during the shooting, but it's unclear if the child saw it occur. The boy was uninjured and is currently with family members, police said.

Jesse Leigh was arrested a few hours later at a different residence, according to police.

The shooting remains under investigation.

Autopsies of both victims will be performed Monday in Ada County, the Bannock County Coroners Office said.

We are working cooperatively with the Pocatello police to perform a transparent and diligent investigation into this shooting, Bannock County Coroner Torey Danner said in a press release.

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TWIN FALLS  The Executive Director of Southern Idaho Economic Development (SIED) is stepping down to take a new position in Southern California. Connie Stopher, who has served as the SIED Executive Director since 2017, will leave the economic development organization on Nov. 5 to take a similar position with the Economic Development Coalition based in Temecula, California.

I knew when I first met Connie that she had that special Economic Development Sauce that we need here in Southwest Riverside County. She will be a dynamo for our region. We are fortunate to have the beautiful backdrop of Southern California to help us attract amazing talent like Connie Stopher, said Diane Strand, the Executive EDC Board Member and Search Committee Chair in announcing Stophers hiring.

Dan Olmstead, the Chair of the SIED Board expressed his appreciation for Stophers work. As Board Chair, I applaud Connies efforts in leading SIED. As the economic development marketing organization in the Magic Valley, she led the very successful expansion of our social media presence, and rural Magic Valley development opportunities. She will be a great asset to her new organization.

Dr. L. Dean Fisher, the President of the College of Southern Idaho, which employs the SIED Executive Director, also recognized Stophers work.

On behalf of SIED, I want to thank Connie for her work over the past five years to expand economic development throughout the Magic Valley and I want to wish her the best of luck in her new position.

Stophers departure leaves a hole in the SIED leadership, and a search will begin immediately for a replacement.

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JEROME  Idaho is seeing an increase in fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that is up to 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

The magnitude of this problem is almost unbelievable, said Gov. Brad Little.

In the last six to eight months, the problem has gotten dramatically worse, he said during a press conference Monday afternoon at Idaho State Police District 4 headquarters in Jerome.

The methamphetamine and fentanyl found in Idaho have a direct tie to Mexico, Gov. Little said. To combat the problem, he sent five ISP troopers on a 21-day mission in July to assist the Arizona Department of Public Safety. The officers helped make arrests and learned new detection techniques.

We also saw the use of new technology, again the details are law enforcement sensitive, however, it provided examples of how new technology is being used to intercept drug traffickers, said ISP Sgt. Curt Sproat who was part of the team sent to the border.

Sproat has been with ISP for 10 years and said fentanyl is one of the most dangerous drugs he has seen in his career.

One in three fentanyl pills coming into the U.S. has a deadly dose, Gov. Little said. Drug cartels make counterfeit pills look identical to drugs sold by pharmaceutical companies.

In 2019, Idaho had 264 drug-overdose-related deaths according to the Idaho Office of Drug Policy. In comparison, more than 1,900 Idahoans died during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Gov. Little said the pandemic was addressed in the list of 10 policy recommendations that a group of Republican governors sent to President Joe Biden on Oct. 6, 2021, to address the situation at the border.

Titled Joint Policy Framework on the Border Crisis the first recommendation calls for continued Title 42 public health restrictions. Title 42 is a public health order from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that prohibits entry into the U.S. when the CDC director believes there is the potential for the introduction of a disease into the country.

We were told that there is rumors and pretty good evidence that there is 20,000 Peruvians on their way and Peru has the highest incidence of COVID anywhere in the world, Gov. Little said.

On Monday, Peru was listed as 21st in terms of total COVID-19 cases, according to data from CNN. Peru is currently 6th in terms of total COVID-19 deaths.

In July, more than 18% of migrant families and 20% of unaccompanied minors tested positive for COVID-19 upon being released from Border Patrol custody, says the recommendation list sent to President Biden.

The 26 governors who wrote the list also included resuming deportation of all criminals, end catch and release, deploy more federal law enforcement officers and send a clear message to potential immigrants.

Gov. Little said drug cartels are highly organized and use families to distract border patrol and help drug traffickers enter the U.S.

This is not innocent people saying I would like to go to America to get a job or see my family, he said. They are using them basically as a distraction to do their other nefarious things.

Once the drugs make it to Idaho, the results can be deadly. During eight days in August, Kootenai County in North Idaho had five unrelated overdose deaths, Sproat said.

Two high school students split one pill of fentanyl. One of the students died and the other survived, he said.

Tackling the drug problem in Idaho will require a multiprong approach that includes education and outreach.

We are trying to address it from the supply side, from the demand side and from the information side and of course the other side is treatment, Gov. Little said.

Individuals struggling with drug addiction can contact the Idaho Substance Use Disorder Services program at 800-922-3406 for a confidential screening to determine eligibility for state services.

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Decisions were made because of the limited resources that were available to stop elective or non-urgent surgery, so effective Thursday we were able to resume our elective or non-urgent surgery back to the hospital, Larson said. There were seven days that we were not able to provide for those cases and we have been able to reschedule those and get them back in the hospital.

New River Health District Health Director Noelle Bissell, in a virtual COVID briefing via Zoom Monday afternoon, said the entire state is still at a high transmission level, but is also in decline.

We expect this to be the last large surge of the Delta variant, said Bissell, but we dont expect COVID to go away.

Bissell said the CDC will meet on Wednesday to discuss the authorization of the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines for use as booster shots, and the FDA will discuss the mixing of those vaccinations.

People are engaging in more travel, and companies are asking more employees to come back to work, Bissell said. Boosters will not be required to be qualified as fully vaccinated.

Larson offered his own experience with the additional dosage provided by the booster shot.
Local opposition is largely based on the fact that these large renewable energy projects cause noise, impact health, reduce property values, kill wildlife, and despoil rural viewsheds. But rural residents are also righty concerned about what will happen to used wind turbine blades and solar panels when their usefulness is over.

According to our research, cumulative waste productions will rise far sooner and more sharply than most analysts project, stated a recent article in the Harvard Business Review. We see the volume of [solar] waste surpassing that of new installations by the year 2031. By 2035, discarded panels would outweigh new units sold by 2.56 times. And most of the blades from decommissioned wind turbines are currently being sawed up and dumped in local landfills.

Rural communities are seeing thousands of acres of arable land being converted to energy production. An industrial-sized solar farm, which produces intermittent energy, requires 450 times more land than a nuclear plant, which runs 24/7. And wind turbines take up to 700 times more land than a natural gas well to produce the same amount of electricity. If more rural communities say no to these projects, will government authorities use their eminent domain power to seize their land?
COVID-19 testing information:

Andor Labs has expanded hours and has moved to the Lady Marian Plaza. Andor Labs is offering free, drive-thru, COVID-19 testing Monday-Thursday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Lady Marian Plaza at 1155 N. Main St in Marion.

COVID-19 vaccine information:

The COVID-19 Vaccine Call Center (828-803-4552) is staffed from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. each day, 7 days a week. Please call the hotline if you have questions or would like to set up an appointment to get your vaccine. The COVID-19 vaccine is free and there are multiple vaccine locations around our county to choose from, including McDowell County Health Department, Ingles, Wal-Mart, CVS, Atrium Health Physician Practices, The Prescription Pad of Marion and McDowell Family Pharmacy in Old Fort. First-dose vaccine appointments can also be booked online by visiting https://takemyshot.nc.gov/. Homebound citizens who want the vaccine but are unable to reach a vaccination site are encouraged to contact the Vaccine Call Center (828-803-4552) to have the vaccine delivered and administered at their home.
Mission Health is committed to our communities and to improving more lives in more ways.

Thats why on Saturday, Oct. 23, were partnering with local law enforcement agencies to host Crush the Crisis opioid take back events at five of our hospital locations.

Opioid misuse is a public health crisis in the United States. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the number of drug overdose deaths increased by nearly 5% from 2018 to 2019 and has quadrupled since 1999. More than 70% of the 70,630 deaths in 2019 involved an opioid.

HCA Healthcares Crush the Crisis events will align with National Prescription Drug Take Back Day, sponsored by The United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

HCA Healthcare is committed to bringing frontline solutions to curb the tide of opioid misuse and addiction in the communities that we serve. COVID-19 has exacerbated the opioid epidemic, and the effort to crush the crisis is now more important than ever.

Please help us by encouraging the community to safely and anonymously drop off unused and expired medication for proper disposal on Saturday, Oct. 23, at our participating collection sites:

Mission Hospital
Despite the many blessings of living in America, why arent more Americans happy?

According to World Population Review, the 2021 World Happiness Report ranks America as the 19th happiest out of 146 countries.

The report bases happiness on six categories, including gross domestic product (GDP), social support, life expectancy, generosity, perceptions of each countrys corruption levels, and the freedom for citizens to make their own life choices.

GDP is a general estimate of the total value of finished goods and services that a country has produced within a specific period of time, usually measured in a year.

America has the highest GDP in the world, yet that isnt producing the highest happiness ranking in the world.

To be sure, money isnt everything where happiness is concerned, according to Time.

Several studies show that once your basic financial needs are met and you have enough money to enjoy a few niceties, more money does not necessarily equate to more happiness.

Though, as my Uncle Bert has wisely noted, if youre going to be miserable anyway, you might as well be rich!
Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

A new study has added numerous previously uncharacterized viral genomes and genes to the ever-increasing worldwide pool of human gut viromes. The study, published in mSystems, an open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology, will prove helpful in investigating the role of the gut virome in human health and disease.

"The human gut virome is still vastly underexplored and many novel viruses are to be discovered, some of which could have important influences on processes impacting human health and disease," said study principal investigator Jelle Matthijnssens, Ph.D., a professor in the Department of Microbiology, Immunology & Transplantation, Rega Institute, Division of Clinical & Epidemiological Virology, Laboratory of Viral Metagenomics, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.

The human gut contains a complex ecosystem of microorganisms, of which bacteria have been broadly studied. Dr. Matthijnssens said studies on viruses in the gut are lagging. The goal of the MicrobLiver project is to obtain understanding of the interaction between the host and gut microbiome in humans and the role of the gut-liver axis in early stages of alcoholic and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

"In the framework of the MicrobLiver project, we aimed to generate a catalog of virus genomes, which could be used in subsequent studies on several cohorts of people with early stages of alcoholic and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease," said Dr. Matthijnssens.

In the new study, researchers used 254 fecal samples from 204 Danish subjects to generate the Danish Enteric Virome Catalog (DEVoC). The pediatric cohort included 50 children and adolescents (6-18 years old) with a body mass index (BMI) above the 90th percentile, together with 50 age- and sex-matched healthy controls. The adult cohort (34-76 years) included 52 patients with alcohol-related liver disease and 52 sex, BMI, and age-matched healthy controls.

The researchers used the Novel Enrichment Technique Of Viromes (NetoVIR) protocol to purify all virus particles from stool samples and sequenced their genomes using deep-sequencing technologies. (NetoVir allows researchers to attain a fast, reproducible, high-throughput sample preparation protocol for next-generation sequencing gut viromics studies.)

Furthermore, they used advanced bioinformatics tool to identify almost 13 thousand (partial) viral genomes, many of which were novel and not present in public databases.

Although gut viromes are known to be very individual-specific, the researchers identified 39 genomes which were present in at least 10 healthy subjects. These 39 genomes were further compared with public virome datasets from all over the world showing several age, geography and disease-related prevalence patterns. In particular, two genomes showed a remarkably high prevalence worldwide. The first one was a crAss-like phage (20.6% prevalence), belonging to the tentative AlphacrAssvirinae subfamily, whereas the second one was a previously undescribed temperate phage infecting Bacteroides dorei (14.4% prevalence), called LoVEphage. The researchers next screened public databases and were able to retrieve 18 additional circular LoVEphage-like genomes (67.9 to 72.4 kb).

"Our findings further emphasize that the human gut virome is still understudied and that many novel viruses are to be discovered. Especially the identification of novel phages shared by people across the globe is of interest to be studied in more depth," said Dr. Matthijnssens. "Next, the catalog will be used to further study differences in the virome of various cohorts of patients with early stages of alcoholic and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. We hope these studies will provide us basic insight into the role the gut virome might have in the development of alcoholic and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Furthermore, we will look into the virome to identify biomarkers for disease progression or prediction of treatment success."

Explore further Study on PFAs and fatty liver disease: Women more affected than men
A West Virginia University health professional prepares to administer a COVID-19 vaccine shot. Recent research from West Virginia University's Department of Sociology and Anthropology explored the association between vaccine hesitancy and skepticism and religion and politics. Credit: WVU / Dave Ryan

Christian nationalists are less likely to get the COVID-19 vaccine while political conservatives express high skepticism toward the coronavirus in general, two new studies published by West Virginia University sociologists conclude.

In their first report, published in Vaccine, researchers found that Christian nationalismthe belief that Christianity should permeate American civic lifeis one of the strongest predictors of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and is negatively associated with having received or planning to get the vaccine.

"It's the belief that Americans are chosen by God and that God protects them," said Katie Corcoran, associate professor of sociology and lead author of the report. "They tend not to trust science and are against government intervention so they're more focused on individual freedoms than public health protections. It's hypothesized that those are the reasons that Christian nationalists are less likely to receive the vaccine and are more likely to not trust it."

Corcoran and her co-authors, Christopher Scheitle, also an associate professor of sociology, and graduate research assistant Bernard DiGregorio, used a national sample of 2,000 U.S. adults who completed a survey last spring on religious identities and behaviors as well as attitudes toward COVID-19. To measure Christian nationalism, respondents were asked, "To what extent do you agree or disagree that the federal government should declare the United States a Christian nation?"

Scheitle noted that it's important to not assume that all Christians or evangelicals fit the bill as Christian nationalists, which account for roughly 20 percent of the U.S. population.

"Traditionally, when the media talks about religion, they focus on evangelical Protestants," Scheitle said. "That's the main storyline. What Christian nationalism research has shown is that it's not just about people who identify as evangelicals. It's not an evangelical issue, it's whether or not they adopt this particular nationalist ideology."

The politics of COVID

In another study, Scheitle and Corcoran looked at COVID-19 skepticism in relation to other forms of science skepticism. They discovered that some of the predictors of COVID-19 skepticism mirror those of skepticism toward other scientific issues such as evolution, climate change, vaccines in general and genetically modified organisms, especially among political conservatives.

Those findings were published in Socius: Sociological Research for a Dynamic World.

"There's a narrative around COVID-19 that you have anti-science people and pro-science people," Scheitle said. "This research was to try to see to what extent does COVID-19 map onto other forms of science skepticism. What we found is that political conservatism is a fairly consistent predictor of science skepticism, regardless of what issue you're talking about.

"But there's something specific about COVID that is making political conservatives especially more skeptical about that issue above and beyond climate change, evolution and everything else. I think it can be tied to the explicit politicization of COVID-19 policies."

Age also played a factor in COVID-19 attitudes. Researchers found that younger individuals viewed COVID-19from the vaccine to the virus' very existencewith more skepticism than older people.

Meanwhile, the topic of evolution showed strong connections to religion and was the only science topic with a regional pattern, Scheitle said, as individuals residing in the South were more likely to view evolution with skepticism.

The study also found that people with higher levels of education were less skeptical of every science issue.

Researchers utilized the same dataset of 2,000 people from the previously mentioned study.

Explore further Evangelicals are more skeptical of evolution than of climate change: study

More information: Katie E. Corcoran et al, Christian nationalism and COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and uptake, Vaccine (2021). Katie E. Corcoran et al, Christian nationalism and COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and uptake,(2021). DOI: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2021.09.074 Christopher P. Scheitle et al, COVID-19 Skepticism in Relation to Other Forms of Science Skepticism, Socius: Sociological Research for a Dynamic World (2021). DOI: 10.1177/23780231211049841 Journal information: Vaccine
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

Implementation of WHO's recommended public health policies on alcohol, unhealthy foods and tobacco has been slow globally, according to a study led by researchers at Karolinska Institutet and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, published in the journal The Lancet Global Health. The study found particularly low implementation in poor, less democratic countries and where corporations had more influence for example through corruption and political favoritism.

In 2013, the World Health Organization's 194 member states endorsed a list of so-called 'Best Buy' policies to combat non-communicable diseases (NCDs), such as heart disease, cancer, diabetes and chronic lung disease.

The list includes 19 interventions targeted at preventing, monitoring and treating NCDs, with a particular focus on harmful products such as tobacco, alcohol and unhealthy foods. These policies could play a vital role in achieving the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goal target of cutting premature NCD mortality by a third between 2015 and 2030.

In the study, the researchers examined to what extent WHO member states had implemented the policies and analyzed if national level indicators correlated with the degree of implementation. The analysis is based on three so-called NCD progress monitor reports, where the degree of implementation of NCD policies is reported, as well as a framework of national indicators developed by the study authors.

The researchers note that on average, only a third of the public health policies had been fully implemented in 2020. When awarding a half-point for partially implemented policies, the average implementation score was 47 percent in 2020, up from 45.9 percent in 2017 and 39.0 percent in 2015.

Low scores for alcohol, junk food and tobacco measures

Implementation was lowest for policies targeting alcohol, unhealthy foods and tobacco. For example, around two-thirds of countries had not implemented WHO recommended restrictions on marketing of unhealthy food to children in 2020. Implementation of measures targeting alcohol use, including restrictions on sales and advertising, even eased between 2015 and 2020, while for measures targeting tobacco, it improved somewhat. The most widely implemented interventions were clinical guidelines and national action plans and targets to combat NCDs.

"Our study found slow overall implementation of WHO's recommended NCD policies, especially when it comes to measures targeted at risk factors such as smoking, alcohol and unhealthy foods," says corresponding author Hampus Holmer, researcher at the Department of Global Public Health, Karolinska Institutet, who conducted the study in collaboration with Luke Allen, research fellow at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, U.K., and Professor Simon Wigley at Bilkent University, Turkey.

"This is worrying since non-communicable disease is already the most common cause of death, including premature death, in the world today. Several of these diseases are also linked to an increased risk of dying of infectious diseases such as COVID-19 or tuberculosis," Holmer adds.

Progress was especially slow in low-income countries and countries with less democracy. At the bottom of the list are three countries in West AfricaEquatorial Guinea, Guinea-Bissau and Sierra Leonewith one to two partially implemented policies. Norway and Turkey are at the top of the list with 90 percent fully or partially implemented measures.

Correlation with corporate influence

The researchers found that the positive relationship between democracy on implementation was canceled out in countries with above-average levels of corporate influence. Corporate influence was measured using an existing index with 25 metrics of corporate power, including corruption, bribery, government official favoritism, foreign investments and foreign contributions to political campaigns. Lobbying was not part of the assessment due to a lack of reliable data for many countries, which is a limitation of the study.

"Our analysis shows that corporate political influence is associated with the degree of implementationthe more influence corporations had, the lower the degree of implementation of preventive public health measures," says Luke Allen, the first author of the study. "While we cannot establish causality, our findings indicate that more work is needed to support particularly low-income countries in introducing effective NCD policies, especially around commercial determinants."

The researchers also found a significant positive correlation between the proportion of deaths due to NCDs and policy implementation, suggesting that policymakers are more prone to act as the burden of NCDs grows. However, delayed action could be problematic as the impact of prevention may take years to have its full effect.

Explore further Half of WHO-recommended policies to reduce chronic diseases are not put into practice

More information: Hampus Holmer et al, Implementation of non-communicable disease policies from 2015 to 2020: a geopolitical analysis of 194 countries, The Lancet Global Health (2021). Journal information: The Lancet Global Health Hampus Holmer et al, Implementation of non-communicable disease policies from 2015 to 2020: a geopolitical analysis of 194 countries,(2021). DOI: 10.1016/PIIS2214-109X(21)00359-4
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

In the heart of a city, the distances in rural communities may be difficult to envision. The space between neighbors can sometimes be measured in miles rather than blocks; a drive to the nearest hospital may take dozens of minutes rather than a handful.

The trickle-down effect of such distances can impact many aspects of health care, but especially maternal care and delivery, says Mark Deutchman, MD, a professor of family medicine and associate dean for rural health at the University of Colorado School of Medicine.

As principal investigator of a study recently published in the journal Birth analyzing the impact of family physicians in rural maternity care, Deutchman and his co-investigators found that of the 185 rural hospitals surveyed in 10 states, family physicians delivered babies in 67% of the hospitals and were the only physicians who delivered babies in 27% of them.

Further, the study found that if family physicians stopped delivering babies in these rural hospitals, patients would have to drive an average of 86 miles round-trip to access maternal care.

"The purpose of this study was, number one, to understand the extent of family physicians providing maternity care in rural areas," Deutchman explains. "Number two, and even more important, was to understand what would happen to women if family practitioners did not practice maternity care, and that's the real take-home message: Family physicians are really, really important."

Study highlights importance of family physicians providing maternity care

On this topic, Deutchman speaks from experience. For more than 12 years he practiced family medicine in White Salmon, Washington, a town of 2,000 residents on the Columbia River. The local hospital is federally designated critical access, which means it has fewer than 20 beds, among other standards.

"One of the major things I was involved in was maternity care," he says. "I had a lot of OB patients and did a lot of deliveries. I was also one of the major providers of surgical OB, of C-sections when they were needed.

"I'm an advocate for and student of the quality of outcomes in areas where family physicians are a woman's provider of obstetric and gynecologic care. I think that women deserve to have excellent care no matter where they are and no matter who provides it."

After leaving rural practice, Deutchman became a faculty member at the University of Tennessee-Memphis, where he helped train family medicine residents for rural practice. He continued that focus after joining the University of Colorado School of Medicine in 1995. In 2005, he founded the school's rural track, which this year became a full-fledged program.

His recently published research evolved from previous, similar studies he conducted in Colorado and Montana with medical students.

"It wasn't a study of qualitywe weren't looking at individual cases and weren't looking at outcomesbut we wanted to better understand how much and the sort of maternal care family physicians are providing at rural hospitals," he explains.

After refining the survey tool used in the previous studies, Deutchman reached out to colleagues across the country. Those who responded represented 10 states and collected data about rural and frontier hospitals in their states. They gathered data about the hospitals' obstetrics capacity, who delivers babies at the hospitals and what their specialty is, and other data.

"Ultimately, we were looking at how important is it for family physicians to provide maternity care and what would access be if they didn't?" Deutchman says.

Rural program provides specialized training needed for medical students and residents

The study's results, Deutchman says, highlight the importance of comprehensive, specialized training for medical students and residents who are interested in practicing in rural communities.

"Basically, the rural program is a way to attract, admit and support medical students and physician assistant students who want to live and work in rural areas when they finish their training," he explains. "We need to have a program so that people who are interested in rural practice will have their aspirations supported and also have a way to test their assumptions about rural practice and see if it's really right for them.

"The last thing we want is for students to have romanticized ideas, and then they show up in a small town and it wasn't what they had in mind. We also don't want to have that revolving door where physicians go to a small community for only two or three years, which fosters distrust and a lack of attachment between doctors and the community."

Through the rural program, students not only receive on-campus experience in the classroom and clinical training, but they get significant rural clinic experience with partners throughout Colorado. That aspect of the training is vital, Deutchman says, because students learn in-person about rural health care systems and economics, community engagement, health care ethics, and how to practice in a community where physicians might regularly see patients at the grocery store.

Since 2005, Deutchman says, 191 students in the CU School of Medicine have graduated in the rural track, 40% of whom concentrated on family medicine.

"A common question is, 'How do you get people interested in rural practice and providing care like delivering babies?'" Deutchman says. "Partly, we start out with people who are initially interested, then we help nurture that interest with real facts and real practical experience.

"Basically, the whole state of Colorado is short of primary care, especially in rural areas, which cannot support one of every kind of sub-specialist. Rural communities need versatile, broadly-trained and skilled physicians who can share clinical responsibilities with each other to avoid burnout. Family physicians can provide acute care, chronic care, end of life care, deliver babies, put on casts, repair lacerationsin the most accessible, cost-effective fashion. It's vital we train and support these physicians who go out and support these rural communities."

Explore further Finding a doctor is tough and getting tougher in rural America

More information: Mark Deutchman et al, The impact of family physicians in rural maternity care, Birth (2021). Mark Deutchman et al, The impact of family physicians in rural maternity care,(2021). DOI: 10.1111/birt.12591
Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

The conventional wisdom among pandemic researchers was that vaccine-hesitant parents would come around once federal authorities green-lit COVID-19 shots for children. But, as a new study shows, that hasn't happened. Parents actually have even more concerns about vaccines, catching researchers by surprise.

Parents registered high levels of worry across the board, with more than half of them expressing misgivings about how new the vaccine is, whether it has been tested enough, whether it even works, and side effects, according to findings from the COVID States Project, a collaborative effort by researchers from Northeastern, Harvard, Northwestern, and Rutgers.

"My intuition would not have been that FDA [Food and Drug Administration] OK comes and concerns go up," says David Lazer, university distinguished professor of political science and computer sciences at Northeastern, and one of the study's authors. "I am surprised at some of the very substantial shifts against the vaccine among parents."

Since concerns over vaccine safety tie directly to vaccine hesitancy, uneasiness could be problematic for vaccinating children under 18, who make up more than 20 percent of the U.S. population. Those in the five- to 11-year-old range alone comprise 8 percent, according to the study.

As of early October, more than 6 million children have tested positive for COVID-19 since the pandemic began, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Researchers discovered that among parents of children 1218 years oldcurrently the only age group of youths that can get vaccinated46 percent of them have not immunized any of their offspring, while nearly the same number (47 percent) have.

That is a sharp decline from a summer poll showing growing vaccine acceptance by mothers and fathers 36 years of age and older.

Researchers couldn't pinpoint what may have caused the shift.

"I'm puzzled because there hasn't been a dramatic event that should have shifted attitudes," Lazer says.

Mothers younger than 36, however, have remained consistently opposed to vaccinations throughout several national polling waves.

The most recent one involved more than 3,000 parents and was conducted in August and September, months after the FDA authorized emergency use of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for 12- to 15-year-olds. The online survey closed just days before the companies sought FDA emergency use authorization for children ages 5- to 11-years-old.

The FDA has scheduled a meeting on Oct. 26 to consider Pfizer's application. And the White House has purchased 65 million Pfizer pediatric vaccines pending the agency's authorization. That would be enough to fully vaccinate all 28 million U.S. children in that age group with a two-shot regimen, administration officials said.

But even if immunizations were available for the under-12 set, 34 percent of parents said they were unlikely to vaccinate their children, the study found. Their most prominent concern was the potential long-term side effects of the vaccine, with 69 percent saying it was a major concern. Sufficient testing was another major source of parental worry.

Many of these parents are probably unvaccinated themselves, since researchers found a correlation between unimmunized parents and kids.

Among parents who have received their shots, over 78 percent of them said they would likely have their children immunized"you do for your kids what you've done for yourself," Lazer says. In a sharp contrast, 58 percent of unvaccinated parents cast doubt that they would vaccinate their kids.

Lazer doesn't think that that poses an immediate health risk to the children of unvaccinated parents because "the benefit-risk calculus is different for children," he says. "Children are at lower risk than adults in terms of the consequences of the virus."

Explore further Why parents are hesitant about vaccinating their kids
Jeanne S. Mandelblatt, MD, MPH, is senior author of "Identifying Equitable Screening Mammography Strategies for Black Women in the United States Using Simulation Modeling.". Credit: Georgetown University

If Black women begin mammography screening every other year starting at age 40, breast cancer deaths could be reduced by 57 percent compared to starting screening 10 years later according to analyses conducted by a modeling team that is part of the Cancer Intervention and Surveillance Modeling Network (CISNET), funded by the National Cancer Institute.

The analyses are the first to use modeling to elucidate modern breast cancer screening strategies that best achieve equity in screening outcomes and reduce mortality disparities. The research, published October 19, 2021 in Annals of Internal Medicine, suggests that a reduction in breast cancer deaths can be achieved for Black women while maintaining the same ratio of benefits to harms as occur when white women undergo biennial screening starting at age 50. Recommendations over the past two decades have not accounted for the role of racism (structural, interpersonal, or internalized) and its impact in breast cancer treatment, length of survival and deaths among Black women.

"There is an increasing focus on eliminating race-based medicine," explains the study's lead author Christina Hunter Chapman, MD, MS, adjunct assistant professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology at the University of Michigan. "However, calls to end race-based medicine that ask for the immediate cessation of any discussion on race are not likely to eliminate racial disparities. Carefully selected solutions for health inequity may involve tailoring interventions to specific racial groups."

To address this issue, CISNET developed a model using self-reported race as a proxy for who is likely to experience the effects of racism to test a range of screening strategies. The model also considered breast density, distribution of breast cancer molecular subtypes, age-, stage-, and subtype-specific treatment effects, and non-breast cancer mortality for Blacks and whites. Using all of these data, the model compared the benefits and harms of different screening strategies in Black women to those for white women screened biennially from ages 50-74.

"For Black women, three biennial screening strategies (beginning at age 40, 45, or 50) yielded benefit-to-harm ratios that were greater than or equal to those seen in white women who started screening at age 50," explains Chapman. "Among those three strategies, initiating mammograms at age 40 yielded the greatest mortality reduction and reduced Black-white mortality disparities by 57 percent. This approach is consistent with the US Preventive Services Task Force's overarching guidance for when women may want to consider beginning biennial mammography."

The model the researchers used projected the lifetime impact of digital mammography under different starting ages and intervals between screenings for women who would be age 40 in the year 2020 (i.e., born in the U.S. in 1980). It compared a variety of benefits (number of years of life gained by detecting cancer early, breast cancer deaths averted and mortality reduction) to harms like undergoing a larger number of mammograms (e.g., annual vs. every other year screening) and having false positive screening results.

"Black women have higher rates of aggressive cancers at younger ages than white women, and treatments for those types of tumors are not as effective. However, even when we account for cancer subtypes, mortality is higher for black women largely due to factors that are ultimately rooted in racism," says the study's senior author, Jeanne S. Mandelblatt, MD, MPH, professor of oncology and medicine at Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, and a principal investigator with CISNET.

"Therefore, in our analyses we accounted for differences in treatment attributable to racism, including access to medication, delays in treatment, dose reductions, and discontinuation of treatmentall factors that have been shown to be sub-optimal more often in Black than white women," she adds.

"We hope this provides new information to help develop equity-focused recommendations for Black women and address a long-standing deficit in breast cancer screening guidelines due to the lack of data," Mandelblatt states.

"In the future, the harms of racism in medicine may be better rectified by developing interventions that use more direct measures of racism as instead of race," Chapman concludes. "However, using socioeconomic status alone as a proxy for race would not be appropriate in a study like ours given that racial disparities in breast cancer are observed across socioeconomic strata."

"This project highlights how CISNET modeling can provide important new data to guideline groups seeking to increase equity in cancer outcomes," says Brandy Heckman-Stoddard, Ph.D., chief, Breast and Gynecologic Cancer Research Group at the National Cancer Institute. "It also points to the need to continue to capture data on screening practices across diverse populations."

Explore further Researchers develop breast cancer prediction tool for black women

More information: Christina Hunter Chapman et al, Identifying Equitable Screening Mammography Strategies for Black Women in the United States Using Simulation Modeling, Annals of Internal Medicine (2021). Journal information: Annals of Internal Medicine Christina Hunter Chapman et al, Identifying Equitable Screening Mammography Strategies for Black Women in the United States Using Simulation Modeling,(2021). DOI: 10.7326/M20-6506
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

Monoclonal antibody therapy is an infusion treatment that can reduce the severity of COVID-19. Here are some of the commonly asked questions about the treatment.

Q: What are monoclonal antibodies and how do they work?

A: Monoclonal antibodies are proteins created in a lab. The proteins mimic your immune system and are meant to make COVID-19 disease milder in patients who are already sick.

Q: Who is eligible to receive the treatment?

A: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued an Emergency Use Authorization to permit the use of monoclonal antibody therapy for the treatment of mild to moderate COVID-19 in adult and pediatric patients (12 years of age and older weighting at least 85 pounds) who test positive for COVID-19 and who are at high risk for moderate to severe COVID-19.

Q: If I can get antibody treatment when I get COVID, why do I need to bother with the vaccine?

A: The vaccine has been shown to be highly effective at preventing the acquisition of COVID-19 and significantly reduces symptoms if any strain is contracted. The monoclonal antibody is not as effective as the vaccine at preventing COVID-19 and you can't get the therapy until after you test positive. It is also crucial to get the monoclonal antibody treatment quickly after discovering a positive case. Depending on where you live, it may be difficult to schedule the treatment and should be considered a last line of defense to avoid hospitalization from this disease. Lastly, monoclonal antibody treatment may not work for everyone, which is another reason to get vaccinated.

Q; I tested positive for COVID, but I don't have symptoms. Can I get the antibody treatment?

A: If you test positive and have one of the risk factors for severe COVID-19, including, but not limited to, being 65 or older, obesity, chronic kidney disease, diabetes, immunosuppressive disease, immunosuppressive treatment, cardiovascular disease, sickle cell disease, pregnancy, chronic lung disease, neurodevelopmental disorders or other conditions that confer medical complexity (for example: cerebral palsy, genetic/metabolic syndromes, severe congenital anomalies, or medical related technological dependent (for example: tracheostomy or gastrostomy)), you should contact your primary care provider and ask for a referral to receive the treatment.

Q: Is the treatment effective?

A: Monoclonal antibodies have been shown to be effective, but more data is required for full FDA approval. Currently, the medication is only available through an Emergency Use Authorization.

Q: How can I get the therapy?

A: You should speak with your primary care provider regarding monoclonal antibody therapy. Monoclonal antibody therapy requires a physician order.

Q: How is it administered?

A: The medication can be administered via an intravenous infusion or four shots in four different locations on the body. A health care provider must administer the therapy since it requires a one-hour observation period post administration to ensure the medication was well tolerated.

Explore further Treatment plan reduces hospitalizations and deaths of liver and kidney transplant recipients with COVID-19
(HealthDay)Fear, grief, uncertainty and isolation during the pandemic have triggered a national state of emergency in the mental health of America's youth, leading child health care groups warned Tuesday.

Youngsters already faced significant mental health challenges, and the pandemic has made them worse, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP) and the Children's Hospital Association (CHA). Together, they represent more than 77,000 physicians and more than 200 children's hospitals.

"Children's mental health is suffering. Young people have endured so much throughout this pandemic and while much of the attention is often placed on its physical health consequences, we cannot overlook the escalating mental health crisis facing our patients," AAP President Dr. Lee Savio Beers said in a news release from the three groups.

"Today's declaration is an urgent call to policymakers at all levels of government  we must treat this mental health crisis like the emergency it is," Savio Beers urged.

The statistics bear that out: Between March and October 2020, the percentage of emergency department visits for children with mental health emergencies rose by 24% among children aged 5 to 11 and by 31% among children aged 12 to 17, the groups said in a statement. And there were 50% more suspected suicide attempt-related emergency room visits among girls aged 12 to 17 in early 2021 than in early 2019.

Recent data also show that more than 140,000 U.S. children have suffered the loss of a primary or secondary caregiver during the pandemic.

"We were concerned about children's emotional and behavioral health even before the pandemic. The ongoing public health emergency has made a bad situation worse. We are caring for young people with soaring rates of depression, anxiety, trauma, loneliness and suicidality that will have lasting impacts on them, their families, their communities, and all of our futures. We cannot sit idly by. This is a national emergency, and the time for swift and deliberate action is now," said AACAP President Dr. Gabrielle Carlson.

The groups said in their declaration that policymakers need to increase funding to ensure all families can access mental health services, improve telemedicine access, support effective school-based mental health care, and strengthen efforts to reduce youth suicide risk, among other measures.

CHA President Amy Wimpey Knight, said, "We are facing a significant national mental health crisis in our children and teens which requires urgent action. In the first six months of this year, children's hospitals across the country reported a shocking 45% increase in the number of self-injury and suicide cases in 5- to 17-year-olds compared to the same period in 2019. Together with the AAP and the AACAP, we are sounding the alarm on this mental health emergency."

Explore further Emergency help for suicide-related issues up during pandemic for some youth

More information: Unicef has more on the Unicef has more on the impact of COVID-19 on children's mental health

Copyright  2021 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
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Pfizer-BioNTech submitted an authorization request to Health Canada on Monday for the use of its COVID-19 vaccine in children aged 5-11, the companies and the Canadian government said.

"This is the first submission Health Canada has received for the use of a COVID-19 vaccine in this younger age group," it said in a statement.

The authorization request is based on data from trials conducted on 2,268 children in this age group for whom the dosage was lowered to 10 micrograms per injection three times less than the standard dosewhich the company says is "the preferred dose" for 5-11 year olds.

This same Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is approved in Canada for ages 12 and up.

Health Canada said that it will only authorize the use of the vaccine if the independent and thorough scientific review of all data submitted confirms that the benefits outweigh the risks with this group.

The Canadian ministry also indicated that other manufacturers also were testing their vaccines on children of different age groups.

Earlier this month, Pfizer and BioNTech laboratories made the same request for 5-11 year olds in the United States.

Childhood immunizations are raising questions around the world. Many countries vaccinate adolescents from the age of 12, but very few do so below that age.

In recent months, the World Health Organization (WHO) has insisted that the urgent issue was to immunize the population of poor countries before children and adolescents in rich countries.

 2021 AFP
Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

In the era of "publish or perish," research results that disprove the hypothesis tested often go unpublished. In addition, many researchers who have been unable to reproduce results from other laboratories have found it difficult to publish their findings. In this special issue on the "Null Hypothesis" of the Journal of Neuromuscular Diseases investigators illustrate the importance and value of sharing well-conducted studies with negative or irreproducible results.

"Negative results are just as useful as positive ones," explained Guest Editors Virginia Arechavala-Gomeza, Ph.D., Neuromuscular Disorders, Biocruces Bizkaia Health Research Institute, Barakaldo; and Ikerbasque, Basque Foundation for Science, Bilbao, Spain; and Annemieke Aartsma-Rus, Ph.D., Department of Human Genetics, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, the Netherlands. "Research results that prove an original hypothesis to be incorrect advance knowledge as much as those that confirm it. If the experiments are done and analyzed correctly, negative results let us advance in our research and sharing this information avoids duplication of work. A publication bias towards therapeutic approaches that appear to have beneficial effects and a lack of published studies where therapies are either not useful or toxic, or where published results are not reproducible, not only impedes science and therapy development, but also leads to unnecessary duplication of effort and a waste of resources."

"The need to share negative information is gaining backers, but in a rare disease field such as neuromuscular disorder research, not having all the information is a tragedy," added Dr. Arechavala-Gomeza.

This special issue marks the inauguration of a new section of the Journal of Neuromuscular Diseases dedicated to negative results that nevertheless provide valuable contributions to the scientific record. It presents eight articles on a variety of subjects, from animal models to biomarkers and clinical trials.

One contribution re-examines the effect of simvastatin in Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). A study in 2015, led by Nick Whitehead, Ph.D., University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, U.S., provided evidence that simvastatin, a widely used cholesterol lowering drug, had potential to be a novel treatment for DMD. Two independent labs led by Prof. Dr. Aartsma-Rus in the Netherlands and Dominic J. Wells, VetMB, Ph.D., Department of Comparative Biomedical Sciences, Neuromuscular Diseases Group, Royal Veterinary College, London, UK, were unable to replicate the results in DMD model mice (mdx mice) although the treatment protocol was similar. They concluded that simvastatin did not improve DMD pathology, suggesting this could either be due to the ineffectiveness of simvastatin itself or low simvastatin plasma levels following oral administration in the mice's chow.

In a rebuttal published in this issue, Dr. Whitehead noted that his lab and many others have conducted many studies, some unpublished, using several batches of simvastatin in chow, on at least three colonies of mdx mice. All of these showed an improvement in mdx skeletal and cardiac muscle health and function. He pointed out that his lab achieved much higher drug exposure. "Replication of results by an independent lab is the foundation of scientific inquiry," he stated. "We welcome a careful effort to replicate our results. Unfortunately, they failed to meet the most critical aspect of animal drug studieslevels of drug exposure in the therapeutic range."

In their response, Prof. Dr. Aartsma-Rus and colleagues explained that the batch of chow they fed to the mdx mice contained the same dose of simvastatin and was prepared in an identical manner as the original study and queried the results of similar studies that either did not mention the dose or used a higher dose. "While these studies confirm the therapeutic effect of simvastatin treatment in mdx mice, they do not confirm that this can be achieved at doses that are in the range of what humans use."

Commenting on this productive exchange among researchers, the Guest Editors added, "Failure to replicate the finding does not mean that simvastatin does not work; it means that in different lab settings the same dose of simvastatin in chow resulted in different plasma levels. This is something that needs to be studied further and for now clinical trials should be held off. These kinds of studies are often not 'sexy' enough for regular funders. The Duchenne UK patient association funded the replication studies because they felt it important to only plan clinical trials if a robust treatment effect could be replicated."

The issue also highlights reporting on a clinical trial on edasalonexent, a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, global phase 3 study in pediatric patients 4-8 years old with DMD, the results of the PolarisDMD trial, by Richard S. Finkel, MD, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN, and Nemours Children's Hospital, Orlando, FL, U.S., and colleagues. While edasalonexent was generally well tolerated with a manageable safety profile at the dose of 100 mg/kg/day, it did not achieve statistically significant improvement of DMD in the study population. Results did suggest edasalonexent may slow disease progression in patients under 6.

"We of course regret that this did not work out," noted the Guest Editors. "However, we really appreciate that the clinical experts involved and the industry sponsor pushed for timely publication so the field can benefit from these results." Studies such as this are important to publish, especially when the results fail to confirm the preliminary favorable findings in the Phase 2 study. They provide an opportunity to explore the reasons for a failure to replicate the earlier findings.

"While most researchers consider it important to share negative results many themselves do not actually do this. This mindset needs to change," commented Prof. Dr. Aartsma-Rus. "In a field such as neuromuscular disorders, which are rare diseases, not having all the information is a big problem. If a potential therapeutic approach is not effective in cells, mice, or patients, the field needs to know this as soon as possible to avoid unnecessary duplication of work."

"Sharing results of a research question that turned out to be incorrect gives less 'credit' than sharing results of a research question that was correct," added Dr. Arechavala-Gomeza. "We need to adopt a new mindset in which sharing well conducted research is valued regardless of whether the research question was correct or not."

"The only really 'negative' results are those that end up in a drawer and are never shared," concluded the Guest Editors.

Explore further Model explores how statins alter multiple sclerosis outcomes

More information: Virginia Arechavala-Gomeza et al, Sharing "Negative" Results in Neuromuscular Research: A Positive Experience, Journal of Neuromuscular Diseases (2021). Virginia Arechavala-Gomeza et al, Sharing "Negative" Results in Neuromuscular Research: A Positive Experience,(2021). DOI: 10.3233/JND-219007 Ingrid E.C. Verhaart et al, Simvastatin Treatment Does Not Ameliorate Muscle Pathophysiology in a Mouse Model for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, Journal of Neuromuscular Diseases (2020). DOI: 10.3233/JND-200524 N.P. Whitehead et al, Rebuttal to: Simvastatin Treatment Does Not Ameliorate Muscle Pathophysiology in a Mouse Model for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, Verhaart et al. 2020, Journal of Neuromuscular Diseases (2021). DOI: 10.3233/JND-219005 Annemieke Aartsma-Rus et al, Author's Response to: Rebuttal to: Simvastatin Treatment Does Not Ameliorate Muscle Pathophysiology in a Mouse Model for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, Verhaart et al. 2020, Journal of Neuromuscular Diseases (2021). DOI: 10.3233/JND-219004 Richard S. Finkel et al, A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled, Global Phase 3 Study of Edasalonexent in Pediatric Patients with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy: Results of the PolarisDMD Trial, Journal of Neuromuscular Diseases (2021). DOI: 10.3233/JND-210689
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

Russia's government on Tuesday proposed introducing a single non-working week to battle surging coronavirus cases as the country registered a new record number of daily deaths.

The surge has come without any strict restrictions to limit COVID-19's spread, although several regions have re-introduced QR codes for access to public places.

A new high of 1,015 coronavirus deaths was recorded over 24 hours, officials said Tuesday, bringing the country's official total to 225,325the highest in Europe.

Officials have been accused of downplaying the severity of the pandemic, and figures published by statistics agency Rosstat in October showed more than 400,000 people had died in Russia as a result of coronavirus.

At a meeting on Tuesday, Deputy Prime Minister Tatiana Golikova called for the introduction of a non-working week starting from October 30 to curb the spread of the virus.

She proposed that the hardest-hit regions introduce such a measure from this Saturday.

"The solutions we are proposing are very difficult," Golikova told Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin.

"But we ask you to support these proposals and appeal to the head of state."

Golikova is due to submit her proposal to President Vladimir Putin for approval during a meeting on Wednesday.

Russia has struggled to innoculate its citizens despite domestic vaccines including Sputnik being widely available.

Only 35 percent of Russians are fully vaccinated, despite pleas from Putin.

The president insists that Russia has handled the pandemic better than most countries, but even top officials have recently voiced concern.

Pyotr Tolstoy, deputy chairman of the lower house, said at the weekend that authorities had "completely lost" an information campaign on coronavirus.

"There is no trust in people to go and vaccinate themselves, it is a fact," he said.

Putin's spokesman on Tuesday urged Russians to be "more responsible" and admitted that the government could have done more to explain the "lack of alternative to vaccines".

"There is a tradition to blame everything on the state," Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

"But at the same time, we need a more responsible position from citizens of our country."

Western vaccines are not available in Russia, and Peskov insisted that bringing them into the country would not help the sluggish vaccination rates.

"The vaccinophobia of some citizens is not linked to the brand of vaccines," he said.

Independent polls show that more than half of Russians do not plan to get a shot.

Explore further Russia reports record daily virus cases, deaths

 2021 AFP
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

Some viral diseases could possibly contribute to neurodegeneration. DZNE researchers report this in the journal Nature Communications. Their assessment is based on laboratory experiments in which they were able to show that certain viral molecules facilitate intercellular spreading of protein aggregates that are hallmarks of brain diseases like Alzheimer's. These findings may provide clues how acute or chronic viral infections could contribute to neurodegeneration.

Aggregates of misfolded proteins, which occur in so-called prion diseases such as Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, have the ability to pass from one cell to another, where they transfer their abnormal shape to proteins of the same kind. As a result, the disease spreads across the brain. A similar phenomenon is discussed for Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease, which also exhibit assemblies of misfolded proteins.

Transmission of aggregates could involve direct cell-to-cell contact, the release of "naked" aggregates into extracellular space or packaging in vesicles, which are tiny bubbles surrounded by a lipid envelope that are secreted for communication between cells. "The precise mechanisms of transmission are unknown", says Ina Vorberg, a research group leader at the DZNE's Bonn site and professor at the University of Bonn. "However, it is an obvious guess, that aggregate exchange by both direct cell contact and via vesicles depends on ligand-receptor interactions. This is because in both scenarios, membranes need to make contact and fuse. This is facilitated when ligands are present that bind to receptors on the cell surface and then cause the two membranes to fuse."

Experiments with cell cultures

Based on this assumption, Vorberg's team, with support from DZNE colleagues in Munich and Tubingen as well as Belgian scientists, performed an extensive series of studies with different cell cultures. Thereby, they investigated the intercellular transfer of either prions or aggregates of tau proteins, as they occur in similar form in prion diseases or Alzheimer's disease and other "tauopathies."

Mimicking what happens as a result of viral infection, the researchers induced cells to produce viral proteins that mediate target cell binding and membrane fusion. Two proteins were chosen as prime examples: SARS-CoV-2 spike protein S, which stems from the virus causing COVID-19, and vesicular stomatitis virus glycoprotein VSV-G, which occurs in a pathogen that infects cattle and other animals. Moreover, cells expressed receptors for these viral proteins, namely the LDL receptor family, which act as docking ports for VSV-G, and human ACE2, the receptor for the spike protein.

Ligands facilitate aggregate spreading

"We could show that the viral proteins are incorporated both into the cellular membrane and into the extracellular vesicles. Their presence increased protein aggregate spreading between cells, both by direct cell contact or by extracellular vesicles. The viral ligands mediated an effective transfer of aggregates into recipient cells, where they induced new aggregates. The ligands act like keys that unlock the recipient cells and thus sneak in the dangerous cargo," Vorberg says.

"Certainly, our cellular models do not replicate the many aspects of the brain with its very specialized cell types. However, independent of the tested cell type producing the pathologic aggregates, the presence of viral ligands clearly increased the spreading of misfolded proteins to other cells. All in all, our data suggests that viral ligand-receptor interactions can in principle affect transmission of pathologic proteins. This is a novel finding."

Potential effects on neurodegeneration

"The brains of patients suffering from neurodegenerative diseases sometimes contain certain viruses. They are suspected to cause inflammation or to have a toxic effect, thus accelerating neurodegeneration. However, viral proteins could also act differently: They could increase intercellular spreading of protein aggregates already ongoing in neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's," Vorberg says. "Of course, this needs further studies with neurotropic viruses. Clearly, the impact of viral infections on neurodegenerative diseases deserves in-depth investigation."

Explore further Researchers shine new light on molecular mechanisms in brain diseases

More information: Ina Vorberg et al, Highly efficient intercellular spreading of protein misfolding mediated by viral ligand-receptor interactions, Nature Communications (2021). Journal information: Nature Communications Ina Vorberg et al, Highly efficient intercellular spreading of protein misfolding mediated by viral ligand-receptor interactions,(2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-25855-2
ALERT: Help Mike McGuff & Dayna Steele fight Alzheimer's disease by donating to the "Steeleworkers" 2021 Walk to End Alzheimer's team . You can join too! DONATE HERE!
Ethan Lerman, running for a Missoula municipal judge position, said he sees himself as the incumbent in the race due to his experience working as an assistant judge to Missoula Municipal Court Judge Kathleen Jenks for the last three years.

When I took the job three years ago, I didnt know what to expect. It was a change of pace for me," Lerman said.

Jenks' position was an appointed one until this year, Lerman said. He was planning on running for Jenks position before the Montana Legislature decided it would divide the court into three departments.

Prior to serving as an assistant judge, Lerman, 47, had been working as a substitute municipal judge, and before that was a private attorney for about 10 years, taking on civil litigation and criminal defense.

I became an attorney because I thought that was the best way I could help people, Lerman said. I am running for judge because I think I have a knack for it  I understand both sides of the perspective.

A Missoula resident since 2006, Lerman said he believes his experience across different fields of law has prepared him for this position.

He said he believes the judicial branch of government can sometimes be overlooked, but is a vital part of a communitys ability to function well.

The court is often an overlooked part of government because the judicial branch is kind of the backstop. In order to have a functioning, healthy community, I think its important to have a good, healthy functioning court.

He said he wants to make court a place where he can help Missoula community members who pass through the system.

I think the courts role is to help people to try to get them into the direction that they need to go so that they dont need to keep coming back to court."

For example, if someone has a substance abuse problem, Lerman said, he wants to make sure they have the resources provided to them in court to combat that.

Because so few people in communities have interactions with the court, Lerman hopes he can create an environment in his courtroom where people can have positive interactions with the judicial system.

As a municipal judge, Lerman also wants to focus on improving the accessibility of the court. This would include making Zoom access to hearings a permanent fixture, he said. Its been beneficial to Missoulas legal system and made hearings more accessible for the community, he added.

Keeping Zoom is a huge thing. It also allows people to participate in the process when they might not otherwise be able to.

You can read more about Lermans campaign on his website at judgelerman.com/.

Coming tomorrow: Hear from municipal judge candidate Jennifer Streano.

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The Missoula City-County Health Department recorded eight additional COVID-19 deaths on Monday. That brings the number of county residents who have died due to the disease to 25 in just the month of October. In September, 19 people died in the county.

Some of the deaths occurred over the weekend and all the victims were older adults, said health department spokeswoman Hayley Devlin.

"We're seeing more deaths and they're coming in a lot faster," Devlin said. "The people who are dying are typically unvaccinated or if they're fully vaccinated, they're elderly."

The few fully vaccinated individuals who have died from COVID-19 are often over 80 years old with other health conditions, she said.

"Herd immunity can play a big role in protecting our vulnerable elders who have already done everything in their power to protect themselves," Devlin said.

Most people who are getting infected recently are younger, she added.

"I think a lot of people in their 20s or 30s or even teens don't realize that even though the virus usually doesn't harm them, it still can," she said. "We're seeing the highest levels of infection in these populations."

On Oct. 12, a 29-year-old Missoula resident, Jacob Dunlap, passed away due to complications from COVID-19, according to his obituary.

Devlin said people in the younger age groups can also spread the virus to older people, who are more susceptible to being hospitalized or dying.

"We need younger people to step up and do their part and get vaccinated," she said.

To make an appointment to get vaccinated in Missoula County, visit mcchdcovid.timetap.com.

Also on Tuesday, Montana became the state with the highest number of COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people in the country.

The New York Times COVID tracker moved Montana into the top slot as the state hit 97 cases per 100,000 people per day.

Idaho and Wyoming follow with 78 cases and 75 cases per 100,000 people respectively. Alaska, which had been number one over the weekend, has moved down to fourth in the country with 71 cases per 100,000 people.

Last year, COVID peaked in Nov. 2020 and worked its way back down to settle at a manageable level during the summer months. During this stable period, the state averaged about 10 cases per 100,000 people per day. Thats about 107 cases per day in the state.

Third doses are available for those who have received the Pfizer vaccine and are immunocompromised and 65 years old and older. Adults 50 to 64 years with underlying medical conditions should also receive a third shot if they have received the Pfizer vaccine.

Those who received Pfizer and are 18 to 64 years old in essential worker positions may get a booster, as their risk of exposure to COVID-19 is increased.

Moderna recipients can receive a booster if they have a moderately to severely compromised immune system.

Later this week, the FDA will make recommendations for J&J recipients in regards to booster shots.

Billings Gazette reporter Emily Schabacker contributed to this story.

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Judicial candidates sparred over Missoula Municipal Court strategies and tactics in handling misdemeanor offenses at a Missoula City Club forum Monday.

Hosted by ABC Fox Montana anchor Angela Marshall, the forum gave the six candidates a platform to answer questions about how they would approach presiding over municipal court cases.

Streano, Parker and Coolidge have all worked as public defenders in Montana. Warren, Geist and Lerman have all worked in Missoulas courts. Warren and Lerman were appointed as assistant judges by Judge Kathleen Jenks, and Geist has worked as a substitute judge.

Missoulas Municipal Court has traditionally been governed by one judge, who appoints assistant judges where needed. But with the passage of Senate Bill 127, signed by Gov. Greg Gianforte in April, all municipal judge departments are now elected positions, eliminating positions by appointment.

In Missoula, the municipal judge election this year is especially unique because Jenks is retiring, leaving all three departments vacant.

Questions and discussions at the forum heavily focused on incarceration rates in the countys jail and the municipal courts role in landing Missoulians in the detention facility. The municipal court handles misdemeanor offenses that occur within city limits.

While Streano, Coolidge and Parker said they do not intend to eliminate jail sentences entirely, they overwhelmingly want to see a reduction in defendants being sent to the detention facility over nonviolent offenses, specifically traffic violations.

Streano opened responses to jail numbers with an emphasis on minimizing jail time for traffic offenders.

I dont think jail is an appropriate response to deal with people who are convicted of committing traffic offenses, she said. This would be a great place to start to help the overcrowding of the jail.

If elected, she hopes to create a traffic court within municipal court to move traffic violations out of the criminal arena. It would address the barriers Missoulians face to things like getting a drivers license.

Warren, Geist and Lerman all said jail sentences should not always be the answer to misdemeanor charges. They agree that overcrowding is an issue at the detention facility. However, they noted there are mandatory minimums for specific offenses and that the court is in place to uphold legislation written by the state.

People understand there has to be a consequence when they break the law, Geist said. But the consequence has to be just.

In a response to Streanos ideas about a traffic court, Warren said there is a mandatory jail offense imposed for a handful of traffic-related citations, including misdemeanor DUI offenses.

There is a reason for the penalties, but I am in total agreement that very rarely should anyone go to jail for a traffic offense beyond what may be a mandatory minimum, he said.

Parker attributed overcrowding at the jail to mental health issues, saying at the municipal court level hed like to see integration of social work and connecting people experiencing addiction, homelessness and mental health issues with community services as opposed to them being incarcerated.

Streano, Parker and Coolidge all said Missoulas current municipal court has been too punitive in recent years, contributing to a high jail population.

The jail overcrowding has become a major problem. And I think municipal court is only a small piece of that problem, but I believe the way municipal court has been operating has been making that problem worse, Coolidge said. Thats what weve heard from community leaders who are responsible for running the jail.

Warren, Geist and Lerman disagreed.

Only one person is in jail right now for a traffic offense, Lerman said  a third-offense DUI charge.

In Lerman's work as an assistant judge for three years, hes seen the court suspend fines and give defendants incentives to get insured, he said.

As judges were bound by the law, were not bound by philosophy. Were a court of lowest jurisdiction, we follow the law as set forth by precedent and as set forth by the Montana state legislature, he said.

Missoulas 2021 municipal judge election has also drawn increased public attention from the campaign style employed by Streano, Parker and Coolidge. This was a topic of contention at Mondays forum.

"This group think or team approach is completely inappropriate," Lerman said, adding the judiciary must operate independently.

Warren, Geist and Lerman are not running as a team.

Streano, Parker and Coolidge spoke at length about their shared vision for the court, explaining cohesiveness among the departments can move the court forward. They refuted the claims of group-think.

I believe we have different strengths but a shared desire to make this court better for all Missoulians, Coolidge said.

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After 13 years of serving the public, Thorin Geist has joined the running for Missoula municipal judge.

Geist, 43, has been serving as a prosecutor, civil litigator and substitute judge for over a decade in Montana, and said he is ready to step into the role of municipal judge.

I believe in public service, I always have, Geist said, adding he's running for this position because of the importance municipal judges have in the legal system.

Because most people who pass through the system do so in municipal court, Geist said he feels this is the department where he can best serve Missoula.

For most people this is the first experience theyre going to have with the legal system, and probably the only, Geist said.

After working as a private attorney, Geist transitioned into the role of deputy county attorney in Ravalli County from 2012 to 2020 where he prosecuted felony crimes for the State of Montana.

In 2019, he added working as the special assistant U.S. attorney for the District of Montana to his resume, where he was responsible for prosecuting drug crimes and weapons cases.

Geist then jumped into the role of substitute justice of the peace for the Missoula County Justice Court, where he has been working since March 2020.

This past March, he also started filling in as substitute municipal court judge.

Geist said this firsthand experience working in the position he is running for combined with his past litigation experience make him qualified for the role.

Building relationships with different departments in the county, namely with county attorneys, has been a highlight of his time in the legal system, and its something he hopes to continue if elected, he said. He also wants to focus on fostering the municipal departments relationship with local law enforcement.

The system doesnt work unless all the sides are working well and cooperating together, Geist said.

Geist is running unopposed for department 2. This year's election includes three municipal judge positions.

For more information about Geists campaign, visit geistforjudge.com.

Coming tomorrow: Hear from municipal judge candidate Ethan Lerman.

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Montana became the state with the highest number of COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people in the country Tuesday morning. The New York Times COVID tracker moved Montana into the top slot as the state hit 97 cases per 100,000 people per day.

Idaho and Wyoming follow with 78 cases and 75 cases per 100,000 people respectively. Alaska, which had been number one over the weekend, has moved down to fourth in the country with 71 cases per 100,000 people.

We are the hottest spot and Yellowstone County is leading with the number of cases in the state, said Public Health Officer John Felton during a Tuesday meeting of the County Commissioners.

Last year, COVID peaked in Nov. 2020 and worked its way back down to settle at a manageable level during the summer months. During this stable period, the state averaged about 10 cases per 100,000 people per day. Thats about 107 cases per day in the state and 16 cases per day in Yellowstone County. In a year, thats about 39,000 cases in the state and about 5,800 cases in Yellowstone County.

This looks a lot like influenza, but influenza goes back to zero. We havent hit a zero point for COVID, Felton said.

In Yellowstone County, October case numbers have exceeded that of September. And the seven day average of new cases in the county has far exceeded that of the Nov. 2020 peak. The same is true for Missoula County.

In 20 months, 383 Yellowstone County residents have died from COVID-19. In the entire pandemic, September 2021 saw the highest number of deaths from COVID-19, Felton said.

Other respiratory viruses are starting to circulate as well with only 25% of symptomatic testers showing a positive test for COVID. Other viruses include rhinovirus and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) that is common in children during winter months.

An unusual uptick in RSV cases was recorded over the summer in Montana. Usually, the virus doesnt start circulating until December. A co-infection of COVID-19 and RSV is possible and could potentially overwhelm an immune system.

During the 2020-2021 school year, about 9% of COVID cases were in school-aged kids, Felton said. This school year, about 20% of cases are in school-aged kids.

About two-thirds of COVID cases are in people aged 20 to 59 years old. This population makes up the adult workforce in Yellowstone County and is not sufficiently vaccinated to minimize the spread, Felton added.

Kelly Gardner, RN with RiverStone Health and Unified Health Command, added that four to seven employees work on COVID-19 data entry every day for public health and nine case investigators work on hundreds of cases per day. In Yellowstone County alone, about 72 hours per day is devoted to COVID-19.

Gardner said that as of 10:15 a.m. on Oct. 19, the time spent on COVID-19 in public health was equivalent to 25 years worth of work.

On Tuesday morning, about 13,500 people in Yellowstone County were removed from the workforce due to COVID-19. Of those, 2,691 people were in isolation and about 11,000 were close contacts expected to quarantine until they receive a negative COVID test.

On top of that, massive numbers of resignations are coming in from health care and education sectors, mostly due to to frustration and burnout, Gardner said.

Thats a huge loss of years of investment in those sectors, Gardner said. All these hours are spent on COVID and huge economic impacts are being felt in the county  we continue to set records we do not want to set.

As of Tuesday morning, Billings Clinic had 75 COVID positive inpatients with 32 in the intensive care unit and 23 on ventilators. Of those, 61 are unvaccinated.

St. Vincent Healthcare had 63 COVID positive patients with 10 in the ICU and 10 intubated. Out of the COVID inpatients, 52 were unvaccinated.

At the commissioner meeting, Dr. David Graham, infectious disease doctor with St. Vincent Healthcare, encouraged all to get a third dose or booster shot when it is approved by the FDA.

Third doses are available for those who have received the Pfizer vaccine and are immunocompromised and 65 years old and older. Adults 50 to 64 years with underlying medical conditions should also receive a third shot if they have received the Pfizer vaccine.

Those who received Pfizer and are 18 to 64 years old in essential worker positions may get a booster, as their risk of exposure to COVID-19 is increased.

Moderna recipients can receive a booster if they have a moderately to severely compromised immune system.

Later this week, the FDA will make recommendations for J&J recipients in regards to booster shots.

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Its not every day that union members and environmentalists team up, but the American Families Plan federal budget gives us a lot to agree on. It will make taxes fairer, create jobs, mitigate climate change, and improve education and health care.

Tax fairness

The budget is paid for by a set of sensible reforms that bring the American tax code into balance. Our federal tax system is riddled with loopholes that benefit the wealthiest households and corporations at the expense of the rest of us.

Right now, the top one percent of earners avoid $163 billion in taxes every year. Improving collections of taxes already due and avoided, mainly by the wealthiest, would add $1.6 trillion in revenue over the next decade.

The plans proposed individual income tax changes would require the richest one percent to pay for 97 percent of the tax increase, which will start to address inequities in Americas tax system.

At the same time, the proposal will extend tax credits that put more money in the pockets of hardworking Montana families. It makes permanent the Child Tax Credit (CTC) recently passed through the American Rescue Plan earlier this year. This expansion would bring 10,000 Montana children out of poverty. According to the Montana Budget and Policy Center, up to 55 percent fewer children of color will live in poverty if Congress permanently expands the CTC.

Good-paying jobs

Together with the infrastructure bill negotiated by Montanas senior U.S. senator, Jon Tester, the bill would support more than 4 million jobs per year. It would improve training and pay for jobs for in-home caregivers, helping meet the demand for skilled workers to care for Montanas rapidly aging population.

The Economic Policy Institute says climate-related parts of the plan would support more than 763,000 jobs annually. It also contains provisions for dislocated workers, which could help oil, gas and coal workers displaced by the ongoing move to a carbon-free energy system.

According to the Environmental Defense Fund, Both renewable electricity and electric vehicle purchase credits include new labor provisions. Renewable electricity projects must pay prevailing wages and meet apprenticeship levels, barring extenuating circumstances.

Extending the CTC will put more money in the pockets of people who are most likely to spend it  lower-income families. This consumer spending at main street small businesses will create jobs and tax revenue for rural Montana.

Better health care and education

In Montana, over 90 percent of home care workers are women and 15 percent are women of color. But for too long our leaders have not matched the value of their work with adequate training and compensation. This is an opportunity to turn the corner and raise standards for workers, our most vulnerable, and communities that are still emerging from a difficult year.

The bill would create access to in-home care for more than 2,000 Montanans currently on a Medicaid waitlist by expanding funding, creating and maintaining jobs for home care workers. Extending the CTC would likewise help families afford childcare, another field that suffers from a lack of qualified workers in Montana.

It would create an additional four years of free public education for our nations children and make childcare universally available to 3- and 4-year olds.

Climate mitigation incentives

The plan also puts the country on an aggressive path toward cutting carbon emissions by at least 50 percent by 2030. It would require utilities to cut emissions by 4% each year and incentivize the construction of clean energy projects, such as wind and solar. And it would create consumer incentives to buy electric cars and make carbon-reducing home renovations.

Jacquie Helt, Service Employees International Union 775 and Whitney Tawney, Montana Conservation Voters as the authors.

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Office of Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen

At least three high-ranking public officials in Montana tried to pressure a hospital to allow a woman hospitalized with COVID-19 to access drugs that have not been authorized for treatment of the virusand even threatened doctors and dispatched a state trooper, according to the hospital.

Last week, several of our providers and care team members who are working tirelessly at the bedside were harassed and threatened by three public officials, Andrea Groom, spokesperson for the Helena-based St. Peters Health, told The Daily Beast in a statement Tuesday. These officials have no medical training or experience, yet they were insisting our providers give treatments for COVID-19 that are not authorized, clinically approved, or within the guidelines established by the FDA and the CDC.

According to the Independent Record, a patient in her 80s had requested ivermectin, the anti-parasitic drug touted in right-wing circles as a miracle serum for COVID-19.

Groom said Tuesday that the officials threatened to use their position of power to force our doctors and nurses to provide this care. The conversations had been deeply troubling to hospital staff and doctors because they were threatened and their clinical judgment was called into question by these individuals, she said.

GOP Pol Waged Insane Battle to Treat Dying COVID Patient With Ivermectin

The public officials were not named by Groom, but the Independent Record reported that Republican Attorney General Austin Knudsens office had acknowledged having a conference call with hospital executives last week. Republican state Sen. Theresa Manzella also said she had reached out to the hospital on behalf of a patient last week.

A spokesman for the state Justice Department, Kyler Nerison, told The Daily Beast in an email that a family had contacted the Montana Attorney Generals Office, alleging that St. Peters Hospital was violating their relatives rights.

Nerison said the family had cited examples that included the hospital refusing to allow her to receive prescribed medications, failing to deliver legal documents, not allowing the family to visit the patient, and at one point, even cutting off text message communication between them and their family member.

Story continues

According to Nerison, the patients family sought assistance from Knudsens office and a trooper was dispatched to speak with the family at the hospital.

When asked why a trooper was called in, Nerison said: Because the family asked for assistance from the Department of Justice. He said its the only case of alleged ongoing mistreatment of a patient the office had directly received.

Theresa Manzella Montana Legislature

Following the troopers dispatch, the Justice Department initiated an investigation into the very troubling allegations made by the patients family, Nerison said.

Knudsen then spoke with a board member who set up a conference call with hospital executives who assured Knudsen that the hospital would no longer bar communication between the patient and her family and would deliver the legal documents she needed, Nerison said.

No one was threatened or had their clinical judgment questioned while the Department of Justice was trying to get to the bottom of the serious allegations that the hospital was mistreating a patient and violating her rights and her familys rights, Nerison wrote. He added that the investigation is ongoing.

Ivermectin-Crazy Physician Assistants License Is Suspended

In her email Tuesday, Groom did not address the familys allegations about text communications or legal papers being withheld. She maintained that after reviewing medical and legal records in connection with the incidents, hospital staff were providing care in accordance with clinical best practice, hospital policy and patient rights.

Any allegations or assertions otherwise are unfounded, she wrote. Despite occasional requests by patients or family members to use alternative therapies or medications like Ivermectin that are not authorized or clinically approved to treat COVID-19, St. Peter's Health will continue to follow clinical protocols that have been developed by medical experts and are consistent with FDA and CDC guidelines and recommendations.

Last week, Heidi Roedel, president of the Flathead County Republican Women, identified Shirley Herrin as a patient at the hospital embroiled in a firestorm to get alternative treatments for COVID-19. She urged members of the Facebook group Montana Federation of Republican Women to contact the hospital.

She said Herrin was in St Peters and asked members to submit an online form through the hospitals website requesting that it stop blocking the use of readily available, affordable life-saving meds that are prescribed to her and have proven effective in many other cases, namely ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine, which doctors at the hospital had refused to give her.

Roedel did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Daily Beast on Tuesday.

Republican state Sen. Theresa Manzella, who replied to the post, did not immediately respond to The Daily Beasts request for comment but told the Associated Press that she had reached out to the hospital asking why the patients requests werent being honored why her constitutional right to dignity, self-determination and right to try were not being considered. She claimed she had not spoken to anyone directly.

In her email Tuesday, Groom said the hospital wouldnt succumb to pressure from anyone to diverge from protocols on treatment of the virus.

Any efforts to exert pressure on our providers, including by public officials, will not result in deviation from widely accepted clinical treatment protocols or our hospital policy. Furthermore, harassing our care teams places an additional burden of stress on these individuals, diverting their time and focus away from caring for these critically ill patients.

However, Nerison accused the hospital and local publications of trying to divert attention away from allegations of mistreatment.

The Department of Justices ongoing investigation does not involve any specific medical treatment, nor did anyone at our agency give any directive to hospital staff regarding any specific medical treatment, he wrote. Our concern was  and the focus of our investigation continues to be  allegations that the hospital mistreated a patient and violated her rights and her familys rights.

Lewis and Clark County Attorney Leo Gallagher told the Independent Record that after he was contacted by the trooper who made the hospital call, he didnt find a criminal offense that required investigation.

Montana was dealt a staggering blow in reported coronavirus cases requiring hospital care, hitting an all-time high of 510 patients hospitalized on Wednesday.

In August, the state Department of Public Health and Human Services alerted county officials and medical providers in a memo about a rapid increase of ivermectin prescriptions and severe illness associated with its use to prevent to treat COVID-19.

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It's October on the Outer Banks. A late hurricane is threatening to wash away the beaches and blow down the old wooden houses that have been family treasures for generations. The Boston Red Sox are struggling to make the playoffs.

This sounds real, but it is the setting for compelling new fiction, The Last First Kiss, a book by former lawyer, judge, and law professor Walter Bennett. He lives in Chapel Hill with his wife Betsy, the former director of the N. C. Museum of Natural Sciences

If you are past retirement age, and sometimes wonder what your life would have been like if, instead of breaking up with your high school sweetheart, you all had married and lived a different, an entirely different, life and if sometimes your imagination takes you back 50 or 60 years, and memories of those tender times make you blush, if that is you, maybe you should not read this book.

If you do, it could set your heart ablaze in a dangerous way.

But if you pass this book by, you will miss some of the best writing to come out of the recent North Carolina literary scene.
Anaconda schools to observe Red Ribbon Week

ANACONDA  Anaconda-Deer Lodge County will mark the opening of Red Ribbon Week with a short ceremony at the Anaconda High School Little Theatre at 12:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 25. Attendance will be limited. Attendees will be required to wear masks.

Red Ribbon Week, which runs annually Oct. 23 -31 provides an opportunity for individuals, families and communities across the United States to demonstrate their commitment to a healthy, drug-free lifestyle. Red Ribbon Week raises awareness of drug use and the problems related to drugs faced by individuals, families, and communities. This annual health observance encourages parents, educators, business owners, and other community organizations to promote drug-free lifestyles.

Red Ribbon Week is observed within the Anaconda School District with activities, contests and prizes for school children who pledge to live drug free. Local businesses such as Taco Time, McDonalds, Subway and the Washoe Theatre donate prizes to participating students throughout the week.The event on the Oct. 25 will involve students, faculty, members of the DUI Task Force. There will be short presentations and Anaconda Junior and Senior High School students will be pledging to live drug and alcohol free by signing their names on a large banner which will later be hung on school grounds.

American Legion Post hosts dinner

The American Legion Post #1 and the Auxiliary will celebrate their monthly dinner at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 20, at the Legion Hall, 3201 Wynne Ave. Doors open at 6 p.m. They will be serving a roast beef dinner with salads and desserts. The cost will be $8. The Post will hold a short meeting after the dinner.

Science Mine offers activities for kids

The Science Mine, 36 E. Granite St., will be open 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 23. Can you build the highest flyer? Investigate aerodynamics in the STEAM-Powered Kids project area. Enjoy new exhibits like the telephone switch and good old favorites including Tesla coils, stream tables, laser mazes, and more. Non-member admission is $5 per person; $15 per family.

For more details, go to https://m.facebook.com/sciencemineorg/?_rdr or call 406-992-4208.

Missouri Headwaters advisory team to meet

THREE FORKS  Staff from Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks and WWC Engineering will host a work session meeting as part of an ongoing process to develop a master plan for Missouri Headwaters State Park from 9 to 11 a.m. Friday, Oct. 22, via Zoom. The public is invited to attend.

The meeting will include a project overview and schedule, results from a recent public survey about the park, and a park needs assessment. The meeting will be held over Zoom, and there will be time for public comments at the end of the meeting.

The master planning effort for the park includes several goals:

Guide the development and use of park facilities.

Provide guidelines for the protection and management of important natural, cultural and scenic resources.

Provide visitors with a wide range of experiences.

Provide for public health and safety.

Address short- and long-term needs, while making the least impact on the landscape and cultural resources.

Broaden visitors knowledge and appreciation of the area.

Accommodate crowds while still allowing for areas of solitude.

Details on how to join the meeting can be found at https://go.usa.gov/xMFn6.

For more details about the project, visit wwcengineering.com/portfolio/headwaters-state-park-master-plan.

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Not life, but good life, is to be chiefly valued. It is not living but living rightly. The unexamined life is not worth living. Socrates

Critical Race Theory is in Montanas news as our Superintendent of Education, Attorney General and Governor have castigated it and dont want it taught. Nationwide many states have banned teaching CRT. What is this theory that has stirred such emotion? What larger societal lessons can we draw from this tumult?

CRTs origins go back to 19th Century sociologists and the theoretical underpinning of CRT, which is conflict theory, is standard and well-recognized in the discussion of U.S. social problems.

We cannot make America great if we ignore the past failures. We cannot make America great if we ignore the problems of the present. History does not reward myopic thinking. No person or institution likes to admit that it made mistakes. No person or institution likes to admit it was wrong. But unless we do so, we can never improve  we learn from our mistakes. Failure is instructive. (John Dewey) CRT challenges us to accept the pain that comes from admitting our errors as necessary for growth and knowledge.

CRT asks the fundamental questions: Why does this country still tolerate and sustain racism? How can we overcome racism? CRT encourages a critical analysis of the past and present history of U.S. racism. Those who cannot learn from history are condemned to repeat it. (Santayana) CRT argues with much justification that racism is not just a product of bigoted individuals but has been and continues to be institutionalized in the U.S.

Of course, the bigotry in our countrys history is not confined to African-Americans. For most of our history we practiced genocide with regard to Native Americans. We need to dispel the destructive myth that the mission system was a benign gift to Native Americans when in fact it was evil, vicious and cruel. We need to expose the historical prejudice displayed against Latino Americans.

Focusing on African-Americans, consider:

In virtually all dimensions, African-Americans are worse off than white Americans.

These indicators of structural/institutional racism are: Lower longevity, more pernicious effects of Covid, lower median income, lower levels of access to education and lower levels of education, greater unemployment, greater rates of poverty, higher arrest and incarceration rates, fewer political offices held, continued discrimination in access to affordable/livable housing and continuing discrimination by institutions such as our criminal justice system. Similar statistics can be cited in reference to other minorities in the U.S. such as Native Americans and Latinos. This prejudice and discrimination that has marked American history from the beginning continues into the present.

Those who want to ban the teaching of CRT only want to present a mythical, sanitized, whitewashed view of Americas past and present. There has been and continues to be bigotry, racism, ethnocentrism, sexism, ageism and intolerance of diversity in this country. Ignoring this fact will not make it go away. Of course, to be blunt, many of the critics of CRT are overt or latent bigots who actually support white, male supremacy. They certainly show this by their deedsa good indication of their intent. The xenophobic fanaticism underlying criticism of CRT permeates their approach to all social problems in the U.S.

Part of the reason for not wanting to face up to and own up to the problems in American society is that they fear that that could lead to a movement to actually fix or address the problems. And since they profit politically, psychologically and/or economically from the problem, these bigots dont want them fixed.

A social problem is a societal condition that does not square with our ideals. We have social problems that morally demand remediation. But there are those who dont want them fixed and attempt to silence any attempt to bring them out in the open. At its core, CRT is a call for social justice. We have forgotten and continue to forget our societal commitment, going back to the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, to promote social justice. We need movements like CRT to wake us up from our bigoted slumbers. CRT helps us hold accountable leaders who espouse fear, hatred and bigotry.

Dr. John W. Ray is a professor of political science and political philosophy at Montana Tech. He has recently had a peer review paper accepted for presentation for an international conference at the University of Athens-Greece on the fact and fiction behind Critical Race Theory. The views expressed are his own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Montana Tech.

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Mayor Diana Broderson has had the opportunity to meet the train at its stop in front of Modern Woodmen in Davenport to ride the train back to Muscatine.

They have music on board so they open up the sides of the train and have a concert right there, she said. It draws a very large crowd.

One year, Broderson was able to help present the check to the Salvation Army.

Broderson said the railroad had contacted her about six weeks ago to let her know the train wasnt coming this year. Again last week she received an email saying the train event had been shifted to a virtual concert.

Theyre disappointed; were disappointed, but they are concerned with inviting the entire community together around the holiday train, so close together and we all know it does bring a very large crowd, she said.

She said the area is happy for the support the railroad is showing local food banks. The railroad is expected to make a donation to the food bank again this year.
MUSCATINE  With Halloween just around the corner and all the little ghosts and goblins making their rounds to area houses for seasonal goodies, the Muscatine Fire Department encourages everyone to stay safe.

Capt. Andy Summitt said trick or treaters would do well to have a flashlight or glowsticks and to have reflective tape on costumes to make sure motorists can see them. He also stressed the need for Halloween enthusiasts to only use crosswalks when crossing the street. Nationwide, on average, children are twice as likely to be struck by a car on Halloween than any other day of the year.

We used to talk about having parents check the candy, he said. Nowadays with COVID that might not be a bad idea. Wearing masks might be a tip for the parents to decide.

Parents are also encouraged to plan the night ahead of time, including what neighborhoods they are going to visit.

Unless otherwise noted, trick-or-treat times are for Sunday, Oct. 31.

IOWA

 Bettendorf: 5-7:30 p.m.

 Bettendorf Halloween Parade: Oct. 30, 6 p.m., starting at Middle Rd. and 23rd St.
Tenth graders of Tinian Jr./Sr. High in San Jose, Tinian, learn about tourism and the Marianas Visitors Authority on Oct. 13, 2021. Pictured are Marianas Touris Education Council acting Chairwoman Vicky Benavente, left, students and other MTEC and MVA representatives.
All South African mobile operators favour extending the use of temporary spectrum until the spectrum auction is concluded, except one  Rain.

The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) temporarily assigned radio frequency spectrum at the start of South Africas national state of disaster.

This spectrum, Icasa said, was needed to help network operators cope with the surge in demand for data during the Covid19 lockdown.

The regulator now wants this spectrum back. The Icasa Council said temporary spectrum assigned to licensees would have to be returned by no later than 30 November 2021.

Telkom, MTN, and Vodacom have launched legal action against the regulators decision to take back the temporary spectrum.

As part of their legal challenge, the operators argued that the temporary spectrum must remain in place for the duration of South Africas Covid-19 national state of disaster.

MTN added that it saw unprecedented growth in data traffic when South Africas state of disaster began, impacting the quality of service on its network.

MTNs chief corporate services officer, Graham de Vries, said the consequences to MTNs network would be dire if Icasa takes back the temporary spectrum.

Vodacom also urged the regulator to reconsider its withdrawal of the temporary spectrum at the end of November.

Vodacom spokesperson Byron Kennedy said they want Icasa to extend the use of temporary spectrum for as long as the country remains in a National State of Disaster or until three months after the high demand spectrum auction is concluded.

Cell C and Liquid Intelligent Technologies SA also favour extending the use of temporary spectrum until an auction takes place.

Liquid told MyBroadband South Africa needs spectrum now, more than ever, to support reliable and efficient telecommunications networks.

Cell Cs chief legal officer, Zahir Williams, said the national lockdown has increased voice and data traffic, contributing to network congestion.

Although we are just emerging from the third wave of the pandemic, remote work is here to stay for many organizations, and remote workforces are still consuming more data to continue working from home, Williams said.

For many South Africans working, learning and studying, transacting and entertaining online is a daily digital reality.

To fully experience the benefits of our digital lives, we need more, not fewer data, and this, in turn, requires more, not less spectrum.

That means five of the six operators who will form part of the spectrum auction  Vodacom, MTN, Cell C, Telkom, and Liquid Telecom  support the use of temporary spectrum until after the auction.

The only mobile operator who wants the regulator to take back the temporary spectrum is Rain.

Rain CEO Brandon Leigh said the main reason they do not want the temporary spectrum to remain as is is the process of how it was allocated.

The temporary spectrum was allocated on an emergency basis, so no consideration was given to the long-term effects on the market, he said.

The framework used for the application and rewarding of temporary was under the disaster act and was not designed to be a formal licencing process.

Leigh said the perpetual licensing of temporary spectrum creates a disincentive for the recipients to support the spectrum auction as effectively they have already been awarded the spectrum they would otherwise need to buy at auction.

To understand why Rain wants mobile operators to give back the temporary spectrum, you have to understand their business model.

Rains main revenue stream is charging Vodacom to roam on its network.

Rains 1,800MHz and 2,600MHz spectrum bands are used to enhance the capacity and performance of Vodacoms network.

The only reason Vodacom pays Rain to roam on its network is a lack of spectrum. The more spectrum Vodacom has, the less it uses Rains network, and the less money Rain gets.

It is, therefore, in Rains interest to ensure Vodacom does not keep the temporary spectrum.

Leigh said if Icasa decides to offer spectrum as an interim measure for the period before the auction, there should be a new licensing process.

It is unrealistic. Anyone who has followed the South African telecoms industry knows that an interim licensing process is a pipe dream.

Even Icasas plan to license new spectrum no later than the end of March 2022 is ambitious and unlikely to happen.

The spectrum licensing process has been dragging on for over a decade, with many empty promises and missed deadlines along the way.

As a result, valuable spectrum has been wasted for years when network operators could have used it to lower data prices, improve network quality, and even increase competition.

The temporary spectrum assignment is a tremendous opportunity to ensure the spectrum is not wasted.

An agreement to allow mobile operators to keep the temporary spectrum until after the high demand spectrum auction is concluded is an elegant solution to a decade-long problem.

If the Department of Communications and Icasa stick to their deadlines, operators will get additional spectrum soon. If not, the temporary spectrum will continue to benefit consumers and the country.

Like Vodacom CEO Shameel Joosub said  it is time for all parties to put their vested interests aside and do what is best for South Africa.

What is best for South Africa is to ensure mobile operators have access to additional spectrum  however this is achieved.
Eight foreign nationals suspected of running Internet scams, money laundering, and international wide-scale financial fraud have been arrested in Cape Town in a joint operation led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), United State Secret Service (USSS) Investigations, and Interpol.

The law enforcement agencies were provided with assistance from the Hawks Serious Commercial Crime Investigation Unit, SAPS Crime Intelligence (CI), K9, National Intervention Unit, the Special Task Force (STF), Tactical Operations Management Section (TOMS), Criminal Record Centre, and Cape Town Metro Police.

All suspects were arrested during a large-scale operation in the early morning hours of today and will be charged with a variety of financial crimes, including conspiracy to commit wire/mail fraud and money laundering, said SAPS spokesperson Col. Katlego Mogale.

The operation was initiated based on the mutual legal assistance from central authorities of the United States of America that was approved by the Republic of South Africa.

Mogale said the suspects in the investigation were alleged to have ties to a transnational organised crime syndicate originating in Nigeria.

According to a report from The Sunday Times, the crime syndicate is the notorious Nigerian mafia-style organisation known as The Black Axe.

The organisation was banned in Nigeria over its links to criminal activity around the world.

Mogale said the suspects allegedly preyed on victims, many of whom were vulnerable widows or divorcees who were led to believe that they were in genuine romantic relationships but were scammed out of their money.

The suspects used social media websites and online dating websites to find and connect with their victims, he explained.

Once they had ingratiated themselves with their victims, they allegedly concocted sob stories about why they needed money  taxes to release an inheritance, essential overseas travel, crippling debt  and then siphoned money from victims accounts.

The FBI estimated that more than 100 people lost over R100 million rand in these romance scams from 2011.

The suspects allegedly also carried out business email compromises, where email accounts are diverted to change banking details and steal money meant for service or product providers.

Now read: Bitcoin scams target Tinder users
Whether its due to excessive cabin fever or traditional wanderlust, St. Helenans this year have been venturing out beyond our valley. Even though weve been vaccinated and are masked up, some of us have returned to town with sniffles, coughs, and assorted infections. How come?

A local doctor tells me, Other respiratory viruses are now reappearing, after having been out of sight for about a year. The Chronicle calls this pattern viral interference, when a strong virus like COVID knocks out the usual viral maladies.

I travelled back East for a 50th wedding anniversary celebration. United flew me to and from Washington on an international service widebody 787 with every seat filled. Everyone was fully masked and well behaved. I got ill three days after returning. Maybe a bug found me on the armrest, lavatory sink, or overhead bins. Non-COVID viruses can frequently be found on surfaces and spread through touch.

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Regardless of the source, I was miserable for more than two weeks with bronchitis. I forgot the taste and smell of the marvelous double magnum of 1992 Johnson Turnbull cabernet that was the centerpiece of the celebratory gala.

I thanked my doctor for calling it bronchitis and not the common cold virus, which it essentially was. I felt lousy enough to have earned a more impressive diagnosis. The old line is that if you aggressively treat a cold, youll be better in a week; if you do nothing, it will take seven days. I readily acknowledge that I threw at my bug every nostrum I could find at Nature Select on Main Street. Pills, elixirs, syrups. At least I felt I was doing something and exerting autonomy over my condition.

That impulse, for taking control and showing were in charge, is behind the weird stuff being taken to fight COVID. Lately its been the horse drug ivermectin. Before that, it was the useless and unpronounceable hydroxychloroquine. These potions are also drenched in politics, a right-wing rejection of medical institutions and government agencies. Populism has been in vogue for the past five years; we shouldnt be surprised that it spread to health care.

The big public health issue for our winter is whether influenza will come galloping back, after only a remarkably few thousand cases reported last winter. The Wall Street Journal called that an all-time low. After the hysterical and vicious public confrontations over the COVID vaccines, it may be comforting to find us returning to the decades-old debate over the flu vaccine.

While new technologies have provided us with astoundingly effective COVID shots, flu vaccines are produced by mid-twentieth century technology. And they dont work very well. A new approach to manufacturing flu vaccines is on the medical horizon, but wont arrive from several years. I got a classic case of the real flu 40 years ago; I was miserable for more than a week and then took several more to fully recover. I can testify that since then Ive gotten the flu shot yearly and have avoided influenza in the succeeding decades.

Far from the world of viral attacks and interference, this year I got acquainted with my liver. As previously reported, last November I had major surgery at UCSF. When I had my chest and belly blown up, my liver was flopping around. Perhaps to give the assistant surgeon something to do  UCSF is a teaching hospital  they biopsied my liver.

Weeks later, I review the pathology report. It said I had moderate steatosis. I had no idea what that meant, but moderate sounded good. I was wrong. Eventually, I was told I had the common condition of a fatty liver, or NAFLD (non-alcoholic fatty liver disease). This condition can be totally benign or can progress to something serious.

In this country, we dont pay much attention to our livers, which act as the great filters for our bodies. That inattention or ignorance contrasts sharply with the traditional French preoccupation with their livers: crise de foie or crisis of the liver. A French physician, quoted in The New York Times a half-century ago, said that There is a strong tendency in France to blame the liver for everything.

As it turned out, I was in little danger. At the Queen of the Valley Hospital I had a FibroScan ultrasound, which utilizes sophisticated technicolor software to examine livers. It gave me an excellent score on liver health. My livers colors were reassuring green and blue, not worrisome red and orange.

But I was instructed to think more about my liver. That means lots of exercise, limiting simple and processed carbohydrates, and moderating alcohol consumption. These are beneficial practices for most everyone. Our wine and liquor intake should be focused on quality over quantity. That magnificent 30-year-old Napa cabernet I had in Washington fitted right in.

Mark G. Epstein moved to St. Helena from the East Coast early this century after a career in international business.
Despite this year's return to in-person learning, districts throughout the state are seeing major declines in both enrollment and average daily attendance and fear the reductions could result in significant funding cuts next school year.

Without state intervention, many districts face substantial cuts in state funding and could be forced to make significant budget cuts in the 2022-23 school year due to a fall in enrollment and attendance to which funding is tied. Districts' baseline funding depends on the number of students enrolled, minus the daily average number of absent students.

For the past two school years, districts were "held harmless" for the declines during the pandemic and were funded based on their enrollment and attendance figures for the pre-Covid 2019-20 school year. But that will no longer be the case unless the Legislature extends the "hold harmless" rule or takes other action.

Statewide, enrollment in K-12 public schools in California fell by almost 3 percent, or 160,000 students, in 2020-21, according to annual data released in April by the California Department of Education. On Oct. 6, districts filed their "census day enrollment" figures, which is the enrollment figure used in the state funding formula. Those figures likely won't be made public until early next year.

West Contra Costa Unified, a district of about 26,000 students serving Richmond and surrounding areas, anticipates a loss of around $30 million in the 2022-23 school year barring no change in the funding formula, said Tony Wold, the district's associate superintendent of business services.

Los Angeles Unified, San Francisco Unified and others have also seen significant enrollment drops over the past two years.

For West Contra Costa, the reduction would mean a loss of about 10 percent of the district's overall budget and could likely result in staff layoffs or force district officials to dip into reserve funds.

"Knowing that approximately 90 percent of most districts' budget is spent on people, a 10 percent reduction would affect people," Wold said.

The district has already endured years of budget hurdles. In early 2020, it projected a $48 million ongoing structural deficit for 2020-21 and cut about $30 million in ongoing expenditures from its 2020-21 budget in order to break even. The district did, however, receive record one-time state and federal funding this year, and was able to stave off cuts during the current school year thanks to a 5.5 percent cost-of-living adjustment from the state.

Between the start of the pandemic in March 2020 and the start of the 2020-21 school year, the district lost about 800 students, Wold said. Though the district had anticipated that many of them would come back or move elsewhere by the following year, the decline more than doubled to just under 2,000 students this school year.

The enrollment drop was spread among every grade level. Some of it was due to families not enrolling their children in kindergarten and transitional kindergarten. Also, fewer students transitioned into high school from middle school and elementary to middle school, Wold said. It's unclear where they went instead of staying in the district, Wold said.

He also chalked up some enrollment loss to Covid anxiety, especially among families of students who are younger than 12 and not yet able to get a vaccine. In addition, the district typically has a steady stream of immigrant families, but border restrictions have led to fewer newcomer students, he said.

Besides the enrollment drop, confusion over independent study and strict guidance requiring students with any Covid symptoms to stay home has led to an uptick in absences, and average daily attendance has gone down by about 4 percent, he said.

West Contra Costa Unified is far from the only California district to experience such an enrollment drop. San Francisco Unified, which enrolled about 60,000 students in the 2018-19 school year, has lost about 3,500 students during the pandemic, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Tuesday. The district estimates a loss of about $35 million in state funding next year.

Los Angeles Unified, the largest school district in the state, lost more than 27,000 students -- about 6 percent of its enrollment -- since the 2020-21 school year, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Oakland Unified's census-day enrollment count for the 2018-19 school year was 36,524. As of Oct. 5, the district projected enrollment of 34,378, Superintendent Kyla Johnson-Trammell said at a school board meeting Wednesday. Sacramento City Unified Superintendent Jorge Aguilar has also expressed concern about the impact of his district's enrollment loss on its ongoing structural deficit.

West Contra Costa Unified is looking to state leaders to figure out a way to avoid crippling budget cuts in the 2022-23 school year.

"While under the current statute we would have to cut, the reality is the state has more money and more money is supposed to come to education than before," Wold said. "Rational minds should be able to come up with a solution, especially if it's hitting every district."

Wold recommends that average daily attendance be taken out of the equation for districts' baseline state funding.

"Let's say I have 10,000 students, and a 95 percent attendance rate. That means I'm getting funded for 9,500 students, but I still have to fund 10,000 Chromebooks, 10,000 textbooks and hire teachers and staff for 10,000 students," Wold said.

He recommends average daily attendance be used just like supplemental concentration funding so that having a higher average daily attendance will result in a district getting a bonus -- stimulating student attendance and providing support to get chronically absent students back in class -- but not affect a district's base funding.

Angelica Jongco, deputy managing attorney for Public Advocates, said the public interest law firm is hesitant to suggest doing away with average daily attendance permanently from the equation for districts' baseline funding. Jongco said her fear would be taking away the accountability measure for districts and charter schools to address the ongoing issue of chronic absenteeism.

"Kids can only learn if they're in school," Jongco said. "We want to make sure districts are truly making all efforts possible to ensure students, especially the most vulnerable students, are getting to school every day."

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That being said, Public Advocates is looking to state lawmakers for short-term relief given the potential funding drop schools face in the 2022-23 school year. Even before the pandemic, Jongco said, districts were grappling with declining enrollment due to California's surging housing prices, rapid gentrification and charter school growth. Since the state's eviction moratorium expired this month, cities could see even more displacement of families with school-age children, she said.

Though enrollment may not return to pre-Covid numbers, Wold expects there to be an uptick in enrollment once the pandemic has further subsided. Without the funding to have a workforce in place to serve those students, districts would be left scrambling again to find teachers and staff. The district was already unable to fill about 50 teaching positions this school year due to a statewide teacher shortage. Those positions are being filled with long-term substitute teachers and educators who were previously assigned to other duties, such as working as math or reading specialists.

The clock is ticking for legislative action on any change to the district funding formula. Districts will begin filing their interim budget reports on Nov. 15 and April 18, and they will adopt their budgets by June 30. Those reports must reflect the funding formulas currently in place. If the budget recommendation reflects a $30 million shortfall by March 15, layoff notices will have to be sent out.

"We need the time and the grace to be able to continue to support our students," Wold said. "Not knowing if we're going to have some sort of lifeline doesn't serve us well."

Editor's Note: As a special project, EdSource is tracking developments in the West Contra Costa Unified School District as a way to illustrate some of the challenges facing other urban districts in California. West Contra Costa Unified includes Richmond, El Cerrito and several other East Bay communities.

Copyright  2021 Bay City News, Inc. All rights reserved. Republication, rebroadcast or redistribution without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. Bay City News is a 24/7 news service covering the greater Bay Area.
Come January, Napa Valley College will become Napa Countys first public educational institution to require students to be vaccinated against the coronavirus in order to go to campus.

The two-year community colleges board of trustees approved the requirement last week, which also will apply to employees and volunteers. Students attending classes or taking part in other on-campus activities will need to show proof of inoculation against COVID-19, as defined by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, before the spring 2022 semester begins Jan. 18, while the mandate for NVC staff and volunteers will take effect Jan. 1.

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NVC will join at least 49 of Californias 88 community college districts in requiring inoculation for people studying and teaching on campus, school Superintendent Ron Kraft said before the vote, which took place during a meeting held by Zoom videoconference. Vaccination mandates already have been in place since July for students and staff at the University of California and California State University, the state networks for four-year learning.

Under NVCs policy, unvaccinated students and staff will be able to seek exemptions to the vaccine mandate based on medical grounds or sincerely held religious beliefs, or can seek reasonable accommodations, through the colleges human resources staff. Those receiving exemptions will be required to take weekly COVID-19 tests, and face masks will remain mandatory for all people entering buildings and other indoor spaces.

Kraft urged NVC trustees to leave decisions on granting exemptions to college staff rather than attempt to bake detailed exemptions into its policy. There are sincerely held beliefs in many religions; the investigative piece of that, Im urging us not to go in that direction, he said.

Ahead of the January deadlines, NVC will work to find a vendor to verify and track vaccination statuses of students and staff, according to the policy. Other remaining tasks include creating medical and religious exemption forms, meeting with collective bargaining groups, and creating a media campaign to inform students of the requirement.

NVC leaders moved toward a vaccine requirement after a September survey of students and staff by the college revealed strong overall support, Kraft said before the vote.

Of 730 fall-semester students to respond, 54% said they would be likely to take classes in person if a COVID-19 vaccine became mandatory  compared to 50% if student had the option of inoculation or regular testing, and only 33% without a vaccine requirement. In addition, 83% of surveyed students said they already have received full doses of a COVID-19 vaccine, and another 4% were partially inoculated or planned to get the vaccine.

Among 275 NVC faculty members surveyed, 59% supported a vaccine mandate for students and another 22% supported strongly encouraging inoculation, while 64% favored the requirement for staff and 17% supported strong encouragement. Eighty-five percent of surveyed faculty reported receiving full vaccination.

Trustee Elizabeth Goff, a teacher at American Canyon High School before her election to the NVC board three years ago, emphasized the need to keep students safe enough to return them to in-person learning as quickly as possible, with many of the college's courses still being taught online.

This is a very sane and safe plan; its been proven that vaccination works, that masks work, she said. Lets not go backwards. Online classes just dont work for a lot of things; we need to keep our students in the classroom.

I cant separate my job as a trustee and my other job as a public school teacher in this issue, because I think of my students who end up being your students, and their safety, as well as the safety of everyone who works at the college, is at stake here.

Trustees received about a half-dozen emails opposing the vaccine mandate, including one in the name of concerned employees calling the requirement an infringement on personal liberty, medical privacy and religious freedom. We are educators, not public health enforcers; it is a highly charged topic and cautionary patience is always better than a rushed emergency mandate that results in chaos and litigation, the letter read, one of several questioning the safety and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccination.

For younger California students, an upcoming mandate announced earlier this month by Gov. Gavin Newsom would require COVID-19 vaccination to attend public and private schools in person as soon as next year

The requirement would not take effect until the school term after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration gives full approval for minors to receive a vaccine  timeline state officials say could launch the mandate as early as the fall of 2022. The mandate would be phased in starting with grades 7 to 12, followed by students from kindergarten to sixth grade.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

You can reach Howard Yune at 530-763-2266 or hyune@napanews.com

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Some of the defendants charged in the storming of the U.S. Capitol are turning away defense lawyers and electing to represent themselves, undeterred by their lack of legal training or repeated warnings from judges.

That choice already has led to some curious legal maneuvers and awkward exchanges in court.

A New York man charged in the Jan. 6 insurrection wants to bill the government for working on his own case. A Pennsylvania restaurant owner is trying to defend herself from jail. A judge told another New Yorker that he may have incriminated himself during courtroom arguments.

The right to self-representation is a bedrock principle of the Constitution. But a longtime judge cited an old adage in advising a former California police chief that he would have "a fool for a client" if he represented himself.

And Michael Magner, a New Orleans criminal defense lawyer and former federal prosecutor, observed, "Just because you have a constitutional right to do something doesn't necessarily mean that it's smart."

The decision by at least five defendants to defend themselves is bound to create a host of challenges, particularly for those behind bars. They risk getting themselves in more legal trouble if they say the wrong thing in court. They have to sift through the mountain of evidence investigators have collected in the attack. And the strategy is already testing judges' ability to maintain control of their courtrooms.

"I would never represent myself if I were charged with a crime," U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth told Alan Hostetter before allowing him to handle his own defense against riot charges. The judge warned the ex-police chief that he has never seen anyone successfully represent himself since his appointment to the bench in 1987.

Hostetter was arrested in June along with five other men on charges that they conspired to stop Congress from certifying Joe Biden's victory in the presidential election. The indictment links four of Hostetter's co-defendants to the Three Percenters, a wing of the militia movement.

Hostetter, who began teaching yoga after more than 20 years as an officer, told Lamberth that the "corruption of this investigation" is one reason he wants to represent himself. His finances also were a factor.

"I believe that it's a governmental strategy and tactic that if they can't convict you, they at least want to bankrupt and destroy you," Hostetter said.

Another defendant representing himself, Brandon Fellows of upstate New York, recently unsuccessfully petitioned U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden to release him from jail.

Video shows Fellows, who was photographed wearing a fake orange beard during the riot, with his feet propped on a table in the office of Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore. Fellows was locked up this summer for missing a mental health evaluation appointment and harassing a probation officer.

Fellows took the stand to argue for his release, brushing aside warnings from the judge that he could open himself to perjury charges if he testified.

In doing so, Fellows may have compounded his legal troubles.

Fellows told McFadden that he used what he described as a "loophole" he had read about online to disqualify a different judge overseeing an unrelated case in New York. Fellows said he listed a phone number for that judge's wife as his own number in court records to make it appear that he knows the woman.

Fellows said he also asked the public defender who represented him before he rebuffed counsel in the riot case if he should try to get McFadden replaced by contacting the judge's family, but the lawyer warned him that would get him arrested.

In denying Fellows' bid for release, McFadden told Fellows that he admitted to likely obstructing justice in the New York case and considering it in his riot case.

McFadden, who was nominated by President Donald Trump, also jailed self-represented defendant Pauline Bauer last month for failing to comply with court orders to cooperate with probation officers during her pretrial release.

Bauer was arrested in May along with a friend who joined her at the Capitol. Video from a police officer's body camera captured Bauer saying to bring out House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., to be hanged, the FBI says.

Bauer, who owns a restaurant in rural Kane, Pennsylvania, has repeatedly interrupted the judge during hearings. She also has argued in vain that the court doesn't have any jurisdiction over her, expressing an ideology that appears to comport with the "sovereign citizens" extremist movement.

During a July 19 hearing, Bauer told McFadden that she doesn't want "any lawyering from the bench." When the judge denied her request to dismiss her charges, she asked, "On what terms?"

"You don't get to demand terms from me," replied McFadden. McFadden appointed lawyers to serve as standby counsel for Fellows and Bauer and assist at the defendants' request.

After U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss ruled last month that Eric Bochene can represent himself, the upstate New York man submitted a "fee schedule" in which he appeared to be attempting to create a structure for him to collect fees for working on his own case.

The filing indicates he wants to charge up to $250,000 for spending two hours in court if he feels he is appearing "under protest and duress" and $50,000 if he is there voluntarily. A "forced giving of bodily fluids" carries a $5 million charge under Bochene's billing schedule.

The judge denied the request, noting that Bochene hasn't been ordered to take any actions requiring payment. "Furthermore, to the extent Defendant is seeking payment for appearing in Court, that argument lacks merit," said the judge's terse order.

A fifth riot defendant, Brian Christopher Mock, began representing himself last month after having an assistant federal public defender as his attorney, court records indicate. A tipster told the FBI that Mock bragged about assaulting police officers and destroying property at the Capitol after he returned home to Minnesota.

More than 640 people have been charged in the riot. Several cases already have been resolved with sentencing ranging from probation to jail terms of less than a year. Some defendants charged with the most serious offenses  including conspiracy cases against extremist group members  could face years in prison if convicted.

It can be a challenge for judges to maintain their composure and control of their courtrooms when a defendant isn't represented by a lawyer.

"The court will often wind up bending over backwards to make sure that people don't make their situations worse by wanting to be their own Perry Mason," Magner said.

In February slain U.S. Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick lay in honor in the building he died defending as colleagues, lawmakers and President Biden paid their respects:
While Gov. Gavin Newsom signed 770 bills passed by the Legislature this year, he couldnt approve a big one that he wanted badly  a $4.2 billion appropriation to shore up the states much-delayed, increasingly expensive and obviously mismanaged bullet train project.

He couldnt sign it because the Legislature, controlled by his fellow Democrats, wont send it to him. Legislative leaders, especially Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, are disenchanted with the project and want the money to be spent, instead, on improving local commuter rail service.

The $4.2 billion is the last bit of a $9.95 billion bond issue approved by voters 13 years ago on the promise that it would attract enough other financing for a $33 billion high-speed rail link between San Francisco and Los Angeles with future extensions to San Diego and Sacramento.

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For political reasons, it was decided that an initial segment would be built in the San Joaquin Valley but the starter line has never really gotten started. Theres been some construction, most notably some sections of viaduct in and around Fresno, but its years behind schedule and has only a fraction of the money needed to cover its ever-rising costs.

Los Angeles Times journalist Ralph Vartabedian, whos been a one-man truth squad on the projects managerial and financial woes, reported last week that two of the San Joaquin Valley lines major contractors want an extra $1 billion-plus for unforeseen costs. That would raise it to nearly $23 billion or two thirds of what the entire 800-mile system was originally supposed to cost.

The $4.2 billion that Newsom wants is sorely needed to keep the project shuffling along, but the state is still a long way from having enough money to cover the entire cost of the segment, much less the $80 or so billion more that a full project would need.

Rendon and other like-minded legislators see it as money going down a bottomless sinkhole rather than being spent on projects that could be completed in years, rather than decades, and have a direct impact on traffic congestion in Southern California. A chunk of the bond money has already been spent on upgrading commuter rail on the San Francisco Peninsula and the Rendon faction is seeking parity for its region.

The odd thing about the situation is that Newsom himself seemingly was ready to abandon the project after becoming governor in 2019, virtually disavowing it in a speech to the Legislature. He then reversed course and said he not only wanted to complete the San Joaquin segment as then planned but extend it on both ends on the assumption that it could be linked to major metropolitan areas.

Newsoms revised position had the effect of increasing the segments cost without declaring how the financial gap would be closed.

Newsom and the Rendon faction have been negotiating for months, ever since Newsom proposed to tap the remaining $4.2 billion in bond money, and the governor apparently was offered a roughly 50-50 split but insists on the entire amount. Diverting even a token amount of bond money would be tantamount to surrender and would whet the appetites of other urban areas for pieces of the pie.

Its really time for those in charge to put up or shut up  either telling Californians when and how the project will be financed and completed or calling it quits before it becomes an even more embarrassing train to nowhere.

Newsoms position  willing to keep it barely alive until he can will it to a successor governor  is somewhat cowardly for someone who purports to be decisive.

CalMatters is a public interest journalism venture committed to explaining how Californias state Capitol works and why it matters. For more stories by Dan Walters, go to calmatters.org/commentary.

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Memo to all those Californians now thinking seriously of moving to another state, thus cashing out on their high-priced homes, avoiding high prices on their new homes, but risking higher property taxes and utility bills in those new locations, while avoiding many of Californias regulations on things like indoor smoking and plastic straws:

Your new neighbors might not be so happy to see you move in.

Sure, whoever you buy that next house or condo from will be delighted to greet you. But everyone else? Not by a long shot.

Anti-California sentiment began as early as the 1980s, when migrants from this state began moving to neighboring Oregon, driving up real estate prices and creating traffic headaches as more and more arrived.

Oregonians began putting up signs beside roads near their southern border. Dont Californicate Oregon, they read  and still do in some places.

Now that sentiment has spread to a significant number of other Western states. One candidate in 2020s election for mayor of Boise even suggested building a wall around his city to keep newcomers out, stymied mainly by the fact it would have cost $26 billion.

Some states would apparently be glad if the Constitutional guarantee of free movement between the states were amended away. Some of the Republican politicians who govern Texas, for example, have suggested their domination could end if too many Californians migrate to that relatively-affordable housing state and vote Democratic.

Their rhetoric doesnt quite match that of Wayne Richey, an auto-body repair man defeated last November in his run for Boise mayor. Its not just a California thing, he told a reporter. Its new people. Theyre driving up the price of housing here so much that people I know are moving away.

Actually, 21,272 Californians moved to Idaho between July 2017 and July 2018, the latest period for which U.S. Census information is available. During the same time, 5,262 persons left Idaho for California. So this states net out-migration to Idaho was 16,010 during a single year. Thats just one state, helping account for Californias slowest-ever decade of growth during the last 10 years and for its net loss of 40,000 persons during 2018 to out-migration.

Those Californians helped make Star, ID, 17 miles northwest of Boise, the fastest-growing city in both Idaho and America.

Some California officials point out that the out-migration of Californians isnt quite as unprecedented as it may seem. The state Finance department, for example, noted that federal defense spending cuts in the mid-1990s spurred an even larger exodus.

Some of the California outflow making other states nervous stems from the efforts of those same states. Take Texas, whose former governor Rick Perry spent many years making radio and TV commercials touting the advantages for businesses that moved from California to the Lone Star state.

The biggest fish to bite at this pitch, which included huge property tax exemptions and civic aid in building new plants and facilities, was Toyota, which relocated its U.S. headquarters from the Los Angeles suburb of Torrance to the Dallas suburb of Plano.

Perry never figured that many of the Toyota executives and workers moving to Texas might vote Democratic. Some lean that way, and they contributed to a narrow electoral escape in 2018 for Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz in a campaign that made Democratic rival Beto ORourke a national figure.

The annual inflow of about 60,000 Californians to Texas shows few signs of abating. Combined with more political activity from the almost 3 million Latinos in Texas, they have given the Lone Star state a faintly purple hew.

Similarly, an influx of Californians working for aerospace companies that opened facilities in Phoenix and Tucson over the last 15 years has been a major factor in changing Arizona from a solidly Republican state to an electoral tossup.

So the change in Californias longtime pattern of fast growth may be as bad news for some of the emigrants new neighbors as it seems to politicians in the state theyve left behind, which is about to lose one seat in Congress for the next decade.

Thomas D. Elias writes the syndicated California Focus column. He is author of the book, The Burzynski Breakthrough: The Most Promising Cancer Treatment and the Governments Campaign to Squelch It.
Pikeville, KY (41501)

Today

Some clouds this morning will give way to generally sunny skies for the afternoon. High 43F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Clear to partly cloudy. Low around 30F. Winds light and variable.
Lavrov, Cavusoglu discuss bilateral ties and regional issues

Karabakh: Azerbaijani side, in Shushi, transfers bodies of 3 Armenian soldiers killed on Nov. 16

NEWS.am daily digest: 19.11.21

Armenian Embassy in Russia: Armenia citizens - mother and child - evacuated from Afghanistan

Georgia refuses to be a part of '3+3' format with regard to South Caucasus

The occupied Hadrut of our days (PHOTOS)

Arabologist: Photo of map of Turkic world shown by Erdogan and Bahceli is simply a gift for Armenian diplomacy

Opposition With Honor legislature faction MP: No one knows if Armenia petitioned to Russia for military assistance

Armenia opposition MP: There is a threat that Baku will always get what it wants through use of force

Lavrov is certain that the Russia-Armenia-Azerbaijan summit will take place

Ann Linde: OSCE working very closely with Russia to resolve Karabakh conflict

Karabakh FM congratulates newly appointed Abkhazia counterpart

Dollar relatively stable in Armenia

Armenia parliament majority members do not deny possibility of exchange of territories with Azerbaijan

Armenia ruling party MP: Public and competent authorities need to know circumstances behind captures of soldiers

Armenia ruling party MP assures that situation on the border is currently stable

Armenia ruling party MP: Confidentiality of process of preparing for demarcation is strictly necessary

Armenia PM: Citizens of EEU countries will be able to receive loans in all territories of member states

Armenian serviceman, 19, dies in Georgia's Akhalkalaki

Armenia legislature majority faction lawmaker: Russia military intervention is not end in itself

High commissioner: Diaspora is considering ways to help hundreds of Ethiopia Armenians

Opposition With Honor parliament faction: Armenia authorities trying to push territorial losses issue to backburner

Legislature majority faction MP: Armenia authorities do not make any demands on Russia

Opposition Armenia Faction in parliament: Authorities are unable to distinguish between priority and secondary issues

3 more die of coronavirus in Artsakh

Bruno Retailleau: France must support Armenia more firmly against aggressions by Azerbaijan

Armenia parliament majority faction: Border delimitation preparation process will start from point zero

PM: Armenia exports to other EEU countries increased by 27.8%

Armenias Pashinyan: Azerbaijan provocations are aimed at disrupting arrangements reached by trilateral statements

California Armenian couple accused of fraud flee leaving their 3 children behind

799 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Katherine Clark: Azerbaijan must acknowledge and respect Armenian sovereignty

Eurasian Intergovernmental Council enlarged meeting underway in Yerevan

Russia peacekeepers patrol along Karabakh border delimitation line

MOD: According to current data Armenia has 6 military casualties as result of Tuesdays attack by Azerbaijan

Turkish Islamic preachers organization denies reports of his death

Newspaper: What happened to missing Armenia soldiers during recent hostilities?

Armenia MOD dismisses reports about not allowing officers with higher rank than major to go up to combat positions

US virtually completes development of new tactical nuclear gravity bomb B61-12

Newspaper: Officers with higher rank than major not allowed to combat positions during recent hostilities in Syunik

Opposition MP: Granting corridor to Azerbaijan through Syunik Province will be gravest crime against Armenia

US Department of State representative says why Azerbaijan is not invited to Summit for Democracy

Armenian human rights activists to submit letters to ECHR regarding soldiers captured and considered missing

Armenia FM stresses importance of addressable response to Azerbaijan's actions during talk with Greek counterpart

Ex-ruling party official: Armenia authorities found reason for MOD's resignation after his visit to Karabakh

Republican Party of Armenia spokesperson: Nikol Pashinyan gave a confessional testimony in parliament yesterday

Armenia President talks about states' collective responsibility at Bloomberg New Economy Forum

Turkish website reports poisoning of Fetullah Gulen

Armenia FM holds phone talks with Cypriot counterpart, presents situation created after Azerbaijani attack

Mirzoyan, Zas discuss CSTO's possible actions to stabilize situation on Armenia-Azerbaijan border, if necessary

Mothers of deceased servicemen demand Armenia PM's resignation

Azerbaijani Armed Forces open fire at tractor in Armenia's Verin Shorzha village

Putin: Events unfolding on Armenia-Azerbaijan border attest to fact that situation has not calmed down in the region

Lithuania supports Armenia's territorial integrity

NEWS.am daily digest: 18.11.21

Ex-ruling party official: Incumbent authorities created deliberately organized chaos in Armenia

Armenia Prosecutor General's Office to examine news about 6 Azeri servicemen captured and then secretly returned

Dollar goes up in Armenia

Armenia MOD planning training camps for reservists

Sergey Lavrov, OSCE Chairperson-in-Office to discuss assistance to resolve situation in Karabakh

High-tech industry minister receives Chinese recipient of Armenia State Prize for global contributions to IT sector

Eurasian Intergovernmental Council's narrow-format session kicks off in Yerevan

Pashinyan views Eurasian integration as one of Armenia's priorities

Two Armenian citizens found in Afghanistan

Armenian health ministry gets $ 2.5 million to fight COVID-19

OSCE Chairperson-in-Office has telephone conversation with Jeyhun Bayramov

Deceased Armenian soldier Taron Sahakyan's brother refutes news that he was captured and tortured to death

Armenia seeks to develop cooperation in food safety within EEU

Armenia Ombudsman, UNICEF Representative discuss problems with right of children of borderline villages to education

Armenia allocates AMD 462 mln for 4 subvention programs ahead of local self-government elections

Major incidents not recorded in Armenia's border zones as of 2 p.m., operative situation is under army's control

Armenia parliament approves several legislative amendments

PMs discuss prospects for development of Armenia-Kyrgyzstan collaboration

Turkish Nationalist Movement Party gifts Erdogan a map of Turkic World, with a part of Russia 'seized'

Man, 49, found dead inside truck near Armenia village sand mine

Armenia emergency ministry uses off-road vehicles to provide for needs of Syunik Province border villages, says minister

There is investment activeness in Syunik Province, says Armenia economy minister

Russia PM arrives in Yerevan

Minister on Armenia economic growth: We are from optimistic realist to optimist

Armenia President, Singapore deputy PM discuss avenues for expanding bilateral cooperation

Ombudsman: Armenophobia, propaganda of enmity have reached extremist fascism in Azerbaijan (VIDEO)

Russia peacekeepers carry out round-the-clock monitoring of ceasefire in Karabakh

1 more person dies of coronavirus in Artsakh

Armenia premier: There is no Syunik Province settlement that is under blockade

Office of Armenia commissioner for diaspora, SADA Global Delivery Center sign memorandum of cooperation

Armenia government approves 2021-2026 action plan

Armenia PM: Russia MOD made proposals on preparatory phase of border delimitation with Azerbaijan

1,019 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Senator calls for end to US military aid to Azerbaijan

Armenia is elected to UNESCO Executive Board

Whose body is brought from Baku to Yerevan by Russian Southern Military District deputy commander?

Armenia MOD: Azerbaijan opened random fire at some directions of Tavush Province late Wednesday evening

World oil prices still dropping

Newspaper: Armenia has set task to change its foreign policy vector, Russia analysts say

Newspaper: Coronavirus death statistics in Armenia are incomplete

Armenian immigrant couple in California sentenced to prison for $20M fraud

EEU countries PMs to arrive in Yerevan for intergovernmental council meeting

Armenian army commander: Azerbaijan wants corridor, leader of Armenia gave consent to that, but refused later

Armenia FM holds phone conversations with Russian counterpart, Karen Donfried and OSCE Chairperson-in-Office

MTS launches inspection of its 'daughter' operations in Armenia upon request of U.S.
Today, Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan received the Head of the Rapporteur Group on Democracy of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe (CoE), the Permanent Representative of Sweden to the CoE, Ambassador Marten Ehnberg and the delegation led by him. and his delegation. The delegation consists of the Ambassadors of France, Russia, Switzerland, Finland, Estonia, Andorra, Iceland to the CoE and representatives of the Secretariat of the Council of Europe.

Greeting the CoE delegation, the PM said, The Council of Europe has been one of our key partners in the field of democracy since 2000 and has accompanied us in virtually all of our reforms. I think we have concrete achievements in this difficult period, particularly in terms of democracy, and it is worth emphasizing especially here. Seemingly insurmountable problems were constantly registered regarding the quality of the elections, the reliability of the official results since the first days of our membership to the Council of Europe until 2018, but, in fact, we can state that this problem has been overcome.

I would also like to emphasize that for the first time in the history of Armenia, elections have served as a tool to overcome the domestic political crisis, while in the past, elections have always been the cause of domestic political crisis, controversy and opposition. We are committed to the political course of democratic reforms, we will continue that path, and we are glad that we can count on the support of the Council of Europe on that path."

On behalf of the delegation, Marten Ehnberg thanked the Prime Minister for the appreciation, emphasizing that the Council of Europe attaches importance to the partnership with Armenia. He noted that the delegation has had effective discussions with its Armenian partners, during the exchange of views the priorities for the effective implementation of the CoE-Armenia 2019-2022 Action Plan were recorded.

At the request of the representatives of the CoE delegation, the Prime Minister presented details on Armenias democratic agenda, speaking about reforms in the fields of anti-corruption, elections, freedom of speech, judiciary, penitentiaries, as well as other spheres. Nikol Pashinyan emphasized that the current results show that as a result of the reforms initiated by the Government, it has been possible to create effective control mechanisms in the mentioned directions. This process continues.

During the meeting, the Prime Minister answered a number of questions of the members of the CoE delegation. The questions were about overcoming the consequences of the war unleashed by Azerbaijan against Nagorno Karabakh, resolving humanitarian issues, ensuring peace and stability in the region, resumption of the negotiation process within the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, as well as Armenia's democratic development, importance of educational reform, strengthening of rule of law, prevention of domestic violence, promotion of state-civil society cooperation, improvement of the parliamentary system of government, etc.

Head of the Rapporteur Group on Democracy of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe Marten Ehnberg thanked the PM for the detailed reference, noting that the works testifying to Armenia's democratic progress will be presented during the discussion of the CoE-Armenia Action Plan 2019-2022 scheduled in January 2022.
It has already been one-and-a-half years since we have no news about my son, and we are deceived every time. This is what Galust Mazmanyan, father of a missing serviceman, told reporters at Erebuni Airport today in Yerevan today.

Mazmanyan informed that yesterday the defense minister told the relatives of missing servicemen and prisoners of war that 15-17 captives will be returned to Armenia in the next few days, but failed to specify if Mazmanyans son will be among the captives or not.

My sons name is on the list of the missing servicemen. He voluntarily went to fight in the war. He was a conscript during the Four-Day Artsakh War in April 2016 and will soon turn 25 years old. The last time I spoke to my son was on October 6, 2020, after which connection was lost. He was in Horadiz. Dear parents, tomorrow we need to gather in front of the government building. The government is already driving us parents mad and isnt telling us anything, Mazmanyan said.
On Oct. 1, 1971, Walt Disney World in Orlando opened its doors, ushering in an era of princesses, pixie dust, and extraordinary economic growth in Florida. The theme park's golden jubilee, celebrated this month, marks five decades of innovation and record-breaking expansion that has shaped the states economy and success.

When he was 3 years old, Randy Fitzgerald, a first-year law student at the University of Miami, waltzed down the idyllic Main Street in Magic Kingdom Park with his sights set on one thingCinderellas Castle.

I was just absolutely gobsmacked, Fitzgerald recalled. I couldnt believe we were at Disney, inside the castle, and all the princesses were there.

Fitzgerald and his family would annually make the trek down from Virginia to visit Walt Disney World in Lake Buena Vista. Like millions of U.S. families, his trips reign as his favorite childhood tradition. Fitzgerald highlighted the parks' grandeur and Main Street's timeless and historical facade with an air of nostalgia, remembering vividly how he cried the first time he said goodbye to Mickey Mouse.

Randy Fitzgerald at Magic Kingdom as a child (left) and as an adult (right). Photos courtesy Randy Fitzgerald

Now, Fitzgeralds love for Disney has transferred into his adult life: He is an annual pass holder. He still visits the parks once a month, and attended Magic Kingdoms 50th Anniversary celebration on Oct. 1.

"Disney is something that is a very big passion of mine. Being there and being a part of that celebration was very emotional," he said. Fitzgerald's passion for Walt Disney World extends beyond his park visits. During his undergraduate career, he was required to author a thesis to complete his degree. His chosen topic of interest? The impact of the Walt Disney Company on Florida's political economy.

The nearly 80-page paper includes a robust analysis of the history and significant economic impact Walt Disney World has had on Floridas tourism industry. Indeed, the resort spans about 27,000 acres, making it the largest theme park in the world. And Disney World Resort properties boast more than 30,000 hotel rooms, 409 wilderness cabins, 799 campsites, and 3,293 Disney Vacation Club units.

Alex Horenstein, an associate professor of economics in the Miami Herbert Business School, explained how Walt Disney Worlds growth changed the landscape of Floridas economy.

"Disney World attracts around 50 million tourists a year and generates more than 70,000 jobs directly, making it the biggest single-site employer in the U.S.," he said. "The millions of tourists visiting Disney World not only spend money at the resort but also across the city and the state of Florida."

An aerial view shows the progress of Main Street development at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom theme park in November 1970. Photo: The Associated Press

In Orlando alone, more than 300,000 people lived in the city when Walt Disney World opened. Now, it is home to more than 2 million residents. Whats more, in 2019, the economic impact from the tourism industry in Orlando resulted in more than $73 billion in "business sales impact" for 17 sectors of the citys economy, according to the Orlando Business Journal. While additional attractions have arrived in the area following the opening of Walt Disney World, its four theme parks continue to generate the most revenue and visitors in the area.

The ripple effects from Walt Disney World Resorts are undoubtedly felt across Florida, including Miami, Horenstein added. Through South Florida's international airport and the robust tourism industry itself, people visiting Disney historically pass through Miami and engage in economic activity.

Horenstein remembers his first visit to the U.S. as a child. At 11 years old, he and his family arrived in Miami from Argentina before visiting Walt Disney World. I remember being amazed by the parks and thinking how much better they were than anything I could have imagined, he recalled.

Despite the magnitude of Walt Disney Worlds impact during the past 50 years, the magic will multiply because the park already has announced plans to continue expanding and improving in the coming years.
He was the son of Jamaican immigrants, born in the Upper Manhattan neighborhood of Harlem and raised in the Bronx.

But from those humble beginnings, Colin Powell rose to the highest levels of the military and government, becoming the nations first Black national security advisor, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and U.S. secretary of state.

Powell, who served three Republican presidents, became a four-star general, and was a two-time recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, died on Monday from complications of COVID-19. He was 84.

He was fully vaccinated but had suffered from a few ailments, including multiple myeloma, a type of blood cancer that affects white blood cells.

Members of the University of Miami community remember Powell as a trailblazing figure who helped shape the countrys national security, a role model whose stature and standing reached such heights that many thought he would become the first Black President of the United States.

Secretary Powell was truly an American hero, said Rudy Fernandez, senior vice president for public affairs and communications at the University and chief of staff to President Julio Frenk, who was special assistant to the president in the George W. Bush administration. He [Powell] will forever be remembered for his dedication to our country and for his exemplary character. I was one of the many young staffers in the Bush White House in awe of him, and I will always be inspired by his leadership and integrity.

Powells reputation took a hit after the evidence he presented during a 2003 United Nations Security Council speech to justify the Iraq War turned out to be false. But that didnt matter to many. He will be remembered as one of our great Americans, said President Joe Biden, who Powell endorsed during his run for the White House.

A trailblazer, a hero, and a good man is how University of Miami School of Law alumnus Anta Plowden remembers Powell.

Gen. Powell served as an inspiration to me as a military officer, the child of Caribbean immigrants, and a Black man, said Plowden, an attorney in the Miami office of the international law firm White and Case who was a decorated U.S. Air Force combat pilot with multiple deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan.

Even though he was an Army officer, I believe he truly embodied the Air Force core values of integrity first, service before self, and excellence in all we do, Plowden said. In a day and age where people are so cynical of our leaders, Gen. Powell stood as a reminder of what real leadership looks like. He will be missed.

For young students of color who aspire to public service, Powells life is a shining example of just how far they can ascend, said Landon Coles, president of Student Government and the student trustee on the Universitys Board of Trustees.

His service was an example that the upper echelons of American government are not reserved for the few, but open to any individual whose heart for service and work ethic is strong enough, Coles said. His loss may be felt for a time; but his legacy, specifically in building international coalitions, will last for years to come.

Daniel Gottlieb, a student in the School of Law and a first lieutenant in the the U.S. Marine Corps, described Powell as an American icon who paved the way for future service members for generations to come.

His spirit of perseverance and his will to improve the country he loved can be perfectly summed up by this quote, None of us can change our yesterdays but all of us can change our tomorrows,  said Gottlieb, president of the Military and National Security Law Society. The world lost a hero and will mourn his legacy for years to come.
Taos Integrated School for the Arts students at an event at Oklahoma State Universitys Doel Reed Center.

OSU Doel Reed Center partners with local Taos charter school

Media Contact: Katerina Weingarten | OSU Doel Reed Center Graduate Assistant | 518-231-8546 | katerina.weingarten@okstate.edu

More arts, more inspiration and more hope are on the menu for students at the Taos Integrated School for the Arts as a new partnership with Oklahoma State Universitys Doel Reed Center has begun. The first event for TISA students was held at the Doel Reed Center in June.

TISA is a state-funded, public, K-8 charter school, based on a model that integrates the arts into academic instruction. Teachers focus on hands-on and project-based learning with lots of creative integration. Doel Reed Center Director Carol Moder reached out to the school to start the relationship.

The OSU Doel Reed Center in Taos, New Mexico, strives to extend the reach of OSU to communities of northern New Mexico and this partnership has allowed it to do just that.

As a land grant university, Oklahoma State University is committed to contributing to its local communities, Moder said. The Doel Reed Center in Taos is pleased to give back to the Taos community in its new partnership with TISA.

In June, Moder and her husband, Brewster Fitz, hosted a four-day workshop for fifth through eighth grade TISA students at the center. The workshop, taught by local Taos artist Luis Garcia and TISA art teacher Cassandra Bates, focused on teaching students about printmaking techniques.

We hope that the workshops we are offering for TISA students will carry on the legacy of Doel Reed, the renowned printmaker, and that they will find inspiration from working in his historic studio in Talpa, Moder said.

Fall printmaking workshops for TISA students occurred Sept. 23 for seventh grade, Sept. 24 for eighth grade, Oct. 6 for fifth grade, and Oct. 14 for sixth grade. Approximately 20 students attended each workshop.

In the summer and fall, the Doel Reed Center hosts Leisure Learning courses for OSU alumni and friends. Examples of past courses include fly fishing, a class focusing on the food and culture of Taos and Northern New Mexico, photography, pottery and more.

This year, the Summer Leisure Learning participants participated in a philanthropy project to provide TISA students with art supplies.

We are particularly impressed with the mission of the Taos Integrated School for the Arts and its passion for educating the young, especially in the arts, said Charlie Scott, chair of marketing and outreach.

We asked the 58 OSU alumni and friends attending our July adult Leisure Learning classes at the OSU Doel Reed Center in Taos to help us support the TISA art program as a philanthropy project and they gave generously."

Alison Haney, a TISA science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics (STEAM) teacher, said, We deal a lot with students not having supplies.  But we dont have room in our budget to purchase all of those supplies for all of the students.

Bates added, Most families have struggled through this pandemic. It is amazing to see them light up when they actually have the materials to produce their art without this limitation.

TISA is very grateful for the art supplies donated by the Doel Reed Center donors, however Haney said she sees the partnership being beneficial far beyond the generous donations.

I think many of our students dont feel like college is going to be an option for them, Haney said. But I think that over the years, this relationship will help us to be able to change some of those mindsets.
In his new book, Professor of Politics Daniel Wirls calls for reform of the United States Senate by arguing that features like the filibuster and equal representation among states undermine effective democratic governance and have contributed to the maintenance of white supremacy.

In The Senate: From White Supremacy to Governmental Gridlock, Wirls supports these views with extensive historical research and modern-day observation and analysis. The book includes a study of records from the U.S Constitutional Convention and proceedings from all major Senate debates about the filibuster, dating back to before 1917. Wirls also includes insights from interviews with Senate staff across the past decade.

The weight of history should really push us to think about why some of these institutions should be changed, Wirls said.

In particular, the book focuses on two key aspects of the Senate that Wirls believes violate the democratic tenet of one person, one vote by promoting minority rule. First, a minority of the voting population in the United States can dictate what happens in the Senate, he says, because each state, regardless of population, is allotted two senators. Wirls sees this as a form of relative disenfranchisement for voters in more populous states, which also tend to be more diverse.

Secondly, Wirls says the minority of elected officials within the Senate can block what the majority wants to do through the filibuster: a type of prolonged debate used to stall or prevent voting on a topic. Wirls argues that the filibuster has become a problem for the entire government, because a minority of senators determined to prevent passage of legislation can ultimately block the policy agendas of both the majority in the House of Representatives and the president.

We find ourselves in a situation where the filibuster is becoming increasingly dysfunctional, and equal representation among states, more than any time in American history, is giving an advantage to one party over the other, Wirls said. Regardless of which party that benefits, its not a democratic process.

The book unpacks many common defenses of these aspects of the Senate, which Wirls argues essentially amount to a mythology with no strong constitutional foundation. For example, the Senate is often described as having a special role in protecting the interests of political minorities, but the book argues that the Constitutional Convention showed no such intent.

Our Framers saw it as the system as a wholeseparation of powers and checks and balancesthat prevents tyranny of the majority, Wirls explained. Its not the Senate in particular that does that. It was never designated that way.

In fact, the book presents evidence that dysfunction in the Senate has more often been manipulated as a tool for active suppression of people from racial minority groups, particularly African Americans.

The biggest contradiction between the Senates self-image and their actual history is that, in many very important cases, their main role was thwarting, vetoing, and preventing the passage of even moderate legislation that would have helped in terms of civil rights for actual minorities in this country, Wirls said. And that's consistent throughout a big chunk of the 20th century.

Given this history, Wirls says reforming the Senate could contribute to transformative change for racial justice and equity. He also believes reform would ultimately help the government function more effectively.

But building the political will for these types of reforms is a daunting task, as many failed attempts to abolish the filibuster have demonstrated. The book advocates for continued efforts, including serious consideration of how Senate representation could be reassigned in a way that would maintain a small deliberative body, as the Framers intended, while also ensuring equal power among voters.

Ultimately, Wirls hopes his book will help more people to understand why these reform efforts could be important. Without meaningful change, he fears that continued government shortcomings will only produce more frustration and political polarization across the country.

When the government looks like it's just hopelessly mired in confusion and polarization and nothing really gets done, people get angry, he said. And if that goes on long enough, you're really in danger of diminishing or damaging public support for democratic institutions.

Professor Daniel Wirls will discuss themes from his new book at an upcoming University Forum virtual event on October 25 from 5:307:30 p.m. Please register in advance to attend.
Pro-choice and anti-abortion activists gather outside the Supreme Court in October.

WASHINGTON  The Biden administration's effort to get the Supreme Court to block a Texas ban on abortions after six weeks of pregnancy may be the best shot reproductive rights advocates now have to halt enforcement of the controversial law.

But the high-profile case is just one row in a Rubik's Cube of lawsuits that may signal where the Supreme Court is heading on the thorny question of abortion and whether it will continue to uphold the landmark Roe v. Wade decision that established the right to the procedure nationwide.

Texas' ban has prompted a flurry of overlapping and difficult-to-follow lawsuits in different courts, any one of which could decide its fate. The justices, meanwhile, also are considering challenges to other state abortion laws that might affect the Texas case.

Signed by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott in May, Texas' law bans abortions when cardiac activity is detected, which can occur at six weeks. The law includes no exception for rape or incest. It is the ban's unusual enforcement mechanism that has so far confounded courts: Rather than criminalizing the procedure, the law gives private citizens a right to sue abortion providers  and collect damages starting at $10,000.

The Justice Department on Monday appealed a ruling from the New Orleans-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit that allowed the Texas law to remain in effect  for now. The Supreme Court hours later asked Texas to respond to that appeal by Thursday, an indication it intends to move quickly to resolve the litigation.

The high court then set the same deadline for a response in another lawsuit challenging the Texas law. That appeal was filed weeks ago by abortion providers in Texas.

Here's a look at the leading legal battles over Texas' abortion ban:

Justice Department's appeal

The Biden administration stepped into the fray in early September, suing the state of Texas directly in a way the abortion providers who initially tried to block the law were barred from doing. It is the Justice Department's suit that has drawn the most attention recently, and experts say it may be the most likely vehicle to halt enforcement of the law.

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U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman, nominated by President Barack Obama, temporarily blocked the Texas law on Oct. 6, asserting that the state "deliberately circumvented the traditional process" and "drafted the law with the intent to preclude review by federal courts that have the obligation to safeguard the very rights the statute likely violates." Texas appealed the decision a day later and a three-judge panel of the 5th Circuit blocked Pitman's order, allowing the law to take effect again.

As expected, the Justice Department appealed to the Supreme Court. Because the case is being considered on its emergency docket, it may be decided relatively quickly. It's also possible the court could move the case to its merits docket and hold oral arguments, which the Biden administration also requested on Monday.

"Abortion access is facing the greatest threat in generations," said Brigitte Amiri, deputy director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Reproductive Freedom Project. "The Supreme Court must step in to stop this abortion ban from continuing to wreak havoc in Texas and forcing people to carry pregnancies against their will."

The administration's appeal drew fire from anti-abortion groups.

"This law has already saved hundreds of lives since going into effect," said Carol Tobias, president of National Right to Life Committee. "The Biden administration's unconditional support of the abortion industry shows just how far pro-abortion Democrats will go to curry favor with abortionists and abortion supporters."

Protesters opposed to abortion demonstrate at the Supreme Court on Oct. 4, 2021.

Abortion clinic case revived

Abortion providers in Texas filed the first lawsuit in federal court over the summer. But they faced a major setback in early September when a 5-4 majority of the Supreme Court declined to halt enforcement of the law. At the time, the court said it was not ruling on the law's constitutionality but rather on whether the clinics had sued the right defendants.

As the case continued, the groups brought their suit back to the Supreme Court on Sept. 23. This time they asked the justices to review their claim on the merits  a posture that meant the justices probably would need weeks, at least, to consider the case.

In an unusual request, the groups asked the Supreme Court to take their challenge before the 5th Circuit resolves it and to expedite that review.

There had been little movement in the appeal until Monday, when the high court requested Texas respond by Thursday midday  same as the Justice Department suit. It's not clear whether the justices may try to combine the two cases in some way when they ultimately rule.

"I don't think it's a coincidence that the response is due the same day as Texas's response in the federal government's suit," tweeted Stephen Vladeck, a professor at the University of Texas at Austin School of Law. "The Justices are clearly at least thinking about hearing all of these disputes" together.

State litigation on pause

When the Texas law took effect on Sept. 1, there was some thought the real action would play out in state court. That's where anti-abortion groups were expected to use the ban to sue clinics and others who helped people obtain the procedure. Then, the theory went, abortion providers could rely on Supreme Court precedent as a defense.

A 7-2 majority concluded in Roe v. Wade in 1973 that women have the right to an abortion during the first and second trimesters but that states could impose restrictions in the second trimester. Years later, in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, the court allowed states to ban most abortions at viability, the point at which a fetus can survive outside the womb  roughly 24 weeks.

In recent years, several states  including Texas  have imposed bans much earlier.

Two state lawsuits got underway in late September. A man from Arkansas and another in Illinois sued a Texas doctor in two separate actions. Both told the Austin American-Statesman they supported abortion rights and were suing to overturn the law. But those cases have largely stalled while the federal litigation continues.

Both plaintiffs, Felipe Gomez and Oscar Stilley, have sought to intervene in the Justice Department lawsuit. Stilley told USA TODAY on Monday that his case is "on ice" pending the outcome of the federal litigation but could be revived if the Supreme Court rules in Texas' favor. Both men sued Dr. Alan Braid, a San Antonio physician, who announced in a Washington Post op-ed that he performed abortions in violation of the law.

An abortion rights advocate demonstrates in Jackson, Miss., on May 21.

Mississippi case may overlap

It's not a Texas case, but the most closely watched abortion lawsuit pending at the Supreme Court could have implications for the Lone Star State.

Mississippi officials have directly asked the justices to overturn Roe v. Wade in a case that deals with the state's ban on most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. Opponents of the law have asked the justices to honor Roe and Casey.

The high court will hear arguments in the Mississippi case on Dec. 1.

By then, the justices may have already decided whether the Texas law can be enforced on a temporary basis. But the outcome of the Mississippi litigation could ultimately determine whether the Texas law is constitutional.

Contributing: Madlin Mekelburg, Austin American-Statesman

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Abortion: Justice Dept. case at Supreme Court one of many on Texas ban
By Alessandra Prentice

LIBREVILLE (Reuters) - African countries want a new system to track funding from wealthy nations that are failing to meet a $100-billion annual target to help the developing world tackle climate change, Africa's lead climate negotiator said.

The demand highlights tensions ahead of the COP26 climate summit between the world's 20 largest economies, which are behind 80% of greenhouse gas emissions, and developing countries that are bearing the brunt of the effects of global warming.

"If we prove that someone is responsible for something, it is his responsibility to pay for that," said Tanguy Gahouma, chair of the African Group of Negotiators at COP26, the United Nations climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland, which starts on Oct. 31.

In 2009, developed countries agreed to raise $100 billion per year by 2020 to help the developing world deal with the fallout from a warming planet.

The latest available estimates from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) show this funding hit $79.6 billion in 2019, just 2% more than in 2018.

The OECD data shows Asian countries on average received 43% of the climate finance in 2016-19, while Africa received 26%. Gahouma said a more detailed shared system was needed that would keep tabs on each country's contribution and where it went on the ground.

"They say they achieved maybe 70% of the target, but we cannot see that," Gahouma said.

"We need to have a clear roadmap how they will put on the table the $100 billion per year, how we can track (it)," he said in an interview on Thursday. "We don't have time to lose and Africa is one of the most vulnerable regions of the world."

Temperatures in Africa are rising at a faster rate than the global average, according to the latest U.N. climate report. It forecasts further warming will lead to more extreme heatwaves, severe coastal flooding and intense rainfall on the continent.

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Even as wealthy nations miss the $100 billion target, African countries plan to push for this funding to be scaled up more than tenfold by 2030.

"The $100 billion was a political commitment. It was not based on the real needs of developing countries to tackle climate change," Gahouma said.

World leaders and their representatives have just a few days at the summit in Glasgow to try to broker deals to cut emissions faster and finance measures to adapt to climate pressures.

African countries face an extra challenge at the talks because administrative hurdles to entering Britain and to travelling during the coronavirus pandemic mean smaller than usual delegations can attend, Gahouma said.

"Limited delegations, with a very huge amount of work and limited time. This will be very challenging," Gahouma said.

(Reporting by Alessandra Prentice; Editing by Aaron Ross and Janet Lawrence)
ARLINGTON, Texas --News Direct-- Agora

Agora Datas Senior Vice President of Sales, Chris Barry, is slated to speak at the 2021 NIADA/NABD Automotive Finance & BHPH Expo. Barry will present Groundbreaking Changes in Auto Financing to Fuel Growth at 2:15 p.m. on November 2 in Orlando, Florida.

Barry will share how new and revolutionary ways of accessing capital can help dealers compete with online retailers and large used-car superstores. Agora is pioneering change in the auto finance industry by completing the first-ever crowdsourced subprime securitizations in December 2020 and May 2021. Agora plans to execute these transactions regularly thereby permitting more and more dealers to tap into the capital markets.

Unlike any other time in history, independent and Buy Here Pay Here dealers are competing with mega-sized auto retailers who have the advantage of abundant capital with low rates and attractive terms. They may not know they have access to their competitors secret sauce, said Barry, who has more than 30 years of experience in auto lending, servicing, and ancillary products. Thats why Im excited to present at this years NIADA/NABD convention. I plan to spell out the most beneficial funding opportunities for independent and Buy Here Pay Here dealers, along with some bonus tips on leveraging robust data to improve loan portfolio performance.

At the convention, Barry will also participate in the BHPH Contract Purchasers Capital Panel, moderated by Ken Shilson. During this panel discussion, Barry and other industry experts will reveal the pros and cons of obtaining funding via securitization, bulk purchase or point of sale. Afterward, dealers can talk directly with Barry and the Agora team at the conventions Finance Fair.

Its extremely rewarding to see the looks on dealers faces when they find out they can now enjoy the same financial advantages typically reserved for big retail operations, Barry said. Much like their customers, Buy Here Pay Here dealers are underserved and underbanked. But Agora is here to change that.

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Dealers are invited to drop by Agoras booth #423 any day during the show to discuss the companys groundbreaking capital solutions and learn how to access Agoras completely free-of-charge, comprehensive portfolio analytics.

About Agora Data, Inc: Founded in 2017, Agora Datas platform delivers a suite of tools to empower Buy Here Pay Here dealers and finance companies to maximize their success. Agora is disrupting and influencing the industry by connecting its dealers and finance company members to Wall Street and other capital resources previously only available to large dealer groups. Agora Datas family of auto finance products provides a wide range of critical funding paths so originators can obtain the cash they need to fuel growth. Powered by Agoras proprietary, radical, AI-infused technology platform, originators now have access to robust data analytics and planning resources to help optimize the performance of their portfolio. Agora Data made history by closing the first-ever Crowdsourced Subprime Auto Securitization in 2020 and followed that up with its second transaction in early 2021. For more information, visit agoradata.com or contact us at 877-592-4672.

Contact Details

Shelly Vandeven

+1 682-282-4130

media@agoradata.com

Company Website

https://agoradata.com/

View source version on newsdirect.com: https://newsdirect.com/news/agora-data-to-present-at-2021-niada-nabd-convention-109335969
ANNISTON, Ala. (AP)  Alabamas veterans affairs board is pushing for the creation of a program to aid veterans who have health problems that might stem from exposure to toxic chemicals at a former U.S. Army post.

The State Board of Veterans Affairs unanimously passed a resolution that urges the Alabama congressional delegation to support legislation calling for a study on the effects of service at Fort McClellan, AL.com reported Monday.

The resolution also calls for a health registry and a presumptive service connection, meaning that the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs would presume that disabilities were caused by military service.

Established in 1917 near Anniston, Fort McClellan housed the Armys Chemical Corps after World War II. It closed in 1999.

Personnel tested exposure to nerve agents and sulfur mustard there in 1953, the resolution says.

A 1998 U.S. Army Environmental Center study found contaminants at the installation. The organization required a cleanup and investigation before Fort McClellan could be converted to the public domain after its closure.

The National Academy of Medicine determined in 2005 that the sites soil and groundwater were contaminated.

Those who served on Fort McClellan were excluded from a 2003 class-action settlement between the City of Anniston and the nearby Monsanto chemical plant. It operated from 1929-1971 and caused additional exposure to toxic substances, according to the VA.

While the department has admitted to the presence of some hazardous materials and potential exposures at the post, it hasnt acknowledged health issues associated with service there.
2017 Vanity Fair Oscar Party Hosted By Graydon Carter - Arrivals

Alan Cumming attends the Vanity Fair Oscar Party on Feb. 26, 2017 in Beverly Hills, Calif. Credit - Pascal Le SegretainGetty Images

Alan Cumming is mid-sentence when he turns his camera and rolls up his sleeve. This is a Zoom interview of course, and hes at his home in the Catskills, where he and his husband have spent a large chunk of the COVID-19 pandemic. On the screen, the actor is showing off a tattoo on his inner forearm. Its two words in what looks like a ye olde typewriter font: only connect.

To me, thats all thats important in life: making sure that you connect with people, he explains. But, as much of the narrative in Cummings new book Baggage: Tales From a Fully Packed Life makes clear, hes also a proponent of cementing that connection with oneselfpast, present and future. Seven years ago, Cumming published the memoir Not My Fathers Son, which focused on his abusive childhood and the ripples that trauma wrought on his adult life. Baggage, to be published on Oct. 26, serves both as an examination of that continuing impact and a testament to the ways in which he has overcome it. Its deeply personal and sometimes aspirational, with copious do not try this at home disclaimers that you, the reader, are left wondering if the oft-mischievous Cumming is hoping youll at least consider ignoring.

More from TIME

Read more: Alan Cummings Boyhood Was No Cabaret

Cumming is a tireless multi-hyphenate. Hes an actor in iconic films (Romy & Micheles High School Reunion, Burlesque, Goldeneye, as well as both the Spy Kids and X-Men franchises), TV series (The Good Wife, Instinct, Web Therapy, Schmigadoon!) and theatrical productions (Bent, The Threepenny Opera, Macbeth, and multiple turns in Cabaret, for which he won a Tony award in 1998), as well as a writer, producer, activist and New York City club owner. Baggage weaves together his experiences in all these rolesas well as tales of his relationships and dalliances, travels and famous friendsinto a neat and engaging narrative. Here, in an interview with TIME, he unpacks it all.

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TIME: Id love to start with the title: Baggage. A memoir is, obviously, all about the writers memories, and I feel like the book draws out the idea that memories can be baggage without being a burden. Do you view baggage as a good thing or a bad thingor both?

Cumming: Ultimately, its a good thing. Everyones got baggage, everyones got trauma, everyones got sh-t. But if youve learned from it and if its made you a better person, how can it be negative? My favorite thing about getting older is that you give less of a f-ck. As I write in the book, all your baggage amounts to life lessons: If things arent making you happy, work out why and try to change them. At least Ive had the luxury to do that.

Dey Street Books

Baggage is forthright in recounting your past relationships. But theres no chapter devoted to your coming out or coming to terms with your sexuality. That was refreshing to not read, if you willwas that a deliberate decision?

Yes, it was. So much to say here. I spoke to Bowen Yang recently on my podcast and asked him if he ever felt a bit lonely being the first queer Asian performer on SNL. He said, Well, you know, its a lotbut you must have felt that too? He said it felt like there was a time when I was the only queer mainstream actor. At that time, I felt such a responsibility. I used to think about this little teenage lesbian in Wisconsinand I thought, if shes looking at me and Im not open about my life, whats she supposed to think [about] her lifes possibilities?

I had a huge public coming out, posing naked on the cover of Out magazineyou cant get more drama queeny than that. But that was really a result of being famous, not about what I was feeling in my life and my sexuality at the time. And now the world is different. I feel less of that mainstream pressure.

In the book I talk about a wife, a girlfriend, boyfriends. Thats my life. You know you never ask anyone, When did you know you were straight? But Ive been asked that question a zillion times the other way around. Especially with bisexuality, everybody wants to know. Im so bored of it. Straight people have no idea how lucky they are not to be constantly poked about their sexuality and their desires. I just want to do my little bit to stop those tropes in queer life. Im very post- the need for coming out.

There are passages in Baggage that discuss the debate, if you will, over same-sex marriage and how that played out differently in the U.S. and the U.K. in terms of politicized morality. Im curious how you feel about the way similar controversies over trans rights are playing out?

Were living in America, lets remember, which is both puritanical and prurient. You like to think of Great Britain as being much more progressive in terms of LGBT rights, right? Gay rights at least. So for trans rights to become such a stumbling block is quite shocking. First of all, the idea that you feel someone else getting basic human rights is taking something away from you is such a horrible indication of how you see life. Second, feminism is about equality. For so many women to espouse this idea that their rights are impinged by trans people getting rights, I find that shocking, too. Its never really about toilets or sports. Its about bodies, and when you make it just about bodies and body parts, it takes away from peoples dignity. Its so degrading.

Read more: Biden Vowed to Protect the LGBTQ Community. But Whats Really Changed for Transgender People?

Early on in Baggage, you caution readers not to buy into the Hollywood ending. But your book does seem to end on a high note. Would you say youve found a happily ever after, even if you didnt expect to?

I said dont buy into the Hollywood ending, and I give you a Hollywood ending! I have this great partner and this great life. But its a measured Hollywood ending. We didnt meet and fall in love with each other overnight and then say wed never have sex with anyone else for the rest of our lives. We are sensible and honest about our needs and our shortcomings.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CQ4MraXsf4B

Being completely honest with someone, being able to f-ck up and know thats not a deal breakerits such a relief. There are many ways to let someone down, but if youre kind, honest and open with them, then you can pretty much get through anything. Thats definitely something that I learned looking back on all my relationships and realizing my baggage. I was able to come into this relationship and lay it all on the table.

Speaking of highs and high notes, you write that youre ready to try heroinwhen you turn 80. What else is on your bucket list?

The heroin thing, O.K., Im being a little cheeky chappie. But I actually think that having a bucket list, as a concept, is really sad. Because its saying like, Im going to do this before I die but not yet. Well, just go and f-cking do it now. You could die tomorrow. Its a really interesting concept in constraintlike having guilty pleasures. Why would you have a guilty pleasure unless it was something awful? If you want to watch Real Housewives, watch it. Just dont bring shame into it.

Before committing fully to acting, you dabbled in mediayou write in Baggage about working at a number of British newspapers and magazines as a teenager. Whats a question youd want to ask Alan Cumming the actor as Alan Cumming the journalist?

Gosh, well I think everyones obsessed with anal sex, but they never really say it. I have a lot to say about anal sex! Maybe Id ask myself about that.

I feel like we should maybe deconstruct it a wee bit. The whole concept of tops and bottoms has become more of a thing in the past 20 years. For me, all that is very limitingand also slightly self-hating. If youve got such a rigid mentality, then theres a judgment attached. I say these things as a joke but I mean them absolutely: sexuality is like a vacation, and you dont always want to go to the same place twice.

This interview has been edited and condensed.
Keisha Lance Bottoms wants to transform the citys jail into a 24/7 diversion center that will provide medical care and other services.

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, currently serving a lame duck term in office, has announced a plan to transform the citys jail into a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week center that will provide medical care and other services.

According to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the proposed Center for Diversion and Services will be created through a unique partnership with Fulton County and the citys largest hospital system, Grady Memorial Hospital. Additionally, support will be provided by the Policing Alternatives & Diversion Initiative, which has funded and worked on several projects designed to support the poverty-stricken, mentally ill and those who are substance abusers and at-risk to commit low-level crimes.

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms accepts a personalized Atlanta Dream jersey during halftime of the game against the Phoenix Mercury at Gateway Center Arena last month. (Photo: Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

Bottoms announced her support for the legislation on Twitter Monday, the day it was proposed to Atlanta City Council for approval.

Excited to send to City Council legislation for approval of a joint Diversion & Services Center, with Fulton County, at the Atlanta Jail, she tweeted. It will provide mental health services & support for low-level repeat offenders. Another step towards thoughtful criminal justice reform.

Excited to send to City Council legislation for approval of a joint Diversion & Services Center, with Fulton County, at the Atlanta Jail. It will provide mental health services & support for low level repeat offenders. Another step towards thoughtful criminal justice reform.  Keisha Lance Bottoms (@KeishaBottoms) October 18, 2021

In May of this year, Bottoms withdrew as an incumbent for re-election in the Atlanta mayoral race. In the wake of her announcement, more than a dozen candidates have put their hats in the ring, including the citys previous mayor, Kasim Reed.

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Bottoms faced scrutiny after several high-profile police incidents in her city last year during the COVID-19 pandemic, including the fatal shooting of Rayshard Brooks, and also Kennedy Maxie, who was killed after Christmas shopping with her family.

Additionally, the city of Atlanta has seen a rise in shootings, low-level assaults and robberies at one of its most prestigious shopping centers, Lenox Mall.

The new jail proposal has been floated by Bottoms in the past, and it would turn the mostly empty Atlanta City Detention Center into a community center. However, Moki Macias, the executive director for the PAD Initiative, notes that the transformation to community-based policing could mean a reduction in the jailing of people who are experiencing behavioral health needs, then diversion has to be a key part of the equation.

Macias said she hopes the new center is a first step in us continuing to move away from jailing people altogether for these kinds of issues.

The center will require an investment of at least $3 million from the city of Atlanta, with active support from Grady Memorial and Fulton County.

A Superior Court judge spoke in support of the proposal at a recent Fulton County Commissioners meeting. Judge Robert McBurney said the center could divert up to 10,500 bookings per year.

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Former U.S. Representative Barney Frank in Ogunquit, Maine, on March 21, 2017.

Former U.S. Representative Barney Frank in Ogunquit, Maine, on March 21, 2017. Credit - Greg MillerThe New York Times/Redux

In 1987, Congressman Barney Frank, a Democrat from Massachusetts, made history when he told the Boston Globe, If you ask the direct question: Are you gay? The answer is yes. So what?

The interview made Frank the first member of Congress to choose to come out while in office, and propelled him into becoming one of the most prominent political faces of the LGBTQ rights movement in the following decades. During his thirty-two year tenure in the U.S House of Representatives, Frank advocated for numerous bills that promoted gay rights, and was the leading co-sponsor on other key legislation including 2010s Dodd-Frank Act, which overhauled financial regulation in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. In 2012 he wed his long-time partner Jim Ready, becoming the first sitting member of Congress to enter into a same-sex marriage. Today he serves on the board of LGBTQ Loyalty, the worlds first exchange-traded fund that aims to promote LGBTQ rights.

Looking back for LGBTQ History Month, TIME spoke with Frank about his storied advocacy for LGBTQ rights in Congress, and the progress left to be made.

When you ran for Congress in 1980 you were not yet public about your sexual orientation. Looking back then, were you worried youd be outedand face consequences?

Very much so. I first started being involved in politics in the 50s when I was a teenager. I said, Yeah, Id like to get involved in politics, but I could probably never get elected because Im gay. I knew I was gay from 13. And to get elected to office youve got to be popular. To be gay [was at the time] to be very unpopular.

My first run for public office was in 1972, in the [Massachusetts] state House. Everybody who ran for the legislature was asked by the gay and lesbian groups, Would you support a gay rights bill, repealing the law against sodomy and preventing job discrimination? And I said yes, that I would support the bill and even be the sponsor. I did that assuming that I would be one of several people. But it turned out I was the only person that year who won and had said yes. [I decided then] that while I would not come out publicly, but I would be very supportive of gay rights. My principle is that you have a right to privacy, but not to hypocrisy.

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Read more: Why Federal Laws Dont Explicitly Ban Discrimination Against LGBT Americans

That was my position for the next eight years while I was in the legislature. Towards the end of that eight years, by 78 or so, I began to come out to friends and relativesmaybe a couple of dozen people. And to the then-leader of the gay rights movement in America, a guy name Steve Endean. He was disappointed, and I was disappointed that he was disappointed. He said, Heres the problemIm trying to get people to sponsor gay rights bills in all these legislatures, and Ive been bragging about how many straight people I have supporting the bills. Every year I find out another one is gay.

I had then decided by the end of the 1970s that I was going to retire [from politics] and come out publicly. Id gone to law school, and I was going to become a practicing lawyer. And then the Pope intervened. Specifically, there was a Congressman from the district next to mine, who was a very liberal Jesuit priest. And Pope John Paul II ordered him not to run again. That created a vacancy. And I ran for it.

In 1987, you became the first Congressman to choose to publicly come out as gay. What motivated your decision?

I just couldnt live anymore with the frustrations and emotional choking of trying to hide my private lifeI couldnt have a satisfactory private life. Everybody has emotional and physical needs that have to be expressed. When I went to Washington, I thought I could somehow find a way to have that emotional and physical outletwithout being public. And I couldnt.

What was the response from your colleagues?

Surprisingly wonderful. Before I came out, it was not a great secret that I was gay. Understandably, gay people who knew I was going to come out were very enthused. But a number of my straight colleaguesmaybe six or seven, [some of] the most liberal, most supportive of LGBT rightscame to me and said, Please dont do that. Yes, we want you to have a happy life. But youre a very effective ally now on a whole range of causes. They were afraid that if I came out, my influence would be diminished in every area but in gay rights. And I couldnt say that wasnt true. I told them I hoped it wouldnt be true.

So I came out and to my great surprise, it helped. Politically, people said well, hes being honest. It made me, frankly, more relaxed. Easier to be with. And it advanced my advocacy of gay rights. Its one thing for me as a straight person to ask my colleagues to vote for gay rights when theyd say it was politically difficult. Its another when a colleague is asking you to do something deeply personal.

You mentioned this point earlier, but in the past youve promoted what some have referred to as the Frank rule.

The right to privacy does not include the right to hypocrisy.

Frank, then chairman of the House Committee on Financial Services, talks on the phone while at work in his office on Capitol Hill in Washington, Sept. 19, 2008. Brendan HoffmanThe New York Times/Redux

Exactly. The idea that it can be appropriate to out closeted politicians if theyre taking actions that hurt LGBTQ people, do you still hold this position today?

Absolutely. And by the way, its not just with regard to LGBTQ rights. I think its been appropriate in the past when people have outed anti-abortion members of Congress who had facilitated their partner having an abortion. I think its a principle that applies across the board. If youre an elected official, I do think you are morally obligated to obey every law that you vote for.

What was your proudest moment, in terms of your decades of LGBTQ rights advocacy while in office?

Im going to have to pass on that. It just becomes

Ready, in the background: Marrying me!

Well, that was the best one. That was good for me as well. Good for everybody else, but also good for me. If you go back to 2012, [same-sex] marriage was still very controversial. It was legal in Massachusetts, because of our state Supreme Court. But this is before the U.S. Supreme Court decided. So when Jim and I got married, there were only a handful of states where it was legal. So yeah, hes right. I think it had the most impact. It was an international event.

Do you have any regrets, looking back at your career of LGBTQ advocacy?

I am regretful that we had the problem with regard to including transgender people [in the Employment Non-Discrimination Act in 2007]. There was a misperception that Nancy Pelosi and I were somehow failing the transgender community. We were in fact working very hard to get them included. And the question then was, do you take a major step forward if you cant take [it completely]? And I think that is a shame. I think we did the best we could.

Other than that, as I look back, Im very proud. When I took office, there was no same-sex marriage. It was illegal for people to have sex with someone of the same sex. You could not be an [openly gay] immigrant to America. You couldnt serve in the military. I was a participant in Congress on getting rid of laws on the books that discriminated against gay people.

What do you make of the current status of trans rights?

Its behind, because we are behind in the progress of educating the public. From the beginning of what was called [the gay rights movement], until well into the 90s, there wasnt much [mainstream] conversation about trans people. I think the key to defeating prejudice is reality. More gay and lesbian people initially came out than did transgender people. [Trans people] had fewer options. I think we are now, in regards to transgender people, where we were with regard to gay and lesbian people maybe 20 years ago.

Read more: Biden Vowed to Protect the LGBTQ Community. But Whats Really Changed for Transgender People?

So I would say the current state of transgender rights in much of the country is still not where it should be. And the reason in part is that we got started later. But were making progress.

Going back to the 80s, the Washington Times reported in 1989 that youd had a relationship with Steve Gobie, a male prostitute. A House Ethics Committee investigation found that youd used your Congressional office to fix 33 of Gobies parking tickets and misstated facts in a memo to Gobies probation officers. The House of Representatives ultimately voted to reprimand you. Do you think that scandal would be treated the same way if it happened today?

I dont know. I would say a couple of things. First of all, in an odd way that helped me explain to people why Id come out. Remember, several of my liberal colleagues had said, Oh, why are you coming out. You dont have to do that. And when the Gobie thing broke, I said, Now you understand why I came out. Because as long as I was closeted, I found it impossible to have good, healthy relationships.

The key elements were there was no coercion, no abuse of authority, no serious element of misuse of public resources. If any of those [issues] had been present, the answer would definitely be yes. Absent them I dont know.

Some on the left have expressed concern that the 6-3 conservative supermajority on the Supreme Court could erode LGBTQ rights in the name of religious liberty. Are you concerned at all about this?

Yes I am. Theyre not going to undo marriage. But I do worry about entities that get public tax money to perform servicesthey should not in my judgment be allowed to exclude people because of some religious disapproval of their sexual practices. Its the sword versus the shield. The shield, in legal terms, is a doctrine that prevents other people from intruding on you. A sword is used to intrude on others. And while religious liberty should be a shield, there are concerns that people might make it a sword.
Officials with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration are threatening to assert jurisdiction over workplace safety in three states that havent adopted President Joe Bidens emergency regulation for health care facilities.

South Carolina, Arizona and Utah all have what are known as OSHA state plans. Federal OSHA oversees workplace safety around the country, but states are allowed to handle it on their own as long as they meet minimum federal requirements.

OSHA officials said Tuesday that those three states had missed the deadline to implement the Biden administrations new rule meant to protect health care workers from COVID-19. If they dont implement such a rule, the administration will move to revoke approval of their state OSHA plans  which would subject employers in South Carolina, Arizona and Utah to federally run inspections.

OSHA has worked in good faith to help these three state plans to come into compliance, Jim Frederick, the acting head of OSHA, said Tuesday on a call with reporters. But their continued refusal is a failure to maintain their state plan commitment to thousands of workers in their states.

Under President Joe Biden, OSHA is not playing around when it comes to COVID-19 safety protocol. (Photo: via Associated Press)

Trevor Laky, a spokesperson for the Industrial Commission of Arizona, which includes the states OSHA office, said state officials were surprised to receive the letter threatening to revoke approval of the state plan. He said Arizona was developing a rule and opening it up to public comment.

Weve been working in good faith with them, Laky said.

Messages left at the OSHA offices in South Carolina and Utah were not immediately returned.

The friction between OSHA and these three states could serve as a preview of battles over the Biden administrations upcoming vaccine rule. Under that regulation, large employers will be required to see that their workers are vaccinated against COVID-19 or be subjected to regular testing.

Some Republican politicians have vowed to ignore the regulation, but they could wind up in the same boat as South Carolina, Arizona and Utah: facing the possibility of losing their state plans approval. State plans are often laxer on enforcement than federal OSHA, and many employers prefer it that way.

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Their continued refusal is a failure to maintain their state plan commitment to thousands of workers in their states.Jim Frederick, acting head of OSHA

Debbie Berkowitz, a safety expert and former OSHA official under President Barack Obama, praised the Biden administration for issuing the warning.

This is a very important message, she said. I think states need to think long and hard about what theyre doing here.

She predicted that employers in the three states would not like the thought of a federal OSHA takeover.

The bottom line is private-sector employers in state plans do not want federal OSHA coming in, she said. In almost every state where they have a state plan, although they have the same regulations, enforcement is so much weaker.

OSHA officials said they would be putting notices in the federal register of their intention to reconsider approval of the three state plans. If OSHA and the states cant find a resolution, federal officials and inspectors could end up taking over part or all of the enforcement in those states, or carrying out enforcement alongside the states.

Under federal law, state OSHA plans must be at least as effective in protecting workers as federal OSHA. Twenty-two states have their own OSHA plans covering both private- and public-sector workers. The effectiveness of each agency varies from state to state.

The OSHA health care rule for COVID-19, which the Biden administration issued in June, applies to hospitals, nursing homes and other health care settings. It requires employers to assess hazards, provide personal protective equipment and enforce social distancing, among other provisions. The deadline OSHA set for state plans to adopt the rule was July 21.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.

Related...
Associated Press

The most dramatic Formula One title fight in at least a decade further intensified Friday when Christian Horner and Toto Wolff traded barbs at the same time the FIA denied Mercedes' right to appeal last week's non-penalty on championship leader Max Verstappen. Wolff, the head of Mercedes, and Red Bull principle Horner sat side-by-side during a tense 30-minute media briefing that displayed the full animosity between the two teams. Lewis Hamilton earned his 101st victory at the Brazilian GP to cut his deficit to Verstappen to only 14 points with three races remaining.
Thousands of people rushed to get out of South Lake Tahoe Monday after the entire tourist resort city came under evacuation orders as a massive wildfire raced toward the iconic freshwater lake, a sparkling gem on the California-Nevada border.

Evacuation warnings issued for the resort city of 22,000 on Sunday turned into mandatory orders Monday, forcing the thousands of residents and tourists visiting the area ahead of Labor Day to pack up and leave. Vehicles loaded with bikes, camping gear and hauling boats snaked through thick, brown air that smelled of campfire while police and other emergency vehicles whizzed by.

Conditions continued to worsen across the northern Sierra. Low humidity and gusty winds were expected to challenge firefighters urgently working to keep the blaze away from the popular vacation spot featuring picturesque beaches, emerald-blue waters, rocky shorelines and stunning landscapes in the Sierra Nevada.

There is fire activity happening in California that we have never seen before. The critical thing for the public to know is evacuate early, said Chief Thom Porter, director of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire. For the rest of you in California: Every acre can and will burn someday in this state.

The blaze was one of 85 large fires and complexes across the country and one of 13 in California alone, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. The fires currently burning have scorched more than 3,900 square miles, or 2.5 million acres, across the country.

The ongoing blazes caused Department of Agriculture forest officials to close all of California's national forests to visitors for at least two weeks in hopes of both helping fire crews get a handle on spiraling crises and avoid tourists from getting trapped or causing new fires.

We do not take this decision lightly but this is the best choice for public safety, said Regional Forester Jennifer Eberlien. It is especially hard with the approaching Labor Day weekend when so many people enjoy our national forests.

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The forests will be closed from Tuesday to at least Sept. 17.

The evacuation order due to the Caldor Fire covers almost the entire city of South Lake Tahoe and the surrounding area. The fire containment line was about 10 miles south from the lake.

As the fire burned around Highway 50 to the west, residents were told to head east toward Nevada. Photos showed roads jammed with residents and tourists, who frequent the scenic freshwater lake in the summertime, anxious to flee the area. Officials urged those leaving to remain calm.

Evacuation traffic backs up in South Lake Tahoe, Calif., as mandatory evacuations are announced because of the Caldor Fire on Aug. 30. Thousands of people rushed to get out of South Lake Tahoe as the entire tourist resort city came under evacuation orders and wildfire raced toward the large freshwater lake of Lake Tahoe, which straddles California and Nevada.

Related: South Lake Tahoe, usually bustling now, is empty and choking on smoke from the Caldor Fire

More on Caldor Fire: Sisolak declares emergency, Highway 50 packed as thousands flee South Lake Tahoe

This is a systematic evacuation, one neighborhood at a time," South Lake Tahoe police Lt. Travis Cabral said on social media. I am asking you as our community to please remain calm.

The fire destroyed multiple homes Sunday along Highway 50, one of the main routes to the south end of the lake. The fire also roared through the Sierra-at-Tahoe ski resort, destroying some buildings but leaving the main buildings at the base intact.

By Monday night the fire had crossed state highways 50 and 89 and burned mountain cabins as it churned down slopes toward the Tahoe Basin. Flames came within just a few miles of South Lake Tahoe and residents of communities just over the state line in Douglas County, Nevada were warned to get ready to evacuate.

Ken Breslin was stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic less than a mile from his home, with only a quarter-tank of gas in his Ford Escape. His son begged him to leave Sunday night, but he shrugged him off, certain that if an evacuation order came, it would be later in the week.

Before, it was, No worries ... its not going to crest. Its not gonna come down the hill. Theres 3,500 firefighters, all those bulldozers and all the air support, he said. Until this morning, I didnt think there was a chance it could come into this area. Now, its very real.

Neighborhoods throughout the community of 20,000 people have turned into ghost towns. The tourist destination usually welcomes throngs of visitors leading up to the Labor Day holiday. Instead, souvenir shops and restaurants were closed as the Caldor Fire continued to rage closer each day.

"Being closer to the state line, its all just pure tourism with everyone coming up here for casinos," said Breeana Cody, an employee at McPs Taphouse Grill. "But everything is pretty vacant right now.

Cody said it's been smoky for days on end. Ash has blanketed the area, too.

September until the end of the year is pretty good but Labor Day weekend is really our big hurrah," Cody said.

With fewer customers, deciding who should work and when with less revenue coming in has also been a delicate balance for businesses in the area.

Officials at Barton Memorial Hospital said earlier Monday that all patients were being evacuated and transferred to partner facilities. The hospital can treat up to 63 patients and has a 48-bed skilled nursing facility.

The fire remained active overnight, especially in the northeast sections of the blaze, and ember casts traveled up to half a mile, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

Jeff Marsolais, supervisor for El Dorado National Forest, said fire crews had hoped to prevent the flames from spreading east, but Sunday, "it let loose."

"Todays been a rough day, and theres no bones about it," he said.

The Caldor Fire started Aug. 14 and has burned more than 186,000 acres. It is only 15% contained, according to Cal Fire. Nearly 500 homes have been destroyed and at least five people injured, Cal Fire said.

Fire crews have battled in rugged terrain, in some cases carrying hoses from Highway 50 to put out spot fires prompted by the winds. Several homes were destroyed along the highway, as well as minor structures at the Sierra-at-Tahoe ski resort.

More on the Caldor Fire: South Lake Tahoe under evacuation warning as crews struggle to slow blaze

Winds and dry conditions fueled the fire's spread Sunday. To put it in perspective, weve been seeing about a half-mile of movement on the fires perimeter each day for the last couple of weeks, and today, this has already moved at 2.5 miles on us, with no sign that its starting to slow down," Cal Fire Division Chief Eric Schwab said.

According to the National Interagency Fire Center, 85 large fires and complexes currently burning have scorched more than 3,900 square miles. California alone has 13 large fires burning.

The ongoing blazes caused forest officials to close all of the state's national forests to visitors for at least two weeks in hopes of helping fire crews get a handle on spiraling crises.

We do not take this decision lightly but this is the best choice for public safety, said Regional Forester Jennifer Eberlien. It is especially hard with the approaching Labor Day weekend, when so many people enjoy our national forests.

Climate change report: Irreversible changes, warmer temperatures sooner among the alarming findings from the UN climate change report

East of the Caldor Fire is the Tamarack Fire, which firefighters have largely contained at 82%. The Dixie Fire, farther north and 48% contained, is the second-largest in state history at 1,196 square miles. The Dixie Fire has destroyed 1,277 homes and other buildings, according to Cal Fire.

Climate change has led to particularly active fire seasons across the West in recent years. Warming temperatures have made it easier for fires to burn larger and more frequently.

Contributing: Jorge Ortiz, USA TODAY; Kristin Oh, Reno Gazette-Journal; The Associated Press

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Caldor Fire: Lake Tahoe residents pack roads after evacuation orders
The Latin dictum about not speaking ill of the dead has its place, of course, but maybe we should draw the line at falsifying or distorting history.

A case in point involves the death of Colin Powell, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and secretary of state of the United States, and calls to mind his role in starting the Iraq War.

Specifically, I am referring to his February 2003 presentation before the United Nations in which he asserted that Saddam Hussein has biological weapons and was working to produce nuclear bombs. All of which proved to be false  but, nonetheless, helped start a war that killed hundreds of thousands of people and destabilised the Middle East for years to come.

In the wake of his death, Powells presentation is now seen as having tainted his legacy because, as The New York Times put it, The intelligence had been wrong.

Please.

Its more serious than that.

To be clear: Yes, the intelligence was wrong. But the larger question is why Powell, who for years had argued strenuously against invading Iraq, allowed himself to be duped by saber-rattling neoconservative policymakers and acolytes of Vice-President Dick Cheney into becoming chief salesman for the disinformation they manufactured.

After all, disinformation operations to start the war began being orchestrated well before the UN presentation  and Powell knew it. Most notably, there were the forged and fabricated Niger documents purporting to show that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was buying yellowcake uranium from the impoverished African Republic of Niger. In reporting for my 2007 book The Fall of the House of Bush, I found no fewer than nine former intelligence and military analysts who assessed the Niger documents as part of a covert operation to deliberately mislead the American public and start the war with Iraq.

The protests of such officials notwithstanding, that bit of disinformation was used by George W Bush in his State of the Union address as part of a 16-word sentence that was a prelude to war.

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Its hard to believe that Powell was unaware of such machinations. After all, the State Departments INR (Bureau of Intelligence and Research) was key component of the intelligence community, and its officials were among those who exposed the disinformation.

According to Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, Powells chief of staff and the man who helped Powell prepare for the UN presentation, Cheney and his followers repeatedly sent key bits of disinformation to State to gin up a feverish lust for war.

Each time Wilkersons team vetted it and took it out, theyd find that Cheneys followers had put it back in. Stick that baby in there forty-seven times and on the forty-seventh time it will stay, Wilkerson told me.  At every level of the decision-making process you had to have your axe out, ready to chop their fingers off. Sooner or later, you would miss one and it would get in there.

They were relentless.

To help his cause, Dick Cheney made sure that the ultra-hawkish John Bolton got a key position under Powell as undersecretary of state for arms control and international security. Powell had the power to push back, but didnt. Similarly, key INR officials who were not Cheney lapdogs were kept out of important meetings. Their absence was a striking indication that Powell had capitulated.

Why? Presumably he was trying to make peace with Cheney, one State Department official told me. If you were the boss and had John Bolton, who was off the reservation, why would you keep him there? Getting rid of the guy would make headlines and raise all manner of questions.

Always the good soldier, the man who always follows the chain of command, Powell found that his code of conduct had come into conflict with a higher loyalty  truth. I can only assume that he was under the gun to do this for the president, and he had to find a way to do this and live with it, said another State Department colleague.

As Wilkerson and his staff vetted the incoming material from Cheney, more often than not, they would find that the meaning of the item in question had been completely distorted. Out went a 48-page WMD dossier given them by Cheneys office. Three-quarters of their file on Saddams ties to terrorists was in the trash as well.

In the end, Wilkerson felt they had thrown out so much crap  and rightfully so that he was concerned that the presentation would not be effective.

But Dick Cheneys greatest triumph was his insistence that the presentation was being made by a man who had risen from the South Bronx to become the most admired and respected person in America. He had served as national security adviser and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff before being appointed secretary of state and becoming the highest-ranking African-American government official in the history of the United States.

At the time, no less than 86 per cent of the American people approved of the way Colin Powell was doing his job. He came now before the UN as a voice of reason, as a man who appeared to have unassailable moral authority, and who had reluctantly concluded that the United States must take up arms against a brutal dictator. All of which made him the most effective salesman on the planet.

But his most important decisions of all involved the Iraq War. On that score, he had succeeded in keeping peace within the administration. But the price was a devastating and unnecessary war based entirely on false premises.

Craig Unger is the author of three international bestsellers on Republican Partys attacks on democracy including, most recently, American Kompromat, How the KGB Cultivated Donald Trump and Related Tales of Sex, Greed, Power, and Treachery.

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A 20-year-old college student was killed in a suspected road rage shooting Friday after causing an accidental car crash, Texas police say.

Humphrey Magwira, whose relatives said had immigrated to the United States from Tanzania with his family when he was 11, died at a local hospital after suffering multiple gunshot wounds, the Fort Bend County Sheriffs Office said.

The shooting led to the arrest of 19-year-old Houston resident Ramon Vasquez. He was charged with murder after deputies say he got out of his vehicle and shot Magwira.

Vasquez fled after the shooting but was caught Saturday morning, according to the Fort Bend County Sheriffs Office.

This senseless and tragic loss of life occurred as result of a minor unintentional vehicle collision, Sheriff Eric Fagan said. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims family as our Detectives continue their work on this case.

Magwira was a second-year computer engineering major at the University of Houston, according to KPRC.

We thought it was a good idea to come to this country for a better education for my kids, the 20-year-olds father, Exuperius Magwira, told KPRC.

But now, its not, added the slain students mom, Josephine Kuyangana.

Family members are attempting to bring Magwiras remains back to his native Tanzania, KTRK reported

Vasquez was jailed in Fort Bend County on a $500,000 bond, deputies said.

Why even give him the opportunity to get out at all? He killed my brother for no reason. Senseless. Pointless, Humphrey Magwiras brother, Rodericque Magwira, told KTRK.

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BANGKOK (AP)  Crowds gathered Tuesday outside prisons around Myanmar, waiting for at least a glimpse of friends and relatives who were being freed under an amnesty for people arrested for protesting against military rule.

The head of the army-installed government, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, announced the amnesty covering more than 5,600 people on Monday. State television said it included 1,316 convicts who would be freed from prisons around the country and 4,320 others pending trial whose charges would be suspended.

The announcement came three days after the Association of Southeast Asian Nations delivered a rare snub by declining to invite Min Aung Hlaing to an upcoming summit, even though Myanmar is part of the 10-member bloc.

The move reflected ASEANs frustration with the continued stalling of a visit to the country by its special envoy, who was appointed as part of an initiative to find a way out of the violent crisis that has gripped Myanmar since the army overthrew Aung San Suu Kyis elected government in February.

The government had refused to grant the request of the special envoy, Brunei Second Foreign Minister Erywan Yusof, to meet with Suu Kyi. She has been detained since the military takeover and is being tried on several charges that her supporters say are politically motivated.

At Insein Prison in Yangon, which for decades has served as the main place of detention for political prisoners, a stream of buses carrying released detainees exited the gates and pushed slowly through a jubilant crowd. Some shouted with delight and handed roses through the vehicles open windows.

Family members hugged and wept as they were reunited after months of uncertainty for some, with the prisoners isolation heightened by lockdown measures meant to help contain the coronavirus pandemic.

One released detainee, who declined to identify herself to avoid drawing the authorities attention, was crying as she stood outside the prison walls and spoke to her daughter on a mobile telephone.

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Your mother is free from the suffering, she said, blinking away tears. Please come and wait for me downstairs, my daughter. I am free.

There were similar scenes on Monday night when the first of the releases began.

However, 11 of 38 people who were released Monday night from Meiktila Prison is central Myanmar were rearrested at the prison gate, said a person close to the family of a prisoner there. Those rearrested included officials and members of Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party as well as street protesters, said the man, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he feared the authorities would punish him for talking to the media.

He said all were charged under the Counter-Terrorism Law, though more details were not immediately available. The law punishes acts of violence and also acts of exhortation, persuasion, propaganda and recruitment of any person to participate in any terrorist group or activities of terrorism. Leading groups opposed to military rule, including the underground National Unity Government, which considers itself the country's legitimate administration, have officially been designated terrorist groups.

Phone calls to an official from the Prisons Department seeking comment went unanswered.

Min Aung Hlaing tied the timing of the amnesty to the upcoming traditional Thadingyut festival of lights, suggesting that it could help restore peace and stability. But it was seen by many people as a goodwill gesture meant to offset the unpleasant publicity from being chastised by fellow ASEAN members.

Min Aung Hlaings government is already a pariah to many Western nations, which condemn it not only for overthrowing Suu Kyis democratically elected government but also for using deadly force to suppress protests against its rule.

A detailed accounting by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners blames security forces for the killings of almost 1,200 civilians. The government now faces a growing insurgency in many parts of the country.

The United Nations special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, Tom Andrews, welcomed the prisoners release but said on Twitter that it came not because of a change of heart, but because of pressure. He added that they had been detained illegally for exercising their fundamental human rights.

The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners says at least 9,043 people have been arrested since the takeover, and 7,355 were in detention when the amnesty was announced.

Journalists, celebrities and internet influencers were among those benefiting from the amnesty, but important political prisoners such as Suu Kyi remain in detention. A Facebook group formed soon after the army takeover, Detained Journalists Information Myanmar, said it was aware of 15 journalists who were freed. About 100 have been arrested, though roughly half had been released before this week.
LONDON (Reuters) -A senior British minister was accosted on the street by angry protesters as he walked to an office in central London on Tuesday, days after the murder of one of his colleagues at a public meeting prompted fears about politicians' safety.

In footage published on social media, housing minister Michael Gove is seen walking by himself when anti-COVID 19 vaccine protesters approach him shouting obscenities. Police officers rush to surround him.

The minister is then ushered into a nearby building.

"Thank you to the Met (police) for their swift reaction- Im grateful to their officers for their thoughtfulness," Gove said on Twitter.

The incident took place after Gove's Conservative Party colleague David Amess, 69, was stabbed to death at a church on Friday in Leigh-on-Sea, east of London, as he met voters in his constituency.

The death of the second British lawmaker to be killed in five years has prompted calls for better security for politicians and action to address the growth in online abuse directed at them.

London's Metropolitan Police said officers had safely escorted the lawmaker into a nearby building after a group of people had tried to surround him during a protest in Westminster.

No arrests were made, but police said they would review footage from officers' body worn cameras to see if there had been any offences committed.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson's spokesman said the behaviour of the protesters was "abhorrent" and they expected the police to treat it seriously.

"These scenes would be unacceptable at any time - but seeing them this week is utterly appalling," Nick Thomas-Symonds, the home affairs spokesman for the opposition Labour Party, said on Twitter.

Police are continuing to question a 25-year-old man arrested at the scene of Amess's murder under counter-terrorism laws, saying the killing could be linked to Islamist extremism.

(Reporting by Michael Holden; Editing by Angus MacSwan)
A deputy fired at an aggressive dog  and one of the bullets ricocheted and hit his colleague, North Carolina officials said.

The Henderson County Sheriffs Office said deputies were called to a disturbance on Sunday night and went to a home with a Beware of Dog sign outside of it.

The deputies had been warned of multiple dogs they could encounter at the residence and knocked on the door. They could see a large dog inside and moved back from the house and porch after they knocked because of the aggressive nature and size of the animal, the sheriffs office said in a news release.

After the door was opened the dog lunged at a deputy and he fired and hit the animal, authorities said.

One of the rounds fired by the deputy ricocheted off the ground and struck another deputy on the scene, officials said. The shooting happened near Bobcat Spur Lane in Henderson County, roughly 30 miles southeast of the mountain tourist destination of Asheville.

Deputies said an ambulance took the injured deputy to nearby Mission Hospital, where he was treated for a gunshot wound to the leg before he was released.

The dog that was hit by gunfire was euthanized on Monday, a Henderson County Sheriffs Office spokesperson told McClatchy News in an email.

Family dog attacks and kills 6-month-old in Tennessee, officials say

Brutal attack by vicious dogs leads to charges against owner, South Carolina cops say
By Jan Strupczewski and Philip Blenkinsop

BRUSSELS/LUXEMBOURG (Reuters) -Poland's prime minister came under repeated criticism during a tense debate in the European Parliament on Tuesday, with the EU's chief executive telling Warsaw that its challenge to the supremacy of EU law would not go unpunished.

Poland's relations with the European Union, already badly strained, took a big knock last week when its Constitutional Tribunal ruled that elements of EU law were incompatible with the Polish constitution.

"Your arguments are not getting better. You're just escaping the debate," said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, visibly exasperated with Poland's Mateusz Morawiecki after more than four hours of back-and-forth in the chamber.

Von der Leyen described the Polish tribunal's ruling as "a direct challenge to the unity of the European legal order".

She laid out three options for a response to the Polish court's attack on the primacy of EU law, ranging from legal action to a cut in funding and suspension of voting rights.

European Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders, speaking after a meeting of EU ministers, said the Commission would start "written procedures" against Poland in the coming weeks, adding that he planned to visit Warsaw for talks.

EU leaders are expected to discuss the issue at a summit in Brussels on Thursday. EU diplomats said a large majority of EU countries were critical of Poland, though Hungary defended it.

Brussels has long accused the Polish government of undermining the independence of its judiciary, but last week's court ruling turned a stand-off into a full-blown crisis, raising fears that Poland could eventually exit the bloc.

Poland's ruling nationalist Law and Justice party says it has no plans for a "Polexit" and - unlike Britain before its Brexit referendum in 2016 - popular support for EU membership remains high in Poland.

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In an open letter sent before his appearance at the EU assembly in the French city of Strasbourg, Morawiecki complained of EU mission creep that would lead to a "centrally managed organism, governed by institutions deprived of democratic control".

He doubled down on that view in the parliament debate on Tuesday.

"EU competencies have clear boundaries, we must not remain silent when those boundaries are breached," he said. "So we are saying yes to European universalism, but we say no to European centralism."

OPTIONS FOR ACTION

The first option for action outlined by von der Leyen is known as an "infringement", where the Commission legally challenges the Polish court's judgment and could lead to fines.

Another option is a conditionality mechanism and other financial tools, whereby EU funds would be withheld from Poland.

Until Warsaw's clash with Brussels is resolved, it is unlikely to see any of the 23.9 billion euros in grants and 12.1 billion in cheap loans that it applied for as part of the EU's recovery fund after the COVID-19 pandemic.

The EU could even eventually block Polish access to EU grants for development and structural projects in the 2021-2027 budget worth around 70 billion euros.

Von der Leyen said a third option was the application of Article 7 of the EU treaty. Under this, rights of member states - including the right to vote on EU decisions - can be suspended because they have breached core values of the bloc.

Members of the EU parliament took turns to castigate the Polish premier after he spoke, and some EU ministers meeting in Luxembourg joined the chorus of criticism.

"The time for talking is never over, but it doesn't mean that you cannot take action in the meantime," Dutch Foreign Minister Ben Knapen said. "It's going to come soon."

(Additional reporting by John Chalmers, Kate Abnett, Sabine Siebold, Philip Blenkinsop and Robin EmmottWriting by John Chalmers, Editing by Angus MacSwan and Gareth Jones)
Facebook already allows users to cross-post their Instagram Stories and Reels to Facebook. Now it's testing a new feature that would see posts flowing in the other direction, too. The company recently rolled out an option that allows users to cross-post their Facebook updates that include photos or videos over to their Instagram. For people who are active on both platforms, the feature could save you from having to upload the same media twice in two different apps. It also gives Facebook an easy way to seed Instagram with more content at a time when the company is invested in ensuring Instagram remains a popular social media platform with younger users in the face of increased competition from apps like Snapchat and TikTok.

Facebook said the feature, which has yet to be formally announced, first began to roll out earlier this month. However, the company noted the option is currently a global test that's only available to a small group of people who already have their Facebook profiles linked to a personal, creator or business account on Instagram.

If available, you'll see the feature in Facebook's compose box where you create posts. The new toggle appears besides those for editing the audience for your post and creating a new album.

Image Credits: Screenshot from the Facebook app on iOS

When tapped, you'll be taken to a new screen where you can choose to share the individual Facebook post to your connected Instagram account, as well. The screen informs you this option will only apply to the post in question -- it won't become the default setting going forward.

If you do want to change your defaults, though, you can visit the linked "Accounts Center," where you can now toggle on an option to automatically share all your Facebook Posts to Instagram, in addition to automatically sharing your Facebook Stories to Instagram Stories. (The latter was previously available.)

Image Credits: Screenshot from the Facebook app on iOS

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The company told us users will be able to cross-post to Instagram single photos, single videos or multiphoto albums up to 10 photos  the max that's supported through Instagram's carousels. Other formats, like GIFs, polls, photos albums with more than 10 photos, Feed reshares, text-only posts and any media that's too tall for Instagram's Feed are not eligible for cross-posting at present.

Facebook has been working to make its suite of apps more interoperate in recent months -- and not just by making cross-posting an option for those who use multiple apps.

The company last year introduced cross-app communication between Messenger and Instagram, allowing Instagram users to chat with friends who use Facebook and (as of last month) vice versa. It's also been working on making Messenger more of a "connective tissue" for Facebook's growing number of real-time experiences and has been testing a way that Facebook users could make voice and video calls right on Facebook without having to switch to the Messenger app. And last month, it revamped its ad products to include more tools that would allow people to message businesses on any of Facebook's chat platforms, instead of just the one where they're seeing the ad. That means users could click an Instagram ad to chat with a business on WhatsApp, for example.

If this all makes it a bit more confusing to determine what content lives where and who's using which app, that could be by design. The tighter integrations may make it more difficult to fully exit Facebook, as content and communications flow between the Facebook suite of apps. In addition, the complexity could be hard to unravel in the case that regulators decide to break up Facebook into separate businesses, if it were to be declared a monopoly at some point in the future.

Facebook did not say how long the global test would run or when it would roll out more broadly.
A 17-year-old Florida boy was shot and killed by police after he turned what witnesses called a military-style rifle on officers. The gun turned out to be an airsoft rifle.

Alexander King, a junior at Tarpon Springs High School, was identified at a press conference Monday, two days after he was fatally shot around 9:30 p.m. Saturday.

Tarpon Springs Police Chief Jeffrey Young said officers received 911 calls Saturday night about someone waving a rifle at cars driving past the downtown intersection. Two officers responded and ran toward the suspect, later identified as King.

The teenager then lifted the weapon to his shoulder, charged it and took aim at the officers, who were hiding behind a car, according to Young.

The two officers, in fear for theirs and the lives of others, fired multiple rounds each at the subject, the police chief said.

King was hit multiple times and handcuffed.

Officers attempted CPR until first responders arrived, but King was pronounced dead at the hospital.

After the scene was cleared, officers determined that the weapon was an airsoft rifle, a realistic-looking replica gun that shoots plastic pellets rather than bullets.

Both officers involved have been placed on paid administrative leave pending an investigation, Young said.

According to police, King had been in frequent trouble, including two felony arrests, one for battery on a school board employee in 2017 and one for aggravated battery with a deadly weapon in 2018.
Rep. Jeff Fortenberry said he anticipates that the federal government will charge him with lying to the FBI in the course of its investigation into campaign contributions from a Nigerian billionaire.

In a video message titled I wanted you to hear from me first, recorded inside a pickup truck while accompanied by his wife and their dog, the Nebraska Republican said the FBI "accused me of lying, and are charging me with this."

ANTI-ABORTION DEMOCRAT DAN LIPINSKI CONSIDERS BID TO WIN BACK HOUSE SEAT

Fortenberry, first elected to the House in 2004, said he is shocked and stunned by the allegation, which he denies.

"I feel so personally betrayed, I thought we were trying to help," Fortenberry said. And so now we will have to fight.

According to Axios, Fortenberry was one of several congressional Republicans who received contributions from billionaire Gilbert Chagoury that authorities said were illegal. However, the expected indictment doesnt stem from that contribution but from what Fortenberry allegedly did or did not tell investigators.

Fortenberry denied knowledge of the contributions when they were made and said those responsible were later caught and he cooperated with the FBI investigation.

I did not lie to them, I told them what I knew, he said.

Fortenberry asked for supporters prayers and kind comments.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

Hopefully this all ends happily, for the sake of justice, for the sake of my own integrity, for the sake of the American system, he said.

Knowingly making a false statement to the FBI is a crime with a maximum sentence of five years in prison.

Washington Examiner Videos

Tags: News, Nebraska, Republican Party, FBI, Campaign Finance

Original Author: Kate Scanlon

Original Location: Fortenberry says he expects to be indicted in campaign finance investigation
Amal set off her journey on July 27th in Gaziantep, Turkey, near the Syrian border as part of a 4,970 mile odyssey across Europe, in a bid to raise awareness about the plight of unaccompanied child refugees.

She made stops in Rome to see Pope Francis and in Geneva to see the United Nations building.

On the UK leg of her journey, she will visit Canterbury, London, Oxford, Coventry, Birmingham, Sheffield and Manchester.

Sarah Loader, General Manager of artistic project 'The Walk', said: "She represents all the children that have had to leave their homes, some with their family and some without their family and are looking for a new life outside of their country, looking for safety, looking for a future."

"We wanted to come to Folkestone and Dover, to this very significant place where so many people start their journey for a better life, a new life in the UK and we know so many people have made this crossing and "little Amal" represents all those people."
Its no trick  horror lovers are in for another treat thanks to the gory Halloween decorations haunting a Dallas house.

Homeowner Steven Novak has once again transformed the front of his North Texas residence into a freaky fantasy land, a year after his over-the-top decorations garnered mixed reviews and lots of attention, according to the Dallas Observer.

Novaks 2021 vision features a dummy with a chainsaw stabbed through it, a wood chipper that spews red liquid, and a scene meant to look like a safe landed on a man and made his head explode.

Its been a tremendous amount of work and dough, but its worth it because people love it so much, Novak told the Dallas Observer. People get as tickled looking at my massacre as they do looking at puppies!

Novak brought back some of the same decorations from 2020, including the bloody safe on his front walkway, while mixing in new ones this year.

His house received several visits from police last year after the scene was reported to authorities.

All the cops that came out last year were an absolute gas, Novak told the Dallas Observer. I welcome them to come out and take more selfies.
Oct. 19Before fires were extinguished at the new, nearly $3.6 million Hanover Reserve Weddings & Events center, area companies were offering to help brides and grooms who suddenly found themselves without a location for their marriages.

The fire happened while people were gathered to celebrate a wedding at Hanover Reserve. Everybody left safely and nobody was injured.

Brad Baker, owner of Pinball Garage in Hamilton, posted on Facebook that it was heartbreaking to see a fire had occurred on the new, 45-acre property, which opened in May. He offered his bar and restaurant for free. Then came a deluge of other people and companies offering to help.

"Heartbreaking to hear about the devastating fire at Hanover tonight," Pinball Garage's Sunday-evening post on Facebook said. "If you or someone you know had a wedding planned and need a place, we have a large outdoor area and will offer it totally free. It's not fancy but we want to help if we can. We can also assist with catering food, drinks & entertainment. Please message us if we can help."

So many other companies were offering their assistance by adding comments to the Pinball Garage post.

Hanover Twp. Fire Chief Phillip Clark said officials believe it started in a propane fireplace inside the building. His was one of several fire departments that battled the blaze, and others that happened after the original fire was out, Sunday night and early Monday morning.

Clark, who earlier said the roof's construction  metal, Styrofoam and plywood  created challenges for those battling the flames. Clark was meeting with officials from the state fire marshal's office Monday afternoon.

"It got into the plywood, which got in the middle between the plywood and the metal roof, so the Styrofoam was feeding the fire," said Clark.

He said it took about 100,000 gallons of water to extinguish the fire, which persisted for hours. Without fire hydrants in the area, most of the water came from tankers.

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Officials have not provided an estimate of the building's damage and Hanover Reserve has not estimated how long it will take to reopen.

Even before the venue opened, co-owner and general manager Melanie Barnes told the Journal-News in May that almost every Saturday was booked in 2021, and many are claimed for 2022. The company's website shows every Friday and Saturday booked the rest of this month; every Saturday and most Fridays booked in November; and every Saturday occupied from March 19 through Dec. 10 of 2022, with many Fridays also reserved for events.

"This is not a good time, I'm sorry," Barnes said, when contacted Monday by phone.

Hanover Reserve is family-owned by three brothers and their wives with all of them taking an active role in the operation. Extended family has a role in Hanover Reserve, too, with everybody pitching in during construction.

It is a large piece of land with the building set back from the road far enough that traffic noise cannot be heard and provides a sense of rustic and isolated privacy.

They purchased the land in January of 2019 and spent a year and a half studying their concept. Groundbreaking was in May 2020 with construction and set-up finished just before their grand opening May 16 of this year.

In addition to the large reception room, the facility has a large covered outdoor area in back overlooking a pond with a fountain in the middle. The fountain can be lit with different colors to match a bride's color scheme.

Offers to help "just kind of got out of hand, in a good way," Baker said about other businesses offering their assistance. He has added offers by other businesses to his Facebook post "so that people who potentially lost their venue coming up soon would have a place, or at least services, whether it's DJ or caterer or flowers, or whatever people have messaged us about."
Five hikers in British Columbia used their turbans to save two men on their trail when the pair unexpectedly fell into a pool below a waterfall.

Kuljinder Kinda and four friends were hiking in Golden Ears Provincial Park on Oct. 11 when a group nearby told them that two men had slipped on a slick rock and fallen into a pool above the lower falls and could not pull themselves back to safety.

Video of the incident is being shared widely after Kinda posted his recording on WhatsApp and it made its way to hiking channels.

Kinda said the people who stopped to help asked them to call emergency services, but they didn't have cellphone service. Thats when they came up with the idea to create a rope out of their turbans, one of five articles worn by Sikhs as headdresses usually made of cotton that protects their uncut hair.

Kuljinder Kinda, left, and his friends at Golden Ears Provincial Park in British Columbia on Oct. 11, 2021. (Courtesy Kuljinder Kinda)

We were trying to think how we could get them out, but we didnt know how to, said Kinda, an electrician originally from Punjab, India, who is Sikh. So we walked for about 10 minutes to find help and then came up with the idea to tie our turbans together.

Kinda and his friends removed their turbans and other articles of clothing to securely knot the fabric together and create a 10-meter (about 33 feet) makeshift rope to safely pull the two men back onto the trail. They threw the rope down to the men and instructed them to tighten it before they pulled themselves up.

"In Sikhi, we are taught to help someone in any way we can with anything we have, even our turban," Kinda said.

Kinda said he and his friends weren't scared for their safety.

"We just really cared about the safety of the men," he said.

The two men thanked Kinda and his friends before leaving. Their identities are unknown.

A warning sign posted for the waterfalls on the Lower Falls Gold Creek Trail from Golden Ears Provincial Park in British Columbia, Canada. (British Columbia Ministry of Environment)

The British Columbia Environment Ministry said there are warnings along the trails. Signs on the access trails warn hikers about trail and waterfall hazards and to not proceed past the end of the established trails, a spokesperson said.

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Robert Laing, the search and rescue manager at Ridge Meadows Search and Rescue, was on duty when the incident occurred and was called to the scene, but the hikers had already been rescued. "We spoke briefly with them but only to make sure they were fine and did not require medical aid," he said. "They did say they did not see the warning signs regarding the hazards of approaching the falls."

The waterfalls are behind a fenced area, he pointed out.

Laing warns hikers to be careful around the creeks and rivers in the park. "Several people are injured each year as a result of slips or falls, he said. It seems about once every one to two years, someone will be swept over the falls and die as a result of their injuries.

The hikers have been praised for their heroism and their quick response. Sikh Community of British Columbia shared the video on Twitter and said, Kudos to these young men for their quick thinking and selflessness.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The head of the United Nations' nuclear watchdog said on Tuesday he anticipates news soon on when he may travel to Iran, adding that he expects to go to Tehran before the agency's November Board of Governors meeting.

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi said in Washington that his expectation was based on his conversations with Iranian officials, but he did not provide details.

"I am expecting news soon about it," he told reporters.

Grossi said the IAEA has been able to service cameras at all sites in Iran aside from the TESA Karaj complex.

The workshop at the TESA Karaj complex makes components for centrifuges, machines that enrich uranium, and was hit by apparent sabotage in June in which one of four IAEA cameras there was destroyed. Iran removed them and the destroyed camera's footage is missing.

TESA Karaj was one of several sites to which Iran agreed to grant IAEA inspectors access to service IAEA monitoring equipment and replace memory cards just as they were due to fill up with data such as camera footage. The Sept. 12 accord helped avoid a diplomatic escalation between Iran and the West.

(Reporting by Arshad Mohammed; Writing by Daphne Psaledakis; Editing by Alex Richardson and Giles Elgood)
At a tense school board meeting Monday night in Southlake, Texas, a former student gave painful testimony about antisemitic bullying that he said he endured in the Carroll Independent School District.

Teachers grew emotional as they described feeling unsupported and under attack.

And many parents defended a district administrator who told teachers to offer students books showing opposing perspectives on the Holocaust, saying she was trying to follow a problematic new state law, while also condemning her interpretation of that law.

The administrators comment, secretly recorded by a Carroll staff member during a training session this month and shared with NBC News, sparked international outrage and put a spotlight on a new Texas law that requires teachers to present multiple perspectives when discussing widely debated and currently controversial issues. The administrator, Gina Peddy, the school districts executive director of curriculum and instruction, has not replied to messages requesting comment.

In response to NBC News coverage of Peddys remark, Carrolls superintendent, Lane Ledbetter, issued an apology last week, acknowledging that there are not two sides of the Holocaust and pledging to work with his staff to clarify the districts policy.

Mondays school board meeting was the first time Southlake residents had a public forum to raise concerns about Peddys comment. More than 50 speakers addressed the board, many demanding that the district take steps to repair its reputation.

Jake Berman, a Jewish former student, told board members that the bullying he endured in the district two decades ago was so severe that he contemplated suicide. His parents eventually pulled him out of the school system.

I received everything from jokes about my nose to gas chambers, all while studying for my bar mitzvah, said Berman, adding that he believed Peddys comment exposed the problem with new laws that limit how teachers talk about racism and other controversial subjects. The facts are that there are not two sides of the Holocaust. The Nazis systematically killed millions of people. There are not two sides of slavery. White Europeans enslaved Black Africans in this country until June 19, 1865, a moment were barely 150 years removed from.

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A Jewish parent, Rob Forst, described himself as a descendant of Holocaust survivors and said his family members are questioning whether they want to stay in Southlake. He called on Ledbetter to issue a stronger condemnation of Peddys comment, calling the remarks completely unacceptable.

Peddys comment came during a teacher training session two weeks ago that was focused on which books teachers can keep in their classroom libraries. The district, to comply with the new Texas law, known as Senate Bill 3, had sent teachers a rubric asking them to grade books based on whether they provide multiple perspectives and to set aside any that present singular, dominant narratives in such a way that it ... may be considered offensive.

After teachers complained that the rules would force them to get rid of childrens books focused on racism, Peddy offered an example, according to a recording of the training made by a staff member and shared with NBC News.

Make sure that if you have a book on the Holocaust, Peddy said, that you have one that has an opposing, that has other perspectives.

How do you oppose the Holocaust? a teacher asked in response.

Believe me, Peddy said. Thats come up.

A school district spokeswoman initially said Peddys advice was the result of the districts efforts to comply with Senate Bill 3. State Sen. Bryan Hughes, an East Texas Republican who wrote the bill, denied that it requires teachers to provide opposing views about what he called matters of good and evil or to get rid of books that offer only one perspective on the Holocaust.

Thats not what the bill says, Hughes said last week. Im glad we can have this discussion to help elucidate what the bill says, because thats not what the bill says."

Many residents defended Peddy at Mondays meeting while not endorsing her remarks. Without naming her, because speakers during public comment sessions at the school board are barred from naming particular district employees, the residents described the administrator in the recording as a thoughtful and caring educator who loves students and supports teachers. One parent said the administrator was only trying to help teachers and was being thrown under the bus for implementing the districts policy.

The administrator is not a Holocaust denier, resident Katy Pratt said. She made a mistake under duress. The focus should be on the law, not the administrator.

The debate in Southlake over which books should be allowed in classrooms is part of a broader national movement led by parents opposed to lessons about racism, history and LGBTQ issues that some conservatives have falsely branded as critical race theory. A group of Southlake parents has been fighting for more than a year to block new diversity and inclusion programs at Carroll, one of the top-ranked school districts in Texas.

Late last year, one of those parents complained when her daughter brought home a copy of This Book Is Anti-Racist by Tiffany Jewell from her fourth grade teachers class library. The mother complained about how the teacher responded to her concerns. Carroll administrators investigated and decided against disciplining the teacher.

But on Oct. 4, the school board voted 3-2 to overturn the districts decision and formally reprimanded the teacher, setting off unease among teachers who said they fear that the board will not protect them if parents complain about books in their classes.

At the start of Mondays meeting, school board President Michelle Moore said the boards disciplinary vote was not about the anti-racism book, saying it was a personnel matter. (Moore had voted against disciplining the teacher.)

As a district, we must all work together to figure out how best to apply the laws enacted by the Legislature, Moore said. Our message to our curriculum and instructional staff and teachers is that we support you and understand the challenges that lie ahead of you.

Several teachers told the board that its vote to discipline one of their colleagues and the districts guidance about the books they can keep in classrooms have shaken their confidence in the school system.

Every day I treat my students and their families with kindness and respect and allow my students to speak their truth without fear, fourth grade teacher Lindsey Garcia said, choking up as she spoke. I only wish that same courtesy would be extended to all my fellow educators and me.

Others blamed the media attention for causing division in the community.

I actually think Southlake is a great place, resident Kathy Del Calvo said. And I hate the division thats going on. Its never-ending.
Joe Manchin. Illustrated | Getty Images, iStock

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) has demanded President Biden excise the core of his climate policy. Manchin says he won't vote for the $150 billion Clean Electricity Performance Program, which would pay energy suppliers to move away from carbon power and impose penalties on those that don't.

Manchin's move is a terrible disaster for many reasons. This program is the main mechanism of Biden's climate plan  removing it would mean no significant American action on climate until 2030 or later. Moreover, if Manchin gets his way, the president will go to upcoming climate talks in Scotland with nothing in hand, which would seriously harm the meeting's prospect of success.

But beyond all that, in his capacity as a senator, Manchin's demand is a grotesque betrayal of the people of West Virginia.

It may not look that way on the surface. Manchin is doing this because there are quite a few coal jobs in his state (and because he is personally heavily invested in coal business). But even on that ground, it's a wretched decision. As historian Adam Tooze demonstrates, while coal is still relatively important to the West Virginia economy, it's declining fast, and the state has no rising industry to replace coal as a core social and economic prop. West Virginia's health care industry is growing because so many people are on Medicaid or hooked on opioids, but it can't take coal's place in the state's economy. The jobs Manchin is trying to save are doomed, and he should be focused on bringing in new energy work, not saving what can't be saved.

The demise of the coal industry is long since obvious. In 2007, the American electrical system hit a peak of 2,016 terawatt-hours produced from coal power plants. Since then it has fallen by 62 percent to 774 terawatt-hours in 2020. Even before 2007, West Virginia had shed most of its coal jobs thanks to heavy automation and new techniques like blowing whole mountains up to get at the coal (which causes cataclysmic environmental contamination) instead of digging it out.

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Now, the biggest reason for coal's decline is cheap natural gas (up from 897 terawatt-hours in 2007 to 1,617 terawatt-hours in 2020), but the second-biggest reason is cheap renewable power. Utility-scale solar and wind power production have skyrocketed from 35 terawatt-hours in 2007 to 429 terawatt-hours in 2020  a twelve-fold increase. That's largely because the price of wind power fell by 70 percent over the last decade, while the price of solar fell by 89 percent  but that of coal power barely budged. Those trends are expected to continue, and sooner or later renewables will out-compete both coal and natural gas (though not soon enough to ward off catastrophic climate change without government action).

Neither will exports save coal. Globally, other countries are laying plans to move away from coal as well  partly from price movements but also because it's a dirty, dangerous power source whose pollution kills millions annually. Whether or not Manchin kills his own party's climate plan, West Virginia's coal industry has maybe a decade of life left, at the outside.

West Virginia today is a poor, unhealthy state. That's significantly because nobody in Washington did anything when slanted trade deals destroyed about a third of its manufacturing jobs and energy innovation destroyed most of its coal jobs and, soon, the entire coal industry. As Tooze writes, coal wasn't just a source of jobs; it was a source of meaning  an image of a rugged society where strong men and women did the tough jobs necessary to keep the country on its feet. Without that fund of social cohesion, the state is seeing an epidemic of "deaths of despair" similar to what Russia experienced after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Compounding all these problems, West Virginia is among the states most vulnerable to climate change. Its steep, narrow valleys create ideal conditions for floods in the biblical downpours becoming ever more common, and its generally rugged terrain leaves little room for residents of those valleys to relocate. No "state in the contiguous United States is more exposed to flood damage than West Virginia," reports Christopher Flavelle at The New York Times, citing an analysis from the First Street Foundation. "Sixty-one percent of West Virginia's power stations are at risk, the highest nationwide and more than twice the average. West Virginia also leads in the share of its roads at risk of inundation, at 46 percent," he writes. Beyond being dangerous to mine and deadly to burn, coal contributes to the climate change that produces extreme flooding. No longer a major source of money or meaning, it has become bad for West Virginia in every way.

Digging the West Virginian economy out of its collapsed coal pit would be no small task. But we could imagine a new model based on green energy (West Virginia is one of the windiest states east of the Mississippi), tourism (it is spectacularly beautiful), and perhaps even some cutting-edge manufacturing. Better infrastructure links and high-speed internet; regulations and subsidies to induce domestic economic production; and a stronger national welfare state to increase the incomes of the state's residents would be a good start.

In other words, we're talking about the Biden agenda. Half the point of the Build Back Better plan, for all its flaws, is to kick-start just this kind of forward-looking economy in places like West Virginia so that hopeless and destructive industries like coal are replaced with something rather than nothing.

Naturally, in addition to killing Biden's climate policy, Manchin is also demanding Biden slash the rest of his agenda to the bone. He recently demanded cuts to Biden's child allowance so the poorest parents without jobs  a disproportionate number of whom live in West Virginia  get nothing. Manchin is ruining his state's prospects coming and going.

West Virginia doesn't have to stay an impoverished, backward mess, in thrall to a dying, filthy industry. But if the state can be helped into a better future, Manchin won't have anything to do with it.

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It's official: Johnson & Johnson has invoked a Texas legal loophole in an attempt to protect the bulk of its corporate assets from claims that its baby powder caused ovarian cancer and mesothelioma.

Why it matters: It's the biggest and boldest invocation yet of the so-called Texas two-step defense. But it's still not clear whether it's going to work.

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How it works: J&J has now split into two companies, one of which  LTL Management LLC  holds all the baby-powder liabilities. LTL has filed for bankruptcy, which means that all existing cases and trials against the company are halted, pending a bankruptcy settlement.

J&J has promised to fund LTL with at least $2 billion to be spread across the 34,600 claimants. That's less than it already owes in just one case with 22 plaintiffs.

J&J is attempting to cap its liabilities at the value of its consumer arm, Johnson & Johnson Consumer Inc. (JJCI)  the parent company of such brands as Neutrogena, Band-Aid, Listerine, Splenda, Visine and Tylenol.

The other side: Plaintiffs calculate that while JJCI is certainly very valuable, J&J's total talc-related liabilities could be much larger. So they want to be able to sue J&J itself  a company worth over $400 billion.

Between the lines: J&J seems to have the legal upper hand for the time being. LTL filed for bankruptcy in Charlotte, North Carolina, where the Fourth Circuit places the burden of proof on challengers, rather than on the debtor (which would be the case in Delaware.)

What's next: J&J wants to negotiate a global settlement with all of the plaintiffs  one that guarantees them money and, crucially, that releases J&J itself from any further liability. If the two sides can't find a sum that's mutually acceptable, the bankruptcy could drag on for many years.

A previous Texas two-step case involving asbestos claims against BestWall, a subsidiary of Koch Industries, has been sitting in bankruptcy court for about four years.

The bottom line: J&J is happy to see the bankruptcy case drag on indefinitely, especially if the tort cases are stayed while that happens. But unless and until it can persuade the claimants that it's offering a good deal, the parent company won't be formally released from talc-related liability.

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Comedy Central

Jordan Klepper hadnt attended a Trump rally since he inadvertently found himself in the middle of the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, a day no one will ever forget, unless youre a Republican member of Congress, the Daily Show contributor joked in his latest dispatch. But this past week, Klepper boldly returned to the scene, trolling the crowd at the former presidents big Iowa event for the most embarrassing devotees he could find.

What he discovered more than anything was banners, flags, and deluded supporters all proclaiming that Trump Won as loudly as they could. And even though Trump won, theyre hoping he runs again, Klepper explained. Are we ready for this? I mean, the last guy hasnt even conceded yet.

He tracked down one couple that warned former Vice President Mike Pence would not be welcome in the crowd. Do you think Mike Pence will show up here today or does he not want to hang? Klepper asked, the double meaning seeming to go over their heads.

I think he would be afraid to show up here today, the woman responded. When he asked why, she shot back, Because he was a coward and he didnt do the right thing, thats why! She denied, as Klepper suggested, that he might want to stay away because these people tried to kill him. The man beside her, who was wearing a t-shirt that showed former President Donald Trump giving two middle fingers above the words One for Biden, One for Harris, saw no irony in his complaints that the current administration was giving the middle finger to the whole country.

And then there were the two men holding a Trump 2024: Take America Back banner who were particularly concerned about the border crisis. Klepper asked them, And youre from Iowa? So youre worried about people coming in from Minnesota?

How Daily Show Contributor Jordan Klepper Became the King of Humiliating Trump Fans

Another man calmly explained that he believes Trump is secretly still running the military but blanched when Klepper suggested he would then have to take the blame for the mess in Afghanistan. None of them seemed to believe that their MAGA brethren were responsible for Jan. 6, instead claiming antifa, the corrupt FBI, and the deep state were actually behind the attack.

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Two other women in matching MAGA hats and American flag overalls similarly pushed back on the notion that Trump supporters are a cult, while at the same time saying, I feel like whatever he spews out of his mouth, I just love it.

It doesnt matter what he says? Klepper asked them. But this isnt a cult?

I dont think so, one replied with a straight face.

For more, listen to The Daily Shows Jordan Klepper on The Last Laugh podcast.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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A federal judge ruled on Monday that the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill did not discriminate against white and Asian applicants in its admissions process, in response to a lawsuit by conservative legal group Students for Fair Admissions.

U.S. District Judge Loretta Biggs said the university could continue to consider an applicants race during the admissions process, writing that because race is so interwoven in every aspect of the lived experience of minority students, to ignore it, reduce its importance and measure it only by statistical models misses important context. Biggs added that UNC continues to have much work to do to improve diversity in its student body.

This decision makes clear the universitys holistic admissions approach is lawful, UNC spokeswoman Beth Keith said in a statement. We evaluate each student in a deliberate and thoughtful way, appreciating individual strengths, talents and contributions to a vibrant campus community where students from all backgrounds can excel and thrive.

Students for Campus Fairness founder Edward Blum said the group could take the case to the Supreme Court if necessary and ask the justices to end these unfair and unconstitutional race-based admissions policies.

The group is also behind a lawsuit that alleges Harvard University discriminates against Asian applicants in its admissions process. A federal appeals court ruled against Students for Campus Fairness in that case in November 2020, however the Supreme Court is now weighing whether to take up the suit.

More from National Review
SAN ANTONIO  There were many dark days over the past year at Divine Providence Catholic Church, when the coronavirus ravaged families, and funerals outnumbered Bible studies. Parish leaders counted 54 COVID-19-related deaths among its predominately Latino congregants. The church stood nearly empty for more than a year, as the pandemic kept many parishioners at home.

Last Sunday, however, more than 200 parishioners filled the pews, most of them masked and a majority vaccinated against the deadly virus. They swayed to Spanish-sung hymns and lined up for communion.

The Rev. Ryan Carnecer, the parish pastor, said the churchs strong embrace of COVID-19 vaccines has been a major reason for its rapid return to normalcy.

Covid was so real for us. There were deaths, said Carnecer, who is Filipino and gives mass in fluent Spanish. I told them, Please vaccinate. Im so grateful they followed.

The Rev. Ryan Carnecer of Divine Providence Catholic Church in San Antonio hands out the sacrament during communion at Sunday mass. Carnecer has been active in getting his parishioners vaccinated against COVID-19. Latino Catholics lead most major religious groups in vaccination rates in the United States, according to recent studies.

Latino Catholics  such as those at Divine Providence  have one of the highest COVID-19 vaccination rates among major religious groups in the United States, according to a recent Pew Research Center survey. The study of 10,000 adults revealed that 86% of Hispanic Catholics said they were at least partially vaccinated, higher than white Catholics (79%) and second only to atheists (90%). Overall, about 79% of all U.S. adults are partially vaccinated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The study comes amid ongoing debate over whether to mandate vaccines, and amid ethical questions surrounding the research and manufacture of certain vaccines using cell lines from aborted fetuses.

Catholic Church leaders, though strongly opposed to abortion, have taken differing positions on vaccine mandates and the use of religious exemptions.

A letter by four Colorado bishops in August declared support for some COVID-19 vaccines, but strongly opposed mandates.

The vaccination question is a deeply personal issue, and we continue to support religious exemptions from any and all vaccine mandates, the letter said.

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More: Faith leaders are encouraging vaccinations, framing the decision as a religious obligation: It's working

COVID-19 vaccine: Does natural immunity or vaccination protect you better from the coronavirus?

By contrast, the archdioceses of New York, Los Angeles and Philadelphia have urged their priests not to provide religious exemptions to vaccines.

Tadeusz Pacholczyk, director of education at the National Catholic Bioethics Center, a research center in Philadelphia, said vaccine hesitancy among Catholics stemmed less from concerns over aborted fetal cell lines and more from fears over the speed in which the vaccines were developed and general mistrust of government and pharmaceutical companies.

The Bioethics Center has posted information to help readers reach a decision and advocated against vaccine mandates that dont allow for some exemptions, he said.

Theres still quite a bit of polarization, quite a bit of discussion, Pacholczyk said. It reflects society at large  Differences outside the Catholic Church are also seen inside the Catholic Church.

An 86-year-old woman receives her first dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine at a clinic targeting minority community members at St. Patrick's Catholic Church on April 9, 2021, in Los Angeles.

Hispanic Catholics harbored concerns over vaccines earlier this year, but their outlook sharply changed by the summer. Acceptance of vaccines by Latino Catholics jumped from 56% in March to 80% in June  the most dramatic increase of any religious group, according to surveys by the Public Religion Research Institute. At various points throughout the pandemic, Latinos experienced the second-highest number of COVID-19 deaths, trailing Black Americans or American Indians and Alaska Natives.

Vaccines got a major boost in August when Pope Francis, along with six U.S. and Latin American archbishops and cardinals, put out a video supporting anti-COVID-19 inoculations. In the three-minute video, in Spanish with English subtitles, the pope called getting the vaccine an act of love and urged his followers to immunize against the deadly virus. The video on YouTube has gotten 2.6 million views.

Getting vaccinated is a simple yet profound way to care for one another, especially the most vulnerable, said the pope, the church's first Latino pontiff.

The message resonated among Catholics, especially those in the Latino community who had been hard hit by the pandemic, said Gustavo Garcia-Siller, archbishop of San Antonio. One parish in his diocese had 95 funerals last year, many of them linked to COVID-19, he said.

Earlier this year: As COVID-19 vaccine mandates grow, so are requests for religious exemptions

Garcia-Siller partnered with local health groups and leaders to organize vaccination drives and pop-up clinics in churches across the city. The efforts paid off: San Antonio health officials last week announced that the city, which is 64% Hispanic and strongly Catholic, had counted 76% of vaccine-eligible residents as fully vaccinated and 91% having received at least one shot.

We need to be responsible  to be co-responsible for the safety of one another, to go beyond personal preferences and focus on the common good, Garcia-Siller said. The results have been better than we thought.

Ramon Samaniego, 45, a parishioner at Divine Providence church, said he was shaken when three people at the construction company he works for contracted the coronavirus. When a vaccine became available to him in early March, he jumped at the chance.

I got it to protect myself, to protect my family, Samaniego said.

Carnecer said COVID-19 besieged his parish, which is 98% Hispanic. Dozens of parishioners, many of them hospitality or construction workers with poor access to health care, caught the virus, he said. Funerals became commonplace, even as the church remained empty. In December, he himself caught the virus, quarantined and recovered.

When a vaccine became available in February, Carnecer and a fellow priest at Divine Providence got the shot and later posted pictures of the event on his Facebook page. Some white and Filipino acquaintances from his former parish in North Carolina attacked him, saying the church shouldnt encourage vaccines, he said. Hispanic parishioners from San Antonio mostly applauded him.

From his pulpit, Carnecer urged parishioners to vaccinate. When he noticed vaccination efforts were mostly focused in the central or north parts of the city, where fewer Latinos live, he teamed with local community groups to launch vaccination drives in the parking lot of his South San Antonio church. Over three events, more than 600 people were vaccinated.

The Rev. Ryan Carnecer greets parishioners after a recent Sunday mass at Divine Providence Catholic Church in San Antonio. Carnecer has urged parishioners to get vaccinated against COVID-19. Latino Catholics lead most U.S. major religious groups in vaccination rates, according to recent studies.

Church leaders urged parishioners to get vaccinated before attending mass in person  leading to a surge in vaccinations among attendees eager to return to Sunday mass, said Lilia Rodela, the churchs pastoral council president. Carnecers vocal support of the vaccine and getting the shot early helped motivate many parishioners, she said.

If its coming from Father Ryan, its a good thing, Rodela said.

Today, Carnecer estimates that the majority of his 500-person parish is vaccinated, and masses have returned to about 90% of pre-pandemic attendance.

He said he still occasionally hears from parishioners who are hesitant to get vaccinated because of the stem cell debate or other reasons. Another hurdle: Mexican priests who oppose the inoculations and whose comments reach the social media pages of San Antonio congregants.

To those who still have doubts, Carnecer reminds them of the year theyve been through and what the church looks like today.

No ones getting sick in his parish, he said. In other words, vaccines work.

Follow Jervis on Twitter: @MrRJervis.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: COVID vaccination rates rise among Latino Catholics after deadly year
A university in Louisiana canceled classes for two days after a second fatal shooting within a week on campus.

"Earlier this morning at 1:00 a.m., multiple shots were fired in the quad area of campus," Grambling State University said in a statement Sunday. "At the time of the incident, a homecoming event was underway in McCall Dining Center," the statement continues.

The Sunday shooting was the second at the university in a period of three days, following one on Oct. 13 between two students, leaving one dead and another wounded, Fox 8 reported.

SCHOOL SHOOTER SUSPECT ARRESTED AFTER FOUR SHOT AT VIRGINIA HIGH SCHOOL

"The initial investigation revealed that there was a shooting on campus in which eight victims were shot," Louisiana State Police said in a Facebook post Sunday evening. "One victim has been pronounced dead and the other victims were transported to a local hospital for treatment."

Out of all the victims, one was currently enrolled in GSU, according to the statement from the university and state police.

Michael Reichardt, a public information officer with the LSP, confirmed to USA Today that one person had been left wounded with non-life-threatening injuries and that police had not yet discovered a motive behind the shooting.

GramFam, now the is the time to be Unapologetically Unified as we rally to comfort one another after this mornings incident. The campus has been cleared for normal operations, however, homecoming events scheduled for 10/17 have been canceled along w/classes on 10/18. pic.twitter.com/eTI0ssCOgI  Grambling State Univ (@Grambling1901) October 17, 2021

LSP is still looking for a suspect and have said the investigation is "active and on-going," according to the Sunday evening statement on Facebook.

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The university noted that even though they had been cleared by university police to go about normal operations, it would be implementing a curfew between the hours of 9:30 p.m. and 6 a.m., canceling homecoming events scheduled for Oct. 17, and canceling classes on both Monday and Tuesday.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

Rick Gallot, president of GSU, said going forward the university would be implementing security measures limiting access to the campus for non-students, as well as campus extracurricular activities, according to USA Today.

"Our students come here for an education and far too often it's outsiders who have created these situations that have put life and limb in danger," Gallot said.

According to its website, GSU is a "comprehensive, historically-black, public" university. For the fall 2020-2021 academic year, the university saw an undergraduate enrollment rate of 4,511 and a graduate enrollment rate of 927.

The Washington Examiner reached out to GSU and LSP for a statement but did not receive a response back.

Washington Examiner Videos

Tags: News, School Shootings, Louisiana, Gun Violence, Education, Firearms

Original Author: Elizabeth Faddis

Original Location: Louisiana university cancels classes after second shooting in three days
A private school in Miami that previously said vaccinated teachers would have to stay away from students has now told parents to keep children home for 30 days if they receive a Covid-19 vaccination.

Centner Academy asked parents to consider holding off on vaccinating their children until the summer and repeated false and misleading claims about Covid vaccines, according to WSVN, which reported on a letter sent to parents.

Students who do get vaccinated will have to miss a month of school, the letter said, according to WSVN.

Because of the potential impact on other students and our school community, vaccinated students will need to stay at home for 30 days post-vaccination for each dose and booster they receive and may return to school after 30 days as long as the student is healthy and symptom-free, the school said, according to WSVN.

Instead, the school said parents planning to vaccinate their children should wait until school is out in summer "when there will be time for the potential transmission or shedding onto others to decrease, according to WSVN.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has addressed false claims about shedding, saying on its webpage about myths and facts regarding the Covid-19 vaccine, Vaccine shedding is the term used to describe the release or discharge of any of the vaccine components in or outside of the body. Vaccine shedding can only occur when a vaccine contains a weakened version of the virus. None of the vaccines authorized for use in the U.S. contain a live virus.

The CDC, along with other leading health authorities, has repeatedly said Covid-19 vaccines are safe and effective.

COVID-19 vaccines were evaluated in tens of thousands of participants in clinical trials, the agency said on its website. The vaccines met the Food and Drug Administrations (FDA) rigorous scientific standards for safety, effectiveness, and manufacturing quality needed to support approval or authorization of a vaccine.

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The CDC said millions of people in the U.S. have received the vaccinations since they were authorized for emergency use by the FDA.

These vaccines have undergone and will continue to undergo the most intensive safety monitoring in U.S. history, the agency said.

More than 403 million doses of the coronavirus vaccines have been administered in the U.S. from Dec. 14 through Oct. 12, according to the CDC.

David Centner, a co-founder of the school, said in a statement to NBC News that the schools policy was instituted because several parents on our Parent Advisory Board thought it worth consideration and was enacted after many hours of deliberations.

A similar policy was actually instituted for the middle school at the beginning of the school year, but now with COVID vaccines being considered for 5-12 years old the policy was adopted for the younger students, Centner said in the statement.

Last month, Pfizer and BioNTech submitted data to the FDA to clear its Covid-19 vaccine for use in children ages 5 to 11. The Pfizer vaccine has been available for Americans 12 and older since May.

Centner Academy's policy was enacted as a prudent precautionary measure after much thoughtful deliberation. To be clear, the school leadership does not believe that one who is vaccinated can infect another person with COVID, Centner said in his statement. Further, the school is not opining on whether a vaccinated person can negatively impact others. However, due to voluminous anecdotal reports in circulation on this latter topic, we must err on the side of caution when making decisions that may impact the health of the school community. Until there are definitive and scientifically proven studies that refute these reports, we need to do what is best for our students and staff.

Tuition at the school, which offers preschool through middle school, ranges from more than $15,000 to nearly $30,000 a year, according to its website.

In April, Centner Academy said it would not allow vaccinated teachers to be in proximity to students.

"This was not an easy decision to make," the school said at the time. "It was a consensus from our advisors that until this topic is investigated more thoroughly, it is in the best interests of the children to protect them from the unknown implications of being in close proximity for the entire day with a teacher who has very recently taken the Covid-19 injection."

Centner, who founded Centner Academy with his wife, Leila Centner, also previously produced an anti-vaccine film targeting Black communities with misinformation and conspiracy theories about the Covid vaccine.

The school hosted two January talks by anti-vaccination activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr., where Kennedy shared his misinformed anti-vaccination views with a private audience and met with children, according to posts shared on Leila Centners Facebook page.

The Centners donated nearly $500,000 to the Republican National Committee and state Republican parties last year alone, and they donated $11,200  the maximum allowed  to President Donald Trumps re-election campaign.
The military government that rules Myanmar is reportedly releasing over 5,600 political prisoners, who were detained in the protests that hit the country after the military's coup in February.

That's according to its state-run television.

Video obtained by Reuters shows a release from one prison, but local activists and media reports say some of those people freed were quickly arrested again - something which couldn't be verified.

The prisoners are said to include politicians and journalists.

The military government has released prisoners several times since the coup.

The U.N. has welcomed the news, but says the military isn't releasing prisoners out of a change of heart - but because of international pressure.

The military government says it is committed to peace and democracy.
North Korean state media announced that a detected ballistic missile launch off its east coast on Tuesday was a newly developed weapon test-fired from a submarine.

Why it matters: Pyongyang's latest in a series of recent missile launches into the sea happened hours after U.S. officials emphasized their commitment to restart negotiations on North Korea's nuclear weapons program, which have stalled since talks broke down during the Trump administration, AP notes.

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Sung Kim, President Biden's special envoy for North Korea, is due to hold meetings with U.S. allies in South Korean capital Seoul on the matter this week.

Details: Wednesday's claims by the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) fit with detections by South Korean officials of a missile launch about 10:17am on Tuesday local time "from the vicinity of Sinpo," a North Korean test site for submarine-launched missiles, per Reuters.

KCNA claimed "the new-type submarine-launched ballistic missile, which introduced many developed controlling and homing technologies ... will make a great contribution to further developing the defense technology of the country and improving the underwater operation capacity of the navy."

What they're saying: White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters on Tuesday that the launches "underscore the urgent need for dialogue and diplomacy."

"Our offer remains to meet anywhere, anytime without preconditions," Psaki added.

Of note: The detected launch also forced Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to stop campaigning for the country's Oct. 31 general election and cast a shadow over a "major arms fair" in Seoul, Reuters notes.

Editor's note: This article has been updated with comment from KCNA and Psaki.

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By Stephen Nellis

(Reuters) - Oracle Corp's NetSuite on Tuesday said it will put automated banking features into its accounting software for businesses, with HSBC Holdings Plc as its first partner to automatically send and receive money and reconcile accounts.

Oracle NetSuite sells cloud-based software to mid-sized businesses to track their financials. But many core functions, like wiring money to pay a bill or reconciling billing records with bank statements to see how much cash is available for use at any given time, still requires humans to push buttons and key in data.

Oracle NetSuite on Tuesday said it has used artificial intelligence and partnerships with banks to automate those processes. When a bill or an employee expense report comes in, the software can read it, file it appropriately and have money wired.

Evan Goldberg, executive vice president of Oracle NetSuite, said the goal of the new system is to help businesses get a more accurate daily picture of their cash position and free up staff in finance departments to work on more important things like planning and analysis.

"Labor is at a premium," Goldberg told Reuters in an interview. "You want your people not working on manual data entry, but working on stuff that's actually going to add strategic value to the business."

The Oracle NetSuite system requires integration with banks, which have also been working to use technology to make business transactions more efficient. Oracle NetSuite said it aims to integrate with most major banks and that its first partner is HSBC.

In a statement, Barry OByrne, chief executive officer for global commercial banking at HSBC, said partnerships like the one with Oracle NetSuite are "central to our strategy of supporting our clients growth across all regions, from Asia to the Americas. We envisage this to be the first alliance of many.

(Reporting by Stephen Nellis in San Francisco; Editing by Leslie Adler)
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Youve likely seen or heard about Our Places bestselling Always Pan and the recently released Perfect Pot. Both blend the functionalities of over 12 kitchen tools.

With the Always Pan being the most sold-out pan on the internet, and the Perfect Pot following close behind, fans of the female-founded brand are anxiously waiting to see whats next. With anticipation at an all-time high, Our Place just announced that its adding a new color to its iconic lineup of signature hues.

Meet the newest shade: Blanch.

Credit: Our Place

Buy Now

Available for both the Perfect Pot and the Always Pan, this new pale blue hue joins the eight available Always Pan colors and the four Perfect Pot hues.

If youve seen the brands gorgeous Blue Salt shade, Blanch, as shown in the photos, is a bit more mellow and pastel.

In case youre unfamiliar, Our Place launched the Perfect Pot in August 2021, with the same clever ingenuity that made the Always Pan a hit. The Perfect Pot braises, bakes, strains, roasts, steams, boils, steeps and everything in between. Its also lightweight enough to hold with one hand, has Our Places signature non-stick ceramic interior coating and its oven safe!

For reference, it replaces your stockpot, Dutch oven, saucepot, roasting rack, steamer, bread pot, braiser, spoon rest and, thanks to its built-in strainer holes, even your colander.

Credit: Our Place

Buy Now

The No. 1 bestselling Always Pan is, by far, Our Places flagship product. It replaces your frying pan, saute pan, steamer, skillet, saucepan, non-stick pan, spatula and spoon rest. Like the Perfect Pot, its cooking possibilities are impressive. It braises, sears, steams, strains, sautes, fries, boils, serves and more.

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Both products are also dishwasher-safe and compatible with all cooktops.

Get the Perfect Pot and Always Pan in Blanch while the colors still in stock!

If you enjoyed this story, check out Great Jones three new products that youll want to leave out in your kitchen.

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The post Our Places best-selling Perfect Pot and Always Pan now come in pastel blue appeared first on In The Know.
In July, news of a COVID-19 vaccine mandate for all eligible public and private school students broke quietly in Puerto Rico. Without massive protests or threats of violence  and even before it was required  the bulk of the islands youth aged 12-17 got vaccinated in May and June.

Get essential education news and commentary delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up here for The 74s daily newsletter.

In order to return to school in person post-summer break, all eligible students were required to show proof of receiving at least one dose. Today, 89 percent of the young population are at least partially vaccinated, a rate higher than any other mainland U.S. state or territory.





The CDC also reports 98 percent of Puerto Ricos school workforce of roughly 60,000 was vaccinated by the end of March, within six weeks of opening eligibility to the group. To prepare for school reopenings, teachers were included in the second eligible wave, accessing shots just after health and residential care workers.

The island of about 3 million has boasted higher-than-average vaccination rates since rollout, having finalized its robust mass vaccination plan in October 2020, well before distribution. Their work provides an opportunity for a case study of successful adolescent vaccination, as most U.S. states struggle to get shots into their school-age population.

That mass vaccination efforts in Puerto Rico are outperforming mainland U.S. states may come as a surprise to those accustomed to stateside news outlets which frequently depict the island as being in constant disaster recovery. While Puerto Rico has faced serious hardship, it appears to have pulled together in the face of COVID-19 in a way that has eluded other Americans.

When folks think about highly vaccinated places in America They think Vermont or CT or MA Those places are good But not the most vaccinated place in America So whos #1? Puerto Rico! But PR has gotten way too little attention Its worth reflecting on how they did it Thread  Ashish K. Jha, MD, MPH (@ashishkjha) October 17, 2021



In Puerto Rico, the pandemic was never politicized  People were really rowing in the same direction. Daniel Colon-Ramos told NBC News back in March. Colon-Ramos is a professor of cellular neuroscience at Yale University and president of Puerto Ricos Scientific Coalition, a group of experts advising Gov. Pedro Pierluisi on the islands Covid-19 response.

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As of Sept. 29, 56 percent of U.S. youth aged 12-17 had taken at least one dose of the vaccine, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics, while 68 percent of adults have completed their sequence. Yet the rates drastically vary by region; in 21 states, less than half of youth are vaccinated. About a third of adolescents hospitalized with the virus required intensive care, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Related: An Immediate Threat: National School Board Group Calls on Biden to Combat Domestic Terrorism Toward Educators During Pandemic Turmoil

Scholars, residents and local leaders chalk Puerto Ricos comparative success up to far-reaching mandates across industries, lower political polarization, older generations trust in a once-public health care system and a common belief in getting students back in classrooms  by any means necessary.

They urgently needed to get students back to school in person because they couldnt take it any more. They were hurting and needed to be there, with their teachers, said Edgar Bonilla, a single father of three living in Caugus, a mountainous city about 20 miles south of San Juan.

Bonilla, one of several island residents interviewed by The 74 in Spanish, said he witnessed at least five of his childrens peers leave school last year out of frustration and feeling lost with online learning. Those that stayed may have progressed to the next school grade, he says, but need support with understanding material.

And while there have been a few dismayed teachers since the mandate, he believes you have to see the other side  students without needed resources, those who cant effectively learn online with audio or speech disabilities or who live with chronic health conditions.

The student whos unvaccinated, for religious or health reasons, has to take COVID-19 tests the whole week to enter school. Really all have to be vaccinated. There are students with chronic asthma, diabetes, or who are cancer patients like myself, Bonilla said. The stress of everyones health during the pandemic, has affected me a lot mentally.

His 14- and 15-year-olds excitedly got both doses before this school year. Their household continues to wear masks outside their home and washes their hands regularly, to protect their unvaccinated 11-year-old sister.

Edgar Bonillas three children.

And at the Bonillas public high school, youth stay in the same classroom all day. Only teachers rotate between rooms, to make any student quarantines smaller and easier to roll out. Lunch is outside, in small groups with open air, or in smaller capacity classrooms for younger children.

Puerto Rico Department of Healths July 22 administrative order extended the vaccine requirement to all school staff and anyone entering school buildings. Families told The 74 enforcement is strict to minimize contacts  if you forget your vaccination card, for instance, school staff or your child must come find you outside or meet at your car. No exceptions.

The only comparable sweeping K-12 mandate in the mainland is for Californias K-12 children. Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the requirement for all eligible students on Oct. 1, yet its unlikely to go into effect until July 2022.

Some California districts are weighing vaccination mandates because of concerningly low vaccination rates among youth. And where they have been adopted stateside, many are not complying and at least two  in Los Angeles and San Diego  are being challenged in court.

Three weeks ahead of its deadline, Los Angeles Unified estimated 80,000 students had not yet gotten a dose. The district recently extended its deadline for educators to Nov. 15, fearing the original cutoff would worsen critical shortages, though roughly 95 percent of educators have met the requirement. And New York Citys mandate for educators faced protests, legal and union challenges, but now about 96 percent of their teaching force has gotten one dose.

Related: COVID Shots Required for School Staff in 36% of Top Districts

Overall, there are more states that ban vaccine mandates for school staff (14) than have instituted them (11). In further contrast, when Puerto Rico did announce its mandates, no formal opposition followed.

In late March and April, the island saw an uptick in cases. And though no outbreaks were linked to the roughly 100 schools then open part-time for special education and young children, all closed for two weeks in an abundance of caution. The closures seemed typical of the systems strict approach to COVID-19 safety.

Following a July vaccine order for all government employees, Gov. Pierluisi also mandated this August that many private businesses, including restaurants, salons, casinos and gyms, require all employees to show proof of vaccination. Those claiming an exemption must show negative test results weekly. Businesses must also require that their customers show proof of vaccination or cut capacity by 50 percent.

The constant guidance from health and government officials has helped families return to in-person learning, though some schools are now facing closures amid a wave of random blackouts unrelated to the pandemic. In addition to dealing with infrastructure damage from years of destructive hurricanes, Puerto Ricos circa 1976 power generation units are twice as old as those stateside and due for major replacements.

For many, vaccination is the one factor they can control to keep children in school.

Daniel Pacheco says theres a responsibility felt among families when it comes to the mandates. His family of four lives in Aguadilla, a city of about 55,000 on the islands northwest tip where about 73 percent of the population has been vaccinated, and has seen the pandemics impact firsthand. His wife, Marizabel, is a nurse.

My wife and I think the same way, that teachers in direct contact with children have to be vaccinated to avoid the spread, he said. I think [the vaccine] should be approved and given to all kids because theres already scientific evidence that its really beneficial for them to get vaccinated.

Their school hosted a virtual open house before classes resumed to explain how exactly quarantine protocols would work. His two children, ages 6 and 10, returned to school for the first time fully in person this August and will be vaccinated once eligibility is extended to their age group. The Federal Drug Administration will review Pfizers request to extend vaccine eligibility for youth 5-11 on Oct. 26, and authorization may follow in early to mid- November.

While parents in Puerto Rico say there hasnt been much widespread hesitation, a recent parent poll across the U.S. revealed roughly 51 percent would vaccinate their children when eligible. Low adolescent vaccination rates raise concern for recently opened mainland schools now facing threats of closure with student and staff quarantines. As of Oct. 10, COVID-19 outbreaks in the 2021-22 school year precipitated about 2,265 school closures in 580 districts according to Burbio, a website tracking school policies and schedules.

Related: Thousands of Students, Teachers Quarantined as School Year Starts  Many in States With Low Vaccination Rates, Anti-Mask Rules

For instance, amid rising Delta variant cases, recent efforts in Newark, New Jersey were able to double the citys youth vaccination rate to 55 percent, a rate still leagues behind Puerto Ricos. The key, local leaders say, was making the shot available at schools, churches and essential community organizations; stopping misinformation and deploying health officials throughout the community to address concerns.

One Puerto Rican nonprofit leader whose organization distributed vaccines told the Miami Herald that he believes using community groups to administer vaccines has made the difference for small populations skeptical of the government or pharmaceutical industry.

People stand in line as they wait to be inoculated with the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine at a K-5 school in Vieques, Puerto Rico in March 2021. (Ricardo Arduengo / Getty Images)

The strategy of spreading secure information at the local level could help Puerto Rico reach herd immunity, local journalist and mother Paola Arroyo said.

Similar to the anti-vaccination camps on the mainland, some of those holding out, are not very aware of how beneficial the vaccine is and are carried away by fake news on social networks or platforms that arent necessarily official, she said. Others arent vaccinated for religious or health reasons, or lead a kind of natural lifestyle and prefer to build immunity without vaccination.

A 29 year-old resident of Guaynabo, just outside of San Juan on the northern coast, Arroyo stays cautiously hopeful. She regularly sees youth, even infants, wearing masks outside and taking stock of health guidelines posted outside businesses.

Youth are very aware of the problem that were confronting. Theyre more aware than adults themselves, she said.

Arroyo had her first child during the pandemic, and though vaccines werent available during her pregnancy, she was confident when getting both doses as soon as she became eligible. With encouragement from her pediatrician, she is passing antibodies onto her 9-month-old daughter Valentina through breastfeeding.

Im going to get the booster when its available and continue breastfeeding to protect her, Arroyo said. I believe in the power that vaccines have and understand that its a social responsibility.

Related: Sign up for The 74s newsletter
DUBAI (Reuters) -Qatar's emir created an environment and climate change ministry on Tuesday and appointed Ali Bin Ahmad Al-Kuwari as finance minister, a role he had held in an acting capacity since his predecessor's arrest over corruption allegations.

In a government reshuffle, Faleh bin Nasser al-Thani was named minister of environment and climate change in the world's top liquefied natural gas exporter, weeks before a U.N. climate change conference in the Scottish city of Glasgow.

Two women were handed cabinet posts for education and social development. They join Health Minister Hanan Mohamed Al Kuwari, who had been the only woman in the cabinet.

Al-Kuwari was commerce and industry minister in the previous cabinet and had also been acting finance minister since May, when Ali Sherif al-Emadi was arrested over embezzlement allegations and stripped of his duties as finance minister. Reuters has previously been unable to contact Emadi while he is in police custody.

Before joining the cabinet in 2018, Kuwari was chief executive officer of Qatar National Bank, the biggest lender in the Gulf Arab region.

There were no changes to the energy, foreign and defence portfolios in the reshuffle announced by the office of Emir Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani.

The commerce and industry ministry will now be headed by Sheikh Mohammed bin Hamad al-Thani.

(Reporting by Maher Chmaytelli and Andrew Mills; Editing by Alison Williams, Editing by Timothy Heritage)
By Luc Cohen

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A Russian businessman funded an account used by two ex-associates of Rudy Giuliani to donate to U.S. political campaigns, according to documents shown in court on Monday.

Prosecutors presented the financial records to a Manhattan federal court jury in the second week of the trial of one of the former associates, Lev Parnas, on charges of violating campaign finance laws.

Prosecutors say the Ukraine-born Parnas and another Giuliani associate, Belarus-born Igor Fruman, illegally funneled money from Moscow-based businessman Andrey Muraviev to candidates in U.S. states where the group was seeking licenses to operate cannabis businesses. Parnas pleaded not guilty.

Two Muraviev-owned firms wired $1 million to an account held by Fruman's FD Import & Export Corp between June and December 2018, bank statements showed.

That account then paid off more than 99% of the balance on a credit card account Parnas, Fruman and a company they founded used to make more than $150,000 in donations to candidates and committees ahead of the Nov. 6, 2018 election, the records showed.

Fruman pleaded guilty to violating campaign finance laws in September.

Parnas' attorney, Joseph Bondy, said in opening arguments last week that Muraviev's money was used for business ventures, not Parnas' campaign contributions.

The case has drawn attention because of the role Parnas and Fruman played in helping Giuliani - Donald Trump's former personal attorney and a former New York City mayor - investigate Joe Biden ahead of the 2020 election. Biden, a Democrat, defeated Republican Trump's re-election bid.

Giuliani's attorney has said the Parnas case is separate from a federal inquiry into whether Giuliani violated lobbying laws while working as Trump's lawyer. Giuliani has not been charged with any crimes and denies wrongdoing

(Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; editing by Richard Pullin)
Reuters

Germany's Continental will replace Wolfgang Schaefer as Chief Financial Officer after an investigation by prosecutors into the illegal use of defeat devices in diesel engines, the automotive supplier said on Wednesday. The company's supervisory board made the decision at an extraordinary meeting and agreed that Nikolai Setzer, Chairman of the executive board, would take over Schaefer's responsibilities. "These changes have been taken in the context of the already known investigations by the public prosecutor's office in Hanover, regarding the illegal use of defeat devices in diesel engines and shortcomings in the ongoing investigation by Continental," Continental said in a statement.
SEOUL (Reuters) -South Korean battery maker Samsung SDI Co Ltd and global automaker Stellantis NV have agreed to jointly produce electric vehicle (EV) batteries for the North American market, a person familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.

Samsung SDI, an affiliate of South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics, already has EV battery plants in South Korea, China and Hungary, which supply customers such as BMW and Ford Motor.

"The two companies (Samsung SDI and Stellantis) have struck a MOU (memorandum of understanding) to produce EV batteries for North America," the person with knowledge of the matter told Reuters. The source spoke of condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.

The person said the location of the battery joint venture is under review and will be announced later. In July, Reuters reported Samsung SDI may build a battery plant in the United States, citing a company source.

South Korea's Yonhap news agency earlier reported the two companies plan to build a factory in the United States, citing industry sources.

Samsung SDI and Stellantis did not have immediate comment when reached by Reuters.

Stellantis on Monday struck a preliminary deal https://www.reuters.com/technology/stellantis-lg-energy-form-battery-production-jv-2021-10-18 with battery maker South Korea's LG Energy Solution (LGES) to produce battery cells and modules for North America.

In July, Reuters reported https://www.reuters.com/business/skoreas-samsung-sdi-considers-building-battery-cell-plant-us-2021-07-08 that Samsung SDI may build a battery plant in the United States, citing a company source.

Shares of Samsung SDI were up 2.6% as of 0300 GMT, versus a 0.6% rise in the KOSPI benchmark index.

(Reporting by Heekyong Yang; Editing by Christopher Cushing and Kenneth Maxwell)
New York State Democratic Party chair Jay Jacobs. AP Photo/Mary Altaffer

Both state and federal representatives admonished Jay Jacobs' statement about endorsements.

Jacobs initially doubled down and implied that his statements were twisted during public discourse.

India Walton, a candidate at the center of the controversy, called Jacobs' words "indefensible."

New York State Democratic Party (NYSDP) Chairman Jay Jacobs sparked a wave of backlash with his response to a question about why top Democrats have yet to endorse several Democratic primary winners, including India Walton, a socialist candidate for mayor of Buffalo, New York.

When asked about the precedent it would set if Democrats fail to endorse a candidate that won their primary, Jacobs responded that it's not a requirement, explaining further with an odd hypothetical: What if David Duke, former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard, moved to New York, became a Democrat, runs for mayor of Rochester, and wins the party's primary?

"I have to endorse David Duke? I don't think so. Now, of course, India Walton is not in the same category, but it just leads you to that question. Is it a must?" Jacobs said in a video shared by Spectrum 1 News.

Outcry ensued from state and federal representatives, including US Rep. Jamaal Bowman, state Sen. Alessandra Biaggi, and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul. Both Bowman and Biaggi called for Jacobs' resignation.

Even Sen. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer chimed in on the incident, calling Jacobs' statement "totally unacceptable," as well as "outrageous and beyond absurd," Spectrum 1 News reported.

Jacobs initially doubled down, tweeting out a transcript of his words with underlined portions for emphasis.

"This is what's wrong with public discourse today - people want to find something to be unhappy about, so they twist statements, or ignore statements, to make their argument. That doesn't make them true. Read the full comments," Jacobs tweeted from the NYSDP Twitter account.

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Hours later, NYSDP sent out a press release where Jacobs apologized for referencing David Duke in his response and said he should have used a different example. Still, he maintained his stance on party endorsements of primary winners.

"The problem with civil discourse today, and political debate in these times, is that there are those less interested in the discussion and more interested in causing controversy. Discourse today is like walking in a minefield," Jacobs said in the statement.

While Jacobs said he looked forward to meeting with Walton despite the outcome of the election, Walton said that his statements were "crude" and "indefensible."

"I should not have to defend why I am not in any way comparable to David Duke, a militant white supremacist, and anti-Semite; a man who would celebrate my death," Walton tweeted. "Jacobs and many corporate Democrats like him still are refusing to endorse our campaign, despite our primary victory among the Democratic voters they are allegedly accountable to."

-India Walton For Buffalo (@Indiawaltonbflo) October 18, 2021

Read the original article on Business Insider
Singaporean TikToker Koh Boon Ki started a Telegram group chat for girls to share gossip about men they had dated, but deleted it after users began doxxing people. (Screenshots from TikTok/@doujiang.youtiao)

A Singaporean influencer, tired of negative experiences with men she had dated, thought it would be a brilliant idea to crowdsource for gossip about potential dates from her female fans.

Koh Boon Ki, 22, who according to The Straits Times is a recent pharmacy graduate from the National University of Singapore, started a Telegram group chat purportedly for all girls in Singapore to share their information about men to avoid so that they wouldn't repeat each others' mistakes.

Koh, who has 112,000 followers on TikTok, had posted about "a Telegram group with girls from all the dating apps in Singapore and we discuss the guys we've talked to and dates we've been on (imagine the excel sheet we can make)".

She later said she created the Telegram chat group on Saturday (16 Oct).

It wasn't such a bad idea, except that this is the internet and the whole thing backfired for its potential to be abused.

Users who joined the Telegram group created a Google spreadsheet in which anyone could anonymously share details about guys that they had supposedly dated or had a relationship with. Such information included their full names and contact details.

Accusations against men ranged from them being scammers or cheaters to more serious ones like sexual assault.

Netizens criticised Koh, saying that all the "tea" in the document could be considered doxxing, which is illegal, or might be false accusations.

Acknowledging the criticisms, Koh later deleted the Telegram chat, apparently titled "sg dating adventures" on 18 Oct.

In a video statement on her TikTok, Koh said she "didn't put enough consideration into setting boundaries and rules within the chat to moderate the discussion".

"The document is very incriminating and I do regret its existence. I have since asked the creator of the Google Sheet to delete the document," said Koh.
Japan's new Prime Minister Fumio Kishida drew criticisms from the Chinese and South Korean government after sending a ritual offering to a controversial Tokyo shrine.



A reminder of war: Fumio Kishida, who took office on Oct. 4, marked the autumn festival by donating masakaki religious ornaments to the Yasukuni Shrine, which is viewed by many as a symbol of Japanese aggression, reported the Associated Press.



The Chinese, Koreans and other victims of war crimes committed by the Japanese military during World War II see the shrine as a symbol of Japanese militarism.

This is because Yasukuni Shrine, which enshrined military men along with civilians, also honors its convicted war criminals among the 2.5 million who died during wartime.

Critics interpret such observance of officials as a lack of government remorse over the historical atrocities.

Yoshihide Suga, Kishidas predecessor who stepped down in September, also made offerings on Sunday to offer respect to the sacred spirits of those who sacrificed their precious lives for the country and to pray that their souls may rest in peace.

Kishida did not make a visit in person and kept himself away from the shrine over the weekend when he visited areas in northern Japan affected by the 2011 tsunami.



Expression of disappointment: Foreign Ministry officials from both China and South Korea have publicly addressed Kishidas offerings at the shrine.



A statement from South Koreas Foreign Ministry, which did not directly mention Kishida, expressed deep disappointment and regret over Japanese officials visits and offerings, reported Reuters.

The agency urged Japanese officials to squarely face history and humbly reflect on the countrys wartime history.

China's Foreign Ministry directly expressed its thoughts through diplomatic channels, with Spokesperson Zhao Lijian condemning movements in the shrine as indications of Japans non-reflective attitude towards its history of aggression.





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Japanese leaders have been mostly avoiding the shrine since 2013, when former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe drew backlash from China and Korea following a shrine visit.

South Korea and Japan have also clashed in recent years as disputes continue over compensation for Korean wartime laborers and abuses endured by comfort women, who were taken from their homes as young as 14 and used for sex by the Japanese military.

In 2019, Japan removed South Korea from its trade list, also known as a white list, of favored trade partners that enjoy some export controls, NextShark previously reported.



Featured Image via Arirang News

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A drone operation received approval on Tuesday to launch a rescue attempt for four dogs stranded near a volcano that has been erupting since September on the Spanish island of La Palma.

The dogs are stuck in an abandoned yard blanketed in volcanic ash within the town of Todoque, one of the regions most devastated by the eruption. The animal association Leales.org (Leales is Spanish for loyal) first asked for help to rescue the dogs, according to Spanish drone company Aerocamaras.

For weeks now, Aerocamaras has been sending drones to drop packages of food for the dogs.

'We are at the mercy of the volcano': Nearly one month later, Spanish island still dealing with eruption

Thousands evacuated: What lava damage looks like on a Spanish Island

The rescue mission has become a national effort, with other companies in private industry pitching in to help. Along with local authorities, Aerocamaras has collaborated with airline Iberia and the marine fuel provider Peninsula to send logistics materials and technicians to the island.

The drone company plans to send a cargo drone adapted for the animals as well as a support drone to facilitate the rescue after receiving a special permit from Spanish authorities to fly the drone above the volcanic eruption.

In addition to saving the dogs, Aerocamaras hopes to demonstrate the value of drones in emergency situations and rescues.

Michelle Shen is a Money & Tech Digital Reporter for USA TODAY. You can reach her @michelle_shen10 on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: La Palma volcano eruption: Drone company launches effort to save dogs
In two weeks, St. Petersburg voters get to decide whom they want as their first new mayor in eight years  Ken Welch or Robert Blackmon, who will face off about the citys biggest issues tonight.

The debate, hosted by the Tampa Bay Times and Spectrum Bay News 9, will begin at 7 p.m. and can be watched live on Spectrum Bay News 9 or online at tampabay.com/politics.

Welch and Blackmon walked away from the August primary as the top two candidates in a field of eight, with Welch taking in about 39 percent of the vote and Blackmon garnering about 28 percent. The general election is Nov. 2. The deadline to register to vote in the election has passed, but registered voters can find their Election Day polling location on the Pinellas County Supervisor of Elections website.

Both Welch, 57, and Blackmon, 32, were born and raised in St. Petersburg. Welch spent five terms as a Pinellas County commissioner and Blackmon is a current City Council member for District 1, which covers the northwest part of the city that includes Tyrone Boulevard.

The debate will be moderated by Times political editor Steve Contorno and Spectrum Bay News 9 anchor Holly Gregory.

Though the city election is nonpartisan, endorsements have fallen largely along party lines for Welch, a Democrat, and Blackmon, a Republican. Welch has been endorsed by Sen. Darryl Rouson, D-St. Petersburg, his former primary opponent Darden Rice, and U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor.

Sen. Jeff Brandes, R-St. Petersburg, former St. Petersburg mayor Rick Baker and House Speaker Chris Sprowls, R-Palm Harbor, are some of the people who have endorsed Blackmon.

As of Oct. 8, Welch has brought in just under $1 million through his political action committee, Pelican PAC, and his campaign. Blackmon has raised about half of that through his action committee, Prosperous St. Petersburg, and his campaign.
Anna Efetova/Getty Images

The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to hear an emergency appeal of vaccine requirements for Maine health care workers.

The high court has previously rejected a challenge to a vaccine mandate for New York City teachers.

Vaccine mandates have been challenged across the country over the pandemic.

The US Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to stop a state-imposed COVID-19 vaccine mandate for health care workers in Maine that's expected to take effect next week.

The high court declined to hear an emergency appeal of the Maine vaccine requirement. The order was handed down by Justice Stephen Breyer, a Democratic appointee assigned to the First Circuit, which covers Maine.

It's not the first time the court has rejected challenges to vaccine mandates. Earlier this month, Democratic-appointed Justice Sonia Sotomayor refused to hear an emergency appeal from public school teachers opposed to a vaccine requirement in New York City.

Likewise, former President Donald Trump's latest appointee, Justice Amy Coney Barrett, chose not to block a vaccine requirement for students and staff at Indiana University in August.

The Maine case is the first time the Supreme Court considered a statewide vaccine mandate. Democratic Gov. Janet Mills announced on September 2 that she will begin enforcing the requirement to health care workers on October 29, allowing them more time to get their shots against coronavirus. The decision was backed by major health care organizations in the state.

"Anyone who is placed in the care of a health care worker has the right to expect - as do their families - that they will receive high-quality, safe care from fully vaccinated staff," Mills said at the time.

A national religious organization, Liberty Counsel, sued Mills and other Maine officials in an effort to block the mandate. The group said it represented over 2,000 health care workers in the state who don't want to be obliged to get vaccinated.

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A federal judge rejected the lawsuit and later, a federal appeals court affirmed the ruling. Liberty Counsel then filed an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court, which denied to hear it on Tuesday.

Most health care workers in Maine have complied with getting vaccinated, according to the Associated Press.

There is longstanding Supreme Court precedent that allows state governments to impose vaccine requirements. The right was upheld in 1905, when the court decided Massachusetts can require vaccines against smallpox.

Still, opponents of vaccine mandates have sought to challenge requirements being imposed in states across the country to combat the coronavirus pandemic. National and state lawmakers, mainly Republican, have heavily criticized mandates as an infringement of personal liberties.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Oct. 19NASHVILLE  Tennessee Republicans' expected call for a special legislative session on local and business-related COVID-19 restrictions next week opens a wide door to address some GOP members' concerns.

That could mean banning universal face masking requirements but also addressing the liability of employers for "harm or injury" sustained "as the result of receiving a COVID-19 vaccine."

Other areas of the call include a favorite topic for some Republicans  ending nonpartisan elections for local school board members, in the hopes local school officials would be more responsive to the GOP base and its opposition to vaccine and mask mandates.

House Speaker Cameron Sexton, R-Crossville, said the broadness of the call's language was to include areas of concern for a number of Republicans.

That doesn't necessarily mean all the ideas will pass, Sexton said as he spoke about language that would allow legislators to push back against mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations for some businesses in response to the Biden administration's plan to come up with rules for that.

"I don't think the call says we are regulating or we're going to force a mandate, what it does is give us the capability to have those discussions," Sexton told reporters after the House and Senate convened in response to Republican Gov. Bill Lee's call for a separate special session.

Lee is asking legislators to approve a nearly $900 million package of incentives and infrastructure investments related to Ford Motor Co.'s planned $5.6 billion investment in a factory complex in rural West Tennessee.

Lee refused to accede to Sexton and a number of other Republicans' request to agree to their COVID-19 session, so GOP leaders plan to meet the two-thirds requirement to call themselves into special session.

Referring specifically to pushing back on President Joe Biden's planned mandate on companies to require employee COVID-19 vaccines or require workers to submit to weekly tests for the virus, Sexton cited steps taken by Texas, Montana, Iowa and Florida.

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"We may go in a total different direction," Sexton said, adding that the language of the call "gives us the ability to talk about different directions. We may go in a totally different direction."

GOP Senate leaders are agreeing to the call, Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson, R-Franklin said.

House Finance Committee Chair Patsy Hazlewood, R-Signal Mountain, said, "We'll be looking at all of those [issues]. I don't know what bills will actually be filed as of yet. Those are the topics that are allowed to be under consideration.

"I have some opinions but I'll wait and see what the actual bills are and we'll discuss them through the process," Hazlewood added.

None of it is sitting well with Democrats.

House Democratic Caucus Chair Vincent Dixie of Nashville called Republicans' COVID-19 session "asinine."

"Sixteen months ago we had a special session to discuss how to combat COVID and failed miserably. Now 16 months later the Republicans want us to come together against, at taxpayer expense, to continue to pass more legislation that will fail to stop the spread of COVID-19 and continue to put more lives at risk," Dixie said in a statement.

"What is being proposed with regards to COVID is partisan and in my view not in the best interests of the state as a whole," said Rep. Yusuf Hakeem, D-Chattanooga.

Sen. Todd Gardenhire, R-Chattanooga, said he had been reluctant to support the House language.

"I can't remember who said it, some famous politician from California, I can't remember her name, but I think she said something to the effect you have to vote for this bill in order to see what's in it," he said.

The phrase was used by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, during the battle over the federal Affordable Care Act. She was quoted saying, "We have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it."

It's unclear how far some of the House measures will get in the Senate.

COVID-19 is even entering the discussion at Lee's special session for the Ford incentives.

Rep. Rusty Grills, R-Newbern, has introduced a bill that would let employees receive unemployment benefits after quitting their jobs because of vaccination mandates. Under normal circumstances, the state disqualifies people who voluntarily quit their job without good work-related cause.

Sen. Frank Niceley, R-Strawberry Plains, told the Times Free Press on Sunday that he will push for the state to follow Montana's lead and pass a law banning COVID-19 vaccinations as a condition of employment. Businesses are expected to fight it.

Contact Andy Sher at asher@timesfreepress.com or 615-255-0550. Follow him on Twitter @AndySher1.
The CIA symbol on the floor of the agency's headquarters in Langley, Va. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

The CIAs Iran chief, described by his colleagues as legendary, is being forced to retire as the center he oversees is folded back into the agencys larger Middle East division, according to former CIA officials.

The official, Mike DAndrea  nicknamed the Dark Lord or Prince of Darkness and known by the undercover name "Roger" had been granted waivers that allowed him to continue working at the CIA past the mandatory retirement age, according to former agency officials. But the agency declined his most recent retirement exception, according to these officials. DAndreas retirement was first reported by the New York Times.

They decided not to extend him again, said a former senior CIA official. It was basically, Look, youre not going to go any higher, we need new thinking, we need new people, and so they eased him out. He didnt volunteer.

A small cadre of other senior CIA officials who had been receiving retirement waivers were also told their tenure would no longer be extended, said another former senior agency official.

"Mike has had a long and distinguished career serving his country," a CIA spokesperson told Yahoo News. "We are grateful for his decades of leadership on some of the most difficult issues we face at CIA."

DAndrea has run the agencys Iran operations since 2017. It was the final assignment in a career that former colleagues consider among the most consequential in the agencys recent history.

CIA officials often credit DAndrea, who led the agencys counterterrorism efforts from 2006 to 2015, with revolutionizing the CIAs terrorist-hunting efforts, and particularly the armed drone program that would, under his watch, eviscerate al-Qaida leadership.

The CIAs drone program arose at the dawn of the war on terror, with senior agency counterterrorism officials looking for ways to repurpose unmanned surveillance aircraft as killer drones.

The CIA built identical houses to what youd find in Afghanistan at a Nevada test site, recalled a former senior agency official. And [the missiles fired from the drones would] go through one end of the house and out the other side without exploding. So they had to work on different warheads that would go through one wall and detonate inside, and this kind of stuff.

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A man claiming to be an al-Qaida member addresses a crowd in Yemen's Abyan province in 2009. (AFP via Getty Images)

The CIA was conducting legal drone strikes soon after 9/11, targeting members of al-Qaida in Afghanistan. But it was under DAndreas leadership that the drone program really took center stage.

The CIA would conduct over 500 strikes using armed drones during the Obama administration, killing thousands of militants and hundreds of civilians. Critics questioned the legality of the program and decried the civilian deaths, though CIA officials say the agency was careful to avoid taking innocent lives.

Even so, DAndrea was probably the most lethal leader in the U.S. government for his tenure, said a former senior CIA official. He was the grim reaper for the enemy. The agencys counterterrorism program under DAndrea was bone-crushing and relentless, recalled this former official.

If he was a combatant commander, he would have been sitting in the galley for the State of the Union, he would have had all the accolades, and then some, that David Petraeus ever had, said another former senior CIA official. He ran that war.

DAndreas biography and quirks became part of his legend: the soft-spoken, professorial figure notorious for keeping all the lights dimmed in his office; the chain smoker who would spend hours exercising on the elliptical, drinking Mountain Dew; and the middle-aged convert to Islam who ran a lethal campaign targeting Muslim religious extremists.

With DAndrea at the helm, the CIAs counterterrorism center functioned like a continuous, rolling decapitation operation for al-Qaida leadership, according to former officials.

There came a point where the life expectancy of the al-Qaida chief of operations was about a month, said the former senior official. Every time theyd name a new guy, bam, he was gone.

A U.S. drone aircraft lands at Afghanistan's Jalalabad Airport in 2015. (Noorullah Shirzada/AFP via Getty Images)

Al-Qaida operators became so scared of the CIAs drone program that their fear began to affect the organizations morale, said the former official. The CIA even once picked up signals intelligence between two senior al-Qaida officials in which one declined a promotion  ostensibly because he was worried about the added risks, according to this official. The guy was saying, I dont want the job; Im happy where I am, recalled the former official.

Under DAndreas watch, the CIA scored an epochal victory when it pinpointed Osama bin Laden to the Pakistani garrison town of Abbottabad; in 2011, Navy SEALs raided the compound and killed bin Laden.

The dark princes dedication to his work was unsurpassed, say former officials, who described him often pulling 12- or 14-hours days, seven days a week.

During DAndreas tenure as the CIAs top counterterrorism official, he would sleep in the office every few days on a cot, say officials, and would often be awake and reading cable traffic by 4 or 5 a.m.

God forbid you showed up at 7:30 a.m. to get ready for the 8:00 meeting, recalled a former senior official. You were f***ed. There were at least 50 people in those daily meetings  all experts on various terrorism issues  "and no one in that room knew more than he did, said this former official.

Some former officials described DAndrea as understandably demanding; others, as simply cruel. He was like a one-man gauntlet of death, throwing stuff at you to make sure your op [was] tight, said a former CIA official.

People gather outside Osama bin Laden's compound in Abottabad, Pakistan, where he was killed during a raid by U.S. special forces, May 3, 2011. (Getty Images)

Some CIA personnel crumpled under the pressure, said former officials. But DAndrea also elicited fierce loyalty from those who worked under him, and he would take the time to mentor junior officers in the agency, citing mistakes from earlier in his own career as examples to be avoided.

Under DAndrea, a number of African American CIA officers rose up to senior counterterrorism positions, according to a former official, a notable trend in an organization that has struggled with diversity issues, particularly in its senior leadership.

DAndreas focus on al-Qaida was singular  to the exclusion of other counterterrorism threats, which sometimes irritated others in government.

The military came to us and said, 'We need help on the Haqqani network ... the Haqqani network is killing soldiers,' recalled a former senior CIA official. And DAndreas response, undiplomatically, was, 'Well, thats your problem. Our problem is al-Qaida. Thats what were getting paid for: to go after al-Qaida.'

The counterterrorism chief had a philosophy that he articulated, recalled the former official. He said there are a handful of Salafists [members of an ultraconservative branch of Sunni Islam] who need to be killed. Theres no amount of convincing and negotiating and discussion. Theyre like mad dogs; you kill these people, you put them down.

DAndreas intense  and, as some former officials portrayed it, almost maniacal  focus on al-Qaida, coupled with his propensity for micromanagement, would lead to what former officials describe as the darkest moment of his career: a 2009 suicide bombing by a Jordanian triple agent in Khost, Afghanistan, that killed seven CIA officers.

British Royal Marines scramble out of a Chinook helicopter during a vehicle checkpoint operation in Afghanistan in 2002. (Scott Nelson/Getty Images)

It was the deadliest day for the CIA in decades, and many agency officials blamed DAndrea. He staffed his places with his people, in a way that was entirely inappropriate, said a former senior CIA official. Some believed the CIA base chief in Khost had lacked the necessary operational experience.

Even worse, some officials believed, was the way DAndrea overstepped important boundaries in managing the CIAs handling of the Jordanian agent. He was in the weeds providing tactical direction, and it broke down the chain of command in Kabul and Amman, said the same former official.

Though some say DAndrea mellowed with age, even fans of the former CIA counterterrorism chief say he could be abrasive and prickly  qualities that sometimes led to bruising bureaucratic battles inside and outside of agency headquarters in Langley, Va., and ultimately extinguished his chances at a long-desired ascension to the job of deputy director of operations (DDO), the highest-ranking position within the CIAs clandestine service, say former officials.

During the Obama administration, DAndrea clashed repeatedly with John Brennan when Brennan ran White House counterterrorism efforts, according to former officials.

An Afghan police officer looks at a guard post that was damaged in an attack in Khost, Afghanistan, in 2009. (Nishanuddin Khan/AP Photo)

Then, in 2013, Brennan was named CIA director. That really got f***ed up, when Brennan came over to be director, recalled a former senior CIA official. It was the final nail in the coffin for DAndreas dream of becoming DDO, said the former official.

DAndrea and another decorated senior CIA officer, a Russia and counterintelligence specialist, were engaged in a blood-sport competition for the job, recalled another former senior agency official. It was almost like you couldnt pick one or the other, said this person. So Brennan picked neither man. The other DDO candidate retired, recalled this former official  but DAndrea stayed on.

In 2015, a CIA drone strike mistakenly killed an American civilian and an Italian civilian in Pakistan. Some officials believe that, for Brennan, this was the final straw. DAndrea was relieved of leadership of counterterrorism operations.

Throughout his long and distinguished CIA career, Mike DAndrea was an exceptionally talented and dedicated intelligence professional who was responsible for some of the most significant counterterrorism successes in the years after 9/11, said Brennan in a statement to Yahoo News.

Former CIA Director John Brennan, center, and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, right, at a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing in 2018. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

DAndrea could have retired. But he bided his time in a position charged with reviewing CIA covert operations already in progress, a job that that former colleagues say was a clear diminution from his previous role.

The Trump administration, looking to get tough on Iran, provided new opportunities. In 2017, DAndrea was picked to lead the CIAs Iran Mission Center, which was spun up under the leadership of then-Director Mike Pompeo. DAndrea oversaw a program focused on running aggressive covert operations against Tehran, say former officials.

The CIA recently announced it was moving Iran operations back into its broader Middle East mission center as part of a larger bureaucratic reshuffling. Its director is now retiring along with it.

For many CIA officials, DAndreas legacy remains secure. What I would emphasize is: America was a safer place because of Mike DAndrea, said another former senior CIA official, who credited him with keeping the pressure on al-Qaida. These guys could not stick their head out to catch a breath without getting whacked.

____

Read more from Yahoo News:
Oct. 18Toledo Lucas County Public Library officials will soon decide whether to expand the system's hours.

Executive Director Jason Kucsma said administrators are planning to bring a proposal to the board on Oct. 28 for Sunday hours at four library branches, Sylvania, Heatherdowns, Sanger, and Oregon.

The existing plan calls for them to be open from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. each Sunday, beginning Jan. 2.

The proposal is to be presented to the library's community relations committee on Thursday.

Officials are not seeking Sunday hours for the Main Library in in downtown Toledo, Mr. Kucsma said.

Hosting special events there on Sundays, however, would remain a possibility, he said.

"The bottom line is, we see much more traffic at the branches [on Sunday]," he said.

Last year, the library closed to the public along with many other entities as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

Starting in June, 2020, curbside and phone services were brought back and throughout the past year, the library's operations have expanded in line with the recommended guidelines.

In January, library leadership announced an expanded hours schedule that did not include Sunday hours.

Mr. Kucsma said the proposed expanded hours would bring the library back to pre-pandemic levels of operation or slightly more than pre-pandemic levels. The idea, he said, is to provide more equitable distribution of hours system-wide.

In the past, the Toledo library system has cut Sunday hours as a response to financial shortages. In 2002, library officials cut Sunday hours after a reduction in state library funding, according to Blade archives. Those hours were reinstated in 2004 after a levy was passed by Lucas County voters.

Sunday hours were cut again in 2009 in response to the financial crisis and then reinstated in 2012, according to Blade archives.

First Published October 18, 2021, 5:09pm
Image: Ian Bremmer

Tech companies are creating not just the products of the future, but also the future's infrastructure and rules, global analyst Ian Bremmer writes in an article for Foreign Affairs.

Why it matters: That means "it is time to start thinking of the biggest technology companies as similar to states," Bremmer argues.

Stay on top of the latest market trends and economic insights with Axios Markets. Subscribe for free

These companies exercise a form of sovereignty over a rapidly expanding realm that extends beyond the reach of regulators: digital space," he writes.

Between the lines: Bremmer makes the case that such companies are already establishing diplomatic relations  whether they choose to be closely tied to one country, such as many Chinese tech firms, or aim to be global players, such as Microsoft, Apple and others.

And, he notes, it was the tech companies that acted swiftly after Jan. 6 to preserve democracy in the U.S., with Facebook and Twitter suspending former President Trump's accounts; Amazon, Apple, and Google basically forcing Parler offline; and payments companies like PayPal and Stripe also suspending accounts tied to the insurrection.

Yes, but: Many critics argue Facebook bears significant responsibility for the events of Jan. 6, by providing the digital platform used by some to organize the insurrection and amplifying election-related misinformation.

Like this article? Get more from Axios and subscribe to Axios Markets for free.
By Maria Caspani

(Reuters) - The work of U.S. and Canadian missionaries kidnapped in Haiti over the weekend included helping rebuild homes following an August earthquake on the island, according to their Ohio-based organization that has aid projects all over the world.

Christian Aid Ministries (CAM) said in a statement Tuesday that the 17 captives - among them five children, one just eight months old - had been visiting an orphanage the organization supports when they were kidnapped Saturday outside the capital Port-au-Prince.

CAM added the missionary's work in Haiti included distributing Bibles and Christian literature, feeding the elderly and getting medicine to clinics.

"Their heart-felt desire is to share the love of Jesus," CAM said. "In recent months, they were actively involved in coordinating a rebuilding project for those who lost their homes in the August 2021 earthquake."

The gang that kidnapped the group is asking for $17 million -- or $1 million each -- to release them, Haitian Justice Minister Liszt Quitel told Reuters.

According to its most recent annual report CAM's 2020 revenue was more than $132 million, most from cash and in-kind donations. An audited financial statement that is part of the annual report shows CAM spent nearly all its revenue on aid programs such as supporting school children in Haiti and feeding families in Nicaragua.

CAM ran operations in more than 130 countries and territories in 2020, according to the annual report, providing food, clothes, medicine and other services to over 14 million people.

The organization founded in 1981 "strives to be a trustworthy and efficient channel for Amish, Mennonite, and other conservative Anabaptist groups and individuals to minister to physical and spiritual needs around the world," according to CAM's website.

Anabaptism is a Christian movement dating back to 16th century Europe centered around a literal interpretation of Jesus' teachings and adult baptism.

Story continues

In Haiti, where CAM has worked for several years, it runs a medical clinic as well as projects providing Haitians with work, according to its website. Another program provides textbooks and other school supplies and meals to more than 9,000 students at 52 schools in Haiti, according to the annual report which states that "a donation of $65 per month enables five students to go to school."

In 2019, it emerged that an employee for the Christian group had molested children while working for the organization in Haiti, and that CAM managers had known for years.

"The fallout from the Haiti abuse case continues to weigh on us," CAM General Director David Troyer wrote in the annual report.

(Reporting by Maria Caspani in New York. Editing by Donna Bryson and Alistair Bell)
The head of the U.N.'s atomic watchdog plans to visit Iran before the end of next month amid questions about whether Iran will return to negotiations aimed at reviving the languishing 2015 nuclear deal. International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi said Tuesday he intends to visit Tehran soon to discuss and hopefully resolve specific concerns about Iran's nuclear program. Iran is in violation of several aspects of the 2015 deal that the IAEA is charged with monitoring and has suspended some elements of other cooperation with the watchdog.
U.S. military forces dont know how to defend against China and Russias most advanced missile systems, a senior U.S. diplomat has acknowledged.

This comes after a shocking report that China tested a nuclear-capable hypersonic missile earlier this year. The Chinese government has disputed the report, claiming they were testing a spacecraft instead.

Ambassador Robert Wood, who represents the United States at the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva. (Jamey Keaten/AP)

Hypersonic technology is something that we have been concerned about, said Ambassador Robert Wood, who represents the United States at the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva. We just don't know how we can defend against that technology, neither does China, neither does Russia.

ARMY CHIEF PUSHES BACK ON FORMER SOFTWARE CHIEFS CLAIM US LOST THE TECHNOLOGY BATTLE TO CHINA

That admission followed a report that China tested a hypersonic missile in August that orbited the globe but missed its target by more than 20 miles. Chinese officials deny conducting a weapons test, but Wood cited the development as a catalyst for a hypersonic arms buildup.

We have seen China and Russia pursuing very actively the use, the militarization of this technology, so we are just having to respond in kind," he said.

China maintains that the reported missile test was in fact a spacecraft designed to make round trips.

This was a routine test of spacecraft to verify technology of spacecraft's reusability. It is of great significance to reducing the cost of using spacecraft and providing a convenient and cheap way for mankind's two-way transportation in the peaceful use of space, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told reporters Monday. "Several companies around the world have conducted similar tests.

Intercontinental ballistic missiles share many similar technologies and processes inherent in a space launch program, an overlap that U.S. officials and analysts have underscored in the context of Irans development of technology that could deliver a nuclear warhead.

Story continues

"We have made clear our concerns about the military capabilities China continues to pursue, capabilities that only increase tensions in the region and beyond, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said in response to the reported test.

While the report suggests that China has developed missiles that can avoid U.S. missile defense systems, some analysts have argued that the latest innovation adds little to Chinas ability to strike the U.S.

China already has ~100 nuclear-armed ICBMs that can strike the U.S., Middlebury Institutes Jeffrey Lewis wrote on Twitter. "A new system to evade our defenses is only threatening if we were planning all along to destroy/intercept Chinas ICBMs in a crisis. Which we definitely werent.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

Wood, the arms control diplomat, implied that U.S. officials had tried to avoid spurring a scramble for hypersonic missiles.

We had held back from pursuing military applications for this technology, he said.



Washington Examiner Videos

Tags: News, Foreign Policy, National Security, China, Russia, News

Original Author: Joel Gehrke

Original Location: US admits Pentagon doesnt know how to defend against Chinas hypersonic missiles
TACOMA, Wash. (AP)  The Washington state attorney general on Tuesday filed two misdemeanor criminal charges against a county sheriff stemming from his confrontation with a Black newspaper carrier in January.

Pierce County Sheriff Ed Troyer faces one count of false reporting and one count of making a false statement to a civil servant for claiming to an emergency dispatcher that the carrier, Sedrick Altheimer, had threatened to kill him. The charges were filed in Pierce County District Court by Attorney General Bob Ferguson.

Troyer, who has denied wrongdoing, criticized the decision.

I have never had a sustained or founded complaint in 37 years, he told The Seattle Times. I have never had a complaint of racial bias, use of force or sexual discrimination even filed.

Altheimer, 24, was driving on his regular delivery route on Jan. 27 when Troyer noticed the vehicle, got out of bed and began following it in his unmarked personal SUV. Troyer said he believed it might have been someone stealing delivery packages off porches.

The two wound up in a 2 a.m. standoff in which Troyer called an emergency dispatcher, saying the newspaper carrier had threatened to kill him.

The call from the countys top law-enforcement officer prompted a large response, with more than 40 units from various agencies rushing toward to the scene.

Troyer repeatedly told dispatchers Altheimer threatened to kill me. Altheimer denied making any threats and said Troyer did not identify himself as a law-enforcement officer.

In a statement to a responding officer, Troyer acknowledged that Altheimer did not threaten him, the Attorney General's Office wrote in a probable cause statement.

Troyer is a 35-year veteran of the Pierce County Sheriffs Department, and served for years as the agencys public face and media spokesperson before being elected sheriff in November 2020. Pierce County has more than 900,000 residents and is Washington's second-most populous county.

If convicted, the standard sentencing range for the misdemeanor sentences is up to 364 days in jail and up to a $5,000 fine.

Attorneys representing Altheimer filed a tort claim against Pierce County in June, alleging that Troyers actions amounted to racial profiling, false arrest and unnecessary use of force. The claim, a precursor to a possible lawsuit, seeks millions of dollars in damages.
WASHINGTON - White House officials have explored in recent weeks whether the National Guard could be deployed to help address the nation's mounting supply chain backlog, three people with knowledge of the matter said.

The idea appears unlikely to proceed as of now, the people said, but reflects the extent to which internal administration deliberations about America's overwhelmed supply chain have sparked outside-the-box proposals to leverage government resources to address the issue.

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The people involved in discussions stressed the White House has looked at the option as part of its due diligence in assessing all potential ways to address the backlog, which has slowed down imports and shipping all over the country. One person with knowledge of the matter said the White House has not considered activating the National Guard at a federal level, but could instead work through states to deploy servicemembers.

Major questions remain unresolved as to exactly how the National Guard could be deployed given the extent of the logistical challenges. White House officials have weighed whether members of the guard could drive trucks amid a shortage of operators, or if they could be used to help unload packages and other materials at ports or other clogged parts of the supply chain. As part of the review, White House officials have studied what kinds of driver's licenses are held by National Guard members and if they would be sufficient to deploy them as truckers without hurting their ability to fulfill their existing responsibilities to the guard, the people said.

Video: Transportation Sec. Buttigieg defends taking paternity leave

The discussions have involved senior members of Biden's economic team, as well as those tasked with addressing supply chain bottlenecks at the Department of Transportation, the people said. At least one private sector company has also raised the idea with the White House.

Story continues

The people spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations that have not yet been made public.

The supply chain bottleneck has emerged as a major challenge for President Joe Biden as concerns Mount about the coming holiday shopping season. The backlog has been caused primarily by a spike in demand and changing economic behavior during the coronavirus pandemic.

The White House announced last week that the Biden has a new plan to keep the Port of Los Angeles open "24 hours a day, seven days a week" while also touting commitments from private sector firms to use the expanded hours to try to clear the backlog and expedite shipping of goods.

The Department of Labor and Department of Agriculture are also working on ways to help agricultural exporters, while the Department of Transportation has tried helping states issue more commercial vehicle licenses while exploring other ways to resolve the trucker shortage.

Part of the difficulty facing the White House is that much of the supply chain is controlled by private operators both in and outside the U.S., limiting their options.

"The challenge is that many industrial and consumer goods rely on truly global supply chains and the production and distribution that occurs within the United States involves thousands of private firms," said Kevin DeGood, director of infrastructure policy at the Center for American Progress, a think tank that is often supportive of Biden administration economic policies. "There isn't one pinch point - but many that fall mostly outside the direct control of governments."

A White House spokeswoman pointed to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg's remarks on "Meet the Press" on Sunday, in which he responded to a question about the National Guard by saying: "We're constantly going to reevaluate all our options." Buttigieg also said: "Right now, we're focused on some other steps that we think are making a difference," such as making it easier for commercial drivers to receive licenses.

The American Apparel and Footwear Association has sent a letter to the Biden administration touting "creative ideas" to deal with the backlog, including using either the National Guard or Naval ports to help unload cargo, drive trucks, and take other measures.

Asked about that request, White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Tuesday said she would not "take options off the table" but said the administration had made progress on resolving the backlog.

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Toyota Motor says it will build its first battery plant in the United States to meet growing demand for hybrid and electric vehicles around the world.

The Japanese auto giant said on Monday it will form a new US company together with group firm Toyota Tsusho.

There was no announcement on the plant's location, or on its production capacity. The planned investment is about 1.3 billion dollars.

Toyota aims to start production in 2025. The initial focus will be on lithium-ion batteries for hybrids.

Toyota announced last month it would invest over 13 billion dollars to develop and produce batteries. Some of the money will go to setting up new production lines at factories in Japan and elsewhere.

Rival automakers are also making big investments in the field. Germany's Volkswagen and General Motors of the US have both announced plans to build battery factories for EVs.
Business Insider - Nov 14

Longbows, or Yumi, have been used in Japan for centuries. But today, a handmade bamboo bow can cost over $2,000. At over 2 meters tall, these bows are difficult to handle. And making them is just as challenging.
North Korea launched a ballistic missile into the sea of the coast of Japan on Tuesday, the South Korean and Japanese militaries said.

It comes as South Korea, Japan and US intelligence chiefs reportedly met in Seoul to discuss North Korea. Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said there were two ballistic missiles, calling the launches "very regrettable". It came hours after the US reaffirmed its offer to resume diplomacy on the Norths nuclear weapons programme. South Koreas presidential office was planning to hold a national security council meeting to discuss the launch. A strong South Korean response could anger North Korea, which has been accusing Seoul of hypocrisy for criticising the Norths weapons tests while expanding its own conventional military capabilities. Ending a months-long lull, North Korea has been ramping up its weapons tests since last month while making conditional peace offers to Seoul, reviving a pattern of pressuring South Korea to try to attain what it wants from the United States. President Joe Bidens special envoy for North Korea, Sung Kim, is schedule to hold talks with US allies in Seoul within days over the prospects of reviving talks with North Korea.
Another intriguing and lucrative use case exploring the potential of deepfake technology: dicks, unblurred.

On Monday, police in Japan arrested a man who admitted to sharing porn that was deepfaked to clarify pixellated genitalia. According to The Mainichi, he sold over 2,500 video files for 11 million yen (roughly $96,000). The paper adds that this appears to be the first porn-unblurring-related arrest in the country.

Nakamoto was arrested for breaking copyright law and Japans obscenity law, which bans the display of indecent materials. Hence you can watch some pretty wild family-themed videos that are technically banned in the US, so long as theres no genitalia. (A PornMD list shows that phrases including Japan are often associated with hd and uncensored in straight-oriented searches.) Police told The Mainichi that Nakamoto used the deep-learning tool TecoGAN, which clarifies video, and proceeded to upload them to his and other sites.

Japanese police have sought out other deepfake porn artists before, for more commonly known celebrity face-swaps on porn performers, which led to three simultaneous raids and arrests last year and charges of violating defamation and copyright law. Just yesterday, responding to a high-profile celebrity porn face-swap case, Taiwans President, Tsai Ing-wen, pledged to generally clamp down on deepfake technology, and specifically when its used for disinformation.
New Delhi: At least 71 cases have been filed in different parts of the country in connection with the attacks on Hindus and around 450 were arrested for spreading rumours on social media.

450 people have been arrested in the past five days over the attacks on puja venues, temples, Hindu homes and businesses, and for spreading rumours on social media amid the Durga Puja, reported Dhaka Tribune.

At least 71 cases have been started in different parts of the country, Assistant Inspector General (AIG) Md Kamruzzaman of the police headquarters said in a statement on Monday. The number of arrests and cases could rise further as operations are underway, said the senior police official.

The police unit is monitoring social media for rumours, according to the statement, which urged the people not to trust anything without fact-checking.

On Sunday night, Hindu villages in Rangpurs Pirganj Upazila came under attack over an alleged Facebook post hurting Muslims religious sentiments. At least 20 homes were torched in the attack, reported Dhaka Tribune.

The young Hindu man who allegedly uploaded the post was detained on Monday, said police.

Police Headquarters in a statement warned everyone against conspiracies to create instability by spreading rumours on social media, reported Dhaka Tribune.

Communal tensions have gripped Bangladesh over the past few days following allegations of the Quran being dishonoured at a puja pavilion in Cumilla on October 13, triggering violence in several districts across the country.

At least four people were killed in police shootings during the attack on Puja locations in Chandpurs Hajiganj on October 13 and in Noakhalis Choumuhani, attacks on Hindu temples left two people dead on October 15, reported Dhaka Tribune.
Michelle Kaufman is the director of Oncology Services at Methodist Jennie Edmundson and has been with the hospital for 31 years.

She and her husband, Brian, have two college-aged sons. Michelle and Brian are enjoying more free time together as the boys continue their education and are working.

As a child, Michelle first became aware of the importance of early diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer when her grandmother succumbed to the disease at an early age.

Having this experience helped me know that I wanted to join the fight against not only breast cancer, but all cancers, Michelle explained. Working in the oncology field, has allowed me the privilege of meeting many wonderful patients and their families over the years.

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the Cancer Centers accreditation by the American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer. The Cancer Center continues to provide the highest quality treatments and therapies, delivered by certified and experienced medical experts utilizing state-of-the-art equipment.
A spokesman for U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst on Monday also said that Ernst is monitoring the latest on the situation.

Axne spoke with striking workers on the picket line at the Deere factory in Ankeny on Monday. A spokesman for her office pointed to Axnes social media post about the strike.

Our workers are the backbone of our economy  and they deserve the pay & benefits that provide them a middle class life and retirement, Axne posted on Friday. Thats why I stand in solidarity with the hard-working members of (the union) as they begin their strike for a fair contract.

A spokeswoman for U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, whose eastern Iowa district includes the homes of many who work in a Quad Cities-area Deere factory, pointed to the Congresswomans social media post on the strike.

John Deere has employed thousands of Iowa families for decades and has been a boost to the Iowa economy. I hope business and labor can rapidly find common ground that benefits each other and we can continue being a shining example of what a hard days work means, Miller-Meeks posted.

U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra, who represents western Iowas 4th Congressional District, struck a similarly hopeful and balanced tone.

John Deere, the manufacturing industry, and the men and women who build essential equipment are critical to the success of Iowas economy, said via his offices spokesman. I am hopeful that business leaders and workers are able to reach an agreement to resolve this dispute.
A spokesman for U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst on Monday also said that Ernst is monitoring the latest on the situation.

Axne spoke with striking workers on the picket line at the Deere factory in Ankeny on Monday. A spokesman for her office pointed to Axnes social media post about the strike.

Our workers are the backbone of our economy  and they deserve the pay & benefits that provide them a middle class life and retirement, Axne posted on Friday. Thats why I stand in solidarity with the hard-working members of (the union) as they begin their strike for a fair contract.

A spokesman for U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, whose eastern Iowa district includes the homes of many who work in a Quad Cities-area Deere factory, pointed to the Congresswomans social media post on the strike.

John Deere has employed thousands of Iowa families for decades and has been a boost to the Iowa economy. I hope business and labor can rapidly find common ground that benefits each other and we can continue being a shining example of what a hard days work means, Miller-Meeks posted.

U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra, who represents western Iowas 4th Congressional District, struck a similarly hopeful and balanced tone.
Im just extremely disappointed that the governor chose an election commissioner for the third-largest county in the state and didnt reach out to any elected official for input, he said.

Gage suggested the impetus was on Kelly to reach out.

The governor would have welcomed Commissioner Kellys input, however, at no point in the two months since Ms. Andahl announced her resignation until the position was filled did Commissioner Kelly reach out to the governor or to his office with suggested candidates or thoughts on qualifications for potential candidates, Gage wrote.

Another County Board member, Jim Warren, said the appointment surprised him.

I was surprised by the appointees lack of experience in her appointment to Nebraskas fastest-growing county, Warren wrote in a text message. I look forward to meeting her and hearing her vision for the office.

Asked what about her background prepared her for the role, Ethington pointed to her masters of science degree in organizational management from Peru State College and wrote that she has a background in staffing and managing a large office, and experience in maintaining compliance standards within the financial services industry.
He wants to use his background and experience in health care to break that cycle of loss service so that we can then begin the cycle of growing.

Hurst is one of five Democrats seeking state partys nomination to face Grassley, who is seeking an eighth Senate term. The others are former U.S. Rep. Abby Finkenauer of Cedar Rapids, farmer and former county supervisor Dave Muhlbauer of Manning, retired admiral Michael Franken of Sioux City, and veterans advocate Bob Krause of Burlington.

Hurst is optimistic Democrats  and all Iowans  will benefits from a robust primary contest focused on nominating a candidate who can attract and motivate voters rather than winning the backing of national party leaders.

The last three election cycles have shown Democrats how not to defeat Grassley, Hurst said. Trying to make ourselves look more like Chuck Grassley, or whoever it was we were running against right, trying to make ourselves look palatable, that is not the way to win a race in Iowa, he said.
But on Wednesday, in case Western policymakers didnt get what is really at stake, the wizards behind Washingtons conventional wisdom curtains just cranked out an urgent what-it-all-means: Taiwan tensions, alerted The Washington Posts lead editorials headline, followed by a warning-siren of a subhead: China could try to conquer the island unless the U.S. and allies raise the costs.

I was in the White House West Wing, in the office of the happiest and clearly most excited presidential national security adviser Im sure Ill ever be fortunate enough to see. Dr. Zbigniew Brzezinski, the distinguished and globally famous former professor of international affairs who was then advising President Jimmy Carter, had just scooped up a fistful of photographs that he wanted to show me. He was talking in that quick, clipped, almost giddy way he got when he was excited and also waving around about a dozen photos as he talked. And that caused the photos to fly out of his hand and all over the floor. Undeterred, Zbig kept talking excitedly. He held up one photo for me to look at:
Weve read, seen and heard it all before  too many times. First comes doomsday predictions about what will happen to the United States and its economy if the nations debt ceiling isnt lifted by Congress. After considerable political wrangling, a short-term extension is approved, thereby alleviating the crisis for a few more weeks or months.
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Some fighter jets were scrambled to keep them at bay, and an infantry unit was dispatched to the area. Their interpreter, Aman Khalili, helped facilitate their exit, Hagel said, which involved a long wait inside the helicopters, which were shut off to save fuel, and a walk down the mountain at 3 a.m. to an evacuation landing zone.

We sat in those helicopters for quite a few hours. It was cold. We heard every Joe Biden story hed ever told in his life, Hagel said. We made the best of it.

Even back then, Biden was questioning why U.S. troops were still in Afghanistan, Hagel said.

A lot of us were, he said. We were told in the beginning that our troops would be out of there in one year. Out by Christmas, but we kept getting requests for more troops.


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good. tons of respect for the netflix-employed talent who are supporting this.

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blackface queen

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Shes doing a good thing but I did laugh when I saw Jameelas name. 



Edited at 2021-10-18 11:53 pm (UTC)

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I chuckled too!  If only Demi had a Netflix show.

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Same lol I was like "lemme not make a joke this is serious but lol"

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good, i hope that pos ceo gets ousted by the end of the month

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Good. All this over a Chapelle special. I wonder what the list will comprise of. I didnt check the last post but is Netflix treating their trans employees poorly at the corporate level too (beyond the suspensions)? I dont doubt it but was it said this was a recurring problem or did the company reaction to the protesting employees start this?

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I watched Hulu all weekend and every other ad was Facebook trying to gloss over how they're not the worst thing ever. Am I now gonna be subjected to Netflik's 'we're not terrible people' campaign now too?

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Amazon's commercials on Youtube are completely blood pressure raising. Getting warehouse employees to sing their praises. Yuck.

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i only watched a bit of safiya nygaard's recent upload about going to an amazon return store but it looked very much like a big (in)direct ad for amazon. she might be one of the most influential materialism youtubers out there

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Oh God that was the other ad other than Liberty Mutual. How did I forget?!? They should have been like, 'And I can pee whenever I want.'

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Are y'all cancelling your Netflix accounts or nah? It's interesting to see people calling Netflix out but also treating it like a public utility that is impossible to cancel.



I have a free account or I'd cancel. I only watch one show on there.

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My parents love Netflix so they won't cancel. I don't even use my name on their account, so I'll [redacted[ just to spite the company.

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I just had mine for the month to watch a couple of things, so I was planning on canceling anyway, but I referenced trans folk in my reason.

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i cancelled mine after they gave Kevin Hart like...a 6-part special



however! i use my friend's account



i feel no guilt

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Im on my dads Netflix account so theyre not getting a dime from me, but I also havent watched anything on Netflix in over a year.

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Im not, I am wathcing a show right now

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Oooo thanks for reminding me, lemme do that rn...

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My family had a Netflix account with access for 5 streams at once (me&my partner, parents, grandparents and aunt&uncle+their kids and my 3 cousins who shared the 5th stream) for the past 10yrs and we reached a unanimous decision to cancel it as of 5pm today. If they make it right then well go back but until then they can suck a lemon

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Make sure to tell them this is why!

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I still use my dad's lol

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what's your one show?

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I am a strange hybrid of a sponge and a buccaneer.

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i canceled my subscription yesterday

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I don't pay for my Netflix, not even sure if the person remembers I use their account, but I have stopped watching content on it.

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I dont own the account I use but Ill at least not use it starting Wednesday and see how it goes.

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i cancelled. when i want to watch the new seasons of Stranger Things and Umbrella Academy i'll...find them elsewhere...

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I took over the family account years ago because my mom would link her debit card to it, and then not notice payments bouncing when the card expired lol. I just started paying for it instead. I'm going to ask if they still want it, and if they do they can take it over again, but I'm definitely not giving them any more money.

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I mooch off my mom, canceled mine a few months ago

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Sarandos and Netflix have defended Chappelle and vowed to not pull The Closer despite calls to do so by the likes of GLAAD and the National Black Justice Coalition.



You should  be aware that some talent may join third parties in asking us to remove the show in the coming days, which we are not going to do, Sarandos wrote in a memo to staff October 11. We dont allow titles on Netflix that are designed to incite hate or violence, and we dont believe The Closer crosses that line.



Well Ted if you don't think it does then I guess it doesn't. Pack it up gang, we can go home!

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like Hannah Gadsby said, "I didn't cross a line, because it doesn't exist"

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good, glad to see famous people getting behind this

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Im happy that its still on

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Good. You love to see it.

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I've got dan levy on the brain since i just made a post about him... would be great to see him say something publicly about this but i know he's just signed a deal with them for lots of $$$$... hmmm

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What does this mean!!

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That's an impressive list of talent.

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Follow up to this previous post and this post about Shaun King starting a fashion line called A Real One, "a fully Black owned fashion brand that will change the entire supply chain."Shaun recently revealed the first pieces from this fashion line on his Facebook page.Prices:Signature Organic Tee (black or white) $49.99Organic PROTOTYPE Tee (black or white) $65.00Signature Organic Hoodie (black, white, or grey) $149.99Organic PROTOTYPE Hoodie (black, white, or grey) $165.00Signature Organic TeeThis is the very first product of mine from A REAL ONE that I want to introduce to you. Yes, its a plain Black t-shirt. But its the most important plain Black t-shirt ever crafted. Its made of 100% organic cotton from farms owned by Black people in Tanzania.That cotton was then pressed and woven together by Black people and shipped to us here in the United States where Black owned businesses then managed each step of what came next.The image you are looking at was taken by a Black photographer.The website you will shop from was built by a Black owned design firm.And when this shirt arrives in the mail, it will have been packaged and shipped to you by the only full-service Black woman owned fulfillment center in the United States. I built this company for social justice. We are not a fashion company that dabbles in confronting inequity. We are a freedom fighting company that does fashion. It took me nearly 2 years to figure out how to design, sell, package, and ship beautifully crafted clothing with Black owned providers from the seed to the shipping. Together, we can change the entire supply chain. Thats power.Right now, this shirt is available in sizes from small, medium, large, and extra large. Smaller and larger sizes are coming in the future. No, you dont have to be Black to purchase and wear this shirt. But by doing so, you are supporting the empowerment of Black people here in the United States and around the world. Love and appreciate you all for your support.Your friend and brother,ShaunOrganic PROTOTYPE TeeThis is our 100% organic Black on Black PROTOTYPE tee for A REAL ONE. Carefully notice the Black print on the front. Zoom in if you need to.This shirt is crafted by Black owned businesses in Tanzania, Brooklyn, Philadelphia, and Atlanta. Its made of 100% organic cotton from farms owned by Black people in Tanzania.That cotton was then pressed and woven together by Black people and shipped to us here in the United States where Black owned businesses then managed each step of what came next.The design is from a Black owned designed firm.The printing was done by a Black owned print shop.The image you are looking at was taken by a Black photographer.The website you will shop from was built by a Black owned design firm.And when this shirt arrives in the mail, it will have been packaged and shipped to you by the only full-service Black woman owned fulfillment center in the United States. I built this company for social justice. We are not a fashion company that dabbles in confronting inequity. We are a freedom fighting company that does fashion. It took me nearly 2 years to figure out how to design, sell, package, and ship beautifully crafted clothing with Black owned providers from the seed to the shipping. Together, we can change the entire supply chain. Thats power.Right now, this shirt is available in sizes from small, medium, large, and extra large. Smaller and larger sizes are coming in the future. No, you dont have to be Black to purchase and wear this shirt. But by doing so, you are supporting the empowerment of Black people here in the United States and around the world. Love and appreciate you all for your support.Your friend and brother,ShaunSignature Organic HoodieYes, this is a plain Black hoodie, but its the only one like it in the entire world produced by Black people from the seed to the shipping.Literally this morning I woke up at 3am to have a Skype with our partners in Tanzania as its being manufactured. Its the only fully Black owned hoodie being manufactured on the planet right now. Made by Black owned businesses in Tanzania, Kenya, Brooklyn, Philadelphia, and Atlanta. This is our 100% Organic Signature Black Hoodie for A REAL ONE.It is made of 100% organic cotton that is harvested by Black farmers then produced and manufactured in Africa.It is mid-weight French Terry and has a 260 GSM fiber composition.Has a double stitched kangaroo pouch pocket in the frontPlease notice the special "A Real One" neck label and wrist label.Our products are true to size. If in doubt, get one size larger than normal.The image you are looking at was taken by a Black photographer.The website you will shop from was built by a Black owned design firm.And when this hoodie arrives in the mail, it will have been packaged and shipped to you by the only full-service Black woman owned fulfillment center in the United States. I built this company for social justice. We are not a fashion company that dabbles in confronting inequity. We are a freedom fighting company that does fashion. It took me nearly 2 years to figure out how to design, sell, package, and ship beautifully crafted clothing with Black owned providers from the seed to the shipping. Together, we can change the entire supply chain. Thats power.We have small - XXL!No, you dont have to be Black to purchase and wear this. But by doing so, you are supporting the empowerment of Black people here in the United States and around the world. Love and appreciate you all for your support.Your friend and brother,Shaunadditional comments from Shaun regarding his fashion line:Let me answer 2 recurring questions.1. When we launched privately 6 weeks ago, we published the names of most of our partners. They were then harassed overwhelmed with hate and ugliness and asked us to remove them. It broke our hearts because telling their stories is a part of our original vision, but the hate against me is so fierce. We will find new ways to tell their stories in the future.2. This isn't a charity. We are a business with the central goal of disrupting the white supremacist supply chains of the fashion world. We are working with Black owned partners and suppliers from the seeds to the shipping and everything in between. This is called TRADE, not aid. We are a fair-trade company. We are an organics-only company - because it's what is healthiest for our farmers - who we love. Our goal is to give Black businesses more support than they've ever received.PS: One last thing. Every Black designer that has mentored me over the past 2 years on this told me that people, including Black folk, would tear up our business, and critique it, and demand things that they've never demanded of a single business in their lives, from the clothes and shoes they wear, to the groceries they buy, etc. And that they would also NEVER do this with other white owned companies in this space. And so, we were prepared for the foolishness. It's sad, but expected.Source:
The Biden administration is not giving up on its attempts to convince OPEC that it needs to pump more oil as retail fuel prices remain uncomfortably high across the United States.

We are continuing to press, through member countries  member countries of OPEC, even as we are not a member  to address the supply issue and work to address it here as well, Press Secretary Jen Psaki said during a briefing at the White House.

I would also note that what were also working to address is more of a logistics issue of how we are moving supply around the country, which means there are shortages in some places and not others, and thats something that we are also working to address, Psaki also said.

We are certainly well aware of the impact on any increase in gasoline prices or any costs on the American people, and were going to use  continue to use every lever at our disposal, the press secretary added.

Theres growing disgruntlement among American motorists from rising prices even as local oil production rises.

Meanwhile, imports of crude are falling, according to EIA data.

Earlier this month, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm suggested that the administration might release some crude from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in order to put a lid on prices. But later, the department walked back the comments.

OPEC+, meanwhile, is failing to stick to its own production quotas as some members are struggling with years of underinvestment and insufficient exploration, Bloomberg reported this week.

It has been a while since the U.S. first approached OPEC+ for more oil, but so far, the cartel has refused to help bring prices at the pump down. There are OPEC members with spare capacity to utilize but it seems as a whole the group has chosen the cautious approach to ramping up production, which means retail fuel prices might remain elevated for at least the next OPEC+ meeting, on November 4.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

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As countries around prepare for winter weather, it appears that the energy crunch is only going to worsen and energy prices are going to rise.

Chart of the Week

Market Movers

- South Korean electronics firm Samsung (KRX:006400) and carmaker Stellantis (BIT:STLA) have teamed up to jointly produce EV batteries for the North American market, adding to Samsungs plants in South Korea, China, and Hungary.

- US drilling services firm Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) posted a net profit of $248 million in Q3, bouncing back from a net loss year-on-year, as oil and gas producers ramped up drilling on the back of increasing crude prices,

- Europes largest hydrogen producer INEOS stated it would invest more than 2 billion on electrolysis plants, including but not limited to the Grangemouth Refinery that will run entirely on green hydrogen.

Tuesday, October 19, 2021

Oil prices remained elevated this week as several continents continue to suffer from a major energy crunch, with China still in the limelight as falling temperatures fortified concerns that the worlds largest energy consumer will not be able to meet domestic demand for heating. These energy crunches could also bring demand lower as high power prices and supply disruptions compel industrial players to curb production. Meanwhile, the ever-increasing trajectory of LNG prices across the globe is adding another layer of support for crude demand, with many Asian nations seeking ways to supplant gas usage. At the same time, the White House continues to push OPEC+ to address the oil supply issue, but the oil group appears to be unmoved by high gasoline prices in the US. Brent prices were trending around $85 per barrel as of Tuesday morning, with WTI narrowing the spread to the global benchmark and trading around $83 per barrel.

Iran Talks Remain Stalled as Pressure Mounts. Despite widespread speculation that Iran might be returning to the negotiating table, EU officials have stated that there are no scheduled talks coming up between JCPOA participants and that time is not on Teherans side. Related: Saudi Arabia Looks To Attract Tourists With Epic Offshore Rig Thrills

US Crude Exports to Asia Rise. Incentivized by the wide Brent-WTI spread which has been around $3 per barrel since August, Asian buyers are reportedly snapping up November-loading US cargoes with at least 5 VLCCs heading to the Asia Pacific, most of them to South Korea.

India Urges Qatar to Provide Delayed LNG Cargoes. Facing the worst power crisis since early 2016, Indian companies, spearheaded by the top importer Petronet (NSE:PETRONET), are now urging Qatar  which has delayed the delivery of some 50 LNG cargoes this year due to maintenance  to deliver those cargoes as soon as possible.

Pandemic Hits Indonesian Oil Output. Indonesia has downgraded its oil and gas production targets for this year, cutting it to 665kbpd from an earlier target of 705kbpd, as the pandemic triggered a series of project delays and capital expenditures cuts.

Global Cement and Concrete Industry Pledges 2050 Decarbonization. The worlds leading cement and concrete firms, including the global top two of Holcim (SWX:HOLN)and CNBM (HKG:3323), have agreed to reach full decarbonization by 2050, with a provisional target of cutting CO2 emissions by 25% by 2030.

Nord Stream 2 First Line Ready for Exports. The operator of the Gazprom-led (MCX:GAZP) Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline stated the first line of the conduit is filled with gas and ready for exports, with 177 million cubic meters of technical gas pumped into the pipe.

Wind Eases Europes Power Price Surge. North Sea countries are expecting electricity generation from wind to more than double in the upcoming days on the back of stronger than normal winds. German and French day-ahead power futures fell below 150 per MWh on the news.

Sanctions Looming Again After Venezuelan Talks Collapse. Reconciliation talks between Venezuelas Maduro administration and the US-backed opposition are on the verge of a meltdown after the US arrested a high-profile middleman on money-laundering charges and Caracas moved six former executives of Texas-based Citgo back into detention.

Shell Takes Over Big Chunk of UK Power Segment. Anglo-Dutch major Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE:RDS.A) will take over customers of three bankrupt utility providers (Pure Planet, Daligas, Colorado Energy) as the ongoing power crunch has claimed 12 UK energy firms already.

US Coal Generation Breaks the Cold Streak. Following 7 years of consecutive year-on-year declines, the EIA believes electricity generation from coal is poised to bounce back this year as skyrocketing gas prices and relatively stable coal prices have boosted the prospects of the latter.

Vitol Invests in European Biogas. Vitol, the worlds largest crude trading company, agreed to a preliminary supply deal with Waga Energy, Europes leading firm in methane recovery from landfill waste, and will acquire a minority stake in the company in its upcoming Paris Euronext exchange IPO.

Nornickel Launches Palladium Rethink Challenge. Russias Nornickel (MCX:GMKN), the worlds largest producer of palladium, launched the Palladium Challenge, a $350,000 competition that awards new ideas about the precious metals utilization in sustainable designs (80% of global palladium is used by the automotive industry currently).

Copper Supply Squeeze Puts Premium on Spot Trades. Spot copper prices have soared to an all-time high today at $11,300 per metric ton amidst extremely tight supply, just as the spread between cash and three-month futures surged beyond $1,000 per tonne, a premium not seen since 1994.

By Tom Kool for Oilprice.com

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Given that no real change has resulted from last weeks elections in Iraq  the fervently anti-US radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr is still the de facto leader  its latest crude oil production ambitions should be considered as they always were: that is, by looking at theoretically what could be achieved, and that at practically what is likely to happen. The target announced last week  although it has been mooted a number of times in the past year or so (and then before that, albeit with a gap) is for 8 million barrels per day (bpd) by the end of 2027, according to the countrys Oil Minister (at least for now), Ihsan Ismaael. Discussions to achieve this figure by that point, he added, are ongoing between a number of international oil companies (IOCs), including several from the West. The first point to make is that Iraq is perfectly capable of producing 8 million bpd of crude oil, or even its original figure of 12 million bpd. As highlighted in my previous book on the global oil markets, even more so than Iran, Iraq remains the greatest relatively underdeveloped oil frontier in the Middle East and therefore in the world. Officially, according to the EIA, it holds a very conservatively estimated 145 billion barrels of proved crude oil reserves (nearly 18 percent of the Middle Easts total, around 9 percent of the globes, and the fifth-biggest on the planet). Unofficially, it is extremely likely that it holds much more of both than this. In October 2010, Iraqs Oil Ministry increased its own figure for the countrys proven reserves to 143 billion barrels, almost 25 percent more than the previous 115 billion barrels, virtually where we are now and this increase  unlike those notably seen in Saudi Arabia in recent years  was absolutely reflective of reality, albeit at the low end.

Related: The Battle For Oil Market Share Heats Up Within OPEC In fact, at the same time as producing the official reserves figures, the Oil Ministry stated that Iraqs undiscovered resources actually amounted to around 215 billion barrels. This was also a figure that had been arrived at in a 1997 detailed study by a respected oil and gas firm, Petrolog. Even this figure, though, did not include the parts of northern Iraq in the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan. This meant, as highlighted by the IEA, that most of them had been drilled during a period before the 1970s began when technical limits and a low oil price gave a tighter definition of a commercially successful well than would be the case now. In sum, the IEA underlined that the level of ultimately recoverable resources across all of Iraq (including the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan) at around 246 billion barrels (crude and natural gas liquids).

As it stands, Iraqs crude oil production increased from 2.4 million bpd in 2010 to around 4.5 million bpd on average (excluding the OPEC+ mandated quotas) in 2020, and its true level of production capacity has continued to hover around that level, making it the second-largest crude oil producer in OPEC. This trend prompted many market players to believe that Baghdads much-vaunted realistic production target of 9 million bpd may again be attainable. This is despite comments in 2018 and 2019 from the then-head of Iraqs State Oil Marketing Organisation (SOMO), Falah Alamri, that the country had temporarily slashed its oil output targets for the end of 2020, from 8.4-9.0 million bpd to 5.4-6.0 mbpd. Later in 2020, though, Iraqs then-new Oil Minister, Ihsan Ismaael, stated that the country was targeting an oil production capacity of 7 million bpd by 2025 and, by the same year, targeting oil export capacity of up to 6 million bpd (from the 2020 level of around 3.8 million bpd).

All of these figures fall within the parameters of the government-sponsored report - the Integrated National Energy Strategy (INES), launched in 2013  which formulated the three forward oil production profiles for Iraq. The INES best-case scenario was for crude oil production capacity to increase to 13 million bpd (at that point by 2017), peaking at around that level until 2023, and finally gradually declining to around 10 million bpd for a long-sustained period thereafter. The mid-range production scenario was for Iraq to reach 9 million bpd (at that point by 2020), and the worst-case INES scenario was for production to reach 6 million bpd (at that point by 2020). Consequently, the current target of 8 million bpd looks like a relatively reasonable-case scenario.

Related: Hedge Funds Cut Bullish Bets On Oil Amid Profit-Taking

So, why will it not happen? As highlighted repeatedly in OilPrice.com for years, the country faces two key problems. The first  underlined initially here  is the ongoing disagreement between the semi-autonomous government of Kurdistan in the north and the government of the rest of the country, centered in Bagdad, over how oil from the north and budget revenues from the south are apportioned. Suffice it to say at this juncture that despite an agreement in 2014, no workable solution appears to have been found as yet. The second problem remains the endemic corruption across the country that is particularly prevalent in the sector where there is most money  oil. As highlighted initially here by OilPrice.com, according to a statement made in 2015 by then-Oil Minister  and later Prime Minister of Iraq  Adil Abdul Mahdi, Iraq lost US$14,448,146,000 from the beginning of 2011 up to the end of 2014 as cash compensation payments to international oil companies and to other entities. The precise way in which such a staggering sum was lost is fully analyzed by OilPrice.com here, but in basic terms, it related to the way in which gross remuneration fees, income tax, and the share of the State partner was deducted and accounted for in the compensation paid out relating to reduced oil production levels. Even without the very recent resuscitation of Iraqs National Oil Company  which the cynically-minded might regard as essentially an organized graft mechanism - the sheer scale of theft of public money that can result from such structures in Iraq is mind-boggling.

This throws up one very specific  but huge - practical problem for Iraqs ability to achieve any meaningful increase in its oil production, and this is the build-out, finally, of the Common Seawater Supply Project (CSSP). The CSSP involves taking and treating seawater from the Persian Gulf and then transporting it via pipelines to oil production facilities for the purposes of maintaining pressure in oil reservoirs to optimize the longevity and output of fields. It was intended to be used initially to supply around six million bpd of water to at least five southern Basra fields and one in Maysan Province, and then built out for use in further fields. To reach and then sustain Iraqs future crude oil production targets over any meaningful period, the country will have total water injection needs equating to around two percent of the combined average flows of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, or six percent of their combined flow during the low season. The only company with all of the facets required to put the entire CSSP together in a fully functioning and sustained fashion - which the company itself knows, Iraq knows, China knows, and anyone who knows what the CSSP actually involves knows  is ExxonMobil. However, as it stands, ExxonMobil is out for precisely the reasons mentioned above and reiterated in full here.

By Simon Watkins for Oilprice.com

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Europe's gas woes don't seem to be top of the priority list for Moscow, and the reason may not be just geopolitical

Gazprom data shows that exports for the first half of October were lower than those for the first half of September

Gazprom has not booked any extra space on pipelines going through Ukraine after an auction held on Monday

After last week President Vladimir Putin said Russia could send more gas to Europe to alleviate a perceived shortage that has pushed prices to record highs, Gazprom has yet to book additional pipeline space, and prices are climbing again.

Bloomberg reports that Gazprom has not booked any extra space on pipelines going through Ukraine after an auction held on Monday. The total space offered was 15 million cu m daily on two pipelines.

According to the report, the state gas giant has also not booked any pipeline capacity for November. Also, based on preliminary operating figures from Gazprom, Bloomberg said it had calculated that its average daily exports this month, at 427 million cu m, were 12 percent lower than the average for September.

The only relevant update on Gazprom's production and exports available on the company's website showed figures for the period January to mid-October, for which production totaled 399.4 billion cu m. The state giant also reported a 13.1-percent increase in gas exports to countries outside the former Soviet Union for the period, including a 28.2-percent increase in exports to Germany and a 10-percent increase in exports to Poland.

Meanwhile, Reuters reported that Gazprom had booked about a third of the free pipeline capacity along the Yamal-Europe pipeline, which passes through Poland, for next month. This is equal to 32 million cu m of gas daily. The Reuters report also cited Gazprom data showing exports for the first half of October were lower than those for the first half of September.

Europe's gas woes don't seem to be top of the priority list for Moscow, and the reason may not be just geopolitical. Domestic consumption is also high, and it is domestic supply that Gazprom is prioritizing, deputy Prime Minister and former Energy Minister Alexander Novak said last week.

"I want to underline that we in Russia have record high gas consumption figures this year, which is also due to active economic recovery," Novak said in an interview for Rossiya 1, as quoted by Reuters.

In another interview, for news outlet Business FM, Novak said that filling up domestic reserves and securing domestic supply was the priority over more exports for Europe. He also said, however, that there was no actual gas shortage in Europe, while acknowledging the lower than normal levels of gas in storage.

"The problem is related to the fact that gas in storage is at the lowest level for the last five years, at 74 percent, versus the usual 85-90 percent," Novak told Business FM. "This, of course, causes worry among market participants and as a result, as usual, prices go higher."

As for why Russia wasn't supplying more gas via the spot market, Novak listed higher domestic consumption as one reason, noting the lower output of electricity from hydropower stations, the earlier start of heating season, and the filling of domestic storage.

According to many, the reason Gazprom is taking its time with additional supplies is because of Nord Stream 2. The new pipeline is awaiting the final approval of the German authorities to start commercial operation.

"Gazprom is undoubtedly assuming that Nord Stream 2 will be approved in the relatively near future, and positioning itself accordingly," Ron Smith, executive director of Moscow-based BCS Global Markets, told the Financial Times this week, after gas princes in Europe rose 18 percent following the latest gas auctions.

Nord Stream 2 aside, Russia is also prioritizing its long-term contracts, too, the FT reported, citing analysts. Until it made sure commitments on these contracts were fulfilled, it was unlikely to make additional gas available.



By Irina Slav for Oilpric.com

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The ongoing energy crunch has put a lid on what seemed to be the ideal bull run for this years autumn season  OPEC+ has maintained rigorous discipline even after it concluded a new supply cut agreement until end-2022, whilst demand for energy was growing much more robustly than anyone anticipated. Power consumption mandates, production cuts and electricity shortages have, however, become the new reality of October 2021, reshaping the overall market fundamentals of crude. Chinese buying, always presumed to restart at some point later this year, is now off the agenda, whilst Indias own post-third wave rally was ground to a halt by an unprecedented wave of power shortages. Against all this, Middle Eastern producers needed to calibrate their November 2021 OSPs very carefully.

Graph 1. Saudi Aramco Official Selling Prices in November 2021 for Asia (USD per barrel, vs ICE Bwave).

Source: Saudi Aramco.

Saudi Aramco has cut prices for Asia-bound cargoes in November 2021 by 10-50 cents per barrel, with the heaviest Arab Heavy stream seeing the most marked month-on-month change, dipping to a -$0.1 per barrel discount against Oman/Dubai. Aramcos nuanced approach of cutting light streams the least makes sense for several reasons  cracks across the Asian petrochemical sector are still robust enough for grades with a high naphtha cut. Second, it will be predominantly Arab Heavy and Arab Medium that would be coming back on the back of Saudi Arabia complying with its gradually increasing OPEC+ production targets, i.e. ampler supply should generally necessitate a downward pricing pressure which Aramco already anticipates. Third, some Asian customers might be tempted to try out gas-to-oil switching amidst exorbitant LNG prices, therefore conducive pricing might potentially sway them in Aramcos direction.

Graph 2. Saudi Aramco Official Selling Prices in November 2021 for Northwest Europe (USD per barrel, vs ICE Bwave).

Source: Saudi Aramco.

Similarly, the formula prices for Europe-bound cargoes were cut by $0.5-1 per barrel for Northwest Europe and by $0.3-0.6 per barrel for the Mediterranean, meaning that Saudi Aramco is ready to vie for a larger market share after the pricing rollover with October 2021 OSPs. The first OSP cut for Europe-bound cargoes took place already in September, the second month of OPEC+ supply increases, and despite a marginal increase in flows (to 680kbpd in September) the desired effect is still not yet there, Saudi Arabia still lacks some 100-150kbpd in exports to Europe compared to the pre-pandemic era.

Graph 3. ADNOC Official Selling Prices in 2017-2021 (USD per barrel).

Source: ADNOC.

The Singapore marker prices for front-month IFAD (ICE Futures Abu Dhabi) trading have established the November 2021 OSP for the UAE benchmark, the light sweet Murban, at $73.41 per barrel. Whilst the outright price is set by the exchange, ADNOC decides on other grades differentials to Murban and this month it has decided to keep them unchanged, for lack of a strong market hint to do otherwise. Murban is still yet to reach its pre-pandemic export levels of above 1 mbpd, averaging around 930kbpd in September as ADNOCs voluntary production cuts see the last months of their implementation before they are finally tapered off in November, implying that from December 2021 onwards UAE production should not be curtailed by any voluntary production limit.

Whilst overall volumes of traded contracts failed to impress over September, Murban nevertheless managed to pull off a noteworthy feat  a spot cargo was offered at the IFAD against a differential to the exchange-traded monthly average and not vs the most frequently used Dubai crude assessment, showing the first real-life signs of how Murban might be undercutting the overall Dubai complex (when hedging Murban cargoes the buyer would buy the Brent-Dubai EFS spread which would see him selling Dubai futures). Meanwhile, despite the beneficial prices globally ADNOC has scaled back its downstream ambition by forgoing its plans to build a new 400kbpd refinery in Ruwais that was assumed to be operational by 2026 and providing Abu Dhabi with even bigger exposure to the petrochemicals segment.

Graph 4. Iraqi Official Selling Prices for Europe in 2018-2021 (USD per barrel).

Source: SOMO.

Seemingly eager to continue the pricing battle with Saudi Arabia, Iraqs state oil marketing company SOMO mirrored the month-on-month changes of the Saudi NOC and cut the November OSPs of its three Basrah grades to Asian customers by 40-50 cents per barrel, with Basrah Heavy seeing the largest cut from October. This should help maintain firm interest in Iraqi barrels  after all, the Basrah Light-Arab Medium spread to its lowest in 5 years last month (at a -$0.60 per barrel discount) and will stay at the same level in November, too. In the meantime, SOMO might no longer offer Basrah Light cargoes for annual term allocations as its recently leaked message to buyers seems to suggest. Overall, the omission of Iraqs lightest export stream should not really come as a surprise  if anything, with production getting increasingly tilted towards the heavier barrels, SOMO was never really capable of providing the market with true Basrah Light quality.

Graph 5. Basrah Light-Arab Medium spread in 2018-2021 (USD per barrel).

Source: SOMO.

With September recording the second-strongest month in terms of Asia-bound exports this year, Iraq has less to worry about firm Asian demand waning than it should rather focus on revitalizing European demand. Despite generous OSP cuts  for instance, the largest Iraqi stream Basrah Medium would be traded at the same -$5.90 per barrel discount to Dated BFO  export volumes are slow to pick up and have been lagging behind pre-pandemic levels quite tangibly. One ought to note that it is not merely a function of supply and demand, SOMOs crackdown on re-trading and its stringent approach demonstrated vis-a-vis destination clauses contributed at least as much as market fundamentals did (i.e. Basrah barrels palpably more difficult to trade freely for those not having a term supply contract with SOMO).

Graph 6. Iranian Official Selling Prices for Asia in 2018-2021 (USD per barrel).

Source: NIOC.

Ever since the election of Ebrahim Raisi as Irans new president, the question of Teheran returning to the global crude markets anytime soon has lost traction. With Iran reportedly intent on putting forward additional demand beyond the already-negotiated commitments, the complexity of finding an outcome that would be mutually acceptable is almost too hard to imagine. For instance, the JCPOA negotiating team still failed to overcome one of its fundamental flaws, namely that Iran is negotiating with the EU, Russia and China, i.e. countries that were always in favour of maintaining the nuclear deal, whilst there have not been direct talks with the United States throughout the process, making it all but impossible to strike a harmonious note.

When it comes to Iranian OSPs for November-loading cargoes, Irans national oil company NIOC followed in the footsteps of Saudi Arabia and dropped its Asian formula prices by 35-40 cents per barrel, though Iranian Light did gain marginally vis-a-vis its more sulphurous Saudi peer Arab Light, now trading at a 1.10 per barrel premium to the Oman/Dubai average. The fact that Iran prefers to maintain its Asian prices on par with the mainstream trends might in fact reflect an overlooked sense of confidence as NIOC continues to export crude barrels to East Asian countries. Roughly two-thirds of all exports end up in China even though vessel-tracking data would suggest that Irans largest market outlet is Malaysia, averaging around 0.5mbpd in July-August (and might be the same for September once all the cargoes come out of their lurking).

By Gerald Jansen for Oilprice.com

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President Joe Bidens $3.5-trillion spending plan was thrown into doubt after Joe Manchin, a Democratic Senator of West Virginia, opposed the clean electricity part of the program and the penalization of coal-powered electricity generation.

The Biden Administration has been pushing for legislation on clean energy goals to be included in the spending bill, hopefully to go to the COP26 summit in Glasgow at the end of this month with a plan for fighting climate change. But Senator Manchin of the coal state West Virginia opposes the versions the Democrats have proposed. Senator Manchins vote in favor of the plan put forward by Democrats would have been crucial in a divided 50-50 Senate.

We want to make sure we have reliable power, Senator Manchin said on Monday. The coal mines are not going to close, he added, as carried by Bloomberg.

The senator opposes the proposed Clean Electricity Performance Program, or CEPPa $150-billion program to incentivize power generating firms to switch from coal and natural gas to clean energy sources such as wind and solar power. The program would also fine utilities that do not switch to green energy sources.

The Biden Administration is pitching CEPP as the key to reaching the goal of having 100 percent of Americas electricity come from zero-emission sources by 2035.

The Democrats are struggling now with including the program in the reconciliation budget because of Senator Manchins opposition.

The CEPP is not going to happen, and they are working on alternatives, but I dont know any that have been accepted by Manchin or the White House, a source with knowledge of the talks told NBC News over the weekend.

The good news is there are a range of good ideas and proposals out there from members of Congress about how this legislation can help meet that goal. And theres no question in our minds theres important debating right now happening about what the components of the climate proposals will be in these packages, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said on Monday.

It is absolutely pivotal that these pieces of legislation have climate components  and they will  to address the climate crisis, she added.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

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Japan has approached OPEC producers and their partners in OPEC+ with a request for more output, Kyodo News reported this week, citing industry minister Koichi Hagiuda.

The minister said the calls will continue until the next OPEC+ meeting, scheduled for November 4. Meanwhile, Japans foreign minister had talked with his Kuwaiti counterpart specifically for a potential increase in supplies.

"We are closely watching movements in the crude oil market as well as the impact on domestic industry and households," Japans Prime Minister told media earlier, after he asked his Cabinet to watch out for fallout from energy price hikes on the Japanese economy.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has also called on the International Energy Agency to make OPEC boost oil production.

Japan is almost entirely dependent on imported oil for its needs, and the latest price rally has delivered a blow to its still-fragile economic recovery, earlier this month pushing the national currency to a three-year low, according to a Reuters report.

Japan gets most of its oil from OPEC, with Saudi Arabia its biggest supplier, followed by the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait. Qatar and Russia are smaller exporters to Japan.

Calls on OPEC to boost oil production have been multiplying since prices started climbing. Besides the United States, which has appealed twice to OPEC+ to produce more oil, the International Energy Agency has also called on the cartel to provide more oil.

So far, however, OPEC+ has remained reluctant to heed the requests, keeping supply tight on fears the current strong demand may not last. However, it seems that lately, OPEC+ has not just stuck to its production targets but has been undershooting them.

In September, according to a recent Bloomberg report, OPEC+ cut output by 15 percent more than it had planned, after producing 16 percent less than agreed in August and 9 percent less than agreed in July.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

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Russias gas giant Gazprom is in no hurry to supply additional volumes to alleviate Europes gas crisis, unless the European Union (EU) and Germany grant operational license to the controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline project, sources close to the Kremlin and Gazprom told Bloomberg.

We cannot ride to the rescue just to compensate for mistakes that we didnt commit, Konstantin Kosachyov, one of the key pro-Kremlin legislators in Russias Parliament, told Bloomberg in an interview published on Tuesday, without going into details about Russias thinking.

The top Russian officials, as well as Gazprom, have repeatedly said that the state-controlled Russian gas giant is fulfilling its contractual obligations for gas deliveries to Europe. However, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak, and top Gazprom executives have said that Europes gas crisis is not the result of lower gas supply, but the result of very low inventories and flawed EU policies of the past decade.

Some analysts and Members of the European Parliament have suggested that Russia has been deliberately withholding gas supply to the European market in recent weeks, exacerbating the gas crisis and pushing prices higher, possibly with the ultimate goal of pushing the EU into admitting that it needs Nord Stream 2 to avoid a more severe crisis when the winter comes.

More than 40 members of the European Parliament from all political groups have reportedly urged the European Commission to launch an investigation into Gazprom over alleged market manipulation that could have contributed to the record-high natural gas prices in Europe.

The European Commission presented last week a toolbox for a coordinated approach to protect those most at risk in the immediate term, including by investigating possible anti-competitive behaviour in the energy market.

Gazprom, for its part, said on Monday that it continues supplying gas at near-record levels to Europe.

But at the same time, auction results showed on Monday that Gazprom booked the same gas transit capacity for November as it had for September, thus not raising the offered gas supply to Europe.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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The way America shops has changed, but some experiences are still better in person. The same can be said of health care.

Not long ago, outpatient health care and megamalls would have seemed like an odd marriage. But todays consumers understand this is a marriage of convenience  one that can offer great benefits.

The demand for health services detached from a large hospital is growing rapidly, said Patrick Christensen, president of Sturtevant-based Horizon Retail Construction. People are seeking out more options and want health care that is closest to them.

Why malls?

As much of retail has moved online, malls have one key commodity: space. And that space is getting more plentiful. According to Moodys Analytics commercial real estate division, the mall vacancy rate in the first quarter of this year was a record high 11.4%.

Outpatient health care organizations can fill those spaces. The footprint of health care facilities can vary greatly. An urgent care clinic might fit well in a former bookstore. Other health care providers might require more square footage.

One Hundred Oaks mall in Nashville offers a case study for the ways outpatient health care facilities can revive a struggling retail space. Before 2009, stores were leaving and the mall was emptying out fast. Then Vanderbilt University Medical Centers Vanderbilt Health facility moved in, taking up nearly half of the malls space. The new health care facility brought in foot traffic, which in turn attracted traditional retailers and breathed new life into the once-troubled shopping mall.

More medical malls?

The number of Americans 65 and older is projected to nearly double from 52 million in 2018 to 95 million by 2060, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau. Demand for health care services should grow as the population ages.

Considering the benefits that malls offer patients  accessibility, physical space and proximity to other retailers and activities  the potential for continued growth of outpatient health care facilities in malls is immense.

We are seeing a demand for more outpatient facilities off the campuses of large hospitals, Christensen said.

Expertise in building care facilities

Sturtevant-based Horizon Retail Construction is uniquely positioned to help shape the way vendors and buyers experience malls. The company has extensive experience transforming retail spaces to make them more conducive to the needs of both retailers and consumers. Horizons clients in the health care space include VillageMD and Walgreens, Oak Street Health, Benchmark Physical Therapy and Humana.

The project with Oak Street was particularly ambitious: Horizon was responsible for opening the Chicago-based outfits first two clinics in Memphis.

We are proud to be involved in the Oak Street Health program, Christensen said. They provide a great service to the community.

For a health care industry that is ever changing, Horizons ability to mobilize rapidly, as Christensen says, could be an asset. Horizon employs more than 150 superintendents  none of whom are subcontractors. That workforce creates a speedy response time to client needs.

We have shown the ability to quickly adapt to tenant needs, he said. Because of that we are valuable working for both small and large businesses.

Learn more about Horizon Retail Construction Why giving back to the community is so important to Patrick Christensen. Read more...

Striving to make a positive difference  local business owner gives back to the disabled community, other local nonprofits. Read more...

An experienced construction company matters for your building project and your bottom line. Read more...

Sturtevant-based company focuses on remaking the modern shopping mall. Read more...

This content was produced by Brand Ave. Studios. The news and editorial departments had no role in its creation or display. Brand Ave. Studios connects advertisers with a targeted audience through compelling content programs, from concept to production and distribution. For more information contact sales@brandavestudios.com.
Experiencing an overdrawn bank account can be stressful. Since banks can charge an overdraft fee multiple times a day, fees can add up quickly, piling on to the negative balance and the stress.

The consequences of overdrawing can be serious, so its essential to fix your account as soon as you can. The bank may temporarily suspend or even close your account. A closure could go on your record with ChexSystem, an agency that tracks customers who have had problems with their bank accounts. This could make it difficult for you to open future bank accounts, says Bruce McClary, senior vice president of communications for the National Foundation for Credit Counseling.

Here are some steps you can take to recover after an overdrawn account and tips to avoid overdrafts in the future.

Make a transfer to cover the charges

If you have cash in another account, transfer it to cover the deficit and avoid additional fees. That should be the first step you take, says Andrea Brashears-Lusk, a certified financial planner and president and founder of Wise Financial Counsel in Fort Washington, Maryland. For example, some banks charge a fee for having a negative balance for consecutive days, and that fee could be charged multiple times.

Ask your bank for a refund
Secure your Social Security card and other sensitive documents

Dont carry your Social Security card, birth certificate and passport in your purse, wallet or car unless necessary. Whenever you do, dont leave the documents unattended. At home, consider keeping the documents in a safe in case theres a burglary.

Dont share sensitive information unless absolutely necessary

Dont share your Social Security number, debit card pins, drivers license, birthdate and other sensitive information through phone calls, text messages, email or social media. If you receive a phone call or email from a bank or other financial institution, make sure their contact information is valid before sharing any details.

For example, check the senders full address if you receive an email from your bank requesting information under the pretext of updating your account. A scammers email will usually include an extra letter, number or word when compared to the email of the legitimate company. The body of the email might have typos and other grammatical errors as well.

If you receive this type of e-mail, even if it seems legitimate, its best to go directly to your accounts website yourself, instead of clicking on any links provided in the message.
On his watch, the district implemented an Early College program, and district officials pitched to the community a property tax levy override, which voters approved.

He was widely praised for his handling of the pandemic, including imposing health protocols aimed at keeping most kids learning in person. The districts remote learning was made easier to implement because of the one-to-one computer policy launched earlier in Sutfins tenure.

Poole said that when the pandemic pushed Nebraska districts into remote learning in spring 2020, Sutfin knew that there would be a learning loss for Millard kids.

He knew what was best for kids was to get them back to school, she said, and they needed the hope.

Sutfins leadership convinced others that reopening was possible, Poole said. Some people were upset over the districts plans, but district staff who needed to make reopening work had faith in him, she said.

Once he said, We can do this, we can find a way to do this, well do it together, everything fell into place, she said.

Poole said board members will want to get moving on the search for his replacement.

She said the job should be attractive.
The indictment alleges that, despite the phone call, Fortenberry did not file an amended 2016 campaign report disclosing the true contributors and amounts of their donations from the fundraiser. Nor did he attempt to return or give up the illegal contributions until after his second interview with federal investigators in July 2019.

According to the indictment, Fortenberry made several false and misleading statements when interviewed by the FBI and the U.S. Attorneys Office on March 23, 2019, and again on July 18, 2019.

Those statements allegedly included denying that he had been told about the illicit donations from the 2016 fundraiser or that Baaklini had provided the $30,000 cash. He also allegedly said he would have been horrified to learn about the illegal conduit contributions.

In fact, the indictment alleges, as defendant Fortenberry then knew, rather than acting horrified after Individual H told him repeatedly and explicitly about illegal conduit contributions ... defendant Fortenberry continued to ask Individual H to host another fundraiser for defendant Fortenberrys campaign.
U.S. Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., also urged Nebraskans not to reach a "snap judgment" but recognize that "every American is entitled to a fair and impartial process."

While some speculated about the possibility of a primary challenger, other political observers said that voters in the current political climate are primed to dismiss allegations they might see as politically connected  as Fortenberrys wife claimed in a statement defending her husband on Tuesday morning.

Perre Neilan, a political consultant and lobbyist based in Lincoln, said he didnt see the issue impacting Fortenberrys ability to serve and be reelected.

Nebraskans know Jeff Fortenberry as a man of integrity, Neilan said. His only crime was saying yes when the government knocked on his door and let them in.

Josh Moenning, a former chief of staff for Fortenberry, said the congressman was a good man and an effective and tireless advocate for the people in his district.
At every step, the agents and prosecutors assured and reassured Jeff and Trey that Jeff was not a target, Celeste Fortenberry said. They knew he had no knowledge of the illegal donations, and was in fact a victim of that crime.

Rep. Fortenberry, in a video recorded in the front seat of his pickup with his wife sitting next to him, said he was stunned and shocked that he was facing an indictment.

I told them what I knew and what I understood, he said. Theyve accused me of lying to them and are charging me with this.

A spokesman with the U.S. Attorneys Office in Los Angeles said Monday evening that he could not comment.

A spokesman for Fortenberrys campaign said two weeks ago that the congressman was unaware that the $30,200 in contributions he received at an L.A. fundraiser in 2016 had originated from a foreigner, which is illegal.

It was reported in March that Chagoury, a resident of Paris, and two associates had agreed in 2019 to cooperate with the investigation. Fines against them  including $1.8 million paid by Chagoury  were made public this spring.
Hansen submitted the letter to Evnens office Tuesday afternoon.

The people have spoken, in overwhelming fashion. We need to do what we can to protect the livelihoods of Nebraskans who are at risk of losing their jobs if they exercise their choice not to receive a COVID vaccination, Hansen said.

Under state law, 10 senators can ask the secretary of state to poll the Legislature on whether to convene a special session to consider legislation outside of the normal lawmaking session.

If agreed to by 33 of the Legislatures 49 members, Evnen would then submit the outline to Ricketts, who would use it as a basis to issue a proclamation that sets the start day and duration for the Legislature.

Hansen said the proposed session would not be to question the science of vaccines, prevent K-12 schools from mandating other vaccinations, do away with mask mandates, or discuss other treatments or whether vaccines in general are good or bad.

The senators move doesnt seem likely to succeed, however.
SIOUX CITY, Iowa  About 65 members of the 185th Air Refueling Wing in Sioux City and 132nd Wing in Des Moines will be deployed to help resettle Afghan refugees.

The Iowa National Guard members will help with Operation Allies Welcome, providing logistical, sustainment and interagency support for Afghan refugees in the U.S. The guard members will deploy for about 60 to 90 days starting in November.

Capt. Kevin Waldron, deputy public affairs officer with the Iowa National Guard, said Monday that he could not immediately provide details about where in the U.S. the airmen are going.

It could be a variety of locations, Waldron said. They do fall under U.S. Northern Command, so, that command encompasses the greater 50 states and U.S. territories. So within that region.

Tens of thousands of Afghan refugees evacuated from Kabul after the Taliban took control of the country arrived in the U.S. in recent months, largely without a clear road map to resettlement. Many evacuees are temporarily living at U.S. military bases.
I think student to student, it will really vary whether theyre adding several additional classes to their degree plan or if its something theyll accomplish very naturally, she said. The program itself is free to join, but students still have to pay tuition for the classes they take for the program. However, if a student studies abroad, they become eligible for scholarships through the program, which is something few other schools have.

This is something that is unique to UNL and isnt offered by most other universities, Baskerville said.

Upon completion of the program, students will receive a certificate from the Peace Corps. Because the corps is a highly competitive organization, having certification can give students an edge in the application process, said Anthony Abate, a Peace Corps program specialist.

Students who complete the program dont have to apply to the corps, but even with the credential, there is no promise of acceptance.

Students can start the prep program as early as freshmen. By the time they graduate, theyll be 22 or 23. Their life plans may change, Baskerville said.
With the first Monday in October behind us, perhaps we can at last put to rest the refrain about how the current term of the U.S. Supreme Court is among the most momentous in history. The courts terms are like presidential elections: Always, history has never seen one as important as the one coming up.

Indeed, the rhetoric we use when discussing the Supreme Court and its work has scarcely changed in more than a century.

In the summer of 1962, for example, the Los Angeles Times wrote that the justices had just ended their most important term of court in a quarter of a century. Why a quarter of a century? Maybe because exactly 25 years earlier, in 1937, the Associated Press had declared the year just past to be one of the most momentous terms in Supreme Court history.
Passing legislation too quickly. Lawmakers have an all-important duty to vet legislative proposals thoroughly and responsibly. A two-chamber legislature, by definition, offers greater opportunity than a single-chamber institution for examining and honing legislation. Lawmakers have long noted that the Nebraska Legislature must be careful not to pass legislation too quickly, since there is no second chamber to offer another opinion. Observers over the years have pointed to bills that made it to final passage but needed far greater refinement.

So, Nebraska state senators must be dedicated to vetting bills properly. Committees must examine proposals closely and hone them as needed. Use floor debate to provide needed scrutiny. Craft amendments to improve the proposal.

Newcomers to the Legislature who want to do the job right must be wide awake to the high level of attention and energy expected from senators if the Legislature is to do its work properly.
There are at least three ways that prayer transforms the way we see the challenges of life.

This article originally appeared on MissioAlliance.org and is reposted here by permission.

I first met Christ as a child through prayer, and my early relationship with Jesus was formed almost entirely through discovering Christ in the midst of suffering as I fumbled my way through prayer and Scripture reading. Both were a relief from various traumas and pain. I tangibly experienced the nearness of God to the brokenhearted, and that has continued to sustain me through the joys and sorrows, miracles and violence, celebration and lament of life in this messy world. Suffering and challenges just seem to be a part of life; and yet, a year and a half into the pandemic Ive been surprised to discover how that this particular season of suffering has changed my prayer life.

In 2020, I experienced:

 Multiple family deaths

 Cultural turmoil, which changed significant relationships

 Children home from school, which dissolved habits and patterns

 Deep betrayal from Christian leaders offering overly-tame and carefully nuanced thoughts on racial justice

 Disrupted social patterns which have slowly depleted me both physically and emotionally.

Prayer through past storms and furnaces has been clarifying, a relief, a breath of fresh air. But this time it has been different.

Not only has prayer not been a relief, but long-developed practices have been difficult to mentally and physically sustain. But what prayer has been through this season of global and ecclesiological crisis has been  anchoring. It has anchored me in reality. Prayer has anchored me in a way that exposes my tendency to minimize, rage, become cynical, self-righteous or even overly optimistic. While this season does not offer much escape, it can become one that allows prayer to begin to shape our entire perception of reality.

In The Prayer Tradition of Black People, Harold Carter describes the prayer of slaves:

The slaves were deeply involved in prayer and song in praise houses long before any organized missionary thrust sought to Christianize them. Prayer colored their total existence and was not merely an escape from reality. They knew that God had acted in history and delivered Israel from bondage in Egypt.

The prayer of these slaves anchored them in reality while sustaining them through oppression and evil. Anchoring prayer is the kind of prayer that cultivates a hopeful and patient eschatology. It allows both individuals and communities to be honest about past and present suffering and hopeful about the kingdom that will one day come. This kind of prayer facilitates a rich life with God in ways that embolden individuals and communities to endure struggles against injustice, initiate reparation, and participate in restorative and reconciling work. It is prayer that is both contemplative and missional, individual and communal, and rooted in the present and future reality of heaven and earth.

Perhaps prayer is most needed right now for a lot more than relief, comfort, personal intimacy, direction, or insight. All those may very well be precious fruits of prayer, but in a season in which we bounce between fighting and withdrawing, perhaps what is most needed is prayer that colors our total existence and anchors us in the reality of Christ and his kingdom. Here are three important ways prayer can anchor us during this season.

1. Prayer Anchors Us in a Vision of Gods Kingdom.

A vision of Gods kingdom enables Christians to endure prolonged seasons of defeat, suffering and injustice. As we endure injustice and resist power structures that harm the most vulnerable and erode community, we will face exhaustion, burnout, and despair. If the person comes from privilege, he or she may detach and return to a life of comfort and ease. Over time, these leaders often move further away from the struggles of the most vulnerable as busyness and cynicism become a way to dissociate from pain. If the exhausted individual is part of a marginalized people group, he or she often have no other choice but to remain in the situation, depleting their internal resources. By remaining, the person may seek unhealthy distractions in an attempt to numb their pain or could dissolve into despair, finding their faith has eroded under the weights of darkness.

The only way to prevent either path is to retreat into an experiential union with Christ. This requires a substantial encounter with the reality of Gods kingdom. It cannot simply be an abstract idea that allows one to minimize current pain in light of the promise of heaven to come. Rather, seeing and inhabiting the reality of Gods kingdom on earth allows individuals to be nurtured and restored by abiding in the truth that Gods will is being established on earth as it is in heaven. Christians can anchor their tired and even physically wounded bodies in the reality of Gods kingdom and seek restoration as prayer opens space to allow the truth of Gods character and righteous actions to wash away fear, resentment and despair.

2. Prayer Anchors Us in Repentance and Lament.

Repentance and lament help those praying to invite the Holy Spirit to attune their motives, will, and narratives to more closely align with Gods heart. Repentance and lament are ways of moving away from abstract prayer and practicing concrete prayer, activating our Christian faith and cultivating patience. These concrete prayers are essential to the practice of repentance and lament as they anchor us to the real and substantial pain around and within us. They not only provide tangible ways to be connected and present to suffering and pain, repentance and lament also cultivates patience, they allow us to endure significant and prolonged seasons of struggle.

Repentance and lament help us develop a fortitude that allows us to see our sin and the impact of the worlds sin with greater clarity, while also surrendering to the Spirits work of pruning and nurturing our lives with a greater measure of Gods grace and mercy. This allows for patient acceptance of our limitations, failures, and sins as well as patience for God to permanently establish his righteous rule and rid the world of evil. These prayers activate us toward justice, allowing our repentance and lament to become avenues that specifically name the complex ways we harm others and ourselves as we live outside of harmony with others.

3. Prayer Anchors Us in Gods Healing, Mystery and Joy.

Prayer anchors Christians in Gods healing, mystery, and joy. Anchoring prayer facilitates an intimate relationship with God and is one of the ways the Holy Spirit helps us discover and restore the particular places they are in need of healing and greater surrender to Gods truth. If you read the prayers of Christians from the margins, you will witness an intimate prayer life that has consistently pursued Gods healing and joy.

Anchoring prayer intentionally pursues and produces a richly intimate encounter with God. Howard Thurman describes it this way:

When the hunger in a mans heart merges with what seems to be the fundamental intent of life, communion with God, the Creator of Life, is not only possible but urgent.1

Anchoring prayer cultivates an urgency and expectancy for ones hunger for God to merge with its very purpose for existing: to commune with the Creator of Life. This intimate encounter and longing for communion with God can begin to dominate and guide us. A desire to live in harmony with others strengthens as one tastes greater harmony with God. Having deeper communion and fellowship with God reduces ones tolerance to being distracted by disharmony and disunion with others. The intimate realities of anchoring prayer cultivate a life open to Gods healing, mystery, and joy and opens us to greater love toward others.

Anchoring prayer makes the central place of a Christians life communion with Godallowing their inner hunger for God to become the dominant and controlling force of their life. This prayer journey allows individuals and communities to experience Gods healing in unique and specific ways as they welcome Gods light to inhabit every part of their lives. To those who cry out to God with no other hope of healing, this kind of prayer can be restorative physically as well as spiritually and emotionally. There is a confidence in Christs power to intersect, heal and rescue.

Through this pandemic, I have had to release expectations for a prayer life that has developed over a life of practices and habits. Instead, Im learning to surrender to the simple need to be anchored. In this season, prayer has been needed to color my entire existence. Its looked like less words and more silence. Less petition, more telling God what I notice and being still long enough for him to reorganize those observations. Less insights into Scripture and more chewing of a phrase or scene from Scripture over and over in my heart and mind. Its looked like intentionally offering naps as acts of worship. Letting the sound of laughter become a trigger for praise. Paying attention to feelings of resentment, sorrow, frustration, disappointment, betrayal, and fear and inviting Christs love to melt away the layers one at a time. Far more confession, far more relishing in the grace of repentance, far less grasping for relief. The comfort, rest, and safety net that prayer has once provided seems like a distant memory throughout this pandemic, but remaining anchored in reality has been a new kind of holy ground.

Read more from Dennae Pierre 

 2021 Mission AllianceWriting CollectivesAll rights reserved.

Sources
Remembering the 1957 Earthquake

Compiled by Jo Anne Quinn



A little quake at 10:26 a.m., another one 21 minutes later, a third a minute after that, a little shock at 10:52, one at 11:04, another at 11:19, then quiet. Then just 26 minutes later, the Big One: 'A distant, awesome rumble that tightened throats with fear,' The Chronicle said. The sound was followed in an instant by 'a twisting, jarring, side-rolling motion.'



The clock on San Francisco's Ferry Building stopped for the first time since the disaster of April 18, 1906. It was 11:45 a.m. on Friday, March 22, 1957.



In an instant, merchandise littered the floor at the Emporium department store at the Stonestown shopping center and displays at grocery and liquor stores crashed to the floor. Nearly all the windows shattered at the brand-new library at San Francisco State College, out by Lake Merced."

Carl Nolte, San Francisco Gate, March 19, 2007

Carl Nolte did not report that the student body of St. Cecilia's Grammar School had gathered in the Lower Church for Lenten Stations of the Cross on that memorable and scary day. Years later, in 2006, the Class of 1960 shared memories with each other:

Tom O'T: The first shake happened just after morning recess as we were going back to our classroom. The second and major shake happened just after Stations of the Cross as Father Riordan was going through the Benediction portion. After that tremendous jolt it was evident many of us were scared and unsure what to do. Father Riordan paused, turned around, addressed us all saying something to the effect, "We just had an earthquake; it's all over; there is nothing to be afraid of. We'll continue with Benediction." Father turned back and finished in record time. He went from a '45 to a '78 recording and was off that altar in a flash. Must thank the nuns who took control and kept us relatively calm and in order.

Bob O'D: Those wildly wobbling candlesticks on the altar during the earthquakenone fell, but Tom was right, Father Riordan finished Benediction at Warp Speed.

Jim H: I remember being in church and watching the light fixture above me swinging. I was next to the center aisle. Instead of diving under the pews as some did, I was going to run if the light fixture started to fall. Cracks in the halls of the school, and a pretty good aftershock while walking up the stairs to the second floor, making me use the hand rail. I don't remember any big statues falling. Rather, one had rotated 90 degreesit was not facing forward anymore.

Rosalie S: Father Riordan had beads of perspiration on his forehead that day!

Kathy K: I remember getting under the pews when the giant pillars started swaying back and forth. Also recall the tremors that followed the big one for the rest of the day. What a mess our garage was when I got home!

John L: My recollection of that day is as vivid as the day it shook. We were in the Lower Church after Stations of the Cross and it started shaking. Father Riordan turned to us, lifted his hands and told us to be calm, and right at that moment it stopped. We all filed out and lined up in the schoolyard. After a while, they let us go back to our classrooms where we found all the desks in disarray, and papers all over the floor. What I thought was outrageous was that the big statues of Mary, on pedestals in every room above the teacher's desk, fell and shattered.

John M: I remember being in the lower church and all of us ducking under the pews. Then Father Riordan tried to calm us. I think I went back under the pew. I believe we had some projects in the classroom that were thrown to the floor due to the earthquake.

Rita M: My memory is very much the same, with Father Riordan finishing the Stations of the Cross at record speed and beads of sweat running down his face. However, I remember wondering why a man of the cloth was so worried and scared. Yes, we were all pretty scared but he wasn't supposed to be! He was gone immediately and we were left to the nuns. I remember a crack in the wall of the school, the statues broken, and going home scared, to find things in disarray.

Jo Anne Q: Ah! The earthquake! We were all herded into the yard. Parents were called to come take us home. One kid got hystericalknelt down, put an ear to the ground, and started screaming that he could hear "the earth cracking and popping." That started a lot of other kids screaming, and the nuns had to quell the impending riot. When I got home there were more tremors and a tall, heavy bookcase nearly came down on my mother! I must have been ahead of my time, because I indulged in "play therapy." Got out my dollhouse, set it up with furniture, and its little people, and then shook the hell out of it!

Jerry F: I think it was Steve D. who put his ear to the ground to listen for another earthquake. I remember thinking it was really a goofy thing to do, and it somehow scared the hell out of me; but in retrospect it was probably about the most scientific thing a fifth-grader could do to predict another quake. (Not much removed from what's happening now, no? Probes in the ground.)

Edna L: I was still at Parkside School awaiting a spot in St. Cecilia's. I remember sitting on a chair at my desk in the middle section of the classroom. And after it stopped shaking, I was still on the chair, but now over against the wall. They sent everyone home, didn't bother to call parents. There were kids whose parents worked, and they had to go home alone. I lived across the street from Parkside, so I brought some kids home with me until they could get a hold of their parents. I remember all of the stonework on every house on the block was broken away, and laying on the ground.

Maureen M: Walking home after that earthquake and seeing the 16th Avenue Market with windows all broken.

Diane F: They let us go home early and I was so nervous that I ate meat on Friday! My mom said it was okayGod wouldn't punish us again!

And the best recollection of all:



Pam B: I remember my mother picking me up at school after the quake, taking me to the Emporium in Stonestown and buying me Elvis' record, "All Shook Up."

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Race Tracks Of The West Side

by Angus Macfarlane

In the Lake Merced parking lot at the south end of Sunset Boulevard is a statue of a man on a horse. The man represents Juan Bautista de Anza, the Spaniard who founded San Francisco in 1776. The horse is just a horse, of course, but the location of the horse's statue is historically significant for two reasons. On November 2, 1769, five years before Anza's colonists arrived in San Francisco, a small scouting party led by Sergeant Jose Ortega left the Portola expedition and traveled on the hard, wet sands of Ocean Beach, crossing into what would become San Francisco. This marked the arrival of the horse in San Francisco.

One hundred years later, less than a furlong from today's statue of a horse and rider, the first of the west side's horse racing venues opened for business.

This is the history of those race tracks.

The Ocean Course, 1865-1873

Built 14 years after the city's first race courses opened in the Mission District, the Ocean Course---sometimes called the Ocean View Course---occupied 100 acres of land leased from the Greene Family, and was the first of four (or possibly six) west side horse racing venues. It stood across the Ocean House Road (today's Eucalyptus Drive) from the popular Ocean House, a recreational destination since the early 1850s for overwhelmed city dwellers seeking the relaxation and enjoyment of the country and sea.

Bounded approximately between today's Eucalyptus, Sloat, Everglade and 24th Avenue, the Ocean Course operated from May 23, 1865 to November 15, 1873. Its opening and closing races were two of the most exciting and best attended sporting events in California at the time.

What we visualize when we think of horse racing---galloping steeds with lightweight jockeys barely in contact with their stirrups---was the exception in the 19th century. Until the turn of the 20th century organized horse racing was primarily harness racing. Jockeys were called "drivers," since that was what they did, sitting in high-wheeled sulkies, with trotting or pacing horses leading them.

Also, races were conducted differently then. They were tests of endurance rather than speed. Both harness and thoroughbred races were run in multiple heats of one to four miles rather than single races.

On May 23, 1865, 8,000 excited race fans, an unprecedented number to witness a sporting event in California, converged on the Lake Merced site for the inaugural race between two great Kentucky-raised thoroughbreds: Lodi and Norfolk.

Norfolk was clearly the sentimental favorite. The horses were to run three two-mile heats.

The first heat was a tie. A half hour intermission allowed the horses to recover before Norfolk won the second heat by four lengths. Following the recovery period, the third heat began with a false start, but it ended with Norfolk winning by more than five lengths.

The last race at the Ocean Course was the much heralded "Great Race," featuring Thaddeus Stevens, a California-born thoroughbred, against a field of "Eastern" horses.

Throughout the late 1860s and into the 1870s, California tried to establish itself as a credible horse-raising state, equal to Kentucky, New York and other Eastern states. Sadly, California's best were not good enough. Year after year, California's horses (in this case, trotters) and hopes were humiliated and dashed. Not even Governor Leland Stanford, one of the wealthiest men in the state, who raised the best horses in the state, was immune to this disgrace meted out by Eastern horses.

In 1872, while California trotters were continuing to endure their years of futility, "Old Thad" was, at first, quietly winning thoroughbred races. Then he was noticeably winning more races. Finally he was winning in spectacular fashion.

His achievements were noted; challenges were made and accepted; victories continued and Californian horse lovers began to believe that Old Thad would be their deliverance.

A date: November 13, 1873. A place: Ocean View Course. A field of horses and a $20,000 purse were announced for what was immediately termed "The Great Race." Thaddeus Stevens was to run against two of the best Eastern horses. The San Francisco Chronicle predicted that the race "will be the greatest ever run on the Pacific Coast and it bids fair to prove the greatest ever run in this country."

For one dollar, an estimated 10,000 people found accommodations inside the track. For two dollars, 10,000 more were admitted to the grandstand. An equal number were settling down outside the track at no charge. Estimates of as many as 40,000 people in and around the track were reported. This was an unprecedented, historic number of people to witness a single event of any sort in California. They were all there to watch Thaddeus Stevens prove that California's horses were the best.

At three o'clock, an hour late because of a small fire, four horses approached the starting line: Thad, Joe Daniels from Michigan, True Blue from Kentucky, and Mamie Hall, another California horse, though not a contender.

Joe Daniels won the first heat in 7:45, three lengths ahead of True Blue, who was the same distance in front of Old Thad. Mamie Hall had thrown her rider and was disqualified.

The second heat began after a 45-minute rest period and was won by True Blue in 8:08, five lengths ahead of Joe Daniels. Old Thad was again third.

Because of the delay, daylight was running out, and the horses were given just a 15-minute rest before the third heat. Joe and True Blue had each won a heat. If either were to win the third heat, the race would be over.

Thad had to win.

For more than three grueling miles, oblivious that they had already run eight miles, Old Thad battled neck and neck with True Blue. In the final mile True Blue had sprung a tendon and was out of the race. Joe Daniels shot into second, but Thaddeus won by ten lengths in 7:57.

During the 30-minute recovery period, darkness began to settle. Lamps were lit along the homestretch and on the carriages in the infield. A fog was pushing in from the ocean when the two remaining horses, Joe and Thad, were brought out for the final heat.

At 5:20PM the starting bell was struck and they were off. Turning onto the backstretch, Thad was ahead by two lengths as the horses disappeared into the shadows and fog. When they rematerialized on the home stretch, Thad was ten lengths ahead. The California horse led his Michigan rival the entire race, sometimes by as much as thirty lengths, crossing the finish line in 8:20, ten lengths in front.

After sixteen miles of racing, California's favorite son proved that California horses were indeed among the nation's best.

The New York Times, in an unabashed understatement, wrote "the enthusiasm of the crowd was overwhelming."

The hometown papers wrote: "It was undoubtedly the most extravagantly joyous crowd that ever thronged a race track on the Pacific coast."

When Thad passed under the wire and the race had been won "men threw up their hats, stamped upon the ground, shook hands, slapped one another upon the back and rushed wildly hither and thither while ladies waved their handkerchiefs and smiled happily."

THAD VICTORIOUS headlined the Chronicle.

THAD THE VICTOR seconded the Alta.

The New York Times made it unanimous with THAD STEVENS THE WINNER.

Despite these well-attended races, Fortune had not been kind to the Ocean Course. It suffered from three liabilities: location, location, and location. The truth was the track was in a remote and difficult to reach location from the city proper, and changes of ownership and management couldn't overcome that fatal handicap. Over its eight-year life, the Ocean Course hosted less than 100 racing days. No races were held between November 1868 and March 1871.

Read another retelling of the Great Race in this article.

Next: Golden Gate Driving Park

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Sunnyside District

(Where is the Sunnyside? See map in new window!)

In the late 1880s San Franciscan Behrend Joost signed a contract to provide dredging services for a canal-cutting venture in Panama. The attempt failed (a successful Panama Canal wouldn't come until 1914), but Joost got out with a lot of money for his work before the enterprise collapsed.

German-born, Joost had come to San Francisco as a teenager and had been a grocer, hardware salesman and small-scale real estate investor before starting the California Dredging Company. He put his new fortune to work by investing in real estate west of Glen Canyon. Development plans in western San Francisco had to be tied to efficient transportation to and from downtown, so Joost and his co-investors made sure they had both sides covered by starting the city's first interurban electric streetcar line. The "San Francisco and San Mateo Railway" had its grand opening on April 27, 1892 and its route conveniently ran past Joost's major land investment, "Sunnyside". 1

The Sunnyside subdivision abutted Adolph Sutro's vast forest on the west, the city's jail on the south and a ridgeline on the north, beyond which lay the pastoral Glen Park canyon. Despite the comparative wilderness, Joost's company went to great pains to point out that Sunnyside was "NOT in the sand dunes," and was indeed the "creme de la creme of San Francisco subdivisions". 2

When Joost's "Sunny Side Land Company" bought the land from Leland Stanford the surrounding area was mostly vegetable fields. Surveyed in January 1890, the plat map for Sunnyside was filed with the Recorder's office in April 1891. An alphabetical order to the street names progressed east to west, from Acadia to Hamburg (which sadly was changed to Ridgewood in later years), while the north-south were named for individuals (including Joost himself).

At the corner of today's Monterey Boulevard and Circular Way stood the powerhouse for Joost's electric railway (see image). In July 1891 came the first lot sale and by the end of December thirty-two more had been made. 3

But sales went slowly and the railway, beset by safety and other issues, ended up being a money loser. Joost eventually sold out his interests, and by 1900, less than 5% of Sunnyside's 2,250 lots had been built on. 4

Sunnyside's best know landmark arose in the early 1900s, when W.A. Merralls built San Francisco's "other conservatory" (the one not in Golden Gate Park) just north of today's Monterey Avenue between Baden and Congo. The Sunnyside Conservatory is city landmark #78 and owned by the Recreation and Park Department, but has had plenty of ups and downs through the years. Dedicated neighbors have been working hard to get it restored. 5

The housing shortage created by the 1906 earthquake and fire gave Sunnyside a boost in population and interest. Real estate salesmen predicted that the neighborhood would "within a short time be one of the most densely populated additions of the city." Schools and new streetcar lines, including the "10 Sunnyside", came with the new homes going up. 6

Eventually the city's various building booms caught up to the sparsely settled neighborhood. The razing of Sutro's forest for Westwood Park and Westwood Highlands opened up a path west as "Sunnyside Boulevard" merged into Monterey Boulevard. The old Ingleside Jail became City College and the various vegetable fields faded under concrete and homes. New streetcar lines, including the 10 Sunnyside reached the neighborhood. The small Victorian cottages were joined by stucco homes of the 1920s and 1930s and utilitarian duplexes of the 1950s and 60s.

The Sunnyside still feels like a working-class neighborhood despite acting as a gateway to the tonier enclaves to the west, such St. Francis Wood and Sherwood Forest. Perhaps because of the topography, and the dead-end streets created by City College and Interstate 280, Sunnyside has always had an isolated feeling---next to everything, but not a part of it.

And despite Joost's hopeful name choice, there's usually more fog than sun in Sunnyside.

Click on any corner of the map to see a close-up in a new window.

More on the Sunnyside:

Historical Images of the Sunnyside District



Images: 1) SF & SM Railway Powerhouse, 1900 Sanborn map image. Click here to see larger version in new window; 2) Sunnyside plat map broadsheet, California State Library, Sutro branch.

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BLOOMINGTON  The addition of 274 vaccinations in McLean County over the past day pushed the county's percentage of fully vaccinated people to 55%, according to new data from the Illinois Department of Public Health.

IDPH data shows about 191,581 COVID vaccine doses have been given out locally so far.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Tuesday urged eligible Illinoisans to get a COVID-19 vaccine booster shot and called on skilled nursing facilities to make booster shots available to patients and staff by Thanksgiving.

We've been lucky enough to live with vaccines so long that we often forget how much disease we've prevented, but millions of lives are saved across the world each year because of vaccines, Pritzker said during a COVID-19 update in Chicago.

The state health department is partnering with the Illinois Emergency Management Agency and Illinois Department on Aging to promote boosters and support skilled nursing facilities in administering them.

IDPH will base an outreach campaign on where outbreaks are occurring and the CDCs social vulnerability index, which uses 15 U.S. census variables to identify communities that might need support before, during or after disasters.

The administration encouraged all skilled nursing facilities to host a vaccine booster clinic by Thanksgiving, and said IEMA can, with a request for assistance, mobilize community partners vaccination program to support those efforts. IEMA has hosted more than 4,000 vaccine clinics through the community partners program since vaccines became available.

Illinois hospitalizations and positivity rates for the virus have been decreasing in recent days after a slight surge in August and September. As of Monday, the case positivity rate stood at 2 percent.

Fifty-eight people were released from isolation after exposure to COVID-19, new data from the McLean County Health Department shows.

MCHD reported 240 people still in isolation as of Tuesday. Twenty-three new cases were confirmed in the past day, MCHD said. No additional deaths were reported.

The percentage of tests that have returned positive for COVID in the past seven days remained unchanged, sitting at 1.8% as of Monday.

Local COVID hospitalizations did see a significant uptick in the past day, but MCHD said that's not always due to local COVID cases, noting that both OSF St. Joseph and Carle BroMenn medical centers accept patients from outside McLean County.

Between both hospitals, there are now 24 COVID patients  a 14-person jump in the past day. MCHD said both hospitals are reporting 97% of all available beds in the county as in-use, along with 88% of intensive care beds.

The number of county residents who are considered COVID patients at hospitals either in the county or outside of it was unchanged since Monday, sitting at 18 people.

Capitol News Illinois contributed to this report.

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BLOOMINGTON  Authorities on Tuesday said one person died in an overnight two-alarm apartment building fire in the 600 block of West Market Street. Five others were taken to hospitals.

Killed was a 62-year-old man whose identity is being withheld until next of kin are notified, officials said. An autopsy is planned for Wednesday morning.

Firefighters were called to the scene at 11:11 p.m. Monday but had to get out of the building after about 40 minutes. The stairs to the third story had burned away, leaving firefighters unable to get to that floor.

Firefighters from Normal and Bloomington Township were called in to assist on the fire, said Bloomington Fire Chief Eric West.

Flames could be seen shooting out of top-floor windows at 11:45 p.m. As firefighters fought back the flames with a hose from a ladder truck, smoke billowed from the windows.

Flare-ups were still coming out of holes in the roof area at 1:30 a.m. Tuesday as firefighters kept a hose fixed on the high points of the structure.

Around 2:20 a.m. on Tuesday, crews were able to reenter the building. The 62-year-old was found in his apartment, officials said.

A woman, who chose not to be identified, said she lived in a first-floor apartment and she and her husband heard a big boom. As her husband checked the first-floor hallway, smoke was filling the building and they heard windows popping before evacuating the building.

She, her husband and their dog watched the fire from across the street as firefighters continued to work. The woman said they would stay with her mother-in-law for the time being.

Albert Miller said he was at work when a neighbor called and said his building was on fire. When he got home, he wasn't able to enter the building and was left watching from across Market Street.

"I'm homeless" now, he said, adding that his belongings in his second-floor apartment were likely smoke damaged.

Miller said he had just moved in at the beginning of October.

The white and gray home is just west of North Oak Street. Market Street was blocked off from Roosevelt Avenue on the east and Mason Street on the west as crews worked the scene.

About 27 fire personnel responded and the final crews left at 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, 13 hours and 22 minutes later, said fire department spokesman Eric Davison.

The building is a total loss, the department said in a statement Tuesday. The Red Cross has been asked to assist the eight adults displaced by the fire, which includes the five who were hospitalized.

Officials on Tuesday said they wouldnt be releasing any additional information about those taken to the hospital.

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Dan McNeile Night Editor Night editor for Lee Enterprises Central Illinois. Follow Dan McNeile Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today
A Chicago police officer was shot in the Goose Island neighborhood Monday afternoon, authorities said.

Paramedics were called to the 1000 block of West North Avenue about 3:30 p.m., Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford said. They transported a male officer to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, he said.

The officer had injuries that were not believed to be life-threatening and his condition was stabilized, Langford said.

Yellow tape blocked traffic south of the hospital, and police vehicles surrounded the south entrance along Wellington Avenue near Mildred Avenue.

A person was in custody and a gun was recovered, Police Department spokesman Tom Ahern tweeted.

The shooting took place after police were called to an Ulta Beauty Store at 1000 W. North Ave. because someone was acting erratic inside the store, police Superintendent David Brown said at a news conference.

The person and a police officer struggled outside the store, which continued after a second officer arrived, Brown said.

The person fired three shots from a gun, hitting one officer once in the face. Brown described the injury as a through-and-through wound.

The second officer arrested the person at the scene, he said.

No officers fired their weapons, Brown said.

Were just grateful that our officer is in non-life-threatening condition at this point, and were asking the public to continue with their prayers for our officer and all the officers for the city of Chicago, Brown said.

Police had been doing extra patrols in the area because of recent incidents including burglaries, he said.

The investigation is continuing.

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The fall session of the Illinois General Assembly begins Tuesday with much of the focus on new congressional boundaries drawn by Democrats and aimed at retaining the partys control of the states Washington delegation for the next decade.

But anytime lawmakers convene in Springfield, the door opens for action on a wide variety of potential legislation, this time ranging from the expansion of the abortion rights of minors to tightening laws allowing vaccine mandates to incentives aimed at spurring electronic vehicle development.

Lawmakers are set to meet three days this week and three days next week. The initial session will serve largely a scene-setter to determine the appetite of legislators to consider potentially controversial legislation.

Pritzker lays out six-year timeline for $1.2B I-80 reconstruction project Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Monday unveiled a six-year timeline for the $1.2 billion reconstruction of Interstate 80 through Will County.

The one legislative outcome fully expected in the short session is final approval of a map drawing 17 new congressional boundaries in Illinois. The new map will reflect population changes in the delayed 2020 federal census that showed Illinois losing population for the first time in its history and, as a result, losing one of its U.S. House seats.

Democrats control the Illinois House and Senate as well as the governors office and can dictate the new map without any Republican input, as they did earlier this year in adopting new state legislative boundaries.

The first draft of the map was unveiled Friday, and Democrats contend it could reduce GOP representation in Washington from the current 13-5 Democratic advantage to 14-3. But some Democrats, noting their partys narrow majority in the U.S. House, want a more aggressive map to help hold or maintain control of the chamber.

The proposal would put Republican U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Channahon and freshman Democratic U.S. Rep. Marie Newman of LaGrange into a sprawling district that runs from the southwest suburbs to include rural areas along Interstate 80 around Peru and Ottawa.

The addition of the rural areas and the subtraction of city neighborhoods that are part of Newmans base could make a Kinzinger-Newman contest competitive in next years midterm.

Repeal of Illinois abortion notification buoyed by Texas law Alarmed and at the same time energized by a Texas law that bans most abortions, abortion-rights advocates in the General Assembly are targeting what people on both sides of the contentious issue consider the last restriction on access to abortion in Illinois.

The proposal also pits conservative Republican U.S. Rep. Darin LaHood of Peoria and freshman GOP U.S. Rep. Mary Miller of Oakland into one district. LaHood and Miller were staunch supporters of former President Donald Trump, but Miller has aligned herself with the more far-right elements of the GOP.

House Republican leader Jim Durkin of Western Springs said Democrats have used their majorities to abuse the mapmaking system.

The fact that they have this power shows that they absolutely are tone deaf when it comes to the attitudes of people of Illinois toward redistricting, but also about checks and balances, Durkin said Monday at an unrelated news conference.

The state legislative maps approved in September face a federal court challenge, and a lawsuit opposing the new congressional boundaries is likely.

The first legislative hearings on the proposed map are set for Wednesday. The map could be revised before it is placed before lawmakers for a final vote, which is expected near the close of the six-day session.

Democrats are also expected to make a push during the veto session to repeal a quarter-century old law that requires parents to be notified when a minor under 18 seeks an abortion.

The effort to remove one of the last major restrictions on the procedure in Illinois comes after Texas earlier this year enacted a law that essentially prohibits abortions after as little as six weeks of pregnancy, and as the U.S. Supreme Court prepares to hear oral arguments in December in a Mississippi case that has the potential to undermine the courts landmark Roe v. Wade decision.

Parental notification has been on the books in Illinois since 1995, when Republicans controlled both chambers of the General Assembly and the governors office. But after years of legal challenges blocking its enforcement, it didnt go into effect until 2013, when the Illinois Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the law was constitutional.

Current law requires a parent or adult family member in the same household to be notified at least 48 hours in advance of a minor receiving a surgical or medication abortion. Parental permission is not required for an abortion to be performed, and the minor can ask a judge to waive the notification requirement.

Critics of the law say it poses a danger to minors who come from unsafe family situations.

Just like the Texas law, (parental notification) is putting up a barrier to the most vulnerable young women who come from homes where theres violence, sexual abuse  there could be drug addiction, domestic violence, said Terry Cosgrove, longtime president and CEO of pro-abortion rights political action committee Personal PAC.

Anti-abortion groups, however, call parental notification a common sense requirement, noting that parental permission is required in Illinois for a minor to get a tattoo or piercing or receive over-the-counter medication from a school nurse.

The reality is, the vast majority of parents love their daughters and want whats best for them, said Amy Gehrke, executive director of Illinois Right to Life.

Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker has said he would support legislation eliminating the notification requirement for minors.

Separately, Pritzker will be pushing for legislation to prevent some public employees, including police officers and teachers, from trying to skirt COVID-19 vaccine mandates by citing a state law that allows people to avoid certain health care services for moral or religious reasons.

The states Health Care Right of Conscience Act was intended to allow health care workers, especially those at Roman Catholic hospitals, to deny the distribution of emergency contraceptives to patients seeking abortions.

In broad terms, the law applies to any phase of patient care, but whether the law indeed applies to vaccine mandates will be taken up at some point during two-week session.

Some courts have ruled in favor of employees who citied the right of conscience exemption. But the Pritzker administration said the law is being interpreted incorrectly by those resisting the vaccine requirements and is seeking to exempt masking and vaccine mandates from the statute.

The health care Right of Conscience Act was never intended to allow people to avoid public health guidance and jeopardize workplace safety during a pandemic, Pritzker spokesperson Emily Bittner said in a statement.

The Pritzker administration also is seeking approval of a package of tax credits and incentives to encourage more manufacturing of electric vehicles and their components in the state.

The Reimagining Electric Vehicles in Illinois Act, or the REV act, would provide for tax credits for large business development and allow businesses to claim some if not all of income tax withholdings attributable to new employees.

It also would provide for construction job credits for building facilities, create a streamlined permitting process and establishes a state government procurement price preference for electric vehicles built in Illinois.

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SPRINGFIELD  A three-judge federal court panel in Chicago ruled Tuesday that the legislative redistricting plan that Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed into law in June  before official 2020 U.S. Census numbers were available  was unconstitutional because the population variances among districts violated the one-person, one-vote doctrine.

But the court did not, as Republican officials had hoped, order that a bipartisan redistricting commission be formed to redraw the maps. Instead, it declared the second set of maps that Pritzker signed in September, following a legislative special session, to be a starting point in developing a new map, and it invited plaintiffs in two cases challenging the redistricting process to propose their own solutions.

Challenges to redistricting maps are routine. They occur every 10 years, like clockwork, during each census cycle, the court wrote. As this case and countless before it illustrate, parties need time to compile a record; courts need time to issue a ruling; and on occasion one or another aspect of a redistricting plan needs revision to comply with the law. Sometimes the revisions are minor.

That opinion set the stage for the next phase of the two lawsuits that were filed in June, arguing that the legislative maps that Democrats pushed through the General Assembly in the spring violated the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution.

Those maps were based on population estimates from the Census Bureaus American Community Survey because official data from the 2020 census had been delayed, largely due to the pandemic.

Democrats argued that they needed to move forward because the Illinois Constitution gives the General Assembly until only June 30 in the year following a decennial census to approve a redistricting plan. The official census numbers were not available until mid-August.

After June 30, the state constitution requires the formation of a bipartisan legislative commission to draw new maps, a process in which either party would have a 50-50 chance of controlling the outcome.

One of the lawsuits was filed by Republican leaders of the General Assembly, Sen. Dan McConchie, of Hawthorn Woods, and Rep. Jim Durkin, of Western Springs. They were later joined by the House and Senate GOP caucuses and the Illinois Republican Party.

They urged the court to declare the maps unconstitutional and, because no constitutional maps had been enacted by June 30, order the formation of the bipartisan commission required under the Illinois Constitution.

The second lawsuit was filed by a group of Hispanic voters in the Chicago area who were represented by attorneys from the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, or MALDEF. They had asked the court to declare the maps unconstitutional and for the court itself to order a remedy.

But defendants in the case  who included House Speaker Emanuel Chris Welch, Senate President Don Harmon, the Illinois State Board of Elections and its individual members  argued that because lawmakers had come back in the summer to pass a second set of maps, any challenge to the first set of maps should be considered moot.

The court, however, rejected that argument, noting that even though lawmakers had passed a second set of maps, they never specifically repealed the first set, which meant there was nothing to prevent the Democratic majority from going back at a later date and re-enacting them.

But it also rejected the Republicans request to order formation of a bipartisan commission, calling that implausible, given the limited time remaining before the 2022 primaries.

The commission does not come into play upon the striking down of a legislature-enacted plan any more than the General Assembly takes over if a commission-enacted plan fails to satisfy the courts, the judges wrote. Instead, the commission amounts to an alternative process for producing an effective map in the first instance if the political branches are unable to do so by the deadline.

The judges also rejected the notion that legislative maps could be held unconstitutional simply because they were drawn to protect the majority party.

To be sure, political considerations are not unconstitutional and courts are reluctant to wade into, much less to reverse, partisan maps, including those that amount to political gerrymanders, the judges wrote, citing a 2019 U.S. Supreme Court case. And we are not so naive as to imagine that any party in power would decline to exercise levers available to it to maximize its opportunity to retain seats in the General Assembly.

But the court also had some harsh criticisms for the process used to pass the second set of maps, including the fact that the public was given only a few hours to review those maps before they were voted on in the House and Senate.

Taking into account the totality of the circumstances  both agreed and disputed  we will proceed therefore toward the approval of a map for Illinois legislative districts for the next decade using the September Redistricting Plan as a starting point, but also carefully considering the legal challenges raised in the operative second amended complaints, the court wrote.

Both the Republicans and the MALDEF plaintiffs have argued that the second set of maps is unconstitutional as well, in part because they reduce the number of Latino-majority districts in both the House and Senate, even though the Latino population grew substantially between 2010 and 2020.

McConchie and Durkin issued a joint statement Tuesday calling the decision a victory.

During this process the Republican caucuses consistently demanded transparency and fairness in mapmaking, which were rejected by the Democrats and Governor Pritzker, they said. The courts ruling validates all the concerns that were raised during the Democrats unconstitutional attempt to gerrymander Illinois.

The court gave the plaintiffs until Nov. 8 to submit their proposed revisions to the second set of maps, along with a statement explaining how those revisions would cure any constitutional defects. Defendants then have until Nov. 18 to respond to those proposed revisions.

Harmon issued his own statement following the decision.

I am gratified that the court recognized that the General Assembly, in unique and unprecedented circumstances, did what we could do in May to fulfill our constitutional obligations, and did what we should do in September to ensure our maps are constitutional," he said in a statement distributed by a spokesperson. The Republicans preferred remedy was indeed far-fetched. Now, the Republicans finally need to put forward their own maps instead of simply complaining about ours.

The next status hearing in the case was set for Nov. 5.

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For years, including the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, Illinois officials failed to properly oversee nursing homes, including not enforcing staffing requirements and not imposing penalties sufficient to deter inferior operations, a consultants investigation concluded.

As a result, nursing home residents lodged an increasing number of complaints and faced ongoing dangers. Some facilities were cited repeatedly for the same violations, including abuse and neglect of residents, the report found.

Illinois had the second highest number of substantiated complaints per facility compared with similar states, with 1 out of 5 long-term facilities in the state having the lowest federal rating  one star. And ratings were disproportionately worse in Black areas with higher percentages of Medicaid patients.

A crucial contributing factor was that the state didnt follow the law to maintain minimum staffing of its own inspectors, the investigation found.

To correct the situation, the state was advised to increase enforcement of staffing and other regulations, require public reporting of facility performance, use data to improve equity, and target consistently poor performing facilities for technical support, according to the review by Manatt Health Strategies, which was commissioned by the state.

The widespread shortcomings and sweeping recommendations were reported by Manatt in November 2020, but the Illinois Department of Public Health only recently revealed the findings after a Freedom of Information request by the Tribune.

In response to Tribune questions, the department did not address all the recommendations individually, but reported that it had taken numerous actions to improve its oversight of nursing homes. The agency fully agreed with the reports recommendations and took immediate actions to reorganize the office, increase staffing levels that had been decimated under prior administrations, and completely eliminate the backlog of complaints, spokeswoman Melaney Arnold wrote to the Tribune.

The department has hired a new management team, a project manager to implement the recommendations and 40 new nurse surveyors since September 2020.

Perhaps most importantly, the state has also proposed revamping its funding formula to tie it to staffing and quality improvements. But that may take until next year for lawmakers to address.

Meanwhile, advocates for nursing home residents said that based on residents experiences not enough has been done. Nursing homes report that staffing shortages remain widespread, statistics show that many staff members remain unvaccinated and some residents worry they are still vulnerable to substandard care and death from COVID-19 and other health risks.

The consultants review follows years of complaints by senior care advocates about lackluster government oversight of a mostly for-profit industry that houses some of the states most vulnerable residents.

Besides being the main state agency that oversees efforts to fight a pandemic, one of IDPHs steady jobs over the years has been to oversee nursing homes. And in March 2020, with the then-new virus particularly targeting the older and more frail, advocates warned IDPH that the agency needed to aggressively monitor facilities because of their poor track record on fighting infections.

Yet the agencys initial response was broadly criticized as too timid and uncoordinated as the virus swept through facilities that were often understaffed and short on protective gear. A Tribune investigation later found that during COVID-19s first wave  even as most COVID-19 deaths were tied to long-term care facilities  IDPH had largely stopped inspecting facilities. Even when inspectors went, they often went well after major outbreaks had occurred, with the agency at times struggling to have accurate counts of cases and deaths at facilities.

At the time, the agency said it was doing all it could in unprecedented times, and that it limited inspections to lessen the chance its inspectors could catch and spread the virus. But, with family visits disallowed too, that meant far fewer outsiders could keep tabs on what was going on inside facilities, worrying advocates and family members about poor care that could more easily be hidden.

Advocate Bruce Carmona noticed that the number of workers at the nursing facility where he lived in Elk Grove Village was steadily dwindling, but state officials didnt seem to be enforcing staffing requirements.

As an advocate for nursing home residents statewide through Illinois Caregivers for Compromise, Carmona, 64, asked Illinois officials for more oversight, but hasnt seen much of a response.

During COVID, everybody laid in their beds, got bedsores, got sick and got lonely, Carmona said. From 2019 to 2020, there was a drastic change in staffing and the care you received. Staff was afraid of catching COVID, when they were actually bringing COVID into the nursing homes.

The nursing home review by Manatt was launched in response to the states discovery that its Bureau of Long-Term Care was not properly investigating complaints of abuse and neglect from March 15 to June 2020  even though complaints spiked in that time. Due to COVID-19, federal regulators had temporarily suspended deadlines to investigate certain complaints, but state requirements remained in place.

The health department reported that it subsequently investigated all of the 272 complaints from that time, and found 17 substantiated.

In the aftermath, the lack of state inspectors was of particular concern. At the time of the report, 90% of non-nurse surveyor positions were vacant.

The Bellwood region in the western suburbs had the largest gap, with almost two-thirdsof surveyor positions vacant, and one inspector per 588 beds, as of September 2020. The Bellwood region also had more facilities, more poorly performing facilities and far more complaints than other regions.

Statewide, Blacks made up 19% of nursing home residents, but 32% of those in one-star facilities. To counter that, the Manatt report recommended using data to assess and correct inequities.

AARP also called for reducing racial and ethnic disparities, in part by ending the practice of overcrowded nursing home rooms with three or four people per room, which disproportionately affects Black and Latino residents.

State worker vaccine deadline extended to Oct. 26 for first dose Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced Monday that his administration has reached agreement with multiple trade unions requiring certain state workers to be vaccinated against COVID-19, but it is extending the deadline for workers to get their first shot to Oct. 26 while negotiations continue with the states largest public employees union.

Commenting on the findings, Lori Hendren, AARP Illinois lead on nursing home issues, said, Whats happened in Illinois nursing homes and other long-term-care facilities (LTCFs) through the pandemic is an unacceptable tragedy. Illinois must have stronger oversight of LTCFs across the state.

Specifically, AARP called for requiring nursing homes to put most of their taxpayer funding toward direct care for residents through adequate and vaccinated staff. The staffing shortage, made worse by overworked employees who fear getting sick, could be improved by requiring paid sick leave for workers.

The consultants report covered a wide range of time, going back to 2014 for some nursing home metrics, through late 2020. In that time, residents of long-term-care facilities were particularly hard hit by COVID-19 in Illinois, where they made up 51% of all pandemic-related deaths, compared with 40% nationwide.

The Health Care Council of Illinois, which represents more than 300 nursing homes in the state, welcomed the recommendation for the state to offer assistance to violators to ensure compliance, as opposed to repeated fines.

We cannot ticket our way out of the long-standing structural issues that afflict the industry, HCCI spokesman Kevin Heffernan said. We have to look at the root cause, which is that for decades the state of Illinois has reimbursed care for low-income patients at among the lowest rates in the country.

To help operators recover from the pandemic, Heffernan said, Illinois must increase Medicaid reimbursement, which would help to hire more staff and improve the quality of care.

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Most fully vaccinated adults in the United States will be eligible for COVID-19 booster shots within the coming weeks and months, Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Tuesday.

The governor and the state's top public health official, Dr. Ngozi Ezike, urged Illinoisans to start planning to get a booster and provided guidance for getting another shot during a news conference in Chicago.

By the end of this week, state health leaders will have official guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control on who should get booster shots for each of the COVID-19 vaccines, Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson, Pritzker said.

Certain people who got the Pfizer vaccine are already eligible for a booster, including those 65 years or older, people with underlying health problems, people who work in high-risk jobs or live in congregate settings. They should get a booster at least six months after their second dose, according to the CDC.

The Food and Drug Administration recommended anyone who got a Johnson & Johnson vaccine, no matter their age or risk level, should get a booster at least two months after their first shot.

The CDC this week will issue a decision this week about those who got the Moderna vaccine and is 65 or older, or at higher risk. The FDA recommended they get a booster at least six months after they received their second dose.

Congressional maps at center of Illinois legislatures fall session The fall session of the Illinois General Assembly begins Tuesday with much of the focus on new congressional boundaries drawn by Democrats and

Federal health officials are also working on a decision regarding mixing and matching vaccines for booster shots.

Boosters are expected to extend protection from serious illness from COVID-19 and hospitalization as winter approaches, Ezike said. The CDC released a study in late September showing the effectiveness of the Pfizer vaccine drops significantly after four months.

"We as Illinoisans will not stand idly by and relive the tragedy that we saw, especially when we have a powerful tool that will prevent those hospitalizations and deaths," Ezike said.

COVID-19 has killed 25,470 Illinoisans, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health. Eighty-five percent of Illinoisans older than 18 have been fully vaccinated, while only 18% of Illinoisans over 65 had received a booster shot as of Oct. 12.

St. Clair County reopened its mass vaccination clinic in early October with a focus on providing boosters. The state announced a plan to roll out a mass booster campaign in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities.

Eligible people can go anywhere for a booster shot and don't have to go to the same place they got their initial shot. Doctors offices, pharmacies and public clinics provide vaccines.

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Touchette Regional Hospital announced on Monday that all employees will be required to be vaccinated against COVID-19.

The requirement is a condition of employment and applies to all Touchette employees, on-site contractual employees, and on-site providers, according to a release from the Cahokia Heights hospital.

The Touchette Regional Hospital Board of Directors approved the policy at a recent meeting.

"As the principal healthcare provider in our community, we should serve as a leader to our patients, families, coworkers, and community," President of Touchette Regional Hospital Jay Willsher said.

"We are proud to be able to lead the discussion on this important topic and want our patients and community to know they will be stepping into a hospital where all of our staff has been vaccinated."

The deadline for current employees to become vaccinated is Dec. 1, 2021, and new hires are required to be vaccinated prior to their start date. Exemptions for medical and religious reasons are available, the release stated.

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Newmont Golden Ridge Ltd. (Akyem Mine) has paid a dividend of over GHc 110M to the government of Ghana for the year 2021 in respect of its carried interest in the company. This follows a declaration of dividend by the Board of Directors of Newmont Ghana at its second-quarter meeting of 2021, after considering all future capital commitments.



A global leader in mining, Newmont operates the Ahafo and Akyem mines in Ghana and is the countrys leading producer of gold.



At a short ceremony in Accra, the Regional Senior Vice President - Africa Operations, Francois Hardy, led a delegation of Newmont officials to present a symbolic cheque to the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, John Abu Jinapor . He thanked the government for its continuous support to the company as it strives to create value and improve lives through sustainable and responsible mining.



According to Mr. Hardy, Newmont Ghana takes its fiscal responsibilities seriously and will continue to demonstrate transparency through publishing what it pays.



In 2020, our Ahafo and Akyem mines paid GHc1.83bn in Corporate Income T ax, Mineral Royalty, PAYE and others. Again, in July this year, we published our 2021 half year taxes and royalty payments made (i.e. from January to June 2021). Altogether, Newmont Ghanas Ahafo and Akyem Mines paid over GHc947M to the Ghana Revenue Authority , he stated.



COVID-19 Impacts on Operations



Touching on the impact of COVID-19 on Newmonts operations in Ghana, Mr. Hardy said, although the pandemic significantly impacted the mining sector, Newmont Ghana put in place the necessary interventions to keep its workforce and communities safe. He said, the company continued operating during the pandemic - with its leaders and teams adjusting time and again as conditions changed.



In the end and thankfully, the impacts on people, production and other operational outcomes were moderate and we had a solid year supported by favourable gold price. Again, lessons learnt during the pandemic have exposed us to new ways of operating and the opportunities with technology, he added.



Beyond safeguarding the safety of its over 6,000 employees across its three operational sites, Newmont says it complied with the various Government COVID-19 protocols and has spent over $2.2m to support the Chamber of Mines efforts; assist its host communities with much needed



medical supplies to the local hospitals, virtual learning via radio and helping government institutions and health institutions across the country over the period.



Newmonts Growth and Sustainability in Ghana



The Regional Senior Vice President for Newmonts Africa Operations used the opportunity to reiterate Newmonts commitment to Ghana and growing its operations in the country to create more value for all stakeholders. Recently, Newmont Corporations Board of Directors approved funding between $750 to $850 million capital investment to develop a new mine in the T ano North district of the Ahafo Region. This investment will upscale the companys operation in the Ahafo Region building a mining complex which unlocks Newmont Ghanas true potential to become an even bigger aspect of a global gold mining leader  with associated and exciting new technologies.



This investment in the Ahafo Region, according to the company, will potentially create additional jobs, higher dividend, royalties and taxes payments for Government and other stakeholders. There will also be focus and commitment to local content and ensuring opportunities for Ghanaian companies to, on their own or in partnership with others, join an expanded value chain to provide more inputs and services.



Mr. Hardy expressed gratitude to the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, Minerals Commission, other regulators, and Government for the support extended to the company since the start of the COVID 19 pandemic and asked for even more support from government as the company works through the processes to bring this very exciting project into being in the next few years.



M inister Receives Dividend on behalf of Government



Receiving the cheque on behalf of government, Hon. John Jina por lauded Newmonts numerous contributions to national development and urged other mining companies to emulate the companys example.



He said Government was desirous of making Ghana the mining hub of Africa and assured of his ministrys support to create a conducive environment for mining operations.

Source: Peacefmonline.com/ghana









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The Minister for Works and Housing, Francis Asenso-Boakye (MP) has revealed that Government is working on a framework that will absorb the cost of land and infrastructural services, which are key components in the provision of decent, secured quality and affordable accommodation for private developers in support of its affordable housing program.



This, the Minister believes, will be pivotal in addressing the supply-side constraints of the housing market.



Speaking at the 2021 Business 24 Real Estate Conference today in Accra, the Minister said the Works and Housing Ministry has since identified each the cost drivers that contribute to the cost of an affordable housing unit and has subsequently mapped out specific strategies with the sole objective of making housing affordable for the large section of the Ghanaian population.



The UN-Habitat study reveals that families who pay more than 30 percent of their income for housing are considered cost burdened and may have difficulty affording necessities such as food, clothing, transportation, and medical care.



The Minister explained that for housing to be deemed as affordable, housing cost should not exceed 30% of a households income be it for purchase, mortgage, rental or rent-to-own.



With high price of most commercial housing units being attributed to cost of building materials which are mainly imported, the Minister urged industry players to embrace the use of local building materials. He envisaged that developers who wish to partner Government in its Affordable Housing drive will need to incorporate the use of local materials in the construction of any Affordable Housing Projects.



Such initiative, he noted, will go a long way to reduce building cost and ensure the provision of affordable accommodation while boosting the local economy.



The Minister further appealed to stakeholders in the housing sector to embrace governments instituted affordable housing framework and partner with banks and other financial institutions to invest more to wipe out the prevalent housing deficit, adding that it is only through this that we can reach out to majority of our citizens and positively affect the lives of the larger population.



The maiden edition of the Real Estate Conference brought together key industry players, professionals, and experts to engage in discussions that seek to match the various challenges of affordable housing development to workable solutions



Source: Peacefmonline.com/ghana









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Nana Oko Agyemang Boakye II, the Chief of Terchire in the Tano North Municipality, has vowed to banish persons caught engaging in same-sex marriage in his community, saying that act is not only barbaric, unnatural and alien but also contrary to traditional norms.



Nana said going strictly by the traditional values and teachings, regarding the non-negotiable prohibition of same-sex, the Terchire community in Ghana remained resolutely opposed to any attempt to legalise homosexuality as a way of life and asked the government to criminalise the practice.



Nana Oko Agyemang Boakye II, noted this when the Catholic Bishop for the Goaso diocese Most Rev, Peter kwaku Atuahene paid a courtesy call on him at his palace on Sunday to familiarise with him.



Nana speaking before his subjects said homosexual acts had negative attribution associated with it, which formed the basis for prohibitions of indecency, unprecedented abomination, unnatural lust for same-sex and a route to wasteful and distractive life.



Nana explained that, his community has declared its support to the bill seeking to criminalise the act. We're stating unequivocally that we support the bill and prays that it will see the light of day. Let us protect the good family system that we have inherited from our ancestors, he added.



He averred that, as traditional leaders and custodians of the lands, they will never support such practices adding that, they will resist strongly, any attempts to impose any culture that seems to undermine the tradition of the Ghanaian.



He has urged the government not to bow to any external pressure in the name of bilateral relationship to approve such practices, noting that, any politician who supports the act will be punished by the electorates in any election.



Most Rev Peter kwaku Atuahene, the Catholic Bishop for the Goaso Diocese in his remarks said the Ghana Catholic Bishops Conference (GCBC) has already issued a communique to the government not to succumb to pressures to legitimize the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBTQI) rights in Ghana and therefore urged the traditional authorities to throw their weight against the act.

Source: Kwabena Manu/Peace fm/Bono East correspondent.









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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It is common to hear complaints that election campaigns consist of mudslinging, misrepresentation, lies and other tactics.



Since 2000, elections in Ghana have been lauded by observers both internally and externally as being free and fair. The losing political party, however, has consistently contested the election results.



Editor of the Ghanaian Publisher Newspaper, Yaw Obeng Manu, has claimed that stealing has always been a part of politics.



Speaking in an interview with Sefah-Danquah on the Happy Morning Show, he asserted let nobody misunderstand what I am saying. Finding means of stealing is part of politics. From 1992 to 2020 citizens double vote, they do it all the time.



After the 2004 presidential elections, three key opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) members challenged the results announced by the Electoral Commission (EC), suing the EC to publish detailed data from the election.



Similarly, at the end of the closely contested 2008 presidential election and the subsequent run-off, leading NDC members accused the EC of trying to manipulate results, and their frustrated supporters invaded the EC head office in Accra.



According to him, the political parties sponsor all those things in their stronghold, citing an example I remember the time I went to the Northern Region where children around 8years were made to vote, and they were bold to tell me it is their stronghold when I confronted them. It means the political parties can do whatever they want.



In the aftermath of the 2012 presidential election, the opposition NPP accused the winner, John Dramani Mahama and the NDC of rigging the election, boycotted the inauguration of the president, and asked the Supreme Court to overturn the official results declared by the EC. This also happened after election 2020, where the NDC also accused the NPP of working together with the EC to rig the elections to favour the ruling NPP.













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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Managing Director of State Transport Corporation (STC), Nana Akomea, has dismissed reports that the appointment of MMDCEs at the Assembly level has been chaotic.



Some nominees named by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo have been rejected while others have enjoyed a safe sail through the elections by Assembly members.



One of the contentious elections at the various Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) is that election of Takoradi Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) which has been characterized by rejections and chaos.



This trend, to some people is worrying, but Nana Akomea shares dissenting views.



According to him, there is no cause for alarm over the MMDCEs elections.



Speaking on Peace FM's 'Kokrokoo' programme, he told host Kwami Sefa Kayi that, ''many [many, many] vast majority of the districts, the endorsement has gone on smoothly without any chaos. It's the few ten or fifteen that the media throws light on because that's news, otherwise I think it's a smooth process . . . I don't think there is a problem with the process we have now for the DCEs. I don't think so; there's no problem to be fixed".



He lauded the President's consultative initiative which preceded the nomination of the candidates saying ''once you're consulting, there will be people who will talk for and against. That is not discord. That is not a problem; it's natural''.









Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Managing Director of State Transport Corporation (STC), Nana Akomea, has slammed former President John Dramani Mahama over his recent comments regarding President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and his government.



The NDC 2020 Presidential candidate, John Mahama believes soldiers were used to declare the 2020 elections in favour of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) in some collation centres.



He explained that the deployment of the Military forced some officers of the Electoral Commission to declare wrong results to favour his opponent, President Akufo-Addo.



He said; We won the majority in Parliament, but you saw what happened on the day. In many of the collation centres they injected soldiers and forced the electoral officers to pronounce results that were not real.



But for a lot of scheming that took place, the NDC would have won the election. I do believe that we did win, but a lot of things went untoward and so even though power did not come into our hands, it does not mean we do not have the prospects of winning.



Mr. Mahama made these claims during an interview on Global FM as he commenced his one-day Thank You tour of the Volta Region.



In reply, Nana Akomea challenged Mr. Mahama to provide evidence to support his claims.



He likened the former President to a serial caller, stating his claims are unfounded.



". . if you say soldiers forced Electoral Commission to declare results in favour of NPP without presenting evidence or you say the Electoral Commission printed 1 million ballots without substantiating it, you have to leave this for serial callers . . . For a whole former President to be saying these things is worrying. And you've accused the Electoral Commission of printing 1 million ballot papers, if you do that, then you're inciting your followers against the Electoral Commission without any basis. That's how unfair it is," he said on Peace FM's ''Kokrokoo''.







Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Ghanaian dancehall artiste Shatta Wale has allegedly been shot by unknown gunmen at East Legon, a suburb of Accra.



He has been rushed to an unnamed hospital and is receiving emergency treatment, Pulse.com.gh reports.



Accra-based Starr FM also reports the development attributing their story to one Nana Dhope, Shatta Wale's personal assistant.



The development comes a day after the musician celebrated his 37th birthday.



The hashtag #Shattabration topped trends through Sunday (October 17) as his contemporaries sent him well wishes on his big day.



From across the oceans, American musician Beyonce also extended birthday wishes with an old photo of Shatta Wale.









Source: ghanaweb.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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Charles Nii Armah Mensah Jnr, known in showbiz circles as Shatta Wale has responded to reports that he had been a victim of a shooting incident late Monday, October 18, 2021.



The dancehall artiste had been widely rumoured to have been shot, reportedly at East Legon, and sent to an unidentified medical facility for emergency treatment. The viral news triggered a statement from the Ghana Police Service who said they were monitoring the development and had two major outcomes at the time of issuing a statement.



The police said they were probing the said shooting and also looking for the hospital Shatta Wale had allegedly been admitted.



In the early hours of Tuesday, October 19, 2021; Shatta Wale via his official Facebook page announced that he was on the run because he feared for his life.



"Yes, my life is in Danger and am on the run till this country shows me there are LAWS.." his statement read in part after he had spoken about a death prophecy made last month which he accused the Police of turning a blind eye to.



Here are five major issues Shatta Wale raised in his statement:



a. His mental state



He wrote: "Psychological, or emotional trauma, is damage or injury to the psyche after living through an extremely frightening or distressing event and may result in challenges in functioning or coping normally after the event.



"The statement made by this false prophet has gotten me in a mood of violence since no one in this country cares.



b. The October 18 death prophecy and Police failure to act



So the police of this country want to tell me none of them saw those threatening statement online to take Action ?



This pastor said 18th October shatta wale will be shot and you want to tell me you didnt see from you cyber crime department nor did u hear or came across anything like that online ?



I wont wait for Ghana police to call my father and tell my father ,his son got shot this afternoon,I wont wait for Ghana stupid media houses to spread news to my fans about me being shot because all we wish in this country is for dead people and funerals.



c. Decision to 'protect' himself



If my life can be threatened and there is no law to take actions on that then I guess I will do what is right in the eyes of God.



This is not the first time I have had these threats in this country am now I am going these emotional trauma alone ,



My dad has even defended me on radio on this same issue .why ? Why ? Ghana ? Why ?



Yes ,my life is in Danger and am on the run till this country shows me there are LAWS..



d. Apology to aides, fans, father



Deportee am sorry for taking your phone

Dope sorry for taking your phone

To my fans am sorry but I will have to fight this fight alone and get it done ..

To my Dad I say sorry for putting you thru stress



e. Calling out fake pastors and call to action



PASTORS ALWAYS SAY THINGS AND LATER PLAN EVIL TO IT ,SO THAT ME AND YOU WILL BELIEVE THEY ARE POWERFUL MEN OF GOD ..

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH

THE YOUTHS OF THESE COUNTRY ARE TIRED OF RELIGIOUSNESS ,WE KNOW GOD ALREADY AND THAT IS THAT .

IF THIS WILL MAKE ME STOP MUSIC LIKE HOW MANY WANT ME TO STOP ,

THEN SO BE IT

CUZ I AM TIRED OF THE NEGATIVITY IN THIS COUNTRY.

THIS IS WHAT I HAVE TO SAY .

Psychological, or emotional trauma, is damage or injury to the psyche after living through an extremely frightening or distressing event and may result in challenges in functioning or coping normally after the event.

The statement made by this false prophet has gotten me in a mood of violence since no one in this country cares.

So the police of this country want to tell me none of them saw those threatening statement online to take Action ?

This pastor said 18th October shatta wale will be shot and you want to tell me you didnt see from you cyber crime department nor did u hear or came across anything like that online ?

I wont wait for Ghana police to call my father and tell my father ,his son got shot this afternoon,I wont wait for Ghana stupid media houses to spread news to my fans about me being shot because all we wish in this country is for dead people and funerals.

If my life can be threatened and there is no law to take actions on that then I guess I will do what is right in the eyes of God.

This is not the first time I have had these threats in this country am now I am going these emotional trauma alone ,

My dad has even defended me on radio on this same issue .why ? Why ? Ghana ? Why ?

Yes ,my life is in Danger and am on the run till this country shows me there are LAWS..

Deportee am sorry for taking your phone

Dope sorry for taking your phone

To my fans am sorry but I will have to fight this fight alone and get it done ..

To my Dad I say sorry for putting you thru stress

PASTORS ALWAYS SAY THINGS AND LATER PLAN EVIL TO IT ,SO THAT ME AND YOU WILL BELIEVE THEY ARE POWERFUL MEN OF GOD ..

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH

THE YOUTHS OF THESE COUNTRY ARE TIRED OF RELIGIOUSNESS ,WE KNOW GOD ALREADY AND THAT IS THAT .

IF THIS WILL MAKE ME STOP MUSIC LIKE HOW MANY WANT ME TO STOP ,

THEN SO BE IT

CUZ I AM TIRED OF THE NEGATIVITY IN THIS COUNTRY.

SON OF GHANA

1 DON

(SHATTA WALE )



Source: facebook/ghanaweb









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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" " Plagiarism usually involves deliberately passing off somebody else's original expression or creative ideas as one's own. Wikimedia Commons/CC BY-SA 4.0

A reporter at The New York Times. A U.S. Senator, running for president. A first lady. A revered country music star. A civil rights icon.

Each of them, along with thousands and thousands of students every year, uncounted scientists and doctors, titans of business and speakers at the local Rotary Club are virtual thieves, swiping the work, words and ideas of others and passing them off as their own. They are plagiarists.

"We've seen plagiarism in movies. We've seen plagiarism in music ... We've seen plagiarism in dance. We've seen plagiarism in architecture. We've seen plagiarism in almost every form of creativity," says Jonathan Bailey, a writer and businessman who runs the website Plagiarism Today.

"It's a particular problem in academia because we care so much about the process," says David Rettinger, a professor of psychology at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Virginia, and the president of the International Center for Academic Integrity. "I say this to my students all the time: I don't care that you give me a [clean] paper. I care that you write a paper. The point is ... it's like sending someone to the gym for you. It completely defeats the purpose."

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What Is Plagiarism?

If Merriam-Webster is your definition of definitions, then plagiarism is, in its verb forms:

transitive verb

: to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one's own : use (another's production) without crediting the source

intransitive verb

: to commit literary theft : present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source

For an example, we could simply have copied those definitions (which, in fact, we did), not changed a word (ditto)  not even the format (yep)  and not credited Merriam-Webster. But then, of course, we'd be flat-out plagiarizing, or at the very least trampling on the line between plagiarism and safer, albeit sleazy word-cribbing. Wisely, we attributed the words to Merriam-Webster. We even provided a link.

Plagiarism is not always that cut-and-paste easy. The legal definition  this taken from Cornell Law School's Legal Information Institute  is, as legalese often is, murky:

Deliberately passing off somebody else's original expression or creative ideas as one's own. Plagiarism can be a violation of law if copyrighted expression is taken. Often, however, plagiarism does not violate any law, but instead simply marks the plagiarist as an unethical person in the political, academic or scientific community where the plagiarism occurs.

So then, what about taking information from someone else, twisting a few words around, maybe changing a name or two, and passing it off as your own? How much do you have to change to avoid plagiarism? How much "borrowing" is too much? Where do you draw the line?

"It's always OK to use the ideas or the words of somebody else. That's not the problem. The problem is acknowledging your sources," Rettinger says. "Different disciplines and different situations have different expectations of what's yours and what's shared."

Lawyers, for another example, can use similar wording in legal briefs  maybe even the exact wording  but that may be more generally acceptable; it is, Rettinger says, shared language in their profession. But what about scientists, or researchers borrowing wildly from another paper that was based on an originally researched study?

Or this example from journalism: A big news site, say, taking chunks of a story reported and written by another site. If it's a 1,000-word article done by Site A, and Site B uses 800 words of it verbatim, is that OK, even if Site B credits Site A? Is that plagiarism? Can we agree that, at least, it's pretty lame?

"It seems to me more and more mainstream sites are doing it," Bailey says. "I kind of expect it from Johnny Q Snapchat Blogger or whatever. But when I see a mainstream website doing it, I get very worried."

The point is, it's hard to say sometimes what is and what isn't. Oftentimes, the plagiarizer and the one who is ripped off don't see eye to eye.

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Who Plagiarizes?

Who would do such a thing? Students, all the time. Researchers (according to one study, close to 10 percent of retracted journal articles were pulled because of plagiarism). Politicians (former U.S. Senator and Vice President Joe Biden, famously, was accused of it in a speech and, years after the fact, admitted to plagiarism he committed as a student  though he said it wasn't "malevolent"). First ladies (Melania Trump has been dogged by rumors of plagiarism in speeches ever since her opening night address at the Republican National Convention in 2016). Journalists, as we've pointed out. Musicians, too (Bailey names Johnny Cash). Poets (see Now That's Interesting, below) and writers.

Sometimes, we should acknowledge, plagiarism is accidental. A student, borrowing an idea from a website while doing research, pastes some information into a paper s/he is working on and forgets to attribute it. Obviously, it's a small problem when it's a sentence or a brief paragraph. It's a bigger problem when several paragraphs or chapters make their way into the paper.

But some, of course, steal wantonly, never intending to give others credit in an attempt to pull a fast one. They figure they won't be caught and, if they are, they think they can explain it away.

There are others, too, both brazen and sly. Many, many others. "The ones that get me are the students that just don't feel like they can do the work," Rettinger says. "Those are the ones that make me the saddest."

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Why Do Plagiarists Steal?

Why? Laziness, or at least an unwillingness to put in the necessary effort, is one explanation. Expediency. A desire for acceptance or a good grade. Perhaps a lack of drive, or a lack of time. Maybe, as Rettinger says, a lack of talent, or at least a perceived lack of talent.

"Plagiarism begins, I think, at the core, when a person doesn't see the value in creating the work themselves," Rettinger says.

For those who don't plagiarize accidentally  and, of course, "It was an accident" is the first line of defense for any plagiarist  there are any number of reasons to go rogue. In a plagiarist's mind, if you're never caught, it's not wrong. It becomes acceptable.

Former American journalist Jayson Blair fabricated quotes, dreamed up things that never happened, stole entire passages from published news accounts verbatim, then concocted dozens and dozens of stories, passing them off as fact under his byline in The New York Times. He got away with it for years.

He tried to explain himself to Duke students in 2016. "Once you do something that crosses any ethical line... it is easy to go back and do it over and over," he told the student reporters. "I danced around it and then crossed it and had a real hard time coming back."

" " This plagiarism spectrum graph provides a scale of how likely someone is to have plagiarized accidentally or deliberately. The Australian National University

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How Big of a Problem Is Plagiarism?

With a moving definition of plagiarism, it's difficult to pin down exactly how many word and idea thieves are among us. (Not to mention those ripping off music  "Blurred Lines"  or other forms of expression  say, the movie "The Shape of Water.")

The biggest battle in the never-ending war against plagiarism remains in academia, and it's certainly not limited to high schoolers. One study found that more than half of 400 Iraqi medical students said they had plagiarized.

Even in the halls of higher learning, though, it's hard to determine how widespread the problem is. Schools often contract commercial firms like Turnitin to use their software to try to catch plagiarism. (Turnitin recognizes 10 types of plagiarism on its Plagiarism Spectrum.)

"It ranges from very little to all the time," Rettinger says. "It depends on how hard you look, and what subject you teach and to whom. In terms of wholesale plagiarism, probably not that often, but in terms of maybe a paragraph here or sentence here or a paragraph or sentence there  it depends on your definition of 'common'  but my impression there is it's fairly common.

"It's an arms race. And as long as it's on, we're going to lose, because there are more of them and they're very motivated."

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How Can We Stop It?

Aside from firms like Turnitin, online plagiarism checkers, which compare written papers to a database of published material, are available (some for free) for those wanting to stop plagiarism before it happens, or catch it once it does. Bailey  who has been the victim of plagiarism  is a copyright and plagiarism consultant at CopyByte, which says it offers "Plagiarism and Copyright Expertise You Can Trust."

Even with new methods of identifying plagiarism and plagiarists, Bailey admits that stopping the practice altogether is practically impossible. "It's one of those things," he says. "No police officer catches all the criminals."

Slowing plagiarism, though, can be a goal. It's critical for educators, Rettinger says, to teach students the very real worth of researching and writing their own work. And it's important to make students and other would-be plagiarizers understand, Bailey says, that both sides lose when someone tries to take credit for another person's work, words or ideas.

"You might be able to get away with it in the short term. But it's not just getting away with it in the short term. It's about trying to get away with it forever. And that is a losing battle," Bailey says. "It's almost inevitable that you'll get caught in the long term So be thinking about it not just in terms of today but, 'Could this ever come back to bite you?'"

NOW THAT'S INTERESTING The word plagiarism has its root in the Latin plagiarius. According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the word means "kidnapper, seducer, plunderer, one who kidnaps the child or slave of another ..." and was used by the Roman poet Martial to describe another poet who had plundered his works.
For decades, Carlos Allende (aka Carl Allen) was the sole "witness" of the allegedly supernatural events surrounding the 1943 Philadelphia Experiment. Carlos claimed to have been stationed on the SS Andrew Furuseth, a vessel docked in the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard with a clear view of the Eldridge when it disappeared.

Much later, after the release of the 1984 film "The Philadelphia Experiment," a man named Al Bielek came forward claiming to have personally taken part in the secret experiment, which he had been brainwashed to forget. Only after seeing the movie in 1988 did his repressed memories come flooding back [source: Vallee].

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Despite the insistent (and constantly evolving) claims of both men, it was the testimony of a third witness that ultimately shed some light on what may have really happened in Philadelphia during that wartime summer of 1943.

In 1994, French-born astrophysicist and ufologist Jacques F. Vallee published an article in the Journal of Scientific Exploration titled "Anatomy of a Hoax: The Philadelphia Experiment Fifty Years Later." In writing a previous article about the Philadelphia Experiment, Vallee asked readers to contact him if they had further information about the alleged event. That's when Vallee received a letter from Edward Dudgeon, who served in the U.S. Navy from 1942 to 1945.

Dudgeon had served on the USS Engstrom, which was dry-docked in the Philadelphia Naval Yard during the summer of 1943 [source: Vallee]. Dudgeon was an electrician in the Navy and had full knowledge of the classified devices that were installed on both his ship and the Eldridge, which he said was there at the same time.

Far from being teleportation engines designed by Einstein (or aliens), the devices enabled the ships to scramble their magnetic signature using a technique called degaussing. The ship were wrapped in large cables and zapped with high-voltage charges. A degaussed ship wouldn't be invisible to radar, but would be undetectable by the U-boats' magnetic torpedoes.

Dudgeon was familiar with the wild rumors about disappearing ships and mangled crewmen, but credited the fabrications to loose sailor talk about "invisibility" to torpedoes and the peculiarity of the degaussing process. The "green glow" was probably due to an electric storm or St. Elmo's Fire. As for the Eldridge's mysterious appearance in Norfolk and sudden return to Philadelphia, Dudgeon explained that the Navy used inland canals  off-limits to commercial vessels  to make the trip in six hours rather than two days [source: Vallee].

In another turn of events, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported in 1999 on a reunion of sailors who served on the USS Eldridge in Atlantic City. The sailors said the ship never docked in Philadelphia. Indeed, it was in Brooklyn on its supposed date of disappearance. The ship's log confirmed this. Further, the captain said no experiments were ever conducted on the vessel.

Despite the differing accounts, both Dudgeon and the Eldridge crew confirm that nothing otherworldly happened on the ship. Yet, people continue to believe otherwise. We'll look at some reasons why the hoax has endured for more than 70 years.

The Fate of the USS Eldridge In 1951, the U.S. transferred the ship to Greece where it was renamed the HS Leon and used in joint exercises between the two countries during the Cold War. It was eventually sold for scrap in the 1990s. A very ignoble end [source: Veronese].
Amess, 69, was knifed at a church on Friday in Leigh-on-Sea, east of London. At the scene, police arrested the 25-year-old son of an ex-media adviser to a former Somali prime minister. He remains in custody.

They are treating the attack, which Johnson described as a "contemptible act of violence," as potential terrorism.

Speaking to the congregation, the Archbishop of Canterbury said there was " a unanimous conviction" that Amess was "of the best".

The service was held at St Margaret's Church in Westminster and came after two hours of tributes to Amess from colleagues in parliament.

The murder of Amess has prompted questions about politicians' safety and what should be done to address the growing problem of online abuse.

Detectives are quizzing suspect Ali Harbi Ali, a British national, under counter-terrorism laws, looking at a possible link to Islamist extremism. Officers are also searching properties in and around London.

Ali had been referred to a anti-radicalisation programme known as Prevent, the BBC said. But he was not of formal interest to the domestic security agency MI5.

Amess was also chairman of the cross-party committee which promoted good ties between Britain and Qatar, and the Times newspaper said detectives were looking at this link. Amess had visited Qatar last week.

Police have warned about the danger the COVID-19 pandemic posed in terms of radicalisation as vulnerable people spent more time online, potentially exposed to extremist material.
A baby douc langur walks along a branch at the Singapore Zoo.

Poachers in Vietnam have shot dead five critically endangered langurs, a type of monkey killed for bushmeat and traditional medicine, state media said Tuesday.

Rangers and police found the dead grey-shanked douc langurs during a regular patrol of forests in Quang Ngai province.

Restricted to the forests of central Vietnam, the known global population of this type of langur is less than 1,000, according to conservation group Fauna and Flora International (FFI).

Other conservation groups estimate their number may be higher as some habitat areas have not yet been surveyed.

The primate is a regular victim of the illegal wildlife trade, and is sought after for bushmeat, traditional medicine and the pet trade, FFI says. They are also threatened by deforestation.

It is listed as "critically endangered", the highest risk category under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

In Quang Ngai, the poachers ran off, leaving behind a motorbike, bullets and silencers, VNExpress news site said in a report.

Local authorities are "looking into the case", it added.

The grey-shanked douc langur is listed in Vietnam's "red book", making it a criminal offence to kill one.

But law enforcement is a huge issue.

"Authorities must find those responsible," said Ha Thang Long, director of GreenViet, which works in biodiversity conservation in Vietnam's central regions.

"If we fail to... bring them to justice, this will continue to happen."

Under Vietnamese law, poachers in such a case could face seven years in jail, he added.

Vietnam is home to some of the world's most endangered species, including the Red River giant soft-shell turtle, the Tonkin snub-nosed monkey and the saola, a type of mountainous antelope.

Wild animals are under constant threat in the country, with their body parts in high demand for both food and traditional medicine.

Explore further Rare endangered primate spotted in Vietnam

 2021 AFP
Credit: University of Auckland Department of Conservation, Author provided

The world's rarest marine dolphin, Maui, is found only along the west coast of the North Island of Aotearoa New Zealand.

Based on our surveys over the last two summers, during which we collected small tissue samples for DNA analysis, we estimate there are currently only 54 Maui dolphins over one year of age.

These estimates are similar to previous surveys carried out over the past decade, since the establishment of the West Coast North Island Marine Mammal Sanctuary in 2008, which restricts or regulates the use of setnets, trawling and drift nets within 12 nautical miles of most of the west coast.

The prevailing narrative remains that fisheries pose by far the most significant threat, but we argue it is time to act on other causes of death, including the parasite that causes toxoplasmosis, a disease that starts in cats.

Maui dolphins are a genetically distinct subspecies, separated by about 15,000 years from the closely related Hector's dolphin. They look identical but Maui dolphins are found only along the west coast of the North Island and are critically endangered, while Hector's are mainly found around the South Island.

New fishing measures will be introduced on Oct 1 to support the Threat Management Plan for Hector's & Maui dolphins. The new rules prohibit set netting in a variety of areas & extends the trawl ban in the central Maui dolphin habitat zone. Learn more: https://t.co/w5rR2y69Z4 pic.twitter.com/eVO7rIXIIv  Ministry for Primary Industries (@MPI_NZ) September 30, 2020

Historically, there were several hundred Maui dolphins, but numbers declined rapidly from the 1970s, largely because they were being caught in fishing nets. Despite warnings during the 1980s and 1990s about the unsustainable number of deaths, there was initially a lack of urgency to address this threat.

We now risk repeating history by ignoring other known threats.

Dolphin deaths from toxoplasmosis

We know toxoplasmosis kills Maui dolphins, but the greatest challenge in determining the exact cause of death is finding their bodies. Some wash ashore, but with so few dolphins spread over a sparsely inhabited, rugged coastline, only a small percentage are found. Many are too decomposed to determine their cause of death.

Post-mortems show they die from "natural" causes such as old age, disease and shark predation, but also from human-related factors, including toxoplasmosis.

Researchers found over half of the dead Maui and Hector's dolphins examined were infected with the parasite that causes toxoplasmosis. Of the ten Maui dolphins found dead since 2006, two had died of toxoplasmosis.

This parasite completes its life cycle inside a cat, producing millions of eggs that enter the environment in cat poo. These eggs are extremely resistant. They can survive hot, cold, dry and wet conditions, including in seawater, for at least a year.

The eggs enter the sea in freshwater runoff, where they are eaten by fish, shellfish and crabs. Maui dolphins are most likely infected by eating fish that have consumed the parasite eggs. Once inside a dolphin, the parasite multiplies and can cause death.

Toxoplasmosis also kills native birds and can cause disease in humans.

The fact that cats can indirectly kill dolphins is difficult for many people to comprehend, leading some to discount this as a serious threat. While the overall impact of toxoplasmosis is currently unclear, ultimately this is a human-caused threat which should be openly discussed, as has happened for fisheries threats.

We believe the current focus on fisheries bycatch, to the exclusion of all other threats, puts Maui dolphins at risk of further decline.

Repeating history

There is considerable uncertainty around this threat, but we do know Maui dolphins die of toxoplasmosis and this disease causes population-level impacts on other species of marine mammals, including sea otters and Hawaiian monk seals.

In terms of action, we've been here before: lack of certainty around Maui dolphin bycatch deaths in the 1980s and 1990s meant that the threat from fisheries was largely ignored, with the loss of more dolphins.

We risk repeating history if we again ignore the known threat of toxoplasmosis because we are unable to have courageous conversations about managing the risk to the few remaining Maui dolphins.

The Maui dolphin is on the edge of extinction & we're working with @AucklandUni to monitor the population to know if the protection measures in place are working or need to be strengthened. Read some facts on the Maui dolphin: https://t.co/2TgqGjE0zR #Seaweek #WorldWildlifeDay pic.twitter.com/rRs9dtAtzF  Department of Conservation (@docgovtnz) March 2, 2019

We believe the fisheries risk, while not entirely eliminated, has largely been controlled. However, because of the exclusive focus on fisheries from some sectors, New Zealand is at the center of a US lawsuit to ban our fish imports.

This lawsuit claims there is insufficient protection from bycatch. It is based on unsupported information about Maui dolphin distribution. If the lawsuit is successful, it could cost New Zealand up to NZ$200 million.

Considering the Maui dolphin's status and the financial risk to New Zealand, the government seems slow to support open discussion, research and actions to manage poorly understood risks, including disease.

Millions of research dollars are spent on terrestrial species that have less urgent immediate conservation needs and less reputational risk to Aotearoa. The Maui dolphin is our most urgent conservation priority, and we face challenging decisions.

If we are to learn anything from the lack of action to manage fisheries threats when they were first identified, it is that we should not let uncertainty stop us from acting to manage other threats to Maui dolphins.

Explore further US bans swimming with Hawaii's nocturnal spinner dolphins

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
The thermosphere is the highest and hottest atmospheric layer, where the ISS flies and the aurora and airglow can be observed. Credit: NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center/Genna Duberstein

New results from NASA satellite data show that space weatherthe changing conditions in space driven by the suncan heat up Earth's hottest and highest atmospheric layer.

The findings, published in July in Geophysical Research Letters, used data from NASA's Global Observations of the Limb and Disk, or GOLD mission. Launched in 2018 aboard the SES-14 communications satellite, GOLD looks down on Earth's upper atmosphere from what's known as geosynchronous orbit, effectively "hovering" over the western hemisphere as Earth turns. GOLD's unique position gives it a stable view of one entire face of the globecalled the diskwhere it scans the temperature of Earth's upper atmosphere every 30 minutes.

GOLD scans the thermosphere from a position in geostationary orbit, which stays over one particular spot on Earth as it orbits and the planet rotates. Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Tom Bridgman

"We found results that were not previously possible because of the kind of data that we get from GOLD," said Fazlul Laskar, who led the research. Dr. Laskar is a research associate at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado, Boulder.

From its perch some 22,000 miles (35,400 kilometers) above us, GOLD looks down on the thermosphere, a region of Earth's atmosphere between about 53 and 373 miles (85 and 600 kilometers) high. The thermosphere is home to the aurora, the International Space Station, and the highest temperatures in Earth's atmosphere, up to 2,700 F (1,500 C). It reaches such incredible temperatures by absorbing the sun's high-energy X-rays and extreme ultraviolet rays, heating the thermosphere and stopping these types of light from making it to the ground.

Credit: NASA

But the new findings point to some heating not driven by sunlight, but instead by the solar windthe particles and magnetic fields continuously escaping the sun.

The solar wind is always blowing, but stronger gusts can disturb Earth's magnetic field, inducing so-called geomagnetic activity. Laskar and his collaborators compared days with more geomagnetic activity to days with less, and found an increase of over 160 F (90 C) in thermospheric temperatures. Magnetic disturbances, driven by the sun, were heating up Earth's hottest atmospheric layer.

Some amount of heating was expected near Earth's poles, where a weak point in our magnetic field allows some solar wind to pour into our upper atmosphere. But GOLD's data showed temperature increases across the whole globeeven near the equator, far from any incoming solar wind.

Laskar and colleagues suggest it has to do with changing circulation patterns. There's a swirling of air high above usa global circulation that pushes air from the equator up to the poles and back around at lower altitudes. As the solar wind pours into the thermosphere near the poles, the added energy can alter this circulation pattern, driving winds and atmospheric compression that can raise temperatures even far away.

Animation of the solar wind blowing past Earth. Credit: NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center/Scientific Visualization Studio/Greg Shirah

Changing circulation might also underlie another surprise finding. GOLD's data showed the amount of heat added depended on the time of day. The team discovered a stronger effect in the morning hours compared to that in the afternoon. They suspect that geomagnetic activity might especially strengthen the circulation during the night and early morning hours, though this explanation awaits confirmation in further studies.

Laskar was most impressed with the subtlety of the changes they could detect in GOLD's data.

"We used to believe that only prominent geomagnetic events could change the thermosphere," Laskar said. "We are now seeing that even minor activity can have an impact."

With its steady stream of temperature measurements, GOLD is painting a picture of an upper atmosphere much more sensitive to the magnetic conditions around Earth than previously thought.

More information: F. I. Laskar et al, Response of GOLD Retrieved Thermospheric Temperatures to Geomagnetic Activities of Varying Magnitudes, Geophysical Research Letters (2021). Journal information: Geophysical Research Letters F. I. Laskar et al, Response of GOLD Retrieved Thermospheric Temperatures to Geomagnetic Activities of Varying Magnitudes,(2021). DOI: 10.1029/2021GL093905
A still image visualizing Arctic sea ice on Sept. 16, 2021, when the ice appeared to reach its yearly minimum extent. On this date, the extent of the ice was 4.72 million square miles (1.82 million square kilometers). Credit: NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio

One way that scientists monitor climate change is through the measure of sea ice extent. Sea ice extent is the area of ice that covers the Arctic Ocean at a given time. Sea ice plays an important role in reflecting sunlight back into space, regulating ocean and air temperature, circulating ocean water, and maintaining animal habitats.

NASA and the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colorado, use satellites to observe sea ice extent. Over the past several decades, Arctic sea ice extent has been steeply declining year-round, especially in late summer when it reaches its minimum for the year. Sea ice forms in the cold winter months, when seawater freezes into massive blocks of floating ice, then partially melts away in the warm summer months. This cycle repeats every year.

Here are five facts to help you better understand Arctic sea ice.

1. Sea ice extent is declining

NASA has tracked sea ice minimum (usually in September) and maximum (usually in March) extents since 1978. While the exact extent figures may vary year to year, the overall trend is clear: the Arctic is losing sea ice year-round.

"The last 15 years, we've seen the lowest 15 sea ice minimum extents," said Dr. Rachel Tilling, a sea ice scientist at the University of Maryland and NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. "Each year we're losing an area that's roughly the size of West Virginia."

Arctic sea ice minimum extent is now declining at a rate of 13.1% per decade. The pace is likely to accelerate because of climate change-induced warming and the ice-albedo feedback cycle. The albedo effect describes the white ice surface's ability to reflect Earth-bound sunlight back to space. Redirecting solar energy away from the ocean keeps the seawater beneath the ice cooler. When sea ice melts, darker-colored liquid water is left exposed to absorb sunlight. That warmer water then melts additional ice, creating the ice-albedo feedback cycle.

In 2021, Arctic Sea Ice was 12th lowest on record. Credit: NASA Earth Observatory images by Joshua Stevens, using data from the National Snow and Ice Data Center

2. Sea ice helps prevent atmospheric warming

Sea ice acts as a "blanket," separating the ocean from the atmosphere, according to Tilling. In addition to keeping sunlight out, sea ice traps existing heat in the ocean, keeping it from warming the air above.

"The ability of the ice to keep heat in the ocean depends not only on its extent, but also on its thickness," Tilling said.

Every year, some ice survives the summer melt. Once winter hits, more water freezes and it becomes thicker and stronger "multiyear ice." First-year ice is thinner and more likely to melt, fracture, or even be swept out of the Arctic. With more ice melting every year, there is less recuring, multi-year ice. As a result, Arctic sea ice is as young and thin as it has ever been, making it a less efficient blanket.

3. Sea ice affects arctic wildlife above and below water

"There's a huge ecosystem that's impacted by changes to sea ice," Tilling said. As sea ice declines, animals such as Arctic Foxes, polar bears and seals lose their habitat.

Working from a combination of satellite records and declassified submarine sonar data, NASA scientists have constructed a 60-year record of Arctic sea ice thickness. Right now, Arctic sea ice is the youngest and thinnest its been since we started keeping records. More than 70 percent of Arctic sea ice is now seasonal, which means it grows in the winter and melts in the summer, but doesn't last from year to year. This seasonal ice melts faster and breaks up easier, making it much more susceptible to wind and atmospheric conditions. Credit: NASA/Katy Mersmann

There are effects beneath the ice's surface, too.

As ice crystals form atop seawater, they leave behind salt in the ocean below. This dense, salty water can sink to the bottom of the ocean. The descending water in one location will be offset by rising motion in others, which results in more nutrient-dense water circulating up toward the surface. Those nutrients are essential to microscopic phytoplankton, which are then eaten by fish and animals. The regular melt-freeze cycle keeps underwater Arctic life thriving, from algae to killer whales.

4. Sea ice melt does not greatly contribute to sea level rise

Because sea ice forms from the seawater it floats on, it behaves much like an ice cube in a glass of water. Like that ice cube, which does not change the water level of the glass when it melts, melting sea ice in the Arctic does not dramatically change sea level. Melting land ice, for example from the Greenland or Antarctic ice sheets, does contributes to sea level rise. That's because when land ice melts, it releases water that was previously trapped on land and adds to the water in the oceans.

5. Satellites allow NASA to monitor sea ice

The Arctic Ocean is a difficult place to access and study. That's why NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the European Space Agency, and others, turn to the vantage point of space to gather observations from the region. Two types of instruments are generally used to monitor sea ice, Tilling said.

NASAs Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2) will provide scientists with height measurements that create a global portrait of Earth's third dimension, gathering data that can precisely track changes of terrain including glaciers, sea ice, and forests. Credit: NASA/Ryan Fitzgibbons

The first type are passive microwave instruments, which track extent over time. A series of these instruments aboard satellites supported by NASA, NOAA, the U.S. Department of Defense, and international partners, have monitored arctic sea ice extent since 1978more than 40 years.

"Passive microwave instruments measure the microwave emission of surfaces," Tilling said. The microwave emissions occur naturally, and the signature of sea ice is different from that of water, allowing scientists to precisely locate both from year to year.

The second type are altimetry instruments, which can be used to estimate sea ice thickness. NASA's Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2), launched in 2018, uses a laser to measure the height of the ice and the height of the water. Using the known relationships between the two measurements (what height of ice above the water's surface corresponds to the depth of the ice below it), scientists can calculate its total thickness.

Researchers continue to study the Arctic to learn more about the local and global consequences of diminishing sea ice.

"Our planet is this huge, interconnected place, and the atmosphere is connected across it," Tilling says. "The Arctic is changing so rapidly, that we don't even know yet exactly how the changes there are going to impact us. All we know is that they will."

Explore further NASA finds 2021 Arctic summer sea ice 12th-lowest on record
Credit: Jake Osborne

A new study has identified why so many endangered kakapo eggs fail to hatch, and suggests artificial insemination could help save the species.

Researchers from the University of Sheffield and the New Zealand Department of Conservation's Kakapo Recovery Team have found that the high rate of hatching failure in the critically endangered kakapo is not primarily driven by male infertility, as previously assumed, but by a high rate of early embryo death across the population.

The Kakapo Recovery Team has also trialed artificial insemination and successfully produced chicks, demonstrating its potential as a conservation intervention for the species.

Dr Nicola Hemmings, from the University of Sheffield's School of Biosciences, said: "The kakapo is one of the world's most critically endangered birds with only 201 individuals left, which are managed on predator free islands off the coast of New Zealand.

"The population was at its lowest in 1995 when there were only 51 individuals left. Unfortunately this rapid decline meant a lot of the genetic diversity of the population was lost and inbreeding became a problem.

"In the last four decades, over 60 per cent of kakapo eggs have failed, which has been a major barrier to the recovery of the species. We found that this is primarily due to a high rate of early embryo deaths, which may be caused by the lack of genetic diversity in the Kakapo population."

Kakapo females who have mated multiple times hatch more eggs than those that only mate once, so the recovery team has used artificial insemination to replicate a second mating and boost hatching rates. The present research confirms that artificial insemination increases the number of sperm that reach the egg.

Artificial insemination can also help to reduce inbreeding, which may cause early embryo deaths. Furthermore, the team can minimize the loss of genetic diversity by selecting males with rare genes or selecting pairs of birds that are more likely to be genetically compatible.

The kakapo population decline started when Polynesian settlers arrived in New Zealand around 750 years ago and was then accelerated by European colonists in the 1800s who further cleared habitats and introduced more predators to the islands.

Dr Jodie Crane, from the Kakapo Recovery Team, emphasizes the importance of this work: "Kakapo are an iconic species across Aotearoa New Zealand, and a taonga (treasured) species for Ngai Tahu. Since our conservation program began, hatching failure has been a major barrier to recovery. Our management has been successful in increasing the kakapo population, but collaborations on studies like these are crucial for solving the challenging conservation problems ahead."

The research was published in Animal Conservation.

More information: J. L. Savage et al, Low hatching success in the critically endangered kakapo is driven by early embryo mortality not infertility, Animal Conservation (2021). J. L. Savage et al, Low hatching success in the critically endangered kakapo is driven by early embryo mortality not infertility,(2021). doi.org/10.1111/acv.12746
Two hexagonal grids, which individually reflect the structure of carbon joined into sheets of graphene, create repeating patterns when rotated relative to each other. Credit: Paul Chaikin with modifications by Bailey Bedford

Carbon is not the shiniest element, nor the most reactive, nor the rarest. But it is one of the most versatile.

Carbon is the backbone of life on earth and the fossil fuels that have resulted from the demise of ancient life. Carbon is the essential ingredient for turning iron into steel, which underlies technologies from medieval swords to skyscrapers and submarines. And strong, lightweight carbon fibers are used in cars, planes and windmills. Even just carbon on its own is extraordinarily adaptable: It is the only ingredient in (among other things) diamonds, buckyballs and graphite (the stuff used to make pencil lead).

This last form, graphite, is at first glance the most mundane, but thin sheets of it host a wealth of uncommon physics. Research into individual atom-thick sheets of graphitecalled graphenetook off after 2004 when scientists developed a reliable way to produce it (using everyday adhesive tape to repeatedly peel layers apart). In 2010 early experiments demonstrating the quantum richness of graphene earned two researchers the Nobel Prize in physics.

In recent years, graphene has kept on giving. Researchers have discovered that stacking layers of graphene two or three at a time (called, respectively, bilayer graphene or trilayer graphene) and twisting the layers relative to each other opens fertile new territory for scientists to explore. Research into these stacked sheets of graphene is like the Wild West, complete with the lure of striking gold and the uncertainty of uncharted territory.

Researchers at JQI and the Condensed Matter Theory Center (CMTC) at the University of Maryland, including JQI Fellows Sankar Das Sarma and Jay Sau and others, are busy creating the theoretical physics foundation that will be a map of this new landscape. And there is a lot to map; the phenomena in graphene range from the familiar like magnetism to more exotic things like strange metallicity, different versions of the quantum Hall effect, and the Pomeranchuk effecteach of which involve electrons coordinating to produce unique behaviors. One of the most promising veins for scientific treasure is the appearance of superconductivity (lossless electrical flow) in stacked graphene.

"Here is a system where almost every interesting quantum phase of matter that theorists ever could imagine shows up in a single system as the twist angle, carrier density, and temperature are tuned in a single sample in a single experiment," says Das Sarma, who is also the Director of the CMTC. "Sounds like magic or science fantasy, except it is happening every day in at least ten laboratories in the world."

The richness and diversity of the electrical behaviors in graphene stacks has inspired a stampede of research. The 2021 American Physical Society March Meeting included 13 sessions addressing the topics of graphene or twisted bilayers, and Das Sarma hosted a day long virtual conference in June for researchers to discuss twisted graphene and the related research inspired by the topic. The topic of stacked graphene is extensively represented in scientific journals, and the online arXiv preprint server has over 2,000 articles posted about "bilayer graphene"nearly 1,000 since 2018.

Perhaps surprisingly, graphene's wealth of quantum research opportunities is tied to its physical simplicity.

Graphene is a repeating honeycomb sheet with a carbon atom residing at every corner. The carbon atoms hold strongly to one another, making imperfections in the pattern uncommon. Each carbon atom contributes an electron that can freely move between atoms, and electrical currents are very good at traveling through the resulting sheets. Additionally, graphene is lightweight, has a tensile strength that is more than 300 times greater than that of steel and is unusually good at absorbing light. These features make it convenient to work with, and it is also easy to obtain.

Graphene's pure, consistent structure is an excellent embodiment of the physics ideal of a two-dimensional solid material. This makes it the perfect playground for understanding how quantum physics plays out in the material without the researchers having to worry about complications from the additional mess that occurs in most materials. There are then a variety of new properties that are unlocked by stacking layers of graphene on top of each other. Each layer can be rotated (by what scientists call a "twist angle") or shifted relative to the hexagonal pattern of its neighbors.

Graphene's structural and electrical properties make it easy to change the quantum landscape that electrons experience in an experiment, giving researchers several options for how to customize, or tune, graphene's electrical properties. Combining these basic building blocks has already resulted in a wealth of different results, and they aren't done experimenting.

A 'magical' flourish

In the quantum world of electrons in graphene, the way that layers sit atop one another is important. When adjacent sheets in a bilayer are twisted with respect to each other, some atoms in the top sheet end up almost right above their corresponding neighbor while in other places atoms end up far away (on an atomic scale) from any atom in the other sheet. These differences form giant, repeating patterns similar to the distribution of atoms in the single sheet but over a much longer scale, as shown in the image at the top of the story and in the interactive visual bellow.

Every change of the angle also changes the scale of the larger pattern that forms the quantum landscape through which the electrons travel. The quantum environments formed by various repeating patterns (or a lack of any organization) are one of the main reasons that electrons behave differently in various materials; in particular, a material's quantum environment dictates the interactions electrons experience. So each miniscule twist of a graphene layer opens a whole new world of electrical possibilities.

"This twist is really a new tuning knob that was absent before the discovery of these 2D materials," says Fengcheng Wu, who has worked on graphene research with Das Sarma as a JQI and CMTC postdoc and now collaborates with him as a professor at Wuhan University in China. "In physics, we don't have too many tuning knobs. We have temperature, pressure, magnetic field, and electric field. Now we have a new tuning knob which is a big thing. And this twist angle also provides new opportunities to study physics."

Researchers have discovered that at a special, small twist angle (about 1.1 degrees)whimsically named the "magic angle"the environment is just right to create strong interactions that radically change its properties. When that precise angle is reached, the electrons tend to cluster around certain areas of the graphene, and new electrical behaviors suddenly appear as if summoned with a dramatic magician's flourish. Magic angle graphene behaves as a poorly-conducting insulator in some circumstances and in other cases goes to the opposite extreme of being a superconductora material that transports electricity without any loss of energy.

The discovery of magic-angle graphene and that it has certain quantum behaviors similar to a high-temperature superconductor was the Physics World 2018 Breakthrough of the Year. Superconductors have many valuable potential uses, like revolutionizing energy infrastructure and making efficient maglev trains. Finding a convenient, room-temperature superconductor has been a holy grail for scientists.

The discovery of a promising new form of superconductivity and a plethora of other electrical oddities, all with a convenient new knob to play with, are significant developments, but the most exciting thing for physicists is all the new questions that the discoveries have raised. Das Sarma has investigated many aspects of layered graphene, resulting in more than 15 papers on the topic since 2019; he says two of the questions that most interest him are how graphene becomes superconducting and how it becomes magnetic.

"Various graphene multilayers are turning out to be a richer playground for physics than any other known condensed matter or atomic collective systemthe occurrence of superconductivity, magnetism, correlated insulator, strange metal here is coupled with an underlying nontrivial topology, providing an interplay among interaction, band structure, and topology which is unique and unprecedented," says Das Sarma. "The subject should remain in the forefront of research for a long time."

Strange bedfellows

Scientists have known about superconductivity and magnetism for a long time, but graphene isn't where they expected to find them. Finding both individually was a surprise, but scientists have also found the two phenomena occurring simultaneously in some experiments.

In a sheet of graphene, a carbon atom sits at the corner of each hexagon. Credit: Paul Chaikin with modifications by Bailey Bedford

Superconductivity and magnetism are usually antagonists, so their presence together in a graphene stack suggests there is something unusual happening. Researchers, like Das Sarma, hope that uncovering which interactions lead to these phenomena in graphene will give them a deeper understanding of the underlying physics and maybe allow them to discover more materials with exotic and useful properties.

A hint at the treasure possibly waiting to be discovered are measurements of twisted bilayer graphene's electrical properties, which resemble behaviors seen in certain high-temperature superconductors. This suggests that graphene might be crucial to solving the mysteries surrounding high-temperature superconductivity.

The current clues point to the peculiarities of electron interactions being the key to understanding the topic. Superconductivity requires electrons to pair up, so the interactions that drive the pairing in graphene stacks are naturally of interest.

In an article published in Physical Review B, Das Sarma, Wu and Euyheon Hwang, who was formerly a JQI research scientist and is now a professor at Sungkyunkwan University in South Korea, proposed that what binds pairs of electrons in twisted bilayer graphene may be surprisingly mundane. They think the pairing mechanism may be the same as that in the most well understood superconductors. But they also think that the conventional origin may result in unconventional pairs.

Their analysis suggests that it is not just the interactions that electrons have with each other that are enhanced at the magic angle but also the electron's interactions with vibrations of the carbon atoms. The vibrations, called phonons, are the quantum mechanical version of sound and other vibrations in materials.

In the best understood superconductors, it is phonons that bind electrons into pairs. In these superconductors, the partnered electrons are required to have opposite values of their spina quantum property related to how quantum particles orient themselves in a magnetic field. But the team's theory suggests that in graphene this traditional pairing mechanism can not only pair electrons with opposite spins but also pair electrons with the same spin. Their description of the pairing method provides a possible explanation to help understand superconductivity in twisted bilayer graphene and graphene-based materials more generally.

"Unconventional superconductivity is highly sought after in physics, as it is exotic on its own and may also find applications in topological quantum computing," says Wu. "Our theory provides a conventional mechanism towards unconventional superconductivity."

More recently, Das Sarma, Sau, Wu and Yang-Zhi Chou, who is a JQI and CMTC post-doctoral researcher, collaborated to develop a tool to help scientists understand a variety of graphene stacks. A paper on this research was recently accepted in Physical Review Letters. They made a theoretical framework to explore the way that electrons behave on a hexagonal grid. They were inspired by experiments on magic-angle twisted trilayer graphene. Twisted trilayer graphene has the middle layer twisted relative to the top and bottom layers, like a cheese sandwich with the slice twisted so that the corners stick out. This graphene sandwich has attracted attention because it hosts superconductivity at a higher temperature than the two-stack version.

The team's theoretical model provides a description of the electrons' behavior in a particular quantum world. Using it on the case of twisted trilayer graphene, they showed that the uncommon pairing of electrons with the same spin could dominate the electrons behavior and be the source of twisted trilayer graphene's superconductivity.

This new tool provides a starting place for investigating other graphene experiments. And the way the identified pairing mechanism influences the electrons may be significant in future discussions of the role of magnetism in graphene experiments.

Magnetism in stacked graphene is its own mysterious magic trick. Magnetism isn't found in graphite or single layers of graphene but somehow appears when the stacks align. It's especially notable because superconductivity and magnetism normally can't coexist in a material the way they appear to in graphene stacks.

"This unconventional superconducting state in twisted trilayer graphene can resist a large magnetic field, a property that is rarely seen in other known superconducting materials," says Chou.

In another article in Physical Review B, Das Sarma and Wu tackled the conundrum of the simultaneous presence of both superconductivity and magnetism in twisted double bilayer graphenea system like bilayer graphene but where the twist is between two pairs of aligned graphene sheets (for a total of four sheets). This construction with additional layers has attracted attention because it creates a quantum environment that is more sensitive than a basic bilayer to an electric field applied through the stack, giving researchers a greater ability to tweak the superconductivity and magnetism and observe them in different quantum situations.

In the paper, the team provides an explanation for the source of magnetism and how an applied electric field could produce the observed change to a stack's magnetic behavior. They believe the magnetism arises in a completely different way than it does in more common magnets, like iron-based refrigerator magnets. In an iron magnet, the individual iron atoms each have their own small magnetic field. But the team believes that in graphene the carbon atoms aren't becoming magnetic. Instead, they think the magnetism comes from electrons that are freely moving throughout the sheet.

Their theory suggests that double bilayer graphene becomes magnetic because of how the electrons push each other apart better in the particular quantum environment. This additional push could lead to the electrons coordinating their individual magnetic fields to make a larger field.

The coordination of electron spins might also be relevant to the pairing of electrons and the formation of potential superconductivity. Spin can be imagined as an arrow that wants to line up with any surrounding magnetic field. Superconductivity normally fails when the magnetism is strong enough that it tears apart the two opposite facing spins. But both spins being aligned in the pairs would explain the two phenomena peacefully coexisting in graphene experiments.

Around the next twist in the river

While these theories serve as a guide for researchers pushing forward into the uncharted territory of graphene research, they are far from being a definitive map. At the conference Das Sarma organized in June, a researcher presented new observations of superconductivity in three stacked graphene sheets without any twist. These stacks offset so that none of the layers are right on top of each other; each hexagon has some of its carbon atoms placed at the center of the other layers' hexagons. The experiment revealed two distinct areas of superconductivity, one of which is disturbed by magnetism and the other not. This suggests that the twist may not be the magical ingredient that produces all of the exotic phenomena, but it also raises new questions, offers a route for identifying which electronic behaviors are created or enhanced by the "magic" twist, and provides a new opportunity to investigate the fundamental sources of the underlying physics.

Inspired by this work and previous observations of magnetism in the same collaboration of Das Sarma, Sau, Wu and Chou mathematically explored the way phonon coupling of electrons might be playing out in these twist-less stacks. The team's analysis suggest that phonon pairing is the likely driver of both types of superconductivity, with one occurring with matching spins and one with opposite spins. This work, led by Chou, was recently accepted in Physical Review Letters and has been chosen as a PRL Editors' Suggestion.

These results represent only a fraction of work on graphene experiments at JQI and the CMTC, and many other researchers have tackled additional aspects of this rich topic. But there remains much to discover and understand before the topic of layered graphene is charted and tamed territory. These early discoveries hint that as researchers dig deeper, they may uncover new veins of research representing a wealth of opportunities to understand new physics and maybe even develop new technologies.

"Applications are hard to predict, but the extreme tunability of these systems showing so many different phases and phenomena makes it likely that there could be applications," Das Sarma says. "At this stage, it is very exciting fundamental research."

Explore further Researchers observe translation symmetry breaking in twisted bilayer graphene
In this photo taken from video footage released by Roscosmos Space Agency, actress Yulia Peresild sits in a chair shortly after the landing of the Russian Soyuz MS-18 space capsule, southeast of the Kazakh town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, Sunday, Oct. 17, 2021. The Soyuz MS-18 capsule landed upright in the steppes of Kazakhstan on Sunday with cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy, actress Yulia Peresild and film director Klim Shipenko aboard after a 3 1/2-hour trip from the International Space Station. Credit: Roscosmos Space Agency via AP

A Russian actor and a film director who spent 12 days in orbit making the world's first movie in space said Tuesday they were so thrilled with their experience on the International Space Station that they felt sorry to leave.

Actor Yulia Peresild and director Klim Shipenko flew to the International Space Station in a Russian Soyuz spacecraft together with cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov. After a stint on the station, they returned to Earth on Sunday with another veteran Russian cosmonaut, Oleg Novitskiy.

Peresild and Klimenko filmed segments of a movie titled "Challenge," in which a surgeon played by Peresild rushes to the space station to save a crew member who needs an urgent operation in orbit. Novitskiy, who flew the film crew home, stars as the ailing cosmonaut in the movie.

Speaking to reporters via video link Tuesday, 37-year-old Peresild lamented that a busy filming schedule left little chance to enjoy the views.

"We realized only a day before the departure that we didn't spend enough time looking in the windows," she said. "I had a mixed feeling. On the one hand, it felt like an eternity but on the other hand it felt like we just arrived and immediately need to return."

Peresild and Shipenko said they were feeling fine but still were having some trouble adapting to the pull of gravity.

In this photo released by Roscosmos Space Agency, Russian space agency rescue team members help film director Klim Shipenko out from the capsule shortly after the landing of the Russian Soyuz MS-18 space capsule about 150 km (90 miles) south-east of the Kazakh town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, Sunday, Oct. 17, 2021. The Soyuz MS-18 capsule landed upright in the steppes of Kazakhstan on Sunday with cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy, actress Yulia Peresild and film director Klim Shipenko aboard after a 3 1/2-hour trip from the International Space Station. Credit: Roscosmos Space Agency via AP

"We have to learn again how to walk," Peresild said, adding that she still instinctively tries to attach various items with Velcro to prevent them from floating away.

She said she slept very well in orbit and four hours of sleep were enough to have a good rest.

Shipenko, 38, who has made several commercially successful movies, said he filmed over 30 hours of movie material on board the space station.

"Of course, it posed both artistic and technical challenges," he said.

Shipenko, who will continue the shooting on Earth after filming the movie's space episodes, said the film's release date would be announced next year.

Dmitry Rogozin, head of the Russian state space corporation Roscosmos, was a key force behind the movie project, describing it as a chance to burnish the nation's space glory and rejecting criticism from some Russian media over the efforts spent on it.

In this photo released by Roscosmos Space Agency, Russian space agency rescue team members carry actress Yulia Peresild shortly after the landing of the Russian Soyuz MS-18 space capsule about 150 km (90 miles) south-east of the Kazakh town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, Sunday, Oct. 17, 2021. The Soyuz MS-18 capsule landed upright in the steppes of Kazakhstan on Sunday with cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy, actress Yulia Peresild and film director Klim Shipenko aboard after a 3 1/2-hour trip from the International Space Station. Credit: Roscosmos Space Agency via AP

In this photo released by the Roscosmos Space Agency, film director Klim Shipenko, centre, speaks with Head of Russian First Channel Konstantin Ernst shortly after the landing of the Russian Soyuz MS-18 space capsule about 150 km (90 miles) south-east of the Kazakh town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, Sunday, Oct. 17, 2021. The Soyuz MS-18 capsule landed upright in the steppes of Kazakhstan on Sunday with cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy, actress Yulia Peresild and film director Klim Shipenko aboard after a 3 1/2-hour trip from the International Space Station. Credit: Pavel Kassin, Roscosmos Space Agency via AP

Before Russia took the lead in feature filmmaking in space, NASA had talked to actor Tom Cruise about making a movie in orbit.

NASA confirmed last year that it was in talks with Cruise about filming on the International Space Station with SpaceX providing the lift. In May 2020, it was reported that Cruise was developing the project alongside director Doug Liman, Elon Musk and NASA.

Explore further Russian rocket tests briefly destabilise space station

 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Inside one of the first modular mini-homes in England created for those experiencing homelessness. Credit: Jimmy's Cambridge

A new study on the first modular mini-homes in England created for those experiencing homelessness has found thatcombined with "wraparound support"these small, inexpensive units made from factory-built components help to restore the health, relationships and finances of residents.

A University of Cambridge team worked with homeless charity Jimmy's Cambridge to investigate the effectiveness of housing a group including long-term rough sleepers in six "mods" constructed in 2019 on land leased from a church in Cambridge city.

The self-contained box-shaped homes are a total of 25 square metres, complete with tiny kitchen, bathroom and front porch, and can be rapidly assembled like giant Lego. Each of the six units cost 36,000almost equivalent to the estimated public spending on one person sleeping rough for a year in the UK.

Housing experts from the Cambridge Centre for Housing and Planning Research (CCHPR) and a social anthropologist from the University's Max-Cam Centre tracked the first mod occupants over twelve months along with the staff from Jimmy's providing services from addiction counselling to cookery classes.

Researchers found that the pilot project reduced drug and alcohol misuse and dramatically boosted physical and mental healthleading to improved financial management, new or increased work or training, and renewed relationships with family members.

After a year, and despite the disruption of COVID-19, several residents had already made plans to move on to social housing once their 18-month modular home tenancy ended, while others planned to stay in the mods longer term. The findings are published today in a report on the CCHPR website.

"For people traumatised by homelessness, often fending for themselves on the streets for many years, hostels and shared accommodation can feel unsafe. Modular homes provide that sense of safety and security that allow people to rebuild," said Dr. Gemma Burgess, research co-author and Director of CCHPR.

Mark Allan, Chief Executive of Jimmy's Cambridge, said the research backed up the observations of his staff. "Modular homes are a simple and effective way of tackling homelessness. I hope the findings encourage the expansion of Cambridge's pioneering scheme nationwide, so many more people can experience the benefits."

The six original mods, financed and constructed by local social enterprises Allia and the New Meaning Foundation, have since been expanded to a total of sixteen homes in Cambridge through support from regional house-builders Hill.

Cambridgea city with some of the country's highest house prices and private rentshas the fourth largest homeless population per capita. Between 2013 and 2019, almost half (46%) of homelessness-induced deaths in the East of England occurred in Cambridge.

The six mod residents were all menmost rough sleepers are malebetween late twenties and early sixties. Before experiencing homelessness, all had held jobs in sectors such as retail, construction and furniture making.

The outside of some of the first modular mini-homes in England created for those experiencing homelessness. Credit: Jimmy's Cambridge

One resident had been homeless for over a decade, another for over two. Some had served short jail terms. Reasons for homelessness included job loss, death of a partner, and losing close family in a fire. Most struggled with addiction.

The mods are drug-free as a condition of residence, and support workers conduct random checks. "It is unbelievably difficult for homeless people with a history of drug abuse to get sober," said anthropologist and Cambridge co-author Dr. Johannes Lenhard.

"The mods, combined with support, have allowed residents to begin tackling their addictions, many for the first time, which is extraordinary," he said.

One resident entered a detox programme after some twenty years on opiates. "Living here, oh everything is good!... It's got me off drugs, got a roof over my head, it's got me back to work Everything's positive," said a resident.

Associated costs such as rent and utility bills are funded through each resident's welfare benefits, and support is offered to improve money management skills. This, in turn, helps restore confidence and enthusiasm for work.

After a year in the mods, some were pursuing new training in areas including hairdressing, while others revisited old trades. "I'm returning to my passion. I've got a goal; I've got a plan. I can't believe I'm saying that" said one resident.

The stability of mod living also allowed the rebuilding of family relationships. One resident became determined to find permanent housing in hopes of living with his son again. Another reconnected with his daughter after decades apart:

"Now I talk to my daughter every week, twice a week I've been clean for 14 months. She's coming to see me here for my birthday in July," he said.

Researchers argue that the mods allow a "greater sense of self, safety and security" that is vital to creating the stable daily routines that support sobriety and autonomy in society. As one resident put it: "I've been paying my rent and I feel happy right now I feel I'm in control of my life right now."

Added Lenhard: "There is a huge sense of wellbeing tied to simply having your own front door. We can see the effect this has in the lifestyle changes of people who have previously struggled in hostels. It gives them the opportunity to re-make a home and a life."

"Mods are a cost-effective and flexible stepping stone that help rough sleepers in desperate situations transition into permanent homes and settled lives."

Explore further Worst forms of homelessness less common in Scotland than England

More information: Modular homes for people experiencing homelessness in Cambridge - FInal Report
NASA has selected a new gamma-ray space telescope, the Compton Spectrometer and Imager (COSI), that will chart the evolution of the Milky Way, seen here in this illustration. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/R. Hurt (SSC/Caltech)

NASA has selected a new space telescope proposal that will study the recent history of star birth, star death, and the formation of chemical elements in the Milky Way. The gamma-ray telescope, called the Compton Spectrometer and Imager (COSI), is expected to launch in 2025 as NASA's latest small astrophysics mission.

NASA's Astrophysics Explorers Program received 18 telescope proposals in 2019 and selected four for mission concept studies. After detailed review of these studies by a panel of scientists and engineers, NASA selected COSI to continue into development.

"For more than 60 years, NASA has provided opportunities for inventive, smaller-scale missions to fill knowledge gaps where we still seek answers," said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for the agency's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. "COSI will answer questions about the origin of the chemical elements in our own Milky Way galaxy, the very ingredients critical to the formation of Earth itself."

COSI will study gamma rays from radioactive atoms produced when massive stars exploded to map where chemical elements were formed in the Milky Way. The mission will also probe the mysterious origin of our galaxy's positrons, also known as antielectronssubatomic particles that have the same mass as an electron but a positive charge.

COSI's principal investigator is John Tomsick at the University of California, Berkeley. The mission will cost approximately $145 million, not including launch costs. NASA will select a launch provider later.

The COSI team spent decades developing their technology through flights on scientific balloons. In 2016, they sent a version of the gamma-ray instrument aboard NASA's super pressure balloon, which is designed for long flights and heavy lifts.
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

After decades of gazing into space, NASA is turning its technology back toward Earth to study the effects of drought, fire and climate change on the Blue Planet.

At the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Canada Flintridge last Thursday, scientists and state officials gathered to discuss how satellite data, 3D imaging and new radar and laser technologies can provide invaluable insights into Earth's rapidly changing systems.

Some said the meeting marked a sea change for previously siloed agencies, and underscored the need to work together to solve the climate crisis.

"I don't want to be overly dramatic, but in truth, this discussion is about saving our planet," NASA Administrator Bill Nelson told the group of attendees, which included Earth and space scientists from NASA and JPL, local congressional representatives and California environmental secretaries Wade Crowfoot and Jared Blumenfeld.

Upcoming Earth-centric missions will provide a more precise look at "everything that's happening" with the oceans, the land and the atmosphere than ever before, Nelson said. Among the big-ticket items were new tools to measure snowpack and groundwater, satellites to monitor methane emissions and remote sensing assets to assess the impact of hazards such as wildfires, earthquakes and mudslides.

"We're facing an existential crisis on this planet," said Crowfoot, the state's natural resources secretary. "These challenges are intense. ... But there's no better place than California to do this work, because we understand the gravity of the threat."

The meeting between California and federal officials was a far cry from 2018, whenfrustrated by the Trump administration's efforts to scuttle climate researchthen-Gov. Jerry Brown insisted that California would launch "our own damn satellite, to figure out where the pollution is and how are we going to end it."

Now, three years later, Californians need only look out their windows to get a sense of what scientists can observe from above. Wildfires are burning record acreage across the West, while worsening drought is draining the region's water supplies to unseen levels. The state also recorded its hottest summer ever in 2021.

Many at the meeting hoped NASA and JPL's findings would help combat global warming by informing decision-makers as they determine the best paths forward.

"It's really a game changer to be able to have this data," NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy said, noting that the U.S. can also lead the rest of the world in utilizing the same tools. "Because we'll never solve climate until everybody is a participant."

Many of the projects have been in development for years, but a recent memorandum of understanding between the state and JPL helped get additional projects off the ground, Crowfoot saidincluding critical items focused on water resiliency. The Western U.S. in recent months has seen such severe drought conditions that officials closed Lake Oroville's hydroelectric power plant for the first time and declared the first-ever water shortage on the Colorado River, among other actions.

One new web-based platform, OpenET, will provide satellite-based information on evapotranspiration, the process through which water leaves plants, soils and other surfaces, which could help state officials understand water usage in agricultural areas and assist farmers with precision irrigation.

"As states, we do our best to manage this resource of water, but we're never going to do it with the sophistication we need to without partners like NASA," Crowfoot said, adding that the agency could be the "tip of the spear" when it comes to combating climate change.

Other water-related items include surface water and ocean topography tools known as SWOT that will contribute to NASA's first-ever global survey of the Earth's surface water. Every 21 days, SWOT will survey almost 600,000 miles of global rivers at least twice, aiding drought forecasters and hazardous-flood preparations, officials said. It is set to launch in 2022.

JPL interim Director Larry James said the next generation of water-measuring spacecraft will also allow scientists to measure freshwater body heights and flows for the first time, while laser-imaging spectrometers will help study snowmelt and snow volume.

But scientists aren't just studying water. Methane was also a focus of discussion, with a new satellite due to launch in 2023 that will help monitor concentrations of the harmful emission, the second-largest contributor to greenhouse warming after carbon dioxide.

Blumenfeld, California's secretary for environmental protection, said the three largest producers of methane in the state are the oil and gas industry, landfills and agriculture (particularly, large animal operations and dairies). The new tool will enable anyone to see whether an oil refinery, for example, is leaking methane.

"It gives accountability, which is a critical element we need to get to in order to deal with the climate crisis, and it would not happen without NASA and JPL," Blumenfeld said. "Globally, and living in California, this is a really big deal."

But space missions have also come under scrutiny for their own environmental impact, as propellants required to launch rockets into space can expel carbon dioxide, liquid hydrogen, kerosene or other chemicals into the atmosphere.

The launch of a Falcon Heavy rocket from SpaceX, Elon Musk's privately owned space transportation company, burned about 400 metric tons of kerosene and emitted more carbon dioxide in a few minutes than an average car would in more than two centuries, reports foundand the number of commercial spaceflights is expected to increase tenfold in the coming years.

But NASA administrators say that the scale of their projects is getting "smaller and smarter," with one official noting that the methane satellite is "the size of a shoebox."

"It's an absolutely minuscule part, but it is a real concern," Melroy said of rocket emissions, noting that the agency is working on developing more sustainable fuels.

And while many of the new tools provide big-picture views of massive global challenges, some are much more local. Nelson said people don't have to be scientists to understand the impact of wildfires, drought, sinkholes or floods.

"There are places in the country, and represented in the halls of government, that are going to be very resistant, so we have to tell the story," he said. "We've got to educate the people, and unfortunately, increasingly, all of these disasters are helping us to do that."

Nearly 2.5 million acres have burned in California's wildfires so far this yeara number second only to 2020, the state's worst wildfire season on record. Entire towns have been leveled by flames.

Some of NASA's tools can help identify where wildfires are spotting, or shooting out embers that could potentially endanger firefighters and ignite new blazes, officials said. Others can employ sophisticated radar systems over disaster areas to assess damage and assist first responders.

JPL Earth science and technology director Jim Graf said they can also fly over the 1,100-mile levee system in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to quickly identify sinking or weaknesses. That information could help officials make decisions on critical infrastructure, such as roads, bridges and aqueducts.

Officials on Thursday also showed off their NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar satellite, or NISAR, which is still under construction and will "provide an unprecedented view of Earth" when it launches in 2023, they said. The satellite will monitor the entire globe as it scans for disturbances in glaciers, volcanoes and other systems.

"Basically, it's going to use two radar instruments that will look at changes in the Earth's surface," said Susan Owen McCollum, deputy project scientist for NISAR. "That actually can tell you a lot: how fast the ice sheets are melting, how fast the ground is moving."

Another aspect of the radar will enable officials to monitor how forest biomass is changing through carbon containment or other processes, McCollum said, which could be essential for studying places like the Amazon.

"Radar is a very powerful imaging toolit sees the Earth in way that's different," she said.

But NASA and JPL also haven't lost sight of the final frontier, and officials on Thursday offered a tour of the control room for the Mars Perseverance rover. The rover, which landed on Mars in February, is collecting rock samples that will be returned to Earth for closer study.

The Ingenuity helicopter that arrived with the rover has also completed more than a dozen flights, they said, demonstrating for the first time that powered, controlled flight on another planet is possible.

Yet while the challenges of space exploration may seem a world away from those here on Earth, Perseverance project scientist Ken Farley said much can be learned from the red planet. Some of the rocks his team is studying are 3.5 billion years old and come from a time when liquid water flowed on the surface of Mars.

There is no liquid water on the Martian surface today, he said, and there is essentially no atmosphere.

"It is an example of massive climate changefrom a planet that we believe would have been inhabitable to a planet that, at least on the surface, is not," Farley said. "It is a clear example that climate changes, and it can change enormously."

Nelson, the NASA administrator, echoed those sentiments when he addressed the rover's control team.

"That's one of the profound things that I think happens to every person that's had the privilege of looking out the window of a spacecraft when you orbit the Earth," he said. "You see how beautiful it is, but how fragile."

Explore further New NASA Earth System Observatory to help address, mitigate climate change

2021 Los Angeles Times.

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Physicist Fang Zhao with figures from her paper. Credit: Fang Zhao

Super strong and only one atom thick, graphene holds promise as a nanomaterial for everything from microelectronics to clean energy storage. But lack of one property has limited its use. Now, researchers at Princeton University and the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) have overcome that problem using low-temperature plasma, creating a novel technique that opens the door to a vast array of industrial and scientific applications for the promising nanomaterial.

Stronger than steel

Graphene, which is harder than diamonds and stronger than steel, could be a foundation for next-generation technologies. But the absence of a property called a band gap in the pencil-lead graphite that composes graphene restricts its ability to function as a semiconductor, the material at the heart of microelectronic devices. Semiconductors both insulate and conduct electric current, but while graphene is an excellent conductor it cannot serve as an insulator without a band gap.

"People use silicon that has a band gap for semiconductors," said Fang Zhao, lead author of a paper in the journal Carbon that describes the new process. "Opening a sizable band gap on graphene has given rise to intense studies for semiconductor use," said Zhao, a physicist at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab) who wrote the paper while a Princeton post-doctoral researcher.

The dilemma has led scientists throughout the world to explore ways to produce a band gap in graphene to expand its potential applications. One popular method has been to chemically modify the surface of graphene with hydrogen, a process called "hydrogenation." But the conventional way of doing this produces irreversible etching and sputtering that can seriously damage the surface of grapheneknown as a 2D material because of its ultrathin naturewithin seconds or minutes.

Scientists at Princeton and PPPL have now shown that a novel method for hydrogenating graphene can safely open the door to wide-ranging microelectronic applications. The method marks a new way to produce hydrogen plasma that substantially broadens hydrogen coverage in the 2D material. "This process creates much longer hydrogen treatments because of its low graphene damage," Zhao said.

Plasma, the hot, charged state of matter composed of free electrons and atomic nuclei, makes up 99 percent of the visible universe. The low-temperature hydrogen plasma that PPPL has developed to hydrogenate graphene contrasts with the million-degree fusion plasmas that have long been the hallmark of PPPL research, which aims to develop safe, clean, and abundant fusion energy for generating electricity.

Spinoff from Ptolemy

The new method spins off from an experiment called Ptolemy, a University project that Princeton physicist Chris Tully has been developing with assistance from Zhao. That project uses the decay of tritium, the radioactive isotope of hydrogen, in the effort to capture relic neutrinos that emerged just seconds after the Big Bang that created the universe. Such relics could shed new light on the Big Bang, according to the Ptolemy project.

To improve the detection rate of the decay, Tully turned to PPPL physicist Yevgeny Raitses, who heads low-temperature plasma research at PPPL. "The readiness of PPPL to join forces and to bring about transformational 2D material properties is inspiring," Tully said. "Breaking the world-record in graphene hydrogenation yield is a tribute to the unique capabilities of PPPL."

Raitses and colleagues developed a method for expanding the coverage of hydrogen in the graphene that houses the tritium decay. The process greatly increases future applications of graphene. "This spinoff from Ptolemy can now be used for microelectronics, QIS [quantum information science] and other applications," Raitses said. "The method can also be applied to other 2D materials."

The spinoff combines electric and magnetic fields to produce a hydrogen plasma that delivers plentiful hydrogen with low damage to the graphene. This gentle and well-controlled method is itself a spinoff from research that Raitses developed while studying Hall thrusters, plasma-based engines of spacecraft propulsion. The technique has hydrogenated graphene for up to 30 minutes in PPPL experiments, greatly increasing the hydrogen coverage and opening a band gap that turns graphene into semiconductor material.

All this, says the Carbon paper, creates an attractive method for making 2D materials "exciting and up-and-coming [sources] for vast applications."

Also collaborating on this paper were Princeton physicists Chris Tully and Andi Tan, together with chemist Xiaofang Yang of the Princeton Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering. Support for this work comes from the DOE Office of Science (FES) and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research.

Explore further Discovery of 10 phases of plasma leads to new insights in fusion and plasma science

More information: Fang Zhao et al, High hydrogen coverage on graphene via low temperature plasma with applied magnetic field, Carbon (2021). Journal information: Carbon Fang Zhao et al, High hydrogen coverage on graphene via low temperature plasma with applied magnetic field,(2021). DOI: 10.1016/j.carbon.2021.02.084
Researchers conducted the most comprehensive analysis of the history of fire in the Midwestern tallgrass prairie by analyzing thousands of historical accounts dating from 1673 to 1905. Credit: Urbana Park District

Researchers combed through thousands of historical documents for first-person accounts of fires occurring between 1673 and 1905 in the Midwestern tallgrass prairie. Their study is the first systematic analysis of the timing, causes and consequences of prairie fires in this part of the world. They report their findings in Natural Areas Journal.

Although the first Europeans to travel across North America didn't know it, fire was essential to maintaining the vast grasslands they encountered in the middle of the continent. The earliest firesusually set by Native Americans and not by lightning, the new study revealsprevented the growth of woody plants and forest development.

The grasslands once stretched from Arizona to Ohio, and from Saskatchewan to Texas, but grew tallest on the eastern edge of their range, where rainfall was most abundant. The new study focused on this eastern swath of territory, called the Midwestern tallgrass prairie.

"Getting good data about fire from grasslands is extremely difficult, which is why we have so few studies on this subject," said study co-author Greg Spyreas, a plant ecologist at the Illinois Natural History Survey and professor of natural resources and environmental sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. "We can reconstruct the history of forest fires from tree-scar data, but in grasslands we have little-to-no physical evidence of what was happening in these vast Midwestern landscapes."

Study lead author William McClain, of the Illinois State Museum, scoured thousands of historical documents for accounts that included the date and location of fires, the amount of territory or property burned, any human or animal casualties, and the probable source of ignition. He and his colleagues assembled and analyzed 795 reports of fires in present-day Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, Ohio and Wisconsin. Of those fires, 32 were reported to have been started by Native Americans and the rest by Europeans. Most of the fires attributed to Native Americans occurred in the earliest years of European expansion across the continent, before disease and displacement reduced Native populations.

"There were a lot of reasons why Native Americans used fire, and one of them was hunting for bison and deer," McClain said. "They also used it for warfare and harassment, to clear woodlands and perhaps to kill certain insects or even animals like snakes that they didn't want near their habitations."

Researchers analyzed accounts of historic tallgrass prairie fires in eight Midwestern states. Map of the central U.S., with blue-green, dark green and light green zones demarcating the original extent of the tallgrass, midgrass and shortgrass prairies, respectively. Red dots indicate the approximate location of each fire reported in the study. Credit: Michael Vincent

Early French explorers and trappers described the methods Native Americans used to encircle bison with fire when the conditions were right for containing the blaze. Sometimes their planning failed, and the fires burned out of control.

The European newcomers who settled in the tallgrass prairie feared fire, seeing it as a looming threat to life and property.

"I don't think people today realize what those prairie fires were like," said study co-author John Ebinger, a professor emeritus of biological sciences at Eastern Illinois University and an INHS affiliate. "These were not little grass fires; they were conflagrations that could quickly destroy thousands of acres."

Witnesses described fires "like a devouring army," with intentionally or unintentionally set blazes quickly growing out of control. The fires jumped over rivers; burned homes, stables, grain stores and livestock; and darkened the air with smoke that sometimes blocked out the sun for days. One observer in Minnesota in 1857 described prairie fires "that licked the country clean" for hundreds of miles. Another reported in 1873 that a "smoky atmosphere in autumn (in the Midwest) has been the common experience every year, and this smokiness has its origin in prairie fires."

Most fires occurred in October and November, the driest time of year on the prairie and a period the settlers called "Indian summer."

Fires started by Native Americans decreased over time as their populations dwindled, the researchers found, but European newcomers began setting fires to clear the land for crops or to kill pests, and the frequency of fires increased between 1830 and 1850. After that, railroad expansion and farming practices fragmented the prairies, diminishing the likelihood that grass fires would spread over great distances.

The new study fills in some major gaps in scientists' understanding of the history of fire in North American grasslands, the researchers said.

Prairie fire at the Nature Conservancys Nachusa Grasslands near Franklin Grove, Illinois. Credit: Charles Larry

"This study is incredibly useful, because a lot of what we do today in managing these lands is based on assumptions, not data," Spyreas said. "With this study, we have really well-organized data that says some very clear things. For example, it says that most of the fires were happening in the fall and that in many cases they were huge."

The study also challenges a widespread assumption about the origin of the prairie fires, McClain said. Of the hundreds of first-person accounts analyzed, only five prairie fires were ignited by lightning. This runs counter to a longstanding argument that the prairies were maintained by fires sparked by lightning, he said.

Embers from coal-fired locomotives occasionally lit the prairie on fire, the team reported. Many more blazes were intentionally setas campfires or to remove crop residuebut quickly spread out of control. The frequency of destructive fires eventually led to new laws meant to prevent such occurrences.

"Europeans adopted some of the fire practices of Native Americans," said study co-author Charles Ruffner, a forestry professor at Southern Illinois University. "And then when those fire practices became less amenable to the landscape, we started having legislation to stop them."

While the new study offers the first reliable history of fire in the tallgrass prairie between the late 17th century and early 1900s, the research has its limitations, Ruffner said. For example, not all fires were documented in the public record.

"Fire became such a common occurrence that people weren't writing about the everyday fires," he said. "They only wrote about the ones that burned up whole townships and killed people."

Explore further Forest fires in Bolivia consume vast area: official

More information: William E. McClain et al, Patterns of Anthropogenic Fire within the Midwestern Tallgrass Prairie 16731905: Evidence from Written Accounts, Natural Areas Journal (2021). Journal information: Natural Areas Journal William E. McClain et al, Patterns of Anthropogenic Fire within the Midwestern Tallgrass Prairie 16731905: Evidence from Written Accounts,(2021). DOI: 10.3375/20-5
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Physicists at Case Western Reserve University and Tufts University say they've changed the shape of a flat liquid crystal surface without applying any local stimulusessentially remotely altering its physical appearance without touching it.

That's something that scientists have never done before, the researchers said. In doing so, they defied the gravitational force that ordinarily would cause a level plane to occur where liquid and surrounding air meet.

"This is a groundbreaking accomplishment and could prove to be the starting point for future applicationsmany which we cannot yet imagine," said Charles Rosenblatt, Ohio Eminent Scholar and professor of physics at Case Western Reserve, who is one of project's lead researchers. "Right now, this work is foundational, but it will be built upon by our team and others and new applications could someday become reality."

Previously, scientists who have similarly transformed the shape of liquid crystal surfaces have done so by using heat, light or some other kind of force applied directly to that otherwise undisturbed surface.

But this team took a new route, managing to change the liquid crystal surface simply by placing a "bumpy" or patterned substrate on the opposite side of a thin film in which the molecules are aligned in parallel. The result: an identically bumpy shape where there "should" be a flat, undisturbed surface.

The research team's findings were recently published in the journal Physical Review Letters and highlighted by the journal's editors for special attention.

Shapeshifting materials?

Future applications could lead to improvements in microchips and even the development of fluid microscopic tools that could perform repairs less invasively, flowing back into their original shape after use.

"Think of what water does when you put your hand into a bucket and take it back out: It returns to its original shape," said Andrew Ferris, a 2020 Case Western Reserve PhD in physics whose dissertation included this work and is now a staff physicist at Sandia National Laboratory in Albuquerque, New Mexico. "We could someday build tools that could do that."

The scientists at Case Western Reserve and Tufts aren't the only ones pursuing malleable liquid crystal materials with multiple applications.

Scientists elsewhere are "already doing amazing things with liquid crystals," but always in response to a localized stimulus like heat or light, said Timothy Atherton, associate professor of physics at Tufts University and a former postdoctoral scholar and former visiting assistant professor at Case Western Reserve.

Atherton said this new work suggests an even more exotic application, one he acknowledged might even sound a bit far-fetched.

"Think 'Mystique' from X-Menyou know, shapeshifting," he said, referring to the super villain from the Marvel Comics and movies who can change her skin to look like any other person. "By doing what we've done, we've taken the first step toward altering the surface of somethingmaybe not skin, but other materialswithout touching them or heating them."

How they did it

The scientists essentially manipulated what Rosenblatt called "an orientable Newtonian liquid," referring in this case to a nematic liquid crystal that behaves predictably, i.e., linearly, when an outside stimulus is applied. The nematic is a phase that consists of cigar-shaped molecules arranged parallel to each other, but which can flow like water.

To understand the significance, consider that when a glass is filled with water, the surface where the air and water meet is essentially flat. But in this case, the researchers forced the liquid crystal/air interface to change shape merely by exploiting the orientability of the molecules that comprise the liquid crystal.

To do that, the team placed the patterned substrate on the opposite side of a thin (a few hundred nanometers) nematic film. By doing so, they were able to control the alignment of molecules throughout the material.

The result: the appearance of a predetermined "bumpy" surface where the liquid and air meetaccomplished without any stimulus at the surface and without any control beyond the patterned "bottom" of the pool far from the surface. That relative change was huge, as much as a 30-70% increase in height from a flat surface.

Rosenblatt said the team will next work on fine-tuning the surface shape by applying an external electric field and varying temperature.

Team members also intend to study another liquid crystal phase called the "smectic phase," in which the molecules not only are oriented, but also form layerslike books on a bookshelf. Preliminary work suggests an even larger effect than the nematic phase, with much finer features, he said.

Explore further Research reveals inner workings of liquid crystals

More information: Andrew J. Ferris et al, Spontaneous Anchoring-Mediated Topography of an Orientable Fluid, Physical Review Letters (2021). Journal information: Physical Review Letters Andrew J. Ferris et al, Spontaneous Anchoring-Mediated Topography of an Orientable Fluid,(2021). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.126.057803
Bone marrow aspiration: Leishmaniasis (Leishmania sp.) in liver transplant recipient. Credit: Paulo Henrique Orlandi Mourao, CC BY-SA 3.0

Just north of Antarctica and a little east of the southern tip of South America is the Scotia Sea. Besides glimpses of an occasional iceberg, these waters offer little to tourists.

To biologists, however, the Scotia Sea possesses a diverse ecosystem that is a source of drugs and other therapeutic agents. Such was the case in 2014, when the discovery of shagene A, a compound effective against the parasitic disease leishmaniasis, was reported. A new study in Agnewandte Chemie by Kyoto University removes the need to visit this remote region by describing the total synthesis of the tricyclic terpenoid.

In contrast to orphan diseases, which receive little attention because patients are few, leishmaniasis is one of many neglected tropical diseases afflicting a billion people, typically the poor in developing countries. Leishmaniasis alone affects more than 10 million people worldwide, with another million new infections every year.

Drugs for the disease are available, but some require injection and have detrimental side effects. Shagene A, on the other hand, kills the responsible parasite without side effects. The problem, according to research team leader Chihiro Tsukano, is the compound's availability.

"This natural compound can only be obtained in very small quantities, and since our sample has been used up no further research is possible," he notes.

These same therapeutic properties make shagene A an attractive seed for drug discovery, but along with its rarity, its unstable, distorted structure makes it a challenge to synthesize in the lab.

The instability of shagenes comes from their congested 3/6/5 tricyclic ring system. To synthesize the structure of shagene A, the team designed a total synthesis of 21 steps that depends on three key reactions, each using a different transition metal catalyst. Among them, one was especially significant, remarks Yoshiji Takemoto, another author of the study.

"We envisaged a catalyzed double-bond isomerization of alkylidene cyclopropane to relieve the strain." This reaction depended on using ketones as a directing group, an approach that Takemoto adds, "has no precedent."

This strategy allowed the researchers to produce multiple tricyclic rings systems with different substitution patterns, including ones causing the instability seen with shagene A.

"Based on the established synthetic route, we were not only able to supply shagene A, but also congeners. Now, we are also investigating more bioactive compounds for further development of leads for leishmaniasis," states Tsukano.

Explore further Total synthesis of the sesquiterpene agarozizanol B

More information: Chihiro Tsukano et al, Asymmetric Total Synthesis of Shagenes A and B, Angewandte Chemie International Edition (2021). Journal information: Angewandte Chemie International Edition Chihiro Tsukano et al, Asymmetric Total Synthesis of Shagenes A and B,(2021). DOI: 10.1002/anie.202109786
Tea crops have suffered in Sri Lanka due to a lack of organic fertiliser.

Sri Lanka on Tuesday backed down from ambitious plans to become the world's first completely organic farming nation, reversing a ban on imports of chemical fertiliser.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa had imposed a total ban on agrochemicals in May, saying he wanted to make Sri Lankan farming 100 percent organic.

Plantations Minister Ramesh Pathirana said Tuesday that the change of course was to help growers of Ceylon tea, exports of which are worth $1.3 billion annually for the island nation.

"Considering the fact that there has been a quality drop in tea that was produced in factories, the government has taken the decision to import sulphate of ammonia," Pathirana told reporters in Colombo.

He said imports of chemical fertiliser would continue until the island was able to produce enough organic fertiliser for local agricultural needs.

Rajapaksa's policy had sparked anger among tea plantation owners and other farmers who warned that a lack of organic fertiliser and lower yields would lead to shortages.

This risked compounding problems for a government already facing an unprecedented shortage of foreign exchange to import fuel, food and medicines.

Last week, the government breached its own ban by importing from Lithuania 30,000 tonnes of potassium chloride, but called it "organic fertiliser".

"We are not a stubborn government," government spokesman Dullas Alahapperuma told reporters at the same briefing with Pathirana.

"We are sensitive to the needs of the people."

Explore further Sri Lanka organic revolution threatens tea disaster

 2021 AFP
SOUTH GLENS FALLS  An Albany man was arrested on Sunday after police said he stabbed a man at a residence in South Glens Falls.

Isaiah L. Lofland, 26, was charged with felony first-degree assault.

State police were called to Glens Falls Hospital at about 6:30 p.m. on Saturday for a report of a 31-year-old man with a stab wound.

The investigation determined that Lofland allegedly stabbed the man in the neck. The victim, whose name was not released by police, was taken to the hospital in a private vehicle and was in stable condition, according to police.

Police said there was some type of argument between Lofland and the victim, but are still investigating the nature of the dispute.

Authorities would not say where the incident occurred, but it was not at the home of the victim.

Lofland was located at a residence in Moreau on Sunday and taken into custody. He was arraigned in Moreau Town Court and sent to Saratoga County Jail on bail of $100,000 cash or $200,000 bond.

Lofland is due back in court on Wednesday.

In addition, Curtis Z. Ball, 31, was charged with a felony count of hindering prosecution. Police said Ball lied to troopers about Lofland being in Balls Moreau home before he was arrested.

The investigation is ongoing and anyone with information is asked to contact state police at 518-583-7010.

Michael Goot covers politics, crime and courts, Warren County, education and business. Reach him at 518-742-3320 or mgoot@poststar.com.

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QUEENSBURY  Warren County is seeing if funeral homes would be willing to let forensic autopsies be done there as a potential solution to a problem in which a medical examiner cannot perform them at Glens Falls Hospital.

Dr. Michael Sikirica, a medical examiner who performs many Capital Region autopsies, has refused to get the COVID-19 shot. He is not allowed to enter Albany Medical Center or Glens Falls Hospital, which both have vaccination requirements.

The county is conducting its regular autopsies at St. Marys Hospital in Amsterdam.

However, Warren County Administrator Ryan Moore said a forensic pathologist is required in cases where there is a criminal investigation or it is a special circumstance such as an autopsy of an infant or a very young child.

Moore updated the Board of Supervisors on Friday about potential solutions to the problem. He said the county could contract with funeral homes as long as they have the space and required equipment such as a table and a drain. The county could get a couple of staff members to assist Sikirica.

We will need (Department of Health) approval to utilize that model, Moore said.

Annually, Warren County has about a dozen cases on average in which a forensic autopsy is needed, according to Moore. He said in some years, it can be as many as 20.

Tim Murphy, a county coroner, is working on the funeral home option.

The alternatives are more expensive, according to Moore. He reached out to Dutchess County and officials there would be willing to accommodate Warren County.

Its not ideal for us to drive down to Poughkeepsie to do this, he said.

The rate is about $3,500.

Moore said Warren County District Attorney Jason Carusone has also reached out to Binghamton and Onondaga County, which also have their own facilities to do autopsies.

The Warren County Board of Supervisors has given the authority to Moore to continue to work on the issue.

Michael Goot covers politics, crime and courts, Warren County, education and business. Reach him at 518-742-3320 or mgoot@poststar.com.

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Officials are split on three of five special statewide propositions on the ballot this Election Day as advocates start to urge New Yorkers to approve proposals to remove voter registration deadlines, allow no-excuse absentee ballots and alter the states process to redraw election districts.

Voters will decide the fate of five propositions on the Nov. 2 ballot. The third and fourth proposals, respectively, would remove voter registration deadlines to allow same-day voting registration and permit any New York voter to request an absentee ballot without an explanation required under current law, such as location and health status.

The time is now for voters to say yes to a stronger democracy and greater voting rights, Common Cause/NY Executive Director Susan Lerner said in a prepared statement.

The amendments related to voter registration and absentee ballots, if passed, will go before the state Legislature to make changes to current state law. They would not immediately go into effect.

Democracy advocates with Common Cause/NY, Make the Road New York and the NY Civic Engagement Table have started a campaign to garner support for proposal Nos. 1, 3 and 4 before Election Day.

The first proposition would change the states redistricting process Jan. 1  altering rules as the inaugural Independent Redistricting Commission works to alter two sets of draft maps for the 2022 election.

Proposals 1, 3, and 4 are vital measures to enshrine expanded voting rights and a better redistricting process into our state Constitution, Lerner said.

Voters will decide the fate of the first ballot proposal Nov. 2, to amend the state Constitution to cap the number of Senate seats at 63; require Congressional census apportionment data to count all New York residents, including non-citizens and Native Americans; to count incarcerated people at their last residence rather than the facility they are held in for congressional districts; require seven of 10 commissioners on the states Independent Redistricting Commission to approve of a plan to redraw Senate, Assembly and Congressional election districts, which must then be approved by a majority of each house of state Legislature and the governor, and in the case of no plan receiving seven votes, the Legislature will receive draft maps that received the most votes and must approve it with 60% support.

If the commission fails to vote on any set of maps, it must send all plans to the Legislature that lawmakers can adopt with or without amendments, under the first ballot proposal.

The commission will send its plans, with or without the proposals approval, to the Legislature in January.

All New Yorkers have a right to be included in the decision-making processes that affect them and their communities, and their ability to vote should not be hindered by lack of time or by lack of access to absentee voting, especially as the pandemic continues, Asian American Federation Executive Director Jo-Ann Yoo said in a statement from the coalition of advocates campaigning for the proposals. That is why by voting yes on ballot proposals 1, 3 and 4, our communities are joining the fight to build a New York that is equitable, fair and representative of the diverse communities that call this state home.

Good-government groups have also been split on its potential impacts on state elective districts as Democrats hold a veto-proof supermajority in both the Senate and Assembly.

State Republican leaders are concerned the proposed changes will further partisan bias in the states redistricting process.

If approved, this proposal would give Democrats wide latitude to draw and adopt district lines advancing their own partisan interests, Senate Minority Leader Rob Ortt, R-North Tonawanda, said in a statement Friday. They are attempting to disregard the will of millions of New Yorkers who supported independent redistricting, and instead pick their voters behind closed doors. Top Democrats  including our new governor  havent hid the true goal of this amendment. A partisan redistricting process would allow them to increase their political power in Washington and Albany.

The state New York Census and Redistricting Institute, within New York Law School, were scheduled to hold a webinar Monday with panelists including Lerner from Common Cause NY, Jennifer Wilson with the state League of Women Voters and Blair Horner with the New York Public Interest Research Group to discuss all sides of proposal No. 1.

There are three proposed amendments to our states Constitution that may seem innocuous, but they are cynical attempts by Albanys ruling politicians to change elections forever, Ortt said. Voters should be very informed on amendments 1, 3, 4. Voters who support balanced government should take time to understand these proposals because they can completely change government.

Republican leaders in the Senate and Assembly also warned proposal nos. 3 and 4 could overwhelm local Boards of Election, potentially leading to election security issues and delaying outcomes.

Assembly Minority Leader Will Barclay, R-Pulaski, noted how about 20% of mail-in ballots were thrown out in the June 23, 2020 primary in New York City, and U.S. Rep. Claudia Tenney, R-22, defeated incumbent Democrat Anthony Brindisi by 109 votes in last years rematch  leading to ballot challenges and a legal process. The race was not determined until February.

With the proposed ballot measures, liberals are opening the door for even more chaos than weve already seen, Barclay said Friday.

The statewide ballot proposals are concerning not only for whats in them, but for the motivation behind them. On Proposal 1, Democrats are attempting to seize all control of the redistricting process and reverse needed reforms that voters approved in 2014. Its a blatant political power grab. Their proposed changes to state elections will generate more dysfunction to a system that still needs fixing.

On Nov. 2, voters should vote No on these measures, Barclay added.

If passed, the second proposal will amend the Bill of Rights Article I of the state Constitution to establish each persons right to clean air, clean water and a healthy environment.

Sen. Michelle Hinchey, D-Saugerties, co-sponsored the legislation to add the second proposition to the 2021 ballot and rallied with advocates from across the Hudson Valley in Kingston on Friday to encourage voters to approve it.

Clean air and clean water are basic human rights, and yet, every day across our state, New Yorkers are left without access to these necessities, Hinchey said. For too long, we have treated our right to a healthy and safe environment as a privilege, and this November, we have a historic opportunity to change that by adding clean air and water rights to our state Constitution. ... I am honored to stand with a diverse coalition of partners as we continue to build a legacy of climate-forward progress in New York.

The fifth proposed amendment would double the New York City Civil Courts jurisdiction by allowing it to hear and decide claims up to $50,000, up from $25,000.

Early voting runs from Oct. 23-31.

For more information on the proposed amendments, visit www.elections.ny.gov/2021BallotProposals.html

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BRIDGETON  A gun buyback program will be held Saturday at the Alms Center on Martin Luther King Jr. Way.

The event is scheduled to run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

On that day, nine counties will hold buyback programs.

When we reduce the number of firearms in circulation, we reduce the amount of violence in our communities, said Lyndsay V. Ruotolo, director of the state Division of Criminal Justice. The gun buyback program is a collaborative effort across all law enforcement that demonstrates how effective it is when we work together.

The gun buyback in Cumberland County is being hosted by the Cumberland County Prosecutors Office along with the chiefs of the Bridgeton, Millville and Vineland police departments and the Cumberland County Sheriffs Office. Each party has contributed funds and manpower to support this initiative, Prosecutor Jennifer Webb-McRae said in a news release.

Giving the public a way to safely dispose of unwanted guns assures that they dont fall into the wrong hands, Webb-McRae said in a statement. We remain committed to promoting strategies that improve public safety for all Cumberland County residents.

During a similar program in Atlantic City in August, 367 guns were collected.

Contact Nicholas Huba: 609-272-7046 nhuba@pressofac.com Twitter @acpresshuba

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October 19, 2021 in Utility (E)

[prMac.com] Perg, Austria - Ergonis Software today released Typinator 8.10, a maintenance release of their highly acclaimed text expander. Typinator 8.10 brings some general stability enhancements and is now built with Apple's latest compiler and libraries. The new version now disables itself in Citrix Viewer and improves expansion of short text fragments in Messages. Also, compatibility with Joplin's rich text editor and Anki V2 has been improved.



Finally, Typinator 8.10 fixes a problem where new abbreviations added via AppleScript or JavaScript were recognized only after manually opening the Typinator window. Finally, Typinator 8.9 has been successfully tested with the latest beta versions of Monterey. Visit Ergonis Software's website to learn more about the changes in this release and to download and try the new version.



Typinator is a powerful, yet elegantly simple solution that boosts your productivity by automating the process of inserting frequently used text and auto-correcting typing errors. Across all applications, it detects specific sequences of typed characters and automatically replaces them with text snippets, graphics, URLs, dates and special characters.



System Requirements:

Typinator 8.10 requires OS X 10.10 (Yosemite) or newer and is required for macOS Big Sur (11.0) and Monterey (12.0)



Availability and Ordering:

Typinator can be purchased securely on the Ergonis Software website. The upgrade to Typinator 8.10 is free for anyone who purchased a license for Typinator on or after January 1st, 2019. Upgrade paths are available for owners of older licenses. For information about purchases, including enterprise licenses, volume discounts, and upgrade pricing offers, see the company's web site.

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Schwener claims the city is "burning our officers out right now with overtime," and that the city needs an additional 10 to 20 officers  a figure he said he derived on his own from conversations with police officials.

The city last month swore in three new Davenport police officers, who join seven new officers sworn in late April and four new hires who recently started their 16 weeks of training at the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy to become Davenport police officers.

Davenport Police Chief Paul Sikorski said the department had another five or six vacant positions it hoped to fill from retirements and resignations, and continue to actively recruit, offering sign-on bonuses, relocation assistance and incentives for military veterans.

Law enforcement agencies across the country have experienced a wave of retirements and departures and are struggling to recruit new officers following civil unrest and protest across the country over the killing and deaths of Black and brown people at the hands of law enforcement that has sparked calls for reforming or defunding the police, which have taken their toll on officer morale, Sikorski has said.
The mastermind of the abduction was sentenced to four years in prison. The incident was later the subject of an American film, "The Saratov Approach."

Somalia

Scott Adam had a successful Hollywood career  he had worked on film and television hits such as "The Goonies" and "The Love Boat"  when he had a religious awakening and became a Christian pastor.

He and his wife, Jean, dedicated their lives to spreading Scripture around the world, taking to the seas on their 58-foot yacht and distributing Bibles in different languages in far-flung corners of the globe.

The couple and two friends were sailing off the coast of Oman in 2011 when their yacht Quest  named after a church where Scott Adam had worked  was attacked by Somali pirates.

U.S. Navy warships were dispatched for negotiations with the hostage-takers, but the pirates shot and killed the Adams and their friends.

Ecuador

In 1957, five American men flew to a remote rainforest in eastern Ecuador with the hope of bringing Christianity to the native Waorani people. After radio contact ceased with a base station, a search ensued, and the men were found dead, having been killed with spears.
She said prayer helps her "connect to the people that I love and to the world around me."

"But in 2015, my faith was shaken," the first lady said, her voice breaking as she described watching "my brave, strong, funny, bright young son fight brain cancer."

"Still, I never gave up hope," she said. "Despite what the doctor said, I believed that my son would make it. In the final days, I made one last, desperate prayer and it went unanswered."

She didn't understand how Beau could die. She grew angry, then distant from God.

"I felt betrayed by my faith, broken," the first lady said, her voice quivering. Her own pastor emailed occasionally to check in and invite her back to service "but I just couldn't go. I couldn't even pray. I wondered if I would ever feel joy again."

Then she accompanied her husband, Joe, to Brookland Baptist on May 5, 2019.

"Something felt different that morning," the first lady said. She described how Robin Jackson came to sit beside her and ask to be her "prayer partner."

"And I don't know if she sensed how moved I had been by the service," Jill Biden said. "I don't know if she could still see the grief that I feel still hides behind my smile."
About 10,000 Americans a day turn 60 (thats roughly the same number of Americans born each day), and each of us passing that mark will live, on average, an additional 23 years and seven months. This is the baby boomer cohort, and along with the older silent generation, we hold 70% of the nations wealth. We vote  people in the 60-plus age group were about 50% more likely to cast a ballot in 2020 than those ages 18 to 29. But we also watch about five hours of television a day.

We can and should be doing more. The United States is facing divisive crises, and older Americans  experienced Americans  owe it to themselves and their kids and grandkids to push the nation in a better direction. The two of us are over 60, and we hope  we trust  that our peers who care about civil rights, economic justice and environmental sanity are ready to direct their life skills and resources toward the common good.

After all, in its first act, our cohort participated in or bore witness to profound political and cultural shifts for the better: We shaped or were shaped by  and benefited from  the civil rights movement, the drive for womens equality, and the massive campaigns against the war in Vietnam. If youre about 70 now, you were about 20 on the first Earth Day, which means there was a pretty good chance you were out in the street
Pennington County Commissioners wanted more information on how a draft Senate bill could affect ranchers and property owners in the county before signing a resolution of support.

Commissioner Ron Rossknecht said soil types in the Black Hills make this difficult.

Commissioner Deb Hadcock said she knows this is a serious issue, but wants to know the intricacies of how the assessment is done.

State Rep. Trish Ladner (R-Hot Springs) presented a draft of Senate Bill 50 to the commission Tuesday morning, which she plans to introduce next session. Ladner said the bill would be a grassland tax relief bill.

It hyper affects West River because theyve gone through and said that grassland that has been grassland for sometimes 100 years on family farms now shows the prospect of being cropland, Ladner said.

In 2020, the Legislature passed House Bills 1006 and 1007 which deal with adjustments to assessed values of agricultural land. HB 1006 authorizes the secretary of revenue to contract with entities to create and maintain a database to determine the income value of agricultural land. HB 1007 establishes how equalization directors can adjust assessments of the land based on location, size, soil survey, terrain, topographical condition, climate, accessibility or surface obstruction.

Draft Senate Bill 50, which is similar to Senate Bills 57 and 76 in 2020 that were withdrawn and failed, respectively, would add that land used for grazing or left unharvested is noncropland.

It also adds that those who request land be categorized as noncropland and changes the use of the land to cropland would have to notify an equalization director by Aug. 1 of the year.

This is something thats been kicked down the road, this can, for far too long, and our ranchers have suffered, Ladner said.

South Dakota began using the productivity valuation system for agricultural land in 2010. It uses a formula to find productivity by using the gross revenue per acre and the landowners share, as well as the capitalization rate.

County Equalization Director Shannon Rittberger said the state is working with South Dakota State University on a new soil survey for the assessment.

Rittberger said most of the agricultural land in the county is likely used for grazing, so it could have a big impact on the ag land assessment. He said the assessment is around 2% of the entire county assessment.

The commission said they would consider support after more information.

During the meeting, the commission approved an ordinance establishing the prescreening procedure for marijuana business licenses. The board approved licensing three marijuana dispensaries and cultivation facilities, two manufacturing facilities and one testing facility at its Oct. 6 meeting. Licenses will open for application Nov. 10 in the county.

The board also approved establishing a project manager position for the Highway Department. The position would begin at $29.54 an hour.

 Contact Siandhara Bonnet at siandhara.bonnet@rapidcityjournal.com 

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DAVENPORT, Iowa | Lee Enterprises Inc. announced Tuesday a strategic partnership with Mudd Advertising, a leading automotive advertising agency.

The partnership leverages a customized version of Lees innovative Vision platform enabling Mudd to fully support the cross-channel marketing efforts of retail automotive dealers and manufacturers across the United States. Vision is a proprietary sales enablement and execution software, powered by Lees full-service national agency, Amplified Digital.

Over the 40 years weve been in the automotive space we have experienced seismic changes to our industry and the tools needed to get the job done, said Rob Mudd, Mudds chief futurist. When first introduced to the Lee Vision software, I knew instantly we had found our technology partner for the future. We were proud to unveil the technology last week in Las Vegas at the Digital Dealer Conference & Exposition.

MuddVision aims to help automotive advertisers achieve stronger results by combining cutting-edge technology, strategy and experience to make an intuitive platform that complements traditional marketing channels.

This partnership demonstrates the commitment to digital solutions for both organizations, said Kevin Mowbray, Lee president and chief executive officer. The Vision platform has transformed local advertising for Lee Enterprises as part of our digital transformation strategy, and it aligns perfectly with the direction of Mudd Advertising.

Lee Enterprises is a leading provider of local news and information with daily newspapers, digital products and over 350 weekly and specialty publications serving 77 markets in 26 states.

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South Dakota lawmakers on Tuesday advanced a proposal to legalize recreational marijuana use for adults while repealing much of the state's new medical marijuana law.

The Adult-Use Marijuana Study Subcommittee, which has been studying the issue since June, voted to recommend a bill that would allow people over 21 to purchase up to 1 ounce (28 grams) of cannabis for recreational use. It would repeal most aspects of the medical marijuana law that voters passed last year, but still contain provisions for people under 21 to use marijuana for medical purposes.

The bill would still need to be cleared by a pair of legislative committees, the full Legislature next year, and the governor's desk to become law. But lawmakers' willingness to advance the issue showed a growing acknowledgment in the Republican-controlled Statehouse that recreational marijuana legalization has popular support.

Do we want to step forward and regulate it and put forward a good plan, Republican Rep. Tim Goodwin told the committee. Or do we want to go against the will of the people who voted in the last election?

The bill would ban public pot consumption and eliminate criminal charges for possessing any amount up to 4 ounces.

Voters last year approved a constitutional amendment to legalize recreational pot for adults, but Republican Gov. Kristi Noem sued to challenge the measure for violating the state constitution. A circuit court judge struck the marijuana law down, but the state Supreme Court is weighing an appeal to that ruling. Advocates have also launched an effort to place a marijuana legalization proposal on the ballot next year.

As lawmakers crafted the bill a significant split emerged over whether it would allow people to cultivate cannabis in their homes. A pair of Republican senators who have pushed for recreational pot legalization tried to convince the subcommittee to allow cannabis plants to be grown in homes, but that provision was struck from the proposal.

Republican Sen. Michael Rohl said he opposed the bill as it stands, but voted to recommend it to keep the proposal debate alive.

I think there (are) very few in the Senate that haven't known for awhile the direction the voters indicated," he said. "This is an attempt to bridge the House of Representatives closer with their own constituents.

House lawmakers on the subcommittee opposed the provision to allow home-grown cannabis, with some arguing that it would fuel an underground pot market.

The homegrown is a really big bite and I dont think we quite have our arms around how it will work, said Republican Rep. Mark Willadsen. I would rather that we take baby steps.

A committee studying both recreational and medical pot will consider the bill next week.

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The Board of Regents announced the launch of the Dakota Dream coalition on Monday as part of an ongoing effort to encourage South Dakotans to pursue post-secondary education, according to a news release from the board.

The coalition is funded by a national grant through the U.S. Department of Education and coordinated through the Board of Regents. The coalition includes representatives from the regents central office, Black Hills State University, Dakota State University, Northern State University, South Dakota Mines, South Dakota State University, University of South Dakota, South Dakota Department of Education, South Dakota Board of Technical Education, and Mapping Your Future.

Our Dakota Dream is designed to support the dreams of South Dakotans who require education after high school. Post-secondary certifications can take many forms, and many dreams can only be achieved by attending college, according to the release.

The regents also announced an extension of its Free College Application Campaign from one week to six weeks. Application fees at all South Dakota colleges and universities will be waived from Oct. 18 to Nov. 30. At other times, undergraduate application fees for South Dakota public universities range from $20 to $35.

Our Dakota Dream coalition will also coordinate a series of initiatives to help potential students navigate the college application process.

People can learn more about college application month and how they can apply for free at https://www.selectdakota.org/parentscounselors/collegeapplicationweek/.

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Faced with a shortage of teachers, substitutes and bus drivers due to illness, the Darby School District opted to take advantage of a short week to move to remote learning through Wednesday.

No public school classes will be held statewide on Thursday and Friday due to annual educator conferences.

Darby was one of three schools in the state to either move to remote learning or close to provide some time for staff to get healthy and slow the spread of COVID-19 and other respiratory illnesses.

Unfortunately, Darby School has reached a point where we do not have enough employees to operate the school, Superintendent Chris Toynbee wrote to families on Monday. We lack teachers, paraprofessionals and bus drivers and we dont have enough substitutes to continue to keep our doors open.

Glasgow closed its schools Monday through Wednesday due to substitute shortages. Livingstons school board voted last week to hold middle and high school classes virtually beginning Oct. 13, in part to give county health officials time to contact trace COVID-19 cases.

On Tuesday, Toynbee said the shortage of substitute teachers in the area led to the counselors, principals and even himself covering classes. Maintenance employees were asked to drive regular bus routes after bus drivers called in sick.

We got to the point that we didnt have a cushion, Toynbee said. If one more thing went wrong, we didnt have anyone else to fall back on.

The school is seeing cases of COVID-19, influenza, and some students with Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV).

We have cases of COVID but we have other things on top of that too, Toynbee said. We are hoping to be back to health next Monday when the staff and students return  We know this situation is stressful for people. Its hard for people to take a day because they know there is no one to cover their classes for them.

The schools administration and staff had been preparing for the potential the school might have to revert to distance learning for a short period. Teachers had prepared lessons for Google Classroom, hotspots were offered to families and additional Chromebooks were made available.

The school continues to offer students breakfast and lunch from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. The school is also offering mental health services.

Its all been pretty seamless, Toynbee said.

The school is set to return to in-person learning on Monday, Oct. 25 if employees are healthy.

If we are forced to continue with distance learning into next week, we will make that announcement before the end of this week to allow families the time to prepare, Toynbees letter read. We are sorry for the inconvenience but we do not have any other options at this time."

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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The state attorney general's office Monday defended its actions after St. Peter's Health in Helena said three different public officials "threatened" hospital doctors last week over the care of a COVID-19 patient.

The patient had requested to be treated with ivermectin, a drug not approved for use against the disease.

"St. Peters Health can confirm that several providers were contacted by three different public officials last week regarding the treatment of a patient in our care. These conversations were deeply troubling to our physicians and staff because they were threatened and their clinical judgment was called into question by these individuals," a hospital spokesperson said in a statement emailed Monday.

The hospital did not name the elected officials in its statement, but Republican Attorney General Austin Knudsen's office confirmed his participation in a conference call with hospital executives last week.

A spokesperson for the attorney general disputed the hospital's characterization of the events  which included the Attorney Generals Office dispatching a Montana Highway Patrol trooper to the hospital  as threatening or questioning the medical treatment recommended by doctors.

The Department of Justice initiated an investigation into very troubling allegations made by the family of a patient at St Peters Hospital. After hearing of the allegations and the ensuing investigation, Attorney General Knudsen contacted a board member who set up a telephone conference with hospital executives," spokesperson Kyler Nerison said in the email late Monday. "No one was threatened or had their clinical judgment questioned while the Department of Justice was trying to get to the bottom of the serious allegations that the hospital was mistreating a patient and violating her rights and her familys rights. The investigation is ongoing.

In a response to the attorney generals statement, the hospital again said late Monday that doctors were harassed and threatened.

St. Peters works closely with public officials and regulatory agencies, and we occasionally receive inquiries about patient care and patient rights. Last week, several of our providers and care team members who are working tirelessly at the bedside were harassed and threatened by three public officials, spokesperson Andrea Groom wrote. These officials have no medical training or experience, yet they were insisting our providers give treatments for COVID-19 that are not authorized, clinically approved or within the guidelines established by the FDA and the CDC. In addition, they threatened to use their position of power to force our doctors and nurses to provide this care.

After his office was contacted by the responding trooper last week and informed of what the trooper learned after gathering statements, Lewis and Clark County Attorney Leo Gallagher said he found no criminal offense that needed investigating.

St. Peters has dealt with a surge of COVID-19 patients, reaching a record-high number of people hospitalized with the virus earlier this month. The hospital, and others around the state, have reported increased hostility against health care workers over requests for treatment and enforcement of measures like mask use and visitor restrictions to prevent the spread of the virus within facilities.

Sick patient

The situation stems from a Helena woman in her 80s who was at the hospital and requested to be treated with ivermectin, a drug that's become controversial recently as some have used it to treat COVID-19 though the FDA says it should not be.

The drug is used in humans to treat infections caused by parasitic worms, as well as for things like head lice and rosacea. It is also used as a livestock de-wormer.

A Facebook post last week from the president of the Montana Federation of Republican Women said the patient supported publicizing information about the situation online.

"Family and friends desire to have the hospital obey the law and follow the 'right to try' signed by Gov. Bullock and allow (the patient) to have the medications she wants," MFRW president Heidi Roedel said in an email Monday when asked about the incident. The Right to Try Act was passed by the state Legislature and signed by former Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock in 2015. It allows for the use of some experimental treatments for terminal illness.

A voicemail to the patient's daughter was not immediately returned Monday.

Response

In replying to a list of questions from the Montana State News Bureau sent last week, the attorney generals spokesperson Monday confirmed the office dispatched a trooper. The office has not provided a copy of any report generated by the patrol in response to the incident the evening of Oct. 12.

"The family asked for our assistance and a trooper was dispatched to speak with the family at the hospital. Following that conversation, Attorney General Knudsen spoke with hospital executives and received assurances that they would cease preventing communication between the patient and her family and deliver the legal documents she needed, Nerison said Monday afternoon in an email.

Nerison also said the office was told by the woman's family about claims of the hospital cutting off their access to the patient.

"The Attorney Generals Office received a report from a family that said St. Peters Hospital was violating their relatives rights by refusing to allow her to receive prescribed medications, not delivering legal documents, not allowing them to see their relative, and at one point, even cutting off text message communication between them and their family member."

The hospital, which has visitor restrictions in place to prevent the spread of COVID-19 within its facility, strongly rebutted that statement late Monday.

We have reviewed all medical and legal records related to these incidents, and we have verified that our teams are providing care in accordance with clinical best practice, hospital policy and patient rights, Groom wrote. Any allegations or assertions otherwise are unfounded. St. Peters is focused on providing the very best care for our patients. We stand behind our care teams, who are doing an exceptional job during these extenuating and incredibly challenging circumstances.

Jurisdiction

Steve Hagen, the Helena Police Department chief, said last Friday in response to a question asked during an interview that St. Peters is within the city limits of Helena and therefor under his department's jurisdiction. When a call was made about a person trespassing at the hospital by refusing to leave Monday, for example, officers from HPD responded.

Last week Hagen said his department did not have anything to do with the Oct. 12 response. Asked why the highway patrol would respond instead of his department, Hagen said: "I don't want to interject anything."

When asked why the attorney general didn't refer the matter to the Helena Police Department after hearing from the family, Nerison responded: "The question is why we didnt tell a distressed family to call someone else? The Department of Justice is a law enforcement agency that has concurrent jurisdiction."

Nerison referenced Title 45 of the Montana Code Annotated, the segment of state law that broadly deals with crimes. He later responded: Concurrent jurisdiction means that two agencies could have jurisdiction.

In response to a follow-up email asking if the AG would have a similar response for other families in distress and clarifying the Helena Police Department had said the hospital was routinely their jurisdiction, Nerison responded by asking if a reporter had "inferred" the jurisdictional boundary and requested to be shown a statement clarifying jurisdiction.

Because the Oct. 12 call wasn't made through the 911 system, there was not a public record of it in the calls-for-service report sent out by the Helena Police Department each day.

Last Friday a dispatcher for MHP said the patrols colonel called the incident into dispatch. The Montana Highway Patrol colonel is Steve Lavin and the patrol is part of the Department of Justice.

Reached Monday about MHP's response, Sgt. Mike Jensen, from District 3 that includes Helena, said he was "advised that all inquiries go to the AG's Office."

The Lewis and Clark County Attorney said last week the trooper called into the county attorney offices on-call line after taking statements at the hospital. Gallagher said that's when he concluded there were no alleged criminal offenses that needed investigating.

Ivermectin

In a statement Friday, St Peter's explained that ivermectin is not authorized or clinically approved to treat COVID-19.

Despite occasional requests by patients or family members to use alternative therapies or medications like Ivermectin that are not authorized or clinically approved to treat COVID-19, St. Peter's Health will continue to follow clinical protocols that have been developed by medical experts and are consistent with FDA and CDC guidelines and recommendations, the hospital spokesperson said. Any efforts to exert pressure on our providers, including by public officials, will not result in deviation from widely accepted clinical treatment protocols or our hospital policy. Furthermore, harassing our care teams places an additional burden of stress on these individuals, diverting their time and focus away from caring for these critically ill patients.

Montana Hospital Association President and CEO Rich Rasmussen said in a phone interview Friday he has no concerns about hospital staff being threatened with criminal prosecution in such an episode because hospitals are on very safe footing with the systems in place to ensure proper administration of federally approved medication.

He said the association was first made aware of the situation when the Montana State News Bureau reached out for comment.

We dont have any concerns about that at all, Rasmussen said.  Hospitals are going to rely on what is a generally accepted practice for medication and ivermectin is not indicated for that.

Rasmussen said hes not aware of any hospitals that are dispensing ivermectin because it is not approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration or the American Medical Association for treating COVID-19. The tablets are also not approved to treat COVID-19 when an animal contracts the virus, he said.

It would be very difficult to find a facility that would dispense ivermectin, Rasmussen said.

Whats most important is to make sure folks take the opportunity to get vaccinated, he added. Other approaches that are often written about on social media are irrelevant if youre vaccinated.

Rasmussen is confident the hospital is on sound legal grounds.

Were really not concerned whether or not any outside organization would raise concerns about that because the hospitals are going to do whats the right thing, he said.

 Reporter Seaborn Larson contributed to this story.

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Holly Michels State Reporter State Bureau reporter for Lee Newspapers of Montana. Follow Holly Michels Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today
Within the span of less than two weeks, Great Falls got a double shot in the arm to its health care footprint in Montana with the grand opening of a dental clinic expansion project at a college and the groundbreaking for a new nonprofit medical school close by.

In 2019, the state Legislature appropriated $4.25 million for the dental project, and Great Falls College Montana State University used another $1.09 million of institutional funds for what is the only dental hygiene program in the state.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held Sept. 24.

The expansion adds 12,000 square feet to the clinic and allows the program to take another seven students at a time, bringing the total to 25. Also 6,600 square feet were remodeled, allowing students, faculty and staff to be able to work in a more modern, comfortable space that will give patients better privacy.

And then on Oct. 6 less than a mile away, Touro College and University System broke ground on a college of osteopathic medicine. Officials said the new school, Touro College Montana, will help address the states physician shortage and increase access to health care.

The school is expected to open in fall 2023.

The private, nonprofit Touro College and University System partnered with Benefis Health System to open the college of osteopathic medicine. In February, the Montana University System approved Touro's plan to offer post-secondary degree programs in Montana, the Billings Gazette reported.

The building will be about 100,000 square feet. There will be about 125 students in each class for a four-year program.

School officials said they are creating a hiring plan. But based on other schools of osteopathic medicine, there would likely be 100 full-time staff and faculty plus 250 adjunct faculty. And student housing will be available.

Benefis officials said earlier the school will educate primary care physicians like family medicine doctors, internal medicine doctors and pediatricians.

Touro officials said their mission is to train osteopathic physicians, with a particular emphasis on practicing medicine in underserved communities, and to increase the number of underrepresented minorities in medicine.

By establishing a medical school in Montana, we will not only address the states rural health crisis, but also provide medical education opportunities and access to care for its tribal population, said Patricia Salkin, senior vice president of academic affairs at Touro.

Nearly 30% of the current student body in Touros osteopathic medical schools is comprised of underrepresented minorities and 55% of graduates practice in underserved communities.

Officials said the new school will help address the states physician shortage and increase access to health care. Touro officials note that 11 of the states 56 counties lack a practicing physician and 52 counties identified as areas with health profession shortages.

They also note that 39% of physicians practice in the state where they completed medical school. Touro is a system of nonprofit institutions. It was chartered in 1970 primarily to enrich the Jewish heritage and serve the global community. Nearly 19,000 students are enrolled in its 35 campuses and locations, Touro officials said.

Dr. Paul Dolan, chief medical officer at Benefis, said in a news release that physician demand is expected to increase by nearly 20% in the next five years.

"Partnering with a reputable institution such as Touro University gives me great hope for the future of care in Montana, he said.

There was some big medical news elsewhere in the state this month as on Oct. 4, a groundbreaking ceremony was held for the new Billings campus of Rocky Vista University, a four-year medical school.

The school is expected to create 350 new jobs in the city and generate $67 million annually in economic activity, the Billings Gazette reported.

Montana was one of four states without a medical school.

The 12-acre Montana College of Osteopathic Medicine campus and 135,000 square foot state-of-the-art building in Billings has been under construction since early summer. The campus is scheduled to be completed in late 2022.

At the Great Falls College celebration, several people talked about the yearslong quest for the dental clinic expansion in ceremonies emceed by college Dean Stephanie Erdmann, who also serves as chief executive officer.

The Great Falls College dental team -- faculty, staff and students -- has worked feverishly to ensure this ceremony showcases this momentous occasion to the campus and community, she said.

Montana State University's top official attended the ceremony as well.

The day is here. The day is finally here, said Waded Cruzado, MSU president. This is a day of new beginnings.

Retired Dean Susan Wolff, who had lobbied for the project, said This is such a day for all of us. But as I told students, this is about you.

State Sen. Brian Hoven, R-Great Falls, provided a history as to how the project came together, providing a list of lawmakers and college officials who made it happen.

That included Rep. Llew Jones, R-Conrad, state Sen. Mike Cuffe, R-Eureka, and Rep. Casey Schreiner, D-Great Falls.

Hoven also offered an incredible amount of gratitude to Will Weaver, who from 1985 to 2001 served as dean and CEO of what is now Great Falls College. He said Weaver started the dental program at the college and was good at working with state and city officials.

He said his successors learned from that.

It took several legislative sessions for the expansion project to pass.

In 2018, Wolff was approached by lawmakers and asked if she had anything at the college that would qualify as an infrastructure project.

She told them she had one to expand the colleges dental hygiene program, which is the only one of its kind in the state, the Great Falls Tribune reported.

The lawmakers asked her to provide more information, and it was added to the infrastructure bill.

Hoven said Jones called a group of lawmakers in 2017 and asked how to get a building project through the Legislature and what project could garner the necessary support.

Llew said I need a headliner, Hoven recalled.

Most in that conversation said it would be difficult.

Jones then called Wolff and heard about the dental project. Hoven said Jones had found the project he was looking for.

It passed the Senate but was halted in the Legislature, as there were other projects attached to it.

Then in 2019, it passed in part due to lobbying by Wolff, who came to Helena to testify, Hoven said.

By the end of that session everyone wanted that project and the numbers she gave us, it was a no-brainer. Its going to carry the whole bill, Hoven said. And it did.

Jones said at the time he liked the project because it enhances opportunities for students in Montana and provides more training for an area that is in much demand by the public. The median earnings for dental hygiene graduates was $51,415 in 2018, which was about 55% more than graduating peers statewide.

The ceremony included a presentation of $25,000 from the Montana Oral Health Foundation for the naming rights to an operatory. The reception area was named for Dan and Mary Beth Ewen and the student learning lab bears Alluvion Healths name.

Hannah Johnson, a second-year student in the hygiene program, said that every time she hears someone say how beautiful the new clinic is, I just say in my head, or sometimes out loud, You have no idea how beautiful this place is.

She said the school is now set up to be a better learning facility.

Johnson said more Montana students will now be able to receive a more lasting and impactful learning experience from these educators.

This new clinic  will continue to reach the high standards of our dental program for years and years, she said. Thank you to all those who fought and planned and worked to get this clinic here.

Assistant editor Phil Drake can be reached at 406-231-9021.

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When the Montana Districting and Apportionment Commission adopted criteria and goals for dividing Montana into two Congressional Districts it included a goal of considering competitiveness in its decision-making. That made sense, for history is very clear: Montana, over the years, has been competitive between the two major parties.

It is easy to look at the most recent election results of 2020 and declare that Montana is not a competitive state politically. But a landslide of sorts in one election does not define the state permanently. Our history is replete with cases where the results of an election suggest the demise of the losing party, only to have that party emerge from the ashes like a phoenix in subsequent elections.

Montana does have a record of consistently casting its presidential ballots for the Republican. Since Democrat Lyndon Johnson won Montana in 1964, 57 years ago, only once has a Democratic presidential candidate prevailed here. In 1992 Bill Clinton won the state over incumbent George H.W. Bush. However, Clintons narrow plurality victory at 37% was influenced by the presence of Independent H. Ross Perot on the ballot. Montana was Perots second best state at 26%, and most analysts feel that a preponderance of those votes would have gone for Bush had Perot not been on the ballot.

But in our top purely Montana race, that for governor, over the last 70 years the race has been evenly divided. From 1952 -1968 we had 16 years of Republican governors, followed by 20 years of Democratic governors from 1968 through 1980, followed by 16 years of Republican governors from 1988 through 2004, and then 16 years of Democratic governors from 2004 through 2020. The election of a Republican in 2020 may start another of those runs, but the story of our gubernatorial election in the last 70 years tilts slightly Democratic, 36 years to 32 years. Competitive might be the word.

Usually in the tier B races in Montana, the statewide office holders other than governor and lt. governor, there is usually a mix of winners from both parties. However, sometimes there is a sweep, like the Republicans in 2020. But it was only a few years ago in 2008 that the Democrats swept all Tier B statewide races. Again, the word competitive comes to mind.

As far as our statewide vote for U.S. Senator, since the popular election of Senators (prior to 1916 they were selected by the legislature), Montana has had Democratic Senators 87% of the time, Republican 13%. Yet in the last 40 years since 1980, Democrats have filled the Senate seats 72% of the time, the GOP 28% a little more balanced than before. It is easy to see Democrats as more than competitive in when it comes to U.S. Senate seats.

As far as U.S. House of Representative races are concerned, in the fifty years between 1944 and 1994 when we had two Congressional Districts, the first Congressional District was held by a Democrat for 46 years, compared to 4 years by a Republican. The second district tilted Republican  38 years to 12 years for Democrats. Overall, statewide, Democrats had the edge 58 years to 42 years. Was there one party dominance? No. While tilting Democratic, you can easily use the word competitive.

So, if the Apportionment Commission is looking for new Congressional District boundaries that give some consideration to competitiveness, they need to look at the boundaries suggested by the Democratic members of the Commission, all of which include competitiveness. I particularly like Map 6 with one competitive district and one highly Republican. All the Republican maps create two absolutely Republican districts. Not a hint of competitiveness, which is Montanas history. In fact, one could argue that all the maps presented by the Republican members of the Commission are non-competitive and likely violate the first goal adopted by the commission that no plan may be drawn to unduly favor a political party.

History is a good teacher, if we are willing to listen. History tells us that Montana is a competitive state between Democrats and Republicans and the Montana Districting and Apportionment Commission would do well to factor that competitiveness into its decision-making and select Plan 6.

Evan Barrett lives in historic Uptown Butte after retiring following 47 years at the top level of Montana economic development, government, politics and education. He is an award-winning producer of Montana history videos who continues to write columns and commentaries and occasionally teaches Montana history.

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As Tucker used her walking stick to navigate the woods around her home, she named birds and plants, stopping to marvel at fuzzy mushrooms. Shes come to know the wildlife, like the five kinds of woodpeckers that nest there regularly and the additional one that shows up for the winter. There are the deer, and the occasional bear. She points out trees her father planted, and boxwoods her mother planted.

I get to listen to the chatter between the wrens, and the chatter between the chickadees, she said. Thats one of the things I cherish about this place, to be able to be in one space long enough to learn it.

Just considering the loss of it ... she said, then paused, overcome for a moment. I wouldnt be able to be here  it would be a total loss for the property.

Tucker is not alone.

Other landowners fearful for what may come addressed the board during the meeting last week. They all thanked the county for its response and advocacy on their behalf, then expressed how dire the situation has become for them, including two who mentioned that theyd be located in the blast zone, or the incineration zone.
In Maryland, her hobby was War of 1812 battlefield archaeology; in Charlotte County, her passion immediately shifted toward its Black history. She posted and published what she learned.

Southern historians were wildly inaccurate in their accounts of Holmes death; Virginius Dabney, in his Virginia, The New Dominion, listed his year of death as 1892. But Liston was just the sort of person Henderson was looking for as she sought to learn more about Jasper and Joseph Holmes. She needed a Charlotte County-based historian. She reached out to Liston.

Liston, in her research, had special access to the court clerks office. Within two days, I had found [the Holmes case indictments] and the original witness statements that were made the night of the murder and the next day at the inquest, she said. Curiously, six pages of what she gathers was an autopsy report were missing.

Brothers John and Griffin S. Marshall  sons of a judge  were changed with murder, along with William T. Boyd and Macon C. Morris. All but Griffin were indicted. All four fled.

The Marshall brothers became successful ranchers; Boyd, a banker and businessman in Tennessee; and Morris, of all things, worked as a policeman in Roanoke, according to Listons research.
JLARC also found that guardians have too much discretion to limit family and friends from contacting and interacting with the adult under their care without justification. This practice, they said, could open the door to abuse and neglect. Loved ones who want to be involved in caring for an incapacitated adult may have trouble navigating the legal system to fight the decision of the guardian.

Lawmakers should make it more difficult for guardians to restrict visits, including by requiring specific details as to why a restriction is necessary, JLARC said.

The only requirement on guardians is an annual report that includes an update on the well-being of the person under their care, including their physical, mental and emotional condition.

We reviewed many of these reports. ... Oftentimes, the guardian would provide a one-word answer to each such as good, said Joe McMahon, who led JLARCs study. The report, they said, should include more detail that could be useful to the court or anyone interested.

JLARC also asked lawmakers to consider requiring the courts to review guardianship cases periodically, arguing that sometimes incapacitated people can recover and regain their autonomy. Most guardianship cases now are effectively permanent.
Under the law, customers should receive $312 million in refunds, SCC staff said last month.

Because of a 2018 law, the agreement would allow Dominion to keep $309 million of its excess earnings to pay for clean energy projects, among them two giant wind turbines in the ocean off the coast of Virginia Beach that are a test run for a large offshore wind farm Dominion hopes to develop.

The agreement also would lower electric rates by $50 million, the maximum amount allowed by the same 2018 law. This is another concession by Dominion.

In news that will please investors, the settlement would raise Dominions return on common equity, or ability to profit on what it owns, from 9.2% to 9.35%. The company earlier this year asked for an increase to 10.8%.

I appreciate the thoughtful effort of all parties in reaching an agreement that puts our customers interests first, Ed Baine, president of Dominion Energy Virginia, said in a statement. We have a lot of work ahead as we continue to build a clean energy future in Virginia.
Virginia is partnering with local governments and private operators for an investment of up to $2 billion to expand high-speed internet access to more than 250,000 homes and businesses, as the state uses federal emergency aid to close a glaring gap in opportunity for remote work and study during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Gov. Ralph Northam announced Tuesday that the state has received requests for $943 million in grants to fund 57 projects to expand broadband telecommunications access in 84 localities across Virginia. The state expects to have $850 million in federal and state budget funds for the effort, drawn mostly from aid under the American Rescue Plan Act. It would be matched by $1.15 billion in private and local government funds.

The state will vet the requested projects for eligibility. Not all of the projects will be funded this year, but the state expects to award grants by the end of the year to put Virginia in position to achieve universal broadband coverage for all parts of Virginia by 2024, four years earlier than the governor had hoped.

Broadband is as critical today as electricity was in the last century, said Northam, a native of the Eastern Shore. Making sure more Virginians can get access to it has been a priority since I took office, and the pandemic has pushed us all to move even faster.
Total Action for Progress honored Carilion Clinic CEO Nancy Agee at its annual award ceremony Tuesday.

Agee received the Cabell Brand Hope Award, named for TAPs founder, in recognition of her work at Carilion Clinic, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Agee said it is her Carilion colleagues  the brave men and women who are battling the pandemic  who deserve the award.

TAPs work inspires us as the communitys health system, Agee added. The work we humbly and proudly do to this day is ensuring that all of us have exceptional, excellent, homegrown, equitable healthcare.

Agee began her career as a nurse and helped lead Carilions reorganization from a collection of hospitals to a physician-led clinic. She ushered in a partnership with Virginia Tech to create a medical school and research institute. Agee has been named by Modern Healthcare as one of the top 100 most influential people in healthcare and one of the top 25 women in healthcare, said Caroline Brand, the daughter of TAPs founder.

Caroline Brand, a nurse practitioner in Charlottesville, presented the award via video at Tuesdays ceremony.
Hunter Cumbie died on July 2, two days after being airlifted to Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital, where he was unresponsive and placed on a ventilator while being treated for injuries that were reported as being the result of a fall, according to court records and prior announcements from law enforcement.

The medical examiners office found the cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head, and ruled it a homicide.

The child was very thin at the hospital, weighing 39 pounds, according to search warrants filed by investigators.

In court Monday, assistant prosecutor Sandra Workman said the allegations behind the charges against Alice Ebel included a belief that the child, H.W.C., was injured at Ebels home and languished overnight before care was sought.

Authorities also believe the child was starved as a form of punishment while living with Ebel, she said, and was exposed to abuse by others that would have been difficult for Ebel to be unaware of.

No additional detail was presented, and the defense limited its statements to the bond request.
Bridge construction provides a unique opportunity to pilot a shuttle service to address visitation demand and parking congestion, the February feasibility study said.

Until that bridgework begins, a one-acre, hillside parcel owned by the Appalachian Trail Conservancy and acquired with help of the trail club in December 2020 sits beside the McAfee Knob parking lot, with a house awaiting demolition. That land will eventually be conveyed to the park service, said Herndon-Powell of the ATC.

Things are in the works, but it wouldnt happen until after the pedestrian bridge is built, Herndon-Powell said. The reason we partnered to acquire that property is with the hope that it will open up more options as the park service goes into their planning process.

And the planning process is underway, as is evidenced by Februarys transit feasibility study. A visitor use management plan is in the works, according to park service documents, but it is unclear when or where the information will be made available.

Well already have to close part of the parking lot so it would make sense to keep it closed and go straight into the parking lot improvements, Herndon-Powell said. But that is going to take a lot of coordination and the stars to all align for them to have that plan ready and approved in time.
For example, consider the winners of those 15 gubernatorial elections. In eight, the Virginia governors race went to the same party as the candidate who won Virginia in the presidential election the year prior.

But on seven occasions Old Dominion voters chose a governor from the party that had lost Virginia in the previous presidential election. So the prior years presidential results are at best a coin flip in determining the following years gubernatorial contest.

The city of Roanoke votes seems only slightly more predictive of the overall outcome. In nine of the past 15 races, Roanoke voters collectively chose the eventual winner. But on six occasions, the citys preferred candidate lost the gubernatorial election.

The Roanoke vote totals chalked up in those races may be the most help in divining how many votes Youngkin will get out of Roanoke this year. In that category, Democrats have a definite edge.

Since 1961, Democrat candidates have averaged 12,323 votes in gubernatorial elections, while Republican gubernatorial candidates have averaged 10,061.
(Closer to home, in Botetourt County, people who live near the proposed Rocky Forge wind farm project are attempting to stop the plan from both sides of the mountaintop it is supposed to occupy.)

Local opposition is largely based on the fact that these large renewable energy projects cause noise, impact health, reduce property values, kill wildlife and despoil rural viewsheds. But rural residents are also righty concerned about what will happen to used wind turbine blades and solar panels when their usefulness is over.

According to our research, cumulative waste productions will rise far sooner and more sharply than most analysts project, stated a recent article in the Harvard Business Review. We see the volume of [solar] waste surpassing that of new installations by the year 2031. By 2035, discarded panels would outweigh new units sold by 2.56 times. And most of the blades from decommissioned wind turbines are currently being sawed up and dumped in local landfills.
Lompoc Valley Chamber of Commerces Military Affairs Committee said thank you to the uniformed men and women of Vandenberg Space Force Base for their service by organizing the annual Military Appreciation Barbecue. Air Force Association Chapter 266 and the Non-Commissioned Officers Association volunteer to co-host the free lunch for airmen and guardians Oct. 14 at Cocheo Park on the base.

Military Appreciation Barbecue 04.jpg Military Appreciation Barbecue 03.jpg Military Appreciation Barbecue 02.jpg Military Appreciation Barbecue 01.jpg
" " In Madagascar, ready-to-eat fruits, such as figs, have evolved to be extremely fragrant and mostly yellow, a color more visible to lemurs, which are red-green colorblind. Wikimedia Commons CC By-SA 3.0

Imagine having to get a specific person's attention in a crowded room without being able to move a muscle or make any noise at all. That sounds impossible, doesn't it? Well, this is the predicament plants have found themselves in since time immemorial: How does one get the attention of a fast-moving animal when one is silent, motionless and also a bush?

Plants have solved the problem, though, because necessity is the mother of invention, and also because they've had around 100 million years to work on it. Many angiosperms  flowering plants, that is  require the help of animals to spread their seeds around since, as we've discussed, they're incapable of doing so themselves. It's one thing for a mango tree to drop its fruit and grow another little tree right underneath the parent, but it's quite another for a monkey to take a piece of fruit a half mile away and drop the seed in a previously mango-free zone. This is where the rubber meets the road when it comes to angiosperm dissemination, and angiosperm evolution has depended on individual species concocting new ways to manipulate the animals it's most likely to come in contact with.

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Two recent studies published by the same research team at the Institute of Evolutionary Ecology and Conservation Genomics at University of Ulm in Germany examine the mechanisms by which plants learned to flag down the right animals. It turns out that though sound and movement are good strategies for getting somebody's attention, animal heads are also turned by smell and color. And, according to this research, plants have worked those angles pretty hard.

The first study, published Sept. 26, 2018, in the journal Biology Letters, investigates how the color of certain fruits can attract specific seed dispersers. The research team compared experiments with fruit-eating primates in wildlife preserves in both Uganda and on the island of Madagascar. The study found the fruit-bearing plants had evolved to cater to the visual capabilities of the main seed-dispersing animals in each place. Though the landscapes in the two parks are very similar, Ugandan seed-dispersers (monkeys, apes and birds) have tri-color vision like humans, whereas lemurs in Madagascar are red-green colorblind. The ripe berries on fruiting plants reflected this: In Uganda, ripe fruit on dark green foliage showed up better to the animals native to that area, whereas in Madagascar, the ready-to-eat fruits were mostly yellow, a color more visible to lemurs.

Similarly, according to the other study published Oct. 3, 2018, in the journal Science Advances, the fruit in Madagascar is also more fragrant  those plants didn't want to leave their seed dispersal entirely up to the visual acuity of a bunch of lemurs. Ripe figs on the island are very smelly, which makes sense, given that color-blind lemurs would have been able to find the smelliest fruits in the forest more easily than they could find the most brightly colored. The figs that produced the most odiferous cocktail of chemical compounds as they ripened were eaten  and their seeds dispersed  more often on Madagascar, suggesting that plants, contrary to popular belief, are no dummies.

Now That's Interesting The fruit of the Balanites wilsoniana tree in Uganda has such a powerful smell (like sweaty gym socks) that it can carry for miles on the wind, calling in elephants  the only animal that can swallow the large seeds whole and disperse them.
" " Artist's concept of the asteroid 16 Psyche, which is thought to be a stripped planetary core. Maxar/ASU/P. Rubin/NASA/JPL-Caltech

The asteroid 16 Psyche, which a NASA space probe is scheduled to visit in 2026, is a massive object about 140 miles (226 kilometers) in diameter. It orbits about 235 million to 309 million miles (378 million to 497 million kilometers) from the sun. Unlike most asteroids, which are made of rock or ice, 16 Psyche is believed to be made mostly of iron and nickel, just like Earth's core.

The asteroid's composition also makes it, at least in theory, almost unfathomably valuable. Its estimated worth is $10,000 quadrillion, or $10,000,000,000,000,000,000. That's vastly more than the estimated $86 trillion gross domestic product (GDP) of all the nations on Earth combined (that number comes from the World Economic Forum).

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But how do you actually value an asteroid? Linda Elkins-Tanton, the Psyche mission's principal investigator, says in an email that she developed the $10,000 quadrillion estimate back in 2017, using the price of the materials in the asteroid on the metals market. But that price is really a way of understanding the asteroid's unusual nature, rather than incentive for future space mining entrepreneurs.

"The critical thing, of course, is that the estimate is meaningless in every way," explains Elkins-Tanton, who is a foundation professor in the School of Earth and Space Exploration at Arizona State University, where she's managing director and co-chair of the ASU Interplanetary Initiative.

"First, we have absolutely no available technology for bringing Psyche back to Earth. And even if we did, the abundance of its metal would immediately render metals valueless on the markets. But, nonetheless, it was a fun exercise!"

Additionally, Elkins-Tanton says that the best current measurements of the asteroid's density indicate that it isn't pure metal, but instead has cracks and pore space, and more rock in the mix.

"We assume the metal in Psyche is iron and nickel, since that is the composition of all the metal meteorites that have fallen to Earth, and that is what we think the Earth's core is made of, " she says.

" " The Psyche mission is a journey to a unique metal asteroid, most likely the exposed nickel-iron core of an early planet, orbiting the sun between Mars and Jupiter. NASA/JPL-Caltech

She provided a chart, showing that iron accounts for 94 percent of the mass of an average metal meteorite, which also typically contains about 5 percent nickel, plus smaller amounts of gallium, iridium, tungsten, cobalt, gold, copper, rhenium, platinum and other trace elements.

But she says it's important to stress that scientists don't yet know for sure what Psyche 16 is made of.

"We will find out what it really is when we get there," she says.

Now That's Interesting Scientists speculate that Psyche 16 could be the core of an early planet that lost its exterior layers in violent collisions with other space objects billions of year ago, according to NASA.
FLORENCE, S.C.  Tawanda Hanna held a ribbon-cutting ceremony Monday for her new business, Tawandas Notary Services and Accessories LLC.

The Greater Florence Chamber of Commerce participated in the ribbon cutting in the James Allen Plaza behind the chamber office. Chamber ambassadors joined in the celebration, along with family and friends.

Hanna has been in business since February.

Hanna works out of her home and car, taking her business to her clients. She also performs small weddings and is a notary license signing agent. Services provided include loan documents, power of attorney, bill of sale, bank forms and more.

Hanna said she has performed three weddings. She charges $60 to perform a wedding.

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Once she became a notary public, Hanna said she started to look into becoming a mobile notary and took the course and exam to be a signing agent. Her fees include a $35 travel fee, and she goes from Florence, Sumter, and Myrtle Beach and as far as Columbia.

The accessories part of her business is selling custom jewelry by Paparazzi Jewelry.

I love selling the jewelry, she said.
FLORENCE, S.C.  South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson and Treasurer Curtis Loftis say they are opposed to a plan that would require financial institutions to report accounts to the Internal Revenue Service if inflows or outflows exceed $600.

Wilson was one of 20 state attorneys general to sign a letter to President Joe Biden and U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen asking the administration to rescind the proposal immediately.

This is frightening government overreach that violates the privacy of our citizens, will cost them more money and would be a hackers dream by putting so many peoples personal information in one place, Wilson said.

Loftis was one of 23 state financial officers to sign a letter to Biden and Yellen urging them to consider the potential negative implications of the policy.
My grandfather Mike was a trashman and spent the best part of his youth and adulthood driving through the streets of Philadelphia, gathering up other peoples refuse.

My mother Lucy ended her academic career with a diploma from West Catholic Girls in 1956, and then went to work. She handed over every paycheck, unopened, to her parents. It never occurred to her to go to college, because that high school diploma was already more than Mike and Mamie could have hoped for her.

My father Ted worked his way through school, didnt get a penny from his own parents, gratefully accepted the love and financial assistance from his girlfriend-fiancee-wife Lucy, and ended up on Temple Law Review. And the rest is history.

I write these things to point out that getting a college degree is only a measure of someones value if they did it by themselves, without having stood on the shoulders of beloved people. My father would have been the first to tell you that he was only able to do what he did because of my mother. My mother would have been the first to tell you that she was only able to wear her own cap and gown because Mamie rubbed her knuckles until they bled, washing someone elses clothes. She was only able to do it because Mike lived among the steaming discards of strangers.
 "Towards A New Framework for Achieving Decarceration: A Review of the Research on Social Investments" | Main | Recordings of "Understanding Drug Sentencing" symposiums panels now available 

October 18, 2021

Notable new essays in Brennan Center's "Punitive Excess" series focused on responding to violent crime and mandatory minimums

I highlighted here back in April the terrific essay series assembled by the Brennan Center for Justice under the title "Punitive Excess." I have blogged about sets of new essays repeatedly (as linked below) because each new set of new essays are must reads (like all that come before). The latest pair of piece ought to be of particular interest to sentencing fans:

"Addressing Violent Crime More Effectively: Excessive punishment is the wrong response to rises in homicide rates" by David Alan Sklansky

"End Mandatory Minimums: Inflexible, harsh sentences exacerbate crime and racial disparities alike" by Alison Siegler

Both of these pieces are must reads, and the piece on mandatory minimums has links to research and other materials that might be useful for those litigating against such sentences or seeking reductions therefrom. Here is a segment (with links) from that piece:

Prior related posts:

October 18, 2021 at 07:10 PM | Permalink

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A security guard holding a walkie talkie (PHOTO: Getty Images)

SINGAPORE  A security manpower firm that admitted to overworking four of its security officers due to a lack of staff was fined $34,000 on Tuesday (19 October).

Peregrine Security had made its officers, who were deployed to different worksites, work back to back shifts of up to 20 hours a day, with only a few hours break in between.

A representative from the company earlier pleaded guilty to four charges of overworking two of its security officers between September and October last year. These involve making the two workers work more than 12 hours each day for 33 days and 44 days.

Three charges of the same nature involving two other security officers were taken into consideration for sentencing. These officers were made to work more than 12 hours per day for 27 days and two days.

Under the Employment Act, a company is not permitted to make its employees work for more than 12 hours in a day, except in exceptional circumstances. Such circumstances include working in the event of an accident, work essential for defence or security or for the life of the community, or urgent works to machinery or plants.

The provision applies to employees not working as workmen or in a managerial or executive position, who receive a salary of not more than $2,600 a month.

The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) was alerted to the offences through a complaint on 23 September last year.

Senior prosecuting officer Justine Loh had sought a fine of $35,000 for the firm, stressing that Peregrine did not take heed even though it had been issued another composition of $8,000 just six months earlier - on 2 March last year - for 16 similar breaches.

Loh also noted that the film had committed extensive breaches over a short two-month period.

The lawyer representing Peregrine Security, Roslina Baba, said that last year had been the most difficult in the firm's 16-year history. The firm had to overcome multiple challenges, including complying with legislation and limits on foreign nationals entering the country, resulting in a manpower crunch.

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Roslina said about 145 of some 300 security officers had resigned, with 40 of them citing the increasing risk of contracting COVID-19 as a reason.

Peregrine Security accepted that a lack of manpower was not an excuse to make the officers work over the limit. The officers were not forced to work beyond the limit but had agreed to do extra work and were paid the overtime rate, stated the lawyer.

Due to the court case, the senior management of Peregrine has since implemented an electronic system to ensure that employees do not go beyond the prescribed limit of hours. This was initiated even before the MOM began its investigations, the lawyer added.

For its breach of the Employment Act, the firm could have been fined up to $5,000 on each charge. As the charge is amalgamated, it could have faced up to twice the maximum punishment.

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Hong Kong officials have added five hotels to the governments approved list of coronavirus quarantine facilities, ramping up room supply by 15 per cent ahead of an expected rush of inbound travellers over the Christmas holiday season.

The administration revealed on Tuesday that a total of 40 designated quarantine hotels would provide about 11,500 rooms between December 1 and February 28, a period also covering Lunar New Year.

The newly added hotels are iClub Fortress Hill Hotel, OHotel in Kowloon City, Nina Hotel Tsuen Wan West (Tower 1), Lanson Place Causeway Bay and Holiday Inn Golden Mile Hong Kong.

Do you have questions about the biggest topics and trends from around the world? Get the answers with SCMP Knowledge, our new platform of curated content with explainers, FAQs, analyses and infographics brought to you by our award-winning team.

Hong Kongs expansion of the quarantine facilities from the current level of 10,000 rooms emerged as the city confirmed two new coronavirus cases carrying the L452R mutant strain on Tuesday  both imported  taking the overall tally of infections to 12,301, with 213 related deaths.

The two cases involved a 51-year-old man from the United Kingdom and a three-year-old from Mongolia. Fewer than 10 preliminary-positive infections were recorded.

The 36 hotels currently approved to serve as quarantine hotels  a list that is updated every three months  were booked at 84 per cent capacity from September to November, according to the Food and Health Bureau. The net increase in the number of designated hotels for the coming round is four after it was previously announced that Sheraton Hong Kong Hotel and Towers in Tsim Sha Tsui would stop running quarantine services on November 9.

Michael Li Hon-shing, executive director of the Federation of Hong Kong Hotel Owners, earlier on Tuesday predicted that the government would introduce another 2,000 quarantine rooms, as he said the industry was readying for a busy time in the coming months.

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We expect more residents will come back [to Hong Kong] during and after the Christmas holiday, and the government can estimate the number by checking flight bookings with the airlines, Li told a radio programme.

Hong Kong has one of the strictest quarantine policies in the world for returning travellers. Photo: Felix Wong

He noted that while the government had typically chosen mid-range and budget hotels priced between HK$600 (US$77) and HK$800 per night, adding some five-star accommodation to the mix could help meet demand among returning travellers for a higher level of service and more comfortable rooms.

I think the demand for that is not that huge, but it must have its own market, he said. I believe the market for rooms priced at about HK$1,000 is larger.

The iClub offers the cheapest rooms of the newly added hotels, starting at HK$500 per night, while the upmarket Lanson Place charges a minimum of HK$1,339.

Last month, the Hong Kong government sent letters to about 2,000 hotels and guesthouses holding relevant licences to encourage them to join the designated hotel scheme in a bid to meet customer demand, driven by residents returning to their home city.

Li said hotels considering joining the scheme had to weigh their own strategies, including whether they preferred to focus on longer-term tenants or the burgeoning staycation market.

They may worry that future customers could be concerned that they had been a quarantine hotel before  But they may also hope to boost the occupancy rate by becoming a quarantine facility. Its up to the hotels business strategy, he said.

Hong Kong has imposed one of the worlds strictest policies for inbound travellers, requiring those from countries deemed high-risk  a list that includes Britain, the United States and Thailand  to complete up to three weeks of compulsory hotel quarantine.

The limited supply of government-approved hotels had left thousands of travellers to the city scrambling to book rooms and rearrange flights in recent months.

Meanwhile, foreign domestic helpers, who mainly come to the city from the Philippines or Indonesia, have just two options  the 409-room Silka Hotel Tsuen Wan or the government-run Pennys Bay quarantine facility, which has 1,000 slots.

Every room at both properties was snapped up within minutes of becoming available, as employers and employment agencies rushed to reserve slots for their workers.

According to government figures, the city had a total of 315 licensed hotel properties supplying 87,318 rooms as of August.

More from South China Morning Post:

This article Coronavirus: Hong Kong adds 1,500 quarantine rooms ahead of Christmas holidays as 5 more hotels join approved list first appeared on South China Morning Post

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SIOUYX CITY -- State transportation officials updated Sioux City Council members Tuesday about a project to replace the Gordon Drive viaduct.

The Iowa Department of Transportation is looking at options to replace the 3,979-foot-long viaduct, built in 1937 and improved in 1963 and 1966. Options include building a new, 98-foot-wide viaduct directly to the south of the current one, or demolishing and rebuilding it in the same location.

"We are looking at options that will cause the least amount of interruptions for the city, its residence, natural resources and cultural resources," IDOT District 3 transportation planner Dakin Schultz told the council, which gathered for a retreat Tuesday at the Siouxland Expo Center. "We are also looking at costs."

The viaduct, which carries 20,000 vehicles daily, is in need of replacement, rather than simply adding on to it as in past improvements, the IDOT has said. The route enabled motorists, coming into and out of downtown, to safely cross over waterways and railroad tracks for more than 80 years.

The state is also developing a plan with city officials to replace the Bacon Creek conduit, built in 1909, which is beneath Gordon Drive and is thought to be in very poor condition.

In addition, the IDOT has been listening to the comments of property owners whose businesses will likely be impacted by the construction.

"Decisions won't need to happen right away," Schultz said, "but we need to be conscious of our aging infrastructure."

No action was taken by the council on the viaduct or any other item on its agenda for the Tuesday afternoon retreat.

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Driver dies in crash Monday morning

SIOUX CITY  A person died as a result of a single-vehicle accident that occurred Monday morning on the 2800 block of 18th Street.

At around 8 a.m., Sioux City Police responded to the accident. Upon arrival, officers found that a commercial vehicle had veered off the roadway and into a grouping of trees.

The driver was pronounced dead at the scene, investigators say.

An eyewitness reported the vehicle was traveling westbound when it crossed into the oncoming lane and ultimately left the roadway. It doesnt appear as if the driver made any attempt to stop the vehicle or correctively steer back onto the road.

The cause of the accident remains under investigation, but officers say it was potentially related to a medical issue.

The drivers name is not being released, pending notification of next of kin.

National Drug Take Back Day nears

SIOUX CITY  The Sioux City Police Department will be participating in the DEA National Drug Take Back Day at five location in Sioux City, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday.

The locations are at Drilling Pharmacy, 4010 Morningside Ave.; Fareway, 4040 War Eagle Dr.; Walgreens, 101 Pierce St.; and Hy-Vee at 2827 Hamilton Blvd., and 3301 Gordon Dr.

This bi-annual event is an opportunity for people to safely dispose of unused prescription medication at one of the collection sites that will be manned by a Sioux City Police Officers. This is anonymous and no record of who drops off medication will be kept.

During the last National Drug Take Back, the Sioux City Police Department collected more than 260 pounds of medication for disposal.

I-29 ramp to close for bridge project

SIOUX CITY  An Interstate 29 ramp in Sioux City will be temporarily closed on Thursday and Friday in connection with a bridge deck overlay project on U.S. Highway 20.

The ramp from southbound I-29 to westbound U.S. 20 is scheduled to be closed from 8 a.m.-10 a.m. both days, weather permitting, the Iowa Department of Transportation said.

While the ramp is closed, traffic will be detoured to Singing Hills Boulevard, then to northbound I-29 and to westbound U.S. 20.

Sioux City man gets 25 years for shooting

SIOUX CITY  A Sioux City man was sentenced Monday to 25 years in prison for a shooting near downtown Sioux City.

Tyronn Mallory, 20, pleaded guilty in writing Thursday in Woodbury County District Court to willful injury, going armed with intent and reckless use of a firearm.

A charge of attempted murder was dismissed as part of a plea agreement.

District Judge Roger Sailer entered the sentencing order Monday morning. Mallory must serve a minimum of five years before hes eligible for parole.

Mallory shot the victim July 28 in an alley behind 1411 Pierce St. Police obtained video showing Mallory shooting the 33-year-old victim in the lower back, buttocks and the back of the knee.

Mallory was arrested two days later.

The victim was hospitalized at MercyOne Siouxland Medical Center for treatment of his wounds.

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ORANGE CITY, Iowa -- An Orange City woman accused of selling toilet paper and other COVID-19 pandemic-related items for inflated prices has agreed to stop selling the goods on online sales platforms such as eBay.

Brenda Noteboom and the Iowa Attorney General's Office agreed to a consent judgment in which she and any partners or employees will be prohibited from buying and selling items such as masks, gloves, toilet paper, sanitizers, disinfectants and other cleaning supplies needed by victims of COVID-19 or any disaster during any declared emergency and recovery period. She also is prohibited from doing so under any other name or online user name. She may buy the items for her own personal use.

Noteboom must pay $1,000 to the Attorney General's Office. Half of the total will help offset the state's attorney fees and investigation costs, and the other half is assessed as a civil penalty.

According to the consent judgment and order, filed Wednesday in Sioux County District Court, Noteboom denies that she violated the Iowa Consumer Fraud Act and Iowa Price-Gouging Rule but agreed to the judgment to avoid ongoing litigation. She has provided refunds to purchasers.

"Price gouging is a harmful practice at any time, but it exacerbated the difficulties many faced during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Those who attempt to sell items at excessive prices should be held accountable for their actions. We are pleased with the outcome in the cases against both Brenda Noteboom and her brother, Michael Noteboom. Both individuals provided refunds to consumers and agreed to no longer sell household items online during a state of emergency," Attorney General's spokeswoman Ashlee Kieler said.

Michael Noteboom reached a similar agreement with the Attorney General's Office in January for similar online price-gouging tactics

The Attorney General's Office sued Brenda Noteboom in August, accusing her of selling dozens of items at prices far above market value, including a 12.5-ounce can of Lysol disinfectant spray for $62 and a six-pack of Charmin toilet paper for $49.99 on eBay.

The lawsuits against the Notebooms were the first two the state filed against an online seller for violating the price-gouging law during the pandemic.

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds on March 9, 2020, issued a disaster declaration, triggering the state's price-gouging rule, which forbids charging excessive prices for goods or services needed by disaster victims. Sellers on online auction sites are not exempt from the law.

According to court documents, Brenda Noteboom made more than $5,500 by selling more than 320 items, including toilet paper, paper towels, and disinfecting and sanitizing products, on eBay in March 2020.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, the Attorney General's Consumer Protection Division has received hundreds of reports and complaints of price gouging. Businesses or individuals found in violation of the price-gouging law are subject to civil penalties of up to $40,000 under the Iowa Consumer Fraud Act.

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According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Dickey and others sold more than 26 pounds of meth in the Sioux City area from December through April. Dickey was recruited by a Texas meth organization to receive shipments of liquid meth for lab-based conversion and transport meth from Mexico to Texas to Iowa and South Dakota. Dickey was arrested after authorities completed several controlled buys with him.
STORM LAKE, Iowa -- A Storm Lake woman who passed forged checks at a bank has been placed on probation.

District Judge John Sandy on Tuesday issued a deferred judgment on Evelin Basteiro Cesar's conviction on one count of forgery and placed her on probation for two years. She also must pay a $1,025 civil penalty and $9,000 in restitution to Central Bank.

Basteiro Cesar, 31, pleaded guilty in August in Buena Vista County District Court. As part of a plea agreement, single counts of forgery and first-degree theft were dismissed.

She and Karina Torrejon Pupo were arrested in January after investigators discovered the two had stolen checks from the victim and cashed them. They submitted a forged check for $9,000 on Dec. 3 at United Bank of Iowa in Storm Lake. A second forged check for $10,000 was submitted to the same bank on Dec. 22. The women received $12,000 in cash from the checks. The remaining $7,000 was deposited into Basteiro Cesar's personal bank account.

Torrejon Pupo, 22, of Storm Lake, has pleaded guilty to one count of forgery and also received a deferred judgment and two years' probation. She must pay $9,000 restitution jointly with Basteiro Cesar.

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SIOUX CITY  The Sioux City school board moved forward Monday with a plan to help stem an acute shortage of substitute teachers in the district.

By a 6-1 vote, the board gave administrators the go-ahead to draft an agreement with ESS, a K-12 staffing and management solution company. Dan Greenwell cast the lone dissenting vote.

A negotiated contract may be ready for approved at the board's regular meeting on Oct. 25.

The district conducted a survey to gauge the extent of the substitute shortage, which has been an ongoing problem for some time.

When asked if teachers and instructional assistants in the district feel they have been directly impacted or seen the impact of a substitute shortage, 98 percent of teachers and 89 percent of instructional assistance agreed.

Our staff members are stressed, Superintendent Paul Gausman said.

Gausman said the COVID-19 pandemic has exasperated the problem. The superintendent said he is reaching out to other professionals in the industry as to what they are doing to help solve the problem.

The administration, which vetted a variety of specialized staffing firms, recommended ESS based on information provided and data, Gausman said.

In the survey, 78 percent of instructional assistants and 90 percent to teachers said they would support a partnership with a substitute solution company. When the substitutes were asked how likely they would be to onboard with a substitute solution company, 33 percent said somewhat likely, 24 percent said undecided and 20 percent said very likely.

ESS specializes in placing staff in various positions throughout K-12 districts. ESS has worked with 800 plus district in 30 states. This would be the first time the company has operated in Iowa, however.

The solution is for teachers and supplemental instructors substitutes, but could be expanded to other positions such as bus drivers. The company recruits, trains, provides benefits and pays the substitutes.

Senior Vice President of Operations for ESS Wendy Beam said providing the training is the companys secret sauce. The in-person 4- to 5-hour training covers topics such as classroom management, student and staff safety, creative instructional strategies, district and school policies, and more, according to an ESS presentation.

All of the substitutes are hired from the area, Gausman said. Beam said the company does grassroots recruiting within the community by attending events, hosting booths and advertising.

Beam said they try to find people who have never thought about substituting, but may want some extra income.

In Iowa, a substitute teacher must have one of the following: hold an associates degree, bachelors degree or 60 semester hours of credit in, or outside the U.S., or hold a paraeducator certificate. The individual must then complete the substitute authorization course.

A district manager will be hired to be a contact between the company and the district.

The company initially meets with the current substitutes to help them through the process of being grandfathered into the program and get them oriented with the company, Beam said. As new people are hired, they are verified, on boarded and trained. Finally, ESS manages the placements and attendance of the substitutes.

Beam said weekly pay is also a benefit that attracts employees. Having ESS manage the substitute program will not increase the cost for the district per substitute, Gausman said, but it will increase the overall cost because currently unfilled substitute positions may be filled.

ESS will be paid a 29 percent overhead cost to offset benefits taxes, administrative work and other soft costs.

The company does not make money unless positions are filled, Gausman said. The contract can be terminated if ESS is not performing the way the district wants.

The district will post and hire permanent substitute teachers who will have contracts similar to the regular teaching staff. The rest of the substitutes will be hired through ESS.

Brenda Zahner, a union official who represents teachers and instructional assistances, said she hears about the shortage every day.

"We've got to do something about it," Zahner said.

Zahner said the district had nothing to lose by giving ESS a shot to fill the positions. She added this is likely not the only answer to the problem.

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SIOUX CITY -- The Sioux City Council unanimously voted Monday in favor of amending the city's snow ordinance, which will only make parking on emergency snow routes illegal when the mayor has declared a snow emergency.

City Code currently states that it is illegal to park on an emergency snow route either when the mayor declares a snow emergency and when there is 2 inches of snowfall, though this entire chapter of the Code says that it only applies during snow emergencies. The amendment eliminates the 2-inch condition.

Public Works Director Dave Carney said most of the emergency snow routes are downtown.

"And, then, we add a line, because it becomes a little bit of an issue with downtown when the streets are cleared, but the snow emergency hasn't been lifted, 'When can I or can't I park down there?'" Carney said. "So it adds language saying that when the windrows are removed and the parking is clear, even if there's still a snow emergency, you'll be able to park on the snow routes."

Mayor Pro Tem Dan Moore asked Carney how visitors to the city, as well as residents, will know when the mayor has declared a snow emergency.

Carney told Moore a message will be posted on the marquees at both the Tyson Events Center and Orpheum Theatre.

"These are primarily small businesses that we're talking about and it could really hurt them if no one really understands where we can park," Moore said.

Ragen Cote, executive director of Downtown Partners, told the council the changes make the ordinance "much clearer" for downtown small business owners.

"They weren't clear on when 2 inches really applied and how they're supposed to know. So, it just makes it a little easier for us, too, to promote it," she said.

Councilman Alex Watters encouraged residents to sign up for CodeRED, an emergency management platform that delivers alerts related to snow emergencies and other urgent matters via phone call, text message, email and social media posts.

"It's a great service that we allow. It lets you know right away and, then, you know where you need to park and what you need to do," he said.

Residents can register by visiting bit.ly/3ttek77 or enrolling via cell phone by texting AlertSiouxCity to 99411.

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Communication circulated among Hy-Vee employees statewide last week regarding the company's reaction to President Joe Biden's emergency order requiring federal employees be vaccinated set social media rumbling.

Many who posted and commented appeared to believe that a video posted on the Hy-Vee staff website and a letter circulated to Hy-Vee site managers were ordering employees to provide proof of vaccination by Oct. 22 or face weekly testing at their own expense.

What's really happening, according to Tina Potthoff, Hy-Vee's senior vice president of communication, is that the company is preparing for a possible federal rule requiring all employers with at least 100 employees show proof their staffs are vaccinated or are being tested weekly for COVID-19.

Companies that fail to comply could face up to $14,000 in fines per violation.

The rule, which the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration is developing, is expected in the next couple of months, according to Potthoff, but little is known beyond that, leaving companies to figure out how best to prepare.

Hy-Vee is asking its 91,000 employees to provide the company a copy of their vaccination card by Friday so that it can get a better handle on how many tests it may need to have on hand on a weekly basis to meet the federal rule's requirements.

"Hy-Vee is not mandating its employees get vaccinated," Potthoff said via email. "At this time, we're trying to be prepared, should this go into effect by the federal government."

Hy-Vee is not the only Iowa company preparing for the rule, first unveiled by President Joe Biden on Sept. 9, when he also issued an executive order requiring all federal employees and contractors to be vaccinated. Potthoff said her company has seen copies of communications from several other Iowa businesses preparing for the rule to be implemented.

Several Iowa employers have gone a step further and enacted vaccine mandates, including MercyOne, Tyson and Meredith Corp.

The Oct. 15 deadline was set for accounting purposes and not to force action, Potthoff said. If a Hy-Vee employee is not vaccinated or does not want to share their vaccination status with the company, their job will not be in jeopardy. And if an employee needs to be tested weekly, should the rule take effect, that will not come at the employee's expense, but Hy-Vee's, Potthoff added.

But that also means the company, which says it's the state's largest employer, needs to have some solid numbers to go by.

Until then, and if the rule does not go into effect, Hy-Vee's COVID-19 policy remains status quo.

"We ask that employees who are not vaccinated wear a mask to work, but we have never mandated a vaccine and are not mandating one now," Potthoff said. The company is offering any employee who gets vaccinated a $100 gift card.

About 50% of Iowans are fully vaccinated. There are more than 2,200 companies in the state that have more than 100 employees.

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At 25 years old, Emily Ethington is the youngest election commissioner to be appointed in Sarpy, Douglas or Lancaster County in at least the last two decades.

Shes also twin sister to another appointee of Gov. Pete Ricketts, State Sen. Julie Slama of Sterling, whom the governor appointed to the Legislature at 22 years old after serving as press secretary during his 2018 campaign.

Ricketts pick to run elections for the third-largest and fastest-growing county in Nebraska prompted surprise among some local officials and criticism from the chair of the state Democratic Party. But others are reserving judgment, and her lack of elections experience coming into the job is not unusual in the states three largest counties, where the governor appoints the election commissioner.

Ethington, who denied The World-Herald an interview but answered an emailed list of questions, said she has always had a passion for service and community involvement.

My goal is to fulfill the duties of this position in accordance with federal and Nebraska laws, and to ensure that elections in Sarpy County are conducted fairly, effectively and efficiently, Ethington wrote.

Under Nebraska law, the governor appoints the election commissioner for counties with a population of more than 100,000 people. The commissioner must be a registered voter, a resident of the county for at least a year, and of good moral character and integrity and capacity.

Ethington will head the Sarpy election commission, which has four full-time employees in addition to her and a chief deputy, according to county spokesperson Megan Stubenhofer-Barrett. The office also typically hires temporary staff during election season.

State law requires that the commissioner appoint a chief deputy of a different political party. Current Sarpy County chief deputy Michelle Boyland, a Democrat and former substitute teacher for the Bellevue Public Schools, was appointed in July 2020. Stubenhofer-Barrett said she believes itll be up to Ethington when and if she decides to appoint a different deputy.

In 2013, the county board boosted the positions annual base salary from $63,000 to $80,000. The human resources director reasoned that then-Commissioner Wayne Bena  who has a law degree and now serves as the deputy secretary of state in charge of elections  had been doing the work of a department head for the salary of a deputy.

When Bena took the helm at age 32, he said he had met with county and GOP leaders across the state to gauge support for someone who would bring youth and a legal background to the position. He had worked as a staffer for several successful campaigns, including for former Gov. Dave Heineman (who appointed Bena), served on the board of trustees for Sanitary and Improvement District 96, and had worked as the communications director for the Nebraska GOP.

The 2021 salary for the position is $86,842, according to Stubenhofer-Barrett. Per state law, the Sarpy County Board has to set the salary for the election commissioner and chief deputy election commissioner at least 60 days before the end of a term, a deadline that falls later this month.

Michelle Andahl, whom Ricketts appointed election commissioner in 2017, submitted a letter of resignation July 26. She took a job leading the Greater Bellevue Area Chamber of Commerce. Ricketts appointed Ethington to serve the remainder of Andahls term, which ends Dec. 31, and another four-year term.

The Sarpy County election commissioners vacancy was not widely advertised by the Governors Office. The job opening was listed in a PDF on the Governors Office website under the file name 2021 JulyDecember Boards and Commissions with Openings.

By contrast, the Governors Office issued a press release this week announcing that Ricketts was seeking qualified applicants to fill a vacancy on the State Board of Education.

Taylor Gage, Ricketts spokesman, said via email that the PDF is the customary way to advertise such vacancies, but that the Governors Office typically sends out a standalone announcement for elected positions. And, he noted, Andahls departure was covered by local media.

Archived press releases show that calls for applicants are common for vacant legislative seats and that no call was issued before Ricketts appointed Ethingtons predecessor. However, the office has also issued such a call for at least two non-elected seats, the directors for the State Department of Agriculture and Economic Development.

Asked whether Governors Office staff encouraged Ethington to apply and whether they did so for anyone else, Gage said: Several members of the community who had worked with Ms. Ethington reached out to her to apply.

Ricketts said Ethington was the only person he interviewed for the position and he wasnt sure if anyone else had applied.

Ethington applied Sept. 15 but was contacted the day before to schedule an interview, records show. She was appointed Sept. 21. One other person did apply  a legislative aide who graduated from college in 2019  but not until the same day Ethingtons appointment was announced, Sept. 30.

Emilys a very intelligent young lady, and she has some experience that was working with organizations  grassroots work, I thought shed be an excellent choice to manage that office, Ricketts said.

Don Kelly, chairman of the Sarpy County Board, said he hadnt met Ethington but he wished Ricketts wouldve consulted local elected officials.

Im just extremely disappointed that the governor chose an election commissioner for the third-largest county in the state and didnt reach out to any elected official for input, he said.

Gage suggested the impetus was on Kelly to reach out.

The governor would have welcomed Commissioner Kellys input, however, at no point in the two months since Ms. Andahl announced her resignation until the position was filled did Commissioner Kelly reach out to the governor or to his office with suggested candidates or thoughts on qualifications for potential candidates, Gage wrote.

Another County Board member, Jim Warren, said the appointment surprised him.

I was surprised by the appointees lack of experience in her appointment to Nebraskas fastest-growing county, Warren wrote in a text message. I look forward to meeting her and hearing her vision for the office.

Asked what about her background prepared her for the role, Ethington pointed to her masters of science degree in organizational management from Peru State College and wrote that she has a background in staffing and managing a large office, and experience in maintaining compliance standards within the financial services industry.

She served as field director for her sisters campaign from July 2019 to November 2020, according to her LinkedIn profile, and as county field director for the Nebraska Republican Party from July to November 2020. Most recently, she spent about six months as a branch office administrator at Edward Jones in Papillion. That role, according to its job posting, includes six months of training.

She spent almost three years, while getting her masters, at Pinnacle Bank as a commercial loan assistant. She also worked as a special projects intern at the bank for half a year, assisting the human resources department.

Asked whether Ethingtons relationship to Slama played a role in the appointment, Ricketts replied: Emily applied, expressed an interest in it on her own, and was very qualified to be able to do the job.

Speaking on KFAB radio, Slama said her sister is very well-qualified and well-suited for the role.

Shes an outstanding leader with a ton of experience on the administrative side and the organizational side, she said. So, Im excited to watch her serve the citizens of Sarpy County as election commissioner and watch her take on that new role.

Ethington said she does not think her sisters position helped her secure the appointment.

Records indicate Ricketts donated $25,000 to Slamas successful effort to keep her seat in 2020, the most he gave to any candidate. Both Ricketts and the GOP Central Committee backed Slama in that bitterly contested race against fellow Republican Janet Palmtag, who was endorsed by Heineman and GOP Rep. Jeff Fortenberry.

In the Legislature, Slama has been a reliable conservative vote and typically aligns with the governor. Shes voted against bills to legalize medical marijuana, advocated against repealing the death penalty after voters restored it in an effort funded by Ricketts, and spearheaded proposals to require photo ID at the polls and return Nebraska to a winner-take-all system for awarding Electoral College votes.

Just this week, Slama tweeted about her opposition to vaccine mandates and that shed support calling a special session to ban them the day after Ricketts made news for sympathizing with that idea.

Ethingtons age stands in stark contrast to the states other two appointed county election commissioners when they were chosen.

According to World-Herald archives and public records, Lancaster County Election Commissioner David Shively was 38 when then-Gov. Mike Johanns appointed him in 1999. He had been an aide to U.S. Rep. Doug Bereuter for several years. Before that, he was a district executive for the Mid-America and the Cornhusker Councils of the Boy Scouts of America and a field representative for the Nebraska GOP.

Douglas County Election Commissioner Brian Kruse was 41 at the time Ricketts appointed him in 2015 and had been a funeral director at Braman Mortuary. He was active in GOP politics, serving in volunteer campaign positions. He had also once worked as an assistant administrator of the unclaimed property division in the Nebraska Treasurers Office.

However, younger commissioners arent unheard of in such appointments. Examples include:

Carlos Castillo Jr. was appointed Douglas County election commissioner in 2003 at age 29. Before that, he managed reelection campaigns for U.S. Rep. Lee Terry in 2000 and 2002 and directed the Nebraska PAC, the political arm of the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce.The late, widely respected Mike Boyle, would have been in his late 20s when he was appointed in Douglas County in the early 1970s. He had served as deputy election commissioner for a couple of years leading up to his appointment.

Ethingtons appointment prompted pointed criticism from Jane Kleeb, chair of the states Democratic Party: The integrity and security of our elections is now in the hands of an inexperienced Republican Party field operative, Kleeb said in a written statement. How low does Ricketts have to go in order to disrespect our states honorable and hard-working election commissioners by appointing party operatives?

However, Charlene Ligon, Sarpy County Democrats chair, wasnt so quick to judge. She said she doesnt really know anything about Ethington.

I guess we were just a little bit surprised at her age, yes, but I dont think anyone goes into the job of being election commissioner or the deputy with any kind of experience doing that kind of work, Ligon said, adding that the position is unique.

All anyone can ask of an election commissioner or their deputy, she said, is someone who follows the rules and does whats expected.

Ill give her the opportunity, and Im sure she wants to do her job, Ligon said.

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Former U.S. Sen. Chuck Hagel remembers a February 2008 trek to Afghanistan as a side trip, arranged as part of a visit by him and fellow Sens. Joe Biden and John Kerry to officially monitor the presidential election in neighboring Pakistan.

We were a long way from Bagram (the American air base in Afghanistan). We went to meet some chieftains along the border with Pakistan. It was a pretty dangerous area, Hagel told The Omaha World-Herald. The weather was terrible. It was a very bad time (of year) to go.

Skirting across mountains 10,000 to 15,000 feet high, the party, flying in two Black Hawk helicopters, decided to take a look at Tora Bora, a complex of caves in eastern Afghanistan were Osama bin Laden was thought to be hiding at the start of the war.

The pilots thought we had enough fuel, but it was very close, Hagel said. Passing over the tops of these mountain ranges, the helicopters were straining. All of a sudden, we hit a snow squall. It just whited everything out. You just couldnt see anything.

So the helicopters put down on a mountaintop. It was late in the afternoon, Hagel said, and they could see a group of Taliban a mile or two away, advancing.

Some fighter jets were scrambled to keep them at bay, and an infantry unit was dispatched to the area. Their interpreter, Aman Khalili, helped facilitate their exit, Hagel said, which involved a long wait inside the helicopters, which were shut off to save fuel, and a walk down the mountain at 3 a.m. to an evacuation landing zone.

We sat in those helicopters for quite a few hours. It was cold. We heard every Joe Biden story hed ever told in his life, Hagel said. We made the best of it.

Even back then, Biden was questioning why U.S. troops were still in Afghanistan, Hagel said.

A lot of us were, he said. We were told in the beginning that our troops would be out of there in one year. Out by Christmas, but we kept getting requests for more troops.

The U.S. took their eyes off the ball in Afghanistan once the Iraq War started in 2003, Hagel said. Then the U.S. made mistake after mistake, including backing a corrupt Afghan government. Eventually, the U.S. became occupiers that Afghans blamed for deaths of innocent civilians.

Hagel, who received two Purple Hearts while serving in Vietnam and was U.S. secretary of defense from 2013 to 2015, said he completely supported President Bidens decision to end Americas war in Afghanistan.

One lesson we should have learned a long time ago is that you cant impose your government on another culture  its got to be the people who make that decision, he said. You cant do that at the end of a gun.

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Two state senators have been circulating a petition asking lawmakers to call a special session to consider legislation prohibiting businesses from requiring employees get vaccinated against the coronavirus.

The special session, proposed by Sens. Ben Hansen of Blair and Rob Clements of Elmwood, would also consider prohibiting governments and schools from mandating COVID vaccines, according to an email shared with the Journal Star.

The move from state lawmakers comes a week after Gov. Pete Ricketts, who said he opposes vaccine mandates, said he would not call lawmakers back to Lincoln for a second special session this year.

The Legislature met in September to redraw political boundaries as part of the decennial redistricting process.

According to Hansens email, more than 10 senators have already signed the petition outlining the purpose of the special session to Secretary of State Bob Evnen.

Hansen said he planned to submit the petition at 1 p.m. on Tuesday.

Under state law, 10 senators can ask the secretary of state to poll the Legislature on whether or not to convene to consider legislation outside of the normal lawmaking session.

If agreed to by 33 of the Legislatures 49 members, Evnen would then submit the outline to Ricketts, who would use it as a basis to issue a proclamation that sets the start day and duration for the Legislature.

Hansen said the proposed session would not be to question the science of vaccines, prevent K-12 schools from mandating other vaccinations, do away with mask mandates, discuss other treatments or whether vaccines in general are good or bad.

This would protect Nebraska workers from losing their jobs because of COVID-19 vaccine mandates, wrote Hansen, who has previously sponsored legislation that would allow Nebraskans to more easily decline vaccines.

Hansen and Clements move doesnt seem likely to succeed, however.

Ricketts said he would not call a special session because he did not believe there would be enough votes to pass such a bill.

The timing of a special session would also be difficult to arrange. A handful of lawmakers -- including Hansen -- are planning a two-week trip to Africa in November.

Plus, the Legislature is set to reconvene in January for a 60-day session, where how to spend more than $1 billion in federal stimulus money is expected to be the primary focus.

Earlier this year, Hansen sponsored a bill (LB643) allowing individuals, parents and businesses the choice to decline a vaccine during a state of emergency without suffering a penalty.

Dozens of people testified in support of the bill, outlining their opposition to all vaccine mandates, with several raising conspiracy theories or putting forward debunked claims about vaccines.

The bill did not advance to the floor for debate.

Sen. Carol Blood of Bellevue, in response to Hansens email, said lawmakers should also consider eliminating Nebraskas at-will employment statutes, which allow businesses to fire their employees at any time for any reason  including if they are not vaccinated.

I have grave concerns where this is going and I fear you are bringing false hope to these people for political gain, wrote Blood, a Democratic candidate for governor in 2022. That may not be the case, but optics appear otherwise.

Reach the writer at 402-473-7120 or cdunker@journalstar.com. On Twitter @ChrisDunkerLJS
A strike at Deere & Co. means something in the Quad-Cities.

It is no accident that many here remember the last time there was a Deere strike, in 1986. And that it lasted almost six months (163 days, to be precise.)

A strike at Deere doesnt just ripple through this community; it makes waves. The Quad-City economy is closely tied to Deere, and it includes not just the thousands of Deere workers and their families, but also untold others whose companies and livelihoods are affected because of their contractual relationships with the company.

As Dave Swenson, an economist at Iowa State University, said, "You are disproportionately dependent upon manufacturing and disproportionately dependent upon one company."

The extent to which that is true has changed over the years, but our economic well-being is undoubtedly joined with Deere.

Still, we have to say, it is more than our economy. Deere and its workers are an integral piece of the Quad-Cities identity.

Anybody who has worked there  and who has family members who have worked there  knows what it means to be a part of John Deere.

Even those who havent been a part of this company know its important place in our community.

So, yes, a strike there doesnt just ripple through our community, it makes waves.

It was just Sunday that 90% of workers who are covered under a proposed six-year contract overwhelmingly rejected the deal. The contract would have covered 10,000 production and maintenance workers at 14 sites, including several plants in the Quad-Cities. And at a minute before midnight late Wednesday, workers went on strike (Deere has more than 27,000 employees in the U.S. and Canada, and it said this week that its operations will continue.)

The outlines of the deals economic terms, whether it was in terms of wages or retirement benefits, have been reported. It is not our purpose today to pass judgment on who is right or wrong in this dispute, but its clear by the margin of the workforces rejection of the proposal that there is a wide gulf in expectations.

That so many rank-and-file workers would reject a tentative deal reached by their own union was eye-opening for many of us who have become accustomed over the years to what has appeared to be good labor relations at the company.

This strike comes at a time when Deere is enjoying record profits. Analysts expect Deere's annual net income to reach close to $6 billion this year. Meanwhile, workers are experiencing more bargaining power than they have had in recent memory, with a labor shortage and supply chain issues across the United States providing them a greater opportunity to push for a bigger share of the pie.

Depending on the length of the strike, we expect to hear frequently the arguments of the respective parties in this dispute. Already, the company has made it known that it has a well-paid workforce. Union members, meanwhile, have stressed the companys profitability, as well as the concessions workers have made over the years.

As this plays out, we expect each side to pursue its own best interests, but we, as a community, have a stake in Deere and its union workers finding common ground. Our economy, and our well-being, have been tested over the past year and a half  and we expect our challenges arent through.

It is our hope that the differences between the two sides are resolved quickly.

John Deere is a unique part of the Quad-Cities. A strike affects the company and its workers the most. But it is felt by all of us.

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Ben Santer on separating and his small part in understanding of climate science Posted on 19 October 2021 by Guest Author This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Separating is hard. Ive spent most of my scientific career trying to separate observed climate records into human-caused signals and the background noise of natural variability. Its been challenging and fascinating work. Challenging because so many different human and natural factors affect Earths climate. Each factor varies in space and time. Well never have perfect understanding of these variations. Its been fascinating work because science is ultimately about learning. Since the late 1970s, scientists have learned to recognize the characteristic fingerprints of human and natural influences on climate. Through this work, we know that humans are active agents of change in the climate system  not innocent bystanders. By burning fossil fuels, weve warmed our planet. That warming signal is now pervasive and irrefutable. Its been a rare privilege to have witnessed this evolution in scientific understanding and to have played a small part in it. Separating is also hard in real life. Its tough to deal with the abrupt ending of a relationship, a marriage, or a friendship. Its challenging to cope with the ending of long-term employment. There are many aspects of disentangling: financial; emotional; loss of identity, of meaning, of a shared vision of the future, of a daily routine. How will the separation affect those around you? What does it mean not only for you, but for family, friends, and colleagues? The path from heroic figure to villain to  Keep building I retired from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) on October 1, 2021. I was at LLNL for nearly 30 years. Almost all my work was funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). One part of my job at LLNL was to evaluate computer models of the climate system  to compare models and real-world climate data in a variety of different ways. To see how well climate models captured climate reality. Another part of my job was to fingerprint the climate system. I used pattern-based fingerprint methods developed by Professor Klaus Hasselmann to separate climate signals from intrinsic climate noise. Lets talk briefly about this separation problem. Climate change is both internally generated and externally forced. The internally generated part arises from a veritable zoo of intrinsic modes of natural variability. Some of these zoo inhabitants are well-known outside of scientific circles, such as El Ninos and La Ninas. Other zoo denizens  like the Madden-Julian Oscillation  are less familiar to the public. Together, these internal oscillations generate climate variability on a wide range of different space and timescales. This is the background noise against which a human-caused global warming signal must be identified. External influences on climate are fundamentally different beasts. They involve changes in factors external to the physical climate system, such as human-caused increases in atmospheric greenhouse gas levels or purely natural fluctuations in the Suns energy output. Each external influence causes a unique pattern of climate change  a fingerprint. The uniqueness can show up in geographical patterns of climate change, or in patterns that are slices through the vertical extent of the atmosphere or oceans. The main reward? The work itself Its interesting to muse about internal and external influences on our own lives. After my nearly three decades of fingerprint research with LLNL and the DOE, I now understand that a sense of self-worth must be internally generated. It cant depend on external influences. If you rely on external feedback from large, bureaucratic institutions for your sense of who you are and what youve accomplished scientifically, you can be lost. A related lesson learned is that the work itself is the main reward. Prizes, accolades, and external praise are not the reason you do the work. Praise for your research often depends on the vagaries of the political climate. Under one administration you are presented as a heroic figure. Under a different administration you are portrayed as a villain. How can this be? You are the same person, doing the same research. You are neither a hero nor a villain  just someone who loves his job. The internal knowledge that the research youve published is sound and novel and that it helps to advance understanding should be enough for you. Thats what matters. The respect of knowledgeable peers matters. Everything else is background noise. Lesson learned  Speak science to power I have one final lesson learned from the past 29 years. My time at LLNL taught me that scientific understanding is always under attack by powerful forces of unreason. Such attacks cause great harm. They must be opposed. Demonizing science and scientists is dangerous for our health and for the health of our planet. When ignorance and alternative facts are elevated in public discourse, its critically important for scientists to speak science to power. To declare in public what theyve learned, how theyve learned it, and why that understanding matters. Remaining silent is not an option when well tested science is presented as unsettled or incorrectly dismissed as a hoax. Im proud of the fact that in my 29 years at LLNL, I defended LLNLs technical work on climate fingerprinting, even when such defense was politically inconvenient. I did not hide. I did not remain silent. I stood behind IPCC findings of a discernible human influence on global climate. I stood behind LLNLs findings of ubiquitous human fingerprints in the climate system. Get the science right: Unequivocal human influence on climate Getting the science right was always my prime directive, and it was the prime directive of all my colleagues. At the end of days, thats how well be evaluated  on whether we got the science right. As the IPCCs Sixth Assessment Report clearly shows, we did get the detection and attribution science right. Human influence on climate is now unequivocal. I will miss my colleagues at LLNL. Ill miss the impromptu scientific conversations in our little break room. The excitement of scientific minds at play, exchanging ideas, interpreting complex data, mapping out new studies, seeing interaction terms between different research projects. Ill miss watching younger colleagues grow as scientists and become leaders in the field. Ill miss learning how to harmonize in our LLNL band  The Climate Changers  even as we were learning how to harmonize our research and collaborate effectively. Even though Ive left LLNL, those friendships and collaborations will endure. And there will be new friendships and collaborations with new colleagues. That is the real award and reward in science  working towards a common goal with brilliant women and men around the world. The common goal? To build a better understanding of Earths complex climate system, and of the strange and beautiful world in which we live. Although Im officially an old dude now, I fully intend to keep building. Ben Santer is a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Fellow. 7 top scientists offer tributes to Santers career Yale Climate Connections invited seven world-class climate scientists to share their views on scientist Ben Santers three decades of climate science research and communication. Following are their unedited first-person statements, listed alphabetically by last name. YCC invites others, scientists and non-scientists alike, wanting to acknowledge Santers accomplishments to send an email to editor@yaleclimateconnections.org. Richard B. Alley

The Pennsylvania State University Ben and I testified as part of a larger panel to the Subcommittee on Energy and Environment of the Science and Technology Committee, US Congress, November 17, 2010, on A Rational Discussion of Climate Change: The Science, The Evidence, The Response. Most of the discussion was rational, but not quite all of it. Ben was brilliant, incisive, and accurate, providing the world-class science that he makes look routine. And, when misstatements were made, he positively vibrated with suppressed tension while waiting for the opportunity to refute them  permitting inaccuracy to stand for even a few moments was a real challenge for him. This unsparing intellectual honesty shines through in everything he does, to the good of all of us. Kerry Emanuel

Massachusetts Institute of Technology Others will have spoken about Ben Santers highly important and significant contributions to climate science, but here I want to pay tribute to just a single example of Bens outstanding leadership in fighting disinformation about climate. I had the privilege of working with Ben and several other prominent climate scientists, under Bens leadership, to respond openly and publicly to the promise by one of the two presidential candidates in 2016 to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris Accord. The result was a concise, hard-hitting and effective rebuttal of disinformation and affirmation of the validity of climate science, signed by hundreds of prominent scientists, including 30 Nobel laureates. More than its effect on the public debate, the whole process served to inspire the community of climate scientists who had labored under continual assaults by public figures and others. For this, in addition to his many other accomplishments, we are all indebted to Ben Santer. Michael Mann

The Pennsylvania State University Ben is one of my heroes. He has fundamentally advanced our science and has played a key role in communicating its implications to the public and policymakers. And hes paid a huge price for doing so. He was in the crosshairs of the climate denial machine years before I found myself there, and his friendship and mentorship was critical to helping me deal with their attacks over the years. Linda Mearns

University Corporation for Atmospheric Research/National Center for Atmospheric Research My favorite experience of working with Ben was during the 2011 Schneider Symposium, celebrating the contributions of Stephen H. Schneider to climate science and global change. Ben and I co-chaired the session toward the end of the symposium when various folks got up to share their memories and appreciation of Steve. We were a little concerned about this, since we expected more than a few people would break down in tears during their comments. And that was indeed the case, particularly among his former Stanford graduate students. Ben and I very carefully discussed the situation; we realized it would be difficult to interrupt a weeping student and tell him/her that their time was up. These comments were supposed to be very short (like 3 minutes at most). Ben and I somehow managed to gently interrupt people who were running on too long, and sorrowfully but firmly indicate that their time was up. This was one of the best collaborations I have ever been involved in. Moreover, Ben has been the kindest, and one of the most sincere colleagues, I have had the privilege of knowing. Jerry Meehl

University Corporation for Atmospheric Research/National Center for Atmospheric Research Ben Santer is perhaps the most careful and conscientious scientist I have ever known, and these character attributes have propelled him to the top levels of climate science. Hes serious about maintaining these attributes in the face of withering attacks from numerous sources over the years. These attacks are nearly all on his character, not his science. This is a political tactic that we, as scientists, are not used to facing. But, with Ben, we all had to learn this the hard way after he was the first to receive very high-profile character attacks after the IPCC plenary in Madrid. The objective is that if you bring someones character down, their science will collapse in a heap of shattered credibility. This tactic failed totally when turned on Ben because, through it all, he persevered with his notable careful and conscientious approach that fortifies his character and his science, and makes him unassailable. Ben is firm in the belief that, in the end, the science will prevail. He is correct in this belief, and his character and his science are beacons to guide present and future scientists through the turbulent confluence of policy and science. Susan Solomon

Massachusetts Institute of Technology Icons are few and very far between, and Ben Santer is one of the great icons in climate science. He is admired by every thoughtful reader of his astonishing string of seminal papers, and he is appreciated by the public who are lucky enough to learn about climate change from a master communicator. While he is departing from Livermore after many years of amazing achievements, I have no doubt that this is only the beginning of Ben 2.0 (or is it 3.0?) whose landmark work will continue for many years. Im honored to be a colleague and friend of this great human being and even greater scientist. Lonnie Thompson

The Ohio State University Ben Santer conducted groundbreaking research on fingerprints of human impact on climate change, which in part led to the controversial but prescient 1995 IPCC statement concerning a discernible human influence on global climate. As is often the case with such research that attains prominence, his findings often attracted vociferous commentary. Ben has been a staunch defender of the rights and duty of climatologists to publish and defend impactful research showing that human activities have significantly changed global climate. Like me, Ben has always had a great appreciation of mountains and alpine glaciers. There is something about the effort required to get to these areas and the clarity of the air and the water, that allows for clear and uninterrupted thought and hopefully now Ben will have more time to enjoy them. 0 0 Printable Version | Link to this page
Austin, Texas, is one of the fastest-growing cities in the country, and that sense of momentum is keenly felt in every restaurant opening, every bidding war, every traffic jam.

With that in mind, Austin residents last year voted to hike property taxes to fund Project Connect, a $7.1 billion grid of light rail trains and bus rapid transit across the city. We must acknowledge that major transportation investments in our past have done more to deepen inequality, to segregate rather than connect, to displace rather than benefit, Mayor Steve Adler said in his State of the City address last summer, endorsing the mass-transit referendum. We must learn from that painful past and ensure we do not repeat those injustices.

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No other city has embarked on a project of this magnitude in a way that learns from the mistakes of the past and makes, real meaningful investments to ensure equitable outcomes. #ProjectConnect #ATXSOTC  Mayor Adler | Get vaccinated! (@MayorAdler) August 5, 2020

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Adler might well have been alluding to Interstate 35, the north-south highway that runs through downtown Austin. Built on top of tree-lined East Avenue, the road opened in 1962, cutting off Black and Mexican American East Austin from Downtown. Like urban renewal projects in other American cities, the roads destructive legacy has recently been reconsidered in racial terms.

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But unlike with similar projects in Syracuse and New Haven, the question in Austin is not how to tear down the highway but how to expand it. Those cities are not growing; Austin is. Just as the Texas capital embarks on its generational transit investment, the state is planning to spend almost $5 billion to expand eight miles of I-35 through downtown to a whopping 20 lanes wide. Four new managed lanes (for high-occupancy vehicles or other restricted uses) will join the main lanes and frontage roads, stretching the highways width to nearly 600 feet in places, and erasing almost 150 properties.

With their latticework of ramps, bypass lanes, and flyovers, the blueprints have the look of one of those historical timelines that shows warring empires dividing and combining in endless permutations. Its a testament to Americas highway designers that this tangle, hard to follow with one finger, will one day be navigable at 70 miles per hour.

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If youre thinking this neighborhood-eating highway expansion sounds a little incongruous for a proudly progressive city in 2021, youre right. Like in Houston, which has won temporary reprieve from a similar project, Austins local politicians are almost uniformly displeased with the plans from the Texas Department of Transportation, or TxDOT.

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Unfortunately for those legislators, I-35 is not just a downtown connector; the road runs from Laredo, Texas, to Duluth, Minnesota, and Austin doesnt have an interstate ring road like those that surround D.C. or Boston. TxDOT is focused on keeping that traffic moving, as well as serving fast-growing exurbs north and south of the city.

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Last month, the mayor and nearly the entirety of the Austin City Council signed a letter addressed to the I-35 team at the Department of Transportation with some requests: Change the design to narrow the right-of-way. Build more crossings. Make frontage roads into pleasant local streets. Design, fund, and build highway deckssuspended parks over the roadto knit together neighborhoods that were severed in 1962. And delay the project until Austin can complete its transit lines.

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Its something we have to do something about. Its deadly, its dirty, it divides our community, said Natasha Harper-Madison, a City Council member who has denounced the plan. I-35 is the poster child for our car-choked congestion problems, and their solution is just to make it bigger. They tell us the life span is 75 years. That means 2100. When I think about 2100, I dont see a sprawling Houston, but a city that helps people move around without cars.

There are alternate proposals, such as the one drawn up by the Urban Land Institute at the behest of downtown interests. That design proposes a narrower right-of-way, cantilevered frontage roads, highway decks to support green space, and new housing alongside it all. A similar highway cap, Klyde Warren Park, opened in Dallas to much fanfare in 2012.

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A local group called Reconnect Austin wants to bury the highway entirely and build a surface-level boulevard, in the style of Bostons Big Dig, and divert intercity traffic to State Highway 130, a road built east of Austin two decades ago for just this purpose. Give the citys transit network a chance to make its mark, they argue, before you undermine its offerings with a brand new (free) highway.

The Texas Department of Transportation, for its part, makes some dire predictions about whats next for Austin without a newer, bigger interstate. The downtown segment of I-35 is already the most congested road section in Texas, according to the Texas A&M Transportation Institute. By 2035, the 19-mile commute from downtown Austin to Round Rock will take two-and-a-half hours. By 2045, traffic rises almost 50 percent to more than 300,000 vehicles per day.

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If you follow modern-day highway revolts, youll know that this is the part of the story where anti-highway advocates talk about induced demandthe idea that wider highways dont just make space for traffic, they create it. Highway traffic doesnt go up 50 percent unless TxDOT builds another interstate on the interstate. And no one will ever spend two-and-a-half hours every day driving in from Round Rocknew patterns of development and transportation would take shape long before traffic reached that level of congestion. That state highway planners assume this kind of traffic with or without an expanded I-35, they say, is ridiculous.

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A good example of this tendency comes from TxDOTs analysis of this very same road, which was dug up by the Austin journalist Jack Craver. In 2002, drumming up support for the same expansion project, TxDOT predicted traffic over Lady Bird Lake rising to 330,000 vehicles a day  by 2020. In 2014, the agency said 300,000 vehicles would cross by 2035. In 2016, TxDOT projected VMT in Austin rising 50 percent by 2040. Now, the magic 300,000 number is set to arrive in 2045.

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In reality, despite a million new people moving to the region, average daily traffic over the lake downtown is almost exactly what it was in 2000.

Highway planners might argue that, though they may have fudged the numbers a few times, this static traffic on the lone interstate highway in a booming region shows that peoples need to travel is being constrained by overcrowded infrastructure. Perhaps.

The Austin exurbs will grow, because the freeways will be bigger, because the Austin exurbs will grow 

But TxDOT also missed the mark on the regions major highway expansion. In 2003, consumed with the looming carpocalypse on I-35, the state broke ground on a public-private partnership to build a bypass road west of Austin, State Highway 130, to help alleviate congestion on the interstate. They predicted the segment parallel to downtown would count 11,900 vehicles a day by 2015 and 18,900 by 2025. In reality, SH 130 saw just 10,300 vehicles on that segment in 2019. The projections for the northern part of the new road near Round Rock were even more off. On the southern segment, traffic counts on the I-35 alternate were so low that the toll road operator filed for bankruptcy in 2016.

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Whats going on here? In part, highway builders use traffic modeling software that tells them what they want to hear. But they also rely on population forecasts that assume the highway has been widened, said Jay Blazek Crossley, the director of Farm & City, a local land use nonprofit. Its circular logic, he argued. The Austin exurbs will grow, because the freeways will be bigger. And the freeways need to be bigger because the Austin exurbs will grow 

Why havent these self-referential estimates filled expanded roads like SH 130 to the brim? In part because the local Metropolitan Planning Organization just got it wrong: They assumed the northern suburbs would grow faster than they did, and that Austin would grow more slowly than it did. Similar assumptions are baked into the models that greenlight the wider Interstate 35.

Maybe this time they will be right, and an expanded Interstate 35 will finally carry 300,000 vehicles a day by the middle of the century. Or maybe not, and an expanded Interstate 35 will relieve traffic congestion. Either way, it will be hard to imagine how things might have gone in an Austin without a 20-lane highway running through downtown. No one is planning for it.
Pay Dirt is Slates money advice column. Have a question? Send it to Athena and Elizabeth here. (Its anonymous!)

Dear Pay Dirt,

My mother-in-law is in her late 60s and has well more than $100,000 in student loan debt that she has no plan to pay back. In fact, shes told my husband and me repeatedly that her plan is to go to school until she drops dead to avoid repaying! She has two masters degrees and is now applying for a Ph.D. program in a social science field where, even if she got a pay raise, shed have no hope of making enough to pay her loans. I would (obviously) rather she at least considers paying her loans, but I also think student loans are predatory at best, so its not a battle Im willing to have with herunless well be on the hook for her bad behavior after her death.

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My husband and I together make half of what she does, and were barely getting by month to month. Taking on $100,000-plus of debt would be catastrophic. Id always assumed student loans were discharged on death, but Im worried that shes taking on some from lenders that arent the government and that we might be on the hook here. Weve never cosigned anything for her, if thats relevant. Is this something I need to worry about, and if it is, how can I have this conversation, despite my own reluctance?

Not the Inheritance Im Looking For

Dear Inheritance,

So, the short answer about inheriting your mother student loans is that you can or cant be left with the debtits just dependent on who the provider is. Death is an emotional roller coaster on top of a paperwork nightmare, and banks dont make it easier, so lets get started.

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Federal student loans taken out by a borrower are dischargeable upon the borrowers death, so you wont be on the hook for any of her federal loans. Private student loans are a different story. Some private lenders will allow discharge of remaining student loan balances if a borrower should pass away. Others will choose to go after that persons estate upon their death, leading the account to be settled in court during a probate hearing. Depending on the size of the estate and what assets are left, the debt could still be forgiven, since it cannot be left to anyone else to pay, even if they are the borrowers next of kin.

So you dont need to have a conversation with her about her student loans. But make sure your husband understands the ramifications you will be dealing with if he is left in charge of her estate. At least then he can have a list of borrowers and be aware of who may be coming to call when its time.

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Dear Pay Dirt,

Im an early 30s academic with a decently paid job (about $60,000 a year) and an intention to stay in my relatively underpaid field going forward. A couple years ago, I was in an awful car accident, which I thankfully survived with only minor but permanent damage. The lawsuits following this accident were lengthy and finally got resolved about a year ago. I had good lawyers, and even after paying them their share of the settlement, I was left with a healthy compensation in the midsix figures. I used some of this to reduce my outstanding debts and invested the rest in several mutual funds of varying degrees of risk-tolerance.

However, I dont really know what Im doing financially. I had a phone call with my parents financial planner, who advised me to pay down some of that debt and invest most of the rest. He also offered to manage my portfolios, at a relatively low rate for such a thing (less than 1 percent). But I dont know if thats necessary. I have a small enough set of numbers that it feels like overkill to pay someone to watch it all the time. I have vacillated over visiting a fee-only planner. At what level does it make sense to have someone manage my money versus do it myself with some occasional input from a fee-only professional?

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I Made My Money the Old-Fashioned Way (I Got Run Over by a Lexus)

Dear Run Over by a Lexus,

You said you did have some minor but permanent damage to your body. That could be no big deal today but get worse over time, especially to the point where you may no longer be able to work. For that reason, as well as having funds in the midsix figures, I think you should hire a certified financial planner.

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Its generous that your parents CFP offered to manage your portfolio, but even if you were to choose to go with another one, its usually worth it with that level of savings. When you have a good, active planner, they are in the business to make money with your money, which cancels out any fees you would have to pay them. This is otherwise known as an adviser alpha. I would go with this strategy for at least a year. You can always opt to stop using a planner if you do not see the return on investment and can go back to seeing a fee-based adviser when the situation calls for it.

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Get the Pay Dirt Newsletter Money advice from Athena and Elizabeth, delivered weekly. We encountered an issue signing you up. Please try again. Please enable javascript to use form. Email address: Send me updates about Slate special offers. By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms Sign Up Thanks for signing up! You can manage your newsletter subscriptions at any time.

Dear Pay Dirt,

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I have a good friend whose husband died five years ago from cancer. My friend had been a stay-at-home mom but soon reentered the workforce as a teacher. She seems to have enough money to continue to live comfortably.

But I recently learned that she is still using her deceased husbands credit card. I guess she didnt have one in her own name but was an authorized user on his account. She does all the banking online and pays the bill each month. While I did persuade her to open a card in her name, she still insists on using her husbands card, because it has accumulated a lot of miles and other benefits. I am concerned about her, especially since I recently read that Gabby Petitos fiance was just charged with bank fraud for using someone elses debit card. How much trouble could my friend get into for using her husbands card? How likely do you think it is that she would get caught?

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Worried

Dear Worried,

You are right to be worried, because using a deceased persons credit card, even if you are an authorized user, is illegal. She needs to stop right now and seek legal help for how she can best close these accounts, now that hes been deceased for over five years and she has kept using the card. Since she is not a joint account holder, and instead an authorized user, this is considered fraud. She can even be taken to court and sued. Encourage her to stop and find a lawyer who can help her clean up the mess.

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Dear Pay Dirt,

I graduated from grad school with a ton of debt and in the middle of the Great Recession. I felt like an idiot for having taken out so many loans. Its taken many years, but Im finally debt-free. One of my close friends, Kim, was in a similar situation. One way Kim and I got out of debt were side hustles. We both realized too late that some of our ideas and jobs would have been great in college and could have significantly decreased the amount of loan money we needed, but our parents told us that school needed to be our main focus and taking on loans was more than worth it.

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I recently saw Kims preteen daughter for the first time in about a year. Her daughter now takes every opportunity she can to make money. I made a comment about school, and she just brushed it off like school isnt important. I feel like shes so focused on making money that shes no longer being a kid anymore. I think there is great value in school and great value in understanding the value of money, but I dont want my childrens childhoods ruined by the idea that they have to know how to make money right away. How do I walk the line between instilling the value of money and entrepreneurship and making my children think that making all the money they can is the most important thing in life? I would never give up my college education, but I would also have liked to know how to make money before I started.

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Want to Keep My Kids From Becoming Little Money Monsters

Dear Little Money Monsters,

Kims daughter may have brushed off your comment about school being important because she may not be interested in attending college. There are a few ways to have a great career without going to school (the military and trade schools, for example), so she may already have an idea of what her path does or doesnt include.

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If you would like to start instilling the value of money in your children without pushing them into the capitalism deep end, you could go about it in a few different ways. First, help them set a money goal. This can be a variety of different things when youre a kid, but common ones include purchasing an electronic device or a shopping trip at a popular store. You can share with your child different examples of how they can hit their money goal, which can include earning money with chores or by taking on a side hustle.

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You can also sign up for an app like Greenlight. Greenlight allows you to teach your child different money management strategies that include spending, investing, saving, and allowance. When children see their parents model positive money habits, they are more likely to follow by example. So whatever you do, just remind yourself that your kids are different than Kims, and its going to be your footsteps that they follow in. Good luck, Momyou got this.

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Athena

More Advice From Slate

My husband is a stay-at-home dad to our 1-year old daughter. I appreciate all he does, and I feel lucky he takes equality in our marriage seriously. But his unemployment has put a strain on us financially, and Im consumed with jealousy that he gets to stay home. He quit his job because he was suffering from depression. I had hopedand expectedthat he would find a new job before he quit. He made more money than I do, so it cut our income by a little more than half. Our priority is his mental health, but its been 10 months and hes not suffering any more. Our savings have run out and my paycheck only covers bills, so we cant afford fun stuff or emergencies.
Quick question: What time of year is it right now? For me, fall would probably be the first thing to come to mind, but there are several other perfectly acceptable responses: autumn, October, Halloween, perhaps Q4, if you swing that way.

I would even begrudgingly take cuffing season. Just about any answer would by fine by me except for one: spooky season.

Until a few weeks ago, I didnt know what spooky season was (and my life was arguably better for it). If I saw the combination of words spooky season, I would have been able to gather that it referred to Halloween, but I also would have thought it was the sort of unremarkable alliterative phrase a bunch of people might have arrived at independently, perhaps because they were decorating a bulletin board in an elementary school or needed an Instagram caption but considered themselves too special to say something normal like Happy Halloween!

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But no, spooky season is a more specific expression and concept that has propagated across the internet in recent years. Perhaps you, more observant than I, have noticed it in your feeds. A typical usage might be something like what Jennifer Garner posted earlier this month on Instagram, a video of a ballet dancer wearing a full-body black leotard and a fake jack-o-lantern on her head. It had the following caption: It me. (Its definitely not me but I appreciate a ballerina/spookyszn mashup.)

In the last year or two, its kind of become a phrase that I see all over the place that everybody uses, said Miranda Enzor, a Halloween enthusiast who for the past six years has run a website called Spooky Little Halloween.

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There isnt broad consensus about when spooky season begins. To me it really starts ramping up even as early as mid-July, Enzor told me, alarmingly. I kind of personally count the beginning of what I would term spooky season as July 23rd, which is the 100-day mark to Halloween. Once I hit that, Im in Halloween season and theres no turning back.

Which brings us to: What is it exactly? In 2019, Architectural Digest described the so-called season as a sort of rebrand of Halloween that both extends the holiday and harks back to the Halloweens of our childhoods: a time when millennials can watch Hocus Pocus and decorate their homes with fake spiderwebs.

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But its not just for millennials. Caitlynn Sant, a 21-year-old preschool teacher in Utah, runs a popular Halloween-themed Instagram page and explained spooky season to me like this: I just think of fall and pumpkins. To me, I guess spooky seasons just the time when you can watch scary movies and do scary things.

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It has been emphasized to me that spooky season is a time to indulge in the campier aspects of Halloween, and its not limited to just one day. Christmas has the holiday season, and this is just that but for Halloween. This is all fine, as far as Im concerned. I just have trouble understanding why its different enough from good old Halloween to require its own annoying name. Does all of this pumpkin patch frolicking and haunted house visiting not fall under the banner of Halloween, or, if you must, since apparently its such a gas to invent new seasons (or szns), the Halloween season?

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Spooky season is a joke where they left out the joke.

I know I should let this go: Its silly, but its also harmless, so who cares? No one likes a Halloween grinch. Except, well, Im fine with Halloweenits spooky season thats the problem. How did Halloween, which has been celebrated for hundreds of years, suddenly morph into spooky season? Why is everyone but me, up to and including Jennifer Garner, now going around talking about spooky season with a straight face?

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Researching the provenance of the term is a little difficult because, to return to the elementary-school bulletin-board factor, its a phrase that anyone could come up with on their own, and has. You can find uses of spooky season in newspapers going as far back as 1905, but they dont mean spooky season the way it gets used today. Spooky season seems to have acquired its current, internet-driven meaning in the past five years or so. Amanda Brennan, a meme librarian and trend expert at the digital marketing agency XX Artists, told me via email, It looks like spooky season was being used by niche crowds in 2017 globally, saw some pickup in 2018, and hit peak search interest in 2019. Its continued to be a popular search term since, though its presumably been impeded at times by the pandemic.

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No one really knows exactly where it came from, or what caused its rise in popularity. There are theories, of course. But if spooky season has a patient zero, I was not able to identify that person (or ghoul). It appears to be a grassroots, or graveyard-roots, phenomenon.

Its definitely gotten bigger and bigger, Enzor said. I think Instagram has been a huge catalyst for that.

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The word spooky kind of sums up what I love about Halloween, she added. Im not so much on the horror, blood, and guts side. I just love the magical, cutesy, slightly creepy feel that the word spooky invokes for me.

Indeed, Mike Wilton, who runs a Halloween news site called All Hallows Geek, guessed that a big part of it might just be the word spooky: I think the word spooky and even the word spoopy, piggybacking off of that, has seemed to be used a bit more in the vernacular overall over the last few years, and Im wondering if thats where it came from. He may be on to something: In 2018, the Washington Post published a piece about how spooky culture was powering the internets celebration of Halloween, which already happens to fall in what is considered the most meme-able of seasons.

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(Also: spoopy?? Apparently its another building block in all of this I had been sleeping on: Merriam-Webster has called it a new Halloween classic and explained that the word is used to describe something that typically would be spooky, like an image of a skeleton or ghost, but is actually rather comical.)

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Spookiness is a cultural trend as well as a language one: As more alternative aesthetics come into the mainstream, spooky and witch as an aesthetic has definitely seen a rise in popularity, which is reflected in media like The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, The Craft, and Charmed reboots, etc., Brennan told me.

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After carefully researching all of this, Ive come to my own conclusion: As Disney adult as it sounds to my ears, people simply get a kick out of saying spooky season. And thats what baffles me most of all. I can tell that spooky season adherents delight in using the phrase, and when they do, half the time theyre probably picturing it surrounded by cute tildes: ~spooky szn~. At best I can see how this is vaguely, uh, whimsical, but it seems unique as an internet joke in that I keep looking and failing to find what is so fun or funny about it; its like a joke where they left out the joke. Even mischievous online lingo that is now considered lamedoggos and puppers come to mindwas at one point in its life cycle sort of amusing. But spooky season? I just dont get it, and I think maybe thats because theres no it to get.

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Alas, its too late to stop its spread now. Capitalism has seized on spooky season. I have seen it showing up in more marketing communications, Wilton told me, remembering a recent press release he got from Baskin-Robbins touting their spooky season offerings. It fits in with a larger trend: From a marketing standpoint, the corporate worlds trying to capitalize on Halloween longer and more if they can, he said. In a quick search of my own inbox, I found that Ive received 10 pitches from publicists containing the phrase spooky season this year, up from four in 2020 and two in 2019. If common decency cant kill spooky season, maybe I can count on brands to run it into the ground. I have to say, picturing its deathcant you just see it, a tombstone in a cemetery marked Here lies spooky season?might be the thing that finally gets me in the holiday spirit.
Slate Plus members get more Care and Feeding every week.

Dear Care and Feeding,

Three weeks ago, my 14-year-old daughter Taylor was involved in an Instagram pile-on regarding her math teacher. Apparently, the teacher (who is white) was involved in a conflict with a Hispanic student not in my daughters class. Taylor got her information about the conflict thirdhand and felt the teacher was being racist and needed to be held accountable. (We are also white and have been trying to instill the importance of calling our fellow white folks in.)

Taylor started an anonymous Instagram account directly targeting the teacher and collecting stories from other students of unfair behavior via anonymous submission. She received two submissions before I was called into the assistant principals office to discuss the situation. Well, as we could probably have predicted, Taylor was misinformed about the original conflict. The school investigated the conflict and found the teacher had handled everything appropriately. There was even documentation showing the student had lied and forged fake evidence. But at that point, Taylors Instagram account was active and the damage had been done.

My husband and I are at a loss as to what to do. The teacher is understandably devastated at the creation of an Instagram hate account at her expense. I dont know that Taylor can continue to be in her class. Moreover, Im deeply upset that Taylor would engage in this sort of behavior. This approach to justice does not align with our values. Do you have any thoughts on what we can do from here? Do we punish Taylor, despite her positive intentions? Ground her from Instagram? Have her sit down with the teacher she targeted? Please help.

Sick of Social Media

Dear Sick of Social Media,

Ive mentioned this before around here, and Ill say it again: If youre going to shoot your shot as a social justice warrior, you better not miss. Unfortunately, Taylor missed very badly, and it could end up affecting an innocent teachers career. Not only that, but these mistakes make it harder for real bad behavior to be taken seriously.

Although her mistake was awful, Im not here to drag a 14-year-old kid in my column because of it. The very least you can do is teach Taylor a powerful message about accountabilitywhich means she needs to set up a private meeting with the teacher (without you or your husband holding her hand) and own up to her mistake. Afterward, you need to set up a separate meeting with the teacher and possibly the principal to apologize for your daughters behavior and figure out next steps from here. I have no clue how her teacher will react to both meetings. Maybe shell chalk it up to teenage behavior on social media and move on. Maybe shell be pissed that her reputation was dragged through the mud over unsubstantiated rumors and never want to see your daughters face again. No matter how she reacts, you and Taylor need to sincerely apologize and let the chips fall where they may.

Going forward, you need to teach her that standing up for marginalized groups is admirable, but she shouldnt transform into a vigilante in the process. Real human lives are at stake when mistakes are made like this, so in the future, you should have her come to you with any potential wrongdoing she notices at school or in her community. Then you can both do your research and approach the proper authority figures to ensure its handled properly and privately.

I doubt youll need to do anything else regarding punishment; she should feel awful enough as is.

Doyin

More Advice From Slate

My son and his wife are expecting their first born, my first grandchild. We are all beyond excited. Heres the hitch: I and my husband do not get or believe in flu shots, and have not for over a decade. I am a retired nurse practitioner, so am well-informed on the subject. The expectant moms mother says no one will be allowed around the baby unless they have had their flu shot. I am in a quandary.
The number of women in prison has skyrocketed over the last 40 years. Despite critical state level criminal justice reforms designed to keep people out of prison, both sexes have not benefited equally. Women currently go to prison at twice the rate of men. And now, a new threat to the over-prosecution and incarceration of women looms large in the, perhaps, unexpected forum of reproductive rights.

This year alone, state legislators have introduced nearly 600 abortion restrictions, with more than 90 becoming law, according to Planned Parenthood. Some of these laws, like S.B. 8 in Texas, which empowers private citizens to sue someone who aids or abets a person seeking an abortion after six weeks of pregnancy, do not provide for criminal penalties. Still, their restrictive nature makes getting an abortion nearly impossible for most women and sets the stage for future criminalization on a broad basis.

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Even in the absence of laws completely banning abortion, pregnant women have been targeted for arrest. The organization, If/When/How: Lawyering for Reproductive Justice, puts the number at least 21 for people across the U.S. who have been arrested for self-managing an abortion or helping someone who self-managed an abortion. Hundreds more have been arrested for experiencing miscarriages. Just last week, a judge in Oklahoma sentenced Brittney Poolaw to 4 years in prison for suffering a miscarriage after the 17-week fetus tested positive for methamphetamine.* In Alabama, a young Black woman was charged with manslaughter after losing her pregnancy when another woman shot her in the stomach (The charges were eventually dropped). In California, a woman was charged with murder and jailed for more than a year because her baby was stillborn, after prosecutors say she consumed methamphetamine.

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In its current term, the U.S. Supreme Court will take up the issue of whether to strike down Mississippis 15-week abortion ban. That ruling could result in Roe v. Wade being significantly weakened or struck down entirely. If Roe v. Wade is overturned, 26 states are primed to ban abortion, according to Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive rights policy organization.

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It is not mere hyperbole to suggest that Roes demise will thrust this country backwards in time. Not just to the days of back alley abortions, but back to a time when health-care professionals, fearing arrest and prosecution, served as the states investigators. And to a time when women are surveilled as their pregnancies progress and watched for their use of drugs or alcohol. A recent study released by the National Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys (NACDL) sounds an alarm bell about a wave of expansive prosecutions that will likely follow any significant curtailment or reversal of Roe.

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Several states, including Arkansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Alabama, and South Carolina have already expanded the definition of personhood to include an unborn child. Many other states are poised to follow suit should Roe be overturned, according to the NACDLs report, Abortion in America: How Legislative Overreach is Turning Reporductive Rights Into Criminal Wrongs. This change will expand the scope of criminal liability for people who intentionally or unintentionally harm a fetus, as well as people who end or attempt to end their pregnancies. The loss of a pregnancy might result in charges of homicide, feticide or aggravated assault.

These so-called personhood laws, granting unborn children full legal rights, may also be used as the basis for severe charges against those accused of violating abortion bans. States could make use of existing statutes, including those covering conspiracy, attempt, and accomplice liability, to charge those tangentially associated with an abortion, including individuals who counsel a woman, fund, schedule, or otherwise assist in the process. Many states already have heartbeat bills on the books, outlawing abortion once a fetal heartbeat can be detected, often before a woman even knows she is pregnant.

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For the most part, these so-called heartbeat bills have been enjoined and found unconstitutional under existing precedent. But that could also change if Roe is overturned. The NACDL predicts that if these bills are permitted to go into effect, they will open the floodgates to a new wave of arrests, prosecutions, and prison sentences in many states, casting a wide net and entangling a wide swath of individuals many of whom might be only peripherally linked to the abortion itself.

To be sure, women are increasingly prosecuted for harm to their fetuses. A 2013 study conducted by National Advocates for Pregnant Women, a reproductive justice organization, found that between 1973 and 2005, 413 women were arrested for allegedly harming their fetuses. Between 2006 and 2020, three times that number faced criminal penalties.

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The NACDL report goes on to detail current legal statutes that criminalize abortion and the impact that overturning Roe v. Wade would have on laws to prosecute and incarcerate those providing, receiving or assisting with abortions. Not surprisingly, the study concludes that the further over-regulation and criminalization of abortion will add to the already significant inequities that exist within the criminal legal system as they relate to Black, Hispanic, and economically disadvantaged communities. Although in the absence of legal abortion, women suffered great personal, medical and financial consequences, they were not historically, routinely prosecuted and imprisoned for having abortions. With the anticipated new wave of anti-abortion legislation, women are likely to be targeted for prosecution.

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As NACDL President Martin Antonio Sabelli, notes, This Report reveals that the War on Abortion Rights not only undermines the Bill of Rights but also represents an attempt to legislate the will of a few on the lives of the many, especially the poor and the vulnerable, who will have no real choices, unlike the wealthy. We should learn from our mistakes and resist the overly broad use of criminal penalties to regulate disfavored personal choices that will open the door wide to a new wave of mass incarceration.

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In a post Roe protection world, womens access to abortion will be limited to states where the right has been recognized as law, either by legislative fiat or state supreme court decree. Short of changing the composition of state governments to create pro-choice legislatures, creative ways to resist the laws that would put a woman or her supporters behind bars for ending an unwanted pregnancy will need to be implemented to protect those living in states without abortion rights and without the means or knowledge to travel to states with more liberal laws. Educating women about their choices and providing widely available and affordable access to family planning services is a good start. But for those women who find themselves in need of immediate help in obtaining a safe abortion, more concrete steps are necessary.

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Linked networks of sympathetic supporters that have already cropped up in some areas will need to be expanded. Dubbed the Overground Railroad, a reference to the Underground Railroad that abolitionists used to secretly shuttle slaves out of the South, these networks help women with transportation, expenses, access, and a place to stay. There are also proactive measures that can be taken to neutralize the impact of the criminalization of abortion. States can authorize funds directly to women who cross state lines seeking sanctuary and can appropriate funds to reimburse organizations that provide counseling and assistance for these women.

Without the protections provided by Roe v. Wade, many states will, undoubtedly, continue to pass laws that have the potential to exacerbate the national crisis of overcriminalization and incarceration, with women being most affected. Laws that could subject those seeking abortions to extreme criminal penalties, including the death penalty, with women of color and those living in poverty at the greatest risk. At a moment in history when the benefits of safe and legal abortion are well-documented and a comfortable majority of the American population supports abortion, we are now faced with the incongruous reality of the expansion of laws that criminalize abortion and police the behavior of pregnant women.
The latest Maryland zebra development involves more zebras!

For those who havent been following: Three zebras escaped from a farm in Upper Marlboro, Maryland, at the end of August. Since then, one of the zebras diedcaught and killed by a snare trapbut the other two remain at large.

Extremely sad, but were still outside Baybeee. https://t.co/OpNbvfdJNT  Maryland Zebra (@MarylandZebra) October 14, 2021

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Now, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources says that the various agencies working to catch the zebras intend to do so by recruiting other zebras into a scheme.

Two zebras from the farm where the celebrity zebras used to live are being kept separate from the rest of their herd (otherwise known as a zeal, and also otherwise known as a dazzle) and in an enclosure in the center of a corral. Food and these two zebras will be used to, hopefully, lure the free zebras back into the corral. A press release from the DNR adds that veterinarians from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and other experts believe this is the best, and safest, approach to getting the zebras back into the zeal.

Our priority is to make sure the zebras are captured and returned to the herd, said Andrea L. Crooms, the director of Prince Georges County Department of the Environment, in the release. Once this is accomplished, the County will conduct a further investigation, and any actions including any appropriate charges against the owner will be evaluated.

The two zebras being used as bait are not talking to the press at this time.
My memories of pumping breast milk for my first child are, quite literally, dark. Three times a day, I would disappear into my offices lactation room, a dimly lit and vaguely smelly storage closet. I spent many hours there, hunched at a too-low table in the too-low light, next to shelves of cleaning spray and coffee creamer, pressing the plastic horns of the pump into my breasts and furiously trying to meditate. As the pump wheezed I tried to direct my thoughts to my breathing, to my baby, to anything that would help more milk flow and help calm the slow descent into anxiety that began each time I took my pump out of its bag.

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Now, I have recently returned from parental leave after the birth of my second child, and I have a new technology that wasnt available back thenthe wearable breast pump. Instead of the bell-shaped flanges of a traditional breast pump, a wearable pump has cups that can be tucked into the users bra. As an alternative to the standard hands-free optionusing a regular breast pump with a pumping brathe wearable cups are lower-profile, dont involve the additional cost and usability challenges of a pumping bra, and just feel a lot more dignified than this. The pump I have isnt plug-free, but those who can afford to spend $500 for a high-quality, fully wireless pump now theoretically get unprecedented freedom and discretion, for easier pumping in the workplace or out in the world.

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All of this is supposed to make it easier for people who are breast- or chestfeeding to produce milk even when apart from their babies for much of the day. Personally, while looking through the marketing images of slim, happy women pumping at the beach, on the ski slope, and in yoga class, I also hoped my new technology would do something about that terrible feeling I remembered, the inexplicable dread that had been my constant pumping companion.

A few months into my new pumping journey, the results are underwhelming. While the pump has saved me time and upped my productivity, the new technology still doesnt provide the frictionless experience of my working-parent dreams. My hands-free cups need constant cleaning, yet the instructions make clear that they must at all costs not be put into a dishwasher. They also have one tiny tube that isnt supposed to get milk into it, but somehow does, leaving me to battle the creep of an unsettling grayish mold. And despite all my troubleshooting, each cup has a stubborn leak that slowly drips milk into my bra.

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But theres another issue, which no technological advance can fix: Pumping just reminds me that I wish I werent apart from my baby. This is not because I dont like my job; I love it, in fact, and wouldnt want to be a stay-at-home parent for the long term even if it were financially feasible. But sending my son off to spend his day with someone else while I am trying to sustain breastfeeding sets up a whole chain of challenges and unsatisfactory solutions. The technologies that make pumping marginally less frustratingand even the policies that are set up to support itjust tinker around the edges of an inherently broken thing: that so many parents are separated from their babies earlier than they want to be, because they cant afford not to be. This is particularly true for workers of color, who disproportionately lack access to the kinds of jobs that allow for time off; a 2016 report showed that 40 percent of Latinx birth parents took no leave at all, compared with 27 percent of white birth parents who reported the same.

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Theres a straightforward solution to this problem: six months of family leave for new parents, paid at a livable wage. Most countries provide some sort of paid parental leave, with proven benefits for kids and parents, including increased nursing. Paid leave has even been shown to yield economic benefit. Yet instead of investing in an accessible leave program, our country has poured resources into facilitating pumping, a seemingly self-defeating choice rooted in racist, sexist policy decisions. (Historian Mona Siegel writes that since World War II, there has been an idea that providing universal paid parental leave would encourage the wrong families to reproduce, including fear that if you passed any kind of federal comprehensive maternity leave policy, that would include African-American women and then also more recently, immigrant women.) These priorities have demonstrated that we value our ideals of individualismand the structures we have erected to sustain racial capitalismmore than we value babies or the people who give birth to them.

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Our cultural devaluation of kids and of parents is old news to anyone who has tried to safely educate their child at an underfunded public school or has been separated from their child while trying to cross a border. But it might be newer to the pumping crowd; many of us have race and/or class privileges that usually shield us from its more overt and personal manifestations. Instead, we might start to see it for the first time when we are trying to pump clean milk into a bottle while crouched on the bathroom floor of our workplace. Or when feeling vaguely gaslit by hands-free pumping boosters, like this article that promises hyper-enthusiastic reviews of pumping bras. (The gist of the reviews within: Its not flattering, but it does fit; at least my nipples dont poke out of it; and it has straps.)

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For nursing parents, being asked to muster excitement for incremental, expensive advancements in pumping technology can feel like just one more slight in a lifetime of being socialized to settle for what is on offer instead of what we actually need. And in fact, we do need wearable breast pumps, but we need them to be free, easy to use, and accessible to all. We also need the marketing for those pumps to reflect the reality of early parenting. It turns out that, even with my fancy new pump, I am not doing yoga or hitting the slopes. I am scraping crusted-over mashed peas off of the dining table. I am getting the family treated for head lice in between Zoom meetings. I am always, desperately, trying to get more sleep.

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What we really need is paid time off. We need that time to figure out how best to feed our children, be that by breast, chest, bottle, or tube. We need it to adjust to the new rhythms of our expanded families. We need it to take our kids to their parade of well-child checks, to seek healing for our own bodies after birth, to be there for the moments that make the whole mess seem worth it: When our babies laugh for the first time, when they start to babble, roll, scoot, and crawl.

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According to a recent poll, 82 percent of Americans support paid family leave for those who give birth, and amid angst over declining birth rates and COVID-related stresses on families, it now seems more politically feasible than ever. The paid leave plan outlined in the Democrats $3.5 trillion budget package would provide up to 12 weeks of paid time off per parent, getting a two-parent family close to that six-month ideal that many experts are beginning to coalesce around. It would also provide paid leave for workers providing other types of critical care, such as adult children caring for ill parents or people supporting chosen family members during their times of need. All of this would be a landmark improvement over the status quo. It is also still not enough. Equity issues with this legislation abound, including that many low-wage workers could receive so little pay that they will effectively still not be able to benefit.

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I had access to that miserable lactation room because of the Affordable Care Act; prior to 2010 my employer would not have been mandated to provide a pumping space at all. The ACA significantly boosted breastfeeding rates across the country, and yet still, only 14 percent of Black and Latinx parents have both dedicated time and space during their workdays to pump. I have access to a mediocre wearable breast pumpbetter than before, but still not enoughthat would be cost-prohibitive for many other new parents. Similarly, our countrys potential next steps in paid leave would be so much better than nothing. But better than nothing isnt good enough.

We wont see advances that meet the real needs of children and parents until we reckon with the choices that got us here and what they say about who we think deserves care, ease, dignity, and well-being. Imagine if our answer to who deserves those things was everyone. Maybe all the research, debate, and money weve directed toward incremental improvements for the few would be redirected into designing something new, and universal, and entirely better.

Future Tense is a partnership of Slate, New America, and Arizona State University that examines emerging technologies, public policy, and society.
ARCHIVED - UK driving licences not valid in Spain from October 31



Still no agreement reached to extend validity period, meaning residents in Spain will not be allowed to use their British licence to drive from next month

Under current Spanish law, residents with valid UK licences will only be able to use them to drive in Spain until October 31 2021. While negotiations are ongoing between the UK and Spain to extend the validity period and come to a resolution , the fact of the matter is that UK driving licences will soon cease to be a valid driving document for residents in Spain.

The rules do not apply to British visitors on holiday in Spain, who may use their licence for up to six months after they arrive in the country. In theory, a UK driving licence is still permissible for hiring a rental car in Spain, though some British residents have been asked for an International Driving Permit in addition.

It is not advisable for Brits living in Spain to try to drive using their UK licence and pretend they have just arrived as tourists, especially if they are driving a car with a UK number plate. Police in Spain are expected to crack down hard on those driving illegally, and if caught can face fines of around 400 euros.

Brits in Spain were advised to exchange their driving licences for a Spanish one by giving their details to the DGT Spanish motoring authority last year, but many who missed the deadline are fearful that they will now be left with illegal driving status or having to retake their driving test in Spain.

The driving licences of UK nationals who did successfully register their intent to exchange their licence before December 30 2020 will also become invalid for driving in Spain on October 31, but they will still be eligible to exchange it for a Spanish one until December 31 2021 without having to take a practical and theory test in Spanish.

Others who tried to swap their licence for a Spanish one were left frustrated with the slow and inefficient bureaucratic system in Spain that meant they either didnt receive their Spanish licence after handing in their British one, or got one with the wrong vehicle category.

Meanwhile, people with a Spanish driving licence are still allowed to use it to drive in the UK on a permanent basis.

Image: Archive
About 3,000 people awaiting the recognition of Covid vaccination confirmation.

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Michal, the son of Jan Rapan from Bratislava, received his Covid vaccine shot in the United States back in June. The Slovak Health Ministry has not issued a confirmation of his vaccination status even a month after he requested it.

The ministrys spokesperson Zuzana Eliasova said that Slovakia does not recognise the vaccination certificates issued in the US. However, the Czech Republic, for example, recognises the same type of certificate owned by Michal. The Sme daily has his vaccination certificate at its disposal.

Communication with the Slovak Health Ministrys department responsible for the coordination of vaccination, which should confirm the validity of vaccination abroad, is problematic. The ministry does not respond to e-mails and has a secret number.

The Health Ministry said that there are about 3,000 people waiting for confirmation, like Rapans son.

I feel sorry that the Health Ministry knowingly demotivates people and requests responsibility in issues related to vaccination, Jan Rapan said.

53 days of waiting
https://sputniknews.com/20211018/polisarios-brahim-ghali-vows-to-fight-morocco-in-western-sahara-until-un-holds-independence-vote-1090023209.html

Polisarios Brahim Ghali Vows to Fight Morocco in Western Sahara Until UN Holds Independence Vote

Polisarios Brahim Ghali Vows to Fight Morocco in Western Sahara Until UN Holds Independence Vote

Brahim Ghali, the head of Western Saharas Polisario liberation front, has vowed that the group will continue to resist Moroccan rule over the territory until... 18.10.2021, Sputnik International

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The 72-year-old revolutionary told reporters on Saturday that while the appointment of new officials from the United Nations was a welcome development, it comes in the context of a military conflict that was renewed almost a year ago."The appointment of the Personal Envoy of the UN Secretary-General Staffan de Mistura, which we have taken note of, should not be an end in itself, he said in Camp Rabouni, a Saharawi refugee camp in western Algeria.Ghali pointed to the obstruction of Morocco as the cause of failure for de Misturas predecessors, noting that the United Nations has the power to push the issue further - a point Polisarios EU envoy, Oubi Bouchraya Bachir, also made to Sputnik in an interview last month."The forthcoming resolution of the UN Security Council must correct the dysfunction that led to the return of war," he said of the councils scheduled meeting on October 28. "The upcoming UN Security Council meeting should not be an ordinary one, because the situation is no longer ordinary, and therefore its results could be decisive for the situation in the region."That peace treaty ended 16 years of war that followed Spains withdrawal from what had been its colonies of Rio del Oro and Saguia el-Hamra in the present territory of Western Sahara. Polisario declared an independent Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic in the territory, but Morocco and Mauritania invaded, claiming the land as their own. While Polisario quickly pushed the Mauritanians out, the Royal Moroccan Army, which enjoys US backing, has proven more resilient, and successfully pushed Polisario into the territorys eastern marches while bringing in hundreds of thousands of Moroccan settlers.The peace created in 1991 ended almost a year ago, after Moroccan soldiers forcibly dispersed a Saharawi protest encampment at Guerguerat, a UN-policed border area in the south, which Polisario said violated the deal. Less than a month later, then-US President Donald Trump recognized Moroccos claim to rule Western Sahara in exchange for Rabat normalizing relations with Israel, something it had long sworn to avoid.In the year since, Polisario has excoriated MINURSO, the UN peacekeeping mission, for its lack of action and for continuing to lack a human rights monitoring component to its mission - almost unique among UN missions. The new Biden administration in Washington has also shown little desire to change Trumps precedent, despite appeals by senior US diplomats to do so.However, the last year hasnt been without its successes: last month, the European Union Court of Justice struck down an EU trade deal with Morocco. The court found that the EU could only import products or resources from Western Sahara if the Saharawis had consented to the deal. While some Saharawi civil society groups were consulted by Rabat, Polisario wasnt invited, and the EU high court - referencing the UNs policy - said Polisario is the legitimate representative of the Saharawi people.As much as 90% of the European Union fishing fleets annual catch comes from the rich Atlantic waters off Western Saharas coast, and the desert land is home to Bou Craa, one of the worlds largest phosphate mines.

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morocco, western sahara, africa, un mission for the referendum in western sahara (minurso), brahim ghali, polisario front
https://sputniknews.com/20211019/bjp-stages-protest-after-party-member-shot-dead-in-west-bengal--1090033532.html

BJP Stages Protest After Party Member Shot Dead in West Bengal

BJP Stages Protest After Party Member Shot Dead in West Bengal

Mithun Ghosh, a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party's youth wing, was shot dead in his home in the Uttar Dinajpur region of West Bengal state on Sunday... 19.10.2021, Sputnik International

2021-10-19T13:23+0000

2021-10-19T13:23+0000

2021-10-19T13:23+0000

bharatiya janata party (bjp)

india

kolkata

protest

murder

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india

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An eight-hour protest was staged in the Uttar Dinajpur region of West Bengal by the Bharatiya Janata Party, the main opposition party in the state, because of the fatal shooting of youth wing member Mithun Ghosh on Sunday.The BJP's regional leader, Dr Sukanta Majumdar, called for the protest to held between 6am and 2pm.The victim, Mithun Ghosh, was regional vice-president of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (Bharatiya Janata Youth Movement) and Majumdar described him as being a shaheed" - an Islamic term meaning "martyr".In a tweet in Bengali, he accused the All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) party, which is in charge of the state, of being responsible for Ghosh's murder.He was shot dead by thugs in the Trinamool. We have to oust this bloodthirsty, jihadi government from West Bengal. Ghosh's mother told the Hindustan Times: "My son's life was in danger as he had many enemies. Local workers of the ruling party were threatening him."However, Kunal Ghosh, spokesman of the TMC, has rejected the charge: "We don't know what exactly happened. The police are investigating. By accusing us, the BJP is trying to avoid their own internal issues."Thus far, state police have arrested two acquaintances of the deceased, Santosh Mahato and Sukumar Ghosh.

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bharatiya janata party (bjp), india, kolkata, protest, murder, west bengal, india
https://sputniknews.com/20211019/calls-for-probe-into-maxine-waters-over-report-she-paid-80000-in-campaign-cash-to-her-daughter-1090033298.html

Calls for Probe Into Maxine Waters Over Report She Paid $80,000 in Campaign Cash to Her Daughter

Calls for Probe Into Maxine Waters Over Report She Paid $80,000 in Campaign Cash to Her Daughter

Over the course of her career, the official has often been criticised for nepotism. In 2004, The Los Angeles Times reported that Waters paid over $1 million... 19.10.2021, Sputnik International

2021-10-19T10:54+0000

2021-10-19T10:54+0000

2021-10-19T10:54+0000

nepotism

us

us

corruption

maxine waters

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US Representative for California's 43rd Congressional district Maxine Waters has been accused of corruption online following a report by the New York Post, which revealed that the Democrat purportedly paid thousands of dollars to her daughter's firm in the last fiscal year. According to the outlet, which cited financial records it had obtained, the official paid $81,650 out of campaign coffers to her daughter's firm for "slate mailer management".Slate-mailing is political tradition in California that dates back to the middle of the 20th century. Firms are hired to create pamphlets that are mailed to voters and which contain a list of candidates and their policies. Local media outlets report that Waters was the only politician who used slate-mailer operations during the 2020 general election.The payments to her daughter were divided across several months and mirror those Mrs Waters made last election cycle, although back then the sum paid to Karen Waters was significantly bigger - $240,000.The news caused a strong reaction from social media users, who voiced their anger over what they described as illegal actions.Others called on government departments to launch a probe into Rep Waterssome users even contended that she should be given a jail sentence for enriching her relatives.Many users deemed that Mrs Waters' close ties with her daughter amounted to money laundering and nepotism.Still others said that no action will be taken against the official and noted that other politicians have been involved in such practices too.According to The Washington Post, California law and the Congressional Committee on Ethics do not prohibit close financial ties between an official and their family. Neither does the Federal Election Commission, which allows candidates and members of Congress to hire relatives for a campaign.Back in 2004, when The Los Angeles Times reported that Maxine Waters paid over $1 million to members of her family who worked with her campaign as well as did business with candidates, companies, and causes she helped, the official said that her family's fortunes are kept apart from her political activities. "They do their business and I do mine. We are not bad people", she said.

feketehollo one already knows that she is a crook just by looking at her face... 3

Alel What about trump., and ivanka..or Clintons and Chelsea... the Busch family brother and sons ...is BS 2

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https://sputniknews.com/20211019/colim-powell-moral-weakling-1090050012.html

Colin Powell, Moral Weakling

Colin Powell, Moral Weakling

If Colin Powells life has meaning, it is as a cautionary tale about the perils of going along to get along. 19.10.2021, Sputnik International

2021-10-19T20:56+0000

2021-10-19T20:56+0000

2021-10-19T21:00+0000

us secretary of state

columnists

us

colin powell

death

lies

bush

iraq war

obituary

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Rarely has history offered such a stark example of a human being offered a clear existential choice between right and wrong. Hardly ever has so much hung in the balance for humanity and for an individuals soul, as when then-secretary of state Colin Powell spoke to the United Nations to make the case for war.It would be impossible to overstate the import of Powells February 2003 speech, in which he claimed that the United States had amassed a stockpile of evidence that proved that Iraq had retained chemical and biological weapons of mass destruction in violation of its commitments under the 1991 Gulf War ceasefire. Iraqs government, Powell argued forcefully, presented such a clear and present danger to its neighbors that the international communityled by the U.S.had a right, even a duty, to remove it with an invasion. President George W. Bush and his co-conspirators had spent the better part of the previous year working to convince Americans to support a second war against Iraq over WMDs. Polls showed that voters remained unconvinced.Possibly in preparation for a 2004 White House runhard to imagine in these polarized times, but the ex-general had long been considered a top presidential prospect by both major political partiesthe even-tempered Powell had previously distanced himself from his fellow cabinet members, dominated as they were by neoconservative hotheads, throughout the first two years of his term. Powells credibility towered over everyone else in American politics to an extent rarely seen before and certainly never since.Which is why Bush and Cheney sent him to the UN They knew that Powell alone could close the deal with a public made recalcitrant by historical precedent: the US had never before launched a full-out war without a pretext that made some sort of sense. And Where the president had failed the prestigious Powellsucceeded brilliantly, with the American public as well as with key allies like Great Britain and Australia. Seconds after he stopped talking, TV talking heads told us what we already knew: the fate of a million Iraqis was sealed. We were going to war.There is an alternative universe in which Powell takes to the podium and tells the truth: there was no credible evidence that Iraq still had WMDs. I have often imagined the stressed-out secretary of state, music swelling Hollywood-style, beginning to read the litany of lies about anthrax, chemical decontamination trucks, falsified Iraqi death certificates and cooperation between Saddam and Al Qaeda*an alliance that not only was not true but could not have been truebefore tearing up his prepared remarks. The statesman stares into the camera and speaks the words that would have saved a million lives, assured his place in history as a Profile in Courage and gotten him elected president by a landslide: They told me to come out and lie to you. I will not. I swore to protect the Constitution of the United States, not the President of the United States, so help me God, and there is no evidence that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction.Powells defenders blame Bush. They say Powell was lied to, conned.Actually, Powells instincts were on point. His conscience went missing.He knew it was all a lie.At the time.The weekend before his speech, Powell exploded in frustration as he read the manufactured intel reports he had been given by the Bushies. I'm not reading this. This is bullsh*t! he shouted, throwing the cherry-picked documents in the air. Then he picked himself up, took a deep breath and went out and lied the world into a war that would forever soil Americas reputation.Weakness was baked into Powells personality early on. As a young officer serving in Vietnam Powell played a minor but telling role in covering up a soldiers report about war crimes and other atrocities committed by US troops during the same period as the My Lai massacre. Rather than investigate the allegations, which were accurate, Powell smeared the whistleblower as a coward. The whistleblowers career faltered as Powells soared.Powells memoir made clear that he understood the gravity of his shilling for the Iraq War. It was by no means my first, but it was one of my most momentous failures, the one with the widest-ranging impact, he wrote. The event will earn a prominent paragraph in my obituary.Ted Rall (Twitter: @tedrall), the political cartoonist, columnist and graphic novelist, is the author of a new graphic novel about a journalist gone bad, The Stringer. Order one today. You can support Teds hard-hitting political cartoons and columns and see his work first by sponsoring his work on Patreon*A terrorist organization banned in Russia and many other states

https://sputniknews.com/20211018/son-of-jamaican-immigrants-colin-powell-would-go-on-to-make-bogus-case-for-us-war-in-iraq-over-wmds-1090008947.html

vot tak War criminal powell was a team player from the beginning. He never had a conscience. He knew what he was supporting and wholeheartedly agreed with it. He only regretted his war crimes being exposed, not that he engaged in them. He is a criminal who lamented getting busted, not the crime or his motivations for committing it. 4

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us secretary of state, columnists, us, colin powell, death, lies, bush, iraq war, obituary
https://sputniknews.com/20211019/colin-powell-dies-of-covid-russia-nato-ties-break-down-1090022788.html

Colin Powell Dies of Covid; Russia-NATO Ties Break Down

Colin Powell Dies of Covid; Russia-NATO Ties Break Down

Former US Secretary of State Colin Powell, the first Black Secretary of State, has died at age 84. 19.10.2021, Sputnik International

2021-10-19T08:23+0000

2021-10-19T08:23+0000

2021-10-19T08:23+0000

julian assange

radio

china

colin powell

hypersonic

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christopher steele

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Colin Powell Dies of Covid; Russia-NATO Ties Break Down Former US Secretary of State Colin Powell, the first Black Secretary of State, has died at age 84.

Gerald Horne, professor of history at the University of Houston, author, historian, and researcher, joins us to discuss the death of Colin Powell. Former US Secretary of State Colin Powell has died at age 84. Powell was known for being the first Black Secretary of State, but was also criticized for his part in the Iraq invasion and occupation.Mark Sleboda, Moscow-based international relations security analyst, joins us to discuss Russia, China, and Eastern Europe. US international security analysts are reportedly shocked that China has developed and tested a hypersonic glide vehicle that circled the globe and attacked a target. Also, ties between Russia and NATO seem to have completely broken down.Dan Lazare, investigative journalist and author of "America's Undeclared War, joins us to discuss the Christopher Steele interview. Despite the complete collapse of the infamous Steele Dossier, Christopher Steele has incredulously claimed that everything in the dossier is 100 percent true, including the Russians' use of a non-existent consulate in Miami for financial payouts.Steve Poikonen, national organizer for Action4Assange, joins us to discuss Julian Assange. Caitlin Johnstone reports that Netflix is relaunching a "brazen smear job" on Wikileaks and Julian Assange just 3 days before the publisher meets a significant court date regarding his fight to stop extradition to the United States. Also, Joe Lauria writes that the information that the CIA planned to assassinate or kidnap Assange was known to the world as early as 2010.Dan Kovalik, writer, author, and lawyer, joins us to discuss the US kidnapping of Venezuelan diplomat Alex Saab. Saab, a diplomat who should be able to exercise all legal diplomatic protections under international law, was taken by the United States under the guise of extradition for money laundering. He works to help feed the people of the Bolivarian Republic as the United States works to starve the citizens.John Burris, civil rights attorney, joins us to discuss the Ahmaud Arbery case. The killing of Ahmaud Arbery is again in the news as the trial of three men involved in the death of the Georgia man begins this week. Crowds gathered outside of the courthouse over the weekend to protest the murder and push for justice.Laith Marouf, broadcaster and journalist based in Beirut, joins us to discuss the Middle East. Our esteemed guest updates us on the tense political situation in Lebanon. Also, the influential Iraqi cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has gained tremendous power due to the Iraqi elections and is laying out his plan for dealing with the US empire.Cohosts Dr. Wilmer Leon and Garland Nixon discuss the life of Dr. Colin Powell.We'd love to get your feedback at radio@sputniknews.com

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julian assange, radio, china, colin powell, hypersonic, nato, radio sputnik, christopher steele, the critical hour, 
https://sputniknews.com/20211019/czech-police-probe-potential-crime-against-republic-as-president-zeman-hospitalised---report-1090030428.html

Czech Police Probing Possible 'Crime Against Republic' Over President Zeman's Hospitalisation

Czech Police Probing Possible 'Crime Against Republic' Over President Zeman's Hospitalisation

Last week, Prague's Central Military Hospital announced that 77-year-old Czech President Milos Zeman's health is in stable condition. 19.10.2021, Sputnik International

2021-10-19T08:46+0000

2021-10-19T08:46+0000

2021-10-19T11:20+0000

czech republic

milos zeman

investigation

police

hospitalization

government

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The Czech police said on Monday that they have launched an investigation into the presidential administration in connection with possible violations in informing the public about the health of President Milos Zeman.The constitutional commission of the Czech upper chamber has, meanwhile, proposed launching a procedure to deprive President Milos Zeman of his powers due to the impossibility of him fulfilling his responsibilities for health reasons, according to commission head Zdenek Graba."The members of our commission thoroughly studied the document on President Milos Zeman's health condition that the Senate received from the Central Military Hospital in Prague, where the president is receiving treatment. The document directly states that the president is not able to fulfill his official duties. Moreover, due to the nature of the disease, the long-term assessment of the president's condition is extremely uncertain. Therefore, our commission proposes activating Article 66 of the national constitution on the temporary deprivation of the president of the republic's powers", Graba told reporters on Tuesday.This comes after 77-year-old Zeman was earlier admitted to Prague's Central Military Hospital where he was placed in an intensive care unit.The hospital announced last week that the Czech president remains in stable condition. The hospital's director, Miroslav Zavoral, previously said he was not allowed to disclose Zeman's diagnosis.The politician was also hospitalised in September, amid media reports that his health was in rapid decline. Zeman has been suffering from diabetic neuropathy in his feet, so he has recently been using a wheelchair.The latest hospitalisation comes as Zeman is expected to lead political talks on the formation of a new government following parliamentary elections. Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis earlier said that he would lead these talks if the president asked him to do so.On 9 October, the day before Zeman was hospitalised, the centrist party ANO (Yes) led by Babis, narrowly lost elections in the Czech Republic to a liberal-conservative three-party coalition named Together, which captured 27.8% of the vote, beating Babis' ANO, which won 27.1%.The Czech president previously made it clear he would appoint the leader of the strongest party, but not the strongest coalition, to try to form the government. That might give Prime Minister Babis a chance to form his own majority for a possible new cabinet.

https://sputniknews.com/20210602/czech-senate-committee-deems-president-zeman-incapable-of-holding-office-1083061575.html

https://sputniknews.com/20211009/czech-opposition-clenches-victory-from-babis-with-99-of-vote-counted-1089797935.html

TruePatriot It almost feels like a coup but it isn't a coup. Yet. 1

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czech republic, milos zeman, investigation, police, hospitalization, government
https://sputniknews.com/20211019/erdogans-un-criticism-meant-for-home-consumption-but-others-will-listen-1090049016.html

Erdogan's UN Criticism Meant for Home Consumption But Others Will Listen

Erdogan's UN Criticism Meant for Home Consumption But Others Will Listen

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan used home media attention to his Africa trip this week to again call for a more inclusive UN Security... 19.10.2021, Sputnik International

2021-10-19T20:16+0000

2021-10-19T20:16+0000

2021-10-19T20:16+0000

recep tayyip erdogan

africa

opinion

veto

unsc

erdogan

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The 15-member council is the only UN body that can make legally binding decisions, with five permanent members wielding veto powers  Russia, China, France, the United Kingdom and the United States.Erdogan has long argued that the "world is bigger than five." He says the core UN body should be expanded to better represent the global Muslim population, for which he appears to feel responsible, as well as large portions of the world, including Africa, Gareth Jenkins, of the Stockholm-based Institute for Security and Development Policy, believes.Alabarda, an Ankara representative of the Turkish national defense magazine M5, said Erdogan offered African economies a level playing field, in a stark contrast to European "colonizers," whom he accused on Monday of ignoring the continent's calls for change.Birol Baskan, of the Washington-based Middle East Institute, agreed that Erdogan was pursuing global ambitions by painting Turkey as the leader of the Muslim world, but he argued that nationalists within the Muslim world were not likely to rally behind him.Jenkins said to Sputnik that there was a growing gap between Erdogans perception of himself as a world leader and how the world saw him.Erdogans calls for an expanded UN have gained little traction, Jenkins said, but he too suggested that the president was at least partially motivated by his desire to "halt the seemingly irreversible long-term decline in his popular support by trying to convince Turkish voters that he is able to change the world."That said, the experts agreed that it was time for the UN to change, provided that the core five are ready to relinquish or dilute the power they possess.The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the experts and do not necessarily reflect those of Sputnik.

2007harleydavidsonsg Erdogan sounds like a typical deceptive American politician and never trust a Turkmen especially one wearing a suit & tie. Iran is the center of the Muslim World! 1

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recep tayyip erdogan, africa, opinion, veto, unsc, erdogan
https://sputniknews.com/20211019/france-refuses-to-comment-on-asylum-status-of-alleged-russian-prison-torture-whistleblower-1090046492.html

France Refuses to Comment on Asylum Status of Alleged Russian Prison Torture Whistleblower

France Refuses to Comment on Asylum Status of Alleged Russian Prison Torture Whistleblower

PARIS (Sputnik) - The French Foreign Ministry did not comment on media reports that Belarusian national Sergei Savelyev, who allegedly leaked footage of... 19.10.2021, Sputnik International

2021-10-19T18:03+0000

2021-10-19T18:03+0000

2021-10-19T18:03+0000

france

whistleblower

torture

world

russia

asylum

prison

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On Monday, Agence France-Presse reported that Savelyev told them in a conversation that he had applied for political asylum in France. However, the agency failed to provide tangible evidence that Savelyev was indeed the one responsible for gathering the video evidence and handing it over for publication. The 31 year old was simply referred to as a man "behind a video leak."Savelyev, a former inmate at a Russian prison serving a sentence for drug trafficking, arrived in France via Turkey and Tunisia, and has been waiting in the area for asylum seekers at the Roissy-Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris since Friday, AFP said.Savelyev has allegedly smuggled footage showing sexual assault and torture of convicts in a Russian prison. Several videos were later uploaded on YouTube and a report was published by a Russian rights group, which identified the place as the hospital wing of a prison in Russia's Saratov region. The publication prompted an official probe and the firing of several officials.The Kremlin said it keeps updated on the issue and if the authenticity of the videos is confirmed, it will launch a "serious investigation." Russian public advocates have announced that they will discuss new legislation on prison torture in November.

https://sputniknews.com/20211008/russian-authorities-launch-major-probe-sack-officials-amid-reports-of-rape-torture-in-penal-system-1089769785.html

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france, whistleblower, torture, world, russia, asylum, prison
https://sputniknews.com/20211019/global-times-us-should-stop-eyeing-too-much-on-chinas-hypersonic-missiles-and-broaden-its-horizons-1090031421.html

Global Times: US Should Stop Eyeing Too Much on China's Hypersonic Missiles and Broaden Its Horizons

Global Times: US Should Stop Eyeing Too Much on China's Hypersonic Missiles and Broaden Its Horizons

The Financial Times (FT) quoted on Saturday several sources saying that "the Chinese military launched a rocket that carried a hypersonic glide vehicle" in... 19.10.2021, Sputnik International

2021-10-19T09:23+0000

2021-10-19T09:23+0000

2021-10-19T09:23+0000

asia & pacific

china

hypersonic

hypersonic missiles

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According to the FT article, the missile "flew through low-orbit space" and could help China "negate" US missile defence systems which are designed to target the fixed parabolic trajectory of a ballistic missile. The progress of the Chinese military has "caught US intelligence by surprise," the report said.The US generally has the ability to monitor global missile launches. If the FT report is to be believed, it means that there is a key new member in China's nuclear deterrence system, which is a new blow to the US' mentality of strategic superiority over China. According to the FT, the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology announced the 77th and 79th launches of the Long March 2C rocket, but there was no announcement of a 78th launch. The report believes the 78th "secret launch" may be to test the above-mentioned hypersonic missile.The FT also reported that China has tested a new space capability with a hypersonic missile, citing sources. It said the missile missed its target by about more than 30 kilometres, yet the test showed that "China had made astounding progress on hypersonic weapons." But if Chinese authorities do not voluntarily release such top defence secrets, others can only speculate based on technical monitoring methods.It is meaningless to discuss the credibility of the FT report. But it is important to note the unstoppable trend that China is narrowing the gap with the US in some key military technologies as China is continuously developing its economic and technological strength. China doesn't need to engage in an "arms race" with the US - it is capable of weakening the US' overall advantages over China by developing military power at its own pace.In the long term, the comparison between the military powers of China and the US will be in the following paradigm: the US' overall military advantage will be maintained, while its air force and navy have higher quality and its global deployment and projection capabilities will be unmatched by China's. Meanwhile, China won't have any will to globally challenge the US' dominant position in the military sphere, and the US shouldn't worry about losing its military hegemony.However, China's military buildup will focus on the Taiwan Straits and the South China Sea. It is inevitable that China will take an upper hand over the US military strength in these areas thanks to the geographical proximity and the continuous increase of China's input. Chinese society has not only strong expectations for this but also strong determination and corresponding ability to realize this reversal. The US' conventional military superiority around the world will not translate into a guarantee of superiority in these regions.The US is very concerned about China's nuclear development. There is no doubt that China has no plans to build a nuclear force of the same size as that of the US. In other words, we have no intention of launching a "nuclear arms race" with the US. However, China will certainly improve the quality of its nuclear deterrence to ensure that the US completely eliminates the idea of nuclear blackmail against China at any critical moment and its idea of using nuclear forces to make up for the weakness that US' conventional forces cannot crush China.The greater survivability and penetration ability of Chinese nuclear missiles is clearly being accelerated through a variety of new missiles. Such development will ensure that neither country's nuclear forces will be used as a tool to solve regional problems. This would ensure that the damage to peace, if any, would be limited and that the region would not see a deadly collision between major powers.The US is constantly releasing rumours that China is strengthening its nuclear strategic tools, which is believed to pave the way for public opinion in the US to further increase its military expenditure from a high starting point.Perhaps we need to point out that no matter how much military spending the US increases and how much new equipment it procures, it is impossible for the US to continue to enjoy overwhelming military superiority in China's coastal areas. Washington needs to be realistic and rethink its approach to China.The future strategic balance between China and the US cannot be achieved by carrying out an extreme "arms race."The two sides need to rebuild a certain strategic mutual trust, which is the key to forming a security buffer zone between China and the US. Can't major powers with different political systems cooperate with each other to achieve a win-win result? Must one overwhelm the other?As China and the US prepare for the worst, we must not give up. Both sides must explore a political and security framework that can accommodate the major long-term interests of both countries for the benefit of both countries and the world at large and never yield in that.This article was originally published by the Global Times.

itchyvet Quote. "Both sides must explore a political and security framework that can accommodate the major long-term interests of both countries for the benefit of both countries and the world at large and never yield in that." Unquote. How is it possible to do any of the above, when the other party is unreliable and renegs on all it's agreements ? 1

itchyvet YES. I can disagree. Check my earlier post. How does one negotiate with people who renege on agreements achieved via such negotiations ? Which is precisely what the U.S. does. What's the point then of negotiating with them ??? 1

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asia & pacific, china, hypersonic, hypersonic missiles
https://sputniknews.com/20211019/greece-cyprus-egypt-jointly-condemn-turkeys-illegal-activities-in-eastern-mediterranean-1090042358.html

Greece, Cyprus, Egypt Jointly Condemn Turkey's 'Illegal Activities' in Eastern Mediterranean

Greece, Cyprus, Egypt Jointly Condemn Turkey's 'Illegal Activities' in Eastern Mediterranean

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Leaders of Greece, Cyprus and Egypt have jointly condemned Turkeys policies in the Eastern Mediterranean, according to a joint statement... 19.10.2021, Sputnik International

2021-10-19T14:47+0000

2021-10-19T14:47+0000

2021-10-19T14:47+0000

greece

egypt

cyprus

world

turkey

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"We condemned the illegal drilling and seismic operations by Turkish vessels in Cyprus EEZ/continental shelf, in maritime areas already delimited in accordance with international law. We also reiterated our condemnation of the continuous violations of Greek national airspace and territorial waters in the Aegean Sea and all other illegal activities in areas falling within Greeces continental shelf, in contravention of international law", Cypriot presidency said in a statement published after the meeting of Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Sisi.The leaders further urged Ankara to abstain "in a consistent and sincere manner" from provocations and other actions that violate international law and called for a productive dialogue, which "cannot be conducted in an aggressive environment or under the threat of the use of force."On the issue of Cyprus, the three sides reaffirmed their support of the relevant UN Security Council resolutions that call for a "bizonal, bicommunal federation with a single sovereignty, a single international personality and a single citizenship" and prompted Ankara to also abide by them.The leaders criticized Turkey's decision to further open up areas of the buffer town of Varosha and demanded a return to negotiations to arrive at "a just, comprehensive and viable settlement" of the issue.Cyprus has been de facto divided since 1974, and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus was declared in 1983, recognised only by Turkey.Negotiations on the reunification of Cyprus have been conducted almost since the moment of its division. The UN has attempted brokering reunification talks, but the negotiation has reached an impasse.In July, the self-proclaimed Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, backed by Ankara, unilaterally demilitarized the UN-protected quarter of Varosha, a town in the buffer zone that separates the Greek and Turkish communities on the island. The UN Security Council condemned the move, saying it violates all previous UN resolutions on Cyprus.

https://sputniknews.com/20210703/turkey-to-continue-drilling-for-oil-gas-in-eastern-mediterranean-cyprus-and-all-those-seas-1083300145.html

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greece, egypt, cyprus, world, turkey
https://sputniknews.com/20211019/i-wanted-to-go-down-with-the-crowd-trump-thinks-he-wouldve-stopped-capitol-rioters-book-reveals-1090043027.html

'I Wanted to Go Down With the Crowd': Trump Thinks He Would've Stopped Capitol Rioters, Book Reveals

'I Wanted to Go Down With the Crowd': Trump Thinks He Would've Stopped Capitol Rioters, Book Reveals

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - Donald Trump said he would have stopped a group of rioters at the US Capitol on 6 January from doing anything bad if he were there... 19.10.2021, Sputnik International

2021-10-19T15:29+0000

2021-10-19T15:29+0000

2021-10-19T15:29+0000

us

donald trump jr

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"I wanted to go down with the crowd. I said I was going to go down with the crowd. But they wouldn't let me go I think if I did go down there, I would have stopped the people from doing anything bad, Trump said.On Monday, the ex-president sued the US House Select Committee investigating the 6 January event for what he claims are illegal requests to obtain White House records, saying they have no connection to the events.The Select Committee said the following day it will continue the probe and fight what it characterised as Trumps attempts to impede its work.Trump associate and former Breitbart media chief Steve Bannon also refused to comply with a subpoena that required him to testify before the Select Committee, arguing that he is not required to testify given the executive privilege rule.Trumps lawsuit points out that the FBI has found no evidence the event was part of an organised plot to overturn the 2020 election results or that Trump and his associates were involved in any such exercise. The ex-POTUS has repeatedly rejected the notion that the 6 January events were a riot or insurrection and has maintained that he won the 2020 presidential election, which he has consistently described as rigged. Trump has also slammed the congressional probe, launched by a Democratic-majority House, as a "sideshow to distract America" from the "massive failures" of Joe Biden's administration.On 6 January 2021, thousands of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol building in a bid to stop Congress from certifying Joe Biden's win in the November election. The storming was preceded by a Trump rally, which saw a huge turnout. Five people, including a Capitol Police officer, died as a result of the riot. The president, who has repeatedly claimed the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him, was accused of inciting an insurrection". Trump vehemently rejected the accusations, spearheaded by the Democrats, that he had instigated the riots. He was later impeached by the US House of Representatives on charges of incitement to insurrection, but was subsequently acquitted by the US Senate.

https://sputniknews.com/20211018/trump-sues-house-panel-probing-january-6-1090019556.html

CountTo5Manual Please God, have mercy upon our sackcloth souls...Enough of him. 12

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us, donald trump jr
https://sputniknews.com/20211019/imperial-stooge-colin-powell-lauded-as-trailblazer-1090035252.html

Imperial Stooge Colin Powell Lauded as Trailblazer

Imperial Stooge Colin Powell Lauded as Trailblazer

Tributes were flowing for former US Secretary of State Colin Powell who died this week at the age of 84 from complications due to the Covid-19 disease. 19.10.2021, Sputnik International

2021-10-19T11:36+0000

2021-10-19T11:36+0000

2021-10-19T11:36+0000

columnists

colin powell

iraq war

2003 invasion of iraq

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Even in death, he seems to have a knack for setting records. Powell is probably the most well known American public figure to have died so far from the pandemic.Current and former world leaders described him as a man of immense integrity noting his role model career as the first African-American to reach the highest office in the Pentagon.US President Joe Biden said of Powell that he embodied the highest ideals of both warrior and diplomat.Antony Blinken, the US Secretary of State, said Powells life was a victory of the American Dream.A headline on the BBC described him as a trailblazer.Colin Powell was born in 1937 in the New York City ghetto of Harlem. He was the child of Jamaican immigrants. On one hand, it could be said that his future stellar career as a military officer and politician involved a series of impressive achievements and firsts.He was a highly decorated veteran of the Vietnam War and rose to become a Four Star General. Then in 1987 he was made national security advisor to then President Ronald Reagan, the first African-American to hold such a senior position in the White House.In 1989, under President George Bush Snr, Powell was appointed as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff  the highest military rank in the entire US armed forces. It was another first for people of color.More success was in store. In 2001, under President George Bush Jnr, the former military general was tapped to become Secretary of State to oversee US foreign policy.In many ways, therefore, Colin Powell paved the path for other black political figures like Condoleezza Rice who took over as Secretary of State and Barack Obama who became the first African-American president in 2008. The current head of the Pentagon Lloyd Austin this week also paid tribute to Powell for making his appointment as the first black Secretary of Defense possible.But there was a fiendish price to be paid for all these accolades and laurels. That price was duly called upon in 2003 in the run-up to the second Gulf War in Iraq.Powell was a key figure in making the case for that war even though years later he expressed remorse for his role. He harbored deep misgivings about the case for that war even at the time. However, the man of immense integrity was called on to shine the shoes for Uncle Sam, and he did so with impeccable elan.On February 5, 2003, the then Secretary of State addressed the United Nations Security Council to make the case for an impending war plan against Iraq. In a speech that later became infamous for its deception, Powell alarmed the council delegates by holding up a vial of white powder claiming that its biological warfare contents were part of Iraqs weapons of mass destruction program. Powell intimated that if he dropped the vial everyone in the room would be killed. It was a macabre and deeply cynical showstopper which in itself arguably was a tacit act of terrorism to force world opinion to accept Washingtons writ for war.That speech was vital for launching the US war on Iraq the next month  a war that caused millions of deaths and a ruinous legacy for the wider Middle East. A war that was based on lies.It turned out within two years  and Powell admitted himself  that there were no WMDs in Iraq. He later in 2005 described his performance at the UN as a blot on his career. He said, it was painful, it is painful now.Powell may well have been riven with personal guilt, for he was responsible for unleashing a genocidal war, the destruction of the Iraqi nation, as well as ongoing repercussions for the wider region from terrorism and other conflicts. Powells court jester performance at the UN opened up a Pandoras Box of US wars. But in his dutiful service for imperial power, he also unintentionally inflicted irreparable damage to American moral authority and international reputation.The poor black boy from Harlem may have been a trailblazer and role model of sorts. On a superficial level of US identity politics, yes, it could be said that Colin Powell embodied record gains for African-Americans.But the trail that he blazed most was in the service of US imperial wars. The tributes flowing for the late Colin Powell are actually a cause for shame, not eulogy. He was a stooge for US empire, an Uncle Tom figure who was allowed into the halls of power in order to lend a veneer of diversity and decency to an imperial war machine. A war machine that thinks nothing of destroying millions of brown-skinned people whenever that suits geopolitical interests.

https://sputniknews.com/20211018/colin-powell-dies-at-84-of-covid-complications--1090006764.html

Jack Sprat And the truth shall be as a voice crying in the wilderness. The masters of the sycophants in the MSM would never allow the reality that was Powell to be promulgated. It would show that he was a creation of a system that enshrines "go along to get along." Powell was the embodiment of the corruption he represented. 11

Cundee He was The Bush Crime family stooge, a war criminal who had thousands of kids, innocents, killed maimed, ballocks to you Powel you hero! my scrotum you were. 11

9

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Finian Cunningham https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e5/01/0c/1081745381_0:429:2048:2477_100x100_80_0_0_02c0961b33c51d5d1a17db3237ef3811.jpg

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columnists, colin powell, iraq war, 2003 invasion of iraq
https://sputniknews.com/20211019/italian-senate-bans-parliamentarians-from-working-without-green-pass-1090052663.html

Italian Senate Bans Parliamentarians From Working Without Green Pass

Italian Senate Bans Parliamentarians From Working Without Green Pass

ROME (Sputnik) - The Senate leadership of the Italian parliament has banned senators from working without a green pass - the COVID-19 vaccination certificate ... 19.10.2021, Sputnik International

2021-10-19T23:09+0000

2021-10-19T23:09+0000

2021-10-19T23:09+0000

certificate

demonstrations

italy

vaccination

senate

lawmakers

covid-19

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Earlier on Tuesday, member of parliament Laura Granato refused to show the green pass at the entrance to the parliament building and went to a meeting of the Commission on Constitutional Affairs.After the leadership of the Senate was informed about the situation, the speaker of the upper house of parliament, Elisabetta Casellati, confirmed at a general meeting that the rules for presenting a green pass when coming to work also apply to the members of parliament.Granato, who was then sanctioned with a ban on participation in parliamentary activities for 10 days, called the decision a "unilateral government action" and "distortion" of the regulatory principles.From 15 October, all workers in Italy must present the so-called green pass - electronic COVID-19 vaccination certificate - to access their workplaces. Opponents of these measures held a series of demonstrations, the largest of which took place in Milan, Rome and the port of Trieste.

Rabbit This is disgusting. The insanity barely outstrips the evil. Or is it the other way around? I can hardly believe what I'm witnessing. This is all going to end very, very badly. 3

Rabbit One! ONE alone of the whole bunch has the humanity, intelligence and strength of character to stand against the evil madness. 3

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certificate, demonstrations, italy, vaccination, senate, lawmakers, covid-19
https://sputniknews.com/20211019/malaysias-transgender-tycoon-nur-sajat-granted-asylum-in-australia-from-blasphemy-charges-1090051435.html

Malaysias Transgender Tycoon Nur Sajat Granted Asylum in Australia From Blasphemy Charges

Malaysias Transgender Tycoon Nur Sajat Granted Asylum in Australia From Blasphemy Charges

A Malaysian trans woman on the run from police after being accused of insulting Islam in her home country has apparently found refuge in Australia. The... 19.10.2021, Sputnik International

2021-10-19T22:47+0000

2021-10-19T22:47+0000

2021-10-20T00:36+0000

malaysia

transgender

australia

asia-pacific

lgbtq

sharia

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https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e5/0a/13/1090051377_0:0:2207:1242_1920x0_80_0_0_93e6265265f56bab0a9e4fab065e1327.png

Nur Sajat, a 36-year-old entrepreneur with a burgeoning cosmetics company bearing her name, said on a TikTok livestream on Monday that she was in COVID-19 quarantine after arriving in Canterbury, a suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia."I'm not running away. I'm migrating. All this while I was quiet because I wanted to open a new shop at a new location, and thank you for the support, she said, according to The Malaysia Star.We have been quiet all this while because we plan to open a new shop in a new location and Alhamdulillah [thank God], weve got a lot of support. I am very excited and happy, she said.She also urged her followers not to judge her for her religious position. Born a Muslim, she renounced her faith earlier this year in a video posted on social media, according to the Associated Press."If I'm still Muslim, just let me be with my own ways, and you follow your own ways, Sajat said on Monday. "Don't judge me. We respect each other. Stop calling me a sinner as well... Thank you, I appreciate all of your advice."Flight From MalaysiaHer quest began in February when she failed to appear for a court hearing after being charged with insulting Islam. The charges stemmed from an incident in 2018 in which she appeared in a religious ceremony wearing womens clothing. Afterwards, police in Selangor state, which surrounds the capital of Kuala Lumpur, mounted a massive search for Sajat, who apparently fled to Thailand, which has more permissive rights for trans people.However, when she was arrested in Thailand last month for having illegally entered the country and threatened with deportation back to Malaysia, LGBTQ rights groups stepped up in her defense.Thilaga Sulathireh, co-founder of Malaysian transgender activist group Justice for Sisters, told AFP at the time that the "continuous persecution against Nur Sajat represents the climate of repression against LGBT persons in Malaysia.About 60% of Malaysias 32 million people are Muslims, for whom Sharia handles religious and family matters as part of a complex legal system. The other 40%, split between Buddhists, Christians, and several other religions, follow a code of secular common law, as do Muslims in affairs that fall outside the specific purview of Sharia.However, Malaysian Sharia, locally called syariah, has grown more stringent in recent years under pressure from conservative political groups. In 2018, for example, two women were fined and sentenced to public caning for being lesbians. Its a trend growing across the region, where Brunei and some regions of Indonesia have enacted strict anti-LGBTQ laws in recent years.Under Malaysian syariah, dressing in clothes of the gender one wasnt assigned at birth is a crime, and if she were deported and convicted, Sajat would spend three years in a mens prison for the offense.Public FascinationFollowing her arrest in Thailand, Malaysian police officials threatened her with so-called conversion therapy if she returned, according to the Washington Post. The widely discredited practice aims to torture LGBTQ people into giving up their identities.Numan Afifi of Pelangi Campaign, a Malaysian LGBTQ human rights group, told the Post the continuous persecution against Nur Sajat is a reflection of the climate of repression against the LGBTI+ community. She has experienced harassment, bullying and doxxing by online users over the years.Sajats decision to live publicly and openly as a trans woman, including even filming a reality TV series about her day-to-day life, has earned her both widespread admiration and condemnation.He said the actual unnatural obsession with Sajat really comes from Malaysian authorities, who cannot accept her open defiance of the status quo, even though she is within her rights under the Malaysian constitution to do so.

Nevi'im Australia will take anyone with money! 0

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malaysia, transgender, australia, asia-pacific, lgbtq, sharia
https://sputniknews.com/20211019/microsoft-execs-warned-bill-gates-against-sending-flirtatious-messages-to-female-staffer-in-2008-1090038151.html

Microsoft Execs Warned Bill Gates Against 'Sending Flirtatious Messages to Female Staffer in 2008'

Microsoft Execs Warned Bill Gates Against 'Sending Flirtatious Messages to Female Staffer in 2008'

The news is likely to add pressure to the Microsoft co-founder, who has come under intense media scrutiny this year after he and his wife Melinda announced... 19.10.2021, Sputnik International

2021-10-19T13:17+0000

2021-10-19T13:17+0000

2021-10-19T13:17+0000

bill gates

microsoft

society

extramarital affair

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Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates sent flirtatious messages to a midlevel female employee in the mid-noughties, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) has reported, citing people familiar with the matter. According to the outlet, the then-married entrepreneur propositioned the woman in 2007. The insiders did not reveal the identity of the employee.After Microsoft's executives - then-General Counsel Brad Smith and and then-Chief People Officer Lisa Brummel - were informed about Gates' letters in 2008 they held a conversation with him, telling him that his behaviour was inappropriate and needed to stop. Per people familiar with the matter, Gates didn't deny he wrote the messages and admitted that it wasn't a good idea.The executives then briefed several members of the board about the incident. Following a discussion, the board decided not to take action because there was no physical interaction between Gates and the woman, The Wall Street Journal writes.Microsoft confirmed the newspaper's report to the Associated Press, but the firm declined to comment on it. Spokesman Frank Shaw told the WSJ that although the messages were flirtatious they were not "overtly sexual". The employee never made a complaint against the co-founder, Shaw said. Bridgitt Arnold, a spokeswoman for Bill Gates, has dismissed the newspaper's report.Other AllegationsIn 2020, Gates resigned from the board of directors of Microsoft after serving there for over four decades. In May 2021, after he and his wife Melinda announced their separation, it became known that at the time he resigned from the board of directors the company had hired a law firm to investigate a claim from a female employee. The Microsoft engineer wrote a letter to company executives, alleging that she had a sexual relationship with Gates in the noughties, which lasted for several years. Gates' spokeswoman admitted the existence of the affair, which she said ended "amicably", but denied that the company's investigation into it was the reason Bill Gates decided to resign from the board of directors.Microsoft said it conducted a thorough investigation into the complaint and provided support to the female in question. Employees who spoke with The Wall Street Journal, both current and former, said they believe Microsoft properly handled concerns about Bill Gates behaviour with female employees.The newspaper writes, citing a person familiar with the matter, that Gates had a romantic relationship with a woman in 1992, two years before he married Melinda French. The board of directors wasn't informed of the matter.

TruePatriot He always was a low-life, but he built this persona about him and his pirated OS that duped many. He is a very evil man and deserves to be arrested and prosecuted in the Hague for his crimes against humanity. 2

Jackal I used to worship this guy when I was a teenager in the 90s. What a complete low-life he has turned out to be. 1

2

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Max Gorbachev

Max Gorbachev

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Max Gorbachev

bill gates, microsoft, society, extramarital affair
https://sputniknews.com/20211019/opcw-claims-chemical-substances-in-navalnys-blood-water-bottle-from-omsk-hotel-identical-1090045562.html

OPCW Claims Chemical Substances in Navalny's Blood, Water Bottle From Omsk Hotel Identical

OPCW Claims Chemical Substances in Navalny's Blood, Water Bottle From Omsk Hotel Identical

BERLIN (Sputnik) - The chemical substance found in the blood of Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny is identical to the one detected in a water bottle... 19.10.2021, Sputnik International

2021-10-19T17:10+0000

2021-10-19T17:10+0000

2021-10-19T17:10+0000

alexei navalny

world

organisation for the prohibition of chemical weapons (opcw)

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"The traces found by German experts on the water bottle which had been collected from Mr Navalny's hotel room are identical with the traces found in the biomedical samples taken from Mr Navalny," the statement said.The United States and 44 other countries sent a list of questions to Russia about the incident with Navalny through the OPCW. Moscow sent a counter request addressed to Germany, France, Sweden and the technical secretariat of the organization. Among other things, Russia asked for clarification on why its investigators cannot question Navalny's ally Maria Pevchikh, a UK citizen with alleged ties to the British intelligence, who accompanied him on the flight to Berlin. A bottle she bought at a departure zone of a Russian airport was later submitted as evidence of his attempted poisoning.However, the German mission refused to comment on the role of Pevchikh in the incident, noting that Berlin has no knowledge of her status or whereabouts.As for the questions of why the bottle was not provided to the Russian side for investigation and why the chemical substance ended up on an item purchased in a departure zone of an airport, the mission replied that it was up to Russia to find out since the events took place on the Russian soil. "This does not require the possession of the bottle," according to the mission.Moscow further inquired why it still had no information on the exact formula of the chemicals found in Navalny's blood and on the bottle, to which the German side referred to an older report of the OPCW technical assistance visit to Berlin, which stated that the substance was "acting as a cholinesterase inhibitor" and was structurally similar to the toxic chemicals of the Novichok family.The Swedish mission in its response to Moscow's request also referred to Germany's answer concerning the exact formula of the chemical allegedly used to poison Navalny.Last August, Navalny fell ill on a domestic Russian flight. He was initially treated in the Siberian city of Omsk, where the plane made an emergency landing. Based on the results of the examinations, the Omsk doctors concluded that Navalny had a metabolic disorder, while no poison substances were found in his blood and urine.Several days later, Navalny was flown to the Charite hospital in Berlin for further treatment. The German government claimed that doctors found traces of a nerve agent of the Novichok type in his system. A number of countries and media outlets speculated that there was evidence of foul play by Moscow. Russia has since denied any involvement in the case.Moscow believes that the incident was a provocation aimed at discrediting Russia, since Berlin is yet to show any tangible evidence in support of its accusations. Moscow has also pointed out multiple times that the OPCW ignored Russian requests for assistance, hindering the investigation.

https://sputniknews.com/20211019/german-opcw-mission-rejects-russias-accusations-on-navalny-case-1090038322.html

Boris Jaruselski That famed water bottle was removed by one of Navalny's associates, and was only made public DAYS after the incident, more then enough time for Western 'intelligencies' to taint the bottle with whatever they wanted... Of course will the OPCW make that finding, they were meant to find it. 3

NoGo OPCW is making same accusation as late state secretary causing the Iraq to poses WMD!!! Just one other false flag! 2

2

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alexei navalny, world, organisation for the prohibition of chemical weapons (opcw)
https://sputniknews.com/20211019/pakistan-claims-to-have-prevented-indian-submarine-from-violating-its-maritime-borders-1090033201.html

Pakistan Claims to Have Prevented 'Indian Submarine' From Violating Its Maritime Borders

Pakistan Claims to Have Prevented 'Indian Submarine' From Violating Its Maritime Borders

The incident was reported by the Pakistan Navy amid a strict ceasefire at the border that has been followed by the two South Asian rivals since February this... 19.10.2021, Sputnik International

2021-10-19T12:33+0000

2021-10-19T12:33+0000

2021-10-19T12:33+0000

pakistan

indian navy

arabian sea

indian ocean

china

india

submarine

pakistani navy

people's liberation army (pla) navy

india

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Pakistan's Navy claimed to have spotted an "Indian Navy submarine" in the Arabian Sea on 16 October. In a press statement on Tuesday, the Navy claimed that its long-range maritime patrol aircraft had "detected and blocked" the vessel "from entering Pakistani waters".The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the media wing of the Pakistani Armed Forces, said the Navy had showed "unremitting vigilance and professional competence"."During the prevailing security milieu, a strict monitoring watch has been kept by Pakistan Navy to safeguard maritime frontiers", the ISPR said. A previous reported incident occurred in March 2019, while the Pakistan Navy said another such effort took place in November 2016 at the height of the border tensions.The Indian Navy operates submarines fitted with air-independent propulsion systems, which makes detecting the subs much harder. The Pakistan Navy has been expanding its fleet with the help of China, and Beijing is slated to supply it with eight modified Yuan-class SSKs by 2028.

NthrnNYker59 China need to do the same with Paskistan as fascist amerika is doing with the aussies --- provide them with the technology and perhaps even the nuclear subs themselves. 4

Cjango Freedman Why do Pakistan have to play nice with these cockroaches? Let the sub get into your territory and sink it. Hindus are testing your defenses so let them know of the consequences of where the red line is. 4

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pakistan

arabian sea

indian ocean

china

india

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pakistan, indian navy, arabian sea, indian ocean, china, india, submarine, pakistani navy, people's liberation army (pla) navy, india
https://sputniknews.com/20211019/pentagon-chief-vows-to-support-ukraines-effort-on-black-sea-region-security-1090034554.html

Pentagon Chief Vows to Support Ukraine's Effort on Black Sea Region Security

Pentagon Chief Vows to Support Ukraine's Effort on Black Sea Region Security

KIEV (Sputnik) - US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Tuesday that he discussed with Ukrainian military officials ways to strengthen the Black Sea region... 19.10.2021, Sputnik International

2021-10-19T11:08+0000

2021-10-19T11:08+0000

2021-10-19T11:15+0000

us

russia

ukraine

lloyd austin

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The United States will continue to support Ukraine's effort to ensure security in the Black Sea region, the Pentagon chief emphasised.

vot tak In other words, Russia should expect more provocations in the region from the israeloamericans and their treasonous, war criminal proxies. 1

TruePatriot Unka Lloyd, you so too-pid. Almost as bad a sellout to the fascist state as that war criminal that just died. 1

3

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us, russia, ukraine, lloyd austin
https://sputniknews.com/20211019/sergei-lavrov-nato-buried-idea-of-consultations-with-russia-1090034064.html

Sergei Lavrov: NATO 'Buried' Idea of Consultations With Russia

Sergei Lavrov: NATO 'Buried' Idea of Consultations With Russia

Sergei Lavrov: NATO 'Buried' Idea of Consultations With Russia

2021-10-19T10:54+0000

2021-10-19T10:54+0000

2021-10-19T11:43+0000

russia

sergei lavrov

nato

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Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has stated that it was NATO, who "buried" the idea of consultations with Moscow. He added that the Kremlin and the western alliance hadn't had exchanges for a long time ahead of Russia deciding to pull the plug on bilateral communications on 18 October.He added that Russia had proposed to NATO more than once to reach agreements on the lines that their militaries should not cross, how close they can come to shared borders, and on extending the locations for routine war games away from the said borders. All these proposals were met with silence by the alliance, the minister said, noting that the termination of the bilateral format was "a single response to three steps taken by NATO".Lavrov went on to blast the West's reaction to the announcement about the termination of the bilateral contact format, calling it an attempt to shift the blame and a sign of lacking "diplomatic culture". The minister further stated that if NATO wants to mend these bilateral ties, it should make the first step.On 18 October, Moscow announced that starting next month its permanent mission in NATO will be suspended. In addition, the operations of the alliance's information office and military liaison mission in Moscow will also be suspended, with their employees' accreditation being revoked starting on 1 November.The move came in the wake of NATO revoking the accreditation of eight employees of the Russian mission to the alliance. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov explained later that there has been practically no contact between Russia and NATO of late, and that the suspension of the bilateral format simply makes de jure relations between the two match their de facto state.

https://sputniknews.com/20211018/russia-suspends-work-of-nato-information-office-in-moscow-lavrov-says-1090006432.html

Barros NATO is a kind of US troops without brain! 10

brett connor NATO has buried millions in mass graves since it's inception. Why change? 7

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russia, sergei lavrov, nato
https://sputniknews.com/20211019/spains-prado-museum-reeling-from-unprecedented-protest-by-victims-of-mass-poisoning-1090049466.html

Spain's Prado Museum Reeling From Unprecedented Protest by Victims of Mass Poisoning

Spain's Prado Museum Reeling From Unprecedented Protest by Victims of Mass Poisoning

MADRID (Sputnik) - Spains main national art museum of Prado is no place for protesting, a spokesperson said after survivors of a 1981 mass-poisoning... 19.10.2021, Sputnik International

2021-10-19T20:33+0000

2021-10-19T20:33+0000

2021-10-19T20:33+0000

spain

protest

poisoning

museum

pedro sanchez

humiliation

pills

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The official told the 20minutos news outlet that the Madrid museum became a protest venue for the first time in its history. Protesters said they picked it because it was "such an emblematic place."The museum remained open during the protest, save for a hall where a group of six protesters were pictured by Spanish media posing in front of "Las Meninas," a 1656 painting by Diego Velazquez.The protesters threatened to take deadly pills unless Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez met with them. They said the government should pay for their medical expenses after decades of humiliation. At least two demonstrators were arrested.Around 100,000 people were exposed to rapeseed cooking oil, which was denatured with aniline and sold illegally as olive oil across Spain four decades ago, according to Science Direct, an online medical database. About 20,000 people developed clinical symptoms and 10,000 of them were hospitalized. More than 300 died.

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spain, protest, poisoning, museum, pedro sanchez, humiliation, pills
https://sputniknews.com/20211019/suspect-in-sir-david-amess-murder-purportedly-spotted-by-cctv-in-london-hours-before-attack-1090026130.html

Suspect in Sir David Amess' Murder Purportedly Spotted by CCTV in London Hours Before Attack

Suspect in Sir David Amess' Murder Purportedly Spotted by CCTV in London Hours Before Attack

A 25-year-old British man of Somali heritage was arrested at the site of the murder, which suggests that he made no attempt to escape. London's Metropolitan... 19.10.2021, Sputnik International

2021-10-19T05:55+0000

2021-10-19T05:55+0000

2021-10-19T05:55+0000

assassination

murder

uk

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Ali Harbi Ali, arrested on suspicion of assassinating Tory MP Sir David Amess, was allegedly spotted in London, just hours before the fatal stabbing attack, Sky News has reported.The broadcaster published CCTV footage depicting a man, believed to be Ali, walking slowly towards the Gospel Oak train station on Friday morning. The video was filmed from outside a convenience store on Highgate Road at 8:44 a.m. local time (7:44 a.m. GMT).At the moment, investigators are trying to track Ali's movements before the assault, looking into whether the suspect boarded a train at the Gospel Oak station to travel to Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, where Amess was killed.The 69-year old lawmaker was stabbed to death as he was meeting with voters at Belfairs Methodist Church. The suspect, Ali Harbi Ali, was identified as the son of Harbi Ali Kullane, PR chief of Somalia's ex-Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire. He was earlier referred to the government's Prevent programme for monitoring the "radicalisation" of youth but was reportedly never under investigation by police or MI5. Investigators believe he acted alone, but additional details are still being sought.

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assassination, murder, uk
https://sputniknews.com/20211019/top-trump-security-adviser-contradicts-imminent-attack-claim-behind-soleimani-assassination-1090048145.html

Top Trump Security Adviser Contradicts Imminent Attack Claim Behind Soleimani Assassination

Top Trump Security Adviser Contradicts Imminent Attack Claim Behind Soleimani Assassination

In a new book about his time in the Trump administration, a retired US Army general who served as a senior adviser to the White House contradicts the... 19.10.2021, Sputnik International

2021-10-19T19:24+0000

2021-10-19T19:24+0000

2021-10-19T19:24+0000

middle east

donald trump

assassination

mike pompeo

qasem soleimani

middle east

us

iran

attack

trump adviser

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A new book that hit shelves today by Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg reveals that the Trump administration planned the killing of Soleimani as part of a disproportional response to attacks on US troops in Iraq by Shiite militias. Kellogg was then-Vice President Mike Pences national security adviser, and also served as executive secretary and chief of staff for the US National Security Council under Trump.Solemani commanded the Quds Force, an elite formation of Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and commanded Iranian forces in Syria fighting against Daesh* and al-Qaeda*-linked terrorist groups before leading the Iranian and Iraqi fight to push Daesh out of Iraq. Despite being sanctioned by the United States as a terrorist, Soleimani enjoyed enormous prestige across the Middle East as the linchpin who united disparate militia groups to halt Daeshs advance toward Baghdad when the Americans would not commit to anything more than airstrikes against Daesh.Because of the anti-Daesh war, Soleimani was closely linked with militia groups in Iraqs Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), which were equally hostile to the continued US presence in Iraq and periodically staged attacks against US forces there. According to Kelloggs book, an exchange of strikes in late December 2019 is what pushed the White House over line and decided to take Soleimani out.Our Target Would be SoleimaniOn December 27, 2019, the Shiite militia group Kataib Hezbollah (Brigades of the Party of G-d) attacked an Iraqi military base in Kirkuk where US forces were based, killing a US contractor and injuring four US service members, as well as two Iraqi service members. The next day, the US launched an airstrike on Kataib Hezbollah positions, and that evening, protests in Baghdad descended on the US embassy in the Green Zone and set fire to some of its outer structures.Washington blamed Iran for both of those attacks, and Soleimani in particular, who they learned would be secretly traveling to Baghdad in just a few days.'The Iranians had crossed our red line by killing an American and reinforced their folly by attacking our embassy in Baghdad. We would respond. And this time our response would be disproportional, Kellogg wrote. We jumped up the escalation ladder. Our answer would be unambiguous. Our target would be Soleimani.The airstrike, carried out by an MQ-9 Reaper combat drone, hit a group of vehicles at Baghdad International Airport just after midnight on January 3, 2020, killing 10 people. Among them was Soleimani, as well as Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the leader of Kataib Hezbollah and deputy commander of the PMF.The fury over the US attack, which was carried out without consulting the Iraqi government, led to the countrys parliament voting to ask all US forces to leave the country. However, Trump threatened to freeze Iraqi oil assets in a Federal Reserve bank account if Baghdad followed through.Story Changes Again & AgainSoleimani was plotting imminent and sinister attacks on American diplomats and military personnel, but we caught him in the act and terminated him, Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort the day after the attacks. He would later claim that Soleimani planned on targeting a US embassy, then later increased his claim to four embassies.Then-US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo similarly claimed Soleimani was actively plotting to take big action against the US. There would have been many Muslims killed as well, Iraqis and people in other countries as well. It was a strike that was aimed at both disrupting that plot, deterring further aggression, [and] we hope, setting the conditions for de-escalation, as well, he told Fox News on January 3.However, Pompeo also soon said he had no specific intelligence on a specific threat posed by Soleimani, and also admitted within a week that we don't know precisely when - and we don't know precisely where the supposed attack was to have taken place.However, by July of 2020, Pompeo had changed his tune again, aligning more closely with what Kellogg writes in his book. His response came after Agnes Callamard, the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, submitted a report on Soleimanis assassination finding it was an arbitrary killing that violated the United Nations charter.*Terrorist groups banned in Russia and many other states

FeEisi This assassination was planned much longer but it needed an excuse to justify it and the killing of a contractor was the excused used. The US was moving military hardware near Iran after Guido's coup in Venezuela failed in April 2019. 7

Rabbit No, you are a known liar. There was never any such accusation you nasty little Zionist worm. He was greatly admired, loved in Iran and across the Middle East and not just by Shias. He was worth more as a man, and General than the whole sty full of Generals in Israel or the USA. Both of which own officer corps probably beasts a town's worth of little kiddies in a year, and the whole world knows it! 6

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Morgan Artyukhina https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e5/04/17/1082703728_0:0:800:800_100x100_80_0_0_0b6ce8daa7411284d60c8a0b6d84186d.jpg

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middle east, donald trump, assassination, mike pompeo, qasem soleimani, middle east, us, iran, attack, trump adviser, quds force
https://sputniknews.com/20211019/turkish-foreign-ministry-confirms-summoning-ten-western-ambassadors-1090036682.html

Turkish Foreign Ministry Confirms Summoning Ten Western Ambassadors

Turkish Foreign Ministry Confirms Summoning Ten Western Ambassadors

ANKARA (Sputnik) - The ambassadors of 10 countries, who called for the release of human rights defender Osman Kavala, were summoned to the Turkish Foreign... 19.10.2021, Sputnik International

2021-10-19T12:12+0000

2021-10-19T12:12+0000

2021-10-19T12:12+0000

turkey

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"A group of Ambassadors, who released a joint statement last night in violation of diplomatic customs, regarding an ongoing legal case, have been summoned this morning to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It was conveyed to the Ambassadors / charge d'affaires of these countries that the impertinent statement via social media regarding a legal proceeding conducted by independent judiciary was unacceptable, that the statement attempting to politicize judicial proceedings and put pressure on Turkish judiciary was rejected, and that the statement was also against the rule of law, democracy and independence of the judiciary, as allegedly defended by the Ambassadors," the ministry said.The ministry noted that such concern over litigation involving Turkey, and in particular the judgment regarding Kavala, points to an "insincere and double standard approach."The ministry said it advised the ambassadors to "act within the scope of their responsibilities originating from their duties in line with the Vienna Convention." In international practice, the perceived breach of this convention can lead to the expulsion of foreign diplomats from their host country.On Monday, the embassies of 10 countries - Canada, France, Finland, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden and the United States - called on Turkey to release Kavala after four years under arrest.Kavala is a well-known Turkish businessman and human rights activist. He is the founder of the Anadolu Kultur foundation, promoting ethnic and religious minority projects, particularly the reconciliation between the Turkish and Armenian populations and the peaceful resolution of the Kurdish issue.In February 2020, a Turkish court acquitted Kavala on the charge of ties to the anti-government Gezi Park protests in 2013. However, on the same day, the Istanbul prosecutor's office issued a new warrant which re-arrested Kavala on charges of ties to the failed 2016 coup. Kavala has denied all charges brought against him.

https://sputniknews.com/20200219/erdogan-calls-attempt-to-acquit-activist-kavala-tactical-move-by-foreign-conspirators-1078354137.html

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https://sputniknews.com/20211019/uk-minister-gove-accosted-by-thugs-days-after-murder-of-fellow-mp-1090043752.html

UK Minister Gove Accosted by 'Thugs' Days After Murder of Fellow MP

UK Minister Gove Accosted by 'Thugs' Days After Murder of Fellow MP

Southend West MP David Amess was fatally stabbed on Friday afternoon while meeting individual constituents at his weekly open-door 'surgery' at a Methodist... 19.10.2021, Sputnik International

2021-10-19T16:49+0000

2021-10-19T16:49+0000

2021-10-19T16:49+0000

britain

great britain

michael gove

london

stabbing

murder

essex

westminster

sir david amess

scotland yard

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A senior British cabinet minister has been mobbed by a group of protesters just days after fellow MP Sir David Amess was stabbed to death. Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Secretary Michael Gove was pursued by a group protesting against the government's COVID-19 restrictions on Tuesday.Half-a-dozen men quickly surround Gove, holding up cameras, as a similar number of police officers rush to form a protective huddle around him and usher him inside a nearby building.Another video taken from in front of Gove and the officers shows a man, clearly sympathetic to the protest, documenting the event on video trying to ask him questions as he walks, before protesters catch up to the group.The crowd begin singing "we shall not be moved", and one person throws what appears to be a punched-up piece of paper at the minister before he makes it inside the building.Southend West MP Amess was fatally stabbed on Friday afternoon while meeting individual constituents at his weekly open-door 'surgery' at a Methodist church in the Essex town of Leigh-on-Sea.A suspect was arrested at the scene and later identified as 25-year-old Somalian Ali Harbi Ali, the son of a communications director to a former prime minister of the African country. The murder is being investigated as a possible terrorist incident.Shadow home secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds said the spectacle was "utterly appalling" so soon after Sir David's murder.The Metropolitan Police Service said in a statement after Tuesday's incident that they were "aware" of the protests at "multiple locations". But it added that no one involved in mobbing Gove had been arrested."We know there is footage circulating online of this incident, we will review this and our officers body worn video to see if any offences occurred," the statement went on. "We continue to escort the protest and will be working hard to disrupt any potential criminal activity."

https://sputniknews.com/20211019/suspect-in-sir-david-amess-murder-purportedly-spotted-by-cctv-in-london-hours-before-attack-1090026130.html

wtfud missed opportunity! 1

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britain, great britain, michael gove, london, stabbing, murder, essex, westminster, sir david amess, scotland yard, metropolitan police service (mps)
https://sputniknews.com/20211019/uk-parliament-closes-loophole-that-allowed-sex-pest-mp-to-keep-his-seat-1090035579.html

UK Parliament Closes Loophole That Allowed Sex-Pest MP to Keep His Seat

UK Parliament Closes Loophole That Allowed Sex-Pest MP to Keep His Seat

Delyn MP Rob Roberts was sanctioned by Parliament's independent panel on members' misconduct in May this year for sexually harassing a male member of his... 19.10.2021, Sputnik International

2021-10-19T14:24+0000

2021-10-19T14:24+0000

2021-10-19T14:24+0000

britain

great britain

parliament

uk

jacob rees-mogg

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MPs have voted to close loophole in Parliamentary rules that allowed an MP to stay on after his suspension for sexual harassment.Conservative Leader of the House Jacob Rees-Mogg tabled a motion on Tuesday on changes to the 2015 Recall of MPs act. In May this year, the Independent Expert Panel (IEP) found fellow Conservative MP for Delyn Rob Roberts had made "repeated, unwelcome sexual advances" towards a male member of his staff, and suspended him from the House of Commons for six weeks.Roberts refused to resign as an MP in the wake of his suspension. But constituents were unable to organise an official recall petition to force a by-election in his north Wales seat because the IEP, established in 2020 five years after the legislation was passed, is not mentioned in the law.Rees-Mogg's motion seeks to close that loophole  but still not affect Roberts as it would not be applied retrospectively  unless an opposition Labour Party amendment passes.He said IEP chairman Sir Stephen Irwin was "seriously concerned" by the Labour proposal since it would jeopardise the independence of the panel and allow the house to either increase or reduce its sanctions against members.Labour shadow leader of the house Thangam Debbonaire rejected her Tory counterpart's appeal to drop the amendment."I can't think of many jobs of public service where someone found to have carried out sexual misconduct would not face losing that job. And yet in the one relevant case in the last year this has not happened", she said.Roberts won Delyn from Labour at the 2019 general election with a majority of just 865 votes. A by-election could allow Labour to get revenge for the Tory victory in its once-safe Tyneside seat of Hartlepool earlier this year, where a by-election was triggered by the resignation of Labour MP Mike Hill in March  also over sexual harassment charges upheld by the IEP and an employment tribunal.Scottish National Party (SNP) commons business spokesman Pete Wishart also called for the rule change to be applied retrospectively.SNP MP Patrick Grady resigned as the party's chief whip in March after two members of party staff accused him of groping them at a Christmas party in London's West End. One of the alleged victims has also accused an un-named female SNP MP of sexually harassing him on another occasion, but that the party buried both complaints.Last year Derek MacKay resigned as finance secretary to the SNP-controlled devolved Scottish administration after revelations he sent flirting messages to a 16-year-old boy. MacKay has since continued to draw his salary as a member of the Scottish Parliament.The amendment fell by 297 votes to 213, and the motion passed Rees-Mogg urged Roberts in May to do the "honourable" thing and resign.The Spectator's gossip column Steerpike suggested Roberts would evade punishment once again.The 2015 act allows voters in a constituency to recall their MP if they are suspended by Parliament's Committee on Standards for at least 10 sitting days of Parliament or 14 days overall  and if a petition gathers the signatures of 10 percent of registered voters there. Rees-Mogg has previously said the legislation is too limited and should be replaced by a fully-fledged recall mechanism.Last week Leicester East MP Claudia Webbe, elected as a Labour candidate but now suspended from the party's parliamentary group. was convicted of harassing another woman. Webbe accused Michelle Merritt of having an affair with her partner, threatening to send nude photos and videos of her to her family and to throw acid on her.Webbe has not yet been sanctioned by Parliament, but Labour has urged her to resign. Her predecessor Keith Vaz stepped down before the 2019 general election amid allegations he slept with male prostitutes and offered to buy illegal drugs for them. Vaz was also recently criticised in a Parliamentary report for bullying his staff.

https://sputniknews.com/20210527/tory-commons-leader-urges-suspended-sex-pest-mp-to-quit-1083009782.html

Brit26 There are too many sick perverts in charge of Britain. 0

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britain, great britain, parliament, uk, jacob rees-mogg
https://sputniknews.com/20211019/uk-plans-to-create-persistent-military-presence-in-indo-pacific-region-1090047515.html

UK Plans to Create 'Persistent' Military Presence in Indo-Pacific Region

UK Plans to Create 'Persistent' Military Presence in Indo-Pacific Region

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The United Kingdom plans to maintain an ongoing and persistent but not continuous security presence in the Indo-Pacific region, Chief... 19.10.2021, Sputnik International

2021-10-19T18:49+0000

2021-10-19T18:49+0000

2021-10-19T18:49+0000

asia & pacific

uk

aukus

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The United Kingdom has plans to establish a 'persistent' military presence in the IndoPacific region, Carter told a podcast hosted by the Center for a New American Security. Carter explained that the visit of the warships would be an intermittent one.Realistically, its episodic Its not going to occur every year, he said.Carter noted the United Kingdom had a long-term association with many countries in the region going back to the days of the British Empire. He said London continued to operate an advanced jungle warfare school in Brunei on the island of Borneo.However, the revived planned increased UK presence in the Indo-Pacific would not be accompanied by any reduction in London's contribuition to and participation in NATO, Carter added.Last month, Australia, the UK and the US announced the AUKUS pact to "ensure peace and stability" in the Indo-Pacific region. The announcement came as Canberra unilaterally withdrew from a $66 billion agreement with France's Naval Group on the delivery of 12 diesel submarines to Australia in favour of the supply of nuclear-powered vessels to the country within the framework of the AUKUS alliance. Paris described the cancellation of the Australian-French submarine contract a "stab in the back" and a "unilateral, brutal, unpredictable" action.

Hess Britain will be recruiting and arming terrorist to be used in China. This is the main thrust. Otherwise, the Brits are as cowards as the Americans and Israelis. 8

Alba1970 who is London trying to kid .... after the UK breaks up next year London will be lucky to project power around the Isle of man nevermind Asia/Pacific .... they are fooling themselves 7

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asia & pacific, uk, aukus
https://sputniknews.com/20211019/un-special-envoy-warns-israels-new-settlement-plan-to-undermine-two-state-solution-1090045911.html

UN Special Envoy Warns Israel's New Settlement Plan to Undermine Two-State Solution

UN Special Envoy Warns Israel's New Settlement Plan to Undermine Two-State Solution

UNITED NATIONS (Sputnik) - The UN special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, Tor Wennesland, warned the Security Council on Tuesday that the... 19.10.2021, Sputnik International

2021-10-19T17:16+0000

2021-10-19T17:16+0000

2021-10-19T17:16+0000

middle east

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"On 4 and 18 October, the Israeli Civil Administration held discussions on objections to two settlement housing plans for a total of nearly 3,500 units in the strategic E1 area in the West Bank. I am concerned that Israeli authorities continue to consider plans for construction in E1," Wennesland said."If constructed, these units would sever the connection between the northern and southern West Bank, significantly undermining the chances for establishing a viable and contiguous Palestinian state as part of a negotiated two-State solution," he continued.The UN special envoy stressed that all settlements are illegal under international law and prevent achieving peace in the region.Israel and Palestinians have been in conflict for decades. Palestinians seek diplomatic recognition for their independent state on the territories of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, which is partially occupied by Israel, and the Gaza Strip.The Israeli government refuses to recognise Palestine as an independent political and diplomatic entity, and builds settlements in the occupied areas, despite objections from the United Nations.

vot tak Again, further reason to BDS israel out of existence. 6

mandrake The two state solution is dead although the jews together with the other brainless sycophants have kept it alive so the jews could continue stealing palestinian land in a hitleresque lebensraum dream inaddition to outright murder of anything the jews font like. Conclusion, the jews must becsent onto their next everlasting diaspora replete with persecution, pogroms and more of the same! 3

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https://sputniknews.com/20211019/whats-behind-skyrocketing-number-of-us-military-suicides--is-us-govt-doing-enough-to-stop-it-1090045224.html

What's Behind Skyrocketing Number of US Military Suicides & Is US Gov't Doing Enough to Stop It?

What's Behind Skyrocketing Number of US Military Suicides & Is US Gov't Doing Enough to Stop It?

Suicides among US Army active-duty forces have soared 46% compared to last year, says a recent Pentagon report. In addition, more American service members have... 19.10.2021, Sputnik International

2021-10-19T18:56+0000

2021-10-19T18:56+0000

2021-10-21T06:11+0000

world

military & intelligence

us

opinion

us army

suicide

us marines

us pentagon

2020 coronavirus outbreak

covid-19

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https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/105319/74/1053197469_0:311:4840:3034_1920x0_80_0_0_780e313c6df0cd9b0763e8c6c8a04455.jpg

The Cost of War Project, a joint research effort between Brown University and Boston University, found that a whopping 30,177 American active military servicemen and veterans involved in post-9/11 wars have died by suicide, adding that this figure is at least four times greater than the 7,057 personnel who were killed in combat during that time.Trauma, Hopelessness & IsolationWhile it is hard to predict who is going to commit suicide, there are certain red flags one should keep in mind, Javanbakht notes. According to him, increased impulsive or self-destructive behaviour, increased use of alcohol or substances, expressing suicidal thoughts or wishing for death, social withdrawal, and a feeling of hopelessness and having no reason for living are among those troubling signs.The problem is exacerbated by the fact that military personnel suicides usually backfire on their relatives and friends, notes Dave Barbush, chairman and CEO of Once a Soldier, a non-profit that assists families of veterans who die from suicide. A family that failed to prevent the tragedy and witnessed their father taking his own life often ends up with serious mental issues too, according to him.Still, it would be wrong to reduce the problem solely to a mental health crisis, suggests Mark Kaplan, professor of social welfare at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. Kaplan points out that there are active duty service members and veterans who have taken their lives while not experiencing psychological issues often associated with suicide.The military is a social group which is more likely to own guns, he points out, arguing that there is a need to re-examine what role firearms play in suicide cases. "I think we need to perhaps get talking about harm reduction that is getting rid of the guns in a universal way, so there is a lower risk of dying if you attempt suicide", the academic suggests.US Gov't Has Yet to Address the Problem ProperlyWashington has largely failed to curb suicide rates within the US Armed Forces because the federal government is not doing enough and is not even really willing to assist with the issues American military servicemen are facing, argues Barbush.Meanwhile, many active-duty servicemen remain silent about their mental health issues because of a certain stigma associated with the problem: "There's a cloud over talking about mental health crisis, especially if you're active duty", Barbush notes. "They're not going to talk to their buddies because it's still taboo. And it's going to make them look weak or they'll get hazed or something".Likewise, US military servicemen who return from war zones are often left to deal with emerging psychological problems on their own, according to the scholar. Nominally, there are governmental programmes and entities tasked with helping veterans, such as the Veterans Administration (VA). Still, the same stigma haunts vets even there: they fear to talk about their mental health crises because they are concerned about possible negative repercussions, the scholar says.The problem requires further investigation, according to Mark Kaplan, who believes that one also has to look at demographic issues. He cites previous Pentagon studies which indicated a significant increase in suicide cases in the Army and Marine Corps.Gender issues also require special attention, according to the academic. Although men account for the majority of the nation's troops, the rate of suicides among women in the US Armed Forces could be called a "hidden epidemic", he notes.Suicide rates in the US Army are usually expressed as the annual number of deaths for every 100,000 people. Back in 2015, The Los Angeles Times noted that for male veterans, that figure was 32.1, compared with 20.9 for other men, while in the case of female veterans and other women the gap was much wider: 28.7 and 5.2, respectively.Unless a comprehensive approach to the problem is adopted, the suicide rates in the US Armed Forces will never be reversed, according to the professor.

https://sputniknews.com/20211014/pentagon-report-shows-more-us-military-died-of-suicide-in-q2-of-2021-than-from-covid-19-pandemic-1089911287.html

https://sputniknews.com/20210829/feeling-of-betrayal-isolation-us-veterans-suicide-hotlines-heat-up-amid-botched-afghan-pullout-1083745367.html

https://sputniknews.com/20210727/one-loss-by-suicide-is-too-many-pentagon-concerned-over-rise-in-cases-among-active-duty-us-troops-1083468117.html

Barros US is a broken country near the end. 11

TruePatriot It's because of all the war crimes they are ordered to commit or have to witness from their fellow soldiers. Time for the US to end these foreign wars and bring all their soldiers back to their own country. 7

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Ekaterina Blinova

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world, military & intelligence, us, opinion, us army, suicide, us marines, us pentagon, 2020 coronavirus outbreak, covid-19
Brain is of the essence

In theory, thrombectomy devices, with their capability to clear blockages, were the perfect instrument to help physicians save brain tissue in stroke patients. However, studies of early versions showed disappointing results. Although the devices could reliably restore blood flow to oxygen-deprived brain tissue, stroke patients ability to function often didnt improve much.

In the years after the DEFUSE 2 study was published in 2012, manufacturers improved the devices. Meanwhile, Albers wondered if many of the patients being treated already had irreversible injury. He wanted to find out if patients who underwent a thrombectomy fared better when the Stanford teams imaging had shown salvageable tissue prior to the procedure.

Before the team could secure funding for a third DEFUSE trial, however, several studies were published that seemed to confirm Albers theory, widening the stroke treatment window to six hours in certain cases. Two had used the RAPID software, which was now owned by a company Albers had co-founded, and these studies produced the greatest treatment benefits.

Among patients with scans that showed salvageable tissue, those who received a thrombectomy within six hours of a stroke showed better outcomes than those who had not undergone the procedure. In 2015, the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association changed treatment guidelines to reflect what the studies had found.

But the Stanford researchers did not believe the issue was settled, as six hours was not long enough to get to the majority of stroke patients; many live far from a stroke center or have the stroke while theyre sleeping.

They could have said, You dont need any more patients. Youve proven what you need to prove. But they also could have said, Oh, no, youre not there yet, and youre not going to get there.

The Stanford studies suggested that for patients flagged through imaging, treatment could succeed up to 24 hours after symptoms began. The team was finding that time is not of the essence. Brain is of the essence, said Maarten Lansberg, MD, PhD, a Stanford professor of neurology who joined the effort in 1997.

The third DEFUSE trial, also funded by the NIH, began in 2016 with more than three dozen medical centers participating. The randomized study focused on patients whose stroke was caused by a blood clot obstructing one of two large arteries in the brain  the middle cerebral artery or the internal carotid artery. This happens in about 1 in 4 ischemic strokes and accounts for the most disabling strokes.

If the RAPID software showed potentially salvageable brain tissue six to 16 hours after a strokes onset, a patient was randomly assigned to have either standard medical treatment or an alternative that included both the standard treatment and a thrombectomy. Participants were tracked for three months, the period when stroke patients typically experience most of their recovery.

Meanwhile, another study using the Stanford-designed software had been launched in 2014 by Stryker Corp., which manufactures devices for stroke care. The design of Strykers trial, called the DAWN study, was almost identical to the DEFUSE 3 study with one significant difference: It pushed the treatment window to 24 hours after a strokes onset, compared with 16 hours in DEFUSE 3.

After an analysis of interim data, the data safety and monitoring committee stopped enrollment in the DAWN trial early, in February 2017. Among 206 stroke patients whose scans showed salvageable brain, those who underwent a thrombectomy experienced less disability than the control group. Because the DEFUSE 3 study was so similar, the NIH placed it on hold soon afterward, in June 2017, to evaluate preliminary findings.

Those weeks were nerve-wracking for the Stanford team, who waited to see what would come next for the study theyd worked so long to begin.

We were nervous, said Stephanie Kemp, the Stanford stroke centers program manager. They could have said, You dont need any more patients. Youve proven what you need to prove. But they also could have said, Oh, no, youre not there yet, and youre not going to get there.

Changes in treatment guidelines

In fall 2017, when Albers finally saw the data from 182 participants in the Stanford-led trial, he couldnt sleep.

There was no need to restart enrollment. The data showed that the imaging technique Albers and his colleagues had refined over so many years could help physicians determine when they could do more for a stroke patient and substantially improve the patients recovery.

Three months after a stroke, 45% of the patients who received a thrombectomy six to 16 hours after their first symptom were functionally independent, compared with 17% who received standard care. Among patients receiving the thrombectomy, 14% died within three months of having a stroke, compared with 26% in the control group. The teams findings underscored the results of the DAWN trial.

Albers thought back across the decades  his entire career. He thought about the times hed had to tell patients, Im sorry. You came in too late. We cant treat you. About how, for some future patients, the likelihood of death and disability was now cut in half.

This is going to change the world, he thought.

The publication of the DEFUSE 3 study in the New England Journal of Medicine was timed to coincide with the American Heart Associations International Stroke Conference in January 2018. On the day Albers presented the results of DEFUSE 3, the association announced changes to treatment guidelines for acute ischemic stroke, recommending a treatment window for mechanical clot removal up to 24 hours after onset in certain patients with clots in large vessels.

William J. Powers, MD, chair of the neurology department at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill at the time, headed the committee in charge of recommending guidelines. He knew that many researchers had conducted similar investigations, but the Stanford teams contribution stood out.

Theres plenty of papers out there that say, Oh, we think we can, with 60% or 80% accuracy, identify this tissue that will live or die, Powers said. But what distinguishes them  and what they really should get credit for  is being the ones who came up with a practical way to do this. They took it on, did the clinical trial, and proved that it worked.

Powers said he has integrated the approach into his own practice, as have untold numbers of health care providers. As of July 2021, the software originally developed at Stanford was being used in more than 1,800 medical centers around the world, and more than 2 million scans had been performed. At Stanford Health Care, about five stroke patients undergo a mechanical thrombectomy after perfusion imaging every week.

A fighting chance

After Cindi Dodd arrived at Stanford Hospital on that April day in 2017, a CT scan showed salvageable tissue in her brain. As part of the DEFUSE 3 clinical trial, Dodd underwent a thrombectomy to remove the clot blocking her artery.

When she woke up in the intensive care unit, her family told her what had happened. Her first thought was that she was too young for a life-threatening health scare. Then she realized the significance of the clinical trial: It gave me the opportunity to fight for my life.

Dodds rehabilitation was gradual, but after a year, she was back to walking, talking, driving and working.

I thank you for your study that gave me a fighting chance at living as a functional human being, a contributing member of society! I will forever be thankful for you.

She never met Albers in person, but on Thanksgiving Day 2018, Dodd looked up his email address and started to type. She told him about herself, that she was a wife with dreams of traveling and a mother with a fierce desire to be there when her two children graduated from college, married and had children of their own.

I thank you for your study that gave me a fighting chance at living as a functional human being, a contributing member of society! she wrote. I will forever be thankful for you.

The next day, Albers replied.

It has been such an amazing year for our group to see the dream that we have had for two decades finally come true, he wrote. We are so grateful to patients like you, who were willing to take a chance on a new approach to treating stroke.

 Contact Amy Jeter Hansen at ajeterhansen@stanford.edu
SCOTTSBLUFF - The West Nebraska Arts Center recently received a grant from the Union Pacific Foundation for its arts education programming. The focus of this years grant is to make scholarships available to minority and/or low-income students in grades 1-12. WNAC has three scholarships in each age group for the After School Art Program on Mondays, 4-5:30 p.m. (grades 1-3); Tuesdays, 4-5:30 p.m.(grades 4-6) and the Ed Wards Project for middle and high school students held on Wednesdays from 4-5:30 p.m.

The goal of WNACs educational programs is to offer visual arts education to grades 1-6 using the Nebraska State Standards for Fine Arts Education as a guide. Students will create, present, respond to and connect with art. Through exploration of media  painting, drawing, printmaking, collage, sculpture, applied design and technology  children will create a portfolio of their work throughout the program and have an opportunity to participate in a gallery exhibit during the month of April. The instructor for the After-School Art Program (ASAP) first through third grade is Mary Hunt, and the teacher for ASAP fourth through sixth grade is Rod Clause.
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Colin Powell was a distinguished and trailblazing professional soldier whose career took him from combat duty in Vietnam to becoming the first Black national security adviser during the end of Ronald Reagan's presidency and the youngest and first African American chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under President George H.W. Bush. His national popularity soared in the aftermath of the US-led coalition victory during the Gulf War, and for a time in the mid-90s, he was considered a leading contender to become the first Black President of the United States. But his reputation would be forever stained when, as George W. Bush's first secretary of state, he pushed faulty intelligence before the United Nations to advocate for the Iraq War, which he would later call a "blot" on his record.
Current and former military service members arrived at the Santa Maria Fairpark early Saturday for the Santa Barbara County Veterans Stand Down, which was held in person this year after a drive-through event last year due to COVID-19.

When the Stand Down returned this year, two things were noticeably different, according to 5th District Supervisor Steve Lavagnino, one of the events organizers: coronavirus protocols and less veterans.

Lavagnino attributed the possibility of recent events for the lower turnout, but added the need hasnt completely gone away.

The numbers might have been down a little bit because of COVID and the Alisal fire, Lavagnino said. The goal at the end of this is to have nobody be here anymore.

In-person Veterans Stand Down returns to Santa Maria Fairpark Oct. 16 The Santa Barbara County Veterans Stand Down  an annual event that brings together donations and service providers from across the region for

The Santa Barbara County Veterans Stand Down is an annual event that brings together donations and service providers from across the region for local veterans in need. The first event was held in 2012.

This year's Stand Down ran from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and provided homeless and at-risk veterans with hot food, access to services, clothing and hygiene items.

More than 100 local providers for social services, including nonprofits, offered to homeless and at-risk veterans attended, with most setting up booths outside as a measure to prevent coronavirus spread, according to Lavagnino.

Additionally, measures such as mask-wearing and physical distancing were in place.

Volunteers, including active-duty Space and Air force personnel from Vandenberg Space Force Base, arrived on scene early to help veterans and assist Sandy Agalos, director of the Stand Down and who Lavagino credits as the heart and soul of the event.

I give her ideas and she makes it happen, Lavagnino said.

Veterans shuttled in from across the county and locally, including 59-year-old Scott Green, a Picayune, Mississippi, native and Marine Corps veteran.

Green, who is currently staying at the Good Samaritan Shelter in Santa Maria, said the Stand Down wasnt as good as it used to be but praised the volunteers for their time.

This is their weekend, said Green, who served as an aviation ordnanceman. Having them be here all day, its a commitment.

Stand Down attendees also included 66-year-old Ed Saylor, a Pennsylvania native and a CH-47 helicopter flight engineer for the Army. He served from 1973 to 1981 and met his wife, a beach girl named Karolyn.

When asked which Army story he likes sharing with people, Saylor recalled a time in 1980 when he and his wife flew with a helicopter squadron somewhere over Germany and it was snowing heavily.

They had to park on the side of a mountain and Saylor was the one who had to direct the rest of the squadron through the storm. He jumped out of the aircraft and landed in snow up to his chest.

The guys were laughing because they all thought I looked like a walrus waddling through the snow, Saylor said.

Three other veterans who attended included Shawndel Malcolm, Isaiah Toran and James Jones. Malcolm served in the Marine Corps, while Toran and Jones served in the Army.

In addition to the services, Malcolm said the Stand Down is important to veterans because it's where many seek and find support among their peers.

"We don't see each other's scars, but once you begin talking, you see their wheels turning," Toran said. "It's like, 'hey bro, let's talk.'"

It was the first time at the Stand Down for Jones, who said it was nice to see that veterans are supported.

"I think everybody got what they needed here," Jones said. "They checked all the boxes."
Editors note: Information is provided by the Cowlitz County Corrections Department and local law enforcement agencies. Each individual named in this report is presumed to be innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

Robbery, theft of a motor vehicle  Kelso police Friday arrested Carli Moana Elu, 35, of Eugene, on suspicion of first-degree robbery, theft of a motor vehicle, possession of a stolen vehicle, possession of a stolen firearm, possession of stolen property and unlawful possession of a firearm.

Assault, harassment  Cowlitz County sheriffs deputies Friday arrested Michael Anthony Ericksen, 29, of Castle Rock, on suspicion of third-degree assault, harassment, obstructing a public servant, resisting arrest and violating driver duty to move a damaged vehicle off the roadway.

Possession of a stolen firearm, vehicle  Cowlitz County sheriffs deputies Friday arrested Isaiah Nolan Gonzales, 23, of Portland, on suspicion of unlawful possession of a firearm, possession of a stolen vehicle and possession of a stolen firearm.

Burglary  Longview police Friday arrested Michael Robert Hendrickson, 22, of Longview, on suspicion of residential burglary and third-degree malicious mischief.

Possession of a stolen vehicle  Cowlitz County sheriffs deputies Saturday arrested Jordan Shane Harris, 21, of Longview, on suspicion of possession of a stolen vehicle.

Possession of a stolen vehicle  Kelso police Saturday arrested Michael Aubrey Kennedy Jr., 50, of Kelso, on suspicion of possession of a stolen vehicle.

Burglary, assault  Kelso police Saturday arrested Isaac Gabriel Kukhahn, 30, of Longview, on suspicion of second-degree burglary and fourth-degree assault.

Harassment  Cowlitz County sheriffs deputies Sunday arrested William Joseph Byers, 42, of Cathlamet, on suspicion of felony harassment.

Theft, vehicle prowl  Woodland police Sunday arrested Randy James Ganoung, 31, of Woodland, on suspicion of second-degree theft, vehicle prowling and third-degree malicious mischief.

Fugitive  Washington State Patrol troopers Sunday arrested Wesley Samuel Walton, 57, of Longview, on suspicion of being a fugitive from justice.

Burglaries

100 block of Schoolhouse Road, Kelso. Saturday. Someone tried to come through dog door around 2 a.m. Resident saw two people with flashlights running away from the house.

100 block of Sierra Drive, Kelso. Saturday. TV stolen.

Stolen vehicle

2700 block of Taylor Avenue, Longview. Saturday. Green 1995 Honda Accord. Washington BYV2902.

Thefts

2900 block of Nichols Boulevard, Longview. Friday. A 14-year-old stole a soap dispenser from a bathroom and posted a video of it to TikTok. Student taken to retrieve stolen property.

2000 block of Pacific Avenue, Kelso. Saturday. Dog taken.

300 block of Hunter Road, Longview. Saturday. Revolver missing from toolbox in the garage.

1200 block of Sixth Avenue, Kelso. Saturday. Wallet taken a week and a half ago.

100 block of Triangle Center, Longview. Saturday. Purse taken while at WinCo.

3100 block of Ocean Beach Highway, Longview. Saturday. Black BMX bike with emojis on the seat and chrome handlebars stolen.

100 block of Triangle Center, Longview. Saturday. Wallet taken from bathroom.

Vandalism/malicious mischief

700 block of Vine Street, Kelso. Friday. Someone with large mud terrains went through the yard.

300 block of Gun Club Road, Woodland. Friday. Churchs street-facing sign was damaged sometime overnight. A wooden panel on the side of the sign was destroyed, damage estimated at $250.

200 block of Hinch Road, Castle Rock. Saturday. Neighbors hit fence the previous night.

100 block of Florence Street, Kelso. Saturday. Back window of vehicle damaged.

2000 block of 30th Avenue, Longview. Saturday. Resident woke up to sound of a large rock breaking the front window.

1900 block of Dorothy Street, Longview. Saturday. Vehicle window broken out. Known suspect.

100 block of Triangle Center, Longview. Saturday. Car was keyed.

Vehicle prowls

500 block of Three Rivers Drive, Kelso. Friday. Doors were left unlocked and a 6 Sauer PT20 pistol was stolen.

2100 block of Dahlia Street, Woodland. Friday. Three subjects trying to break into vehicles.

200 block of 24th Avenue, Longview. Saturday. Black purse with credit cards taken.

100 block of Eighth Avenue, Kelso. Sunday. Medication and wallet taken.

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Monday was the last day for thousands of state employees, health-care workers and school staff to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination or receive an exemption under Washingtons mandate.

In August, Gov. Jay Inslee announced the mandate for state and healthcare workers, with an Oct. 18 deadline.

Teachers and other school staff were added to the mandate the following week.

Area lawmakers who have been critical of the mandate since it was announced condemned the Monday deadline.

Today marks a sad page in Washington states history for many working families, said 20th District Rep. Peter Abbarno, R-Centralia, in a statement. It is clearly evident the governor is more interested in punishing Washingtonians for their beliefs than finding respectful and reasonable solutions.

The requirement covers a broad swath of workers in health-care settings, including hospitals, clinics, nursing homes and assisted living, rehabilitation centers, dentist offices, pharmacies, chiropractors and more. Emergency medical responders, including many firefighters, also fall under the proclamation. The mandate does not include personal care providers working in a patients home.

People eligible for a religious or medical exemption are entitled to a reasonable accommodation assessment, according to the governors office website.

To be fully vaccinated by Monday, the latest people could receive the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine was Oct. 4, with earlier deadlines for the two-dose Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.

As of Monday morning, all of Cowlitz Family Health Center was in compliance with the mandate, with 93% vaccinated and 7% with approved medical or religious exemptions, said Chief Executive Officer Jim Coffee. When fully staffed, the organization has 230 employees at its multiple locations.

Employees with exemptions will be tested weekly, Coffee said. The organization is working hard to stay within the guidelines of the mandate while allowing everyone to continue working, he said.

Coffee said at one point Family Health Center thought it would lose 40 to 45 people who were not recorded as being vaccinated. Many had been vaccinated for months, but hadnt turned in their vaccine cards, he said.

About four or five staff members resigned over the last couple months because they didnt want to be vaccinated, Coffee said.

Im hoping as we continue forward and more vaccines get final approval and are no longer under emergency use authorizations that people will have more trust in them, he said.

PeaceHealth and Kaiser Permanente earlier in August announced their own vaccine requirements for employees.

As of last week, 97% of PeaceHealth St. John Medical Center caregivers, about 1,450 people, are in compliance with the COVID-19 vaccination requirement policy, according to the organization. Of those, 4% have approved exemptions. The other 3% were on unpaid leave, according to PeaceHealth.

Kaiser Permanente did not have specific numbers for its Longview clinic. For the Northwest region, including Oregon and Southwest Washington, about 89% of staff and 99% of physicians were fully vaccinated, according to Kaiser.

About 1.5% of employees, roughly 170 out of 11,100, were put on leave because they didnt submit either an exemption request or proof of vaccination by Sept. 30, said Debbie Karman, Kaiser spokesperson. Employees have until Dec. 1 to respond and return to work.

Last week, the Washington State Hospital Association reported about 88% of hospital workers were fully vaccinated. Some of the remaining 12% likely have been vaccinated or turned in vaccine verification since then, but updated numbers were not yet available, said association CEO Cassie Sauer during a press briefing Monday.

The association estimated 2% to 5% of staff, about 3,000 to 7,500 people, could leave the workforce because of the requirement. Sauer said Monday that estimate may be on the high end, as hospitals reported staff beginning the vaccination process over the weekend.

Schools

In mid-August, Inslee extended the vaccination mandate to people working in kindergarten through 12th grade, most child cares and early learning and higher education. The mandate does not apply to students.

In Castle Rock, the district did not lose any staff, Superintendent Ryan Greene said. About 70% of staff are vaccinated and 30% were granted exemptions.

People were nervous about what it meant, but our HR did a great job walking people through it and helping if they needed a religious or medical exemption form, Greene said.

Kalama is at 88% vaccinated, with 12% of staff granted exemptions, district spokesman Nick Shanmac said, and the district also did not lose any staff members.

Toutle Superintendent Bob Garrett said three staff members resigned over the vaccine mandate earlier in the year, but the district is now at 100% compliance, with all staff either vaccinated or exempt.

In Woodland, six staff members did not meet the deadline and were facing non-disciplinary termination, Superintendent Michael Green said. Six more started the vaccination process too late to be fully vaccinated by the deadline and will be placed on leave until they are fully vaccinated. 78.6% of staff are vaccinated, while about 18% have exemptions.

Its hard, Green said. Those are some real high quality folks.

He said the six staff members include a substitute bus driver, paraeducators and a custodian.

Were challenged already with having enough employees, particularly in those classified positions, Green said.

In Kelso and Longview, district spokespeople said the district would not have specific numbers to share until later in the week.

Longview Superintendent Dan Zorn said last week he felt the district was in a pretty good place.

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At the upcoming UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Scotland, much attention will be focused on China. As the world's largest CO 2 emitter, China's efforts to decarbonize its energy system will be critical to the goal of limiting the rise in global average surface temperature to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

China has already made major commitments to transitioning its energy systems towards renewables, especially power generation from solar, wind and hydro sources. However, there are many unknowns about the future of solar energy in China, including its cost, technical feasibility and grid compatibility in the coming decades. Recent projections of the cost of future solar energy potential in China have relied on outdated and overestimated costs of solar panels and their installation, and storage technologies like lithium-ion batteries.

How much will solar power really cost in China in the coming decades, including the challenges its inherent variability poses to the grid?

Researchers from Harvard, Tsinghua University in Beijing, Nankai University in Tianjin and Renmin University of China in Beijing have found that solar energy could provide 43.2% of China's electricity demands in 2060 at less than two-and-a-half U.S. cents per kilowatt-hour. For comparison, coal power tariffs in China ranged 3.6 to 6.5 cents per kilowatt-hour in 2019.

The research is published as the cover article of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

"The findings highlight a crucial energy transition point, not only for China but for other countries, at which combined solar power and storage systems become a cheaper alternative to coal-fired electricity and a more grid-compatible option," said Michael B. McElroy, the Gilbert Butler Professor of Environmental Studies at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) and co-corresponding author of the study.

"Today, subsidy-free solar power has become cheaper than coal power in most parts of China, and this cost-competitive advantage will soon expand to the whole country due to technology advances and cost declines," said Xi Lu, Associate Professor, School of Environment, Tsinghua University and co-corresponding author of the paper. "Our results demonstrate that the economic competitiveness of solar power combined with investments in storage systems could provide extra benefits for grid dispatch, which will be especially important for operation of future electric systems in China."

Lu received his Ph.D. from the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and began laying groundwork for the study as a postdoctoral fellow and research associate at the SEAS-based Harvard-China Project on Energy, Economy and Environment.

The research team developed an integrated model to assess solar energy potential in China and its cost from 2020-2060. The model first takes into account factors such as land uses throughout China, possible tilt and spacing of solar panels, and meteorological conditions like solar radiation and temperature to estimate the physical potential of solar power across both space and time.

The team then integrated the investment costs and speed of technological changes to capture the evolving cost-competitiveness of solar power relative to coal power now and in the future. Building on this foundation, the study developed an hourly optimization model to evaluate the additional costs of power storage systems needed to smooth the variations of solar output so that it can be integrated into the grid to match electricity demand.

The researchers first found that the physical potential of solar PV, which includes how many solar panels can be installed and how much solar energy they can generate, in China reached 99.2 petawatt-hours in 2020. This is more than twice the country's total consumption of energy in all forms, including not only electricity but also fuels consumed directly by vehicles, factories, building heating and more. The findings show solar PV is an enormous resource for China's decarbonization.

They then demonstrated its cost-competitiveness, with 78.6% of the potential in 2020 equal to or lower than current prices of local coal-fired power, a share set to grow further. This cost advantage means China can invest in storage capacity, such as batteries, and still cost-effectively supply 7.2 petawatt-hours or 43.2% of country-wide electricity demand by 2060.

"Most now realize that climate change requires transitioning away from fossil energy use," said Chris P. Nielsen, executive director of the Harvard-China Project and a co-author of the paper. "Not as many realize that decarbonizing the power system is the linchpin, especially as more sectors become electrified, and that accommodation by the grid of renewable variability is the toughest part of the puzzle. It's a huge breakthrough, and not just for China, if storage can make solar power grid-compatible at a competitive cost."

"Our research shows that if costs continue to decline, especially for storage, there could be opportunities to power vehicles, heat or cool buildings, or to produce industrial chemicals, all using solar energy. This would extend the climate and environmental benefits of solar energy far beyond the power sector as traditionally conceived," said Shi Chen, co-first author of the paper who helped lead the study as a Tsinghua Ph.D. student and a visiting fellow at the Harvard-China Project.

This research was co-authored by Chongyu Zhang, Jiacong Li, He Xu, Ye Wu, Shuxiao Wang, Feng Song, Chu Wei, Kebin He and Jiming Hao.

Explore further Study: All major Chinese cities capable of generating solar power more cheaply than grid

More information: Xi Lu et al, Combined solar power and storage as cost-competitive and grid-compatible supply for China's future carbon-neutral electricity system, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2021). Journal information: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Xi Lu et al, Combined solar power and storage as cost-competitive and grid-compatible supply for China's future carbon-neutral electricity system,(2021). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2103471118
Multimedia Reporter

Staff writer Harry Funk, a professional journalist for three-plus decades, has been on the staff of The Almanac since 2015. He has a bachelors degree in journalism and master of business administration, both from Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
A week after a lawyer representing one of three men on trial for murder in the death of an unarmed, jogger complained about Black pastors in the courtroom, hundreds came from around the country and held a rousing prayer rally in front of the Glynn County Courthouse.
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In her job, she said, I make tough choices every day. That might involve telling a 20-year veteran of law enforcement that the search warrant he drafted is insufficient, she said. Or it might be breaking the news to someone there is not enough evidence to file charges in a case.

Hinrichs said she is excited about the challenge of becoming a judge. Im a bit of a legal nerd, she said.

Because of her experience, she is familiar with the rules of evidence and has the ability to think on her feet, she said.

Lee has been a deputy Buffalo County attorney since 2011. The Omaha native got his undergraduate degree from Nebraska Wesleyan and graduated from Creightons law school. He began his career at a small firm in Omaha.

Lee, 37, said he has a lot of experience in the courtroom. In his job, he has to be an expert in many different areas very quickly, which would be helpful as a judge. He pointed out that he has been practicing law for more than 10 years. He has worked as a special prosecutor in the 10th Judicial District in Phelps, Kearney, Dawson and Adams counties.
The Lincoln Diocese recently reassigned a pair of priests -- and restricted their public ministry -- after investigating claims of priestly misconduct.

In statements posted to the diocese website Oct. 8, Bishop James Conley announced:

* Scott Courtney was assigned to minister to prisons, nursing and retirement homes, and provide administrative assistance to the chancery, effective early next January.

Courtney has been out of active ministry since September 2018, after allegations he had sexual contact with a woman, the diocese reported at the time.

Courtneys reassignment and restrictions followed a professional evaluation and a period of personal renewal, and hearing from the ministerial conduct board, Conley said in his statement.

He was last with the Sacred Heart parish in Roseland and the Assumption parish in Juniata.

* Thomas Dunavan was assigned to provide administrative assistance to the chancery and help retired priests, effective Nov. 8.
STEM & STEAM

U Arizona Develops High School Lesson on Vaccine Development

Researchers at the University of Arizona have worked with Tucson teachers to develop a lesson that would allow high schoolers to learn about the use of computational analysis for biological questions. The lesson is intended to help teachers adapt the teaching of science without having access to a classroom or lab.

Originally developed before the pandemic, the lesson keys in on a question especially relevant for these times: Would SARS-CoV-2 spike protein  the one behind COVID-19  be a good choice as a target for vaccine development?

Details of the lesson have been published in September 2021 issue of The American Biology Teacher, a magazine published by the National Association of Biology Teachers.

Most recently, the researchers have added an addendum to the lesson, to help teachers and students examine emerging variants using the activity.

The lesson plan has been tested in three Tucson-area high schools, where some science classes studied proteins of all seven coronaviruses: four that cause the common cold as well as the SARS, MERS and SARS-CoV-2 viruses.

In the lesson, students learn how different vaccines work and conduct a comparison of protein sequences. By looking at the uniqueness of spike proteins, the students are able to see the "evolutionary relatedness" of the seven coronaviruses from their computer at home. By the end of the lesson, students have compared spike protein sequences of different versions of SARS-CoV-2 to each other and seen that the sequence similarity within the spike proteins make them good vaccine candidates.

The work came out of the BIOTECH Project, which has produced materials, equipment and training to conduct molecular genetics experiments with high school students.

"This past school year was challenging for those of us in education. However, lessons concerning SARS-CoV-2 were a natural direction for virtual instruction since it combines the relevance of COVID with at-home computer use for genetic data analysis," said lead study author Nadja Anderson, an assistant professor of practice in the UArizona Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology and director of the BIOTECH Project, in a statement.

"We had the students looking at the protein sequences of the spike protein  the protein on the outside of the virus that makes it a prime candidate for your immune system to target and create immune response," Anderson explained.

Anderson said that she said she hopes the lesson will help students gain an understanding about viruses and vaccines and how they work: "If [students] understand how vaccines work and are made, then they can critically analyze information and hopefully they can weed their way through all of the misinformation."

In addition to providing online lessons during the pandemic, Anderson and her team have developed kits for separating and analyzing DNA, to help students experiment at home. More than a thousand of these "DIY Electrophoresis" kits were sent to students in Tucson, enabling them to analyze DNA from a number of lessons developed by the BIOTECH Project, including mock crime scene activities and simulated genetic testing.

Anderson said that as students "became advocates for safety at home," they also promoted the need for vaccinations. "The work from the BIOTECH Project not only enhanced the education of these students, but also of our community."

To learn more, visit the BIOTECH Project website and the Project Activities page.
[The first day's comments have been added.]

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I MIGHT BE OLD

...but I got to see all the best bands

One of my friend Dan's T-shirts

I had the best weekend. Yesterday, on fairly short notice, we staged a Zoom reunion of my photography school graduating classthe Photography Department Class of '85 at the old Corcoran School of Art (as it was then called) in Washington, D.C.

It wasn't as big an event as you might be picturingwhen I entered as a second-year student (first year was a foundation program in art before students specialized into departments), there were 15 of us in the Photo Department. When we graduated, only eight remained. Seven of the eight of us were in touch for this reuniting, but one had prior commitments and couldn't attend (hopefully Adrian will make it next time). Our classmate Sheri Lyn Marshall couldn't be locatedthe only person I knew who had been in touch with her recently was our teacher Mark L. Power, who largely built the photography program at the Corcoran in the 1970sbut I couldn't ask him; Mark died last August.

Being part of such a small class has definite advantages. Art is personal, and being mashed together for so much of our schooling for three years made us close in ways that have never been replicated in my life. Our graduating group of four men and four women had little in common in 1982 apart from a love of photography, but, even after 35 years, we slipped easily into the old dynamic. Seeing everyone again brought vividly to the forefront just how important these people were to me, then and in my subsequent life. We knew each other really well.

Engage

We were known then to be a volatile, opinionated, vigorous, forceful, and lively group. The then-chairman of the Department, Steve Szabo, once commented to me privately that our group had "ten times the energy" of certain other classes the faculty had known over the years. Critiques, the core of the didactic method at the school, could be, ahh, let's say, very engaged. Jay Townsend wrote, after the meeting, "My wife and I still hang out with a lot of the fine arts folks from the Corcoran, and their interpersonal communications are generally very touchy-feely, quiet and sensitive, whereas our group is much more blunt, free-wheeling and challenging, but still very supportive of each other." In the group each one of us has a lot of integrity, I think, and long ago we learned to be honest with each other.

We visited for two and a half hours on Sunday, on Zoom. Sarah Huntington called the meetup life-affirming, energizing, and inspiring, and got that right. But then that's the way we were. The reunion was one of the true bright spots of the Time of the Contagion for me. As competitive as we could be back then, it's so easy to see now that I really love these amazing people. I learned so much from all of them, and from our experience together. My time with them at the Corcoran shaped me.

Life is strange

It's true that it's best to be young, and, given the choice, we'd be young, for some definition of the word, if we could be. But later years have consolations as well. As I approach traditional retirement age, I really am deeply grateful that I lived across the span of years I did. It's been the perfect stretch of history to be involved in photography. When I was born, Edward Weston, Paul Strand, Edward Steichen, and Dorothea Lange were still alive. The Decisive Moment was five years old and The Americans would be published a year later. To see everything and watch everything that has happened up to now...well, I wouldn't have missed it for the world.

The Corcoran sits in the midst of that experience. When I arrived there I had been forced to drop out of Dartmouth after doing very well there, and then (alcoholism raging, by that time) I crashed and burned out of Reed College in Portland all on my own. I didn't expect to fit in at the Corcoran, didn't expect to make friends, never thought I'd be anything but an outsider. If I'm honest, I didn't expect to learn muchI had already been busy teaching myself photography for two years at that point. I was pretty cynical. Originally, I planned to stay for only one yearmy reasoning was that one year was better than none, and I thought one year was as long as I'd have patience for.

But life is strange. To my great surprise, I found a whole community of like-minded souls and made many friends. My frozen heart thawed out. I didn't have a teacher I didn't learn from, and I had veritable Socratic experiences with several of them. I stopped drinking, fell in love, learned to see, learned to print, learned where I fit in. I might be looking at the past with rose-colored glasses, but I honestly think I looked forward to every day. I loved art school. Every day held new surprises, new riches. I looked through every book in the library, saw every show in the gallery, listened to every visiting speaker, roved through all the museums and galleries of D.C. as if it had all been put there for me. All of it was just what I wanted to be doing. I stayed as long as they let me and graduated with a BFA. It was a marvelous time.

I'll write more when I can, but it's past sunset on Monday and I promised a post on Mondays, so I've got to be good and get this up. Anyway, our little six-person Zoom meetup yesterday might not have been a typical one, but for me it was everything a college reunion should be. And then some. Such a nice time. Big thanks and solidarnosc to Pam, Jay, Sarah, Ian, and Karen. May we meet again.

Mike

P.S. And by the way, we challenged each other to get the old cameras out of mothballs and shoot a roll of film before our next meetup. I'm in.

Book o' the Week

Friedlander First Fifty. A very fun little book that gives a tour of the first fifty of Lee Friedlander's booksextra copies of which are apparently stashed all over every floor of his house. By his grandson, who is trying to sell full, signed sets on eBay. This is very enjoyable, but also might be the most unique book about photobooks ever. Who else has published fifty photobooks?

This is a link to Amazon from TOP. The following logo is also a link:



Original contents copyright 2020 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)

Featured Comments from:

Frank Gorga: "In my estimation, the value of caring, informed feedback/critique from a group of friends cannot be overestimated in the 'art life.' Too many photographers work in isolation. To me making photographs is a more-or-less solitary endeavor. However, on the other hand, we need feedback in order to do our best work.

"I belong to a group or a dozen accomplished photographers who get together once a month to share prints, gather feedback and 'talk photography' in general. I am always amazed at how little of the talk is about cameras, printers, etc. Most of the discussion is rather deeper than that. The group formed organically five years ago with three of us asking other acquaintances to join us over the subsequent months. I can not overstate the value of this group of friends to my growth as a photographer."

Zack S: "Speaking of seeing the best bands, I saw the Doors play the longest set they ever performed, at Cobo Arena in Detroit. Also saw Springsteen for the Born to Run tour and Pink Floyd do the Dark Side of the Moon tour there too. I saw Bob Seger play in a small bar long before he hit it big. Worked security for a show that John Lee Hooker was doing and just he and I sat around talking for about an hour."

Mike replies: Dan's T-shirt rests its case. My friend Kim K. (Corcoran '86) saw Led Zeppelin when they were an opening act. He saw Hendrix live, too. (Plus about 1,800 other bandsI picked that number out of a hat, but he's been a dedicated concertgoer for decades. He's responsible for about half of my own live-music experiences. The real number of concerts he's seen is probably more than that.)

John Robison: "What a great post. Agree with Dave Millier, post these type of remembrances more often. Your happiness just spills all over the page and is heartwarming."

Ron Hoffer: "So glad you could get together with such a nurturing group of Corcoran alumnae. As a former (and somewhat jaded) NYC native who moved to DC for work in the late 1970s, for decades I was delighted to experience, at lunch and in the early evening, the quality and approachability of the Corcoran exhibits and the so memorable pubic presentations by photographers from far and wide. A cherished photo book still in my collection is the slim catalogue from an incredible exhibit 'Washington Photography: Images of the Eighties' held in early 1982 featuring the work of not only Mark Power and Steve Szabo, but other great artists you may have run into Mike, including William Christenberry, Frank DiPerna, John Gossage, John Radcliffe, and Shirley True."

Mike replies: Knew them all to varying degrees except John Radcliffe. Went to NYC with John G., used to hang out with Steve, even. And that show was one of the reasons I went to the Corcoran! I didn't realize then what a great historical moment it was, but man were we lucky.
Theres been increasing confusing over the legality of delta-8, a cannabis derivative that can be found in vape cartridges, tinctures and candy at smoke shops and CBD stores in Texas. While the Texas health department maintains that delta-8 is a controlled substance and is on the states list of unlawful drugs, the 2018 federal Farm Bill legalized the production of hemp, which naturally contains delta-8 and has less than 0.3% THC. In 2019, Texas also legalized hemp growing. Delta-8 retailers believed the substance was as legal to sell as hemp. Delta-8 is legal in Texas for now after a Travis County judge blocked the state from criminalizing it. Should delta-8 continue to be legal in Texas?

You voted:
In shadows of steel silhouettes, nearly 100 people gathered this past weekend at Attucks Park, where a new monument was dedicated to those poisoned by toxic pollution and contamination from the old Koppers Railroad Tie Plant.

The dedication served as a platform for the tie plant history and stories from affected individuals to be shared publicly. The monuments purpose is to create dialogue, increase awareness, and promote healing for the people exposed to chemical toxins.

Dan Johnson, an artist from Alto Pass, designed the memorial.

I challenge all of you to get on board and stand with us in the fight for justice for the workers, the families, and the community - everyone who was affected by the Koppers Tie Plant. Let it permeate your hearts, your soul, and your spirit so that we can make a difference. Now is the time, Melissa McCutchen, a member of Carbondale Concerned Citizens, said at the beginning of the ceremony.

The monument was established by Carbondale Concerned Citizens with Carbondale Spring, a peoples organization, and made possible by funding the Healing Illinois Grant from the Chicago Community Trust through the Southern Illinois Community Foundation.

The Carbondale Park District and the city of Carbondale also contributed to the erection of the monument.

Site history

The old Koppers Railroad Tie Plant operated from 1902 to 1991. At one point in its history, it was the largest wood treating plant in the nation and employed 200 people.

In the beginning, the company, then called Ayer-Lord Tie Plant, recruited Black men to move to Carbondale and work at the facility.

The city of Carbondale segregated black workers and their families to the Northeast Side of Carbondale, bordered on the north by the railroad tie plant.

Workers treated lumber cut into railroad ties and utility poles with coal-tar creosote to delay decay. Unbeknownst to them, their families and neighbors in the Northeast Side of Carbondale, the creosote that soaked the employees clothes and skin and the smoke billowed from the plant was toxic, contaminating their water sources, their soil, and air.

The chemicals in coal-tar creosote burn or irritate the skin and the eyes, cause convulsions and mental confusion, and lead to kidney and liver disorders after a brief exposure, according to the federal Agency of Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.

Prolonged and frequent exposure can lead to irritation of the respiratory tract and cancer.

'We didn't know'

When former employees like brothers Robert and Willie Ollie, James Chappell and his grandfather Shelley Chappell, and Alfred Brown worked at the facility, the Koppers company never told them about the toxicity of the creosote they worked with every day.

Neither were their families  nor the community in which they lived.

I lived right in front of Koppers. You walk out our backdoor, youll walk right into Koppers Tie Plant, Shelia Neal Brown said.

Before the EPA and city leaders admitted to the tie plant site being contaminated, her father learned that fact and shared it with other Carbondale residents.

While growing up, Brown got rashes on her arms and face, she said.

We didnt know what was going on. The doctors would say we were allergic to something when all it was, was the Koppers Tie Plant, Brown said.

The old Koppers Tie Plant site, now owned by Beazer East Inc., is designated a brownfield by the Environmental Protection Agency.

The EPA said in April that soil remediation is complete, but former Koppers employees, their families, and the affected community disagree. They argue that the fight for justice continues.

Understand and know, our fight continues. This situation has not been rectified. The soil will never be fully remediated. So, to say the soil is remediated is a lie, McCutchen said in an interview.

Who's accountable?

The disagreement over soil cleanup is one part out of a long-standing dispute between the affected community and the EPA and Beazer East.

Since the early 2000s, northeast side residents and former Koppers employees have raised concerns about the history of toxic pollution at the plant and in their neighborhood to the EPA and the city of Carbondale.

Despite over a decade of sometimes contentious public meetings, the communitys call for justice and accountability for the environmental racism that occurred for nearly 100 years has gone primarily unanswered by the city of Carbondale and the EPA.

Theres a hesitancy from public institutions to acknowledge the past because there is a lack of accountability. Sometimes people are afraid to acknowledge what has happened in the past because then they have to be held accountable for it, McCutchen said.

Thats why Carbondale Concerned Citizen Member and northeast side Resident Rodney Morris called the monument a starting block during Sundays ceremony.

Affected individuals hope the erecting of the memorial sparks new discussions  and more questions.

'Long overdue'

In addition to the monument, motivated Carbondale community members are producing a documentary. There is also a website for affected individuals and their families to share their stories.

Darryl Weber, a descendant whose family suffered from cancer clusters attributed to the environmental contamination and who now lives in Kansas City, Missouri, is seeking a congressional hearing and working with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention the EPA to evaluate the former employees, their families, and residents health who are still alive.

Clarissa Cowley, a graduate student at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, is investigating the roles of federally funded agencies in handling toxic waste sites near communities of color, specifically Black communities.

According to City Manager Gary Williams, specific plans for the site are unknown by the city.

Despite the troubled relationship between the city and the affected residents, Williams said he believed the monument was overdue.

Koppers has a significant history in our city. But there is also a lot of negativity and pain surrounding that facility. Memorializing residents contribution to Koppers and the city is a significant step, which is long overdue, Williams said in an interview.

At this point, he said the citys role is being a conduit between the private company that owns the tie plant site and the affected community.

One initiative of the city in recent years is to be as transparent as possible regarding the Koppers site, Williams said. On the city's website, there is a tab dedicated to historical documents and monthly reports about the contamination on the site.

However, the citys efforts for transparency and cooperation are not enough for concerned residents. The city refers to the EPAs information that says the land is cleaned up and the residential community and former employees have limited risk of being exposed to contamination.

Carbondale Spring member and Carbondale Planning and Zoning commissioner Beau Henson said he listens to both narratives - the EPAs and the affected residents. He is not surprised the city listens to a large international corporation like Beazer East.

To Henson, the historical context of the tie plant and the behavior of the companys officials are essential to consider when planning the future of the land of the tie plant site.

'Our fight continues'

One primary concern workers, families, and residents have is the lack of action on behalf of the EPA and the city of Carbondale to hold their institutions accountable for the discrimination during the tie plants operations.

Its strange that people who have the power cease to care, Carbondale Concerned Citizen member and resident Margret Nesbitt said on Sunday to the ceremonys audience.

The history that shaped the lives of plant workers, their families, and residents is overlooked by the EPA and the city of Carbondale.

This includes the 1932 thesis of William Stewart, a graduate student from Northwestern University. He had a summer internship at the plant and documented the treatment of Black workers at the plant.

Carbondale resident Pepper Holder shared Stewarts thesis with the ceremonys audience on Sunday.

The very fact that the ties are so heavy makes the works especially perilous. A falling tie, either in a car, off a tram, or from a mans shoulder, can cause terrible injury, Stewart wrote. The men are continually being burned by the creosote...They run an especially great chance of infection because of irritation caused by creosote in an open cut.

In the same chapter, Stewart documented the danger of overheating in the summer months, with temperatures as high as 114 and one employee dying from a stroke he suffered while working. Later in his thesis, he documents how company agents kept the Black workers in debt to prevent them from leaving by getting them to spend their wages at the company store before they were paid.

Almost a decade after William Stewart visited the tie plant, Shelley Chappell organized the first union at the tie plant in 1941.

That was unheard of  for a Black man to organize a union with black and white workers there, James Chappell, Shelleys grandson who also worked at the tie plant, said on Sunday. Im very proud of that.

Chappell now lives in Springfield and traveled to Carbondale for the dedication ceremony. He said he is proud of the people of Carbondale for erecting the monument.

It is not lost on residents and former workers that the work done by former Koppers employees was integral to Americas 20th-century infrastructure.

Telephone poles connected America. The railroad connected America from one coast to the next. Without these individuals going to work every day and treating these crossties and telephone poles, we wouldnt be connected the way we were. They set America decades ahead of other countries, McCutchin said. You have men doing right by their families, and as a result, many of them got sick and died painful deaths.

The magnitude of the impact of the plant on the United States, Carbondale, the workers, their families, and residents living nearby is why groups like Carbondale Concerned Citizens say they will not be silenced.

That is something that everyone who is in a position of authority needs to understand. Another thing is, we will not allow other people who have not been affected to dictate this narrative, McCutchin said. We matter, and thats why our fight continues.

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Piper Kerman, author of Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Womens Prison, the bestselling book that became a Netflix series, is coming to Southern Illinois University Carbondale, and free tickets for her presentation are now available.

Kerman will speak at 7 p.m. Nov. 4 in Shryock Auditorium. Her presentation is part of the Elmer H. Johnson Criminology and Criminal Justice Lecture Series. A book signing will follow at 8:30 p.m.

Kerman is social justice advocate, author and onetime inmate

Kermans New York Times bestseller is a memoir of her experiences in a federal prison, where she served time for a crime she committed a decade earlier while briefly involved with the drug trade. The autobiographical volume is at times funny, heartbreaking and emotional. It explores friendships and family, mental illness, the relationships between prisoners and those who watch over them, and the difficulty of adjusting to life after prison with little help and guidance from society.

The subsequent Peabody Award-winning television series it inspired ran from 2013 to 2019, giving millions of people a look at the issues surrounding the female prison population. Kerman serves on the board of the Womens Prison Association as well as the boards of the PEN America Writing for Justice Fellowship, InsideOUT Writers, Healing Broken Circles and JustLeadershipUSA as she advocates for social justice, prison reform and support for people after their release from incarceration.

Kerman will share her story at SIU, as she has in venues across the country, including the White House and the U.S. Senate. She will speak about her life and journey, her book and the television series. Kerman will also share about learning from ones own mistakes, female communities power, the necessity of prison reform and providing support for people after incarceration. She will also answer questions.

Admission free, get tickets online

Although there is no cost to hear Kerman and everyone is welcome, tickets must be claimed online in advance. Get tickets at https://sjps.siu.edu/.

SIU is committed to protecting the community, so all those attending Kermans presentation must follow current campus and state pandemic safety protocols and wear masks. A few additional measures will be taken as well in the interest of public health and safety.

These include:

There will be social distancing at the event, with seating capacity limited to 50% in the auditorium and Kerman unavailable for pictures with those attending the event.

During the book signing afterward, Kerman will sign books purchased on-site and present them to purchasers. For those who bring a book from home, she will sign a bookplate that they can affix to their book.

For more information about Kermans presentation or for disability accommodations, contact the Student Programming Council at 618-536-3393.

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ST. LOUIS  Jenna and her boyfriend were a week away from starting their freshman year in college and moving into their dorms in Murray, Kentucky, when they learned her birth control had failed and she was pregnant.

Jenna, who requested to be identified only by her first name, couldnt get an abortion appointment in Louisville near where they lived before the move.

Before Jenna started classes, she found herself sick with COVID-19 and had to quarantine for 10 days. She fell behind in her studies. While trying hard to catch up, she had to desperately search for an abortion appointment.

She wanted a medication abortion, which must be performed before 11 weeks gestation. It was $470 but still cheaper than a surgical abortion. She had one week.

She tried her closest options in Nashville and Memphis, Tennessee  still two to three hours away  but could not get anything in time. Tennessee also requires two office visits at least 48 hours apart.

Jenna and her boyfriend ended up getting an appointment three-and-a-half hours away at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Fairview Heights, Illinois. They left an afternoon class early to make the 5:50 p.m. appointment and drove back that night.

It was upsetting and frustrating, she said. I didnt see myself having to go to Illinois when I decided to wait until I got down (to college) and moved in.

Abortion providers serving southern Illinois expected to see an increase in patients from Texas after that states restrictive abortion law went into effect in early September. But doctors are also seeing patients coming from states between Illinois and Texas as wait times for appointments grow.

They are telling us that wait times are sometimes weeks. One clinic told them they did not have an appointment until November, said Dr. Colleen McNicholas, chief medical officer for Reproductive Health Services of Planned Parenthood.

In the first month since the Texas law took effect on Sept. 1, officials with the Planned Parenthood facility, located about 15 minutes from downtown St. Louis, say they have seen a 47% increase in patients coming from outside its normal service areas  including Louisiana, Arkansas, Kentucky, Tennessee and Kansas.

That is really the impact in this immediate six weeks since the Texas decision, that we are starting to see more of those patients from those states in between who cant wait weeks for an abortion in their own state, McNicholas said.

More than 55,000 abortions were performed last year in Texas, which has almost 7 million women aged 15-49, accounting for 1 in 10 U.S. women of reproductive age.

At Hope Clinic for Women in Granite City, also about 15 minutes from downtown St. Louis, calls have been coming in nonstop from women confused about how to navigate the complex laws in Texas and surrounding states, said Dr. Erin King, the clinics director. But appointments there have only increased slightly.

States across the South and Midwest already have myriad abortion restrictions and facility regulations in place that have shuttered clinics and greatly reduced access.

It feels like there are patients reaching out, but then they are not able to get to us, King said. The fact that weve seen all these phone calls but not seeing patients is, I think, the most concerning thing. Are patients getting care? Are they feeling so desperate that they feel they cant leave and get care? What is happening with those patients? Where are they?

Waiting in the wings

Texas now bans abortions once fetal cardiac activity is detected, which is usually at six weeks and often before women even know they are pregnant. Other Republican-led states, including Missouri, have enacted similar bans, but those have been blocked by courts.

The Texas law has proved durable because enforcement is not up to the state but is left to private citizens, who can collect at least $10,000 if they successfully sue abortion providers or those who help a woman obtain an abortion.

Abortion rights groups had asked the U.S. Supreme Court to stop the law from going into effect, but the justices voted 5-4 not to intervene. The Biden administration subsequently sued to block the law last month, arguing it is unconstitutional. A federal judge on Oct. 6 ordered Texas to suspend the law; the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals on Oct. 9 temporarily reinstated it and reaffirmed its ruling on Thursday. The Biden administration said Friday it will ask the Supreme Court to block the Texas law while the case winds its way through the courts.

Court filings in the case, which the Supreme Court will ultimately decide, have already provided examples of how the near-total ban has played out.

Texas abortion clinic officials described turning away hundreds of patients. Those in nearby states said care for their own residents is being delayed in order to accommodate Texans making long trips. Patients have included rape victims, as the Texas law makes no exceptions in such cases.

According to an Oct. 7 PBS NewsHour report, at least 300 Texans have already sought care in Oklahoma, straining providers.

Advocates for abortion rights say the impact from the Texas law gives a glimpse of what is to come should other states copy it or a Mississippi law banning abortion after 15 weeks, which is currently before the Supreme Court. A decision is expected in that case in June.

The bottom line is, although Texas is at the core of what his happening right now, it isnt just about Texas, McNicholas said. There are many more places and states in the wings waiting to do the same thing.

If the Supreme Court decides to gut abortion protections provided in the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, 26 states are expected to ban the procedure, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that supports abortion rights. Missouri is one of those states.

That means up to 35,000 more women each year will turn to Illinois for an abortion, including 14,000 heading to southern Illinois, according to estimates by the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. And the system is already stretched.

If more than one state goes down, that burden is going to be felt in an exponential degree, McNicholas said. It wont just be figuring out where to move Texas patients, it will be figuring out where to move patients that account for nearly a quarter to half of the United States.

A post-Roe world

The Metro East abortion providers say they have been preparing for the scenario. Just this year, states have enacted a record-breaking 97 abortion restrictions, surpassing the highest count from 2011, when 89 restrictions were passed, according to Guttmacher.

In total, states have enacted 1,327 restrictions since Roe v. Wade was decided.

The mounting restrictions in Missouri  including two appointments 72 hours apart and a pelvic exam for medication abortions  have all but made abortions nearly nonexistent in the state. The rules left the state with just one abortion provider in St. Louis, so many patients decide to drive the extra 15 minutes to avoid the requirements.

We have long known and been helping patients navigate these intricate webs of restrictions, McNicholas said. Missourians face substantial difficulty navigating abortion access. We have a lot of experience in helping folks jumping through each of those hoops to access care. We are now just translating that to folks from different states.

King said the calls Hope Clinic has been getting lately sound exactly the same as the calls they got from Missourians two years ago when the state health department tried unsuccessfully to close the Planned Parenthood clinic in St. Louis by refusing to renew its license.

The desperation in peoples voices, the confusion that we are hearing. This is not new, King said. Every barrier makes patients more and more scared and adds more stigma to their care, and more desperation and fear that they wont get the care that they need and they wont know where to go and who to see.

The doctors say their staffs help women connect to abortion funds that help with travel logistics as well as the cost of the procedure, child care, travel expenses and hotel stays.

Part of our job is going to be reassuring folks that they can still access abortion care. It may not be immediately in their community, but they can  and we and others are here to help them figure that out, McNicholas said.

Abortion funds have long been a mainstay in helping women who cant afford the costs of the procedure or travel. But those services  often small nonprofits with few employees  are also stretched thin.

One abortion fund is the Midwest Access Coalition, which helps people traveling to and from the Midwest access abortion. Headquartered in Chicago, the nonprofit relies on a network of 200 volunteer hosts, drivers and others to help with travel, lodging, food, child care and emotional support.

Executive Director Diana Parker wrote in an email that she was too busy to talk to a reporter about how the organization has been affected: Right now we arent doing phone interviews based on our capacity with many more clients traveling right now (its almost 24/7 work currently).

McNicholas said providers in states such as Illinois are preparing for a post-Roe world by connecting with organizations across the country that work to help patients access abortion.

So that if access goes down, they have a point person in southern Illinois that they can call and say we are really struggling, she said.

The clinic is also considering adding employees and opening seven days a week instead of six. They are trying to build staff resiliency. Nearly every patient outside of Illinois calling for help is low-income and facing serious struggles at home, McNicholas said.

That can be heavy for staff, she said.

Jenna said while she plans to have a family some day, she cant right now.

I just started college. Im fresh out of high school. Im doing my life the correct way  graduating high school, going to college and getting my degree, she said. I accidentally got pregnant. Its kind of embarrassing. I havent told my family about it. Im not going to tell my family about it. Its a private thing. Im young. Im too young.

The Associated Press contributed information to this report.

Michele Munz  314-340-8263 @michelemunz on Twitter mmunz@post-dispatch.com

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CHARLESTON  Following a successful 13 years as president and CEO of South Carolina Ports, Jim Newsome announced his plans to retire from the helm on June 30, at which time he will serve as an executive adviser to the port.

SC Ports COO Barbara Melvin will become president and CEO of South Carolina Ports on July 1. Melvin will be the sixth leader in the history of the port and the first woman to lead a top 10 U.S. operating container port.

SC Ports Board of Directors unanimously approved the leadership change today during its October board meeting.

Jim Newsome has truly made a significant and lasting impact on South Carolinas economy and supply chain. He led a major turnaround effort of SC Ports when he joined in 2009, assuring SC Ports continues to flourish as a top 10 U.S. container port. Under his great leadership, we have seen significant growth at the port and at port-dependent businesses around the state, SC Ports Board Chairman Bill Stern said.

Barbara Melvin, who leads SC Ports operations team and has served at SC Ports for 24 years, will undoubtedly continue to build on the great success and growth at the port. It is not often that two impressive leaders work so well together over many years to achieve a shared vision. Their great partnership and visionary leadership sets SC Ports up for continued success.

Newsome has served at the helm of South Carolina Ports since 2009. During his tenure, Newsome has significantly enhanced port operations, grown the ports cargo base with strategic investments, led the doubling of cargo volumes in a decade, and successfully undertaken vital infrastructure projects. His efforts have ensured a fluid supply chain and created jobs throughout the state.

It has been my great honor to serve as CEO of South Carolina Ports. We have worked together to cultivate a highly competitive, world-class port that continues to grow above the market, Newsome said. This past year has been one of my proudest as we have achieved major successes, including Walmart investing in a near-port import distribution center, our handling of record-breaking volumes during a global pandemic, and the opening of Leatherman Terminal, the first container terminal to open in the U.S. since 2009. I have always said it is great people who make a great port, and we are fortunate to have the best maritime community and team at SC Ports. It is truly a great sign of success to name a successor within your own team. Barbara Melvin will continue to build on our success, ensuring a very bright future for SC Ports and for South Carolina.

Melvin joined SC Ports in 1998, serving in a variety of roles over the years. Melvin became senior vice president of operations and terminals in 2015 and assumed the role as chief operating officer in 2018. As COO, Melvin oversees the daily operations of the port and leads major infrastructure projects, such as the Charleston Harbor Deepening Project.

I am honored to be chosen to lead SC Ports and continue the positive momentum we have generated together. I am grateful and I am ready, Melvin said. With the guidance of our Board, the skill and talent of our team, the solid experience within our maritime community, and the support of elected, business and community leaders, SC Ports will achieve enhanced growth benefitting the state, region and nation. To our customers, we thank you, and please know that with additional opportunity, we will earn prosperity together. I am confident you all will join me in expressing our eternal gratitude to Jim Newsome for a job well done. Jims leadership has led us to success, and this inspires us, as we have so much more to accomplish together.

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"Stop the Steal" has a new and critical meaning.

That slogan has energized Donald Trump and his supporters as they promote their totally baseless claim that the 2020 election was rigged against them. But "Stop the Steal" now must animate Trump opponents, not acolytes. Those words describe the challenges of the future, not just the past -- of 2024, not 2020.

Trumpists are plotting to undermine the integrity of the next election, to make sure their hero doesn't lose again. Those who cried fraud the loudest are preparing to become felons themselves.

Richard Hasen, a leading authority on election law who teaches at the University of California's Irvine campus, sounded this alarm on CNN: "The reason I'm so scared is because you could look at 2020 as the nadir of American democratic processes, or you could look at it as a dress rehearsal ... Donald Trump's false claims that the last election was stolen, and the claims that are now believed by millions of people, have greatly increased the chances that the next time around, one way or another, we could see a stolen election in 2024."

Public attention has focused, with good reason, on malicious attempts by Republican-controlled state legislatures to suppress the votes of groups that trend Democratic -- the young, the poor and minorities. Nonwhite voters, who comprise one-third of the electorate, backed Biden by 71 to 26. Almost two-thirds of voters under 25 also supported Biden, as did more than three-quarters of those who said their financial situation is worse today than four years ago. So it's obvious why Republicans are desperate to diminish the political impact of these cohorts.

But that battle is only part of the threat. The next election could be pilfered not just through voter suppression, but through subversion of the system itself -- not just in altering how votes are cast, but how they are counted.

"Election subversion is not about making it harder for people to vote, but about manipulating the outcome of the election so that the loser is declared the winner or put in power," Hasen told Politico. "It's the kind of thing that I never expected we would worry about in the United States. I never thought that in this country, at this point in our democracy, we would worry about the fairness of the actual vote counting. But we have to worry about that now."

"Election subversion" takes many forms. In some cases, officials who stood up to Trump's Big Lie -- including a number of courageous Republicans -- are being hounded from office. To take one example from Michigan: Aaron Van Langevelde, a Republican member of the state elections board who voted with Democrats to certify Biden's victory, was vilified by critics and denied reappointment.

In Georgia, Trump has conducted a fierce campaign against Gov. Brian Kemp, another Republican who refused to upend Biden's clear victory in his state. During a recent rally in the town of Perry, Trump called Kemp a "complete disaster on election integrity" and added, "I'm ashamed that I endorsed him."

Trump has promoted a primary challenger to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who also resisted his pressures to overturn the election results. At the rally, Trump denounced him as "incompetent and strange," adding, "there's something wrong with this guy."

Even more insidiously, Republican legislators are altering state laws to give themselves more power to influence and even overrule independent election officials.

This subversion strategy is bolstered by an incessant campaign to convince Trump supporters that he cannot possibly lose except through fraud -- a blatant attempt to sow seeds of distrust in not just the last election, but the next one. "In my opinion, there is no way they win elections without cheating. There's no way. There's no way," the ex-president told a rally in Arizona.

His campaign of confusion and disinformation is working. In a recent CNN poll, 36% of all Americans and 78% of Republicans say Biden did not legitimately win last year.

The danger is clear. When it comes to the next election, Trump is planning to be the violator, not the victim; the robber, not the cop. Friends of democracy -- Republicans and Democrats alike -- must mobilize. Stopping the next steal is imperative.

Steven Roberts teaches politics and journalism at George Washington University. He can be contacted by email at stevecokie@gmail.com.

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On Sept. 11, 2019, then-President Donald Trump announced that due to vaping-related lung injuries, his administration would be banning flavored nicotine vaping products. The ban was announced despite the fact that it had already been proven that these lung injuries were being caused by black market marijuana vape products that contained vitamin E acetate. This ban was announced despite the abundance of evidence to the contrary of their stated reasoning.

Trump went on to ban flavors in pod systems in early 2020. By then, the damage that was done extended far beyond those products. Even prior to the outbreak, adult smokers and ex-smokers had been convinced vaping was more harmful than cigarettes, despite scientists repeatedly showing that vaping is 95% safer. The heightened alarmism around the lung injuries immediately reversed the 4 to 5% annual decline in smoking rates our country has enjoyed since vaping became prevalent in 2015. It also resulted in the first annual increase in smoking rate in 30 years, and only the second annual increase in smoking rates since data started being collected in 1965.

When President Joe Biden began his campaign for president, he quickly adopted the term follow the science. After several years of desperately fighting for the ability to continue offering smokers a less harmful way to treat their addiction, this was music to my ears. As someone who finally defeated a 16-year smoking addiction via vaping, only to have my doctor tell me that they couldnt tell that I vaped (or had ever smoked!) just two years later, I was overjoyed by the idea of a leader that would address health issues in a professional and logical matter.

Needless to say, Biden got my vote, as well as the votes of many vapers we informed on the issue. Biden went on to win my home state of Arizona by a handful of votes, and I was proud to have contributed to that victory. I looked forward to reasonable, sensible regulation on vapor products, specifically geared toward restricting youth access. For some time, it appeared thats exactly what was happening. Only a week after taking office, Biden announced an initiative to restore faith in government scientists. At the beginning of August, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy announced a review of scientific integrity policies in order to ban improper political interference in the conduct of scientific research.

Unfortunately, these positive steps were almost immediately followed up with actions that went entirely contrary to those steps and the goals they claimed to work toward. In recent weeks, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has begun delivering baseless remarks using the exact verbiage which previously appeared on the websites of anti-vape special interest groups including Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, Parents Against Vaping, the ironically named Truth Initiative, as well as several others that are also funded by outspoken vaping prohibitionist and billionaire donor Michael Bloomberg. Meanwhile, the evidence-based arguments of scientists like long-time public health official Cliff Douglas and an additional recent coalition of scientists have gone unheard of by the Biden administration.

Then, a few days ago, the unthinkable happened. Small mom-and-pop vapor companies across the country began getting letters from Bidens FDA denying them the ability to continue to help adult smokers with their products. Millions of flavored vaping products were ordered off the market, with no regard for the tens of millions of vapers nationwide who depend on them to stay away from smoking. This decision was made by the Biden administration despite studies showing the majority will likely return to cigarettes. That decision was made without following the science."

Biden earned my vote with a single promise. It turned out to be a promise that he not only didnt keep but sprinted in the opposite direction. While I didnt love Trumps approach to vaping, in the end, he did see the light on this issue and allowed me to continue using the products that help me stay smoke-free. Instead of following the science, Biden is about to condemn tens of millions of us to a fate where two out of three of us will die painfully. None of us who survive until Election Day will forget this. Ill make sure of that.

Dave Morris is a board director with the American Vapor Manufacturers Association and president of the Arizona Smoke Free Business Alliance. He wrote this for InsideSources.com.

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Long lines of voters generally won't be a problem for this year's off-year elections in South Carolina.

The experience of voters casting early ballots during the 2020 election in South Carolina was a good one, devoid of the problems from other states. Lawmakers should take a close look at formally establishing a standard early period to cast ballots in person.

Already the state has an expansive system of early voting via absentee ballot, with the primary debate surrounding that process being the requirement for a mailed-in ballot to have a witness signature.

That signature requirement can and should remain.

Voting absentee is available to any registered voter citing one of the official reasons to vote absentee. The expansive list makes absentee voting essentially early voting.

Voters qualified to vote by absentee ballot are:

 Members of the armed forces

 Members of the merchant marine

 Spouses and dependents residing with members of the armed forces or merchant marine

 Persons serving with the American Red Cross or with the United Service Organizations who are attached to and serving with the armed forces outside their county of residence and their spouses and dependents residing with them

 Citizens residing overseas

 Persons who are physically disabled (includes illnesses and injuries)

 Students attending school outside their county of residence and their spouses and dependents residing with them

 Persons who for reasons of employment will not be able to vote on election day

 Government employees serving outside their county of residence on Election Day and their spouses and dependents residing with them

 Persons who plan to be on vacation outside their county of residence on Election Day

 Persons serving as a juror in state or federal court on Election Day

 Persons admitted to the hospital as emergency patients on Election Day or within a four-day period before the election

 Persons with a death or funeral in the family within three days before the election

 Persons confined to a jail or pretrial facility pending disposition of arrest or trial

 Persons attending sick or physically disabled persons

 Certified poll watchers, poll managers, and county election officials working on Election Day

 Persons 65 years of age or older

Absentee voting is important right now because it is less than a month before Election Day on Nov. 2. The absentee voting period is open.

To vote in person:

 Visit your county elections office up until 5 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 1.

 Complete an application.

 Show your photo ID and cast your ballot.

To vote by mail:

 Print an application from scVOTES.gov or ask your county elections office to mail you one.

 Complete, sign and return the application to your county elections office ASAP by email, mail, fax or personal delivery.

 Return your application at least two weeks before Election Day to provide time for receiving and returning your ballot by mail.

 The deadline to return your application is 5 p.m. Oct. 29. Applying late puts your ballot at risk of not being returned by the deadline.

 Receive your absentee ballot in the mail.

 Vote the ballot following ballot instructions and return the ballot to your county elections office either by mail or personal delivery. Be sure to sing the voters oath and have your signature witnessed. Anyone can witness your signature.

 Ballots must be received by the county elections office no later than 7 p.m. on Nov 2.

 Ballots returned by mail should be mailed no later than one week prior to election day to help ensure timely delivery.

 You can have another person return your ballot by completing an Authorization to Return Absentee Ballot Form.

There are reasons to pay attention locally. Elections for mayor and council seats are being held in the towns of Cordova, Elloree, Eutawville, Holly Hill, Neeses, Rowesville, Springfield, Vance and Woodford. And council seats are to be decided in Bowman, Branchville, North and Norway.

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Steve Frame Band at VFW

The Casper Dance Club has scheduled The Steve Frame Band to play for a dance at the VFW at 1800 Bryan Stock Trail from 69 p.m. on Sat., Oct. 23! Fee is $6. So bring some goodies for the potluck held about 7, if you wish.

Please dont come, if you are ill!

Free Cowboy Ethics training

The Cowboy Ethics program has helped thousands of students set clear goals and reach for the best in themselves. Learn the Cowboy Way at a free Cowboy Ethics training to be held in Riverton on Saturday, Oct. 23, at the Rendezvous Elementary School (413 North 4th Street, Riverton).

This training is geared toward teachers and other youth development professionals. The Be Somebody: Cowboy Ethics program can help inspire and lead youth to become stronger citizens with stronger character using the American cowboy and the Code of the West as inspirational themes. The results can be seen in measurably improved GPAs, the transformations reported by teachers and youth group leaders, and how students themselves say theyve changed.

This free training for the first 25 registrants, a $350 value, is generously sponsored by the John P. Ellbogen Foundation. For out-of-town guests, The Ellbogen Foundation is also providing free hotel rooms in Riverton the night before (Oct. 22). Lunch is included during the training. Participants can receive a .5 PTSB credit.

Training includes an 8-hour group training session, along with curricula for each participant, and three years of follow-up assistance, curriculum updates, and monthly newsletters.

If theres one thing we can all agree upon its that we need to do something to help kids in our communities reach their full potential, said Jim Owen, Founder of the Center For Cowboy Ethics & Leadership.

To register for the training, please contact Sara Beth Lyon, Cowboy Ethics Outreach Coordinator, at (307-265-2427; or via email at: slyon@bgccw.org. You may also register online at https://wyomingyouth.org/trainingsandevents. Registration deadline is Friday, Oct. 15.

Baklava and Greek pastries sale

The Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church is taking orders for its annual bake sale of baklava and Greek pastries.

To place your order, call (307) 237-4470, or text to 307-251-5134, or email order to: pkofakis@gmail.com.

Prices are the same great value at $25 per 1 dozen baklava or $25 for a tin of three each of four other pastries. Order by Nov. 7. Pick up and pay for your order at the Church, 1350 East C Street in Casper on Saturday, Nov. 20, between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. Proceeds support the philanthropic work of the Ladies Philoptochos Society. These pastries make the perfect dessert or gift and will be ready for pickup just in time for the Holidays!

Meat shoot set for November

Rocky Mountain Gun Club will be having a meat shoot Friday, Nov. 5, from 5 to 10 p.m. Cost is $5 a round. Bring your family and friends and have fun shooting clay targets. Dress warm you never know what the weather will be like. Ladies bring your friends and show off your shooting skills. We are open every Sunday from noon to 5 for practice. The club is 7 miles north of I-25 on Cole Creek Road. Call 307-235-8067 for more information. See you there.

Youth jam night at St. Stephens Episcopal Church

Saint Stephens Episcopal Church presents a new gathering for Caspers youth. It is called Youth Jam Night and is designed for any and all Casper youth to come and enjoy music and fellowship with fellow musicians. Bring your favorite musical instrument or if you do not have one, we will have a few for the youth to use. The first meeting will be on Sunday Oct. 24 from 6-9 p.m. at S.t Stephens Church 4700 S. Poplar and will include introductions and planning for future meetings. Pizza and drinks will be served. Come and enjoy the fellowship and maybe even have fun playing your favorite instrument. For more info, call Ray Pierce at 307-660-4727. All youth and young adults are welcome!

October at the Casper Planetarium

The Casper Planetarium is featuring Halloween: Celestial Origins, a show about how legends, science, and tradition combine to create some of our familiar Halloween celebrations. Learn how our traditions can be traced back to ancient Celtic festivals, the Christian tradition of All Hallows Eve, the astronomical functions of Stonehenge, and more. Halloween: Celestial Origins plays on Tuesday through Friday afternoons at 4 p.m. and Saturday evenings at 7 p.m. all through October.

The show also includes a brief live Star Talk about the stars, planets, and constellations currently visible in our night skies.

Running time is about 30 minutes, and the show is recommended for ages 8 and up. Admission is just $3 per person (cash or check only please).

For more details, visit casperplanetarium.com.

Bozeman Trail Exhibit at Fort Caspar

Laramies American Heritage Centers travelling exhibit The Bozeman Trail Diaries of Robert Dunlap Clarke will be on display at Fort Caspar Museum from Sept. 15 through Nov. 27.

Learn about the Bozeman Trail, often called The Bloody Bozeman because of violent Indian attacks on travelers.

The attacks were a result of the trail, which began in 1863, being an illegal shortcut to the Montana goldfields through lands given to the Oglala Sioux as part of the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851.

Major Clarke was a paymaster for U.S. troops stationed along the Bozeman Trail, so he traveled this route twice on his rounds, in both 1867 and 1868, recording events in two diaries.

In the exhibit, you will read excerpts from his diaries and see copies of hand-written pages, pencil sketches, and colorful drawings.

In October, the Museums hours will change from a daily schedule of 8:30 am to 5:00 pm to a five-day-a-week schedule, open Tuesdays through Saturdays.

Because the fort buildings will be locked for the winter, admission prices will go from $4 for adults and $3 for youth (ages 13-18 years) and seniors (ages 62 and over) to half price.

Children 12 years and younger and Museum members are always free.

Fort Caspar is located at 4001 Fort Caspar Road in Casper, and our phone number is 307-235-8462.

Ghost tours at fort

Calling all Ghost Hunters! Fort Caspar Museum and the Casper Area Paranormal Seekers are again joining forces to offer Ghost Tours of the Fort on the evenings of Oct. 22-23, 29-30. Tickets go on sale Oct. 1 at the Museum.

The hour-long tours will begin every twenty minutes with the first tour leaving at 7:00 p.m. and the last leaving at 10:40 p.m. each night.

This is a ticketed event, and advance purchase is highly recommended.

The $9 tickets are available for sale at Fort Caspar Museum in person (or over the phone with a credit card) and will be sold on a first come, first served basis. Due to COVID-19 concerns, all participants MUST wear masks for this event.

Only ten spaces are available for each hour-long tour. The tours will occur at the following times each night: 7:00 p.m., 7:20 p.m., 7:40 p.m., 8:00 p.m., 8:20 p.m., 8:40 p.m., 9:00 p.m., 9:20 p.m., 9:40 p.m., 10:00 p.m., 10:20 p.m., and 10:40 p.m.

This is not a scary, haunted house kind of experience. During the tours, the Paranormal Seekers will demonstrate how they use detecting equipment to find evidence of paranormal activity in several of the fort buildings.

Ticket holders should wear good shoes and dress warmly for walking outdoors, between the buildings in the dark.

Bring a flashlight and a digital camera if you wish, and again, face coverings are required.

Children under eight years of age are discouraged from participating.

For more information, call the Museum at 307-235-8462 or visit our website at fortcasparwyoming.com.

Fort Caspar Museum is located at 4001 Fort Caspar Road in Casper, Wyoming.

In October, the Museum is open 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Tuesdays through Saturdays.

UU Casper Services and Events

The Unitarian Universalist Community of Casper is a doctrine-free spiritual community joining together to make a difference for the good and welcoming all who come with open hearts and open minds. UU Casper is now holding dual in-person/Zoom services. Attend in-person at 1040 West 15th Street: face coverings are required in the building during Sunday services to protect the most vulnerable among us. A childrens religious exploration program and child care are available. To attend on Zoom, visit the Attend an Online Service tab at uucasper.org for a link.

On Oct. 24, Melody Haler and Athne Machdane will present Beauty of Our ancestors, to honor our ancestry and lineage. During this service, Athne Machdane will present I look to the mountains, a tribute to their great-uncle, Albert W. Bailey, a decorated veteran of World War II, a professor at Casper College, and an elite mountain climber throughout the world. His life was an epic cliffhanger in more ways than one! Also, Jim Bailey will offer a musical reprise of Memories, a poem by Tammy Dominguez. Everyone will be invited to share a brief story about an ancestor that is important to them. Oct. 31 is a Discussion Forum Sunday on the theme of Beauty. On November 7th Reverend Leslie Kee will introduce the November worship theme Progress and Prospective.

The UU Casper weekly online meditation is held each Tuesday at 6:30 p.m., and online Coffee and Conversation is held online each Thursday at 10 a.m.

Everyone and all ages are invited to attend Meditation Drumming Circle to be held at 7 p.m. on Oct. 28. No experience is necessary for this free and free-flowing meditation drumming circle, led by Brenda Evans, and instruments are available for sharing.

The UU Casper Book Club is reading The Aviators Wife by Melanie Benjamin, with discussion to be held (in-person and on Zoom) Oct. 25 6:30 p.m.

For more events and information, and a link to attend online, go to uucasper.org, visit UU Casper on Facebook, or email news@uucasper.org.

October at Historic Bishop Home

Select either a tea box to take to your spooky place, or in-person tea at the Historic Bishop Home. The date is Oct. 30. You are invited to choose the option best for you: Order your tea in a box to enjoy in your own mysterious place while solving the mystery of who won the Fall Bake-off competition. Each box contains an assortment of tea sandwiches, scones, desserts, tea, and condiments for one person. Tea Boxes must be picked up at the Historic Bishop Home between noon and 1 p.m. on Oct. 30, or enjoy a three-course sit down tea with friends at the Historic Bishop Homes Honky Tonk Saloon while solving an old -fashioned WHO DUNNIT mystery! Teatime is 2:00 p.m. The tea costs $35 per person ($10 is a donation to support the Historic Bishop Home). Select your option and reserve by Oct. 27.

For reservations, please call 307-235-5277 or email info@cadomafoundation.org. Reservations are confirmed by mailing a check payable to the Cadoma Foundation

818 East Second Street, Casper, Wyoming 82601.

You may also reserve and pay on www.cadomafoundation.org.

October brings the continuation of restoration work at the Historic Bishop Home. We are excited the old, cracked driveway and sidewalks will be replaced, and the garage removed to improve access. These projects are made possible through the generosity of the Wyoming Cultural Trust Fund and many local donors. The home will remain open for touring during these restorations. Access from Second Street will be restricted during construction, so visitors need to enter from the homes parking lot off Lincoln Street.

In additional news, our interns are developing a photo display focusing on community involvement. Please plan to visit the home on Tuesday, Thursday, or Saturday between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. to view the new displays. The home is located at 818 East Second Street between Lincoln and Jefferson. A minimum donation of $2 per person is requested. For additional information visit www. Cadomafoundation.org, follow the Bishop Home Museum on Facebook, or call 307-235-5277.

Troopers selling Christmas wreaths

The Casper Troopers Drum & Bugle Corps are offering fresh evergreen Christmas wreaths for sale. These wreaths sell for $30 and will be delivered to your door-step between Nov. 30 and Dec. 6. These wreaths make wonderful Christmas gifts. To order a wreath please call the Trooper office at 307-472-2141,Trooper Bingo 307-265-2464 or Ted Gilbert at 307-265-2894. Have a glorious and wonderful holiday season!

Free dance classes weekly

Free line dance classes are still on at the Eagles every Wednesday, 6:15 to 7:30 p.m. Families welcome. 306 N. Durbin, use back door.

Celebrate 31 years of Women in the Word

Women in the Word is for any woman regardless of age, background or faith who wants to grow in Gods word, learn and share with each other.

Beginning Sept. 15, Women in the Word will meet Wednesdays from 9:15 to 10:45 a.m., at Highland Park Community Church with childcare provided. Register online at casperwomenintheword.com.

Find us on Facebook at Casper Women in the Word.

Call Angela (307-267-8061) or Barbara (307-277-3366) with questions.

Library closes Sundays. The library is on summer hours, which are Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., closed Sundays.

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WASHINGTON  A House committee tasked with investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection is moving swiftly Tuesday to hold at least one of Donald Trumps allies in contempt as the former president is pushing back on the probe in a new lawsuit.

Trump is aggressively trying to block the committees work by directing former White House aide Steve Bannon not to answer questions in the probe while also suing the panel to try to prevent Congress from obtaining former White House documents. But lawmakers on the House committee say they will not back down as they gather facts and testimony about the attack involving Trumps supporters that left dozens of police officers injured, sent lawmakers running for their lives and interrupted the certification of President Joe Bidens victory.

The former presidents clear objective is to stop the Select Committee from getting to the facts about January 6th and his lawsuit is nothing more than an attempt to delay and obstruct our probe, said Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., and Republican Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, the panels vice chairwoman, in a joint statement late Monday.

They added: Its hard to imagine a more compelling public interest than trying to get answers about an attack on our democracy and an attempt to overturn the results of an election.

Trumps lawsuit, filed after Biden decided to waive his right to block the document release over executive privilege concerns, claims that the panels August request was overly broad and a vexatious, illegal fishing expedition, according to papers filed in federal court in the District of Columbia.

The lawsuit was expected, as Trump has repeatedly made clear that he will challenge the investigation of the violent attack by a mob of his supporters. But Trumps challenge went beyond the initial 125 pages of records that Biden recently cleared for release to the committee. The suit, which names the committee as well as the National Archives, seeks to invalidate the entirety of the congressional request, calling it overly broad, unduly burdensome and a challenge to separation of powers. It requests a court injunction to bar the archivist from producing the documents.

The Biden administration, in clearing the documents for release, said the violent siege of the Capitol more than nine months ago was such an extraordinary circumstance that it merited waiving the privilege that usually protects White House communications.

The legal challenge came a day before the panel is scheduled to vote to recommend that Bannon be held in criminal contempt of Congress for his defiance of the committees demands for documents and testimony. In a resolution released Monday, and scheduled to be voted out of the panel on Tuesday, the committee asserts that the former Trump aide and podcast host has no legal standing to rebuff the committee  even as Trumps lawyer has argued that Bannon should not disclose information because it is protected by the privilege of the former presidents office.

Bannon was a private citizen when he spoke to Trump ahead of the attack, the committee said, and Trump has not asserted any such executive privilege claims to the panel itself.

Mr. Bannon appears to have played a multi-faceted role in the events of January 6th, and the American people are entitled to hear his first-hand testimony regarding his actions, the committee wrote in the resolution.

The resolution lists many ways in which Bannon was involved in the leadup to the insurrection, including reports that he encouraged Trump to focus on Jan. 6, the day Congress certified the presidential vote, and his comments on Jan. 5 that all hell is going to break loose the next day.

Once the committee votes on the Bannon contempt measure, it will go to the full House for a vote and then on to the Justice Department, which would decide whether to prosecute.

In a letter obtained by The Associated Press, the White House also worked to undercut Bannons argument. Deputy Counsel Jonathan Su wrote that the presidents decision on the documents applied to Bannon, too, and at this point we are not aware of any basis for your clients refusal to appear for a deposition.

President Bidens determination that an assertion of privilege is not justified with respect to these subjects applies to your clients deposition testimony and to any documents your client may possess concerning either subject, Su wrote to Bannons lawyer.

Bannons attorney said he had not yet seen the letter and could not comment on it. While Bannon has said he needs a court order before complying with his subpoena, former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and former White House and Pentagon aide Kashyap Patel have been negotiating with the committee. It is unclear whether a fourth former White House aide, Dan Scavino, will comply.

The committee has also subpoenaed more than a dozen people who helped plan Trump rallies ahead of the siege, and some of them have already said they would turn over documents and give testimony.

The committee has demanded a broad range of executive branch papers related to intelligence gathered before the attack, security preparations during and before the siege, the pro-Trump rallies held that day and Trumps false claims that he won the election, among other matters.

Associated Press Writers Zeke Miller, Nomaan Merchant and Eric Tucker contributed to this report.

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Cases of COVID-19 at Wyoming prison facilities have spiked to their highest total since the start of the pandemic.

The most recent round of testing found 148 total cases of coronavirus across the states five facilities. The week before last, just 19 cases of COVID-19 were identified.

Last week, 109 people incarcerated at the Wyoming Medium Correctional Institution in Torrington tested positive for COVID-19.

Seven staff members at WMCI were also found to have the virus. As of mid-September, 574 people were incarcerated at the Torrington facility.

The 116 total cases detected at the facility are the largest outbreak in Wyoming prisons since the beginning of the pandemic, Wyoming Department of Corrections spokesperson Paul Martin said Monday.

While the state experienced a few smaller outbreaks in prisons earlier this year, Martin said that staffing shortages and employees in quarantine have made operations more difficult at WMCI. Staff that are still able to work, Martin said, are having to take over duties to which they arent normally assigned.

Two people in contact with people incarcerated at WMCI told the Star-Tribune that due to a lack of room for isolation and distancing at the facility, dozens of people have been sleeping on the floor of the facilitys gym. Martin denied that on Monday, saying that the prison has enough beds for every person, with some extra spots still open to his knowledge.

WMCI has been in a complete lockdown since last week, which means residents have 30 minutes out of their cells each day to shower, exercise and make calls. They take meals in their units, Martin said, and schooling and other programs have been paused.

Seventeen inmates also tested positive at the Wyoming Honor Farm in Riverton last week.

The Wyoming Honor Conservation Camp found seven total cases, two among staff. Five tested positive at the Wyoming Womens Center and three at the Wyoming State Penitentiary, with three of those cases coming from facility employees.

From late summer through the early fall, unvaccinated staff were driving infections among employees and inmates. Staff vaccination rates through the end of August were 38%, in line with Wyomings general adult population, while around 58% of the prisons incarcerated populations were fully inoculated. Updated numbers were not immediately available Monday.

According to the Wyoming Department of Corrections policies, 20% of inmates and staff at all facilities are tested for COVID during any given week. If testing finds at least one case, the entire facility is tested the following week.

While Martin said Monday that this testing policy is still being followed, two of the Star-Tribunes sources familiar with the prison said that in some cases, people who had tested positive were removed from the testing pool for up to three months after their case was detected. Martin said that the testing pools remain the same regardless of past test results.

Martin said that WDOCs COVID protocols have not changed over the course of the pandemic, even during surge periods, and that sanitizing, distancing and PPE are still mandated inside all facilities.

Follow city and crime reporter Ellen Gerst on Twitter at @ellengerst.

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GILLETTE  A Gillette man who shot and killed his friend in 2020 will serve three to 10 years in prison.

Joshua Lewis Campbell, 22, was charged in the death of 21-year-old Tanner Miller on June 2, 2020. In October 2020, Campbell pleaded not guilty, but in June, he changed his plea to no contest to one count of manslaughter.

On Thursday, District Judge Thomas W. Rumpke went along with the prosecutions recommended sentence of three to 10 years in prison.

Campbells defense attorney, Steven Titus, asked Rumpke to suspend the prison sentence in favor of five years of probation.

Campbell said June 2, 2020, was the worst day of his life.

I shot and killed one of my best friends, he said Thursday.

An affidavit of probable cause filed in the case said that Miller, Campbell and another friend had gone to the apartment June 2, 2020, after having dinner with another friend. At about 9 p.m., they left to buy more alcohol and then went back to the apartment.

Before Miller parked the vehicle, he let Campbell and the other man out so they could get into the apartment.

As a prank, the two locked the apartment door and turned off the lights, with the intent of scaring Miller with rifles when he came in, according to the affidavit. The other man checked the 30-30 rifle he had to make sure it wasnt loaded, but didnt know if Campbell checked his AR-15.

Miller attempted to enter the apartment a couple of times, according to the affidavit. Campbell then unlocked the door and Tanner walked into the apartment and turned on the lights.

Campbell then reportedly fired a shot at close range when Miller was about 8-10 feet inside the apartment, according to the affidavit.

Campbell, who had a blood alcohol content of 0.103%, told police that he thought it was an intruder  and had said he shot an intruder when he called 911 to report it at about 9:30 p.m. June 2, according to the affidavit.

He then said in the 911 call that the intruder was his friend, Tanner Miller.

A forensic pathologist estimated the rifle was fired no farther than 3 inches from the left side of Millers head.

I feared for my life, Campbell told police. I asked him several times who he was and he would not respond and he came through my door very fast. I was standing off to the side when I defended myself.

Miller was still alive when law enforcement and emergency crews arrived, but he died at 10:45 p.m. at Campbell County Memorial Hospital.

On Thursday, Campbell said hes had nightmares about that event ever since, and some nights when hes trying to fall asleep hell hear the gunshot or see the muzzle flash.

He said hes sorry for the pain hes caused not only to Millers family, but his own family as well, and that everything could have been prevented if he hadnt been drinking.

He said he wished he could go back in time and tell himself to not drink, because its not worth it.

Titus said that unlike most 22-year-olds who are charged with a felony, Campbell comes from a good family and has a good job and ambition.

Prosecutor Nathan Henkes said that despite the mental anguish that Campbell has experienced, he is not the victim in this case.

Tanner lost his life at no fault of his own, Henkes said.

Rumpke said that given the circumstances of the case, straight probation is not warranted.

The bottom line in this case is, there is a dead body, he said.

Millers death was a result of alcohol and reckless gun play, Rumpke said, and the consequences need to reflect the seriousness of Campbells actions.

He said the evidence in the case doesnt support Campbells version of events, which state that he shot Miller because he feared for his life. While he believes Campbell has accepted responsibility for the actions leading up to the shooting  mixing alcohol with guns  he doesnt believe Campbell accepted responsibility for the shooting itself.

More than two dozen people showed up to the sentencing, and several of them read statements to Rumpke.

Millers father, Mike Miller, acknowledged that whatever sentence Campbell is given will do nothing to change what happened on June 2.

Tanner will not be coming home, he said.

Campbells girlfriend, Sheyenne Bremer, said Campbell will punish himself the rest of his life.

Campbells mother, Julie Oakley, said her sons poor decisions changed the futures of many people that day, and that will carry a burden of immense guilt, agony and pain for the rest of his life. This, she said, is the true punishment.

Bremer worried about how prison would affect Campbell, adding that prison is for dangerous people, and Josh is not dangerous. She asked Rumpke to sentence him to probation so that he can be around people who love and support him.

Campbell was a good kid who showed a loving commitment to friends and family, Oakley said.

She said her son has become a recluse since Millers death. Bremer said Campbell rarely goes out in public, and that hes become sad and empty.

Campbells stepbrother, Jeremy Oakley, said Campbell has been a great uncle to his niece and nephew, and that Campbell is very motivated to be successful.

And his sister, Rebecca Campbell, said Joshua has been her protector and played a very important role in her life, and that she couldnt imagine coming back home without him there.

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CHEYENNE (WNE)  A former Cheyenne counselor convicted of sexually assaulting a patient and defrauding Medicaid received prison time during a hearing Friday morning in Laramie County District Court.

Laramie County District Judge Catherine Rogers sentenced William Dale Robinson to three to five years of incarceration for the sexual assault charge. A 12- to 16-month sentence for a felony charge associated with incorrectly billing Medicaid will run concurrently with this sentence. Robinson had one day of credit for time served.

Robinson pleaded guilty in July to two felony charges as part of a stipulated plea agreement: second-degree sexual assault by a health care provider and obtaining property by false pretenses in an amount greater than $1,000.

Robinson brought with him to the courtroom a cashiers check for $6,397.36  the amount hed falsely claimed from Medicaid  which hed agreed to pay in restitution to the Wyoming Department of Healths Division of Healthcare Financing.

While working as a licensed professional counselor and part-owner of Capitol Counseling, 1918 Thomes Ave., Robinson had an ongoing sexual relationship with a patient, according to a probable cause affidavit filed in the case. In the plea agreement, he said hed approached the woman during a June 2018 therapy session about beginning the sexual relationship.

Robinson said he and the woman had sexual contact during a regularly scheduled therapy session in July 2018, and that he billed Medicaid and received reimbursement for both the June and July visits.

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Wyoming Sen. Anthony Bouchards campaign for U.S. House experienced a stark drop in fundraising in the most recent quarter, according to newly released federal campaign finance data.

In quarter three  which spans from July to September  the campaign raised $65,500. Thats compared to $213,000 in the second quarter and $334,500 in the first quarter. Bouchards campaign has roughly $87,000 left in the bank.

The campaign has considerably less cash on hand than Bouchards opponents: Rep. Liz Cheney has almost $3,700,000 left in the bank, while Harriet Hageman, who received the coveted endorsement of former President Donald Trump, has almost $245,000.

Bouchard, a state senator from Cheyenne who was the first Republican to challenge Cheney, did not respond to request for comment.

After a second quarter of big spending, the campaigns expenses decreased dramatically, campaign finance records for the third quarter show. Bouchard only spent $87,000, compared to $255,500 in the previous quarter. Only 17% of total campaign expenditures came in the third quarter.

That said, the Bouchard campaign spent over $80,000 on fundraising in the second quarter, and only about $4,300 in the third quarter, which may have contributed to the drop in cash the campaign experienced in the latest quarter.

The lack in spending in the third quarter contrasts from what Bouchard said he planned to do this quarter, however.

Ive made expanding my Wyoming donor base a top priority, Bouchard told the Star-Tribune at the end of the second quarter in late June.

Bouchard received about $21,000 in itemized donations during the third quarter. Of those, about a third came from donors who listed Wyoming addresses.

That said, the itemized donations do not provide a full picture, especially for Bouchard who has accumulated 67% of his total dollars from un-itemized donations. A donation only becomes itemized when a donor exceeds $200 in one or across multiple donations.

One notable Wyomingite who donated to Bouchards campaign was Troy Bray. Bray, a precinct committeeman in Park County, made news recently because of the obscene email he sent to Sen. Tara Nethercott, R-Cheyenne. Bouchard has stood by the Park County GOP official.

Bouchard also said this summer that he hoped to exceed $1 million in total donations before the end of the year. As of the end of September, he amassed about $613,000. Bouchard has taken zero dollars in PAC money to date.

I think [Bouchard] also thinks that now is a good time to cool it. People are getting burned out on this race and keep asking us when they can go vote, April Poley, his campaign coordinator said. They dont even realize that (the primary is) next summer.

Trumps endorsement of Hageman came during the third quarter. News of the Hageman endorsement broke on Sept. 8, and was officially announced the following day.

Donations to Bouchards campaign did not appear to change dramatically following news of the endorsement. Trumps endorsement of Hageman did, however, trigger Cheyenne businessman Darin Smith and Rep. Chuck Gray, R-Casper, to drop out of the race.

Bouchard entered the race in late January, only days after Cheney voted to impeach Trump over the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. Cheney was later censured by the state GOP for her vote and has refused to back down from criticizing the president.

Bouchard continues to run a campaign thats pointedly against Cheney, and has recently taken to the strategy of likening Hageman to Cheney, calling Hageman Cheney 2.0.

Hageman, who was in the race for three weeks before the quarter three deadline came, raised over $300,000, notably more than the state senator.

Midway through the second quarter, Bouchard made national headlines after it was revealed that he impregnated a 14 year old girl when he was 18. He married the girl when she was 15 and he was 19, and they divorced a couple years later, Bouchard told the Star-Tribune.

The next couple quarters will reveal whether Bouchards downward trend in fundraising will continue.

Follow state politics reporter Victoria Eavis on Twitter @Victoria_Eavis

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POWELL  While some Wyomingites and Republican officials have been hesitant to endorse the COVID-19 vaccines, U.S. Sen. John Barrasso has no such qualms.

As a doctor, I believe in vaccines. Vaccines work, Barrasso said in a Thursday interview in Powell.

The senator, who is a medical doctor, praised the work that was done to develop the COVID vaccines quickly and said they have his support.

If you have questions, check with your own doctor, Barrasso said, encouraging people to talk with healthcare providers they trust. But Ive been vaccinated, Ive had the booster, my wifes been vaccinated, my kids have all been vaccinated.

However, Barrasso also described himself as anti-mandate.

I just think its important for people to make their own decisions and not be told that they have to do something, he said. That doesnt work with people in Wyoming. I think it just hardens folks when Washington tries to tell us to do anything.

Wyoming lawmakers are set to hold a special session later this month to address the Biden administrations plans to require many Americans to receive vaccinations.

In general, Barrasso complained that Democrats are not involving Republicans in decisions at a time when the 100-member Senate is evenly split between the two parties.

.... Theyre trying to cram things down the throats of the American people  whether it has to do with taxes, spending, borrowing, American energy, all of those things that are to the far left, he said, things that I believe of as being radical and extreme and dangerous and scary.

He described the Republicans as trying to derail a freight train to socialism that the Democrats are trying to drive down the tracks.

Earlier, Barrasso fielded a series of questions from Powell Middle School students, including on the hardest parts of being a senator.

He said one difficulty is that just about every bill features some sections that are good for Wyoming and others that are not.

Thats really the challenge, Barrasso said. Because you cant make everybody happy when you cant get the bill perfect for what youd like.  Ultimately, they call your name, and you have to vote.

The senator also said its difficult when a good idea fails to work out as legislation, noting that it took a couple tries to pass the popular Hathaway Scholarship program when he served in the Wyoming Legislature.

He also encouraged the students to be positive, confident and optimistic during hard times.

Barrasso opened his talk with a couple questions of his own, including asking if any of the Powell students wanted to be president of the United States. A few put up their hands and explained their goals; one student said she would seek to make the news media tell the truth and another potential presidential candidate drew a big ovation after saying he would make America great again.

Barrasso told the students that we are a great nation, recalling that his late father, a World War II veteran, frequently told him you dont know how fortunate you are.

... Every day as a senator, he said, I thank God for the incredible blessings we have and try to work to make it better.

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A new poll commissioned by four nonprofits shows significant support for Medicaid Expansion in Wyoming, a government health insurance assistance program for those who cant afford insurance and arent offered it by their employer.

The results come one week before a special legislative session and six months after a proposal to expand the health insurance program died in a Senate committee after passing the state House for the first time after nearly a decade of lobbying.

This new poll did not specifically ask residents if they support Medicaid Expansion, but rather described a specific scenario and asked respondents if they would support or oppose that scenario.

There could be a proposal in the state legislature that would expand Medicaid health care coverage to Wyoming residents who earn under eighteen thousand dollars per year for an individual or approximately thirty thousand dollars for a mother with two kids. The federal government will cover 90 percent of the costs, while the state covers the other 10 percent, the survey states.

That scenario is what the nonprofits hope lawmakers will consider when debating a committee-sponsored bill advanced during the interim session in May.

The majority of respondents, 41%, voiced strong support for that scenario. Another 25% said they somewhat supported the proposal. Just 31% said they somewhat or strongly opposed the idea.

Asked if they would want their state lawmakers to support such a proposal, 65% said they would.

The poll was commissioned by the American Cancer Society Action Network, the American Heart Association, the American Lung Association and the AARP, and it was conducted by the Colorado-based firm New Bridge Strategy. It surveyed 500 residents across all Wyoming counties, a statistically sound figure for these types of polls. (The University of Wyomings Survey and Analysis Center often conducts state-level polls using roughly the same number of respondents.)

Lawmakers in one week will descend on the state capitol for a special legislative session geared toward opposing federal vaccine mandates. Its unclear what legislation will be allowed on the floor for debate, and what will be barred from consideration until the normal budget session in February.

We just think its important that the people of Wyoming have health coverage regardless of their economic situation as soon as they can get it. If the legislature would choose to act during this special session and pass it, so much the better for the people of Wyoming, said R.J. Ours, one of the polls commissioners and government relations director for Wyomings American Cancer Society Action Network.

Medicaid is in effect a government assistance program for low-income residents who cant afford health insurance on their own.

Its sometimes confused with Medicare, which is a federal insurance option mostly for residents 65 years and older.

In the 12 states that have not voted to expand Medicaid, its a somewhat limited program for which eligibility can differ from state to state. In Wyoming, it supports low-income children, pregnant mothers and residents with certain disabilities, with a handful of other caveats.

In states where the program has been expanded, the insurance covers a broader swath of low-income residents who cant afford private insurance plans and who arent offered that coverage by an employer.

For Wyoming, roughly 25,000 people fall into the latter category, but because the states program has not been expanded, that group doesnt have access to health insurance at all.

Organizations like those that commissioned this newest poll have lobbied the Wyoming Legislature for nearly a decade to make the switch. The poll shows that the majority of Wyomingites want to see some form of action from their state leaders.

After the economy and jobs, concern over health care costs and access drew the most responses, with 32% of respondents saying that was the most important issue facing Wyoming.

Respondents also indicated that their own access to care might not be indicative of all Wyomingites experiences. More than half of respondents said the current system doesnt meet the needs of working people with lower-incomes, though 70% said the system is currently meeting their own needs.

Legislative opposition

A new federal incentive led many lawmakers this spring to support expansion after having opposed it for years. But the momentum was short-lived.

Despite passing the House in March  the first time such a proposal made it through a legislative chamber in the near decade proponents have lobbied for it  the drama last session came to a head in a five-person committee hearing dominated by some of the most socially conservative lawmakers in the state.

There was uncertainty heading into the hearing  so much so that longtime House members Reps. Pat Sweeney and Steve Harshman, both of Casper, attempted to lobby the Senate committee themselves.

The pair asked the committee to give the bill a chance to be heard on the Senate floor, to allow for a greater debate among the entire body.

Ive always prided myself as the most pro-life speaker in the history of Wyoming, Harshman said at the time. Of those who could benefit from expansion, he said, These are lives too.

Despite pleas to let it be debated by the whole Senate, the bill died 3-2, with Sens. Fred Baldwin and Dan. Furphy in favor.

Sen. Lynn Hutchings, a staunch opponent of expansion, asked Harshman and Sweeney before the vote if sending it to the floor would provide any more information.

Should we send this to the floor to hear the same thing over and over again? she asked before casting her no vote.

If lawmakers dont take up the issue next week, Medicaid expansion will be an imminent conversation in February, Our said. But for that budget session, all bills will need support from two-thirds of all members in their respective chambers for legislation to even be considered.

Still, he hopes reluctant lawmakers listen to their constituents, who largely want to see Medicaid expanded. The pollster who organized the latest survey provided a regional and partisan breakdown of the responses that shows support is not factional.

The majority of respondents in each Wyoming region supported the scenario laid out above. When broken down by party, 58% of Republicans were in favor, as were 64% of independents and 98% of Democrats.

Follow health and education reporter Morgan Hughes on Twitter @m0rgan_hughes

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Fifty-six more Wyomingites have died from COVID-19, the Wyoming Department of Health reported Tuesday.

That is the most deaths reported in a weekly update during the states second surge and is on-par with deaths reported at the peak of Wyomings pandemic last fall.

There have now been 1,136 coronavirus-caused deaths in Wyoming since the pandemic arrived here in March 2020.

The new deaths touch 15 Wyoming counties. Natrona County experienced the most deaths, with nine residents included in the most recent update. Park and Campbell counties each reported eight new deaths. Laramie County added six new deaths. Fremont County added five, Big Horn added four, Sweetwater and Washakie counties both added three. Goshen, Sheridan and Sublette counties each added two deaths. Converse, Johnson, Teton and Weston counties each added one new death.

Of the 56 newly reported deaths, 36 occurred this month and 20 occurred in September. Forty-one of the residents were hospitalized prior to their deaths. Thirty-three had underlying health conditions.

The state does not include a death in its COVID-19 count unless the virus is listed on the patients death certificate as either the cause of death or a contributing factor. There is often a lag between when deaths occur and when deaths are reported because of the time it takes for death certificates to be processed.

Deaths declined dramatically this spring, with the number reported each week in the single digits since mid-March. But the trend hasnt held. Figures are now what they were in early winter of last year, when the state was recording more than 50 deaths per week.

While active cases are less than they were a month ago, hospitalizations have hovered at and above 200 since early September, as mostly unvaccinated residents develop severe illness from a more aggressive strain of the virus. On Monday, 219 people were hospitalized for COVID-19 in Wyoming.

Less than 3% of those hospitalized with COVID-19 since May 1 have been fully inoculated against the virus.

Health officials have said those hospitalized with severe illnesses from their infections are younger than during the states last peak, and often more ill.

Federal and state officials this summer again began recommending face masks be worn in areas with low vaccine uptake and moderate-to-high virus transmission as the more contagious delta variant spreads nationwide.

Gov. Mark Gordon has said his office will not implement any more mandates or lockdowns. Gordon said he encourages residents to get vaccinated but that the decision is intensely personal and he is not planning any interventions to increase uptake.

Wyomings vaccination rate trails almost all of the nation. Nationally, the state has the second-lowest proportion of fully vaccinated residents (43%), and the third-lowest proportion of those whove received at least one shot (50%).

Only Idaho and West Virginia have comparable or worse vaccination rates.

State lawmakers will meet in Cheyenne next week for a special legislative session geared toward opposing federal vaccine mandates on large employers and government employees.
The Montana Attorney Generals office Monday defended its actions after St. Peters Health in Helena said three different public officials threatened hospital doctors last week over the care of a COVID-19 patient.

The patient had requested to be treated with ivermectin, a drug not approved for use against the disease.

St. Peters Health can confirm that several providers were contacted by three different public officials last week regarding the treatment of a patient in our care. These conversations were deeply troubling to our physicians and staff because they were threatened and their clinical judgment was called into question by these individuals, a hospital spokesperson said in a statement emailed Monday.

The hospital did not name the elected officials in its statement, but Republican Attorney General Austin Knudsens office confirmed his participation in a conference call with hospital executives last week.

A spokesperson for the attorney general disputed the hospitals characterization of the events  which included the Attorney Generals Office dispatching a Montana Highway Patrol trooper to the hospital  as threatening or questioning the medical treatment recommended by doctors.

The Department of Justice initiated an investigation into very troubling allegations made by the family of a patient at St Peters Hospital. After hearing of the allegations and the ensuing investigation, Attorney General Knudsen contacted a board member who set up a telephone conference with hospital executives, spokesperson Kyler Nerison said in the email late Monday. No one was threatened or had their clinical judgment questioned while the Department of Justice was trying to get to the bottom of the serious allegations that the hospital was mistreating a patient and violating her rights and her familys rights. The investigation is ongoing.

In a response to the attorney generals statement, the hospital again said late Monday that doctors were harassed and threatened.

St. Peters works closely with public officials and regulatory agencies, and we occasionally receive inquiries about patient care and patient rights. Last week, several of our providers and care team members who are working tirelessly at the bedside were harassed and threatened by three public officials, spokesperson Andrea Groom wrote. These officials have no medical training or experience, yet they were insisting our providers give treatments for COVID-19 that are not authorized, clinically approved or within the guidelines established by the FDA and the CDC. In addition, they threatened to use their position of power to force our doctors and nurses to provide this care.

After his office was contacted by the responding trooper last week and informed of what the trooper learned after gathering statements, Lewis and Clark County Attorney Leo Gallagher said he found no criminal offense that needed investigating.

St. Peters has dealt with a surge of COVID-19 patients, reaching a record-high number of people hospitalized with the virus earlier this month. The hospital, and others around the state, have reported increased hostility against health care workers over requests for treatment and enforcement of measures like mask use and visitor restrictions to prevent the spread of the virus within facilities.

Sick patient

The situation stems from a Helena woman in her 80s who was at the hospital and requested to be treated with ivermectin, a drug thats become controversial recently as some have used it to treat COVID-19 though the FDA says it should not be.

The drug is used in humans to treat infections caused by parasitic worms, as well as for things like head lice and rosacea. It is also used as a livestock de-wormer.

A Facebook post last week from the president of the Montana Federation of Republican Women said the patient supported publicizing information about the situation online.

Family and friends desire to have the hospital obey the law and follow the right to try signed by Gov. Bullock and allow (the patient) to have the medications she wants, MFRW president Heidi Roedel said in an email Monday when asked about the incident. The Right to Try Act was passed by the state Legislature and signed by former Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock in 2015. It allows for the use of some experimental treatments for terminal illness.

A voicemail to the patients daughter was not immediately returned Monday.

Response

In replying to a list of questions from the Montana State News Bureau sent last week, the attorney generals spokesperson Monday confirmed the office dispatched a trooper. The office has not provided a copy of any report generated by the patrol in response to the incident the evening of Oct. 12.

The family asked for our assistance and a trooper was dispatched to speak with the family at the hospital. Following that conversation, Attorney General Knudsen spoke with hospital executives and received assurances that they would cease preventing communication between the patient and her family and deliver the legal documents she needed, Nerison said Monday afternoon in an email.

Nerison also said the office was told by the womans family about claims of the hospital cutting off their access to the patient.

The Attorney Generals Office received a report from a family that said St. Peters Hospital was violating their relatives rights by refusing to allow her to receive prescribed medications, not delivering legal documents, not allowing them to see their relative, and at one point, even cutting off text message communication between them and their family member.

The hospital, which has visitor restrictions in place to prevent the spread of COVID-19 within its facility, strongly rebutted that statement late Monday.

We have reviewed all medical and legal records related to these incidents, and we have verified that our teams are providing care in accordance with clinical best practice, hospital policy and patient rights, Groom wrote. Any allegations or assertions otherwise are unfounded. St. Peters is focused on providing the very best care for our patients. We stand behind our care teams, who are doing an exceptional job during these extenuating and incredibly challenging circumstances.

Jurisdiction

Steve Hagen, the Helena Police Department chief, said last Friday in response to a question asked during an interview that St. Peters is within the city limits of Helena and therefor under his departments jurisdiction. When a call was made about a person trespassing at the hospital by refusing to leave Monday, for example, officers from HPD responded.

Last week Hagen said his department did not have anything to do with the Oct. 12 response. Asked why the highway patrol would respond instead of his department, Hagen said: I dont want to interject anything.

When asked why the attorney general didnt refer the matter to the Helena Police Department after hearing from the family, Nerison responded: The question is why we didnt tell a distressed family to call someone else? The Department of Justice is a law enforcement agency that has concurrent jurisdiction.

Nerison referenced Title 45 of the Montana Code Annotated, the segment of state law that broadly deals with crimes. He later responded: Concurrent jurisdiction means that two agencies could have jurisdiction.

In response to a follow-up email asking if the AG would have a similar response for other families in distress and clarifying the Helena Police Department had said the hospital was routinely their jurisdiction, Nerison responded by asking if a reporter had inferred the jurisdictional boundary and requested to be shown a statement clarifying jurisdiction.

Because the Oct. 12 call wasnt made through the 911 system, there was not a public record of it in the calls-for-service report sent out by the Helena Police Department each day.

Last Friday a dispatcher for MHP said the patrols colonel called the incident into dispatch. The Montana Highway Patrol colonel is Steve Lavin and the patrol is part of the Department of Justice.

Reached Monday about MHPs response, Sgt. Mike Jensen, from District 3 that includes Helena, said he was advised that all inquiries go to the AGs Office.

The Lewis and Clark County Attorney said last week the trooper called into the county attorney offices on-call line after taking statements at the hospital. Gallagher said thats when he concluded there were no alleged criminal offenses that needed investigating.

Ivermectin

In a statement Friday, St Peters explained that ivermectin is not authorized or clinically approved to treat COVID-19.

Despite occasional requests by patients or family members to use alternative therapies or medications like Ivermectin that are not authorized or clinically approved to treat COVID-19, St. Peters Health will continue to follow clinical protocols that have been developed by medical experts and are consistent with FDA and CDC guidelines and recommendations, the hospital spokesperson said. Any efforts to exert pressure on our providers, including by public officials, will not result in deviation from widely accepted clinical treatment protocols or our hospital policy. Furthermore, harassing our care teams places an additional burden of stress on these individuals, diverting their time and focus away from caring for these critically ill patients.

Montana Hospital Association President and CEO Rich Rasmussen said in a phone interview Friday he has no concerns about hospital staff being threatened with criminal prosecution in such an episode because hospitals are on very safe footing with the systems in place to ensure proper administration of federally approved medication.

He said the association was first made aware of the situation when the Montana State News Bureau reached out for comment.

We dont have any concerns about that at all, Rasmussen said.  Hospitals are going to rely on what is a generally accepted practice for medication and ivermectin is not indicated for that.

Rasmussen said hes not aware of any hospitals that are dispensing ivermectin because it is not approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration or the American Medical Association for treating COVID-19. The tablets are also not approved to treat COVID-19 when an animal contracts the virus, he said.

It would be very difficult to find a facility that would dispense ivermectin, Rasmussen said.

Whats most important is to make sure folks take the opportunity to get vaccinated, he added. Other approaches that are often written about on social media are irrelevant if youre vaccinated.

Rasmussen is confident the hospital is on sound legal grounds.

Were really not concerned whether or not any outside organization would raise concerns about that because the hospitals are going to do whats the right thing, he said.

 Reporter Seaborn Larson contributed to this story.

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Nearly two weeks into a wild horse roundup that will continue for months, the Bureau of Land Management has gathered a tiny fraction of the animals it plans to remove from Wyoming public lands.

Of the roughly 4,300 horses the BLM expects to capture, approximately 3,500 will not be returned to the range. The agency began operations on Oct. 7 and had gathered 285  138 mares, 63 foals and 84 stallions  as of Sunday. Four fatalities were recorded during that period.

The gather is being conducted to address the overpopulation on the HMAs, prevent deterioration of the rangeland due to the overpopulation, remove horses from private lands and areas not designated for their long-term use, and comply with the 2013 Consent Decree between the Rock Springs Grazing Association and the BLM, the agency said in a Sept. statement.

That 2013 agreement emerged following a federal lawsuit, filed in 2011 by the Rock Springs Grazing Association, that attempted to force the BLM to remove wild horses from private land adjoining federal herd management areas. The BLMs Rock Springs Field Office sits within a largely unfenced checkerboard of alternating federally-owned public lands and private lands owned, in part, by the grazing association.

And while ranchers want the BLM to remove the states wild horses, which compete with cattle and sheep for food, wild horse advocacy groups want the agency to expand protections and allow for larger horse populations. Often, neither side ends up fully satisfied.

From the local community to the ranchers, everybody gets frustrated with the BLM, said Suzanne Roy, executive director of the American Wild Horse Campaign.

The agency agreed in 2013 to remove all wild horses located on RSGAs private lands, including Wyoming Checkerboard lands, with the exception of those wild horses found within the White Mountain Herd Management Area. But the mixture of public and private land ownership complicates management efforts.

Under the Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971, the BLM is required to maintain wild horse populations at or above the minimums set for each herd management area. It reserves the discretion to decide whether to remove horses that exceed those minimums.

At least 1,5502,165 horses must be permitted to live within the five herd management areas where the agency is currently gathering horses, including 251365 in Salt Wells Creek, 415600 in Divide Basin, 610800 in Adobe Town, 205300 in White Mountain and 69100 in Little Colorado.

The 2013 consent decree also required that the Rock Springs and Rawlins field offices propose a number of changes to their resource management plans, including reducing population minimums to zero in the Salt Wells Creek and Divide Basin management areas, lowering the minimum in Adobe Town by nearly half and preventing reproduction in the White Mountain area.

Last January, the Rock Springs and Rawlins field offices issued a draft amendment and environmental impact statement that would revise their existing management requirements in accordance with the 2013 agreement. The revisions have not yet been approved, and the American Wild Horse Campaign expects to push back if they are.

The group has repeatedly challenged attempts by the BLM to reduce horse populations in the region, including in 2014, when it sued over an attempt to remove wild horses from both public and private lands following a landowner request. A federal appeals court later sided with the campaign, ruling that the agencys solution, in which it treated public lands as private lands, violated the 1971 law.

Its our contention that they dont have the legal right to eradicate these herds, and that they need to look at solutions for improving the management of horses, Roy said.

The BLM already has the authority under the field offices existing management plans to adopt the 3,500 permanently removed horses to private owners. But at least until the amendments are finalized, it cant legally reduce populations below the current minimums.

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SIOUX FALLS, S.D.  South Dakota lawmakers have summoned two people who were present at a meeting Gov. Kristi Noem held last year that included her daughter, Kassidy Peters, and state employees who were overseeing Peters application for a real estate appraiser license.

The Legislatures Government Operations and Audit Committee, which is controlled by Republicans, sent letters asking Secretary of Labor and Regulation Marcia Hultman and the former director of the states Appraiser Certification Program, Sherry Bren, to show up at a meeting next week. Although it isnt clear what will be asked of the women, the requests for them to appear at the meeting show that lawmakers want more answers from the Republican governor.

Bren and Hultman were central to the episode that has raised concerns from ethics experts. They attended the meeting in the governors office in July 2020, just days after Brens agency moved to deny Peters a certification to become a residential appraiser. Peters received her license four months after the meeting. And days after she received it, Hultman allegedly pressured Bren to retire. Bren eventually left her job this year after the state paid her $200,000 to withdraw an age discrimination complaint.

Noem has dismissed concerns about the episode by saying she never requested special treatment for her daughter and casting her actions as an effort to cut the red tape to address a shortage of appraisers certified by the state. She also has said the initial report on the meeting from The Associated Press was a political attack.

Republican lawmakers on the committee said they would start with questions about why there was a shortage of appraisers under Brens leadership.

Secretary Hultman is prepared to talk about how South Dakota has made positive changes to the Appraiser Certification Program, said Dawn Dovre, a spokeswoman for the Department of Labor and Regulation.

However, Republicans acknowledged that the committee could also hone in on whether Noem inappropriately interfered in the agency while her daughter was applying for a license.

Anything is fair game, especially when there is public testimony, said state Rep. Randy Gross, the committees vice-chair. There is no script for the meeting.

Democratic state Rep. Linda Duba said she wanted to focus on why the governor involved her daughter in the meeting. She planned to press for the committee to spend more time delving into the issue.

I dont know what is going to come of this, but we cant just give it one hour on the agenda and then walk away, she said.

Both Bren and Noems administration have limited their comments about why she was pressured to retire, in part because the settlement agreement bars them from disparaging each other.

Noem, 49, has generated speculation that she might run for president in 2024 because she formed a federal political action committee, has been assisting campaigns across the country and has attended many of the same events as other potential GOP hopefuls.

The audit committee has scheduled the matter of the July 2020 meeting as its first item of business on Thursday next week. It also requested the presence of the president of the states appraiser association, who has been critical of Noems handling of the agency and called for a thorough investigation. In addition, lawmakers want to hear from the Office of Risk Management, which negotiated the settlement with Bren.

Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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ASSET by asset, the liquidators of the CL Financial group are selling off the company that it took Cyril Duprey and his nephew, Lawrence, 73 years to build up.

The liquidators are plodding through the sale of thousands of acres of land, millions of dollars worth of shares in a local conglomerate, a major local insurance firm, a manufacturer of resins and a security company.
Mother of four, Rehana Jaggernauth, was beaten, stabbed and strangled before being thrown into the Guayamare River, where she drowned, an autopsy has found.

And her relatives are convinced that Jaggernauth was lured to her death by someone she knew.
Is mask wearing more important than purchasing testing kits for Covid-19? Proper mask wearing prevents you from transmitting or receiving infection.

The testing kits tell you if you are asymptomatic but carrying the virus.

Wearing your mask properly prevents you from spreading it. A Covid-19 testing kit cannot do this. I am of the view that while it is nice to know if you are a carrier how many times do you have to self-test?
PHOENIX  Gov. Doug Ducey has no immediate plans for how  or even if  he will try to sanction the three state universities who are requiring faculty and staff to be vaccinated despite his orders to the contrary.

And he may lack any real power or leverage to do anything about it.

We are reviewing their decisions, said gubernatorial press aide C.J. Karamargin.

All this comes as University of Arizona President Robert Robbins on Monday underlined that it is not about to surrender hundreds of millions of dollars in federal grants and other funds to comply with Duceys directive.

Robbins, at a weekly media briefing, clearly sought not to pick a fight with the governor.

He said Ducey understands the importance of vaccination. And that, Robbins said, is shown by the fact that the governor himself has been vaccinated and that his health department set up point-of-delivery sites to make the process easier.

But the UA president said he has to consider the fiscal realities of what would happen if the school were to ignore the directive of the Biden administration that any entity must require staff to be vaccinated against COVID if it expects to continue to receive federal dollars.
The Pima County Board of Supervisors appointed state Rep. Stephanie Stahl Hamilton to fill the Legislative District 10 seat in the Arizona Senate on Tuesday.

The appointee will replace state Sen. Kirsten Engel, who stepped down from the LD10 position last month to focus on her run for the U.S. House of Representatives.

Stahl Hamilton, a Democrat, is a Presbyterian minister who has served in the Arizona House of Representatives since January. Her appointment will leave a new vacancy in the House that county officials will have to fill in the near future.

She was one of three nominees chosen by LD10s Democratic Committee to fill the open state Senate seat. State law tasks the countys Board of Supervisors with selecting one of those three candidates.

Among the other nominees were Tom Chabin, a former state legislator and Coconino County supervisor, and Larry Waggoner, a Marine veteran who serves as second vice chair of the LD10 Democrats.

Supervisor Rex Scott moved to appoint Stahl Hamilton this week after voting to delay the selection on Oct. 5 so that he could have more time to speak with the candidates.
A manufacturer of walk-in coolers and freezers for commercial kitchens is opening a plant in Tucson, creating about 100 new jobs.

Imperial Brown will open its fourth plant near the Tucson airport in 2023. Construction of its 99,000-square-foot facility is expected to begin early next year.

Imperial Browns other plants are located in Portland, Oregon; Salisbury, North Carolina; and Prague, Oklahoma.

Tucson was selected after a year-long survey of potential locations in the Southwest  it beat out other cities in Arizona because of its balanced mix of climate, demographics, cost of living and population density, said Justin Sandall, president of Imperial Brown. With rising freight costs and a very bulky product, this level of distributed manufacturing is a strategic advantage for the companys clients, many of whom have very large, national footprints and growth plans.

The employee-owned company manufactures walk-in coolers and freezers for restaurants and commercial kitchens, cold storage components for fish processing plants, ice makers for dam construction, high humidity and dry chambers, robotic enclosures, and archival storage chambers for fragile historical documents.

Salaries will be determined based on market conditions when operations begin.
We may be in the desert, but we can still ice skate! Thanks to the City of Tucson and Rio Nuevo, a temporary ice skating rink is returning to downtown Tucson for the holidays.
In a statement at the time, the 3 Sirens group stated, We have found ourselves unable to staff this particular restaurant....So for now, for the summer season at least, and until we can see a growth in the work force of this particular industry, we will be closing the doors after this weekend, hoping to reopen in the fall for the holiday season when we so enjoy seeing you.

The Celebrity Restaurants Facebook page lists the restaurant as Permanently Closed.

Alpha Grill to open second site

Alpha Grill is working to open a new location by early 2022 at 6670 S. Lewis Ave. The site was formerly occupied by Helen of Troy, then Tandoori Guys Express.

Wed like to be able to open before the end of this year, said Quinta Willis, who owns Alpha Grill with her husband, Frank. But its more likely to be the start of next year before that happens.

Alpha Grill specializes in what Frank Willis calls barbecue with a twist, often combining Mexican, Cajun and Caribbean foods and flavors with traditional Oklahoma barbecue.
With complete disregard for her mothers life, Kelly left and started anew, leaving Thomas surviving family behind to pick up the pieces, Shamia Thomas said, which is still a work in progress.

I try to continue to do what she usually does, Shamia Thomas said of her mother. She stayed working; stayed helping people. She was a very caring woman. I try to mimic her. I try to do anything that I know she would want me to do and be, basically just to continue to make her proud.

Jurors recommended Kelly, 38, be sentenced to life with the possibility of parole.

A life sentence in Oklahoma constitutes 45 years, which under the 85% percent rule comes out to about 38 years and four months that must be served in custody.

Elmore said the state will ask the judge at Kellys sentencing in November to follow the jurys recommendation, which would make Kelly eligible for parole in his mid-70s.

Shamia Thomas said she was pleased with the jurys finding of guilt and their sentencing recommendation, and even mentioned that she considered her family lucky as far as court proceedings go: some families are left without any answers in cold cases.
Arguing it restricts classroom discussion without educational justification, a group of educators and students announced Tuesday afternoon that they are filing a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Oklahomas so-called critical race theory ban.

Filed in the Western District of Oklahoma by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, the lawsuit claims that House Bill 1775 violates the First and 14th amendments.

As adopted earlier this year, HB 1775 bans teaching that one race or gender is inherently superior. It also prohibits causing a student to feel guilty or uncomfortable because of their race or gender, as well as teaching that anyone is inherently racist, sexist or oppressive, whether consciously or otherwise.

Additionally, the measure bars the states colleges and universities from requiring its students to participate in diversity training.
Jones wanted a home in the architects signature Prairie style. But what he got was a futuristic house built of formed concrete blocks stacked into pillars, interspersed with vertical glass panels.

'A pickle factory'

The home was built on a knoll, then located outside the city limits. The original budget of $40,000 ballooned to $100,000 for the 8,443-square-foot home.

During construction, neighbors were increasingly baffled by the house and wanted to know what it was, according to Frank Lloyd Wright, a biography by Meryle Secrest.

A pickle factory, Jones replied. He was then asked, Do they have to build them like this?

Wright was proud of his design, though, reportedly saying during one visit, The damn thing is even more beautiful than I had imagined.

The flat roof began to leak as soon as Jones, his wife Georgia and their three children moved into Westhope in 1931. Furious, Jones made a long-distance call to his cousin.

Dammit, Frank. Its leaking on my desk! Jones said.

Richard, why dont you move your desk? Wright replied calmly. (The desk was built-in.) Mrs. Jones was more philosophical.
On Tuesday, lawmakers and the public caught a glimpse of what Oklahoma's new congressional districts might like look.

Or, in any event, what some people would like them to look like.

In practice, none of the 10 congressional maps submitted by the public and reviewed by a joint legislative committee on Tuesday is likely to be fully adopted when the Legislature meets in special session next month.

But they did raise some interesting ideas and provoke discussion, especially about what seems to be the primary point of contention  what to do with the Oklahoma City metro area.

The 5th Congressional District  currently most of Oklahoma County with Pottawatomie and Seminole counties tacked on  is the state's only competitive district. It's also has to shed about 33,000 people through redistricting.

People who want the district to remain competitive favor something along the lines of compressing the district down to just Oklahoma County.
On a fall day in 1974, I walked into a Russian language course at Hunter College, one of the Manhattan campuses of the public City University of New York system.

In New York for back-to-back college internships at the Paris Review literary magazine and the New York Times, I chose Hunter because it offered evening classes.

As editor of my high school newspaper outside Detroit, Id had a strong interest in current events, and no ongoing story was bigger or more consequential than the global superpower rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union.

But what brought me to that nighttime class at Hunter was less weighty: Id just read Dostoevskys Crime and Punishment. So brilliant was his monumental novel about a misguided young man who becomes a murderer, I vowed to someday read it in Russian.

Little did I know then that the decision to master Russian would lead, 15 years later, to my assignment as a Moscow correspondent covering the collapse of the Soviet Union. By then, I was fluent enough to conduct interviews with Russians in their native tongue.
After spending more than four years building up a company that promotes tourism and trade in Japan, Nguyen Phi Thoan thought it was time for him to harvest the first crop of fruits, but then the COVID-19 pandemic turned everything upside down.

When the health crisis hit Japan last year, the entrepreneurs tourism business ran into trouble overnight.

His company, JV Solutions Co., based in Kawasaki Prefecture, got several calls to cancel tours.

Thoan found himself extremely stressed every morning waking up to the question of where to get around VND200 million (US$8,787) to pay office rent and salaries for seven full-time employees at that time.

All the savings he had accumulated for more than ten years of working as an employee for three Japanese companies before launching his own company had already been used up quickly to support JV Solutions Co. during the pandemic.

Tourism was one of the most affected industries during the COVID-19 pandemic around the world, so his limited savings could only keep the firm running for ten months.

On top of stress, anxiety, and concerns, Thoan also got a recurrence of a disc herniation, a condition he had been treated for in Singapore 13 years earlier.

He was forced to stay at home without moving for more than six months.

Those days were really challenging," Thoan told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper in an interview in late September.

"The pandemic made me reflect on everything, and think twice about what I have been doing for the last years.

Being forced to stay home alone for such a long time because of the condition allowed me to mull over what I should do next.

Thoan added that right now, JV Solutions Co. trades fresh fruits and vegetables from Vietnam and other countries as another way to survive while waiting for the tourism industry to bounce back from the COVID-19 pandemic.

A group of American tourists pay a visit to Japan in 2018 during a tour held by JV Solutions in this supplied photo.

Days of frustration

Thoan was born in the Mekong Delta province of Long An.

He has loved traveling since he was a teenager.

Few people know that the entrepreneur was once the administrator of the site Phuot.vn, a blog meant for travelers who want to explore many destinations in their own way instead of booking through a travel agency.

Despite being trained as a chemical engineer, Thoan has a special passion for tourism.

That is why he decided to launch JV Solutions, a company offering private tours in Japan, when he left a job with a salary of US$4,000 a month at 505 Company in March 2017.

In Thoans observation, the demand for travel to Japan for studying and doing business has increased remarkably during the last few years.

JV Solutions chooses to offer private tours to groups of seven to 14 people who want to pay visits to Japan for various purposes such as tourism, studying, doing business, and trade promotions.

The company also takes part in holding festivals promoting trade between Japanese and Vietnamese in the city of Kawasaki.

Before COVID-19, JV Solutions business operations ran smoothly despite intense competition.

They served an average of hundreds of customers monthly, which ensured them a source of stable revenue.

When the pandemic hit Japan, it put an end to the ambitious plan in which Thoan collaborated with a Thai partner to set up tours for Thai tourists coming to Japan.

On top of the unexpected effects of the pandemic, he suffered a severe disc herniation relapse.

The man who used to work up to 17 to 18 hours a day felt he did not have enough strength then.

I already know how to value my health now, Thoan laughed while recalling the most difficult days he experienced more than one year ago.

Nguyen Phi Thoan takes a photo along with the first bunches of bananas imported from Vietnam by JV Solutions in November 2020.

Reflecting on his strength

Six months of treatment provided Thoan with a unique chance to mull over what he should have done differently, especially in which directions he can move to take his JV Solutions out of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Given the health crisis will not be likely to phase out in the near future, he cannot return to the tourism industry as quickly as he wants.

His hope was further dampened after the plan to make a pilot vaccine tour with the first 60 tourists between Vietnam and Japan was canceled indefinitely because of the complicated developments of the pandemic in Vietnam.

He thought of what he had been trained in a university in Vietnam as an engineer of food chemistry and post-harvest technology.

He thought of what he did as an employee for three Japanese companies before.

He thought of his hometown, Long An, where there is a famous kind of banana called Fohla and various kinds of tropical fruit.

Thoan decided to embark on importing fruits from Vietnam into Japan.

Despite his weak physical health then, in October 2020, Thoan pulled a cart to introduce samples of banana to some potential partners in Tokyo.

In fact, I dont remember why I could do things like that back then, recalled Thoan.

The disc herniation hurt me badly.

"But it was likely that some business associates sympathized with me when they looked at my condition then, I guessed, so I got some first orders."

Apart from bananas, Thoan imported more fruits such as dragon fruits, durians, and rambutans, not only from Vietnam but also from other countries like Guatemala.

He acknowledges he is a newbie in the business he has just started during the pandemic.

The businessman ran into so many challenges and technical problems while doing business, from building a network of supply partners to getting to know a sea of administrative forms relating to the import of commodities.

Japanese is a big obstacle as Thoan just used English for working many years before.

This is my first foray into the business of importing fruits and vegetables, Thoan admitted.

In the early days, I had to pay so much tuition for my inexperience."

Nguyen Phi Thoan (upper-left corner) has a meeting with a group of partners from Green Bud Company based in Vietnam, September 26, 2021.

He made it

Thoan is not a stranger to the Japanese market, which is both difficult and appealing to any entrepreneur.

The capability to survive the COVID-19 pandemic with a new direction does not mean that Thoan can remove all obstacles now.

In fact, Vietnamese bananas are better than Philippine ones, but the price of our nations bananas is rather higher than the latter, he explained.

For example, a shipping container of Vietnamese bananas fetches around US$13-14 while a Philippine rival costs just $6-7, so we sell a smaller amount of goods because of the price."

In the hope of finding ways to deal with this issue, Thoan began to import some other kinds of fruit such as dragon fruits and durians from Vietnam.

He plans to sell more fruits and vegetables from Vietnam next month in case of finding reliable sources of products.

In Japan, there are a few small companies like JV Solutions that can directly ship fruits from foreign farms, so this is one of my businesss competitive edges, Thoan said and assured proudly that his firm is the biggest distributor of rambutans from Guatemala in Japan.

Currently, we can only survive, not making a lot of profit, said the businessman.

But I feel happy to be able to keep my company running during the pandemic.

"We made some plans for next stages when I believe the COVID-19 would phase out."

Adaptable Vietnamese entrepreneurs survive in Japan In an exchange with Tuoi Tre, Ta Duc Minh, a trade counselor of the Vietnamese Embassy in Japan, said that many Vietnamese entrepreneurs in the East Asian country can survive the COVID-19 pandemic due to their adaptability. Thousands of Japanese entrepreneurs have gone bankrupt because of the long-lasting epidemic, Minh said. Despite the challenging situation, many Vietnamese businesses in Japan, including JV Solutions, could overcome the difficult period thanks to their determined changes and quick adaptation, he added.

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Vietnamese Ambassador to Mongolia Doan Khanh Tam has handed US$50,000 to a Mongolian agency as support from the Vietnamese government for Mongolias COVID-19 fight.

Ambassador Tam, on behalf of the Vietnamese government, presented the cash donation to Brigadier General G. Ariunbuyan, chief of Mongolias National Emergency Management Agency, on Monday, the Vietnam News Agency reported.

The Mongolian official, also deputy head of Mongolia's COVID-19 control committee, sincerely thanked the government and people of Vietnam for their support for Mongolias response to the pandemic.

The donation came as both countries are still facing difficulties in pushing back COVID-19 and post-pandemic economic recovery, Brigadier General Ariunbuyan said.

He expressed his pleasure at the positive development of the traditional friendship between Vietnam and Mongolia, especially fruitful outcomes in political, economic, trade, and humanitarian cooperation in the past years.

Mongolia will use the donated money to procure medical protective equipment for COVID-19 frontline workers, the Mongolian official said.

The host wished Vietnam would continue putting the pandemic under control and achieve stable economic growth.

Ambassador Tam highly appreciated Mongolias effective epidemic prevention and control and believed that Mongolia, under the leadership of the Mongolian government, will be soon able to contain the pandemic, recover its economy, and continue to develop sustainably.

He also said Vietnam is focusing all its resources on pandemic prevention and control and economic recovery.

Currently, around 200 Vietnamese people are living, working, and studying in Mongolia, which established diplomatic relations with Vietnam in 1954.

In August this year, the Vietnamese community in Mongolia donated over $7,000 to Vietnams COVID-19 fight through the Vietnamese Embassy there.

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Authorities in Vietnams Quang Ngai Province are investigating the killing of five gray-shanked douc langurs, one of the worlds most critically endangered species, by suspected poachers in a local forest.

The dead langurs, weighing five to 15kg, were found last week in a forest in the central provinces Ba To District by a patrol team including rangers and police officers, local authorities reported on Monday.

A group of suspected poachers ran away as soon as the team approached them, leaving behind a motorbike, 53 lead bullets, and silencers next to the five dead animals, said the districts forest protection station.

Through visual observation, we can determine the dead animals were gray-shanked douc langurs," said Ngo Vinh Phong, the stations head.

"We have frozen them and coordinated with authorities to track down the group of hunters.

The station has also sent the samples of the killed langurs out for testing to form a basis for investigation and prosecution.

Ba To rangers have recently arrested and prosecuted two locals who shot dead two lorises, also listed as critically endangered,' the station said, adding that the case will be heard soon.

Gray shanked douc langurs often live in the Truong Son (Anamite Range) Forest in the provinces of Quang Nam, Quang Ngai, Binh Dinh, Kon Tum, and Gia Lai, Phong said.

As one of the 25 most threatened primate species in the world, gray shanked douc langurs are categorized as critically endangered in Vietnams Red Book and on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)s Red List of Threatened Species.

This primate species, classified critically endangered by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), has an estimated population of 550 to 700 around the world.

There are three species of douc langurs, including gray-shanked, black-shanked, and red-shanked doucs, which are threatened mainly by habitat loss and hunting, WWF said.

The forests that are home to douc langurs are disappearing due to logging and agricultural conversion while these species are often hunted for food, for sale as pets, or for use in traditional medicine, the agency elaborated.

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A Hanoi man has been sentenced to 20 years in jail for stabbing another man to death over a conflict that broke out at a local beer parlor last year.

The municipal Peoples Court on Monday conducted the trial of Nguyen Van Tinh, 25, who hails from the northern province of Thai Binh.

Tinh was condemned to 20 years behind bars for murder and required to pay VND399 million (US$17,600) to the victims family.

At the trial, Do Duc Thanh, 24, was jailed for two years for assault.

The indictment showed that Tinh was drinking with his friends at a beer parlor in Hoai Duc District, Hanoi at around 3:00 am on August 3, 2020.

Another group including 25-year-old N.D.H., Thanh, and some other men were also drinking at the venue at the time.

H.s group later invited Tinh to their table and shared some drinks. Tinh then said some things that upset H..

After H. reacted to Tinhs comments, the latter apologized and returned to his table.

However, H. and Thanh followed Tinh and started hitting him.

Tinh fought back, resulting in an intense confrontation between the three despite the intervention of their friends.

Tinh eventually grabbed a knife in the kitchen and stabbed H. to death.

He attempted to stab Thanh but the latter blocked the attack with a table, causing Tinh to drop his knife.

Thanh took the weapon and stabbed Tinh once, before Tinh ran away.

Tinh turned himself in on the following day, while Thanh ran away and was arrested on May 2.

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The Ministry of Health documented 3,034 more COVID-19 patients in Vietnam on Tuesday, together with 1,866 recoveries and 75 fatalities.

The latest cases, including seven imported and 3,027 local infections, were logged in 49 provinces and cities, the health ministry said, noting that 1,220 patients were detected in the community.

Ho Chi Minh City recorded 907 of the domestically-infected cases, Binh Duong Province 500, Dong Nai Province 371, Soc Trang Province 200, An Giang Province 134, Tay Ninh Province 104, Khanh Hoa Province 38, Can Tho City 24, Hanoi 11, Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province five, and Da Nang two.

Vietnam had registered 3,159 locally-acquired infections on Monday.

The country has reported 865,558 community transmissions in 62 out of its 63 provinces and cities since the fourth virus wave emerged on April 27.

Ho Chi Minh City is heavily impacted with 419,599 patients, followed by Binh Duong Province with 226,353, Dong Nai Province with 59,386, Long An Province with 33,784, Tien Giang Province with 15,184, Dong Thap Province with 9,276, Khanh Hoa Province with 8,550, Da Nang with 4,934, Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province with 4,410, and Hanoi with 4,355.

Vietnam detected only 1,570 locally-transmitted infections in total in the previous three waves.

The health ministry announced 1,866 recoveries on Tuesday, bringing the total to 870,255.

The toll has ascended to 21,344 deaths after the ministry recorded 75 fatalities on the same day, including 47 in Ho Chi Minh City and 11 in Binh Duong Province.

Vietnam has reported 870,255 patients since the COVID-19 pandemic first hit it early last year.

Health workers have administered almost 65 million vaccine doses, including 1,522,598 shots on Monday, since inoculation was rolled out on March 8.

Nearly 18.5 million people have been fully vaccinated.

Health authorities target to inoculate 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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Doctor Who: Flux is confirmed for Monday November 1, same day as the UK.

It will screen on iview at 6:20am and on ABC TV Plus at 7:30pm.

This is a 6 part series with Jodie Whittaker, Mandip Gill, John Bishop and Jacob Anderson and returning monsters Sontarans, Weeping Angels, Cybermen, and the Ood plus new monsters, one of whom is named Karvanista.

Each of the six episodes will be scripted by Chris Chibnall, except episode four, which hes co-written with Maxine Alderton.

Maxine wrote The Haunting of Villa Diodati for the 2020 series, he says. Shes brilliant. We had some other really great writers scheduled, but a lot of our plans had to be altered. Partly because the new series is a serial, partly because there are less episodes and partly because of the turnaround.

The work has been divided between two directors, one of whom is familiar to regular viewers. Jamie Magnus Stone delivered some amazing episodes in the last series, says Chris. For Spyfall: Part One we threw him in at the deep end with a South Africa location shoot, a crashing plane and a new Master. And he just sailed through. He came back even stronger with Ascension of the Cybermen and The Timeless Children. Hes great visually, great with action, great with humour and great with actors. Everybody loves working with him and hes really in command of it. Asking him back was a no brainer.

Doctor Who newcomer Azhur Saleem has directed episodes three, five and six. [Executive producer] Matt Strevens and [series producer] Nikki Wilson are always on the lookout for up-and-coming directors with a love of genre, and theres a wave of incredible directing talent coming through at the moment, explains Chris. In addition, [composer] Segun Akinola had written the score for a short film [Muse, 2020] that Azhur had directed and he said, You should see this guy, hes really talented. Azhur had been in line for the last series but we couldnt make it happen, so this year we asked him to do three episodes.

Updated.
William George Davis stands Sept. 28 during opening day of his capital murder trial. The former nurses charges are connected to the deaths of four patients at Christus Trinity Mother Frances Louis and Peaches Owen Heart Hospital in Tyler (Michael Cavazos/News-Journal Photo)
The cardiac surgeon for three of the four patients a former East Texas nurse is accused of k
Tyler, TX (75702)

Today

Sunny. High 64F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low 46F. Winds light and variable.
By Sierra Johnson '22, Elizabeth Kolb '23, Abigail Medler '22, & Katie Schreyer '22

As part of the summer fellowship program, four University of Dayton students, Katie, Abby, Sierra and Elizabeth, worked with the African Refugee Development Center (ARDC) to teach English to African refugees in Isreal through an online program. Hear about their experiences:

Katie:

When I first began my training to be a facilitator for the ARDC, one line in a teaching guide really stuck with me. It said to respect the learners because you may be the only advocate they have in this big world. I thought that must have been an exaggeration. I had already met so many great people working in the ARDC, and surely there were other volunteers and organizations working to help refugees in Israel. However, as I got to know my two students, Taban from South Sudan and Tadesse from Ethiopia, it dawned on me just how true that statement was, and just how much the ARDC does to support the refugee community in Israel.

Throughout our lessons, my students opened up to me about just how little support they receive from the Israeli government, their university professors, and their employers, one of whom forced one of my students to work a double shift during our class time. I had taken for granted how lucky I am to have teachers who are concerned about my success, labor laws to protect my rights as a worker, a government that acknowledges my personhood and a safe environment in which I can live and learn. My students are two of the most incredible people I know. They are more determined than I will ever be and came to each class ready to learn and participate no matter how tired they were. Taban has dreams to work in government and advocate for sustainable development and economies and talked passionately about these issues any time they were brought up in class. Tadesse wants to get a university education in economics and works tirelessly to support his family back in his home country. Being able to work with them each week and help them achieve these goals was an honor, and I feel like I learned the most out of the three of us. Our world is big and our problems may seem daunting, but as long as we can advocate and care for at least one other person, I truly believe we can solve any issue.

Abby:

Over the span of about three months, I worked closely with the ARDC to facilitate English advancement classes for four incredible students seeking asylum in Tel Aviv. This was an opportunity like I have never experienced and it was so eye-opening to see such strong, intelligent and hard-working individuals grow in their knowledge and understanding of the English language with my assistance. Realistically, they do not even need me. They are so exceedingly bright, and I honestly felt like I was learning more than they were at times. I am so grateful to have heard their stories and watched them flourish the way they did. The students in this program are faced daily with adversity that I cannot imagine, and in the face of it all, they still manage to make their education a priority and succeed at it. I am so lucky to have engaged in this experience and I would recommend it to anyone interested.

Sierra:

Entering into the immersive internship experience with the ARDC has truly been life-changing. I was tasked with facilitating the newest level for six students twice a week titled Academic Research. Through the assistance of ARDC and Arizona State University (ASU) in providing wonderful content, I was able to tailor discussions about citations and research to the students interests. I found many of the students were vulnerable in various moments in sharing their experiences being asylum seekers in Israel. For instance, Bereket, a 22-year-old student from Ethiopia who fled to Israel, explained his feelings of discomfort and stress as he works 12-hour-shifts without status in Israel. He fled Ethiopia and witnessed the death of his brother firsthand. Similarly, Mulue, a 23-year-old student from Ethiopia shared the barriers of lacking status in Israel and its impacts on his ability to thrive as an asylum seeker. The work of ASU and the ARDC in providing education and support for students is a testament to the resilience of the students I worked with. I was able to connect with the students even over a Zoom screen. I witnessed their developments as students, writers, leaders and individuals. This opportunity connected me internationally to bright students striving for education no matter their circumstances and backgrounds. These students and experiences often made me emotional as the six students I worked with are very inquisitive about themselves and the world around them. Such an experience brings about a whirlwind of emotions knowing that you are in the passenger seat guiding dedicated students to seek the education they desire.

Elizabeth:

Working with ARDC has really been a great privilege. There were about six students I met with twice a week to go over the English curriculum, provided by ASU. There were a few moments that caught me laughing, when my students, who are adults, would bring their kids on the call and make jokes. There was not a meeting that did not feel exciting and fun. Truly it is all because of the wonderful students, Bakir, Darma, Adam, Askalu, Neamat, and Mubarak. Darma wrote a brief reflection on his first 3 months with ARDC:

Hello, everyone. My name's Darma Kule. I'm Sudanese Refugee in Israel. I live in Neve Yamen Kfar Sava, I would like to thank the ARDC program, and all teachers, also the teachers in ASU because they are supporting us, and encouraging us to keep on studying education for humanity. I would like to say that I'm so thankful for that!!! I can't find enough words to express it !! Thank you my lovely teacher Elizabeth. I really appreciate the way you teach, I really appreciate everything you have done for us. I'm really happy with my classmates and my teacher!!!!

I am incredibly grateful to be able to continue teaching and getting to know the same group of students for the next session of ARDC Learn English Now classes.

Sierra Johnson, Senior Criminal Justice Studies major with a Pre-Law concentration and minors in Race and Social Justice and Pre-Law.

Elizabeth Kolb, Junior International Studies major with a concentration in Immigration and Economic Development as well as a TESOL certification.

Abigail Medler, Senior Political Science major with a minor in Philosophy.

Katie Schreyer, Senior History and Music major with a minor in Anthropology.
European Commissioner for Economy Paolo Gentiloni delivers his speech about the Pandora Papers and the implications on the efforts to combat money laundering, tax evasion and avoidance at the European Parliament, in Strasbourg

By Jan Strupczewski

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Commission opened a debate on Tuesday on how to reform the European Union's fiscal rules to deal with a pandemic-induced surge in public debt and with the huge investment needed to fight climate change.

"We are re-launching this review of our economic governance against a backdrop of enormous investment needs, as the climate emergency becomes more acute with every passing year," European Economic Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni said.

"At the same time, the powerful fiscal support provided during the pandemic has led to higher debt levels. These challenges make it all the more essential to have a transparent and effective fiscal framework," he said.

The debate is to produce a fourth reform of the rules since they were established in 1997 to limit government borrowing to safeguard the value of the EU's currency -- the euro. Revised in 2005, 2011 and 2013, the so-called Stability and Growth Pact is now so complex that few people fully understand it.

High public debt is the main headache now because public support to European economies during the pandemic boosted average debt in the euro zone to around 100% of national output from 60-70% in the early 1990s when the rules were drafted.

Annual debt reductions required by the current rules are simply not realistic for countries with debts of 160% of GDP like Italy or more than 200% like Greece.

But while many EU finance ministers see the debt reduction requirements as too strict, there is no agreement yet on how to deal with it - whether through the interpretation of existing laws or through the more difficult changes to legal texts.

The other big challenge is to make sure that the rules do not tie governments' hands at a time when the 27-nation EU needs to mobilise hundreds of billions of euros to bring net CO2 emissions to zero by 2050.

An analysis by the Bruegel think-tank for EU finance ministers in September showed additional public investment to meet the EUs climate goals will have to be 0.5%-1.0% of GDP annually during this decade alone. Bruegel proposed exempting investment to fight climate change from EU deficit calculations.

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The idea has the general backing of Spain, Italy, France and others, but officials also point out the difficulty in defining what is and what is not a "green" investment.

The Commission said that after gathering all the views on what should be done during the debate, it would "provide guidance" in the first quarter of 2022 for fiscal policy "for the period ahead" so that governments know what rules to stick to when preparing long-term fiscal plans.

(Reporting by Jan Strupczewski, editing by Marine Strauss)
DUBLIN, October 19, 2021--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The "Styrenic Block Copolymers (SBCs) Market - Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2021 - 2026)" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The Global Styrenic Block Copolymers (SBCs) market size was estimated at over 2.3 million tons in 2020 and the market is projected to register a CAGR of below 4% during the forecast period (2021-2026).

Companies Mentioned

Key Market Trends

Styrene-butadiene-styrene (SBS) Segment to Dominate the Market

Furthermore, the expenditure of airport runway construction in the United States was valued at about USD 4.7 billion in 2019 and reached about USD 5.7 billion in 2020, with a growth rate of about 21%, thus enhanced the demand for the market studied.

In 2019, the new highway and street construction put in place was valued at about USD 97.56 billion in the United States and is estimated to reach about USD 107.74 billion by 2024, registering a CAGR of about 2%, thereby is expected to enhance the demand for SBS from the highway and street construction sector.

Asphalt modification applications involve the addition of small amounts of SBS, approximately 2-6% by weight to asphalt used in road paving and around 11% by weight in roofing felts and shingles, to enhance the properties of the end product. The increased cost of installing SBS-enhanced asphalt is offset by future maintenance savings and the benefit of less disruption, due to the increased durability.

SBS holds the advantages of properties achieved from both polystyrene and butadiene. The polybutadiene chains in the structure allow the material to be stretched and get back to its normal state. On the other hand, the polystyrene composition in the structure gives it the required durability. SBS elastomers are not suitable for continuous usage in the ultraviolet (UV) and ozone conditions.

SBS accounts for the largest share, in terms of production and demand, among the different types of styrene block copolymers. It is basically a thermoplastic elastomer consisting of styrene and butadiene monomers.

China to Dominate the Asia-Pacific Market

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In the Asia-Pacific region, China is the largest economy in terms of GDP. The country witnessed about 6.1% growth in its GDP during 2019, even after the trade disturbance caused due to its trade war with the United States. The economic growth rate of China in 2020 was initially expected to be moderate as compared to the previous year. However, due to the onset of COVID-19 in 2020, the economic growth of China is estimated to contract to 1.90% and is expected to witness recovery at a rate of 8.20% in 2021.

The construction industry grew at a strong pace in 2019, even though the growth slowed down during the year, compared to 2018. The construction sector has supported the economic growth in the country, while the US-China trade war affected the performance in other industries, such as automotive.

China's 13th Five Year Plan started in 2016 (2016-2021), and it was an important year for the country's engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) industries. In addition, the country ventured into new business models domestically and internationally, during the year. Although the construction sector slowed down after 2013, it is still a major contributor to the GDP of the country.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics of China, the revenue generated by the Chinese construction industry has increased from CNY 17.67 trillion in 2014 to CNY 24.84 trillion in 2019. The Chinese construction industry was valued at about USD 1,049.2 billion in 2020 and is estimated to reach about USD 1,117.4 billion by 2021, with a growth rate of about 6.5%.

Furthermore, China has planned to invest about USD 21.43 billion for the construction of 30 new expressway links with a total length of 2,109 km in Guangxi Province, which will be completed by the end of 2021, thereby is expected to enhance the demand for the market studied.
Russia said Monday it was suspending its mission to NATO and closing the alliance's offices in Moscow, as relations with the Western military bloc plunged to new depths.



Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced the moves after NATO expelled several members of Moscow's delegation to the alliance for alleged spying.

"Following certain measures taken by NATO, the basic conditions for common work no longer exist," Lavrov told reporters in Moscow.

He said Moscow was suspending the work of its official mission to NATO in Brussels, including its military representative, from around 1st of November.

Russia was also shutting down the alliance's liaison mission in the Belgian embassy in Moscow, set up in 2002, and the NATO information office set up in 2001 to improve understanding between NATO and Russia.

"NATO has already greatly reduced its contacts with our mission," Lavrov said, saying the alliance is "not interested in dialogue and work as equals".

"We see no reason to pretend that any change is possible in the foreseeable future," he said.

Lavrov said that in case of urgent matters NATO could liaise via the Russian ambassador in Belgium.

The moves cut off years of efforts to improve ties between Moscow and NATO that followed the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.

This comes after NATO earlier this month stripped eight members of Moscow's mission to the alliance of their accreditation, with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg calling them "undeclared Russian intelligence officers".

'Malign activities'

"We have seen an increase in Russian malign activities, at least in Europe and therefore we need to act," Stoltenberg said at the time, describing the relationship between NATO and Russia as "at its lowest point since the end of the Cold War".

Russia had an observer mission to NATO as part of a two-decade-old NATO-Russia Council meant to promote cooperation in common security areas.

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The Russian mission has been downsized before, when seven of its members were ejected after the 2018 Novichok poisoning of a Russian former double agent, Sergei Skripal, and his daughter in Britain.

Meetings of a NATO-Russia council have not been held since 2019 against the backdrop of the heightened tensions.

Russia's relationship with the West has been on a downward spiral since Moscow's 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine and support for pro-Russian separatists in the country's east.

Western nations have imposed a series of sanctions in recent years over Ukraine, alleged election interference, cyberattacks and the poisoning of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny.

Moscow in turn has accused the West of interfering in its elections and of supporting anti-Kremlin forces in countries like Ukraine and Georgia that Russia considers part of its traditional sphere of influence.

Lavrov's announcements came after US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin landed in Tbilisi on the first leg of a visit to three allies on the Black Sea -- Georgia, Ukraine and Romania -- aiming to deliver a message of support against threats from Russia.

NATO defence ministers, including Austin, will be in Brussels on Thursday and Friday for a series of meetings.

(With wires)
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa -

The Panthers head into Friday's dual meet with a 1-1 record, featuring a win against in-state rival Iowa. Most recently, the Panthers hosted Iowa State, falling to the Cyclones 113.5-183.5.

With losses to Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky, the Sycamores enter with an 0-3 record. This past weekend, Indiana State competed at the Indiana Intercollegiate meet hosted at Purdue. Finishing third out of 12 teams, the Sycamores grabbed 356 points and trailed Purdue and Ball State.

Taylor Hogan and freshman Abby Hutchins rank third and fourth, respectively. For 3-meter, Hogan ranks third and Hutchins fifth. With strong performances against Iowa and Iowa State, the Panther divers rank near the top of the MVC. On 1-meter, juniorand freshmanrank third and fourth, respectively. For 3-meter, Hogan ranks third and Hutchins fifth.

Lily Ernst enters this weekend's matchup ranked third in the MVC in the 200 butterfly. Fellow sophomore Amber Finke sits fifth in the 200 backstroke. In the pool, sophomoreenters this weekend's matchup ranked third in the MVC in the 200 butterfly. Fellow sophomoresits fifth in the 200 backstroke.

Faith Larsen has claimed victory in the 50 freestyle against both Iowa and Iowa State. Her swim of 23.98 ranks sixth in the MVC. Freshmanhas claimed victory in the 50 freestyle against both Iowa and Iowa State. Her swim of 23.98 ranks sixth in the MVC.

The meet begins at 6 p.m. ET on Friday, Oct. 22 at the Vigo County Aquatic Center in Terre Haute. Fans can follow the action on the Meet Mobile app.

Following a week off from competition, the University of Northern Iowa swim and dive team travels to Terre Haute, Indiana, to face Missouri Valley Conference opponent Indiana State on Friday. The Sycamores are the third meet this season for the Panthers.
Russias goal is to ensure engagement with Taliban brings diplomatic penetration in and around Afghanistan and expand its influence in region. To intensify the endeavor to expand its diplomatic and political clout, Russia has called a meeting of regional and global powers on Afghanistan to evolve a common position, Anadolu Agency reports.

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the revival of extended troika and Moscow format on Afghanistan. The extended troika includes Russia, the US, and China along with Pakistan. Speaking at a virtual summit of the nine-member Council of Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) on Oct. 15, Putin asked the leaders to support the initiative. We are working towards holding meetings within the framework of mechanisms in Moscow, he said.

Senior Russian diplomat Zamir Kabulov added that the extended troika meeting will take place a day ahead of the Moscow format meeting on Afghanistan. The Moscow format is a negotiation mechanism established in 2017 to address Afghan issues. It includes Afghanistan, China, Pakistan, Iran, India, and other countries. It held several rounds of talks in Moscow in 2017 and 2018. The Moscow meetings are expected to serve as a step amid other international efforts exploring ways to address issues related to Afghanistans immediate humanitarian and reconstruction requirements, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in Moscow.

The foreign ministers of the 27-member Council on Interactions on Confidence building in Asia (CICA), who met recently also agreed that the restoration of peace and economic development in Afghanistan was a key component for the security and stability of the entire region. Kairat Sarybai, a CICA official, underlined that the sooner the transition process is completed in Afghanistan the quicker it could get involved in interregional initiatives, making it possible to talk about stabilization of the situation, and then involvement of Afghanistan in regional development projects.

Uniting efforts of East and West

As the current G20 chairman, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi is also aspiring to unite the efforts of the West and the East to help in preventing a humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, as well as to identify ways allowing better safeguarding of the rights of the Afghan citizens. Draghi envisions attracting the maximum number of influential external players to the solution of the multiplying problems of Afghanistan. He named Russia, China, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, as well as the countries of the region as well as the states neighboring Afghanistan to play the crucial role.

The Russian diplomats have been approaching Afghanistans changing realities with greater intensity, frequency, and candor. This approach reflects a change of perception driven by a pragmatic calculation of benefits and costs.

Although Russia is interested in extending humanitarian assistance to Afghans it prefers contributing through bilateral channels. Russia also remains interested in strengthening the UN mechanisms says Russian international Affairs expert Sergei Utkin. He pointed out that compared to most Western countries, Russia has advanced political dialogue with the forces that are now running Afghanistan, and is inclined to build on this advantage, rather than get diluted in multilateral groups who do not have such leverage.

Utkin alleged that some western countries tend to blur responsibility for the development of events in Afghanistan, blame failures on the ability of the Afghan political class and army, and emphasize their positive role in providing refuge to several Afghans who collaborated with the international coalition.

Russian experts are expressing optimism that, to prove themselves to be a credible political entity, the Taliban are likely to keep their promises by acting sensibly and refraining from crossing borders into the neighboring Central Asian republics.

By treating the Taliban, a formidable force Moscow seeks to advance its image as an enabler of stability, secure center stage, and bask in the spotlight as a critical dealmaker in the region. Moreover, Russia continues playing a role via the extended troika and is liaising with Pakistan, Iran, and India, too.

At an Oct. 12 emergency meeting of the G20, European Union has committed $ 1.2 billion as aid for Afghanistan. President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, stated that it was meant to prevent a serious humanitarian and socio-economic collapse in Afghanistan. The European countries are allocating a large package of humanitarian aid because they fear another wave of migration of Afghans.

Averting destabilizing consequences

Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said it was necessary to prevent the "collapse of the state" in Afghanistan and "uncontrolled migration flows to neighboring countries with destabilizing consequences. In this regard, Di Maio urged "to find a mechanism for financing the state without giving money to the Taliban."

While the international community is trying to decide how to work with a Taliban-run government, they agree that political differences should not punish the civilian population. The G20 countries are exploring how the funding could be channeled through the UN agencies in Afghanistan.

At a time when the international community is trying to decide how to work with a Taliban-run government Turkeys President Recep Erdogan has suggested that the international community should keep channels of dialogue with the Taliban open to patiently and gradually nudge it towards forming a more inclusive administration.

Russia has been speaking about alternate centers of interaction as existing forums have proved ineffective to address several pressing crises. Speaking at a European Businesses Association (EBA) meeting in Moscow, Lavrov said that at a time when global multipolarity is taking shape, the center of global growth is shifting from the Euro-Atlantic region to Eurasia (territories adjoining Europe and Asia). He said Russia is interested in having all countries and organizations located on this vast continent become part of Eurasia in geo-economic terms as well.

Moscow has used diplomacy as a tool to advance this objective by drawing closer to the current rulers of Kabul and the Central Asian states through a risk aversion approach. As compared to the earlier Afghan administrations which ruled from 2001 to 2021, Russian observers voice a higher level of comfort for working with the Taliban in Kabul. A proponent of Russian conservatism, Valery Korovin, author and commentator at Russia's Center for Eurasian Geopolitical Initiatives, has described the Taliban as being "allies of Russia, with them we have better prospects when returning to Afghanistan.

Russia has also taken quick measures to get the Central Asian countries aligned to its security perceptions in the region and has convinced them to accept a joint strategy to counter any potential threat.

Russian goal

Russian goal is to ensure that engagement with the Taliban brings gains both in terms of diplomatic penetration in and around Afghanistan and also to consolidate presence and expand influence in the region. Along with partners who have similar security concerns or identical aspirations for regional cooperation, Russia remains cognizant of the role regional states can play in offsetting any risks.

Their aim of exploring peacebuilding collectively is likely to yield greater and long-lasting dividends, placing Russia in an advantageous role in future energy, transport, rail, and road linkages, financed primarily by Chinese investment initiatives in the region. Through these steps, Russia aims to earn diplomatic and economic gains, consolidating its presence and expanding its regional influence.

In recent weeks, many states bordering Afghanistan reflected an increasing realization of the need to align their policies with the evolving realities and emerging power brokers in that country. Afghanistans Central and South Asian neighbors are seeking to avert the risk of a refugee influx, which could worsen the instability they have experienced during the economic slowdown induced by the continuing COVID-19 pandemic. That is why the regional powers in Afghanistans neighborhood, namely China and Russia are stepping in to fill the gap left by the withdrawal of the forces of the US and its NATO allies.
As COVID-19 cases continue on an upward trend in Turkey, the pandemic may get even worse in the coming winter months amid the risk of a flu epidemic. Daily Sabah reports that Coronavirus Scientific Advisory Board member professor Serap Simsek Yavuz warned that several respiratory viruses, such as the Rhinovirus, have been detected much earlier this year.

With the easing of COVID-19 restrictions, the flu epidemic may well make a comeback. This is our biggest concern, she said. Because the immune system of the public will naturally be lower towards the flu virus, risk groups must have their flu jabs administered, Yavuz added. People can have both COVID-19 and flu vaccines at the same time. There is no negative interaction between the two, she emphasized.

The ratio of fully vaccinated people in Turkey is still at around 50%, and Yavuz underlined that vaccination uptake has slowed down recently. We need to have a more active vaccination campaign. If we want to stop the infections, we need to have at least 80% of people immune to COVID-19, be it recovery from infection or vaccination. Only then we can stop the spread, she insisted. Yavuz called upon people still undecided  despite all scientific evidence  to go get their jabs as soon as possible.

Turkey has so far administered over 113.86 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines since it launched an immunization drive this past January, according to official figures released on Saturday.

More than 54.8 million people have gotten a first dose of a coronavirus vaccine, while around 47.2 million are fully vaccinated, the Health Ministry said.

Turkey has also given third booster shots to more than 10.8 million people.

The ministry also recorded 28,537 new cases, 212 fatalities and 25,611 recoveries over the past 24 hours.

As many as 357,167 virus tests were conducted over the past day, the data showed.

Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said on Twitter that the number of coronavirus cases among young people is on the rise. "Contrary to expectations, the rate of vaccination among our university students is low," Koca added, urging them to get the jab.

Meanwhile, Turkey's domestically developed COVID-19 vaccine Turkovac's Phase 3 trials are ongoing and will conclude soon, Coronavirus Scientific Advisory Board member professor Ilhami Celik also said recently.

Turkovac, previously known as ERUCOV-VAC before President Recep Tayyip Erdogan renamed it, was developed in seven months by a team of scientists led by professor Aykut Ozdarendeli. It started its Phase 1 trials in November 2020. Phase 2 trials began on Feb. 10, and as yet no side effects have been reported among volunteers.

Turkovac was developed by scientists at Kayseri's Erciyes University and started its Phase 3 human trials in June. The inactive vaccine is now at the emergency-use approval phase, and Health Minister Koca announced that its mass production will likely begin later this month pending approval.

As Turkovac is in its final rounds of testing, the vaccines developers also launched a comparison study between it and China's CoronaVac in Istanbul and the capital, Ankara. The study will examine the efficacy level of both vaccines after their third doses. Volunteers without a history of COVID-19, between ages of 18 and 59 and who have received two doses of CoronaVac have been admitted to the study of 220 people. Researchers aim to see which jab is safer and more efficient for the third dose. Volunteers will be monitored for their antibody levels and possible side effects in a double-blind study carried out over 168 days. The study runs parallel with another study where volunteers are divided into two groups: those injected with CoronaVac and those injected with Turkovac for first doses.

Turkey started administering CoronaVac jabs to health care personnel in January, and the president himself was vaccinated with the inactive vaccine. Later, authorities also started giving the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to citizens who opted for it.

The country once ranked sixth in terms of vaccination in the world, but the drive has somewhat slowed down, now ranking Turkey eighth globally.

Since December 2019, the pandemic has claimed over 4.89 million lives in at least 192 countries and regions, with more than 240.21 million cases reported worldwide, according to the US' Johns Hopkins University.
Exactly a year ago, on September 27, 2020, Azerbaijan's Patriotic War began. On that day, Armenia's occupying forces subjected the positions of the armed forces of Azerbaijan along the front line and the adjacent populated areas in Azerbaijan to intensive fire with the use of large-calibre weapons, artillery and mortars. Baku decided to launch a counter-offensive operation to ensure the safety of the civilian population. Vestnik Kavkaza offers its readers to follow the events of the 44 days of Azerbaijan's Patriotic War as they were covered a year ago.

In the early morning of the twenty-third day of the war, on October 19, it was reported that the Azerbaijani army liberated thirteen more settlements of Jabrayil district. It was calculated that during the first day of the second truce, Armenia's occupying troops inflicted 229 artillery and missile strikes on the settlements of Azerbaijan.



Protests against the terrorist activities of Armenia were held in London and the Hague. The Iranian cleric ayatollah called on Muslims to support the de-occupation of the Azerbaijani land. Iran has downed an Armenian unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) in Ardabil province in the morning.

Also in the morning, the chairman of Armenia's Yerkrapah Union of Volunteers was wounded. A photo showing that the invaders are installing female dummies in military uniforms in combat positions was revealed. Morepeople began in Yerevan to say that the soldiers did not want to go to the front, the invaders tried to compensate for this problem by forming a female detachment.



Oil and gas giant bp has expressed support for the liberation army of Azerbaijan. It turned out that the medium-range missiles fired the day before, which fell in the Khizi region, were aimed at the facilities of the Baku-Novorossiysk pipeline. The Azerbaijani army positions in the Goygol region have been fired upon by the Armenian invaders. The number of civilian Azerbaijani civilians killed since the beginning of the Patriotic War increased to 61 people.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev stressed that Armenia, unable to resist the Azerbaijani liberation army, seeks to expand the geography of hostilities with missile strikes on peaceful settlements. Shortly after the publication of this interview, the invaders shelled a cotton receiving and processing factory located in Azerbaijan's Tartar. Journalists in the Aghdam region also came under fire.



The Russian Foreign Ministry called for an agreement on a mechanism for monitoring the ceasefire. Meanwhile, the Armenian prisoners were able to contact their families. Information was announced about the ecocide committed by the invaders in the occupied Azerbaijani lands.

In the evening, TASS published an interview with Ilham Aliyev, in which he stressed that Azerbaijan is still ready to end hostilities. The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry announced a note of protest from Germany for the illegal visit of German nationalist deputies to the occupied Azerbaijani territories.



Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan told TASS he was ready to come to Moscow for talks with the President of Azerbaijan. The Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan showed military trophies obtained in Fizuli and Jabrayil regions.

Thus, on the twenty-third day of the war, the Azerbaijani liberation army continued its systematic advance westward along the Araz River and the border with Iran to the Armenian border in order to liberate the cities of Zangilan and Gubadli and the surrounding villages.
Azerbaijan has called for introducing urgent interim measures against Armenia.

Azerbaijan's representative Elnur Mammadov said that Azerbaijan considers it necessary to introduce urgent interim measures against Armenia. He said that Armenia continues the campaign of ethnic cleansing and incitement to violence against Azerbaijan.

At the beginning of his speech to the judges, he cited a number of examples from history, including the Khojaly tragedy, when a large number of peaceful Azerbaijanis were killed by the Armenian armed formations as a result of an attack. He stated that now Armenia is continuing a decades-long campaign of ethnic cleansing.

Temporary interim measures are necessary to protect against this direct threat, he noted.

According to Reuters, Azerbaijan asked the World Court to order Armenia to hand over maps it says show the location of landmines on its territory.

Elnur Mammadov told judges that the emergency measures sought were urgently needed to protect against the "dire threat" posed by what it says is Armenia's refusal to hand over the maps.

The alleged campaign of placing landmines "is quite simply a continuation of Armenia's decades-long ethnic cleansing operation and an attempt to keep these territories cleansed of Azerbaijanis", Mammadov said.

The UN International Court of Justice holds hearings on the claim of Azerbaijan against Armenia for violation of the international convention on the abolition of all forms of racial discrimination on October 18-19.

Azerbaijan earlier filed a lawsuit against Armenia in the International Court of Justice, the main judicial organ of the United Nations, for violation of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD).
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan congratulates Azerbaijan on the 30th anniversary of the restoration of independence, Turkish President wrote on his Twitter page.

"I sincerely congratulate Azerbaijan, well-being of which is our well-being, joy is our joy, freedom is our freedom, fate is our fate, grief is our grief, Happy Independence Restoration Day on October 18," he wrote.

Turkish President added to publication a photo with President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev.
On the first stop of his three-nation Africa tour, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan stressed significant cooperation opportunities between Turkey and Angola in the defense and energy fields.

Addressing a news conference with his Angolan counterpart Joao Lourenco in the capital Luanda, Erdogan said Angola previously demanded Turkish-made unmanned aerial vehicles and Mondays talks also covered armored carriers.

On defense cooperation with Angola, Erdogan stressed his country was ready to provide the southern African nation with all kinds of support. He underlined that Turkey would continue to support Angola in its fight against terrorism.

Addressing the Turkey-Angola Business Forum later in the day, the president said Turkey has become one of the worlds three most successful countries in UAVs.

We are one of the 10 countries in the world that can design, build, and sustain its warships, Daily Sabah cited him as saying.

Turkey has seven firms among the top 100 defense companies in the world, and Erdogan said the country is planning to put its new submarines into service next year.

The president noted the significant cooperation opportunities between the two countries in the defense and energy fields, adding that the Turkish and Angolan energy ministers discussed the possibilities Monday.
European Union foreign ministers debated new economic sanctions on Belarus, including on airlines, to halt what Brussels says is a deliberate policy by Minsk to fly in thousands of migrants and send them across the border.

The sanctions proposal, first voiced by Latvia on Monday in Luxembourg, was not initially on the agenda for EU foreign ministers and may have been a response to a decision by Belarus to expel Frances ambassador at the weekend, diplomats said.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said after the EU meeting there would be further talks in coming days, Euractiv reported.

We will put more pressure on the airlines that bring people from various locations to Minsk, from which they are brought, with the support of the ruler there, to the borders, he said.
Iran and Russia will convene a joint military commission in Tehran within the next three months in order to discuss defense and security cooperation, the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of Iran, Mohammad Bagheri said.

Bagheri, who is in Moscow for meetings with his Russian counterpart, Valery Gerasimov, said the commission will also be tasked with outlining areas of cooperation in the field of military training, without giving more details, according to IRNA.

The two countries also discussed a military contract that involves Tehran procuring a number of training jets and combat helicopters from Russia when U.S. sanctions on Irans economy are eased, Bagheri said, adding that he and Gerasimov also exchanged views on Israels latest mischief in Syria, tensions in the southern Caucasus and the crisis in Afghanistan.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov supported Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's statement about the need to reform the UN Security Council.



"President Erdogan's eloquence is well known. He speaks freely, on various topics. I agree with him that the five permanent members of the Security Council have no right to dictate the fate of the world," the diplomat said on the sidelines of a conference organised by the Valdai Discussion Club.

According to him, the P5 have the powers exclusively within the UN Charter, which reflects the collective will of all members of the world community. "And the P5 bears a special responsibility for the global situation, first of all, in avoiding a global conflict. And this has been done for more than 75 years. I hope it will continue," the minister said.

At the same time, he stressed the need to adapt the UN and the Security Council to the new realities. "Because the world is no longer 50 countries, as was the case when the UN was created, even not 70, as was the case with the expansion of the Security Council from 12 to 15 members, but much more, 193, and these are only UN members. And, of course, developing countries absolutely rightly insist that their representation in this main body of the UN be increased," Lavrov emphasized.

"Now, if you look at the composition of the Security Council, the West has at least 6 out of 15 members. And when Japan is elected to the Security Council from Asia, [this is] the seventh vote in the piggy bank of Western policy, which is promoted through the UN Security Council. Therefore, the West no longer needs to add seats to the UN Security Council, and the developing countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America must definitely do it," the Russian Foreign Minister concluded.
The crews of over 40 warships and vessels of the Black Sea Fleet took part in massive force-on-force maneuvers of Russias Southern Military District at the Opuk training ground in Crimea, the Fleets press office reported on Monday.

"During the drills, the Black Sea Fleets coastal defense troops practiced anti-subversive defense of the coastline and a fight against amphibious assault groups and warships," the press office said in a statement.

"Under the scenario of the drills, the fire support ships comprising the cruiser Moskva, the frigate Admiral Grigorovich, the missile corvette Ingushetia, the missile ships Naberezhniye Chelny and R-60 suppressed the coastal defense by rockets and shipborne artillery to seize and retain a bridgehead for an amphibious assault, following which they landed naval assault groups from fast-speed boats and craft," the statement reads.

Concurrently, the crews of the Black Sea Fleets operational-tactical and naval aviation aircraft practiced operations while approaching the landing site to suppress anti-amphibious assault defense, delivering strikes against enemy positions. Following this, the Black Sea Fleets large amphibious assault ships Saratov, Novocherkassk and Tsezar Kunikov landed marines with materiel onto the unequipped shore. Forpost and Orlan-10 drones exercised control of target destruction and artillery fire adjustment, the press office specified.

The massive command and staff drills kicked off at practice ranges in the Southern Military District on October 13. Overall, the drills have brought together about 8,000 personnel and up to 350 items of armament and military hardware from the combined-arms, air force and air defense armies and other units and formations, as well as the forces of the Black Sea Fleet and the Caspian Flotilla, TASS reported.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said at the joint press briefing with Georgian Defense Minister Juansher Burchuladze that Georgia is a critical region to the United States.

"This is a critical region to us, and we have many shared interests, and of course, shared values, and we see a number of opportunities for security cooperation. Again, I'm here to reassure and recognize the tremendous value of our partnership," Austin stressed.

"I served in Iraq with them, as well as in Afghanistan, and I can tell you they're incredible soldiers, and Georgia has every right to be proud of that contribution and the way they continue to operate," he said.

Austin noted that Washington and Tbilisi will continue to work on and strengthen their partnership as we go forward. "Again, I'm here to reassure Georgia and work to strengthen the great relationship that we already have," the Pentagon chief added.
Russia and the United States favor further contacts on the issue of climate change. Work is in progress on new meetings at the level of relevant government ministries, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexey Overchuk said on the Solovyov Live YouTube channel on Tuesday.

"Yes, there was such a proposal from [US Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry] concerning the climate agenda," Overchuk said, when asked if there had been any invitations from the Americans for more contacts. "Of course, we need contacts at a more working level. We are now arranging such contacts between the ministries concerned. So, obviously there will be a follow-up on climate."

Overchuk led Russias delegation at the customary autumn sessions of the governing bodies of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Also, he held bilateral talks with high-ranking officials from the Biden administration, including White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Tatiana Golikova urged the cabinet to introduce non-working days Oct.30 to Nov.7 in order to curb the spread of COVID-19, amid record rates of infections and deaths.

She suggested non-working days be declared in Russia from October 30 through November 7, and from October 23 in regions with the most serious coronavirus situation. She also suggested QR codes be introduced for access to certain facilities, and mandatory self-isolation for non-vaccinated retirees.

Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin has supported Golikovas initiative to declare non-working days in Russia and to impose a number of other restrictions in a bid to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus infection.

"Indeed, these are not easy solutions. I would call them forced, but necessary," he said on Tuesday.

The prime minister noted that the coronavirus is demonstrating an upwards tendency in Russia and it is important to stop the infections spread. In his words, the previous restrictions managed to do this.

"Huge experience has been gained over the pandemic period, necessary equipment has been purchased, production of necessary medical products and medicines has been established. But the burden on the public health system keeps on growing and we must act proactively," he stressed. "It is about the health of our people."

Last week, coronavirus morbidity and mortality rates reached an all-time high, and growth continued this week. According to the anti-coronavirus crisis center, as many as 8,060,752 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Russia. A total of 7,040, 481 patients have recovered and 225,325 have died.

The number of fatalities nationwide hit an all-time daily high of 1,015 on Tuesday, versus 998 the day before. The daily tally of new cases is 33,740, with a growth rate of 0.42%
Russia plans to invest $1 billion in the Armenian economy in the near future, Deputy Economic Development Minister Dmitry Volvach said at a briefing on Tuesday on the sidelines of the 8th Armenian-Russian Interregional Forum.

"Our mutual trade is recovering quite well  a 17% growth in 2021. This is despite the fact that it fell by almost 4% in the pandemic year. Our investment cooperation is growing: there are more than $2.2 billion of jointly accumulated investments from Russia to Armenia. We know that there are specific projects to the tune of more than $1 bln, which will soon go to the Armenian economy," he said.

According to Volvach, the investments will become a significant contribution to the development of economic, social, and cultural relations between Russia and Armenia. In particular, they will contribute to the creation of new high-tech jobs and facilitate exchange in various areas of the economy, culture, and infrastructure development, TASS reported.

"According to statistics, currently, Russian investments account for 40% of foreign investments in the Republic of Armenia. It seems to me that it is quite logical at least to maintain this share. It is clear that there are investments from other countries, from other partners, but I hope that Russia and Russian business will retain their role and significance in the Armenian economy," he added.
Israel will allow Russian tourists vaccinated with Sputnik V, the Russian-made COVID vaccine, to enter the country for the next two months.

The decision comes ahead of Prime Minister Naftali Bennetts scheduled Friday meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Russia. The Sputnik V vaccine is not recognized by Israel, the World Health Organization, or the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Russians who received the Sputnik V vaccine will be able to enter Israel on the strength of a blood test showing sufficient antibodies to the virus, rather than a PCR swab test. People with an insufficient antibody count might be allowed to choose between immediate return to Russia or isolation in an Israeli hotel.

Israeli officials told Haaretz that the move is the result of recent pressure from Russian officials. One official said the arrangement will be limited to two months in order to permit Russia to obtain WHO recognition for its vaccine, after which Israel would recognize Sputnik V fully.
Georgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed its congratulations on the Day of Restoration of Independence of Azerbaijan, according to the Ministrys Twitter page.

We convey heartfelt congratulations and our best wishes to the people of Azerbaijan on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the Restoration of Independence of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the publication said.

We value solid strategic partnership between Georgia and Azerbaijan, and will further enhance it for the benefit of our nations, the Ministry said.
Vietnams big retailer Mobile World has announced that its TopZone chain will sell Apple products only.

A TopZone store that is about to open in HCM City. (Photo: Hai Dang)

On October 22, when iPhone 13 series will be officially offered in Vietnam, 4 TopZone stores will open in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

According to Mobile World, TopZone includes 2 models: AAR (Apple Authorized Retailer) - the stores located next to Mobile World or Dien May Xanh stores, and APR (Apple Premium Retailer), which are independent stores.

Doan Van Hieu Em, CEO of MobileWorld, expects that the AAR model, with average area of 100-120 square meters, will bring in revenue of VND 2-3 billion/month. Meanwhile, APR stores (180-220 square meters) will earn about VND8-10 billion per month.

This retailer plans to have 50 AAR stores and 10 APR stores in the first quarter of 2022.

According to Hieu Em, in Vietnam, there is no Apple Store or Apple Center model as in other countries, so Mobile World is opening TopZone to have a professional and luxurious shopping space for customers. TopZone will also sell products that have never been in the local market.

The success of this new chain is still in question.

Previously, APR and AAR models in Vietnam were successful with names like Future World, iCenter and other stores. However, these stores were quickly surpassed by Mobile World and FPT Shop. Currently, there are not many stores of the APR model in Vietnam, with FPT Retail's F.Studio and eDigi the most outstanding names.

Mobile World used to open stores that sold only products of Apple, but were then closed.

TopZone was born in a new context so Mobile World will be more careful this time. We must wait for the future to see if it is successful.

Hai Dang
Investors have voiced their hopes that a new economic stimulus package would give a boost to the domestic stock market.

The benchmark indices finished higher on October 18, but the VN-Index failed to cross over the key psychological level of 1,400 points level as the rising selling force weighed on the market in the late session. (Photo: tradingview)

The vaccination rollout has allowed many cities and provinces nationwide to reopen, thus facilitating the countrys economic recovery.

Notably, the planned new economic stimulus package is expected to give more momentum to the national economy.

Given this, more capital has flown into the stock market, especially bank stocks despite previous concerns over increases in bad debts and decreases in profits of banks.

The benchmark indices finished higher on October 18, but the VN-Index failed to cross over the key psychological level of 1,400 points level as the rising selling force weighed on the market in the late session.

On the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), the VN-Index increased 2.83 points, or 0.2 percent, to 1.395.53 points.

The market opened the morning session on a positive note, with bullish sentiment pushing the benchmark to 1,399.97 points. However, the rally was capped by profit-taking activities in the last minutes.

The market's breadth was negative as 193 stocks climbed and 245 declined, while the liquidity remained high. Accordingly, more than 795.9 million stocks were traded on the southern bourse, worth over 23.65 trillion VND (836.8 million USD).

The index's uptrend was mainly driven by some large-cap stocks in energy, banking and manufacturing sectors. The 30 biggest stocks tracker VN30-Index posted a gain of 5.65 points, or 0.38 percent, to 1,510.49 points. Of which, sixteen stocks in the VN30 basket jumped, while twelve stocks fell and two stocks ended flat.

On the Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX), the HNX-Index also posted a small gain after staying unchanged in the previous session. It was up 0.04 points, or 0.01 percent, to 384.88 points.

Experts said investors should focus on sectors that benefit from global changes for a long run./.

Source: VNA
Experts have warned that workers say they will only return to HCM City after Tet, leaving a labor shortage at many businesses.

Migrant workers leave HCM City.

My workers all have left for their hometowns, said Nguyen Hoang, the owner of a restaurant on Bui Vien Street, pointing to tables and chairs covered with dust after a long period of closure during social distancing.

The closure has caused significant losses to Hoang and other owners of restaurants in the city. However, if they reopen, they will face another problem  a lack of workers.

Hoang messaged his workers and invited them to come back to work, but they said they would only consider returning when the 2022 Tet holiday ends.

After her husband died because of Covid-19, Dang Thi Thu Loi in Nui Thanh District in Quang Nam, decided to leave Binh Duong and return to her hometown with her two children. She has run out of money after several months of being unemployed. She wonders when HCM City and Binh Duong will control the pandemic to receive workers back.

I really want to continue working in the city. The wage is not high, but it is better than what I can earn in my home village, she said while in quarantine in her hometown.

Analysts say that business owners are seeking workers but the relation between supply and demand has been disrupted. The mass flow of workers leaving for hometowns and slowly coming back to HCM City will cause a serious shortage of skilled workers.

A report from the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA) found very low labor utilization rates in southern provinces in August: 36.7 percent in HCM City, 58.9 percent in Ba Ria - VungTau, 75.2 percent in Binh Duong, 69.4 percent in Tay Ninh and 88.9 percent in Long An 88.9 percent. In industrial zones (IZs) and export processing zones (EPZs) in HCM City alone, 244,982 workers in 827 enterprises were reported taking leave.

According to HCM City Social Insurance, during the social distancing time, from May to September, 337,730 workers terminated labor contracts and 665,946 workers took unpaid leave.

Experts have warned that workers say they will only return to HCM City after Tet, leaving a labor shortage at many businesses.

As such, the number of workers temporarily stopping working or losing jobs after five months of social distancing reached 1,046,676, or 41.2 percent of the 2,439,272 workers paying social insurance.

Analysts said that with the serious damage, the domestic labor market will recover very slowly.

Hoang Cong Gia Khanh from the HCM City University of Economics and Law pointed out that both the numbers of workers and jobs are decreasing sharply. From October 1 to 7, as many as 141,462 people from HCM City, Dong Nai and Binh Duong returned to localities in the southwestern region via Long An gate and 43,000 people returned to the Central Highlands via Binh Phuoc gate.

There are no official statistics about the number of workers leaving HCM City, but analysts believe that enterprises will face a labor shortage as workers will not return until the Tet holiday ends.

Khanh said on October 16 during a workshop on socio-economic development in 2022-2025 that economic recovery after the pandemic would depend on the pace of job re-generation. The policy on supporting businesses should focus on mitigating layoffs, re-recruiting workers who have left, and attracting skilled workers back.

Khanh suggested using the citys budget to subsidize 25 percent of the regional minimum wage from September 2021 to March 2022. The program would be implemented in two stages, estimated to have the value of VND4 trillion, equal to 0.29 percent of HCM Citys GRDP (Gross Regional Domestic Product).

Nguyen Trong Hoai from the HCM City Economics University stressed the need to eliminate the inconsistency in pandemic prevention and control policies set by different localities. Its necessary to unify regulations in order to remove administrative barriers to the intra-regional labor flow.

To attract workers back to work, policies on minimum wage applied to the private sector need to be changed. The minimum wage levels need to be lifted gradually to cover spiraling prices and raise the standard of living.

The provincial authorities in the southern key economic zone have asked the Government to set minimum wage thresholds based on regional price levels to ensure worthy living standards for workers.

Vietnam needs to give up the view of attracting FDI (foreign direct investment) with cheap labor costs.

Regarding accommodations for workers, its necessary to set up standards for guesthouses and dorms and provide preferential loans to guesthouse developers so they can improve accommodation quality, thus improving the living standards of workers.

Tran Hoang Ngan, head of the HCM City Institute for Development Studies, said its an urgent matter to build housing at reasonable prices for workers and poor people. This will help stabilize workers lives, increase productivity, and ensure a safe living environment.

Tran Chung - Ho Van

More workers return to work In recent days, workers from the Central Highlands provinces are returning to HCMC, Dong Nai, and Binh Duong to continue their jobs because they know that social distancing has been loosened, and businesses have started to resume production.
The chairman of the HCM City Peoples Committee, Phan Van Mai, said the city plans to build one million units of affordable housing for low-income workers.

The affordable housing demand of migrant workers in HCM City is very high. VNA/VNS Photo

The Department of Construction is working with the Department of Natural Resources and Environment to review statistics of the State's social housing land fund and has reported back to the City Peoples Committee.

The fourth wave of COVID-19 clearly exposed the reality that workers live in large numbers in very small areas. This has had a great impact on the emotional life of the workers.

The city's leaders have recognised the urgent need to build social housing suited to the income of migrant workers.

"Migrant workers play a very important role in the economic and social development of the city, but the city currently does not take care of their lives well enough. In the coming time, the city will have better support policies and benefits for workers," Mai said.

The city has implemented many projects to build social housing for workers in Linh Trung I, Linh Trung II, and Tan Thuan export processing zones, Tan Tao Industrial Park, and in new industrial zones.

According to data from the Department of Construction, from the end of 2019 until now, the city has implemented 15 housing projects for workers, equivalent to an area of 47ha.

However, this number is still too small compared to the housing needs of millions of migrant workers in the city.

The biggest difficulty in building social housing for workers is the lack of capital and land.

Source: Vietnam News
Take Five With Tom Fenton

Take Five: Takeaways from KubeCon North America 2021

The Cloud Native Computing Foundation's flagship Kubernetes (K8s) conference,(aka "KubeCon"), was held as a live event at the Los Angeles Convention Center and virtually Oct. 13-15, 2021 (with a pre-event on Oct. 11-12). The virtual event had around 17,000 attendees, and around 4,000 attended in person. Below are some of the items that I found especially interesting at KubeCon.

Take 1: New Members added to Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF)

The CNCF announced the organization had incredible growth last year. They now have more than 725 members, up from 600 members last year. CNCF now has more than 138,000 contributors and 110 Graduated, Incubating and Sandbox projects. Following are some companies that caught my eye at the event.

Platform9: Platform9 is a multi-cloud K8s-as-a-service company that has been a mainstay at KubeCon for many years and at this year's event introduced Managed KubeVirt (PMK) . This is a managed KubeVirt solution that offers a unified platform to run virtual machines (VMs) alongside containers. This is an interesting take, since last week at VMworld, VMware announced a project that allows VMs to be instantiated using K8S, which is the exact opposite. Platform9 also announced -- in conjunction with Intel's Open Retail Initiative (ORI) -- a software-defined store solution to help retailers roll out store applications and improve digital experiences for consumers by allowing the management of retailers remotely located converged infrastructure stacks that can run on both VMs or containers.

. This is a managed KubeVirt solution that offers a unified platform to run virtual machines (VMs) alongside containers. This is an interesting take, since last week at VMworld, VMware announced a project that allows VMs to be instantiated using K8S, which is the exact opposite. Platform9 also announced -- in conjunction with Intel's Open Retail Initiative (ORI) -- a software-defined store solution to help retailers roll out store applications and improve digital experiences for consumers by allowing the management of retailers remotely located converged infrastructure stacks that can run on both VMs or containers. Kubecost: I had a chance to chat with Kubecost about the challenges around assigning charges for container usage. This is a topic that is getting more and more attention as containers become more prevalent. The challenge is that to be most effective, containers and K8S require resources from a common pool. Assigning cost back to specific lines of businesses can be a challenge. Kubecost allows the costs to be tracked and billed by deployment, service, namespace label and other K8S constructs from a single dashboard. They have a free version of the software that can monitor a single cluster.

InfluxData: InfluxData is the company behind InfluxDB, which is an open source time-series database. They have been around for more than eight years, and I was glad that I finally had a chance to sit down and talk with them. One of the areas that we keyed in during our discussion was the proliferation of IoT and Edge devices and the massive number of logs and data that they produce. InfluxData is keenly aware of the challenges around the amount of data that is produced by these devices and ensured me that InfluxDB can ingest it all. InfluxData has a free plan to get you started with their product.

MinIO: This is another company that I have seen around the K8S ecosphere for years but never had a chance to chat with. Amazon's S3 is the de facto standard for object storage, but what happens if you are developing and deploying on an in-house system or using a different cloud provider? Just as S3 has become the standard for object storage, MinIO has become the standard for S3 compatibility for non-AWS systems. There are other companies that offer S3 compatibility features for object storage, but MinIO is the only company that I know of that is solely dedicated to it. This laser focus has made them the predominant player in this field. If you want to see if MinIO is the right product for your S3 needs, they have a free community edition.

Take 2: VMware

VMware is a Platinum-level member of CNCF but didn't have a presence at KubeCon this year, although they did have employees presenting at it. I didn't see any announcements from them at KubeCon, but at VMworld last week they did make some major announcements that should be included. About three years ago VMware acquired Hepito, a Seattle-based company that was started by two of the Google engineers who developed Kubernetes. I believe that they have a heavy hand in the direction that VMware is taking with K8S.

By the way of background, Hepito, before being acquired by VMware, was best known for Sonobuoy, which runs conformance tests on a Kubernetes cluster. Sonobuoy is still a viable product and is now under VMware's Tanzu K8S product line. In order to get the community excited and familiar with Tanzu, VMware has released a community Edition of Tanzu. According to VMware, it's "a freely available, community-supported, open-source distribution of VMware Tanzu that you can install and configure in minutes on your local workstation or your favorite cloud."

As anyone who has paid attention to the K8S marketplace knows, there are other, better-known products that accomplish the same, so it will be interesting to see if VMware can capture K8S mind-share with this product. Also, at VMworld last week, the company announced a project for provisioning full VMs using Kubernetes APIs to deploy, configure and manage them. This will be an interesting project to watch.

Take 3: Windows and K8S

During KubeCon I was able to sit in on a few sessions. By the time you read this you should be able to search and find many that are available for on-demand viewing. Windows and K8S was an interesting session as it was jointly presented by VMware and Microsoft. Members of the SIG-Windows community provided an update on the efforts to bring Windows workloads to Kubernetes. It started off with a demo of the new HostProcess feature which enables "privileged" containers on Windows. They then talked about some of the improvements they are working on getting Windows and K8S to play nice together. They finished it off by discussing the development tools that they use. It will be interesting to see if Windows can break into the K8S space in a big way.

Take 4: Edge Computing Using K3s on Raspberry Pi

This was a nice session put on by a Lenovo engineer in which he discussed how he built a three node K8S cluster using 3 Raspberry Pi's. I liked it because it basically walked you through step-by-step how he did it, from purchasing the hardware to installing software the running the final application -- bourbon-finder.

Showing that they aren't interested in just the development of code in the IT community, they also announced a free training course and language recommendations to replace harmful language in code. They have a three-tier system for the classification of language. At the conference the released the Tier 1 terms. It identifies the most harmful terms and phrases that are used in software and provides replacements for them. They recommend these to be used immediately. Tier two and three guidance on words and phrases should be coming from CNCF shortly.

Take 5: Attending an In-Person Tech Event

As this is the first large-scale tech conference that I have attended since the pandemic started, I wrote a separate article about that experience and my thoughts on attending tech conferences live, which will serve as my 5th Take in this Take 5. As I reported, we're in strange times, but it was nice to see and talk with like-minded people again.

I would have to say KubeCon 2021 was a huge success, not because of the announcements that were made or CNCF's rapid growth, but because they were willing to have it in a very difficult climate and actually made it work in a secure and safe manner. It should be a template for other conferences to follow. No, tech-conferences will not see the number of attendees that they hade pre-pandemic, but it shows a commitment to the community. KubeCon is going to be a live event in Detroit and Valencia Spain in May 2022. Many of the sessions from last week's show were recorded and can be seen here.
American Masters (8 p.m., PBS, TV-PG) wraps up its 35th season with a profile of Helen Keller. Born blind and deaf, Keller (1880-1968) was brought to the publics attention by the Broadway drama and 1962 Oscar-winning film The Miracle Worker. While the film emphasized Kellers childhood breakthroughs, this Masters profile recalls how she transcended her role as a disability advocate to become an activist and spokeswoman for important causes of the 20th century, including civil rights and universal health care. Kellers longevity put her at the center of historical struggles that may seem forgotten today. A lifelong socialist, she was a member of the I.W.W. Union, known as the Wobblies, a group subject to violent suppression in the early decades of the last century. She was active enough in debates of that era to have had an evolving position on eugenics, once championed as a progressive approach to population control that would inspire master race theories on both sides of the Atlantic.
The cemetery was part of a long-gone community that once included a church, a school, a post office, general store, blacksmith shop and a railhead for loading cattle onto the Cotton Belt Railroad, Kirkland said.

The city of Waco has spent about $6.5 million to buy about 1,400 acres in the area, including 500 acres for the landfill site itself and the rest for a buffer zone. While area residents have mounted protests, the city is moving ahead with permits and design for a landfill.

Kirkland said his meetings with Cain and other city leaders have been cordial.

They were very nice, very open to us, Kirkland said. Their main comment to us was that they wanted to be good neighbors.

Waco Assistant City Manager Paul Cain said the settlement was not the result of a lawsuit but a desire by the city to address concerns and comments filed with the city and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

We are reaching out to as many neighbors as we can out there to try to alleviate as many concerns as we can, Cain said. The cemetery is close to the landfill, and we wanted to reach out to try to make it a little more tolerable for them.
Bernards attorney, Phil Martinez, said he advised Bernard to accept the plea offer, which is the minimum of what he was facing and gives him an opportunity for parole.

He is 58 years old and was looking at a continuous sexual assault allegation with no parole, Martinez said. So we kept negotiating back and forth with the state. When they came with an offer of 25 years on three counts, he felt because of his age, he couldnt pass up that plea deal. He wanted to hopefully gain parole, though he would be in his 60s by then, and he didnt want to risk a life sentence, especially with his record.

In a victim-impact statement after 19th State District Judge Thomas West sentenced Bernard, the 5-year-old girls mother told Bernard that he abused the trust she and her family placed in him as the girls babysitter.

Feb. 5, 2019, is the day I learned that there are real monsters in this world, she said via teleconference. Thats the day that detectives told me that my 5-year-old daughter needed a rape kit.

She closed her statement by saying she hopes God gives her the strength to forgive him one day.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control recommends the flu shot for everyone ages 6 months and older, with special formulations for pregnant women, younger children and older adults ages 65 and older. Those with chronic health conditions are also encouraged to get the flu vaccine.

Waco-McLennan County Public Health District spokeswoman Kelly Craine said the flu vaccine is key to slowing the spread of the flu and reducing its severity.

They are safe and effective, and a lot of people dont realize that the flu shot is approved for children as young as 6 months, and we really encourage everyone to get a flu shot, even if you dont think it is going to happen to you, Craine said.

People can get the flu vaccine at the health district at the same time they get their COVID-19 vaccine if they choose.

Dr. Ben Wilson with Waco Family Medicine said the idea of a twindemic is not out of the question. The good news is that countries in the Southern Hemisphere are coming out of their flu seasons now without high caseloads.

We have some comfort in knowing that in the southern hemisphere this year there was very low flu activity much like the prior year, he said. But we dont know if they were adhering to the mitigation policies more than our community.
Lynn was honored after the war with a special commendation from the U.S. War Department and as an Honorary Colonel in the American Legion.

After the war, Lynn moved to New York City and later Hollywood to pursue an acting career. She performed in roles with Twentieth Century-Fox, RKO, MGM and Universal. Her film performances included Cheaper by the Dozen, Many Rivers to Cross and Behind the High Wall.

She also acted in television shows like the comedy Wheres Raymond, Peg O My Heart and many others.

Betty was a fixture in television Westerns during the 1950s and 1960s. A partial roundup includes episodes of Bronco, Wagon Train, Cheyenne, Tales of Wells Fargo and Sugarfoot, as well as being co-star for two seasons of Disney Presents: Texas John Slaughter with Tom Tryon, the museum wrote.

In the 1990s she joined "Andy Griffith" cast reunion events and festivals around the country.
Disgraced twice impeached former President Trump filed a civil lawsuit on Monday against the House January 6 Committee. There is no chance of blocking the release of documents related to his actions on that day. It was filed solely to slow down the process. Even if it manages to slow the process, it may fall short to achieve Trump's delusional endgame.

According to the former President's lawsuit filed in Federal Court on Monday to prevent the January 6th House committee from getting access to his records, it's nothing more than an "illegal fishing expedition."

The investigation, on the other hand, is legal. President Biden's rejection of Mr. Trump's assertion of executive privilege for the documents requested by the committee may result in the lawsuit being dismissed because Trump no longer has standing as a former President to prevent the current White House administration from giving the House panel access to federal records related to the Trump White House and the January 6 insurgency.

Keep in mind Richard Nixon tried the same legal maneuver and lost. Which gives the federal court in which Trump's case has been filed - historical precedence for either issuing a summary judgment against Trump's lawsuit or just dismissing it outright - based on Trump no longer having standing.

Lofgren On Trump January 6 Lawsuit: Nixon Tried To Make Same Case And Lost

Reps. Liz Cheney and Bennie Thompson, who Chair the January 6 committee, said in a statement Monday night

"The former President's clear objective is to stop the Select Committee from getting to the facts about January 6, and his lawsuit is nothing more than an attempt to delay and obstruct our probe. Precedent and law are on our side,"

"The Select Committee's authority to seek these records is clear. We'll fight the former President's attempt to obstruct our investigation while we continue to push ahead successfully with our probe on a number of other fronts."

The Trump lawsuit is so flawed that he may find that his go-to strategy of losing in one court and then appealing in higher courts to the Supreme Court to slow down the process gets shut down quickly.

If the present court considering the matter dismisses Trump's complaint because he no longer has the standing to challenge the subpoena, or if the court agrees to hear arguments but subsequently dismisses the case, Trump may find that any appeals to a higher court are swiftly dismissed altogether. He could also see that no higher court given a no-standing ruling by the lower court will ever agree to hear the case.

What kind of lawyer would file a lawsuit that could be dismissed so quickly?

Given that he has burned a string of lawyers who are now unpaid and in danger of losing their licenses to practice law, as well as being exposed to potentially billions of dollars in civil judgments, and dozens of top tear lawyers have turned down representing him  leaving him literally having to hire a mall-strip lawyer to sue his niece Mary Trump.

It's only reasonable to evaluate the lawyer's reliability after filing his January 6th complaint in federal court in the District of Columbia on Monday.

The lawyer Trump hired to represent himself is Jesse R. Binnall, one of his failed "Stop the Steal" lawyers. They got his head handed to him in his suit to overturn the 2020 election in Nevada. Binnall has earned a reputation as a liar after testifying before the Senate Homeland Security Committee in December, claiming that 42,000 people voted more than once during Nevada's 2020 electiona claim since debunked by fact-checkers.

Binnall is well renowned for defending disgraced former Trump national security advisor Mike Flynn's criminal prosecution with Sidney Powell for lying to the FBI about his communications with Russia's ambassador to the United States. In the end, his and Powell's defense of Flynn was a catastrophe, and Flynn was forced to depend on a last-minute pardon from his co-conspirator  Trump.

Binnall is a hack far-right wing attorney who may be the only one in the country willing to represent the Republic, a legal organization founded by Sidney Powell to pursue lawsuits seeking to overturn election results, in a $1.3 billion lawsuit filed by Dominion Voting Systems against Powell and the legal group.

The lawsuit filed by Binnall comes on the eve of the committee's voting on whether to hold Mr. Trump's senior adviser Steve Bannon in criminal contempt for defying a subpoena to appear.

On Monday night, the committee released the resolution asking for Bannon to be held in criminal contempt, saying documents and testimony for Bannon are "critical to the select committee's investigation."

Please make no mistake the committee will vote in favor of holding Bannon in criminal contempt, the whole House will vote on it. If a majority of the House votes to do so, it will send a criminal contempt referral to the U.S. attorney.

Bannon's claim to executive privilege is complicated by the fact that Bannon's contacts, discussions, and records with others, including Republican House and Senate Republicans, could NEVER be deemed shielded. This implies that Bannon, who has no claim to executive privilege at any level, will be wasting any court's time defending the committee's subpoena and may be slapped with a summary judgment requiring him to appear with no higher court prepared to consider an appeal.

Psaki Comments on Trump's Lawsuit to Block Release of January 6 Documents
Efforts are being made to determine how to regulate new digital financial technologies without hindering innovation. Part of that endeavor includes a focus on digital currency.

A new report from the U.S. Treasury Department warned on Monday that digital currencies posed a threat to the United States' sanctions program. The United States needed to modernize how sanctions were implemented to ensure that they remained an effective national security tool in the future.

As part of a six-month assessment of the nation's sanctions program, which has been utilized more aggressively in recent years as a lever in foreign diplomacy, the Treasury Department included the warning in its recommendations.

An attempt to establish how to govern new financial technology without impeding innovation is underway throughout the administration. The emphasis on digital currencies is part of that effort.

As stated in the Treasury report, "Technological developments like as digital currencies, alternative payment platforms, and new methods of concealing cross-border transactions all have the potential to undermine the effectiveness of American sanctions." "These technologies provide possibilities for malicious actors to store and move money outside of the conventional dollar-based financial system," says the author.

It also expressed worry that America's enemies are trying to decrease their dependence on the United States currency. It warned that new digital payment methods might accelerate this trend and weaken the effectiveness of American sanctions in the future.

U.S. sanctions on North Korea, Iran, and Venezuela are in force, primarily to punish them for supporting terrorism, abusing human rights, or engaging in other illegal activity. The sanctions are mainly aimed at countries such as these.

Because of the power of the United States dollar and its status as the world's reserve currency, the United States can cut nations, organizations, or people off from a large portion of the global financial system at its discretion.

As a result, attempts to discover new methods to circumvent American sanctions have escalated, including the use of digital currencies that do not pass through the conventional banking system, which have increased.

According to the law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, the use of sanctions increased to unprecedented levels under the Trump administration, which added more than 1,000 additional designations each year on average, breaking previous records.

As of now, the Biden administration is on track to apply 900 sanctions this year, which would rank as the third-highest number in the government's history.

The Treasury Department's seven-page report included no information on how the department intends to adapt to the new digital financial architecture expanding across the globe at the time of publication.

Among the suggestions were the purchase of new technology and personnel with experience in digital assets.

According to a senior Treasury official on Monday, one key step to avoid sanctions evasion was increased cooperation with other nations to make it more difficult for cryptocurrency to be turned into government-issued money to be used as money.

Ransomware assaults are becoming more common. The Biden administration has responded by increasing sanctions to shut down digital payment networks that have enabled such criminal behavior to thrive and threaten national security.

The President's Working Group on Financial Markets is scheduled to issue a second report this year that will include regulatory suggestions for stablecoins, which are digital currencies backed by assets and have gained popularity in recent years.

Wally Adeyemo, the deputy Treasury secretary, was in charge of evaluating sanctions in this case.

The study steered clear of drawing judgments on particular penalties against specific countries or people.

Instead, it provided broad recommendations for strengthening the program, coordinated by the Treasury Department with the State Department and the National Security Council and funded by the Treasury Department.

Other suggestions included developing a more systematic approach to sanction designations, which might ultimately result in the removal of some of them together.

In addition, the Treasury Department said that penalties needed to be more targeted to "minimize the possible detrimental effect on other people."

The agency is presently operating under a leadership vacuum. Senate Republicans have delayed the approvals of two of President Biden's candidates to be its top sanctions officials  Brian E. Nelson and Elizabeth Rosenberg  due to opposition from Republicans in the Senate.

Because Sigal Mandelker resigned from the position in late 2019, the Treasury Department has been without an undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence since then.
INDUSTRY OUTLOOK

Chip shortage raises key considerations for GovCon

Global chip scarcity has unique impact on public sector ecosystem

Just about everything in the world that is important, useful or even at the very least entertaining runs on computer chips and the world keeps wanting more of them.

Problem is: there are just not enough of them to go around in the world with the COVID-19 pandemic rattling the supply chains of everything. Including the kind of chips that many companies across multiple sectors deem to be good and able to help make the products customers want.

Some publicly-traded government technology companies have cited the chip shortage as a drag on their financial and operational performances, plus indicated the impacts will continue to be felt in their own supply chains for the foreseeable future. They are certainly not the only ones to be affected, but do have to talk about it to be transparent with investors.

Calling the chip shortage an issue affecting the entire public sector ecosystem is easy. Determining the exact effects however admittedly gets murky when considering the industrial bases different pace and cadence from other sectors.

Here are snapshots of how I heard two veteran supply chain and government market watchers see it after speaking to them.

Knowledge is power

Two immediate action items that companies and customers are undertaking include getting a better understanding of their own and the overall supply chains. They also are looking at commonalities across programs and systems to prioritize buying patterns.

Chris Meissner, co-founder and chief operating officer at public sector and supply chain analytics firm 202 Group, added that the convergence of semiconductor supply chains between the defense industry and others can present an additional challenge in that effort to gain better understanding.

In some cases, you very well may have the Army working sometimes in cooperation but sometimes in competition with the auto industry, for very similar types of semiconductors, Meissner said. The more we talk about innovation and non-traditional or commercial players in the defense space, the more a supply chain issue happens in a commercial market, it becomes a supply chain issue in the generally relatively insulated defense market.

How Defense Department acquires from its industrial base and in turn how aerospace-and-defense companies do the same from their suppliers may be exacerbating the issue also.

Meissner said A&D contractors typically buy in the state of the practice, or in-line with todays government customer requirements; as opposed to the state of the art approach from the commercial world.

Then there is the question over storage, which translates to inventory and the costs of that can get high quickly if left unmonitored. Carrying inventory of all products is one solution to mitigate some effects from shortages of chips and other parts that go into larger systems.

But the storage and inventory practices Meissner called just in time and lean inventory -- which should explain themselves -- have also crept into the national security arena.

To say that DOD (the Defense Department) has special requirements and therefore has special supply chains is increasingly less true, Meissner said.

Which leads to this open-ended question Meissner posed to me for consideration regarding converged and interconnected supply chains:

The ceramics that are fundamental to the sonar of a torpedo, may also be fundamental to medical equipment thats used to look into lungs, he said. Whether or not thats true, we dont know, but thats the type of insight people need to begin to uncover.

Whats the solution?

Data from last year out of the Semiconductor Industry Association indicates quite a divergence: the U.S. acquires more chips than any other country, but our countrys share of actual semiconductor manufacturing keeps going down.

The chips have to come from somewhere if just about everything in the world is going to run on them. So the high-end chips the world wants mostly come from a few so-called fab facilities in Taiwan, South Korea and other countries in Asia.

But Mark Lewis, former director of defense research and engineering at the Defense Department, suggested DOD is actually behind the curve when it comes to microelectronics and is in need of the very items at the heart of the current crunch.

The defense industry has sought out in some cases its own supply chains, which Id argue is not a good thing, because it means that the defense industry is not on state-of-the-art: sometimes one or two generations behind, said Lewis, now executive director of the National Defense Industrial Associations Emerging Technology Institute. The good news is that makes you somewhat immune to the broader global effects, but there are a lot of really bad things that come with that.

What are those bad things? Lewis said that compared to state-of-the-art chips at just below 7 nanometers, the DOD and industrial base are largely buying .5-nanometer chips from a select few trusted suppliers because everyone in the ecosystem knows they work.

So the chips made by companies in todays headlines like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp., Samsung, Intel and very few others are largely not in the industrial bases fold.

Consider too that being in the chip manufacturing business is absolutely not for the faint of heart, given it is a multi-billion dollar investment just to start such a facility. That also means always reinvesting as Lewis put it because of how quickly the technology advances.

Help could be on the way if the $52 billion CHIPS Act to directly fund the U.S. domestic semiconductor industry ever gets out of Congress. That bill has yet to pass the House after the Senate approved the legislation.

DOD also entered the fray when it awarded Intel an other transaction authority agreement in August to help create a domestic commercial-chip building ecosystem.

Whatever form that help takes, Lewis believes the government must take the lead on driving innovation in microelectronics because of their unique nature and role in everything including defense.

Just as there is no business case for commercially-produced aircraft carriers, its difficult to make a business case around state-of-the-art defense microelectronics, Lewis said.
ACQUISITION

The growing importance of GWACs and the challenges they face

NOTE: This article first appeared on FCW.com.

Thirty years ago, scientists at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center found themselves at the heart of a consequential race against time  albeit one far less publicized than that of their astronaut companions.

Leaders from the technical, policy and procurement worlds convened at the center in 1992 to explore new, faster ways for NASA scientists to get their hands on the latest computers. The goal was to create a procurement method that would allow NASA to make critical purchases in a matter of months by reducing the red tape that delayed the acquisition of emerging technologies.

NASA leaders eventually requested procurement authorities from the General Services Administration so that they could establish pre-competed indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contracts, which allowed them to negotiate their own prices and pre-qualify sellers. The program became known as NASA's Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement (SEWP), and it served as the pilot project for an experimental approach at the time: the governmentwide acquisition contract (GWAC).

Joanne Woytek, who launched SEWP a year after those meetings were held at Goddard and continues to manage day-to-day operations as the GWAC's program manager, said its purpose remains largely unchanged despite nearly three decades and five distinct iterations.

"While almost 30 years have gone by, much of the basics of SEWP I remain," Woytek told FCW. "With each iteration of SEWP, we have reviewed technology trends and customer requirements and expanded the scope of the contracts to be inclusive of all IT, AV and communication products, and with SEWP IV and V, all related services."

Although its foundation is intact, SEWP continues to evolve and to serve as both a precedent and a trailblazer for other GWACs. Changes include switching from time-consuming paper-based updates of technology offerings to electronic updates that are typically executed in less than an hour and emphasizing support for agencywide initiatives rather than focusing on individual procurement actions.

A streamlined process and IT expertise

GWACs quickly grew in popularity after Congress passed the Clinger-Cohen Act in 1996. The law cemented the procurement method into law and designated the Office of Management and Budget to monitor the effectiveness of agencies' IT investments. As GWACs evolved, more agencies began using them, said Andrew Endicott, a principal research analyst at Deltek.

For example, the Department of Homeland Security has expanded its use of GWACs and moved away from its own pre-established, multiple-award contracts such as the Technical, Acquisition and Business Support Services and the Enterprise Acquisition Gateway for Leading-Edge Solutions.

Perhaps the biggest selling point is that GWACs have focused on cost savings since their inception while becoming more innovative and streamlined. For example, there is a new emphasis on category management and a Best-in-Class designation for specific vehicles. GWACs also offer increasingly competitive rates on fees. NASA's SEWP has always had the lowest fee of any GWAC, starting at 2.6% in 1993 and dropping to the current rate of 0.34%, according to Woytek.

Furthermore, these large pre-competed contract vehicles reduce the amount of effort and time other agencies need to expend on procurement. "The ability to utilize already established vehicles is a real cost savings for them as opposed to running these massive procurements that could take several years from inception to award and conclusion of any protests that will almost inevitably follow," Endicott said.

On the industry side, GWACs have the potential to provide government contractors with a simplified process and access to federal IT acquisition specialists, said Linda Cureton, CEO of Muse Technologies and former CIO at NASA.

"I've seen from both the government and industry side that, except for the NASA SEWP and [GSA's] 8(a) STARS III contracts, the government contracting personnel at the IDIQ level do not generally know a lot about IT," Cureton said. "Sometimes that's a hindrance but not necessarily a roadblock. This deficiency is overcome with contracting professionals who are more IT savvy, with a commitment to stay that way with depth better than the buzzword level of knowledge."

She added that she believes "GWACs are making tremendous progress in that space."

A level playing field for small businesses?

Each iteration of a GWAC comes with significant growth. SEWP IV brought in more than $16 billion over its lifespan, but SEWP V has already hit $31.7 billion. The National Institutes of Health's CIO-SP2i brought in $4.1 billion, while the currently active CIO-SP3 has already seen $18.6 billion in awards.

However, the expanding popularity of GWACs has some experts concerned that there could be an exclusionary ripple effect across the public marketplace. They say that although GWACs have the ability to bring a diverse coalition of new entrants into the federal marketplace, there are challenges.

"While GWACs are difficult for startups to navigate, the model does help lead to federal work, can serve as a stamp of approval and opens door to make the procurement process more efficient in the long term," said Alec Longarzo, director of federal business development at technology services firm Dcode. "GWACs require a large resource investment and, in many instances, help from external consultants and partners. Small businesses can't always throw large teams at these vehicles and impact other aspects of their business as a result."

Best in Class GWACs Governmentwide acquisition contracts are a key part of the Office of Management and Budget's category management strategy. Agencies are encouraged  and in some cases required  to use GWACs that have met OMB's Best in Class criteria because of their rigorous requirements definitions, appropriate pricing strategies, and supporting data to measure and manage performance. The following IT-related GWACs have been designated Best in Class. 8(a) STARS III Run by the General Services Administration, this GWAC focuses on integrated IT solutions from small, disadvantaged businesses that have been certified under the Small Business Administration's 8(a) program. ADMC-2 This Army-administered contract vehicle offers laptops and desktops as well as tablets, monitors, printers, and ruggedized and semi-ruggedized devices. Alliant 2 Administered by GSA, the current Alliant vehicle offers comprehensive and flexible IT solutions worldwide. CIO-CS Run by the National Institutes of Health's IT Acquisition and Assessment Center (NITAAC), this vehicle offers commercial IT products and as-a-service solutions on site or in the cloud. CIO-SP3 and CIO-SP3 SB These NITAAC GWACs complement CIO-CS by offering a wide range of commercial and non-commercial IT solutions and services. CIO-SP3 is a small-business set-aside. Complex Commercial SATCOM Solutions This GSA-run GWAC covers large, complex, custom satellite solutions, including services and components. Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions The successor to Networx, EIS is GSA's comprehensive solution-based vehicle to address all aspects of agencies' IT telecommunications and infrastructure requirements. FSSI Wireless This GSA-run GWAC offers wireless services for governmentwide use. MAS IT The IT-focused section of GSA's Multiple Acquisition Schedule provides innovative hardware- and software-based technology products, services and solutions. There is also a subsection dedicated to wireless mobility solutions. OASIS and OASIS SB Administered by GSA, OASIS focuses on flexible and innovative solutions for complex professional services that span many areas of expertise, mission spaces and disciplines. OASIS SB is a small business-only vehicle. SEWP Now in its fifth iteration, NASAs SEWP delivers a broad range of commercial IT products and services governmentwide. VETS 2 A set-aside for small businesses owned by service-disabled veterans, this GSA-run GWAC provides federal customers with customized IT solutions.

Similarly, Endicott said that "some small businesses have expressed concern about the increased utilization of GWACs. Smaller contractors may not have the time, resources or experience to go after these larger GWACs, and these companies worry they may be excluded from a sizable amount of work if those requirements are completed through vehicles."

Vendor protests against contract awards have played a critical role in shaping GWACs since 1994, when Congress allowed government contractors a limited ability to file protests with the Government Accountability Office. Categories for protests have expanded over the years to encompass a wide range of potential issues, including objections to an order that exceeds the scope or value of the contract. Companies can only file protests against task orders greater than $10 million at civilian agencies and $25 million at the Defense Department.

The number of protests filed in response to new task orders has risen over the years. Those protests serve to ensure that agencies are following procurement rules, but a multitude of protests against specific contract vehicles have the potential to derail procurement goals and deadlines for agencies working to achieve critical IT milestones.
Deloitte protest leads to seat on $250M Navy program

Deloitte Consultings protest of a $250 million Navy contract to modernize management of its weapons and ordinance supply chain has paid off.

The Navy added Deloitte as an awardee alongside three other companies that were the original winners: McKinsey & Co., BCG Federal and Grant Thornton

After the first awards, Deloitte filed its protest challenging the evaluation process the Navy used.

The Navy agreed to take a second look at Deloittes evaluation after seeing the protest. That second look led the Navy to add Deloitte to the contract.

Awardees will compete for task orders for strategic services to help transform logistics operations, supply chain, and technology across the enterprise.

The contract will run through March 2027 if all options are exercised.
WATERLOO  A Waterloo man accused of running an unlicensed after-hours club has been fined.

Judge Patrick Wegman fined Montora Johnson $450 for an after-hours citation during a brief hearing in Black Hawk County District Court on Monday. The fine is subject to a 15% surcharge plus court costs.

Options for the fine ranged from $855 to $205 with City Attorney Martin Petersen asking for the maximum.

Johnson sought a lower amount, saying it wouldnt happen again and noting he already suffered losses in connection with the case.

I feel I pretty much already paid the maximum fine, Johnson said.

Waterloo police were drawn to Johnsons property at 114 Edwards St. in the summer of 2020 because increased traffic in the area and then shootings where people were hurt. Investigators executed a search warrant at the building  a former auto shop  on June 13, 2020, following gunfire.

Officers said they found evidence of gambling and alcohol sales  including a price list for shots, cigarettes and the cover charge  along with guns and ammo.

During trial in September, Johnson said the building was a repair shop for his motor carrier company Woochies World, and the gathering was a private birthday party.

He noted that police evidence photos showed helium balloons with a happy birthday message on a table.

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Deere & Co. and Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW) representatives headed back to the negotiating table on Monday, according to Brian Rothenberg, communications advisor for UAW.

As union workers began their fifth day on strike along the streets of Waterloo and several other cities gripping blue and white signs, Deere negotiators and union representatives discussed terms of employment to potentially create a new tentative agreement that would end the strike.

Deere officials issued a statement about the return to talks.

We are fully committed to the collective bargaining process and resolving the strike, said Jen Hartmann, director of public relations and enterprise social media. We remain committed to providing our production and maintenance employees with the opportunities to earn the best wages and most comprehensive benefits in our industries.

One union worker in Milan, Illinois, hoped the new negotiations will bring improved terms. If Deere comes back with a lesser or similar offer, that worker said, tensions might boil over.

Thats only going to incite the people that are already mad, the worker said.

The six-year offer from Deere would have raised wages by roughly 5% over the life of the contract. The deal also limited retirement benefits for workers hired after the contract was ratified. Deere workers have faced forced overtime and poor treatment from managers and other company leaders, multiple employees said on the condition of anonymity, fearing retribution. They said the last contract offer was unacceptable, especially considering the companys record-high profits over the past year.

For the 2020 fiscal year, Deere & Co. net income totaled $2.751 billion, according to the company.

On the picket lines

Max, a four-legged, hefty lab and husky mix, and his union worker sat near a barrel fire at the entrance to John Deere Harvester Works in East Moline amid a crowd of UAW on strike signs.

Next to Max and his owner, whose main frustration with Deere was the attempt to cut retirement benefits for newer employees, was a two-foot-high pile of supplies. Cases of water and energy drinks were the base for boxes of donuts, Caseys pizza boxes, chips, sandwiches, and other foods donated by the community over the past five days. Firewood and rain ponchos donations were also piled under the white tent, donations that would support picketers through more turbulent weather.

Its really nice to see everybody come together, said David Schmelzer, a union worker at the Milan plant, while standing in front of his own plants stockpile of food donations. Hopefully after this you know well be stronger for it.

At all Deere plants in the Quad-Cities, picketers have seen large donations of food, firewood, and weather gear from community members, local businesses, local unions, and others as an expression of solidarity toward workers while they advocate for better benefits.

Members of other local unions also have delivered firewood, hand warmers, doughnuts, and other food throughout the past five days at the entrance to the Milan plant, according to Schmelzer.

It means everything to us, even though we may work for different companies, in some cases we work for competitors, but were all fighting for the same things, Schmelzer said.

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CHARLES CITY  The students became the teachers for future educators from University of Northern Iowa on Monday.

Charles City schools Innovative Campus and Project Rise students shared their personal experiences and what they believe makes a good educator with UNI student teachers. This opportunity has been offered to UNI student teachers over the past five years, said UNI student teacher coordinator Kady Korbel.

Innovative Campus is a K-12 program that allows hybrid and alternative learning models for students. Innovative Campus Principal Larry Wolfe said the programs offer a flexible learning experience that students have to apply and interview for.

In that interview, we lay it all out. What you have to do if youre behind credits, if you want to graduate early. If youre returning to have a job. All that gets massaged out to work whats the best fit for you, said Wolfe.

Project Rise is a program that mentors and serves high school and middle school students. According to juvenile court school liaison Dan Caffrey, there are around 40 students in the program.

The opportunity to learn from the students was organized by Korbel, who wanted to give her student teachers relevant examples of what teaching is like. Her goal is to show future teachers that achievement is measured by what students accomplish today compared with where they were.

My students come away, I think, a little bit more prepared on what they could possibly be dealing with in the classroom and thinking about why this child is acting out, sleeping in class, doesnt want to talk to me or constantly having fights. It might not be because theyre the naughty kid. Theyre naughty because they cant open up to tell whats going on, said Korbel.

During the morning session, around 20 student teachers, split into three groups, listened to students experiences about how they found a path to success.

In one session, Carrie Lane Alternative High School students shared what led them to apply for alternative learning and why it was the best fit for them. Don Betts, a teacher at the alternative school, led the conversation and shared his personal experiences.

Betts told the student teachers about a former student who was in and out of school over the years. At 20 years old, the student came to Betts seeking one more chance at a high school diploma. That student got to work and earned his diploma.

Were the house of second chances. Were out here. When you come here you need to be ready to learn, said Betts.

Project Rise students shared with the student teachers challenging situations they had gone through that led to poor grades or behavioral issues. Situations ranged from family illnesses to a parental figure not being in their life.

Caffrey said he is proud his students can tell their own stories.

The fact that theyre able to stand up and tell the things that theyre telling and trying to make a difference when theyre freshmen, sophomore, and juniors. Thats a big step. I dont know if I would have been able to do that when I was in high school, said Caffery.

The students listed qualities they admire in teachers and how they can earn a students trust.

Kayley Frandle, currently student teaching in a kindergarten classroom, said the experience was eye-opening.

We see one side of the student, and now Im hearing what they have to say. Whats really actually going on is just crazy, because you dont see that necessarily. Not all students will open up to you, so its good to hear their side, said Frandle.

She said the experience will be useful in her own classroom in the future.

If there is like a problem, like an outburst or a tantrum, Im just going to go directly, Whats going on? Because behaviors have nothing really to do with you and nothing to do with pretty much whats going on. Most of the time, its an underlying issue, said Frandle.

Korbel says she hopes student teachers come away with a deeper understanding of the spectrum of student life experiences.

I really hope that they take away understanding. That theres a reason for the behaviors of students, whether theyre quiet, whether theyre loud, whether they fight, whether they swear, whether they sleep, whatever it may be. Theres a reason behind it and your goal is to figure it out and not give up on them, said Korbel.

Abby covers education and public safety for the Globe Gazette. Follow her on Twitter at @MkayAbby. Email her at Abby.Koch@GlobeGazette.com

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BLACK HAWK COUNTY  Theyre Democrats, Republicans and independents, and they disagree on a wide variety of matters.

But when it comes to supporting Waterloos thousands of striking UAW Local 838 workers at John Deere, elected leaders  many of whom either worked at Deere, have family members who do or at the very least represent hundreds of Deere workers in their wards  are united in their support of the strike.

Though there was no official agenda item on the strike, six of the seven Waterloo City Council members spoke in support of strike workers during Monday nights meeting.

These are hard economic times for many families, and Ive seen economic data that those at the top have done well while the middle and bottom have struggled, said Ward 2 Councilor Jonathan Grieder, the son of union workers and a union worker himself. For too long, the voices of working people have been silenced and pushed to the corner.

Ward 1 Councilor Margaret Klein, whose husband was a member of the UAW, said she remembered one strike in the 1970s.

It felt like the earth fell out from under our feet  it was so scary. I worried constantly, she said. She is keeping striking workers in my prayers. Every time I go by (the strike locations), I think theyre going through those same emotions.

Ward 5 Councilor Ray Feuss, who said his father was a union driver, said he worries about it becoming a protracted strike.

They have a lot of water and doughnuts, but whats going to happen when their health care is discontinued here shortly? Feuss asked, referencing Deeres plan to reportedly cut off health care for striking workers Oct. 27. The need is going to be there.

Ward 3 Councilor Pat Morrissey said he supported all striking workers and unions, noting that union efforts have been under attack ever since the 80s with the onset of a certain person being elected and what that person did to major unions in the country. He presumably was referring to President Ronald Reagans anti-union efforts that resulted in less than 17% of U.S. workers being organized by the end of the 1980s.

Solidarity goes farther than just Waterloo and one business, Morrissey said. The workers need their fair share.

Councilors Jerome Amos and Dave Boesen noted they were or are still UAW members and both fully supported striking workers. A seventh councilor, Sharon Juon, said Tuesday she fully support(s) the UAW and their work to improve the living standards for their members.

Mayor Quentin Hart thanked all of our council members for standing in solidarity after the comments.

John Deere plays a valuable role in this community and around the world, Hart said. We want to see the best for workers.

On Tuesday morning, the five members of the Black Hawk County Board of Supervisors  four Democrats and one Republican  unanimously approved a proclamation supporting the strike.

The proclamation included language that asserted John Deere is now making record-setting profits and paying exorbitant salaries and bonuses to their top executives. It noted the county purchases John Deere products almost every year across multiple departments with the expectation ... that the workers who build them are properly compensated by the company they make so profitable.

We, the Black Hawk County Board of Supervisors, do hereby proclaim our support for the striking UAW members at John Deere plants, the proclamation read.

Supervisor Chris Schwartz, who authored the proclamation, said he had visited striking workers every day of the strike so far, and said it was inspiring to see small businesses and community members support the strike broadly.

I do believe that corporate greed at some of our largest companies in this country has gotten out of control, Schwartz said. These workers are really standing up on behalf of all working people.

Supervisor Linda Laylin said the community was very fortunate to have the multiple John Deere facilities in Waterloo.

I think its great theyre making such great profits, but theyre fortunate to have the workers here that make those profits possible, Laylin said.

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WATERLOO  The owls are gathering, as author J.K. Rowling said, but the birds of prey landing at the Waterloo Center for the Arts are made from curled paper, recycled bits of cardboard and buttons and stand about 3 inches tall.

Art crafter Tammy Turner will share how to construct the plump paper owls in an Art and Wine workshop Thursday at the center. Participants can spend the evening from 6:30 to 8 p.m. making the owls and sipping wine.

Owls are an icon for popular culture warriors, particularly as decorations. These birds evoke a sense of mystery and wisdom, but Turners owls also are small charmers.

Its fun to have hands-on activities and crafts repurposing old books, or cardboard or other materials into something decorative that you can display or give as a gift, said Turner, a former naturalist at Hartman Reserve Nature Center in Cedar Falls. She now works for the Iowa Northland Regional Council of Governments.

I think its good to show people how to repurpose and reuse materials to keep them out of the landfill.

Turner glimpsed her first paper owl at a silent auction and wanted to learn how to make them herself. Now she can make one in about an hour.

She uses pages from old books, newspaper, pieces of thin corrugated cardboard, measuring out specific lengths and then taping them together to form one long piece. She then tightly curls the paper to create the owls belly, and makes a separate roll for the head, using buttons for eyes. Beaks can be made from paper or cardboard, and cardboard is used to form feet and wings.

You can change the button color to make it look like a different kind of owl  chocolate for a barred owl, yellow for a great horned owl, Turner explained. You can make accessories like a scarf that add personality.

Turner also uses a reference book to add realistic touches to her owls, such as the shape of the beak and feathered top-knots. I like to do owls that you can see around this part of Iowa, she said. But if you want to make your owl in a wild color with purple wings, thats fine, too.

Cost for the paper owl art and wine event is $16 for members and $24 for non-members. To register, call 291-4490.

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TRAER (AP)  Authorities in Tama County say a $17,000 reward is now being offered to help solve a deadly shooting in June.

KCCI-TV reports that the killing of 42-year-old Ryan Cooper remains unsolved. He was found shot to death inside his home in the small town of Traer. An autopsy determined the death was caused by violence.
LA PORTE CITY  A La Porte City teen was injured in a Monday afternoon crash.

According to the Iowa State Patrol, 17-year-old Cody Neiswonger was driving south on Main Road when his Chevrolet Venture van left the roadway near the 50th Street curve and went into a ditch.

The van rolled, throwing Neiswonger from the vehicle before coming to rest on its wheels in the road.

Paramedics took him to MercyOne Medical Center in Waterloo for treatment and then transferred him to University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City for further care. His condition wasnt immediately available.

The Black Hawk County Sheriffs Office, La Porte Fire and EMS, MercyOne Ambulance and Gilbertville Police assisted at the scene.

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AG GRANTS AVAILABLE: Officials with the state Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship say they are offering Choose Iowa Marketing and Promotion matching grants of up to $25,000 per project to help farmers, businesses and nonprofits increase or diversify their agricultural product offerings.

Applicants can use the grants to try new processing, packaging and sales techniques that add value to the commodities they produce. Individuals, businesses and nonprofit organizations living or operating in Iowa may apply for the Choose Iowa Marketing and Promotion grants by Dec. 15.

Preference will be given to small- to medium-size businesses.

Details about the grant program, including what projects and expenses are eligible, the financial matching requirements and an application, are available at https://www.chooseiowa.com/grant-program,

IOWA GUARD GETS MOBILIZATION ORDERS: Officials in the Iowa Air National Guard say about 65 airmen from the 185th Air Refueling Wing in Sioux City and 132nd Wing in Des Moines recently received stateside deployment orders in support of Operation Allies Welcome.

The operation is the ongoing effort to bring Americans home from Afghanistan and bring vulnerable Afghans to the United States and support their resettlement.

The Iowa airmen  under the direction of the U.S. Northern Command  will deploy for about 60 to 90 days under federal deployment orders starting in November. The airmen will be helping provide logistical, sustainment and interagency support for Afghan refugees resettling in the United States.

Guard officials declined to provide more details, citing operational security.

The Iowa Air National Guard has about 2,000 airmen who typically serve one weekend and month and two weeks a year.

HALF-STAFF FOR POWELL: Gov. Kim Reynolds ordered flags in Iowa to be lowered to half-staff until Friday in remembrance of Colin Powell.

Her order was issued in conjunction with President Joe Bidens proclamation to lower all United States flags to half-staff for the same length of time.

Powell served as the first African American U.S. secretary of state from 2001 to 2005. During the course of his career, Powell also served as national security adviser and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Flags will be at half-staff on the State Capitol and on flag displays in the Capitol Complex.

Flags will also be half-staff on all public buildings, grounds and facilities throughout the state.

Individuals, businesses, schools, municipalities, counties and other government subdivisions are encouraged to fly the flags at half-staff for the same length of time.

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Willamette Law's Center for Constitutional Government will host a panel discussion on the constitutionality of COVID vaccine mandates. The panel, which will take place on November 1 at the College of Law, will bring together legal experts in constitutional law who have represented both sides of the debate.

Norman Williams

The event's goal is to present the contrasting legal arguments regarding the validity of COVID vaccine mandates, both for students, government employees, and the public generally. Are they legal, or does one's right to bodily autonomy trump the public health interest in requiring vaccination? "The Center for Constitutional Government sponsors thoughtful and informative events regarding salient, contemporary questions of constitutional law," said Norman Williams, the Ken and Claudia Peterson Professor of Law and Director of the Center for Constitutional Government.

The discussion is expected to tackle questions of whether the government can require students to receive the vaccine? Government Employees? The public generally? And if so, what does that say regarding the constitutional right to bodily autonomy, as recognized in Roe v. Wade?

Michael Kron

Michael Kron, Special Counsel to AG Rosenblum from the Oregon Department of Justice, will argue the pro-validity side, and attorney Jenin Younes, Litigation Counsel for the New Civil Liberties Alliance, will give the anti-mandate perspective. Kron has worked on numerous legal issues related to the state's response to the COVID-19 pandemic since the spring of 2020. Younes has successfully challenged several COVID vaccine mandates adopted in other states.

Jenin Younes

"The Center is a non-partisan institute that brings speakers with different viewpoints together to discuss the headline-generating issues of our day," says Williams who will moderate the discussion which will be followed by a question and answer session from members of the audience.

The event is part of the Ken Peterson lecture series, made possible by the Ken and Claudia Peterson Foundation. The Petersons endowed the lecture series to give attorneys, judges and students access to cutting-edge legal scholars.
Corbis Historical / Getty Images

En espanol

When Colin Powell was 16 and living in the South Bronx, he wrote an essay about himself as part of an application to the City College of New York, which he would enter just shy of his 17th birthday. Almost 40 years later, the first Black U.S. Secretary of State and Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staffs was writing a book, My American Journey, and retrieved that essay, along with his kindergarten report cards and transcripts of grades, from the board of education.



What was so striking about it, Powell, who died at 84 on Oct. 18 of complications from COVID-19 and multiple myeloma, a cancer of the blood, told AARP in 2012, is that Im pretty much the same person [now]. What I see in the mirror is still that 16-year-old kid going to college, and that 21-year-old lieutenant going in the army, and that 25-year-old lieutenant getting married. I have said to many people over the years that I have worked hard to not be terribly different.

Yes, I now have four stars [as a general]. Yes, Im a cabinet officer, but Im still that 16-year-old kid. And I have found that not just to be a nice way to be, but a very effective system of leadership and management.

The son of Jamaican immigrants who rose to the highest levels of the federal executive branch, Colin Luther Powell, by all accounts, achieved his goal of remaining humble, accessible and kind (he also possessed a quick sense of humor), even as he balanced the enormous responsibility of his positions and his role as a trailblazer for people of color.

When word of his death came today, politicians and public figures of both major parties honored the towering figure as a patriot, military leader, and shaper of domestic and international relations in his role as statesman. Powell, a Republican who valued common sense and fairness over party, had argued for social progression on such issues as womens right to choose and gay rights, more typically associated with Democrats.

President George W. Bush, in whose administration Powell served, called him a great public servant, starting with his time as a soldier during Vietnam. He was such a favorite of presidents that he earned the Presidential Medal of Freedom  twice. In 2006, AARP added to his many awards and honors with the Andrus Award for Community Service and positive social change.

Stacey Abrams, a Democrat and the former minority leader of the Georgia House of Representatives, said that he led with integrity, admitted fallibility and defended democracy.


Beetaloo Appraisal Program Underway

Sydney, Oct 19, 2021 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Empire Energy Group Ltd ( ASX:EEG ) ( OTCMKTS:EEGUF ) Announce Carpentaria-1 Flow Rate Increase and Carpentaria-2H Drilling to Commence this Month.- 45% increase in Carpentaria-1 vertical well average flow rate to 0.364 mmcf / day over the first 10 days following recommencement of extended production testing- Northern Territory Government approvals received for the drilling and hydraulic fracture stimulation of up to seven horizontal wells in EP187- Carpentaria-2H horizontal appraisal drilling scheduled to start in late October 2021- EP187 infill 2D seismic acquisition scheduled to start in November 2021Comments from Managing Director Alex Underwood: "Activity in Empire's 100% owned and operated EP187 in the Beetaloo Sub-basin is ramping up substantially. We are seeing encouraging results at Carpentaria-1 where flow testing has recommenced, with a ~45% increase in flow rates over the first 10 days compared to the rates achieved prior to shut-in. We have received all key NT Government approvals for a broad appraisal program including the drilling of our first horizontal appraisal well, Carpentaria-2H, located 11km north of Carpentaria-1. Rig mobilisation to site has commenced and we expect to be drilling by the end of this month. An infill seismic survey to better define the Velkerri shale resources across EP187 to enhance our understanding of the size of the resource and to delineate future drilling locations will commence in November. Success in these field activities will drive updated independent Contingent and Prospective Resources assessment for EP187 with results expected in Q1 2022.Key Beetaloo operators Origin Energy ( ASX:ORG ), Santos Ltd ( ASX:STO ) and Empire are now answering the critical questions that will determine the commercial future of the Beetaloo, most notably demonstration of flow rates from horizontal appraisal wells. It was horizontal appraisal drilling success across the key US shale basins that drove an explosion in development activity and production, ultimately giving the US energy independence. Origin and its JV partner Falcon Oil & Gas recently announced flow rates at the Amungee NW-1H well that imply normalised flow rates of >5 mmcf / day per 1,000m of horizontal section, and Santos and JV partner Tamboran are expected to announce flow rates from their first two horizontal appraisal wells late this quarter. We look forward to drilling Carpentaria-2H this quarter followed by fracture stimulation and flow testing in Q2 2022 to assess horizontal flow rate potential in EP187. Our appraisal activities and those of our neighbours in the coming months will, in the success case, drive shareholder value and move the Beetaloo towards commercialisation."Carpentaria-1 Extended Production Test Recommences with Improved Flow RatesOn 28 September 2021, Empire restarted production testing of the fracture stimulated Carpentaria-1 vertical well in EP187. The first Extended Production Test ("EPT") was suspended on 16 July 2021 due to COVID-19 related travel restrictions. In the first ten days of this second EPT, the average flow rate has lifted by ~45% to 0.364 mmcf / day compared to the average reported flow rate reached in the first EPT.Empire's technical team believes that the uplift in production rates may be due to diffusion of water into the Middle Velkerri shales during the shutdown period, providing enhanced pathways for gas production through induced fractures. This data will be incorporated into the innovative completion and stimulation methodologies Empire is developing specific to the Beetaloo Sub-basin.Sampling of gas and flowback fluid at surface has also continued and the returned hydrocarbons will be used to determine the best shale to target with the Carpentaria-2H lateral.Carpentaria-2H Drilling to Commence in late OctoberCivil works are now well underway for the Carpentaria-2H well including the construction of the Carpentaria Highway turn off, access roads and the well pad. The conductor casing has been installed and water source and monitoring bores are being drilled within the well pad area. Baseline water sampling will commence shortly for aquifer protection.The vertical section of Carpentaria-2H will target the same Velkerri Formation shales (A, B, Intra A/B and C) as Empire's Carpentaria-1 well approximately 200m deeper than those target shales existing at Carpentaria-1. Following vertical drilling through the target formations, a horizontal hole section will be drilled into one of the target Velkerri shale zones.Following the drilling of Carpentaria-2H, Empire intends to commission an updated independent resource report to update Prospective and Contingent Resources in EP187 which will incorporate the Carpentaria-2H drilling results, updated seismic data and existing Carpentaria-1 data. Empire expects the updated independent resource report to be completed in Q1 2022.The Carpentaria-2H well will be drilled 11km north of Carpentaria-1, with the Carpentaria Highway and McArthur River Pipeline located midway between the two wells.EP187 Infill Seismic Survey to commence in NovemberAcquisition of the Charlotte 2D Seismic Survey, designed to further delineate the Velkerri shales within EP187, is expected to start in the first week of November 2021. Acquisition is expected to take approximately two weeks and will be followed by seismic processing and line rehabilitation.Northern Territory Government Drilling Approvals ReceivedEmpire has received approval from the Northern Territory Government for its Environment Management Plan ("EMP") for up to seven horizontal wells in EP187 including permission to:- Construct up to 6 well pads with the ability to drill up to 4 wells from each pad- Drill up to 7 wells including a horizontal from the existing Carpentaria-1 vertical well and up to 6 new horizontal wells- Evaluate, log, test and core each well including diagnostic fracture injection tests- Hydraulic fracture stimulation and extended production test each wellFollowing approval of the EMP, Empire has now received all key NT Government approvals for Carpentaria-2H operations and the work programs for which Empire has executed grant agreements with the Australian Government under the Beetaloo Cooperative Drilling Program.Drilling Contract Executed and Mobilisation UnderwayEmpire has selected and engaged the Silver City Drilling Rig 40 to drill, case and suspend the horizontal Carpentaria-2H well in EP187. Rig 40 and its crew have recently drilled Origin Energy's Velkerri 76 well and is mobilising from that site to the Carpentaria-2H location.Silver City Drilling Pty Ltd is an independently owned Northern Territory company based in Alice Springs. The company has a long history in oil and gas drilling in Australia and has been particularly active in Queensland's coal seam gas industry.To view tables and figures, 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.


Drilling Starts - High-Grade Gold Gap Zone-Morning Star Mine

Ballarat, Oct 19, 2021 AEST (ABN Newswire) - White Rock Minerals Limited ( ASX:WRM ) ( OTCMKTS:WRMCF ) is pleased to announce a major underground diamond drill program has commenced to test the Gap Zone at the Morning Star gold mine. Diamond drill contractor Deepcore Australia Pty Ltd has commenced work with an underground electric hydraulic drill rig currently drilling the first hole of Ring 3 at the northern end of the Morning Star mine (Figure 2*).Historic drilling is limited throughout the Gap Zone with historic mining having pursued high-grade gold mineralisation above the Gap Zone prior to World War 2 and then below the Gap Zone prior to its closure in 1963 when the mine could not pay maintenance for state power. At the time of closure, the middle section of the dyke from 10-level to 14-level, known as the Gap Zone, had not yet been developed.White Rock's primary objective at the Morning Star gold mine is to identify and drill areas of the dyke that have the potential to host multiple high-grade gold quartz reefs. Utilising existing development infrastructure will support a low capital restart of production from multiple reef locations. The Gap Zone is one such primary target in the mine due to its size, multiple high-grade gold bearing reef potential and proximity to existing infrastructure including the Morning Star shaft (Figure 1*).Gap Zone Drill ProgramA first pass drill program totalling 11,500 metres in 50 drill holes has been planned to provide systematic coverage across the full length and depth of the Gap Zone, with 10 drill hole rings spaced 60 to 80 metres apart.Each ring has 4 to 6 drill holes planned to test the Gap Zone from 9-level through to the Achilles Reef below 14-level (Figure 3*) which had production by Gold Mines of Australia prior to its closure in 1963.Drillholes will provide a broad spacing sufficient to identify quartz reef structure geometry, that in conjunction with gold grade, is key to defining the most attractive positions within the dyke for more detailed drilling before any development decisions are reached.*To view tables and figures, please visit:About White Rock Minerals Ltd

White Rock Minerals Ltd (ASX:WRM) (OTCMKTS:WRMCF) is a diversified explorer and near-stage producer, headquartered in Ballarat, Victoria. The Company's flagship exploration project is Red Mountain in central Alaska. At Red Mountain, there are already two high grade zinc - silver - gold - lead VMS deposits, with an Inferred Mineral Resource of 9.1 million tonnes @ 609g/t AgEq / 13% ZnEq. The Company is also exploring its recently discovered large intrusion related gold anomaly at Last Chance, also located in the Tintina gold belt of Alaska, home to multi-million gold ounce deposits like Pogo, Fort Knox and the Donlin Project. The Company also has the Mt Carrington project, located near Drake, in Northern NSW, which is a near-production precious metals asset with a resource of 341,000 ounces of gold and 23.2 million ounces of silver on an approved mining lease, and with a Gold First PFS and JORC Reserve.


Cannon, Glandore and Cowarna Acquisitions Completed

Perth, Oct 19, 2021 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Horizon Minerals Limited ( ASX:HRZ ) is pleased to advise that the acquisition of 100% interest in the Cannon, Glandore and Cowarna gold projects has been completed.The projects comprise 22 granted mining, prospecting, exploration and miscellaneous licences and 2 applications covering an area of approximately 180km2 strategically located in close proximity to the Company's 100% owned Boorara gold project.As announced to the ASX on 18 May 2021, the Company agreed to acquire 100% interest in the projects from Aurenne Group Holdings Pty Ltd ("Aurenne") for a total consideration of A$5 million in cash on the following terms:- A$2.5 million in cash at settlement- A$2.5 million in cash on the earlier of 12 months from settlement or first gold production from the Cannon underground gold mineAll conditions precedent including provision of signed transfers, all mining information and statutory consents have now been completed and the A$2.5 million payment made to Aurenne from existing cash reserves.The Company's review of the geological data, resource and reserve models and high priority drilling targets is well advanced with an updated Mineral Resource estimate and Ore Reserve for the Cannon underground gold mine expected in the current December Quarter 2021.For more information on the acquisition, we refer you to the ASX announcement "Acquisition of the Bulong South, Glandore and Cowarna gold projects near Boorara" dated 18 May 2021 on the Company's website.About Horizon Minerals Limited

Horizon Minerals Limited (ASX:HRZ) is a gold exploration and mining company focussed on the Kalgoorlie and Menzies areas of Western Australia which are host to some of Australia's richest gold deposits. The Company is developing a mining pipeline of projects to generate cash and self-fund aggressive exploration, mine developments and further acquisitions. The Teal gold mine has been recently completed.

Horizon is aiming to significantly grow its JORC-Compliant Mineral Resources, complete definitive feasibility studies on core high grade open cut and underground projects and build a sustainable development pipeline.

Horizon has a number of joint ventures in place across multiple commodities and regions of Australia providing exposure to Vanadium, Copper, PGE's, Gold and Nickel/Cobalt. Our quality joint venture partners are earning in to our project areas by spending over $20 million over 5 years enabling focus on the gold business while maintaining upside leverage.
Brisbane, Oct 19, 2021 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Senex Energy Ltd ( ASX:SXY ) ( FRA:UDB ) ( OTCMKTS:VPTOF ) continued its track record of production growth delivering a 6% increase in production to 5.0 PJ. The low-cost, low-carbon, high-return Atlas Stage 2 expansion to 18 PJ/year (48 TJ/day) achieved FID during the quarter, with commissioning anticipated in Q1 FY23.At Roma North, the Stage 1b processing facility expansion was successfully commissioned. FEED activities have been completed for the expansion of Roma North to 18 PJ/year (48 TJ/day) including electrification studies. During the quarter, Senex signed further gas sales agreements, broadening supply of the company's natural gas throughout the east coast.Comments from Managing Director and CEO Ian Davies"Senex has delivered a strong quarter of operational and financial performance as we advance towards our production growth target of 60 PJe by year-end FY25."Production increased 6 per cent for the quarter and in doing so recording our nineteenth consecutive quarter of Surat Basin production growth."And we continue to execute our disciplined expansion strategy at both Roma North and Atlas, with a large natural gas reserves position and utilising our proven hub-and-spoke infrastructure operating model, to deliver affordable and reliable volumes of natural gas to our customers and into a tightening east coast gas market."Following the end of the quarter, we were proud to release our Decarbonisation Action Plan that details our ambition, targets and actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions across our operational footprint to net zero by 2040."Natural gas is integral to meeting demand for affordable and reliable energy and we are focused on being the natural gas supplier of choice through the transition."The strong quarter and robust growth reflect Senex's commitment to providing sustainable natural gas that helps Australian industry as it transitions to a low-carbon future," Mr Davies said.To view the Quarterly Report, please visit:About Senex Energy Limited

Senex Energy Ltd (ASX:SXY) (OTCMKTS:VPTOF) (FRA:UDB) is an established, rapidly growing and low-carbon Australian natural gas producer. Our long life Surat Basin assets contribute around 20 petajoules of natural gas per year into the east coast gas market to support our customers. Senex is focused on sustainably delivering balance sheet strength, resilient cashflows, growing dividends to support Australia's energy needs as it transitions to a lower carbon future.
DETROIT  Global automakers and tech companies are stepping up the pace when it comes to building factories and prepare for what many believe will be a fast-moving transition from internal combustion engines to electric vehicles.

On Monday, Toyota, Stellantis, Foxconn, Ford and Volvo all made announcements about electric vehicle component or assembly plants, or plans to raise capital to fund the transition. The moves come on top of previous plans from Ford and General Motors to build five U.S. battery factories in anticipation of the shift to electric power.

The moves are ahead of demand at the moment, but forecasters predict that the share of electric vehicles will rise dramatically as more battery-electric models are rolled out as governments increase requirements for zero-emissions vehicles to fight climate change.

At present, only about 4.8% of the roughly 80 million new vehicles sold globally run solely on electricity, according to LMC Automotive.

But the consulting firm Alix Partners predicts that will rise to 11% in 2025 and 24% in 2030. If plug-in gas-electric hybrids, which can travel short distances solely on electricity, are included, that figure rises to 28% in 10 years.

Simultaneously, Alix Partners predicts that global sales of gas- and diesel-powered vehicles will fall from the current 89% to around 39% by 2030. Gas-electric hybrids, which run on gasoline and electricity at the same time, rise from 7% currently to 33% in 2030.

All of us are trying to get a fix on how customers will accept electric vehicles, Chris Reynolds, chief administrative officer for Toyota in North America, said in an interview with The Associated Press. We dont know for sure, but we have to be ready.

Toyota said it plans to build a new $1.29 billion factory in the U.S. to manufacture batteries for hybrid and fully electric vehicles. The location wasnt announced, but the company said it eventually will employ 1,750 people and start making batteries in 2025, gradually expanding through 2031.

The plant is part of $3.4 billion that Toyota plans to spend in the U.S. on automotive batteries during the next decade. It didnt detail where the remaining $2.1 billion would be spent, but part of that likely will go for another battery factory.

Stellantis, formerly Fiat Chrysler, and LG Energy Solution said Monday that they plan to build a battery manufacturing facility to help the automaker get 40% of its U.S. sales from vehicles that run at least partly on electricity by 2030. They didnt say where the plant would be.

Also Monday, the Taiwanese company that makes smartphones for Apple and others, Foxconn Technology Group, said it would produce electric cars and buses for auto brands in China, North America, Europe and other markets.

Volvo Cars on Monday unveiled more details of its initial public offering that will fund its ambitious plan to transform into an all-electric vehicle company by 2030. The Swedish auto brand, owned by Chinese carmaker Geely, said the IPO would value the company at 163-200 billion kronor ($18.8-$23 billion) when shares start trading Oct. 28.

And Ford Motor Co. announced that it will turn a transmission factory in northwest England into a plant that will make electric power units for cars and trucks sold throughout Europe.

Most of the announcements lacked specifics such as locations, and some didnt say how many jobs would be created.

Jeff Schuster, president of global vehicle forecasting for LMC Automotive, said thats because its in vogue for automakers to make such announcements, which are well-received by investors. But he said the plants will be necessary, especially in the U.S., where battery manufacturing capacity was lagging Europe and China.

Behind the scenes this has been building as we look at moving to electric vehicle technology globally, he said. This is the foundation. You need the batteries before you can get there.

The moves come just after Ford and General Motors recently announced large investments in U.S. battery factories. GM plans to build battery plants in Ohio and Tennessee, while Ford has plans for plants in Tennessee and Kentucky.

Toyota will form a new company to run its new U.S. battery plant with Toyota Tsusho, a subsidiary that now makes an array of parts for the automaker. The company also will help Toyota expand its U.S. supply chain, as well as increase its knowledge of lithium-ion auto batteries, Toyota said Monday.

The new plant would likely be near one of the companys U.S. assembly plants in Missouri, Kentucky, Indiana, Alabama or Texas.

Toyota plans to sell 2 million zero emission hydrogen and battery electric vehicles worldwide per year by 2030. In the U.S., Toyota plans to sell 1.5 million to 1.8 million vehicles by 2030 in the U.S. that are at least partially electrified.

Reynolds said no one can predict exactly how fast the shift to battery power will happen, but he said a transition to gas-electric hybrids happened faster than Toyota anticipated when it introduced the Prius in the late 1990s. He sees hybrid and plug-in hybrids as a bridge between full internal combustion engines and battery-electric vehicles.

Now in the U.S., Toyota offers hydrogen vehicles, hybrids and plug-in hybrid powertrains. Toyota says vehicles that operate at least partially on electricity now account for about a quarter of its U.S. sales, and it plans for that to rise to nearly 70% by 2030.

The company says it will have 15 battery electric vehicles for sale globally by 2025.

___

Taijing Wu contributed to this story from Taipei, Taiwan. Danica Kirka and Kelvin Chan contributed from London.

____

This story has been corrected to show that Jeff Schuster is president of global vehicle forecasting for LMC Automotive.
LONDON  Facebook said it plans to hire 10,000 workers in the European Union over the next five years to work on a new computing platform that promises to connect people virtually but could raise concerns about privacy and the social platform gaining more control over peoples online lives.

The company said in a blog post Sunday that those high-skilled workers will help build the metaverse, a futuristic notion for connecting online that uses augmented and virtual reality.

Facebook executives have been touting the metaverse as the next big thing after the mobile internet, though their track record is spotty on predicting future trends. Expectations that CEO Mark Zuckerberg made four years ago of taking virtual vacations with faraway loved ones via a headset or using a smartphone camera to improve an apartment virtually have not materialized so far.

The company also is contending with antitrust crackdowns, the testimony of whistleblowing former employees and concerns about how it handles vaccine-related and political misinformation.

As we begin the journey of bringing the metaverse to life, the need for highly specialized engineers is one of Facebooks most pressing priorities, according to the blog post from Nick Clegg, vice president of global affairs, and Javier Olivan, vice president of central products.

Facebooks recruiters are targeting Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Poland, the Netherlands and Ireland for the hiring drive. The company as of June reported having more than 63,000 employees worldwide, up 21% from the same time last year.

The metaverse essentially is a massive virtual world that can be accessed in real time by millions of people using avatars, who can use it to hold virtual meetings or buy virtual land and clothing or other digital assets, often paying with cryptocurrencies.

The social network isnt the only one working on the metaverse, and Facebook acknowledged that no single company will own and operate it. Other players include Fortnite maker Epic Games, which has raised $1 billion from investors to help with its long-term plans for building the metaverse.

Theres not going to be specific metaverses to specific companies. Theres only going to be one metaverse, said Tuong Nguyen, an analyst who tracks immersive technologies for research firm Gartner.

But there are concerns Facebook and a handful of other Silicon Valley giants would end up monopolizing the metaverse and use it to collect and profit from personal data, mirroring the situation now with the internet.

Facebook last month announced a $50 million investment to fund global research and partnerships with civil rights groups, nonprofits, governments and universities to develop products responsibly for the metaverse. But the company added that it would probably take 10 to 15 years to fully realize many of those products.

The term metaverse was coined by writer Neal Stephenson for his 1992 science fiction novel Snow Crash but has recently found new life in the tech business world as startups and tech giants try to stake their claim on an emerging trend.

Some of that involves a little bit of metaverse-washing, or applying the term to existing initiatives in augmented reality and other technologies to take advantage of the hype around it, Nguyen said.

It will help raise their profile, at least for the moment, as one of the leaders in metaverse initiatives, he said of Facebooks latest push. But like any big technology trend, there will be competing ideas and competing standards.

In a separate blog post Sunday, Facebook defended its approach to combating hate speech, in response to a Wall Street Journal article that examined the companys inability to detect and remove hateful and excessively violent posts.

A British parliamentary committee thats working on online safety legislation was set to hear from two Facebook whistleblowers. The bill proposes big fines or other penalties for internet companies that dont remove and limit the spread of harmful material such as child sexual abuse or terrorist content.

Sophie Zhang, a data scientist who raised the alarm after finding evidence of online political manipulation in countries such as Honduras and Azerbaijan before she was fired, appeared before the committee Monday. She said social media companies should be required to apply policies consistently, adding that its not what happened at Facebook.

Fake accounts that werent directly tied to a political figure were easier to take down than those that werent, she said.

This resulted in a perverse effect in that it creates an incentive for major political figures to essentially commit a crime openly, Zhang said. She compared it to police taking a year to arrest a burglar who was a member of Parliament and didnt wear a mask.

Thats an analogy of what is going on at Facebook, Zhang said.

Next week, the committee will hear from Frances Haugen, who went public with internal Facebook research that she copied before leaving her job earlier this year. Haugen testified before a U.S. Senate panel this month about her accusations Facebooks platforms harm children and incite political violence, and her British appearance will be the start of a tour to meet European lawmakers and regulators.

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OBrien reported from Providence, Rhode Island.
TUCSON, Ariz.  The wreckage of a small plane has been located in Pima County and there appears to be no survivors, authorities said Monday.

Federal Aviation Administration officials said they issued an alert Sunday about an overdue aircraft last seen southeast of Kitt Peak.

They said a Tucson Police helicopter spotted the wreckage of a single-engine Rockwell Commander 112 about 20 miles southwest of Ryan Airfield around 9 p.m.

Police said the helicopter landed to search for survivors of the crash and none were located.

Its believed the pilot was the only person aboard the plane, according to the FAA.

The name of the pilot wasnt immediately released.

It also was unclear who owned the plane, where it took off from and where it was headed before going down.

TV footage showed the charred wreckage in a desert area.

The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the cause of the crash.
A lightweight, portable cell-signal booster recently got a boost of its own from testing by Sandia National Laboratories, which confirmed the device can hike phone reception by up to 20%.

Sandia helped New Mexico startup ORC Tech LLC try out different prototypes for its device this summer through the New Mexico Small Business Assistance Program, which allows the national laboratory to provide technical assistance to small businesses at no cost to them. And now, with the Sandia test results in hand, ORC Tech  or Optical Radio Communications Technology  is ready to manufacture its first batch of up to 300 signal-boosting devices, said John Chavez of the New Mexico Startup Factory, which helped launch the company last fall.

Were going to market next year, Chavez said. It will be a soft launch. Well start out with a small batch of 200-300 units that well sell and send out for testing.

ORC Tech licensed its technology from NASA Johnson Space Center, which designed it as a collapsible, lightweight, portable tool to improve communications for astronauts in space.

ORC Tech Chief Technology Officer Joshua Benavidez discovered it while participating in a NASA entrepreneurial program to commercialize new technology. He envisioned turning it into a compact, foldable sheet that consumers on Earth could stuff in a backpack or store in a vehicle and then stretch out when needed to augment reception in remote locations. The signal boost comes from conductive material woven into fabric, basically providing a flexible antennae that doesnt require batteries, electrical outlets or any other power.

Over the summer, Sandia engineers tested different types of conductive thread, fabric and geometric designs to determine the best combination to augment cell signals. Those efforts showed that a circular design with two rings of conductive thread on the inner and outer radius boosted reception by nearly 15 decibels, offering the equivalent of nearly two extra signal bars on a cell phone, said the projects lead engineer, Stephen Neidigk.

We found that if we added a third ring, we could get even better performance, Neidigk said.

Sandia expects to continue working with ORC Tech next year to further improve the design.

Summer interns assisted this year, said Sandia electrical engineer John McVay.

We were able to design, fabricate and confirm product performance, while also mentoring summer interns, who got practical experience, McVay said. Its a win-win.

ORC Tech will use a contract manufacturer for its first batch of cell boosters, Chavez said. Once the company fully establishes its manufacturing process, it will make its own product at an industrial park at Ohkay Owingeh, north of Espanola, thanks to an investment in ORC Tech by the Pueblo-owned development company Tsay Corp.

Were already seeing a lot of interest and demand for this product, based on market surveys, Chavez said.
Copyright  2021 Albuquerque Journal

The Colorado River Basin states need to adapt to extreme drought, prepare for a more arid climate and include tribes in water decisions, New Mexico water officials told a congressional panel Friday.

The basin serves 40 million people in seven states.

New Mexico State Engineer John DAntonio said water managers should find a way to balance scientific data and legal obligations as the basin enters a third decade of drought.

The system will need to be addressed, not only for worse drought than we have experienced today, but also for shortened wet periods, from an infrastructure and public health and safety standpoint, DAntonio told a House Natural Resources subcommittee.

San Juan-Chama Project water diverted from the Colorado boosts natural river flows along the Rio Grande in New Mexico.

But the state received about 40% less water than expected from that project this year.

New Mexico is entitled to an 11% share of Colorado River water and currently uses about half of that allocation.

DAntonio said the states future plans to develop those water rights include such initiatives as the Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project.

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation declared the first Colorado River water shortage earlier this year. Arizona, Nevada and Mexico are expected to receive less water next year as a result.

Reclamation is also supplementing Lake Powell levels this year by releasing nearly 59 billion gallons from Navajo Reservoir in New Mexico, Blue Mesa in Colorado and Flaming Gorge in Utah and Wyoming.

Daryl Vigil, Jicarilla Apache Nations water administrator, said now is a pivotal moment in time to include tribes in management decisions.

The 30 basin-area tribes have about 25% of Colorado River water rights. We dont have to re-create the wheel in terms of a (management) model, Vigil said.

He pointed to renegotiations of water compacts in the Columbia River Basin. Tribes were recognized as decision-makers on an equal footing with state and federal governments, instead of being consulted after the sharing agreements were finalized.

(Tribes) have experienced not only hundreds, but thousands, of years of sustainable and adaptive living, Vigil said. We understand the importance of honoring the very things that keep us alive.

Theresa Davis is a Report for America corps member covering water and the environment for the Albuquerque Journal.
A Maryland-based data center operator is moving its headquarters to Albuquerque, according to city officials.

The city announced Monday that ADACEN LLC is moving to Albuquerque to expand development and testing of new technologies designed to make the data center industry more eco-efficient.

The company has signed a lease agreement with the city for a former Federal Aviation Administration building at the Albuquerque International Sunport. The Albuquerque City Council voted to approve the lease agreement at its Monday meeting. In addition to leasing the building, ADACEN plans to remodel and update the building.

ADACEN plans to use its Albuquerque headquarters, located at the Sunport, as a test and evaluation site for new technologies that emphasize the use of renewable energies and computer cooling techniques, according to a news release from the city. The new technology is designed to vastly reduce the amount of water required to operate a typical data center.

The company expects to employ approximately 20 employees in the Albuquerque area within its first year of operation, according to the release. As the company grows over the next several years, that figure could rise to about 100.

ADACEN sees the tremendous growth opportunities that Albuquerque has to offer in both the tech and renewable energy sectors and we appreciate its investment in our city as it works to revolutionize the data center industry by making it more environmentally friendly, Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller said in a prepared statement.
Copyright  2021 Albuquerque Journal

A city councilor is pushing to require COVID-19 vaccines for Albuquerque police officers and firefighters, noting their high level of interaction with the public.

Isaac Bentons legislation, introduced Monday, would amend the citys standing emergency declaration to say public safety employees must provide proof of vaccination or, in the case of a documented medical or religious exemption, show negative test results on a weekly basis.

Police and firefighter union leaders said they adamantly oppose the bill, warning it could trigger a public safety exodus.

Justin Cheney, president of the Albuquerque Area Firefighters Union, said city employees should be free to decide whether to get a shot.

We have already had members reach out to us and state they will either retire or look for a different profession or a different firefighting job outside of the state if mandated, Cheney said. He estimated the city could lose 25 to 40 of its roughly 720 firefighters if the proposal passes.

While President Joe Biden has mandated vaccines for federal employees, and New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has issued a vaccine or regular testing requirement for most state workers, Mayor Tim Keller has not implemented similar rules for Albuquerques 6,000-plus employees.

Benton said he is frustrated with the administrations reluctance, prompting him to introduce the bill. He said he initially contemplated a requirement for all municipal government workers but scaled it back to public safety because he said they have very unique jobs that involve more public interface than, say, solid waste drivers.

They are interacting with the general public  all of the general public on a regular basis  but they also interact with a lot of folks who are marginalized to the point where its likely theyre not vaccinated, Benton said in an interview.

The bill also calls on the city to initiate discussions with collective bargaining units to add the vaccine requirement for union members.

Kellers office is still reviewing the proposal, spokeswoman Ava Montoya said in emailed answers to Journal questions.

She said there are legal and union-related considerations, including whether the proposal would work under the citys Labor Management Relations Ordinance and how the city would determine applicable exemptions under federal and state law.

The administration, she said, has encouraged vaccinations, provided paid leave for employees going to get the shot and offered vaccination clinics at facilities. The city said it does not know how many of its employees are vaccinated.

The Citys current policy is in line with Bernalillo County and Albuquerque Public Schools, and we have different unions and workforces than the State as we provide day-to-day services like picking up trash and putting out fires, Montoya said.

Bernalillo County Manager Julie Morgas Baca last month notified nearly 2,700 employees that the county was not requiring vaccines, a decision motivated partly by concern that a mandate might drive out some vaccine-reluctant public safety employees.

Morgas Baca instead offered two extra vacation days to employees who show they have been vaccinated. Just over half of the countys workforce  50.8%  has now provided proof. Within public safety, 41.4% have provided proof, according to the county.

Benton said hes aware of the argument that vaccine mandates will cause public safety employees to leave.

Im sure there is some risk of that, he said, but I think its overblown.

Within most of state government, employees must get the vaccine or undergo weekly COVID-19 tests.

A New Mexico State Police spokesman said Monday that 72.6% of State Police employees are fully vaccinated, up from 56.9% in early September.

State Police said one officer and a few civilian employees have left due to the order.

Shaun Willoughby, president of the Albuquerque Police Officers Association, called the idea of a vaccine mandate purely political and said it was comically concerning to me that Ike Benton is taking an interest in whats good for public safety for the first time in his political career.

Willoughby said 80 officers left APD last year and 136 have left this year, and he worries that mandating vaccination could push 20 to 30 others out of the department.

I think its an example of Albuquerque City Council having their priorities all messed up, he said. There is literally a crisis before them. There is a violent crime crisis, they have officers leaving at an alarming rate. 

Elise Kaplan contributed to the report.
Copyright  2021 Albuquerque Journal

Nearly five years after leaving New Mexicos insurance exchange, the states largest locally owned health plan will be available through beWellnm during the upcoming open enrollment period.

After announcing it would leave state insurance at the start of 2017, Presbyterian Health Plan is reentering the marketplace. Jeffery Bustamante, CEO of beWellnm, confirmed to the Journal that New Mexicans would be able to choose between PHP and other plans on the exchange, with associated subsidies that make those plans more affordable.

We always welcome additions to the exchange, Bustamante said. Were proud to offer that competitive market of private insurers.

PHP, which has more than 610,000 New Mexicans enrolled in its Medicaid, commercial and individual plans, originally announced its departure from the exchange in 2016, citing affordability concerns.

Since then, Presbyterian Health Plan President Brandon Fryar told the Journal the health care organization has since retooled its offerings to make them more affordable, and will be entering the states revamped exchange in a year when the number of New Mexicans shopping for insurance is expected to increase dramatically.

Youre going to see likely a lot of individuals and families looking for affordable coverage on the exchange now post-pandemic, Fryar said.

The federal Families First Coronavirus Response Act provided states with the option to extend Medicaid eligibility to uninsured people and increased the federal share of Medicaid spending during the public health emergency associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, Medicaid enrollment has soared in New Mexico over the last year-and-a-half. Data from the New Mexico Human Services Department shows that enrollment increased from 830,165 in February 2020 to 939,126 in August 2021, a jump of more than 13%.

Weve not seen growth like that in the Medicaid program since the expansion under the Affordable Care Act, Fryar said.

However, Fryar said the expanded coverage is expected to expire in 2022, which could leave a chunk of New Mexicans needing insurance on the exchange during open enrollment. Open enrollment begins Nov. 1.

Thats why the timing is right for us to make sure that we can sustainably serve those members, Fryar said.

Fryar added that people shopping for insurance on the exchange tend to be sensitive to insurance premiums. He said Presbyterian has focused on keeping the premiums low.

Bustamante said the state exchange has made changes ahead of open enrollment. Starting this year, New Mexicans will use beWellnms website, rather than www.healthcare.gov, to shop for and compare health plans. New Mexicans can access a range of private plans through www.bewellnm.com.

The real win here is that it helps New Mexicans, everywhere from Union County to Bernalillo County to wherever you may be, have options, he said.
WASHINGTON  A House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection voted unanimously Tuesday to hold former White House aide Steve Bannon in contempt of Congress after the longtime ally of former President Donald Trump defied a subpoena for documents and testimony.

Still defending his supporters who broke into the Capitol that day, Trump has aggressively tried to block the committees work by directing Bannon and others not to answer questions in the probe. Trump has also filed a lawsuit to try to prevent Congress from obtaining former White House documents.

But lawmakers have made clear they will not back down as they gather facts and testimony about the attack involving Trumps supporters that left dozens of police officers injured, sent lawmakers running for their lives and interrupted the certification of President Joe Bidens victory.

The committees chairman, Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said Tuesday that Bannon stands alone in his complete defiance of our subpoena and the panel will not take no for an answer.

He said that while Bannon may be willing to be a martyr to the disgraceful cause of whitewashing what happened on January 6th  of demonstrating his complete loyalty to the former president, the contempt vote is a warning to other witnesses.

We wont be deterred. We wont be distracted. And we wont be delayed, Thompson said.

The Tuesday evening vote sends the contempt resolution to the full House, which is expected to vote on the measure Thursday. House approval would send the matter to the Justice Department, which would then decide whether to pursue criminal charges against Bannon.

The contempt resolution asserts that the former Trump aide and podcast host has no legal standing to rebuff the committee  even as Trumps lawyer has argued that Bannon should not disclose information because it is protected by the privilege of the former presidents office. The committee noted that Bannon, fired from his White House job in 2017, was a private citizen when he spoke to Trump ahead of the attack. And Trump has not asserted any such executive privilege claims to the panel itself, lawmakers said.

Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney  one of just two Republicans on the committee, and a rare GOP critic of Trump  said Bannon and Trumps privilege arguments suggest the former president was personally involved in the planning and execution of the days events.

We will get to the bottom of that, Cheney said.

The committee says it is pursuing Bannons testimony because of his reported communications with Trump ahead of the siege, his efforts to get the former president to focus on the congressional certification of the vote Jan. 6 and his comments on Jan. 5 that all hell is going to break loose the next day.

Bannon appears to have had multiple roles relevant to this investigation, including his role in constructing and participating in the stop the steal public relations effort that motivated the attack and his efforts to plan political and other activity in advance of January 6th, the committee wrote in the resolution recommending contempt.

The Biden White House has also rejected Bannons claims, with Deputy Counsel Jonathan Su writing Bannons lawyer this week to say that at this point we are not aware of any basis for your clients refusal to appear for a deposition. Bidens judgment that executive privilege is not justified, Su wrote, applies to your clients deposition testimony and to any documents your client may possess.

Asked last week if the Justice Department should prosecute those who refuse to testify, Biden said yes. But the Justice Department quickly pushed back, with a spokesman saying the department would make its own decisions.

While Bannon has said he needs a court order before complying with his subpoena, former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and former White House and Pentagon aide Kashyap Patel have been negotiating with the committee. The panel has also subpoenaed more than a dozen people who helped plan Trump rallies ahead of the siege, and some of them are already turning over documents and giving testimony.

Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin said all the other witnesses who were subpoenaed are either complying or acting in good faith as opposed to just blowing us off, as Bannon has.

The committee is also conducting voluntary closed-door interviews with other witnesses who have come forward or immediately complied with their requests.

For some of the witnesses, Raskin said, its a privilege and really an opportunity for them to begin to make amends, if they were involved in these events. Some of them feel terrible about the role they played, he said.

Still, there could be more contempt votes to come.

I wont go into details in terms of the back and forth, but Ill just say our patience is not infinite, said Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger, the panels other Republican, about some of the witness negotiations.

The vote came a day after Trump sued the committee and the National Archives to fight the release of documents the committee has requested. Trumps lawsuit, filed after Biden said hed allow the documents release, claims that the panels August request was overly broad and a vexatious, illegal fishing expedition.

Trumps suit seeks to invalidate the entirety of the congressional request, calling it overly broad, unduly burdensome and a challenge to separation of powers. It requests a court injunction to bar the archivist from producing the documents.

The Biden administration, in clearing the documents for release, said the violent siege of the Capitol more than nine months ago was such an extraordinary circumstance that it merited waiving the privilege that usually protects White House communications.

___

Associated Press writers Jill Colvin, Colleen Long, Zeke Miller, Nomaan Merchant and Eric Tucker contributed to this report.
Copyright  2021 Albuquerque Journal

SANTA FE  State Sen. Jacob Candelaria, D-Albuquerque, who emerged as a political renegade of sorts after clashes with Gov. Michelle Lujan Grishams administration and other Democrats, will not seek election to a fourth four-year term in 2024.

Candelaria, 34, said he had been thinking about the decision for a long time but decided to announce his plans before legislators meet in December for the once-a-decade task of redistricting.

That could allow legislators to redraw the boundary lines of Candelarias West Side Albuquerque district without incumbency concerns.

I feel like Ive given it my all for almost a decade, Candelaria said, adding that he was planning to focus on his private law firm and possibly starting a family with his husband.

He also expressed frustration with a culture of party loyalty at the Roundhouse, which he said has at times made both Democrats and Republicans alike more concerned about political standing than productive policymaking.

I judge people by the results and I think thats what put me at odds with my caucus, he told the Journal.

This summer, Candelaria resigned as a voting member from legislative interim committees and accused Senate President Pro Tem Mimi Stewart, a fellow Albuquerque Democrat, of retaliating against him by changing his seating assignment and moving his Capitol office. Stewart denied making any threats but acknowledged the changes.

Previously, Candelaria stepped down from as Senate Democrats caucus chairman in 2018 due to friction with Senate Majority Leader Peter Wirth of Santa Fe.

More recently, he teamed with the Senates top Republican  GOP floor leader Greg Baca of Belen  on a lawsuit pending in the state Supreme Court that challenges the governors authority to spend more than $1.7 billion in federal relief funds without legislative approval.

Candelaria was elected to the Senate in 2012 at age 25, becoming one of the youngest senators and the first openly gay man elected to the chamber. He was reelected to his Senate District 26 seat in 2016 and again last year.

During his legislative tenure, some of the high-profile bills sponsored by Candelaria and ultimately signed into law include the 2019 Energy Transition Act, a 2017 bill that banned gay conversion therapy and a pandemic relief measure that made up to $500 million available for small-business loans.

Candelaria said Monday that its unlikely hell run again for elected office again, but he did not shut the door.

He also vowed to continue being outspoken in the three years remaining in his term, saying, I can guarantee that those whove been annoyed by my independence can expect not just more of the same, but for me to ratchet it up.
Copyright  2021 Albuquerque Journal

The state Supreme Court ruled Monday that an attacker can be convicted of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon without actually brandishing a gun.

The ruling upheld the finding of juvenile delinquency of a 12-year-old boy who brought a BB gun to school and later made threatening comments to the schools principal.

The BB gun remained concealed in the childs waistband until police searched the boy.

In a unanimous opinion, the court clarified that an attacker has used a deadly weapon to commit aggravated assault as long as the victim knows, or has reason to know, that the attacker is armed.

The ruling stems from a February 2018 incident in which a student brought an air-powered BB gun to a Clovis middle school, according to the opinion. The principal took the sixth-grade student, Zachariah G., to his office after learning the child had a weapon on campus.

Zachariah refused to produce the gun after the principal observed a bulge in the boys waistband and found BB gun accessories in the boys pockets.

While waiting for police to arrive, Zachariah made comments to the principal, including, Are you afraid to die? and How would you feel if a 12 year old shot you?

A 9th Judicial District Court judge found the boy to be a juvenile delinquent after a jury found him guilty of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

The state Court of Appeals later affirmed the finding of juvenile delinquency because the child used the BB gun in the assault.

Justices rejected the argument by the boys attorney that use of a deadly weapon should require weapons-related conduct, such as brandishing a gun.

Writing for the court, Chief Justice Michael E. Vigil said that an attacker makes use of a weapon when the victim knows or, based on the defendants words or actions, has reason to know that the defendant has a deadly weapon used in the commission of an assault.
Copyright  2021 Albuquerque Journal

Former Gov. Susana Martinez is weighing in on the Albuquerque Public Schools Board of Education race with an endorsement of Courtney Jackson for the District 7 seat.

In a campaign email, Martinez called Jackson a strong conservative who is up against liberal union bosses wanting to maintain the status quo.

Jackson is running against Nicholas Bevins and Julie Brenning.

The three candidates are looking to win the open seat currently held by board President David Peercy, who declined to seek reelection after serving 12 years on the board.

In the email, Martinez urged voters to contribute to Jacksons campaign, saying her opponent is supported by status quo politicians on the school board and the unions who will be spending lots of money to defeat Jackson.

Brenning, who garnered an endorsement from the Albuquerque Teachers Federation, has raised $31,792.99 in campaign contributions, according to campaign finance filing records for the reporting period ending Oct. 12.

According to records, $5,000 of that came from the Albuquerque Teachers Federation.

Meanwhile, Jackson has raised $43,549 during that same period, with the largest contribution of $5,200 coming from Peterson Properties.

Bevins has raised $709.05.

This is not the first time that Martinez has publicly backed a candidate for the APS Board of Education.

In 2015, as governor, she recorded an autodial phone message in support of Peggy Muller-Aragon for the District 2 seat.

Martinezs reelection campaign also made a $15,000 contribution to Muller-Aragon.

Muller-Aragon won the election against incumbent Kathy Korte with 63% of the vote.

At the time, Korte had criticized some of Martinezs education initiatives, among them the teacher evaluation system.
Copyright  2021 Albuquerque Journal

Potential witnesses in the racketeering and money laundering trial of former state House Majority Leader Sheryl Williams Stapleton include a roster of top Albuquerque Public Schools officials, including Superintendant Scott Elder.

Attorney General Hector Balderas office submitted a list of 58 potential witnesses in the case that lists more than a dozen other APS faculty and staff members. The trial is scheduled for December 2022 in 2nd Judicial District Court.

Stapleton has been indicted on 26 state felony and two misdemeanor counts for her alleged role in routing money meant for vocational education at APS to businesses and charities in which she had an interest.

The charges include one count of racketeering, five counts of money laundering and separate counts of soliciting or receiving kickbacks and unlawful interest in a public contract.

Stapleton has said through her attorney that she is innocent of any criminal charges and intends to clear her name.

Elder is expected to testify to the decision to report Stapletons allegedly unlawful conduct, according the states witness list. Elder sent a letter April 19 to the Attorney Generals Office outlining suspected irregularities.

APS Chief Financial Officer Tami Coleman is expected to testify to her unique role in discovering (Stapletons) allegedly fraudulent involvement with Robotics Management Learning System LLC, a Washington, D.C.-based firm at the center of the allegations, according to the witness list.

The firm had a contract overseen by Stapleton to provide training to APS vocational students for more than 15 years at a cost of more than $5 million.

Stapleton allegedly diverted about $950,000 from the contract to personal and business accounts that included her personal consulting firm and her familys restaurant, according to court records.

As currently scheduled, the high-profile case would go to trial just a month after the 2022 general election, in which New Mexicans will vote on statewide officeholders and determine the fate of a proposal to take more money out of the states largest permanent fund for early childhood programs.

The case could also prompt legislative scrutiny, as the influential Legislative Finance Committee is working on a study of Albuquerque Public Schools business and procurement practices in light of the allegations of money laundering and fraud.
WARSAW, Poland  Poland is a focus of European attention this week, with Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki addressing the European Parliament on Tuesday and leaders at a European Union summit expected later this week to grapple with a legal conundrum created by a recent ruling by Polands constitutional court.

Some opponents of Polands nationalist government fear that the courts ruling has put the country on a path to a possible Polexit, or a departure from the 27-nation EU like Britain did with Brexit. The government denounces those spreading the idea, which it calls fake news. Here is a look at the differing views on the matter  and why Polands departure from the bloc is unlikely but the governments friction with EU leaders is real.

THE BACKSTORY

Polands government, which is led by the conservative Law and Justice party, has been in conflict with EU officials in Brussels since it took power in 2015. The dispute is largely over changes to the Polish judicial system which give the ruling party more power over the courts. Polish authorities say they seek to reform a corrupt and inefficient justice system. The European Commission believes the changes erode the countrys democratic system of checks and balances.

ANTI-EU RHETORIC EMERGES FROM POLAND

As the standoff over the judiciary has grown more tense, with the Commission threatening to withhold billions of euros in pandemic recovery funds to Poland over it, ruling party leaders have sometimes compared the EU to the Soviet Union, Polands occupying power during the Cold War.

Ryszard Terlecki, the partys deputy leader, said last month that if things dont go the way Poland likes, we will have to search for drastic solutions. Referring to Brexit, he also said: The British showed that the dictatorship of the Brussels bureaucracy did not suit them and turned around and left.

Marek Suski, another leading party member, said Poland will fight the Brussels occupier just as it fought the Nazi and Soviet occupiers in the past. Brussels sends us overlords who are supposed to bring Poland to order, to put us on our knees, so that we might be a German state, and not a proud state of free Poles, he declared.

A KEY RULING OVER LAWS

This month Polands constitutional court challenged the notion that EU law supersedes the laws of its 27 member nations with a ruling saying that some EU laws are incompatible with the nations own constitution.

That decision  made by a court dominated by ruling party loyalists  gives the Polish government the justification it had sought to ignore directives from the European Unions Court of Justice which it doesnt like  particularly on matters of judicial independence.

The ruling marks another major test for the EU after years of managing its messy divorce from the U.K.

This ruling calls into question the foundations of the European Union, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said during t he EU Parliaments debate Tuesday. It is a direct challenge to the unity of the European legal order.

WHAT DOES THE POLISH GOVERNMENT SAY?

Polish leaders say its absurd to think they want to leave the EU and they accuse the opposition of playing with the idea of Polexit for political gain.

Morawiecki, the prime minister, said last week that the opposition is trying to insinuate that we want to weaken Poland and the European Union by leaving the EU. This is obviously not only fake news, it is even worse. It is simply a lie that is made to weaken the EU.

Morawiecki spoke soon after Polands leading opposition leader, Donald Tusk, a former EU leader, organized mass nationwide protests voicing support for Poland remaining in the EU.

Morawiecki repeated his argument on Tuesday, telling the EU parliament that people should not be repeating lies about the Polish government seeking Polexit. He said that 88% of Poles are in favor of EU membership and half of those are our voters.

COULD EXPULSION HAPPEN FOR POLAND?

The EU has no legal mechanism to expel a member. That means for Polexit to happen, it would have to be triggered by Warsaw. At the moment, the idea seems farfetched, because EU membership in Poland is extremely popular, with surveys showing more than 80% of Poles favor being in the bloc.

When Poland entered the EU in 2004, Poles won new freedoms to travel and work across the EU and a dramatic economic transformation was set in motion that has benefited millions.

Yet some Poles still fear that could change. They worry that if new EU funds are withheld from Poland over rule of law disputes, Poles might eventually come to feel that its no longer in their benefit to belong to the bloc.

Some simply fear a political accident along the lines of what happened with Britains departure from the EU. The former British prime minister who called for a referendum on EU membership, David Cameron, had sought to have the country remain in the bloc. He called for the vote to settle the matter, believing Britons would vote to stay. A majority in 2016 did not, and Cameron quickly resigned.

A European lawmaker from Germany, Moritz Koerner, told Morawiecki during a debate in the EU Parliament Tuesday that he was at risk of sleepwalking into an exit from the EU against the will of your European friends and against the will of the Polish people.
MOSCOW  A Russian actor and a film director who spent 12 days in orbit making the worlds first movie in space said Tuesday they were so thrilled with their experience on the International Space Station that they felt sorry to leave.

Actor Yulia Peresild and director Klim Shipenko flew to the International Space Station in a Russian Soyuz spacecraft together with cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov. After a stint on the station, they returned to Earth on Sunday with another veteran Russian cosmonaut, Oleg Novitskiy.

Peresild and Klimenko filmed segments of a movie titled Challenge, in which a surgeon played by Peresild rushes to the space station to save a crew member who needs an urgent operation in orbit. Novitskiy, who flew the film crew home, stars as the ailing cosmonaut in the movie.

Speaking to reporters via video link Tuesday, 37-year-old Peresild lamented that a busy filming schedule left little chance to enjoy the views.

We realized only a day before the departure that we didnt spend enough time looking in the windows, she said. I had a mixed feeling. On the one hand, it felt like an eternity but on the other hand it felt like we just arrived and immediately need to return.

Peresild and Shipenko said they were feeling fine but still were having some trouble adapting to the pull of gravity.

We have to learn again how to walk, Peresild said, adding that she still instinctively tries to attach various items with Velcro to prevent them from floating away.

She said she slept very well in orbit and four hours of sleep were enough to have a good rest.

Shipenko, 38, who has made several commercially successful movies, said he filmed over 30 hours of movie material on board the space station.

Of course, it posed both artistic and technical challenges, he said.

Shipenko, who will continue the shooting on Earth after filming the movies space episodes, said the films release date would be announced next year.

Dmitry Rogozin, head of the Russian state space corporation Roscosmos, was a key force behind the movie project, describing it as a chance to burnish the nations space glory and rejecting criticism from some Russian media over the efforts spent on it.

Before Russia took the lead in feature filmmaking in space, NASA had talked to actor Tom Cruise about making a movie in orbit.

NASA confirmed last year that it was in talks with Cruise about filming on the International Space Station with SpaceX providing the lift. In May 2020, it was reported that Cruise was developing the project alongside director Doug Liman, Elon Musk and NASA.
SEOUL, South Korea  North Korea on Tuesday fired at least one ballistic missile, which South Koreas military said was likely designed to be launched from a submarine, in what is possibly the most significant demonstration of the Norths military might since U.S. President Joe Biden took office.

The launch of the missile into the sea came hours after the U.S. reaffirmed an offer to resume talks on North Koreas nuclear weapons program. It underscored how North Korea has continued to expand its military capabilities during the pause in diplomacy.

South Koreas Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement it detected that North Korea fired one short-range missile it believed was a submarine-launched ballistic missile from waters near the eastern port of Sinpo, and that the South Korean and U.S. militaries were closely analyzing the launch.

The South Korean military said the launch was made at sea, but it didnt say whether it was fired from a vessel underwater or another launch platform above the seas surface.

Japans military said its initial analysis suggested that North Korea fired two ballistic missiles. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said officials were examining whether they were submarine-launched.

Kishida interrupted a campaign trip ahead of Japanese legislative elections later this month and returned to Tokyo because of the launch. He ordered his government to start revising the countrys national security strategy to adapt to growing North Korean threats, including the possible development of the ability to pre-emptively strike North Korean military targets.

We cannot overlook North Koreas recent development in missile technology and its impact on the security of Japan and in the region, he said.

Japanese Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi said one of the North Korean missiles reached a maximum altitude of 50 kilometers (30 miles) and flew on an irregular trajectory while traveling as far as 600 kilometers (360 miles). He said the missile didnt breach Japans exclusive economic zone set outside its territorial waters.

South Korean officials held a national security council meeting and expressed deep regret over the launch occurring despite efforts to revive diplomacy. A strong South Korean response could anger North Korea, which has accused Seoul of hypocrisy for criticizing the Norths weapons tests while expanding its own conventional military capabilities.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is concerned at the latest reported launches and again calls on North Koreas leaders to comply with their obligations under U.N. Security Council resolutions and swiftly resume diplomatic efforts towards sustainable peace and the complete and verifiable denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.

The apparent site of the missile firing  a shipyard in Sinpo  is a major defense industry hub where North Korea focuses its submarine production. In recent years, North Korea has also used Sinpo to develop ballistic weapons systems designed to be fired from submarines.

North Korea last tested a submarine-launched ballistic missile, or SLBM, in October 2019.

Analysts had expected North Korea to resume tests of such weapons after it rolled out at least two new submarine-launched missiles during military parades in 2020 and 2021. There have also been signs that North Korea is trying to build a larger submarine that would be capable of carrying and firing multiple missiles.

Japanese Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihiko Isozaki said Tokyo lodged a strong protest to North Korea through the usual channels, meaning their embassies in Beijing. Japan and North Korea have no diplomatic ties.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said tensions on the Korean Peninsula were at a critical stage and called for a renewed commitment to a diplomatic resolution of the issue.

Ending a monthslong lull in September, North Korea has been ramping up its weapons tests while making conditional peace offers to Seoul, reviving a pattern of pressuring South Korea to try to get what it wants from the United States.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is developing submarine-launched ballistic missiles because he wants a more survivable nuclear deterrent able to blackmail his neighbors and the United States, said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor of international studies at Ewha Womans University in Seoul.

Easley said North Korea cannot politically afford appearing to fall behind in a regional arms race with its southern neighbor.

North Koreas SLBM is probably far from being operationally deployed with a nuclear warhead, he added.

North Korea has been pushing hard for years to acquire an ability to fire nuclear-armed missiles from submarines, the next key piece in Kim Jong Uns arsenal that includes a broad range of mobile missiles and ICBMs with the potential range to reach the American homeland.

Still, experts say it would take years, large amounts of resources and major technological improvements for the heavily sanctioned nation to build at least several submarines that could travel quietly in seas and reliably execute strikes.

Within days, Bidens special envoy for North Korea, Sung Kim, is scheduled to meet with U.S. allies in Seoul over the prospects of reviving talks with North Korea.

Nuclear negotiations between the U.S. and North Korea have stalled for more than two years because of disagreements over an easing of crippling U.S.-led sanctions against North Korea in exchange for denuclearization steps by the North.

While North Korea is apparently trying to use South Koreas desire for inter-Korean engagement to extract concessions from Washington, analysts say Seoul has little wiggle room because the Biden administration is intent on keeping sanctions in place until North Korea takes concrete steps toward denuclearization.

The U.S. continues to reach out to Pyongyang to restart dialogue. Our intent remains the same. We harbor no hostile intent toward (North Korea) and we are open to meeting without preconditions, Sung Kim told reporters on Monday.

Last week, Kim Jong Un reviewed powerful missiles designed to launch nuclear strikes on the U.S. mainland during a military exhibition and vowed to build an invincible military to cope with what he called persistent U.S. hostility. Earlier, Kim dismissed U.S. offers to resume talks without preconditions as a cunning attempt to conceal its hostile policy toward the North.

The country has tested various weapons over the past month, including a new cruise missile that could potentially carry nuclear warheads, and a developmental hypersonic missile.

The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said North Koreas latest launch did not pose an immediate threat to U.S. personnel, territory, or that of its allies.

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Yamaguchi reported from Tokyo. AP writer Matthew Lee in Washington and AP video producer Liu Zheng in Beijing contributed to this report.
GWANGYANG, South Korea  Abandoned, he feels, by three countries, Cho Guk-gyeong shows a visitor his South Korean alien registration card, which describes him as stateless. Its an apt description for what his life is like in South Korea, 15 years after he fled North Korea.

Most North Korean defectors to the South are ethnically Korean, but Cho, 53, is a third-generation Chinese immigrant. While ethnically Korean defectors are entitled by law to a package of benefits designed to help their resettlement in South Korea, Cho cant receive that support because he maintained his Chinese nationality in North Korea, even though his family has lived there for generations.

I dont need a state subsidy or other assistance. I just want South Korean citizenship so I can work diligently until I die, Cho said during an interview in the southern port city of Gwangyang, where he recently worked as a temporary manual laborer, his first job in eight years.

Its unclear how many Chinese-North Koreans have come to South Korea over the years. Activists say about 30 have been designated as stateless, after unsuccessful attempts to pose as North Korean nationals landed them in prison or detention facilities in South Korea.

That stateless designation makes it extremely difficult for them to find jobs and enjoy basic rights and services in the South, and, while their numbers may be relatively small, their campaign for better treatment illuminates a little-known but important human rights issue.

They are probably the most pitiful overseas Chinese in the world, as theyve been abandoned by North Korea, China and South Korea, said Yi Junghee, a professor at the Academy of Chinese Studies at Incheon National University. They dont get help from any country.

Returning to North Korea would mean lengthy imprisonment, or worse. Settling in China is often a problem because many dont speak Chinese and have lost touch with relatives there. It could take years to get local residence cards in China.

In 2019, Cho and three others applied for refugee status in the first known such joint efforts by ethnic Chinese from North Korea, and had their long-awaited first interviews with immigration officials this June. Prospects for getting approval arent good. South Koreas acceptance rate for refugee status applications has been less than 2% in recent years.

In a response to queries posed by The Associated Press, the Justice Ministry said it will review the likelihood of Cho and three other Chinese-North Koreans facing persecution if they leave South Korea, the consistency of their testimony and the documents theyve submitted before it determines whether to grant refugee status. The ministry refused to disclose the contents of the June interviews but said its review may take a long time.

The ministry said the four and some other Chinese-North Koreans are still likely legally Chinese but are unable to prove their nationality. It said authorities view them as de facto stateless people and are allowing them to stay in South Korea.

Major Chinese settlement on the Korean Peninsula dates back to the early 19th century. An estimated 3,000-5,000 ethnic Chinese now live in North Korea. They are the only foreigners with permanent residents rights among North Koreas 26 million people, analysts say.

They can maintain Chinese nationality, visit China once or twice a year and engage in cross-border business. Men are exempt from the 10-year mandatory military service. But their ethnic background also often makes them the subject of greater state surveillance, bars them from joining the ruling Workers Party and limits their political opportunities.

In general, they consider themselves North Koreans.

Cho said that in his youth he was taught to worship the ruling Kim family with his North Korean friends at school. He worked for a state-run factory and lived as a naturalized North Korean citizen for two years.

My ancestral roots have dried up, and, quite honestly, I feel like North Korea is my home, said Cho, whose grandfather moved to the northeastern North Korean city of Chongjin in the mid-1920s.

About 34,000 North Koreans have moved to South Korea to avoid economic hardship and political suppression since the late 1990s. That includes some Chinese-North Koreans like Cho. Without Beijing-issued passports, they often hire brokers who guide them to South Korea via Southeast Asian countries like Thailand, the same route used by North Koreans.

Upon arrival in South Korea in 2008, when he underwent questioning by intelligence officials, Cho posed as one of his best North Korean friends, who had died in a traffic accident. He said he wanted to make a fresh start by hiding his Chinese background, which he sees as a disadvantage in both Koreas. Cho said he wasnt aware of the seriousness of his deceit.

He was given South Korean citizenship, an apartment and other financial assistance under a law that protects North Korean defectors because South Korea legally regards North Korea as part of its territory. But in 2012 his lying was detected by authorities who thought initially that he was a North Korean spy. Cho was cleared of the spying charges, but he was stripped of his citizenship and other benefits and sentenced to one year in prison for immigration and other offences.

Another Chinese-North Korean refugee, surnamed Yoon, said he was held in a government facility for about 20 months for a similar attempt to pose as a North Korean national. The 60-year-old avoided conviction because his lying was detected soon after his arrival and before his release into society.

I sometimes think I shouldnt have come here. I dont know how many more years I will live. But I want to die after getting nationality, said the man, who wished to be identified only by his family name because of safety worries about relatives in the North.

During their June interviews, the four Chinese-North Koreans told officials that returning to North Korea would expose them to punishment and that they could face difficulties in China because of a lack of residential cards, no relatives and the language barrier, according to Kim Yong-hwa, a North Korean defector-turned-activist who has helped them with their refugee applications.

For South Korea, embracing Chinese-North Koreans is a delicate matter because it could prompt other ethnic Chinese in the North to come to South Korea, which would anger Pyongyangs leadership and complicate Seouls efforts to seek reconciliation, Kim said.

We lived and suffered together in North Korea  so it doesnt make sense to decide that they arent North Korean defectors, said Noh Hyun-jeong, a North Korean defector in Seoul who has Chinese-North Korean friends in the North who came to South Korea.

Unlike Noh, many other North Korean defectors often ignore stateless Chinese-North Koreans, who also often fail to get along with other ethnic Chinese who have lived in South Korea for generations, Kim said.

Yoon said he relies on financial assistance from Kim and from a church. Cho, who lives with a North Korean woman defector, said he hasnt told his defector friends in South Korea about his ethnic background and legal status.

I dont think we would become estranged, but Im scared about people who arent close to me learning about my background and status. I just dont know how they would react, Cho said.
CALAIS, France  Mohammad and Jaber spend every day looking for the right truck, and this afternoon it feels like it could happen.

This truck seems right. They scream to their friend to jump. He runs, latches on to the moving rig between the cab and the cargo compartment, and squeezes in. The truck doesnt stop, meaning the driver hasnt noticed.

The truck and its stowaway then disappear down a French highway toward the English Channel tunnel, the mans friends hoping he makes it to his destination: Britain.

Mohammad and Jaber are young Sudanese refugees who escaped war in their country, endured kidnappings or beatings in Libya, and crossed the deadly Mediterranean to Italy. They are now in the northern French town of Calais, and like hundreds of other people mostly from East Africa and the Middle East, they are trying to get to Britain by hiding in trucks in what has proved to be a dangerous and potentially lethal method.

Politicians on both sides of the English Channel are arguing about how to make them stop, after thousands of people crossed into Britain by various means in recent months in a flow that has been met with heightened anti-immigrant rhetoric.

While those with some money can pay to go to Britain on flimsy, overcrowded boats in often dangerous waters, the ones who cant have to jump on one of the tens of thousands of commercial trucks that pass each week between France and Britain.

Many of the migrants in Calais want to reach the UK in search of economic opportunity or because of family and community ties. French authorities say another big draw is lax British rules toward migrants without residency papers.

Only young and fit migrants unencumbered by other family members dare attempt the truck-jumping. Its a team effort.

On a cold autumn day in Calais last week, five young men crouched by a roundabout at a muddy construction site, watching as trucks emerged from a warehouse. A sixth young man hid close to the road.

When a promising-looking truck came out, the other men screamed at him to jump on.

Theres a code to tell jumpers which one of the exiting trucks they should grab onto.

We tell them number one, no, number two, no, number three, yes! Mohammad explained, giving only his first name for fear of arrest or expulsion for trying to cross borders illegally.

The truck drivers check to see that no one enters their rigs, or stop to tell would-be stowaways they theyre not going to Britain and that theres no point in climbing aboard. Police in patrol cars come by often, too, their sirens blaring, to deter the men.

Once aboard a rig, the jumpers pay close attention to the trucks route. Only one sequence of left and right turns will lead them to the promised land across the Channel. If the combination is the wrong one, they get off and start over again.

Mohammad twice managed to get on a truck unnoticed but had to jump off when he realized it was not going to the UK.

Some ride in the space between the cab and the cargo. Some climb into the cargo compartment if they can pry the doors open.

And even if the vehicle is going in the right direction, more challenges and danger await the stowaways. Police use technology at the Channel tunnel to scan trucks for body heat and moving shadows. If the stowaways are discovered, they are forced out of the vehicles by police. More than 18,000 were discovered in trucks last year, and 11,000 so far in 2021.

Refugee advocacy groups and human rights observers report receiving calls for help from migrants in refrigerated trucks who say they are suffocating or about to die from hypothermia. Some say they have been roughed up by police when caught.

Some suffer broken bones or worse from trying to jump onto moving trucks. In late September, 20-year-old Yasser Abdallah was crushed to death by a truck.

Abdallah, too, had fled Sudan. He dreamed of being a taxi driver in Britain. The Calais migrant community grieved for him, and a week later, more than 300 came out to march in his memory.

In a written appeal to truck drivers, the marchers asked: When you notice a refugee in the truck, you shake the truck and brake again and again until we let go. Why cant we continue our travel?

The truck jumpers have kept on trying.

At night, they sleep in the forest around Calais, in a tent if theyre lucky, but usually under tree. Police raid the encampments every morning, arresting them, tear-gassing them and confiscating their belongings, according to human rights observers.

Some people stay one day, some one week, some one month, me, four months and 15 days, Mohammad said. He and others estimate two to three a day succeed in hopping a truck to Britain.

Ahmad, a 28-year-old, Sudanese truck jumper who left his country in 2018 because of the war, showed a reporter a TikTok video dated one day after Yasser died, from the account of someone who made it across.

On the video, a man runs by a white and blue truck and pulls himself up.

The video is overlaid with Arabic text, the Union Jack and two letters from the English alphabet: UK.

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Follow APs global migration coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/migration
PHOENIX  A Maricopa County sheriffs deputy who died after being beaten by a suspect was remembered as man who lived his dream to protect and serve.

Mourners and fellow law enforcement officers packed a church Tuesday in the Phoenix suburb of Avondale to honor Deputy Juan Johnny Ruiz. Only with the sheriffs office for three years, the 45-year-old Ruiz was an older recruit. But that didnt deter him from putting forth his best efforts.

Francisco Ruiz recalled during his eulogy how excited his younger brother was just to be accepted into the sheriffs training academy.

I remember him telling me how hard the academy was. We were all so proud to see him achieve his dream, Francisco Ruiz said.

Born in Hermosillo, Mexico, Ruiz was 4 years old when his entire family immigrated to the U.S. He was the baby of the family but also the glue that kept us all together, his brother said.

Authorities say Ruiz was attacked and left unconscious Oct. 9 while processing Clinton Hurley at a sheriffs substation outside Phoenix. Hurley fled in the deputys patrol vehicle. He later was found after getting shot and wounded during an encounter with a Tonopah homeowner.

Ruiz was put on life support but died two days later.

The deputy will forever remain in the hearts of his law enforcement family, Maricopa County Sheriff Paul Penzone said. He also expressed admiration for the Ruiz family and their decision to donate his organs.

Evil did not defeat Deputy Ruiz on that day and evil will not defeat us today, Penzone told the crowd. His family made a selfless act of donating his organs so that many others will have a chance to live on and represent his legacy In his last act, he saved their lives.

Hurley has since been released from the hospital. He was booked Wednesday into the Pinal County jail in Florence on charges related to previous incidents. The 30-year-old was on probation from a 2012 case in which he served time in prison after pleading guilty to attempted child molestation, according to court and prison records. He was also charged with theft of means of transportation in a May incident.
COLUMBIA, S.C.  A judge denied bond Tuesday for a prominent South Carolina attorney who has become embroiled in two multimillion-dollar insurance fraud cases months after he found his wife and son dead in their home.

The judge said Alex Murdaughs considerable financial resources and mental instability appear for now to make it too risky to allow him to await trial outside of jail on charges he stole $3.4 million in insurance money meant for the sons of his housekeeper.

The ruling means weeks, if not months in jail for the 53-year-old man who inherited part of a legal empire in tiny Hampton County, South Carolina. Murdaughs father, grandfather and great-grandfather were all elected prosecutors. The familys law firm, located in the most impressive building in town after the courthouse, has spent a century winning multimillion-dollar verdicts.

Still unsolved is what started the legal problems and at least six state investigations into Murdaugh and his family back in June: the deaths of his wife and son, who were found shot multiple times outside their home.

Defense attorneys asked Circuit Judge Clifton Newman to release Murdaugh on his own recognizance, as a different judge had in September on charges that he tried to arrange his own death to obtain a $10 million insurance policy. Prosecutors asked for a $200,000 bond and GPS monitoring for the latest charges, obtaining property by false pretenses.

Im not satisfied as to his mental condition, Newman said, adding that he needed more information. He said he would reconsider his decision after receiving it.

One of Murdaughs attorneys, Dick Harpootlian, said after the hearing that therapists at the drug rehab centers in Georgia and Florida where Murdaugh spent the past six weeks will send their records to a local psychiatrist, who will prepare a report for the judge, hopefully within a week.

We understand the judges concerns about Alexs mental condition. Were more than happy to comply with his request, Harpootlian said, adding of Murdaugh, He seemed much more clearheaded today than Ive ever seen him.

Harpootlian and Murdaughs other attorney, Jim Griffin have said he is dealing with crushing grief and guilt after finding his wife and sons bodies. Murdaugh has adamantly denied having anything to do with their deaths and no one has been charged.

The latest charges against Murdaugh involve insurance payments that were supposed to go to the sons of his longtime housekeeper Gloria Satterfield, who died in 2018 a few weeks after falling at the familys home, investigators said.

No autopsy was performed, and a coroner said her death was improperly described as natural on her death certificate. State police said Tuesday in court that they are still investigating the circumstances of her death. Murdaugh denies having anything to do with her death, Harpootlian said after the hearing.

Murdaugh told Satterfields sons he would help them get insurance settlements for her death, recommending they hire attorney Cory Fleming without telling them Fleming was a family friend, according to a lawsuit filed by the sons.

Murdaugh negotiated more than $4 million in payments, then had the checks  minus fees and attorney payments  sent to a fraudulent bank account, investigators said.

A lawyer for the sons said they havent seen any money from the settlements.

He stole. He is a liar and a cheat, attorney Eric Bland told the judge Tuesday.

South Carolina Assistant Attorney General Creighton Waters said Murdaugh quickly took the money and put it in his personal accounts.

He had been carrying a $100,000 credit card balance for months, Waters said. That gets paid off. He writes 300 and some odd grand to his father. He writes a check for 610 grand to himself. He writes a check for 125 grand to himself. Not a dime goes to this family.

Waters asked for a $200,000 bond and GPS monitoring, saying, A man who is a danger to himself is a danger to others.

Harpootlian and Griffin said Murdaugh needs more treatment for an opioid addiction that has lasted for more than a decade.

Hes not going to run, Harpootlian said. Thats not where he is now.

Griffin argued that the Alex Murdaugh who is not hooked on drugs has lived a good, fruitful life  a law-abiding life.

Only when he got hooked on opioids did things turn south and he truly regrets his conduct, Griffin said.

Murdaugh has been in jail since his arrest Thursday at a drug rehab center near Orlando, Florida.

The housekeepers insurance isnt the only six-figure case being investigated by state police. Murdaughs former law firm  founded by his great-grandfather a century ago  has accused him of stealing possibly millions of dollars.

Prosecutors hinted at Tuesdays hearing that Murdaugh has turned over all his affairs to his surviving son and in recent weeks sold a boat and property in Beaufort County in what they said might be an attempt to hide money from at least three ongoing lawsuits.

Each charge of obtaining property by false pretenses carries a sentence of up to 10 years. The three felony charges from the botched attempt to arrange his own death could bring up to 20 years in prison if hes convicted.

Murdaugh continues to insist he had nothing to do with the June deaths of his wife, Maggie, 52, and their son Paul, 22. Murdaugh said he returned to their rural Colleton County home to find them shot to death. Tight-lipped state police have neither named any suspects nor ruled anyone out.

In addition to all of the other cases, state police are looking into whether Murdaugh has connections to a 2015 hit-and-run death and whether he or other family members tried to obstruct the investigation into a boat crash involving Paul Murdaugh that killed a 19-year-old woman in 2019. Murdaugh also denies any wrongdoing in these cases, Harpootlian said Tuesday.

The Murdaugh family has dominated the legal community in Hampton County for nearly the past century. Murdaughs father, grandfather and great-grandfather were elected prosecutors and their prestigious law firm became known for suing railroads.

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This story has been edited to correct the housekeepers name to Gloria and that she died in 2018.

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Follow Jeffrey Collins on Twitter at https://twitter.com/JSCollinsAP.
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti  A gang that kidnapped 17 members of a U.S.-based missionary group demanded $1 million ransom per person, although authorities were not clear whether that amount included the five children being held, a top Haitian official said Tuesday.

The official, who was not authorized to speak to the press, told The Associated Press that someone from the 400 Mawozo gang made the demand Saturday in a call to a leader of the ministry group shortly after the abduction.

A person in contact with the organization, Christian Aid Ministries, confirmed the $1 million per person demand, which was first reported by The Wall Street Journal. That person spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the situation.

The adults range in age from 18 to 48, the children from 8 months to 15 years, according to a statement from the organization on Tuesday. Sixteen of the abductees are Americans and one Canadian.

This group of workers has been committed to minister throughout poverty-stricken Haiti, the Ohio-based ministry said, adding that the missionaries worked most recently on a project to help rebuild homes lost in a magnitude-7.2 earthquake that struck on Aug. 14.

The group was returning from visiting an orphanage when it was abducted, the organization said.

Responding to the recent wave of kidnappings, workers staged a protest strike that shuttered businesses, schools and public transportation starting Monday. The work stoppage was a new blow to Haitis anemic economy. Unions and other groups vowed to continue the shutdown indefinitely.

In a peaceful demonstration Tuesday north of Port-au-Prince, dozens of people walked through the streets of Titanyen demanding the release of the missionaries. Some carried signs that read Free the Americans and No to Kidnapping!

They built our schools. They pay our bills, Zachary Celus said. They do everything for us. So now we cant do anything because they kidnapped them.

Meanwhile, an ongoing fuel shortage worsened, and businesses blamed gangs for blocking roads and gas distribution terminals.

Hundreds of motorcycles zoomed through the streets of Port-au-Prince as the drivers yelled, If theres no fuel, were going to burn it all down!

One protest took place near the prime ministers residence, where police fired tear gas to disperse a crowd demanding fuel.

In Washington, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Tuesday that the FBI was part of a coordinated U.S. government effort to free the missionaries. The American Embassy in Port-au-Prince was coordinating with local officials and the hostages families.

We know these groups target U.S. citizens who they assume have the resources and finances to pay ransoms, even if that is not the case, she added, noting that the government has urged citizens not to visit Haiti.

It is longstanding U.S. policy not to negotiate with hostage takers, and Psaki declined to discuss details of the operation.

The kidnapping was the largest of its kind reported in recent years. Haitian gangs have grown more brazen as the country tries to recover from the July 7 assassination of President Jovenel Moise and the earthquake that killed more than 2,200 people.

Jean-Louis Abaki, a moto taxi driver who joined the strike Monday, urged authorities in the Western Hemispheres poorest nation to act. He said if Prime Minister Ariel Henry and National Police Chief Leon Charles want to stay in power, they have to give the population a chance at security.

At least 328 kidnappings were reported to Haitis National Police in the first eight months of 2021, compared with a total of 234 for all of 2020, according to a report issued last month by the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti.

Gangs have been accused of kidnapping schoolchildren, doctors, police officers, bus passengers and others. Ransom demands range from a few hundred dollars to millions.

U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price said American officials have been in constant contact with Haitis National Police, the missionary group and hostages relatives.

This is something that we have treated with the utmost priority since Saturday, he said, adding that officials are doing all we can to seek a quick resolution to this.

Christian Aid Ministries said the kidnapped group included six women, six men and five children. A sign on the door at the organizations headquarters in Berlin, Ohio, said it was closed due to the kidnapping situation.

News of the kidnappings spread swiftly in and around Holmes County, Ohio, hub of one of the largest populations of Amish and conservative Mennonites in the United States, said Marcus Yoder, executive director of the Amish & Mennonite Heritage Center in nearby Millersburg, Ohio.

Christian Aid Ministries is supported by conservative Mennonite, Amish and related groups that are part of the Anabaptist tradition.

The organization was founded in the early 1980s and began working in Haiti later that decade, said Steven Nolt, professor of history and Anabaptist studies at Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania. The group has year-round mission staff in Haiti and several countries, he said, and it ships religious, school and medical supplies throughout the world.

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Coto reported from San Juan, Puerto Rico, Smith from Pittsburgh and Luxama from Titanyen, Haiti. Associated Press journalists Matias Delacroix in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Matthew Lee in Washington, John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio, and Julie Carr Smyth in Berlin, Ohio, contributed to this report.
Paramount Pictures Movie

The upcoming fifth 'Indiana Jones' movie has been pushed back for a full year after the main actor suffered an injury which prompted the production to get halted.

Oct 19, 2021

AceShowbiz - The fifth "Indiana Jones" film has been bumped to 2023 while several Marvel movies, including "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever", have also been moved back.

Disney executives have delayed the release of the fifth "Indiana Jones" instalment by a full year. The untitled film was originally scheduled to be released on 29 July, 2022 and will now be out on 30 June, 2023.

Part of the reason for the delay is likely to be star Harrison Ford's shoulder injury, sustained in June (21), which forced the closure of the production for three months.

A number of Marvel sequels have also been pushed by a few months in 2022: "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" moves from 25 March to 6 May, "Thor: Love and Thunder" has been bumped from 6 May to 8 July, and "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" will now be released on 11 November instead of 8 July.

Also affected by the reshuffling is the "Captain Marvel" sequel, "The Marvels", which is now due for release in early 2023 instead of November, 2022.

Likewise, "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania" is now slotted for release on 28 July, 2023 instead of 17 February (23), Variety reports.

Sources at Disney tell Variety the rescheduling is due to delays in production.

"Indiana Jones V" is also supported by Antonio Banderas, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Mads Mikkelsen, and Boyd Holbrook.

The new movie is directed by James Mangold ("The Wolverine", "Logan") while the original helmer Steven Spielberg, who directed the previous installments, serves as one of the producers.
WENN/Joseph Marzullo Celebrity

The 'A Few Good Men' star is set to face trial on sex crimes charges in February 2022 as a judge denies his lawyer's request to wait until May to hold the trial.

Oct 19, 2021

AceShowbiz - Cuba Gooding Jr.'s trial on sex crimes charges has finally got a date, more than two years after his arrest. The Academy Award-winning actor is set to stand trial on February 1, 2022 for allegedly groping three women in separate incidents.

A Manhattan judge set the date on Monday, October 18. Cuba was present in court during the ruling, wearing a dark gray suit with matching tie, sunglasses and a black mask. He was accompanied by his lawyer Peter Toumbekis, who had pushed to delay the in-person trial until May, arguing that he has other cases that are older.

Justice Curtis Farber denied the request, stating, "This case has been on my calendar for two years, going on three years. This is a firm trial date and it has to go." To the judge's order, the attorney responded, "I'll make it work."

Cuba remained silent during the hearing and declined to speak with reporters. He covertly left the building via a back exit. The 53-year-old is charged with six misdemeanor counts of sexual abuse and forcible touching stemming from the allegations of three accusers.

"The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story" star was first arrested in June 2019 after allegedly squeezing a 30-year-old womans breast at the Moxy Hotel in Times Square. He was also charged with pinching the behind of TAO Downtown server Natasha Ashworth in October 2018 and subjecting a woman to "sexual contact without consent" at LAVO Nightclub on the Upper East Side.

Cuba has pleaded not guilty to the three separate alleged incidents. If convicted of the top count, he faces up to one year behind bars. His criminal defence attorney Mark Heller previously brushed off the accusations, declaring, "The claim is baseless and the judgment is worthless."

More than 30 women have since come forward with several allegations against the "Jerry Maguire" actor.
Instagram Celebrity

The 'Iron Man' actress' company is being sued for their 'inherently dangerous' candle by a Texas man named Colby Watson, who is seeking damages in excess of $5 million.

Oct 19, 2021

AceShowbiz - Gwyneth Paltrow's Goop is being sued for their vagina-scented candle. The company has been hit with a new lawsuit from a Texas man named Colby Watson, who claimed that their candle "explodes" and bursts "into flames."

According to the legal documents obtained by TMZ, Colby explained that he bought a candle from the Goop website online and lit it for the first time in February. He then insisted that he put it on a level surface and claimed that after three hours, the candle started producing big flames and soon "exploded," leaving the room filled with smoke.

Colby admitted that the candle was only burning for a short time before it was engulfed in flames, leaving a burning ring on his furniture. He also referenced the "limited warning" on Goop.com about the candle, which should only be burned for two hours, but he believed the warnings were "insufficient."

Colby further called the candles "inherently dangerous." The court documents stated that he is suing the company for breach of warranty and products liability and is looking for damages in excess of $5 million.

A representative for Goop has responded to the lawsuit, saying that the claims were "frivolous." The rep said, "We're confident this claim is frivolous and an attempt to secure an outsized payout from a press-heavy product."

"We stand behind the brands we carry and the safety of the products we sell," the spokesperson added. "Here, Heretic - the brand that supplies the candle - has substantiated the product's performance and safety through industry-standard testing."

This wasn't the first time users have reported issues with the scented candle. Back in January, a customer named Jody Thompson claimed that the candle nearly burnt down her house. "The candle exploded and emitted huge flames, with bits flying everywhere," she said at the time.

"I've never seen anything like it. The whole thing was ablaze and it was too hot to touch. There was an inferno in the room. We eventually got it under control and threw it out the front door," Jody added. "It could have burned the place down. It was scary at the time, but funny looking back that Gwyneth's vagina candle exploded in my living room."
Instagram Music

Succeeding 2020 hosts Reba McEntire and Darius Rucker, the two-time CMA Entertainer of the Year winner becomes the first solo host of the awards show in 18 years.

Oct 19, 2021

AceShowbiz - Luke Bryan will become the first solo host of the CMA Awards for 18 years when he fronts the 2021 prizegiving on November 10.

The two-time CMA Entertainer of the Year winner will succeed Reba McEntire and Darius Rucker, who hosted the ceremony in 2020. He previously fronted the ACM Awards in Las Vegas with Blake Shelton from 2013 to 2015, and Dierks Bentley in 2016 and 2017.

The last time the CMA Awards had a solo host was in 2003, when Vince Gill took charge of the show. Since then, the ceremony has been hosted by Brooks & Dunn and Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood, who fronted the ceremony for 11 straight years. Underwood, McEntire and Dolly Parton teamed up to host the 2019 event.

About the hosting gig, Bryan said in a statement, "Being asked to host the CMA Awards was definitely something I put a lot of thought into before answering. The pressure that comes along with that can be overwhelming, but knowing I get to help honor and celebrate so many of my friends, I knew it was something I couldn't turn down."

"I mean, growing up in Georgia, I remember watching Vince Gill, Reba, Brooks & Dunn, Kenny Rogers, Barbara Mandrell, to name a few. They were so good. And then becoming a part of this amazing country music family and sitting on the front row while Brad Paisley, Carrie Underwood and Darius Rucker took the reins, all of these artists are heroes and friends, and I am honored to have my name included in this group."

"I'm looking forward to making it fun and memorable and using this platform to continue to make country music shine," the 45-year-old crooner concluded.

The 2021 CMA Awards will take place at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee, and Eric Church and Chris Stapleton lead all nominees with five mentions.
Elle Magazine Celebrity

The 'Eternals' co-stars joins Lauren Ridloff, Gemma Chan, Halle Berry, Gal Gadot, Rita Moreno, Jodie Comer and Jennifer Hudson in the list of celebrated woman at the annual event.

Oct 19, 2021

AceShowbiz - Angelina Jolie and her "Eternals" co-stars Salma Hayek, Lauren Ridloff, and Gemma Chan are to be honored by ELLE magazine bosses as part of the annual Women in Hollywood event this week (beginning October 18).

The trio joins Halle Berry, Gal Gadot, Rita Moreno, Jodie Comer, and Jennifer Hudson among those being saluted at the 27th Elle Women in Hollywood gala.

The women will also be celebrated in the latest issue of Elle, with Jolie opening up about the bond she formed with her cast mates while making the upcoming "Eternals".

"A lot of times as an actress, you're that individual strong woman, or you have one sister; you don't often have this family where you really get to know women and see all the different strengths," the Oscar winner says.

"Gemma's grace and elegance and the way she walks through the world, Salma's motherhood and power, and Lauren's connection and intelligence. Everybody came as themselves. Maybe there's something to that, that the characters weren't as far off [from ourselves]."

"I think there's a secret that we don't know that our director [Chloe Zhao] knows, because if you look at her films, she casts a lot of real people as their roles and it shapes her films."

Hayek adds, "I never thought I was going to be one of the Eternals. It doesn't happen. It's never happened to me like that before without a fight and like, 'I can do this, please hire me!' When she [Zhao] told me I was one of them, I was like, 'Me, Mexican, Middle Eastern? Me, in my fifties? I'm going to be a superhero in a Marvel movie?' "

"Sometimes as a woman, as a woman of color and with the age, you feel so overlooked. It was one of those moments where you think, 'OK, I held on in this industry, survived for this long.' I just felt acknowledged by somebody I admire and didn't know she was watching me."
Instagram Music

Two other audience members were also injured in a separate fall during the concert of the rock band at Chase Center over the weekend, a San Francisco Police Department spokesperson confirms.

Oct 19, 2021

AceShowbiz - A Phish concert over the weekend was marred with tragic accidents. One man fell to his death and two others were injured in a separate fall less than an hour later during the band's show at Chase Center in San Francisco on Sunday, October 17.

San Francisco police spokesman Robert Rueca told KQED that they were alerted about the first fall at around 8:55 P.M. during Phish's second performance in San Francisco this week. "Medics arrived and immediately provided medical treatment, but despite the efforts of the emergency responders the victim succumbed to his injuries and was declared deceased," Rueca wrote in an email.

Rueca added that the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner is investigating the cause of death, but police found no evidence of foul play so far. Officials have not released the name of the deceased.

Edward Lewine, a speechwriter for New York Attorney State General Letitia James, was present at the show. He tweeted, "Sad news. A man fell off the upper deck into our section. I'm afraid it looked bad. Send vibes. #Phish." Lewine added that a woman "right where he fell" was visibly affected by the incident, but was uninjured.

Another concert attendee wrote on Reddit, "The sound and scene were incredible and horrifying." The man, who said he and his son were two rows away from where the man landed, added, "Today, I feel for the community and especially for the family/friends of the jumper and all the people in 115-117 who got some undeserved wartime-like images - many while tripping."

Almost an hour later, at 9:45 P.M., officers and medics responded to another report of a man falling at the concert. That man and a second man he landed on were taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

Chase Center deferred questions to the police department. "We extend our heartfelt condolences to the guests loved ones," the venue's spokesperson said in a statement. "We are working with the local authorities to determine exactly what happened."

Phish has not posted about the incident on social media.
Instagram Celebrity

The Los Angeles County District Attorney's office will not press charges against the longtime UFC star and his wife as there's a 'lack of sufficient evidence.'

Oct 19, 2021

AceShowbiz - Chuck Liddell and Heidi Northcott will not face charges after alleged domestic violence. The Los Angeles County District Attorney's office decided not to prosecute the former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion and his estranged wife following their physical altercation.

The case has since been filed as a "cross complaint" where both parties maintained that the other was the aggressor in the incident. Following further evaluation, the prosecution said there was a "lack of sufficient evidence" to proceed with charges and "the arresting officer concurs."

The investigators interviewed Chuck's daughter, who didn't see which parent started the fight, just that the two were pushing each other. Charge evaluation notes from the district attorney stated that "the wife did not have any visible injuries, while the husband had a slight red mark on his cheek and a small red mark near his chest."

After their alleged physical argument, Chuck was taken into police custody with his bail set at $20,000 on October 11. At the time, the responding cops said that they got a call from his Hidden Hills home "regarding a family disturbance." The sheriff's department explained, "Upon arrival deputies determined Chuck Liddell and his wife had been involved in a physical altercation. Mr. Liddell was arrested for domestic battery."

Shortly after his prison release, Chuck took to his Instagram account to speak out about his arrest. "Last night the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department deputies who responded were professional. While the information about this case will be revealed in due course, I believe it is important to convey and clarify a few facts about the situation," so said the former UFC star.

Chuck, who recently filed for divorce from Heidi, further stated that he "was the victim of the incident" and promised that "details of the case will reveal." The former MMA star also shared that "the deputies informed [him] that [his] wife would be arrested." Offering more details, he added, "As I did not respond to her assault while I sustained bruising and lacerations. I volunteered to go in her place."
Instagram Celebrity

Filing the lawsuit against the 'Anaconda' hitmaker and Kenneth Petty is his sexual assault victim, Jennifer Hough, who accuses the couple of trying to silence her about the incident.

Oct 19, 2021

AceShowbiz - Nicki Minaj didn't intend to ignore the harassment lawsuit leveled against her and her husband, Kenneth Petty. In new legal documents obtained by Complex, the "Anaconda" hitmaker explained why she put a delay in responding to the lawsuit.

"My failure to respond to the complaint was the product of an innocent mistake," the femcee stated in court documents. "And I ask the court to excuse the delay so that I can defend what I believe to be an entirely frivolous case which plaintiffs counsel has brought against me in an effort to use my name to generate publicity for himself."

Nicki also claimed that her husband wasn't served with a copy of the complaint. The process server reportedly served a "Black male, 40 years old, 200 lbs" with black hair and brown hair. However, the description doesn't match her spouse.

"In fact, my husband is approximately 5'9" tall and weighs no more than 175 pounds," she said. "Further, there is no person who resides in our house or who was present there on September 15, 2021, who fits the description contained in the affidavit of service."

Filing the lawsuit was Petty's sexual assault victim, Jennifer Hough, back in August. Jennifer accused the couple of "bribery, intimidation, harassment, and stalking" after the pair allegedly tried to make her not to speak about the incident.

Jennifer attorney, Tyrone Blackburn, said last week that the time for Nicki and Kenneth to respond to the lawsuit had expired. According to the documents, lawyer Judd Burstein was recommended to Nicki on September 22. After speaking on Zoom on the next day, Nicki believed that Judd had agreed to represent her, however, he was not formally retained until later.

It's previously reported that Jennifer is seeking a $15 million default judgment against Nicki and Kenneth for ignoring her lawsuit. In a request to Douglas Palmer of U.S. District Court - Eastern District of New York, Tyrone asks to "please enter the default of defendants Onika Tanya Maraj, and Kenneth Petty, AKA Zoo, pursuant to Rule 55(a) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure for failure to plead or otherwise defend this action as fully appears from the court file herein and from the attached affirmation of Tyrone A. Blackburn, Esq."
Instagram Celebrity

Prior to this, six former and current Microsoft employees claimed that the company's billionaire founder created an uncomfortable workplace as he often made inappropriate comments to female employees.

Oct 19, 2021

AceShowbiz - Microsoft executives reportedly had tried to stop Bill Gates inappropriate behavior. According to a report by The Wall Street Journal on Monday, October 18, two top executives at Microsoft told the company's billionaire founder more than a decade ago to stop sending "inappropriate" emails to a female employee.

A Microsoft spokesman, Frank Shaw, claimed that back in 2008, the company became aware that Gates sent "inappropriate" messages to the employee a year earlier. It was also said that Brad Smith and Lisa Brummel, the current present of the company and the then-human resources chief respectively, met Gates and asked him to stop.

The billionaire himself allegedly admitted that sending such emails was not a good idea. He also reportedly said that he would stop his action.

In response to the reports, a spokesperson for Gates denied them in a statement. "These claims are false, recycled rumors from sources who have no direct knowledge, and in some cases have significant conflicts of interest," said the spokesperson to Insider.

Prior to this, Gates was accused of behaving inappropriately with female staffers at the company. In May, Microsoft reacted to the accusations by revealing that its board hired a law firm in 2019 to investigate accusations that Gates, who announced his divorce from Melinda French Gates earlier this year, had an affair with an engineer in 2000.

Meanwhile, six former and current Microsoft employees claimed to The Times that Gates created an uncomfortable workplace. He often made suggestive comments toward women. It was further reported that Gates, who stepped down as the CEO of Microsoft in 2000, had connections with financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein as they met multiple times starting in 2011.

Gates announced his divorce in May, writing on Twitter, "After a great deal of thought and a lot of work on our relationship, we have made the decision to end our marriage. Over the last 27 years, we have raised three incredible children and built a foundation that works all over the world to enable all people to lead healthy, productive lives," referring to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation that they founded in 2000.

"We continue to share a belief in that mission and will continue our work together at the foundation, but we no longer believe we can grow together as a couple in this next phase of our lives," the philanthropists concluded their statement. "We ask for space and privacy for our family as we begin to navigate this new life."
Instagram Celebrity

The 'Don't Get Smoked' MC isn't apologetic for saying that Lul Tim 'wasn't wrong' to shoot the 'Crazy Story' spitter, but claims that his remarks were taken out of context.

Oct 19, 2021

AceShowbiz - 600Breezy has responded after receiving tons of backlash for seemingly defending King Von's suspected killer. Not apologizing for his comments, he insisted that his words got twisted and challenged the critics to confront him.

The Chicago native made use of his Instagram Story on Monday, October 18 to hit back at the critics. "Of course they skipped the whole part where I said 'I dont f**k with that n***a and N***AS STILL WANNA SEE THAT N***A FOR WHAT HE DID' but aye," so he claimed.

Still, the 20-year-old is seemingly ready to take the consequence as he added, "If anybody don't like what I say, hit me in my mouth or shut up. Simple. Fans friends anybody [100 emoji] LLKV and f**k Timmy. Now carry on."

600Breezy responded to backlash over his comments on King Von's suspected shooter.

600Breezy angered many of King Von fans after saying in a recent podcast appearance that Lul Tim wasn't wrong to shoot the "Jump" MC because he was protecting his "breadwinner," Quando Rondo. "What [Lul Tim] did, he wasn't wrong. He protected his bread. He protected his breadwinner," he argued.

He went on explaining, "Quando Rondo is his breadwinner, so that's just like, reverse the situation. N***as walk up on Von and do that and one of Von's homies just pop out the car and shoot, you know what I'm saying?" Still, he said of the incident, "It was very unfortunate."

King Von died on November 6, 2020 after he was involved in altercation with Quando outside of an Atlanta hookah lounge nightclub. The dispute quickly escalated into gunfire, in which the rapper, whose real name is Dayvon Daquan Bennett, was shot multiple times. He was transported to a hospital in critical condition but died during surgery later that day at 26 years old.

Lul Tim, also known as Timothy Leeks, was arrested and booked into Fulton County Jail in November for allegedly fired the shots that killed Von, but he was released in March this year after posting a $100,000 bond.
Instagram Celebrity

In the first sighting since welcoming their newborn son Sire Castrello Raymond, the 'My Boo' hitmaker and his girlfriend are seen enjoying lunch with their children in Los Angeles.

Oct 19, 2021

AceShowbiz - Usher and Jenn Goicoechea have been spotted for the first time with their second child. The "My Boo" hitmaker and his girlfriend were caught stepping out for lunch with their newborn son Sire Castrello Raymond.

In photos surfacing online, the 43-year-old musician and Jenn were seen grabbing their lunch at the Italian restaurant Little Dom's in Los Angeles on Sunday, October 18. In the pictures, the 3-week old baby could be seen in a stroller. Also joining the outing was their first child, Sovereign Bo, who was born in September 2020.

For their Sunday lunch, Usher was photographed wearing a black cardigan over a white shirt, black shorts and black sunglasses. In the meantime, Jenn donned a yellow jacket and ripped light blue jeans. She also wore a black face mask and tied her black hair in a ponytail.

Their outing came nearly a week after Usher announced that he and his girlfriend had welcomed their second child. On October 12, the "Yeah!" hitmaker shared a sweet black-and-white close-up of son Sire's face on his Instagram account.

The couple was reported to be expecting a second child in May. Weeks after the news broke that Jenn was pregnant again, the 27-year-old mama showed off her baby bump at the iHeartRadioMusic Awards, which Usher was hosting.

Then on Usher's birthday on October 14, Jenn gushed about her "baby daddy" with a series of his snapshots. "Like I said in the beginning We have the most potent version of THC! Trust, Honesty and communication," Jenn wrote.

"I'm honored to have spent the last few years together and growing our family," Jenn continued. The mom of two added, "You deserve your flowers every day if I'm asked not just on your Birthday!"

Jenn continued praising the love of her life. "Don't nobody have a heart like you. You The Goat, The King  The Light and Love of my life!" she raved. She concluded her post as saying, "Can't wait to spend many more with you! Happy Birthday! Happy Birthday! Happy Birthday!"
WENN/Instar Celebrity

While some people mock the 'Hurricane' spitter over his new hairstyle, which is likened to patchwork, some fans express concern about the rapper's mental health.

Oct 20, 2021

AceShowbiz - Kanye West and his eccentric ideas have often divided fans. While some may see him as a genius, some others think that he is losing it. And now he's starting the debate again with his bizarre new haircut.

On Monday, October 18, the rapper, who has just got his request to legally change his name to Ye approved, took to Instagram to debut his new hairstyle. He posted a photo of his head from behind, showing the jagged patches of hair broken up by large swathes of bare scalp.

Ye simply captioned the snap with "," which is a currency sign used for the Japanese Yen and the Chinese Yuan currencies when writing in Latin Scripts. As the Yeezy designer didn't explain why he chose to go with the haircut, some people expressed their confusion over his bizarre style.

"Sheesh," one commented on the post. Another asked, "Wtf is this cut brah" A baffled user similarly inquired, "BRUDER WAS IST DAS," while another remarked, "Wtf Kanye." Against the style, a fifth commenter wrote, "Who told him this was a good idea though?"

Another mocked the hip-hop star, "kanye let his kids cut his hair again." Someone else claimed, "Somebody f**ked Kanye head up," while another jokingly speculated, "Kanye letting Stevie Wonder cut his hair for a sample clearance. If you're seeing this Stevie I'm sorry." One other compared the haircut to "patchwork."

Meanwhile, some others saw Kanye's bizarre haircut as a sign of his mental breakdown. "Isn't that the exact haircut Britney gave herself that wound her up in conservatorship?" one pointed out, referring to Britney Spears infamously shaving her own hair during her public meltdown in 2007.

"If this is really Kanye he really has mental issues," another said after seeing the picture. Someone suggested, "They need to actually put him in a conservatorship." Showing the same concern, one person noted, "This man need prayer. cause this is not it."

Another also sympathized with Kanye, "People need to stop making fun of #KanyeWest. The man has bipolar, he is mentally ill. Weird masks, name changes, and terrible haircuts are a sign he's having a manic episode and needs help/med management."

There were a few, however, who think the haircut is cool. "Love the cut!" one said. Another speculated, "watch people start cutting their hair like this now" Someone claimed, "This hair cut is about being FREE @kanyewest liberation."

Another tried to explain what the haircut symbolizes, "Kanye West changing his slave name to Ye, plus his new hairstyle to go along with it, is just superior genius to be easily understood by most. Either it represents how slaves hair were cut with razors to look like this, or reminding blacks how Ye(me/you) are still enslaved today."
WENN Celebrity

The Public Enemy hip-hop artist has reportedly been charged with battery after he was taken into police custody in an alleged domestic violence case in Nevada.

Oct 20, 2021

AceShowbiz - Public Enemy star Flavor Flav has been charged with domestic battery following an arrest earlier this month (Oct21).

Henderson Police Department officials in Nevada took the rapper, real name William Jonathan Drayton, Jr., into custody on 5 October (21) and booked him on a misdemeanour charge of domestic battery.

According to the criminal complaint, obtained by TMZ, Flav allegedly "poked his finger on the alleged victim's nose, grabbed her, threw her down and grabbed a phone out her hand."

Flav's lawyer, David Chesnoff, told TMZ, "In alleged domestic violence cases, there are often two sides to the story and we will explain our side in the courtroom and not in the media."

The criminal charges came after Flavor Flav was embroiled in a new feud with bandmate Chuck D.

Flav accused Chuck D of blocking Public Enemy tour while Chuck D called Flav out for allegedly "giving the situation minimum while always asking for the maximum."

Last year, they also clashed over their different political views. As Chuck D was tapped to perform at Bernie Sanders' campaign, Flavor fired off cease-and-desist notice to prevent Public Enemy's songs and likeliness from being used during the rally.

Chuck later said Public Enemy would be "moving forward" without Flavor Flav, and the two were engaged in a war of words. However, Chuck D eventually said the feud was just a PR stunt to promote their new album.
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA - There have been 10 COVID-19 related deaths reported on Monday in local counties.

Shasta County Health and Human Services reported seven new deaths on Monday, which are statistics gathered over the weekend.

SCHHS said they were a man in his 60s, a woman and four men in their 70s and a man over 89.

55 people are hospitalized with COVID-19 in Shasta County and eight are in ICU. There are 427 active cases in Shasta County.

There were 150 new cases reported over the weekend.

RELATED: BCPH issues local isolation, quarantine orders to control spread of COVID-19

Butte County Public Health reported two new COVID-19 deaths on Monday. There are 62 people currently hospitalized in Butte County with COVID-19.

Enloe Medical Center said 35 COVID-19 patients are in its hospital and 74% of the patients are not vaccinated. There are seven people in ICU at Enloe.

Between Sept. 7 and Sept. 13, BCPH reported 986 new cases. But since Oct. 12 and Monday, health officials have reported 225 new cases in Butte County.

There was one death reported in Tehama County on Monday. There have been 106 COVID-19 deaths in Tehama County and 9,310 confirmed cases.

For continuing coronavirus coverage, click here.

This is a developing story. Action News Now will keep you updated with new information on-air and online.
REDDING, Calif. - A man was pulled over in Redding after police searched his vehicle and located a handgun and several ounces of meth inside the vehicle, the Redding Police Department said.

On Sunday, the Redding Police Department stopped a person driving a Cadillac for violations near the intersections of California St. and Shasta St.

When the driver, 28-year-old Jose Betancourt, opened the door, the officer smelled marijuana.

Police did a records check which indicated that Betancourt was on Post Release Community Supervision (PRCS) out of Kern County with multiple prior felony convictions.

The officer conducted a search of the vehicle to ensure that Betancourt was abiding by the terms of his PRCS.

Inside the vehicle, officers found a loaded .40 caliber Glock 22 semiautomatic handgun inside a backpack that was within arms reach of Betancourt.

Officers also located ballistic panels, about 2.5 ounces of meth, marijuana and drug paraphernalia.

Betancourt admitted ownership of the items inside the vehicle and was booked into the Shasta County Jail on multiple charges.
OROVILLE, Calif. - School walkouts were held across the state today over the COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

The principal at Las Plumas High School in Oroville said it was more of a no-show seen among students than a walkout but that attendance was down.

Kids and parents lined up this morning in front of Butte County Public Health with signs and American flags. Some chanted "We're not lab rats, no vaccine."

They gathered for two hours this morning in frustration over how the governor plans to make the COVID-19 vaccine mandatory to attend school.

RELATED: Parents, kids protest California student vaccine mandate

"If I am still a custodian of my children, that is not the government's choice or opportunity to step in and fill my shoes. I am still right here and doing what I can to make the right choices for my kids," Ryan Skinner said.

"We don't care if you vote red or you vote blue or if you vote at all. This is an American thing. We want the right to choose," Renee Gramps said.

The governor said that there will be religious and medical exemptions but many of the parents are considering homeschooling or moving out of state if the mandate goes into effect.

They say this is just the first of many protests they have planned and want to put an end to the mandate now before it goes into effect.

RELATED: Large group gathers for school walkout at Riverfront Park Amphitheater

Most of the parents that Action News Now spoke with say they are not anti-vaccine, they just believe it should be a choice instead of a mandate.

Right now, the state says the mandate likely will not go into effect until next summer when the vaccine gets fille FDA approval. It will roll out in a phased approach starting with students grade seven through 12.
OROVILLE, Calif. - An Oroville parents meeting against the vaccine mandate was held at River of Life Church tonight.

The event was organized by Scott Thompson, the Senior Pastor at the church and Oroville City Councilmember.

Thompson says the church is not pro or anti-vaccine, they just hosted the meeting to give those parents who are against the vaccine mandate, more options.

Action News Now was not allowed to record video on the property but was allowed to attend the meeting tonight. Thompson denied an interview.

Many speakers discussed the pros and cons of homeschooling through a co-op or co-parenting method, independent, online schooling, charter school and private school programs.

These options do not currently require a COVID-19 vaccine for students.

Throughout the meeting, several parents were concerned about how to start the homeschooling process but were not wanting their children to stay in a state-run school.

Several parents said the options are not against the vaccine, it's about having the choice to take it or not.

The message spread through the meeting tonight was that these parents are not alone, they are in the same boat as many others who are against the vaccine mandate, but still need schooling for their children.

The Facebook event post states that they feel these decisions are up to the parents and individuals, not the government.

They will hold their next meeting on Nov. 1.
Bundle up and get ready for a chilly start to your Tuesday forecast. The system that brought rain and snow to our region Sunday night through Monday morning is now well off to our east, and a weak area of high pressure has build into northern California in it's wake. This will result in slightly warmer temperatures, cloudy skies, and moslty dry conditions across northern California today. We won't have to wait long for the next wet and cold system to bring more rain and snow to our forecast, as we already have an area of low pressure dropping down towads northern California from the Pacific. This will bring the potential for rain and snow back to the Coastal Range and Northern Mountains late this afternoon. Rain and snow will become more widespread across northern California tonight. A Winter Weather Advisory has already been issued for northern Trintiy County from 8pm Tuesday through 11am Wednesday down to 4500'. Up to 6 inches of snowfall will be possible in that area during that time. We also have a Wind Advisory that's been issued for portions of Modoc and Siskiyou Counties from 9pm Tuesday through 2pm Wednesday for sustained winds out of the south to 35mph, and gusts up to around 55mph. Skies are starting out mostly clear, but clouds will quickly increase through the day. Temperatures are starting out in the 30's to 40's in the valley and foothills, and in the 20's to 30's in our mountain zones Tuesday morning. Winds will mostly end up out of the southeast to 10mph this afternoon, but gusts to 30mph out of the south will be possible in areas of Plumas, Lassen, and Modoc Counties this afternoon. High temperatures are projected to end up in the mid to upper 60's in the valley, while foothill and mountain areas top out in the upper 40's to upper 50's later today. Showers will move into our coastal areas late this afternoon, and will become widespread across northern California tonight. Snow levels will be down to around 4500' in the Northern Mountains, and down to as low as 5000' in the Sierra Tuesday night through early Wednesday.

Showers will become lighter and more scattered through the day on Wednesday, but another wet system will move in Thursday into Friday. Temperatures will start out a little warmer and end up a little cooler over the next several days. Heavier rain and higher snow levels are expected from Thursday into Friday. Another wave of moisture will then more inland on Saturday afternoon and persist into Sunday. Periods of heavy rain, high elevation snow, and gusty south winds are expected through this weekend. We'll also cool back into the 50's for the valley through this weekend, while foothill and mountain areas mostly top out in the 40's. Heavier rain and snow will be possible on Sunday. Rain, snow, and the potentail for thunderstorms is ahead for Monday of next week, and the latest model runs keep our region wet through at least the middle of next week! The storm door seems to be open, and we could be getting quite a bit of rain and snow through the next week. This will cause travel impacts to our entire region. Burn scar debris flows and mudslides will also be possible with the heavier rain moving in later this week. Up to 8 inches of rain will be possible in our mountain areas, and some projections are giving the valley up to 5 inches of rain through early next week. This seems a little high, but not unheard of. Up to 2 feet of snowfall will be possible along our higher peaks through early next week. The heavy snowfall could also cause some major mountain travel impacts in your extended forecast.
Media consulting firm Ormax Media announced the launch of a new audience analytics tool Ormax Televate. The tool is designed to help TV channels identify a focused and consumer-centric strategy for viewership growth, based on insightful data on parameters built through Ormax Medias 13 years of work in the television industry in India. Ormax Televate currently covers the Urban Indian market, and addresses 157 channels in the industry, in 36 genres across languages. The tool is available for GEC, movies, news, kids, music and infotainment genres across all major Indian language

Ormax Televate has two stages. In the first stage, a TV channel commissioning a project will get access to syndicated data that maps their channel and its competition on strategic parameters related to Awareness, Brand Performance and Category Needs. Using its extensive body of work, Ormax Media has identified 172 viewership barriers that channels may potentially face. Using an algorithm developed by Ormax, upto 15 barriers that are most relevant to the channel in question will be identified.

In Stage 2 of an Ormax Televate project, strategic analysis, content and brand analytics and qualitative research will be used to identify three priority areas that the channel must focus on to increase its viewership. For each of these areas, Ormax Televate will recommend a specific and actionable plan.

Speaking about the tool, Shailesh Kapoor, Founder & CEO - Ormax Media, said: TV channels make various efforts in the areas of content, marketing, branding, distribution, acquisition, etc. to increase their viewership. However, these initiatives are often like hit-and-trial, and a lot of time and resources are spent on activities that may have incremental value at best. In Ormax Televate, using consumer data, advanced analytics and our deep expertise in the television domain, we will help channels identify the most critical aspects of their business they must fix from a viewership perspective. These are the only things that the leadership team should spend their time on.

Speaking about the approach taken by Ormax Televate, Keerat Grewal, Partner - Ormax Media, said: TV channels conduct a lot of ongoing consumer research to build their consumer understanding, over and above the ratings data available to them. However, this often leads to data overload, where theres too much information available, but very little clarity on how to process and action it. Ormax Televate is an audience analytics engine that cuts through this information clutter, and identifies three priority areas a TV channel must focus on to achieve sizeable viewership growth, and lays out a detailed strategic roadmap for each of them.
UBON, Indias leading Gadget Accessory & Consumer Electronics brand has roped in Indian Professional Wrestler, The Great Khali as its brand ambassador. The association is expected to promote UBONs entire product range in Tier II and III cities.

The Great Khali is a well-known Indian Wrestler and fitness freak, who enjoys an undisputed cult amongst the youth and constantly motivates them through his workout schedules and world-renowned achievements. The Great Khali dedication to fitness which is similar to the promise of superior quality of UBON products for music lovers. The Great Khali will be seen promoting audio wearables, Bluetooth devices, speakers among other range of UBON products. The partnership was announced at UBONs grand dealer meet in Goa in the presence of the brand's pan India dealers and partners.

UBONs Managing Director Mandeep Arora said, We are glad to associate with one of the most famous first Indian wrestlers to win a World Title in WWE  The Great Khali. As he re-establishes our value of strength, this in turn would help us engage better with our consumers - thus re-instilling the sense of trust, strength and dependability in them for UBON. It is critical to sustain a strong identity in the consumer's mind and UBONs association with one of the world's greatest strength icons will indeed enhance the brand impact on consumers.

Being a leading player in the consumer electronics industry, UBON always strives to provide innovative products to its customers at the best possible prices. Products designed by UBON assure best-in-class experience to the customers, thereby making it their best choice.

Brand Ambassador The Great Khali said, While working out, I really need some good music which keeps me focused and helps me push my limits. It gives me immense pleasure to announce my association with UBON, the first Made in India brand, which has a plethora of mind-blowing products for everyone, not just the youth.
Federal Department of Justice and Police

Bern, 19.10.2021 - From 20 to 22 October, Federal Councillor Karin Keller-Sutter will visit Bosnia-Herzegovina and Greece. Migration poses ongoing challenges for these countries due to their respective locations on either side of the EU's external border. These working visits by the head of the Federal Department of Justice and Police (FDJP) are intended to reaffirm Switzerland's commitment to tackling the problem. Migration management is also the focus of bilateral talks with counterparts from both countries. The trip will also give Ms Keller-Sutter the opportunity to visit aid projects supported by Switzerland.

Bosnia and Herzegovina is increasingly used as a transit country towards Western Europe along the so-called Western Balkan Route. The country relies heavily on international aid, particularly in providing shelter and health services to thousands of migrants who do not meet the conditions for entry into the EU.

Keller-Sutter reaffirms Swiss commitment

A migration partnership has been in place between Switzerland and Bosnia and Herzegovina since 2009. Since 2017, Switzerland has supported several migration projects in Bosnia and Herzegovina, investing around CHF 6.8 million. As part of her working visit, Federal Councillor Keller-Sutter will visit a migration centre near Sarajevo. The facility for families, unaccompanied minors, and other vulnerable groups is supported by the Swiss Humanitarian Aid Unit.

The migration partnership with Bosnia and Herzegovina and Switzerland's commitment will also be the focus of the planned ministerial meetings. The head of the FDJP will hold talks with meet security minister Selmo Cikotic and migration minister Milos Lucic for talks in Sarajevo.

Ongoing challenges for the Greek asylum and migration system

Greece is also an important partner for Switzerland in migration cooperation. Thanks to reforms and international support - including assistance from Switzerland - Greece has been able to improve its asylum and reception system as well as conditions for asylum seekers on the Aegean islands.

Future cooperation, including cooperation within the framework of the second Swiss contribution in relation to migration will be the focus of talks with the Greek Minister for Asylum and Migration, Notis Mitarachi, and the Minister for Citizens' Protection, Takis Theodorikakos. Ms Keller-Sutter and her Greek colleagues will also discuss continuing challenges facing the Greek asylum system and the need to reform the European asylum and migration system.

In Athens, Ms Keller-Sutter will also visit a facility for unaccompanied girls, which has received financial support from the State Secretariat for Migration (SEM). Since 2014, Switzerland has provided Greece with around EUR 12 million for its asylum and admission infrastructure. To conclude the trip, the head of the FDJP will visit the Mavrovouni facility on the Greek island of Lesbos to assess the situation on the ground. Switzerland has provided humanitarian aid there in the form of a drinking water supply system, medical equipment to combat the pandemic, and other relief supplies.

Address for enquiries

Communication Service FDJP, T +41 58 462 18 18

Publisher

Federal Department of Justice and Police

http://www.ejpd.admin.ch




Fifth Annual Share Your Smile With Alabama Photo Contest for 2022 will showcase smiles of third graders

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Tommy Johnson, D.M.D.

(334) 206-5398



The Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH) Oral Health Office announces the fifth annual Share Your Smile with Alabama statewide photo contest. Two third grade students, one girl and one boy, will be selected from photo submissions as the winners of the campaign. ADPH marketing campaigns will highlight the pair of third graders to promote childrens oral health.

This contest is open to children living in Alabama who are either enrolled and attending third grade, or 8 to 10 years of age being home schooled. The official rules of the photo contest and an application form can be viewed at alabamapublichealth.gov/oralhealth/contest.html. Submissions must be made by a parent or legal guardian, and will be accepted October 19 through November 30, 2021. There is no entry fee. Winners will be announced January 28, 2022.

February is National Childrens Dental Health Month 2022, and this years theme is Sealants Make Sense. The annual observance is designated to promote the benefits of good oral health to children, their caregivers, teachers and others.

Dental sealants are thin coatings that when painted on the chewing surfaces of the back teeth can prevent tooth decay for many years. Sealants protect the chewing surfaces from cavities by covering them with a protective shield that blocks germs and food. Sealants protect against 80 percent of cavities for 2 years and continue to protect against 50 percent of cavities for up to 4 years.

State Dental Health Director Dr. Tommy Johnson said, We are sponsoring this annual contest to bring attention to childrens oral health care and to remind everyone that dental decay is preventable. Dental sealants are an easy and painless way to prevent cavities and are less expensive and easier to apply than fillings.

The ADPH Oral Health Office is dedicated to preventing dental disease for Alabama's citizens by promoting and developing quality, cost-effective community and school-based preventive, educational and early treatment programs which emphasize elimination of oral health disparities.

County health departments throughout Alabama provide a wide range of confidential and professional services. Contact your local county health department for additional information.

Mission: To promote, protect, and improve Alabamas health

Vision: Healthy People. Healthy Communities. Healthy Alabama.

- 30 -

10/19/2021

ALABAMA DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH

RSA Tower 201 Monroe Street, Suite 910, Montgomery, AL 36104

Phone: (334) 206-5300 | Fax: (334) 206-5520
The right to privacy is a fundamental human right in any democratic country.

It is also recognized by the UN Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and many other international and regional treaties.

Beyond the laws and proclamations, the right to privacy is rooted in a citizens inherent right to dignity.

In a democracy, the state is subordinate to the citizen hence the government must respect the rights and dignity of the citizen.

The citizen has the right to withhold any information that he or she deems unsuitable for public consumption, provided that the information is not related to any criminal activity.

It doesnt have to always be highly sensitive salary or health records; a citizen may not the public to know of his or her the history of frivolous videos watched on YouTube. This is a right that cannot be violated.

Confidentiality is closely related to privacy.

While privacy pertains to the person, confidentiality pertains to information.

The Oxford Dictionary defines Confidentiality as The process of and obligation to keep a transaction, documents, etc., private and secret, i.e., confidential; the right to withhold information, e.g. medical information, from others.

At the very top of the list among the kinds of information that deserves to be confidential are bank records and financial transactional information.

However, the new House reconciliation bill would breach that confidentially by allowing the IRS to monitor the bank accounts of virtually every American. The rule would require financial institutions to report cash flows of every account with more than $600 in deposits or transactions.

This is obviously highly invasive and has caused a great furor.

When asked whether the IRS has the means to collect more information about taxpayers and bank accounts including cash flows: Well, of course, they do, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said. Right now, on every bank account that earns more than $10 a year in interest, the banks report the interest earned to the IRS. Thats part of the information base that includes W2s and reports on dividends in other income that taxpayers earned. So the collection of information is routine.

The cited goal for this exercise is to prevent tax fraud.

The White House claims that improved information reporting would generate $700 billion in additional revenue over the next decade.

There are myriad more effective ways to reduce tax fraud and increase tax revenue.

The first and easiest way to increase tax revenues is by reducing tax rates and gratuitous regulations that encumber businesses.

It is a fundamental principle of economics that tax revenue received by governments is directly proportional to the economic prosperity of the country.

Following tax cuts instituted by President Trump, federal revenues hit all-time highs. This was because more people were earning and hence were paying taxes. The fact that the rates were lower didnt reduce revenues, it increased them.

The cited goal hence seems like a falsehood, like a lot of claims that emanate from the Biden administration.

The onus to periodically send this information is on the financial institutions. Hence copious working hours will be wasted in this counterproductive effort. This will come at a considerable cost; it is very likely that the customer will end up paying the bill to facilitate his own torture.

So what is the real objective?

It is likely that the government will selectively apply this invasive law not only to target groups that they consider their political challengers but individuals as well.

All the government has to do is dig through the transactions of groups they consider their adversaries, such as the Republican Party or President Trumps campaign or any major Gun dealer.

This will enable them not only to learn about the organization accepting the donations but the individuals donating.

Quite soon they can systematically target those donors in various ways, the government certainly has the wherewithal to do it.

It must be remembered under the Obama administration, the same IRS had targeted and aggressively scrutinized conservative nonprofit groups, especially various Tea Party-related groups.

Following outrage and legal action, the IRS was compelled to "express its sincere apology" for mistreating a conservative organization in their applications for tax-exempt status.

What is the likelihood that this will not occur again?

Studies have shown that human behavior changes quite drastically with the knowledge he or she is being monitored.

On paper, the citizen has the legal right to send money to any political party or any organization. However, when the citizen is aware that transactions are being monitored, he or she may hesitate to donate to a particular political party or to a cause that the government is opposed to just to avoid being subjected to harassment.

Thus the government has found an indirect way to defund organizations that they consider their rivals.

The bill is also seeking $80 Billion to bolster the IRS and tax enforcement which could mean more tax harassment. No business big or small enjoys being subjected to frequent exercises of intrusive scrutiny. Smaller businesses that cannot afford a team of accountants to deal with this may even choose to shut down in extreme cases.

Multi-national businesses will shift both their business and their money overseas where the laws are more conducive to economic growth.

The economy under Biden is already struggling; driving away businesses will most certainly be a total disaster.

The government has no business either being in business or monitoring business but the socialists believe in the exact opposite.

Perhaps driving away businesses is another way to push the welfare state where the grateful masses look towards the state for everything.

The establishment propagandist outfits who masquerade as the news media are obviously silent about this proposal.

The good news is that people and groups are standing up to this proposed tyranny.

A coalition of several dozen financial industry trade organizations dispatched a letter to various members of Congress, expressing their opposition to a proposal.

Some Republicans such as Senator Cynthia Lummis, Senator Tommy Tuberville, Congressman Steve Scalise are pushing back on the proposal. But this noise should have been louder and should have been in unison.

Giving any government body gratuitous access to the financial information of individuals is both dangerous and unconstitutional.

It is important to note that draconian changes once enforced are rarely undone. Once the government encroaches upon your private space, it seeks a step further and not backward.

Hopefully, the Republicans and a few right-minded Democrats will prevent this proposed draconian rule from becoming a reality.

To comment, you can find the MeWe post for this article here.
In his Autumn of the Middle Ages, the Dutch historian Johan Huizinga described the exaggerated formality and romanticism of late medieval court society [as] a defense mechanism against the constantly increasing violence and brutality of general society.

But whatabout the autumn of our late wokey court society? Whatabout the flaming colors on the trees, the emptying store shelves, the chill of the night in our post-COVID days?

And whatabout the ridiculous self-indulgence? Back in the good old days, we used to call ruling-class courtiers fops. Do you think that applies to, say, Pete Buttigieg, the Secretary of Transportation who is celebrating the adoption of two infants with his husband and has been taking advantage of parental leave over the past two months? Or to well-born young women at our elite colleges strutting and fretting on the stage of privilege acting out the role of the helpless victim?

Whatabout the fact that our ruling class insists that the world is a suffering multitude of victims and that only virtuous Allies can bend the arc of history towards justice for the victims, the oppressed peoples of the world, and away from their tormentors, the all-powerful white oppressors.

Here is my History of the Victim, starting with the victims of Attila the Hun, connoisseur of the lamentation of women.

Romans in 450 driven before Attila the Hun in northern Italy. Genuine victims.

Serfs thrown off feudal estates starting in about 1400. Genuine victims.

Workers in the early industrial revolution. Semi-victims: at least they werent starving to death. See serfs above.

Plantation slaves. Genuine victims.

Freed slaves in the Jim Crow era. Genuine victims.

Well-born women suffragettes. Fake victims.

Kulaks in Soviet Russia. Genuine victims.

Jews in Europe 1933-45. Genuine victims.

Blacks after the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Fake victims.

Capitalist roaders in Maos China. Genuine victims.

Todays educated-class LGBT. Fake victims.

Educated-class mostly peaceful protesters. Fake victims.

Fake victims? Hey, I wrote about this back in 2019. What is going on here?

I will tell you. Back in the day, rulers ruled and the losers starved. William the Norman conquered Saxon England, too bad. Henry V marched across northern France: sorry about the Oriflamme. Napoleon and Wellington marched to and fro across Europe: too bad. The Allies blitzed the Jew-hunting Nazis into utter defeat and degradation: served em right.

But, in recent years, the political formula of ruling classes has been less and less about conquering territory or teaching foreigners a lesson and more and more about saving the victims. Todays elites are totally down as Allies of the Oppressed Peoples. Their political power is justified by their untiring support of and advocacy for The Victims.

What is going on here? I will tell you. Even back in the autumn of the Middle Ages the age of the fearless warrior was dimming. Thats why they were singing ditties about noble knights and King Arthur and Grails and Percival/Parzival/Parsifal, just so Miguel Cervantes could make fun of it all in Don Quixote.

So if defending our sacred borders from foreigners was going out of fashion, how about defending helpless victims from the oppressors?

It took a while, but now ruling classes all over the world are all-in on saving the victims. Of course they are; its how they justify their lust for political power.

But if Eric Hoffer is right about how movements end up as rackets, it makes complete sense that once our modern ruling class had saved the real victims -- workers and slaves -- it would make its movement into a racket: protecting fake victims from white oppressors who are nothing more than ordinary Americans gulled into joining fake insurrectionist movements run by FBI operatives.

It makes complete sense that powerful members of the ruling class would come to experience themselves as victims because victims are special people and the ruling class is even more special.

And when a ruling class is in the autumn of its years, its current generation, that literally knows nothing, is disconnected from its glorious history, how it fought for the helpless working class, how it fought a war to free the slaves, how it sent smart Jewish kids into the South to end Jim Crow. It only knows that we are the Allies, and we fight for the Oppressed Peoples against the White Oppressors. It knows that there must be Oppressed Peoples and there must be White Oppressors.

And so the narrative began to change. The workers werent victims anymore, just deplorables. Jews werent victims; now it was Palestinians. TERF feminists werent victims; now it was non-gender-binaries.

And so, the victims have slowly gotten faker and faker. Hey, it aint just fake news; its fake victims too. Maybe even fake vaccines.

For if our beloved ruling class should ever run out of victims No, that could never happen.

Christopher Chantrill @chrischantrill runs the go-to site on US government finances, usgovernmentspending.com. Also get his American Manifesto and his Road to the Middle Class.

Image: Pixabay

To comment, you can find the MeWe post for this article here.
The latest Islamic terrorist attacks in the West -- in England on Oct. 15, and Denmark two days earlier -- were shocking, given that the war on terror was supposedly behind us. These attacks raise questions.

At this point, there is not just one elephant in the room, but a whole herd.

For a start, initially, there was the usual reticence on the part of the mainstream (legacy) media to call the dreadful attacks acts of terrorism. The Guardian -- always a friend to Islam, despite the contradictions between its support for feminism and gay rights and Islamic orthodoxy, which opposes both -- was quicker to acknowledge the Islamic terror link when, on October 15, a long-serving and popular English Member of Parliament, Sir David Amess, died after being stabbed 17 times in a frenzied but carefully-planned and executed attack by a man of Somalian heritage. Two days earlier the Guardian had been more reluctant to cite terrorism as a motive when five people died in the bloody attack in Kongsberg, Denmark, in which five people died. It was initially keen to downplay the link between Islamic ideology and terror attacks by telling its readers the perpetrator will undergo psychiatric evaluation.

Ever keen to label Islamic terrorists as victims of mental health issues, this enthusiasm for using psychological problems as an excuse inevitably evaporates whenever supposed right-wing extremists and terrorists are identified. This elephant in the room is never discussed by the MSM.

Then there's the issue of 'radicalization,' as if there's a small cabal of atypical 'radicalizers' at work within the Islamic world that is the cause of all this mental ill-health. But the strange aspect of all this is that these people are hardly ever identified. Apart from one or two high-profile figures who've openly advocated terrorism, the Islamic world is notably short -- apparently -- on 'radicalizers'. And what appears in the Koran and Hadith and other Islamic works cannot be to blame, we're told, because to criticize such works runs counter to the ideology of cultural relativism, which holds that all cultures must be understood only on their own terms.

This doesn't apply to Western culture and civilization, of course, which must always be blamed for everything. To apply universalist moral concepts to other cultures -- such as Islam -- inevitably results in cries of 'Islamophobia' and the equally inevitable threats of harm and even death from those who we are led to believe by the MSM don't really exist.

When even showing a cartoon of Mohammed can provoke death threats, or worse, there's yet another elephant in the room: the fundamental incompatibility between orthodox Islamic culture and the liberal, pluralist culture of the West. The attacks on the staff of the irreligious satirical Charlie Hebdo publication, but also on a number of priests and churches in France, are emblematic of the wide scope of this issue.

Then there's the issue of how and why the person who killed five people in Kongsberg was allowed to continue to operate freely when there was apparently ample information available that could have led to him being identified as a person of interest to the authorities. He had been posting inflammatory material on the internet since 2017

These terrorist attacks seem to follow a now distressingly predictable pattern of events. A long phase of activity by the perpetrator growing increasingly hostile to the non-Islamic world, making increasingly explicit threats, eventually ending in a violent attack. And when this happens, the Islamic world appears to shrug its shoulders and/or play the victim. When in 2019 a 'far-right' terrorist attacked a mosque in New Zealand, the MSM couldn't restrain themselves from telling us how much at risk and victimized and afraid Muslims were.

But when the boot is on the other foot, the MSM is notably uninterested in how non-Muslims must be feeling. Theres an asymmetry here which is yet another elephant in the room.

On a more abstract level, there's something else going on here, which is much more sinister. This is called the 'polarization of the continuum', a term used by Carrol Quigley to refer to the way in which the rhetoric of extremism pushes opinion away from the center-ground towards the extremes.

It's the 'us and them' mentality: you are pushed to choose a side because staying in the middle means you get attacked by both sides. Sometimes this polarization is justified, but it is also what unscrupulous cynical manipulators do whenever they can't get the desired support for their own position, and their first tactic is always to suppress moderate views by painting all their opponents as extremists.

The nonsense of the rhetoric of 'Islamophobia' means that informed, intelligent, open public debate about the elephants in the room is now all but impossible. This means that the 'radicalizers' always only hinted at by the MSM will never be identified, and the 'radicalization' of new Islamic terrorists will continue with nothing effective ever being done about it.

Every time there's an Islamic terrorist incident the story is the same: multiple missed opportunities to apprehend and detain the suspect prior to the attack. But somehow the authorities always seem to be inhibited from acting early enough.

This brings me to another elephant in the room: the apparent lack of resolve on the part of those who are supposed to be protecting us from these terrorists. There simply isn't the political will or the courage to do anything about this problem, a problem that is costing lives and bringing suffering and misery to many more. From the lone wolf attacks to the disastrously chaotic U.S. military pullout in Afghanistan, this absence of will and leadership across the board is clear.

Finally, the last elephant in the room is the almost total lack of any focus on the Muslim communities in the West concerning what they might do about this problem that emerges from their midst. Most Muslims are law-abiding and peaceful, and oppose terrorism; Islamist terrorism is as much their problem as it is that of non-Muslims. But most Muslims seem to be reluctant to confront the issue of terrorists in their mosques (where the supposed 'radicalization' can only take place) for fear of themselves becoming the target of terrorism.

And that's a key insight here: why is it that Islam harbors such dark secrets which cannot ever be exposed to public scrutiny for fear of violent reprisals from some of the followers of what is claimed to be the 'religion of peace' by its apologists and propagandists?

If you wish to know, read the Koran.

This is a problem that will never go away unless Islam undergoes a process similar to what happened to Christianity in the late Middle Ages. After centuries of internecine conflict, the opposing sides found a way of living peacefully together, which led to the development of the Western world as we know it today, founded on respect for universal individual human rights and freedoms, a principle which was gradually expanded to include everyone, not just Christians.

Islam did undergo a reformation during the 11th and 12th centuries (by the Western dating system) but this failed and the earlier violent orthodoxy was re-imposed. This led to the gradual descent of Islamic culture into mediocrity and political decline, resulting in Islamic countries falling under the sway of Western empires during the 19th century.

But in recent decades, the liberal pluralist West has become hospitable to the idea that non-reformed Islam is a 'religion of peace' when the historical evidence is to the contrary, at least as regards its agenda towards non-Muslims.

This means the threat (and impact) of Islamic terrorism will be with us for a long time yet.

Wen Wryte is the pseudonym of a retired teacher of philosophy.

Image: Pixabay / Pixabay License

To comment, you can find the MeWe post for this article here.
Why is the U.S. government insisting upon reopening a U.S. consulate to the Palestinians in Jerusalem? The goal is to ram a two-state solution down the throats of the Israelis.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday the Biden administration intends to press ahead with its plan to reopen the Jerusalem consulate that traditionally engaged with Palestinians, despite Israeli opposition to such a move. -- Reuters

Imagine, if you will, that the U.S. government wanted to open a consulate to the French. Would they open it in Berlin? Of course, not! Yet, the Biden administration wants to locate this diplomatic insult in Jerusalem.

Of course, Israel claims all of Jerusalem and does not want to host a consulate to the Palestinians in its capital city. The Palestinians, however, do not recognize Israeli sovereignty; and the Biden administrations actions are just what they want. Under Trump, the Palestinian Authority had been reduced to life support. It was dying. Biden has revived it.

The consulate will be of no use to most Palestinians, mind you. Most Palestinians do not have access to Jerusalem due to Israeli security concerns. And, even if Israel allows the consulate to reopen, they could refuse to allow entrance to Palestinians from Areas A and B in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) who seek to go to the consulate thus making the consulate pointless, and ironically, giving the Biden administration a slap in the face right back.

It would be much easier on the Palestinians to put the consulate in Ramallah in the Palestinian territories where access could be unimpeded. It would also have the advantage of being next to the administrative center of the Palestinian Authority.

But helping the Palestinians is not the consulates purpose. Its purpose is to force a two-state solution on Israel.

Ironically, the Trump administration, though very friendly to Israel, never officially recognized the Israeli reunification (annexation) of Jerusalem. Trump darted around the issue.

[President Trump], at the same time, says that the borders of Israels sovereignty in Jerusalem are yet to be determined. This being the case, how is it that those on the Trump Train remain gleeful? What right does anyone have to say that our capital, our holy city, is negotiable? -- Jewish Press (2017)

Maybe Trump was moving slowly when he moved the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, and he probably did not want to go too far all at once. There was a fear of an Arab reaction to the move and recognition of a united Jerusalem might have been deemed potentially explosive. Some Zionist advocates were upset that Trump did not go all the way.

To be fair, the peace plan proffered by the Trump Administration in 2020 only offered the Palestinians a very limited autonomy -- not an independent state, by any means -- in exchange for financial help. So while Donald Trump may not have outwardly declared for a united Jerusalem, he all but did so.

At the end of the Trump administration, the matter was effectively settled in Israels favor. And Arab nations were signing on to the Abraham accords. The Mideast was moving beyond the Palestinian issue.

Yet, the Biden Administration wants to undo this. They want to go back to the Obama administrations dream of a divided Holy Land and a divided Jerusalem. And the best way to do that is to reopen a U.S. consulate to the Palestinians in Jerusalem, which by its mere presence would give official sanction to a Palestinian claim to the eastern half of the city -- the holy part, the one that matters.

What better way to stick the thumb in the nose of the Israelis, for that can be such a consulates only purpose? It is not there for the Palestinians, as most of them will not be able to access it.

Ah! But what about the Palestinians who live in the eastern side of Jerusalem, the ones who have a residence in the city. Wouldnt a consulate serve them?

They could be easily served by a Palestinian desk (thats all) in the present U.S. Jerusalem embassy.

There is no need for this consulate -- unless the goal is to destabilize and harm Israel. And frankly, that has always been the goal of the State Department. It has always been a den of Arabist sympathizers. This didnt start with Obama.

In 1947, the State Department actively tried to thwart Trumans orders in favor of Zionism, even going so far as to vote opposite to his instructions in the United Nations.

Officials in the State Department had done everything in their power to prevent, thwart, or delay the Presidents Palestine policy in 1947 and 1948. Watching them find various ways to avoid carrying out White House instructions, I sometimes felt they preferred to follow the views of the British Foreign Office rather than those of their President. -- JCPA

The reason the State Department gave at that time was to appease Arab hostility to the creation of Israel, in order to secure American access to Mideast oil.

But that issue has evaporated now that America has become oil independent. The real truth is that the State Department has a deep state contingent that has always been hostile to Israel.

So Bidens demand for a Palestinian consulate in Jerusalem is nothing new. It is more of the same old same old. The deep state contingent was never friendly to Israel.

Indeed, this hostility to Israel is so consistent that the only variable is the Presidential administration and whether it has the will to contain it. Trump did. In fact, Donald Trump must have driven them crazy. However, his failure to officially recognize a united Jerusalem was indeed a slip-up: a costly slip-up, which the Biden administration is using to wreak more havoc.

The world sees U.S. actions in the Mideast, and in the UN, and wrongly concludes that the U.S. government is Israel friendly. Indeed, we are called Israeli lapdogs.

Rather, what really happened is that Presidential administrations -- which have to answer to a pro-Zionist American public -- have either overridden or contained the deep state Arabists in Foggy Bottom. Broad public support for Israel forced administrations to do so. But the Deep State was always there, like a rabid dog waiting to get let out of the basement.

And boy was that dog happy when Obama was in office. He gave them a much bigger leash, and they were chomping at the bit. No one expected Trump to win in 2016.

There can be no doubt that Obama and the State Department Arabists are trying to sabotage Israel once again. With Biden in office, they see their chance.

No good can come of this. If Israel is smart, they will not allow it.

Mike Konrad is the pen name of a writer who wishes he had paid more attention in his Spanish class, lo those many decades ago.

Image: Pixabay

To comment, you can find the MeWe post for this article here.
With civic guidance and political leadership absent on the heels of multiple national crises, the entire country is now roiled in an era of massive civilian disobedience campaigns as thousands of American workers seek protection from President Bidens flawed vaccine dictates.

If you listen to Bidens recent incoherent statement on vaccine mandates or you are an incurable aficionado of what used to be called mainstream media, you may think there is reason to believe that a formal Presidential Executive Order mandating national Covid vaccinations had been issued. As with many Democratic initiatives, the truth and reality of Bidens September 9th announcement are frequently at odds. There was no mention of an Executive Order despite the widespread public message that a mandatory national vaccination decree was being applied to American businesses and the non-vaccinated public. Leave it to the Democrats to exaggerate their authority as they retain utter control over the lives of Americans; not unlike committed authoritarian gangsters intent on mugging what remains of our Constitutional republic.

Soon after the alleged mandate was announced, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi offered further proof of how little the Democrats care about the American people or its economy when she announced that enforcement of the mandate was included in the $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill with a serious infraction costing employers up to $70,000 per violation and up to $700,000 for repeat offenders who dare question vaccine mandates as Unamerican.

However, a visit to the White House website on Executive Orders (Federal Register) reveals that the Biden Administration has not, to date, filed any such EO. It was reported that the object of the EO was to direct the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) to issue a rule mandating vaccinations for employees in America's top one hundred companies or submit to weekly tests or be fired.

In addition, there appears to be no such EO action at the White House Office of Management and Budget as well as no evidence of OSHA preparation of an in-the-works standard to apply to the aforementioned unvaccinated.

So, while there is great media fanfare as if there is a bona fide national mandatory mandate to take the jab, currently no such legal foundation exists for any American business to force that mandate on its employees  nor is there any foundation, at this point, for any State to initiate a legal challenge against the Federal government. In fact, there is simply no basis for a legal challenge to a mandated vaccination policy since the entire kerfuffle may be little more than a figment of Bidens feeble brain and has never been adopted as a formal policy.

Plenty of propaganda, but no EO

One possible explanation is that the actual issuance of an EO would have opened a writhing can of bogus worms which would negatively affect Bidens sinking poll numbers. On the other hand, announcing a mandate without any actual executive order would provide American companies with the facade of a legal requirement while removing any possible legal action against The State. In other words, while employees may be forced to get the jab, the government would remain immune from charges of acting in an unconstitutional manner and from exposure to a legitimate legal Court challenge. Lets say the State would put itself in a situation of having their cake and eat it too.

Lets assume for the moment that the Biden EO had actually been promulgated. The issue is whether a hypothetical Executive Order to the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) has the constitutional authority to issue a regulation to determine Covid as a grave health concern to the nation. A major hurdle to Bidens agenda is that such an ill-conceived EO would sabotage the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution which clearly allows Federal statute precedence over State law. However, the Biden Administration in its euphoria of Building Back Better has failed to grasp that an EO would not be comparable to Federal legislation; and therefore, would lack sufficient force of authority to supersede a state ban on a Federal mandate. In addition, it can be expected that Red State Attorneys General will vigorously defend their states rights under the Tenth Amendment; Blue States not so much.

In other words, an EO is not on a par with Federal statute in that it does not carry the same legislative authority as a Congressional act. That has not stopped the Biden regime from thoughtlessly abusing its power by unnecessarily manipulating thousands of Americans into an emotionally stressful life and family crisis, fearful of a loss of employment and into a legally untenable situation; all under the guise of a deceptive legal mandate.

Surely, companies that have since announced their compliance with the mandate, such as 3M, Boeing, United, and Southwest Airlines must have legal counsel who advised them that the mandate is not a legal requirement and perhaps only the wishful thinking of a demented President. And yet, Southwest suffered massive turmoil the weekend before last, with thousands of cancellations and delays, and proved how little they care about their own employees when it opposed its own pilots who sought injunctive relief from faux mandatory vaccinations. To date, Walmart and JP Morgan Chase have not mandated vaccinations.

In direct response to Bidens chimera, Florida had already stepped in to protect its citizens from an arbitrary Federal mandatory vaccination requirement as in direct response to Biden. Texas Governor Abbott issued his own Executive Order prohibiting a Federal vaccination mandate.

So here we are left with a fraudulent Democratic Administration who dare to skew public policy, claiming to have been overwhelmingly elected as if the American public supports their Marxist views. Nothing could be further from the truth. The resultant response to Bidens mandatory vaccination announcement continues to fail as Americans in all walks of life join together and draw their line as they message Biden that he is not their President.

Photo credit: Rumble video screengrab

Renee Parsons served on the ACLUs Florida State Board of Directors and as president of the ACLU Treasure Coast Chapter. She has been an elected public official in Colorado, staff in the Office of the Colorado State Public Defender, an environmental lobbyist for Friends of the Earth and a staff member of the US House of Representatives in Washington DC. She can be found at reneedove3@yahoo.com.

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Early in October, Oberlin College in Ohio (annual tuition plus living expenses: $78,147) began to update radiators in student rooms, something that's good in a cold climate. However, one student living in "the home of the Women and Trans Collective" was so outraged by having "cisgender men" invade "his" (?) room that he wrote a long essay about the horror of it all. And The Oberlin Review, rather than having a good laugh at his expense, went ahead and published the darn thing. The student's abnormal reaction to a normal event is very telling and worth noting.

This is Peter Fray-Witzer:

Fray-Witzer lives in Oberlin's Baldwin Cottage. Baldwin Cottage is one of ten "identity-based communities":

As part of the effort by Residential Education and Dining Services to provide singular and individual housing experiences, 10 houses are arranged across campus and cover a variety of interests. They include language-based houses (French, German, Russian, Spanish) and identity-based houses (Afrikan Heritage House, Asia House, Hebrew Heritage House, Latinx House, Third World House, and the Women and Trans Collective).

Clearly, Oberlin students go to college not to expand their horizons, but to narrow them.

Baldwin Cottage is the "Women and Trans Collective" residence. The official description is a collection of mindless leftist buzzwords about identity politics and "gender identity."

Baldwin Women and Trans Collective Mission Statement: Baldwin is a safe residential community for anyone who identifies as female or trans, regardless of race, nationality, religion, assigned sex, or sexual orientation. Baldwin provides a safe space for engaging in discussion regarding gender and sexual orientation, and for challenging dominant heteronormative, patriarchal paradigms. Residents seek to provide and support programs around campus that advocate for women/trans people and challenge systems of oppression. We aim to build a strong community in our house, and to forge relationships with organizations and individuals across campus who support Baldwin's mission.

Fray-Witzer wrote an opinion piece describing how normal men showing up to fix the radiators on less than 24 hours' notice led to emotional collapse:

In general, I am very averse to people entering my personal space. This anxiety was compounded by the fact that the crew would be strangers, and they were more than likely to be cisgender men. [snip] Cisgender men are not allowed to live on the second and third floors, and many residents choose not to invite cisgender men to that space. I was angry, scared, and confused. [snip] When the insistent knock eventually came, I scrambled to get my mask on and repeatedly shouted, "Coming!" through the door. Four or five construction workers stood outside, accompanied by someone who I could only assume  by his neat polo and clipboard  to be an emissary of the College. We stared at each other for a moment before I moved aside to allow the workers to enter.

After more expressions of peevishness and fear, Fray-Witzer wrapped up by indicting the college for insensitivity: "They should have taken measures to keep students comfortable and safe  especially those who have elected to live in a specifically designated safe space."

Do I need to say Fray-Witzer's response to a dorm room repair job is totally abnormal? Someone this emotionally fragile shouldn't be taking up space in an institution dedicated to education. Of course, education doesn't seem to be high on Oberlin's list of services it provides to its students. Those who follow the news know that Oberlin is much more interested in indoctrinating them in leftist shibboleths  and Fray-Witzer's bizarre reaction to "cisgender" men in a "safe space" indicates that when it comes to indoctrination, Oberlin's doing just fine.

Fray-Witzer's over-the-top response to radiator repairs also puts the lie to the whole "transgender" thing. The housing is for women or "trans" people. With a male name and a five o'clock shadow, Fray-Witzer doesn't look like a woman. That means "trans" and raises two possibilities: a female who thinks she's a man and, judging by the little beard, is taking hormones to advance that illusion or a male who, despite the male name and beard, thinks he's a woman.

If Fray-Witzer was born female and magically became a man, the fact of "his" being a man makes ridiculous the fear of "cisgender" men because we're supposed to believe that Fray-Witzer is as manly as men. Alternatively, if Peter was born male and magically became a woman (who still looks like a man), he also wouldn't be in a tizzy just being in the presence of biological men. Most women like men, and even lesbian women can tolerate men.

No matter what Fray-Witzer's biological reality, this person is oppressed by the mere presence of actual, hard-working men making an honest living serving spoiled, mentally disordered neurotics  and that's nowhere near normal.

Glenn Greenwald, who is gay and a leftist, is nevertheless a sane man who is becoming disenchanted with leftist madness. Therefore, he nails the intellectual rot that Oberlin is allowing and even encouraging:

Ponder the rotted roots of an ideology that convinces highly privileged and wealthy students at elite colleges that the guys who come to fix their radiators are their oppressors, and that the ones whose family is paying $80k/year are the oppressed.  Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) October 18, 2021

A start to fixing these institutions would be to withdraw all federal taxpayer money from them. They should also be on the hook for finding jobs for those students who accrued hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt to attend these neurosis factories.

Image: Baldwin Cottage. Public domain.

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Chicago Mayor Lori Lightweight Lightfoot recently said the Chicago Fraternal Order of Police was trying to "induce an insurrection" by pushing back against vaccine mandates.

Au contraire. It is Mayor Lightfoot who is trying to subvert the Constitution, take away personal autonomy, and  ironically  institute a police state.



Mayor Lightfoot's Halloween costume last year. (YouTube screen grab cropped.)

Tyrannical Democrats  and there don't appear to be many who don't fit that description today  are now accusing any group of people standing up for their inherent rights of fomenting an "insurrection." A few hundred people walking through the Capitol wearing MAGA hats or Viking horns? Insurrection! A handful of parents vociferously disagreeing with a school board's attempt to shamelessly indoctrinate their kids? Insurrection! A union of public safety officers publicly stating that they own their own bodies? Insurrection! Forget to put your car license tabs on by the expiration date? Insurrection!

For the same reasons, Democrats and their media sycophants now label anything with which they disagree "misinformation."

This is the most dangerous time in American history since the Civil War. Back then, Democrats desperately wanted to keep the institution of slavery. Today, they desperately want to enslave anyone, of any color, that believes in the primacy of inherent individual rights and the concept of limited government of, by, and for the people. That is why they mask us up, lock us down, and threaten us with fines and job loss if we don't wish to be injected with an unvetted foreign substance as if we were so many livestock.

It is time  well past time  for Americans to reassert their birthrights. It is time  well past time  for us to remember the words of arguably the greatest political document and proclamation in human history and to once again declare:

We are endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

That isn't insurrection; it is reclamation.

Governments exist to secure our natural rights, not take them away. Their only just powers are derived solely from the consent of the governed.

If we don't now insist on that  if we back down  we may as well all chain ourselves to our beds or give ourselves up for medical experiments.

We need to declare independence not from Thomas Jefferson and the Founding Fathers, but from the likes of Lori Lightfoot  and unelected would-be tyrants like Dr. Fauci and the countless, faceless hordes of Deep State bureaucrats residing in the swamp.

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In response to questions about the vaccine mandate, Dr. Fauci, our intrepid pandemic guardian, says we need to put our personal freedoms on hold for a bit  for the greater good. Uhh...no! That's not how our freedoms work. From my reading of the Declaration of Independence, our freedoms are granted by God. In the relative ranking of deities, I'm guessing most people would put Two-Mask Fauci a few levels down from the top. The government didn't give us our freedom, and it can't take it away. It can oppress those freedoms with brute force  and that is what Fauci is advocating.

Unfortunately, Fauci isn't the only government functionary who thinks he has the authority to make such rulings. Numerous governors, mayors, and city councils have also curtailed our freedoms. Their lockdowns and social distancing rules undermined our property rights, our freedom of assembly, and our freedom of expression. The "my body, my choice" folks have decided that it's not our choice except when it pertains to the killing of unborn children. But it is all for the "greater good."

Even the Supreme Court, our so-called guardians of our republic, got in on the act. When the CDC canceled our property rights through its eviction moratorium, the Court held that the moratorium was unconstitutional  but they'd let it stand for a little while for the greater good. They decided they had the authority to grant a waiver to the Constitution. That the thinking of public officials on our freedoms is so flawed is truly disturbing.

These officials seem to have all forgotten that America is a country of self-governance. They work for us. The Constitution tells them what they are allowed to do and, more importantly, what they are prohibited from doing.

The reality is that no government authority, claiming to represent the needs of the mob, has the authority to restrict our freedoms.

There is no pandemic exception to the Bill of Rights  not even for the "common good." But apparently, Fauci and his fellow travelers must have been out sick the day the Constitution was taught in school.

If we allow this nonsense to stand, all sorts of mischief will become possible. Is there any doubt that the left would do the following?

Restrict freedom of speech to prevent hate speech  with leftists defining what that is

Cancel our right to assemble during times of political protest

Restrict our right to bear arms during periods of elevated crime

Just two years ago, these scenarios would have been unthinkable. But after the pandemic response we've seen, they are entirely plausible.

Unfortunately, our legal systems have become hopelessly corrupted. We can't count on the Department of Justice, or even the Supreme Court, to protect our God-given rights. We have to fight for those rights ourselves. We can join that fight through elections, and also through our state governments.

It's time that Fauci, Kavanaugh, Biden, and a few thousand other dictator wannabes stopped for a moment and listened to us.

John Green is a political refugee from Minnesota, now residing in Idaho. He currently writes at the American Free News Network (afnn.us). He can be followed on Facebook or reached at greenjeg@gmail.com.

Image: Pix4free.org.

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Dan Bongino walks the walk, in addition to talking the talk. He may be professionally classified as a talker now that he has a podcast, a three-hour syndicated talk show, a weekly Fox News Channel show, and a simulcast presence on Fox Nation, but the former NYPD cop and Secret Service agent is a man of action.

I tip my hat to Dan for standing on principle  even at potentially great financial cost  in dealing with bullying by Antifa and by the vaccine mandate fanatics.

Last Friday, after learning that Simpli Safe, the home alarm company, was blocking its ads from The Post Millennial, where Andy Ngo has been fearlessly reporting on Antifa, Dan announced that he was parting ways with the company as a sponsor of his show. Via Twitter, he learned that two "activists" named Chad Loder and Nardini Jemima had gotten SimpliSafe to block its ads on the P.M.:



Via Rumble screen grab (cropped) of The Dan Bongino Show.

He decided that he wanted nothing to do with them, even though they were a fairly major sponsor of his show. In this online ad for the company, they tout his on-air endorsement, while they were still his sponsor.

Both the Post Millennial and the Gateway Pundit extensively quote from Friday's show and offer video clips. What Dan emphasized, apart from mocking the two "activists" who he claims are paid by somebody, maybe Media Matters, is that he has the resources to stand up, while others may not:

Post Millennial may not have the assets I do  or the resources, or the time or the "go f--- yourself attitude" I have. I'm sure they do  but they don't have the assets to fight back that I do, which are substantial thanks to people like Nandini. Now, to be candid, if you don't have a lot of money and you're not financially secure, I guess, it can be pretty painful right? They could probably take a few of your sponsors away. But what they don't realize is they've actually created a parallel economy. These are "short term victories" for leftist extremists, because as they fire little shots at conservative media, they are pushing that media, along with cultural content creators, into a parallel economy where they can't be cancelled by activist shaming.

Throwing out a major sponsor over a matter of principle is almost unheard of in the media. His syndicator, Cumulus Media, can't have been happy.

Monday, on Dan's show, he showed that he is not happy with Cumulus, either, over its vaccine mandate. Dan states that he is fully vaccinated, but that on principle he objects to forcing others to get the jab. He is quoted in a hostile[i] account in The Wrap:

"I'm not really happy with the company I work with right here. I believe these vaccine mandates are unethical. I believe they're immoral. I believe they don't take into account the science of natural immunity due to a prior infection. I believe they're broad-based and don't take into account an individual circumstances of why they may or may not want to take a vaccine. And they're antithetical to everything I believe in," Bongino said "So, I'll say again, I'm not going to let this go. Cumulus is going to have to make a decision with me  if they want to continue this partnership or they don't. But I'm talking to you on their airwaves. They don't have to let that happen. And I wouldn't mind if they didn't. Because it's really unfortunate that people with a lower profile than me, who don't have 300-plus stations, have been summarily either shown the door or been put in really untenable circumstances because they simply want to make a medical decision by themselves," he continued.

Insider provides more of what Dan had to say:

"There is a very real thing called natural immunity. There's an even realer thing called freedom and liberty. This is a constitutional republic. People have the right to make their own medical decisions and the company has the right to do what it wants as well," Bongino said. "But if a company is going to make political decisions - and I believe this was a political decision, I don't believe this is based in any science - I could argue it all day. They should at least recognize that the company is earning a lot of money off people who have the opposite political persuasion," he added.

Here is a clip from Monday's show when he speaks of the people thrown out of work by the vax mandate:

Dan Bongino gives ultimatum to Cumulus Radio over vaccine mandate:



"You can have me or you can have the mandate. But you can't have both of us." pic.twitter.com/wM7dCxKBK6  The First (@TheFirstonTV) October 18, 2021

Inside Radio lists some of the "lower profile" on-air staff that already have been fired by Cumulus over the vax mandate:

Tron Simpson, a weekend host at "NewsRadio 740" KVOR, who also did weekends for co-owned classic rock KKFM (98.1), is no longer with the company. (snip) Also exiting Cumulus Media in the past week were WDRQ Detroit morning co-host Roxanne Steele and Tim Hill, PD/morning show co-host at WNKT Columbia. Last month, company insiders said that most requests for exemptions for the vaccine mandate were denied by Cumulus Media corporate, including those who applied based on religious beliefs and for medical conditions. The mandate is also affecting employees who are not on air. A source within the company tells Inside Radio that several board-ops and street team members at various stations across the country are among staffers no longer with the company.

I have no idea what else, if anything, figures in the mix of issues between Dan and his syndicator. It may be that the SimpliSafe issue is affecting that relationship.

I'll be listening in today to hear more.

Photo credit: Twitter video screen grab.
Taking the Biden administration by surprise, the Chinese launched the world's first nuclear-capable hypersonic missile, one that can rain nuclear bombs anywhere in the world China wants and can't be intercepted by U.S. space weapons.

Normal people would call this a "Sputnik moment"  comparing now to that era when the U.S. was shocked awake by Soviet space prowess in 1957 and had to mobilize in space to surpass them.

Not Joe Biden, though. Here's the response, through his spokesweasel Jen Psaki:

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said that President Biden is 'concerned' about China's military capabilities but welcomes 'stiff competition' after the Chinese tested what is thought to be a new hypersonic nuclear-capable missile. She refused to comment on the specific report, but said: 'We've made clear we are concerned about the military capabilities that the PRC continues to pursue & we've been consistent...We welcome stiff competition, but we do not want that competition to veer into conflict.'

This is a lot of brave talk and stern warnings, backed by absolutely nothing but ignorance.

Here's a more appropriate response, coming from Sen. Lindsey Graham, via the New York Post:

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said Monday that China's reported development of a nuclear-capable hypersonic missile would be "the biggest game-changer in the last 40 years," if true. "If in fact, the Chinese have developed a hypersonic missile that can deliver a nuclear weapon, it's a military game-changer when it comes to nuclear forces," Graham told Fox News' Sean Hannity. "We've allowed the Chinese to leapfrog us and we're going to have to do one of two things, get them to stand down, and I don't know how Joe Biden convinces anybody to stand down. "If they don't stand down, we're going to have to develop a capability to neutralize this and one-up China," Graham added.

But the Bidenists just want to welcome "stiff competition," being guys who play fair and all.

The word "play" is operative. Comments like Psaki's come across as signaling to the Chinese that the Biden administration views this advance as some sort of game.

It's not. It's dead serious  and if Biden just laughs it off, it's bound to bite us hard later.

It's ignorant and arrogant in that it assumes that nothing bad from this launch could happen to Americans because it's just "stiff competition," same as the Olympics.

It also suggests that the Bidenites will be happy to play against the Chinese in some way because it's just a game.

But even that hits against the hard reality, because the Biden administration is cutting or leaving flat the elements of the defense budget in favor of the $3.5-trillion porkulus "reconciliation" package.

The Chinese were laughing up their sleeves at the chaotic U.S. pullout in Afghanistan, which was all a matter of "surprises" for the Bidenites.

Now they're getting, to paraphrase Mao, one, two, many surprises. No wonder the Chicoms thought they could do this. The Bidenites think this is a game.

Image: Screen shot from The Hill video, posted on YouTube.

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New York City has reverted to a pre-Giuliani-era "Shattered" urban hellhole, with crime, homelessness, rats, and garbage completely out of control.

What is New York's City Hall concerned about? But of course: Removing a statue of Thomas Jefferson, given that, as an 18th-century grandee of his time in Virginia, he owned slaves by inheritance.

According to the New York Post:

A city commission voted to remove the statue of Thomas Jefferson from the City Council chamber by the end of the year  though the body is still debating where to send the monument to the Founding Father. The Public Design Commission voted unanimously Monday to banish the nation's third president from the legislative chamber at City Hall after four lawmakers testified that his status as a slaveholder was an affront to the council's many African American members.

The little detail about Jefferson also being the author of the Declaration of Independence and a father of the Bill of Rights, not to mention an early public voice against slavery back when it was considered risky and radical to oppose that institution, are rather unimportant to them. No wokester values such things...

But to the rest of us, it's disgusting as hell, a Taliban-like bid to erase history, moving right along down a slippery slope of cancel culture. First, it was the Confederates, then it was colonialists and slave traders, and soon after Ulysses S. Grant and Abraham Lincoln, who literally freed the slaves, with Lincoln paying for it with his life. Now they've gotten their mitts on Jefferson and want him down, too. It's as offensive as hell to anyone who values liberty and representative democracy, an amazing innovation at the time and since widely imitated, which is Jefferson's legacy. A few of his contributions are readable here.

Here's the sane sort of reaction from a prominent scholar that should be everyone's reaction:

Im almost willing to go to NYC City Hall, chain myself to the door, & go on a hunger strike to stop this. WTAF. Has everyone gone mad?Jefferson was a flawed human being,but his words are among the most inspiring, liberating, & consequential ever written.

https://t.co/YEEq93JZ0q  Christina Sommers (@CHSommers) October 19, 2021

I suggest the voters of NYC remove those officials from office instead. https://t.co/4pRVgfU57i  Christina Sommers (@CHSommers) October 19, 2021

None of these creeps involved in this New York travesty could hold a candle to Jefferson. Look at how puny and wretched and Alice in Wonderlandlike they look, sitting in judgment of this man:



Image: YouTube screen shot, NBC News.

The New York Post has an even better photo of this sorry travesty  viewable here.

Once upon a time, Jefferson  effectively the founder of the Democrat party, by the way  was revered by Democrats. "Jeffersonian Democrats," they used to be called.

Democrats held a Jefferson-Jackson Luncheon for its party elite  until a few years ago, when they decided to get rid of that illustrious name.

Remember when President John F. Kennedy, at a dinner hosting Nobel laureates, said this?

I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge, that has ever been gathered together at the White House, with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone. Someone once said that Thomas Jefferson was a gentleman of 32 who could calculate an eclipse, survey an estate, tie an artery, plan an edifice, try a cause, break a horse, and dance the minuet.

Now the press reports ignorant spoutings from assorted slack-jawed schlubs and galoots who call Jefferson statues "just like having the Confederate flag" if they don't yawp that they should be destroyed as "the right thing." For NBC, which did that report, that's what passes for "news."

Democrats, in short, have become moral sewage, ignorant of history, and downright hostile to liberty.

Where the hell do they think the U.S. would be if the U.S. didn't have Thomas Jefferson? At best, we'd be colonial vassals and appendages of Europe, or else not at all different from someplace like Haiti or Bolivia. Some of these leftists have been at it against Jefferson for years in their wokester zeal.

One of them, one Stefan Sykes, now listed as an NBC News associate on his stories, has called for the removal of the Jefferson statue at Columbia University's famed journalism school. The 2020 wokester graduate wrote this low-knowledge tripe for the New York Daily News, and some of his pals set up a Change.org petition to get the statue taken down. It wasn't popular, not even among Columbia's many wokester students, who view the statue in front of the school as their beacon and have happy memories crawling on the statue as a group to celebrate graduation day. After being up more than a year and seeking a mere 500 signatures, the Change.org petition drew...292.

The school, though, jumped through those wokester hoops:

This summer has revived discourse about the appropriateness of the Thomas Jefferson statue that stands so prominently before the doors of Pulitzer Hall. Some alumni and faculty have demanded that the statue be removed and replaced by a different representation of journalistic values. Sheila and I agree that the time has come to change the symbolic art that fronts our school, and we will use what influence we have this fall to advance that position. The decision belongs to the university, however. The Provost has already convened a consultative group of university faculty and leaders and he has assured us again this week that he will lead a review of problematic symbols at Columbia this fall that will include the Jefferson statue.

I can't tell if they've done anything so far. It's possible they're hearing from alumni. In this case, removing that statue opens the gates to removing far less illustrious but nevertheless important figures. After all, if Jefferson isn't virtuous enough, why is Joseph Pulitzer? Pulitzer was the media baron who invented yellow journalism, an instigator of war. He also put up cash for the school. Would the school like to remove his name from all the rooms and niches in the school named in his honor, or better still, the Pulitzer prizes, the holy grail of journalism? Pulitzer was a less substantial figure than Jefferson on First Amendment values, so getting rid of supposedly bad Jefferson makes it entirely logical to get rid of even worse Pulitzer and the Pulitzer prizes, the source of the school's prestige. Wokesters have tried to erase Yale similarly in their beaver-like bid to destroy all American names and institutions, and the Yale alumni won't stand for it, not in that elite club they worked so hard to get into in order to bear the name "Yalie." Removing Jefferson at Columbia necessitates removing Pulitzer, too, which should be greeted about the same way. It's likely a reaction is coming as the bid to tear down in the name of virtue-signaling grows ever more unpopular.

Which is why I can't help but think that in a perverse way, the decision to remove the statue from its place in New York's city hall was, in its own way, kind of right.

Tinpots don't like Jefferson, and neither do vicious communist tyrants. Moral zeroes of very pathetic stature who couldn't hold a candle to Jefferson's achievements, don't want him around, either. Jefferson ends up making them look small.

Instead of trying to match Jefferson and the values he held and try to make them better and better, they chose to erase Jefferson, same as the filthy, stinking, fly-blown Taliban which blew up the magnificent Bamiyan Buddhas. It's ugly stuff, and it wins for a day, but ultimately, it makes them creeps. These New York City minions who unanimously voted for Jefferson's statue removal don't actually deserve someone as grand and consequential as Jefferson in their midst, given their embrace of failed fourth-world values.

Yes, they can get rid of Jefferson, for now, but all they have left in the wake of it is their wretched, miserable, selves. What a deal for the once-great city of New York.

Image: Screen shot from NBC News video, via shareable YouTube.

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We live in interesting times.

Enter our secretary of transportation. He's been missing in action during the supply chain crisis on the grounds that he is on "paternity" leave. Two months on leave when ships are lining up at the ports because they can't unload? Where can we find work like that?

Where is the outrage? I guess there is some finally brewing, as we see in this Politico report:

While U.S. ports faced anchor-to-anchor traffic and Congress nearly melted down over the president's infrastructure bill in recent weeks, the usually omnipresent Transportation secretary was lying low. One of the White House's go-to communicators didn't appear on TV. He was absent on Capitol Hill during the negotiations over the bill he had been previously helping sell to different members of Congress. Conservative critics tried (unsuccessfully) to get #WheresPete to trend and Fox News ran a story on October 4 with the headline: "Buttigieg quiet on growing port congestion as shipping concerns build ahead of holidays." They didn't previously announce it, but Buttigieg's office told West Wing Playbook that the secretary has actually been on paid leave since mid-August to spend time with his husband [sic], Chasten, and their two [adopted] newborn babies.

Sorry, but it's time to go back to work. Kiss your "husband" and babies "good day" and get back to work. Tell Chasten and babies that Daddy has work to do. Do warn Chasten that you may be traveling a lot, and please keep the meatloaf warm when Daddy gets home late.

What amazes me about this whole episode is that no one took note that the secretary of transportation was absent during this crisis. To my knowledge, no one in the media was looking for the secretary. Isn't he responsible for this department?

We hear that Secretary Buttigieg wants to be our first gay president. Well, I hope Chasten is ready to take care of the babies if the red phone rings at 3 A.M., or that dreaded 3 A.M. call that wakes up presidents.

Why isn't someone asking President Biden about this? Oops, I forgot. He does not take questions!

PS: You can listen to my show (Canto Talk).

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TRS Gets A Shock For Dalit Bandhu:- Telangana government and Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) has taken things prestigiously and he announced, implemented Dalit Bandhu that would benefit over 16 lakh dalit families of the state. He started this from the constituency of Huzurabad which is heading for bypoll by the end of this month. Some of the beneficiaries even received Rs 10 lakhs directly into their bank accounts. In a major setback, the Election Commission of India (EC) halted the scheme of Dalit Bandhu considering the bypoll of Huzurabad. Avinash Kumar, the Principal Secretary of the Election Commission of India sent a letter to the Chief Electoral Officer of Telangana, Shashank Goel informing the same. The letter said "The commission has deliberated the Dalit Bandhu scheme in the poll-bound Huzurabad constituency and it should be deferred till the completion of the bypoll".

There are debates across the political circles of Telangana. KCR announced Dalit Bandhu in July this year and implemented it recently. He said that the scheme will be expanded across the state in stages and will be completed before the polls. KCR launched Dalit Bandhu on August 16th and the total expenditure is said to be Rs 1.70 lakh crores. He said that Dalit Bandhu should not be seen as an election sop for the people and it is aimed to benefit and help the dalits in the state. The Dalits are asked to invest the amount in any business to grow financially in the coming years. KCR took a dig at the opposition parties who called it a political move.

(Source: INEWS)
Mohan Babu in Damage Control Mode:- Manchu Vishnu is elected as the new President of MAA and his panel took oath today in Filmnagar. Several dramatic and unexpected incidents took place on the day of polling. Mohan Babu abusing the actors turned out to be the talk of Tollywood. Though most of the big wigs kept calm about the issue, this is sure a huge dent for Manchu family. It made enough damage for Mohan Babu for sure. The panel members of Prakash Raj interacted with the press and explained about the behaviour of Mohan Babu on the day of polls. His sons Vishnu and Manoj tried hard to control the situation.

Mohan Babu may have got a clear idea about the damage. He spoke after Vishnu took the oath as the new President recently. He wanted everyone to support Vishnu and requested everyone to work together with Vishnu. Mohan Babu also said that he is not much interested to speak about the politics in MAA that took place before the elections. He said that they would meet the Chief Ministers of Telugu states soon and discuss the issues of Telugu cinema. The dramatic situations continued after the elections are completed. Prakash Raj revealed that he would focus on how Manchu Vishnu will work in the coming days as the President of MAA.
(Image source from: Telanganatoday.com)

Suryapet Youth Dies In Malaysia:- A youngster who hails from Suryapet passed away after he accidentally fell into the sea from a ship. The incident took place in Malaysia on Monday. The victim was identified as Motakatla Rishivardhan Reddy and he is 21 years old. He is working for a private shipping firm in Malaysia. His parents Venkataramana Reddy and Madhavi are natives of Suryapet. Rishivardhan Reddy joined in Malaysia during February this year and the government officials informed about the demise of Rishivardhan Reddy to his parents this morning. His father told the media that his son spoke to him last week and discussed about his plans of changing his job.

Rishivardhan Reddy joined in Malaysia through Madrine Marine Consultancy in Kerala and he paid Rs 5.8 lakhs. Rishivardhan Reddy said that the consultancy cheated him after collecting the money. He was posted in a lower grade job after being promised a high profile job. Venkataramana Reddy urged the government of Telangana to make all the necessary arrangements to bring the mortal remains of Rishivardhan Reddy back to Suryapet. His parents are left in shock with the sudden demise of their son who had a great future. Rest in peace Rishivardhan Reddy.

(Video Source: 10TV News Telugu)
Google has high hopes for its upcoming Pixel 6 series. According to a report by Nikkei Asia, Google is aiming to double its 2020 smartphone sales, and counts on the Pixel 6 to do it.

The report claims that Google asked its suppliers to manufacture over 7 million Pixel 6 series handsets. Now, to those of you who are keeping track, Google sold around 3.7 million smartphones last year, according to IDC.

Google wants to double 2020 smartphone shipments, counts on the Pixel 6 to do it

Once again, the company will have three smartphones in its lineup, the Pixel 5a, Pixel 6, and Pixel 6 Pro. Last year, the Pixel 4a, Pixel 4a 5G, and Pixel 5 were on the companys roster.

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Based on the reports, Google is actually planning to price the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro quite competitively. On top of that, the company is planning to invest quite a bit of cash into advertising.

These two phones are also flagship-grade devices. All of that points to the fact that Google is finally starting to take its Pixel lineup seriously. Google actually wants the Pixels to sell now, or so it seems.

The goal is to reach 7 million smartphone shipments

Reaching that 7 million sales number would be a success for Google, most definitely, and it will be interesting to see if that will happen or not.

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Nikkei Asia says that Google is planning to steal some market share from Samsung, Apple, and Xiaomi, mainly. All three of those companies benefited from the US ban that was issued to Huawei.

Google is seeing its chances to grab a slice of the market, it seems. The Pixel 5as availability is truly limited. The device is available in the US and Japan only. The Pixel 6 and 6 Pro will have much wider availability, though.

The Pixel 6 and 6 Pro are launching later today, and will go on sale on October 28, if rumors are to be believed. Pre-orders will likely start today, as soon as the event ends.
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ROME - Israel's ambassador to Italy, Dror Eydar, has said that "Italy's historic mission to help us build our land, to realize biblical prophecies on the return of the Jewish people to Zion after exile, is not over. We expect the transfer of the Italian embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, our capital and historic city". The ambassador was addressing students at Rome's Unit university during a meeting organized on Monday as part of the Festival of Diplomacy.

During the event, Eydar reflected on the political developments in the region. "What has been occurring over the last decade in the Middle East is the fall of the Nation State, of this western idea". In its place "are returning ancient primordial structures that characterized the region for thousands of years: tribes, ethnicities, clans". And "the much anticipated revolution in the Middle East is still late and who knows when it will take place", also said the ambassador.

"In light of the fall of nation states, the only successful investment is to invite Jews to their home in Zion, to their land, something that has led to the construction of the State of Israel". "In any case, here is a question that must interest you: who established that what is right for the West is also right for the Middle East? There are significant differences between the Middle East and Europe, regarding fundamental issues in political and religious thinking. Would it not be better if Europe reflected carefully before resolving problems in the Middle East using schemes of thought that are suitable for it but not necessarily for others?", asked the ambassador.
Spain:Ruta Mariana pilgrim route back to life after lockdown Five sanctuaries amid art and devotion along path to Pyrenees

(ANSAmed) - NAPLES, OCTOBER 19 - Over 12 million tourists a year walk along the Ruta Mariana, an ancient pilgrim route along the traces of the Virgin Mary that starts in Spain, crosses Andorra and reaches France, at the feet of the Pyrenees.



The route is coming back to life after the lockdown caused by Covid and it is one of the most famous for Spanish tourism that embraces five of the most famous European Marian sanctuaries, starting from the sanctuary of Pilar in Zaragoza, to then touch Torreciudad in the town of Huesca, cross the Principality of Andorra where there is Meritxell and then Barcelona with Montserrat to reach Lourdes. It was in this place that, in the holy cave, the Virgin is believed to have appeared to Bernadette Soubirous with miraculous water as a gift. In this place, each year, over six million people come from all over the world to visit what is considered as a "symbol" of support and hope.



The itinerary attracts tourists, pilgrims as well as those who are lured by the art and landscape around the sanctuaries, like the Pyrenees that host more than one of these holy sites, or the natural park of the mountain of Montserrat, where the 'Moreneta' was venerated and where the monks, along with taking care of the cult of the Virgin Mary, safeguard culture and art.



In the museum of the monastery it is possible to admire the artwork of Berruguete, el Greco, Caravaggio, Luca Giordano, Tiepolo. The exhibition space is composed of six collections, for a total of more than 1,300 masterpieces that embrace a very ample period.



La Ruta can be taken in different ways: by train, on foot or by bike, in some areas, starting from one of the five sanctuaries, organizing personalized programs.



There is no closed itinerary because taking the Ruta does not mean that the five sanctuaries must all be visited at the same time. From Pilar in Zaragoza, where thousands of pilgrims arrive to venerate the Madonna who, according to ancient tradition, in 40 AD appeared to comfort the apostle Saint James while he was preaching the Gospel along the banks of the Ebro river, leaving a column as testimony. Also the sanctuary of Torreciudad, in the Aragonese region of Ribagorza, over the centuries has become a place welcoming thousands of families and groups, becoming one of the most visited places of Aragonese Pyrenees. The sanctuary of Meritxell in Andorra, was recently included in the Ruta and was recognized a few years ago by Pope Francis as a Minor Basilica. (ANSAmed).




Banks: Platform to promote eco investments in food industry CDP among institutions supporting the initiative

(ANSA) - Rome, October 19 - A new platform will boost inclusive, ecological investments in agriculture and in food production, packaging and transport activities, going "from farms to consumers", as part of a project announced on Tuesday at the 'Finance in Common' summit.



The project launched by over 20 public development banks was created thanks to an initiative of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), in collaboration with the French Development Agency (AFD) and top Italian investment bank Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP).



"With investments totalling nearly two-thirds of formal funding in agriculture, public development banks can have a huge impact on the lives of rural populations and ensure the adoption of more sustainable agricultural practices, which at the same time can help small farmers adapt to climate change and earn more", said IFAD President Gilbert F. Houngbo.



He added: "the platform is a concrete and important step towards this change".



The creation of a platform for ecological and inclusive food systems was announced at the start of the two-day summit that brings together representatives of governments, public development banks, international financial institutions, private companies, leading members of civil society and farmers' organizations.



It will help public development banks to boost their investments and promote more ecological and inclusive food systems, in line with - and contributing to reach - the sustainable development targets set by the Paris Agreement in 2015. (ANSA) (ANSAmed).




(ANSA) - ROME, OCT 19 - Gilbert F. Houngbo, the President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), stressed the need to "focus more on inclusive, 'Green' finance for food systems" as he addressed the Finance in Common Summit 2021 organized by the Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP) in Rome on Tuesday.



Houngbo said public development banks (PDBs) like CDP have the capacity to provide rural enterprises and small-scale farmers with the funding they need to promote "the transformation of food systems, at the same time improving their means of subsistence and their resilience.



"Each year 350 billion dollars will be needed to transform the food systems," he added. (ANSA).


Saudi Arabia: oil rig to be turned into theme park Three hotels, kart circuit, big wheels, 11 restaurants

(ANSAmed) - NAPLES, OCTOBER 19 - Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund will build a 800-room hotel resort and theme park on an oil rig platform. The resort will offer 11 restaurants, a kart circuit, bunjee jumping from steel towers.



"The rig" is a new large tourist center to be created on a former oil rig platform off the coast of Saudi Arabia, Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund will completely transform the 150,000 square meters of the platform, leaving the original structure.



"This project is a unique attraction - representatives of the fund told the newspaper The National - expected to attract tourists from around the world, while being basically popular with citizens and residents of the GCC countries in the region".



The idea was launched with a promotional video that shows huge panoramic wheels, restaurants, scuba diving and very long slides reaching the sea.



The facility - the newspaper wrote - will have berths for 50 yachts along with three hotels and a helipad. The fund has not disclosed which rig will be used, stating that the project is part of its 2021-2025 program. (ANSAmed).




One month on, La Palma volcano eruption continues President of archipelago: 'the end is not close'

(ANSAmed) - MADRID, OCTOBER 19 - On Sunday, September 19, the Cumbra Veja volcano eruption began on La Plama, one of the Canary Islands: one month later, volcanic activity is continuing, without causing victims so far.



Meanwhile, lava flows have buried over 811 hectares of land and destroyed nearly 2,000 buildings, including hundreds of homes, forcing about 7,000 people to abandon their homes and devastating dozens of crops. Some 4,500 children and teens were able to return to school only yesterday, after some 30 days without lessons.



Part of the population, however was forced starting today to stay at home due to their proximity to lava flow that could end up in the sea, causing dangerous gas emissions, authorities said.



Meanwhile, over the past month emissions of ash and gas from the volcano have repeatedly led authorities to order periods of temporary lockdown in some areas of the island to avoid exposing the population to potential health hazards, in particular for the most frail.



The airport of La Palma was repeatedly closed due to the presence of ash clouds. Meanwhile, the volcano continued to be studied by local and international experts. According to the latest scientific indications, "the volcano is stable but this doesn't mean that the end of the eruption is close", explained the president of the Canary Islands Angel Victor Torres in an interview granted to Spanish public television Tve. (ANSAmed).




Yemen: UNICEF, 10,000 children killed or wounded in conflict From March 2015 until today

(ANSAmed) - GENEVA, OCTOBER 19 - At least 10,000 children have been killed or wounded in Yemen since the start of fighting in March 2015: "the conflict in Yemen has reached another shameful milestone", deplored UNICEF Tuesday in Geneva. "It is the equivalent of four children a day and the data only covers cases that the UN has been able to verify", stressed UNICEF spokesman James Elder, who has just visited the country.



The humanitarian crisis in Yemen is the worst in the world and continues to worsen due to the violent and prolonged conflict, an economic crisis, the decay of any type of service and the limited response to appeals for funding of the United Nations, in a country where four out of five children, or 11 million, need humanitarian assistance. UNICEF - said the spokesperson - urgently needs over 235 million dollars to continue its work in Yemen until mid-2022 and not to be forced to reduce or interrupt its vital assistance to vulnerable children. (ANSAmed).




TUNIS - The Tunisian family ministry has condemned hatred on social media against women defending human rights. The ministry said in a statement that such hatred undermines the honor and dignity of women.

"The dignity of the Tunisian woman is first of all consideration", stressed the ministry. "The divergence of opinions cannot be a pretext to violate the right of an elite of women to freedom of expression and diversity". The statement also said that "this is an elite that we all love, because we are proud of each woman in this country, regardless of the difference in intellectual tendencies".

The ministry recalled in this context the need to moralize the culture of difference for Tunisia's good. And it highlighted that it will ensure the correct implementation of the law on the elimination of violence against women, through all the appropriate structures and institutions.
A family of four are in serious condition in hospital after an explosion destroyed a house in Ayr.

Residents were evacuated from part of the Kincaidston area following the incident on Monday evening which police said affected four properties.

Police Scotland said that a family of four were taken to hospital following the blast in Gorse Park, which could be heard for miles around.

A 43-year-old woman and a 16-year-old boy are being treated at Glasgow Royal Infirmary, a 47-year-old man at the citys Queen Elizabeth University Hospital and an 11-year-old boy at the Royal Hospital for Children.

Aerial images show that one house in the terrace of four has been destroyed by the blast while the roof of another appears to have caved in and debris is scattered around the area.

Chief Inspector Derrick Johnston, area commander for South Ayrshire, described it as a complex incident and said agencies are working together as investigations continue to establish what happened.

An investigation into the blast is underway (Jane Barlow/PA)

He said: Our thoughts are with the family and everyone within the local community affected by this.

A joint investigation with the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service is being carried out.

He said the family of four are in serious condition in hospital.

Emergency services were called to the scene at about 7.10pm on Monday.

Marcus Tindal-Wiles, 25, who lives near to where the blast occurred, said hes never felt anything like it before.

Gas engineers are at the scene (Jane Barlow/PA)

He told the PA news agency: The entire building shook from the shockwave.

The friend of a woman, whose house was directly opposite the blast site in Kincaidston, described the scene as something you cannot comprehend unless you see the sheer scale of the damage.

Moira Muir, 59, told the PA news agency: Her lounge window was blown in and the radiator in her upstairs bathroom was blown off the wall.

Ms Muir, who runs a holiday home rental in North Ayrshire, rushed to her friends aid within 30 minutes of the explosion and added that: The smell of smoke was quite overpowering, but the biggest shock was seeing the amount of rubble and how far it had travelled.

I have never seen anything like it.

South Ayrshire Council said it is working with emergency services to determine who will be able to return to their house and who will not due to ongoing building safety concerns.

It is working to establish a reception centre in the area for anyone returning and said it aims to get people back home as soon as possible, but can only do this once it is confident properties are safe.

The council said: Once we know who may still require accommodation, our housing teams will work with residents to support them.

As soon as we are clear where the inner cordon lies, we will start the clear-up operation, which requires to be done with sensitivity due to personal effects being included among general debris.

Councillor Chris Cullen told BBC Good Morning Scotland he thinks that gas caused the explosion.

Describing the scene, he told the programme: It is quite harrowing actually.

Early yesterday evening there was a row of houses and now there is a hole.

Two-and-a-half houses are missing. It is quite shocking how far the debris has fallen and the damage it has caused.

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) said nine fire engines, as well as specialist appliances, were sent to the scene with two remaining on site at 2.30pm on Tuesday.

Ian McMeekin, SFRS Area Commander, said: This has been an extremely complex and challenging incident which significantly damaged multiple properties in the area and resulted in the evacuation of other nearby homes.

We will remain in attendance for some time as we work with our partners to ensure the area is safe.

Gas distribution company SGN was helping emergency services.
The investigations into allegations of abuse by British soldiers in Iraq have now closed without any prosecutions being brought, the Defence Secretary has said.

In a written statement to the House of Commons on Tuesday, Ben Wallace said the Service Police Legacy Investigations (SPLI) had assessed 1,291 allegations since July 2017 but had now officially closed its doors.

He said that although 178 allegations had been formally pursued through 55 separate investigations, no soldiers had been prosecuted as a result of the SPLIs work.

SPLI reports say that five people were referred to the Service Prosecuting Authority in 2019, but no charges were brought.

Mr Wallace said: The vast majority of the more than 140,000 members of our armed forces who served in Iraq did so honourably. Many sadly suffered injuries or death, with devastating consequences for them and their families.

The SPLI replaced the Iraq Historic Allegations Team (IHAT) in 2017 after Phil Shiner, a solicitor who had taken numerous cases to IHAT, was struck off for using financial incentives to obtain clients.

Mr Wallace said that, while some allegations against British troops were credible, others were not and the credibility of allegations had been a significant challenge throughout the investigations.

He said: However not all allegations and claims were spurious, otherwise investigations would not have proceeded beyond initial examination and no claims for compensation would have been paid.

It is sadly clear, from all the investigations the UK conducted, that some shocking and shameful incidents did happen in Iraq. We recognise that there were four convictions of UK military personnel for offences in Iraq including offences of assault and inhuman treatment.

The Governments position is clear  we deplore and condemn all such incidents.

Three soldiers from the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers were jailed for between 20 weeks and two years by a court martial in February 2005 for abusing Iraqi civilians at a camp near Basra two years earlier.

In 2007, a soldier from the Queens Lancashire Regiment was jailed for a year in connection with the death of Iraqi civilian Baha Mousa in September 2003.

The Ministry of Defence has paid out a total of more than 20 million in compensation settlements for abuse claims from Iraqi nationals.

Mr Wallace added that in some cases, investigations in arduous, battlefield conditions by the Royal Military Police did not manage to secure all the required evidence, with the result that opportunities to hold those responsible to account may now have been lost.

He said: I apologise unreservedly to all those who suffered treatment at the hands of UK forces, which was unacceptable.
It will be cheaper for the world to combat climate change now than to do nothing and deal with the consequences, the Treasury has found.

A review into the future of the UKs net zero plans found that HM Revenue and Customs could raise an extra 1.3% of gross domestic product in taxes with a new carbon tax.

It would not quite offset the loss of revenue from fuel and vehicle taxes, but would go some way to closing the gap.

The Treasury said that the costs of global inaction significantly outweigh the costs of action to tackle climate change.

Flood defences in Bewdley, Worcestershire, on the River Severn. More flooding will be a consequence of climate change (Joe Giddens/PA)

But as with all economic transitions, ultimately the costs and benefits of the transition will pass through to households through the labour market, prices and asset values.

It would not be possible to assess the impact on individual household finances across the next three decades as the UK decarbonises its economy, the review found.

But it added that there would be a big call on the public purse, especially from lost tax revenue.

There will be demands on public spending, but the biggest impact comes from the erosion of tax revenues from fossil fuel-related activity, it said.

Governments may need to consider changes to existing taxes and new sources of revenue rather than relying on increased borrowing.

The Government collected 37 billion from fuel duty and vehicle excise duty (VED) in the financial year ending March 2020, about 1.7% of GDP.

This could not be plugged purely through a carbon tax  which will itself slowly dwindle as emissions are reduced before the net zero target in 2050.

Without action to offset these pressures the public finances will be put in an unsustainable position, the review said.

Therefore, delivering net zero sustainably and consistently with the governments fiscal strategy requires expanding carbon pricing and ensuring motoring taxes keep pace

with these changes during the transition.

Fiddlers Ferry power station, a decommissioned coal-fired power station in Warrington, Cheshire (Peter Byrne/PA)

Rebecca Newsom, the head of politics for Greenpeace UK, said: Despite fears of this review scaremongering, it would seem that the Treasury might actually be starting to get it.

Taking a longer-term view of the huge economic opportunities from climate action, as well as the costs of inaction, is the right approach.

It would be short-sighted only to look at short-term financial impacts. Rishi Sunaks also right to emphasise fairness in the transition, which will be an increasingly critical issue as we advance to net zero.

The review was published alongside the Governments net zero strategy in advance of the Cop26 climate change conference in Glasgow next month.
The Queen will host a reception for international business and investment leaders to mark the Global Investment Summit.

The head of state will be joined by the Prince of Wales and Duke of Cambridge for the Windsor Castle event on Tuesday which will also be attended by Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Earlier in the day, the Government will host the one-day summit in London to encourage foreign investment by showcasing the best of British innovation, especially green industries of the future.

The reception comes ahead of the royal familys attendance at events in Glasgow for the UN climate conference Cop26 in November.

The Department for International Trade has already announced global business leaders and industry heavyweights will join Mr Johnson at the investment summit, with speakers including Professor Dame Sarah Gilbert, one of the Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid vaccine co-creators.

Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng will also attend the business summit, which has levelling up and attracting greener and more sustainable investment on the agenda.

The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester and Prince Michael of Kent are also expected at the Windsor reception.
Hundreds of LGBTQ+ people in hiding from the Taliban in Afghanistan are facing a race against time to be rescued, campaigners working to aid their escape have said.

Nemat Sadat, a gay Afghan-American activist from San Diego, California, said he had been contacted by more than 500 LGBTQ+ Afghans through social media after he started a GoFundMe page  hoping to raise 500,000 US dollars (367,000) to help them reach safety in countries such as the UK, US, Canada, France and Germany.

The 42-year-old author said those he had spoken to have been subjected to severe oppression, and he knows of several people killed by the Taliban because of their sexuality.

Many are in terrible economic situations, many cannot work and are sitting at home hiding on rooftops and in closets, Mr Sadat told the PA news agency.

Its also a race against time  people are starving to death, people are going to get killed by the Taliban and commit suicide.

I know the money Ill eventually probably get it, but the Taliban are closing in.

Mr Sadat said he spoke to one man who had been evading capture since his partner was beheaded by Taliban fighters.

When (the Taliban) came rolling into Kabul, this young man was with his boyfriend at a restaurant and just talking, Mr Sadat said.

(Because he was gay) his boyfriend was beheaded that day on the spot.

Taliban fighters are said to have already killed some LGBTQ+ Afghans because of their sexuality (Rahmat Gul/AP)

In another instance, a lesbian woman reached out to Mr Sadat for help because she said her ex-husband was hunting her, planning to hand her over to the Taliban who will probably stone her to death.

Mr Sadat showed PA messages he had been sent by those trapped in Afghanistan, many of whom described themselves as prisoners.

I have no money, I have no duty, we are deprived of everything I live like a prisoner, reads one message.

In another message, a man describes holding the body of his boyfriend in his arms after he was killed by the Taliban because of a gay naked picture found on his social media.

Mr Sadat said that even though his list of those in need continued to grow, it was still a very small percentage of the entire LGBTQ+ community in Afghanistan.

So far he has raised over 9,500 dollars (6,900) out of his 500,000-dollar fundraising target, with most of the money paying for passports or humanitarian visas.

He said every dollar donated will go towards saving a life, and he is also willing to put people in direct contact with those who are trapped so they can offer first-hand support.

In the UK, Rainbow Migration has also been trying to help LGBTQ+ Afghans.

When Kabul fell, the group wrote a letter with the LGBTQ+ rights charity Stonewall to the then Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, asking him to evacuate people from Afghanistan.

Today we sent a letter to @DominicRaab urging him to make LGBTQ+ Afghans a priority group for evacuation. With @RainbowMigrants, we demand an urgent response that includes LGBTQ+ Afghans as a priority group for immediate assistance. Please RT to support. pic.twitter.com/D4TKt8iNAJ  Stonewall (@stonewalluk) August 24, 2021

Leila Zadeh, the executive director of Rainbow Migration, told PA she was concerned about the impact the Nationality and Borders Bill would have on LGBTQ+ individuals hoping to escape from Afghanistan.

She said the bill will criminalise people for trying to seek safety and make it much harder for them to secure refugee status and rebuild their lives in the UK.

In a debate on LGBTQ+ Afghan Refugees on September 21, Bell Ribeiro-Addy, MP for Streatham and Shadow Immigration Minister, said: The Governments Nationality and Borders Bill will drastically limit the ability of those facing persecution to apply for asylum in the UK.

The Labour MP said the Bill would only guarantee temporary protection for refugees travelling via a third country and make it more difficult for those who are part of the LGBTQ+ community to prove they are deserving of asylum.

A Government spokesperson said: The New Plan for Immigration [which is at the committee stage] will disincentivise people from having to make dangerous and potentially life-threatening journeys across the Channel, through encouraging individuals to claim asylum in the first safe country they reach.

The United Kingdom will continue to welcome people through safe and legal routes.

Through the new Afghan citizens resettlement scheme [ACRS], up to 20,000 people most in need will be welcomed to the UK.

The ACRS will prioritise those who have assisted the UK efforts in Afghanistan and stood up for values such as democracy, womens rights and freedom of speech, as well as vulnerable people, including women and girls and members of minority groups who are at risk.

To access Mr Sadats fundraiser, go to: uk.gofundme.com/f/help-lgbtq-afghan-refugees-rebuild-their-lives

More information on Rainbow Migration, including how to donate, can be accessed here: www.rainbowmigration.org.uk
Channel 4 has said that subtitles, sign language and audio description may not return to its channels until the middle of November.

The broadcaster said in a statement that it is still facing significant problems after its output was repeatedly disrupted following a technical issue that arose last month.

Red Bee Media, which handles playout services for Channel 4 and 5, previously revealed that the activation of the fire suppression system last month at its broadcasting centre triggered audio and picture problems.

.@Channel4 has issued an update about subtitles, audio description and sign language services. Full details here https://t.co/R8mNJ7dBWK  Channel 4 Press (@C4Press) October 19, 2021

Following the incident, Channel 4 said multiple times that the technical issues had resurfaced.

On Tuesday, Channel 4 said in a statement that a number of hard disks in a variety of systems were severely damaged during the initial incident.

We immediately activated our emergency back-up system, and while our channels are back on-air, we are still trying to fix some significant problems, the statement added.

One of these is not being able to provide access services  subtitles, audio description or sign language support  for programmes broadcast since the incident.

We know that this is incredibly frustrating for you and your families who rely on these services to watch your favourite programmes.

(Victoria Jones/PA)

Channel 4 said it has begun to trial new methods of delivering subtitles during some programmes and subtitles are being added to some programmes such as Gogglebox and the Great British Bake Off on its All 4 streaming platform.

However full access to subtitles, sign language and audio description might not be available until the middle of November, the broadcaster said.

We know that this will be incredibly disappointing to everyone, but we do need to get this right, it added.
A walking stick once owned by Northern Irelands first prime minister has sold for 10,000 at an auction in Belfast.

It comes in the year that Northern Ireland marks its centenary.

Karl Bennett at Bloomfield Auctions described the aid once used by Sir James Craig as the star lot of Tuesdays sale.

The walking stick is made from blackthorn wood with a silver collar to commemorate Craigs first public visit to Lurgan in 1925.

The walking stick once owned by James Craig (Liam McBurney/PA)

While it had been expected to sell for between 4,000 and 5,000, significant interest in the item saw bidding in the room, online and by phone reach 10,000.

The successful buyer was an online bidder.

The auction was won by an online bidder (Liam McBurney/PA)

The auction house said the walking stick was bought by a private collector in England a few years ago for approximately 30.

Earlier this month a walking stick which once belonged to Irish republican leader Michael Collins sold for more than 50,000.

Sir James was a leading unionist figure and opposed to home rule. He became the first prime minister of Northern Ireland in 1921 and served for nearly 20 years until his death in November 1940.
Hongsheng Leng used to sell his art in New York's Times Square, where he would set up his works against the backdrop of neon lights and big-box stores. Some pieces he was proudest of were Chinese ink on rice paper  ones hed name Bamboo and Spring. Leng, 82, also worked odd jobs under a visitors visa he was granted in 1995, when he immigrated to the U.S. from China. His friends once described him as always optimistic.

He was very, very happy doing his artwork, Norman Wong, Lengs longtime friend and immigration lawyer said, adding that his work was driven by purpose. "Its not like he was trying to make himself known or he thought he had any chance of success.

His family joined him in the U.S. after he secured asylum and later a green card. Together with his wife, they cared for their daughter, who had autism and needed added home assistance. His earnings were barely enough to get by on, and as he got older, he had to slow down, and the family mostly relied on welfare. Once he retired with medical issues, he was largely confined to his home  a small, inexpensive basement apartment in Queens.

Stuck in a precarious financial situation, the family had no choice but to continue living there, his estate lawyer Jim Li said.

It was a plight that would prove fatal. After Hurricane Ida ripped through New York City, Leng was found dead in his flooded basement apartment at noon on Sept. 2. The bodies of his wife and daughter were discovered later that same day.

Nearly all of the 11 New York City basement-flooding deaths were residents of Asian descent who lived in below-ground dwellings that were particularly susceptible to storms. The victims included Leng; his wife, Aihua Shen, 65; and their daughter, Ling Leng, 31. They were in addition to: Darlene Lee, 48; Yue Lian Chen, 84; Lobsang Lama, 2, and his parents, Mingma Sherpa, 48, and Ang Sherpa, 50; and Tara Ramskriet, 43, and her son Nick Ramskriet, 22. One victim hasnt been named.

Realistically, a lot of these tenants would have family members, many who are clustered into very, very small rooms, Lina Lee, a nonprofit executive, said. When you have these natural disasters, there's obviously going to be really a life-and-death situation."

More than a month after the storm, communities and families are still reeling from the loss, which experts say was the result of a confluence of crises, including a lack of affordable housing, the pandemic and climate change  a hidden issue for many low-income Asian immigrants who are often forced by cultural needs, poverty and immigration status to live in unsafe conditions. In addition, many face language barriers and some of the highest rates of multigenerational living.

The average income in the Queens neighborhoods where victims died ranged from $39,763 to $50,952, and the median monthly rent for an apartment in the borough is $2,250.

Image: Hurricane Ida flood cleanup. (Mark Lennihan / AP file)

Realistically, a lot of these tenants would have family members, many who are clustered into very, very small rooms, said Lina Lee, executive director of housing justice nonprofit organization Communities Resist. When you have these natural disasters, there's obviously going to be really a life-and-death situation, and when you have very limited or no access to leave your living space, these families really had no way out.

According to the New York City Department of Buildings, five of the six properties where New Yorkers died in the flooding were illegally converted cellar and basement apartments. All six are undergoing active law enforcement investigations, including the one where the Leng family lived. The Department of Buildings received a complaint in 2007 that the property included an illegally converted apartment. Inspectors visited the property twice, but no one responded to knocks on the door, so the complaint was never investigated, according to the department's records.

Many basements are high-risk, dangerous living situations in the city, Lee said. They often have low ceilings with exposed wiring and bathrooms that dont function properly. When water floods into their space, the families often do not have a window or a direct exit from which they can flee. Lee said its easy to get trapped inside.

I couldnt be there for her

On Sept. 1, Darlene Lee, who lived on the sixth floor of her building, went downstairs to visit the superintendents cramped basement apartment. When it started to rain, water poured into the unit, crashing through a sliding glass door and pinning Lee to the metal frame of the entrance. Her screams caught the attention of two building maintenance workers, who rushed in to help. But she was stuck, and the water levels were rising.

Fighting to keep her head above water, the two men tried to free her by taking the door off its hinges, but they too struggled to stay afloat in the murky water. By the time she was freed around 10 p.m., it was too late. She was transferred to a nearby hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

Image: Darlene Lee (Facebook)

It was 1 a.m. when Dennis Hsu got a call from his sister saying Lee, his ex-wife and close friend, was at the hospital. Rain was beating down on already flooded streets, but Hsu rushed over. When he finally got there, he was asked to identify her body.

A month later, he said he cant even bear to look at her photo  and he will always miss her.

Even after their split, she was there for him as a friend in his times of need. He described her as selfless, caring for everyone around her.

"I can't accept mother nature had 100 percent fault in this, Dennis Hsu, Darlene Lee's friend and ex-husband, said.

Its one in a million that you find a person like her, Hsu said. I couldnt be there for her.

Others had no immediate family to turn to in the U.S. That was the case for Nepali immigrants Mingma Sherpa; her husband, Ang Lama; and their young son, Lobsang Lama, according to a GoFundMe created by their niece. Sherpa was also the sole provider for her mother in Nepal.

The role of landlords

City data shows that nearly a quarter of Asian American immigrants live in poverty, among the highest rates compared to other races. An estimated 13 percent of Asian American and Pacific Islander immigrants are undocumented, according to the Mayors Office of Immigrant Affairs, a share that experts have long said is likely an underestimate. The number of undocumented Asian immigrants has grown rapidly, tripling from 2000-2015, a 15-year period.

Close quarters where families pack tightly has made the impacts of Covid grave, and displacement by the flooding has only worsened its effects on the lower-income.

Image: Johnson Ho's basement in the days following the flood. (Courtesy Johnson Ho)

Given these vulnerabilities, many Asian immigrants resort to living in illegal basement apartments of their family, friends and social networks. For some, its because they have nowhere else to go.

The city defines an illegal conversion as one that was done without the necessary permits from the Department of Buildings. Basement apartments are a popular example. Often, theres no formal paperwork between landlord and tenant, only a verbal agreement.

They cluster in small communities where they are able to access people who speak the same language, who are from the same culture and are living in the same conditions that they have to live in, Lina Lee, of the housing group, said. For them, they have nowhere else to live with, except those small pockets in Queens.

Johnson Ho lives in one of the Queens neighborhoods that was devastated the most by the flooding. Its the same block he grew up on and is mostly made up of Chinese immigrants. He had always felt safe in his second-floor unit; the first-floor unit is occupied by four lower-income tenants who were placed there by a local church that once used the property.

Youre not going to have people pouring out clamoring to connect with a city official, nonprofit organization executive Annetta Seecharran said. They need the help, theyre afraid.

When the rain worsened during the night of Sept. 1, Ho left the second floor and walked downstairs, where water was already pouring in from under the front door. It had risen several feet and covered the front stoop. Within 20 minutes, the first floor was completely underwater.

Image: The stairs leading down to Johnson Ho's storage basement. (Courtesy Johnson Ho)

He heard knocks at his door. His neighbors were trapped outside and had no place to go.

I waddled through the 3 or 4 feet of sewage water, he said.

He unlocked his door for them, and the four tenants spent the night in Hos living room, where they were safe until the Red Cross placed them in hotels the next day. Ho fears what might have happened if he had been asleep when they knocked.

The next day was chaotic in his apartment and his neighborhood, he said. People were hand-washing their clothes in the streets and trying to contact emergency services. A forensic team, police officers and a police car blocked the street four houses down. A family had died in their basement apartment.

The first floor of Hos building was uninhabitable. Fridges, furniture, food and personal effects of his four neighbors were destroyed. The basement was covered in a layer of sewage that had such a stench that city cleaning crews hesitated to enter. Hos car, parked on the hill, was totaled. Despite the destruction, many in the community were reluctant to accept government aid because of their fear of being criminalized for their immigration status or their basement units, Ho said.

Myoungmi Kim, executive vice president of Queens-based nonprofit group Korean Community Services of Metropolitan New York, said the day after the storm, nearly 500 people contacted her organization for help. Government assistance exists, she said, but its difficult to navigate, especially when services are only in English. So her group steps in to fill urgent needs.

The day after the storm, so many people wanted to talk to me because of the KCS emergency fund distribution. But they couldnt speak because of their crying, Kim said. They just cried and kept crying and crying because they had lost everything.

Lee said the solution isnt as simple as reporting landlords for housing violations. If tenants make a complaint, the Department of Buildings, which enforces building codes and zoning regulations, may not necessarily fix the problem, she said. Rather, the agency could issue a vacate order, forcing a tenant, who likely does not have much money, to move immediately. For those displaced because of vacate orders, the Environmental Housing Department provides relocation and rehousing services in family centers and single-room-occupancy hotels, defined as smaller-than-average studio apartments sharing common kitchen or bathroom facilities, according to the Department of Buildings website.

Image: Damage to the first floor of Johnson Ho's apartment building, where four lower-income Asian Americans lived in one unit. (Courtesy Johnson Ho)

For the tenant, it's not worth even reporting these repairs. It's just not worth reporting the living conditions because the other choice would just be living on the streets, Lee said.

In many cases, the landlords who offer these basement areas for Asian immigrant families may not have insidious intentions, she said. Landlords themselves are often low-income and bring in tenants for extra income but dont have the resources for major fixes.

Thats not to say marginalized tenants dont face exploitation, Lee said, since some predatory landlords take advantage of vulnerable, undocumented and limited-English-speaking immigrants. But these circumstances arent just the result of predatory landlords and developers: Its also about the severe lack of public resources that go toward protecting these families, she said.

It is only when there is a tragedy like the victims of Hurricane Ida that the city pays attention to the plights of Asian American tenants, Lee said.

Community organizations attempt to do what officials havent: Too often, community organizations end up picking up the governments slack, experts say.

There have been so many issues with folks being able to get what they need on time, said Annetta Seecharran, executive director of Chhaya, a New York-based organization dedicated to helping low-income South Asians and Indo-Caribbeans with housing needs.

For South Asians in Queens, who are more likely to live in multigenerational housing, the need is critical, especially for caregivers and older people still dealing with the impacts of Covid-19, Seecharran said.

The Indo-Caribbean community was ravaged by Covid, she said.

Bangladeshis and Indo-Caribbeans tend to be essential workers, with the former group living in some of the most overcrowded housing conditions in the city, according to Chhaya research. And the destruction of homes and property with the flood has the potential to worsen this problem.

Undocumented folks and those living in basements are even less likely to trust government officials, Seecharran said, and they often wont ask for help at all. She and other organizers have been trying to bridge the gap, providing free, culture-specific meals and translation services for those looking to get aid.

Image: Johnson Ho. (Courtesy Johnson Ho)

FEMA is coming in and telling them to fill out these applications, but they don't have access to them, Deepti Sharmi, who has worked in community food access for years, said, referring to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. They don't understand them.

Ho, one of the only English speakers on his block in Queens, has been going to houses in his neighborhood to help people fill out forms. Hes also been communicating with the Office of the Queensborough President about his communitys needs.

With a lot of the housing, they got moved to JFK airport, which is an almost two-hour bus commute, he said. These are elderly, retired Asian people who only speak Chinese. That was really difficult for them.

Asking to be a priority

Kim, of the Korean Community Services of Metropolitan New York, said there needs to be more awareness around climate change and the simple things immigrants can do to protect themselves, like calling 911 during flooding emergencies and unlocking car doors to prevent being trapped. But experts also say there needs to be more institutional support for vulnerable communities.

We keep being shown that we, frankly, are just not a priority, Sharma said. It feels like every time theres a disaster, nothing is set up.

Julie Sze, a professor of American studies at University of California, Davis, who focuses on environmental justice, said marginalized populations are often unconsciously or consciously viewed as easily disposable.

A lot of the common sense of how things are structured are already based on a racist necropolitics, where it's just assumed that some populations are more vulnerable to death than others, Sze said. Its this idea that some people are meant to die.

Community activists trying to direct aid to people said that on top of the lack of disaster preparation in general, they noticed that the citys history of punishing tenants and landlords of basement apartments made people less likely to come forward.

Image: Cleanup crews clean sewage, dirt and damage from the basement of Johnson Ho's apartment. (Courtesy Johnson Ho)

Youre not going to have people pouring out, clamoring to connect with a city official, Seecharran said. They need the help. Theyre afraid.

The day after the flooding, Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Bill de Blasio went to Queens and visited some of the neighborhoods that were heavily impacted, including Hos.

De Blasio told MSNBC after the storm that even airtight plans can topple in the wake of a storm, but more needs to be done about basement apartments. In May, he proposed an emergency warning system for basement-dwellers for when storms are about to make landfall. The completion date is set for 2023.

All the people came by and did a whole show for the news, Ho said. They give their promises, and they move on.

Dennis Hsu, Darlene Lee's ex-husband, said hes frustrated by the emergency response time and the lack of safety measures that led to her death, and the cost was something he can never get back.

"I can't accept Mother Nature had 100 percent fault in this," he said.
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YEREVAN, OCTOBER 19, ARMENPRESS. Yerevan City Hall has confirmed that the Russian Metrogiprotrans was awarded the contract to develop the new Ajapnyak station of the Armenian capitals subway.

Yerevan Mayor Hayk Marutyans spokesperson Hakob Karapetyan told ARMENPRESS that the company was awarded a contract to develop the design of the station, not to construct it, contradicting the company CEO's statement.

Asked about approximate timeframes on when city hall is planning to eventually commission the new station, which will be the Yerevan metros 11th station, Karapetyan commented: Its difficult to say exactly in this matter. The process got already protracted. But the fact is that the work is in process.

Metrogiprotrans President Valeriy Abramson had earlier told Sputnik Armenia that the designing of the station will take 1,5 years, however if the Armenian government accepts their offer they will actively work to divide the development into several phases and start various kinds of construction works.

Abramson added that his company is ready to invest $500 million in the development of the Yerevan metro.

The Ajapnyak Station will link the eponymous district with the Barekamutyun Station.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 19, ARMENPRESS. Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights (Ombudsman) Lyudmyla Denisova and her delegation visited today the Armenian Genocide Memorial in Yerevan, accompanied by Ombudsman of Armenia Arman Tatoyan.

In a statement Mr. Tatoyans Office said that the delegation members laid flowers at the Eternal Flame, honoring the memory of the innocent victims.

The guests visited also the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute, got acquainted with the exhibits.

Lyudmyla Denisova left a note in the honorary guest book.

The Ukrainian Ombudsman and her delegation visited Armenia to exchange experience with the Armenian Ombudsman in the field of prevention of tortures.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan
YEREVAN, 19 OCTOBER, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs Armenpress that today, 19 October, USD exchange rate down by 0.93 drams to 477.34 drams. EUR exchange rate up by 2.94 drams to 556.82 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate up by 0.03 drams to 6.74 drams. GBP exchange rate up by 2.64 drams to 659.30 drams.

The Central Bank has set the following prices for precious metals.

Gold price down by 126.67 drams to 27130.9 drams. Silver price down by 1.01 drams to 356.35 drams. Platinum price down by 184.84 drams to 15945.36 drams.
YEREVAN, 19 OCTOBER, ARMENPRESS. Ambassador of the Kingdom of Norway to Armenia Helene Sand Andresen (place of residence Tbilisi) presented credentials to the President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian.



As ARMENPRESS was informed from the Office of the President, Armen Sarkissian congratulated and wished further success to the diplomat, expressing confidence that her efforts will be directed to the continuous development of Armenian-Norwegian relations.



During the meeting issues concerning the activation and deepening of bilateral relations were discussed. The interlocutors found fields of education, ecology, green and information technologies, tourism, agriculture, efficient management of water resources particularly interesting for cooperation. From the perspective of activation of ties between the two peoples President Sarkissian gave importance also to the implementation of joint cultural programmes.



Ambassador Helen Sand Andresen expressed readiness to make all efforts for further enriching the bilateral agenda as well as promoting economic activity.



She also informed that in the near future Norway will provide a significant batch of Moderna vaccine to Armenia, expressing hope that it will be significant support in the fight against the pandemic.
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 19, ARMENPRESS. Within the framework of the 8th Armenian-Russian Interregional Forum entitled "Perspectives of Armenian-Russian cooperation in the light of new realities", a plenary session was held today, which was attended by Deputy Prime Minister of Armenia Mher Grigoryan, Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure Gnel Sanosyan, other ministers, governors and other officials, ARMENPRESS reports the Ministry of Territorial Administration informed, noting that Prime Minister of Armenia NIkol Pashinyan, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Russian Deputy PM Alexei Overchuk, Russian Minister of Economic Development Maxim Reshetnikov delivered opening remarks.

Dear friends,

Ladies and gentlemen,

On behalf of the Government of the Republic of Armenia, I would like to welcome all the participants of the 8th Armenian-Russian Interregional Forum.

We are glad to host all our guests from Russia.

Interregional forums have a history of ten years.

They have become one of the important institutions of cooperation within the framework of the allied relations between our two countries. The Armenian-Russian interregional cooperation, which is based on about two dozens of agreements, covers a really wide geography. It includes almost all regions of Armenia and the administrative units located in the most diverse corners of the Russian Federation, including the Oblasts of Leningrad, Orenburg, Yaroslavl, Omsk, Ulyanovsk, Arkhangelsk, Rostov and Vologda. The existence of these ties is one of the bright manifestations of the exceptional relations between our two countries.

The Russian Federation not only plays a key role in maintaining peace and stability in our region, but also plays a central role in our country's economy. Russia is Armenia's leading trade partner.

In 2019, our trade turnover exceeded the threshold of $ 2.0 billion, while this year we have already recorded a double-digit trade growth.

Russia is also a leader in terms of investments in Armenia, and has an exceptional role in the development of our country's infrastructure. Among the recent investments, it is necessary to point out the technology transfer for the release of the Sputnik Light Vaccine, which is particularly important for our country in the light of the fight against the pandemic.

The level of economic cooperation between our countries corresponds to the requirements stemming from the nature of the allied relations, but it does not mean fixing a static situation, on the contrary, it requires constant work, development and improvement.

The world is changing rapidly, and our relations must meet the demands coming from those changes. We need to improve our economic relations so that they contribute to the development of competitive economies in our countries. In the context of what I said, we highlight the further rapprochement and mutual integration of our economies, which should be based on the free movement of goods, services, labor and capital. The Eurasian Economic Union, in turn, serves that strategic goal, and we are interested in strengthening that structure and improving its institutions. The imperative of diversification of our economic ties is also obvious.

In addition to the traditional areas, it is necessary to find ways to further develop cooperation in the fields of high technology, innovation and knowledge-based economic sectors. I am convinced that today's event is one of the tools that best serves the above goals.

I once again greet all the participants of the forum, wishing them effective work for the prosperity of our countries and peoples, Pashinyan said in his speech.

In his welcoming speech, Russian President Vladimir Putin noted that interregional cooperation plays a very significant role in the development of Russian-Armenian relations, implementation of mutually beneficial projects in economic, social, infrastructural, humanitarian and many other spheres.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk said in his speech that Russia and Armenia have all the opportunities for sustainable, dynamic development, multilateral cooperation in both trade  economic and humanitarian spheres, as well as for the implementation of large-scale infrastructure projects.

According to him, the interregional cooperation plays an important contribution to that.
Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait said the farmers will soon intensify their agitation if action was not taken against the minister

New Delhi: Nearly 300 trains were affected, mostly in North India, as the farmers squatted on railway tracks as part of the Samyukt Kisan Morchas six-hour rail roko agitation demanding the dismissal and arrest of Union minister of state for home Ajay Mishra, whose son is in custody for his alleged role in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence. The protests had a major impact on train services at about 150 locations in Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, where passengers had to wait for hours with their baggage.

Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait said the farmers will soon intensify their agitation if action was not taken against the minister. We will soon announce a programme for our future strategy, he added.

The rail roko protest on Monday not only had its impact in North India but also affected train services in several other states. In Odisha, farmers protested for about 20 minutes at most stations, barring Gorakhnath, where they sat on the tracks for around an hour. Over a dozen trains came to a halt at various stations in the state, causing problems for daily commuters, as the agitators refused to vacate the tracks. The trains were allowed to move only after the protesters left the stations.

In Madhya Pradesh, the police had to disperse farmers who squatted on the rail tracks near Bamnia railway station in Jhabua district. Holding the tricolour and raising slogans of Bharat Mata ki Jai and Jai Kisan, the protesters made several attempts to stop trains on the busy Delhi-Mumbai route.

In the North Western Railway (NWR) zone, rail traffic was affected in some sections in Rajasthan and Haryana with 18 trains cancelled, 10 partially cancelled and one diverted due to the protest.

Agitations were held in Punjabs Ludhiana, Amritsar, Jalandhar, Moga, Patiala and Ferozepur, and Haryanas Charkhi Dadri, Sonipat, Karnal, Kurukshetra, Jind and Hisar.

In UPs Muzaffarnagar, Bharatiya Kisan Union workers halted Amritsar-Delhi and Jalandhar Express trains by staging a dharna on the tracks. Trains were also halted at Meerut and Greater Noidas Dankaur stations by the protesters, BKU media in-charge Dharmendra Malik said. In Ghaziabads Modinagar, the farmers staged a demonstration in front of a goods train which had already reached its destination.

Farmers sat on rail the tracks in several sections, including Ferozepur-Fazilka section in Ferozepur city and the Ferozepur-Ludhiana section at Ajitwal in Moga.

In Rajasthan, farmers protested on the tracks in Hanumangarh district and raised slogans against the Central and UP governments. In the state capital, farmers held a protest at the entrance of Jaipur Junction station.

SKMs state joint secretary Sanjay Madhav said: We have not been allowed to enter Jaipur Junction, so we have started the dharna at the entrance.

The trains that were affected in the Northern Railway zone included the Chandigarh-Ferozepur Express. Its scheduled departure from Ludhiana was 7 am, but it was stranded there due to a blockade in the Ferozpur-Ludhiana section. The New Delhi-Amritsar Shatabdi Express was halted near Shambu station due to blockades near Sahnewal and Rajpura. About 25 passenger and short-distance trains were cancelled, a senior railway officer said.

In Rajasthan, the agitation affected train movement in Hanumangarh and Sriganganagar of Bikaner division. An NWR spokesperson said rail traffic on the Bhiwani-Rewari, Sirsa-Rewari, Loharu-Hisar, Suratgarh-Bathinda, Sirsa-Bathinda, Hanumangarh-Bathinda, Rohtak-Bhiwani, Rewari-Sadulpur, Hisar-Bathinda, Hanumangarh-Sadulpur and Sri Ganganagar-Rewari sections was affected.

Eighteen trains, including the Firozpur-Hanumangarh Special train, Ludhiana-Hisar Special train, Bathinda-Sriganganagar Special train, Bathinda-Lalgarh Special train, Phulera-Rewari Special train, Rewari-Jodhpur Special train, Ratangarh-Churu special train and Churu-Bikaner special train, were cancelled. Ten other trains too were partially cancelled due to the stir.

The route of the Ahmedabad-Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra Special train was changed, the NWR spokesman said, adding the train which departed from Ahmedabad on Saturday had to run via Rewari-Delhi-Pathankot to Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra.

At Ludhiana railway station -- one of the busiest in Punjab -- a person headed for Jodhpur rued that he came to know about the protest after reaching the station. He appealed to farmer leaders to lay siege to the residences of politicians rather than harassing the common man. They should think about the public, he said.

A man waiting for his train at Ludhiana station with his family said they have to rush for Gonda in UP as one of their relatives has died.

At Patiala station, Dinesh Joshi searched frantically for milk and hot water for his child as the train he was travelling in had stopped due to the farmers protest.

A group of protests put up a banner with Jai Jawan Jai Kisan written on it in front of a train forced to stop at Moga. They also carried photos of the four farmers killed in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence.

Demanding the arrest of Ajay Mishra, Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee general secretary Sarwan Singh Pandher on Monday said the KMSC will hold protests at 20 places in 11 districts of Punjab.

Four of the eight people who died in the violence on October 3 were farmers, allegedly knocked down by a vehicle carrying BJP workers. Angry farmers then allegedly lynched some people in the vehicles. The other dead included two BJP workers and their driver.

Farmers have claimed that Ashish Mishra was in one of the vehicles, an allegation denied outright by the minister who claimed his son was at another event when the violence broke out in Lakhimpur Kheri.
The Naval Commanders Conference from October 18 to 22 is attended by all operational and area commanders of the Navy

Addressing the naval commanders, defence minister Rajnath Singh said the Indian Navys role in ensuring maintenance of peace and stability in the region was going to increase manifold in the years to come. (PTI)

New Delhi: With the Indo-Pacific region emerging as the new centre of international diplomacy and military alliances, top Indian Navy commanders kicked off their five-day conference on Monday to brainstorm on the maritime challenges facing the nation.

Addressing the naval commanders, defence minister Rajnath Singh said the Indian Navys role in ensuring maintenance of peace and stability in the region was going to increase manifold in the years to come. He said New Delhi will ensure that a rules-based order, freedom of navigation and free trade will prevail in the Indian Ocean Region, with the interests of all participating countries protected.

Being an important country in this maritime route, the role of our Navy becomes more important in ensuring the security of this region, said Mr Singh.

Speaking about rapidly changing economic and political relations across the world, the defence minister said these economic interests do cause some stress in relations. Therefore, there is a greater need to maintain peace and stability within the Indian maritime zones in order to boost trade and economic activities, he said. Only those nations have been successful in gaining dominance across the world whose navies have been strong, said Mr Singh. He said the Indian Navy was playing a key role in our maritime and national security.

The conference is being held when the Malabar naval exercises involving the Quad countries -- India, the US, Japan and Australia  just ended in the Bay of Bengal, which was aimed at keeping the Indo-Pacific region free from Chinese interference. The US Navy, along with Britains Royal Navy and the Royal Australian Navy, have increased their presence in the Indo-Pacific to challenge the growing influence of the Chinese PLA Navy, which is expanding rapidly in the region.

The Naval Commanders Conference from October 18 to 22 is attended by all operational and area commanders of the Navy. The conference will focus on addressing contemporary security paradigms while seeking ways to enhance combat capability of the Navy and make operations more effective and efficient, said Indian Navy spokesman Commander Vivek Madhwal. He said there will be a detailed review of performance of weapons, readiness of the Navys platforms and ongoing naval projects, with a focus on ways to enhance indigenisation through Make in India. The conference will also dwell upon the dynamics of the geostrategic situation of the region in the backdrop of recent events, he said.

The Chief of Defence Staff, and the Chiefs of the Indian Army and Indian Air Force will also interact with the naval commanders to address issues regarding the convergence of the three services with respect to the operational environment, and on avenues for augmenting tri-service synergies.
Rosie McSwain (back) works alongside a volunteer at a recent card-making session for Toms Door, McSwains nonprofit that, through card sales, has offered financial assistance to about 2,000 families from Aspen to Parachute since 2001.
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But the initial success of the Impala nameplate convinced the GM brand to give it a chance of its own, so in 1959, the series was converted into a stand-alone lineup separate from the Bel Air.In production for just two years, this second-generation Impala featured two V8 options, namely a 283 (4.6-liter) unit and a 348 (5.7-liter) obviously developing more power.And the more powerful unit is hiding under the hood of this beautiful 1959 Impala that we have here, though as youll discover in the next few lines, this car eventually managed to get the love it deserves outside the borders of the United States.Currently enjoying the beautiful landscapes of France, this Impala was born in Arizona, but it left the States searching for a better life. And as it turns out, it has already found it, as the car has been fully restored, and everything now looks almost like a new car.Both the interior and the body got refreshed according to the original specifications, and there are plenty of new parts on this Impala, starting with the tires and ending with the brakes, the alternator, and even the carburetor.At least, thats what eBay seller ludbar55 says, explaining that whoever wants to buy the car will have to spend some $1,500 more on the shipping should they want to bring it back to the States.Unsurprisingly, this Impala isnt necessarily cheap, especially given its current condition. The seller hopes to get close to $65,000 for it, and this makes perfect sense since everything is according to factory specifications, still in a like-new condition.If you want to check it out in person, go buy a plane ticket for Bonneville sur Touques, France.
Yasemin Ozkan-Aydin is an assistant professor of electrical engineering at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana and built several small, four-legged robots using a 3D printer. The bots measure approximately 6 to 8 in (15 to 20 cm) in length and are equipped with sensors, a microcontroller, and a lithium-polymer battery. Among all the sensors on the tiny machines , the engineer also used magnetic touch ones at the front and back, which make it possible for the robots to link to one another.The idea was to mimic the behavior of ants that connect when they have to overcome obstacles in nature, such as crossing a gap that is too wide, for instance. By linking to one another like a chain, a sort of mechanical intelligence is achieved, according to the engineer, which helps the bots cope with uneven or rough terrain, move objects, and more.Ozkan-Aydin started building her robots last year and continued to improve and test them at her home and in her yard. All the bots have flexible legs that make it easier for them to move past certain obstacles. And when one particular bot gets stuck, a signal is sent to other robots , which makes them link together for support in an admirable collective effort.According to the researcher , the bots need further improvement, especially in battery life, which should last more than 10 hours to make the machines sustainable in the real world. They would also eventually be equipped with more powerful motors and additional sensors. But if everything goes well, these terrestrial swarms of robots could be used for a variety of applications, such as search-and-rescue operations, collective object transport, space exploration, environmental monitoring, to name just a few.
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EV

Zoox also announced plans to build its permanent corporate headquarters in the city of Seattle as it attempts to establish a foothold in the market. The northwestern American city will be the third city to host Zooxtesting behind San Fransisco and Las Vegas. Toyota Highlander SUVs will be the go-to vehicles for Zoox during testing, at least for the current moment. Plans are in the works to design and manufacture their own AV, which lacks a steering wheel and pedals, similar to designs shown by other companies like Apple.Zoox has quite the uphill battle in store for itself as the company attempts to differentiate itself from domestic competition backed by their own multi-billion dollar companies. Theres the Google-backed Waymo, which conducts its own AV tests in the nearby city of Kirkland, Washington.Theres also Ouster, a LiDAR-based AV company that just announced itd acquired a Bay Area-based LiDAR maker, Sense Photonics, to double down on its research and development. Then there are the scrappy underdogs at Argo AI based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, a group thats already inked lucrative deals with Ford and Volkswagen to ensure they have all the funding they could ever hope for.Between those names alone, the AV scene could be on the brink of the same revolution that swept the electric car industry back in the early 2010s. As with thescene, expect progress to be slow at first. But once the bugs are worked out, well likely be seeing autonomous taxi services become a part of everyday city life sooner rather than later.
At the end of the proverbial rabbit hole, lo and behold, a trailer known only as the Batu 535 from Crawler, a Turkish manufacturer of off-road and expedition-ready vehicles. Thats right, Turkish, and before you question this countrys ability to produce mean and capable machines, I recommend you read about what the 535 can do for your off-road and off-grid adventures.If theres one thing we know about expedition vehicles is that theyre made to keep you alive while traveling through some of the most inhospitable terrains on the planet. Well, the Batu 535 is exactly the sort of vehicle you want behind you whether you take on Dakar or that 5-day route through your local mountain range. Heck, it looks just as good alongside a lake with a camper fire behind it.To get an idea of what 535 can do, you need to take a closer look at how this beast is built. Crawler offers an aluminum body with an electro-galvanized coating that sits on top of an independent suspension with double shock absorbers, not to mention the inclusion of dual axles.With coupling and stabilizer, the entire thing comes in with an approximate weight of 1,730 kg (3,813 kg) with standard equipment loaded. Youll also be towing a construction thats 735 cm (289 in) long and 205 cm (80 in) wide.All that yields a 4-season trailer that also includes an adjustable air suspension and plenty of cargo space, a crucial element in any RV no matter the level its meant to perform at. If thats not enough to catch your attention, how about a 4-person sleeping capacity, movable dining table, interior and exterior kitchens, and of course, a fully stocked bathroom.If you ever happen to visit Crawlers website , the list of standard features is row after row of information that pertains to everything from electrical and plumbing systems all the way to interior design and features like insect nets. In the spirit that you probably have something else in your life that needs tending to, I'll name off some important features that are crucial to a pleasant and comfortable adventure experience.Aside from countless storage cabinets, shelves, and drawers, the exterior of 535 is also stocked with lighting options to help illuminate the world around you when there normally wouldnt be any source of light except a full moon. Running electrical systems is a smart panel and control box, Victron gel battery and smart charger, countless outlets, and up to 325 watts of solar panel power as an option.Helping you cook your five-course meals in places where thats unheard of are the two kitchens I mentioned, but inside is a three-burner stove, 152-liter (40-gallon) fridge, chrome countertop, and sink with hot and cold water supplied by a 136-liter (36-gallon) freshwater tank powered by a Truma Combi 6 air and water heating system.For sleeping, guests will find a large bedroom at the front of the trailer, and on the port side, a foldable bunk bedding system is built right into the frame of the 535. As for bathroom features, a cassette toilet, shower, foldable sink, and interior and exterior-access doors ensure that you can clean yourself off before ever setting foot inside Batu 535.And thats not the end of the story either, countless features can be added to your standard 535. So how much is all this going to cost you? Well, a standard Batu 535 comes in with a ground-shaking price tag of $76,347 (65,496 at current exchange rates). But, by the time you create your own optimized 535, youre going to be looking at a tad more.I created my own Batu 535 with gun and fishing rod holders, bike racks, solar kit, 4-meter (13-foot) awning, anti-freeze water system, and adjustable air suspension and ended up looking at a trailer priced at $84,250 (72,271 at current exchange rates). I dont know about you, but I've seen trailers that cost more than this and are less equipped; a towable worth noting if youre ever in the market for a beast of a trinket.
Produced for the 1959 to 1974 model years, Fords Galaxie was the measurable Blue Oval response to the high-volume Plymouth Belvedere and the highly successful Chevrolet Impala . The name is an obvious marketing ruse connected to the then-contemporary Space Race, but its existence was as down to Earth as possible.As such, its no wonder it continues to represent an interesting proposal from the roaring 1960s for anyone with a knack for classic Blue Ovals. But how about someone who is young at heart and loves both Ford Galaxies and Hot Wheels ? Or perhaps one that fancies the clean vintage lines of untouched survivors? But maybe hes also into NASCAR and lives in a low-rider community?Well, those are way too many possibilities for any single car to fulfill them all. But this 1967 Ford Galaxie 500 XL has a virtual trick up its sleeve, courtesy of digital artist Nicolas Basilio  the pixel master behind the nab.visualdesign account on social media. And its a simple one, as far as CGI showcases go.Using a real 1967 Ford Galaxie 500 XL Hardtop provided courtesy of Dallas, Texas-based dealership Gas Monkey Garage, the virtual artist has cooked up a short video (embedded below) depicting an entire bunch of transformations. About everything goes, it seems.So, we first kick off the proceeds with a bit of an overstatement. After all, thats what Hot Wheels is all about, right? Thus, the 67 goes for a full blown attitude with the appropriate Mattel livery and a few color changes to see which one suits best.The paintjob changes continue as the Galaxie goes for classic Ford looks in stock configuration. Next up arrive the Gas Monkey Garage custom restomod interpretations (with or without blower setup), followed by those dedicated to NASCAR aficionados.Last, but not least, is the low rider presentation. And, at the very end, we also find out the real 500 XL is also for sale, complete with almost 100k miles (160,000 km) and a 390ci V8.
EV

That sounds exciting, doesn't it? Well, you should also know that its platform, called Neue Klasse (German for New Class), is set to replace both the CLAR architecture and the FAAR platform . Instead, BMW will rely on the NK to offer rear-wheel-drive vehicles, all-wheel-drive vehicles, and new front-wheel-drive models.The resulting range from this platform would have different lengths, different wheelbase configurations, different battery packs, various track widths, and it would also support different ride height configurations. Wheel sizes would go from 18 to 22 inches, which means that BMW could have anfor anything in its current range and this platform would work for it.Yes, the recently introduced CLAR architecture, which is the base for the i4 i5 , and i7 , among others, already has its replacement lined up for development. Since a BMW representative has spoken about the new platform, it is safe to assume that we are not referring to the first phase of development here.The same report from Autocar noted that BMW wants to have at least half of its global sales by 2030 represented by vehicles based on this platform. The architecture would bring the third wave of electric vehicles from the Bavarian marque and it is supposed to come with a new design philosophy.If you are familiar with BMW's history , you know that this is not the first time when the company has used the term "Neue Klasse" to describe a line of models. Back when the first of these cars were launched, BMW had just gone through a financial crisis that nearly ended the German company's existence.With the entire New Class of vehicles, built from 1962 to 1977, BMW got the reputation it still has today, as a maker of sporty vehicles. Oh, the Neue Klasse from BMW also introduced the famous Hofmeister kink , which has been used on all BMWs made since.We expect the next generation of BMW cars to come with something as distinguished when the design is concerned and make it a tradition. We cannot help but wonder what that element will be.
Let's face it, most of us would love to own something like an RV or some sort of camper trailer. Well, in the spirit of helping you get one step closer to that dream, weve tracked down what seems to be one of the most affordable and capable truck campers around, the Adventurer 80RB Adventurer Campers is an RV manufacturer that saw its first days in the year 1969. Erdman Epp, its founder, bought a camper company that had five employees on the payroll, looking for something to do. Since then, well, here we are talking about one of the freshest models from the crew.Let me just cut to the chase here just so you dont get the feeling that youre wasting your time. Depending on the dealership you get your 80RB from, you can expect to pay a little over $21,000 (18,087 at current exchange rates). Thats all youll need to dish out to get yourself a fresh, self-contained, and fully-stocked truck camper.As it stands, the 80RB comes in with a length of 15.83 feet (4.83 meters), a width of 7.5 feet (2.28 meters), and features an interior height of 78 inches (198 centimeters). Oh, there are also 8.3 feet (2.54 meters) of floor length to walk through. All in all, this camper comes in with a dry weight of 1,762 lbs (799 kg) and can sleep up to four guests.Now, one thing to note about this trinket is that it features quite a capable construction . The entire thing is built on a TCC laminated construction, so don't worry about those wood fibers. It features a 1-inch (2.54-centimeter) laminated sidewall with closed-cell block foam insulation and a one-piece thermo-polyolefin roof, not to mention a one-piece floor and heated, enclosed, and insulated tanks.Off-grid capabilities are provided by water, heating, and electrical systems. 15 gallons (68 liters) of freshwater and 20 lbs (9.07 kg) of propane capacity should be more than enough for your extended weekends. Drain and winterization valves, Shurflo water pump, and an exterior shower are all standard.Heating is provided by a 16,000 BTU furnace, and the electrical system features a USB charging station, 110-volt outlets, a converter, and one battery compartment. The 80RB is also pre-wired for things like an AC unit, microwave, stereo, and electric jacks. Nothing about solar pre-wiring, but a portable kit should do the trick As for the interior habitat, Adventure Campers made sure to include everything you need. As you enter the camper via the rear 4-season door, to the left is a wet bath and toilet and a modular dinette across from that. With the galley sitting at the foot of the over-cab bedroom, the construction is complete.Among those areas, youll find a two-burner cooktop, stainless-steel sink with faucet, a range hood with fan and LED light, and Dometic fridge/freezer. The dinette features a roll-over sofa suitable for two guests, while the bedroom queen can sleep another two people. Wardrobe, nightstands, and plenty of storage are also standard.Overall, this construction can fit nearly any truck bed ranging from super short 5.5-foot (1.67-meter) truck beds to 8-foot (2.43-meter) long beds. With this sort of range, capabilities, and price tag to get you into the truck camper and RV game, the Adventurer 80RB camper is worth comparing against others on the market.
A company in the Netherlands has patented a unique thermochemical process, through which forestry and agricultural residues are transformed into green gold. It comes with a whimsical name, Goldilocks, inspired by the idea of the right option. Just like the character in the story was looking for the perfect option, Vertoro has developed a stable lignin product that is easy to process, while keeping its natural properties.According to this university-backed chemical startup, lignin (lignocellulosic biomass) is not only the most abundant and economical natural resource in the world, but its also highly renewable. Although biomass contains lignin in a high percentage (up to 25%), most of it is not used at all, because its considered difficult to process.Vertoro has developed a simple process, in which solid lignin is heated for 30 minutes, in any commercially available organic solvent, with no need for additional catalysts. The result is a product that can be turned into various fuels and materials with high performance, due to the fact that lignins natural properties are preserved, through this innovative, mild method.Maersk, one of the largest logistics companies, has partnered with Vertoro, to build a demo plant. The resulting product will be used to obtain marine fuels for Maersk. The logistics giant is on its way to becoming carbon neutral by 2050, and it has invested in other startups as well. One of them is called WasteFuel and produces green bio-methanol and sustainable aviation fuel from waste. The other one, Prometheus, focuses on air capture-technology, to produce carbon-neutral electro fuels The Goldilocks demo plant developed by Vertoro and Maersk is scheduled to begin operations in 2022. The goal is to completely replace fossil crude oil with the green gold.
The next full moon is set to reach peak illumination at 10:57 a.m. EDT on Wednesday, October 20th. Most people will be able to see the Hunter's Moon tomorrow, but from Australian Central Standard time eastward to the International Date Line, the event will take place on Thursday.According to the Farmer's Almanac , the names of the monthly full moons likely originated in early Native American, Colonial American, and European folklore. Each name was traditionally assigned to the whole lunar month in which it occurred, as well as to all of the moon's phases.But the Hunter's Moon is different. Just like the last month's full moon, the Harvest Moon, it is not restricted to a single month. Instead, it is tied to an astronomical event: the autumnal equinox. Thus, the Harvest Moon occurs first, as it is the full moon closest to the autumn equinox, followed by the Hunter's Moon.It is believed that the full Hunter's Moon got its name because it signaled the start of hunting season in preparation for the next cold winter. Around this time of the year, farmers clean their fields, allowing hunters to clearly see deer and other animals that come out to look for food after a harvest.What makes this moon stand out is that this year it will occur at the same time as the Orionid meteor show, one of the most beautiful showers of the year. Orionids are usually active in mid-October, with up to 20 meteors visible every hour.But this year, Hunter's Moon is set to steal the show, as its light will block us from seeing the meteor shower.Similar to the Harvest Moon, the upcoming Hunter's Moon will appear full for around three days in the night sky, from Monday night into Thursday night. So skywatchers, you can already start planning on how to take some of the most amazing pictures of this celestial event!
The update is applicable to even the very first Polestar 2 models delivered to customers back in July of last year, which is another way of saying that no man is being left behind.The connected nature of Polestar 2 means we can continue developing new features and improving existing attributes on a continual basis, sending updates to customers regularly, said Polestar CEO, Thomas Ingenlath.Since our first update late in 2020 we have released several key software and feature upgrades that have improved range, efficiency, connectivity and the driving experience. The latest package delivers some of our customers favorite wish-list items.Heres what you can expect from the new P1.7 update: an in-car Range Assistant app tasked with helping people (especially those who are new to EVs) drive more efficiently. The app also comes with a new Eco Climate mode that allows the driver to reduce demand on the battery from the climate system.Other enhancements include improved battery preconditioning  when plugged in, the battery is automatically preconditioned as per scheduled climate timers (also configurable within the Polestar app) to support optimal temperature according to a preferred departure time.Furthermore, a new battery preconditioning function happens to be linked to Google Maps , meaning that when a public fast charging station is programmed as a destination or waypoint, the battery will be preconditioned in order to get the fastest charge possible.Built in a shared production facility in Luqiao, China, the Polestar 2 is exported to markets all over the globe, including Europe, North America and Asia Pacific. Its also being sold in China, obviously.
Just imagine the story behind it. Well, as it turns out, its even crazier. According to the owner, who builds custom Fords, everything started as a joke. One day he went drifting with a friend, got hooked to the sensations, and decided to build a car . Nope, sorry, he decided to build a truck!And believe it or not, he made it come true. The 1964 F-100 was originally going to be restored by a kid to its former glory , but the team decided to just keep as much as possible of the original truck. So, they salvaged what they could, and then built an incredible number of custom parts around it.Even from afar this 64 looks absolutely stunning  a veritable showstopper, although its best to see it when unleashed on the track. But the details are also stunning, from the mind-boggling intercooler setup that has pipes going through the headlights and the rear steps used as bumper distancers to the pedals in the cockpit (check them in all their custom glory at the 8:20 mark), to the exposed bed fan setup or the hidden stoplights.Oh, and just dont get us started on the S550 IRS rear setup, because as crazy as it sounds  based on the amount of fabrication needed to get it fitted to the old chassis  it gets even wilder when checking out the in-house bespoke front angle kit.Lets not forget that we also need to discuss what powers the monster. The truck is at around version three of the build and now harbors under the hood a 363 small block stroker that initially had cheap turbos snatched off eBay. Now its properly equipped with a twin set of Garrets and the motor can easily blow up the rear tires when sending out all 1,000 ponies...
kWh

kW

The groundbreaking project was launched in 2020 and is now closer than ever to becoming a reality. The first full-size powerboat that will be driven in the competition was revealed recently, and it was announced that Monaco will be the first to host an E1 series race. It was exciting for all of those involved to see the full-size RaceBird, for the first time. Unveiled at the prestigious Yacht Club de Monaco, this electric powerboat is meant to revolutionize boating with high-level performance, electric propulsion, and an ultra-modern design.Built by SeaBird Technology and Victory Marine, the watercraft will be equipped with Mercury Racing motors, plus navigation systems and electronics from Navico. Additionally, it will integrate digital cartography features and mapping technology for race management.RaceBird is designed to almost fly on water, at an impressive speed of 50 knots (58 mph/93 kph). It will be powered by a 35battery from Kreisel, and boast a peak power output of 150. Pilots from a total of 12 teams will drive the RaceBird in what are expected to be challenging, tight circuits At the moment, engineers are working on integrating the battery and controls systems on the platform, which will be followed by the propulsion architecture. This stage will take a few months, before the powerboat prototype will enter the testing phase, at the beginning of next year.The pioneering competition, which will consist of s hort races , close to the shore, is set to take place in ten locations across the Globe. Other than Monaco, which is currently working with the E1 series organizers to establish the course layout, two other locations are close to being confirmed: Rotterdam and several spots in Hungary.The first season of the E1 series is set to kick off at the beginning of 2023.
These communities will be based exclusively at sea, either in fixed locations or sailing across the worlds oceans in search of new food opportunities. This is the future, as imagined by Sony Design and popular sci-fi authors, under the One Day, 2050 project unveiled to the public last month.At the core of the project is a Sony floating habitat , the kind that has grown increasingly popular with todays designers in both renders and actual builds. At least as far as coastal communities are concerned, given the alarming rate of rising sea levels, the best option right now seems to move communities out of the water, in those places where moving inland is not available.One Day, 2050 imagines Tokyo in the not too distant future: the year is 2050 (duh) and cities on the coast have been replaced by floating communities. Climate refugees no longer have a place to live on land, and have relocated on water. The prospect is both terrifying and awesome at the same time, assuming man will be able to adapt to this new, nomadic and completely marine lifestyle with help from this floating habitation pod.Sony calls the process sci-fi prototyping, which it was able to conduct thanks to the contribution of writers Taiyo Fujiui, Haruka Mugihara, Itsuki Tsukui and Miyuki Ono. When people from a wide range of cultural spheres are living on the ocean, how do people coexist with other people or with the environment? Sony asks. This design prototyping examines peoples life at sea in 2050 and the ecosystem they create from the perspective of housing.The floating habitat has a double structure, which offers it stability even in rough weather. The outer structure breaks the waves for minimal tilting and shaking, while the inner structure is the residence itself.It provides three levels for living both above the waterline and under it, which is more than enough space to house a large family. The project doesnt detail the interior, but renders show stairs connecting the three levels so were assuming this is a fairly large structure and, as such, capable of accommodating a variety of layouts and amenities. Since this is a rather dire future imagined, the unit is probably not luxurious in the way wed think of today.The units are self-propelled by water jets and have porous filters in the pumps to clear the water as they move, thus delivering an added bonus to traveling in search of new food sources. They also have solar panels on the roof and a battery at the base of the house , and autonomous energy tanks that can move from unit to unit for a more efficient energy distribution. In other words, if two such pods meet, one can lend the other as many energy tanks as needed, and the transfer would be quick and effortless.Fueling at nighttime would also be possible by means of these autonomous tanks, as a bunch of them would float around in bay areas, and instantly connect to units in short supply. The units can gather together in a hive-like structure , which would form a more stable power system at sea.More importantly, a honeycomb structure like this one, a sea city, if you will, would offer resistance in storms by enlarging the contact surface with the water and thus preventing the units from overturning. To that same end, each would have a collapsible roof, with sections folding up and then the whole roof sliding down for a lower volume up above and a lower center of gravity.The Sony floating habitat is an elegant solution to a terrifying problem that we will most likely be facing soon.
October is Iconic Vehicle Month here at autoevolution, and I just couldn't help it not to talk about Spitfire. Yes, it is a British plane, but its importance for D-Day is undisputable. It is also one of the best aircraft built in the last century, in 20,334 units and several versions.In 1931, the Air Ministry called for a high-performance fighter plane. The answer given by Supermarine Aviation Works (Vickers) Ltd came in 1934 in the form of the Type 224. It was a total disappointment. Its 600 hp Rolls-Royce Goshawk engine was less than capable. Its open cockpit was also something that didn't please the airmen. But then, Supermarine has received another shot to fix things up.The Chief Designer for the British company, R.J. Mitchell, didn't have the time to start from scratch, and took his inspiration from the Supermarine S6B seaplane, which was successful in the Schneider Trophy air race beating all the records in 1931. This resulted in the Type 300, but this was also rejected.You know what they say, "third time is the charm," and this is what happened next. In November 1934, Supermarine submitted the third project. This time, with the cabin enclosed, thinner elliptic wings, and a more powerful Rolls-Royce engine - and the project took off. On March 5th, 1936, prototype K5054 made its maiden flight from Eastleigh Aerodrome, with captain Joseph' Mutt' Summers at the helm.The final test came just five days later, with different propellers and undercarriage retraction. Legend says that in that day, during a dive, the speedometer reached 500 mph (804 kph), but it wasn't confirmed and the dial couldn't show more than that. Sunders was so confident in the plane that he handed the K5054 prototype to his assistants, Jeffrey Quill and George Pickering. A week later, the Ministry of Air placed an order for 310 aircraft. But this was just the beginning.Sadly, R.J. Mitchell, the father of this superb machine, suffered from cancer. His illness was severe, but he never stopped working on his final creation. Unfortunately, he passed away in June 1937, but his legacy saved the UK and conquered the European sky. His effort was pictured in the 1942 Hollywood movie "The first of the few."Several problems affected aircraft production. One of them was the stubbornness of Vickers-Armstrong, the parent company of the Supermarine, to hand over the blueprints to other subcontractors. Eventually, the Air Ministry stepped in and threatened the company to move the production to Bristol-Beaufighter, the producer of the Bristol-Blenheim bomber. That convinced Vickers to cooperate with various subcontractors across the UK and eventually saved the plane.After the bombing raids over Southampton and Portsmouth, the assembly lines were badly damaged. Vickers had another factory in Birmingham, at Castle Bromwich Works, which was troubled with bad management and unskilled workers. Yet, they managed to fly the first Spitfire in 1940, before the bombing of the Southampton factory. By that time, Rolls-Royce PV-12 (Merlin) powered the aircraft, and its 1,030 hp, with a two-stage supercharger, made the airplane a fierce fighter in the British sky.Its 36'10" (11.2 meters) wingspan and 29'11" (9.1 meters) long were a small target for Luftwaffe. Its superiority was above the 15,000 feet (4,600 meters) altitude, so the German airmen were instructed to fight at lower altitudes. But the Spitfires were better in diving attacks, almost transforming the Bf-109s into sitting ducks during the Battle of Britain While the Spitfire was outnumbered in victories by its partner aircraft, the Hawker-Hurricane , it was also built in smaller numbers. Also, Hurricanes' were used for attacking bombers, which were slower but heavily armed.After the war over Britain was over, Supermarine upgraded the Spitfire . The three-blade propeller was replaced by a four-blade version. In the weapons department, Vickers replaced the former eight 0.303-inch (7,69 mm) machine guns with four 0.8-inch (20 mm) cannons. Thus, their projectiles were fewer but made much more damage, especially to the bombers. Its Rolls-Royce Merlin engines were upgraded and provided up to 1,760 horsepower, making them even more potent over the improved German aircraft such as the FW-190. The Bf-109 , which was built in large numbers, was no match for the enhanced Spitfire at any altitude and any speed. They still matched them in terms of maneuverability. Still, since the best Luftwaffe pilots were shot down in the Battle of Britain, they were no longer that much of a threat.Spitfire played a key role and provided air superiority in the Battle of Malta in Northern Africa, Sicily, and Italy. They also paved the way for the D-Day in Normandy. A significant version was a reconnaissance plane, which was unarmed. Its only weapon was a camera, which provided valuable intel. Moreover, that aircraft could fly higher than most other planes and faster than anyone else in the sky.In 1943, Supermarine installed the newly developed Rolls-Royce Griffon engines, which provided 2,050 hp, almost twice as much as the original Merlin V12 powerplant. Its frame, with the elliptical wings, handled the excessive force with grace. That version could fly at 40,000 feet (12,200 m) and get up to 440 mph (710 kph). Its only true contender was the Messerschmitt Me-262 jet-fighter, which appeared too late to change the tides of war in April 1944.Among the 24 versions of the Spitfire produced, the most important were the MKV and MKIX, which accounted for half of the entire production. Vickers exported the aircraft in small numbers to Portugal, Turkey, and the Soviet Union. Some of them were sold to a few European countries after WWII.The production of this British Aircraft symbol ended in 1947. Still, it remained in active service until 1954 as a photo-reconnaissance plane. Only about ten percent (over 2,000 units) of them were powered by the mighty Griffon engine. Now, there are less than 100 planes that are air-worthy, and they appear on various air shows. Some aircraft are restored to perfection and offered for sale at prices over GBP4.2 million ($6.8 million at the current exchange rate).
A true international achievement, WST is developed jointly by the U.S., European, and Canadian space agencies. Its purpose, as Hubbles successor, is to study the oldest stars in the Universe and expand our knowledge on how they evolved. To do that, its equipped with four scientific instruments, two of which are being developed in Europe.The Near InfraRed Spectrograph (NIRSpec), which is basically a super eye, was built by Airbus, in Germany. This 440-pound (200 kg) instrument is able to measure at least 100 objects (such as stars ) at the same time, with extremely high sensitivity and resolution. This will allow scientists to study in detail how galaxies were formed, and to study planets that are orbiting other stars than the Sun, looking for important molecules, like water.The Mid-InfraRed Instrument (MIRI) will be able to see the first generations of galaxies and study the birth of new planets . This is possible thanks to its mid-infrared wavelength band, ranging from 5 to 28.3 microns.The Webb Telescope has arrived at its final destination, before launch. At the European space port in Kourou, French Guiana, it will undergo a series of functional tests. The launch is set for December 18, on the Ariane 5 launcher. Webbs final destination is the Lagrange point L2, located about 930,000 miles (1.5 million km) away from Earth. As Airbus points out, thats equivalent to four times the distance to the Moon Airbus will support the NIRSpec instrument throughout Webbs entire mission, from the moment the instrument is turned on until the commissioning ends.
Wind turbines are growing in size from one year to another and right now, Vestas V236-15 MW offshore prototype turbine promises to be the biggest one so far. This monster of a device is 280 m (918 ft) tall, has a swept area that exceeds 43,000 sq m (over 460,000 sq ft), and comes with 115.5 m (379 ft) long blades.Vestas claims the turbine will produce around 80 GWh/year, which is enough to power 20,000 European households. At the same time, it would displace more than 38,000 tons of CO2, which is the equivalent of removing 25,000 passenger cars from the road every year.The V236-15 MW prototype will be installed at the sterild National test center for large turbines in Western Jutland, Denmark. Vestas developed the blade moulds at its factory in Lem and the prototype blades will also begin manufacturing later this year, at the companys offshore blade factory in Nakskov. The nacelle will be developed and assembled in Odense.Vestas says it will preassemble and transport all the large components of the V236-15MW to sterild, where the turbine will be installed for testing, sometime in the second half of 2022. The company will then collect data and obtain the certificate required for the serial production of the wind turbine, which is scheduled to start in 2024.Vestas is not the only company to promise the biggest offshore wind turbine in the industry. Chinese company MingYang Smart Energy also announced its MySE 16.0-242 device, calling it the worlds largest hybrid drive wind turbine. It has 387 ft (118 m) long blades, a 794 ft (242 m) diameter rotor, and a nameplate capacity of 16 MW. The turbine can generate 80,000 MWh of electricity per year and is scheduled for launch in 2022, with commercial production also being set for 2024.
There was lots of news over the weekend about West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchins opposition to a crucial piece of President Biden's proposed climate agenda. That piece would encourage wind, solar, and other zero carbon sources of clean electricity. Axios' Ben Geman has a reality check.

Plus, how the U.S. Secretary of Education says he's tackling crises in our public schools.

And, the history of American newspapers promoting lynching.

Guests: Axios' Ben Geman and Jonathan Swan; DeNeen Brown, associate professor at the University of Maryland and Washington Post reporter.

Credits: Axios Today is produced in partnership with Pushkin Industries. The team includes Niala Boodhoo, Sara Kehaulani Goo, Dan Bobkoff, Alexandra Botti, Nuria Marquez Martinez, Sabeena Singhani, Alex Sugiura, Lydia McMullen-Laird, Michael Hanf, and David Toledo. Music is composed by Evan Viola. You can reach us at podcasts@axios.com. You can text questions, comments and story ideas to Niala as a text or voice memo to 202-918-4893.

Go deeper:

NIALA BOODHOO: Good morning! Welcome to Axios Today!

Its Monday October 18th.

Im Niala Boodhoo.

Heres what you need to know today: how the U.S. Secretary of Education says hes tackling crises in our public schools. Plus, the history of American newspapers promoting lynching.

But first, todays One Big Thing: President Biden, Sen. Machin and climate change.

There was lots of news over the weekend about West Virginia Senator Joe Manchins opposition to a crucial piece of President Biden's proposed climate agenda that would encourage wind, solar and other zero carbon sources of clean electricity. Of course, Manchins support in the evenly split Senate is crucial. Here to explain what all of this means is Ben Geman, an energy reporter at Axios and author of the daily Axios Generate newsletter. Good morning Ben.

Ben: Good morning, thanks for having me back on.

NIALA: Ben, I saw some headlines that implied that Senator Joe Manchin is basically killing Joe Biden's plans to tackle climate change. Is that an accurate way to think about this?

BEN: You know what, that goes too far. However, Senator Joe Manchin is thus far opposed to what would be a really important element of what Democrats in the White House are trying to do. I mean basically what's happening is that this big tax and spending package that the Democrats are trying to move on this very thread the needle party line vote, has a program in it that would create this new system of financial carrots and sticks for utilities to speed up what's already this sort of ongoing increase in deployment of zero carbon power sources. And that's really important because look, electricity is the second largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the country, narrowly behind the transportation sector. So we're not going to achieve our climate goals without a significantly cleaner electric power sector.

NIALA: Does leaving this part of the program out have a significant effect on president Biden and Democrats plans for combating climate change?

BEN: It does. I mean, look, I don't want to overstate it, I guess I would say it like this: it's a big piece of a big piece. I mean, if you look at the package that the Democrats are trying to steer through Congress, as well as the separate bipartisan infrastructure bill, but largely the former, it has a whole bunch of different elements in it that are aimed at cleaning up the electric power sector and hastening the movement away from coal and natural gas. That said, another huge, huge part of this would be this big expansion and extension of tax credits and incentives for various different types of clean power generation. And now look, different analysts don't necessarily all agree on this, but all of them come to the same basic conclusion that you get a lot of emissions cuts from these tax credit programs. So, you know, the bottom line is that it is important, but it is not the be all end all.

NIALA: What are you hearing on the Hill about where we go from here?

BEN: If this new proposed system is indeed going to have to be left on the cutting room floor, there are discussions about how what other elements could perhaps be added to the legislation that would help claw back some of those emissions cuts that would be lost by not having this program. Another thing that I'm really looking at is what this might mean for the upcoming and very important climate summit that the United Nations is having in Glasgow, Scotland that starts at the end of this month. I mean, one thing that's going to be really important is what the U.S. negotiating posture is going to be as we try to get other countries to sort of take more aggressive steps on climate change. Now, the U.S. posture is somewhat hobbled if the president walks into that summit without any type of domestic emissions cutting legislation in his pocket. You know, it seems unlikely that a final bill would be passed by then. But to the extent that it's looking like this legislation is going to be stalled and, or in this case weakend, that does not help the, uh, prospects for the outcome at the, at the United Nations summit.

NIALA: Ben Geman is an energy reporter for Axios. Thanks, Ben.

BEN: Thanks so much for having me on.

NIALA: Well be back in 15 seconds with Jonathan Swan and U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona.

Welcome back to Axios Today! Im Niala Boodhoo.

The U.S. Public School system is facing more than one crisis. There arent just fights over mask and vaccine mandates in schools, but theres escalating tension between teachers, parents and school boards. And - between 2019 and 2021, public school enrollment fell by 3.3% - about 1.5 million students switched to a private school, charter school or started being homeschooled.

Axios' Jonathan Swan recently sat down with U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona in Wisconsin as he was traveling for his back to school bus tour across the US. He talked to him about whether the money in Biden's agenda is enough to better the US public school system.

JONATHAN SWAN: He's got an unprecedented amount of money to spend on public schooling through some of the legislation that's already being passed. And one of the things I pressed the secretary on is the disconnect between the amount of money that we spend in America on public education and the actual performance of public schools in this country. We are number five in expenditure among highly developed countries, number 31st when it comes to performance in mathematics. So there's a huge gap there.

He thinks one of the keys to it is early childhood education. So we talked a little bit about that, but beyond that, the states are really going to have a lot of autonomy as to how they spend their money. So it's not clear to me whether there's a national strategy for squaring the spending with the outcome.

The other big fight that we talked about is over masks and vaccines. Cardona indicated that he would not be prepared to threaten to withhold funding to push some of these states into complying with mask mandates.

SEC. MIGUEL CARDONA: Department of Education doesn't mandate masks, nor does it mandate vaccines. What we do is work closely with states and with local leaders--

JONATHAN SWAN: But you have the money.

SEC. CARDONA: --and boards of education to support the effective use of mitigation strategies.

JONATHAN: So he has drawn at least a faint line as to how far they are willing to go with these pressure tactics.

NIALA: Axios' political reporter Jonathan Swan. You can hear his interview with Miguel Cardona on Axios on HBO.

NIALA: Today marks the start of an ambitious 30 part nationwide student journalism project to investigate the role of American newspapers in promoting lynchings and other racist violence from reconstruction through the 1960s. Washington Post writer DeNeen Brown's reporting on the 1921 Tulsa massacre was an inspiration for the project. She's also an associate professor at the University of Maryland and worked with students on the inaugural piece. Thanks for joining us DeNeen.

DENEEN: Thank you. It's great to be here.

NIALA: Can you start by telling us how you understand the scope and goals of this reporting project?

DENEEN: As you said, um, this project was inspired by my reporting, particularly about the 1921 Tulsa race massacre. That massacre was sparked by a headline that ran in the Tulsa Tribune, um, on May 31st, 1921 that said Nab Negro for attacking girl in an elevator. Historians say it essentially sent a whistle call to members of the clan and members of the white mob and Tulsa to descend on the courthouse to essentially lynch Dick Roland, the black teenager who was arrested and falsely accused of this attack. So, I kept thinking, how many other headlines are out there that sparked racial terror, lynchings and racial terror,massacres of black Americans. Just tell deep and how wide is this in history?

NIALA: Do we know how many of these headlines actually, I mean, do we have a sense of the scope of this?

DENEEN: So the, the student journalist, we examine newspapers from 1865 to 1965. Hundreds, literally hundreds of newspapers, not only small town local newspapers, but big mainstream newspapers, ran these headlines. They also ran cartoons. Sometimes on some occasions, would announce the time, date and place that a lynching would occur or announce a time, date and place for a white mob to meet to participate in a massacre. A lot of people blame, uh, racial terror on the south, but this happened in the north as well.

NIALA: As a journalism professor, what do you want these young journalists to take away from this?

DENEEN: I want these students to know about the history of this country that's been left out of their textbooks. And then as reporters and as journalists to go out into the world after they graduate and infuse newsrooms with that knowledge.

NIALA: The project is called Printing Hate. We are going to post a link to the students' stories in our show notes. They're going to be published Mondays and Thursdays through mid December. We weren't able to play the full version of this conversation on Axios today, but you can hear a longer version on This Afternoon's Axios Re-Cap. DeNeen Brown is a writer for the Washington post and associate professor at the University of Maryland. DeNeen thank you for your time.

DENEEN: Thank you so much. It's great to be here.

NIALA: Thats it for us today. Im Niala Boodhoo - thanks for listening - stay safe and well see you back here tomorrow morning.
Cuba's high literacy rates and the rapid rollout of the campaign that resulted in most residents learning to read and write has been a model for many other countries  even as Cubans continue to experience harsh censorship.

Why it matters: Cuba has a long and rich literary history, but the 1961 campaign that helped get the island to a 99% to 100% literacy rate left an important legacy that fostered literacy worldwide.

Details: After Fidel Castro and his revolutionaries overthrew Fulgencio Batista in 1959, the Castro government launched an 8-month effort in Cuba to abolish illiteracy, headed by Che Guevara.

The 1961 campaign sent "literacy brigades," or brigandistas, into the countryside to build schools and teach illiterate guajiros to read and write.

The program brought basic literacy skills to 700,000 Cubans in less than one year and gave the Castro government a propaganda victory amid the Cold War.

The intrigue: UNESCO would later honor Cuba for its literacy campaign and its influence on 15 other countries, including Venezuela and Ecuador. Before the campaign, literacy rates in Latin American countries ranged from 44% in Bolivia to 70% in Colombia, UNESCO said.

Even teachers from the United States would travel to Cuba to study the groundbreaking literacy campaign.

Yes, but: The communist government of Cuba also imposed strong censorship and punished writers who deviated or challenged Castro, the revolution or his authoritarian regime.

Writers like Reinaldo Arenas and Heberto Padilla were imprisoned and beaten for criticizing the Cuban government despite protests from other international writers.

Arenas fled to the U.S. as part of the Mariel Boatlift where he continued to criticize the oppressive Castro regime until he was diagnosed with AIDS.

What they're saying: "Due to my delicate state of health and to the terrible depression that causes me not to be able to continue writing and struggling for the freedom of Cuba, I am ending my life," Arenas wrote in 1990 in a suicide note to the public.

"I want to encourage the Cuban people abroad as well as on the Island to continue fighting for freedom. ... Cuba will be free. I already am."

Don't forget: Cuban American writers, from the late Pulitzer-prize winning novelist Oscar Hijuelos to Cristina Garcia, have tackled themes of loss and exile to become important links to the literature of the U.S.

Get more news that matters about Latinos in the hemisphere, delivered right to your inbox on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Sign up for the Axios Latino newsletter.
Serob Harutiunian, who used to run a counterintelligence division in the National Security Service (NSS), his wife and son risk becoming the first persons to lose their assets, worth a combined 485 million drams ($1 million), as a result of a controversial law enacted by the Armenian government last year.

The law allows prosecutors to seek asset forfeiture in case of having sufficient grounds to suspect that the market value of an individuals properties exceeds their legal income by at least 50 million drams ($110,000). Courts can allow the nationalization of such assets even if their owners are not found guilty of corruption or other criminal offenses.

A spokesman for the Office of the Prosecutor-General, Gor Abrahamian, told RFE/RLs Armenian Service on Tuesday that the Harutiunian familys assets, including an expensive apartment in downtown Yerevan, caught the law-enforcement agencys attention when it was conducting a separate criminal investigation in early 2020.

Harutiunian was accused at the time of leaking to an Armenian newspaper the fact that then Minister for Territorial Administration Suren Papikian had spent a year in prison for stabbing his commander during his compulsory military service. Papikian, who is now the countrys deputy prime minister, publicly urged law-enforcement authorities to find out who publicized the secret information relating to my private life.

The NSS colonel was eventually cleared of the charges but still lost his job. He and his family members will now have to prove the legality of their holdings in the court. The prosecutors filed a relevant lawsuit on Monday.

The law in question allows an out-of-court settlement of such cases which would require suspects to hand over 75 percent of their assets to the state.

According to Abrahamian, the prosecutors hope to cut such deals with about a dozen other individuals also suspected of illegal enrichment. They include Vladimir Gasparian, Armenias national police chief from 2011-2018, Arman Sahakian, the former head of a government agency on privatization, and a niece of former President Serzh Sarkisian.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian has repeatedly portrayed the asset forfeiture mechanism as a major anti-corruption measure that will help his administration recover wealth stolen from the people. Opposition figures have condemned it as unconstitutional and accused Pashinian of planning a far-reaching redistribution of assets to cement his hold on power.
The Russian Federation not only plays a key role in maintaining peace and stability in our region but also occupies a central place in our countrys economy, Pashinian said in an address to a Russian-Armenian interregional conference held in Yerevan.

We need to improve our economic relations in a way that will foster the development of competitive industries in our countries, he told government officials and businesspeople from the two states attending the forum. In this context, we regard as important further mutual integration of our economies, which must be based on a free movement of goods, services, labor and capital. The [Russian-led] Eurasian Economic Union serves this strategic goal.

Bilateral commercial ties should be diversified to cover knowledge-based sectors of the Russian and Armenian economies, added Pashinian.

According to Armenian government data, Russian-Armenian trade rose by almost 12 percent in the first eight months of this year, to $1.54 billion, after shrinking by 4 percent in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. Russia thus remained Armenias number one trading partner, accounting for about 31 percent of its overall foreign trade, compared with the European Unions 20.2 percent share in the total.

Russias Deputy Minister for Economic Development Dmitry Volvach hailed the renewed growth in bilateral trade when he spoke with journalists during the Yerevan forum.

Russian companies plan to invest $1 billion in the Armenian economy in the near future, the Armenpress news agency quoted Volvach as saying. He said the investments will be channeled into energy, transport and other infrastructures.

Speaking at a recent Russian-Armenian business forum in Yerevan, Russian-Armenian billionaire Samvel Karapetian said his Moscow-based Tashir Group will invest up to $600 million in the Armenian energy sector in the coming years.

Tashir owns the South Caucasus countrys electricity distribution network, largest thermal-power plant and second most important hydroelectric complex.
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Squid Game, the hyper-buzzy Korean drama that has become Netflixs biggest-ever TV show, is on track to deliver an astounding payback for the streaming service, according to the companys internal estimates.

Netflix paid $21.4 million for the nine-episode series, which premiered four weeks ago, and the company estimates Squid Game will deliver more than 40 times that  an estimated $891 million  in what it calls impact value, Bloomberg reported Saturday evening, citing confidential internal data that someone provided to the outlet. The proprietary metric is a measure of a titles economic contribution to Netflix based on subscriber viewing.

Netflix declined to comment. According to Bloombergs report, a lawyer for Netflix told the news outlet that it would be inappropriate for Bloomberg to publish the confidential data contained in the documents.

On Friday, Netflix fired an employee who admitted they downloaded internal data and shared it outside the company, which is a violation of the streaming giants policies. The info included financial data for Squid Game and Dave Chappelles stand-up special The Closer, for which Netflix allegedly paid $24.1 million. The Chappelle special has become a lightning rod for critics upset about his homophobic and transphobic comments in The Closer and has led to a planned employee walkout on Oct. 20. The Netflix employee who leaked the data may have been motivated by a desire to tarnish the companys image, by revealing that it paid more for The Closer than Squid Game, its new top-performing worldwide hit. The pink-slipped staffer was the only employee who had accessed data for the programming that was later cited by Bloomberg.

In the 23 days since the Sept. 17 debut of Squid Game, 132 million Netflix households streamed at least two minutes of the show, according to Bloombergs report. About 89% of those viewers watched at least 75 minutes (i.e., more than one episode) and 66% of them  or 87 million  finished the entire series within the first 23 days of its release. Overall, Netflix users streamed more than 1.4 billion hours of Squid Game over that 23-day period. (Note that Netflixs measurements arent verified by a third party.)

In Squid Game, set in modern-day South Korea, 456 desperately debt-stricken contestants compete in a deadly competition of mysterious origin, pitting them against each other in a series of childrens games for the chance to win 45.6 billion won (about $38.5 million) in prize money.

Squid Game creator and director Hwang Dong-hyuk said he intended the series to highlight the growing wealth gap in the modern world. I wanted to write a story that was an allegory or fable about modern capitalist society, something that depicts an extreme competition, somewhat like the extreme competition of life, he told Variety in an interview last month.

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Victorias Black Swan Inn, named after Shakespeare's favorite bar, is a charming local venue for weddings, memorials, and bachelorette parties. Its also a paint-chipped monument to San Antonio history, possessing a nationally recognized paranormal reputation.

The Greek-revival style plantation house, constructed in 1867, is perched on a grassy hill across the Salado Creek. Just 20 years before it was built, the site is where General Caldwell and his men massacred over 60 Mexican soldiers in the bloody Battle of Salado, defending the Republic of Texas.

After the manor was built, it changed hands between fat cats and socialites that now live on in San Antonio infamy, some of whom are recorded to have met their own tragic ends on the property.

On a particularly damp October morning, I drove to the Black Swan to meet with the current owner Jo Ann Rivera to see if the paranormal rumors were true. Approaching the house, I wasnt sure I was in the right place. The creek running parallel to the road was overflowing with the previous night's storm water and I was surrounded by trees. My maps app told me I had arrived, so I blindly swung a right turn. Not a soul was around except for some chickens clucking in the distance and a few people collecting fallen debris on the side of the road. I quickly learned one of them was the woman I was there to meet.

Camille Sauers/MySA

Camille Sauers/MySA

In 1990, Jo Ann Rivera moved into the historic property with her children. Out of the Black Swan, she based her Victorian garment manufacturing business, and later began renting out the space as a venue for special events.

I bought it mostly because my father and friends kept telling me I couldn't do it, Rivera tells me, sitting on a wicker chair on the Black Swan porch. She has a crop of grey hair and is wearing a comfortable sun dress, appearing at ease in front of the stately building that looks plucked from the movie Practical Magic.

Before we get down to the business of ghosts, we are sure to touch on the state of the world. She laments capitalism, while acknowledging her own business, then gripes about how no passing trucks stopped to assist a driver stuck in the flood run-off earlier that day. Then we get into the state of the media and she schools me on local politics.

I read her to be a quick and analytical thinker, that happens to be particularly tapped into the spirit world. Some of the experiences she describes are incredible, yet I believe her to be a generally reliable narrator.

Previous to her residency at the Black Swan, Rivera didnt have any bias toward the paranormal. It was while she was settling into the property that she first realized something was afoot.

When I first got here and moved my business, I was skeptical. I'm like, I don't think that we get to come back and, you know, poke fun at people or move things around. But it didn't take me long, there were a few experiences, says Rivera.

Camille Sauers/MySA

Doors would swing open and slam shut at random intervals. Lights would mysteriously flicker on. In one bedroom where her young children circulated through, they described the presence of a shadow man who would talk to them and sometimes pinch them while they slept. Rivera would notice bruises on her daughter's legs mornings following these reports. The Rivera family adopted nightly rituals, setting boundaries with the spirits, which ultimately proved helpful. Respect the spirits and theyll respect you back. The same rules apply to people.

She understands ghosts as beings operating at different frequencies. She cites quantum mechanics.

A lot of people are afraid of the spirit world, but a lot comes from the fact that they don't understand it, she says.

Camille Sauers/MySA

Camille Sauers/MySA

Over the years, she has become distinctly familiar with eight or so ghostly personalities that stalk the halls. There's a Confederate soldier, who roams near the gazebo. Then theres Joline and Park Street, who lived in the house through the 1950s and early 60s. Park reportedly hung himself in the home in 1965, though some claim that his death was actually murder. He can be seen angrily stalking the grounds. His wife Joline, who died prematurely of cancer, is sometimes sighted by visitors. She always appears wearing a beautiful white gown.

Another spirit that seems to be active is that of Sophie Mahler, who lived there when she was a little girl. Though Mahler died in her 80s, Rivera tells me she often appears to people as a child.

She gives me an interesting insight, because I think we determine our own heaven and hell. So like, for me hell would be if I had to be in a fishing boat, fishing all day, catching fish, she says, half joking.

But I think maybe her Heaven is when she was here as a little girl. She had the run of the property, she could do whatever she wanted.

Rivera recounts a time a repair crew was working upstairs and mentioned that there was a blonde toddler in a blue dress sitting alone in one of the vacant bedrooms. When she went upstairs to check, the child was gone.

After over 30 years living at the Black Swan, a place entrenched in history that seems to attract and foster paranormal frequencies, Rivera says she typically experiences some sort of paranormal activity on a daily basis. At the Black Swan, the undead are just a fact of life.

It's been many years now that I've gone through all this, but still, sometimes it will catch me off guard, she says.

----

While Rivera mostly takes the position that the spirits co-habitating with her and her family are neutral entities, she does recount one creepy encounter that literally makes my hair stand up.

Camille Sauers/MySA

Camille Sauers/MySA

One night, over 15 years ago, she was home alone cooking dinner for her kids, when her dog began to bark aggressively.

She headed into the main ballroom, only to see a woman accompanied by a 10-year-old boy. She told the woman she was closed and handed her some information on weddings at her request. At the time, Rivera was just thinking about getting food on the table. She questions why the boy wasnt following the woman out the door. The woman shrugged and said he didnt arrive with her before leaving the property.

The little boy leaned against the doorway, acting particularly strange and speaking in the seductive tone of a much older man. It was unsettling. Rivera describes him as having the look of a Renaissance painting. As she scrambled to get him out the door, she asked him his name. Dimitri he told her. She told him Dimitri is an interesting name. He replied, wow, you got it right the first time.

I'm like, what does that mean, right? It's really creepy, says Rivera.

She asked him how he got there and where he came from. He told her he was by the creek because he finds it peaceful there, a response she found to be a very odd comment coming from a kid. She asked if she can call his mother and he said plainly that they dont have a phone, in a mature, almost sensual tone. The strange interaction gave her a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. She finally got him to leave.

Later, while shes upstairs getting her kids ready for bed, she heard her otherwise friendly dog barking aggressively, yet again. As a mother, alarm bells started ringing in her head. She instructed her children to stay put. Its was darker by then and she went into the kitchen to grab a kitchen knife, just in case. She headed outside to the back porch where the dog was now whimpering. She saw Dimitri, leaning against the old milking barn, trying to blend in.

He leans back and he gives me this grin. It's like, a super sinister kind of grin, says Rivera. She shouted at him to leave, but he stayed put, baring his teeth at her. She ran inside and called the police. When they arrived, Dimitri was nowhere to be found. She told the officer the child's name. He responded, Dimitri, what is he? A demon?

She never saw him again, but his presence felt distinctly abnormal. Shell never forget that feeling, she says. The next day, she took her kids to the old Fuddruckers for some burgers. While she was waving at a little girl seated in the same area, she noticed her mother writing Dimitri over and over again on one of the paper menus.

I have been touched, burned, scraped, bitten. I've had all kinds of things happen with the paranormal world. But that is probably the most intense scary thing that's ever happened to me here, she tells me earnestly, her eyes wide.

----

While she has had her fair share of terrifying experiences, shes also had several significant, moving experiences living in the house.

Notably, she had an interaction with her late mother, who died in the house in 2012.

At this point, the building's reputation was starting to become more widely known, as several ghost hunting television programs featured the building on their shows. One such program was Ghost Adventures with Zak Bagans. The investigative crew did a feature on the Black Swan in 2013, several months after Riveras mothers passing. You can watch the clip online.

Camille Sauers/MySA

Using an EVP recording device, the team was emphatic about trying to connect with her mother. Usually when ghost hunters try to communicate with the spirit world, Rivera and her partner leave the house, not wanting to contaminate the energy. This time though, she was a willing participant.

My mom was very skeptical about activity, but we had an agreement, we had a code word, says Rivera. The pair had established a word years earlier that only they would know, to communicate with one another just in case one of them passed on to the other side.

Sure enough, the team caught Riveras mother saying the word on camera, standing in the middle of the room at the Black Swan where she died.

That was a very real, very intense moment that they were able to get on film, Rivera tells me.

The Black Swan still regularly hosts events and experiences, like the popular "Haunted Cocktail Hour" and now operates a series of ghost tours. Rivera raised three of her five children in the building, and still lives there with her partner, a lawyer named Philip Ross. People still get married there.

I ask her what her experiences have taught her about unknown things.

The first word that comes to mind is acceptance.

"It's good to know that this is not all there is. Yeah, we're not alone. You know, we're not alone on so many levels. I mean, from aliens to ghosts, we are not. This is not the end all, be all. No, this is not it. There's so much more."

Camille Sauers/MySA
ODESSA -- Medical Center Hospital reported Thursday that hospital staff have received death threats and bomb threats after a photo was posted on social media showing a COVID-19 patient wearing a plastic drape.

The photo was shared on Facebook by a group called the Odessa Accountability Project, which wrote that the patient is a 17-year-old girl who was being treated for COVID-19. The post said the girl was humiliated and dehumanized by staff.

Since the photo was posted on Tuesday, hospital staff have received threatening phone calls, including death threats and threats on their families lives, as well as threats of bombing the hospital, according to a statement from MCH.

Rest assured, we take all of these threats seriously and are taking appropriate action, CEO Russell Tippin said in the statement. Under no circumstances will MCH tolerate such threats to staff members, their families or anyone associated with the health system.

Our staff have been true heroes for the past 19 months in battling this pandemic and do not deserve the vicious threats spewed by these hateful individuals, he said.

The plastic drape was used as part of guidelines from the CDC, according to MCH.

In certain circumstances, the use of a clear, plastic drape or covering for COVID patients during transport is used to prevent the virus from airborne spread to staff and other patients, especially in tight areas such as hallways and elevators, the statement said.

Drapes are used when a patient refuses to wear a mask, is unable to wear a mask or is using oxygen or another breathing machine, according to MCH. The statement said patients are never left unattended and the patient or their guardian has the right to refuse using a drape.

The post from the Odessa Accountability Project claims the drape was a plastic bag meant for covering equipment, and that it had a warning on it about the possibility of suffocation.

After the photo of the patient was shared on Facebook, Odessa physician Dr. Richard Bartlett was interviewed about the post on The Alex Jones Show. Bartlett called the hospitals actions abuse of power.

We need to hold local hospital administrators accountable and local doctors accountable, he said. Enough is enough.

Bartlett has been critical of Odessa and Midland hospital leaders throughout the pandemic for not treating COVID-19 patients with inhaled Budesonide, which he has touted as a silver bullet treatment despite a lack of data showing its effectiveness.

An MCH spokesman said hospital staff have spoken with the teenagers mother about the situation.

Our top priority will always be the safety and care of our patients, Tippin said in the statement. We are always willing to listen to our patients experiences to better communicate with them to make sure they are comfortable.

The Ector County Hospital District Police Department is investigating the threats against the hospital and the FBI is also aware of the threats.
Earlier this week, news broke that the borders between the U.S. and Mexico  as well as the border up north with Canada  will be reopening once again after being closed for nearly 20 months. And now, locals on both sides of the border have an idea of exactly when that will be.

The White House announced via assistant press secretary Kevin Munoz on Friday that the border will be opened to fully vaccinated foreign travelers on Monday, Nov. 8  a little more than three weeks away.

"This policy is guided by public health, stringent and consistent," stated Munoz on Twitter.

The border has been closed since March 21, 2020 due to the pandemic.

The new travel policy applies to both air and land travel.

The rules will let fully vaccinated foreign nationals enter the country starting in November as part of Phase I of the rollout. Phase II will include essential travelers seeking to enter the U.S.  such as truck drivers  to be fully vaccinated as well.

Laredos Rep. Henry Cuellar also confirmed the news on Friday and again expressed his excitement with the reopening of the border.

Nov. 8 will be the day when fully vaccinated non-essential travelers will be allowed to enter the U.S. through our land and ferry ports, Cuellar said. I want to thank the White House for their thoughtfulness in this decision. I have been fighting for this for months, and now we finally have an exact date on which our border businesses will once again receive Mexican consumers and families will be reunited after 19 months. I am currently working with local authorities on both sides of the border to ensure that when that day comes, we have the resources necessary to ensure the safety of all American citizens.

Non-essential travelers will be required proof of fully vaccination by a vaccine approved by the World Health Organization. These include Moderna, Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca, Serum Institute of India, Sinopharm and Sinovac.

On Nov. 8, our local economies will be reinvigorated and our path back to normality will be set, Cuellar said. With the date fast approaching, I will work tirelessly with the relevant federal, state and local entities so that we are prepared to receive foreign nationals through our land POEs from a personnel, equipment and technology standpoint. I will continue to promote and facilitate vaccination campaigns on both the U.S. and Mexican sides.

cecilia.trevino@lmtonline.com
You might ask what they do at the Best Years Senior Center in Beaumont. A better question might be  what dont they do?

Want to understand modern technology? Check. Like to dance? Check.

Want to practice Tai Chi, learn about nutrition or how to paint, or just hang out and shoot some pool? Check, check and check.

Many of the seniors registered in programs have been coming to Best Years over a decade, when it was located on South Fourth Street, which was home to the senior program since it started in 1978.

Issues with crime surrounding the site and the declining state of the building, however, kept attendance numbers lower than hoped.

When Best Years moved into the Lakeside Center adjacent to the Event Centre in 2019, expectations for what the program could offer and the numbers it would serve grew.

Operations Coordinator Aminatta Kamara said the new facility provides a better space for the classes, and weve been trying to offer a lot of new things, as well. Among them are a resin class and an exhibit room for seniors creative work.

They also changed the age requirement for who can utilize the facility from 65 and above to 18 and older.

We do get a lot of people that are younger than senior citizens but still enjoy the programs we offer.especially the fitness classes like Zumba, Kamara said.

The broadened age range has proven beneficial for everyone all around, she said.

I know the seniors really like being able to have younger folks do things with them and also share the activities they like to do with them, Kamara explained, adding, Personally, I think being inclusive is never a bad thing.

Still, the growth in participant numbers has been slow, in no small measure due to COVID-19, which impacted the region just months after the center opened.

I think a lot of people still have no idea what goes on here, said Barbara Turner as she awaited the start of Kay Jordans line dance class.

But for those in the know, like Brian Hurlbut, Best Years is what he calls the best-kept secret in Beaumont.

Hurlbut and four other seniors gathered last Thursday at a phone technology class led by Indu Raja.

The days lesson focused on texting and all that goes with it  using shortcuts to comment, finding emojis and adding photos.

Its a big leap forward for Hurlbut, who couldnt answer his phone when he first got it.

I told my daughter This phone doesnt work, he recalled, until she explained he needed to swipe, not press.

For kids who grow up with this, they know all about it, but for us seniors, we have to learn, he continued.

Theyre learning fast, and its knowledge theyre happy to share.

Hurlbut showed classmates Jay Camp and Rose Estrello the new foreign language app he just installed. Estrello shared with the class the funny videos and memes she recently got from a friend.

Instead of being isolated by a lack of tech knowledge, theyre diving in and reaping the social rewards of communicating in a new way.

Raja ended the class with an assignment  daily texting.

I want to see seven messages from each of you by next Thursday, she said as the group packed away their phones.

Almost none were heading home after Rajas course. Instead, they moved down the hall to the next room, the next activity.

Im here four days a week pretty much all day, Estrello said/ Today I have the phone class, then Tai Chi, then lunch provided by Meals on Wheels, then Ill hurry to line-dancing class, followed by Zumba and stretching.

Along the way, shell intersect with friends coming from other classes, like Dana Dormans painting class.

Dorman, an artist with a Fine Arts degree from Lamar University, joined the center as an instructor in 2019.

Shes enjoyed spurring the creative talents of seniors who range from those whove never painted before to others whove painted for decades.

Thursday morning, the class broke from their painting projects to take in an opening reception displaying their talents in the new exhibit room.

Everyone was real excited about the centers first-ever gallery display, Kamara said, as she joined the group socializing while they admired one anothers work.

They are coming to paint, but its also a social thing, Dorman said, noting the chatter filling the room. Thats almost just as important  being with others and staying social, she said.

Avoiding isolation is what brought Delores Poullard to the center over 10 years ago after retirement.

My doctor told me, You can retire, but dont just go home and do nothing, she recalled.

Poullard came to Best Years, joined the crochet class and now leads the group of more than a dozen women at the Lakeside Center.

Together, they share not just a love of crocheting but also of giving back to the community.

Poullard said theyve donated blankets and caps to area nursing homes, hospitals, the homeless and the VA hospital in Houston.

Weve always got a project every year, Poullard said, adding, Were the only class in here that donates to the community.

Its a point of pride and camaraderie that is good for the mind and the soul, and embraces the mission of the center  to offer seniors a place to get out of the house, be engaged with other people and be engaged with the community, according to Kamara.

Literally, they strive simply to live up to their own name  Best Years.

Thats a goal shared by 83-year-old Nancy Gondron, whos at the center at least two days a week.

Its not fun getting old, but its fun trying to beat the odds, Gondron joked, adding, I might die tonight, so Im gonna enjoy today.

kbrent@beaumontenterprise.com
Texas doesnt lead the nation in its percentage of residents vaccinated against COVID-19, and thats unfortunate. In fact, were 29th according to one survey. But in another medical category, we can be proud of our No. 1 ranking.

Through August, more than 1.4 million Texans had enrolled and paid for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act through HealthCare.gov , the federal marketplace for individuals and families. Thats an increase of nearly half a million customers since 2019, and it is the states highest enrollment yet.

Over the past two years, our states percentage gain in enrollment was more than double the increase nationwide  and higher than any other state. In August, the number of Texans covered by Obamacare was nearly 50 percent higher than before the pandemic.

Part of that was due to a presidential administration that encouraged people to enroll in this backstop program instead of undermining it, such as by expanding access during the pandemic. And our statewide totals were unfortunately low to begin with.

The addition of a basic facet of modern life such as health insurance is a big plus for every Texan covered, new or previous. But its a positive for every other state resident too. People with health insurance can obviously get treated better for ailments that otherwise might have caused them to miss work or school. Theyre healthier, and thus more productive.

People want health insurance, people value health insurance  it just has to be affordable to them, said Elena Marks, CEO of the Episcopal Health Foundation in Houston, which focuses on improving community health. If its not affordable and you have to pay rent, buy food and take care of your kids, its not the first priority. Once its affordable, it becomes a priority.

Despite these welcome gains, Texas still has about 5 million residents without any kind of health insurance, the highest total in the nation. The Legislature could address that if it expanded Medicaid, but legislators dont want to because it would happen under the umbrella of Obamacare, which is still off-limits for them politically.

Today, only 12 states continue that stubborn refusal. Those that have accepted this practical and humanitarian boost include all of Texass neighbors  New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana, all of which have had conservative governance for years. If they can put aside petty partisan politics and get more health care to more people, Texas can too.
You have to feel sympathetic for the students of Vista College in Beaumont and many other cities who suddenly discovered last Friday that werent enrolled any more. Involuntarily.

One day, they were attending this alternative to traditional college, the next day the doors were locked. They received little notice beyond a form letter stating that due to unforeseen events, we could not continue with the new term on Oct. 11 nor continue the current nursing term. The abrupt shutdown also affected students in College Station, El Paso, Killeen, Lubbock and Longview.

Thats lousy, and in one sense, it wasnt a huge surprise. The same thing happened three years ago when Brightwood College suddenly shut down in Beaumont and other cities. It happens all too often with alternative campuses or online learning sites. When the money runs out, they close their doors.

And most are not even a good option to traditional colleges. Many employers dont think too highly of their quality of education. Yet they often entice students with slick advertisements promising students to learn at your own pace or give college credit for life experiences.

Fortunately, prospective students in Southeast Texas have a better option for education after high school. Its the four independent Lamar campuses. They offer a great opportunity for students to ease into higher education on their own schedule, particularly at Lamar State College Port Arthur, Lamar State College Orange and the Lamar Institute of Technology.

Students  young or older  can begin their education with just a few classes, during the night or day. The campuses offer a wide range of courses, and the Lamar schools have some of the most affordable tuition in Texas.

Best of all, students who earn a two- or four-year degree from a Lamar campus will possess something of considerable value. This is a real degree by a real institution of higher learning, and employers know the difference between it and something from a for-profit school that often cuts corners.

Lamar students wont be stuck with a loan from a school that closed  but must still be repaid. And most students who have an outstanding loan from a place like this cant get another loan for a real school like Lamar until the first one is paid off. Sadly, that barrier often ends higher education plans for struggling students who are trying to improve their lives but dont have a lot of money or the family support for this next step in their life.

Officials with the Lamar Institute of Technology and Lamar State College-Port Arthur are reaching out to former Vista students to enroll in their programs. If at all possible, they should pursue this option. The Lamar campuses wont suddenly close down, and the degrees they offer have proven value to employers. Thats an unbeatable combination worth the time and effort of anyone in Southeast Texas.
Some of the defendants charged in the storming of the U.S. Capitol are turning away defense lawyers and electing to represent themselves, undeterred by their lack of legal training or repeated warnings from judges.

That choice already has led to some curious legal maneuvers and awkward exchanges in court.

A New York man charged in the Jan. 6 insurrection wants to bill the government for working on his own case. A Pennsylvania restaurant owner is trying to defend herself from jail. A judge told another New Yorker that he may have incriminated himself during courtroom arguments.

The right to self-representation is a bedrock principle of the Constitution. But a longtime judge cited an old adage in advising a former California police chief that he would have a fool for a client if he represented himself.

And Michael Magner, a New Orleans criminal defense lawyer and former federal prosecutor, observed, Just because you have a constitutional right to do something doesnt necessarily mean that its smart.

The decision by at least five defendants to defend themselves is bound to create a host of challenges, particularly for those behind bars. They risk getting themselves in more legal trouble if they say the wrong thing in court. They have to sift through the mountain of evidence investigators have collected in the attack. And the strategy is already testing judges ability to maintain control of their courtrooms.

I would never represent myself if I were charged with a crime, U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth told Alan Hostetter before allowing him to handle his own defense against riot charges. The judge warned the ex-police chief that he has never seen anyone successfully represent himself since his appointment to the bench in 1987.

Hostetter was arrested in June along with five other men on charges that they conspired to stop Congress from certifying Joe Bidens victory in the presidential election. The indictment links four of Hostetter's co-defendants to the Three Percenters, a wing of the militia movement.

Hostetter, who began teaching yoga after more than 20 years as an officer, told Lamberth that the corruption of this investigation is one reason he wants to represent himself. His finances also were a factor.

I believe that it's a governmental strategy and tactic that if they can't convict you, they at least want to bankrupt and destroy you, Hostetter said.

Another defendant representing himself, Brandon Fellows of upstate New York, recently unsuccessfully petitioned U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden to release him from jail.

Video shows Fellows, who was photographed wearing a fake orange beard during the riot, with his feet propped on a table in the office of Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore. Fellows was locked up this summer for missing a mental health evaluation appointment and harassing a probation officer.

Fellows took the stand to argue for his release, brushing aside warnings from the judge that he could open himself to perjury charges if he testified.

In doing so, Fellows may have compounded his legal troubles.

Fellows told McFadden that he used what he described as a loophole" he had read about online to disqualify a different judge overseeing an unrelated case in New York. Fellows said he listed a phone number for that judge's wife as his own number in court records to make it appear that he knows the woman.

Fellows said he also asked the public defender who represented him before he rebuffed counsel in the riot case if he should try to get McFadden replaced by contacting the judge's family, but the lawyer warned him that would get him arrested.

In denying Fellows' bid for release, McFadden told Fellows that he admitted to likely obstructing justice in the New York case and considering it in his riot case.

McFadden, who was nominated by President Donald Trump, also jailed self-represented defendant Pauline Bauer last month for failing to comply with court orders to cooperate with probation officers during her pretrial release.

Bauer was arrested in May along with a friend who joined her at the Capitol. Video from a police officers body camera captured Bauer saying to bring out House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., to be hanged, the FBI says.

Bauer, who owns a restaurant in rural Kane, Pennsylvania, has repeatedly interrupted the judge during hearings. She also has argued in vain that the court doesnt have any jurisdiction over her, expressing an ideology that appears to comport with the sovereign citizens extremist movement.

During a July 19 hearing, Bauer told McFadden that she doesnt want any lawyering from the bench. When the judge denied her request to dismiss her charges, she asked, On what terms?

You dont get to demand terms from me, replied McFadden. McFadden appointed lawyers to serve as standby counsel for Fellows and Bauer and assist at the defendants' request.

After U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss ruled last month that Eric Bochene can represent himself, the upstate New York man submitted a fee schedule in which he appeared to be attempting to create a structure for him to collect fees for working on his own case.

The filing indicates he wants to charge up to $250,000 for spending two hours in court if he feels he is appearing under protest and duress and $50,000 if he is there voluntarily. A forced giving of bodily fluids carries a $5 million charge under Bochene's billing schedule.

The judge denied the request, noting that Bochene hasn't been ordered to take any actions requiring payment. Furthermore, to the extent Defendant is seeking payment for appearing in Court, that argument lacks merit, said the judge's terse order.

A fifth riot defendant, Brian Christopher Mock, began representing himself last month after having an assistant federal public defender as his attorney, court records indicate. A tipster told the FBI that Mock bragged about assaulting police officers and destroying property at the Capitol after he returned home to Minnesota.

More than 640 people have been charged in the riot. Several cases already have been resolved with sentencing ranging from probation to jail terms of less than a year. Some defendants charged with the most serious offenses  including conspiracy cases against extremist group members  could face years in prison if convicted.

It can be a challenge for judges to maintain their composure and control of their courtrooms when a defendant isnt represented by a lawyer.

The court will often wind up bending over backwards to make sure that people dont make their situations worse by wanting to be their own Perry Mason, Magner said.

New York civil rights lawyer Ron Kuby, who has served as standby counsel for about a dozen self-represented defendants, has practiced law for nearly 40 years and never seen one such defendant secure an acquittal. But a favorable verdict isnt always their primary objective, he said, adding that sometimes a defendant wants to use a trial to make a political point.

He said laypeople shouldnt represent themselves for the same reason that lawyers shouldnt, either.

You dont have objectivity, Kuby said. You need to to be able to look at the case in an objective way, which is hard to do when you feel youre being criminalized for preventing an illegitimate president from seizing power, however crazy that may sound.
Colin Powell, the first Black secretary of state and former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, died from COVID-19 complications. He was 84 years old. His family announced his death via a Facebook post, saying they lost a remarkable and loving husband, father, grandfather and a great American. His family also noted that Powell was fully vaccinated.

Colin Luther Powell was born on April 5, 1937, in Harlem, New York. His parents were Jamaican immigrants. He grew up in the South Bronx and eventually went to school at the City College of New York, participating in ROTC. He led the precision drill team and earned the top rank offered by the corps, which was cadet colonel. Powell said he liked the structure of the military and felt distinctive wearing a uniform.

Powells Early Career

Powell joined the Army in 1958, serving two tours in South Vietnam in the 1960s. He was wounded twice, including a helicopter crash where he rescued two fellow soldiers. After coming home from Vietnam, Powell stayed in the Army. He attended the National War College, rising in leadership. Powell also earned a promotion to brigadier general in 1979; After that, Powell gained an appointment as Ronald Reagans final national security adviser in 1987. He also worked with President George H.W. Bush in 1989 as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the youngest and the first Black man to hold this position.

In George H.W. Bushs administration, Powells time included his involvement in some of the most notable American military activities of the late 20th century, including the 1989 Panama operation, the 1991 Gulf War, and the U.S. humanitarian involvement in Somalia. During Powells military tenure, he received several awards. In 1989, Powell received his fourth star, becoming the second Black person to rise to that rank. In 1991, he received a Congressional Gold Medal and a Presidential Medal of Freedom. Powell also received a Bronze Star and two Purple Hearts. He also received the Presidents Citizens Medal.

First Black U.S. Secretary of State

Colin Powell was former president George W. Bushs first cabinet selection when Bush nominated Powell for secretary of state. Ultimately, Powell was confirmed unanimously by the Senate due to his extensive knowledge in foreign policy and popularity. As Bushs top diplomat, Powells mission was to build international support for the War on Terror, including the Afghanistan War. Although Powells career had its share of accolades, there was one incident that Powell would later call a blot on his career.

In 2003, Powell gave a speech in front of the United Nations where he offered evidence that the U.S. intelligence community said proved Iraq hid weapons of mass destruction. The United States went to war with Iraq six weeks after Powells speech. However, inspectors later found no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Powell left the State Department in 2005, calling that speech a blot that will forever be on his record.

After leaving the Bush administration, Powell went back to regular life. In 2005, he joined the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins, where he worked as a strategic adviser until his death. Powell spent most of his career working in and supporting Republican administrations. However, in his later years, he started supporting Democratic candidates. After the January 2021 U.S. Capitol insurrection, Powell would renounce his Republican affiliation altogether.

Powell was never afraid to speak about his faith. He was raised in the Episcopal Church and led a youth ministry at his church. According to Powell, his faith led him to serve others and he spent his life doing so. Colin Powell is survived by his wife of 59 years, Alma Vivian Johnson-Powell, and three children.
Honor is a topic that is brought up frequently in the Bible. According to the Bible, Christians honor their mother and father and honor God most importantly. The Bible mentions that there are many ways that you can honor God in your everyday life. Romans 12:1 says that we should offer our bodies as a living sacrifice to God to thank Him for His mercy. You can also honor God by watching what you eat or drink. God has done so much for us. He died on the cross for our sins and continues to bless us, even in the moments that we dont deserve it. God loves us, regardless of the sins weve committed. If we live our lives right, He has prepared a place for us in Heaven, where we will be free of tears and pain. Because God has done so much for us and continues to do so much, honoring God in our lives every day is the least we can do to repay him. Even though we may never refund Him, honoring Him with everything we do is a good start. So how do we cultivate a lifestyle that keeps God first every day? Here are a few ideas to keep in mind.

Give Generously

Giving is a key to a lifestyle that honors God because He doesnt want us to be stingy. God gives generously to us, so he wants us to give generously to others. 2 Corinthians 9:13 says that because of the service youve done, others will praise God because it, and He will commend you for your generosity. God doesnt bless us for us to keep our blessings to ourselves. He blesses us so that we can share our gifts with those around us. Imagine if God was stingy with the benefits He gave us. If that were the case, many of us wouldnt be where we are today. The Lord is a giver, so its suitable that He would want His people to be givers as well. 2 Corinthians 9:6-8 says that those who sow sparingly will reap sparingly. Those who sow generously will reap generously. This scripture says that if you give sparingly, you will receive sparingly, but if you present well, you will receive generously. It also says that God loves a cheerful giver. When you do give to others, God wants you to do so with a positive attitude. So if youre going to give, do so with a positive attitude, and God will be pleased.

Pray in Jesus Name

To pray in the name of Jesus is to honor the life that Jesus lived. At one point, believers offered animal sacrifices to God, but it turned out that they werent enough. To solve this issue, God sent His Son Jesus to Earth. While He lived on Earth, Jesus endured so much. Ultimately, His life on Earth led to His sacrifice for sins He didnt even commit. By praying in the name of Jesus, not only are we honoring Jesus, but we are honoring God as well. God sent Jesus to Earth to do away with sin once and for all. 1 Peter 2:24 says that Jesus bore our sins on his body during his crucifixion so that His people can live to righteousness. His wounds have healed our sins. When we pray in Jesus name, not only do we honor Jesus, but we honor God as well. God sacrificed His Son for our sins because He loves us. He wants us to live the best lives possible. By offering his only Son, God wanted to ensure that we were without sin. By praying in Jesus name, we honor God because it means that we recognize the hard decision He made when offering his only Son, and it shows that we appreciate His decision.

Give Him Praise

Giving God praise is probably the easiest way that we can honor Him. Psalms 63:3 says that Gods love is better than life, and we should use our lips to glorify Him. We praise God because He is full of glory, wise, full of power, and many more reasons. He is the one who saves us, He keeps His promises, and He forgives us for our sins. Listing off all of Gods things can be difficult, but it brings us closer to Him and reminds us of who God is in our lives. The book of Psalms is filled with songs to praise God, but singing isnt the only way to glorify God. You can also dance to praise God. Praising God can be as simple as taking a short moment to say thank you. You can praise God in any way that makes you comfortable. Whichever way you give God praise, praising God honors Him because it shows that we are grateful. Imagine not telling God thank you for all that He has done for us. God has given us so much, so giving Him praise is the least we can do to honor Him. Honor God by giving Him glory, and He will continue to bless you.

Have Faith

Faith is possibly an essential part of being a Christian. One of the most prominent examples of having faith is believing that God exists. Youve never seen Him or touched Him, but you know that He is real. Faith may be the most challenging way to honor God, but it is possibly the most critical to glorify God. Hebrews 11:6 says that it is impossible to please God without faith because anyone who seeks Him must believe that He exists, and He rewards those who seek Him intently. Seeking God with intentions doesnt mean you should only have faith because you might get something out of it, but God blesses the faithful. Luke 7:50 provides an example of what faith does. Jesus is talking to a sinful woman. She believed in Jesus Christ by faith, so Jesus told her that her faith saved her, and she could go in peace. Having faith can be quite hard. Some may even question how you can believe in something that youve never seen. However, having faith is a cornerstone of Christianity. Even though weve never seen God, weve seen what He has done for us, and that alone is enough for us to honor Him every day.

Love Genuinely

Loving God and others genuinely honor God because why would you love God or anyone else disingenuously? Romans 12:9 says that love must be sincere. You must hate what is evil and stick to what is good.

The scripture means that love must be honest, not only in your romantic or familial relationships but in your relationship with God. Mark 12:31 says that you must love your neighbors as yourself. Mark isnt just talking about your neighbors who live next door, but anyone you contact. Luke 6:31 says that we must do unto others as we would have them do to us. This scripture may not speak about love directly, but it is still vital. Treating others the way you want to be treated is a way to honor God because it shows that we abide by His Word. Loving genuinely shows God that we keep Him because it shows that we are giving others our best. To love one another is to love other Christians as Jesus loves us. However, honoring God doesnt mean that you only love other Christians. To praise God, you must love everyone as Jesus loves you. By loving a non-believer the way Jesus loves us, you may cause the non-believer to accept Christ.

There are many ways that you can honor God. However you choose to do so, you must ensure that you commit to glorifying God. You cant praise Him halfway, but instead, honor Him with all your heart. God will bless you tenfold by doing so.
When you think of a ghost, whats the first thing that comes to mind? Is it Casper the Ghost or the 1990 film Ghost starring Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore? When asked is it okay for Christians to believe in ghosts, it would depend on your definition of ghosts. If youre referring to a spirit being, then yes, thats okay. However, if youre referring to the spirit of someone who has died, then thats where it gets complicated. The most prevalent ghost in the Christian faith is the Holy Ghost, also referred to as the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is one-third of the Holy Trinity, encompassing the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. 2 Corinthians 13:14 asks that the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you in all that you do. The King James Version of the Bible is the only modern interpretation that uses the term Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost is a gift to Gods people on Earth to start and complete the building of the body of Christ. 1 Corinthians 12:13 says we were all baptized into one body, and we were all made to drink of one spirit, that being the Holy Spirit. Jesus told His disciples to make disciples and baptize them by all three of the trinity, described in Matthew 28:19.

Although He is named the Holy Ghost, He doesnt scare or haunt people as a paranormal ghost. Instead, His purpose is to lead us in the right direction with our relationship with Jesus and to fill us with Gods spirit. John 16:8 says that when the Holy Ghost comes, He will convict the world of sin and righteousness and judgment.

What the Bible Says About Ghosts.

The Bible doesnt mention ghosts by name but instead refers to them as spirit beings or resurrected humans. The Bible does talk about demons, who are known to hide their true selves and fool people. 2 Corinthians 11:14-15 describes Satan disguising himself as an angel of light, so its no surprise that his servants, or demons, would do the same. Appearing as a ghost and impersonating a dead loved one is something that would be within their reach. When it comes to the paranormal and seeking our loved ones in the afterlife, the Bible warns against it. Leviticus 19:31 says that you should not turn to mediums or necromancers, or sorcerers, and asks that you dont seek them out and make yourselves unclean by them. Instead, you should trust the Lord and what He says.

Christians dont believe that you turn into ghosts when you die. Instead, they think that we turn into glorified bodies, like Jesus. Philippians 3:20-21 says that when you enter Heaven, your body will change from your earthly body to a glorified body by the power that enables Him. When Jesus walked on water, His disciples thought He was a ghost, as described in Matthew 14:26. When His disciples saw Jesus on the water, they were scared and cried out in fear that He was a ghost.

The Bible teaches that once you die, you face judgment. Believers go to Heaven, and non-believers go to Hell. It doesnt say that their spirit haunts the Earth or visits their loved ones when people die, erasing the idea of ghosts haunting the Earth after they died.

The Verdict.

The term ghosts coincide more with the paranormal realm. In recent years, ghosts have become more popular with ghost hunters and paranormal activity. When it comes to the question of whether it is okay for Christians to believe in ghosts, it ultimately comes down to your definition of a ghost. If youre referring to a spiritual being, then the Bible says that is okay. However, if youre referring to the deceased haunting those on Earth, then the Bible says no. The Bible says that after you die, you go before God to face judgment. If you believe in God and have accepted him as your Lord and Savior, then you go to Heaven. However, if you are a non-believer, then you go to Hell. The Bible does acknowledge spirit beings who can connect and appear in the physical world.

Demons can disguise themselves as loved ones who have died, so be cautious of seeking to speak to deceased loved ones. The Bible says that you should be careful of psychics, sorcerers, or mediums. If you attempt to contact a deceased loved one, it could be a demon in disguise. Its safer not to reach them and speak only to God. According to the Bible, if you are a believer of God, you go immediately before God after you die. At that point, depending on if youre a believer or a non-believer, you will go to Heaven or Hell. When you go to Heaven, your body transforms from your earthly body to your glorified body, like Jesus. Some stories mention a dead spirit lingering on the Earth, but this is not the case in the Christian faith.

It can be hard to lose a loved one and not speak to them, especially if you were close to them. Instead, you should take comfort in the fact that if you follow Gods Word, you will see them again. Cherish the memories you had with your loved one and remember the good times you had with them while they were in their earthly form. Your loved ones would not want you to dwell on the life they lived on Earth. They would like you to live your life with the time you have left and thank God for every day that He gives you. Spend each day trying to find the best way to honor God in everything that you do. By doing so, it guarantees that you will see your loved ones again once you enter the Kingdom of Heaven. If you continue to follow Gods Word and do your best every day, you will see your loved one again.
A view of housing and concrete structures built for thousands of displaced Rohingya from Myanmar, on Bhashan Char Island in Bangladesh, Dec. 29, 2020.

Rohingya leaders on a remote Bangladesh island say they expect greater freedom of movement for its exclusive refugee population when a United Nations agency takes over humanitarian activities there, while the prospect has already reduced the trend of fleeing that led to drownings.

Under a memorandum of understanding signed between Bangladesh and the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR earlier this month, the Rohingya residents of Bhashan Char will be able to move around the island freely, and the two sides will agree on refugee movements off the island as needed. BenarNews obtained a copy of the MoU, which the government and the U.N. agency have declined to make public.

The announcement of the U.N.s engagement on Bhashan Char has made our community people happy, Rohingya leader Md Yeasin told BenarNews on Monday.

The trend of fleeing is already being reduced, and it will hopefully be stopped when the people will be allowed free movement in the island area.

After months of negotiation, Dhaka and UNHCR on Oct. 9 signed the memorandum that clears the way for the U.N. agency to begin humanitarian operations on Bhashan Char, a tiny low-lying Bay of Bengal island where the government has built a housing complex and infrastructure to accommodate Rohingya refugees from Myanmar.

Since December 2020, Bangladesh has moved as many as 19,000 refugees there from sprawling and densely crowded Rohingya camps on the mainland, saying that Rohingya have been going to the island on a voluntary basis. Dhaka plans to relocate more than 80,000 others from those camps in Coxs Bazar, a southeastern district near the Myanmar border.

Our movement is very restricted here. We are always kept under tight surveillance, Muhammad Sohel, another Rohingya leader, told BenarNews.

After the MoU was signed, UNHCR representatives already visited us, and they informed us about various facilities including free movement on the island.

Until now, Bangladeshs navy has been in charge of managing housing structures on Bhashan Char, which Human Rights Watch has likened to an island jail in the middle of the sea. Under the MoU, the navy will transfer those duties to civilian administrators.

A Dhaka University professor said the deal was long overdue.

Although it is late, it has made the island refugees hopeful about their future. And it is also encouraging refugees in Coxs Bazar to go to the Bhashan Char, Prof. Imtiaz Ahmed said.

In the agreement, the word protection is used in different provisions, which means the agreement truly and effectively will help the people who are now staying in Bhashan Char, he told BenarNews.



Bangladesh Navy personnel help a disabled Rohingya refugee child to get off from a navy vessel as they arrive at Bhashan Char Island in Bangladesh, Dec. 29, 2020. [Reuters]





Free movement island-wide

The refugees will be free to roam around the island, according to the memorandum.

The government will allow refugees/FDMNs [Forcibly Displaced Myanmar Nationals] to move on and within Bhashan Char for their daily activities, says one clause.

The memorandum also states that precise modalities and arrangements for movements of refugees/FDMNs from and to Bhashan Char on a needs basis will be agreed between [the government] and U.N.

A Bangladeshi government official did not elaborate on what this clause meant by needs basis.

Now, we are working with the whole matter. There is no scope to talk about the details of the agreement at this stage, Shah Rezwan Hayat, the commissioner for Refugee Relief and Repatriation, told BenarNews.

Prof. Ahmed said that movements to and from the island is a vital issue for Rohingya refugees.

Those who are now staying or planning to go to Bhasan Char, almost all of them have some close relatives living in Coxs Bazar refugee camps, so the scope of a needs basis movement is sometimes important for some refugees, he told BenarNews.

I think that the authorities concerned should find a way to give such a scope to the refugees to meet their relatives in important issues, he added.

In recent months, scores of refugees have escaped or attempted to flee from the island, located about 60 kilometers (37 miles) from the nearest mainland territory. Those who failed in efforts to escape complained about poor living conditions, the food given to them, and a lack of opportunities to earn a livelihood while being cut off from the Bangladeshi mainland.

In August, a fishing boat carrying around 40 fleeing Rohingyas from Bhashan Char capsized in nearby waters, leaving more than two dozen dead or missing.

Start date not set

It is not clear when the U.N. operations will begin. Both Bangladeshi authorities and U.N. officials declined to confirm the date.

Hayat, the refugee commissioner, said the authorities were now busy with some primary work regarding the implementation.

Planning sessions are underway, and once finalized, activities can commence, Regina De La Portilla, a spokeswoman for UNHCR in Bangladesh, told BenarNews in an email.

The activities will be tailored to cover basic needs and essential services, as well as education, skills development, and livelihood opportunities based on needs of refugees in cooperation and collaboration with the government and relevant actors, notably Bangladeshi NGOs already working there, she said.

According to the MoU, Rohingya children on the island will receive an education in the Myanmar language and take lessons modeled on the Myanmar curriculum.

Refugees/FDMNs will be permitted to engage in livelihood activities on Bhashan Char, the memorandum also says.

Refugees/FDMNs will also be permitted to access skills, vocational training and capacity building activities, in particular those commensurate with the opportunities available in Rakhine State. These activities and opportunities will allow refugees/FDMNs to better prepare them for their sustainable return and reintegration in Myanmar.

Coxs Bazar, the mainland district, hosts about 1 million Rohingya.

The refugee population includes more than 740,000 who fled Myanmar after the military launched a brutal offensive in August 2017 against the community in their home state of Rakhine, in the wake of attacks on government outposts carried out by Rohingya rebels.

Abdur Rahman contributed to this report from Coxs Bazar, Bangladesh.
Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, Indonesia's coordinating minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment, speaks at Catholic University of America, in Washington, Oct. 18, 2021.

A month and a half after a large Chinese survey vessel entered the Natuna Sea, Indonesia seems to still be pursuing a quiet, cautious approach at sea, despite public pressure.

Since Aug. 31, the Haiyang Dizhi 10 has been operating in the North Natuna Sea near an important oil and gas field, the Tuna Block. It did take a few days break to re-supply in late September, but returned to the location in early October.

Jakarta has been playing down the presence of the Chinese ship, even after experts pointed out that the grid-like pattern it creates is typical of a maritime seabed survey. Domestic pressure has been building with some researchers, like Imam Prakoso from the Indonesia Ocean Justice Initiative, saying that its likely that the Haiyang Dizhi 10 has been carrying out unlawful research activity.

The Indonesian government needs to take firm action, Imam said in an interview with BenarNews, when the Haiyang Dizhi 10 re-entered Indonesian exclusive economic zone (EEZ) on Oct. 5. Do they have permission or not? If not, its clearly illegal because we have clear rules regarding scientific research activities at sea, he said.

Yet this Monday, the Indonesian Coordinating Minister of Maritime and Investment Affairs Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan brushed aside Natuna Sea concerns.

We respect freedom of navigation in Natuna Sea, Luhut said at the Catholic University of America in Washington D.C., where he delivered a lecture entitled The Role of Indonesia in a Global Setting.

Indonesian officials have been insisting that the Chinese vessel has committed no violation and that all foreign ships are allowed to pass through the Natuna Sea.

I think Indonesia is very carefully selective about how and when it reacts and responds to Chinas assertiveness, which Id even call provocation, in the Natuna Sea, said Huong Le Thu, a senior analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.

She said many Indonesian thinkers are confident they can deal with China through dialogue, and that that takes time. But she added that in the meantime, China has been modernizing its military capability, reclaiming islands in the South China Sea and growing in ambition.

I dont think we have all the time like many in Jakarta would assume, Huong said.

Nevertheless, some Indonesian experts believe that Jakarta has undertaken unpublicized but resolute efforts to defend its national interests in the Natuna Sea.

The fact that Indonesian Navy and Bakamla [the Indonesian Maritime Security Agency] deploy warships and cutters to shadow Haiyang Dizhi shows [the] Indonesian position, said Satya Pratama, a current senior government official and a former Bakamla captain.

It does not have to resort to some affirmative action like ramming or such, he told BenarNews.

Protest or not protest?

While Indonesia does not regard itself as party to the South China Sea dispute, which pits the sweeping claims of China against those of several of its neighbors, Beijing does claim historic rights to areas overlapping Indonesias exclusive economic zone.

Satya conceded that formal protest is the norm for cases like this. But I believe some in Indonesian government do not believe in megaphone diplomacy.

Some other countries in the region like Malaysia have also preferred a quiet diplomacy when dealing with Chinas assertiveness in the South China Sea.

But recently, Malaysia publicly protested against the operation of another Chinese survey vessel, the Da Yang Hao, in its EEZ and even summoned the Chinese ambassador in Kuala Lumpur.

The Da Yang Hao left Malaysias waters two weeks afterward. It is unclear whether the diplomatic protest played a decisive role. But Elina Noor, an expert at the D.C.-based Asia Society Policy Institute, said that for symbolic and substantive reasons, its important for Malaysia to continue protesting these sorts of incursions regardless of immediate effect.

She said it signals growing impatience and concern from the Malaysian side about the increasing brazenness of Chinas approach.

However, Huong, the analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, thinks that as a non-claimant to the South China Sea, Indonesia holds a somewhat different position from claimants such as Malaysia, Vietnam and the Philippines, which cannot afford what Indonesia is doing - a step back from South China Sea and only focusing on Natuna.

She said that Indonesia in recent years has shown relatively more inward-looking tendencies and is preoccupied with major domestic matters like decentralization of authority, ethnic and religious issues and COVID-19.

Luhut, who is also Indonesias coordinator for cooperation with China, explained his countrys policy towards China in his appearance at Catholic University.

All documents, all international laws are there  we just respect them, he said. We discuss with our contact partners in China, we agree to disagree in some areas but I think were able to manage so far, he told the audience, adding that the tensions over there [in the South China Sea] are not as bad as people think in the U.S.

We dont feel that we have issues with China, Luhut said about Indonesias maritime borders in the South China Sea.

When pressed about the reported harassment of Indonesian fishermen by Chinese coastguard ships in disputed waters, the coordinating minister said: We talk [with the Chinese side] on the phone and say, Hey, stay away from there!

Its like with your brothers and sisters, sometimes you have problems but dont make it into a big problem! Luhut said.

From the ministers response, Indonesian officials appear keen to preserve the status quo in the South China Sea for the moment.

Its also likely that the Haiyang Dizhi 10 will keep criss-crossing the Natuna Sea for a while yet.

Ika Inggas and Shailaja Neelakantan contributed to this report from Washington.
Police crime-scene operatives respond to a report of drug-related killings on the streets of Manila, sometime in December 2017.

The Philippine justice department said Tuesday it had reviewed dozens of cases of officer-involved killings tied to the governments war on illegal drugs, ahead of the possible filing of charges against errant cops.

Human rights groups welcomed the move but said it was too little, too late because the International Criminal Court in The Hague is poised to investigate President Rodrigo Duterte over his five-year-old drug war.

The Department of Justice has recently concluded its review of 52 cases submitted by the Philippine National Police and its Internal Affairs Service involving deaths during the course of its so-called war on drugs, the department said in a statement.

The agency said that it turned over these cases to the National Bureau of Investigation  the Philippine equivalent to the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the United States.

These cases are to undergo further investigation and case buildup for the possible filing of criminal charges against erring police officers, the department said.

The 52 cases involved 154 police officers linked to the shooting deaths of drug suspects as they enforced the presidents crackdown on illegal drugs. Duterte had allegedly told police to protect themselves and kill suspects, rather than be killed, during the course of the crackdown.

In its statement, the justice department said it recognized the importance of transparency in the review process, as it authorized the release of certain information about the 52 cases. This included the docket numbers, the case background, the names of the suspects and the places where the shootings took place. The department also asked witnesses to come forward.

The agencys announcement came a month after Duterte told the United Nations General Assembly that he had ordered a review of the national polices campaign against drugs, while promising that those found to have acted beyond bounds during operations shall be made accountable before our laws.

He, however, also made it clear that the law applied to everyone and that all criminals, including terrorists, would be subjected to the full force of our laws.

So far during the drug war, only three police officers have been tried and found guilty for the murder of 17-year-old student Kian Loyd delos Santos in 2017.

Witnesses, backed by a CCTV footage, testified that the three officers had led the boy away before shooting him near a pigsty  contrary to officers statements that he died in a shootout.

Mere filing of cases

Dutertes order to review the police campaign against illegal drugs was meant to protect his image ahead of the International Criminal Courts investigation into the killings, according to Cristina Palabay, secretary general of Karapatan, a Philippine human rights group.

In September, the ICC approved a request by a former chief prosecutor to investigate the thousands of extrajudicial killings in the Philippine drug war.

The Duterte-ordered review should go beyond just a mere filing of cases against erring police officers, Palabay told BenarNews.

It should also establish the pattern in the killings, look into what the basis was for the operations in which victims were slain, and find out why only less than one percent of the estimated 8,000 drug war killings are under investigation, she said.

These persistent and unanswered questions lead to a view that these efforts, aside from being a [case of] too little too late, can only be mere window dressing by the current administration, Palabay said.

Without establishing the clear patterns of killings, as well as the level of command responsibility, such piecemeal acts do little to render justice.

Edre Olalia, president of the National Union of Peoples Lawyers, an NGO which helps victims of human rights abuses, also questioned Dutertes motive.

It is vulnerable to being viewed more of as going through the motions rather than as a proactive desire to decisively stop the carnage and impunity, he told BenarNews.

By letting a puny number of erring police officers fall, Olalia said, Duterte was hoping to launder his image.
Bennington, VT (05201)

Today

Cloudy with showers. A few flurries or snow showers possible. High 41F. Winds WNW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 50%..

Tonight

Mostly clear. Low 23F. Winds WNW at 5 to 10 mph.
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PITTSFIELD  One of downtown Pittsfields longest running and most popular restaurants is currently for sale.

The owners of Patricks Pub, brothers David and Micah Powell, and their father, Bruce, have placed on the market the popular eatery on 26 Bank Row that they have been involved in the ownership of for 20 years. The restaurant, which has been in operation since 1985, is currently listed at $289,000 by Stone House Properties. The listing agents are Rich Aldrich and Tony Blair.

Patricks will remain open while the restaurant is for sale, said Shana Powell, Patricks business manager and Micah Powells wife.

On Monday, Shana said a lot of factors went into the Powells decision to place the pub on the market, and that those reasons were probably accelerated by the events associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.

We had decided in the past couple of years what we were going to do eventually, she said. My husband and I have three kids and I have another business as well. The long hours and the commitment is an awful lot and basically I would say the pandemic sped up our timeline a little bit.

We just decided that nows the time to have someone else take over, someone whos a little more fresher with more energy to put into rebuilding, as you have to rebuild, from the pandemic, she said.

Like many other local restaurants, Patricks struggled in 2020 during the worst of the pandemic. In April 2021, Powell told The Eagle that Patricks revenue had declined by 50 percent over the previous 12 months.

In November, an increase in local COVID cases caused Patricks to halt in-person dining for 48 hours. Patricks also had to close briefly in December to conduct a deep cleaning of the restaurant after an employee who worked in a nonpublic position tested positive for COVID.

David and Micah Powell became the minority owners of Patricks in 2002, and majority owners in 2008, when they purchased the remainder of the business from then-majority owner Peter Lepotakis.

The Powells officially announced their decision Friday on the pubs Facebook page, and as of Monday that post had generated 108 comments, including one from Lepotakis.

I have never seen things as hard on business owners as the last two years, wrote Lepotakis, who opened Electras Cafe in Lenox in 2012. When I sold the remaining stock to you guys in 2008, I knew you would succeed. But you did something wonderful. You took something that was already good and made it better. That is something to be proud of.

Many patrons also chimed in to thank the Powells and wish them success in the future.

Wow, this genuinely made me tear up, wrote Averie Crocker. Ive had a lot of firsts here. Overall real good memories. Thank you everyone along the wonderful journey for creating an amazing experience and food.

In their Facebook post, the Powells described their decision to sell Patricks as certainly an emotional one and thanked their patrons for their continued support.

Walking away from something that you put your heart and soul into for 20 years is never easy, the post read. You can look at the posts on Facebook. It is overwhelming to read that to really understand that the community was also invested in our business and liked what we did. Its just emotional, it really is.

Im not interested in any sort of pity party kind of an outlook, Shana Powell said.

I will say that (sales) were down as we mentioned earlier in the spring, but we were also in a position where there was such limited staffing that we could not deliver (food) any more like we were doing, (and) we cant open extra hours or extra days, she said. We were very limited in building back up our sales to pre-pandemic (levels) because we just dont have enough staff to handle that.

Wage shortage? Worker shortage? Restrictions lifted, but Berkshire restaurants face hiring struggles At Ottos Kitchen & Comfort in Pittsfield, some diners ask why there is a 30-minute wait, even though they see empty tables. In Lenox, The

Staffing issues coming out of the pandemic have been an issue for several Berkshire businesses, and restaurants are no exception.

I cant speak to other restaurants, but I can say that getting kitchen staff has always, always been a challenge, she said. Getting front of the house staff has never been a challenge for us. But when the pandemic hit what happened was that some of our people that were full-time had to leave and go somewhere else in order to make enough money.

Since the pandemic struck, the number of cooks at Patricks had dropped from eight or nine to four of five, while the number of servers on Saturday nights had fallen from six to two.

So what we have found with our staff is that with the exception of a couple of people, its all people who work one shift a week because they have other jobs, she said. So you cant run a full-time operation with people who work one shift a week.

Patricks Pub originally opened in February 1985 after then owner/manager Dan Keegan spent $75,000 on a 3 1/2 month project to renovate what had previously been a dress shop. The space had been vacant for two years before Keegan, a veteran of the Berkshire bar and restaurant industry, leased the space in October 1984. Keegan told The Eagle in 1985 that he named the restaurant Patricks Pub because that was the name of one of the best Irish pubs in New York City.

In 2004, the Powells spent an additional $125,000 on extensive renovations to Patricks that included the creation of an L shaped bar. Five years later, the brothers created a bigger room in the pub for private functions, and in 2012 received permission from the city to provide outdoor dining.

In 2012, the Powells also opened a second restaurant, J. Allens Clubhouse Grille, on North Street near the Beacon Cinema. J. Allens closed in October 2019, but Shana Powell said the closure of that eatery is unrelated to the decision to sell Patricks Pub.
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.
For Pittsfield-based ghouls and goblins, the best bet is a good coat, poncho or umbrella  or to haunt the following night in one of the neighboring towns. Or, if you're lucky, your kid already decided to dress as a mermaid or Longshore fisherman.
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.
Seven of the eight remaining candidates vying for six seats on the city's School Committee participated in a community forum on Monday, nearly two weeks before voters head to the polls.
Reporter

Heather Bellow, a member of the investigations team, joined The Eagle in 2017. She is based in the South Berkshire County bureau in Great Barrington. Her work has appeared in newspapers across the U.S.
Halloween is fast approaching, which means its time once again for white people to get in trouble on social media (and maybe with their employers) for rocking costumes they have no damn business even considering for themselves or their kids.

Every year, we say the same thing. And every year, it seems to fall on deaf ears. There was that time when this white lady in Brazil dressed her son in a blackface slave costume with shackles, bloody bandages and whipping marks.

Then theres the UPS employee who wore the Mammy getup. There was the salon owner who posted a video of an employee in Michael Jackson blackface. And, of course, theres a list of politicians who caught a reckoning for behaving badly back in their younger days, like the otherwise beloved Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who apparently didnt know better wearing an Arabian Nights costume in brown face at a party in 2001.

I could spend the rest of this piece tabulating the stunning volume of blackface fails, but wed be here all day. Im actually here to explore an interesting discovery for Halloween in 2021: the Harriet Tubman costume  for girls and women manufactured bu California Costumes and available through various retailers online.

For those of you who slept through the entirety of your seventh grade American History course, Harriet Tubman escaped slavery and became an historical figure through her role in the network of rescuing other slaves known as the Underground Railroad. Shes experienced a renaissance of sorts in recent years, including a riveting depiction by Cynthia Erivo in the 2019 biopic Harriet as well as a name drop in the title of Phoebe Robinsons Sorry Harriet Tubman, her new stand-up special on HBO Max. Theres also her spot on the $20 bill we were promised that hasnt yet come to fruition due to what I can only surmise is bureaucratic ass dragging.

At any rate, if theres one historical figure Im completely good with young Black girls dressing up as for Halloween, its Tubman. On the other hand, anyyyyyyonnnnne can purchase and wear this costume, and Im not entirely sure I want to see white people dressed as Harriet Tubman whilst bopping around looking for candy.

Theres definitely a way that non-Black people can appropriately dress up as famous Black folks (more on that in a second). But in this case, were talking about the potential of a blonde haired, blue-eyed girl-slash-woman rocking antebellum slavery gear while holding a purpose-driven lamp.

And lets be clear  White people from Middle America barely know who Tubman is, let alone would dress as her for Halloween. What Im really worried about are those woke white mothers from Connecticut who dress their daughters up as Tubman, if only to send her off to school with the intention of educating her fellow classmates.

There are manifold better ways to learn about Tubman than being around a white kid dressed up as her. But more importantly, there are other Halloween costumes that, if white people insist on dressing up as a Black character  fictional or otherwise  they can pull off without the pitchforks and side-eyed comments coming out.

Black Panther is a great example. So many people adore Marvel films, comics or both, and the 2018 film set a stupid number of global records, which means it wasnt just Black folks at the theater. Sure, TChalla has been African royalty since the characters inception in 1966, but were talking about a skintight suit, a full-face helmet and some claw gloves. Light work. If you try to go as the late Chadwick Boseman in blackface, however, youve gone too far and youll probably catch a beatdown.

Ever since I was a kid, Ive seen women and men pull off the Tina Turner costume. All you really need is the wild, spiky blonde wig from her Private Dancer era, along with the shortest, most shimmery sequined dress you can get your hands on and heels taller than the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. White folks can absolutely pull this off without an ounce of skin bronzer; it helps, however, if you dont skip leg day, because Turners gams were nonpareil back in the day.

If you are not Black and absolutely, positively must do Halloween as a revered Black icon, I think Civil Rights legend Rosa Parks might be your safest choice. The most famous image of Parks is sitting on a bus, wearing a hat, glasses and a generally nondescript coat and dress. Its cheap, easy to pull off and, unlike the Tubman costume, is not cloaked in the imagery of slavery.

Let me be clear, this is not an endorsement to dress as Parks for Halloween if youre not part of the Black diaspora. However, its probably least likely to keep you off the Summer Jam screen that is social media.
Tyler Perry's The Oval Who Will Survive the Battle for Control of the Oval?

The fates of the first family and the innocent pawns caught up in their power struggle are revealed when Tyler Perry's The Oval returns for a new season, Tuesday at 9/8c.
Spearfish, SD (57783)

Today

Clouds and some sun this morning with more clouds for this afternoon. High 54F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Rain and snow showers mixed late. Low 34F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of precip 50%.
EDITORS NOTE: While the state has lifted most COVID-19 restrictions, local libraries may have different requirements for entry. Please contact your local library. If any listing is inaccurate or to submit an event, please contact Julie Norwood at julie.norwood@pioneergroup.com.

Big RapidsCommunity Library

BRCL requires all patrons, regardless of vaccination status, to wear masks during their visit. If you do not have your mask, one can be provided to you. To register for an event, call the library at 231-796-5234 or email Sarah at swelch@bigrapidslibrary.org.

 Take and Make Kits (all ages): Monthly kits available at the circulation desk at a first come, first serve basis. The kits are made for everyone and will not adhere to age groups like previous months.

 A-Z Kit Club (ages 3-5): Participants receive weekly bags that spotlights a letter of the alphabet and Talk is Teaching activities. Register by emailing Sarah at swelch@bigrapidslibrary.org.

 Murder Mystery Kit (ages 8 and older): Each kit will include witness statements, clues, suspect files and more. Can you solve the mystery? This kit will be available the third Monday of each month on a first come, first served basis.

 Walk Big Rapids (all ages): 10-11 a.m. Tuesdays, Aug. 10-Oct. 26. Meet at the library Tuesday mornings to walk different paths around Big Rapids. Turn in your steps to help the library reach our community goals.

 Knot Just Knitting (all ages): 6:30-8 p.m. first and third Thursday of each month. Share favorite hobby whether its knitting, cross-stitch, or scrapbooking. Contact: Kayla at kbrock@bigrapidslibrary.org.

 Caregiver Connection (adults): 10-10:45 p.m. Fridays. Themed weekly meetings gives tips on caregiving. Bring kids for free play during discussion.

 Storytime with Mr. Howard (ages 0-5): 10 a.m. Mondays and Wednesdays in the library community room.

 Teen Tuesdays ages (13-18): 4 p.m. the second Tuesday of each month. Register at the library or by emailing Sarah at swelch@bigrapidslibrary.org.

 Architects Assemble (all ages): 1-2:30 p.m. the third Saturday of each month. Builders may work on their own or follow a guided activity. Email swelch@bigrapidslibrary.org with any questions.

 Myths & Mysteries (ages 9-12): 4-5 p.m. third Thursday of each month, Sept. 21-Nov. 16. Sign up at the library or by emailing swelch@bigrapidslibrary.org.

 Cut & Paste (ages 6-8): 4-5 p.m. the fourth Tuesday each month. Each month will feature a different craft and a snack. Register at the library or by emailing swelch@bigrapidslibrary.org.

 Magic for Beginners (ages 9-12): 4 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 19. Spaces are filling up for this lesson by magician John Dudley. Register at the library or by emailing swelch@bigrapidslibrary.org.

 Paranormal University, Ghost Hunting 101: 6 p.m. Friday, Oct. 22: Join members of MAPIT to learn the basics of ghost hunting. Bring your own chair.

 Fall Festival Events: 3 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 30: Join Mr. Howard for crafts and fun activities. A family friendly movie will begin 6:30 p.m.

Reed City AreaDistrict Library

Reed City Area District Library has revamped its website. Updates will continue to be made throughout the first part of October. Check it out at www.reedcitylibrary.org

 Second Saturdays: 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. the second Saturday of each month. Each month the library will host a variety of events. Visit facebook.com/reedcitylibrary for details.

 Story Hour: 11:30 a.m. Wednesdays. Join Ms. Cyndi for fun stories and activities.

 Scrabble: 1-3 p.m. second and fourth Tuesday of the month.

 Tiny Art Show (ages 9-12): Create your own small masterpiece to be displayed Oct. 25-29 in celebration of Bob Ross birthday. Take Home Kits will be available Sept. 27. Must be returned by Oct. 20.

Morton Township Library

 Spooky Magic Show: 6:30-7:15 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 26. Join magician Gordon Russ for some fast-paced spooktacular fun for the whole family.

 Story Hour (ages 0-5): 10 a.m. Tuesdays. In-person Story Hour is back. If you prefer to enjoy storytime from the comfort of your own home, weekly videos will be posted and craft packets will be available.

 Crafty Wednesdays for Kids: Kits are available for curbside pickup from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesdays. Call 231-972-8315 and staff will bring the packets out to you.

 STEAM Kits To Go: The kits integrate high-interest books with interactive resources for family fun and learning, and are available to check out with your library card!

Walton Erickson Public Library

Book Sale: 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 6. Funds raised will support library programs.

Evart Public District Library

 Preschool Story Hour: 9:30 a.m. Wednesdays. Come in and enjoy stories with Miss Marty.

LeRoy Community Library

 Busy Bags: Available the first of each month. Free monthly steam-centered activities for pre-k through sixth grade. For more information, email leroycommunitylibrary@gmail.com or call 231-768-4493.

 Story Time with Mr. Tom: 3:30-4 p.m.Thursdays. Mr. Tom will share his favorite books. Snacks provided.

 Open House: Noon-5:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 22. Includes kids activities, door prizes, refreshments and more.

Tamarack District Library

 Under the Radar: 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 28, at Tamarack District Library, 832 S Lincoln Ave, Lakeview. Tom Daldin and Jim Edelman, of the PBS show Under the Radar, will share great stories from their travels around Michigan. Call 989-352-6274 to reserve a seat.

AREA BOOK CLUBS

 Novel Tea Book Club: 3 p.m. third Thursday of each month at Artworks,106 N. Michigan Ave., Big Rapids. 231-796-2420. October selection: The Midnight Library by Matt Haig.

 Reed City Readers Book Club: 6 p.m. third Thursday of each month at Reed City Area District Library, 829 S. Chestnut St., Reed City. 231-832-2131. October selection:Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty.

 Page Turners Book Club: 1 p.m. the second Tuesday of the month at Morton Township Library 110 S. James St., Mecosta, 231-972-8315. October selection: Island of Sea Women by Lisa See.

 Coffee Break Book Connection: Second Tuesday of each month at Walton Erickson Public Library, 4808 Northland Drive, Morley. Call the library at 231-856-4298 for details.

LIST OF LIBRARIES

Mecosta County

 Big Rapids Community Library, 426 S. Michigan Ave., Big Rapids, 231-796-5234

 Morton Township Library 110 S. James St., Mecosta, 231-972-8315

 Walton Erickson Public Library, 4808 Northland Drive, Morley, 231-856-4298

 Wheatland Township Library, 207 Michigan Ave, Remus, 989-967-8271

 Barryton Public Library, Barryton Branch, 198 Northern Ave., Barryton, 989-382-5288

 Barryton Public Library, Chippewa Branch, 19171 Fourth St., Chippewa Lake, 231-867-2014

Osceola County

 Reed City Area District Library, 829 S. Chestnut St., Reed City, 231-832-2131

 Evart Public Library, 104 N. Main St., Evart, 231-734-5542

 LeRoy Community Library, 104 W. Gilbert St., Leroy, 231-768-4493

 M. Alice Chapin Memorial Library, 120 E. Main St., Marion, 231-743-2421

 Tustin Community Library, 310 S. Neilson St., Tustin, 231-829-3012

Lake County

 Pathfinder Community Library, 812 Michigan Ave, Baldwin, 231-745-4010

 Chase Township Public Library, 8400 E. North St., Chase, 231-832-9511

 Luther Area Library 115 State St., Luther, 231-797-8006
Developing a treatment for vision loss through transplant of photoreceptor precursor

With the advent of induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) and embryonic stem cell (ESC) technology, regenerative stem cell therapy has the potential to be an alternative treatment for end-stage retinal degeneration, independent of the underlying genetic defect.

Retinal regenerative therapies therefore hold great promise for the treatment of IRDs. Studies in animal models of IRDs have suggested visual improvement following retinal photoreceptor precursors transplantation, though there is limited evidence on the ability of these transplants to rescue retinal damage in higher mammals.

A recently published study from the Department of Ophthalmology at the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine in Singapore examines the therapeutic potential of photoreceptor precursors derived from clinically compliant iPSCs.

The study demonstrated the safety and therapeutic potential of clinically compliant iPSC-derived photoreceptor precursors as a cell replacement source for future clinical trials. These include performing a first-in-man clinical trial for photoerecptor precursor transplant in Singapore, in collaboration with RxCELL, a biotechnology company focused on therapeutic applications iPSCs.
Launches Project Chariot to help diagnose and treat patients with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL)

AstraZeneca India has announced the launch of the initiative 'Project Chariot' to help diagnose and treat patients with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL) in India.

The company has formed a first strategic partnership with Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute (RGCI) to help roll out the programme across North India and the Delhi NCR region.

Through this initiative, AstraZeneca aims to help identify and support CLL reference laboratories (CRLs) in strategic locations across India and connect peripheral hospitals with their closest CRL so that patients combatting the disease can avail themselves the necessary FISH (Fluorescence In Situ Hybridization) panel and IgHV test, and expand the test access to CLL patients throughout the country.

Project Chariot does not aim to redefine the current CLL treatment protocol but to help identify HR CLL patients by providing better and more comprehensive test access to these patients and consequently improving their treatment outcomes.
Ronald Richman has been appointed to the position of chief actuary at Old Mutual Insure (OM Insure) as of 1 September 2021.

Source: supplied Ronald Richman, Chief Actuary at Old Mutual Insure

I am very excited to welcome Ronald to the OM Insure family, says Garth Napier, MD at Old Mutual Insure.One month into his tenure and he is already playing a pivotal role in assisting us to enhance our Actuarial Control Function across the OM Insure brand and support our ambition of becoming our customers first choice, he adds.Richman, who has extensive experience as an actuary and risk manager within the non-life and life insurance sectors, joins the OM Insure team from SA Taxi where he was the Managing Head of Insurance Actuarial.Previously, he was an associate director at QED Actuaries and Consultants, Africas largest independent actuarial consulting firm where he was responsible for non-life and life insurance customers, researching the application of machine learning and Artificial Intelligence (AI).Prior to this, he led the enterprise risk management and actuarial functions for the AIG group across Africa.He has published several award-winning papers on how modern machine and deep learning techniques can be applied to actuarial science modelling.Richman is a Fellow of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (IFoA) and the Actuarial Society of South Africa (ASSA), holds practicing certificates in Short Term Insurance and Life Insurance from ASSA, and a Masters of Philosophy in Actuarial Science, with distinction, from the University of Cape Town.He chairs the Actuarial Society of South Africas ERM committee and is a member of the International Actuarial Associations ASTIN Board.
South Africa's most outstanding food and health writers for 2021 were announced on Friday, 15 October 2021 at the 32nd annual Galliova Awards, which was attended online by entrants, judges and representatives from the South African Poultry Association (SAPA).

Tony Jackman of thewas announced as the Galliova Food Champion of the Year. The runners-up in this category were Vickie de Beer of(second) and Johane Neilson ofand(third).Freelance writer and dietitian, Jandri Barnard was awarded the title Galliova Egg Champion, followed by Vickie de Beer again in second place, with Liezl Vermeulen ofplaced third in this category.Arina du Plessis of Landbouweekblad and Landbou Boerekos was the winner of the Galliova Broiler Champion, while Louisa Holst and Hannes Koegelenbergs joint entry forand freelance writer Esther Malan were placed second and third respectively.Freelance writer, Glynis Horning, was honoured for the third consecutive year as the Galliova Health Writer of the Year. The other finalists in this category were Jandri Barnard and Lutho Pasiya of(IOL).The Digital Food Influencers award category, introduced in 2020, was won by Sam Linsell of. In second place was Zorah Booley of, while third place was awarded to Georgia East ofThis 2021 judging panel included renowned food writer, recipe developer, stylist and blogger, Anna Montali; well-known food personality, TV chef, food stylist and award-winning cookery book editor, Zola Nene; formerandfood editor, author and head of culinary development at Jan Innovation Studio, Barbara Joubert; registered dietitian and Emeritus Associate Professor of the University of the Free State, Professor Marthinette Slabber-Stretch; consulting dietitian for Sapa and PhD candidate at the University of Pretoria, Monique Piderit; MD of El-Azaar Poultry Farm and a Sapa member (representing the egg industry), Marco Torsius; and owner of Kwena Chicks and a Sapa Board member (representing the broiler sector), Jake Mokwene.A heartfelt tribute to two of the Galliova judges who sadly and unexpectedly passed away earlier this year, was delivered by Anna Montali. Long-standing Galliova judge and four-times Galliova Awards winner, Dorah Sitole, was acknowledged as a pioneer in the food industry, an author, editor, food editor, stylist and recipe developer. Chef Lesego Semenya, or as he was better known, Les da Chef, participated in his inaugural Galliova Awards judging in 2020 and was going to join the judging panel again in 2021. Both Lesego and Dorah will be sorely missed in the food industry, said Montali.The Galliova Awards, (Galli = Latin for chicken, ova = egg) which are sponsored by the South African Poultry Association (Sapa), are awarded annually to the best food and health media in South Africa, whether their work is published in print magazines, newspapers or online platforms.Sapas chairperson, Aziz Sulliman, stated that despite the constantly changing local media landscape, the Sapa broiler and egg producers have remained committed to supporting local media. Sapa is aware of the many challenges facing South Africas poultry and media industries, however, South African journalists are tenacious, and despite all the difficulties of the past, have persevered. Sapa recognises this and is proud to sponsor the 2021 Galliova Awards to acknowledge food and health influencers, concluded Sulliman.
Paige Nick, cofounder and senior copywriter at Nick & Barry

Which category will you be judging?

How do you feel about judging at this years Loeries?

Tell us more about yourself and why you believe you were selected  your judging experience and so on.

When you heard about being selected as a judge, how did you celebrate the news?

What does this mean to you, personally?

What do you expect to experience as a judge?

What specific criteria will you be looking for when judging?

You have some major experience in the creative industry. Could you comment on the impact of Covid-19 on the industry?

Share a few of your favourite Loeries-related moments over the years  either from attending personally or agency winning work-related.

Any predictions of trends that are likely to stand out at Loeries 2021?

What do you believe SA creatives bring to the Loeries judging mix?

Lastly, what are you most looking forward to from Loeries 2021?

What does #FightTheGoodFight mean to you?

Im judging the Film Craft category, Whooohoooooooo!Its always been an honour to be invited, and as a freelancer, its an even bigger honour.Ive been an award-winning copywriter in advertising for almost 30 years, which is the equivalent of a billion years in advertising. So I guess experience plays a part here. Plus, its useful to have judges who might remember stuff thats won historically, so we can make sure were awarding the most original work.Too many deadlines, who has time to celebrate?It means I get to see what work is happening out there, meet other senior creatives who are invited to judge, and keep my finger on whats happening in the industry for another year.Its a great opportunity to see the bulk of work thats been made over the last year or so. Media is no longer as simple as TV, cinema, radio and outdoor anymore.Originality. With the current shape of clients, brands, and the world in general, its hard to find work that really treads a different or new path, everyone is referencing or copying something else great thats already been made.The biggest observation in terms of how we work, is the way remote working has loosened shoulders, opened borders and changed structures. Of course, it has had an impact on agency culture, and on training, but one of the upsides has been that at Nick & Barry, weve been working remotely and smartly since 2013, and its nice to have the rest of the world really start to join in, understand it better and see how possible and beneficial it can be.My first few Loeries in Sun City in the 90s were some of the best nights of my life. But what happens in Sun City stays in Sun City!Yes, Im hoping this year sees the end of the montage. Please, for the love of all thats good, let it see the end of the montage!The world can be jealous of South Africas cultural diversity. Its magnificent.I love meeting the other judges. Or seeing old friends again. We dont have very many opportunities to rub shoulders anymore these days, IRL or virtually. Spending time with other creatives is one of the funniest things you can do with your clothes on. Or off.To me, fighting the good fight is being part of an all-female creative team, in a male-dominated industry.
Virgin Atlantic has announced the relaunch of its direct flight service from London Heathrow to Cape Town International Airport, set to resume three times a week from Wednesday, 17 December 2021.

Source: Pixabay via Stockvault

Cape Town is travel ready

Following the removal of South Africa from the UK red list, Virgin initially announced that flights would only resume in January 2022, however, due to significant customer demand for the direct service from Heathrow to the Mother City, the airline has decided to commence sooner."We know theres pent up customer demand for travel to the UK and vice versa since our removal from the red list, and the reintroduction of the Cape Town route it will make it even easier for our customers to travel for business and leisure between South Africa and the United Kingdom," says Liezl Gericke, head of Africa, Middle East and India.
VodaPay, Vodacom Financial and Digital Services' super app, delivers a digital shopping, lifestyle and financial platform for both consumers and businesses, including exclusive R1 deals on multiple products on the app, through significant partners and discounts.

Driving financial inclusion

Also for SMME

This is the first partnership of its kind in Africa where users can earn cashback and rewards from multiple sources, including banking rewards, loyalty shopping rewards from partners and even VodaBucks, all for transacting through the app.Consumers on the app will also have access to special offers (like R1 deals) and significant discounts from their favourite brands, stores and services on the app while customers on the Vodacom network will receive exclusive deals on data and airtime too.Vodapay gives consumers full control of their lifestyle directly from their smart phones. It is like carrying a digital wallet around in a digital mall, allowing customers to send money, shop at their favourite retailers, order food, and even pay bills and fines all from one simple super app.All transactions happen in an instant with Vodapay. The customer experience is completely focused on ease of use, personalisation and security to deliver a seamless customer experience.Shameel Joosub, CEO of Vodacom Group says, With VodaPay, we have introduced an innovative platform that is simple, accessible, cost-effective, and suitable for the banked and unbanked market, that operates outside the formal banking sector.Weve also partnered with some of South Africas biggest and respected businesses to ensure that consumers using the VodaPay super-app are spoiled for choice when it comes to making buying decisions.VodaPay is a powerful all-encompassing platform aimed at driving digital and financial inclusion in South Africa and the rest of the continent.It is a highly secure and transparent app that allows consumers to load money into their wallets and send it to anyone in real time or use it to make any purchase through the app, ranging from ecommerce to buying airtime, electricity, water, insurance and many other use cases.Customers can also add their bank cards from any recognised South African bank and use it for shopping and paying.With money transfers, at no cost, in real time, customers living in rural areas will no longer have to travel long distance to get their money, they can access their money through their personal digital wallet already available on the app.The VodaPay wallet allows users to send and receive cash with zero transaction fees.VodaPay removes the reams of paperwork that is typically related to opening a bank account and makes it a lot less cumbersome and convenient for those who need to send money, shop and spend.To further drive financial inclusion for as many people as possible, VodaPay is available to customers on any mobile network and and can be accessed in the Google and Apple app stores.VodaPay also helps to significantly reduce data costs because you dont have to download additional apps as many of these apps will already be in VodaPay.Browsing on the VodaPay app is free for Vodacom customers.Businesses can now build their own mini programs in the VodaPay super app and join some of South Africas leading brands that are already on the app. The mini programs are zero rated and incurs no data costs for online businesses.
Editorial Intern

Location: Cape Town Remote work: Some remote work allowed Education level: Diploma Job level: Junior Type: Contract Reference: #Ed Intern Company: CapeTownMagazine.com

Job description

Write events

Research, fact-check and update overviews and put together new overviews

Conduct interviews, research and collect accurate information for overviews and features

Source photos and videos and edit pictures using image editing software

Learn and incorporate SEO best practice into the articles

Upload content on the CMS

Write content for partners

Assist with social media tasks when requested

Partake in monthly content planning meetings and pitch ideas for future stories

Upload articles and pictures onto a CMS system

Make a concerted effort to meet all deadlines

Provide support to the editorial team in their drive for excellence, and be a resource to the company

Requirements

Strong writing ability with a good grasp of grammar and spelling (this will be tested)

A degree/diploma in journalism/English/media studies (advantageous but not essential)

Accustomed to a fast-paced environment

A positive can-do attitude

A hard-core work ethic and a serious interest in getting the most of this experience

Understanding of SEO (advantageous but not essential)

Experience using CMS (advantageous but not essential)

Social media experience

An aptitude to understand different processes

A structured multi-tasker

Knowledge of Photoshop (advantageous but not essential)

Sound research skills

Must be on social media.

Need to assist with Google analytics, being able to monitor the performance of content produced

Knowledge of Later.com

Familiarity with Google Analytics

Own transport and drivers licence

Solid worker that can handle pressure and create good content quickly.

A person that loves to be in the know about all things in Cape Town and the Western Cape

Positive attitude

A key interest in SEO and online media channels

CapeTownMagazine.com is looking for a hardworking and go-getting intern to join its content team. Were looking for a bright-eyed, bushy-tailed content producer with a spirit of discovery. They will help our team in crafting content and articles. Who will help craft articles, collate overviews, dabble in social media and lend a logistical hand around the office (note: the only coffee youll be fetching will be your own, so dont worry about that). You must have a passion for digital media, and be someone who loves to learn and grow.The editorial intern will contribute to all our content sections from events, to overviews and features. You will conduct research, do interviews and learn about social media.The intern will need to work quickly and well under pressure and will need to be gifted with words and be a go-getter.There's an opportunity to shoulder some serious responsibility here and to gain some valuable insight into the world of online publishing. Plus, theres also a chance that the internship could evolve into a permanent position should you prove yourself an invaluable addition to the team.If interested, send your CV, a short letter of motivation and two writing samples to moc.enizagamnwotepac@won (please use Application for Editorial Internship 2021/2022 as your email subject line).Deadline: Applications close on 30 November 2021. If you do not receive a response two weeks after the deadline, please consider your application unsuccessful.Shortlisted candidates will be required to complete a challenge. Posted on 19 Oct 09:46, Closing date 30 Nov
The Cape Town Toiletry Co Pty Ltd

Cape Town, Muizenberg



2 Nov 2021
Social Media Manager

Remuneration: negotiable cost-to-company Location: Cape Town, V&A Waterfront Remote work: Not Applicable Job level: Mid Own transport required: Yes Travel requirement: Occasional Type: Permanent Reference: #SOCIALMEDIA Company: Positive Dialogue

Conceptualise the social media strategy, coordinating with stakeholders across the group to ensure its effectiveness

Manage social media campaigns and day-to-day activities. Duties include online advocacy, writing editorial, community-outreach efforts, content development, emailer writing & distribution

Become an advocate of the Group in social media spaces, engaging in dialogues and answering questions

Monitor effective benchmarks for measuring the impact of social media programs, and analyze, review, and report on effectiveness of campaigns in an effort to maximize results

Regularly feedback insights gained from social media monitoring into the Marketing and Editorial teams, to help them evolve their strategies in a timely fashion

Monitor trends in social media tools, trends and applications

Track metrics and analyze ROI, CTR, CPM, etc.

Three+ years social media management experience

Strong project management or organisational skills

In-depth knowledge and understanding of social media platforms and their respective participants as well as email marketing

Ability to effectively collate and communicate information and ideas in written and verbal format, and build and maintain relationships

Team disruptor, with the confidence to take the lead and guide other departments when necessary

Good technical understanding and can pick up new tools quickly

Have a good working knowledge of of SEO

Following a string of new business wins, Positive Dialogue, a leading Cape Town-based PR and communications company, is looking to grow its team of highly talented communication experts.Positive Dialogue prides itself on delivering detail orientated, measurable results to its no nonsense client base. As a proud member of the fastest growing independent agency group in the country, Duke Group, Positive Dialogue is geared for solid growth.Positive Dialogue hires attitude. Arrive with the right attitude and the rest will fall into place.Irrespective of department or experience level, Positive Dialogue prides itself on having the best people throughout the business. There is a massive amount of positive energy in the agency and our clients and the media feed off that.Good results come from good work and as a results-based business, this is everything to Positive Dialogue.We are looking for a social media manager with mad skills. We want you to tell us things we dont know about social. We want you to wear a financial services hat one meeting (they really like money) and put on another one during your next call with your pet food client (they really like animals).We are looking for a social media manager who knows their numbers and can confidently share them with the client. We know the numbers wont always exceed the target, but we want you to tell us what we can do to get them back up to where they need to be.We are looking for a social media manager who will be an integral part of our newly formed content hub. This hub makes stuff. This hub translates corporate messaging into highly engaging content for our clients. Everything this hub makes is measurable. We want you to help us make it and measure it.We are looking for someone with the right attitude, who is not afraid of rolling up their sleeves and getting the job done with little fuss.Posted on 19 Oct 17:39, Closing date 18 Dec
Refilwe Maluleke becomes TBWA Group's chief strategy officer

TBWA Group has promoted Refilwe Maluleke to chief strategy officer. Along with her new position, Maluleke will continue to serve as managing director at Yellowwood, a strategic marketing consultancy.



Maluleke earned an MBA from Cass Business School in London and was appointed managing director of Yellowwood in 2018. As managing director, Maluleke has transformed the agency from a legacy business to a forward-looking organisation capable of coping with change.



Appointing Maluleke is an important step forward for TBWA South Africa in its journey toward greater organisational cohesion and preserving the identity of its operating companies.
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If you have any questions or need further assistance, please call our customer service team at 814-368-3173 or email nfinnerty@oleantimesherald.com.
MONTREAL - Jean Rochon, a former Parti Quebecois health minister known for introducing anti-smoking measures and reforms that allowed Quebecers to receive care outside of hospitals, has died.

MONTREAL - Jean Rochon, a former Parti Quebecois health minister known for introducing anti-smoking measures and reforms that allowed Quebecers to receive care outside of hospitals, has died.

Rochon's widow told The Canadian Press he died Saturday after a brief illness. He was 83.

Quebec Labour Minister Jean Rochon speaks to reporters, Tuesday May 15, 2001 during a news conference at the legislature in Quebec City. Jean Rochon, a former Parti Quebecois health minister, who served in provincial politics between 1994 and 2003, has died. Rochon was 83.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jacques Boissinot

Rochon served as a cabinet minister in provincial governments of Jacques Parizeau, Lucien Bouchard and Bernard Landry during a nine-year career in politics between 1994 and 2003.

Premier Francois Legault was among many provincial politicians who paid tribute to Rochon Tuesday, expressing condolences to the family of his former colleague, whom he described in a Twitter post as a kind and brilliant man.

Born in 1938, Rochon obtained a law degree in 1961 and a medical degree in 1966. He went on to obtain a masters in public health in 1968 and a doctorate in public health in 1973 from Harvard University.

Rochon was elected for the first time in 1994 in the Charlesbourg riding in the Quebec City area and held numerous cabinet positions, notably the health portfolio between 1994 and 1998. He quit politics in 2003.

His career highlights included leading a shift to a system that reduced the need for long hospital stays, with more care provided at home or in neighbourhood clinics. He also oversaw the province's 1998 law aimed at restricting tobacco use in public places and curbing youth smoking.

Rochon was also responsible for the founding of the province's public health institute in 1998.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 19, 2021.
In 2022, Rick Thomas and his Mansion of Dreams show will return to the Andy Williams Performing Arts Center.
The Boys & Girls Club of the Ozarks will have a new location to serve the Crane School District.
Its almost as if the company would ask the United States to put Grand Canyon as collateral, said Lawrence Gostin, a professor of public health law at Georgetown University. The company rejected that logic. Pfizer has not interfered and has absolutely no intention of interfering with any countrys diplomatic, military, or culturally significant assets, Castillo said. To suggest anything to the contrary is irresponsible and misleading. Some contract demands appear to have slowed vaccine rollouts. At least two countries walked away from negotiations and publicly criticised the companys demands. However, both later reached agreements with Pfizer. Pfizer and Moderna, another US company that developed a vaccine using breakthrough mRNA technology, are facing pressure from critics who accuse them of building a duopoly. Credit:AP Aspects of the contracts are not uncommon, including the reliance on arbitration courts and clauses designed to companies legal protections. Pfziers price for vaccines, as low as $US10 ($13.30) per dose in Brazil, appeared to be lower than some competitors.

Pharma companies have concerns, said Julia Barnes-Weise, director of the Global Healthcare Innovation Alliance Accelerator. One of them is, especially for a not-yet-approved vaccine, that they could be held liable for any injury that that vaccine seems to have caused. Pfizers contracts Pfizer has formalised 73 deals for its coronavirus vaccine. According to Transparency International, a London-based advocacy group, only five contracts have been formally published by governments, and these with significant redactions. Hiding contracts from public view or publishing documents filled with redacted text means we dont know how when vaccines will arrive, what happens if things go wrong and the level of financial risk buyers are absorbing, said Tom Wright, research manager at the Transparency Global Health Program. Much of what is known about Pfizers contracts has come out in leaks, often through journalism from local outlets or international ones, including the Bureau of Investigative Journalism.

Public Citizen analysed an unredacted draft agreement between the company and Albania, as well as unredacted final documents from Brazil, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Peru and the European Commission. Redacted documents published by Chile, the United States and Britain provide further context, though they are missing key details. The contract reached with Brazil prohibits the government from making any public announcement concerning the existence, subject matter or terms of [the] Agreement or commenting on its relationship with Pfizer without the prior written consent of the company. This is next-level stuff, said Tahir Amin, an intellectual property lawyer who co-founded I-Mak, a non-profit global health organisation. Pfizer exerted control over the supply of vaccines after contracts were signed. The Brazilian government was restricted from accepting donations of Pfizer vaccines or making its own donations. Pfizer also included clauses in contracts with Albania, Brazil and Colombia that it could unilaterally change delivery schedules in the case of shortages. In contracts with Brazil, Chile, Colombia, the Dominican Republic and Peru, governments were required to sign a document that says they expressly and irrevocably waives any right of immunity which either it or its assets may have or acquire in the future. The first four were also required to waive immunity against precautionary seizure of their assets.

Public Citizen found contracts that required governments to indemnify, defend and hold harmless Pfizer from and against any and all suits, claims, actions, demands, damages, costs and expenses related to vaccine intellectual property. Pfizer has not seen the same level of public scrutiny as Moderna, accused of price-gouging and delaying deliveries. Analytics firm Airfinity this week predicted Pfizer will sell $US54.5 billion worth of coronavirus vaccine next year, almost twice the value of Modernas sales. One official from a country in the midst of negotiations with Pfizer, who was not authorised to speak on the matter, said that their country found Pfizer difficult to negotiate with, but reliable in the delivery of vaccines. Like Modernas, Pfizers vaccine has been found to be highly effective against the Delta variant and to provide long-lasting immunity. From the leaked documents, it appears to have offered lower prices to its vaccine to poorer countries that had less leverage.

Castillo said that Pfizer had committed to a tiered pricing approach, with wealthier nations paying about the cost of a takeout meal per dose and lower-middle-income countries offered prices at a not-for-profit price. Some 99 million doses had reached low- lower-middle-income countries so far and the company substantial increase in shipments to these countries through the end of the year. Contract terms related to sovereign immunity may have been an attempt to cover for some risks over which the company has little control, including the use of new, unapproved vaccines in partner countries where the company has little oversight over storage and distribution. Pfizer may have been worried about opportunistic lawsuits in countries where it had not filed patents, Barnes-Weise said. Though some countries, including the United States, have laws that provide indemnification to vaccine manufacturers, most do not. However, Transparency International argued that at least four contracts or drafts it examined went much further than other vaccine developers, with more of the risk onto national governments, and away from the developer, even if missteps are made by the developer or supply chain partners, and not just if there is a rare adverse effect of the vaccines. Suerie Moon, co-director of the global health centre at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, said that restrictions on donations were appalling and counter to the goal of getting vaccines as quickly as possible to those who need them.

Castillo said Pfizer is not currently pursuing legal action against any government related to its coronavirus vaccine. At least two countries that initially backed out of negotiations with Pfizer later returned. In January, Brazil publicly said Pfizer was insisting on unfair and abusive contractual terms, pointing to these confidentiality clauses. Just months later, Brazil signed a $US1 billion contract with the drug giant for 100 million doses. Public Citizen says that the signed contract, later leaked, contained many of the provisions that it once opposed. Loading Argentina also rejected early negotiations with Pfizer, with the countrys former health minister publicly said it behaved very badly and demands that did not comply with its law. The country later agreed to purchase 20 million doses. The unredacted contract has not been released. Covax, a World Health Organisation-backed vaccine sharing initiative, has only purchased a relatively modest 40 million doses directly from Pfizer, with reports of disputes during subsequent negotiations. Covax later reached an agreement with the United States for the country to buy and redistribute 500 million Pfizer doses to low-income countries through Covax.
The stockmarket was firmly higher on Wednesday thanks to gains in banks, tech, and industrial stocks, and a strong off-shore lead.

The benchmark S&P/ASX200 closed 0.5 per cent higher 7413.7 points, the highest in four weeks. It was now 2.8 per cent from the high of 13 August.

Blue chip stocks like Commonwealth Bank, Wesfarmers, CSL, and BHP were all higher, particularly after the miner out-bid Andrew Forrests offer for a Canadian nickel pit. However, favourites like Telstra and Tabcorp declined.

Its a return to days of old where stocks are driven by their earnings, Bell Direct market analyst Jessica Amir said.

The reason that the Aussie market has done so well is not only because of our own re-opening, but also, most of the companies that have reported on Wall Street so far have beaten expectations.

The ASX closed higher for the fourth time in five sessions. Credit:Erin Jonasson

She added rising bond yields might indicate a future rise in interest rates, but were also good for banks and insurers because they are large holders and issuers of bonds. Rising bond yields were bad for heavily indebted companies in the growth phase.

But technology followed the Nasdaq higher with Codan up 7.6 per cent, Afterpay up 1.6 per cent, and Nearmap up 2.4 per cent.

Energy stocks dragged on gains despite West Texas Intermediate Crude prices reaching a seven-year high of $US85.08 a barrel.

Whitehaven Coal fell 7.9 per cent to a four week low of $3.05 as the Federal Government inched closer to a net zero emissions target ahead of an international climate change summit.

Oil producer Beach Energy tumbled after a weaker than expected quarterly update, and Woodside Petroleum dropped 1.8 per cent and Santos fell 1.4 per cent. But Worley off-set the declines with a jump of 7.5 per cent after an analyst upgrade.

Flight Centre slumped 4.8 per cent to a three-week low of $21.65 despite telling shareholders at its annual general meeting that bookings for post-lockdown travel were accelerating, but declined to provide guidance.

And Kogan gained 6.7 per cent after an optimistic quarterly update said it had cleared its inventory stockpile.

Tyro Payments dropped 3 per cent when a class action was filed against an outage earlier this year.

Telstra fell 2.1 per cent to a ten-week low of $3.75. Aussie Broadband fell 1.6 per cent despite growing customer numbers after it revealed high access fees charged by NBN Co were eating into its profits.
Never have the famous lyrics I am not throwing away my shot been more relevant than to a crowd of fully vaccinated, mask-wearing Hamilton fans who scored tickets for the reopening of the blockbuster musical on Tuesday night.

With the cast returning to the stage for the first time in four months, producer Michael Cassel said its beyond thrilling ... to be welcoming through the doors, audiences that have been waiting a long time for these shows to be on.

Hamilton producer Michael Cassel announces that the shows re-opening night will play to a sold-out crowd. Credit:Wolter Peters

Certainly it caught us by surprise when we wrapped up our final performance on June 24 ... But we always knew thered be a point in time when we would be returning, and we kept our focus on that, Mr Cassel said.

The lockdown, which saw 16-and-a-half weeks of cancelled shows, totalling 133 performances, and current restrictions, mean Hamilton will now be playing to a 75 per cent capacity limit. Not surprisingly, opening night was sold out, but tickets are available for the coming weeks.
As another long Victorian lockdown inches to a close, here's an interesting piece from former Deputy Chief Medical Officer Nick Coatsworth and epidemiologist Catherine Bennett.

The pair question why Victoria's reopening road map is so much more cautious than NSW, given "both states will be among the most vaccinated places in the world in the matter of weeks".

A busy Bondi Beach on the last weekend before Sydneys lockdown ended. Credit:Brook Mitchell

"The framing of children returning to schools is a good case study in the difference in approach," they write. "Victoria has mandated masks in children from year 3 upwards in schools. Both the ACT and NSW will strongly recommend masks in that age group but ultimately leave the decision up to the childs parents or guardian. Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton has stated that this is based on 'the evidence' though at best this seems to be based upon evidence from the US, where any interpretation of the efficacy of masks in schools is significantly distorted by vaccination rates. And Australias own data from the National Centre for Immunisation Research shows that the risk of either contracting or transmitting the virus among school-aged children remains low.

"Even if we accept that there may be some merit in the policy, the interpretation of inconclusive evidence in a conservative way has become a trademark approach, and one reason why the Victorian approach has often been more restrictive throughout the pandemic.

"When we examine policies such as curfews, closing playgrounds, extending lockdowns, and now having a very slow ramp out of lockdown at the very time that Australians should be out and about and enjoying the fruits of summer after a long and dark winter, we should respectfully question these decisions.

"There is a fundamental starting point in science that in seeking proof that an intervention is effective, it should be first assumed that the intervention does not work, and we seek evidence to disprove this. That seems to have been lost in Victorias approach to pandemic policy, and we desperately need it back."

Read more here.
Not five minutes into Dave Chappelles Netflix special, The Closer, hes insulted child sex abuse survivors and starting on everyone else.

Chappelle, who is black, talks about watching videos of blacks beating up Asian people during the pandemic, while he was quarantining. He likens the beatings to his bodys efforts to beat the virus, implying the coronavirus is Asian.

Dave Chappelle on stage performing his Netflix special, The Closer. Credit:Mathieu Bitton / Netflix

He floats an idea for a film; Space Jews, a story about aliens, originally from Earth, and things go terrible for them on the other planet, so thousands of years later they return and decide that they want to claim the Earth for their very own.

Is this joke an allegory about Israels establishment? About world Jewish domination? Or anti-Semitic Holocaust inversion, as one critic claims?
Canberra  President Lyndon Johnson last night began his Australian visit with a triumphal tour through the streets of the national capital.

First published in The Age on October 21, 1966

Ten thousand people saw him arrive at Canberra Airport. Thousands more stood in gathering darkness to cheer him as he drove in an open car to Government House.

Within half an hour of his arrival he had thrown protocol to the winds and plunged into the airport crowd to shake hands, thump shoulders and hug children.

The presidential motorcade was half an hour late leaving the airport.

Because the President insisted on stopping to talk to crowds along the way, he was hoarse and an hour late  but in high spirits  when he reached Government House.

He broke away from his official programme again to have supper at the Prime Ministers Lodge instead of going to his hotel for an early night.
Not to put too fine a point on it, the place stinks. The police have been called about 20 times to try to get the squatters to move, but to no avail. Within an hour or two theyre back. She knows what shes doing. Myra on October 20, 1991. Credit:Steven Siewert Waverley Council referred the squatters to the Department of Health, which took them away several months ago. After a day or so they were back.

Myra, when approached, would only say: No, no, no. Her companion, Larry Cameron Bellis, who says he is 38, is more forthcoming. He is a well-known figure around Bondi beach, where he often stands looking out to sea or talking to himself. Theres trouble all the time living down there, he said. Young people throw rocks. I have had trouble finding places to stay. He then went on to explain that he has had three or four girlfriends, and that he let them do what they wanted. He also said there was nothing sexual between him and Myra. She makes a mess on the floor sometimes, but she knows what shes doing,he said.

Larry and Myras corner of the basement. Credit:Steven Siewert He was reluctant to talk further, although he said he had been to university studying philosophy, and while he hadnt finished he had passed French, which he used to be able to speak, but it is so long ago I have forgotten. He also said Myra had studied Hasidic philosophy, and knew about Jesus Christ, David, whoever was around then. Whether the two squatters are harmless or not, they have managed to frighten many of the elderly people in the units. The chairman of the body corporate, 75-year-old Mr Bill Weiner, said: They are the filthiest people I have ever seen. There are a lot of elderly people living there. They are frightened of them. It is a very big nuisance.

I dont know what is lacking, but I feel I am living on the Moon. Nobody will do anything. One of the few young residents, Mr Robert Webb, a 21-year-old student, said: It is a disgrace, it is the most sickening thing I have ever seen. But others were more philosophical. Mrs Sheda Truckenburg, who owns the car space in which the two have nested, said: Lets hope it doesnt happen to us. There is always something that brings people to this situation. It is easy to criticise, but ... We are all pigs. We should help each other more. There are so many empty houses. Mrs Lina Benmayor said that when she moved into the block six months ago and went to park her car, she saw what she assumed were bundles of rags in the corner of the car park.

Loading When she went to inspect she discovered they were people. I was shocked, she said. How can people live like this? It smells dreadful and is very sad. They have a faraway look which is very frightening. Cant the community do anything for these people? It is sad, sad. I am surprised the authorities leave them there, that the Government cant give them a home. All they need is one bedroom.
Mark OBrien has a lot on his plate as the defamation lawyer for former special forces soldier and burner phone enthusiast Ben Roberts-Smith, who is suing this masthead for defamation over war crime allegations.

Heston Russell and Mark OBrien. Credit:Illustration: John Shakespeare

And OBrien doesnt take prisoners. After all, his website indicates no less than twice that he is feared.

OBrien is used to firing off aggressive missives. Recently he aimed one at investigative reporter Nick McKenzie, who has done the bulk of the journalistic heavy lifting on war crimes allegations, writing to McKenzies boss, Nine executive James Chessell, accusing McKenzie of sending an unsolicited and concerning message to another of OBriens clients.

A message purporting to be from McKenzie which contained serious defamatory allegations was sent via a form on the website of high-profile former special forces soldier Heston Russell. Russell once worked for boujee gym chain Barrys before befriending broadcaster Alan Jones and Senator Jacqui Lambie and setting his sights on a pro-veterans political career. He might have to clear up a legal fight over fees for veteran supporter pins first.
Queensland has reported an Australian record-breaking weather event, the Bureau of Meteorology says, as 16-centimetre hail pelted down near Mackay.

The giant hailstones were seen in Yalboroo, north of Mackay, in central Queensland on Tuesday.

The record for largest hailstone in Australia was 14 centimetres, reported during severe thunderstorms in south-east Queensland on October 31, 2020.

The hail is the largest recorded in Australian records. Credit:Facebook

BOM senior meteorologist Rosa Hoff said the report was highly accurate, as the picture showed a ruler.
Senior figures from listed gaming giant Star Entertainment will be grilled at public hearings into allegations the company failed to prevent organised criminals and money launderers infiltrating its Australian casinos.

The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald have confirmed that senior barrister Adam Bell, SC, whose exhaustive public examination last year of Stars main rival, Crown Resorts, led to Crown being declared an unfit company to hold a gaming licence in NSW, will examine Stars operations at public hearings next March.

Under investigation: The Star Sydney. Credit:Bloomberg

The hearings are likely to involve Star Entertainment executives, including chief executive Matt Bekier, and board members being summoned to answer questions about their knowledge and management of money laundering risks within the casino group.

Earlier this month, The Age, the Herald and 60 Minutes exposed how Star Entertainment may have enabled suspected money laundering and organised crime within its Australian casinos. The reports also revealed how Mr Bekier and Star chairman John ONeill were warned in 2018 that Stars anti-money-laundering controls were failing.
A man who suffered burns to more than half his body after setting himself on fire on Nauru is one of more than a dozen refugees believed to have tested positive to COVID-19 in a Melbourne hotel.

The mans lawyer, National Justice Project senior solicitor Emma Hearne, said her client had reported that 20 men had tested positive to COVID-19 at the Park Hotel in Carlton, which has been used since last year as a makeshift detention facility.

Protestors outside The Park Hotel in Carlton earlier this year. Credit:Chris Hopkins

We are seriously concerned for our client who has tested positive to COVID-19 with his significant health conditions placing his life at risk, Ms Hearne said.

The Australian government owes all those detained a duty of care and needs to take urgent steps to remove them from hotel detention and provide them with urgent medical treatment. We are very worried for our clients health given how serious the COVID condition can be.
Growing up in South Africa in the late 50s and 60s, Ian Urquhart saw up close the discrimination and denial of rights that people of colour suffered in his birthplace.

With this background, Mr Urquhart, who now runs a pub in regional Victoria, is particularly insulted by the barrage of comments accusing him of joining an apartheid regime simply for volunteering for the COVID-19 vaccine passport trial.

Ian Urquharts business has been attacked for joining the vaccine passport trial. Credit:Simon Schluter

People who use those terms in this context are complete idiots, he said. All we were trying to do was uphold the law and do our part to get the state opened up earlier.

Mr Urquhart is co-owner of the Avoca Hotel, about an hour north-west of Ballarat, and among a group of regional Victorian business owners in the trial, which requires patrons to prove they are double-vaccinated to gain entry.
However, remember you cannot travel between Greater Sydney  including the Blue Mountains, Wollongong, Central Coast and Shellharbour  and the rest of NSW until November 1 when the metro/country divide comes down. You are still not welcome in Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia, Tasmania, the Northern Territory or the ACT if your trip is deemed non-essential. I am in metro Sydney. What are my options? You can go to either Melbourne or regional Victoria from Wednesday if youre fully vaccinated, and theres no need to quarantine, isolate or get tested for COVID-19 when you get there. Victorian authorities announced on Tuesday it would scrap all NSW red zones from 11.59pm, with Greater Sydney  including the Blue Mountains, Central Coast, Shellharbour and Wollongong  downgraded to orange zones, and all other regional areas in NSW downgraded to green zones.

They announced that while people coming from the NSW orange zones would have to isolate until they received a negative COVID-19 test result once they arrived in Victoria if they were not fully vaccinated, those who were fully vaccinated would not have to get tested or isolate. This means after 11.59pm on October 19, if you have had two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine and you have been in the Sydney area (which will become an orange zone), you can enter Victoria on an orange zone permit without any quarantine or testing requirements, Victorias Chief Health Officer said. People who are not fully vaccinated entering on an orange zone permit must isolate on arrival, get tested within 72 hours, and stay isolated until they receive a negative result. You could go to Canberra if youre prepared to undergo 14 days quarantine when you get there. From November 1, youll be free to get out to the rest of your state if youre fully vaccinated. But the borders of Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia, Tasmania, and the Northern Territory remain closed to you. I live in regional NSW. Where can I go?

You are still shut out of metro Sydney, the Blue Mountains, Wollongong, Central Coast and Shellharbour, but you will be allowed back in from November 1 if youre double-vaxxed. You can travel from orange zones of regional NSW to Victoria, if youre fully vaxxed with no isolation or quarantine requirements. But if you are in a regional or rural area that has been designated a red zone by Victorian authorities, you must isolate for 72 hours on arrival and get tested. A trip to Canberra will entail a 14-day period of quarantine, and you are still not allowed to travel to Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory. Where can I travel to from Canberra? You can go into either regional NSW or Sydney  but not between the two  with no bureaucracy, and you can take a trip to either Melbourne or regional Victoria  again, youll have to choose which one  if you are fully vaccinated. But you remain shut out of Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory.
Modelling shows the future of fossil fuel exports that drive regional economies is grim, complicating the Prime Ministers message to the Nationals that regional Australia will be shielded from losses under his push to commit to net zero emissions by 2050.

The Reserve Bank of Australias recent analysis of coal and gas exports shows the industries would at least halve if major customers China, Japan and South Korea met their climate commitments.

Modelling shows the future of fossil fuel exports that drive regional economies is grim. Credit:Glenn Hunt

The Nationals are baulking at endorsing the 2050 target, which Prime Minister Scott Morrison is aiming to commit to on the international stage at the United Nations climate summit in Glasgow in two weeks time.

Nationals MPs are concerned that committing to cut emissions will kill off resources industries that are based in their electorates and have asked the federal government for more detail on their projections.
Nationals MPs are being told a federal plan to slash carbon emissions to net zero levels by 2050 will deliver a great positive for the economy despite new modelling that shows a hit to coal prices from global action on climate change.

The new message aims to end a damaging policy split that could last into next week as key Nationals insist on more time to put their demands to Prime Minister Scott Morrison on regional jobs, dragging out a deal.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce confirmed the concern about falling prices for coal exports while saying he backed the case for a new coal-fired power station in Queensland as part of the federal energy policy.

The division will delay a federal cabinet decision while parading the governments division before Mr Morrison departs late next week to a G20 summit in Rome and United Nations climate talks in Glasgow where he will be asked to pledge deeper emission cuts.
Queenslands contact tracers  lauded as heroes of the pandemic  will be swamped with more than 1000 new daily cases under the states reopening plan, despite modelling that assumes they only have capacity to deal with a 10th of that number.

The state has successfully quashed repeated outbreaks of COVID-19 using testing, contact tracing, isolation of positive cases and quarantining of their contacts  known as TTIQ  with Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk praising the work of Queenslands contact tracers.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has lauded the states contact tracers as heroes, but there are questions about whether they will cope with an influx of cases when the borders reopen. Credit:Matt Dennien

Not all heroes wear capes. Whenever theres an outbreak of COVID-19 in our community, Queensland contact tracers are ready, she tweeted in April.

But the teams capabilities are yet to be fully tested after Queensland repeatedly pursued a zero COVID strategy and slammed borders shut to hotspots, including NSW and Victoria.
The app allows residents in Xinjiang to share movies, music and other material that is censored by Chinas great firewall over a Bluetooth-style connection. Ablitz disputed a separate claim that he had used a virtual private network (VPN)  as another way around Chinas draconian internet restrictions  but after being persuaded by his father and brother he signed the statement of guilt in front of his neighbours.

The Uighur teenager had already been detained by Chinese authorities for eight months after he used a banned file-sharing app, Zapya, but was now set to learn his fate from neighbourhood committee staff members and the local prosecutor.

Ablitzs account, taken from Chinese police reports in Xinjiang, is one of a dozen in the Australian Strategic Policy Institutes [ASPI] new report on the region where up to 1 million Uighurs have been detained in re-education camps. The research, funded by the British Foreign Office, shows how Chinese authorities have mobilised a campaign of grassroots governance as it moves from using police crackdowns to suppress the threat of terrorism to transforming entire neighbourhoods into Chinese Communist Party-abiding citizens.

Officials have implemented a trinity mechanism in the new Xinjiang, involving managers responsible for 10 households, fake families from the Han Chinese majority and the Political and Legal Affairs Commission (PLAC). The household managers are trained in intelligence, propaganda and re-education, while the fake families are appointed to show warmth to their appointed Uighur relatives while watching their homes for any signs of religious or political subversion. All of it is overseen by the PLAC, which is notified of enemy movements including having an unexpected visitor at home, driving a car that does not belong to them, receiving an overseas phone call, or as in Ablitzs case, using file-sharing apps such as Zapya. The commission has established 9000 police substations to monitor each community.

The research, released on Tuesday, by Vicky Xiuzhong Xu, James Leibold and Daria Impiombato, reflects other recent experiences of Xinjiang, where there have been fewer reports of mass detention campaigns that sparked allegations of genocide while a more insidious Maoist form of coercion, mass propaganda rallies and surveillance spreads throughout the region.

Ablitzs case files show his family was visited at least six times by the neighbourhood watch before his sentencing to make sure the familys ideological status is stable. They were given lectures on the outcomes of the meetings of the National Peoples Congress in Beijing at the same time as their homes were scanned  were they watching TV or VCDs? Was there any religious iconography on the walls? Thoughts are stable and everything is normal, the cadres reported.
London: Billionaire mining magnate Andrew Forrest is urging China to come to the Glasgow climate summit, arguing the worlds largest polluter should show off its potential to achieve net zero emissions much sooner than its goal of 2060.

In an interview ahead of next months talks, Australias richest man also warned against including nuclear energy in any new federal government climate policy and accused politicians of perpetrating a cruel hoax on voters by resisting an impending tsunami of clean energy projects.

Dont overplay your time in the limelight, Forrest told Nationals MPs opposed to a package of measures being debated by Prime Minister Scott Morrisons cabinet.

Fortescue Metals Group chairman Andrew Forrest in London ahead of the COP26 summit. Credit:Domenico Pugliese

It is time to allow your electors a choice. Denying them a choice between a green future, as opposed to an old, polluting one, will be seen for what it is: grandstanding.
Washington: When Joe Biden arrives at the Glasgow climate conference in a fortnight, the US President will be accompanied by a high-powered delegation.

Bidens entourage will feature 13 cabinet members and other senior officials including Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. The show of force is intended to send a message to the world that his administration regards tackling climate change as a top priority.

Adding to the star power, former President Barack Obama is travelling to COP26 as well.

West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin will determine whether US President Joe Biden goes to the Glasgow climate summit with a realistic plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Credit:Bloomberg

What is far less assured is whether Biden will be bringing a realistic plan to turn his bold climate promises into reality.
Axis Asset Management Company (AMC) and telecom sector veteran Akhil Gupta-led Inversion Advisory Services have entered a partnership to invest in underperforming The joint entity plans to raise Rs 3,500 crore for the proposed new alternative investment fund (AIF).

The fund will acquire controlling stake primarily in pre-stressed, stressed, distressed and other underperforming assets. Axis AMC will be the investment manager of the fund with its end-to-end investment and fund management credentials.

Inversion will provide operational and turnaround expertise for the fund. The investment manager will employ a team to evaluate potential opportunities. Inversion would provide management support to acquired with its team of functional and industry experts.

An application for the fund has been filed with the (Sebi) seeking registration for the proposed fund. The fund could be launched in the next few days.

The AIF will look to take controlling equity stakes in underperforming before working with them to turn them around. Later, the fund will look at strategic sale or initial public offering (IPO) to exit from the company. This will be a seven-year fund and can be extended by another two years.

Chandresh Nigam, MD & CEO, Axis AMC said, With our entry into the exciting space of turnaround investing, we believe we have created a unique proposition for investors looking to participate and benefit from the India growth story.

This will be the first fund managed by the Inversion Advisory Services. Earlier, Gupta's family office had bid for the assets of Videocon Industries when it had come to the (NCLT).

Gupta, Chairman, Inversion Advisory Services said, The partnership is ideal not just to exploit large untapped potential in this space, but also to serve an important social purpose in saving a large number of jobs and capital already invested by shareholders, lenders and vendors in such companies.
Chennai-headquartered software development major Corporation on Tuesday said that in 2020 its business operating system One has seen a customer growth of 60 per cent year-on-year globally, and 104 per cent in India, its second largest market.

On Tuesday, the company introduced six new apps, three new services and seven major platform enhancements in One, the operating system for business. According to Zoho, the new release empowers businesses to solve disjointed data challenges and close communications gaps across silos, so organisations can become more productive, adapt more quickly to remote and hybrid work models, and become poised for growth.

"The experience that employees, customers, partners, and suppliers get when dealing with businesses is typically a reflection of how that business and its systems are structured internally. Today, the majority of systems are disconnected as a result of siloed solutions offered by vendors," said Praval Singh, Vice President, Zoho Corp. "Unification of a business requires unification of the underlying systems, which can then provide a truly unified experience, internally and externally, along with unified insights. Zoho One was created with this vision and keeps expanding its unbeatable value with new additions and improvements year over year."

The new services now included in Zoho One are work graph, org dictionary and Mobile Application Management. On the other hand, the new applications include Zoho Learn,Zoho Lens, TeamInbox, Zoho DataPrep, Zoho Commerce, and Zoho Payroll.

Zoho One aims to resolve operational, digitization, and retention challenges that businesses encounter. The latest additions are designed to support a hybrid work model and experience that would enable businesses to scale even in unpredictable times, while allowing easy customisation and personalisation of workplaces to enhance the user experience. They are packed with services that bolster collaborative productivity, employee experience, and introduce applications that bridge the distance between employees, employers, and teams, in turn preparing businesses for the future. Additionally, innovations like embedded and conversational BI, DataPrep, Work Graph and Enterprise Search allow users to predict and provide unified, real-time insights from across different departments, enabling confident decision-making, the company said.
Sometimes when she's feeding her infant daughter, Amanda Harrison is overcome with emotion and has to wipe away tears of gratitude. She is lucky to be here, holding her baby.

Harrison was 29 weeks pregnant and unvaccinated when she got sick with COVID-19 in August. Her symptoms were mild at first, but she suddenly felt like she couldn't breathe. Living in Phenix City, Alabama, she was intubated and flown to a hospital in Birmingham, where doctors delivered baby Lake two months early and put Harrison on life support.

Kyndal Nipper, who hails from outside Columbus, Georgia, had only a brief bout with COVID-19 but a more tragic outcome. She was weeks away from giving birth in July when she lost her baby, a boy she and her husband planned to name Jack.

Now Harrison and Nipper are sharing their stories in an attempt to persuade pregnant women to get COVID-19 vaccinations to protect themselves and their babies. Their warnings come amid a sharp increase in the number of severely ill pregnant women that led to 22 pregnant women dying from COVID in August, a one-month record.

We made a commitment that we would do anything in our power to educate and advocate for our boy, because no other family should have to go through this, Kipper said of herself and her husband.

Harrison said she will nicely argue to the bitter end that pregnant women get vaccinated because it could literally save your life.

Since the pandemic began, health officials have reported more than 125,000 cases and at least 161 deaths of pregnant women from COVID-19 in the U.S., according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And over the past several months, hospitals and doctors in virus hot spots have reported a sharp increase in the number of severely ill pregnant women.

With just 31% of pregnant women nationwide vaccinated, the CDC issued an urgent advisory on Sept. 29 recommending that they get the shots. The agency cautioned that COVID-19 in can cause preterm birth and other adverse outcomes, and that stillbirths have been reported.

Dr. Akila Subramaniam, an assistant professor in the maternal-fetal medicine division of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, said the hospital saw a marked rise in the number of critically ill pregnant women during July and August. She said a study there found the delta variant of COVID-19 is associated with increased rates of severe disease in pregnant women and increased rates of preterm birth.

Is it because the delta variant is just more infectious or is it because delta is more severe? I don't think we know the answer to that, Subramaniam said.

When COVID-19 vaccines became available to pregnant women in their states this spring, both Harrison, 36, and Nipper, 29, decided to wait. The shots didn't have final approval from the Food and Drug Administration and pregnant women weren't included in studies that led to emergency authorization, so initial guidance stopped short of fully recommending vaccination for them. Pfizer shots received formal approval in August.

The women live on opposite sides of the Alabama-Georgia line, an area that was hit hard by the delta variant this summer.

While Harrison had to be put on life support, Nipper's symptoms were more subtle. When she was eight months pregnant, she lost her sense of smell and developed a fever. The symptoms went away quickly, but Jack didn't seem to be kicking as much as he had been. She tried drinking a caffeinated beverage: Nothing. She headed to the hospital in Columbus, Georgia, for fetal monitoring where medical staff delivered the news: Baby Jack was gone.

He was supposed to come into the world in three weeks or less, Nipper said. And for them to tell you there's no heartbeat and there is no movement ...

Nipper's doctor, Timothy Villegas, said testing showed the placenta itself was infected with the virus and displayed patterns of inflammation similar to the lungs of people who died of COVID-19.

The infection likely caused the baby's death by affecting its ability to get oxygen and nutrients, Villegas said. The doctor said he has since learned of similar cases from other physicians.

We're at that point where everybody is starting to raise some red flags, he said.

In west Alabama, Dr. Cheree Melton, a family medicine physician who specializes in obstetrics and teaches at the University of Alabama, said she and her colleagues have had about a half-dozen unvaccinated patients infected with COVID-19 lose unborn children to either miscarriages or stillbirth, a problem that worsened with delta's spread.

It's absolutely heartbreaking to tell a mom that she will never get to hold her living child, she said. We have had to do that very often, more so than I remember doing over the last couple of years.

Melton said she encourages every unvaccinated she treats to get the shots, but that many haven't. She said rumors and misinformation have been a problem.

I get everything from, Well, somebody told me that it may cause me to be infertile in the future' to, It may harm my baby,' she said.

Nipper said she wishes she had asked more questions about the vaccine. Looking back, I know I did everything that I could have possibly done to give him a healthy life, she said. "The only thing I didn't do, and I'll have to carry with me, is I didn't get the vaccine."



Now home from the hospital with a healthy baby, Harrison says she feels profound gratitude tempered with survivor's guilt.

I cry all the time. Just little things. Feeding her or hugging my 4-year-old. Just the thought of them having to go through life without me and that's a lot of people's reality right now," Harrison said. It was very scary and it all could have been prevented if I had gotten a vaccination.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
India will soon have administered 1 billion Covid-19 vaccine doses, but the milestone masks a yawning gap between the number of people who have been fully inoculated and those that have had just one shot.

While it is likely to hit the billion-doses mark this week, the country has only given two shots to 20% of its population of about 1.4 billion, according Bloombergs vaccine tracker. By comparison, 51% have had a single dose, making it one of the highest disparities in the world, the tracker shows. Neighboring China, the only nation to dish out more vaccine doses than India, has fully inoculated some 1.05 billion, or 75% of its citizens, as of late September.;

Health experts pin the lopsided statistic on a mix of factors. Home to the worlds most devastating Covid outbreak earlier this year, India has seen cases ebb the past few months, dimming the urgency to get vaccinated.

In rural areas, government welfare is tied to having just one shot, with some having to travel long distances to return for the second dose. The large number of children yet to be covered by the vaccine program also contributes, as does the comparatively long three-month gap health authorities advise between two doses of AstraZeneca Plcs shot, the predominant vaccine deployed in India.

Adherence was noted to be an issue in all two-dose clinical trials run in India, said Bhramar Mukherjee, a professor at the University of Michigans School of Public Health. So the widening gap is due to both the spacing between two doses and non-adherence.

The disparity is of concern because while infections have come off the highs reached in early May, India is still seeing more than 13,000 new cases every day and hundreds of deaths. Its overall fatality rate is second only to the U.S. globally.

Waning Urgency

When cases are as low as they are right now, the level of enthusiasm and the level of urgency to be vaccinated may wane, said Brian Wahl, a New Delhi-based epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, which has worked on a campaign to boost vaccine confidence with a medical college in the north Indian city of Chandigarh.



Hesitancy is potentially acute in Indias countryside, where about two-thirds of the population lives with limited access to poorly-funded health facilities. Many state governments have made the first-shot vaccination certificate a de-facto requirement for accessing welfare programs, including a food ration system that many poor and rural-dwelling families depend on. There are no equivalent requirements attached to receiving the second dose.

Government officials have been following up with people about their second shot, but it can be difficult to make them return as well as to convince those who are hesitant, said Wahl. The further progress you make, the more challenging it is to get higher and higher levels of coverage.



Nevertheless, Wahl expects the gap to narrow in coming weeks. A slew of Indians are slated to get their second AstraZeneca shot following a long wait to get their first in the summer, when the vaccines local manufacturer -- the Serum Institute of India Ltd. -- began to significantly gear up its production.

Childrens Shots

Also skewing the statistics is the fact that India is yet to deploy any vaccines for those under 18, some 40% of Indias population. That may change soon. One locally developed inoculation has been approved for over 12s, but hasnt started to be administered yet. The countrys drug regulator is also currently reviewing another shot for those as young as two.

Prime Minister Narendra Modis government is aiming to fully vaccinate Indias adult population by year-end. Until then, health authorities hope the vaccines already deployed -- as well as natural immunity built up by an estimated two-thirds of the population -- will hold the line.

But risks remain. In pockets where we are not seeing the same high level of immunization, theres a threat you could see smaller outbreaks, Wahl said. Immunity does wane over time. Continuing to keep up with the immunization campaign is important.


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India on Tuesday reported a net reduction of 6,576 in active cases to take its count to 183,118. Indias share of global active cases now stands at 1.07 per cent (one in 94). The country is tenth among the most affected countries by active cases. On Monday, it added 13,058 cases to take its total caseload to 34,094,373 from 34,081,315  an increase of 0.1%. And, with 164 new fatalities, its Covid-19 reached 452,454, or 1.33 per cent of total confirmed infections.

With 8,741,160 more Covid-19 vaccine doses being administered on Monday, Indias total count of vaccine shots so far reached 986,769,411. The count of recovered cases across India, meanwhile, reached 33,458,801  or 98.14 per cent of total caseload  with 19,470 new cured cases being reported on Tuesday.

Now the tenth-most-affected country by active cases, third by deaths, second by total cases and recoveries, India has added 108,453 cases in the past 7 days.

India now accounts for 1.07% of all active cases globally (one in every 94 active cases), and 9.2% of all deaths (one in every 11 deaths).

India has so far administered 986,769,411 vaccine doses. That is 2894.22 per cent of its total caseload, and 70.63 per cent of its population.

Among Indian states, the top 5 in terms of number of vaccine shots administered are Uttar Pradesh (124803470), Maharashtra (96731205), West Bengal (71687229), Gujarat (70772847), and Madhya Pradesh (69241697).

Among states with more than 10 million population, the top 5 in number of vaccine shots per one million population are Kerala (1120818), Gujarat (1108035), Delhi (1107900), Jammu and Kashmir (1063791), and Uttarakhand (1021035).

Backwards from here, the last 1 million cases for India have come in 42 days.

The count of active cases across India on Tuesday saw a net reduction of 6,576, compared with 6,152 on Monday. States and UTs hat have seen the biggest daily net increase in active cases are Assam (25), Tripura (9), Chhattisgarh (6), Arunachal Pradesh (5), and Telangana (5).

With 19,470 new daily recoveries, Indias recovery rate stands at 98.14%, while fatality rate remained unchanged at 1.33%.

The Indian states and UTs with the worst case fatality rates at present are Punjab (2.75%), Uttarakhand (2.15%), and Nagaland (2.13%). The rate in as many as 16 is higher than the national average.

Indias new daily closed cases stand at 19,634  164 deaths and 19,470 recoveries. The share of deaths in total closed cases stands at 0.83%.

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 1809.5 days, and for deaths at 1912.0 days.

Overall, five states with the biggest 24-hour jump in total cases are Kerala (6676), Maharashtra (1485), Tamil Nadu (1192), Mizoram (953), and West Bengal (690).

India on Sunday conducted 1,181,314 to take the total count of tests conducted so far in the country to 593,106,188. The test positivity rate recorded was 1.1%.

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%), Kerala (13.21%), Goa (12.45%), Sikkim (12.23%), and Maharashtra (10.78%).

Five states with the highest TPR by daily numbers for tests and cases added  are Mizoram (38.68%), Kerala (9.72%), Manipur (4.6%), Sikkim (3.23%), and West Bengal (3%).

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 (1533408), J&K (1152169), Kerala (1030908), Karnataka (732485), and Telangana (687619).

The five most affected states by total cases are Maharashtra (6593182), Kerala (4860997), Karnataka (2983673), Tamil Nadu (2688284), and Andhra Pradesh (2060804).

Maharashtra, the most affected state overall, has reported 1485 new cases to take its tally to 6593182.

Kerala, the second-most-affected state by total tally, has added 6676 cases to take its tally to 4860997.

Karnataka, the third-most-affected state, has reported 214 cases to take its tally to 2983673.

Tamil Nadu has added 1192 cases to take its tally to 2688284.

Andhra Pradesh has seen its tally going up by 332 to 2060804.

Uttar Pradesh has added 8 cases to take its tally to 1710036.

Delhi has added 15 cases to take its tally to 1439405.
External Affairs Minister had a "fruitful" first quadrilateral meeting with his counterparts from the US, Israel and the UAE on ways to expand economic and political cooperation in the and Asia, including through trade and enhancing maritime security.

Jaishankar, who is currently on a five-day visit to Israel, was accompanied by the home nation's Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, during the virtual meeting on Monday. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan participated virtually as the four leaders also exchanged views on shared issues of concern in the region.

"A fruitful first meeting with Israeli APM and FM @YairLapid, UAE FM @ABZayed and US Secretary of State @SecBlinken this evening," Jaishankar said in a tweet.

"Discussed working together more closely on economic growth and global issues. Agreed on expeditious follow-up," he said.

Jaishankar, in his brief comment, said, "the three of you are among the closest relationships we have, if not the closest".

He agreed with Blinken that this kind of a forum could work much better than three different bilateral engagements, citing the fight against COVID-19 as an example of the benefits of such cooperative mechanisms where bilateral ties tend to fail.

"I think it is very clear that on the big issues of our times we all think very similarly and what would be helpful would be if we could agree on some practical things to work upon," Jaishankar said.

State Department Spokesperson Ned Price in a statement said that Blinken and his three counterparts discussed expanding economic and political cooperation in the and Asia, including through trade, combating climate change, energy cooperation, and increasing maritime security.

The foreign ministers also discussed people-to-people ties in technology and science, and how to support global public health in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic, he said.

Blinken in a tweet said that the meeting discussed "shared issues of concern in the region and globally, and the importance of expanding our economic and political collaboration.

In his remarks, Blinken described Israel, the UAE and India as three of "our most strategic partners".

He said by "bringing friends together in new ways, we are making these partnerships even greater than the sum of their parts".

"I think that is what this gathering is about. Sitting here in Washington I can say very simply that with Israel, the UAE and India we have three of our most strategic partners. And given so many overlapping interests -- energy, climate, trade, regional security -- this seems like a really interesting and good idea to try and use this new format and very complementary capabilities in very many areas to just see many more things get done. That's the idea," Blinken said.

Lapid, who is also Israel's Alternate Prime Minister, noted that "one of the things we are looking for is synergy, and that is what we will try and create after this meeting."



"Synergy which will help us work together in all the areas that preoccupies us. Around this table we have a unique set of capabilities, knowledge and experiences that can be used to create a network that we all want to create," Lapid said.

The Israeli leader felt that the key to achieving what they were aiming at was quickly moving from government-to-government to business-to-business.

He emphasised on the need for this quadrilateral grouping to quickly put adequate mechanisms in place to translate efforts into real businesses around the globe.

UAE's Al Nahyan thanked Blinken and Lapid for graciously "proposing the idea" of creating this kind of a forum to boost cooperation.

Talking about India, the UAE minister said, "Minister Jaishankar is an old friend, I could say, but also India and UAE have such a strong and diverse relationship."



Touching upon bureaucratic hurdles that often slow down such initiatives, Al Nahyan suggested businesses should be surprised by opportunities and then it should be observed how the trading community responds, in terms of putting a robust plan forward.

Later, the four foreign ministers entered a closed discussion to draw a strategy to make this quadrilateral cooperative plan a reality.

Price said that Blinken reiterated the Biden Administration's support for the Abraham Accords and normalisation agreements and discussed future opportunities for collaboration in the region and globally.

Reports have indicated a new quad post the Abraham accords being inked last year.

In August 2020, Israel, the UAE and the US signed Abraham Accords. The accord helped Israel and the UAE normalise their ties.

India had welcomed the agreement, saying it has always supported peace and stability in West Asia which is our extended neighbourhood."



India and Israel elevated bilateral relations to a strategic partnership during the historic visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Israel in July 2017.

Since then, the relationship between the two countries has focused on expanding knowledge-based partnership, which includes collaboration in innovation and research, including boosting the 'Make in India' initiative.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
has suspended the employees who were arrested by the for alleged involvement in attempts of unauthorised withdrawal from high-value NRI account.

"Basis the FIR, police has arrested suspects including bank staff. We have suspended bank staff pending outcome of the investigation," the bank said in a statement on Tuesday.

"Our systems detected unauthorised and suspicious attempts to transact in certain accounts. Basis the system alerts, we reported the matter to law enforcement agencies for further and necessary investigation, and lodged an FIR," added the bank.

The bank further informed that it is extending full support to the law enforcement agencies in the investigation. "At HDFC Bank, there's zero tolerance for any misconduct, financial or otherwise," it added.

Cyber Cell arrested 12 people, including three employees, for attempting to make unauthorised withdrawals from a high-value NRI account.

KPS Malhotra, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DCP) (Cyber Cell), informed today that as many as 66 attempts of unauthorised online transactions were made by the group on the high-value account.

"The accused had fraudulently obtained cheque book which has been recovered. Mobile phone number identical to that of account holder's US-based phone number was also procured by the fraudsters," the DSP stated.

"On the basis of technical evidence, footprints, and human intelligence, multiple geolocations were identified. In all, raids were conducted at 20 locations across Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh," he further informed.

Further raids are in progress and investigation in the case is being carried out.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
As India builds more gas-fired power plants and infrastructure to supply natural gas, this investment must not be allowed to crowd out investment in greener technologies such as renewables, green hydrogen and storage capacity, experts tell IndiaSpend.

Natural gas, though less polluting than coal, is not as clean as renewables. Experts say over-capacity in the sector could lead to assets being stranded, but a solution lies in planning in such a way that gas infrastructure can be repurposed for renewables such as green hydrogen -- which will make India's energy systems truly emissions free in the longer term.

In the immediate future, the use of in industries, transport and in homes will enable the move away from highly polluting coal, but it must only be used as a 'transition fuel'.



"India should plan specific policies on that will make it a bridge leading to a renewables-based economy. Otherwise we are stuck with one more fossil fuel which we will have to battle 10-15 years down the line," Hemant Mallya, senior programme lead at the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW), a New Delhi-based think-tank, told IndiaSpend.

Natural gas as a 'transition' fuel



Under the 2015 Paris agreement, India has committed to reducing the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions intensity of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 33%-35% by 2030 relative to 2005, for which it must quit burning coal that causes global heating. Using natural gas reduces GHG emissions as the combustion of natural gas emits about half as much carbon as coal.



In addition, India has also said it will install 450 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy capacity by 2030, of which 100 GW had been installed as of August 2021. Eventually, India plans to use renewable energy as the predominant fuel source.



In 2017, the Indian government announced that it would increase the share of natural gas in its energy mix to 15% by 2030. As of September 2021, natural gas made up 6.5% of India's energy mix.

India is promoting natural gas as a 'transition fuel' as it moves towards using renewable energy as the main power source, as other countries in Southeast Asia and Africa are doing.



This is because renewable energy production, such as that from wind and solar, is intermittent and dependent on weather conditions. For a completely renewable-energy based economy, India would need capacity to store power but battery storage is currently expensive, said Mallya of CEEW.



The demand for natural gas globally is projected to increase by 3.6% by 2021 and by 7% in 2024 compared to pre-Covid19 levels in 2019, according to a July 2021 report by the International Energy Agency (IEA), an intergovernmental organisation working to shape energy policies. The growth in demand is largely because gas can replace other more polluting fuels such as coal and oil in sectors such as electricity generation, industry and transport, the report noted.



"Almost half of the increase in global gas demand by 2024 is expected to come from the Asia Pacific region, driven by China and India as well as by emerging markets in South and Southeast Asia," the IEA report said.



In February 2020, the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas released a draft LNG policy to increase India's capacity to convert natural gas to Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) from the existing 42.5 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) to 70 mtpa by 2030. Earlier, in 2020, the ministry had announced a 'One Nation One Gas Grid' programme to expand the country's LNG infrastructure; more than 15,000 km of gas pipelines, covering 407 districts, is scheduled for completion by 2023 under this programme.



Half of India's natural gas is produced within the country while half is imported from Qatar, Australia and the US, among other countries. India is also trying to diversify sources of natural gas by partnering with countries such as Russia that can supply a stable flow of natural gas, the government said in October 2020.



Challenges of transition



The role of natural gas in bridging between more polluting fossil fuels and zero-carbon technologies can only be temporary because natural gas is also a CO2 emitting fossil fuel. It should be used only until renewable power supply expands and clean alternatives, like green hydrogen, become commercially viable as fuels.



Green hydrogen is produced by splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen using renewable energy. While green hydrogen produced from renewables could eventually replace gas for industrial use, it is at present too expensive for widespread use, we reported in September 2021.



But "gas power infrastructure built today will be around for decades, threatening to impede the shift to renewable-based energy, because contracts required for gas investments often involve long-term commitments,'' said Purva Jain, an energy analyst at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA). For instance, the average lifespan of a gas pipeline is 40 years, which means the infrastructure will last into India's renewable energy transition.



Natural gas also requires considerable investment to develop the infrastructure for its transportation, said Rahul Tongia, senior fellow at the Centre for Social and Economic Progress (CSEP). But, if we can innovate the infrastructure, it can be used for natural gas in the short term and for green hydrogen in the long run, he added.



The length of the transition phase also depends on how quickly green power storage options become economical, said Mallya of CEEW. "We do not see large scale storage becoming economical at least in the medium term, say 10 years. Till then gas is required."



Others emphasise the importance of relying less on natural gas. Greg Mutitt, a senior policy advisor at the Canada-based International Institute for Sustainable Development, has called natural gas a 'wall' and not a bridge for renewable energy as it competes for the same investments. Given the low cost of renewable power, the urgency of climate action and possibility of methane leaks from gas infrastructure, there is no reason to push another fossil fuel, he wrote in June 2021.



In order to hasten domestic manufacturing of storage batteries, the government approved a Rs 18,100 crore production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme in May 2021 that incentivises manufacturers of advanced chemistry cell (ACC) battery storage and reduces India's dependence on imports.



Going beyond natural gas



India's natural gas infrastructure should be planned in such a way that it can be repurposed for renewable and green hydrogen technologies eventually.



"At present, India's plans for gas are more pronounced for the short term but what it aims for in the long term is not clear," said Tongia of CSEP. India's focus for gas should be where it displaces coal, especially dirty coal, followed by where it offers value against other fossil fuels, he suggested. "It should also plan for a hybrid future, where hydrogen will grow, and India's gas ecosystem enables a shift to hydrogen, perhaps initially through blending both natural gas and green hydrogen," he added.



Blending green hydrogen in natural gas in select sectors like LNG and green steel can make it commercially viable and help in smooth transition to 100% green hydrogen, several studies (here, here and here) have shown. In India, the Thermal Power Corporation has invited companies to set up a pilot project, as per this August 2021 press release, for such blending. The Gas Authority of India Limited is also reportedly expected to draw plans on transporting hydrogen-blended natural gas.



"If we plan a natural gas-based production of steel and innovate technology, we can ultimately use the same technology but replace natural gas with green hydrogen so there is no discarding of technology or infrastructure," said Mallya of CEEW.



We sought comments from the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas on the long-term plans for natural gas infrastructureon October 14. We will update the story when we receive a response.



Already, cost barriers are slowing down natural gas expansion. Prices in Asia for LNG have reportedly increased from $2 or about Rs 150 per million metric British thermal unit (mmBtu) in May 2020 to $30 or Rs 2,258 per mmBtu in October 2021.



This poses "a big financial risk" should gas-based infrastructure remain under-utilised in the near future due to prohibitive prices, said Jain of IEEFA, who authored an October 2021 IEEFA report on gas infrastructure. This investment in gas infrastructure could result in stranded, unused assets, if these are not constructed to be repurposed for renewables, the report said.



An alternative could be to build small-scale LNG systems, which use road, rail or waterways instead of transmission pipelines.

"India must also step up cost-effective transitions, because natural gas is expensive. Historically natural gas has grown because of government intervention in the form of subsidies. Public sector companies like Oil and Natural Gas Corporation and Oil India Limited have borne the brunt of subsidised gas," said Mallya.



One alternative for rural areas is small-scale solar micro-grids, which "become extremely cost effective with increased electricity use," the IEEFA report said. The report suggests using electricity for cooking using existing infrastructure, rather than setting up new gas pipelines.



Similarly, setting up infrastructure for electric vehicles would be cheaper than a gas pipeline network, the report estimated. India has a "massive opportunity to move parallel to the developed world in decarbonising the transport sector by promoting EVs while cleaning the electricity grid," the report added.



"Creating dual connections of gas and electricity can lead to environmental and capital loss for the country," the report said, adding that natural gas should be used for sectors where there are no other alternatives, such as for managing intermittent power from renewable sources until better storage options are available.
Bollywood star and her businessman-husband on Tuesday sent a legal notice to actor Sherlyn Chopra, seeking an apology and Rs 50 crore in damages for ruining their reputation by making "false and baseless" allegations against them.

The legal notice, sent through their advocate Prashant Patil, has sought an unconditional public apology from Chopra in leading newspapers and on digital media platforms within seven days, failing which it warned of civil and criminal proceedings against the 37-year-old actor. "Failing which my clients shall institute appropriate civil and criminal proceedings against you (Sherlyn Chopra) without further reference to you," the notice said.



"The entire allegations made by Sherlyn Chopra against and Ms Kundra, are concocted, false, fake, frivolous, baseless, without any evidence, even to Sherlyn Chopra's knowledge and have been made with an ulterior motive to defame and extort money," it said. Both Kundra and Chopra are accused in a pornographic content case.



Last month, Kundra was granted bail in the case by a Mumbai court after he spent two months in jail. Last week, Chopra had filed a complaint at the Juhu police station here against Shetty and Kundra, accusing the couple of committing fraud against her.In the complaint, she has also levelled allegations of harassment, cheating and criminal intimidation. The notice said Chopra's allegations are nothing but an "afterthought" as she is also an accused in the pornographic case probed by the cyber cell of the Mumbai police.Shetty is no way connected nor involved in looking after the day-to-day affairs of the JL Stream app (promoted by Kundra), it said. It (allegations) is nothing but an audacious attempt by Chopra to drag Shetty's name to create an unwanted controversy and gain media attention, the notice said.In the notice, the couple has claimed Chopra has committed offences under sections 499 (makes or publishes any imputation concerning any person intending to harm) 550 (punishment for defamation), 389 (putting person in fear of accusation of offence, in order to commit extortion) and 195(A) (threatening any person to give false evidence) of the IPC.

(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 is scheduled to hear on Wednesday the matter pertaining to the October 3 in Lakhimpur Kheri in which eight persons, including four farmers, were killed during a farmers' protest.

A bench comprising Chief Justice N V Ramana and Justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli, which had on October 8 expressed dissatisfaction over the steps taken by the government in the brutal murder of eight persons, would hear the matter.

Ten people, including Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Mishra's son Ashish Mishra, have been arrested so far in connection with the case.

The top court is hearing the matter after two lawyers had written a letter to the CJI seeking a high-level judicial inquiry, also involving the CBI, into the incident.

Four farmers were mowed down by an SUV in Lakhimpur Kheri when a group agitating against the Centre's three new farm laws was holding a demonstration against the visit of Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya on October 3.

Two BJP workers and a driver were beaten to death allegedly by the angry protesters, while a local journalist was also killed in the

Several farmer organisations are protesting against the passage of three laws -- The Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020 and Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020 since last November.

The apex court had stayed the implementation of these laws in January.

Initially, the protests started from Punjab in November last year and later spread to Delhi, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh



While hearing the matter on October 8, the apex court had questioned the government over the non-arrest of all the accused and had directed preservation of evidence.

The bench had said, the law must take its course against all accused and the government has to take all remedial steps in this regard to inspire confidence in the investigation of brutal murder of eight persons.

The counsel appearing for the state government had assured the top court on October 8 that all appropriate action would be taken in the case.

(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.)
Apple's new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook models start at $1,999 and range up to $6,099 in their most expensive variations. The Reserve Bank calls for supply-side reforms. More on those stories in top headlines this morning.



privatisation likely to face a bump

The disinvestment of Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) may hit a fuel price hurdle, according to officials dealing with the matter. They pointed out that the inconspicuous administered price regime could hamper the prospects for potential buyers of A senior oil ministry official said public-sector oil-marketing companies (OMCs) take a hit when they sell petrol, diesel, and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), three of the most popular petroleum products in the country. Read more

doubles down on chip strategy with new MacBooks

Inc on Monday announced two new MacBook Pro models that run on more powerful in-house chips, furthering its break from previous supplier Intel Corp and showing its strategy for setting its machines apart from the rest of the PC industry. Read more

Focus on supply-side reforms, says RBI

The need of the hour is to focus on supply-side reforms and easing various bottlenecks and disruptions, rather than focusing single-mindedly on normalisation, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in its State of the Economy report in its October bulletin. Read more

Vaccinating children for Covid not a priority: Experts

After Indias expert panel recommended an approval for Bharat Biotechs Covaxin for use in children aged two years and above, experts in the fields of immunology, microbiology and public health said there was no rush to inoculate children against Covid-19 at this point. Read more

Reliance Retail bridging gaps in ambitions

Even as regulatory focus has zeroed in on foreign e-commerce giant Amazon, a domestic retail giant has been created almost below the radar in Reliance Retail (RR), one of the most crucial businesses for the groups future. From doorstep delivery of groceries, apparels to branded jewellery, medicines, toys, furniture to high street retailing, RRs presence in the worlds fourth largest consumer market is just one part of the story. Read more
In a major blow to Nirav Modi, a bankruptcy court in the US has rejected a petition of the fugitive diamond merchant and two of his associates, seeking dismissal of fraud allegations against them by the trustee of three companies they previously owned indirectly.

The allegations were made in a New York court by Richard Levin, the court appointed trustee of three US corporations--Firestar Diamond, Fantasy Inc and A Jaffe--indirectly owned by 50-year-old Modi previously.

Levin had also sought a minimum compensation of USD 15 million for harm suffered by the debtors of and his associates Mihir Bhansali and Ajay Gandhi.

Southern District of New York Bankruptcy Court Judge Sean H Lane issued the order last Friday, in a major blow to the Indian fugitive and his accomplices.

Nirav Modi, who is currently lodged in a jail in the UK, is challenging India's attempts to extradite him to face charges of fraud and money laundering in the Punjab Bank (PNB) scam case.

SDNY Bankruptcy Court Judge Lane in a clear decision denied defendants Modi, Bansali and Gandhi's motions to dismiss US Trustee Richard Levin's amended complaint in the adversary proceeding arising out of Modi's initial chapter 11 bankruptcy petition, alleging fraud, breach of fiduciary duties, RICO and related state law claims, Indian American attorney Ravi Batra told PTI.

Explaining the 60-page order, Batra said Modi ploughed his profits back into his own company as additional sales to falsely raise the stock price/company valuation by setting up a scheme to defraud Punjab Bank (PNB) and other banks of over USD 1 billion by a shell game, where the ball gets bigger with each sleight of hand, and then issue Letters of Undertaking (sort of a guarantee) to PNB and get loans based upon the inflated ball's value.

But to get the ill-gotten funds by bank fraud out of his companies, he engaged in a separate fraud to hide those withdrawals for personal benefit as if they were ordinary business transactions, Batra said based on the court papers.

According to the court order, Levin's petition sought to recover damages for harm inflicted by Modi and his two accomplices on the debtors and their estates as a result of his six-year extensive international fraud, money laundering and embezzlement scheme.

The scheme resulted in accrual of claims against the debtors of over USD 1 billion in favour of Punjab Bank, the diversion of millions of dollars of the debtors' assets for the benefit of the family of Modi and Bhansali, and the collapse of the debtors and the resulting loss of value of their businesses.

The court's refusal to dismiss RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act) count is legally satisfying, but there is a hole in this celebration by law abiding banks and people: once the appeals are taken, and Modi remains charged with the US Trustee's amended complaint, in whole or in part, and the case goes to a jury and wins a judgment, it's only the assets Modi and his cohorts then have can they be compelled to disgorge, Batra said.

Here, as in every type of pump and dump cases, it's not what was fraudulently taken from Banks' remains, but the size of the original ball's value in the shell game, less high living expenses, waste, defence fees, etc. Today is a great day for the rule of law, thanks to Judge Lane, as now Modi's US companies, run by the US Trustee, are going after Modi and his co-defendants so Punjab National Bank can get 10-25 cents on the dollar, Batra told PTI in response to a question.

According to the court ruling, from early 2011 to early 2018, Modi and his associates orchestrated and carried out a scheme to obtain loans, credits, or other funds under false pretences and without collateral from numerous banks, including the PNB.

The bank fraud involved the use of letters of undertaking (LoUs), a financial instrument unique to India, designed to facilitate efficient import transactions.

Modi and the co-conspirators sought to artificially inflate the import volumes of Modi's India-based companies with sham transactions so as to obtain more LoU funding, it alleged.

To carry out this scheme, Modi and his co-conspirators used a web of shell companies known as shadow entities based in Hong Kong and Dubai that posed as legitimate businesses to create fake import transactions and launder the proceeds, it said.

The PNB and the other defrauded banks are reported to have lost in excess of USD 1 billion as a result of the fraud, the judge wrote in his order.

In his petition, Levin listed examples of how Modi, Bhansali and Gandhi directly benefited from fraudulently issued LoUs and were involved in circular transactions until early 2013, when the debtors no longer directly participated in import and export transactions underlying LoU issuances and instead received proceeds indirectly through the shadow entities.

Meanwhile, the UK's Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said in August that it is reviewing the London High Court ruling to grant Modi permission to appeal against his extradition order with the Indian government for the next stage in the legal process.

The CPS, which represents the Indian authorities in court, highlighted that the appeal can be heard at a full hearing on two grounds related to the mental health of the diamantaire, who is lodged at Wandsworth Prison in south-west London as he fights his extradition to face charges of fraud and money laundering in the estimated USD 2-billion Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam case.

Modi is the subject of two sets of criminal proceedings, with the CBI case relating to a large-scale fraud upon the PNB through the fraudulent obtaining of letters of undertaking (LoUs) or loan agreements, and the ED case relating to the laundering of the proceeds of that fraud.

He also faces two additional charges of "causing the disappearance of evidence" and intimidating witnesses or criminal intimidation to cause death, which were added to the CBI case.

(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.)
Restaurant aggregator and company on Tuesday apologised to a person, who alleged that he was denied refund by its customer care agent for not knowing Hindi and announced terminating the services of the employee concerned.

A tweet from a user who goes by the handle "@Vikash67456607" triggered a major Twitter backlash, with the hashtag "Reject_Zomato" trending on top at the microblogging site.

In response, apologised to Vikash and also issued a statement both in Tamil and English, stressing that the company stood for diversity.

However, company founder Deepinder Goyal later announced reinstating the sacked agent, saying it was "an ignorant mistake" on the part of the employee.

Earlier, Vikash tweeted he had ordered food on and complained that an item was missing.

"Customer care says amount can't be refunded as I didn't know Hindi. Also takes lesson that being an Indian I should know Hindi. Tagged me a liar as he didn't know Tamil. @zomato not the way you talk to a customer," he tweeted and tagged the company while sharing screenshots of his purported chat with the former customer care agent in question.

The Zomato agent also allegedly told Vikash that Hindi was the country's language.

In its statement in the two languages which started off with the traditional Tamil salutation "Vanakkam" Tamil Nadu, Zomato said the company was "sorry" for the behaviour of its former employee.

"We have terminated the agent for their negligence towards our diverse culture. The termination is in line with our protocols and (the) agent's behaviour was clearly against the principles of sensitivity that we train our agents for on a regular basis," the statement uploaded on Zomato's Twitter handle said.

It said the sacked employee's statements do not "represent our company's stance towards language and diversity."



Zomato further said it was building a Tamil version of its mobile app and that it had already localised its marketing communication in the local language in the state.

It also pointed to roping in well-known Tamil musician Anirudh Ravichander as its local brand ambassador.

The company was in the process of building a local Tamil call/support centre in Coimbatore in the state.

"We understand food and language are core to any local culture and we take both of them seriously," it added.

Meanwhile, Goyal sought to defend the agent, saying most people at the call centre were young people "at the start of their learning curves."



In a series of tweets, he said "an ignorant mistake by someone in a support centre of a company became a issue. The level of tolerance and chill in our country needs to be way higher than it is nowadays. Who's to be blamed here?"We should all tolerate each other's imperfections and appreciate each other's language and regional sentiments, he said"Tamil Nadu we love you. Just as much as we love the rest of the country. Not more, not less. We are all the same, as much as we are different," Goyal said.

"And remember, our call centre agents are young people, who are at the start of their learning curves and careers. They are not experts on languages and regional sentiments. Nor am I, btw."



"On that note, we are reinstating the agent this alone is not something she should have been fired for. This is easily something she can learn and do better about going forward," he added.

In an apparent reference to the controversy, DMK leader and the party's Lok Sabha MP Kanimozhi said the customer care of some companies operate only in select languages.

"It should be made mandatory for companies to serve their customers in their local language. A customer doesn't necessarily need to know Hindi or English. #Hindi_Theriyathu_Poda," (I don't know Hindi), she tweeted.

(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 second meeting of a board of enquiry set up for hearing and considering objections and suggestions of the public on the draft Master Plan of 2041 is slated to be held on October 20, officials said on Tuesday.

The first session was held on Monday during which migrant labourers, street vendors, and residents of unauthorised, resettlement and JJ colonies shared their suggestions and views with the board.

The Board of Enquiry and Hearing, set up on the directions of Lt Governor Anil Baijal, is headed by DDA vice chairman Anurag Jain.

The second session will take place on Wednesday, DDA officials said.

In Wednesday's hearing, it is expected that the board will hear from more than 8,300 participants from the marginalised sections of society, who have been invited to submit their suggestions orally related to JJ colonies and solid waste management, the Development Authority (DDA) said.

Considering the huge number of objections and suggestions received on draft master plan-2041, the DDA has planned to convene series of hearings, categorically based on various sections of draft plan such as environment, economy, heritage, shelter, transport, social infrastructure, physical infrastructure, new development polices, among others, within a month time, it said.

The urban body had earlier said that the hearings would be conducted online and chapter-wise.

The Development Authority had published the draft Master Plan for Delhi 2041 on June 9 this year for inviting objections and suggestions from general public. Nearly 33,000 objections and suggestions in writing were received by the DDA in the stipulated time period of 75 days, officials said.

The last date to send the objections and suggestions was August 23.

More than 8,700 participants were invited and given opportunities to submit their objections and suggestions orally before the Board during the first hearing, the DDA said on Tuesday.

From creating a '24-hour city' with night-time economy, extensive transport infrastructure, affordable housing for all and healthy environment to checking unauthorised colonies and pollution - these are part of the guiding principles the DDA has laid out for the Master Plan of Delhi (MPD) 2041.

The vision document largely covers the policies of environment, economy, mobility, heritage, culture and public spaces, among others.

These objections and suggestions have been categorised chapter-wise and as per various other issues related to development of Delhi.

The process of preparation of Master Plan of Delhi 2041 was initiated in 2017, and it remained on track in spite of the lockdown and other restrictions on account of the COVID-19 pandemic, DDA had earlier said.

The first Master Plan for Delhi was promulgated in 1962 under the Delhi Development Act of 1957, followed by the Master Plans of 2001 and 2021, each of which is an extensive modification of the respective previous plan document.

"These plans were prepared for 20 years' perspective periods and provided a holistic framework for planned development of Delhi. The MPD 2041 is a 'strategic' and 'enabling' framework to guide future growth of the city, built upon the lessons learnt from the implementation of the previous plans," the draft 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.)
The Station Development Corporation (IRSDC), a joint venture between Rail Land Development Authority (RLDA), Rail India Technical and Economic Services (RITES), and Indian Railway Construction (Ircon) is being shut down.

RLDA has 50 per cent stake, Ircon has 26 per cent and has 24 per cent. IRSDC was initially a JV between Ircon and RLDA. Ircon sold part of its stake to in 2020 for Rs 48 crore. IRSDC was tasked with the responsibility of implementing and monitoring station modernisation projects.

According to an order from the Railway Board, all stations managed by IRSDC shall be handed over to the respective Zonal Railways. Projects at the planning stage will be taken forward by the Zonal Railways. This was the approach adopted before the formation of IRSDC in 2012.

IRSDC oversaw the completion of the Habibganj and Gandhi Nagar station modernisation projects. According to the IRSDC website, the modernisation of the Bijwasan railway station is an ongoing project. It had been working on nearly 60 railway stations at different levels, ranging from addition of services, pruning of existing facilities, to complete modernisation.

This shuttering decision is in line with the recommendations by Sanjeev Sanyal, the current Principal Economic Advisor to the Ministry of Finance, under which all stations entrusted to IRSDC for redevelopment were to be handed back to the respective zonal railways. His recommendations have been backed by the Union Cabinet and directions have been issued to the to implement them from September onwards. The was also instructed to intimate the Union Cabinet about the actions taken on these recommendations on the 5th of every month.

This is the second Railway body that is being shut down in recent times. The Organisation for Alternative Fuel (IROAF) was shut down on September 7. This too was as per directives of Sanyal that have been listed under his report on Rationalisation of Government Bodies, Proposal for Ministry of Railways.
The gross non-performing assets (NPAs) of Indian may rise to 8-9 per cent by the end of this fiscal year (FY22), 50-150 basis points higher than FY21 levels, but much below the FY18 levels when NPAs reached a peak of 11.2 per cent, said rating agency Crisil in a research note.

Also, the stressed assets of the banking sector may touch 10-11 per cent, assuming 2 per cent of assets will be restructured by the end of FY22, the rating agency said.

The projections are made on the assumption that the Indian economy will grow at 9.5 per cent this year and there will be continued improvement in corporate credit quality. However, if there is a third wave of the Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, posing challenges to demand growth then there may be significant downside risks to the estimates made.

On the other hand, if the National Asset Reconstruction Company Limited (NARCL) or bad bank as it is popularly known gets operationalised this fiscal then the NPAs of the banking system may fall further.

The retail segment, which otherwise is one of the best performing segments for banks, has shown signs of stress during the Covid-19 pandemic as both salaried and self-employed borrowers faced income challenges and higher medical expenses, especially during the second wave. According to the rating agency, stressed assets in the retail segment may reach 4-5 per cent by end of FY22 compared to 3 per cent in FY21 despite the first of its kind restructuring scheme brought in by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for retail borrowers, which followed a six months moratorium on repayments during the first wave of the pandemic.

The rating agencys assessment suggests home loans will be the least impacted segment, but unsecured loans will see stress because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Similarly, the MSME segment, despite the measures brought in by the central bank and the government, will see its stressed asset portfolio rise to 17-18 per cent by the end of FY22, compared to 14 per cent in FY21. Also, this segment may see the highest restructuring because it will be essential in managing cash flows in the segment. According to Crisil, the MSME segment may see restructuring at 4-5 per cent of the loan book.

Krishnan Sitaraman, senior director & deputy chief ratings officer, Crisil Ratings, said, The retail and MSME segments, which together form ~40 per cent of bank credit, are expected to see higher accretion of NPAs and stressed assets this time around. Stressed assets in these segments are seen rising to 4-5 per cent and 17-18 per cent, respectively, by this fiscal end. The numbers would have trended even higher but for write-offs, primarily in the unsecured segment.

On the other hand, the corporate segment, which was the cause of concern for a few years back, is expected to be resilient.

A large part of the stress in the corporate portfolio had already been recognised during the asset quality review initiated five years ago. That, coupled with the secular deleveraging trend, has strengthened the balance sheets of corporates and enabled them to tide over the pandemic relatively unscathed compared with retail and MSME borrowers, the rating agency said.

Also, restructuring in the corporate segment has been very low, approximately 1 per cent of the loan book. Hence, stressed assets in the corporate segment are expected to be around 9-10 per cent of the loan book at the end of FY22.

The rural segment, which was hit harder during the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, has also seen a strong recovery. Therefore, stressed assets in the agriculture segment are expected to remain relatively stable, Crisil, said.

While the performance of the restructured portfolio will definitely need close monitoring, the slippages from the restructured book are expected to be lower this time. Recent trends indicate that a reasonable proportion of borrowers, primarily on the retail side, have started making additional payments as their cash flows improve, despite having availed of restructuring. MSMEs, however, may take longer to stabilise and we remain watchful, said Subha Sri Narayanan, director, Crisil Ratings.
Investment are boosting their technology hiring in Southeast Asia and India as the regions fast-growing consumer internet markets catch up with their peers, pushing deals to new heights.

Global lenders Barclays Plc and Citigroup Inc. have created new senior roles, while regional and boutique players are staffing up to capture a surge of activity in mergers and acquisitions and initial public offerings.

Every single investment bank is looking to hire technology, media and telecommunications bankers, said Anand Menon, managing director of Executive Principles, a head-hunting firm in India. TMT is an animal producing multiple babies. We need new-age bankers who think like entrepreneurs to cover them with the same speed as these startups.



Technology-focused in Asia previously focused on larger and more developed markets such as Japan and South Korea, and more recently, China. Galvanized by the coronavirus pandemics boost to e-commerce and remote working, financiers are jockeying to work with startups as they open up markets with a combined population of about 2 billion.

In Southeast Asia, Citigroup created a new managing director role to oversee TMT, Bloomberg News has reported. BDA Partners Inc., BNP Paribas SA, and Malayan Banking Bhd. are among the other that have recently made or are making sector hires in the region, people familiar with the matter said, asking not to be identified discussing internal matters.



Barclayss India investment bank chief, Pramod Kumar, said the firm is beefing up its team in Mumbai by adding a senior posting. JPMorgan Chase & Co. is hiring a TMT banker at the executive director level, according to a person familiar with the matter.



Representatives for BNP Paribas and JPMorgan declined to comment. A representative for BDA Partners said the firm is active in India and Southeast Asia technology investment banking and will continue to hire in the space. Rajiv Vijendran, regional head of investment banking at Maybank Kim Eng Group in Singapore, said the bank is constantly looking for new areas to grow the business, including TMT.



Ashish Kehair, chief executive officer at Indias Edelweiss Wealth Management, said its investment banking unit is hiring three to five bankers with technology expertise. Digital and technology has the force multiplier effect now, he said.

Deal Record



The bankers will have their hands full. Technology, telecommunications and media deals announced in South and Southeast Asia are at a record $93 billion this year, nearly double the same period last year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Consolidation of regional leaders is already taking place. Ride-hailing and payments giant Gojek agreed to combine with e-commerce pioneer PT Tokopedia in May to create the largest internet company in Indonesia. Next stop is the capital markets, where the combined firm is considering mopping up as much as $2 billion from listings at home and in the U.S. at a valuation of about $30 billion, Bloomberg News reported in July.



Tech startups in Southeast Asia and India are maturing in terms of scale and size, with many becoming unicorns and some ready to go public either through direct listings or mergers with blank-check firms, said Jwalant Nanavati, head of TMT for Asia ex-Japan at Nomura Holdings Inc. In April, the Japanese bank hired an executive director in Singapore focusing on TMT, Bloomberg News has reported.



The pandemic provided strong tail winds in terms of faster adoption by consumers of online business models, said Jeff Acton, a Tokyo-based partner at boutique investment bank BDA Partners. Southeast Asias tech ecosystem is relatively younger, but many first-generation tech companies suddenly saw an increase in demand.



Consumer-oriented firms have led the first wave of listings. Indonesian online marketplace PT Bukalapak.com raised $1.5 billion in August, while food ordering platform Zomato Ltd. has mobilized $1.3 billion from its Indian IPO.

The consumer internet market in these regions is reaching critical mass and continues to show very robust growth, which has super charged the leading companies across the region, said James Perry, managing director and co-head of Asia Pacific technology investment banking at Citigroup. Disruption is still a major theme and investors are keen to invest in these opportunities.



China Tailwind



Bankers said Chinas sweeping crackdown on its technology giants has benefited other countries in the region, as potential acquirers such as special purpose acquisition companies have lately shunned its startups.



Investors are waiting for greater clarity around the regulatory issues in China, said Maybanks Vijendran. The China crackdown has focused the attention of global players and U.S. SPACs on ASEAN startups, he said.

Given the high risk profile due to recent developments, we expect investors will allocate an increasing proportion into Southeast Asia, BDAs Acton said, adding China will still remain a crucial destination for capital.



Though Asias biggest economy has seen some dislocation this year because of Beijings policy actions, deal activity is set to return over time as that market continues to create new exciting companies, said Citigroups Perry.



Valuation uptick in digitech is playing across all companies, Barclayss Kumar said. This is a secular trend driven by the convergence of technology and traditional sectors, and this is bound to continue.
SBI's board members were keen on a letter of support from the government before giving nod to the resolution plan of crisis-ridden Jet Airways, the bank's former chairman has said.

In his book titled 'The Custodian of Trust', Kumar said dealing with the issue was the one of the most difficult assignments that he had faced during his eventful term as the head of the country's largest lender.

Most of the were extremely reluctant to support a resolution plan for Jet Airways, he wrote, while recalling the developments with regard to the resolution plan of the airline which unfortunately could not get through as promoters were not able to fulfil the required conditions in the stipulated time.

"For me too, this was one of the most challenging cases with even the board being uncomfortable in backing me on this issue, not because I did not enjoy their support or goodwill but because they felt that it posed a huge risk to the reputation of the bank.

"Consequently, they did not want to be party to such a decision without receiving an explicit letter of support from the Department of Financial Services (DFS) or the MoCA (Ministry of Civil Aviation). I had not faced such a difficult situation throughout my two-year long tenure at the helm of affairs at SBI, but I viewed it as a major learning experience that came in handy in resolving the YES Bank crisis," he said.

Eventually, the company stopped operations on April 17, 2019 -- a sad day in the history of civil aviation in India, when one of the best airlines in the country had to be grounded, Kumar said in the book published by Penguin Random House India (PRHI).

Subsequently, the Mumbai bench of the NCLT in June 2019 admitted an insolvency petition against filed by the lenders' consortium led by State Bank of India (SBI).

owed over Rs 8,000 crore to a consortium of lenders led by SBI, besides liabilities of over Rs 25,000 crore towards its vendors.

Kumar further said he has little hope for the revival of the airline because there are hardly any assets to back as its planes are mostly taken on lease and slots are the property of airports. Revival of a grounded airline has virtually no precedence, he noted.

"Unlike the RBI, which has wide-ranging powers for rescuing a financial entity, the aviation sector has no such authority. The financing of airlines remains a high-risk business for banks, as has been repeatedly proven by the losses incurred by in high-profile cases like the failures of Kingfisher Airlines and Jet Airways," he pointed out.

Kumar had an eventful three-year tenure (October 2017-October 2020) as the head of the SBI, which alone has over 20 per cent market share.

In the book, he said the period during which he took charge cannot be termed as 'normal' under any circumstances.

When he took over the reins of SBI, the Indian banking industry was going through one of its most tumultuous phases as non-performing assets (NPAs) were at record high level after Asset Quality Review (AQR).

The problem of non-performing loans (NPLs) had severely impacted the balance sheet and profitability of banks, coupled with the failure of a few prominent non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) and the near-collapse of the fourth largest private sector lender Yes Bank, posed a serious threat to the private sector banking system of the country, he said in the book.

Kumar through his memoir shares his "incredible journey" as a banker -- from joining as a probationary officer in 1980 to becoming its chairman in 2017 -- capturing the many changes he witnessed in India's banking sector during his career.

Prior to his appointment as chairman, he was managing director (National Banking Group) at SBI, overseeing the retail business and digital banking. He was instrumental in ensuring cash to every corner of the country through the vast network of the bank during demonetisation.

The book has received endorsements from the stalwarts of India Inc and the banking industry.

While Tata Sons Chairman Emeritus Ratan Tata called the book "a chronicle of contemporary economic history", Uday Kotak, CEO of Kotak Mahindra Bank, said the book has the potential to be a "Bollywood blockbuster".

Kumar currently serves as director on the boards of HSBC Asia Pacific, L&T Infotech Ltd and Lighthouse Communities Foundation. Last month, he was appointed as economic advisor by the Andhra Pradesh government for a period of two years. He has been accorded a cabinet rank position.

(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.)
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his counterparts from Israel, the US and the have agreed to establish a forum for economic cooperation at a quadrilateral meeting during which they discussed possibilities for joint infrastructure projects in the fields of transportation, technology, maritime security, and economics and trade.

Jaishankar, who is currently on a five-day visit to Israel, was accompanied by his Israeli counterpart Yair Lapid, during the virtual meeting on Monday. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan participated virtually as the four leaders also exchanged views on shared issues of concern in the region.

"The ministers decided to establish an forum for economic cooperation, said a statement issued by the Israeli Foreign Ministry after the meeting.

It said the four ministers held a discussion on possibilities for joint infrastructure projects in the fields of transportation, technology, maritime security, and economics and trade, as well as for additional joint projects.

At the end of the conversation, it was decided that each minister will appoint senior-level professionals to a joint working group that will formulate options for cooperation in the areas identified by the ministers, the statement said.

The intention is to hold an in-person meeting of the ministers in the coming months at Expo 2020 in Dubai, the statement said.

"I think the word we're looking for here is synergy, because this is what we're going to try and create starting with this meeting. Synergy that will help us work together on infrastructure, digital infrastructure, transport, maritime security and other things that preoccupy us all, Israeli Foreign Minister, who initiated the meeting during his visit to Washington, said at the start of the meeting Monday evening.

"The key to success is how quickly can we move from government-to-government' to business-to-business'? Lapid said. How quickly can we turn this into a working process that will put boots on the ground, changing infrastructure around the world.

Jaishankar described the meeting as fruitful and said they discussed working together more closely on economic growth and global issues. Agreed on expeditious follow-up," he said in a tweet.

"I think it is very clear that on the big issues of our times we all think very similarly and what would be helpful would be if we could agree on some practical things to work upon," he said.

Meanwhile, an article in the Jerusalem Post newspaper pointed out that there are economic and defence industry advantages to the new ties and the ability to synergise the network of ties between Washington, Jerusalem, Abu Dhabi and New Delhi.

"That means that the whole can be more than the sum of its parts, it said.

Citing the growing power of near-peer rivals such as Russia and China, as well as regional states that oppose US policy, such as Iran and Turkey, the article said That may be where the US-UAE-Israel-India connection comes together most of all, in presenting a moderate alternative to the aggressive extremist and authoritarian countries.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
fired a into the sea on Tuesday in a continuation of its recent streak of weapons tests, the South Korean and Japanese militaries said, hours after the US reaffirmed its offer to resume diplomacy on the North's nuclear weapons programme.

The South's Joint Chiefs of Staff on Tuesday didn't immediately say what kind of it was or how far it flew.

Japan's coast guard issued a maritime safety advisory to ships but didn't immediately know where the weapon landed.

South Korea's presidential office was planning to hold a national security council meeting later in the day to discuss the launch.

Ending a months-long lull in September, has been ramping up its weapons tests while making conditional peace offers to Seoul, reviving a pattern of pressuring South Korea to try to get what it wants from the United States.

Within days, President Joe Biden's special envoy for North Korea, Sung Kim, is schedule to hold talks with US allies in Seoul over the prospects of reviving talks with

Nuclear negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang have stalled for more than two years over disagreements in exchanging the release of crippling U.S.-led sanctions against North Korea and the North's denuclearization steps.

His government has so far rejected the Biden administration's offers to restart dialogue without preconditions, saying that Washington must first abandon its hostile policy, a term the North mainly uses to refer to sanctions and US-South Korea military exercises.

But while North Korea is apparently trying to use South Korea's desire for inter-Korean engagement to extract concessions from Washington, analysts say Seoul has little wiggle room as the Biden administration is intent on keeping sanctions in place until the North makes concrete steps toward denuclearization.

The US continues to reach out to Pyongyang to restart dialogue. Our intent remains the same. We harbour no hostile intent toward the DPRK and we are open to meeting without preconditions, Sung Kim told reporters on Monday, referring to the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

Even as we remain open to dialogue, we also have a responsibility to implement the U.N. Security Council resolutions addressing the DPRK, he said.

Last week, Kim Jong Un reviewed powerful missiles designed to launch nuclear strikes on the US mainland during a military exhibition and vowed to build an invincible military to cope with what he called persistent US hostility.

Earlier, Kim dismissed US offers for resuming talks without preconditions as a cunning attempt to conceal its hostile policy on the North.

The country has tested various weapons over the past month, including a new cruise missile that could potentially carry nuclear warheads, a rail-launched ballistic system, a developmental hypersonic missile and a new anti-aircraft missile.

But the North in recent weeks have also restored communication lines with the South and said it could take further steps to improve bilateral relations if Seoul abandons its double-dealing attitude and hostile viewpoint.

(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.)
may remain on the 'grey list' of the till the global money laundering and terror financing watchdog meets for its next session in April 2022, according to a media report on Tuesday.

Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF) will be in session for three days from October 19-21 and it is expected that Tuesday's session may be informed that is still short of meeting the criterion, according to a report in The News reported from the French capital.

The report, quoting sources in German media house Deutsche Welle, said the global body's decision on putting off the 'grey list' may be taken in the next session slated for April 2022.

The in June retained Pakistan on its 'grey list' for failing to check money laundering, leading to terror financing, and asked Islamabad to investigate and prosecute senior leaders and commanders of UN-designated terror groups, including Hafiz Saeed and Masood Azhar.

It also asked Pakistan to work to address its strategically-important deficiencies.

Virtually connected delegates will join those that are able to travel to Paris for three days of meetings, during which they will discuss key issues to strengthen global action against the financial flows that fuel crime and terrorism, the FATF said in a statement on Monday.

The FATF said it will finalise key reports, including the revised guidance on virtual assets and their service providers and discuss next steps to strengthen its standards on transparency of beneficial ownership.

Delegates will also discuss the outcomes of the FATF's survey to identify areas where divergent anti-money laundering and counter terrorist financing rules or their implementation cause friction for cross-border payments. FATF is leading work on this aspect of the G20's priority to improve cross-border payments, it said.

The FATF, which will announce the outcomes of the plenary on October 21, will also update its statements identifying jurisdictions with strategic deficiencies in their measures to combat money laundering and terrorist financing.

Pakistan was placed on the grey list by the FATF in June, 2018 and was given a plan of action to complete it by October, 2019. Since then the country continues to be in that list due to its failure to comply with the FATF mandates.

With Pakistan's continuation in the grey list, it is increasingly becoming difficult for the country to get financial aid from the Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank, Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the European Union, thus further enhancing problems for the country.

Pakistan has so far avoided being on the blacklist with the help of China, Turkey and Malaysia.

The FATF is an inter-governmental body established in 1989 to combat money laundering, terrorist financing and other related threats to the integrity of the financial system.

The FATF currently has 39 members including two regional organisations -- the European Commission and Gulf Cooperation Council.

India is a member of the FATF consultations and its Asia Pacific Group.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) joined the elite club of companies commanding Rs 1-trillion market capitalization (m-cap) on the BSE, after its share price hit a new high of Rs 6,332.25 in the intra-day trade on Tuesday. The shares rallied nearly 8 per cent today and have zoomed 33 per cent in the past five trading days.

At 09:32 am, IRCTC, which is engaged in the travel support services business, was trading 6.9 per cent higher at Rs 6,283.50, with a market-cap of Rs 100,612 crore, BSE data shows. In comparison, the S&P BSE Sensex was 0.59 per cent higher at 62,131 points. Currently, stands at 57th position in the overall m-cap ranking. With today's feat, the company has surpassed m-cap of IndusInd Bank and ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company.

In the past six months, the stock has zoomed 293 per cent from a level of Rs 1,612, as compared to a 30 per cent rise in the S&P BSE Sensex. Moreover, since August, the market price of has more than doubled or has risen 172 per cent after the company, on July 30, 2021, announced a stock split plan. Further, the board of approved a stock split in the ratio of 1:5 on August 12.

IRCTC has fixed October 29, 2021, as the record date to ascertain the name of shareholders entitled for subdivision/split of equity shares of Rs 10 each into five (5) equity shares of the face value of Rs 2 each. The scrip will turn ex-date for stock split on October 28, 2021.

A stock split is generally done to make the stock more affordable for small retail investors and increase liquidity. It refers to splitting the face value of the shares of companies, wherein the number of shares of the company increases but the market cap remains the same. Existing shares split, but the underlying value remains the same. As the number of shares increases, the price per share goes down.

IRCTC is the only entity authorised by the Indian Railways to provide catering services to railways, online railway tickets and packaged drinking water at railway stations and trains in India. It has a dominant position in online rail bookings and packaged drinking water with around 73 per cent and 45 per cent market share, respectively.
The are likely to open higher on the back of positive global cues and strong corporate earnings. At 08:20 AM, the SGX Nifty indicated a gap-up opening of 81 points at 18,569. Meanwhile, here are the top stocks to focus in trade today:



Hindustan Unilever (HUL): The FMCG giant shall announce its results during the day. Analysts expect HUL to post low double-digit growth in September quarter revenue between 10 per cent and 15 per cent, while the bottom line may rise by 8-10 per cent on a year-on-year basis. READ PREVIEW HERE



ACC to kick-off September quarter earnings for the sector today. A drop in prices of cement due to weak demand coupled with input cost escalation is expected to keep EBITDA of the domestic cement industry muted for the September quarter, said brokerages.

Other Key Results: Besides HUL and ACC, ICICI Prudential, JSW Ispat, Jubilant Ingrevia, L&T Technology Services, Mastek, Navin Fluorine International, NELCO, Nestle India, Network 18, Rane Brake Lining, Shakti Pumps and TV18 Broadcast are some of the prominent companies to announce results on Tuesday.

Tata Motors: Launched mini SUV Punch at an introductory price of Rs 5.49 lakh.

Reliance Industries: In a boost to the groups retail plans, the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has allowed Reliance Retail Ventures and Reliance Retail & Fashion Lifestyles to hold extraordinary general meetings (EGMs) of their shareholders and creditors to acquire Future Groups businesses, setting aside Amazons objections. READ MORE



L&T Infotech: The firm reported a 20.8 per cent YoY increase in consolidated net profit at Rs 551.7 crore for the quarter ended September. Revenue grew 25.6 per cent YoY to Rs 3,767 crore in the latest quarter. READ MORE



UltraTech Cement: Q2 net flat at Rs 1,310.34 crore on a YoY basis, while revenue grew by 15.7 per cent YoY to Rs 12,016.78 crore in the quarter ended September 2021. READ MORE



SBI: The country's largest lender has raised Rs 6,000 crore by issuing Basel III compliant bonds.

Airtel, VodaIdea: The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has asked Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and Reliance Jio to inform the government by October 29 whether they would opt for the four-year moratorium on adjusted gross revenue- (AGR-) related dues, which is part of the relief package approved last month. READ MORE



Meanwhile, Vodafone Idea and smart world and communication business of engineering and construction conglomerate Larsen and Toubro (L&T) have joined hands for a pilot project to test 5G-based smart city solutions.



Tata Coffee: The Tata Group firm reported a 26.55 per cent YoY jump in consolidated net profit for the September quarter at Rs 53.66 crore, driven by value-added businesses.

Indian Energy Exchange (IEX): Companys board to meet on October 21 to consider a proposal for bonus share issue.

TTK Prestige: Companys board to meet on October 27 to consider a proposal for sub-division of equity shares.

Equitas Small Finance Bank: Plans to raise up to Rs 1,000 crore in equity capital by issuing shares to institutional investors to meet minimum public shareholding (MPS) norms. READ MORE



Sterlite Power: Has bagged Nangalbibra-Bongaigaon inter-state power transmission project worth Rs 324 crore. READ MORE



Adani Ports & SEZ: Raises Rs 1,000 crore by allotment of secured, redeemable, and non-convertible debentures (NCD) on the private placement basis.

Smartlink Holdings: Companys arm Synerga EMS has received government nod under the Production Linked Scheme (PLI) for manufacturing of telecom and network products under the MSME category.
Dr Reddy's Laboratories received the final approval of its Abbreviated New Drug Application for Lenalidomide capsules (in 2.5 mg and 20 mg) and tentative approval (for 5 mg, 10 mg, 15 mg and 25 mg) from the United States Food and Drug Administration.

With this approval, Dr Reddy's Laboratories is eligible for 180 days of generic drug exclusivity for Lenalidomide capsules, 2.5 mg and 20 mg. In September 2020, the pharmaceutical major announced a settlement agreement of their litigation with Celgene, the maker of Revlimid (Lenalidomide) capsules and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bristol Myers Squibb, relating to patents for the branded drug.

In settlement of all outstanding claims in the litigation, Celgene agreed to provide Dr Reddy's Laboratories with a license to sell volume-limited amounts of generic lenalidomide capsules in the U.S. beginning on a confidential date after March 2022 subject to regulatory approval. The agreed-upon percentages remain confidential. As part of the settlement, Dr Reddy's Laboratories is also licensed to sell generic lenalidomide capsules in the U.S. without volume limitation beginning on 31 January 2026.

The company's consolidated net profit declined by 36% to Rs 380.40 crore on a 11.4% rise in net sales to Rs 4,919.40 crore in Q1 FY22 over Q1 FY21.

Shares of Dr Reddy's Laboratories rose 0.17% to Rs 4,882.25 on BSE. Dr Reddy's Laboratories is an integrated pharmaceutical company. Through its three businesses - pharmaceutical services & active ingredients, global generics and proprietary Products.

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Info Edge (India) advanced 3.57% to Rs 7,267.45, extending gains for fifth day in a row.

As per media reports, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has approved the initial public offering (IPO) plans of PB Fintech, the parent company of online marketplaces Policybazaar and Paisabazaar.

The company had filed its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) with Sebi on 2 August, seeking to raise Rs 6,017 crore through an IPO. The company plans to raise Rs 3,750 crore by issuing fresh shares and the remaining Rs 2,267 crore through an offer for sale (OFS), in which existing investors can sell their stakes on the exchanges.

The company plans to use the IPO proceeds to enhance the visibility and awareness of its brands and expand its user base. Policybazaar and its affiliates will also look at making strategic investments and acquisitions to expand their presence outside India, it reportedly said.

As per Info Edge's Annual Report 2020-21, it held 13.98% stake in PB Fintech as on 31 March 2021.

The Info Edge (India) stock has added 9.58% in five sessions, from its recent closing low of Rs 6,631.95 recorded on 11 October 2021.

In the past three months, the stock has zoomed 40.81% while the benchmark Sensex has added 18.23% during the same period.

On the technical front, the stock's RSI (relative strength index) stood at 75.547. The RSI oscillates between zero and 100. Traditionally, the RSI is considered overbought when above 70 and oversold when below 30.

The stock was trading above its 50-day, 100-day and 200-day daily simple moving average (SMA) placed at 6276.57, 5640.24 and 5231.90, respectively.

Info Edge (India) is among the leading internet companies in India. The company runs leading internet businesses viz. Naukri.com, Jeevansathi.com, 99acres.com and Shiksha.com. The company also owns Quadrangle and Naukri Gulf. It has made significant strategic investments such as zomato.com, policybazaar.com and happily unmarried.com etc.

The company reported 21.3% rise in standalone net profit to Rs 100.96 crore on 14.1% increase in net sales to Rs 319.72 crore in Q1 FY22 over Q1 FY21.

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Hindustan Unilever, Nestle India, ACC, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company, L&T Technology Services among others will release their September 2021 quarter earnings today, 19 October 2021.

Larsen & Toubro Infotech (L&T Infotech) reported 11.1% increase in consolidated profit to Rs 551.70 crore on 8.8% rise in revenue to Rs 3767 crore in Q2FY22 over Q1FY22.

TTK Prestige said that the board of directors of the company will consider sub-division/split of equity shares of the company in its meeting scheduled on 27 October 2021.

The board of directors of Indian Energy Exchange (IEX) will consider the proposal for declaration of bonus issue of equity shares in its meeting scheduled on 21 October 2021.

H.G. Infra Engineering has been declared as L-1 bidder by National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) for two HAM projects.

Edelweiss Financial Services said that Edelweiss Group has announced the divestment of its majority stake in Edelweiss Gallagher Insurance Brokers Ltd (EGIBL), post approval from the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI).

Dixon Technologies (India) said its wholly owned subsidiary- Padget and Orbic, a US based smartphone manufacturer has entered into agreement for manufacturing of smartphones at Padget's manufacturing facility situated at Noida.

Synegra EMS, a wholly owned subsidiary company of Smartlink Holdings has received approval from the Government of India under the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme for manufacturing of Telecom and Networking Products in India under the MSME category.

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Power stocks were trading with gains, with the S&P BSE Power index increasing 38.43 points or 1.07% at 3644.77 at 09:50 IST.

Among the components of the S&P BSE Power index, Indian Energy Exchange Ltd (up 16.4%), Adani Power Ltd (up 9.98%),Siemens Ltd (up 2.04%),Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (up 1.74%),Thermax Ltd (up 0.99%), were the top gainers. Among the other gainers were ABB India Ltd (up 0.83%), NHPC Ltd (up 0.7%), NTPC Ltd (up 0.64%), K E C International Ltd (up 0.57%), and Torrent Power Ltd (up 0.42%).

On the other hand, Tata Power Company Ltd (down 1.65%), Adani Green Energy Ltd (down 0.79%), and Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd (down 0.59%) turned lower.

At 09:50 IST, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 367.23 or 0.59% at 62132.82.

The Nifty 50 index was up 102.8 points or 0.56% at 18579.85.

The S&P BSE Small-Cap index was up 240.96 points or 0.8% at 30341.76.

The S&P BSE 150 Midcap Index index was up 75.83 points or 0.81% at 9467.3.

On BSE,1744 shares were trading in green, 1032 were trading in red and 128 were unchanged.

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Reliance Industries Ltd is quoting at Rs 2740.5, up 1.22% on the day as on 12:49 IST on the NSE. The stock is up 27.12% in last one year as compared to a 56.09% spurt in NIFTY and a 72.63% spurt in the Nifty Energy.

Reliance Industries Ltd gained for a fifth straight session today. The stock is quoting at Rs 2740.5, up 1.22% on the day as on 12:49 IST on the NSE. The benchmark NIFTY is up around 0.5% on the day, quoting at 18569.6. The Sensex is at 62149.48, up 0.62%. Reliance Industries Ltd has risen around 14.46% in last one month.

Meanwhile, Nifty Energy index of which Reliance Industries Ltd is a constituent, has risen around 18.24% in last one month and is currently quoting at 25148.7, down 0.27% on the day. The volume in the stock stood at 24.9 lakh shares today, compared to the daily average of 55.32 lakh shares in last one month.

The benchmark October futures contract for the stock is quoting at Rs 2746.4, up 1.01% on the day. Reliance Industries Ltd is up 27.12% in last one year as compared to a 56.09% spurt in NIFTY and a 72.63% spurt in the Nifty Energy index.

The PE of the stock is 54.48 based on TTM earnings ending June 21.

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Congress has deleted a controversial tweet against Prime Minister and issued an apology.

President DK Shivakumar on Monday said that the post on the state Congress' official handle was regretted and has been withdrawn.

He said that the tweet was against the "civil and parliamentary language".

"I have always believed that civil and parliamentary language is a non-negotiable pre-requisite for political discourse. An uncivil tweet made by a novice social media manager through the Congress official Twitter handle is regretted and stands withdrawn," tweeted Shivakumar.

The deleted tweet by the official Twitter handle of Congress had called PM Modi an "angoothachaap" (illiterate).

The tweet in Kannada said that Modi neither went to schools built by Congress nor learned from the schemes set up by Congress.

Meanwhile, bypolls to two Assembly constituencies are set to be held in Karnataka on October 30.

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Considering the crucial Municipal Corporation elections likely at the end of this year, the in might go through a major organisational reshuffle just after the festive season. Preference is likely to be given to youth and pro-RSS leaders.

There are strong indications that the party which is struggling to hold back its own members particularly in South Bengal is likely to give more importance to the leadership from North Bengal where the saffron brigade has performed better.

Sources in the party indicated that the high command is not at all happy with the present performance of the arty and so they are willing to bring in young leaders which might give a different look to the party and so leaders who are close to RSS like Debojit Sarkar, Dr Indranil Khan, Loknath Chattopadhyay and Debtanu Bhattacharya might get important positions in the state committee.

Speculations are also rife that all the four state secretaries except Jyotirmoy Singh Mahato, who is from North Bengal, might be replaced.

Highly placed sources in the party indicated that leaders like Tushar Ghosh, Debasree Chowdhury who have long association with RSS might come to the state committee.

The new state president of the BJP, Sukanta Majumdar will start extensive visits across districts after October 20, 2021. In the first round, he will conduct organisational meetings in 20 districts. Sources said that more than 50 per cent of district presidents will be changed.

Not only at the state level but the party is likely to make major changes in the district level too. There are 39 organisational districts which are headed by a district presidents. Sources said that after the posts of the general secretaries, the posts of branch organisations of the party youth wing, peasants' wing, women's wing and minority wings, are extremely crucial. Sources said that the defunct district president will surely be replaced. And new faces from the young generation will be roped in there.

"All the changes will be as per the constitutional provisions. The new committee will be formed according to the advice of our central leadership. The final decision of the changes will be taken by the central leadership of the party only," a senior party leader said.

As the corporation election is round the corner and so the party is concentrating on Howrah and Kolkata. The focus will be on Howrah and Kolkata, which are heading for municipal corporation elections. Sources said that the North Kolkata district president, Shibaji Sinharoy might be replaced by Sajal Ghosh and Indrajit Khatik might become the new south Kolkata district president.

--IANS

sbg/skp/

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TCNS Clothing Co. Ltd

TCNS Clothing Co. Limited is India's leading women's branded apparel company in terms of total number of exclusive brand outlets as of May 2018 according to Technopak. The Company designs manufactures markets and retails a wide portfolio of women's branded apparel across multiple brands. The Company sells its products across India and through multiple distribution channels. As of March 31 2019 the...> More
New Delhi [India], October 19 (ANI/ThePRTree): The festive season is the best time to bring out the fashion fever in you. In a time marred by pandemic, the festive spirit helps celebrate good times with friends and family, and this needs a new wardrobe.

To ensure style and fashion is curated to everyone this festive season aLL THE PLUS SIZE STORE presents the fabulous, majestic and exquisite festive collection.

The stunning new festive collection for plus-size men and women have a wide range for all occasions. Ladies flaunt your curves in gorgeous Zari embroidered kurtas or Royal foil print flowy dresses and much more. And for men we have colourful kurtas, jackets, shirts and more in a mix of bright & warm hues that sets the tone for the festivities. Be it a festive lunch or a family dinner - aLL HAS IT All.

The campaign has two body-positive influencers revelling in the festive glory.

Being a limited edition collection, customers can immediately shop the look worn looks by shopping from aLLonlinestore.in or buy from any of the 81 aLL stores Pan India.

Talking about aLL's Fabulously Festive collection: Pawan Sarda, Group CMO- Digital, Marketing & E-commerce, Future Group said "Festive period for all of us is the time to celebrate fashion and flaunt it in style so why should the plus size not join the party. Our continuous endeavour is to romanticize the plus size fashion with unapologetic swag and be fashion first not limited to any body type. We believe all body types are beautiful and it's time for everyone to get their fashion game on and be fabulously festive"

Rajeev Singh business head, aLL: The Plus Size Store said "aLL has always believed that fashion is for everyone & beauty can never be limited to a body type. And festive period is the best time to bring your best fashion game and celebrate the true you. This season we've curated a festive collection that's majestic & regal with a fun and quirk quotient ensuring our customers step out in style, all the time.

To men and women in the country of all sizes, celebrate yourself every day because you are worth it.

If you have got it, flaunt it and be fabulously festive.

This story is provided by ThePRTree. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/ThePRTree)

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Dubai [UAE], October 19 (ANI/PNN): (https://aqarchain.io), a leader in Prop-tech, FinTech real estate and hybrid real estate investment, has showcased the first global blockchain-powered real estate crowdfunding marketplace, where investing in real estate is as easy as investing in shares on the stock market.

Aqarchain.io has presented at the first global blockchain platform to offer fractional NFT for properties during the Future Blockchain Summit in Dubai UAE held in conjunction with Gitex 2021.

Aqarchain.io will enable investors to invest in properties in fractions like shares in a property. The aim is to provide liquidity to the real estate industry by enabling fractional ownership. Traditionally Real Estate investment is considerate the most preferred asset for investment; however, the rising prices creates a barrier to entry in the market. This is where we come into the picture by offering flexibility to invest in fractions.

Waqas Nakhwa, of Indian origin, is the Founder and CEO of Aqarchain; states, "The Aqarchain.io platform, our flagship product, is a real estate crowdfunding investment platform. Every real estate Asset will be digitized by minting an NFT, This will further be fractionalized into fractional tokens that represent a share in the asset."

Each fractional token of the NFT is one share in the asset. The tokenized share is lucrative for both buyers and sellers as anyone can easily transfer ownership without the hefty overhead costs, coupled with easier liquidation and efficiencies when transferring these shares.

In addition, Aqarchain.io will incorporate the DAO governance model, where owners of fractional tokens vote for the governance of the property, returns on the property, appreciation or depreciation of value, as well as vote on which properties get listed on the platform.

Further Adding Nakhwa states, We are selling a dream here; people will be able to buy a share in the apartment for as low as USD 500 and claim the rent in proportion to their share in the property. We also want to change the concept that buying real estate is a complicated and once-in-a-lifetime opportunity as now the entry is easier and affordable.

It will also be a proud moment for the whole team at Aqarchain.io that with the public sale going Live on October 20, 2021, the beta version of the platform will also be released for the investors and users to experience a new way to explore real estate. The platform launch will be done at the TDefi Arena inside the Future Blockchain Summit at Gitex2021 in Dubai, UAE. TDefi has incubated Aqarchain.io and has been equally instrumental in supporting the team at every stage.

Aqarchain.io is the AQR Utility Token issuance platform and also a platform that will allow white-labeled hybrid self-tokenization of real estate assets. Property owners and developers will have open access to bring their properties on this platform and use the hybrid self-tokenization platform to mint NFT of the real estate asset and conduct a public sale of the fractional tokens of the NFT.

This platform enables complete decentralized infrastructure for the property owners and the purchasers of the fractional tokens. Aqarchain.io is the flagship product of the Smart Chain Holding Corporation. The purpose of this product is to provide tokenization of real estate assets using blockchain technology.

For more information please visit www.aqarchain.io or telegram channel.

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Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], October 19 (ANI/BusinessWire India): Embassy Office Parks REIT (NSE: EMBASSY / BSE: 542602) ("Embassy REIT"), India's first listed REIT and the largest office REIT in Asia by area, is pleased to announce that it has been awarded a 4-star (out of 5 stars) rating in the 2021 Real Estate Assessment by GRESB, the leading global ESG benchmark for real estate and infrastructure investments.

In its first year of participation, Embassy REIT achieved a "Green Star" status and an overall score of 80% for its Standing Investments, placing it 7 percentage points above the average. Embassy REIT stood out in particular on the 'Governance' pillar with a score of 19/20, surpassing the peer average, reflecting the best-in-class framework and strong corporate governance standards adopted and followed by the REIT.

Embassy REIT also achieved high scores for the 'Environmental' (47/62) and 'Social' (14/18) pillars, taking into account the high proportion of electricity from renewable sources and the strong stakeholder programmes in areas of health, education and public infrastructure which have been running for a number of years.

Michael Holland, Chief Executive Officer, Embassy REIT, said,

"We are extremely proud to be awarded a GRESB 4-star rating in our first year of participation in this prestigious global benchmark assessment. Our ESG initiatives comprising 19 distinct programmes around the pillars of Responsible Business, Resilient Planet and Revitalised Communities have always been a significant part of our business philosophy and our multi-year ESG action plan is already underway. We will continue to strengthen our efforts by scaling up our ongoing ESG programs and commitments. The rating also reflects the transparent reporting of our ESG performance to our rapidly growing investor base."

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Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], October 19 (ANI/PNN): Nexstgo Company Ltd has announced the launch of its first VAIO exclusive brand store in India.

The Japan-based manufacturer has already entered the market after the launch of its laptops at the beginning of the year and is all set to regain its position as the dominant choice in the category.

Equipped with high-performance proficiency, VAIO is capturing the heart of every gadgeteer with its premium and ingeniously crafted laptop design in the Indian market.

Nexstgo Company Ltd is licensed for the manufacturing, sales, and marketing as well as after-sales services of VAIO laptops under the VAIO trademark across countries, including Hong Kong, Macau, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Middle East markets and now India. The Japanese label has recently launched two mid-range laptop series, namely the minimalist E15 and the thunderous SE14 powered by the latest 11th Gen Intel Core processor, equipped with an all-day battery life of up to 12 hours along with top-of-the-line features.

Also, its flagship model VAIO Z is the latest in the lineup and is the world's first 3D printed, contoured carbon fibre laptop. VAIO is reassuring its position as the pioneer of tech-savvy laptops with a new range of laptops available at their brand store at Phoenix Market City Mall, Kurla, Mumbai, along with the online e-commerce giants as well. The brand has also introduced a 24x7 toll-free hotline to provide prompt support to its customers with premium services and best class features.

Alex Chung, Co-founder and CEO of Nexstgo Company Ltd said, "We, at Nexstgo, understand that India is one of the biggest markets in the technology segment. Thus, we have taken a step forward to strengthen our offline presence with our first exclusive store of VAIO located at the financial capital of India, Mumbai. The people of the country are inspired with the launch of our brand, and this resulted in the successful launch of our laptops."

Speaking on the launch, Seema Bhatnagar, Regional Business Director (South Asia) and Country General Manager (India), Nexstgo Company Ltd., said, "We are rhapsodized about the launch of VAIO's first exclusive brand store in India and intend to reacquire its position in the market with the state of the art of consumer experience via our store. Looking forward to becoming the first choice for laptop buyers across the country." She also spoke about the brand's plans to go full throttle in expanding its footprint in the Indian subcontinent.

Creating Value with VAIO Corporation

VAIO Corporation partnered with Nexstgo Company Limited in 2018 to oversee the business in Asia. The license agreement included manufacturing, sales and marketing as well as servicing of VAIO laptops under the VAIO trademark in Hong Kong, Macau, Malaysia, Singapore, and Taiwan markets. With its headquarters and manufacturing base located in Azumino City, Nagano Prefecture, it is engaged in planning, design, development, manufacturing, sales and ancillary services in the PC business and EMS business.

Nexstgo Company Limited - Redefining Experiences

With its motto, "Do what the giants can't", Nexstgo focuses on bringing experiential technical solutions to modern-day corporate leaders since 2016. They challenge every limitation of function, technology and aesthetics, using a human-oriented approach to design a splendid array of products. Nexstgo is committed to bring new revolutionary experiences in technology through introducing a wide product range, which includes PC, smart home, IoT, artificial intelligence, and corporate solutions.

Nexstgo is keen to reimagine market frameworks and create values to users that surpass perceived expectations. They deliver unprecedented product innovation and create product innovations about how technological breakthroughs will shape our future. (https://www.nexstgo.com/in)

(https://in.vaio.com)

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By Shailesh Yadav

New Delhi [India], October 19 (ANI): The Multi-Agency Group (MAG) on Pandora Papers has begun its preliminary investigation of entities and persons named in Pandora Papers and held its first meeting last week.

The meeting of MAG was chaired by the Central Board of Direct Taxes Chairman JB Mohapatra. Officials of Enforcement Director (ED), Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) attended the meeting.

Sources told ANI that MAG, in its meeting, discussed the information reported by the International Consortium of International Journalists (ICIJ) on October 3, 2021, where it was claimed to be a 2.94 terabyte (TB) data trove that exposes the offshore secrets of wealthy elites from more than 200 countries and territories.

According to the source present in the meeting, MAG discussed the leak of Pandora Papers reported by ICIJ. "Only a few of the 380 Indian names and entities have appeared in the media so far. MAG will fast track its investigation once the rest of the names of Indian entities are released by ICIJ," said sources.

"It was decided in the meeting that the MAG will seek information from countries concerned on Indian entities named in Pandora Papers through Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI). Through AEIO tax authorities match the incomes earned or account held abroad, with that declared in their tax returns so as to detect instances, if any, of tax evasion," sources added.

India has activated the AEOI relationship for receiving information from 96 countries including the British Virgin Islands and the Bahamas where Indian entities have invested their wealth.

Sources further told that the MAG also have a platform of Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) where, through Spontaneous Exchange Information, India can ask for information from countries concerned.

"Tax authorities also have the provision of common reporting standard (CRS), where CRS requires financial institutions to identify the tax residency of all the customers, and in most cases report information on customers who are tax residents outside of the country/jurisdiction where they hold their accounts," they said.

As per the ICIJ, as many as 380 Indians are on the list of the global elite who has been exposed for ring-fencing their wealth through the shadowy financial transaction and using offshore tax havens to hide assets worth millions of dollars.

The investigation is based on a leak of confidential records of 14 offshore service providers that give professional services to wealthy individuals and corporations seeking to incorporate shell companies, trusts, foundations and other entities in low or no-tax jurisdictions.

The sources said that MAG will take appropriate action as per law.

Earlier in a statement, CBDT had said that government will also proactively engage with foreign jurisdictions for obtaining information in respect of relevant taxpayers/entities.

The Government of India is also part of an Inter-Governmental Group that ensures collaboration and experience sharing to effectively address tax risks associated with such leaks.

It may be noted that following earlier similar leaks in the form of ICIJ, HSBC, Panama Papers and Paradise Papers, the government had already enacted the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015 with an aim to curb black money, or undisclosed foreign assets and income by imposing suitable tax and penalty on such income.

Undisclosed credits of Rs 20,352 crore approximately (status as on 15.09.2021) have been detected in the investigations carried out in the Panama and Paradise Papers. (ANI)

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New Delhi [India], October 19 (ANI/NewsVoir): Positively Perfect, in partnership with Rajesh Setty, Co-founder of Audvisor.com, are excited to announce the launch of the first journal in the #InsideFirst series.

Apart from being the Co-founder of Audvisor, Setty is an author and teacher based out of Silicon Valley.

The journal will be exclusively available on the official website of Positively Perfect. The first #InsideFirst book comes in five different colors. The goal of every journal in this series is to make people stop, think and reflect using the reflection prompts called Napkinsights. There are more than 34 reflection prompts in the first journal, designed to upgrade ones thinking and in the process uplifting themselves.

Sharing his thoughts on the partnership and launch, Rajesh Setty, comments "I am thrilled to bring the #InsideFirst series of journals in partnership with Positively Perfect. To be outstanding, one has to out-execute; to out-execute, one has to out-think; to out-think, one has to out-foresee. That is what we stand for."

He further added, "Our goal is with #InsideFirst series is to get people to observe and foresee. The positive response we are seeing even before the official launch is making us more excited."

Rajesh Setty is often referred to as Silicon Valley's secret "Spark Plug" for startups and scale-ups. Being a Polymath, Rajesh is constantly in the middle of running experiments across a variety of seemingly unrelated areas of interest, but with a common goal of creating a better world through the projects he incubates as one of the founders or participates in some meaningful capacity to help the founders. Reason why Setty partnered with Positively Perfect as they share a common vision. Rajesh's projects include startups, books, courses and products but are not limited to the above.

Speaking about the launch Nidhi Jain Seth, Founder, Positively Perfect said, "The timing couldn't be more perfect for #InsideFIrst series of journals, the world we live in is simultaneously experiencing an abundance of information creating a poverty of insight. We have taken utmost care to design every journal in the series to be of high-quality with reflection prompts interspersed within the book. It is the perfect style-substance combo packed with value."

Positively Perfect is also planning to offer co-branded editions for bulk purchase of #InsideFirst series of journals.

Positively Perfect is a unique gifting online store, which through the power of words motivates people, brings about a change in their destinies, gives them courage, makes them feel more loved, or makes them accomplish the impossible. Positively Perfect aims to remind one of what they yearn to be reminded of through their products.

The brand was established with a goal to encourage people and make them the best version of themselves through emotional stimulation which makes them more memorable. Serving people with an extensive range of products meant to stir a self growth vibe.

This story is provided by NewsVoir. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/NewsVoir)

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Noida (Uttar Pradesh) [India], October 19 (ANI/BusinessWire India): Ranking By SEO is a well-established digital marketing agency that has been a part of the industry for over 12 years. It has offered services to over 5,000 clients over the years in the US, UK, Australia, and other such markets.

To make their services more accessible to Indian businesses, the marketing agency decided to set up a new domain in this corner of the world. The website is now fully functional and offers a wide range of services.

The team has been contemplating a dedicated website for Indian clients for some time now. There was a need to set up a separate establishment that catered to the unique requirements of local businesses, big and small. India is a very unique market and strategies that work for the US or Australian clients do not produce the same results for Indian clients. With this in mind, Ranking By SEO established (https://rankingbyseo.in) with solutions designed specifically for businesses here.

Everyone in the Ranking By SEO team seemed hopeful and happy with the venture, many looking forward to seeing how the agency would change the marketing landscape of the country with more nuanced services.

The company offers a wide range of services from SEO to (https://rankingbyseo.in/kolkata/ppc-services) Pay-Per-Click advertising. It also has experience with different markets and this isn't their first venture into the local sphere. According to Mr. Lalit Sharma, the founder of (https://www.rankingbyseo.com) Ranking By SEO, the agency has been working with local clients for some time now. They are accustomed to adjusting their strategies and serving different target markets and can help businesses in all corners of the country.

Digital marketing is a thriving field and most modern establishments need to develop a strong presence online. Agencies like Ranking By SEO can help businesses of all sizes thrive in such a competitive environment. The agency aims to offer tailored solutions based on solid research, regular communication with clients, and the latest strategies.

Ranking By SEO offers a comprehensive (https://rankingbyseo.in) digital marketing solution to their clients, covering all of the essential requirements like website development, local SEO, content creation, link building, (https://rankingbyseo.in/kolkata/social-media-marketing) social media marketing, and more.

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The founder firmly believes that digital marketing can also help businesses transition into the online sphere. Many Indian companies still rely on brick-and-mortar stores and have virtually no presence online. As the covid-19 pandemic has shown, this strategy is no longer reliable. Businesses need to have a strong presence online to remain afloat. By providing accessible, affordable, and comprehensive (https://rankingbyseo.in/noida/digital-marketing-services) digital marketing services tailored to the Indian audience, Ranking By SEO hopes to assist local businesses. This relationship of giving and take help drive the agency's success.

The new website will likely thrive and support local businesses. Ranking By SEO does aim to become one of the(https://rankingbyseo.in/kolkata/seo-services) top SEO companies in the region and serve businesses of all sizes effectively. With a focus on the local market and the experience that spans over the decade, they can be of material help to businesses facing a rough transition to online spaces.

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This story is provided by BusinessWire India. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/BusinessWire India)

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Tokyo [Japan], October 19 (ANI/NewsVoir): (https://srammram.com) SRAM & MRAM Group wraps up MEDICAL JAPAN 2021 summit with an overwhelming response. The group in association with DM Link showcased "(https://www.walletz4u.com)" during the MEDICAL JAPAN 2021 summit. The event began on October 13, 2021, and concluded on October 15, 2021. MEDICAL JAPAN is a yearly trade show consisting of specialized shows for the Medical, Elderly Care and Pharmacy industries. It consists of eight exhibitions, including Medical Devices and Hospital Equipment Expo, Hospital BPO Services Expo, Medical IT Expo, Pharmacy Solutions Expo and more.

The event brought together medical technologists, hospital directors, elderly care facilities directors, pharmacies managers and others from all over the world. With the theme of "Insights into your family's health", the SRAM & MRAM Group unveiled a plethora of medical products along with their flagship medical protection supply, i.e., Walletz4u; a flagship brand that manufactures its flagship products for consumers across the globe.

Walletz4u is the world's largest gloves OEM; a brand that is catering to multiple markets and verticals. The brand is synonymous with its high-quality latex, vinyl, nitrile, and rubber disposable gloves. Each glove is backed with the seal of approval and with the commitment to bringing the products that one can trust to help keep you safe, healthy, and comfortable. Walletz4u is poised to become one of the largest glove manufacturers and resellers in the ASEAN and the world markets.

Speaking on the development, Hemlata Arumugam, CEO SRAM & MRAM Group quoted, "We are elated to be part of MEDICAL JAPAN 2021. We successfully showcased a plethora of medical products along with our flagship medical protection supply 'Walletz4u'. It also gave us an opportunity to get closer to the stakeholders and the potential business prospects. We are sure this will help us in creating long-term business association too."

Addressing the participation, Rajesh Wadhwa, representing SRAM & MRAM from Tokyo quoted, "We are proud to be associated with MEDICAL JAPAN 2021, where we showcased Walletz4u. The summit helped us in reaching out to the ASEAN region. It offered a great business proposition to showcase the advancement and the products to the stakeholders as well."

Speaking on the closure, Vishal Ahuja, Global Marketing Director, SRAM & MRAM Group quoted, "MEDICAL JAPAN is a great initiative, it not only brought the merchants and manufacturers together but also it offered equal business prospects as well."

Regarding the development, Abhishek Tandon Director DM Link said, "It was a delight to be a part of the summit. It helped in exchanging technologies & innovations. It also opened new channels for advanced tech products for the masses to access through a solitary platform."

The Summit is dedicated to showcasing technologies, products, and knowledge transfer among players from around the globe. MEDICAL JAPAN is a yearly property that helps in bringing business leaders, healthcare professionals for commercial entities and healthcare systems, and exploring the latest tech knowledge and products.

This story is provided by NewsVoir. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/NewsVoir)

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Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], October 19 (ANI/PNN): Utkarsh Small Finance Bank Limited today announced the inauguration of its first branch in the city of Chennai and in the state of Tamil Nadu.

The Bank today has 601 branches in 202 districts spread across 19 states and 2 Union Territories in the country.

The residents of Ashok Nagar, Chennai can now avail the Bank's products and services, which includes savings bank account, current account, fixed deposits, recurring deposits, housing loans, business loans and loan against property amongst other facilities.

G. S. Sundararajan - Chairperson, Utkarsh Core Invest Ltd.,(Promoter Institution of Utkarsh Small Finance Bank), said, "It gives me immense pleasure to inaugurate the first Branch of Utkarsh Small Finance Bank in the state of Tamil Nadu and in the city of Chennai. The Bank will complement the robust business growth in the region and will be able to cater to the myriad banking and financial needs of the customer. It is a moment of pride for us, being the promoter institution of the Bank, to witness its exciting growth journey from a microfinance company to one of the leading Small Finance Banks in the country".

Govind Singh, MD & CEO, Utkarsh SFBL, said, "We are pleased to set our footprint in the state of Tamil Nadu with our first branch in the vibrant city of Chennai. The location augurs well and is of prime importance in the overall strategic plan of expansion and growth of the Bank. The city has been the hub of trade, manufacturing, and commerce and has numerous factors that contribute towards the growth of commerce and trade in the country. Utkarsh Small Finance Bank is in a position to provide banking and financial services to various categories of business and individuals. Our products and services cater to the needs of the business, entrepreneurs, and individuals across strata. The individuals have a choice of savings & investment options besides loans to choose from that will enable them in achieving their financial goals, he further said.

Ashok Nagar, Chennai is an important business node. The inauguration of the branch significantly improves access to financial products by the residents and entrepreneurs of the region that the Bank has to offer. We look forward to expanding our presence in the city", he added.

The Bank is in a position to provide an array of financial products and services to its customers, which includes savings and current accounts, fixed deposits and recurring deposits, along with various loan products such as housing loans, business loans and loans against property. With its branch infrastructure, digital banking capabilities and ATM network, the Bank offers integrated customer service.

The launch of this branch is aligned with the Bank's strategy to extend its reach to offer various financial services across the country. This includes wholesale lending, micro banking loans (JLG loans), MSME loans, housing loans, loan against property, commercial vehicle loans, construction equipment loans and two-wheeler loans along with current and savings accounts, fixed and recurring deposits, insurance and investment products to its customers.

Customers can access banking services through multiple channels, including banking outlets, ATMs, internet banking, mobile banking, tab banking and call centre. As the Bank expands into newer markets and geographies, it continues to widen its customer base. The Bank provides facility to customers for opening a bank account without having to visit the branch through the tab-based application assisted model, "Digi On-Boarding".

This story is provided by PNN. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/PNN)

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
In a worrying development that could potentially hurt the Indian IT sector, high attrition rates are haunting the countrys big IT service providers. The war for talent has become an industry-wide phenomenon amid an acute shortage of digital skills. Let us look at the reasons for high attrition and the actions the companies are taking to tackle this. *** Passenger volumes on the Delhi Metro are still 45 per cent of their pre-COVID level, but what has come as an additional challenge is an adverse arbitration award which could lead to an outgo of over Rs 7,000 crore. Business Standard's Jyoti Mukul spoke to Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Managing Director Mangu Singh on these twin challenges.

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The markets have rallied for seven straight sessions with select index heavyweights like Reliance, Infosys and select financials driving the index higher. The action today will shift to Hindustan Unilever and cement companies. Lets see whats in store.

***

You may have heard mixed reviews about Unit-Linked Insurance Plans (ULIPs). But do you know what exactly are and how they work? Are they a good invest instrument? If so, why? Let's decode all of these in this segment.

***

Listen to these and more in todays Business Standard Morning Show podcast.

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Painter Zhang Ben opened his new exhibition on Nov. 6 at Shanghai's M50 Art Zone. Zhang, born in Huangshan, East Chinas Anhui province, in 1984, is now working at the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts. Known for his Symbolist oil paintings, Zhang presents a surrealistic space that reflects his inner self, including religious elements. Xiangwai Artha, an art-sharing platform, contributed to todays gallery

Nov 19, 2021 06:03 PM
The Facebook Papers project represents a unique collaboration among 17 American news organizations, including The Associated Press. Journalists from a variety of newsrooms, large and small, worked together to gain access to thousands of pages of internal company documents obtained by Frances
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Celebrating STEM Week 2021 - President John Cox

An Editorial from John Cox, President of Cape Cod Community College

During the past twenty months, our public colleges and universities supporting Southeastern Massachusetts have rallied in developing creative solutions to continue to provide stellar higher education to the communities we serve. Faculty and staff embraced online and virtual education while developing new practices to give our students flexible options that work around their lives.

We are, of course, taking cues from the very students we serve, who demonstrate their tenacity and willingness to take on challenges every day. As we look to the not-so-distant future, higher education in our region will continue to be nimble in how we serve our students, and the options we provide will lead to sustainable and quality careers in our communities.

The future will largely focus on our growth in educating the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) professionals of tomorrow. From wind power initiatives and the growth of the Blue Economy, to the groundbreaking advanced manufacturing and robotics initiatives booming out of Woods Hole, to culinary arts, human nutrition, and hospitality entrepreneurship supporting our guests across the South Coast, the power of STEM is already upon us.

A commonality that all our Massachusetts community colleges and state universities share is that when students arrive at our doors, they want an education for a career that will improve their lives and the lives of their families. For many, those pathways lie in STEM fields.

During the week of October 18, the six colleges and universities that make up the CONNECT partnership (Cape Cod Community College, Bristol Community College, Massasoit Community College, Massachusetts Maritime Academy, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, and Bridgewater State University) will host a robust series of events for STEM Week in Massachusetts. With a focus on the practicality and sustainability of STEM education, and a showcase of what various industries really look like, our collective goal is to shine an even brighter light on these fields so that current and future students engage.

On Tuesday, October 19, the Presidents of the CONNECT colleges will join local legislators, business and community leaders, and other stakeholders at Bristol Community Colleges National Offshore Wind Institute in New Bedford to celebrate the expansion of the CONNECT4WIND agreement. This event will celebrate the ongoing commitment to share resources and program development for Offshore Wind programming between the CONNECT institutions.

Following that event, local high school students, veterans, business leaders, and community members are invited to Mass Maritime to view Global Wind Organization (GWO) Basic Safety Demonstrations on Climbing Heights and Crew Transfer.

On Wednesday, October 20, STEM will roll on with a Virtual Wind Symposium that is free to the public. During this half-day event, high school and college students will join key local stakeholders for panel discussions on Workforce Development, Research, Development and Technical Assistance, and Entrepreneurship and Business Assistance.

Here at Cape Cod Community College, well also be celebrating STEM Week with tours of our one-of-a-kind Aviation Maintenance Technology (AMT) program at Plymouth Municipal Airport. Its the perfect opportunity to see our hangars, the aircraft our students train on, and learn more about how our AMT program is training the next generation of aviation mechanics and technicians.

The future of Southeastern Massachusetts is intrinsically tied to how our six CONNECT institutions continue to prepare the STEM learners and workforce professionals of tomorrow. As a team, we are fiercely committed to providing access to STEM education for all of our communities, including our K-12 students who will be moving into higher education in the next few years, as well as those individuals considering career changes or a return to college as a life-long learner.

On behalf of our CONNECT Colleges and Universities, please have a look at these STEM Week events and perhaps check them out for yourself or a family member or friend. Our future is bright in our region, and we look forward to seeing you at our events and on our campuses in the years to come.

John L. Cox is President of Cape Cod Community College
From left, Lala McCarthy, 10, and June Guthrie, 10, both of Beaufort, bond with Hazel, a hound mix that was featured during a dog parade at the Carteret County Humane Society Animal Shelter open house Saturday. (Cheryl Burke photo)
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Cocomelon plushes and Ada Twist, Scientist notebooks are among the products populating Netflix Hub at Walmart, the streaming giants first digital storefront with a national retailer.

The branded shopping hub features merchandise from some of Netflixs most popular shows, animated or otherwise. Other series represented at launch include Stranger Things, Squid Game, and The Witcher.

[D]igital platforms and streaming sites are now the pulse behind emerging trends, writes Jeff Evans, Walmart U.S.s evp of entertainment, toys, and seasonal, in a blog post announcing the venture. At Walmart, we recognize the importance of bringing those trends directly to our customers and fast.
Photo: The Canadian Press Former President Donald Trump speaks during his Save America rally in Perry, Ga., on Saturday, Sept. 25, 2021. (AP Photo/Ben Gray)

Former President Donald Trump on Monday sought to block the release of documents related to the Jan. 6 insurrection to the congressional committee investigating the attack, challenging the decision of President Joe Biden.

In a federal lawsuit, Trump said the committee request was almost limitless in scope, and sought records with no reasonable connection to that day. He alleged the committee is seeking potentially millions of presidential records that he asserts are covered by a broad range of privileges, including those that cover presidential communications and conversations between lawyers and a client.

The committees request was a vexatious, illegal fishing expedition, unprecedented in scope and untethered from any legitimate legislative purpose," the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit takes aim at the core oversight functions of Congress, saying the records being sought by lawmakers are not for legitimate legislative purposes and the committee does not have the powers of a law enforcement agency. It seeks an injunction to bar the archivist from producing them. Biden has said he would not block the release to the committee, because the Jan. 6 attack was such an unprecedented event that executive privilege should not factor in.

Lawmakers are seeking the documents as part of its investigation into how a mob of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol building on Jan. 6 in an effort to halt the certification of Bidens win.

The committee demanded a broad range of executive branch papers related to intelligence gathered before the attack, security preparations during and before the siege, the pro-Trump rallies held that day and Trumps false claims that he won the election, among other matters.

Trump's lawsuit says the boundless requests included over fifty individual requests for documents and information, and mentioned more than thirty individuals, including those working inside and outside government. The suit says the request could include conversations with (or about) foreign leaders, attorney work product, the most sensitive of national security secrets, along with any and all privileged communications among a pool of potentially hundreds of people.

The lawsuit was filed by Jesse Binnall, an attorney based in Alexandria, Virginia, who represented Trump in an unsuccessful lawsuit late last year seeking to overturn Bidens victory in Nevada. Trump and his allies have continued to make baseless claims about voter fraud in the 2020 election.
Re: Shawn Thomas letter: Health workers are heroes (Castanet, Oct. 18)

Yes Shawn Thomas, you are right. Right now (health care workers) are heroes but if we had a shopping mall shooter, then police officers would be our heroes, a lost child and search and rescue workers would be our heroes, keeping the store shelves full, truckers are heroes. You see where Im going with this?

So please dont be so hard on C. Boldt. (Stop the hero-worship Castanet, Oct. 18)

The point is that given any situation, many people are heroes. It just so happens right now Covid-19 is front and centre, so it gets all the press and the attention.

Health care workers are extremely important but no more important than all the other vocations that work so hard to make this old world go around.

Duane Arthur, West Kelowna
Photo: Farris LLP Securities lawyer Teresa Tomchak of Farris LLP describes some of the frustrations that can occur with B.C.?s lack of whistleblowing protections.

The lack of a whistleblower program for past and present employees of publicly traded companies in B.C. is a concern for many who strive for a fair and equitable market in the province.

That lack also shows a gap in protections provided by the BC Securities Commission (BCSC), as compared to other western jurisdictions, most notably Ontario and the United States.

I think when you don't have strong protection measures, or an award  any potential upside  people just don't want to come forward because there's really no reason to and theres a lot of downside in doing so, explained Vancouver-based securities lawyer Teresa Tomchak of Farris LLP.

Whistleblowing has recently taken centre stage in the United States with the revelations of former Facebook data scientist Frances Haugen, who handed over company documents to media and U.S. Congress that purportedly show the social media giant ignored its products harmful consequences for teenagers so as to not reduce revenue. Speculation now swirls around the legalities of her actions and how laws may or may not protect her from being sued.

Here, former British Columbia Lottery Corp. director of anti-money laundering Ross Alderson has most recently familiarized British Columbians with whistleblowing  although not from a public markets perspective  when he took his concerns about regulations to media. The B.C. Civil Liberties Association denounced Aldersons actions as a major breach of privacy laws at the Commission of Inquiry into Money Laundering in B.C.

Legislation under the B.C. Securities Act protects whistleblowers from retribution from their past or present employer. However, these protections can be limited, Tomchak said.

In fact, I have cautioned many people against complaints to the BCSC because it can come back, and I have seen this unfortunately with clients who made complaints before seeking counsel and then they have become the subject of the investigation, and ultimately enforcement proceedings as well, said Tomchak.

In my mind, it is not as much the ability of protecting an employee from an employer, as much as protecting someone who's reporting to the securities commission from their own misconduct, said Tomchak.

Furthermore, the Act spells out that the protections are afforded to an employee solely for making the disclosure. It doesnt mean the company cant find fault with the employee elsewhere.

Theyll just come after you for different things, she said. In my view it is very risky in B.C., because you have no upside, and a lot of downside. So, there can be all these other potential minefields with securities laws, where companies might be offside and the person reporting it might ultimately be responsible for those other violations, which only come to light as a result of the commission starting to investigate the company. And so I've seen situations like that, and, and to me that that's actually the biggest drawback.

The other key drawback for Tomchak is how B.C. has no rewards program, unlike in Ontario and, more robustly, the United States. Rewards are critical, she said.

It's also a lot of work if you make a complaint; it's not just you've made a single complaint, and they don't come back to you and ask you for more information. They want more information to do further investigations.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) frequently posts news of awards. On October 14, for example, it awarded $40 million to two whistleblowers whose information and assistance contributed to a successful enforcement action.

The SEC has awarded approximately $1.1 billion to 218 individuals since issuing its first award in 2012. The awards are paid entirely through monetary sanctions paid to the SEC by securities law violators. Awards can range from 10% to 30% of the money collected when the monetary sanctions exceed $1 million, according to an SEC statement. The program is relatively new, coming in with the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act intended to shore up enforcement against misconduct in Americas markets.

Canada does not have a federal securities regulator. Instead, provinces regulate issuing companies. B.C. and Ontario provide the lions share of regulation through their respective commissions.

Since its launch in July 2016, the Ontario Securities Commission reports its whistleblower program has awarded more than $8.6 million to whistleblowers. Tomchak said company directors are generally not included in the Ontario program  which may account for the relatively small rewards total.

The BCSC wouldnt make anyone available to Glacier Media for comment on its policies but said confidential policy discussions are taking place. The B.C. Securities Act was only amended in March 2020 to provide those limited protections to employees against disclosure reprisals. Before that there was nothing. Also included in the suite of amendments enacted by the BC NDP government under then finance minister Carole James was broader powers to collect fines. For example, the BCSC may now prevent a delinquent individual from obtaining a drivers license. Should fine collection increase, it could, in theory, fund a rewards program.

Tomchak said whistleblowing programs can eliminate some misconduct.

Youll certainly have more misconduct or potentially more misconduct than you would if people were wanting to make complaints, she said, adding the SEC also has measures in place to prevent frivolous, money-seeking clams.

Without a program, the misconduct will continue because it's easier if you're involved in a situation like that, to simply leave the company, walk away, don't do anything raher than going through the very complicated process of making a complaint, whether it's internal or external. And again, most whistleblower programs encourage internal reporting before you do anything.
I feel the teacher at Salmon Arm Secondarys Sullivan campus are using misinformation and cronyism to attempt to sway public opinion about future school district changes.

Their motives are completely self-serving.

(North Okanagan-Shuswap Board of Education) trustees had a very difficult decision to make to accommodate our fast-growing district. It came down to either splitting to two high schools now, instead of several years from now when it will be a higher priority, or spend millions of dollars more to keep things fairly similar to the way they are now for a while longer.

Theres much more to it than that and if youre interested, I encourage you to educate yourself about it. At least listen to the board meetings where the subjects were discussed and voted on.

Why are these senior teachers at (the) Sullivan (campus) and their friends so against this? Theyll have their public statements, but I believe it comes to this: these teachers are high up in union seniority. They worked hard to get what are some of the most wanted jobs in the district. By shuffling the high school structure, they have to make new lesson plans, teach new classes and worst of all, teach one of the hardest and least popular grades to teach Grade 9.

They think, My friends and I are high up in our union. Why should we have to change when the school board could simply cut some programs from other schools so that things remain the same for us a little bit longer?

That explains why these certain teachers are giving their students partial information and encouraging them to protest and have their parents protest.

What about the other prominent opponents in the community? The local teachers union president recently retired from Sullivan and is friends with, and was part of, the senior teacher group fighting against change. A local city councillor who retired from Sullivan is friends with, and was part of, the senior teacher group fighting against change.

The single trustee that voted against ran his campaign on the promise of (somehow) building the second high school in his community of Sorrento. Ridiculous.

Nobody wants to see the grad class split up. This structure was a part of many of our lives. But the town and district is growing (and) the split is inevitable. By doing it now, we save millions of dollars that would otherwise be cut from programs across the district.

Its a classic technique of sore losers. When a decision doesnt go your way, blame the process.

Meanwhile, youll keep hearing these people refer to things like a survey that was done at Sullivan that shows almost all students are against this direction. The survey was literally: Do you think the high schools should be split into two. No other information.

Anyone who refers to this as a survey clearly has ulterior motives.

The people involved with this recent push to vilify the trustees in order to protect their own self-interests, and those of their buddies, should be ashamed of themselves.

Bryce Fuller
Gasin Cements road to RDF

Published 19 October 2021

Faruk Investment Group (FIG) has recently launched a mechanical biological treatment facility in the city of Sulaymaniyah, northern Iraq. The project aims to tackle the issue of uncontrolled municipal solid waste by converting it into refuse-derived fuel, thereby providing FIG-owned Gasin Cement Co with an alternative fuel source and reducing the environmental impact of waste disposal in the region. By Eng Mohammed Fareed Al Saedi, Faruk Group, Iraq, and Eng Jan Gressmann, Eggersmann Anlagenbau GmbH, Germany.

The city of Sulaymaniyah is located in the Kurdistan region, northern Iraq, with a population of approximately 1.6m. Faruk Investment Group (FIG) is a private company based in Sulaimaniyah that has always been an early adopter of new businesses in the region, such as in the fields of telecommunication, cement production, steel fabrication, international standard healthcare, and holiday resorts.

FIG embraced the opportunity of Sulaymaniyahs solid waste management contract as soon as it became a reality. The contract was to invest in a build-and-operate mechanical biological treatment facility (MBT) with associated sanitary landfill, located in Tanjaro, Sulaymaniyah.

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Pakistan: 3MFY2021-21 exports mixed

19 October 2021

Pakistan's Federal Bureau of Statistics (FBS) has released cement and clinker export data for the first quarter (July-September) of FY2021-22. Both value and quantity of exports slid during this period on a cumulative basis compared with the equivalent months in FY20-21, but growth was recorded MoM.

Between July-September 2021, Pakistan's cement industry earned US$55.2m of export revenue by dispatching 1.555Mt of cement and clinker overseas, compared to US$72.29m from 2.206Mt of exports in the year-ago period. The export figures represent a significant fall of 23.6 per cent in dollar terms and 29.5 per cent in volumes YoY, as reported by FBS. The same pattern was also noticed in local currency despite the depreciation of the Pakistani rupee against the US dollar during this period. The export value decreased by 24.2 per cent to PKR9.13bn (US$55.2m) from PKR12.05bn during 3MFY21-22.

However, in September 2021 export revenues rose to US$33.81m and volumes to 1.02Mt from US$9.42m and 235,203t1t, respectively during this reporting period. This export indicates a growth of 258.8 per cent and 334 per cent in terms of value and volume, respectively. Likewise, the export volume in September 2021, if compared with US$27.78m earned on the export of 820,107t in September 2020, represents a growth of 21.7 per cent and 24.5 per cent YoY.



Local research house, AKD Securities Ltd, while reviewing the export performance of the first three months of Pakistan, reports that exports were hit due to an increase in freight rates and a shortage of vessels has created supply chain bottlenecks. In addition, political uncertainty in Afghanistan has slowed down exports to Afghanistan while export to India is still suspended. However, the north contributed most to the decline in export during this period.

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Yamama Cement Co sees 32% decline in sales

19 October 2021

Saudi Arabias Yamama Cement Co has posted a 31.6 per cent YoY decline in sales to SAR170.7m (US$45.52m) in the quarter ending 30 September, compared to SAR249.65m in the year-ago period. Net profit was down 58.1 per cent YoY to SAR39.97m from SAR95.32m.



In the first nine months of the year, sales fell 21.7 per cent YoY to SAR553.5m while net profit declined 36.1 per cent to SAR172.5m.

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An altercation on Thursday at Tunstall High School in Dry Fork, one of four secondary schools in the Pittsylvania County Schools (PCS) division, led to charges lodged against four students and one adult female who witnesses said aided in the battering of a juvenile.
Stake conference for the Chattanooga stake of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was held this past weekend, with 13 congregations and some 4,000 members participating. The conference was held with a limited number of in-person attendees due to COVID-19 sensitivities. Many, including friends and neighbors, joined by Zoom.

Highlights included talks from Atlanta Temple President Rene Alba and his wife, temple matron Kathleen Alba. President Alba spoke about the importance of building our foundation on Jesus Christ. Quoting Helaman 5:12, President Alba said, And nowremember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall. Both President and Sister Alba encouraged everyone to come and partake of the blessings of the temple where we learn more about the ways of the Lord and the Fathers plan of happiness for us.

President Kent Vaughn, 1st counselor in the Knoxville Tennessee Mission and his companion, Sandra, also spoke to the congregation. President Vaughn taught about the parable of the ten virgins (Matthew 25:1-3) and our need to add drops of oil to our lamps by daily living the doctrine of Christ, even in uncertain times. He also shared that gathering Israel helps us to add drops to our lamps. We should stay spiritually prepared for the Lords coming, he taught. Sister Vaughn reiterated the great blessings that come from temple worship.

Sister Wendy Casto, second counselor in the Stake Young Womens presidency, talked about how the Savior is our hope. He is all knowing, all loving and knows what is best for us, she said.

Kevin Ward, grandson of Phil Smartt, spoke about how everyone deserves to know about the gospel of Jesus Christ. He leaves tomorrow to serve a two-year mission in Madrid Spain where he will help gather Israel.

The choir favored the congregation with a rendition of It is Well with My Soul after which President Kurt Johnson, 2nd counselor in the stake presidency, spoke of his gratitude as a convert and of how the The Lord helps strengthen each of us in our trials.

President Bruce Tidwell, 1st counselor in the stake presidency, spoke about how Christ will bring us home but we have to move our feet and be willing to move toward Him.

Stake President Jason Isaacson concluded the conference. He spoke of how Christ gives beauty for ashes (Isaiah 61:1-3). He began by sharing how many lives were lost in the Chattanooga area during the Civil War, about the fire of 1871 that destroyed downtown, of floods and winds that have wreaked great havoc. But, he spoke also of the creation of the Southern States Mission, first from 1831-1861 and again in 1875-1898.

The Southern States mission was a training ground for some who would later serve as prophets and apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. These included Wilford Woodruff, Lorenzo Snow, George Albert Smith, LeGrand Richards, B.H. Roberts, Rudger Clawson and others.

According to Scholars Archive at BYU (History of the Southern States Mission, 1831-1861), When Joseph Smith designated gathering places for his followers, approximately fifty per cent of the Southern Saints joined the emigration movement to Missouri, Illinois and Utah. In short, One of the earliest and most fruitful fields ofproselyting activity became known as the Southern States Mission  an area of thirteen southeastern states  Tennessee included.

As President Isaacson went on to teach, The Lord didnt leave this area in ashes, and He wont leave us in ashes, either. Instead, The Lord takes the ashes of our lives and makes us better than we ever were, more beautiful than we could ever imagine. Jesus Christ heals us. He makes us temples unto the Most High God. He saves us because we are everything to Him.

President Isaacson then quoted President Nelson, prophet. Our message to the world is simple and sincere: we invite all of Gods children on both sides of the veil to come unto their Savior, receive the blessings of the holy temple, have enduring joy, and qualify for eternal life (Nelson, Let Us All Press On, 2018). This is also our message to our friends and neighbors, President Isaacson said.

We invite all to let Jesus Christ give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness (Isaiah 61:3).








A 19-year-old has been charged with robbing an employee at the Highway 58 KFC at gunpoint.

Javonte Pratt, of 5011 Irvin Road, was charged with aggravated robbery and filing false reports.

In the incident on Saturday, the female employee said she was working the drive-thru window when a light-skinned black male ordered a #1 for $6.54 and pulled up to the drive-thru window.

She said the customer handed her a $20 bill for his order. When she opened the cash register and got his change, she turned around to give him his change and he had opened the drive-thru window and had a gun pointed at her. He reached for the cash register drawer, but was unable to grab any money before the employee closed the cash drawer.

After shutting the drawer, she ran to the back office and closed the door for her safety, while someone called the police.

A witness said he was walking out of the gas station on the corner of Jersey Pike and Highway 58 when he heard yelling from the KFC. He got into his vehicle and was about to pull away from the gas pump when he observed a black Ford Fusion speed around the corner from the drive-thru and crash into a pole in the parking lot.

He then saw the front seat passenger walk around the vehicle and open the driver's side door and help the driver out of the crashed vehicle. They both began to run east towards Jersey Pike.

The witness said he began to hear rapid shooting, so he took cover and called 9-1-1.

He described the passenger as a black male wearing a long-sleeved white shirt and dark colored pants, with medium length hair. He described the driver as 5'8"-5'10" tall, medium build, light-skinned, with black braided hair in a "mohawk" style braided together and down to his shoulders.

Police said about an hour later Javonte Pratt called in saying that his vehicle had been carjacked near the KFC. Police met with Pratt at his home and transported him back to the scene.

Police said Pratt had a bump on his forehead that he claimed he got when he was hit on the head when his vehicle was taken.

An investigator observed video footage that showed a black vehicle come to the drive-thru, the driver give the clerk money for the food, then open the drive-thru window and attempt to grab money out of the cash register, but was not able to get any.

A family member of Pratt said that he had let Pratt take the vehicle with his permission.

Police said when the investigator told Pratt about some facts of the case and that he was not carjacked, Pratt said, "But I didn't rob anyone," even though the investigator had never mentioned anything to Pratt about the KFC being robbed.
Viet Nam Veterans of America Chapter 203 held their October meeting on Monday night at the Temple Baptist Church and accepted several presentations.

Joe Graham of Accent Printing presented the chapter with a logo to be displayed at public events. Ray Atkins said the logo  sign will be displayed at public events of the local chapter and will help better identify the chapter.

The Quilts of Valor Foundation presented Staff Sergeant Don Hays with a quilt from the Ridgedale Patriots. Staff Sergeant Hays served both in the Marines and Navy for 21 years. He flew 49 combat missions serving in Viet Nam for 13 months at the DaNang Air Force Base. The national organization has given out over 300,000 quilts nationwide to honor service members from all branches.

Chapter 203 meets the third Monday of every month at the Temple Baptist church. There will be no November meeting. A Christmas party is planned for Friday, Dec. 10. All members, friends and prospective members are invited. Contact President Charlie Hobbs for information at at 991-5858. Cost for the meal is $10 person. Deadline for dinner reservations is Dec. 6.
A man was riding a CARTA bus to East 3rd Street and fell asleep on the bus. He awoke at Market Street and East 11th and said he missed his stop. The driver informed him that he could catch the #10 bus that was heading north to take him to East 3rd Street for free. The man said no, that he would just stay on the current bus and ride it to Alton Park and back. The driver then told him that after Alton Park the bus was going off duty and he would need to get off here if he wanted to get back to East 3rd St. The man refused to exit the bus and a CARTA supervisor arrived on scene and ordered him off the bus when he continued to refuse. An officer arrived and was able to talk to the man and explain to him his options of either ride out to Alton Park where he would have to get off and be further away or get off here and catch a second bus for free. The man then exited the bus and began walking north on Market Street. The officer and CARTA believe that the man was simply riding the bus for a warm place to sleep and did not want to get off into the cold. CARTA said they did not want to make a report or trespass the man.

* * *

While on routine patrol, an officer saw a white Honda HRV displaying a red Tennessee dealer tag backed into a parking spot on North Germantown Road. The vehicle was locked but did appear drivable. The vehicle was backed up to apartment 405 inside the complex. The vehicle was originally stolen from Red Bank on Aug. 22. It was towed by Monteagle Wrecker.

* * *

Police were called to check the area of 4850 Highway 58 for a possible unconscious person. The officer found the man and identified him. He was just sleeping in the grass next to the building. The man was informed he could not sleep there and he moved along.

* * *

An employee at Family Dollar at 7307 Lee Hwy. said two white females and one white male entered the store for a short amount of time and walked around as if they were shopping. She said right after they left, employees found an empty aux cord box in the parking lot (worth $5). It is unclear at this time which person took the aux cord but will follow up with police with any further information.

* * *

An anonymous complainant said he found a stack of identifying documents in the McDonald's bathroom at 4608 Highway 58. The complainant gave police the stack. Police found Tennessee drivers licenses for three women and a Social Security card for another woman. All of these identifying documents have a Bradley County address. Police turned all property into CPD Property for holding.

* * *

An officer responded to a well-being check on Northpoint Boulevard. The complainant had third party information and heard that a woman had damaged her car and wanted police to make sure she was okay. Police found the woman's car in the parking lot - a black Toyota 4Runner. It did appear to have new front end damage. The officer spoke with the woman who said she was okay and did not want to be checked out by EMS. She said all the damage on her car was old and she wasn't driving her vehicle.

* * *

Police responded to an open door on Mountain Creek Road. Upon arrival, police cleared the residence to ensure no parties were inside and no one needed assistance. Police did not locate anyone inside and secured the door.

* * *

A man at The Westin at 801 Pine Street said he wanted a woman out of his room. When asked why and what the issue was, he simply stated he did not want her in the room with him. The officer found her and she willingly left the room. Understanding she had no where else to go, the hotel allowed her to purchase a room away from the man. She was made clear to not make contact with man for the remainder of the night to prevent any future disorders.

* * *

An officer took a stolen vehicle report over the phone. The incident occurred on Gillespie Road. Upon contacting the reporting party, she told the officer that an acquaintance had taken her SVU without her permission. Her Tahoe was parked at her boyfriend's house while she was out of town. Her boyfriend notified her about three to five days ago that the acquaintance had driven off with her truck. She tried contacting the man over the past few days to get her vehicle back, but he has broken off all contact with her. She also heard that the man may be parting out her truck on Facebook and possibly sold the catalytic converter to some auto shop off Rossville Boulevard. The officer attempted to look up the man with the information that the woman gave but could not find a match. The officer let the woman know that they could not obtain a warrant for him due to a lack of identifiable information. She did tell police that she would call back in with further information when she got it. The officer placed her black 2001 Chevy Tahoe in NCIC.

* * *

Police were dispatched, along with Engine 14 and Medic 13, to a medical alarm on St. Elmo Avenue. EMS, Fire and Police all attempted to knock and raise the occupant, but received no contact. Engine 14 forced entry, breaking the deadbolt on the door. There was no one inside the apartment, and the medical alarm had a battery warning flashing. Police attempted to make contact with the woman and St. Elmo Apartments to report the property damage, but received no contact.

* * *

An officer initiated a traffic stop at 2528 Broad St. on a black Chevy K15 for running a stop sign at 25th and Williams St. Police spoke with and identified the driver and passenger. Police ran both parties through NCIC and nothing returned.

* * *

A man on Mountain Creek Road said someone damaged the windshield of his Chevy Cruze. At this time no suspect information is available. The damage is estimated to be at least $200.

* * *

An anonymous caller said he found a large amount of unopened mail in the street at Conner Street and McBrien Road. An officer arrived and collected the mail and took it to the local post office. The post manager said that they will return it to the proper addresses.

* * *

A woman on Cherokee Boulevard said someone entered her unlocked 2015 Mini Cooper Countryman and stole several items. She says she is not sure if there were other things taken but she is clear she can call back to add more property if need be.

* * *

A man on McCallie Avenue said he was parked in the parking lot when an occupant of the vehicle parked to his left opened their door, hitting his car with their door. The man said he confronted the woman who did it and she said she would pay for it. The man said a white male in the driver's seat then said, "No, let's go," prompting the female to get back in the car. The vehicle left the parking lot. The man described the vehicle as a black SUV and provided a photo of the registration plate to police. The SUV is registered to a woman but the officer was unable to find personal information for her using multiple police applications.

* * *

A woman on Wilson Street said she has had an ongoing issue with her neighbors. The neighbors have been using her driveway to turn around in and some of their visitors have brought trash with them to dispose of. The trash does not always get collected and ends up in the woman's yard. Police spoke with the neighbor and told her of the complaints. The neighbor said she would work to keep her business at her residence and away from the woman's property.

* * *

A man on East Main Street says that he received two phone calls from a man with a thick Asian Indian accent claiming to be with McAfee. He said the caller told him that he had overpaid McAfee by $700 and would receive a refund. The man said the caller was rather convincing and gave him his Suntrust bank account information and also allowed the caller to log into his home computer. The man said that the caller called him again and said he over refunded $7,000 instead of $700 and gave him instruction on sending $6,300 back. The man said he went to his bank and the bank wired the $6,300 to "coinbase inc". The man said after he had the bank wire the money, the bank later informed him that the deposit was fraudulent. The man said that he has since closed the account and opened another and is now working on changing all of his banking information and passwords that he had on his computer. He said he has taken his home computer to Best Buy and having it "wiped". He gave the officer the phone numbers this scammer called from.

* * *

The assistant manager of Mapco at 4900 Brainerd Road said she had several people loitering on the property behind the dumpsters and she would like them removed. On arrival, an officer met with the people and they left without incident.

* * *

At an unknown date and time someone attempted to steal an outdoor air unit on Poplar Street. The unit was powered and it is believed the suspect was deterred by a electrical shock when they cut the power wires. There was a technician on scene to repair the unit. He placed the cost at $2,100 to fix the unit. At this time there is no suspect information.

* * *

An employee at Baymont by Wyndham at 7017 Shallowford Road told police she was having issues with a guest. The employee said a man came down to the lobby requesting clean towels. She said that she had an employee that she was training, so she was explaining to her that you can only replace the towels that you bring down to the lobby. The man began to have an attitude and raised his voice at her, as well as made threats. Police spoke with the man in room 256, who said he never made threats toward the front desk, but that there was a verbal disagreement over the way she was speaking to him. The man said he sat down in the lobby when the employee said she was calling police. At the request of the hotel, the man was asked to leave the property which he did peacefully.
Over the weekend my Morning Readings included a lesson that economists teach called the Cobra Effect. Jon Miltimore is the Managing Editor of the Foundation for Economic Education in Atlanta and his FEE.org is a highly respected conservative libertarian economic think tank. In his story you are about to read, he claims economists around the world speak often on The Cobra Effect.

You see, every human decision brings about consequences, intended ones and unintended ones, Jon writes. Unintended consequences are so common economists often call them Cobra Problems, after an interesting historical event in India that occurred when the British Empire tried to eradicate cobras, the deadly snakes, by putting out a bounty on them. (the unintended consequences won that one!)

In two weeks we are told CHI Memorial Hospital will fire any employee who has not been vaccinated with the COVID shots.

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee has already started to send their antivaxxers packing, this despite the daily contributions made at BCBST and Memorial by these very same employees.

Yet if you feel we have mandate problems, read what Mr. Miltimore writes about Houston:

* * *

COMMENTARY: MASSIVE NURSES SHORTAGE HITS HOUSTON, WEEKS AFTER 150 UNVACCINATED NURSES AND HOSPITAL WORKERS WERE FIRED

by Jon Miltimore, writing on August 23, 2021

Jennifer Bridges knew what was coming when her director at Houston Methodist hospital called her up in June to inquire about her vaccination status. Bridges, a 39-year-old registered nurse, responded absolutely not when asked if she was vaccinated or had made an effort to get vaccinated. She was terminated on the spot.

We all knew we were getting fired, Bridges, 39, told CBS News. We knew unless we took that shot to come back, we were getting fired today. There was no ifs, ands or buts. Bridges was one of more than 150 hospital workers fired by Houston Methodist hospital.

All last year, through the COVID pandemic, we came to work and did our jobs, said Kara Shepherd, a labor and delivery nurse who joined Bridges and other workers in an unsuccessful lawsuit. We did what we were asked. This year, were basically told were disposable.

PLEASE SEND HELP NOW

Shepherd and her colleagues may be disposable in the eyes of hospital administrators, but they are perhaps not as easily replaced as she or Houston Methodist thought.

Two months after firing unvaccinated hospital staff, Houston Methodist is one of several area hospitals experiencing a severe shortage of medical personnel. Media reports say hospitals have reached a breaking point because of a flood of COVID-19 cases.

In an editorial published Tuesday, the Houston Chronicle said the 25-county hospital area that includes Houston had more patients in hospital bedsmore than 2,700than at any point in 2021. News reports make it clear that hospitals are struggling to keep up.

KHOU-11, a local news station, says medical tents have been erected outside of Lyndon B. Johnson Hospital but are vacant because of a shortage of nurses.

Please send help now, said Dr. George Williams, chief ICU medical officer for LBJ Hospital.

While most media reports focus on LBJ Hospital, reports also make it clear other hospitals, including Houston Methodist, are experiencing similar struggles. The Houston Chronicle says Harris Health System (which includes LBJ) is short some 250 nurses, while the University of Texas Medical Branch has requested an additional one hundred nurses to help address staff shortages at four hospitals.

Baylor St. Lukes Medical Center, a private Houston hospital jointly owned by Baylor College and a local healthcare system, said the hospital is definitely being impacted by the nurse shortage.

As for Houston Methodist, the hospital is reportedly struggling as wellalthough theyve yet to admit it publicly.

An internal memo at Houston Methodist Hospital said it is struggling with staffing as the numbers of our COVID-19 patients rise, the Chronicle reports.

Public officials are scrambling to address the shortage, which has created a massive patient backlog throughout the Houston area. More than a week ago, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott requested out of state assistance for the statewide crisis, including 2,500 out of state nurses. LBJ Hospital officials said those nurses have not yet arrived.

The metro-wide shortage of nurses reportedly came to light when an ER doctor emailed a state senator about the dire situation in hospitals.

The combined increase in volume from (COVID and) existing normal volume (and) nursing shortage has made this a terrible disaster at every ER and hospital in the city of Houston, the physician wrote, according to the Chronicle.

THE COBRA EFFECTS

Its unclear to what extent Houston Methodists decision to fire 150 unvaccinated medical workers exacerbated the nursing crisis. For perhaps obvious reasons, hospital officials have been mum on the issue.

What we know is that Houston hospitals that did not abruptly fire 150 employees struggled to deal with the COVID spike, and in some cases people died as a result. So, its safe to presume that Houston Methodists decision to fire 150 employees a few weeks before the Delta variant arrived in force didnt make the situation any better and probably made it much worse.

Some may be tempted to think Houston Methodist was able to quickly replace the workers they lost, but evidence suggests this is unlikely. Apart from the broader shortage, front line nurses are burned out, they say.

We are all tired of this; nurses are tired of this, Texas Nurses Association CEO Cindy Zolnierek wrote in a recent public letter.

That Houston Methodist hospital didnt intend to exacerbate its shortage of hospital staff goes without saying, but its also an important reminder about what economists call the Cobra Effect.

Every human decision brings about consequences, intended ones and unintended ones. Unintended consequences are so common economists often call them Cobra Problems, after an interesting historical event in India that occurred when the British Empire tried to eradicate cobras by putting out a bounty on them. (Can you guess what happened?)

When hospital administrators set their policyget vaccinated or lose your jobtheir goal was to increase vaccination rates of hospital staff. The unintended consequence was a shortage of nurses and other hospital workers during a deadly pandemic.

In June, Houston Methodists president, Marc Boom, sounded confident that his coercive methods were effective, noting that almost 25,000 of the health systems 26,000 workers were fully vaccinated.

The science proves that the vaccines are not only safe but necessary if we are going to turn the corner against COVID-19, Boom told employees in a statement.

Other Houston hospitals saw things differently. Two months before Houston Methodist fired its workers, Harris Health System officials announced they would not be requiring hospital workers to get vaccinated, noting none of the vaccines were fully approved by the FDA.

Americans will, of course, disagree about which CEOs approach was the correct one. The pandemic, after all, has been bitterly divisive because were deeply divided over this very question: should coercive means be employed to achieve certain desired healthcare outcomes, and if so, to what extent?

In 2020, political leaders around the world said yes to this question, and the results were disastrous. A year later, private companies are playing a different version of the same game: take the vaccine or get fired.

Like the lockdown champions of 2020, corporate leaders no doubt believe their action is moral, proper, and will achieve their desired result. But as the Cobra Effect reminds us, focusing strictly on desired outcomes and ignoring potential unintended outcomes is a good way to get bitten.

* * *

The Foundation for Economic Education (FEE) is an American conservative libertarian economic think tank. It is a member of the State Policy Network. Its mission is to promote principles of "individual liberty, free-market economics, entrepreneurship, private property, high moral character, and limited government". Headquartered in Atlanta, it was established 75 years ago. It is considered the oldest free market think tank in the United States.

royexum@aol.com
Former Judge Rebecca Stern wants back on the bench.



After presiding over criminal court cases from 1997-2015, Ms. Stern announced on Tuesday her candidacy to fill the seat soon to be vacated by Judge Don Poole.



In 2010, Ms.

Stern was diagnosed with breast cancer and spent most of that year undergoing surgery, chemotherapy and radiation treatment but continued to work throughout. She retired five years later.

I needed time to focus on my health and the things that are really important in my life, she said about her decision to leave the bench. Throughout my journey with cancer, I concentrated on my work. I never took time to focus on myself and my health the way I should have, and I needed to do so.

Ms. Stern and her husband, Doug Curtis, also an attorney, spent most of their time the next 15 months in Puerto Rico where they have long-time vacationed and own an Airbnb. They opted to rent a furnished apartment while deciding whether or not to move permanently to Puerto Rico. During this time, Ms. Sterns husband worked remotely for a Chattanooga law firm and Ms. Stern often returned to Chattanooga to see her doctors and to spend time with friends and family.

After a year, I was ready to return to work, Ms. Stern said, noting that in October 2016, she opened a law practice in Chattanooga, specializing in criminal defense work. She continues to practice law in Chattanooga.

She said, Ive been a prosecutor, a judge, and now a defense attorney. The role I most enjoy is that of judge because I can take a neutral position and look at a case from both sides. I love interacting with jurors, particularly, and I like to be able to apply creative, solution oriented approaches to sentencing by using drug court and mental health court.

A native of Ooltewah, Ms. Stern left high school after her junior year and earned a GED. She graduated from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and the University of Tennessee College of Law.

She began her career at the law firm of Strang, Fletcher, Carriger, Walker, Hodge & Smith, and then worked as a prosecutor at the Hamilton County District Attorney Generals Office where she focused on child abuse and domestic violence cases. Under her leadership, an Inter-Agency Domestic Violence Task Force was initiated.

During her 17 years as a criminal court judge, she developed and presided over the successful Hamilton County Recovery Court, known as drug court, and served in multiple leadership roles in the Chattanooga Bar Association, including president and board member.

I was blessed to be appointed to the bench and to have been elected three times and I would like to return to public service as a judge, where I feel I can do the most good," she said. "If Im elected to the bench again, I plan to continue the good work and high standards set by Judge Poole.

Candidates for the 2022 Hamilton County ballot can pick up their qualifying papers beginning Dec. 20 for the 2022 elections.




A trip to Charleston, South Carolina in the fall of 1971 for 22-year-old Mike Holden to see his girlfriend turned out a lot different than the Viet Nam draftee would ever expect.

The Charlotte, North Carolina native was drafted in 1967 and sent to Viet Nam. He had been home for several months from Southeast Asia and headed to the coastal city to see his sweetheart, Cookie. He stopped downtown to get breakfast at an eatery on King Street.

Mr. Holden noticed a familiar face sitting at a table in a court yard reading the newspaper. He said he approached the gentleman and it turned out to be William Westmoreland. How are you General?" The General's response, Do I know you? Mr. Holden responded, No, and went on to explain to General Westmoreland he was stationed 12 miles north of his headquarters company in Saigon.

General Westmorland asked Mr. Holden if he would like to meet Lt. Col. Colin Powell who would be joining him in a few minutes. Mr. Holden responded, Oh yes sir.

Mr. Holden said General Westmoreland invited him to sit down. Soon Colin Powell arrived and the two officers began talking. Mr. Holden said when he started to leave Colin Powell opened up asking him several questions about his tour of duty. Mr. Holden said Colin Powell was very friendly but business-like. Both men seemed surprised to learn that Mr. Holden, a draftee, had made staff sergeant in about 15 months. The two listened intently as the platoon sergeant described how it all came about. Mr. Holden said after about 15 minutes he thought it was time to go and left the two famous officers to enjoy their coffee. Mr. Holden said it was an experience he will never forget. He and that sweetheart married and now make their home in Chattanooga.

Mr. Holden has written the manuscript for a book entitled Told to Go. He said he hopes to have it published one day and relate his Viet Nam experience and include the meeting of the two high-ranking generals. Mr. Holden said General Westmoreland was living in Charleston, South Carolina when he met him. Mr. Holden said he thought Colin Powell was in town to possibly visit the Citadel.

Lt. Col. Ray Adkins met General Powell when he came to Chattanooga in 1976 to tour the reserve center. Mr. Adkins served as an escort. On another occasion Mr. Adkins said he shook hands with General Powell in 1984 at the 125th Army Reserve command meeting in Nashville. Mr. Adkins said, Powell was very impressive.

Viet Nam Veterans of America Chapter 203 President Charlie Hobbs met General Powell at a VVA national board meeting in Maryland in 2005. Mr. Hobbs said, The 4 star general was a very nice man.

The Four Star General Colin Powell passed away this Monday at the age of 84. He was the first black Secretary of State.
90 Day Fiance: The Other Way fans notice a difference in Ariela Weinbergs look after arriving in the United States. Some fans think that part of why Ariela went to the US, besides getting Avi his hernia surgery, was to get some cosmetic surgeries for herself.

Ariela Weinberg on 90 Day Fiance The Other Way Season 3 | TLC

Ariela goes to the US to get Avi emergency hernia surgery

Binyam Shibre and Ariela bring their son, Avi, to the doctor, they find out that he needs emergency hernia surgery. Ariela, the daughter of both a nurse and a doctor, decides that she will go to the US to get the best medical care for Avi. On the October 10th episode of 90 Day Fiance: The Other Way, Ariela, and Avi leave a tearful Biniyam behind in Ethiopia.

Biniyam didnt necessarily agree with Ariela about Avi receiving medical care in the US. However, was Avis surgery just an excuse for Ariela to go to the US? 90 Day Fiance fans pointed out that the hernia surgery that Avi required is standard practice in most countries, and its relatively invasive. Many fans thought Ethiopian doctors could have done the surgery safely but that Ariela was using the surgery as an excuse to go back to the US.

Did Ariela also get plastic surgery while in the US?

90 Day Fiance fans pointed out that Arielas face looks different in the 90 Day Fiance: The Other Way interview shots than she does in the other scenes of the show. Its known that the one-on-one interview scenes are filmed last. In Angela Deems season, Fans noticed this when all of her Interview shots showed off her weight loss.

In the upcoming episode, Ariela has spent some time in the US with her family, and her face suddenly looks different than it had while she was in Ethiopia. Its clear that once Ariela arrived in the US, something had changed, but what was it?

What cosmetic procedures did Ariela get?

After arriving in the US, her look changed. Ariela addressed the plastic surgery rumors in her Instagram comments. A viewer told her, Your surgery looks fantastic. She replied, Its not surgery, but thanks. A fan replied, Why lie when there are pics of you w needles in your face? She explained, Thats not surgery hon. Botox and fillers and something different. And Im so happy with my results.

Not long ago, Ariela shared videos of herself getting Botox injected in her jaw (for TMJ disorder relief), around her eyes, and lip area. 90 Day Fiance fans speculate that shes also had lip filler injections as well. Her eyebrows likely look different because shes received some kind of brow lift  either via botox or thread.

90 Day Fiance fans find it refreshing that Ariela is transparent about her cosmetic procedures. Arielas look did change after she left Ethiopia and after she arrived in the US. Is it possible the show will highlight her new changes as they did with Angela? Fans will have to continue watching 90 Day Fiance: The Other Way Season 3 to find out.

RELATED: 90 Day Fiance: Before the 90 Days Season 5 Cast: Meet the 7 New Couples
90 Day Fiance: Before the 90 Days is back for season 5 with all new couples. Fans cant help but notice how newcomer Mike ran away from the cameras in former star Paul Staehles signature style.

Mike and Ximena on 90 Day Fiance: Before the 90 Days Season 5 | TLC

Who are Mike and Ximena?

34-year-old Mike from Thiells, New York, has been single most of his life and is looking for the love of his life. Mike feels like he found her when he matched with the 24-year-old single mother of two, Ximena, on an international dating site. Since neither speaks the others language, they fell in love thanks to a translator app.

Mike and Ximena on 90 Day Fiance: Before the 90 Days Season 5 | TLC

Mike travels to Ximenas hometown of Pereira, Colombia, despite the language barrier to meet her. The couple has already started talking about marriage and children. Mike hopes that this trip he will propose to Ximena. However, the trailer tells a very different story.

Mike runs away from Ximena on trailer for 90 Day Fiance: Before the 90 Days Season 5

On the trailer for 90 Day Fiance: Before the 90 Days Season 5, Mike is finally in Colombia with Ximena. He says, Ive spent 34 years looking for the love of my life, and Ive found that in Ximena. Theres nothing thats going to stop me from proposing on this trip. Watch the 90 Day Fiance: Before the 90 Days Season 5 trailer below:

However, things dont seem to be going as Mike planned. While relaxing in a hot tub, Ximena tells Mike about her past. She says, I lived with a hitman. He had me locked up.

Later on in the episode, theyre at dinner talking about their feelings. Ximena tells him, I care for you, but I dont love you.  Thats when Mike runs off, saying, Im done. He says, My mind is going crazy, and runs off into the street away from the cameras. The cameras are chasing him, but he keeps running.

Fans compare Mike to former 90 Day Fiance star, Paul Staehle

90 Day Fiance fans immediately drew comparisons of Paul Staehle whos coping mechanism is to compulsively run away from any confrontation or issue. On Before the 90 Days Season 1, Paul came clean to his then-girlfriend, Karine Martins, about his dark past but immediately ran off into the woods. Chaos ensues as Karine and the production tries to chase after Paul. As theyre looking for him, they end up getting robbed by Machette-wielding thieves.

The second time Paul runs is when he finds out his visa to Brazil has been denied. Worried about how the news could affect Karine and his baby, he takes off running from the cameras. He runs so often that Paul has even made personalized Cameo videos for fans of himself running.

So, of course, 90 Day Fiance fans couldnt help but think of Paul when they see Mike running away from the cameras. One fan commented, The guy running is like [a] major flashback of whats-his-name Paul? In Brazil. Another fan wrote, We have another Paul, lmao. And another fan called Mike Paul 2.0.

It will be interesting to see if Mike and Paul have anything else in common. Fans will have to watch and see Mike and Ximenas relationship unfold on 90 Day Fiance: Before the 90 Days Season 5, which premieres on Dec. 12, 2021.

RELATED: 90 Day Fiance: Before the 90 Days Season 5 Cast: Meet the 7 New Couples
Jill Duggar is getting some support from those close to her after her miscarriage. The former Counting On star may be estranged from certain members of the Duggar family, but some of them have stepped up to help following her recent pregnancy loss, she revealed on social media.

Jill Duggar opens up about regrouping after pregnancy loss

Jill Duggar and Derick Dillard in 2014 | D Dipasupil/Getty Images for Extra

In a now-deleted Instagram Story (via Us Weekly) shared on Oct. 18, Jill opened up about how shes been coping since her miscarriage.

I just wanted to hop on here really quickly. Its been a little bit since Ive shown my face on here, the one-time TLC star said. Weve just been taking more family time, kind of regrouping and getting back into some normal rhythms, but I just wanted to hop on here and say thank you to family and friends who have reached out and supported us, bringing us meals, cleaning our house, all the things.

Jill didnt specify which family members had reached out, but after sharing news of her miscarriage on social media, she received words of support from her cousin Amy Duggar and sisters Joy-Anna Duggar, Jinger Duggar, and Jessa Duggar.

The former Counting On star recently shared that shed had a miscarriage

RELATED: Jinger Duggar Said 1 of Her Younger Sisters Helped Her the Most Through Her Miscarriage

Jill and her husband, Derick Dillard, have two kids, Israel, 6, and Samuel, 4. Recently, the couple learned they were expecting a third child. But soon after, Jill had a miscarriage.

We recently found out we were expecting our third baby, Jill shared in an Oct. 11 Instagram post. We were thrilled! However, a few days later we started miscarrying.

She added that she and her husband had named their baby River Bliss. In a post on the familys website, Jill explained how they chose that name.

One meaning for River is tranquiland here in Arkansas, rivers are often a serene, beautiful escape in nature, she wrote. She also noted that the name was also a reference to the river of life in the Bible.

[W]e chose Bliss for a middle name because our baby is living in perfect bliss with the Lord and was such a gift that brought immense joy and happiness to us even though only with us here on earth for a short time, she added.

Jill Duggar is estranged from some members of the Duggar family

RELATED: Derick Dillard Says He and Jill Duggar Were Humiliated and Threatened When They Tried to Leave Counting On

While Jill Duggar still has a relationship with some of her 18 siblings, shes been open in the past about being estranged from other members of her large family, including her parents. In a video shared on YouTube in March 2021, she revealed that it had been a couple years since she had visited her parents home.

Jill also said there were some restrictions placed on their visits to her childhood home, though she didnt elaborate on what those were.

Theres a lot of triggers there, Derick added when speaking of why they didnt visit Jim Bob and Michelle Duggars house.

Jill and Derick left Counting On in 2017. Later, they said that a dispute about money was one reason they decided to stop filming the reality show. Since then, Derick has been openly critical of Jim Bob and referred to his wife as an abuse victim in past posts on social media.
Bravo fans have been hoping Summer Houses Paige DeSorbo and Southern Charms Craig Conover would get together for years. And now, it seems like their wish is finally coming true!

The couple has mostly kept quiet about their relationship, but DeSorbo recently opened up about dating Conover. The fashionista shared why it took so long for them to get together and what fans can expect to see of their relationship in the upcoming Bravo show Winter House.

Paige DeSorbo | Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images

Until recently, Paige DeSorbo denied dating Craig Conover

Although they exchanged some flirtatious banter on social media that made fans wonder if they were dating, DeSorbo and Conover denied being in a relationship.

In April 2021, DeSorbo shared on the Comments By Celebs podcast that she and Conover were just friends. Craig is adorable. I think hes so cute, she said. We have very similar personalities I texted Craig, and I was like, Were gonna be in Charleston if you wanna get a dinner, and he was like, Absolutely! Ill plan the whole weekend.

So I think people saw us all out and automatically assumed, Oh my god, theyre all dating. The four of us get along so well, and it was very harmless. Im not dating Craig, but were really good friends.

DeSorbos words may have been true at the time, but she revealed in a recent interview that her relationship with Conover has become romantic since then.

Craig Conover | FilmMagic for Sports Illustrated

The Summer House star revealed why it took so long to start dating the Southern Charm star

Since Paige DeSorbo and Craig Conover seem like such a good match, Bravo fans wonder why it took so many years for the reality stars to get together. The Summer House star explained how their relationship changed and why it took so long for them to start their romance.

I met Craig, actually, three years ago and he was single, said DeSorbo (via US Weekly). I had a boyfriend and I absolutely respected that I was in a relationship. She was likely referring to Perry Rahbar, the businessman 10 years her senior she dated for over a year. The couples troubles came to light during season 5 of Summer House when Rahbar refused to go to the house and film with DeSorbo.

And then when we got to Vermont, I didnt know he had a girlfriend. So, I was a little bummed when I first got there, DeSorbo continued. But, of course, he was absolutely respectful to his girlfriend. And Im so happy now looking back that he had a girlfriend because we built just a very platonic friendship, which is, like, the base of our relationship now. Everything really does happen for a reason.

Conovers girlfriend at the time was likely Natalie Hegnauer. He confirmed that they broke up in May.

   #SouthernCharm & #SummerHouse are hitting the slopes together! Drop a  if you're excited for this icy combo. pic.twitter.com/2aJYp5NbXf  Bravo (@BravoTV) April 23, 2021

RELATED: Summer House: Hannah Berner May Have Just Accidentally Confirmed Paige DeSorbo Is Dating Craig Conover From Southern Charm

Fans can watch Paige DeSorbo and Craig Conovers friendship blossom on Winter House

Although it sounds like DeSorbo and Conover didnt start dating until after the show, fans can watch their friendship develop on Winter House. The new Bravo spinoff premieres on Wednesday, Oct. 20.

The highly anticipated show is a crossover between Summer House and Southern Charm, with a few new faces thrown into the mix. Kyle Cooke, Amanda Batula, Lindsay Hubbard, Ciara Miller, Luke Gulbrandson, and Paige DeSorbo will represent Summer House on the new series. Craig Conover and Austen Kroll will represent the Southern Charm cast.

New cast members Andrea Denver, Julia McGuire, Gabrielle Kniery, and Jason Cameron will also appear on the show. Its unclear if they will join the cast of Summer House or Southern Charm after this, or perhaps be part of a new, unannounced series.
Now that Summer Houses Paige DeSorbo and Southern Charms Craig Conover are officially dating, it seems like fans cant get enough of the Bravo couple!

Fans have expressed their support for the reality stars relationship. Some of DeSorbo and Conovers Winter House cast members recently shared their thoughts on the couple. Heres what they had to say.

Danielle Olivera, Hannah Berner, Carl Radke, Amamda Batula, Jordan Verroi, Paige DeSorbo, Lindsay Hubbard, and Kyle Cooke | Paul Morigi/Getty Images

The Summer House star revealed why it took so long to start dating the Southern Charm star

Paige DeSorbo and Craig Conover seem like such a good match, Bravo fans wonder why it took so many years for the reality stars to get together. The Summer House star explained how their relationship changed and why it took so long for them to start their romance.

I met Craig, actually, three years ago and he was single, said DeSorbo (via US Weekly). I had a boyfriend and I absolutely respected that I was in a relationship. She was likely referring to Perry Rahbar, the businessman 10 years her senior she dated for over a year. The couples troubles came to light during season 5 of Summer House when Rahbar refused to go to the house and film with DeSorbo.

And then when we got to Vermont, I didnt know he had a girlfriend. So, I was a little bummed when I first got there, DeSorbo continued, referring to filming Winter House with Conover in Vermont. But, of course, he was absolutely respectful to his girlfriend. And Im so happy now looking back that he had a girlfriend because we built just a very platonic friendship, which is, like, the base of our relationship now. Everything really does happen for a reason.

Conovers girlfriend at the time was Natalie Hegnauer. He confirmed that they broke up in May.

Craig Conover and Austen Kroll | Paul Cheney/Bravo/NBCU Photo Bank

Austen Kroll from Southern Charm shared what he thinks about Craig Conover and Paige DeSorbos romance

It appears that Conovers Southern Charm castmate Austen Kroll gives the couple his stamp of approval. The beer maker also seems unsurprised by their romantic connection.

A thousand percent I see why they get along, Kroll shared with E! News on Oct. 18. Its something that I thought was going to happen in the house, but Craig had a girlfriend. Youll see some different things happen there. I for sure saw this happening.

Kroll said that DeSorbo and Conover are navigating their long-distance relationship well. DeSorbo lives in New York City, while Conover resides in Charleston.

Kroll stated that they are both flexible to travel and that they vibe with each other well.

He added, Like Craig is so more up her alley than other people in the house, I think. And the way that they laugh and banter and vibe, thats what I think makes them [work].

The Pillows and Beer podcaster also hinted that DeSorbo will be featured in the upcoming season of Southern Charm, which is currently filming. When asked if Conovers girlfriend will make an appearance, Kroll teased, Whos to say she hasnt already?

RELATED: Summer House: Paige DeSorbo Opens Up About Long-Distance Relationship With Craig Conover From Southern Charm

Summer House stars also weighed in on Paige DeSorbo and Craig Conovers relationship

Summer House couple Kyle Cooke and Amanda Batula, who just got married in September, also had kind things to say about DeSorbo and Conovers relationship.

Back in the winter, Craig had a girlfriend and he was very much behaving and keeping to himself, Cooke shared. Clearly, you could see the friendship building.

I love them together! Batula exclaimed. Again, its really nice to have a friend whos in a relationship and you can just kind of relate on things on a whole new level, and Im just so happy for the both of them. I think its really, really cute, and seeing them together just makes me smile all the time.

Cooke added that its good for both partners to be dating someone who totally gets it about being in the Bravo reality world. I think that also allowed the stars to kind of more quickly align.

Fans can watch the friendship between Craig Conover and Paige DeSorbo blossom on Winter House, a new Bravo spinoff featuring cast members from both Summer House and Southern Charm. The show premieres on Wednesday, Oct. 20.
Cherokee potter Crystal Hanna, who was mentored by Cherokee National Treasure Anna Sixkiller Mitchell, will teach a pottery class in Catoosa beginning Oct. 26.
Former Principal Chief Wilma Mankiller will be featured on the reverse side of a 2022 quarter as part of the U.S. Mints American Women Quarters series.
Chickasha, OK (73018)

Today

A mix of clouds and sun with gusty winds. High around 60F. Winds S at 20 to 30 mph. Higher wind gusts possible..

Tonight

A few clouds. Low 44F. Winds SSE at 10 to 20 mph.
Brian Johnson wants to be like Booker T. Washington, the African American educator who believed in bootstraps, racial uplift, and the power of helping people help themselves through education.

Johnson, who is in his second year as president of Warner Pacific University, a Church of Godaffiliated college with 800 students in Portland, Oregon, knows thats not the most popular thing for a college president to want to be.

In fact, he already tried to be like Washington at the school Washington founded: Tuskegee University. He was there for three rocky years.

Still, ask him about his vision for Christian higher education and what he hopes to accomplish at Warner Pacific, and Johnson doesnt hesitate. He wants to apply the things hes learned from studying Washington. He believes in fiscal responsibility, the unhesitating elevation of the ideal of excellence, and an insistence on opportunities for racial minorities.

If people dont like it, well, thats leadership.

You know, if youre pleasing everybody, youre really not getting anything done, he told CT. There is a kind of leadership in higher education where you can sit there, say the right platitudes, say the right things, and just keep the ship the way it is. You can last a long time by not having any controversy, by not really telling the culture, telling its board, Hey, we have not been doing this right.

Johnson, one of only three Black presidents at a Council for Christian Colleges and Universitiesaffiliated school, does not think evangelical higher education, or higher ed generally, has been doing it right.

Dorothy Cowser Yancy, former president of Shaw University ...

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Evangelical med students and pro-life physicians across Canada celebrated with Rafael Zaki when the Coptic Christian won a Manitoba court appeal that quashed his universitys decision to expel him over Facebook posts.

But that doesnt mean theyre ready to start broadcasting their own personal beliefs about abortion, euthanasia, or the value of human life on social media.

I think its fair to say that students are not comfortable disclosing their faith perspective, said Larry Worthen, executive director of the Christian Medical and Dental Association of Canada (CMDA).

The CMDA regularly hears from students concerned about their rights to hold minority opinions on abortion, which is legal in all stages of pregnancy, and medical assistance in dying, which the Canadian government recently expanded to sick and disabled people without terminal illnesses. Though few students are actually expelled, several every year come into conflict with school administrators because of their faith.

The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees the fundamental freedom of conscience and religion, as well as thought, belief, opinion, and expression, but that didnt keep the University of Manitoba from expelling Zaki over what he shared on Facebook.

Worthen describes Zakis situation as extreme but says it does raise concerns.

This seems to us to be quite disturbing and appalling in this day and age, that the Charter rights that were guaranteed under our national constitution were not considered by the medical school in the processing of this concern and issue, he said.

Zaki, who emigrated to Canada from Egypt as a child, enrolled in the ...

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The most prominent evangelical mascot for prison ministry in recent memory is, of course, Charles Chuck Colson. Known to many as Richard Nixons hatchet man, Colson later served time in federal prison for crimes related to the Watergate scandal.

Like many prisoners, once incarcerated, Colson turned to faith to reassess his life, sparking a dramatic shift in personal direction that led to his founding of the prominent nonprofit Prison Fellowship. Colson spoke often of the need for Christians to be active in addressing the problem of crime, as well as in the reform of prisoners and prisons.

While widely influential as a prototype, Colsons efforts pale in comparison to the much broader scope of Christian evangelical involvement in prison ministry today. Both local church groups and large institutions have followed in Colsons footsteps. Evangelical involvement in prison ministry is both more ecumenical and more widely engaged in than ever before.

While many evangelicals are familiar with prison ministry groups ranging from local church volunteer efforts to larger organizations like Prison Fellowship, newer and lesser-known models for evangelical ministry inside US prisons are drawing from innovative work at some of Americas largest and most violent institutions. This work emphasizes equipping prisoners for their own ministry and equipping prisons with resources from religious volunteers.

As we document through our on-site research, these new approaches are being primarily developed in desperately underresourced maximum-security institutions. Christians continue to be engaged in greater and more creative ways of serving fellow citizens of all faiths in Americas prisons. ...

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Caleb Ofori-Boateng, a 39-year-old Ghanaian herpetologist, laughs at the idea that he might be a modern-day Noah.

But his lifes purpose has something in common with the famous figure from the Book of Genesis.

Take the new species of small, brown, pop-eyed frog with tiny teeth and a shrill voice that he and some colleagues just described in a scientific journal.

The entire population of the Atewa slippery frog is thought to live in just five clear-running streams in Atewa, a wildlife-rich evergreen forest on a mountain range north of the Ghanaian capital Accra.

But the area is threatened by government-backed plans to mine for bauxite, used to make aluminum. Should they go ahead, mining will likely destroy the forest and kill off the frogs.

Ofori-Boateng and his colleagues at Herp Conservation Ghana, a group he founded, plan to remove some of the frogs and breed them in captivityin an amphibian arkuntil its safe for them to return to their natural habitat.

I feel that God is in what I do. And saving species is a godly thing to do, he said.

Saving species, especially frogs, is what Ofori-Boateng has been doing for the past 15 years, with the support of the church and a strategy he calls conservation evangelism. It started among communities near the Atewa Forest.

As a new science graduate and the countrys first locally trained herpetologist working in Atewa in 2006, Ofori-Boateng yearned to share his experiences and discoveries with communities living at the foot of the hills. With no funds to organize meetings, and as a Christian himself, he turned to the churches.

Ofori-Boateng was not a public speaker, but he trusted God would help him. He made a commitment to Christ at the age of 12, five years after his father, a gamekeeper who loved his family, had died. Life was hardeven getting food was difficultas his mother tried to raise eight children alone. But they trusted God.

The only thing that kept me was my faith in the Lord Jesus. I was always on my knees, just waiting on him, seeking his help, seeking his assistance, Ofori-Boateng recalled.

Speaking in public, he relied on that same help. He knew his message was hitting home when a woman at a Pentecostal church came to him and confessed to killing a frog the previous evening. Ofori-Boateng told her she didnt need to feel bad, but she could stop killing frogs.

Im personally convicted, he said. I pass on this conviction. And the reference is there, which is the Bible that we all believe in. Its a conviction that leads to action.

That action may save frogs, and with it the forest. According to A Rocha Ghana, the local branch of the network of Christian conservation groups, the mountain range supplies water to more than five million people and is home to frogs, spiders, trees, and butterflies found nowhere else in the world.

In addition to the Atewa slippery frog, Ofori-Boateng found another new species of frog. He got to name it after his mother, Afia Birago. The Afia Birago puddle frog was the reason the Atewa Forest was added this year to a list of more than 850 sites the Virginia-based Alliance for Zero Extinction is working to protect. Designations like this raise Atewas profile and make it harder for the government to pursue its mining plans, conservationists say.

Big mining ventures arent the only threats to Atewa. Hunting, logging, farming, and small-scale gold mining have also taken their toll. Christian conservationists try to help people see the land as something more than profit.

Where a forest may be seen as simply a source of firewood to start with, biblical truth helps people to see the forest as something to be cared for to the glory of God, said Murray Tessendorf, director of A Rocha South Africa. Now its cared for in a manner that protects the forest and makes its use sustainable.

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Traditionally in Ghana, village elders and leaders protected nature, albeit through fear, Ofori-Boateng explained.There were prohibitions against fishing in some rivers, cutting down certain trees, or farming close to water, because of the local deities.

Christianity and Islam took away the fear. Only around 5 percent of Ghanaians now subscribe to animism, according to a 2010 census. About 71 percent of Ghanaians are Christian, and 18 percent are Muslim.

People now believe in a supreme God, and so they are no longer afraid to go into the forest, Ofori-Boateng said.

This has inadvertently led to abuses against the environment. But it has also led to a powerful opportunity to change attitudes.

Since it began in the village of Sagyimase at the foot of the hills in 2006, conservation evangelism has achieved some dramatic results. In the Volta region, about 120 miles from Atewa, near the Togo border, Ofori-Boateng helped convince the community and local churches to donate land to conservation.

Initially, communities there were unwelcoming. They liked to eat the Togo slippery frog, even though it was endangered, and did not like the idea of giving up land. But by working with local churches, the conservation evangelists managed to convince the community, including the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, to donate around 500 acres of land toward conservation.

Frogs are important flagships, Ofori-Boateng said. If you can convince people to save a frog species, then youve already convinced them to save everything.

Such radical changes in mindset wrought by faith-based conservation have been noticed elsewhere. Tessendorf points to the Indian state of Nagaland, where church-led interventions helped convince local communities to stop slaughtering tens of thousands of Amur falcons during their epic annual migration to Africa.

Beyond the local communities, there are also signs the world is taking notice.

In February, conservation group BirdLife International and others helped convince three global manufacturersBMW Group, Tetra Pak, and Schuco Internationalnot to use resources taken from Atewa because of the environmental impact of mining.

A Rocha is advocating the whole area be designated a national park.

These efforts have not stopped government plans for major mining operations, however, so Ofori-Boateng is building an ark for the frogs and talking to churches about the need to save them. He believes hope for protecting the forest still lies in the power of people.

What I am looking at is a united people, people filled with one purpose, he said.

Pria Ghosh, a program officer with Synchronicity Earth, a London-based conservation charity that partners with Ofori-Boatengs group, agrees.

What Herp Conservation Ghana does is empower people and organizations to express themselves, to be heard, and to find the like-minded communities and solidarity necessary to stand up for places like Atewa, she told CT. They are making the world listen.

Ryan Truscott is a journalist in Zimbabwe.

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Death row prayer case goes to court

The United States Supreme Court stayed the execution of a Texas man who wants his Baptist pastor to lay hands on him and pray as hes put to death. John Henry Ramirez murdered a convenience store clerk in 2004, stabbing the man 29 times in the process of stealing $1.25 to buy drugs. In prison, he committed his life to Christ and became a member of Second Baptist Church in Corpus Christi, Texas. Ahead of his September 8 execution date, Ramirez sued for the right to have his pastor touch him at the time of death. The court will consider it next term.

RZIM claims First Amendment protection

Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM) has asked a federal court to dismiss a lawsuit by donors alleging the misuse of funds, because the apologetics organization is registered as a church. According to RZIMs lawyers, the First Amendment prohibits the court from ruling on purely ecclesiastical assertions, such as whether Zacharias conformed to the moral standards of real Christian leaders or whether the RZIM board exercised appropriate oversight over the famed apologist. According to an RZIM-funded investigation, the late apologist used a humanitarian fund to pay four massage therapists, at least one of whom said he used the money to pressure her to have sex.

Christians disagree over economic protests

Evangelicals are divided over the protests that have roiled Colombia since the proposal of a tax bill that would raise the cost of daily essentials, such as eggs and chickens, while giving more breaks to corporations. On a livestreamed show, pastors of the Mision Carismatica Internacional megachurch warned real social change can only happen ...

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When Jesus delivered the Great Commission to a small band of disciples, they might have wondered how they were supposed to carry his gospel to the ends of the earth. Yet across the nations it spread, winning converts and planting churches everywhere it went. Alice T. Ott, a missions and world Christianity professor at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, surveys the pivotal moments of this journey in Turning Points in the Expansion of Christianity: From Pentecost to the Present. Jay Riley Case, a historian of missions at Malone University, spoke with Ott about the big picture and the smaller details of Christianitys global advance.

What got you interested in the history of the expansion of Christianity?

My interest is an outgrowth of my own experiences. I have loved history ever since I was a teenager. I spent 21 years of my adult life as a missionary in Germany. After my husband and I returned to the United States, I earned my PhD and started teaching courses on the history of mission and Christianity in the non-Western world. The book grew out of my research for these courses, as well as from my teaching and interacting with students.

The expansion of Christianity is an incredible story, but a challenging one to tell. Why did you choose turning points as the framework?

My inspiration came from Mark Nolls book, Turning Points: Decisive Moments in the History of Christianity. I became convinced that a similar approach would be a great way to simplify the broad and complex history of Christian expansion. Rather than attempting to include every aspect of Christian expansion, I home in on crucial events and trendson pivotal, decisive moments when something monumental changes.

Your book identifies many recurring themes in the history of Christian expansion. Can you name a couple that seem particularly significant for Christians today?

In the conclusion, I talk about five different themes that show up time and again in the history of Christian expansion. One is the theme of mission theology. I believe that theology profoundly influences mission practice. In other words, theology was often a major factor determining whether or not the various branches of the church were actively engaged in mission at particular times and in particular places. At various times during the history of the church, Christians embraced several theologies that actually dampened their motivation for mission. One of theseand this may surprise some peoplewas the belief that the Great Commission applied only to the original apostles, and not to all Christians in all ages.

Another theme that I discuss concerns mission agents and structures. Throughout history, the expansion of Christianity was not just a Western or even a missionary-driven enterprise. Rather, from the beginning the church has grown through the efforts of a variety of mission agents: Western and non-Western missionaries, as well as the witness of indigenous lay Christians.

The gospel spreads more quickly cross-culturally when there are good, appropriate structures for mission. In late antiquity and the Middle Ages, the monastic movement and later religious orders provided the mission organization, structure, and personnel for the Roman Catholic Church. Protestants initially lacked a similar organizational structure for mission. Only as they adapted their already-existing voluntary religious societies to the specific needs of mission did the Protestant mission movement take off.

The 1974 Lausanne Conference may be the turning point that resonates most with readersperhaps because it is the most recent. What do you find most significant about it?

A key goal of Billy Graham and the steering committee of the Lausanne Conference was reaffirming an evangelical foundation for mission. But another important aspect is that Lausanne 74 reflected evangelicalisms increasingly multicultural, global identity. While evangelicalism today is sometimes barely holding its own in the West, it is exploding in many parts of Africa, Latin America, and Asia. And missionaries are flowing to and from every continent.

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Lausanne 74 also inspired and furthered the growth of mission movements in many important non-Western countries. In the book, I focus on Nigeria, South Korea, and Brazil, all of which have large numbers of cross-cultural missionaries today. Brazil, for example, has more foreign missionaries than any country except the United States.

Your book also highlights historical developments that may be quite foggy in our minds, if we even recall them at all. I, for instance, knew next to nothing about the East Syrian mission to China, and Henry Venn is not exactly a household name. Why should Christians know about these obscure incidents and people?

The East Syrian mission to China was actually the culmination of an early and centuries-long eastward expansion of Christianity. Remembering this eastward expansion helps us counteract the false impression that Christianity, from the beginning, was a largely Western or European phenomenon. Indeed, the first millennium saw vibrant churches in North Africa, Syria, Persia, Afghanistan, Central Asia, China, Indiaplaces where today the gospel is less widely known.

As for Henry Venn, he lived and served in the middle decades of the 19th century, about two generations into the Protestant mission movement. Venn was one of the earliest and most influential mission strategists. He developed theoretical and practical mission principles to achieve the ultimate goal of missiona culturally appropriate, indigenous, independent, national church on the mission field. His three-self principles declared that an independent, indigenous church on the mission field needed to be self-supporting, self-governing, and self-propagating. That was a groundbreaking insight then, and it has ongoing relevance today.

What surprises or new insights did you encounter as you worked on this book?

As an evangelical, I was surprised and delighted to read the original writings of two fifth-century saints: Patrick of Ireland and Narsai of Persia, a representative of the East Syrian Church. Patricks Confession and Narsais sermons had elaborately developed and biblically based mission theologies, which many Christians would fully embrace today.

Another pleasant surprise was discovering that a common perception we have todaythat missionaries from previous eras lacked cultural sensitivitywas not always true. Here are two examples. The 16th-century Jesuit missionaries in China and Japan attempted to accommodate the Christian message to the local religious cultures in quite an advanced and remarkable way. On the Protestant side, William Carey and the Baptist mission in Serampore, India, had surprisingly progressive views on the task of mission and on empowering the locals to evangelize. The Serampore Baptist missionaries covenanted with one another to study the Hindu culture well so that they would not be barbarians to the local population.

Many of us take the cross-cultural expansion of Christianity over history for granted, as though it just unfolded naturally. What should we better understand about this process?

There were some periods in Christian history when the gospel seemed to spread naturallyfor example, in the early church. But that is usually not the case. God can certainly choose to use untrained or poorly trained missionaries to bring people into his kingdom, especially if they are loving and earn the respect and trust of the local people. But generally speaking, the most effective missionaries have immersed themselves in the local culture and achieved a substantial level of linguistic and cultural competency. Thats an important lesson to heed as we attempt to engage the world for Christ.

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Recent reports of declining religious engagement paint a sad picture about the future of the church in the United States. But from my perspective leading InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, Ive seen how younger Christians may offer us a road map for hope, particularly for those of us from earlier generations.

In some ways, its almost remarkable that Gen Z students still have a desire to grow spiritually at all. During a pivotal stage of life, which most of us remember as a season of optimism and opportunity, they are grappling with an ongoing pandemic, political divisions, racial injustices, and campus openings and closures.

In a time when practical discipleship may be the least of their worries, it would be easy to let the complexities and pressures of life crowd out the spiritual. But these recent crises have had a spiritually clarifying effect on them. This generation has a spiritual hunger and a desire to grow into disciples prepared to engage a turbulent world.

Here are five ways Ive seen Gen Z college students modeling a deeper, more resilient faith that older generations can learn from.

1. Spiritually resilient people know how to wait

God is showing Gen Z how to wait in a culture that hates to wait for anything. It might come as a surprise that this generation of Christiansall of whom grew up with instantaneous access to the internethas the capacity for patience. But I have watched them embrace what author and pastor Ben Patterson says in his book Waiting: Finding Hope When God Seems Silent: At least as important as the things we wait for is the work God wants to do in us as we wait.



Where many in older generations have responded to delayed gratification with self-soothing, Gen Z Christians have prayed that God would sharpen their holy dissatisfaction instead. Hundreds of students joined last years Freeish: A Virtual Juneteenth Gathering sponsored by InterVarsitys Black Campus Ministry amid renewed awareness of centuries of racial injustice. They used the Juneteenth holidaywhich recognizes the delay between the end of the Civil War and the emancipation of enslaved people in Texasas a gateway to experience the tension between the now/not yet of the kingdom of God.

They pressed into the tension of Freeish so that they could hunger and thirst for righteousness more keenly. They accepted responsibility to be pastors to sinful people and prophets to sinful systems. They understood that waiting with faith is an act of resistance to evil. While resisting the situations and injustices that might grind them, they flooded to BCMs most recent national online conference, the title of which expressed their resolve and resilience: Still Here.

2. Spiritually resilient people are of good cheer

Throughout the past few years, I have been challenged and moved by the ways that Gen Z Christians move seamlessly from How long, O Lord? to Hallelujah! in worship. Perhaps this is shaped by their study of the Psalms and Revelation, both of which move from lament to praise in a breath.



They have much to lament. InterVarsity Christian Fellowship recently surveyed Christian Gen Z students from 127 campuses. The results made clear that Gen Z sees the world in all its brokenness. The range of issues they care about defy simple political categorization yet reflect a deep awareness of our deepest cultural divides. Gen Z Christians care most, according to our survey, about the issues of racial injustice, climate change, and adoption and foster care. Reducing abortion, ensuring religious freedom, and reforming the criminal justice system round up the top issues they identified.

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Gen Z Christians reject the ways some older Christians can be seduced by cynicism and partisanship as they engage these issues, as well as the way that others have turned to self-indulgence or denial. They are looking for a Scripture-defined faith that will help them engage and address the worlds problems.



I remember the overwhelming student response to a medley of We Shall Overcome, Great Is Thy Faithfulness, and Because He Lives during one of our national online events. They reject despair. Their resilience is grounded in more than self-care, in more than naive optimism in inevitable social progress. Instead, its grounded in Gods character and in Christs resurrection.

Spiritually resilient people can assess reality, even if its harsh, and weigh it against the reality of Gods presence and provision, continuing to live with hope and joy. In John 16, Jesus was clear about the difficult reality ahead when he spoke to his disciples before his arrest. He was also clear about his victory. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world (v. 33). The King James Version expresses it, Be of good cheer.

3. Spiritually resilient people hunger for the right thing

Even with such a broad interest in current issues, the discipleship resource these students wanted most was to learn how to study Scripture. This surprised me. Books on hermeneutics do not top the Christian bestseller list. Worship songs on the beauty of Scripture are not in heavy rotation according to CCLI. Graduation gifts for high school seniors tend to be filled with inspirational quotes and practical how-tos. But Gen Z Christians want to learn how to study Scripture. More than guidance on relationships, vocation, or sex, Gen Z Christians long to understand the Bible.

They are tired of therapeutic moral deism, with its shallow affirmations of their worth and its lifeless invitations to try harder. They arent looking for an inspirational but out-of-context Bible verse on Instagram. They want to hear God speak through his Word.

We see this hunger in InterVarsitys ministry. Our core ministry on campus is a small-group Bible study that invites students to rigorously study Gods Word in community. They dont gather to watch a video sermon or to answer questions in a workbook. They meet because they want to hear God speak directly into their lives through the Scriptures.

Gen Z Christians are resilient because they want to hear directly from God through his Word.

4. Spiritually resilient people put down deep spiritual roots in Christian community

During the earlier parts of the pandemic, life shut down. Gen Z Christians reported they struggled with loneliness (58%). Nearly 47 percent said their mental health had been negatively impacted by the pandemic. They wrestled with the isolation, in part, because they overwhelmingly affirmed that belonging to a campus Christian fellowship was the most important factor in growing their faith. They understand the importance of Christian community.

As the new school year begins, students are returning to campus fellowships enthusiastically. They want to worship, to study Scripture, and to pray together after a long season of isolation. This is the largest group of new students to step foot on campus for the first time, and as in-person ministry events are happening for the first time in 18 months, campus ministers are seeing surges of students attending.

At the University of Alabama in Huntsville, for instance, campus minister Amanda Koch has been planting a ministry for the past couple of years. At their first on-campus event of the year, she expected only around twenty students to attend but was surprised when over 70 showed up.

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Similarly, Neal Overbay, campus staff minister at the University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign, reported more students participated in their first campus-wide meeting this year than in pre-pandemic years.

Students know they need community. Those of us who have become too comfortable with passive participation in streamed church services should listen to the wisdom expressed by Gen Z.

5. The churchs spiritual resistance is tested together

Were at a point in the pandemic where there is a lot of fatigue and a lot of mixed emotions. We all want life to return to normal, but many of us dread the thought of another school year, another fall, another winter of navigating the precautions. Or perhaps as we settle back into our routines, we realize how much has changed and hurt during the year-and-half of the pandemic.

Amid the fatigue, we must encourage each other to practice the disciplines of joy and hope and to not give in to self-pity or cynicism. This is the kind of strength that Scripture says were to aspire to and that is promised to us if we abide in Christ.

Traditionally, we think of discipleship as generationally top downone generation passing what its learned to a younger generation. But discipleship can also be bottom up. Older generations, in humility, can take note of what younger people are learning and receive it, allowing it to reveal gaps in their own discipleship.

No generation is exempt from needing to grow in resilience. As were tested together, both now and in the future, we can praise God for the ways that the Spirit is filling gaps in our maturity, no matter which generation is the teacher.

Tom Lin is the president and CEO of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA.
Is it any wonder that doubt can infiltrate our prayers, given the gap we may experience between what Scripture seems to promise and our lived reality? In Mark 11:23, Jesus tells us that God will rearrange geography for us if we come to him in faith. The implication is that our heavenly Father will do miraculous things for us. Yet we all can recount times when we have prayed for mundane miraclesperhaps an end to insomnia or the resolution to a long-standing conflictand our circumstances dont budge. Its in that space where, as A. J. Swoboda describes, doubt happens to us.

Jesus brother James further complicates the equation by suggesting that the reason our personal mountains fail to move might very well be because doubt has somehow corrupted our faith. When you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Such a person is double-minded (James 1:68).

Who, then, can pray? Because if were honest, we all struggle with doubt from time to time. Verses like these may lead us to believe that wed be better off either denying doubt or avoiding God altogether when it surfaces.

Doubt can destabilize our faith, but it need not silence our prayers. In fact, when we bring our doubts to God, our faith can deepen.

Doubts DNA

Doubt can affect each of us at various points along our Christian journey; its like an underground stream that runs along the road of faith. Doubt can seep into our lives through many portals, such as unanswered prayers, parts of Scripture that lack congruence with our lives, or unabated ...

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Contrary to Mars Hill lore, Mark Driscoll didnt plant his church alone. Though he prized the image of a solo, entrepreneurial pastor, Driscoll found early success thanks to two co-planters, a sending church, and a network of support. And 3,000 miles away in Boca Raton, Florida, the concept of the Acts 29 church network was already taking shape as an offshoot of the Spanish River Church Planting Network.

Church planting requires a certain audacity, and in the early 1970s, nobody had more than David Nicholas. Founder of Spanish River Church, Davids burden for evangelism took shape in mentoring relationships with pastors starting congregations of their own. A planter himself, David empathized with those who felt lonely in that particular calling, and he sought to encourage and empower leaders by offering them communitya network in which they could receive the care, training, and accountability to do their jobs well.

In this episode of The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill, host Mike Cosper invites us into the room with David Nicholas and Mark Driscolltwo church planters with widely divergent visions for what constituted successful church growth. Tracing the Acts 29 network from its beginnings, Cosper asks whether any leadership potential is worth overlooking red flags, and whether the broader church actually has what it takes to mentor young leaders with issues of character.

The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill is a production of Christianity Today

Executive Producer: Erik Petrik

Produced, written, edited, and hosted by: Mike Cosper

Additional editing by Resonate Recordings and Matt Linder

Associate produced by Joy Beth Smith

Music, sound design, and mixing: Kate Siefker

Theme song: Sticks and Stones by Kings Kaleidescope

Closing song: Citizens by Jon Guerra

Graphic Design: Bryan Todd

Social Media: Nicole Shanks

Editorial consulting: Andrea Palpant Dilley, Online Managing Editor

Christianity Today Editor in Chief: Timothy Dalrymple
After 17 tries, there is still no peace in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Almost a year ago, Russia brokered a November 2020 ceasefire to end the 44-day war between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the Caucasus mountain enclave. Azerbaijan reclaimed most of its internationally recognized territory occupied since 1994 by ethnic Armenians, who demand independence.

Armenia has been a Christian nation since A.D. 301. Azerbaijan is majority Muslim. But spiritual leaders have been no more successful than politicians or generals at securing reconciliation.

Yet that has not stopped Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill I from trying.

Our religions have a unique peace-making potential, he stated at last weeks tripartite summit of top clerical leaders. No matter how difficult Armenian-Azerbaijani relations are at this stage, we believe that it is faith in God, and love, that can help heal the wounds.

And they are many.

The postSoviet Union conflict over Nagorno-Karabakhcalled Artsakh by Armenianskilled 30,000 people and displaced 1 million. As Azerbaijan recaptured the territoryslightly larger than Rhode Islandlast year, another 7,000 were killed. Mutual acrimony has characterized relations, with both sides accusing the other of destroying their religious heritage.

The first meeting of spiritual leaders was held in 1993. The 16th in 2017.

Simply by bringing these leaders together, Kirill achieved a level of success. Standing with Karekin II, the Armenian catholicos on his right, and Allahshukur Pashazade, Azerbaijans Grand Mufti of the Caucasus, on his left, he read a joint statement calling for respect for shrines and monuments, resistance to radicalization, and the avoidance of hate speech.

Religious wars are the most horrible, sinful pages in the religious history of mankind, said Kirill at his opening greeting. We are called to preach mercy from God, even when it seems difficult.

The spiritual representatives of the warring nations agreed.

It is impossible to call for war and hatred from the religious throne, said Pashazade, because the bloody war has brought irreparable harm to both peoples.

Karekin spoke similarly: There are no winners in wars, all are defeated.

Image: Courtesy of Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, Information Services

In separate statements following the summit, both leaders also shared some theology. Karekin quoted Luke 2 about peace between men, but also the Quran on the divine intention for diversity. His prayer was for solidarity and mutual understanding.

Pashazade applied to the situation a well-known but contested Islamic interpretation. The clergy have no right to question the political decisions of the leaders of our states, he said. It is our duty before the Almighty God to convey this truth to our peoples.

Freedom House ranked Azerbaijan not free on its 2021 Freedom in the World report, scoring the nation only 10 out of 100. Armenia was ranked partly free with a score of 55.

The rest of both clerics separate statements was almost wholly politicaland partisan.

Azerbaijans restoration of territorial integrity was justified according to international law, said Pashazade. He called for a new era of cooperation for the benefit of all citizens but rejected discussion of the Armenian-populated enclaves political status in the context of interfaith dialogue. He also refused to call the region Nagorno-Karabakh, which implies an identity separate from Azerbaijan.

Yet there can be no peace, Karekin stated, until the status of Artsakh Armenians is clarified. The bloody and catastrophic aggression can only be made right when Azerbaijan ends its expansionist policy, returns prisoners of war, and respects Armenias cultural and religious heritage.

Last month, Armenia filed suit against Azerbaijan at the UNs International Court of Justice at The Hague, alleging violations of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. A week later, Azerbaijan counter-filed.

Armenia cites alteration of its churches and monasteries, and the prevention of pilgrims from reaching religious sites. Azerbaijan cites the destruction of mosques during Armenias three-decade occupation.

The suit will likely take years to reach decision, if it fully proceeds. But each side requested provisional injunctions, which may settle more quickly.

Azerbaijan demands a crackdown on hate groups and a map describing the location of landmines on reclaimed territory. Armenia demands the release of prisoners of war and the closure of the Military Trophies Park in the capital city of Baku, where bullet-ridden helmets are on display along with degrading mannequins of captured Armenian soldiers.

The spiritual summit on October 13 preceded opening arguments at the Hague by a day. October 14 also witnessed a political summit between the three nations prime ministers.

On the 15th, Armenia stated in court that Azerbaijan had confirmed the offending exhibits have been removed from the trophy park. And Armenias prime minister announced readiness to exchange land mine maps in exchange for releasing remaining prisoners of war.

Whether political achievements or evidence of ongoing prayer, the spiritual leaders did not cede ground. Pashazade denied Azerbaijan holds any prisoners, stating that captive Armenian soldiers are being held for violation of the ceasefire. Karekin, meanwhile, called on Azerbaijan to stop provocations and encroachments on the border.

Both summits were held in Moscow, and as guarantor of the ceasefire, Russia must struggle also with wider regional rivalries. Azerbaijans victory was largely achieved through its drone warfare superiority gained in alliance with Turkey and Israel. Iran, allied with Armenia, stated it will not tolerate the presence of the Zionist regime on its borders, and surprise military drills were named after a famous battle of Muhammad against Arabian Jews.

And so into the arena, again, stepped Kirillfocused only on the local.

The Russian Orthodox Church is praying for the reconciliation of its two friendly nations, he said. For the Azerbaijani-Armenian peoples, there is no future other than coexistence.
Nearly half of PCUSA ministers say 'fatigue' a daily part of their lives, few take sabbaticals: survey

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Nearly half of surveyed clergy in the Presbyterian Church (USA) report experiencing fatigue on a regular basis  yet few take sabbaticals, according to a newly released report that is part of a series of surveys on ministers in the denomination.

PC(USA) Research Services released a "Minister Wellbeing Report" on Monday based on data compiled from a survey of 4,495 PC(USA) ministers conducted between September and November 2019. Respondents to the survey represented 23% of all ordained ministers in the mainline Protestant denomination.

The data suggests that 49% of surveyed ministers said they experience fatigue daily. In addition, 35% of ministers expressed concern about burnout, while 32% were concerned with isolation. Only 34% of surveyed ministers reported taking a sabbatical.

Despite the concerns over fatigue and burnout, the survey also found that 90% of respondents reported having enthusiasm for their work. Overall, 89% believe their ministry work gives meaning and real purpose to their lives.

"Nearly half of the ministers report that they are tired. Most take a day off each week but nearly one-third have not taken an extended time to refresh, replenish, and spend time in spiritual reflection," the report reads.

"Fatigue is often associated with distancing oneself from constituents and family. If not attended, fatigue can lead to burnout."

Since the survey was conducted before the COVID-19 pandemic, PC(USA) Research Services noted that the responses would most likely vary if the survey was conducted during the pandemic.

"The challenges and stresses of the pandemic impacted all of life  ministers and ministries included  and may have resulted in different responses in some instances had the survey occurred during the pandemic," researchers wrote.

"The results, nonetheless, provide insights into the experiences, thoughts, and feelings of PC(USA) ministers."

The study is the fifth of an eight-part series of PC(USA) reports published weekly on research regarding various aspects of ministers' lives in the denomination.

An earlier entry in the report series found that 44% of surveyed ministers said they were not trained to properly handle mental health issues when they arise in their congregations.

"A significant number of ministers have concerns about their abilities to recognize and respond appropriately when confronted with an issue related to mental health or substance abuse," wrote Jashalund Royston and Susan Barnett of PC(USA) Research Services last month.

"Forty-four percent report that they have not been trained to recognize mental health concerns. Even more, 54%, view themselves less than capable to respond effectively to a colleague who shows signs of a mental health concern or substance abuse."

The PC(USA) study corroborates previous statistics that show that 50% of pastors feel unable to meet the needs of the job, 90% feel inadequately trained to deal with ministry demands, 45.5% of pastors say they have experienced depression or burnout to the extent that they needed to take a leave of absence from ministry and 70% of pastors do not have someone they consider a close friend.

Scott Sauls, the senior pastor of Christ Presbyterian Church in Nashville, Tennessee, recently explained that pastors often feel lonely within their communities. The COVID pandemic, he said, has only exacerbated the loneliness many pastors feel.

"Case in point, 2020," he said. "You've got this dynamic where reality is 70% of pastors right now around America are looking for another job."

"Our people feel like they're still with us because they see us and hear us from their living rooms, and yet, we just have this complete void of relationship," Sauls explained. "Oftentimes, people treat the Church as a consumer good, [but pastors] see the Church as our family ... so the dynamic of loneliness and isolation is amplified in a time like this."

The current "negativity of environment" is often "taken out" on caregivers like pastors and therapists, Sauls contended. He urged pastors to fight isolation by cultivating close friendships and establishing community.

"It really is the perfect emotional storm right now for pastors," he said. "Fighting against isolation is utterly essential."
DOJ urged to investigate Facebook's 'facilitation' of human trafficking, illegal immigration

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Arizona's attorney general is calling on the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate Facebook's role in providing a platform to human traffickers and drug cartels as the surge of migration at the southwest border continues.

Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland Thursday, asking the DOJ to "pursue all legal means" to hold social media giant Facebook accountable for its "facilitation of human and sex trafficking."

Brnovich, a Republican, began the letter by noting that his office was made aware "of media reports detailing how human smugglers and drug cartels were allegedly using Facebook to encourage and instruct its users to engage in illegal activities."

"Our office wrote to Facebook to clarify its policies and procedures for preventing such misuse of its platform," he recalled. "On August 30, 2021, we were surprised to receive an in-depth response from the company  stating that its platform 'allow[s] people to share information about how to enter a country illegally or request information about how to be smuggled.'"

In a letter responding to Brnovich, Facebook claimed it proactively removes content encouraging drug trafficking and human smuggling by relying on "automated post scanning systems to identify violations." Brnovich concluded that because "Facebook identifies no mechanism to distinguish between authorized and unauthorized posts," the company's enforcement mechanism amounts to a "paper tiger."

Citing the federal government's unique role in enforcing immigration law, Brnovich requested that the DOJ "investigate Facebook's facilitation of human smuggling at Arizona's southern border and stop its active encouragement and facilitation of illegal entry."

"Facebook's policy of allowing posts promoting human smuggling and illegal entry into the United States to regularly reach its billions of users seriously undermines the rule of law," Brnovich stated.

"The company is a direct facilitator, and thus exacerbates, the catastrophe occurring at Arizona's southern border," he added. "The people of Arizona and all Border States deserve the due diligence of the federal government in its enforcement of the rule of law."

An April report from the Tech Transparency Project revealed that there were 50 Facebook pages created to offer illegal border crossings. The report was created as the massive number of migrants seeking entry into the U.S. overwhelms law enforcement officials at the U.S.-Mexico border.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported that there were 208,887 encounters between law enforcement officials and migrants at the southwest border in August. While August marked the first time all year that the number of encounters decreased, the figures for August 2021 mark a significant increase from the 50,014 encounters during August 2020.

With the data for September 2021 still forthcoming, fiscal year 2021 saw an unprecedented 1.5 million border crossings. By contrast, there were 458,088 crossings in fiscal year 2020.

Critics of the Biden administration attribute the border surge to President Joe Biden's revocation of two Trump-era policies: the Migrant Protection Protocols requiring those seeking asylum in the U.S. to wait in Mexico while their cases were adjudicated and Title 42, which allowed border officials to immediately turn back illegal immigrants because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Reuters reported last week that the Biden administration would resume the Migrant Protection Protocols next month.

The surge at the border is having an impact on those who live in border towns.

Last week, Fox News' Maria Bartiromo spoke with John Paul and Donna Schuster, ranchers who live in Kinney County, Texas. The county is one of several in the state that borders Mexico. The Schusters' property is 25 nautical miles from the border.

"Every time I leave my house, I'm checking waters, checking the livestock. There's some kind of sign that someone has been there since the last time I was there the day before," Donna Schuster said. "It's either trash, footprints, gate left open, fence cut, water line broken.  It's something every single day."

She explained that she feels inclined to "carry a gun" every time she leaves the house, even to throw out the trash.

Intruders have shown up at the Schusters' property numerous times, and one managed to get into the garage. They had an alarm system installed and kept a chair jammed in the back door to prevent people from entering.

John Paul Schuster explained that their property is a target of illegal immigrants because "we have good water wells on our place." The couple alleged that they were being "invaded" by illegal immigrants that are "here to do harm more so than to help."

"I lost a 10,000-gallon tank of water," Donna Schuster recalled. "It takes me probably six weeks to get that much water back."

"They're messing with our solar pumps as far as the wiring goes and burning those up," she added. Schuster also alleged that the intruders are "leaving gates open between pastures," which could enable livestock to escape.

Schuster said the "open border policy is not working."

"And we understand that there's people coming in  that want a better life. But there's a better way to do it than the way ... that it's happening down here," she believes.

"We shouldn't be afraid in our own homes. We live in the United States of America."

John Paul Schuster expressed a desire to let those seeking asylum in the U.S. work on his property until their court date arrives. He also broke down in tears as they contemplated what might happen if an encounter with a trespasser led to a fatality.
Gang demands $17M for return of kidnapped missionaries in Haiti, justice minister says

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The gang that kidnapped 17 missionaries while they were on a trip to visit an orphanage in Haiti on Saturday has demanded $1 million each for their safe return, Justice Minister Liszt Quitel confirmed Tuesday.

"The demand was made to the country chief of the Christian Aid Ministries  they asked for $1 million per person," Quitel told The New York Times in a phone interview. "Often these gangs know these demands cannot be met and they will consider a counteroffer from the families, and the negotiations can take a couple of days sometimes, or a couple of weeks."

The kidnapped missionaries include six men, six women and five children, of which 16 are Americans and one Canadian, the Ohio-based Christian Aid Ministries said in a statement Sunday.

The missionaries were working with the international aid organization when they were taken on Saturday by the 400 Mawozo gang.

The gang, whose name roughly translates to "inexperienced men," is known for brazen killings, ransom kidnappings and extorting businessmen.

Minister Ron Marks of the Hart Dunkard Brethren Church in Michigan told The Detroit News on Monday that several members of his church  a family of five, including four children  are among the kidnapped missionaries.

Marks did not identify the members but said the youngest child is under 10 years old.

"Our primary focus is on God and His providence to bring us through this," Marks told the publication.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said in a press briefing Monday that while she could not reveal the identities of the missionaries for safety reasons, the State Department and the FBI are working together to "bring these individuals home safely."

"The President has been briefed and is receiving regular updates on what the State Department and the FBI are doing to bring these individuals home safely," Psaki said.

"The FBI is part of a coordinated U.S. government effort to get the U.S. citizens involved to safety. Due to operational considerations, we're not going to go into too much detail on that but can confirm their engagement. And the U.S. embassy in Port-au-Prince is coordinating with local authorities and providing assistance to the families to resolve the situation."

In an update on the situation on Monday, Christian Aid Ministries, which had called on the Christian community to pray for the safe return of the missionaries, thanked the media and global supporters for their help and prayers. The organization even called for prayers for the kidnappers.

"We are entering the third day since seventeen of our workers were kidnapped by a gang in Haiti. The media has carried this situation across the globe. Civil authorities in Haiti and the United States are aware of what has happened and are offering assistance. We continue to monitor the situation closely and are in earnest prayer," the organization headquartered in Ohio said.

"We greatly appreciate the prayers of believers around the world, including our many Amish and Mennonite supporters. The Bible says, 'The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much' (James 5:16). Join us in prayer that God's grace would sustain the men, women, and children who are being held hostage."

Specifically, Christian Aid Ministries is calling on people to pray that those being held hostage will "find strength to demonstrate God's love."

"The kidnappers, like all people, are created in the image of God and can be changed if they turn to Him," the Monday update states. "While we desire the safe release of our workers, we also desire that the kidnappers be transformed by the love of Jesus, the only true source of peace, joy, and forgiveness."
Jill Biden tells church how she found faith again after death of stepson Beau First lady says she felt 'betrayed by my faith'

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When God didn't answer her "one last desperate prayer" before the death of her stepson, Beau Biden, from brain cancer in 2015, first lady Jill Biden felt so "betrayed" she "couldn't even pray." A visit to Brookland Baptist Church in Columbia, South Carolina, four years later, however, would change everything.

In an unannounced visit to the church where she renewed her faith in 2019, the 70-year-old Biden told the congregation in an address broadcast on Facebook Live Sunday how her faith had been an important factor in her life since she was a teenager. But she just wasn't always very public about it.

"It's always been an important part of who I am," she admitted as she was visiting the church to celebrate Pastor Charles B. Jackson Sr.'s 50th year in ministry.

"I chose it as a teenager when I fell in love with the peace of the quiet wooden pew, the joy of the choir, like this magnificent choir you have here, and the deep wisdom of the Gospels. Prayer is especially a way that I connect to people that I love and to the world around me. But in 2015, my faith was shaken."

In May 2015, Joseph "Beau" Biden III, the former attorney general of Delaware and the eldest son of then-Vice President Joe Biden, lost his fight with brain cancer at 46.

"For over a year, I watched my brave, strong, funny, bright, young son fight brain cancer: chemotherapy, operation after operation, weight loss. Still, I never gave up hope. As a mother, we can't," she said, acknowledging Robin Jackson, the wife of the church's pastor.

"While we were worshiping, I had to be strong for my children and for my husband. But most of all, for my son, Beau. I had to be strong for him because, in the middle of it all, he was being strong for us. So I kept going every day. I put one foot in front of the other. And despite what the doctor said, I believed that my son would make it. In the final days, I made one last desperate prayer. And it went unanswered," the first lady said.

"After Beau died, I felt betrayed by my faith, broken. You know, my own pastor wrote emails occasionally, which he was checking in with me, inviting me back to the service. But I just couldn't go. I couldn't even pray. I wondered if I would ever feel joy again," she continued.

As her husband campaigned to become the next president of the United States in 2019, the journey took them to Brookland Baptist Church. That's when Jill Biden felt like God spoke to her.

"In the summer of 2019, many of you may remember this, Joe and I came to worship here at Brooklyn Baptist Church. And something felt different that morning," she said.

During worship that day in 2019, Biden said that Robin Jackson sat beside her and offered to be her "prayer partner."

"And I don't know if she sensed how moved I had been by the service. I don't know if she could still see the grief that I'd feel still hides behind my smile. But I do know that when she spoke, it was as if God was saying to me, 'OK, Jill, you've had enough time. It's time to come home,'" Biden continued.

She quoted from Hebrews 4:16 and Matthew 19:26.

"In that moment, I felt for the first time that there was a path for recovering my faith. The book of Hebrews says, 'let us, therefore, come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.' We can't heal ourselves alone. But with God, all things are possible," Biden said.

"Robin's kindness, her mercy and grace pushed past the calluses on my heart. And like a mustard seed, my faith was able to grow once again. It brought me comfort in the long hard days of the campaign trail. And you all know how hard they were."

She recalled feeling a sense of "joy" by seeing how "strangers could sacrifice for each other."

"It reminded me what was at stake: not an election, not a partisan battle, but a country in need of healing, families that were torn apart by the pandemic, communities wrestling with the evils of racism and discrimination, a nation in search of hope. This church changed my life," she said to a standing ovation. "And it helped shape the course of our journey to the White House."
Illinois pastor accused of sexually grooming minor via Snapchat

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A pastor in Illinois has been charged with grooming a minor for sex by sending the teenager sexually explicit messages on Snapchat, according to authorities.

Joseph Krol of Dawson, the 36-year-old pastor of Rochester First Baptist Church, was arrested last Friday and charged with grooming a 15-year-old minor.

Sergeant Roger Pope with the Macon County Sheriffs Office explained in comments published by the Herald Review that Krol appeared to try and erase evidence on his phone of the alleged grooming.

Prior to answering the door, [Krol was] seen grabbing his cellphone and manipulating the buttons while standing in the kitchen area, stated Pope. Deputies immediately located his phone, but [Krol] had factory reset the phone in an attempt to wipe all of the data.

Nevertheless, the parents of the grooming victim provided police with the phone of their child, which included the sexually explicit messages from Krol.

The pastor is accused of having requested nude photos from the minor and having played social media games of a sexually suggestive nature with the child, according to the Herald-Review.

Galilee Baptist Church of Decatur, a congregation that Krol used to pastor, released a statement that was published by WAND News in which they expressed sorrow over the charge.

We are saddened to hear of the recent allegations made against Dr. Krol. We as a church take these allegations seriously and will cooperate with law enforcement in any investigation, stated Galilee Baptist Church leadership.

We are eager to minister to all involved in this situation and will be offering professional counseling services to the victim of the alleged incident. Dr. Krol has not been affiliated with Galilee Baptist Church since June 2021. We are praying for all involved.

A popular social media app for young people, Snapchat has garnered criticism from some for purportedly not doing enough to safeguard users from sexually exploitative content.

In 2018, the National Center on Sexual Exploitation put Snapchat on its Dirty Dozen List of mainstream entities that enable sexual exploitation.

Snapchat's business model facilitates sexual exploitation yielding hefty profits for the company without any regard for the associated harms, stated NCOSE at the time.

While Snapchat has made some minor improvements to allow Discover publishers to age-gate content, Snapchat still does not allow users to opt-out of sexually graphic content or to report Snapchat users that are sending sexually explicit photos and videos, or using their Snapchat app to promote or advertise pornography or prostitution.

For its 2021 list released in February, NCOSE removed Snapchat following some improvements on user safety, but kept them on a Watch List as they felt there remained some issues to be resolved.
Pa. school board leaves national association over 'domestic terrorism' claim against protesting parents

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A group representing school boards in Pennsylvania has ended its relationship with the National School Boards Association in response to the national group sending a letter to President Joe Biden equating harassment against school board members to "domestic terrorism."

The leadership of the Pennsylvania School Boards Association, an organization that has existed since 1895 and has approximately 4,500 school directors as members, recently voted unanimously to cut ties with the NSBA.

In a statement provided to The Christian Post via email on Tuesday, the PSBA explained that the group's connections with the NSBA have been "questioned numerous times over the past several years."

"The most recent national controversy surrounding a letter to President Biden suggesting that some parents should be considered domestic terrorists was the final straw," stated the PSBA.

"This misguided approach has made our work and that of many school boards more difficult. It has fomented more disputes and cast partisanship on our work on behalf of school directors, when we seek to find common ground and support all school directors in their work, no matter their politics."

The PSBA added that while it "abhors the fact that some boards have been met with threats and violence," the group believes that "attempting to solve the problems with a call for federal intervention is not the place to begin, nor a model for promoting greater civility and respect for the democratic process."

"From financial and pension issues to a never-ending disagreement on a governance model and definition of membership, the problems at NSBA have only become more and more entrenched despite recurring promises for action," continued the PSBA.

"We intend to continue to work closely with other state school boards associations and remain hopeful that following this period of substantial tumult for NSBA, we will find a new national organization ready and able to serve all its member states effectively."

In late September, the National School Boards Association sent a letter to Biden expressing concern over an apparent uptick in threats of bodily harm directed at school boards and school officials by parents and others.

In the letter, the NSBA leadership asked for "federal law enforcement and other assistance to deal with the growing number of threats of violence and acts of intimidation occurring across the nation."

"Local school board members want to hear from their communities on important issues and that must be at the forefront of good school board governance and promotion of free speech," explained NSBA President Viola Garcia and Interim Executive Director & CEO Chip Slaven.

"However, there also must be safeguards in place to protect public schools and dedicated education leaders as they do their jobs."

The national group specifically expressed concern over protests against face mask mandates for students and claims that critical race theory is being taught at the K-12 level.

"As these acts of malice, violence, and threats against public school officials have increased, the classification of these heinous actions could be the equivalent to a form of domestic terrorism and hate crimes," the NSBA letter reads.

Earlier this month, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland sent a memorandum to federal law enforcement agencies to discuss with various authorities "strategies for addressing threats against school administrators, board members, teachers, and staff."

Echoing the NSBA letter, Garland referenced a "disturbing spike in harassment, intimidation and threats of violence against school administrators, board members, teachers, and staff."

Critics, including Missouri's Republican Attorney General Eric Schmitt, denounced the DOJ memo as an effort to silence parents with genuine concerns about the operation of their local schools.

In a statement, Schmitt stated that he believes "Biden's Department of Justice is weaponizing its resources against parents who dare to advocate for their children."

Nicholas Tampio, associate professor of political science at Fordham University, criticized the Garland memorandum that claimed that there has been a "disturbing spike" in the harassment of school staff and a "rise in criminal conduct directed toward school personnel."

Tampio argued that "there is no evidence of a rise in the memorandum or references to where one could find evidence of it." He also called out the NSBA letter to Biden.

"If one reads the letter, one finds people clearly raising their voices, which is normal when people are discussing things that matter to them," he wrote. "When parents or community members cross the line into threats, local law enforcement has handled the situation. There is no quantitative data in the letter; instead, there are a bunch of disparate stories strung together to make it look like there is a pattern."

One of the stories cited in the NSBA letter is the arrest of Scott Smith during a Loudoun County School Board meeting in Virginia in June. Smith went to the board meeting to voice his displeasure with a proposed policy that would allow trans-identified students to use bathrooms consistent with their gender identity. Smith's 15-year-old daughter is alleged to have been sexually assaulted by a biological male in a girls' bathroom at school.

Smith was arrested during a confrontation with a left-wing activist who attended the meeting and tried to claim that Smith's story was not truthful and vowed to hurt his business by posting online.
Parents group slams response to sexual assaults in Loudoun County Schools: 'Nobody believes you'

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Parents groups in Loudoun County, Virginia, arent holding back their condemnation of the school board after one member resigned and the superintendent apologized for the districts handling of two sexual assault allegations against a trans-identified male student.

After initially denying that the first assault ever happened, LCPS Superintendent of Schools Scott Ziegler publicly apologized to the victims families on Friday, soon after one parent filed a lawsuit against the school district.

My heart aches for you and I am sorry that we failed to provide the safe, welcoming and affirming environment that we aspire to provide. We acknowledge and share in your pain and we will continue to offer support to help your families through this trauma, Ziegler said.

While defending the school district and claiming that staff followed proper procedures, Ziegler said changes needed to be made going forward. He vowed that in the future, We will exercise all options available under Title IX to separate alleged offenders from the general student body.

Ahead of Zieglers public statement, Loudoun County School Board member Beth Barts, who parents were seeking to recall, announced her resignation on Facebook. However, she didnt explicitly give a reason for her resignation, which will become effective on Nov. 2. Barts explained that while this was not an easy decision or a decision made in haste, she determined that it is the right decision for me and my family.

Last week, The Daily Wire published an investigative report detailing how a trans-identified male student sexually assaulted two girls at two different high schools in Loudoun County, both before and after the proposal and implementation of a transgender bathroom policy in the district that allows trans-identified boys to enter girls bathrooms and vice versa.

The first incident occurred at Stone Bridge High School on May 28, where Scott Smiths teenage daughter was raped and sodomized in a girls bathroom by a boy allegedly wearing a skirt.

Smith initially decided not to speak publicly about what happened to his daughter after being warned that she wouldnt get justice if he spoke out. He was also told that the trans-identified student was being monitored by an ankle bracelet and wasnt allowed on any school campus. Months later, he discovered that he had been lied to and the student was transferred to a different school in the district where he assaulted a second girl in an empty classroom.

The outcry from the public was swift and immediate.

Parents descended on the Loudoun County School Board meeting last week, demanding accountability from the board and Ziegler. In the wake of public backlash, the school district issued a statement on Oct. 13, asserting that it followed proper procedure for handling sexual assaults (internally) while failing to mention that the incidents involved a trans-identified male assaulting girls. Dispatch records from the Loudoun County Sheriffs Office, obtained by The Daily Wire, call the districts claims into question.

NEW: Statement from Loudoun County Public Schools on the two alleged assaults that it appears to have covered up. pic.twitter.com/sOb0OlIYVR  Mary Margaret Olohan (@MaryMargOlohan) October 13, 2021

While the district noted that principals are legally required to report to the local law enforcement agency any act, including sexual assault, that may constitute a felony offense under Virginia law and stated that the Loudoun County Sheriffs Office was contacted within minutes of receiving the initial report on May 28, dispatch records show that the law enforcement agency was not contacted until nearly an hour after the school resource officer learned of the matter.

Notes for one of the calls suggest that an upset parent, referring to Smith, was the impetus for the call to law enforcement, not the rape. Stone Bridge High School Principal Tim Flynn sent an email to families informing them that There was an incident in the main office area today that required the Loudoun County Sheriffs Office to dispatch deputies to Stone Bridge. The incident was confined to the main office and the entrance area to the school.

While he mentioned that something out of the ordinary happened at school today, he gave no indication that a sexual assault occurred. The email from Flynn as well as events that unfolded at a June 22 school board meeting where parents, including Smith, showed up to protest a proposed policy that would allow trans-identified students to enter opposite-sex bathrooms, led Smith, parent advocacy groups and parents of LCPS students to conclude that the district engaged in a cover-up.

Despite knowing that a girl had been raped in a bathroom, Ziegler told the public at that school board meeting that no sexual assaults had occurred in the districts bathrooms: To my knowledge, we dont have any records of assaults occurring in our restrooms.

Additionally, Ziegler dismissed concerns that trans-identified people can be sexual predators, claiming that such notions were a red herring. To support his argument, he cited Time magazine, which claimed that the predator transgender student or person simply does not exist.

On Friday, Ziegler admonished his earlier remarks at the June 22 meeting: I regret that my comments were misleading and I apologize for the distress they caused families.

Parent activist groups have said that Zieglers apology was not sufficient. The group Fight for Schools sent out a tweet Friday maintaining that Nobody believes you and demanded that Ziegler resign now.

In order to believe that no LCPS school board member knew about the assault, you would have to believe that this email was sent and that none of them asked any questions. @DrSZiegler@brendalsheridan@AtoosaReaser@DeniseCorbo Nobody believes you. Resign now. pic.twitter.com/8zH8ToJy8C  Fight For Schools (@fightforschools) October 15, 2021

Asra Normani of Parents Defending Education agreed, accusing Ziegler of trying to gaslight America in his remarks. She further noted that he and the board lied to parents, and insisted that they must all resign.

Supt Scott Ziegler must resign @LCPSOfficial. One hour before board member Beth Barts resigned, Ziegler tried to gaslight America. He and the board lied to parents and @biberajbb ran cover for them. They must all resign. https://t.co/lWZi7V6fn8  Asra Q. Nomani ????Mama Bear Domestic Terrorist ???? (@AsraNomani) October 15, 2021

Regarding Barts resignation, concerns about her behavior as a school board member predate the eruption over the districts handling of the sexual assaults at two of the countys high schools. Earlier this year, the school board voted to censure Barts and remove her from her committee assignments for violating the code of conduct by making inflammatory comments on social media and encouraging people to attack parents who disagreed with her views on critical race theory.

Before her resignation, Barts faced a recall effort for her social media comments expressing a desire to call out statements and actions that undermine our stated plan to combat systemic racism.

The comments, obtained by The Daily Wire and made in a private Facebook group called Anti-Racist Parents of Loudoun County, were followed by calls from other members to expose opponents of critical race theory. Members of the group formulated a list of parents opposed to critical race theory, which included the names, addresses and employers of said opponents. Barts later posted a message reading: Thank you for the response to my posting this morning.

Thank you for stepping up. Silence is complicity, she added. Her remarks were characterized as an endorsement of leaking the addresses of parents with children in the district without their consent, also known as doxing.

The resignation of Barts and Zieglers public remarks came after Smith filed a lawsuit against Loudoun County Schools. In a statement, Bill Stanley, the attorney representing Smith in the legal proceedings, elaborated on the lawsuits purpose: The conduct of Loudoun County Schools and the Loudoun School Board directly resulted in the brutal rape of the [Smiths] daughter at Stone Bridge High.

It only takes an instant to see how Loudoun County Schools have adversely affected this family, and have harmed their daughter. To date, no one with Loudoun County Schools or the School Board has been held accountable for the wrong done to the Smith family. Our firm intends to rectify that.

Additionally, Stanley expressed his intent to pursue any and all who seek to defame this wonderful family.

The sexual assaults of the two teenage girls in Loudoun County as well as the adoption of controversial curriculum in both Loudoun County and nearby Fairfax County have become significant issues in the upcoming Virginia gubernatorial election, set to take place in two weeks.

The RealClearPolitics average of polls taken since the beginning of October shows Democrat Terry McAuliffe, who has come under fire for asserting that I dont think parents should be telling schools what they should teach, leading his Republican opponent Glenn Youngkin by 2.2 percentage points.
Parents sue DOJ over memo urging FBI to investigate threats against school boards

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A group of parents has filed a lawsuit against U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland over his recent memorandum calling for greater federal involvement in investigating threats made against school boards and teachers.

The American Freedom Law Center, a conservative legal group, represents an unincorporated association of parents with children enrolled in a public school district in Saline, Michigan. The lawsuit was filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

The lawsuit argues that the Oct. 4 Garland memorandum calling on federal agencies to work with states on "strategies for addressing threats against school administrators, board members, teachers, and staff" is politically driven overreach aimed at silencing parents who express valid objections to certain ideas being in the curriculum.

"Contrary to the Attorney General's false assertion, there is no widespread criminality at school board meetings where parents and concerned citizens have expressed their opposition and outrage to the 'progressive' agenda being forced upon their children in the public schools," reads the lawsuit.

"Yet, the Attorney General considers these private citizens engaging in constitutionally protected activity to be domestic terrorists. Accordingly, the Attorney General labels these private citizens, which includes Plaintiffs, as domestic terrorists."

While the attorney general himself did not explicitly liken concerned parents and community members to domestic terrorists, a Sept. 29 letter from the National School Boards Association compared threats and harassment against school board members to "domestic terrorism."

Garland issued his memo five days after the NSBA sent a letter to President Joe Biden urging the federal government to classify "acts of malice, violence, and threats against public school officials" as "a form of domestic terrorism."

AFLC Co-Founder and Senior Counsel David Yerushalmi said in a statement released Tuesday that he believes the Biden administration "seek[s] a future in which free speech means 'social justice' speech and any and all opposition is criminalized 'hate speech' or 'domestic terrorism.'"

"This is a battle for not just the heart and soul of this country, but its very existence," added Yerushalmi. "AFLC stands strong and tall and will defend our Constitution at every turn."

In his memo, Garland said that there was a "disturbing spike in harassment, intimidation and threats of violence against school administrators, board members, teachers, and staff."

"While spirited debate about policy matters is protected under our Constitution, that protection does not extend to threats of violence or efforts to intimidate individuals based on their views," stated Garland.

"Those who dedicate their time and energy to ensuring that our children receive a proper education in a safe environment deserve to be able to do their work without fear for their safety."

Garland's vow to take action against "efforts to intimidate individuals based on their views" comes as parents and community members have repeatedly confronted school boards in recent months over sexually explicit material available in school libraries or material included in school curriculums.

The mayor of Hudson, Ohio, called on the city's school board to resign or face criminal charges for allowing a book featuring sexually explicit writing prompts to be included in a college-level English class offered at the district's high school.

In Fairfax County, Virginia, an outraged mother read books available in the district's high school libraries that she characterized as promoting pedophilia to the school board at a meeting. She also presented the graphic images featured in the book.
Pat Robertson says God is not a Republican,' discusses the 'trouble' with 'partisan politics'

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Notable televangelist Pat Robertson, who is known for mobilizing conservative Christians to vote, said during a Fox News interview Sunday that "God is not a Republican."

On the Oct. 17 episode of "Fox News Sunday," host Chris Wallace featured Robertson on the "Power Player of the Week" segment, which included an overview of the 91-year-old's public career mixed with recent interview comments.

The feature comes just weeks after Robertson announced that he is retiring from hosting the Christian Broadcasting Network daily talk show "The 700 Club," a program he started in 1966.

Regarding Robertson's history of rallying conservative Christians to vote for Republican candidates, Wallace asked if there were any downsides to tying evangelical Christianity to the GOP.

Roberston, who ran for the Republican nomination for president in 1988, also founded the Christian Coalition, a lobbying organization that sought to mobilize the Christian vote and distributed voting guides to churches.

"Well, I became to realize without question that God is not a Republican, that God loves everybody," Robertson said.

"The trouble with, you know, getting involved in partisan politics is that half the electorate you're going to make mad at you. And I should be dealing with eternal matters and not secular politics."

Robertson admitted that one of his biggest accomplishments in life was mobilizing Christians "into the political arena."

"It was thought before those politics was something dirty," he said. "We had enormous amount of influence and I think it was important."

Robertson founded the Christian Broadcasting Network in 1960, funded by small donations. In 1966, "The 700 Club" daily news magazine program was launched. The show has become one of the longest-running shows on television in the U.S.

Wallace asked Robertson why he decided to change programming from more formal sermons and revival meetings to a talk-show format.

"People would call in and the things that were going on in their life, people would call in prayer and they would call in answers," Roberston said. "And the interactive format is what we've been using ever since."

Wallace also asked Robertson about some of his past controversial remarks, specifically the televangelist's history of blaming natural disasters on immorality.

"I did say that we had the power to speak to those storms and tell them to go away, like Jesus commanded the waves to cease," he said. "And we commanded them in His name and  and they went away."

Earlier this month, Robertson announced that he is stepping down from hosting the program after decades of serving in that role.

He plans to continue making periodic appearances on the "The 700 Club" and teach at Regent University in Virginia Beach, Virginia, a school he helped to found.

"His legacy and the example of his prayer life will continue to lead The 700 Club in the years to come," stated his son, Gordon Robertson, who is tapped to be the show's new host.

"And the best part is, he is just going across the street to Regent University and will be on The 700 Club regularly in the future."

Robertson's long tenure as host was often marked by controversy surrounding comments either he or guests of the program made on various hot-button political and religious issues.

Shortly after the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001, for example, Robertson interviewed the Rev. Jerry Falwell on the program. Falwell placed some blame for the tragedy on the U.S.' acceptance of homosexuality and liberal activists. Robertson simply replied: "I totally concur."

Right after the broadcast, Robertson released a statement clarifying that he held "no one other than the terrorists and the people and nations who have enabled and harbored them responsible for [the] attacks on this nation."
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When the phone rang, it was every father's worst nightmare. Come to campus, a school official said, your daughter has been assaulted. No one told Scott Smith that she had been sexually assaulted  that a boy wearing a skirt had walked into the girls' restroom and raped his 15-year-old child. Then, imagine your anger as a parent to find out that the school wasn't going to involve the police  that they'd decided to handle the matter (which ended up being two counts of forcible sodomy, one count of anal sodomy, and one count of forcible fellatio) "internally."

For Scott Smith, it was unimaginable. Standing in the Stone Bridge High School office, blind with rage, he demanded they call the police. They finally did  on him. "I went nuts," he remembers. " ... Six cop cars showed up like a ... SWAT team." Later that night, after a hospital rape kit confirmed what his daughter had insisted all along, the school's principal sent out an email explaining the incident with Scott  never mentioning what had happened to his daughter and where. Even when the attacker was formally charged, administrators kept quiet.

A month later, at a local school board meeting, Smith  like a lot of parents  sat in shock as the new superintendent responded to the fury over Loudoun County's radical transgender policies by insisting that nothing harmful had ever come of them. "To my knowledge," Scott Ziegler said, "we don't have any record of assaults occurring in our restrooms. It's important to keep our perspective on this," he went on. "We've heard it several times tonight from our public speakers, but the predator transgender student or person simply does not exist." Smith was irate and tried to debate the point but was hauled out of the meeting by officers and charged with disorderly conduct. "I don't care if he's homosexual, heterosexual, bisexual, transsexual. He's a sexual predator," he argued.

Afterward, Smith and his family tried to stay out of the public eye. That proved impossible last week when another bombshell dropped. Not only did the "predator transgender student" exist, he went on to attack again  this time at another school. Two and a half miles from the place where his daughter had been held and violated, a different girl was brutally victimized. "If someone would have sat and listened for 30 seconds to what Scott had to say," the family attorney said, it could have been prevented. Instead, Loudoun County, whose extreme policies made the abuse possible, tried to cover up the rape  leaving thousands of daughters vulnerable to boys just like this one.

Scott Smith says it's the most helpless he's ever felt. "It has been so hard to keep my mouth shut and wait this out. It has been the most powerless thing I've ever been through," he admitted. Other parents, aghast at the district's negligence, have turned out in mass to blast the county leadership. "I'd rather save one girl from sexual assault than be politically correct," one woman insisted.

Meanwhile, the Biden administration  sensing the national uprising is only growing  has decided to try to drive parents like Scott underground. Desperate to contain the uproar in local districts, the DOJ (egged on or in concert with the National School Board Association) is threatening to treat outspoken citizens like "domestic terrorists," citing the arrest of Scott Smith for speaking out against the assault of his daughter as an example in their six-page letter.

Outraged, 60 members of Congress pushed back, demanding an explanation from Attorney General Merrick Garland for how it could possibly be legal to treat concerned parents as criminals for exercising their constitutional rights. "While some of these meetings may get heated, most of the parents who have been attending these meetings have simply voiced their passions and concerns for their children and their futures," they wrote. "While we agree with you that any threat of violence against these government officials should be condemned and investigated, no government official has the right to claim that a citizen may not speak out against government policies." And yet, the NSBA in a letter to Garland, claims to oppose the president's wildly dangerous transgender agenda is tantamount to a public "hate crime."

Politically diverse states like Louisiana and Virginia were horrified and publicly denounced the organization for "discouraging active participation in the governance process." Separately, both chapters said they weren't consulted about the letter to the DOJ and went out of their way to say the National School Board Association did not speak for them. Others have told news outlets that they're even reconsidering their alignment with the national association. The debates taking place may be challenging, they agree, but they're also necessary.

On what authority, Rep. Matt Rosendale (R-Mont.) asked, is the federal government even intervening in the first place? They don't have supervision over local school boards  and yet, the "Department of Justice is [going] into the local school districts to basically intimidate parents from getting involved in what their children are going to be taught? It's very disturbing and troubling to me." As it is to all parents, who are starting to see Washington's heavy-handed education policy infused in their districts from the top down. When did it become the FBI's job to investigate parents for speaking up at local board meetings, they want to know? It didn't. This is just a desperate move by the Left to intimidate parents into silence so they can continue the indoctrination of children.

"From where I sit," Rosendale said on Monday's "Washington Watch," "what this looks like is just another tactic of the Biden administration to completely silence those who might question what they're trying to do. And I don't think that there is a more important obligation for parents than to make sure that they are involved in how their children are being educated and what they're being taught."

So what can people do? Well, for starters, you can get your local school board on the record about whether they agree with the National School Board Association's claims. (FRC Action even has a sample letter you can use.) Then, ask whether your state or community is a member of the NSBA. Is your district paying dues to the National School Board Association? Because if you are, you're facilitating this type of attack on parents.

Maybe you don't have children in public schools, so you think this call to action doesn't apply to you. But let's face it: every one of us is a taxpayer, and organizations as radical as the NSBA shouldn't have the ability to fight parents using our own dollars. Beyond that, this is an opportunity to hold the people we elected to represent us accountable. These school boards don't just serve the families who have kids in school  they serve the entire community. So every one of us can  and should  show up to these meetings and demand the truth about what's happening behind classroom doors.

Because, as Scott Smith will tell you, it might not spare his daughter  but it could spare someone else's.

Originally published at the Family Research Council.
Police name suspect in David Amess murder as 25-year-old man on terror watch list

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Police have identified the suspect in the brutal murder of Conservative British MP Sir. David Amess as a 25-year-old self-radicalized man, Ali Harbi Ali, the son of a former prime ministerial adviser in Somalia.

Im feeling very traumatized. Its not something that I expected or even dreamt of, the suspects father, Harbi Ali Kullane, said at his sisters home in north London, The U.K. Times reported, adding that officers believe the suspect was a lone operative and known to counterterrorism police.

Anti-terrorist police from Scotland Yard had visited the suspect, who was likely radicalized online during lockdown, and referred him to Prevent, the governments deradicalization program, the newspaper said, citing anonymous sources.

The program is for those who have displayed potentially disturbing behavior, such as writing inflammatory posts on social media. The suspect, however, was not being monitored by British intelligence, which is otherwise keeping an eye on more than 3,000 people who could potentially plan a terror attack.

Security services in the U.K. fear that COVID-19-related restrictions might have contributed to many vulnerable people being radicalized online as they remained within their homes.

After stabbing Amess 17 times, the suspect sat down next to his body, waiting for the police to arrive, The Telegraph reported.

Detained under the U.K.s terrorism laws, the suspect will remain in police custody until Friday.

Amess, who was married with five children and was known for his socially conservative viewpoints and pro-life stance against abortion, attended a public meeting for his "constituency surgery" at Belfairs Methodist Church in Leigh-on-Sea when the attack occurred.

In the U.K., constituency surgeries are face-to-face meetings that officeholders have with their constituents.

The suspect supposedly booked a slot a week in advance after the lawmaker announced the event on Twitter and on his website.

Southends Muslim community has condemned the murder as an indefensible atrocity.

The Essex Jamme Masjid (mosque) said in a statement that all Southend mosques are praying for the victim's family.

Sir Davids murder was an indefensible atrocity, committed on the grounds of a place of worship and we condemn it in the strongest possible terms, the statement read. This act was committed in the name of blind hatred, and we look forward to the perpetrator being brought to justice.

Local Muslim faith leaders remembered Amess as upstanding friend to our Muslim community.

John Lamb, chairman of the Southend Conservative Association, was quoted as saying that Amess' family had recently celebrated the wedding of one of his daughters, Alexandra, and were preparing for the wedding of another.

He was a family man, its just tremendously sad. They cant believe that Sir. Davids gone, the wife cant believe that her husband has gone and that it happened at a place he loved being. He will never go home again. Thats the disbelief.

Cardinal Vincent Nichols said after Amess' murder that he was "shocked and saddened," Crux Now reported.

"This death throws a sharp light onto the fact that our Members of Parliament are servants of the people, available to people in their need, especially in their constituencies," he said. "This horrific attack, as David was undertaking his constituency surgery, is an attack on our democratic process and traditions."

The cardinal added that the lawmaker "carried out his vocation as a Catholic in public life with generosity and integrity," and pointed out that he was "respected by all political parties across the House."

Archbishop Justin Welby also issued a statement, saying he was "truly devastated."
2 Georgia churches leave United Methodist Church over LGBT stance, announce merger

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Two congregations in Georgia have left the United Methodist Church over the denominations opposition to homosexuality and merged into one church.

Asbury Memorial Church and Wesley Oak Church, both based in Savannah, recently voted to disaffiliate from the UMC South Georgia Conference.

Asbury, which averaged 287 attendees in weekly worship in 2019, finalized its process of disaffiliation last fall. Meanwhile, Wesley Oak, which averaged 29 attendees, finalized disaffiliation earlier this month.

Asbury Memorial Pastor Rev. William Hester told The Christian Post on Monday that the decision to leave came soon after the 2019 special session of the UMC General Conference.

Delegates at the special session voted to reaffirm the theologically conservative stance of the UMC regarding homosexuality, rejecting a compromise proposal that would have allowed more regional variance.

Hester explained to CP that "it became clear after this event that the denomination was not heading in the direction we had hoped."

"Since we disaffiliated last year, Asbury Memorial is a nondenominational, independent church continuing to be rooted in Wesleyan theology," said Hester.

Regarding the merger with Wesley Oak, Hester noted that the two churches have a long history of fellowship and agreed to combine their ministries once Wesley Oak left the UMC.

"When both congregations felt called to disaffiliate, we both recognized that our ministries would be more effective if we combined our efforts and resources," the pastor said.

At present, Asbury Memorial and Wesley Oak retain their respective church properties, though each church holds Sunday morning worship at a different time.

The Rev. David Thompson, the conference's coastal district superintendent, told CP that he was part of conversations between the regional body and the two departing congregations.

We are never happy to see local churches depart from our fellowship, but understand their desire to do so and pray for their future ministry, Thompson said. He described the process as being gracious in nature.

Even though changes in church status and connection can occur, we are still bound together in the body of Christ, and I am thankful for the ministry Asbury Memorial and Wesley Oak have done and will do in the name of Christ.

For decades, the UMC has debated its stance on LGBT issues, as the mainline Protestant denomination officially labels homosexuality incompatible with Christian teaching, bars non-celibate homosexuals from being ordained and prohibits the blessing of same-sex marriages.

After failed efforts to reach a compromise between theological liberals and conservatives within the UMC, many congregations have decided to leave the denomination.

These include conservative churches who dislike the open defiance to UMC rules by many liberal leaders and progressive churches who do not believe the denomination will ever change its official position.

Next year, the UMC will hold a general conference, which many believe will see the approval a measure to allow conservative churches to amicably separate from the denomination.
7 pastors arrested in India on false charges of forced conversions

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Authorities in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh arrested seven pastors at a prayer meeting under the states anti-conversion law, which Christians have accused Hindu nationalists of using as a tool to persecute them.

The pastors were arrested during a prayer meeting they were holding in Mau district last Sunday, UCA News reported, adding that the pastors have been charged with illegal assembly.

The U.S.-based persecution watchdog International Christian Concern said this past weekend that the Christians remained in jail.

We will move bail applications and are hopeful that they will be out of jail soon, the pastors lawyer, Ashish Kumar, was quoted as saying.

The police initially also detained 50 worshipers but released them the same day. Two Catholic nuns who were at a bus stop near the prayer house were also held at the police station for several hours until the evening, said UCA News.

Police wanted to book the sisters along with the pastors but let them go after the pastors and the faithful said they were not part of the prayer group, Father Anand Mathew, a member of the Indian Missionary Society, was quoted as saying.

Uttar Pradesh is one of the several Indian states that have anti-conversion laws, which presume that Christians force or give financial benefits to Hindus to convert them to Christianity.

While some of these laws have been in place for decades in some states, no Christian has been convicted of forcibly converting anyone to Christianity. These laws, however, allow Hindu nationalist groups to make false charges against Christians and launch attacks on them under the pretext of the alleged forced conversion.

The law states that no one is allowed to use the threat of divine displeasure, meaning Christians cannot talk about Heaven or Hell, as that would be seen as forcing someone to convert. And if snacks or meals are served to Hindus after an evangelistic meeting, that could be seen as an inducement.

The ICC previously noted that Indias population data proves that the conspiracy of mass conversions to Christianity is a false claim. In 1951, the first census after independence, Christians made up only 2.3% of Indias overall population. According to the 2011 census, the most recent census data available, Christians still only make up 2.3% of the population.

India ranks as the 10th worst country globally when it comes to Christian persecution, according to Open Doors USAs 2021 World Watch List. The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom has urged the U.S. State Department to label India as a country of particular concern for engaging in or tolerating severe religious freedom violations.

Open Doors USA warns that since the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party took power in 2014, persecution against Christians and other religious minorities has increased.

The group reports that Hindu radicals often attack Christians with little to no consequences.

Hindu extremists believe that all Indians should be Hindus and that the country should be rid of Christianity and Islam, an Open Doors fact sheet on India explains. They use extensive violence to achieve this goal, particularly targeting Christians from a Hindu background. Christians are accused of following a foreign faith and blamed for bad luck in their communities.
Over 360 CofE churches at risk of being closed by 2026, church preservation group warns

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Over 350 Church of England churches are at risk of being closed or demolished within the next five years, the church preservation charity Friends of Friendless Churches has warned.

Based on a report released by the Church Commissioners in July, the FCC estimates that between 131 and 368 churches, including Grade I and Grade II historic buildings, could be sold or torn down due in part to the loss of tithes and donations while churches were forced to remain closed because of the government's response to COVID-19.

"A significant strategic concern for the Church ... as a result of COVID-19 is that the pandemic will have a negative impact on the infrastructure that keeps churches open ... If many churches do not or cannot sustainably re-open, then more closures might be needed sooner rather than later," the report released by the Church Commissioners, the body that administers the CofEs property, states in part.

While the CofE said the estimate of 368 church closures is high and a worst-case scenario, the startling figure is based on a survey that asked dioceses to give an estimate of the number of closures they're expecting to initiate over the next two to five years.

Twelve dioceses responded that each was "planning a light number of closures" of up to five; nine estimated between six and 12 closures, nine were planning between six and 12 closures, and five were planning up to 40.

Among these, it added: "Four dioceses in our survey were thinking about shutting 152 churches over the medium term (five years), which would represent a significant increase on recent trends."

This rate of CofE church closures "would be up to eight times faster than before the pandemic," The U.K. Times reported.

The Church of England has an estimated 16,000 churches, a significant drop from its height of 18,666 in 1941, according to the report. The authors blamed the downward trend on a "strong cultural shift away from the Anglican faith" and fewer people attending its worship services. Others might contend that it's also a reflection of the secularization of the population and Christians leaving the CofE for Catholic or evangelical churches.

During the 1990s, church closure remained consistent at between 20 to 25 per year, either because village congregations were considered to be too small or were no longer able to maintain the expense of ongoing maintenance.

Between 1969 and 2021 the CofE let go of 2,013 churches, the report said. This was done by giving the buildings to other denominations or selling them to be turned into housing, shops, offices or community centers. Over 500 of those churches were demolished, however.

Earlier this year, the CofE's 42 diocesan bishops were accused of living opulent lifestyles financed by the denomination while leaving village churches and their parishioners to flounder.

The spate of church closures has affected numerous churches among all denominations in England. According to The Gatestone Institute, from 2001-2017, as many as 500 churches in London had been closed and turned into private homes.

Statistics from the NatCen Social Research Institute showed that between 2012 and 2014, the number of Britons who identified as Anglicans fell from 21% to 17% of the population, representing a decrease of 1.7 million people. Data from British Social Attitudes surveys also showed that those who identified as religiously unaffiliated in England and Wales outnumbered Christians.

Among the concerns that parishioners and church preservation organizations have raised is that local residents would no longer be consulted before a diocese closes a church.

Parish churches are public buildings, originally built and endowed locally and all members of the parish, whether practicing Anglicans or not, are entitled to be heard and considered properly. But the Commissioners propose to reduce the rights of the public in this instance, FCC said in a Twitter thread.

The church preservation charity added: "Historic churches are the essence of placemaking. It should not be fast or easy to close a place of worship. Their futures should be assessed by people with appropriate expertise and there should be a reasonable opportunity for the whole community to contribute its views. There also seems to be a failure to appreciate the relationship the Church has with the State, esp. in terms of public money it has received to repair its buildings; and the 70% State funding of the CCT to protect historic churches for the benefit of the nation."

In response to concerns, the Church Commissioners added: "To the Church community, church closure and re-use is often seen as a failure, which is partly why more are not closed, ... Closure can be traumatic for a community, but in the language of public policy it is a transition, rather than a death."
Critics fear Biden plan to extend public education by 4 years could be 'developmentally damaging' Biden plan would add 2 years of preschool, 2 years of community college

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President Joe Biden announced his Build Back Better plan, which would guarantee four additional years of free public education, fulfilling his campaigns platform to begin investing in American children from birth.

However, conservatives fear the initiative promotes more government control while overstepping the role of the family.

The plan extends two years of "universal, high quality" preschool for children as young as 3 and two years of free community college.

The fact is 12 years of education is no longer enough to compete in the 21st Century, Biden tweeted.

Thats why my Build Back Better Agenda will guarantee four additional years of public education for every person in America  two years of pre-school and two years of free community college.

The fact is 12 years of education is no longer enough to compete in the 21st Century.



Thats why my Build Back Better Agenda will guarantee four additional years of public education for every person in America  two years of pre-school and two years of free community college.  President Biden (@POTUS) July 7, 2021

Many conservatives fear the plan would expand the federal governments influence and involvement in public school education while undermining the family's influence.

Rebecca Friedrichs, former public school teacher and founder of For Kids and Country, an organization seeking to restore the education system to the excellence, morality and patriotism intended by the Founding Fathers, sent an email statement to The Christian Post comparing Bidens Build Back Better education plan to socialism.

"The Biden-Harris administration's 'Build Back Better' plan is a pleasant-sounding cover for their socialist agenda for our children, Friedrichs wrote.

Guaranteeing two years of 'universal, high-quality' free preschool and two years of free community college equates to four more years of indoctrination, a scheme to promote more government control over our children's lives while undercutting the family structure, she continued. 'Free' education is nothing more than a power grab to get more families dependent on the government."

Friedrichs was the lead plaintiff in a 2016 Supreme Court case, Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, seeking to free public sector employees from paying annual union dues.

Max Eden, a research fellow who focuses on education reform at the nonpartisan think tank often associated with conservativism American Enterprise Institute believes this program could do more harm than good.

"The Biden administration is seeking to turn Americas K-12 [public] education system into a standardized pre-K-14 system," Eden wrote to CP.

"At the higher education level, the investment is somewhat redundant as community college is already largely free for low income students," he continued. "For the earlier years, though, this proposal runs a very serious risk of building out a public pre-k system that could, in balance, prove more developmentally damaging than supportive."

Biden campaigned on the Build Back Better platform, seeking to reimagine and rebuild the American economy. One of the policies areas of the plan focuses on education.

First lady Jill Biden worked in education for over 30 years, making education essential to the Biden policy agenda.

In order to maintain our competitiveness, our current system of kindergarten through 12th grade education is essential but no longer sufficient, Bidens education platform states.

"Roughly 6 out of 10 jobs in the United States require education beyond a high school diploma. And, too many parents dont have access to the resources and support they need to support and ensure their children are developing healthily."

The Biden campaigns education platform also promises to build an education system that begins investing in our children at birth to help all students receive "some education past a diploma.

The campaign promised that as president, Biden would work with states to offer high-quality, universal pre-kindergarten for all three- and four-year-olds.

This investment will ease the burden on our families, help close the achievement gap, promote the labor participation of parents who want to work, and lift our critical early childhood education workforce out of poverty, the platform states.

In 2019, then-Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., proposed a bill that would extend the school day at hundreds of schools to 10 hours a day, keeping children in school until 6 p.m. to help parents with childcare.

Called the Family Friendly Schools Act, the bill's goal was to align the school day with the work day."

About 44 states already offer some form of public preschool, but their policies vary, according to the National Institute for Early Education Research at Rutgers University. Six states do not offer state funding for preschool.

Biden's plan seeks to provide prekindergarten to all 3 and 4-year-olds. Under the proposal, the federal government will provide states with funding to create programs that expand the pre-K offerings, according to The Wall Street Journal. Additionally, states would have to put up some of their own funding and meet standards.

Among critics of the plan are Republican politicians, including Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey. A spokeswoman for Ivey told the newspaper that the governor opposes the universal pre-K proposal, calling it "a top-down approach [that] would simply not be beneficial to us.

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, warned that the proposal sounds like an attempt to "hijack the state and local governments entirely and operate everything out of Washington, D.C."

"I would be very skeptical of that," he said, according to WSJ.

Democrat politicians, on the other hand, are more supportive of the proposal.

This [is an] issue that families and employers alike are clamoring for additional support on, and so I do suspect that we would be able to find common ground, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said, according to WSJ. And I can tell you I would be motivated to lead those efforts.

The U.S. public education system has been the subject of a lot of contention lately due to parents standing up to critical race theory and sex education being taught in classrooms in various localities and states. Parents and teachers have also objected to the push to affirm transgender identities in some school districts.
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?
Kamala Harris, Terry McAuliffe criticized for campaign ads targeting Virginia churches

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A progressive church-state watchdog group has expressed concerns over a political campaign video featuring Vice President Kamala Harris slated for viewing at around 300 predominantly African American churches in Virginia.

CNN reported Saturday that over 300 African American churches would watch a video message of Harris endorsing Democratic gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe during worship services beginning this Sunday through the Nov. 2 election day.

McAuliffe, who previously served as governor of Virginia from 2014 to 2018, is in a tight race against Republican businessman and Richmond native Glenn Youngkin. The RealClearPolitics average of polls taken since the beginning of October shows McAuliffe leading Youngkin by 2.2 percentage points.

"I believe that my friend Terry McAuliffe is the leader Virginia needs at this moment," says Harris in the video, as reported by CNN. Additionally, she praised McAuliffe's "long track record of getting things done for the people of Virginia."

Harris' remarks did not sit well with Rob Boston of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, a secular advocacy organization that advocates for a strict separation of church and state.

In an interview with The Christian Post, Boston said that elected official campaigning for a political candidate during a worship service is at odds with the Johnson Amendment, a U.S. tax code rule that bars nonprofit entities and churches from endorsing political candidates.

"The Johnson Amendment protects the integrity of tax-exempt nonprofit groups, including houses of worship, by ensuring they don't endorse or oppose candidates for public office. No one wants their charities and houses of worship to be torn apart by partisan campaign politics," explained Boston.

"Playing a video during services that urges people to vote for a specific candidate would raise concerns about violating the Johnson Amendment."

Boston also told CP that "houses of worship and other nonprofits are not allowed to intervene in partisan elections."

"It doesn't matter if they're doing it on behalf of Democrats or Republicans," he said.

While Boston believes that endorsement videos in churches violate the Johnson Amendment, he explained that the Internal Revenue Service "has not been particularly vigilant in enforcing it in recent years."

"Yet, the Johnson Amendment serves a vital function. It protects all nonprofits, including houses of worship, all taxpayers and our election system," he added.

Legal scholar Jonathan Turley accused Democrats of hypocrisy regarding the Johnson Amendment in an entry to his website.

"Trump's desire to get the vote out through evangelical churches was widely denounced as an attack on the separation of Church and State," wrote Turley.

"That was before McAuliffe ran into trouble in what was viewed as a reliably blue state that Biden won by a wide margin. Now the same media and legal figures are silent."

Passed in 1954 and named after then-Senator Lyndon B. Johnson, the Johnson Amendment has garnered controversy in recent years by those who believe it curbs the rights of nonprofits.

In May 2017, then-President Donald Trump signed an executive order that called for the federal government to stop enforcing the Johnson Amendment due to religious freedom concerns.

"In particular, the Secretary of the Treasury shall ensure, to the extent permitted by law, that the Department of the Treasury does not take any adverse action against any individual, house of worship, or other religious organization on the basis that such individual or organization speaks or has spoken about moral or political issues from a religious perspective," stated the executive order.

During the 2016 presidential election, then-Republican vice presidential hopeful Mike Pence had a video sent to thousands of churches encouraging the faithful to vote for Trump.

"President Donald Trump will appoint justices to the Supreme Court who will uphold our Constitution and the rights of the unborn," said Pence in the 2016 video.

"Donald Trump will also sign into law legislation that will free up the voices of faith all across this country by repealing what's come to be known as the Johnson Amendment."
Reformed Church in America creates task force to develop restructuring plan amid LGBT debate

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The Reformed Church in America, one of the oldest denominations in the United States, will create a team aimed at working on a possible restructuring plan for the denomination to end its debates related to LGBT ordination and same-sex marriages as churches are expected to depart.

The RCA General Synod voted on Saturday afternoon to create the task force that will consider proposals to move the approximately 186,000-member denomination forward.

RCA spokeswoman Christina Tazelaar told The Christian Post that the proposal came because the denomination is "deeply divided around sexuality, interpretation of Scripture and governance."

These issues led to the creation of the "Vision 2020 Team" in 2018, which performed "extensive research and discernment over the last three years."

"That team recommended a restructure because it anticipates a significant departure of churches as a result of this division," Tazelaar explained. "The team felt a restructure would help the denomination thrive in the future and be better poised to handle conflict differently."

With the task force approved, the next step will involve the General Synod Council  the executive board for RCA  appointing members within the next couple of months.

Tazelaar told CP that the team will "be representative of the diversity in the RCA" and "will include several executive RCA staff members and representatives from around the RCA."

Recommendations for restructuring the RCA are expected to be submitted and put to a vote by the General Synod in June of 2024.

Still, there is hope for the future of the denomination. Tazelaar provided CP with a quote from a report to the synod by RCA General Secretary Eddy Aleman given last Thursday.

"God is inviting us to create a new future for the Reformed Church in America; a future full of hope and great potential," stated Aleman.

"A future focused on what's really important. God is doing something new among us and is allowing this disruptive moment to do something new among us."

In a report from July, the Vision 2020 Team recommended a "restructuring" of the RCA. At the time, the team said its members believed that the debate over sexual ethics was only the most recent example of a broader trend of division within the denomination.

"There have been numerous points, especially in the last 70 years, where the RCA has been at an impasse. Points of disagreement and tension have included differences of views on things like ecumenical partnerships, social justice/political involvement, merging with another denomination, communism, internal restructuring," the report stated.

"This means we currently face something we have previously weathered, but it also means that we are likely to be here again if we do not find a way to handle conflict differently."

The Vision 2020 Team recommended creating a new mission agency to house the denomination's global missions work. The team also encouraged the RCA to create "a generous exit path for those churches which decide to leave and by inviting those churches to also act generously."

"Given that we are entering a period when there will likely be more petitions being put forth than has been typical, we believe it is the right time to provide more guidance for this process so that generosity is prescribed rather than simply permitted," explained the report.

While the newly approved restructuring team will consider the report from the Vision 2020 Team, it is not required to follow the report's guidance.
The Gospel includes politics and economics

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When I look at the comments section here, in the channel of The Christian Post that focuses on business, finance and economics, I note that often, instead of attempting to apply the Bible to these topics, commenters deny that Christianity has anything to say about them at all. Or they deny that Christians should apply their faith in the broader culture. Or sometimes they even deny that a Christian publication should publish any content about culture, politics, economics or finance at all, but should rather stick to "the Gospel."

For example, look at this fascinating article by Bible scholar, Mark Horne, who has written important commentaries on the Gospel of Mark and more recently on the Book of Proverbs. Pastor Horne argues that as Christians engage with our nation, we should heed Solomon's warnings about the tendency for anger to be counterproductive. We should not fight political tyranny with anger, because anger itself is a kind of tyranny. This analysis is fascinating in a good way, but what is fascinating in a not-good way is how much of the comments section is filled by people who simply deny that Christians should have any political goals. This world-flight cultural surrender is quite common and it is one of the reasons our culture is declining so rapidly.

This idea that Christians should be interested in something they call "the Gospel" - and not politics - shows a highly truncated concept of what the word "Gospel" means. A gospel, an euangelion (the Greek word in the New Testament translated as "Gospel" or "good news"), is the announcement of a new emperor. In the pagan context in which the New Testament was written, it would have referred to the announcement that a new Caesar has ascended to power. In the Jewish context in which the New Testament was written, it referred to the coming of the Messiah, who was both a religious and political figure, particularly as prophesied in Isaiah. The word translated as Gospel has clear political implications within its semantic range, and the fact that the English word we use to translate it no longer carries those implications is so much the worse for our understanding of the Bible.

I'm increasingly seeing conservative ministers play down or deny any political or cultural content in the Gospel. A friend who is a conservative Christian journalist recently tweeted out a reference to something that Pastor Alistair Begg has said:

"The gospel was not preached in order that the culture of Ephesus might be changed. The gospel was not preached so that the temple of Diana would be pulled down. The gospel was not preached so that Christian people could have a kind of better lifestyle for themselves as a result of the benefits of the gospel message spilling out into the culture. No, the gospel was preached for no other reason than that men and women might be saved." TruthForLife

While I admire Pastor Begg a great deal, I think this statement involves a false dichotomy. Is not bondage to false gods like Diana one of the things we are saved from? After all, Paul says they are truly demons. The pagan religion of Diana was economically oppressive, which is why idol makers were a major force behind the pagan riots against Paul. Is that not one of the things we are saved frombondage to exploitative superstitions?

When I responded to this journalist, suggesting that this Gospel vs. Culture approach is a false dichotomy, one of her followers weighed in on her side, writing, "In 1 Cor 15:1ff, Paul lists out what is most important (his words) he then defines the gospel he preached, nowhere is cultural transformation mentioned or even hinted."

But it seems to me that the whole passage is rife with cultural transformation, culminating in,

"For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be abolished is death. For He has put all things in subjection under His feet" 1 Corinthians 15:25-27

It doesn't list cultural transformation as a separate category because it is in the "all things in subjection under His feet."

John says that "The son of God appeared for this purpose, that He might destroy the works of the devil." (1 John 3:8) Are not pornography, abortion, debauchery, Communism, Fascism, etc. among the works of the devil? If so, then preaching the Gospel of the Son directly confronts those evils, and changing them is part of that preaching. Culture is one of the things either clean or defiled which comes out of the heart (Mark 7:14 and following.)

The Fruit of the Spirit, the Beatitudes, the Decalogue, all of that is cultural transformation. As Tom Wright, who knows a thing or two about Greek grammar, keeps saying: If Jesus is Lord, then Caesar is not.

The irony is that these people who deny the cultural mandate are highly engaged in politics. The two Twitter people I mentioned are almost constantly tweeting about politics... attacks on never-Trumpers, attacks on mask and vaccine mandates, attacks on President Biden, it's almost all politics for them. But it is a certain very specific kind of populist conservatism, not the whole counsel of God.

What I'm increasingly seeing among a large segment of conservative Christians is simultaneously a denial of any political content to the Bible in sync with greater and greater political obsession. What that amounts to is that we remove the Gospel's influence from our politics at the moment when we are most politically engaged.

Remember that interview that Jerry Falwell Jr. did (Jerry Falwell Jr.: 'I do believe Trump is a Christian' - CNN Video) in which he denied that the Bible should inform politics? He said that if we apply the bible to politics, we're liable to support the welfare state and unlimited immigration... so let's leave the Bible out of it. I remember watching Tucker Carlson on Fox News a few years ago responding to someone who quoted the Bible about the compassionate treatment of immigrants, and he waved the quote away, saying, "We're not a theocracy."

Now, I don't think allowing the Bible to govern our politics necessarily or even probably leads to unlimited immigration or a welfare state, but if it did, then we should have unlimited immigration and a welfare state, because Jesus is Lord. We don't wave away the Bible because a certain reading of it contradicts the current political mood of our core demographic group. The Gospel means Jesus is the new Lord of all Creation. Our job is to do the work, study His word, follow what He taught and teach it to individuals and nations.
Biden commission divided on expanding Supreme Court, warns of considerable risks

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A commission created by President Joe Biden to consider adding seats to the U.S. Supreme Court has released draft discussion materials that seemingly express concerns that the idea comes with "risks" and could be perceived as "a partisan maneuver."

According to the discussion materials released Thursday ahead of a Friday meeting, the 36-member commission is divided on whether it is a good idea to add seats to the nine-justice Supreme Court, the highest court in the United States.

The documents warn that expanding the court "is likely to undermine, rather than enhance, the Supreme Court's legitimacy and its role in the constitutional system." The materials state that "there are significant reasons to be skeptical that expansion would serve democratic values."

The document notes that an expanded court might "calm the controversy" around Supreme Court nominees and allow for a more diverse representation on the bench than currently exists.

"But the risks of court expansion are considerable, including that it could undermine the very goal of some of its proponents of restoring the Court's legitimacy," the draft cautions.

Stated risks include ongoing partisan battles over future potential expansions, no guarantees of increased diversity for the court and more justices making it more difficult to reach decisions.

During his time in office, President Donald Trump nominated three justices to the Supreme Court, prompting what many believe to be a rightward shift in the court's political leanings.

Democrats were upset when the Republican-controlled Senate refused to vote on President Barack Obama's nomination of Merrick Garland to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia after his death in 2016, Obama's last year in office.

Liberals also felt that the nomination to replace the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg after her death last September should have waited so whoever won the presidential election in November could make the nomination. But Trump nominated Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who was confirmed to the court last October.

In April, Biden signed an executive order creating a presidential commission to look into the possibility of adding more seats to the U.S. Supreme Court and other measures.

"Proponents of Court expansion argue that by adding two or more seats to the Supreme Court, Democratic lawmakers could help restore balance to  and, thus, the legitimacy of  the Court," the draft document reads. "Those who take this perspective also emphasize that a failure to respond to the hardball tactics since 2016 might encourage future aggressive measures in the Senate confirmation process."

The draft materials also state that "[r]ecent polls suggest that a majority of the public does not support Court expansion."

"And even some supporters of Court expansion acknowledged during the Commission's public hearings, the reform would be perceived by many as a partisan maneuver," the draft states.

Some progressives criticized the draft materials.

"The discussion materials released today unfortunately fail to match the urgency of the situation and do not lay out a solution to the legitimacy crisis before us," American Constitution Society President Russ Feingold said in a statement.

"There are a variety of reforms that should be advanced, including changing the composition of the Court to remedy the Right's packing of the Court, ending life tenure, and ensuring the Court cannot use the shadow docket as an express way to thwart civil rights and liberties."

Bob Bauer, the co-chair of the commission and a former White House Counsel to President Obama, stated at the Friday commission meeting that the draft materials are not to be construed as views of the commission.

"The commission has not edited the material and the material should not be understood to represent the commission's views or those of any particular commissioner," Bauer said, according to Fox News. "To this point and particularly in light of some confusion and uncertainty since the posting of these materials, we refer you to the front page of each of the drafts that have been publicly posted that clearly set forth these points."

Kelly Shackelford, CEO of the conservative religious freedom legal nonprofit First Liberty Institute, argued in a statement that "far-Left progressives are clearly trying to expand their political power under the guise of 'court-reform,' destroying the independence of our judiciary and threatening the civil liberties of all Americans."

"Americans reject remaking the judiciary  especially the Supreme Court of the United States  into another partisan body," Shackelford said in a statement.

After Biden signed his executive order to create the commission earlier this year, Democrats in Congress introduced legislation aimed at adding four seats to the Supreme Court. If passed, it would mark the first time seats have been added to the high court since the Antebellum Era.

U.S. Sen. Edward J. Markey of Massachusetts said in a statement in April that the legislation was in response to the Trump nominees being added to the Supreme Court.

"Senate Republicans have politicized the Supreme Court, undermined its legitimacy, and threatened the rights of millions of Americans, especially people of color, women, and our immigrant communities," claimed Markey.

"This legislation will restore the Court's balance and public standing and begin to repair the damage done to our judiciary and democracy, and we should abolish the filibuster to ensure we can pass it."

The proposal to add seats to the Supreme Court has been criticized by conservative groups and Republicans in Congress as a politically-driven move.

"Expanding the Supreme Court is a terrible idea. I strongly oppose this proposal and will vote against it should it come up for a vote," tweeted Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.
Texas heartbeat abortion ban remains in effect amid litigation, federal appeals court rules

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A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has allowed a Texas law banning most abortions once a baby's heartbeat is detected to remain in effect during legal proceedings.

In a per curiam order released Thursday evening, the Fifth Circuit panel decided 2-1 to allow the law to remain in effect over the course of the litigation, expanding upon an earlier decision last week that temporarily reinstated the heartbeat abortion ban.

Texas Right to Life Director of Media and Communication, Kimberlyn Schwartz, celebrated the Fifth Circuit panel ruling regarding the heartbeat abortion ban in a statement released Thursday.

We are excited to continue saving hundreds of lives through the Texas Heartbeat Act. However, the battle is not finished, Schwartz added.

We expect the Biden administration to appeal to the [U.S.] Supreme Court ... and we are confident Texas will ultimately defeat these attacks on our life-saving efforts.

The American Civil Liberties Union took to Twitter to denounce what it called an outrageous decision by the panel, which they say prevents essential abortion care.

Its outrageous but unsurprising that the Fifth Circuit has once again denied people in Texas their fundamental reproductive rights. The Department of Justice should urgently appeal this order to the Supreme Court, tweeted the ACLU.

Until it is stopped for good, this cruel ban will continue to wreak havoc, impacting marginalized communities the most.

In May, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 8, a law that prohibits most abortions once a baby's heartbeat can be detected, which is often around six weeks into a pregnancy.

Additionally, the law allows private citizens to take civil action against any person who "performs and induces an abortion" or "knowingly engages in conduct that aids or abets the performance or inducement of an abortion, including paying for or reimbursing the costs of abortion through insurance or otherwise."

The state law, which contradicts the Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wades prohibition on banning abortions before viability, took effect on Sept. 1.

The Biden administration and state abortion providers have legally challenged the state law before and since it took effect, arguing that the measure is an attack on womens health.

Earlier this month, U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman issued a preliminary injunction that blocked the heartbeat abortion ban from being enforced, per the request of the U.S. Department of Justice.

However, shortly after the injunction was given, a three-judge panel of the Fifth Circuit reversed the Pitman ruling, granting temporary relief from the blocking of the law.
Will Artificial Intelligence Eclipse Our One True God?

We have entered a new age in which we can go into the quietness of our rooms and slip into whatever identity we desirevirtually. Artificial intelligence is fast becoming a normal part of our lives, and in ways we often dont even notice until after its happened.

Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and other social platforms are all using artificial intelligence (AI) to discover more about you and your family, and even to gain control of certain aspects of your life. Did you also know that many of the products you purchase use AI to learn more about you? They can track where you are, what youre doing, even who youre with.

Best-selling author Wallace Henleys new book, Who Will Rule the Coming Gods?, offers groundbreaking spiritual insight into these emerging AI technologies. This is a must read book, not only for church and business leaders, but for all of us who are fast becoming dependent on AI, robots, and other forms of advanced technology.

The existential crisis of our age is how technology, specifically AI and robots, is eclipsing our reverence for the transcendence of God. In the rush to create human-helping AI, technologists are making machines that may eventually become our masters. Henleys new book exposed how some people are already worshiping at the feet of the great god of AI, just as the ancient Philistines once bowed before statues of the idol Dagon.

In this compelling and groundbreaking book, Henley shares about the impending moral and ethical choices we will all soon need to make, as believers in Christ, to hold AI and its creators accountable to the true God. Otherwise our world will secede into peril.

Rave reviews are rolling in for Henleys new book, from both religious and scientific leaders.

This book lays out a comprehensive description of the future world that our godless technological and enormously rich elites envision. But what should be the response of the God-fearing people? That is the important message of this book.

-Otis Graf, PhD, Aerospace Engineering, NASA Apollo 8 Moon Project, and the Space Shuttle

A compelling look at a dystopic future controlled by Artificial Intelligence that has transcended above mankind as an all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-present god. Wallace Henley examines how technology has changed our cultures view of God by providing us fingertip access to all the known information in history through our phones and computers. Its not a stretch of the imagination to see how the journey outlined in this book will result in future AI advancements and technological evolution that will rival and eclipse mankinds relationship with the One True Living God.

-Keith Carmichael, Associate Pastor, Second Baptist Church, Houston, Former Captain in USAF and NASA Space Station Design Team

"This book invites readers into a critical conversation surrounding the realities of artificial intelligence, humanity, and godhood. Excellent read!

-Rachel Leong, Former White House Aide, Legislative Aide, The United States Senate

Henleys book is a clarion call for believers in Christ to wake up and urge our world to stop letting technology replace our one true God. Its available now on Amazon.com.

Wallace Henley is a former pastor, White House, and a congressional aide. He served eighteen years as a teaching pastor at Houston's Second Baptist Church. Wallace, the author of more than twenty books, now does conferences on the church and culture, church growth, and leadership. He is the founder of Belhaven University's Master of Ministry Leadership Degree.
As cryptocurrencies gain popularity, churches test future of money

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In 2019, Sun Coast Community Church in Sarasota, Florida, announced on its website that it would start accepting donations in cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum and Litecoin.

In an effort to support a wide range of diverse giving options for our donors, weve decided as an organization to begin accepting donations in Bitcoin, Ethereum and Litecoin, the church founded by Lead Pastor Larry Baucom said. Some of our community members have already requested to make donations in cryptocurrency because of the tax benefits that come along with gifts of cryptocurrency.

Cryptocurrencies which are typically decentralized digital money designed to be used over the internet, according to cryptocurrency exchange platform Coinbase, are growing in popularity because they offer more than just tax benefits for people making charitable donations to churches.

The digital currencies, which are secured by a technology known as blockchain, allow value to be transferred online almost instantly around the world without the need for a bank or payment processor, 24/7 for low fees. They are usually not controlled by any government or central authority because they are managed by peer-to-peer networks of computers running free, open-source software. Generally, anyone who wants to participate is able to Coinbase said.

There are more than 12,000 cryptocurrencies in existence but Bitcoin, the first cryptocurrency launched in 2008, is the most popular and influential.

Brian Armstrong, co-founder and CEO of Coinbase, predicted in 2018 that cryptocurrencies are the future of money and that some 1.8 billion people around the world with access to a cellphone but no banking services will finally have new banking in the palm of their hands once the transition to digital money is completed.

Whats really powerful about cryptocurrency is that it lets anybody, if you just have a smartphone and an internet connection participate in the global economy. I think a lot of us in the United States sort of take this idea for granted that if someone gives us money it will be in our bank account and its not gonna disappear or be taken away from us and thats really a luxury that many people in the world dont have at all, Armstrong said.

Today (2018) only about 40 million people in the world have cryptocurrency but this is just the very early days. I believe within five years, a billion people in the world will have cryptocurrency and it will shift from this investment phase to utility phase. Meaning people actually using the currency to buy goods and services and transact in the economy, he added.

And Armstrong could be right. As of 2021, some 300 million people are said to own cryptocurrencies, according to Triple A, and more than 18,000 businesses are already accepting cryptocurrency payments. A survey in a recent Business Insider report also shows that some 54% of fintech experts believe Bitcoin will replace money being issued by central banks by 2050. Another 29% of them believe the takeover could happen much earlier in 2035.

Baucom explained in an interview with The Christian Post on Thursday that he was inspired by a few friends and family members involved in the technology industry to set up a website so they could donate in digital currencies. The biggest donation the church has had so far is one Bitcoin which had a market value of about $57,000 this week.

Since Baucom used the donation soon after the church received it [to avoid capital gains], he did not receive the current value of a Bitcoin for the churchs largest cryptocurrency donation.

In the U.S., the Internal Revenue Service classifies cryptocurrencies as property for tax purposes. This allows donations of Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies made to 501(c)(3) nonprofits like Suncoast Community Church to be written off on taxes without a requirement to pay capital gains tax.

I think weve had some dips and dabs and stuff. At one point, our biggest donation was one Bitcoin, Baucom said.

He is so confident in cryptocurrencies after studying the market he's also invested in it himself.

I actually own some myself and I have a relative who is into it up to his armpits. Hes my cousin. He has an MBA in this, he deals with tech, a lot of crypto, [so] I have become very familiar with it, he said.

Adam Bennett, lead pastor of Back Bay Church in St. Martin, Mississippi, a 3-year-old Southern Baptist congregation, told CP that his church became the first known Southern Baptist congregation to start accepting donations in cryptocurrencies in September.

We only started doing it on September 26, so it hasnt been very long, he said.

It really only started with a handful of people [in the church] who were already invested in cryptocurrency and just out of a discussion and out of curiosity we just wanted to see if this was something that could be possibly done. We found out that it was [possible] and so our church established an account with Coinbase so that we could start accepting it, he explained.

He said since Sept. 26, only a handful of people from his church have made donations in cryptocurrencies and the largest value of a donation so far has been about $2,000 worth of Litecoin.

What drove his church to get involved, Bennett told CP, was to largely lead the way in innovation and try new things as a church instead of doing only the traditional model.

We want to see whats new and different, he said.

Bennett agrees that as the technology becomes more popular more churches are going to start looking into it.

There are a lot of churches out there that want to innovate and try new technologies and I think its going to ramp up, but there are a lot of traditional churches that just wont do it [as well] for a long, long time, he said.

The Back Bay Church pastor said it wasnt difficult setting up the cryptocurrency donation system for his church and it took about two hours.

While he is excited about the ability of churches to receive cryptocurrency donations, Bennett explained that there is a lot more utility in the blockchain technology for churches than just accepting donations.

He pointed to an application called Strike that is run on the Lightning Network.

The blockchain networks have utility. Even like an app called Strike. Its run on the Lightning Network and you can actually transfer financial resources anywhere in the world 24/7 for a very little fee. And that type of technology and financial resource transfer, thats going to revolutionize the way we give money to disaster relief people, missionaries. So theres a greater technology here that the cryptocurrencies are running on, the blockchain network, he said. Were only scratching the surface right now.

When asked if he was worried there might soon be government regulation of the blockchain technology, Bennett said its something he tries not to think about.

I dont worry about what the governments going to do, he said while admitting they could do a lot.

My personal opinion is that there could be regulations, but it could be more on the taxation end of things, he said.

Indeed, a recent Bloomberg report said the Biden administration is now considering an executive order to examine oversight of cryptocurrencies as prices for the new asset class continue to surge.

In the meantime organizations like The Salvation Army, which also rolled out a cryptocurrency donation option in 2019, urged the public to consider donating digital currency this Christmas.

The Salvation Army has rolled out cryptocurrency giving options from the grassroots, up over the past year and recently launched a national page for cryptocurrency donations. While we do not have donation statistics available at this time, The Salvation Army is very excited about cryptocurrency fundraising in the future, the organization said in response to questions from CP about its cryptocurrency fundraising campaign.

We encourage everyone with cryptocurrency to consider giving during the holiday season to ensure that Hope Marches On in the lives of millions of individuals and families struggling with pandemic poverty, officials added.
Christian colleges can fight LGBT lawsuit seeking to block Title IX religious exemptions, judge rules

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A federal judge has granted the request of Christian colleges who want to intervene in a lawsuit that seeks to force the U.S. Department of Education to strip federal funding from Christian colleges that abide by traditional beliefs on gender and sexuality.

In an opinion released last Friday, Judge Ann Aiken of the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon granted the motions to intervene in a case brought forward by dozens of current and former students at 25 Christian colleges who argue that religious exemptions to Title IX discrimination law are unconstitutional.

Although the lawsuit was filed against the Department of Education earlier this year, three Christian colleges and the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities filed motions to intervene.

The Clinton appointee ruled that the Federal Rules for Civil Procedure allow nonparties to intervene in cases where they believe the issue at hand may affect them.

The lawsuit was filed in March on behalf of Elizabeth Hunter, an LGBT graduate of Bob Jones University, and several other LGBT plaintiffs currently or formerly enrolled in Christian colleges. The plaintiffs are represented by the Religious Exemption Accountability Project.

The lawsuit alleges that religious colleges and universities' exemptions from Title IX nondiscrimination laws are unconstitutional because they allow such schools to discriminate against LGBT students.

Examples of discrimination against LGBT students cited in the lawsuit include "conversion therapy, expulsion, denial of housing and healthcare, sexual and physical abuse and harassment, as well as the less visible, but no less damaging, consequences of institutionalized shame, fear, anxiety and loneliness."

The U.S. Department of Education's website explains that "Title IX generally prohibits a recipient institution from excluding, separating, denying benefits to, or otherwise treating students differently on the basis of sex in its educational programs or activities."

Title IX includes an exemption for "an educational institution that is controlled by a religious organization to the extent that application of Title IX would be inconsistent with the religious tenets of the organization."

While Title IX was one of several initiatives passed nearly half a century ago to provide equal opportunities to women in education, the LGBT students' lawsuit alleges that the prohibitions of discrimination based on sex in Title IX also apply to sexual orientation and gender identity. The Obama administration shared that interpretation of Title IX while the Trump administration rescinded an order telling educational institutions to treat sexual orientation and gender identity as equivalent to sex upon taking office in 2017.

On April 9, nearly two weeks after the lawsuit was filed, Alliance Defending Freedom filed a motion to intervene on behalf of three Christian schools: Corban University in Oregon, William Jessup University in California and Phoenix Seminary in Arizona.

The religious liberty law firm maintained that although they were not parties in the case, the schools would face a negative impact from any decision gutting Title IX religious exemptions for faith-based colleges and universities.

ADF Senior Counsel and Vice President of U.S. Litigation David Cortman praised Aiken's decision.

"This lawsuit wants the federal government to tell Christian schools, 'To continue accepting low- to middle-income students who require financial aid, you have to violate your core beliefs,'" Cortman said in a statement. "Because that's neither reasonable nor constitutional, we are pleased that these schools will have the opportunity to defend their freedoms in this case."

Cortman contends that no court "should grant a radical request to rewrite federal law and strong-arm religious colleges by stripping their students of much-needed financial aid."

About a month after ADF filed the motion to intervene on behalf of the three Christian colleges, the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities, a network of over 140 Christian higher education institutions across the U.S., filed a separate motion to intervene.

In June, the Biden administration indicated that it intended to defend the faith-based exemptions to Title IX while opposing the efforts of the nonparty colleges to intervene in the case. This announcement received pushback from REAP.

REAP, which "empowers queer, trans and nonbinary students at more than 200 taxpayer-funded religious colleges and universities that actively discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity/expression," slammed the Biden administration's "out-of-touch position."

The nonprofit organization warned that the move "will only serve to harm more LGBTQ students at religious colleges  & permit continued taxpayer-funded discrimination at these institutions."

The legal efforts to challenge the religious exemptions to Title IX come as the Equality Act, which would codify nondiscrimination protections for the LGBT community into federal law, has failed to gain traction in the U.S. Congress. While the measure passed the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives on a largely party-line vote in February, it's been unable to pass the evenly split Senate due to opposition from Democrats and Republicans.
Archaeologists uncover centuries-old remnants of 1 of America's first black churches

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Archaeologists in Virginia have discovered what they believe to be the remains of the first permanent structure for one of the oldest African American congregations in the United States.

Researchers with Colonial Williamsburg announced on Oct. 7 that they discovered the remnants of the first permanent structure for the Historic First Baptist Church of Williamsburg after digging at the site of the churchs original location for more than a year. The site dates back to the early 1800s.

The discovery of the structure's remains coincides with the community celebration recognizing the 245th anniversary of the modern Historic FBC congregations founding.

Jack Gary, director of archaeology with the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, told The Christian Post that researchers gathered evidence about the building throughout the summer to confirm the findings.

The documentary record places the congregation on the piece of property we are excavating in 1818. That documentation refers to the Baptist Meeting House. Our excavations have uncovered the brick foundation for a small building, Gary said.

Based on the dates of artifacts, including an 1817 coin found below and around this foundation, the building has to have been constructed and stood sometime in the first quarter of the 19th century  the same time as when the documentary record refers to the Baptist Meeting House standing here.

The researchers will continue to excavate parts of the site where they have located unmarked human burials to determine how many people were buried at the property. They are also investigating how the landscape around the church looked.

This project has been a community-engaged project from the very beginning, said Gary. Because the descendants of those who worshipped in this church are still here and First Baptist Church itself still exits, we have the opportunity to connect the community directly to their history.

Historic First Baptist Church traces its origins to clandestine worship meetings held by slaves and ex-slaves beginning in the 1770s at Green Spring Plantation, not far from Williamsburg.

In 1781, the congregation was officially organized into a church in the nearby rural area of Raccoon Chase, led by Gowan Pamphlet, an enslaved man. Shortly after that, a white family allowed the worshippers to use his familys carriage house for meetings.

The 1818 structure discovered by archaeologists last week was destroyed in a tornado in 1834. A brick church was erected on the same site in 1856. The church moved to its present address at 727 Scotland Street back in 1956.

The early history of our congregation, beginning with enslaved and free Blacks gathering outdoors in secret in 1776, has always been a part of who we are as a community, said the Rev. Reginald F. Davis, the church's current pastor, in a statement.

To see it unearthed  to see the actual bricks of that original foundation and the outline of the place our ancestors worshipped  brings that history to life and makes that piece of our identity tangible. After 245 years, this is a reason to truly celebrate.

Colonial Williamsburg Foundation CEO Cliff Fleet said that the foundation looks to tell a "more complete and inclusive story" of the people who "lived, worked and worshipped here during our countrys formative years."

The history of this congregation is a story that deserves to be at the forefront of our interpretation and education efforts, and we are honored to play a part in bringing that story to light," Fleet added.
Todd Starnes frames MSM, gives 'shining city on a hill' message at Calvary Chapel Chino Hills

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Most of the mainstream media in America don't understand Christians, and many hate them, said Christian journalist Todd Starnes, who is a former analyst for Fox News and author of the book, Culture Jihad.

Starnes, who was the guest speaker behind the pulpit during Sunday services at Calvary Chapel Chino Hills in California, which is led by Pastor Jack Hibbs, framed today's mainstream media outlook on Christians and then gave a rally cry for the country during the current troubling times.

The journalist at the pulpit was fitting because both Starnes (radio show) and Hibbs (pulpit) pull from U.S. history to expose the deep Christian roots of the nation.

"My job at Fox News was to tell our stories to the rest of the country," Starnes said in front of the congregation. "There are not many Christians in the mainstream media. There are very few, so, they just don't get us. I think a lot of them hate us, but overwhelmingly I think they just don't understand who we are. It was a joy for over the 15 years at the Fox News Channel to be able to share those stories with the rest of the country."

Along with sharing his testimony of how he felt God "got his attention" and steered his career life, Starnes gave his thoughts on the political and cultural climate in the nation.

"I believe America is meant to be a Christian nation," he said. "When you look at our founding documents, when you look at the letters and the correspondence of our Founding Fathers it is very clear to me that they were basing every decision they made on the Holy Scriptures.

"John Adams, our second president said this: Our Constitution is holy and adequate for anyone other than a holy and just people. That means when you take God out of the equation you get chaos. And what's been happening over the last two decades in America? We have gotten chaos because we removed God from the equation.

"We don't get our rights from mankind, our rights come from Almighty God."

Starnes told the congregation that they "have been in the fox hole of the front lines of this war on religious liberty." Hibbs, along with other church leaders, locally, such as Pastor Joe Pedick of Calvary Chapel of the Harbour in Huntington Beach, strongly advocate for Christians to be engaged within educational and governmental establishments in order to bring about positive change.

Starnes said, "The Constitution is under assault."

"You might like our history or you might hate our history but it doesn't matter because when you erase history you will repeat that history," he said. "That's why we have to take such a stand here in the culture."

Starnes said that Christians are challenged when it comes to prioritizing their cultural focus.

"We think it's 'sexy' to go after Washington, [thinking] we have to 'take back Washington,'" he explained. "That's well and good but if you don't take care of what is happening here at home, you're never going to change what's happening in Washington, D.C. We've to get Christians onto the school boards and city councils. We have to take back our own communities first."

Starnes emphasized the importance of building strong families. "American exceptionalism doesn't start in Washington, it starts around the supper table," he said.

Does Starnes still have hope?

Starnes warns that Americans are being conditioned and led into socialism. However, he offers a more hopeful alternative.

"My hope is not based in the State Capital in Sacramento. My hope is not built on 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' hope and righteousness," Starnes said.

One of several proposals he suggested was for Christians to get involved in school boards.

Responding to the DOJ's request that the FBI send agents to investigate "moms and dads" who are raising concerns about critical race theory, Starnes said: "In essence, what [advocates of CRT] are saying is that if you are a certain skin color you are a bad person. Well, I want to say something about that. My God doesn't make mistakes. Not one mistake. We are all made in God's image, and I tell you brothers and sisters, it is a lie from the pit of Hell designed to turn us against each other and foment a race war, and I am fighting against that every single day on my radio show."

He concluded his message with a rally cry.

"My fellow brothers and sisters, we are surrounded. The enemies of freedom are advancing and the time has come for all of us to stand resolute. ... Let our prayer be on this day, that our great nation will once again be that shining city on a hill."

Alex Murashko is founder of Media on Mission
British MP David Amess dies after being stabbed in a church

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Flags outside of the United Kingdom Parliament have been lowered to half-mast to honor the life of a conservative British parliamentarian who died after he was stabbed at a church on Friday.

Sir David Amess, The 69-year-old MP who represented Southend West in Essex, attended a public meeting for his constituency surgery on Oct. 15 at Belfairs Methodist Church in Leigh-on-Sea when the attack occurred.

According to reports, Amess was brutally stabbed several times and later died despite paramedics attempting to save him for two hours.

Police arrested and are holding a 25-year-old man in custody. A knife was recovered from the scene.

In a statement, the Essex Police confirmed that the department was called shortly after noon Friday and found an injured man being treated by first responders. Chief Constable Ben-Julian Harrington said the investigation is in its early stages and led by officers from the Metropolitan Police's Specialist Counter Terror Command.

"It will be for investigators to determine whether or not this may have been a terrorist incident," Harrington said. "Today is a tragic day for the family and colleagues of Sir David, the community of Southend and indeed for the whole county."

Harrington said that Amess "dedicated his life to serving the communities of Essex."

"[T]today, he was simply dispensing his duties when his life was horrifically cut short," Harrington stated. "I know the residents of Essex and Southend West will stand with me today in remembering a member of our community."

The Telegraph reported that the person of interest is of Somalian origin and a witness said the man was "calm and compliant" while being summoned by the police.

Following U.K. police protocol, the man will remain anonymous unless he is charged for the crime. At this time, the force will not continue to search for any other suspects connected to the incident, according to Essex Police.

Amess is not the first member of Parliament to be murdered while attending a constituency meeting.

Helen Joanne Cox, the Labour MP for Batley and Spen who took office in May 2015, was murdered in June 2016 while she was present at a constituency surgery. Prosecutors deemed the slaying to be related to "political and/or ideological reasons."

In the U.K., constituency surgeries are face-to-face meetings that officeholders have with their constituents.

"In the coming days we will need to discuss and examine MPs' security and any measures to be taken," Speaker of the House of Commons Lindsay Hoyle reportedly said.

Some who knew Amess shared with the press that they were shocked to find out about his death. Amess was known for his socially conservative viewpoints and his pro-life stance against abortion.

Many agreed that Amess had been highly esteemed among the masses.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that Amess believed passionately in the country and its future and that the U.K. lost a "fine" public servant and a "much-loved" friend and colleague.

"One of the kindest, nicest, most gentle people in politics," Johnson said Friday. "Our thoughts are very much today with his wife, his children and his family."

Labour leader Keir Starmer called Amess' death "Horrific and deeply shocking news."

Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey said that it was a "truly terrible day for British politics," adding that "our prayers are with all the people who loved David."

"This is tragic and horrible news," he tweeted.
Talk of the need for coronavirus booster shots has prompted many Americans to seek antibody tests.

In most cases, however, getting an antibody test to determine immunity is a fool's errand, infectious-disease doctors agree. The tests for antibodies, also known as serology tests, do not provide the answers that most people are seeking.

Both the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration advise against using antibody tests to determine one's level of immunity against covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. So does the Infectious Disease Society of America, which represents infectious-disease specialists.

While some states, including Maryland and South Carolina, are conducting targeted antibody testing for specific purposes, no state is promoting the tests' use for residents to determine whether they have sufficient immunity or need a booster shot.

The tests might indicate the presence or even the level of coronavirus-fighting antibodies in the bloodstream, but scientists don't yet know what number of antibodies provide protection from covid-19. Antibodies are protein molecules the immune system produces to neutralize viruses or bacteria that have entered the body.

Antibody levels do help health-care providers establish whether a patient has immunity against other, more familiar infectious diseases, such as measles and hepatitis A and B. But doctors say our relatively short experience with covid-19 hasn't yet provided the same information.

"Because our journey is so young, we don't yet know what value means immunity," said Mary Hopkins, associate program director of the Infectious Disease Fellowship Program at Tufts Medical Center.

Testing for coronavirus antibodies has some benefits - especially for determining whether someone with covid-like symptoms had an earlier, undetected covid-19 infection - but not for the reasons many are seeking the tests.

"Doctors are ordering antibody tests for people who are worried about waning immunity, but I see that as problematic," said Alan Wells, medical director of clinical labs at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. "For a normal person, knowing your level eight months later (after their initial vaccine dosages) is of relatively little value."

In general, the more antibodies, the better, Wells said. But even with a low level of antibodies months after exposure or receiving a vaccine, the body can mount a stout defense against the virus by generating new antibodies in response to a fresh infection. "There is more to your immune response than antibody levels," Wells said.

Wells said his hospital, like others, has had a big increase in requests for antibody tests in recent weeks, although he recommends to his colleagues that they use them judiciously.

Another problem with coronavirus antibody tests, doctors say, is that they are not standardized, so values associated with antibody tests in one version might not be the same as another.

Some states perform antibody testing on a targeted basis. In South Carolina, the Department of Health and Environmental Control conducts sample antibody testing for vaccinated people to correlate antibody levels with episodes of reinfections or breakthrough cases, said Derrek Asberry, a spokesperson for the department.

Maryland has done antibody testing on more than 500 nursing home residents and determined that 50% of them showed declining antibodies over time. On the basis of those tests, Gov. Larry Hogan ordered boosters for all older Marylanders living in congregate housing.

Hopkins said large-scale antibody testing eventually should help to determine what antibody levels would provide coronavirus immunity.

"It would be wonderful and important if you could test every month 5,000 patients 60 years and older and find out who gets reinfections or infections for the first time and see if there is a correlation," she said. "If you found infections and could say those people had antibodies below 200, that would be helpful."

Some antibody tests are able to assign a numerical value to an individual's antibody levels, although the numbers are not uniform from one manufacturer's test to another. The level above which a person can be considered to have sufficient immunity is unknown.

In Kentucky, the state Senate passed a resolution in September that would have enabled residents to substitute an antibody test for proof of vaccination. The resolution proposed that an individual with antibodies at a level above the 20th percentile of the immunized population should be recognized as having protection equal to that of a fully immunized individual. The measure died when the state House didn't take it up before the special session ended in September.

Doctors interviewed for this story said that without knowing what level of antibodies provides immunity or the parameters - especially the timing - of testing vaccinated people, such a measure may not provide the assurance its sponsors suggested. But Wells added that the idea is not without merit, because higher levels of antibodies do correlate with fewer hospitalizations and deaths.

Thomas Denny, chief operating officer at Duke University School of Medicine's Human Vaccine Institute, however, said the resolution's demise was probably a positive development.

"Given how few labs can do this test and the issues of test validation, it's good that this bill died," he wrote in an email. "Also, I would need to go review data in the literature but not sure their stated criteria makes sense."

Antibody testing can determine whether someone has been exposed to coronavirus or has received any of the vaccines used against the virus. Some tests detect antibodies created in either case. Others only detect antibodies that are generated by exposure.

Those tests are different from the PCR (polymerase chain reaction) tests most often used to determine whether someone has the virus. A PCR test detects genetic material present in the coronavirus.

From early in the pandemic, public health agencies and other medical organizations used PCR tests or antigen tests, which detect certain proteins in the virus and are cheaper and faster though less reliable than PCR tests, as the main tool for diagnosing people with the virus.

Health-care workers didn't generally use antibody tests because, as Elitza Theel, an expert in serologic testing at the Mayo Clinic, an academic research center, said, "It takes a good one or two weeks after infection to get a detectable level of antibodies.

"You don't want to rely on an antibody test because you will miss people who are acutely affected."

Hopkins said that antibody tests are useful for patients suspected of having long covid-19, the lingering severe symptoms that affect some people months after their first exposure to the virus. PCR tests only detect the virus in its initial phase, in the first two weeks or so.

If someone with covid-19 doesn't get a PCR test in that time, the best way to determine exposure later is with an antibody test, even months after contact with the virus, Hopkins said. "When I see a patient in my clinic who's short of breath or has mysterious aches, I give them an antibody test to see if it's long covid."

Doctors say antibody testing also can be useful in determining whether individuals, especially nursing home residents, developed antibodies after they were vaccinated. If not, they could be considered good candidates for infusion with monoclonal antibodies to mimic antibodies produced by the immune system.

Antibody testing also benefits immunocompromised patients, such as those undergoing cancer treatment, Denny said. "We can test those individuals and show their levels are much lower than the general population and give them a boost and test them again and see if their numbers go up," he said.

Still, doctors say, healthy people should be reassured that the human immune system remembers what to do in the face of a new risk.

Even as the initial antibodies decline after a coronavirus infection or vaccine, the memory cells store information about the original attack, react to a renewed threat and begin to stimulate the body to resume its defense, including by generating a whole new army of antibodies.

People "shouldn't freak out" if they learn their coronavirus antibodies have declined over time, Theel said.

"Memory immunity remains strong. That's what we need to underscore to the public."
Halloween is upon us once again, but for horror fans, it might as well be Christmas. The annual abundance of new horror films and shows released around October is ripe for viewing, with just one potential problem: What should you watch from all those choices?

Here are 13 TV shows and movies streaming now that will leave you properly spooked.

Netflix

"Midnight Mass": Following the success of "The Haunting of Hill House" and "The Haunting of Bly Manor," filmmaker Mike Flanagan decided to branch out from the haunted house genre and explore a horror story with a more spiritual bent. Set on an isolated island, a Catholic community is rocked when its usual Monsignor is replaced by a young, charismatic priest who appears to be able to perform miracles, but might also be unleashing darker forces. The series is a slow build, but by the fifth episode, the horrific truth of what is taking place on the island is fully revealed, and the series ends with a terrifying crescendo. Not merely scary, this series is also a beautiful meditation on grief, faith, addiction and death, and the performances will stay with you long after.

"Brand New Cherry Flavor": If body horror or gore is not your thing, avoid this wild, disturbing series. Set in 1990s Los Angeles, a young filmmaker is taken advantage of by a producer, so with the help of a mysterious witch, she seeks her revenge. Violent, hallucinatory and at times deranged, this series also has a pitch-black funny streak. Rosa Salazar gives a fiery performance as Lisa, the vengeful filmmaker, but the series belongs to Catherine Keener, who plays the witch with a long dark past.

The "Fear Street" trilogy: Based on the books of the same name by young adult horror author R.L. Stine, this trilogy of films is all set in the cursed town of Shadyside. The films take place in 1994, 1978 and 1666 respectively, and explore why the town's residents are so susceptible to periods of horrific violence. The films are a funny, nostalgic, and very bloody tribute to the slasher genre, which manage to veer expertly between silly and relevant.

Paramount+

Elizabeth Fisher/CBS

"Evil": Robert and Michelle King's supernatural series originally aired on CBS for its first season before moving to streamer Paramount+, where it was really allowed to stretch its demonic wings. The series follows a team of paranormal investigators who work for the Catholic church looking into purported supernatural occurrences. The series began as a typical horror procedural in the mold of "The X-Files": he's a believer, she's a skeptic, there's palpable sexual tension between them. The series soon became its own creature, dark and wickedly funny, thanks to supporting actors Michael Emerson and Christine Lahti, and unafraid to ask difficult questions about faith, the nature of evil and redemption.

"Ghosts": This brand-new comedy follows a young couple who inherit a mansion, only to discover that it is profoundly haunted after the wife suffers a head injury that allows her to see their spirited co-habitants. Charming and sharply written, "Ghosts" is perfect for a spooky series that won't deliver any actual scares. It is currently airing on CBS as well as streaming on Paramount+.

"The Stand": Admittedly, this might not be the right moment for a series about the post-apocalyptic world left ruined by a deadly virus that wipes out 99% of the population  or maybe it's exactly the perfect moment. This all-star adaptation of Stephen King's classic novel was filmed right before our own pandemic swept over the world, but its take on the allure of charismatic leaders and tyranny might have even deeper real-world resonance.

Hulu

John P Johnson/Associated Press

"What We Do In the Shadows": Now in its third season, this comedy based on the film of the same name has consistently been one of the funniest shows on television. The series follows three traditional vampires and their roommate, an energy vampire, as they interact with the modern world of Staten Island, New York. The show boasts a brilliant cast, writing that is both clever and bawdy, and a universe that never fails to run out of comedic possibilities or supernatural surprises. Stream on Hulu and watch on FX.

Amazon Prime

The Blumhouse Movies: Blumhouse, the movie studio behind some of the biggest horror films in recent memory, including "Get Out," "The Purge" and "Paranormal Activity," has partnered with Amazon to produce original horror films for the streaming service. This year's offerings include "Bingo Hell," in which a diabolical presence takes over a small town's Bingo hall; "Black as Night," a vampire tale set in New Orleans; "The Manor," in which Barbara Hershey stars as a resident of an assisted living facility who believes a malevolent force is killing her fellow residents; and "Madres," in which a Mexican-American couple in the '70s are plagued by nightmares.

HBO Max

"The Outsider": You'd be forgiven if you thought this dark horror series based on a Stephen King novel was actually a true-crime drama, especially in the early episodes. But that's what makes "The Outsider" such an effective horror story: it feels grounded in reality, and the monster looks like us  literally, just like us. The limited series features powerful, unforgettable performances from its leads, Ben Mendelsohn and Cynthia Ervios, and a tautly-written story that unfolds like a waking nightmare.

Peacock

"Halloween Kills": The newest installment of the never-ending Michael Myers saga is upon us. Having somehow freed himself from the trap his sister, Laurie, created for him in the previous film, Michael Myers seeks vengeance on some of his earliest victims who managed to escape him in previous installments. It offers plenty of carnage for fans of the slasher genre, an interesting theory on Myers' dark power and presents a commentary on the dangers of mob violence. Stream it on Peacock, and watch the earlier "Halloween" films on AMC or stream them on Fubo.

Apple TV+

Apple TV+/TNS

"Servant": This gorgeous thriller is just as twisty and unexpected as you would imagine for a series produced by M. Night Shyamalan. In fact, to say too much about the family drama would be to spoil some of its most intriguing surprises, which are well worth discovering for yourself. In short: a couple reeling from a terrible loss brings a nanny into their home, only for her to turn their lives and reality itself upside down. It's not a horror series as much as it is a compelling and terrifying thriller, but the chills are there all the same.

Syfy

Rolf Konow/Getty Images

"Chucky": Based on the now-classic horror franchise, "Child's Play," this new series follows the murderous doll as he finds a new home with a bullied teen. Like the movies it's based on, "Chucky" is campy, savage and features an acidly wicked sense of humor. Brad Dourif, the original voice of the maniacal doll, is back in his original role, a true treat for fans of the movie franchise.

Discovery +

"Haunted Museum": Two superstars of the horror genre, director Eli Roth and "Ghost Adventures" host Zak Bagans have teamed up for this new anthology series, exploring the history of the haunted objects Bagans has collected for his Las Vegas Haunted Museum. Each episode begins with Bagans explaining where he acquired the object that will be the subject of the story, before a fictionalized recreation of the object's terrifying past unfolds. The acting is what you would expect from reenactments (read: not the best), but the stories are spooky, and fans of Zak Bagans might be intrigued. Stream it on Discovery+, along with all seasons of "Ghost Adventures."
Phil Jensen has long courted controversy. As a state senator in South Dakota in 2014, he sponsored a bill, SB 128, that would have greenlighted discrimination against LGBTQ people by enabling state businesses to turn away customers, and even fire employees, on the basis of sexual orientation.

The measure failed  and even a fellow Republican blasted it as a mean, nasty, hateful, vindictive bill. In an interview with the Rapid City Journal, Jensen insisted the bill was a defense of free speech and private-property rights. He then doubled down, arguing the free market should be relied on to counter discrimination: If someone was a member of the Ku Klux Klan, and they were running a little bakery for instance, he said, the majority of us would find it detestable that they refuse to serve Blacks, and guess what? In a matter of weeks or so that business would shut down because no one is going to patronize them. (This remark drew a rebuke from the states then-governor: I found his comments to be completely out of line with South Dakota values, said Republican Dennis Daugaard.)

In light of this controversy, the Rapid City newspaper ran a headline touting Jensen as South Dakotas most conservative lawmaker. That same year, it appears, Jensen added another appellation to his political resume: Oath Keeper.

The Oath Keepers are an extremist militia group that challenges the authority of the federal government. The organization asks its members to swear to a 10-point oath, steeped in conspiratorial thinking, insisting theyll stand up against government tyranny that the group imagines is fast approaching. The points start out fairly benign: 1. We will NOT obey any order to disarm the American people. But they quickly lose contact with reality, as in point 6: We will NOT obey any order to blockade American cities, thus turning them into giant concentration camps. The groups members often show up as armed vigilantes in times of strife, notably at the 2014 standoff at the Bundy Ranch and during unrest in Ferguson, Missouri. Nearly two dozen of the groups members have been indicted for involvement in the January 6th insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

In recent weeks, a transparency group called Distributed Denial of Secrets released a huge trove of purported Oath Keeper records, emails, and chat logs. The group provided Rolling Stone access to a database of membership records of more than 38,000 alleged Oath Keepers. Other media outlets, reporting on the same purported membership rolls  including USA Today, Oregon Public Broadcasting, and The Gothamist  have identified dozens of Oath Keeper members of the military and law enforcement. Many of those identified have admitted to their affiliation with the group, with some clarifying they are no longer active members. The Oath Keepers did not respond to questions about the leak.

Emma Best, a co-founder of Distributed Denial of Secrets, says the data was provided to the group by a hacker. DDoSecrets was able to run a technical analysis of the data dump, which the group found as persuasive that the information was legitimate. In short, everything was there that youd expect, DDoSecrets says. The pieces all fit together, and there was far too much data that was far too detailed for it to have been faked.

The vast majority of alleged Oath Keepers in these rolls signed up with private emails and without any details that would readily identify their employers. The record for Jensen is markedly different. It lists a state legislative email address, and his name appears with his honorific at the time, Senator Phil Jensen. (Jensen has served in both chambers of the state Legislature; he is currently representative of District 33, which includes part of Rapid City.) The record appears to show that Jensen signed up for an annual membership in 2014; the database does not indicate his current membership status.

Jensen did not respond to phone and email requests to discuss his appearance on the alleged Oath Keeper rolls or his current affiliation with the group (UPDATE: Jensen has responded to Rolling Stones reporting, telling local news station KEVN that he signed up with the Oath Keepers in 2014. The legislator said he was not active with the group, but saw nothing to be ashamed of in the affiliation, adding he believes the group has been unfairly maligned.)

Jensen is not the only elected official to appear in the purported militia rolls. Wendy Rogers is a far-right-wing Arizona state senator and an ardent Trump supporter who has hyped the lie that Trump was robbed of electoral victory in the 2020 election in Arizona. Rogers information appears in the leaked database, and she has not been at all shy about her affiliation with the group, tweeting, I really like their dedication to our Constitution and to our country.

Had a great time speaking to the Cottonwood Oathkeepers tonight. I am a member of the Oathkeepers and I really like their dedication to our Constitution and to our country. Thank you for having me! pic.twitter.com/7CCBY77tQg  Wendy Rogers (@WendyRogersAZ) March 7, 2021

The name of another Arizona politician, Jeff Serdy, a supervisor for Pinal County, also appears on the leaked database. In an email to Rolling Stone, Serdy confirmed that he joined the Oath Keepers and paid annual dues more than a decade ago. He said he became interested in the group after Hurricane Katrina, when some citizens of New Orleans had their guns confiscated by local police. Serdy insists hes never attended an Oath Keepers meeting, but adds: In theory, every person that takes the oath to uphold the Constitution should in fact be an Oath Keeper. Serdy distances himself from the Oath Keepers recent activities, blaming the militias founder, Stewart Rhodes, for having taken the group into a direction that sabotages the original intent. In addition to his public service, Serdy owns what he calls one of the highest-volume gun shops in the state.

Alex Friedfeld is an investigative researcher at the Center on Extremism, a project of the Anti-Defamation League, who has studied the militia group for years. The Oath Keepers power, he says, mainly comes from recruiting people with guns, or people in law enforcement. But were increasingly seeing current and former members of public office that are Oath Keepers, he says. Theres some irony, Friedfeld notes, in government figures signing on with an anti-government extremist group. And while joining the Oath Keepers isnt illegal, it is really concerning, Friedfeld says, adding of lawmaker members: They have had a hand in shaping laws in a way that accords with their extremist agenda. It has real impacts on ordinary peoples lives.

Jensen does not appear to have moderated his political orientation in recent years. He has denounced Covid-19 public-health policies like mask requirements. And in a challenge to federal authority, he recently signed on to a resolution urging the overruling of any attempt by the Biden administration to implement a nationwide Covid-19 vaccine or testing mandate on business.

In a February opinion piece for the Rapid City Journal, Jensen advanced notions cut from the same ideological cloth as the Oath Keepers: We have come to a time in history where we are seeing the constitutional rights this country was founded on cast aside in the name of safety, he warned. We are seeing resolutions, rules and mandates, presented, passed and executed that undermine our inalienable rights. Jensen inveighed against coercion and force  being called upon once again to legislate our compliance.

Jensen doesnt keep a typical website. PhilJensenSD.com doesnt offer any information other than an invitation to join his mailing list. The introductory note rails against incredible censorship on social media and the unprecedented cancel culture, adding that it is imperative that I am able to speak truth to you directly by e-mail each week.

I want to take you with me inside your government and give you truth, Jensen writes, unfiltered by media companies or even political party leaders.  Liberty is at stake, he warns, and Freedom isnt free.
Netflix posted sharply higher third-quarter earnings Tuesday thanks to a stronger slate of titles, including Squid Game, the dystopian survival drama from South Korea that the company says became its biggest-ever TV show.

The company has ramped up production, rebounding from pandemic-induced delays in the first half of the year. It's also looking beyond movies and TV and said it plans to fund new growth opportunities" such as video games, which are being tested in some markets.

It remains very early days for this initiative and, like other content categories weve expanded into, we plan to try different types of games, learn from our members and improve our game library," the company said.

And as it faces saturation in the U.S. market, Netflix is focusing on growing its international subscriber numbers. For instance, it launched a free mobile plan in Kenya, in the hopes it will get more people in the country to sign up for paid memberships.

In all, Netflix said its subscriber base grew 9% from a year earlier, to 213.6 million, surpassing its own projections.

The increase came about even as Netflix's subscriber growth softened "a little bit" in Latin America after the company increased prices in Brazil, Spencer Neumann, Netflix's chief financial officer, said during a conference call with a Wall Street analyst.

It's a short-term slowdown in growth, but good for our business and we're already continuing to grow through it, he said.

Netflix earned $1.45 billion, or $3.19 per share, in the latest quarter. Thats up from $789.9 million or $1.79 per share, a year earlier.

Revenue grew 16% to $7.48 billion from $6.44 billion.

Analysts, on average, were expecting earnings of $2.56 per share on revenue of $7.48 billion, according to a poll by FactSet.

Shares of the Los Gatos, California-based company fell about 1% in after-hours trading.

Netflix also said Tuesday that later this year it will change how it reports its viewership metrics. Instead of how many accounts watch its titles, it will report the number of hours viewed. Netflix said this is a 'slightly better indicator of the overall success of our titles and member satisfaction.

It also matches how outside services measure TV viewing and gives proper credit to rewatching," Netflix said.

For the current quarter, Netflix said it expects to add 8.5 million net subscribers.

The company made no mention in its earnings news release or call of the fallout surrounding a recent Dave Chapelle special, which premiered earlier this month after the third quarter ended.

Netflix said Friday that it had fired an employee for disclosing confidential financial information about what it paid for the Chappelles comedy special The Closer, which employees and advocacy groups condemned as being transphobic and harmful to transgender people.

The employee, who wasnt named, shared confidential, commercially sensitive information outside the company, a Netflix statement said.

The media watchdog group GLAAD said that anti-LGBTQ content violates Netflixs policy to reject programs that incite hate or violence.

However, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos told managers in an internal memo that the show doesnt cross the line on hate and will remain on the streaming service.

Transgender employees and their allies planning to stage a walkout Wednesday in protest.

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AP Business writer Alex Veiga in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
DECATUR, Ala. (AP)  3M will pay $98.4 million to settle lawsuits over contamination from its chemical plant along the Tennessee River in north Alabama under an agreement announced Tuesday.

The agreement, reached through court-ordered mediation with local government agencies, 3M and other companies, would fund both past and future cleanup work and pay for efforts to find additional pollution from per- and polyfluoroalkyl, or PFAS chemicals in the area. The largest share of the money, $35 million, will go to replace a recreational complex built atop a contaminated landfill.

The city of Decatur, Morgan County and Decatur Utilities still must approve the settlement. A public meeting was scheduled for next week on the agreement.

3M said it also was resolving a suit involving Tennessee Riverkeeper, an environmental organization, and other litigation involving pollution from PFAS, a substance which has been used in products worldwide since the 1950s, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Decatur plant was a major manufacturer of the chemicals for decades.

The chemicals are used in non-stick cookware, stain-resistant fabrics, water repellant clothing, cosmetics and firefighting foams. They may cause problems including increased risk of cancer, decreased vaccine response in children, increased cholesterol levels, increased blood pressure and lower birth weights in children, according to the CDC.

The lawsuits claimed 3M and other companies disposed of industrial waste laced with PFAS, which then contaminated the river and numerous sites in Morgan County. The substance is no longer made in the United States.

Decatur Mayor Tab Bowling said the agreement would help remedy long-standing issues.

"This settlement will fund improvements that will make the environment in Decatur and Morgan County healthier. We are pleased that 3M is funding the development of a replacement rec center that adds a quality of life benefit for the whole city, he said in a statement.

Michelle Howell, director at the 3M plant in Decatur, said the company "will continue to take collaborative action for communities where we live and work, our employees, and their friends and families.

3M settled a lawsuit by the West Morgan-East Lawrence Water Authority for $35 million in 2019, the Decatur Daily reported. The water system alleged PFAS contaminated its drinking water after entering the Tennessee River from a landfill, groundwater and runoff.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP)  After days of delays, West Virginia's Republican-controlled Senate approved its redistricting map with little debate Tuesday.

The 17-district map passed on a 31-2 vote after the start of the Senate's floor session was pushed back multiple times. One member was absent. It now goes to the House of Delegates.

The vote came after the Senate considered and swapped several versions of the map since the Oct. 11 start of the special session. A third reading that was supposed to happen last Wednesday was delayed into this week.

This has been an agonizing, in some ways, process. A very interesting process, said Senate redistricting committee chairman Charles Trump, a Morgan County Republican and one of four GOP senators whose names were attached to the final map.

The approved map splits 11 of the state's 55 counties, down from the current configuration of 13 splintered counties. A map originally approved by the redistrict committee that didn't make the final cut would have split seven counties. Two other proposed maps did not advance during debate Monday.

Trump discussed the makeup of each district in the final map in detail. While the state constitution requires districts to be compact, bounded by county lines and be as equal as possible in population, Trump said geography and population losses forced some counties to be merged into districts with other adjoining counties.

Each district must be as close to 105,513 residents as possible. Five districts would be within a percentage point of that goal. But the approved map would place nearly 111,000 people in the 6th District and only about 100,000 in the adjoining 7th District. Both are in the southern part of the state.

I'm quite sure that there isnt a single person in this room that would say this is my perfect plan, this is my dream plan, Trump said.

Democrat Richard Lindsay, one of two senators to oppose the final map, objected to his home county of Kanawha being split into three districts from the current two. He was the only other senator to discuss the 17-district configuration.

Most of Kanawha County would form the 17th District with a portion of Putnam County. Other parts of Kanawha County are added to the coalfield counties of Boone, Lincoln and Logan to form the new 7th District.

The most unusually shaped district of all, the 8th District, resembles a backhoe and includes the city of Charleston and other slivers of Kanawha County in one corner. The district also has the entire rural counties of Clay and Roane and parts of Jackson and Putnam counties.

I believe this amendment is a disservice to the people of Kanawha County, Lindsay said.

Senate Republicans outnumber Democrats 23-11 in a state that Donald Trump carried by large margins in the 2016 and 2020 elections. Last February, registered GOP voters in the state overtook Democrats for the first time since 1932.

As of July, the latest month available, 38.2% of registered voters were Republicans, 35.2% were Democrats and 22.3% had no party affiliation, according to the secretary of states office. However, 23 of the states 55 counties have more registered Democrats than Republicans.
BERLIN (AP)  Austrian media reported Tuesday that the bodies of two men were found in a minibus carrying dozens of migrants near the border with Hungary.

Public broadcaster ORF reported that authorities stopped the vehicle and found 28 people crammed inside, two of them dead.
PHILADELPHIA (AP)  A judge has granted a prosecution request to reinstate charges against a former Philadelphia police officer seen on video lowering the face covering of at least one protester before dousing a group with pepper spray as they knelt on a city interstate during a demonstration in the summer of 2020.

Common Pleas Court Judge Crystal Bryant-Powell reversed a decision by another judge to throw out charges against ex-SWAT officer Richard Paul Nicoletti, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. Without explaining her ruling, she ordered Nicoletti held for trial on charges including simple assault, official oppression, and reckless endangerment.

Municipal Court Judge William Austin Meehan earlier this year ruled that Nicoletti had been authorized by his commanders to clear the highway during protests over the death of George Floyd and had been given pepper spray as a tool to do so. You may not like their methods, that doesnt criminalize their method, Meehan said.

Nicolettis attorney, Fortunato Perri Jr., declined comment after Tuesday's ruling. District Attorney Larry Krasner hailed the ruling and vowed to proceed with criminal prosecution.

Video of the June 2020 protest that circulated widely on social media showed Nicoletti in riot gear approach three protesters kneeling on Interstate 676 and pull down at least one protesters mask or goggles before pepper-spraying them. He was fired several weeks later.

After the city and state police use of tear gas against demonstrators who had made their way onto the expressway gained national attention, Mayor Jim Kenney and police commissioner Danielle Outlaw apologized, calling the use of force that day unjustifiable.

Fraternal Order of Police President John McNesby, however, said the Philadelphia police union would help Nicoletti with his defense. The union has had a confrontational relationship with Krasners office, and McNesby accused the prosecutor of an anti-police agenda.

A judge dismissed charges against another officer for actions during the protests, ruling that prosecutors had failed to provide evidence that Staff Inspector Joseph Bolognas use of a baton constituted a crime. Krasner re-filed charges the following month and the case is pending.
DETROIT (AP)  Two people were ambushed and killed while in a car with their child at a Detroit gas station, police said.

Two men fired shots at the car Monday night, killing a man and a woman.
PHENIX CITY, Ala. (AP)  Sometimes when shes feeding her infant daughter, Amanda Harrison is overcome with emotion and has to wipe away tears of gratitude. She is lucky to be here, holding her baby.

Harrison was 29 weeks pregnant and unvaccinated when she got sick with COVID-19 in August. Her symptoms were mild at first, but she suddenly felt like she couldnt breathe. Living in Phenix City, Alabama, she was intubated and flown to a hospital in Birmingham, where doctors delivered baby Lake two months early and put Harrison on life support.

Kyndal Nipper, who hails from outside Columbus, Georgia, had only a brief bout with COVID-19 but a more tragic outcome. She was weeks away from giving birth in July when she lost her baby, a boy she and her husband planned to name Jack.

Now Harrison and Nipper are sharing their stories in an attempt to persuade pregnant women to get COVID-19 vaccinations to protect themselves and their babies. Their warnings come amid a sharp increase in the number of severely ill pregnant women that led to 22 pregnant women dying from COVID in August, a one-month record.

We made a commitment that we would do anything in our power to educate and advocate for our boy, because no other family should have to go through this, Nipper said of herself and her husband.

Harrison said she will nicely argue to the bitter end that pregnant women get vaccinated because it could literally save your life.

Since the pandemic began, health officials have reported more than 125,000 cases and at least 161 deaths of pregnant women from COVID-19 in the U.S., according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And over the past several months, hospitals and doctors in virus hot spots have reported a sharp increase in the number of severely ill pregnant women.

With just 31% of pregnant women nationwide vaccinated, the CDC issued an urgent advisory on Sept. 29 recommending that they get the shots. The agency cautioned that COVID-19 in pregnancy can cause preterm birth and other adverse outcomes, and that stillbirths have been reported.

Dr. Akila Subramaniam, an assistant professor in the maternal-fetal medicine division of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, said the hospital saw a marked rise in the number of critically ill pregnant women during July and August. She said a study there found the delta variant of COVID-19 is associated with increased rates of severe disease in pregnant women and increased rates of preterm birth.

Is it because the delta variant is just more infectious or is it because delta is more severe? I dont think we know the answer to that, Subramaniam said.

When COVID-19 vaccines became available to pregnant women in their states this spring, both Harrison, 36, and Nipper, 29, decided to wait. The shots didn't have final approval from the Food and Drug Administration and pregnant women werent included in studies that led to emergency authorization, so initial guidance stopped short of fully recommending vaccination for them. Pfizer shots received formal approval in August.

The women live on opposite sides of the Alabama-Georgia line, an area that was hit hard by the delta variant this summer.

While Harrison had to be put on life support, Nippers symptoms were more subtle. When she was eight months pregnant, she lost her sense of smell and developed a fever. The symptoms went away quickly, but Jack didnt seem to be kicking as much as he had been. She tried drinking a caffeinated beverage: Nothing. She headed to the hospital in Columbus, Georgia, for fetal monitoring where medical staff delivered the news: Baby Jack was gone.

He was supposed to come into the world in three weeks or less, Nipper said. And for them to tell you theres no heartbeat and there is no movement ...

Nippers doctor, Timothy Villegas, said testing showed the placenta itself was infected with the virus and displayed patterns of inflammation similar to the lungs of people who died of COVID-19.

The infection likely caused the babys death by affecting its ability to get oxygen and nutrients, Villegas said. The doctor said he has since learned of similar cases from other physicians.

Were at that point where everybody is starting to raise some red flags, he said.

In west Alabama, Dr. Cheree Melton, a family medicine physician who specializes in obstetrics and teaches at the University of Alabama, said she and her colleagues have had about a half-dozen unvaccinated patients infected with COVID-19 lose unborn children to either miscarriages or stillbirth, a problem that worsened with deltas spread.

Its absolutely heartbreaking to tell a mom that she will never get to hold her living child, she said. We have had to do that very often, more so than I remember doing over the last couple of years.

Melton said she encourages every unvaccinated pregnant woman she treats to get the shots, but that many havent. She said rumors and misinformation have been a problem.

I get everything from, Well, somebody told me that it may cause me to be infertile in the future to, It may harm my baby, she said.

Nipper said she wishes she had asked more questions about the vaccine. Looking back, I know I did everything that I could have possibly done to give him a healthy life, she said. "The only thing I didnt do, and Ill have to carry with me, is I didnt get the vaccine."

Now home from the hospital with a healthy baby, Harrison says she feels profound gratitude  tempered with survivors guilt.

I cry all the time. Just little things. Feeding her or hugging my 4-year-old. Just the thought of them having to go through life without me and thats a lot of peoples reality right now," Harrison said. It was very scary and it all could have been prevented if I had gotten a vaccination.

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Associated Press writer Jay Reeves in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, contributed to this report.
Associated Press (AP)  A former Mexican federal police commander admitted Tuesday that he accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes to help cartels ship cocaine into the United States.

Ivan Reyes Arzate served for years as a main point of contact for intelligence sharing between the United States and the Mexican federal police.

He pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in New York to conspiring with the El Seguimiento 39 drug cartel, which authorities said is associated with the notorious Sinaloa Cartel, whose former leader is Joaquin El Chapo Guzman.

Arzate previously was sentenced to three years in U.S. federal prison after pleading no contest in Chicago to charges he traded secrets to Mexicos Beltran Leyva cartel, which was then a faction of Guzmans cartel. Federal prosecutors in that case said Arzate had drawn on access to U.S. intelligence to help unmask a cartel informant who was later tortured and killed.

Breon Peace, the U.S. attorney in Brooklyn, said in a statement Tuesday that Arzate "forged a deplorable alliance with drug traffickers and betrayed not only the people of Mexico he was sworn to protect but also his law enforcement partners."

A message was sent to Arzate's defense attorney seeking comment.

Arzate, 49, of Mexico City, worked as a police officer in the Sensitive Investigative Unit of the Mexican federal police beginning in 2003.

He was appointed commander of the unit in 2008, making him its highest-ranking officer and the main point of contact for information sharing between U.S. and Mexican law enforcement assigned to these units.

In late 2016, as Mexican and U.S. authorities were investigating El Seguimiento 39, Arzate met with the cartel's leaders and shared information with them about the investigation, prosecutors said.

He also accepted a $290,000 bribe to assist the group, prosecutors said.

Arzate is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 6. He faces up to 40 years in prison.
WASHINGTON (AP)  Facebook is paying a $4.75 million fine and up to $9.5 million to eligible victims to resolve the Justice Departments allegations that it discriminated against U.S. workers in favor of foreigners with special visas to fill high-paying jobs.

Facebook also agreed in the settlement announced Tuesday to train its employees in anti-discrimination rules and to conduct more widespread advertising and recruitment for job opportunities in its permanent labor certification program, which allows an employer to hire a foreign worker to work permanently.

The departments civil rights division said the social network giant routinely refused to recruit, consider or hire U.S. workers, a group that includes U.S. citizens and nationals, people granted asylum, refugees and lawful permanent residents, for positions it had reserved for temporary visa holders.

Facebook sponsored the visa holders for green cards authorizing them to work permanently. The so-called H-1B visas are a staple of Silicon Valley, widely used by software programmers and other employees of major U.S. technology companies.

Critics of the practice contend that the foreign nationals will work for lower wages than U.S. citizens. The tech companies maintain that's not the case, that they turn to foreign nationals because they have trouble finding qualified programmers and other engineers who are U.S. citizens.

In principle, Facebook is doing a good thing by applying for green cards for its workers, but it has also learned how to game the system to avoid hiring U.S. tech workers," said Daniel Costa, director of immigration law and policy research at the liberal-leaning Economic Policy Institute. Facebook started lobbying to change the system more to its liking starting back in 2013 when the comprehensive immigration bill that passed the Senate was being negotiated."

The settlement terms announced Tuesday are the largest civil penalty and back-pay award ever recovered by the civil rights division in the 35-year history of enforcing anti-discrimination rules under the Immigration and Nationality Act, officials said. The back pay would be awarded to people deemed to have been unfairly denied employment.

The government said Facebook intentionally created a hiring system in which it denied qualified U.S. workers a fair opportunity to learn about and apply for jobs that it instead sought to channel to temporary visa holders.

Facebook is not above the law and must comply with our nations federal civil rights laws, which prohibit discriminatory recruitment and hiring practices," Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke told reporters in a telephone conference. Companies cannot set aside certain positions for temporary visa holders because of their citizenship or immigration status."

Facebook also agreed in a separate settlement with the Labor Department to expand its recruitment for U.S. workers and to be subject to ongoing audits to ensure compliance.

The company based in Menlo Park, California, said it believes it met the government's standards in its practices. It said it agreed to the settlements to end the litigation and move ahead with its permanent labor certification program  which it called an important part of its overall immigration program.

These resolutions will enable us to continue our focus on hiring the best builders from both the U.S. and around the world, and supporting our internal community of highly skilled visa holders who are seeking permanent residence," Facebook said in a statement.

Facebook says it ended the April-June quarter this year with over 63,400 full-time employees globally and has 3,000 current job openings.

The lawsuit was filed against Facebook last December by the Justice Department under the Trump administration. The alleged violations are said to have occurred from at least Jan. 1, 2018 to at least Sept. 18, 2019.

A $4.75 million fine and $9.5 million in back pay are a trifle for a company valued at $1 trillion with revenue of nearly $86 billion last year. But the announcement comes at a time of intense public discomfort and scrutiny for Facebook.

Public allegations and testimony to Congress from a former Facebook data scientist that the company disregarded internal research showing harm to children have raised a public outcry and calls for stricter government oversight of the company. The former employee, Frances Haugen, accused Facebook of prioritizing profit over safety and being dishonest in its public fight against hate and misinformation.

The company is also awaiting a federal judges ruling in an epic antitrust suit filed against it by the Federal Trade Commission. Calls from critics and lawmakers of both parties to break up the behemoth company are intensifying.

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Follow Marcy Gordon at https://twitter.com/mgordonap
As death approached, Colin Powell was still in fighting form.

"I've got multiple myeloma cancer, and I've got Parkinson's disease. But otherwise I'm fine," he said in a July interview.

And he rejected expressions of sorrow at his condition.

"Don't feel sorry for me, for God's sakes! I'm [84] years old," said Powell who died Monday. "I haven't lost a day of life fighting these two diseases. I'm in good shape."

Over 32 years beginning in 1989 after the United States invasion of Panama, I conducted about 50 interviews with Powell who was the first Black chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the first Black secretary of state. The last interview was a phone call, three months ago on July 12 for 42 minutes and recorded with Powell's agreement.

Of his visits to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, he said "I have to get all kinds of exams and I'm a former Chairman, so they don't want to lose me so they make me come there all the time. I've taken lots of exams and I get there on my own. I drive up in my Corvette, get out of the Corvette and go into the hospital. I also go to a clinic to get the blood tests taken. I don't advertise it but most of my friends know it."

We quickly switched to defense issues and foreign policy. I asked him about President Joe Biden's decision to withdraw all U.S. troops completely from Afghanistan?

"I thought we had to get out of there eventually," Powell said. "[We] can't beat these guys. Well, let's get it over with. Afghanistan, you're never going to win. Afghans are going to win.

"They have hundreds willing to fight and die for this country of theirs. That's why I don't have any problem with us getting out of there. We can't go from 100,000 [U.S. troops] down to a few hundred and think that'll prevail."

At one point during our phone call, Alma Powell, his wife, called to him.

"Hang on a minute," he told me. "I'm on the phone, Alma!" he said shouting back to her, and then in a whisper he added, "She never liked me talking to you, but here we are."

In Powell's memoir, "My American Journey," he recounted how he and I had talked in 1989. He wrote in his book that my story in The Washington Post the next day "was not inaccurate, but neither was it helpful."

He added, "I continued dealing with Woodward, though Alma warned me to handle with care."

His thoughts on Afghanistan were among several ruminations on current foreign policy issues.

"How does anybody think that North Korea would find a way to attack us without us destroying them the next morning," he said, "How can anyone think equally of Iran. Iran and North Korea cannot be our enemies because they cannot stand the results of such a conflict. We're going to be terrified of these people? No. Would they dare?"

"But sometimes you get a leader who's suicidal," I said.

"True. True . . . The Chinese are not going to let us start a war with North Korea. They love North Korea. They want North Korea. I don't. North Korea doesn't bother me. Let the little jerk [Kim Jong Un] have his parades and what not. He'll never try to attack us because he knows it would be assisted suicide."

"And I felt the same way about Iran. I felt the same way for the most part about Russia. They can't afford it. They've got [145] million people. We've got 330 million people."

We returned to one of the defining moments in his life and discussed how the first Gulf War had taken only 42 days. The ground war component lasted only four days before President George H.W. Bush declared a cease-fire. The U.S. and coalition forces overran Kuwait and Southern Iraq, destroyed Saddam Hussein's army, routed the Iraqi Republican Guard, dictated the terms of peace and killed tens of thousands of Iraqis. Kuwait was liberated. American casualties were 137 killed in action and seven missing in action.

"That's close to it," Powell said. "Had another couple hundred killed in accidents."

Overall, given the low American casualties, he said of the war, "I'm so proud of that I can't see straight."

Powell continued, "Before the ground war started, I went to a White House meeting and pulled [Secretary of Defense Richard B.] Cheney and the president aside. And I said, 'You know, I got to tell you about something, the ground [war] is about to start.'

" 'And I need to warn you a little bit, that when we lose an airplane, it crashes and I lose one guy. If they hit a tank, you'll see four burning guys come out of it and you will see terrible things in ground war that you will never see in air war. So be prepared for that and be prepared to respond to it and defend us when we're in ground war.' I didn't know it was going to be as easy as it was or as well-prepared as it was. And they took that seriously."

I mentioned that in a journalism class I teach, one of the students asked, "What does the truth accomplish?"

"This is scary," Powell said. "You just scared the hell out of me if this is what our kids are saying and thinking. Where are they getting it from? Media?" He sighed. "It's a strange time. It's a strange time. It's a time that's rattled a lot of cages and I don't, you know."

President Donald Trump was not reelected, he noted, "but Trump refuses to acknowledge that he wasn't reelected. He has people who go along with him on that."

What about the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol?

"It was awful. He was going in there to overturn the government."

I asked Powell, "Who was the greatest man, woman or person you have ever known? Not . . . a leader, not necessarily, but the inner person. You know, the moral compass, the sense of propriety, the sense of the truth matters. Who is that in all of your life? Who?"

"It's Alma Powell," he said immediately. "She was with me the whole time. We've been married 58 years. And she put up with a lot. She took care of the kids when I was, you know, running around. And she was always there for me and she'd tell me, 'That's not a good idea.' She was usually right."

- - -

The Washington Post's Clare McMullen contributed to this report.
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP)  Hurricane Idas destruction across southeastern Louisiana will force thousands of voters to cast their ballots at different polling locations for next month's election, with some voting sites relegated to large tents because few area buildings were free of damage.

Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin said Tuesday that elections officials are working to notify people about the dozens of voting location changes through mail, advertising and signs. The Nov. 13 election already was pushed back several weeks because of the storm.

Weve worked really hard to find locations as close to the previous locations as possible so voters arent put out of their way, as best as we can, Ardoin, the state's Republicans elections chief, said in an interview.

Nine parishes have disrupted polling locations because of Ida, which roared ashore Aug. 29 as a Category 4 storm.

In portions of hard-hit Lafourche and Terrebonne parishes, some voters will cast ballots in large tents that will be ventilated by fans and have security workers on site. In St. John the Baptist Parish, 27 of 28 voting sites will be relocated, with several consolidated into a local gym, because of the widespread destruction to parish buildings and schools that are normally used.

Other parishes with some voting site changes include Assumption, Jefferson, Orleans, St. Charles, St. Helena and Plaquemines.

Meanwhile, all Cameron Parish voters again will make election decisions on voting machines in tents at a combined polling location just like last year, because buildings remain wrecked from 2020's Hurricane Laura, Ardoin said. Some voting sites in Calcasieu Parish also remain relocated.

People trying to determine where to vote can check the secretary of state's website at geauxvote.com, log into the state's GeauxVote mobile app or call 1-800-883-2805.

The only statewide issues on the fall ballot are four constitutional amendments, including a proposal to overhaul Louisianas income tax structure. Some parishes will see special elections to fill vacant legislative seats and other local races. New Orleans has a full slate of municipal elections, including the mayors race. Early voting begins Oct. 30.

To tell people about the voting site changes, elections officials are mailing information to people's homes, placing signs in high-traffic areas, running radio and digital ads, passing out flyers at local churches and hanging up posters in prominent parish locations.

People displaced by Ida who won't be in their home parish for the election also can seek to vote absentee by mail.

After the storm struck, the secretary of state toured some of the worst-hit parishes to meet with local elections officials and get a first-hand view of the damage Ida wrought on polling locations.

At a Plaquemines Parish church used as a voting site, Ardoin found a heavily damaged building with a dislodged tomb resting by the front door that he knew would not be suitable for setting up voting machines by November.

I opened the door and a snake slithered away," he said. Let's just say it was very impactful.

The statewide election, initially scheduled for Oct. 9, was delayed until Nov. 13 to allow time for power restoration, reconfigured voting locations and other work to pull off an election in a disaster zone. Any runoffs needed will be held Dec. 11.

Ardoin does not believe Ida will worsen voter turnout, which he already expected to be dismal. With 21 of Louisiana's 64 parishes only having the constitutional amendments on the ballot, the secretary of state is predicting about 13% to 15% of voters statewide will show up at the polls. He expects higher turnout in New Orleans.

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Follow Melinda Deslatte on Twitter at http://twitter.com/melindadeslatte.
NEWTON, Iowa (AP)  A plant closing in the central Iowa town of Newton will mean the loss of more than 700 jobs.

TPI Composites makes wind blade turbines for wind energy. Several media reports cite a notice on the state workforce development website saying the plant will lay off 710 workers by Dec. 31.
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP)  A group of Oklahoma students and educators on Tuesday filed a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of a law that bans the teaching of certain concepts of race and racism.

The law, HB 1775, also prevents colleges and universities from requiring students to undergo gender or sexual diversity training.

The American Civil Liberties Union and others filed the lawsuit on behalf of the group that also includes the American Indian Movement and the Oklahoma State Conference of the NAACP.

H.B. 1775 severely restricts discussions on race and gender in Oklahomas elementary, secondary, and higher education schools without any legitimate pedagogical justification, using language that is simultaneously sweeping and unclear, according to the lawsuit.

The law is "a direct attack on the education experience of the Black community specifically, and marginalized communities at large on campus, said Lilly Amechi, a member of the Black Emergency Response Team, a group of Black student leaders at the University of Oklahoma.

Plaintiff Regan Killacky is an English teacher in the Edmond school district in suburban Oklahoma City.

H.B. 1775 limits my ability to teach an inclusive and complete history within the walls of my classroom, ultimately restricting the exact type of learning environment all young people deserve," said Killacky, who is identified in the lawsuit as white.

The GOP-backed bill prohibits the teaching of critical race theory" and was passed by the Republican majority Legislature and signed by Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt this year. The hard-to-define theory centers on the idea that racism is systemic in U.S. institutions, many of which function to maintain white dominance in society.

Its par for the course that when something goes against the lefts liberal agenda, activist groups attempt to come into Oklahoma and challenge our laws and our way of life, Stitt spokesperson Carly Atchison said in a statement. Governor Stitt stands by his decision to sign HB 1775.

Republican-controlled legislatures in more than a dozen states have considered or signed into law bills that would limit the teaching of certain ideas linked to critical race theory, which seeks to reframe the narrative of American history.

Oklahoma's legislation was sponsored by Republican Rep. Kevin West, who said the law is common sense and guarantees that history taught in schools does not shame children into taking the blame for past problems.

It is unfortunate, but not surprising, to see radical leftist organizations supporting the racist indoctrination of our children that HB 1775 was written to stop, West said in a statement.

The lawsuit asks the federal court in Oklahoma City for a temporary injunction and to declare the law unconstitutional.
WAILUKU, Hawaii (AP)  Maui Mayor Michael Victorino said he tested negative for COVID-19 after seeing on social media that an opponent of pandemic safety rules he met with earlier tested positive.

Victorino had a meeting Thursday with three unvaccinated residents opposed to state and county emergency public health rules meant to curb the spread of the virus. The three residents had negative test results prior to the meeting and wore masks, Victorino said.

He said Monday that two of them later tested positive, but on Tuesday issued a corrected news release saying that only one meeting participant tested positive.

Victorino said he learned he was exposed through a social media post late Saturday.

I am disappointed that no one reached out to my office to immediately let me know of the positive test, Victorino said. That was irresponsible, and could result in the spread of the disease by myself and several executive staff members."

The infected individual did not contact the mayor's office until Monday morning, Victorino said.

Members of his staff who attended the meeting also tested negative. Victorino and all members of his executive staff are fully vaccinated.

Ironically, the infected individual is a shining example that masks do work to prevent the spread of COVID-19, Victorino said. I wish him a speedy and complete recovery from his illness.

The residents had requested the in-person meeting to advocate for a town-hall style public event with others opposed to safety measures, Victorino said.

Victorino said he won't participate in any in-person town halls but will continue to meet virtually with members of the community.

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This version corrects how many people tested positive.
BENTON HARBOR, Mich. (AP)  Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said she visited Benton Harbor on Tuesday to listen to residents who have been urged to use bottled water because of elevated levels of lead in their tap water.

Whitmer's stop, which wasn't publicly disclosed until it was over, came hours after city commissioners unanimously declared an emergency and empowered Mayor Marcus Muhammad to lead Benton Harbor's response.

We've heard the cry of the people. ... Anything the mayor needs from this commission, were going to work with him tooth and nail," Commissioner Duane Seats said.

Benton Harbor, a predominantly Black, mostly low-income community of 9,700, is in southwestern Michigan, 100 miles (160 kilometers) from Chicago.

Lead levels in water have exceeded the federal threshold. Unlike Flint, where state-appointed managers switched the water source and then didn't properly treat it, the situation in Benton Harbor is different in some ways.

Benton Harbor, like many communities, gets water from Lake Michigan, but the system moves water through old lead pipes. Some experts believe a drop in water volume due to fewer customers has also contributed to contamination.

Lead is considered harmful at any level, and children are particularly vulnerable because it can slow growth and result in behavioral problems.

The state is providing free water to residents for cooking and drinking.

We will not rest until every parent feels confident to give their kid a glass of water knowing that it is safe, Whitmer said in a written statement.

The cost to replace about 6,000 lead service lines is estimated at $30 million. Nearly $19 million in state and federal money has been set aside, and Whitmer hopes the Republican-controlled Legislature will agree to use more federal money to reach the goal.

The mayor was asked at a news conference if he was disappointed that Whitmer hadn't acted sooner.

My Bible says that money solveth all things," Muhammad said. "This is a $30 million job, and the money was not there three years ago.

He said nobody wins in a blame game.

She cant act alone," Muhammad said. "This is a democracy. ... Im just happy today to stand here and say we do have money, we are moving forward."

Separately, the state Senate Oversight Committee asked the state's environmental agency for documents related to Benton Harbor, including email and correspondence dating to 2019, when Whitmer, a Democrat, took office.

State Sen. Ed McBroom, the Republican committee chairman, cited a recent Detroit News report that said the state failed to tell residents that their water was unsafe for more than two years while trying treatments to reduce lead levels.

The Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy will explain "how Benton Harbor officials and residents were informed of drinking water lead levels, spokesman Hugh McDiarmid Jr. said.
COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP)  Help for roughly 100,000 teachers whose Social Security numbers were made vulnerable in a massive state data breach could cost Missouri as much as $50 million, the governor's office confirmed Tuesday.

The estimate includes the cost of credit monitoring and a call center to help affected teachers.

Republican Gov. Mike Parsons spokeswoman on Tuesday confirmed reports from state House budget officials that explained the $50 million price tag. The information was publicized by Democratic House lawmakers.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch broke the news about the security flaw last week. The newspaper said it discovered the vulnerability in a web application that allowed the public to search teacher certifications and credentials.

Parson, who has deflected his administration's responsibility for the breach and instead cast blame on the newspaper for identifying the issue and warning the education department about it, last week said the breach may cost Missouri taxpayers as much as $50 million and divert workers and resources from other state agencies.

Parson declined to answer questions after slamming the Post-Dispatch in a livestreamed press conference last week. Until House Democrats publicized the $50 million cost breakdown Tuesday, Parson's office had declined to provide further information, citing a pending investigation by the Missouri State Highway Patrol.

Spokeswoman Kelli Jones in an email Tuesday said the administration doesnt have a cost estimate for the investigation yet.

Parson has also said his administration flagged the security issue to the Cole County prosecutor.

During his tirade last week against the free press, Governor Parson strongly implied the states investigation and prosecution of a Post-Dispatch reporter would cost Missouri taxpayers $50 million, Democratic Rep. Peter Merideth said in a statement.

Merideth said Democratic lawmakers' inquiry to Parson's administration instead found that most of the estimated $50 million would pay for credit monitoring for teachers put at risk by the states mistake.

He called that a "much worthier endeavor than bullying a reporter who did the right thing by bringing this issue to light.
WASHINGTON (AP)  A Navy report has concluded there were sweeping failures by commanders, crew members and others that fueled the July 2020 arson fire that destroyed the USS Bonhomme Richard, calling the massive five-day blaze in San Diego preventable and unacceptable.

While one sailor has been charged with setting the fire, the more than 400-page report, obtained by The Associated Press, lists three dozen officers and sailors whose failings either directly led to the ship's loss or contributed to it. The findings detailed widespread lapses in training, coordination, communication, fire preparedness, equipment maintenance and overall command and control.

Although the fire was started by an act of arson, the ship was lost due to an inability to extinguish the fire, the report said, concluding that repeated failures by an inadequately prepared crew delivered "an ineffective fire response."

It slammed commanders of the amphibious assault ship for poor oversight, and said the main firefighting foam system wasn't used because it hadn't been maintained properly and the crew didn't know how to use it. The report is expected to be released Wednesday.

U.S. Navy officials on Tuesday said that while crews at sea consistently meet high firefighting standards, those skills drop off when ships move into maintenance periods. The Bonhomme Richard was undergoing maintenance at the time of the fire.

During maintenence there are more people and organizations involved with the ship, including contractors. And the repairs often involve equipment and chemicals that present different hazards and challenges.

The report describes a ship in disarray, with combustible materials scattered and stored improperly. It said maintenance reports were falsified, and that 87% of the fire stations on board had equipment problems or had not been inspected.

It also found that crew members didn't ring the bells to alert sailors of a fire until 10 minutes after it was discovered. Those crucial minutes, the report said, caused delays in crews donning fire gear, assembling hose teams and responding to the fire.

Sailors also failed to push the button and activate the firefighting foam system, even though it was accessible and could have slowed the fire's progress. No member of the crew interviewed considered this action or had specific knowledge as to the location of the button or its function, the report said.

The report spreads blame across a wide range of ranks and responsibilities, from the now retired three-star admiral who headed Naval Surface Force Pacific Fleet  Vice Adm. Richard Brown  to senior commanders, lower ranking sailors and civilian program managers. Seventeen were cited for failures that directly led to the loss of the ship, while 17 others contributed to the loss of the ship. Two other sailors were faulted for not effectively helping the fire response. Of the 36, nine are civilians.

Adm. William Lescher, the vice chief of naval operations, has designated the commander of U.S. Pacific Fleet to handle any disciplinary actions for military members. The Navy officials said the disciplinary process is just beginning. One official said the key challenge in making improvements will be addressing the human factor, including leadership skills and ensuring that everyone down to the lowest ranking sailors understands their responsibilities, and can recognize problems and correct them.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the report ahead of its public release.

Specifically, the report said failures of Vice Adm. Brown; Rear Adm. Scott Brown, the fleet maintenance officer for the Pacific Fleet; Rear Adm. William Greene, the fleet maintenance officer for U.S. Fleet Forces Command; Rear. Adm. Eric Ver Hage, commander of the regional maintenance center; Rear Adm. Bette Bolivar, commander of Navy Region Southwest; Capt. Mark Nieswiadomy, commander of Naval Base San Diego; and Capt. Tony Rodriguez, commander of Amphibious Squadron 5, all contributed to the loss of the ship.

The report also directly faults the ships three top officers  Capt. Gregory Thoroman, the commanding officer; Capt. Michael Ray, the executive officer; and Command Master Chief Jose Hernandez  for not effectively ensuring the readiness and condition of the ship.

The execution of his duties created an environment of poor training, maintenance and operational standards that directly led to the loss of the ship," the report said of Thoroman. And it said Ray, Hernandez and Capt. David Hart, commander of the Southwest Regional Maintenance Center, also failed in their responsibilities, which directly led to the loss of the ship.

The report only provides names for senior naval officers. Others were described solely by their job or rank.

More broadly, the crew was slammed for a pattern of failed drills, minimal crew participation, an absence of basic knowledge on firefighting and an inability to coordinate with civilian firefighters.

The loss of the USS Bonhomme Richard was a completely avoidable catastrophe, said U.S. Rep. John Garamendi, D-Calif., chairman of the House Armed Services readiness subcommittee. He said he read the report with shock and anger, and will look into the matter carefully to determine the full extent of the negligence and complacency that occurred.

The ship was undergoing a two-year, $250 million upgrade pierside in San Diego when the fire broke out. About 115 sailors were on board, and nearly 60 were treated for heat exhaustion, smoke inhalation and minor injuries. The failure to extinguish or contain the fire led to temperatures exceeding 1,200 degrees Fahrenheit in some areas, melting sections of the ship into molten metal that flowed into other parts of the ship.

Due to the damage, the Navy decommissioned the ship in April. In August, Seaman Apprentice Ryan Mays was charged with aggravated arson and the willful hazarding of a vessel. He has denied setting the fire.

The blaze began in the lower storage area, which Mays duty station had access to, according to a court document. Investigators found three of four fire stations on the ship had evidence of tampering, including disconnected firehoses, and highly flammable liquid was found near the ignition site.

Efforts to put out the fire were hampered because the ships crew and other outside fire response departments and organizations were not coordinated, couldnt communicate effectively, hadnt exercised together and werent well trained, the report said.

The report, written by Vice Adm. Scott Conn, included a number of recommended changes and improvements that have been endorsed by Lescher. The Navy set up a new fire safety assessment program that conducts random inspections, and has taken steps to increase training. Nearly 170 of those inspections have already been done, and officials said they are finding good results.

The Navy also conducted a historical study, looking closely at 15 shipyard fires over the last 12 years. It found recurring trends including failures to comply with fire prevention, detection and response policies.

As a result, Navy leaders are expanding the staffing and responsibilities of the Naval Safety Center, to perform audits and unannounced assessments of Navy units. The final costs are still being calculated.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP)  A magistrate has ruled that there is probable cause for a case to continue against a man accused of threatening to kill Alaskas two U.S. senators in profanity-filled voicemails left on their office phones.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Scott A. Oravec on Tuesday ordered the case against Jay Allen Johnson be sent to the next available grand jury for consideration. Given the fluidity of the COVID-19 situation in Alaska  Tuesdays preliminary hearing was held remotely  it was not known when that grand jury would be empaneled.

Johnson, 65, faces counts of threatening to murder a U.S. official, threatening interstate communications, being a felon in possession of weapons and threatening to destroy property by fire.

He is accused of making threats against U.S. Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan and of threatening to burn down properties owned by Murkowski in a series of messages left over the span of months.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Ryan Tansey called one witness during the preliminary hearing, FBI Special Agent Matthew Patrick Allen Oudbier, who investigated the voicemails left at the senators' offices in Washington, D.C. He said he received copies of the voice messages from both offices and from Capitol police and traced them back to Johnson. In some messages, Oudbier said, the caller identified himself as Jay Johnson and left his Alaska phone number.

During the hearing, Tansey played just one voicemail left for Murkowski, which he said was enough to establish probable cause.

In it, the caller is upset over people who enter the country illegally and tells Murkowski, Youre life is worth $5,000. Thats all its worth. He vows to hire the terrorists, assassins that the caller says she has let in. Im going to use them to come and assassinate your (expletives).

He also tells her not to run for re-election in 2022 because youre not doing what Alaskans want.

If you in any way support this Biden communist, bought-off Chinese administration, I will be hiring the (expletive) that all of you have let in this country, he said.

In another voicemail that was played at Johnsons initial appearance on Oct. 8, Johnson is alleged to have said he would use his skills as a veteran to carry out his threats.

When asked, Oudbier said he could find no evidence that Johnson was a veteran. Representatives of the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines also told The Associated Press they could find no record of him in their systems.

The government is seeking to seize seven weapons  three pistols, two revolvers, a rifle and a shotgun  found after they searched Johnsons home in the small community of Delta Junction. Court documents said he is a felon because of several driving-under-the-influence charges.

Johnsons wife, Catherine Pousson-Johnson, said at the Oct. 8 detention hearing that her husband was in pain after recent surgeries on his spine, knee and shoulder.

My husband is an old man, and he gets very angry listening to politics on the news, she said.

Against his public defenders wishes, Johnson also spoke at the earlier hearing: Im a senior citizen and I am highly disabled and I will not be carrying out any of these threats.

I just apologize to everybody, he said later in the hearing.

During Tuesdays hearing, Johnson at one time said: Im requesting a apology statement if I could. At that point, his federal public defender, Gary Colbath, asked him to wait on this, per their earlier discussions.

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Associated Press reporter Lolita Baldor in Washington, D.C., contributed to this report.
Colin Powell had kept the political world guessing: Was he a Democrat or a Republican?

At a packed news conference in November 1995, dominated by speculation about a presidential bid for the trailblazing four-star general, Powell delivered the big reveal: He had registered as a Republican.

That announcement was overshadowed by his other news, that he wouldn't seek the presidency, clearing the way for Sen. Bob Dole, R-Kan., to seize the GOP nomination and removing a challenge to President Bill Clinton, a Democrat. But Powell used that very public moment to lay out his vision for the Republican Party and what the first Black chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff hoped to accomplish.

"I believe I can help the party of Lincoln move once again close to the spirit of Lincoln," Powell said in a tacit rebuke of GOP ideologues who opposed racial diversity and extending a welcoming hand to immigrants.

His vision for the Republican Party, however, never materialized. Instead, it swiftly and surely moved toward Donald Trump's political worldview, a party warning of immigrants replacing White Americans, one wary and sometimes mocking of international engagement and willing to embrace a populism that has divided the nation. Powell, the hero of the 1991 Persian Gulf War who once was heralded as the next Dwight D. Eisenhower, became an outlier in the party.

In 2008, he endorsed Barack Obama, the first Black president, and later backed Democratic presidential candidates, soundly rejecting Trump. In January, after a pro-Trump mob stormed the U.S. Capitol, Powell said he could "no longer call himself a Republican."

The divorce seemed inevitable for a never-Trumper often described as a RINO - Republican in name only - by the party faithful, some of whom had once promoted him as a possible presidential nominee, a Black Republican in a GOP struggling for diversity.

"He certainly is one of the greatest political what-ifs," said Douglas Heye, a former Republican National Committee communications director who served as deputy chief of staff to former House majority leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., referring to Powell's potential as a leader of a modern GOP. "It highlights the fact that people like him were turning away in part because of some of that increased - especially racial - rhetoric that was acceptable in too many parts of the Republican Party."

Powell, who died Monday at the age of 84 due to complications from covid-19, was widely praised by presidents, politicians and former colleagues. His death cast his complicated political legacy in sharp relief.

"Colin was, first and foremost, a military leader, probably one of the finest leaders in the post-World War II era," former defense secretary Leon Panetta said in an interview with The Washington Post. "He was totally dedicated to the country, to our national security, to the truth, and always put country ahead of party. That's who he was."

Powell resisted entreaties to seek the presidency, saying that he was turning them down because he believed he lacked the "passion and commitment" needed for political life. Panetta agreed, saying he never thought Powell had the "fire in the belly to run for public office" because he never "felt comfortable having to play the political game."

"I thought of him really more as just a straight public servant, and I think, because of that, he really believed in doing what was right for the country and adhering to the values that he thought were important to the country," Panetta said. "When he sensed that the Republican Party was moving away from those values, it really meant for him that he had to stay true to who he was."

Following the Jan. 6 insurrection, Powell disavowed his party. In an interview with CNN, he was asked if members of the GOP realized that they "encouraged at least this wildness to grow and grow," referring to the Trump administration.

"They didn't, and that's why I can no longer call myself a fellow Republican," Powell replied.

"I'm not a fellow of anything right now," he added. "I'm just a citizen who has voted Republican, voted Democrat, throughout my entire career, and right now I'm just watching my country and not concerned with parties."

President Joe Biden and former presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama paid tribute to Powell Monday; former president Donald Trump was silent.

As he stood before the cameras to say he would not run for the White House in 1995, Powell took a moment to recognize the fact that a Black man was being seriously considered as a presidential candidate.

"That's the realization of a great dream, even though I may not be the one to fill it," he said, a line others would later cite to explain why he endorsed Obama instead of Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., the 2008 Republican presidential nominee who, like Powell, was a Vietnam War veteran.

His backing of Obama "wasn't some kind of radical shift," said Anthony Cordesman, who served as national security adviser to McCain on the Senate Armed Services Committee and is the emeritus strategy chair of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"It was dictated more by the character of what was a candidate on the Republican side he respected a great deal more than perhaps a preceding president, but that was replaced by a figure who, for obvious reasons, was a symbol of many of the other causes and issues that he supported," Cordesman said Monday.

Former secretary of state Madeleine Albright, who preceded Powell, said his support for Obama was "clearly a difficult decision. I obviously think it was a very good one, but it was because of the way that he approached issues in terms of seeing beyond party."

Powell's warnings against Trump, Heye said, may have come at a time when not many in the GOP were listening to him anymore, given that he had chosen to endorse Obama over McCain.

"Since he essentially had left the party in 2008 and had warned - in a lot of cases, perhaps presciently so - of more extreme elements in the party, by the time we get to an actual Trump presidency, much less January 6, Powell had largely left that conversation," Heye said.

In their tributes to Powell, Republicans focused on his pioneer status and years of service.

"It is hard to imagine a more quintessentially American story: A son of Jamaican immigrants who learned Yiddish from his boyhood neighbors in the Bronx becomes a four-star General in the United States Army and serves four presidential administrations, including as National Security Advisor, the youngest-ever Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the first Black Secretary of State," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., in a statement.

Democrats, most notably Obama, highlighted the times Powell broke with the GOP.

"At a time when conspiracy theories were swirling, with some questioning my faith, General Powell took the opportunity to get to the heart of the matter in a way only he could," Obama said in a statement.

"The correct answer is, he is not a Muslim; he's a Christian," Powell said of Obama in 2008. "But the really right answer is, 'What if he is?' Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer's no, that's not America. Is there something wrong with some 7-year-old Muslim American kid believing that he or she could be president?"

"That's who Colin Powell was," Obama said. "He understood what was best in this country, and tried to bring his own life, career, and public statements in line with that ideal."

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., recognized the significance of Powell's move to endorse Obama, saying "it meant something to the many Republicans and Democrats who had hoped they might cast such a vote for him years earlier."

"When he rejected Donald Trump's divisive rhetoric and failed leadership, it sent a powerful message to many in the Republican Party with which Secretary Powell had long been associated and sought to rescue from extremism and demagoguery," Hoyer said.
BOSTON (AP)  Rules in Boston that set minimums for the participation of city residents, women and people of color as workers on construction projects are not being met by the vast majority of top projects.

City data obtained by GBH News shows that for the top 150 projects in Boston in the last five years, less than a third met racial equity goals, none met goals for women and three projects met goals for city residents.

In 2017, then-Mayor Marty Walsh updated rules for city-funded construction projects and private projects that exceed 50,000 square feet to require that people of color complete 40% of hours worked on a project, women work 12% of hours and city residents work 51% of hours.

The Boston Residents Jobs Policy was first enacted in 1983 with slightly lower participation percentages in each category: 25% of the hours worked by people of color, 10% by women and 50% by city residents.

Priscilla Flint-Banks, who serves on the Boston Employment Commission that oversees the jobs policy, told the broadcaster that adherence to the policy was horrible.

We want to make sure that our people have jobs  that women have jobs  that Boston residents have jobs, Black people, Latino people, she said. It doesnt make any sense that we would have a law like this on the book for our ordinance, and its not being enforced.

The percentage of hours worked on major projects by city residents actually fell from 28% of hours in 2017 to 24% in 2020, the broadcaster found.

Celina Barrios-Millner, chief of the Boston mayors Equity and Inclusion Cabinet, told the broadcaster that the rules do not include penalties for projects or companies that don't meet the minimum standards, just penalties for those who fail to report the demographics of their workforce.

What we can enforce with the ordinance is compliance with the reporting measures, not numbers of employees and/or percentage of workforce, she said.

The CEO of Cruz Construction, John Cruz III, said general contractors should do more to find and hire residents, people of color and women, but developers should also hire architects, engineers and lawyers who are members of those categories.

His company is a third-generation, Black-owned business that oversaw two out of the three major projects that hit the citys metrics for resident participation. He said the workforce is out there, even if it takes a little more work to find them.

To use that as an excuse is folly  its actually deception, and its racism, Cruz said.
JOHANNESBURG (AP)  The South African drug regulator has rejected the Russian-made coronavirus vaccine Sputnik V, citing some safety concerns the manufacturer wasn't able to answer.

The South African Health Products Regulatory Authority, or SAHPRA, said in a statement Tuesday that the request for Sputnik V to be authorized could not be approved at this time, referring to past failed HIV vaccines that used a similar technology. But the regulator added that its review process was continuing and that it was still open to receiving any further safety data from the Russian manufacturer.

A late-stage study published in the journal Lancet last year in more than 20,000 participants found that Sputnik V was safe and about 91% effective in preventing people from becoming severely ill with COVID-19.

Sputnik V uses two types of harmless viruses known as adenoviruses to carry the spike protein into the body, which then primes the immune system to produce antibodies against COVID-19. SAHPRA said concerns have been raised about the safety of Adenovirus Type 5, which is used in one of the Sputnik V doses. The other dose contains Adenovirus Type 26, which is also used by Johnson & Johnson.

South African officials pointed to two failed research studies testing an HIV vaccine also using Adenovirus Type 5, which found men who were vaccinated had a higher risk of being infected with HIV. The regulators said they had asked the Russian makers of Sputnik V to provide data proving the vaccine's safety in a country with high rates of HIV but that the applicant was not able to adequately address (their) request.

In a statement, the Gamaleya Center, Sputnik V's manufacturer, called the concerns about the vaccine's vector completely unfounded. It said speculation about the link between Adenovirus Type 5 and HIV transmission in high-risk populations was based on small-scale inconclusive studies among volunteers with highly probable risky behavior. It noted that the same vector was used in China's CanSino vaccine, which has been widely used in China.

Dr. Julian Tang, a virologist at Britain's University of Leicester, was perplexed by the South African decision to reject Sputnik V.

It's a strange connection to make, he said, explaining that while past concerns have been raised about using the particular virus vector in Sputnik V, much remains uncertain. It's not the vector that caused HIV so you can't just blame it on that, Tang said.

The vaccine made by AstraZeneca uses a related chimpanzee adenovirus; both it and the Johnson & Johnson shot have been approved in South Africa.

Amid widespread vaccine hesitancy in Russia, authorities have struggled to convince people to get vaccinated and the immunization rate in the country has remained stubbornly low, at about 32%, despite availability of Sputnik V.

Sputnik V is currently also being considered for authorization by the World Health Organization and the European Medicines Agency. The shot has been given the green light in more than 70 countries. To date no significant safety problems have been identified.

___

AP Medical Writer Maria Cheng reported from London.

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Follow all AP stories on the coronavirus pandemic at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP)  Union Pacific and its labor unions are suing each other to determine whether the railroad has the authority to require its employees to get vaccinated against the coronavirus.

The unions argue that the Omaha, Nebraska-based railroad should have negotiated with them before announcing it would require all employees to get the shots. The railroad contends in its own lawsuit that it believes it has the authority to require the vaccine under its existing contracts because it can set standards for when employees are fit for duty.

Union Pacific announced this month that it would require all employees to be vaccinated by Dec. 8 to comply with an executive order President Joe Biden issued requiring all federal contractors to have their employees vaccinated. The railroad is also offering its union employees a $300 bonus if they get the shots. Nonunion employees at the railroad are being offered a half day of vacation if they get vaccinated.

On the same day the Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers  Transportation Division, or SMART-TD, union filed its lawsuit against the railroad, Union Pacific filed its own lawsuit Friday against SMART-TD and two other unions that objected to the vaccination mandate to force the issue.

This action is necessary to prevent any disruption of the national rail network and to avoid any impact on Americas supply chain, as it continues to recover from the pandemic, Union Pacific spokeswoman Kristen South said in a statement.

Vaccine mandates from governments and other businesses have generated resistance in various workplaces.

The railroad told employees that they would be medically disqualified under their contracts rather than fired if they didn't get the shots.

But the unions said Union Pacific was unfairly changing the conditions of their employment without bargaining over it as required.

We also recognize the seriousness of the pandemic, but such does not permit the carrier to institute an arbitrary policy, which will have a sweeping effect on the current working conditions at Union Pacific Railroad, SMART-TD officials said in a letter to railroad executives.

The other unions that objected to the mandate were the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way unit of the International Teamsters union and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen.

The engineers' union pointed out to the railroad that many people across the country have been reluctant to get vaccinated.

The carrier certainly must be aware that there is a substantial divide in this country when it comes to the COVID-19 vaccination, officials from the BLET union wrote to the railroad. Moreover, it should come as no surprise that many of our members are opposed to being forced to get a vaccination, for a variety of reasons, while many have already been vaccinated.

Union Pacific is one of the nations largest railroads. it operates 32,400 miles (52,000 kilometers) of track in 23 Western states.
Texas appears to be tightening restrictions on Delta 8, an alternative to traditional THC strains that's been recently championed as a legal workaround to the Lone Star State's restrictive laws on possessing cannabis and its byproducts. But changes to the Texas Department of State Health Services site, coupled with a recent arrest of an individual in possession of Delta 8 products by Texas police officers, indicates the tables might be turning in the state.

Coming in forms including bud, edibles and concentrated vape cartridges, Delta 8 has maintained a low but growing profile in the grayscale world of semi-legal drugs sold at smoke shops around the U.S. The substance's name comes from its chemical makeup, Delta 8 tetrahydrocannabinols (or Delta 8 THC). It's considered an isomer of Delta 9 THC, the main active ingredient in marijuana.

It wasn't until Friday that the Texas DSHS updated its guidance for hemp manufacturers to broadly announce Delta 8 as an illegal Schedule I controlled substance. The change came days after the Oct. 2 arrest of a woman was charged in College Station for felony possession of a cartridge of Delta 8 concentrate, according to reporter Clay Falls of KBTX.

Tamir Kalifa/NYT

The decision to add Delta 8 THC to Texas' controlled substances list came back in January, but it happened quietly with no input from the public. How we got to this point is a bit in the weeds, but it's crucial in understanding how the law works surrounding Delta 8, and whether you could be held liable if found in possession of the legally confusing green substance.

In 2018, Congress passed a massive overhaul to the agriculture industry allowing the legal possession and sale of hemp, declaring it legal as long as the resulting products contained less than 0.3 percent of Delta 9 THC. A year later, the Texas legislature passed a similar bill regulating hemp. In August 2020, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency updated its list of controlled substances to reflect the changes made by Congress in 2018, paving the way for other types of THC to be legal under the new hemp law  including Delta 8 THC.

Any time the DEA changes its rules on controlled substances, individual states are allowed to choose whether or not to adopt the changes or stick with their existing rules. In Texas, that decision is solely up to the commissioner of the Texas Department of State Health Service, currently helmed by Gov. Greg Abbott-appointee John Hellerstedt.

In January, Hellerstedt rejected the DEA's changes in favor of Texas' existing (and broad) restrictions on THC  effectively shutting down Delta 8's path to legality.

Don Ryan/AP

So, while the law in Texas says Delta 8 is considered a controlled substance, the question really turns to this: Will it be enforced? The arrest in College Station is one of the first reported cases, and no law enforcement agency in Harris County has brought any to the district attorney's office for prosecution, according to DA spokesperson Dane Schiller.

It is unclear if anyone caught with Delta 8 will be allowed to participate in the DA's marijuana diversion program.

"What would happen [if someone were arrested for possessing Delta 8], is that prosecutors would review the evidence on a case by case basis, apply the law, and make a determination on how to proceed," Schiller said. "As you can appreciate, it would be inappropriate to speculate on a specific matter that might be actually be brought to prosecutors by police."

Regardless of whether or not it's truly illegal, Delta 8 is still sold in Texas stores. Law enforcement in Brazos County, where the woman was arrested, urged anyone who purchases Delta 8 products to keep them sealed on the drive home, according to Falls, the KBTX reporter.

"It is a really confusing mess and everybody is scratching their head really, of which of these are legal and which of them are not legal," Peter Stout, president and CEO of Houston Forensic Science Center, told KBTX. "Delta 8 THC derived from hemp is kind of this gray area. It may be legal, but Delta 8 derived from marijuana would be still illegal. I cant tell you the difference nor can anyone else."
PGP 2021: How to calculate your income A guide to calculating the income requirements to sponsor your parents and grandparents for Canadian immigration.

PGP 2021: How to calculate your income A guide to calculating the income requirements to sponsor your parents and grandparents for Canadian immigration.

PGP 2021: How to calculate your income A guide to calculating the income requirements to sponsor your parents and grandparents for Canadian immigration. Shelby Thevenot Aa Accessibility Font Style Serif

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When you apply to sponsor your parents or grandparents for Canadian immigration, you have to prove that you have made enough money to meet the income requirement.

The income requirement varies for Parents and Grandparents Program (PGP) applicants, depending on the size of your family, the number of people being sponsored, and whether you are sponsoring your family members in Quebec or another Canadian province.

Get a Free Legal Consultation if you Received a PGP 2021 Invitation

Count family members

The size of the family unit is based on who you, the sponsor, are currently supporting in Canada, as well as who you are planning to sponsor.

Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) will want to see that you have enough money to support yourself as well as your family. When counting how many people are in your family for the purpose of the PGP, include:

yourself;

your spouse, or common-law partner;

your dependent children;

your spouse or partners dependent children;

any other person you previously sponsored in the past for whom you are still financially responsible;

the parents and grandparents you want to sponsor; and

your parents and grandparents spouse, partner, and dependent children even if they are not coming to Canada with them.

Also keep in mind, for the PGP, you can only sponsor your parents or grandparents and any dependent children they have. If their children are over the age of 22 or otherwise not considered dependent, they will have to apply for Canadian immigration under another program.

Minimum Necessary Income for PGP sponsorship outside Quebec

IRCC looks at your income for the three consecutive taxation years before you apply. For this year, that means your annual income from 2018, 2019, and 2020.

The Minimum Necessary Income (MNI) applies to you, the sponsor, not your parents and grandparents. If you cannot meet the income requirements, you can include your spouse or common-law partner as a co-signer to help meet the requirements of the undertaking.

The MNI for each year is typically calculated based on IRCCs Low Income Cut-Off (LICO) figures plus 30 per cent. The MNI for 2020 due to the economic challenges that many Canadians faced during the pandemic.

2 persons $32,270 $41,007 $40,379 3 persons $39,672 $50,414 $49,641 4 persons $48,167 $61,209 $60,271 5 persons $54,630 $69,423 $68,358 6 persons $61,613 $78,296 $77,095 7 persons $68,595 $87,172 $85,835 Each additional person $6,985 $8,876 $8,740 If your family added or lost a member within in these years, then the MNI will apply to the number of persons in the household for that year. For example, if you and your spouse had your first baby in 2019, you would then have to meet the MNI requirements for a family unit of three for 2019 and 2020. In order to prove your income for these years, you need to provide your Notice of Assessment from the Canada Revenue Agency for each of the three taxation years.

Income requirements for PGP sponsorship in Quebec

If you are living in Quebec, you will have different income requirements. This is because Quebec has more autonomy over its immigration system compared to other provinces, even if IRCC gets the final say on permanent residency status.

As a sponsor from Quebec, you are presumed to be able to financially support your relatives if you have met a certain income requirement over the previous 12 months. Your spouse or common-law partner may also be a co-signer if you cannot meet the requirements on your own.

You need a gross income that is more than or equal to the sum of the two tables below. The first table applies to the minimum income required of the sponsor just to support their family. So, if you are an individual applying to sponsor your parents for immigration this year you will need to have an annual income of at least $24,602, for example. If it is you and your spouse, you will need $33,209.

The following amounts are required of those applying for the PGP 2021. In order to be eligible, you need to have made the following amounts in the 12 months prior to your application:

1 person $24,602 2 persons $33,209 3 persons $41,001 4 persons $47,156 5 persons $52,482 More than 5 persons, for each additional person add $5,326

The second table applies to the relatives that you are sponsoring. To find out if you meet the requirement, you have to add whatever you got in the previous table to the right-side column of the table. For example, if you are a solo person applying to sponsor your mom through the PGP, your income requirement will be $24,602 + $17,994 = $42,596.

Number of persons 18 years of age or over Number of persons under 18 years Gross annual income required of the sponsor 1 $8,515 2 $13,496 The gross annual income required increases by $4,500 for each additional person under 18 years of age. Number of persons 18 years of age or over Number of persons under 18 years Gross annual income required of the sponsor 1 $17,994 1 1 $24,177 1 2 $27,300 The gross annual income required increases by $3,121 for each additional person under 18 years of age. Number of persons 18 years of age or over Number of persons under 18 years Gross annual income required of the sponsor 2 $26,388 2 1 $29,560 2 2 $31,912 The gross annual income required increases by $2,342 for each additional person under 18 years of age and by $8,389 for each additional person 18 years of age or over.

Rules about co-signers

If you are having trouble meeting the income requirements on your own, you may be able to list your spouse or common-law partner as a co-signer. Common-law partners will have to submit a form to confirm common-law status along with the PGP application.

Regardless of how long you have been together, IRCC will look at the co-signers income for the past three years if they are from outside Quebec, and for the past 12 months for Quebec residents.

The co-signer must also meet the same eligibility requirements as you, the sponsor, and agree to financially take care of your sponsored parent or grandparent for a period of time. They have to be at least 18, living in Canada as a Canadian citizen, permanent resident, or person with Indian status, among other criteria.

If you fall short of your financial obligations, you and your co-signer will be held equally liable.

Get a Free Legal Consultation if you Received a PGP 2021 Invitation

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Data analytics is the lifeblood of any successful business. Getting the technology right can be challenging but building the right team with the right skills to undertake data initiatives can be even harder.

Successfully deploying big data initiatives requires more than data scientists and data analysts. It requires data architects who design the blueprint for your enterprise data management framework, and it requires data engineers who can build that framework and the data pipelines to bring in, process, and create business value out of data.

Data architects typically have years of experience in data design, data management, and data storage, whereas data engineers are typically skilled in technologies such as Hadoop, Spark, and other tools from the open source big data ecosystem, and at programming in Java, Scala, or Python.

If youre looking for a way to get an edge, certification is a great option. Certifications measure your knowledge and skills against industry- and vendor-specific benchmarks to prove to employers that you have the right skillset for the job.

Below is our guide to the most sought-after data engineer and data architect certifications to help you decide which cert is right for you.

If you would like to submit a big data certification to this directory, please email us.

The top 8 data engineer and data architect certifications

Amazon Web Services (AWS) Certified Data Analytics  Specialty

Cloudera Data Platform Generalist Certification

Data Science Council of America (DASCA) Associate Big Data Engineer

Data Science Council of America (DASCA) Senior Big Data Engineer

Google Professional Data Engineer

IBM Certified Solution Architect  Cloud Pak for Data v4.x

IBM Certified Solution Architect  Data Warehouse V1

SAS Certified Big Data Professional

Amazon Web Services (AWS) Certified Data Analytics  Specialty

The AWS Certified Data Analytics  Specialty certification validates technical skills and experience in AWS data lakes and analytics services. It is intended to validate a candidates ability to define AWS data analytics services and understand how they integrate with one another. It also requires a candidate to know how AWS data analytics services fit in the data life cycle of collection, storage, processing, and visualization. Formerly known as AWS Certified Big Data  Specialty, this certification is active for three years from the date earned.

Organization: Amazon Web Services

Price: $300 registration fee for exam

How to prepare: Candidates should have at least five years of experience with data analytics technologies and at least two years of hands-on experience working with AWS. AWS offers an exam guide and the AWS Data Analytics Learning Path. It also offers a practice exam for $40.

Cloudera Data Platform Generalist Certification

Cloudera has discontinued its CCP and CCA certifications in favor of the new Cloudera Data Platform (CDP) Generalist Certification, which verifies proficiency with the platform. The new exam tests general knowledge of the platform and applies to multiple roles, including administrator, developer, data analyst, data engineer, data scientist, and system architect. The exam consists of 60 questions and the candidate has 90 minutes to complete it. Specialized certifications are planned, including CDP Certified Administrator, CDP Certified Administrator  Public Cloud, CDP Certified Data Developer, and CDP Certified Data Analyst.

Organization: Cloudera

Price: $300

How to prepare: Cloudera recommends candidates take the Cloudera Data Analyst Training course, which has the same objectives as the exam.

Data Science Council of America (DASCA) Associate Big Data Engineer

The vendor-neutral DASCA Associate Big Data Engineer certification demonstrates knowledge of popular big data platforms, including Hadoop and Spark, and knowledge of proprietary and open source developer tools (including HBase, Hive, Pig, and HiveQL). It requires passing a 75-question online exam. There are three candidacy tracks that vary based on level of education and work experience.

Organization: Data Science Council of America

Price: $585 for the exam, standard exam preparation resources, shipping, digital badging, and credential kit

How to prepare: Registration for the program includes a full DASCA Certification Preparation Kit.

Data Science Council of America (DASCA) Senior Big Data Engineer

DASCAs Senior Big Data Engineer certification is a step up from the associate credential, intended for experienced professionals. It requires passing an 85-question online exam. There are four candidacy tracks that vary based on level of education and work experience.

Organization: Data Science Council of America

Price: $620 for the exam, standard exam preparation resources, shipping, digital badging, and credential kit

How to prepare: Registration for the program includes a full DASCA Certification Preparation Kit.

Google Professional Data Engineer

The Google Professional Data Engineer credential certifies the ability to design, build, operationalize, secure, and monitor data processing systems. It requires passing a two-hour, multiple-choice and multiple-select certification exam. The exam has no prerequisites, though Google recommends candidates have three or more years of industry experience, including one or more years designing and managing solutions using Google Cloud Platform. The exam is available in English and Japanese and may be taken as an online-proctored exam from a remote location or as an onsite-proctored exam at a testing center.

Organization: Google

Price: $200 registration fee

How to prepare: Google offers an exam guide and on-demand or instructor-led training.

IBM Certified Solution Architect  Cloud Pak for Data v4.x

The IBM Certified Solution Architect  Cloud Pak for Data v4.x certification validates an individuals ability to design, plan, and architect a data and AI solution in a hybrid cloud environment. A certified architect can lead and guide the implementation and operationalization of a solution that may include data governance, analytics, and data science, machine learning, and AI. It requires passing a test that consists of six sections containing a total of 63 multiple-choice questions.

Organization: IBM Professional Certification Program

Price: $200

How to prepare: IBM offers a sample test and study guide. It also offers an assessment exam through Pearson VUE. There is also a learning path that takes about 13.5 hours to complete.

IBM Certified Solution Architect  Data Warehouse V1

The IBM Certified Solution Architect  Data Warehouse V1 certification validates an individuals ability to design, plan, and architect a data warehouse solution. It requires working knowledge of data governance, data processing approaches, data stores and data virtualization, real-time processing solutions, and more. It requires passing a test that consists of seven sections containing a total of 62 multiple-choice questions.

Organization: IBM Professional Certification Program

Price: $200

How to prepare: IBM offers an assessment exam through Pearson VUE. In addition, IBM suggests courses on data topology, data warehousing, and data privacy.

SAS Certified Big Data Professional

The SAS Certified Big Data Professional certification program is for individuals seeking to validate their ability to use open source and SAS Data Management tools to prepare big data for statistical analysis. The program focuses on SAS programming skills; accessing, transforming and manipulating data; improving data quality for reporting and analytics; fundamentals of statistics and analytics; working with Hadoop, Hive, Pig and SAS; and exploring and visualizing data. The program includes two certification exams, both of which must be passed to earn the credential.

Organization: SAS Academy for Data Science

Price: $180 each for the SAS Big Data Preparation, Statistics, and Visual Exploration Exam and the SAS Big Data Programming and Loading Exam

How to prepare: At least six months of programming experience in SAS or another programming language is required to enroll.
During this Halloween season, we can learn something from Mary Shelleys classic horror story Frankenstein.

In the original, its a tragedy about good intentions gone terribly wrong.

Dr. Frankenstein was smart and ambitious. By discovering how to impart life, he hoped to create a beautiful new form of it; unfortunately, the animation process resulted in the so-called monster having a fearsome appearance.

For its part, the monster wasnt evil by nature and craved acceptance. He befriended a blind man, only to have his hopes dashed when his appearance provoked terror and hostility from sighted members of the family.

Things went downhill from there.

When it comes to your data infrastructure, even the best of intentions can still result in something of a beasta Frankenstack, if you will, composed of piece parts that collectively wind up provoking fear and frustration. Organizations need to move quickly, but as teams race to deliver new products or update existing ones, they risk building technical debt by taking a slapdash approach to building their data architecture.

Over time, this can add up: McKinsey and Company found that technical debt (defined as off-balance sheet accumulation of all the technology work that a company has to do in the future) amounted to up to 40% of enterprises entire technology estates. A jumble of bolt-on, non-standardized solutions that are poorly integrated and can contribute to a lack of agility, increased costs, and reduced developer productivity.

Why Frankenstacks are scary

Some of the characteristics of a Frankenstack, and the technologies that it constitutes include:

Lock-in

Previous technology choices can make data portability or app modernization daunting. Teams may wind up bearing higher costs or suffering from diminished agility because they feel locked-in by earlier decisions.

Sprawl

If youve adopted a microservices architecture, teams might have selected databases while laser-focused on their velocity in shipping an app, without thinking of the bigger picture: how do these choices fit into the broader context of their organizations architecture? Challenges will begin to crop up once data itself is treated as an asset; the important goal of getting it to flow across the organization could become difficult.

Orphaned solutions

Beauty is in the eye of the beholderbut once the beholder is gone, things can get ugly. A tool or technology may have been chosen on the basis of one passionate advocate, and now theyve moved on. No ones keen to master it, nor to take on the work of replacing it.

Balkanization

Theres rarely a magic bullet in technology. But ideally teams converge on a standardized set of solutions around which communities of practice coalesce, enabling knowledge exchange and robust collaboration. One sign of a Frankenstack can be different teams using not-quite-the-same solutions for similar use caseswithout good reason to do so.

Taming the monster

The good news is that theres a variety of proven, effective patterns that help to avoid creating a Frankenstack.

The first is most associated with leading data-driven enterprises and those that are already generating material revenue from data and analytics: intentionally assembling a best-of-breed data infrastructure. Those who also have the highest expectations for the growth of data lean this way: two-thirds (67 percent) of organizations expecting 50X data growth told us this was their strategy in a survey of over 500 organizations.

Today, leading-edge, best-of-breed data stacks that are designed to push the boundaries of compelling experiences lean heavily into the proven track record of open source technologies including Apache Cassandra, Kafka, Spark, and, lately, Pulsar and Flink. In another survey we conducted, 47 percent of respondents from organizations building containerized apps with Kubernetes told us they use open source whenever possible, while only four percent said they use open source only occasionally.

But the second success pattern is also a way to create a foundation for evolving your data estate intentionally: 43 percent of organizations in the same survey were looking to use a single vendor as the basis of their modern data platform. This strategy is less associated with outsized resultsbut its a viable way to create a coherent core that can then be complemented or extended.

The key in either case is to recognize that managing your data estate needs to be intentional and ongoing. In his loneliness, Frankensteins monster lamented: I was dependent on none and related to none. Your developers, operators, and data scientists are dependent on your data stack. If you're a CIO or CTO, how your data stack evolves is dependent on your vision and leadership. Make it dependable and thoughtfully supported, now and in the future.

Learn about more attributes of companies that we describe as data leaders in the free DataStax report, The State of the Data Race 2021.
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Yesterday, Colin Powell, who served as chairman of the joint chiefs of staff under the first President Bush and secretary of state under the second, died of complications from COVID-19, at the age of eighty-four. He had received two doses of a COVID vaccine but also was receiving treatment for multiple myeloma, a type of blood cancer that weakens the immune system (as does the treatment). Predictably, various right-wing pundits decoupled the latter fact from Powells vaccination status and used it to grease anti-vax and anti-mandate talking points. On Fox & Friends, Will Cain referred to data from Europe showing deaths among vaccinated people, and called Powells passing a very high-profile example that is going to require more truth from our government, from our health leaders. On Twitter, Sharyl Attkisson, of Sinclair, suggested that shots only work for a few mo.s and that pple have a right to factor that into risk v. benefit calculations; on Newsmax, Jennifer Kerns said that Powells story will scare off elderly and Black Americans who are already hesitant to take the vaccine. Back on Fox, Tucker Carlson told viewers of his nightly show that youve been lied to. Vaccines may be highly useful for some people, but across a population, they do not solve COVID.

It wasnt just flamethrowers who skipped the crucial context of Powells comorbidities: in a particularly bad tweet, John Roberts, a Fox daytime anchor who is often held up as a face of straight news on the network, said that Powells death raises new concerns about how effective vaccines are long-term. (After the tweet was roundly criticized, Roberts deleted it, saying that many people interpreted it as anti-vax when it was not; he added that he was excited to get vaccinated himself and plans to get a booster shot as soon as he can.) Many mainstream news organizations, including the New York Times and the Associated Press, made a similar omission in early topline coverage and tweets about Powells death and drew similarly sharp criticism online, including from my CJR colleague Mathew Ingram. Sarah Karlin-Smith, a journalist who covers the pharmaceutical world, noted government data showing lower vaccine efficacy in immunocompromised blood-cancer patients. Nina Jankowicz, a journalist who covers disinformation and lost her father to complications from multiple myeloma, called the incomplete coverage of Powells health appalling, fear-mongering, and endemic of the poor reporting and shallow discourse that has in part contributed to vaccine hesitancy in the US.

ICYMI: Sean Jacobs on Africa Is A Country

Some journalists pushed back on the criticism: Kate Nocera, an editor at Axios, said, in response to Ingram, that Powells cancer was not announced until today and not confirmed until after the initial announcement of his death. As the day went on, the picture got bettermany of the same outlets that erred in their initial coverage updated their stories with clarifications, and in some cases pushed those out to their readers; by the evening, cable-news shows were inviting on public-health experts to debunk anti-vaxxers Powell talking points. (Anyone who is using this tragedy to point to ineffectiveness in the vaccines has absolutely no understanding of the science, Dr. Chris Pernell told Joy Reid on MSNBC, or no understanding of the sense of loss that this nation has already endured.) This was welcome. But the anti-vax horse had already bolted, along with its ivermectin. And, even if Powells cancer wasnt common knowledge, his vaccination status should never have been central to reporting on his death. Even if he had been in otherwise perfect health when he caught COVID, his death would have demonstrated nothing useful about vaccine efficacy in the conspicuous absence of much broader data. One case does not a trend makeeven if the case involves a famous person.

Major outlets falling short of the desired clarity in their coverage of vaccine efficacy is hardly a new phenomenon. Neither is major outlets airbrushing the flaws of dead politicians, and we saw plenty of that yesterday, too. Progressive outlets and journalists, in particular, did grapple centrally with Powells complicity in the Iraq war, the deceitful case for which he questioned internally then endorsed publicly, including in a hugely consequential speech at the United Nations. In his newsletter, Forever Wars, Spencer Ackerman made the case that if anyone could have stopped the war (and thats a big if), it was Powell, and yet he chose not to; writing for The Intercept, Peter Maass made a similar point in an article that referred to Powell as a nice man who helped destroy Iraq, and led in with a quote from Muntadher Alzaidi, the Iraqi journalist who once threw his shoes at George W. Bush and tweeted yesterday that he was saddened by the death of Colin Powell without being tried for his crimes. Numerous journalists from outlets across the board attempted, with nuance, to weigh Powells war legacy against his achievements, including his status as the first Black person to serve as secretary of state. For me as a teenager, Colin Powell represented black excellence in public service, Karen Attiah, a Washington Post columnist, wrote. But his selling of evidence of WMDs in Iraq and the decisions to invade was my first awakening to American imperialism and my introduction to the word hegemony.

Many other journalists and outlets, however, eschewed nuance in favor of hagiography, pushing Iraqi voices to the margins, at best, and centering themes of bipartisanship, patriotism, civility, and meritocracy that are catnip to the American media establishment. Much topline framing prominently noted Powells role in Iraq, only to put a passive gloss on it: the first paragraph of Powells AP obituary said that his sterling reputation of service was stained by his faulty claims about Iraq, conjuring images of wine on the couch and a broken TV remote more than a murderous war; the Posts topline framing said that Powell struggled over the invasion as a beleaguered secretary of state. Speaking on MSNBC, Peter Baker, the chief White House correspondent at the New York Times, called it a great tragedy and a bitter pill for Powell that he became what he saw as the frontman for what turned out to be false intelligence. Much of the coverage emphasized Powells regret for his Iraq advocacy; a Time headline spoke of the transformative power of owning your mistakes. (Powell also once said that he didnt have any choice but to support the war, since the president wanted him to.) Even Carlson gushed that when the supposedly brilliant Harvard neocons in the Bush administration assured us that the occupation of Iraq would be quick and simple, Colin Powell knew better.

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Thanks to his vaccination statusand much of the medias initial misunderstanding of itthe circumstances of Powells death overshadowed the many complexities of his life in yesterdays coverage. They also overshadowed both the lives and deaths of the thousands of Iraqis who died as a result of policies that Powell pushedthough if the past deaths of Bush-era officials are any guide, that would likely have happened even without the vaccine mess. Writing for Discourse Blog yesterday, Jack Mirkinson argued that there is a bitter irony in the fact that Colin Powell died at the hands of a virus that has been perpetuated by leaders who decided that their own political power was more important than the preservation of human life, because that is exactly the fateful decision he himself made in 2003. If he is to be mourned today, then the people whose deaths he helped cause in service of a lie should be mourned as well.

Below, more on Colin Powell and vaccines:



Other notable stories:

ICYMI: What we should hope for if Baltimore gets a newspaper war

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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.
CANBERRA, Australia (AP)  The Australian government on Monday began its legal challenge to a judges landmark decision that the administration has a duty of care to prevent future climate change.

The Federal Court battle over a proposed coal mine expansion comes as Prime Minister Scott Morrison battles to persuade his conservative government colleagues to commit to a zero emissions target for Australia by 2050.

The legal battle was started by a group of eight Australian teenage environmentalists, aged 13 to 17, who attempted to force the government to ban an expansion of Whitehaven Coals Vickery mine.

Justice Mordy Bromberg in May rejected their bid, while noting the mine expansion would lead to an additional 33 million metric tons (36 million U.S. tons) of coal being extracted over 25 years and 100 million metric tons (110 million U.S. tons) of carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere.

But the childrens lawyers claimed a victory in that Bromberg also ruled the government has a duty to prevent future climate harm.

Environment Minister Sussan Ley has since approved the mine expansion.

Her lawyers told a full bench of the Federal Court on Monday that there was no evidence that the additional coal from the expanded mine would increase the risk of the global temperature increasing beyond to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial temperatures.

The coal would be sold to Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, each of which had committed to limit their emissions under the 2015 Paris Agreement.

Government lawyer Stephen Donaghue told the three judges that Australia had no control over the greenhouse gases released by those three locations that were burning the coal, which were described in court as Scope 3 emissions.

Its difficult to see any basis to infer that the Scope 3 emissions are going to contribute to a temperature rise outside the framework of the Paris Agreement because they have to be accounted for by those countries that have those commitments to reduce their emissions, Donaghue said.

The childrens lawyers had failed to prove that if the Australian coal wasnt mined, the customers wouldnt buy inferior coal from somewhere else which would produce worse emissions, Donaghue said.

The governments appeal is scheduled to take three days.

One of the plaintiffs, Anjali Sharma, 17, accused the government of continuing to deflect responsibility for the worsening climate risks.

We will proudly defend the historic ruling that all Australian children are owed a `duty of care by our government, and fight to protect my generation from the increasing risks of climate change, Sharma said in a statement.

Australia has come under growing international criticism for failing to set more ambitious targets for reducing carbon emissions.

Morrison last week agreed to attend next months climate conference in the Scottish city of Glasgow, but his government colleagues have yet to approve a commitment to net zero.

The rural-based junior coalition partner, the Nationals party, debated Cabinets draft climate policy on Sunday and again Monday but remain bitterly divided.

Nationals Sen. Matt Canavan accused net zero proponents of caving into pressure from President Joe Biden.

When did we become the 51st state of the U.S.? Canavan asked.

Australia has not budged from its 2015 pledge to reduce emissions by 26% to 28% below 2005 levels by 2030, despite many countries adopting far more ambitious targets.

Reducing emissions is a politically fraught issue in Australia, which is one of the worlds largest exporters of coal and liquified natural gas. The nation is also one of the worlds worst greenhouse gas emitters per capita because of its heavy reliance on coal-fired power.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
BANGKOK (AP)  Heavy rains in central and northeastern Thailand caused new flooding on Monday, with authorities forced to release water into an already swollen river after a reservoir reached full capacity, and others facing the same possibility.

Authorities in the central province of Suphan Buri said flood warnings were in effect for communities along the Tha Chin River after water was released into it from the Krasiao reservoir.

More than 38,000 households have been affected by flooding in the province so far this year, according to the Suphan Buri governors office.

On Sunday, officials in the northeastern province of Nakhon Ratchasima alerted people living near a dam to closely monitor the situation, as water levels were rising quickly due to heavy rainfall. The local administration was ordered to prepare sandbags and evacuation plans.

Thailand has been hit by large-scale flooding since Tropical Storm Dianmu swept through the upper part of the country in the last week of September, along with seasonal monsoon rains. The floods, especially in the northern and central regions, impacted 300,000 households nationwide and caused 14 deaths in 33 provinces. The situation has eased in more than 24 provinces, according to the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation.

Fears that Thailands capital, Bangkok, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) southeast of Suphan Buri, would be flooded as the water flowed downriver have so far not materialized. Bangkok is situated on the Chao Phraya River, whose headwaters are in the north. Dams and reservoirs store water to help farmers cope with dry season droughts, and can be quickly filled to capacity during the rainy season.

The capital, which experienced devastating floods in 2011, this year has suffered only normal rainy season flooding, which is largely attributed to inadequate drainage systems.

The Meteorological Department reported that monsoon conditions across the central and upper part of the northeast, and a strong southwest monsoon prevailing in the Andaman Sea off southern Thailand, would bring more rain in several provinces, mostly in the northeastern region.

It said parts of Thailand will continue to experience seasonal monsoon rains for the next 10 days.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
NEW DELHI (AP)  Officials predicted more rain as the death toll from floods and landslides in the southern Indian state of Kerala rose to 28 on Monday.

Since the ferocious downpours began last week, swollen rivers have decimated bridges, and vehicles and homes have been swept away. Several dams were nearing full capacity.

K.J. Ramesh, one of Indias top meteorologists and the former chief of the weather agency, said the increased rainfall was linked to climate change and warmer oceans.

This is definitely a sign of things to come, he said.

At least 23 people died in Kottayam and Idukki districts, among the worst hit. More than 9,000 people have taken shelter in over 200 camps across the state, officials said.

The heavy rainfall resulted from a low-pressure area that formed over the southeastern Arabian sea and Kerala. It was expected to ease Monday, but the Meteorological Department warned that new rain-bearing winds would hit the region starting Wednesday, bringing more precipitation.

Heavy rainfall is also predicted across several northern and eastern Indian states.

The National Disaster Response Force and the Indian army deployed teams in Kerala to help rescue efforts.

I pray for everyones safety and well-being, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Twitter.

Associated Press journalist Chonchui Ngashangva contributed to this report.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
BRUNSWICK, Ga. (AP)  An insurer is suing the operator of a coastal Georgia warehouse where 50,000 tons of biofuel wood pellets went up in smoke this year, claiming grossly negligent acts caused $4.5 million in losses.

The Brunswick News reports Tokio Marine American Insurance Co. filed the suit last month against Logistec, a Canadian stevedoring firm that leases the Georgia Ports Authority warehouse. Investigators believe some of the pellets decomposed and spontaneously combusted, starting a multi-day fire that devoured the warehouse and threatened nearby homes in Brunswick.

Tokio Marine was insuring the wood pellets, which were owned by Fram Renewable Fuels of Hazlehurst and awaiting shipment. Tokio said it wouldnt have had to pay losses to Fram but for Logistecs gross negligence.

Logistec made almost every mistake it could make in storing wood pellet biofuel, a clean and safe biofuel manufactured by Fram, the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit claims Logistec improperly stored pellets in tall cones and loaded wet pellets into the warehouse; scooped pellets from the top of the pile, leaving a bottom layer to degrade and overheat; and let flammable wood dust accumulate, all contributing to spontaneous combustion. It also alleges that Logistec had flawed sprinklers.

State investigators said Logistec responded with a private fire brigade and waited a full day before calling the fire department. No one was injured, but firefighters shut off gas lines to nearby homes and remained at the scene for weeks.

The company declined comment on the suit.

The warehouse that burned had replaced two buildings destroyed by a 2015 fire that also was blamed on spontaneous combustion.

Logistec says it remains committed to its 45-worker Brunswick operation. It began storing less flammable peanut hulls at the site in August after meeting stricter fire prevention rules set by the state. Logistec has said it doesnt currently plan to resume handling wood pellets there.

About the photo: In this May 2, 2021 photo, smoke pours from a warehouse where a large pile of wood pellets caught fire at the Port of Brunswick in Brunswick, Ga. A preliminary report by Georgia state investigators found the warehouses owner, Logistec, initially used a private fire brigade and waited a day to alert the local fire department to the burning pellets. (Terry Dickson/The Brunswick News via AP)

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Avis "Darlene" Searan, age 75, formerly of California, passed away at Restwell Home Plus in Oskaloosa, KS, on Tuesday, November 16, 2021. She was born the daughter of Leo Abraham and Avis Amelia (Gabbert) Searan in Claremore, OK, on June 25, 1946. Darlene loved watching baseball, especially,
Could a politician who positively identifies as Jewish and expresses pro-Israel sympathies ever be elected as head of state in a European country?

The question is still a hypothetical one. In spite of the large number of proudly Jewish politicians elected to legislatures in Europe in the post-World War II period, along with those who have served as cabinet ministers and prominent judges, none of them seriously entertained the possibility of winning the post of president or prime minister in an election.

But thats not been the case with Jewish politicians whose families left Judaism for another religion  like Laurent Fabius, a French prime minister in the 1980s who was raised as a Catholic  or, far more disturbingly, those Jews who denounced Jewish identity and the state of Israel as they ascended the ladder of power.

An obvious example of the latter was the late, longest-serving Chancellor of Austria, Bruno Kreisky, who was in office between 1970 and 1983. A scourge of Jewish organizations and the Israeli government at the time for his anti-Semitic utterances and his ostentatious friendship with PLO leader Yasser Arafat, Kreisky, who died in 1990, isnt spoken of much these days. Nonetheless, he remains the model of a European politician who comes from a Jewish family and yet scorns his community, its history and its aspirations to ingratiate himself with the voters at large.

Kreiskys legacy is relevant once again because of developments in France, where a TV pundit named Eric Zemmour, who also comes from a Jewish family, is being widely tipped as the far-rights candidate in the French presidential election in April 2022. True, Kreisky was a proud Socialist, whereas Zemmour, a household name in France for his strident anti-immigrant stance, is an outspoken representative of the ultra-nationalist right; in other important respects, however, the political similarities between the two are uncanny.

Take the attitudes of both to the Holocaust  a defining event in Europes history that remains the subject of emotive, politically charged disputes even today. Kreisky himself lived through this period, spending most of the war in Sweden, where he escaped following the incorporation of Austria into the Nazi Third Reich in 1934. Yet for reasons that have puzzled psychologists and historians alike, the Holocaust appeared to make Kreisky even more hostile to his fellow Jews.

In 1970, he formed a coalition government with the right-wing Freedom Party, whose leader, Friedrich Peter, had served as a senior officer in an SS unit responsible for the mass shootings of Jews, Roma and others under Nazi occupation. An additional four cabinet members also had Nazi backgrounds. When the Nazi provenance of Kreiskys government was exposed by Simon Wiesenthal, the famed investigator who actively pursued Nazi war criminals, Kreisky responded viciously. He falsely accused Wiesenthal, a Holocaust survivor, of having been a Gestapo agent and charged him with stirring up antisemitism in Austria. At one point in the row, Kreisky clarified that he was no longer a Jew  a clue, perhaps, as to why the constant talk of his Nazi colleagues left him so enraged.

If Kreisky was willing to burnish the reputations of still-living Nazis, Eric Zemmour has done the same with dead ones  specifically, the collaborators of the Vichy regime who ruled France following the Nazi invasion in 1940. In his several bestsellers published in France, Zemmour has depicted the Vichy authorities as doing their utmost to save French-born Jews while sacrificing the foreign-born to the Germans. This assertion fits neatly with Zemmours nationalist revisionism, but its patently false, as the bald facts show. For example, of the 4,000 children among the more than 13,000 Jews deported to Auschwitz during the notorious Vel dHiv roundup of July 1942, 80 percent were born in France. Moreover, the anti-Jewish laws and regulations introduced by the Vichy regime from late 1940 onwards applied to all Jews, not just the foreign-born, who at their peak composed no more than 13 percent of Frances pre-war Jewish population of 340,000.

Not content with distorting the Holocaust in France, Zemmour has also assailed the reputation of Capt. Alfred Dreyfus, the French army officer falsely convicted of espionage in 1894, amid a wave of antisemitism that convinced Theodor Herzl, among others, of the need for a sovereign Jewish state. According to Zemmour, we will never know whether Dreyfus was a spy, but the army at the time had good reason to suspect him because of his alleged German connections.

When it comes to antisemitic barbs and dog whistles, the overlaps between Kreisky and Zemmour are again all too apparent. If the Jews are a people, then they are an ugly people, Kreisky once remarked, while frequently denouncing Israel as a semi-fascist, clerical, and, of course, apartheid state.

Zemmour, a veteran TV commentator and newspaper columnist, is not quite so blatant, but he draws from the same well. Last week, he denounced the prominent French Jewish intellectual Bernard-Henri Levy as a traitor and a cosmopolitan  language that, as the former French Prime Minister Manuel Valls pointed out, echoed the rhetoric of French anti-Semites before the war. And in September, Zemmour opined that the victims of the gun massacre carried out by an Islamist at a Jewish school in Toulouse in 2012  Rabbi Jonathan Sandler; his two young sons, 6-year-old Arieh and 3-year-old Gabriel; and a little girl, 8-year-old Miriam Monsonego  had been buried in Israel because they were not truly French. They were foreigners above all and wanted to stay that way even beyond death, he said.

Zemmour has not yet announced his intention to run, but the talk of his candidacy has been bolstered by a recent poll showed him coming second in the election. Marine Le Pen, the other far-right candidate who was roundly defeated by Emmanuel Macron in the second round of the 2017 election, is eyeing Zemmour nervously. Certainly, Zemmours message extolling traditional French and Christian values increasingly resonate in a country sharply divided on immigration, on the governments response to the COVID-19 pandemic, on Europe and much else besides.

From a Jewish perspective, though, the question persists as to why European Jews who shun their own communities can entertain hope of the highest political offices  with Kreisky setting the precedent  while those who embrace them have to calibrate their expectations accordingly. Should Zemmour decide that he wants to be the president of France, he will doubtless provide us with some answers along the way, as unpalatable as those are likely be.

Ben Cohen, senior editor of TheTower.org & The Tower Magazine, writes a weekly column for JNS.org on Jewish affairs and Middle Eastern politics from New York.
Beachwood, OH (44122)

Today

Cloudy skies this morning will become partly cloudy this afternoon. Temps nearly steady in the mid to upper 30s. Winds W at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy this evening, then becoming cloudy after midnight. Low 28F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph.
WASHINGTON (AP)  U.S. regulators on Friday moved to open up COVID-19 booster shots to all adults, expanding the governments campaign to shore up protection and get ahead of rising coronavirus cases that may worsen with the holidays.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 19)  BUHAY Partylist representative and vice presidential aspirant Lito Atienza is still against same sex marriage and absolute divorce.

Speaking to CNN Philippines' The Source on Tuesday, Atienza explained why he is retaining his conservative stance on these issues.

"I am for defending the rights of everyone, LGBTQ and all of that. I respect the right of everyone to enjoy himself in life but I will never, never support same-sex marriage," Atienza said.

"You know why? Because same-sex marriage is against natural law. It's against natural law. Marriage is for reproduction," he added.

The House deputy speaker also said that he does not believe in absolute divorce, but he acknowledges that proper interventions need to be given to couples with troubled marriages.

"I don't believe in it but I would agree that there are problems for some couples whom we have to attend to. Let us attend to the problems of those who cannot succeed in marriage, but let us not make a law that will allow divorce in the Philippines," said Atienza, stressing that the country still believes in the importance of keeping families intact as well as the sanctity of marriage.

Atienza added that the constitution treats marriage as an inviolable institution, and there should not be any law that would weaken that provision.

Atienza has long been representing BUHAY Party-list, a pro-life group, since 2013. He also dismissed claims that his party-list abandoned him, saying he fought against "anti-life measures" in Congress for a long time.

Atienza is running for vice president in tandem with Sen. Manny Pacquiao under the PROMDI political party.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 19)  House Deputy Speaker and vice presidential aspirant Lito Atienza is against the substitution scheme and the adoption of guest candidates outside political parties ahead of the 2022 polls.

Atienza told CNN Philippines' The Source on Tuesday that such political strategies only threaten the country's democracy.

He said the Commission on Elections must stop the "abnormal" substitution scheme which allows a temporary candidate to be someone else's proxy until the November 15 deadline.

"Pag-file mo, yun na yun. Hindi yung pag-file mo, nagpo-proxy ka pa lang for somebody else. Nauuso na yan," he said.

[Translation: When you file your candidacy, that should be it. You should not proxy for somebody else. It has become common nowadays.]

"That's not good for democracy. This is a demo-crazy that we are witnessing," he added.

Section 77 of the Omnibus Election Code allows a candidate of a registered or accredited party to be substituted in case of death, disqualification, or withdrawal, with the latter implying that anyone who voluntarily backs out of the race can opt for replacement.

Atienza also noted that adopting guest candidates outside one's political party is a toleration of the lack of loyalty of politicians, who may end up pursuing their own interests when they secure the posts they are aiming for.

"When you lack loyalty when you file your certificate (of candidacy), you will never have loyalty after winning," he said.

However, the Manny Pacquiao and Lito Atienza tandem under the PROMDI political party is dominated by guest candidates, such as re-electionists Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri, Joel Villanueva, Richard Gordon, former senators Chiz Escudero and Loren Legarda, former Senate secretary Lutgardo Barbo, former Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares, labor leader Elmer Labog, broadcaster Raffy Tulfo, and former vice president Jejomar Binay.

RELATED: Labor and rights leaders, reelectionists part of Pacquiaos senatorial slate

Binay, Gordon, Escudero, Villanueva, and Zubiri happen to be guest candidates of the Leni Robredo-Kiko Pangilinan tandem. The five, plus Legarda, are also part of the Ping Lacson-Tito Sotto tandem.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 19)  While active COVID-19 cases are on the decline, a group of private hospitals on Tuesday said moderate to critical infections are on the rise.

Jose Rene De Grano, Private Hospitals Association of the Philippines president, said admissions for serious cases more than doubled from 5% to around 12%, resulting in patients who need more care and time to recover..

"Medyo nakokontrol naman po but then hindi ibig sabihin ay maluwag na. Tumaas ang porsyento ng nako-confine na moderate, severe, at critical  lalo na ang moderate at severe medyo tumaas, almost 12%," he said in the government-led 'Laging Handa' briefing.

[Translation: We can control the admissions but that doesn't mean there's already a lot of space. The percentage of moderate, severe, and critical, especially the moderate and critical cases, are slightly increasing, almost 12%.]

Meanwhile, he said logistics issues cause shortage of oxygen tanks outside Metro Manila, particularly in the Visayas and Mindanao.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 19) The Department of Justice on Tuesday said it has authorized the release of select information on the 52 drug war cases reviewed by the government.

In a statement, the DOJ said it will be putting out an information table which will include certain details on the cases, in a bid to uphold transparency in the probe process.

These will include names, docket numbers, places and dates of the incidents, and the panels summary of observations, according to the DOJ.

The agency said the release will also serve to inform the families of the deceased regarding the circumstances of their cases, and will also help in inviting witnesses or persons with first-hand information helpful to the resolution of the 52 cases to come forward.

Earlier this month, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet urged the Philippine government to publish the findings of its investigation on the controversial anti-drug campaign so that the work can be evaluated.

The International Criminal Courts pre-trial chamber, which had also formally authorized an investigation into the Duterte administrations drug war, estimated that around 12,000 to 30,000 people were killed from July 1, 2016 to March 16, 2019.

After the panels review, the cases will undergo the scrutiny of the National Bureau of Investigation for further buildup and the possible filing of criminal charges against erring police officers.

RELATED: DOJ lists possible sanctions vs. erring police officers in drug war deaths
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 19)  A doctor hoping to win a Senate seat next year revealed some of her priorities if she gets elected.

RELATED: Doctors file COCs for senator as PH's fight against COVID-19 continues

Speaking to CNN Philippines, Dr. Minguita Padilla said one of her priorities would be to "combat medical misinformation...especially the kind that scares people and prevents people from getting vaccinated, which we know unequivocally saves lives."

Latest data showed over 24 million Filipinos are now fully vaccinated against COVID-19, but that's still far from the revised 90% target to achieve so-called herd immunity.

Padilla said ramping up vaccination and frequent testing are key to helping the country recover faster from the health crisis.

Asked how she would fight illegal drugs, the senatorial hopeful said, "We must go after the pushers, we must go after the drug lords. But please do not go after the users."

She added that there is a need for a community-based approach to help drug dependents have a better life.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 19)  The national government assured that it will exert greater efforts to improve the countrys rule of law after ranking low in a global report, Malacanang said Monday.

We stand by what Secretary of Justice Menardo Guevarra said, that we are going to exert greater efforts to uphold and promote the rule of law in the country, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said, echoing the Department of Justices earlier statement in a briefing.

Pero sabi nga po ni Secretary Guevarra, from where he stands, except for a few sensational cases, ang crime rate naman po sa bansa ay bumaba. At bukod pa rito, ang gobyerno po ay tinutugunan iyong mga paglabag ng karapatang pantao at saka iyong mga alleged abuses sa conduct ng campaign against illegal drugs, he added.

[Translation: But as Secretary Guevarra said, from where he stands, except for a few sensational cases, our crime rate is improving. Aside from this, the government is addressing human rights violations and the alleged abuses in the conduct of the campaign against illegal drugs.]

The World Justice Project Rule of Law Index 2021 showed that the Philippines remains one of the countries with the weakest rule of law. In East Asia and the Pacific region, the country ranked 13th among 15 countries. Globally, the Philippines placed 102nd out of 139 countries with an overall score of 0.46.

But Roque said the promotion of rule of law is not the sole responsibility of the Executive department.

Alam ninyo po kasi itong rule of law, limang ano po yan no, limang tinatawag na pillars. At ang Ehekutibo po ay in-charge sa dalawa - ito po yung pulis at saka iyong kulungan, he said. So, kinakailangan po magsama-sama yung ibat ibang mga pillars kasama na po ang lipunan dahil kabahagi po bilang pillar ng criminal justice system ang lipunan.

[Translation: For your information, the rule of law has five pillars. The Executive is in-charge of two of them -- the police and jails. We need to unite the different pillars, including society, because it is part of the criminal justice system.]

Pero kinakailangan ang Hudikatura bilisan ang proseso at kinakailangan din na ang civil society magmatyag pa rin no at talagang gamitin ang proseso para lahat noong lalabag ay maparusahan po kung kinakailangan, Roque added.

[Translation: But we need the Judiciary to speed up the process and we need our civil society to always keep watch and to really use the process to assure that all violators will be held accountable if necessary.]

The International Criminal Court earlier found evidence of crimes against humanity since President Rodrigo Dutertes administration started the bloody war on drugs in July 2016. But the Duterte administration has maintained that it will not cooperate with the international court.

Government data showed that 6,191 suspects have died in over 200,000 anti-illegal drug operations as of Aug. 31 this year.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 19)  The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority has released a resolution reminding the public of travel restrictions that must be followed while under Alert Level 3.

MMDA Resolution No. 21-24 states, "The intrazonal and interzonal travel of persons below eighteen (18) years old shall be allowed provided that these persons shall be accompanied by a parent or an adult guardian at all times."

MMDA chairman Benhur Abalos said identification proving such a relationship must be presented when asked.

"Ito'y ginagawa para proteksyunan ang ating mga bata. Mahirap kasi palaboy-laboy eh. Baka kung saan-saan magpunta-punta 'yung mga bata," Abalos said at a briefing on Tuesday.

[Translation: We are doing this to protect the children because they shouldn't be loitering.]

The resolution also states those who are below 18 and above 65 years old may go out, but only to buy essential goods or services, or if they work in an industry that is allowed to operate.

Metro Manila eased into Alert Level 3 on Oct. 16 and this will stay in place until the end of the month.

Earlier, the Inter-Agency Task Force approved guidelines on intrazonal and interzonal travel, saying it shall be allowed "subject to reasonable restrictions based on age and comorbidities" as determined by local government units.

At Tuesday's briefing, Abalos also said mayors agreed on certain things for the upcoming holidays, including the suspension of the truck ban. The suspension of the number coding scheme will stay in place as well.

Meanwhile, mall sales in Metro Manila would only be allowed on weekends to prevent traffic gridlocks on weekdays.

Abalos added that they would speak with mall operators to move operating hours to open at 11 a.m. and close at midnight to help ease road congestion.

He said this arrangement may be enforced from Nov. 15, 2021 to Jan. 3, 2022.

CNN Philippines' Rex Remitio contributed to this report.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 19)  Jesus Melchor Quitain is the new chief legal counsel of President Rodrigo Duterte, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said on Tuesday.

Quitain, undersecretary of the Office of the Special Assistant to the President, will replace Salvador Panelo, who is gunning for a Senate seat in the 2022 polls.

Before Quitain was appointed to the Palace in November 2018, he served as administrator of Davao City when Duterte was still mayor.

Meanwhile, Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) Director Aristotle Batuhan was designated as officer-in-charge of the agency, following the resignation of its former president and CEO Vince Dizon.

Dizon, who stepped down from his post on Oct. 15, will serve as Presidential Adviser for COVID-19 Response.

But he will keep his role as the pandemic task force's deputy chief implementer and testing czar, Roque said.

READ: Dizon quits as BCDA chief, but stays in Duterte Cabinet  official

The BCDA has expressed its gratitude to Dizon for his "tireless service and dedicated leadership" over the past five years under the administration.

Cabinet members Senate bid

Roque also said there are no replacements yet for Agrarian Reform Secretary John Castriciones and Information and Communications Technology Secretary Gregorio Honasan, who are joining the Senate race in 2022.

Cabinet members are considered resigned from their positions right after they filed their certificates of candidacy.

In the same briefing, Roque was asked about his possible Senate bid, but he stayed mum about it, reiterating his plan depends on the decision of presidential daughter and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte, who could still run for president.

"Umaasa pa rin po tayo na tumakbo kasama si Mayor Sara [....] Alam ko po sinabi niya hindi na talaga, pero malay niyo naman po," Roque said.

[Translation: We're still waiting for Mayor Sara. I know she said she would not run, but who knows?]
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 19)  The Philippines picturesque beaches and incredible diving spots once again catapulted the country at the top of Asias tourist destinations this 2021.

The Philippines emerged as Asias Leading Beach Destination and Leading Dive Destination in this years World Travel Awards, it was announced by the Department of Tourism on Tuesday.

This is the countrys fifth time to bag the beach destination distinction and the third straight time since 2019 to secure the dive destination recognition, added the agency.

This will boost our efforts to keep the Philippines as a top-of-mind destination for foreign tourists as we await the resumption of international leisure travel to the country, consistent with our More Fun Awaits global campaign, said DOT Secretary Berna Romulo-Puyat.

The department also noted that several beach spots in the country like Boracay, Siargao, El Nido and Amanpulo have already been welcoming domestic travelers. They are also equipped to accommodate foreign tourists once allowed, it added.

The agency likewise cited efforts to develop more beach destinations in the country along with new and existing dive circuits, adding it is also identifying potential spots for dive tourism.

The Philippine diving scene features the likes of Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park, Puerto Galera, Anilao, Malapascua, Moalboal, Balicasag, Panglao, and Anda, said the department.

We share this recognition with our tourism stakeholders, local government units, partner agencies, and all Filipinos who have been helping us promote our countrys attractions, products, and culture, commented the DOT chief on the Philippines latest feat.

The country is also vying for the following categories in the global awards:

- Worlds Leading Beach Destination 2021: Philippines

- Worlds Leading Dive Destination 2021: Philippines

- Worlds Leading Island Destination 2021: Siargao, Philippines

- Worlds Leading Tourist Attraction 2021: Intramuros, Philippines

- Worlds Leading Tourist Board 2021: Philippines, Department of Tourism

The public can cast votes in the World Travel Awards website until Oct. 25.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 19)  After a government agency found the COVID-19 tests conducted by the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) as "valid and reliable," an official said claims of false positive results reek of malicious intent.

PRC biomolecular laboratories chief Paulyn Ubial said the complaint of alleged false positive RT-PCR test results in their Subic branch could've been addressed in private instead of exposing it in a public Congressional hearing.

"Bakit ginawa [Why was it done] in a public hearing? They could have written us. If there was no issue of malicious intent, they could have written us, they could have called us, we could have addressed immediately. Nasira na reputation ng tao, walang basis ang binitawang accusations [People's reputations were ruined by baseless accusations]," she told CNN Philippines.

House Deputy Speaker Rodante Marcoleta first publicized that over 40 hospital personnel tested positive in the PRC Subic laboratory in September, but received a negative test result when they underwent a second test in a different laboratory days later. This prompted President Rodrigo Duterte to order the Department of Health (DOH) to conduct an investigation.

The Research Institute for Tropical Medicine, which carried out the probe, on Tuesday said there was no contamination in the samples taken at the PRC Subic laboratory. It explained the test results from PRC and the second laboratory could have differed because the samples were taken three days apart.

Ubial also said their laboratories in Metro Manila, Cebu, and Davao were all cleared from erroneous testing after the DOH's routine inspection.

Assuring the quality of RT-PCR tests conducted in their laboratories, Ubial said there should be a criterion for when a complaint of false positive should be basis for investigation. She said they often receive complaints of false positive results from people who are in denial that they contracted the coronavirus since it can derail their plans, adding some even go to a different laboratory in hopes of getting different results.

Although RT-PCR tests are deemed as the "gold standard," local and international experts say no test is 100% accurate.

CNN Philippines correspondent Carolyn Bonquin contributed to this report.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 19)  The Senate Blue Ribbon Committee is eyeing charges against former presidential economic adviser Michael Yang, resigned Budget Undersecretary Lloyd Christopher Lao, and officials of Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp. after several hearings on the COVID-19 response funds controversy, the panel's chairman Sen. Richard Gordon said.

Gordon presented during Tuesday's inquiry a slew of possible cases in connection with the panels preliminary findings, noting they will be shown to his committee members.

These include alleged violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act against the former officials, ex-Procurement Service-Department of Budget and Management (PS-DBM) director Warren Rex Liong, along with Pharmallys directors and officers.

Among the individuals from Pharmally mentioned by Gordon were its president Twinkle Dargani, corporate secretary Mohit Dargani, director Linconn Ong, and head of regulatory affairs Krizle Grace Mago.

Gordon revealed he is also seeking fraud charges versus Lao and Liong, who is currently Overall Deputy Ombudsman.

Estafa charges are likewise eyed against Mago and Liong. Mago, along with Pharmally director Linconn Ong and Yang, may also face perjury, according to the senator.

Also sought were charges of falsification of public documents against Liong, alongside former PS-DBM inspector Jorge Mendoza and current PS-DBM inspector Mervin Ian Tanquintic, Gordon added.

Disobedience to summons issued by Congress were also among the charges Gordon wants to be filed against Ong, Dargani, and Yang.

The preliminary findings also include violation of the Bayanihan to Heal As One Act on the part of Yang, Ong, Dargani, and Mago.

Likewise listed was the filing of cases to support the deportation of an undesirable alien againt the former presidential economic adviser.

Ito lang po ang unang yugto ng pagpapanagot ng mga taong nangahas magnakaw sa kaban ng bayan habang nasa gitna tayo ng karimlan ng [This is just the first chapter of holding accountable those who dared steal from the nations coffers while we are in the middle of a] pandemic, Gordon said after reading the charges.

Ongs legal counsel Atty. Ferdinand Topacio slammed the piecemeal release of the panels preliminary findings and accused Gordon of interpreting his own findings instead of allowing the appropriate agency to act on their report.

All of these issues inescapably point to the fact that the inquiry was improperly used as a demolition job against the present administration, to project the candidacies of Gordon and company, and to milk the media mileage occasioned by the said investigation for political pogi (handsome) points, said Topacio.

Pharmally has been at the center of the Senate probe after bagging billions of pesos in deals from government despite only having 625,000 in initial paid-up capital. Among the issues raised against the company were the supposed overpricing of face shields and masks, tampering of medical-grade face shields, and anomalies in delivery transactions.

The persons identified by Gordon have earlier denied wrongdoing during previous hearings that they attended. Mago earlier admitted that Pharmally "swindled" the government, but later retracted her testimony in a separate hearing at the House of Representatives. CNN Philippines is also trying to get their comments about the latest development.

'Grand conspiracy'?

Meanwhile, Malacanang dismissed the supposed links of President Rodrigo Duterte to the government's questionable deals with the embattled Pharmally as "hearsay."

"Kwentong kutsero po 'yan (That's just hearsay)," presidential spokesperson Harry Roque told reporters on Tuesday.

He was reacting to the statement of Gordon, who has been the subject of Duterte's ire, that "this grand conspiracy could never have happened without the imprimatur" of the Chief Executive.

Roque claimed senators failed to prove overpricing in the controversial purchase of pandemic response supplies.

"Malinaw po 'yan. Kung wala pong paglabag sa batas at wala pong overprice, bakit magkakaroon ng 'grand conspiracy'?" he said.

[Translation: That's clear. If there is no violation of the law and no overpricing, why will there be a "grand conspiracy"?]

CNN Philippines' Correspondent Eimor Santos contributed to this report.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 19)  Senators probing the use of COVID-19 funds on Tuesday had more questions for the medical suppliers which secured huge government contracts early into the pandemic.

During the resumption of the Blue Ribbon Committee inquiry, Senator Franklin Drilon questioned Xuzhou Construction Machinery Group over its non-payment of income taxes, after the firm said it sold around 2 billion worth of personal protective equipment to the Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management last year.

Xuzhou Construction is the government's second top supplier of medical items amid the health crisis, next to Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp., according to a list presented by lawmakers.

However, company manager Robin Han said they did not pay income taxes in the Philippines since they are "a state-owned company in China" and would thus make the payments there.

Drilon refuted Hans statement: "You entered into a transaction in the Philippines where you made income, and therefore under Philippines laws, you are liable for income taxes."

Tax expert Mon Abrea validated the point, agreeing that the company should have paid income taxes. Drilon later asked the Bureau of Internal Revenue to look into the payments it should collect from the firm.

During the hearing, Senator Richard Gordon also flagged TigerPhil Marketing Corporation's earlier failure to pay the correct amount of taxes to the Philippine government.

He said TigerPhil, another Chinese firm that supplied Pharmally with face masks, only made the proper payments after its officials were called out by the committee regarding the matter.

Price discrepancies

Senator Risa Hontiveros also quizzed Pharmally over its two contracts with the Philippine National Railways in April and May 2020.

Figures presented by the senator showed medical items sold by Pharmally to the PNR were more expensive compared to the prices indicated in the firm's catalogue in May.

For instance, infrared thermometers were offered to the PNR at 3,200 per unit, but the item was priced at a maximum of 2,200 in Pharmally's catalogue. Face shields were sold to the agency at 179 per piece, when it was worth 95 to 109 in the May price list.

"Ironically, mas mahal ang presyo na siningil niyo sa gobyerno kumpara dito sa price list which you gave around the same time sa mga private sector friends niyo," Hontiveros said.

"So, the only thing I can conclude is that sa gitna ng pandemya, you were offering supplies and prices grossly disadvantageous sa gobyerno natin," she continued.

[Translation: Ironically, you charged the government higher compared to the price list you gave around the same time to your private sector friends. So, the only thing I can conclude is that in the middle of the pandemic, you were offering supplies and prices grossly disadvantageous to the government.]

But Pharmally treasurer Mohit Dargani said the lower prices in May were after the supply had already stabilized.

"I think at that time, the prices did change very quickly actually," he said.

Drilon, however, was not convinced, saying this is the reason why the Senate should be able to secure the source documents pertaining to Pharmally's sales and purchases. "That is where it will be shown there is indeed an overpricing," he stressed.

Earlier into the hearing, the Senate committee cited Dargani and his sister, Pharmally president Twinkle Dargani, in contempt and ordered their detention over their non-submission of subpoenaed company documents.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 20)  The government is modifying its vaccination strategy to protect more Filipinos against COVID-19 in the hopes of a better Christmas and safe election season.

Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. on Tuesday said they are integrating the recommendations of the private sector in the national immunization program.

The first strategy is to ramp up vaccination to achieve 1.5 million shots administered per day  a far cry from the current weeklong average of 388,000 shots daily.

Galvez said they will focus on accelerating vaccination in key cities and economic hubs to help protect the economy. He added the regions will be lumped as different "ecosystems" or "geographic area."

The second strategy is to further protect the vaccinated and healthcare system by providing a third vaccine dose to healthcare workers and vulnerable sectors within the year. He also said a public-private task force will address the issues faced by PhilHealth. This part of the strategy includes the phased and monitored vaccination of students, teachers, and non-teaching school personnel.

"Ang ginawa po namin 'yung ating future ops in-integrate po natin, isinama po natin sa ating tinatawag po na recalibration of our strategy. Ito na po 'yung tinatawag nating incorporating all the recommendations of the private sector, ito na po ang gagawin po natin," he told President Rodrigo Duterte during a televised meeting.

[Translation: We are integrating this in our future operations as part of our recalibrated strategy. This is what we call incorporating all recommendations from the private sector.]

Galvez said they are hoping to vaccinate at least 50 million of the priority population before Christmas and fully inoculating 70% of the population by the start of election campaign season in February 2022.

He also said they are recommending the appointment of a "data czar" to ensure decisions are based on accurate and up-to-date COVID-19 information.

Over 24 million individuals have received full protection from COVID-19 since the start of the vaccination program in March. However, this is still far from the revised 90% target to achieve the so-called herd immunity.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 20)  President Rodrigo Duterte issued a challenge to senators on Tuesday, saying they can proceed with slashing the 2022 budgets of government agencies amid their ongoing hearings for next years allocation.

You threaten the budget of different agencies of the Executive because the officials refuse to attend your hearings. they threaten to paralyze government, Duterte said during his address aired late Tuesday night.

I challenge you, do it reduce the budget by one-third, he dared the Senate.

The President even told senators they can totally remove allocation for the Office of the President but threatened this will come with a cost.

I-zero budget mo ang Office of the President. Sige nga Bakit aabot ba yang pera ninyo kung hindi magdaan sa 'kin? Eh kung hindi ako mag-release? Duterte warned.

[Translation: Give the Office of the President zero budget. Go ahead. Do you think your money will reach you if it does not pass me first? What if I don't release it?]

Tit-for-tat Lets have a showdown, the chief executive said.

Generally, the budget cycle starts with the Budget department preparing the proposal, which will then be submitted by the president to Congress for review  first by the House of Representatives, then by the Senate.

After a series of hearings and a bicameral conference with members of both Houses, a common version will be submitted to the president.

The chief executive can veto items which he disagrees with before the measure is signed into law.

Meanwhile, Duterte also urged Filipinos to scout new faces during the 2022 national elections.

Sabihin ko sa inyo mamili kayo ng bagong mga opisyal, senador. Basta yung bago," he said. "They might be government officials, past or present, but try to scout new faces. 'Wag yung pabalik-balik.

[Translation: I tell you choose new officials, senators. The new ones. They might be government officials, past or present, but try to scout new faces. Not those who keep coming back.]
Penn State announced the reopening of intersection of East Park Avenue and University Drive after accident investigation, according to a University Park-issued Timely Warning.

The crash occurred earlier at 5 p.m., the Timely Warning said.

MORE CAMPUS COVERAGE

Penn State reports 1st traffic crash on campus of fall semester Penn State reported a traffic crash on Monday, according to a University Park-issued Timely 
After experiencing unprecedented pandemic strains, Mount Nittany Medical Center announced it will begin rescheduling surgeries due to a lowered bed capacity in a release on Oct. 14.

At the time of the release, the medical center said it was caring for 30 coronavirus inpatients, with the daily average increasing from 27 in September to 32 in October. Out of the 30 hospitalized for coronavirus, six are vaccinated, while the remaining 24 are unvaccinated.

According to Dr. Upendra Thaker, chief medical officer at Mount Nittany, other medical centers and systems within the region are also rescheduling surgeries.

Thaker encourages the State College community to not only get vaccinated and continue to wear a mask, but also abide by social distancing guidelines and abstain from attending large gatherings.

Surgery in itself is an already demanding and taxing specialty from a physical, mental and financial perspective. Its saddening to see something as stressful as surgery become more difficult before the procedure takes place.

Theres nothing more Mount Nittany Medical Center can do as it clearly is trying to provide the best care possible within its current state. While exceptions most likely will be made for emergency cases, it still is disappointing for those who are in pain to not be able to receive the care necessary for an improved life.

If anything should be taken away from the situation at Mount Nittany, it should be a sense of urgency for members of the Centre County community to make a better effort in combating the coronavirus  not just for themselves, but for everyone.

The notion surrounding State College is that its a town meant only for college students, but in reality, people of all ages call it their home. Just because coronavirus cases on campus are coming to a halt, it doesnt mean State College is on the tail end of the pandemic.

Mount Nittany reported it has seen seven time more inpatients for coronavirus than last year since Sept. 1. In September 2020, the medical center treated 15 coronavirus cases. For September 2021, that figure increased to 106 cases.

As the temperature begins to drop, its only a matter of time before winter hits Centre County. And with some medical experts believing a major influx of coronavirus cases is possible as the weather gets colder, is State College prepared for this?

If medical centers are already being forced to reschedule surgeries due to positive cases in the middle of October, it doesnt look promising for whats to come in January and February.

With few medical facilities present in Centre County, the lack of awareness toward the coronavirus is costing a small medical facility in a somewhat isolated area. It's the only hospital in Centre that serves a total of six counties. The pandemic is far from finished, yet people are treating it as if the summer did away with it entirely.

After being given the green light to no longer have to wear masks, it seems as if State College and the state as a whole has moved on. At this point, the majority of people are exhausted from the pandemic. Because of the mass coverage of coronavirus, many are becoming desensitized and, in turn, become less concerned as well.

Even with a mask mandate in place there is very little mask wearing present downtown and indoors. Whether it be because of not knowing or not caring, State College needs to do a better job of enforcing the mandate.

Regardless of the personal accounts and staggering mortality total, there will still be those unaffected by the coronavirus until it affects them. There are plenty of people in the community unable to receive the vaccine, leaving them more at risk.

Why not help out those who are at higher risk? If you put yourself in their shoes, maybe thered be a change of heart. Going through the pandemic with a selfish outlook is the wrong way of doing so, as countless people have already put aside whats best for them, asked whats best for everyone?

Daily Collegian Opinion Editor Joe Eckstein can be reached at jce5179@psu.edu.
Hickenlooper is in a jam sandwich with the oil and gas industry, which is critical to Colorado's economy, and the most progressive members of his party who contend hes not doing enough, if his hair is not on fire.
This year our dine and drink business locations throughout the Gorge have suffered with closures. You can help support your favorites by purchasing take out and gift cards. Many of these business will offer curb-side delivery and some will deliver to your home. Lets keep the Gorge going strong!
Grace Nieland is a general assignment reporter at the Missourian. She has reported on public health and safety, judicial proceedings and breaking news. She can be reached at grace.nieland@mail.missouri.edu or in the newsroom at 573-882-5720.

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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
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No matter the number of systems being replaced, refresh cycles are opportunities. Making the most of these opportunities starts with carefully understanding the evolving performance requirements inside the organization. Then its time to evaluate possible solutions, looking at current workloads while always keeping an eye on what might be coming next.

Decision makers need to be clear about their options and maintain consistency throughout each refresh cycle, and this means they need to find meaningful ways to measure and compare performance and productivity. Application or workload requirements are the foundation, but device refresh evaluations must go much deeper to ensure tomorrows needs are reliably met.

A rapid pace of change

While the impacts of a more remote workforce are still being fully measured, organizations havent waited, quickly adapting to new rules and realities. These new rules necessitate not simply greater mobility, but also a fundamental shift in real-world tools and infrastructure.

Distributed, more collaborative hybrid workforces have become the norm, testing an organizations ability to deploy, manage, and secure a collected, collaborative environment.

Video conferencing has become essential to everybodys workload, pushing businesses to provide performance-optimized software and hardware so their employees stay connected and productive.

When it comes to measuring performance, relevant, real-world application- and experience- driven testing is now foundational.

The goal: continuous, meaningful, real-world innovation at every layer

The pursuit of superior real-world performance is what motivated the teams at AMD to build our breakthrough AMD Ryzen 5000 PRO Series mobile processors, accelerating and extending the success of our 7nm manufacturing process and Zen 3 architecture. The Ryzen 5000 PRO series mobile platform has combined unprecedented single-threaded and multithreaded speeds1 with comprehensive security features to give businesses and their users performance designed for the real world.

The latest generation of Zen 3 architecture-based processors offers up to 19% faster IPC (instructions per clock) performance 2 , translating directly into an overall faster user experience.

, translating directly into an The market-leading 8 high-performance cores, the most for any thin and light business notebook, enables huge gains on mission-critical multithread workloads.

A physically redesigned L3 cache, designed as a monolithic die available to all cores, thats double from 8 to 16MB is designed to deliver faster speed on all processes.

Measure real-world performance

IT and business decision makers have traditionally relied on benchmarks to measure and evaluate processor performance, either single application-driven tests or synthetic theoretical assessments. The challenge has always been finding tests or benchmarks that most accurately capture the unique workload needs of a specific business or team.

This is where real-world tests, or custom business scripts, become a useful tool for bringing context to theoretical tests and help organizations make accurate, well-informed refresh decisions. So, while traditional benchmarks still show AMD Ryzen PRO 5000 series mobile processors consistently outpacing both previous generations and the competition3,4, additional real-world testing was key to understanding how we perform on everyday workloads.

Benchmark 1: Blended and geomean

One limitation of traditional benchmarking is that the breadth of testing is not always representative of the full workload of an actual user, thus producing a score that is narrow in scope compared to actual workflows. To compensate for this, we use a blended combination of benchmarks and then geomeaning to produce an easily digestible, final geometric mean score. This is a better measure of system performance in the real world.

This composite score yielded up to 6% better performance for the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 5650U Processor and up to 10% better performance for the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5850U Processor over the Core i7-1185G7 processor, respectively5. Its exactly the kind of straightforward, real-world performance benefit users understand and appreciate.

Combined benchmarks:

PCMark 10 Benchmark

PCMark 10 Extended

PCMark 10 Productivity Test Group

PCMark 10 App Performance Overall

WebXPRT Score

Sysmark2018 Rating (Overall)

Sysmark25 Rating (Overall)

Real-world test 1: modern productivity

Our first real-world test was built to capture the performance requirements of a modern multitasking workload. Our script opened:

Multiple Microsoft Office applications

Multiple browsers, each with multiple open tabs

Java applications

PDF file

Background OS processes (including security and manageability)

Video play

To simulate realistic everyday use, the script mixed concurrent and serial tasks. In the final results, while the Core i7-1185G7 completed the script in 467 seconds, the Ryzen 7 PRO 5850U completed it in 430  up to 9% faster performance. In the real world, that means an estimated 10% acceleration in work getting done  in actual performance  across the day6.

Real-world test 2: distributed collaboration

Our second real-world test focused on measuring AMD Ryzen PRO 5000 Series processors performance against an essential business workload thats especially relevant in todays more hybrid and collaborative world. The script opened a 49-person Zoom call, displayed on a connected external 4K monitor, as well as a series of PCMark10 Applications Overall benchmarks consisting of standard Microsoft Office applications (MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Edge).

The results from this more intensive test yielded up to 10% better performance for AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5850U processor over the Core i7-1185G7 processor7.

Again, while up to a 10% performance edge across both tests is an impressive incremental gain, assessed over the course time its a performance gain that compounds dramatically  up to four additional hours of time freed up over the course of a 40-hour workweek. Its also another relevant datapoint when evaluating how performance makes life better for real users.

This is exactly the kind of continuous performance advantage we had in mind when we built Zen 3 and Ryzen PRO 5000 series mobile processors.

Build with the best

Technology refreshes enable organizations to take advantage of new opportunities by providing the most modern tools to take on real-world challenges. AMD Ryzen PRO 5000 series processors respond to the rapidly changing demands of a modern, distributed workforce with leadership in real-world performance.

To learn how AMD designs and delivers superior real-world productivity, read the whitepaper https://www.amd.com/system/files/documents/amd-benchmark-white-paper.pdf or visit https://www.amd.com/en/ryzen-pro

ENDNOTES

As of December 2020, the Ryzen 5000 series mobile processors are the highest-performing single-thread and multi-thread performance available on x86 mobile processors enabled by superior 7nm manufacturing technology on a small node. CZM-26 Testing by AMD performance labs as of 09/01/2020. IPC evaluated with a selection of 25 workloads running at a locked 4GHz frequency on 8-core "Zen 2" Ryzen 7 3800XT and "Zen 3" Ryzen 7 5800X desktop processors configured with Windows 10, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti (451.77), Samsung 970 Pro SSD, and 2x8GB DDR4-3600. Results may vary. R5K-003 Testing as of 12/8/2020 by AMD Performance Labs utilizing Dell-XPS-13-9310_2-in-1 with Intel Core i7-1165G7 processor, Intel(R) Iris(R) Xe Graphics, 16 GBytes RAM - 4267 MHz, KBG40ZPZ1T02 NVMe KIOXIA 1024GB Drive with Win Pro vs. AMD Reference Design with Ryzen PRO 5000 Series processor, ATI/AMD Ryzen PRO 5000 Series - Internal GPU, 16GB LPDDR4 RAM - 4266, Samsung 970 Pro 512GB Drive with Win Pro, and a Lenovo ThinkPad T14 Gen 1 with AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 4750U processor, AMD Radeon Graphics, 32 GBytes RAM - 3200 MHz, SAMSUNG MZVLB1T0HBLR-000L7 Drive with Win Pro, Using the following tests: Geekbench v5 (5.3.1) Multi-Core Score (64-bit), Passmark 10 Rating (Overall), Passmark 10 CPU Mark, PCMark 10 Benchmark, PCMark 10 Productivity Test Group ,PC manufacturers may vary configurations yielding different results. PCMark is a registered trademark of Futuremark Corporation. CZP-05. Testing as of 12/8/2020 by AMD Performance Labs utilizing Lenovo ThinkPad T14 Gen 1 with AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 4750U processor, AMD Radeon(TM) Graphics, 32 GBytes RAM - 3200 MHz, SAMSUNG MZVLB1T0HBLR-000L7 Drive with Win Pro vs. AMD Reference Desgin with Ryzen PRO 5000 Series processor, ATI/AMD Ryzen PRO 5000 Series - Internal GPU , 16GB LPDDR4 RAM - 4266, Samsung 970 Pro 512GB Drive with Win Pro, Using the following tests: PCMark 10 APP Performance Overall , PCMark 10 App Performance_Word, PCMark 10 App Performance_Excel, PCMark 10 App Performance_PPT, PCMark 10 App Performance_Edge, . PC manufacturers may vary configurations yielding different results. Results may vary . PCMark is a registered trademark of Futuremark Corporation. CZP-06 CZP-25: Testing as of 12/8/2020 by AMD Performance Labs utilizing MSI Prestige 14Evo A11M with anIntel Core i7-1185G7 processor, Intel(R) Iris(R) Xe Graphics, 16 GBytes RAM - 4267 MHz, KINGSTON OM8PCP31024F-AI1 Drive with Win Pro vs. AMD Reference Design with an AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 5650U processor, ATI/AMD Cezanne - Internal GPU, 16GB LPDDR4 RAM - 4266, Samsung 970 Pro 512GB Drive with Win Pro and an AMD Reference Design with an AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5850U processor, ATI/AMD Cezanne - Internal GPU , 16GB LPDDR4 RAM - 4266, Samsung 970 Pro 512GB Drive with Win Pro, using the following tests: PCMark 10 Benchmark, PCMark10 Extended, PCMark 10 Productivity Test Group, PCMark 10 APP Performance Overall, WebXPRT Score - Canary Edge, Sysmark 2018 Rating (Overall), Sysmark 25 Rating (Overall). The geometric mean score is a mean or average, which indicates the central tendency or typical value of this set of benchmark results by using the nth root of the product of the test results. PC manufacturers may vary configurations yielding different results. PCMark is a registered trademark of Futuremark Corporation.CZP-25. CZP-23: Based on internal AMD performance testing using an AMD productivity script across a variety of applications and activities a commercial PC user is likely to encounter during the workday, including Microsoft Office, web browsing, Java script, file compression, virus scanning, PDF, and video applications. Testing as of 02/02/21 utilizing an MSI Prestige 14 Evo with Intel Core i7-1185G7 processor @ 28W TDP, Intel Xe Graphics, 16 GBytes 4267 MHz RAM, Kingston Technology SSD Drive, and Windows 10 Pro vs. a Lenovo ThinkPad L15 Gen 2 with Ryzen 7 PRO 5850U mobile processor @ 15W TDP, AMD Radeon Graphics, 2X8 GB 3200 MHz RAM, Samsung 256GB SSD, and Windows 10 Pro. PC manufacturers may vary configurations yielding different results. CZP-23 CZP-24: Testing as of 02/02/21 utilizing an MSI Prestige 14 Evo with Intel Core i7-1185G7 processor, Intel Xe Graphics, 16 GBytes 4267 MHz RAM, Kingston Technology SSD Drive, and Windows 10 Pro vs. a Lenovo ThinkPad L14 Gen 2 with Ryzen 7 PRO 5850U mobile processor, AMD Radeon Graphics, 2X16 GB 3200 MHz RAM, Western Digital SN730 NVMe SSD, and Windows 10 Pro with the PCMark 10 Applications test while running a 49 participant Zoom call. PC manufacturers may vary configurations yielding different results. CZP-24

DISCLAIMER

The information contained herein is for informational purposes only and is subject to change without notice. While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this document, it may contain technical inaccuracies, omissions, and typographical errors, and AMD is under no obligation to update or otherwise correct this information. Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. makes no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this document, and assumes no liability of any kind, including the implied warranties of noninfringement, merchantability, or fitness for particular purposes, with respect to the operation or use of AMD hardware, software, or other products described herein. No license, including implied or arising by estoppel, to any intellectual property rights is granted by this document. Terms and limitations applicable to the purchase or use of AMDs products are as set forth in a signed agreement between the parties or in AMDs Standard Terms and Conditions of Sale. GD-18

2021 Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. All rights reserved. AMD, the AMD Arrow logo, Radeon, Ryzen, and combinations thereof are trademarks of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. Other product names used in this publication are for identification purposes only and may be trademarks of their respective owners.
10/19/2021

Photo (c) insta_photos - Getty Images With the holidays less than six weeks away, U.S. mail carriers and package delivery companies are getting out in front with their recommendations for consumers who want their gifts to arrive on time.

Overall, things are pretty much the same as 2020s holiday schedule for UPS and FedEx, but the USPS has moved its first-class and priority mail ship-by dates up by a day.

Shipping breakdown by carrier

USPS: If youre taking the U.S. Postal Service route, heres what you need to know. The USPS recommends that anyone who wants to have their package delivered on time for Christmas Day via ground service should ship it by Dec. 15. For those who dont hit that cutoff date, they can still use first-class mail, which gives them until Dec. 17 to send their package. The deadline for priority mail is Dec. 18, and the deadline for priority mail express is Dec. 23. For international and military shipping, the USPS also provides a list of shipping dates here.

While the USPS doesnt make specific reference to Hanukkah or Kwanzaa mailing date suggestions, shipping two weeks in front of those holidays is likely a safe bet. The agency also reminds consumers that mailing rates have changed and that they should be prepared to spend more than they have in the past.

Another consideration that consumers should take into account is that slowdowns at USPS may have an additional impact. ConsumerAffairs reviewers like Henry from Waterbury, Conn., have already been impacted by slower service times.

I sent my package on July 7th 2021 and I was promised delivery on July/12th/2021, he wrote. I have tried to call but I can't get to someone. I went to service center in Waterbury and they gave a number to call Hartford consumer center. I called the number, every time I call no one answers, the recording asks for your number and name and promise to call you back in 24 hours. I have called for 12 days and every time the system will ask you for name and number and no one has ever called me back. My documents had personal information and now I don't know what to do.

UPS: UPS says consumers will want to schedule their packaged delivery by Monday, Dec. 20, to get it by December 24. For those who miss that cut-off, there are other, more expensive, options. Those include:

Dec. 21: UPS 3 Day Select

Dec. 22: UPS 2nd Day Air

Dec. 23: UPS Next Day Air

A complete list of UPS shipping dates and services is available here.

FedEx: FedEx says the last day to get a package out for Christmas is Dec. 15 if youre going the ground shipping route. For the less expensive ground economy packages, consumers will need to ship the package by Dec. 9.

FedEx can still deliver packages for those who wait until the last minute, but it will charge a higher rate. A full list of FedEx shipping dates and available services is available here.

Be careful of order confirmation scams

The Postal Service reminds consumers that scammers have recently been using the order confirmation scam. If you receive a text message from a number you dont recognize saying you need to confirm a delivery by clicking on a link, the USPS says you should stop right there. The scam  called smishing  starts with the pretense that its from Walmart, Costco, Target, or Amazon and that you need to confirm a recent purchase you supposedly made.

Customers are required to either register online, or initiate a text message, and provide a tracking number. USPS will not send customers text messages or emails without a customer first requesting the service with a tracking number, and it will NOT contain a link, the agency said. So, if you did not initiate the tracking request for a specific package directly from USPS and it contains a link: dont click the link!
Jarsandbottles-store.co.uk scored 47 Social Media Impact. Social Media Impact score is a measure of how much a site is popular on social networks. 2.5/5.0 Stars by Social Team

This CoolSocial report was updated on 8 Jul 2013, you can refresh this analysis whenever you want.

The total number of people who shared the jarsandbottles-store homepage on Delicious. The total number of people who shared the jarsandbottles-store homepage on StumbleUpon. This is the sum of two values: the total number of people who shared the jarsandbottles-store homepage on Twitter + the total number of jarsandbottles-store followers (if jarsandbottles-store has a Twitter account). The total number of people who shared the jarsandbottles-store homepage on Google Plus by a google +1 button. This is the sum of two values: the total number of people who shared, liked or recommended the jarsandbottles-store homepage on Facebook + the total number of page likes (if jarsandbottles-store has a Facebook fan page).

Basic Information

PAGE TITLE Jam Jars and wholesale glass bottles from Pattesons Glass - UK supplier DESCRIPTION Buy glass jars & amp bottles packaging UK & #9733 & #9733 & #9733 & #9733 & #9733 | Jam Jars, Preserving Jars, Swing Top Bottles, Honey Jars, Oil Bottles, Square Jars and much more. Pattesons Glass Ltd KEYWORDS glass storage jars, small glass bottles, whiskey bottles, wine bottles, preserve jars, glass jars, glass bottles, glass bottles wholesale OTHER KEYWORDS glass, bottles, glass bottles, glass jars, closures, jam jars, online



The description meta-tag found in the head section of the homepage. The title found in the head section of the homepage. The keywords meta-tag found in the head section of the homepage. CoolSocial advanced keyword analysis tool is able to detect and analyze every keyword on each page of a site. The URL (Uniform Resource Locator) is the address of the site.

Domain and Server

DOCTYPE XHTML 1.0 Strict CHARSET AND LANGUAGE English UTF-8English DETECTED LANGUAGE English English SERVER Apache (PleskLin) OPERATIVE SYSTEM Linux Linux

Type of server and offered services. Character set and language of the site. Operative System running on the server. The language of jarsandbottles-store.co.uk as detected by CoolSocial algorithms. Represents HTML declared type (e.g.: XHTML 1.1, HTML 4.0, the new HTML 5.0)

Site Traffic trend during the last year. Only available for sites ranked <= 100000 in the world.

Referring domains for jarsandbottles-store.co.uk by MajesticSeo. High values are a sign of site importance over the web and on web engines.

Facebook link

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Twitter account link

TWITTER PAGE LINK NOT FOUND
90%

Website tuccom.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 61797 by Alexa. It supports HTTPS. The main html page has a size of .

This CoolSocial report was updated on 2020-06-09, you can refresh this analysis whenever you want.
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3 1 of 3 Lisa Nichols / Contributed photo Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Christian Abraham / Hearst Connecticut Media Show More Show Less 3 of 3





STORRS  It turns out, President Joe Biden sampled some of UConn Dairy Bars ice cream after all  and even brought home leftovers, a White House spokesperson confirmed Saturday.

During his visit to the University of Connecticut on Friday, Biden and former U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd had some of the special batch of chocolate chip ice cream  the presidents favorite flavor  before the dedication of the Dodd Center for Human Rights, the White House spokesperson said.
If youre in Guilford, you are probably sitting on land where the Menunkatucks lived.

West Hartford was where the Sicaogs once called home. The Podunks were in what is now South Windsor and Vernon. What is now Bridgeport, Stratford and Milford was once Wepawaug land.

The University of Connecticut library has published a digital mashup map that shows what native American tribes were on land now managed by Connecticut towns and municipalities.

The original map, redrawn in 1935 and housed in the Boston Public Library, shows what Indian trails, villages and sachemdoms existed in Connecticut circa 1625.

University of Connecticut.

Drawn by artist Hayden Griswold, the map was made at the behest of an organization called the Connecticut Society of the Colonial Dames of America  an group that still exists.

It was based on a map drawn by John Chandler in 1705 that relied on even older maps. The earliest known map of Connecticut, according to UConn anthropologist Kevin McBride, was drawn in 1614.

Now an effort called LandGrabCT is underway to document the land, both in Connecticut and west of the Mississippi River, that was taken from native peoples and sold to create the University of Connecticut.

There's this act in 1862, called the Morrill Act, which established land grant universities, said Garrett McComas, a postdoctoral fellow at UConns Greenhouse Studios.

The act assigned strips of land across the country to various states. The more congressional representatives, the more strips of land a state was assigned. That land, on which native peoples had been living, would then be sold to create an account through which universities would be funded.

So a land grant university is the beneficiary of these sold strips of land, McComas said. They get a portion of the base amount, which for Connecticut is $135,000.

In total, 178,190 acres of land in Nebraska, Michigan, California and Montana were sold to create the University of Connecticut, according to LandGrabCT.

It's really looking at the dispossession of indigenous people, the dispossession of their land, McComas said. And then the way that dispossessed land was used to fund the land grant university system.

Mohegans, Mohicans and Pequots

The LandGrabCT project is focused on land in other states sold to create land grant universities like UConn, but McComas noted that the property on which the university itself sits was once native land.

They have made acknowledgment statements that acknowledge the tribes that lived on the land the university is physically located on, McComas said. So that would be the land within Connecticut's borders, and the tribes that are associated with those lands.

The UConn librarys mashup map, which digitally overlays modern town borders onto Chandler's 1705 map, shows that Mohegans lived where UConns primary campus now sits.

But McBride said its not so simple.

UConn and, of course, other institutions are on formerly native lands. I think it's sort of disingenuous and a little simplistic to say that they stole the land, he said. Of course, we know that was the outcome, but it was a complex process.

However, Rodney Butler, chairman of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, did not hesitate to use the word stole.

The end result was that they took the land, no matter what the intent was, he said. The heart of it though was about economics, whether thats land or the wampum or fur trade.

The 1935 reprint of Chandlers map was included as part of a booklet explaining Connecticuts Native American history. That booklet suggests the Mohicans in what is now New York state and the Mohegans of Connecticut were once a single group, though McBride said that is outdated and likely false.

McBrides specific area of study is the Pequot War, which he said started as the Pequots attempted to gain control of the regions fur and wampum trade.

By the time the English arrived in 1633 into the Connecticut Valley, the Pequots were sort of at the height of their power, he said. They controlled the Connecticut Valley, they controlled the Long Island coastline, and they began to run afoul of the English who ignored Pequot claims through territory by right of conquest.

Disease

The Pequots were already suffering by the time the Pequot War began. When asked how many people lived in Connecticut before the first permanent settlers arrived, McBride said the real question is how many were here before the first smallpox epidemic in 1633.

There were, he said, probably about 8,000 Pequots alone before the epidemic, and perhaps 4,000 after it.

Estimates vary on the mortality rate, anywhere from maybe 50 to 90 percent, he said.

Its important to remember, McBride said, that disease and conflict had reduced the population of Native Americans in Connecticut. Their numbers became thin, he said.

And though the Pequots and Mohegans did not take part, many tribes in New England became part of a coalition that fought against the English to, in theory, drive them into the sea. That became known as King Phillips War.

The process, however, through which the Pequot lost their land was not so slow, Butler said. It was spurred by the Treaty of Hartford, signed Sept. 21, 1638, between the English colonists and the Narragansett and Mohegan people.

That treaty stipulates a payment to the English for every Pequot man, woman and child, and that the Pequots will no longer live in their homelands, and the Narragansetts and Mohegans may not live in the former Pequot territory.

Before the treaty, the Pequots controlled 250,000 acres of land, according to Butler.

We went from 250,000 to zero on the signing of that treaty, he said.

Buying the land back

There was an ebb and flow to the Pequot land holdings. Butler said the tribe received their first parcel back in 1651. It was 200 acres in Noank.

The reservation in Noank was the first formal reservation established in the continental United States, Butler said. We never lost our identity.

That was increased to 2,000 acres in 1666, and then slowly sold to white farmers, illegally, until the tribe was down to 200 acres in 1856.

In the 1960s, renewed interest in returning the land to native people encouraged the Pequots, under the leadership of then-chairman Skip Hayward, to sue for those lands that had been illegally sold in the 1800s.

From 75 to 83, we were in and out of court fighting for our land, Butler said.

After the tribe was formally, federally recognized, a settlement in 1983 returned about 900 acres.

Since then, the tribe has been slowly acquiring more land. There are 1,600 acres in trust as official, sovereign land and another 2,000 or so acres owned by the tribe, but not yet officially in trust.

The ultimate goal is, eventually, get all of that into trust, so that we have the sole authority in managing those lands, Butler said.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP)  Democratic Gov. Tim Walz launched his campaign for a second term Tuesday in an increasingly divided Minnesota, saying he made the tough calls necessary to beat back the COVID-19 pandemic and revive the economy.

Peggy and I asked Minnesotans to come together and make a goal line stand, to fight COVID and protect the economy," Walz, a former high school football coach, said on a YouTube video, as he stood on a football field with by Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan. "The fight's not over but we've got the ball back. We're on offense, and we're making progress."

Walz said critics who tried to block his response to the pandemic are now trying to move Minnesota backward.

Their dangerous views  discouraging vaccines and masking to help fight COVID  put politics ahead of science and put lives at risk, Flanagan said.

The former congressman won office in 2018 on a theme of One Minnesota, a slogan he's using again for 2022. But the fissures in Minnesotan politics have grown deeper since then, mostly disagreements over his management of the pandemic, as well as the unrest and spike in crime that followed the death of George Floyd.

In their announcement, Walz and Flanagan listed taking the first steps towards police reform as one of their main accomplishments and pledged to continue working toward improving police training and accountability while tackling crime and gun violence. They also said they would continue to lead on keeping children and families healthy and safe in the pandemic, grow the economy by investing in workers and small business, and give every child a world-class education as they work to rebuild a stronger Minnesota.

Walz enjoyed bipartisan success during his first legislative session, in 2019, despite a Legislature divided between a Republican-controlled Senate and a House with a Democratic majority. It wasn't always pretty, but a budget surplus helped him work with all sides to agree in the end on a balanced budget that didn't raise taxes or cut programs.

Then the pandemic hit in March 2020, and his relations soon frayed with Republicans who objected to his use of emergency executive powers to shut down businesses, schools and churches  and to mandate masks in public places  in an effort to limit the spread of the coronavirus.

Then the streets of the Twin Cities erupted in May 2020 after Floyd, a Black man, died under the knee of a white Minneapolis police officer. Republicans attacked Walz for the slow response by law enforcement to the unrest that followed, which culminated in the burning of a police station before he sent in the National Guard to restore order.

Walz got little help from the November 2020 election. While Democrat Joe Biden won Minnesota by a comfortable margin, the Legislature remained divided between a narrowly Republican Senate and a House with an eroded Democratic majority. Fortunately for Walz, the state found itself flush with cash in the 2021 legislative session thanks to federal aid and a stronger-than-expected economy.

But bipartisan cooperation still isn't coming easy, even though Walz has relinquished his emergency powers. Talks over allocating $250 million in bonuses for frontline workers have been deadlocked since summer. His proposals to add drought aid for farmers and regulatory relief for strained health care facilities to the mix for a special session have failed to gain traction with Senate Republicans, who are still threatening to use their powers to fire Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm.

The early conventional wisdom is that the 2022 election in Minnesota will come down to the suburbs and certain larger cities in greater Minnesota that have been trending Democratic in recent elections, just as in 2020. While midterm elections tend to favor the party that's out of power in the nation's capital, one plus for Walz is that no Republican has won statewide office in Minnesota since Gov. Tim Pawlenty was reelected in 2006.

Among the more prominent GOP candidates, former state Sen. Scott Jensen, a family doctor, has become the early apparent frontrunner on a platform of skepticism about vaccines and pandemic restrictions.

Rarely have we seen a more stark failure in leadership," Jensen said in a statement criticizing Walz for closing businesses and locking down nursing homes during the pandemic, as well as for his handling of last year's unrest and the rise in crime.

Former Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka and state Sen. Michelle Benson are both stressing public safety and their roles in opposing Walz at the Legislature.

Gazelka issued a statement saying Walz has consistently shown weakness and hesitation in the face of lawlessness and rising crime while damaging the economy with his overreach on the pandemic.

Tim Walz's One Minnesota mantra is not an appeal for unity; it is a cover for a coercive, one-size-fits-all approach to governing through more regulation and a bigger bite by government out of hard-working Minnesotans' paychecks, he said.

Benson said she continuously hears from Minnesotans who no longer feel safe in their communities, from law enforcement officers who don't think he has their backs and from parents who worry about their children's education. She called Walz's One Minnesota vision nothing but an empty promise.
Does Connecticut want people to smoke?

If Jeopardy! posed a question about which states are tied in last place for spending on tobacco control, its reasonable that many contestants could cite Tennessee as one of the right answers.

Its equally reasonable that a second guess would be a different Southern state, say North Carolina, Kentucky, Virginia or Georgia.

So the correct response of Connecticut makes it seem like a trick question.

Yet the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids locks Tennessee and Connecticut together in the basement of the standings for per capita spending to combat tobacco use.

The Connecticut Mirror reports this week that agencies that take a clear stand against smoking are pressuring the state to invest more resources in fighting tobacco addiction.

The article notes that Gov. Ned Lamont acknowledged during his first year in office that his state needs to reverse the history of collecting billions of dollars from Big Tobacco and Small Tobacco (that would be the individual smoker) without spending it on initiatives to stifle addiction.

Two years later, Lamonts words seem to have gone up in smoke.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has a formula that recommends Connecticut spend $32 million annually on efforts such as steering kids away from tobacco. The states General Fund is short of reaching that figure by ... $32 million.

The governors office offers some hazy answers on cessation programs that show up elsewhere in the budget. To be fair, Lamont has been pretty occupied in the past 19 months with a more immediate public health crisis.

One way Connecticut has tried to discourage smokers is by having the second-highest cigarette tax among states ($4.35 per pack). That generated some $350 million, which would seem to be enough to spare for that $32 million goal.

In an era when even James Bond seems to have kicked the habit, consider the bigger picture. Connecticut is new this year to the marijuana revenue stream. And weve frequently reported on concerns from educators about the rise in vaping among students in Connecticut classrooms.

From an even broader perspective, the Food and Drug Administration just this week made the surprising announcement that it is approving the sale of an e-cigarette for the first time.

The FDAs reasoning is that the products benefits for adults trying to quit smoking outweighs the risk of hooking teenagers. In this case, the Vuse e-cigarettes are limited to a tobacco flavored rather than tastes from a Trick-or-Treat basket.

While we take issue with the FDAs logic, it at least acknowledges the goal of discouraging the smoking of tobacco.

Connecticut needs to embrace the wisdom of reducing tobacco use as in investment by saving billions in health costs. Bryte Johnson, Connecticut director of government relations for the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, says tobacco-related illnesses come at a $2 billion annual cost to the states public and private sectors.

Does Connecticut want people to smoke? We dont really think so, but we shouldnt have to squint to see a clear picture through the smoke.
Guilford  There are five candidates running for four spots on the Board of Selectmen.

Democratic First Selectman Matthew Hoey is running unopposed for first selectman. Four incumbents are also running for re-election: Democrats Louis Federici and Sandra Ruoff, along with Republicans Susan Koch Renner and Charles Havrda. Seeking to oust one of them is Green Party candidate Justin Paglino.

Leading up to the Nov. 2 election, Hearst Connecticut Media requested the Democratic and Republican town committees to ask their candidates to complete a brief survey about their background and why they are running for office.

Here are the responses to the survey received by the deadline:

Charles Havrda

Courtesy / Charles Hvarda

Town/City: Guilford

Party affiliation: Republican

Age: 75

Current job/employer: retired

The top issue you will address if elected: Sustainability, digital expansion

Other issues you feel are important: Pedestrian access and DEI

Tell us about your family: Married, two sons, two granddaughters

Elected offices held or community groups involved with: BOS

Why are you seeking public office?: Continue to work with other boards and commissions to allow Guilford to prosper

Justin Paglino

Courtesy / Justin Paglino / Photo by Colette Driscoll-Long

Town/City: Guilford

Party affiliation: Green Party

Age: 48

Current job/employer: Musician self-employed, Retired MD/PhD

The top issue you will address if elected: Balancing our quality services with affordability.

Other issues you feel are important: Affordable town transition to clean energy.

Tell us about your family: Married to Jill in 2002, two children in Guilford Schools, two cats

Elected offices held or community groups involved with: Former Cubmaster for Scout Troop 472, former secretary for Guilford DTC, Green Party member.

Why are you seeking public office?: Id like to serve the town that has been of great service to my family. I support our schools efforts to foster inclusiveness. Also important is economic inclusiveness, i.e. affordability. Guilford needs to transition more urgently to clean energy, which may be facilitated partly by establishing a municipal utility.

Campaign website: https://www.fb.com/GuilfordGreenParty/
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BRIDGEPORT  The state attorney generals office will not involve itself in the foreclosure action against the Prayer Tabernacle Church of God and Cathedral of the Holy Spirit, the East End churches run by Rev. Kenneth Moales Jr. and founded by his father, Bishop Kenneth Moales, Sr.

Cathedral of the Holy Spirit is a vital community institution in Bridgeport, Elizabeth Benton, communications director for Attorney General William Tong, told Hearst Connecticut Media in a statement. Attorney General Tong has spoken to members of the Bridgeport delegation and intends to continue those discussions to identify ways to support the Bridgeport community and church. As to allegations of lending fraud and abuse, those allegations were considered by the court and the Office of the Attorney General cannot legally intervene.

All eight of Bridgeports state lawmakers, after meeting with Moales, a prominent faith leader and political figure, on Sept. 23 wrote fellow Democrat Tong asking his office open a case into the pending eviction of the East End religious institution by its bank, Foundation Capital Resources.

Pastor Moales indicated the church and related properties were under siege from what he is describing as a predatory lender. The dilemma has been ongoing for several years and the properties are now in foreclosure, wrote state Sens. Marilyn Moore and Dennis Bradley, and state Reps. Andre Baker, Jr., Antonio Felipe, Jack Hennessy, Christopher Rosario, Steve Stafstrom and Charlie Stallworth. As background the church has been a beacon of light in Bridgeport and this week is celebrating its 52nd year anniversary. Its founder, the late Bishop Kenneth Moales, Sr. was a well- respected, nationally known leader both in the secular and faith communities.

Foundation Capital has denied the allegations against it.

In September 2017, according to court documents, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Meyer, after a more than four-year legal battle initiated in state court, issued a foreclosure order against Moales for failure to pay a debt of $12,630,230. That amount has since increased to more than $15 million.

Meyer recently granted a temporary stay to Moales of the eviction order pending an appeal of the eviction to the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals.

Willinger, Willinger and Bucci, the law firm representing Moales, in a statement to Hearst Connecticut Media, said it respects the attorney generals opinion but Moales will continue to do whatever is necessary to remain an active and vital part of the Bridgeport community.

More recently Moales was arrested and charged with issuing a bad check of $2,821.40 in July for catering services at Testos Restaurant, the North End establishment owned by veteran Democratic Town Committee Chairman Mario Testa and that organizations usual gathering spot.

Moales was released on a promise to appear in court last Thursday but did not show. So Superior Court Judge Peter McShane ordered a bail commissioners letter be issued, warning Moales to appear in court Nov. 15 or face rearrest.
HENRICO, Va. (AP)  When Planned Parenthood canvassers stopped by Megan Ortiz's house, the 32-year-old therapist was getting ready to head out and too distracted to talk for long.

But after they left, she thought better of it. She jumped in her minivan and drove the streets of her suburban Richmond neighborhood until she tracked down the canvassers. I want to volunteer for you! she proclaimed, eliciting cheers.

What changed her mind? Texas, she said.

Its just really scary,  Ortiz said, of the states new law that bans most abortion. Its important that womens voices be heard.

Democrat Terry McAuliffe has spent months trying to get Virginia voters to focus on abortion, part of his effort to drive the Democratic turnout he needs to win the state's closely watched governor's race. Pointing to the Texas law, and with a majority-conservative Supreme Court taking up a case that could overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, McAuliffe and his allies argue that the issue may matter more now than at any previous time in a half century.

But breaking through to Democratic voters who are weary of politics in general and more focused on the pandemic, the fragile economy and other issues has been a struggle. McAuliffes battle with Republican former business executive Glenn Youngkin appears headed to the wire, even in Virginia, where Republicans have not won statewide office in 12 years and women, especially those in the suburbs, have turned away from the GOP in droves during the Trump administration.

If protecting abortion rights doesnt rise above the din of issues like COVID restrictions for schools in this Democratic-leaning state, that doesnt bode well for a party hoping the issue can prove decisive nationwide in preserving its narrow control of Congress during next years midterms.

This is something that voters across the country should be scared about, said Jessica Floyd, president of American Bridge 21st Century, the Democratic Partys opposition research arm.

Though she argued McAuliffes plans are better on multiple fronts, Floyd also conceded: We know women are tired post-Trump. Were all focused on our families.

A Monmouth University poll released late last month found that abortion trailed the economy, the pandemic and education on Virginia voters list of priorities. The same poll found that McAuliffe had a 40-32% advantage on the issue.

Planned Parenthood Virginia Advocates, the states leading reproductive rights organization, said it's enlisted fewer volunteers this cycle.

It has been shockingly difficult recruiting folks, said Lucy Hartman, the groups organizing director, who noted that part of the problem was the coronavirus delta variant surging this summer.

NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia, another abortion rights group, tweeted that it is still looking for people to knock on doors prior to Election Day  and paying canvassers $25 per hour.

Democrats are familiar with this. For years, abortion rights opponents have been more effective at mobilizing voters around this single issue, effectively creating a passion gap between the two sides.

Gallup polling released last year found that those who oppose abortion are more likely to make it the deciding factor in elections, 30% to 19% when compared to abortion rights supporters.

Those anti-abortion voters include Andrea Pearson, a 59-year-old office manager from Leesburg, about 30 miles outside Washington, who said she had her first abortion at 18. It left her so devastated emotionally that she struggled with drugs and alcohol and eventually underwent two more abortions, she said. Today, opposing abortion is Pearson's top issue when casting a ballot.

I know what I went through, she said. Women deserve better.

But Pearson is not in the majority. VoteCast, an Associated Press survey of the 2020 electorate, found that 61% of Virginia voters said abortion should be legal in at least most cases, similar to the nationwide percentage. Separately, 69% said Roe v. Wade should be left as is, compared to 29% saying the decision should be overturned.

That case's fate will being tested in December, when the Supreme Court hears arguments on Mississippis request to reverse Roe v. Wade  which held that the U.S. Constitution protects a pregnant womans right to choose to have an abortion without excessive government restrictions. The court already has refused to block implementation of Texas law, which prohibits abortions once cardiac activity is detected. Thats usually around six weeks, before some women know they are pregnant.

Theres a sense in which it seems quite likely the court will reverse Roe, said Mary Ziegler, a professor at Florida State University College of Law, who studies the history of U.S. abortion law. That could leave it to state legislatures and governors to decide abortion laws.

McAuliffe has tried to pound this message home. Shortly after Texas' law went into effect last month, he toured an abortion clinic and he's produced numerous ads proclaiming himself a brick wall in defense of reproductive rights.

For 50 years, this has been a hypothetical. We always felt that the Supreme Court would protect Roe v. Wade, McAuliffe said of the prospect of the case being overturned during a recent rally with first lady Jill Biden in Henrico, a community of neat subdivisions and deep forests northwest of downtown Richmond. But now with Trumps Supreme Court thats all changed."

Youngkin, who is trying to appeal to suburban moderates and independents, isn't eager to talk about the issue.

He has said he would not have signed the Texas law, and says he supports a ban at 20 weeks of pregnancy. But in a recent AP interview, he would not answer a question about whether he backs earlier restrictions. The question prompted an outburst from a Youngkin campaign strategist, who objected to it as theoretical, then stormed out.

Youngkin said he believes Virginians oppose McAuliffes extreme abortion views."

But he has also acknowledged that abortion puts him on the defensive. In July, a liberal activist recorded him suggesting that strong opposition to abortion could cost him votes, but things would be different if he wins.

When Im governor, and I have a majority in the House, we can start going on offense, Youngkin said, referencing possible GOP gains in statehouse elections. But as a campaign topic, sadly, that in fact wont win me independent votes that I have to get.

Instead, Youngkin has focused on protecting parental rights, harnessing activists' frustrations over classroom COVID safety measures, school curriculums they see as un-American and districts transgender rights policies.

Katy Talento, who works in health care and lives in Lessburg, said McAuliffe has relied on abortion because he cant defend Democratic positions on schools, the economy and COVID tyranny.

The Democrat base is demoralized so, of course, what does he think is going to rile them up and turn them out?" asked Talento, who is a former health adviser to the Trump White House. "Its going to be scaremongering of his base that Virginia is going to turn into Texas.

___

Whitehurst reported from Salt Lake City, Utah. Associated Press writers Hannah Fingerhut and Sarah Rankin contributed to this report.
Ned Gerard / Hearst Connecticut Media

BRIDGEPORT  A 16-year-old male was arrested and charged with first-degree manslaughter with a firearm and additional firearm-related offenses in the death of teen Nigel Powell.

Powell, 16, sustained a fatal gunshot wound on Oct. 11 inside a residence on Valley Avenue in Bridgeport, police said in a press release.
CLEVELAND (AP)  A judge in Cleveland on Tuesday ordered a new trial for an 83-year-old Ohio man who had previously spent 45 years in prison in the murder of his wife.

The visiting Cuyahoga County Common Pleas judge rejected a defense motion to dismiss the case against Isiah Andrews. Andrews was released last year after another judge reversed his conviction in the 1974 killing of his wife, Regina, saying prosecutors at his 1975 trial failed to disclose information about another suspect.
Connecticuts local elections are a mere few weeks away. Please do not dismiss local elections as unimportant, when in fact they are consequential. I urge you to not only vote, but vote for Democrats.

The Republican Party of my youth, where I could support moderate, intelligent Republicans like former state Sen. John McKinney, is extinct. It has been replaced by the cult of Trump which stands for misogyny, racism, autocracy and conspiracy. Any thought that the Republican Party can be saved is delusional.
Rep. Drew Ferguson, R-Ga., introduced legislation that would block the IRS reporting requirements currently included in the fiscal year 2022 budget reconciliation package, the Build Back Better Act. The bill is co-sponsored by all Republican members of the House Ways and Means Committee.

NAFCU has consistently urged Congress to reject the provision  which would require financial institutions to report account inflow and outflow information of $600 or more to the IRS  since its inclusion in the Administrations budget proposal.

The association recently launched a new round of grassroots efforts against the proposal to encourage credit unions to engage with lawmakers on this issue to warn them of the impact on financial institutions and to reject the latest efforts to include it. Credit union members and those generally opposing the reporting provision are encouraged to use the hashtag #KeepMyBankingPrivate on social media to express their concern around the requirement.
Marye Louise Howse, age 71, of Cullman, passed away on Tuesday, November 16, 2021, at Hanceville Nursing Home. She was born April 23, 1950, to Rayburn R. and Thelma L. Brown. She was preceded in death by her parents and brother, Randall Brown. Survivors include her husband, David Howse; son,
Wallace State Medical Assisting students and faculty met with Hanceville Mayor Kenneth Nail as he signed a proclamation claiming Oct. 18-22, 2021, as Medical Assisting Recognition Week. Pictured from left, seated, Molly Murray of Locust Fork, Arionna Brashear of Dora, Jaycie Barkley of Moulton, Mayor Kenneth Nail, Roslee Matlock of Hanceville, Diana Garcia of Cullman; standing, Hannah Wiley of Hartselle, Ava Akridge of Hanceville, Cynthia Sarabia of Cleveland, Aletheia Sanders of Jasper, Bailee Williams of Hartselle, Dusty Ergle of Arley, Anna Parrish of Jasper, Clinical Coordinator Lorie Strane, Vice President for Learning/Dean of Health Sciences Lisa German, Program Director Tracie Fuqua, Riley Wagar of Hanceville, Kayla Shaffer of Cullman, Bryan Fonseca of Moulton, Shonna Carranza of Oneonta, and Brianna Nabors of Bremen. Not pictured: Lilian Henderson of Quinton, Kylie Sellers of Vinemont, Omar Uriostegui or Remlap, and Kashlyn Whisenhunt of Bremen.
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Enough is enough. Absolutely, it is the principle of the thing. Please, restore local control and accountability to our communities and those of us who know them best.

Letter excerpt

Letter excerpt
If you go

WHAT: United Way of Kankakee & Iroquois Counties' unveiling its new Community Equity Mural

WHERE: 481 S. Main St. (Illinois Route 45/52), on the side of Mi Casa Mexican restaurant

WHEN: 5 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 26

DETAILS: There will be an opportunity to participate in an open mic session to share what this mural means to residents.
Local

Visitor spending dropped 19% in 2020 in Pasquotank

Ruffieux

The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 put an end to a decade of year-over-year growth in visitor spending in Pasquotank County.

Visit North Carolina reported last week that visitor spending in the county dropped just over 19% to $56.2 million last year. Tourists spent around $70 million in 2019.

We all knew this was coming, its just not fun to look at those numbers, said Visit Elizabeth City Executive Director Corrina Ruffieux.

Currituck County, however, was one of 14 counties across the state that showed an increase in tourist spending despite the pandemic, jumping 3% in 2020 to $375.4 million.

Occupancy tax revenue in Pasquotank was off 21% in 2020 but those numbers through August of this year show a big rebound in lodging tax collections. In July, occupancy tax revenue was around $110,000 as compared to just over $80,000 in 2019 for the same month.

Ruffieux called January and February occupancy tax collections solid but said the rest of the year so far has produced record-breaking collections compared to 2019.

Its amazing because 2019 was our best year ever, Ruffieux said. We are doing phenomenally well but the question is how long will that last.

Ruffieux said almost every tourism destination in the U.S. is seeing the same thing right now.

The only communities that are not seeing what we are seeing are those that rely almost solely on convention and business travel, she said.

While Pasquotank saw a drop in tourism revenue, the county fared better last year than most of the state, which saw a 32% drop to $20 billion. North Carolina, however, ranked fifth in the country in tourism visitation.

We did OK compared to some of our peer communities, Ruffieux said.

Ruffieux said Pasquotanks proximity to the Outer Banks and its rural setting helped soften the blow a year ago and that will continue to be an asset moving forward.

People could still travel here and do a weekend getaway and not be in the big city crowds, Ruffieux said. Travel research is still showing people want to be outdoors and be away from crowds. We are set up for a successful future. We have several advantages that our peer communities dont have.

The state report also showed that just over 500 people are employed in travel and tourism in Pasquotank with an annual payroll of almost $16 million. The city and county also collected $2.7 million in local taxes from visitors and that saved every household in the county $329 in taxes in 2020.

Visit North Carolina reported that visitor spending in Currituck totaled $375.4 million in 2020. Food and beverage spending totaled $124 million while spending on lodging was $93.5 million.

Currituck Travel and Tourism Director Tameron Kugler said the county was able to escape many of the negative impacts of the pandemic due to the unique nature of our short-term vacation rental accommodations.

As a predominantly drive-to market, our visitors can travel with their family unit by car to their vacation rental property with minimal to no contact upon arrival, if choosing to do so, Kugler said. In addition, our remote coastal environment is abundantly rich in open space and outdoor activities. For the safety conscious, we were an ideal travel destination during a time of significant uncertainty.

Kugler said more tourists have flocked to Currituck this spring, summer and into the fall in greater numbers than last year. She said advanced bookings for 2022 may result in another record-breaking year.

We feel extremely fortunate that visitors old and new continue to come back to Corolla and the Currituck Outer Banks, Kugler said. Although it is still too early to predict the 2022 season, we are hearing from many of our vacation rental management companies that bookings are ahead of last year at this time.

Tourism generated 2,247 jobs in Currituck with a annual payroll of $88.5 million. Tourism, according to the report, generated $17.6 million in local tax revenue and $12.7 million in state tax revenue.

As a result, each Currituck resident pays $1,083 less in local and state taxes each year, the report states.

Occupancy tax revenue in Currituck this past July jumped 42 percent to around $4.2 million as compared to July of 2020 when it was around $2.9 million. This past August showed a modest jump of around $22,000 to $4,042,114 as compared to August 2020.

Currituck reported a slight decrease in September of around $90,000 to $3.9 million compared to the same month last year. Occupancy tax revenue the first 10 days of October totaled $321,000.
Reva Mae Love, age 75, of Dalton, Georgia passed away on Thursday, November 18, 2021. She was born on September 10, 1946. She is preceded in death by parents, Herbert and Lela "Grant" Lawson; brother, Charles Lawson. She is survived by her husband, Bubba (Harold) Love of Dalton; son, Brian F
First year global studies major Audrey Tirrill at Global Scholars Hall on the University of Oregon campus in Eugene, Ore. on October 14, 2021. Tirrill said that having people there to talk to is super comforting and helpful. First year students in the dorms are offered a variety of mental health resources (Isaac Wasserman/ Emerald)
Ethos is a nationally recognized, award-winning independent student publication. Our mission is to elevate the voices of marginalized people who are underrepresented in the media landscape, and to write in-depth, human-focused stories about the issues affecting them. We also strive to support our diverse student staff and to help them find future success.



Ethos produces a quarterly free print magazine full of well-reported and powerful feature stories, innovative photography, creative illustrations and eye-catching design. On our website, we also produce compelling written and multimedia stories.



Ethos is part of Emerald Media Group, a non-profit organization thats fully independent of the University of Oregon. Students maintain complete editorial control over Ethos, and work tirelessly to produce the magazine.



Since our inception as Korean Ducks Magazine in 2005, weve worked hard to share a multicultural spirit with our readership. We embrace diversity in our stories, in our student staff and in our readers. We want every part of the magazine to reflect the diversity of our world.
For 25 years the BBCs most senior staff concealed the truth that Princess Diana was tricked into giving her explosive 1995 Panorama interview.

Lies were concocted and covered up, with half-truths and evasions deployed to throw inquiries off the scent.

In his scathing report into the scandal, former Supreme Court judge Lord Dyson castigated the Corporation for its flawed and woefully ineffective internal investigation.

But his strongest words were reserved for Martin Bashir, the reporter who secured his scoop after showing Dianas brother, Earl Spencer, faked bank statements.

The judge labelled Bashir deceitful, his version of events improbable and a man whose dishonest tactics had seriously breached BBC editorial rules.

Amid all this richly deserved public reckoning there was one other key factor. For here laid out were potential criminal offences including forgery, blackmail and misconduct in a public office.

For 25 years the BBCs most senior staff concealed the truth that Princess Diana was tricked into giving her explosive 1995 Panorama interview with Martin Bashir

Disgrace

So where are the police? Did Scotland Yard order a dawn raid on Bashir and the seizure of his computers, telephones and personal documents?

What about former director-general Tony Hall, Lord Hall? Hasnt he got questions to answer over his role in the whole sorry affair?

And why the silence on such matters from Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer? After all, a decade ago as Director of Public Prosecutions such aggressive police measures were exactly what he oversaw when, under Operation Elveden, dozens of journalists were dragged through the criminal courts in a 30 million fiasco for publishing stories that juries decided were legitimately in the public interest.

For the BBC, this should have been a moment of high crisis. It had shrugged off scandals such as the Savile affair and the disgrace over its deplorable coverage of the police raid on the home of Sir Cliff Richard but here, surely, was a case that could not be ignored by the authorities.

And yet five months after Dyson reported into the collusions and the cover-ups behind the Panorama broadcast, it was the Yard that came riding to the BBCs rescue by washing its hands of the matter and declaring that there was, in effect, nothing to see here.

It said it found no evidence of activity that constituted a criminal action and would be taking no further steps.

So where are the police? Did Scotland Yard order a dawn raid on Martin Bashir and the seizure of his computers, telephones and personal documents?

That the Met chose to release its decision on the day of last months Cabinet reshuffle only added to the sense of incredulity. For critics accused the Yard of timing their announcement as a bid to bury bad news.

But instead of drawing a line under the matter, there was a howl of public outrage. Stirred perhaps by Prince Williams powerful denunciation of Bashirs interview which he said had fuelled his mothers fear, paranoia and isolation, further poisoning the relationship between the Princess and his father Prince Charles, the case refuses to go away.

Now Dianas brother Earl Spencer  who introduced his sister to the BBC reporter after being duped by Bashirs counterfeit documents  has said that he is considering bringing a private criminal prosecution. He told a senior Met officer that it was absurd that the force was not pursuing a criminal investigation.

And he disclosed that he had received legal opinion from two senior lawyers who believed there were potential offences to be investigated.

His email exchange with Commander Alex Murray, head of specialist crime at the Yard, revealed his frustration. Im afraid this is absurd, Lord Spencer wrote. Clearly forgery is in play here; as is the public office offence. Ive read the Crown Prosecution Service explanation on both crimes online, and there can be no doubt on either point.

Further, as you know, Ive been fortunate enough to receive the generous advice of two QCs whove each, independently, advised the same  and both of these are confident on the blackmail point too.

Asking who at the Met he could discuss these concerns with, he added: Or do I have to go to the trouble and expense of mounting private prosecutions?

Now Dianas brother Earl Spencer (pictured)  who introduced his sister to the BBC reporter after being duped by Bashirs counterfeit documents  has said that he is considering bringing a private criminal prosecution

At a stroke Spencer is now offering the very real prospect of Bashirs activities  and the subsequent cover-up at the BBC  being examined in a public courtroom.

His intervention has drawn the backing of ex-chief Supt Dai Davies, a former head of royal protection, who likens the Mets decision to its reluctance to interview Prince Andrew over the Jeffrey Epstein affair. There is something chronically wrong with the Metropolitan Police who seem incapable of investigating allegations, Davies says.

If you dont investigate, you wont find evidence. Therefore, the CPS or any other authority wont recommend prosecution. The matter stinks and again we need open transparency from the Met.

Duplicity

The BBC will doubtless be hoping that talk of a private prosecution is merely an empty gesture on Spencers part. If so then I fear they may underestimate Charles Spencer and his iron resolve to defend the interests of his family.

Sitting with him at Althorp, his Northamptonshire home, almost a year ago as he recalled his encounters with Bashir, his anger at the reporters trickery and the BBCs duplicity was clear to see.

Rather than diminish in the quarter of the century that had passed since the events of his sisters interview, the passage of time has served to intensify his passion for accountability. It is worth recalling the words of Lord Dyson who described Spencer as credible while rejecting Bashirs account as incredible, unreliable and, in some cases, dishonest.

For the BBC a private prosecution would not just reopen old wounds but also expose the working practices of an organisation steeped in secrecy. In the Dyson inquiry witnesses were not interviewed as potential suspects but allowed to conceal themselves behind highly paid lawyers.

The handwritten account that Spencer made of that first late-September afternoon meeting between Diana and Bashir would be crucial. It was a damning dossier of scores of people, from journalists to royal aides and personal friends and staff of the Princess who were denigrated and vilified and their reputations impugned by Bashir.

Maligned

Imagine the howls of anguish inside the BBC if former royal nanny Tiggy Legge-Bourke were to be introduced as a witness. She was at the epi-centre of Bashirs manipulation of the vulnerable Princess of Wales, with the journalist telling Diana that Prince Charles was in love with the nanny and that the two had gone on holiday together.

And what of those aides such as private secretaries Richard Aylard and Patrick Jephson? They were accused by Bashir of receiving money from the security services, all designed to destabilise the Princess.

Imagine too if the friends and staff said by Bashir to have been selling information about Diana were cross-examined about these untruths. It would not just be Bashirs methods on trial but those of the BBC.

Of course, the most damaging of witnesses maligned by the reporter  though he has denied it  are certain members of the Royal Family. The BBC will be grateful that they are unlikely to give evidence.

For now the possibility of a courtroom showdown remains just that. But what of the role of the authorities in this outrageous case?

When it suits the police to investigate, it will of course investigate. But the only conclusion from the Mets decision not to pursue the BBC on the Bashir affair is that when it isnt expedient, it wont bother.
Are we sleepwalking to another avoidable disaster?

The initial vaccine rollout in the UK was a world-beater and those responsible were rightly applauded.

But covid doesn't respect complacency.

This deadly virus constantly mutates and earlier in the summer experts warned us that a third booster dose of vaccine was needed six months after a second jab if the NHS was not going to be overwhelmed by a combination of Covid and seasonal flu.

The signs are already ominous. Covid is on the march again and time is running out.

At the start of this week, almost 50,000 new covid cases were recorded in a day - the highest figure since mid July - along with almost 1,000 hospital admissions. These figures are up almost seven percent on the previous week, with deaths rising by 11.4 percent.

A nurse administers a vaccine booster on October 5 in Cwmbran, Wales

More than half of those eligible for a third jab - 4.8 million - have yet to receive it, and as their immunity starts to wane, infection rates are rising.

No wonder there's worrying talk of yet another lockdown by Christmas if the graph continues to show an upward trajectory.

There is even a new 'super' Delta variant in town that is 10-15 percent more infectious and already makes up 10 percent of new cases.

In mid-September the government promised that those at most risk- the over 80s and the clinically vulnerable - would receive a third booster jab by the middle of December. And they announced that everyone over 50 was eligible for a third jab six months after their 2nd dose.

Hoorah!

However, we were told not to contact our GPs, but sit at home and 'wait to be invited'. I've spent weeks waiting and so have most of the elderly people I know.

I guess not surprising if sending out the invites is down to GPs who are already complaining they are overworked and that they are not going to comply with the government's latest directive to abandon social distancing and see more patients face to face.

The Home Park vaccination centre in Plymouth, Devon, which was quiet Tuesday afternoon

If GPs are so over-worked, perhaps the task of contacting the 30 million people in nine priority groups who should be getting a booster asap could have been handled differently?

The rollout of the booster programme has been snail-like compared to the soaraway success of the initial campaign. Last Spring the public were being jabbed at the rate of 400,000 a day, but the rate for boosters has crept up to 180,000 from a pathetic 150,000 ten days ago.

Probably realising that NHS wards could be full of wheezing covid and flu victims by Christmas, the government has announced a new advertising campaign (launching later this week), urging us to rush along and get our booster jabs. (It's bound to exhort us to 'save our NHS'.)

Some pundits are claiming that 'booster reluctance' could be one of the reasons why only half of the over-80s have had a third jab. In my experience, this is utter tosh.

JANET STREET_PORTER: GPs are overpaid, understaffed, overworked

The roll out is an inconsistent shambles, it depends on postcodes and staffing levels at local GP's health centres, who are the people charged with contacting patients.

GPs are overpaid, understaffed, overworked. Sending out invites in another item in their intray, along with reminding people to have their flu jabs.

The result is confusion and anxiety. One of my friend's stepfather has been jabbed but not her mother, who is 10 years older. Another pal's 90-year-old mother is sitting at home waiting for her 'invite', scared to go out.

I'm 74 and have been suffering from some booster anxiety - definitely not BOOSTER RELUCTANCE. Every day for the last fortnight I've logged on to the website, only to be rejected, and told to 'wait to be invited'.

I logged on to my GP's website to try and have a chat, only to read a message: 'All appointments have gone, try again tomorrow'. Meanwhile some cheeky friends (in their 50s) got boosters by chancing their luck and strolling into the nearest chemist and vaccination centre.

How much vaccine is going unused because of lack of invited customers? We'll never know.

By today, I'd had enough of waiting, I found three walk-in vaccine centres near my home and just turned up at one - 10 minutes later I was jabbed. The chemist told me they had only vaccinated 70 people so far that day and it was already 3pm. The previous day it had been just 100.

There's no shortage of walk-in centres in central London, but there is a shortage of 'invitations'. Jabbers should be touring the streets with tannoys begging everyone over 50 to get a third jab straightaway and not waste a single day agonising about whether it's five months or five and a half months since their 2nd jab. Otherwise, we'll all be facing yet another lockdown.

To add insult to injury, I couldn't even get my free flu jab because the vaccine had run out!

The booster message is not reaching those who are eligible. They must forget about waiting for their GPs to ask them in when it suits them - we're not talking about a celebrity tea party or breakfast with Madonna, just a quick and simple jab. They must cadge a lift to the nearest walk-in centre and demand their rights.

One NHS bigwig claimed the slow roll out was due to a 'systems issue' - because vaccinators are having to do three things at once; give teenagers their first dose, administer 2nd doses to young adults, and give third jabs to the elderly and clinically vulnerable and health and care workers.

Try as I might, that doesn't seem too complicated. Flu jabs are dished out at fast-speed in High Street chemists, so why should covid jabs be more difficult? If we lack vaccinators, is this a job that demands a high level of skill? Would it not be easy to allow dentists, nurses and pharmacists at all high street outlets to offer booster jabs along with prescriptions and headache pills, eye tests and wisdom teeth removal?

In my experience, the older you get the most time you spend at these places. Now, the government is planning to allow children aged between 12 and 15 to simply turn up at a walk-in centre and get their jabs.

Only one in six have been vaccinated in the month they have been included in the rollout. That will add to the chaos as the elderly and vulnerable sit alongside the super-spreaders.

Currently, new cases of Covid are largest amongst secondary school children and their parents. That's no consolation to older people who have to shop and go about their daily lives in close proximity to these groups, at the very time the efficacy of their double doses starts to wane. Amongst the young, Covid is mostly just like a bad cold, but if you're a pensioner, it's another matter.

Everyone over 50 must be prioritised for a booster jab by Christmas, full stop. Yes, I'm triple jabbed, and slightly smug.

And so should you be.
The hour was barely cappuccino oclock and already the Prime Minister was speaking the only kind of language the pinstriped money men can understand.

No, he wasnt discussing currency swaps or derivative trading. Im not sure Boris knows the difference between an ISA and Isis.

Instead, he was paraphrasing Gordon Gekko, that brylcreemed sleazebag Michael Douglas played in the classic 1980s movie Wall Street, who remains a pin-up for rapacious financiers everywhere.

Green is good, the PM misquoted Gekko  who talked about the virtue of greed. Green is right. Green WORKS!

Welcome to the inaugural Global Investment Summit, a shameless tin-rattling exercise designed to persuade wealthy backers to hand over oodles of wodge to fund the UKs green energies of tomorrow.

Some 17trillion worth of investment clout had turned up apparently.

This was an audience that reeked of juicy spondulicks. Even the dental work on display here probably cost more than most peoples education.

Pressing restart? An uproarious Boris Johnson speaking alongside billionaire Bill Gates at the first Global Investment Summit at the Londons Science Museum yesterday

Boris was in full salesman mode. You could see how much stock he puts in all this green malarkey by the amount of effort hed put into his language. It was a speech designed to loosen the purse strings: Long on snorts and giggles. Boosterism-a-plenty.

Our venue was Londons Science Museum, that heady celebration of successful innovation  steam engines, rockets, life-saving medicines etc. The cornflakes that got to the top of the packet, as Boris described them.

Yet, as the PM pointed out, so many ambitious projects never made it to the production line.

The televisions that didnt switch on, or the cars designed to run on rhubarb wine, which left their inventors blubbing in their scorched garages.

Vast amounts of cash were needed to make innovative energy sources work.

The PM excels at these sort of speeches. He makes techie stuff seem exciting.

Proto turbines, gigabit broadband  the phrases roll off his tongue with a gastronomes relish. He might have made a heck of a science teacher, as long he could have avoided blowing up the laboratory.

Some of the Borisisms hed composed were particularly ornate. He talked of the UK being the first industrialised nation, hence the first to knit the deadly tea cosy of CO2 that is now driving climate change.

Did that get the crowds cheque books flapping? Time will tell. But they certainly got a decent show.

Moments later, Boris was joined on stage by Microsoft founder Bill Gates for a discussion hosted by the PMs Cop26 spokesman Allegra Stratton. Ms Stratton, you may recall, was hired not all that long ago to be the Downing Street press secretary until April, when she got the unglamorous task of preparing the upcoming eco summit dumped on her lap. Poor thing.

Boris was in full salesman mode. The Gates circuits, though, did not respond. The eyes simply gazed ahead, lifeless as a mannequin

Imagine spending the past six months in a mid-market Glaswegian hotel sampling the all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet with Alok Sharma for company.

Mr Gates dawdled on, looking rather confused. Remarkable how little hes changed over the years: Same glasses, same five-quid haircut, same drawling, Kermit the Frog delivery. He was there to talk up some of the less well-funded green technarrrlagies as he put it. There was a brief disagreement over how much money Gates and the UK had agreed to stump up. Boris said 200million each. Gates said it was 400million.

400 each? Boris replied, suddenly making trout-like gulping noises. Well hang on. Id think were going to have to go back to the Chancellor

Boris was clearly kidding around, but like most billionaires Mr Gates evidently doesnt regard money as laughing matter. He simply glanced down blankly at the toe of his brogues.

Soon the PM was making daft nudge-nudge, wink-wink gestures at the audience, telling them how much money they could make out of alternative energy. Wind power, for example, was a licence to print money, Boris said, though he admitted the sector had been a little short on puff recently. He suggested summoning Aether, the Greek god of pure air.

We could sacrifice a goat or something, he joked.

Lots! said Allegra, a little too enthusiastically. But in a humane way, Boris added. The crowd heartily guffawed.

The Gates circuits, though, did not respond. The eyes simply gazed ahead, lifeless as a mannequin. Http://error. Bad gateway. 404 Page not found.

Poor Allegra could have done with reaching over and switching him off and on again.
Friends of mine will tell you that I am generally quite a level-headed person. Good in a crisis, calm in a storm, lamps lit and all that. Solid and down-to-earth, not generally given to fits of the vapours.

But it's been a tough few months, personally, and I am not perhaps at my most resilient.

Events of the past few days have, I must confess, rather overwhelmed me. The killing of Sir David Amess has stirred so many emotions, unearthed so much hurt.

Yesterday, as I sat down at my desk with my customary Tuesday morning cup of tea and piles of newspapers to write these words, I found myself suddenly and unexpectedly overwhelmed by grief.

I was going to write something about Prince William's nice green velvet jacket, or maybe tease Jeff Bezos about his silly space rocket (again). But I couldn't. All I could think about was poor Sir David, and the faces of his widow and daughters as they surveyed the tributes to him outside the church where he was stabbed to death.

All I could think about was poor Sir David, and the faces of his widow and daughters (pictured) as they surveyed the tributes to him outside the church where he was stabbed to death

I felt so desperately sad for them. A family torn apart by evil, shredded by blind and ignorant hatred, victims not just of one sick mind, but of the toxic culture that hangs over politics today.

When did choosing a life of public service become a death sentence? When did wanting to make a difference in society become a crime punishable by death?

I can remember a time when politics felt like one big adventure, a chance to make the world a better place, to bring about change. There was hope, excitement, so many possibilities.

Now it just feels like a graveyard, a barren wasteland of shattered dreams and broken hearts.

Nothing I've experienced can ever compare to what Lady Amess and her family are going through now. Nothing at all.

But I do know what it feels like to be under siege, in constant fear of attack. As a family, we've had so much abuse directed at us over the years because of politics. So much hate and lies and vitriol.

Online, in person, by post. You never quite know where or when the next spittle-flecked pellet of poison is coming from  only that it's coming.

It wasn't always like this. Before social media really took off, there was a limit to how far someone could go.

Accusations had to be proven, allegations justified. Rumours did not spread like wildfire, barefaced lies did not become indisputable facts simply on the basis of the number of likes and shares.

This week MP Owen Paterson, whose lovely wife, Rose (pictured together), killed herself in June last year, said that she was driven to commit suicide because of the strain brought about by an inquiry she feared would destroy them both

But in recent years, that's all changed. The unfettered growth of social media has allowed extreme views to go unchallenged, and the climate around politics has become more sinister, more dangerous and, at times, genuinely terrifying.

I've had to hold my trembling teenage daughter as she's weathered the foulest of online abuse as a result of malicious stories about her father.

I watched her 18th birthday ruined by some nasty little piece of excrement who sent her a card threatening to kill her father if she didn't acquiesce to their demands. I've seen my son's eyes widen in fear, his hackles rise, as he's witnessed his dad being abused in the street.

That same dad was jostled and mobbed by anti-lockdown protesters only yesterday, and police officers rushed to help steer him away from them.

I've been screamed at in public, told I should never have been allowed to have children. I've had blazing rows with friends and relatives over nonsense they've read on the internet, seen the look of distrust in colleagues' eyes.

Always, always, this twisting and warping of a person's identity, and with it the crushing of those around them.

At first, it doesn't feel so bad. It's shocking and stressful and upsetting  but you bounce back. You pick yourself up, dust yourself down and carry on.

But with each blow, each attack, your resilience diminishes.

Whatever self-confidence you had to begin with gradually gets eroded, until you almost start to believe the things people are saying about you.

You start to wonder whether they might not be right when they call you 'scum', that perhaps you really are a bad person; that you deserve to be humiliated and shamed and ruined.

It gets so bad that you find yourself apologising for your very existence. You stand in the shower in the morning, fearing the next disaster  feeling numb and pointless and wondering whether it would really be so bad if you just called it a day.

You avoid social situations, stop seeing your friends. It's not that you don't love them, it's just that even the kindest of invitations feels like an ordeal.

You sleep a lot, seeking solace in unconsciousness.

Floral tributes left outside the Belfairs Methodist Church in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, where Sir David was killed

The anxiety of being constantly judged by people who don't know you but think they do, who've made up their minds about you before you've even opened your mouth, can sometimes be crippling, even for someone as tough as me. It has, over the years, caused repeated bouts of depression.

But, once again, I've been incredibly lucky. I've weathered the storm, however imperfectly. Others, sadly, have not.

This week MP Owen Paterson, whose lovely wife, Rose, killed herself in June last year, said that she was driven to commit suicide because of the strain brought about by an inquiry she feared would destroy them both.

At the time, he was being investigated by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards over his role as a consultant for a company called Randox Health. She was, he says, distraught, believing he would end up having to resign as an MP.

In turn, she believed she would lose her role as head of Aintree, where the Grand National is sponsored by Randox, and that both of them would 'end our lives humiliated and disgraced', as Mr Paterson put it.

Rose Paterson finally took her own life shortly after her husband had received a memo from the inquiry which, he claims, was 'full of errors'. A good woman, mother of three children, she was so frightened she couldn't see the way ahead. There are no words.

My heart goes out to both Mr Paterson and Lady Amess, and their respective children. Their circumstances may be different, but they have one thing in common: the lives of both their families have been torn apart.

Today, we have a culture that fails to challenge the vilification and persecution of MPs and their families, indeed sometimes even actively encourages it (for example, Labour's Deputy Leader, Angela Rayner, has not, to my knowledge, apologised for her inflammatory attack on Tory 'scum').

It is one which fails to offer anything like the kind of support they need to protect them from the worst excesses of humanity.

It was Barack Obama who said, paraphrasing Thomas Jefferson, that countries get the politicians they deserve. On the whole, and certainly compared with so many other countries, Britain has a wonderfully talented and varied group of elected representatives who work incredibly hard, as Sir David did, on behalf of the people.

Don't they  and their families  also deserve something more than this awful climate of fear and loathing?
Amid mounting apprehension about the terrifying cost of hitting the Governments net zero carbon target and replacing our gas boilers with eco-friendly heat pumps, Boris Johnson is doing his utmost to reassure us.

In typically florid language, the Prime Minister insists that the Boiler Police are not going to kick your door in with their sandal-clad feet and seize  at carrot point  your trusty old combi.

Yet he is undoubtedly on a mission ahead of next weeks Cop26 summit  and Chancellor Rishi Sunaks attempt to inject an air of economic reality into the hugely ambitious climate change programme is hitting an immovable force. Sound financial sense is being swept aside.

In his rush to decarbonise, Johnson appears to be unmoved by the essential needs of manufacturing and households for secure energy supplies. Wilfully ignored is the fact that much of the technology and infrastructure required for a carbon-free Britain isnt up to the job, is untested or has yet to be developed.

Amid mounting apprehension about the terrifying cost of hitting the Governments net zero carbon target and replacing our gas boilers with eco-friendly heat pumps, Boris Johnson is doing his utmost to reassure us. Pictured: The Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, Liz Truss, visit GKN Aerospace in Bristol

What is more, at a time when global markets for energy sources such as gas and oil are in turmoil, a Treasury study has revealed, incredibly, that the investment required to decarbonise Britain has never fully been costed.

Little wonder Rishi Sunak is so fearful. The Treasury warns bluntly that Britains race to net zero ahead of rival countries could make us increasingly uncompetitive.

And however Bunterish Boris Johnson might be, costs will increase because of the Governments eco-policies  a fact missing from the script yesterday as he sought to whip up excitement among potential investors at a global summit in London.

The Prime Minister admitted this week that the UK is deciding to make a big bet on green technology. But the gamble is in danger of going horribly wrong.

In all manner of areas, red warning lights are flashing. Take the plan to ban all new gas boilers by 2035. Householders are offered grants of 5,000 each over the next three years to rip out gas boilers and install heat pumps.

Chancellor Rishi Sunaks attempt to inject an air of economic reality into the hugely ambitious climate change programme is hitting an immovable force

Yet not only is this sum a fraction of the cost which is nearer 20,000, the total grant money covers just 90,000 of Britains 25million households  and heat pumps dont work in many homes anyway.

Likewise, by banning new petrol and diesel cars by 2030, the UK will need more than ten times the 25,000 existing charging points according to the Competition and Markets Authority.

It is an extraordinary, difficult and ambitious target to meet. And, in the meantime, battery range is a genuine problem for vast numbers of drivers while the Treasury faces a 40billion black hole from the loss of vehicle tax once we are finally all electric.

Of course the world needs to change to counter global warming, and Rishi Sunak is fully aware of the fact. Nor is it true that he lacks the ability to back bold, visionary ideas  he is behind the freeport development on Teesside, for instance, where international businesses will be encouraged to invest through tax breaks.

But the Chancellor recognises only too well that reaching the green nirvana imagined by Johnson at such breakneck speed could have terrible consequences. For the journey risks being interrupted by power blackouts, the elderly freezing in their homes and budgetary mayhem.

This rush towards decarbonising Britain could not come at a worse moment given current global circumstances. Since May, the price of traditional energy resources has soared by 95 per cent.

Britain has come so close to running out of power that the National Grid  responsible for making sure the nation has adequate energy  invited the biggest electricity supplier EDF to switch back on its coal generator at West Burton in Nottinghamshire where it is almost certainly burning German or Russian-imported coal.

Elsewhere in the world the US, which has abundant oil and gas resources and reserves, has seen petrol prices surge to $3 (2.18) an American gallon  the highest level for several years.

Blackouts have hit the two biggest emerging market nations, India and China, while much of continental Europe has been reminded sharply how dependent it is on remaining friends with Vladimir Putin in order to keep Russian exports of natural gas to the continent flowing.

Normally, as the northern hemisphere heads into winter, oil, gas and coal stocks are at record levels. But this year, they have fallen way below where they should be, while coal stocks in India and China  huge consumers of the black stuff  are also right down.

Compared to so many other countries, Britain is doubly disadvantaged by its headlong rush to decarbonise. The UK floats on a sea of undeveloped fossil fuel resources, from clean coal in Cumbria to the Jackdaw oil and gas field more than 150 miles east of Aberdeen, and huge shale gas reserves around Blackpool.

But, as we relentlessly pursue the target of a carbon-free Britain by 2050, these resources are firmly locked up even though the country has virtually no natural gas storage capacity.

In seeking to claim the ethical high ground, the UK is placing its whole economy at risk while our competitors adopt a much more realistic approach.

By banning new petrol and diesel cars by 2030, the UK will need more than ten times the 25,000 existing charging points, according to the Competition and Markets Authority

To take one example, in this country less than 2 per cent of our energy was sourced from coal last year. Compare that with Germany where the figure was nearer 25 per cent.

Its true that President Joe Biden is adopting bolder carbon emission standards. But, from the coalfields of West Virginia to fracking operations in West Texas, fossil fuels are still the main driving force of American power production.

As inspiring as it may be that, when the wind blows, more than 50 per cent of Britains energy is now provided by offshore windfarms, we shouldnt kid ourselves that this places us at the forefront of this technology.

Many of the pylons are fabricated in China and some of the more sophisticated technologies provided by Denmark. We are still waiting for the UKs manufacturing revolution for clean energy to emerge. And we are already well behind on car-battery factories  Germany has six or so under construction against one gigaplant in the UK.

There was great excitement when British industrial giant Ineos, founded and run by billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe, announced he was getting full-square behind the hydrogen-fuel revolution, believing it to be the power source of the future for heavy trucks and perhaps locomotives.

The only problem is that he has chosen to build the first multi-billion hydrogen plants in Germany, Norway and Belgium rather than the UK.

While garage forecourts in London and other big cities are seeking to address the switch to electrified vehicles by removing traditional fuel pumps and replacing them with charging stations, this is leading to its own short-term problem.

With each petrol pump removed, petrol and diesel storage capacity is also diminished  and we saw recently what happens when we dont have enough fuel available at petrol stations.

recently, my own household experienced an example of how ill-thought-out green policies cause economic harm. The repair firm which has kept our German-built washer and dryer running for 14 years arrived for a regular service call.

The engineer advised us to buy new machines, saying his firm would no longer be able to operate in London because its diesel vehicles and the new 12.50 low-emissions charging zone made it financially unworkable.

The mission to decarbonise Britain and place climate change at the heart of the nations agenda is certainly a noble cause. But Boris Johnson has to balance his thinking with realpolitik.

Other advanced nations want to decarbonise too but recognise that, during the transformation, it is critical to ensure that there is no interruption to supplies which would harm economic security.

Sunak and the Treasury are absolutely right to draw attention to the potential costs of pursuing the Prime Ministers green agenda. The transition to mass market eco-technologies is fantastically complicated and many of the proposed solutions are far from ready.

In rushing the fences, Britain is in danger of recklessly compromising this countrys growth and financial stability.
Turning 50 should be done in style, so it's no surprise that Walt Disney World Resort in Florida has added a sprinkle of magic to celebrate.

Walt Disney World Resort's anniversary event, named 'The World's Most Magical Celebration,' kicked off on 1 October, marking five decades to the date after the Magic Kingdom first welcomed guests through its gates in 1971.

To commemorate this momentous milestone, an 18-month long celebration is taking place at Disney World Resort to give visitors the exciting opportunity to experience everything from an array of new thrilling attractions, nighttime spectaculars, out-of-this-world restaurant offerings and so much more.

And with these once-in-a-lifetime additions, combined with the easing of travel restrictions to the US, there really is no better time to get swept away in the wonders of Disney.

So, scroll down to uncover some of the magic on offer...

Turning 50 should be done in style, so it's no surprise that Walt Disney World has added a sprinkle of magic to celebrate

ENCHANTMENT

Light up your night at Magic Kingdom Park with this new evening extravaganza featuring enhanced lighting and stunning fireworks.

And, inspiring everyone to believe in magic, 'Disney Enchantment' is offering, for the first time ever, powerful immersive projection - illuminating Cinderella's Castle with a dazzling radiance that will travel right down to Main Street, USA. So, prepared to be wowed by the pixie dust sparkle spreading throughout the entire park.

The showstopping display will unfold to multiple Grammy-winner Philip Lawrence's emotional ballad, 'You Are the Magic,' taking guests on a spine-tingling journey filled with both adventure and wonder.

With appearances from your favourite characters - classic and current - this nighttime spectacular is one not to be missed.

HARMONIOUS

Once the sun sets, EPCOT's Harmonious pyrotechnic extravaganza will light up the sky again

Harmonious is EPCOT's newest nighttime extravaganza at World Showcase Lagoon, featuring 240 talented artists from all across the globe.

Prepare to be swept up in a cultural journey as guests are treated to some of their favourite Disney songs in a way they have never heard before...in over a dozen different languages.

Combine this with a striking combination of pyrotechnics, choreographed moving fountains, lighting and lasers in a 360-degree view, and that's one truly captivated audience!

As vibrant images dance and change to an inspirational medley of classics, the enchanting show gives people from different parts of the world the chance to come together, proving that magic really does have no bounds.

It's no wonder this is one of the largest nighttime spectaculars ever created for Disney Parks...

BEACONS OF MAGIC

After the fun of the day, stroll through the parks and check out the stunning Beacons of Magic light fixtures - new this year!

For anyone who loves a photo opportunity, these nighttime spectaculars are definitely a picture-perfect moment.

Get ready to be bedazzled as the four theme park icons - Cinderella Castle in Magic Kingdom, Spaceship Earth in EPCOT, Hollywood Tower Hotel in Disney's Hollywood Studios, and the Tree of Life in Disney's Animal Kingdom Theme Park - come to life with their own EARidescent glow.

The new lighting will be a permanent fixture beyond 'The World's Most Magical Celebration' as a focal feature of the parks - charming audiences for years to come.

Do not miss these shimmering evening delights.

DISNEY KITETAILS

Watch your favourite Disney characters take to the skies with the beautiful Disney Kitetails show

Disney's Animal Kingdom Theme Park is taking magic to new heights as 3-dimensional kites and stunning windcatchers dance through the air to the beat of some of the world's best-loved Disney songs.

From joyous and uplifting shows inspired by The Lion King to The Jungle Book, guests will watch on in awe as the likes of Simba, King Louie and Baloo soar above the Discovery River Theatre during the 50th anniversary celebration.

With vibrant kites stretching up to an impressive 30 feet long, this is sure to be an unforgettable 10-minute performance for the whole family to enjoy.

CLASSIC FAVOURITES AND EXCITING ADVENTURES

With classic rides and expeditions for adventurers of all ages, you're sure to find thrilling twists and turns in every corner.

Among the fan favourite attractions include Star Wars: Galaxy Edge, where guests can blast off and enjoy an adventure in a galaxy far, far away.

From flying the Millennium Falcon on an interactive smuggling mission to joining the resistance in a climatic battle against the First Order, you can fully immerse yourself into this daring assignment - if you choose to accept.

Plus, build your own lightsaber that is sure to impress the likes of Luke Skywalker - dreams really do come true!

But if Star Wars isn't your thing, then why not venture to Pandora - The World of Avatar. It's perfect for those looking to celebrate the magic of nature.

Guests are invited to climb atop a winged mountain banshee for a breathtaking 3D flight over Pandoras otherworldly landscape, or take a mystical journey by boat deep into the land's glowing bioluminescent rainforest.

WALT DISNEY WORLD RESORT HOTELS - WITH ADDED PIXIE DUST

Your favourite characters are waiting to celebrate Disney's 50th anniversary with you!

Waking up in the wonderful world of Walt Disney sits proudly on top of the wish list of almost every child and adult around the globe. So just think of the excitement that awaits when you're actually staying in the heart of the magic!

If that thought alone isn't enough to tempt you, how about a surprise visit from some of your favourite Disney characters? Watch the face of your little one light up as they smile for the cameras alongside Pluto and Donald Duck. These are memories that really will last a lifetime!

And let's face it, nobody wants to queue while they're on holiday - especially when there are so many thrilling new attractions awaiting to be explored.

Well, as part of The Worlds Most Magical Celebration guests of Disney Resort hotels are able to maximise the fun with 30-minute early entry to any theme park and complimentary transport, every day. So you can set out ready for a day of adventure knowing you can jump start the excitement early.

And in homage to the big celebratory occasion, the Original Walt Disney World Resort Hotels have even been given an extra sprinkle of pixie dust to enhance the magic of your stay. There really has never been a better time to book!

REMY'S RATATOUILLE ADVENTURE

Bonjour! Feel like you've shrunk down to Chef Remy's size in this new family-friendly attraction located in EPCOT's France pavilion.

Guests are guaranteed to have a mice day as they scurry through the busy kitchen and walls of Gusteau's famous Paris restaurant and embark on a 4D culinary journey centred on the Disney and Pixar film, Ratatouille.

It's all the little moments that make life a very big adventure! So go on, what are you waiting for? This really is a recipe for fun.

GOLDEN 'DISNEY FAB 50 CHARACTER COLLECTION' SCULPTURES

To commemorate Walt Disney Resort's 50th anniversary, each of the four theme parks will proudly display its own collection of golden character statues.

As a flurry of visitors enter the whimsical gates to search for their most-loved characters, they will find The Lion King's Simba, Timon and Pumba at Disney's Animal Kingdom Theme Park, while Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse take pride of place at Magic Kingdom Park.

Elsewhere, Miguel and Dante from Disney and Pixar's 'Coco' have been installed at EPCOT, while BB-8 and R2-D2 from Star Wars are located at Disney's Hollywood Studios.

This colourful cast of characters signify Disney's past, present, and future. So, who are you most excited to see?

SPACE 220 RESTAURANT

Reach for the stars as you dine in deep space at EPCOT's brand new restaurant, Space 220

Are you ready for an out-of-this-world dining experience? This all-new EPCOT restaurant, which offers a modern American cuisine, cocktails and a wide selection of craft beers, invites guests to step on board a special space elevator before being taken to a whole new realm.

Once on board, visitors will get the unique chance to embark on a simulated journey 220 miles up into space, where they'll dine among the stars.

With the menu including everything from fresh vegetables served in Space Greens to Blue Moon Cauliflower, guests can satisfy those grumbling stomachs before they come crashing back down to earth!

And if it's cocktails you're after, why not indulge in the Celestial Cosmopolitan or the Planetary Punch, which are also available?

Offering breathtaking aerial daytime and nighttime views of the park as you travel to new heights, this is sure to be one stellar journey that will be remembered forever. Mission accepted.

50TH ANNIVERSARY MERCHANDISE COLLECTIONS

Would a trip to Walt Disney World Resort really be complete without a pair of Minnie Mouse ears or souvenirs featuring your favourite characters?

To celebrate turning the big 5-0, Disney is releasing special anniversary-themed merchandise collections which will help guests get into the spirit.

While the Celebration Collection includes an enthralling assortment of commemorative goodies for the whole family, the spellbinding Disney Castle Collection will delight with castle-inspired apparel - not forgetting a light-up, anniversary-edition Minnie Mouse ear headband. 

Elsewhere, the EARidescent line features a glittery range of clothes and accessories. And if it's vintage you're in to, Disney has you covered - with the Vault Collection offering a range of retro-themed designs taken straight out of the Walt Disney Archives. 

From gifts to homeware and fashion, there really is something for every fan no matter what your age - so you can take the magic home with you.
Waiting in the departure lounge to board your flight can be both lengthy and boring, but these photos prove that airports are sometimes filled with unexpected surprises.

Domesticated Companion has rounded up a selection of photographs from around the world which illustrate some of the strangest things passengers have ever seen in an airport.

Among the most bizarre spots include a man dressed as Santa Claus walking through the security checks, and a passenger sleeping on the moving escalator.

Another amusing image shows a man reading a book which he's holding in one hand, while balancing his friend upside down on his other.

Domesticated Companion has rounded up a selection of photographs from around the world of amusing things people have spotted in airports - including a man sleeping on a moving escalator (pictured)

Off to the North Pole! A man was spotted walking through airport security checks at an airport in the US dressed up as Santa Claus

A pilot, believed to be from the US, welcomed a Golden Retriever in the cockpit as his co-pilot - complete with uniform

No long goodbyes! Aalborg Airport in Denmark doesn't mind a quick peck on the cheek, but doesn't approve of lingering PDAs

Who needs a hotel? A viral photograph captured the moment passengers, from an unknown location, covered themselves with blankets and towels for an undisturbed sleep

Supportive friend? The traveller who arrived in Detroit to see their loved one holding up this congratulatory sign might have wanted to turn around and get back on the plane

Another viral photograph shows a line of passengers queuing at a check-in desk, unaware that the employee is busy playing a game on their computer

Journey going swimmingly! Passengers at Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport in Mississippi were left baffled by the illusion of people swimming underneath a baggage carousel

One bizarre viral photo, believed to be taken in Vietnam, appears to a show a man laying on a moving escalator while others balance on top in rather strange positions

Such troopers! A group of friends at Denver International Airport made sure their friend had a warm welcome home by donning Star Wars costumes

Trendsetter! Another photograph, shared by a Twitter user in Colombia, captured the moment a passenger showed up wearing a head-to-toe pink ensemble

Maybe get a taxi next time! A motorbike passenger in South Africa decided to drag his wheelie suitcase alongside him on the way to the airport
Laura Ashley has announced a limited-edition collaboration with a New York-based designer as it continues to rebound after being forced to close more than 100 stores due to Covid.

The fashion-to-furnishings British retailer, which started life on Laura Ashleys kitchen table in 1953, was the pandemic's first high-profile casualty when it collapsed after failing to secure rescue funds, forcing the closure in July 2020 of all 123 UK stores, its Welsh factory and its website, costing more than 1,600 jobs.

But the brand was rescued by Gordon Brothers, the global advisory, restructuring and investment firm, which has invested in restoring the brand to its former glory, including launching a collaboration with Next.

Now, in its latest move, the retailer has launched a 15-piece collaboration with independent designer Batsheva Hay, who has produced a range of smocked and tiered dresses that draws on the retailer's archival prints and line drawings.

Laura Ashley has announced a limited-edition collaboration with a New York-based designer as it continues to rebound after being forced to close more than 100 stores due to Covid. Pictured, designer Batsheva Hay models one of the pieces from her Laura Ashley range

The York dress, priced 218 in the Serene print, boasts a bold floral design with a gold and black collar. The collection, priced from 36 ($50) to 229 ($315), is available on the Laura Ashley website for US shoppers. In the UK, it is available via Net-a-Porter and Matches Fashion

The collection, priced from 36 ($50) to 229 ($315), is available on the Laura Ashley website for US shoppers. In the UK, it is available via Net-a-Porter and Matches Fashion.

It is the first time Laura Ashley has collaborated on a collection with another female designer.

Batsheva spoke of how the brand helped inspire her own designs, saying: 'When I made my first dress a few years ago, my idea was to take a classic Laura Ashley shape and adjust all sorts of things  make the neck a little rufflier, add contrasting fabrics, bring up the waist,' she explained.

'All I wanted to do was revisit and reimagine Laura Ashley and this is my chance to do it. I am working with archival prints, line drawings, and garments and mashing them together.'

The designer added: 'I grew up in the 80s in Queens, and we used to drive into Manhattan to visit the Laura Ashley store on Madison Avenue. Laura Ashley always symbolised my dream of femininity  natural and romantic and a little costumey.'

The Welsh layered dressed in the Sherwood Forrest print (pictured on Batsheva) is one of the matching mother-daughter pieces and costs 203.90 for the adult version. Batsheva, who has produced a range of smocked and tiered dresses that draws on the retailer's archival prints

The pieces echo classic Laura Ashley prints and styles, like these 1980s bridalwear designs

Designer Batsheva has modelled her favourite pieces from the collection including a voluminous smock called the York dress, which features a clash of yellow and pink, floral blues and bold greens and is complete with statement ruffles, bow sleeves and collar.

Laura and Bernard Ashley entered the trade from their kitchen table in 1953, hand-printing fabric in their tiny Pimlico flat.

They built the company into a national chain before her death in 1985 from a brain haemorrhage following a fall down the stairs at her daughter's home just days after her 60th birthday.

Laura Ashley has tried to reinvent itself, several times. Notably, in 2007, when it reissued a selection of classic designs, but in more modern, more malleable fabric and colours, such as dove grey.

Designer Batsheva has modelled her favourite pieces from the collection including this frock which combines the Laura Ashley pattern with her modern take

The collection combines Victorian-inspired silhouettes with Laura Ashley floral prints across a range of 15 pieces. Pictured: Batsheva in a dress priced 218

And again in 2013, when it raided the archives, reissuing classic designs, including the very first scarf from 1954, this time in silk.

But in March 2020, it would permanently close 70 stores, with plans to cut 268 office jobs and furlough more than 1,500 workers.

Gordon Brothers came to the rescue and has sought to bring back one of the great British brands.

It relaunched in spring with shops within Next stores and a website run by Next. This includes a flagship Laura Ashley store at Westfield in West London, taking up 3,000 sq ft of the huge Next store there.

Gordon Brothers hinted it might not be the last collaboration for the brand.

Carolyn DAngelo, the investment firm's brand managing director, and the global Laura Ashley President, commented: 'Batsheva, who is such an inspiring designer and a fan of the Laura Ashley brand, has brought real passion and life to each piece.

'Being a part of Batshevas creative process to bring high fashion pieces to the marketplace has us inspired to create more Laura Ashley collaborations.

'We are excited to continue to work with brands and designers that continue to be inspired by the legacy of Laura Ashley.'
A mum has found a 'genius' way to get messages across to her school son by writing heartfelt messages on his lunchbox every day.

The woman filled a bento box with cut up fruits like a mango and apple, cherry tomatoes, carrot sticks, mini cookies and a spinach wrap stuffed with leftover rotisserie chicken.

For each compartment, she wrote little messages on the see-through lid to accompany the ingredients inside the lunchbox, ranging from 'eat healthy', 'love you' and 'napkin here for sticky hands'.

With the mango pieces, she penned a reminder: 'Be careful with the toothpick,' while she ended her thoughtful messages with a joke: 'What kind of school do you go to if you're an ice cream man?'

A thoughtful mum has found a 'genius' way to get her message across to her school son by writing heartfelt messages on his lunchbox every day

She said she uses a 'permanent, dry erase' marker so she's able to erase the messages on the lid and 'change them every day'.

Many praised the mum for bringing a smile to her son's day at school while other parents said they couldn't wait to do the same with their children.

'We have the same container. I love it. I never thought of writing on it,' one mum wrote, while another added: 'This is so cute.'

While one person asked: 'What's the answer to the joke?' to which someone answered: 'Sundae school.'

The woman filled a bento box with cut up fruits like a mango and apple, cherry tomatoes, carrot sticks, mini cookies and a spinach wrap stuffed with leftover rotisserie chicken

The mum used a kinsho branded bento lunchbox featuring six divided compartments that's perfect for storing portion-controlled food.

Shoppers can get a two pack from Amazon Australia for just $39.99.

The bento boxes have received near-perfect reviews online, with many saying they love how it 'seals properly and doesn't leak'.

'Couldn't be happier with this bento set. The lid is super secure, meaning the food stays perfectly intact and doesn't move/leak even on my long walks to the office. The size is perfect and bigger than I expected,' one customer wrote.
Fashionistas and style bloggers are raving over a $20 denim skirt from Kmart that's perfect to wear to the office and to after-work drinks.

The simple but stylish denim midi skirt grabbed the attention of shoppers online after it was featured in an Instagram outfit video by Australian stylist, Lisa Galanopolous.

The 44-year-old sent customers racing to buy the affordable skirt after styling it four different ways.

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The simple but stylish denim midi skirt grabbed the attention of shoppers online after it was featured in an Instagram outfit video by Australian stylist, Lisa Galanopolous (pictured)

'One denim skirt, four different looks! Im showing you how you can create many stylish and affordable looks with the Kmart denim midi skirt for $20,' Lisa captioned the social media post.

In the short transitional clip, she paired the 'light washed' coloured skirt with a selection of different tops that cost no more than $15.

She first paired the denim skirt with a blue maya leaf tank top, then a yellow front tie sleeveless cami shirt.

The second half of the video shows Lisa wearing a $9 square neck cami then a white cami top that would be ideal to wear on a night out.

Her video was viewed more than 31,000 times and wracked up more than 300 'likes' from other social media users who praised the stylish looks.

'This is such a classy skirt,' one woman commented while another said she 'loved' the blue maya top.

'I'm definitely getting this skirt!' a third added.

The midi skirt is available in sizes six through to size 16 online and in stores.

Earlier this year Adelaide mum-of-three Kirsty also praised the budget buy on Facebook and recommended the product to others (left)

Earlier this year Adelaide mum-of-three and business owner of The Cosmetic Queen Kirsty also praised the budget buy on Facebook and recommended the product to others.

'I got my hands on the new Kmart Australia denim midi skirt!' she wrote and paired it with a blank tank top.

Another woman said she bought the darker coloured alternative and adores the style.
Homewares and furniture retailer Adairs has collaborated with popular Byron Bay brand Wandering Folk on a stunning new outdoor, bedding and picnic range.

The collection, which includes outdoor accessories, adults and kids linen and homewares, is true to Wandering Folk's bohemian, 'whimsical' aesthetic and launches online on October 28.

Designed by founder Sharnee Thorpe, the range is inspired by 'picture-perfect picnics' and 'her desire to be surrounded by beautiful prints and textiles.

Homewares and furniture retailer Adairs has collaborated with popular Byron Bay Wandering Folk on a stunning new outdoor, bedding and picnic range

The collection, which includes outdoor accessories, adults and kids linen and homeware, is true to Wandering Folk's bohemian, 'whimsical' aesthetic and launches online on October 28

When it comes to the picnic essentials, stand-out pieces include an emerald deck chair ($199.99, right), dusk linen napkins ($22.49 for two), beautiful timber servingware from $29.99 and an emerald beach umbrella ($249.99, left)

When it comes to the picnic essentials, stand-out pieces include an emerald deck chair ($199.99), dusk linen napkins ($22.49 for two), beautiful timber servingware from $29.99 and an emerald beach umbrella ($249.99).

Other dreamy buys include a floral beach tent, a rug runner, mats, servingware canisters and tablecloths.

Heading indoors, head-turning buys include assorted floral bed linen and pillowcases from $44.90, emerald daisy cushions ($69.99), gorgeous daisy tea towels ($20.99 for two) and floral wall art ($174.99).

Designed by Wandering Folk founder Sharnee Thorpe, the range is inspired by 'picture-perfect picnics' and 'her desire to be surrounded by beautiful prints and textiles'

The beautiful timber servingware starts at $29.99 (left). The emerald cushion is $69.99 (right)

Wandering Folk first rose to notoriety four years ago after the brand's stunning picnic blankets took social media by storm.

The rugs were developed out of necessity on a rainy camping trip when founder Sharnee found herself sitting on a swag trying to keep off the damp ground.

'We wanted to create something that was great quality that would last a lifetime and was also aesthetically pleasing,' she says.

Assorted floral bed linen and pillowcases start from $44.90

Pictured are the gorgeous daisy tea towels ($20.99 for two) and floral wall art ($174.99)

'Everyone has an old rug in their car or their cupboard that gets dusted off over summer for beach hangs or picnics with friends. Why not have something you are proud to pull out at a picnic that is also very practical?

'Our rugs are more like a magic carpet than a picnic rug. We still use ours everyday and have travelled the world with them by our side, all our products are hand drawn and designed out of our Byron Bay studio.'

Before Sharnee began the journey of Wandering Folk she studied a Bachelor of Arts in Textile Design at RMIT Melbourne back and has worked with many well known Australian fashion labels as a freelance designer creating one of a kind artworks.
Former Miss Universe Australia Tegan Martin has revealed her biggest skincare secret to achieve a radiant glow and improve the texture of the skin.

While in lockdown the 29-year-old transformed her skin in a matter of weeks simply by adding a serum to her nightly regime.

The model and now television host swears by the Retinol Night Treatment Serum from Australian skincare label, Ella Bache and recommended the product to her 114,000 Instagram follows.

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Former Miss Universe Australia Tegan Martin (pictured) transformed her skin in a matter of weeks simply by adding a serum to her nightly regime

The model and now television host swears by the Retinol Night Treatment Serum from Australian skincare label, Ella Bache and recommended the product to her 114,000 Instagram follows

'Introducing a retinol serum may be the best thing I've ever done to my night time skin ritual!' she wrote on Instagram

'Introducing a retinol serum may be the best thing I've ever done to my night time skin ritual! I find layering retinol under my moisturiser helps improve the texture and overall brightness of my skin,' she wrote on Instagram and shared a demonstrative video of her evening routine.

Tegan described the $139 beauty product as 'the best thing you ever do' to achieve glowing skin.

Before trying it, she explains to her fans that her skin was really bumpy in texture and looked dull - joking that 'maybe it was lockdown getting to me!'.

Outlining the steps in her skincare routine, Tegan began by double cleansing her face to ensure all the makeup from the day was removed

Outlining the steps in her skincare routine, Tegan began by double cleansing her face to ensure all the makeup from the day was removed.

'It's great starting your skincare routine with a clean base!' she wrote.

Next, she used an exfoliant to help remove dead skin cells and 'reveal fresh bright skin to the surface'.

She then applied the retinol followed by a moisturiser to hydrate her skin throughout the night.

Before trying the retinol by Ella Bache, she explains to her fans that her skin was really bumpy in texture and looked dull - joking that 'maybe it was lockdown getting to me!'

The Instagram video exposing Tegan's beauty secrets has since been viewed more than 11,000 times

The Ella Bache Retinol Night Treatment Serum is a prescriptive product containing the highly active ingredient vitamin A to assist with in achieving a dynamic anti-ageing boost and instantly brighter skin

The Ella Bache Retinol Night Treatment Serum is a prescriptive product containing the highly active ingredient vitamin A to assist with in achieving a dynamic anti-ageing boost and instantly brighter skin.

The beauty buy can also help diminish the appearance of fine lines, wrinkles and skin discolouration.

According to the therapist notes online, the retinol should be gradually phased into your skincare routine and limited to using two to three times a week.
An unvaccinated mother of three has died of COVID-19 complications after giving birth prematurely, leaving behind her devastated mother and husband who are now urging other pregnant women to get the shot.

Marrisha 'ReRe' Kindred Jenkins, 27, from Atlanta, Georgia, was 33 weeks pregnant when she was diagnosed with COVID-19 and pneumonia on September 4, over a month before she was due to give birth.

Three days later, the expectant mom and her husband Myles welcomed their baby boy, Jaylen, who was born healthy but seven weeks premature, WSB-TV reported.

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Tragic loss: Marrisha 'ReRe' Kindred Jenkins, 27, from Atlanta, Georgia, gave birth to her son prematurely before she died of COVID-19 complications on September 23

Healthy baby: Marrisha and her husband Myles welcomed their newborn son, Jaylen, on September 7, just three days after she was diagnosed with COVID-19 and pneumonia

Marrisha was still infected when she gave birth, and the newborn was immediately put into quarantine. She never got to hold her son before she died.

She and Myles were preparing to see their baby boy for the first time on September 19 when she stopped breathing.

'Myles was doing CPR before they got there and she coded in the ambulance and when they got her to the hospital, she coded again,' her mother, Helena Kindred, told the news station.

Marrisha lost her battle with COVID-19 on September 23 after her family made the difficult decision to take herself off life support.

Helena is now pleading with pregnant black women to get vaccinated, saying the shot likely would have saved her daughter's life.

'If she had been vaccinated, I truly believe she would not have died,' she said.

Heartbreaking: Marrisha and Myles were preparing to see their baby boy for the first time on September 19 when she stopped breathing. She died four days later

Family: Marrisha had two two other children, five-year-old Aiden (left) and six-year-old Rylee (right)

Spreading the word: Marrisha's mother, Helena Kindred (pictured), is now begging other pregnant women to get vaccinated, saying the shot likely would have saved her daughter's life

Helena told WGCL-TV that she remembers the moment her pregnant daughter said she wasn't going to get the COVID-19 vaccine.

'She gave me the reason, but I can't remember what it was about,' she said.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, only about 33 percent of pregnant women are vaccinated, despite data that shows the shot can prevent severe disease during pregnancy.

Pregnant black women have the lowest vaccination rates in the country compared to other racial groups at 18 percent, compared to 28 percent of pregnant Latino and Hispanic women, 35 percent pregnant white women, and 48 percent pregnant Asian women.

'We're dealing with it day to day,' Helena said of their loss. 'I want to tell people please get vaccinated.'

Marrisha, who also had two other children, Aiden, five, and Rylee, six, didn't have health insurance. The family has started a GoFundMe for donations during this difficult time.
Simon Griffiths, 38, from Melbourne , has dubbed the limited-edition coffee line 'Blend No. 2' in a tongue-in-cheek nod to his popular toilet paper venture

The founder of trendy toilet paper subscription service, Who Gives a Crap, has launched his own line of coffee.

Simon Griffiths, 38, from Melbourne, has dubbed the limited-edition coffee line 'Blend No. 2' in a tongue-in-cheek nod to his popular toilet paper venture.

The eco-friendly toilet paper company has launched their new limited edition coffee bundle today to accelerate their impact by accelerating your morning trip to the loo.

The B Corp's mission is to ensure everyone on earth has access to clean water and a toilet. As such, they donate 50% of their profits to water and sanitation charities around the world.

'We've heard from reliable sources that coffee makes some people need to go to the bathroom. As a toilet paper business, we found that pretty interesting,' Mr Griffiths said.

'After all, the more toilet paper people use, the more we can donate to the billions of people living without safe access to a toilet.'

The eco-friendly toilet paper company has launched its new limited edition coffee bundle today

'We've heard from reliable sources that coffee makes some people need to go to the bathroom. As a toilet paper business, we found that pretty interesting,' Mr Griffiths said

The toilet paper company currently sells 28 rolls per second, rising to popularity during the toilet paper shortages in 2020 and 2021.

The coffee kits come with 500grams of Fairtrade coffee, whole or ground, a roll of the company's bamboo toilet paper and a 'home compostable' coffee bag.

But the run is 'very limited' according to the company, who released the coffee on October 19, and can be purchased on their website.

Femail previously sat down with Mr Griffiths who revealed he first came up with the toilet paper subscription service idea in 2009.

But it took a crowd-funding campaign in 2012 to get it off the ground and the global Covid pandemic of 2020 to send sales into the stratosphere.

Simon, whose empire now sells 28 rolls per second, has revealed how he grew his business.

'After all, the more toilet paper people use, the more we can donate to the billions of people living without safe access to a toilet.'

The brand's rolls (pictured) are made from super-soft, 100 per cent recycled toilet paper, with an impressive 50 per cent of profits going towards building toilets in the developing world

Who Gives A Crap isn't like any regular toilet roll business.

The brand's rolls are made from super-soft, 100 per cent recycled toilet paper, with an impressive 50 per cent of profits going towards building toilets in the developing world.

While Simon and his co-founders Danny Alexander and Jehan Ratnatunga had some business experience before launching 'Who Gives A Crap', nothing could have prepared them for their unique crowd-funding experience.

Simon (pictured with his co-founders) went from strength to strength with the business in 2020, when sales doubled before going 12 times more and even 40 times more in March 2020

Simon said they spent $50,000 on 50,000 rolls and knew they needed customers to take the toilet rolls off their hands while they didn't have a warehouse.

So Simon agreed to sit on a toilet until they sold the first 50,000 rolls in order to boost sales.

'The idea in theory was great, but it turned out there were people buying the toilet paper from all over the world, Brazil, Greece, Australia,' Simon said.

'So I had to stay awake for 50 hours until they were all sold. I was in a state of delirium by the end of it.'

Who Gives A Crap's rolls (pictured) are unlike other rolls insofar as they are extra long and there is an 'emergency roll' at the end reminding you it's time to stock up

What sets Who Gives A Crap apart from other toilet roll businesses? * Who Gives A Crap donates 50 per cent of their profits to help build toilets in the developing world. Who Gives A Crap donates 50 per cent of their profits to help build toilets in the developing world (rolls pictured) * The company has been able to donate $8.3 million to help provide proper sanitation for the two billion people in need. * The brand's rolls are made from super-soft, 100 per cent recycled toilet paper. * Who Gives A Crap allows you to do a big bulk order of 'extra-long rolls' so you run out of toilet paper less frequently. * As you near the end of a box, you will reach an 'emergency roll', which has been designed to help prompt you to stock up or re-order. * The rolls don't use any inks, dyes or scents, meaning they are good for your bum. * They are B Corp certified for the highest standards of social and environmental impact. Source: Who Gives A Crap Advertisement

Following the launch, it wasn't long before the idea of Who Gives A Crap took off around the world.

'Customers love the fact that we think about everything when it comes to toilet paper, including selling extra-long rolls and labelling the rolls at the end of the a multi-pack 'emergency rolls' so you know it's nearly time to stock up,' Simon said.

The most environmentally-friendly product Who Gives A Crap sells is the recycled toilet paper.

'Some 27,000 trees are cut down globally every day and 10 per cent of those trees that have been cut down go to toilet paper,' Simon said.

'When you buy Who Gives A Crap, you're not taking trees out of the ground and then just flushing paper down the toilet.'

'The reaction to the pandemic and everyone rushing to stockpile toilet paper was actually quite natural,' Simon said (empty toilet roll shelves pictured in Melbourne 2020)

With the onset of the global pandemic and people rushing to stockpile toilet paper, Who Gives A Crap has only gone from strength to strength.

Last year, the business peaked at selling 28 rolls per second.

'The reaction to the pandemic and everyone rushing to stockpile toilet paper was actually quite natural,' Simon said.

'Everyone realised they were going to be at home more, and supermarkets can't stock all that much toilet paper because it is bulky and doesn't bring in much money so they could do with saving the shelf space for something else.'

The entrepreneur added that the rational response when something is scarce is to buy more.

'It took a few months for the manufacturers to re-centre and catch up,' he said.

Who Gives A Crap's sales doubled on March 1 2020, then went up by 12 times on 3 March and 40 times by 4 March.

'It was wild for a bit. We were doing more than a month of sales in one day,' he said.

'But we've learned how to deal with it now, and we just re-direct stock to different states, depending on lockdowns.'

The Who Gives A Crap customer, for Simon, is someone with a 'certain set of ethics', as people want to know where what they're buying has come from (rolls pictured)

The Who Gives A Crap customer, for Simon, is someone with a 'certain set of ethics'.

'Profits and purpose have become inextricably linked in the modern world, and we've figured out that doing good ends up with good business,' he said.

Who Gives A Crap has extended into selling things like paper towels, tissues and cloths, with more ranges planned over the next year.

'I think our purpose resonates with people, who now realise that every dollar they spend is a vote for the future,' Simon said.

'People are digging more deeply than ever to find out how things are made, about the money they're spending and where their cash is going.'

To find out more about Who Gives A Crap, you can visit the website here. You can also follow the brand on Instagram here.
University Challenge viewers were glued to their screens after a nail-biting episode which saw St John's College Cambridge beat University College London by just five points.

The teams were both brought back to the second round of the BBC2 quiz show, hosted by Jeremy Paxman, because they received the highest losing score which, in some instances, are higher than winning scores in other fixtures.

Battling for a place in the penultimate second round of the academic programme, UCL had a slow start, but made a rapid comeback towards the end of the show - scoring 120 points within ten minutes.

But ultimately Cambridge were the winners, bagging 175 points to UCL's 170, and viewers praised the performance of the losing team - dubbing it the 'comeback of the century'.

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University Challenge viewers were glued to their screens after a nail-biting episode which saw St John's College Cambridge beat University College London (pictured) by just five points

The teams were both brought back to the second round of the BBC2 quiz show, hosted by Jeremy Paxman, and y Cambridge were the winners, bagging 175 points to UCL's 170

How many Starter For Ten questions can YOU answer? Each of these questions are worth 10 points and must be answered by a single player without any consultation. The team who wins a Starter For Ten is then given three bonus questions, each worth five points. What city was the location of the Olympics that began at 8.08 local time on the eighth day of the eight month 2008? Karen Uhlenbeck and Robert Langlands are among winners of which research prize? What middle letter is common to five letter words with these meanings: Adipose in the case of body tissue, milky fluid found in rubber trees? The areas in grey are continuous with the mainland of a sovereign state, the other colours surround the overseas territories of various nations. Name the country whose non continuous territorial waters are represented in dark blue. The scripts for Double Indemnity, The Blue Dahlia and Strangers on a Train were written whole or in part by which US crime novelist? In sport what surname links all of these: Charlotte, a former captain of the England womens cricket team, the champion triple jumper Jonathan and the champion ski jumper Michael? On the basis of mitochondrial DNA studies, masai, southern, northern and Reticulated have been proposed of separate species of which animal? Appearing in the subtitle of the 2019 work Burned by the journalist Sam McBride what three word rhyming expression describes the Northern Ireland renewable heat incentive scandal? From the Latin for olive tree what adjective can be applied both to something that produces oil and to someone who is excessively suave? Walter Burley Griffin won a 1911 competition to design which capital city? Advertisement

'Impressed with UCL going from 50 to 170 in a few minutes #UniversityChallenge', wrote one viewer.

'Wow. What a gripping #UniversityChallenge - UCL from 65 to 170 in the last few minutes, only to lose by 5 points. Well played, hard luck! ', said another.

A third penned: 'Dont think the final two minutes of #UniversityChallenge have ever been so tense.'

Comedian and presenter Richard Osman even took to Twitter to praise both teams after the show, writing: 'That's got to be one of the highest quality episodes of #UniversityChallenge ever.'

Commiserating the losing team, St John's College Cambridge said: 'Well, that was close! Well done to the St John's #UniversityChallenge team for going through to the next round just five points ahead of @ucl who were mighty fine opponents.'

Viewers including presenter and comedian Richard Osman praised the performance of the losing team - dubbing it the 'comeback of the century'

On the UCL team was Hugo Fleming, from Surrey, who is studying for his PhD in Neuroscience, team captain Koshiro Kiso who is studying for a PhD in Cell Biology and Humaira Maka, from London, who is studying medicine and Max Traeger, who studies History and Politics of the Americas.

They last appeared in July, where they were beaten by St Hilda's College Oxford - once again by just five points.

The teams were neck and neck all the way through their last episode, with UCL just 10 points behind going into the final minutes of the match.

Battling for a place in the penultimate second round of the academic programme, UCL had a slow start but made a rapid comeback towards the end of the show - scoring 120 points within ten minutes

But in the last seconds of the show, St John's College Cambridge beat University College London with 175 points

Despite making a late bid to win, St Hilda's ultimately beat their opponents by 140 points to 135.

On the winning team was Thomas Clark, from the US and Japan, studying linguistics, Louis George, from Dorset studying human, social, and political pciences, Jonathan Chan, from Cambridge, studying veterinary medicine and Kyanna Ouyang, from New Jersey, studying natural sciences.

In their last episode St John's College Cambridge took on Imperial College London, losing with 155 points to their 210.
His sisters are all in serious relationships, now it is Lady Kitty Spencer's younger brother's turn to experience the thrills of being in love.

Samuel Aitken, 18, son of Kitty's mother Victoria Aitken and her second husband Jonathan Aitken, has confirmed he is dating South African beauty Noa Duckitt.

The teenager, who recently signed with 20 Model Management, declared his love for the brunette beauty in a gushing Instagram post for her birthday. It is thought the couple have been together for six months.

Samuel Aitken, 18, son of Kitty's mother Victoria Aitken and her second husband Jonathan Aitken, has confirmed he is dating South African beauty Noa Duckitt, pictured together

Samuel, who recently signed with 20 Model Management, declared his love for the brunette beauty in a gushing Instagram post for her birthday. Pictured, one of the snaps

The relationship has the support of their family including Lady Kitty, who shared her own birthday message to Noa. Above, the poem shared by Samuel for the occasion

He wrote: 'I will not have you without the darkness that hides within you.

'I will not let you have me without the madness that makes me. If our demons cannot dance, neither can we. Happy Birthday my Noa, I love you.'

The relationship has the support of their family including Lady Kitty, who shared her own birthday message to Noa.

Samuel, who has just graduated from Bishops Diocesan College in Cape Town, brought Noa as his date to an end of year prom last week, sparking speculation they might be more than just friends.

Noa, a budding performer, looked stunning in a red evening dress, while Samuel dressed up in a navy double breasted suit and open collar shirt.

Samuel Aitken, 18, son of Kitty's mother Victoria Aitken and her second husband Jonathan Aitken, attended a South African school prom with glamorous date Noa Duckitt (left, in red)

Proud Samuel shared photos of the event on his public Instagram account, where he boasts more than 7,000 followers, with the caption: 'Unbelievable time with the most incredible date @noaaa.duckitt.' Pictured, the couple strike a pose at a white party with friends

Excited Kitty, 30, was among those who commented on the snaps, as was Greg Mallett, who is engaged to Kitty and Samuel's sister Lady Amelia, 29

Proud Samuel shared photos of the event on his public Instagram account, where he boasts more than 7,000 followers, with the caption: 'Unbelievable time with the most incredible date @noaaa.duckitt.'

Excited Kitty, 30, was among those who commented on the snaps, saying: 'You guys @samuelaitken_ @noaaa.duckitt most beautiful couple!!'

Greg Mallett, who is engaged to Kitty and Samuel's sister Amelia, added: 'Power duo this. Yowza.'

Kitty's bond with her brother was evident on her wedding day, when she chose Samuel and their brother Louis, Viscount Althorp, to walk her down the aisle, instead of her father.

Noa, pictured in an Instagram snap, also shared photos of her outing with Samuel - much to the delight of friends, who hailed them a 'power couple'

It remains to be seen what Samuel will choose to do next but Tatler has dubbed him one to watch and speculated if he might be snapped up by a modelling agency like his sisters. Pictured, Samuel with a friend ahead of the prom in Cape Town

Samuel, a keen sportsman, looked every inch the young gentleman as he led Noa into the dance. The couple have previously attended a white party together.

The pretty brunette also shared photos from the event with a caption, saying: 'Always an eventful time with @samuelaitken_ #lastbutnotleast.'

The posts were met with excitement from their friends, with one calling them a 'power couple'. Another said: 'You are the dream!'

It has been a busy summer for Samuel, who jetted off to Europe to watch Lady Kitty tie the knot with Michael Lewis, 62, in a weekend-long celebration in Rome.

The depth of Kitty and Samuel's was evident on her wedding day, when she chose him and their brother Louis, Viscount Althorp, to walk her down the aisle, pictured

The teenager took to his Instagram account to share snaps from the wedding, which took place at Villa Aldobrandini in July, including one of him with Pixie Lott and Idris Elba's wife Sabrina Dhowre Elba.

After the wedding, he met up with Kitty in Milan as she enjoyed a month-long honeymoon.

It remains to be seen what Samuel will choose to do next but Tatler has dubbed him one to watch and speculated if he might be snapped up by a modelling agency like his sisters.
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The Duchess of Cambridge spoke to TV presenter Ant McPartlin about his addiction battle at a charity event in London today.

Kate, 39, who looked radiant in a customised 845 red Christopher Kane skirt and a 225 Ralph Lauren jumper, heard how Ant was in a 'bad' place by the time he sought help for his drug and alcohol issues.

McPartlin struggled with a two-year addiction to super-strength painkillers following a knee operation in 2015. He entered rehab in 2018 after crashing his car while more than twice the alcohol limit.

'By the time I asked for help, it was bad,' the TV presenter admitted. 'But as soon as you open up to people, problems have got to disappear,' he said. 'It gets better and help is there.'

The Duchess of Cambridge delivered the keynote address at the event for drug and alcohol dependency charity the Forward Trust. Kate, who is patron of the charity, spoke movingly about how 'anyone' can become an addict and called for greater understanding of those battling addiction.

'Addiction is not a choice. No one chooses to become an addict. But it can happen to any one of us. None of us are immune,' Kate said, launching the Forward Trust 'Taking Action on Addiction' campaign.

'Yet its all too rarely discussed as a serious mental health condition. And seldom do we take the time to uncover and fully understand its fundamental root causes.'

Opening up: Ant, 45, who struggled with drug and alcohol dependency before entering rehab following a 2018 drink drive crash, told the Duchess he was in a 'bad' place by the time he sought help. Pictured, Kate, Ant and Dec

Radiant: Kate, 39, who looked radiant in a 845 red Christopher Kane skirt and Ralph Lauren heels, heard how Ant was in a 'bad' place by the time he sought help for his drug and alcohol issues

Important message: The event, held for drug and alcohol dependence charity the Forward Trust, was compered by Ant and Dec and saw the Duchess deliver a landmark speech (pictured) in which she said 'anyone' can become an addict

Making a statement: The Duchess of Cambridge looked radiant in a bold red ensemble as she delivered a keynote address on addiction at a London charity event hosted by TV presenting duo Ant and Dec. Pictured, arriving at the event

' Addiction is not a choice. No one chooses to become an addict. But it can happen to any one of us. None of us are immune,' Kate said, launching the Forward Trust 'Taking Action on Addiction' campaign. Pictured, Kate at the event today

The duchess spoke to TV duo Ant and Dec, who compered the event, about McPartlin's former addiction problems

McPartlin, centre, told Kate: 'By the time I asked for help, it was bad' but said having support helped him on his journey

Typically elegant, Kate donned a pleated scarlet midi skirt and a matching fitted turtleneck for the engagement at the BAFTA headquarters in Piccadilly, accessorising with towering Ralph Lauren point toe pumps and a 295 micro-handbag from DeMellier.

The skirt originally came with crystal fringing at the waist but this was removed by the brand for Kate.

She kept her makeup polished and to a minimum, and wore her brunette locks in sleek waves.

The Duchess spoke to families of recovered addicts and heard more about the services offered by Forward Start.

In her keynote address, which coincides with the start of Addiction Awareness Week, Kate said: 'The journey towards addiction is often multi-layered and complex. But, by recognising what lies beneath addiction, we can help remove the taboo and shame that sadly surrounds it.

'As a society, we need to start from a position of compassion and empathy. Where we nurture those around us, understand their journey, and what has come before them.

'We need to value and prioritise care and support, helping to restore and connect individuals who are clearly suffering, to the people around them.

The duchess (pictured) described how the Covid-19 crisis has affected addiction rates, with some 1.5 million more people facing problems with alcohol, and almost one million young people experiencing an increase in addictive behaviour

Hollywood smile: The Duchess beamed as she strolled into a room to learn more about the work of Forward Start

Over the last ten years, the Duchess's experience working with addiction charities has helped lay the groundwork for her understanding of the complexities of mental health and has informed much of her work on the early years

Passionate Kate wanted to hear from people who had used Forward Start's services to help them through addiction

The Duchess of Cambridge was supported by Ant (left) and Dec (centre) as she delivered her keynote address

Kate kept her makeup to a minimum and wore her long brunette locks in sleek waves over her shoulders (left and right)

The Duchess of Cambridge spoke to families of recovered addicts to hear more about their experiences at the event today

'That is why I am so passionate about the work of The Forward Trust, an organisation I am so proud to be patron of. This is the work that you, and many other charities, provide day in, day out. And it is needed now, more than ever.

'The pandemic has had a devastating impact on addiction rates. And families and children are having to cope with addiction in greater numbers than ever before...

'Yet, there is hope. Over the last ten years, I have had the privilege of meeting many incredible people who have lived through the harsh realities of addiction. Through their own hard work, and with the help from communities and charities, such as The Forward Trust, lives really are being turned around.'

The Duchess of Cambridge, who became patron of the Forward Trust in June, also spoke to people who had benefitted from the charity's work.

Beaming: The Duchess of Cambridge smiled as she strolled through BAFTA on her way to the addiction event today

The Duchess of Cambridge spoke to representatives from the charity and beneficiaries during the central London reception

Lady in red! The Duchess of Cambridge looked radiant in a bold red ensemble as she arrived for an addiction awareness event

Radiant Kate smiled as she spoke to the group about the work being done by the Forward Trust, of which she is patron

The Duchess of Cambridge spoke to people who have benefited from the Forward Trust's services during the engagement

On her way out: The Duchess of Cambridge leaving the engagement in central London, after delivering her keynote address

A wave for the well-wishers: The Duchess of Cambridge made her way to the waiting Range Rover after the event today

'No one chooses to become an addict. But it can happen to any one of us': Kate Middleton's speech in full Thank you Ant and Dec and to the Forward Trust for bringing us all here together this morning. I am so pleased to be joining you to launch The Taking Action on Addiction campaign, and I am grateful to those of you who have shared your experiences of addiction with me here today. Addiction is not a choice. No one chooses to become an addict. But it can happen to any one of us. None of us are immune. Yet its all too rarely discussed as a serious mental health condition. And seldom do we take the time to uncover and fully understand its fundamental root causes. The journey towards addiction is often multi-layered and complex. But, by recognising what lies beneath addiction, we can help remove the taboo and shame that sadly surrounds it. As a society, we need to start from a position of compassion and empathy. Where we nurture those around us, understand their journey, and what has come before them. We need to value and prioritise care and support, helping to restore and connect individuals who are clearly suffering, to the people around them. That is why I am so passionate about the work of The Forward Trust, an organisation I am so proud to be patron of. This is the work that you, and many other charities, provide day in, day out. And it is needed now, more than ever. The pandemic has had a devastating impact on addiction rates. And families and children are having to cope with addiction in greater numbers than ever before. We know that over one and a half million people across the UK who did not have substance misuse prior to lockdown, may now be experiencing problems associated with increased alcohol consumption. Around 2 million individuals who were identified as being in recovery, may have experienced a relapse over the past 18 months. And almost one million young people and children are showing an increase in addictive behaviour since the pandemic began. Yet, there is hope. Over the last ten years, I have had the privilege of meeting many incredible people who have lived through the harsh realities of addiction. Through their own hard work, and with the help from communities and charities, such as The Forward Trust, lives really are being turned around. These are stories of healing, of hope and recovery, that can inspire us all. I fully support The Taking Action on Addiction campaign to improve awareness and understanding of addiction. The campaign will show us that, not only do many people recover from addiction, they can go on to prosper. We can all play our part in helping this work. By understanding, by listening, by connecting. So that together we can build a happier, healthier and more nurturing society. Advertisement

Over the last ten years, the Duchess's experience working with addiction charities has helped lay the groundwork for her understanding of the complexities of mental health and has informed much of her work on the early years.

Experiences in early childhood, before the age of five, are proven to have significant impact on adult lives, including resilience and the ability to cope with adversity.

Addiction is also close to Ant and Dec's hearts. Ant has faced several hardships in recent years, going through a divorce from wife of 11 years, Lisa Armstrong, and entering rehab for alcohol and drug addiction.

The presenter then took a break from presenting duties after he was arrested for drink-driving in March 2018, while he and Dec were still hosting Saturday Night Takeaway.

Showstopper: The Duchess of Cambridge arriving at the action against addiction event in London on Tuesday morning

The Duchess of Cambridge, pictured arriving at the event, also spoke to people who had benefitted from the charity's work

Support: Ant, who has received treatment for addiction, will compare the event with Dec. Right, Ant's wife Anne-Marie

Serious: Ant McPartlin looked stony-faced as he arrived at the event at the BAFTA headquarters on Tuesday morning

Ready to host: Dec looked smart in a suit and shirt as he arrived at the BAFTA headquarters (left) with his wife Ali Astall (right)

Ant told police he was 'ashamed and mortified' after crashing his car while drink-driving with his mother in the passenger seat.

The launch of the event coincides with Addiction Awareness Week, running from 18 to 24 October, which aims to provide a platform to highlight the challenges of addiction, to engage with people and families affected, and to raise public awareness.

The Forward Trust has been helping people break the destructive cycle of addiction and build positive and productive futures since 1991.

The Duchess of Cambridge became Patron of the Forward Trust in June 2021 when the charity merged with Action on Addiction, which was one of Her Royal Highness first Patronages in 2012.

Taking the spotlight: The Duchess of Cambridge will deliver the keynote address for a campaign tackling addiction

Kate Middleton, 39, donned a pleated skirt and matching fitted top for the event by drug and alcohol dependence charity The Forward Trust, of which she is patron

Polished perfection: The Duchess wore her brunette locks in sleek waves and kept her makeup sleek and professional

Elegant: Kate arrived by car for the event in London today, which coincides with the start of Addiction Awareness Week
The Queen has held a video call with the new Governor-General of New Zealand.

She welcomed Dame Cindy Kiro, the first indigenous woman appointed to the role, with an exclamation of surprise, as she raised her finger and remarked: 'Ah, there you are ... Good evening.'

Dame Cindy, who was speaking from Government House in Wellington, replied: 'Good morning.' The Queen - based at Windsor Castle - smiled and said: 'Oh, of course, it's good morning, isn't it, to you?'

The Queen (pictured) has held a video call with the new Governor-General of New Zealand

She described the Governor-General designate's swearing-in on Thursday as a 'big day'.

Dame Cindy remarked: 'It will be a big day. Something that you've gone through many times, with many governor-generals.'

The Queen - the nation's longest reigning monarch who is also Queen of New Zealand - chuckled and said: 'Indeed I have, yes.'

During the audience on Monday, the Queen invested Dame Cindy with the Insignia of a Dame Grand Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, and of a Companion of The Queen's Service Order of New Zealand.

She welcomed Dame Cindy Kiro (pictured), the first indigenous woman appointed to the role, with an exclamation of surprise, as she raised her finger and remarked: 'Ah, there you are ... Good evening.'

In 2003, Dame Cindy became the first woman, and Maori, to be appointed as children's commissioner, and was appointed as a Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to child well-being and education in the New Year Honours 2021.

On Saturday, the Queen looked in great spirits in a traditional blue ensemble as she arrived at Ascot racecourse to enjoy the QIPCO British Champions Day.

Her Majesty's outing came after she made a rare public intervention on the climate change crisis on Thursday, saying she is 'irritated' by people who 'talk but don't do'.

She made the pointed comment when attending the opening of the Welsh parliament in Cardiff, and was speaking with the Duchess of Cornwall and Elin Jones, the parliament's presiding officer, when her remarks were picked up on the event's live stream.

Dame Cindy, who was speaking from Government House in Wellington, replied: 'Good morning.' The Queen - based at Windsor Castle - smiled and said: 'Oh, of course, it's good morning, isn't it, to you?'

The Queen referred to the upcoming Cop26 climate change conference in Glasgow, which she and other senior royals are due to attend. She said: 'Extraordinary isn't it... I've been hearing all about Cop... still don't know who is coming... no idea. We only know about people who are not coming... It's really irritating when they talk, but they don't do.'

For Saturday's event, the 95-year-old monarch looked perfectly poised in a flattering blue ensemble as she arrived at the Ascot racehorse in Berkshire to watch the racing events unfold.

At recent engagements, the Queen has used a walking stick, but over the weekend she left it with an aide who was walking closely behind her.
Prince William and Kate Middleton are 'normalising the lives of Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis' so their youngest 'doesn't go down the Duke of York path' of being a 'royal hanger-on', a royal expert has claimed.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, both 39, are currently living in their London home of Kensington Palace with their children Prince George, eight, Princess Charlotte, six, and Prince Louis, three.

Speaking to The Telegraph, Camilla Tominey said while George 'has his destiny mapped out' as heir to the throne, the couple were determined to 'get the balance right' with their two youngest children.

Suggesting Charlotte and Louis could 'have their own careers' away from royal life, she said: '[Kate and William] don't want history to repeat itself and Prince Louis seem like a royal hanger-on and go down the Duke of York path.'

Prince Andrew is currently being sued in New York by Virginia Giuffre. She claims he sexually abused her on three separate occasions when she was 17  in London, New York and on billionaire paedophile Jeffrey Epstein 's Caribbean island.

Andrew, 61, who is not facing any criminal charges, 'categorically' denies Ms Giuffre's claims against him and is thought to be keen to make a return as a working royal.

Prince William and Kate Middleton are 'normalising the lives of Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis' so their youngest son 'doesn't go down the Duke of York path of being a royal hanger-on', Camilla Tominey explained

Prince Andrew is being sued in New York by Virginia Giuffre. She claims he sexually abused her on three separate occasions when she was 17  in London, New York and on billionaire paedophile Jeffrey Epstein 's Caribbean island

Speaking about likely changes to The Firm moving forward, Camilla explained: 'A lot of the more minor royals have got careers of their own so they aren't really being tax payer funded.

'The extent to which the Cambridges have tried to normalise the lives of their children very much points in the direction of - yes, Prince George has his destiny mapped out but Princess Charlotte and Louis "having their own careers"?'

She continued: 'They've got to get the balance right of what their own children want to do with their lives and their royal commitments.'

Elsewhere in the video interview, Camilla said: 'We might be seeing fewer royals in the future than we're used to. But the question is, are there going to be enough royals to go around?

Camilla said while George 'has his destiny mapped out' as heir to the throne, the couple were determined to 'get the balance right' with their two youngest children (pictured, Louis earlier this year)

'In the next decade, everything is going to change. And in conjunction with the fact there are going to be fewer royals, is a recalibration of what it means it be a royal.'

'It's probably a good idea for when Trooping the Colour happens, for us not to see such a vast array of royals on the balcony at Buckingham Palace. It begs the question, who are all these people and what are they doing?'

She continued: 'The upper echelons of the monarchy have been depleted - that means there are too few royals to go around.

'Back in Prince Philip's day, he was patron of over 800 organisations and a lot would be going to plant a tree and unveil a plaque.

'Royals like Kate and William are royals doing themes, massive big gesture royal activities like the Earthshot Prize or Early Years.

'By association, you'll have fewer royals doing fewer patronages. Equally when Charles succeeds to the throne, what's going to happen to all the patronages the Queen has?'

The royal expert suggested that Charlotte and Louis could 'have their own careers' away from royal life (pictured, Louis with Prince William and Kate)

She said: 'There is going to be a problem with the idea there is too much work to go around and not enough royals to cover it.'

'It does make the future of the monarchy kind of uncertain. We've got this model that the Queen has been at the head of for all of this time and we all know in the next decade, everything will change.'

It emerged earlier this month that William has branded Andrew a 'threat' to the future of the monarchy, as senior members of the Royal Family closed the door on the Duke of York.

The Duke of York has been embroiled in scandal this year due to his friendship with paedophile financer Jeffrey Epstein.

It emerged last week the Metropolitan Police did not speak to Virginia Roberts before dropping its probe into claims she was flown to London by Jeffrey Epstein for sex with Prince Andrew,.

Andrew, who lives at Royal Lodge in Windsor, was photographed behind the wheel of his Range Rover as he broke cover following the latest dramatic development in the case on Sunday night.

The Duke of York, 61, has been embroiled in scandal this year due to his friendship with paedophile financer Jeffrey Epstein and is currently being sued in New York by Virginia Giuffre

Officers had looked at the case again after Ms Roberts lodged in a US lawsuit, including claims of 'rape in the first degree'. But while detectives spoke to Andrew's 1,000-an-hour team, they did not speak to Virginia, now known as Virginia Giuffre and living in Australia.

Andrew is facing a civil lawsuit in the US after Miss Roberts accused him of 'rape in the first degree', and said she was abused by him in London after a visit to Tramp nightclub in Mayfair. Andrew has always vehemently denied the claims and his legal team is seeking to get the US case thrown out.

The Metropolitan Police had previously examined the allegations by Miss Roberts, now known as Virginia Giuffre, against the Duke but did not open a full investigation, saying the case was a matter for the US authorities.

After the civil lawsuit was filed in New York, Met Commissioner Cressida Dick said she had asked her officers to review the claim, adding: 'No one is above the law.'

But a Met spokesman said last week: 'As a matter of procedure, MPS officers reviewed a document released in August 2021 as part of a US civil action. This review has concluded and we are taking no further action.'
After two female students were voted homecoming king and queen at one New Jersey high school, the administration responded by reopening the ballot to add two more male kings  which had prompted fierce protest from students.

Zoe Nelson and Jyckell Perez, both 17, were named homecoming king and queen, respectively, at Passaic County Technical Institute after winning the contest through the votes of fellow students.

But rather than letting the two teen girls hold the titles together, the administration at Passaic County Technical Institute expanded voting to elect two more male students as kings.

The judgement call doesn't appear to reflect the needs of the students, who overwhelmingly opposed it.

On Monday, about a thousand of them particpated in a sit-in in protest, and the principal has since apologized, insisting that the intent was not to slight the female homecoming king.

After two female students were voted homecoming king and queen at one New Jersey high school, the administration responded by reopening the ballot to add two more male kings

About 1,000 students gathered in protest on Monday, calling out the administration for the rule change

Nelson had purposefully run for homecoming king, not queen, to break barriers  and she was thrilled when she won.

'I had been going through a lot of, like, online bullying and harassment,' she told ABC7. 'So it was really hard for me. But when I won, I kind of felt like it all went away, it was all worth it.'

But after Nelson and Perez won the top votes for king and queen, they say, the school held two additional elections.

In the subsequent voting, two male students were named kings, but no more queens were added.

The final homecoming court included Perez as queen, and Nelson and two male students as three kings.

'When I asked [the administration], "Why am I the only queen," they told me, "Oh, you're special,"' Perez told NorthJersey.com.

Zoe Nelson and Jyckell Perez, both 17, were named homecoming king and queen, respectively, at Passaic County Technical Institute

Nelson ran a campaign on breaking barriers, which she says the school co-opted to justify expanding the homecoming court

Both Nelson and Perez say they think the administration introduced the two extra elections for the benefit of students uncomfortable with a female homecoming king.

'Zoe's campaign slogan was breaking barriers, and [the administration] said in the spirit of breaking barriers and being more inclusive, we've decided to add additional kings to the court,' her mother, Christy Hansen-Grossman, said.

However, the decision seems to have riled a lot of students up.

Nelson and Perez weren't friends before the election, but when the rule change was announced, they joined up to plan a protest.

Word spread online though Instagram and Snapchat, culminating in yesterday's demonstration in the school's lobby, where about 1,000 students showed up to protest.

'I feel horrible, not just for Zoe, for everyone that feels slighted,' the principal said. 'That was not the intention of our decision. We wanted to include more students that were on the ballot for homecoming court'

Nelson didn't attend the event to receive her crown, but Perez and the two male kings did

Principal Antonio Garcia apologized on behalf of the administration.

'I feel horrible, not just for Zoe, for everyone that feels slighted,' he said. 'That was not the intention of our decision. We wanted to include more students that were on the ballot for homecoming court. For that I'm sorry, and I apologize.'

He also told the students he was proud of them for organizing the sit-in, and invited Nelson and Perez to address the next school board meeting.

But Nelson said that while she is 'definitely appreciative of the apology, it's not enough: 'I've heard 'sorry' so many times.'

Ultimatley, she decided not to attend the homecoming event at all.

Perez, the lone queen, did attend, saying she wanted to be 'a voice' for Nelson and her supporters.

'I still wanted to walk to make sure there was some representation of what we had done,' she said.
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The Queen put on a stylish display as she welcomed billionaire business leaders, presidential envoys and tech entrepreneurs to Windsor Castle for a lavish reception following a Government investment summit on Tuesday.

Her Majesty, 95, who looked effortlessly chic in a matching turquoise co-ord with floral detail, completed her outfit with a pair of trusted patent black shoes, dangling pearl earrings and three-strand pearl necklace.

The monarch also sported the historic Cullinan V brooch which features a heart-shaped central stone - and is the same silver diamond brooch she wore in a photograph released to mark late Prince Philip's 99th birthday in 2020.

Among the guests invited to the Queen's Berkshire home after the day-long conference in London was Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, who could be seen leaning forward to shake the monarch's hand.

The Prince of Wales and the Duke of Cambridge, who were also in attendance, were suited and booted as they met some of the leading figures in the castle's green drawing room before mingling more widely.

The Queen, 95, put on a stylish display as she welcomed billionaire business leaders, presidential envoys and tech entrepreneurs to Windsor Castle for a lavish reception following a Government investment summit. Pictured, greeting Microsoft co-founder turned philanthropist Bill Gates

The Duke of Cambridge with guests at a reception for international business and investment leaders at Windsor Castle

US climate envoy John Kerry, Poppy Gustafsson, chief executive officer of cyber security firm Darktrace, and Hamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan managing director of Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, were among those who met the senior royals.

The Queen, Charles and Prince William warmly welcomed the business leaders and members of the Government including Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, who donned a cobalt blue ensemble, and International Trade Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson was due to be introduced first, but he appeared after the Queen began welcoming her guests and took his place at the end of the line.

The senior royals were also joined by the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester and the Prince Michael of Kent.

John Kerry seemed delighted to meet the Queen tonight, as other guests, which included Bill Gates, right, awaited their turn

Queen Elizabeth II greets Prime Minister Boris Johnson (right) at a reception for international business and investment leaders at Windsor Castle

The Monarch, who was wearing a turquoise co-ord suit, seemed in high spirits as she spoke with guests at the reception (pictured)

Her Majesty, who looked effortlessly chic in a matching turquoise co-ord with floral detail, greeted guests alongside Boris Johnson

Prince William, Prince Charles and Queen Elizabeth II welcome guests including US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry (C) and Microsoft founder-turned-philanthropist Bill Gates (R)

A relaxed-looking Duke of Cambridge, who opted for a navy suit, crisp white shirt and red tie, could be seen with a drink in his hand as he chatted to guests in the sumptuous surroundings of the Castle's St George's Hall.

In a foreword for the Global Investment Summit's official brochure, the Queen said she was 'proud' of how the UK is moving towards a sustainable future but 'there is still much more to do'.

The head of state also urged nations to 'rise to the challenge' and avert the problems associated with climate change.

Her Majesty described how tackling the pandemic had inspired scientific breakthroughs and how innovation in the UK often comes from 'teamwork against adversity' like the Second World War efforts of Alan Turing and colleagues in breaking the Nazi regime's Enigma Code.

The Prime Minister and the Queen exchanged a few words as she met the guests at the lavish reception, pictured

Her Majesty looked effortlessly stylish in a stunning turquoise co-ord suit which she paired with her trusted black patent pumps, pictured

The Queen donned three rows of pearls and matching earrings as well as a Diamond brooch for tonight's event

Guests paid their respects to the Queen as she made her way along the line to welcome each and every one of them, pictured

Bill Gates could be seen leaning forward as she gave Her Majesty a warm handshake, pictured

Father-of-three Bill Gates and other guests smiled as the Queen exchanged words with them

As guests mingled amongst themselves, the Queen could be seen grinning from ear-to-ear

She added: 'The challenge of today, however, is not in breaking a code. It is in working together across the globe to avert the challenges of climate change. It is our shared responsibility, of those in government, business, and civil society, to rise to this challenge.

'I am proud of how the United Kingdom is seeking to secure a sustainable future, yet there is still much more to do.

'This summit is not just a showcase, but an opportunity to come together and, in the generous spirit of collaboration, forge new partnerships.'

The Queen and the Prime Minister arrived at the event together and proceeded to greet the guests

Queen Elizabeth and Prime Minister Boris Johnson greeted guests at a reception for the Global Investment Summit in Windsor Castle

Prince Charles and Prince William joined Her Majesty in welcoming guests at the evening reception

Boris Johnson and the Queen arrived at the reception together to greet guests at Windsor Castle, pictured

The Queen seemed riveted by her conversation with the Prime Minister and another guest tonight

UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, donned a blue ensemble, and curtsied respectfully when greeting the Queen

Prince William looked sharp in a black blazer with a crisp white shirt and a dark red tie, pictured

Bill Gates, whose daughter tied the knot last weekend, looked happy to meet the Queen

The Queen looked the picture of elegance in her turquoise two-piece tonight, and seemed to delight guests with her conversation

John Kerry, United States Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, bowed respectfully as he shook hands with the monarch, pictured

Her Majesty was more than happen to engage in conversation as she worked her way around the room

Some of the world's most powerful men were welcomed to Windsor castle by the Queen - including John Kerry (left) and Bill Gates (right)
Aldi Australia is preparing to release its 'most luxurious Christmas range ever', with prices starting from just $3.99

Launching on October 27, the German-owned supermarket's new Curated Collection features 21 festive treats and edible gifts perfect for the holiday season, including salted caramels, gingerbread fudge, buttery shortbread and indulgent honeycomb.

Sourced from local Australian producers and leading brands around the world, ALDI says the range is the most lavish Christmas collection ever stocked in-store.

Aldi Australia is preparing to release its 'most luxurious Christmas range ever', with prices starting from just $3.99

Sourced from local Australian producers and leading brands around the world, ALDI says the range is the most lavish Christmas collection ever stocked in-store

Aldi shopping expert Kylie Warnke said the retailer is 'proud' to be levelling up its festive offering after a year of gruelling lockdowns across large swathes of Australia.

'We're very proud to be releasing our most luxurious Christmas range ever, allowing more Australians to treat themselves and gift to their friends and family for a premium festive experience this year,' she said.

Standout buys include two luxurious vintage puddings infused with rum, ruby port, and the finest French Armagnac - one soaked for 10 months for $14.99, the other soaked for 30 months for $19.99.

Aldi has got you covered when it comes to shopping for culinary gifts, with a selection of tasty presents including $3.99 Mediterranean dukkah and $12.99 roasted nuts

Best buys from Aldi's new Christmas range Luxury 10-month Vintage Pudding  $14.99 Luxury 30-month Matured Pudding  $19.99 All Butter Fruit Mince Pies - $4.99 Christmas Fruit Cake  $3.99 Iced Christmas Cake  $16.99 Gingerbread fudge - $4.99 Milk and Dark Salted Caramels  $6.99 Premium Australian Extra Virgin Olive Oil  $7.99 Finishing Vinegar  $6.99 Mediterranean Style Dukkah  $3.99 Roasted and Salted Mixed Nuts  $12.99 Luxury Wagyu Biltong  $19.99 Advertisement

The 10-month matured pudding was finished in the Hunter Region in NSW, while the 30-month matured pudding comes from the UK.

Ms Warnke described it as an 'absolute steal', adding: 'Our 30-month matured pudding is definitely something extra decadent for our shoppers.

''We haven't seen anything of this quality at this price point in Australia, and it really is the hero of this range.'

Standout buys include two luxurious vintage puddings infused with rum, ruby port, and French Armagnac - one soaked for 10 months for $14.99, the other soaked for 30 months for $19.99

The new collection will hit shelves on October 27 and features salted caramels and indulgent honeycomb

Elsewhere in the range you'll find $4.99 six-packs of buttery mince pies, packed with brandy and cognac-infused dried fruits inside crumbly shortcrust pastry.

Shoppers can also get their hands on $6.99 boxes of decadent Irish chocolates, featuring caramels, fudges and chewy honeycomb, as well as four different Christmas cakes starting from $3.99.

Aldi has got you covered when it comes to shopping for culinary gifts, with a selection of tasty presents including $3.99 Mediterranean dukkah, $12.99 roasted nuts, and luxury wagyu biltong for $19.99.
McDonald's is set to launch a massive range of deals for the month of November, with fan favourites on offer for just $1.

From November 1, the fast-food giant will run a 'deal a day' in restaurants across Australia, giving customers the chance to bag Big Macs, cheeseburgers, large fries and apple pies for $1.

Best-sellers including Quarter Pounders, McFlurrys, and McNuggets will be sold for $2, alongside shakes, sundaes, and double cheeseburgers.

To get the promotions, you must order directly through the mymacca's app and select the discount under 'My Rewards'.

McDonald's is set to launch a massive range of deals for the month of November, with fan favourites - including Big Macs (left) and large fries (right) on offer for just $1

Other standout deals include a $5 McChicken meal and cheeseburger, a $6 Big Mac meal and cheeseburger, and two McNugget meals for $9.

Earlier this week, a McDonald's employee sent fans of the food king into a tailspin by revealing exactly what they can hear - and see - when customers order their meals at the drive-thru.

McDonald's worker @charlton.a, who lives in New Zealand, shared a TikTok video of himself sitting behind the cafe counter serving drive-thru customers on October 12.

Best-sellers including Quarter Pounders (right), McFlurrys (left), and McNuggets will be sold for $2, alongside shakes, sundaes, and double cheeseburgers

McDonald's November deals 1 November: $1 Big Mac 2 November: $1 Large Fries 3 November: $5 Small McChicken Meal + Cheeseburger 4 November: 40% off with $15 Minimum Spend 5 November: $9 for 2 Small Quarter Pounder Meals 6 November: $5 Small Cheeseburger Meal + Cheeseburger 7 November: $9 for 2 Small 10 McNuggets Meal 8 November: $1 Cheeseburger 9 November: $2 Quarter Pounder 10 November: $2 Large Sundae 11 November: $5 Small Chicken n Cheese Meal + Cheeseburger 12 November: $2 Double Cheeseburger 13 November: $1 Apple Pie 14 November: 20% off with $10 Minimum Spend 15 November: $2 6 McNuggets 16 November: $2 Large Shake 17 November: $1 Cheeseburger 18 November: $2 McChicken 19 November: $6 Small Big Mac Meal + Cheeseburger 20 November: 20% off with $10 Minimum Spend 21 November: $2 McFlurry 22 November: $2 Large Fries 23 November: $3 Big Mac 24 November: $2 Large Sundae 25 November: $6 Small Quarter Pounder Meal + Cheeseburger 26 November: $9 for 2 Small McChicken Meals 27 November: $5 Small Cheeseburger Meal + Cheeseburger 28 November: 20% off with $10 Minimum Spend 29 November: $2 Double Cheeseburger 30 November: $2 Filet-O-Fish From November 1, the fast food giant will run a 'deal a day' in restaurants across Australia Advertisement

In the footage, the university student claimed workers can hear everything customers say even before they reach the counter to order.

He also revealed a mugshot photo is taken of them behind the wheel, so employees know who to hand certain orders over to.

In a final telling reveal, Charlton said the restaurant he works at sells recipe books so fast food addicts can get their McDonald's fix from home by cooking the iconic burgers and fries themselves.

TikToker Charlton (pictured) sent fans of the food king into a tailspin by revealing exactly what they can hear - and see - when customers order their meals at the drive-thru

'We can hear everything you're saying even when our mic is off,' Charlton said in the clip.

When ordering through the drive-thru lane the microphones at the ordering site are said to pick up everything customers are saying - even before it crackles to life to take your order.

This revelation left viewers embarrassed, with some claiming they have said 'things no one's allowed to know about'.

The next section of the video said: 'Our cameras take mugshot photos of you so we know which order is yours'.

Viewers were quick to rubbish the claim, with one person asking: 'So how can you still get the order wrong then?'

'If this is true: Why do you always ask if it's my order that I'm paying for?' said another.

It's understood most McDonald's stores in Australia feature security cameras that capture an exterior shot of the car to help service crew determine which order to hand out.

Viewers have been left red-faced after the worker revealed they can hear everything you say over their headpiece (pictured, McDonald's in Yallambie)

Others thought it would be funny to play tricks on the camera: 'Next time I'm going through a Maccas drive-thru I'm using a voice changer and picking my nose at the camera.'

Charlton dropped a final bombshell by suggesting there is a recipe book customers can purchase so they can recreate the Maccas meals at home.

Other McDonald's workers confirmed the claim, saying the video would see a '100 per cent rise in sales' of the books.

But not everyone was convinced.

'Now you're going to have people asking for recipe books at my store and we don't have them,' one employee wrote.

One thing is certain - fans of the fast food restaurant in Australia and New Zealand will be hesitant to say anything out-of-tune in the drive-thru from now on.

Daily Mail Australia has reached out to McDonald's for comment.
A Facebook group dedicated to counting and cataloguing the number of chips served with meals at Wetherspoon pubs across the UK has become a viral sensation.

Wetherspoons paltry chip count has racked up more than 40,000 members and people across the country take to the group to post pictures of their dinners - complete with measurements of chip lengths and the often measly count of chips served with their meals.

Diners nationwide have taken to the group to share how they've been served as little as 10 chips on the side of the meals which include the likes of paninis, steak and mixed grills.

A Facebook group dedicated to counting and cataloguing the number of chips served with meals at Wetherspoon pubs across the UK has become a viral sensation with one man bringing a ruler to the pub

Wetherspoons paltry chip count has racked up more than 40,000 members and people across the country take to the group to post pictures of their dinners - complete with measurements of chip lengths and the often measly count of chips served with their meals.

Some diners have been as lucky to get as many a 62 chips - however many of the comments are often the smallness of the side dish with one of the group admins doing a weekly round up of the number of chips.

Posting the latest round up, Thomas William wrote: '76 meals with a chip count and 16 extra portions of chips were posted this week. These account for a whopping 2550 chips which were served to you lovely contributors.

'The mean average amount of chips with a meal was 25.28 chips, and on an extra portion 39.31 chips. This works out at an overall average of 27.72 chips.

'The smallest amount of chips with a meal was only 13 chips, and the largest amount was a staggering 40 chips! Giving a range of 27 chips.'

One dedicated chip connoisseur even brought scales with him to measure out the fare - discovering his chips weighed 189g, approximately 7.27g per chip.

Diners nationwide have taken to the group to share how they've been served as little as 10 chips on the side of the meals which include the likes of paninis, steak and mixed grills

Some diners have been as lucky to get as many a 62 chips - however many of the comments are often the smallness of the side dish with one of the group admins doing a weekly round up of the number of chips. Pictured is someone who was served just 15 chips

The group's premise is for members to post an image of your meal with a count of the number of chips served.

Other customers complained about the dire state of cheese on the cheesy chips they ordered

Posting the latest round up, Thomas William wrote: '76 meals with a chip count and 16 extra portions of chips were posted this week. These account for a whopping 2550 chips which were served to you lovely contributors'

The group's premise is for members to post an image of your meal with a count of the number of chips served. Some have taken it a step further and measured the length of the snack, bringing rulers to the pub with them to conduct the product testing.

One dedicated chip connoisseur even brought scales with him to measure out the fare - discovering his chips weighed 189g, approximately 7.27g per chip.

'Partner wouldn't let me take scales in yesterday, but he's at work late, so managed sneak them into Sir Henry Tate Chorley.

'26 chips (fairly average) at a total weight of 189g, approximately 7.27g per chip' he wrote.

Another customer shared an image of his 'cheesy chips' saying he was given 27 chips as a side portion

One customer wrote: 'Been waiting almost 7 years for this group. 22nd December 2014, I remember it well. 14 chips. Haven't been to a Wetherspoons since. Probably best I don't talk about the ham and cheese panini.'.

A sad 18! One customer said their portion of chips was upsetting getting less than 20 despite paying for extra

A ruined afternoon! Another customer said their day was ruined by the small portion of chips

Another shared a picture of chips with onion rings, writing: 'A rather malnourished 20 at The Glass House, Norwich'.

A third said they'd been waiting years to discuss their chips writing: 'Been waiting almost 7 years for this group. 22nd December 2014, I remember it well. 14 chips. Haven't been to a Wetherspoons since. Probably best I don't talk about the ham and cheese panini.'.

One customer who brought their ruler to the pub added: '21 chips, average chip length was 2.75 inch overall. Good effort.'.

Wetherspoon spokesman Eddie Gershon told FEMAIL: 'A few years back Wetherspoon carpets were all the rage on Facebook, so it's probably no surprise that someone has now started a chip account.

'All pubs should serve the same weight of chips, but the number of chips might vary depending on the size of chip.'
Emma Hames is angry and its easy to understand why. Rather than enjoying health and happiness at the age of 33, her life is blighted by extreme fatigue, jelly-legged weakness, headaches, insomnia, muscle pain and brain fog.

Her heart can race so fast it feels like a washing machine on spin cycle and she often lacks the strength to even walk to the shops.

Emma, who lives in Cardiff, has been largely housebound for four years and had to give up her job as a primary school teacher.

And its all due to a prescription medication, commonly dispensed on the NHS, which was supposed to improve her wellbeing.

The drug is bromazepam, which belongs to a class of medicines called benzodiazepines. She was put on a daily dose in 2012 after a brief bout of anxiety and while it initially helped, within a few months it was clear that improvement had come at a high cost.

My anxiety eased but the drug made me feel exhausted and lethargic, says Emma.

But worse was to come when she tried to stop taking it  with insomnia, heart palpitations, aches and pains, poor concentration and constant trembling.

It felt like severe flu and the worst hangover you can imagine at the same time  all the time, she says. It was sheer torture.

Emma, who lives in Cardiff, has been largely housebound for four years and had to give up her job as a primary school teacher, because of the prescription drug bromazepam

If Emmas story sounds familiar thats because its nearly a decade since Good Health first highlighted concerns that tens of thousands of Britons suffer crippling side-effects from benzodiazepines prescribed by doctors. The drugs are also addictive, and coming off them causes even worse symptoms.

Studies show 50 per cent of those using benzodiazepines for just four weeks suffer withdrawal symptoms, such as anxiety, dizziness, concentration problems, nightmares and weakness. And 100 per cent of those on them for six months or more experience such symptoms.

Similar evidence of drug dependency has emerged for other pills  antidepressants, painkilling opioids (eg codeine, tramadol and oxycodone) and gabapentinoids (including gabapentin and pregabalin), plus sleeping pills known as Z-drugs (zolpidem and zopiclone). This led to a Daily Mail campaign to save prescription pill victims.

Addictive drugs over prescribed

A 2019 report by Public Health England followed, which warned that hundreds of thousands were dependent on them.

It called for face-to-face support for patients and better training for doctors on the risks of drug dependency, plus a 24-hour helpline with experts advising callers on how to reduce their medication. Currently, those affected get little or no help about how to quit.

Yet there is still no helpline and the drugs are still being prescribed in eye-watering quantities  with nearly 17 million people a year in England alone getting a prescription, according to NHS figures.

Now, new research seen by Good Health reveals the terrible cost of the drug-dependency crisis not only on the individual, but also on NHS finances. Damning figures show that in England alone, nearly 570 million-worth of the drugs are given annually to patients who should not be on them in the first place. The cost of the needlessly prescribed pills could pay the wages of an extra 10,000 GPs or 20,000 nurses.

The research, carried out for the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Prescribed Drug Dependence (APPG), was based on data for all the prescriptions, opioids, gabapentinoids, benzodiazepines and Z-drugs written in England from 2015 to 2018.

Based on National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) prescribing guidance, and looking at each patients diagnosis, the researchers determined who actually qualified for the drugs.

Their calculations included the price of the medicines, the average consultation cost (about 33) of seeing a GP and dispensing fees  the amount paid to GPs or pharmacists for issuing the drugs.

The results, reviewed by independent health economists, are published today in the journal Addictive Behaviours.

They show that the NHS in England alone spends between 490 million and 568 million annually on dependency-forming pills for patients who should not be given them  because their symptoms are not severe enough, or they have not exhausted safer options, such as counselling or less toxic drugs, or who were left on the drugs longer than needed (eg, over four weeks for benzodiazepines, or 12 weeks for opioids).

Over the three years they analysed, the researchers found the total bill came to a 1.7 billion and that unnecessary prescribing was happening on a massive scale.

For benzodiazepines, we found up to 72 per cent of prescriptions were unnecessary, for Z-drugs up to 76 per cent, opioids up to 53 per cent, gabapentinoids 12.6 per cent and antidepressants 13.5 per cent, they said in the paper.

Opioids accounted for the most financial waste  about 288 million a year  followed by 158 million a year for gabapentinoids.

Its even likely the total amount of money lost in Britains prescription drug crisis is far higher than the study, warned the researchers (from Roehampton University, Greenwich University and University College London).

Our estimates are conservative . . . they dont take into account the impact on productivity [from patients being unable to work], disability payments, lost tax revenue and absenteeism.

The team was taken aback by the findings. It was much higher than preliminary research suggested  we were surprised at the figures, says Dr James Davies, a reader in medical anthropology and mental health at Roehampton University.

Money is being wasted at a time when the health service is strapped for cash. The NHS is not taking this problem seriously and many doctors dont appreciate the extent to which withdrawal from these medicines is a problem.

Risks spotted 40 years ago

Concerns over prescription-drug dependency are not new. The Committee on Safety of Medicines  a government body set up after the thalidomide scandal of the 1950s  warned back in 1980 that patients given benzodiazepines for anxiety and sleep problems were at risk of becoming dependent on them if they stayed on them for longer than four weeks.

It urged GPs to limit the drugs use, scrap repeat prescriptions and help patients come off the pills gradually  tapering to smaller doses  to avoid acute withdrawal symptoms.

Dr Davies says: Yet, here we are, 40 years later and roughly half of those NHS patients prescribed benzodiazepines have been on them for more than two years.

Its the easiest thing in the world to prescribe a drug but it can be very difficult to get some people off them.

Meanwhile, Britains opioid crisis is starting to mirror that seen in the U.S., where overdoses have claimed more than 500,000 lives since the late-1990s.

Research published a year ago in the journal PLoS Medicine, by experts at Manchester University, found codeine use in the UK had risen five-fold in the previous decade. Prescriptions for opioids tramadol and oxycodone rose too. Latest data show deaths from codeine overdose rose to 212 in England in 2020 (from 156 in 2017); in the past decade codeine poisoning deaths have doubled.

Experts fear increased demand for over-the-counter codeine formulations may be largely to blame, sparking calls for a ban on their direct sale to the public.

Worryingly, the Manchester study showed one in seven first-time users of the painkillers became long-term users, even though it is known to lead to addiction.

Last year, the Medicines and Regulatory Healthcare products Agency  which vets drug safety  introduced stronger labelling for opioid medicines, warning patients they could get addicted and experience unpleasant withdrawal symptoms if they stopped taking it suddenly. The body also says drugs such as tramadol and oxycodone should be limited beyond cancer patients.

No support to come off medication

Meanwhile, under new NICE guidelines published in April patients with chronic pain should not be put on gabapentionoids, benzodiazepines, and opioids. If any already taking them this should be reviewed.

Emma Hamess problems began when she was prescribed bromazepam for panic attacks brought on by intermittent breathing problems. These were caused by a viral infection that reduced her lung capacity to 60 per cent.

While this improved, the panic attacks continued, and a GP prescribed bromazepam.

There was no mention of how long I should stay on it, or that there was a risk of long-term damage, she says.

Initially, the drug helped ease my anxiety but it also made me very drowsy and lethargic  like someone had turned the lights down inside me. And the longer I was on it, the worse this got.

The guidelines are that it should be taken for a maximum of around a month. Yet she was on it for four years with her GP routinely issuing repeat prescriptions without ever calling her in for a review.

After a few months, I quit the drug as I didnt want to be on powerful medication for years, says Emma.

But I got terrible withdrawal symptoms. When I told the GP, he blamed the symptoms on a relapse of my mental health and actually increased the bromazepam dose.

Emmas symptoms worsened. When she moved in 2016 and saw a new GP, he said she should try to come off the drug slowly but he couldnt help as there was no NHS service to guide people addicted to these drugs.

Emmas GP offered her the chance to switch to diazepam  another type of benzodiazepine which she was offered as an alternative, as the one she was on is so dangerous that it's no longer prescribed in the UK.

However, as she could see little point in swapping one potentially harmful drug for another, having been told that she should have only been on the drug for two weeks maximum (and yet at this point had been on it for four years) and had not been informed of the potential risks of doing so, she felt the safest option was to go cold turkey.

I thought it would be pretty rough for a few weeks or months but then the worst would be over and Id finally be free of it, she says. But it has been awful. Even now  nearly five years later  Im still suffering withdrawal effects.

One morning I woke to my heart racing at 180 beats per minute. It should be between 60 and 100.

At one point I was calling an ambulance about once a week because of the palpitations.

It wasnt until 2019, when yet another ambulance was called for her cardiac problems, that Emma discovered her symptoms were almost certainly due to the after-effects of the drug shed stopped taking three years earlier.

The paramedic recognised the symptoms of protracted benzodiazepine withdrawal  Id never heard of it before, she says.

Hellish effects of withdrawal

Other victims of benzodiazepine dependency tell similar stories. A woman, who didnt wish to be identified, told Good Health her husband was put on lorazepam for pain after his appendix was removed in 1988.

Each time he tried to quit, the after-effects were overwhelming; weakness, circulation problems, swollen feet, numb hands and pins and needles.

Although he is now off them, his wife says his life has been ruined by a drug that doctors are still handing out when there were warnings about it 40 years ago.

Thousands of patients on antidepressants are thought to have suffered similarly.

A 2019 study found 56 per cent of those trying to quit antidepressants had withdrawal symptoms.

The NHS website states these include restlessness, insomnia, sweating, stomach pain, irritability, confusion and feeling as if there is an electric shock in your head.

One patient who also wished to remain anonymous, told Good Health he was so desperate for help with the withdrawal symptoms he approached a service for those using illicit street drugs.

I was told they could only help if I was still abusing the drugs, but not if Id stopped taking them, he says. Im gradually reducing the dose but its been hell.

I wish id never been put on them

Dr Mark Horowitz knows the feeling. As well as being a trainee psychiatrist at University College London, with a PhD in the neurobiology of depression, hes been on antidepressants for more than 15 years. For the past four, hes been tapering his dose  reducing it one tiny fraction at a time. I was 21 and a student in Australia when a doctor put me on escitalopram for low moods. But it was a 30-second consultation without extensive checks. I wish I had never been put on them.

Theyve not been useful and if I had known at the time [about the risk of dependency] I would never have taken them.

Dr Horowitz is now on two types of antidepressant and a sleeping pill, zopiclone. But even with his expertise, he is finding quitting the drugs gruelling.

Its been much harder than I had ever imagined. NICE guidelines say [withdrawal takes] four weeks  Im four years in and it may be five by the time I get there.

I reduce my dose by a small percentage every few weeks by using a liquid version of the drugs my GP prescribes. But many people cant do that as some GPs wont prescribe liquid forms of the medicines as they can cost a lot.

Tapering antidepressants means reducing the dose by half-a-milligram a time  down to a lowest dose of 0.5mg. Yet the smallest available on the NHS are 10mg.

Experts say desperate Britons are buying tapering strips, plastic sleeves full of tablets in ever-decreasing doses from foreign websites  even though the MHRA has warned self-medicating like this is potentially risky.

Its heartbreaking because NHS doctors should be in a position to give these people the support they need to come off the drugs, says Dr Horowitz.

There is a huge amount of help for those on street drugs such as heroin, or alcohol, but no equivalent for those hooked on prescription drugs.

Studies show 50 per cent of those using benzodiazepines for just four weeks suffer withdrawal symptoms, such as anxiety, dizziness, concentration problems, nightmares and weakness. And 100 per cent of those on them for six months or more experience such symptoms (stock picture)

NHS making people addicts

Joanna Moncrieff, a professor of critical and social psychiatry at University College London and a consultant psychiatrist at North-East London NHS Foundation Trust, said: People are getting hooked on drugs like benzos and the only service they can go to is one for heroin addicts.

Thats quite upsetting for respectable middle-aged women, which most of them are. We [the NHS] are prescribing lots of drugs that are harmful, get people hooked and are hard to quit. And we are doing that on a vast scale.

Stephen Buckley, head of information at the mental health charity MIND, says antidepressants are really helpful for hundreds of thousands of people yet, its vital patients are told they come with a risk of significant side-effects.

Many GPs mistakenly think two to four weeks is ample to quit antidepressants. Thats undercooking it for most people  we would say it takes months, or even years.

The Royal College of Psychiatrists agrees that antidepressant withdrawal can take months. Its patient leaflet Stopping Antidepressants offers advice on tapering, and urges patients to stop the reduction if they experience any uncomfortable symptoms  before trying again with smaller dose reductions.

But critics argue the crisis needs far tougher action than just giving guidance for patients tackling dependency alone. If the NHS was taking this seriously, it would be providing tapering services itself, such as liquid medications or smaller pill sizes, says Dr Davies.

Still no sign of a helpline

The All-Party Parliamentary Group for Prescribed Drug Dependence is calling for a 24-hour helpline to be set up as soon as possible, and an NHS smartphone app that can guide people through the tapering process.

A relatively small investment, say 20 million a year, in a helpline would be a great start and its a lot less than the 568 million a year currently being spent unnecessarily on the drugs, says Dr Davies.

The call for a helpline is backed by the Royal College of Psychiatrists and the British Medical Association.

The Department of Health and Social Care told Good Health that ministers are finally backing plans for a helpline and better support for patients dependent on prescription pills.

A spokesman said: We are working closely with NHS England to take these proposals forward and implement them.

Emma came off benzodiazepines almost five years ago, but has only recently been able to return to favourite pastimes, such as swimming.

Keen musician and film-maker Emma has fought back against her plight by producing a documentary, called The Soundtrack Film, highlighting the dangers of certain prescription medicines and how others in her position may also be able to turn their lives around.

She also produces a regular podcast  The Soundtrack; from Rock Bottom to Rock Musician  looking at how unsuspecting patients, like her, can be harmed by medicines that are supposed to make them feel better, not worse.

She says: The film is about the dangers of some prescription medicines. But it's also a film about life, adversity and overcoming obstacles.

I lost everything because of that drug, the ability to work, my income, my confidence and my independence, she says.

Im trying to focus on coming out of this situation stronger.
Would you want to know if someone could tell you how likely you were to end up in hospital with Covid-19?

Thats the tantalising information being offered by a new genetic test which uses a sample of saliva to calculate an individuals odds of severe Covid.

The first test of its kind, it combines information on genes linked to the viruss severity with details of a persons age, sex, weight and general health to estimate their personal risk of severe disease.

A new genetic test uses a sample of saliva to calculate an individuals odds of severe Covid

To develop the 130 test, scientists in Australia compared 2,200 Covid patients whose symptoms had been severe enough for them to be admitted to hospital with another 5,400 who had tested positive for the virus but had only mild or no symptoms.

They looked at how likely the volunteers were to have 100 or so genes that have been linked to Covid severity in other studies carried out around the world.

While it isnt known exactly how our genes affect our risk, one, identified by a team at the University of Edinburgh, is thought to affect the bodys ability to fight off Covid by chewing up the viruss genetic material.

Another gene spotted by the same researchers may affect how well protective proteins called interferons get to work.

Close-up of young man getting PCR test at doctor's office during coronavirus epidemic

The Australian team zeroed in on seven genes with strong links to severe Covid and, combining this with personal information and details of existing health conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure and respiratory problems, were able to predict with 73 per cent accuracy who was at risk of severe Covid, according to a report published in June in the journal Epidemiology and Infection.

We were able to pull apart the risk factors, then use them to work out exactly who would be at high risk and who would be at low risk, says Dr Gillian Dite, a senior biostatistician at the company Genetic Technologies, which invented the test.

The test itself involves simply spitting into a tube and sending off the saliva sample for genetic analysis.

The genetic data is then combined with personal and medical information that you enter online, to provide a prediction of how likely you are to end up in hospital if you catch Covid  and how you compare with other people of the same age.

For example, you might be told you had a 12.7 per cent probability of hospitalisation and that this is higher than three in four adults of your age.

Some results are surprising. For example, poor health, obesity and genetics can mean a man in his 50s is three times as likely to develop severe Covid as a woman who is 30 years his senior but of normal weight, free of underlying health conditions and with good genes.

However, some experts have questioned how much added value the genetic data gives, over and above information on a persons general health, age and sex, all of which is already at hand.

It isnt clear how much extra predictive power it adds to include the genetic information on top of information that is much easier to obtain about peoples age, sex and whether they have certain clinical conditions, says Kevin McConway, an emeritus professor of applied statistics at the Open University.

He also points out that the test was developed using data from before the Delta variant of Covid became dominant.

This means it isnt clear how relevant predictions are for people who catch the virus today.

Furthermore, the results are based on a persons risk if they havent been vaccinated. Vaccination is known to cut the chances of admission to hospital by up to 96 per cent.

Poor health, obesity and genetics can mean a man in his 50s is three times as likely to develop severe Covid as a woman who is 30 years his senior but of normal weight, free of underlying health conditions and with good genes

The company says the results might persuade some of those who are hesitant about being vaccinated to have the jab.

And someone who has been vaccinated but has a high-risk readout might decide to take precautions such as avoiding crowded places.

While nationally about 80 per cent of people aged 12 and over have had two doses of the vaccine in the UK, in some parts of London the rate is as low as 50 per cent.

The theory is that finding out you are at high risk of severe Covid may provide an incentive to get immunised against it.

But Dr Simon Clarke, a microbiologist at the University of Reading, cautions that the test could also have the opposite effect, with a low-risk result making some of those who are unvaccinated even more reluctant to get jabbed.

He adds that while being told you are at high risk might make you more careful in terms of social distancing, the jury is still out in terms of the accuracy of tests like this.

The test is now available in the U.S. via mail order, and the company is looking to make it available in the UK in the coming months.
Children will be able to book Covid vaccines online from next week as No10 tries to ramp up lagging vaccination rate in teenagers.

Health Secretary Sajid Javid told MPs today teenagers between 12-15 will be able to book appointments online from next week during the half-term break.

'To make the most of half-term next week, we will now be opening up the national booking service to all 12 to 15-year-olds to have their Covid vaccinations in existing national vaccination centres, which will offer families more flexibility,' he said.

The Government hopes making getting appointments easier while students are not at school will help address the slow roll out of the vaccine to this age group.

Only yesterday it was revealed that just 15 per cent of the age group in England have had their first dose, despite becoming eligible for a month.

But uptake was even worse in some areas of England, with some regions reporting as few as one in 30 having received the jab.

Health Secretary Sajid Javid told MPs today that teenagers between 12-to-15 years old will be able to book their vaccination appointment online from next week, during the half-term break

The Government has been criticised over the slow rollout of the Covid vaccine to children but the latest figures reveal that the scheme is having mixed success across the country, with Scotland soaring ahead of England

While children themselves face a tiny risk of dying of Covid, it is hoped vaccinating them will help stem the rising tide of cases in the UK, as immunity in the over 50s begin to wane and the country heads into winter.

Random swabbing data suggests around 8 per cent of secondary school pupils were carrying the virus last week. Separate figures show infection rates in children have reached record highs.

In addition to announcing the expansion of the online booking system Mr Javid also called on Britain's youth to step forward and get vaccinated.

'I think it is important anyone who is invited as eligible for a vaccine, including young people, that they do come forward and take up that offer,' he said.

The latest attendance data from the Department for Education shows the number of children out of school for Covid related reasons in England has more than doubled compared to last month

The DfE estimates that 2.6 per cent of all pupils  around 209,000 children  were not in class for reasons connected to coronavirus on Thursday last week.

This included a record 111,000 pupils that were off from school because they had tested positive for the virus.

Last month, on 16 September, only 59,000 pupils were off from school with a confirmed case of Covid.

Association of School and College Leaders general secretary Geoff Barton welcomed Mr Javid's announcement, stating that vaccination was key to tackling the school attendance problem.

'It was painfully slow to get underway in some areas and has been beset by logistical problems, not to mention being disrupted by the irresponsible actions of anti-vaccination protesters,' he said.

'The announcement from NHS England that young people can attend vaccination drop-in centres during the half-term holiday is a big help and we hope they will do so in sufficient numbers to help slow the spread of the virus in schools and colleges.'

North and south divide. Scotland is roaring ahead with rolling out the first dose of the Covid vaccine to 12-to-15-year-olds compared to England. All 10 of the best performing areas were north of the border with England hosting the bottom 10, the majority of which are in London

Record 111,000 pupils missed school with Covid last week More than 200,000 children in England were absent from school due to Covid last week and more than half of those tested positive for the virus. Official Government figures show a record 111,000 pupils from state-funded schools tested positive for Covid and were off from school as a result on October 14. This is nearly double last month's figure of 59,000 Covid positive pupils on September 16, shortly after children returned to school in England. Absences for suspected cases of Covid have also doubled in this time. On 14 October the Department of Education (DfE) recorded 81,000 pupils were absent from school due to a suspected case of Covid. A month prior this figure was only 45,000 pupils. A further 16,000 students were off for other Covid related reasons such as isolation to control an outbreak or schools being closed due to the virus last week. This, according to DfE, means a total of 209,000 pupils, equivalent to 2.6 per cent of all pupils, were off from school due to Covid related reasons on 14 October. However in a note on the figures, DfE highlighted that due to self-isolation exemptions the number of children with the virus in schools was probably much higher. 'The vast majority of pupils in state-funded schools are under 18 years and 6 months, and therefore not required to self-isolate if they live in the same household as someone with Covid, or are a close contact of someone with Covid,' it reads. Unions last night seized on the figures to call for more restrictions, including forcing siblings of infected children to self-isolate. After starting the term with few restrictions, many schools are returning to having pupils wear masks in communal areas and even classrooms. Advertisement

The NHS online booking system for vaccines is currently only available to over-16s.

Mr Javid did not make it clear if children will require parental consent to complete their online booking for the vaccine.

Currently parents and guardians in England are sent a letter or email from the NHS with information about when the vaccine will be offered at their child's school and asking for their consent for it to be given.

If a parent refuses, their child can overrule them if they are deemed competent enough to make that decision.

Ministers have previously hinted of plans to create walk-in vaccine clinics for schoolchildren in an effort to speed up the jabs rollout.

This idea is also said to be an attempt to keep anti-vaxxers away from the school gates.

Analysis yesterday revealed that vaccination rates for young teens in England have lagged behind Scotland and Wales.

A significant part of England is languishing in the single digits in terms of vaccine uptake among young teens with London hosting most of the poor performers.

The capital's boroughs of Barking and Dagenham (3.5 per cent), Newham (5.2 per cent), Lewisham (5.2 per cent),Tower Hamlets (5.6 per cent), and Waltham Forest (5.7 per cent) had the lowest vaccine uptake in England.

In comparison the roll-out is going particularly well north of the border in Scotland, where the vaccination rate is about 46.5 per cent.

But some areas of the country, such as Dumfries and Galloway having already jabbed almost two-thirds of their young teens.

Part of the difference could be due to how the countries are dolling out their jabs.

In England, jabs are delivered in schools by nurses and immunisation teams.

But in Scotland doses can be received by attending drop-in vaccination centres at GP clinics, pharmacies and community centres.

The overall take-up for Wales as of October 10 was 21.8 per cent.

Northern Ireland has yet to begin publishing vaccination figures for 12 to 15-year-olds.

First doses of Covid vaccine started being rolled out to all the UKs 3.2million 12 to 15-year-olds on September 20.

But the move was heavily controversial, with concerns over a rare risk of heart inflammation called myocarditis  estimated to strike up to one in 20,000 boys under the age of 16 after their second jab. Girls are at less risk of the complication.

While in most cases the condition is mild, scientists do not know the long term implications.

Earlier this year the Government's vaccine advisors, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) advised against routinely vaccinating healthy 12 to 15-year-olds because they have just a one in 2million chance of dying from Covid.

The JCVI urged ministers to seek advice from England's chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty and his fellow chief medical officers in the devolved nations about the wider benefits vaccination could provide.

Professor Whitty eventually ruled that youngsters would benefit getting vaccinated against Covid, despite the odds of them becoming critically ill from the virus about two in a million.

The controversial vaccination of young people is one of the cornerstones of the Government's Covid winter strategy.

Alongside the also slow going, over-50s Covid booster jab, these measures were supposed to help protect the UK's health system from the full brunt of winter this year, the first where both flu and Covid will be in active circulation simultaneously.

But now, much like the 12-to-15 year-old jab program, the program is well behind schedule with latest estimates indicating nearly 5million vulnerable adults have yet to get a booster jab.

SAGE adviser 'Professor Lockdown' Neil Ferguson, an epidemiologist at Imperial College London, today insisted it was 'critical we accelerate' the booster drive to give ourselves the best chance of avoiding having to bring back curbs.

And Sir David King, who was the Government's chief scientific adviser from 2000 to 2007, criticised the rollout for moving 'extremely slowly'.

Amanda Pritchard, chief executive of the NHS, insisted the health service has 'plenty of capacity' to vaccinate all eligible people immediately but said people are not coming forward quickly enough. She told MPs on the Health Committee: 'It's really important that we now absolutely do get the message out that is Covid is still with us.'

But some experts also say the booster programme is going slower because the UK is juggling administering first jabs to children in secondary schools and running the largest flu vaccination programme in history.

Pictures today show clinics lying virtually empty, some of which are not open for booster jab walk-ins  further highlighting the complexity of Britain's current rollout.

It comes against the backdrop of rising cases with 49,156 infections recorded yesterday  the highest daily figure in three months. Downing Street warned that Britons should prepare for a 'challenging few months'.

Boris Johnson's spokesman said there were 'currently' no plans to reintroduce Plan B restrictions  which include face masks and working from home guidance  but that ministers were keeping 'a very close watch on the latest statistics'.

Meanwhile, experts today also warned that a subvariant of the Covid Delta strain could be more infectious than its ancestor. Official data shows it was behind nearly one in 10 cases earlier this month  with the proportion having doubled within the space of a month.
E-cigarettes have been promoted as devices that can help a person ditch tobacco entirely - but they may not be having the positive effects that many think are.

Researchers from the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) conducted a multi-year study to determine if people who switched to e-cigarettes were able to drop all tobacco use in the near future.

Instead, they found e-cigarettes were not effective at getting a person to stop smoking traditional cigarettes.

People who dropped cigarettes for another tobacco product in an attempt to quit were around 42 percent likely to have quit tobacco a year later.

Those who dropped all tobacco, instead of trying to ween themselves off using products like e-cigarettes, were 50 percent likely to have quit a year later

This means vape users were more 10 percent more likely to relapse than those who quit all tobacco products.

While e-cigarettes have been promoted as an effective way to ween a person off of cigarettes, a study finds that they are not any more effective at preventing. More than 50% of people who dropped tobacco did not relapse within the next year compared to 42% of those who used tobacco-based replacement

'Our findings suggest that individuals who quit smoking and switched to e-cigarettes or other tobacco products actually increased their risk of a relapse back to smoking over the next year by 8.5 percentage points compared to those who quit using all tobacco products,' said Dr John Pierce, first author of the study and professor at UCSD, in a statement.

'Quitting is the most important thing a smoker can do to improve their health, but the evidence indicates that switching to e-cigarettes made it less likely, not more likely, to stay off of cigarettes.'

Researchers, who published their findings Tuesday in JAMA Network Open, used data from the annual Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) survey conducted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

They investigated data from 2013 to 2017 and identified participants who took part in sequential surveys.

Researchers found 9.4 percent of smokers who reported cigarette usage in the first annual survey had quit a year later.

Of those, 62.9 percent had dropped tobacco entirely while 37.1 percent had begun using a new tobacco product.

Nearly one in every four of that group had taken up e-cigarettes, and one in every five reported using their device every day.

People who switched to e-cigarettes and other non-cigarette tobacco products, were found to have a decreased chance of having dropped tobacco a year later.

A total of 50.5 percent of those who dropped tobacco entirely were able to stop smoking cigarettes compared to 41.6 of those using e-cigarettes.

This means stopping all tobacco use was 10 percent more effective at preventing relapse than vaping.

Little difference was found between any of the tobacco-based cigarette replacements in ability to prevent a person from relapsing, whether e-cigarettes, cigars or other combusted tobacco.

Tobacco usage among young people has increased in recent years, with e-cigarettes being partially blamed. Some legislators are pushing to ban flavored e-cigarettes (file image)

'This is the first study to take a deep look at whether switching to a less harmful nicotine source can be maintained over time without relapsing to cigarette smoking,' said Pierce.

'If switching to e-cigarettes was a viable way to quit cigarette smoking, then those who switched to e-cigarettes should have much lower relapse rates to cigarette smoking. We found no evidence of this.'

While e-cigarettes were previously seen as a key tool in reducing smoking in America, the reputation of the devices has been diminished in recent years.

Devices like e-cigarettes a vapes, specifically ones that are flavored, have been blamed for a recent uptick in youth tobacco and nicotine use.

Some cities, like San Francisco, have banned flavored nicotine in an effort to curb youth smoking.

Legislators are also pressuring the FDA to ban on flavored e-cigarette devices nationally.
Professor Stephen Powis said: 'I think that we need to move in our hospitals much more to single rooms being the default for privacy and dignity, for infection control and actually for flow issues'

Patients should be given single rooms in hospitals by 'default' rather than put on wards to stop infections spreading, an NHS boss said today.

Professor Stephen Powis, NHS England and Improvement's national medical director, said the rooms offer 'privacy and dignity'.

Going forward, hospitals should be built around single rooms, he said.

As it stands, patients are automatically put into wards when they arrive at hospital.

But patients can pay between 100 and 350 a night to stay in a private room while receiving NHS care  such as after giving birth.

There are around 120,000 NHS hospital beds in England.

During the pandemic, hospitals were forced to cut bed capacity to ensure social distancing between patients.

Buildings also had to be divided into Covid and non-Covid areas in an attempt to reduce transmission to uninfected patients requiring hospital care.

There are around 120,000 NHS hospital beds in England. During the pandemic, hospitals were forced to cut their bed capacity to ensure social distancing between patients. Buildings also had to be divided into Covid and non-Covid areas in an attempt to reduce transmission to uninfected patients requiring hospital care

No 'set number' for GP face-to-face appointments, says NHS England chief There is no 'set number' for how many face-to-face appointments GPs should provide, the head of NHS England has told MPs. Amanda Pritchard said that many patients liked in-person consultations but that others found phoning a GP or going online more convenient. Data shows that 58 per cent of patients were seen face-to-face in August in England, compared with 54 per cent at the peak of the second wave in January and more than 80 per cent before the pandemic. Health Secretary Sajid Javid set out plans last week for more cash for GPs, but also ways in which they can be named and shamed in league tables depending on how many patients they see in-person. It comes as a snap poll for the British Medical Association found doctors 'overwhelmingly' rejecting the Government's plan, with 93 per cent of 3,500 GPs saying it was an unacceptable response to the crisis. Speaking to MPs on the cross-party Commons health committee, Ms Pritchard said: 'I'm really conscious that the vast, vast majority of colleagues in general practice have worked, and continue to work, absolutely tirelessly. 'In fact, they're the building block of the NHS and they continue to be.' She said the package announced last week was about the 'need to put some money behind supporting general practice'. She added: 'I think we have really tried to steer away from saying that there is a kind of a right number for face-to-face versus other types of access, because what's clear is many people absolutely do prefer face-to-face access, GPs are required to provide it, it's part of the contract, but for some populations, it's going to be a particular number, for others it will be different. 'So what we've talked about in the document is respecting patient preference. 'Because what I hear is many, many people say it is hugely convenient being able to phone a GP or do a digital consultation, 'it saves me lots of time unnecessarily travelling to a GP practice'. But it's absolutely right that that isn't going to work for everybody and it's not going to work for every circumstance, and therefore respecting patient preference is the bit that we have said is really important here. 'So, for those practices where the percentage of face-to-face care is very low, that does feel out of step with what we're hearing across the rest of the country, and we need to give them particular support.' Advertisement

Speaking to MPs on the Health and Social Care Committee for tackling the Covid backlog, Professor Powis said: 'Personally, I feel coming out of the pandemic one of the things we need to think really hard about is the number of single beds that we have.

'I think that we need to move in our hospitals much more to single rooms being the default for privacy and dignity, for infection control and actually for flow issues.

'That's something we need to think hard about as we build the hospitals of the future.'

He also said extra bed capacity should be added to the NHS.

This would give the health service headroom during the winter when hospitals get busier and during future health crises.

The Department of Health announced in July that 40 new hospitals would be built in England by 2030  but it is not clear whether these will be built around a private room model.

There are currently more than 7,000 patients in hospital with Covid across the UK and 921 were admitted with the virus today.

As the pandemic hit the UK last March, NHS England told trusts to discharge all hospital patients who were safely able to leave and postpone all non-urgent operations in an attempt to reduce transmission in hospitals and treat the influx of Covid-infected patients.

And hospitals were forced to work with less capacity during the pandemic to allow for physical distancing between beds.

The moves led to a backlog for routine hospital treatment, which hit another record high of 5.72million in August, according to the latest NHS England figures.

The UK Health Security Agency, which replaced the disbanded Public Health England, gave hospitals the green light last month to relax Covid-controlling restrictions.

Officials dropped guidance on social distancing, allowing for it to be cut to 1m in some low-risk areas of hospitals, which no longer need to be deep-cleaned between uninfected patients.

It comes as a report published by NHS Digital last week revealed it the would cost 9.2billion to complete upgrades to buildings that should already have been done.

The bill  which is 2.2 per cent higher than last year  includes maintaining 10,258 hospitals and other buildings, as well as ambulance services.

There are fears that several NHS hospitals made out of a lightweight concrete could be on the brink of collapsing.





Chancellor Rishi Sunak's spending review, which is due to be released later next week, and will detail how much cash the NHS will get over the next three years.

The health service has already been promised a 30billion handout to clear the record-high waiting list for elective care that has amassed during the pandemic.

Professor Powis, who spoke to MPs with NHS England head Amanda Pritchard, also discussed the lack of face-to-face appointments in general practice, which has led some patients to attend A&E instead.

Data shows that 58 per cent of patients were seen face-to-face in August in England, compared to more than 80 per cent before the pandemic.

Health Secretary Sajid Javid set out plans to name and shame GP surgeries that do not see enough patients in person.

Professor Powis: 'I think there is no doubt that there are some patients who are attending A&E still who would be better off being seen in another setting  that was the case pre-pandemic as well.

'For exactly those reasons, the use of services such as 111, the use of digital online 111, is all designed to ensure that people don't make a trip to the service when actually they could be dealt with quicker and more efficiently in another [area of the health] service.'

Ms Pritchard said the 'vast, vast' majority of GPs are working tirelessly and health chiefs have 'tried to steer away from saying that there is a kind of a right number for face-to-face versus other types of access'.

She said some patients in-person appointments, but others find it 'hugely convenient' to see GPs remotely.
A record 111,000 pupils missed school last week because they tested positive for Covid, official figures revealed today.

The number of youngsters absent because they're infected has doubled since mid-September, as coronavirus continues to rip through classrooms.

Department for Education data showed, in total, more than 200,000 children  or 2.6 per cent of pupils  were absent from school in England due to Covid last week.

It comes as Sajid Javid today revealed children will be able to book their vaccines online next week as part of a half-term jabbing blitz.

No10 is desperately trying to boost inoculation rates in youngsters, with just one in thirty 12-15 year olds jabbed in parts of the country.

James Bowen, of the headteachers' union NAHT, said the rise in teachers catching Covid  in many cases from pupils - was causing disruption to classes.

A record 111,000 pupils missed school last week because they tested positive for Covid, official figures revealed today. The number of youngsters absent because they're infected has doubled since mid-September, as coronavirus continues to rip through classrooms

Over 200,000 children were absent from school last due to a Covid related reason, with a record 111,000 off because they tested positive for the virus

The Government has been criticised over the slow rollout of the Covid vaccine to children but the latest figures reveal that the scheme is having mixed success across the country

North and south divide. Scotland is roaring ahead with rolling out the first dose of the Covid vaccine to 12-to-15-year-olds compared to England. All 10 of the best performing areas were north of the border with England hosting the bottom 10, the majority of which are in London

Now more schools reintroduce face masks in face of Covid spikes A secondary school in Essex has become the latest to bring back Covid restrictions after a surge in Covid cases among pupils and staff. Thurstable School in Colchester emailed parents yesterday informing them that their children must wear face masks at all times when indoors  even during lessons in classrooms. There were widespread concerns that masks obstruct communicating and learning during earlier phases of the pandemic. Assemblies have also been scrapped and moved to 'virtual'. Rapid testing will be used on-site if staff become worried about a particular group or class. Headteacher Mr J Ketley said in an email, seen by Essex Live, that the measures will stay in place for two weeks before being reassessed when schools split for half-term. In his email to parents, the head said: 'We have had a significant increase in the number of positive lateral flow test results this weekend, we have received 51 positive lateral flow tests since Friday. 'We are therefore asking students to wear a face mask in all indoor areas including classrooms for the remainder of this week and the first day back after the half-term break.' Meanwhile, secondary school pupils in Scotland will continue to wear face coverings in class, according to new guidance from the Scottish Government. Face coverings in communal areas for secondary pupils and staff, as well as primary staff, will also continue. The new guidance is contrary to reports last week that the need for face coverings would be dropped when pupils return from the October break. The measures are being kept in place to buy time to vaccinate more teenagers. But Education Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville has said the restrictions will be lifted 'at the earliest possible time'. Advertisement

'If the government does not act now, there is a clear and obvious risk that disruption to education will only get worse as we head into winter,' he said.

'Changes should be made to close contact isolation rules so siblings of those who have tested positive for Covid don't continue to go into school and infect others.'

The Liberal Democrats pointed out the number of pupils now absent due to Covid-related reasons would fill '8,000 classrooms'.

The party's health spokesman Munira Wilson said: 'The government must urgently ramp up vaccinations for 12 to 16-year-olds over the half term holidays.

'Schools have been given the impossible task of keeping children in the classroom whilst also dealing with rising Covid rates.

'As a result, thousands of children are now missing out on vital learning.'

Geoff Barton, of the ASCL teaching union said: 'The rise in staff absence may appear fractional but the reality is that it is now causing real headaches, with staffing problems further disrupting education.

'This is happening despite staff being vaccinated, with the issue exacerbated by an acute shortage of suitably qualified supply staff.'

Other Covid-related absences in the week to October 14 include 81,000 suspected cases, and 16,000 absent due to local restrictions or self-isolation

However, the DfE warned the number of children with the virus in schools was likely much higher because of self-isolation exemptions.

'The vast majority of pupils in state-funded schools are under 18 years and 6 months, and therefore not required to self-isolate if they live in the same household as someone with Covid, or are a close contact of someone with Covid,' it said.

After starting the term with few restrictions, many schools are returning to having pupils wear masks in communal areas and even classrooms.

Random swabbing data suggests around 8 per cent of secondary school pupils were carrying the virus last week. Separate figures show infection rates in children have reached record highs.

The figures were released just as No10 announced that children will be able to book Covid vaccines online from next week.

In addition to announcing the expansion of the online booking system, Mr Javid also called on Britain's youth to step forward and get vaccinated.

'I think it is important anyone who is invited as eligible for a vaccine, including young people, that they do come forward and take up that offer,' he said.

The NHS online booking system for vaccines is currently only available to over-16s.
Virginia Gov Ralph Northam (pictured) has still not fully recovered his sense of taste and smell a year after contracting COVID-19. Northam encourages his constituents to get jabbed to avoid complications related to 'long Covid'

Virginia Gov Ralph Northam revealed this week that he is still suffering from symptoms of 'long Covid' over a year after contracting the virus.

The Democratic governor, whose term will end in January, told The Virginian-Pilot that his sense of smell and taste are yet to recover from his September 2020 bout with Covid.

Now, Northam is pushing for Virginians to get vaccinated in order to avoid suffering the way he has.

'I'm 62, and I can deal with this,' Northam told The Pilot.

'But why take a chance, if you're 15 or 20 years old or whatever age, of having symptoms that may affect you for the rest of your life?

'Or, in the worst-case scenario, you get COVID pneumonia and don't recover and end up losing your life.'

The vaccines were not yet available when Northam contracted the virus, though he now hopes other Virginians will heed is warning and get the shots.

'Ive had the virus and the vaccine - between the two, I'd take the vaccine any day,' he said during a news conference in May.

Northam, who is a doctor himself, has been an advocate for Covid protections such as regular testing, social distancing and vaccination. Pictured: Gov Northam posts a picture of himself getting a COVID-19 test in Chesapeake, Virginia, to his Instagram page in June 2020

Gov Northam received the COVID-19 vaccine in March, and is pushing for others in his state get the jab. Pictured: Northam receives the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine and promotes the safety and effectiveness of the jabs on his Instagram page in March 2021

'Long Covid' is a common but mysterious condition where survivors of the virus still feel some side-effects months - or potentially years - later.

The condition has baffled many experts, and there is not yet any cures or treatments determined to be effective against it.

Experts can not even figure out why the condition occurs in the first place.

'The long-haulers is just a situation in which uncertainty is the major theme of everything that happens,' Dr Noah Greenspan, a New York City based pulmonary care expert who opened the nation's first freestanding treatment clinic for long Covid told DailyMail.com earlier this year.

Greenspan said he cannot make a good estimate of what percentage of Covid patients will develop long Covid symptoms, though it can be anywhere from one-third to two-thirds of survivors.

He also told DailyMail.com that many long Covid patients will appear totally find when giving health screenings, confusing physicians even more.

Pictured: Gov Northam donates plasma to the Virginia Red Cross in December 2020. Northam previously contracted Covid in September 2020, meaning his blood contained naturally forming antibodies to the virus at the time

Pictured: Gov Northam visits a vaccine site in Norfolk, Virginia, and promotes the state's partnership with Walmart to deliver the COVID-19 vaccine

A potential breakthrough was made during August, though, when researchers at the University of Cambridge in England identified a biomarker than can help physicians predict who will experience the condition.

That is only the first step towards developing treatments for long Covid, though.

Northam is a neurologist himself - the only U.S. governor to be a physician - and has a few theories as to what is happening with the condition.

He believes it could have to do with a disconnect between a person's olfactory bulbs and the brain, and that the condition could be alleviated once the cell regenerate, reported The Pilot.

In the meantime, Northam is navigating the world with two of his primary senses diminished, maybe permanently.

Lemonade, once among his favorite beverages, now tastes like gasoline for him, according to the Pilot.

He also can no longer smell gasoline or smoke, or even the stench of his dogs.

Many of his favorite foods taste like 'cardboard' and the usually minty flavor of toothpaste instead tastes like metal, he told The Pilot.

'Its a very unpleasant taste,' he said.

While he struggles with long Covid, he encourages his constituents to get the jab, and take safety measure to protect themselves and communities from the virus.

Northam's social media pages are littered with posts promoting regular testing, vaccination, social distancing and other measure to stop the spread of COVID-19.

As of Tuesday, 70 percent of Virginians have received at least one shot of a COVID-19 vaccine, and 62 percent are fully vaccinated.

Cases in the state are trending in the right direction, with 2,000 people testing positive for the virus every day, a 26 percent decrease over the past two weeks.

Northam's term as governor will soon come to an end, as Virginia does not allow for someone to serve consecutive terms in the role.

Northam, who was elected in 2017 and assumed office in 2018, will not be able to run for governor again until 2025.
COVID-19 case rates in New York City public schools have remained low this fall despite concerns from parents and school staff about reopening with no remote option as the Delta variant surged.

The overall Covid test positivity rate in NYC schools for the first month of the fall 2021 semester was just 0.22 percent - ten times lower than the rate for the city overall, 2.4 percent during a similar time period.

In all five boroughs, the Covid test positivity rates foe the city's public schools were at least eight times lower than the positivity rates in the boroughs overall.

Yet experts say that NYC schools should be testing a higher number of students than the current requirement.

Right now, 10 percent of students who opt into testing are swabbed each week - and just over one-third of unvaccinated NYC students have opted in.

But the low test positivity rates in NYC schools indicate that the city's existing testing program and other safety measures - such as required masks, social distancing, and vaccinations for staff - are helping to keep cases down in schools.

In every NYC borough, the test positivity rate in public schools was eight to ten times lower than the positivity rate in the community overall. The data reflect positivity rates between September 13 and October 15 for schools, and between September 11 and October 9 city-wide

Low test positivity rates thus far suggest that school safety measures are working to identify Covid cases and prevent outbreaks. Pictured: Students are greeted by faculty as they arrive at PS811 in New York City, September 2021

When NYC public schools opened for a new school year on September 13, many parents and educators were worried about the fall semester.

The city was seeing well over 1,000 new cases per day, and the vast majority of them were caused by the highly contagious Delta variant.

Unlike the previous school year, parents who were nervous about sending their children into classrooms had no remote learning option.

Thousands of children who'd learned remotely in spring 2021 returned to in-person class in September, prompting concerns about overcrowded classrooms where social distancing was difficult.

In addition, the city has scaled down its school Covid testing program.

During the previous spring semester, all in-person students were required to opt into regular Covid testing - 20 percent of students and staff were tested every week.

In fall 2021, students are not required to participate in testing, and just 10 percent of the students who opt in are tested each week.

Yet thus far, case counts in NYC public schools have been low - indicating that the city's safety measures are working.

Data from the first several weeks of the fall 2021 semester show much lower test positivity rates in schools compared to the city-wide average.

Between September 13 and October 15, 2021, the NYC Department of Education reports that more than 230,000 Covid tests have been conducted, including about 181,000 in students and 52,000 in staff.

Out of these 230,000 tests, just 517 have returned positive results. These include 438 students and 79 staff.

The 517 positive Covid tests indicate that, in the first month of the fall 2021 semester, NYC schools have seen a cumulative test positivity rate of 0.22 percent.

A test positivity rate - calculated by dividing the number of positive tests over the total number of tests conducted - may be a useful indicator of the coronavirus' prevalence in a community.

Lower test positivity rates may also indicate that a community is doing enough testing to identify all Covid cases, rather than missing some cases in individuals who don't show symptoms or don't have access to a Covid test.

Test positivity rates in NYC range by ZIP code, from under 1% (light red) to 4.1% (dark red). The overall test positivity rate in NYC schools - for the first month of fall 2021 - is just 0.22%

The NYC schools test positivity rate is about ten times lower than the test positivity rate citywide - which is about 2.4 percent - during a similar time period, September 11 to October 9.

This pattern holds true across all five boroughs.

In the Bronx, the cumulative test positivity rate in schools is 0.23 percent - compared to 2.4 percent for the borough overall.

Brooklyn has a test positivity rate of 0.25 percent in schools, compared to 2.7 percent overall.

Queens has the lowest test positivity rate in schools - 0.17 percent. The borough overall has a test positivity rate of 2.8 percent.

In Manhattan, the test positivity rate in schools is 0.21 percent, compared to 1.7 percent for the borough overall.

Staten Island has the highest overall test positivity rate of the five boroughs, at 3.4 percent. The test positivity rate in Staten Island schools is much lower, at 0.32 percent.

'Our public schools have proven to be some of the safest places to be in New York City during this pandemic, due to our multilayered approach to safety,' Nathaniel Styer, a spokesman for the NYC Department of Education, told the New York Times.

Experts say that NYC schools should be testing more students, including those who are vaccinated. Pictured: Mayor Bill de Blasio touches elbows with a student during a school visit in Brooklyn, New York, March 2021

Still, experts say that the city schools should be testing more students.

In the fall 2021 semester, unlike the previous school year, students are not required to sign up for the city's school Covid testing program in order to attend school in person.

About 200,000 students have enrolled in the testing program as of October 19, according to The Times.

These students make up just over one-third of the 550,000 unvaccinated students in the NYC school system.

The Times also reported that, out of NYC's 1,600 schools, about 300 are failing to meet the city's current benchmark - testing 10 percent of their students each week.

Dr Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, told The Times that the city schools should test a higher number of students - not just those whose families are eager to sign up for the program.

'You want to test enough students so that you find them when they're infected and you can pull them out before they go around infecting others,' Jha said.

Jha also told Rhe Times: 'If you're going to do opt-in, I worry a lot about whether schools are going to do the hard work of really trying to explain the benefits and value to all parents.

'You may see in certain communities less opting in because people may not have as much trust in what the purpose of these tests are.

'And what I would not want is a system where you're essentially testing kids whose parents are wealthier and more educated, and getting a skewed view of what is happening.'

Other experts say that it's important to test vaccinated students and staff as well as unvaccinated students in order to identify potential breakthrough infections, The Times reported.

Currently, NYC public school staff are not required to get tested, as city mandates stipulate that staff must be vaccinated.

Still, Jha told the Times that he was impressed by the low test positivity numbers thus far 'as long as infection numbers are low, you can't really argue with success.'
Pfizer-BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine is highly effective at reducing the risk of hospitalization in teenagers, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Officials say the two-dose vaccine was 93 percent effective at preventing Americans between ages 12 and 18 from being hospitalized with the virus.

Additionally, of the 77 adolescents who fell severely ill, none who were fully vaccinated were admitted to intensive are units (ICUs) or placed on mechanical ventilation.

However, parents have been split evenly over whether or not to inoculate children because under-18s tend to have mild cases of the virus and they make up less than 0.1 percent of all Covid deaths in the U.S.

A new CDC report looked at 464 hospitalized patients aged 12 and 18, of whom 179 tested positive for COVID-19. Of the 77 Covid patients admitted to the ICU, all of them were unvaccinated. Pictured: Chelsea Shellenbarger holds the hand of her son, Grant Shellenbarger. 12, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, gets a COVID-19 vaccine, May 2021

Researchers say the findings shows the Pfizer vaccine is 93% effective at preventing hospitalization in teenagers. Pictured: A vial of Pfizer vaccine sits on a tray in Hanoi, Vietnam, October 2021

Currently, Pfizer's Covid vaccine is fully approved for those aged 16 and older and authorized for emergency use in teens between ages 12 and 15.

Although the company's trial in teens showed 100 efficacy against infection compared to a placebo, limited data is available on efficacy against hospitalization, especially in real-world settings.

For the report, published on Tuesday, the CDC gathered data from 19 pediatric hospital from 16 states across the country between June 1 and September 30.

During this time period, the highly infectious Delta variant was the dominant strain in the U.S.

Of the 464 hospitalized patients aged 12 and 18 who were examined for the study, 179 tested positive for COVID-19 and 285 did not.

Six patients in the COVID-19 group were fully vaccinated as were 93 in the control group.

A total of 72 percent of all patients had at least one underlying condition, such as obesity, asthma and diabetes, and 68 percent attended in-person school.

Of the COVID-19 patients, 77 - or about 43 percent - were admitted to ICUs - all of whom were unvaccinated.

A total of 21 were placed on invasive mechanical ventilation and 29 were placed on life support. What's more, two patients died.

Among the 169 teen Covid patients with hospital discharge data, the median length of stay at the hospital was five days for unvaccinated patients and three days for vaccinated patients.

VE against COVID-19 hospitalization was 93 percent effective against hospitalization in 12-to-18-year-olds.

The authors also broke down efficacy by age groups and said the vaccine was 91 percent effective at preventing hospitalization in 12-to-15-year-olds and 94 in 16-to-18-year-olds.

'This evaluation demonstrated that two doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine were highly effective in preventing COVID-19 hospitalization among persons aged 1218 years,' the report read.

'Findings reinforce the importance of vaccination to protect U.S. youths against severe COVID.'

A poll conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation that about three in 10 parents in each age group said heir child vaccinated 'right away' while about a quarter want to 'wait and see'

The vaccines have been proven to be highly effective in adults and teenagers, but many parents are not enthusiastic about vaccinating their children.

In April 2021 poll, conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation, parents were asked if they would get their child immunized once a COVID-19 vaccine is authorized and available for their child's age group.

Three in 10 parents - 29 percent - of children under 18 said they would get their child vaccinated 'right away' while 15 percent said they only plan to vaccinate their children if the school requires it and 19 percent said their child will definitely not be getting vaccinated.

A July 2021 survey, conducted by CS Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health at Michigan Medicine last month, found that 39 percent of parents said their children already gotten a coronavirus shot.

However, 40 percent of parents also said it was 'unlikely' that their children would be getting vaccinated.'

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, more than five million children have been infected by COVID-19 since the pandemic began.

However, most pediatric cases are not severe and virus-related fatalities among children are rare, with pediatric deaths making up just 0.1 percent of all COVID-19 deaths.
Pfizer - distributor of the world's most commonly used COVID-19 vaccine - has been accused of using its large control over the life-saving jabs to 'bully' the governments of developing nations in purchase negotiations.

The bombshell report, published by Public Citizen on Tuesday, alleges the New York City-based company worked to silence governments, restricted nations' access to vaccine donations, forced governments to pay out lawsuits they may face for breaking intellectual property laws (IP), and to seize public assets in case of missed payments such as foreign bank accounts.

Countries including Albania, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, the Dominican Republic and Peru were subject to these terms in order to acquire the vaccine.

Public Citizen reports that high income countries, such as the U.S., have assisted Pfizer in these bullying tactics by staunchly protecting their IP and allowing the company to form a 'monopoly.'

Pfizer has been accused of 'bullying' developing nations in COVID-19 vaccine purchase negotiations in a recent report published by Public Citizen. The company pushed countries to make public assets available to pay outstanding costs and for the donations of vaccine doses to be restricted (file image)

Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla (right) was critical of calls for President Joe Biden (left) to waive vaccine IP rights. The recent report finds that Pfizer negotiated clauses into contracts with developing nations that allowed them to get around IP rights while pushing the liability onto the nations

Public Citizen obtained nine unredacted copies of Pfizer purchasing agreement with eight countries and the European Union.

The documents revealed previously unknown clauses within contracts that could potentially damage developing nations.

One provision in the contract with Brazil, for example, made the South American country waive sovereign immunity - which protects the nation from lawsuits - in order to access the vaccines, according to Public Citizen.

The contract also prevents Pfizer from being penalized for late shipments.

Little information about these contracts is allowed to be made public, though.

Countries, including the U.S., are not allowed to make any public announcement regarding the details of the contract and any potential dispute must be resolved by private arbitration.

Pfizer is also allowed to control and restrict vaccine donations as part of the contract, Public Citizen reveals.

Nations that sign purchasing agreements with Pfizer could be prevented from receiving donations from other nations, with the company instead wanting doses to be purchased directly from them.

If Brazil, for example, were to receive a donation of COVID-19 vaccine doses from another nation, Pfizer would terminate the contract and the nation would have to pay out the remainder of the contract without receiving any of the remaining doses.

The donation of vaccine doses has become a key part of the U.S.'s global vaccine strategy.

The White House plans to donate more than a billion vaccine doses to other nations.

Health officials in the U.S. are pushing for the nation to donate even more doses, and to even prioritize donation shots across the world instead of distributing vaccine boosters domestically.

While the U.S. sits on a stockpile of the shots, many developing nations are having trouble getting their hands on the life saving shots.

Continuous transmission of the virus in other countries could lead to more variants forming, and with each new strain of the virus that appears poses a risk of being able to evade the vaccines.

Pfizer has also shifted potential blame for IP infringements committed by the company onto the nations purchasing the vaccine.

Under the provisions, which exist in at least four nations, if Pfizer were to face a lawsuit for IP infringement, the nation must use their public funds to pay for it on the pharmaceutical company's behalf.

In these cases, the company will end up taking no responsibility for its own actions.

'Pfizer takes no responsibility in these contracts for its potential infringement of intellectual property,' says the Public Citizen report.

'In a sense, Pfizer has secured an IP waiver for itself. But internationally, Pfizer is fighting similar efforts to waive IP barriers for all manufacturers.'

Pfizer has long opposed the waiving of IP rights of the COVID-19 vaccine, with CEO Albert Bourla even calling it 'dangerous'.

'IP, which is the blood of the private sector, is what brought a solution to this pandemic and it is not a barrier right now,' Bourla said in December.

Within the coming weeks and months after that statement, the company would write contract provisions that allowed them to dodge the IP right Bourla held so sacred.

Brazil is not allowed to receive COVID-19 vaccine donations and had to make public assets available for potential seizure as a part of its vaccine purchase agreement with Pfizer. Pictured: A woman receives a COVID-19 vaccine dose in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil

As part of its vaccine agreement with Pfizer, Albania must accept any changes to the agreed upon vaccine delivery schedule. Pictured: A woman in Tirana, Albania, receives a shot of a COVID-19 vaccine

Brazil, Chile, Colombia and the Dominican Republic also had to make their public assets available for seizure as terms of the vaccine contract.

In case a country cannot, or refuses to, pay the resulting costs of a dispute of arbitration with Pfizer, the four countries had to waive immunity over their nation's assets.

This means that in case of dispute, the pharmaceutical company could acquire foreign bank accounts, investments, property or even state owned corporations.

Pfizer is also under full control of the vaccine distribution, and faces little consequences in case the company breaks the terms of the contract in some countries.

In Albania, Brazil and Colombia, Pfizer is allowed to revise the vaccine delivery schedule at any time, and the nation must agree.

Public Citizen reports that the company also tried to include a similar provision in its agreement with South Africa, though the nation rejected the provision and Pfizer removed it.

The advocacy group says that it is the responsibility of larger, richer, developed, nations to hold Pfizer accountable and protect less developed nations.

'Pfizers dominance over sovereign countries poses fundamental challenges to the pandemic response,' says the report.

'Governments can push back. The U.S. government, in particular, can exercise the leverage it holds over Pfizer to require a better approach.'

Many are advocating for a Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) waiver, which would allow for other nations and manufacturers to get around Pfizer's intellectual property rights and begin producing the vaccine.

President Biden has flirted with the idea of a TRIPS waiver in order to help the developing world, but has not waived the vaccine's IP.

'Empowering multiple manufacturers to produce the vaccine via technology transfer and a TRIPS waiver can rein in Pfizers power,' Public Citizen wrote, supporting the waiver.

'Public health should come first.'

Pfizer did not reply to a DailyMail.com request for comment about the report.

The company's leverage in these negotiations, that allows for it to 'bully' these nations, comes from the success of the vaccine it is distributing.

BioNTech, a biotechnology company based in Mainz, Germany, developed the COVID-19 vaccine in 2020, and partnered with Pfizer to distribute the shot as the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

As a major American pharmaceutical manufacturer, Pfizer has the resources to mass produce the vaccine, sell and distribute it around the world.

The vaccine is regarded as one of the safest and most effective Covid jabs in the world.

This gives Pfizer great leverage, especially over smaller developing nations who do not have the resources to develop a vaccine for themselves such as China and Russia did.
A new sublineage of the highly contagious Delta variant that is gaining traction in the UK has been detected in the U.S.

Known as AY.4.2, it currently makes up nearly 10 percent of all infections in the UK as of October 9, double the four percent it accounted for in mid-September.

Meanwhile, it is far less prevalent in America with just seven cases identified across four states and the District of Columbia.

Researchers believe AY.4.2 is 10 percent more transmissible than the original variant, but it is too early to conclude if causes more severe illness.

However, as cases and deaths rise in the UK, some fear that the U.S. could experience another pandemic wave - but others say not to be concerned until AY.4.2 show signs of being able to outpace the original Delta variant.

In the U.S., seven cases of a new sublineage of the Delta variant, known as AY.4.2, have been detected in four states - California, North Carolina, Oregon, and Washington state - and in Washington, DC

AY.4.2 has been circulating in the UK since July and it has since increased in prevalence, making up nearly 10% of all Covid infections in the UK (yellow), double the 4% it accounted for in mid-September

According to outbreak.info, AY.4.2, appears to have derived from the Delta AY.4 sub-variant, which itself comes from the original Delta variant.

It is unknown where the sublineage originated, but it has been circulating in the UK since July before increasing in prevalence.

It may be why cases and deaths in Britain are now on the rise after weeks of declines.

On Tuesday, 43,738 new infections of COVID-19 were recorded, a 13.5 percent increase from the the 38,520 seen last week.

Additionally, 233 virus-related deaths were reported, up 23.2 percent from the 181 recorded last Tuesday.

The figure is the highest number of fatalities recorded since March 9, when 231 people died from the virus.

This map shows the proportion of cases caused by AY.4.2 in the fortnight to October 9, with darker colours equating to more infections caused by the subvariant

In a tweet thread on Friday, Dr Francois Balloux, director of the University College London Genetics Institute, wrote that AY.4.2 is mostly seen in the UK and 'remains exceptionally rare anywhere else.'

In fact, in the U.S., just seven cases have been detected in California, North Carolina, Oregon, Washington state and Washington, DC.

'We do need to keep a close eye,' Dr Gregory Poland, a vaccinologist and professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, told DailyMail.com.

'Lots of variants arrive every day. The question is are they clinically relevant, meaning do they cause more severe disease, is there an evasion of immunity, are they more transmissible?

'Those are things we are concerned about.'

Currently, AY.4.2 does not appear to be overtaking the Delta variant as quickly as the Delta variant usurped Alpha.

What's more, the two mutations seen with this strain - Y145H and A222V - are not seen in other so-called 'variants of concern' and are not generally associated with immunity evasion, increased ability to spread or being able to cause more severe cases, according to Balloux.

Poland says the real test of whether or not to be concerned about this mutation is if AY.4.2 can outstrip the Delta variant.

'It has to compete with Delta and that is very hard to outcompete Delta,' he said.

'We should keep an eye on it, but we shouldn't be concerned until we see signs that it's outcompeting Delta.'

Researchers believe it is one of the reasons why COVID-19 cases and deaths have risen in Britain after weeks of declines

COVID-19 cases continue to fall in the U.S. to the lowest levels seen since February

As of Tuesday, AY.4.2 has been spotted in nearly every part of England.

Data from the Wellcome Sanger Institute, which sequences thousands of Covid samples in England every week, suggest it is most prevalent in Adur in West Sussex, with 61 percent of all positive samples sequenced in the area linked to AY.4.2.

The subvariant is also highly prevalent in East Lindsey at 46 percent and Torridge at 41 percent.

Poland applauded the UK for its efforts in tracking the variant and said the U.S. needs to do better in its tracking efforts.

'The UK has been absolutely brilliant in collecting samples and performing genome sequencing, far better than in the U.S.,' he said.

'That's why they were able to detect the prevalence of this sublineage.'
Americans bought more cigarettes during the COVID-19 pandemic than they had in previous years, a new study suggests.

Researchers at the American Cancer Society analyzed data from tobacco companies and found that cigarette sales were 14 percent higher after March 2020 than predictions from a model based on data from the previous decade.

This 14 percent increase in sales translated to 0.34 additional packs a day for each American adult, the team said.

Cigarette sales had been in a long-term decline prior to the pandemic - but Covid has appeared to put a pause on this downward trend.

Some adults may be inclined to take up or increase smoking due to stress and other mental health impacts of the pandemic. Unfortunately, this behavior confers increased risk of severe Covid.

Cigarette sales were about 14% higher in 2020 and early 2021 than they would have been if the pandemic hadn't occurred, a new analysis finds. Pictured: A woman smokes a cigarette in Liverpool, Britain, May 2020

The Covid pandemic was a stressful time for many Americans.

In early months of spring 2020 when much of the country went into lockdown, researchers have found increased rates of mental health issues and drug use.

These issues have persisted throughout the past year and a half.

For example, a Kaiser Family Foundation study found that 41 percent of American adults reported symptoms of an anxiety or depressive disorder in January 2021 compared to just 11 percent in 2019.

A new study indicates that smoking may have increased during the Covid pandemic as well.

Scientists at the American Cancer Society used federal data on cigarette sales to examine the pandemic's impact.

Their study was published Tuesday in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine.

The researchers analyzed monthly filings from major tobacco companies, obtained from the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau of the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

They calculated aggregate cigarette sales for each month from January 2007 to June 2021.

Using these monthly figures, the researchers developed a model to predict what sales would have been in 2020 if the pandemic hadn't occurred.

This model utilized data from January 2007 to February 2020, showing a steady downward trend in cigarette sails prior to the pandemic.

But during the pandemic, cigarette sales went up - for the first time in years.

Sales were 14 percent higher from March 2020 to June 2021 than the researchers expected, based on the model from past years' data.

This increase in sales translated to an additional 0.34 packs a day for each adult in the U.S.

Even when the researchers adjusted their analysis for delays in cigarette supply during the pandemic, they still found higher sales than expected.

Cigarette sales increased in March 2020 and persisted at higher numbers throughout the first year of the pandemic, the researchers found

The analysis aligned with past findings from other researchers, as well as claims from the tobacco industry about Covid being a boon for their business.

'This study shows that increases in cigarette sales went beyond the first 3 months of the Covid pandemic and persisted in the 16 months after its onset in March 2020,' the researchers wrote.

The researchers noted that this analysis relied on national data - they were unable to account for potential variations in cigarette sales by state or by different demographic groups.

In addition, the researchers said that the cigarette sales in this study were 'a proxy for actual consumption.'

A number of cigarettes are sold illegally in the U.S., and thus aren't accounted for in government tax filings.

Smoking may be tied to stress and other mental health impacts of the pandemic. Pictured: A man smokes on the street in Shanghai, China, October 2020

'Cigarette sales were greater than would have been expected during the pandemic, with slowing of the previous downward trend, suggesting persistent, overall changes in smoking behavior,' the researchers wrote in their conclusion.

The researchers did not provide suggestions as to why the pandemic would have led to increased smoking.

But smoking may be tied to stress and other mental health conditions, which impacted millions of Americans during the pandemic.

Those Americans who took up or increased smoking during the pandemic may be at increased risk of Covid, as smoking damages the respiratory system.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention includes both current and former smokers on its list of people who may be especially vulnerable to severe Covid cases.
Households are being urged to 'burglar proof' their homes as much as possible as the nights draw in.

Theft claims increased by 10 per cent during October and November in 2019, compared to the monthly average between January and September that year, according to data from Aviva.

While theft claims fell in 2020 when people were spending more time at home, they are beginning to rise again, with an increase of 33 per cent between January 2021 and September 2021.

Threat: Households are being reminded to protect their properties from burglars this winter

Separate data from Halifax Home Insurance revealed the insurer had seen a 107 per cent increase in claims for burglaries between April and October this year.

The date of the clocks changing also lands on Halloween, when more people may be outside trick or treating or at parties, leaving homes empty for thieves.

Some three in five burglaries occur during the hours of darkness or during dawn or dusk, according to Office for National Statistics data.

Alongside the fact more people are returning to their offices, the nights getting darker could give burglars more of an opportunity to break into people's homes.

Around a quarter of people admit to leaving upstairs windows open when going out, according to Aviva, while 21 per cent say they have gone to bed and forgotten to lock an external door.

A further 20 per cent have written details of external engagements on calendars  letting anyone who visits know when their homes will be unoccupied  while 15 per cent have left keys on the outside of their door, when letting themselves in.

Sarah Applegate, data insights lead for Aviva, said: 'Theft claims fell during 2020 when many people were at home more, but we are now beginning to see them creep up again as individuals get out and about.

'No-one wants an unwelcome visitor, so now is a great time to review home security measures.

'Community celebrations, combined with the return to offices, could pave the way to potential break-ins, so we'd urge people to be vigilant, particularly during the darker months.

'A seasoned burglar will know how to spot a property where nobody's home and will use calendar events to their advantage  but with a few simple steps, there are ways people can minimise their chance of being targeted.'

21 per cent of UK residents admit they have gone to bed and forgotten to lock an external door

Tips to keep your home safe

While your home could be more at risk in the evenings, there are things you can do to protect your property.

1. Lock up your property: Burglars are opportunists and look for easy access, such as an open door or window.

Thefts can take just a few seconds and can even happen while you're in your home, so keep doors and windows shut and locked wherever possible.

2. Make your home seem occupied: Use timers or leave lights on if you're out and aren't going to get back before dark.

It's also a good idea to leave a radio on to give the impression that someone is home.

3. Install a visible burglar alarm and outside lighting: Alarms - or even dummy alarms - can be a strong deterrent.

Good lighting, particularly motion-detector lights, can make it difficult for burglars to hide while they try to break in.

4. Don't let thieves go fishing: Never leave anything valuable  documents included  near doors, the letterbox or a window, as thieves can use coat hangers and fishing rods to hook them. Don't label your house keys either.

Households are advised not to leave their keys on a table by the door in case they get stolen

5. Keep ladders and tools locked away: Most professional thieves don't carry tools with them  they use yours. So keep sheds and outbuildings locked.

6. Keep your valuables out of sight and away from windows: Consoles, games and DVDs are often high on the list of criminals' must-haves.

Other favourites include cameras, computers, mobile phones, and jewellery.

7. Password-protect your electronic devices: Keep your cyber-security systems up-to-date.

Back up everything up in a cloud, and don't write your passwords down where they can be easily found.

8. Don't store valuables in the bedroom: Thieves know that's where most people keep their precious items. Stash them away in different spots around the home.

9. Security mark your property: You can buy kits to mark or etch your belongings.

Using your postcode with your house or flat number, or the first three letters of the name of your home, will increase the chance of your property being returned to you.

10. Swap glass for something else: Glass panels on doors can be a real weak spot.

If you think glass could be a problem in your home, think about replacing it with laminated glass or using a film that sticks over the glass to make it harder to break.

11. Don't invite burglars back: Thieves say one of the things they look for when they break in is your calendar.

By marking out when you'll be away  on holiday, for instance  they know exactly when to come back for heavier, bulkier items.
Manufacturers could be forced to sell a rising share of electric vehicles each year to speed-up the shift to zero-emission passenger cars under plans announced in the Government's Net Zero Strategy.

The Department for Business Energy & Industrial Strategy confirmed it will consult on the introduction of a 'zero emission vehicle mandate' from 2024 - and it could fine car makers who do not move quickly enough to phase out internal combustion engine cars.

Ministers see the policy as the most effective way of shifting the UK's car parc to EVs - while also allowing taxpayer-funded grants to be reduced.

'Our zero emissions vehicle (ZEV) mandate will guarantee greater number of zero emission vehicles on our roads, unlocking the transformation of our road transport,' the strategy paper said.

Mandate for electric cars: The Government will consult on plans to force vehicle manufacturers to sell a rising share of plug-in models each year from 2024

It was reported last week that Chancellor Rishi Sunak has been at loggerheads with Transport and Businesses Secretaries Grant Shapps and Kwasi Kwarteng over planned cuts to the Plug-in Car Grant.

The scheme, which has been available since 2011, was last slashed by 500 in April, down from 3,000 to 2,500. Additional rules were also put in place so that only buyers of electric vehicles up to the price of 35,000 are eligible for it.

The Treasury is said to be eager to scale down grants to focus funding towards bolstering the country's charging infrastructure as well as reduce outgoings in the wake of the pandemic.

Yet both Shapps and Kwarteng are concerned it could derail the recent growth in EV demand and send the wrong message ahead of the COP26 summit in Glasgow later this month and the ban on sale of petrol and diesel passenger vehicles from 2030.

A ZEV mandate - like the one introduced in California in the 1990s - is considered a best solution, putting the onus on car makers to sell an increasing proportion of electric vehicles each year, for which they will receive credits.

This would - in theory - accelerate the availability of EVs across different price points, with manufacturers forced to introduce battery-powered models that are suitable - and affordable - for all different types of car buyers.

Failure to meet yearly-increasing sales targets could result in financial penalties and there would likely be a separate target introduced for the carbon emissions of makers' model ranges.

MPs believe the mandate would provide a clearer indication of how many charging points will be needed to ensure the infrastructure keeps pace with plug-in car sales.

It would also give the Treasury an accurate picture of how rapidly it will lose revenues earned through motoring taxes on fossil fuel cars - both vehicle excise duty [car tax] and fuel duty - which contribute billions of pounds to its coffers every year.

Failure to meet yearly-increasing sales targets as part of a zero-emission vehicle mandate could result in fines for the manufacturers

Announcing the strategy in the House of Common, Greg Hands, junior energy minister, said: 'The [Net Zero] strategy sets out that we will also introduce a zero emission vehicle mandate that will deliver on our 2030 commitment to end the sale of new petrol and diesel cars and vans.'

Shadow minister, Ed Milliband, responded: 'We agree with the transition to electric cars and I support and welcome the zero emission vehicle mandate.

'But we need to make it fair for consumers. We should at the very least have had long term zero interest loans to cut the cost of purchasing electric cars.'

A California-style ZEV mandate will reduce the cost of electric cars for consumers, and provide clarity for businesses - whether they are installing charge points or making electric cars. Today's announcement puts the UK well ahead in the global transition to electric cars. Ben Nelmes - New AutoMotive

The Transport Committee called on MPs to increase efforts to make electric car ownership more attainable for Britain's drivers in a paper published in the summer.

In its July 'Zero emission vehicles' report, the committee said there should be a mandate in place before 2035 to boost both the manufacturing and sales of new electric vehicles, requiring those who sell the fewest battery models to buy credits from those who produce the most.

These credits could then be used to cut the purchase price of a new electric car.

And the brands that fail to meet the required percentage of EV sales per year could also face additional financial penalties.

MPs on the committee said that 'shifting the subsidy from the taxpayer to the manufacturer will incentivise those who deliver the fewest electric vehicles in our showrooms to up their game'.

Responding to the ZEV mandate announcement, Mike Hawes, SMMT chief executive, said: 'The automotive industry is putting zero-emission vehicles on Britain's roads at pace beyond all forecasts, such is the choice and appeal of these new models.

'A well-designed, flexible regulatory framework could help maintain or even increase this pace to ensure we deliver on our shared decarbonisation ambitions.'

Paul Willcox, managing director at Vauxhall, said a ZEV mandate can work in the UK, though only if there are 'complimentary targets on the other key parts of the electric vehicle ecosystem which are key to driving Britain to a more sustainable transport infrastructure'.

He added: 'With our Ellesmere Port plant set to become the first electric vehicle only factory within the Stellantis group, we look forward to working with the Government on the detail of how a ZEV mandate can be implemented and help support a sustainable vehicle marketplace in the UK.'

Commenting on the effectiveness of ZEV mandates, Ben Nelmes, head of policy at transport research group New AutoMotive, said: 'A California-style ZEV mandate will reduce the cost of electric cars for consumers, and provide clarity for businesses - whether they are installing charge points or making electric cars.

'Today's announcement puts the UK well ahead in the global transition to electric cars. This means cheaper transport for drivers, more jobs and investment in UK car manufacturing and cleaner air for everyone. We now need to see our European neighbours following in our footsteps.'

The AA has been less supporting of a mandate to make battery cars more affordable to the masses.

It has previously said that a better way to make EVs more attainable for consumers is to make them VAT exempt.

'Rather than focusing on tying manufacturers up in red tape to meet EV sales targets, we need to improve the incentives offered to consumers to buy electric vehicles,' Jack Cousens, the motoring group's head of roads policy, said in July.

Manufacturers are already taking big steps in order to meet the 2030 ban on new petrol and diesel cars and vans, but bringing in this 'red tape' exercise could harm car production plans already in place. Edmund King - AA President

'Scrapping VAT would be the most influential policy to help spark the electric revolution.'

Edmund King, AA president, today added that the ZAV mandate is 'probably unnecessary', explaining: 'Manufacturers are already taking big steps in order to meet the 2030 ban on new petrol and diesel cars and vans, but bringing in this 'red tape' exercise could harm car production plans already in place.'

Yet he did show support for the extra 620million made available for 'targeted' plug-in vehicle grants and EV infrastructure, with the latter focussing on residential charging for those without off-street parking.

'This new charge point funding targeted more at the eight million households without dedicated off-street parking is a welcome step which will give power to electric drivers,' he said.

'With the cost of petrol and diesel rising, the desire to switch to electric is stronger than ever before. Should the Chancellor go a step further next week and scrap VAT on targeted new EV sales, he would deliver a truly electrifying Budget that could 'Get Electric Done'.'

Jim Holder, editorial director at What Car?, also said that most car makers are already well positioned to cope with a ZEV mandate: 'The requirement to sell a proportion of clean vehicles each year from 2024 is unlikely to be a concern for most manufacturers who are already gearing towards a ban on the sale of petrol and diesel cars by 2030.

'While some makers are ahead of others, most new car manufacturers are already offering at least one form of electrified vehicle in their line-up,' he said.

It was revealed last week that plans to introduce road pricing as part of the Net Zero Strategy had been shelved amid fears the idea could kill off demand for electric vehicles.

The Treasury has been examining proposals for the introduction of road pricing to replace the 30billion in lost fuel duty that will result from a move to electric vehicles. But Whitehall sources told the Daily Mail that the idea has been dropped.

'Road pricing is not happening,' said one source. 'There is an issue around revenues that will have to be addressed in the future. But there are no active discussions around it at the moment.'

Officials fear charging drivers by the mile would act as a major disincentive to people considering buying an electric vehicle.

The Prime Minister is also said to be concerned the Government would face a public backlash if it introduced road charging.
The Business Secretary slammed the brakes on the sale of Meggitt last night after announcing he will intervene in the takeover of the firm by a US rival.

Kwasi Kwarteng has instructed the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), the UK's competition watchdog, to investigate the takeover of the British defence giant by Parker-Hannifin and produce a report before March 18 next year.

This means the acquisition could be scrapped altogether on national security grounds.

Meggitt has around 9,000 staff, 2,000 of which are in the UK, and makes components for planes and military jets including 'the Royal Air Force's Typhoon fighters (pictured)

The move will come as a blow to Meggitt's chairman, Sir Nigel Rudd  dubbed Sir Sell-Off due to his role in handing a litany of UK companies to foreign buyers, including glass business Pilkington and pharmacy chain Boots.

Rudd stands to make 2million from his shares if the deal goes through, while chief executive Tony Wood is in line to pocket as much as 7.4million.

Kwarteng's decision was first revealed by the Mail last month.

It was backed by Tory grandee Lord Heseltine, who said: 'I think this is a proper decision by the Secretary of State.

It's in line with international practice and it makes industrial sense. It is important that the national interest be considered in these takeovers.'

Coventry-based Meggitt traces its roots back to the 1850s and the invention of the first altitude meter for hot air balloons.

It has around 9,000 staff, 2,000 of whom are in the UK, and makes components for planes and military jets including 'black boxes', wheel and brake components for the Royal Air Force's Typhoon fighter jets and kit for American F-35 aircraft.

Meggitt was targeted earlier this year by Parker-Hannifin and Transdigm, two firms located in Ohio.

Parker-Hannifin saw its 6.3billion takeover offer overwhelmingly backed by Meggitt shareholders last month, with 99.8 per cent voting in favour.

Blocked: Sir Nigel Rudd (left) stands to make 2m from his shares if the Meggitt deal goes through but Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng (right) has ordered an investigation

The US firm made a series of commitments related to jobs, research funding and governance when it made its offer  although many of these will only last for one year.

Sceptics believe any pledges are likely to be worthless.

A string of UK defence firms have been snapped up by private equity groups and foreign competitors in recent years.

Cobham was sold to American private equity outfit Advent International in a 4billion deal in 2020, despite protests from members of the company's founding family, senior military figures and MPs.

Earlier this year, Advent agreed a 2.6billion deal to take out Ultra Electronics, which makes submarine-hunting equipment for the Royal Navy. However, the merger faces a CMA probe.

GKN, one of Britain's oldest manufacturing businesses, was sold to engineering conglomerate Melrose for 8billion in 2018.

Melrose has announced 'significant' job cuts and plans to close one of GKN's factories in Birmingham.

A spokesman for Parker- Hannifin said: 'We look forward to engaging with the Government on the process and bringing the review of the transaction to a satisfactory conclusion.

'We continue to expect that the transaction will close in quarter three 2022 and will not offer any further comment on regulatory processes.'
RioTinto's destruction of 46,000-year-old Aboriginal caves is a wake up call for tougher laws to protect such sites, Australian politicians have said.

A parliamentary inquiry has described the mining giants decision to blow up the Juukan Gorge site as inexcusable and an affront .

However, some members of the inquiry team believe Rio Tinto has been let off the hook for the destruction.

Sacred site: A parliamentary inquiry has described Rio Tinto's decision to blow up the Juukan Gorge site in Western Australia's Pilbara region, (pictured) an 'affront' to all Australians

Warren Entsch, chairman of the Joint Standing Committee on Northern Australia, said Rios actions almost 18 months ago caused immeasurable cultural and spiritual loss, as well as profound grief for the Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura (PKKP) people.

Representatives from Aboriginal communities told the inquiry hundreds of similar sites have been destroyed by mining firms, including Rio Tinto and BHP, over the years.

The Way Forward report said for too long mining companies have been able to exploit grossly inadequate laws, including the Western Australian Aboriginal Heritage Act, which allowed Rio to legally destroy the caves despite pleas from the PKKP people.

The disaster was a wake-up call that there are serious deficiencies in the protection of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural heritage, said Entsch.

The Western Australian government has already promised to replace the Act which allowed Rio to blow up the caves so it could then dig up an estimated 100million of iron ore at its Brockman 4 iron mine.

But much to the relief of mining companies, the inquiry has rejected pleas from the Aboriginal people to give them the power of veto over mining developments, which endanger sacred sites.

The inquiry made eight recommendations, including to give ultimate responsibility to protect indigenous heritage to the federal government, rather than the states.

It also said Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders must be involved in shaping legislation, and they must have more influence over mining projects to ensure they are not steam-rollered by mining companies and their legal teams.

A parliamentary inquiry in December found the iron ore giant to have gone against the wishes of traditional landowners despite knowing of the archaeological value. The Never Again report said: Rio knew the value of what they were destroying but blew it up anyway.

Two politicians said Rio had been let off the hook and called for a judicial inquiry into whether criminal charges could be lodged. Senator Dean Smith and MP George Christensen described Rios actions leading up to the destruction as disgraceful, negligent and wilful.

Rio Tinto chief executive Jakob Stausholm said: Rio Tinto is absolutely committed to listening, learning and showing greater care.

A spokesman for the PKKP Aboriginal Corporation said. For the PKKP, actions not words will be the true test.
Shares in The Hut Group (THG) bounced back strongly after its founder agreed to give up his 'special share' in a bid to restore investors' crumbling confidence in the company.

Matt Moulding said he would relinquish the structure, which had allowed him to veto any unwanted takeovers.

The move was welcomed by corporate governance experts, who had criticised Moulding's iron grip on the company.

Governance issues: Hut Group founder Matt Moulding said he would relinquish the structure which had allowed him to veto any unwanted takeovers

THG, which sells clothes, make-up and protein shakes online, will now be able to list on the 'premium' sector of the London Stock Exchange, meaning it will be eligible for inclusion in the FTSE 100 index of Britain's leading companies.

The company said the decision had been taken 'in furtherance of good corporate governance'. Moulding, 49, said: 'After the anniversary of our 2020 listing we feel that the time is right to make this next step and apply to the premium segment in 2022.'

Shares jumped 20.5 per cent to 348.8p, but are still 30 per cent off their initial public offering (IPO) price last year  implying that investors want THG to do more to clean up its act. Since its peak of 837.7p in January, the stock has tumbled almost 60 per cent.

THG said it would 'undertake a further review of its corporate governance', which could mean scouting out a new chairman.

Corporate governance experts were left scowling when THG listed last year with Moulding as its chairman, chief executive and landlord  in contravention of guidelines which state the roles should be kept separate.

The firm's disastrous investor day last week proved the value of those rules, as shares tanked when Moulding unsuccessfully tried to explain his vision for THG.

Danni Hewson, a financial analyst at AJ Bell, said: 'If he [Moulding] had had an experienced chairman on board, who had been able to prepare him for investors' questions and navigate them, we wouldn't be in this situation.'

Neil Wilson, analyst at Markets.com, said the golden share was due to expire after three years, and 'bringing forward the move by a year is not exactly sweeping reform  nor is it a magic wand'.

But THG's decision to drop the golden share  a structure which Moulding had so keenly promoted during the IPO last year  will be a blow to Chancellor Rishi Sunak's stock market reforms.

In a bid to attract more fast-growing firms to the market, and replicate the success of the US with the likes of Amazon and Facebook, Sunak has overseen an overhaul which will allow businesses with a golden share to be included in the premium segment.

Hewson said THG's saga will now have 'got people talking' about the reforms. She said: 'They do need to happen if we are going to be able to compete with US markets.'
Playtechs numbers came up after the gambling software group accepted a takeover offer at a massive premium, sending its share price rocketing.

The FTSE 250 firm said it has signed a deal with Australian outfit Aristocrat Leisure that will see it acquired for 680p per share in cash, a whopping 58 per cent premium to its closing price last Friday.

The deal values Playtech at around 2.7billion and has been unanimously recommended by the companys board.

Paying out: Playtech said it has signed a deal with Australian outfit Aristocrat Leisure that will see it acquired for 680p per share in cash

Chief executive Mor Weizer said: This transaction marks an exciting opportunity in the next stage of growth for Playtech, and delivers significant benefits to our stakeholders, including our customers, our shareholders and our incredibly talented people.

Aristocrat is expected to use Playtech to expand its presence in the US, using the firms fast- growing online gaming segment in North America.

Analysts at Peel Hunt hiked their target price for Playtech to the 680p offer price and cut their rating to hold from buy, saying the bid was likely to be accepted by shareholders.

Stock Watch - Benchmark Holdings Shares in Benchmark Holdings shot higher after the fish farming specialist hiked its full-year forecasts. In an update for the year to October, the company said it had delivered stronger than expected trading across its three business lines, flagging cost control and a recovery in its end markets. As a result, Benchmark  which helps food producers to improve their sustainability and profitability  said its earnings for the year are expected to be significantly ahead of current market forecasts of 15.9million. The shares jumped 11.4 per cent, or 6.5p, to 63.5p.

The shares rocketed 58.1 per cent, or 249.3p, to 678.5p.

AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould said: At this stage the deal looks like a fait accompli with Playtechs board in favour and the deal pitched at a healthy premium which should be enough to persuade shareholders of its merits, even if the price falls short of the highs the company hit in 2017.

He added: In recent years Playtech has had to contend with increased competition, regulatory changes and, of course, a global pandemic.

The business had also become a little unfocused and untidy. However, it has been in the process of streamlining its operations which, ironically, may only have made it a more attractive morsel for Aristocrat.

Playtechs takeover is the latest in a flurry of bidding activity among Londons gambling firms, with Ladbrokes-owner Entain (up 1.3 per cent, or 27p, to 2124p) seeing a 13.2billion swoop from US rival Draftkings last month.

The FTSE 100 dropped 0.4 per cent, or 30.2 points, to 7203.83 while the FTSE 250 inched down 0.07 per cent, or 15.5 points, to 22968.74.

Market momentum was dented by disappointing GDP data out of China, which saw the countrys economy grow by just 0.2 per cent in the three months to October, the weakest quarterly growth figure on record, as it grappled with supply chain bottlenecks, outbreaks of Covid-19 and a growing crisis in its property sector.

The prospect of a slowdown in the Chinese economy weighed on the shares of luxury brands such as Burberry, which fell 1.9 per cent, or 36p, to 1836.5p.

The company relies heavily on demand for its posh scarves and trench coats from Chinas wealthier consumers.

Oil markets, meanwhile, continued to see prices of the black stuff push higher amid increased post-pandemic demand and tight supply. Brent Crude rose to over $85 a barrel, levels not seen since October 2018.

Drax Group, the operator of a biomass power station in North Yorkshire, climbed 1.5 per cent, or 8p, to 540p after a bullish note from analysts at Jefferies.

The broker upgraded the stock to buy from hold, saying it expected Drax to benefit significantly from soaring power prices in the UK.

Blue-chip miner Polymetal inched up 1 per cent, or 13.5p, to 1343.5p as it announced first production from its Nezhda gold and silver mine in Siberia. Nezhda is the fourth largest gold mine in Russia containing around 4.4m ounces.

Property firm London Metric only crept up 0.08 per cent, or 0.2p, to 254.4p despite snapping up two sites in London for 20.2million.

The company said it will spend 1.4m to refurbish the two sites, which have a total size of 44,000 sq ft.
The UK's competition regulator is set to launch a study into the music streaming industry, amid concerns about the dominance of the major providers, their treatment of musicians and their cosy relationships with major labels.

The Competition and Markets Authority said it is developing the scope of the study, which will determine whether 'action needs to be taken' to 'ensure that this sector is competitive, thriving and works in the interests of music lovers'.

It follows a Department for Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee report, published in July, which identified a series of concerns within the streaming market.

The dominance of streaming services likes Spotify is under scrutiny

Among these concerns was the market dominance of the major music groups and the potential for contractual agreements between them and streaming services, which could stifle innovation in the streaming market.

The report found the streaming market was resulting in low remuneration to musicians and performers, and diminishing the UK's ability to support new domestic talent.

A separate report from UK Music, published this week, found 69,000 jobs were lost in the UK music industry as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

At a devastating time for the country's music industry, the government's DCMS report questioned whether the dominance of the largest labels, together with their equity stakes in streaming services like Spotify, is 'distorting competition in the recorded music market'.

It raised concerns that this was leading to unfair outcomes for other players, including creators, performers and independent labels.

Streaming now accounts for 85 per cent of UK music consumption, according to the British Phonographic industry.

In the wake of the report, Minister of State for Digital and Culture Caroline Dinenage MP told the CMA: 'The Government's view is that transparency and fairness in the global streaming environment are key. It wants to encourage innovation in the market, to help foster diversity of music genres and consumer choice, and is acutely aware of the pressures on music creators.

Minister of State for Digital and Culture Caroline Dinenage

'However, this is a complex area, so it is vitally important that any action by the Government be led by robust evidence.'

The CMA is empowered to intervene where it deems necessary by making recommendations to the Government to change rules, encouraging businesses to self-regulate, or taking consumer or competition law enforcement action against firms.

Chief executive of the CMA Andrea Coscelli said: 'The UK has a love affair with music and is home to many of the world's most popular artists. We want to do everything we can to ensure that this sector is competitive, thriving and works in the interests of music lovers.

'Over the past decade, the music industry has evolved almost beyond recognition, with streaming now accounting for more than 80 per cent of all music listened to in this country.

'A market study will help us to understand these radical changes and build a view as to whether competition in this sector is working well or whether further action needs to be taken.'
There's no denying the last 18 months have been tough for businesses all over the UK, and small businesses in particular.

From having to move everything online to working with a skeleton staff, companies have had to adapt and change in order to keep going.

And now as we start to come out the other side, it's more important than ever that entrepreneurs have the tools and support they need, as they rebuild to come back stronger.

And, as business owner Brendan King knows all too well, the right internet connection is crucial, so that's why he turned to TalkTalk Business.

He says the provider gave him absolute confidence in his business-grade connection. In fact, its so fast, customers even parked outside to use the Wi-Fi in lockdown!

Members making good use of the TalkTalk Business connection at Society1

Brendan King, owner of Society1

King is the owner of Society1, which offers flexible workspaces and meeting rooms to businesses across Preston, Lancashire and the north of England.

King says: 'Even during the lockdowns when the space was closed, we had a member parking outside to use the Wi-Fi and upload large files in ten to 15 minutes, which would usually take him six hours using his home office network!

To make the switch from his old provider seamless, he spoke to Conor in the New Business Team at TalkTalk Business.

After an initial chat, Conor swiftly understood that uninterrupted connectivity was essential to Society1s business, and he was even able to ensure there was no downtime as they switched over.

Offering a truly personalised service, Conor was Brendans single point of contact throughout, helping him sign up for a Dedicated Leased Line which provides stable, ultrafast connectivity and is reserved just for businesses.

'Conor was really helpful,' says King. 'There was never any radio silence, and answers were given promptly, which made me confident we were choosing the right partner.'

For King, the high level of customer service was a deciding factor as he signed up with TalkTalk Business - and the Dedicated Leased Line has proved a godsend post-lockdown.

My customers have noticed the difference!

We have seen more and more people returning to the office recently,' says King. 'The common theme is that everyone is ready to have a change from working at home.

Many of our businesses work in the creative industries so rely on strong and reliable connections.

Having a Gigabit connection is a huge benefit to everyone here, plus, as we get busier it will ensure that we can confidently offer a high quality connection to all our members.

Contact TalkTalk Business now Want to join the hundreds of thousands of businesses connected with TalkTalk Business? Give the team a call on 03301 730 646, to see how they could help your business grow. Lines are open Mon-Fri 8.30am  6pm. Or visit talktalkbusiness.co.uk to find out more.

King says that when offering technical support to his customers, the sheer speed of the new 1Gbps connection from TalkTalk Business has given him confidence

From corner shops, salons and florists to home-based start-ups, TalkTalk Business has over 25 years' experience of working with hundreds of thousands of businesses, not only providing competitive pricing, but being there with advice and reliable support when customers need it most.

In fact, it offers 24-hour UK-based support with 90 per cent of calls resolved in a single conversation. No wonder TalkTalk Business has garnered over 6,500 'Excellent' reviews on Trustpilot.

King says that when offering technical support to his customers, the sheer speed of the new 1Gbps ultra-reliable connection has given him confidence, as he knows the problem is likely to be with peoples devices, not the TalkTalk network.

Im absolutely confident in our network now!

For King, it has provided peace of mind.

Im absolutely confident in our network now,' he says. 'Previously, it was OK with 50-60 people in the building at once, but wed worry the Wi-Fi was starting to strain.

Now we have the bandwidth to guarantee high speeds to hundreds of devices on the network.

Thanks to TalkTalk Business he is even able to offer dedicated portions of bandwidth to his highest-usage customers.

The people who use the space - some are one-man-bands, some consultants and some are people who work for massive global companies - theyre the ones whove noticed the difference,' he says.

The internets fast and stable and they know they can get their work done.

Click HERE to find out how TalkTalk Business could help you.

Why TalkTalk Business could help you stay connected to your customers... Whether you're a start-up going from the kitchen table to market or you're stepping up your e-commerce game, you need an internet supplier that will be there for you during those critical phases of growth. And that's why more and more companies are getting connected with TalkTalk Business. Offering a range of business internet options including Superfast Fibre, Ultrafast Fibre and Dedicated Leased Lines, you're sure to get the right service for your needs. Not only is TalkTalk Business' network ultra-reliable, you'll also have access to personal support from UK-based advisers, with 90 per cent of calls resolved in a single conversation. In fact, TalkTalk Business customers are so impressed theyve rated the company as Excellent in over 6,500 Trustpilot reviews. So why not give them a call on 03301 730 646, to see how they could help your business grow? Lines are open Mon-Fri 8.30am  6pm. Or visit talktalkbusiness.co.uk to find out more.

Absolute game changer

IT consultant and owner of i90, James Powell turned to TalkTalk Business during lockdown

Like many of us, IT consultant James Powell, owner of i90, a Cloud and IT solutions provider, had to switch to working via video call during the early months of the pandemic.

Realising he needed a more reliable Wi-Fi connection, he contacted TalkTalk Business.

I had to ensure the broadband was up to scratch,' Powell says. 'I need to be able to support my clients without worrying that one of my kids will start streaming a film and interrupt my video call.

Even as we have come out of lockdown, I'm still doing a lot of business from my home.

As an IT advisor, Powell had set up several of his clients with TalkTalk Business, so knew of the professional-grade services on offer, and that TalkTalks network is famous for being ultra-reliable.

So after speaking to an advisor he ordered a Dedicated Leased Line.

Powell says: Its been a game changer for my business, giving me peace of mind on video calls, and allowing me to run several sessions concurrently so I can get my work done a lot faster.

The Dedicated Leased Line even opened up new possibilities and a new revenue stream for his business.

After one of his clients, an estate agent, mentioned that they wanted to provide virtual property viewings, James offered to handle the large files for them.

Thanks to his new ultrafast connectivity he can upload the house-viewing videos in seconds, something that previously would have taken over 10 minutes and he now manages all their monthly viewings, charging a monthly retainer.

It was something he simply wouldnt have been able to do on his old connection.

I subsequently upgraded my account with TalkTalk Business because it's going so well,' he says. 'I am now on a full 1Gbps connection which is amazing!

Click HERE to find out how TalkTalk Business could help your company stay connected.
Meghan McCain 'burst into tears' after co-host Joy Behar said live on air that she didn't miss her when the new mother returned from maternity leave.

'I had been gone for three months and I assumed they had missed me... I was wrong,' McCain says in her upcoming audio memoir Bad Republican.

In January, on her second day back from leave, she was having a squabble with Behar about the state of the Democratic Party. 'To ease the tension, I said: ''Joy, you missed me so much when I was on maternity leave.''

'I did not,' Joy said. 'I did not miss you. Zero.'

McCain said she felt vulnerable after giving birth, because she suffered from post-partum anxiety.

'Joy seemed to smell that vulnerability like a shark smells blood in the water, and she took after it. When we broke for commercial I burst into tears  not just like tearing up  uncontrollable sobbing,' McCain says in her memoir, available on Audible on October 21.

Meghan McCain says in her upcoming memoir that she 'broke into tears' after co-host Joy Behar said live on air that she didn't miss her when the new mother returned from maternity leave

McCain said she felt vulnerable after giving birth. 'Joy seemed to smell that vulnerability like a shark smells blood in the water, and she took after it,' she says

McCain's audio memoir Bad Republican is available on Audible on October 21

McCain continues, 'Until that moment it hadn't even occurred to me that Joy hadn't missed me. She texted me to see a baby picture of Liberty and she had seemed happy for me. We chatted in a friendly way. I believe that despite all our differences, deep down we had a mutual understanding of respect for each other.

'Nothing anyone has ever said to me on camera, since I have been giving interviews, since I was 22 years old, has ever hit this hard,' McCain says. 'I felt like I'd been slapped. She yelled out at me sharp and intensely, and I believed her.'

''That's so nasty,'' I said, unable to hide my shock. ''That's so rude.'''

McCain quit the show in July, after, she said, the other hosts especially Whoopi Goldberg and Behar turned on her.

She went to a coffee shop straight after she announced she was going. The Abba song, Take a Chance on Me was playing.

'The people behind the counter were dancing to the song smiling and laughing. Abba was my dad's favorite band. I felt like it was a sign from him. I was making the right decision.'

McCain says in her memoir that she only joined The View at the insistence of her dying father, Senator John McCain.

DailyMail.com's new columnist wanted to turn down the offer of an interview for the leading daytime TV talk show, but as they sat in a doctor's waiting room for an appointment for her dad's terminal brain cancer, he told her she had to do it.

She even told her agent: 'My dad made me call you back. He says you have to go back to ABC and say I'm interested,' she says in the memoir.

'I'm here with him at cancer treatment, so I guess I have to do whatever he wants.'

McCain, 36, had been on the show before as a guest host and she thought that was all the network was going to offer her this time. 'I always was the bridesmaid, never the bride.

'They would say, you can be rotating guest hosts every three weeks. And I would say: ''No way. I'm nobody's fourth choice.'''

She also believed the show was dying as it bled audience to CBS's The Talk and she thought there was too much showbiz content and not enough politics.

'The show is bad,' she told her father. 'They're always talking about celebrities and yelling at each other, plus they have a huge turnover rate, no one survives more than a season.

'That's why they need you,' the Arizona senator replied.

McCain, who had quit her job at Fox News to help look after her father, did eventually join for an rollercoaster three years on the show.

She says that she wanted to turn down the offer of an interview for The View, but her father John McCain, who was getting cancer treatment, said she had to do it. They're pictured on set of The View in 2017

McCain even told her agent: 'My dad made me call you back. He says you have to go back to ABC and say I'm interested'

McCain said she told her agent, 'I'm here with him at cancer treatment, so I guess I have to do whatever he wants.' She's pictured with her father and Whoopi Goldberg

McCain dishes on The View's guests, revealing who she liked and who she didn't.

'James Comey was so slick and rehearsed that he was a terrible guest. Rachel Maddow same thing,' she says. 'Nathan Lane was a d**k. It made me so mad because I loved him before I met him.

'Jamie Lee Curtis is one of the most wonderful angel ladies. Terry Crews has always been an incredible guest. Tyler Perry is lovely, smart and so supportivehe has this miraculous energy about him, it's gravitational.'

But she says the worst guest of all was Fox News personality Jeanine Pirro.

'She came on the show and told us we all had Trump Derangement Syndrome, and when we pushed back, she became instantly enraged.'

Pirro ended up throwing her microphone, hitting McCain on the chest, and claiming she had done more for black women than Goldberg ever had, while throwing around the word c**ksuckers at all of the hosts.

'Who says c**ksucker, much less shouts it 1,000 times?' asks McCain. 'It's the dumbest word.

'I heard Whoopi yelling at her to get the hell out of the building.

'Pirro went on Sean Hannity's show that night and recalled the episode as if she'd been an innocent victim and Whoopi was insane. I yelled at my TV when I saw that.'

Donald Trump Jr. was also awful when he came on for the show's 5,000th episode, the conservative host said.

'It was a disaster. He packed the audience with Trump supporters and brought his girlfriend Kimberly Guilfoyle who I used to work with at Fox News, before she was fired for allegedly sending around penis pictures.

'It felt a lot like an episode of the Jerry Springer Show or an MMA cage match.'

McCain dishes on The View's guests, leaving no doubt who she liked and who she didn't. 'James Comey was so slick and rehearsed that he was a terrible guest,' she says

McCain said of having Tyler Perry as a guest, 'He is lovely, smart and so supportivehe has this miraculous energy about him, it's gravitational'

McCain says the worst guest of all was Fox News personality Jeanine Pirro. 'She came on the show and told us we all had Trump Derangement Syndrome, and when we pushed back, she became instantly enraged'

McCain tells of how President Trump called her at the height of his attacks on her father. He had just made 'another cruel comment' about the senator. 'I can't even remember which one, because he did it almost compulsively.'

She said she didn't want to take the call and rang her father who told her 'You can't blow off the President of the United States.'

McCain quit the show in July, shortly after returning from maternity leave after the birth of her daughter Liberty, when, she said, the other hosts, especially Whoopi Goldberg and Behar turned on her

'So I took the call. Trump didn't apologize but he said the recording was wrong. I just stayed quiet and listened to him talk. Then Melania got on the line and said: 'We love you. We love your dad.'

'No you don't,' I said. It was the weirdest experience because Trump had said so many things on the record trashing my dad, and now he was telling me that I shouldn't be mad about it.

'He wouldn't change his tactics either. He would go on to talk about my father over and over again, always in derogatory ways.

'For years he made a sport of beating the crap out of my family, and he didn't let up once he got into the Oval Office. Trump had supporters boo my father at a rally. He fought the lowering of the flag in my dad's honor when he died.'

Even as she was writing her manuscript he tweeted that John McCain was one of the most overrated people in DC.

'I thought: Go to sleep a**hole it's 12:30 at night.'

It was the second call she had ever got from Trump. The first was in 2012 when he wanted her to appear on The Apprentice.

'He told me how amazing the show was and how I had to do it. He kept saying if I did the show, I will be a winner. My only distinct memory of the call is that he used the word winner over and over again.

'I never took any of the show offers fortunately because I'm more private than I think the average person on TV is. Still, to this day whenever I see a celebrity embarrassing themselves on a reality show, I think there but for the grace of God go I.'

McCain tells of how President Trump called her at the height of his attacks on her father. 'Trump had supporters boo my father at a rally. He fought the lowering of the flag in my dad's honor when he died,' she says

Meghan McCain, DailyMail.com's newest columnist, makes the claims about her experience on The View and more in her upcoming memoir Bad Republican

At the time she was becoming known as a party girl, hanging out with minor celebrities such as Tila Tequila  who at one stage hinted they were having a lesbian affair.

Her father took her aside and told her 'You're making a jacka** of yourself. I'm getting phone calls and I don't like it.

'You know that everybody's embarrassed for you. They're not saying it because they're being polite, but everyone's embarrassed.

She called the talk a 'sliding doors moment' after the Gwyneth Paltrow movie of the same name, and she did clean up her act.

'It's not like I entered a nunnery, but I stopped being stupid publicly as much as possible.'

Meghan McCain's audio memoir Bad Republican will be available on Audible on October 21.
This is the shocking moment a bus driver is subjected to a barrage of racist abuse after being repeatedly harassed by passengers he threw off.

The footage shows two passengers disembark the 149 London bus and start arguing with the driver before one gets back on the bus to physically confront him.

In the video, one woman, who says she is pregnant, can be heard yelling at the driver: 'You kicked me, I could have a bruise' in reference to an earlier altercation between the two.

She later says: 'If I lose this baby, I am taking you to court', alluding to the alleged physicality.

This is soon followed by the woman yelling: 'Assaulting a woman, you f****** black c***'.

The man kicked the bus after he and the woman had been removed from the vehicle and it had begun to try and leave the North London bus stop

The woman called the driver a 'f*****g black c***' and shouted loudly that she was 'proud to be white' after threatening the driver with court if she were to lose her baby

She then follows this up with further racist abuse and screams 'I'm proud to be white' as the bus pulls away.

A witness to the incident on October 13, who asked to remain anonymous, said: 'From what I heard these two tried to get on the bus without paying.

'The driver ushered them off the bus, and there might have been some kind of violent altercation and then I looked out and they both spat at him'.

After the row escalated, a man eventually gets back on the bus briefly to confront the driver, but was apparently 'held back' by a customer according to witnesses.

The woman took a photo of the buses number plate while the man was still arguing with the driver on the bus

The woman who hurled the racist insults also took photos of the driver of the 149 bus at Dalston Junction Station bus stop in East London

The pair had reportedly tried to board the bus without paying for a ticket first which led the driver to throw them off

After the bus goes to leave, the pair take photographs of its licence plate and driver.

They are then seen spitting and kicking the bus as it drives away.

The incident took place in Kingsland Road by Dalston Junction Station in northeast London.

This video is the latest incidence of racist abuse on London's public transport.

On July 3 this year, a Jewish man was abused twice in a space of an hour using TfL services.

A video showed a man banging shouting 'f*** your mum' and 'free Palestine' toward the Jewish man on a bus.

A second video showed an individual on London Underground shouting 'f***ing hate the Jews' at the man.

Siwan Hayward, Director of Compliance, Policing, Operations and Security at TfL, said: 'This behaviour is completely unacceptable.

'Racist abuse is a hate crime and won't be tolerated on our network.

'All of our staff and customers have the right to work and travel without fear of assault and we are working with the police to stamp out this behaviour on our transport network.

'We urge anybody who may have witnessed this incident to report it to the police and we will support them with their investigation. We will also continue to offer support to any of our staff who have been a victim of hate crime and abuse.'

Hayward added that the incident had not yet been reported to TfL by the driver, passengers or any witnesses.
An 18-year-old man has been arrested accused of fatally shooting a Florida police officer during an altercation, officials said on Monday.

Jason Banegas faces multiple charges including armed burglary, battery on an officer, carrying a concealed firearm, grand theft of a firearm, resisting with violence and first-degree murder after shooting officer Yandy Chirino, 28, on Sunday night.

Police Chief Chris O'Brien said Chirino was one of several officers who responded to a call about a suspicious incident near the Emerald Hills Country Club in Hollywood, Florida.

Neighbors who called the police said they noticed someone riding a bike going driveway to driveway, grabbing door handles of cars to see if they were unlocked.

Chirino, who was described by the police chief as a 'great officer' and was recognized as Officer of the Month in June 2020, was shot at close range by Banegas as he confronted the teenager.

'He was a great officer and will have a lasting impact on our community,' O'Brien said, adding that Chirino 'gave his life honorably and without hesitation.'

Banegas meanwhile was already well-known to Hollywood police, having been charged with numerous offences as a minor including several instances of burglary, grand theft auto and possession of cocaine with the intent to sell.

Officer Yandy Chirino, 28, of Hollywood Police Department in Florida, was shot dead on Sunday night by a teenager attempting to steal unlocked cars. Chirino, who was described by the police chief as a 'great officer' and was recognized as Officer of the Month in June 2020, was shot at close range by Banegas as he approached the teenager

Jason Banegas, 18, faces multiple charges including armed burglary, battery on an officer, carrying a concealed firearm, grand theft of a firearm, resisting with violence and first-degree murder

Suspect Jason Banegas (center) is escorted by Hollywood, Florida, police to be transferred to the Broward County Jail on Monday, Oct. 18, 2021. Banegas is accused of fatally shooting Officer Chirino on Sunday night after an altercation when Chirino allegedly confronted the teen for trying to break into cars

Colleagues and loved ones of the officer were seen leaving the hospital emergency room in the early hours of Monday morning, before his body was taken in a motorcade procession to the medical examiner's office

Chief O'Brien said the saga began at around 10:30pm on Sunday night, when officers responded to calls of suspicious activity and a person behaving strangely at the 4000th block of North Hills Drive.

Chirino was allegedly shot by Banegas after an altercation broke out between the pair when the officer confronted the teenage about the reports of his attempts to break into cars in the area.

Chirino was shot at near point-blank range, before his fellow officers managed to restrain and arrest Banegas.

O'Brien said several officers attempted to administer first aid in the aftermath of the shooting, before bundling Chirino into a squad car and driving to Memorial Regional Hospital.

But Chirino, who joined the force in 2017 and had been recognized for his outstanding service, was pronounced dead shortly after their arrival.

'To Officer Chirino's family, I offer you my deepest condolences,' O'Brien said.

'Your son selflessly devoted his life to law enforcement. I know that there are no words that can comfort the pain that your family is feeling right now, and that pain extends here with his brothers and sisters at our department.

'The Hollywood Police family will stand beside you in the difficult days ahead and will always carry Officer Chirino's legacy.'

The transfer of the body of slain Hollywood Police Officer Yandy Chirino is pictured here at the Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood, FL, on Monday Oct. 18, 2021. Chirino was killed during a late-night altercation with a teenage suspect and died at the hospital. His fellow officers can be seen escorting the casket out of the hospital doors

O'Brien said several officers attempted to administer first aid in the aftermath of the shooting, before bundling Chirino into a squad car and driving to Memorial Regional Hospital (pictured). The officer was pronounced dead shortly after the officers' arrival

Chirino's body was removed from the hospital and transported to the Broward County medical examiner's office in Dania Beach on Monday afternoon, accompanied by several officers in an impressive motorcade procession

Several officers and squad cars attended the procession, alongside family members and friends

Banegas' rap sheet Jason Banegas, the teen accused of fatally shooting Officer Chirino, was already well-known to the Hollywood Police Department. According to information obtained by Local 10 News from Broward County Court, records show Banegas has a litany of charges as a minor: 2015 : Resisting officer without violence

2017: Burglary unoccupied structure, property damage of $1000 or more

2018: Burglary unoccupied structure, burglary occupied, grand theft 3rd degree (vehicle)

2020: Burglary unoccupied conveyance, cocaine possession with the intent to sell, cocaine selling near school, marijuana possession Source: Local 10 News, Broward County Court records Advertisement

Chief O'Brien said Banegas was already well-known to police and had a lengthy rap sheet of prior charges as a juvenile including burglary, grand theft auto and cocaine possession with the intent to sell.

He was booked into Broward County Main Jail on Monday evening after being held by police immediately following his arrest.

He made his first appearance in court on Tuesday morning, where he was ordered held without bond.

Law enforcement officers from across Broward County were at the scene Monday morning, assisting in the investigation.

Local 10 News reported that police were seen going door-to-door, while armed officers and K-9 units were conducting checks around the perimeter of the upscale neighborhood.

'It was very scary. We didn't know what was going on,' resident Meghann Schwartz told the local news outlet.

Chirino's fatal shooting comes as the Hollywood Police Department was already reeling from news that another officer who was found dead in a car at a mall in nearby Plantation.

'It has been an extremely sad day for the Hollywood Police Department,' the agency said in a statement.

They added that Plantation Police Department is handling the investigation and no additional details, including the officer's name, were being released.

The flag outside the Hollywood Police Department was lowered to half-staff to commemorate the death of Chirino.

Colleagues and loved ones of the officer were seen leaving the hospital emergency room in the early hours of Monday morning.

'The medical staff there worked tirelessly to save his life, but the injuries were too severe and Officer Chirino passed away,' O'Brien said.

Chirino's body was removed from the hospital and transported to the Broward County medical examiner's office in Dania Beach on Monday afternoon, accompanied by several officers in an impressive motorcade procession.
A federal Florida judge has delayed GOP Rep Matt Gaetz's friend Joel Greenberg's sex trafficking sentence by five months so Greenberg can cooperate with a probe into Gaetz.

U.S. District Judge Gregory Presnell said Monday he had agreed to postpone the sentencing until next March, in order for Greenberg to probe prosecutors with more information on sex trafficking crimes as per his plea deal.

Greenberg, the former Seminole County tax collector, is facing up to 12 years in prison after pleading guilty last May to six federal crimes, including sex trafficking of a child, identity theft, stalking, wire fraud and conspiracy to bribe a public official.

His cooperation in helping to investigate sex trafficking crimes is said to play a possible role in looking into allegations against his friend Matt Gaetz.

The Republican Rep has accused of paying a 17-year-old girl for sex which he has since denied. He hasn't been formally charged with any crime.

The sentencing for former Seminole County tax collector Joel Greenberg's trial has been pushed back till March. Greenberg is pictured in September 2019

Greenberg is pictured outside court on Monday after his sentencing was delayed

Greenberg is probing into sex trafficking cases as part of his plea deal with prosecutors, including possibly looking into accusations made against his friend GOP Rep Matt Gaetz

The same alleged 17-year-old girl involved in the scandal had previously agreed to have sex with Greenberg and others as he admitted to recruiting women from a sugar daddy website and paying them more than $70,000 from 2016 to 2018.

The age of consent in Florida is 18.

'Joel Greenberg has pleaded guilty to lying about another man having sex with minors, a spokesman for the congressman told WESH.

'That person was innocent and so is Representative Gaetz. No one has sought to question Representative Gaetz.'

Despite Gaetz's denial, Greenberg has continued to agree in aiding with sex trafficking investigations.

'Mr. Greenberg was a prolific criminal. (But) he was not alone,' Assistant U.S. Attorney Roger Handberg told WESH.

'This is an unusual case in the number of investigations that we have been pursuing.

'We need more time before sentencing, so that we can follow up on these other leads, and so we can give this court as much information as we can.'

Greenberg, who agreed to pay $656,000 restitution, is also said to be on a path to redemption for his misdeeds.

'Mr. Greenberg is wholly committed to living up to the responsibilities, the awesome responsibilities under his plea agreement,' attorney Fritz Scheller said.

The WESH network also reported that Greenberg's wife Abby had divorced him three days before the trial.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has offered rare praise to NSW after criticising the rival southern state throughout the course of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In an interview on the Today Show on Tuesday morning, Ms Palaszczuk pointed to NSW's achievement in fully vaccinating more than 80 per cent of eligible people as the example she would like Queensland to emulate.

'I was ridiculed when I said I would like to see 90 percent [vaccination rate in Queensland],' she said.

'New South Wales has hit 90 percent. ACT has hit 90 per cent. We could be the best vaccinated country in the world if we get our vaccination levels up.'

Ms Palaszczuk pointed to NSW's achievement in fully vaccinating more than 80 per cent of eligible people as the example she would like Queensland to emulate in an interview on the Today Show on Tuesday

Ms Palaszczuk said the 'massive' Delta outbreaks had encouraged people in NSW and Victoria to get vaccinated in order to regain freedoms, unlike the situation in Queensland.

'In Queensland, we've had the luxury of essentially being largely Delta free so now it is really important for people across Queensland to get vaccinated and lift our vaccination rates as soon as possible.'

The comments contrast with Ms Palaszczuk's scathing criticism of NSW as recently as September, when she spoke at the CEDA conference in Brisbane.

'Our last lockdown lasted eight days,' Ms Palaszczuk said.

'Eight days after the start of its current outbreak, NSW was yet to enter lockdown.

'Its been in one (lockdown) now for three months at a cost to business of $100 million a day.

'Our neighbours fight to regain their freedoms,' she continued. 'We fight to retain ours.'

The frosty relationship between Ms Palaszczuk and former NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian was laid bare when a series of icy text messages were released in June.

The conversations were released under a Right To Information request and appeared to show the breakdown in civil communication between the two leaders.

What started out as warm and friendly texts between the pair in January 2020 after the devastating bushfires quickly descended into single-word 'thx' responses.

The two leaders have been at loggerheads over the response to Covid since the beginning of the pandemic, with a series of border closures between NSW and Queensland causing havoc for residents of both states.

Ms Berejiklian, who stood down as NSW Premier on October 1 ahead of a state corruption inquiry into her secret relationship with disgraced MP Daryl Maguire, was vocal in her frustration at Queensland repeatedly shutting out its southern border during her time as leader.

People line up to receive a COVID-19 vaccine at pop-up clinic at Bunnings Mt Gravatt in Brisbane. 'This is going to be the pandemic of the unvaccinated so there is this a window of opportunity and time is of the essence for people to go and get vaccinated,' Ms Palaszczuk warned

Meanwhile, Ms Palasazczuk's government plans a 'vax-a-thon' in Queensland this week in order to lift vaccination rates ahead of the target dates she announced yesterday for reopening the state.

She and her ministers are visiting regional areas where the vaccination rate is lagging.

Mackay, Whitsundays, Gladstone, Mount Isa, Logan and the Gold Coast have been identified as regional areas of the state where vaccination rates need lifting, with some areas counting only just over 50 per cent of the population with a first dose of Covid vaccine.

Some areas such as Cherbourg in central Queensland may not reach full vaccination until June next year, based on current rates.

As of yesterday, 72.26 percent of Queenslanders had now received a first dose of vaccine, with 56.58 per cent fully vaccinated.

'This is going to be the pandemic of the unvaccinated so there is this a window of opportunity and time is of the essence for people to go and get vaccinated,' Ms Palaszczuk warned.

In another TV interview on Sunrise, Ms Palaszczuk returned to form when she criticised NSW over it decisions to end home quarantine arrangements for international travellers, saying Queensland would not end quarantine for this cohort as yet.

'There will still be quarantine,' she said.

'NSW jumped the gun, surprised everybody, because national cabinet decided that NSW would do a trial of seven days home quarantine, not zero quarantine.

'That is pretty interesting that people can go from Sydney to Dubai but they cannot go to Dubbo.

'I am very concerned that they have jumped the gun, we are all supposed to be working together as part of the national plan, and the national cabinet, so I will be looking forward to the next meeting to see where we are with that.'

Border controls for Queensland will ease on November 19 with further restrictions dropped by December 17, when 80 per cent of Queensland's eligible population is expected to be fully vaccinated

Yesterday Ms Palaszczuk announced that modelling showed 70 percent of the eligible Queensland population are expected to be jabbed by November 19, with the 80 per cent target expected to be reached by December 17.

From November 19, anyone who has been in a declared interstate hotspot in the previous 14 days will now be able to travel into Queensland under certain conditions, including that they are fully vaccinated, arrive by air, have a negative Covid test in the previous 72 hours and home quarantine for 14 days.

On December 17, interstate travellers can arrive by road or air, provided they are fully vaccinated and produce a Covid test, without needing to quarantine.

Ms Palaszczuk warned that Queenslanders faced 'a last chance' to get vaccinated or be left exposed as the state's border controls were wound back.

'We cannot protect you if you wont protect yourself,' she said.

'We want families and friends re-united for Christmas.

'If you are yet to be vaccinated you are running out of time.'
A tech billionaire is helping build one of the world's largest solar farms in the Australian outback that could see the country make billions in cheap energy exports.

Atlassian co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes' is helping develop the world's first intercontinental power grid connecting Australia to Singapore to supply round-the-clock renewable electricity.

The 'Sun Cable' will see 125sqm of solar panels in the Northern Territory, a battery 150 times larger than the biggest in the country and a 5,000km 'extension cord'.

Mr Cannon-Brookes is one of several investors in the project that will create a new green energy export industry and reduce global greenhouse gas emissions.

Atlassian co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes (pictured) wants to build the world's largest solar farm in the Australian outback that would supply Singapore with 15% of its electricity needs

'Think about it as a giant extension cable that runs from our sunny deserts up to Asia,' Mr Cannon-Brookes told The Daily Telegraph.

'There are two or three billion consumers that want cheap energy and want a lot of that energy and we have it and can provide it.'

The $30billion project is part of Mr Cannon-Brookes' plan to power Asia using the Australian sun, supplying 15 per cent of Singapore's electricity needs and generating up to $2billion a year in exports.

The $30billion Sun Cable project (pictured) would involved 125sqm of solar panels built in the Northern Territory

Power lines will stretch from the NT to Darwin including 4,200km of underwater cables that would run from Indonesia to Singapore, making it the world's largest renewable energy transmission network.

The project will also include the world's largest battery, capable of storing between 36 to 42 gigawatt hours - Australia's current 'big battery' is only 129 megawatt hours.

Construction is set to begin in 2024, as a result approximately 2,000 jobs are expected to be created during development with completion estimated by 2028.

As well as providing cheap energy to the Asian market the bold plan could also see electricity prices for Australian customers fall, starting with cheaper rates in the NT.

Currently 77.4 per cent of Australia's electricity is generated from the fossil fuels coal, gas and oil while 22.6 per cent comes from renewables such as solar, wind and hydro.

Net-zero sceptics say moving too fast towards renewable energy would leave the nation short on power and see electricity prices skyrocket.

But Mr Cannon-Brookes believes Australia has all the natural resources needed to become the next energy super power.

By unlocking the vast, solar and land resources that Australia has available, Sun Cable could be creating the pathway for a new export industry.

'Australia should have the cheapest power on the planet,' Mr Cannon-Brookes told the news outlet.

'We have so many resources opportunities in our sun and wind. We are the lucky country in terms of where we sit geographically in the world and our natural resources when it comes to renewables,' he added.
The distraught family of little Cleo Smith are still without any answers as to her mysterious disappearance that has captured the attention of many around the world - even dubbed 'Australia's Madeleine McCann' by press overseas.

The four-year-old was in her family's shared tent when she was last seen by her mother Ellie Smith at about 1.30am on Saturday at Blowholes campsite, north of Carnarvon, in Western Australia.

The youngster, who was wearing bright pink pyjamas, had an 'interaction' with her mum and step-dad Jake Gliddon in the middle of the night but was nowhere to be seen when they woke at 6.30am.

Police are looking into reports from campers that a car was seen driving off at 3am while anyone in the area from Friday to Saturday has been asked to speak to officers to help with the investigation.

Wild weather led emergency services to suspend the search as it entered its fourth day on Tuesday but it is hoped to resume later on in the day.

A strong cold front, heavy winds and rain has brought about treacherous search conditions for volunteers - including local Indigenous bush trackers who have been assisting with the search.

The marine aspect of the search has also been scaled back, Inspector Jon Munday said on Monday, as there is no evidence Cleo wandered into the water.

So who are the key figures in the mystery?

The distraught family of little Cleo Smith are still without any answers as to her mysterious disappearance

Cleo's mother Ellie and her step-dad Jake Gliddon (pictured together) have remained at the Blowholes campsite, north of Carnarvon in WA in the desperate hopes of finding their daughter

The mother and her boyfriend

Her distraught mother and step-dad have remained at the campsite since Cleo went missing to help with the search.

They had both been inside the tent at the time of her disappearance along with their seven-month-old daughter Isla.

The grey and black sleeping bag Cleo had been inside has also vanished.

Ms Smith was the first to share the news her daughter had gone missing, posting an urgent call out on Facebook for anyone with information to come forward.

She shared a photo of Cleo in the blue and pink pyjama set she was wearing on the night she was last seen.

'It's been over 24 hours since I last seen the sparkle in my little girls eyes! Please help me find her! If you hear or see anything at all please call the police!' Ms Smith wrote on Sunday.

In an earlier post, Ms Smith had described her young daughter's disappearance as 'very, very unusual' for Cleo.

Police have shared aerial footage of the campsite Cleo was at with her family before she disappeared

Ms Smith described her daughter's disappearance as 'very, very unusual'

Police have taped off the area at the campsite while investigations continue

The biological father

Cleo's biological father Daniel Staines spent nearly three hours in Mandurah Police Station on Monday, 1,000km south from where the four-year-old disappeared, after voluntarily coming in to give a statement.

Seven News reported he was at work during the morning before coming into Mandurah Police Station, 1,000km south of where Cleo vanished, of his own accord with his parents by his side.

There is no suggestion Mr Staines was in any way involved in Cleo's disappearance.

Daniel Staines (pictured, right) went to Mandurah Police Station - 1,000km from where she disappeared - to give a statement about his daughter's disappearance

The cousin

Ms Smith's cousin Melissa Smith has been actively helping spread the word about the missing four-year-old.

A GoFundMe page has been set up to help raise funds for the search effort with close to $45,000 already donated.

Melissa has been regularly encouraging people to donate to the cause, while also sharing updates to Cleo's disappearance on Facebook.

'Please come back now princess, Ellie Smith you and Jake are the strongest people I know we are here for you and we love you,' Melissa wrote to Facebook on Sunday.

Searches have been conducted in the land and sea around the are Cleo was last seen

Police have released an image of Cleo's sleeping bag and are urging members of the public to come forward if they have seen it

What we know so far

Investigators have not ruled out anything in relation to the little girl's disappearance and are exploring theories she may have been abducted - with homicide detectives working 'a million miles an hour' to find her.

Police have refused to confirm reports a car was heard skidding off as it left the area around 3am on Saturday, after other campers reported the odd noise.

Late into the third day of the search investigators made a public plea for anyone who was anywhere near the campsite from Friday to Sunday, to come forward and contact police - particularly if they have dashcam footage.

They said it will assist police to track and trace the movement of everyone in the area, raising speculation a kidnapping is now the main working theory of what happened Cleo.

The camp ground is located 75km from Carnarvon and 875km from Perth with nothing but bushland and scrubs in between.

Cleo has reportedly visited the area with her mother on camping trips since she was a baby

Another element which has raised suspicions she was snatched is that her sleeping bag is also missing.

It has been confirmed that detectives have seized CCTV footage from roadhouses in the area as part of their investigation.

Inspector Munday said there are 'grave concerns' for Cleo as the hunt to find the little girl gets more desperate 'every hour'.

'With a four-year-old out in this environment there is limited water supply, it is warm, there is very limited shelter so it is very, very concerning,' he said.

Cleo has reportedly visited the area with her mother on camping trips since she was a baby.

Investigators are concerned rain expected on Tuesday may hamper the search, but said they would keep up efforts for another 48 hours, at least.

The nearby beach has been known to have 'king waves' with waves up to ten times bigger than the ones before them.

Cleo is pictured wearing the pyjama suit she was in when she went missing

The local council had to close the Blowholes observation area in July this year after someone nearly got swept into the water following a large swell.

Police are calling on anyone who was anywhere near the area over the weekend to come forward, particularly if they have dashcam footage as it may help to 'track and trace' the movements of people in the vicinity.

'We are really interested in anybody who was at The Blowholes campsite from Friday the 15th of October through to Sunday,' Inspector Munday said.

'You don't even have to have stayed here, even if you just passed through. We need to speak to you... so we can track and trace where people were.

'And if anybody has any dashcam footage or any footage at all of the area we really would be interested in those people coming forward.'

SES crews, volunteers, Indigenous bush trackers and homicide police confirmed they have been on the scene tirelessly searching the surrounds since Cleo's disappearance but she is yet to be found.

Anyone with information should call police on 131 444.
Conservative radio talk show host and prominent anti-vaxxer, Dennis Prager, claims he has caught coronavirus deliberately to give himself natural immunity he says a shot won't provide.

Speaking on his radio show which airs on the right-wing Salem Radio Network, Prager, who is 73, claimed that he socialized with strangers on purpose in the hope of catching the virus.

Prager was forced to broadcast from his home rather than a studio because of the illness.

'It is infinitely preferable to have natural immunity than vaccine immunity and that is what I hoped for the entire time,' Prager explained, having begun the broadcast with a cough. 'Hence, I so engaged with strangers, constantly hugging them, taking photos with them, knowing that I was making myself very susceptible to getting COVID.

Conservative pundit Dennis Prager said had COVID-19 and had contracted it on purpose by socializing and getting close to strangers

Prager said he continues to take a variety of other remedies including Regeneron, zinc, azithromycin, hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin, pictured above

Dennis Prager announces he has COVID-19 while ranting against vaccines and declaring that he was trying to get infected

https://t.co/z12VuK3Wrw pic.twitter.com/0OP0Ge2aYi  Jason Campbell (@JasonSCampbell) October 18, 2021

'Which is, indeed, as bizarre as it sounded, what I wanted, in the hope I would achieve natural immunity and be taken care of by therapeutics,' he added.

Prager has long ranted over his opposition to the vaccines and stated last November he had no intention of receiving the jab.

Yet despite not wanted to be inoculated against the virus, the talk show host proceeded to reel off a whole host of other medications that he happily consumes.

'I have received monoclonal antibodies, that's Regeneron. I have, of course, for a year and a half, been taking hydroxychloroquine from the beginning, with zinc. I've taken z-pack, azithromycin, as the Zelenko protocol would have it. I have taken ivermectin.

Prager said that although his plan sounds 'bizarre' he did it in order to achieve 'natural immunity and be taken care of by therapeutics' but he was coughing during his radio show

'I have done what a person should do if one is not going to get vaccinated,' he went on.

The Food & Drug Administration reports that neither hydroxychloroquine nor ivermectin is an effective treatment for COVID.

An unvaccinated person in Prager's age group is at higher risk of serious side-effects from a COVID infection, with the disease far more likely to kill the elderly, although most older sufferers to pull through unharmed.

Regeneron was famously used by Donald Trump when he caught COVID in October 2020, when it was in its experimental phrase.

Prager, a Trump supporter, followed in the former president's footsteps by taking the same hydroxy and zinc mix that Trump bragged of taking as a preventative at the start of the pandemic, even though he was later hospitalized with the virus.

Last year, Prager was attempting to push the drug hydroxychloroquine as a way of treating the coronavirus before calling the lockdown 'the greatest mistake in history of humanity'

Ivermectin is a deworming drug which FDA doctors say doesn't offer an effective COVID treatment. It has become popular among people who don't wish to receive a vaccine, with podcaster Joe Rogan among those also prescribed it.

Prager has said he thinks most Americans should have contracted Covid-19 because he believes natural immunity is preferable to the kind created by vaccines.

Yet, a blog written by the director of the National Institutes of Health, details the opposite as being true with vaccines conferring greater immunity.

Prager who was known to oppose marriage equality was lambasted last year when he called the coronavirus lockdowns the 'greatest mistake in the history of humanity' in a Twitter post.

During 2020, Prager was attempting to push the drug hydroxychloroquine as a way of treating the coronavirus before calling the lockdown 'the greatest mistake in the history of humanity.'

Prager was roundly mocked on social media after saying he got the virus 'deliberately'

Prager was roasted in some circled on social media with many pointing out double standards in his actions.

'Doing an 'I meant to do that' with contracting COVID-19 is madness. I hope Dennis Prager recovers soon and learns something from this,' wrote lawyer Mark R. Yzaguirre.

'Congratulations... I guess? ' wrote Max Burns with a degree of cynicism.

'How does anyone take all these drugs and think they are sticking it to the pharmaceutical industry by not getting vaccinated? How does anyone think getting Covid AND taking all these drugs is healthier than getting vaccinated?' asked one Twitter user.

'He basically made a list of like thousands of dollars of medications hes taking, every one of them with listed and known side effects. The vaccine is free. Poor people you wouldnt be able to afford his drug list,' added another.

'So happy for Dennis Prager that he caught Covid-19, as he desired, so he could have "natural immunity". Two of my wife's fellow teachers were not as fortunate, they caught Covid-19 in the Spring of 2020 and passed away. Granted, they weren't trying to get it, unlike Dennis,' tweeted Mark Mucci.
Mark McGowan is facing growing pressure to set a date for opening his border to boost his state's vaccination rates.

Western Australia is lagging the rest of the country with only 56 per cent of residents fully jabbed, compared to the national average of 68 per cent.

On Monday in Queensland, where 57 per cent are fully vaccinated, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced the state would end its Covid elimination policy and open its domestic border on December 17 as an incentive for residents to get jabbed.

Only some of Australia's states have announced plans to remove their domestic borders. NSW and Victoria are already open but WA, SA and Tasmania are yet to announce dates

The move has sparked calls for WA to do the same amid fears vaccine rates in the vast state may not reach an 80 per cent by Christmas.

Vaccine rollout boss General John Frewen said that setting a date would 'focus minds' and warned that without one the state may still be closed until the New Year.

'On current rates I'm not optimistic at all,' he told The West Australian newspaper.

'Could it happen? Sure, but really it just needs people to rally,' he said of achieving the 80 per cent target set out in the national re-opening plan by Christmas.

Premier McGowan said on Friday he will not set a date for opening his border to NSW and Victoria until 'somewhere between 80 and 90 per cent' are vaccinated, leading to fears families may be separated until Easter.

In a deviation from the national re-opening plan he wants over 12s to achieve this rate rather than over 16s.

State Opposition leader and Nationals MP Mia Davies urged Mr McGowan to set a re-opening date.

Western Australians have very few restrictions on their lives - except they cannot leave their home state because they won't be allowed back in. Pictured: Perth's Trigg Beach

'It is very concerning that we now have every other state in Australia with a roadmap for reopening and yet we can't get the same detail from our Premier or state government,' she said on Monday.

'This Premier seems intent on holding his cards very close to his chest in relation to this.'

Tasmania and South Australia are also yet to set a date for re-opening their borders.

Tasmanian Premier Peter Gutwein said in late September he wants a 90 per cent vaccination rate before opening up. With 84 per cent having had one dose, this is expected in December.

Last week the Northern Territory, where 59 per cent are fully vaccinated, said it will allow 14-day home quarantine in December and bring down its border in the New Year.

On Monday Queensland announced it would move to home quarantine on November 19 and open its border on December 17, when it is expected to have fully vaccinated 80 per cent of residents.

Premier Palaszczuk said the move would encourage the state's residents, who have been relatively unaffected by Covid-19 with only a few short lockdowns in the south east, to get vaccinated.

Victoria removed its border with NSW last week but requires visitors to get tested before they enter.
To his friends on social media, Jadd William Brooker appeared to live a normal life - with happy snaps showing he loved his footy, beer, mates and tending to his pet turtle.

But now Australia knows the dark truth - Brooker, 39, is one of the worst child sex predators the country has seen, with him admitting to more than 180 charges in court.

The former logistics manager from Adelaide admitted to the raft of charges in court via a lawyer on Monday, with a magistrate hearing he threatened to infect children with HIV, a court has heard.

Adelaide's Magistrates Court heard Brooker had been charged with an additional 142 offences while behind bars, after he pleaded guilty to 41 child exploitation offences earlier this year.

Jadd William Brooker (pictured) is now regarded as Australia's 'worst' paedophile after he admitted to 189 offences

Prosecutors will argue that Jadd William Brooker (pictured) spend the rest of his life behind bars without parole

He was recently re-arrested in custody and charged with a raft of new offences including sexual exploitation of a child, maintaining an unlawful sexual relationship with a child and disseminating child exploitation material.

Brooker's lawyer indicated to Adelaide Magistrates Court on Monday his client wanted to plead guilty to all but four of the new charges.

It takes the total number of charges Brooker has admitted to 189, making him among the worst child-sex offenders in Australian history.

'My client will record pleas to all counts, with the exception [of four],' Tim Clarke told the court.

'It's proposed that if the court takes those pleas, and we have spoken to prosecution about this, a copy of the information will be sent to my client so that he can sign it, rather than all charges being read out.'

Jadd William Brooker (pictured with his pet turtle) pleaded guilty to 41 child exploitation offences earlier this year. He has since admitted to 138 recently laid charges

Brooker's Facebook page is flooded with photos while enjoying a beer at the pub and airports

Magistrate Simon Smart said he wouldn't accept the guilty pleas until he had read the charges to Brooker and didn't have time to read out loud all 142 new charges, the ABC reported.

Brooker will now enter his pleas at his next court appearance in November.

The court previously heard how Brooker had expressed intent 'to infect both children and adults with HIV'.

Prosecutors alleged he had illegal sexual relationships with two teenagers and recorded one of them performing a sex act.

One victim took his own life while while the other has been tested for HIV.

Prosecutors also alleged in court Brooker pursued 19 other children between the ages of 13 and 19, over Skype and Telegram and some of his alleged victims lived in Australia, Italy and Canada.

Facebook photos show Jadd William Brooker (right) is a devoted Hawthorn Hawks supporter

Brooker is also a fan of bedroom and bathroom selfies shared to his Facebook account

They also alleged 10,000 images of child exploitation have also been found on his electronic devices.

A detective investigating the case previously described Brooker's offending as the "worst and most degrading in his 14 years as an investigator,' a court heard.

Prosecutors are expected to argue Brooker be sentenced to life behind bars without parole, claiming he's unwilling and incapable of controlling his sexual instincts, the Adelaide Advertiser reported.

Brooker's Facebook page - which features innocuous photos of him cheering on Hawthorn, taking bathroom selfies and an oversized Cookie Monster - has been defaced by dozens of trolls since his original arrest last year.

A detective investigating the case previously described Brooker's offending as the "worst and most degrading in his 14 years as an investigator,' a court heard
A group of kids posed for photos with a prized Mustang moments after it was allegedly stolen straight out of the owner's garage in broad daylight.

The photos were later shared across social media.

The Ford Mustang was stolen from a locked garage of a property in an estate in Helensvale on Queensland's Gold Coast on Thursday afternoon.

Kids posed for photos with a prized Mustang and shared them online after they allegedly stole the vehicle straight out of the owner's garage in broad daylight

The vehicle had been seen at several locations in the suburbs of Pacific Pines and Oxenford and on the major M1 motorway.

Queensland police later found the vehicle just after 9am on Saturday, 20 minutes away from Helensvale in the semi-rural locality of Guanaba.

Police charged a 15-year-old girl with two counts of unlawful use of a motor vehicle, assault occasioning bodily harm and fraud.

A 16-year-old boy has also been charged with unlawful use of a motor vehicle.

The Mustang was stolen from a locked garage in Helensvale on the Gold Coast on Thursday afternoon before being found badly damaged on Saturday morning in Guanaba

Marc Riddell, the owner of the Ford Mustang, said that he was left stunned by his car being stolen, especially since it happened in broad daylight while both himself and his partner were inside their home.

Mr Riddell mentioned that his girlfriend was on the couch inside their home and heard nothing.

He had been playing music upstairs.

Owner Marc Riddell (pictured) said that he was left stunned by his car being stolen, especially since it happened in broad daylight while both himself and his partner were inside their home

'They've come in and got the key, on my key, there's a fob to open the garage door, they've opened the garage door. They must have pushed it out of the garage, down the driveway, and taken off,' Mr Riddell told The Gold Coast Bulletin.

He was shocked that the theft had occurred in such a quiet and exclusive area.

'I was pretty shocked. Most people I tell, they can't believe that they would come in, open the garage door and just push it out.'

After being startled by the theft, he also noted that he is deciding whether to add costly security devices to his property (picture of Mr Riddell's Facebook post about his stolen car)

Mr Riddell added that an old washing machine placed in his driveway had also been repositioned.

Despite having comprehensive insurance, Mr Riddell believes he will still lose thousands of dollars to replace his prized possession.

After being startled by the theft, he also noted that he is deciding whether to add costly security devices to his property.

'We're just going to have to be super careful,' he concluded.
Former schoolteacher Mary Kay Letourneau - who gained international notoriety for raping a 12-year-old student and later marrying him  felt deep remorse on her deathbed for sexually assaulting the preteen.

Letourneau began reflecting on the inappropriate relationship with Vili Fualaau after being diagnosed with terminal cancer last year, a friend claimed.

At the end of your life, you start reassessing a lot of things, the friend told People. And she was trying to make her peace, not only with everyone else, but with herself.

The friend told People that she received a letter from the disgraced teacher about a month-and-a-half before she died in July 2020.

Letourneau wrote dozens of letters while terminally-ill to atone for her actions, the outlet said.

Mary Kay 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

Before dying in July 2020, Letourneau wrote dozens of letters of apology to friends and family

The former Seattle middle school teacher died after a quiet nine-month battle with stage four colon cancer. She was 58.

The bottom line was that she understood on a very deep level that she had really made a mess of her life and the lives of many other people back in 1996, said the friend.

She realized that even though things turned out relatively good, that she was responsible for a wide swath of destruction by her actions. She apologized to a lot of people for a lot of things.

Letourneau was 34 when she began having an affair with her 12-year-old student Fualaau. They married after she was released from prison for the rape, but separated in 2017

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 broke down in court after she was ordered to prison for 7-1/2 years for defying the order

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 Vili Fualaau.

Although she might not have appreciated at the time, Letourneau realized during her final months that her actions were shameful, the friend said.

Absolutely nothing she did during that stage of her life should ever be emulated, the source said. She understood that, more acutely at the end of her life. She felt deep remorse.

Letourneau met Fualaau when he 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.

Their relationship began with a kiss when the pair went on a dinner date after class

Letourneau gave birth to Fualaau's second child while in prison. The young father had still not yet turned 15

LeTourneau, then 34, is seen holding the couple's second child in this 1997 photo

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.

Letourneau then had sex with Fualaau first time later that summer, when her then-husband, Steve Letourneau, was out of town.

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.

Shortly after, Steve filed for divorce.

The couple, who finalized their divorce in 2019, shared daughters Georgina and Audrey

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.

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 until her death.

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.

Despite several attempts to reconcile, the couple finalized their split in February 2019 and began living apart, according to King County court records.

Letourneau broke down in 2018 as she discussed the media fallout from the couple's relationship.

'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 couple are shown in 2005, the year they got married. Their divorce would be filed 14 years later but they remained close

'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.'

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.'

Letourneau is survived by the couples two daughters, Georgina and Audrey, as well as Steven Jr., Claire, Nicholas, and Jacqueline, whom she had with first husband, Steve Letourneau.
Sydneysiders blew out the lockdown cobwebs in style last week with a food and drink binge for the ages.

High-end cocktails - led by the most-ordered choice of an espresso martini - increased on their regular sales by more than 300 per-cent in some areas while sales of tequila-laden margaritas also hit a new per-capita high in NSW.

Beer sales, too, skyrocketed with Victoria Bitter exceeding its usual pre-lockdown sales figures by more than 12,000 per-cent last week in the biggest single increase of any booze beverage across NSW.

The next-best post-lockdown improver was the fourth-most requested drink; the Mick Fanning-founded XPA Balter which was up 150 per-cent on its usual NSW sales.

Espresso martinis were the most-ordered cocktail as Sydney escaped lockout.

TIPPING POINt: Tipping has exploded across Sydney last week with hospo staff showered with a gratuity increase of more than 175 per-cent on regular figures.

Super-sized pub food classics were also in huge demand with diners overlooking fussy fine-dining dishes in favour of comfort meals like chicken schnitzels, hot chips and garlic bread.

In fact the humble 'schnitty' was the most-ordered dish across both regional and inner-city areas last week according to digital ordering platform me&u which collates food and drink stats from more than 700 venues across NSW.

Schnitzel sales increased by a whopping 270 per-cent compared to the last week prior to the monster lockdown which began way back on July 21.

A derivatve of the 'schnitty', a chicken Parmigiana (aka a 'parmy' or 'parma' depending on location) was the second-most ordered dish across NSW last week followed by hot chips, chilli-con-carne nachos, and salt-and-pepper squid.

Me&u founder Stevan Premutico said the figures collated from the first week post-lockdown exceeded even the loftiest expectations.

'It just went nuts," Premutico exclusively told Mailonline.com.

"It was just so beautiful to see everyone out and about socialising and connecting again after 3 months of lock-down. Makes you realise how much we value a beer, a burger and great times around the table with friends and family.

The humble schnitty: Sydney punters went wild for this pub classic on week one of freedom.

SPLURGING: Diners splashed out in record numbers sending food and booze sales flying.

Not surprisingly, food and drink orders peaked last Friday night at 6pm while Saturday was the biggest hospitality day across the board this year with sales up 116 per-cent on the highest-previous day pre-lockdown.

And in one of the more encouraging signs to come from newly-relaxed dining restrictions, tipping exploded across Sydney last week with long-furloughed hospo staff showered with a gratuity increase of more than 175 per-cent on regular figures.

"Tips were up phenomenally," Premutico said.

"So its clear that we are just so grateful to be be out and about again and this is our way of saying thanks to all the great people of hospitality for opening the doors and allowing us back in again.

"We are sick of being locked up at home on our own and we are just so grateful to be back in venues."

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - OCTOBER 19: Patrons of the Lord Roberts Hotel in Darlinghurst are seen drinking out in Sydney, Australia.

And in another major boost to the Sydney's resurgent hospitality industry, Aussie-born food delivery platform Menulog announced a major change to its customer service operations today with 500 new jobs to be created in NSW in the next year.

Along with this, a new state-of-the-art office hub to be built at Macquarie Park which will house a variety of new employees from customer service advisors to team leadership, specialist support roles and management.

Commenting on todays announcement, Wes Lambert, CEO of Restaurant & Catering Industry Association says, "Menulog's investment in both better support for its local hospitality partners and in the creation of local jobs in this crucial economic period is commendable.

"I look forward to seeing how this initiative positively impacts relationships and operations between Menulog and its partners, as well as how enhanced local customer support contributes to better results for restaurants."
Students at a $30,000-a-year private school in Miami will have to take a month off after receiving each dose of a COVID vaccine, as school officials fear they will infect unvaccinated students.

In a letter, the school's Chief Operating Officer, Bianca Erickson informed parents of students at the Centner Academy: 'Because of the potential impact on other students and our school community, vaccinated students will need to stay at home for 30 days post-vaccination for each dose and booster they receive.'

The students may return to school after the 30-day period, according to the letter, which was obtained by 7News, 'as long as the student is healthy and symptom-free.'

But Erickson recommended parents instead 'hold off until the summer,' to receive a COVID vaccine because 'there will be time for the potential transmission or shedding onto others to decrease.'

Erikson did not comment further on what exactly she feared vaccinated students could infect uninoculated students with, although the school's co-founders have previously claimed that people with COVID vaccines can cause fertility issues if they come into contact with unvaccinated women.

The Centner Academy in Miami is making students who receive the COVID vaccine stay home for about a month after each dose

In a letter sent to parents, school officials said they were concerned about the affect of vaccinated students on non-vaccinated students

But there have been no reports of people who've had the shot passing on any kind of disease or illness to others as a result, save for 'breakthrough' COVID infections that unvaccinated students are at risk of anyway.

The Centers for Disease Control insists that all three COVID-19 vaccinations approved by the Food and Drug Administration are safe, as they do not use live viruses and could therefore not make anyone sick with COVID.

Children aged 12 and up are currently eligible to receive a COVID vaccine, with kids aged between five and 11 likely to be approved too in the coming weeks.

Vaccinating children has proven a controversial topic. Many parents who are pro-vax themselves say they're unsure about having their children jabbed, because COVID is relatively harmless for the vast majority of kids who catch it.

Those who back vaccines for children say that even a small risk is unethical to take when it comes to the health of a child.

The Miami-based school, which teaches students from kindergarten through to senior year of high school, previously faced controversy back in April, when co-founder Leila Centner wrote to staff that vaccinated employees would no longer be allowed to work directly with students.

Teachers at the school were told they could either physically distance from students if they had had the shot; tell the school if they plan to get the vaccine 'as we cannot allow recently vaccinated people to be near our students until more information is known'; or wait until the school year ends to get the vaccine.

In her letter, Leila wrote: 'Reports have surfaced recently of non-vaccinated people being negatively impacted by interacting with people who have been vaccinated.

'We cannot allow recently vaccinated people to be near our students until more information is known.

'It is our policy, to the extent possible, not to employ anyone who has taken the experimental COVID-19 injection until further information is known.'

Leila, who set up the school with her husband David Centner in 2019, also said their decision had been made with 'with a very heavy heart'. Staff were asked to fill out a form on their vaccine intentions, The New York Times reports.

She said those who receive the shot 'may be transmitting something from their bodies' and could harm 'reproductive systems, fertility, and normal growth and development in women and children.'

Centner added: 'Even among our own population, we have at least three women with menstrual cycles impacted after having spent time with a vaccinated person.'

Any teacher who opts to get the vaccine over the summer will not be allowed to return to the school, which has 300 students, until further clinical trials.'

The letter comes six months after school co-founder Leila Centner, left, told staff members they would not be allowed to work with children if they get the vaccine. She is pictured here with her husband and school co-founder, David Centner

Dr. Aileen Marty, an infectious disease expert at Florida International University blasted the school's policy in an interview with 7News, saying there is no basis for it

The school shares a brief note on its vaccine policy on its website - with the detailed guidance proving extremely controversial, and infuriating professional medics

Following backlash from that decision, Joshua Hills, a parent and Centner Academy employee said at a news conference, 'We're not anti-vaxxers we're in favor of safe vaccines. Are these vaccines, is this injection 100 percent safe?

'As a parent of two children that go to this school, I'm not willing to take the chance on a question mark.'

Now, school officials are saying their concerns over what they call 'experimental vaccines' haven't changed, as Erickson mentioned concerns over health issues in her letter and said the school respects everyone's choice, but also need to watch out for the students' safety.

In a statement to 7News, school officials said: 'Centner Academy's top priorities are our students' well-being and their sense of safety within our educational environment.

'We will continue to act in accordance with these priorities,' it said. 'The email that was sent to families today was grounded in these priorities.'

But Dr. Aileen Marty, an infectious disease expert at Florida International University said the school's policy has no basis.

'What happens 30 days after they get vaccinated?' she asked. 'What kind of nonsense is this?'

'Where did they get that?' she again asked, rhetorically, to 7News. 'There's nothing in the recommendations to that... they made that up.

'That's science fiction,' Marty said, 'not even science fiction because it's pure fiction.'

'I don't find the letter interesting, I find it sad,' she continued.

'I find it terrible that there's all this misleading information coming out of an institution that allegedly is an educational institution.

'The technology is not new. The technology is well-established and it's based on the best science we have.'

As of Sunday, about 66 percent of eligible Americans have received at least one dose of the COVID vaccine and 57 percent are fully vaccinated.

Meanwhile, the number of COVID cases has continued to decline, with 16,989 new cases reported on Sunday - down about 90 percent from a post-vaccine high of 184,196 on September 3.

And the number of deaths from COVID has also declined, with just 150 reported on Sunday, compared to 2,276 on September 14.
Women who suffer a miscarriage will be offered help earlier under proposed new guidelines to stop them losing more babies.

Currently they are eligible for tests and investigations on the NHS only if they have three miscarriages in a row.

Charities say this 'rule of three' results in thousands of women and their partners experiencing devastating further losses that could be prevented.

Updated guidelines issued last night by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists will mean women can get support after a first miscarriage.

The Royal College wants all NHS trusts to adopt the policy and revolutionise care for women who suffer the 'distressing, shocking and traumatic experience'.

About 1 per cent of couples lose three or more babies to miscarriage, defined by the NHS as loss of pregnancy before 24 weeks. One in every four pregnancies ends in miscarriage, with an estimated cost to the economy of 471million year in healthcare and lost productivity.

Many women struggle to find out if there is an underlying cause and are simply told to try again.

The new guidelines say information to boost the chances of success in future should be offered after a first miscarriage.

Women who suffer a miscarriage will be offered help earlier under proposed new guidelines to stop them losing more babies

Women who suffer a second one will be offered an appointment at a specialist clinic to help identify the cause and offer more help in future pregnancies.

After three they will be eligible for major investigation and care, such as blood tests to find any genetic abnormalities.

The guidelines, which redefine 'recurrent miscarriage' to include non-consecutive occurrences, are due to be finalised by the end of the year. Charities last night called for a 'commitment from the NHS' to implement them.

The document also summarised new evidence on potential causes of miscarriage. This highlights for the first time that the age of men is a risk factor for recurrent miscarriages. Other factors include being black or Asian, underweight or overweight, smoking, and excess caffeine intake.

Dr Edward Morris, (pictured) president of the Royal College, said: 'Miscarriage is a distressing, shocking and traumatic experience for many women and their partners. We believe women should access appropriate and standardised care after their first miscarriage and that is why we are endorsing the graded model for miscarriage care'

Dr Edward Morris, president of the Royal College, said: 'Miscarriage is a distressing, shocking and traumatic experience for many women and their partners.

'We believe women should access appropriate and standardised care after their first miscarriage and that is why we are endorsing the graded model for miscarriage care.'

Jane Brewin, head of the baby loss charity Tommy's, welcomed the move by the Royal College, which she said was in line with recommendations put forward by her organisation, backed by research published in medical journal The Lancet.

She added: 'We know what to do and how to do it, so now we need a commitment across the NHS to develop these care pathways and improve support for everyone.'
Delivery workers from three major courier companies will strike on Thursday unless their employers solve their dispute over pay and conditions.

An industry-wide strike endorsed by union members last week has been avoided after Linfox, Global Express and Toll reached in-principle agreements with staff.

But thousands of workers at StarTrack, FedEx and BevChain could still walk off the job, after negotiations for new enterprise agreements at each company stretched past the six-month mark.

Workers for StarTrack, FedEx and BevChain could walk off the job on Thursday after negotiations for new enterprise agreements stretched past 6 months (pictured, Transport Workers Union protesters)

The Transport Workers Union is pushing for its members to get better job security, with limits on the use of outsourcing.

Contract workers are paid less, which the TWU says makes them more attractive to employers and creates job insecurity for permanent staff.

Strikes have already taken place in recent weeks at StarTrack and FedEx.

The union argues its demands are the least the companies can do, after profiting off the back of record demand for deliveries amid the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdowns.

The Transport Workers Union wants better job security for workers and limits on the amount of outsourcing (pictured, StarTrack workers striking in Adelaide in September)

StarTrack's owner Australia reported record revenues of $8.27 billion last financial year, the TWU says, while FedEx turned over about $115 billion in the same period.

'Based on performance, these companies should have been the first to provide job security guarantees and fair pay and conditions to reflect workers' sacrifices and efforts during the pandemic,' TWU national secretary Michael Kaine said in a statement.

'Instead, they have pushed workers to the brink with no choice but to pursue legal industrial action to break the impasse before the Christmas surge in demand,' he said.

But a StarTrack spokesperson rejected the union's claims job security was at the heart of the dispute.

The union wants to provide workers with better conditions after they sacrifices and efforts throughout the pandemic (pictured, StarTrack workers striking in Adelaide in September)

'The TWU has previously said that this is not a dispute about wages  but that it is a dispute about job security,' they said.

'Yet despite StarTrack having made further significant concessions in relation to the TWU's job security claims in an effort to reach agreement, the TWU continues to threaten further industrial action, at a time when the delivery of essential items has never been more important.'

FedEx have been contacted for comment.

Australians are already facing longer than usual wait times for deliveries, with the sector bending under the pressure caused by the spike in online shopping amid months of lockdown.
This is the moment a Florida deputy officer was seen saving a three-year-old boy from his smoke-filled home after his father had left him with his older sibling to get food.

Flagler County deputy officer Marcus Dawson arrived to the scene of the house fire on Sunday night ahead of local firefighters.

The deputy's bodycam footage captured him walking around the perimeter of the house and attempting to alert the residents.

Dawson then found the young boy hiding under a blanket in his father's smoke-filled bedroom. That part of the clip was 'muzzed' to hide the child's identity, although firefighters later shared a photo of the little boy where his face was visible.

Flagler County Deputy Officer Marcus Dawson (left) is pictured with Palm Coast Firefighter-Paramedic Kalin Graham (left center), the three-year-old boy he saved from a smoky Florida home (right center) and the boy's father Kevin Farris, 41 (right)

Dawson had saved the three-year-old boy from a house fire on Sunday night. The boy was found hiding under a blanket in his smoke-filled father's room

The cop had initially arrived at the home to find a male neighbor standing in his driveway as Dawson rushed towards the scene.

That neighbor told Dawson that he saw flames in the home and that three people lived in the residence.

Dawson was then seen running behind the home and then back towards the front to see if any of the residents were there.

He had noted that he saw thick black smoke in the kitchen when he had checked the outside.

Dogs inside the home were also heard loudly barking from the back porch.

He repeatedly yelled 'Sheriff's office!' as he banged on the front door and rang the doorbell.

Fire alarms and engines were heard ringing throughout the neighborhood as Dawson continued to try to get inside.

K-9 Deputy First Class officer Marcus Dawson was commended by fellow safety officials for his actions

Dawson's bodycam footage revealed him walking around the perimeter of the home to find the source of the fire and to see if any of the home's three residents were inside

He rushed the little boy to the front of the home where fire rescue crews were waiting

He walked back around the house and entered through the screened porch.

Dawson then saw the young boy under the blanket with his tablet as he pulled open the back screen door that led to the father's bedroom.

The footage became blurred by the smoke when Dawson noticed the boy's head peaking out of the blanket

'Hi, buddy? Wheres your mommy?', Dawson asked the young boy.

The boy then faintly responded and Dawson then grabbed the frightened young boy in his arms.

He was then handed off to a female firefighter in front of the home and was found to be in stable condition.

The older sibling, who was in the young boy's care, had apparently left the house before the fire began.

The 17-year-old boy is the stepson of the child's father Kevin Farris, 41, who had left to go to the home of his biological father.

He did not notify Farris of his whereabouts as he did not have a cell phone on him.

The Palm Coast Fire Department responded to the scene after Dawson had arrived earlier

Farris said that he had originally planned to take his three-year-old son with him to pick up the Chinese food but saw he was sleeping and assumed his stepson would stay at home with the toddler.

The cause of the fire appeared to be accidental as a microwave malfunction was believed to be the reason behind it.

Dawson's work in saving the young boy and helping to secure the home were commended by his fellow safety workers.

'Without DFC Dawson immediately running toward danger, even without a safety respirator, this could have been a much different outcome,' Sheriff Rick Staly said on the department's Facebook.

'This child was hiding in fear of the fire and smoke watching a cartoon on his phone when, thankfully, DFC Dawsons training in emergency response allowed him to find this child and safely rescue him.

'This was a dangerous situation and we are very proud of DFC Dawsons bravery and commitment to serving this community and saving a life.'

The cause of the fire was believed to be a microwave malfunction in the kitchen

Staly also mentioned that if Dawson had not acted as quickly, then the situation could have potentially had an entirely different outcome.

'Just to put it in perspective,' Palm Coast Fire Chief Jerry Forte told Flager Live.

'You have a deputy who first gets on scene and asks all the right questions of the neighbors, goes behind the house, takes a quick look, tries to get attention from someone at the front door, doesnt know if anybody is in the house, doesnt get a response, yet is willing to open a sliding glass door and look to see whats on the other side.

'Thats heroic behavior right there.'
The search for missing four-year-old girl Cleo Smith has been stopped due to bad weather - but is hoped to resume later today.

She was last seen by her mother Ellie Smith about 1.30am on Saturday inside the family's shared tent at Blowholes campsite, north of Carnarvon, in Western Australia.

Exhaustive sea, land and air searches have been conducted in the days since, but conditions are rapidly deteriorating.

Wild weather led emergency services to suspend the search as it entered its fourth day on Tuesday.

A strong cold front, heavy winds and rain has brought about treacherous search conditions for volunteers - including local Indigenous bush trackers who have been assisting with the search.

A major storm cell is expected to hit the coast where emergency services are searching for missing four-year-old Cleo Smith within hours

A strong cold front, heavy winds and rain will bring about more treacherous search conditions for volunteers - including local Indigenous bush trackers who have been assisting with the search

'Every hour that goes by with a four-year-old out in this environment, there's obviously limited water supply, it is warm, very limited shelter,' Inspector Jon Munday said

'It is very, very concerning.'

By 10am Tuesday morning, locals can expect winds of up to 70km/h so fierce that it is likely homes and property will be damaged.

By nightfall, gusts could top 100km/h along the coast. Higher than usual tides and damaging surf conditions are also predicted.

The area is known to be subject to intense weather conditions, with frequent king tides up to 10 times bigger than the waves before them that come without warning.

A warning from the Carnarvon Shire Council reveals multiple fatalities have occurred at a lookout which is now closed to the public.

Anybody caught outside during the storm has been urged to seek shelter away from streams of water, trees, storm water drains and streams.

One possibility is that little Cleo (pictured) may have woken in the night and wandered toward the nearby ocean, only to be swept away by rising waters. But so far marine rescuers have found no evidence of this

Exhaustive sea, land and air searches have been conducted in the days since Cleo disappeared, but conditions are rapidly deteriorating

The intense weather forecast adds another element of concern to the search for Cleo, which already has detectives on edge.

Police are urging anyone who was in the area from Friday through to Sunday to try and remember if they may have seen anything unusual.

One of the theories was that young Cleo may have wandered off towards the ocean and was washed away by the rising tide.

But exhaustive marine searches have so far found no evidence she entered the water.

There are mounting concerns for little Cleo Smith's (pictured with her mum Ellie and partner Jake Gliddon) safety after she went missing at a remote campsite on Saturday morning

Police have not ruled out the possibility that Cleo was abducted, with officers stopping cars and caravans to search the vehicles

'The searches we have done for this marine environment are the best we can get and they have done the best they can and in that environment we haven't found any sign of Cleo,' Inspector Munday said.

'And that marine search has been scaled back at this time.'

Police have not ruled out the possibility that Cleo was abducted, with officers stopping cars and caravans to search the vehicles.

Detectives from the homicide squad have also been called into to scour the area.

Locals have been told to check garbage bins and roadsides for a grey and red sleeping bag used by Cleo at the time she went missing.

Anyone with information is asked to contact police immediately on 131 444.
Afghan interpreters left behind by the British are increasingly frustrated at the UK's inability to rescue them as the US plans to resume mercy flights.

Many translators who had worked alongside our troops have been forced into hiding since the Taliban took over two months ago.

But while they get messages from the UK asking for patience, they have seen individuals affiliated to America leave.

At least nine mercy flights have left the Afghan capital but former British translators have been unable to secure seats.

The US veteran-organised journeys have put pressure on Washington to put its own flights in place, which it now plans to do. 'As soon as we have the right combination of documentation and logistics, we will get going again,' a senior official told the Wall Street Journal.

Last night Hussain, a 48-year-old translator who recently left his home after receiving death threats, questioned the UK's failure to announce a similar commitment to resume flights.

Former Afghan interpreters previously protested in front of the Home Office, demanding evacuations from Kabul continue

'I'm frustrated. How is it other countries can fly out those who worked for them but the UK can't  or can't commit  to doing so?' he asked.

'Why are we the last? Each week Afghanistan becomes more dangerous, more of those who worked for foreign forces are being found and punished. One day it will be our turn. We can't be lucky forever.'

The US State Department plans to get evacuation flights from Kabul up and running again before Christmas, having forced the Western withdrawal in August.

America will look to airlift US citizens, residents and those who aided its military during the last 20 years but failed to make it out before the Taliban seized complete control. The move, which follows intense negotiations with the new regime by US diplomats, has increased pressure on the UK Government to strike a similar deal.

Interpreter Aziz, 40, has been cleared to come to the UK but remains stuck and fearful. He said: 'Time is running out for us. We feel forgotten. If the US can mount evacuations then we have to hope the British will rescue us by plane too. We don't want to feel left behind again.'

America will look to airlift US citizens, residents and those who aided its military during the last 20 years but failed to make it out before the Taliban (pictured left) seized complete control

After what many translators with links to Britain say was a 'long silence', they are now being contacted by UK officials asking for updates on their locations, phone numbers and how they might be helped to escape. But one message they receive says: 'The UK are working hard to secure safe evacuation out of Afghanistan for all those remaining approved applicants, but this takes time.

'Please continue to remain patient and stay safe until the evacuation call up occurs.'

The Daily Mail's award-winning Betrayal of the Brave campaign has long highlighted the plight of ex-interpreters.

An MoD spokesman said: 'We will continue to do all we can to support those who have supported us, and our commitment to those who are eligible for relocation is not time-limited and will endure.'
Former President Donald Trump sent out a statement Monday after testifying in a lawsuit related to demonstrations outside of Trump Tower in September 2015, when he was first running for president.

'The Klu Klux Klan dressed protester case should have never been brought as the plaintiffs have no one to blame but themselves,' Trump said. 'Rather than protest peacefully, the plaintiffs intentionally sought to rile up a crowd by blocking the entrance to Trump Tower on 5th Avenue, in the middle of the day, wearing Klu Klux Klan robes and hoods.'

A group of Mexican protestors are alleging they were assaulted outside of Trump Tower by security guards. They were protesting Trump's comments on Latin American immigrants as he ran for president. Several demonstrators wore the white hoods of the KKK, while holding a sign that said 'Make America Racist Again.'

Trump taped a deposition Monday inside Trump Tower.

'After years of litigation, I was pleased to have had the opportunity to tell my side of this ridiculous story - Just one more example of baseless harassment of your favorite President,' Trump said.

Former President Donald Trump leaves Trump Tower in New York Monday after filming a deposition for a lawsuit involving protesters outside of the Manhattan building in September 2015

'The Klu Klux Klan dressed protester case should have never been brought as the plaintiffs have no one to blame but themselves,' Trump said in a statement Monday after delivering his testimony

A demonstrator from Mexico stands outside of Trump Tower in New York on September 3, 2015. The protest took place after Trump made disparaging comments about Mexicans in the opening weeks of his presidential campaign

He said that prior to Monday's testimony, the court had dismissed 'almost all of the plaintiff's claims - except for a baseless claim for injuries they never suffered, and the temporary loss of a worthless cardboard sign which was soon thereafter returned to them.'

The lawsuit names several defendants including Trump, his campaign and his former head of security Keith Schiller.

'When security tried to deescalate the situation, they were unfortunately met with taunts and violence from the plaintiffs themselves,' Trump claimed in his Monday statement.

The protesters claim in the lawsuit that Trump's security guards assaulted them and infringed on their Freedom of Speech in peacefully demonstrating.

The plaintiffs also allege that Schiller hit Efrain Galicia, one of the protesters, in the head.

It also claims he tried to take away a sign reading: 'Trump: Make America Racist Again.'

Trump's former director of security and longtime bodyguard Keith Schiller (right) reaches for protester Efrain Galicia (center in a blue shirt) on September 3, 2015. The cardboard 'Make America Racist Again' sign also appears to be in the picture

Images from outside Trump Tower that day show Schiller in a physical tussle with Galicia. The plaintiffs are alleging Trump's security guards assaulted them and infringed on their First Amendment freedoms

Several images from that day in New York shows Schiller and Galicia in a tussle.

The protest in question happened in September 2015 after then-candidate Trump made a blanket statement claiming Mexican nationals who illegally cross into the U.S. are criminals and rapists.

This was the height of Trump promoting his future administration's hard-line illegal immigration policies, including building the southern border wall.

The four men of Mexican descent who were protesting outside Trump Tower were wearing Ku Klux Klan suits, according to The Washington Post.

However, the image of Galicia does not show him wearing the white robed garb.

The men say in their lawsuit that Trump's security guards emerged from the building during their protest, grabbed their signs and pushed them before hitting Galicia over the head.

Here Schiller is shown conversing with Galicia before it got physical

The former president said in a 2016 affidavit he had no knowledge of the altercation and was not directly involved in hiring security personnel.

His attorney had tried to get him out of testifying, but a judge decided his testimony was 'indispensable.'

Trump is in the midst of at least 10 civil lawsuits.

Trump's tax filings and businesses are under investigation by district attorneys in Manhattan and New York State.

He is also facing another potential deposition by the end of 2021 in relation to a defamation lawsuit filed by Summer Zervos, a former 'Apprentice' contestant.

Zervos alleges Trump sexually assaulted her at the Beverly Hills Hotel in 2007 and claims she was defamed when he denied the alleged assault during his campaign for president.

Elle columnist E. Jean Carroll is also suing Trump for defamation after he accused her of lying about an allegation of a rape during the 1990s in a dressing room at Bergdorf Goodman.

Meanwhile, Trump and his children Eric, Don Jr. and Ivanka are also being sued in the same courthouse by a group who claims that the family convinced them to make bad investments in businesses they had a stake in.

The lawsuit alleges Trump did not disclose he was being paid millions to promote the companies.
The U.S. special envoy for Afghanistan is stepping down following the chaotic American withdrawal from the country, the State Department said Monday.

Zalmay Khalilzad will leave the post this week after more than three years on the job under both the Trump and Biden administrations.

The State Department's inspector general also said Monday that the office would be opening a series of investigations into the U.S.'s frenzied withdrawal from Afghanistan, NBC News said.

Special Representative for Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad is stepping down from his post, the State Department said Monday

Afghans gather at the government passport office which re-opened after the Taliban announced they would be issuing a backlog of applications approved by the previous administration in Kabul on Sunday

Khalilzad had been criticized for not pressing the Taliban hard enough in peace talks begun while Donald Trump was president but Secretary of State Antony Blinken thanked him for his work.

'I extend my gratitude for his decades of service to the American people,' Blinken said of Khalilzad, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and Afghanistan.

Khalilzad had initially planned to leave the job in May after Biden's announcement that the U.S. withdrawal would be completed before the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks in September.

However, he was asked to stay on and did so.

Khalilzad had served as the special envoy for Afghan reconciliation under both the Trump and Biden administrations since September 2018, when the-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo brought him on board to lead negotiations with the Taliban and the Afghan government.

An Afghan native, Khalilzad was unsuccessful in getting the two sides together to forge a power-sharing deal but he did negotiate a U.S. agreement with the Taliban in February 2020 that ultimately led to the end of Americas longest-running war.

The agreement with the Taliban served as the template for the Biden administration's withdrawal of all U.S. forces from Afghanistan, which many believe was conducted too hastily and without enough planning.

Thousands of Afghan citizens who worked for U.S. forces there over the past two decades were left behind in the rush to leave as were hundred of American citizens and legal residents.

President Joe Biden and his aides frequently said the agreement that Khalilzad negotiated tied their hands when it came to the pullout and led to the sudden takeover of the country by the Taliban, although administration critics noted that Biden had abandoned the 'conditions-based' requirements for a complete U.S. withdrawal.

In interviews and in his resignation letter described to The AP, Khalilzad noted that the agreement he negotiated had conditioned the final withdrawal of US forces to the Taliban entering serious peace talks with the Afghan government.

He also lamented that those negotiations and consequently the withdrawal had not gone as planned.

Despite the criticism, Khalilzad remained on the job, although he skipped the first high-level post-withdrawal U.S.-Taliban meeting in Doha, Qatar earlier this month, prompting speculation he was on his way out.

Khalilzad will be replaced by his deputy Thomas West, who led the U.S. delegation to that last round of talks in Doha.

However, the U.S. will not be sending a representative to a Russia-hosted conference on Afghanistan this week, the State Department said.

Speaking before Blinken's announcement of Khalilzad's departure, department spokesman Ned Price cited 'logistics' as the reason the U.S. would not participate in the Moscow talks.

Khalilzad said in his resignation letter that after leaving government service he would continue to work on behalf of the Afghan people and would offer his thoughts and advice on what went wrong in Afghanistan and the path forward.
A picturesque national park with white sand beaches and all of Australia's most famous wildlife on show is preparing to re-open its much-loved camping facilities after enduring several forced closures as a result of Covid - just in time for visitors during the Christmas holidays.

Just a three-hour drive south of Sydney's CBD, Booderee National Park will open its campgrounds to all NSW and ACT residents on November 1 after the ACT authorised travel to and from the country's most populated state on Thursday.

The park closed on December 19, 2019, for more than a month when NSW battled its worst bushfire season on record before sporadically closing and opening throughout 2020 and 2021 in line with Covid travel restrictions.

While some patrons have been allowed to enjoy the many hiking trails at Booderee the camping areas have only been open for a short six-month stint over the past two years.

Despite being located on the NSW coast and surrounded by the Shoalhaven LGA, Booderee actually makes up three-quarters of Jervis Bay Territory, which was surrendered by the NSW government in 1915 to the Commonwealth Government so its landlocked ACT residents would have access to the sea.

Just a three-hour drive south of Sydney's CBD, Booderee National Park will open its well-loved camping facilities to all NSW residents on November 1 (Murrays Beach pictured)

A slice of paradise: The park closed on December 19, 2019, for more than a month when NSW battled its worst bushfire season on record before sporadically closing and opening throughout 2020 and 2021 in line with Covid travel restrictions (Murrays Beach pictured)

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet will allow regional travel to travel-hungry Sydneysiders from November 1 but it was the ACT government's decision whether Booderee would be permitted to welcome those guests with open arms.

At the top of the park's website a yellow banner signals the good news: 'Booderee National Park will re-open to day visitors from the Shoalhaven LGA only from Monday October 18. Camping at Booderee National Park will recommence from November 1 with bookings available from October 18.'

Yesterday hundreds of in-the-know NSW travellers booked accommodation - and the announcement today from the ACT will only hasten others to do the same.

Within the grounds Bristol Point and Green Patch campgrounds are taking bookings from November 1 right up until the week of December 16.

HOW TO BOOK FOR BOODEREE: Booderee is home to one of Australia's most prized stretches of sand - Murrays Beach Within the grounds Bristol Point and Green Patch campgrounds are taking bookings from November 1 right up until the week of December 16. One night's stay varies in price depending on whether it's a weekday - which is $36 for two people - or a weekend - which is $51 for two people - and up to five people can stay on a site. Booderee is home to one of Australia's most prized stretches of sand - Murrays Beach - but the area is also used for fishing, diving, boating and whale watching. Advertisement

Yesterday hundreds of in-the-know NSW travellers booked accommodation - and the announcement today from the ACT will only hasten others to do the same (Murrays Beach pictured)

One night's stay varies in price depending on whether it's a weekday - which is $36 for two people - or a weekend - which is $51 for two people - and up to five people can stay on a site.

Booderee is home to one of Australia's most prized stretches of sand - Murrays Beach - but the area is also used for fishing, diving, boating and whale watching.

Amenities are bountiful with hot showers, BBQs and toilets aplenty within the park, making it an easier stay when you've got the family in tow.

While NSW lockdown ended on October 11 with 70 per cent of the state fully-vaccinated from Covid, the ACT waited until Thursday October 14 to relax its stay-at-home orders, with both regions excited to bolster the crippling tourism industry in places like Booderee.

On Tuesday the ACT recorded 24 locally-acquired Covid cases, with 18 people in hospital and 10 in intensive care.

While NSW lockdown ended on October 11 with 70 per cent of the state fully-vaccinated from Covid, the ACT waited until Thursday October 14 to relax its stay-at-home orders

The ACT will scrap quarantine requirements for residents returning from NSW from November 1 in light of the vaccination milestone.

Fully vaccinated international arrivals will also be exempt from quarantine requirements from the same date to align with NSW.

The reopening of non-essential retail in the ACT has also been brought forward to October 22, after the territory eclipsed the 80 per cent double dose threshold on Tuesday.

Density limits of one person per four square metres will be in place.

Masks will not be mandatory outdoors from October 29.

Booderee is home to one of Australia's most prized stretches of sand - Murrays Beach - but the area is also used for fishing, diving, boating and whale watching

But some Canberrans will lose hundreds of dollars in income support payments over the next fortnight after the ACT passed the 80 per cent milestone.

The federal government will begin to taper the disaster payments after it removed the territory from its Covid-19 hotspot list.

The maximum payment of $750 a week will reduce to $450 and then to $320 before ending in two weeks.

The Commonwealth will continue its 50 per cent cost-sharing arrangement for Covid-19 related impacts on hospital and state public health authorities with all states and territories.
A US TV reporter accused by Russia of flirting with President Putin during an interview as a distraction tactic was trying to lead him on, a body language expert has told MailOnline.

Darren Stanton, who has been reading body language for 15 years, said 39-year-old CNBC correspondent Hadley Gamble was using multiple flirtation tactics on 69-year-old Putin when they met last week at an energy conference in Moscow.

It comes after after Russian TV news host Vladimir Solovyov showed footage of the meeting between Gamble and Putin on his weekly news show, suggesting she had 'positioned herself as a sex object'.

Mr Stanton agreed with the analysis, saying that - out of ten classic signs of female flirting - he was able to identify 'seven or eight' being displayed by Gamble.

Those included 'hair twizzling', playing with her shoes, 'floating gestures' with feet circling in the air, and 'dilated pupils' which he said is a sign of genuine rather than feigned happiness.

'It's quite revealing,' Mr Stanton said.

A Russian state TV channel has launched an extraordinary attack on CNBC presenter Hadley Gamble for allegedly attempting to distract Vladimir Putin by 'positioning herself as a sex object'

On Sunday, she shared a picture of a cake featuring a screen-print of Putin's face. Gamble captioned the photo: 'I have the best friends'

Gamble posted a photo to her Instagram account on Thursday making light of the situation. She captioned it: 'My best angle' and included a laughing emoji and #feminism.

She also posted a photo of the newspaper with a digitally drawn arrow pointing at her legs

But, he added that it was not clear from the footage whether this was part of an elaborate distraction tactic or simply from genuine attraction.

Mr Stanton did point out that Putin was not reciprocating the gestures - suggesting that Gamble's attempts at flirting had little effect on him.

'President Putin remained consistent in his Body language and maintained what we call his baseline gestures,' Mr Stanton said.

'We see President Putin adopting the same postures and gestures that he has done with other world leaders like Donald Trump, Boris Johnson and Angela Merkel.

'I'm not quite sure if this is part of some elaborate strategy to draw President Putins attention or focus, but clearly it did not work.'

For her part, Gamble has laughed off the 'scandal' - showing off a picture of a cake her friends made for her with Putin's face on top and a caption that says 'too beautiful'.

Posting the image to her Instagram page, she wrote 'I have the best friends'. She also posted another image of Russian newspaper Kommersant which featured a picture of her speaking with Putin on the front page.

Daily Beast columnist Julia Davis jumped to Gamble's defense when Kiselyov's accusations made headlines.

'The state media's ridiculous assault on a U.S. journalist's appearance was merely a smokescreen for what truly drew the ire of the pro-Kremlin media: it wasn't Hadley Gamble's dress or her legs, but her questions,' Davis tweeted.

The columnist also alleged that the network's response to Gamble's outfit was hypocritical, citing another recent instance where they slammed American diplomat Victoria Nuland for wearing a pantsuit.

'What's especially comical is that the Russians are criticizing Victoria Nuland for 'insulting Russia' by not wearing a skirt or a dress, and Hadley Gamble for wearing one they didn't like,' she wrote.

Russian TV presenter Dmitry Kiselyov said Gamble 'licked her lips, rolling out her tongue...' during her interview with Putin

The leg footage was seen by state TV as an unsuccessful bid to throw the 69-year-old Vladimir Putin off guard

Russian media has attacked Gamble (left) for allegedly trying to distract Putin with her body

Hadley Gamble in a photo posted to her Instagram account during a trip to Turkey in July 2020

CNBC's Middle East anchor Hadley Gamble at the new Middle East Headquarters Abu Dhabi Global Market

Body language expert Judi James's verdict on Gamble Body language expert Judi James argues that CNBC's Hadley Gamble's body language during the interview with President Vladimir Putin is 'hilarious and pretty blatant'. She says rather than picking one signal to attract attention, Gamble 'seems to be using the whole repertoire, many of them at the same time'. Here, she tells MailOnline a dozen of them: 1) The dipped head and raised eyes. This is both a coy and a bold statement, especially accompanied by the kind of eye-smile she is flashing at Putin. 2) The head tilt and one raised eyebrow. A non-verbal challenge that looks fun and flirty. 3) The eye-brow flash. A quick raise and drop of the eyebrows, which is a gesture that signals appreciation of what you are seeing. 4) The rolling and weaving of the pen. Freud might have an analytical reason for this that is possibly phallic in nature! 5) The hair-preen. Preening can be a form of peacocking to suggest interest in someone. It can also be an excuse to pit-bare to throw out another small power challenge. 6) The finger close to touching the lips. Drawing attention to the mouth in a very unsubtle way. 7) Poking the tongue. This isn't even subtle, the tongue pokes out straight to front to suggest licking the lips in enjoyment. 8) Crossing the legs and raising the top one. Which would clearly seem to show bare thigh. 9) Holding the upper leg out straight towards the other person. This is so unsubtle I haven't even seen it in guides to flirtatious body language but it deserves a heading all of its own. 10) The foot point. All ancient body language flirt manuals cite the act of pointing your foot in someone's direction as signaling attraction. This point is so high and so emphatic it looks like she's announcing her selection. Her foot even begins to swing at one point. 11) The crossing and re-crossing of the legs. We can see different legs take top position in this video, meaning the leg cross and un-cross has occurred which at the very least is a method of showing off more of those bare legs. 12) The nude shoes with the killer heels will have made her legs look even longer and eye-catching. Advertisement

David Sheppard, energy editor at the Financial Times, tweeted that Putin telling Gamble she is 'a beautiful woman but that she's not listening to what he says' was 'as grim as it sounds.'

He was met with negativity from users who accused Gamble of blatantly ignoring the Russian leader and said: 'In a world short of testosterone and long feminism - political correctness may be in vogue.

'Isn't it disrespectful if you do not listen to your interviewee's detailed response nor acknowledge it - but push thru a pre-thought narrative?'

Sheppard slammed the user, saying: 'You think it's legitimate to lead off an answer talking about a journalist's looks? It's patronising, it's sexist and it's not on.

'It's a weak man who hides behind testosterone as an excuse for inappropriate behaviour. Would he have said the same to a male journalist? No.'

Others took a more sarcastic approach when issuing support for Gamble.

'I never thought I'd have to say this but The next time you go to Russia @_HadleyGamble, pack the Abaya,' wrote Gulf-based journalist and marketing communications executive Alex Malouf.

'Kremlin press pool journalist is very interested in @_HadleyGamble's shoes.

'One does not simply stretch her heels at Dear Leader,' echoed Kevin Rothrock, managing editor at the Meduza.

However, some social media users agreed with the Kremlin-run network.

'Hadley Gamble is one of the finest financial journalists in any media.

'The fact that she uses sex appeal as part of the armoury does not diminish the fact she can get Putin to answer as openly as he does anywhere,' wrote Andrew Matthews.

'Kisel had been away for a long time, this time he exposed the American journalist Hadley Gamble, who tried to seduce Pynya during an interview,' argued Oleg But.

'Decoding level of Alex Leslie, and maybe even higher.'

Body language expert Judi James said Gamble's body language shown in the footage is 'hilarious and pretty blatant.'

James told MailOnline: It's not unknown for both male and female interviewers to fake-flirt with their 'prey' in a bid to either distract them or to encourage them to be off their guard when they're answering questions.

'Flirting can look both flattering and intimate and suggest an air of collusion, making the interviewee feel they can trust the other person and be more open with them.

'It can also lead to boasting, which is where a lot of politicians in particular tend to get caught out, blurting more than they should do as their ego gets both stroked and stoked.'

She added: 'These signals are anything but subtle though.

'This woman appears to have devoured the chapter on flirting from some body language guide to love and sex from the early 1970's.

'Far from picking one signal to attract attention she seems to be using the entire repertoire, many of them at the same time.'

The news outlet and the Russian president are facing criticism for their commentary

However, some people took to social media to issue their support for the Kremlin-run network

However, both the news outlet and Putin are facing criticism on social media for their commentary on Gamble (pictured)

Hadley Gamble was accused by Russian media of using her legs to distract Putin

Gamble at the new Middle East Headquarters Abu Dhabi Global Market in 2018 during an interview

Hadley Gamble, CNBC News Anchor and International Correspondent on a horseback in St Petersburg, Russia, during St Petersburg Forum of Economics in June 2021

Meanwhile, body language expert Judi James said Gamble's body language shown in the footage is 'hilarious and pretty blatant.' Pictured: Gamble in a vineyard

In the Russian media report, Kiselyov said: 'It feels like Hadley was preparing really hard for the meeting with Putin.

'Like she was getting ready for the catwalk.'

He claimed she had 'shed a couple of kilograms' for the energy session and 'squeezed herself into a little black dress,' puffing up her 'loose hair'.

A gibe that she had seemed 'chubbier' in earlier Instagram pictures was edited out of a later version of the report.

To 'visually elongate her legs she opted for a pair of nude Louboutins with a 12-centimetre-high heel,', said 67-year-old Kiselyov.

Designer Christian Louboutin had said such shoes 'must look good on a naked woman... they add this sublime sexuality,' he claimed.

The Kremlin-run TV channel claimed that Gamble 'caked her legs in oily shimmer' and looked 'ready for the catwalk' while appearing as a moderator at an energy forum session in Moscow

Kiselyov claimed Gamble had 'shed a couple of kilograms' for the energy session and 'squeezed herself into a little black dress', puffing up her 'loose hair'

On the Rossiya 1 news channel, presenter Dmitry Kiselyov - known as Putin's 'mouthpiece' and 'propagandist-in-chief'  told viewers: 'To summarise, Hadley behaved daringly, openly positioning herself as a sex object, without any fear of being criticised by feminists'

The Russian presenter continued: 'Hadley Gamble preferred to show up to the president without stockings, and her arms visibly bare.'

This was 'pretty questionable,' he said.

'About the legs they were caked in oily shimmer. Hadley's body language worked at full steam... Whatever was she doing with her legs?'

This was not appropriate for work, he suggested.

'Hadley constantly touched her hair - a gesture universally seen as sex appeal (and) made her eyes and licked her lips, rolling out her tongue'

The presenter continued: 'Hadley constantly touched her hair - a gesture universally seen as sex appeal (and) made her eyes and licked her lips, rolling out her tongue'

Vladimir Solovyov (right), a Putin 'propagandist', has used his Rossiya 1 news channel show to focus on previously unseen moments in which he claims Hadley attempts to 'distract' the Russian leader. Pictured: in 2013 after being awarded by President Putin for 'outstanding journalism'

Gamble pictured whilst on holiday in a backless dress

In the energy session Putin had claimed the 'beautiful' and 'pretty' American TV interviewer was not listening to him on gas exports to Europe.

She immediately claimed she was listening.

But Putin said: 'Beautiful woman, pretty, I'm telling her one thing. She instantly tells me the opposite as if she didn't hear what I said. Well, I'll repeat it for you once again'

At this point, Gamble interrupted and told the Russian president she had 'heard' him, but claimed the Russians took 'long enough' to address the gas supply issue.

He continued: 'Listen, you've just said 'You don't supply gas to Europe through pipelines.'

'You are being misled. We are increasing supplies to Europe.'

The Russian media said Putin had used the reference to her looks to push back against Gamble, but added that calling her 'beautiful' was a 'compliment.'

Presenter Dmitry Kiselyov (second from the left) seen between President Putin and editor-in-chief of Russia Today Margarita Simonyan during Vladimir Putin's visit to MIA RIA Novosti in 2016

The Russian president also accused CNBC's journalist Hadley Gamble of acting as if she 'didn't hear' what he said after she questioned his denial that Russia had withheld gas from Europe

In the energy session Putin had claimed the 'beautiful' and 'pretty' American TV interviewer was not listening to him on gas exports to Europe

The Russian media said Putin had used the reference to her looks to push back against Gamble, but added that calling her 'beautiful' was a 'compliment'

Putin also claimed the US and other suppliers to Europe had reduced gas flows.

Putin dismissed suggestions he is exploiting the energy crisis to get the Nord Steam 2 pipeline approved as 'politically motivated blather' - though added that opening the pipe will 'significantly decrease' gas prices.

One of Russia's main routes for pumping gas into Europe currently runs through Ukraine, which makes about $1 billion per year in fees for maintaining the line.

The Nord Stream 2 pipeline would bypass that route by going direct to Germany, depriving Ukraine of the money.

The move would also hurt Poland, which sits along another major gas route - a move observers say would punish the two countries for allying closely with Europe.
Doctors have launched a revolt against Sajid Javid's orders for them to see more patients face to face, with hundreds of GPs told to 'ignore' the guidelines.

Practices serving millions of patients across southern England have been advised 'not to participate' in plans to improve access to GPs.

Last week the Health Secretary announced plans for patients to have the right to demand a face-to-face appointment with their family doctor. But GP practices in Surrey, Sussex and south-west London have been told they should not 'engage or respond' with the 'completely unrealistic' measures.

A letter from the head of the local medical committee (LMC) which represents the area's GPs, said it 'advises all practices not to participate in any aspect of these proposals'. It claimed the Government's 250million support package aimed at helping patients was 'politically motivated' and 'panders to popular campaigns in sections of the Press'.

Last week the Health Secretary announced plans for patients to have the right to demand a face-to-face appointment with their family doctor

Last night patient campaigners condemned the 'arrogant' move and said the Government 'cannot allow this sort of anarchy to prevail'. There are fears the revolt could now spread to GP surgeries in other parts of the country, causing misery for millions desperate for an in-person appointment.

Last night the British Medical Association (BMA) said it was 'deeply unhappy' with the Government's proposals and was 'deciding what next steps to take'.

The Daily Mail has been campaigning for a return to face-to-face appointments as default. Before the pandemic 80 per cent of consultations were in person, but this has now plummeted to just 57 per cent. Last week the Government unveiled a nine-point plan to ensure all patients could see a doctor face-to-face in a major victory for our campaign.

GPs were told they can only deny in-person consultations if there are good clinical reasons and practices were given 250million of extra cash to take on more staff.

Under new 'transparency' rules, data showing the level of appointments offered by individual GP practices will also be published.

Practices which fail to improve access for patients will be 'named and shamed' and face direct intervention. But the plans have been met with fierce opposition from doctors' unions.

Yesterday the row escalated as Surrey and Sussex LMCs, an organisation representing 3,300 GPs in East Sussex, Surrey, West Sussex, Kingston, Richmond and Croydon, indicated doctors should simply ignore the new guidance.The letter from its chief executive Dr Julius Parker, seen by Pulse magazine, advised practices not to engage with NHS England's 'disastrous' plan.

It said: 'At this point the LMC does not recommend practices engage with this initiative or respond to it. It has no contractual standing and there is no requirement to do so.'

The letter added: 'GPs do have a choice none of these proposals are written into your contract and on none of these targets can your practices be performance managed. You can, and I am sure you will wish to, ignore any attempts to do so.'

The LMC represents around 350 GP practices serving a population of more than three million. Responding to the letter, Dennis Reed, from campaign group Silver Voices, said: 'The Government needs to nip this in the bud. It can't allow this sort of anarchy to prevail. These doctors have unnecessarily upped the ante  they need to sit down with the Government and seek a compromise.

'If they refuse to accept the measures voluntarily then we will have to demand a legal right for face-to-face appointments. This demonstrates a level of arrogance from GPs, who are ignoring patients' real concerns.'

Dr Richard Vautrey, chairman of the BMA's GP committee, said: 'GPs have already made clear their deep unhappiness about the plan that offers no real substance to bring an end to the crisis and which could make matters worse for patients.

The Daily Mail has been campaigning for a return to face-to-face appointments as default. Before the pandemic 80 per cent of consultations were in person, but this has now plummeted to just 57 per cent (File image)

'It is important that the BMA listens to the views of GPs in England  which we are currently doing  before deciding what next steps the association might want to take.' An NHS spokesman said: 'A comprehensive 250million winter package has been made available to improve access for patients and support general practice to deliver appointments during what is likely to be a difficult winter for the whole of the NHS.

'Some patients have experienced challenges and we expect primary care to engage with how they can use the resources being made available to maximise the access for patients over winter.'

Separately, campaigners yesterday warned that patients seeking a GP appointment are often diverted to see a pharmacist, physio or nurse instead.

Nearly half of GP appointments are no longer with an actual doctor, NHS England figures show.

In some parts of the country especially those suffering from a shortage of GPs  just one in three appointments at practices are with a doctor.
A half cabin motor boat with three people on board has gone missing in Bass Strait.

The yellow and white 17-foot Caribbean set off at noon on Monday from Wynyard Boat Ramp for a three- to four-hour trip, Tasmania Police say.

Police received a call about 5.30pm from a family member of one of two men and one woman on board to raise the alarm when it did not return.

Three people have gone missing in the Bass Strait on a half cabin motor boat after they left Wynyard Boat Ramp on Monday (pictured left, the boat and right Thomas Courto, one of three missing)

The missing have been named by police as Isaiah Dixon from Wynyard, Thomas Courto from West Ulverstone and Bree-Anna Thomas from the Burnie-Wynyard area.

On-water search and rescue teams and an aircraft, supported by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, are scouring Bass Strait between Wynyard and Rocky Cape off the state's northern coastline.

Police want to speak to anyone who had contact with any of the passengers since 3pm on Monday or who knows where they were heading.
Beth Keith, a UNC spokesperson, said the ruling 'makes clear the university's holistic admissions approach is lawful.'

Blum in a statement vowed to appeal the ruling to a federal appeals court and potentially to the Supreme Court, saying documents and data presented at trial 'revealed UNC's systematic discrimination against non-minority applicants.'

His group similarly accused Harvard of discriminating against Asian-Americans and engaging in impermissible 'racial balancing.'

US District Judge Allison D. Burroughs, however, ruled that Harvard's admissions process is 'not perfect' but passes constitutional muster.

She said there is 'no evidence of any racial animus whatsoever' and no evidence that any admission decision was 'negatively affected by Asian American identity'.

Her decision, which came nearly a year after a three-week trial that began in October 2018, closed the first round in the 2014 lawsuit that reignited debate over affirmative action.

It brought temporary relief to other universities that consider race as a way to ensure campus diversity, but it also sets the stage for a prolonged battle that some experts predict will itself go to the US Supreme Court.

In the case at Harvard, the plaintiffs argued that Asian Americans were held to a higher standard in admissions, amounting to an 'Asian penalty,' while the school gave preference to black and Hispanic students with poorer grades.

A 2013 internal report at Harvard found that if the school weighed applicants on academics alone, 43 per cent of the admitted class would be Asian American, while in reality, it was 19 per cent.

But Harvard said the report was only meant to be 'exploratory' and was based on incomplete data.

Burroughs said there is no evidence that any admission decision was 'negatively affected by Asian American identity'. She said there is 'no evidence of any racial animus whatsoever' and no evidence that any admission decision was 'negatively affected by Asian American identity'

US District Judge Allison D. Burroughs ruled that Harvard's admissions process is 'not perfect' but passes constitutional muster

Much of the lawsuit centered on a subjective 'personal rating' that Harvard assigns to applicants.

The suit argued that Asian Americans consistently receive lower personal ratings because of racial bias, leading many to be rejected despite strong academic records.

The group built its case around a statistical analysis of six years of Harvard admissions data.

It found that Asian Americans had the lowest personal ratings and the lowest admission rates, while black and Hispanic fared far better in both areas.

Harvard countered with its own analysis finding no evidence of bias.

During the trial, the dean of admissions offered possible reasons to explain the low personal rating for Asian Americans, saying they may come with weaker letters of recommendation.

Like many elite colleges, Harvard acknowledges it considers race in admissions as a way to boost diversity but says it is only one of many factors in deciding which applicants to admit. Some states ban consideration of race in admissions.

The Supreme Court last examined affirmative action in 2016 and upheld the practice at the University of Texas.

The judge's decision, which came nearly a year after a three-week trial that began in October 2018, closes the first round in the 2014 lawsuit that reignited debate over affirmative action. Harvard graduates are see during May's commencement

That decision was written by Justice Anthony Kennedy, who has since retired.

The two justices appointed by President Donald Trump, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, are generally more conservative than Kennedy but do not have extensive records on affirmative action.

The trial offered a rare glimpse into Harvard's secretive admissions process, including the ways it favors wealth and privilege.

In a series of emails released in the case, Harvard officials openly discussed the fundraising prospects of applicants.

Harvard has called Students for Fair Admission a political group with no real interest in helping Asian Americans.

Instead, its critics say, the organization's real goal is to end affirmative action altogether. Blum is a legal strategist who has orchestrated lawsuits to ban it at other colleges.

The group says it has more than 20,000 members, including one Asian American who was unfairly rejected in 2014, but none have come forward publicly.

During the trial, no students testified that they faced discrimination by Harvard.

The organization's leaders also include Abigail Fisher, who sued the University of Texas in the case that went to the Supreme Court in 2016.

Fisher said she was rejected because she is white. In a 4-3 decision, the court upheld the school's use of race.

Supreme Court decisions have allowed colleges to consider race as long as it is 'narrowly tailored' to promote diversity and is just one factor among many. Racial quotas have been ruled unconstitutional.

The Trump administration has fought affirmative action at several schools. In August 2018, the Justice Department issued a statement siding with Students for Fair Admissions, accusing Harvard of 'outright racial balancing.' It is also investigating the use of race at Yale.
A 35-year-old man arrested for raping a woman on board a public train in northeast Philadelphia as other passengers watched and appeared to film the attack has told police the encounter was consensual - despite the woman saying she had never met him before.

Fiston Ngoy, who gave his address as a homeless shelter in Philadelphia, was seen on surveillance footage sexually assaulting a woman on Wednesday night.

The attack happened on board a Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) train towards the town of Upper Darby.

Ngoy told police that he recognized the woman and went over to speak to her, according to the affidavit of probable cause for his arrest, obtained by The Philadelphia Inquirer.

But she said that she had never seen Ngoy before he sat next to her, and then attacked her.

Fiston Ngoy was arrested for raping and assault a woman aboard a Pennsylvania Transportation Authority train on Wednesday night

The alleged victim told police she remembered getting on the train and then nothing until the cops pulled her assailant off her. She said she had had several beers after work, and got on the wrong train when Ngoy approached her.

She repeatedly pushed Ngoy away, as he attempted to touch her and at one point grabbed her breast, the video showed.

'Throughout this time, the victim is obviously struggling with keeping him off of her,' investigators wrote in the affidavit.

Upper Darby Police Superintendent Timothy Bernhardt said that while there were other people on the train, it was ultimately a SEPTA employee who made the call to 911, which allowed officers to arrest Ngoy on the spot.

'It's disturbing that there were definitely people on the L, and no one intervened or did anything to help this woman out,' Bernhardt told NBC 10.

Other passengers reacted by getting out their smartphones and pointing them at the pair, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

'I have no words for it. I just can't imagine seeing what you were seeing through your own eyes and seeing what this woman was going through that no one would step in and help her.'

Upper Darby Police Superintendent Timothy Bernhardt said it was disturbing that no passengers called 911 as they witnessed the victim being raped

The victim was transported to a nearby hospital, where she was treated for her injuries following the assault.

The Upper Darby Police Department is reviewing the footage of the attack to determine who was there in order to interview them as witnesses.

SEPTA issued a statement following the assault, calling it a 'horrific act.'

The assault took place in Northeast Philadelphia aboard a SEPTA train

'The assault was observed by a SEPTA employee, who called 911, enabling SEPTA officers to respond immediately and apprehend the suspect in the act,' said SEPTA spokesman Andrew Busch.

'There were other people on the train who witnessed this horrific act, and it may have been stopped sooner if a rider called 911.

'SEPTA urges anyone who observes a crime being committed or any dangerous situation occurring to report it. Anyone witnessing an emergency should immediately call 911.'

Ngoy was charged with rape and assault.

He remains in jail unable to post bail, NBC 10 reports.
She has never been shy about making her voice heard on the environment.

And now it has emerged that green campaigner Greta Thunberg is also happy to raise it in a more musical manner.

A video has been posted online showing 18-year-old Miss Thunberg singing as she launched a global series of concerts highlighting climate change on Saturday, belting out Rick Astley's 1980s hit Never Gonna Give You Up.

She has never been shy about making her voice heard on the environment. And now it has emerged that green campaigner Greta Thunberg is also happy to raise it in a more musical manner

A video has been posted online showing 18-year-old Miss Thunberg singing as she launched a global series of concerts highlighting climate change on Saturday, belting out Rick Astley's 1980s hit Never Gonna Give You Up

The Swedish climate activist took to the stage in Stockholm along with Fridays for Future's Andreas Magnusson to perform the hit song

The Swedish climate activist took to the stage in Stockholm along with Fridays for Future's Andreas Magnusson to perform the hit song.

The event was the first in a series of 19 global concerts called Climate Live 2021, which aim to raise awareness and put pressure on world leaders ahead of Cop26, the global climate conference taking part in Glasgow in November.

Miss Thunberg recently chastised Britain and other nations for 'empty words and promises', accusing them of delivering too much 'blah blah blah' instead of offering any real action.

Miss Thunberg recently chastised Britain and other nations for 'empty words and promises', accusing them of delivering too much 'blah blah blah' instead of offering any real action

Video shows the green campaigner speaking to the crowd before reading out the lyrics: 'We're no strangers to love'

At this point, another activist joined Miss Thunberg on stage, and Astley's hit played over the speaker while they sang along

Video shows the green campaigner speaking to the crowd before reading out the lyrics: 'We're no strangers to love'.

At this point, another activist joined Miss Thunberg on stage, and Astley's hit played over the speaker while they sang along.

Video footage of the stunt was shared on Twitter by Astley himself, who praised the 18-year-old campaigner.

On his official Twitter account, Astley wrote: 'Fantastic and Tack sa mycket! Rick x' In English, the latter phrase translates to: 'Thanks so much.'
Victorians who refuse to get vaccinated will be banned from pubs and events 'well into 2022', Daniel Andrews said on Tuesday.

NSW will give anti-vaxxers equal freedoms as the vaccinated on December 1, just eight weeks after the state's Covid-19 lockdown ended on October 11.

But Premier Andrews said his state will 'not be doing that' and will keep vaccine requirements in place indefinitely.

Victorians who refuse to get vaccinated will be banned from pubs and events 'well into 2022', Premier Daniel Andrews said on Tuesday

Hospitality venues will welcome back fully vaccinated diners from Friday (pictured a restaurant in Melbourne)

Asked when the unvaccinated will be able to go to pubs and stadiums, Mr Andrews said: 'I cannot put a day on it but it will not be when we reach 90 per cent.

'It will not be anytime soon. That is going to function for a period of time, well into 2022.'

He added: 'Why would you get the system going, have the thing up and running and then essentially pull all that down, all of the architecture that you've built, the culture that you've changed, why would you change that four or five weeks later? We will not be doing that.'

The Premier said he expects vaccine passports will still be in place for the Melbourne Grand Prix in April.

'I don't think there will be crowds at the Grand Prix made up of people who have not been double dosed,' Mr Andrews said.

'Please don't play that game of ''let's just wait them out and then we will be able to do everything we want to do and not got jabbed''.

'No, that will not be the case here and if you make that choice, it will be a very long wait and you won't outwait this virus.

'If you are not vaccinated, you will get it and you have every chance of becoming very unwell.'

The Premier said he expects vaccine passports will still be in place for the Melbourne Grand Prix in April. Pictured: The Grand Prix in Melbourne in 2019

Melburnians (pictured) will finally be released from lockdown at 11.59pm on Thursday

Mr Andrews also said when booster jabs are available next year then Victorians will have to prove they have been vaccinated three times to enjoy full freedoms.

As of Monday, 88.4 per cent of Victorians have had one dose and 66.7 per cent are fully vaccinated.

Victoria recorded 1,749 new local cases of Covid-19 and 11 deaths on Tuesday.

Melbourne will be released from lockdown at 11.59pm Thursday, the day Victoria is expected to reach the 70 per cent double-dose target.

The night curfew and 15km travel limit will be abolished, hospitality outlets can reopen for dining at restricted capacity while the staggered return to the classroom begins this Friday.

Residents can have up to 10 visitors at their homes while outdoor gathering limits will increase from 10 to 15.

Visitors to homes don't have to be fully vaccinated but is highly recommended by the state government and health officials. The same rule applies for outdoor gatherings.

The Premier praised Victorians for their 'mighty' effort to roll up their sleeves.

No other city in the world has more time in lockdown than Melbourne (pictured looking deserted on Sunday) during the pandemic

VICTORIA FAST-TRACKS ROADMAP Victoria's lockdown will end at 11.59pm Thursday with a raft of eased restrictions. * Reasons to leave home and curfew no longer in place * 10 people including dependents can visit a home each day * 15 people can gather outdoors * Pubs, clubs and entertainment venues can open to 20 fully vaccinated people indoors and 50 fully vaccinated people outdoors * Funerals and weddings allowed for 20 fully vaccinated indoors and 50 fully vaccinated outdoors * All students to return to school at least part-time * Hairdressing and beauty salons to open for up to five fully vaccinated people at a time. Advertisement

Meanwhile, the Premier has apologised for a 'typo' which made Melbourne entertainment venues think they would be able to open for customers indoors.

When roadmap changes were unveiled on Sunday, a document shared by Premier Daniel Andrews said pubs, clubs and entertainment venues would open to up to 20 double-dosed people from 11.59pm on Thursday.

But an updated version of document, published on the official Coronavirus Victoria website, notes only pubs and clubs are permitted to have patrons indoors, while entertainment venues can host up to 50 outdoors.

Mr Andrews confirmed the 'typo' was rectified within hours.

'That was corrected and again I apologise if there's any sense that a sector has been included that shouldn't have been, but it does not include entertainment venues,' he said on Tuesday.

'Entertainment venues will be covered by 80 per cent. I know that it's frustrating and everyone would like to be open at the one time.

'But we're not talking about a three-month gap between one milestone and the next. It is literally eight or nine days and then we can have everything open.'
Australian telcos are taking longer to resolve customer complaints, with most taking almost two weeks to complete, the communications watchdog says.

The Australian Communications and Media Authority found that while the number of complaints to telcos has fallen, the time taken to fix the issues has risen 49 per cent in two years.

A report from the authority said more than one million complaints were made to telcos in 2020/21, down from 1.7 million in 2018/19.

The industry watchdog said the time taken for companies to resolve issues raised by customers is 12.2 days, compared to 8.2 days two years ago.

The Australian Communications and Media Authority found more than one million complaints were made to telcos (pictured, a Telstra store in Melbourne) last financial year with the time taken to fix issues rising 49 per cent in two years.

Small operators were the wort performing when it came to on-time trouble shooting.

Authority member Fiona Cameron said the telco giants needed to do more to address customer issues.

'The time taken to resolve complaints is going in the wrong direction, and one million complaints a year is still far too many,' she said.

'With so many people working from home due to Covid-19 restrictions, it is more important than ever that telcos prioritise fixing problems, and we are looking to industry to improve in this area.'

The report found the number of unresolved complaints referred to the industry's ombudsman also rose.

The rate of of complaints being escalated to the telecommunications industry ombudsman increased from 7.8 per cent to 10.7 per cent in a two-year period.

Ms Cameron said smaller players in the industry were often not doing enough when handling complaint issues.

'Seven smaller telcos have absurdly high escalation rates, just above 50 per cent, which indicates that some complaints are not being recorded in the first place, and only being logged when escalated,' she said.

'This suggests that some telcos are not handling complaints at all well.'

Fiona Cameron said smaller players in the industry (pictured, an Optus store in Sydney) were the worst culprits and not resolving complaints soon enough

Data in the report was based on information from more than 30 of the country's top telcos.

The report comes in the wake of a group of coalition MPs backing a bill that would provide more accountability for the sector.

The bill would require customers to be left on hold for no more than five minutes, with bonuses for executives dependent on improvement to customer service.

Ms Cameron said the industry needed more accountability.

'We think it's time for every telco to make its complaints handling performance public and transparent,' she said.
The European Union risks collapse if it continues to 'blackmail' Poland, the country's Prime Minister has warned amid an escalating battle over the rule of law between Warsaw and Brussels.

In a letter to EU leaders, Poland's prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki accused the bloc of 'starving' and 'punishing' his country by withholding billions of euros in Covid recovery money following a row over sovereignty.

Earlier this month, Poland's Constitutional Court ruled that EU treaties were incompatible with the Polish constitution, putting Warsaw and Brussels on a full collision course.

On the eve of a speech to the European Parliament Morawiecki insisted Poland would remain a 'loyal member' of the EU but warned that the bloc risked becoming 'deprived of democratic control' if they did not protect the sovereignty of member states.

The European Union risks collapse if it continues to 'blackmail' Poland, the country's Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has warned amid an escalating battle over the rule of law between Warsaw and Brussels

Poland's populist right-wing government has been at odds with the EU for years over controversial judicial reforms.

The ruling by Poland's supreme court earlier this month fuelled talk of a potential 'Polexit', but Morawiecki says his government has no intention of following Britain's example and taking Poland out of the EU.

'I would like to reassure you that Poland remains a loyal member of the European Union,' he wrote in the letter.

However, Morawiecki warned against of a 'dangerous phenomenon that threatens the future of our Union', adding that 'we ought to be anxious'.

'I mean the gradual transformation of the Union into an entity that would cease to be an alliance of free, equal and sovereign states - and become one, centrally managed organism, governed by institutions deprived of democratic control.'

'If we do not stop this phenomenon, all will feel its negative effects. Today it may concern just one country - tomorrow, under a different pretext, another,' he said.

But he added that 'without imposing one's will on others, we can find a solution that will strengthen our European Union'.

Earlier this month, Poland's Constitutional Court (pictured) ruled that EU treaties were incompatible with the Polish constitution, putting Warsaw and Brussels on a full collision course

The letter comes in the wake of the ruling from Poland's Constitutional Court challenging the primacy of EU law.

The ruling was widely criticised by many EU members such as France and Germany but Hungary's nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban and far-right politicians across Europe defended it.

Analysts said it could be a first step towards Poland one day leaving the EU - a process that would require the government to issue a formal notification of its desire to quit.

The court stated that parts of the EU treaties were 'incompatible' with Poland's constitution and warned the EU's Court of Justice against interfering with the Polish judicial reforms wanted by the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party.

The EU says they undermine judicial independence and could roll back democratic reforms, while the Polish government says they are necessary to root out corruption in the judiciary.

In Morawiecki's letter, he said that the primacy of EU law was 'not unlimited' and that 'no sovereign state' could say otherwise.

'Today we are dealing with a very dangerous phenomenon whereby various European Union institutions usurp powers they do not have under the treaties and impose their will on member states,' he said.

'This is particularly evident today as financial tools are being used for such a purpose,' he added - a reference to new powers for the European Commission to withhold EU payouts if bloc norms on corruption and rule of law are seen as being threatened.

In a move sure to further raise tensions, Polish Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro urged his government on Monday to take legal action against Germany over what he said was a politicised system of choosing judges in the bloc's largest nation.

Ziobro, architect of Poland's judicial overhaul and leader of an arch-conservative junior partner in Morawiecki's government, has often complained of what he sees as the EU's unequal treatment of Poland.

'Since the EU is based on the equality of all states and citizens, it is necessary to check the situation in Germany, where the selection of judges to the counterpart of the Supreme Court is entirely political,' Ziobro told a news conference.

Ziobro said that while top court judges in Germany are selected by politicians, in Poland judges themselves are more responsible for the selection process. However, critics say that the body that appoints judges in Poland has come under political influence.

The German government's press office and a Polish government spokesman did not immediately reply to requests for comment.

Laurent Pech, professor of European law at Middlesex University, London, said references to the situation in Germany were 'irrelevant'.

'The references to the situation in Germany or elsewhere should be seen for what they are: to distract Polish citizens from the repeated violations of the Polish Constitution in order to create a de facto autocratic one-party system where judges and prosecutors can be punished at will.'

Poland's government says its judicial reforms are necessary to remove the vestiges of communist rule in the country.
Cleo Smith woke up in the middle of the night and asked her parents for a sip of water hours before she disappeared.

Police references to an 'interaction' between the four-year-old and her parents about 1.30am on Saturday had sparked intense public scrutiny and speculation it indicated something was wrong.

But Daily Mail Australia has confirmed the detective was referring to something as innocuous as 'asking for a sip of water' in the middle of the night, before she rolled over and went back to sleep.

'There is nothing to suggest anything suspicious occurred in that moment,' a police source said.

Cleo Smith woke up in the middle of the night and asked her parents for a sip of water hours before she disappeared

Police referenced an 'interaction' between the four-year-old and her parents (pictured with her mum Ellie and partner Jake Gliddon) about 1.30am on Saturday - sparking intense public scrutiny that something sinister occurred

A land search was suspended on Tuesday due to wild winds and an intense storm

Social media sleuths seized on the detective's turn of phrase, suspecting something more dramatic had taken place.

Within some circles, the word had even been twisted and there were false reports the officer referenced an 'altercation'.

'It was just a word,' the source said. 'Nothing out of the ordinary took place.'

The detective who initially made the comment has since confirmed he was referring to Cleo asking for water.

'What I can confirm is that the four of them (the family) were in the family tent, Cleo was spoken to about 1.30am when she woke up to get a drink, everyone went back to sleep,' Inspector Jon Munday said.

Little Cleo had been sleeping soundly up until that point and both she and her baby sister Isla were in the tent when her parents went to bed.

They woke at 6am and discovered Cleo was missing. The red and grey sleeping bag she'd been tucked into was also gone.

There are fears Cleo (pictured) may have wandered off in the dead of night, only to fall into one of the many holes nearby. But close family friends insisted the four-year-old wouldn't do that

Police Inspector Jon Munday said experts have advised the four-year-old could have wandered up to 5.2km from her last known position if she is lost in the bush

Cleo's mother Ellie Smith and her partner Jake Gliddon immediately alerted all other campers in the vicinity.

By the time police and emergency services arrived, some guests had sent up private drones to search from the sky and others were using motorbikes to scour the area.

There has been no sign of Cleo since her parents' final brief exchange with her at 1.30am.

Police have not ruled out any theories relating to her disappearance - including the possibility that she was abducted.

Officers have grave concerns for the four-year-old and 'everything is on the table' in the unusual and disturbing case.

They are considering the possibility that if she was kidnapped, Cleo could already have been moved interstate.

Mr Munday said Cleo could 'potentially be anywhere now' given it's been three days since she was last seen.

'We can't rule out the fact that Cleo may be still in the area, we can't rule out the fact she's left the area and if she's left the area that is probably is our worse case scenario because that really paints a sinister picture with what's happened,' he said.

Cleo Smith, four, was last seen at about 1.30am on Saturday at the Blowholes campsite on the coast at Macleod, north of Carnarvon, in Western Australia (pictured, the campsite Cleo went missing from)

Police are probing all possibilities of Cleo's mystery disappearance - including kidnapping - and have been scouring bushland and stopping cars and caravans in search of the missing girl

'We're keen to get this messaging out nationally to anybody. She could be anywhere by now which is really concerning.'

Mr Munday vowed to continue 'throwing everything at this' for as long as it takes to bring Cleo home.

The camp ground is located 75km from Carnarvon and 875km from Perth with nothing but bushland and scrubs in between.

Some campers reportedly heard a vehicle speed off at about 3am on Saturday, but police have so far declined to comment on the matter.

Cleo's mother Ellie Smith and her partner Jake Gliddon immediately alerted all other campers in the vicinity when they realised she was missing (pictured, four-year-old Cleo left with mum Ellie)

Police say they have grave concerns for the child (pictured) and that 'everything is on the table' in the unusual and disturbing case

It has been confirmed that detectives have seized CCTV footages from roadhouses in the area as part of their investigation.

Cleo has reportedly visited the area with her mother on camping trips since she was a baby.

There are mounting concerns for her welfare, particularly if the four-year-old did simply wander off and remains exposed to the elements.

A major storm cell has hit the region and is expected to last well into the night.

The wild weather has forced emergency services to suspend the search as it entered a fourth day.

A strong cold front, heavy winds and rain brought more treacherous search conditions for volunteers - including local Indigenous bush trackers who have been assisting with the search

A strong cold front, heavy winds and rain brought about treacherous search conditions for volunteers - including local Indigenous bush trackers who have been assisting with the search.

'Every hour that goes by with a four-year-old out in this environment, there's obviously limited water supply, it is warm, very limited shelter,' Mr Munday said.

'It is very, very concerning.'

By 10am Tuesday morning, locals can expect winds of up to 70km/h so fierce that it is likely homes and property will be damaged.

By nightfall, gusts could top 100km/h along the coast. Higher than usual tides and damaging surf conditions are also predicted.

The area is known to be subject to intense weather conditions, with frequent king tides up to 10 times bigger than the waves before them that come without warning.

Anyone with information is asked to contact police immediately on 131 444.
Australia's most powerful bankers have revealed they are worried about the possible collapse of Chinese property giant Evergrande and Xi Jinping's Communist policies aimed at the rich.

The Reserve Bank of Australia in October left the cash rate on hold at a record-low of 0.1 per cent but board members were preoccupied with the future of China's second biggest apartment developer.

The minutes of their meeting a fortnight ago have been released, highlighting concerns about a financial catastrophe in China, Australia's biggest export market.

With Evergrande now owing $400billion, the Reserve Bank is worried its debt problems could contaminate China's property sector.

Australia's most powerful bankers have revealed they are worried about the possible collapse of Chinese property giant Evergrande and Xi Jinping's Communist policies aimed at the rich (pictured is the Evergrande Centre in Shanghai)

People's Bank of China governor Yi Gang on Monday admitted Evergrande's problems 'casts a little bit of concern' in a virtual meeting of the Group of 30 but he was optimistic there would not be wider effects'

'While Evergrande is small relative to the financial system in China, members noted a financial stability risk from spill overs to other developers and financiers if the resolution of Evergrande's problems were to be disorderly,' it said.

People's Bank of China governor Yi Gang on Monday admitted Evergrande's problems 'casts a little bit of concern' in a virtual meeting of the Group of 30 but he was optimistic there would not be wider effects.

'Overall, we can contain the Evergrande risk,' he said.

Nonetheless, Reserve Bank of Australia governor Philip Lowe and his board members noted China's attempts to address financial system problems could potentially lower growth in China, the world's second biggest economy.

China's economy grew at an annual pace of 4.9 per cent in the September quarter, down sharply from 7.9 per cent in the June quarter, the National Bureau of Statistics revealed on Monday.

The three-month growth pace of 0.2 per cent was significantly weaker than the previous quarter's 1.2 per cent.

Evergrande was mentioned seven times in the meeting minutes, with the 25-year-old property giant founded by Xu Jiayin having missed three annual interest payment deadlines to bondholders since the end of September.

'In China, authorities had continued to balance addressing increased financial system vulnerabilities with avoiding a realisation of those vulnerabilities that would sharply lower economic growth,' the RBA minutes said.

'This trade-off had been a feature of the significant focus on the liquidity crisis facing Evergrande.

Chinese Communist Party President X Jinping's 'common prosperity' policies, aimed at redistributing wealth from billionaires, have also concerned the RBA

'More generally, the number of adjustments to policy occurring simultaneously had increased the potential for unintended outcomes.'

Chinese Communist Party President Xi's 'common prosperity' policies, aimed at redistributing wealth from billionaires, have also concerned the RBA.

'More generally, members noted that renewed focus in China on achieving "common prosperity", combined with a range of regulatory actions, had created more uncertainty about the medium-term outlook for policy settings and the economy in China,' it said.

'Some observers had interpreted these developments as an attempt to curtail the influence of the private sector, while others saw it more as the next stage of long-running strategies to reduce poverty and corruption and to promote social fairness.'

China's cutbacks to steel production to meet net zero by 2060 climate change targets have already caused the spot price of iron ore, Australia's biggest export, to halve from $US200 a tonne in July to less than $US100 in late September, with prices now at $US123.

Reserve Bank of Australia governor Philip Lowe and his board members noted China's attempts to address financial system problems could potentially lower growth in China, the world's second biggest economy

The RBA, however, was confident the fall in iron ore prices would be offset with an increase in coal prices, as China grapples with electricity shortages.

'The previously announced caps on Chinese steel production and concerns about excess leverage in China's property sector had put further downward pressure on iron ore prices,' it said.

'However, onshore coal prices had surged as a result of strong demand, low inventories and domestic supply disruptions.'

The spot price of coal at $US240 a tonne is near the recent record-high of $US269 with China and India facing electricity shortages.
A number of theories are being explored as to Cleo's mysterious disappearance

Police Inspector can't rule out that the four-year-old 'has left the area'

Theories about the disappearance of four-year-old Cleo Smith from a remote campsite now include the possibility she has been moved interstate.

Western Australian Police made a national appeal for information on the child's disappearance about 1.30am on Saturday after Cleo went missing from the family's shared tent at Blowholes campsite, north of Carnarvon, in Western Australia.

NSW and Victoria police also shared Cleo's images on missing persons pages.

On Tuesday morning WA Police Inspector Jon Munday told reporters: 'We can't rule out the fact that Cleo may be still in the area, we can't rule out the fact she's left the area and if she's left the area, that is probably our worse case scenario because that really paints a sinister picture with what's happened.'

Western Australian Police had now made a national appeal for information on disappearance of four-year-old Cleo Smith from a remote WA campsite

'One of the scenarios is that Cleo has been taken, and has been removed from the area,' WA Police Inspector Jon Munday told media on Tuesday

Drone vision of the scene at the Blowholes Campsite, north of Carnarvon, released by WA Police. The search for Cleo was stopped due to bad weather closing in on the region on Tuesday morning - but is hoped to resume later today

Earlier Inspector Munday told Sunrise that police sought information from anyone across Australia.

'We can't take anything off the table,' he said.

'One of the scenarios is that Cleo has been taken, and has been removed from the area.

'Look, it's three days down the track now, she potentially could be anywhere.

'We're calling for the public's assistance anywhere. We're keen to get this messaging out nationally to anybody.'

NSW Police shared the WA police force's post on Cleo with its own message: 'Please keep a look out for four-year-old Cleo Smith missing from Western Australia.'

Victoria Police also shared the post, writing: 'Have you seen four-year-old Cleo Smith?'

There are mounting concerns for the little girl's safety as the search entered its fourth day, with close friends of the family warning 'she would not have wandered' off.

NSW Police posted the Western Australian missing person notice to its Facebook page, as did Victoria Police

There are mounting concerns for the little girl's safety as the search entered its fourth day, with close friends of the family warning 'she would not have wandered' off

Cleo pictured with her mum Ellie and her partner, Jake Gliddon

The four-year-old was last seen by her mother Ellie Smith in bright pink pyjamas Ms Smith and her partner Jake Gliddon had an 'interaction' with the youngster in the middle of the night, but she was nowhere to be seen when they woke up at 6.30am and her grey and red sleeping bag was also missing.

The search for Cleo was stopped due to bad weather closing in on the region on Tuesday morning - but is hoped to resume later today.

Exhaustive sea, land and air searches have been conducted in the days since her disappearance, but conditions had rapidly deteriorated overnight.

A strong cold front, heavy winds and rain has brought about treacherous search conditions for volunteers - including local Indigenous bush trackers who have been assisting with the search.

Police have not ruled out the possibility that Cleo was abducted, with officers stopping cars and caravans to search the vehicles.

It is urging anyone who was in the area from Friday through to Sunday to try and remember if they may have seen anything unusual.

Detectives from the homicide squad have also been called in to scour the area.

Locals have been told to check garbage bins and roadsides for a grey and red sleeping bag used by Cleo at the time she went missing.

Anyone with information is asked to contact police immediately on 131 444.
Russell Hill and Carol Clay vanished from East Gippsland camp in March of 2020

The daughter of a missing camper who vanished without a trace with his secret lover 18 months ago has broken down while recalling the last time she saw him at her daughter's birthday.

Russell Hill, then 74, left his property in Drouin, Victoria, on March 19 last year and picked up Carol Clay, 73, from her home in Pakenham in his white Toyota Landcruiser.

They had planned a trip in the rugged bushland of Wonnangatta Valley in East Gippsland but never returned, with their campsite mysteriously destroyed by fire.

Mr Hill's grieving daughters Colleen and Debbie bravely opened up about their anguish for the first time this week raise public awareness of their beloved father's baffling disappearance.

He would have celebrated his 76th birthday last week.

A distraught Colleen choked up with tears as she recalled her last memory of her father.

It's been 18 months since Carol Clay, 73 and Russell Hill, then 74 vanished without a trace on a camping trip in March 2020. Mr Hill would have celebrated his 76th birthday last week

Russell Hill, 74, left his property in Drouin, Victoria , on March 20 last year and picked up Carol Clay, 73, from her home in Pakenham in his white Toyota Landcruiser (pictured)

'I think a memory that keep popping in my mind is the last time we saw him at my daughter's birthday, thinking of the things he said and what I said and just what I wish I had of said,' Colleen told Seven News.

Her sister Debbie added: 'It's really hard. It's not getting any better. It's not knowing  you're just stuck.'

The sisters say they miss their father's phone calls and grieve for their children who didn't get to know the practical, problem-solving man they grew up with.

The pair also admitted it was hard to grieve him when there was still uncertainty whether he was dead or alive.

'I don't really believe he could be alive. He wouldn't hide,' Debbie said.

She will never forget the call from her mum to say her father was missing.

'When mum rang us ... we could tell in her voice she was really worried and that something bad happened,' Debbie said.

'Things just weren't adding up. Now we look back at it, It doesn't make sense ... we don't know why the campsite burnt ... we don't know where they are and what happened to them.'

Mr Hill's daughter Colleen (left) broke down in tears as she and sister Debbie (right) spoke about his disappearance for the first time.

Ms Clay's sister Jill believes Carol is dead.

'Every day, it's like we're in a big heavy overcoat that you can't take off,' she said.

'It's with you all the time and it weighs you down. It makes you feel heavy and sad.'

Living on the other side of the country in Perth, Jill had some choice words for whoever is responsible for the disappearance of her 'vibrant and vivacious' sister Carol.

'My message is that you've undertaken a heinous act. You've got to live with that for the rest of your life,' she said.

Jill said she had a bad feeling about the camping trip from the start and believes the 'vile act' was premeditated.

'I immediately knew there was something horribly wrong. Why would someone premeditate such a vile act on two people who were intelligent, responsible and prepared?' she said.

'So, what's the reason? That's the main question that isn't solved'.

She echoed the sentiments of Mr Hill's daughters when she said it was frustrating knowing so little and not being able to throw a funeral for her beloved sister.

Russell Hill, 74, (pictured, left) had been friendly with Carol Clay, 73, (right) for decades before they started having an affair

Police say they're closing in on solving the mystery.

Squad head Detective Inspector Andrew Stamper and his team now have a 'very good picture of who was in the valley' at the same time.

'We'll keep going until we get the answers and I'm confident that will happen. I'd like to think every day we're getting closer,' Inspector Stamper told the Herald Sun.

The detective is convinced Ms Clay and Mr Hill never left the valley and said he has not narrowed the potential offender down to just one individual.

'We firmly believe they're still in that area somewhere,' he said.

Detective Acting Sergeant Brett Florence told the publication that whoever killed the elderly campers should be 'very uncomfortable'.

Acting Sgt Florence said his team would 'leave no stone unturned' in their mammoth search efforts that have continued for nearly 20 months.

The pair went missing in the Wonnangatta Valley, more than 200km north east of Melbourne

Cadaver dogs, which specialise in locating human remains, have been sent to the region twice but both times failed to find any trace of Ms Clay (left) or Mr Hill (right)

While Mr Hill had worked in the Gippsland logging industry for many years, Ms Clay had been heavily involved in the Country Women's Association.

The 74-year-old man was last heard from on March 20 via HF radio, stating he was at Wonnangatta Valley in Victoria's high country.

Ms Hill had told friends she was heading away and was expected to return home on March 28 or 29.

Campers found Russell's vehicle with signs of minor fire damage at their campsite, which was completely destroyed by fire, near Dry River Creek Track in the Wonnangatta Valley on March 21.

Cadaver dogs, which specialise in locating human remains, have been sent to the region twice but both times failed to find any trace of the pair.

An earlier school of thought from police was that Mr Hill and Mrs Clay (pictured) were ambushed or shot by deer hunters

Wild conspiracy theories about the disappearance have emerged, but investigators from the missing persons squad have long maintained the pair, who were engaged in a secret affair, were set upon by unknown attackers.

An earlier school of thought from police was that Mr Hill and Mrs Gray were ambushed or shot by deer hunters.

Inspector Stamper previously told A Current Affair officers have zeroed in on a driver of a white ute that was seen in the valley a day before the pair disappeared.

'It might seem like only a very small possibility that those in the white ute will have information about Russell and Carol's disappearance but we can't afford to leave any stone unturned,' he said.

Investigators have been told Mr Hill took his DJI Mavic drone with him on the trip and the drone is still yet to be recovered.

Victoria Police detectives moved their search 80km northwest to the Mount Hotham area in April where they found two shovels in thick bush off the Great Alpine Road.

The status of those shovels remains unknown after they were sent off to be forensically examined.

Ms Clay (pictured) had been heavily involved in the Country Women's Association in Victoria

Investigators have focused on areas along the Dargo High Plains Road, Cynthia Range Track, Herne Spur Track and the Wonnangatta Track as a result of information obtained from previous searches.

Previous searches had seen detectives from the Missing Persons Squad joined by the police helicopter, drone unit, search and rescue and staff from Parks Victoria.

Information has been received about a sighting of an older person or pair in the Black Snake Creek, Eaglevale River crossing and the Ollies Jump area on March 22-23, but detectives have never been able to establish if it was the missing campers.

Detectives and the pair's devastated family members are now calling on the public to be their 'eyes and ears' as the weather begins to warm up.

Authorities have asked anyone in the area to report findings of clothing, a drone, or any other clue that could help bring closure to the elderly camper's families.
Sixty-five New York City police officers are to be disciplined for their conduct during the citywide protests following the death of George Floyd in Minnesota last year.

Thirty-seven of the most serious offenders will be subjected to an internal trial, which can result in a range of penalties from forfeited vacation days to suspension and ultimately termination from the department.

Their names were released by the Civilian Complaint Review Board, with alleged infractions including discourtesy, offensive language, abuse of authority and force.

The (CCRB) recommended another 28 officers face discipline through additional training or a loss of vacation days.

Protests erupted across the nation after George Floyd was killed by Minneapolis Officer Derek Chauvin on May 25, 2020, leaving the NYPD to calm the chaos in New York City.

Multiple types of misconduct were uncovered by the CCRB and include use of force, abuse of authority, discourtesy and untruthful statements.

Among those who complained, people said they had broken arms, fractured eye sockets, received concussions, nerve damage and cuts, all through the actions of NYPD officers.

Officers of various ranks are alleged to have 'repeatedly and without justification used batons, fist strikes, pepper spray, and other physical force' against protesters'

NYPD is to discipline 65 officers over misconduct during the Black Lives Matter protests after George Floyd's death during 2020. In this May 29, 2020 photo taken from video New York police officer Vincent D'Andraia, right, pushes protester Dounya Zayer during a protest in the Brooklyn

The board investigated 313 complaints against police officers that were involved at the racial justice protests.

A single complaint can contain allegations against multiple officers.

The CCRB has completed 127 investigations so far with another 103 still pending.

One officer is accused of using his bicycle as a weapon against demonstrators.

'After fully investigating over a hundred cases, the CCRB continues its commitment to investigating, and when necessary, prosecuting the officers responsible for committing misconduct against New Yorkers during last year's Black Lives Matter protests,' CCRB Chair Fred Davie said.

NYPD officers arrest a protestor during a 'Black Lives Matter' demonstration in May 2020

Complaints reveal how officers struck protesters with blunt instruments, unlawfully deployed pepper spray and pushed or struck protesters

'The APU is prepared to move forward with trials for the 37 officers who have received the highest level of disciplinary recommendations, as soon as the NYPD serves officers.

'Thanks to the thorough work of our investigators, we will start to get accountability for the hundreds of New Yorkers who were mistreated last year. The other 28 officers must also face discipline including those who need to be retrained on proper ways to interact with members of the public.

'It is important for all misconduct to be taken seriously and all officers who commit misconduct must be held accountable,' Davie said.

There was 313 complaints against NYPD police officers during racial injustice protests in the Big Apple from May through December (Pictured: NYPD officers arrest protesters during a demonstration against the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police on Memorial Day, on May 30, 2020)

Around one third of the complaints could not be probed because officers did not follow correct protocols with some covering name plates, shield numbers, wearing protective equipment that belonged to another officer, did not switch on bodycams or failed to properly complete paperwork.

'The NYPD has made significant strides and continues to work toward making our discipline processes transparent,' a spokesperson for the department said. 'Like any citizen, police officers should be afforded a presumption of innocence until and unless proven guilty.'

The full list of the 65 officers who are to be disciplined due to misconduct has been made public

Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch slammed the CCRB report.

'Once again, CCRB is carrying political water for Mayor de Blasio and others who are trying to wash away their own failures during last summer's protests,' Lynch said.

'Police officers were sent out with no plan, no strategy and no support, into a dangerous environment created by politicians' irresponsible rhetoric. As a result, dozens of cops were injured, and now dozens more are being made into scapegoats. It's time for the NYPD to stop allowing CCRB to use its disciplinary process as a political tool.'

In January, New York state Attorney General Letitia James sued the NYPD. She said that the NYPD's harsh tactics suppressed free speech.

In January New York Attorney General Letitia James sued the New York City Police Department and its leadership over the 'excessive, brutal and unlawful' handling of Black Lives Matter protests last year

James said she found 'a pattern of deeply concerning and unlawful practices that the NYPD utilized in response to these largely peaceful protests' (Picture above captured in Times Square on May 30, 2020)

'We found a pattern of deeply concerning and unlawful practices that the NYPD utilized in response to these largely peaceful protests,' James said at the time adding the 'pattern of abuse' stemmed from inadequate training, supervision and discipline.

'As the demonstrations continued, the very thing being protested  aggressive actions of law enforcement  was on full public display.'

The lawsuit alleges that from May 28, 2020, to December 11, 2020, officers of various ranks 'repeatedly and without justification used batons, fist strikes, pepper spray, and other physical force' against protesters.

James said officers also used bicycles and a crowd-control tactic known as 'kettling' or 'containment' which she said caused significant harm, in addition to arresting hundreds of 'legal observers, medics, and other workers performing essential services without probable cause.'
Colin Powell's fully-vaccinated widow has tested positive for COVID, with her diagnosis revealed just hours after the late Secretary of State died of the virus.

A spokesperson for the late general told Andrea Mitchell reports on Monday night that 'Colin and Alma Powell took a COVID test last Monday, October 11, and both tested positive.

'Mrs. Powell, who turns 84 on October 27, was checked, and while symptomatic is recovering at home.'

'They had both been fully vaccinated, and he had been planning to get a booster last week but was not feeling well enough,' the spokesperson said of the retired four-star general, noting: 'He had several underlying conditions: surgery for prostate cancer when he was Secretary of State and more recently multiple myeloma and Parkinson's.'

Bill Ritter, an anchor for Eyewitness News in New York, also tweeted that they both received two doses of the Moderna vaccine, and Alma has mild symptoms.

Colin Powell, the first black Secretary of State who formulated foreign policy under several presidents died from complications of the virus Monday morning, at the age of 84.

Colin Powell's widow, Alma, left, has reportedly tested positive for COVID, which her husband, right, died from early Monday morning

A spokesperson for the family confirmed Alma's diagnosis, saying she has mild symptoms and is now recovering at home

But in an interview with famed journalist Bob Woodward he gave three months ago, and which was published Monday, Powell urged readers: 'Don't feel sorry for me, I'm 84 years old.

'I haven't lost a day of my life fighting these two diseases. I'm in good shape.'

He said he had to 'get all kind of exams' at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Washington, D.C., noting: 'I'm a former chairman, so they don't want to lose me, so they make me come there all the time.'

'I drive up in my Corvette, get out of the Corvette and go into the hospital,' he said, adding that he also goes to a clinic to get his blood drawn.

'I don't advertise it, but most of my friends know it.'

Powell, seen here in 1990, was the first black Secretary of State and to this day is the only black man to ever serve as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

In an interview with famed journalist Bob Woodward (pictured) three months before his death, Powell urged: 'Don't feel sorry for me, I'm 84 years old

He said he was suffering from blood cancer and Parkinson's Disease and had to 'get all kind of exams' at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Washington, D.C. (pictured)

In the candid interview, Powell offered his thoughts on today's foreign policy.

The four star general was the first black Secretary of State and to this day is the only black man to ever serve as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

He served under several Republican administrations  including for Reagan, George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush.

Also, from 1991-1993, he served as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff for Bill Clinton after being appointed to the post halfway through Bush Sr's tenure.

During that time period, he helped lead forces in the Persian Gulf War - which only took 42 days to win, with a ground component lasting only four days before Bush Sr. declared a ceasefire.

The United States and coalition forces were able to overrun Kuwait and southern Iraq, destroy Saddam Hussein's army, route the Iraqi Republican Guard and dictate terms of peace.

Looking back on the war in the interview with Woodward in July, Powell said: 'I'm so proud of that, I can't see straight.

'Before the ground war started, I went to a White House meeting and pulled [then Secretary of Defense Dick] Cheney and the president aside, and I said: "You know, I got to tell you something, the ground [war] is about to start,'" he recounted.

'"And I need to warn you a little bit, that when we lose an airplane, it crashes and I lose one guy. If they hit a tank, you'll see four burning guys out of it and you will see terrible things in ground war that you will never see in air war.

"'So be prepared for that and be prepared to respond to it and defend us when we're in ground war"' he remembers telling Bush and Cheney. 'I didn't know it was going to be as easy as it was or as well-prepared as it was.'

'And they took that seriously.'

Powell served under a number of presidents, including Democrat Bill Clinton

He also served under President George W. Bush, after previously serving his father

Powell also said in the interview he supported Joe Biden withdrawing US troops from Afghanistan, saying he thought 'we had to get out of there eventually.'

'[We] can't beat these guys,' he said. 'Well let's get it over with.'

'Afghanistan, you're never going to win,' he added. 'Afghans are going to win. They have hundreds willing to fight and die for this country of theirs. That's why I don't have any problem with us getting out of there.

'We can't go from 100,000 [US troops] down to a few hundred and think that'll prevail.'

The conversation then segued into North Korea, with Powell saying the issue caused him little anxiety.

He explained: 'How does anybody think that North Korea would find a way to attack us without us destroying them the next morning?

'How can anyone think equally of Iran?'

'Iran and North Korea cannot be our enemies because they cannot stand the results of such a conflict,' Powell surmised. 'We're going to be terrified of these people? No. Would they dare?'

At that point, Woodward interjected: 'But sometimes you get a leader who's suicidal.'

'True, true,' Powell contended. 'The Chinese are not going to let us start a war with North Korea. They love North Korea. They want North Korea. I don't. North Korea doesn't bother me.

'Let the little jerk have his parades and what not,' Powell said of Kim Jung Un. 'He'll never try to attack us because he knows it would be assisted suicide.

'And I felt the same way about Iran. I felt the same way for the most part about Russia. They can't afford it. They've got [145] million people, we've got 330 million people.'

In the interview with Woodward, Powell called North Korean leader Kim Jung Un a 'little jerk'

He said Un could 'have his parades' because he knows he would never attack the US

Powell also said he figured the United States would eventually withdraw troops from Afghanistan, as President Joe Biden ordered over the summer

Woodward also asked Powell his thoughts on former President Donald Trump, who Powell said in June 2020 he would not vote for, despite being a lifelong Republican.

He said at the time that Trump 'drifted away' from the Constitution and was turned off by the president's inclination to insult 'anybody who dares to speak against him'.

Trump responded to the criticism in a tweet at the time saying: 'Powell, a real stiff who was very responsible for getting us into the disastrous Middle East Wars, just announced he will be voting for another stiff, Sleepy Joe Biden.'

In the interview in July, Powell said Trump has since refused 'to acknowledge that he wasn't re-elected [and] he has people who go along with him on that.'

He said the January 6 riots, when a group of far right protesters illegally entered the Capitol in an effort to overturn the 2020 election results 'was awful.'

'(Trump) was going in there to overturn the government.'

But the interview seemed to conclude on a much lighter note, when Woodward asked the former general: 'Who was the greatest man, woman or person you have ever known? Not a leader, not necessarily, but the inner person - you know, the moral compass, the sense of propriety. Who is that in all your life.'

Without hesitation, Powell responded: 'It's Alma Powell.'

'She was with me the whole time. We've been married 58 years. And she puts up with a lot. She took care of the kids when I was, you know, running around.

'And she was always there for me and she'd tell me "That's not a good idea."

'She was usually right.'

In addition to Alma, Powell is survived by his three children and is remembered for his decades-long legacy.

Powell concluded the interview by saying his wife, Alma, is the greatest person he knows

Following the news of his death on Monday, President Biden ordered flags to fly at half staff

Following the news of his passing, President Joe Biden released a statement commending Powell as having 'the highest ideals of both warrior and diplomat' and commemorating his humble beginnings.

He also ordered all US flags across government buildings and military posts nationwide to fly half staff until October 22.

'Jill and I are deeply saddened by the passing of our dear friend and a patriot of unmatched honor and dignity, General Colin Powell,' Biden said. 'The son of immigrants, born in New York City, raised in Harlem and the South Bronx, a graduate of the City College of New York, he rose to the highest ranks of the United States military and to advise four presidents. He believed in the promise of America because he lived it. And he devoted much of his life to making that promise a reality for so many others.'

'As a Senator, I worked closely with him when he served as National Security Advisor, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and as Secretary of State. Over our many years working together  even in disagreement  Colin was always someone who gave you his best and treated you with respect.'

He listed off Powell's numerous accomplishments both on and off the battlefield, adding: 'Above all, Colin was my friend. Easy to share a laugh with. A trusted confidant in good and hard times. He could drive his Corvette Stingray like nobodys businesssomething I learned firsthand on the race track when I was Vice President. And I am forever grateful for his support of my candidacy for president and for our shared battle for the soul of the nation. I will miss being able to call on his wisdom in the future.'

Vice President Kamala Harris also commended Powell on his trailblazing career as the first black Joint Chiefs chair, Secretary of State and national security adviser.

'What an incredible American. He obviously served with dignity, he served with grace. He was the epitome of what it means to be strong, but at the same time, so modest in terms of everything that he did and said, in a way that it was never about him and it's about the country, and it was about the people who served with him,' Harris told reporters aboard Air Force Two.

'Every step of the way, when he filled those roles, he was - by everything he did and the way he did it - inspiring so many people.'
North Korea has test-fired what is believed to be a submarine-launched ballistic missile which landed in the ocean off its east coast.

The launch took place at 10.17am local time close to Sinpo, North Korea's main submarine-building shipyard, according to South Korea's military.

Two 'ballistic missiles' were launched, the South said, flying 280 miles at a maximum height of 40 miles before crashing down in the East Sea.

It is unclear how the missile was launched, but the fact that it took place at the submarine shipyard suggests it could have been launched from one of the North's subs. If confirmed, it would be the first time that has happened.

North Korea has tested submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) before, including one underwater launch in 2019, but it is thought that missile was fired from a submerged platform rather than a submarine.

Confirmation of a submarine launch would mean dictator Kim Jong Un has added another deadly nuclear-capable missile to his ever-growing arsenal.

Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said his country is analysing whether North Korea launched SLBMs, as he suspended campaigning for the country's upcoming election to return to Tokyo and keep an eye on the situation.

The test comes just days after it was revealed that China had tested a new orbital vehicle - thought by analysts to be a hypersonic nuke. Beijing denies this, saying it was actually a civilian spacecraft.

North Korea launched a ballistic missile from near its main submarine-building shipyard at Sinpo in the early hours of Tuesday, sparking speculation that it was testing a submarine-launched ballistic missile (file image)

A map showing North Korea's main nuclear testing site at Punggye-ri, which was decommissioned in 2019, and its main site for producing nuclear fuel at Yongbyon. The red dots show missile testing sites, including the site of today's launch at Sinpo (right)

Kim Jong Un has vowed to keep developing missile in defiance of international sanctions, and showed off his growing stockpile at a recent weapons show (pictured)

Analysts believe the Chinese could have been testing a new version of old Soviet nuclear technology called FOBS, which is designed to evade missile detection and defence systems.

Meanwhile South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said: 'Our military is closely monitoring the situation and maintaining readiness posture in close cooperation with the United States, to prepare for possible additional launches.'

South Koreas presidential office was planning to hold a national security council meeting later in the day to discuss the launch.

Ending a months long lull in September, North Korea has been ramping up its weapons tests while making conditional peace offers to Seoul, reviving a pattern of pressuring South Korea to try to get what it wants from the United States.

Within days, President Joe Bidens special envoy for North Korea, Sung Kim, is schedule to hold talks with U.S. allies in Seoul over the prospects of reviving talks with North Korea.

Nuclear negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang have stalled for more than two years over disagreements in exchanging the release of crippling U.S.-led sanctions against North Korea and the Norths denuclearization steps.

His government has so far rejected the Biden administrations offers to restart dialogue without preconditions, saying that Washington must first abandon its 'hostile policy,' a term the North mainly uses to refer to sanctions and U.S.-South Korea military exercises.

South Korean artillery pieces are pictured close to the 'demilitarized zone' that separates North from South today

South Korean mobile artillery pieces were seen on routine manoeuvres near the border with North Korea as the test took place

South Korean soldiers prepare to take part in artillery manoeuvres near the border with North Korea on Tuesday morning

A report from the Financial Times, which cited five unnamed intelligence sources, said the Chinese military launched the Long March rocket in August carrying a 'hypersonic glide vehicle' into low orbit. It circled the globe before descending towards its target, which it missed by about two dozen miles. The system would be able to overcome US anti-ballistic missile defence systems that are based in Alaska and set up to shoot down projectiles coming over the North Pole - the Chinese system would be able to strike the US from the south

But while North Korea is apparently trying to use South Koreas desire for inter-Korean engagement to extract concessions from Washington, analysts say Seoul has little wiggle room as the Biden administration is intent on keeping sanctions in place until the North makes concrete steps toward denuclearization.

'The US continues to reach out to Pyongyang to restart dialogue,' Sung Kim told reporters on Monday, referring to the Norths official name, the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea.

'Our intent remains the same. We harbor no hostile intent toward the DPRK and we are open to meeting without preconditions.'

'Even as we remain open to dialogue, we also have a responsibility to implement the U.N. Security Council resolutions addressing the DPRK,' he said.

Last week, Kim Jong Un reviewed powerful missiles designed to launch nuclear strikes on the U.S. mainland during a military exhibition and vowed to build an 'invincible' military to cope with what he called persistent U.S. hostility.

Earlier, Kim dismissed U.S. offers for resuming talks without preconditions as 'cunning' attempt to conceal its hostile policy on the North.

The country has tested various weapons over the past month, including a new cruise missile that could potentially carry nuclear warheads, a rail-launched ballistic system, a developmental hypersonic missile and a new anti-aircraft missile.

But the North in recent weeks have also restored communication lines with the South and said it could take further steps to improve bilateral relations if Seoul abandons its 'double-dealing attitude' and 'hostile viewpoint.'

China was also revealed to have tested a nuclear-capable hypersonic missile which orbited the globe before returning to Earth to strike its target in a technological development that would overcome US anti-ballistic missile systems.

Weapons race: A comparison of the most advanced (columns from left) missiles, aircraft carriers, tanks and aircraft possessed by China, the US and Russia

A report from the Financial Times, which cited five unnamed intelligence sources, said the Chinese military launched the Long March rocket in August carrying a 'hypersonic glide vehicle' into low orbit.

It circled the globe before descending towards its target, which it missed by about two dozen miles.

A Chinese government spokesman refuted those claims Monday night, claiming that the missile was in fact an experimental rocket designed to offer a peaceful means of space exploration.

The hypersonic missiles can reach speeds of up to 21,000mph and can strike anywhere on Earth from space within minutes.

The system would be able to overcome US anti-ballistic missile defense systems that are based in Alaska and set up to shoot down projectiles coming over the North Pole - the Chinese system would be able to strike the US from the south.

The incident has left US intelligence officials stunned, sources say, as it shows 'China has made astonishing progress on the development of its hypersonic weapons'.

'We have no idea how they did this,' a person familiar with the test told the FT.

China has since denied these reports with China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Zhao Lijian claiming it was 'a spacecraft, not a missile.'

'This test was a routine spacecraft experiment to verify the reusable technology of spacecraft, which is of great significance for reducing the cost of spacecraft use,' Zhao said at a press briefing, according to CNN.

'It can provide a convenient and cheap way for humans to use space peacefully.

'Many companies in the world have carried out similar experiments.'
Disturbing photos have surfaced of one of Australia's worst ever child sex offenders dressed in a Santa suit and obsessing over Sesame Street.

Jadd William Brooker appeared to live the life of a typical Aussie bloke, with his social media flooded with happy snaps of beer-drinking, trips away and days at the footy.

But the Adelaide man, 39, has been described as one of the country's most depraved paedophiles after he pleaded guilty to almost 200 child abuse offences.

The former logistics manager admitted to a raft of new charges on Monday after a court previously heard he'd threatened to infect children with HIV.

Adelaide's Magistrates Court heard Brooker had been charged with an additional 142 offences while behind bars, after he pleaded guilty to 41 child exploitation offences earlier this year.

A closer look at his Facebook page shows a disturbing Christmas photo of Brooker dressed up as Santa Claus hamming it up for the camera.

Brooker also had a bizarre obsession with children's show Sesame Street and doted on his pet turtle whom he treated like a child.

Jadd William Brooker (dressed up as Santa Claus) is now regarded as Australia's 'worst' paedophile after he admitted to 189 offences

Brooker's social media is inundated with photos posing with Sesame Street chracters

Brooker shows off his turtle in a string of Facebook videos, where he's heard speaking in baby talk and making kissing noises in an attempt to coax the creature from its shell and pose for the camera.

'My boy,' several videos of the beloved pet are captioned.

He's heard in another video calling out to the turtle crawling along a footpath to slow down.

Others show off the turtle's swimming skills.

Brooker's Facebook is also flooded with photos of himself posing with various characters from much loved children's show Sesame Street, including Elmo and Cookie Monster.

Brooker's Facebook page - which features innocuous photos of him cheering on Hawthorn, taking bathroom and car selfies has been defaced by dozens of trolls since his original arrest last year.

Brooker was recently re-arrested in custody and charged with a raft of new offences including sexual exploitation of a child, maintaining an unlawful sexual relationship with a child and disseminating child exploitation material.

Jadd William Brooker also doted on his beloved pet turtle, whom he called 'My boy'

Brooker also had a bizarre obsession with children's show Sesame Street. He's pictured with Elmo

Prosecutors will argue that Jadd William Brooker (pictured) spend the rest of his life behind bars without parole

Brooker's lawyer indicated to Adelaide Magistrates Court on Monday his client wanted to plead guilty to all but four of the new charges.

It takes the total number of charges Brooker has admitted to 189, making him among the worst child-sex offenders in Australian history.

'My client will record pleas to all counts, with the exception [of four],' Tim Clarke told the court.

'It's proposed that if the court takes those pleas, and we have spoken to prosecution about this, a copy of the information will be sent to my client so that he can sign it, rather than all charges being read out.'

His pet turtle stars in countless multiple Facebook videos showing off his swimming skills

Jadd William Brooker (pictured with his pet turtle) pleaded guilty to 41 child exploitation offences earlier this year. He has since admitted to 138 recently laid charges

Brooker's Facebook page is flooded with photos while enjoying a beer at the pub and airports

Magistrate Simon Smart said he wouldn't accept the guilty pleas until he had read the charges to Brooker and didn't have time to read out loud all 142 new charges, the ABC reported.

Brooker will now enter his pleas at his next court appearance in November.

The court previously heard how Brooker had expressed intent 'to infect both children and adults with HIV'.

Prosecutors alleged he had illegal sexual relationships with two teenagers and recorded one of them performing a sex act.

One victim took his own life while the other has been tested for HIV.

Prosecutors also alleged in court Brooker pursued 19 other children between the ages of 13 and 19, over Skype and Telegram and some of his victims lived in Australia, Italy and Canada.

Facebook photos show Jadd William Brooker (right) is a devoted Hawthorn Hawks supporter

Brooker is also a fan of bedroom and bathroom selfies shared to his Facebook account

They also alleged 10,000 images of child exploitation have also been found on his electronic devices.

A detective investigating the case previously described Brooker's offending as the 'worst and most degrading in his 14 years as an investigator,' a court heard.

Prosecutors are expected to argue Brooker be sentenced to life behind bars without parole, claiming he's unwilling and incapable of controlling his sexual instincts, the Adelaide Advertiser reported.

A detective investigating the case previously described Brooker's offending as the 'worst and most degrading in his 14 years as an investigator,' a court heard
A worker who was stood down after raising concerns about possible Covid-19 infection aboard an aircraft that had arrived from China has led to Qantas being charged with breaches of workplace safety law.

The incident occurred at the start of the pandemic in February last year when Theo Seremetidis, a health and safety representative, allegedly advised colleagues not to board and clean a plane that had arrived from Shanghai.

Qantas stood Mr Seremetidis down and said it was investigating him for possible breaches of its workplace policies, but a SafeWork NSW investigation into that action has now resulted in charges against the national carrier filed in the NSW District Court.

Qantas has been charged with breaches of workplace safety law for standing down a worker who raised concerns about Covid-19 infection on a plane that had arrived from China in February 2020

The charges were filed under a section of NSW's Work Health and Safety Act that prevents an employer from discriminating against a worker who raises safety issues or is carrying out a workplace health and safety role.

'The charges relate to [Qantas] standing down a worker who raised concerns about potential exposure of workers to COVID-19 whilst cleaning aircraft in early 2020, SafeWork NSW said in a statement to the Sydney Morning Herald.

'As the matter is before the court, no further information can be provided at this time.'

After Mr Seremetidis' standing down Qantas had claimed his actions were not justified and against the advice of health authorities.

On February 7 last year, Qantas informed Mr Seremetidis that he was being investigated for spreading misinformation and inciting unprotected industrial action.

But the following month, SafeWork NSW issued the airline with Improvement Notices to address an 'inadequate system of work used to clean planes'.

SafeWork inspectors had observed cleaner 'wiping over multiple tray tables with the same wet cloth with no disinfectant and cleaning unknown liquids on floors and surfaces.'

It also said workers were 'required to handle wet and used tissues, used face masks, soiled nappies and the workers advised they occasionally have to clean vomit and blood off surfaces.

'PPE [personal protective gear] was not mandated for the majority of these tasks.'

The Improvement Notices stated that Qantas was at risk of 'exposing workers to a risk of injury or illness from the inadequate system of work used to clean planes that may have transported passengers with an infectious disease.'

In March 2020 SafeWork NSW issued Qantas with Improvement Notices to address an 'inadequate system of work used to clean planes'

Qantas employee Theo Seremetidis was stood down then lost his job with the airline in November 2020 as part of Qantas' retrenchment of 2,000 staff

Mr Seremetidis subsequently lost his job with the airline in November 2020 as part of Qantas' retrenchment of 2,000 staff.

The campaign to have charges brought against Qantas had been fought by the Transport Workers Union (TWU).

'If safety reps at Qantas cant stand up to unsafe work practices, then no worker is safe. The TWU believes there is ample evidence to prove that Qantas engaged in discriminatory and prohibited behaviour,' TWU NSW Branch Secretary Richard Olsen said earlier this year.

'It is incomprehensible to the TWU that the Sydney worker was stood down due to his concerns for his co-workers.'

Qantas referred media to an earlier statement on the case in which it stated: 'Mr Seremetidis was directed not to come to work while he was investigated for failing to comply with our Standards of Conduct policy, including allegations of attempting to incite unprotected industrial action.

'There are established, legal mechanisms for health and safety representatives to follow if they have concerns. Qantas supports and encourages our employees to utilise these mechanisms if they have safety concerns.'

Breaches of the NSW Act can draw fines of up to $500,000.

The case is listed for a first hearing in December.
Ecuador's President Guillermo Lasso declared a state of emergency Monday, blaming drug traffickers for an unending wave of crime that has killed nearly 2,000 people this year.

The 60-day decree gives the Ecuadorian leader the power to use the military to assist the police in beefing up security as the number of murder victims climbed to 1,900 through this month - compared with about 1,400 for all of last year.

'All social and political sectors must work with absolute unity,' Lasso said while addressing the South American nation on television. 'In the streets there is only one enemy: drug trafficking.'

According to Lasso, Ecuador has become a country that has gone from being a transportation hub for the international drug trafficking trade to one where many of its people have become addicted to narcotics.

'This is not only reflected in the amount of drugs consumed in our country, but in the number of crimes that today have a direct or indirect relationship with the sale of narcotics,' he said.

Lasso said drug trafficking has brought an increase in murders, home burglary, thefts of vehicles and goods, and muggings.

Ecuador's President Guillermo Lasso (center; pictured October 4) announced Monday a 60-day state of emergency to combat drug trafficking and crimes. At least 1,900 homicides have been committed so far this year, compared with about 1,400 all of last year

On Saturday, the National Police of Ecuador recovered at least five tons of cocaine that were concealed in two France-bound containers at a port in Guayaquil. The nation is a key hub for Mexican and Colombian criminal organizations who traffic drugs to the United States and Europe

Ecuador security forces stand guard near a group of inmates at the Litoral Penitentiary in Guayaquil, Ecuador, where 119 prisoners were killed September 28 as a result of a riot between rival gangs that are linked to Mexico's Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel

On Saturday, authorities in Guayaquil recovered at least five tons of cocaine on two containers that were bound for France. At least three people linked to the shipment were placed under arrest. In a separate incident over the weekend, half a ton of cocaine hidden in boxes of plantains was confiscated at a port in Guayaquil.

His order comes on the heels of the death of 11-year-old Sebastian Obando, who was caught in the middle of a shootout between a group of muggers and cops at an ice cream shop in the province of Guayas, were according to Lasso more than 70 percent of murders are linked to drug trafficking.

At least 641 people have been killed in Guayas this year.

Three suspects (second from left, center, second from right) were arrested Saturday after cops in Guayaquil, Ecuador, discovered two containers packed with at least five tons of cocaine that were bound for France

Cops in Ecuador found at least half a ton of cocaine concealed with plantains in boxes. Authorities did not say where the drugs where being shipped to

Under Lasso's plan to restore security, 3,600 soldiers and police officers will be assigned to patrol 65 prisons across the country, which are overrun by gangs who practically have a say on the day-to-day lives of 39,000 inmates.

At least 230 inmates have been killed in riots this year, including 119 at the Litoral Penitentiary on September 28 following a revolt between gangs linked to Mexican criminal organizations, the Sinaloa Cartel and Jalisco New Generation Cartel.

The leader Jose Adolfo 'Fito' Macias Villamar, is one of the two leaders of Los Choneros, a gang linked to Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman's Sinaloa Cartel, told Ecuadorian digital news outlet La Posta that criminal groups operate at will by bribing guards and cops with $80 to $100 a day at the Litoral Penitentiary.

Gangs also operate a loanshark program in each pavilion, lending out anywhere between $5,000 to $50,000 that draws 30 percent to 100 percent in fees, with guards and the police receiving 10 percent in kickback payments.

Lasso's edict will allow soldiers and cops the authority to control the freedom of movement, assembly and association, among the most important limitations.

The president also announced the creation of a legal defense unit to defend uniformed officers who he said have been sued for fulfilling their duty.

Cops stand guard near half a ton of cocaine that was spotted hidden among a shipment of plantains at at port in Guayaquil, Ecuador, over the weekend

Cops in Ecuador were able to secure two containers on Saturday that were loaded with five tons of cocaine destined for France

Lasso said judges should 'guarantee peace and order, not impunity and crime.'

'The national government will deploy all law enforcement to carry out a single mission: to restore security to citizens. We will take the battle to the underworld wherever it hides,' he said.

The crackdown comes ahead of an official visit by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to Ecuador and Colombia in a bid to support and broaden ties with the Latin American democracies.

Blinken is slated to meet with Lasso to talk about cooperation in matters of security, defense and trade.

The Guayaquil Penitentiary Complex in Guayaquil, Ecuador, is run by six gangs that have been able to exert their influence over the Guayas Regional Jail and the Litoral Penitentiary.
China has denied secretly testing a nuclear-capable hypersonic missile and claims the launch was actually a rocket intended to help usher in peaceful space exploration.

Zhao Lijian, the spokesman for China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said Monday that the August test which triggered panic among global leaders was 'a spacecraft, not a missile.'

'This test was a routine spacecraft experiment to verify the reusable technology of spacecraft, which is of great significance for reducing the cost of spacecraft use,' he told the regular press briefing.

'It can provide a convenient and cheap way for humans to use space peacefully.

'Many companies in the world have carried out similar experiments.'

Zhao Lijian, the spokesman for China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (pictured last year) said on Monday that the August test - which has alarmed governments around the world - was 'a routine spacecraft experiment'

He said that 'what separated from the spacecraft before returning was the supporting equipment of the spacecraft, which was burned and disintegrated in the process of falling into the atmosphere and landed on the high seas.'

He added: 'China will work together with other countries in the world to benefit mankind in the peaceful use of space.'

Lijan's words will likely provide scant comfort.

A report on Sunday from The Financial Times, which cited five unnamed intelligence sources, said the Chinese military launched the Long March rocket in August carrying a 'hypersonic glide vehicle' into low orbit.

The paper said the missile circled the globe before descending towards its target, which it missed by about two dozen miles.

The report sparked alarm worldwide, as it marked a significant advance in Chinese technology.

China launched the dummy weapon into space on board a Long March 2C rocket (pictured) during a test in mid-August which it did not disclose at the time - and was only revealed at the weekend by security analysts assigned to work out its purpose

A report from the Financial Times, which cited five unnamed intelligence sources, said the Chinese military launched the Long March rocket in August carrying a 'hypersonic glide vehicle' into low orbit. It circled the globe before descending towards its target, which it missed by about two dozen miles. The system would be able to overcome US anti-ballistic missile defence systems that are based in Alaska and set up to shoot down projectiles coming over the North Pole - the Chinese system would be able to strike the US from the south

What is the new 'weapon' that China has tested? Intelligence sources say Beijing has tested a nuclear-capable hypersonic warhead that flew around the planet in low-Earth orbit before coming back down. If confirmed - Beijing denies it, saying it actually tested a civilian spacecraft - then it marks a major jump in the country's nuclear programme, though the technology itself is nothing new. The core concept of China's 'new' weapon - deliver a warhead into orbit and have it circle the globe before hitting a target - was first developed by the Soviets in the 1960s. Called a Fractional Orbital Bombardment System, or FOBS, it was developed to evade powerful US radar arrays and missile defence systems. Those systems work by detecting launches of ICBMs - very long-range missiles that can be tipped with nukes - and tracking them into space, then firing at the warheads as they come down in the hope of blowing them up before they hit their targets. This is possible because ICBMs and their warheads follow a predictable trajectory that rises high into space - making them relatively easy to spot and allowing defence crews to calculate where they are aimed so they can be shot out of the sky. FOBS aim to negate these defences by firing their warheads along a much-flatter trajectory - assisted by Earth's gravity. This means they pass under the scope of many radar detection arrays and are harder to track. It also makes the warheads much harder to shoot down because their trajectory is harder to calculate. The use of orbit makes a warhead's range potentially unlimited, meaning it can be fired at its target from any direction. This helps to avoid radar systems which generally point at a fixed spot in the sky - in America's case, over the North Pole. Soviet Russia had a FOBS system - comprising, at its peak, of 18 R-36O missiles - which were active from 1969 until 1983 when it scuttled the programme in response to changes in America's missile defence systems. China now appears to be pursuing the technology anew, while coupling it with a new 'hypersonic glide vehicle' to carry the warheads. The 'HGV' is thought to make the warhead easier to manouevre while in orbit and increase its accuracy. Despite its 'hypersonic' name, it actually travels much slower than ICMB warheads - some 3,800mph compared to 15,000mph+ for 'traditional' nukes. Russia and the US are both developing HGVs of their own, though neither has put them to use in the same way as Beijing. Moscow has one that can be fitted to its latest Satan 2 ICBM, while the US is working on one that can be launched from a B-52 bomber - though two recent tests of the system have failed. Advertisement

The hypersonic missiles can reach speeds of up to 21,000mph and can strike anywhere on Earth from space within minutes.

The system's low altitude operation would be able to overcome US anti-ballistic missile defense systems that are based in Alaska and set up to shoot down projectiles coming over the North Pole - the Chinese system would be able to strike the U.S. from the south.

The incident has left U.S. intelligence officials stunned, sources say, as it shows 'China has made astonishing progress on the development of its hypersonic weapons'.

'We have no idea how they did this,' a person familiar with the test told the FT.

Lloyd Austin, the U.S. Defense Secretary, on Monday warned China that 'we are watching you closely'.

Speaking during a visit to the former Soviet republic of Georgia, Austin said: 'We watch closely China's development of armament and advanced capabilities and systems that will only increase tensions in the region.'

Mike Gallagher, a member of the armed services committee, strongly criticized the Biden administration for 'complacency' and said America needs to 'aggressively' re-think its relations with China.

'If we stick to our current complacent course we will lose the New Cold War with Communist China within the decade,' he said.

'The People's Liberation Army now has an increasingly credible capability to undermine our missile defenses and threaten the American homeland with both conventional and nuclear strikes.'

Jens Stoltenberg, the NATO chief, said the alliance will reposition itself to tackle the growing threat from China - separate from its historic focus on Russia.

'Nato is an alliance of North America and Europe. But this region faces global challenges: terrorism, cyber but also the rise of China, he told the Financial Times.

'So when it comes to strengthening our collective defense, that's also about how to address the rise of China.

'What we can predict is that the rise of China will impact our security. It already has.

'China is coming closer to us.

'We see them in the Arctic. We see them in cyber space. We see them investing heavily in critical infrastructure in our countries.

'And of course they have more and more high-range weapons that can reach all NATO allied countries.'

China carried out a test of the new hypersonic weapon back in August, which defense analysts said was launched into space on a Long March rocket.

Beijing has been regularly announcing launches of the rocket, including the 77th launch in July this year and the 79th launch in late August.

But it never announced a 78th launch.

It is now thought that rocket was carrying a dummy nuclear warhead.

Analysts believe that the rocket was carrying a hypersonic glide vehicle - of the kind that China has showed off before in military parades - which was released into low-Earth orbit, circling the globe at speeds up to Mach 5, or five times the speed of sound.

It was then brought out of orbit and came crashing back to Earth, missing its target by some 24 miles.

China unveiled a hypersonic glide vehicle during a military parade in 2019, which is capable of carrying a nuclear warhead. Beijing has now used a hypersonic vehicle to test a low-orbiting weapon capable of defeating nuclear defences

Pictured: China launches the Shenzhou-13 spacecraft on October 16, carried on the Long March-2F carrier rocket, to Chinese Tiangong space station

While this shows the weapon is not ready for deployment, it still stunned analysts, who believed China was far off being able to mount an active test.

Beijing did not report the test or its results at the time, but after it was disclosed the country's state media mocked America by saying it is a 'new blow to the US's mentality of strategic superiority over China'.

An op-ed in the Chinese state media outlet Global Times, Beijing's mouthpiece, said the test means 'there is a key new member in China's nuclear deterrence system', adding that this is a 'new blow to the US's mentality of strategic superiority over China'.

It is just the latest move in a global arms race between Russia, China and the U.S. - which is taking place against the backdrop of mounting tensions between the superpowers in the eastern Pacific.

Weapons race: A comparison of the most advanced (columns from left) missiles, aircraft carriers, tanks and aircraft possessed by China, the US and Russia

All three countries are engaged in wholesale updates of their militaries including the development of new nuclear technology with which they can strike each-other at range.

Russia and China have, in recent years, unveiled new and more-powerful ICBMs which are capable of launching multiple nuclear warheads at targets many thousands of miles away.

But China's new hypersonic missile takes the technology one step further.

ICBMs work by firing the nuclear warheads into space on an arched trajectory, before they fall back to earth at speeds up to 18,000mph - detonating just above their intended targets and wiping them out.

Because they fly on an arched trajectory, the missiles and the warheads they carry fly far above the atmosphere before coming back down.

Current missile defense technology is designed to detect those launches, track the warheads as they reach the peak of that arch, then shoot them as they fall - before they hit their targets.

The hypersonic warhead is different.

It flies low in the atmosphere, making it harder to track, and can be repositioned in flight, making it difficult to calculate where it will land and therefore difficult to intercept.

And because it uses the Earth's orbit to propel itself, it has potentially limitless range.

This means it can be fired in any direction - blindsiding radar systems that are currently pointed in only one direction, over the North Pole, which is where any nuclear attack on the U.S. using ICBMs would come from.

The United States, Russia and at least five other countries are working on hypersonic technology, and last month North Korea said it had test-fired a newly-developed hypersonic missile.

Russia has previously tested a hypersonic cruise missile known as Zircon, but it flies below the atmosphere and uses fuel to power itself to hypersonic speeds rather than the Earth's orbit.

The Pentagon did not comment on China's testing of the hypersonic missile, but did acknowledge China as their 'number one pacing challenge'.

'We have made clear our concerns about the military capabilities China continues to pursue, capabilities that only increase tensions in the region and beyond,' John Kirby, a Pentagon spokesperson, told Fox News.

'That is one reason why we hold China as our number one pacing challenge.'

An op-ed in Beijing's state media outlet Global Times said: 'If the FT report is to be believed, it means that there is a key new member in China's nuclear deterrence system, which is a new blow to the US' mentality of strategic superiority over China.

'It is important to note the unstoppable trend that China is narrowing the gap with the US in some key military technologies as China is continuously developing its economic and technological strength.'

'China doesn't need to engage in an "arms race" with the US  it is capable of weakening the US's overall advantages over China by developing military power at its own pace,' the editorial added.
The House committee investigating the January 6 Capitol riot has shared its criminal contempt report on Steve Bannon after he ignored a subpoena to testify.

Bannon has insisted he would not do so until the matter of former President Trump's 'executive privilege' is settled.

Last week, the committee announced it would now move forward with criminal charges against the man credited with helping power Trump to the White House in 2016.

Rep. Bennie Thompson, chair of the select committee, said in a statement that Bannon was 'hiding behind insufficient, blanket and vague statements regarding privileges he has purported to invoke.'

The committee argues there is no 'executive privilege' right to invoke given that Bannon had left Trump's White House years earlier.

'The Select Committee will not tolerate defiance of our subpoenas, so we must move forward with proceedings to refer Mr. Bannon for criminal contempt.'

The panel are particularly interested in probing connections Bannon may have to those suspected of rioting, in the months leading up to the deadly event at the Capitol.

Lawmakers investigating January 6th Capitol attack asked Steven Bannon for documents and testimony from April 2020 onwards relating to the attack. Pictured in August 2020

A 26-page report details the back and forth between Congress and Steve Bannon who is refusing to comply with a subpoena issues by the January 6 Select Committee

The panel is scheduled to vote on the criminal referral on Tuesday night, and if charged, Bannon faces up to a year in jail or a $100,000 fine.

But criminal contempt charges rarely result in jail time, and would likely spark years of court wrangling and appeals if brought against Bannon.

Committee members are hopeful that threatening charges will be sufficient to get Bannon to cooperate, although he has so far shown no indication of wavering.

The criminal contempt report details the correspondence between Bannon and the committee with information about what happened on the day he was scheduled to make his deposition.

'Mr. Bannon has relied on no legal authority to support his refusal to comply in any fashion with the subpoena,' the report states.

Robert Costello, said Trump's 'executive privilege' meant that Bannon was unable to comply with the request to supply information to the select committee

The select committee also notes executive privilege has not been invoked, nor has there been any communication with former President Trump on the issue.

'The Select Committee has not been provided with any formal invocation of executive privilege by the President, the former President or any other employee of the executive branch,' the report notes.

However, it details that Bannon was a private citizen during the period of time over which the committee is seeking information, adding: 'The law is clear that executive privilege does not extend to discussions between the President and private citizens relating to non-governmental business or among private citizens.'

'At no point during the time period under investigation by the Select Committee was Mr. Bannon a government employee, much less a key White House adviser in the Office of the President.'

Furthermore, the committee says that the information it is seeking from Bannon does not involve Trump and is therefore another reason as to why there is no need for it to be protected.

The committee, pictured, has said it will now bring criminal contempt proceedings against former the White House strategist on Tuesday night

The subpoena seeks documents and communications dating back to April 1, 2020 and asks Bannon to produce any permits and documents related to the planning, financing, objectives and communications for the pro-Trump January 6 rally on the National Mall and Capitol.

It also asks for Bannon to provide any communications he may have had with various far-right extremist groups including the Proud Boys, the Oath Keepers and Three Percenters, and InfoWars Alex Jones.

Hours after Bannon's deadline on October 7 to provide such documents to the committee had passed, his lawyer Robert J. Costello sent a letter to say his client was not going to comply with the request and cited a note from the Trump team which urged a deal on executive privilege to be worked out first.

Trump has claimed that his communications with aides are protected by executive privilege, a legal doctrine that protects the confidentially of some White House communications. But legal experts have said he cannot lawfully use executive privilege because he is no longer the president.

Trump has claimed communications with aides are protected by executive privilege, a legal doctrine that protects the confidentially of some White House communications. Legal experts have said he cannot lawfully use executive privilege because he is now the former president

Five days later on October 13 when it appeared progress might be being made on having Bannon make a deposition, Costello informed the committee that he would not be appearing, once against citing executive privilege.

The following day, when Bannon was supposed to make his deposition, the committee was adjourned six minutes after starting proceedings when it became clear Bannon was not going to show up.

Last Friday, the committee chairman Bennie Thompson informed Costello that a criminal contempt referral would now be made with Bannon seemingly not having any immunity from appearing nor having provided any of the requested documents.

If the report is adopted in committee later on Tuesday, it will then pass to the House, where a vote will take place.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi would then have to certify the report to the United States attorney for the District of Columbia although the Justice Department will also make a decision on whether to proceed with a prosecution.

Executive privilege: the tool used by presidents to keep Oval Office secrets Executive privilege is the presidents power to keep information from the courts, Congress and the public to protect the confidentiality of the Oval Office decision-making process. The privilege to withhold documents and prohibit aides from testifying rests on the proposition that the president has an almost unparalleled need to protect the confidentiality of candid advice that goes into presidential judgments. While not spelled out in the Constitution, executive privilege has developed to protect a president's ability to obtain candid counsel from his advisers without fear of immediate public disclosure and to protect his confidential communications relating to official responsibilities. But that privilege has its limitations in extraordinary situations, as exemplified during the Watergate scandal, when the Supreme Court ruled that it could not be used to shield the release of secret Oval Office tapes sought in a criminal inquiry, and following the September 11 terrorist attacks. The January 6 insurrection belongs among those ranks. The argument that the special circumstances of the attack justify the extraordinary release of records should guard against the erosion of executive privilege for presidencies going forward, some experts believe. Democrat Biden has agreed to a request from Congress seeking sensitive information on the actions of his predecessor Donald Trump and his aides during the Capitol riots, though the former president claims the information is guarded by executive privilege. The move by Biden isnt the final word; Republican Trump says he will challenge the requests and a lengthy legal battle is likely to ensue over the information. Courts have ruled that former presidents are afforded executive privilege in some cases. Advertisement

Bannon was a private citizen and no longer working for the White House at time. Pictured 2018

Anyone found guilty in contempt of Congress could be jailed for up to a year, but such a procedure is rarely invoked and if anything maybe more of a warning shot to Bannon.

'Our goal is to have him testify. I think that this will send a strong message that there are consequences for not testifying,' Democratic Rep. Elaine Luria of Virginia told CNN on Friday. 'His testimony is very important for the committee.'

The committee has subpoenaed other officials including former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark, Trump former chief of staff Mark Meadows, deputy chief of staff Dan Scavino and former Defense Department official Kash Patel.

The attack on the Capitol by Trump supporters took place as Congress met to certify Democrat Joe Biden's election victory over Trump, delaying that process for several hours as then-Vice President Mike Pence, members of Congress, staff and journalists fled.

More than 640 people face criminal charges stemming from the event.

The attack on the Capitol by Trump supporters took place as Congress met to certify Democrat Joe Biden's election victory over Trump
A brand of gin sold at Dan Murphy's stores around Australia has been recalled due to fears the spirit is contaminated .

The Banks and Burbidge alcohol free gin has been pulled from the shelves due to 'a potential for microbial contamination', according to Food Standards Australia New Zealand who announced the recall on Sunday.

'Food products with potential microbial contamination may cause illness if consumed,' the recall said.

The Banks and Burbidge alcohol free gin has been pulled from the shelves due to 'a potential for microbial contamination', according to Food Standards who announced the recall

The recall applies to the 700ml bottle of the gin which had a best before date of May 11, 2023.

Any customers who may have drunk the beverage and are concerned about their health have been urged to seek medical advice.

'Consumers should not drink this product, and should dispose of it safely. Consumers seeking a full refund should contact the place of purchase for instructions,' FSANZ said.

Microbial contamination occurs when food or drink has been contaminated by microorganisms such as mold, toxins, bacteria or viruses.
A glamorous influencer is 'grateful nobody was injured or killed' after hitting three parked cars and flipping her luxury Jeep after allegedly driving three times over the limit.

Patricia Hadjia, 27, allegedly had a blood-alcohol level of 0.181 when she hopped behind the wheel of her Grand Cherokee after a wedding in Sydney's eastern suburbs on Saturday night.

Worried neighbours heard a loud boom on Duncan Street in Maroubra at about 9.50pm and called police.

The social media adviser - who calls herself Torpedo Trish - was arrested, charged with high-range drink driving and had her licence suspended.

Ms Hadjia opened up to Daily Mail Australia about the alleged incident saying she feels 'embarrassed' and 'deeply regretful' about what happened.

Patricia Hadjia, 27, (pictured) is a social media influencer with about 39,000 followers on Instagram - and has opened up to Daily Mail Australia about her car crash

Patricia Hadjia is pictured right at the scene of the crash, in the same green pants she wore to the wedding earlier that day

Ms Hadjia's solicitor Eidan Havas said she 'would like to thank all first responders for attending the scene and doing such a wonderful job.'

He said further comments about the alleged crash would be 'inappropriate' due to her impending appearance in Waverley Local Court on November 10.

A picture from the scene on Saturday appeared to show Ms Hadjia talking to a group of young men near her flipped car.

The influencer recently shared a photo with her 39,000 Instagram followers that showing her in the same matching green pants and blazer and holding a glass of champagne at the wedding.

Patricia Hadija (pictured left) allegedly crashed her Jeep on Saturday after attending a wedding reception

Ms Hadjia said she regrets the events on Saturday night and is glad nobody was injured

Witnesses said they were watching TV when they a thud, and rushed outside to find Ms Hadjia and her 29-year-old passenger pulling themselves from the wreckage.

'I came out and looked up the road and it was a really strange looking sight, it looked a bit like a UFO had landed because the tail lights were up where they shouldn't be normally,' a neighbour told the Daily Telegraph.

'I got up the road and I could see it was a car on its side, the headlights were on and I could see arms inside writhing over each other  I ran back to my partner and she said "what's going on?", I told her and she called Triple-0 immediately.'

She is set to appear in Waverley Local Court on November 10 to face the charge relating to the crash

The Instagram influencer (pictured) has been charged with high-range drink driving

Another woman said she heard a 'massive boom' and joined a crowd of people who gathered to see what was going on.

She said a 'stand out moment' was when a passenger poked his head out the window and put a cigarette in his mouth.

Ms Hadjia's sister is Joelle Hadjia, who shot to fame after appearing on the X-Factor.

She teaches people how to become social media influencers.
The estranged partner of a pregnant mother-of-two found dead inside his Melbourne home earlier this month has been charged with her murder.

Michelle Darragh, 32, was expecting her third child when her lifeless body was found at her former partner's Bayswater North home in Melbourne's east on October 9.

The mother-of-two was discovered by her father lying beside a bloodied pile of clothes and her injured ex-partner Benjamin Coman, 29.

Police confirmed Michelle Darragh's estranged partner Benjamin Coman has been charged with her murder on Tuesday

Michelle Darragh, 32 (pictured), died at her former partner's Bayswater North home 28km east of Melbourne's city centre on October 9

Mr Coman was rushed to hospital in a critical condition where he remained under police guard until he could be interviewed by homicide detectives.

Victoria Police confirmed on Tuesday the 29-year-old has been charged with murder to face Melbourne Magistrates' Court this afternoon.

The couple, who once lived at the address with their two young boys, recently separated after five years together.

Ms Darragh had been living with her parents at The Basin when she returned to the Bayswater north home on October 9 to collect some of her belongings.

Her father decided to check on his daughter after he grew concerned when she failed to return home earlier that afternoon.

A neighbour reported Ms Darragh's dad climbed the back fence when he couldn't enter through the front door before making the tragic discovery.

The couple had recently separated when the mother-of-two returned to the Bayswater North home to collect some of her belongings

Ms Darragh's heartbroken family said: 'She lived for her kids and family and always put other people first in front of her own self'

Heartbroken family said they want her to be remembered as 'the most beautiful soul that you could ever get,' a family member told The Age.

'She lived for her kids and family and always put other people first in front of her own self.

'We will always remember her beautiful nature and her infectious smile that lit the room up when she walked into it.'

They said she adored her two sons and was a dedicated, loving mother.

A neighbour of the deceased woman said he saw the victim's parents outside the house crying.

Neighbour Trent Falahey said he saw Ms Darragh's distraught parents crying outside the home before the woman's mother asked if he had 'heard anything'.

'You don't expect these things to happen in your neighbourhood,' he told the Herald Sun.

He said they were a 'fantastic' and 'lovely couple' who had been at the property for about four years.

'They were great neighbours  it is a pretty tight neighbourhood we all know each other,' he said.
Portland set a new record for homicides in a year - breaking the ignominious mark set in 1987 of 66 deaths with still three months left in 2021 - as the the defund the police movement continues to have deadly consequences for Oregon's largest city.

The Pacific Northwest city has seen more than 1,000 shootings this year, with 314 bystanders injured by bullets. Deaths by gun violence have accounted for three-quarters of all homicides.

Last year, Portland recorded 55 murders, nearly triple the total of 20 in 2016. With a population of 650,000, the liberal bastion has had twice as many murders as neighboring Seattle, which has about 100,000 more people.

Portland's murder spree comes after the city's police department budgets were slashed by millions of dollars in the wake of the defund the police movement - causing significant staffing shortages - along with a lack of enforcement power due to new legislation which restricts officers' actions.

City leaders slashed a total $27 million from the police budget last year - $11 million due to the pandemic-caused budget crisis - a decision that the police union says has cost lives.

'I have never seen the police bureau so stressed, personal-strength-wise, never,' Oregon Association Chiefs of Police President Jim Ferraris told the Wall Street Journal.

The homicide rate in the city has increased to 67, far outstripping the murder rates of the past five years

Police investigate an overnight fatal shooting in Portland in July 2021. Portland surpassed its previous record of 66 homicides set in 1987

The news comes less than one week after hundreds of rioters caused over half a million dollars' worth of damage in the city and spray painted messages inciting violence against police officers (Pictured: graffiti sprayed on a wall in Portland on October 12 which reads 'kill cops')

Portland was rocked by a violent, 100-person protest last Tuesday night that police were unable to prevent due to new laws restricting their power in responding to riots (Pictured: a dumpster set alight in downtown Portland on October 12, 2021)

On Saturday, Police Chief Chuck Lovell posted the above tweet addressing Portland's gun violence, after the city registered more than 1000 shootings in 2021 so far

Jacob Eli Knight Vasquez became Portland's 67th homicide in late September when he was hit by a stray bullet while sitting inside a pizza bar in northwest Portland. The 34-year-old died on the scene.

'We are running on fumes. Theres no way we can investigate thoroughly, and correctly, all these shootings,' said Daryl Turner, executive director of Portland's police union.

Nationally, homicides increased by nearly 30% from 2019 to 2020 based on FBI data, but the deadly violence has increasing at a much faster rate in Portland than nearly all major cities, with an 83% increase in homicides in 2020.

It's the largest increase in homicides the country has seen since the FBI started recording national data in 1960.

Lionel Irving Jr, a local outreach worker and a former gang member, said, 'This past year has shattered anything that I've ever witnessed.'

Irving does not believe gun violence will slow without more officers on the street and a specialized gun violence unit, along with investments in community-based organizations.

Police say the recently passed law ties their hands even further as it prohibits police from using crowd control techniques like pepper spray or tear gas. Instead, law enforcement agencies are told to rely on follow-up investigations to hold rioters accountable.

Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler announced in June that officers are no longer being directed to stop drivers for low-level traffic violations, partially in response to data showing a disproportionate impact on drivers of color, but also because the city doesn't have enough officers.

Turner says the city needs to hire 840 officers over the next five years to implement proper community policing and keep Portland safe.

Since August 2020, about 200 officers have left the Portland police department, many of whom cited low morale, a lack of support from city officials and burnout from months of racial justice protests in their exit interviews. The department is now operating with a force about 128 officers below its authorized strength.

The city's police department is seemingly unable to fill positions on even the smallest of task forces aimed at reducing the violence, while the city's authorities scramble to implement alternative solutions to improve safety.

The police department's Focused Intervention Team has been unable to fill 14 available spots, reporting in August that only four applicants had applied to join the taskforce aimed at reducing gun crime.

The original Gun Violence Reduction Team was shut down after the Portland City Council voted to cut $15 million from the police budget and eliminate 84 sworn positions last June.

Police stood idle as rioters rampaged through the city, citing a new law that prevents law enforcement from using means of crowd control like pepper spray, tear gas or incapacitating projectiles (Pictured: the aftermath of the riots in downtown Portland on October 12)

Law enforcement agencies in Portland were told to rely on follow-up investigations to hold rioters accountable (Pictured: damage to a bank window and ATM machine caused during the October 12 riot)

Meanwhile, Portland authorities have resorted to using road signs and traffic cones in a desperate attempt to reduce instances of drive-by shootings.

Transportation Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty - a 'defund the police' supporter who voted in favor of the police's budget cuts - recently ordered the Bureau of Transportation to install orange traffic barrels across a six-block area in the Mt. Scott-Arleta neighborhood.

The barrels were to be used as part of a series of 'holistic solutions to community safety' aimed at reducing the shooting epidemic by preventing cars used in drive-by shootings from 'both commit a crime and get away with it,' Hardesty said.

'This is an all-hands-on-deck situation where government needs to dig deep, think creatively,' she continued. 'From police to community-based organizations to infrastructure design  we all have a role to play in this emergency.'

Don Osborn, a brother-in-law of a recent shooting victim in Portland, has railed against the city's defunding of the police and called on authorities to renew the police's powers.

'Let's please untie the hands of our law enforcement officers,' he implored in an interview with AP. 'I believe if the proper tools were in place for our law enforcement officers, this wouldn't even have happened.'

Turner's comments came less than a week after a group of nearly 100 rioters caused more than $500,000 in damage last Tuesday during a 'night of rage and anger' that police could not prevent because of a new state law that restricts how law enforcement can respond to riots.

The violence broke out after a memorial for Sean Kealiher, an Antifa activist who was struck and killed by an SUV in October 2019 after getting in a fight with the driver at a bar earlier that night.

Police have not made any arrests in connection to Kealiher's death, though his mother, Laura, believes they have identified the culprits, according to the Oregonian/Oregon Live.

She organized last Tuesday's protest on Twitter, writing that it was 'not a peaceful event' and dubbing it 'a night of rage and anger.'

Following the destructive riot last week, resident Linda Witt asked: 'Does that mean we are now like a lawless city?' when discussing the new restrictions on riot responses during a neighborhood meeting with police.

Police say many of the shootings are linked to the marked increase in gang violence, fights and retaliation killings, but the escalating gun violence has already seen several innocent bystanders caught in the crossfire.

Hadar Kedem, 9, recently told city leaders about a dangerously close call when she was caught in gunfire earlier this year.

Hadar had been playing with her father, brother and dog at a northeast Portland park when a group of people in ski masks began shooting. Hadar and her family dove for cover behind a metal equipment bin. One bullet landed within feet of the fourth-grader.

'I know that not only do I want change, but everyone wants change,' Hadar said during a City Council meeting last month. 'I want to feel safe.'

Transportation Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty (pictured) recently ordered the Bureau of Transportation to install orange traffic barrels in an area notorious for drive-by shootings in an alternative attempt to curb escalating gun violence

The traffic barrels are expected to cost $2,000 to $3,000 in total, and have been mocked by critics as a pathetic attempt to reduce gun violence in a city where the police budgets have been drastically cut

On a national level, the increasing violence and pleas for cities to do more have compelled some areas to switch from defunding police departments to restoring funding to them.

From Los Angeles to New York, some law enforcement departments that underwent massive budget cuts, amid nationwide protests over the murder of George Floyd last year, have had local leaders restore funds or implement new programs or units.

In Portland, there's money available for public safety in the form of a $60 million general fund excess balance.

The City Council can use half the money, which came from business taxes last year and was far more than anticipated, however it wants. Whether a significant portion will go to the police bureau has yet to be determined.

'We have to realize that everybody has a role, from community members to the police department,' Irving said. 'No one entity is going to solve gun violence.'
A seemingly run of the mill email from a government adviser has linked Gladys Berejiklian to a controversial project being investigated by the corruption watchdog.

The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) was shown reams of correspondence on Tuesday about an apparent pre-Christmas rush to get a pet project of her-then secret lover onto the agenda of a major budget meeting.

It was December 2016 when a funding proposal which public servants repeatedly rubbished as a 'low priority' was suddenly rushed to a cabinet committee meeting with the help of Ms Berejiklian, who was then NSW Treasurer.

With a subject line of 'Wagg Wagga Clay Target Shooting' (sic), a government adviser wrote: 'The Treasurer has requested this issue be put on the agenda for the ERC meeting on 14 December.'

Those 18 bland words were presented to ICAC on Tuesday as part of its evidence against the former NSW premier - one of few times the inquiry even alluded to Ms Berejiklian today.

A seemingly bland, 18-word email is causing difficulties for former NSW premier Gladys Berjiklian

An email presented in evidence to ICAC said Gladys Berejiklian, who was then the state treasurer, gave approval for a controversial project to be taken to the NSW government's expenditure review committee

ICAC is investigating whether Ms Berejiklian encouraged or allowed corrupt conduct by her secret ex-boyfriend and disgraced former Wagga Wagga MP Daryl Maguire.

Counsel for ICAC Scott Robertson SC spent the day questioning former public servant, Paul Doorn, who is now the chief executive officer at NSW Rugby Union and NSW Waratahs.

If he'd known Ms Berejiklian was in a close personal relationship with the MP pushing for the project, it would have been a 'red flag', Mr Doorn told ICAC.

He said there was 'a lot of push' from local MP Mr Maguire to get funding for the shooting facility in Wagga Wagga.

Mr Doorn had repeatedly classified the proposal as 'low priority', raising concerns about a lack of detail and the fact it would be in competition with an Olympic-standard clay shooting facility the government owned in Sydney.

'We didn't think it stacked up,' he said.

Mr Doorn said there were 'very clear rules' for disclosing conflicts of interests. If he'd known about the former premier's relationship with Mr Maguire, he would have had to approach his department secretary

'Ultimately that would be then drawn to the attention of organisations like ICAC,' he said.

At the end of today's hearing, Mr Robertson, tendered some documents relating to witnesses who are not expected to give evidence during the public hearings.

This included an email on December 6, 2016, from a Yogi Savania in NSW Treasury to Josh Milner, also in Treasury, that said, in part: 'FYI Josh. Could you try and get her hands on this from OOS [Office of Sport].

'I spoke to Zach re this. The treasurer has requested this be brought forward and has indicated an inclination to support the proposal.'

Paul Doorn, chief executive officer at NSW Rugby Union and NSW Waratahs, arrives at an Independent Commission Against Corruption hearing in Sydney on Tuesday, October 19. ICAC's Operation Keppel is in its first week of hearings into whether former premier Gladys Berejiklian breached public trust

ICAC heard that Ms Berejiklian approved the final version of a funding submission for a state government grant for the Australian Clay Target Association (ACTA) to be taken to the NSW government's expenditure review committee (ERC) in December 2016.

An email presented in evidence said Ms Berejiklian gave that approval on December 2 and the ERC was to consider the proposal on December 14, 2016.

The ERC subsequently approved a conditional grant of $5.5 million.

Mr Robertson referred to the ACTA proposal as a 'Build it and they will come project.'

ICAC is investigating whether Ms Berejiklian 1. Engaged in conduct between 2012 and 2018 that was 'liable to allow or encourage the occurrence of corrupt conduct' by former Liberal MP Daryl Maguire, with whom she was in a close personal relationship between 2015 and 2018 2. Exercised her official functions dishonestly or partially by refusing to exercise her duty to report any reasonable suspicions about Mr Maguire to the ICAC 3. Exercised any of her official functions partially in connection with two multimillion-dollar grants in Mr Maguire's electorate, to the Australian Clay Target Association Inc and the Riverina Conservatorium of Music. Advertisement

He asked Mr Doorn if it would be considered a 'career-limiting move' to continue advising a minister, in this case the Sport Minister, that a proposal was a 'bad idea'.

Mr Doorn agreed that there 'comes a point in time' where after a public servant has given 'frank and fearless advice' they then need to support a government decision.

In earlier proceedings on Tuesday, ICAC heard that in 2012 Mr Maguire wrote to the then Sport Minister, Graham Annesley, about funding for a new shooting centre.

Mr Doorn said it was 'not just a shooting range but a broader facility' that was being proposed.

As there was already an Olympic standard shooting facility in Greater Sydney that was used for the Sydney 2000 Olympics, this meant the funding request was to support a second international-standard shooting facility in the state.

Asked whether he gave advice about whether this was a good use of funds, Mr Doorn said he advised that it would be competing with an existing facility owned by the state, but 'we would always explore it'.

An email from the time, which was entered as evidence, said 'A low priority will be given to the project'.

Mr Robertson said 'the likelihood is that it won't be funded at all' if a proposal is of 'a low priority'.

Mr Doorn, who was then an executive director of the NSW Office of Sport, said he recalled that Mr Maguire wrote a second letter to the sport minister in 2016, following the earlier letter in 2012.

In 2016 the minister was Stuart Ayres, who is now the NSW Trade and Industry Minister. Mr Ayres is not accused of wrongdoing and is expected to give evidence later this week.

Former NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian (front) and her former boyfriend Daryl Maguire

The Australian Clay Target Association is part of an ICAC inquiry into former NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian

Mr Doorn said the association had 'done a bit more work on what was a skeleton proposal' for constructing international-standard facilities, including a clubhouse.

But he added that the lack of detail was still a challenge. No cost-benefit analysis had been provided but the government was considering providing funding of $40,000 to help the Australian Clay Target Association apply for more funding.

Mr Doorn said the government occasionally provided 'seed funding' to allow a cost-benefit analysis to be undertaken by a group seeking a bigger amount of money from the state government.

'It's not standard but it did happen from time to time. It would be rare,' he said.

An email presented in evidence to the ICAC on Tuesday. It mentions an Invictus Games event could possibly be held at the proposed Wagga Wagga facility. But it later emerged that the Invictus Games does not have a shooting event

Mr Doorn said he recalled that in conversations with a colleague, Michael Toohey (who gave evidence on Monday) in late 2016, that they had 'concerns' about the project and how they might 'safeguard the government'.

He later added that 'Perhaps compared to other projects it just lacked the detail.'

The commission heard repeated evidence that the Australian Clay Target Association proposal seemed to lack value to the state.

'It would have been towards bottom' in priority, Mr Doorn said, while an email from another public servant said the previous time ACTA sought funding was rated the lowest of 15 proposals in 2013-14 and not funded.

ICAC also heard that a feasibility study option 'disappeared' from the second draft of a funding submission for a grant for the ACTA.

The initial draft featured two potential recommendations. The first was to approve a grant of $500,000 for a feasibility study for upgrading facilities, and the second was to approve a grant of $6.7 million to develop a large clubhouse.

Gladys Berejiklian (pictured right) is under investigation by ICAC for her conduct while NSW premier in relation to her former boyfriend, ex-MP Daryl Maguire (pictured left)

By the time it got to the second draft, the first option had 'disappeared', Mr Robertson said.

Mr Doorn said 'We wouldn't make that decision ourselves; that would have been made on feedback from the [sport] minister's office.'

'We would have provided a draft and then had a discussion around what that looked like.'

ICAC is investigating the conduct of Ms Berejiklian and her ex-boyfriend the former Liberal MP for Wagga Wagga, Mr Maguire, concerning $35 million in state government grants issued to the Australian Clay Target Association and the Riverina Conservatorium of Music in Mr Maguire's electorate when Ms Berejiklian was NSW Treasurer.

Former NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian seems to have a lot on her mind as she walks in Northbridge on Sydney's north shore

Ms Berejiklian has repeatedly, strenuously denied any wrongdoing and said she always acted in the best interests of the people of NSW.

Mr Toohey, a director in the Office of Sport, was the first witness called by ICAC when it opened the public stage of its hearings yesterday.

He said the Australian Clay Target Association proposal 'was a very risky idea' and of Ms Berejiklian's secret relationship with Mr Maguire he said: 'I can't see how that's anything but a conflict of interest.'

Mr Robertson described the grants to the Australian Clay Target Association Inc and the Riverina Conservatorium of Music as 'case studies'.

He said private ICAC hearings established that public officials involved with these grants would say they had been 'influenced in the steps they took' based on what they thought to be 'Ms Berejiklian's support for or interest in those projects'.

ICAC heard evidence that Ms Berejiklian, who was then the NSW treasurer, approved a funding submission for Wagga Wagga's Australian Clay Target Association to be put before the state government's expenditure review committee in December 2016.

He told the inquiry he was asked to put together in just one day a draft expenditure review committee (ERC) submission for funding for the Australian Clay Target Association Inc.

Mr Toohey said it was 'extremely unusual' to be asked to put together an ERC submission on such short notice. He did not recall this happening ever before.

'I thought it was a very risky idea,' he said. Mr Toohey told ICAC he never got a satisfactory answer as to why a funding submission for a multimillion-dollar government grant was such a matter of urgency in late 2016.

'What was the rush? Why couldn't it wait?' Mr Toohey said he asked at the time.

Mr Robertson asked Mr Toohey if he 'Would you have done anything differently, would it have affected what you did [if you knew about the relationship between Ms Berejiklian and Mr Maguire]?'

'Absolutely. I would have expressed my concerns ... to say I thought this was problematic.'

Mr Toohey said there was an 'idea being thrown around' that the association's facilities were going to be relevant to getting the Invictus Games (an international sporting event for wounded, injured and sick servicemen and women, both serving and veterans) in Sydney.

'Invictus Games doesn't have shooting events. The claim that this was somehow related to the bid was imaginative,' Mr Toohey said.

'There was no way of knowing that the costs were right ... It was quite deficient on what I thought were material matters. We didn't even know how the project was going to be managed.'

He said it was not clear if it was a 'feasible project' and that he recalled that the analysis was predicated on an assumption of increased tourism to the region.

Mr Toohey said an analysis focused on the benefit to Wagga Wagga of funding the construction of a new clubhouse for the Australian Clay Target Association in the city is an 'incomplete analysis'.

'It has to benefit the state,' he said.

Former NSW premier Mike Baird (pictured right) is set to appear before the ICAC inquiry into another former NSW premier, Gladys Berejiklian (pictured left)

Mike Baird, who was the NSW premier at the time of the $5.5 million state government grant to the Australian Clay Target Association in Wagga Wagga, is expected to give evidence at ICAC tomorrow, as is his former director of strategy, Nigel Blunden.
Pauline Hanson has launched a stinging attack on Annastacia Palaszczuk, branding her 'totalitarian' over her border rules and vaccination requirements.

On Monday the Queensland Premier announced fully-vaccinated arrivals from Covid hotspots will be allowed to home quarantine from November 19 and enter without any quarantine from December 17.

But the unvaccinated will still have to meet entry requirements and do an undisclosed period of quarantine.

Pauline Hanson has launched a stinging attack on Annastacia Palaszczuk, branding her 'totalitarian' over her border rules and vaccination requirements

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The One Nation leader, who has refused to take a Covid-19 vaccine, accused the State Government of taking away freedom and wanting to 'control' people.

'People talk about freedom - ''we're going to give you your freedom''. Well it wasn't yours to give away, it's control of the people,' she told Canberra radio 2CC.

Senator Hanson referred to reports earlier this month that an undisclosed number of Queensland Police officers had left the force because they refuse to get vaccinated.

'Three hundred police have walked away, we've got more in the nursing profession who will not have this vaccination,' she said.

'People's rights to their freedoms have actually been denied by the Government, the politicians who are controlling people.'

On Monday the Queensland Premier (pictured) announced fully vaccinated arrivals from Covid hotspots will be allowed to home quarantine from November 19 and enter without any quarantine from December 17

The 67-year-old, who has declined to turn up to Parliament in Canberra this month, said she doesn't want to leave Queensland as long as quarantine is enforced.

'Besides, no thanks I've said it before, going into lockdown for two weeks - it's not happening,' she said.

Even after the border rules relax, Senator Hanson said she would be nervous that they may change at any time.

'I wouldn't trust the totalitarian government we have up here who just changes at her will whatever she wants to do to the people of Queensland,' she said, referring to Premier Palaszczuk.

Queenslanders met with family at the NSW border on Father's Day due to the border closure

The Premier said she set the reopening dates to coincide with Queensland reaching 70 per cent and 80 per cent vaccination targets.

'That's good news for families to be reunited for Christmas,' she said.

Ms Palaszczuk said those dates would be brought forward if the rates were hit sooner.

The major decision follows calls for the state to announce a roadmap out of Covid to lift its lagging vaccination rates, with the government even opening jab clinics at Bunnings warehouses.

'The faster we are vaccinated, the faster these deadlines will be achieved,' Ms Palsazczuk said.

'I am urging Queenslanders, this is your last opportunity. This is your last chance to get vaccinated.'

WHAT HAPPENS ON QUEENSLAND'S THRESHOLD DATES? On estimated date of November 19, when 70 per cent full vaccination mark is reached: * Anyone who has been in a declared hotspot in the previous 14 days can travel into Queensland provided they are fully vaccinated, arrive by air and have a negative Covid test in the previous 72 hours. * Travellers must undertake home quarantine for 14 days. * Direct international arrivals into Queensland will have to complete 14 days quarantine in a Government-nominated facility. * International arrivals who arrive via another state or territory will have to quarantine at a Government-nominated facility for 14 days. On estimated date of December 17, when 80 per cent full vaccination mark is reached: * Travellers from an interstate hotspot can arrive by road or air. * They must be fully vaccinated and have a negative Covid test result. Quarantine will no longer be required for interstate visitors. * Direct international arrivals can undertake 14 days home quarantine. At 90 per cent full vaccination of the eligible Queensland population there will be no border restrictions or quarantine for fully vaccinated people. * Unvaccinated travellers will need to meet requirements for entry and undertake a period of quarantine Advertisement

Ms Palaszczuk defended the delay in announcing the plan to reopen the state.

'In NSW and Victoria there has been a sense of urgency to get vaccinated because they had widespread Delta outbreaks, they had people in hospitals, people in their homes who've been very ill with Covid and that has been an incentive to get their lives back to some sort of normality,' she said.

'I'm asking Queenslanders to get vaccinated to keep our sense of lifestyle.'

Ms Palaszczuk said many parts of regional Queensland were behind the Brisbane area on vaccination rates.

She said ministers from the government would travel to some regional areas to urge Queenslanders to get vaccinated.

On Tuesday the premier said venues would be responsible for deciding whether or not to admit unvaccinated patrons from December 17 when interstate travel is allowed again.

'[The venues] may say that only vaccinated people can come in because it is about ensuring everyone is safe at those venues,' she said.

'I don't want people to be left out so please, come and get vaccinated.'

It came after Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said Victorians who refuse to get vaccinated will be banned from pubs and events 'well into 2022'.

NSW will give anti-vaxxers equal freedoms as the vaccinated on December 1, just eight weeks after the state's Covid-19 lockdown ended on October 11.

But Premier Andrews said his state will 'not be doing that' and will keep vaccine requirements in place indefinitely.
A Chicago police officer who was shot in the face on Monday returned to work that same evening, saluted by his colleagues as he entered the precinct still wearing his hospital gown.

The unnamed officer was shot in the cheek at the North & Sheffield Commons shopping center, in the Lincoln Park district of the city, after a disturbance created by a man not wearing a face mask inside an Ulta Beauty store.

Alderman Brian Hopkins, who represents Chicago's 2nd Ward, in which the confrontation happened, said that the gunman and a person who was with him had failed to wear masks, violating the city's COVID-19 protocols.

'We do know that the offender and the person he was with were not wearing masks, and there was some type of confrontation,' Hopkins told CBS 2.

'It's too early to say if that confrontation was the result of them not wearing a mask.' Chicago orders all residents to mask up in indoor public spaces, regardless of their vaccination status.

Hopkins added: 'The good news is the officer's injuries are not life-threatening, but let's pause and reflect on the fact that it is life-altering.

'Getting shot in the face is no small matter  even if you're going to live from those injuries, and even if you're going to fully recover from those injuries  and let's pray that he will.'

A police officer was shot in the face on Monday afternoon, but returned to his precinct, in the 18th District, later that evening - still wearing his hospital gown

Officers saluted as the unnamed cop returned to work, just hours after being shot

The officer was seen entering the building, as his colleagues looked on and saluted

Alderman Hopkins said that the dispute started when a man flouted the city's COVID mask requirements inside the shopping center

Police were called at around 3:30pm, and the person got into a struggle with an officer. The struggle continued out into parking lot.

A spokesman for the police tweeted a photo of the weapon, recovered at the scene

Superintendent David Brown, chief of Chicago police, said that the suspect then fired three rounds at an officer and struck him once in the face. The cop sustained a 'through and through' injury, meaning the bullet passed into his body, and then back out.

The suspected shooter was in custody, sources said. No officers fired back.

Tom Ahern, a spokesman for the Chicago force, tweeted a photo of the weapon, which was recovered at the scene.

By nightfall, the officer had been released from hospital, and stopped by his precinct on the way home, less than a mile from the scene of his shooting.

His fellow officers stood outside the 18th District police station, saluting as he entered, in footage broadcast by CBS.

The officer is the 12th to be shot in the line of duty in Chicago this year.

One of the 12, Ella French, was killed in August while policing a traffic stop.

The scene of Monday's shooting, in the Lincoln Park area of Chicago. The officer was shot outside Ulta Beauty

Ella French (pictured) was murdered while policing a traffic stop. Her death was the first fatal shooting of a Chicago officer in the line of duty since Lightfoot took office, prompting the mayor to increase the police department's budget after publicly supporting the 'defund the police' movement a month earlier

Brothers Emonte, 21, and Eric Morgan, 22, were said to have been driving with expired license plates, prompting police to pull them over.

Her death was the first fatal shooting of a Chicago officer in the line of duty since Mayor Lori Lightfoot took office and the first female officer fatally shot on the job there in 33 years.

Following French's death, Lightfoot unveiled a new plan to 'refund the police' - a $16.7 billion spending plan that will boost funding for officers - which lifted the Chicago Police Department's annual budget from $1.7 billion to $1.9 billion.

Violent crimes are up across the board in the Windy City.

Since 2019, murders are up a whopping 56 percent. More than 200 additional murders were committed in 2021 than in 2019.

The pandemic also inspired an influx of crime. Since 2020, murders are up by three percent.

Violent assaults are also up, with nearly 100 more cases of aggravated battery taking place this year than in 2019, before the pandemic - with more than two months left to go.

Meanwhile sexual assaults and rapes are up by more than 25 percent in the past year.

Yet gun violence is arguably the city's most pressing issue - with 1,606 people shot in this past summer alone - the population equivalent to many American small towns.

From June to August this year 261 Chicago citizens were killed, on pace to be the deadliest stretch in nearly a quarter-century for the city.

Violent crimes are up across the board in Chicago, with murders are up a whopping 56 percent since 2019 and three percent since 2020. According to the 2020 Uniform Crime Report released in late September by the FBI, 94 percent of the homicides were committed with a firearm

In Chicago, fatal shootings accounted for 94 per cent of all homicides so far this year - compared to the still-dismal 90 that happened in 2020.

In September eight-year-old Demetrius D Stevenson was shot dead while playing on the porch of his home in a gang-related shooting in a Chicago suburb.

The young boy was shot in the head after a car pulled up to the house, located at 15724 Homan Avenue, and gang members fired shots at Stevenson's 18-year-old brother - the main target, local authorities said.

Demetrius Stevenson was shot in the head in a drive-by shooting in front of his home last month as data showed that gun violence is arguably Chicago's most pressing issue - with 1,606 people shot in this past summer alone

Officials noted that gunfire was returned towards the car. Stevenson was rushed to the hospital, where he was later pronounced dead from his gunshot wounds, and his brother escaped injury.

Days earlier high school wrestling champion Melissa 'Azul' de la Garza, 18, was coming back from a day of shopping for Halloween costumes and had just finished a Facetime call with her sister when an unidentified man approached her car and shot her multiple times in the torso before fleeing, according to the Chicago Police Department.

She was sitting in her parked car when the fatal shooting happened and she was pronounced dead after being rushed to Mount Sinai Hospital while in critical condition.

The influx of firearms into the hands of Chicago criminals spurred Superintendent Brown to label his own city the 'ground zero for violence' in an interview earlier this month with CNN.

'It's violent people in possession of weapons,' he was sure to add.
Two teenage boys have offered a bleak view of the effects of Melbourne's endless lockdown on their mental health, education and social life in a moving video.

The YouTube clip posted by the Melbourne Ground channel sees the two young Melbourne residents talking freely about how their lives have been transformed by Melbourne's six Covid-19 lockdowns over the past two years.

The unidentified teens said they had been left with no motivation due to Victoria's strict approach to tackling the spread of the virus.

'I have lots of friends who I've seen turn to drugs and alcohol over lockdown. I've really seen a change in people. They've got nothing,' the first teen says.

'When we were at school two or so years ago ... that's what [people would] do for the day, they'd go home and sleep and go to school the next day.

'When they're at home all day, it's not healthy, you know.'

The video posted to the Melbourne Ground Youtube channel sees two young Melbourne residents talking freely about how their lives have been transformed by the city's six Covid-19 lockdowns over the past two years

'It's just ridiculous that Melbourne - we're meant to be a privileged country but we're in lockdown the most,' one of the teens said in the video

Melbourne's latest lockdown is due to end this Thursday, October at 11.59pm, five days earlier than originally planned

His mate said he'd missed out on so much of his life during the rolling lockdowns.

'I've never been a person who gets depressed much but recently, I've begun to feel the effects of the lockdown. I've started to feel depressed.

'We shouldn't feel like that, we're just kids.'

Both teens said the closures of schools had disrupted their education and left them wondering how to go forward once life returned to normal.

'I'm in Year 11 and I've got to the point where I have to choose to restart Year 11 or go into Year 12,' one said.

'The school I'm at want me to start Year 11 again. It's really affected me. I don't want to have to start Year 11 again but it's got to the point where I have to.'

His friend said that when he was at school he was 'in the moment' but no motivation to keep doing home schooling.

He also agreed that his phone and social media usage had gone up significantly while the stay-at-home orders were in place.

'I've never really been reliant on the internet or stuff but during lockdown, my phone usage has increased to about five or six hours a day. Before lockdown I'd be on it about an hour a day.'

Psychiatrist Professor Patrick McGorry described Australia's young people as 'canaries in a coalmine' for the effects of ongoing Covid restrictions on mental health, warning incidents of self-harm had risen

Melbourne's latest lockdown is due to end this Thursday, October at 11.59pm, five days earlier than originally planned.

The city's curfew and 15km travel restriction will be lifted after Thursday.

Most outdoor settings such as pools and cafes will open to 50 people per venue provided they are fully vaccinated. Indoor settings, such as restaurants and cafes, will be able to open to 20 fully vaccinated people

Melbourne experienced increasing unrest and protest as the lockdown wore on

The city has experienced increasing unrest as the lockdown wore on, typified by the out-of-control protests by a mixture of anti-vaccination activists and construction workers in September after the Victorian government mandated Covid-19 vaccines for construction workers and then shut the building industry down for two weeks.

'It's just ridiculous that Melbourne - you know, there are third world countries and everything, we're meant to be a privileged country but we're in lockdown the most,' one of the teens says in the YouTube video.

'This whole time during lockdown I've tried to keep a positive view on it,' his friend says. 'I'm thinking, it will finish soon, it will finish soon, and I'll be able to go back to normal, but it hasn't.'

In July prominent Australian psychiatrist Professor Patrick McGorry described Australia's young people as 'canaries in a coalmine' for the effects of ongoing Covid restrictions on mental health.

'The two things that we've seen are a rise in deliberate self-harm  and that's just a behavioural manifestation of distress and anxiety, depression  people overwhelmed with the emotional pain  self-harm is sort of a signal of that,' he told the ABC.

'And the second thing is a rising tide of anorexia, in particular, among eating disorders.'

'We've seen many young people adapt pretty well. But there's definitely a big subgroup that has struggled.'
Two women were expecting to receive a professional massage when they arrived at the home of a man they met on the dating app Tinder, a Brisbane court has been told.

Philip David Turner, 42, a professional therapist, has been charged with four counts of rape and one count of sexual assault relating to two separate incidents in late 2019 and early 2020.

The women are connected to one another only by their association with Turner, who they both met face-to-face for the first time on the date of their alleged assaults.

Philip David Turner, 42, has been charged with four counts of rape and one of sexual assault after alleged incidents with women he met on Tinder (pictured)

'Both of them went to that house at the defendant's invitation, so that he could give them a massage,' crown prosecutor Edward Coker told the Brisbane District Court on Tuesday.

'They expected it to be a professional, normal massage and each of them will tell you that they did not consent to any sexual contact with the defendant,' he said.

'That is not how things played out for either of them.'

After partially undressing 'as one does', Turner began the massages before removing their underwear, Mr Coker said.

Two women had arrived at a home expecting to receive a professional massage, Brisbane District Court (pictured) was told on Tuesday

The rape allegations refer to digital penetration in the moments that followed.

Sexual contact between Turner and the two women 'is not disputed' his lawyer Kim Bryson said.

'However, Philip Turner denies committing the offences of rape and sexual assault,' she said

'He honestly and reasonably believed that (both women) were willing participants.'

The two incidents allegedly occurred in late 2019 and 2020 when the accused removed the womens underwear and allegedly digitally penetrating the woman

Among the evidence expected throughout the three-day trial is a series of text messages between one of the women and Turner after the alleged incident.

Messages and a phone conversation between the second woman and her sister-in-law are also expected to be detailed to the jury.

Turner has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Elijah McClain's mom has settled her federal civil rights lawsuit against the City of Aurora, Colorado over the death of her son in August 2019.

Sheneen McClain filed the lawsuit in August 2020, claiming that the city, three police officers, two paramedics and the medical director of the Aurora Fire Rescue violated her son's civil rights by using 'brutal force' and then sedating him with ketamine.

McClain, a 23-year-old black man, went into cardiac arrest following the arrest on August 24, 2019, and died in a hospital six days later.

On Monday, Ryan Luby, deputy director of communications for the City of Aurora said the city and family reached an agreement in the lawsuit, although a payout amount has yet to be decided upon.

'The City of Aurora and the family of Elijah McClain reached a settlement agreement in principle over the summer to resolve the lawsuit filed after his tragic death in August 2019,' Luby said in a statement to 9News.

'City leaders are prepared to sign the agreement as soon as the family members complete a separate but related allocation process to which the city is not a party,' he continued. 'Until those issues are resolved and the agreement is in its final form, the parties cannot disclose the settlement terms.

'No amount was discussed in the telephonic court hearing,' he noted.

Qusair Mohamedbhai, an attorney for Shaneen McClain, also confirmed that a settlement has been reached 'resolving all claims raised in her federal civil rights lawsuit.'

He said the court will determine how much of the settlement will be distributed to Shaneen and McClain's father, Lawayne Mosley.

Elijah McClain left, and right in hospital after he was fatally-injured while being arrested in Aurora, Colorado, in August 2019. He died six days later of his injuries

One year after his death, his mother, Shaneen McClain, filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the City of Aurora. A settlement has now been reached in that suit

Elijah was walking home from a corner store with an iced tea in his hand on August 24, 2019, when he was stopped by police officers responding to a 911 call about a man in ski mask who was waving his arms in the air.

McClain's family said he wore the ski mask because anemia made him unusually susceptible to the cold, and McClain was apparently listening to music on headphones and dancing as he walked -- also the reason, he explained to cops, that he did not initially comply with their verbal commands.

When the paramedics arrived, they reportedly injected McClain with ketamine, a hallucinogenic anesthetic, and seven minutes later he went into cardiac arrest.

He died at the hospital six days later.

A subsequent internal investigation by Aurora Police found that cops had no reasonable grounds to stop him, and last month, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser announced charges against Police Officers Nathan Woodyard, Randy Roedema and former officer Jason Rosenblatt.

He said all five officers and paramedics were charged with manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide, while some also face additional charges.

Weiser filed the same charges against paramedics Jeremy Cooper and Lt. Peter Cichuniec on a 32 count indictment.

The officers are due to appear in court on November 1.

The officers who stopped McClain on the street and put him in a chokehold are (left to right) Jason Rosenblatt, Nathan Woodyard and Randy Roedema. They have now been charged

Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser talks about a grand jury investigation into the death of Elijah McClain during a news conference last month

The indictment was unsealed almost two years after the August 2019 death of Elijah McClain. Weiser was appointed a special prosecutor by Colorado Governor Jared Polis after immense public pressure, and convened a grand jury in January.

McClain's death gained widespread attention during last years protests against racial injustice and police brutality following the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

McClains pleading words that were captured on police body camera video - 'Im just different' - have been posted on signs at protests and spoken by celebrities who have joined those calling for the prosecution of the officers who confronted McClain as he walked down the street in the city of Aurora after a 911 caller reported he looked suspicious.

Stories about McClain, a massage therapist family and friends described as a gentle and kind introvert, filled social media, including how he volunteered to play his violin to comfort cats at an animal shelter.

Facing pressure during nationwide protests last year, Democratic Gov. Jared Polis ordered Weiser to open a new criminal investigation. A district attorney had said in 2019 that he could not charge the officers because an autopsy could not determine how McClain died.

In January, Weiser announced that he had opened a grand jury investigation, noting that grand juries have the power to compel testimony and documents that would otherwise be unavailable.

It was one of several investigations prompted at least in part by McClain's death, including separate reviews of McClain's arrest commissioned by the city of Aurora and a comprehensive review of the Police Department. The attorney generals office also is conducting a civil rights investigation into the agency, the first under a new police accountability law in Colorado.

McClain's death gained widespread attention during last years protests against racial injustice and police brutality following the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis

McClain, 23, was described as a gentle and kind introvert who volunteered to play his violin to comfort cats at an animal shelter

KEY FINDINGS FROM THE INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATION INTO ELIJAH MCCLAIN 'Neither the caller nor any of the officers involved identified a crime that [McClain] was suspected of committing'

'Based on the record available to the panel, we were not able to identify sufficient evidence that Mr. McClain was armed and dangerous in order to justify a pat-down search'

The report states that officers used force on McClain 'within seconds of exiting their cars'

'Aurora Fire appears to have accepted the officers' impression that Mr. McClain had excited delirium without corroborating that impression through meaningful observations or diagnostic examination of Mr. McClain'

'In addition, EMS administered a ketamine dosage based on a grossly inaccurate and inflated estimate of Mr. McClain's size. Higher doses can carry a higher risk of sedation complications, for which this team was clearly not prepared'

'Body worn camera audio, limited video and...interviews with the officers tell two contrasting stories'

The post-event investigation was 'flawed'

'The Aurora Police Department's Major Crime/Homicide Unit investigation of the death of Mr. McClain raised serious concerns for the Panel and revealed significant weaknesses in the Department's accountability systems' Advertisement

Auroras highly critical review did not find any evidence to justify officers stopping McClain as he walked home from the store on Aug. 24, 2019, after a 911 caller had reported a man wearing a ski mask and waving his hands who seemed 'sketchy.' His family said McClain wore the mask because he had anemia that caused him to get cold easily.

The report notes 'neither the caller nor any of the officers involved identified a crime that [McClain] was suspected of committing at the time that he first came to the officers' attention'.

It adds: 'The speed at which these officers acted to take Mr. McClain into custody, their apparent failure to assess whether there was reasonable suspicion that a crime had been committed, and the unity with which the three officers acted suggest several potential training or supervision weaknesses.'

'The body worn camera audio, limited video, and Major Crime's interviews with the officers tell two contrasting stories.

'The officers' statements on the scene and in subsequent recorded interviews suggest a violent and relentless struggle.

'The limited video, and the audio from the body worn cameras, reveal Mr. McClain surrounded by officers, all larger than he, crying out in pain, apologizing, explaining himself, and pleading with the officers.

The police body camera video shows an officer getting out of his car, approaching McClain on the sidewalk and saying, 'Stop right there. Stop. Stop ... I have a right to stop you because youre being suspicious.'

In the video, the officer puts his hand on McClains shoulder and turns him around and repeats, 'Stop tensing up.' As McClain verbally protests, the officer says, 'Relax, or Im going to have to change this situation.' As the other officers join in to restrain McClain, he asks them to let go and says, 'You guys started to arrest me, and I was stopping my music to listen.'

What happened next isnt clear because all of the officers' body cameras come off as they move McClain to the grass, but the officers and McClain can still be heard.

An officer says McClain grabbed one of their guns. McClain can be heard trying to explain himself and sometimes crying out or sobbing. He says he cant breathe and was just on his way home.

A pathologist who conducted an autopsy said a combination of a narrowed coronary artery and physical exertion contributed to McClains death.

Dr. Stephen Cina found no evidence of a ketamine overdose and said several other possibilities could not be ruled out, including an unexpected reaction to ketamine or the chokehold causing an irregular heartbeat.

The carotid hold that was used on McClain involves applying pressure to the sides of the neck, stopping the flow of blood to the brain to render someone unconscious. It has been banned by police departments and some states, including Colorado, following Floyds killing.

McClain was walking home from a convenience store with a bottle of iced tea when he was stopped by police officers responding to a call about a suspicious male wearing a mask

They put him in a chokehold, and later sedated him with ketamine

The attorney generals announcement comes after three Aurora officers, including one involved in the encounter with McClain, were fired and one resigned last year over photos mimicking the chokehold used on the 23-year-old.

The departments new chief, who fired those officers as its interim leader, has vowed to work to rebuild public trust since McClains death and other police encounters with people of color.

However, Vanessa Wilson spent her first days as chief last year apologizing after Aurora officers put four black girls on the ground and handcuffed two of them next to a car that police suspected was stolen but turned out not to be.

A prosecutor later decided there was no evidence the officers committed a crime but urged the Police Department to review its policies to ensure that something similar does not happen again.
Sickening footage has shown a father being viciously beaten in front of his own child by a gang of teenagers after he scolded them for their loutish behaviour on a suburban bus.

The video showed three teenagers kicking and stamping on the father after beating him onto the floor of a bus in Perth on Monday afternoon.

A passenger shared a photo showing blood smeared across the floor of the Transperth bus after the brawl.

The passenger said altercation started when the man, who was with a woman and his child, asked the 'rowdy' group of teenagers to quieten down.

The video showed three teenagers kicking and stamping on the father as he lay on the floor of a bus in Perth on Monday afternoon (pictured)

'These teenagers got on the bus with boxes of alcohol and started being rowdy and using lots of profanity,' the witness wrote on Reddit.

'This older man in his 40s had his wife and kid next to him and yelled at them to be quiet and respect the people in the bus.

'It started a back and forth between the teenagers and the man and turned into threats.'

The witness said one of the teenagers then walked over to his victim and said 'I'm gonna shank this fu***r', at which point the father 'hooked' the teenager in the face.

'This caused all the other teenagers to start throwing their Cruiser bottles, I saw one smash into the older guys face,' the witness wrote.

'Blood started leaking out, then they all rushed to where the old man was and started punching and kicking him.'

The witness said the alleged attackers made a run for it at the next stop while the Dad was left 'bleeding profusely' from his head and mouth.

'Blood (was) absolutely covering the entire middle area of bus,' they said.

The passenger added the 'disturbing' scene caused the father's child to cry.

A witness to the vicious brawl said the alleged attackers made a run for it at the next stop while the Dad was left 'bleeding profusely' from his head and mouth (pictured, blood left on the bus)

In the violent footage, one woman wearing a blue dress appears to try and hold one of the alleged attackers back, while two others continue to kick and stamp the man.

WA Police said the incident occurred around 3:00pm in Belmont, about seven kilometres from the city's CBD.

A police spokeswoman said the man, aged in his 50s, got off the bus and went home, where he called an ambulance to be taken to the Royal Perth Hospital.

'Belmont Police and Cannington Detectives responded to the incident, including attending the hospital to speak to the victim and attending his residence to speak to his family and progress the investigation,' she said.

'Cannington Detectives are investigating the assault and are working with the Public Transport Authority to identify those people involved.'
Bruce and Denise Morcombe are furious after roadside banners promoting a charity walk and featuring an image of their murdered son Daniel was vandalised.

Mr Morcombe said two signs were graffitied, with the foundation's logo, the date of the walk and, eerily, Daniel's eyes being painted over with red and green spray paint.

CCTV footage from across the highway shows a bearded, gray haired man who appears to be in his 60s or 70s vandalising the banners with cans of spray paint he is holding concealed under a cloth.

The Walk for Daniel banner was vandalised with Daniel's eyes eerily sprayed over with paint (pictured)

CCTV footage shows a man with a beard and gray hair carrying out the graffiti attack on the Sunshine Coast (pictured)

The vandalism took place on October 7 at 5.30pm on the Sunshine Coast as peak hour traffic rushed along the highway - with the security footage being sourced from a service station across the road.

Daniel was 13 years old when he was abducted and murdered while waiting for a bus in 2003 on the Sunshine Coast. His killer Brett Peter Cowan is serving a prison sentence.

'We think [the vandalism] is really disturbing and  he needs speaking to,' Mr Morcombe told the ABC.

'It was very targeted, very deliberate on Daniel's face. We're concerned about the damage and the vindictiveness behind that,' he added.

The CCTV also shows the man had been driving an old model Suburu Forrester.

Mr and Mrs Morcombe have lodged a complaint with police and have forwarded them the CCTV footage.

The Walk for Daniel will be held on October 29 to raise awareness for child safety and to remember Daniel (pictured: a volunteer helps to put up a sign for the walk)

They are asking if anyone has any information on the graffiti attack that they contact Crime Stoppers.

'This is not indiscriminate vandalism. This is very targeted, and the motives behind that we need to explore that further,' Mr Morcombe said.

Queensland Police have confirmed they have launched an investigation into the incident.

'Police have received a complaint in relation to the vandalism of signs posted outside of an educational facility in Woombye on October 7,' the spokeswoman said.

Daniel (pictured) was abducted and murdered in 2003 while waiting for a bus on the Sunshine Coast

'Investigations into this matter are ongoing and progressing.'

Mr Morcombe said the graffiti would not affect the annual Walk for Daniel going ahead on October 29.

He added he hoped the vandalism would even encourage people to turn out in bigger numbers as show of solidarity against the behaviour.
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Army veteran Dennis Hutchings, 80, died last night after catching Covid-19 midway through his controversial trial for a fatal Troubles shooting almost 50 years ago

Desperate prosecutors tried to add a 64-year-old minor conviction as 'bad character' evidence against a British Army veteran as he lay dying of Covid in hospital - as his lawyer today said the ongoing case had killed him.

Frail Dennis Hutchings, 80, was already struggling to breathe and suffering from terminal kidney failure and heart disease when he flew to Belfast to be tried over the alleged attempted murder of John Pat Cunningham in County Tyrone in 1974.

Lawyers for the former Life Guard tried to have the trial moved to England last year. When it was slated to go ahead in Belfast, Mr Hutchings could have taken a medical note from his doctor and had the trial postponed indefinitely but instead he insisted he wanted to appear in court to clear his name.

Mr Hutchings lawyer Philip Barden, a senior partner at Devonshires Solicitor, told MailOnline: Dennis was an extremely brave man. He was very principled and he was acting in the interest of others.

He could have stopped the process for him at any time, but he thought it was important no-one again should have to go through what he went through.

He did that in the hope of forcing the Government to protect the veterans that acted for their country.

He could have stopped it at any time, say he was not well enough to stand trial, but he didnt want that because he was innocent and wanted to clear his name.

I am sure he could have medical reports that said he could not stand trial.

He was on borrowed time, he had outlived his life expectancy, he had significant medical problems. He was always going to die like this.

I saw him on Sunday and he said that he was okay, he had had his dialysis but by then knew he had Covid.

In the trial last week, they called a man called Charles Goodson-Wickes, who was the MP for Wimbledon. He happened to be the medic of the lifeguards regiment.

He was at the scene after Mr Cunningham was killed. He said two things  that field dressing had been applied to him and that they had been put there by Dennis Hutchings.

Its pretty unusual to apply dressing to someone you are accused of attempting to murder, isnt it?

Before he died he was suing the PSNI for wrongful arrest, that could continue. It is up to his family if that continues.

He had to defend himself when they charged him. Even when he was dying the prosecution were in court trying to bring up something to use as bad character. They had lodged an application to introduce a 1957 conviction he had for hitting someone.

He was always going to die like this  but it should have been preventable.

Earlier today his death has sparked a further slew of criticism as to why the proceedings were allowed to take place at all.

Tory MP Johnny Mercer - who has worked closely with Mr Hutchings during the veteran's campaign to clear his name, has slammed the 'grotesque' experience he has been put through.

Today, he paid tribute to his 'polite, kind, generous and strong' friend and slammed those who 'want to rewrite the history of the conflict in Northern Ireland'.

Paul Young, of the Justice for Northern Ireland Veterans group, said: 'This has been an absolute disgrace. This frail, old, sick man hounded to his grave without being able to clear his name.

'He was absolutely determined to be in court. The justice system was insatiable and wanted his scalp but he died a lonely old man on his own in a Covid ward.'

The serviceman was double vaccinated and had been backed by his partner and a son during proceedings, but stayed out of the limelight.

Reform UK party leader Richard Tice said the government should 'hang its head in shame' for 'hounding' Mr Hutchings during his final years.

Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) leader Jim Allister said: 'The needless dragging of an 80-year-old soldier, Dennis Hutchings, through the courts has had a very sad end with the passing of Mr Hutchings this evening.

'The strain on this man was cruel, with him requiring regular dialysis, while being brought to Belfast to face a trial of dubious provenance.

Ulster Unionist Party leader Doug Beattie called for a 'full and thorough' review into the decision-making of the Public Prosecution Service.

Meanwhile, Democratic Unionist Party leader Jeffrey Donaldson argued the trial was not in the public interest: 'He was an 80-year-old veteran, in ill-health on dialysis and there was a lack of compelling new evidence.

'There now stands serious questions around those who made the decision that Dennis should stand trial once more. He was honourable. He wanted to clear his name again but was dragged to a court and hounded until his death.'

Mr Hutchings is greeted by a supporter as he arrives to the Belfast Crown court in Belfast, Northern Ireland, on October 4, 2021

Tory MP Johnny Mercer - who has worked closely with Mr Hutchings during the veteran's campaign to clear his name, has slammed the 'grotesque' experience he has been put through. Today, he paid tribute to his 'polite, kind, generous and strong' friend and slammed those who 'want to rewrite the history of the conflict in Northern Ireland'

The veteran's death generated a wave of anger today including from DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson, Steve Aitken of the Ulster Unionists, Tory politician Edward Mountain and Jim Allister, of the Traditional Unionist Voice

Mr Hutchings was accompanied to his trial by friend and MP Johnny Mercer who flew with him to Ireland for the case

Over the weekend, Mr Hutchings contracted Covid and was rushed to hospital in an ambulance last night after complaining that he was struggling to breathe. Right: Hutchings in dress uniform at Knightsbridge Barracks, 1978

Dennis Hutchings (pictured on the far right in this photo) in Germany, 1960

Dennis Hutchings: Army veteran pursued over historic Northern Ireland allegations... for which there was no proof The veteran (pictured when younger) was facing trial over the attempted murder of John Pat Cunningham in 1974 Mr Hutchings was facing trial over the attempted murder of John Pat Cunningham. He was shot running from a British Army patrol in Benburb, Co Tyrone, back in June 1974. The man was said to have been 'startled' by the soldiers and then made off from the scene. Mr Hutchings, who required kidney dialysis twice a week and has heart problems, was in the British Army for 26 years. He served five tours of Northern Ireland when the Troubles were at their worst. The former corporal major was cleared twice over the events which took place in the mid-1970s. In 1975 he got a letter sent to his regiment informing him that prosecutors had decided that no action would be taken against anyone over Mr Cunningham's death. Then in 2011 an Historical Enquiries Team review said there was no new evidence that would prompt any further legal action. Despite no fresh evidence, no witnesses and no new forensic leads, the retired soldier was accused again of attempted murder. In 2015 the Legacy Investigation Branch conducted a new investigation into Mr Cunninghams death. It led to Mr Hutchings being arrested and taken to a police station in Northern Ireland where he was interviewed. He answered 'no comment' and was later charged with two offences: the attempted murder of Mr Cunningham and attempting to cause him grievous bodily harm. In 2019, Hutchings lost a Supreme Court bid to have the trial heard by a jury. Then it had originally been scheduled to commence in March 2020 but was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Advertisement

Three days before the trial began, Mr Hutchings was struggling to breathe but told The Times that he wanted to clear his name. Asked if he was well enough to fly, he said: 'I don't know until I can get on the plane.'

The spectacle of a dying veteran sitting in a dock in Belfast wearing his service medals was already hugely embarrassing for Boris Johnson and his government, which had previously vowed to end repeated investigations into those who served in Northern Ireland.

His case was one of two ongoing prosecutions of Northern Ireland veterans who served during the Troubles despite government plans announced in the summer to end all criminal and civil cases relating to deaths during the 30-year conflict. The proposals are yet to be implemented and were met with fierce backlash on both sides of Northern Ireland's political divide.

The veteran sat in the dock in Belfast on alternate days so he could receive gruelling kidney dialysis treatment. Over the weekend, he contracted Covid, and the trial had been adjourned for three weeks. However, last night he was rushed to hospital in an ambulance after complaining that he was struggling to breathe. His condition deteriorated and he later died.

Mr Hutchings had been cleared twice over the shooting and was told he would not be prosecuted in the months after Mr Cunningham's death following an initial investigation, and again in 2011 when the case was reviewed. However, it was reopened by the Legacy Investigation Branch of the Police Service of Northern Ireland in 2015 and he was arrested and taken from his home in Cornwall to Northern Ireland for questioning.

Prosecutors previously told Belfast Crown Court that they had no direct evidence to prove whether the fatal shot was fired by Mr Hutchings or another soldier. Mr Hutchings, a great grandfather, also denied a count of attempted grievous bodily harm with intent.

At a hearing in March last year his legal team argued that the trial should be held in England because of concerns for his health and the threat of Covid. Mr Hutchings had appealed to the courts to bring the case forward because he had been warned he could have a heart attack at any moment.

He eventually flew to Belfast on October 3 for the trial, supported by former Veterans Minister Johnny Mercer.

Mr Mercer, himself a former soldier, urged the Ministry of Defence to fly the 80-year-old back to England so he could be near his family until the trial resumed. He had said the MoD had a duty of care, adding: 'I cannot believe we are putting a dying man through this grotesque process.'

Defence barrister James Lewis QC had informed Belfast Crown Court of the development as proceedings in the non-jury trial were due to begin on Monday.

He told judge Mr Justice O'Hara that Hutchings' condition had been confirmed by a PCR test on Saturday.

'I regret Mr Hutchings is not well with regard, as one would expect, with his other comorbidities of renal failure and cardiac malfunction. And we are unable to presently take instructions as he is currently in isolation in his hotel room.'

Hutchings had been suffering from kidney disease and the court had been sitting only three days a week to enable him to undergo dialysis treatment between hearings.

He was charged with the attempted murder of John Pat Cunningham in Co Tyrone in 1974.

The former member of the Life Guards regiment, from Cawsand in Cornwall, had denied a count of attempted grievous bodily harm with intent.

He had already been cleared of any wrongdoing twice.

In 1975 he got a letter sent to his regiment informing him that prosecutors had decided that no action would be taken against anyone over Mr Cunningham's death.

Then in 2011 an Historical Enquiries Team review said there was no new evidence that would prompt any further legal action.

Mr Cunningham, 27, was shot dead as he ran away from an Army patrol across a field near Benburb. People who knew him said he had the mental age of a child and was known to have a deep fear of soldiers.

Democratic Unionist Party leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said it was 'desperately sad news'.

On Twitter, he said: 'Our thoughts and prayers are with the Hutchings family. We have said all along that Dennis should never have been brought to trial again, not least because of his health but also a lack of compelling new evidence.

'There are serious questions to answer here.'

In a statement, Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) leader Jim Allister said: 'The needless dragging of an 80-year-old soldier, Dennis Hutchings, through the courts has had a very sad end with the passing of Mr Hutchings this evening.

'The strain on this man was cruel, with him requiring regular dialysis, while being brought to Belfast to face a trial of dubious provenance.

'My thoughts and prayers tonight are with his family and friends who may understandably feel that what he was put through contributed to his decline.'

Ulster Unionist Party leader Doug Beattie called for a 'full and thorough' review into the decision-making of the Public Prosecution Service.

'I would like to convey my sincere condolences to Mr Hutchings' family and friends,' Mr Beattie said.

'The decision by the Public Prosecution Service to proceed with a trial given his ill-health demands a full and thorough independent review. The questions must be asked, did this trial hasten Mr Hutchings' death and did it meet the evidential and public interest tests?'

Danny Kinahan, the Veterans Commissioner for Northern Ireland, said that the news was 'incredibly sad'.

On Twitter, he wrote: 'I got to know Dennis over recent years. An elderly man, in poor health, he was determined to clear his name once and for all. Deepest condolences & sympathies to his wife and family at this difficult time.'

DUP MP Carla Lockhart also described the news as 'awful'.

Sitting in a crown court dock in Belfast this month, service medals pinned to his chest, Mr Hutchings somehow maintained his dignified stoicism

John Pat Cunningham, a 27-year-old with learning difficulties, was shot dead during an Army operation near the village of Benburb on June 15, 1974. Mr Hutchings maintained he only fired aimed warning shots into the air

She tweeted: 'Such sad news that he never got to live out his last days in peace. Awful. Spent last months of his life being hounded by a political show trial.'

Critics of the plans to prosecute Northern Ireland veterans have cited the alleged hounding of soldiers who served in the province, while IRA terrorists were released early from prison or told they would not be prosecuted for Troubles-related offences following the signing of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.

Great-grandfather Mr Hutchings was supported in court by his partner of 25 years, Kim, last week, and son John, however the pair returned to England when his trial was postponed following his Covid diagnosis.

Mr Cunningham, a 27-year-old with learning difficulties, was shot dead during an Army operation near the village of Benburb on June 15, 1974. Mr Hutchings maintained he only fired aimed warning shots into the air.

The trial heard that prosecutors were unable to prove whether Mr Hutchings or another soldier, now dead, fired the fatal shots, as no forensic evidence was collected.

Mr Hutchings, who was in the Life Guards, had pleaded not guilty to the attempted murder. He also denied a count of attempted grievous bodily harm with intent.

What is the timeline of the Northern Ireland troubles and peace process? Police officers and firefighters inspecting the damage caused by a bomb explosion in Market Street, Omagh, 1998 August 1969 British Government first send troops into Northern Ireland after three days of rioting in Catholic Londonderry. 30 January 1972 On 'Bloody Sunday' 13 civilians are shot dead by the British Army during a civil rights march in Londonderry. March 1972 The Stormont Government is dissolved and direct rule imposed by London. 1970s The IRA begin its bloody campaign of bombings and assassinations in Britain. April 1981 Bobby Sands, a republicans on hunger strike in the Maze prison, is elected to Parliament. He dies a month later. October 1984 An IRA bomb explodes at the Grand Hotel in Brighton, where Margaret Thatcher is staying during the Tory Party. conference Early 1990s Margaret Thatcher and then Sir John Major set up a secret back channel with the IRA to start peace talks. The communications was so secret most ministers did not know about it. April 1998 Tony Blair helps to broker the Good Friday Agreement, which is hailed as the end of the Troubles. It establishes the Northern Ireland Assembly with David Trimble as its first minister. 2000s With some exceptions the peace process holds and republican and loyalist paramilitaries decommission their weapons. May 2011 The Queen and Prince Philip make a state visit to Ireland, the first since the 1911 tour by George V. In a hugely symbolic moment, the Queen is pictured shaking hands with Martin McGuinness - a former IRA leader. Advertisement

Resolute to the end: How proud but frail British army veteran, 80, battled to clear his name in court over Troubles killing despite being given just months to live suffering from kidney failure

By Glen Keogh for the Daily Mail

Dennis Hutchings was a proud man. Proud of his 26 years served with distinction in the Army. Proud of his 22 grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

A soldier, then company director, then retired family man. Not bad for a boy who grew up squatting with his family in an abandoned Army barracks in Blyth, Northumberland, before becoming a miner at 15.

Sitting in a crown court dock in Belfast this month, service medals pinned to his chest, Mr Hutchings somehow maintained his dignified stoicism even as he listened to prosecutors outline his alleged role in a fatal shooting at the height of the Troubles in Northern Ireland almost 50 years ago.

Prior to his trial, Mr Hutchings' regular consultant at the hospital near his bungalow in Cornwall warned him that travel to the province for his long-awaited hearing was not advised owing to his rapidly deteriorating health.

His kidneys  which required three rounds of gruelling dialysis each week  no longer worked. An emergency appointment just days before his flight found fluid on his lungs.

He was given six months to live. He lasted less than one.

Mr Hutchings became the reluctant figurehead of the Northern Ireland veterans' movement, representing around 200,000 ex-servicemen campaigning for an end to the prosecutions of those who served during the conflict.

To the end, remained resolute over his innocence.

He could have taken a medical note from his doctor and had the trial postponed indefinitely.

But, six years on from his initial arrest, his arms black and blue from the regular needles required to keep him alive, Mr Hutchings vowed to let a judge  sitting without a jury in a procedure previously reserved for terrorists  decide his guilt.

That this all played out during the Conservative Party conference served only to highlight the Government's failure to keep to its promise of ending repeated investigations into those who served in Northern Ireland.

Last night, Paul Young, of the Justice for Northern Ireland veterans group, said Mr Hutchings had been 'hounded to his grave without being able to clear his name'.

Many of Mr Hutchings's supporters came out to offer their mental strength during the trial

The former staff sergeant in the Life Guards was accused of the attempted murder of John Pat Cunningham in a field near the village of Benburb, County Tyrone, on June 15, 1974.

Just 36 hours earlier, a patrol led by Mr Hutchings had arrested four IRA suspects in the village but they knew a number had escaped.

He was later mentioned in dispatches for his efforts in apprehending the men without bloodshed.

On the fateful day in question, Mr Hutchings, then aged 33, was leading an Army patrol of two Land Rovers in the area when they came across 27-year-old Mr Cunningham near some bushes.

Mr Cunningham, who was described as 'startled', failed to respond to calls to 'halt' and 'stop' and fled across the field. Mr Hutchings and another member of the patrol, known as Soldier B, gave chase.

Five shots were fired in total. Three from Mr Hutchings' weapon and two from the rifle of Soldier B, who has since died.

Little did they know, that a year before, Mr Cunningham was apprehended by another patrol when he was found in a similar area 'acting suspiciously'.

He was only released when a passing doctor intervened and explained that he was his patient  and suffered from learning difficulties which left him terrified of soldiers.

It transpired that Mr Cunningham had the mental age of a child. Rather than having any connection to paramilitaries, locals said they were unable to even have coherent conversations with him. He was known to wear bailer twine as a belt or a clothes peg instead of a button.

The fatal shot hit Mr Cunningham in the back. Mr Hutchings applied a field dressing to his wound and called for an Army helicopter but he died at the scene.

As Mr Hutchings readily acknowledged, John Pat Cunningham should never have died that day. The soldiers were unaware of his difficulties and he became an innocent casualty of what those who fought for the UK state and those who fought for a united Ireland described as a 'war.'

The veteran always maintained he fired only aimed warning shots into the air in attempts to get Mr Cunningham to stop running and Soldier B fired the shots which killed him, one striking him in the back.

'The soldier made his decision on what he saw,' Mr Hutchings said. 'It was just one of those things that happens in war.'

Of the 3,250 people who lost their lives during the Troubles, only 301  around ten per cent  were killed by the British military. Half of these were civilians tragically caught up in crossfire.

Paramilitary groups including the Provisional IRA were responsible for the remaining 90 per cent, including 722 soldiers.

A total of 1,441 military personnel died as a result of operations in Northern Ireland.

That soldiers are still being hauled to court over alleged offences committed during the Troubles while IRA terrorists were effectively given get-out-of-jail cards as a result of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement is a disparity that many veterans cannot comprehend.
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It was an act of treachery which destroyed a young woman's life and nearly brought down a presidency.

Civil servant Linda Tripp's recordings of nearly 20 hours of phone calls between herself and former White House intern Monica Lewinsky became the lynchpin in the impeachment proceedings against Bill Clinton in 1998.

In the calls, Ms Lewinsky described to the woman she believed was a close friend all the lurid details of her affair with the sitting U.S. President.

Now, the scandal  and the story of the friendship between Tripp and Ms Lewinsky - has been retold in Impeachment: American Crime Story, which begins on the BBC tonight but has already started airing in the U.S.

The first episode depicts the meeting between Sarah Poulson's Tripp and Ms Lewinsky, who is portrayed by Beanie Feldstein. The ten-part show, which was co-produced by Ms Lewinsky, also stars Clive Owen as Clinton and Edie Falco as his wife Hillary.

In her calls to Tripp, the then 22-year-old told how she 'fooled around' with Clinton by performing oral sex on him, and also revealed she still had an unwashed navy-blue dress which had been stained by the President during one encounter.

After news of the affair broke in January 1998, the details went on to be recounted in special counsel Kenneth Starr's blockbuster report into scandal.

By then, Clinton had already gone on TV to deny having 'sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky'.

And the dress, which Tripp had encouraged Ms Lewinsky not to clean in case it was needed as an 'insurance policy'  whilst knowing it might later be used as evidence  was also obtained by Starr as part of his investigation.

Tripp, who died from pancreatic cancer in April last year, told Daily Mail TV in 2017 that she felt 'compelled to act', even though it meant 'shattering Monica's dreams', because she believed Clinton was a 'sexual predator'.

Whilst Clinton ultimately survived the impeachment proceedings and was not forced to resign, the scandal defined his entire presidency and became a global media storm.

It was an act of treachery which destroyed a young woman's life and nearly brought down a presidency. Civil servant Linda Tripp's recordings of nearly 20 hours of phone calls between herself and former White House intern Monica Lewinsky became the lynchpin in the impeachment proceedings against Bill Clinton in 1998. Above: Tripp and Ms Lewinsky together

In the calls  which were recorded from September 1997  Ms Lewinsky described to the woman she believed was a close friend all the lurid details of her affair with the sitting U.S. President. Pictured: Ms Lewinsky with Clinton during her time at the White House

After news of the affair broke in January 1998, the details went on to be recounted in special counsel Kenneth Starr's blockbuster report into scandal. By then, Clinton had already gone on TV to deny having 'sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky'

Linda Tripp's conversations with Monica Lewinsky Linda Tripp recorded nearly 20 hours of conversations with her friend Monica Lewinsky, before revealing them to the world. They discussed in lurid detail Ms Lewinsky's affair with Bill Clinton. Also heard were tears of despair over the fact that Clinton had gone weeks without calling her. On her sexual encounters with Clinton LEWINSKY: We didn't have sex Linda! TRIPP: Well what do you call it? LEWINSKY: We fooled around! On the stained dress TRIPP: ...This navy blue dress. Now all I would say to you is: I know how you feel today and I know why you feel the way you do today, but you have a very long life ahead of you. ...I would rather you had that in your possession if you need it years from now. That's all I'm gonna say. LEWINSKY: You think that I can hold onto a dress for 10, 15 years with (REDACTED) from... TRIPP: ... It could be your only insurance policy down the road. Or it could never be needed and you can throw it away. But I- I never, ever want to read about your going off the deep end because someone comes out and calls you a stalker or something and you have and he confirms it. ... Maybe I'm being paranoid. ... On him not calling her LEWINSKY: Linda, I can't take it anymore. TRIPP: I know. I know. LEWINSKY: (Crying) It's just too _ it's too much for one person. (Crying). TRIPP: Oh, it is too much for one person. ... ... LEWINSKY: I go to work every day (crying) and I just (crying), I'm trying to keep it together and I just can't. TRIPP: You've been a trouper through this, Monica, and you've been through _ LEWINSKY: (Crying) TRIPP: It just seems as though because the frigging buffer zone, you can never communicate directly with him until he chooses to. Advertisement

Ms Lewinsky's affair with Clinton began after she got a job in the White House as an intern in 1995, working first for the President's chief of staff Leon Panetta.

The intern later stated that they had a total of nine sexual encounters between November 1995 and March 1997.

In one, they snuck off to kiss in his private study during a White House employee's birthday party.

In another, Ms Lewinsky performed oral sex on the President while he was on the phone.

The former intern, who is now aged 48, went on to state that she had nine sexual encounters with Clinton in the Oval Office, with the last one occurring in March 1997.

Ms Lewinsky met Tripp in April 1996, after she was transferred to the Pentagon  where the older woman worked after herself being moved from the White House  by her boss, who was concerned she was too friendly with the President.

Tonight's episode of Impeachment: American Crime Story depicts the beginning of their relationship and ends with the moment Clinton calls Ms Lewinsky to ask: 'How was your first day?'

As their friendship progressed, Ms Lewinsky revealed details of her past encounters with Clinton, as well as her torment over whether she would be transferred back to the White House.

Tripp, who was 24 years older than her friend, began recording her phone calls with Ms Lewinsky after consulting with literary agent Lucianne Goldberg.

Over the course of their hours of intimate conversations, Ms Lewinsky ultimately revealed information that would see her vilified by much of the US media when it became public.

She also repeatedly broke down in tears to Tripp as she spoke of her torment that Clinton was not calling her frequently enough and her fears that she would not be allowed to return to the White House.

The scandal came to light as a result of another case  when former Arkansas civil servant Paula Jones sued Clinton for sexual harassment in 1994.

She claimed that when the politician was governor of the state, he had sexually propositioned her and exposed himself.

Jones's lawyers then summoned to court other women who had worked for Clinton who they suspected he had had affairs with  including Ms Lewinsky  in the hope of showing a pattern of behaviour.

Clinton's claim under oath that he had never had 'sexual relations' with Ms Lewinsky was ultimately blown apart by Tripp's recordings, which she passed on to Starr.

The prosecutor had been investigating Clinton over an unrelated property deal but, on receiving the reams of new evidence, he obtained permission to expand his investigation.

After famously going on TV to again deny an affair with Ms Lewinsky, Clinton was impeached for perjury and obstruction of justice.

He denied having committing perjury and said the definition of oral sex was not encompassed by 'sex'.

Clinton did then admit to having to having a relationship with Ms Lewinsky that was 'not appropriate'.

Now, the scandal  and the story of the friendship between Tripp and Ms Lewinsky - has been retold in Impeachment: American Crime Story, which begins on the BBC tonight

Friend or foe? Sarah Paulson Linda Tripp, who exposed the affair. The role required extensive makeup and prosthetic effects for her face, and she also wore padding under her costume

The first episode depicts the meeting between Sarah Poulson's Tripp and Ms Lewinsky, who is portrayed by Beanie Feldstein

Iconic: British actor Clive Owen (left) recreates the infamous moment Bill Clinton (right) addressed the nation claiming he did not have sexual relations with Monica Lewinsky

Clinton's wife Hillary is portrayed by Edie Falco (pictured left). The show has already aired to critical acclaim in the US. Right: Mrs Clinton listening to her husband's denials of sexual activity with Ms Lewinsky

Tripp, who was 24 years older than her friend, began recording her phone calls with Ms Lewinsky after consulting with literary agent Lucianne Goldberg (left). She is portrayed in the new TV drama by Margo Martindale

Whilst he was acquitted by the U.S. Senate, it was the semi-pornographic detail laid out in Starr's report which robbed Ms Lewinsky of her dignity and made her the subject of ridicule.

She later told how she was the 'Patient Zero of internet shaming', adding that she was 'branded as a tramp, tart, slut, whore, bimbo.'

Tripp's decision to betray Ms Lewinsky's trust by recording their private calls destroyed their friendship overnight.

When delivering her testimony in front of a grand jury, Ms Lewinsky made her feelings clear.

Asked if she had anything to add, Ms Lewinsky said: 'I'm really sorry for everything that's happened. And I hate Linda Tripp.'

Tripp later denied that she was even close with her Pentagon colleague, telling Fox News that it 'wasn't a friendship'. She added: 'I wasn't her mother on any level'.

The first episode of the new series, which is based on Jeffrey Toobin's book A Vast Conspiracy: The Real Story of the Sex Scandal That Nearly Brought Down a President, shows the moment that Lewinsky is met by two FBI agents after Tripp had come forward with her recordings.

Ms Lewinsky is seen screaming telling the agents that 'I want that treacherous b***h to see what she did to me' as they try to remove Tripp from the next room.

The case made headlines around the world for days. Above: The Daily Mail's coverage on January 23, 1998

Ms Lewinsky's affair with Clinton began after she got a job in the White House as an intern in 1995, working first for the President's chief of staff Leon Panetta. Above: The pair meeting at an event filmed by TV cameras

President Clinton greets Monica Lewinsky at a Washington fundraising event in October 1996

Bill Clinton hugs Monica Lewinsky at the Democratic Fundraiser in Washington, DC, October 23, 1996

Because she was a political appointee, Tripp was dismissed from her job at the Pentagon on the final day of the Clinton administration in 2001.

She and her first husband, Bruce Tripp, had divorced in 1990 after having a son and daughter together.

In 2004, she remarried and settled on a farm in Middleburg, Virginia.

Prior to being moved to the Pentagon in 1994, Tripp had worked in the White House during the administration of George Bush Senior.

Speaking of her actions in 2018, Tripp said: 'It was always about right and wrong, never left and right

Clinton Library video of a 1997 photo op where Monica Lewinsky is seen with President Bill Clinton in the White House's Oval Office

Ms Lewinsky was transferred to the Pentagon in April 1996 by her boss at the White House, who was concerned she had become too close to the President

'It was about exposing perjury and the obstruction of justice,' she continued. 'It was never about politics.'

Tripp told Daily Mail TV in 2017 that she was manipulative by getting Ms Lewinsky to speak about the one-and-a-half-year involvement with Clinton so she could record it.

But she maintained it was not to hurt the younger woman.

When news emerged of her former friend's illness, Ms Lewinsky put the past behind her when she commented on social media.

She said on social media: 'No matter the past, upon hearing that Linda Tripp is very seriously ill, I hope for her recovery.'

Linda Tripp passed away in April last year after suffering from pancreatic cancer. Above: She is seen speaking to Daily Mail TV in 2017

'I can't imagine how difficult this is for her family.'

Since the scandal, Ms Lewinsky has become an anti-bullying activist, television personality and fashion designer.

Impeachment: An American Crime Story has been co-produced by Ms Lewinsky herself.

She insisted during the show's production that it should not shy away from scenes which portray her in a negative light.

The scriptwriter had initially left out an infamous scene in which Ms Lewinsky flashed a glimpse of her thong at Clinton for fear of 're-traumatising' her, but she insisted that it go back in.
Holidaymakers and frequent flyers are facing yet more misery, with Heathrow set to hike the price it charges airlines by up to 13 per person.

The London airport has been given the green light to raise the prices it charges carriers for its services from next year.

Currently the airport can charge up to 22 per passenger for the cost of operating terminals, runways, baggage systems and security.

Heathrow chiefs had wanted to charge as much as 43 from January - a plan slammed by airline bosses who accused the airport of acting like a 'greedy monopoly'.

But industry regulator - the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) - stepped in and ordered the cost to be capped at 25 to 35 for the next five years.

An interim charge of 30 has already been agreed for January - and is due to be discussed as part of a separate consultation in November.

The rising cost is likely to be passed on to airline passengers, who have already endured months of travel disruption, confusing travel restrictions and costly Covid testing requirements.

Passengers arriving at the airport have also repeatedly faced queuing chaos at passport control - though Heathrow chiefs say the issue is entirely that of the UK's Border Force.

The rise, based on next year's 30 figure, means the average family of four face an extra 32 in flight costs - before any annual ticket price adjustments from the airlines themselves.

It also comes as Heathrow this month introduced a new 5 drop-off charge outside its terminals.

However Heathrow chiefs have defended the hike, which is part of airport's plan to claw back its huge losses suffered due to Covid.

The airport, the UK's largest, reported a 2billion annual loss due to a huge drop in customer numbers last year.

Holidaymakers and frequent flyers are facing yet more travel misery, with Heathrow now set to hike the price it charges airlines by 8 per person

Shai Weiss, CEO of Virgin Atlantic today slammed the decision, saying it 'failed to protect the British consumer'.

'Today's initial proposals from the Civil Aviation Authority pave the way for Heathrow Airport to introduce unacceptable charges, just as international travel resumes at scale.

'The world's most expensive airport risks becoming over 50 per cent more expensive, as Heathrow and its owners seek to recoup their pandemic losses and secure hundreds of millions in dividends to shareholders.

'It is concerning that the regulator has failed in its first opportunity to step in, and together with industry partners, we will oppose these proposals in the strongest terms to protect passengers.

Mr Weiss claimed the move could also hurt the UK's economic recovery from Covid and would 'unfairly hit the pockets of family and businesses'.

Meanwhile, Rory Boland, Which? Travel Editor, said: 'Which? research has previously found that airport charges are passed along to passengers through higher fares so any proposed increase by Heathrow is likely to come from consumers' pockets.

'Heathrow already has the highest fees of the UK's major airports so it's right that the CAA intervenes to investigate whether these further proposed increases are proportional.'

The cost of a family summer holiday could soar by up to 100 next year due to Heathrow airport's 'outrageous' price hikes, former British Airways boss Willie Walsh (pictured) warned last night

It comes as a former British Airways boss warned last week that the cost of a family summer holiday could soar by up to 100 next year due to Heathrow airport's 'outrageous' price hikes.

Willie Walsh accused Heathrow of acting like a 'greedy monopoly' and said its wealthy shareholders must 'step up' to provide investment after years of generous dividend payouts.

The Irishman, who now runs the International Air Transport Association trade body, had joined BA and Virgin Atlantic in lobbying the CAA to block the price hikes.

Mr Walsh said: 'Heathrow must understand that gouging its customers is not the road to recovery for itself, the airlines, travel and tourism jobs, or travellers.

'I have sympathy for some airports, but looking for a 90 per cent increase, I just find that outrageous.

'There is simply no justification for that, and the only reason they are doing that is because they believe they can.

'Instead, it's time for Heathrow's shareholders to invest. The recovery of the UK's travel and tourism industry impacts millions of jobs. They cannot be held hostage to the intransigence of what is effectively a greedy monopoly hub airport.'

Heathrow's seven billionaire owners include the sovereign wealth funds of Qatar, Singapore and China.

It has paid out about 4 billion in dividends since 2012 and has said it could restart payouts next year, after pausing them over the pandemic, if its debts come under control.

Heathrow bases its charges on the numbers using the airport. It expects around 40 million passengers next year, compared to 80 million before the pandemic, and said this means each passenger must pay more to cover the shortfall.

Company documents show Heathrow would have raised around 1.6billion from airport charges next year - had it been able to charge the higher rate it had requested.

But the new 30 charge is expected to only raise around 300million.

CAA chief executive Richard Moriarty told the BBC the industry had gone through 'a really difficult period'.

Mr Moriarty said the CAA's proposals, which will be finalised next year, struck the right balance between consumer interests and the airport.

Company documents show Heathrow would have raised around 1.6billion from airport charges next year - had it been able to charge the higher rate it had requested. But the new 30 charge is expected to only raise around 300million. (File image)

The charge can still be contested by airlines, who are able to take the matter to the competition regulator - the Competition and Markets Authority.

A Heathrow spokesperson told MailOnline: 'Our aim is to reach a settlement that enables us to give passengers a great service while operating a safe, resilient and competitive hub airport for Britain.

'That Heathrow is ranked by passengers as one of the best airports in the world is testament to the power of private investment over the past decade, and to enable this to continue, we believe the settlement should safeguard a fair return for investors.

'While it is right the CAA protect consumers against excessive profits and waste, the settlement is not designed to shield airlines from legitimate cost increases or the impacts of fewer people travelling.

'We look forward to discussing the CAA's proposals in detail with the regulator and our airline partners as we work towards a new settlement.'

It comes as earlier this year Heathrow announced a new 5 passenger drop-off charge outside its terminals.

The new charge, bought in this month, applies to all vehicles - including taxis and private hire cars - entering the forecourt areas outside the airport's terminals.

The fee must be paid online or over the phone, with number plate reading cameras, instead of barriers, being used to enforce the charge.

Heathrow chiefs say the move, which brings the airport's policy in line with the likes of Gatwick and Manchester, who also have 5 drop-off charges, is aimed at 'improving air quality and reducing congestion'. The move could bringing in as much as 100million-a-year for the airport.

The charge will be brought in from October and will apply to all vehicles - including taxis and private hire cars - entering the forecourt areas outside each terminal. Pictured: The charge will apply to drop-off areas outside the airport's terminals

The double cost blow comes after a year and a half of disruption for travellers due to Covid.

After initially banning international travel to stop the spread of variants, the Government introduced a confusing and often rapidly-changing travel traffic light system.

The system, which designated countries as red, amber and green, depending on the severity of their Covid outbreak, left many holidaymakers unsure about foreign travel.

It has since been simplified to a go and no-go list. Along with Covid measures, passengers have also faced disruption at Heathrow's passport control area.

The immigration hall, run by Border Force, has been plagued by wait times. Issues with the e-gates, a lack of staff, and changes to the rotas of Border Force officials have been blamed.

Meanwhile, a requirement for double-vaccinated travellers to take pricey PCR-tests on their return to the UK has also been dropped from the end of this month.

The policy change means that the PCR tests, which can cost more than 100, will finally be scrapped in time for families returning from half-term holidays.

The PCR tests will be replaced with cheaper rapid lateral flow swabs for travellers 'before October 31', although the free NHS tests will not be acceptable.

Travellers will have to book the tests through private providers and prove on their passenger locator form, which must be filled out by all travellers before returning, that they have done so. Lateral flow tests typically cost between 20 and 40.
Dennis Hutchings was a proud man. Proud of his 26 years served with distinction in the Army. Proud of his 22 grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

A soldier, then company director, then retired family man. Not bad for a boy who grew up squatting with his family in an abandoned Army barracks in Blyth, Northumberland, before becoming a miner at 15.

Sitting in a crown court dock in Belfast this month, service medals pinned to his chest, Mr Hutchings somehow maintained his dignified stoicism even as he listened to prosecutors outline his alleged role in a fatal shooting at the height of the Troubles in Northern Ireland almost 50 years ago.

Army veteran Dennis Hutchings, 80, died last night after catching Covid-19 midway through his controversial trial for a fatal Troubles shooting almost 50 years ago

Over the weekend, Mr Hutchings contracted Covid and was rushed to hospital in an ambulance last night after complaining that he was struggling to breathe. Right: Hutchings in dress uniform at Knightsbridge Barracks, 1978

Prior to his trial, Mr Hutchings' regular consultant at the hospital near his bungalow in Cornwall warned him that travel to the province for his long-awaited hearing was not advised owing to his rapidly deteriorating health.

His kidneys  which required three rounds of gruelling dialysis each week  no longer worked. An emergency appointment just days before his flight found fluid on his lungs.

He was given six months to live. He lasted less than one.

Mr Hutchings became the reluctant figurehead of the Northern Ireland veterans' movement, representing around 200,000 ex-servicemen campaigning for an end to the prosecutions of those who served during the conflict.

To the end, he remained resolute over his innocence.

He could have taken a medical note from his doctor and had the trial postponed indefinitely.

But, six years on from his initial arrest, his arms black and blue from the regular needles required to keep him alive, Mr Hutchings vowed to let a judge  sitting without a jury in a procedure previously reserved for terrorists  decide his guilt.

Dennis Hutchings (pictured on the far right in this photo) in Germany, 1960

That this all played out during the Conservative Party conference served only to highlight the Government's failure to keep to its promise of ending repeated investigations into those who served in Northern Ireland.

Last night, Paul Young, of the Justice for Northern Ireland veterans group, said Mr Hutchings had been 'hounded to his grave without being able to clear his name'.

The former staff sergeant in the Life Guards was accused of the attempted murder of John Pat Cunningham in a field near the village of Benburb, County Tyrone, on June 15, 1974.

Just 36 hours earlier, a patrol led by Mr Hutchings had arrested four IRA suspects in the village but they knew a number had escaped.

He was later mentioned in dispatches for his efforts in apprehending the men without bloodshed.

On the fateful day in question, Mr Hutchings, then aged 33, was leading an Army patrol of two Land Rovers in the area when they came across 27-year-old Mr Cunningham near some bushes.

Mr Cunningham, who was described as 'startled', failed to respond to calls to 'halt' and 'stop' and fled across the field. Mr Hutchings and another member of the patrol, known as Soldier B, gave chase.

Mr Hutchings and Britain's former veterans minister Johnny Mercer are greeted outside court in Belfast

Five shots were fired in total. Three from Mr Hutchings' weapon and two from the rifle of Soldier B, who has since died.

Little did they know, that a year before, Mr Cunningham was apprehended by another patrol when he was found in a similar area 'acting suspiciously'.

He was only released when a passing doctor intervened and explained that he was his patient  and suffered from learning difficulties which left him terrified of soldiers.

It transpired that Mr Cunningham had the mental age of a child. Rather than having any connection to paramilitaries, locals said they were unable to even have coherent conversations with him. He was known to wear bailer twine as a belt or a clothes peg instead of a button.

The fatal shot hit Mr Cunningham in the back. Mr Hutchings applied a field dressing to his wound and called for an Army helicopter but he died at the scene.

As Mr Hutchings readily acknowledged, John Pat Cunningham should never have died that day. The soldiers were unaware of his difficulties and he became an innocent casualty of what those who fought for the UK state and those who fought for a united Ireland described as a 'war.'

Many of Mr Hutchings's supporters came out to offer their mental strength during the trial

The veteran always maintained he fired only aimed warning shots into the air in attempts to get Mr Cunningham to stop running and Soldier B fired the shots which killed him, one striking him in the back.

'The soldier made his decision on what he saw,' Mr Hutchings said. 'It was just one of those things that happens in war.'

Of the 3,250 people who lost their lives during the Troubles, only 301  around ten per cent  were killed by the British military. Half of these were civilians tragically caught up in crossfire.

Paramilitary groups including the Provisional IRA were responsible for the remaining 90 per cent, including 722 soldiers.

A total of 1,441 military personnel died as a result of operations in Northern Ireland.

That soldiers are still being hauled to court over alleged offences committed during the Troubles while IRA terrorists were effectively given get-out-of-jail cards as a result of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement is a disparity that many veterans cannot comprehend.
A brutal 24-stone killer and rapist who 'fell asleep, snoring, on top of his trapped victims' after sexually attacking them has been jailed in Russia.

Described by relatives as a model family man, heavyweight bulldozer driver Pavel Shuvalov, 52, has been locked away until the year 2045.

The 'mass rapist', married to a respected teacher with two children, had a secret life as a maniac, a regional court in Irkutsk was told.

Shuvalov murdered two of his victims in a reign of terror in Tulun stretching from 1992.

Brutal 24-stone killer and rapist Pavel Shuvalov, 52, (pictured) who 'fell asleep, snoring, on top of his trapped victims' after sexually attacking them has been jailed in Russia

Police say they have evidence of 60 rapes, including his confessions, but in many cases victims - aged between 13 and 40 - refused to testify or the statute of limitations applied because he had evaded police for so long.

Police investigator Evgeny Karchevsky said a 'characteristic feature of his crimes' was falling asleep after raping his victims who could not escape because of his 24-stone weight.

'Very often, immediately after the rape, the maniac fell asleep right on top of the victim,' he said.

'The victims say that with his huge weight he simply enveloped the woman lying under him and began to snore.

Pictured: Shuvalov in handcuffs during a police recreation at a crime scene

'It was impossible to break free from under this (24-stone) bulk.'

One victim, Valentina Danilova, who waived her anonymity, said: 'He attacked me and my cousin from behind, with a knife.

'It was over 17 years ago, but I still remember everything so clearly.

'At first I tried to escape, but cut myself on a knife, blood flowed down my clothes and leg.

'I realised that it was too dangerous, and I stopped trying to run.

'He took us to a maternity hospital building site by the road, threw his jacket on the floor and tormented us for several hours.

'I lost my voice screaming but no one came to help.

'I managed to escape to get help when he fell asleep on top of my cousin.'

Another victim said: 'Only when he was already snoring could I eventually pull myself free and escape.'

One victim, Valentina Danilova (pictured), who waived her anonymity, said that she was attacked over 17 years ago

Former police investigator Artyom Dubynin said: 'He held a knife to the throat of each of his victims so they couldn't fight back.'

The accused 'could torture his victims for the whole night or several hours'.

A series of police blunders meant the so-called 'Tulun Maniac' was allowed to continue his reign of terror for almost three decades, it is reported.

A woman identified as Victim number 8 said Shuvalov - who smelled of diesel - should face castration.

'Give him to me now and I would castrate him myself. Honestly, my hands won't shake.

'So many years have passed and I have always had this desire.'

His 'shocked' adult son said: 'I don't believe that my father could lead a double life.'

Police investigator Evgeny Karchevsky (pictured) said a 'characteristic feature of his crimes' was falling asleep after raping his victims who could not escape because of his 24-stone weight

His daughter-in-law told Komsomolskaya Pravda: 'He is a kind, sweet man.

'Don't you think his wife wouldn't have suspected anything if he was committing crimes?

Some 15,000 men were subjected to genetic tests during the investigation.

In all, around 3,000 men were interrogated before the suspect was held.

Shuvalov was convicted for double murder and two specimen charges of rape, and sentenced to 24 years in jail.

He must spend a further 22 months under house arrest.
The Duchess of Sussex's father Thomas Markle today said that his daughter had 'pretty much disowned both sides of her family' and urged her to 'grow up'.

Mr Markle, 77, also laid into his son-in-law Prince Harry, saying 'all he does now is ride a bicycle around the neighbourhood he lives' in Montecito, California.

He was referring to when Harry was photographed in March riding an electric bike followed by a security team soon after the bombshell Oprah Winfrey interview aired.

Mr Markle also claimed 'childish' Meghan 'changed' when she met Harry and said it was 'ridiculous' that he had been estranged from his daughter for nearly four years.

The retired lighting director, who lives in Rosarito, Mexico, added that he and Meghan both needed to 'grow up, talk, make up' and mend their relationship.

Mr Markle has never met Harry or the couple's children Archie and Lilibet, and did not attend their wedding in 2018 after he had a heart attack and needed surgery.

Asked on ITV's Good Morning Britain today whether television interviews were the only way he can communicate with Meghan, Mr Markle said: 'I've made it quite clear that until I hear from her, until she does speak to me, that I will continue to do this.

Mr Markle, 77, said of Prince Harry: 'All he does now is ride a bicycle around the neighbourhood he lives' in Montecito, California. He was referring to when Harry was photographed in March riding an electric bike followed by a security team soon after the Oprah Winfrey interview aired

Thomas Markle today said that his daughter Meghan Markle (pictured together) had 'pretty much disowned both sides of her family' and urged her to 'grow up'

The Duchess of Sussex's father Thomas Markle speaks to ITV's Good Morning Britain today

'I will do a show at least a month, if I can get it through, and eventually sooner or later she'll start talking to me. This is way too childish, this is kind of silly, it's time to talk with each other, we're family.

'The kids are going to grow up without knowing that they have two families. This is more than just me and my daughter now, this is me and my daughter, her husband and two babies involved now, so it's time to do something. It's time to talk.'

What did Thomas Markle tell GMB today? On doing TV interviews: 'I've made it quite clear that until I hear from her, until she does speak to me, that I will continue to do this' On Lilibet and Archie: 'The kids are going to grow up without knowing that they have two families.' On his ex-wife Doria Ragland: 'I don't even know where her mother is at this point, I don't think she's in Los Angeles, or with Meghan and Harry' On Prince Harry's influence: 'I don't know what changed her. She's never been that way before and once she hooked up with Harry, she changed.' On why Meghan 'ghosted' him: 'She thought I was giving too much attention to her brother and sister  to her stepbrother and stepsister, but nonetheless she wanted me to stop talking to them and I couldn't.' On son Thomas criticising Meghan: 'My son Thomas has been shunned just like I have been, and I'm sure he's responding the same way others are that get ghosted' On Piers Morgan: 'Piers was right - we all get ghosted, so somebody wants to respond.' On suing to see Lilibet and Archie: 'People have suggested in California that I sue to see my kids, but I think if I did that I'd be a hypocrite' On Harry's new book: 'The book he's writing should be not Finding Freedom - it should be Finding Money, that's all they seem to care about right now.' On when he last tried to talk with her: 'About a month ago maybe. I really can't go down to Montecito because I'll be pointed out as a stalker, so I can't do much like that.' Advertisement

Asked if he has any communication with his ex-wife Doria Ragland, Mr Markle said: 'I've tried a few times, I don't even know where her mother is at this point, I don't think she's in Los Angeles, or with Meghan and Harry. I don't know where she's at. I have tried to contact her.'

Asked what is about Meghan's character that is allowing her to keep him completely at arm's length, he said: 'You're asking me a question that is four years old, and I can't answer it. I don't know what changed her. She's never been that way before and once she hooked up with Harry, she changed.

'I understand that she hooked up with Soho Club and a different group of people, but she's pretty much disowned both sides of her family, and I don't understand the reason for it.'

And asked if she had moved on and ghosted him, Mr Markle added: 'It seems like that's what happened. There are some reasons that she got upset with me and one was that she thought I was giving too much attention to her brother and sister  to her stepbrother and stepsister, but nonetheless she wanted me to stop talking to them and I couldn't.

'We're at a point where, I think, both of us, we should grow up, talk, make up for the sake of the children right now and for ourselves. This is ridiculous, it's being going on for almost four years - it's crazy.'

He was also asked about his son Thomas criticising Meghan over her relationship with her first husband. And Mr Markle said: 'I mean my son Thomas has been shunned just like I have been, and I'm sure he's responding the same way others are that get ghosted. Piers (Morgan) was right - we all get ghosted, so somebody wants to respond.

'If you go back in the history and read Meghan's Tig that she had on the internet, you'll find hundreds of things where she praises me and now suddenly it's like she doesn't know me. Take the time, read Tig, find Tig, and find out what she says about.'

In August, Piers Morgan's ITV colleagues and a string of respected broadcasters hailed Ofcom's ruling confirming his right to free speech after the watchdog dismissed 57,000 complaints about his criticism of Meghan.

During Mr Markle's interview today, he was also asked about seeing Lilibet and Archie. Mr Markle said: 'I'm very concerned about that, I'd love to see my grandchildren and people have suggested in California that I sue to see my kids, but I think if I did that I'd be a hypocrite, I'd be doing the same thing that Meghan and Harry are doing.

'I don't want to include my grandchildren in this kind of situation. I want to see my grandchildren with friendly parents and friendship all around. I don't want hostile parents and then see my grandchildren. So I'll wait until it works it's way out.'

Asked if he had been given indication that legal action could be successful, Mr Markle said: 'Yes, I have, I've been told by several lawyers that grandparents have sued to see their grandchildren and won in California, but I'm not going to do that.

'I'm not going to do that. I don't want to involve my grandchildren as pawns in a game - they're not part of the game, I mean they're my grandchildren, I want to see my grandchildren.'

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are joined by her mother Doria Ragland as they show their son Archie to Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh at Windsor Castle in May 2019

Mr Markle said Meghan 'changed' when she met Harry (above, at their wedding in May 2018)

And asked whether Harry and Meghan are now playing to the American market and don't really care about what people in Britain say or do, Mr Markle said: 'I think that's true, I think Harry has abandoned the Queen, his grandmother, the Royal Family, the British people and the Army - he's abandoned them all, and all he does now is ride a bicycle around the neighbourhood he lives in. I don't know it's much of a life for him either, it doesn't make sense.'

Who are Meghan's family members? Thomas Markle Sr: Meghan's father is a retired lighting director living in Mexico, previously married to Roslyn Markle - with whom he had Thomas Markle Jr and Samantha Markle. Doria Ragland: Meghan's mother is a former make-up artist and married Thomas Markle Sr in 1979. They had Meghan in 1981 but divorced in 1987. Samantha Markle: Thomas Markle Sr's daughter and Meghan's half-sister, also known as Samantha Grant, has been divorced twice and has three children. Thomas Markle Jr: Meghan's older paternal half-brother, was married for 11 years to Tracy Dooley until they divorced in 2001, and they had two sons - Thomas and Tyler Dooley. Advertisement

He was also questioned by host Susanna Reid over whether he thought Meghan and Harry were happy. And Mr Markle said: 'Well, money isn't everything, but the book he's writing should be not Finding Freedom - it should be Finding Money, that's all they seem to care about right now.'

Finding Freedom is the biography of Harry and Meghan by Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand released in August 2020. It was then announced this July that Harry will be writing a new book which explores his 'adventures, losses, and life lessons'.

'Harry's coming out with a book and that can't be anything but cruel and to insult his grandmother the Queen, it's a ridiculous idea. And it's just something for money, that's all they're doing - everything they're doing is for money. But to do that to your grandmother and the Queen, who is 95 years old, is shameful.'

Asked by Reid when he last tried to get in touch with Meghan, Mr Markle said: 'About a month ago maybe. I really can't go down to Montecito because I'll be pointed out as a stalker, so I can't do much like that.

'But my message for the kids is that they have two loving families and their great-grandmother is the Queen of England, and I think that that's important for them to know.

'It's important for them to know that they have two families, and eventually they're going to grow up and they're going to want to know more about them, so we'll see what happens.'

Meghan has two older half-siblings through her father's side  Thomas Markle Jr and Samantha Markle - from his previous marriage to Roslyn Markle.

Thomas Markle Jr was married for 11 years to Tracy Dooley until they divorced in 2001, and they had two sons - Thomas and Tyler Dooley.

Samantha Markle, also known as Samantha Grant, has been divorced twice and has three children.

Thomas Markle married Meghan's mother Doria Ragland, a former make-up artist, in 1979. They had Meghan in 1981 but divorced in 1987.

MailOnline has contacted a spokesman for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex for comment on Mr Markle's interview.
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Nearly 5million vulnerable adults have yet to receive a Covid booster vaccine, official data shows after Downing Street admitted Britain faces a 'challenging' winter.

Despite the NHS top-up programme launching over a month ago, only around 3.7million out of the 8.5m eligible people in England have received the crucial third dose.

No10's scientists approved plans to revaccinate all healthy over-50s, frontline health staff and carers and patients with underlying medical conditions six months after their second dose, after evidence showed it was the 'sweet spot' for immunity.

The lagging rollout has left around 4.8m people with sub-optimal immunity as the country moves into the colder months and faces the double threat of increasing case numbers and flu.

SAGE adviser 'Professor Lockdown' Neil Ferguson, an epidemiologist at Imperial College London, today insisted it was 'critical we accelerate' the booster drive to give ourselves the best chance of avoiding having to bring back curbs.

And Sir David King, who was the Government's chief scientific adviser from 2000 to 2007, criticised the rollout for moving 'extremely slowly'.

Amanda Pritchard, chief executive of the NHS, insisted the health service has 'plenty of capacity' to vaccinate all eligible people immediately but said people are not coming forward quickly enough. She told MPs on the Health Committee: 'It's really important that we now absolutely do get the message out that is Covid is still with us.'

But some experts also say the booster programme is going slower because the UK is juggling administering first jabs to children in secondary schools and running the largest flu vaccination programme in history.

Pictures today show clinics lying virtually empty, some of which are not open for booster jab walk-ins  further highlighting the complexity of Britain's current rollout.

It comes against the backdrop of rising cases with 49,156 infections recorded yesterday  the highest daily figure in three months. Downing Street warned that Britons should prepare for a 'challenging few months'.

Boris Johnson's spokesman said there were 'currently' no plans to reintroduce Plan B restrictions  which include face masks and working from home guidance  but that ministers were keeping 'a very close watch on the latest statistics'.

Meanwhile, experts today also warned that a subvariant of the Covid Delta strain could be more infectious than its ancestor. Official data shows it was behind nearly one in 10 cases earlier this month  with the proportion having doubled within the space of a month.

Around 3.7million third vaccines have been dished out to over-50s and the immuno-compromised in England as of Sunday (purple line), the latest date data is available for. But some 8.5million people are currently eligible for a booster dose, having received their second jab six months ago (green line). means 4.8million people may be suffering from waning immunity

Amanda Pritchard, chief executive of the NHS, today insisted the health service has 'plenty of capacity' to vaccinated all eligible people immediately but said people are not coming forward quickly enough. Pictured: Elland Road vaccination centre in Leeds lies empty today

SAGE adviser 'Professor Lockdown' Neil Ferguson (left), an epidemiologist at Imperial College London, said it is 'critical we accelerate' the booster drive. And Sir David King (right), who was the Government's chief scientific adviser from 2000 to 2007, said the rollout is moving 'extremely slowly'

Now more schools reintroduce face masks in face of Covid spikes A secondary school in Essex has become the latest to bring back Covid restrictions after a surge in Covid cases among pupils and staff. Thurstable School in Colchester emailed parents yesterday informing them that their children must wear face masks at all times when indoors  even during lessons in classrooms. There were widespread concerns that masks obstruct communicating and learning during earlier phases of the pandemic. Assemblies have also been scrapped and moved to 'virtual'. Rapid testing will be used on-site if staff become worried about a particular group or class. Headteacher Mr J Ketley said in an email, seen by Essex Live, that the measures will stay in place for two weeks before being reassessed when schools split for half-term. In his email to parents, the head said: 'We have had a significant increase in the number of positive lateral flow test results this weekend, we have received 51 positive lateral flow tests since Friday. 'We are therefore asking students to wear a face mask in all indoor areas including classrooms for the remainder of this week and the first day back after the half-term break.' Meanwhile, secondary school pupils in Scotland will continue to wear face coverings in class, according to new guidance from the Scottish Government. Face coverings in communal areas for secondary pupils and staff, as well as primary staff, will also continue. The new guidance is contrary to reports last week that the need for face coverings would be dropped when pupils return from the October break. The measures are being kept in place to buy time to vaccinate more teenagers. But Education Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville has said the restrictions will be lifted 'at the earliest possible time'. 'In recent weeks we have seen the previous sharp decline in Covid-19 case numbers starting to level off, and that is why we have decided to adopt a cautious approach and maintain safety mitigations in school for the time-being,' she said. 'Progress with vaccinating 12-15 year olds has been remarkable and is already over 40 per cent. 'However, this was only rolled out a few weeks ago and allowing further time will mean that that encouraging figure rises even higher. 'This decision is based on advice from senior clinicians and takes account of the most recent data. 'We will continue to monitor case rates on a weekly basis, with a view to lifting restrictions at the earliest possible time.' Ms Somerville added: 'While I fully understand that this will be disappointing news for some young people and their parents, as has been the situation throughout, the safety of children, young people, and all education staff, remains the overriding priority. 'There is no room for complacency and we must all continue to remain vigilant to reduce the spread of Covid-19.' Scotland has taken a more cautious approach to lifting Covid restrictions than England. People north of the border are required to present vaccine passports before attending large events or nightclubs and masks are still compulsory in indoor spaces. Advertisement

Britain led the world in the initial vaccine rollout, but it has now slumped behind Italy, Spain and France in terms of the percentage of the population to be double-jabbed.

This is because it delayed rolling out jabs to healthy children, whereas most EU members approved those plans much quicker.

All over-50s and the clinically vulnerable can get a booster jab from six months after their second dose.

But experts have warned that at the current rate the most vulnerable will not all receive their third vaccination until the end of January.

Asked if Covid booster jabs are the answer to waning immunity, Professor Ferguson told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'Absolutely, and there's data coming through now, which is not completely clear cut, but good data coming through from Israel, which shows that, if you've had the third booster dose of the vaccine, then you get very high loads, better than even you had after the second dose.

'And so I do think it's critical we accelerate the booster programme.

'The other thing is infection rates are highest in teenagers at the moment and most other European countries are ahead of us in vaccinating teenagers and giving them two doses, not just one dose.

'Two doses really are needed to block infection and prevent transmission, so I think that's the other problem, keep pushing on, getting coverage rates up higher in the teenagers who are driving a lot of this infection.'

The Imperial College London epidemiologist said the doubling time for hospital admissions is about five weeks, 'so I think we need [to be] on the case, and we do need to prioritise the [booster] vaccination programme but we're not in the same position as last year.

'I don't think it's a reason to panic right now but I would certainly like to see vaccination booster doses accelerated, vaccination for teenagers accelerated.'

Prof Andrew Hayward, a SAGE adviser and University College London expert, said: 'We need to get the vaccination rates up and to be prepared, potentially, to think about other measures if things do get out of control.

'We prioritised those who were most vulnerable - the elderly and those with chronic diseases - to be vaccinated first, so they've had the longest time for their immunity to start to wane.

'That's why it's so vital this booster programme gets done as soon as possible.'

And Sir David said the pace of the Covid booster rollout was going 'extremely slowly'.

He told Sky News that the dangers going into winter of waning immunity were clear, adding: 'The number of new cases per day is close to 40,000.'

More than a third of fully vaccinated over-80s in England are likely to have received their Covid booster jab, according to the data.

Of the nearly 2.7million people aged 80 and over in England who have already received two doses of vaccine, around 1.3million are estimated to have had their booster dose  the equivalent of almost half.

The figures, from NHS England, also show that around a third of double-jabbed people aged 75 to 79 are likely to have received a booster, along with 15 per cent of those aged 70 to 74.

In total, more than 3.6million booster doses have now been delivered in England.

John Roberts, of the Covid Actuaries Response Group, said: 'At the start of the booster campaign, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care stated that the aim was to protect the most vulnerable from Covid as we head into the autumn and winter months.

'But at the current rate, it's likely to be towards the end of January before the approximately 22million that fall into the most vulnerable groups receive the booster.

'With case numbers very high and still rising, and admissions to hospital also rising again, it's clear that accelerating the booster rollout is vital to reduce the pressure on health services and minimise Covid-related deaths this autumn and winter.'

Mrs Pritchard today told MPs the problem behind Britain's lagging rollout is the fall in demand for third jabs compared to first and second doses.

Speaking at the Health and Social Care Committee, she said: 'there is no delay in sending out invitations. It is literally within days of people becoming eligible, they will get their invitations.

'What we are seeing  and this is absolutely the crux  is that whilst it is great that people are coming forward for their boosters, they are not coming forward as quickly when they receive their invitation as we certainly saw for the first jabs.

'So, it's really important that we now absolutely do get the message out that is Covid is still with us. It is serious.

'Boosters do really make a difference in boosting immunity, so if people get their invitations this week or they have already had them, there is plenty of capacity. So, please come forward and book as soon as possible.'

Ministers and experts have consistently urged people to come forward for a third jab, suggesting not as many people may be booking in third appointments as had been hoped.

Trade secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan today urged Brits to come forward to keep the 'new normal' in place.

Boris Johnson's spokesman said there were 'currently' no plans to reintroduce Plan B restrictions  which include face masks and working from home guidance  but that ministers were keeping 'a very close watch on the latest statistics'. The Prime Minister is pictured today speaking at the Global Investment Summit at the Science Museum

The graph shows the proportion of cases sequenced in England that are the new subvariant AY.4.2 (yellow) and Delta (blue). Delta became dominant in the UK in May, overtaking the previously dominant Alpha strain (purple)

Is an even MORE infectious strain of Delta now taking off in Britain? Almost 10% of new cases in the UK are down to specific variant A subvariant of the Covid Delta strain could be more infectious than its ancestor, experts have warned after data revealed it was behind nearly one in 10 cases earlier this month. The AY.4.2 strain was spotted in June by the Wellcome Sanger Institute, which sequences thousands of Covid samples in England every week. And its prevalence has doubled in a month from four per cent in September to 8.9 per cent in the two weeks to October 9. Experts estimate that it could be up to 15 per cent more infectious than the original Delta strain, which is dominant worldwide. Some 45 different sub-lineages of the variant  which was first spotted in India  have been recorded so far. No10 is keeping a close eye on AY.4.2 but said there is 'no evidence' that it spreads more easily. Advertisement

She said: 'We're encouraging all those who are vulnerable, anyone who's over 50, please do make sure that you get your booster jab.'

MS Trevelyan added doing so will 'help make sure we are able to continue living in the back to new normal that we're able to do as a result of the incredible vaccine programme'.

But experts have previously suggested the slow rollout is partly caused by Britain's more complex vaccination drive now.

Professor Adam Finn, a key member of the Joint Committee for Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI)  which advises the Government on vaccine policy  said rolling out to multiple age groups has proved challenging.

The professor of paediatrics at the University of Bristol said: 'The programme has got much more complicated than it was before.

'Previously, it was a straightforward matter of opening large centres and getting people in by age groups. Now we have multiple different groups being offered vaccines.

'They are really difficult patients to identify and to sculpt the programme. High risk groups are very difficult to reach.'

Booster doses can only be offered to people who are at least six months on from receiving their second dose of coronavirus vaccine.

If eligible, people who can receive a booster dose include all adults aged 50 and over; frontline health and social care workers; and those living in residential care homes for older adults.

They are also being made available to people aged 16 to 49 with underlying health conditions that put them at higher risk of severe Covid, and adult household contacts of immunosuppressed individuals.

The booster campaign began in England on September 16, and is being delivered through existing vaccination sites including pharmacies, hospital hubs, GP practices and vaccine centres.

It is intended to provide extra protection against hospital admission or death from Covid during the coming winter, and as such is being targeted at people who are more at risk from serious disease and who were jabbed during the first phase of the vaccine rollout.

Among other age groups in England, around 7 per cent of double-jabbed people aged 60-69 are now likely to have had a booster.

Almost 11 per cent of double-jabbed people in north-east England and Yorkshire have received their booster  the highest proportion for any region.

London has the lowest proportion of any region, at just 8.7 per cent.

NHS England said the figures for boosters contain a small number of third primary doses of vaccine.

These are not the same as booster doses, and are instead being offered to individuals aged 12 and over who may not be able to mount a full immune response following two doses of Covid vaccination due to underlying health conditions or medical treatment.

A third primary dose of vaccine should ideally be given at least eight weeks after the second dose, according to official guidance from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI).

It comes as new radio and TV adverts urging older people to get a coronavirus booster jab and flu vaccine are set to be rolled out later this week.

There are also concerns over low vaccine uptake among children. Only 15 per cent of 12 to 15-year-olds in England have had their first dose, despite nearly one in ten having the virus last week.

Covid cases, hospitalisations and deaths are all significantly higher in the UK than in western Europe. Yesterday another 45 deaths within 28 days of a positive test were reported.

Last month Mr Johnson set out a 'Plan B' for further restrictions  including masks, vaccine passports and home working  if the virus surges.

Officials have suggested this will be triggered if hospitalisations start to top 1,000 a day  and the UK is approaching that figure. Yesterday another 915 Covid admissions to NHS hospitals were recorded, the highest figure in a month.

The PM's official spokesman said: 'There is absolutely no plan to introduce Plan B currently. We retain that capability if required if we believe the NHS is coming under unsustainable pressure.

'We obviously keep very close watch on the latest statistics. We always knew the coming months would be challenging.'
Perhaps mothers have been to hell and back during their pregnancies.

Or maybe when their sons do arrive, they just look devilishly handsome.

Whatever the reason, more parents are now calling their new-borns Lucifer than traditional names such as Nigel.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has released the latest data on the most  and least  popular baby names across England and Wales in 2020.

Oliver remained the most popular name for boys for the eighth successive year, while Olivia has topped the list of girls' names for the fifth consecutive year.

However, the data shows that Muhammad (fifth) is actually the most popular choice for boys, but it came in at fifth due to its various spellings.

Alternatives Mohammed, 32nd, and Mohammad, 75th, also appeared inside the top 100.

Three mothers opted for Jesus as the name for their new-born boy, while five infants were named LeBron last year as younger parents steered away from more traditional names.

Oliver remained the most popular name for boys for the eighth successive year due to various spellings of Muhammad, while Olivia has topped the list of girls' names for the fifth consecutive year

George  the name of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridges first-born  is the second most popular for boys.

And Archie  the name of Prince Harry and Meghans son  rose from 19th to ninth in England and Wales last year.

There are also increasing numbers of Arthurs and Noahs, with both shooting up more than 200 places over the last 20 years, according to the ONS.

Are you a parent of Britains last Nigel? Get in touch  tips @dailymail.com Nigel and Carol could now be officially extinct as names for new-borns. The ONS only records data where three or more children have been called a single name, meaning no more than a maximum of two babies were named Nigel or Carol in 2020. Are you a parent of a new-born Nigel? Get in touch at tips @dailymail.com Advertisement

In the girls chart the five favourites remain Olivia, Amelia, Isla, Ava and Mia.

Surprisingly some very common names are in danger of extinction. Three births are required to get on the list and neither Nigel or Carol made it last year. Other names going out of fashion are Neville (3), Ron (3) and Piers (4). For girls Maureen also didnt register.

Meanwhile, there were a total of 15 babies named Lucifer. This is thought to be because of the popularity of the TV series Lucifer, based on a comic book character. Nigel has been in decline for some time.

In 2019, pub landlord Nigel Smith even organised a gathering of as many of his namesakes as possible, to celebrate the name despite the dwindling popularity.

Sian Bradford, of the ONS, said: Popular culture continues to provide inspiration for baby names, whether its characters in our favourite show or trending celebrities.

Maeve and Otis, characters from the popular programme Sex Education, have seen a surge in popularity in 2020, while the name Margot has been rapidly climbing since actress Margot Robbie appeared in the popular film The Wolf Of Wall Street.

Death of Nigel and Carol: Traditional names like Gordon, Stuart, Sally, Sue and even Jonathan fall out of fashion in 2020... but popular Eastern Europe names beginning with K are on the rise

Traditional names such as Nigel and Carol are dying out in England and Wales amid a rise in popular Eastern European names beginning with K, official data has shown.

Nigel and Carol could now be officially extinct as names for new-borns, while Jonathan, Gordon, Sally and Sue are also falling out of favour, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

The ONS only records data where three or more children have been called a single name, meaning no more than a maximum of two babies were named Nigel or Carol in 2020.

The downturn in usage is understood to be caused by younger mothers opting for more modern and shortened names, while mums aged over 35 and older tend to go for more traditional names.

The most popular baby names in England and Wales 2020 MOST POPULAR GIRLS NAMES OLIVIA AMELIA ISLA AVA MIA IVY LILY ISABELLA ROSIE SOPHIA GRACE FREYA WILLOW FLORENCE EMILY ELLA POPPY EVIE ELSIE CHARLOTTE EVELYN SIENNA SOFIA DAISY PHOEBE SOPHIE ALICE HARPER MATILDA RUBY EMILIA MAYA MILLIE ISABELLE EVA LUNA JESSICA ADA ARIA ARABELLA MAISIE ESME ELIZA PENELOPE BONNIE CHLOE MILA VIOLET HALLIE SCARLETT LAYLA IMOGEN ELEANOR MOLLY HARRIET ELIZABETH THEA ERIN LOTTIE EMMA ROSE DELILAH BELLA AURORA LOLA NANCY ELLIE MABEL LUCY AYLA MARIA ORLA ZARA ROBYN HANNAH GRACIE IRIS JASMINE DARCIE MARGOT HOLLY AMELIE AMBER GEORGIA EDITH MARYAM ABIGAIL MYLA ANNA CLARA LILLY LYRA SUMMER MAEVE HEIDI ELODIE LYLA EDEN OLIVE AISHA MOST POPULAR BOYS NAMES OLIVER GEORGE ARTHUR NOAH MUHAMMAD LEO OSCAR HARRY ARCHIE JACK HENRY CHARLIE FREDDIE THEODORE THOMAS FINLEY THEO ALFIE JACOB WILLIAM ISAAC TOMMY JOSHUA JAMES LUCAS ALEXANDER ARLO ROMAN EDWARD ELIJAH TEDDY MOHAMMED MAX ADAM ALBIE ETHAN LOGAN JOSEPH SEBASTIAN BENJAMIN HARRISON MASON RORY REUBEN LUCA LOUIE SAMUEL REGGIE JAXON DANIEL HUGO LOUIS JUDE RONNIE DYLAN ZACHARY ALBERT HUNTER EZRA DAVID FRANKIE TOBY FREDERICK CARTER GABRIEL GRAYSON RILEY JESSE HUDSON BOBBY ROWAN JENSON FINN MICHAEL MOHAMMAD STANLEY FELIX JASPER LIAM MILO SONNY OAKLEY ELLIOT CHESTER CALEB HARVEY ELLIOTT CHARLES ELLIS JACKSON ALFRED OLLIE LEON YUSUF RALPH OTIS HARLEY IBRAHIM JAYDEN MYLES Advertisement

Only 192 babies were named Jonathan across England and Wales in 2020, putting it outside the 200 most popular names for infants.

The data also shows that just eight boys were named Stewart in 2020 and seven registered as Gordon.

Sally, Sue and Janice are also thought to be slowly dying out as girls' names.

Just 17 newborn girls were named Sally in 2020, while 13 were called Susan and only four named Janice.

Traditional names are making way for more modern names such as Kaiden (211), Marley (395) and Beau (419).

There were also more babies named Orfeas - nine - than Nigel, Trevor or Gordon last year.

Names beginning with a K, originating from Eastern Europe, have seen a rise in usage with more named Kal (seven), Kaidan (eight), and Kyree (six) than Keith or Piers in 2020.

Among the most popular K names were Kylo (189) and Kacper (142).

More popular than Sally, Susan and Janice for girls were Nansi (35), Mabli (35) and Skylar-Rose (33).

Oliver and Olivia remain the most popular baby names for 2020 while royal favourites like George, Archie and Mia are among Top 10 - but Harry falls five spots to eighth since last year

Oliver and Olivia remained the most popular baby names in England and Wales across 2020, official figures have shown.

Oliver has remained the most popular name for boys for the eighth successive year, while Olivia has topped the list of girls' names for the fifth consecutive year.

Hit boxsets watched through the height of lockdown are also thought to have inspired a surge in new baby names last year, according to the Office for National Statistics.

Popular Netflix series Sex Education is believed to be behind a rise in the name Maeve, which soared 124 places since 2019 to become the 94th most popular girls name.

Otis, meanwhile, another character from the show, rose 28 places into 96th on the boys' list.

Other girls' names becoming increasingly popular are Ivy and Rosie, which moved into the top 10 for the first time last year, replacing Grace and Freya.

Since 2010, Ivy has risen 221 places to take the number six spot, while Rosie now sits in ninth.

Arthur and Noah have also seen a huge rise in popularity over the last 20 years, the figures show, with both names rising more than 200 places into the boys' top five in 2017 and 2019.

In 2020, Archie entered the top 10 for the first time, replacing Charlie, believed to be linked to the name of new-born royal Prince Archie.

It is the first time, too, that Charlie has not featured among the top 10 boys' names since 2005.

Mothers aged 35 and older continue to choose more traditional names, while younger mums tend to opt for more modern and shortened names, the ONS says.

Asa Butterfield as Otis and Emma Mackey as Maeve 'Sex Education', which is said to be behind a surge in new baby names

Sian Bradford, of the ONS, said: 'Oliver and Olivia held on to the top spots as the most popular boys and girls names in 2020 but some interesting changes took place beneath them.

'We continue to see the age of mothers having an impact on the choice of baby name.

'Archie jumped into the top 10 boys names for the first time, driven by younger mothers as well as the obvious royal link. While on the girls side Ivy rose to sixth place.'

Are you a parent of Britains last Nigel? Get in touch  tips @dailymail.com
A 30-year-old man was arrested and charged with double homicide on Monday after allegedly stabbing his father and his father's girlfriend to death at their family home in Rome, NY.

The man, identified as Kyle J. Kirk by New York State police, was discovered on the driveway outside the family's mobile home at 5959 Old Oneida Road in Oneida County on Monday morning after a neighbor called 911.

When state troopers arrived at the scene, they found Kyle outside the mobile home wearing blood-soaked clothing and instructed EMS to check on him.

But as he was being interviewed by emergency services, the troopers discovered Kyle's father, 60-year-old Howard J. Kirk III, lying motionless on the ground with multiple stab wounds several yards away.

Upon entering the family's mobile home, the troopers went on to find Howard's girlfriend, 53-year-old Amanda L. Osborne, on the floor of the family trailer, having also sustained several stab wounds.

The man, identified as Kyle J. Kirk by New York State police, was discovered on the driveway outside the family's mobile home at 5959 Old Oneida Road after a neighbor called 911

According to spokesperson Trooper Jack Keller, Kirk lived at the mobile home residence at 5959 Old Oneida Road with his father Howard and Howard's girlfriend, Amanda.

Keller said that state police believe Kirk launched an attack on both Howard and Amanda, stabbing them multiple times and leaving them for dead at the residence some time on Monday morning.

Both victims were pronounced dead at the scene by emergency services.

Meanwhile, Kyle Kirk was taken into custody by state troopers and is being held on two counts of first-degree murder at the Oneida County jail.

He is also being charged with one count of third-degree possession of a weapon, and is scheduled to appear in court in the coming weeks.

State Police were assisted at the scene by the Oneida County Sheriffs Office, Rome Fire Department, NYS Park Police, Oneida County District Attorneys Office and AMCARE ambulance.
Two teenagers have been charged after an elderly PCSO was attacked in north London in shocking footage posted online.

Video shows school pupils grabbing the man by his jumper and wrestling him to the ground opposite Ark Academy in Wembley at around 3.50pm on October 18.

Two boys, both 14, have now been charged with assault on an emergency worker following the incident.

They were bailed to appear at Willesden Magistrates' Court on Wednesday, 3 November, Met Police said in a statement.

A spokesman said the victim was not seriously injured and was being supported by his colleagues.

The clip began as the children held the PCSO by the lapels of his jacket outside a newsagents. They yelled at him 'how you feeling bro' and 'come on then'

The clip began as the children held the PCSO by the lapels of his jacket outside a newsagents. They yelled at him 'how you feeling bro' and 'come on then'.

The masked students continued to grapple with him before they fell over an advertising board and onto the pavement.

The cameraman shouted 'oh he's getting smoked, fella's getting smoked' during the brawl.

A women helped the shaken PCSO to his feet.

The masked students continued to grapple with him before they fell over an advertising board and onto the pavement

The shocking video ended with the person recording shouting at him: 'Pick up your hat blood, pick up your hat'

The shocking video ended with the person recording shouting at him: 'Pick up your hat blood, pick up your hat.'

It was shared on social media after appearing to have been circulated on Snapchat.

Ark Academy, which has 1,607 pupils, was rated 'outstanding' in its most recent Ofsted report.

It said: 'A great deal of work has brought about a new school that has quickly established high expectations and secured impressive progress in the short period since opening. Pupils make outstanding progress in their studies.'

Headmistress Delia Smith says on its website: 'We have worked hard to clarify our expectations which are clearly stated in our Behaviour and Ethos Policy and the Home School Agreement.'

It was shared on social media after appearing to have been circulated on Snapchat

She continued: 'We expect all parents to support these policies and work co-operatively with us.

'We completed our first full school in 2017 and have a growing sixth form that has rapidly earned an excellent reputation.

'We look forward now to our Ark Academy Alumni connecting back with us from university.

'We are very proud of the school we have built here and the opportunities it offers our students.

'I look forward to working with our parents in the coming years to ensure the best for their children.'

Ark Academy headmistress Delia Smith said the school was working with the police after the incident and said staff were 'disturbed and shocked'

In a letter to students, seen by MailOnline, Ms Smith said: 'As you are probably aware a very serious incident occurred outside of the school yesterday which was videoed by a member of the public and widely shared on social media platforms.

'We are, as a school, disturbed and shocked by the events seen and are treating it with the utmost seriousness.

'This is not the typical behaviour of our student body and the individuals concerned have been arrested by police who are investing the matter.

'We had a large staff presence outside the school at the time of the incident and members of our staff were first on hand to assist the police officer, offering him support and refuge in the school and helping to disperse the onlookers in the area.

'We would like to assure you that the school is fully cooperating with the police in this matter and are, as ever, working incredibly hard to ensure the safety of your child both inside and outside the school.

'We have held a year group assembly with the year that the students were in, and all pupils are in no doubt as to the seriousness of the situation and inevitable consequences of such behaviour.

'We now ask you to support us by reiterating the school message to your children regarding the school rule of going straight home after school and not loitering in the local area or using the local shops and following instructions of staff the first time they are given.

'We will continue to work positively with you, the community and our safer schools' team to ensure that our students are safe in school and on the way home.'
Professor Ferguson said: 'Nobody likes having their freedoms curtailed by measures but it's prudent to be cautious in everyday interactions  certainly wear(ing) masks helps that, it reminds people that we're not completely out of the woods yet'

Face coverings should be brought back to remind people to be cautious in everyday interactions, one of the Government's most influential scientific advisers suggested today.

'Professor Lockdown' Neil Ferguson said masks 'remind people we're not completely out of the woods yet'.

All legal Covid restrictions were lifted in England on 'Freedom Day' in July, bringing an end to mandatory coverings indoors. However, people are still required by some transport companies and in medical settings  and No10 still advises people wear them in crowded environments.

Ministers are keeping masks, WFH guidance and controversial vaccine passports in their back pocket as part of the Government's 'Plan B', if an expected surge in cases this winter heaps unsustainable pressure on the NHS.

Professor Ferguson, an epidemiologist who sits on SAGE, admitted some measures have to be rolled back, in the event of an uptick in infections.

But speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, he ruled out another blanket shut-down. He said: 'I doubt we'll ever get close to [the] lockdown we were in in January of this year.'

The UK recorded 620 cases per million people yesterday, six times higher than Germany (108 per million), nine times more than France (71 per million), 15 times more than Italy (42 per million) and 19 times more than Spain (33 per million), according to Our World in Data. However, the UK is also carrying out significantly more testing than the other European nations  twice as many as Germany, which is carrying out the second highest number of tests  meaning it is picking up more cases than the others

Professor Ferguson also called for Britain to follow Europe's lead in giving teenagers two Covid vaccines instead of just one.

He said: 'Most other European countries are ahead of us in vaccinating teens and they are giving them two doses, not just one dose. We know two doses really are needed to block infection and to prevent transmission.'

The UK's chief medical officers only recommended giving children on jab over concerns of a very rare heart inflammation side effect called myocarditis, which there is a higher risk of after the second dose.

Nearly 5MILLION vulnerable adults have yet to have their Covid booster vaccine Nearly five million vulnerable over-50s have yet to receive a Covid booster vaccine, official figures have revealed as fears grow around Britain's 'challenging' winter ahead which could see the return of face masks. Little over a month after the booster programme was launched, only around 3.7million third doses have been dished out in England as of Sunday, the latest date data is available for. But some 8.5million people are currently eligible for a booster dose, having received their second jab six months ago. They include all healthy over-50s, frontline health staff and carers and patients with underlying conditions. It means 4.8million people may be suffering from waning immunity as Britain moves into the colder months and faces the double threat of increasing case numbers and flu. SAGE adviser 'Professor Lockdown ' Neil Ferguson, an epidemiologist at Imperial College London, said today it was 'critical we accelerate' the booster drive. And Sir David King, who was the Government's chief scientific adviser from 2000 to 2007, said the rollout is moving 'extremely slowly'. Experts say the the rollout has slowed because the vaccination programme has become increasingly complex, with Britain simultaneously administering first doses to children in secondary schools and running the largest flu vaccination programme in history. Ministers and experts have also suggested that the demand for boosters may be lower than expected. Officials said Britons should prepare for a 'challenging few months' after 49,156 infections were recorded yesterday  the highest figure in three months. Last night Boris Johnson's spokesman said there were 'currently' no plans to reintroduce restrictions but that they were keeping 'a very close watch on the latest statistics'. Britain led the world in the initial vaccine rollout, but it has now slumped behind Italy, Spain and France in terms of the percentage of the population to be double-jabbed. This is because it delayed rolling out jabs to healthy children, whereas most EU members approved those plans much quicker. All over-50s and the clinically vulnerable can get a booster jab from six months after their second dose. But experts have warned that at the current rate the most vulnerable will not all receive their third vaccination until the end of January. Advertisement

Professor Ferguson's comments come amid fears the booster drive programme is going too slowly.

Nearly 5million vulnerable adults have yet to receive a Covid booster vaccine, official data shows after Downing Street admitted Britain faces a 'challenging' winter.

Despite the NHS top-up programme launching over a month ago, only 3.7million out of the 8.5m eligible people in England have received the crucial third dose.

No10's scientists approved plans to revaccinate all healthy over-50s, frontline health staff and carers and patients with underlying medical conditions at least six months after their second dose.

Professor Ferguson today insisted it was 'critical we accelerate' the booster drive to give ourselves the best chance of avoiding having to bring back curbs.

He said: 'People need to be aware that we have currently higher levels of infection in the community than we've almost ever had during the pandemic.

'For the last three or four months we've been up at well over one per cent of the population infected at any point in time.'

Some 49,156 daily Covid infections were reported in the UK yesterday, a three-month high.

The figure equates to around 640 daily cases per million Britons  six times higher than the case rate in Germany and 19 times higher than Spain.

But hospitalisations and deaths  which lag a few weeks behind infections due to the time it takes for someone to become seriously unwell after catching the virus  remain a fraction of what they were at previous peaks.

Asked if the country should be worrying about a stay-at-home order being reimposed, Professor Ferguson said: 'I don't think we're looking at another lockdown.

'The worst case here are demands on the NHS. It's very unlikely we'll see anything like the levels of deaths we saw last year, for instance.

'Coming into the winter, there may be a Plan B which needs to be implemented, which involves some rolling back of measures, but I doubt that we'll ever get close to lockdown we were in in January of this year.'

The Government revealed last month that 'Plan B'  a return of some restrictions and the introduction of vaccine passports  would be implemented if booster jabs and vaccines to youngsters failed to stop the NHS from coming under unsustainable pressure.

Ministers said a lockdown would be a last resort if the additional measures did not bring the pandemic under control.

But he said it was 'very clear' No10 wanted to move away from restrictions, such as social distancing.

Meanwhile, most Western European countries have kept these in place  such as masks and vaccine passports  and are recording less infections and 'and certainly not case numbers which are going up as fast as we've got', Professor Ferguson said.

He said: 'Nobody likes having their freedoms curtailed by measures but it's prudent to be cautious in everyday interactions  certainly wear(ing) masks helps, it reminds people that we're not completely out of the woods yet.'

The SAGE member said there are a 'number of reasons' why the UK has higher infection rates than other European countries.

Around 3.7million third vaccines have been dished out to over-50s and the immuno-compromised in England as of Sunday (purple line), the latest date data is available for. But some 8.5million people are currently eligible for a booster dose, having received their second jab six months ago (green line). means 4.8million people may be suffering from waning immunity

North and south divide. Scotland is roaring ahead with rolling out the first dose of the Covid vaccine to 12-to-15-year-olds compared to England. All 10 of the best performing areas were north of the border with England hosting the bottom 10, the majority of which are in London

The Government has been criticised over the slow rollout of the Covid vaccine to children but the latest figures reveal that the scheme is having mixed success across the country, with Scotland soaring ahead of England

There is lower immunity in the UK population, because it rolled out vaccines faster than other countries, meaning it is seeing protection from the jabs wane comparatively earlier than other nations, Professor Ferguson said.

AstraZeneca was the main vaccine used in the UK, which 'protects very well against severe outcomes of Covid', but is slightly less effective than Pfizer  which was the main vaccine used in Europe  at stopping infection and transmission 'particularly in the face of the Delta variant', he said.

And the UK is 'no longer in the top rank of European countries' for overall vaccination coverage, which started vaccinating youngsters earlier, he added.

Professor Ferguson said booster vaccines are 'absolutely' the way to tackle waning immunity and the rollout to 12 to 15-year-olds needs to be sped up.

He said: 'There's data coming through now, which is not completely clear cut, but good data coming through from Israel, which shows that, if you've had the third booster dose of the vaccine, then you get very high loads, better than even you had after the second dose.

'So I do think it's critical we accelerate the booster programme.'

Children aged 12 to 15 starting receiving first doses of Pfizer a month ago  but just 14.2 per cent have been jabbed in England, compared to 44.3 per cent in Scotland.

Meanwhile, another expert today warned hospital admissions and deaths would be the measure to determine if restrictions needed to return.

Dr Mike Tildesley, a member of the Scientific Pandemic Influenza Modelling group, which provides information to SAGE, told BBC Breakfast hospital admissions 'are starting to slowly creep up', which ministers need to keep an eye on.

He said hospitalisation need to be compared with 2020 and 2019  before the pandemic  'to really assess at what points the Government may need to think about potentially reintroducing more restrictions, if we are at risk of being in a situation similar to where we were last year'.

But everyone wants to avoid 'closures of workplaces, closures of businesses, and of course going into full lockdown, so these really have to be last-resort measures', Dr Tildesley said.


Almost 2,000 people have been left without WiFi after rats reportedly chewed their way through internet cables over the weekend.

Engineers from Openreach were sent to solve the problem in Torridge, Devon, but gave no estimated repair time.

According to the firm, which operates the digital network in the area, used by BT, Vodafone, Plusnet, Sky and others, rodents were to blame for the outage.

Around 1,800 residents across Torridge were said to be left without internet access.

A spokesman said: 'Our telephone and broadband network in and around the Bideford, Clovelly, Hartland and Horns Cross exchange areas has been damaged by rodents.

'The outage is currently affecting approximately 1,800 customers.

Rats are thought to be behind an internet outage in Torridge, Devon, after reportedly chewing on cables

Homes in Torridge affected by the outage have been confirmed in Bideford, Clovelly, Hartland, Horns Cross, Parkham, Woolfardisworthy and Buckland Brewer

'Our engineers are working hard to get the repairs done quickly and safely; we don't have an estimated repair time yet but will keep you updated as they progress.

'We understand how frustrating this must be for anyone affected and thank residents and businesses for their patience.

'We encourage anyone experiencing any disruption with their service to report it to their provider who will then inform us.'

Homes affected by the outage have been confirmed in Bideford, Clovelly, Hartland, Horns Cross, Parkham, Woolfardisworthy and Buckland Brewer, reported Devon Live.

It comes after properties in Torridge were left without internet for 22 hours between October 9 and 10.

Mail Online has contacted Openreach for an update.

There has been a string of outages across internet providers, mobile phone networks and social media companies over the past two months.

It comes after properties in Torridge were left without internet for 22 hours between October 9 and 10 (Pictured: Clovelly, Torridge)

On October 14, the Three network was down for seven hours, with its customers unable to make or receive phone calls.

Just 10 days earlier, all Facebook-owned apps, including Whatsapp and Instagram, were offline for almost seven hours during a massive worldwide crash.

And on September 16, Sky Broadband and Talk were also down for two hours, leaving users across East and Central Scotland unable to access the internet.

The outages have come at a time when more and more people are reliant on stable internet connections due to an increase in working from home.
The UK's ambassador to Afghanistan repeatedly warned bosses that the country was on the verge of falling to the Taliban, it was revealed today.

Diplomatic cables show that, despite claims the dramatic collapse was a surprise, Sir Laurie Bristow had been flagging the danger for some time.

However, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab still went on a luxury holiday to Crete - raising questions about whether he ignored the grim assessments or they were not passed on.

The Times laid out details of telegrams from Sir Laurie and his deputy, Alex Pinfield after they were released by the Foreign Office under freedom of information rules.

Diplomatic cables show that, despite claims the dramatic collapse in Afghanistan was a surprise, Sir Laurie Bristow (right) had been flagging the danger for some time. Dominic Raab (left) was on holiday in Crete as the Taliban rout happened

UK military personnel boarding a A400M aircraft departing Kabul at the end of August

Taliban fighters in Kabul in August as they took charge of the capital

Taliban forces walked into Kabul after the abrupt US withdrawal sent the previous government into a tailspin.

It came after 20 years of Western involvement and the loss of 457 British military personnel.

The collapse sparked a desperate effort to airlift thousands of foreign nationals and Afghan allies to safety.

On June 28 a cable showed the ambassador warned that American air cover was the main thing preventing the Taliban attempting to take cities.

'It is unlikely to do so while it perceives a threat from US air power,' the cable said.

'From a Taliban perspective, doing so would risk provoking a slowing or a reversal of the US withdrawal, as well as taking significant casualties for little gain.

'It is more likely that the Taliban will wait until it believes international military withdrawal is irreversible before escalating its campaign.'

On July 2 President Joe Biden withdrew the US military from Bagram air base.

Sir Laurie sounded the alarm again on August 2, saying: 'The gloves are off ... We are entering a new, dangerous phase of the conflict.'

He added that the Taliban looked likely to take their first city soon. 'If that happens, the impact on already fragile political unity, military and public confidence and sentiment will be significant.'

Sir Laurie went on: 'The UK legacy in Helmand may add fuel to the public debate in the UK over relocating those who have worked for us during the last two decades in Afghanistan.'

The ambassador told London that Kabul's insulation from intense fighting elsewhere was 'very unlikely to last indefinitely'.

Mr Raab is believed to have gone on holiday to Crete on August 6.

Tory MP Iain Duncan Smith, a former army officer, demanded to know what the Foreign Office did in response to the ambassador's analysis.

He told the Times: 'I'm glad the ambassador was telling the Foreign Office but the question now is what did the foreign secretary do and did anybody in the government say to the Americans 'This is going to be a disaster if you close Bagram'? Did we at any stage say to them 'Do not close Bagram'?'

A government spokesman said: 'While the situation in Afghanistan was clearly deteriorating, the Taliban's final advance on Kabul was significantly faster than anyone predicted.

'Despite an extremely difficult situation on the ground, months of intensive cross-government planning allowed us to deliver the biggest and most-challenging evacuation in living memory, bringing 15,000 people, including 7,000 British nationals and their families, to safety.'

Another government source said: 'This represents a fraction of the advice going to ministers.'
This is the shocking moment a group of suspected migrants forced their way out of an HGV stuck in traffic in Kent.

A fellow HGV driver was shocked to see half a dozen men climb out of the parked lorry as he queued in traffic on a A2 flyover leading up to the Dartford Crossing.

It comes as the number of migrants crossing the channel by boat this year is nearing a record-breaking 20,000.

After a spree of channel crossings at the weekend, the total number of migrants who have arrived in the UK by boat now stands at 19,533 - more than double the 8,410 who arrived last year.

In the incident on the A2, the driver managed to capture the moment as he drove past.

In the video, one man can be seen climbing out onto the roof of the lorry before lowering himself to the ground.

A driver caught the moment suspected migrants climbed out of the back of an HGV in Kent

A second hooded man can also be seen jumping down before they both run from the lorry over a grassy verge.

A third man then jumps down from the lorry and then appears to hang back to help others before the footage is cut short but the driver who filmed the incident says at least six people left the vehicle as he drove past.

The footage was taken as he was stuck in stationary traffic queuing for the Dartford Crossing while the other HGV had pulled up on the hard shoulder with hazard lights on.

The 27-year-old Class 1 HGV driver said: 'I could see six or seven people climbing out the side of the curtain but I didn't manage to get all of them on film.

'I was in heavy traffic because of the crossing. The other driver was pulled up on the hard shoulder.

'It was shocking. I contacted police but they'd already had multiple calls.'

The incident took place on Friday October 15 at around 4.30pm.

The HGV appears to have an international number plate with three letters and three numbers - a sequence used by several European countries including Lithuania and Finland.

Video shows two men fleeing the scene but the driver says up to seven climbed out of the van

Kent Police says information about the incident (pictured) has been passed to the Home Office

A spokesman for Kent Police said: 'Kent Police was called at 4.34pm on Friday 15 October 2021 to a report a group of people, believed to be migrants, had been seen exiting a lorry on the A2 near Bean.

'Officers attended the scene and spoke with the driver of the lorry.

'A search of the area was also carried out, with no individuals located.

'Details have been passed on to the Home Office, who are the lead agency for immigration matters.'

A total of 19,533 have made the treacherous 21-mile trip so far in 2021 - more than double the 8,410 who arrived last year.

This year's figure surpassed the landmark 19,000 on Saturday when 410 migrants were rescued or intercepted by Border Force in 11 boats.

A group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dover, Kent, onboard an RNLI vessel, following a small boat incident in the Channel which took place yesterday morning

The number of migrants reaching the UK by boat has now reached 19,533 so far this year. Pictured: A group of suspected migrants are brought into Dover onboard an RNLI vessel

It was followed by 102 people in three boats on Sunday.

And despite dire weather conditions making the journey across the Dover Strait even more dangerous, 294 migrants arrived in 10 boats on Monday.

The Home Office, which only released details of the crossings late Monday night, said French authorities prevented 482 migrants from making the perilous journey in 17 incidents across the same three day period.

Border Force were seen using huge boats Valiant and Hurricane to bring intercepted migrants into Dover Marina, Kent on Monday.

Dozens of men wearing orange life jackets, thick winter coats and red woolly hats to combat the cold were seen disembarking.

And young children including a girl aged around seven wearing a silver reflective jacket were also on board.

This year's figure surpassed 19,000 on Saturday when 410 migrants were rescued or intercepted by Border Force in 11 boats. Pictured: Suspected migrants arrive on Monday

The migrants were escorted up the gangway by Immigration Enforcement for processing.

One boat packed with around 30 migrants managed to land on the shingle at Dungeness, Kent, on Sunday.

No crossings are expected today/yesterday (TUE) due to stormy weather at sea.

A total of 2,460 migrants have arrived in 83 boats so far in October.

Dan O'Mahoney, Clandestine Channel Threat Commander, said: 'The government is determined to tackle the unacceptable rise in dangerous Channel crossings using every tool at our disposal, at every stage in the journey.

'The government's New Plan for Immigration provides a long term solution to fix the broken system and deliver the change required to tackle criminal gangs and prevent further loss of life.'

A group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dover, Kent, onboard an RNLI boat

According to the National Crime Agency, the most common clandestine ways for migrants to enter the UK are in lorries or other commercial vehicles transported by rail or ferry, in commercial shipping containers or by small boats.

Organised gangs frequently smuggle people in hard-sided lorries, while more opportunist smuggling tends to be in soft-sided lorries.

Most methods of transport subject migrants to significant personal risk.

The NCA says that whatever their method of entering the UK, without permission to work legally, migrants can be exploited and forced into modern slavery or turn to crime to support themselves.
France has threatened to light a fire under the fishing cold war, giving Britain less than a fortnight to give its trawlers access to rich UK waters or face punitive action.

Paris's maritime minister Annick Girardin has told the European Union that Boris Johnson's Government has until November 1 to reverse the post-Brexit tightening of access.

France has tacitly threatened to throttle cross-Channel power supplies, as well as electricity for the Channel Islands, which have also restricted access to French boats.

Two under-sea cables of the Interconnexion France-Angleterre (IFA) supply the UK with enough electricity to power three million homes - more than the total amount generated by British wind farms.

French boats were free to fish in the six-to-12 mile zone when the UK was in the EU, but now have to prove that they previously did so. France says they should keep the same level of access, accusing Britain of breaching the Brexit trade deal.

Ms Giradin is said to have set the deadline in a meeting with Maros Sefcovic, the European Commission vice president leading post-Brexit trade talks, and Virginijus Sinkevicius, the commissioner responsible for fisheries.

She told them she was 'preparing, with her colleagues from other ministries, response measures that France can implement from Nov 1, if necessary', a source told the Telegraph.

France has tacitly threatened to throttle cross-Channel power supplies, as well as electricity for the Channel Islands, which have also restricted access to French boats.

Figures from the National Grid showed the UK imported approximately 15 per cent of its electricity in July this year. The imported electricity comes from a selection of sources including links to France, Norway and the Netherlands (pictured above)

Paris's maritime minister Annick Girardin has told the European Union that Boris Johnson's Government has until November 1 to reverse the post-Brexit tightening of access.

'Pirate of Hope' leading French claim to UK fish Leading the sabre-rattling that added fire to the 'fishing war' in Jersey is Emmanuel Macron's hard-left maritime minister, a fisherman's daughter and Brexit hater who has made inflammatory threats to 'cut off' the island's electricity. Annick Girardin, a member of the Radical Party of the Left, is a straight-talking political street fighter who in a previous role led efforts to defend the French language over the growing global influence of English - an abiding obsession of the country's political class. The 56-year-old, once dubbed 'the Pirate of Hope' in a TV documentary praising her radical credentials, is MP for Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon, an isolated, weather-beaten French overseas territory of just over 6,000 souls off the coast of Newfoundland, where she grew up and gave birth to her first child, a daughter, aged 15. She has repeatedly railed against Jersey officials for delaying the issuing of licences to French fishermen, the dispute that led to 100 boats threatening to blockade the harbour of the British Crown dependency, which in turn prompted the UK to send two Royal Navy gunships. Advertisement

Downing Street today defended its new system today, with the PM's official spokesman telling reporters: 'We are continuing to work closely with the European Commission and indeed the French government and we remain open to considering further evidence that supports the remaining licence applications.

'Just last week Defra granted a further three licenses to French vessels under 12m as a result of new evidence supplied by the Commission.

'Crucially, overall we have granted 98 per cent of licence applications from EU vessels to fish in our waters.'

Paris was infuriated when Jersey only granted licences to 12 small French boats out of 47 applications this summer - saying they had failed to provide evidence they were entitled.

France also says it asked for 450 fishing licences for UK waters but had only received 275.

French boats were free to fish in the six-to-12 mile zone when the UK was in the EU, but now have to prove that they previously did so. France says they should keep the same level of access, accusing Britain of breaching the Brexit trade deal.

At the weekend, French fishermen threatened a Channel blockade after the EU refused to back Emmanuel Macron's demand for tough action against the UK.

Last week other EU member states poured cold water on Mr Macron's bid to get them to sign up on immediate retaliation, instead agreeing a watered down declaration calling for more 'technical' work.

However, the French fleet is now warning they are ready to take matters into their own hands.

Fishing rights were one of the key battlegrounds between Britain and France in their post-Brexit negotiations, and Mr Macron's looming presidential election means he is under pressure to look tough.

Earlier this year, the dispute over licences led both France and Britain to send patrol vessels off the shores of Jersey, which is a self-governing British Crown Dependency.

Britain says the majority of the vessels were denied access because they failed to provide evidence that they had fished in the six-to-12-mile nautical zone in the years before the UK's referendum on leaving the EU.

Jersey external relations minister Ian Gorst said the island's government had taken 'a pragmatic, reasonable and evidence-based approach' to the issue.

Diplomatic relations between the countries have hit a low point recently - with French ministers even threatening to cut electricity supplies.

Last month Boris Johnson told France to 'prenez un grip' and 'donnez moi un break' in the row about the AUKUS nuclear submarine deal that tore up a separate French contract.

French boats were free to fish in the six-to-12 mile zone when the UK was in the EU, but now have to prove that they previously did so.

Earlier this month Paris's noisy European Affairs Minister Clement Beaune lashed out at the UK's Brexit 'failures' and said that France's trawlermen would not 'pay the price' for the UK's decision to leave.

Beaune was dubbed 'le Grinch' as he threatened to choke Christmas supplies to the UK - including electricity.

He pointedly observing that the UK depends on energy exports across the Channel.

'Enough already, we have an agreement negotiated by France, by Michel Barnier, and it should be applied 100 percent. It isn't being,' he told Europe 1 radio.

'In the next few days, and I talked to my European counterparts on this subject yesterday, we will take measures at the European level or nationally, to apply pressure on the United Kingdom.'

He added: 'We defend our interests. We do it nicely, and diplomatically, but when that doesn't work, we take measures.

'For example, we can imagine, since we're talking about energy, ... the United Kingdom depends on our energy supplies,' Beaune also said. 'It thinks that it can live all alone, and bash Europe.'
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A family of four including two boys aged 16 and 11 and two adults aged 43 and 47 are in a 'serious condition' after a massive 'gas' explosion destroyed homes in Scotland yesterday.

Shocking photos have revealed the extent of the devastation caused by the explosion, which saw residents evacuated from part of the Kincaidston area in Ayr.

Now, police have revealed that four people injured in the blast were from the same family and are in a serious condition in different hospitals.

A woman aged 43 and a boy aged 16 are being treated in Glasgow Royal Infirmary, and a man aged 47 is being treated in the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow. An 11-year-old boy is being treated in the Royal Hospital for Sick Children.

Aerial images show that one house in the terrace of four has been destroyed by the blast while the roof of another appears to have caved in and debris is scattered around the area.

The cause of the explosion has yet to be determined, though local councillor Chris Cullen told BBC Good Morning Scotland that gas was to blame.

He said: 'It is quite harrowing actually. Early yesterday evening there was a row of houses and now there is a hole.

'Two-and-a-half houses are missing. It is quite shocking how far the debris has fallen and the damage it has caused. It has been a gas explosion, the exact details of how that happened aren't released yet.'

Mr Cullen also said that it could be up to 10 days before people were allowed to return to their homes on the estate.

Emergency services were called to the scene in the Gorse Park area of Ayr, Ayrshire yesterday at around 7.10pm. Four people, including two children, were rushed to hospital.

Two rest centres have been set up to take care of residents in the housing estate and a number of neighbouring properties have been evacuated.

Aerial view of the devastation cause by an explosion last night on Kincaidston Drive Ayr, Scotland, which forced locals to evacuate

Two adults and two children have been taken to hospital after last night's explosion at a South Ayrshire housing estate

Emergency services at the scene last night after four people were taken to hospital following the large gas explosion

The explosion was reported in the Kincaidston area of Ayr, Scotland at 19:10 on Monday and was heard for miles around

Inquiries are ongoing to establish the cause of the blast. Scottish Gas Networks said it was ensuring the site around the 'serious explosion' was made safe

Chief Inspector Derrick Johnston, area commander for South Ayrshire, said: 'Police received a report of an explosion at Gorse Park in the KIncaidston area of Ayr around 7.10pm last night.

'Emergency services attended and a number of houses were evacuated.

'A family of four were taken to hospital. A 43-year-old woman and a 16-year-old boy are currently within Glasgow Royal Infirmary. A 47-year-old male is currently within Queen Elizabeth University Hospital and an 11-year-old is within the Royal Hospital for Sick Children.

'This is a complex incident and different agencies are working together to establish he full circumstances of what happened.

'Our thoughts are with the family and everyone in the local community affected by this. A joint investigation with Scottish Fire and Rescue Service is being carried out.'

Marcus Tindal-Wiles, 25, who lives near to where the blast occurred, said he's 'never felt anything like it before'.

He said: 'The entire building shook from the shockwave.'

The friend of a woman, whose house was directly opposite the blast site in Kincaidston, described the scene as 'something you cannot comprehend unless you see the sheer scale of the damage'.

Moira Muir, 59, said: 'Her lounge window was blown in and the radiator in her upstairs bathroom was blown off the wall.'

Ms Muir, who runs a holiday home rental in North Ayrshire, rushed to her friend's aid within 30 minutes of the explosion and added that: 'The smell of smoke was quite overpowering, but the biggest shock was seeing the amount of rubble and how far it had travelled.

'I have never seen anything like it.'

Social media users said they heard the explosion from miles away, while pictures shared online showed at least one house badly damaged with debris lying in the street.

Euan Bryson, who lives in the adjacent housing estate, tweeted a video showing a fire engine on a smoke-filled street in the aftermath of the explosion.

He said: 'Was chaotic. There was personal property and rubble all over the scene.

'The video below doesn't even do the smoke justice. Could scarcely make out peoples' faces.'

Caroline Finnett, who lives in Kincaidston, said she heard a 'massive' bang and then heard sirens and saw smoke billowing. She said her street was littered with broken roof tiles.

She told BBC Scotland: 'We walked up to where the house has been blown away, and it was horrendous - was like something from a movie set. It was overwhelming. The house's gone.'

Social media users said they heard the explosion from miles away, while pictures shared online showed at least one house badly damaged with debris lying in the street

Shocking drone pictures showed the aftermath of the explosion which damaged four houses and caused four people to be taken to hospital

The cause of the explosion has yet to be determined, though local councillor Chris Cullen told BBC Good Morning Scotland that gas was to blame

Debris at Primrose Park, Ayr. The area around Kincaidston Drive was cordoned off by police who rushed to the scene last night

Debris smashes a taxi windscreen at Primrose Park, Ayr, as three people have been taken to hospital following a large explosion at a house in Gorse Park

A spokeswoman for the Scottish Ambulance Service said: 'We received a call at 7.16pm to attend an incident at Gorse Park, Ayr, alongside Police Scotland and the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service.

'We dispatched a number of resources to the scene, including three specialist operations vehicles, six ambulances and an air ambulance.'

Gas distribution company SGN was helping emergency services.

A spokesman said: 'Our engineers are currently assisting the emergency services to ensure the immediate vicinity is made safe in our role as the gas emergency service.'

The fire service said there were still two appliances at the scene at 9.10am on Tuesday morning.
The UK's flagship anti-terror strategy is being undermined by a politically correct emphasis on right-wing extremism over more dangerous Islamist radicalism, critics have said - as a review prepares to overhaul the 'broken' system.

Prevent has come under fresh scrutiny after it emerged Ali Harbi Ali, the suspected terrorist accused of murdering Tory MP David Amess, was referred to the programme but his case was not deemed enough of a risk to be passed on to MI5.

Prevent is said to be spending growing amounts of time and money combating other types of extremists, such as the far-Right, even though they make up a smaller proportion of the threat to national security.

In recent years, much of its resources have been diverted to tracking suspected right-wing extremists, the far-right made up 43% (302) of cases considered among the most serious last year compared to just 30% (210) concerning Islamism, official data shows.

By comparison, in 2015/16, 262 cases (69%) were for Muslim extremism and 98 (26%) for far right. The number of cases counted as serious far-right extremism has increased year on year since then, while Islamist ones have fluctuated.

Today, an intelligence source said that 'although some right-wing extremists are dangerous people... by and large they are hoodlums'.

'They do not present the same risk as Islamists by any distance, by a factor of four or five to one,' the source told the Telegraph. 'Everyone was trying very hard to be politically correct and not Islamophobic. But the whole process has become unbalanced.

'More time has been spent than appropriate on right-wing extremism and not Islamism. There needs to be some honest appraisal about where the threat is actually coming from.'

It comes amid fears of a growing threat from so-called 'bedroom radicals' who have soaked up extreme beliefs from the Internet over lockdown.

Intelligence agencies are struggling to monitor these people because of the difficulty of distinguishing between those spewing hate-filled propaganda and genuine terrorists, security sources told the Times.

The UK's flagship anti-terror strategy is being undermined by a politically correct emphasis on right-wing extremism over more dangerous Islamist radicalism, critics have said - as a review prepares to overhaul the 'broken' system

In recent years, much of its resources have been diverted to tracking suspected right-wing extremists, which made up 43% (302) of cases considered among the most serious last year compared to just 30% (210) concerning Islamism, official data shows

Since 2015/16, there has been an 80% drop in the number of initial referrals over concerns of Islamic radicalisation and a steady increase in those concerning far-right beliefs

Prevent places a duty on local public servants including teachers, doctors and social workers to flag concerns about an individual being radicalised or drawn into terrorism.

Since 2015/16, there has been an 80% drop in the number of initial referrals over concerns of Islamic radicalisation and a steady increase in those concerning far-right beliefs.

How does the controversial Prevent scheme work? Under the Prevent programme, local authority staff and other professionals such as doctors, teachers and social workers have a duty to flag concerns about an individual being radicalised or drawn into a terrorism. This report is then be passed to a local official charged with deciding whether the tip-off merits a formal referral. Prevent referrals are handled by expert officers in the local police force. Cases are then categorised depending on the nature of the individual's alleged beliefs - based on evidence ranging from comments they have been overheard saying to their social media history. People who are not viewed as either far-right or Islamist are categorised as having a 'mixed, unstable or unclear ideology. Less serious reports may be sent to council services, which could include parenting support for families whose children have been watching inappropriate videos online. Serious reports are forwarded on to Prevent's Channel stage, at which a panel of local police, healthcare specialists and social workers meeting monthly will consider the case. At this stage - which remains voluntary - counter-terror police will be involved and will receive information from counsellors, social workers or theological mentors working with the individual concerned. Advertisement

It coincides with an increasing focus on far-right extremism following the murder of Labour MP Jo Cox by a white supremacist in 2016. Last year the Met's anti-terror chief Neil Basu warned the far right is Britain's fastest growing terror threat.

After the initial referral to Prevent, cases are categorised depending on the nature of the individual's alleged beliefs - based on evidence ranging from comments they have been overheard making in public to their social media history.

People who are not viewed as either far-right or Islamist are categorised as having a 'mixed, unstable or unclear ideology.

Reports judged to be serious are then referred onto the Channel process - which sees a panel of senior council officials, healthworkers and anti-terror police decide what action should be taken. However, taking part is still voluntary even at this stage.

While alleged cases of Islamic extremism were slightly more common for initial Prevent referrals last year - at 24% (1,487 referrals) to 22% (1,387) for far-right cases - they were less common at the Channel phase.

At this point - after cases deemed to be less serious were filtered out - suspected right-wing extremists made up 43% (302) of cases versus just 30% (210) concerning Islamism, Home Office figures show.

The Henry Jackson Society argued that counter-extremism professionals had 'lost sight of their duty to prevent terrorism'.

'There has been an under-referral of Islamist cases and an over-referral of extreme Right-wing cases and we are now seeing the deadly consequences,' the think tank said.

'The Prevent review has been derailed by Left-wing groups trying to litigate every aspect of its work and yet a cold hard look at the number of cases in which Prevent has fallen short shows this is only the latest in a long line.'

Sir David Amess (pictured) was stabbed to death at a constituency surgery on Friday

Ali Harbi Ali - a British-born Muslim of Somali descent who police are continuing to question over the fatal stabbing of Sir David Amess at his constituency surgery on Friday - was referred to Prevent by a concerned member of the community in his late teens over an alleged interest in radical Islam.

A review of Prevent is set to recommend overhauling the panels that assess potential cases to refer to the strategy's intervention phase - known as Channel - to prioritise MI5 and counter-terrorism police officers, who tend to be 'more hawkish' in their approach.

A security source told the Times: 'Police and security-focused agencies are more likely to put people on to support programmes.

Sir David's suspected killer, Ali Harbi Ali, 25, had been referred to prevent in his late teens

'The NHS, schools, local authorities and other agencies are often much weaker at intervention because they don't want to antagonise faith groups.'

Sources say the Prevent review, led by former Charity Commission chair William Shawcross, is also expected to recommend that 'inconsistent, disorganised and unstructured' panels of up to 20 people are slashed down to five.

Another likely recommendation will be to place suspected extremists on three-year deradicalisation programmes rather than the current one, it is claimed.

Another challenge facing intelligence agencies monitoring 'bedroom radicals' is extremists are also using anonymous chat sites on the dark web that are hard for spies to penetrate.

Spies believe that Covid restrictions meant a lot of terrorist activity was 'suppressed' as radicals appeared willing to abide by the rules.

Yesterday, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab questioned whether it would ever be possible to stop all so-called 'lone wolf' terrorists.

'It is inherently difficult in a world that we find ourselves in, where you have lone wolf attackers, to have an entirely risk-free counterterrorism strategy,' he told Times Radio.
Paris Hilton has called on the Biden administration to introduce a 'bill of rights' for youths in congregate care facilities to protect them from abuse at the hands of staffers.

Hilton first opened up in August 2020 about the significant abuse she sustained as a teenager in several correctional facilities, after her parents decided to send her to a youth residential treatment center to quell her 'rebellious behavior'.

The socialite, who gained fame in the late 1990s and early 2000s for her modelling career and high-profile escapades amid the night-life of New York, said she was 'kidnapped' from her home as a 16-year-old and subjected to physical and psychological abuse for years in several military- and prison-style youth homes.

Hilton said she was 'choked, slapped across the face, spied on while showering, deprived of sleep and forced to take medication without a diagnosis' as part of systematic abuse characteristic of the youth behavior modification industry in the US, in an interview yesterday with the Washington Post.

Hilton launched a scathing attack on the youth congregate care industry for its 'systemic lack of transparency and accountability', and implored Congress and President Biden to put together a federal 'bill of rights' to ensure that teens in such facilities would not be subjected to similar abuse.

She also called on Congress to provide states with renewed funding directed towards constructing a system to allow for comprehensive reviews of facilities and a reporting system to highlight and eliminate institutional abuse.

Paris Hilton has called on the Biden administration to introduce a 'bill of rights' to protect youths in congregate care facilities from systematic abuse (pictured: Hilton at The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverley Hills, September 2021)

An aerial photo shows Provo Canyon School campus in Springville, Utah. Provo Canyon School is one of several youth behavior modification facilities where Paris said she was subjected to abuse, and many other previous inmates have since come forward with similar testimonies

Hilton was shipped off to a series of behavior modification schools following a rebellious phase as a teenager while living at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City with her family (pictured: a teenage Paris Hilton moving into a school for 'behavior modification', taken from 'This is Paris' documentary released in 2020)

Hilton was able to leave Provo Canyon school in 1999 after she turned 18, before embarking on a modelling career. Speaking of her memories of escaping the abuse, she said: 'I was so grateful to be out of there, I didnt even want to bring it up again' (pictured: Hilton in August 2000, months after her release from Provo Canyon school)

Hilton first shared her harrowing experiences in the youth congregate care industry in an interview with People magazine in August 2020, and months later was instrumental in getting a bill passed in Utah introducing more industry regulation.

In the interview, which focused primarily on her time spent at Provo Canyon School in Springville, Utah, Hilton revealed she faced psychological abuse on a daily basis for 11 months, and was subjected to continuous bullying, solitary confinement and was prevented from communicating the abuse to her family by staff.

'I knew it was going to be worse than anywhere else,' said Hilton, who had already spent time in several other facilities prior to being moved to Provo Canyon.

'From the moment I woke up until I went to bed, it was all day screaming in my face, yelling at me, continuous torture. They wanted to instill fear in the kids so we'd be too scared to disobey them.

'They would use [solitary confinement] as punishment, sometimes 20 hours a day. I was having panic attacks and crying every single day.'

Utah State Legislature passed bill SB127 in April this year, after Hilton testified before lawmakers about abuse she suffered at Provo Canyon School in the 1990s.

The bill prohibits youth facilities from using certain punishments and medications, and bumps up regulation of the industry in an effort to prevent institutional abuse.

At the time, Hilton said she was 'so proud' of the bill and claimed that 'so much of the abuse and trauma' she experienced at Provo Canyon would 'now be illegal under this new law.'

Now however, Hilton is trying to take on the youth congregate care industry across the country.

Paris Hilton wipes tears from her eyes after speaking about abuse she suffered at Provo Canyon school, at a committee hearing at the Utah State Capitol, Monday, Feb. 8, 2021. Hilton spoke in support of bill SB127, which was signed into state law in April and increases the regulation of youth congregate care facilities

Hilton first opened up about the abuse she suffered in 2020 in an interview with People, before going onto release the documentary 'This is Paris' in which she details some of her experiences. 'I was having panic attacks and crying every single day. I was just so miserable. I felt like a prisoner and I hated life', she said

In her interview with the Washington Post, Hilton said she was abducted from her home as a 16-year-old by staff from a correctional facility her parents had hired to straighten out her rebellious behavior.

'They asked if I wanted to go the easy way or the hard way before carrying me from my home as I screamed for help. I soon learned I was being sent to hell,' Hilton said.

'At all four facilities I was sent to in my teens, I endured physical and psychological abuse by staff.

'I couldnt report this abuse because all communication with the outside world was monitored and censored, but the industry has thrived for decades thanks to a systemic lack of transparency and accountability.'

Following her success in influencing Utah State Legislature to pass bill SB127, Hilton told the Washington Post that she is now lobbying the Biden administration to introduce a bill which would enforce similar restrictions on certain punishments and increase regulation on the youth behavior modification industry across the entire United States.

'Ensuring that children, including at-risk children, are safe from institutional abuse, neglect and coercion isnt a Republican or Democratic issue  its a basic human rights issue that requires immediate action,' Hilton declared.

As part of her campaign, Hilton cited the example of Cornelius Frederick, a 16-year-old boy who died after he was brutally restrained by seven staff members for throwing a sandwich at the Lakeside Academy in Kalamazoo, Michigan in April last year.

The teenager went into cardiac arrest as he was being restrained at the youth center and died in hospital two days later

Hilton continued by saying that a youth 'bill of rights' to prevent institutional abuse wasn't enough, and that the government must provide funding to state authorities aimed at building a 'comprehensive reporting system' that would ensure instances of abuse are properly reported and investigated.

'Congress must also provide states with funding to create comprehensive reporting systems and establish standards for best practices and staff training. It should also require states to prove that childrens basic rights are being protected,' Hilton said.

The National Youth Rights Association (NYRA) claims that 'troubled teen' therapy centers and behavior correction facilities in the US turn over profits of roughly $1.2 billion a year, but rely on a mix of physical, psychological, chemical and sometimes even sexual abuse to terrorize their children into submission.

The NYRA says that behavior modification camps do nothing to quell the behavior of teenagers and simply subject them to significant trauma, while correctional facilities employing the tactics referenced above actually increase recidivism rates amongst their juvenile criminals.

Hilton meanwhile alleged that the youth congregate care industry as a whole - including facilities such as therapeutic boarding schools, military-style boot camps, juvenile justice facilities, and behavior modification programs - generates roughly $50 billion annually, and claimed that state inspections of these facilities are minimal in the absence of any organized federal oversight monitoring their quality of care.
A British Army soldier fondled a female colleague's breasts while she slept and then claimed he had been reaching for a TV remote control, a court martial heard.

Trooper Ratu Salabogi, 29, is accused of sexually assaulting the woman after she fell asleep on a sofa while watching a film in a common room on Bovington Camp in Dorset.

Others spotted the Fijian allegedly groping her in the early hours of the morning and woke the female soldier.

Tpr Salabogi is said to have later apologised to the woman, but told her he thought she had 'liked it'.

Wing Commander Michael Saunders, prosecuting, told the court the incident happened in a common room on Bovington Camp, where Tpr Salabogi and the female soldier were in the Royal Armoured Corps.

Trooper Ratu Salabogi is accused of sexually assaulting a female comrade after she fell asleep on a sofa while watching a film on an Army base

He said: '[The female soldier] had been in the common room that evening watching a movie and she fell asleep on the sofa in front of the TV.

'In the early hours [Tpr Salabogi] was seen leaning over the sofa and fondling [her] breasts over her clothing on two separate occasions.'

He told the hearing two male colleagues spotted this, confronted Tpr Salabogi and woke the female trooper.

Wg Cdr Saunders added: 'Shortly after, this led to an argument in the smoking area. He tried to apologise, she didn't accept and an argument ensued where he punched [one of his male colleagues].

'He claims this is a misunderstanding and others wrongly interpreted what they witnessed.

'He says on the first occasion he was retrieving a remote control and on the other occasion he was simply trying to wake her up.

'As for the battery, he says he accidentally struck [one of the soldiers] while he was defending himself because [another soldier] was becoming aggressive towards him.'

The alleged victim told Bulford Military Court, Wiltshire, she had been watching the film in an accommodation block's common room when she fell asleep.

She said: 'I remember putting the movie on but I fell asleep halfway through. I remember being woken by [another male soldier] and he said I had to wake up.

'I thought it was because of the time and I'd slept through but he said [one of the other soldiers] caught Tpr Salabogi touching my breasts while I was asleep.'

The female soldier said she then went outside to a smoking shelter but Tpr Salabogi followed her.

She added: 'Tpr Salabogi came straight up to me and he was asking me not to be mad at him.

'He said to me he thought I liked it because apparently when I was asleep I grabbed his hand closer.

Wing Commander Michael Saunders, prosecuting, told the court the incident happened in a common room on Bovington Camp, where Tpr Salabogi and the female soldier were in the Royal Armoured Corps

'I told him to leave me alone, that I didn't want to be anywhere around him.

'After that he kept trying to apologise to me and I was like 'come on, leave me alone' and that's when he started to get angry.'

She said Tpr Salabogi tried to punch one soldier but missed, then punched another in the face with his fist.

Tpr Salabogi denies two charges of sexual assault and one charge of battery.

Cross examining the woman, Yogain Chandarana, defending, said: '[Tpr Salabogi] had never acted inappropriately or shown any interest in you before had he? No. And you had not shown any interest in him.

'He was not apologising to you for touching you. He was apologising to everyone because they had got it wrong and it was a misunderstanding.'

The trial continues.
The brother of Manchester Arena bomber Salman Abedi has left the country ahead of his planned appearance at an inquiry into the deadly terror attack, it has today been revealed.

Officials had hoped to force Ismail Abedi, 27, to attend the ongoing inquiry into the 2017 suicide bombing, which claimed the lives of 22 people.

But it has now been revealed that Ismail, who lives in Manchester, is no longer in the UK.

He previously told officials he would only give evidence if he could be guaranteed immunity from prosecution.

Salman's younger brother, Hashem Abedi, was previously found guilty of 22 counts of murder relating to the bombing after helping to plan the attack.

Ismail denies any prior knowledge of the terror attack. He is being called to give evidence to the inquiry as part of its investigation into Salman's family life and how he came to be radicalised.

The inquiry was due to hear evidence from Ismail on Thursday, having issued a Section 21 notice compelling him to appear at the hearing.

But Paul Greaney QC, counsel to the inquiry, said this morning that Ismail is 'not currently in the country' and there is 'no indication as to when he will return'.

Ahmed Taghdi, another witness due to appear this week, was stopped from the leaving the UK yesterday, the inquiry also heard.

The 29-year-old, who helped to buy a car which was used to store components of the bomb assembled by Salman, is being held in custody until Thursday.

Speaking today at the inquiry, which is due this week to hear evidence relating to Salman's Abedi's friends and relatives, Mr Greaney said: 'The inquiry legal team has done all it can to obtain evidence from Salman Abedi's immediate family.

Officials had hoped to force Ismail Abedi to answer questions at the inquiry into the 2017 suicide bombing, which claimed the lives of 22 people. But it has now been revealed that Ismail is no longer in the UK

Lawyers for the families of the 22 people murdered in the May 2017 attack by Salman Abedi (pictured) were divided over allowing Abedi immunity to get him to co-operate and answer questions, with others who opposed the move describing it as 'unconscionable'

'His father, his mother and their younger children are all presently in Libya, as far as the inquiry is aware.

'Salman Abedi's older brother, Ismail Abedi, does generally still reside in the United Kingdom.

'It is highly regrettable that he has refused to provide a statement, or co-operate with the inquiry in any meaningful way.

'A section 21 notice has been issued to him requiring him to attend the inquiry this Thursday in order to give oral evidence.

'However, we understand he is currently not in the country and there is no indication as to when he will return.

'Ismail Abedi clearly has important evidence to give to the inquiry and we urge him today to make contact with the inquiry legal team, either directly, or through his own legal representatives.'

Speaking directly to the chairman of the inquiry, Mr Greaney added: 'As he surely must understand, if he does not do so the public might infer that he has something to hide, and so sir may you.'

The legal order compelling Ismail to attend was made after his bid for immunity from prosecution was rejected.

Ismail wanted a promise from the Attorney General that in return for answering questions at the public inquiry into the terror attack, his evidence would not 'land him in the dock,' his lawyer told the hearing in Manchester last month.

A legal application was made to Sir John Saunders, chairman of the inquiry, asking him to consider making the application to the Attorney General in return for Abedi's co-operation.

However in his ruling, made public in June, Sir John refused the application and said allowing immunity to get Abedi to co-operate could outweigh any evidence he gave which might justify charges of murder against him over the deaths in the bombing.

The ruling said: 'If as a result of an undertaking from the Attorney General the applicant was to disclose material to the inquiry which provided evidence to justify charges of murder or conspiracy to murder then he could avoid trial for 22 murders and causing serious injury to many more.

'While less serious, if he were to disclose material as a result of the undertaking which evidenced a failure by him to disclose information to the authorities which could have prevented the bombing happening, a failure to prosecute would be considered by many to be a considerable affront to justice.'

Abedi's other brother, Hashem Abedi, was previously found guilty of 22 counts of murder relating to the attack

Lawyers for the families of the 22 people murdered in the May 2017 attack were divided over allowing Abedi immunity to get him to co-operate and answer questions, with others who opposed the move describing it as 'unconscionable'.

Currently Ismail Abedi, who is married and lives in Manchester, is refusing to co-operate with the inquiry despite repeated requests, claiming his legal privilege not to incriminate himself.

He denies any knowledge or involvement in the bomb plot. Abedi's other brother, Hashem Abedi, was previously found guilty of 22 counts of murder relating to the attack.

Hashem Abedi helped his older sibling Salman to plan the atrocity. He was convicted after a court heard he was 'just as guilty' as his brother, who detonated the bomb at the end of an Ariana Grande concert.

Abedi was jailed with a minimum term of at least 55-years.

MailOnline has contacted the Home Office for a comment.
The Polish Prime Minister has told Ursula von der Leyen 'we will not be blackmailed' after the European Commission chief vowed to punish his country for challenging the supremacy of EU law.

Von der Leyen today told a stormy meeting of the European Parliament in Strasbourg that the Commission had a three-pronged attack if Poland fails to fall into line: legal challenge, sanctions and stripping it of membership rights.

She warned: 'We cannot and will not allow our common values to be put at risk.'

Polish PM Mateusz Morawiecki last night wrote a letter accusing the EU of 'starving' and 'punishing' his country by withholding Covid relief money after Warsaw ruled that its constitution took precedence over European law.

He warned against a 'dangerous phenomenon that threatens the future of our Union.'

Facing von der Leyen in parliament today, he vowed that Poland would not bow to 'European centralism' and said 'it is unacceptable to talk about financial penalties ... I will not accept politicians wanting to blackmail and threaten Poland.'

The PM's robust speech prompted a cacophony of outrage to break out across the benches, while Polish ministers stood up to applaud after he finished.

Von der Leyen said she was 'deeply concerned', adding that 'we cannot and will not allow our common values to be put at risk'

Mateusz Morawiecki told the parliament in Strasbourg that Poland would not bow to 'European centralism' and that the constitution of a country was the highest law on the Continent

The row between Poland and the EU Poland's prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki came under repeated criticism during a tense debate in the European Parliament on Tuesday, with Ursula Von der Leyen telling Warsaw that its challenge to the supremacy of EU law would not go unpunished. Relations between Poland and the EU have been rocky for years and reached a new low earlier this month after the tribunal ruled that Polish laws take precedence over those of the 27-nation bloc, which Poland joined in 2004. The ruling escalated lingering tensions over democratic standards between Poland's right-wing nationalist government and EU institutions in Brussels. The dispute is largely over changes to the Polish judicial system which give the ruling party more power over the courts. Polish authorities say they seek to reform a corrupt and inefficient justice system. The European Commission believes the changes erode the country's democratic system of checks and balances. Ultimately, at the heart of the row is the question of who should have the most power within the bloc - each individual nation over its citizens or the EU institutions over the member nations. It was the prime mover behind the exit of Britain from the EU, and it has stirred passions in several Eastern and Central European nations like Poland and Hungary. The whole idea behind the EU is that a united front will make the 27 nations a formidable power in the world, while they would be bystanders just as individual countries. But even if member states are happy to see that power used in international relations, some abhor it when it affects them. Morawiecki described Poland as a nation that is being intimidated and attacked by an EU whose top court issues rulings that aim to take more and more power away from its nations. He insisted that the EU must remain a union of sovereign states until all its members agree by treaty to give up more of their own national powers. 'We are now seeing a creeping revolution taking place by way of verdicts of the European Court of Justice,' he said. Morawiecki defended his country's stance that the highest law in Poland is the country's constitution. He insisted that Poland abides by EU treaties and brushed off comment from opponents of his government who fear that the court's ruling has put the country on a path to a possible exit from the EU. Morawiecki also said he sees double standards in the EU rulings on Poland's changes to its judiciary, noting that each country has its own judicial system, with politicians electing judges in some cases. The Polish tribunal majority ruling - in response to a case brought by Morawiecki - said Poland's EU membership did not give the European Court of Justice supreme legal authority and did not mean that Poland had shifted its legal sovereignty to the EU. Morawiecki asked for the review after the European Court of Justice ruled in March that Poland's new regulations for appointing judges to the Supreme Court could violate EU law. The ruling obliged Poland's government to discontinue the rules that gave politicians influence over judicial appointments. To date, Poland has not complied. Last month, the European Commission asked the European Court of Justice to impose daily fines on Poland until it improves the functioning of the Polish Supreme Court and suspends the laws that were deemed to undermine judicial independence. Morawiecki told EU lawmakers during the debate that a disputed disciplinary chamber of Poland's Supreme Court will be closed, because it did not meet expectations, without offering a clear timeline. Advertisement

Von der Leyen faces increasing pressure from some member states to get tough on Poland after it escalated a long-running battle with the EU, with disputes ranging from judicial reform to media freedom and LGBT rights.

Referring to the fall of Communism in Poland in 1989, von der Leyen said: 'The people of Poland wanted democracy  they wanted the freedom to choose their government, they wanted free speech and free media, they wanted an end to corruption and they wanted independent courts to protect their rights.

'This is what Europe is about and that is what Europe stands for,' she added. 'The recent ruling of the Polish Constitutional Court puts much of it into question.'

Last week, the Polish Constitutional Court ruled that EU law was incompatible with aspects of the country's constitution.

Morawiecki insisted that there was no reason why this should drive a wedge between Warsaw and Brussels, but maintained that he would not budge on the issue.

'The EU will not fall apart simply because our legal systems will be different,' he said, adding: 'If you want to make a non-national superstate out of Europe, first get the consent of all the European states and societies.'

Meanwhile, he praised the 'strong political and economical organism' of the Bloc, showing the complex position his party is seeking to straddle as it grapples with Brussels, while up to 80 per cent of Poles back being part of the EU.

He also rejected any suggestion that the country was on a pathway to 'Polexit,' following in Britain's footsteps.

'We should not be spreading further lies about Poland leaving the EU,' he said.

'For us, European integration is a civilisational and strategic choice,' he said. 'We are here, we belong here and we are not going anywhere.'

He said that Western countries, especially France and Germany, had benefited enormously from the entrance of eastern states into the Bloc.

However, he said that the West-East divide had resulted in first and second classes within the EU, with member states like Poland given short shrift.

'Today all Europeans, expect one thing. They want us to face up to the challenges posed by several crises at the same time, and not against each other, looking for someone to blame - or rather, those who are not really to blame, but whom it is convenient to blame,' he said.

'We cannot remain silent when our country - including in this Chamber - is attacked in an unfair and biased manner.'

The PM said that Poland was a 'proud nation' and would not be cowed by threats of financial penalties which were tantamount to 'blackmail.'

'I reject the language of threats, hazing and coercion,' Morawiecki said.

Morawiecki also criticised the 'creeping' expansion of EU powers, with particular regard to the European Court of Justice (ECJ).

Von der Leyen warned that Poland's constitutional ruling 'is a direct challenge to the unity of the European legal order.'

She said a first option is so-called infringements, where the Commission legally challenges the Polish court's judgment, which could lead to fines.

Another option is a conditionality mechanism and other financial tools whereby EU funds would be withheld from Poland.

Until Warsaw's clash with Brussels is resolved, it is unlikely to see any of the 23.9 billion euros in grants and 12.1 billion in cheap loans that it applied for as part of the EU's recovery fund after the COVID-19 pandemic.

The EU could even block Polish access to EU grants for development and structural projects in the 2021-2027 budget worth around 70 billion euros.

Von der Leyen said a third option is the application of Article 7 of the EU's treaties. Under this, rights of member states - including the right to vote on EU decisions - can be suspended because they have breached core values of the bloc.

Morawiecki, speaking after her in the EU assembly, accused the bloc of overstepping its authority.

'EU competencies have clear boundaries, we must not remain silent when those boundaries are breached. So we are saying yes to European universalism, but we say no to European centralism,' he said.

Earlier this month, Poland's Constitutional Court (pictured) ruled that EU treaties were incompatible with the Polish constitution, putting Warsaw and Brussels on a full collision course

A succession of members of the parliament then stood up to castigate the Polish leader, while some EU ministers gathering for a meeting in Luxembourg joined the chorus of criticism.

Morawiecki ended up running over his allotted speaking time, prompting warnings from Parliament Vice President Pedro Silva Pereira.

'You will take note that I was extremely flexible with the allocated time so that nobody can say that you didn't have time enough to give explanations to the European Parliament,' Pereira told the PM.

'But respect of the allocated time is also a way of showing respect for this house of the European democracy.'
Boris Johnson today insisted his Government will 'fix' post-Brexit rules throttling goods trade with Northern Ireland today as he insisted the problems were not 'going to be the end of the world'.

The Primer Minister made the breezy assessment as he was grilled on the UK's relationship with France and other members of the EU since leaving in January.

In an interview with Bloomberg he insisted that he had a good relationship with president Macron despite a deepening row over fishing rights and efforts to stem the flow of migrants across the Channel.

Speaking to Bloomberg News's editor-in-chief, John Micklethwait, last night, the PM said: 'Is there a problem with the Northern Irish protocol? Yes there is - but we'll fix that.

'I don't think that's going to be the end of the world.'

The Primer Minister made the breezy assessment as he was grilled on the UK's relationship with France and other members of the EU since leaving in January.

Last week the EU made major concessions over goods entry to Northern Ireland from Great Britain as it sought to ease the ongoing row.

Speaking to Bloomberg News's editor-in-chief, John Micklethwait, last night , the PM said: 'Is there a problem with the Northern Irish protocol? Yes there is - but we'll fix that. 'I don't think that's going to be the end of the world.'

Last week the EU made major concessions over goods entry to Northern Ireland from Great Britain as it sought to ease the ongoing row.

The European Commission offered to slash 80 per cent of regulatory checks and dramatically cut customs processes on British goods moving to Northern Ireland.

But there were claims the EU is preparing retaliation including blocking cross-Channel energy supplies if the UK rejects a deal on the Northern Ireland protocol.

France, Germany and the Netherlands are said to be pushing for a tough response should Britain follow through on its threats to suspend the divorce terms.

The measures being floated include curbing UK access to energy supplies, imposing tariffs, or even axing the trade agreement, according to the Financial Times.

The sabre-rattling comes as Lord Frost warned that the European Court of Justice must be stripped of powers over Northern Ireland.
A 96-year-old former Nazi concentration camp secretary who went on the run to avoid trial has finally appeared in court strapped to an ambulance wheelchair.

Irmgard Furchner, who has been dubbed the 'secretary of evil', was wheeled in by guards with a shawl, face mask and large sunglasses covering her face.

She is standing trial for complicity in the murder of more than 10,000 people at Stutthof camp in Nazi-occupied Poland between 1943 and 1945.

She was just 18 when she started work at the camp on the Baltic coast, and is the first woman to stand trial in decades over crimes connected to the Third Reich.

An arrest warrant was issued after Furchner fled her retirement home on September 30 and headed to a metro station as her trial was set to begin in the northern town of Itzehoe.

The pensioner managed to evade police for several hours before being apprehended in the nearby city of Hamburg and temporarily held in custody by authorities.

Furchner was released five days later 'under the condition of precautionary measures', said court spokeswoman Frederike Milhoffer, adding that it was 'assured that she (Furchner) will appear at the next appointment'.

According to media reports, the accused has been fitted with an electronic tag to monitor her whereabouts.

Sitting in court today, Irmgard scratched her nose, tapped her fingers on her lip and looked around the court and gallery as the gruesome indictment was read out.

Irmgard Furchner, who has been dubbed the 'secretary of evil', was wheeled in by guards with a shawl, face mask and large sunglasses covering her face

Furchner sits in the dock surrounded by guards and her lawyers at the court in Itzehoe on Tuesday

She was wheeled into the courtroom strapped into a bulky ambulance chair

Irmgard Furchner (left and right, in 1944) was just 18 when she started work at the camp on the Baltic coast, and is the first woman to stand trial in decades over crimes connected to the Third Reich.

'Torture shows, gas chambers and mass hangings': Horrors of Nazi camp where Jews were sent to die The Stutthof camp was established in 1939 when Germany invaded Poland, and enlarged in 1943 with a new camp surrounded by electrified barbed-wire fences. The camp underwent several iterations, initially being used as the main collection point for Jews and non-Jewish Poles removed from the nearby city of Danzig on the Baltic Sea coast. From about 1940 onward, it was used as a so-called 'work education camp' where forced laborers, primarily Polish and Soviet citizens who had run afoul of their Nazi oppressors, were sent to serve sentences and often died. Others incarcerated there included criminals, political prisoners, homosexuals and Jehovah's Witnesses. From mid-1944, it was filled with tens of thousands of Jews from ghettos being cleared by the Nazis in the Baltics as well as from Auschwitz, which was overflowing, and thousands of Polish civilians swept up in the brutal suppression of the Warsaw uprising. As many as 100,000 people would eventually be deported there, some of them moved from other camps abandoned by the Nazis in the later stages of the war. In addition to gas chambers and lethal injections, many prisoners died of disease in the camp's horrific conditions under the supervision of the SS. Around 60,000 people are thought to have died in the camp, while another 25,000 perished while evacuating in the chaotic final weeks of the Third Reich. Finally liberated by Soviet forces in May 1945, the camp is now once again within Poland's borders, with the town going by the Polish name of Sztutowo. Historian Janina Grabowska-Chalka, long-time director of the Stutthof Museum, described everyday life in the camp as brutal. 'In the Stutthof concentration camp, all prisoners, men, women and children, were obliged to work. Hard work that exceeded human strength determined the rhythm of life and death in the camp. 'Stutthof belonged to the camps where very hard living conditions prevailed,' she said. Holocaust survivor Abraham Koryski gave evidence in 2019 in which he detailed the horrors he endured at the Stutthoff concentration camp in World War II. 'We were beaten constantly, the whole time, even while working,' Koryski told the Hamburg District Court, according to DW. He added that SS guards would put on sadistic 'torture shows' including one in which a son was forced to beat his father to death in front of other inmates. Koryski said: 'You didn't know if the officers were acting on orders or if they did it on their breaks.' Holocaust survivor Manfred Goldberg told the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in 2017: 'Jewish lives just did not count. We had to assemble in a square. They had erected an enormous gallows with eight nooses hanging down, then one by one we had to watch these innocent men being hanged.' Advertisement

The court heard how SS men in white medical uniforms would pretend to be doctors who were simply measuring prisoners' height.

But instead, the prisoner's height was used as the settings for a specially-engineered 'neck shot' device.

Around 30 prisoners were then shot in the neck within a two-hour period.

In other cases, prisoners were forced into chambers which were filled with poisonous cyclone B gas.

Here prisoners screamed in agony, scratched at their skin until it was red raw, and even pulled their own hair out.

Furchner, born Irmgard Dirksen on May 19, 1925, worked as secretary for the concentration camp commandant Paul Werner Hoppe.

As she was only 18 at the time, she is being tried in a juvenile court, even though she is almost a hundred years old.

The prosecution claimed that her work as a secretary assisted the wider 'killing apparatus' of the concentration camp.

The prosecutor described how on July 22, 1944, SS Obersturmbahnfuhrer Paul Maurer gave orders that a group of prisoners at Stutthof be transport to Auschwitz for extermination.

Four days later, a list of prisoners to be transferred was written at the commandant's office at Stutthof.

At 6.05pm, commandant Hoppe, then gave confirmation by radio that the transport was en route.

The prosecution then claimed that this message must have been written by Furchner.

Prosecutors say that throughout her time at the camp, Furchner took dictation of Hoppe's orders and handled his correspondence.

According to Christoph Rueckel, a lawyer representing Holocaust survivors, Furchner 'handled all the correspondence' for the commander.

'She typed out the deportation and execution commands' at his dictation and initialled each message herself, Rueckel told public broadcaster NDR.

Stutthof, which was located near the Polish city of Gdansk, was the first death camp to be built outside Germany and was constructed in 1939.

Over the six years it operated - until it was liberated by the Allies in May 1945, it is thought some 110,000 people were sent there, of which up to 65,000 died.

Originally built to house Polish intelligence officers and intellectuals, the camp later expanded to include significant numbers of Jews - many of whom were transferred there from Auschwitz or camps in the Baltics - and Soviet prisoners.

The camp had gas chambers where many of the inmates were put to death, but tens of thousands also died due to starvation, disease epidemics, over-work and forced 'death marches'. Of those who died, around 28,000 were Jews.

Furchner was first questioned by police over her involvement in the camp in February 2017, when officers also searched her apartment.

It took four years and eight months to bring the case to trial, which included a medical assessment to decide whether Furcher was fit to stand.

In February this year a doctor ruled the 96-year-old was fit enough, and her hearing was scheduled.



A teenager at the time the alleged crimes were committed, Furchner's trial is being held in juvenile court.

In a letter sent ahead of her first scheduled hearing, the defendant told the presiding judge of the court that she did not want to appear in person in the dock.

Her ultimate failure to present herself showed 'contempt for the survivors and also for the rule of law', the vice president of the International Auschwitz Committee Christoph Heubner told AFP at the time.

'Healthy enough to flee, healthy enough to go to jail!,' tweeted Efraim Zuroff, an American-Israeli 'Nazi hunter' who has played a key role in bringing former Nazi war criminals to trial.

Prosecutors argue that she was part of the apparatus that helped the Nazi camp function more than 75 years ago.

In a previous interview with NDR, she claimed she had never actually set foot in the camp itself and insisted she had only learned about the atrocities after the war.

Lawyers say she was 'shielded' from the camp's true purpose by her superiors, while prosecutors say that is impossible given her role as the commander's secretary.

Furcher said she was aware that executions were taking place at the camp, but believed they were punishments for specific crimes - rather than genocidal mass-murder.

Her boss, SS officer Hoppe, was convicted for his role at the camp and sentenced to nine years in prison by a West German court in 1957. He died in 1974.

In evidence during that investigation, given nearly 70 years ago, Furcher acknowledged working for Hoppe but said she knew nothing of the gas chambers.

The state court in Itzehoe in northern Germany said in a statement that the suspect allegedly 'aided and abetted those in charge of the camp in the systematic killing of those imprisoned there between June 1943 and April 1945 in her function as a stenographer and typist in the camp commandant's office.'

The case against Furchner will rely on German legal precedent established in cases over the past decade that anyone who helped Nazi death camps and concentration camps function can be prosecuted as an accessory to the murders committed there, even without evidence of participation in a specific crime.

A lawyer for the defendant told Der Spiegel magazine that the trial would centre on whether the 96-year-old had knowledge of the atrocities that happened at the camp.

'My client worked in the midst of SS men who were experienced in violence - however, does that mean she shared their state of knowledge? That is not necessarily obvious,' Wolf Molkentin said.

According to other media reports, the defendant was questioned as a witness during past Nazi trials and said at the time that the former SS commandant of Stutthof, Paul Werner Hoppe, dictated daily letters and radio messages to her.

Irmgard Furchner, the 'Secretary of Evil', faces charges of assisting in the murder of 11,000 prisoners at Stutthof concentration camp (pictured), 33 miles east of Danzig in Poland

The secretary worked for Nazi commandant Paul Werner Hoppe (pictured left), who was convicted by a West German court in 1957 and died in 1974. The Nazis murdered around 65,000 people in Stutthof (pictured right) and its subcamps, which were operational from September 2, 1939 until May, 9, 1945

Still, Furchner testified she was not aware of the killings that occurred at the camp while she worked there, the German news agency dpa reported.

Today a group of around fifty anti-Nazi demonstrators gathered outside the court.

They were supposed to a counter a demonstration to a neo-Nazi gathering which never appeared.

Rumours had circulated on social media that the neo-Nazis were coming to show solidarity with who they have referred to as the 'Rebel from Itzehoe.'

Speaking to MailOnline, chief Nazi hunter Dr. Efrain Zuroff from the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Israel, said this trial is of great importance.

'The demonstration by neo-Nazis to support the 'Rebel from Itzehoe' is yet another reminder of how important these trials are.'

'This is in spite of the advanced age of the defendant, and the many years which have passed since she committed her crimes.'

'The authorities have to take steps to protect the witnesses and attorneys who represent the families of the victims, as well as the spectators. '

The far-right nationalist party, Die Rechte, were unavailable for comment.

When Mail Online contacted them in February this year about Irmgard Furchner, however, spokesperson Sven Skoda wrote:

'The indictment against Irmgard F. for aiding and abetting murder is part of contemporary hysteria. Charging a former secretary who is spending her remaining days in a nursing home, and this seventy five years after the end of World War 2, amounts to a witch hunt, which is unworthy of a constitutional state.'

'In a constitutional state, criminal law may never be misused to pursue a purely symbolic policy. But that is exactly the aim of such procedures. We demand the immediate termination of the proceedings against Irmgard F.'

Furchner's next court hearing is on October 26.

Around the same time Furchner fled her trial, a 100-year-old former Nazi concentration camp guard appeared before judges at a court in Neuruppin, northwest of Berlin.

Josef Schuetz, who stands accused of assisting in the murder of 3,518 prisoners at the Sachsenhausen camp between 1942 and 1945, told the court he was 'innocent' and 'knows nothing' about what happened at the camp.

Along with Furchner, the two are among the oldest defendants to stand trial for their alleged role in the Nazi system.

Seventy-six years after the end of World War II, time is running out to bring people to justice.

Prosecutors are investigating another eight cases, according to the Central Office for the Investigation of National Socialist Crimes.

In recent years, several cases have been abandoned as the accused died or were physically unable to stand trial.

The last guilty verdict was issued to former SS guard Bruno Dey, who was handed a two-year suspended sentence in July at the age of 93.
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A subvariant of the Covid Delta strain could be more infectious than its ancestor, experts warned today after data revealed the proportion of cases linked to the strain has doubled in a month.

AY.4.2, as it is currently known to scientists, made up almost 10 per cent of all infections in England in the fortnight ending October 9. Virus-trackers at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, which sequences thousands of Covid samples every week, say its prevalence stood at just four per cent in mid-September.

Academics estimate it may be up to 15 per cent more transmissible than the original Delta, which rapidly became dominant in Britain in the spring before taking off worldwide.

It has been detected in almost every part of the country, figures show, and it's thought to be behind almost 60 per cent of positive tests sampled sequenced in Adur, West Sussex.

No10 today said it was 'keeping a very close eye' on AY.4.2 but insisted there is 'no evidence' that it spreads easier. Boris Johnson's official spokesperson also warned the Government 'won't hesitate to take action if necessary'.

The warning comes as Covid cases continue to spiral across the UK, with daily infections yesterday shooting up to almost 50,000 in a three-month high.

Experts suggested the uptick of AY.4.2  one of 45 sub-lineages of Delta  may be partly to blame, along with the return of pupils to classrooms from August and workers to offices.

SAGE fears there will be a fourth wave by the end of the year that may cripple the NHS. Ministers are overseeing a rollout of booster jabs to over-50s, healthcare workers and the immunosuppressed to protect the health service as much as possible.

But experts have warned the top-up jabs are being dished out too slowly, with 5million vulnerable adults eligible for a third dose yet to receive one.

Influential Government adviser Professor Neil Ferguson, an epidemiologist at Imperial College London, today insisted it was 'critical we accelerate' the booster drive to give ourselves the best chance of avoiding having to bring back curbs.

The graph shows the proportion of cases sequenced in England that are the new subvariant AY.4.2 (yellow) and Delta (blue). Delta became dominant in the UK in May, overtaking the previously dominant Alpha strain (purple)

The map shows the proportion of cases caused by AY.4.2 in the fortnight to October 9, with darker colours equating to more infections caused by the subvariant. Data from the Sanger Institute shows 8.9 per cent of all Covid-positive nose and throat swabs sequenced in England were caused by AY.4.2. It statistics suggests the sub-lineage is most prevalent in Adur, where 61 per cent of all positive samples sequenced were linked with AY.4.2. The subvariant also seems to be highly prevalent in East Lindsey (46 per cent) and Torridge (41 per cent)

The prevalence of the Delta strain, which was first detected in the UK in March and became dominant within two months, grew much faster than AY.4.2 has grown so far. Delta is still responsible for nine in 10 infections in England

Q&A: How much more infectious is AY.4.2? Is it deadlier? And where has it been spotted? How much more infectious is AY.4.2? Experts estimate the newly-emerged AY.4.2 subvariant is 10 to 15 per cent more transmissible than its ancestor. Its prevalence in England doubled in a month from being behind four per cent of cases in September to 8.9 per cent in the two weeks to October 9. But experts will need to keep monitoring the sub-lineage to determine if it really is more infectious. Is AY.4.2 more deadly than earlier versions of Delta? There is no evidence AY.4.2 is more deadly than earlier versions of the Delta strain, which was first identified in India last December. Deaths in England have been relatively flat for months. Due to the time it takes for someone to catch the virus and become seriously unwell, any impact the subvariant has on deaths will likely not be clear for weeks. What mutations does it have? It includes two mutations  called Y145H and A222V  and is being monitored, the UKHSA said. Both of these spike mutations have been found in other virus lineages since the pandemic began  but are not present on any current variant of concern. Where has AY.4.2 been spotted? The subvariant has been spotted in nearly every part of England. Data from the Sanger Institute, which sequences thousands of Covid samples in England every week, suggest the sub-lineage is most prevalent in Adur, where 61 per cent of all positive samples sequenced were linked with AY.4.2. The subvariant also seems to be highly prevalent in East Lindsey (46 per cent) and Torridge (41 per cent). Is it behind the surge in cases? Some experts have said the subvariant may be behind the surge in cases in the UK, which other European countries are not seeing to the same extent. But Dr Jeffrey Barrett, director of the Covid Genomics Initiative at the Sanger Institute, said AY.4.2 alone does not explain the the UK's caseload, which is instead linked to the UK imposing less restrictions than other countries. And as AY.4.2 is still at fairly low frequency, a 10 per cent increase its transmissibility would have only triggered a small number of extra cases. Official figures have shown cases are also being fuelled by youngsters returning to classrooms last month, with as many as one in 12 being infected. Advertisement

In other Covid developments today:

Nearly 5million vulnerable adults have yet to have their Covid booster vaccine, official figures show;

'Professor Lockdown' Neil Ferguson says it's 'critical we accelerate' the booster drive with fears growing over s 'challenging' winter which could see return of face masks and work from home guidance;

Professor Ferguson also called for return of face masks and for teenagers to get two Covid vaccines;

The head of the NHS said the health service was never overwhelmed by Covid during the height of the pandemic;

Amanda Pritchard also warned MPs pressures on the health service could see thousands more hospital treatments cancelled;

Her comments were echoed by Health Secretary Sajid Javid, who told MPs there is 'huge pressure' on the health service in England.

Professor Francois Balloux, director of the University College London Genetics Institute, told the Financial Times the strain could be the most infectious subvariant seen since the pandemic began.

But he noted Britain is the only country where the sub-lineage has 'taken off', so its quick growth could be a 'chance demographic event'.

The World Health Organization will likely elevate AY.4.2 to a 'variant under investigation', which means it would be given a name under its Greek letter naming system, Professor Balloux added.

He said: 'The emergence of yet another more transmissible strain would be suboptimal.

'Though, this is not a situation comparable to the emergence of Alpha and Delta that were far more transmissible  50 per cent or more  than any strain in circulation at the time.

'Here we are dealing with a potential small increase in transmissibility that would not have a comparable impact on the pandemic.'

The UK Health Security Agency, which took over from the now-defunct PHE, revealed in a report on Friday that the subvariant is expanding in England.

It includes two mutations  called Y145H and A222V  and is being monitored, the UKHSA said.

Both of these spike mutations have been found in other virus lineages since the pandemic began  but are not present on any current variant of concern.

Professor Balloux said the mutations are not obviously linked with increased transmissibility or evading protection granted by vaccines.

Only three AY.4.2 cases have been spotted in the US, while two per cent of cases in Denmark are caused by the sub-lineage, he added.

Data from the Sanger Institute suggests the sub-lineage is most prevalent in Adur, where 61 per cent of all positive samples sequenced were linked with AY.4.2.

The subvariant also seems to be highly prevalent in East Lindsey (46 per cent) and Torridge (41 per cent).

It comes as the UK recorded 49,156 new Covid infections yesterday, marking another three-month high. Hospitalisations and deaths are also on the rise.

Some experts have said the subvariant may be behind the surge, which other European countries are not seeing to the same extent.

Around 3.7million third vaccines have been dished out to over-50s and the immuno-compromised in England as of Sunday (purple line), the latest date data is available for. But some 8.5million people are currently eligible for a booster dose, having received their second jab six months ago (green line). means 4.8million people may be suffering from waning immunity

Nearly 5MILLION vulnerable adults have yet to have their Covid booster vaccine Nearly 5million vulnerable adults have yet to receive a Covid booster vaccine, official data shows after Downing Street admitted Britain faces a 'challenging' winter. Despite the NHS top-up programme launching over a month ago, only around 3.7million out of the 8.5million eligible people in England have received the crucial third dose. No10's scientists approved plans to revaccinate all healthy over-50s, frontline health staff and carers and patients with underlying medical conditions six months after their second dose, after evidence showed it was the 'sweet spot' for immunity. The lagging rollout has left around 4.8million people with sub-optimal immunity as the country moves into the colder months and faces the double threat of increasing case numbers and flu. SAGE adviser 'Professor Lockdown' Neil Ferguson, an epidemiologist at Imperial College London, today insisted it was 'critical we accelerate' the booster drive to give ourselves the best chance of avoiding having to bring back curbs. And Sir David King, who was the Government's chief scientific adviser from 2000 to 2007, criticised the rollout for moving 'extremely slowly'. Amanda Pritchard, chief executive of the NHS, insisted the health service has 'plenty of capacity' to vaccinate all eligible people immediately but said people are not coming forward quickly enough. She told MPs on the Health Committee: 'It's really important that we now absolutely do get the message out that is Covid is still with us.' Advertisement

Former US Food and Drug Administration commissioner Scott Gottlieb tweeted on Sunday: 'We need urgent research to figure out if this "delta plus" is more transmissible, has partial immune evasion.'

But Dr Jeffrey Barrett, director of the Covid Genomics Initiative at the Sanger Institute, told the Financial Times AY.4.2 alone does not explain the the UK's caseload, which is instead linked to the UK imposing less restrictions than other countries.

Professor Balloux said its rapid spread 'could have caused a small number of additional cases', but added: 'It hasnt been driving the recent increase in case numbers in the UK.'

Official figures have shown cases are also being fuelled by youngsters returning to classrooms last month, with as many as one in 12 being infected.

The Prime Minister's official spokesman said the Government is 'keeping a very close eye on' the subvariant.

They said: 'There's no evidence to suggest that this variant  the AY.4.2 one  is more easily spread. There's no evidence for that but as you would expect we're monitoring it closely and won't hesitate to take action if necessary.'

Dr Alexander Edwards, an immunologist at the University of Reading, told MailOnline it would be concerning if a variant starts to dominant that evades vaccine immunity.

He said: 'Before the successful rollout of vaccines, this was less likely to happen, but now, with such a high proportion of the population infected, alongside waning immunity, now is the time to be extra vigilant.

'Luckily, we can redesign our vaccines very quickly now, so there isn't yet anything to be afraid of.

'But any efforts made now to reduce cases and improve immunity  through boosters, vaccinating younger people, testing and effective isolating  could pay off if they cut the risk of vaccine evading variants.'

Professor Lawrence Young, a virologist at the University of Warwick, told MailOnline the detection of AY.4.2 'highlights the need for continued genomic surveillance of the virus'.

Experts will need to monitor it to determine 'if it really is more transmissible and if it has any impact of the efficacy of vaccination', he said.

Professor Young added: 'The continued spread of the virus at a high level in the UK increases the risk of variants being generated that could be more infectiousness and more able to evade vaccine-induced immunity.'

All children between 12 and 15 will be able to book Covid vaccines online in half-term next week Children will be able to book Covid vaccines online from next week as No10 tries to ramp up lagging vaccination rate in teenagers. Health Secretary Sajid Javid told MPs today teenagers between 12-15 will be able to book appointments online from next week during the half-term break. 'To make the most of half-term next week, we will now be opening up the national booking service to all 12 to 15-year-olds to have their Covid vaccinations in existing national vaccination centres, which will offer families more flexibility,' he said. The Government hopes making getting appointments easier while students are not at school will help address the slow roll out of the vaccine to this age group. Only yesterday it was revealed that just 15 per cent of the age group in England have had their first dose, despite becoming eligible for a month. But uptake was even worse in some areas of England, with some regions reporting as few as one in 30 having received the jab. Advertisement

It comes as official figures show nearly 5million vulnerable adults have yet to receive a Covid booster vaccine, after Downing Street admitted Britain faces a 'challenging' winter.

Despite the NHS top-up programme launching over a month ago, only around 3.7million out of the 8.5m eligible people in England have received the crucial third dose.

No10's scientists approved plans to revaccinate all healthy over-50s, frontline health staff and carers and patients with underlying medical conditions six months after their second dose, after evidence showed it was the 'sweet spot' for immunity.

The lagging rollout has left around 4.8m people with sub-optimal immunity as the country moves into the colder months and faces the double threat of increasing case numbers and flu.

SAGE adviser 'Professor Lockdown' Neil Ferguson, an epidemiologist at Imperial College London, today insisted it was 'critical we accelerate' the booster drive to give ourselves the best chance of avoiding having to bring back curbs.

And Sir David King, who was the Government's chief scientific adviser from 2000 to 2007, criticised the rollout for moving 'extremely slowly'.

Amanda Pritchard, chief executive of the NHS, insisted the health service has 'plenty of capacity' to vaccinate all eligible people immediately but said people are not coming forward quickly enough. She told MPs on the Health Committee: 'It's really important that we now absolutely do get the message out that is Covid is still with us.'

But some experts also say the booster programme is going slower because the UK is juggling administering first jabs to children in secondary schools and running the largest flu vaccination programme in history.

Prof Lockdown' Neil Ferguson calls for return of face masks and for teenagers to get TWO Covid vaccines Face coverings should be brought back to remind people to be cautious in everyday interactions, one of the Government's most influential scientific advisers suggested today. 'Professor Lockdown' Neil Ferguson said masks 'remind people we're not completely out of the woods yet'. All legal Covid restrictions were lifted in England on 'Freedom Day' in July, bringing an end to mandatory coverings indoors. However, people are still required by some transport companies and in medical settings  and No10 still advises people wear them in crowded environments. Ministers are keeping masks, WFH guidance and controversial vaccine passports in their back pocket as part of the Government's 'Plan B', if an expected surge in cases this winter heaps unsustainable pressure on the NHS. Professor Ferguson, an epidemiologist who sits on SAGE, admitted some measures have to be rolled back, in the event of an uptick in infections. But speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, he ruled out another blanket shut-down. He said: 'I doubt we'll ever get close to [the] lockdown we were in in January of this year.' Advertisement

Pictures today show clinics lying virtually empty, some of which are not open for booster jab walk-ins  further highlighting the complexity of Britain's current rollout.

It comes against the backdrop of rising cases with 49,156 infections recorded yesterday  the highest daily figure in three months. Downing Street warned that Britons should prepare for a 'challenging few months'

Boris Johnson's spokesman said there were 'currently' no plans to reintroduce Plan B restrictions  which include face masks and working from home guidance  but that ministers were keeping 'a very close watch on the latest statistics'.

Britain led the world in the initial vaccine rollout, but it has now slumped behind Italy, Spain and France in terms of the percentage of the population to be double-jabbed.

This is because it delayed rolling out jabs to healthy children, whereas most EU members approved those plans much quicker.

All over-50s and the clinically vulnerable can get a booster jab from six months after their second dose.

But experts have warned that at the current rate the most vulnerable will not all receive their third vaccination until the end of January.

Asked if Covid booster jabs are the answer to waning immunity, Professor Ferguson told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'Absolutely, and there's data coming through now, which is not completely clear cut, but good data coming through from Israel, which shows that, if you've had the third booster dose of the vaccine, then you get very high loads, better than even you had after the second dose.

'And so I do think it's critical we accelerate the booster programme.

'The other thing is infection rates are highest in teenagers at the moment and most other European countries are ahead of us in vaccinating teenagers and giving them two doses, not just one dose.

'Two doses really are needed to block infection and prevent transmission, so I think that's the other problem, keep pushing on, getting coverage rates up higher in the teenagers who are driving a lot of this infection.'

He also called for face coverings to be brought back to remind people to be cautious in everyday interactions and 'remind people we're not completely out of the woods yet'.

All legal Covid restrictions were lifted in England on 'Freedom Day' in July, bringing an end to mandatory coverings indoors. However, people are still required by some transport companies and in medical settings  and No10 still advises people wear them in crowded environments.

Ministers are keeping masks, WFH guidance and controversial vaccine passports in their back pocket as part of the Government's 'Plan B', if an expected surge in cases this winter heaps unsustainable pressure on the NHS.

Professor Ferguson, an epidemiologist who sits on SAGE, admitted some measures have to be rolled back, in the event of an uptick in infections.

But speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, he ruled out another blanket shut-down. He said: 'I doubt we'll ever get close to [the] lockdown we were in in January of this year.'
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A new 72-foot tall sculpture of a woman's head on New Jersey's waterfront, which appears as though it's telling its noisy New York neighbors to 'hush', has divided opinion among locals.

Barcelona-based artist Jaume Plensa, 66, insists that the message isn't targeted at 'loud' New Yorkers, but is for everyone, 'to keep silent... to listen to the profound noise of the water talking to us.'

'The water, when it moves, makes a special sound, very special,' he told NJ.com in a recent interview.

The snow-white head commands a sweeping view of the river in front of a forest of high-rise buildings in Jersey City's rapidly developing Newport waterfront. It stands directly across from Greenwich Village and about four miles upstream from the Statue of Liberty, a more familiar sentinel of the harbor.

AN HOMAGE TO WATER: 'Water's Soul', which was recently unveiled on the Newport pier in Jersey City, New Jersey, is supposedly paying tribute to water, according to Plensa

HUSH: A massive new art installation on Jersey City's waterfront, called 'Water's Soul' (right) seems to be shushing New Yorkers, but artist Jaume Plensa, who designed the colossus, said his sculpture was never supposed to be seen that way

JERSEY GAL: The sculpture dominates the Jersey waterfront, sitting right across from Pier 40 at Hudson River Park

PROUD: Artist Jaume Plensa poses for a photo near his giant, 30 ton statue which he has named 'Water's Soul'

On a recent morning when Plensa saw the piece fully assembled for the first time, its call for silence competed with hum of diesel engines from the nearby Hoboken train terminal, the overhead roar of helicopters, and the cries and laughter of children riding in strollers along the river walkways.

But those are not the kind of noises that Plensa says his artwork is targeting.

'I'm talking about the noise of information and messages to us,' he said at New York's Galerie Lelong Co, where an exhibit of new work will open on October 29.

Plensa, 66, was commissioned to create the piece about two years ago by LaFrak and Simon Property Group, which have developed the area, including the plot jutting into the river where 'Water's Soul' stands.

Depicting a real-life model whose image was scanned, the piece was fashioned from polyester resin, fiberglass and marble dust at Plensa's Barcelona studio and shipped in 23 containers, each 40 feet (12 meters long), to the Jersey City site for assembly.

The sculpture, whose official unveiling is on Thursday, is visible from far and wide, leaving some locals who have watched the piece being put together since August scratching their heads.

'Why is she shushing?' asked Cleveland Rice, 63, a city worker.

'I'm sure there's got to be some kind of meaning behind it,' said William Schoentube, 53, a New Jersey Transit train conductor.

'I'd say it's telling New York City to keep this area a secret because we don't want to drive more people to work here,' said Huan Yan, 31, a software engineer.

Miriam, 46, a travel agent who declined to give her last name, has a direct view of it from her apartment window. She gave it a thumbs-down. 'I don't find it fitting in the entire environment,' she said.

Divided opinions were also shared on Twitter, with some users praising the new piece of artwork, while others questioned its provocative message, funding, lack of humility. Some users are even going as far as calling the new piece of art a 'monstrosity'.

'If billionaires get criticism for spending on space travel, why is it acceptable to blow on that monstrosity? Feed & shelter done homeless people instead,' HugoBGood posted on Twitter.

'Not sure what I think of this yes, buy it is provocative and intriguing,' senior fellow, Reuters Institute and University of Oxford professor Robert Picard wrote.

'Hmmm. Not sure if I like or don't like...but intriguing,' another user said.

'"humbly"? an 80 meter tall plastic monstrosity does not suggest humility,' user @miss_manners_62 shared.

'I love it! Reflects calm,' one rare user praising the newly-assembled sculpture posted.

One twitter user criticized the sculpture's funding, while also calling the new work of art a 'monstrosity'

One user isn't a fan of both the artist and the piece of art telling the Big Apple to quiet down

One user suggested that Plensa's 80-meter-tall statue lacks humility

Another person agreed with the sculptor's idea of his work, saying that it 'reflects calm'

Plensa, who has been exhibiting his work around the world for more than 40 years, said it can take time for his art to become accepted into different environments.

'In the public space, the piece is the piece, and it's competing with so many other objects,' he said.

His works include Crown Fountain in Chicago's Millennium Park, in which moving LED images of faces are displayed on two 50-foot (15-meter) glass towers with cascades of water flowing from some of their mouths. The reaction was mixed when it opened in 2004 but it has since become a popular site.

Plensa also said the sculpture is not sending a message to Manhattan, and she is not 'shushing,' but silently calling for quiet.

CONCRETE JUNGLE: The One World Trade Center is seen behind the statue 'Water's Soul' on the other side of the East River

Like many of Plensa's works, including several new pieces at the Galerie Lelong show, 'Water's Soul' is the elongated head of a woman with closed eyes.

'In many of my pieces I'm asking the viewer: Close your eyes and look inside yourself, because you have an amazing quantity of beauty hidden inside,' he said.

His pieces mostly feature women, he says, because he sees life and the world as female, while 'boys are just an accident - a very nice accident, but an accident.'

'Water's Soul' can best be viewed from the river, he said.

'It's a piece which is very much paying homage to water, and it's in the water where you can enjoy it more,' he said.
Joel Everett (pictured), 27, launched a 'cruel campaign' against the woman as he stalked her for eight months

A revenge porn stalker has been jailed for sending sex pictures of a young woman to her mother.

Joel Everett, 27, launched a 'cruel campaign' against the woman as he stalked her for eight months.

The 'humiliated' victim was sent a sex toy by Everett, had McDonald's litter tipped on her car and had her tyres deflated.

Everett also sent intimate sexual images of the woman - who cannot be named - to her mother and to a friend.

A court heard Everett would harass the victim outside her workplace and would turn up at her house to beep his horn.

Prosecutor Tabitha Walker said: 'The victim said he has made her life a misery. She felt drained and he has caused her humiliation.'

Cardiff Crown Court heard Everett would also bombard his victim with around 100 emails in just one day.

Everett, of New Inn, Gwent, pleaded guilty to stalking and disclosing private sexual images. He was originally handed a 16-month sentence suspended for two years.

But Everett had his suspended prison sentence activated after he continued to contact her and started harassing her boyfriend.

He was jailed for a total of 20 months at Newport Crown Court after admitting harassment and breaching a restraining order.

Everett (pictured) also sent intimate sexual images of the woman - who cannot be named - to her mother and to a friend

Judge Richard Williams told him: 'You intended to disrupt their relationship. You were spiteful, vengeful and malicious.'

Everett was also given a five-year restraining order.

Detective Constable Jordan Davies later said: 'This was an extremely distressing case for the victim, which has had a huge, and long lasting, impact on them.

'It took great bravery and courage for the victim to come forward and I'm pleased to see Everett jailed as a result.

'We take all cases of this nature seriously, and will work tirelessly to see such offenders brought to justice.'
A little-known portrait of Admiral Lord Nelson is being sold for 150,000, more than 200 years after the Battle of Trafalgar hero gifted it to his loyal captain Thomas Hardy.

The work of art was commissioned by Nelson in around 1799 while he was in Sicily embarking on a passionate love affair with Lady Emma Hamilton.

Nelson is depicted sideways on and facing left with his medals on display and his right eye and right arm, that he had lost in battle, hidden from view.

He presented the charcoal drawing to Vice Admiral Sir Thomas Hardy who was at Nelson's deathbed at Trafalgar six years later when the fatally wounded hero famously told him 'kiss me, Hardy'.

The 7ins by 5ins portrait was kept by Hardy in the drawing room at his country home, Portesham House in Dorset.

A little-known portrait of Admiral Lord Nelson is being sold for 150,000, more than 200 years after the Battle of Trafalgar hero gifted it to his loyal captain Thomas Hardy. Nelson is depicted sideways on and facing left with his medals on display and his right eye and right arm, that he had lost in battle, hidden from view

After Hardy's death in 1839 the 'unique' work passed down to his nephew William Manfield.

The only time it was seen in public was in 1905 when the family loaned it to the Dorset County Museum for an exhibition to mark the centenary of Trafalgar.

It has remained in the family ever since but has now been made available for sale for the first time with auctioneers Bonhams.

The portrait has a pre-sale estimate of between 100,000 to 150,000 and it is thought that a number of museums will battle it out with private collectors to get their hands on it.

Hidden behind it was another portrait drawing created at the same time depicting King Ferdinand IV of Naples, a grateful friend of Nelson's.

It is also being sold for 5,000.

Andrew McKenzie, specialist in old master paintings at Bonhams, said: 'It was drawn in Palermo when Nelson was there with the King and Queen of Naples and with Lady Hamilton at the start of his famous affair with her.

'It is pretty rare to find a contemporary portrait of Nelson from when he was alive. He was a great hero and there are a lot of portraits done of him but not from life, like this one.

Nelson presented the charcoal drawing to Vice Admiral Sir Thomas Hardy who was at Nelson's deathbed at Trafalgar six years later when the fatally wounded hero famously told him 'kiss me, Hardy'

The most famous portrait of Nelson (above) shows him facing forwards, with his missing right arm clearly absent

'We don't know who the artist was, it was probably a provincial local artist. With portraiture the sitter often outweighs the artist.

'I think it probably was commissioned by Nelson for him to give to Hardy.

'They had been together at the Battle of the Nile and they were very close colleagues.

'I am sure he deliberately chose to be drawn side on with his medals on display.

'The provenance could not be better. It was given by Nelson to Hardy and has been in the family ever since.

'I think there are a lot of Nelson enthusiasts and private collector who could bid on it as well as museums.

'The National Maritime Museum at Greenwich have some important portraits of Nelson but this one is unique.'

In the same sale are several strands of Nelson's hair that Lady Hamilton is said to have given to the Prince of Wales in 1806. They are valued at 1,200

In the portrait, Nelson is seen wearing the diamond Chelengk in his bicorne hat that was presented to him by Emperor Selim III of Turkey after his victory at the Battle of the Nile in 1798.

He is also seen wearing his prized flag officer's gold medal for the victory at the Nile.

When Nelson gifted it to Hardy he is said to have instructed him to have copies of it made for his friends. One such copy is known of and that was given to a Captain Savage of the Marines.

The portrait is being sold on October 27. Above: The rear of the frame which holds the portrait

An artist's impression shows Nelson on the deck of his flagship HMS Victory during the Battle of Trafalgar

Although Hardy was evidently pleased with the drawing, its accuracy was later questioned by Hardy's nephew, John Manfield who was a midshipman who dined on board HMS Victory with Nelson in 1804.

In his diary, Manfield wrote: 'I dined with Lord Nelson, Admiral Murray and Captain Hardy and I assure you your picture is not the least like his Lordship. There is an Italianate cast to his features.'

The portrait is being sold on October 27.

In the same sale are several strands of Nelson's hair that Lady Hamilton is said to have given to the Prince of Wales in 1806. They are valued at 1,200.
This is the moment a mother's quick reflexes stopped her young son being mowed down when a car suddenly shot backwards towards them.

CCTV footage filmed the dramatic incident in a supermarket car park in the southern Chinese city of Yulin on October 16.

The white car is seen trying to reverse out of a parking space when it stops and allows a moped to get past.

A mother was walking behind a parked car with her two children in Yulin in southern China when the vehicle rapidly shot backwards

Moments later, as a mother and her two children are walking behind the car, the driver suddenly reverses at speed and ploughs into another parked car.

The mother spots the danger and instinctively steps back into the path of the car to grab her young son, and swing him out of harm's way.

The little boy was directly behind the vehicle and probably could not be seen by the driver.

The mother grabbed her youngest son who was moments away from being crushed to death

The white car continued backwards crashing into a black car which was shunted over a raised kerbstone

After checking her child, the mother goes to the driver's side of the car and begins banging on the window.

A few moments later the driver gets out and walks to the rear of his vehicle to inspect the damage.

A witness removed the keys from the ignition to prevent the man from driving off.

Local media said the driver may have mistaken the throttle for the brake, given how quickly he shot backwards.

Yulin police, from the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region said they had dealt with the driver.
A top doctor says a wave of up to 16,000 serious Covid cases will rip through Queensland when borders are opened in December.

Dr John Gerrard, the head of infectious diseases at Gold Coast University Hospital, said medical experts where concerned about the large numbers of unvaccinated residents, who are more likely to require hospital treatment than those who have had the jab or antibodies from previous infection.

He said with the exception of border closures, Queensland has largely been unaffected by the Covid pandemic that has decimated other states and countries and there had been no urgency to get vaccinated.

Queenslanders have been largely unaffected by the Covid pandemic raging through other parts of the world (pictured: a Brisbane vaccine hub in September)

'On the Gold Coast for example we have not had a single death from COVID-19, and elsewhere in Queensland the numbers are incredibly small,' Dr Gerrard said.

But he added that the border can't remained closed indefinitely and warned Queenslanders that Covid would very soon hit the state whether they were prepared or not.

'On the Gold Coast we are projecting perhaps between 4000 and 16,000 symptomatic cases in the first wave,' he told A Current Affair.

He said he hoped many cases, while serious enough to be symptomatic, could be treated without visiting hospital.

But there is still concern hospitals - already pushed to their limits - would be stretched to capacity by Covid and the care of other patients would be affected.

'We know that it's the vaccine-hesitant, the people who aren't getting vaccinated now, who will have a big impact on other people who are trying to access hospital services in the coming weeks and months,' Dr Gerrard said.

Dr John Gerrard (pictured), the head of infectious diseases at Gold Coast University Hospital, said Covid would soon hit the state whether people were prepared or not

Dr Gerrard said in his experience there were 'two groups' among the unvaccinated - conspiracy theorists and the vaccine hesitant.

'The complete ratbags who believe in conspiracy theories and... I just don't know what to do about them,' Dr Gerrard said.

'The other group... have tied themselves in knots reading everything they can... until they've got confused and they don't know how to interpret the information.'

While initially sympathetic towards this group, Dr Gerrard said at this point with the borders soon to open, this group could become a burden on the hospital system if they continue to hesitate.

He said Queenslanders were starting to get vaccinated in greater numbers and brushing off the complacency their isolation had afforded them.

Queensland is at 72.8 per cent of the population having received a first vaccine dose and 57.5 per cent of people having had two vaccine doses.

He explained if the state can get to herd immunity via high vaccination rates and despite having had very few cases, it would have achieved something that would be the envy of much of the world.

'We will have pulled a rabbit out of a hat,' he said.

The Queensland border will open to Victoria and NSW from November for the fully-vaccinated (pictured: a border checkpoint in September)
A teenager accused of stabbing an Afghan refugee to death on a playing field has appeared in court.

Hazrat Wali, 18, died in hospital after being fatally attacked in Craneford Way in Twickenham on the afternoon of October 12.

Police charged a 16-year-old boy, from Hammersmith and Fulham, with his murder on Friday.

This morning he appeared at the Old Bailey by video-link from Feltham Young Offenders Institution.

Hazrat Wali, 18, a student at Richmond Upon Thames College, was fatally wounded in a knife attack in Craneford Way, Twickenham, south west London

He spoke to confirm his identity before Judge Rebecca Trowler set a timetable for the case, with a plea hearing to be held on January 11.

Detectives from the Specialist Crime Command are continuing to investigate the stabbing, which witnesses say happened shortly after a fight broke out on the field.

Mr Wali was an Afghan refugee who came to the UK two years ago, according to the Evening Standard.

An unnamed relative told the publication: 'He came here to study, he was living all on his own in London. His immediate family are all back in Afghanistan.

After being stabbed, Mr Wali is said to have staggered onto a playing field where local school children were playing rugby. Pictured: A police forensic tent at the scene

'I saw him in hospital. He had a fight is all that I had heard.'

Witnesses say a teacher from the school ran over to give the teenager CPR in a desperate attempt to try to save his life. But Mr Wali died in hospital soon after.

Mr Wali's brother and foster mother attended court for the brief hearing earlier today. The youth defendant was remanded into custody until his next court appearance.

Police investigating the case believe the attack may have been filmed. Pictured: Police at the scene on the evening of the murder

Anyone who has information or footage of the incident is asked to call police on 101, or tweet @MetCC quoting 5697/12OCT.

The incident is believed to be the 25th teenager to be murdered in London this year.

It is also believed to be the 102nd investigation launched by the Met Police homicide team in 2021.
A driver has been branded 'senseless' after being filmed repeatedly careering along a footpath and travelling down a set of steps in central London.

The Mercedes 4x4 caused hundreds of pounds worth of damage after squeezing between a set of bollards and bombing down a set of concrete steps four times in just one hour.

The driver was making the shortcut from Hippodrome Place on Portland Road to Walmer Road in the upmarket borough of Kensington and Chelsea at around midnight last Sunday (October 10).

The local council fixed the steps within 48 hours, but the damage cost almost 500 to repair.

Councillor Johnny Thalassites, the lead member for environment and planning, described the driving as 'senseless'.

He said: 'This sort of driving is senseless and has pulled staff and cash away from other road maintenance for a day.

'We need to make the best use of the resources we have to serve our communities, especially as we recover from the effects of the pandemic.

The Mercedes 4x4 (pictured on CCTV) caused hundreds of pounds worth of damage after squeezing between a set of bollards and bombing down a set of concrete steps four times in just one hour

The driver was making the shortcut from Hippodrome Place on Portland Road to Walmer Road in the upmarket borough of Kensington and Chelsea at around midnight last Sunday

The local council fixed the steps (pictured) within 48 hours, but the damage cost almost 500 to repair

Councillor Johnny Thalassites, the lead member for environment and planning, described the driving as 'senseless'

Broken tiles were seen strewn over the wrecked path (pictured) in the luxury neighbourhood - where the average house costs 1.53million

'This is not a good use of our time - I'm just glad officers could get it sorted so quickly.'

Broken tiles were seen strewn over the wrecked path in the luxury neighbourhood - where the average house costs 1.53million.

CCTV footage at around 12.30am taken from a nearby resident's camera showed the heavy Mercedes pass near the entrance to a block of flats in order to fit between the wall and the first bollard.

This is the first time a car has been caught on camera driving over the steps, but residents in the area have complained of collisions and near-misses between mopeds, bikes and pedestrians in the past.

The driver responsible could be slapped with a careless or dangerous driving charge, meaning they could face prosecution and possibly even imprisonment.

If the case does go to court, the council is determined to recover the 472 spent on repairing the footpath and would look to recoup this from the suspect, the authority said.

Mail Online has contacted Metropolitan Police for comment.
Boris Johnson has suggested there will be tax cuts before the next general election as he piled the pressure on Rishi Sunak ahead of the autumn Budget later this month.

The Prime Minister was pushed on if he will ever reverse recent tax hikes and he said 'you can take it that Rishi Sunak is, as indeed am I, is a staunch, low-tax conservative'.

The comments are likely to be viewed as a signal that the Government will move to ease the tax burden before the nation next goes to the polls, currently scheduled for 2024.

Boris Johnson has suggested there will be tax cuts before the next general election as he piled the pressure on Rishi Sunak ahead of the autumn Budget

The Prime Minister was pushed on if he will ever reverse recent tax hikes and he said 'you can take it that Rishi Sunak is, as indeed am I, is a staunch low-tax conservative'

A looming National Insurance rise for millions of workers in April to fund a 12billion boost for health and social care will take the tax burden to record peacetime levels.

The Government has already committed to increase corporation tax from the current rate of 19 per cent to 25 per cent in April 2023.

Tory MPs are pushing the PM and the Chancellor to ease the burden on businesses and families amid fears the tax rises could lead to a hammering at the ballot box.

Mr Johnson was told during an interview with Bloomberg that he 'used to be an economic liberal' as he was accused of introducing more red tape rather than cutting it.

The PM defended the tax rises as he said 'weve been through a colossal pandemic which has necessitated the - sadly necessitated - the expansion of state activity into all sorts of fields that neither you nor I would have wanted'.

Asked if he will ever reduce taxes, Mr Johnson replied: 'You can certainly - I dont want to anticipate any decisions that the Chancellor may make on the fiscal side - but you can take it that Rishi Sunak is, as indeed am I, is a staunch, low-tax conservative and that is he believes in an enterprise economy and thats why we are doing all the things that we are doing.

'And one of the things that we are doing to make this country more attractive to invest in, is Rishi brought in a big - you talk about tax - a huge super-deduction for companies to invest in capital and plant and write that off against tax in order to deal with that productivity issue that we face.

'The U.K.s an incredibly successful economy, given that we basically dont exploit the potential of so much of it -- thats what the whole levelling-up agenda is all about.'

Mr Sunak will deliver his autumn Budget on October 27, with the Chancellor widely expected to rein in public spending.

Government borrowing surged to record levels in 2020 as ministers scrambled to prop up the UK economy during the pandemic

The UK's national debt has soared to levels last seen in the early 1960s as a result of the coronavirus crisis

Government borrowing soared to record levels during the coronavirus pandemic as ministers spent 407billion on Covid support and the national debt climbed above 2trillion.

Reports last month suggested that Mr Sunak will use the Budget to announce new fiscal rules which will stop the Government borrowing money to pay for day-to-day spending within the next three years.

The Chancellor is also said to want to see the national debt begin to fall by the middle of the decade.
Dame Mary Beard has revealed she sticks two fingers up to statues of controversial historical figures like Edward Colston - and suggests others should be taken off their pedestals.

The English scholar said she looks the bronze statues in the eye and tells them 'I won'.

The 66-year-old professor of classics at the University of Cambridge said she was 'pleased' when slave trader Colston's monument was toppled last year and would be 'happy' if more were removed.

The statue was torn down and pushed into water at Bristol's docks during protests sparked by the death of George Floyd in the US at the hands of police officer Derek Chauvin, who went on to be convicted of murder.

Dame Mary Beard has revealed she sticks two fingers up to statues of controversial historical figures like Edward Colston - and suggests others should be taken off their pedestals

Speaking on Jay Rayner's Out to Lunch podcast, Professor Beard revealed how she treats statues of controversial figures.

'What I tend to do is put two fingers up to them', she said.

'If you walk around central London, you go somewhere near Pall Mall, there's loads of guys hiding in the trees - people you've never heard of.

'Blokes, they're always blokes, and often underneath a plaque saying how they saved some bit of the British Empire.

'And we know what that's a euphemism for.

'I tend to look at those guys, I look them in the eye, and say 'you never wanted me to have the vote, did you?

'But you were wrong, you're up there, and you're a symbol of your own wrongness.

'And I won. You might be on your bloody plinth pedestal, but I won'.

The 66-year-old professor of classics at the University of Cambridge said she was 'pleased' when slave trader Colston's monument was toppled last year and would be 'happy' if more were removed. Above: The moment the statue of Colston was pushed into the water at Bristol's docks last year

Dozens of people cheered after the statue to the 17th Century slave trader was dumped into the water

'And they kind of cheer me up because I think 'you're on the losing side, you guys in bronze or marble'. I think that's very important and I get quite a kick out of it.

'I've got the current cultural power to be able to say it's me who is the winner and it is you who is the loser.

'I'm very happy to remove some, but to make them talk to us in a different way one of the nice things you can do is take them off their pedestals, put them on ground level so they walk among us.

'If they get hurt it doesn't really matter.

'I don't want a public sphere in which the only people I see are those that are being passed as holy admirable in statue form.'

Professor Beard, who is retiring next year, explained why she was happy to see Colston's statue toppled in June 2020.

She said: 'I sort of felt pleased about Colston... because it was very clear to me that there had been a lot of debate and opposition but the local council didn't seem to be doing anything.

'There were all kinds of different things you could have done, suggestions like putting someone else up next to him or changing the label.

'But it had reached an impasse and I just think sometimes if people take things into their own hands, that's in a sense what's got to happen.

'I think there are many, many different things you can do.

'I think working on Roman emperors and why it made me think differently was really that we fall into this idea that the statues in the public realm are solely of and about people we admire.

'You can't work for 10 years as I did on statues of Roman emperors and say statues are all about people you admire, they have a very different, discursive role in the way we think about us, our history and our future.

'Even if they are originally put up in celebratory mode, I think they do make us think about ourselves.'

She added: 'There hasn't been a time in the history of the world when statues of people we no longer were not taken down. The Romans did it, everybody has done it.

'It's a noble tradition.

'What the Romans did was rather more ingenious; they've got an emperor they don't much like who has just died and they've got a new emperor, well what do you do? Take a chisel and re-cut the face so suddenly it's a new emperor.'

The tearing down of Colston's statue during the Black Lives Matter protests sparked a number of similar actions, including graffiti on Winston Churchill's statue

Colston's statue was later recovered and is now on display at the M Shed museum in Bristol.

After Colston's statue was torn down, protesters across the UK challenged a number of long-standing monuments celebrating historical figures.

A statue of Sir Winston Churchill outside Parliament was defaced with the words 'was a racist' and 'f*** your agenda' and later had to be covered up at a subsequent protest.

Slave trader Robert Milligan's statue was covered with a shroud and the message 'Black Lives Matter' was placed on it in West India Docks amid calls for it to be taken down. It was later removed by Tower Hamlets Council.

Tower Hamlets Council removed a statue of slave trader Robert Milligan after it was covered and displayed the message 'Black Lives Matter' during last year's protests

Less than a year after it was erected, 'Nazi' was scrawled underneath a statue of Nancy Astor, the first woman to take a seat in Parliament, in Plymouth.

A monument to 19th-century politician Henry Vassall-Fox, the third Baron Holland, was left splattered with red paint in Holland Park. A cardboard sign reading 'I owned 401 slaves' was perched in the bronze statue's arms, with the number painted on the plinth alongside red handprints.

A Grade II-listed monument to Admiral Lord Nelson, Britain's foremost naval hero, which stands in the grounds of Norwich Cathedral, was sprayed with a black 'V' in the middle of a circle - an anarchist symbol.

Red paint spattered another stature of Lord Nelson at Deptford Town Hall in South London.

In Kent, a former councillor wrote 'Dickens Racist' outside a museum dedicated to the beloved 19th century author. Letters sent by the Oliver Twist author showed he wished to 'exterminate' Indian citizens after a failed uprising.

A statue of Civil War leader Oliver Cromwell in Wythenshawe Park, Manchester, had the words 'Cromwell is a cockroach,' 'f*** racist' and the Black Lives Matter acronym 'BLM' scrawled across it last month. Thousands of people were massacred during the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland.
Eagle-eyed visitors to Bristol have noticed several large cannabis-like plants growing along a busy shopping street.

The leafy green plants were pictured last week in decorative council planters outside shops and restaurants on Princess Victoria Street in Clifton Village, leaving one trader to joke that the street had briefly turned into 'Bristol's largest cannabis farm'.

Shoppers and visitors sitting outside first noticed the emergence of several large cannabis-like plants after the recent rain.

The street was pedestrianised during the summer as part of a trial scheme to reduce traffic and improve air quality.

Visitors relaxing in Clifton Village noticed cannabis-like plants growing in decorative planters

Soon after Bristol City Council were contacted for comment about the cannabis-like plants, they were removed from the planters

One local trader, who didn't want to be named, told Bristol Live that they 'were surprised nobody had spotted Princess Victoria Street had become the city's largest cannabis farm'.

In May, Paula O'Rourke, who was elected along with Katy Grant as councillors of Clifton ward, said she hadn't seen the plants herself, although admitted she had been isolating due to Covid.

She said: 'The planters were provided by Blaise Plant Nursery and planted with a nice variety of annuals and perennials, nothing more exotic.

CANNABIS vs HEMP Cannabis is an illegal Class B drug in the UK, meaning possession could result in a five year prison sentence and those who supply the drug could face up to 14 years in jail. File photo: Cannabis plants are illegal to grow for personal use in the UK Under the current UK law, you can't grow any cannabis plant for personal use. You are only allowed to do it for commercial purposes with a license. UK companies can apply to the British Home Office for a license to grow industrial hemp. The legally defining difference between marijuana and hemp is that hemp plants contain less than 0.3% tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), which is the psychoactive component of cannabis that makes it illegal, while marijuana plants contain more than 0.3% THC.

The legally defining difference between marijuana and hemp is that hemp plants contain less than 0.3% tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), which is the psychoactive component of cannabis that makes it illegal, while marijuana plants contain more than 0.3% THC. Advertisement

'I can only assume, if it is indeed cannabis, that a resident or visitor thought it would be amusing to plant a seed.

One of the plants was outside Clifton Village Fish Bar, which has introduced outdoor seating in the road since it was pedestrianised

It has been a controversial scheme, with many traders claiming that their takings are down since the area has become traffic-free.

Owner Marco Maestri said: 'The plants have been there since the council installed the planters when the councillors decided to close the road in August.

'People always comment about the plants, which some have said are hemp plants.

'I wouldn't know - I don't smoke and never have. I always prefer a nice glass of red!'

Soon after Bristol Live contacted Bristol City Council for a comment about the cannabis plants, it seems that they were removed from the planters.

'I noticed the plants this morning, however they have since disappeared,' said antique dealer Stephen Grey-Harris.

'I didn't see who removed them, or exactly when, but they were there between 9am, and 10am, and now they're gone.'

Under the current UK law, you can't grow any cannabis plant for personal use, but you can do it for commercial purposes with a license.

UK companies can apply to the British Home Office for a license to grow industrial hemp.

Product: Hemp - which is legal to grow in the UK if a licence is obtained - is a plant that comes from the same species as cannabis

The legally defining difference between marijuana and hemp is that hemp plants contain less than 0.3% tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), which is the psychoactive component of cannabis that makes it illegal, while marijuana plants contain more than 0.3% THC.

A Bristol City Council spokesperson said: 'Several plants were removed from the planters at Princess Victoria Street this morning [October 19]. These plants were not among those placed in the planters originally.'

It's not the first time Bristol has made news for cannabis related activity.

On October 4, police raided and destroyed a large cannabis farm in Downend, an affluent residential suburb of Bristol.

A male was found hiding within the loft area and 50 to 70 plants of the Class B substance were seized in the evening raid.

However, that was nothing compared to the 2,000 plants discovered by police in a warehouse on Jubilee Way near Bristol in March. The plants had an estimated street value of 1.5million.

Back in April, more than 700 people were seen at the Bristol city centre park for '420' - a protest against laws criminalising cannabis, and in part a celebration of the Class B drug.

No arrests were made despite hundreds gathering at Castle Park smoking cannabis.
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A brave mother cheetah chased off a prowling lion three times her weight after he tried to eat her cubs in Kenya.

Dramatic images captured by Kisemei Saruni, 35, at the Maasai Mara National Reserve showed the moment the cheetah fled from the lion before turning the tables and chasing the would-be hunter away.

Saruni, who captured the images from 130 metres away, said: 'I was on a regular drive tour while we were viewing a leopard and her cubs when a male lion came out of a bush not far from us.

'The lion was just casually strolling around his territory when he saw the cheetah and the cubs. The lion ran to the cubs and at first the mama cheetah surrendered and ran away, only to change her mind and chase the lion away.'

A cheetah chase usually lasts less than a minute and covers just 200-300 metres. At full speed, the cheetah takes three strides a second, covering seven-metres per stride. Cheetah females are solitary creatures and usually raise their cubs alone, hiding them in dens by day, and teaching them hunting skills as they grow.

With her maternal instincts kicking in, the cheetah spun around and gave chase to the lion, turning the tables and causing the bigger cat to flee

The cheetah acts to drive the lion in a direction away from her cubs. A cheetah chase usually lasts less than a minute and covers just 200-300 metres

With a possible meal in sight, the lion attempted to separate the young cubs from their mother by chasing her away across the plain

With the lion having been successfully chased away, the mother cheetah adopts a defensive position next to her cubs

The 300lb male lion was seen casually strolling around his territory at the Maasai Mara National Reserve in Kenya before he spotted the family of cheetahs
Oxford University has condemned protestors who destroyed a pro-life society's stall at a Freshers' Fair.

Students at the university tore down posters advertising the Oxford Students for Life society and binned pamphlets and booklets last week.

Christian groups have called for more support and protection on campus for pro-life societies, alleging the actions of 'cancel culture activists' was 'disturbing'.

Oxford Students for Life is a society which advocates against abortion. They have condemned the protest as 'intimidation tactics'.

Oxford Students for Life is a society which advocates against abortion

Oxford Students for Life president Anna Fleischer says her members were intimidated at Freshers' Fair

The President of the pro-life society, Anna Fleischer, said a young woman working on the stall was left feeling 'scared, frightened and nervous,' following the incident.

'One of the people on the stall is a woman with ADHD and autism and she found it really distressing,' Miss Fleischer said.

'She told me she felt so scared and frightened and nervous that she was even nervous walking home because she was so intimidated.'

Anna, a third year Philosophy and Theology student from London, said: 'For the majority of the Freshers' Fair, most people who engaged with us were very friendly and respectful.

'On the second day, around noon, a small group of students tried to block the stall, I think it was about four of them and they tried to block people from seeing the stall.

'After that they left and came back with a black wheelie bin and started putting material in the bin.'

The pro-life society tweeted about their bad experience after the Fresher's Fair

Miss Fleischer, 20, said that other students grabbed pamphlets and booklets about abortion and euthanasia that her group had displayed and threw them in the bin.

The pro-life students then tried to put their material in a safe place before the protesters allegedly came behind the stall and tore down posters.

Miss Fleischer claims youngsters in the society were subjected to online abuse after the incident, with trolls insulting their appearance, sending rude messages and even death threats.

The University has said it supports a right to freedom of expression and therefore condemns the protestors' actions.

However, the Students' Union insisted that it was 'unequivocally pro-choice and supports all people's right to make their own decisions regarding their bodies.'

An Oxford University spokesman said: 'The University supports the right of all our students and student groups to express views of all persuasions within the law.

'We therefore condemn last week's protest against the Oxford Students for Life stall at the Freshers' Fair, which was an attempt to deny the right of expression to others.

'We have a robust freedom of speech policy which states 'Within the bounds set by law, all voices or views which any member of our community considers relevant should be given the chance of a hearing.'

President of the pro-life society, Anna Fleischer (pictured), said a young woman working on the stall was left feeling 'scared, frightened and nervous'

'We require all events held on University premises to abide by this policy.'

News of the incident comes after protesters lobbied to disband another pro-life group at Exeter University.

A petition has been set up opposing the existence of Exeter Students for Life amid calls to cut off funding for the group by the Exeter Students Guild.

Members of the group say they have also been subject to online trolls and death threats.

Andrea Williams, chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre at Christian Concern, said: 'A pro-life society has just as much right to enjoy its freedom of association as any other society at a university. The treatment the Oxford University pro-life group has received at the hands of cancel culture activists is very disturbing.

The anti-abortion group also shared their thoughts about the protest on Instagram

'We welcome the defence authorities at Oxford and Exeter University have given to freedom of speech, but call on universities across the country to do more to protect pro-life societies on campus.

'The Christian Legal Centre is ready to stand with and defend every member of every one of the pro-life campus societies. Their message is one of life and hope and it should never be silenced in a free society.'

A spokesman for Oxford's Students' Union said: 'We believe that no one should have to see their fundamental rights being up for debate, and for that, we apologise.

'We understand, and to some extent anticipated, the emotive responses and frustrations towards the presence of an anti-abortion stall at the Freshers' Fair. The stalls represent only their own views and not necessarily those of the SU.'

They added they had to adhere to the University Freedom of Speech regulations and had no control over which student societies were registered with the university.

The spokesman went on: 'However, Oxford SU has to stand with and for its students. As an organisation, we want to learn from this to ensure that this policy does not overshadow our commitment to student mandates and welfare. '
Former President Donald Trump lashed out at Sen. Bill Cassidy after the Louisiana Republican said Trump could lose the GOP presidential nomination in 2024.

'Wacky Senator Bill Cassidy from Louisiana is a RINO Republican who begged for my endorsement in 2020 and used it all over the place to win re-election, much like Little Ben Sasse, and then voted to impeach your favorite President,' Trump said in a statement Monday night.

The ex-president then boasted about how much he did for the state of Louisiana.

Former President Donald Trump, photographed waving as he exits Trump Tower on Monday, lashed out at Lousiana Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy, after Cassidy said Trump may not win the GOP nomination in 2024

Lousisiana Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy annoyed Trump by saying on Axios on HBO that he believed Trump could lose the GOP nomination in 2024

'Including making it possible to build major energy facilities that would never have happened without me filling up the strategic petroleum reserve at record low prices, and making sure they received huge amounts of hospital supplies and ventilators to aid the people of Louisiana in fighting the China Virus,' Trump said, using his xenophobic nickname for COVID-19. 'Even the Democrat governor thanked me for all I did,' the former president added.

Trump floated that Cassidy is now deeply unpopular in Lousiana - despite there not being polling to back his comments up.

'Now, Wacky Bill Cassidy can't walk down the street in Louisiana, a State I won by almost 20 points,' Trump said. 'He could not even be elected dog catcher today, the great people curse him.'

Cassidy won reelection in 2020 by besting his Democratic opponent by nearly 40 points.

'Wacky Bill is a totally ineffective Senator, but Louisiana does have a great Senator in John Kennedy,' Trump added, name-dropping the other GOP senator.

Sen. Bill Cassidy (right) told Axios' Mike Allen (left) that he believed Trump might lose the Republican nomination if he runs again in 2024

Cassidy alienated Trump by voting to convict Trump of inciting an insurrection, when Trump was impeached a second time after the January 6 Capitol attack.

Cassidy recently sat down for an interview for Axios on HBO and told Axios' Mike Allen that he didn't believe Trump would be the Republican nominee in 2024.

'Trump is the first president in the Republican side at least to lose the House, the Senate and the presidency in four years,' Cassidy said. 'Elections are about winning.'

Allen then asked Cassidy if he believed Trump might lose the Republican nomination.

Cassidy answered in the affirmative.

'Well if you want to win the presidency, and hopefully that's what voters are thinking about, I think he might,' Cassidy said.

He also answered, 'I'm not,' when Allen asked if Cassidy was voting for Trump.
Anna Sorokin - the fake heiress who swindled banks, hotels and members of New York high society out of $275,000 - remains in immigration detention after she was jailed seven months ago upon release of a nearly three-year prison sentence.

Sorokin, a Russian-born German woman who used the pseudonym Anna Delvey, was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement on March 25 after she overstayed her visa. She has yet to be deported back to Germany.

Her lawyer, Audrey A. Thomas, described the situation as the 'proverbial poster child for governmental abuse of power and violation of due process'.

'Anna is not being treated fairly, she is being denied justice and the Court's rulings against are arbitrary and capricious and serve only to deny her equal protection under the law,' Thomas told DailyMail.com.

Sorokin has filed a federal lawsuit against the Department of Justice for her release.

Her attorney has also filed an appeal for the deportation orders and applied for Sorokin to be granted asylum.

Anna Sorokin (pictured in May 2019) remains in immigration detention after she was jailed seven months ago. Her attorney described the situation as the 'proverbial poster child for governmental abuse of power and violation of due process'

Sorokin is currently being held at Orange County Jail in Goshen, New York (pictured)

Sorokin is currently being held at Orange County Jail in Goshen, New York.

'I feel very disappointed by the Government's decision to keep me incarcerated based solely on my use of social media,' Sorokin said in a statement provided to DailyMail.com through Thomas.

'The Orange County jail is severely understaffed, and there is only one housing area for all females, regardless of criminal, immigration or medical status. I live together with violent and mentally ill offenders who have been denied bail even under the recent bail reform, as well as people on suicide watch and in detox.'

She continued: 'The unit is constantly on lockdown due to fights and assault on staff. New inmates are being quarantined in the same unit as general population and it is practically impossible to receive any medical attention.

'After dropping approximately ten medical slips over the past five months, I have yet to receive an appointment to see a doctor. The food at the facility is extremely low quality and consists 90% of carbohydrates with absolutely no fresh fruits or vegetables.'

Thomas argues that her client's continued detention 'makes little sense' considering she completed her prison sentence for non-violent crimes, repaid her victims and attended scheduled parole hearings.

'I have at least three cases where they released violent predicate felons with ankle bracelets,' Thomas told Insider. 'So why not her?'

Immigration judges have the power to release individuals until their status is finalized, however detainees can also remain in custody indefinitely.

According to court documents from September, Sorokin has filed numerous motions and petitions since her March 25 detainment seeking release or a bond hearing.

It remains unclear if or when the court will move forward her hearing request, release or extradition.

According to court documents filed last month (above), Sorokin has filed numerous motion and petitions since her March 25 detainment seeking release or a bond hearing

In 2013, Sorokin arrived in New York City and pretended to be a wealthy German heiress named Anna Delvey.

She spent nearly four years living an exorbitantly expensive lifestyle in Manhattan, often on the borrowed dimes of newly-acquainted friends who believed she was incredibly cashed up.

Her lavish lifestyle came crashing down in 2017 after she took a friend, former Vanity Fair photo editor Rachel DeLoache Williams, to Marrakesh with her, racked up thousands of charges at hotels and then gave the photo editor the $62,000 bill, promising to pay her back.

Unrelated to the trip, Sorokin was arrested in July 2017 for theft of services when she couldnt pay bills. She reportedly took off to California and missed a court date.

Afterwards, Williams - realizing that Sorokin had conned her - went to the police and the Manhattan District Attorney's Office and agreed to aid officials in a sting operation that resulted in her October 2017 arrest in Malibu, California.

A Manhattan jury found her guilty in April 2019 of grand larceny and other charges.

Sorokin spent just over three years in prison for defrauding banks, and hotels out of $275,000.

She was ultimately released from prison in February 2021, only to be detained by ICE about a month later.

Sorokin (pictured on a 2019 trip to Morocco) came to New York City in 2013 and spent four years pretending to be a wealthy German heiress named Anna Delvey

Sorkin (pictured during her trial at the New York State Supreme Court in April 2019) was arrested in 2017 on larceny charges in New York, for defrauding banks, hotels and people out of money while posing as a fake Russian born German heiress

A Manhattan jury found her guilty in April 2019 of grand larceny and other charges

Sorokin is now the subject of an upcoming Netflix project titled Inventing Anna. The streaming giant reportedly paid her $320,000 to consult on a series about her crimes and she has used most of the money to pay off her victims.

The series, produced by Shonda Rhimes and starring Ozark actress Julia Garner as Sorokin, is set for release in late 2021 or early 2022.

The former socialite gave her first TV interview since her release from prison for a 20/20 special that aired on October 1.

During the interview, Sorokin said she never pretended to be from money and she never meant to be deceptive.

'I never had a fraudulent intent - and I guess that's what should really count,' she claims.

Sorokin, who wore heavy make-up and curled her hair for the interview, further stated: 'I would like to show the world that I'm not this dumb, greedy person that they portrayed me to be.'

Her former defense attorney Todd Spodek, also featured in the 20/20 special, argued that Sorokin did nothing wrong, but was instead 'seduced by the glitz and glamour' of New York City.

'Anna had every intention of doing things the right way, but she couldn't open those doors without doing something a little bit grey to open the door,' he said.

She released from prison in February 2021, only to be detained by ICE on March 25 (Pictured: Sorokin visiting her parole officer in Brooklyn on March 1, 2021)

The former socialite gave her first TV interview since her release from prison for a 20/20 special that aired on October 1. She said: 'I never had a fraudulent intent - and I guess that's what should really count. I would like to show the world that I'm not this dumb, greedy person that they portrayed me to be'

'Everyone creates the version of themselves that they want the world to see... Everyone lies when it's convenient to them... and Anna did the same thing. She couldn't be 100 percent honest because no one would listen to her.'

Williams - who testified against the fake heiress in court - told the interviewer that initially thought Sorokin was 'slightly offbeat' but never had reason to question her identity.

'People have asked [me], were there red flags?' Williams said. 'I never questioned that she was who she said she was. I never had reason to and I wouldn't have thought that way.'

Meantime, as she remains in ICE custody, Sorokin's next steps remain unknown.

'I guess it remains to be seen,' she told 20/20. 'I'm just trying to rewrite my story.'
The family of a woman believed to have been killed by a man who stalked her have claimed she was 'let down' by police.

Gracie Spinks, 23, was found in a field near Staveley Road, Duckmanton, Derbyshire at around 8.40am on June 18.

Following their daughter's death, Ms Spinks' parents have been campaigning for Gracie's Law, a government funding pledge to give every police force a dedicated point of contact for stalking complaints.

Speaking to Sky News, Ms Spinks' mother Alison Heaton said: 'A guy who Gracie had previously reported to the police for stalking her approached her that morning and murdered her.'

She added: 'It's just really frustrating because we've got no answers, it's just dragging on, we just want some answers.'

Ms Spinks was last seen alive by her mother at 7.30am on June 18, leaving the family home in Chesterfield to drive a few miles to Blue Lodge Farm stables in Duckmanton, where she kept her horse.

She was discovered unconscious at the stables half an hour later, fatally stabbed.

The family of Gracie Spinks, 23, who is believed to have been killed by a man who stalked her, have claimed she was 'let down' by police who failed to warn over possible threats

Gracie Spinks, who studied art and design at Chesterfield College and lived in Old Whittington, worked as a packer at e-commerce firm Xbite with suspected killer Michael Sellars, and occasionally modelled for a London agency

The body of 35-year-old Michael Sellers, whom Ms Spinks' family said was her former supervisor at a warehouse where she once worked, was found in a nearby field off Tom Lane a few hours later.

Ms Spinks' parents said she had reported Sellers to police for stalking her four months earlier.

Her family later discovered that a bag containing knives, an axe, a hammer and a note saying 'Don't lie' had been found close to the stables, six weeks before Ms Spinks' death, which was then handed to police.

Michael Sellars, 35, is believed to have fatally wounded the 23-year-old horse enthusiast - who was found dead in the picturesque village of Duckmanton in Derbyshire on Friday morning

Ms Spinks' parents Alison Heaton and Richard Spinks claimed that if Derbyshire Police had warned her about the bagful of weapons that had been found, then she could have been protected

'This bag of weapons had been handed in on May 6 and as far as we know the police didn't act on it and join up the dots basically from Gracie's complaints,' her mother said.

Ms Spinks' father, Richard Spinks, claimed that if Derbyshire Police had warned her about that find, he could have protected her.

'We wouldn't have let her go anywhere on her own after that, so that's the view that I've got: I think they let her down big time,' he said.

Derbyshire Police, pictured at the scene, has referred itself to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC)

Michael Sellars, 35, is believed to have fatally wounded the 23-year-old horse enthusiast, who was found dead in a paddock in the picturesque village of Duckmanton in Derbyshire on Friday morning

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said it was continuing to investigate prior police contact between Gracie Spinks and Derbyshire Police before her death.

Derbyshire Police said it was assisting the area coroner with their investigations into the deaths of Ms Spinks and Mr Sellers, and the case remained with the IOPC.

Meanwhile, Ms Spinks' parents hope a candlelit vigil held on Tuesday evening to mark their daughter's birthday will raise awareness for their Gracie's Law campaign.

'That will be her legacy,' said Mr Spinks.
Transgender charity Mermaids has received an income of 1.85million over the past year - including 1.66million in donations and legacies, MailOnline can reveal.

Its income for the 2020/21 financial year was at nearly 15 times the amount received just four years ago of 127,920 - showing the rapid speed at which it is growing.

Annual accounts for the Leeds-based organisation showed it had given 143 training sessions in a year including 59 at schools, 12 for social services and 10 at NHS trusts.

Among the groups receiving training were fourth-year pharmacy students at the University of Sussex, where protesters over the past fortnight have been demanding the resignation of philosophy Professor Kathleen Stock for her views on trans rights.

The feminist academic is currently at the centre of a free speech row after an anonymous group of students began putting up posters around campus as part of a campaign to oust her over views they claim are transphobic. Ms Stock, who has written about the need for female-only spaces, denies the claim levelled at her.

Mermaids, founded 25 years ago, has also given training to the public service union Unison and recorded a podcast for the Police College and LGBT+ Police Network.

The total income of 1,847,868 included donations and legacies of 1,656,999 (90 per cent), grants of 95,192 (4 per cent) and training income of 59,546 (3 per cent).

The donations total has more than tripled in two years, from 522,690 in 2018/19. A 'legacy' is a gift that someone has left to the charity in their will.

Transgender charity Mermaids has received an income of 1.85million over the past year -nearly 15 times the amount received just four years ago of 127,920

The total income of 1,847,868 included donations and legacies of 1,656,999 (90 per cent), grants of 95,192 (4 per cent) and training income of 59,546 (3 per cent)

Total expenditure in 20/21 was 1,181,244 of which 719,633 (61 per cent) related to staff costs - with its unnamed top earner's annual salary being 60,000 to 70,000.

In its financial results, the charity said the 'substantial increases in donations' over the past year were thanks to it 'becoming increasingly well known for our work'.

Mermaids chief executive Susie Green

Mermaids, which was supported by Prince Harry through the Royal Foundation in 2019, has been criticised over its campaigning for children to be allowed better access to puberty-blockers and other medical options.

The charity said in its results, published on the Charities Commission website: 'Mermaids is becoming increasingly well known for our work supporting families and young people and this has continued to result in substantial increases in donations throughout the year, and partnerships with organisations that wish to support our work.

'We know that we are very fortunate to be in this position, especially when considering the increased hostility towards transgender people in general, and specifically trans women, trans and transgender and gender diverse children, young people, and their families.

Total expenditure in 20/21 was 1,181,244 of which 719,633 (61 per cent) related to staff costs - with its unnamed top earner's annual salary being 60,000 to 70,000

Student protesters gathered outside the University of Sussex this month to demand lecturer Kathleen Stock's resignation over her views on transgender rights

'The trustees are focused on utilising our funding as rapidly as possible to support the mission of the charity, whilst balancing this against the challenges of rapidly growing an organisation.'

Annual accounts for the organisation showed it had given 143 training sessions in a year

It added: 'Trustees are aware of the continuing criticism of Mermaids as an authority in transgender children's rights.

'We will continue to robustly defend our service users and their families and are very grateful for the support that we receive that enables us to do so.'

Mermaids states that it is 'one of the UK's leading LGBTQ+ charities' and exists to support 'transgender, nonbinary and gender-diverse children, young people'.

It works with thousands of people within online communities, local community groups, helpline services, web resources, events and residential weekends.

Banners saying 'Stock Out' have been held alongside burning flares at the university campus

Posters have been put up in the tunnel from Falmer station to the university's campus

The charity also tries to 'educate and inform wider society on gender identity by helping professionals accommodate and reassure gender-diverse young people'.

But in July, Mermaids was fined 25,000 by Information Commissioner's Office after its boss published personal emails from parents worried about their children's transition.

Lecturer Kathleen Stock is facing calls to quit

Chief executive Susie Green had set up an email group online which mistakenly had insufficient security settings, meaning the exchanges were publicly accessible to anyone.

In total, data belonging to 550 people, not of all of whom were service users, was shared in the email exchanges from August 2016 until July 2017 when the email group was decommissioned.

However, archived emails remained online until 2019 because the charity was unaware of the data breach.

A Mermaids spokesman told MailOnline today: 'We are incredibly grateful for each and every donation we receive as this money enables us to meet a growing demand for our services.

'In 2020-21, we supported over 7,000 young people and their families, a number which continues to rise.'
Girls and boys who claimed they were sexually abused by the late Labour grandee Lord Janner were 'let down by institutional failings' and were disbelieved, branded 'brats' and dismissed because they were in care, a damning inquiry into police, prosecution and social services responses to their allegations concluded today.

Leicestershire Police officers investigating decades of abuse claims against Lord Janner regularly 'did not look beyond the often troubled backgrounds' of the alleged victims, who said they were abused in children's homes in the county between the early 1960s and the late 1980s.

The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) accused Detective Superintendent Christopher Thomas, who led Operation Dauntless, the third police investigation into Lord Janner, of being 'uninterested' in the allegations, while colleagues were 'quick to dismiss' some testimonies.

Witness statements were not passed on to the Crown Prosecution Service and were later found in a locked drawer. When one child accused Janner of sexual abuse, a member of staff at a Leicestershire children's home allegedly replied that 'nobody would believe him because he was just a brat in care'.

In one case, an alleged victim said she was raped by Lord Janner, who then told her he could ensure she became the next prime minister's wife. Another 13-year-old allegedly abused in the 1980s said he was forced to perform a sex act on Lord Janner, after which he was given two 50p pieces.

They alleged being seriously sexually abused in a range of locations, including schools, a flat in London, a hotel, Lord Janner's car and the Houses of Parliament.

Lord Janner, a Labour MP from 1970 until 1997 when he was made a peer in the House of Lords, was charged with 22 counts of child sexual abuse offences, relating to nine different boys, in 2015. He died with dementia later that year while awaiting trial, and always denied the allegations. His family claim he is the victim of a witchhunt.

Lord Greville Janner leaves at Westminster Magistrates' Court with his daughter on August 14, 2015 in London. He was accused of committing acts of abuse in children's homes, schools, a flat in London and in Parliament over the course of three decades. He died before facing trial

Professor Alexis Jay, who is chairing the wide-ranging abuse inquiry, said: 'Despite numerous serious allegations against the late Lord Janner, police and prosecutors appeared reluctant to fully investigate the claims against him.

Lord Greville Janner was nominated for a peerage by then-prime minister Tony Blair weeks after sweeping to power in 1997.

'On multiple occasions police put too little emphasis on looking for supporting evidence and shut down investigations without pursuing all outstanding inquiries.'

She also said Leicestershire County Council had a 'sorry record of failures' relating to abuse at children's homes dating back to the 1960s.

The report described the decision-making of both Mr Thomas and Roger Rock, reviewing lawyer for the Crown Prosecution Service, as 'unsound and strategically flawed'.

Prof Jay added: 'This investigation has brought up themes we are now extremely familiar with (across the whole inquiry), such as deference to powerful individuals, the barriers to reporting faced by children and the need for institutions to have clear policies and procedures setting out how to respond to allegations of child sexual abuse, regardless of the prominence of the alleged abuser.'

More than 30 complainants were involved in the inquiry, with their lawyers describing how poor children in care were on a 'conveyor belt to abuse'.

Lord Janner (pictured in August 2015), who had Alzheimer's, died in 2015 while awaiting trial for 22 counts of child sexual abuse offences, relating to nine different boys, dating back half a century

Shocking claims from 'abused' children that were 'brushed under the carpet' The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse heard disturbing evidence from Lord Janner's alleged victims about their ordeals. The alleged abuse was largely meted out in children's homes in the Leicestershire area between the early 1960s and the late 1980s, but some said they were also assaulted in private residences, a hotel, Lord Janner's car, and in the Palace of Westminster. None of the complainants were called to give live evidence during the inquiry, due to it focusing solely on the state responses to their allegations against Lord Janner, rather than the authenticity of the claims themselves. Instead, the inquiry heard brief evidence from several children through their lawyers. Lord Janner died in 2015, awaiting trial for a string of child abuse offences. He always denied any involvement. Christopher Jacobs, representing some of the complainants, told the inquiry that his clients were abused in care in Leicestershire decades ago, and that Lord Janner 'was able to act with impunity'. Mr Jacobs described the ordeal suffered by Tracey Taylor, a complainant who has waived her right to anonymity, who was sent to care home as a 14-year-old in the 1970s. He told the inquiry: 'She said she was raped by a man who said his name was Greville Janner, he said he was an MP and that he could make her the next prime minister's wife. 'She has told the police about the abuse, but she has never been believed due to her mental health problems. 'On some occasions, police mocked her statements, calling her Crazy Tracey.' Tim Betteridge, another complainant to waive his anonymity, said he was sexually abused by Lord Janner on two occasions, including once in an allotment and once in a mobile unit. The inquiry heard Mr Betteridge raised the alarm but was told by staff at the care home that 'nobody would believe him because he was just a brat in care'. Another 13-year-old allegedly abused in the 1980s said he was forced to perform a sex act on Lord Janner, after which he was given two 50p pieces. He confided in staff but no action was taken, Mr Jacobs said. And in another case, a 15-year-old boy described how he felt angry that his complaints were dismissed out of hand, and that staff, police and social workers 'turned their heads away from the predators who tormented him as a child'. Mr Jacobs said: 'Their abusers told them they would not be believed ... and on the occasions when the children were brave enough to disclose, the advice of their abusers has been borne out, that they would be comprehensively disbelieved.' Lawyer David Enright said one complainant described how 'it is like poor children are on a conveyor belt to abuse, and that nobody seems to believe them'. Mr Enright told the inquiry that Lord Janner's prominence 'presented barriers to interview, arrest and prosecution'. Another victim added: 'Hurdles were erected that no horse could jump.' Mr Enright said his clients urged the investigation to end the practice of poor charging decisions in cases where 'the complainant is often a poor and disadvantaged child, and when the alleged perpetrator is often a person of interest ... such as a lord'. Advertisement

The report was particularly critical of Mr Thomas, the senior investigation officer in 2006.

It said: 'Our overriding sense is that Det Supt Christopher Thomas was uninterested in this investigation, and his decisions to limit the inquiries undertaken appeared to be reflective of a wider failure to pursue the investigation with the rigour it deserved, rather than being motivated by a wish to protect Lord Janner or show him undue deference.'

The inquiry did not examine whether or not the allegations against Lord Janner were true.

But it found 'crucial statements' in 2000's Operation Magnolia police investigation were 'brushed under the carpet'.

And it claimed police and prosecutors 'appeared reluctant to progress' the subsequent Dauntless investigation.

Allegations against the former Leicestershire MP first emerged in the 1990s, although the Sir Richard Henriques report in 2016 found that failures by police and prosecutors meant three chances were missed to charge Lord Janner, in the 1990s and in operations Magnolia and Dauntless.

The inquiry also said Lord Janner should have been subject to scrutiny when he was nominated for a peerage by then-prime minister Tony Blair weeks after sweeping to power in 1997.

Previously, the investigation into MPs, peers and civil servants working at Westminster found political institutions 'significantly failed in their responses to allegations of child sexual abuse'.

But it said there was no evidence of a 'Westminster paedophile ring', following allegations which kickstarted the multimillion-pound inquiry and later resulted in the prosecution of fantasist Carl Beech.

The final IICSA report, taking in all 19 strands of the inquiry, is expected to be laid before Parliament next year.

Professor Alexis Jay, who chaired the inquiry, said on Tuesday: 'Despite numerous serious allegations against the late Lord Janner, police and prosecutors appeared reluctant to fully investigate the claims against him.

'On multiple occasions police put too little emphasis on looking for supporting evidence and shut down investigations without pursuing all outstanding inquiries.'

A CPS spokesman said: 'The CPS has acknowledged past failings in the way allegations made against Lord Janner were handled.

'It is remains a matter of sincere regret that opportunities were missed to put these allegations before a jury.

'We have co-operated fully with the inquiry and will carefully consider its conclusions.'

Simon Cole, the Chief Constable of Leicestershire Police, said: 'On behalf of Leicestershire Police, firstly, I would like to reiterate the wholehearted apology I gave in February 2020 to any complainant whose allegations during earlier police investigations into Lord Janner were not responded to as they should have been.

'It is fair and correct to say that the allegations could and should have been investigated more thoroughly, and Lord Janner could and should have faced prosecution earlier than 2015.'

He said Operation Enamel, which eventually resulted in Lord Janner being charged, 'demonstrated then, more than six years ago, a clear commitment and determination to pursue allegations of current or historic abuse against children'.

He added: 'That unstinting commitment continues today. Reports of abuse are taken extremely seriously by Leicestershire Police.

'I would like to acknowledge again the bravery and candour of the complainants who have contributed to this long and challenging inquiry which must have caused significant anxiety and suffering.

'With them in mind, Leicestershire Police will study the report scrupulously and examine it for any actions or improvements.'
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Chilling footage shows the moment a pensioner was arrested in her M&S pyjamas while refusing to help her 'abusive' husband as he lay dying on the kitchen floor.

Penelope Jackson, 66, calmly talks police through what she allegedly did to David Jackson, 78, after they arrived at their home in Berrow, Somerset.

She gives horrifying remarks to the officers including 'if there's any luck you'll be too late', 'I should have stabbed him a bit more' and 'I might go and stab him again'.

But during her arrest Jackson appears more concerned with retrieving her coat and slippers from her house, which she repeatedly asks officers for.

The defendant told Bristol Crown Court today she stabbed him after becoming 'petrified' by violence she was subjected to throughout their marriage.

She claimed she 'walked on eggshells' and 'lived with a knot in my stomach' and told the jury: 'I didn't know if I was waking up to nice David or nasty David.'

Jackson is on trial for the murder of Mr Jackson after he was stabbed three times at their 300,000 bungalow on February 13.

She is accused of killing the retired colonel with a kitchen knife after claiming she could not put up with him after 24 years of marriage. She denies murder but has admitted to manslaughter.

The judge today authorised the release of the 18-minute 999 call that was played to the jury alongside bodycam footage of her arrest as the prosecution case ended.

Penelope Jackson, 66, is on trial accused of murdering David Jackson, 78, by stabbing him three times and is giving her evidence today

She is accused of killing him with a kitchen knife after claiming she could not put up with him anymore. Pictured: During her arrest

The 300,000 cul-de-sac bungalow was home to the Jacksons, who had been married for 24 years before wife Penelope stabbed her husband David to death

'I wouldn't mind my slippers': What Penelope Jackson told police as her husband lay dying on the kitchen floor The eerie video shows officers approach the couple's front door at 9.25pm before Jackson opens the door and steps outside. She obeys orders to leave the house but appears desperate to return inside to grab her coat, saying: 'Can I get my coat on? He's on the kitchen floor.' A policeman says: 'At this moment in time if you could just listen to my colleague... under arrest on suspicion of attempted murder.' But she cuts in saying: 'Oh but it's not attempted.' Officers continue to handcuff the retired chartered accountant for the Ministry of Defence but she cuts across them again saying: 'Can I get my coat?' A policewoman says: 'Bear with me two seconds', to which Jackson adds: 'It's in there. I admit it all. No he's on the kitchen floor.' The same officer says :'Can someone say with... while I got in.' Jackson says: 'There's nothing nasty. And I'm certainly not not... my coat's in the... ouch. With any luck you'll be too late.' Asked what her name is, she says: 'Well I'm called Penny but Penelope Jackson.' Asked if she lived there, she said: 'Yes. Can I get my coat?' A policewoman cuts off their conversation and shouts: 'Right, get the ambulance here pronto. We need CPR.' Jackson says: 'Oh don't no no no please don't. Should have stabbed him a bit more.' The footage cuts to the defendant being spoken to by a police car away from the house. She says: 'I stabbed him. Once because he's an aggressive bully and nasty and I've had enough. And when he said you won't do it I did it twice more.' She continues to ramble while in the back of the police car, which one of the officers bodycam footage also picked up. She said: 'Coat's in, go in the front, grey wardrobe.' A policeman says: 'It might be a while okay but I'll try to get it for you. There's obviously a lot going on okay.' Jackson says: 'Oh with any luck it will be too late.' The officer replies: 'Penelope my advice is don't talk about it now.' But she hits back: No no I have no intention of not agreeing to what I've done. 'I know what I've done. And I know why I've done it and if I haven't done it properly I'm really annoyed.' The officer then closes the door on the squad car. In other footage released today, officers are shown speaking to Jackson at the police station where she was arrested on suspicion of murder. When she is told this, Jackson says: 'Oh good.' The officer continues to caution her but Jackson simply says: 'That's a bit tight.' She later adds: 'I wouldn't mind my slippers.' She goes on: 'I'm very sorry for being a nuisance.' An officer arrives to take her temperature as the coronavirus was still prominent in Britain at the time. She adds: 'Oh that would be just really great - get Covid on top of this.' Advertisement

The trial also heard:

She said her husband was so jealous when they met she got a 'property of David Jackson' tattoo on her bum;

She revealed her third husband killed himself after discovering she was having an affair with David Jackson;

The jury earlier heard Jackson threatened to cut her husband's penis off before stabbing him after a row;

Bristol Crown Court also heard she called police officers to her home due to her husband in December 2020.



The eerie video shows officers approach the couple's front door at 9.25pm before Jackson opens the door and steps outside.

She obeys orders to leave the house but appears desperate to return inside to grab her coat, saying: 'Can I get my coat on? He's on the kitchen floor.'

A policeman says: 'At this moment in time if you could just listen to my colleague... under arrest on suspicion of attempted murder.'

But she cuts in saying: 'Oh but it's not attempted.' Officers continue to handcuff the retired chartered accountant for the Ministry of Defence but she cuts across them again saying: 'Can I get my coat?'

A policewoman says: 'Bear with me two seconds', to which Jackson adds: 'It's in there. I admit it all. No he's on the kitchen floor.'

The same officer says :'Can someone say with... while I got in.' Jackson says: 'There's nothing nasty. And I'm certainly not not... my coat's in the... ouch. With any luck you'll be too late.'

Asked what her name is, she says: 'Well I'm called Penny but Penelope Jackson.' Asked if she lived there, she said: 'Yes. Can I get my coat?'

A policewoman cuts off their conversation and shouts: 'Right, get the ambulance here pronto. We need CPR.' Jackson says: 'Oh don't no no no please don't. Should have stabbed him a bit more.'

The footage cuts to the defendant being spoken to by a police car away from the house. She says: 'I stabbed him. Once because he's an aggressive bully and nasty and I've had enough. And when he said you won't do it I did it twice more.'

She continues to ramble while in the back of the police car, which one of the officers bodycam footage also picked up.

She said: 'Coat's in, go in the front, grey wardrobe.' A policeman says: 'It might be a while okay but I'll try to get it for you. There's obviously a lot going on okay.' Jackson says: 'Oh with any luck it will be too late.'

The officer replies: 'Penelope my advice is don't talk about it now.' But she hits back: No no I have no intention of not agreeing to what I've done.

'I know what I've done. And I know why I've done it and if I haven't done it properly I'm really annoyed.' The officer then closes the door on the squad car.

In other footage released today, officers are shown speaking to Jackson at the police station where she was arrested on suspicion of murder.

When she is told this, Jackson says: 'Oh good.' The officer continues to caution her but Jackson simply says: 'That's a bit tight.' She later adds: 'I wouldn't mind my slippers.'

She goes on: 'I'm very sorry for being a nuisance.' An officer arrives to take her temperature as the coronavirus was still prominent in Britain at the time. She adds: 'Oh that would be just really great - get Covid on top of this.'

The judge today authorised the release of the 18-minute 999 call that was played to the jury alongside bodycam footage of her arrest as the prosecution case ended

The eerie video shows officers approach the couple's front door at 9.25pm before Jackson opens the door and steps outside

She continues to ramble while in the back of the police car, which one of the officers bodycam footage also picked up, as well as when at the station

'I might go and stab him again': What she said to the 999 operator after the attack The court also released audio of Jackson's 999 call, where she is heard telling operators who asked his whereabouts: 'He is in the kitchen bleeding to death with any luck.' The defendant grabs the phone and refused to help her husband as he lay on bleeding to death on the kitchen floor. She stated: 'I killed my husband because I've had enough. I might go and stab him again. I am in the lounge, he is in the kitchen bleeding to death with any luck.' She added: 'He threatened me before, but he's not threatening me now.' She repeatedly tells the operator she does not want any help or wants to help her husband in any way to stem the bleeding. She added: 'I am not doing anything to help him. He deserves everything he has got - I accept everything that is coming my way. I might just go and do it again. 'I did it the once and then he said 'I wouldn't do it again' so I did it twice more. She also tells the operator she thought she had stabbed him in the heart - but added: 'He doesn't have one.' Advertisement

The court also released audio of Jackson's 999 call, where she is heard telling operators who asked his whereabouts: 'He is in the kitchen bleeding to death with any luck.'

The defendant grabs the phone and refused to help her husband as he lay on bleeding to death on the kitchen floor.

She stated: 'I killed my husband because I've had enough. I might go and stab him again. I am in the lounge, he is in the kitchen bleeding to death with any luck.'

She added: 'He threatened me before, but he's not threatening me now.'

She repeatedly tells the operator she does not want any help or wants to help her husband in any way to stem the bleeding.

She added: 'I am not doing anything to help him. He deserves everything he has got - I accept everything that is coming my way. I might just go and do it again.

'I did it the once and then he said 'I wouldn't do it again' so I did it twice more. She also tells the operator she thought she had stabbed him in the heart - but added: 'He doesn't have one.'

The jury heard the defendant had been charged with murder, which she denies, but she had accepted manslaughter.

The court was told the couple married in April 1996 and had both been married several times before.

Mr Jackson was highly ranked in the Royal Logistics Corps before moving to a post at the Ministry of Defence.

Mrs Jackson was a retired chartered accountant for the Ministry of Defence and the Department for International Development.

Mr Quinlan said they had met through their work in the military and lived in Germany for many years before settling in Somerset.

Sketch of Penelope Jackson at Bristol Crown Court, where she admits manslaughter but denies murder of her husband David

Penelope Jackson, 66, is on trial for the murder of her ex-colonel husband David Jackson, 78, both pictured, after stabbing him three times in their bungalow on February 13 this year

Jackson (left with her husband David Jackson) admitted manslaughter of the retired lieutenant colonel but denies murder

Penelope Jackson, 66, stabbed 78-year-old David Jackson (pictured together), a retired lieutenant colonel, three times in the kitchen of their family home

Defendant tells court her husband was so jealous she got 'property of David Jackson' tattooed on her bum Jackson told the jury today her husband was so jealous when they first met she got 'property of David Jackson' tattooed on her bum. Taking to the witness stand, Jackson also revealed her third husband had committed suicide after discovering she was having an affair with David Jackson. She claimed Mr Jackson then became very jealous of her that would often lead to outbursts of violence. And she said she went to extreme lengths to try and 'reassure him.' She added: 'He was so jealous. He was so secure in some parts, but so insecure in others that he thought I would pack my bags any minute and rush off with another person. I never gave him reason to think that. 'I wanted to reassure him so I tattooed 'property of David John Jackson.' I wanted to stop the constant jealousy and unfounded 'what are you going to do?' All the things he was feeling, I felt it would persuade him. 'No-one would to go out and see me with that printed on my bum. He was very pleased and thought it was a very nice Christmas present.' Advertisement

Jackson also told the jury today her husband was so jealous when they first met she got 'property of David Jackson' tattooed on her bum.

Taking to the witness stand, Jackson also revealed her third husband had committed suicide after discovering she was having an affair with David Jackson.

She claimed Mr Jackson then became very jealous of her that would often lead to outbursts of violence. And she said she went to extreme lengths to try and 'reassure him.'

She added: 'He was so jealous. He was so secure in some parts, but so insecure in others that he thought I would pack my bags any minute and rush off with another person. I never gave him reason to think that.

'I wanted to reassure him so I tattooed 'property of David John Jackson.' I wanted to stop the constant jealousy and unfounded 'what are you going to do?' All the things he was feeling, I felt it would persuade him.

'No-one would to go out and see me with that printed on my bum. He was very pleased and thought it was a very nice Christmas present.'

Jackson also told the jury her previous husband had killed himself after she admitted an affair with Mr Jackson. She said he later obliterated all evidence of her previous marriage.

The initial 'one night stand' took place while her husband Alan was working away as an engineer in Saudi Arabia, the defendant said.

She told the jury: 'I had a one night stand, which I regretted. Alan found out about the affair in early 1993 and they had a fight.

'I begged him to leave Saudi Arabia and if he had come back we wouldn't be here now. He was angry, distraught. I loved him.' Jackson said she later walked into her garage and discovered Alan had killed himself.

'I went looking for him the next morning and opened the garage door. He was bright red and I subsequently found out that was carbon monoxide poisoning.. He had taken his own life,' she added.

'The postman came up the drive and put the door down and I called the police.' After her third husband's death, Jackson said she entered into a relationship with David Jackson and they eventually married.

The couple are thought to have moved into their Somerset home eight years ago, and in December last year police were called to their address after a row about a remote control

Officers were called to Berrow in Somerset at 9.15pm on February 13 this year after paramedics reported a male had been seriously injured

Police officers were called to the couple's home in Berrow, Somerset, on February 13 this year

Penelope Jackson says ex-husband killed himself after she admitted having an affair with David Jackson Penelope Jackson told the jury her previous husband had killed himself after she admitted an affair with Mr Jackson. She said he later obliterated all evidence of her previous marriage. The initial 'one night stand' took place while her husband Alan was working away as an engineer in Saudi Arabia, the defendant said. She told the jury: 'I had a one night stand, which I regretted. Alan found out about the affair in early 1993 and they had a fight. 'I begged him to leave Saudi Arabia and if he had come back we wouldn't be here now. He was angry, distraught. I loved him.' Jackson said she later walked into her garage and discovered Alan had killed himself. 'I went looking for him the next morning and opened the garage door. He was bright red and I subsequently found out that was carbon monoxide poisoning.. He had taken his own life,' she added. 'The postman came up the drive and put the door down and I called the police.' After her third husband's death, Jackson said she entered into a relationship with David Jackson and they eventually married. Advertisement

But she said his jealousy persisted and she told the jury about one incident when he wielded an axe on all their furniture in 1996 when she was preparing for a post in Germany.

She added: 'The dining room was smashed to pieces. He used an axe. The sofas in the sitting room were all slashed and he chopped all the furniture up.

'I was baffled more than anything. He said he got so angry and frightened that I would go to Germany and leave him that he had taken it out on furniture. He said something like ' it is better to take it out on the furniture than on me.'

Jackson said she told the outside world that the damage was caused at a teenage party out of 'embarrassment.' Before the defendant took to the witness stand, defence solicitor Clare Wade QC, opened her case.

She told the jury: 'This case is about domestic abuse, control and ultimately entrapment. Domestic abuse is not physical all of the time.'

Ms Wade said the 999 call played to the jury was evidence of her client 'losing her self control because of the way she had been treated.'

She added: 'Not just on that day but over a far, far longer period of time. This marriage lasted 24 years up until the time Mr Jackson was killed.'

She described what happened on the night of 13 February as the 'straw that broke the camel's back.' She added: 'She lost control and stabbed her husband. She did not intend to kill him or cause serious harm.'

'24 years culminated in the events of 13 February and were brought to a head on that day. As she said to call handler, it seemed like a drastic solution, but she also said 'I've had enough.'

'She lost all ability and sense of self and identity by the time she lashed out at David. She knew where she was going but said 'my life in prison is preferable to what it was now.''

Ms Wade said the defendant had a 'distorted sense of loyalty and need to protect others' which was why she never revealed the extent of her abuse.

'Just because there is no history of police call outs does not mean Penelope Jackson was not being abused.'

Giving evidence later in the day, Jackson said she 'never knew what was going to happen' when she walked through the door of the home she shared with 78-year-old David Jackson.

She said her daughter with her second husband grew up thinking Mr Jackson was her father, but he would threaten Jackson to 'behave or I will tell her I'm not her daddy'.

Jackson said she 'walked on eggshells' and 'lived with a knot in my stomach' throughout their marriage.

She told the jury: 'I didn't know if I was waking up to nice David or nasty David.' Jackson said her husband was often violent following arguments.

'It would always start out with him being verbally aggressive. It was always about me being disloyal and he would say, 'you never loved me anyway'. He called me a 'thing' like I wasn't a person.

'It would escalate, and he would shake me most of the time, he strangled me sometimes and I would go unconscious sometimes. Other times I would be semi-conscious, and I would be on the bed or the floor and if he was really angry he would kick me.'

Jackson told the court Mr Jackson would 'always apologise' after the incidents.

She said in the years following her second husband's death, she felt forced to hide mementos including photographs and love letters from him, fearing that they would be destroyed by Mr Jackson who she said had taken an axe to furniture one night in 1996.

Jackson told the jury: 'I always kept my wedding pictures and I put them in the loft. In 1996 work took us to Germany and one night before that I went to bed and when I got up the next morning the room had been smashed to pieces. He had used an axe and the sofa and sitting room had been slashed.

'I was baffled. He said he was so angry and frightened I was going to go to Germany and leave him and he took it out on the furniture, and he inferred it was better to take it out on that than me.'

Jackson added in the later years of their marriage it was not clear what would trigger her husband's anger.

She said: 'I couldn't work out if it was baked beans or the broccoli was wrong. I couldn't work out what was triggering it. In later years, any friends he didn't like I would drop them. I stopped going places, I didn't have girlfriends anymore.

'The things he loved about me in the beginning, like my confidence and ability to talk to anyone, it changed, he didn't like it.'

Jackson added that it was 'important' to her to make the marriage work after losing 'somebody I loved very much through my own negligence.'

She said: 'He used to say, 'You never loved me,' and I used to say, 'If I don't love you, why would I stay all these years? You know I love you'. I still love him, even after all of this.'

The trial continues.
An ad for Terry McAuliffe's gubernatorial re-election campaign featuring Kamala Harris is raising ethics concerns as it's being broadcast across Virginia churches starting from this past Sunday.

The ad's launch marked the first time in Virginia that voters were able to cast their early ballots on a Sunday, an event dubbed 'Souls to the Polls.'

Between October 17 and November 2 Harris' ad is playing at more than 300 black churches across the state.

Critics point out that the advertisement's explicit targeting of churches appears to run afoul of Internal Revenue Service guidelines aimed at ensuring political neutrality in non-taxed organizations.

The Johnson Amendment, proposed by then-Senator Lyndon B. Johnson, prohibits tax-exempt groups classified in US tax code as 501(c)(3) organizations from 'engaging in any political campaign activity.'

That means churches and other non-profits risk losing their tax-exempt status if they actively promote a candidate or mobilize volunteers or others in support of a specific campaign.

If a church is found in violation of the law it could be forced to pay taxes for every year it's engaged in political activity.

Harris has been accused of violating US tax code with the above ad, which is being played at more than 300 black churches across Virginia

However, tax code does allow these organizations to partake in nonpartisan political activity, like hosting debates or election facilities.

A lobbying group that identifies as representing 'secular Americans' like atheists, humanists and agnostics told DailyMail.com the video is 'legally dubious' and represents a wider, bipartisan issue.

'Using religious institutions for politicking is not new nor is it a feature of a single party or religious group. It is a bipartisan problem that's been frequent during the current Virginia gubernatorial campaign,' the group claimed in a statement.

'The video featuring the Vice President is inappropriate and legally dubious. It is a byproduct of the IRS' refusal to enforce their rules (The Johnson Amendment) and the decades-long campaign to weaken state/church separation.

'The vast majority of Americans agree that churches should refrain from politicking and campaign endorsements. Candidates and politicians should listen to the public and our laws on this issue.'

'We condemn this inappropriate mixing of government, politics, and religion.'

Former Trump 2020 campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh accused Harris of breaking the law on Sunday.

'Kamala Harris has recorded a video endorsing Terry McAuliffe for governor of Virginia, which will be played in more than 300 Black churches,' Murtaugh wrote on Twitter.

'Two things: 1) This is expressly illegal according to federal law. 2) Do they think Harris will actually help McAuliffe?'

House Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) said it was 'ironic' for a pro-choice Democrat to try and appeal to churches.

'Not only is this legally questionable but its ironic a politician who supports extreme abortion practices is targeting people of faith,' the lawmaker tweeted on Sunday.

Former Virginia Governor McAuliffe (left), widely seen as Democratic powerhouse, has been slipping in the polls against Republican challenger Glenn Youngkin (right)

The roughly two-minute 20-second advertisement features Harris in the foreground between two American flags.

She spoke directly to the camera when telling voters about her own history with church and urging

'When I was growing up, we sang in the choir at Oakland's 23rd Avenue Church of God. We sang hymns about how faith combined with determination will see us through difficult times. And we were taught that it was our sacred responsibility to raise our voice and lift up the voices of our community. One of the most significant ways I believe that we can each use our voice is through our vote,' Harris says in the video.

Soon after Harris shifts to a full-throated endorsement of McAuliffe - raising ethics concerns in the process.

'I believe that my friend Terry McAuliffe is the leader Virginia needs at this moment. Terry McAuliffe has a long track record of getting things done for the people of Virginia,' Harris says.

'In 2020, more Virginians voted than ever before. And because you did, you helped send President Joe Biden and me to the White House. This year, I know that you will send Terry McAuliffe back to Richmond.'

He previously served as governor of Virginia from 2014 to 2018.

Harris has faced a barrage of criticism since the advertisement first aired on Sunday

McAuliffe, widely seen as Democratic powerhouse, has been slipping in the polls against Republican challenger Glenn Youngkin.

Youngkin is a Virginia businessman who's backed by former President Donald Trump.

It's the second time the Biden administration has forced the McAuliffe campaign under ethical scrutiny after White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki appeared to stump for the Virginia Democrat from her press room podium.

Citizens for Responsible Ethics in Washington, an ethics group that regularly hounded the Trump administration when multiple officials talked politics or promoted merchandise from the White House grounds, announced the complaint a day after Psaki's comments.

She had been asked whether the tight Virginia governor's race, just a few weeks out, would be a bellwether for Biden.

'We're going to do everything we can to help former Governor McAuliffe, and we believe in the agenda he's representing,' she said at the end of her comments, praising the Democrat.

According to CREW's complaint, 'That appears to be an endorsement of his candidacy. The Hatch Act prohibits executive branch employees from 'us[ing their] official authority or influence for the purpose of interfering with or affecting the result of an election.'

It notes that 'political activity' is defined as 'an activity directed toward the success or failure of a political party, candidate for partisan political office, or partisan political group.'

Ironically Psaki prefaced her remarks with a hedge  indicating she sought to avoid using problematic language. Administration officials are schooled in the law when they sign on, and Psaki served in the Obama White House.

'Well, I have to be a little careful about how much political analysis I do from here and not (inaudible) into that too much,' she said, according to the White House transcript.

Earlier this month a video of a teleconference meeting between McAuliffe and supporters surfaced in which the Virginia governor appeared to try and distance himself from the flailing Biden administration and its crises.

'We've got to get Democrats out to vote,' McAuliffe said in a 12-second video clip of a teleconference. 'We are facing a lot of headwinds from Washington, as you know.'

'The president is unpopular today unfortunately here in Virginia so we have got to plow through.'

It's unclear if or how he'll plan to differentiate himself from Biden in the last weeks before the election.
Yvonne Wu, 31, was arraigned by the New York Attorney General's Office, where she faces murder charges after fatally shooting her ex-girlfriend's new lover on October 13

An NYPD cop on suicide watch after allegedly shooting her ex-girlfriend and killing her female lover was held without bail pending an exam to determine if she understands the murder and assault charges against her.

Yvonne Wu, 31, fatally shot her girlfriend Jenny Li's new lover Jamie Liang, 24, on October 13 in Li's Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, home after sneaking in the backdoor and waiting for the pair, according to prosecutors.

Wu was quietly arraigned on second-degree murder and attempted murder charges in Brooklyn Criminal Court in front of Judge Joshua Glick, the New York Attorney General's Office released in a statement Monday.

It is unknown if the cop attended the arraignment in-person or via video link. She remains hospitalized on suicide watch at NYU Langone Medical Center after telling officers at the scene that she was suicidal.

New York's Attorney General Letitia James, 63, launched an investigation on Friday into the fatal love triangle.

Wu allegedly killed her ex-girlfriend's new lover after Li, 23, and she broke up last month.

Wu - who has been a cop for five years and works out of the 72nd Precinct just four miles away from Li's home - shot Liang in the chest and Li in the torso, prosecutors said.

Liang died in the hospital 50 minutes later. Li survived.

Yvonne Wu (pictured) was charged with second-degree murder Monday in the fatal shooting of Jamie Liang and attempted murder in shooting of the cop's ex-girlfriend Jenny Li

Jamie Liang (pictured) was shot dead by NYPD officer Yvonne Wu after jealous cop found her in Brooklyn home of the cop's ex-girlfriend Jenny Li, prosecutors charge

Wu allegedly shot the two women after sneaking in through the unlocked backdoor of Li's Brooklyn apartment and waiting in the woman's bed until they arrived

Wu allegedly slipped in through a backdoor which was unlocked at Li's home and lay in wait for her on the bed, opening fire as the couple returned home, according to the Daily News.

At the scene on Wednesday night, NYPD Assistant Chief Michael Kemper told reporters it was a 'domestic' situation.

Friends said the shooting was preventable and that Wu was a 'psychopath.'

She had already gotten into an altercation with the two women weeks before the shooting and was allegedly stalking the them, the friends said.

Li didn't report the altercation to the NYPD's Internal Affairs Bureau - which deals with allegations against NYPD cops and corruption within the system - because she thought she could 'handle it on her own,' her friend told the Daily News.

'It should have been prevented,' the friend told the Daily News. 'The cop was already stalking them...[Jenny] didn't want the police involved. She wanted to handle it on her own. She thought she could handle it.'

Liang allegedly wanted Li to report the altercation to the Bureau, but Li talked her out of it.

Wu was arrested outside the Brooklyn home (pictured) and has been described by Li's friends as a 'psychopath'

It's unclear how Wu and Li came to know each other, but public records indicate Wu was living in a home eight blocks away from Li's family until recently. Records show she might now live on Staten Island.

NYPD sources tell DailyMail.com that Wu was a high performer in the force and rated as 'exceeding expectations' in her recent evaluations. She has made about 60 arrests throughout her five-year career.

The double shooting 'came out of left field,' one source said.

On Friday night, a cleaning crew was seen arriving at the home along with the landlord of the building to assist in cleaning up the bloody scene.

Although nothing was believed to have been removed from the residence, photographs of the crime scene were taken by workers who entered the premises wearing protective hazmat suits.

Friends set up a GoFundMe for Liang's family on Thursday and shared kind words about the dental school student, who was was due to graduate in 2024.

'Our beloved friend, Jamie Liang, was taken away from us on October 13, 2021. She was a victim in a Brooklyn homicide case. We are raising funds to help her parents and family with the funeral arrangements.

'Jamie was a 24year-old dental student at NYU who had a bright future ahead of her. She was loved by so many and filled every room with her kindness and lively spirit. We live to honor all the joy that she brought to the lives of her family and friends,' the page says.

As of Tuesday, the GoFundMe efforts has raised more than $40,000 - $10,000 more than the family had requested to pay for her funeral.
The death of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani was part of a deliberately 'disproportional response' because he crossed a 'red line' in killing an American and ordering an attack on the U.S. embassy in Baghdad, according to a new insider account of the Trump White House.

In his new book, Gen. Keith Kellogg makes no mention of evidence that Soleimani was planning an imminent attack on Americans - the official justification for the strike.

His account will be seized on by experts in international law who have questioned the legality of a drone strike that killed Iran's most powerful military figure.

Kellogg was national security adviser to Vice President Mike Pence in January 2020, as the Trump administration responded to a series of provocations.

In December 2019, a U.S. civilian contractor had been killed when an Iranian-backed proxy militia in Iraq launched a missile attack on an allied air base.

The U.S. responded with strikes of its own, followed in turn by Shia militiamen marching on the American embassy in Baghdad and smashing their way through a checkpoint.

The unrest was quelled only when reinforcements, in the form of Iraqi troops, U.S. Marines and Apache helicopters arrived .

'But our response had barely begun. We had highly reliable intelligence reports affirming that our chief enemy here was Soleimani,' writes Kellogg in 'War by Other Means: A General in the Trump White House.' published today.

'We had always considered him a legitimate target because he was a sponsor for terrorism and was directly responsible for the deaths and maiming of hundreds of Americans.

'The Iranians had crossed our red line by killing an American and reinforced their folly by attacking our embassy in Baghdad.

'We would respond. And this time our response would be disproportional.

'We jumped up the escalation ladder. Our answer would be unambiguous. Our target would be Soleimani.'

Gen. Qassem Soleimani was head Iran's Quds force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, and believed to be responsible for Tehran's backing for Shia proxies, before his death last year

10 people died when a drone strike hit the convoy carrying Soleimani as he left Baghdad airport on Jan. 3, in an attack that triggered anti-U.S. protests in Iran

Gen. Keith Kellogg was national security adviser to Mike Pence in Jan. 2020 when the strike on Soleimani was ordered. He serveed in a range of security positions in the Trump White House

Kellogg's book, 'War by Other Means,' is published by Regnery on Tuesday

Soleimani was killed when an American MQ-9 Reaper drone fired missiles at his convoy as it left Baghdad airport on Jan. 3.

On Tuesday, Trump hailed Kellogg's book - which offered a flattering portrait of his time as president - as 'factual and indisputable.'

'Unlike other Fakers and Slimeballs that write fictional books without knowing me or virtually anything about me, The General knew me and my administration well, and he was there for every major National Security decision,' he said in an emailed statement.

Kellogg was a senior figure on the National Security Council under Trump, serving as acting National Security Adviser at one time, before working for Pence.

But his account of the rationale for the Soleimani strike differs from the official line, which claimed the attack was justified because the Iranian general was plotting attacks.

'Soleimani was plotting imminent and sinister attacks on American diplomats and military personnel, but we caught him in the act and terminated him,' said Trump at time.

And then Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said: 'We had specific information on an imminent threat, and those threats from him included attacks on U.S. embassies. Period. Full stop.'

However, experts in international law said the White House failed to support its position and that the strike may have been illegal.

Barbara Slavin, Iran expert with the Atlantic Council, said the strike happened at a time when Trump was under intense pressure to get tough on Iran.

'I think he was quite terrified that the U.S. embassy could be taken over like the Iranian embassy was taken over after the Iranian revolution,' she said.

'It was very much an ex post facto explanation for doing what was an extraordinary escalation and something that was illegal under international law.'

Kellogg was national security adviser to Trump after the resignation of Mike Flynn, and had walk-in rights to the Oval Office during much of his time at the White House

Soleimani was the head of Iran's Quds force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, and believed to be responsible for Tehran's backing for Shia proxies sowing unrest through the Middle East.

He was often described as the country's most powerful figure after its supreme leader.

Last year, a United Nations expert said that without an imminent threat to life the strike was unlawful.

Agnes Callamard, special rapporteur on extrajudicial killings, concluded in her report that the U.S. provided no evidence that would have justified immediate action.

'Major General Soleimani was in charge of Iran military strategy, and actions, in Syria and Iraq,' she said.

'But absent an actual imminent threat to life, the course of action taken by the US was unlawful.'

The strike was an 'arbitrary killing' for which the US is responsible under international human rights law, she concluded.
Cleo Smith's shell-shocked mother has revealed the four-year-old had been sleeping metres from her baby sister before she disappeared from the family's tent, as police focus on a 'worst case scenario' where the little girl was snatched in her sleep.

Ellie Smith and her partner, Jake Gliddon fronted the media for the first time on Tuesday as the fourth day of the search for little Cleo came to a close.

The four-year-old was last seen about 1:30am on Saturday near the Blowholes campsite north of Carnavon in Western Australia before she seemingly vanished.

Ms Smith said she had woken up around 6am on Sunday to find their tent zipper was nearly completely open and her four-year-old nowhere to be seen.

She revealed Cleo had been sleeping in a separate area of the tent, with her baby sister just metres away.

Police are now focusing their efforts on investigating the 'worst case scenario' that little Cleo was abducted from the tent while her family lay sleeping, with a complex criminal investigation underway.

Police are becoming increasingly concerned that little Cleo (pictured) may have been abducted in the early hours of Saturday morning

Ellie Smith and her partner, Jake Gliddon (pictured) fronted the media for the first time on Tuesday after four-year-old Cleo (middle) went missing near the Blowholes campsite north of Carnarvon in Western Australia five days ago

Inspector Jon Munday said Cleo could 'potentially be anywhere now' given five days have passed since she was last seen.

'We can't rule out the fact that Cleo may be still in the area, we can't rule out the fact she's left the area and if she's left the area that is probably is our worse case scenario because that really paints a sinister picture with what's happened.

'It is a race against time. We're just trying to find answers.'

The entire area has been declared a potential crime scene, with the campsite closed and investigators begging for anyone who has been in the area to come forward.

Investigators called it 'a mystery we're trying to unravel', as they revealed 'quite a lot of people' had been staying at the Blowholes campground that night.

This means it will be even more difficult to check for tyre markings on the sandy road leading up to the ground, amid reports some campers heard a car speed off around 3am on Saturday morning.

Cleo's mum explained her daughter had been inside a red and grey sleeping bag beside the cot of her younger Isla when she disappeared.

'As we passed the (tent) divider, I went into the other room and the zipper was open,' she said. 'She was gone. The tent was completely open.'

Police have not ruled out any theories relating to her disappearance - including the possibility that she was abducted.

Ms Smith (pictured) said she woke up at 6am on Saturday to find their tent zipper was almost completely undone and her four-year-old daughter Cleo nowhere to be seen

The four-year-old was last seen by her parents (pictured with her mum Ellie and partner Jake Gliddon) about 1.30am on Saturday when she woke up and asked for a drink

They are considering the possibility that if she was kidnapped, Cleo could already have been moved interstate.

Her shattered mother said she prays her daughter is still close-by.

'We hold hope that she is still here somewhere. If I think about the idea of her being taken, a million things cross my mind,' Ms Smith said.

She said she doesn't believe Cleo left the tent on her own accord and said she would have asked for assistance unzipping her one-piece sleeping suit.

'She's lazy when it comes to walking. She'd never leave that tent alone,' she said, adding that someone has to know where the little girl is.

The devastated mum said the first thing she said to her partner when she realised her little girl was missing was: 'Cleo's gone, Jake'.

Ms Smith (pictured) has insisted Cleo would never leave the tent on her own and said she would have asked her mum for help unzipping her one-piece sleeping suit

The devastated couple (pictured) have asked the public to report anything they see 'big or small' to police to help bring their beloved Cleo back home

The couple began to frantically search their tent and the surrounding campsite in hopes they would find the four-year-old before notifying police.

Ms Smith said she has no clue what happened to her daughter and despite thinking of 'a million' different scenarios still feels helpless.

'The worst part is that there's nothing more we can do. It's out of our hands now and we feel hopeless and out of control,' she admitted.

She said while her friends, family and the local community had been 'so supportive', all she wanted was her 'beautiful, funny and delicate' daughter to come home.

The couple have asked the public to report anything they see 'big or small' to police.

'I know she can get through whatever she's going through,' a teary Ms Smith said.

'We're going to find her, we have to'.

An intense search for the missing four-year-old (pictured) resumed about midday local time on Tuesday after wild weather and a storm cell forced emergency services to call it quits

It marked the first time the couple have spoken publicly since little Cleo vanished, with Ms Smith issuing an urgent plea for help to social media on Sunday.

'It's been over 24 hours since I last saw the sparkle in my little girl's eyes!' she wrote on Facebook.

'Please help me find her! If you hear or see anything at all please call the police.'

An intense search for the missing girl resumed about midday local time on Tuesday after wild weather and a storm cell forced emergency services to temporarily call off the hunt.

Mounted police officers arrived at the scene to assist with homicide and major crime forensic investigators, as well as local police.

Investigators have searched a number of shacks along the coastline at the campsite, and a helicopter and drones were also deployed.

Cleo Smith woke up in the middle of the night and asked her parents for a sip of water hours before she disappeared

Detectives will continue to 'track and trace' guests at the campsite and comb through CCTV and dashcam footage provided by members of the public.

It has been confirmed that CCTV footage has been seized from roadhouses in the area as part of the investigation.

It comes after Daily Mail Australia revealed Cleo woke up in the middle of the night and asked her parents for a sip of water hours before she disappeared.

Police referenced an 'interaction' between the four-year-old and her parents about 1.30am on Saturday - sparking intense public scrutiny that something sinister occurred.

But Daily Mail Australia confirmed the detective was referring to something as innocuous as 'asking for a sip of water' in the middle of the night, before she rolled over and went back to sleep.

Mounted police officers arrived at the campsite (pictured) on Tuesday to assist with the search

A land search was suspended on Tuesday due to wild winds and an intense storm - but was later resumed in the desperate hope Cleo is still nearby

'There is nothing to suggest anything suspicious occurred in that moment,' a police source said.

'It was just a word. Nothing out of the ordinary took place.'

The detective who initially made the comment has since confirmed he was referring to Cleo asking for water.

'What I can confirm is that the four of them (the family) were in the family tent, Cleo was spoken to about 1.30am when she woke up to get a drink, everyone went back to sleep,' Insp Munday said.

Ms Smith and Mr Gliddon immediately alerted all other campers in the vicinity after waking at 6am to feed Isla a bottle and realising Cleo was nowhere to be seen.

There are fears Cleo (pictured) may have wandered off in the dead of night, only to fall into one of the many holes nearby. But close family friends insisted the four-year-old wouldn't do that

Police Inspector Jon Munday said experts have advised the four-year-old could have wandered up to 5.2km from her last known position if she is lost in the bush

By the time police and emergency services arrived, some guests had sent up private drones to search from the sky and others were using motorbikes to scour the area.

There has been no sign of the little girl since her parents' final brief exchange with her at 1.30am.

Mr Munday confirmed police had interviewed Cleo's biological father Daniel Staines at the Mandurah Police Station on Monday, where he willingly provided a statement.

'It is just normal police practice that we speak to everybody involved in the family,' the inspector said.

Cleo Smith, four, was last seen at about 1.30am on Saturday at the Blowholes campsite on the coast at Macleod, north of Carnarvon, in Western Australia (pictured, the campsite Cleo went missing from)

Police are probing all possibilities of Cleo's mystery disappearance - including kidnapping - and have been scouring bushland and stopping cars and caravans in search of the missing girl

Insp Munday vowed to continue 'throwing everything at this' for as long as it takes to bring Cleo home.

'We're keen to get this messaging out nationally to anybody. She could be anywhere by now which is really concerning.'

The inspector has been leading the search and repeatedly fronted the media to provide an update on Cleo's disappearance and the search efforts.

The camp ground is located 75km from Carnarvon and 875km from Perth with nothing but bushland and scrubs in between.

Some campers reportedly heard a vehicle speed off at about 3am on Saturday, but police have so far declined to comment on the matter.

Cleo's mother Ellie Smith and her partner Jake Gliddon immediately alerted all other campers in the vicinity when they realised she was missing (pictured, four-year-old Cleo left with mum Ellie)

Police say they have grave concerns for the child (pictured) and that 'everything is on the table' in the unusual and disturbing case

Cleo is estimated to be around 110 centimetres tall with honey blonde coloured hair and hazel eyes. She has reportedly visited the area with her mother on camping trips since she was a baby.

There are mounting concerns for her welfare, particularly if the four-year-old did simply wander off and remains exposed to the elements.

West Australian Premier Mark McGowan said his thoughts were with Cleo's loved ones during what undoubtedly was an 'extremely difficult' time.

'To every officer and volunteer involved in search can I say thank you for your efforts on behalf of the Smith family,' the leader state on Tuesday.

'To Cleo's family and on behalf of West Australians, we are thinking of you at this difficult time.'

Anyone with information is asked to contact police immediately on 131 444.
President Joe Biden met with moderate Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema at the White House on Tuesday as he took negotiations on his congressional agenda in his own hands.

The meeting with the two moderate senators came ahead of separate meetings with a group of moderate lawmakers and progressives as Biden tries to bring the warring wings of his Democratic party to consensus.

Biden has stepped up his involvement as the clock ticks toward the October 31 deadline for Congress to pass his infrastructure plan and his budget package of social programs.

'The president is certainly feeling an urgency to move things forward, to get things done,' White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Monday.

She added that 'we are at a point where we feel an urgency to move things forward, and the pickup of meetings is a reflection of that.'

The president will host separate meetings with Democratic moderates and members of the progressive wings of the party at the White House on Tuesday. That will include a sit-down with moderate Senator Kyrsten Sinema and follows his phone call with moderate Senator Joe Manchin on Monday evening.

President Joe Biden will take negotiations on his congressional agenda in his own hands, holding a series of meetings at the White House on Tuesday

President Biden met with Senators Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin at the White House ahead of his meetings with progressive and moderate lawmakers

Biden's meetings with moderates and liberals President Joe Biden will hold separate meetings at the White House on Tuesday with progressive and liberal members of his party. Here's who's on the list: Progressives Meeting (2 p.m.): Reps. Katherine Clark (Mass.), Pramila Jayapal (Wash.), Mark Pocan (Wis.), Ritchie Torres (N.Y.), Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.), Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) and Jimmy Gomez (D-Calif.) Moderates Meeting (4:30 p.m.): Reps. Josh Gottheimer (N.J.), Suzan DelBene (Wash.), Ami Bera (Calif.), Tom O'Halleran (D-Ariz.) and Mike Thompson (D-Calif.) and Sens. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) and Mark Warner (D-Va.) Advertisement

Manchin has expressed doubt a deal can be reached at the end of the month. And, in the 50-50 Senate, Biden needs every Democratic vote to get his agenda passed.

'There's an awful lot that's going on. I don't know how that would happen,' Manchin said Monday. 'But once you get a meeting of the minds, if you ever come to an agreement, a meeting of the minds, you might be able to work something out.'

Additionally, Biden will travel to his hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania, on Wednesday to push for public support of his agenda. And he'll take part in a town hall with CNN on Thursday night in Baltimore.

Biden also has traveled to Connecticut and Michigan to sell his plan. But he notably has avoided West Virginia and Arizona, whose Democratic senators he needs to get his agenda passed.

Psaki downplayed the importance of the stops.

'We are in a national media environment,' she said Monday, arguing that any public appearance can spread the White House message.

The White House meetings come as Democrats struggle to come to consensus on how to cut roughly in half Biden's social programs from its $3.5 trillion price tag to a $1.5 trillion or $2 trillion bill that Sinema and Manchin can support.

The talks started on Monday, setting the stage for the week of negotiations. Biden spent much of the day behind closed doors, working the phones.

He met with Rep. Pramila Jayapal, the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus who is leading talks for the liberals, at the White House and will host her as part of his meetings with progressives on Tuesday.

Manchin also met with Jayapal on Monday.

The Democratic senator from West Virginia also met with progressive Senator Bernie Sanders on Monday after reports Manchin wanted certain climate provisions cut from the budget package led to clashes between the two men.

Manchin and Sanders ran into each other outside the Capitol building on Monday night and hugged it out for the cameras, patting each other on the back and mugging for a photo shoot.

'Get a picture of us,' Manchin told reporters. 'We're talking.'

'We're talking. We're going to make some progress,' Sanders said.

The two men got into their respective vehicles, which were parked next to one another.

'Never give up, Bernie,' Manchin told the Vermont senator.

Rep. Pramila Jayapal, the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus who is leading talks for the liberals, met with Biden at the White House on Monday and will be there again Tuesday

Warring Senators Joe Manchin and Bernie Sanders ran into each other outside the Capitol building on Monday night and hugged it out for the cameras

Manchin and Sinema want Biden's ambitious $3.5 trillion package of social programs - paid for with a mix of tax cuts - lowered in size and scope.

Meanwhile, progressives, led by Jayapal, have said they will not support Biden's infrastructure plan without a deal on the package of social programs, which contain a mix of programs involving education, health care and fighting climate change.

A series of events at the end of the month is driving the push to pass the president's agenda: transportation funding runs out at the end of October, Biden needs to head to Rome for the G20 summit and Democrats need a win ahead of the Virginia governor's election, where their candidate Terry McAuliffee is struggling.

The Nov. 2 gubernatorial election in Virginia is being seen a referendum on Biden. The result will be used to forecast Democrats chances of retraining control over Congress in next year's midterm election.
A teenager has claimed she was spiked by injection inside a Nottingham nightclub amid reports of women also being needled with a suspected noxious substance at venues in the Midlands, the northwest and Scotland.

A 20-year-old man has been arrested by Nottinghamshire Police on suspicion of drug offences and causing or administering a poison or noxious substance following three reports of women being spiked by injection at two nightclubs in the city within the last fortnight.

Women in Liverpool, Edinburgh and Dundee of victims have reported being pierced with a needle in their leg, hands and back before waking up with no recollection of the night before - symptoms similar to those who have had their drinks spiked with so-called date rape drugs.

Detectives say they are currently reviewing CCTV footage as well as toxicological reports to identify what substance was contained within the needles.

A police spokesperson added, though, that the force does not believe the incidents are targeted and they are 'distinctly different' from anything seen previously due to victims disclosing 'a physical scratch-type sensation before feeling very unwell'.

A statement said: 'This is subtly different from feelings of intoxication through alcohol according to some victims.'

Zara Owen, a 19-year-old university student, said she was spiked while out at Nottingham's Pryzm nightclub on October 11 before waking up the next morning with a limp and a 'pinprick' on her leg.

Zara Owen said she woke up 'with a limp' before finding a 'pinprick' on her leg the morning after attending Nottingham's Pryzm nightclub

The entrance to Nottingham's Pryzm nightclub, where Ms Owen claims to have been spiked by a needle amid similar reports elsewhere in the UK

Zara Owen said she found a pinprick on her leg the next day (pictured above). She said she had no hangover, but was suffering a sharp agonising pain in her leg

She recalled entering the venue with friends and made her way to the bar, but added that was the last thing she could remember before waking up in her bed the next day.

Ms Owen tweeted: 'I woke up fine, no hangover or anything but a sharp agonising pain in my leg.

'I told my mum and she thought it might've been a pulled muscle but then I realised I didn't remember anything.

'I had to go to campus and I realised I had a massive limp. If my memory was there I would've neglected this but this is a thing that never, ever happens to me and it really confused me.

'I decided to go to hospital to get checked out but after eight hours of only having a triage and background info taken from me, I decided to go home.

'The next morning I felt my leg and examined it to a further extent as I didn't get any help medically. I touched the part where I was in the most pain and I found a pinprick. I had been spiked.

'I was in jeans. A needle went through thick denim straight into my leg.'

Stealth, another Nottingham nightclub, said it had also received reports of two women feeling unwell within the last fortnight as a result of being spiked.

One 19-year-old woman said she was targeted with a mystery liquid as she left the venue in on October 12.

Ellie Simpson said her sister felt a 'pinch on the back of her arm' before blacking out and being taken to hospital, where blood samples were taken.

The entrance to Stealth, another Nottingham nightclub, which says it also received reports of two women feeling unwell as a result of being spiked with needles

Nottinghamshire Police has said a local male has been arrested, but did not state which incident this is in connection with

Ms Simpson, 21, added that she was 'in shock' and her sister had not been out clubbing since the incident took place.

She told the BBC: 'Normally she's the type of person that would stick up for herself, so I think if it could happen to her it could happen to somebody who is more vulnerable,

'I don't think it's quite yet sunk in what's happened to her.

'It's really frightening because I don't know how you're meant to prevent it.

'Obviously you can put your hand over your drink but how do you stop somebody stabbing you with a needle?'

A statement from Stealth said: 'We, much like our customers, are concerned by the national news reports about spiking in bars and nightclubs around the UK, and believe it is absolutely unacceptable for women to have tp live in fear of being spiked on nights out.

'Here at Stealth, in recent weeks two of our customers have reported feeling unwell and suspected they may have been spiked. Both were seen by our on site medic who made sure they were appropriately looked after, were able to safely leave the venue, and we are currently liaising with police to aid in their ongoing investigations.

'Customer safety is our top priority and our aim is to create a safe environment for people to come together and enjoy a night out.'

Nottinghamshire Police said a local male has been bailed following a report of an incident in Lower Parliament Street on October 16.

The man was arrested on suspicion of possession of class A and class B and cause administer poison or noxious thing with intent to injure, aggrieve and annoy.



A police spokesperson said: 'We are currently investigating reports of individuals suspecting that their drinks have been spiked.

'Linked to this a small number of victims have said that they may have felt a scratching sensation as if someone may have spiked them physically. Consequently, we are actively investigating all these reports.

'We have a dedicated group of officers currently carrying out CCTV enquires at various venues where we have received such reports.

'Our enquiries into these incidents are ongoing but we understand people may be concerned about incidents like this and want to reassure the public we are working incredibly hard to investigate.'

The statement continued: 'What we need is that if any person experiences such an incident whilst on a night out that they or their friends make contact with us immediately in order that we can investigate at the earliest opportunity and secure evidence quickly.'

It follows reports from Edinburgh and Dundee, too.

Police Scotland said it is also investigating reports of a female being spiked by injection and enquiries were at an early stage.

Victims have reported waking up with a pinprick surrounded by a giant bruise, as well as no memory of the night before.

Those targeted with needles also carry the risk of shared or unclean needles being used, posing threats of HIV, Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C.

One woman who claimed to have been spiked said she now has to go for monthly blood tests following a night out with friends last week.

She tweeted: 'So after seeing recent posts and thinking back to the weekend when I was out I phoned my doctor who confirmed it's likely that I was spiked by injection.

"I now need to go for monthly blood tests. Please please just be so vigilant when out. I can't confirm where it happened sadly.'

Another woman also took to social media to report being targeted with a needle.

She added: 'Please be careful on nights out. Last Saturday I was spiked in a club in through an injection in my hand.

'Luckily I was with people I trust who looked after me, but it was terrifying.

'I was sober when this happened and it shows protecting your drinks isn't enough.

'I don't remember the evening at all but was very unwell the next few days. Please be careful on nights out and if you do not feel right tell somebody.. Stay safe. X'

A petition calling for nightclubs to be legally required to search guests on arrival for weapons and 'date rape' drugs has now reached more than 75,000 signatures following the reports.

@Edi_Anonymous, an Instagram page that publishes anonymous submissions, said it had received multiple reports of women being spiked at nightclub venues

It says: 'There are too many cases of weapons and 'date rape' drugs being used in clubs.

'It begs the question, why aren't nightclubs required to do more to prevent harmful items making it into their clubs?'

Nottingham East MP Nadia Whittome added that she is in contact with police following Ms Owen's report of being spiked with a needle.

She tweeted: 'I'm aware of extremely concerning reports of suspected spiking in Nottingham nightclubs, including by injection, and am in discussion with @nottswomenscent.

'If you have any information, please get in touch with @nottspolice, @nottswomenscent or me.'

Social media reports also emerged of a woman wearing a backless dress being injected in the back in Liverpool.

However, Merseyside Police said it could not find any evidence 'that any criminality occurred'.

A spokesperson told MailOnline: 'We have been made aware of a social media post reporting that a woman was injected in the back in a Liverpool city centre nightclub and a report was received by Merseyside Police.

'We have worked closely with the club and examined CCTV footage. We have fully investigated the matter and we cant find evidence that any criminality has occurred.

'No formal statement has been made by the woman and no other persons have come forward.'

MailOnline has approached Nottinghamshire Police for comment.
Caitlyn Jenner is staying tight-lipped about her former stepdaughter Kourtney Kardashian's engagement to Travis Barker.

DailyMail.com spotted the Olympic gold medalist Monday and asked about the pending nuptials and if she'd be walking her down the aisle. But instead of sending her congratulations, Caitlyn stayed totally silent.

It comes as no surprise as the 71-year-old has previously gone on record to confirm she no longer talks to the elder Kardashian sisters, despite raising them as her own while married to matriarch Kris Jenner for 23 years.

Kourtney and rocker Travis announced their engagement Sunday evening with a photo of them embracing on a California beach surrounded by roses.

DailyMail.com spotted Caitlyn Jenner on Monday and she refused to comment on former stepdaughter Kourtney Kardashian's engagement

DailyMail.com asked about the pending nuptials and if she'd be walking her down the aisle. But instead of sending her congratulations, Caitlyn stayed totally silent

Caitlyn was seen wearing and Olympic t-shirt, jeans and sneakers as she ran errands on Monday

Kourtney and rocker Travis Barker announced their engagement Sunday with a photo of them embracing on a California beach surrounded by roses

A look at Kourtney's massive engagement ring was posted by Barker's daughter Alabama

During her recent failed campaign for California governor, Caitlyn received zero support from the Kardashian clan, though she does retain a good relationship with biological daughters Kendall and Kylie Jenner.

DailyMail.com also asked if she planned to run for governor of California next time around, and again she refused to respond.

Instead she got into her truck where her pet Labrador was waiting and flashed the peace sign before speeding off to enjoy her Starbucks.

Last month it was revealed that Caitlyn specifically told the Kardashian and Jenner kids to stay out of her campaign to protect their brands.

'I called up each one of them and said, ''Hey, this is what I'm looking to do,'' and I said, ''I want you guys out of it,''' Caitlyn said on a podcast episode.

'You know, politics can be a dirty business and they have brands, they have all the other things that they're doing, they have companies that they're doing,' Caitlyn said. 'I don't want you involved, I don't want one dime, I don't want one tweet, one Instagram post.'

In 2017, Caitlyn admitted her relationship with the Kardashians had soured.

She confessed: 'I don't talk about that side of the family, I spent 23 years of my life with those kids it's difficult to talk about it, terribly terribly sad.

'I've lost all relationship with them, yes, I don't talk to any of them anymore.'

Caitlyn has previously gone on record to confirm she no longer talks with the elder Kardashian sisters, despite raising them as her own for 23 years

She also received zero support from the Kardashians or her daughters Kendall and Kylie when she ran for governor of California

Meanwhile, things are looking up Kourtney.

The 45-year-old Blink 182 drummer popped the question to his now-fiancee, 42, on Sunday at the Rosewood Miramar Hotel in Montecito, California with a giant diamond ring said to be worth $1 million.

Kourtney shared images of the lavish proposal on Instagram with the caption 'forever,' as they embraced amid a sea of red roses.

The marriage will mark Kourtney's first and Travis' third. The couple have been dating for less than a year.

She said 'yes' amid a sea of red roses in the shape of a heart surrounded by white candles as the sun was setting, at which point he slipped an engagement ring onto her finger.

Barker's daughter Alabama shared a first look at the massive sparkler  which was oval shaped and appeared to be at least 15 carats  as they enjoyed an intimate engagement dinner with family and friends after the proposal, with additional footage shared throughout the evening. The ring is estimated to be worth at least $1million.

The proposal took place at 6.30pm as the sun was setting and family members from both sides were in attendance to usher in the happy couple.

Kim and Khloe Kardashian, Kylie and Kendall Jenner, Corey Gamble, Kris Jenner, and Tristan Thompson were there for the proposal and engagement party as well as Barker's kids: Landon, 18, Alabama, 15, and step-daughter Atiana De La Hoya.

Notably missing was Kourtney's former stepfather Caitlyn.

The proposal took place at 6.30pm on Sunday with family members including Khloe Kardashian, Kim Kardashian, Kylie Jenner, and Tristan Thompson all in attendance, as well as Barker's kids.

The marriage will mark Kourtney's first and Travis' third. The couple have been dating for less than a year

After she said yes she was seen wrapping her arms around the drummer as they shared an intimate moment

Kris Jenner also shared this idyllic beach shot from the event, along with a touching message on Instagram

'Kourtney looked very surprised to see Khloe and Tristan there,' a source told E!.

'Travis escorted Kourtney down to the beach, where he had red and white florals set up in the shape of a heart. It looked very romantic. I could see Kourtney smiling from ear to ear and put her hand over her mouth looking surprised. The family cheered for them and went back into the hotel,' they added.

Barker's son Landon and daughter Alabama both gushed over their new stepmom-to-be as they shared moments from the intimate dinner celebration afterwards, which featured a table filled with red roses to match the romantic proposal and a curated menu.

The loved up duo were longtime friends for a decade, before they began dating in the latter part of 2020, and went Instagram official just after Valentine's Day.

There had been numerous reports that the pair had talked about marriage and both had made it clear that they were in it for the long haul with social media posts, and he even got her name tattooed on his chest.

'They are head over heels and never experienced love like this,' an insider told E!. 'Kourtney is the happiest. Travis adores her and treats her so well. It's very different than her other relationships and all positive.'

Another added: 'It was an instant connection and bond ever since they became romantically involved. They are in it for the long haul. Everyone in the family adores Travis and their families mesh seamlessly."
BBC boss Tim Davie has reportedly offered to meet a prominent black media executive over claims he effectively 'blocked' him from a senior role working with Radio 1.

Marcus Ryder, a former head of current affairs programmes at BBC Scotland, is understood to have been a 'preferred candidate' to become executive editor for Radio 1s Newsbeat bulletins and the news service of the Asian Network.

The 50-year-old, who holds an MBE, was last week named one of Britain's most influential black figures for his work as a media diversity champion.

But sources told the Daily Mail last week that Mr Davie raised concerns about appointing someone who is regarded as a 'campaigner' in the industry, meaning the move could not go ahead.

Mr Ryder has formerly questioned BBC rules blocking black journalists from attending Black Lives Matter events and asked why there are 'so few senior people of colour' at leading broadcasting corporations.

But along editorial lines, Mr Ryder said he had only publicly disagreed with the BBC twice since leaving the corporation.

Marcus Ryder (pictured), a former head of current affairs programmes at BBC Scotland, is understood to have been a 'preferred candidate' to become executive editor for Newsbeat and Asian Network news

Sources told the Daily Mail last week that Tim Davie (pictured) raised concerns about appointing someone who is regarded as a 'campaigner' in the industry, meaning the move could not go ahead

Mr Ryder today told the Guardian he had only twice publicly disagreed with the BBC's editorial lines since leaving the corporation (pictured: The BBC Head Office in London)

One was over the censuring of BBC presenter Naga Munchetty over her on-air comments about then US-President Donald Trump.

The other was when the BBC broadcast a presenter saying the N-word in full during a report about a racially aggravated attack in Bristol.

He posted on Twitter on Friday, when news of his 'blocking' by Mr Davie was reported in the Daily Mail, saying: 'Diversity and inclusion is not a campaigning issue'.

The BBC denies the director-general slapped a 'veto' on his appointment.

And today the Guardian reports that Mr Davie, the BBC's director general, has offered to meet with Mr Ryder following the reports.

People with knowledge of the BBCs recruitment process reportedly told the paper that executives were concerned that the government would perceive Mr Ryders potential appointment as 'controversial'.

A source previously claimed Mr Davie felt 'burnt' by the row over Left-leaning ex-HuffPost UK editor Jess Brammar, who was appointed to run the BBC's news operation, and 'wasn't up for' another controversy.

The source told the Mail: 'Tim's whole problem is that we don't hire campaigners.

'Of course the counterargument to that is that you can leave your politics at the door and come in but I think Tim had been rather burnt by the Jess Brammar thing. He wasn't up for the whole row going around again.'

On Thursday Danielle Dwyer, an assistant editor for Radio 1 and 1Xtra Newsbeat, was appointed to the role instead

The insider added that Jamie Angus, controller of BBC News output and commissioning, had wanted to hire Mr Ryder and tensions were 'ratcheted up' amid claims he pursued the appointment.

Describing the situation as 'not a very happy episode', the source said: 'Tim has made it clear that he is not in favour.'

On Thursday Danielle Dwyer, an assistant editor for Radio 1 and 1Xtra Newsbeat, was appointed to the role instead.

Mr Ryder, who has worked for the BBC and for Chinese state-owned broadcaster CGTN, currently holds a leading role at research body the Sir Lenny Henry Centre for Media Diversity.

He has co-edited a book called Black British Lives Matter, which will be published next month, and also co-wrote another book called Access All Areas: The Diversity Manifesto for TV and Beyond.

Earlier this year, Mr Ryder also waded into the row over Jess Brammar (pictured), writing that reports BBC board member Sir Robbie Gibb had tried to block her appointment were 'serious'

He has formerly questioned BBC rules blocking black journalists from attending Black Lives Matter events and asked why there are 'so few senior people of colour' at leading broadcasting corporations.

Earlier this year, he also waded into the row over Miss Brammar, writing that reports BBC board member Sir Robbie Gibb had tried to block her appointment were 'serious'.

Mr Ryder, who is understood to have had three interviews relating to the role, told the Mail that he was approached by the BBC to apply for the position.

'As far as I'm aware, I don't know anybody who blocked me. But I obviously didn't get the job,' he said. 'I would be very happy to address any issues anybody has with regards to my impartiality.'

Mr Ryder added that he had not advocated anything about diversity that went against the BBC policies.

'As far as I'm aware, I don't know anybody who blocked me. But I obviously didn't get the job,' he said. 'I would be very happy to address any issues anybody has with regards to my impartiality.'

Mr Ryder added that he had not advocated anything about diversity that went against the BBC policies.

And he said that when he had been critical of BBC editorial decisions  such as during the row over Naga Munchetty's comments about Donald Trump  the corporation had reversed their decision.

Mr Ryder added that he had not advocated anything about diversity that went against the BBC policies. And he said that when he had been critical of BBC editorial decisions  such as during the row over Naga Munchetty's comments about Donald Trump  the corporation had reversed their decision

'It's the first I have heard of this. I really hope it's not true,' he said.

The BBC said that, after not appointing anyone through an external process, it then carried out an internal recruitment search which saw Miss Dwyer appointed.

Before the new appointment was confirmed, the BBC had said of the process: 'We'd never comment on who has or hasn't applied for a job.

'After an external search, BBC News has decided that as this role is bringing together departments from across the country, we are looking for an internal candidate with an existing understanding of the BBC, so are not taking forward any external candidates for this particular post.

'This is a BBC News decision. It is wrong to suggest any veto has been exercised on any candidate.'
Global approval of U.S. leadership shot of nearly 20 points since President Joe Biden took over from former President Donald Trump.

Gallup polling of approval of U.S. leadership in 46 countries and territories hit 49 per cent, up from the 30 per cent it sat at the end of Trump's presidency, according to Gallup report out Tuesday.

The last time it stood at 49 per cent was in early 2009, when President Barack Obama was first in office.

Approval of U.S. leadership is measured in 46 countries and territories by Gallup, which found it ticked up by nearly 20 points since President Joe Biden took over from former President Donald Trump

Obama was the U.S.'s first black president.

During Obama's eight years in office, global approval stayed in the 40s.

Then in 2016, when Trump was elected, it sunk down to 30 per cent.

The highest international approval Trump received was 33 per cent in 2019.

Trump came into office on an 'America First' agenda pulling the U.S. out of the Paris climate accord, the Iran nuclear deal and disparaged NATO, telling allies that they needed to pay more for defense.

As he left office, he held a record high in global disapproval, at 44 per cent.

That number is still high, but decreasing, currently standing at 36 per cent.

When Biden came into office in January he tried to assure allies that 'America is back.'

He rejoined the Paris climate agreement on his first day in office.

President Donald Trump's global leadership approval number stayed in the 30s throughout his four years in office as he deployed an 'America First' agenda, doing things such as pulling the U.S. out of the Paris climate accord

President Joe Biden arrived in office telling allies 'America is back' and has higher approval numbers than Trump in all but three countries: Russia, Serbia and Benin

Next week he'll leave for Rome to travel to the G20 leaders summit and then to COP26, a major climate conference.

Biden, however, was in charge during the U.S. disastrous pull-out from Afghanistan.

Gallup found that ratings of American leadership went up in European countries, with the highest spikes in Portugal, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden, where it jumped more than 40 points.

The U.S. also improved its rating among all the countries in the G7, increasing 38 points in Canada, 36 points in Germany, 30 points in the U.K., 22 points in Italy, 18 points in France and 11 points in Japan.

Russian perceptions of American leadership got more negative under Biden.

It was among only three countries - which also included Serbia and Benin - where U.S. leadership was viewed more negatively.
The head of the NHS today said the health service was never overwhelmed by Covid during the height of the pandemic.

Amanda Pritchard, chief executive of NHS England, told MPs expanding critical care, introducing new treatments and rolling out the vaccine prevented wards from being overrun over the last year-and-a-half.

However, medics who worked on the frontlines during the first and second waves of immediately slammed their boss, accusing her of 'gaslighting'.

Mrs Pritchard also warned the NHS is on course for a 'tough winter' and that a rise in Covid-infected patients would have a knock-on effect on how much other, planned care could be carried out.

She suggested pressures on the health service could see thousands more hospital treatments cancelled. More than 1.5million NHS ops were cancelled or delayed due to the chaos of the pandemic.

Her comments were echoed by Health Secretary Sajid Javid, who told MPs there is 'huge pressure' on the health service in England.

Mr Javid admitted there are 'shortages' of 999 call handlers after ex Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt raised the issue in the House of Commons.

Meanwhile, paramedics also warned six-hour waits for ambulances could become 'commonplace' this winter.

The College of Paramedics claimed ambulances have been forced to wait outside of hospitals because of packed A&E wards, and warned that the problems will only get larger as winter demand picks up.

Meanwhile, Labour warned of a 'winter crisis of misery for patients'.

Amanda Pritchard (right) told MPs expanding critical care, introducing new treatments and rolling out the vaccine prevented hospitals from becoming overrun over the last year-and-a-half. Sajid Javid (left) admitted there are 'shortages' of 999 call handlers after former Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt raised the issue in the House of Commons

Asked about her appointment during the Health and Social Care Select Committee, Mrs Pritchard said she was proud the health service avoided becoming overwhelmed at the height of the pandemic.

She said: 'I've worked for the NHS for 20 years and I've been very proud to be part of the NHS and in fact never more so than in the last couple of years.

'I think the report that your committee produced certainly caused me great pride in what the NHS has achieved over the last two years.

'The way that critical care services were stood up and expanded, the speed of new treatments like dexamethasone, the rollout of the vaccine programme  all of which meant the NHS was not overwhelmed.

'And we did see sadly that not every country was in that position.'

Her comments provoked fury from NHS nurses and doctors on social media, who claimed the NHS was overwhelmed even now.

Surgical nurse Sarah Angela said: 'The NHS was overwhelmed before Covid. Covid made it worse. Now we're dangling by a thread.'

And global health nurse Marc Robinson said: 'Having worked as a nurse and led on wellbeing and phyiosological safety for the NHS during previous Covid waves I would beg to differ.

'More Governmental gaslighting of hard working NHS staff.'

Six-hour ambulance waits to be 'commonplace' this winter Patients waiting at least six hours for an ambulance will be 'commonplace' this winter, a paramedic has warned. The UK faces a 'bleak' few months amid reports of increasing waits for A&E care. People who suffer heart attacks or strokes are likely to be the worst affected. The warning comes as health services across the country experience four- to six-hour delays in getting to patients, increasing numbers of ambulances waiting outside hospitals and a backlog of 999 calls. Richard Webber, a paramedic and spokesman for the College of Paramedics, said: 'This issue has been bad for a while, hospitals have been so much busier. 'Patients are being admitted and what's happening is they cannot move them straight into A&E, so ambulances have become cabs waiting to unload outside hospitals. 'Our members are reporting delays of four to six hours in getting to people, which means there can be up to 15 ambulances waiting outside hospitals with patients inside. 'This also creates a backlog of 999 calls. I'm talking (about) up to 300 calls for a service to deal with, leaving people to wait at home potentially in need of serious medical attention. 'Everything is therefore taking longer; staff are dealing with three or four incidents every shift, when they would usually do as many as eight.' Advertisement

During the select committee meeting Mrs Pritchard was also questioned on whether the NHS has enough enough 999 call handlers.

Committee chair Mr Hunt said he had heard anecdotal reports of 'very long periods of time being wasted for 999 calls to be picked up, sometimes as long as 10 minutes, which obviously if someone's having a cardiac arrest is far too long'.

Mrs Amanda Pritchard said there had been a 'very significant increase in demand' and part of the answer was 'the recruitment and training of additional call handlers to respond to that increase in demand'.

Pressed on the issue, she said 'we do need to have more capacity in that call handling part of the process'.

She added: 'It's part of the 55million that we've given to ambulance services to help them now invest in additional resilience over the winter period.'

Speaking in the Commons after grilling Mrs Pritchard, Mr Hunt raised warnings about pressures in emergency care and a shortage of 999 call handlers.

Mr Javid replied: 'There are shortages across the NHS  [Mr Hunt] has mentioned 999 callers, there's a huge pressure at the moment on 111 calls as well and emergency care generally, including ambulance services.

'There's a significant amount of support that has been put in, especially over the last few months, especially additional funding and we are setting out in a detailed plan coming shortly  in the next couple of weeks  with the NHS exactly what more we will be doing.'

Elsewhere in the Commons, shadow health secretary Jon Ashworth highlighted lengthy waits for patients trying to secure a hospital bed and examples of ambulances backed up outside hospitals.

He said: 'This is an NHS not just under pressure but an NHS under water. What is he personally going to do to avert a winter crisis of misery for patients?'

Mr Javid replied: 'We can all see this wherever we live, our constituents are seeing this.

'It is picking up over the winter and usually winters are tough for the NHS but this winter, I think, is going to be particularly tough and the Government has set out the reasons why.

'The pandemic is still ongoing, this flu season will be particularly tough, I think, and that's why we're having, for example, the largest flu vaccination programme alongside the Covid programme this year.'

Mr Javid said extra money is being put into the NHS, before noting: 'We are going to set out very shortly with the NHS a detailed programme for the winter and how we can better deal with the pressures.' 

The UK faces a 'bleak' few months amid reports of increasing waits for A&E care. People who suffer heart attacks or strokes are likely to be the worst affected.

Around 3.7million third vaccines have been dished out to over-50s and the immuno-compromised in England as of Sunday (purple line), the latest date data is available for. But some 8.5million people are currently eligible for a booster dose, having received their second jab six months ago (green line). means 4.8million people may be suffering from waning immunity

Nearly 5MILLION vulnerable adults have yet to have their Covid booster vaccine Nearly 5million vulnerable adults have yet to receive a Covid booster vaccine, official data shows after Downing Street admitted Britain faces a 'challenging' winter. Despite the NHS top-up programme launching over a month ago, only around 3.7million out of the 8.5m eligible people in England have received the crucial third dose. No10's scientists approved plans to revaccinate all healthy over-50s, frontline health staff and carers and patients with underlying medical conditions six months after their second dose, after evidence showed it was the 'sweet spot' for immunity. The lagging rollout has left around 4.8m people with sub-optimal immunity as the country moves into the colder months and faces the double threat of increasing case numbers and flu. SAGE adviser 'Professor Lockdown' Neil Ferguson, an epidemiologist at Imperial College London, today insisted it was 'critical we accelerate' the booster drive to give ourselves the best chance of avoiding having to bring back curbs. And Sir David King, who was the Government's chief scientific adviser from 2000 to 2007, criticised the rollout for moving 'extremely slowly'. Amanda Pritchard, chief executive of the NHS, insisted the health service has 'plenty of capacity' to vaccinate all eligible people immediately but said people are not coming forward quickly enough. She told MPs on the Health Committee: 'It's really important that we now absolutely do get the message out that is Covid is still with us.' Advertisement

Patients waiting at least six hours for an ambulance will be 'commonplace' this winter, a paramedic has warned.

The UK faces a 'bleak' few months amid reports of increasing waits for A&E care. People who suffer heart attacks or strokes are likely to be the worst affected.

Richard Webber, a paramedic and spokesman for the College of Paramedics, said: 'This issue has been bad for a while, hospitals have been so much busier.

'Patients are being admitted and what's happening is they cannot move them straight into A&E, so ambulances have become cabs waiting to unload outside hospitals.

'Our members are reporting delays of four to six hours in getting to people, which means there can be up to 15 ambulances waiting outside hospitals with patients inside.

'This also creates a backlog of 999 calls. I'm talking (about) up to 300 calls for a service to deal with, leaving people to wait at home potentially in need of serious medical attention.

'Everything is therefore taking longer; staff are dealing with three or four incidents every shift, when they would usually do as many as eight.'

Mr Webber said paramedics were often working three hours more than their shift and were having to travel further, leaving many 'tired and burnt out'.

He said the West Midlands had been the worst-affected region, with waits for ambulances of over eight hours 'not uncommon'.

An East Midlands Ambulance Service spokesperson described being under 'sustained pressure' since April, while the North East Ambulance Service reported losing around 120 hours to handover delays in one day.

On Tuesday, Lancashire Teaching Hospitals declared an 'internal critical incident' due to staffing shortages and overall demand for its services.

Mr Webber added: 'There is a very long winter ahead for us, usually summer is seen as a respite, but this hasn't been the case this time around so it's going to feel like one very long winter.

'I believe waits of six hours or more will become commonplace.

'The ones who will be at risk are those left at home potentially injured but unassessed  those who suffer heart attacks and strokes will be even more at risk as there may not be a vehicle nearby to ensure patients get to specialist centres.

'I would say at the moment we are where we usually are in January  in some cases the army is being brought in to support, so what will happen once we reach the peak of winter?

'Winter respiratory problems will get worse  this is all still to come, which is proving to be quite a bleak picture.'

A West Midlands Ambulance Service spokesman said: 'The whole of the NHS remains under severe pressure; hospital handover delays unfortunately mean patients waiting longer for an ambulance response.

'We are working with all local NHS partners to reduce delays so crews can respond to the next incident as quickly as possible.'
Six people, including an American, were tortured and killed - some shot, some burned, and all doused with gasoline - on a remote ranch in Costa Rica.

Stephen Paul Sandusky, 61, of Key West, Florida, was found on his 250-plus acre cattle and coffee farm along with five Costa Rican victims who arrived there on Sunday in Llano Bonito de Buenos Aires de Puntarenas.

Sandusky, a retired father of two, was a Costa Rican resident, according to Organismo de Investigacion Judicial (OIJ) director Walter Espinoza.

Sandusky had been living in the country since 2000, according to Q Costa Rica.

The outlet reported that several employees from his restaurant in Dominical de Osa, which closed between 2004 and 2005, had sued him for severance pay and bonuses. In proceedings, Sandusky allegedly said that he had fired the workers because they had stolen from him.

Afterward, according to Sandusky's lawyer Jorge Enrique Infante, the American moved to quiet Llano Bonito and began farming because he 'wanted to live in peace.'

Currently, the Organismo de Investigacion have no leads in the slaughter - they were called out to the ranch in Llano Bonito after victims' family members found their relatives' bodies on the property

'He was a very noble, kind, and generous person. He told me that he wanted to learn agriculture and that is why he bought the farm,' Infante told Q Costa Rica.

'He started with cattle and then he realized that he had a small profit. Years ago we stopped having a professional relationship but about a year ago I ran into him in a supermarket and we were talking. Yes, he told me that they robbed him a lot.'

A security guard on Sandusky's Llano Bonito property, Edgar Humberto Rojas Blanco, was shot dead by a former police officer with the surname Saldana in August of 2006, the local outlet reported.

Sandusky reportedly appeared as a witness in the trial against the officer - Rojas had reportedly called Sandusky before he was shot and told him that the officer had threatened to shoot him, and that he was hiding in a shrub beside a river.

The security guard, Q Costa Rica said, had accused Saldana of stealing zinc sheets and purling - the police officer was sentenced on November 26, 2006 to 12 years in prison for the murder.

Sandusky was one of more than 6,200 victims of a millionaire scam attributed to Osvaldo Villalobos, whose companies Ofinter and 'The Brothers' embezzled investors with the false promise of interest, according to La Nacion.

The ranch where the massacre took place is one of two than Sandusky owns in the Buenos Aires area, the publication reported.

Sandusky's siblings, Michael and Constance Sandusky, were unwilling to comment when contacted by DailyMail.com

The other five victims - 44-year-old Daniel Quesada Cascante, his 41-year-old wife Villarevia Rivera, their 20-year-old son Daniel Quesada, a woman named Zuniga Rodriguez, 40, and a man named Borbon Munoz, 38 - went to the property on Sunday to repair agricultural machinery, according to TVSur.

Daniel Quesada Cascante, 44 (pictured left), his 20-year-old son (pictured second from right) and his 41-year-old wife Villarevia Rivera (pictured right) were among the six tortured and killed on the remote ranch in the Puntarenas province of Costa Rica

A broken window and signs of a search inside the home on the property (pictured) have lead authorities to believe that theft could have been the killers' motive

The slaying shook the peaceful nation, which has the lowest homicide rate in Central America at 11.1 per every 100,000 inhabitants.

A broken window and signs of a search inside the home on the property have lead authorities to believe the mass murder could have been a robbery gone wrong.

Sandusky and another of the victims were found burned - one of them was found in the cargo bed of a 'fully-burned' pick up truck on the property.

The two women, Rodriguez and Rivera - both shot in the head - were found in front of the vehicle. In an alley about 300 feet away was a man's body riddled with gunshot wounds - although their corpses weren't burned like the other two victims, the three were covered in fuel.

The remote property can only be accessed by a private road, about two miles from the closest public street, police said

The two women, Rodriguez and Rivera (pictured) - both shot in the head - were found in front of the vehicle. In an alley about 300 feet away was a man's body riddled with gunshot wounds - although their corpses weren't burned like the other two victims, the three were covered in fuel

Relatives of the victims traveled to the property after their family members hadn't returned home, stumbling upon the carnage at the farm.

'We walked in and found my son's body fully burned, the scene with the women around the car, it was hard to find all the bodies burned and wrapped in tires and some with shots,' Eladio Quesada, the slain 44-year-old's father, told local news outlet AHCR Noticias.

Police were called to the scene at 1 am.

The remote property can only be accessed using a four-wheel-drive vehicle on a gravel road, about two miles from the closest public street, and through several streams police said - the OIJ amassed a team of forensic analysts and detectives from the nation's capital, San Jose, six hours away.

The United States Embassy was unable to give further details about Sandusky, they said, due to privacy laws. DailyMail.com could not reach the OIJ for comment at press time.
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Vladimir Putin today showed off Russia's military strength to the world as massive 'invasion' war games were staged in the Black Sea near the Ukraine and dozens more Kremlin warships joined Chinese gunboats off Japan.

More than 40 Russian vessels and 30-plus military planes and 20 helicopters took part in exercises in Crimea, with missile launches, practice bombings and landings by amphibious forces.

Thousands of miles away, a Russian and Chinese fleet sailed through the narrow Tsugaru Strait between mainland Japan and its northern island Hokkaido, putting Tokyo on high alert.

The imperious display comes amid soaring tensions after it emerged this week that China had tested a new hypersonic nuclear-capable missile, taking world powers by surprise with a fearsome technology capable of striking virtually anywhere on the planet.

Counterbalancing the threat posed by China is the new Aukus alliance forged by the US, UK and Australia last month.

Warships from those countries were this week sailing through the Bay of Bengal, led by the Royal Navy's new flagship carrier, HMS Queen Elizabeth, on the fleet's way back from a deployment in the South China Sea.

Washington on Monday said it was 'watching closely' after it was reported that China launched a new hypersonic missile in August, which experts warned indicated that Beijing's arsenal was more advanced than previously thought.

BAY OF BENGAL: Warships and warplanes of the new Aukus alliance travelling through the Bay of Bengal on Sunday led by the Royal Navy's new flagship carrier, HMS Queen Elizabeth, on the fleet's way back from a deployment in the South China Sea

BLACK SEA: BTR-82A armored personnel carriers land from a large landing ship during an exercise in amphibious landing on an unimproved shore held by army corps and naval infantry units of the Russian Black Sea Fleet at the Opuk range on Monday. Over 8,000 servicemen and about 350 items of military hardware and weaponry are taking part in the drill.

BLACK SEA: A BTR-82A armored personnel carrier lands from a large warship during exercises in the Crimea on Monday

SEA OF JAPAN: Russian and Chinese vessels sailing through the Tsugaru Strait, which separates the Sea of Japan from the Pacific

BLACK SEA: Raptor patrol boats take part in an exercise in amphibious landing on an unimproved shore held by army corps and naval infantry units of the Russian Black Sea Fleet

BLACK SEA: PTS-3 amphibious carriers take part in an exercise in amphibious landing on an unimproved shore held by army corps and naval infantry units of the Russian Black Sea Fleet

BLACK SEA: Mil Mi-8AMTSh and Mi-28N helicopters take part in an exercise in amphibious landing on an unimproved shore held by army corps and naval infantry units

BLACK SEA: The Saratov large landing ship takes part in an exercise in amphibious landing on the shore of the Black Sea on Monday

A report from the Financial Times, which cited five unnamed intelligence sources, said the Chinese military launched the Long March rocket in August carrying a 'hypersonic glide vehicle' into low orbit. It circled the globe before descending towards its target, which it missed by about two dozen miles. The system would be able to overcome US anti-ballistic missile defence systems that are based in Alaska and set up to shoot down projectiles coming over the North Pole - the Chinese system would be able to strike the US from the south

Weapons race: A comparison of the most advanced (columns from left) missiles, aircraft carriers, tanks and aircraft possessed by China, the US and Russia

With the world at battle stations, Putin launched a colossal military drill in the Black Sea on Tuesday, reigniting fears in the Ukraine that Russia could annex further territory in the east on the border with Crimea.

The drills - seen on a video from Defence Ministry TV channel Zvezda - involved simulated landings and are the latest in a succession of major military exercises ordered by Putin this year.

'The coastal troops of the Black Sea Fleet worked out practical actions to secure anti-sabotage defence of a section of the coast and fought with naval assault groups and naval landing forces,' said a Black Sea Fleet statement.

Among the ships taking part was the Black Sea Fleet's flagship, the Moskva.

'Su-30SM fighters and Su-24M and Su-34 bombers conducted sorties to the target area at low and ultra-low altitudes operating outside the zone of visibility for radars and surface-to-air missile systems of the notional enemy's warships,' said Russia's southern military district.

'Su-30SM fighters conducted launches of Kh-31A anti-ship missiles from the maximum distance while bombers delivered strikes with high-explosive fragmentation bombs from an altitude of up to 600 meters (1,969ft).'

Separate footage from the Sea of Japan, showed 10 Chinese and Russian naval vessels sailing through a narrow 12-mile straight between the Japanese mainland and the northern island of Hokkaido.

The Russian Ministry of Defence said in a statement on Monday that the sailors performed over 20 different combat exercises, practised tactical manoeuvring and communications during the training missions.

During the practical stages of the exercise in the naval training grounds, servicemen worked out the tasks of mine defence with the execution of artillery fire at mock-ups of floating mines.

The training exercises got Tokyo's attention as vessels from the exercise sailed directly through a strait that separates mainland Japan from the northern island of Hokkaido.

Ships and aircraft from the U.S. Navy, Royal Australian Navy, Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, and U.K. Royal Navy transit in formation as part of Maritime Partnership Exercise in the Bay of Bengal on Sunday

Two USAF F/A-18E Super Hornets, assigned to the "Golden Dragons" of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 192, fly over the Bay of Bengal as part of Maritime Partnership Exercise

A USAF E-2D Advanced Hawkeye, assigned to the "Black Eagles" of Carrier Airborne Early Warning Squadron (VAW) 113, flies over the Bay of Bengal as part of Maritime Partnership Exercise

Yoshihiko Isozak, Japan's Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary, said in a statement: 'The government is closely watching Chinese and Russian naval activities around Japan such as this one with high interest.

'We will continue to do our utmost in our surveillance activity in waters and airspace around Japan.'

Although the strait is considered to be international water, meaning no laws were broken by China or Russia, the region is often a source of tensions between Beijing, Tokyo and Moscow.

Japan and China have claims over tiny islands in the East China Sea that are often the focus of maritime tensions while Tokyo has similar disagreements with Moscow over various territories in the region.

Moscow and Beijing have been warming to one another recently as both countries have seen relations with the West turn increasingly sour.

According to the Warsaw Institute, a think tank focused on geo-politics, Moscow and Beijing have strengthened their military relationship over the last decade based not on common goals but common fears.

The Chinese and Russian navies conducting drills close to the Sea of Japan earlier this week

Ten Chinese and Russian vessels took part in the maritime drills which are annual but were called off last year due to Covid-19

A shot is fired from a gunboat during drills close to the Sea of Japan carried out by Russia and China

Chinese and Russian vessels taking part in war games close to Japan

The think tank reported that the Kremlin is particularly interested in allying with the world's emerging superpower as its ailing economy and position on the world stage is increasingly eclipsed by the US and its allies.

The Warsaw Institute claims that the two countries have never been as close as they are today since they signed their Treaty of Friendship in 2001.

The joint Russian-Chinese naval exercise 'Maritime Interaction-2021' was held in the Sea of Japan between 14th and 17th October.

The training exercise is carried out every year although it was cancelled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
A school-aged boy has died in Vietnam after his mobile phone exploded while he was in an online class at home.

The 11-year-old, who has only been named as 'NVQ' by local media, had been attending an online lesson at home in the Nghe An province.

While using his mobile phone, which had been plugged in to charge, the fifth grader's device was set ablaze, according to Le Trung Son, a Vietnamese education official.

The boy was set on fire by the flames from his phone at around 4pm, with neighours attempting to help him.

A school-aged boy has died in Vietnam after his mobile phone exploded while he was in an online class at home (stock image)

He was rushed to hospital so that he could be treated for his injuries, but died shortly after.

Police are now believed to be investigating the incident and as yet it is not known what type of phone or charger the boy had been using.

Following the incident, local education officials visited the boy's home and paid their condolences to his parents.

Children in Nam Dan district returned to school three weeks ago but but as a Covid-19 precaution continue to attend classes virtually once every week.

The continuation of full-time online classes for school pupils currently only takes place in Cua Lo Town and Vinh City.
Texas Republican Rep. Tony Gonzalez said Monday that Panama foreign minister Erica Mouynes told him that as many as 100,000 migrants have crossed through her country on the way to the US, and 52 of those they apprehended had ties to al-Qaeda.

Speaking on the 'Real America' podcast with GOP chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, the San Antonio congressman said the situation in Del Rio, Texas is the 'worst I've ever seen it.'

He said that Mouynes came to visit him and a number of other lawmakers to get word out about the coming onslaught.

'She goes, 'There's over 100,000 coming through Panama on their way to the US as we speak,' he said.

'I ask her, have you caught anybody on the terrorist watch list?' Gonzalez continued. 'She goes, 'Funny you ask that, Tony, because in Panama we do biometrics and we have apprehended 52 people that are associated with al-Qaeda.'

Erika Mouynes, Panama foreign minister

'I go, 'Holy smokes, does the administration know about this?' he said. 'She goes 'There's no one home. I'm talking to you because the administration is absent.'

A record-shattering number of Haitian migrants have come to the US in the last month, and the trend doesn't appear to be stopping as more people continue to pour into the Colombian town of Necocli, a popular spot for smugglers to shepherd people through the perilous Darien Gap in Panama.

The Darien Gap is a 66-mile stretch of rainforest between North and South America. Its dangerous terrain is part of the reason it's been left undeveloped and why it poses such a great risk to the people crossing it now.

More than 70,000 migrants have traveled through the Darien Gap this year, Panamanian authorities have said.

Most of the migrants in recent months have been Haitians, many of whom had been living in Chile and Brazil since the 2010 Haitian earthquake.

Migrants, many of Haitian origin, line up for asylum processing in Mexico

So far this fiscal year, from last October through August, US officials have apprehended 1,541,651 migrants at the southwest border. That figure follows 2020, where agents had apprehended 458,088 by this point in the year, 2019 where they had stopped 977,509 and 2018, 521,090.

Of those 1.5 million, at least 160,000 have been released into the interior of the US, either under parole authority or with a notice to report. Most of those with a notice to report do not turn themselves into an Immigrations and Customs Enforcement office as they are told to.

The vast majority of those who did not get to stay in the US were deported under Title 42, the Centers for Disease Control's coronavirus public health order that activists have pressured Biden to do away with.

More than 70,000 migrants have traveled through the Darien Gap this year, Panamanian authorities have said

Smugglers shepherd people through the Darien Gap in Panama, a treacherous journey

The Darien Gap is a 66-mile stretch of rainforest between North and South America. Its dangerous terrain is part of the reason it's been left undeveloped and why it poses such a great risk to the people crossing it now.

But soon the Biden administration will reinstate the Trump-era Remain in Mexico policy after losing a court battle against it.

A federal judge sided with the states of Texas and Missouri by ordering the Biden administration in August to reinstate the policy 'in good faith.'

The court filing says it should be in effect around mid-November.

U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk in Amarillo, Texas, a Trump appointee, left open the possibility that the administration could try again to end the policy, and officials say they will release a plan soon that they hope will survive legal scrutiny.
Madelynne Rawle, 61, was jailed for cruelty against elderly care home residents

The deputy manager of a care home for elderly people with mental health difficulties has been jailed for two and a half years for cruelty against seven vulnerable residents.

Detectives launched an investigation after worried care staff raised their concerns about deputy manager Madelynne Rawle, 61, to the local authority who then informed police.

The offences took place at the Summerley care home in Bognor, West Sussex where Rawle was working in 2018 after joining two years previously.

The investigation found Rawle had slapped residents, pulled their hair, spat at them, sat on them, forced them to sit and was verbally abusive.

The seven victims - six women and a man - were at the home as they required round the clock care for day-to-day activities including basic hygiene and getting dressed, as well as assistance with eating.

All but two if them have since died, for unrelated reasons.

The prosecution, authorised by the Crown Prosecution Service, followed an investigation by detectives from the West Sussex Safeguarding Investigations Unit.

In June 2021 Rawle pleaded guilty to two counts of ill-treating and wilfully neglecting two people without capacity under the Mental Capacity Act 2005.

She was found guilty of further counts of the same offence against five residents, and was found not guilty of one such offence.

Rawle, of Bognor, was given a 30-month prison term when she was sentenced at Portsmouth Crown Court in Hampshire on October 15.

The offences took place at the Summerley care home in Bognor, West Sussex where Rawle was working in 2018 after joining two years previously

Detective Constable Sarah Lallament of Sussex Police said: 'Rawle's victims were vulnerable adults who all required support 24/7 for day to day activities including basic hygiene and getting dressed, and assistance with eating.

'Staff began to be uneasy about Rawle's conduct, and they took advantage of a change in senior management at the end of 2018 to voice their concerns with the local authority who immediately contacted us and we launched an investigation.

'The current management of the home gave us their full co-operation, and this contributed to the positive outcome of our investigation.'

'It is a specialist home, and relatives and the public would expect the care of their relatives to be of a good standard rather than being subject to the verbal and physical abuse to which Rawle subjected them over many months. '
Donald Trump was bombarded with criticism on Tuesday for labeling late Secretary of State Colin Powell a 'RINO' who 'made plenty of mistakes' in a statement one day after Powell's death of COVID-19 complications at age 84.

In an email full of mixed messages, Trump commented on the posthumous praise Powell has been receiving since Monday morning and said he hoped he'd get the same treatment 'one day.'

'Wonderful to see Colin Powell, who made big mistakes on Iraq and famously, so-called weapons of mass destruction, be treated in death so beautifully by the Fake News Media,' Trump said in a statement through his Save America PAC.

'Hope that happens to me someday. He was a classic RINO [Republican In Name Only], if even that, always being the first to attack other Republicans. He made plenty of mistakes, but anyway, may he rest in peace!'

People across the political spectrum seized on the comment. Trump was accused of being 'jealous' of the posthumous media coverage Powell was receiving.

Others attacked the ex-president for 'dancing' on Powell's 'grave' and lashing out because he's insecure.

Trump's insulting comments came barely more than 24 hours after Powell's death.

'So how does this statement from the former President of the United States make you feel as an American?' Democratic Rep. Ted Lieu of California said on Twitter.

Donald Trump (pictured leaving Trump Tower in NYC on Monday) called Colin Powell (pictured arriving at George HW Bush's Capitol memorial in 2018) a 'RINO' who 'made plenty of mistakes' on Tuesday morning

Political scientist Larry Sabato not only condemned Trump but also members of the ex-president's party who 'keep silent' on his Powell comments.

'No decent human being will defend Trumps malevolent, spiteful, narcissistic statement on Gen. Powell. But those Republicans who keep silent today will speak volumes about how Trump has debased them and their once-great party. Candidates with no courage never deserve our votes,' Sabato wrote on Twitter.

Jon Soltz, the leader of progressive veterans' group Vote Vets, said the appalling statement is just the 'normal way' Trump treats people who make him 'insecure.'

'This is the reason Donald Trumps numbers with Veterans cratered in 2020. He lost so much ground with Veterans it cost him the election. His trashing of Colin Powell is the normal way he treats anyone that makes him insecure which includes most of the military,' Soltz wrote on Twitter.

Pulitzer Prize-winning writer David Cay Johnston said: 'Trump mocks Colin Powell because, of course, Donald is jealous of the news coverage of the general and Secretary of State's death. Such a classy guy, that Donald.'

He also shared a political cartoon of Trump pointing to a hole in the ground. The text bubble reads, 'Look! A foxhole that once belonged to Colin Powell! Disgusting! Dirty, damp, full of rats.'

Barely more than 24 hours after his death Trump released a statement attacking the former government official

Former aide to Mike Pence Olivia Troye lauded Powell as a 'mentor' and said Trump's statement proves he doesn't care about the military.

'Trump's disgusting & vile statement about Powell is another blatant reminder that he doesn't care nor have the capacity to understand and respect those who serve our great country,' Troye wrote on Twitter.

Democrat Rep. Eric Swalwell of California dared his fellow lawmakers in Congress to disavow Trump's comments.

'Well assume each & every @HouseGOP & @SenateGOP member is ok with this, unless they show enough spine to disavow it,' he said on his social media.

Anti-Trump Republican group The Lincoln Project also chimed in to call Trump's words 'Disgusting. But Not Surprising,' on Twitter.

Its co-founder Rick Wilson also tweeted: 'Tell me you're the God-King of All Douchebags without telling me you're the God-King of All Douchebags.'

One of Trump's fellow Republicans, former Ohio state lawmaker Jim Trakas, did rise to criticize him but noted he was a 'Trump supporter.'

Critics seized on Trump's appalling statement just a day after an outpouring of support for Powell's surviving family

'I am a Trump supporter, but this is low class all the way and beneath the dignity of the former President. GEN Colin Powell served his country brilliantly in combat, helped defeat the Soviets in the Cold War, brought down Saddam Hussein. He is an American hero, the honored dead,' Trakas wrote on Twitter.

Left-leaning group Occupy Democrats tore Trump apart with aggressive language and capitalization that have become hallmarks of Trump's own commentary.

'Trump dances on the grave of our first Black Secretary of State Colin Powell, saying he made "big mistakes" and is being "treated in death so beautifully by the Fake News Media" even though he was a "RINO." RT IF YOU THINK TRUMP IS AN UTTER DISGRACE!' the group wrote on Twitter.

Powell's family announced his death in a Facebook post where they also mentioned the trailblazing government official was fully vaccinated against coronavirus.

However he'd previously been diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a type of blood cancer that impacts the body's ability to fight infections. Powell also suffered from Parkinson's and underwent surgery for prostate cancer in 2003.

Trump was accused of being jealous of Powell and insecure toward the military in a barrage of criticism that's lasted into the afternoon

On Monday, veteran journalist Bob Woodward revealed in the Washington Post that Powell criticized Trump over the January 6 Capitol riot in his final interview before his passing.

Powell made history as the first black national security adviser to a president, first black Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and first black Secretary of State, under the Reagan, Bush Sr. and Bush Jr. administrations respectively.

Since his death, current and former government officials and every other living president across the political spectrum has paid respects to Powell and thanked him for his years of government service.

Praise for Powell even came from Pence, who tweeted yesterday: 'Colin Powell was a true American Patriot who served our Nation with distinction in uniform, as a four-star general, National Security Advisor, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and as 65th Secretary of State. Karen and I are praying for his wife, Alma, and the entire Powell family.'

Woodward revealed on Monday that Powell accused Trump of trying to overthrow the government three months before he died.

'It was awful. He was going in there to overturn the government,' Woodward claimed Powell said of Trump.

Powell, seen here in 1990, was the first black Secretary of State and to this day is the only black man to ever serve as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

'Trump refuses to acknowledge that he wasn't reelected. He has people who go along with him on that,' Powell reportedly said.

In the interview, which he gave three months before his death, Powell told Americans: 'Don't feel sorry for me, I'm 84 years old.'

'I haven't lost a day of my life fighting these two diseases. I'm in good shape.'

He said he had to 'get all kind of exams' at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Washington, D.C., noting: 'I'm a former chairman, so they don't want to lose me, so they make me come there all the time.'

Powell and Trump had been diametrically opposed to one another since Powell spoke out against him in 2016.

The formerly Republican official has endorsed Democrats for president since Barack Obama in 2016.

In 2016 he stood behind fellow former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's White House bid.

He said he was suffering from blood cancer and Parkinson's Disease and had to 'get all kind of exams' at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Washington, D.C. (pictured)

Leaked personal emails from around the time showed Powell calling Donald Trump a 'national disgrace' and an 'international pariah.'

'Trump is nuts. Everybody wants me to speak out, but I will pick the time and place for maximum effect like I did in 2008 and 2012. Right now, Trump is his worst own enemy,' Powell had written.

He told CNN in June 2020 that he'd vote for Biden in November because he 'certainly cannot in any way support President Trump this year.'

Trump's reaction to Powell was swift and angry.

'Colin Powell, a real stiff who was very responsible for getting us into the disastrous Middle East Wars, just announced he will be voting for another stiff, Sleepy Joe Biden. Didn't Powell say that Iraq had 'weapons of mass destruction?' They didn't, but off we went to WAR!' he wrote on Twitter at the time.

Within an hour the then-president followed it up with another tweet calling Powell 'highly overrated.'

'Somebody please tell highly overrated Colin Powell that I will have gotten almost 300 Federal Judges approved (a record), Two Great Supreme Court Justices, rebuilt our once depleted Military, Choice for Vets, Biggest Ever Tax & Regulation Cuts, Saved Healthcare & 2A, & much more!' Trump wrote.

Powell told CNN early in 2021 after four years of Trump that he could 'no longer call myself a fellow Republican.'

Around the same time he went after the former Republican president more directly, urging him to stand aside in a January 2021 interview with NBC's Today.

'I wish he would do what Nixon did and just step down. Somebody ought to go up to him and it's over. Plane's waiting for you. You're out,' Powell had said.
One of New Jersey's largest healthcare providers fired more than 100 employees who refused to get a COVID-19 vaccine, after already firing six supervisory-level employees for the same thing in June.

RWJBarnabas Health in New Jersey on Monday fired the 118 employees - 62 of them who were part-time workers - after they refused to get the COVID-19 vaccine by the October 15 deadline.

The healthcare provider, which employs more than 35,000 people, reported that 99.7 per cent of their employees have been vaccinated.

RWJBarnabas Health in New Jersey (pictured: headquarters) has fired 118 employees who refused to get the COVID-19 vaccine by the October 15 deadline

'All staff and physicians' were required to receive the vaccine or get an exemption approved

'Regrettably, and despite all best efforts, 118 staff members have not complied with the mandate and are no longer employees of RWJBarnabas Health, per our vaccine mandate policy,' a spokeswoman told NJ.com.

'At RWJBarnabas Health, we have an ethical and professional responsibility to protect our patients and ensure a safe, COVID-19 free environment,' a statement said.

Earlier this year, the company fired six of their supervisory-level employees after they failed to meet their June 30 deadline before it expanded its mandate to 'all staff and physicians.'

RWJBarnabas Health has 11 hospitals, among other treatment facilities, and is the second-largest healthcare provider in the state. They have reported that the departure of their 118 employees and the six superior-level staff they fired in June for the same reason will not affect their ability to care for patients

The company stated that care would not be affected by the departures and that they have been taking mitigation steps by recruiting positions at risk for vacancy.

'Given the overall number of staff who have been separated from the organization is distributed across our numerous facilities, job types and work shifts, patient care will not be affected nor will there be any impact on the normal operations of our services,' the statement said.

RWJBarnabas is the second-largest of New Jersey's healthcare providers with 11 hospitals, a medical school, and four urgent cares, among other facilities and treatment centers. It offers many healthcare benefits, including cancer treatments, transplant services, pediatrics, and more.

The United States has almost 60 per cent of the population fully vaccinated. New Jersey has 65 per cent of its citizens vaccinated

The US and New Jersey are experiencing a decline from summer COVID-19 cases with more than 122,000 new cases reported in the US yesterday, with 903 being from New Jersey

New Jersey has also implemented weekly testing protocol or vaccinations for all state workers and school employees on Monday.

All pre-K through 12th-grade teachers and staff and state employees are now required to be fully vaccinated or participate in one to two weekly COVID-19 tests, according to ABC 6.

Governor Phil Murphy announced the mandate on August 23.

'Were continuing to do all we can to ensure a safe start to the school year,' he wrote on Twitter.

'Strong masking and vaccination protocols, in tandem with other safety measures, are our best consolidated tool for keeping our schools open for full-time, in-person instruction.'

The current transmission rate in the state is just under four per cent as they're seeing a decline in cases

New Jersey reported 903 new positive cases in the state yesterday. Murphy also reported 1,027,492 total positive PCR tests, 208 new positive antigen tests, and 154,559 total positive antigen tests.

The current transmission rate in the state is just under four percent with 65 percent of its total population vaccinated.

The state's vaccination rate is ahead of the national average of 60 percent.
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On the face of it, America has little to fear from China's new deal to upgrade Cuba's power grid. The countries are already firm allies via their Communist leaders, Havana is under a diplomatic and economic embargo from Washington, and all efforts to mend ties between the two ended when Obama left office.

But scratch the surface and what emerges is a picture of Chinese economic dominance in America's backyard that would be enough give any president sleepless nights.

In fact, the deal with Cuba - signed this week as part of China's trillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative - is just the latest in a long line of loans, trade deals, construction projects and other investments in Latin American and the Caribbean that has seen Beijing flex its growing economic muscle while America's strength wanes.

Since 2005, China's three largest state investment banks have loaned some $140billion to countries in Latin American to pay for everything from nuclear power stations to dams, roads to railways, ports and phone networks.

Billions more - nobody knows quite how many - have been lent via contracts with commercial banks, private finance initiatives and other deals which are opaque and hard to track, though researchers have found they sometimes dwarf deals done on-the-books.

Meanwhile Chinese trade with Latin America has shot up more than 25 times, rising from $12billion in 2000 to $315billion in 2020 as almost half of the countries in the region saw their largest trading partner flip from being the US to China - including three of the four largest economies, in Brazil, Argentina and Colombia.

All of which gives China leverage that it uses to get its own way on the international stage, from winning votes at the UN to isolating its enemies - most notably Taiwan, as Beijing often requires countries to cut diplomatic ties with the island before it will hand over money.

China's state banks have loaned some $140billion to Latin American and Caribbean countries since 2005, which is thought to be just a fraction of the money that has flowed to the region when private deals are taken into account. Beijing is also involved in major infrastructure and energy projects in most countries, including transport networks and power stations

For Thomas Shannon, former Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs from 2016 to 2018, Beijing's economic strategy is also a way of mirroring and neutralising American threats in its own back yard.

Speaking to Time magazine earlier this year, he said: 'For China, the United States has its navy in the South China Sea, a military ally in Taiwan and has been harassing [them] about Hong Kong. This way, China can show the United States that we can play in your neighborhood just how you play in ours.'

China's route to economic dominance in the region has followed a pattern that it has repeated in other parts of the world, most prominently Africa: Make available large amounts of low-interest money and cheap labour to help build key infrastructure, run up a large bill, then use that to exert control.

Paraguay, Venezuela and Ecuador all have debts with China of more than 10 per cent of their GDP, according to statistics agency Statista, making them vulnerable to any changes in the terms of those loans.

Several more Caribbean nations - among them Grenada and the Dominican Republic - are thought to be in similar position having taken tens of millions or billions in loans for projects, despite having small economies.

According to the China-Latin America Finance Database, the largest recipient has been Venezuela with some $62billion in loans, followed by Brazil, Ecuador, Argentina and Bolivia.

Cuba has been loaned just $240million, according to official records, but was the beneficiary of a debt restructuring that saw China write off around $6billion in loans in 2011 - by far the largest amount of debt that China has opted to forgive.

Still more countries have signed up to China's Belt and Road initiative, a global $1trillion construction project that aims to improve trade networks and infrastructure which will be beneficial to China in the long run.

Notable partners include Venezuela - which also has a large amount of debt to China - Ecuador and Panama, which contains the hugely valuable Panama Canal which was originally built using US funding.

Cuba is another country that has singed up to Belt and Road, and this week announced that it will accept Chinese help to upgrade its power network with a focus on renewables.

Carlos Miguel Pereira, Cuba's ambassador to Beijing, made the announcement following an energy conference for Belt and Road members, inviting Chinese companies and investors to get involved.

In 2000, most countries in Latin America shared more trade with the US than they did with China (left). But by 2019, more than half - including three of the region's four largest economies in Brazil, Argentina and Colombia had flipped red (right)

The projects will 'deepen ties' between the two countries, Cuba's energy minister Livan Arronte Cruz said, while promoting 'solidarity and international cooperations in favour of developing countries'.

Where it has not been able to buy influence - for example in Brazil, Argentina and Colombia, which have large and well-established economies that are less vulnerable to debt - China has involved itself in key infrastructure projects such as power and transportation networks which give it outsized influence.

Chinese companies are currently constructing two major power plants for Argentina - both hydroelectric dams in Patagonia - and is in consultation to build a third, a new nuclear power plant near Buenos Aires.

In Brazil, the China Merchants' Port has bought up a 90 per cent stake in the country's second-largest container port - the Port of Paranagua - while money is also pouring into the country's transport networks, including the construction of a $1.3billion bridge between Salvador and the island of Itaparica.

Colombia's transport network is also being transformed by the Chinese, which have been given contracts to build Bogota's new subway, a tram system linking the suburbs, an electric bus network and will refurbish a major highway in the country's south.

And in Chile, two of the country's biggest energy networks have been bought up by China for a combined $5bn.

But the US has begun pushing back. In September this year, Biden dispatched diplomatic teams to South America with the aim of taking his Build Back Better initiative - which began as his plan to rebuild the US after Covid - global under the tag Build Back Better World or BW3.

The 'listening tours' were designed to identify projects where America could involve itself, offering to out-compete China with better quality products and a better record of delivery.

For example, China helped Ecuador build two hydroelectric dams during the last decade - but the Coca Codo Sinclair Dam has since run into major problems, including causing oil spills and suffering cracks.

'Very few of [China's] projects make economic sense and they often have very poor labor and environmental standards,' a Biden administration official said at the time.

China is in talks with Argentina to build a new nuclear reactor at its Atucha complex (pictured) and is building two more hydroelectric dams in Patagonia

China also helped Ecuador build two large dams, including the Coca Codo Sinclair project (pictured) - which quickly ran into trouble. Washington hopes that China's patchy record will allow it to recover some lost ground

A BW3 event is planned for early next year where more details will be announced including project funding, though so-far no commitments have been given about the amount of cash that will be spent.

A major battleground is set to be Latin America's 5G network. China is lobbying hard to have Huawei technology built into it, while America is trying to force countries to ban it - arguing it will be used to spy by Beijing.

Brazil, Chile and Ecuador have been delaying major decisions over who will help build their networks for years, trying and failing to find a middle-ground between the US and China.

Perhaps the most-prominent example is Jair Bolsonaro - Brazil's president a major ally of Donald Trump - he agreed in December last year to join a US initiative that would have effectively banned Huawei from the 5G network.

But just a month later he was forced to backtrack and tone down his rhetoric, partly due to fear that Beijing would delay a delivery of Covid vaccines to help tame the country's spiralling outbreak.

Whatever the future holds, for the time being the US is playing catch-up, and there is no certainty that it will be able to make up the lost ground.

Infrastructure projects are notoriously slow to develop and agree, and can take years - if not decades - to build.

Meanwhile, China's influence grows by the day. As Axios reported after a sit-down with Ivonne Baki, Ecuador's ambassador to the US, in September: '[America] is losing Latin America to China without putting up a fight.'

Nicolas Santo, author of the China Notes newsletter on China-Latin America, added: 'The way [China] has found to do this is through trade agreements, but certainly it's interests in the region go way beyond that.

'I am shocked by how little attention the U.S. has paid to this topic over the last 10 years, and even now.'
Michael Gove had to be shielded by a ring of police as he was ambushed with no protection by a mob of anti-vaxxer protesters

The 54-year-old Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities was swarmed by the angry crowd as he walked through Westminster.

It comes just four days after MP Sir David Amess was stabbed to death as he held a constituency surgery.

One protester was able to get in his face before any police officers reached him, but then scores of officers formed a protective ring to get him into a building.

They were part of a march organised by groups Official Voice and GB Resistance against lockdown and the vaccine.

The protesters were able to get in his face before any police officers reacted to the approach

The mob soon swarmed the minister shouting abuse and foul mouthed chants at the MP

A man who was inches away shouted something about 'illegal lockdowns being pushed on this country'.

Yells of 'Arrest Michael Gove' and other foul-mouthed insults rang out during the confrontation, which was captured on multiple cameras.

It is believed the minister had only been out for his lunch and had a cup of coffee in his hand.

At one point a piece of paper thrown at him appeared to briefly hit his face as he looked bewildered by the mob.

The frightening attack happened just after 2pm this afternoon.

He is approached by one man who challenges him on the lockdowns second before a police man arrives, shortly before scores more officers appear.

The minister looked strained as the police and protesters clashed after they spotted him

Calm before the storm as Mr Gove, 54, was oblivious of the impending street confrontation

Scores of officers quickly swooped to protect the politician but he had been reached already

Another bizarrely shouts 'Hello Mr Michael Gove, how are you today' as he films the encounter.

By now police are completely surrounding the minister but more crowds of protesters have also arrived.

One of the mob yells 'Michael Gove, you're a f***ing idiot' and then chants 'do your job'.

The police then shepherd him into the Fry Building on Horseferry Road as he appears shaken as he tried to go through security.

A spokeswoman for the Met Police said: 'We're aware of a protest in Westminster today which is marching to a number of locations. During this protest, a group attempted to surround a Member of Parliament on Horseferry Road.

'Our officers were immediately on scene where they safely escorted him to a nearby building.

'There were no arrests. We know there is footage circulating online of this incident, we will review this and our officers body worn video to see if any offences occurred.

'We continue to escort the protest and will be working hard to disrupt any potential criminal activity.'

The ambush comes days after MP Sir David Amess was killed at a constituent surgery at Belfairs Methodist Church in Leigh-on-Sea.

His murder prompted the Government to look at ensuring every MP gets police on guard at their weekly surgeries - a move backed by Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle.

Tobias Ellwood (left), the Tory chairman of the Commons Defence Select Committee, urged a 'pause in face-to-face' consultations between parliamentarians and members of the public until a safety review had been completed following the killing of Sir David Amess (right) by a suspected terrorist

And speaking to Channel 4 yesterday evening, Tobias Ellwood doubled-down on the proposal, warning: 'Ultimately we have to recognise that there could be a copycat-style attack. The police have already made that clear. So yes, absolutely, let's stand up to the terrorists, let's make sure that our lifestyles and the way we go about is not altered, that they do not win. But we need to do that in a cognitive way to make sure that MPs, staff and indeed the general public are kept safe.'

The MP for Bournemouth East, who was hailed as a hero for his attempts to save the life of Pc Keith Palmer during the Westminster terror attack in 2017, also told the broadcaster that he had discussed the security implications of the withdrawal from Afghanistan for terrorism and extremism with Sir David last week as they visited Doha in Qatar.

Defiant MPs continued to hold constituency surgeries as normal on Saturday, while debate raged over whether Parliamentarians should be given police guards.

Mr Shelbrooke, Tory MP for Elmet and Rothwell, who held a surgery at a local supermarket yesterday, said: 'We cannot let events like this diminish the deep relationship between an MP and their constituents.

'This is a relationship I value deeply: I want my constituents, regardless of whether they voted for me or not, to be able to approach me in the street, in the pub, at the supermarket or at one of my surgeries.'

Mr Davis said suspending public meetings would be 'a terrible reflection of what David stood for'. Mr Largan, Tory MP for High Peak, tweeted: 'I'll keep on doing my weekly surgery, all year round, whatever the weather! We all need to stand up for our democracy!'

And Dr Kieran Mullan, the Tory MP for Crewe and Nantwich, tweeted: 'Surgery today, we must not let people force us to do things differently. David would not have wanted that.'
Poachers in Vietnam have shot dead five critically endangered langurs, a type of monkey killed for bushmeat and traditional medicine, according to state media.

Rangers and police found the dead grey-shanked douc langurs during a regular patrol of forests in Quang Ngai province.

Restricted to the forests of central Vietnam, the known global population of this type of langur is less than 1,000, according to conservation group Fauna and Flora International (FFI).

Other conservation groups estimate their number may be higher as some habitat areas have not yet been surveyed.

Poachers in Vietnam have shot dead five critically endangered langurs, a type of monkey killed for bushmeat and traditional medicine, according to state media

The primate is a regular victim of the illegal wildlife trade, and is sought after for bushmeat, traditional medicine and the pet trade, FFI says. They are also threatened by deforestation.

It is listed as 'critically endangered', the highest risk category under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

In Quang Ngai, the poachers ran off, leaving behind a motorbike, bullets and silencers, VNExpress news site said in a report.

Local authorities are 'looking into the case', it added.

The grey-shanked douc langur is listed in Vietnam's 'red book', making it a criminal offence to kill one.

But law enforcement is a huge issue.

Rangers and police found the dead grey-shanked douc langurs during a regular patrol of forests in Quang Ngai province. Pictured: Stock image of the Quang Ngai Province, Vietnam

'Authorities must find those responsible,' said Ha Thang Long, director of GreenViet, which works in biodiversity conservation in Vietnam's central regions.

'If we fail to... bring them to justice, this will continue to happen.'

Under Vietnamese law, poachers in such a case could face seven years in jail, he added.

Vietnam is home to some of the world's most endangered species, including the Red River giant soft-shell turtle, the Tonkin snub-nosed monkey and the saola, a type of mountainous antelope.

Wild animals are under constant threat in the country, with their body parts in high demand for both food and traditional medicine.
The mother of a missing New Hampshire boy, 5, and her boyfriend were charged with covering up the boy's disappearance in a Bronx courtroom before the pair were extradited to their home state.

Danielle Denise Dauphinais, 35, and 30-year-old Joseph Stapf were charged on Sunday with child endangerment and witness tampering over the disappearance of Elijah Lewis, 5, who hasn't been seen by family or friends in six months.

Following their arraignment in Bronx Criminal Court on Monday, the couple was escorted by New Hampshire authorities back to the state to face charges in Hillsborough County Superior Court later this week.

Danielle Denise Dauphinais, 35, is pictured in Bronx County Criminal Court before being extradited to New Hampshire in connection with the disappearance of her five-year-old son

New Hampshire authorities take Joseph Stapf, 30, (pictured in handcuffs) into custody following an extradition hearing at Bronx County Criminal Court

Stapf (pictured in handcuffs) was charged with witness tampering and child endangerment

Authorities said Dauphinais, (pictured in handcuffs) allegedly told others to lie about her son Elijah Lewis and where he was living

Five-year-old Elijah Lewis of Merrimack, N.H., was last seen by 'independent individuals' six months ago, according to the New Hampshire Attorney General's office. The New Hampshire Division of Youth and Families reported the boy missing on Thursday

Danielle Denise Dauphinais, 35, and her boyfriend Joseph Stapf, 30, were arrested near Westchester and Bruckner Aves. at approximately 7:15 am on Sunday, according to the New York Police Department

In Merrimack on Sunday, the New Hampshire Fish and Game Dive Team took several boats of divers to look for the missing boy in Naticook Lake

New Hampshire State Police took several items from 4 Sunset Drive in Merrimack, Elijah Lewis's last known home, which is currently surrounded with yellow police tape

New Hampshire police were seen digging in the home's backyard near a shed. 'At this point, were hoping its not a recovery mission,' New Hampshire Senior Assistant Attorney General Ben Agati said on Monday

Dauphinais and Stapf were arrested near Westchester Avenue and Bruckner Avenue at approximately 7.15am on Sunday, according to the New York Police Department.

The NYPD would not disclose to DailyMail.com how they became aware that the New Hampshire fugitives were in New York City.

An arrest warrant was issued after New Hampshire Division of Youth and Families reported the boy missing on Thursday.

Knowing that Child Protective Services was searching for the boy, the couple allegedly instructed others to lie about his whereabouts, according to the New Hampshire Attorney General's office.

In their arrest warrant, the office alleges that 'they violated a duty of care, protection or support' for the five-year-old.

Officials say neither Dauphinais nor Stapf reported Elijah as missing.

In Merrimack, New Hampshire on Sunday, the state's Fish and Game Dive Team searched for the missing boy in Naticook Lake, which is adjacent to the home where the boy lived on 7 Sunset Drive, according to Patch.

The day before, the outlet said, a police dog was brought to the lake in an attempt to find the boy.

New Hampshire State Police also executed a search warrant at the mother's home.

They took several items from the home, which is currently surrounded with yellow police tape, and police could be seen digging in the home's backyard near a shed.

'At this point, were hoping its not a recovery mission,' New Hampshire Senior Assistant Attorney General Ben Agati said on Monday.

'Were hoping somehow that we are going to go under a rock somewhere and find out that someone has taken him in, maybe there is some sort of mistaken identity thats going on out there or hes been misidentified. But right now, we are fearful that may be the direction we are headed.'

In Merrimack on Sunday, the New Hampshire Fish and Game Dive Team (pictured) took several boats of divers to look for the missing boy in Naticook Lake to look for the missing 5-year-old

Naticook Lake is adjacent to the home where the boy lived on 7 Sunset Drive

Authorities said they do not believe this is a situation where the child ran away from home, according to WMUR

On Saturday, a police dog was brought to Naticook Lake in an attempt to sniff the missing boy out

'Were hoping somehow that we are going to go under a rock somewhere and find out that someone has taken him in, maybe there is some sort of mistaken identity thats going on out there or hes been misidentified. But right now, we are fearful that may be the direction we are headed,' New Hampshire Senior Assistant Attorney General Ben Agati said on Monday

'Right now, the goal is to find Elijah and ensure hes safe,' Agati told WBZ-TV on Saturday before investigators located Dauphinais and Stapf.

'At this point, we are hoping to find Elijah alive and somewhere.'

Authorities said they do not believe this is a situation where the child ran away from home, according to WMUR.

'Our search is physically in that area for evidence of where Elijah is, but also we are searching throughout New England to try and find where he is,' Agati said.

Elijah Lewis (pictured), who was last seen six months, was reported missing on Oct. 14

Authorities said Danielle Denise Dauphinais (pictured) and Joseph Stapf instructed others to lie about Elijah Lewis's whereabouts

Danielle Denise Dauphinais and her boyfriend Joseph Stapf were arrested in the Bronx

Dauphinais and Stapf (pictured together) were arraigned on Monday afternoon in Bronx County Criminal Court. They will be extradited to New Hampshire, according to the NYPD

An AMBER Alert wasn't issued when the five-year-old was reported missing on Thursday. New Hampshire officials said 'Amber Alerts need to be utilized in a proper way. This is one where it's much better for us to get the word out, get photographs out and disseminate the information that way'

Before they were discovered in New York, authorities in New Hampshire implored the public to help them find the couple and reported that Dauphinais was last seen driving a red 2007 Toyota Tundra with New Hampshire plates JOJOD78.

'At this point, their location is unknown. The one message we have for them if they are out there, please call Merrimack police. Please call New Hampshire State Police,' Agati said on Saturday.

'We need to talk to you about where is Elijah and we need that information as soon as possible.'

An AMBER Alert wasn't issued when the five-year-old was reported missing on Thursday. Agait said 'Amber Alerts need to be utilized in a proper way.'

'This is one where it's much better for us to get the word out, get photographs out and disseminate the information that way.'
A Louisiana mother was sentenced to 50 years behind bars for the death of her disabled daughter who was found dead on a filthy mattress weighing less than 65 pounds.

On Monday, 50-year-old Karen Johnson Harrison, of Plainview, accepted a plea deal in the second-degree murder of her 25-year-old disabled daughter, Cyra Shantelle Marie Harrison, whose body was found dehydrated on a mattress surrounded by filth.

Harrison was sentenced to 50 years in prison after pleading guilty to manslaughter and conspiracy to commit second-degree murder in the 2018 death of her daughter, who had cerebral palsy.

Karen Johnson Harrison, 50, accepted a plea deal in the 2018 second-degree murder of her 25-year-old disabled daughter, Cyra Shantelle Marie Harrison

Cyra Shantelle Marie Harrison's (pictured) death was declared a homicide by a coroner's report that said she died from failure to thrive and dehydration due to cerebral palsy and neglect

The 25-year-old's death was declared a homicide by a coroner's report that said she died from failure to thrive and dehydration due to cerebral palsy and neglect.

According to the report, her body was was found on a mattress covered with rotting food, dog food and bodily fluids, and the mattress lay on the floor of a house littered with animal feces and infested with roaches and flies.

Cyra Harrison was estimated to weigh between 65 to 70 pounds at the time of her death, the coroner's report said.

Harrison was initially scheduled to go on trial on second-degree murder charges this week, which carries an automatic life sentence, but accepted the plea deal on the lesser charges.

Rapides Parish Assistant District Attorney Brian Cespiva called the plea deal a legal victory.

'Karen Harrison will be over 100 years old at the conclusion of this sentence,' the prosecutor said. 'Weve effectively secured a life sentence without the inherent risks of a trial.'

Cyra Harrison (pictured) was estimated to weigh just 65 to 70 pounds at the time of her death, a coroner's report said

The two other suspects, Glen Elva Maricle and his wife, Marilyn Sue Maricle, are still awaiting trial

District Court Judge Chris Hazel sentenced Harrison to the maximum 40 years for manslaughter and 10 years for conspiracy, to run consecutively.

Time spent in jail before trial will count toward the sentence.

Following the sentencing District Attorney Phillip Terrell was joined by DA Cespiva and the detectives who investigated the case, KSLA.com reported.

'I think it became clear to the defendant that was her only option,' Terrell said of the plea deal. 'I want to compliment my two prosecutors and I also want to compliment the Rapides Parish Sheriff's Office for the hard work that they've done to bring this matter to conclusion and get justice for Cyra Harrison.'

'I can tell you that this is probably the most heinous crime that has ever occurred in Rapides Parish in my opinion,' Cespiva said. 'I can't comment on the specific facts because we still have two more defendants to prosecute.'

Cyra Harrison's body was discovered by Rapides Parish Sheriff's deputies in 2018 when they answered a call about a natural death.

What they discovered prompted them to contact detectives who arrested Harrison and a couple who shared the house days later, AP reported.

The two other suspects, Glen Elva Maricle and his wife, Marilyn Sue Maricle, are still awaiting trial.

All three were indicted on charges of second-degree murder, conspiracy to commit second-degree murder, cruelty to the infirm and cruelty to a juvenile, AP reported.
A Home Office boss accused of drugging his pregnant mistress to give her a miscarriage will face trial next year.

Darren Burke, 42, denied unlawfully supplying a poison to procure miscarriage and attempting to procure miscarriage by poison.

He allegedly got hold of the drug Mifepristone, which is typically prescribed by doctors to bring about an abortion during pregnancy, and gave it to 'mistress' Laura Slade.

Burke appeared for a case management hearing at Isleworth Crown Court via video link where a trial date was set.

Darren Burke, 42, a Home Office deputy director, has been accused of getting hold of drug Mifepristone, which is prescribed by doctors to bring about a miscarriage during pregnancy, and giving it to his 'mistress'

'Albeit this is an extremely serious case, it is not one that will be either legally or factually particularly complex,' said Judge Hannah Duncan.

The trial is estimated to last three days and will begin on 25 April 2022. Burke was granted unconditional bail until then.

Burke joined the Home Office as a deputy director of the Emergency Services Mobile Communications Programme in August last year.

A Home Office spokesman previously confirmed that Burke, who is on unconditional bail, had been suspended since his arrest but declined to comment further while the case is ongoing.

Burke, of Windsor, Berkshire, denied drugging his victim to procure a miscarriage. He will now face a trial set for April next year

He previously led Heathrow Airport's IT infrastructure and Cyber Programmes for five years.

Burke, of Follett Close, Windsor, Berkshire, denied drugging his victim to procure a miscarriage.

The court heard he is privately funding his legal representation by barrister David Spens.

Mifepristone is usually used in combination with Misoprostol and works by blocking the progesterone hormone, making the cervix easier to open and causing the uterus to contract when exposed to Misoprostol.
A grieving woman has told how a 'big softie' dog killed her brother and left her husband needing his legs amputated by just 'nipping them' with his bacteria-infested teeth.

Pauline Day, 62, revealed how the Japanese Akita called Ted tore her family's life apart after her brother bought him as a pet for 1,500.

The family had no idea that Ted - who resembled a 'giant teddy bear' - was a silent killer with deadly bacteria crawling inside his mouth.

But in July, Pauline's brother Barry Harris, 46, died at his home three days after Ted snapped at his arm, causing an infection and sending him into cardiac arrest.

Just a month later, Ted bit Pauline's husband Mark, 61, as he walked the dog on the day of Barry's funeral.

Barry Harris died after contracting a fatal infection when he was bitten on the arm by dog Ted

Ted, a Japanese Akita, has since been put down after he also passed a deadly infection to Barry's brother-in-law Mark who is now facing a double leg amputation in a bid to fight sepsis

How to avoid getting infected from your pet The NHS advises that any time a bite or scratch from an animal breaks the skin, it is important to seek medical advice from a GP or minor injuries clinic unless the bite is serious in which case you should seek immediate treatment at A&E. General cleanliness including regular hand-washing, keeping your pet's living area tidy, and keeping animals out of kitchens are all recommended by experts. The NHS states that if you have been bitten, you should clean the wound immediately by running warm tap water over it for a couple of minutes before seeking medical advice. It adds: 'People and animals have a lot of bacteria in their mouths, which can cause an infection if a bite breaks the skin. 'These infections are rarely serious if treated quickly, but occasionally they can spread to the blood or other parts of the body.' You should seek urgent medical treatment if you begin to show signs of infection including redness and swelling around the wound, a fever or red streaks extending along the skin from the wound. Advertisement

Mark, who's been hospitalised since late August, has had all his left-hand fingers amputated and will lose both legs by next week due to sepsis caused by Ted's toxic mouth.

Pauline, from Colchester, Essex, said: 'They weren't even attacked. Ted literally just broke the skin on my husband and my brother.

'It was the softest dog but it had food issues. Whenever it was near food it was so aggressive. We think it was mistreated as a puppy.'

Barry, a groundworker, bought Ted from a private Facebook seller in a London flat in May this year for some 'good company' after going through a break-up.

The seller told Barry that Ted, who was 15-months-old, was well trained but when he got home he found that the pooch didn't even respond to his name.

On July 7 - after less than six weeks together - Ted bit Barry as he was trying to remove an animal bone from his mouth while out on a walk.

After he was bitten, his arm soon swelled up and he fell ill with cold sweats and headaches.

Three days later, Barry tragically died at his home after his heart stopped.

Tragedy struck again on Barry's funeral on August 19 when Mark took Ted for a morning walk and was nipped by the dog on his hand.

Pauline said her husband deteriorated over two days and said his body 'was purple'.

In the days that follow, he had 'legs like blocks of ice' and said coldness was travelling up his arms and legs.

After Pauline realised the same thing was happening to her husband as had happened to her brother, Mark was rushed to hospital with a temperature, before he went into cardiac arrest and suffered multi-organ failure.

Mark Day (pictured with Paula, his wife and the sister of Barry) has already had seven fingers amputated and has been in hospital since contracting the infection from the dog bite in August

Doctors told Pauline that Mark's condition was '100 per cent' due to a bacterial infection from a dog.

Mark, a builder, has been in hospital ever since and now faces having both legs amputated next week due to sepsis. He's already had seven fingers removed.

Pauline said: 'It's like something out of a nightmare. You just don't believe this has happened.

'The shock of my brother was one thing and then my husband. It's just surreal.'

Ted has been put down as the doctors described the bacteria inside Mark as 'incredibly severe' and '100 per cent from the dog'.

She also checked the paperwork that Ted's owner gave to Barry when he bought the dog earlier this year and found that he had no vaccination history.

'In the booklet, there was nothing with vaccinations.

'They gave him a false history.'
The wife of a man who was stabbed to death by a violent drug addict while he was out on bail has said her partner was 'failed' by the justice system.

Islamic terror sympathiser Richard Hand, 43, fatally stabbed Yassar Moussa, 37, in the neck in August last year.

He then stripped his body naked and covered him in bleach before stuffing him in a suitcase and dumping him in a park near his home in Walthamstow, east London.

Marks on the body also suggested Hand had tried and failed to dismember him, the Old Bailey heard.

The horrific killing happened just 31 days after Hand, who was previously diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, was released on court bail charged with attacking his friend Graeme Bennett, 43, with an axe some eight months earlier.

In a victim impact statement at the Old Bailey on Tuesday, Mr Moussa's partner Lauren Battye said: 'I strongly feel the criminal justice system has failed Yas.

'If he (Hand) had not been released from prison, this would not have happened.'

She added: 'We had plans and dreams to fulfil as a family.

'Some nights I cannot cope with the ordeal.'

Ms Battye described the victim, who arrived in the UK from Mauritius in 2004, as a likeable, kindhearted, bubbly and intelligent man and proud father to their young child.

There was no suggestion the murder was linked to any form of fundamentalism.

Following an Old Bailey trial, Hand, who the court heard is a heroin addict, was handed a minimum 30-year sentence after being found guilty of murdering Mr Moussa, the attempted murder of his first victim Mr Bennett, and of having an offensive weapon.

Richard Hand (pictured), 43, fatally stabbed Yassar Moussa, 37, in the neck in August last year.

His first victim Mr Bennett described in his statement how he felt 'unsafe' following the 'out of the blue' attack - which saw Hand hack at his head and wrist with an axe.

He added that he had moved in with his sister because of his anxiety.

The court heard he felt 'betrayed' by Hand, who he had considered a friend, and sought an apology and acceptance from him for what he had done.

Judge Rebecca Poulet QC, who jailed Hand for life with a minimum term of 30 years, told Hand: 'Both of your victims were known to you but your terrible actions remain motiveless and unexplained.

'This court knows nothing of what triggered your conduct save only that you have been addicted to heroin for the last 11 years.

'This terrible offence took place just one month after you had been released on bail as you awaited trial in respect of a brutal attack on Graeme Bennett, a man who had been your good friend after 24 years.'

Referring to Ms Battye, the judge added: 'Your actions have deprived her of a loving partner and her two-year-old child of his father.

'Not surprisingly she feels let down by the justice system as a result of Richard Hand's release on bail.'

The judge said the murder was also aggravated by Hand's attempt to dismember the body before hiding it in undergrowth.

She sentenced Hand to a further 22 years for attempted murder and one year for having an axe, all to run concurrently with the life term.

Following an Old Bailey trial, Hand, who the court heard is a heroin addict, was handed a minimum 30-year sentence after being found guilty of murdering Yassar Moussa (pictured), the attempted murder of his first victim Graeme Bennett, and of having an offensive weapon

Earlier, the court heard that Hand had previous convictions dating back to 2006 when he was given a suspended sentence for having a bladed article.

The offence arose after he was stopped at Heathrow Airport while trying to book a flight to the Middle East.

Hand said he had converted to Islam and expressed sympathy for the aims of Islamic terrorism, the court heard.

In 2007, he was given a four-week jail sentence for assaulting a neighbour, who he threatened and grabbed by the throat.

In mitigation, Mark Graffius QC said there was no suggestion the murder was linked to any form of fundamentalism.

Hand had been sectioned in the past and been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, he said.

But Mr Gaffius said: 'We do not seek to persuade the court his mental health reduces his culpability.'

The court had heard how Hand attacked Mr Moussa at his home in Falmouth Way, Walthamstow, on August 22 last year.

Afterwards, he attempted to cover his tracks by stripping Mr Moussa's body and covering him in bleach before stuffing him in a suitcase.

The next day, Hand dragged the case to St James Park and hid the body in heavy undergrowth near a small brook.

It was only by chance that the body was discovered on August 24 as Environment Agency workers cut back the undergrowth in the park for the first time in 10 years.

Prosecutor Tim Cray QC said: 'The body had been put there to conceal it and, save for the long odds chance that this was the first day in a decade for clearing the bank, it might never have been found, or found in any state that would have led to the identification of the victim.'

An examination of the body found Mr Moussa had been fatally stabbed in the neck and a wound to his knee suggested a failed attempt at dismemberment.

The body smelt strongly of bleach, as if it had recently been washed.

Police used CCTV to track the victim's last movements to the defendant's address.

His phone was last used in the vicinity after he had been in contact with Hand.

Later, the defendant was seen asking about bleach in a nearby shop, jurors were told.

On August 23, he was caught on CCTV dragging the heavy suitcase towards the park.

On the return trip, the suitcase appeared 'much lighter', the court was told.

When officers spoke to Hand, he claimed to have heard the victim was strangled or stabbed in the neck and dumped naked - details that were not publicly known.

During sentencing on Tuesday, Mr Moussa's partner Lauren Battye told the Old Bailey (pictured) that the victim, who arrived to the UK from Mauritius in 2004, was a likeable, kindhearted, bubbly and intelligent man and proud father to their young child

Mr Moussa's blood was identified inside the defendant's flat and his clothes, a bent knife and cleaning material were found in communal bins.

Hand denied being responsible for the killing of Mr Moussa, who he knew as a fellow drug user.

He claimed two other men had been at his flat and he returned to find a pile of clothes and bloodstains in his living room.

Jurors were told that at the time of the killing, Hand had been on court bail for the attempted murder of Mr Bennett on January 29 last year.

Hand had been at the victim's home in Streatham Hill, south London, when he launched an axe attack 'out of the blue'.

Mr Bennett, who had invited Hand to help him hang some pictures, was struck twice to the head, fracturing his skull, and once on the left wrist.

Mr Cray said: 'This was a vicious attack by the defendant that Mr Bennett was lucky to have survived.'

Despite incriminating forensic evidence, the defendant again denied being responsible.

Hand was arrested and charged on January 30 and remanded into custody.

But he was released on bail after a hearing at the Old Bailey on July 22 2020.
Russia has reimposed lockdown restrictions in Moscow and begged its citizens to get vaccinated as the country today saw a record daily toll toll of 1,015 Covid deaths.

Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin ordered elderly residents to stay home for four months and told businesses that 30 per cent of staff must work from home.

The total number of cases has topped 8 million, more than 5 per cent of the population, with another 33,740 new infections on Tuesday, just shy of a record daily rise.

The Kremlin urged people again to get jabbed amid colossal pressure on the country's underfunded healthcare system.

The Orlovsky region, around 200 miles south of Moscow, had run out of hospital beds, according to Governor Andrei Klychkov.

Medical specialists transport a patient outside a hospital for people infected with the coronavirus in Moscow last Wednesday

Russia has reimposed lockdown restrictions in Moscow and begged its citizens to get vaccinated as the country today saw a record daily toll toll of 1,015 Covid deaths

The total number of cases has topped 8 million, more than 5 per cent of the population, with another 33,740 new infections on Tuesday, just shy of a record daily rise

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters: 'There is a tradition of blaming the state for everything. Of course, the state feels and knows its share of responsibility.

'But a more responsible position is needed from all citizens of our country,' he said. 'Now each of us must show responsibility ... and get vaccinated.'

The government proposed introducing a single non-working week to battle surging coronavirus cases as the country registered a new record number of daily deaths.

Many Russian regions plan to keep cafes, museums and other public venues open only to those who have recently recovered from COVID-19 or have proof of inoculation with a Russian vaccine or a negative coronavirus test.

The surge has come without any strict restrictions to limit Covid-19's spread, although several regions have re-introduced QR codes for access to public places.

Officials have been accused of downplaying the severity of the pandemic, and figures published by statistics agency Rosstat in October showed more than 400,000 people had died in Russia as a result of coronavirus.

At a meeting on Tuesday, Deputy Prime Minister Tatiana Golikova called for the introduction of a non-working week starting from October 30 to curb the spread of the virus.

She proposed that the hardest-hit regions introduce such a measure from this Saturday.

'The solutions we are proposing are very difficult,' Golikova told Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin.

'But we ask you to support these proposals and appeal to the head of state.'

Golikova is due to submit her proposal to President Vladimir Putin for approval during a meeting on Wednesday.

Russia has struggled to inoculate its citizens despite domestic vaccines including Sputnik being widely available.

An employee of the Federal State Center for Special Risk Rescue Operations of Russia Emergency Situations disinfects Leningradsky railway station in Moscow on Tuesday

An officer checks a young woman's compliance with Covid rules in Moscow on Tuesday

Only 35 percent of Russians are fully vaccinated, despite pleas from Putin.

The president insists that Russia has handled the pandemic better than most countries, but even top officials have recently voiced concern.

Pyotr Tolstoy, deputy chairman of the lower house, said at the weekend that authorities had 'completely lost' an information campaign on coronavirus.

'There is no trust in people to go and vaccinate themselves, it is a fact,' he said.

Putin's spokesman on Tuesday urged Russians to be 'more responsible' and admitted that the government could have done more to explain the 'lack of alternative to vaccines'.

'There is a tradition to blame everything on the state,' Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

'But at the same time, we need a more responsible position from citizens of our country.'

Western vaccines are not available in Russia, and Peskov insisted that bringing them into the country would not help the sluggish vaccination rates.

'The vaccinophobia of some citizens is not linked to the brand of vaccines,' he said.

Independent polls show that more than half of Russians do not plan to get a shot.
A federal grand jury indicted Nebraska Rep. Jeff Fortenberry on Tuesday, after the longtime lawmaker put out a defiant YouTube video featuring his wife and dog in front of a cornfield where he vowed to fight the charges.

The indictment charges the nine-term Republican with one count of 'scheming to falsify and conceal material facts' and two counts of making false statements to to the FBI, according to the Los Angeles US Attorneys office.

The office said Fortenberry made the false statements to agents looking into illegal campaign contributions to his 2016 reelection effort.

According to the indictment, Nigerian billionaire Gilbert Chagoury, despite being a foreign national prohibited from donating to US candidates, 'arranged' for $30,000 in contributions to Fortenberry in 2016.

'I did not lie to them. I told them what I knew,' said Nebraska GOP Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, who announced in a YouTube video he expects to be indicted

The co-host of the Fortenberry 2016 fundraiser where the money came in, identified only as 'Individual H,' began cooperating with the feds in September 2016, telling agents about the illegal contributions.

When Fortenberry contacted the person again about hosting another funder in 2018, the individual 'told the congressman on multiple occasions that a Chagoury associate  Toufic Joseph Baaklini, who also entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with prosecutors  had provided him with $30,000 cash to route to Fortenberrys campaign at the 2016 fundraiser.'

'Individual H allegedly told Fortenberry that the money  which was distributed to other individuals at the fundraiser so the donations could be made under their names and avoid individual donor limits  probably did come from Gilbert Chagoury.' according to the indictment.

The announcement came after Fortenberry said he expects to be charged with lying to the FBI while federal agents were investigating campaign contributions funneled to him from a Nigerian billionaire, the nine-term Republican said as he proclaimed his innocence and promised to fight the charges.

'The indictment alleges a scheme in which Fortenberry, after learning this information, knowingly and willfully falsified, concealed, and covered up by trick, scheme, and device material facts about the illegal campaign contributions.'

A month after getting the June 2018 warning, Fortenberry made 'additional false statements, including 'denying he was aware of any illicit donation made during the 2016 fundraiser.'

Each of the three felony charges carry a maximum of five years in prison.

In a YouTube video posted Monday night, Fortenberry said he was 'shocked' and 'stunned' by the allegations and asked his supporters to rally behind him. Knowingly making false statements to a federal agent is a felony, punishable by up to five years in prison.

'We will fight these charges,' he said in the video, filmed inside a 1963 pickup truck with his wife, Celeste, and their dog, against a backdrop of corn. 'I did not lie to them. I told them what I knew. But we need your help.'

Celeste Fortenberry suggested the prosecution was politically motivated, and said her husband was 'under the impression that the agents needed his help.'

'To be accused of this is extremely painful, and we are suffering greatly,' says Fortenberry, whose wife, Celeste, does her best to keep Pippin in her lap during the video.

'I wanted you to hear from me first,' he said.

A field of corn can be seen out the window of the cab behind him.

The Omaha World-Herald first reported on his expected indictment before it was announced.

The nine-term lawmaker condemned the illegal campaign contribution.

'About five-and-a-half years ago a person from overseas illegally moved money to my campaign  I didnt know anything about this  and used some other Americans to do so.' He said they were 'thankfully' caught and punished.

The expected indictment stems from an FBI investigation into $180,000 in illegal campaign contributions from Gilbert Chagoury. The contributions were funneled through a group of Californians from 2012 through 2016 and went to four U.S. politicians, including $30,200 to Fortenberry in 2016 and $10,000 to then-Rep. Lee Terry, who represented the Omaha area in 2014.

In March, Chagoury, a Lebanese-Nigerian billionaire, paid $1.8 million to 'resolve allegations that he, with the assistance of others, provided approximately $180,000 to individuals in the United States that was used to make contributions to four different federal political candidates in U.S. elections,' according to the Justice Department.

Chagoury, 75, as a foreign national was prohibited from contributing to US political candidates. He 'admitted he intended these funds to be used to make contributions to these candidates' and 'further admitted to making illegal conduit contributions  causing campaign contributions to be made in the name of another individual.'

At the time, the feds announced that Chagoury had agreed to cooperate with the government.

The FBI office in Omaha referred questions Tuesday to the U.S. Attorney's office for the Central District of California. An office spokesman declined to comment.

Fortenberry's campaign has said he didn't know the donations, which the campaign received during a fundraiser in Los Angeles, originated with Chagoury.

Fortenberry, of Lincoln, said FBI agents from California came to his home about 2 1/2 years ago after he had been out dealing with a major storm that had just hit Nebraska. He said they questioned him about the contributions then and in a follow-up interview.

'I told them what I knew and what I understood,' he said.

Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, R-Neb., said he expects to be charged with lying to the FBI while federal agents were investigating campaign contributions funneled to him from a Nigerian billionaire. The nine-term Republican said as he proclaimed his innocence and promised to fight the charges. In a YouTube video posted Monday night, Oct. 18, 2021, he said he was 'shocked' and 'stunned' by the allegations and asked his supporters to rally behind him. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik, File)

The expected indictment stems from an FBI investigation into $180,000 in illegal campaign contributions from Gilbert Chagoury, pictured at a benefit in Beverly Hills, Ca.

US officials including Rep. Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE) (C) and Congressman Gregory W. Meeks (R), senior Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee arrive for the funeral of slain President Jovenel MoAse on July 23, 2021, in Cap-Haitien, Haiti

Fortenberry represents the states 1st Congressional District, a heavily Republican area that includes Lincoln, surrounding farmland and small towns in eastern Nebraska. Fortenberry was first elected to the seat in 2004. He won his last election in 2020 with 60% of the vote and has generally defeated Democratic challengers by lopsided margins.

His statement that he expected to be indicted was first reported by the Omaha World-Herald.

His wife, Celeste, said in a statement emailed to supporters that the anticipated indictment 'has all the marks of being a political attack, a bogus charge manufactured to take him out.'

The FBI investigation began during the administration of President Donald Trump, a fellow Republican. Celeste Fortenberry said her husband spoke with the agents voluntarily, without a lawyer, because he was under the impression that the agents needed his help to get to the bottom of the case.

She said he later called his friend, attorney and former congressman Trey Gowdy, for legal representation. She said her husband sat for another interview with agents in Washington and was repeatedly assured that he was not a target of the investigation.

She said they heard only 'radio silence' from prosecutors until the Biden administration replaced the Trump administration in the U.S. attorney's office, and prosecutors notified them that they were poised to seek charges.

She said the U.S. attorney involved is 'in the running for a big promotion, and don't forget the mid-term elections right around the corner for control of the House.'
Iowa Democratic Party Chair Ross Wilburn, the first black chairman of the Iowa party, was threatened with lynching and called the n-word after penning an op-ed critical of former President Donald Trump.

Wilburn told The Des Moines Register that he received two threatening phone messages and a threatening email to his work account, which all made references to what he wrote in the opinion column.

'The voicemails include very explicit language. Every other word was the n-word,' said Wilburn, who represents Ames in the state House.

Iowa Democratic Party Chair Ross Wilburn, the first black chairman of the Iowa party, was threatened with lynching and called the n-word after penning an op-ed critical of former President Donald Trump

Ames Police Cmdr. Jason Tuttle confirmed to the Register that his department is investigating the threats.

Because of the ongoing probe Wilburn said he couldn't share more about the threats, but he did remark on the 'intensity' of the language.

'What stood out this time was the language that was used - specifically, the very direct statement about lynching,' Wilburn said. 'And I got angry about that - that people feel that they can come in and make you feel less than human, subhuman, with that type of reference to lynching.'

'There's the history behind that and trying to intimidate blacks, intimidate African-Americans,' he continued.

Wilburn told the newspaper that he will press charges if those who made threats are caught.

'So that folks know that there are consequences for that type of behavior,' Wilburn said.

Wilburn also told the Register he believed Trump heightened tensions that already existed in the U.S.

'I don't think there's any question that he was a catalyst during his administration and since then, for how hateful rhetoric can translate into serious threats against people of color,' he said.

'I just hate to see that type of hate existing in the country, and particularly here in Iowa,' the party chairman added.

Wilburn penned the op-ed ahead of Trump's October 9 Des Moines rally.

'His incompetence killed Americans, gifted corporations and pharmaceutical companies trillions of dollars in tax cuts at the expense of the middle class, and created new incentives to ship jobs away from our country,' said Wilburn, the former mayor of Iowa City.

Wilburn also hammered Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley for agreeing to appear alongside Trump.

Grassley, indeed, stood onstage with Trump at the Des Moines rally.

'Yet on Saturday, Grassley will happily share the stage with Trump, showing all of us that hes turned into the typical politician he claims to despise,' Wilburn said.

'It's not just Grassley; the entire Republican Party of Iowa is welcoming Trump with open arms proving once again that they have completely surrendered themselves to a man who not only openly attacked the foundations of our democracy, but also has shown disdain for our Constitution, and failed to help the American people when we needed it most,' Wilburn added.
Also handed eight-month suspended sentence and banned from driving for three years

A businessman has avoided being jailed after he admitted mowing down a pedestrian with a 250,000 purple Rolls-Royce near Buckingham Palace.

Qatari Hassan Nasser Al-Thani, 42, struck Charles Roberts with his Rolls-Royce Wraith while driving at more than 52mph on August 22 2019.

The 66-year-old died at the scene of the crash on Hyde Park Corner.

On Tuesday, Al-Thani appeared at the Old Bailey and pleaded guilty to causing death by careless driving.

He was later handed an eight-month prison sentence, suspended for two years and ordered to pay 25,000. The judge also banned him from driving in the UK for three years.

The defendant, from Prince of Wales Terrace, Kensington, west London, had previously denied the charge when he appeared by video-link from Qatar.

Qatari Hassan Nasser Al-Thani, 42, has pled guilty to causing death by careless driving after he hit pedestrian Charles Roberts at more than 52mph while driving past Hyde Park Corner

The court heard how Al-Thani was the registered owner of the Rolls Royce with Qatari number plates, which has since been sold.

The defendant had been driving from Piccadilly accompanied by a friend when he collided with Mr Roberts, a retired Network Rail signalling manager from Harpenden, Hertfordshire who had been walking near Hyde Park.

'Mr Al-Thani had been driving a Rolls Royce Wraith with Qatari number plates of which he was the owner,' prosecutor Philip McGhee told the Old Bailey.

'As Mr Roberts crossed that road, he was hit by Mr Al-Thani's car.

'Police arrived very shortly at the scene and diverted the traffic away, and Mr Al-Thani was approached by a police constable.'

Mr McGhee said the victim's cause of death was traumatic head injury, and that Mr Roberts would have lost consciousness almost immediately.

In the crash, the vehicle's windscreen was smashed and front headlight damaged.

Al-Thani had called 999 and told police at the scene that he had not seen the pedestrian, having moved off when traffic lights had turned green.

Al-Thani had been driving from Piccadilly accompanied by a friend when he collided with Mr Roberts (pictured), a retired Network Rail signalling manager from Harpenden, Hertfordshire who had been walking near Hyde Par

Al-Thani's purple Rolls-Royce car was seen inside the cordon on Hyde Park Corner following the crash in August 2019

The court heard that he was driving at 52 to 54 miles per hour, nearly 'twice' the 30mph speed limit.

The court heard he was 'incredulous' that anyone would cross the road there.

The collision was captured on CCTV cameras, including the moment of impact.

Later in a prepared statement, Al-Thani expressed sadness at the death and offered his condolences to Mr Roberts' family and friends.

He said he was a very careful driver and it was the first collision he had been involved in.

A statement read on behalf of the victim's family outlined the devastation of Mr Roberts' brother.

The family said: 'It is a relief to him the driver responsible is to be held to account.'

The court heard that Al-Thani was driving at 52 to 54 miles per hour, nearly 'twice' the 30mph speed limit

The Common Serjeant of London, Judge Richard Marks said he was 'satisfied' that had Al-Thani been driving 'in or around' the speed limit Mr Robert's death would have been avoided.

'I accept, and this is important, that your excessive speed and carelessness occurred only over a matter of a few seconds.

'Weather conditions were fine and visibility was good in what was a straight road.

'You were telling the police, incorrectly, that you had moved slowly from the lights when suddenly and without warning someone ran out in front of the car.

The location of the crash involving the Rolls Royce at Hyde Park Corner in central London

'The evidence tells a different story.

'I note that even now you told the author of the pre-sentence report that it was difficult to say whether you were speeding and that you didn't think you were, in any event there is not much room to go over the speed limit.

'It seems to me that even now you are in denial and have sought to minimise the seriousness of the manner of your driving,' said the judge.

Simon Csoka, QC, defending, said prison would severely impact Al-Thani's ability to carry out his ministerial role in his country as well as look after his three kids and extended family.

The jugde asked him: 'How is that consistent with him spending three months every year on vacation this this country?'

'His ministerial role doesn't provide the bulk of his income.

'Because he is a member of the Al-Thani family, the way the government is structured and in particular how the government is organised it is expected all members of the family to fulfill roles in part because the family is trusted by the Emir,' said Mr Csoka.

'Because of the nature of Qatari society obtaining contracts, and the defendant's business is involved in the road maintenance in Qatar, obtaining business to a large degree dependant on status.'

The barrister said Al-Thani suffered from a range 'serious' health issues such as morbid obesity and sleep apnea and would find it very difficult to stay safe from the pandemic in prison.

'It is not simply the stereotypical image of a sheikh from the Gulf living the life in London without a care in the world,' he added.
Sen. Jim Inhofe called on Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to suspend the Pentagon's vaccine mandate, which he said had been implemented 'at the expense of readiness and morale.'

'At a time when our adversaries continue to increase their quantitative and qualitative advantage against our forces, we should seek to ensure that no policy, even unintentionally, hinders military readiness,' the Oklahoma Republican and ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee wrote in a letter to Austin.

'This haphazardly implemented and politically motivated vaccine mandate must be immediately suspended or risk irrevocable damage to our national security reminiscent of sequestration,' or budget cuts.

On Aug. 24, the Pentagon issued an order requiring each branch of service set a deadline by which its members would need to be vaccinated. Yet as of last week, 103,000 active duty service members had yet to get their first jab.

The 103,000 service members includes 48,600 Army soldiers; 7,000 Navy sailors; 15,500 Air Force airmen and Space Force Guardians; and 26,800 Marines, according to Military.com.

'This haphazardly implemented and politically motivated vaccine mandate must be immediately suspended or risk irrevocable damage to our national security reminiscent of sequestration,' or budget cuts, Inhofe, above, said

The Air Force has set a Nov. 2 deadline for getting inoculated.

The Navy and Marines have set a November 28 deadline for their active duty forces to be fully vaccinated.

The Army has a December 15 deadline.

Members of the reserve forces - which have by far the lowest rates of vaccination among the armed forces - have until June 2022.

US service members can be required to take as many as 17 vaccines, depending on where in the world they are stationed.

'Mandating vaccines in the military is not new,' Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley said in a statement of support of the move in August. 'Since the first days of basic training and throughout our service, we've received multiple vaccines.'

'Getting vaccinated against Covid-19 is a key force protection and readiness issue,' Milley wrote out in black ink at the end of the statement.

Inhofe's warning that adversaries 'continue to increase their quantitative and qualitative advantage against our forces' came as China on Monday is believed to have tested a 'hyper-sonic missile' and North Korea test-fired two 'submarine-launched ballistic missiles.'

China's missile is reportedly designed to travel in low orbit to dodge missile detection and defense systems, allowing China to strike virtually anywhere on the planet with little or no warning.

North Korea has tested submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) before, including one underwater launch in 2019, but it is thought that missile was fired from a submerged platform rather than a submarine.

Confirmation of a submarine launch would mean dictator Kim Jong Un has added another deadly nuclear-capable missile to his ever-growing arsenal.

China's state banks have loaned some $140billion to Latin American and Caribbean countries since 2005, which is thought to be just a fraction of the money that has flowed to the region when private deals are taken into account. Beijing is also involved in major infrastructure and energy projects in most countries, including transport networks and power stations

The Shenzhou-13 spacecraft is launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on October 16, 2021 in Jiuquan, Gansu Province of China

Weapons race: A comparison of the most advanced (columns from left) missiles, aircraft carriers, tanks and aircraft possessed by China, the US and Russia

With the world at battle stations, Putin launched a colossal military drill in the Black Sea on Tuesday, reigniting fears in the Ukraine that Russia could annex further territory in the east on the border with Crimea.

More than 40 Russian vessels and 30-plus military planes and 20 helicopters took part in exercises in Crimea, with missile launches, practice bombings and landings by amphibious forces.

Thousands of miles away, a Russian and Chinese fleet sailed through the narrow Tsugaru Strait between mainland Japan and its northern island Hokkaido, putting Tokyo on high alert.

Counterbalancing the threat posed by China is the new Aukus alliance forged by the US, UK and Australia last month.

Warships from those countries were this week sailing through the Bay of Bengal, led by the Royal Navy's new flagship carrier, HMS Queen Elizabeth, on the fleet's way back from a deployment in the South China Sea.
Teachers in a school district in Colorado are allegedly taping face masks to kids' faces.

An investigation is underway after a sixth-grader from Chinook Trail Middle School sent a selfie to her mother with her mask taped to her face using blue painter's tape.

Stephanie Butler, the young girl's mother, told Fox21 she posted the photo on Friday to make other parents aware of the strict mask policy and to see if other students were 'being taped'. The disturbing photo has since made its rounds on social media.

'It's a type of restraint to me,' Butler told the news station. She said that her daughter explained that her teacher gave her one warning to keep the mask over her nose or she would have to tape it to keep it up.

Teachers at Chinook Trail Middle School in Colorado are allegedly taping face masks to kids' faces in an effort to keep them from falling down. An investigation is underway after a sixth-grader texted her mom a selfie with her mask taped to her face using blue painter's tape (above)

The worried mother Stephanie Butler then questioned her daughter, asking why she had the tape over her face. The sixth-grader told her mom that the harsh mandate went into effect weeks ago and teachers have been enforcing it. 'It's a new thing, if we can't keep our mask on our nose, we get taped,' she said

'It's a new thing, if we can't keep our mask on our nose, we get taped,' the young girl said

Stephanie Butler (pictured) told Fox21 that the mask taping 'is a type of restraint to me' and that she's concerned as to what the mandate is doing to her young daughter's self esteem. 'Your face is you, that is how people know you, they are just doubling down on hiding you and not letting you breathe and it just its conformity to the extreme,' she said

The worried mother then questioned her daughter, asking why she had the tape over her face.

The sixth-grader told her mom that the harsh mandate went into effect weeks ago and teachers have been enforcing it. 'It's a new thing, if we can't keep our mask on our nose, we get taped,' she wrote in a text message.

Tori Skeldum (pictured), the mother of another Chinook Trail Middle School student, said that her 11-year-old daughter told her that teachers are wearing rolls of tape around their wrists

Tori Skeldum, the mother of another Chinook Trail Middle School student, told DailyMail.com that her 11-year-old daughter is in the same 'pod' as Butler's child.

'It's very sad our kids are going through this,' she said, adding that she's 'debating on pulling my daughter from the school'.

'She said they get two warnings to put a mask over their nose and then, if they have to tell them again, is when they get it taped,' the mother added.

'So it is a type of punishment for the mask falling down.'

Skeldum also said that her daughter told her the teachers at the school are wearing rolls of the tape around their wrists like bracelets in what appears to be a type of scare tactic to make the students keep the masks up and over their noses.

Meanwhile, Butler's concerned as to what the mandate is doing to her young daughter's self esteem. 'With mask mandates and everything shes become she likes them because they hide her face cause of acne or whatnot, what really made me sad was that she didnt see what was wrong,' the mother told Fox21.

She added: 'Its developing some sort of mentality in our children where that kind of restraint over your face.

'Your face is you, that is how people know you, they are just doubling down on hiding you and not letting you breathe and it just its conformity to the extreme.'

Darcy Schoening - a Monument, Colorado, representative - also saw the photo as it circulated Facebook.

She promptly reposted it, captioned: 'Good morning to everyone except the teachers at Chinook Middle, Colorado D20, who have so much personal anxiety about Rona particles leaking out from under pieces of cloth that they tape kids masks to their faces to appease their own anxieties. May these teachers seek the mental health treatment they truly need today. Child abuse.'

Monument, Colorado, representative Darcy Schoening saw the photo as it circulated Facebook and promptly reposted it. A slew of enraged commenters said the picture warrants a lawsuit (above)

Schoening wrote a letter (pictured) to the school's superintendent, Thomas Gregory, after he enacted the initial mask mandate 'demanding that this mask mandate be opened up for public discussion with parents'

Enraged parents and Colorado residents alike took to the comments to express their opinions on the photo. 'That's bulls***' one user said while others called for a 'lawsuit' and 'assault charges'.

'I would be in jail if anyone did that to one of my children!' a parent wrote. 'They need to breath. Sue the s*** out of them,' another said.

Schoening told DailyMail.com that she is a 'monument city council woman (who) has 530 kid residents who attend (the school)'. She said she looks out for them by pressuring the district 'to open up discussions about the mask mandate, which they did not'.

'Instead, they taped kids' faces with masks and blue paint tape,' she added. Now, she's 'calling for the resignation of the superintendent and teachers involved'.

'I stand by the fact that this blatant overreach is devastating to our kids. I will continue to mobilize other parents until these tyrants are gone,' she told DailyMail.com.

The middle school is one of 82 schools a part of Academy School District 20 (D20), which announced a district-wide mask mandate on September 27 because of the number of students having to quarantine after coming in contact with Covid-19.

Schoening wrote a letter to the school's superintendent, Thomas Gregory, after he enacted the initial mask mandate 'demanding that this mask mandate be opened up for public discussion with parents'.

'It's entirely unclear why D20...insists on making school an unnecessarily unpleasant experience for children and a place where families' voices are ignored,' the letter read.

It added: 'You have overstepped your boundaries as Superintendent and failed to not only include the elected School Board in your overreaching decisions, but you have also failed to provide parents with the most basic right to have their voices heard.

'We fully support parental rights to make healthcare decisions for their children.'

Chinook Trail Middle School (pictured) is one of 82 schools a part of Academy School District 20 (D20), which announced a district-wide mask mandate on September 27

The middle school's Chief of Communications Allison Cortez (pictured) said that 'there are so many versions of this story'. 'We need to actually talk with every single student and find out what really happened,' she added

According to Fox21 after the district caught wind of the mask-taping, they sent out an email to parents on Monday, which read: 'Currently, we do not have concrete findings. As we know more, we will keep our community apprized.

'We thank our community for their patience and support as we take the appropriate steps to address these serious allegations.'

Meanwhile, the middle school's Chief of Communications Allison Cortez told Fox21: 'Weve heard rumors that students did it on their own, weve heard rumors that teachers handed out the tape, weve heard rumors that teachers joked about it but the students got the tape.

'There are so many versions of this story that is why we need to actually talk with every single student and find out what really happened.'

While the school or any other staff members have yet to make another comment on the ongoing investigation, the Chinook Trail Middle School principal reportedly has a meeting planned with Butler and her daughter to discuss the selfie.
A local news station in Washington State aired about 13 seconds of a porn during a weather report on Sunday.

KREM, a Spokane, Washington-based news station, accidentally broadcast the explicit clip during a weather report that aired at 6.30pm over the weekend.

Meteorologist Michelle Boss reported that the state was expecting 'some bonus days of nice weather after a gorgeous weekend of mild temperatures,' seemingly completely unaware of what was being played in the upper left corner of the screen.

In the pornographic video a woman lying in bed. The camera then scanned down her body and showed her bare backside.

Boss's co-anchor Cody Proctor also showed no reaction to the clip as the CBS-affiliated station continued to show more weather footage.

KREM, a Spokane, Washington-based news station, accidentally broadcast 13 seconds of porn during a weather report that aired at 6.30pm on Sunday

According to TVSpy, KREM apologized to viewers hours later, during the 11pm newscast.

'An inappropriate video aired in the first part of the show. We are diligently working to make sure something like this doesnt happen again,' the anchor said.

A statement issued by the Spokane City Police Department on Monday morning said that the department's Special Victims Unit (SVU) and Technical Assistance Response Unit (TARU) are investigating 'how the image appeared and where it came from'.

'The stations personnel are cooperating fully with SPD in the attempt to determine what happened,' it read, adding that the 'disturbing image...generated numerous calls from concerned citizens in the city and county'.

As of yesterday no one has been found responsible for airing the clip.

DailyMail.com have reached out to Boss and Proctor for comment.

Meteorologist Michelle Boss (right) and her co-anchor Cody Proctor (left) did not react to the clip and seemingly had no idea the explicit footage was broadcasting as they reported the weather

However, this isn't the first time a news station has made a rated-X mistake. In 2016 CNN viewers tuned in on Thanksgiving night expecting to watch Anthony Bourdain's 'Parts Unknown' - but were met with a half hour of porn instead.

Twitter users saw the humor in the situation and one wrote after reports of the incident emerged

Even Quinn herself took to the app to jokingly thank CNN for the 'free airtime'

A Twitter user shared explicit images of porn star Riley Quinn that appeared on her screen instead of Bourdain's travelogue. She also reached out to her cable provider, RCN, asking for explanations.

The porn movie, according to the user, went on for at least 30 minutes. She first saw it on CNN around 10.30 pm, watched something else, and kept checking periodically until the channel blacked out completely at 11pm.

A CNN spokesperson first appeared to confirm that there had been a mistake, before issuing a new statement suggesting the contrary. A review by RCN indicated that the Boston viewer was the only one affected.

Other Twitter users saw the humor in the situation and one wrote after reports of the incident emerged: 'You won't believe what they aired instead of Mike Rowe's Dirty Jobs.'

'Oops, I think those parts are known,' another said.

Even Quinn herself took to the app to jokingly thank CNN for the 'free airtime'.
The nations largest ports shattered more records Monday as massive bottlenecks at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach continue to wreak supply chain havoc.

The Marine Exchange of Southern California reported 100 vessels berthed October 18, topping the previous record of 97 set September 19.

Both figures are astonishingly higher than during pre-pandemic times, when just 17 ships were anchored.

Officials have resorted to holding areas not used since 2004 to accommodate the surge of container, bulk, and cargo ships.

Cargo carriers have waited up to five weeks for their turn to unload goods, said Capt. Kit Louttit, executive director of the marine exchange.

Thousands of containers sit, waiting to be unloaded from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, where vessel traffic broke all-time records Monday as the supply crunch continues

The Marine Exchange of Southern California reported 100 vessels at anchor October 18, topping the previous record of 97 set September 19

Of the 100 vessels at anchor, 70 are cargo ships carrying consumer goods to Americans

The ports' contingency anchorages, which previously went unused, are now 'essentially full'

Crews are bored to tears, he told DailyMail.com. Theyre sitting on the ship, looking onshore, eating three meals a day and standing watch.

Once the containers reach land, it takes weeks more to queue and unload them, he added.

Of the vessels at harbor Monday, 33 container ships were stuck in holding areas, breaking a former record of 29 set on September 20.

Louttit said hes never seen anything like it.

It is an all-time record to have 100 vessels out there, he said.

The number of container ships out there is 70, so theres your holiday shopping.

Kit Louttit, executive director of the marine exchange, said he's never seen anything like it

The White House warned American shoppers last week that they won't be able to get key items such as popular kids toys for Christmas because of supply chain backlogs.

Stores across the country are becoming increasingly barren thanks to a series of bottlenecks in the global supply chain.

Many goods that are made in China  such as toys, clothes, home appliances and more - are stuck either in factories there or in containers on board cargo ships off the coast that are waiting their turn to dock.

President Joe Biden reached a deal October 13 with unions and business leaders from Walmart, FedEx, UPS and others to expand operations at the ports in a bid to ease supply chain bottlenecks that are driving up consumer prices and emptying store shelves.

Target, Home Depot, Wal-Mart and Samsung pledged to increase output overnight by more than 3,500 shipping containers per week.

Under the new agreement the Port of Los Angeles will join the Port of Long Beach in working around the clock to alleviate some of the supply chain bottlenecks plaguing consumers ahead of the holiday season.

Together the California ports see 40 percent of all shipping containers that enter the US.

Long Beach expanded its nighttime operations in September.

Now, Los Angeles port officials and union leaders have agreed to add off-peak nighttime and weekend hours to help drive consumer prices down as well.

Goods at the Port of Los Angeles move 25 percent faster at night than during the day, White House officials have said.

They argue that expanding to overnight operation would help lighten the load on other links in the supply chain by easing traffic congestion during the day.

The backlog is also irritating local residents, who say empty shipping containers are being dumped in local communities.

Together the California ports see 40 percent of all shipping containers that enter the country

Once the containers reach land, it takes weeks more to queue and unload them

Its a bunch of neighbors that are very upset because its a non-stop situation, Sonia Cervantes told CBS Los Angeles.

I would have to go in at 6:30 a.m. to go to work. There was a trailer already blocking my driveway so I couldnt get out. With no driver in the trailer, so we would honk and honk, and it was just crazy.

UCTI Trucking owner Frank Arrieran told the outlet that hes resorted to keeping the containers on his yard, where space is already at a premium.

Right now with the ports and everything thats going on over there, were stuck with the containers, having to bring them all to the yard, and we only have so much space, said UCTI Trucking owner Frank Arrieran.

Added Cervantes: Sometimes they just unload the trailer in the street with no front part of it, and they just leave it there.
A BMW 4x4 driver who mowed down five birthday party guests like skittles outside a five-star hotel has been jailed for five years.

Prince Atuahene, 28, careered over the pavement and ploughed into the crowd outside the Hotel Rafayel in Battersea, southwest London.

One of the victims, Ahmed Askouri, was carried on the bonnet of Atuahenes BMW X5 for five metres before he was thrown clear.

He ended up trapped under wooden fencing and suffered a broken leg, Isleworth Crown Court heard.

Atuahene was granted bail following the attack on July 13, 2019, and went on to rob a postman of a package containing a credit card seven months later.

A shocking video of the scene shows police officers pointing their Tasers at hooded men and screaming at them to 'get on the f***ing ground!'

A picture taken the next day shows the extent of the car's damage

Bill McGivern, prosecuting, said Atuahene and others, including his cousin Wilkes, had attended the party at the Hotel Rafayel.

Another group, including Mr Askouri and Chrison Bell, also came to the event and a brawl erupted, the court heard. A fight spilled out onto Holman Road and Mr Kirby was left with a broken jaw after he was kicked in the face as he sat in his cousins BMW.

Mr Wilkes was heard to yell Suck ya mum shortly before he was assaulted, the court heard.

The BMW was abandoned after the collision

Atuahene drove away, performed a U-turn and accelerated back down the road. He mounted the kerb and crashed into five men, including Mr Adeh and Mr Askouri.

The men were all thrown into the air and left lying on the pavement.

Mr McGivern said a local resident saw one male hit by the car and go cartwheeling in the air and come to land by the hoarding.

The other looked like skittles the way they had been struck.

Mr Askouri was thrown from the bonnet of the X5 and ended up trapped under hoardings lining a building site, until police lifted them off. His right leg was broken.

Mr Bell was taken to Kings College Hospital where he was found to have multiple facial fractures, a bleed to the brain and a 4cm cut to his forehead.

Atuahene handed himself in to Wandsworth police station accompanied by his solicitor.

In a prepared statement, he said that he was trying to flee the scene out of fear for my life' after seeing a large group of people, some of whom were carrying knives and a gun.

I was terrified. I wanted to leave as soon as possible, he said. Once I got into my car I held my head down in fear of shots. I remember reversing and hitting a car behind me. I was not looking up out of fear of being shot at.

Before I know I have lost control of my car whilst trying to flee the scene.

I only recently brought the car, it is a high performance and I am still not familiar with it, the car is automatic.

I normally drive a manual. I didnt intentionally drive into people, I was just scared for my life and wanted to escape safely.'

Police had earlier been called to reports of a fight at 11.15pm, and arrested five people for affray

A twisted motorcycle was pictured lying on the pavement the next day. The rider is believed to have been caught up in the crash

The group were driven at when they were leaving the Hotel Rafayel on Lombard Road, Battersea. One of them suffered a broken leg.

But the prosecutor insisted that Atuahene deliberately drove into the five men and knocked some of them down 'as if they were skittles'.

It was a deliberate and highly reckless piece of driving, he said.

Atuahene was bailed after the incident and went on to rob postman Barry Mann as he did his round in a quiet cul-de-sac in Ickenham, west London, on February 26 last year.

He got out of a Vauxhall Corsa and blocked Mr Manns way and wrestled a package containing a credit card from him.

Atuahene made his getaway in the Corsa but the HSBC card, which had a 9,550 limit, was stopped before any money could be taken out. He admitted causing serious injury by dangerous driving, robbery and fraud.

Atuahene, from Brent, was jailed for five years and disqualified from driving for seven years.
Three Miss France beauty pageant contestants have joined a leading feminist group in suing the contest for alleged discrimination based on their appearance.

The 'Osez le feminisme' (Dare to be a Feminist) group, along with three failed contestants, said they were targeting the Miss France company as well as Endemol Production, which makes the annual TV programme screened on the TF1 channel.

Osez le feminisme said that it had filed a complaint with the state labour tribunal on behalf of the three former contestants, who didn't make the cut, saying they had given up trying to get their arguments across by other methods.

Three Miss France beauty pageant contestants have joined a leading feminist group in suing the contest for alleged discrimination based on their appearance. Pictured: Contestants compete during the Miss France 2021 beauty contest at the Puy-du-Fou, in Les Epesses, western France, on December 20, 2020

Pictured: Miss France 2021 winner Amandine Petit poses on a red carpet in Monte Carlo, June 2021

The plaintiffs argue that the companies are breaking French labour law with discriminatory selection criteria by obliging aspiring beauty queens to be more than 1.70 metres tall, single, and 'representative of beauty'.

Contestants are under obligation not to gain weight or change their hairstyle, and are not allowed to have tattoos or piercings anywhere other than in their ears.

They must also never had been married or have had children.

Several candidates in past competitions have been eliminated for doing anything 'contrary to good morals, to public order or the spirit of the contest, which is based on the values of elegance'.

The French labour code forbids companies from discriminating on the basis of 'morals, age, family status or physical appearance,' Violaine De Filippis-Abate, a lawyer for Osez le feminisme, told AFP.

The case, filed at a labour court in the Paris suburb of Bobigny, will hinge on whether magistrates recognise Miss France contestants as de facto employees of the organisers and TV company.

The 'Osez le feminisme' (Dare to be a Feminist) group (pictured during a protest, file photo), along with three failed contestants, said they were targeting the Miss France company as well as Endemol Production, which makes the annual TV programme screened on the TF1 channel

Contestants do not sign an employment contract, but the plaintiffs point to a supportive judgement in 2013 when a former contestant on Mister France also sued for similar reasons.

The three contestants involved in the case have not been named.

Miss France - which turned 100 this year - has faced decades of complaints, with critics saying it is a sexist leftover from a different era.

Despite this, it remains a popular show on French television, and draws millions of viewers for the final national vote on top TV channel TF1 in December.

'For all our protests every year against this vehicle for sexist values, nothing changes,' said Alyssa Ahrabare, head of the Dare to be Feminist group. 'We have decided to use the law to advance the cause of women.'

Pictured: Sylvie Tellier, second from right, the 2002 Miss France winner who now runs the organisation, seen during filming in 2020

Organisers insist that the show has moved forward with the times, but contestants continue to be expected to parade in swimsuits and ballgowns.

The Miss France company declined to comment when contacted by AFP news agency, but the 2002 Miss France winner Sylvie Tellier - who runs the organisation - insisted to the Daily Telegraph that the contest promotes women's rights.

'You can parade in a swimsuit and be a feminist. We are no longer in the days of "look beautiful and shut up",' she said.

The next contest is set to take place in Caen in northern France on December 11.
Internet sleuths claim they have proof that wanted fugitive Brian Laundrie is still alive.

Minnesota-based blogger Shaynah Dodge, who has been closely monitoring the investigation into Gabby Petito's homicide, claims Laundrie's Pinterest account has followed a new account in the past three weeks.

Laundrie has been on the run from police since fleeing his parents' Florida home more than a month ago, after he returned from a vacation with his girlfriend Gabby Petito, alone. Petito's body was later discovered. She was murdered by strangulation.

'Three weeks ago I posted in my stories about Brian's Pinterest account. In my screengrab from three weeks ago he followed 145 people,' Dodge posted to her Instagram stories.

'Tonight I was scrolling some of his pins on his account and I noticed this  He now follows 146 people. That's weird right?'

Similarly, Twitter user Ian Scott claimed Monday morning that Laundrie's email account was active last Friday.

'When I first discovered #BrianLaundrie's email account, I posted that there was activity using it on September 18th,' he wrote. 'Now the Latest Update is showing activity for October 15th!'

The alleged discoveries come about a week after police said there was no evidence suggesting if Laundrie - who disappeared over a month ago - was dead or not.

Internet sleuths claim they have proof that wanted fugitive Brian Laundrie (pictured) is still alive due his online activity

Blogger Shaynah Dodge (pictured) claims Laundrie's Pinterest account followed an additional user sometime in the last three weeks

Dodge presented her more than 77,000 followers with the alleged evidence on Monday night, 7News reported.

She posted a screenshot of what she believes to Laundrie's Pinterest account that was reportedly taken three weeks ago. The account followed 145 users.

In another post, she shared a grab she claims to have taken Monday that shows his alleged account following 146 users.

'Like of course his follow count went up as people have flocked to his pages but how did who he follows go up within the past three weeks?' she asked her followers.

'Can bot pages make you follow them?'

She continued: 'Someone could have had a private page and changed their settings? Not sure, but seriously, I cannot stand this guy on the run. I'm so fed up with this. Everything in this case feels so cryptic.'

The blogger also argued that she knew the account belonged to Laundrie because it had shared boards with Petito and his mother.

When questioned about Dodge's allegations, Pinterest told DailyMail.com: 'We don't share details related to accounts.'

Dodge's allegations followed those of Scott who, earlier that day, claimed that Laundrie had been using the internet.

Dodge, via her Instagram stories, posted a screenshot of what she believes to Laundrie's Pinterest account that was reportedly taken three weeks ago. The account followed 145 users

Now, the account the Dodge alleges is Laundrie's follows 146 users on Pinterest

Although he did not present his followers with evidence, Scott argued that someone had accessed Laundrie's Gmail account.

'Either he's active, or his account has being hacked, or feds are checking the account,' he tweeted.

Scott also explained that he is using an open source intelligence tool called EPIEOS to monitor Laundrie's digital activity.

'Just to clear something up that some may not understand regarding #BrianLaundrie's Gmail. The tool being used to observe his digital activity, is EPIEOS. The tool enables us to see what apps/services Laundrie has linked to them,' he wrote.

'So to be clear, we're not talking about him accessing his email account, to check emails. Simply that there's some activity linked to apps or services linked to that Gmail address. Each time that happens, there's a time stamp and date.'

Scott argued that he first saw activity tied to Laundrie's accounts on September 18 at 1am. He claims there was activity again on October 16 at 4.56pm.

'The FBI can also see this,' he said. 'If they're looking.'

Twitter user Ian Scott claimed Monday morning that Laundrie's email account was active last Friday

The self-proclaimed intelligence expert also claimed to have uncovered - with the help of podcaster Michael Collins - a phone number belonging to Laundrie.

'This morning (October 19th) I got a message from @2thecurve. He's found parts of another telephone number belonging #BrianLaundrie,' Scott tweeted Tuesday.

'This could help in closing in on his *potential* location. I'm digging in to find the missing parts. The number may link directly to Laundrie, or even to one of his allies.'

Scott reported that Laundrie has a new mobile number, registered with an area code beginning in 9, and is using an Alcatel cellphone.

'The number is connected to a PayPal account,' he alleged. 'However I will not publish public information here. The purpose of what we're doing is trying to establish that there is a digital footprint, which takes many forms.'

Authorities have not confirmed the validity of either sleuth's claims.

Likewise, Google - owner of Gmail - did not immediately respond to DailyMail.com's request for comment.

Brian Laundrie (left) is the sole person of interest in the homicide of Gabby Petito (right)

The pair had been travelling on a cross-country trip together since July 2, when they left New York. Petito was reported missing on September 11. Laundrie's parents reported him missing on September 17, two days after he was named a person of interest in Petito's case

Laundrie, who is the sole person of interest in Petito's homicide, was reported missing by his parents on September 17 after claiming they last saw him three days prior. His whereabouts have been unknown ever since.

Investigators and TV personalities like Duane Chapman - known as Dog the Bounty Hunter - and longtime 'America's Most Wanted' host John Walsh have been searching for the fugitive.

There have been no signs of Laundrie, 23, at the Carlton Reserve in Florida, the area his parents cite as the last place he was seen.

Last week, North Port police noted there was 'nothing to suggest' whether Laundrie was dead or alive.

Officials claimed no one had seen him in the reserve and search teams didn't find any physical evidence of his presence in the area.

Investigators have chased down leads in multiple states since Laundrie was last seen in September, but to date there has not been a confirmed sighting of him.

Investigators have chased down leads in multiple states since Laundrie (pictured with Petito on his left) was last seen in September, but to date there has not been a confirmed sighting of him

Earlier this month, Severin Beckwith (left) - a Brian Laundrie (right) lookalike - was detained at a lodge of the Appalachian Trail after tipsters reported his presence to authorities

Timeline of Gabby Petito case July 1: Gabby Petito and her boyfriend, Brian Laundrie left Blue Point, New York for a cross-country road trip

Gabby Petito and her boyfriend, Brian Laundrie left Blue Point, New York for a cross-country road trip August 12: Police in Moab, Utah respond to a domestic incident involving the couple

Police in Moab, Utah respond to a domestic incident involving the couple Aug. 17: Laundrie allegedly flies back to Florida to 'clear out a storage unit'

Laundrie allegedly flies back to Florida to 'clear out a storage unit' Aug. 21: Petito's father, Joseph Petito, has his last FaceTime video call with his daughter who was in Salt Lake City, Utah

Petito's father, Joseph Petito, has his last FaceTime video call with his daughter who was in Salt Lake City, Utah Aug. 23: Laundrie flies back to Utah to 'rejoin Gabby' on their trip

Laundrie flies back to Utah to 'rejoin Gabby' on their trip Aug. 24: Petito is last seen at a hotel in Salt Lake City with Laundrie

Petito is last seen at a hotel in Salt Lake City with Laundrie Aug. 25: Petito makes final call to her mother, Nichole Schmidt, saying she was in Grand Teton National Park

Petito makes final call to her mother, Nichole Schmidt, saying she was in Grand Teton National Park Aug. 25 or 26: The couple chats with the owner of a shop called 'Rustic Row' in Victor, Utah for about 20 minutes

The couple chats with the owner of a shop called 'Rustic Row' in Victor, Utah for about 20 minutes Aug. 27: Video of Petito's van was taken by blogger Jenn Bethune around 6.30 pm at the Spread Creek Campground; Witnesses say they saw a 'commotion' with the couple at Merry Piglets Tex-mex restaurant in Jackson, Wyoming

Video of Petito's van was taken by blogger Jenn Bethune around 6.30 pm at the Spread Creek Campground; Witnesses say they saw a 'commotion' with the couple at Merry Piglets Tex-mex restaurant in Jackson, Wyoming Aug. 29: The day that Wisconsin TikToker Miranda Baker claimed that she and her boyfriend were approached by Laundrie at Grand Teton National Park and asked them for a ride at 5.30pm

The day that Wisconsin TikToker Miranda Baker claimed that she and her boyfriend were approached by Laundrie at Grand Teton National Park and asked them for a ride at 5.30pm Aug. 30: Schmidt receives the last text from Petito's phone: 'No service in Yosemite'

Schmidt receives the last text from Petito's phone: 'No service in Yosemite' Sept. 1: Laundrie returns to his parents' home in North Port, Florida in a van without Petito

Laundrie returns to his parents' home in North Port, Florida in a van without Petito Sept. 6-7: Laundrie and his parents visit Fort De Soto campsite in Florida

Laundrie and his parents visit Fort De Soto campsite in Florida Sept. 11: Schmidt reports Petito missing to authorities in New York; Petito and Laundrie's van was impounded by police in Florida that same day

Schmidt reports Petito missing to authorities in New York; Petito and Laundrie's van was impounded by police in Florida that same day Sept. 12: Grand Teton National Park rangers search for Petito

Grand Teton National Park rangers search for Petito Sept. 13: Laundrie's lawyer says on October 5 that his parents now 'believe' this was the day they last saw him heading for a hike

Laundrie's lawyer says on October 5 that his parents now 'believe' this was the day they last saw him heading for a hike Sept. 14: Laundrie issues a statement about Petito's disappearance through his lawyer; Laundrie's parents claim on September 17 that Laundrie left his parents' home for a hike this day and they hadn't seen from him since

Laundrie issues a statement about Petito's disappearance through his lawyer; Laundrie's parents claim on September 17 that Laundrie left his parents' home for a hike this day and they hadn't seen from him since Sept. 15: Laundrie is officially named a person of interest in Petito's case

Laundrie is officially named a person of interest in Petito's case Sept. 17: Laundrie family attorney confirms his whereabouts are unknown

Laundrie family attorney confirms his whereabouts are unknown Sept. 18: North Port police and the FBI start searching the Carlton Reserve in Sarasota County for missing Brian Laundrie

North Port police and the FBI start searching the Carlton Reserve in Sarasota County for missing Brian Laundrie Sept. 19: Bethune realizes she has video of Petito's van around 12am and submits the FBI with the footage 10 minutes later; Officials announce a body was found near Grand Teton National Park that matched Petitos description in the afternoon

Bethune realizes she has video of Petito's van around 12am and submits the FBI with the footage 10 minutes later; Officials announce a body was found near Grand Teton National Park that matched Petitos description in the afternoon Sept. 21: Coroner confirms remains found in Grand Tetons belong to Petito. Her death is ruled a homicide but her cause of death is still under invesetigation

Coroner confirms remains found in Grand Tetons belong to Petito. Her death is ruled a homicide but her cause of death is still under invesetigation Sept. 20 - 22: FBI and North Port police continue search for Laundrie in Carton Reserve

FBI and North Port police continue search for Laundrie in Carton Reserve Sept. 22 : Neighbors say they saw the Laudrie family pack up their detached camper on the day Gabby was reported missing. DailyMail.com photos show the camper was back in the driveway two days later, on September 13

: Neighbors say they saw the Laudrie family pack up their detached camper on the day Gabby was reported missing. DailyMail.com photos show the camper was back in the driveway two days later, on September 13 Sept. 23 : FBI issues an arrest warrant for Laundrie for 'use of unauthorized access device' for fraudulently using a Capitol One Bank debit card that was not his between August 30 and September 1 to spend $1,000; A probe is launched into the police handling of the Utah police incident on Aug. 12; Laundrie's parents visit their attorney in Orlando

: FBI issues an arrest warrant for Laundrie for 'use of unauthorized access device' for fraudulently using a Capitol One Bank debit card that was not his between August 30 and September 1 to spend $1,000; A probe is launched into the police handling of the Utah police incident on Aug. 12; Laundrie's parents visit their attorney in Orlando Sept. 25: Dog the Bounty Hunter joins the search for Laundrie

Dog the Bounty Hunter joins the search for Laundrie Sept. 26: A funeral is held for Petito in Holbrook, New York, and her family launch a charity to help parents find missing children

A funeral is held for Petito in Holbrook, New York, and her family launch a charity to help parents find missing children Sept. 27: Manhunt for Laundrie in the Carlton Reserve is scaled back after 10 day search doesn't find him. Dog the Bounty Hunter says Laundrie and his parents stayed at Fort De Soto Park from September 1-3 and September 6-8 - and that on the latter visit only the parents left

Manhunt for Laundrie in the Carlton Reserve is scaled back after 10 day search doesn't find him. Dog the Bounty Hunter says Laundrie and his parents stayed at Fort De Soto Park from September 1-3 and September 6-8 - and that on the latter visit only the parents left Sept. 28: Laundrie's mom is accused of using a burner phone to contact her son Sept. 29: Documents reveal Laundrie's mom canceled a reservation for the Fort De Soto Park campsite for two from September 1 to 3 and booked for three from September 6 to 8; FBI seizes surveillance footage from site; FBI investigates lead Laundrie bought a burner phone on September 14;

Laundrie's mom is accused of using a burner phone to contact her son Sept. 29: Documents reveal Laundrie's mom canceled a reservation for the Fort De Soto Park campsite for two from September 1 to 3 and booked for three from September 6 to 8; FBI seizes surveillance footage from site; FBI investigates lead Laundrie bought a burner phone on September 14; Sept. 30: Bodycam footage from a second officer at the August 12 incident is released showing a distressed Petito admitting Laundrie hit her; FBI agents collect more evidence from the Laundrie home

Bodycam footage from a second officer at the August 12 incident is released showing a distressed Petito admitting Laundrie hit her; FBI agents collect more evidence from the Laundrie home Oct. 1: It emerges Laundrie's sister had contact with him after she said she did

It emerges Laundrie's sister had contact with him after she said she did Oct. 2 : A hiker along the Appalachian Trail claims to have seen Laundrie near the border of Tennessee and North Carolina

: A hiker along the Appalachian Trail claims to have seen Laundrie near the border of Tennessee and North Carolina Oct. 3 : Investigators searched the area on the Appalachian trail for any signs that Laundrie had been there

: Investigators searched the area on the Appalachian trail for any signs that Laundrie had been there Oct. 4 : Laundrie's sister told protestors outside her home that her family has been ignoring her after they rebuked her story and that she does not know where her brother is

: Laundrie's sister told protestors outside her home that her family has been ignoring her after they rebuked her story and that she does not know where her brother is Oct 5 : Laundrie's sister appeared on Good Morning America to say she would turn her brother in if she knew where he is;

: Laundrie's sister appeared on Good Morning America to say she would turn her brother in if she knew where he is; Oct. 7: Laundrie's father Christopher joins FBI agents on the search for his son at the Carlton Reserve but the search brings up no clues

Laundrie's father Christopher joins FBI agents on the search for his son at the Carlton Reserve but the search brings up no clues Oct. 12: Teton County Coroner Dr. Brent Blue announces autopsy findings which show Petito died by strangulation; No specific date of death was given - only that she was dead 3-4 weeks before her body was found

Teton County Coroner Dr. Brent Blue announces autopsy findings which show Petito died by strangulation; No specific date of death was given - only that she was dead 3-4 weeks before her body was found Oct. 16 : Petito's parents are seen collecting her ashes from the Valley Mortuary in Jackson, Wyoming

: Petito's parents are seen collecting her ashes from the Valley Mortuary in Jackson, Wyoming October 20 : Human remains found in Carlton Reserve Advertisement

Earlier this month, Severin Beckwith - a Laundrie lookalike - was detained at a lodge of the Appalachian Trail after tipsters reported his presence to authorities.

Speaking with DailyMail.com on Monday, Graham County Sheriff Jerry Crisp said his department, along with the US Marshals Service, responded to the Lodge at Fontana Village Resort after receiving a photograph of Beckwith, whom it was presumed could be Laundrie.

Crisp says they questioned Beckwith, examined his hands in search of Laundrie's tattoo and took his prints on a remote fingerprint scanner to confirm his identity.

After determining he wasn't the wanted fugitive, Beckwith was released.

Hiker Dennis Davis also claimed to have seen Laundrie along the Appalachian Trail. He said he was '99.9 percent' certain he spotted the fugitive.

'There is no doubt in my mind I spoke to Brian Laundrie  none whatsoever,' Davis stated.

'He was talking wild. He said that his girlfriend loved him and he had to go out to California to see her, and he was asking me how to get to California.'

Meanwhile, Petito's grief-stricken mother said she wants 'coward' Laundrie to spend the rest of his life 'in a cell'.

Nichole Schmidt made the comments during an interview with 60 Minutes Australia that aired on Sunday, as she and her husband Jim returned to their home in Long Island after retrieving her daughter's ashes in Wyoming.

Petito, 22, was found dead in Wyoming near the truck where she and Laundrie were using to tour the country. He remains on the run with a federal warrant out for his arrest, presumably hiding in a Florida reserve, awaiting arrest for her murder.

Schmidt said she and her husband, Jim, thought Petito would be safe with Laundrie when they embarked on the trip. Now, she sees him as a cold-blooded killer who is being protected by his parents, who still refuse to talk to them.

'Silence speaks volumes. I believe they know most of the information. I would love to just face to face ask, 'Why are you doing this? Just tell me the truth.'

'He's a coward. I don't want to say he's insane because he went home, he's hiding, he used her credit card. That's not somebody who's gone crazy.

'He knows what he is doing, he knew what he was doing. I just want to get him in a cell for the rest of his life.'

Jim added: 'We want vengeance. And justice.'

Petito was found eight days after her family reported her missing and 22 days after the last reported sighting of her alive on August 27.

An autopsy revealed last week that Petito had been strangled. Her mother said she hopes she did not suffer or feel 'any pain.'

'I hope she didn't suffer and that she wasn't in any pain. That she was in a place she wanted to be, looking at the beautiful mountains. This was evil. She was taken at somebody else's hand. It's not fair.'

Due to Wyoming law, the coroner did not provide additional details about the autopsy's findings, including if her body was buried, whether any drugs were found in her system and whether she was killed in the same spot her body was found.

The coroner did, however, add that DNA samples had been taken by law enforcement as the investigation into her murder and who was responsible continues.

Authorities have not named a suspect in her murder but it is possible they may already have named one behind closed doors, a former FBI agent told WPBF 25.

'That piece of information, I would bet, has gone into grand jury - there is now a sealed indictment for the apprehension for the person who is responsible for the death of Gabby Petito,' former FBI agent Stuart Kaplan said.

'This can of course include him [Brian Laundrie] as being the attacker or responsible person for causing Gabby Petito's death or it could exclude him.'

He believes it is unlikely the suspect's name will be released until after an arrest is made.

State Attorney Dave Aronberg in Palm Beach County, Florida, said Laundrie's DNA might not appear on the samples found on Petito's body due to the time her body spent exposed to the elements, but other evidence such as cell phone records could still be used against him.

Laundrie returned from their trip alone on September 1 and refused to say what became of his partner.

Petito's family contacted Laundrie and his family but no one replied.

On September 11, Petito's mother, Nichole Schmidt, reported her daughter missing. She later found out that Laundrie had returned home to Florida without her.

Laundrie - the only person of interest in the case - is now missing, and police aren't sure whether he's hiding or dead.

His parents reported him missing after September 17, claiming he failed to return home from a hike.

They steered investigators toward the alligator-infested, 25,000-acre Carlton Reserve in Sarasota, Florida.

Investigators spent more than $1 million scouring the area for Laundrie but didn't find him.

The FBI issued an arrest warrant for Laundrie last month after alleging he used a Capitol One Bank debit card that wasn't his.

The agency said Laundrie is wanted for 'use of unauthorized access device' related to his activities between August 30 and September 1, following Petito's death, and that he used the card to obtain items totaling $1,000 or more.

Over the weekend, DailyMail.com exclusively obtained pictures of the Schmidts leaving the Jackson mortuary where Petito's remains were being held, along with her father, Joseph Petito.

Faces etched with pain, the family made their way out of the Valley Mortuary in Jackson, Wyoming, on Saturday morning clutching an urn containing the ashes of the 22-year-old van life blogger - the final stop on a whirlwind trip that included visits to the last places Petito went to before she was murdered and a meeting with detectives working on the case.

Mom Nichole appeared visibly upset as they left the funeral home, while black-clad father Joe held the white box containing Petito's body to his chest.

The remains of blonde Petito will now be taken home to Long Island, New York, for burial.

Earlier this week, Teton County Coroner Dr. Brent Blue announced the results of Petito's autopsy: she had been manually strangled before being dumped close to a remote campsite in Grand Teton National Park.

Petito's father Joe and his wife Tara and her mother Nichole and husband Jim have been in Jackson since Wednesday afternoon and spent Thursday morning at the campsite where she was found.

They were escorted to the Spread Creek campsite, which is 27 miles out of town, by officers from the Teton County Sheriff's Office.

The remote site where the blogger's body was discovered on September 19 has become a shrine to Petito, complete with a stone cross dotted with flowers.

Afterward, the family spent the afternoon at the sheriff's office being briefed by detectives working on the case.

On Friday, they met with rescuers from the Teton County Search and Rescue Team, which took part in the hunt for Petito's body and visited Jenny Lake where her van was seen parked up shortly before she vanished.

Gabby's father Joseph Petito clutches the ashes of his murdered daughter, whose remains were found at a nearby campsite on September 19

Gabby's family retrieved the white boxes containing her ashes from the Valley Mortuary in Jackson, Wyoming on Saturday

Jim and Nichole stop to look at Elk grazing with their attorney Richard Stafford. It is near where Gabby's body was found

A memorial of stones arranged in a cross pattern at the Spread Creek Dispersed Campsite east of the Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming on September 20 - where Petito's body was found one day earlier

The Laundrie family lawyer, Anthony Bertolino, gave a statement attempting to express sympathy to Petito's family on Thursday after her cause of death was revealed.

'Gabby Petito's death at such a young age is a tragedy,' he wrote.

'While Brian Laundrie is currently charged with the unauthorized use of a debit card belonging to Gabby, Brian is only considered a person of interest in relation to Gabby Petito's demise.

'At this time Brian is still missing and when he is located we will address the pending fraud charge against him.'

Petito's mother texted a reported a curt, blunt response.

'His words are garbage. Keep talking,' she wrote to a reporter from WFLA in Florida.
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Homes linked to Russian oil tycoon Oleg Deripaska in New York and Washington were searched by the FBI on Monday, stemming from sanctions imposed on him in 2018.

Images of FBI agents surrounding the Washington, DC residence connected to Deripaska, a close Putin ally who has been linked to Paul Manafort and Christopher Steele, were first reported by NBC late Monday morning.

The action was court-ordered, and FBI spokesperson told multiple outlets.

A source told DailyMail.com that Deripaska hasn't been back to the US since at least 2017 and had no intention of returning after the Treasury Department hit him with sanctions, but those claims have not been verified.

Deripaska's spokesman told Russian outlet Kommersant that searches were underway at his relatives' homes in New York and Washington. They said Deripaska doesn't own the homes but the searches are tied to US sanctions against him.

The activity is connected to a federal investigation based in New York, a spokesperson told CNN.

It's not clear whether that would be the Southern District of New York, known for prosecuting some of the most high-profile cases in the country including an ongoing federal probe into Rudy Giuliani's ties to Ukraine and an investigation into Donald Trump's business affairs.

A spokesman for the Southern District of New York declined to comment.

FBI agents outside of Deripaska's Washington, DC home on Monday morning

The FBI has not given a reason for the activity but told multiple outlets that it was court-ordered

Deripaska (left) is a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin and has been accused of aiding the Kremlin in foreign influence operations

Properties linked to Deripaska in New York include a sprawling $42.5 million mansion in Manhattan's Upper East Side neighborhood. That home was among a number of assets that were frozen by the sanctions.

The New York property being raided on Monday is reportedly in Manhattan's West Village.

Deripaska is a close associate of Russian President Vladimir Putin who's been accused of helping the Kremlin conduct foreign influence operations.

A 1,000-page Senate Intelligence Committee report released last year also links him to former Trump 2016 campaign chair Paul Manafort and ex-MI6 spy Christopher Steele.

Deripaska and other members of Putin's inner circle as well as 12 Russian businesses connected to them were blacklisted by the Treasury Department in 2018 over alleged international crimes

The next year however, Donald Trump lifted sanctions on three companies connected to him despite objections from Congressional Democrats.

A spokesperson for Deripaska told a Russian outlet that homes of his relatives in Washington and New York are being raided

The raids are reportedly connected to US sanctions against Deripaska, which were levied in 2018

A source told DailyMail.com that Deripaska hasn't been back to the US since at least 2017 and had no intention of returning

George Conway, husband of former Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway, was seen snapping pictures of the law enforcement activity outside of Deripaska's DC home

The FBI removes a vehicle from the home of Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska in Washington

FBI agents were also pictured taking a stack of cardboard boxes into the luxurious mansion

At the time Trump's Treasury Department claimed those companies 'have reduced Oleg Deripaskas direct and indirect shareholding stake in those companies and severed his control.'

The billionaire's DC mansion, called the Haft Mansion, is reportedly worth $15 million, according to the Daily Beast.

That house is next door to the home of former Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway and her husband George Conway. George Conway was seen snapping pictures of Deripaska's home while law enforcement were at the residence.

He told Politico there that he's never seen Deripaska at home.

In August 2020 the bipartisan Senate report detailed allegations that Manafort collaborated with Deripaska during the 2016 presidential election amid Russia's efforts to interfere in the race.

It claims Manafort worked with Deripaska to funnel internal Trump campaign information to the Russian intelligence community.

A home in New York City's wealthy West Village neighborhood linked to Deripaska was also raided by FBI

It's one of multiple properties that the Russian tycoon owns throughout Manhattan

FBI agents were seen removing multiple boxes from the West Village home linked to Deripaska on Monday

FBI agents remove items during the US law enforcement's raid on Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska's property in Manhattan

Boxes of relevant material could be seen piled high in a law enforcement van as agents continuously worked to fill it

Filed marked 'evidence' can be seen poking out from one of the boxes removed from the Manhattan home

'This is what collusion looks like,' lawmakers wrote of Manafort's ties to Russian actors.

The report said Deripaska 'conducts influence operations, frequently in countries where he has a significant economic interest.'

'The Russian government coordinates with and directs Deripaska on many of his influence operations,' lawmakers alleged.

Documents also revealed that Deripaska gave Manafort a $10 million loan in 2005 to allegedly help sway US news coverage to portray Putin more favorably.

The same report links Deripaska to former MI6 spy Christopher Steele, who infamously authored the Trump dossier.

The nearly 1,000-page Senate Intelligence Committee report released in August 2020 links Deripaska to onetime Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort

Trump's Treasury Department levied sanctions against Deripaska in 2018 and accused him of being tied to organized crime (pictured: Trump getting in an SUV in Manhattan on Monday)

Lawmakers claimed that Deripaska 'had early knowledge of Steele's work' only months before he started putting together the Dossier, which was commissioned as opposition research by Democrats including Hillary Clinton.

In 2016 Steele had dismissed claims that Deripaska was a 'tool' of the Russian government.

But investigators 'found ample evidence to dispute Steele's assessment,' the report stated.

Deripaska was among a group of two dozen Russian oligarchs and officials sanctioned by Trump's Treasury in April 2018.

They were put in place to punish Russia for 'malign activity around the globe.' A statement announcing the economic penalties named a number of specific instances of Russian aggression, including its actions in Crimea and arming the Assad regime in Syria.

It also mentions Russia's work to 'subvert Western democracies' but doesn't detail any specific allegations about the US.

Deripaska's multi-million dollar mansion is located in DC's wealthy Massachusetts Avenue Heights neighborhood

The Treasury accused Deripaska himself of ordering the murder of another businessman and 'threatening the lives of business rivals, illegally wiretapping a government official, and taking part in extortion and racketeering.'

It also claimed he had ties to organized crime.

When the Trump administration lifted sanctions against companies tied to him they left those against him specifically in place.

He sued to have those lifted in 2019 but in June of this year a judge threw out his lawsuit.

Reports from 2018 indicate that Deripaska was denied a visa to the US multiple times.

But recently, NBC reports, the Kremlin gave him diplomatic status to allow him to enter the US with immunity.

DailyMail.com has reached out to one of Deripaska's US-based attorneys for comment.

It appears the tycoon's web of high-power connections extends to the United Kingdom, by way of a former government official in ex-Prime Minister David Cameron's government.

George Osborne served as UK Chancellor and First Secretary of State under Cameron. Since leaving government he's made a living as an investment banker.

A corporate advisory firm he joined in April was recruited to help Anglo-Russian metals company EN+ and its subsidiary Rusal negotiate with the world's largest producer of nickel, the Financial Times reported.

EN+ and Rusal were two of the companies sanctioned and later un-sanctioned by Trump's Treasury, having been controlled by Deripaska when the measures came down.
The British Medical Association says doctors could leave job in their droves

93% of GPs said Sajid Javid's nine-point plan is an 'unacceptable response'

GPs have 'out-and-out rejected' No10's 250million proposals to give patients more face-to-face appointments.

Nine in ten family doctors quizzed by a medical union claimed Sajid Javid's plan to increase in-person visits was an 'unacceptable response to the current crisis'.

Last week the Health Secretary unveiled a nine-point revolution to ensure all patients could see their doctor in person.

GPs were told they can only deny face-to-face consultations if there are good clinical reasons and practices were given extra money to take on more staff. Surgeries which fail to improve access will also be 'named and shamed'.

Patient groups backed the move, saying doctors had ignored patients wishes on the matter for too long.

But the British Medical Association today argued its poll of 3,500 GPs shows doctors feel the drastic proposals will 'increase workload and bureaucracy' and slash overall appointments.

It warned GPs were already leaving the profession in their droves  and more would continue to do so if the measures are pushed through.

The union said it would meet later this week to discuss what 'steps' it would take next.

Doctors are already going against Mr Javid's orders for them to see more patients in-person, with hundreds of GPs told to 'ignore' the guidelines.

GPs 'out-and-out rejected' Sajid Javid's (pictured today, right) 250million plan to give patients more face-to-face appointments, the British Medical Association claimed today. Pictured left: Dr Richard Vautrey, BMA GP committee England chair

The number of GP appointments taking place face-to-face tumbled at the start of the pandemic when surgeries were told to see patients remotely where possible. But despite the country largely returning to normal, in-person visits are yet to climb back to pre-pandemic levels. The above graph shows the number of face-to-face GP appointments (red line) by month since the end of 2019

Children should be taught to treat their own illnesses instead of going to the GP to curb pressures on family doctors, NHS leaders say Children need to be taught how to treat illnesses themselves in an effort to ease GP workloads, NHS bosses say. Family doctors have longed complained about unnecessary paperwork and admin, as well as patients coming in for issues that could be dealt with either at home, or by a pharmacist. Now health chiefs have released a series of nine recommendations they say could curb unnecessary GP and A&E visits. One includes the 'Dr Me' programme, which sees children given an hour lesson by medical students on self-care techniques and 'appropriate use of NHS services' for problems such as vomiting and diarrhoea. Under the scheme, youngsters are given six health related scenarios and then asked if they should stay home, go to the GP or attend A&E. The authors of the report, which include the NHS Clinical Commission, Royal College of Nursing and the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, say this would help free up health professionals' time. Advertisement

It came as the head of NHS said there is is no 'set number' for how many face-to-face appointments GPs should provide. Amanda Pritchard said many patients liked face-to-face appointments but others found phoning a GP more convenient.

Data shows that 58 per cent of patients were seen face-to-face in August in England, compared to more than 80 per cent before the pandemic.

The BMA poll asked GPs: 'Do you think the package is an acceptable response to the current challenges in general practice?'

Ninety-three per cent said it wasn't.

Dr Richard Vautrey, the BMA's GP committee England chair, said: 'This shows the profession has out and out rejected this shambles of a plan from the Government and NHS England.

'If the Health Secretary thinks it is enough to provide a lifeline to surgeries this winter, let alone save general practice in the long-term, this response shows how wrong he is.

'The BMA provided the Health Secretary with a clear plan to help address the crisis in the short term, that could improve patient access and guarantee safe, high quality care, while also putting forward longer term solutions.

'He chose to ignore that and instead we have a shambolic plan that has failed before it has begun. These survey results show how angry and despondent GPs are.'

Mr Javid met with the BMA for an 'emergency' meeting on September 23 in which doctors called for a 'clear public backing for GPs'.

A separate survey of more than 6,000 GPs in England, conducted in the week before the announcement, found two-thirds (66 per cent) of respondents were prepared to reduce their hours to protect themselves from the current crisis.

More than half (54 per cent) said they would consider leaving the NHS all together if the Government did not provide them with the support they needed.

The average number of sessions GPs works in a day have gone down over the last decade while their wage growth has gone up. In 2012 the average GP worked 7.3 sessions a week but this has now fallen to 6.6 a week, the equivalent of just over three days of work a week. In the same period the average GP income went up by more than 6,000. A GP's daily work is divided into sessions. According to the NHS, a full-time GP works 8 sessions a week, formed of two sessions a day, generally starting at 8am and finishing at 6.30pm, though these hours can var

NHS Digital data shows in Bury, Greater Manchester, patients saw a doctor just a third (36 per cent) of the time in July. Patients were also put through to another staff member two-thirds of the time in North East Lincolnshire and Lincolnshire. Doctors saw patients in less than 40 per cent of appointments in North East Essex, Portsmouth, Kirklees, Bradford and Craven in North Yorkshire

A total of 52 per cent of consultations in July were with an actual doctor, with the rest carried out by other healthcare staff, such as nurses, pharmacy assistants, and even acupuncturists

No 'set number' for GP face-to-face appointments, says NHS England chief There is no 'set number' for how many face-to-face appointments GPs should provide, the head of NHS England has told MPs. Amanda Pritchard said that many patients liked face-to-face appointments but that others found phoning a GP or going online more convenient. Data shows that 58% of patients were seen face-to-face in August in England, compared with 54% in January and more than 80% before the pandemic. Health Secretary Sajid Javid set out plans last week for more cash for GPs, but also ways in which they can be named and shamed in league tables depending on how many patients they see in-person. It comes as a snap poll for the British Medical Association (BMA) found doctors 'overwhelmingly' rejecting the Government's plan, with 93% of 3,500 GPs saying it was an unacceptable response to the crisis. Speaking to MPs on the cross-party Commons health committee, Ms Pritchard said: 'I'm really conscious that the vast, vast majority of colleagues in general practice have worked, and continue to work, absolutely tirelessly. 'In fact, they're the building block of the NHS and they continue to be.' She said the package announced last week was about the 'need to put some money behind supporting general practice'. She added: 'I think we have really tried to steer away from saying that there is a kind of a right number for face-to-face versus other types of access, because what's clear is many people absolutely do prefer face-to-face access, GPs are required to provide it, it's part of the contract, but for some populations, it's going to be a particular number, for others it will be different. 'So what we've talked about in the document is respecting patient preference.' Advertisement

Dr Vautrey added: 'Patient care will suffer because imposing these measures could well result in doctors having to spend even more time on paperwork and admin.

'But it may also result in GPs leaving the profession all together.

'We have already lost the equivalent of more than 1,800 full-time, fully qualified, GPs in the last six years, and with a majority of family doctors now saying they could be forced to reduce their hours or leave the NHS all together because of a lack of support, the situation could get far, far worse.

'This will be on the Health Secretary's watch. He will be to blame.'

The BMA said it would be holding a meeting this week to discuss what 'urgent action' it could take against the Health Secretary's plans.

A spokesperson declined to say what action this could entail but told MailOnline: 'It is very clear from the survey results that GPs will be further reducing hours and even leaving the profession, even without any organised action  something they have already begun doing.'

Yesterday, practices serving millions of patients across the south of England were advised 'not to participate' in Government plans to improve access to GPs.

The Daily Mail has been campaigning for a return to face-to-face appointments as default.

Amid the growing row over a lack of in-person appointments official NHS data shows that just half of GP appointments in England are with a qualified doctor.

Defending the figures, the Royal College of GPs claimed that family doctors were not always the most appropriate person for patients to see. But campaigners said they feared that patients were being diverted to take some pressure off of GPs' workload.

Family doctors have longed complained about unnecessary paperwork and admin, as well as patients coming in for issues that could be dealt with either at home, or by a pharmacist.

It prompted health chiefs to today release a series of nine recommendations they say could curb unnecessary GP and A&E visits.

One includes the 'Dr Me' programme, which sees children given an hour lesson by medical students on self-care techniques and 'appropriate use of NHS services' for problems such as vomiting and diarrhoea.

Under the scheme, youngsters are given six health related scenarios and then asked if they should stay home, go to the GP or attend A&E.

The authors of the report, which include the NHS Clinical Commission, Royal College of Nursing and the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, say this would help free up health professionals' time.

The Nine Commandments...and what they really mean

By Shaun Wooller for the Daily Mail

The Daily Mail launched its campaign to improve access to GPs after being inundated with horrifying stories from readers who struggled to be seen in person.

The revolution it has brought about is an extraordinary achievement that will undoubtedly benefit patients and the NHS. Today's new NHS England and Department of Health blueprint will help ensure all five points of the Mail's original manifesto for change are delivered.

It will improve access to GPs, get patients and doctors back into face-to-face contact more often and boost safety.

Here are the nine key points of today's announcement  and what they mean:

1 Patients' right to face-to-face appointments

What they're announcing: Health officials have made it clear that every GP practice must ask patients what form they would like their appointment to take.

What it means:

Doctors must respect preferences for face-to-face care unless there are good clinical reasons to the contrary  for example, if the patient has Covid.

This means surgeries can no longer fob people off with a remote consultation if they want to be in the same room as their medic.

People can still choose to have their appointment on the phone or by video if it is more convenient.

Under the Government's new nine-point plan, family doctors must respect their patient's preferences for face-to-face care unless there are good clinical reasons to the contrary

Conducting appointments in-person will allow doctors to spot symptoms they could not have detected remotely and improve the patient-doctor relationship.

Elderly and vulnerable patients who lacked the technology needed for remote consultations or struggled to use it will no longer feel excluded.

2 More money for more appointments

What they're announcing: A 250million winter access fund will let practices offer more appointments so patients who need care can get it  on the same day, if needed.

What it means:

The money will pay for locums and other health professionals, such as physiotherapists and podiatrists, with a focus on increasing capacity.

Surgeries will be encouraged to extend opening hours or operate walk-in clinics, making it easier for patients to be seen quickly at a convenient time.

A 250million winter access fund, announced by the Government today, will let practices offer more appointments so patients who need care can get it - on the same day if needed

3 'Hit squads' and cash penalties to keep GPs on track

What they're announcing: GP practices that fail to improve access will face special measures and be denied a share of additional funding.

What it means:

Poor performers will see specialist 'hit squad' teams sent in to knock them into shape.

This should ensure patients have access to good quality care. Denying surgeries that fail to improve access a share of the new pot of cash will act as an incentive.

4 Better phone systems

What they're announcing: The NHS will help practices upgrade telephone systems to make it easier for patients to book appointments and cut waits to speak to a receptionist.

The Government has also announced the NHS will help practices upgrade telephone systems to make it easier for patients to book appointments and cut waits to speak to a receptionist

What it means:

New technology will make it easier for staff to manage queues. This will reduce the frustration of trying to reach a surgery, with some people dialling hundreds of times.

Patient groups report some elderly people have given up attempting to see their GP because of the stress of phoning.

5 Less paperwork and more help from pharmacists

What they're announcing: The Government will free GPs from some red tape by reforming who can provide medical evidence and certificates, such as fit notes and DVLA checks. Pharmacists will become the first port of call for most minor illnesses.

What it means:

Lessening the burden of paperwork will make the job more attractive and help bring in more trainees, in a boost to the commitment to recruit 6,000 more GPs.

Less paperwork: The Government says it will free GPs from some red tape by reforming who can provide medical evidence and certificates, such as fit notes and DVLA checks for example

Getting highly-skilled nurses and pharmacists to perform some checks will free up GPs for more complex issues.

Pharmacists will be given greater powers to write prescriptions and treat patients for routine conditions.

6 Relaxation of guidelines on social distancing

What they're announcing: The two-metre social distancing rule, which applies in surgeries, will be axed.

What it means:

GPs have argued that strict Covid rules prevent them from seeing more patients in person because their waiting rooms are too small to accommodate them.

No social distancing: The two-metre social distancing rule, which applies at GPs, will be axed

7 Performance league tables

What they're announcing: GP appointment data will be published at practice level by spring next year to enhance transparency and accountability.

What it means:

Naming and shaming individual GP practices that fail to offer enough face-to-face appointments or that have long waits to be seen will incentivise doctors to improve.

Producing league tables will allow patients to compare their practice with others in their town and increase competition.

8 Easier patient feedback via text message

What they're announcing: Making it simpler for patients to rate their practice's performance.

As part of the plans, a new campaign is being launched to reduce the abuse of NHS workers

What it means:

This will give doctors and NHS managers a clearer picture of what patients do and do not like about their surgery and make it easier to identify recurring problems, so they can be improved.

9 Zero tolerance campaign on abuse of NHS staff

What they're announcing: A new campaign to reduce abuse and punish offenders.

What it means:

Unacceptable behaviour by frustrated patients drives much-needed doctors out of jobs and creates an environment that is not attractive to new recruits.

Ministers and the NHS hope a new campaign will prevent a disastrous exodus of staff and ensure more medical trainees want to work in general practice.
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Billionaire PayPal founder Peter Thiel

Billionaire PayPal founder and ex-Trump supporter Peter Thiel is facing a backlash from New Zealand eco-groups over plans for a sprawling luxury lodge built into the hills overlooking South Island's Lake Wanaka, complete with a spa, meditation 'pod' and library.

Mr Thiel, who was granted New Zealand citizenship ten years ago in controversial circumstances after being in the country for just 12 days, wants to build the lodge and a private residential building on the $10million, 477-acre estate that he owns near Queenstown.

But the eccentric billionaire is facing anger from eco-groups who claim his lodge would 'destroy our beautiful lake environment' and 'likely to cause significant adverse physical changes to the appearance of the natural landscape when viewed from public places in the vicinity'.

In a six-page letter to Queenstown Lakes District Council, the Upper Clutha Environmental Society said it opposed the application in its entirety and claimed the buildings would be an eyesore on the natural landscape.

The Society argued Mr Thiel 'has not meaningfully avoided, remedied or mitigated adverse effects', calling the proposals 'inappropriate' and adding that the development is 'extremely unlikely' to meet the 'reasonably difficult to see test' set by the local council.

Longview Environmental Trust argued the location was inappropriate and would be highly visible. And local resident John Sutton said in a submission to council that the lodge would 'destroy our beautiful lake environment', The Guardian reported.

In total, the council received seven formal submissions opposing or asking for changes to the plan, and none in support.

Mr Thiel is facing a backlash from New Zealand eco-groups over plans for a sprawling luxury lodge built into the hills overlooking South Island's Lake Wanaka, complete with a spa, meditation 'pod' and library

But the eccentric billionaire is facing anger from eco-groups who claim his lodge would 'destroy our beautiful lake environment' and 'likely to cause significant adverse physical changes to the appearance of the natural landscape when viewed from public places in the vicinity'

In a six-page letter to Queenstown Lakes District Council, the Upper Clutha Environmental Society said it opposed the application in its entirety and claimed the buildings would be an eyesore on the natural landscape

The Society argued Mr Thiel 'has not meaningfully avoided, remedied or mitigated adverse effects', calling the proposals 'inappropriate' and adding that the development is 'extremely unlikely' to meet the 'reasonably difficult to see test' set by the local council

In total, the council received seven formal submissions opposing or asking for changes to the plan, and none in support

Mr Thiel, who was granted New Zealand citizenship ten years ago in controversial circumstances after being in the country for just 12 days, wants to build the lodge and a private residential building on the $10million, 477-acre estate that he owns near Queenstown

In a consent application for the lodge on his property, Second Star Ltd - a company owned by the entrepreneur - said the development would include a 'pod', water features and meditation space.

The proposal argues that the architects 'have designed the proposal to blend the buildings in to the undulating landscape that surrounds them', adding: 'All of the buildings include green roofs which extend to the ground of each end of the buildings.

'The green roofs are to be planted with the same range of plants (and occasional rocks) that occur on the surrounding hillock landforms'.

It also describes 'a series of stand-alone buildings, including a lodge for visitor accommodation for up to 24 guests, accommodation pod for the owner, together with associated lodge management buildings, infrastructure, landscape treatment, water features and meditation space'.

The earthworks required to build it would cover over 73,700 sq m of land.

Details of the development, designed by Tokyo Olympic Stadium architect Kengo Kuma and Associates, emerged in a planning application in August.

They show several buildings that are designed to blend into the landscape, a private home built into a hillside as well as a larger luxury lodge with enough space for 24 people.

In a consent application for the lodge on his property, Second Star Ltd - a company owned by the entrepreneur - said the development would include a 'pod', water features and meditation space

The proposal argues that the architects 'have designed the proposal to blend the buildings in to the undulating landscape that surrounds them', adding: 'All of the buildings include green roofs which extend to the ground of each end of the buildings'

It also describes 'a series of stand-alone buildings, including a lodge for visitor accommodation for up to 24 guests, accommodation pod for the owner, together with associated lodge management buildings, infrastructure, landscape treatment, water features and meditation space'

The earthworks required to build it would cover over 73,700 sq m of land

The application states: 'The applicants seek to develop a lodge for visitor accommodation purposes, which comprises three individual structures but constructed as one building, which are described in the landscape assessment as a series of pods.

'The Owner's Pod, back of house and a meditation pod will also be constructed. All buildings will be constructed near the building platform identified on the title.

'The lodge is designed in a manner that integrates the building forms into the context of the landscape and the site whilst providing each guest room with uninterrupted north-facing views towards Lake Wanaka and the Southern Alps.

'The lodge location provides the benefits of relative proximity to Wanaka and the shopping, dining and cultural experiences that are available, whilst also providing guests with a sense of remoteness.

'The lodge can accommodate up to 24 guests (two per bedroom) and an additional six people in the Owner's Pod. Up to 15 staff will attend the site at peak times, none of whom will reside on site. An informal walking track is proposed (compacted hardfill subbase with an amenity gravel applied to the top surface) around parts of the property as shown on the Landscape Plans, with specifically located viewpoints where guests can admire the view.

'The meditation space is proposed as a quiet space away from other buildings, to allow guests to reflect, meditate and take some time out.'

Details of the development, designed by Tokyo Olympic Stadium architect Kengo Kuma and Associates, emerged in a planning application in August

In a six-page letter to Queenstown Lakes District Council, the Upper Clutha Environmental Society said it opposed the application in its entirety and claimed the buildings would be an eyesore on the natural landscape

They show several buildings that are designed to blend into the landscape, a private home built into a hillside as well as a larger luxury lodge with enough space for 24 people

The entrepreneur first visited New Zealand in 1995 when he was 28, according to an in-depth investigation by The New Zealand Herald - and is also a big fan of The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy, which was filmed in New Zealand

In 2017, it emerged that Mr Thiel was granted citizenship by the New Zealand government. Normally, the route to citizenship requires applicants to be in New Zealand as a permanent resident for at least 1,350 days in the five years preceding an application.

However, the government waived the requirement for Mr Thiel on the basis of his entrepreneurial and philanthropic activities.

The entrepreneur first visited New Zealand in 1995 when he was 28, according to an in-depth investigation by The New Zealand Herald - and is also a big fan of The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy, which was filmed in New Zealand.

New Zealand is seen by Silicon Valley tycoons as a destination to avoid government influence, and has become a popular destination with the super rich in recent years.

One of Mr Thiel's PayPal co-founders Reid Hoffman, who later went on to create LinkedIn, told the New Yorker said New Zealand was seen as insurance for the collapse of the United States.

'Saying you're ''buying a house in New Zealand'' is kind of a ''wink, wink, say no more'',' Mr Hoffman said.

Mr Thiel invested in New Zealand accounting software company Xero, and its chief executive Rod Drury said American billionaires 'treat New Zealand as a bit of a bolthole'.

Mr Thiel told Business Insider in 2011 he had found 'utopia' in New Zealand, and met with senior ministers including Prime Minister John Key and Finance Minister Bill English.

Authorities defended their decision to grant Mr Thiel citizenship saying he had been a great ambassador and salesperson for the country.

Billionaire Google co-founder Larry Page was granted residency in New Zealand at the start of the year.
Former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel's confirmation as President Biden's pick to be the next ambassador to Japan continues to be impacted by his handling of the fatal police shooting of Chicago teen Laquan McDonald seven years ago  with Emanuel furnishing a letter from a McDonald relative supporting him.

The case was certain to emerge anyway, but got a boost from some unfortunate timing. Wednesday's Oct. 20th hearing occurs seven years to the day from when Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke fatally shot the 17-year-old 16 times.

Emanuel is certain to get questions on his handling of the shooting and its aftermath during Wednesday's hearing at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Van Dyke was convicted of second-degree murder in 2018. Emanuel's administration refused to make dash cam footage available for more than a year.

Emanuel has assembled support from eight black allies from the Chicago City Council. They praised his tenure in a letter for efforts to improve long-neglected majority Black neighborhoods.

Former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel faces a confirmation hearing in the Senate Wednesday to be ambassador to Japan

Rev. Martin Hunter, the great uncle of McDonald, also wrote to the committee on Emanuel's behalf, arguing that he had 'inherited a deeply flawed system' on police investigations that tied his hands.

'There is more to this individual than the caricature that is presented in the public,' Hunter wrote in the letter.

'I realize that my position on this nomination might come as a surprise to some,' Hunter wrote, in a letter quoted by the Washington Post.

'I may even be attacked for speaking up. However, I am a man of faith. I believe in what the scripture says about righteous judgment and looking into a person's heart. I have taken the time to get to know Rahm Emanuel. We have listened to each other, truly heard each other. I understand the character of the man and that is why I support this nomination.'

Demonstrators protest as they celebrate the verdict in the murder trial of Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke along Michigan Avenue on October 5, 2018 in Chicago, Illinois. Van Dyke was found guilty of second-degree murder and 16 counts of aggravated battery in the shooting death of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald on October 20, 2014

Marvin Hunter, Laquan McDonald's great-uncle, supports Emanuel in a letter

Emanuel served as White House chief of staff to President Barack Obama

17-year old Laquan McDonald was shot 16 times and killed by Chicago Police Officer Jason Van Dyke, who was convicted of second-degree murder

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Biden's 'commitment to police reform speaks for itself.' She previously worked for Emanuel at the Democratic National Committee

But Hunter indicated the hard-charging former mayor does not have the support of everyone in the family.

The fatal police shooting of McDonald in Chicago seven years ago is looming large as Emanuel looks to win confirmation.

Several liberal House lawmakers and activists complain that Emanuel's handling of the death of McDonald, who was shot 16 times as he ran away from police, should have disqualified him for consideration for a coveted role. They see the nomination as out of sync with the values of an administration that says 'comprehensive and meaningful police reform' is a priority.

Emanuel's administration refused to make public police dash cam video of the killing for more than a year and not until being compelled to do so by a state court. He later apologized for his handling of the situation, which sparked weeks of mostly peaceful protests in the nation's third-largest city after the video's release.

FILE - In this Aug. 3, 2011, file photo, President Barack Obama left, talks with Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel right, after arriving at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago. Emanuel is set to appear before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday, Oct. 20, 2021

U.S. House Illinois District 7 candidate Kina Collins speaks during a rally to protest former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel's appointment as ambassador to Japan outside the Chicago Police Headquarters Tuesday, Oct. 19, 2021, in Chicago

Emanuels reputation for sharp elbows - developed over nearly 40 years in national politics as a congressman and top adviser for Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama - also is part of the backdrop as he tries to demonstrate that he has the temperament for international diplomacy, particularly in protocol-conscious Japan.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Tuesday pushed back against the criticism, saying Biden's 'commitment to police reform speaks for itself.'

'At the same time, he selects and has nominated a range of ambassadors to serve the United States overseas because of their qualifications, whether it's from business, public service, or other reasons that would make them qualified for these positions,' Psaki said.

If confirmed, Emanuel will be Biden's chief envoy to Japan at a moment when the two nations are looking to strengthen ties as their common adversary, China, has strengthened its position as an economic and national security competitor in the Pacific.

The White House is confident Emanuel will be confirmed by the Senate despite sharp criticism by several of the president's allies in the party's liberal wing of the House, whose members do not vote on confirmations.

Thus far, none of the Senate's Democrats have publicly stated that they would vote against Emanuel. The White House also expects he will win support from several Senate Republicans, including some who served with him during his time in the House from 2003 and 2009.

Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., who served as former President Donald Trumps ambassador to Tokyo, is slated to introduce Emanuel to the committee.

Among the Democrats most critical of Emanuel's nomination are Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, who called the pick 'deeply shameful,' and Rep. Cori Bush of Missouri, who has called on the Senate 'to do the right thing and block his nomination.'

The head of the NAACP and a number of police reform activists have also spoken out against the nomination of Emanuel, who also had been in the running to be Biden's transportation secretary.

The release of the McDonald video - which showed the teen repeatedly shot as he was running from police - led the city to make a series of changes in policies on police cameras, use of force and training. Months before the video's release, the city agreed to pay a $5 million settlement to McDonald's family.

Jason Van Dyke, the officer who shot McDonald 16 times. was convicted of second degree murder, 16 counts of aggravated assault and sentenced to six years and nine months in prison. The episode strained Emanuel's relationship with the city's sizable Black community.

After leaving the mayor's office, Emanuel was a fierce advocate for Biden's successful White House run and served as a TV political analyst. He also made $13 million, the bulk from his work as a senior adviser to the investment banking firm Centerview Partners Advisory Holdings, according to financial disclosure documents.

Norman Solomon, national director of the liberal organization RootsAction.org, said his group is helping coordinate a letter writing and phone call campaign urging lawmakers to vote against Emanuels nomination.

Solomon also slammed the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, Sen. Robert Menendez, for holding Emanuels confirmation hearing on the anniversary of McDonalds killing, saying it demonstrates that many Democrats are in a 'clueless bubble.'

Rev. Ira Acree, a civil rights activist in Chicago, said Biden's decision to reward Emanuel with an ambassadorship was disappointing.

'What he did was commit an unpardonable political sin,' Acree said of Emanuel. 'But the president and Democratic Party appears to want to reward him because of his clout, what they perceive to be his high political acumen and his extraordinary ability to raise money.'

If confirmed, Emanuel would follow in a long line of prominent political figures who have been dispatched to Tokyo by both Democratic and Republican presidents. The list includes former Vice President Walter Mondale, Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield, John F. Kennedys daughter Caroline Kennedy and President Ronald Reagan chief of staff Howard Baker.

Diplomacy, however, hasn't always been Emanuel's strong suit. His old boss Obama acknowledged during Emanuel's mayoral reelection campaign that he could sometimes come off as 'a little hard headed.'

Emanuel once sent a dead fish to a pollster whose work he was unhappy with and was legendary for his blunt - and often coarse - communication style.

Yuko Nakano, a Japan analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said that while Emanuel has limited foreign policy experience, Japanese officials are pleased that Biden wants to send someone with Emanuel's profile to lead the Japan mission.

'His experience in the White House and Congress with the decision-making process is a very appealing aspect to the Japanese,' Nakano said. 'Those qualifications outweigh him not being an expert on Japan, or even a foreign policy expert for that matter.'
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An Instagram and OnlyFans model was freed without bail after allegedly stabbing her boyfriend in the back and arm during an argument at their fancy New York City apartment.

Genie Exum, 22, was arrested on Monday shortly after 6.40pm on a felony charge of assault with a weapon in the altercation with her boyfriend, fellow model Francis Amor, 30, who is expected to survive.

Once free, she quickly returned to Instagram to share a clip of herself sitting and smirking during police questioning, in an apparent bid to gain support from her followers.

Following her arraignment on Tuesday, Exum was released without having to post bail, and rushed from Manhattan Criminal Court without answering questions from waiting reporters.

Despite her usual friendliness to cameras, Exum shielded her face with papers and wore a Yankees cap tugged low as she walked a gauntlet of photographers, before jumping into a waiting car that quickly whisked her away.

Soon after her release, Exum posted an Instagram story that depicted a brief clip of her sitting and smirking next to an NYPD detective in a precinct house

OnlyFans model Genie Exum, 22 walks free on Tuesday after being released without bond on a felony charge of assault with a weapon with intent to cause physical injury

Genie Exum, 22, has been arrested for assault for stabbing her 30-year-old boyfriend Francis Amor, right, in the back and arm on Monday

Genie, who is originally from a small town in Alabama but now cavorts on yachts in Europe and in Manhattan's social scene, was charged with assault

Soon after gaining her freedom, Exum posted an Instagram story that depicted a brief clip of her sitting next to an NYPD detective in a precinct house.

Exum smirked in the clip and appeared amused as she held up what appeared to be a piece of string, and paired the video with music from the Akon song 'Locked Up'.

'Now they done stop me and I get locked up/They won't let me out,' Akon sings.

Exum captioned the video: 'They took my phone y'all I'm on the trap [right now]'.

A 'trap phone' is slang for a prepaid cellphone, also known as a burner, colloquially associated with use in criminal enterprises to avoid detection.

It's unclear what sparked the intense dispute between Exum and Armor, but police were called to the apartment where they both live in Hudson Yards at 6.45pm.

When cops arrived, Amor told them Exum, who is originally from Smiths Station, a small town in Alabama, had stabbed him in the arm and back with a kitchen knife.

He was taken to Bellevue Hospital in stable condition and is expected to recover.

Instagram Model Genie Exum 22, departs Manhattan Criminal Court after being arraigned for the stabbing of her boyfriend during an argument that took place in her apartment

Exum wards off members of the media as she flees the courthouse after her arraignment

Hours before the attack (left), Genie was posting on Instagram about her new waist trainer. The violent bust up was in a building (right) at Hudson Yards on the west side of Manhattan

Armor has also posed near The Vessel near the couple's Hudson Yards apartment building

Exum, who has more than 34,000 followers on Instagram and charges $10-a-month for X-rated content on OnlyFans, has been charged with assault.

'On Monday, October 18, 2021 at approximately 18.45 hours, police responded to a 911 call of a male assaulted,' an NYPD spokesman told DailyMail.com on Tuesday afternoon.

'Upon arrival, a 30-year-old male complainant reported that he had a verbal dispute with a 22 year-old female, when she stabbed him in the arm and back with a kitchen knife.

'EMS also responded to the location and transported the victim to NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue in stable condition,' the spokesman said.

The violent domestic is a far cry from the loved-up and lustful couple the pair portray themselves as on social media.

Exum charges $10-a-month for X-rated content on OnlyFans, as well as posting on Instagram

Exum was released with no bail and jumped into a waiting car on Tuesday

Exum leaves court after police said she stabbed her boyfriend with a kitchen knife in their NYC apartment

The Instagram model no longer sought the attention of cameras as she left court

The couple are shown together in a recent Instagram image. It's unclear what they were fighting about on Monday that led to the attack

Amor uses the apartment in Hudson Yards as a backdrop for some of his Instagram poses too

Amor regularly poses for artistic nude shots in his younger girlfriend's apartment, sometimes with a fruit bowl covering his modesty and others crouched in strategic yoga positions.

Exum is also somewhat of an exhibitionist.

She regularly shares photographs of her barely-dressed body, including one in which she flashes her breasts while standing in front of an NYPD cop car.

Neither of the pair are registered to the apartment where the fight took place.

A studio apartment in the building costs upwards of $4,000.

Hours before the incident, she posted about her new waist trainer in an excitable Instagram story.
The United States is risking more tensions with France over how the country plans to define who's vaccinated when the U.S. opens back up to European travelers next month.

Bloomberg reported Tuesday that when the U.S. opens its borders to vaccinated travelers on November 8, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will allow in people who've had 'any combination of two doses' of the COVID-19 vaccines.

France and the European Commission consider those who have recovered from COVID-19 and received one dose of a two-dose vaccines to be fully vaccinated, however the U.S. will not, according to an agency spokeswoman.

President Joe Biden's (left) administration is risking ruffling more feathers with the French by omitting from the definition of travelers who are fully vaccinated individuals who've had COVID and one shot, which would include French President Emmanuel Macron (right)

The U.S. is opening travel back up with Europe on November 8, but the country's definition of who's fully vaccinated could cause confusion because the French and the European Commission say that includes people who've recovered from COVID and received one dose

Among those who have only received one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine: French President Emmanuel Macron, who had COVID last December.

France's relationship with the Biden administration was rattled after Australia pulled out of a nuclear submarine deal with France to instead enter into a partnership with the United Kingdom and the U.S. last month.

The French were so upset about the deal that they yanked their ambassador from Washington.

The U.K.'s Prime Minister Boris Johnson mocked the French's hurt feelings when talking to reporters on Capitol Hill following a meeting with President Joe Biden.

'I just think its time for some of our dearest friends around the world to prenez un grip about this and donnez-moi un break,' Boris said.

Biden was more diplomatic about the rift, calling Macron later that day.

In a joint statement the leaders 'agreed that the situation would have benefitted from open consultations.'

Biden is expected to meet one-on-one with Macron on the sidelines of the G20 in Rome later this month.

At Tuesday's press briefing, press secretary Jen Psaki was asked if the administration was talking to Europe about allowing visitors into the U.S. who had recovered from COVID and received just one shot.

'So we, of course, base our guidance on the CDC and our public health experts here in the United States. We're always looking at evaluating how to apply that based on public health guidance,' Psaki answered.

'So nothing has changed at this moment, but we continue to review that as has been the case since the beginning of the administration,' she added.

The policy will allow travelers to come into the U.S. who have been vaccinated using vaccines that haven't been approved by the CDC - including the AstraZeneca shot and several Chinese vaccines.

It will also allow people to come in who have had mixed doses of vaccines - something the Food and Drug Administration plans to allow for Americans seeking booster shots, but has yet to go into effect.
Former President Donald Trump accused Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg of 'illegal' election interference by donating more than $400 million for local election offices after a new study found they boosted Democratic turnout in Texas.

Trump has repeatedly said the social media giant is guilty of censorship after it banned it from the platform after the Jan. 6 attack on Congress.

Now he is targeting Zuckerberg's donations of about $419.5 million to a pair of nonprofits  the Center for Technology and Civic Life and the Center for Election Innovation and Research  to support local election offices as they tried to cope with increased mail-in voting during the COVID-19 pandemic.

'What he did, in my opinion, was illegal,' Trump told Bill O'Reilly in an interview broadcast on Monday interview on The First TV.

'He's going to get away with it,' O'Reilly said, according to the New York Post.

Trump replied: 'Well, you don't know if he's going to get away with it. OK.'

At the time Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan said their money would be used 'to support election officials with the infrastructure they need to administer the vote.'

Former President Trump renewed his attack on Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Monday, claiming his donations to local election officials were 'illegal'

That would included funding for voting equipment, personal protective gear such as face masks for poll workers and money for extra staff.

He and his company were under intense pressure throughout the election amid accusations that Facebook was not doing enough to prevent the spread of misinformation.

Now conservatives are seizing on data published in The Federalist by former University of Dallas economics professor William Doyle that showed the money may have helped Biden in Texas during last year's election.

Former Republican Federal Election Commission member Hans von Spakovsky said he private funding of local election offices should be outlawed.

'My reaction is that this was a carefully orchestrated attempt to convert official government election offices into get-out-the-vote operations for one political party and to insert political operatives into election offices in order to influence and manipulate the outcome of the election,' he told The Post.

The move may have created unequal opportunities to vote in different parts of a state, he said.

However, a spokesman for Zuckerberg and his wife said their contributions were legal.

'When our nation's election infrastructure faced unprecedented challenges last year due to the pandemic and the federal government failed to provide adequate funds, Mark and Priscilla provided funding to two non-partisan organizations that helped cities and states ensure that residents could vote regardless of their party or preference,' he told The Post.

'The grants to CTCL and CEIR were made in full compliance with the law. CTCL and CEIR issued an open call to state and local jurisdictions across the country and provided funding for all jurisdictions that applied.

'Nearly 2,500 election jurisdictions from 49 states applied for and received funds, including urban, suburban, rural, and exurban counties  and more Republican than Democratic jurisdictions applied for and received the funds.'
Television personality and DailyMail.com columnist Meghan McCain is opening up about her upcoming Audible audio memoir, Bad Republican, in an exclusive interview with DailyMailTV host Thomas Roberts.

McCain explained the tongue-and-cheek meaning behind the title, which is a light-hearted reference to the contrarian persona shes consistently portrayed to be in the media.

The 36-year-old author also revealed details about a 'bizarre' phone conversation she had with former President Donald Trump after the 2016 election when he had mocked her father John McCain's war injuries.

Bad Republican: Television personality and DailyMail.com columnist Meghan McCain is opening up about her upcoming Audible audio memoir, Bad Republican , in an exclusive interview with DailyMailTV host Thomas Roberts

'Now in the Audible book, you talk about receiving a phone call from former President Donald Trump,' asked DailyMailTV host Thomas Roberts. 'How surprised were you to get this call? And this is after the [2016] election, correct?'

'Yeah, it was after the election. There had been a report by Mike Allen that said that he was physically mocking my dad doing the thumbs down for the skinny healthcare repeal,' Meghan explained.

'And my dad, because of his war injuries, he walked sort of like with a limp because he couldn't bend his knee,' Meghan continued, calling the ridicule 'disgusting.'

In 2017, Allen's Axios piece made reference to Trump 'imitating the thumbs-down' of McCain's headline-making health care vote to preserve the Affordable Care Act. At the time of the Arizona Senator's vote, he had recently been diagnosed with brain cancer.

'There had been a report by Mike Allen that said that he was physically mocking my dad doing the thumbs down for the skinny healthcare repeal,' Meghan explained. 'And my dad, because of his war injuries, he walked sort of like with a limp because he couldn't bend his knee'

'Respect the office': Meghan tells DailyMailTV she got a missed call from the White House after posting a tweet critical of Trump and her father made her call the President back (Seen in 2014)

'I tweeted, 'This is abhorrent. What more must my family be put through?' and I got a phone call from like this weird number that I didn't answer, and there was a voicemail that said, 'This is the White House. President Trump would like to speak with Miss McCain,' and I lost my mind,' Meghan recalled to DailyMailTV.

'And I called my dad and I said, 'I don't want to call him back. This is scary. I don't want to talk to him.' and my dad said, 'You have to call him. He's the President of the United States. It's not an option. You still respect the office.'

'I called him and we had a very bizarre conversation, and he denied making fun of my dad's war injuries and he didn't apologize, but he said, I didn't do this, this is fake news, this is Mike Allen lying, she recalled.

'I called [Trump] and we had a very bizarre conversation, and he denied making fun of my dad's war injuries and he didn't apologize, but he said, I didn't do this, this is fake news, this is Mike Allen lying, she recalled.

Meghan added that Trump then made his wife and, at the time, newly minted First Lady Melania get on speaker phone to help smooth things over.

'She was like, 'We love you, we love your dad.' and I was like, you don't, but okay,' Meghan said, adding that it felt like the 'one and only time' the Trumps had 'some awareness' of the 'damage' their rhetoric did to the McCain family.

When writing about the phone call in Bad Republican, Meghan noted Trump 'wouldn't change his tactics either. He would go on to talk about my father over and over again, always in derogatory ways.

'For years he made a sport of beating the crap out of my family, and he didn't let up once he got into the Oval Office. Trump had supporters boo my father at a rally. He fought the lowering of the flag in my dad's honor when he died,' she penned.

Trump infamously degraded McCain, a former prisoner of war, and his time in the military during a 2015 Q&A in Iowa. 'He's not a war hero,' Trump said of McCain. 'He's a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren't captured.'

Even as she was writing her manuscript he tweeted that John McCain was one of the most overrated people in DC.

In the course of writing her new Audible book, Meghan said that her father's 2018 death served as a sort of tentpole moment in the retelling of her life story.

'Liberty's birth and my father's death are the two key events creating a before and an after in the story of my life,' Meghan said of her new audio memoir Bad Republican.

Meghan and her husband Ben Domenech welcomed daughter Liberty in 2020.

The name of Meghan's new book, she revealed to DailyMailTV, was a way to sort of poke fun at the fact that wherever she seems to go, the word 'bad' follows.

Public image: The name of Meghan's new book, she revealed to DailyMailTV, was a way to sort of poke fun at the fact that wherever she seems to go, the word 'bad' follows

'Like working on The View, you're the bad republican because you're the villain,' she explained. 'If it's my space within the Republican Party, I'm the bad republican because I'm not a Trump supporter, adding: 'It doesn't matter where I'm at or what I'm doing, 'I'm not a good enough republican in the space that I'm in.'

'It's meant to be funny,' Meghan said of her book title. 'I hope that comes across. And I just thought it was like sort of a play on the way the media has portrayed me for, like, the past five years.'

Meghan, who worked in radio during the early parts of her career, has for years used her voice as an instrument and called Amazon's audio app an 'incredible medium'.

'I'm someone that really emotes with my voice and being on camera for so long and doing radio for so long, I have learned how to use my voice as a tool, and I just really wanted to tell stories.' she said.

In the memoir, she reflects on her headline-making and often tumultuous time on The View, recalling at one point that she 'burst into tears' after co-host Joy Behar said live on air that she didn't miss her during her maternity leave.

'Like working on The View, you're the bad republican because you're the villain,' she explained. 'If it's my space within the Republican Party, I'm the bad republican because I'm not a Trump supporter, adding: 'It doesn't matter where I'm at or what I'm doing, 'I'm not a good enough republican in the space that I'm in.'

'I had been gone for three months and I assumed they had missed me... I was wrong,' McCain writes in the book.

In January, on her second day back from leave, she was having a squabble with Behar about the state of the Democratic Party. 'To ease the tension, I said: ''Joy, you missed me so much when I was on maternity leave.''

'I did not,' Joy said. 'I did not miss you. Zero.'

McCain said she felt vulnerable after giving birth, because she suffered from post-partum anxiety.

'Joy seemed to smell that vulnerability like a shark smells blood in the water, and she took after it. When we broke for commercial I burst into tears  not just like tearing up  uncontrollable sobbing,' McCain reveals in the book.

'Liberty's birth and my father's death are the two key events creating a before and an after in the story of my life,' Meghan said of her new audio memoir Bad Republican.

She continues, 'Until that moment it hadn't even occurred to me that Joy hadn't missed me. She texted me to see a baby picture of Liberty and she had seemed happy for me. We chatted in a friendly way. I believe that despite all our differences, deep down we had a mutual understanding of respect for each other.

'Nothing anyone has ever said to me on camera, since I have been giving interviews, since I was 22 years old, has ever hit this hard,' McCain says. 'I felt like I'd been slapped. She yelled out at me sharp and intensely, and I believed her.'

''That's so nasty,'' I said, unable to hide my shock. ''That's so rude.'''

McCain quit the show in July, after, she said, the other hosts especially Whoopi Goldberg and Behar turned on her.

Meghan's new audio memoir, Bad Republican, premieres October 21st exclusively on Audible.
Drone operator will have just four minutes to lure a dog to the net, and another four minutes to fly it out

The three dogs have been stranded for weeks and have been kept alive by drones dropping food packages

Abandoned dogs on La Palma island surrounded by lava are to be rescued and flown to safety using drones

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Starving dogs that have been cut off by lava from the La Palma volcano will be rescued by drones with operators planning to catch them in remote-controlled nets and fly them out over a stream of lava to safety.

A Spanish drone operator received permission on Tuesday to try to rescue the three emaciated dogs that are trapped near the erupting volcano in the Canary Islands.

The three dogs have been stranded for weeks in an abandoned yard covered with volcanic ash and cut off by volcanic lava in the mountainous area of Todoque.

They have been kept alive by drones dropping packages of food sent by two local companies - Ticom Soluciones and Volcanic Life - but until now no one has been able to figure out how to rescue them.

Three starving dogs (one circled) that have been surrounded by lava from the erupting volcano in the Canary Islands will be rescued by drones with remote-controlled nets and flown out over the stream of lava to safety

Previous footage shows several emaciated dogs lying curled up in and around a walled, ash-covered yard cut off by volcanic lava.

They can be seen lifting their heads to look at a drone flying overhead before ambling over to the food packages dropped from the sky which they pry open with their teeth and paws.

The companies feeding the dogs have been assisted by veterinarians who choose the nourishment and decide on portions befitting the situation.

Helicopters are banned from flying to the area because of the hot gas emanating from the lava and volcanic ash that can damage the rotors, so the dogs cannot be airlifted to safety.

A Spanish drone operator received permission on Tuesday to try to rescue the emaciated dogs that have been trapped for weeks in a walled, ash-covered yard near the La Palma volcano, in the mountainous area of Todoque

Previous footage shows the dogs lying curled up in the yard but have kept alive by drones dropping packages of food from the sky which they pry open with their teeth and paws

After evaluating the proposed rescue mission by drone, emergency authorities said in a statement they had decided to allow it, making it the first rescue of its kind in Spain.

Jaime Pereira, CEO of drone operator Aerocamaras, said he plans to send a 50 kg drone equipped with a wide net to try to trap the dogs, one by one, and fly them to safety, 450 metres away over flowing lava.

'It's the first time an animal is being rescued with a drone and the first time it has to be captured,' Pereira told Reuters. 'If that's the last option that the dogs have? Then we're going after them.'

The operator will have just four minutes to lure a dog to the net, and another four minutes to fly it out.

'What we don't want is to run out of battery when flying over the lava,' Pereira said.

Test flights are still being carried out. Ultimately, the mission depends on how the dogs will respond to the machine, Pereira said.

'They've been eating very little for weeks. They might come, or become scared of the drone. We really depend on their reaction.'

Meanwhile, a second 'unstoppable' river of red-hot lava was consuming more land and houses on the Canary island of La Palma on Monday night and was due to hit the ocean 'within hours' on Tuesday afternoon.

Meanwhile, a second 'unstoppable' river of red-hot lava was consuming more land and houses on the Canary island of La Palma on Monday night and was due to hit the ocean 'within hours'

The Canary Islands Volcano Institute, Involcan, published a dramatic video on Twitter on Monday night showing the river of lava (pictured), writing: 'Breathtaking view of the eruption at 20:50 Canarian time in the vicinity of Tacande'

Involcan spokesman, David Calvo said the eruption of the volcano was still 'very strong' and the second river of lava would reach the sea by Tuesday afternoon (View of Cumbre Vieja volcano on October 17)

He said a lot of lava was emitted on Monday night and had joined the flow, increasing its speed so its advance had accelerated and on Tuesday morning was about 30 metres from the cliffs in Tazacorte

Scientists are warning of more explosions and gas clouds when this happens and further evictions are 'very likely'.

The Canary Islands Volcano Institute, Involcan, published a dramatic video on Twitter on Monday night showing the river of lava, writing: 'Breathtaking view of the eruption at 20.50 Canarian time in the vicinity of Tacande.'

At 10.45am on Tuesday, Involcan posted another clip online showing the 'unstoppable' lava flow eerily moving forward over the remnants of the industrial park.'

Involcan spokesman, David Calvo said the eruption of the volcano was still 'very strong' and the second river of lava would reach the sea by Tuesday afternoon.

He said a lot of lava was emitted on Monday night and had joined the flow, increasing its speed so its advance had accelerated and on Tuesday morning was about 30 metres from the cliffs in Tazacorte.

Mr. Calvo said there would almost certainly be more evictions because of the potential danger.

He also predicted the eruption would continue for some considerable time as about 10,000 tons of sulfur dioxide were recorded on Monday, and for it to begin to be 'dead', 400 or less must be registered.

He also predicted the eruption would continue for some considerable time as about 10,000 tons of sulfur dioxide were recorded on Monday, and for it to begin to be 'dead', 400 or less must be registered (pictured, Cumbre Vieja volcano as seen from Tajuya on October 19)

Last night, the Canary government said it was monitoring the situation, particularly with regard to further evictions.

Weather conditions are unfavourable to air quality and the population of El Paso has been encouraged to stay indoors whenever possible.

Some areas have been left without electricity because the magma flow has brought down power lines but emergency generators have now been brought in.

The island of La Palma is still registering dozens of underground earthquakes, the strongest of which has been 4.6 on the Richter scale.

At 10.45am on Tuesday, Involcan posted another clip on Twitter showing the 'unstoppable' lava flow (pictured) eerily moving forward over the remnants of the industrial park

Weather conditions are unfavourable to air quality and the population of El Paso has been encouraged to stay indoors whenever possible. Pictured: This photograph pn October 19 shows the Cumbre Vieja volcano spewing smoke and ashes

There is also a further warning that the operation of La Palma airport could be affected.

It has now been one month since the eruption began in the Cumbre Vieja mountains, on September 19.

Blocks of red lava, some as big as three story buildings, rolled down the hillside as La Palma volcano collapsed on itself last Sunday.

Volunteers are working non stop to clear roads and public buildings as the thick layer of ash stops vehicles from moving.

So far, more than 680 hectares have been affected and 1,956 buildings destroyed and 60 partially damaged or in danger, making a total of 2,016 buildings affected.

Banana, vine and avocado crops have also been wiped out in the coastal area of the Aridane Valley. The plumes coming from the volcano are 4,000 metres high.

The eruption has forced the evacuation of 6,400 people, with more than 500 of them still taking shelter in two hotels.

Last night, the Canary government said it was monitoring the situation, particularly with regard to further evictions, after the eruption has already forced the evacuation of 6,400 people so far. Pictured: An emergency unit member monitors the lava flow on Monday night

An evacuee walks her dogs at an RV park for those forced to leave their homes due to the eruption of the Cumbre Vieja volcano, in Llanos de Aridane on October 18

Satellite images show the lava produced by the Cumbre Vieja volcano on the Spanish island of La Palma which first erupted last month on September 19

Lava from the volcano illuminates the sky in the early hours of October 14

Lava can be seen flowing down the slopes of Cumbre Vieja after part of its cone collapsed last Sunday night

Police tape cordons off a road blocked by an enormous mound of lava spewed from the Cumbre Vieja volcano on October 14




Surveillance footage shows the bizarre moment two physical education teachers, ended up at the wrong apartment after a very boozy night and one even climbed into a bed with a married couple - sparking a shootout that left the homeowner with a bullet wound in the back.

Darius Tyonne Cohen, 26, and Akkua Jamel Hallback, both 26, were both fired from their jobs in the Indian River County School District, in Florida, following the incident on October 10 around 4am.

Cohen, who is facing attempted murder charges, and Hallback were at a bar in Vero Beach when Hallback met a woman and he and Cohen went to her apartment at the Preserves of Oslo.

After the teachers went to the wrong apartment, one of them accidentally got into bed with a man who sleeping with his wife and one of his three children

According to investigators, the man tried to lead Hallback out of his home when Cohen left the bathroom. He escorted the men outside, where a scuffle broke out and Cohen opened fire

Surveillance footage shows the teachers chasing the victim outside the apartment before they go off screen and four shots are heard

Two physical education teachers were fired in connection to a shooting that happened after they went to the wrong apartment after a boozy night

Hallback went inside to be with the woman and Cohen waited outside for him. After a few hours passed, Hallback left the womans apartment and went to his car. At that point, Cohen had to use the bathroom so they went back to the womans apartment, but entered the wrong one, according to the Indian River County Sheriffs Office.

Cohen, who taught at Indian River Academy, went to the bathroom and Hallback, who taught at Sebastian Elementary School, got into bed with who he thought was the woman, but was actually a man with his wife and one of their three young children.

According to investigators, the man tried to lead Hallback out of his home when Cohen left the bathroom. He escorted the men outside, where a scuffle broke out and Cohen opened fire, Sheriff Eric Flowers said at a news conference on Monday.

It is unclear who owned the gun and what happened just before the shooting. We dont know who [pulled out] the gun at this point, Flowers said.

In surveillance video, a man is seen running across the lawn and off screen before the two teachers follow. Just after they are out of sight, four shots can be heard.

The man suffered a gunshot wound to his back and kept running until he found a friendly apartment, where he called 911.

The former teachers claimed the resident first pulled out a gun and Cohen was trying to take it from him. While police have not recovered the weapon, they searched the home where the two teachers live together and found two guns that they have yet to examine to see if they are a match to the one used in the shooting.

Cohen was fired from Indian River Academy, where he had started teaching this year

Hallback was fired from Sebastian Elementary School, where he also started teaching this year

Cohen is being charged with attempted murder and is being held at the Indian River County Jail on $750,000 bond. Hallback is being charged with drug possession as police found him with Adderall and no prescription at the time of the shooting. He has since been released on $15,000 bond.

Sheriff Flowers said that neither men have prior criminal records. David Moore, the superintendent of the Indian River County School District, said both men had undergone the proper background checks to be hired. He added that they were both new teachers and new to the community.

At any point, they could have stopped and called 911, Flowers said. They could have said, Were in the wrong apartment and this guys produced a gun, any for those things. They could have stopped, but they didnt. They fled and they didnt involved law enforcement in any way.

Superintendent Moore shared Flowers sentiment and said, Theres an expectation we have of our employees in our school district, whether its inside the classroom or whether its in the community and that expectation is that you conduct yourself in a way that brings light and a sense of security to our students. Unfortunately, these two individuals feel drastically short of that expectation.

Its disheartening to have this information come to light and very very disappointing for us as a school system. There is no place for us as a school system, there is no place for this in our community.

Flowers said, Ten months of being the sheriff, 18 years of being here, theres not that many stories that sound like this, Flowers said.

He added that the man who was shot is expected to make a full recovery and is doing well.'
Joe Biden's pick to head Customs and Border Patrol refused on Tuesday to call the situation at the southern border a crisis as Senator Ted Cruz proposed legislation that would bring the crisis to where 'Democrat elites host their cocktail parties'  like Martha's Vineyard.

During a Senate confirmation hearing, Republican Senator Todd Young said to Biden's pick Chris Magnus: 'I'd like to start off with a yes or no question. Do you believe we have a crisis at the southern border  yes or no?'

'I'm not sure  does it really matter whether we call it a major challenge, a crisis, a big problem?' Magnus countered.

'I think it speaks to a level of urgency and seriousness of purpose and understanding of the gravity of the situation,' the Indiana senator pushed back. 'Presumably one would answer the call to serve in this position because you understand the importance at this moment in history of being commissioner of CBP.'

Young then reiterated his question: 'So, do we have a crisis at the border  yes or no?'

'Let me assure you that no one believes there is greater urgency to this matter than I do. I have been at the southern border ' Magnus started, but was cut off.

Biden's pick to head Customs and Border Protection, Chris Magnus, refused to classify the situation at the southern border as a crisis

Republican Senator Todd Young of Indiana pushed Magnus on the surge of illegal immigration under Biden during a confirmation hearing on Tuesday but was a unable to get the nominee to call it a crisis

The southern border crisis continues to surge as thousands of migrants head to the U.S. by way of Mexico. Record numbers of encounters have been reached every month of Biden's presidency so far

'So it's urgent  I've heard the characterization,' Young said. 'Urgent strikes the common ear as less than a criss. Are you saying there's not a crisis at the border?'

'Senator, no I don't think  I don't speak to urgent as less serious, at all.'

The Biden administration has repeatedly refused to call the unfolding situation at the southern border a crisis, instead dubbing a problem or challenge.

Even the president and his press secretary have refused to classify it as a crisis despite record numbers of illegal crossings and horrific and inhame pictures emerging from the border the U.S. shares with Mexico.

On Tuesday, Senator Cruz of Texas proposed a bill that would move processing centers for illegal immigrants around the country in a hope it would hit closer to home for Democratic elites, who he claims are ignoring the crisis.

'If Washington Democrats had to endure even a fraction of the suffering South Texas families, farmers, ranchers, and small businesses have had to face, our nation's immigration laws would be enforced, the wall would be built, and the Remain in Mexico policy would be re-implemented,' Cruz wrote in introducing the legislation.

The Stop the Surge of Unsafe Rio Grande Encampments Act (SURGE) is aimed at alleviating the strain put on southern border state communities as the border crisis prevails.

Also on Tuesday, Senator Ted Cruz proposed moving processing centers for illegal migrants to communities where Democrat elites live, like North Hero, Vermont, where Bernie Sanders spends his summers, and Martha's Vineyard (pictured), where Barack Obama owns a home

Cruz said the bill would establish 'new ports of entry in Democrat-led communities such as North Hero, Vermont, where Bernie Sanders spends his summers, and Martha's Vineyard, where Democrat elites host their cocktail parties.'

Notably, Barack and Michelle Obama own a property on Martha's Vineyard  an elite island community located off the coast of Massachusetts. The former president held a massive 60th birthday party there in August.

Other areas where Cruz is proposing these centers be set up are Greenwich, Connecticut; Cambridge and Nantucket, Massachusetts; Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, where Joe Biden owns a beach home; and Palo Alto, California.

Senator Young continued during Tuesday's hearing to push Magnus on how he views the southern border conundrum considering, if confirmed, he would lead the agency directly involved with mitigating illegal immigration.

'Is there a crisis or is there not a crisis at the border?' Young asked on Tuesday.

'I would say that my highest priority is going ' Magnus started.

'I didn't ask your priority,' Young cut in. 'I asked you to characterize the situation at the border. Is there a crisis at the border?'

'You've been nominated to serve as the commissioner to the Customs and Border Patrol agency at a time that I regard as a crisis. Are you saying there is not a crisis?' he asked for a final time.

'Senator, what I'm certainly trying to convey is how serious I take what's happening at the border and the amount of work that I want to put into addressing it,' Magnus said.

'Noted, noted.'

At the hearing, Magnus admitted that it would be beneficial for some areas of the southern border to be reinforced with a wall.

Montana Senator Steve Daines asked if Magnus feels they should complete the wall that former President Donald Trump started.

'There are some gaps where [a border wall] could make sense,' Magnus said.
Alex Murdaugh, the disgraced South Carolina lawyer facing a slew of legal charges, gave money to Joe Biden's presidential campaign in 2020, part of a profusion of political donations made to Republican and Democratic candidates throughout the years.

Murdaugh donated $2,800 to Biden on April 21, 2020, according to campaign finance records, a few months before Biden secured the Democratic nomination and after South Carolina's primary win put him on the path to victory.

The White House did not respond to DailyMail.com's inquiry as to whether the campaign would return the money.

Murdaugh, the disgraced legal icon of an historic South Carolina family that dominated low county politics for decades, was a prolific donor to candidates on both sides of the political aisle.

He's been a longtime financial supporter of the state's Republican Gov. Henry McMaster, personally donating at least $17,000 to him over his career, including his time as state attorney general and governor.

McMaster's office did not respond to a request for comment.

Murdaugh also donated to former Democratic Rep. Joe Cunningham's congressional camapign. Cunningham retired from Congress last year to run for governor.

A Cunningham spokespserson pointed out the congressional campaign that Murdaugh donated to no longer exists, arguing it was impossible to return a donation that was long gone.

'There's no plan to give money from a gubernatorial campaign for a contribution we never received,' Tyler Jones, a consultant to Cunningham's campaign, told DailyMail.com. 'The congressional campaign is shut down.'

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham's office made a similar argument about donations Murdaugh made to Graham during his 2018 and 2006 campaigns - pointing out that many candidates close their committees after an election and, with the committee no longer in existance, it cannot refund any contribution.

Joe Biden, campaigning in South Carolina in May 2019, received a $2,900 donation from Alex Murdaugh in April 2020

Alex Murdaugh donated to both Democrats and Republicans in South Carolina, including Senator Lindsey Graham

Alex Murdaugh's been a longtime financial supporter of the state's Republican Gov. Henry McMaster, personally donating at least $17,000 to him over his career, including his time as state attorney general and governor

The exact reach of Murdaugh's political web of donations is hard to pin down. He made donations under his middle name of Alex, which is what he commonly goes by, but also under his legal first name of Richard. He often gave the legal limit to the candidate he supported.

Additionally, donations were made in the name of his wife Maggie - having both members of a couple donate to a candidate is one way to get around campaign finance limits.

Murdaugh's younger brother Marvin was also an active political donor, as was Murdaugh's father, Randolph Murdaugh III, when he was alive. The family law firm also donated to political campaigns.

The Murdaugh family was long entwined in public service and politics. For nearly 90 years and three generations, the post of chief prosecutor for five counties around Hampton was held by a Murdaugh, resulting in the five-county district being called 'Murdaugh Country'.

The Murdaugh family law firm is one of the top litigation firms in the state.

A search of donations in federal databases and in South Carolina archives shows a slew of donations to federal, state and local candidates from the Murdaughs - ranging from President Biden to members of Congress to South Carolina state officials, city council campaigns and mayoral races.

Murdaugh also gave to both the Republican and Democratic state party in South Carolina.

He even donated to Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign in 2015.

The Murdaugh case has consumed South Carolina attention and become national headlines as more and more questions are raised about the deaths of Murdaugh's wife and younger son; about the death of a family friend and the family house keeper; and Murdaugh's attempt to pay for his own murder.

Murdaugh was denied bond on Tuesday as he awaits trial on charges he stole $3.4 million in insurance money meant for the sons of his housekeeper, Gloria Satterfield.

She died in a mysterious 'slip and fall' accident at his home in 2018.

Murdaugh was arrested Thursday on two felony counts of obtaining property by false pretenses after being released from a drug rehabilitation center in Orlando, Florida.

Murdaugh has since admitted he stole millions from the housekeeper's sons and his law firm, blaming a decades-long opioid addiction for his 'stupid, illegal' behavior.

Alex Murdaugh, 53, was arrested on Thursday for stealing $4 million from a settlement awarded to the sons of his housekeeper, Gloria Satterfield, right, who died in a mysterious fall at his home in 2018

Alex Murdaugh makes his way towards the defense desk at the beginning of his bond hearing in the Richland Judicial Center in Columbia, SC, on Tuesday

The housekeeper, Satterfield, had been the employed by the Murdaughs for about 25 years when she died of a stroke and heart attack, three months after a mystery 'trip and fall' inside the family home in 2018. No autopsy was performed, and a coroner said her death was improperly described as 'natural' on her death certificate.

Her sons sued the Murdaughs for wrongful death afterward and were awarded $4.3 million.

But Alex Murdaugh is accused of drafting in a lawyer and banker pal to get his hands on that money instead.

He did so by asking Satterfield's sons to let Cory Fleming - Murdaugh's old college roommate - act as their attorney, with Fleming then pursuing the payouts that got Murdaugh the $3.9 million.

It's just the tip of the tragedy in the Murdaugh family.

Murdaugh's wife Maggie and youngest son Paul were found shot dead at the family home in Hampton, South Carolina, in June.

Alex Murdaugh says he found the bodies. He denied, however, any involvement in their murders. No arrests have been made int he case.

The medical examiner said the pair had been dead for an hour at most when he discovered them.

Murdaugh's father was a prominent attorney in the area. He died, apparently of natural causes, just days after Maggie and Paul were found dead.

Alex Murdaugh has also been accused of stealing millions from his law firm PMPED, which was founded by his great-grandfather a century ago.

Each charge of obtaining property by false pretenses carries a sentence of up to 10 years.

Murdaugh resigned from the firm in September, just two days before asking Edward Smith, his cousin turned client, to kill him.

He was already out on bond after state agents said he tried to arrange his own shooting death on a roadside so that his surviving son, Buster, could collect a $10 million life insurance policy.

Smith did shoot Murdaugh, but he survived and called 911. At first he said been in a drive-by shooting.

Edward Smith, an accused hitman, is claiming he had no role in Murdaugh's suicide scam and was trying to stop him from killing himself when the gun went off

Maggie and Paul Murdaugh (left) were found shot dead at the family's home in June. No one has been arrested for their killings and Murdaugh's attorney insists he had nothing to do with them

Murdaugh in court last month over his botched plot to hire a hitman to kill him for an insurance windfall

Now, Smith - who is facing charges for the incident - is claiming he had no role in the suicide scam and was trying to stop Alex from killing himself when the gun went off.

The medical records confirm Alex was shot twice and that he had to go to the hospital.

He had a fractured skull from 'two superficial appearing bullet wounds to the posterior scalp' but the bullets did not penetrate his brain.

When he arrived at the hospital, doctors confirmed he was high on barbiturates - a group of drugs in the class of drugs known as sedative-hypnotics - and opioids.

The 53-year-old arrived at the hospital with his head bleeding and wrapped in gauze.

He had to be taken to the ICU because he was in such grave condition.

The report reveals that he told medics he at first could not see, but that he regained his sight to the point that he was able to see his phone and dial 911.

He was released after two days in the hospital.

Murdaugh's attorney Dick Harpootlan blamed the drug addiction for Murdaugh's actions.

'He has a long-term, OxyContin addiction which put him in a position where he did these stupid illegal things,' he said.
The ACLU is demanding the Hawaii DOE (Interim Superintendent Keith T. Hayashi pictured) and the HPD adopt several new policies in wake of the incident

The Hawaii ACLU is demanding change after a 10-year-old Black girl who has ADHD was arrested at her elementary school after she drew an 'offensive sketch' of her alleged bully.

The girl, identified only as N.B., was reportedly detained and questioned by police at Honowai Elementary School in January 2020 without the presence of a parent.

She was also 'handcuffed with excessive force' and taken to the police station without being charged with a crime, the ACLU alleged in a letter to the Hawaii Police Department (HPD) and the state Department of Education (DOE) that was released Tuesday.

The letter claimed officials violated N.B.'s constitutional rights and did not accommodate her federally protected disability - which had been documented with the school.

The girl's mother, Tamara Taylor, was also illegally detained, according to the legal advocacy group.

According to the ACLU, N.B. was being bullied by another student and allegedly participate in an offensive drawing of that child.

'The next day, a parent of one of the kids who received this drawing, was very upset and essentially demanded that they call the police,' attorney Mateo Caballero, who is representing Taylor and her daughter, told Hawaii News Now.

School staff called Taylor and asked to come to the property because 'they were thinking about calling the police,' the ACLU alleges.

The mother reportedly asked the not to call the cops and headed to the property.

When she arrived, responding officers allegedly told Taylor they were negotiating with the other parent about the situation involving N.B. and that she wasn't allowed to see her daughter.

Once Taylor was released from the room, she learned that officers were taking N.B. to the Pearl City Police station, where she was ultimately released to her mother.

The ACLU claims N.B. was handcuffed with excessive force that left marks and, after being in custody for nearly four hours, left hungry and exhausted.

The Hawaii ACLU is stepping in after a 10-year-old Black girl who has ADHD was arrested at Honowai Elementary School (pictured) in January 2020 after she drew an 'offensive sketch' of her alleged bully

The claim she was also 'handcuffed with excessive force' and taken to Pearl City Police Station (pictured) without being charged with a crime

Three days after the incident, in a letter to expressing her grievances, Taylor wrote:

'I was stripped of my rights as a parent and my daughter was stripped of her right of protection and representation as a minor. There was no understanding of diversity, African American culture and the presence of police involvement with African-American youth.

'My daughter and I are traumatized from these events and sure that there is no future for us at Honowai Elementary. I'm disheartened to know that this day will live with [N.B.] as a memory forever.'

The legal advocacy group claims that officers took the 10-year-old into custody because they believed she 'wasn't taking the situation' and 'made a comment wondering what jail would be like'.

'That's just straight up wrong,' ACLU of Hawaii Legal Director Wookie Kim told the news outlet. 'N.B. should have been allowed to be with her parent who was sequestered in another room in the same school at that very time as police officers were interrogating her.'

'And for the consequence to be getting handcuffed because you express yourself in a way that maybe you didn't realize, offended someone or harm someone else that is not the solution.'

Taylor met with police and school officials on several occasions following the incident, however the responding authorities claimed 'they were not able to find sufficient evidence to sustain the complaint'.

On October 18, 2021, the ACLU, on Taylor's behalf, issued a letter of demands to the HPD and DOE.

The organization stated that they would like the DOE to adopt policies:

Forbidding staff to call the police on a student unless the student presents an imminent threat of significant harm to someone;

Generally allowing parents or legal guardians access to their children while on school property;

Requiring that a parent or legal guardian be present whenever a minor student is being interrogated or questioned about potentially criminal behavior; and

Requiring consultation with a school counselor before calling the police, unless there is an emergency situation

They also want HPD to adopt policies:

Requiring that a parent or legal guardian be present whenever a minor is interrogated by an officer;

Forbidding officers to arrest students in school property unless the student is an imminent threat of significant harm to someone;

Forbidding officers from entering school property absent an imminent threat of significant harm to someone; and

Requiring that officers issue citations in lieu of arrest for misdemeanors allegedly committed by minors in school property

'What happened to Ms. Taylor and her daughter that day is outrageous, but sadly too common and entirely preventable,' Caballero said, in a press release, of the letter.

'HPD and DOE had no reason to detain Ms. Taylor and arrest her daughter. That they felt empowered to treat a Black mother and her 10-year-old daughter with no regard for their civil rights and liberties should be troubling to all of us.'

The Department of the Attorney General said they are 'aware of the letter and will work with the Department of Education to respond.'

The Department of the Corporation Counsel, also addressed in the letter, issued a statement to DailyMail.com saying: 'We are reviewing the ACLUs demand letter, ascertaining and confirming the facts surrounding the incident at issue, and will be responding in due course.'

The DOE declined to comment at this time. Meanwhile, the HPD did not respond to our request for comment.
A man has told how he pulled a young boy from burning rubble after a massive 'gas' explosion destroyed homes in Scotland.

Four people from the same family, aged between 11 and 47, were all taken to hospital in 'serious condition' after the blast in the Gorse Park area of Ayr, Ayrshire yesterday at around 7.10pm

Alex Craig rushed to the scene after hearing a 'kaboom' and pulled the young boy from underneath rubble that was 'popping and crackling' from the flames.

Mr Craig told ITV: 'I had no other thoughts but just about getting folk out of there as quickly and as safely as possible.

'I said to myself "there's people that are going to be alive here" and then luckily enough there was that one wee boy that showed his face underneath the rubble and I just pulled him out right away.

'I can't explain it, I'm speechless to be honest. I'm just so happy that he was there.'

Alex Craig rushed to the scene after hearing a 'kaboom' and pulled a young boy from the burning rubble

Aerial view of the devastation cause by an explosion last night on Kincaidston Drive Ayr, Scotland, which forced locals to evacuate

Earlier today, police said two boys, aged 11 and 16, and two adults were being treated in different hospitals.

A woman aged 43 and a boy aged 16 are being treated in Glasgow Royal Infirmary, and a man aged 47 is being treated in the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow. An 11-year-old boy is being treated in the Royal Hospital for Sick Children.

Mr Craig said he was 'surprised' anybody could have survived the explosion, adding: 'Somebody must have been up there watching them, thank God.'

He also praised other local residents who rushed over to assist and helped with the rescue efforts.

Two adults and two children have been taken to hospital after last night's explosion at a South Ayrshire housing estate

Aerial images today showed one house in the terrace of four has been destroyed by the blast while the roof of another appears to have caved in and debris is scattered around the area.

The cause of the explosion has yet to be determined, though local councillor Chris Cullen told BBC Good Morning Scotland that gas was to blame.

He said: 'It is quite harrowing actually. Early yesterday evening there was a row of houses and now there is a hole.

'Two-and-a-half houses are missing. It is quite shocking how far the debris has fallen and the damage it has caused. It has been a gas explosion, the exact details of how that happened aren't released yet.'

Mr Cullen also said that it could be up to 10 days before people were allowed to return to their homes on the estate.

Emergency services were called to the scene in the Gorse Park area of Ayr, Ayrshire yesterday at around 7.10pm. Four people, including two children, were rushed to hospital.

Mr Craig said he had thoughts other than getting people out of the rubble as quickly and safely as possible

Emergency services at the scene last night after four people were taken to hospital following the large explosion

The explosion was reported in the Kincaidston area of Ayr, Scotland at 19:10 on Monday and was heard for miles around

Two rest centres have been set up to take care of residents in the housing estate and a number of neighbouring properties have been evacuated.

Chief Inspector Derrick Johnston, area commander for South Ayrshire, said: 'Police received a report of an explosion at Gorse Park in the KIncaidston area of Ayr around 7.10pm last night.

'Emergency services attended and a number of houses were evacuated.

'A family of four were taken to hospital. A 43-year-old woman and a 16-year-old boy are currently within Glasgow Royal Infirmary. A 47-year-old male is currently within Queen Elizabeth University Hospital and an 11-year-old is within the Royal Hospital for Sick Children.

'This is a complex incident and different agencies are working together to establish he full circumstances of what happened.

'Our thoughts are with the family and everyone in the local community affected by this. A joint investigation with Scottish Fire and Rescue Service is being carried out.'

Debris smashed a taxi windscreen at Primrose Park, Ayr, as four people were taken to hospital following a large explosion at a house in Gorse Park

Inquiries are ongoing to establish the cause of the blast. SGN said it was ensuring the site around the 'serious explosion' was made safe

Social media users said they heard the explosion from miles away, while pictures shared online showed at least one house badly damaged with debris lying in the street.

Euan Bryson, who lives in the adjacent housing estate, tweeted a video showing a fire engine on a smoke-filled street in the aftermath of the explosion.

A spokeswoman for the Scottish Ambulance Service said: 'We received a call at 7.16pm to attend an incident at Gorse Park, Ayr, alongside Police Scotland and the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service.

'We dispatched a number of resources to the scene, including three specialist operations vehicles, six ambulances and an air ambulance.'

Gas distribution company SGN was helping emergency services.

A spokesman said: 'Our engineers are currently assisting the emergency services to ensure the immediate vicinity is made safe in our role as the gas emergency service.'
Homeland Security Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas has tested positive for Covid-19, throwing off his plans to travel to Colombia with Sec. of State Antony Blinken.

'Secretary Mayorkas tested positive this morning for the COVID-19 virus after taking a test as part of routine pre-travel protocols. Secretary Mayorkas is experiencing only mild congestion; he is fully vaccinated and will isolate and work at home per CDC protocols and medical advice. Contact tracing is underway,' DHS spokesperson Marsha Espinosa said in a statement.

Blinken will now travel to Quito, Equador on Tuesday and Bogota, Colombia without the DHS head to meet with President Ivan Duque and Vice President-Foreign Minister Marta Lucia Ramirez on Wednesday and Thursday to discuss tackling irregular migration and drug trafficking, among other priorities.

The secretary attended an event with President Biden on Saturday to honor fallen law enforcement.

It is not clear to what extent the two men had contact, but one photo shows Mayorkas standing beside First Lady Jill and Biden outside, all unmasked. FBI Director Christopher Wray stood on the other side of Mayorkas.

'To Secretary of Homeland Security Mayorkas, thank you for being here and for the great job you're doing for us,' Biden said at the 40th Annual National Peace Officers' Memorial Service at the Capitol. 'Thank you very, very much. And it's a tough job.'

Homeland Security Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas has tested positive for Covid-19, throwing off his plans to travel to Colombia with Sec. of State Antony Blinken

The secretary attended an event with President Biden on Saturday to honor fallen law enforcement

It is not clear to what extent the two men had contact, but one photo shows Mayorkas standing beside Biden and First Lady Jill outside, all unmasked

Mayorkas' busy week was also supposed to include a trip to Capitol Hill to testify at the Senate Judiciary Committee oversight hearing.

Wishing Secretary Mayorkas a speedy recovery from #COVID19,' Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-SC, wrote on Twitter. 'Look forward to a rescheduled Senate Judiciary hearing and working with him to deal with our broken immigration system.'

The diagnosis also marks the second time Blinken has narrowly dodged Covid-19 exposure in recent weeks, as State Department spokesperson Ned Price announced a positive test late last month.

The Colombia trip comes as the tens of thousands of Haitian migrants are marching through the South American nation as they make their way to the US-Mexico border.

A record-shattering number of Haitian migrants have come to the US in the last month, and the trend doesn't appear to be stopping as more people continue to pour into the Colombian town of Necocli, a popular spot for smugglers to shepherd people through the perilous Darien Gap in Panama.

The Darien Gap is a 66-mile stretch of rainforest between North and South America. Its dangerous terrain is part of the reason it's been left undeveloped and why it poses such a great risk to the people crossing it now.

More than 70,000 migrants have traveled through the Darien Gap this year, Panamanian authorities have said.

Most of the migrants in recent months have been Haitians, many of whom had been living in Chile and Brazil since the 2010 Haitian earthquake.

On Monday, GOP Rep. Tony Gonzalez, Texas, said that Panama's foreign minister Erica Mouynes told him that as many as 100,000 migrants have crossed through her country on the way to the US, and 52 of those they apprehended had ties to al-Qaeda.

The Biden administration, undoing 'inhumane' Trump-era immigration policies, has put addressing root causes at the center of its immigration policy, laying blame on climate change-driven weather factors, political and economic instability and crime that has wrought Latin America and South America.
Health Commissioner Dr. Dave A. Chokshi (pictured) acknowledged in a statement that people of color have experienced 'inequalities' and COVID-19 'magnified' it

The New York City's Department of Health passed a resolution declaring racism a public health crisis in the city, setting the groundwork for an anti-racism agenda after the board pointed to the impact the pandemic has had on minorities on the nation's history of slavery.

The resolution was approved Monday by an 11-member board whose members are largely appointed by outgoing Mayor Bill de Blasio.

'To build a healthier New York City, we must confront racism as a public health crisis,' Health Commissioner Dr. Dave A. Chokshi said in a statement.

'The COVID-19 pandemic magnified inequities, leading to suffering disproportionately borne by communities of color in our City and across our nation. But these inequities are not inevitable,' he said.

The resolution will expand the Health Department's anti-racism work within the city, including establishing a Data for Equity internal working group to ensure the city applies an 'equality' lens when offering guidance on public health and improving data on race, gender, and other demographics more accurately by working with sister organizations.

The Board of Health passed the landmark decision on Monday after declaring racism a public health crisis back in June 2020 following the death of George Floyd. The department outlined their 'actions' on Twitter, writing that they plan to acknowledge the departments 'historic role' in underinvesting in community-led health programs and conducting an anti-racism review of its health code, among other things

In the wake of Floyd's death, the Health Department acknowledged that 'Black and Brown communities face the disproportionate impact, grief and loss from the COVID-19 pandemic on top of the trauma of state sanctioned violence'

Chokshi said the decision 'officially recognized' the crisis and it 'demanded action.'

The resolution also recognized the 'disproportionate drop in life expectancy for black and Latino New Yorkers' and 'inequitably low rates of COVID-19 vaccination' among black and Latino Americans.

According to the NYC Health Department, only 43 percent of black residents are fully vaccinated and 56 percent Hispanics and Latinos. The Asian-American population is leading the vaccination rate at 79 percent, with those identifying as white at 51 percent.

The new Take Care New York initiative will help expand the 'comprehensive health plan for NYC,' that will 'advance anti-racism public health practice, reduce health inequities, and strengthen NYC's' approach to help all New Yorkers, regardless of race or gender, to realize their full health potential.

In addition, the resolution pointed out the 'racial inequities in rates of HIV, tuberculosis, maternal mortality, infant mortality, mental health conditions, chronic disease prevalence and mortality, gun violence and other forms of physical violence' as well as 'anti-Asian violence.'

The Department of Health and Mental Hygiene declared racism a public health crisis in June 2020 following the death of George Floyd, citing that in the city 'black and brown communities face the disproportionate impact, grief and loss from the COVID-19 pandemic on top of the trauma of state sanctioned violence.'

The department outlined their 'actions' on Twitter, writing that they plan to acknowledge the departments 'historic role' in underinvesting in community-led health programs and conducting an anti-racism review of its health code.

'The murder of George Floyd at the hands of police officers is part of the system of racism that permits police brutality, unjust policing and mass incarceration,' the department wrote in June.

They declared they were 'committed to addressing structural racism' to 'protect the health of New Yorkers.'

'We have chosen our words carefully this afternoon in presenting this to you as a resolution  rather than just a declaration  because we must be resolute,' Chokshi said at the board meeting. 'We must resolve to take action beyond our recognition of the problem.'

There are more than 200 declarations of racism as public health crisis across the US, including from the CDC. However, New York City's is one of the first to tie action to its declaration, according to the NYC Department of Health.

Milwaukee County, Wisconsin was the first to declare racism as a public health crisis in 2018. As of August 2021, 209 declarations have been passed in 37 states, according to the American Public Health Association.

The City of Chicago recently passed their own declaration in June of this year and allocated $10 million in COVID relief funding to combat it. New York did not disclose a dollar amount.
The family of slain 19-year-old Florida college student Miya Marcano is suing the Orlando apartment complex where she lived and worked after it was revealed that her suspected killer was also an employee who used a master key fob to break into her apartment.

The lawsuit accuses Arden Villas and its operator, The Preiss Company, of negligence in connection to Marcano's death for employing her suspected killer, Armando Caballero, as a maintenance worker, according to the Orlando Sentinel.

Marcano's family filed the suit in Orange County circuit court to 'hold those responsible for the disappearance and death of Miya fully responsible' and prevent other families from 'experiencing the pain and grief with which they are currently dealing,' Jodi Lewis, a spokesperson for the family's attorney Daryl K. Washington said in a statement.

'Arden Villas gave Armando Caballero the unfettered access he needed to kill Miya,' Washington said in a statement. 'They need to be held accountable for their negligence.'

The family of Miya Marcano has filed a lawsuit accusing Arden Villas and its operator, The Preiss Company, of negligence in connection to Marcano's death for employing her suspected killer, Armando Caballero. Marcano lived and worked at Arden Villas in Orlando

Marcano's body was found on October 2 near her apartment a week after she was reported missing by her family

Caballero was found hanged in the paint garage of the apartment complex on September 27. He remains the sole suspect in Marcano's death

Investigators have confirmed that Caballero used his maintenance master key fob to break into Marcano's apartment 30 minutes before she finished her shift at the front office

The suit claims that Marcano was never made aware of her co-worker's criminal history or previous allegations of harassing women, nor did she know that he would have unsupervised access to her apartment with a master key.

Investigators have determined that Caballero used a master key to enter Marcano's apartment minutes before she was last seen. Her family said that Marcano had been stalking the Valencia College student.

'Caballero, who was much older than Marcano, appeared to be interested in Marcano and this made her extremely uncomfortable,' according to the complaint.

'Marcano expressed her concerns to employees of the Arden Villas, as well as to her parents who were concerned that ... the manager of the Arden Villas was not taking the safety concerns of the employees and tenants very seriously. Management at the Arden Villas had a reputation for ignoring the complaints made by both tenants and employees,' the complaint alleges.

The lawsuit also claims that Arden Villas is required to provide a 'reasonably safe' environment and properly vet their employees to ensure 'only appropriate persons were hired' to take precautions 'foreseeable criminal attacks, especially by employees.'

The complaint also named Caballero's estate in seeking a jury trial and damages in excess of $30,000. Arden Villas and The Preiss Company did not immediately respond to requests from DailyMail.com.

The Preiss Company is one of the top 10 off-campus student housing providers in the nation, according to their website.

Protests have erupted at Arden Villas as residents and community members demand answers from the housing company they say are ignoring them. Eryn Rutherford told Nicholson Student Media: 'They won't return our calls; their office is closed. We are in the dark.'

Caballero, the sole suspect in Marcano's death, was discovered dead by suicide at a Seminole County apartment complex on September 27, he allegedly hanged himself in the paint garage. According to Law & Crime, court documents stated that his body could have been in the garage since the day Marcano vanished, based on its state of decomposition.

Marcano was reported missing on September 24, after she was scheduled to catch a flight home to Fort Lauderdale after her shift ended at 5pm but never made it to the airport and stopped replying to friends and family.

Signs of a violent struggle, including bloodstains on a pillow, were eventually found in her room.

Caballero told police that he had last seen her at 3 pm that day but police later learned that his 'maintenance-issued master key fob' had been used to enter her apartment at 4:30 pm.

Several of Marcano's family members drove to her apartment in Orlando when they became concerned.

Cellphone video, shot by one the relatives and released by the Washington Law Firm, shows Marcano's family members interacting with Caballero and the Orange County Sheriff Department around 3:45 am on Saturday September 25, hours after she was last seen alive.

Marcano's family released a video showing a conversation they had with Caballero (left) outside her apartment building in the hours after the 19-year-old went missing

The family said Caballero arrived at Marcano's apartment and asked her aunt: 'Are you looking for Miya?'

He told police he had found out 'from a mutual friend that Miya is missing,' according to the police report.

In the video, Marcano's family was suspicious of Caballero's appearance and began confronting him about his alleged obsession with the young woman.

'You have sent obsessive texts to Miya,' one family member is heard saying in the video. 'We have all seen the texts. You talked about giving her your life savings. You Cash App'ed her money and you claim that you weren't in touch.'

To which Caballero replied: 'I never said that.'

The family member continued: 'There is evidence of obsession or something. You are fascinated with Miya,' she said.

'It's not only from my side,' Caballero then said. 'So, don't try to make this like I'm a stalker.'

The family then reported to a deputy, who witnessed the interaction, that a key fob had fallen out of Caballero's lap as he got out of his car and that they noticed he had Marcano's blanket.

Marcano's body was found on October 2 in a wooded area near her apartment building. She was in jeans, a bra, and a robe with her mouth, arms and legs bound with duct tape, police reported.
Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell wants the upcoming midterm elections to focus on what President Joe Biden is doing now rather than what Donald Trump has done in the past, he told reporters on Monday.

The Kentucky lawmaker was asked how he feels about Trump's enduring dominance within the Republican party going into the 2022 election cycle during a Senate GOP press conference.

'Are you concerned at all, comfortable, with your party embracing the former president whom you said was morally responsible for the January 6 attack?' CNN's Manu Raju asked.

McConnell skirted over the Capitol attack to say he wants 2022 to be a 'referendum' on the Biden administration rather than a 'rehash of suggestions' from 2020.

'I do think we need to be talking about the future and not the past. I think the American people are focusing on this administration, what it's doing to the country,' McConnell replied.

'And it's my hope that the 2022 election will be a referendum on the performance of the current administration, not a rehash of suggestions about what may have happened in 2020.'

The 'suggestions' McConnell seemed to be referring to were accusations that Trump incited his supporters to storm the US Capitol on January 6, when the Senate was set to certify Biden's electoral college victory.

McConnell is working to try and make the 2022 midterms a referendum on Joe Biden's embattled presidency

Those accusations led to condemnation from a number of Republican lawmakers in the immediate aftermath of the riot, including many who have since walked back their initial anger.

McConnell was one of those who criticized Trump, declaring on the Senate floor in February that Trump was 'practically and morally responsible' for the attack.

However he also voted against convicting him following the House's second impeachment of the GOP leader.

When asked earlier this year about Trump's criticism of his leadership, McConnell tool a similarly dismissive tone and brushed it off by saying he was 'focused entirely on the present and the future not the past.'

Trump's increasingly frequent campaign activity has proved he's still widely in-demand for GOP endorsements, however, despite having lost in 2020 in an election that also cost his party control of Congress.

Just last week he held a campaign rally in Iowa where he endorsed longtime Senator Chuck Grassley.

While there he fueled 2024 presidential rumors because of Iowa's historic importance on the White House campaign trail.

The Senate Minority Leader said on Tuesday that American voters are more interested in discussing Joe Biden than Donald Trump's role in the Capitol riot

He also spoke at a high-dollar donor retreat in Palm Beach, Florida sponsored by the National Republican Senatorial Committee, a group aimed at getting more Republicans elected to the Senate.

'It was a dying party, Ill be honest. Now we have a very lively party,' he told the audience.

He went after some of his fellow Republicans as well, venturing to attack GOP senators at an event promoting their party's re-election.

Trump name-checked Utah Senator Mitt Romney and Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse, two of of the seven GOP senators who voted to impeach him after the Capitol riot.

McConnell may also be desperate to downplay a kingmaker who's asking his own fans not to support the party that got him elected.

Last week Trump released a statement telling Republicans not to vote in the upcoming elections unless his baseless election fraud claims were solved - but didn't elaborate on how that would happen.

'If we dont solve the Presidential Election Fraud of 2020 (which we have thoroughly and conclusively documented), Republicans will not be voting in 22 or 24. It is the single most important thing for Republicans to do,' Trump had said.

Trump said proving his baseless election conspiracy theories right is the 'single most important thing for Republicans to do'

Contractors working for Cyber Ninjas, who was hired by the Arizona State Senate, examine and recount ballots from the 2020 general election at Veterans Memorial Coliseum on May 1, 2021, in Phoenix. The final result expanded Joe Biden's vote share

Focusing on Biden appears to be a much easier pathway to support for Republicans.

The president has been grappling with approval numbers lower than that of any Democratic president at the same point in his term since Harry Truman, save for a few points where Bill Clinton was level with or surpassed him.

Poll aggregator FiveThirtyEight currently has Biden's approval rating at 44.1 percent while his disapproval hovers just above 49 percent.

The Biden White House has also been under ethical scrutiny recently over a campaign ad featuring Vice President Kamala Harris appearing in Virginia churches, and accusations that White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki violated the Hatch Act and lobbied for Virginia gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe.

On top of that he's been dealing with the fallout from an increasingly dire border crisis and his chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan, which has been criticized by both sides of the aisle.

Biden's current unpopularity forced McAuliffe to distance himself from the Democratic president ahead of next month's election in Virginia.

The race between former Governor McAuliffe and Trump-backed businessman Glenn Youngkin is widely seen as a bellwether for what's to come in 2022.

'We've got to get Democrats out to vote,' McAuliffe said in a 12-second video clip of a teleconference earlier this month. 'We are facing a lot of headwinds from Washington, as you know.'

'The president is unpopular today unfortunately here in Virginia so we have got to plow through.'
Ivan Reyes Arzate, former commander of the Federal Police's Sensitive Investigative Unit, pleaded guilty in a Brooklyn, New York, federal court Tuesday and admitted that the El Seguimiento 39 criminal organization bribed him with $290,000 following a November 2016 meeting

A former Mexican police chief pleaded guilty in a Brooklyn federal court Tuesday to receiving payments from a drug cartel that helped traffic cocaine to the United States and ratting out a DEA snitch who was later killed.

Ivan Reyes Arzate, 49, former commander of the Federal Police's Sensitive Investigative Unit, admitted that the El Seguimiento 39 criminal organization bribed him with $290,000 following a November 2016 meeting.

'Being a member of the Mexican public service and in exchange for a payment, I agreed to give a drug trafficking organization data that would facilitate the distribution of cocaine, being aware that this was a crime,' Reyes Arzate told U.S. District Judge Brian M. Cogan.

Reyes Arzate participated in a U.S.-run investigation of the El Seguimiento 39 drug trafficking organization, which is aligned with the Sinaloa Cartel, the Beltran Leyva Organization and other Mexico-based cartels.

Known as 'La Reina' or 'The Queen,' Reyes Arzate met the El Seguimiento 39 cartel's leadership and passed along information about the investigation in exchange for the cash compensation.

Arturo Beltran-Leyva, co-founder of the Beltran Leyva Organization reportedly paid Ivan Reyes Arzate and two other cops $3 million in 2008 for information on a DEA informant who was later kidnapped and killed

In 2008, Reyes Arzate and two other cops took in $3 million from the Beltran Leyva Organization after they provided background information on a DEA informant, who had been arrested in Miami.

The disgraced police commander and the other agents met in Mexico City with then cartel leader Arturo Beltran-Leyva with a photo of the informant, who was later kidnapped and killed.

The Beltran-Leyva Organization also paid Reyes Arzate $500,000 to apprehend American-born drug lord and former associated Edgar 'La Barbie' Valdez Villareal.

He was caught at a rural home outside Mexico City in August 2010 and is serving a 49-year sentence at a federal prison in Florida.

Reyes Arzate was arrested in April 2017 shortly before the Drug Enforcement Administration intercepted a call between two drug traffickers who described the former top cop's crooked ways.

Edgar 'La Barbie' Valdez Villareal (pictured), an American-born enforcer for the Beltran-Leyva Organization and Sinaloa cartels, was arrested in August 2010 after Beltran-Leyva Organization leaders paid $500,000 to Ivan Reyes Arzate, who at the time was the commander of Mexico's Federal Police's Sensitive Investigative Unit. On Tuesday, Reyes Arzate pleaded guilty to taking bribes from Mexican criminal organizations

Genaro Garcia Luna, Mexico's former security minister under President Felipe Calderon, reportedly took millions of dollars in bribes from the Sinaloa Cartel while Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman was running the organization. According to The Associated Press, Tuesday's guilty plea entered in a New York federal court by former Mexican police commander Ivan Reyes Arzate could spell trouble for Garcia Luna as it is believed he is cooperating or will be cooperating with prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York

Reyes Arzate started out as a cop assigned to the Sensitive Investigation Unit in 2003 and was promoted to commander in 2008. Under his position, he shared information between United Staes authorities and their counterparts in SIU.

The division regularly partners with law enforcement departments in the United States on investigations into drug trafficking, money laundering and other illicit activities.

A Chicago federal court found Reyes Arzate guilty of leaking investigation details to cartels in Mexico, sentencing him to three years and four months in November 2018.

He was set to be released from prison January 23, 2020, but a New York grand jury returned an indictment accusing him of conspiracy to distribute cocaine, conspiracy to import cocaine and international conspiracy of cocaine distribution. He was arrested several days later.

According to The Associated Press, Reyes's plea means that he is working or will work with federal prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York in their case against Genaro Garcia Luna.

Luna was arrested in Texas in December 2019 and is being held in New York on charges he accepted millions of dollars in bribes from Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman's Sinaloa Cartel while he was the security chief under former President Felipe Calderon from 2006 to 2012 and oversaw the government's war against drug cartels.

'By accepting thousands of dollars in bribes in exchange for information about law enforcements investigation into the El Seguimiento 39 cartel, Arzate forged a deplorable alliance with drug traffickers, and betrayed not only the people of Mexico he was sworn to protect, but also his law enforcement partners who put themselves at risk to disrupt the cartel,' United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Breon Peace said in a statement.

Reyes Arzate is scheduled to be sentenced January 6, 2022. He is facing five to 40 years in prison.
Ghislaine Maxwell's lawyers have asked for the women who say she abused them to be referred to as accusers instead of victims at her sex trafficking trial next month,.

In court filings on Tuesday, her lawyers also asked for all evidence that was seized from Jeffrey Epstein's Palm Beach house to also be excluded from her trial.

Maxwell is in custody in Brooklyn awaiting trial. Opening statements are scheduled to begin on November 29.

She denies charges of sex trafficking multiple girls for Epstein, the disgraced late pedophile who hanged himself in jail in 2019 while awaiting his own trial.

In a filing on Tuesday ahead of the trial next month, her lawyer listed all of the things he doesn't want to be discussed in front of the jury.

They include details of a flight she took, 'testimony about any alleged "rape" by Jeffrey Epstein' and 'reference to the accusers as "victims" or "minor victims".'

Maxwell's attorneys filed this on Tuesday asking for the judge to exclude mention of 'any alleged rape by Jeffrey Epstein'

The motion also asks the judge to exclude some of the hundreds of exhibits that prosecutors want to submit, but it doesn't say why.

Maxwell's brother spoke to The Daily Telegraph earlier this week to tell how the family planned to stand by her.

'This is a family that sticks together.

Maxwell is shown in prison earlier this year 'with a black eye'

'Ghislaine has people who love her; people who trust her. This is a family that has been knocked down, gets up, gets knocked down again and then gets up.

'We are a family that fights for each other and this is a big fight we are in. We are hopeful justice will prevail as it must,' he said.

He added that his sister had been convicted in the court of 'public opinion', but that he believes she is innocent.

Maxwell has long denied the charges against her and her attorneys say she is being mistreated in prison.

They released a photograph of her with a black eye to prove it earlier this year and claim she has not been able to sleep in custody.

'We just want a fair opportunity, a fair chance, so she can get ready for the trial of her life.

'It's impossible to prepare for trial when you're getting no sleep,' one of her attorneys told the court earlier this year as he begged for her to be allowed out on bond to wait for the trial at home.

Maxwell's attorneys also don't want any reference to any 'alleged rape by Jeffrey Epstein' at the trial. He died in jail in 2019

She was arrested in New Hampshire last summer after evading the world's media for more than a year following Epstein's dramatic arrest and then suicide in jail.

Her family says she is being made to take the fall for him because she is the only person left to be held accountable.

But Epstein's many victims say she played a pivotal role in recruiting them for him, grooming them and then keeping them under his control against their will.

She and Epstein became friends in the 1990s and dated briefly, but they remained close for years to follow.

She is who introduced him to Prince Andrew and was there on the night he allegedly slept with 17-year-old Virginia Giuffre Roberts - a claim he has repeatedly denied.

Some of the women who have accused Maxwell of wrongdoing are expected to testify at her trial when it gets underway next month.
A pedestrian was left clinging to life on Tuesday after being struck by a New York City sanitation truck while crossing the street in Brooklyn, with a horrified eyewitness reporting seeing her feet sticking out from underneath.

The 39-year-old victim, who has not been named, was said to have been trapped beneath the vehicle and had to be rescued by firefighters.

The incident took place in the Dyker Heights neighborhood just before 8.50am. According to the New York City Police Department, the trash collection vehicle was making a left turn from 73rd Street onto 11th Avenue when it mowed down the woman.

A New York woman, 39, was hit by a sanitation truck while crossing a Brooklyn street on Tuesday morning

The driver of the sanitation truck remained at the scene after the woman, who was stuck under the vehicle was hit

The driver of the New York City Department of Sanitation vehicle remained at the scene, reported CBS New York.

The victim found herself lodged beneath the vehicle. Firefighters who responded to the scene were able to rescue her shortly after 9am.

'I saw two trucks there, two sanitation trucks, and I think they were broken down because I saw another car maneuvering around,' an eyewitness told the station.

'I had to maneuver around to park right here. And I just thought they were broken down, but I did see two feet underneath it.'

The unnamed woman was rushed to the hospital by emergency crews in critical condition

The woman was said to be unconscious when she was rushed to Maimonides Medical Center in critical condition, reported Brooklyn Paper.

The sanitation truck driver was also taken to hospital for observation.

Department of Sanitation officials told CBS2 they are looking into the incident, saying that all of their drivers are extensively trained.

As of Tuesday afternoon, no arrests have been made in connection with the accident.
'Facebook is not above the law,' said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clark

Facebook will pay as much as $14 million in penalties as part of a settlement with the Justice Department over allegations it discriminated against Americans in favor of hiring foreign workers, officials announced on Tuesday.

The social media giant also agreed to do more to hire U.S. nationals.

It is the latest political controversy to engulf Facebook, amid lingering allegations that, on the one hand, it has not done enough to stem misinformation and, on the other, that it has censored certain points of view.

'Facebook is not above the law, and must comply with our nations federal civil rights laws, which prohibit discriminatory recruitment and hiring practices,' said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Departments Civil Rights Division.

'Companies cannot set aside certain positions for temporary visa holders because of their citizenship or immigration status.'

Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook agreed to pay as much as $14 million in fines and backpay as part of a settlement with the Department of Justice. 'Facebook is not above the law, and must comply with our nations federal civil rights laws, which prohibit discriminatory recruitment and hiring practices,' said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke

The settlement includes a $4.75 million fine and up to $9.5 million to eligible victims who were denied employment.

That makes it the largest civil penalty and back pay award recovered by the civil rights division in its 35-year history of enforcing anti-discrimination rules under the Immigration and Nationality act, according to officials.

The agreement was announced after the Justice Department sued Facebook at the end of last year for failing to properly advertise more than 2,600 jobs before offering them to foreigners being sponsored by the company for green cards in 2018 and 2019.

'Facebook used recruiting methods designed to deter U.S. workers from applying to certain positions, such as requiring applications to be submitted by mail only; refused to consider U.S. workers who applied to the positions; and hired only temporary visa holders,' said the department.

In its complaint, Justice Department officials said the company sidestepped its usual hiring process in cases where it wanted to hire green card holders for permanent jobs, violating federal laws requiring employers to demonstrate there were no qualified U.S. workers available for the job.

Critics of the practise say it drives down wages by hiring workers who will do the job for less pay than Americans.

Tech companies say they use green cards only because they cannot find enough suitably qualified U.S. nationals.

Facebook said it believed it had met government standards but the settlement allowed it to put the episode behind it.

'These resolutions will enable us to continue our focus on hiring the best builders from both the U.S. and around the world, and supporting our internal community of highly skilled visa holders who are seeking permanent residence,' said a spokesman.

The Biden administration has made clear it will take a tougher line in regulating social media giants.

Critics of Facebook have been promoted to senior positions, including Lina Khan who heads the Federal Trade Commission.

It filed a new antitrust suit against Facebook earlier this year.

At the same time, social media companies are under attack from the right.

Conservatives say they are discriminated against and former President Trump has launched a suit accusing Facebook, Twitter and others of censorship after he was booted from the platforms after the Jan. 6 attack on Congress.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to hear an emergency appeal from Maine health care workers against a vaccine mandate imposed on them, marking the first time the high court weighed in on statewide mandates.

The Supreme Court had previously rejected challenges of vaccine requirements for New York City teachers and Indiana University staff and students.

The state's mandate for healthcare workers will take be enforced beginning on Oct. 29.

The Liberty Counsel, which claims to represent 2,000 healthcare workers who do not want to get vaccinated, filed a lawsuit challenging Democratic Gov. Janet Mills' vaccine mandate for healthcare and nursing home workers arguing it is unconstitutional because there is no religious exemption.

'Since all three of the currently available COVID-19 injections are developed and produced from, tested with, researched on, or otherwise connected with aborted fetal cell lines, these plaintiffs' desire to continue to provide quality health care while still exercising their sincerely held religious beliefs by rejecting the shot,' Liberty Counsel said in a statement Tuesday.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to hear an emergency appeal from Maine health care workers against a vaccine mandate imposed on them

Protests broke out in August on the Western Prom near Maine Medical Center against the vaccine mandate for all healthcare workers

Justice Stephen Breyer rejected the emergency appeal but left the door open to try again as the clock ticks on Maines mandate.

A federal judge had rejected a request to block the mandate earlier this month, arguing that regular testing alone was not enough to slow the spread of the delta variant.

A three-judge panel of the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals let the ruling stand in a one-sentence statement two days later.

Meanwhile in New York, a federal judge ruled that the state's vaccine mandate for healthcare workers must include a religious exemption, after Gov. Kathy Hochul's original version did not.

Though most have complied, dozens of health care workers have opted to quit, and Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston already curtailed some admissions because of an 'acute shortage' of nurses.

State agencies vowed to work with individual hospitals and nursing homes to address individual workforce issues.
NSW residents who are fully vaccinated against Covid-19 can now travel to Victoria without needing to quarantine.

Relaxed requirements now apply to fully vaccinated travellers who have been in red or orange zones and the border bubble has been reinstated for Broken Hill and Shepparton.

From midnight, Victoria scrapped red zones that applied to Sydney, the Blue Mountains, the Central Coast, Shellharbour and Wollongong so locals can now enter Victoria on an orange zone permit, without any quarantine or testing.

A border checkpoint near Donnybrook, Victoria. NSW residents who are fully vaccinated against Covid-19 can now travel to Victoria without needing to quarantine

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews. Victoria has scrapped red zones that applied to Greater Sydney areas so anyone who has been in Sydney, the Blue Mountains, the Central Coast, Shellharbour and Wollongong can now enter Victoria on an orange zone permit

Anyone who isn't vaccinated requires a permit, must get tested within 72 hours and isolate until they receive a negative Covid-19 test result.

The remainder of regional NSW is now classified as green zones and vaccinated people from there will simply require a permit to enter Victoria.

Travellers coming into NSW from Victoria have to stay-at-home for 14 days but can leave home for essentials such as food, exercise, medical care or work or study if they can't do that at home.

Meanwhile, in NSW 92.3 per cent of eligible people 16 and older have had at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, while 81.6 per cent of adults are fully vaccinated.

Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant said passing 92 per cent was a 'great achievement' but she wants to see the rates increase.

'I want to get 95 per cent or even above,' Dr Chant said on Tuesday.

The number of people hospitalised with Covid-19 has dropped, with 589 in hospital including 128 in intensive care and 69 on ventilators.

The fall in the number of people in hospital and in intensive care was also a relief for staff who have been working in a system under stress for months.

A masked pedestrian at Albert Park Lake in Melbourne on October 12. Travellers coming into NSW from Victoria have to stay at home for 14 days but can leave home for essentials such as food, exercise

Pictured: A jogger at Albert Park Lake in Melbourne. The remainder of regional NSW is now classified as green zones and vaccinated people from there will simply require a permit to enter Victoria

'But it will not mean they have much of a breather - we also have business as usual,' Dr Chant said.

NSW recorded 273 locally acquired virus cases and four more deaths in the 24 hours to 8pm on Monday.

Less than two weeks after the first easing of restrictions, Dr Chant warned an expected rise in case numbers was yet to come.

'Let's try to make sure that our ICUs have as few as possible people with Covid in them, as we open up over this Christmas-New Year period,' she said.

There have been 479 Covid-19 related deaths in NSW since the latest outbreak began on June 16, and 535 in total since the start of the global pandemic.
The husband of missing mother-of-three Maya 'May' Millete contacted a 'spell caster' to try and put a hex on her and stop her leaving him, it emerged, as prosecutors detailed the evidence that caused them to charge Larry Millete with her murder.

Larry was taken into custody at the family home on Tuesday morning around 11am, after murder charges were filed by the San Diego district attorney on Monday. Their three children are safe, but May's body has never been found.

On Tuesday afternoon Summer Stephan, the district attorney, said that Larry had tried to put a curse on his wife as the relationship deteriorated and she began talking about wanting a divorce. Stephan also revealed the final call made by Maya before she vanished on January 7 had been to a divorce lawyer.

'Extensive search warrants uncovered a trail of things that were happening, that were of great concern,' Stephan told a press conference outside the Chula Vista Police Department.

'Larry was trying to hold on to May.

'He resorted to contacting spell casters, who would be asked to make May stay in the relationship.

'In December he was asking for May to become incapacitated, to be in an accident and have broken bones so she could stay at home.'

Police in Chula Vista, California, on Tuesday arrested Larry Millete (left) for the murder of his missing wife, May (right), who was last seen alive on January 7

Summer Stephan, the San Diego County district attorney, on Tuesday afternoon addressed a press conference and detailed the evidence they used to charge Larry Millete with his wife's murder

During the January 7 call, May spoke to a divorce lawyer and set a date for an appointment on January 12, Stephan said.

The last message that May sent was at 8:15pm on January 7, when she used Facebook Messenger to contact her family.

A few hours earlier, in the afternoon of January 7, Larry had sent a text message which read: 'I think she wants me to snap and I am shaking inside ready to snap.'

May's phone activity stopped at 1:25am on January 8.

'Larry's messages to the spell caster turned from wanting to keep May to wanting to punish a man he blamed for the failed relationship,' said Stephan.

Larry has been charged with one count of murder, on or around January 7, and one count of possession of an illegal weapon.

Larry was a known gun fanatic, who had been ordered to give up his guns.

Police and FBI agents are seen outside the Millete family home in Chula Vista on Tuesday night

Chula Vista police were still combing the scene on Tuesday night, having arrested Larry at 11am that morning

FBI agents were seen on Tuesday night taking away boxes of evidence for further analysis

An FBI agent is seen outside the garage of the Milette house. Larry was alone when he was arrested on Tuesday morning; their three children are safe and well

The street in Chula Vista was cordoned off on Tuesday night as the property was searched

FBI agents could be seen bagging up evidence to take away for further analysis

Larry was being held on Tuesday night without bail, as the FBI team combed his home

The disappearance of May Milette in January shocked the local community in Chula Vista, and many people joined in the search for her. The street is seen on Tuesday, cordoned off after Larry's arrest for her murder

The couple are pictured with their three children before May's disappearance

Authorities released this photo of Larry's stash of weapons and four passports. They say the haul includes two illegally-owned AR-15 rifles

'He had not turned over one of those weapons, a .40 calibre gun, and it remains outstanding today,' said Stephan.

She said investigators were still actively seeking the body, and May's sister Maricris Drouaillet, who raised the initial alarm, made a tearful appeal on Tuesday afternoon for help.

'I still want to see my sister,' she said, sobbing at the press conference.

'I still want her to come home to us.

'Please, if you know anything at all. Please help us, I'm pleading.

'I still want her to come home.

'We made a promise to her 11-year-old daughter we will bring her home. Please.

'Let the kids know where their mommy is at. Let them know the truth.'

Drouaillet expressed how the family aspect of the arrest has been 'really hard' for her to grasp.

'It's hard to go against family,' she while trying to hold back tears. 'He's been with us for 20 years. My sister did love him, she gave him three kids.'

Maricris's husband Richard Drouaillet added: 'That she didn't abandon them. She didn't get up and leave.'

Maricris Drouaillet sobbed on Tuesday as she addressed a press conference and begged for Larry to say where her sister was buried

Maricris, pictured with her husband Richard, was the one who called the police on the evening of January 8, after her sister did not return her calls

Maricris said she had promised her sister's children that she would find out what happened to their mother

Police and Feds swarmed the Millete family's home in Chula Vista on Tuesday

An overhead shot shows police vehicles lined up outside the Millete home

FBI agents were on the scene at the time of Larry Millete's arrest for murder

May, 39, was last seen alive at her family's home in Chula Vista on January 7.

In late July, after searching the Millete home three separate times, police named Larry a person of interest in his wife's disappearance.

According to the police department's press release, investigators have interviewed 87 people, written 67 search warrants and followed up on more than 130 tips about Maya's possible location or reason for the disappearance.

Stephan said that neighbors heard nine loud bangs coming from the Millete house at 9:57pm on the night of January 7.

Prosecutors detail Maya Millete's disappearance DECEMBER 2020: Larry Millete is in contact with 'spell casters', and switches from asking for spells so his wife doesn't leave him to asking for spells so she is incapacitated in an accident, and is unable to leave him. JANUARY 7, 2021: May Millete telephones a divorce lawyer and makes an appointment for January 12. Larry, aware of the call, texts: 'I think she wants me to snap and I am shaking inside ready to snap.' 8:15pm: May sends her final message - a Facebook Messenger message to her family. 9:21pm: Larry takes a screenshot of how much cryptocurrency cash is in his account. 9:57pm: Surveillance cameras at a neighbor's house detect nine loud bangs. The FBI is unable to confirm whether they were gunshots. 10:34pm: Neighbors see the Millete children playing outside, which strikes them as unusual given the late hour. JANUARY 8, 2021, 5:58am: Larry is seen moving their Lexus so that the trunk is inside the garage and cannot be seen on surveillance cameras. 6:45am: Larry and their four-year-old son drive away, leaving the two older children home alone. He leaves his phone at home, and his boss and father call wanting to know where he is. 3:29pm: Larry switches the GPS on to get directions back to their Chula Vista home - a drive of 2.5 hours. 6pm: Larry and the four-year-old arrive home. 6:30pm: May's brother comes to the house to check on her, but can't see her. Larry says he was at work all day, then says actually he was at Solana Beach. May's sister Maricris calls the police. Advertisement

The FBI looked at the surveillance camera footage from the neighbors' home, but was unable to confirm that the loud noise was gunshots.

At 10:34pm that night, neighbors heard Millete children playing in backyard - something they thought was unusual, due to time of night.

Larry was seen at 5:58am the next morning, January 8, moving his black 2015 Lexus GX 460.

'The Lexus was already backed into the driveway,' said Stephan.

'He repositioned the Lexus so the back was in the entrance to the garage, and no video camera could capture whether a body was put in the back of the Lexus or not.'

Stephan said that Larry took their four-year-old child from the house, but left the older two indoors.

He left the house at 6:45am, and did not return for 11 hours and 21 minutes, Stephan said.

Larry told investigators he had gone to Solana Beach, a coastal city 35 miles north of the family home.

When asked to point to where he and the four-year-old had been, he showed them Torrey Pines beach, four miles from Solana Beach.

Larry left his phone at home, and while he was away his boss was calling him, asking why he was not at work. Larry's father also texted him, saying his boss was looking for him.

The 2015 vehicle's GPS was not the most modern, and so investigators were unable to track his moves. They did note that he switched the directions to his home address in Chula Vista when he was two and a half hours from home, at 3:29pm.

Stephan said that the long period of time was why they were asking people far and wide whether they had seen the car.

'The radius may be very vast and large,' she said.

'Someone may think - I did see a Lexus pulled off the road on January 8, 2021.'

Larry arrived home around 6pm on January 8.

Thirty minutes later, May's brother went to house.

'He was worried as not heard from her,' said Stephan.

'He went to her room, knocked on door, no response.

'Larry first told the brother that he was at work and didn't know what May was doing.

'Then he changed the story and said he went to the beach with the four year old.'

May's sister, Maricris, then called police.

When police searched the Millete residence in January 2021 in connection with Maya's disappearance, Larry was said to have told officers he knew they were coming for his guns and gave multiple firearms to friends.

He then refused to name those in possession of his guns.

In July, police issued Larry with a gun restraining order after officers discovered a photo on his phone which showed '16 firearms, four U.S. passports, several high capacity magazines and hundreds of rounds of ammunition in his possession,' according to documents.

The restraining order stated that authorities were concerned that Larry 'may flee the state or country with his three young minor children or... shoot it out with police due to photographs showing several unregistered and/or illegal assault rifles'.

Larry and May share three children together, aged four, 10 and 11.

Another photo, also purportedly found on Larry's phone, showed the couple's four-year-old son standing on a kitchen table surrounded by the weapons.

Officials claimed that Larry owned a total of 22 weapons - of which only eight were legally registered to him.

By the time the restraining order was issued, police had recovered only two semi-automatic weapons belonging to Larry.

May, 39, (pictured) vanished on January 7 from the home in Chula Vista that she shared with her husband and their three children aged 4, 10 and 11

In the months since May had gone missing, her relatives have spoken out several times about how her marriage to Larry was unraveling and she was preparing to file for divorce.

In April, it emerged that May had shared a post in a Facebook group for mothers on the same day she vanished, claiming she was seeking advice on a local family law firm on behalf of 'a friend'.

'Asking for a friend - Has anyone used or have gone through the services of collaborative practice San Diego for divorce? Looking for insights? Positive/negative aspect?' she wrote, according to Fox News.

She eventually made an appointment with divorce lawyer Marisa Nahale for the following week, but went missing before they could meet.

In May, May's older sister Maricris told Fox News her sibling had been considering leaving her husband over the last year.

'I think she was ready in December, and then she finally decided to file that divorce that day,' she said.

Maricris' husband Richard had previously said that the last time he and his wife saw Maya was on a camping trip shortly before she vanished, during which she warned them: 'If anything happened to me, it would be Larry.'

In an interview with Fox News, Richard explained that Larry and Maya's marriage began falling apart months earlier, and claimed that Larry repeatedly reached out to his wife's family about their problems.

'He was more of an aggressor, trying to get us involved,' Richard said of Larry.

'He was trying to get us on his side, when we felt like it was a lot of lies that he was telling us.'

May's family have claimed she confided in them days before she vanished that 'if anything happened to me, it would be Larry.' Larry and Maya together

Richard recalled how Larry had called him asking for advice about his marriage last summer.

TIMELINE OF MAYA MILLETE'S DISAPPEARANCE January 7, 2020: Maya Millete is last seen at her home in Chula Vista, the same day she posted a message on Facebook asking for advice on divorce attorneys. January 10: Maya's family visits her home and speaks to her husband Larry before reporting her missing. January 23: Police execute their first search warrant at the Millete home. April 1: Police search the home of Larry's aunt and uncle in San Diego and seize several boxes of evidence - including six rifles. April 21: The FBI, San Diego County District Attorney's Office and Naval Criminal Investigative Service join the Chula Vista Police Department's investigation. May 5: Larry is served with a temporary gun violence restraining order after cops discovered his arsenal of weapons, many of them illegally owned. May 7: Police search the Millete home a second time. May 19: Police announce a new search of an abandoned golf course a mile from the Millete home. July 1: Police search the Millete home a third time and tow away Maya's black Jeep. July 22: Police confirm Larry Millete is a person of interest in his wife's disappearance. October 18: Larry is arrested and charged with Maya's murder. Advertisement

'He just sounded desperate, you know, 'You gotta listen to me. It's her fault, it's her fault,'' Richard said.

He said that Larry began sending increasingly bizarre messages to his in-laws in the months that followed.

In September he allegedly sent May's relatives a photo that showed a picture of the couple covered in what appeared to be drops of blood and four candles.

'He did some extreme s**t,' Richard said.

May's relatives also told Fox News that they've been cautious about speaking out because they're afraid of Larry.

An anonymous source claimed to Fox News in April that Larry suspected his wife of having an affair, and that he offered to pay a hit man $20,000 to kill the man last summer.

The source said Larry was still talking about it in January, in the days before May went missing, and that he seemed 'pretty serious' about it.

Investigators have searched the family home multiple times since May disappeared and dozens of searches have been held in the local community.

The most recent search of the family home was carried out on July 1 where May's black Jeep was seen being towed away by authorities.

Police also carried out a search on the home with K-9 units in May.

The same month, investigators spent a week scouring the site of a golf course that shut down in 2018 and sits around a mile from May's home.

Police did not specify what lead them to search the golf course.

Aerial images show the area includes a small body of water, sand traps from the old course and a large empty parking lot.

It is flanked by hills with hiking trails to the north, a neighborhood to the south and empty fields on either side.

Police executed their first search warrant at the Millete home on January 23, 13 days after Maya's family visited her home, spoke to her husband and reported her missing.

All of May's vehicles were outside her home, but they noted that she had not responded to a text since January 7.

Footage shot by ABC10 on Tuesday at the family home showed a large contingent of police officers and FBI agents swarming the Millete family's home in Chula Vista.

Larry is being held in jail without bail.

On Thursday he will be arraigned at South Bay courthouse in Chula Vista.

He could face the death penalty if convicted, Stephan said.
Former President Donald Trump warned that Benjamin Franklin, Abraham Lincoln and George Washington would soon be cancelled after a New York City commission voted to remove a statue of Thomas Jefferson from City Hall.

'Well, it's finally happened,' Trump said in a statement Tuesday. 'The late, great Thomas Jefferson, one of our most important Founding Fathers, and a principal writer of the Constitution of the United States, is being 'evicted' from the magnificent New York City Council Chamber.'

A sarcastic Trump continued, 'Who would have thought this would ever be possible?' adding in paranthese, 'I did, and called it long ago!'

Former President Donald Trump warned that Benjamin Franklin, Abraham Lincoln and George Washington would soon be cancelled after a New York City commission voted to remove a statue of Thomas Jefferson from City Hall

Trump said that Jefferson was being 'evicted' from City Hall because the 'Radical Left has gone crazy'

'Next up, Benjamin Franklin, Abraham Lincoln and, of course, George Washington,' he continued.

'The Radical Left has gone crazy, and it's hurting our Country badly - But someday soon, sane people will be back, and our Country will be respected again!' the ex-president added.

On Monday, the New York City Public Design Commission voted unanimously to remove the statue of Jefferson before the end of the year.

While an influential founding father - who was abroad in Paris during the writing of the Constitution, so not exactly the 'principal writer' as Trump said - Jefferson's legacy is looked at more critically in modern times because he was an owner of slaves.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said last week that he understood why Jefferson's status as a slave owner 'profoundly bothers people and why they find it's something that can't be ignored.'

During the U.S.'s reckoning on race during the summer of 2020, after George Floyd was killed by a Minneapolis officer and the Black Lives Matter was reinvigorated, Trump dug his heels in and argued monuments of Confederate officials should remain.

The statue of Thomas Jefferson, who is controversial as a slave owner, will be removed from New York's City Hall by the end of the year

A plaque on the statue of former President Thomas Jefferson is pictured in the council chambers in City Hall after a vote to have it removed

Trump said he believed it was a slippery slope.

He made a similar point in the aftermath of the racial violence in Charlottesville, Virginia in August 2017, when he made his infamous comment about there being 'very fine people on both sides.'

While there were KKK members, neo-Nazis and white supremacists gathered, Trump tried to argue there were people on hand who simply wanted to see the statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee remain.

'Not all of those people were white supremacists by any stretch. Those people were also there because they wanted to protest the taking down of a statue of Robert E. Lee,' Trump said at the time.

'This week's it's Robert E. Lee. I noticed that Stonewell Jackson is coming down. I wonder, is George Washington next week and is it Thomas Jefferson the week after?' he asked reporters at a Trump Tower press conference several days after counter-protester Heather Heyer was killed.

'You really do have to ask yourself: Where does it stop?' Trump mused.

Pictured: The statue of Thomas Jefferson can be seen in the background of a City Council hearing (file photo, 2019)

A statue of former U.S. President Thomas Jefferson is pictured in the council chambers in City Hall after a vote to have it removed in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, U.S., October 19, 2021

Some members of the 51-member New York City Council have called for years for the statue to be removed from the room where they conduct business because of Jefferson's slaveholder history.

The Public Design Commission held off on approving a plan to send the statue to the New-York Historical Society as a long-term loan after some participants at a virtual public hearing said it should be moved to a different room in City Hall instead.

'I think he should stay in the seat of government in a public space,' said Raymond Lavertue, a historian who is a fellow at the Rothermere American Institute at Oxford. 'I think Jefferson needs to be grappled with.'

The Jefferson statue is a plaster model of the statue by French sculptor Pierre-Jean David d'Angers that stands in the Capitol rotunda of the U.S. Congress.

State Assembly Member Charles Barron, a Democrat who first demanded the statue's removal in 2001 when he was on the City Council, said at the Zoom public hearing that Jefferson was 'a slaveholding pedophile who should not be honored with a statue.'

Pictured: The statue is seen in the council chamber after the vote to have it removed

Barron was referring to historical evidence that Jefferson fathered at least six children with Sally Hemings, an enslaved woman who was his late wife's half sister.

The sexual relationship between Jefferson and Hemings, now generally accepted as a fact by historians of the era, began when Hemings was in her teens.

The plan to loan the statue to the New-York Historical Society for safekeeping and future display had seemed to be a done deal, but some members of the commission said sending a piece of public art to a private museum that charges admission would set a bad precedent.

'It is a piece of public art. It is under our jurisdiction. And we need to be thoughtful about where it should go,' said board president Signe Nielson.

A group of historians including Sean Wilentz, author of books including 'No Property in Man: Slavery and Antislavery at the Nation's Founding,' argued in a letter to the Public Design Commission that the statue should be moved to the Governor's Room in City Hall, its original home.

The statue has been in the City Council chamber since 1915.

'Locating the statue for viewing in the Governor's Room, where it was originally placed and apparently stood for much of its history, would be the most reasonable compromise,' the historians wrote.
Supermarket giant Woolworths has confirmed it is temporarily withdrawing the sale of knives and scissors from its stores in the wake of an horrific random attack at one of its Melbourne supermarkets.

The incident shortly after 8am on Monday morning saw police use non-lethal force to subdue a man after he allegedly attacked a shopper and a security guard at a Woolworths in Barkly Square shopping centre on Sydney Road, Brunswick.

It is understood the man attempted to slice off his own fingers after the seemingly random attack.

A sign advising shoppers of the temporary withdrawal of knives and scissors from sale at Woolworths at Mudgeeraba on the Gold Coast. 'Were undertaking a risk assessment on our store safety controls before determining our next step,' Woolworths said

A policeman stands guard at Barkly Square shopping centre at Brunswick, Melbourne after the alleged attacks on a shopper and security guard on Monday

The incident occurred shortly after 8am on Monday morning, when police used non-lethal force to subdue a man after he allegedly attacked a shopper and a security guard at a Woolworths in Barkly Square shopping centre (above) on Sydney Road, Brunswick in Melbourne

Signs began appearing at some Woolworths stores yesterday advising shoppers that knives and scissors had been temporarily withdrawn from sale.

One shopper at Mudgeeraba Woolworths on the Gold Coast was told by staff the sign was in response to the attack in Melbourne.

Woolworths confirmed to Daily Mail Australia that it had withdrawn the items from sale in its more than 1000 stores across Australia until it had reviewed store safety after the incident at the Melbourne supermarket.

'The safety and wellbeing of our team and customers is our top priority,' a spokesperson said.

'Following a distressing incident at one of our Victorian stores, weve taken the precautionary step of temporarily withdrawing knives and scissors from sale nationwide.

'Were undertaking a risk assessment on our store safety controls before determining our next step.

Woolworths confirmed to Daily Mail Australia that it had withdrawn the items from sale in its 995 stores across Australia until it had reviewed store safety. Pictured: A Woolworths supermarket in Brisbane

'We apologise for the inconvenience and appreciate the understanding of our customers at this time.'

Woolworths sell a range of kitchen knives and scissors in stores, including the Wiltshire Trinity knife.

Witnesses at the scene in Melbourne on Monday described the man verbally abusing random shoppers before attacking a man, aged in his 60s, with a knife wile he waited in a queue.

A security guard who went to the man's aid was also stabbed before police converged on the busy shopping centre.

Kitchen knives available from Woolworths, pictured on the supermarket giant's website

Police at the scene on Monday. A 20-year-old man was taken to hospital where he was treated for self-inflicted injuries and underwent a mental health assessment

Shopper Suzanne Stewart (pictured) told media outlets she'd seen a man 'covered in blood' emerge from the store. 'I was scared, I was petrified,' Ms Stewart said

Police talk to witnesses at Barkly Square shopping centre in Melbourne after the incident on Monday

Shopper Suzanne Stewart told media outlets she'd seen a man 'covered in blood' emerge from the store.

'I was scared, I was petrified,' Ms Stewart said.

'I just wanted to get away from there. I dont know what would have happened if that security guard  didnt step in.'

A Woolworths spokesperson said the Barkly Square supermarket would remain closed until further notice during the police investigation.

A 20-year-old man was taken to hospital where he was treated for self-inflicted injuries and underwent a mental health assessment.

He had been charged in connection with the incident.
To the bitter end, Dennis Hutchings vowed to clear his name. At 3pm on Monday afternoon, he was sitting alone in his Belfast hotel when the Daily Mail called.

His trial for attempted murder  six-and-a-half years on from his arrest during a previously happy retirement  had been adjourned that morning after he contracted Covid and was forced into isolation.

Aged 80 and requiring kidney dialysis three times a week, the diagnosis was particularly worrying news. Im not feeling too bad, he began, attempting to maintain the stiff upper lip 26 years in the Army had given him.

But then for a moment he faltered, and admitted: Actually, Im not feeling good.

He was unusually subdued, with the television in the Hilton bedroom blaring  perhaps an attempt to drown out the loneliness of Covid-enforced seclusion.

Sensing his frailty, I wondered whether he could proceed with the trial over a shooting death during the Troubles in 1974. It was due to resume on November 8 following his anticipated recovery.

Former soldier Dennis Hutchings waves as he arrives to the Belfast Crown court in Belfast, Northern Ireland, on October 4, for his trial for attempted murder. He died before the trial concluded

After all, his hospital consultant back home in Cornwall had offered to write him a letter which would have saved him travelling to Northern Ireland just days before the hearing and his health had certainly deteriorated.

But, determined to see it through, he told me: Yes, of course...as long as I get better, Ill fight on.

Mr Hutchings pleaded not guilty to the attempted murder of John Pat Cunningham who was shot in County Tyrone 47 years ago

Within five hours, he was dead, alone in a Covid ward in an unfamiliar hospital in an unfamiliar city. That morning, the former colour sergeant had refused to go to hospital despite struggling for breath and complaining of chest pains.

Thats where people go to die, he told his solicitor Philip Barden defiantly.

By early evening, he had packed his bags and was awaiting the arrival of an ambulance, resigned to the gravity of his situation.

He had been given six months to live in September so his death was perhaps not a surprise, but his swift deterioration was still shocking.

Friends noted that, owing to the trial, he was forced to fly on a plane from Bristol to Belfast, live in a hotel and visit a new hospital to undergo dialysis  all potential Covid breeding grounds.

In truth, the trial itself had become a morbid spectacle that even Northern Irelands Public Prosecution Service  forced to defend itself for proceeding with the case yesterday  would have wished to avoid, such was the publicity owing to Mr Hutchings health issues.

With the court sitting three times a week so the soldier could undergo medical treatment, by day four Mr Hutchings was allowed to leave after feeling unwell. On the sixth day, proceedings were adjourned after he was taken to hospital and he died on what would have been the seventh day of his trial.

Wearing his service medals throughout, he sat in a smart suit in the dock each day with a hearing loop, but struggled to maintain concentration.

He appeared to doze off several times and had to be nudged awake by a dock officer. At one point, a police officer involved in the case raised concerns about the defendants ability to follow proceedings. Yet it continued.

Even as he fell gravely ill with Covid on Monday, the prosecution in the case attempted to introduce so-called bad character evidence.

This was to counteract claims from a witness, Dr Charles Goodson-Wickes, a former Army lieutenant colonel and later Tory MP for Wimbledon, that Mr Hutchings was the epitome of the best class of a senior British non-commissioned officer.

Dr Goodson-Wickes attended the aftermath of the shooting of John Pat Cunningham 47 years ago while serving as an Army doctor.

Mr Hutchings died before his trial for attempted murder concluded, leaving him unable to clear his name as he had vowed to do

Prosecutors said they would now seek to introduce a conviction for assault in 1957  when Mr Hutchings was aged 16 or 17 and for which he was fined 2  in an attempt to boost their attempted murder case.

Mr Barden said this sort of spiteful and nasty conduct...needs to be called out and stopped. In the end, they didnt have the chance.

With Mr Hutchings no longer able to clear his name as he vowed, Mr Cunninghams shooting still hangs over the tiny village of Benburb, County Tyrone, near the Irish border.

Wesley Thompson, now 86, worked in the field where the 27-year-old was shot dead and still lives nearby. He recalled him as a harmless creature who would often visit the farm for stew.

But his thoughts on the ongoing prosecutions of soldiers involved in the Troubles is perhaps surprising. He told the Daily Mail they had a difficult job up against a ruthless group in the IRA.

He added: I think they should scrap the whole damn thing and let them go.

It has been going on for years and we are no further on.
The next Mission Impossible movie, the seventh in the series, will see Tom Cruise  alias agent Ethan Hunt  attempt yet another breath-taking escape from the jaws of death.

Clinging to the side of a runaway train as it hurtles off the track and plunges from a towering cliff, our hero must leap for his life before it smashes on the rocks below.

Searching for a forbidding place to shoot the scene this summer, location scouts found a disused limestone quarry in the Derbyshire Peak District, presumably unaware that a real-life act of daredevilry had recently been filmed there.

This other mission was more plausible, but the shadowy character who carried it off was certainly no hero.

After attaching a rope to the top of the quarry, the person abseiled down its sheer face to a ledge, where a pair of peregrine falcons  one of Britains most protected birds  had made their nest.

Female peregrine falcon in Wales. Clinging to the side of a runaway train as it hurtles off the track and plunges from a towering cliff, our hero must leap for his life before it smashes on the rocks below

Then the person snatched the three or four reddish-brown eggs incubating there, placed them in a carton, inched down a drop of about 170 ft and stalked off.

As they carried out this despicable act of wildlife piracy, the unhatched chicks parents hovered helplessly overhead, their cries echoing across the cavernous pit.

Though peregrine falcons are the fastest creatures on the planet, swooping on other birds at up to 200 mph and dispatching their prey with powerful blows from their sword-sharp yellow talons, they are no match for a predatory human.

Given the remoteness of the location, the intrepid thiefs work may have gone undiscovered but for a covert camera, set up by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) to monitor the nest.

The man they claim to have trapped on film, in the late spring of 2020, is hardly in the Tom Cruise mould. Indeed, John Fenton is a 61-year-old former abattoir worker acting as a carer for his partner, but he vehemently denies he was the thief.

Neighbours in the Derbyshire town of Whaley Bridge, where he keeps a smallholding behind his cottage and plays darts for the local pub, speak of him in glowing terms. The sort who keeps an eye out for your property when youre away.

However, Mr Fenton has been charged with stealing the eggs, disturbing breeding falcons, and possessing items capable of being used to commit these offences, which carries a maximum penalty of six months in jail and/or an unlimited fine.

He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

The most expensive Gyrfalcon was sold for 338,164 ($466,667) on the last day of the International Falcon Breeders Auction (IFBA) organized by the Saudi Falcon Club in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Chesterfield magistrates recently adjourned his trial, but he is expected to claim a case of mistaken identity, insisting he isnt the man shown in the RSPB video. Whoever it was that risked life and limb to abseil down that quarry wall, wildlife organisations are deeply concerned.

For in recent months there has been a spate of peregrine falcon egg thefts, not only in Derbyshire but in other rural counties, and they say this cruelly exploitative crime is becoming more prevalent.

Last May, a serving woman police officer was among three people arrested after police and the Scottish Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals raided a house in Berwick-on-Tweed, where they recovered falcon eggs and chicks.

The trio have yet to come to trial, so their guilt remains to be proved.

When investigating other cases such as this, involving the theft and illegal sale of rare birds eggs, the police have an eye to any connections to organised crime.

Why, you may wonder, might organised criminals be interested in birds eggs? The answer lies in Middle Eastern countries such as the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, where falcon racing is fast replacing horse and camel racing as the sport of sheikhs.

The most prized specimens now change hands for tens of thousands of pounds, and sometimes considerably more.

At an auction near Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, last month, a pure white gyrfalcon  a cousin of the peregrine  sold for 337,000, shattering the previous world record set in the same saleroom last year.

The bird weighed in at 34.5 oz, so it was effectively valued at 9,768 per ounce . . . more than five times the price of gold. This falcon wasnt stolen from the wild. It was bred legally, in captivity, by a U.S. company called Pacific Northwest Falcons, whose owner, Danny Ertsgaard, told me this week how he makes millions selling to fabulously rich Saudis.

We had one customer buy five of the six we produced, and he sent a jet to pick them up. We worked out it cost $250,000 just to fly that jet, he said. Its amazing what deep pockets in the Arab world can do.

Whats special about these birds [his gyrfalcons] is that theyre ultra-white, which is hard to produce. We produce five or six every year.

The record-breaking bird was bought at the Saudi Falcons Club auction. It was screened live on national TV, but Mr Ertsgaard, who had set its reserve price at 146,000, was there to watch as the bidding grew ever-more dizzy. He declined to name the buyer.

However, in 2016, one of Britains foremost breeders, Bryn Close, sold his Doncaster-based falcon farm to the Abu Dhabi royal family for 3.7 million  with the proviso that he continue to rear the birds.

Four years ago, when his falcons won six of the ten races in a Middle Eastern tournament, bringing his billionaire clients more than 1 million in prize money, they rewarded him with a Nissan Patrol V8 4x4 worth about 75,000.

As they carried out this despicable act of wildlife piracy, the unhatched chicks parents hovered helplessly overhead, their cries echoing across the cavernous pit. Pictured, Peregrine falcon chicks about to be ringed

When Mr Close travels to Abu Dhabi, a gold Rolls-Royce is sent to bring him to the Emirates Palace hotel, where he is installed in the 16,000-a-night presidential suite.

A far cry from the days when this former shop-fitter was so down on his luck that he was homeless.

The falcons he raises enjoy similar luxuries. One photo shows a consignment being flown to Saudi in the cabin of a jet, each bird with its own seat, because their owners feared it would be stressful for them to be cramped into the hold.

Of course, the businesses these reputable breeders operate are totally above-board. The international convention regulating the trade in endangered species bans only the import and export of wild-caught peregrine falcons and their eggs.

Even so, some environmentalists baulk at the practice of breeding and training birds of prey to compete in sporting events such as 400-metre sky-sprints, judged to precision by high-tech timing devices used in the Olympics.

While traditional hunting with falcons is a Bedouin skill dating back 2,000 years, critics question how these manufactured races  spectacular as they may be  have anything to do with Arab culture.

Their concern is heightened by evidence suggesting this pastime is fuelling a resurgence of the smuggling of wild peregrine falcon eggs.

As I was told by Guy Shorrock, a senior RSPB investigator who has spent 35 years probing this trade, the illicit trail may end in Riyadh or Dubai, yet it all too often begins 3,000 miles away, in Britains eyries. This week, Mr Shorrock gave me an insight into this racket, which not only distresses the adult peregrines but  if it continues unchecked  threatens to deplete our sparse peregrine population.

During the early 1960s, when pesticides such as DDT killed their prey, these graceful birds came close to extinction in Britain. But in recent years, thanks largely to the work of conservationists and watchful voluntary groups, numbers have recovered well.

They even nest atop the Houses of Parliament and Derbyshire cathedrals. Yet they are still classed as rare, with fewer than 2,000 breeding pairs throughout the UK.

Their nests may be inaccessible, usually on ledges, but increasingly thieves know where to find them.

According to Mr Shorrock, the racket is driven by big-time operators who use the legitimate trade in captive-bred eggs to launder stolen ones, in the same way other gangs wash their ill-gotten profits.

But they are supplied by people willing to risk a hazardous climb, and relatively light punishment in the unlikely event theyre caught, in return for a few hundred pounds. Kept safe and warm to ensure incubation, the eggs they take are often sold on to middle-men, sometimes based in Germany or elsewhere on the continent.

From there they are either smuggled directly to the Middle East or incubated until they hatch (usually after 31 days) before being supplied for thousands to wealthy Arabs.

In Saudi Arabia, regulations stipulate that only captive-bred falcons can be bought. They are also protected by welfare rules (indeed, a cynic may say they are treated better than some citizens).

However, since the countrys indigenous falcon population has diminished, and natural selection is considered to make wild-born raptors faster and stronger, it isnt hard to imagine some ambitious falconers flouting the law.

This astonishing picture shows a plane cabin packed with around 80 birds of prey after a Saudi prince booked up the seats on a passenger jet to transport the prized predators

If it was true 30 years ago, when TV sleuth Roger Cook posed as a fake sheikh to expose a smuggling racket operating between Europe and the Middle East, it is surely the case today, when a single falcon can fetch 337,000. Moreover, these birds are not only in demand for their speed. In elite Arab circles, they have become the ultimate status symbol.

In the UAE, peregrine falcon beauty pageants are now staged. One shopping mall in Dubai boasts a designer falconry store selling not only tethered birds, but potions to enhance their plumage and boost their power, and an array of fashionable accessories.

But back to the thieves plundering Britains nests. According to Mr Shorrock, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs must shoulder some blame for their proliferation.

For 40 years ago, when the peregrine population was still fragile, laws were enacted to foster its recovery. Under the 1981 Wildlife & Countryside Act, anyone keeping a bird of prey had to register it.

Owners kept a car-style logbook identifying their birds with numbered rings, and giving their lineage so they could be matched against their parents to prove they had been legally bred in captivity.The system was strengthened during the 1990s, with the arrival of DNA profiling. This enabled RSPB inspectors to make spot-checks to ensure birds had not been stolen.

They revealed the theft of raptor eggs to be alarmingly rife.

In a landmark case, in 1991, a goshawk thief from Liverpool was convicted after DNA tests proved he lied in claiming to have bred the bird. Two dealers were also jailed for selling wild peregrine eggs by falsifying their provenance.

Encouragingly, this crackdown served as a deterrent and Mr Shorrock says it caused a significant drop in thefts.

Much to his anger, however, the 2000s saw key elements of the registration scheme dismantled by the Government, apparently to cut costs and red tape.

Crucially, it did away with the logbooks, so, Mr Shorrock says, a dealer can sell eggs or live birds without keeping a record of who bought them, or where they go.

In a landmark case, in 1991, a goshawk thief from Liverpool was convicted after DNA tests proved he lied in claiming to have bred the bird. Two dealers were also jailed for selling wild peregrine eggs (pictured) by falsifying their provenance

Defra claimed there was no clear evidence the old scheme had protected peregrine eggs from commercial theft. But Mr Shorrock strongly disagrees.

This was an obvious loophole for criminals, he says, backing his assertion with statistics.

In the late 2000s, about 350 British peregrines per year were declared as captive-bred, a number that had varied little since the early 1990s.

Yet by 2018, that figure had more than doubled, and hundreds of these excess birds were being exported outside the EU, with the Middle East a prime destination.

Convinced, with his inside knowledge of the smuggling racket, that the numbers were being swollen by stolen eggs, Mr Shorrock alerted Defra to a significant laundering problem.

Its response was less than convincing. Government wildlife inspectors were said, in classic civil servant-speak, to conduct risk-based inspections to ensure compliance with the law.

How many had been carried out? How effective had they been? The department didnt know, says the RSPB investigator, because, extraordinarily, it didnt trouble to keep records of these inspections.

Small wonder, Mr Shorrock says, that a problem we were on top of appears to be resurfacing.

He adds: Despite the advances of technology we are less likely to catch people laundering peregrines than we were 20 years ago. If you give criminals an opportunity, as Defra has, they will take it.

It seems so. Three years ago, the worlds most notorious birds egg smuggler, Irish national Jeffrey Lendrum, was arrested at Heathrow airport after disembarking a flight from South Africa.

When he was strip-searched, the man dubbed Pablo Eggs-cobar, after the Colombian cocaine baron, was found to be concealing 19 eggs from various birds of prey, including peregrines, in a makeshift sling beneath his clothes.

His destination? He was due to fly to the Middle East, where experts believe he would have been paid at least 100,000 for his cache.

Lendrum, 59, was jailed for 37 months. He faces a further four-and-half-year sentence for egg smuggling in Sao Paulo, though the UK courts denied an extradition request from Brazil earlier this year as he has cancer.

His case highlighted the vast sums to be made at the top-end of this despicable trade.

Meanwhile, lower down the chain, small-time British operators are taking their cut. All they need is a head for heights, a length of rope and a Googlers knowledge of the falcon and its habits.

Whatever the outcome of the case due to be heard in Chesterfield, the Peak District is clearly a prime hunting ground.

Of the nine known breeding sites on the White Peak, a plateau in the centre and south of the national park, Derbyshire Wildlife Trust say three have been raided this year.

Raptor monitoring groups also report thefts elsewhere in the county, and in South Yorkshire.

Such is the trusts concern that it recently employed a woman whose sole task is to keep the nests under surveillance. Yet as regional manager Dave Savage says, she cant keep watch 24 hours a day.

Indeed not. Therefore the peregrine pirates will no doubt continue to plunder one of Britains great natural treasures to satisfy the idle pleasure of oil-rich sheikhs.
Deripaska once hosted Lord Mandelson on his super-yacht, where the pair holidayed alongside Nat Rothschild, then shadow chancellor George Osborne and Tory fund-raiser Andrew Feldman in Corfu in 2008

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The FBI have raided a $15million mansion in Washington DC and homes in New York City linked to Oleg Deripaska, a controversial Russian oligarch and President Putin ally who once hosted former UK Chancellor George Osborne and Peter Mandelson on his yacht.

FBI agents were seen surrounding the Washington DC residence connected to Deripaska, who has been linked to ex-MI6 spy Christopher Steele, with the raid stemming from sanctions imposed on him in 2018.

The agents carried boxes out of a mansion in one of Washington's wealthiest neighborhoods, with yellow 'CRIME SCENE DO NOT ENTER' tape across the front lawn and towed away a vehicle on Monday.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation confirmed the agency was conducting a court-authorized law enforcement activity at the home, but did not provide a specific reason for sealing off and searching the Washington mansion.

Deripaska's spokesman told Russian outlet Kommersant that searches were underway at his relatives' homes in New York and Washington. They said Deripaska doesn't own the homes but the searches are tied to US sanctions against him.

A source told DailyMail.com that Deripaska hasn't been back to the US since at least 2017 and had no intention of returning after the Treasury Department hit him with sanctions, but those claims have not been verified.

Deripaska, 53, along with other influential Russians, has been under U.S. sanctions since 2018 because of their ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin after alleged interference in the 2016 election.

Deripaska once hosted Lord Mandelson on his super-yacht, where the pair holidayed alongside Nat Rothschild, then shadow chancellor George Osborne and Tory fund-raiser Andrew Feldman in Corfu in 2008.

FBI agents outside of Deripaska's Washington, DC home on Monday morning. His spokesman said it was not his but a relatives home

The FBI has not given a reason for the activity but told multiple outlets that it was court-ordered

A Ford SUV was lifted onto a flatbed truck and driven away as part of the ongoing FBI probe into Deripaska

At one point, an FBI agent could be seen walking in with empty cardboard boxes used to collect evidence

Agents were also seen emerging with bags during the ongoing investigation into Deripaska

Deripaska (left) is a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin and has been accused of aiding the Kremlin in foreign influence operations

Who is Oleg Deripaksa? Oleg Deripaska, who is said to be a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, is considered one of Russia 's wealthiest men. Born in 1968 in the city of Dzerzhinsk, some 250 miles east of Moscow, Deripaska attended the School of Physics at Moscow State University before graduating from Moscow's School of Economics at Plekhanov Academy of Economics. He went on to establish himself in the domestic metals industry and in 2008, Forbes magazine listed Deripaska as the ninth-richest man in the world, worth about $28 billion. But when the financial crisis hit he almost went bankrupt before bouncing back - with the help of the Kremlin, according to some reports. In 2016, Forbes ranked Deripaska as Russia's 41st wealthiest man. He hit the headlines in 2017 when he was found to have ties with Paul Manfort, President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman. A report claimed $26million was transferred from Oguster Management Ltd  a company owned by Deripaska  to Yiakora Ventures Ltd - entities linked to Manafort. Manafort denied that any business he did with Deripaska a decade ago was related to helping the Russian government. British peer Lord Mandelson is also an intimate friend of Deripaska, having in 2005 famously joined him in a 'Banya'  a traditional sauna in which they were thrashed with bunches of birch twigs by a 25-year-old man, before jumping into freezing water. Deripaska also hosted Lord Mandelson on his super-yacht, where the pair holidayed alongside Nat Rothschild, then shadow chancellor George Osborne and Tory fund-raiser Andrew Feldman in Corfu in 2008. Advertisement

Deripaska filed a lawsuit in March 2019 against the Treasury Department, accusing it of illegally targeting him for sanctions, but the suit was tossed out this year by a federal judge.

The activity at the homes linked to Deripaska is connected to a federal investigation based in New York, a spokesperson told CNN.

It's not clear whether that would be the Southern District of New York, known for prosecuting some of the most high-profile cases in the country including an ongoing federal probe into Rudy Giuliani's ties to Ukraine and an investigation into Donald Trump's business affairs.

A spokesman for the Southern District of New York declined to comment.

Properties linked to Deripaska in New York include a sprawling $42.5 million mansion in Manhattan's Upper East Side neighborhood. That home was among a number of assets that were frozen by the sanctions.

He was able to allow the children and ex-wife of his former business partner, the oligarch Roman Abramovich, to live there, the New York Post reported in 2018.

The New York property being raided on Monday is reportedly in Manhattan's West Village.

Deripaska also has ties to the UK's former chancellor George Osborne, having hosted him on his yacht off Corfu in 2008 for drinks when he was shadow chancellor.

It sparked accusations the ex-chancellor was canvassing him for donations to the Conservative Party coffers. Osborne denies these accusations.

Last month, Osborne won his first bit of business as an investment banker with the firm set up by Deripaska.

Osborne joined boutique advisory firm Robey Warshaw in April and thanks to his contacts the firm is now advising Russian aluminium giant Rusal.

Rusal is a subsidiary of London listed EN+, a metals company founded by oligarch Oleg Deripaska in 2002.

British peer Lord Mandelson is also an intimate friend of Deripaska, having in 2005 famously joined him in a 'Banya'  a traditional sauna in which they were thrashed with bunches of birch twigs by a 25-year-old man, before jumping into freezing water.

Deripaska also hosted Lord Mandelson on his super-yacht, where the pair holidayed alongside Nat Rothschild, then shadow chancellor George Osborne and Tory fund-raiser Andrew Feldman in Corfu in 2008.

In 2017, former UK's prime minister David Cameron's former energy minister Greg Barker was appointed chairman of a Deripaska's aluminium firm EN+.

But critics said the move was further worrying evidence of the 'revolving door' between Whitehall and the City.

Deripaska has been linked to Paul Manafort, the onetime chairman of Donald Trump's 2016 U.S. presidential campaign.

Deripaska once employed Manafort, who was convicted in 2018 on tax evasion and bank fraud charges and was among the central figures scrutinized under investigations of alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 election, which Moscow denies.

Russia used Manafort and the WikiLeaks website to try to help Trump win that election, a Republican-led Senate committee said in its final review of the matter released last year. While still president last December, Trump pardoned Manafort.

Deripaska is a close associate of Russian President Vladimir Putin who's been accused of helping the Kremlin conduct foreign influence operations.

A 1,000-page Senate Intelligence Committee report released last year also links him to former Trump 2016 campaign chair Paul Manafort and ex-MI6 spy Christopher Steele.

Deripaska and other members of Putin's inner circle as well as 12 Russian businesses connected to them were blacklisted by the Treasury Department in 2018 over alleged international crimes

The next year however, Donald Trump lifted sanctions on three companies connected to him despite objections from Congressional Democrats.

At the time Trump's Treasury Department claimed those companies 'have reduced Oleg Deripaska's direct and indirect shareholding stake in those companies and severed his control.'

Former Chancellor George Osborne has won his first bit of business as an investment banker with a firm set up by a Russian oligarch who once hosted him on his yacht

Deripaska, who is sanctioned by the US, was already acquainted with the former Chancellor, having hosted him on his yacht off Corfu in 2008

A spokesperson for Deripaska told a Russian outlet that homes of his relatives in Washington and New York are being raided

The raids are reportedly connected to US sanctions against Deripaska, which were levied in 2018

A source told DailyMail.com that Deripaska hasn't been back to the US since at least 2017 and had no intention of returning

It's one of multiple properties that the Russian tycoon owns throughout Manhattan

The billionaire's DC mansion, called the Haft Mansion, is reportedly worth $15 million, according to the Daily Beast.

In August 2020 the bipartisan Senate report detailed allegations that Manafort collaborated with Deripaska during the 2016 presidential election amid Russia's efforts to interfere in the race.

It claims Manafort worked with Deripaska to funnel internal Trump campaign information to the Russian intelligence community.

'This is what collusion looks like,' lawmakers wrote of Manafort's ties to Russian actors.

The report said Deripaska 'conducts influence operations, frequently in countries where he has a significant economic interest.'

'The Russian government coordinates with and directs Deripaska on many of his influence operations,' lawmakers alleged.

Documents also revealed that Deripaska gave Manafort a $10 million loan in 2005 to allegedly help sway US news coverage to portray Putin more favorably.

The same report links Deripaska to former MI6 spy Christopher Steele, who infamously authored the Trump dossier.

Nothing like an FBI raid in a DC NW neighborhood on a beautiful fall morning. @nbcnews @PoPville pic.twitter.com/KVaN0t9dxU  Laura Strickler (@strickdc) October 19, 2021

The nearly 1,000-page Senate Intelligence Committee report released in August 2020 links Deripaska to onetime Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort

Trump's Treasury Department levied sanctions against Deripaska in 2018 and accused him of being tied to organized crime (pictured: Trump getting in an SUV in Manhattan on Monday)

US lawmakers claimed that Deripaska 'had early knowledge of Steele's work' only months before he started putting together the Dossier, which was commissioned as opposition research by Democrats including Hillary Clinton.

In 2016 Steele had dismissed claims that Deripaska was a 'tool' of the Russian government.

But investigators 'found ample evidence to dispute Steele's assessment,' the report stated.

Deripaska was among a group of two dozen Russian oligarchs and officials sanctioned by Trump's Treasury in April 2018.

They were put in place to punish Russia for 'malign activity around the globe.' A statement announcing the economic penalties named a number of specific instances of Russian aggression, including its actions in Crimea and arming the Assad regime in Syria.

It also mentions Russia's work to 'subvert Western democracies' but doesn't detail any specific allegations about the US.

Deripaska's multi-million dollar mansion is located in DC's wealthy Massachusetts Avenue Heights neighborhood

The Treasury accused Deripaska himself of ordering the murder of another businessman and 'threatening the lives of business rivals, illegally wiretapping a government official, and taking part in extortion and racketeering.'

It also claimed he had ties to organized crime.

When the Trump administration lifted sanctions against companies tied to him they left those against him specifically in place.

He sued to have those lifted in 2019 but in June of this year a judge threw out his lawsuit.

Reports from 2018 indicate that Deripaska was denied a visa to the US multiple times.

But recently, NBC reports, the Kremlin gave him diplomatic status to allow him to enter the US with immunity.

DailyMail.com has reached out to one of Deripaska's US-based attorneys for comment.

It appears the tycoon's web of high-power connections extends to the United Kingdom, by way of a former government official in ex-Prime Minister David Cameron's government.

George Osborne served as UK Chancellor and First Secretary of State under Cameron. Since leaving government he's made a living as an investment banker.

A corporate advisory firm he joined in April was recruited to help Anglo-Russian metals company EN+ and its subsidiary Rusal negotiate with the world's largest producer of nickel, the Financial Times reported.

EN+ and Rusal were two of the companies sanctioned and later un-sanctioned by Trump's Treasury, having been controlled by Deripaska when the measures came down.
Progressive Democrats, led by Rep. Pramila Jayapal, expressed optimism on Tuesday the party could come to a deal on President Joe Biden's budget package of social programs even as she expressed disappointment over the expected cuts.

Biden was holding seperate meetings with liberal and moderate lawmakers at the White House to bring the warring wings of his Democratic party to consensus over the final price tag for his agenda, which includes funding for health and education programs along with money for fighting climate change.

Jayapal said the president has been consistent about his bottom line numbers of $1.9 trillion to $2.2 trillion, which is roughly half of the original $3.5 trillion proposal and much less than the $6 trillion progessives had wanted.

'It's not the number that we want. We have consistently tried to make it as high as possible,' Jayapal, the head of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, told reporters outside the White House after their two hour meeting with the president.

Progressive Democrats, led by Rep. Pramila Jayapal (center), expressed optimism the party could come to a deal on President Joe Biden's budget package of social programs even as she expressed disappointment over the expected cuts

The group of liberal lawmakers - Ritchie Torres (D-NY), Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI), Rep. Jared Huffman (D-CA) and Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) - took a group picture outside the West Wing after their two-hour meeting with Biden

As she spoke, moderate Democrats were seen entering the West Wing with their own meeting with Biden.

'I think the president has been working incredibly hard to get everybody to a place where we can move this forward and finish this process so that we can start on whatever is the next important thing that we need to do so,' Jayapal said.

Earlier that day, Biden met with moderate Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema at the White House as he took negotiations on his congressional agenda in his own hands.

Biden has stepped up his involvement as the clock ticks toward the October 31 deadline for Congress to pass his infrastructure plan and his budget package of social programs.

The deadline was set by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Jayapal said the president did not give a timeline.

'The president is certainly feeling an urgency to move things forward, to get things done,' White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Monday.

She added that 'we are at a point where we feel an urgency to move things forward, and the pickup of meetings is a reflection of that.'

The White House also said on Tuesday said it has not ruled out a carbon tax as a possible option for fighting climate change, even though Manchin said he was not discussing the topic in talks about U.S. spending and infrastructure bills.

'I'm not taking any options on or off the table,' Psaki said.

She noted the president believed it was possible to design a carbon tax that would not violate his pledge not to raise taxes on people making $400,000 or less a year.

Some Democrats, including Senator Ron Wyden, have focused on a carbon tax as a possible alternative as Manchin opposes a key measure in the spending bill called the Clean Energy Payment Program (CEPP).

Jayapal said that a carbon tax did not come up in a meeting she and other Democrats held with Biden.

President Joe Biden will take negotiations on his congressional agenda in his own hands, holding a series of meetings at the White House on Tuesday

President Biden met with Senators Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin at the White House ahead of his meetings with progressive and moderate lawmakers

Biden's meetings with moderates and liberals President Joe Biden will hold separate meetings at the White House on Tuesday with progressive and liberal members of his party. Here's who's on the list: Progressives Meeting (2 p.m.): Reps. Katherine Clark (Mass.), Pramila Jayapal (Wash.), Mark Pocan (Wis.), Ritchie Torres (N.Y.), Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.), Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) and Jimmy Gomez (D-Calif.) Moderates Meeting (4:30 p.m.): Reps. Josh Gottheimer (N.J.), Suzan DelBene (Wash.), Ami Bera (Calif.), Tom O'Halleran (D-Ariz.) and Mike Thompson (D-Calif.) and Sens. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) and Mark Warner (D-Va.) Advertisement

Manchin has expressed doubt a deal can be reached at the end of the month. And, in the 50-50 Senate, Biden needs every Democratic vote to get his agenda passed.

'There's an awful lot that's going on. I don't know how that would happen,' Manchin said Monday. 'But once you get a meeting of the minds, if you ever come to an agreement, a meeting of the minds, you might be able to work something out.'

Additionally, Biden will travel to his hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania, on Wednesday to push for public support of his agenda. And he'll take part in a town hall with CNN on Thursday night in Baltimore.

Biden also has traveled to Connecticut and Michigan to sell his plan. But he notably has avoided West Virginia and Arizona, whose Democratic senators he needs to get his agenda passed.

Psaki downplayed the importance of the stops.

'We are in a national media environment,' she said Monday, arguing that any public appearance can spread the White House message.

The White House meetings come as Democrats struggle to come to consensus on how to cut roughly in half Biden's social programs from its $3.5 trillion price tag to a $1.5 trillion or $2 trillion bill that Sinema and Manchin can support.

The talks started on Monday, setting the stage for the week of negotiations. Biden spent much of the day behind closed doors, working the phones.

In addition to talks with the president, lawmakers are having sit downs on their own.

Manchin also met with Jayapal on Monday.

The Democratic senator from West Virginia also met with progressive Senator Bernie Sanders on Monday after reports Manchin wanted certain climate provisions cut from the budget package led to clashes between the two men.

Manchin and Sanders ran into each other outside the Capitol building on Monday night and hugged it out for the cameras, patting each other on the back and mugging for a photo shoot.

'Get a picture of us,' Manchin told reporters. 'We're talking.'

'We're talking. We're going to make some progress,' Sanders said.

The two men got into their respective vehicles, which were parked next to one another.

'Never give up, Bernie,' Manchin told the Vermont senator.

Warring Senators Joe Manchin and Bernie Sanders ran into each other outside the Capitol building on Monday night and hugged it out for the cameras

Manchin and Sinema want Biden's ambitious $3.5 trillion package of social programs - paid for with a mix of tax cuts - lowered in size and scope.

Meanwhile, progressives, led by Jayapal, have said they will not support Biden's infrastructure plan without a deal on the package of social programs, which contain a mix of programs involving education, health care and fighting climate change.

A series of events at the end of the month is driving the push to pass the president's agenda: transportation funding runs out at the end of October, Biden needs to head to Rome for the G20 summit and Democrats need a win ahead of the Virginia governor's election, where their candidate Terry McAuliffee is struggling.

The Nov. 2 gubernatorial election in Virginia is being seen a referendum on Biden. The result will be used to forecast Democrats' chances of retraining control over Congress in next year's midterm election.
Gladys Berejiklian is pictured on Monday

Taxpayers are footing the bill for Gladys Berejiklian's legal fees as she is investigated by the NSW anti-corruption watchdog.

The ousted NSW premier has hired five lawyers, all being paid with taxpayer grants that are capped at $4,880 per day for each silk.

Her team is headed by Bret Walker SC who has acted for bikies, politicians and sport stars and whose fees are estimated at $25,000 a day.

Among his recent successes was appearing for Cardinal George Pell when the most senior Catholic clergyman in Australia beat charges of child sexual assault in a High Court appeal.

Mr Walker is known to work at a discount rate for government jobs.

It has not been disclosed if Ms Berejiklian is paying him more than the taxpayer grant from her own pocket.

A Department of Communities and Justice spokeswoman confirmed Ms Berejiklian had been given taxpayer cash for her legal fees, saying: 'Gladys Berejilkian applied for and was granted by the Solicitor General, under delegation from the Attorney General, legal representation under Premier's Memorandum M2019-01.

'The grant of legal representation is subject to conditions including level of legal representation and rates.

'It is in the public interest that witnesses are aware of their rights and obligations. Legal representation is an important way of ensuring this.

'It is a condition of all grants of assistance that if the witness is convicted of an indictable offence as a result of the investigation or inquiry, the witness is required to repay the State of NSW the total amount paid, with interest, for their legal representation.'

An indictable offence means a serious offence that carries a two-year jail sentence.

Defence barrister Bret Walker SC (left) acting for George Pell in Melbourne in 2019

The corruption watchdog ICAC is investigating whether Ms Berejiklian encouraged or allowed corrupt conduct by her onetime boyfriend Daryl Maguire, the disgraced NSW MP.

The inquiry relates to multi-million dollar government grants awarded to a gun club and conservatorium of music in Mr Maguire's then Wagga Wagga electorate.

Taxpayers picked up Mr Maguire's legal bills when he was before the commission.

Before establishing Mr Walker would represent Ms Berijiklian at the ICAC hearing, Daily Mail Australia polled several prominent silks about who she was likely to choose.

'If I were her I'd get Bret Walker,' one Senior Counsel responded immediately. When another Queen's Counsel was asked who he would hire in Ms Berejiklian's position he answered: 'Bret Walker SC'.

Mr Walker is the son of an Anglican minister from Sydney's inner west and was captain and dux of the King's School at Parramatta where broadcaster Alan Jones taught him English.

What are the rates for taxpayer-funded lawyers? Solicitor: $295 per hour with a daily maximum of $2,950 plus GST Junior Counsel: $295 per hour with a daily maximum of $2,212.50 plus GST Senior Counsel: $488 per hour with a daily maximum of $4,880 plus GST Advertisement

He was admitted as a barrister in 1979, appointed senior counsel in 1993 and is a former president of the NSW Bar Association. His second wife is fellow barrister Sarah Pritchard SC.

Ms Berejiklian was represented at an earlier ICAC hearing by Arthur Moses SC and they subsequently began a relationship. legal sources said it would be a 'bad look' if he continued to act for her.

Ms Berejiklian had sought Mr Walker's advice after being told by ICAC she would be named as a person of interest in its Operation Keppel inquiry.

Mr Walker advised the then premier she could legally stay in her job while the investigation continued but she resigned on October 1 and was replaced by Dominic Perrottet.

While Ms Berejiklian is not listed as a witness at the hearing next week she will have Mr Walker protecting her interests.

Mr Walker will be assisted by Sophie Callan, who was one of 26 NSW barristers to be appointed senior counsel last year.

Ms Callan is best known known for prosecuting former Labor ministers Eddie Obeid and Ian Macdonald over matters arising from ICAC inquiries.

Deputy Liberal leader Stuart Ayres has also been given taxpayer cash for lawyers but former Deputy Premier John Barilaro did not apply for it.

In the second day of hearings on Tuesday, a seemingly run of the mill email from a government adviser linked Ms Berejiklian to a controversial project being investigated by the corruption watchdog.

The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) was shown reams of correspondence on Tuesday about an apparent pre-Christmas rush to get a pet project of her-then secret lover onto the agenda of a major budget meeting.

It was December 2016 when a funding proposal which public servants repeatedly rubbished as a 'low priority' was suddenly rushed to a cabinet committee meeting with the help of Ms Berejiklian, who was then NSW Treasurer.

With a subject line of 'Wagg Wagga Clay Target Shooting' (sic), a government adviser wrote: 'The Treasurer has requested this issue be put on the agenda for the ERC meeting on 14 December.'

Those 18 bland words were presented to ICAC on Tuesday as part of its evidence against the former NSW premier - one of few times the inquiry even alluded to Ms Berejiklian today.

A seemingly bland, 18-word email is causing difficulties for former NSW premier Gladys Berjiklian

An email presented in evidence to ICAC said Gladys Berejiklian, who was then the state treasurer, gave approval for a controversial project to be taken to the NSW government's expenditure review committee

Counsel for ICAC Scott Robertson SC spent the day questioning former public servant, Paul Doorn, who is now the chief executive officer at NSW Rugby Union and NSW Waratahs.

If he'd known Ms Berejiklian was in a close personal relationship with the MP pushing for the project, it would have been a 'red flag', Mr Doorn told ICAC.

He said there was 'a lot of push' from local MP Mr Maguire to get funding for the shooting facility in Wagga Wagga.

Mr Doorn had repeatedly classified the proposal as 'low priority', raising concerns about a lack of detail and the fact it would be in competition with an Olympic-standard clay shooting facility the government owned in Sydney.

'We didn't think it stacked up,' he said.

Mr Doorn said there were 'very clear rules' for disclosing conflicts of interests. If he'd known about the former premier's relationship with Mr Maguire, he would have had to approach his department secretary

'Ultimately that would be then drawn to the attention of organisations like ICAC,' he said.

At the end of today's hearing, Mr Robertson, tendered some documents relating to witnesses who are not expected to give evidence during the public hearings.

This included an email on December 6, 2016, from a Yogi Savania in NSW Treasury to Josh Milner, also in Treasury, that said, in part: 'FYI Josh. Could you try and get her hands on this from OOS [Office of Sport].

'I spoke to Zach re this. The treasurer has requested this be brought forward and has indicated an inclination to support the proposal.'

Paul Doorn, chief executive officer at NSW Rugby Union and NSW Waratahs, arrives at an Independent Commission Against Corruption hearing in Sydney on Tuesday, October 19. ICAC's Operation Keppel is in its first week of hearings into whether former premier Gladys Berejiklian breached public trust

ICAC heard that Ms Berejiklian approved the final version of a funding submission for a state government grant for the Australian Clay Target Association (ACTA) to be taken to the NSW government's expenditure review committee (ERC) in December 2016.

An email presented in evidence said Ms Berejiklian gave that approval on December 2 and the ERC was to consider the proposal on December 14, 2016.

The ERC subsequently approved a conditional grant of $5.5 million.

Mr Robertson referred to the ACTA proposal as a 'Build it and they will come project.'

ICAC is investigating whether Ms Berejiklian 1. Engaged in conduct between 2012 and 2018 that was 'liable to allow or encourage the occurrence of corrupt conduct' by former Liberal MP Daryl Maguire, with whom she was in a close personal relationship between 2015 and 2018 2. Exercised her official functions dishonestly or partially by refusing to exercise her duty to report any reasonable suspicions about Mr Maguire to the ICAC 3. Exercised any of her official functions partially in connection with two multimillion-dollar grants in Mr Maguire's electorate, to the Australian Clay Target Association Inc and the Riverina Conservatorium of Music. Advertisement

He asked Mr Doorn if it would be considered a 'career-limiting move' to continue advising a minister, in this case the Sport Minister, that a proposal was a 'bad idea'.

Mr Doorn agreed that there 'comes a point in time' where after a public servant has given 'frank and fearless advice' they then need to support a government decision.

In earlier proceedings on Tuesday, ICAC heard that in 2012 Mr Maguire wrote to the then Sport Minister, Graham Annesley, about funding for a new shooting centre.

Mr Doorn said it was 'not just a shooting range but a broader facility' that was being proposed.

As there was already an Olympic standard shooting facility in Greater Sydney that was used for the Sydney 2000 Olympics, this meant the funding request was to support a second international-standard shooting facility in the state.

Asked whether he gave advice about whether this was a good use of funds, Mr Doorn said he advised that it would be competing with an existing facility owned by the state, but 'we would always explore it'.

An email from the time, which was entered as evidence, said 'A low priority will be given to the project'.

Mr Robertson said 'the likelihood is that it won't be funded at all' if a proposal is of 'a low priority'.

Mr Doorn, who was then an executive director of the NSW Office of Sport, said he recalled that Mr Maguire wrote a second letter to the sport minister in 2016, following the earlier letter in 2012.

In 2016 the minister was Stuart Ayres, who is now the NSW Trade and Industry Minister. Mr Ayres is not accused of wrongdoing and is expected to give evidence later this week.

Former NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian (front) and her former boyfriend Daryl Maguire

The Australian Clay Target Association is part of an ICAC inquiry into former NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian

Mr Doorn said the association had 'done a bit more work on what was a skeleton proposal' for constructing international-standard facilities, including a clubhouse.

But he added that the lack of detail was still a challenge. No cost-benefit analysis had been provided but the government was considering providing funding of $40,000 to help the Australian Clay Target Association apply for more funding.

Mr Doorn said the government occasionally provided 'seed funding' to allow a cost-benefit analysis to be undertaken by a group seeking a bigger amount of money from the state government.

'It's not standard but it did happen from time to time. It would be rare,' he said.

An email presented in evidence to the ICAC on Tuesday. It mentions an Invictus Games event could possibly be held at the proposed Wagga Wagga facility. But it later emerged that the Invictus Games does not have a shooting event

Mr Doorn said he recalled that in conversations with a colleague, Michael Toohey (who gave evidence on Monday) in late 2016, that they had 'concerns' about the project and how they might 'safeguard the government'.

He later added that 'Perhaps compared to other projects it just lacked the detail.'

The commission heard repeated evidence that the Australian Clay Target Association proposal seemed to lack value to the state.

'It would have been towards bottom' in priority, Mr Doorn said, while an email from another public servant said the previous time ACTA sought funding was rated the lowest of 15 proposals in 2013-14 and not funded.

ICAC also heard that a feasibility study option 'disappeared' from the second draft of a funding submission for a grant for the ACTA.

The initial draft featured two potential recommendations. The first was to approve a grant of $500,000 for a feasibility study for upgrading facilities, and the second was to approve a grant of $6.7 million to develop a large clubhouse.

Gladys Berejiklian (pictured right) is under investigation by ICAC for her conduct while NSW premier in relation to her former boyfriend, ex-MP Daryl Maguire (pictured left)

By the time it got to the second draft, the first option had 'disappeared', Mr Robertson said.

Mr Doorn said 'We wouldn't make that decision ourselves; that would have been made on feedback from the [sport] minister's office.'

'We would have provided a draft and then had a discussion around what that looked like.'

Ms Berejiklian has repeatedly, strenuously denied any wrongdoing and said she always acted in the best interests of the people of NSW.

Mr Toohey, a director in the Office of Sport, was the first witness called by ICAC when it opened the public stage of its hearings yesterday.

He said the Australian Clay Target Association proposal 'was a very risky idea' and of Ms Berejiklian's secret relationship with Mr Maguire he said: 'I can't see how that's anything but a conflict of interest.'

Former NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian seems to have a lot on her mind as she walks in Northbridge on Sydney's north shore

Mr Robertson described the grants to the Australian Clay Target Association Inc and the Riverina Conservatorium of Music as 'case studies'.

He said private ICAC hearings established that public officials involved with these grants would say they had been 'influenced in the steps they took' based on what they thought to be 'Ms Berejiklian's support for or interest in those projects'.

ICAC heard evidence that Ms Berejiklian, who was then the NSW treasurer, approved a funding submission for Wagga Wagga's Australian Clay Target Association to be put before the state government's expenditure review committee in December 2016.

He told the inquiry he was asked to put together in just one day a draft expenditure review committee (ERC) submission for funding for the Australian Clay Target Association Inc.

Mr Toohey said it was 'extremely unusual' to be asked to put together an ERC submission on such short notice. He did not recall this happening ever before.

'I thought it was a very risky idea,' he said. Mr Toohey told ICAC he never got a satisfactory answer as to why a funding submission for a multimillion-dollar government grant was such a matter of urgency in late 2016.

'What was the rush? Why couldn't it wait?' Mr Toohey said he asked at the time.

Mr Robertson asked Mr Toohey if he 'Would you have done anything differently, would it have affected what you did [if you knew about the relationship between Ms Berejiklian and Mr Maguire]?'

'Absolutely. I would have expressed my concerns... to say I thought this was problematic.'

Mr Toohey said there was an 'idea being thrown around' that the association's facilities were going to be relevant to getting the Invictus Games (an international sporting event for wounded, injured and sick servicemen and women, both serving and veterans) in Sydney.

'Invictus Games doesn't have shooting events. The claim that this was somehow related to the bid was imaginative,' Mr Toohey said.

'There was no way of knowing that the costs were right ... It was quite deficient on what I thought were material matters. We didn't even know how the project was going to be managed.'

He said it was not clear if it was a 'feasible project' and that he recalled that the analysis was predicated on an assumption of increased tourism to the region.

Mr Toohey said an analysis focused on the benefit to Wagga Wagga of funding the construction of a new clubhouse for the Australian Clay Target Association in the city is an 'incomplete analysis'.

'It has to benefit the state,' he said.

Mike Baird, who was the NSW premier at the time of the $5.5 million state government grant to the Australian Clay Target Association in Wagga Wagga, is expected to give evidence at ICAC tomorrow, as is his former director of strategy, Nigel Blunden.
A brave Afghan army officer who worked with the Australian Defence Force as an interpreter has been executed by the Taliban - with his terrified wife and children in 'extreme danger' and pleading to be evacuated to Australia.

The father had been desperately trying to secure a humanitarian visa for himself and his family since the Taliban's recapture of Afghanistan after the withdrawal of US troops in August. They had missed the first round of evacuations because they had not been told by Australian authorities they were eligible.

But his sister, who lives in Australia, has revealed through the family's lawyer on Wednesday her brother was recently executed.

'It was only two days ago his sister called me... and said: "They finally found him and they executed him",' Sydney lawyer Shahri Rafi told ABC Radio National.

An Afghan interpreter and former army officer has been executed by the Taliban while attempting to secure a humanitarian visa for himself and his family back to Australia. Pictured: Australian troops at at Patrol Base Samad, Afghanistan, in 2011

The Taliban made it a priority to execute anyone who had helped their enemies, with interpreters in their firing line. Above, a Taliban fighter stands guard at a checkpoint in the Wazir Akbar Khan neighbourhood in the city of Kabul in August, 2021

The victim worked for years as an officer in the Afghanistan army before assisting Australian soldiers serving in the country.

'The family were not told about the Australian government's emergency evacuation process, so he was not included the process, unfortunately,' Ms Rafi said.

'He's executed now, and the family are in a desperate situation and they are not the only ones. They got in touch with me thinking that...I may know of different avenues that they haven't tried.

'Unfortunately the family is now in extreme danger and in hiding... we lost a human being who served and helped the Australian army and the Afghanistan army.'

The ABC reported the family have looked at other ways to secure the humanitarian visa, including contacting Australian soldiers he worked with in Afghanistan to support their application.

The father was not told of the Australian government's plans to evacuate embassy workers and interpreters after the terrorist organisation recaptured the country. Pictured: Coalition forces in Kandalay village in 2011

A lawyer for the family said she was first contacted after they discovered too late he was eligible for the emergency evacuation process the Australian government were carrying out. Australian Army soldiers are pictured in Afghanistan back in 2008

However, after reaching out to the ADF, they were told they would not disclose the details of his former colleagues and close associates for safety reasons.

'[His family] called the ADF on multiple occasions and each time ADF told them that because of confidentiality reasons we cannot disclose this,' Ms Rafi said.

The murdered interpreter's family remain in hiding waiting to see if the Australian government will evacuate them after the Taliban made it a priority to execute anyone who assisted their enemies.

Immigration Minister Alex Hawke has vowed to continue getting Afghans who worked alongside Australian forces safely out of Afghanistan.

Mr Hawke did not want to comment on the interpreter's case due to security concerns but he said the government was still working to get people out of the Taliban-controlled country safely.

'It's a hideous equation for people in Afghanistan, people are rounded up as they try to escape,' Mr Hawke told ABC Radio National on Wednesday.

'We're using every lever we have in the international community.'

A senate committee was told last week more than 26,000 applications had been made to the federal government from Afghan nationals looking to flee the country.

In August, the government announced 3000 humanitarian places would be allocated to Afghan nationals, out of the 13,750 allotted in the annual program.

Mr Hawke said the situation in Afghanistan remained dangerous.

'Australia is working closely with partners around the world to do whatever we can to help whoever was left behind,' he said.

There were 4100 people who were evacuated in August following the Taliban takeover, with two-thirds women and children.

In August a desperate father who claims to have worked as a security guard at the Australian embassy in Kabul revealed he was hiding inside his house with his family in fear of being executed by the Taliban.

The man, known as Ismail, told ABC News he worked in Australia's Afghanistan embassy for seven years until the terrorist organisation reclaimed the city.

Ismail said he won't answer knocks at his door after locals told him the Taliban had lists and were urging residents to dob in anyone who worked for foreign countries.

'Our lives are in danger. We have to be a priority of the Australian Government,' he told ABC National Radio.

A desperate father who worked as a security guard at the Australian embassy in Kabul (pictured) revealed he was hiding inside his house with his family in fear of being executed by the Taliban

Ismail says he won't answer knocks at his door after locals told him the Taliban are urging residents to dob in anyone who worked for foreign countries. Pictured: Taliban fighters stand guard along a roadside in Kabul after reclaiming the city in August

Ismail, who at the time of the interview was bunkered down inside his home with his wife and four children and is too frightened to even step into his yard, says he doesn't care what happens to him but wants protection for his family.

'I don't care if the Taliban find me, if they cut me, I don't care,' he said.

'But if they do something with my wife, that will be a bad shame for me and my family.'

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said in a press conference in August that Australia would assist in the evacuation of officials, translators and fleeing Afghanis but admitted rescue efforts would be limited.

'I want you to know that we will continue to do everything we can for those who have stood with us, as we have to this day,' he said.

'But despite our best efforts, I know that support won't reach all that it should.

'On-the-ground events have overtaken many efforts. We wish it were different.'

Ismail said Mr Morrison's comments left him 'very disappointed' and is pleading for the Government to help the people who have risked their lives for Australian government officials.

Scott Morrison said in a press conference that Australia would assist in the evacuation of officials, translators and fleeing Afghanis but admitted his rescue efforts will be limited

He called on Mr Morrison and other world leaders to stop talking about supporting war-torn nations and start acting with mass rescue efforts

'It breaks my heart into many pieces and left me very disappointed,' he said.

'As a human he has to think first. People who worked on the front line and put themselves in danger to protect your mission.

'To support your mission in Afghanistan. To support your property, to support your kind.'

He called on Mr Morrison and other world leaders to stop talking about supporting war-torn nations and start acting with mass rescue efforts.

'If the Australian Government doesn't speak for human rights and doesn't help us in Kabul, tragedy and very bad things will happen here at the hands of the Taliban,' Ismail said.

It is not known if Ismail is still alive.
Police are probing claims that Ali Harbi Ali was seen near other potential targets before allegedly killing David Amess.

Detectives are tracing the suspects movements and examining CCTV footage amid reports that he was spotted hanging around outside offices in central London.

Police are also trying to establish who Ali tried to contact in the moments before he was arrested on Friday.

Witnesses said the 25-year-old calmly used his mobile phone either to make a call or send a text seconds after Sir David was knifed 17 times in a frenzied attack at his constituency surgery in Essex.

Yesterday it emerged that the murder weapon was a kitchen knife recovered from the church in Leigh-on-Sea where the Tory MP died.

Police are probing claims that suspect Ali Harbi Ali, 25, (pictured) was seen near other potential targets before allegedly killing MP David Amess in a frenzied attack on Friday

It was claimed last night that Ali was referred to Prevent as a teenager in 2014, while he was still in education.

He went through a deradicalisation course lasting a few months after concerns were raised about him being drawn toward Islamist ideologies, The Guardian reported. Ali later had his case closed.

It is not known whether his activities were checked in the seven years between the end of his time on the Prevent scheme and his arrest on suspicion of murdering Sir David.

Yesterday friends claimed the London-born Muslim was not political at all.

This was despite Ali hailing from a prominent family  his father Harbi Ali Kullane was an adviser to the prime minister of Somalia and his uncle is the East African countrys ambassador to Beijing.

One classmate recalled: He was part of the nerdy group at school, but he wasnt unpopular. He was very quiet but not in a strange way.

Witnesses also said he calmly used his mobile phone either to make a call or send a text seconds after Sir David was knifed 17 times at his constituency surgery in Essex. Pictured: CCTV image of Ali Harbi Ali leaving his home on Friday

He didnt really play any sport. He wasnt aggressive at all, even if you took the mickey out of him he wouldnt get upset. He wasnt bullied, he just joked around like everyone else.

He was a Muslim but he wasnt overly religious. He wasnt political at all and didnt really talk about that stuff.

A teaching assistant who was a fellow pupil of Ali at Riddlesdown Collegiate in Purley, south London, said: I was in a maths class with Ali. He was really nice and I think he was actually a prefect. He was one of the kids in school who did really well, and hung out with all the nice people who got really good grades.

Everyone who wanted to be doctors, surgeons or lawyers, who were trying to get A*s and get in to really good colleges, thats who he hung around with.

It was claimed last night that Ali was referred to Prevent as a teenager in 2014, while he was still in education, and is not known whether his activities were checked in the following seven years before his arrest on suspicion of murdering Sir David (pictured)

I assumed he was a Muslim, but it was never like Ali Ali the Muslim guy who talks about those kinds of things. He was just another kid in the class who was doing well.

Another Riddlesdown pupil said: He was a really nice person, always happy, he was very talkative. It was weird. I saw this on the news a couple of days ago and immediately had a conversation with my friends and we said: It cant be the same person, theres no way.

He seemed like one of those people who had a nice, gentle vibe. He was in the middle at school, not high, not low, not shooting anywhere but also not idling. He seemed to be enjoying his vibe.

He had a very close-knit friendship group, he always hung around with the same people. From Year 7 all the way up. Ali played video games with some of my friends, multiplayer in-person games.

He was sort of geeky, the type of people you would expect to see down at your local Game Stop.
A former adviser to Gladys Berejiklian was so shocked to learn of her secret affair with disgraced ex-Liberal MP Daryl Maguire that he spat out the water he was drinking.

Zach Bentley gave sworn testimony to the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption six months ago, but it has been suppressed until now.

The ICAC is investigating if between 2013 and 2018 the former NSW premier engaged in conduct that constituted or involved a breach of public trust.

As the corruption commission builds its case against Ms Berejiklian before her highly anticipated appearance next week, late last night the watchdog released the transcript of an interview with Mr Bentley, a former close adviser to her.

Counsel for ICAC, Scott Robertson SC asked Mr Bentley on April 29 when did he 'first become aware of the existence of, to use Ms Berejiklian's phrase, or at least the phrase that she adopted, close personal relationship?'

'When I received a text message during the course of Ms Berejiklian's evidence, to which I spat my water out,' Mr Bentley replied. Mr Robertson asked if he 'literally spat your water out?'

He had.

Gladys Berejiklian leaves her home on Sydney's leafy north shore on Wednesday morning as in inquiry into her continues at the Independent Commission Against Corruption

The revelation of former NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian's (pictured left) secret relationship with Daryl Maguire (right) was so shocking it caused one of her advisers to spit out the water he was drinking

Asked if he was shocked at the revelation, Mr Bentley said 'I can't express to you, Mr Robertson, my horror upon learning that.

'Not horror, sir, but more, these are two people I've known quite well and the fact that I had no knowledge of it, like, yeah, it was quite shocking.'

The extent of how secretive the affair between Ms Berejiklian and Mr Maguire was laid bare when Mr Bentley was asked if there were any 'rumours circulating in the corridors of power as to the existence of such a relationship?'

'I can't stress to you the number of people who have asked me whether I knew or suspected anything, given that I'm the only person who's worked for, actually one of only two that have worked for the two of them. At no point in time did I ever suspect that they were in a relationship,' said Mr Bentley.

A concerned looking Gladys Berejiklian will front the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption next week

Asked if he would have performed his duties as an adviser differently if he had known of the relationship, Mr Bentley answered that Ms Berejiklian is 'very good at siloing certain components of her life, so ... I don't know whether I would have acted differently.'

He added: 'I must say, Mr Robertson, and you surely appreciate this by now through the hearings, (ministerial) staff, by and large, acted ... at the direction of their particular principal.'

Pressed by Mr Robertson if he would have done anything differently if he'd known that his boss and Mr Maguire were in a relationship at the time she was backing a pet project of his in his constituency of Wagga Wagga, Mr Bentley replied 'No, I don't believe so.'

Nigel Blunden, a former strategy adviser to then NSW premier Mike Baird, is the first witness called on Wednesday. Mr Baird is due to follow him.

Former NSW premier Mike Baird (pictured right) is set to appear before the ICAC inquiry into another former NSW premier, Gladys Berejiklian (pictured left)

In a December 6, 2016 email shown at the ICAC, Mr Blunden asked co-workers about an Australian Clay Target Association (ACTA) funding proposal which was being backed by Mr Maguire.

'Gents, are we aware of this one - seems like a lot of $$$,' the email said.

'This was the first I'd heard of a submission being put to the ERC [expenditure review committee],' Mr Blunden told the ICAC.

As the then Treasurer, Ms Berejiklian was also chair of the ERC.

Mr Blunden, who now works for the federal Department of Health in Canberra, said the time allowed for considering the proposal 'seemed quite tight'. He said usually there was a two week period between lodging a funding submission and it being considered by the ERC.

But in this case, the gun club funding proposal was lodged on December 6, to be considered on December 14.

In a further email, Mr Blunden said: 'Let's hold this one until the business case is finalised and do it once.'

He told the ICAC it was better to have a 'fully rigorous business case' before proposals were submitted to the ERC.

But on December 8, 2016, an email entered into evidence to ICAC on Wednesday suggested the 'PO (Premier Mike Baird's Office) is happy for this to progress'.

Asked what changed in just two days, Mr Blunden said 'Reflecting on that, I'd be speculating. I'm not aware of what may have happened in those couple of days.'

Asked if he gave Mr Baird 'fairly forthright' advice about the merits of the ACTA proposal, Mr Blunden said: 'Forthright, robust, yes.'

In a memo dated December 12, 2016, Mr Blunden sarcastically referred to the proposed 'Maguire international shooting centre of excellence.'

'As Joel Goodson (the character Tom Cruise played in the 1983 film Risky Business) would say, sometimes you have to say WTF,' Mr Blunden said.

At the time, the proposal had not been independently reviewed and no feasibility study had been done.

The memo was written two days before ERC considered the proposal and ultimately gave the association $5.5 million.

Assisting counsel Scott Robertson arrives at the Independent Commission Against Corruption hearing in Sydney. ICAC is in its first week of hearings into whether former premier Gladys Berejiklian breached public trust

In another email entered into evidence at the ICAC, the chief of staff to the then NSW Sport Minister, Stuart Ayres, said 'Wagga Wagga is pushing the barrow' on a proposal to fund upgrades to a gun club in that electorate.

Mr Blunden took this to be a reference meaning the then Wagga Wagga MP, Daryl Maguire was backing the project, but this was not unusual because 'members of parliament are elected to advocate for their electorates'.

Mr Ayres, who is due to give evidence at the ICAC later this week is not accused of any wrongdoing.

Dominic Perrottet, who replaced Ms Berejiklian as NSW Premier after her resignation on October 1, was asked this morning if he was aware of any concerns about the $5.5 million grant by the state government to ACTA in 2016.

The grant is one of two 'case studies' being examined by the ICAC in this inquiry.

'I was not aware of any concern,' Mr Perrottet said, adding that he would not be giving a running commentary on the ICAC proceedings.

In Tuesday's ICAC hearing, a seemingly run of the mill email Mr Bentley linked Gladys Berejiklian to a controversial project being investigated by the corruption watchdog.

ICAC was shown reams of correspondence about an apparent pre-Christmas rush to get a multi-million dollar project favoured by Mr Maguire onto the agenda of a major budget meeting.

It was December 2016 when a funding proposal which public servants repeatedly rubbished as a 'low priority' was suddenly rushed to a cabinet committee meeting with the help of Ms Berejiklian, who was then NSW Treasurer.

With a subject line of 'Wagg (sic) Wagga Clay Target Shooting', Mr Bentley wrote: 'The Treasurer has requested this issue be put on the agenda for the ERC meeting on 14 December.'

Those 18 bland words were presented to ICAC on Tuesday as part of its evidence against the former NSW premier.

A seemingly bland, 18-word email is causing difficulties for former NSW premier Gladys Berjiklian

An email presented in evidence to ICAC said Gladys Berejiklian, who was then the state treasurer, gave approval for a controversial project to be taken to the NSW government's expenditure review committee

ICAC is investigating whether Ms Berejiklian encouraged or allowed corrupt conduct by her secret ex-boyfriend and disgraced former Wagga Wagga MP Daryl Maguire.

Counsel for ICAC Scott Robertson SC spent the day questioning former public servant, Paul Doorn, who is now the chief executive officer at NSW Rugby Union and NSW Waratahs.

If he'd known Ms Berejiklian was in a close personal relationship with the MP pushing for the project, it would have been a 'red flag', Mr Doorn told ICAC.

He said there was 'a lot of push' from local MP Mr Maguire to get funding for the shooting facility in Wagga Wagga.

Mr Doorn had repeatedly classified the proposal as 'low priority', raising concerns about a lack of detail and the fact it would be in competition with an Olympic-standard clay shooting facility the government owned in Sydney.

'We didn't think it stacked up,' he said.

Mr Doorn said there were 'very clear rules' for disclosing conflicts of interests. If he'd known about the former premier's relationship with Mr Maguire, he would have had to approach his department secretary.

'Ultimately that would be then drawn to the attention of organisations like ICAC,' he said.

At the end of Tuesday's hearing, Mr Robertson, tendered documents relating to witnesses who are not expected to give evidence during the public hearings.

This included an email on December 6, 2016, from a Yogi Savania in NSW Treasury to Josh Milner, also in Treasury, that said, in part: 'FYI Josh. Could you try and get her hands on this from OOS [Office of Sport].

'I spoke to Zach (Bentley) re this. The treasurer has requested this be brought forward and has indicated an inclination to support the proposal.'

Paul Doorn, chief executive officer at NSW Rugby Union and NSW Waratahs, arrives at an Independent Commission Against Corruption hearing in Sydney on Tuesday, October 19. ICAC's Operation Keppel is in its first week of hearings into whether former premier Gladys Berejiklian breached public trust

ICAC heard that Ms Berejiklian approved the final version of a funding submission for a state government grant for the Australian Clay Target Association (ACTA) to be taken to the NSW government's expenditure review committee (ERC) in December 2016.

An email presented in evidence said Ms Berejiklian gave that approval on December 2 and the ERC was to consider the proposal on December 14, 2016.

The ERC subsequently approved a conditional grant of $5.5 million.

Mr Robertson referred to the ACTA proposal as a 'Build it and they will come project.'

ICAC is investigating whether Ms Berejiklian 1. Engaged in conduct between 2012 and 2018 that was 'liable to allow or encourage the occurrence of corrupt conduct' by former Liberal MP Daryl Maguire, with whom she was in a close personal relationship between 2015 and 2018 2. Exercised her official functions dishonestly or partially by refusing to exercise her duty to report any reasonable suspicions about Mr Maguire to the ICAC 3. Exercised any of her official functions partially in connection with two multimillion-dollar grants in Mr Maguire's electorate, to the Australian Clay Target Association Inc and the Riverina Conservatorium of Music. Advertisement

He asked Mr Doorn if it would be considered a 'career-limiting move' to continue advising a minister, in this case the Sport Minister, that a proposal was a 'bad idea'.

Mr Doorn agreed that there 'comes a point in time' where after a public servant has given 'frank and fearless advice' they then need to support a government decision.

In earlier proceedings on Tuesday, ICAC heard that in 2012 Mr Maguire wrote to the then Sport Minister, Graham Annesley, about funding for a new shooting centre.

Mr Doorn said it was 'not just a shooting range but a broader facility' that was being proposed.

As there was already an Olympic standard shooting facility in Greater Sydney that was used for the Sydney 2000 Olympics, this meant the funding request was to support a second international-standard shooting facility in the state.

Asked whether he gave advice about whether this was a good use of funds, Mr Doorn said he advised that it would be competing with an existing facility owned by the state, but 'we would always explore it'.

An email from the time, which was entered as evidence, said 'A low priority will be given to the project'.

Mr Robertson said 'the likelihood is that it won't be funded at all' if a proposal is of 'a low priority'.

Mr Doorn, who was then an executive director of the NSW Office of Sport, said he recalled that Mr Maguire wrote a second letter to the sport minister in 2016, following the earlier letter in 2012.

In 2016 the minister was Stuart Ayres, who is now the NSW Trade and Industry Minister. Mr Ayres is not accused of wrongdoing and is expected to give evidence later this week.

Former NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian (front) and her former boyfriend Daryl Maguire

The Australian Clay Target Association is part of an ICAC inquiry into former NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian

Mr Doorn said the association had 'done a bit more work on what was a skeleton proposal' for constructing international-standard facilities, including a clubhouse.

But he added that the lack of detail was still a challenge. No cost-benefit analysis had been provided but the government was considering providing funding of $40,000 to help the Australian Clay Target Association apply for more funding.

Mr Doorn said the government occasionally provided 'seed funding' to allow a cost-benefit analysis to be undertaken by a group seeking a bigger amount of money from the state government.

'It's not standard but it did happen from time to time. It would be rare,' he said.

An email presented in evidence to the ICAC on Tuesday. It mentions an Invictus Games event could possibly be held at the proposed Wagga Wagga facility. But it later emerged that the Invictus Games does not have a shooting event

Mr Doorn said he recalled that in conversations with a colleague, Michael Toohey (who gave evidence on Monday) in late 2016, that they had 'concerns' about the project and how they might 'safeguard the government'.

He later added that 'Perhaps compared to other projects it just lacked the detail.'

The commission heard repeated evidence that the Australian Clay Target Association proposal seemed to lack value to the state.

'It would have been towards bottom' in priority, Mr Doorn said, while an email from another public servant said the previous time ACTA sought funding was rated the lowest of 15 proposals in 2013-14 and not funded.

ICAC also heard that a feasibility study option 'disappeared' from the second draft of a funding submission for a grant for the ACTA.

The initial draft featured two potential recommendations. The first was to approve a grant of $500,000 for a feasibility study for upgrading facilities, and the second was to approve a grant of $6.7 million to develop a large clubhouse.

Gladys Berejiklian (pictured right) is under investigation by ICAC for her conduct while NSW premier in relation to her former boyfriend, ex-MP Daryl Maguire (pictured left)

By the time it got to the second draft, the first option had 'disappeared', Mr Robertson said.

Mr Doorn said 'We wouldn't make that decision ourselves; that would have been made on feedback from the [sport] minister's office.'

'We would have provided a draft and then had a discussion around what that looked like.'

ICAC is investigating the conduct of Ms Berejiklian and her ex-boyfriend the former Liberal MP for Wagga Wagga, Mr Maguire, concerning $35 million in state government grants issued to the Australian Clay Target Association and the Riverina Conservatorium of Music in Mr Maguire's electorate when Ms Berejiklian was NSW Treasurer.

Former NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian seems to have a lot on her mind as she walks in Northbridge on Sydney's north shore

Ms Berejiklian has repeatedly, strenuously denied any wrongdoing and said she always acted in the best interests of the people of NSW.
A Texas nurse has been convicted of the serial killings of four patients after he injected them with air following heart surgeries, and now faces the death penalty.

Jurors found William Davis, 37, of Hallsville, guilty of the horrific killings Tuesday.

He was convicted of injecting air into the arteries of John Lafferty, Ronald Clark, Christopher Greenway and Joseph Kalina during their respective heart surgeries at at the Christus Trinity Mother Frances Hospital in 2017 and 2018.

Davis is said to have carried out the attacks purely because he enjoyed killing, with prosecutors branding him a serial killer.

They to seek the death penalty against Davis during his sentencing on Wednesday.

The four victims were believed to have suffered from unexplained neurological problems.

William Davis, pictured on October 13, was found guilty of killing four heart surgery patients by injecting air into their arteries

Christopher Greenaway, left, and Joseph Kalina stayed at the Christus Trinity Mother Frances Hospital for heart surgery. Both men died after being injected with air

During the trial, Dr. William Yarbrough, a Dallas-area pulmonologist and professor of internal medicine, explained to the jury how injecting air into the arterial system of the brain causes brain injury and death.

Yarbrough said he was able to determine there was air in the arterial system of the victims brains by viewing images from brain scans - something he said he had never before observed in his decades in medicine.

Murder through air injections had been conceived in Lord Peter Wimsey's 1928 murder mystery novel Unnatural Death, and appeared later in the 1985 TV series Shadow Chasers, where a nurse used the method to kill seven patients.

He ruled out blood pressure problems or any other causes of death besides the injection of air, and said it must have happened after the surgeries because the complications occurred while the patients were in recovery.

Defense attorney Phillip Hayes told the jury that the hospital had issues and that Davis was a scapegoat who was only charged because he was there when the deaths occurred, but jurors disagreed.

Prosecutor Chris Gatewood said during closing arguments that Davis 'liked to kill people.'

'He enjoyed going into the rooms and injecting them with air. If you watch the video on [Joseph] Kalina, he sat at the end of the hall and he watched those monitors and he waited. Thats because he liked it, Gatewood said.

And prosecutor Jacob Putman said the hospital hadn't changed any of its procedures and hadn't had any similar incidents since Davis left.

Davis, center, pictured in Court on October 19, was the sole person identified at to be around all four victims during their time at the hospital

The Tyler Morning Telegram reported that the first incident took place in June 2017 when a 61-year-old man experienced 'a profound and unexplainable incident resembling stroke-like symptoms'.

Less than a month later another patient, a 58-year-old man, suffered similar symptoms.

On August 2, 2017, Greenaway was admitted to the hospital and received a coronary artery bypass graft surgery, the outlet reports. Two days later, as Greenaway was recovering, his assigned nurse asked Davis to keep an eye on him so he could take a lunch break.

When the assigned nurse returned he heard the code sounding for Greenaway's room and rushed in to find his patient suffering from an unexplained neurological incident. Greenaway, a 47-year-old Army vet, was declared brain dead and died on August 6.

Davis worked as a nurse at the Christus Trinity Mother Frances Hospital in Tyler, Texas, where John Lafferty, Ronald Clark, Christopher Greenaway and Joseph Kalina died between 2017-2018 after undergoing surgeries

On the morning of January 25, 2018, Davis was seen on security video entering Joseph Kalina's room, and leaving a minute later, according to an affidavit.

Within three minutes of Davis' departure, Kalina's heart rate plummeted while his blood pressure spiked, leaving him with permanent brain damage that had robbed him of the ability to speak or feed himself. He died last year.

Davis was fired from Christus Mother Frances in February 2018 and was arrested that April, after police learned that Davis was the only employee consistently around each of the four patients who experienced stroke-like symptoms.
An 18-year-old freshman at the University of Kentucky may have died of alcohol poisoning after he was found unresponsive at a fraternity house Monday night.

University police were called to the FarmHouse Fraternity house at around 6.22pm last night, according to the university.

Thomas 'Lofton' Hazelwood, an agricultural economics major from Henderson, was found unresponsive and taken to the university's Chandler Hospital in Lexington.

He was pronounced dead later that evening from what the county coroner suspects is alcohol toxicity, according to WKYT.

No official cause of death has been released, but foul play is not suspected. Police continue to investigate the circumstances of his death.

It remains unclear how the student was able to obtain the alcohol believed to have killed him, what he drunk, or how much.

Thomas 'Lofton' Hazelwood, 18, was found unresponsive at a University of Kentucky frat house

The agricultural economics freshman was pronounced dead Monday night

Hazelwood's mother Tracey called said he was an 'old soul. Such a good boy. Everybody loved him. Never left any of us without saying love you,' according to WHAS in Louisville.

It is unclear if there was an event or a party at the fraternity house at the time of Hazelwood's death.

'The thoughts of the entire UK community are with his family and all those who knew him,' the university said in a statement Tuesday, adding that they're offering 'support services' to Hazelwood's fraternity brothers as well as his family and classmates.

The FarmHouse fraternity issued a similar statement.

'We are saddened to share the passing of a University of Kentucky new member of FarmHouse Fraternity,' said fraternity CEO Christian Wiggins.

'Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family, chapter members and the entire community. We have encouraged all members to cooperate with the investigation. We will provide additional information as it becomes available.'

He was found by police at the FarmHouse Fraternity house, which houses 60 members and costs $700 per semester to join

The fraternity says it will cooperate with university police as they investigate his death

University of Kentucky student Haley Hart told WKYT that the situation was 'scary,' though scant details are known as of Tuesday night.

'Nobody just thinks about that whenever they come to college,' she said.

'He came here three months ago thinking it was gonna be the best time of his life, and this happens ,and it's absolutely awful, but all you can do is pray for them and just try to hope for the best.'

The FarmHouse Fraternity was founded in 1905, while the UK chapter was chartered in 1951, according to the UK FarmHouse website.

It currently boasts 71 members, and it's frat house can fit up to 60 of them.

'The object of our Fraternity is to promote good fellowship, to encourage studiousness, and to inspire its members in seeking the best in their chosen lines of study, as well as in life,' the frat says.

The fraternity charges $700 in dues per semester.

The University of Kentucky costs an estimated $31,754 a year for in-state students, according to the college's website. The costs include room and board, books and travel.

A student told WHAS that students are looking for more answers surrounding Hazelwood's death on Monday night.

'I wanna know what actually happened. I wanna know how many kids are actually hurt, is everyone gonna be be OK?' she asked.

'And whats actually going on on campus, which is really hard for everyone to kind of figure out because there's so many different things being said.'
Britain will not 'pitchfork away' investment from China, the Prime Minister vowed yesterday.

Boris Johnson made the pledge despite concerns over Beijing's human rights abuses and espionage.

He insisted he was not a 'Sinophobe' and said the country would continue to play a 'gigantic part' in the UK economy.

Britain will not 'pitchfork away' investment from China, the Prime Minister has vowed

But he admitted it would be 'naive' to allow the communist superpower to gain control of vital infrastructure such as 5G mobile phone networks or nuclear power.

His comments in an interview on Monday came as more than 100 MPs urged Parliament's pension fund to ditch investments worth millions of pounds in firms linked to the Chinese state, or in firms accused of complicity in its censorship of the internet and suppression of minorities such as the Uyghur Muslims.

The letter  whose signatories include former ministers Sir Iain Duncan Smith and Liam Fox  warned that Chinese tech giants Alibaba and Tencent 'regularly collaborate with the Chinese state in maintaining internet censorship through the 'Great Firewall' and have provided the government with surveillance patents for software which has been put to use against the Uyghurs'.

Britain has already angered China by banning tech firm Huawei from work on 5G infrastructure in the UK and by joining a new defence pact with Australia and the US, as well as by offering refuge to Hong Kongers fleeing a crackdown on democracy by Beijing.

But Mr Johnson told Bloomberg: 'I am no Sinophobe, very far from it. China is a great country, a great civilisation. In spite of all the difficulties, in spite of all the difficult conversations about the Dalai Lama or Hong Kong or the Uyghurs, where we will continue to stick to our views, trade with China has continued to expand for a very long time.'

Xi Jinping has not left China for almost two years but there are hopes that he may yet make a surprise appearance at Cop26

He went on: 'I'm not going to tell you the UK Government is going to pitchfork away every overture from China.'

He would not be drawn on whether or not China's president will attend the crucial Cop26 climate summit in Glasgow.

Xi Jinping has not left China for almost two years but there are hopes that he may yet make a surprise appearance. In a boost to the summit, China hailed Cop26 as 'deeply significant' and pledged to send a delegation, which will include special climate envoy Xie Zhenhua.

The envoy said his country wanted to work with the international community and would do its best to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060.

Amid a flurry of environmental plans and events ahead of the conference, the Prime Minister yesterday urged business leaders to invest more in green technology.

He told bosses gathered in London for the first Global Investment Summit: 'I can deploy billions  with the approval of the Chancellor, obviously  but you in this room, you can deploy trillions.'

Mr Johnson appeared on stage with billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates to pledge a joint 400million investment in promising new carbon-cutting technologies.
Judges will get beefed-up powers to hand the most serious terrorists longer jail terms under a framework published today.

The Sentencing Council guidance sets out how anyone found guilty of a serious terror offence must be handed a minimum of 14 years, while also serving an extended period on licence of up to 25 years after their release.

The council, which draws up formal guidelines which must be followed by the judiciary, said only in exceptional circumstances would such sentences be shorter. A guilty plea, which can lead to a heavy discount, would not meet the criteria, it said.

Todays guidance sets out how judges will implement a stiffer sentencing regime created by the Counter- Terrorism and Sentencing Act, which gained Royal Assent earlier this year.

The Sentencing Council guidance sets out how anyone found guilty of a serious terror offence must be handed a minimum of 14 years, while also serving an extended period on licence of up to 25 years after their release (file image)

In April the then justice secretary Robert Buckland said the new law would put terrorists behind bars for longer, protecting the public and helping to keep our streets safe.

25 years on licence after release

Mrs Justice Maura McGowan, speaking for the Sentencing Council, said: Terrorism offences are serious criminal acts that are constantly evolving.

The law is regularly updated in line with the changing nature of the offences, requiring a new approach to sentencing.

In April the then justice secretary Robert Buckland said the new law would put terrorists behind bars for longer, protecting the public and helping to keep our streets safe (file image)

The council is proposing revisions to existing sentencing guidelines to reflect the new legislation and ensure that the courts have comprehensive and up-to-date guidance for dealing with these extremely serious cases.

In another aspect of todays paper, which is open for consultation until January, judges are told that terrorists snared by undercover operatives will not qualify for significantly lower prison sentences.
Britain's flagship programme fighting radicalisation has been hijacked by political correctness, skewing it away from the threat posed by Islamic terrorism, a report claims.

The devastating analysis, published in the wake of Sir David Amess MP's fatal stabbing, accused police and others who oversee the Prevent scheme of allowing its work to be swayed by 'false allegations of Islamophobia'.

It claimed, as a result, anti-terror resources are being diverted away from the principal terror threat  Islamist extremism.

Prevent is said to be spending growing amounts of time and money combating other types of extremists, such as the far-Right, even though they make up a smaller proportion of the threat to national security.

The report by counter-terrorism think-tank the Henry Jackson Society said the beleaguered scheme was 'failing to deliver'.

Dr Alan Mendoza, of the society, said: 'The Prevent scheme has been hamstrung by political correctness following a well-organised campaign by Islamist groups and the political Left of false allegations of ''Islamophobia'' so that its work is skewed away from the gravest threat  that of radical Islam.'

The report said there is a 'fundamental mismatch' between the threat posed by Islamist terrorism and the attention given to it by Prevent.

Home Office figures show 22 per cent of all referrals to Prevent relate to Islamist extremists while 24 per cent are for neo-Nazi or other far-Right extremists.

Among cases actually taken up by the Prevent scheme in its Channel programme  which mentors individuals to turn them away from terrorist causes  30 per cent relate to Islamists compared with 43 per cent who are far-Right.

The British Muslim academic who compiled the report, Dr Rakib Ehsan, said: 'The Prevent scheme's central aim is to reduce the UK's overall terror threat and maximise public safety. At the moment, it is failing to deliver on this front.'

The UK's flagship anti-terror strategy is being undermined by a politically correct emphasis on right-wing extremism over more dangerous Islamist radicalism, critics have said - as a review prepares to overhaul the 'broken' system

In recent years, much of its resources have been diverted to tracking suspected right-wing extremists, which made up 43% (302) of cases considered among the most serious last year compared to just 30% (210) concerning Islamism, official data shows

Since 2015/16, there has been an 80% drop in the number of initial referrals over concerns of Islamic radicalisation and a steady increase in those concerning far-right beliefs

Prevent has come under fresh scrutiny after it emerged Ali Harbi Ali, the suspected terrorist accused of murdering Tory MP David Amess, was referred to the programme but his case was not deemed enough of a risk to be passed on to MI5.

In recent years, much of its resources have been diverted to tracking suspected right-wing extremists, which made up 43% (302) of cases considered among the most serious last year compared to just 30% (210) concerning Islamism, official data shows.

How does the controversial Prevent scheme work? Under the Prevent programme, local authority staff and other professionals such as doctors, teachers and social workers have a duty to flag concerns about an individual being radicalised or drawn into a terrorism. This report is then be passed to a local official charged with deciding whether the tip-off merits a formal referral. Prevent referrals are handled by expert officers in the local police force. Cases are then categorised depending on the nature of the individual's alleged beliefs - based on evidence ranging from comments they have been overheard saying to their social media history. People who are not viewed as either far-right or Islamist are categorised as having a 'mixed, unstable or unclear' ideology. Less serious reports may be sent to council services, which could include parenting support for families whose children have been watching inappropriate videos online. Serious reports are forwarded on to Prevent's Channel stage, at which a panel of local police, healthcare specialists and social workers meeting monthly will consider the case. At this stage, counter-terror police will be involved and will receive information from counsellors, social workers or theological mentors working with the individual concerned. Advertisement

By comparison, in 2015/16, 262 cases (69%) were for Muslim extremism and 98 (26%) for far right. The number of cases counted as serious far-right extremism has increased year on year since then, while Islamist ones have fluctuated.

Today, an intelligence source said that 'although some right-wing extremists are dangerous people... by and large they are hoodlums'.

'They do not present the same risk as Islamists by any distance, by a factor of four or five to one,' the source told the Telegraph. 'Everyone was trying very hard to be politically correct and not Islamophobic. But the whole process has become unbalanced.

'More time has been spent than appropriate on right-wing extremism and not Islamism. There needs to be some honest appraisal about where the threat is actually coming from.'

It comes amid fears of a growing threat from so-called 'bedroom radicals' who have soaked up extreme beliefs from the Internet over lockdown.

Intelligence agencies are struggling to monitor these people because of the difficulty of distinguishing between those spewing hate-filled propaganda and genuine terrorists, security sources told the Times.

Prevent places a duty on local public servants including teachers, doctors and social workers to flag concerns about an individual being radicalised or drawn into terrorism.

Since 2015/16, there has been an 80% drop in the number of initial referrals over concerns of Islamic radicalisation and a steady increase in those concerning far-right beliefs.

It coincides with an increasing focus on far-right extremism following the murder of Labour MP Jo Cox by a white supremacist in 2016. Last year the Met's anti-terror chief Neil Basu warned the far right is Britain's fastest growing terror threat.

After the initial referral to Prevent, cases are categorised depending on the nature of the individual's alleged beliefs - based on evidence ranging from comments they have been overheard making in public to their social media history.

People who are not viewed as either far-right or Islamist are categorised as having a 'mixed, unstable or unclear' ideology.

Reports judged to be serious are then referred onto the Channel process - which sees a panel of senior council officials, healthworkers and anti-terror police decide what action should be taken.

While alleged cases of Islamic extremism were slightly more common for initial Prevent referrals last year - at 24% (1,487 referrals) to 22% (1,387) for far-right cases - they were less common at the Channel phase.

Sir David Amess (pictured) was stabbed to death at a constituency surgery on Friday

At this point - after cases deemed to be less serious were filtered out - suspected right-wing extremists made up 43% (302) of cases versus just 30% (210) concerning Islamism, Home Office figures show.

The Henry Jackson Society argued that counter-extremism professionals had 'lost sight of their duty to prevent terrorism'.

'There has been an under-referral of Islamist cases and an over-referral of extreme Right-wing cases and we are now seeing the deadly consequences,' the think tank said.

'The Prevent review has been derailed by Left-wing groups trying to litigate every aspect of its work and yet a cold hard look at the number of cases in which Prevent has fallen short shows this is only the latest in a long line.'

Sir David's suspected killer, Ali Harbi Ali, 25, had been referred to prevent in his late teens

Ali Harbi Ali - a British-born Muslim of Somali descent who police are continuing to question over the fatal stabbing of Sir David Amess at his constituency surgery on Friday - was referred to Prevent by a concerned member of the community in his late teens over an alleged interest in radical Islam.

A review of Prevent is set to recommend overhauling the panels that assess potential cases to refer to the strategy's intervention phase - known as Channel - to prioritise MI5 and counter-terrorism police officers, who tend to be 'more hawkish' in their approach.

A security source told the Times: 'Police and security-focused agencies are more likely to put people on to support programmes.

'The NHS, schools, local authorities and other agencies are often much weaker at intervention because they don't want to antagonise faith groups.'

Sources say the Prevent review, led by former Charity Commission chair William Shawcross, is also expected to recommend that 'inconsistent, disorganised and unstructured' panels of up to 20 people are slashed down to five.

Another likely recommendation will be to place suspected extremists on three-year deradicalisation programmes rather than the current one, it is claimed.

Another challenge facing intelligence agencies monitoring 'bedroom radicals' is extremists are also using anonymous chat sites on the dark web that are hard for spies to penetrate.

Spies believe that Covid restrictions meant a lot of terrorist activity was 'suppressed' as radicals appeared willing to abide by the rules.

Yesterday, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab questioned whether it would ever be possible to stop all so-called 'lone wolf' terrorists.

'It is inherently difficult in a world that we find ourselves in, where you have lone wolf attackers, to have an entirely risk-free counterterrorism strategy,' he told Times Radio.
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Two members of Sydney's notorious Hamze family are dead following a brazen daylight hit where 10 to 12 shots were fired in the city's west.

Salim Hamze, 18, and his father Toufik, 64, were found critically injured in the front seat of a red Nissan Navara ute on Osgood St, Guildford shortly before 9am on Wednesday.

Salim suffered multiple gunshot wounds and died at the scene.

Toufik was shot in the head and died in hospital within the hour despite the frantic attempts of paramedics and nurses to save him.

Daily Mail Australia understands Salim and his father were leaving home to go to work when they were assassinated.

Police are on the hunt for two offenders believed to be involved.

Officers are also investigating a burnt out Lexus SUV found 1.8km away in Murdock Lane a short time after the shooting - a getaway car for the killers.

The shooting is understood to be the latest escalation in the increasingly bloody Sydney underworld feud between the Alameddine and Hamze families.

Salim Hamze and his father Toufik were found slumped in a red ute (pictured) following reports of a shooting in Guildford on Wednesday morning

Osgood St (pictured) in Guildford has been cordoned off as a high presence of police investigate the scene of the shooting

Pictured are officers lifting police tape as a coroner's van arrives at the scene of the shooting on Wednesday afternoon

Dozens of police have arrived at the scene in Guildford to investigate the latest escalation in the long-running underworld feud between Alameddine and Hamze families

Osgood Street in Guildford has been cordoned off as specialist and forensic officers examine the crime scene

Salim Hamze, 18, and his father Toufik, 64 were shot while leaving for work. Pictured are police being briefed at the scene

A burnt out Lexus SUV (pictured) was found 1.8km away in Murdock Lane a short time after the shooting

A coroner's van approaches police tape at the scene of the deadly shooting in Guildford on Wednesday afternoon

Police have confirmed Salim Hamze was 'well known' to them and on bail for firearms offences after being arrested by the State Crime Command on September 10.

'He was known to us as a person sometimes under threat and known to be involved in criminal organisations.' Detective Chief Superintendent Darren Bennett said.

Police are unaware of any criminal involvement of the slain father.

He described Wednesday's double murder as an appalling act of violence on the streets of Sydney.

'It's an atrocious crime that shouldn't have taken place,' Superintendent Bennett said.

'It's another appalling crime in a long list of gangland style shootings that have taken place in south-west Sydney.

'The State Crime Command and local police are handing glove trying to stop to these crimes before they happen.'

It remains unclear how Salim and his father are related to the rest of Hamze family.

Police admitted they're concerned about reprisal attacks.

'We're worried about reprisals, we're worried about family feud and we're also worried about drug and kidnapping turf wars, and they're going on in south-west Sydney all the time,' Superintendent Bennett said.

Police appealed for information for a grey or dark coloured Ford Mustang seen leaving Murdock Lane not long after the Lexus SUV was set on fire.

Sources close to the Hamze clan told Daily Mail Australia family members held an urgent Zoom meeting with a criminal defence lawyer shortly in the wake of the slaying.

Osgood Street has been cordoned off with a heavy presence of police, who spent the morning examining the crime scene and going door to door to interview shocked neighbours.

A neighbour told Daily Mail Australia they heard the 'bang! bang! bang!' of bullets early this morning. 'It sounded like an automatic weapon,' they said.

There has been a spate of public shootings in the area this year. One of them, in March, was just 800m up the road.

The latest shooting has neighbours fearing the area is unsafe. 'It's scary. I heard police coming and helicopters over the top,' local Ali Ghazi told the ABC. 'Shocking. It's scary. It's not safe.'

'We live in Merrylands but we were driving through this morning at about 9.30 and we saw the police everywhere,' these women (pictured) told Daily Mail Australia

A burnt out Lexus SUV (pictured) found 1.8km away in Murdock Lane shortly afterwards has since been towed away

Guildford residents Angela Virzi and Talia , 16 (pictured) recalled the shock of seeing a Lexus SUV on fire in their street

Residents who live near the burning car recalled their shock of looking out the window and seeing a Lexus SUV on fire.

Angela Virzi and her daughter have lived in the street for 22 years.

'No one knows this street except locals - they all go to the end of the street to turn around, but no one knows the lane way is behind there there. Whoever did it knew,' Ms Virzi told Daily Mail Australia.

It really p***** me off that these people are bringing the neighbourhood down. Its not a bad area.

Her daughter Talia, 16 added: We were so shocked. We heard this scream, like someone saying oh my god and a horn and popping coming from the car

Another resident told the Daily Telegraph: 'I was just sleeping and I woke up to the sound of a car horn, like a really long horn that went on for 30 seconds or so.

'I got p****** off because it was so loud they woke me up, so I looked out the window and there was just fire and black smoke.

'Neighbours were screaming and standing out on the road, then we heard multiple bangs which must have been something in the car exploding.'

The slain pair are among four members of the extended Hamze family to be shot dead in the last year.

Police were called to the Guildford street off Woodville Road shortly before 9am following reports of a shooting.

Police interview neighbours in the Guildford street following the assassinations of Salim Hamze and his father Toufik

A neighbour examines the horrifying crime scene in Guildford from behind police tape

There has been a spate of public shootings in the Guildford area this year. Pictured are police at the scene on Wednesday

A heavy presence of police remains in Osgood Street following a double assassination in broad daylight

Mejid Hamzy (left), the brother of jailed Brothers for Life gang founder Bassam (right) was gunned down outside his home at Condell Park in October last year

Bilal Hamzy, the cousin of Bassam, was executed in a drive-by shooting in Sydney's CBD in June (pictured above sequence of events)

About a hundred men gathered at Rookwood necropolis to bury Bilal Hamze on June 23

Dozens of male mourners carried Bilal Hamze's green coffin - emblazoned with Arabic writing - into the mosque at his funeral in June.

A burnt out car found after Bilal Hamze was executed in Sydney earlier this year

In June, the crime boss cousin of Brothers for Life gangster Bassam Hamzy was executed in a drive-by shooting after leaving Sydney's ritzy Kid Kyoto Japanese restaurant.

Underworld figure Bilal Hamze, 34, had a bounty on his head when he was shot twice in the stomach and once in the shoulder in front of shocked onlookers.

Bilal was hiding out in the city amid underworld conflict with members of the rival Alameddine clan.

His public assassination came after his own mother Maha Hamze's home in Auburn was the target of a drive-by shooting in February.

No one inside was injured but a nurse at a nearby hospital was hurt when a stray bullet destroyed a window she was standing near.

In October last year, Mejid Hamzy - the younger brother of Bassam, was gunned down in broad daylight outside his Condell Park home.

The shooting (scene pictured) is understood to be the latest escalation in the long-running Sydney underworld feud between the Alameddine and Hamze families

Two brothers allegedly linked to the Alameddine family have been arrested over the fatal shooting of Mejid, but police believe the gunmen are still at large.

In September, police released CCTV footage of two hooded men fleeing from the scene moments after Mejid was shot dead as they continue to hunt for the killers.

The CCTV captured the face and distinct blond hair of one the men briefly exposed after his hoodie fell off while fleeing the scene through the reserve before getting into two luxury cars.

Almost two months later, Shady Kanj, 22, was struck by a bullet while a passenger in a car driving on Boundary Rd, Chester Hill in western Sydney on August 6.

Kanj was an associate of both the Hamzy and Alameddine gangs,

A week later, a suspected murder attempt against another member of the Hamze clan was foiled following a police traffic stop in Sydney's north.

Police believe gangland rivals had been planning to carry out an attack on Ibrahem Hamze when a stolen Mercedes was spotted on Walker Street on August 14.

The driver allegedly refused to stop the vehicle for officers before speeding off and running through a red light.

But the car suffered a flat tyre forcing the driver and another passenger to abandon the vehicle on Miller Street at Cammeray.

Anyone with information about Wednesday morning's shooting is urged to call Crime Stoppers.
A property developer who was branded as 'scum' and a 'sex scammer' in an online rant has accused his 'sugar baby' ex-lover of attempting to use him to gain permanent residency in Australia.

Barry Wang, 40, claims he was defamed on an online public chat app when his jilted lover, Melbourne real estate agent Jessie Qin, let Melbourne's Chinese business community know what she really thought of him.

The pair are facing off in the County Court of Victoria after Mr Wang sued Ms Qin for defaming him on the Chinese-language WeChat group.

Alleged 'sugar daddy' Barry Wang, 40, says he was defamed by Jessie Qin (above) on the Chinese-language WeChat group

Melbourne real estate agent Jessie Qin refused to apologise for her online rant and now faces a legal challenge

Barry Wang claims he was unfairly portrayed on an online public chat app

A Chinese-language WeChat group was told 'Barry' was scum

Mr Wang, who is claiming $350,000 in aggravated damages, said he would withdraw his claim if Ms Qin agreed to publish a public apology and retract her claims.

She refused and is now defending herself in the defamation hearing that has already heard claims she had attempted to scam her way to permanent residency in Australia.

On Tuesday, the court was shown a WeChat exchange between the pair that allegedly showed Ms Qin tried to convince her older lover to lie to the Commonwealth on her behalf.

'I am really not able to do it,' Mr Wang told her.

The court heard Ms Qin was confident she could convince any Australian citizen to marry her, but she had already had sex with Mr Wang so he may as well help her out.

'And we also like each other,' she messaged him in July 2019.

'Regardless it will be better than a fake one.'

Ms Qin assured Mr Wang they did not need to marry for her to get her way.

'It is just the cohabitation certificate. To say we two are living together,' she wrote.

Are you marching at a rhythm of conquering

The court heard Mr Wang had been divorced when he hooked up with Ms Qin on the sugar baby website Seeking Arrangements.

It ended in February last year after Ms Qin bombarded him with pornographic images and videos of herself, the court heard.

In documents lodged with the court, Mr Wang claimed Ms Qin logged onto the Australian Village Gossiper WeChat group to vent her anger over their break-up.

WeChat brags that it has one billion users across the world, which use it for social media and messaging.

'Melbourne Old Scum Divorcee, Rampant Sex Scammer in the Name of Dating and Marriage,' one rant began.

The court heard Ms Qin repeatedly attacked Mr Wang's reputation.

'He pretended to be enamored, loving mankind and animals, and peaceful,' she wrote.

'(In fact he is a scheming boy, good at mind games, and having dubious relationships with several girls behind your back, always claiming that he was single), to give you a false impression.'

'He is a scum who will immediately extricates himself after he has successfully won over the affections of the girls by deception!'

Jessie Qin allegedly told her lover she did not mind if he had sex with other women, just as long as she didn't find out

Jessie QIn has refused to apologise to Barry Wang over an online rant she posted about him

A message exchange between Barry Wang and his young lover Jessie Qin. In it, Mr Wang claims she asked him to help her scam her way into Australia

Melbourne real estate agent Jessie Qin denies she defamed a Melbourne businessman she was having a fling with

Court papers include a series of text exchanges shared by the couple during their brief sexual relationship.

Mr Wang is suing Ms Qin on the grounds she defamed him in more than a dozen ways.

On Tuesday, the court heard Mr Wang identified himself to Ms Qin as 'a rooster' and she a 'snake' - after their Zodiac signs.

Ms Qin claimed Mr Wang had pursued her for sex from the start with a text message stating: 'snake matches with chicken and they will have good life together'.

'Are you marching at a rhythm of conquering,' she texted him during one exchange.

Mr Wang told the court he had hoped to enjoy a monogamous relationship with Ms Qin, but she seemed keen to allow him to play about.

'As long as you don't let me find out about it. I will feel uncomfortable finding out about it,' she told him.

When Mr Wang asked if she was comfortable with him seeing other women, Ms Qin allegedly gave him the green light.

'I'm pretty open minded. As long as you are happy,' she told him.

The court was shown several dating profile images of busty Asian women Ms Qin had sent to Mr Wang with a view of him meeting them for sex.

'The women on this are very sexy,' she told him.

Mr Wang told the court Ms Qin wasn't joking about the messages and really did want him to chase them down.

'Make a sex date,' Ms Qin insisted.

Jessie Qin (in green) allegedly asks Barry Wang to help her scam the Commonwealth

A fake profile Barry Wang claims was defamatory

Mr Wang told the court he made it clear to Ms Qin he would not be interested in her if she had sex with other men.

'If purely for sex, plenty of c**cks around home,' she told him.

The court saw a series of lewd exchanges in which Ms Qin appeared to try and convince Mr Wang to prey upon vulnerable and young Chinese students.

'All female students. Rather fresh and tender,' she texted.

Ms Qin assured Mr Wang she was 'not a beast'.

'You see I don't mind ... as long as I don't know about it,' she wrote.

Mr Wang claimed it was his 'bottom line' that she remain faithful to him as he felt it would be 'dirty' for her to have other men on the go.

His writ claims when he ended his relationship with Ms Qin, she incorrectly suggested he was immoral, a scammer, a sexual predator and made women submit to his will while drunk.

The businessman further claimed Ms Qin continued to double down on him and hit the chat app again the following month to brand him 'scum'.

'Scum men are prevalent in modern society and exposing them has become a recent trend,' it read.

'From the beginning to the end, the girl has no way of detecting that he is intentionally scamming affection and sex from them.'

While not named in the rants, Mr Wang claimed he was easily identifiable thanks to screenshots of their messages and the posting of his image.

The court has heard a series of damning allegations against Ms Qin, including that she sent hired goons to visit Mr Wang at his home in an effort to persuade him to drop his legal action.

One visit was captured on CCTV, which was played to the court.

Mr Wang said the visit was like something out of a movie and only strengthened his resolve to pursue the matter in court.

Barry Wang allegedly sent Jessie Qin the above message that led to them meeting up

On May 31, Mr Wang claimed Ms Qin posted a fake online dating profile featuring his image on an online dating app.

'My name is Barry Wang, I am scum, scum and scum. A scum male is scum originally! Love to eat and play for free!' the profile read.

In documents lodged as part of Ms Qin's defence, she refused to accept her alleged actions were defamatory.

'I am telling the truth, not like making up stories. If he thinks that he suffered harm, I think I suffered more harms than him,' she stated.

Again, Ms Qin painted Mr Wang as a rotten womaniser.

'He is not a famous or popular person in Melbourne, not many people know him,' she stated.

Ms Qin is expected to cross examine her ex-lover this week.
NASA's Perseverance rover has been recording the 'eerie sounds of Mars' since it arrived in February, including the crunch of its wheels and the Ingenuity helicopter.

Sounds from the Red Planet have been made possible thanks to a pair of microphones on the rover that make it like 'you're really standing there,' NASA says.

The rover has been trundling in the Jezero crater for eight months, searching for signs of ancient life, while also taking stunning photographs and recording sound.

Perseverance is the first craft to record the sound of the Red Planet, and as well as letting us hear wind on another world, it provides information on the atmosphere.

Analysing the sounds of Mars revealed it has 'strong bass vibrations,' say researchers from L'Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planetologie in Toulouse, France.

Audio recordings have also helped NASA engineers monitor the engines, wheels and general running of both Perseverance and the Ingenuity helicopter.

NASA's Perseverance rover has been recording the 'eerie sounds of Mars' since it arrived in February, including the crunch of its wheels and the Ingenuity helicopter

Sounds from the Red Planet have been made possible thanks to a pair of microphones on the rover that make it like 'you're really standing there,' NASA says

MARS: THE BASICS Mars is the fourth planet from the sun, with a 'near-dead' dusty, cold, desert world with a very thin atmosphere. Mars is also a dynamic planet with seasons, polar ice caps, canyons, extinct volcanoes, and evidence that it was even more active in the past. It is one of the most explored planets in the solar system and the only planet humans have sent rovers to explore. One day on Mars takes a little over 24 hours and a year is 687 Earth days. Facts and Figures Orbital period: 687 days Surface area: 144.8 million km Distance from Sun: 227.9 million km Gravity: 3.721 m/s Radius: 3,389.5 km Moons: Phobos, Deimos Advertisement

So far nearly five hours worth of audio have been recorded by the two microphones on the Perseverance rover, according to NASA.

This includes Martian wind gusts, rover wheels crunching over gravel, and motors whirring as the Ingenuity helicopter moves through the air.

These sounds allow scientists and engineers to experience the Red Planet in new ways, according to Baptiste Chide, a planetary scientist from France.

'Martian sounds have strong bass vibrations, so when you put on headphones, you can really feel it,' he explained.

'I think microphones will be an important asset to future Mars and solar system science.'

Both of the microphones on the rover were commercially available, off-the-shelf devices. One rides on the side of the rover's chassis and the second mic sits on its mast as a complement to the SuperCam laser instrument.

SuperCam studies rocks and soil by zapping them with a laser, then analysing the resulting vapor with a camera.

Because the laser pulses up to hundreds of times per target, opportunities to capture the sound of those zaps quickly add up: the microphone has already recorded more than 25,000 laser shots.

Those recordings are teaching scientists about changes in the planet's atmosphere.

From its perch on Perseverance's mast, the SuperCam mic is ideally located for monitoring 'microturbulence'  minute shifts in the air.

The rover has been trundling in the Jezero crater for eight months, searching for signs of ancient life, while also taking stunning photographs and recording sound

This complements the rover's dedicated wind sensors, which are part of a suite of atmospheric tools called MEDA (Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer).

MEDA's sensors sample the wind's speed, pressure, and temperature one to two times per second for up to two hours at a time.

SuperCam's microphone, on the other hand, can provide similar information at a rate of 20,000 times per second over several minutes.

'It's kind of like comparing a magnifying glass to a microscope with 100 times magnification,' said MEDA investigator, Jose Rodriguez-Manfredi of the Centro de Astrobiologia (CAB), at the Instituto Nacional de Tecnica Aeroespacial in Madrid.

Perseverance is the first craft to record the sound of the Red Planet, and as well as letting us hear wind on another world, they provide information on the atmosphere

Analysing the sounds of Mars revealed it has 'strong bass vibrations,' say researchers from L'Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planetologie in Toulouse, France

MARS IS 'TOO SMALL' TO RETAIN LIQUID WATER, SAYS STUDY Mars once had flowing liquid water, but is now a dry desert landscape - and this could be because it is too small to retain moisture, a 2021 study said. About half the size of Earth, Mars sits at the very outer edge of the habitable zone where liquid water 'could flow'. There's 'irrefutable evidence' that Mars once had liquid water, including in the Jezero crater where Perseverance rover is now based, but this study suggests it didn't last long. Researchers at Washington University in St Louis studied the chemical makeup of Mars meteorites. These rocks revealed Mars didn't have the necessary chemistry in its structure to hold onto water long-term. Read more: Mars is 'too small' to retain liquid water, according to study Advertisement

'From the weather scientist's point of view, each perspective  detail and context  complements one another,' he explained.

The microphone also allows for research on how sound propagates on Mars.

Because the planet's atmosphere is much less dense than Earth's, scientists knew higher-pitched sounds in particular would be hard to hear.

Before Perseverance arrived, some weren't sure they would hear anything at all - that was until the microphones picked up the sound of the Ingenuity helicopter during its fourth flight on April 30, when it was 262ft away.

Information from the helicopter audio enabled researchers to eliminate two of three models developed to anticipate how sound propagates on Mars.

'Sound on Mars carries much farther than we thought,' said Nina Lanza, a SuperCam scientist.

'It shows you just how important it is to do field science.'

As well as learning more about the Martian atmosphere, the NASA team used the microphones, alongside cameras to check the spacecraft's performance - similar to the way mechanics might listen to a car engine.

While there aren't enough recordings yet to detect any changes, over time, engineers may be able to pore over that data and discern subtle differences, like additional electric current going to a particular wheel, NASA says.

Audio recordings have also helped NASA engineers monitor the engines, wheels and general running of both Perseverance and the Ingenuity helicopter. NASA reveals what Mars sounds like through audio recordings

So far nearly five hours worth of audio have been recorded by the two cameras on the Perseverance rover, according to NASA

This would add to the ways they already monitor the spacecraft's health.

'We would love to listen to these sounds regularly,' said Vandi Verma, Perseverance's chief engineer for robotic operations at JPL.

'We routinely listen for changes in sound patterns on our test rover here on Earth, which can indicate there's an issue that needs attention.'

A key objective for Perseverance's mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life.

The rover will characterise the planet's geology and past climate, pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith - broken rock and dust.

Subsequent NASA missions, in cooperation with ESA (European Space Agency), would send spacecraft to Mars to collect these sealed samples from the surface and return them to Earth for in-depth analysis.
NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has been unpacked in French Guiana ahead of its launch this December.

The highly-anticipated $10 billion (7.2bn) observatory is a successor to Hubble, and will allow astronomers to peer deeper into the Universe than ever before.

NASA confirmed the news on Twitter, writing: 'After a 5,800-mile move, #NASAWebb has unpacked & settled into the cleanroom at its launch site in French Guiana! Webb was carefully lifted from its packing container and then raised vertical.'

JWST has been plagued by delays and cost overruns, including many with the readiness of the European Space Agency's Ariane-5 rocket, which will send it up into space.

It finally arrived in French Guiana on Tuesday October 12, following a 16-day sea voyage onboard the MN Colibri, and has been removed from the transport container.

European Space Agency engineers are now putting the telescope through a series of tests to ensure it survived the transit process unharmed, before it is mated with the Ariana-5 rocket for launch into orbit on December 18, 2021.

The $10 billion (7.2bn) James Webb space telescope is a successor to Hubble, and will allow astronomers to peer deeper into the Universe than ever before

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has been unpacked in French Guiana, ahead of its launch this December

INSTRUMENTS ON THE JAMES WEBB SPACE TELESCOPE NIRCam (Near InfraRed Camera) an infrared imager from the edge of the visible through the near infrared NIRSpec (Near InfraRed Spectrograph) will also perform spectroscopy over the same wavelength range. MIRI (Mid-InfraRed Instrument) will measure the mid-to-long-infrared wavelength range from 5 to 27 micrometers. FGS/NIRISS (Fine Guidance Sensor and Near Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph), is used to stabilize the line-of-sight of the observatory during science observations. Advertisement

Unlike Hubble, which is just 340 miles above the Earth, JWST will orbit 930,000 miles from the Earth, in an orbit further from the sun than our planet.

It will sit in a point in space known as Lagrange point 2 (L2) where the gravitational force of the sun and Earth are balanced.

After its launch, it will take about three days to reach lunar orbit, and another 27 days after that to get to its final orbit.

When in position, it will peer deeper into the cosmos than possible with Hubble thanks to its larger mirror, which is 21ft in diameter compared to the 7.8ft mirror on Hubble.

However, JWST will focus more on the infrared wavelength, rather than visual light.

As well as giving astronomers the ability to see cosmic dawn (the birth of the very first stars 13.5 billion years ago), it will also reveal atmospheres of distant worlds.

The latest space observatory is a joint project of NASA, ESA and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), described by NASA Administrator Bill Nelson as a 'colossal achievement, built to transform our view of the universe and deliver amazing science.'

'Webb will look back over 13 billion years to the light created just after the big bang, with the power to show humanity the farthest reaches of space that we have ever seen,' he said.

'We are now very close to unlocking mysteries of the cosmos, thanks to the skills and expertise of our phenomenal team.'

NASA confirmed its unpacking on Twitter, writing: 'After a 5,800-mile move, #NASAWebb has unpacked & settled into the cleanroom at its launch site in French Guiana! Webb was carefully lifted from its packing container and then raised vertical'

The observatory carries a suite of state-of-the-art cameras, spectrographs and coronagraphs, and the largest astronomical mirror ever sent to space

The observatory carries a suite of state-of-the-art cameras, spectrographs and coronagraphs, and the largest astronomical mirror ever sent to space.

The mirror is protected by a five-layer sunshield, which NASA previously said is 'designed to keep Webb's mirrors and scientific instruments cold by blocking infrared light from the Earth, Moon and Sun.'

The telescope is currently in its folded state ready to go to space, and engineers will ensure that it was not damaged in transit.

'We don't have the equipment to do any of the deployments here so we'll be restricted just to switch-on and electrical checks to see that everything is OK,' ESA project manager Peter Rumler told BBC News.

The observatory carries a suite of state-of-the-art cameras, spectrographs and coronagraphs, and the largest astronomical mirror ever sent to space

The $10 billion telescope, the successor to the Hubble, arrived in French Guiana on Tuesday, following a 16-day sea voyage onboard the MN Colibri (pictured)

ARIANE 5: THE EUROPEAN HEAVY-LIFT LAUNCH VEHICLE Ariane 5 is the European heavy-lift space launch vehicle. It was developed and is operated by Arianespace for the European Space Agency and launched out of French Guiana. It sends satellites into geostationary and low Earth orbit and has an 82 consecutive successful streak since first launch in 2003. It was built by Aribus and costs up to 185 million (159 million) per launch to get a payload into space. It has a height of 171ft over the two stages and can take a maximum payload of 23,953lb. Ariane 5 is the launch vehicle of choice to send the James Webb space telescope to the L2 point. Advertisement

The mirror had to be folded to fit inside the fairing of a rocket, and launched from the Earth into space - future, larger telescopes, are expected to be built in space.

Engineers started their assembly on the telescope in 2013 at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

In 2017, it was shipped to NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston for cryogenic testing and a year later, it was shipped to California's Space Park, undergoing three years of testing, before travelling to French Guiana for launch.

'Now that Webb has arrived in Kourou, we're getting it ready for launch in December  and then we will watch in suspense over the next few weeks and months as we launch and ready the largest space telescope ever built,' Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate said.

Caroline Harper, head of space science at the UK Space Agency, said James Webb will be the most powerful and complex telescope ever launched.

'It will advance our understanding of the universe by allowing scientists to hunt for the unobserved formation of the first galaxies and look inside dust clouds where stars and planetary systems are forming today,' said Ms Harper.

'The UK played a crucial role in leading the international consortium that developed the Mid-Infrared Instrument on board the observatory.

The mirror will have to be folded up to fit inside the rocket (artist's impression pictured), before retracting in space

'This will allow us to examine the physical and chemical properties of objects in the early universe in greater detail than ever before.

'As we move one step closer to launch, we are one step closer to understanding the universe and our place in it.'

'ESA is proud that Webb will launch from Europe's Spaceport on an Ariane 5 rocket specially adapted for this mission,' said Daniel Neuenschwander, ESA Director of Space Transportation.
Fisher-Prices Chatter Telephone was an instant sensation among children when it debuted in 1961 and now, Mattel is reviving the nostalgic toy for adults.

Now equipped with Bluetooth, the mobile phone can make and receive calls through the users existing phone plan.

The Chatter Telephone still features the iconic smiling face, red wheels, connected handset and the retro rotary dial.

Pre-orders are available only at BestBuy.com for $60, but a release date has yet to be announced.

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soooFisher-Prices Chatter Telephone was an instant sensation among children when it debuted in 1961 and now, Mattel is reviving the nostalgic toy for adults

Fisher-Prices Chatter Telephone was the best-selling toy for most of the 1960s and 1970s, but it was also loved by generations after.

The toy was originally called the Talk Back Telephone, but parents were not keen on their children taking it as permission to talk back so it underwent an early name change and landed on Chatter Telephone.

The original design did not include the pull-along string, but was only added after testing when designers noticed children were dragging it around by the receiver.

Otherwise, there have been only a few design tweaks over time.

The Chatter Telephone still features the iconic smiling face, red wheels, connected handset and the retro rotary dial

Now equipped with Bluetooth, the mobile phone can make and receive calls through the users existing phone plan

'The design team did re-engineer it at one point putting a more modern touchpad on it, but it was rejected so we reverted back to the iconic rotary dial,' Mike Sullivan, Director of Global Brand Marketing at Fisher-Price, said in a statement.

The toy was first made of wood and feature blue accessories, but fast-forward a few decades later and the Chatter Telephone is redesigned in plastic with red wheels and a more modern look.

In 2000, Fisher-Price changed the rotary dial for a push-button version with lights in an effort to modernize the toy, but consumers complained and the rotary version returned to the market the following year

Now, the toy has been revamped into a working mobile phone.

The Chatter Telephone includes a speakerphone functionality and a microUSB port for the charging cord. The device is also battery powered, providing nine hours of talk time and 72 hours of standby

The Chatter Telephone includes the ability to use speakerphone and a microUSB port for the charging cord.

The device is also battery powered, providing nine hours of talk time and 72 hours of standby.

Fisher-Price, which is now own by Mattel, was started by East Aurora New York mayor Irving Price, Herman Fisher, and Helen Schelle in 1930 to provide a financial boost during the Great Depression.

However, the company went on to sell countless early-childhood staples that are beloved from generation to generation.
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Two dozen ships that sank during the Battle of Iwo Jima, one of World War II's most epic battles and one of the bloodiest in U.S. Marines' history, have been raised from the bottom of the ocean after tremors at one of Japan's most dangerous volcanoes, Mount Suribachi.

Satellite photos from Japan's All Nippon News show the leftover hulks of 24 Japanese transport vessels that were captured by the U.S. Navy in the latter part of the war.

They were moved to the western part of Iwo Jima to form a port, as the island had no such facilities at the time.

The seabed has started to rise due to the seismic activity from Mount Suribachi, in particular on the western part of the island.

Seismic activity at Japan's Mount Suribachi has resulted in a number of ships being raised after they were sunk as part of the Battle of Iwo Jima during World War II

The leftover hulks of 24 Japanese transport vessels which were captured by the U.S. Navy were moved to the western part of Iwo Jima to form a port, as the island had no port facilities at the time

File phot: The remaining hulks are what is left of the ships (as seen in 2012), brought to the island as it had no port facilities

As a result of the activity, the sunken ships are sitting on volcanic ash.

The ships were used as a breakwater to protect other ships that were unloading soldiers and materials.

The island was known as Brown Beach on invasion maps, which was reportedly done so to create an artificial naval base to support a U.S. military base before the assault on mainland Japan.

The seabed has started to rise due to the seismic activity, in particular the western part of the island. As a result of the activity, the sunken ships are sitting on volcanic ash

The island was used to create an artificial naval base to support a U.S. military base before the assault on mainland Japan

There are no inhabitants of the island, though it is occupied by the Japanese military after it was returned by the U.S. military in 1968

There are no inhabitants of the island, though it is occupied by the Japanese military after it was returned by the U.S. in 1968.

'The discolored sea area has spread to surrounding areas, which indicates that the volcanic activity has not diminished yet,' Setsuya Nakada, director of the government's Volcano Research Promotion Centre, said in an interview with Japan's All Nippon News channel.

'There is a possibility of a big eruption on Iwo Jima.'

The iconic photo known as Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima, showing U.S. Marines raising the American flag during the war, was taken at the mountain's peak during the Battle of Iwo Jima.

According to data from Oregon State University, there have been at least 10 eruptions on Iwo Jima - also known as 'Sulphur Island' - with the most recent occurring in 1982.

There has been at least 30 feet (10m) of uplift on the island since 1952 due to seismic activity, the university found.

Mount Suribachi, which stands 554 feet high, is listed as one of the 10 most dangerous volcanoes in Japan

Mount Suribachi, which stands 554 feet high, is listed as one of the 10 most dangerous volcanoes in Japan.

In August, satellite photos captured the moment that the underwater Fukutoku-Okanoba volcano, roughly three miles north of South Iwo Jima Island, had erupted.

This resulted in a new island emerging in the Ogasawara chain.

Earlier in October, a 6.1 magnitude earthquake rattled Tokyo, resulting in buildings swaying and traffic coming to a standstill.

Japan sits on the Pacific 'Ring of Fire,' an arc of intense seismic activity that stretches through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin.

Last week, a 6.1-magnitude quake struck off Japan's northwestern coast, also causing no damage.

The country is regularly hit by quakes and has strict construction regulations intended to ensure buildings can withstand strong tremors.
A new report released Tuesday reveals Africa's rare glaciers will completely disappear by the 2040s, with and 'human-induced climate change' to blame.

The report from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) notes glaciers of Mount Kilimanjaro, Mount Kenya and the Rwenzori Mountains are retreating faster than the global average due to the continent warming at a dramatic rate.

Furtwangler, Kilimanjaro's largest glacier, has shrunk 70 percent between 2014 and 2020 and glaciers at the Rwenzori Mountains have lost up to 90 percent of its mass

Mount Kenya is expected to be deglaciated a decade sooner, the report adds. This would make it one of the first entire mountain ranges to lose glaciers due to human-induced climate change, according to the WMO.

The report also warns melting from these glaciers will cause serious droughts throughout eastern Africa and flooding in other regions.

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The report from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) notes glaciers of Mount Kilimanjaro (pictured), Mount Kenya and the Rwenzori Mountains are retreating faster than the global average due to the continent warming at a dramatic rate

WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas said in a statement: 'The rapid shrinking of East African glaciers shows the threat of irreversible system change on Earth.

'The rapid shrinking of the last remaining glaciers in eastern Africa, which are expected to melt entirely in the near future, signals the threat of imminent and irreversible change to the Earth system.'

The climate in Africa was characterized in the report to have 'continued warming temperatures, accelerating sea-level rise, extreme weather and climate events, such as floods, landslides and droughts, and associated devastating impacts,' Taalas added.

Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest peak in Africa, has recently been a focus of much attention, due to its disappearing ice sheets.

The Rwenzori Moutnain has been referred to as the 'African Alps,' the 'Mountains of the Moon' and the 'snowy source of the Nile' over the centuries, but recent expeditions have found that the glaciers are dramatically disappearing and leaving just the bare mountain ridge

While the volcano appears to be dormant on the inside, the glaciers that have covered the top of the mountain for the past 11,700 years are rapidly disappearing.

The Furtwangler is vital to those living in the area, as it is a major source of freshwater.

If the glaciers on Kilimanjaro melt away, the tourism industry in Tanzinia, as thousands of people from across the globe travel to the massive mountain to hike and climb to its peak.

The area is also one of the world's most well-known natural aesthetic sights and losing it would be detrimental to the local economy.

The Rwenzori glaciers occur on three of the range's peaks: Mounts Stanley, Speke and Baker.

Mount Kenya (pictured) is expected to be deglaciated a decade sooner, which will make it one of the first entire mountain ranges to lose glaciers due to human-induced climate change, according to WMO

The Rwenzori Mountain has been referred to as the 'African Alps,' the 'Mountains of the Moon' and the 'snowy source of the Nile' over the centuries, but recent expeditions have found that the glaciers are dramatically disappearing and leaving just the bare mountain ridge.

Mount Kenya is the second highest mountain in Africa and is home to the Lewis Glacier, which has lost 90 percent of its volume since 1934, according to ClimateChangeNews.

Kenyan environmentalist and chairman of Kenya's Water Towers Management Authority Isaac Kalua told the news outlet: 'When the melting starts, rivers first experience high flows because of the melting ice.

'But this subsequently reduces because the glaciers never really recover like they did before climate change became a reality. Because of this, there is less and less water in the rivers in the years that follow.'

The latest WMO report notes that the retreating glaciers are a grim reminder that Africa's 1.3 billion people remain 'extremely vulnerable' as the continent warms more, and at a faster rate, than the global average.

Despite that, Africa's 54 countries are responsible for less than four percent of global greenhouse gas emissions.
It's the go-to beer for many people around the world, and now Budweiser has announced plans for the UK's first hydrogen-powered brewery in South Wales by 2024.

The firm has joined forces with Protium, a UK-based green hydrogen energy services company, to install hydrogen-powered solutions at its Magor Brewery.

It claims the change will save a whopping 15,500 tonnes of carbon emissions annually from 2027.

Mauricio Coindreau, Head of Sustainability and Procurement at Budweiser Brewing Group said: 'Sustainability and the wellbeing of our planet are at the core of our business.

'Innovative energy solutions like hydrogen have huge potential as a key part of our sustainability strategy, helping us significantly reduce our UK carbon footprint.'

Budweiser has not disclosed how much the project will cost.

The firm has joined forces with Protium, a UK-based green hydrogen energy services company, to install hydrogen-powered solutions at its Magor Brewery

It's the go-to beer for many people around the world, and now Budweiser has announced plans for the UK's first hydrogen-powered brewery in South Wales by 2024

What is hydrogen fuel? Hydrogen is a clean fuel that, when consumed in a fuel cell, produces only water. Hydrogen can be produced from a variety of domestic resources, such as natural gas, nuclear power, biomass, and renewable power like solar and wind. These qualities make it an attractive fuel option for transportation and electricity generation applications. It can be used in cars, in houses, for portable power, and in many more applications. Hydrogen is an energy carrier that can be used to store, move, and deliver energy produced from other sources. Today, hydrogen fuel can be produced through several methods. The most common methods today are natural gas reforming (a thermal process), and electrolysis. Other methods include solar-driven and biological processes. Source: Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Advertisement

Hydrogen is the lightest and the most abundant element in the universe, and produces zero greenhouse gas emissions.

It can be produced through several methods, including natural gas reforming, electrolysis, or, as is the case with Budweiser, through solar-driven processes.

Chris Jackson, CEO of Protium, explained: 'Green hydrogen is a truly exciting opportunity for the global energy sector and the UK economy as a whole, with various energy leaders and environmentalists supporting its deployment, so we're delighted to be working with a brand that shares our forward-thinking vision.

'The entire Protium team is thrilled to showcase the potential of green hydrogen and the benefits it can deliver to Budweiser, the local community in Magor, and the environment.'

The project will see Budweiser use its existing wind and solar assets to manufacture green hydrogen at Protium's Hydrogen Production Facility, which is next to the brewery.

This hydrogen will then be used to fuel the brewery's production, as well as its Heavy Goods Vehicles and forklift trucks.

According to Budweiser, the change to hydrogen will save approximately 15,500 tonnes of carbon dioxide annually from 2027.

That's roughly the amount of produced by 3,300 cars from UK roads or 12,000 long haul flights per year, according to Budweiser.

Lesley Griffiths MS, Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales, and Trefnydd added: 'I am very pleased this project is taking place right here in Wales.

'Tackling climate change is a priority for the Welsh Government and this project at an important employer in the sector will be important to our efforts.

'It also has the potential to create new jobs and exciting opportunities in the area for years to come.'

Mauricio Coindreau, Head of Sustainability and Procurement at Budweiser Brewing Group said: 'Sustainability and the wellbeing of our planet are at the core of our business

The firm has joined forces with Protium, a UK-based green hydrogen energy services company, to install hydrogen-powered solutions at its Magor Brewery

Budweiser has not disclosed how much the project will cost.

The news comes as Boris Johnson has published the most detailed proposals yet for how the UK will achieve the ambition and contribute to the fight against climate change.

He says that switching from fossil fuels to clean energy, including wind, new nuclear and hydrogen, can ease the reliance on imports and protect families from price spikes.

In particular, Johnson says that hydrogen will be a significant part of the solution to replacing fossil fuels.

'To drive a digger or a truck or to hurl a massive passenger plane down a runway, you need what Jeremy Clarkson used to call ''grunt''  I think there may be a technical term for it  but ''grunt'',' he said.

'Hydrogen provides that grunt, so we are making big bets on hydrogen, we are making bets on solar and hydro, and, yes  of course  on nuclear as well, for our baseload.'
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There are many languages throughout the world that have survived only in the tiniest of pockets.

There is a language in Nepal that doesn't have a word for green, a language on two Pacific islands invented by the mutineers of HMS Bounty in the late 18th century, a language in the U.S spoken fluently by just six people and one in Mexico that calls a radio 'a thing that stands there singing'.

These and many more are explored in fascinating new book The Atlas of Unusual Languages by Zoran Nikolic (Collins). Here we pick out some of the book's most intriguing revelations, from Mexico to North Carolina and from Nepal to New Zealand.

Kusunda, Nepal  there is no word for green

In central Nepal (stock image above) lives a tribe that has no word for green

The Kusunda tribe lives in a lush green rainforest in central Nepal, and have no word for green, reveals Zoran. He explains that this could be because greenery is all around them, 'so they have no need to describe the obvious'.

Zoran continues: 'Some linguists believe that the languages Kusunda, Burushaski, Nihali and Vedda are among the last remnants of archaic languages spoken on the Indian subcontinent before the immigration of Indo-European and Sino-Tibetan peoples.'

Apparently, only a few village elders are fluent in the Kusunda language  and it's on the verge of extinction.

High Tider, North Carolina  only 200 people speak this dialect

On North Carolina's Outer Banks there are around 200 people who speak an old dialect of American English known as High Tider, with Hoi Toider or Ocracoke Brogue being alternative names.

Zoran explains that the Outer Banks is a string of barrier islands and spits, with the local population, through centuries of isolation, developing a local dialect that sounds a bit like the Irish or Australian accent.

However, Zoran doesn't believe that the number of speakers has much chance of growing in the face of ever-higher numbers of tourists and the influence of standard American English in electronic media.

Click languages - Africa and Australia

There's a click language in Australia called Damin. It's spoken by members of the First Nation peoples of Lardil and Yangkaal in the Gulf of Carpentaria

Taa, or Xoo, is one of a small number of rare 'click' languages spoken in Africa.

It has over 200 consonants and vowels, explains Zoran, compared to fewer than 45 in English.

Around 80 per cent of Taa words begin with a click, with '!' and other symbols representing this sound in writing.

There are three Taa expressions for numbers  for one, two and three. The other numbers are borrowed from other languages.

Around 2,500 people speak Taa and mostly live in the border area of Botswana and Namibia.

There's a click language in Australia, too, called Damin. And it's even rarer.

It's spoken by members of the First Nation peoples of Lardil and Yangkaal in the Gulf of Carpentaria, northern Australia.

Zoran reveals that it's the only click language outside Africa, but is only used ceremonially.

Zoran adds: 'The gradual revival of the traditions of these peoples provides some hope that Australian clicks may soon be heard again.'

Jeju - South Korea

Locals on Jeju island, above, have their own language - 'Jeju speech', which is related to Japanese

About 5,000 residents in the autonomous South Korean province of Jeju speak Jeju-mal, or 'Jeju speech'.

Zoran reveals that most Koreans 'have great difficulty understanding Jeju', partly because it's related to Japanese.

He continues: 'The island was inhabited by speakers of Japanese or a related Japonic language until the 15th century. When Koreans settled in large numbers in the 15th and 16th centuries, the language of the previous population was suppressed, though not before it had influenced the language of the Korean immigrants, thus creating a new language.'

Moriori - Chatham Islands, New Zealand

The Moriori people are of Maori origin, their ancestors settling in the Chatham Islands (the main port of Waitangi is pictured above) around the year 1500. They created a new language and developed a lifestyle based on pacificism

About 500 miles east of New Zealand lies the Chatham Islands archipelago, home to the Moriori people and the Moriori dialect.

Zoran explains that the Moriori people are of Maori origin, their ancestors settling in the Chatham Islands around the year 1500.

They created a new language and developed a lifestyle based on pacifism.

However, in the middle of the 19th century a group of 900 Maori arrived on the remote island, killed a number of its inhabitants and banned their language.

Today, according to Zoran, Moriori is officially a 'dead language', but 'there have been recent efforts towards its rejuvenation  a dictionary and a list of familiar words have been made and a smartphone app aims to encourage young people to start learning the language of their peaceful ancestors'.

Pukapuka - Cook Islands

This is the remote Pacific atoll of Pukapuka and its people have their own language. Apparently it contains only names for four colours - white, black, red and a combination of yellow, blue and green. Picture courtesy of Creative Commons licensing

The 500 or so people who live on the incredibly remote Pacific atoll of Pukapuka speak their own language  the Pukapukan language, which has been taught in the island school since the 1980s, according to Zoran.

He reveals that, 'according to some information, names only exist for four colours  white, black, red and a combination of yellow, blue and green'.

He adds: 'The names of these colours actually come from the layers of roots of the taro (or talo) plant  the main source of food for the islanders  which are usually these colours.'

In the rest of the Cook Islands, the inhabitants speak English and Cook Islands Maori.

Pitkern - Pitcairn Island and Norfolk Island

The main language on the impossibly remote island of Pitcairn (above) is Pitkern. Invented by the HMS Bounty mutineers

LANGUAGE ISLANDS: WHEN PEOPLE FROM ONE COUNTRY MOVE TO ANOTHER, BUT RETAIN THE MOTHER TONGUE Kenai Peninsula Borough, Alaska  mini Russia The villages of Nikolaevsk, Voznesenka, Razdolna and Kachemak Selo in Alaska are mostly inhabited by Russians, reveals Zoran. And a large number of the population still speak the mother tongue. Colonia Tovar, Venezuela  Germany of the Caribbean Lofty Colonia Tovar  or Germany of the Caribbean  was founded 7,200ft above sea level in Venezuela in the mid-19th century by 400 Germans from the Grand Duchy of Baden. Today, says Zoran, only around 1,500 elderly residents still speak Aleman Coloniero, as their German dialect is known in the now dominant language  Spanish. Gaiman and Trevelin  Welsh cities in Argentina A smattering of Welsh people started a new life in Patagonia in Argentina in 1865. Today there are around 2,000 to 5,000 Welsh speakers in the region, with the main centres of Welsh culture, according to Zoran, being the cities of Gaiman and Trevelin. Advertisement

All 50 inhabitants of the island of Pitcairn speak its main language  Pitkern. And this mixture of English and Tahitian is taught in the island's only school.

Pitcairn is famous for having been settled by sailors of HMS Bounty  along with a few Tahitian men and women - of Mutiny on the Bounty fame.

The ship set sail in the late 18th century from England for Tahiti, Zoran explains, on a mission to transport breadfruit seedlings from the island to Jamaica.

But Tahiti cast a spell over some of the sailors and after the ship set sail Master's Mate Fletcher Christian led a mutiny.

The ship returned to Tahiti and 16 sailors disembarked. But nine of the crew, along with 13 Tahitian women and six Tahitian men continued eastwards to Pitcairn Island.

Zoran says: 'The isolation of Pitcairn Island... meant that a new language emerged.'

He adds that the most significant number of speakers are found on Norfolk Island, which is hundreds of miles away. That's because most of the Pitcairn inhabitants were relocated there in 1856 by the British government. However, several families returned to Pitcairn over the years.

Around half the population of the Norfolk Islands is descended from the mutineers, according to Zoran.

Elfdalian  Sweden

One of the most unusual dialects in Sweden is the Elfdalian language, according to Zoran.

He explains that it is 'probably the most archaic of all Scandinavian languages', having separated from Old Norse in the 8th century.

Who speaks it? Just the 7,000 inhabitants of the remote town of Alvdalen in central Sweden.

The language was propelled into the limelight in 2015 when model Sofia Hellqvist married Prince Karl Filip, fourth in line to the Swedish throne.

Her grandmother is from Alvdalen and she spent much of her youth there, although she doesn't speak its native tongue.

Natchez - USA

There are officially 'at least six people' who speak Natchez fluently, the language having been brought back from the brink of extinction.

It was declared officially extinct in 1957 when the last person who spoke it fluently, Nancy Raven, died.

However, enough of the language had been recorded on paper and wax cylinder to facilitate a rebirth.

The Natchez people, Zoran explains, are the last descendants of the Mississippian culture, which existed in the Mississippi Valley from the ninth to the 16th centuries.

The city of Natchez was the first state capital of the state of Mississippi.

Zuni - USA

In New Mexico, just three miles from Arizona, is Zuni Pueblo  population 6,500. Of those, explains Zoran, about 95 per cent are members of the Zuni tribe, a people who speak Zuni, known locally as Shiwi'ma.

Zoran says that 'despite considerable research, no related language has been found'.

Zuni has been traced back 7,000 years and today it is spoken by about 9,500 people - in Zuni Pueblo and its surrounds, and in a small area in Arizona.

Zoran adds: 'The Zuni language is regularly used today in households, religious ceremonies, on the radio and at tribal council meetings. The fact that several primary and secondary schools are under the control of the Zuni tribe itself provides hope for the future of the language.'

Abinomn - Indonesia

The Abinomn language is truly isolated.

It's spoken by only 50-odd people in a village deep in the forests of the northern part of Indonesian Papua, next to the Taritatu river.

Zoran says very little indeed is known about the language and that it's on the verge of extinction.

Basque - France and Spain

The Basque language 'is completely isolated from all known living and extinct languages'

The Atlas of Unusual Languages by Zoran Nikolic is out now (Collins, 14.99)

The land of the Basques spans an area in northern Spain and south-west France and the Basque language, writes Zoran, 'is (probably) the oldest living European language'.

Intriguingly, 'there is no common opinion among experts as to where the Basques came from  it is widely assumed that their ancestors came from North Africa more than 15,000 years ago though the Basques may have originated in the Caucasus'.

The only fact that has been established, says Zoran, is that this language 'is completely isolated from all known living and extinct languages, and is the only surviving Paleo-European language'.

The Basque Country has a population of around three million, of whom around 700,000 speak the Basque language.

Seri - Mexico

'The thing that stands there singing.'

That's what the Comcaac people on the Pacific coast of Mexico call a radio. Or in their language, Seri  'ziix haa tiij coos'.

And their word for a newspaper? 'Hapaspoj cmatsj', which means 'paper that tells lies'.

The Comcaac people number around 1,000 and live in two small towns on the Gulf Coast  Punta Chueca and El Desemboque.

Zoran explains that the reason for the bizarre descriptions for newspapers and radios stems from the fact that traditionally in Seri, new words are introduced only very rarely.
Other spectacles in the park include Castellfollit de la Roca - a town built on a huge cliff created by lava flows

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Spain's Costa Brava is rightly coveted for its superb beaches and stunning coastline.

But visitors to the region should take time off from the sand and sangria and add a diversion a short distance inland to their itinerary - to the stunning La Garrotxa Volcanic Zone Natural Park.

It lies an hour or so by car from the Gulf of Roses, north of Girona, and contains 40 volcanic cones - including one that is home to a mysterious lone hermitage.

Pictured is the Santa Margarida volcano - complete with a church in its crater - in La Garrotxa Volcanic Zone Natural Park

This amazing picture shows Santa Margarida volcano surrounded by blankets of clouds

For the crater good: The church is said to date back to the 12th century. It was destroyed by the 1428 Catalonia earthquake and rebuilt in the 19th century

It has been an estimated 11,000 years since the extinct Santa Margarida volcano (foreground) erupted

A stunning aerial picture of La Garrotxa Volcanic Zone Natural Park taken from a hot air balloon

The small church is said to date back to the 12th century and lies inside the crater of the Santa Margarida volcano.

Not much is known about the unusual religious dwelling, but we do know it was ravaged by the 1428 Catalonia earthquake and rebuilt in the 19th century.

It has been an estimated 11,000 years since the now-extinct volcano erupted.

Santa Margarida is 766m (2,513 ft) at its highest point, and the hermitage sits at 682m (2,238 ft) above ground level

One Tripadvisor reviewer writes that the mysterious church 'gives the feeling of ephemeral existence between all this magnificent glory of mother nature'

Holidaymakers can park their cars in a car park beside the volcano and ascend a steep trail that leads into the crater

Inside the hermitage are rows of chairs and a small altar. Picture courtesy of Creative Commons licensing

Santa Margarida - which is dense with forest - is 766m (2,513 ft) at its highest point, and the hermitage sits at 682m (2,238 ft) above ground level, in a clearing in the crater.

Holidaymakers can park their cars in a car park beside the volcano and ascend a steep trail that leads inside the crater.

Another route, the Mas el Cros path, guides hikers around a different part of the volcano, where they'll see volcanic rocks that accumulated after the eruptions.

It seems the hermitage is rarely open to the public, but if visitors do get a peek inside they will find rows of chairs and a small altar.

After hiking to the mysterious building in the crater, one Tripadvisor reviewer wrote: We had our picnic there and rested under the trees. It is a place we wish we could visit every day. There is a nice little church right on the centre of the crater, which as a human-made thing gives the feeling of ephemeral existence between all this magnificent glory of mother nature.

Discussing the trail, which takes around 30 minutes to complete from base to crater, another said: Watch your step! You might see (and spare) some rare plant life, such as the orchid we found blooming in the middle of the trail.

The Santa Margarida volcano trail takes around 30 minutes to complete from base to crater

La Garrotxa Volcanic Zone Natural Park lies an hour or so by car from the Gulf of Roses

The intriguing hermitage isnt the only delight that awaits in La Garrotxa Volcanic Zone Natural Park, which has more than 20 basaltic lava flows [solidified molten rock].

On a four-and-a-half hours hike from Santa Margarida volcano, make your first stop at Fageda d'en Jorda, a verdant beech forest where the trees have flourished thanks to the volcanic matter in the soil.

The hike then ventures forth to the Croscat volcano, which is the largest on the Iberian Peninsula at 786m (2,579ft) in height. On one side, part of the volcano's flank has been cut away - these ridges were created when the volcano was used as a quarry.

The now-extinct Volca del Montsacopa. This volcano, around which the city of Olot is built, is also home to a church - the 17th-century hermitage of Sant Francesc

Pictured is the Fageda d'en Jorda beech forest, where trees have flourished thanks to the volcanic matter in the soil

The Croscat volcano, pictured above, boasts the title of the largest volcano on the Iberian Peninsula

Croscat still bears the scars from when it was used as a quarry

Many spend the night in nearby Olot, Garroxcas capital city. It is filled with baroque and art deco architecture, and visitors can while away time in the Casal des Volcans, a museum about the regions volcanoes.

The following morning, its worth visiting the waterfall of Sant Joan Les Fonts, also known as the Moli Fondo, which is just a 15-minute drive from Olot.

Next, travel to spectacular Castellfollit de la Roca. The town is built on an enormous basalt cliff  over 50m (164ft) high - which was formed by the layering of two lava flows.

Make Olot, pictured above, your base while exploring the delights of La Garrotxa Volcanic Zone Natural Park

Olot is filled with baroque and Art Deco architecture. Pictured is the city's Casa Sola Moral, which was built in 1781

Its worth visiting the waterfall of Sant Joan Les Fonts, pictured, which is also known as the Moli Fondo

Spectacular Castellfollit de la Roca (pictured above) is built on an enormous basalt cliff, formed by the layering of two lava flows

The volcanic rock was also used in building the town  youll find basalt in the footpaths and in the decorative features on the buildings. The towns church of Sant Salvador is perched right on the cliff edge.

While there, pop in to Museu de lEmbotit  a museum dedicated to charcuterie. If that whets your appetite, amble to the nearby Pochs Microbrewery for a craft beer.

A final worthwhile stop on the tour of the stunning volcanic region is a visit to Santa Pau, a walled medieval village with narrow cobbled streets, cloisters and a wonderfully ornate Gothic church.

The park's Santa Pau, pictured, is a walled medieval village with narrow cobbled streets and a Gothic church

If you time your trip right, you could arrive just in time for the annual Santa Pau gastronomical festival that celebrates the fesol  a variety of bean grown in the towns volcanic soil. Known as the 'Fira de Sant Antoni', it takes place each January.

To access La Garrotxa Volcanic Zone Natural Park, the ideal mode of transport is a car.

However, Tiesa buses also ferry visitors to and from the park from cities like Figueres, Girona, Ripoll, Vic, or Barcelona.
Blanca Blanco seems to lead a charmed life that includes starring in movies and hitting red carpet events with her dapper boyfriend John Savage.

But the beauty's early years were a 180 where she had to suffer physical abuse from her father and also live a life of poverty in Washington state that saw her reside in a garage for years.

Now the star has written a memoir, titled Breaking the Mold, DailyMail.com has learned exclusively. It is about her dark past and how she overcame the pain to flourish in Hollywood. The book will be out in 2022.

She made herself a star: Blanca Blanco seems to lead a charmed life that includes starring in movies and hitting red carpet events with her dapper boyfriend John Savage

'I wrote 'BREAKING THE MOLD' during the COVID lockdown, as I felt my story could help others because poverty and abuse has been increasing. I will take you on my journey from poverty to success and how I made it happen,' the Mission: Possible actress told DailyMail.com.

'I share and provide tools and techniques that worked for me,' she said about her book which is coming out from Briton Publishing.

The Cannes Film Festival favorite added, 'My book is an autobiography and I share about childhood poverty, abuse, and how I overcame it. I feel it will motivate readers if they are caught in a bad situation.'

Tough upbringing: But the beauty's early years were a 180 where she had to suffer physical abuse from her father and also live a life of poverty in Washington state that saw her live in a garage for years

The truth about her childhood: Now the star has written a memoir, titled Breaking the Mold, about her dark past and how she overcame the pain to flourish in Hollywood. The book will be out in 2022, DailyMail.com has learned exclusively

She was isolated during her painful youthful, never having the support system she really needed, especially at school.

'I never told my classmates about our poverty, living in a garage, because I wanted to be treated just like them - a normal kid! No one knew, not even the teachers.'

She also shared an excerpt with DailyMail.com about the abuse she endured.

'It happened when we were living in Mexico as children but the abuse continued throughout the years.

Her father was not loving, she said, and instead he was an 'abusive father and husband.'

'He used to beat us and used a Chicote a type of switch or whip used to control horses to beat us with,' she shared.

The book will be out in early 2022

'He even held his gun to our mothers head and threatened to shoot her right in front of us. We were all scared of him, especially our mother. We were all crying and trying to protect our mother who he had pushed into the bed and we were surrounding her and begging him not to shoot.

'His rage and uncontrolled anger was all because she was asking him to give her money to buy us food when he suddenly snapped.

'This continued even when we were older. He went to attack me when our mother was dying but that time I squared up to him and dared him to touch me. Now I was older and not afraid of him any more. He backed down, shocked that I challenged him!'

Blanco was born in Watsonville, California.

At three-years old, her family moved to Southwest Mexico.

Her father was a police officer there and was shot twice forcing the family to return to the U.S., to, hopefully, live the American Dream. Blanca was nine-years-old.

She survived: 'I wrote 'BREAKING THE MOLD' during the COVID lockdown, as I felt my story could help others as poverty and abuse has been increasing and I will take you on my journey from poverty to success and how I made it happen,' the Mission: Possible actress told DailyMail.com exclusively

A graduate... even though her father was abusive: 'He used to beat us and used a Chicote a type of switch or whip used to control horses to beat us with,' she shared. The book will be out in early 2022 'He even held his gun to our mothers head and threatened to shoot her right in front of us. We were all scared of him, especially our mother'

HOW SHE COPED The star shares her tools that worked for her to deal with anxiety. She said she applied Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (cbt) techniques. 'The heartbreaking part was that I lost my sweet mom while writing my book, and I share in my book, I find my self crying a few times a week but I know she is no longer suffering but sadness is there,' said Blanca. She also advises to 'trust your intuition; it's there for a reason.' And she said if you are not challenged, then there is no growth. 'Experiences shouldn't be a waste of time, walk with confidence. YOU are a diamond. 'It may seem like forever, but doors do open eventually. Move forward; it's hard to go backwards. It's ok to be an outcast. Even if you fall on your face. You're still moving forward.' 'Education is not given its earned, own it. "Are you breathing?" Be thankful you are breathing with no pain Live for Today. 'You woke up today, its already a good day' 'Haters will hate that only means that you are exactly where they wish they were - it's uncomfortable to go backwards literally.' Advertisement

Her family of seven lived in poverty for her entire childhood, residing in a small garage with no hot water, no shower and no heat while facing the frigid winters of Washington State.

They then moved into a tiny trailer in a small trailer park, often with unsafe water causing sickness.

She attended Chelan High School where she became determined not to remain in poverty.

Upon leaving school she became the schools role model for younger graduating students and made a motivational video to help them.

With the help of her guardian angel, a teacher who cared, she said, she achieved 'full ride scholarships enabling her to continue on to college then to university.'

She became the first Latina woman in the area to go to college working hard in order to graduate and continue her full ride scholarships, where she took an associate of science degree from Spokane Falls Community College.

She then went on to Washington State University achieving a 4.0 grade average and earned a bachelors degree in psychology followed by masters degree in social work from Eastern Washington State University.

Her first job after receiving her Masters in Social Work degree was working in hospice care. Deciding to follow her dreams, she moved to Los Angeles where she became an actress and studied under Gordon Hunt (Helen Hunts father).

She immediately landed many roles in film and television. The star achieved a Best Supporting Actress award for her role as Melanie in the movie Betrayed.

The foreword is by Edward I. Byrnes, Ph.D. Professor of Social Work  Eastern Washington University.
Georgia Toffolo looked incredible as she celebrated her third fashion collection with SHEIN at Londons Nobu Hotel on Monday.

The former Made In Chelsea star, 26, put on a leggy display in a ruched green mini dress and chunky cream heels.

Co-star Emily Blackwell, 24, wowed in a chic pale blue check blazer and black leggings.

Wow! Georgia Toffolo looked incredible as she celebrated her third fashion collection with SHEIN at Londons Nobu Hotel on Monday

Georgia styled her blonde locks in beachy waves and her glam makeup enhanced her pretty features.

She kept accessories to a minimum, only wearing elegant gold earrings to let the dress speak for itself.

The beauty oozed with confidence as she posed for a slew of snaps at the launch night.

Emily completed her sophisticated look with a Gucci belt to cinch in her waist.

Stunning: Co-star Emily Blackwell, 24, wowed in a chic pale blue check blazer and black leggings

Style: Emily completed her sophisticated look with a Gucci belt to cinch in her waist

Looking good: Georgia styled her blonde locks in beachy waves and her glam makeup enhanced her pretty features

She added height to her frame with a pair of black heeled boots and accessorised with hoop earrings.

The SHEIN X GEORGIA TOFFOLO collection features chic separates and show stopping mini dresses, it offers cool daytime looks and elegant evening outfits.

It comes after Georgia appeared to be reunited with her ex George Cottrell during a night out at upmarket hotel-restaurant Chiltern Firehouse in London's Marylebone last month.

She's said to have previously split up with financier George, who was once jailed for fraud.

Elegant: She kept accessories to a minimum, only wearing elegant gold earrings to let the dress speak for itself

Pose: Georgia and influencer Anisa Sojka enjoyed a glass of champagne as they posed for some snaps

Work it! The beauty oozed with confidence as she posed for a slew of snaps at the launch night

Collection: The SHEIN X GEORGIA TOFFOLO collection features chic separates and show stopping mini dresses, it offers cool daytime looks and elegant evening outfits

He is a former aide to Nigel Farage and allegedly worth 300 million.

George, who calls himself the bad boy of Brexit was jailed in the US over a drugs money laundering scandal.

In July 2016, Cottrell was arrested by FBI agents while with Mr Farage at Chicago's O'Hare airport after the pair had attended the Republican National Convention, where they reportedly met Donald Trump's aides.

Cottrell spent eight months in a US jail after advertising his services on the 'dark web', offering to launder money through offshore accounts to what he thought was a gang of drug traffickers.

Before his arrest, he allegedly played a key role in the 2016 EU referendum, running Mr Farage's private office and handling all media enquiries for the pro-Brexit politician.
A Perth man has revealed the frustrating reason why many Western Australians are refusing to get the Covid-19 vaccine.

Western Australia is lagging in the nation's vaccine rollout, sparking concerns the state will fail to surpass its goal of 90 per cent and open its borders by Christmas.

However, a KIIS FM staffer from Perth says the reason why so many locals are refusing the jab actually has nothing to do with anti-vaxxer beliefs or conspiracy theories.

Theory: Radio producer Jermaine D'Vauz (left, with WA Premier Mark McGowan) says the reason why so many Western Australians are refusing the Covid-19 vaccine actually has nothing to do with anti-vaxxer beliefs or conspiracy theories

Video producer Jermaine D'Vauz claims some WA residents are so determined to eradicate Covid from the state they would rather remain unvaccinated - because high vaccination rates would mean opening up the border to travellers.

As of Tuesday, 54.7 per cent of Western Australians were fully vaccinated.

'People in Perth are so obsessed with it being "Covid zero". They feel like because they are so remote that it's "us versus them",' Mr D'Vauz explained on The Kyle and Jackie O Show on Tuesday.

'There's some people that I know that won't get vaccinated because they don't want to open up. They want it to continue to be "Covid zero",' he added.

'Demented': KIIS FM hosts Kyle Sandilands (left) and Jackie 'O' Henderson (right) were shocked after Mr D'Vauz said some WA residents were so determined to eradicate Covid from the state they would rather remain unvaccinated - because high vaccination rates would mean opening up the border to travellers

Radio host Kyle Sandilands called the state's hermit-style approach to the pandemic 'archaic', then declared: 'That's demented. The whole place will go broke!'

'They can't all think like that, surely!' remarked co-host Jackie 'O' Henderson, adding: 'They must want to travel.'

Sandilands replied gravely: 'It's Western Australia, mate. It's a different world over there.'

Behind the pack: Western Australia is lagging in the nation's vaccine rollout, sparking concerns the state will fail to surpass its goal of 90 per cent and open its borders by Christmas. Pictured: anti-vaxxers waving signs at a 'freedom rally' in Perth

WA Premier Mark McGowan has refused to budge on his hard border closure, insisting earlier this month the state would remain closed to the rest of the country until 90 per cent of residents had been vaccinated.

Given the complacency in Covid-free WA putting it at the back of the pack in the vaccine race, this may not be until as late as Easter 2022.

The closure means thousands of families may be forced to celebrate Christmas separated from their loved ones for the second year in a row.

Steadfast: WA Premier Mark McGowan (pictured) has refused to budge on his hard border closure, insisting earlier this month the state would remain closed to the rest of the country until 90 per cent of residents had been vaccinated

Vaccinations are vital to reducing the spread of preventable diseases.

Any suggestion otherwise flies in the face of science and the advice of medical experts around the globe.

The coronavirus vaccine is a safe and vital measure being taken to protect the community from the spread of the virus.
Mel Gibson will star in a prequel series to the John Wick film franchise titled The Continental.

Deadline reported that the actor, 65, will take a leading role in the three-part television event coming to Starz.

The series will focus on the hotel-for-assassins that Keanu Reeves' Wick stays at during the series.

Joining a big franchise: Mel Gibson will star in a prequel series to the John Wick film franchise titled The Continental (pictured 2017)

The Continental will focus on the story of young Winston Scott, played by Ian McShane in the original film.

The Starz series will take place in 1975 New York as Scott faces demons from his past.

He will traverse a dangerous path through the New York underground in an attempt to take control of the hotel.

Gibson will play a character named Cormac in the series.

Humble beginnings: Gibson, pictured 2017, will appear in the series which will follow Winston Scott, played by Ian McShane in the film franchise, as he takes control of The Continental

New film coming soon: The series' announcement came just as filming for the fourth John Wick movie began

The series' announcement came just as filming for the fourth John Wick movie began.

Reeves recently talked about the upcoming film in an interview on Today. The actor, 57, said the next installment will develop the John Wick universe further.

'They're fun. They're intense. We're going for it,' Reeves said. 'There's some really amazing John Wick action and new characters and it's been really fun to be playing the role again and to be telling this story.

'Opening up the world': Reeves, seen here in character, said the John Wick movies are 'fun,' 'intense,' and that the next one will continue to develop the world

'You know, there's new characters and we're opening up the world. Right now we're just shooting this crazy fight scene in the middle of traffic. So there's car crashes, gun fights.'

Gibson has a number of other upcoming roles as well. The Academy Award winning director will appear in the movies Bandit, Dangerous, Panama and myriad other films.

He is currently filming On the Line, the plot of which is unknown. Kevin Dillon of The Blob fame and The Chronicles of Narnia actor William Moseley will appear alongside Gibson in the movie.
Rove McManus was all smiles as he stepped out to host the Channel Seven Telethon in Perth over the weekend.

The 47-year-old attended the event alongside his wife, Tasma McManus (nee Walton).

The former TV host-turned-executive wore black jeans, a blue T-shirt and a grey blazer for the ritzy occasion.

Happy couple: Rove McManus and his wife, Tasma Walton, were all smiles as they hosted the Channel Seven Telethon in Perth over the weekend

Tasma, 48, opted for a navy floral gown, topped with a cropped black jacket.

The loved-up couple did their best to support Telethon staff as they accepted the generous donations on Saturday.

According to The West, the event was a great success, breaking records this year by raising a mammoth $62million for sick kids.

In the lead-up to the charity drive, the comedian said that hosting the Telethon had always been a dream for him.

Dressed to impress: Tasma, 48, opted for a navy floral gown, topped with a cropped jacket

Supportive vibes: The loved-up couple supported Telethon staff as they accepted generous donations on Saturday

'I was just never really here at this time of year,' he said, referencing the Covid-19 border closures.

'Its a shame, the circumstances weve all found ourselves in, but if one of the positives is that I get to be on Telethon then  it sounds stupid  but its a very big tick off a bucket-list item for me,' he added.

'Itll be fun, and Ill be sitting with my wife which will make it easy and with Ben Elton a fellow comedian and friend, so if anything, itll be just a lovely catch up with cameras in front of a television audience.'

During the event, the media personality was seen taking selfies with fans.

Selfie time! During the event, the media personality was seen taking selfies with fans

Also in attendance was Seven reporter and former AFLW star Abbey Holmes.

The 30-year-old looked chic in a stunning salmon pantsuit, teamed with a white tank.

Meanwhile, she slicked her blonde locks back into a neat bun.
Gal Gadot is speaking out on the problems she had with Joss Whedon amid the making of Justice League, and the measures she took in response.

Gadot, 36, chat with Elle magazine for its Women in Hollywood Issue about her experience working with Whedon and the steps she took afterwards.

'I was shocked by the way that he spoke to me,' the Wonder Woman actress said of Whedon, who has past been accused of toxic on-set behavior. 'I just did what I felt like I had to do. And it was to tell people that it's not okay.'

The latest: Gal Gadot, 36, is speaking out on the problems she had with Joss Whedon amid the making of Justice League, and the measures she took in response

Gadot said she 'was shaking trees as soon as it happened' and says 'that the heads of Warner Brothers ... took care of it.'

Gadot said she 'would've done the same thing' if she was a man, and that she did not know if Whedon would have talked to her in that way if she was.

'I don't know,' she said. 'We'll never know. But my sense of justice is very strong ... but whatever, it's done. Water under the bridge.'

The Israeli star said that her reaction to Whedon's behavior traced back to her 'sense of righteousness.

Whedon was snapped attending an event in LA in 2019

Details: Gadot chat with Elle magazine for its Women in Hollywood Issue about her experience working with Whedon and the steps she took afterwards

'You're dizzy because you can't believe this was just said to you,' Gadot told the publication. 'And if he says it to me, then obviously he says it to many other people.'

Gadot's Wonder Woman 1984 co-star Kristen Wiig told Elle of the actress, 'People who think she's just a pretty face are dead wrong.'

She added of the situation, 'When she needs to wear that hat, she is very clear on what is right.'

This past May, Gadot revealed to the Israeli media outlet N12 News that when she made suggestions to Whedon about her character, he had 'kind of threatened my career' and 'said if I did something he would make my career miserable.'

Out and about: Gadot was snapped at an October 2019 event in London

Moving forward: The star was seen in Brazil in December 2019 during a panel for Wonder Woman 1984

The allegations involving Gadot were detailed in a report by The Hollywood Reporter earlier this year.

An insider told the outlet that that Gadot had 'issues about her character being more aggressive than her character in Wonder Woman,' as 'she wanted to make the character flow from one movie to the next.'

A production source who participated in the probe told THR that 'Joss was bragging that hes had it out with Gal,' and that 'he told her hes the writer and shes going to shut up and say the lines and he can make her look incredibly stupid in this movie.'

Allegations about Whedon's behavior led to a probe by Warner Bros. in which the studio said 'remedial action' had occurred in response to the reports.

The probe began based on claims publicly made by actor Ray Fisher, who played the role of Cyborg in Justice League, who had accused Whedon of abusive and racist behavior amid production of the film. Whedon has not publicly commented in response to reports on the accusations.
They were campmates in the 2018 series of I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here!

And Emily Atack, 31, shared a warm embrace with Adam Thomas, 33, as they reunited after he watched her perform at The Lowry theatre in Manchester on Monday.

The actress-who has been touring the country with her stand-up comedy routine- looked chic in a stylish oversized white shirt.

Sweet: Emily Atack, 31, shared a warm embrace with Adam Thomas, 33, as they reunited after he watched her perform at The Lowry theatre in Manchester on Monday

She paired her look with black trousers and carried a black and white check jacket in her arms.

She styled her blonde locks in a messy bun and accessorised with gold hoop earrings.

The star carried her essentials in a Chloe tote bag and donned a natural makeup look.

The Emmerdale actor opted for a casual look in black jeans and white trainers which he paired with a grey wool hat.

Stunning: The actress-who has been touring the country with her stand-up comedy routine- looked chic in a stylish oversized white shirt

Her return to the stage comes after a boozy getaway in Marbella where she enjoyed a fun holiday fling with a trainee accountant 22-year-old Alex Dabner.

Emily recently insisted that she is 'fine' with being single after splitting from her boyfriend Jude Taylor, arguing that it 'shouldn't be seen as shameful' to be looking for love in your thirties.

She told OK!: 'I am single. Being single isn't always a happy thing, but I definitely think it isn't a bad thing.

'And it shouldn't be seen as something that's shameful if you're in your thirties and single. As I say, being single isn't always great, but sometimes it's really great. So yeah, I'm fine.'

Stunning: Her return to the stage comes after a boozy getaway in Marbella where she enjoyed a fun holiday fling with a trainee accountant

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.'

The former I'm A Celebrity star previously joked she was 'soaking in all the Marbella culture' while sitting poolside sipping margaritas at Ocean Club.

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.
Real Housewives of Melbourne star Jackie Gillies and her rockstar husband Ben welcomed their baby twins on Sunday.

And while Jackie's still staying mum on the names and genders of her newborns, she has recalled their arrival on her podcast, Shine It Up.

The new mum - who recorded her podcast from her hospital bed - said she was in shock when she first met her babies.

Still shocked! Real Housewives of Melbourne star and new mother Jackie Gillies has shared intimate details about the birth of her twin babies

'I was in shock horror, I didn't want to look at my baby because I was freaking out, then minute later I see another baby and I'm like, "Whose are they?" And then I realise they're mine,' she recalled.

'Then they put them on me for skin-on skin contact. They put them on me and I'm looking at this thing looking at me and I'm going "This is weird... this is so weird I cannot believe these are mine."'

The reality TV star explained she was under the influence of medication and was so exhausted she felt overwhelmed by giving birth.

New arrivals: Jackie and her rockstar husband Ben welcomed their baby twins on Sunday

Shocked: The new mum - who recorded her podcast from her hospital bed - said she was in shock when she first met her babies

'I'm staring at them going, "Oh my God, it still hasn't hit me that I have my babies on my chest!"

'And Ben's holding them and he's smiling, tearing up, and I'm just sitting there going: "Is this really happening?"

'And then I took a moment to breathe in and breathe out I realised that I am a mother.

'Then they (midwives) started talking to me about breastfeeding and it all just felt like it happened in the blink of an eye.'

Jackie said she was grateful for her 'supportive' husband Ben who didn't let go of her hand throughout the ordeal.

Sweet: Jackie said she was grateful for her 'supportive' husband Ben who didn't let go of her hand throughout the ordeal

On Sunday, the celebrity psychic, took to Instagram to announce the arrival of the couples' twins by uploading a photo of the newborns' feet.

'They're here. OMG they are so cute. My heart is full,' she wrote in the caption at the time.

Jackie chose not to reveal her twins' names, but confirmed that information about her babies would be revealed on her upcoming podcast episode.

The post was immediately flooded with congratulatory comments by their huge crew of celebrity friends.

'I am so excited and thrilled for you both.. congratulations .. what better news to hear today! Love you gorgeous girl,' former RHOM co-star Chyka Keebaugh wrote.

'Awwwwww Jackie!!!!!! So so happy for you!!!!! If you need anything please reach out. Sending you so much love and light. Congrats guys x,' added Below Deck star Hannah Ferrier.

Former Studio 10 host Jessica Rowe meanwhile enthused: 'Oh darling this is the most wonderful news EVER! sending so much love to you all.'

Jackie and Silverchair drummer husband Ben married in 2010. The pair announced they were expecting twins in May, after undergoing IVF.

Baby joy! Jackie first announced her long-awaited pregnancy in mid-May, posting a photo on Instagram of herself cradling her four-month bump

She posted a photo of herself to Instagram cradling a four-month bump.

'I'm having TWINS! It has been a bumpy IVF journey but all worth it. Thank YOU for your support XOXO!' she wrote at the time.

The twins come after Jackie made her return to Real Housewives of Melbourne earlier this month, which sees her share her pregnancy journey.

Returning with her are Janet Roach and Gamble Breaux, alongside newcomers Anjali Rao, Cherry Dipietrantonio, Kyla Kirkpatrick and Simone Elliott.
Another South Korean drama is taking over Netflix following the blockbuster success of Squid Game.

The bloody revenge drama My Name has been soaring up the streaming charts since its release on October 15, and has just hit No. 4 globally.

The eight-episode drama follows a young woman, played by actress Han Sohee, who joins a drug ring to avenge her father's death.

Popular: The bloody South Korean revenge drama My Name has been soaring up Netflix's streaming charts since its release on October 15, and has just hit No. 4 globally

She then enters the police force as a mole for the drug syndicate, all while attempting to seek revenge on her father's killers.

The series is attracting attention for its action-packed fight scenes, as well as the emotional performances and nail-biting plot.

My Name currently has a user score of 8.2/10 on IMDB, making it equal with Squid Game's score.

International viewers have been praising the series, although the reception in South Korea has been more mixed.

Plot: The eight-episode drama follows a young woman, played by actress Han Sohee, who joins a drug ring to avenge her father's death before joining the police force as a mole

In comments translated by Netizenbuzz, one Korean viewer said: 'I personally didn't like you. You're telling me a delicate-looking woman beat down 50 men?'

Another commented: 'How can a woman go from training for a few days to taking down thugs in a gang! Not realistic at all.'

However, other Koreans were far more complimentary, with one writing: 'The best female action star I've seen thus far!'

'You're telling me a delicate-looking woman beat down 50 men?' Despite receiving praise from international viewers, some Koreans have criticised the plot

Another wrote: 'There were some brutal scenes but I think they filmed it well. The acting was amazing.'

'A round of applause for Han So Hee. She worked hard. There was no twist for me since it was so obvious who killed her father from the beginning, but seeing a woman take down so many thugs like that felt fitting for our times,' wrote another.

Meanwhile, Squid Game is estimated to be worth almost $US900 million ($A1.2 billion) for Netflix, making it the biggest show in the streaming platform's history.

'The best female action star I've seen thus far!' My Name currently has a user score of 8.2/10 on IMDB, making it equal with Squid Game's score

The nine-episode thriller, in which cash-strapped contestants play childhood games with deadly consequences in a bid to win 45.6 billion won ($A52 million), became an international hit when it launched last month.

In comparison to its estimated net worth, the show cost just $US21.4 million ($A28.8 million) to produce, Bloomberg said.

According to the report, about 132 million people had watched at least two minutes of the show in its first 23 days, easily breaking the record set by UK costume drama Bridgerton, which was streamed by 82 million accounts in its first 28 days.
Nightclub mogul Luke Udorovic and his wife Emma have sold their modern four-bedroom home in Abbotsford, Melbourne.

The owner of the Billboard nightclub sold the property within its listed range of $2.9million to $3.1million, reports realestate.com.au.

The Udorovics had renovated the rundown Victorian home extensively, transforming it into a thoroughly modern pad.

It's a deal! Nightclub mogul Luke Udorovic (left) and his wife Emma (right) have sold their four-bedroom home in Melbourne for within its listed range of $2.9million and $3.1million

Whitefox Real Estate agent Cheyne Fox said she was able to secure a buyer for the home after one day of back-to-back private inspections.

'There was more inquiry on this than I've seen in a long time. The property is like your own little private oasis in there. It really captured people's imagination,' she said.

The home has a double-garage and spacious outdoor entertaining area.

Sold! The owner of the Billboard nightclub sold the Abbotsford property after one day of back-to-back private inspections, reports realestate.com.au

Modern: The home has a double-garage and spacious outdoor entertaining area. Pictured: one of the four bedrooms

The outdoor space has a deck with a built-in barbecue and custom lounge.

There is also a plunge pool with a pink neon sign that reads 'life is good', plus a spa.

The home also has an additional retreat with its own bathroom, located above the double garage.

Spacious: The home has an additional retreat with its own bathroom, located above the garage

Outdoor living: The outdoor space has a deck with built-in barbecue and custom lounge. There is also a plunge pool with a pink neon sign that reads 'life is good' (pictured), plus a spa

The property's main bedroom is on the ground floor, and features a luxurious ensuite with heated flooring.

The modern kitchen includes a spacious island bench and white cabinetry.

The home also has an open-plan living area with a fireplace, which flows into the outdoor space.
ABC News reporter Antonette Collins has announced she's moving on.

The veteran journalist, who was previously with the BBC, made the announcement she was departing ABC News Sydney in a tweet last week.

'Today was my last day at the ABC,' she wrote on Friday.

A new start: ABC News reporter Antonette Collins (pictured) has announced she's moving on from her role at the national broadcaster

'It's been my second (sometimes main) home for the past 17+ years,' Collins added.

'I am truly grateful for the opportunity to work with brilliant colleagues and friends and to share the stories of many brave and wonderful people. Thank you for the privilege,' she signed off.

Her departure follows that of ABC News boss Gaven Morris earlier this month.

Morris shocked staff by announcing he was quitting the national broadcaster to seek a new challenge - but insiders suspected there was more to it.

A fond farewell: The veteran journalist, who was previously with the BBC, announced she was departing ABC News Sydney in a tweet last week

Mr Morris, 49, took the Director of News post in 2015, five years after the launch of the ABC News channel, overseeing one of the most turbulent eras in the broadcaster's history.

In an email to staff confirming his exit, he admitted: 'It's without doubt a challenging job, but also fulfilling and worthwhile. I've given it my all.'

ABC veterans said Mr Morris' last line hinted at a bigger story about his difficulty balancing political pressure from above and below in the face of intense scrutiny.

They suspected he was simply exhausted after enduring a non-stop - and accelerating - series of controversies and crises.

Exit: ABC News boss Gaven Morris (pictured) shocked staff earlier this month by announcing he was quitting the broadcaster to seek a new challenge - but insiders said there was more to it

'I reckon he deserves a medal for lasting six years,' one insider told The Australian. 'It's a nightmare. He's done a good job, considering.

'It's one of the toughest editorial jobs in the world, what with the conflicting agendas of some staff and political stakeholders.'

Another added: 'He's well and truly over it.'

During his six-year reign, he's had the added complexity of editorial staff on social media which has brought a new level of criticism, legal issues and political rows.

At times, parts of the taxpayer-funder broadcaster has appeared at war with the Coalition government, attracting increased political pressure on its content.

Dispute: Lateline host Emma Alberici (pictured) was forced out of the ABC after Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull criticised a 2018 article she wrote on company tax and the economy

Lateline host Emma Alberici was forced out of the ABC after Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull criticised a 2018 article she wrote on company tax and the economy.

It was alleged to be riddled with errors and was at one stage taken down from the ABC website for 'not meeting editorial standards' before later being reinstated.

Ms Alberici later became embroiled in a two-year pay-off saga with the ABC.

In a leaked letter to the ABC managing director, her lawyer alleged Mr Morris told Ms Alberici 'she was the cause of the Prime Minister ringing him with complaints'.

The day after she finally left the ABC in 2020, Ms Alberici tweeted: 'Despite the enormous toll his actions have taken on my mental health, Gaven Morris wanted to call it a termination payout.

'No doubt so he could tell the world I was fired for incompetence or some such.'

Emma Alberici is pictured at the Cure Brain Cancer Foundation in May 2014

The Four Corners episode 'Inside The Canberra Bubble', which probed the private lives of some Coalition MPs, deepened the rift with the government and raised the stakes in terms of scrutiny.

It ultimately led to a legal row with former Attorney General Christian Porter, which cost the ABC $780,000 in legal fees and mediation costs over an article by investigative reporter Louise Milligan.

The result of the settlement also sparked a social media storm over tweets made by executive producer Sally Neighbour, which led to an internal investigation.

Ms Milligan was soon embroiled in another legal row over tweets she made about Andrew Laming MP, which cost the ABC another $130,000.

Row: The legal row with former Attorney General Christian Porter cost the ABC $780,000 in legal fees and mediation costs over an article by senior reporter Louise Milligan (pictured)

Meanwhile a key decision by Mr Morris to move flagship political debate show Q+A from its Monday night slot to Thursday has backfired with a massive ratings slump.

The discontent between management and the editorial staff heightened in June when a Four Corners investigation into alleged links between Prime Minister Scott Morrison and a QAnon supporter was delayed.

Mr Morris also signed off on the controversial investigation into the 1979 Luna Park Ghost Train fire tragedy which was widely lauded - until the final episode embroiled former NSW premier Neville Wran into an unlikely conspiracy.

And last month an ABC miniseries into the 1975 disappearance of Sydney heiress Juanita Nielsen was also pulled from air after the first episode following doubts raised about claims made by the program.

In the wake of a damning external review into the Luna Park series, Mr Morris had had enough and just weeks later has announced his exit.

In the email to staff on Thursday, he added: 'I have decided not to pursue a new contract when my current one ends... I am keen to seek my next challenge.'

But he insisted: 'Through the work of all of you, I believe weve made more progress here in the past five years than was made in the 50 years before.'
Keira Maguire found fame as the acid-tongued 'villain' on Richie Strahan's season of The Bachelor in 2016.

And while the 35-year-old is no stranger to accepting criticism for her on-screen antics, she draws the line at being labelled a narcissist.

Speaking to SBS program Insight this week, Keira said she's been falsely accused of having narcissistic personality disorder due to her 'strong, confident' attitude.

'I've actually only been called a narcissist in the last couple of years and maybe five times,' the beauty influencer insisted.

Narcissistic personality disorder is characterised by a person believing there are special reasons that make them different, better or more deserving than others.

They may feel upset if people do not recognise their apparent achievements, and get upset if other people do not put their needs above their own.

Inside Keira's mind: The Bachelor's Keira Maguire, 35, (pictured) denied allegations that she suffers from narcissistic personality disorder, but admitted to having an 'ego', during an interview with SBS program Insight this week

However, narcissists may also suffer low self-esteem and can be described as vulnerable.

Keira explained that her controversial appearances on Bachelor In Paradise caused viewers to unfairly brand her a narcissist.

'The last show that I went on I was a very strong, confident character which is who I am and I'm not going to deny that,' she declared, adding: 'I speak with a lot of conviction, I can back myself and I just feel like a lot of people see that as a narcissistic trait.'

'I speak with a lot of conviction, I can back myself': Keira explained that her controversial appearances on Bachelor In Paradise caused viewers to unfairly brand her a narcissist

The glamazon, who boasts 147K Instagram followers, insisted that she displays her 'real personality' on social media rather than on television.

While Keira remained adamant that she isn't a narcissist, she did admit to having some 'narcissistic personality traits'.

'Yeah, of course I do [have narcissistic traits],' she confessed.

The real me: The glamazon, who boasts 147K Instagram followers, insisted that she displays her 'real personality' on social media rather than on television

'You need to have an ego to be in this industry': While the beauty influencer remained adamant that she isn't a narcissist, she did admit to having some 'narcissistic personality traits'

'You need to have some sort of narcissistic traits, you need to have an ego to be in this industry You actually need an ego to survive in today's day and age,' Keira proclaimed.

'I don't think that I have a narcissistic disorder but I definitely feel like I have traits of it, definitely,' she added.

Keira's admission comes after she was accused by her ex-boyfriend, fellow Bachelor In Paradise star Jarrod Woodgate, of being attention-hungry and addicted to social media.

Throwback: Keira found fame as the acid-tongued 'villain' on Richie Strahan's season of The Bachelor in 2016 (pictured)

Sure you got the right angle? She raised eyebrows during Oaks Day at Flemington Racecourse in November 2018, after photographers captured her preening and taking endless selfies in The Birdcage

Keira and Jarrod fell in love in late 2017 while filming first season of Bachelor in Paradise in Fiji.

They quickly became inseparable and moved in together, only to dramatically split in August 2018

Speaking to Who magazine not long after their break-up, Jarrod said: 'Her Instagram following is overwhelming and it was taking over our relationship. She's purely Instagram-focused and that takes up a lot of time,' he said.

Pouty: The blonde immediately whipped out her camera phone as she soon as she got settled in the VIP enclosure

'I'd spend two days a week with her and it [was] basically all Instagram-based. It's hard because you're competing with 177,000 other people that follow her, but I shouldn't have to compete,' he added.

Jarrod said the romance fell apart because he found it difficult to maintain a 'genuine connection' with somebody so fixated with social media.

'Keira is a beautiful woman and I had the best times I've had in my life with her. But I didn't see it going anywhere,' he confessed.

Ex files: Keira's admission comes after she was accused by her ex-boyfriend, fellow Bachelor In Paradise star Jarrod Woodgate (right), of being attention-hungry and addicted to social media. Pictured together on Bachelor In Paradise 2018

'For me, it wasn't a genuine connection because everything we did went through Instagram and I'm a farm guy who hardly touches his phone.'

Keira subsequently hit back at Jarrod's accusations, telling News Corp: '[Jarrod] thinks I have mental health issues but the real problem was I was depressed because of our relationship  I wasnt depressed because of Instagram.'

'He can deflect and say that was the reason but I was unhappy, because I was unsatisfied with what I was getting,' she said.

Brutal: Jarrod said the romance fell apart because he found it difficult to maintain a 'genuine connection' with somebody so fixated with social media

Jarrod once again addressed his bitter split with Keira in July last year, accusing her of being desperate to 'stay in the limelight' and using their break-up to garner more attention.

Speaking to the So Dramatic! podcast, Jarrod admitted that he doesn't like talking about Keira publicly, as it would 'give her ammo to come back at me just for publicity and money.'

'It's more about Keira wanting to stay in limelight, and be centre of attention,' he said.
Radio hosts Kyle Sandilands and Jackie 'O' Henderson have weighed in on Channel Seven reporter Georgia Love's leaked 'grammar note' email.

Love, 33, had scolded her colleagues last week for using the word 'surgeries', arguing it was grammatically incorrect because the plural form should be 'surgery'.

However, Henderson pointed out on The Kyle and Jackie O Show on Tuesday that the word 'surgeries' is acceptable most of the time.

Having their say: Radio hosts Kyle Sandilands and Jackie 'O' Henderson have weighed in on Channel Seven reporter Georgia Love's (pictured) leaked 'grammar note' email

'The embarrassing part about this whole thing is you can use the word "surgeries",' she said, before offering several sentence examples.

Sandilands, 50, took issue with the idea that grammar is fixed, saying: 'Can I ask, who makes up what you're allowed to say?'

Henderson, 46, replied that not only was Love's memo unnecessary because 'surgeries' is acceptable, but her email also included a grammatical error.

The email: Love, 33, had scolded her colleagues last week for using the word 'surgeries', arguing it was grammatically incorrect because the plural form should be 'surgery'

'Georgia has been grammatically incorrect when she said it "snuck into our language",' she explained, noting how the past tense of 'sneak' should be 'sneaked', not 'snuck'.

The hosts then asked KIIS FM's newsreader Brooklyn Ross what he thought of grammatical errors in journalism and broadcasting.

Ross admitted he's not always 'exactly grammatically correct' in his news bulletins.

Grammar checker: Henderson (pictured) pointed out on The Kyle and Jackie O Show on Tuesday that the word 'surgeries' is acceptable most of the time

However, he said this was sometimes done on purpose to make his reports 'more relaxed' for listeners.

Ross added that he'd rather receive an email like Georgia's from someone in a managerial position rather than a colleague.

Georgia's email to the Seven newsroom was leaked to The Herald Sun last week by colleagues who took issue with her condescending tone and grammar policing.

Awkward: Georgia's email to the Seven newsroom was leaked to The Herald Sun last week by colleagues who took issue with her condescending tone and grammar policing

She criticised her co-workers for their use of the word 'surgeries', even though this plural form is acceptable in most contexts.

Her email included its own errors, including the phrase 'bug bears', which is actually one word, and the irregular verb 'snuck', which should be 'sneaked'.

In another leaked email, a senior reporter at Seven called out Georgia for her 'unreasonable' memo, encouraging the team to 'carry on' with their 'great work'.
She has continued to slimdown after losing more than 30kg during her 'year of health'.

And on Monday, Rebel Wilson proudly showed off her new physique in a cleavage-baring swimsuit.

The 41-year-old Australian actress shared a photo of herself reclining across a beach towel.

Enjoy the view! Slimmed-down Rebel Wilson showed off her sensational beach body in a swimsuit on Monday after her 30kg weight loss

Along with her one-piece, she also wore a pair of sunglasses and a wide-brimmed hat.

The setting sun's rays radiated behind her, which concealed her midsection but drew attention to her trim pins.

'I miss ya,' the Pitch Perfect star wrote in the caption, along with a sunshine emoji.

Journey: Rebel has continued to slimdown after losing more than 30kg during her 'year of health'

Rebel's photo comes after she recently spoke about her weightloss with Stellar magazine.

'I grew up not really trading on my looks, I was the personality girl. But after going through my whole health transformation last year, I've been in touch with this 'inner siren',' Rebel said about coming to a place of acceptance.

Having inspired countless headlines with her shrinking frame, Rebel told the publication she understands why the public are 'so obsessed' with her weight loss as she looks to Oprah as one of her 'heroes' who often speaks about her struggles with eating.

Inspiration: Rebel recently told Stellar she understands why the public are 'so obsessed' with her weight loss as she looks to Oprah as one of her 'heroes' who often speaks about her struggles with eating

Elsewhere, the Bridesmaids star also revealed how her desire to fall pregnant acted as a catalyst for her health transformation.

'I've been going through a fertility journey for the past two years and I'm hoping at some point I may have a family of my own,' she said.

'But it's still a bit unclear whether that'll be the case. I feel like [it's] not over yet. It's kind of an emotional roller-coaster. But I've been trying my best, so whatever will be, will be.'

Fertility: She also revealed how her desire to fall pregnant over the past two years acted as a catalyst for her health transformation. it's still a bit unclear whether that'll be the case. I feel like [it's] not over yet. But I've been trying my best, so whatever will be, will be'

Transformation: Rebel had documented her incredible weight loss journey, which she dubbed as her 'Year Of Health', throughout 2020

Rebel had documented her incredible weight loss journey, which she dubbed as her 'Year Of Health', throughout 2020.

In September, she told The Weekend Briefing podcast on LiSTNR that she was 'proud' of herself as reflected on her hard work over the past year.

The actress explained that her weight loss was about a lifestyle change and to be a 'healthier version' of herself, rather that reaching a certain weight.

Transformation: Over the past 18 months, Rebel has completely overhauled her lifestyle and lost more than 30kg in the process. Pictured left in 2018, and right in 2021

'To me what the year of health was, was just being a healthier version,' she said, noting that working on her fertility and curbing emotional eating were her goals.

'It wasn't about losing a set amount of weight, although I did put a goal original of 75 kilos so I could have something tangible to work towards. But it's not about a number or a dress size, or anything like that.

'It was just about being the healthiest version of me and I dedicated all of 2020 to doing that, and I'm proud of myself.'
She is one of Australia's most successful female entrepreneurs and recently enjoyed an $89million pay day after selling her controlling stake in her Go-To skincare company.

And on Monday, Zoe Foster Blake revealed she is releasing another children's book in November.

The 41-year-old, who has published more than 12 books in her time, announced her newest title, Scaredy Bath.

New book coming! ! Zoe Foster Blake signed copies of her new children's book Scaredy Bath this week ahead of its release in November

'Signed a shipload of my very adorable new picture book (on sale Nov 2) Scaredy Bath today (theyll be live on Booktopia soon),' she wrote alongside a photo she posted on Instagram.

Zoe added that she was excited to meet her readers in book stores again.

'But oh how I long to sign for a line of friendly faces in bookshops again! Maybejuzmaybe that will be on the cards by Nov/Dec, which is about when my hand will have recovered from todays session,' she joked.

Zoe's 13th title is a picture book which aims to help ease the anxiety around bath time for children and parents.

Picture book: Zoe's 13th title is a picture book which aims to help ease the anxiety around bath time for children and parents

'Signed a shipload of my very adorable new picture book (on sale Nov 2) Scaredy Bath today (theyll be live on Booktopia soon),' she wrote alongside a photo she posted on Instagram

Zoe also shared footage of her signed books on her Instagram Stories.

'My hope is that I can do some real life signings in book shops in Nov and Dec. I miss you guys,' she wrote.

'Wanna scribble on your books and tell you I love you in person,' she added.

Zoe started her career in magazines back in 2002 as a beauty journalist, before turning her hand to books and eventually starting her skincare company in 2014.

After turning 41 on July 28, Zoe expressed her disappointment at having had to celebrate two consecutive birthdays in lockdown.

'To think I was but a sweet baby lamb in my thirties before this s**tshow kicked off' she wrote on Instagram.

'Anyway! I hear getting double lockdown birthdays is actually good luck. Real five-leaf clover.'

Zoe included a photo of herself flipping off the camera with both hands as she stood barefoot on her balcony at home.

Party on: After turning 41 on July 28, Zoe expressed her disappointment at having had to celebrate two consecutive birthdays in lockdown

After enduring Melbourne's strict COVID lockdown in July last year, Zoe relocated to Sydney earlier this year with her husband of nine years, Hamish Blake, and their two children, son Sonny, seven, and daughter Rudy, four.

'It's great to be able to jump into the ocean every day,' Zoe told the Today show in March of swapping Melbourne for Sydney.

Meanwhile, Greater Sydney was plunged into lockdown on June 26 after an outbreak of the highly contagious Delta variant of COVID.

Restrictions has since eased around the state of New South Wales.
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Angelina Jolie looked breathtaking as she attended the Eternals film premiere in Los Angeles on Monday in a billowing taupe gown.

The 46-year-old Oscar winner plays fierce warrior Thena, who can form any weapon out of cosmic energy, in the MCU flick, which hits US/UK theaters on November 5.

Angelina made quite the fashion statement wearing a bold gold chin cuff which injected even more glamour to her already head-turning piece.

Strike a pose! Angelina Jolie looked breathtaking as she attended the Eternals film premiere in Los Angeles on Monday in a billowing taupe gown

Hitting US/UK theaters on November 5! The 46-year-old Oscar winner plays fierce warrior Thena, who can form any weapon out of cosmic energy, in the MCU flick

Making the event a family affair, Jolie was joined on the red carpet by five of her six children, Maddox, 20, Zahara, 16, Shiloh, 15, and 13-year-old twins Vivienne and Knox.

The Tomb Raider alum was a sight to behold posing up a storm in an ultra-glamorous getup which ensured all eyes would be on her.

She styled her brunette tresses down in glossy, loose sleek waves which dangled beside her beautifully done-up face.

Enhancing her already gorgeous complexion, Angelina worked a slicked wing of eyeliner.

Family first! Making the event a family affair, Angelina was joined on the red carpet by five of her six children

Simply stunning: All eyes were on the star as she worked her magic on the red carpet

Mesmerizing: Jolie made a serious fashion statement with her gold chin cuff and other gold statement jewelry

Stealing the spotlight: The estranged second wife of Brad Pitt commanded attention in the drapey strapless gown and gold heels selected by stylist Jen Rade

Gorgeous: As usual, the former Hollywood wild child wore her brunette locks straight and down with cat eyeliner, defined brows, and a bit of blush

Toned and terrific! In addition to displaying her eye for style, the strapless dress put Angelina's toned and tattooed arms on full display

She also added yet another gold touch with her wrist full of bracelets.

In addition to displaying her eye for style, the strapless dress put Angelina's toned and tattooed arms on full display.

Nearly all of Angelina's children were present for the special event, except for her 17-year-old son Pax. She shares her six children with her ex-husband Brad Pitt, whom she is in the midst of a tense divorce battle with.

Last month, DailyMail.com exclusively revealed how Jolie was trying to sell her 50% stake in the vineyard that she shared with Pitt, held through her company, Nouvel.

Family first! Jolie was joined on the red carpet by Maddox (L), 20; Zahara (3-R), 16; Shiloh (R), 15; and 13-year-old twins Vivienne (2-L) and Knox (2-R)

Knox is getting so tall! The six rocked their best black, white, beige, and silver ensembles for the red carpet

Full house: Jolie and her blended brood seemed excited to dress up and watch their famous mother's movie as a family

Solo shot: The kids - minus 17-year-old son Pax Thien - dutifully gave their mom room to pose on her own at the event

Hey you! Angie reunited with her Eternals castmate Kumail Nanjiani on the blue carpet and they shared a warm embrace

Eternals unite! The cast and crew later posed for a group shot accented by fireworks

Her move to sell - which she did this month on October 6 - was branded 'vindictive and systematic obstruction' by the actor in bitter lawsuit.

The estate - now valued at $164 million - is where the couple tied the knot in 2008.

The Eternals, set for release in cinemas in November, follows a race of immortal beings with superhuman powers who are secretly living on Earth.

As well as starring Richard Madden, Kit Harington and Don Lee, the movie will see Jolie, Salma Hayek, Gemma Chan and Lauren Ridloff appear as superheroes too.

Va va voom! Salma Hayek put on a jaw-dropping display with her seriously low-cut gown

Legs get together! The Eternals star looked captivating with her hair styled sleek and straight and an elegant leg slit flashing a hint of more skin

Family affair! Salma was joined on the red carpet by her daughter Valentina Paloma Pinault

There was no shortage of stars showing their support for the latest Marvel movie on the red carpet.

While a number of A-listers graced the red carpet, one of the big stand-outs was Salma Hayek.

The actress put on a jaw-dropping display with her plunging black dress which left little of her cleavage to the imagination .

The Eternals star looked captivating with her hair styled sleek and straight and an elegant leg slit flashing a hint of more skin.

Ruffling some feathers! Gemma Chan put on an unforgettable display in a elaborate feathered cape with lace dress

Heaven sent! The star captivated attendees with her seriously dramatic gown

Working it! Rita Ora showcased her figure in a curve-clinging white dress with sparkling fringe

Love is in the air! The songstress was joined by her director boyfriend Taika Waititi

Gemma Chan also threatened to steal the spotlight in a seriously bold look.

The actress wowed in a dramatic feathered cape and white lace dress with sheer skirt.

Rita Ora sent temperatures soaring in a curve-clinging white dress that fit her like a glove.

Ramping up the glam factor to the sexy look was an arrangement of sparkling fringe falling from a cut-out by her chest.

The wow factor! Lauren Ridloff dazzled in a flirty black and white romper that put her fabulous legs on full show

Suited up! Kit Harington rocked a pinstripe suit whereas his former Game Of Thrones co-star Richard Madden opted for a classic tuxedo

Star-studded! Kumail Nanjiani and his wife Emily V. Gordon were among the big names supporting the movie

She beamed from ear-to-ear posing on the red carpet with her director boyfriend Taika Waititi.

Lauren Ridloff wowed in a flirty black and white romper that put her fabulous legs on full show.

The Eternals star beamed with joy whilst rocking a black floral design choker.

Leggy lady! Malin Akerman flashed some leg as she posed up with her husband Jack Donnelly

Wearing her heart on her sleeve! RHOBH star Garcelle Beauvais rocked a heart print Moschino sweater on the red carpet

Lights, cameras, action! Eternals director Chloe Zhao proudly posed before the big event

Former Game Of Thrones co-stars Kit Harington and Richard Madden turned up the heat in their smart yet sharp looks.

While Kit opted for a more casual suit, Richard looked shouldering in a classic tuxedo.

In ELLE's 2021 Women In Hollywood issue, Jolie - who is an advocate for refugees - discusses her upcoming movie and praises The Eternal's director, Oscar-winner Chloe Zhao for her choice of casting.

'A lot of times as an actress, youre that individual strong woman, or you have one sister; you dont often have this family where you really get to know women and see all the different strengths,' Jolie explained.

Date night! Patton Oswalt hit the spotlight with his wife Meredith Salenger

All together! Jolie led her children towards the premiere at the El Capitan Theatre

'A lot of times as an actress, youre that individual strong woman, or you have one sister; you dont often have this family where you really get to know women and see all the different strengths,' Jolie explained.

Praising her co-stars, Jolie continued: 'Gemmas grace and elegance and the way she walks through the world. Salmas motherhood and power, and Laurens connection and intelligence. Everybody came as themselves.

'Maybe theres something to that, that the characters werent as far off [from ourselves]. I think theres a secret that we dont know that our director knows, because if you look at her films, she casts a lot of real people as their roles and it shapes her films.'

Red carpet red-y! Lia McHugh and Natasha Ofili put on a stylish display at the Eternals premiere

Packing a punch! Bella Poarch wowed in a shimmering, sci-fi themed one-piece with flowing cape

He approves! Ma Dong-seok flashed the thumbs up as he headed to the show

She reveals in the issue that when she was first contacted about the movie, she thought it was going to play a 'grandmother' type role.

'I never thought I was going to be one of the Eternals. It doesnt happen. Its never happened to me like that before without a fight and like, I can do this, please hire me! When she told me I was one of them, I was like, Me, Mexican, Middle Eastern? Me, in my fifties? Im going to be a superhero in a Marvel movie? Sometimes as a woman, as a woman of color and with the age, you feel so overlooked,' she said.

Commending Zao for 'having balls', she championed the director for 'acknowledging' her within the industry.

Ridloff, whose character Makkari is deaf like her and the first deaf superhero within the Marvel universe, reveals she jumped at the chance to 'show representation' on screen in a 'refreshing' way, while Chan praises Marvel for showing diversity on a global scale with its movies.

Eternals will be released in U.S. theatres on November 5, 2021.

Commanding the screen: Jolie stars opposite the likes of Chan, Madden, and Hayek in the upcoming superhero flick
35 years after his breakthrough role as Arnie Becker in NBC's L.A. Law, Corbin Bernsen is reprising that role.

The 67-year-old actor has signed on to return as Becker in the new sequel series hailing from ABC, according to Variety.

He will be joined by another original L.A. Law co-star, Blair Underwood, who played Jonathan Rollins in the legal series.

Return: 35 years after his breakthrough role as Arnie Becker in NBC's L.A. Law, Corbin Bernsen is reprising that role

Arnie: The 67-year-old actor has signed on to return as Becker in the new sequel series hailing from ABC, according to Variety

The show was created by the late Steven Bochco and Terry Louise Fisher, which debuted in 1986 and ran eight seasons until the finale in 1994.

The show followed the personal and professional lives of the lawyers and other staff members at a fictional Los Angeles law firm called McKenzie, Brackman, Chaney and Kuzak.

The show tackled a number of relevant issues throughout the 1980s and 1990s such as the HIV/AIDS epidemic, abortion, capital punishment, racism, homophobia and much more.

Law firm: The 67-year-old actor has signed on to return as Becker in the new sequel series hailing from ABC, according to Variety

The show's massive ensemble cast also included Harry Hamlin, Jill Eikenberry, Alan Rachins, Michael Tucker, Richard Dysart, Susan Ruttan, Susan Dey and Jimmy Smits.

The show was both a critical and commercial hit, winning 15 Primetime Emmy Awards, including four Outstanding Drama Series awards.

After the show went off the air, the cast reunited for L.A. Law: The movie in 2002, eight years after the series finale.

Cast: The show's massive ensemble cast also included Harry Hamlin, Jill Eikenberry, Alan Rachins, Michael Tucker, Richard Dysart, Susan Ruttan, Susan Dey and Jimmy Smits

Movie: After the show went off the air, the cast reunited for L.A. Law: The movie in 2002, eight years after the series finale

Bernsen returns as Becker, a lothario on the original show who hasn't changed since the 1980s, though the world around him has changed quite greatly.

The character is in his 60s, who struggles with a, 'rapidly shifting sexual and political landscape.

Bernsen, who was nominated for two Emmy Awards during the show's original run, said in a statement he has, 'often thought about revisiting LA Law and Arnie Becker over the years.'

Lothario: Bernsen returns as Becker, a lothario on the original show who hasn't changed since the 1980s, though the world around him has changed quite greatly

'Now seems the perfect moment in time to explore our fast changing world through Beckers eyes. Fasten your seatbelts,' Bernsen added.

Marc Guggenheim and Ubah Mohamed are writing the pilot script and serving as executive producers.

Anthony Hemingway will direct and executive produce the pilot, while Dayna Bochco and Jesse Bochco, the wife and son of the late L.A. Law co-creator Steven Bochco, will executive produce via Steven Bochco Productions.
The ex-head of security for former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has revealed how he squandered $1.7million on a gambling addiction during a tense interrogation on Tuesday's SAS Australia: Hell Week.

Gary Fahey, 44, confessed he 'f**ked up a lot' as he discussed his past with chief instructor Ant Middleton - revealing his lowest point was when he stole $45,000 in taxpayer money from an AFP-issued credit card to fund his addiction.

'I made a lot of horrendous mistakes,' Fahey said. 'I had a corporate credit card and I was using it to give me money that I'd lost gambling.'

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Confession: The ex-head of security for former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, Gary Fahey (pictured), has revealed how he squandered $1.7million on a gambling addiction during an interrogation on Tuesday's SAS Australia: Hell Week

Fahey, who was in the federal police for 18 and a half years, had used the credit card between August 2015 to November 2016.

This had followed a 10-year gambling addiction that saw him lose $1.7million as he struggled with depression.

He continued: 'I was asking friends, family to pay for things because I didn't have the money.

'Every time I thought I'd stop after this Saturday, after this win... I was just going harder and harder and harder, and something was going to give.'

Middleton questioned: 'You gambled away $2million dollars - your house, your family, your career?' to which Fahey replied: 'Everything.'

When asked if he was sacked from his position, Fahey said: 'I resigned, they let me resign. I got charged.'

Fahey faced 64 charges of fraud, but ultimately pleaded guilty to one charge.

'That's f***ing bulls**t. No you, not someone at that level. They're just f**king excuses,' Ant Middleton said to Gary, who then revealed the death of his grandmother had caused him to become depressed

His other charges were soon dropped and he was punished with eight months of community service as a result of his actions.

When asked about his fall from grace, Fahey replied: 'Ultimately I was masking some insecurities. I was struggling, I had depression and for me gambling was an escape that took that noise away. I kept hiding those insecurities, and masking...'

'That's f**king bulls**t. No you, not someone at that level. They're just f**king excuses,' Ant bluntly responded.

Fahey then added that his depression stemmed from when his grandmother died, adding: 'She was my dear nan, I was the apple of her eye, I was the one. Then she passed, it still gets me.

'But then I felt weak, I felt like I was struggling but in that environment, I didn't ask the questions of where to go. I didn't want to stick my hand up and say I was struggling. So I hid it, masked it and got over it. Then it crept back in.'

High-profile career: During his 18 years in the service, Gary Fahey provided close personal protection for former prime minister Kevin Rudd (right, pictured with wife Therese Rein)

Chance at redemption: Fahey is one of fourteen contestants appearing on the first season of SAS Australia Hell Week, which involved regular Australians rather than celebrities

Fahey is now rebuilding his life and works as a gym owner focusing on men's health and addiction.

'I've been to the depths of hell in my own life,' he said to the camera. 'I let down everybody. I want my family to know that their faith in me wasn't misled.'

Fahey is one of fourteen contestants appearing on the first season of SAS Australia Hell Week, which involved regular Australians rather than celebrities.

For support regarding gambling addiction, contact the Gambling Help website or helpline on 1800 858 858

Lifeline: 13 11 14

Suicide Call Back Service: 1300 659 467

Beyond Blue: 1300 22 4636
This year's SAS Australia starring the likes of Sam Burgess and Jana Pittman was a huge success.

And on Monday, British TV personality and former soldier Ant Middleton was treated to a cruise around the idyllic Sydney Harbour with a who's who of Channel Seven.

The 41-year-old joined the likes of Chief Executive Officer James Warburton aboard Kerry Stoke's $35million superyacht, Antipodean.

Time to celebrate! On Monday, Ant Middleton joined Channel Seven's CEO and top executives on board Kerry Stokes' superyacht in Sydney Harbour after he helped make SAS Australia a smash hit

Ant, who is the chief instructor on SAS Australia, looked thrilled to be out on the harbour.

He kept in touch with the nautical theme of the outing, wearing a blue and white striped T-shirt that showed off his tattooed sleeves and buff physique.

He teamed the look with black jeans and sneakers and sported his signature bushy black beard.

Hello sailor: He kept in touch with the nautical theme of the outing, wearing a blue and white striped T-shirt that showed off his tattooed sleeves and buff physique

Ready for a good time: Ant, who is the chief instructor on SAS Australia, looked thrilled to be out on the harbour

Rubbing shoulders: He looked relaxed as he enjoyed dinner and drinks on board the yacht with Seven's head honchos

Thankful: This week, he thanked Channel Seven and the show's fans for their support throughout the latest season

He looked relaxed as he enjoyed dinner and drinks on board the yacht with Seven's head honchos.

This week, he thanked Channel Seven and the show's fans for their support throughout the latest season.

'Huge congrats to all @channel7 for your #1 success and many thanks towards your commitment to myself and @sasaustralia,' he wrote, referencing the recent ratings success of the program.

'Huge congrats to all @channel7 for your #1 success and many thanks towards your commitment to myself and @sasaustralia,' he wrote, referencing the recent ratings success of the program

Lively: Ant looked quite animated as he had a chat over dinner and drinks

He added: 'Proud to be part of the C7 family and also for the Australian public for embracing me as one of their own! I've only just begun!'

He added: 'Proud to be part of the C7 family and also for the Australian public for embracing me as one of their own! I've only just begun!'

Last week, former NRL star Sam Burgess was named the winner of SAS Australia.

He was the only recruit to pass selection.

During his time on SAS, Sam, 32, revealed his issues with addiction and admitted to cheating on his ex-wife Phoebe during their marriage.

Winner: Last week, former NRL star Sam Burgess was named the winner of SAS Australia. He was the only recruit to pass selection

Back for more: Meanwhile, the new celebrity recruits for next year's season of the hit show have been announced

Sam said after being declared the winner: 'What I'm taking from it is I'm going to pour all my time, my emotion, into the places that deserve it in my life.

'It starts with my kids and just making sure I'm the best role model for them. It's just a great lesson in life.'

However, Phoebe has since slammed his 'redemption edit' on the military-style show.

Meanwhile, the new celebrity recruits for next year's season of the hit show have been announced.

The upcoming season will star the likes of former Bachelor star Anna Heinrich, former AFL star Barry Hall, and former swimmer Geoff Huegill.

How will they go? The upcoming season will star the likes of former Bachelor star Anna Heinrich, former AFL star Barry Hall, and former swimmer Geoff Huegill
Lisa Wilkinson makes a series of bombshell claims about her former Today co-host Karl Stefanovic and her departure from Nine in 2017 in her new autobiography.

And the 61-year-old has now revealed why she decided to expose the man she once considered a close friend in her upcoming memoir, It Wasn't Meant to Be Like This.

Lisa told The Daily Telegraph she had waited four years to tell her side of the story and had grown tired of 'keeping men's secrets'.

Revealed: Lisa Wilkinson grabbed coffee in Sydney on Tuesday as her upcoming memoir, It Wasn't Meant to Be Like This, threatens to expose the alleged 'boys' club' at Channel Nine

'There's no opportunity to be a winner when you have a public slanging match,' Lisa said, explaining why she didn't go public when she first left Nine.

'I figured my moment to tell the truth of what happened would come eventually. And I wanted all the heat to be out of it.'

She went on to say she was no longer interested in 'keeping men's secrets' because all this does is 'strengthen the boys' club and do women a disservice'.

Meanwhile, Lisa was spotted going for a solitary stroll in Sydney on Tuesday.

The Sunday Project host dressed casually in jeans, a white T-shirt and green jacket as she visited a local coffee shop.

Candid: Lisa told The Daily Telegraph she'd waited four years to address her unceremonious exit from Nine in 2017 and had finally decided she was tired of 'keeping men's secrets'

The Channel 10 presenter accessorised with white sneakers and a Loewe woven leather bag, and concealed her gaze behind sunglasses.

It comes days after Lisa lifted the lid on her final days working at Nine's Today show in an excerpt from her new book, published in The Sunday Telegraph.

She claimed Karl had given her the cold shoulder in the weeks prior to her sacking over a pay dispute.

Out and about: The Sunday Project host dressed casually in jeans, a white T-shirt and green jacket as she visited a local coffee shop

She explained that she and her husband, Peter FitzSimons, had invited Karl and his partner, Jasmine Yarbrough, to attend their 25th anniversary vow renewal ceremony in October 2017.

Two days before the event, however, Karl and Jasmine contacted Peter to say they wouldn't be attending the celebrations because they'd extended their overseas holiday.

'In the ten days since [the ceremony] Karl hadn't contacted me, his co-host of almost eleven years, at all. No phone message, no text, no apology, not even a simple congrats. Just complete silence,' Lisa alleged.

Bombshell: It comes days after Lisa lifted the lid on her final days working at Nine's Today show in an excerpt from her new book, published in The Sunday Telegraph

After returning to work, Lisa claimed Karl did not ask her about her holidays, nor did he apologise for being a 'no-show at the wedding'.

'For the next two hours, I exchanged not a single word with Karl outside of what was scripted  because for the first time, I just didn't trust myself to "play nice",' she said.

Lisa went on to say she was also 'quietly fuming' because 'nearly every interview that day was being done by Karl alone'.

'For two hours, I sat there feeling completely useless. The Today Show was now The Karl Show. What was the point of me even being there?' she added.
TV veterinarian Katrina Warren has criticised the behaviour of Sydney dog owners in a lengthy rant on Facebook.

Katrina, who used to host Housecat Housecall on Animal Planet, vented her frustrations about pet owners who don't put their dogs on leads in public areas.

The 53-year-old said some of the behaviour she'd seen lately was driving her 'crazy' following a 'recent increase in dog numbers' in the city.

From the expert: TV veterinarian Katrina Warren has slammed Sydney dog owners who don't put their pets on leads in public areas

'Some of the behaviour I am witnessing by some dog owners is driving me more than a little crazy,' she wrote.

'Please put your dog on a lead. Why has this become so difficult?

'This includes cafes, walking on the footpath and at parks that are not designated off-leash. It is for your dog's safety, as well as the safety of other dogs and people.'

'Why has this become so difficult?' The 53-year-old said some of the behaviour she'd seen lately was driving her 'crazy' following a 'recent increase in dog numbers' in the city

Katrina says she now finds it difficult to take her pets out for walks in her local area because of the many 'off-leash dogs'.

'I don't understand it. Your dog may be friendly, but how do you know how the dog they run up to will react? And why is it okay for your dog to be annoying to others?' she asked.

Katrina then blasted dog owners who use the excuse, 'My dog wants to say hello.'

Unwanted attention: Katrina, who hosted Housecat Housecall on Animal Planet, says she finds it difficult to take her pets out for walks in her local area because of the many 'off-leash dogs'

'It can go pear-shaped very quickly, and I have witnessed some dreadful dog fights as a result of this [excuse],' she said.

Katrina rose to fame on Channel 10 children's program Totally Wild in 1994.

She went on to appear on Seven's Harry's Practice as a resident vet, alongside Dr Chris Brown, from 1997 to 2003.

Warren later hosted Beverly Hills Vet in 2003 and Housecat Housecall in 2008 on Animal Planet in the U.S.
Gina Liano is arguably the biggest star to come out of The Real Housewives of Melbourne.

So it's no surprise that loyal viewers were disappointed when the big-haired barrister decided not to return to the series for season five.

Now, in a new interview, the 55-year-old has hinted that she could come back for season six, but it will only be under one condition.

Will she? Former Real Housewives of Melbourne star Gina Liano has revealed the one thing that could make her return to the show

'Put it this way, if the show needed saving, I would feel like, "oh god, I've gotta go in and fix this." I'm a fixer,' she told the Shine It Up podcast.

Gina added that she hasn't decided whether or not she'll return yet, and will only come back if the show truly needs her.

Both Gina and fellow original Housewife Lydia Schiavello opted not to return for season five, leaving the door open for four new cast members to join.

Fixer upper: 'Put it this way, if the show needed saving, I would feel like, "oh god, I've gotta go in and fix this." I'm a fixer,' she told the Shine It Up podcast

In September, she told The Advertiser that she walked away from the hit series to focus on her legal career.

She was originally set to return for the fifth season and was announced as a cast member last year, but it was put on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic, and filming didn't begin until April.

'When season five got cancelled last year I threw myself into my career and when they spoke to me about the new series I thought, I can't take six months off my practice, it's just too destructive,' she explained.

'So I just thought now I'll focus on my career, I've been a barrister since 1999, it's enough.'

Undecided: Gina added that she hasn't decided whether or not she'll return yet, and will only come back if the show truly needs her

Gina also revealed she almost walked away from the show seven years ago but Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Lisa Vanderpump convinced her to stay.

She said: 'I thought it would go under the radar and so when it got lots of attention I remember being a bit overwhelmed.'

'Lisa Vanderpump said to stick with it and make it work...I had so many defending me and that's why I did season two,' she revealed.

Flashback: Season four's Gina, Lydia Schiavello, Sally Bloomfield, and Venus Behbahani-Clark all exited the show before season five

Lydia, Gina, and Chyka Keebaugh have all left Real Housewives of Melbourne, along with season four newbies Venus Behbahani-Clark and Sally Bloomfield.

Season five saw the return of OGs Janet Roach and Jackie Gillies, as well as longtime cast member Gamble Breaux.

They also added four newbies with Kyla Kirkpatrick, Cherry Dipietrantonio, Simone Elliott, and Anjali Rao joining.
Chris Hemsworth has revealed he will be travelling to Cowra after the town launched a campaign encouraging him to visit with his family.

The town of Cowra, in Central West NSW, launched the campaign called 'Get Chris to Cowra' and joked about the idea of erecting a statue called 'The Big Chris'.

The Hollywood star, 37, announced on Instagram, he'll be visiting the regional town when he returns from filming Netflix's smash hit Extraction in Europe.

Showing his support: Chris Hemsworth has confirmed he will be travelling to Cowra after the regional NSW town launched a campaign encouraging him to visit

'Big love to all the folks in Cowra for this amazing campaign, warmed my heart and made me smile! I'm off shooting a film over seas soon but upon return next year I'm comin in hot!!' he wrote.

'Like many regional towns around Australia, Cowra has suffered from a lack of tourism due to COVID-19 pandemic. So when things open up be sure to check out all the amazing places Australia has to offer!'

The campaign video features two locals brainstorming how to convince the actor to visit the town.

Campaign: The town of Cowra, in Central West NSW, launched the campaign called 'Get Chris to Cowra' and joked about the idea of erecting a statue called 'The Big Chris'. Pictured Chris, wife Elsa Pataky and their twin sons

It comes as Chris prepares to travel to Europe to film the sequel to Netflix's smash hit Extraction.

According to Variety, production was due to begin in NSW but has moved to Prague, in the Czech Republic.

Producers reportedly made the decision to relocate to Prague over fears a single Covid case could lead to a total shutdown - which is what happened to the Russell Crowe-directed thriller Poker Face in Sydney recently.

'Other sources put the move into a wider context, explaining that Hemsworth's tight schedule and the growing uncertainties associated with shooting in Australia make relocation a safe choice,' the website added.

Holiday: The Hollywood star, 37, announced on Instagram, he'll be visiting the regional town when he returns from filming Netflix's smash hit Extraction in Europe

Last July, Extraction was named Netflix's most-watched original film of all time.

Extraction follows Tyler Rake (Hemsworth), a former SASR operator-turned-mercenary who is hired by India's biggest drug lord to rescue his son who was kidnapped by Bangladesh's biggest drug lord.

The film is based on the graphic novel Ciudad by Ande Parks, Fernando Leon Gonzalez, Eric Skillman, and the Russo brothers.
She found global fame as one of the stars of the blockbuster comedy Crazy Rich Asians.

And on Monday night, Gemma Chan looked every inch the A-lister as she arrived at the world premiere for Marvel's Eternals in Hollywood.

Chan, 38, stole the show in a diaphanous white gown with a stunning ostrich feather cape that formed a train behind her.

Headliner: Gemma Chan looked every inch the A-lister as she arrived at the world premiere for Marvel's Eternals in Hollywood on Monday night

The London-born actress wore her dark hair in a stylish updo.

Her eyes were shaded with shimmery shadow and rimmed with black liner and mascara.

She added a splash of color with matte ruby red lipstick.

Simply gorgeous: Chan, 38, stole the show in a diaphanous white gown with a stunning ostrich feather cape that formed a train behind her

Natural beauty: Chan wore her dark hair in a stylish updo. Her eyes were rimmed with black liner and mascara and she added a splash of color with matte ruby red lipstick

In demand: The London-born actress found global fame as one of the stars of the blockbuster comedy Crazy Rich Asians. She first joined the MCU as Minn-Erva in 2019's Captain Marvel

Chan plays Sersi in the superhero epic directed by Nomadland Oscar winner Chloe Zhao.

The star-studded cast also includes Angelina Jolie, Salma Hayek, Kumail Nanjiani, Brian Tyree Henry and Richard Madden.

The movie centers on a group of ageless superhumans as they strive to protect mankind through the centuries and it opens on November 5.

In an interview with EW.com, Chan said of her character: 'She's a free spirit. She's not your typical warrior-fighter kind of superhero. And I was interested in this mix of characters as well, them coming together and [figuring out] what they're like as a slightly dysfunctional family.'
While all eyes might be on the current batch of hot singletons on Love Island Australia, host Sophie Monk certainly knows how to steal the limelight.

Over the past three seasons, the 41-year-old stunner has paraded around the villa, showcasing her enviable wardrobe.

While the first Recoupling Ceremony was one to watch, fans got more than they bargained for when Sophie stepped out in a hot pink fitted mini-dress by Alex Perry.

Pretty in pink: While all eyes might be on the current batch of hot singletons on Love Island Australia, host Sophie Monk certainly knows how to steal the limelight

She wore her long blonde hair slicked back in a high ponytail, keeping the focus on her impressive physique.

Earlier this season, Sophie arrived at the villa in a hot pink and orange patterned one-shoulder gown.

The dress also included a fishtail detail, allowing her long legs to be on full display from one side.

Making an entrance: Earlier this season, Sophie arrived at the villa in a hot pink and orange patterned one-shoulder gown

Even the Islanders were enamoured by her fancy outfit, with Ari saying: 'She looks like a Christmas present!'

Meanwhile, in season two Sophie stepped out in a fluro mini, which accentuated her incredibly fit frame.

That same season, Sophie showed off her wild side, posing in a leopard-print dress by Versace, which costs $3,075.

Not so mellow yellow: In season two, Sophie stepped out in a fluro mini, which accentuated her incredibly fit frame

Animal instincts: Sophie showed off her wild side, posing in a leopard-print dress by Versace, which costs $3,075

It appears the wardrobe budget on the Channel Nine reality show was a lot more generous in season two.

At the time, Sophie also stepped out in a fabulous top and skirt by famed French fashion house, Chanel.

Her matching nude ensemble retailed for $4,660.

Designer everything: Sophie also stepped out in a fabulous top and skirt by famed French fashion house, Chanel

For the grand finale of the same season, Sophie opted for a low-cut purple evening gown with a thigh split.

She accessorised the bright dress diamond drop earrings, while the straps were held together with an intricate diamante chain.

Love Island Australia continues Tuesday at 8.45pm on Channel Nine
Kumail Nanjiani honored his native homeland Pakistan while attending the world premiere of his new movie Eternals, with wife Emily V. Gordon.

The 43-year-old actor plays Kingo, one of the title characters in this highly-anticipated Marvel Studios adventure, arriving in theaters November 5.

The actor also teamed up with designer Umar Sayeed, based in Nanjiani's hometown of Karachi, and stylist Jeanne Yang to create his traditional red carpet look.

Honored: Kumail Nanjiani honored his native homeland Pakistan while attending the world premiere of his new movie Eternals, with wife Emily V. Gordon

Traditional: The actor also teamed up with designer Umar Sayeed, based in Nanjiani's hometown of Karachi, and stylist Jeanne Yang to create his traditional red carpet look

Nanjiani stepped out with a traditional purple and gold Pakistani sherwani for his red carpet appearance.

He completed his look with matching purple pants and black Christian Louboutin dress shoes and a Patek Philippe watch as he posed alongside his wife.

Gordon was wearing a full length white dress with black stripes and ornate diamond earrings with her hair pulled back into a pony tail.

Traditional: Nanjiani stepped out with a traditional purple and gold Pakistani sherwani for his red carpet appearance

New look: He completed his look with matching purple pants and black Christian Louboutin dress shoes and a Patek Philippe watch as he posed alongside his wife

Emily's look: Gordon was wearing a full length white dress with black stripes and ornate diamond earrings with her hair pulled back into a pony tail

Nanjiani revealed to The Hollywood Reporter on Monday that he turned to his mother Shabana to find a Pakistani designer to help him with his red carpet look.

'I wanted to wear a Sherwani because 1. They look awesome and 2. My costume in the film always reminded me of Sherwanis,' Nanjiani began.

'And I wanted to use a designer in Pakistan, not just a Pakistani designer in the U.S. So I called my mom, she gave me names of three amazing designers in Pakistan,' he added.

Pakistani designer: Nanjiani revealed to The Hollywood Reporter on Monday that he turned to his mother Shabana to find a Pakistani designer to help him with his red carpet look

Awesome: 'I wanted to wear a Sherwani because 1. They look awesome and 2. My costume in the film always reminded me of Sherwanis,' Nanjiani began

The actor's stylist Jennie Yang connected with Karachi, Pakistan-based House of Umar Sayeed, and sent him pictures of Nanjiani's costume in Eternals.

'I wanted the colors to be similar to my costume colors, and purple and gold are a beautiful combination. The paisley pattern is very traditional as well,' Nanjiani said.

Stylist Yang added, 'They hand-beaded this beautiful paisley pattern in the front and they did this beautiful pattern on the back with gold thread. They made it to his exact measurements. We only had to do a few minor adjustments.'

Costume: The actor's stylist Jennie Yang connected with Karachi, Pakistan-based House of Umar Sayeed, and sent him pictures of Nanjiani's costume in Eternals

Similar: 'I wanted the colors to be similar to my costume colors, and purple and gold are a beautiful combination. The paisley pattern is very traditional as well,' Nanjiani said

Eternals follows a race of immortal beings who have lived on Earth since the dawn of time and helped shape history.

Nanjiani also stars alongside Angelina Jolie, Gemma Chan, Salma Hayek, Kit Harington, Richard Madden and Brian Tyree Henry, to name a few.

The actor will next be seen in the highly-anticipated Obi-Wan Kenobi TV series, which debuts next year on Disney Plus.

Cast: Nanjiani also stars alongside Angelina Jolie, Gemma Chan, Salma Hayek, Kit Harington, Richard Madden and Brian Tyree Henry, to name a few
Married At First Sight's Bryce Ruthven and Melissa Rawson announced the birth of their twin sons on Monday.

And on Tuesday, the 32-year-old radio presenter was spotted running last-minute errands in Melbourne as he prepared to welcome home his babies who were born 10 weeks early.

Bryce was seen picking up several boxes for his nursery from the local post office, which included a bassinet and two infant car seats.

Baby love: Married At First Sight's Bryce Ruthven, 32, (pictured) was seen for the first time on Tuesday since welcoming twins with Melissa Rawson

At one point Bryce looked confused while looking at his car boot trying to work out how he would fit all of his packages.

He kept a low-profile, opting for comfort in a black hoodie and tan coloured shorts and flip flops.

Bryce took safety precautions and was seen wearing a blue surgical mask during the outing.

Baby joy! Bryce and Melissa announced they welcomed twin sons on Monday

Incoming! The radio presenter was spotted running last-minute errands in Melbourne as he prepared to welcome home his babies

Comfortable: Bryce kept a low-profile, opting for comfort in a black hoodie and tan coloured shorts and flip flops

After unloading his packages at his Melbourne home, Bryce changed into workout clothes before he was seen running around his neighbourhood.

Bryce announced the news on Monday in a statement to New Idea, revealing that Melissa had given birth two days earlier.

'We had planned to spend the weekend building the nursery and setting things up for the twins, but that all changed early Saturday morning,' he said.

Delivery: Bryce was seen picking up several boxes for his nursery from the local post office, which included a bassinet and two infant car seats

Heavy lifting: Bryce was seen making several rounds from the post office to his car

Hmm: At one point Bryce looked confused while looking at his car boot trying to work out how he would fit all of his packages

'Even though the boys have arrived early, they're doing really well and are getting the best care possible.'

Bryce thanked the staff at Melbourne's Frankston Hospital, where Melissa gave birth.

'The boys are going to spend a few weeks in NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit). They're responding well to treatment and are squeezing our fingers which is the best feeling in the world,' he added.

Heavy: Bryce unloaded the packages from his boot onto the grass before he took them into his home one by one

Twice the fun: Bryce appeared to have ordered two of every item

Bryce also posted a video on Instagram of Melissa in hospital preparing to give birth two days earlier.

Dressed in scrubs, a beaming Bryce said: 'Twin boys didn't want to stay inside and play. They wanted to come out and meet us in the real world.'

'I'm only 29 weeks, so they're very, very early. Fingers crossed everything is good,' Melissa added.

Fit: Bryce then changed into workout clothes before he went for a run around his neighbourhood

Working up a sweat: Bryce appeared to be listening to music as he jogged on the footpath

Bryce later shared a series of photos taken after Melissa had given birth.

One image showed Bryce smiling as he displayed the shaka hand sign, while another included a glimpse of the newborns being cared for by medical staff.

Melissa and Bryce, both 32, surprised fans in July when they announced they were expecting twins and engaged to be married.

Premature arrival: Bryce announced the news on Monday in a statement to New Idea, revealing that Melissa had given birth two days earlier

It's go-time! Bryce also posted a video on Instagram of Melissa in hospital preparing to give birth two days earlier

'It's been a whirlwind but we're so incredibly happy,' workplace trainer Melissa told New Idea at the time.

She admitted she 'couldn't stop crying and said 'holy s**t seven times' after the nurse told her she was pregnant with twins during her first ultrasound scan.

In August, the couple announced via Instagram they were expecting two boys.
Kate Ritchie set tongues wagging on Tuesday when she shared a photo of what looked very much like her old stomping ground on Home and Away.

The radio star, 43, posted an image of a region that looked similar to Sydney's Palm Beach on her Instagram Stories.

The upmarket region is where the soap is filmed and stands in for the fictional suburb of Summer Bay.

Hint? Kate Ritchie (pictured) set tongues wagging on Tuesday when she shared a photo of what looked very much like her old stomping ground on Home and Away

The actress, who now appears on the Kate, Tim & Joel show on NOVA, has discussed her fondness for the long-running series in recent months.

In an interview with WHO Magazine, Kate, who is best known for her iconic role as Sally Fletcher on the Aussie soap, hinted she may return to Summer Bay.

The actress reflected on her time on the popular Channel 7 show, and said she will always be attached to Sally.

Beachy keen: The radio star, 43, posted an image of a region that looked similar to Sydney's Palm Beach on her Instagram Stories. The upmarket region is where the soap is filmed and stands in for the fictional suburb of Summer Bay

'I will always feel attached to Home and Away,' she told the publication.

'How could I not? It trained and nurtured me. It offered me some of the most wonderful years of my life and, for a long time, defined who I was.'

The NOVA FM star added that she is often nostalgic about the memories she experienced on-set.

The hay days: Kate starred as Sally Fletcher on the Aussie soap opera Home and Away alongside the late Heath Ledger (right). She was on the show between 1988 and 2013

'Even now, with some distance from those days and having had the chance to develop into my own person without the security blanket of Sally, I still miss it desperately,' she said.

However, at the time, Kate, who appeared on the show between 1988 and 2013, denied chatter that she might return to the show any time soon.

'But I also realise I'll never be able to recreate that time, nor do I need to,' she added.
Richard Madden showed off a new look on the red carpet of the world premiere of Marvel's Eternals in Los Angeles on Monday.

The actor, 35, arrived to the event with freshly dyed dark brown locks, ditching his trademark white streak.

The film star sported a cropped haircut and looked dapper in a black blazer and trousers with a crisp white shirt all by Giorgio Armani.

Event: Richard Madden showed off his freshly dyed locks on the red carpet of the world premiere of Marvel's Eternals in Los Angeles on Monday

He completed his look at the star-studded event with a pair of black shoes and a matching bow tie.

Richard does sport his white streak in Eternals where he plays comic book character Ikaris.

More than a decade after they shared the screen as the sons of Ned Stark on Game of Thrones, Richard has reunited with Kit Karington in the new Marvel film.

Kit, 34, played the iconic character Jon Snow in Game of Thrones, which debuted in April 2011, while Richard played Robb Stark in the first three seasons.

Look: The actor, 35, arrived to the event with dark brown hair, ditching his trademark white streak (pictured in 2019)

While they both hit the red carpet separately, they reunited in the Eternals movie, with Kit playing Dane Whitman.

Kit hit the red carpet with a brown shirt under a pinstriped suit coat, with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows.

He also wore matching black pinstriped pants with a black leather watch strapped to his left wrist.

The Gunpowder star completed his look with black shoes featuring white soles for his red carpet look that included a trimmed beard and mustache.

Dapper: The film star sported a cropped haircut and looked dapper in a black blazer and trousers with a crisp white shirt all by Giorgio Armani

Kit's look: Joining him on the red carpet was Kit Harington who sported a brown shirt under a pinstriped suit coat, with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows

Richard's Robb Stark was the oldest son of Lord Eddard 'Ned' Stark (Sean Bean) on Game of Thrones and considered to be the future of House Stark.

He starred in the first three seasons of the show before his untimely death at his own wedding in the ninth (of ten) episode in Season 3, known as the Red Wedding.

Robb, his wife Talisa (Oona Chaplin), their unborn child and Robb's mother, Catelyn Stark (Michelle Fairley) were all murdered during the slaughter.

Future: Kit and Richard starred together on Game of Thrones where Richard's Robb Stark was the oldest son of Lord Eddard 'Ned' Stark (Sean Bean) and considered the future of House Stark

Kit's Jon Snow, however, started the series believing he was the bastard son of the otherwise honorable Ned Stark, but that wasn't true.

He was in fact the son of Ned's sister, Lyanna Stark, and Rhaegar Targaryen, making him the true heir to the Iron Throne.

Jon is one of the few to survive the show from the first episode to the last, shown leading the wildlings north of The Wall in the series finale.

Bastard: Harington's Jon Snow, however, started the series believing he was the bastard son of the otherwise honorable Ned Stark, but that wasn't true

Eternals follows a race of immortal beings who have lived on Earth since the dawn of time and helped shape history.

Kit and Richard are part of an all-star cast that also includes Angelina Jolie, Gemma Chan, Kumail Nanjiani, Salma Hayek and Brian Tyree Henry.

While Harington doesn't have another project lined up as of yet, Madden is currently filming the Amazon mini-series Citadel.

Immortal: Eternals follows a race of immortal beings who have lived on Earth since the dawn of time and helped shape history
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The first trailer for Maggie Gyllenhaal's directorial debut, The Lost Daughter, has finally being released.

The gripping clip focused on Olivia Colman who plays main character Leda Caruso, as she reflected on her troubled past in the emotional scenes.

Olivia, 47, put on a powerful performance in the promo, bursting into tears and wailing with grief.

The Lost Daughter first look: Weeping Olivia Colman was forced to confront her troubled past in the trailer for Maggie Gyllenhaal's directorial debut

Actress Olivia's character Leda could be seen arriving on a summer holiday in the opening scene of the clip after travelling to an idyllic Greek island.

After settling in, she enjoyed some time on the nearby sandy beach, watching fellow holiday makers swimming in the sea and enjoy trips out on speedboats.

Leda was seen setting her sights on a mother and her young daughter, a duo who remind her of her past.

She then followed the family as they enjoyed their time in the small resort village.

Troubled: The gripping clip focused on Olivia Colman who plays main character Leda Caruso, as she reflected on her troubled past in the emotional scenes

Lone traveller: Olivia's character Leda could be seen arriving on a summer holiday in the opening scene of the clip after travelling to an idyllic Greek island

Time alone: After settling in, she enjoyed some time on the nearby sandy beach, watching fellow holiday makers swimming in the sea and enjoy trips out on speedboats

Raw emotion: Leda was seen setting her sights on a mother and her young daughter, a duo who remind her of her past

Awkward scenes followed as Leda was confronted about her actions, and she became increasingly emotional and unable to cope as she unraveled, as seeing the family prompted her own internal struggle to surface.

The family were then seen frantically searching for their daughter after she went missing, with scenes suggesting Leda was involved.

As the trailer closed, Leda could be seen stumbling around on the beach at night before collapsing.

Making tracks: She could then be seen following the family as they enjoyed their time in the small resort village

Internal struggle: Seeing the mother and daughter enjoy time on holiday with their family prompted an internal battle in Leda

Look out: Leda could be seen following the family around the resort town while staying on the island

Development on The Lost Daughter began in 2018 when it was announced that Gyllenhaal had acquired the rights to the project.

The feature was based on Elena Ferrante's 2006 novel of the same name, which was originally published under the title La figlia oscura.

In addition to directing the feature, the Hank actress penned its screenplay and served as one of its producers.

Harrowing tale: The family were then seen frantically searching for their daughter after she went missing, with scenes suggesting Leda was involved

Tome: The Lost Daughter was based on Elena Ferrante's 2006 novel of the same name, which was originally published under the title La figlia oscura

Tough times: It tells the story of Olivia's character Leda who is drawn to a mother and her young daughter while on holiday, causing her to unravel

Work of art: The feature is currently set to make its wide debut on the Netflix streaming service on December 31st

The cast of the film includes performers such as Ed Harris, Peter Sarsgaard and Oliver Jackson-Cohen, among numerous others.

The feature eventually had its premiere at the 78th Venice International Film Festival, where Gyllehnaal was given the Golden Osella Award for Best Screenplay.

The Lost Daughter received overwhelmingly positive reviews upon its release, and it currently has a rating of 94% on Rotten Tomatoes.

The feature is currently set to make its wide debut on the Netflix streaming service on December 31.
Chrissie Swan demonstrated her unique method of cleaning her smart phone.

On Tuesday's episode of The Project, the Celebrity MasterChef Australia star insisted she had no need for an Apple branded polishing cloth.

'I have no use for this. This is how I clean my phone. Are you ready?' she warned her co-hosts.

Handy: Chrissie Swan (pictured) demonstrated her unique method of cleaning her smart phone. On Tuesday's episode of The Project, the Celebrity MasterChef Australia star insisted she had no need for an Apple branded polishing cloth

Chrissie then began wiping the phone against her bust while smiling widely.

'Like that. The patented boob wipe!' she declared, as the camera zoomed in on her chest.

'Get a close-up! Yeah! That's all you've got to do!' she added while suggestively wiping the phone in circles.

Not just a pretty face: 'Like that. The patented boob wipe!' she declared, as the camera zoomed in on her chest. 'Get a close-up! Yeah! That's all you've got to do!' she added while suggestively wiping the phone

'Look at that. Shiny!' she said, showing off her now clean phone screen, while her co-stars laughed uproariously.

The panel discussed how useful Apple's new iPhone cleaning cloth actually could be.

'Apparently this cloth is safe, though. No other method of cleaning your phone is safe,' host Carrie Bickmore said.

'Look at that. Shiny!' she said, showing off her now clean phone screen, while her co-stars laughed uproariously

'How is it not safe!' Chrissie insisted of her method, then added, 'It feels great!'

Apple recently released the $29 cloth, which is compatible with products dating back to 2010.

The site claims: 'Made with soft, non-abrasive material, the Polishing Cloth cleans any Apple display, including nano-texture glass, safely and effectively.'
She confirmed last month she and husband Michael Fassbender had welcomed their first child together earlier this year.

And Alicia Vikander was every inch the doting mum as she enjoyed a day out in Paris with her little one on Monday.

The actress, 33, opted for a laid back look for the outing as she donned a grey Richer Poorer tracksuit while carrying the couple's child in her arms.

Family: Alicia Vikander was every inch the doting mum as she enjoyed a day out in Paris with her little one on Monday

She completed her casual look with a dark coat, designer bag and trendy sunglasses as she made her way down the street in the French capital.

Alicia went makeup free for the day out and tied her hair up in a practical bun as she sat at an outdoor cafe with a male companion.

The couple were spotted out and about with a baby during a recent trip to Ibiza and Alicia shortly afterwards revealed she welcomed her first child earlier in 2021.

Casual: The actress, 33, opted for a laid back look for the outing as she donned a grey tracksuit while carrying the child in her arms

During a recent chat with People magazine about her role in latest film Blue Bayou, Alicia touched on becoming a mother as she explained: 'I now have a whole new understanding of life in general

'That's pretty beautiful and obviously will give a lot to any of my work in the future.'

The star added she feels 'more content and happy than I've ever been.'

Parisian life: Alicia went makeup free for the day out and tied her hair up in a practical bun as she sat at an outdoor cafe with a male companion

When asked how life had changed since having a baby, she said: 'No, I think I'll wait with that one," she says. "I'm enjoying finding it out in the moment right now, more than anything.'

The couple were also seen pushing a baby in a stroller during a day out in Paris in late August.

While speculation was previously fuelled earlier that month when they were seen holding a baby while in Ibiza, Spain.

The couple, who currently live together in Lisbon, Portugal, are known for being notoriously private.

They haven't previously spoken about whether they would have children together.

Michael and Alicia tied the knot in October 2017 - three years after they began dating, following meeting on set of The Light Between Oceans.
Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly were joined by their glamorous wives Anne-Marie Corbett and Ali Astall at an addiction awareness event in London on Tuesday.

The Geordie duo, both 46, attended the engagement at the BAFTA headquarters in Piccadilly with supportive partners Anne-Marie, 43, and Ali, also 43.

The event, hosted by drug and alcohol dependence charity the Forward Trust, saw the Duchess deliver a keynote address launching the 'Taking Action on Addiction' campaign, before chatting candidly to Ant about his past alcoholism.

Support: Ant McPartlin (left) and Declan Donnelly were joined by their glamorous wives Anne-Marie Corbett (right) and Ali Astall at an addiction awareness event in London on Tuesday

Heading inside: Dec and Ali linked arms as they headed to the event together

Chat: During the event, Ant spoke to The Duchess about his past struggles, telling her 'it was bad' by the time he asked for help'

Ant, who has received treatment for drink and drug addiction, arrived in a dapper navy suit which he teamed with a light shirt.

Meanwhile his new wife Anne-Marie wowed in a form-fitting green midi dress teamed with black heels.

During the event, Ant spoke to The Duchess about his past struggles, telling her 'it was bad' by the time he asked for help.

He said: 'A lot of people don't know where to turn or what to do they get lost.'

The Duchess then replied: 'The more you speak to everybody and hearing some of their stories today once you start sharing your story there are so many people who have experienced it themselves, or have known someone.'

Candid: Ant told The Duchess: 'A lot of people don't know where to turn or what to do they get lost'

Having their say: Ant and Dec gave a speech at the event on stage

Ant replied: 'I felt that myself. By the time I asked for help it was bad. But as soon as you open up to people the problems start to disappear. It gets better.'

She then said: 'You hear this time and time again it gets to this point [where people say] 'I wish I had had this support earlier.'

Dec replied saying: 'You hear so many people saying, 'Things did not change until I hit rock bottom. If we can stop people hitting rock bottom, wherever that is it would make such a difference.'

Meanwhile, Ali looked smart in a black dress and overcoat as she held onto the arm of a suave-looking Dec as they made their way inside.

Looking good: Anne-Marie was radiant in her emerald number which featured a black lace trim on the sleeves

Wow! The Duchess of Cambridge looked radiant in a bold red ensemble as she arrived

Style: Anne-Marie later covered up with a black cardigan and toted a leather bag

Kind: The Duchess of Cambridge, who became patron of the Forward Trust in June, spent time hearing about how the charity's work has helped people battling addiction and their families

The Duchess of Cambridge, who became patron of the Forward Trust in June, spent time hearing about how the charity's work has helped people battling addiction and their families.

She delivered a speech launching the new Taking Action on Addiction campaign, which will work to improve awareness and understanding of addiction, its causes and scale in society to enable more people to ask for and receive help.

The launch coincides with Addiction Awareness Week, running from 18 to 24 October, which aims to provide a platform to highlight the challenges of addiction, to engage with people and families affected, and to raise public awareness.

Couple: Ali looked smart in a black dress and overcoat as she held onto the arm of a suave-looking Dec as they made their way inside

Out and about: The Geordie duo, both 46, attended the engagement at the BAFTA headquarters in Piccadilly

Friendly: Dec gave a wave to his fans as he left after the event

Over the last ten years, the Duchess's experience working with addiction charities has helped lay the groundwork for her understanding of the complexities of mental health and has informed much of her work on the early years.

Experiences in early childhood, before the age of five, are proven to have significant impact on adult lives, including resilience and the ability to cope with adversity.

Addiction is also close to Ant and Dec's hearts. Ant has faced several hardships in recent years, going through a divorce from wife of 11 years, Lisa Armstrong, and entering rehab for alcohol and drug addiction.

Journey: Addiction is also close to Ant (pictured) and Dec's hearts. Ant has faced several hardships in recent years, going through a divorce from wife of 11 years, Lisa Armstrong, and entering rehab for alcohol and drug addiction

Details: Ali accessorized her look perfectly with a smart black Gucci handbag

Duo: The pair have worked together for many years and attended the event with their wives

Smart: They looked dapper in their suits

The presenter then took a break from presenting duties after he was arrested for drink-driving in March 2018, while he and Dec were still hosting Saturday Night Takeaway.

Ant told police he was 'ashamed and mortified' after crashing his car while drink-driving with his mother in the passenger seat.

The Forward Trust has been helping people break the destructive cycle of addiction and build positive and productive futures since 1991.

The Duchess of Cambridge became Patron of the Forward Trust in June 2021 when the charity merged with Action on Addiction, which was one of Her Royal Highness' first Patronages in 2012.

It comes after Ant tied the knot for a second time with former PA Anne-Marie in early August. He was previously married to make-up artist Lisa, who he divorced in 2018.

Held at St Michael's Church in Hampshire, Ant and Anne-Marie's star-studded guest list included Best Man Declan, Phillip Schofield, Stephen Mulhern and Alesha Dixon.

Emotional Ant told how he 'fought to hold it together' when his new wife walked down the aisle during their nuptials.

The TV star spoke candidly about the moment, and said: 'When Anne-Marie walked into the church, I had to fight to hold it together as she looked so beautiful,' reported The Sun.

All smiles: Dec looked in great spirits as he arrived at the event hosted by the The Duchess

Following rehab, Ant took a year out from TV and he and Lisa parted ways, with their divorce being finalised in April 2020.

According to reports, during his heartfelt monologue, he also thanked Anne-Marie's mother for allowing him to marry her daughter, as well as honouring his own mum.

TV co-host Dec told guests how Ant was the 'best friend a man could have', and also read aloud a prayer.

Ant was married to Lisa Armstrong for 12 years. The pair, who were together for 23 years, confirmed their split in 2018, following Ant's stint in rehab the previous year where he sought treatment for his painkiller addiction.
Natalie Barr is not a fan of the cut-out dress trend.

The Sunrise star, 53, shared a photo of a pastel green frock to her Instagram on Tuesday, revealing she had to wear a belt over the slash at the midriff.

'Okay girls... anyone else struggling to find clothes without cutouts all over them!!' she wrote in her caption.

Not a fan: Natalie Barr (pictured) is not a fan of the cut-out dress trend. The Sunrise star, 53, shared a photo of a pastel green frock to her Instagram on Tuesday, revealing she had to wear a belt over the slash at the midriff

'I mean I hate to sound old but really, they're taking over. Love the dress but had to hide this one under a belt this morning'.

Cut-out dresses have become all the rage in Hollywood, with many big stars wearing the trend.

It involves frocks having sections cut out in various areas, including the midriff or chest, to show off a hint of skin.

On trend: Cut-out dresses have become all the rage in Hollywood, with many big stars wearing the trend. Pictured: Carey Mulligan

Bits and pieces: It involves frocks having sections cut out in various areas, including the midriff or chest, to show off a hint of skin. Pictured: Viola Davis

It comes after Natalie revealed the surprisingly simple way she handles vile keyboard warriors.

'I think the easiest thing is to block them and not get sucked in,' Natalie told New Idea.

The veteran TV journalist has been heavily attacked by online trolls ever since she took over from Samantha Armytage as the host of Sunrise.

Easy! It comes after Natalie revealed the surprisingly simple way she handles vile keyboard warriors

In a joint interview with her co-star, Edwina Bartholomew said she has taken a leaf out of Nat's book when it comes to handling the trolls.

'I used to weigh into it a lot more and fixate on it, but it can be really bad for your mental health,' she told the publication.

'I take the same approach as Nat now and I tend to block, occasionally I engage if it's informative...but I don't go further down the rabbit hole.'
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Angelina Jolie's daughter Shiloh Jolie-Pitt wore a dress on the red carpet for the first time at the Eternals premiere in Los Angeles on Monday.

The 15-year-old student often wears slacks when joining her mother at public events, but opted for a new look as she posed outside the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.

Shiloh looked lovely in a tan hanky hem dress paired with white leather ballet flat shoes and gold anklets.

Also at the event were her siblings Maddox, 20, Zahara, 16, and 13-year-old twins Vivienne and Knox. The only member of the Jolie-Pitt brood not in attendance was Pax, 17.

Shi shines: Angelina Jolie 's daughter Shiloh Jolie-Pitt often wears slacks when joining her mother on the red carpet. But on Monday evening at the Eternals film premiere in Los Angeles, the 15-year-old Los Angeles resident modeled a dress

Last year, Shiloh's father Brad Pitt was said to be 'so proud of Shiloh and who she had become' as he celebrated the teenager's 14th birthday.

'Brad is so proud of Shiloh and who she has become,' a source told Entertainment Tonight. 'He loves that she always stays true to herself and is so good to her brothers and sisters.'

Meanwhile, Angelina spoke out about Shiloh's androgynous dress sense, saying her daughter considered herself to be 'one of the brothers'.

'She wants to be a boy,' she told Vanity Fair in 2011. 'So we had to cut her hair. She likes to wear boys' everything. She thinks she's one of the brothers.'

Apparently coining a new fashion term, she said: 'Shiloh, we feel, has Montenegro style. She dresses like a little dude. It's how people dress there. She likes tracksuits, she likes [regular] suits.'

Family first! Angelina was joined on the red carpet by five of her six children, (L-R) Maddox, Vivienne, Zahara, Shiloh and Knox as they posed outside the Dolby Theatre ahead of the film screening

Back in 2008 it was revealed that Shiloh had requested she be addressed as John since the age of two.

Brad told Oprah Winfrey: 'She only wants to be called John. John or Peter. So its a Peter Pan thing. So weve got to call her John. "Shi, do you want" "John. Im John." And then Ill say, "John, would you like some orange juice?" And she goes, "No!"

'So, you know, its just that kind of stuff thats cute to parents and its probably really obnoxious to other people.'

Like mom: Shiloh looked lovely in a tan hanky hem dress paired with white leather ballet flat shoes and gold anklets. Shiloh was born to Angelina and Brad Pitt in Swakopmund, Namibia in 2006

Addressing the name change at the time, Angelina said that there was no need to 'interpret' anything from the request.

In an interview with The Daily Mail, Angelina said: 'I dont think its for the world to interpret anything. She likes to dress like a boy and wants her hair cut like a boy and she wanted to be called John for a while.

'Some kids wear capes and want to be Superman and she wants to be like her brothers. Its who she is. Its been a surprise to us and its really interesting, but shes so much more than that  shes funny and sweet and pretty. But she does love a tie

Suited up: At the premiere 45th Annual Annie Awards at Royce Hall in LA in 2018, Shilo wore a black suit as mom had on a gold dress and Zahara modeled a black outfit

Angelina and Brad welcomed Shiloh, their third child and first biological baby, in Swakopmund, Namibia in 2006.

The youngster is home schooled with her other siblings and is learning about her home country in Africa. The granddaughter of Jon Voight also likes to paint and ride her bicycle, her mother previously told Vogue.

The teen is no stranger to the red carpet - she has already posed at the premieres of Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, Dumbo and Kung Fu Panda 3.

But when on the carpet for those splashy events, Shiloh opted for jeans or slacks with hoodies.

More casual: And at the European premiere of Maleficent: Mistress of Evil at Odeon IMAX Waterloo in 2019 in London, Shi had on a zip up jacket and slacks

Shiloh and her siblings were out in force to support their mother Angelina at the Eternals premiere.

The 46-year-old Oscar winner plays fierce warrior Thena, who can form any weapon out of cosmic energy, in the MCU flick, which hits US/UK theaters on November 5.

Angelina made quite the fashion statement wearing a bold gold chin cuff which injected even more glamour to her already head-turning piece.

The Eternals, set for release in cinemas in November, follows a race of immortal beings with superhuman powers who are secretly living on Earth.

As well as starring Richard Madden, Kit Harington and Don Lee, the movie will see Jolie, Salma Hayek, Gemma Chan and Lauren Ridloff appear as superheroes too.

Solo shot: The kids - minus 17-year-old son Pax Thien - dutifully gave their mom room to pose on her own at the event

Angelina told Extra's Samantha Harris that her kids don't talk much about her Marvel character.

'I think they just find me funny,' she said, adding, 'I think someone said the other day, "Isnt it amazing you can like fly a plane and do all the stuff at the U.N. and you can be in a Marvel movie, but you cant make eggs?"'

But there is one domestic duty she enjoys: 'Dishes, I dont mind dishes.'

And she also said she was a very hands on mom that changed diapers: 'I used to get peed on a lot, you know, when you are changing diapers and stuff and you are on the way out that was always a fun time.'

Family first! The brood looked in good spirits as they cosied up together for snaps on the red carpet

Full house: Jolie and her blended brood seemed excited to dress up and watch their famous mother's movie as a family

As far as raising her kids, she said she tries to teach them to 'be their true selves and teaching them to be able to hold on to that We are all born powerful We just get a lot that breaks us down I hope they are soft, I hope they are kind, and I hope they feel strong enough to protect that.'

Nearly all of Angelina's children were present for the special event, except for her 17-year-old son Pax.

She shares her six children with her ex-husband Brad, whom she is in the midst of a tense divorce battle with.

Last month, DailyMail.com exclusively revealed how Jolie was trying to sell her 50% stake in the vineyard that she shared with Pitt, held through her company, Nouvel.

Her move to sell - which she did this month on October 6 - was branded 'vindictive and systematic obstruction' by the actor in bitter lawsuit.

The estate - now valued at $164 million - is where the couple tied the knot in 2008.

Eternals will be released in U.S. and UK theatres on November 5, 2021.
Flavor Flav, from legendary rap group Public Enemy, was arrested for a domestic violence incident in Nevada.

The 62-year-old rapper - real name William Jonathan Drayton Jr. - was booked for a misdemeanor charge of domestic battery on Tuesday, October 5 by Henderson PD according to law enforcement sources for TMZ on Monday.

Their sources said that police had responded to a call about a domestic disturbance and when they arrived they placed Flav into custody where he was taken to the Henderson Detention Center.

Tough times: Flavor Flav, from legendary rap group Public Enemy, was arrested for a domestic violence incident in Nevada according to TMZ on Monday; his recent mugshot is shown

According to the criminal complaint obtained by TMZ, the rapper allegedly poked his finger on the alleged victim's nose, grabbed her, threw her down, and grabbed a phone out of her hand.

They also report that the City Attorney says the former star of Flavor Of Love has been officially charged with misdemeanor battery constituting domestic violence.

Flav's attorney David Chesnoff told TMZ: 'In alleged domestic violence cases, there are often 2 sides to the story and we will explain our side in the courtroom and not in the media.'

Regardless of the trouble with the law, the rapper seems to be turning things around as his manager told the publication that Flav has been sober from alcohol for a year and that it has been 15 months since he quit smoking cigarettes.

Time is ticking: The 62-year-old rapper - real name William Jonathan Drayton Jr. - (seen in July 2019) was booked for a misdemeanor charge of domestic battery on Tuesday, October 5 by Henderson PD according to law enforcement sources fort the publication

Iconic: He is a founding member of legendary hip-hop group Public Enemy, as he is seen in LA back in October 1989 with George Clinton (center)

The artist first gained recognition as he co-founded legendary hip-hop act Public Enemy in 1985. He is the hype man of the group in addition to playing multiple instruments.

Things have been tumultuous between the group members in recent years as he was the band said it was 'moving forward' without Flav, officially ending his 37-year career with the group, back in March 2020.

'Public Enemy and Public Enemy Radio will be moving forward without Flavor Flav,' the group announced. 'We thank him for his years of service and wish him well.'

Troubling: According to the criminal complaint obtained by TMZ, the rapper allegedly poked his finger on the alleged victim's nose, grabbed her, threw her down, and grabbed a phone out of her hand, as the hype man is seen in January 2020

This came days after Flav had issued a cease and desist to Bernie Sanders' campaign ahead of a rally in Los Angeles featuring a performance by a version of Public Enemy.

The hype man's cease and desist took issue with what he said was 'the unauthorized use of [Flavor Flavs] likeness, image and trademarked clock in promotional materials circulated by the [Sanders] campaign.'

'While Chuck is certainly free to express his political view as he sees fit  his voice alone does not speak for Public Enemy,' reads an excerpt of the letter.

'The planned performance will only be Chuck D of Public Enemy, it will not be a performance by Public Enemy. Those who truly know what Public Enemy stands for know what time it is, there is no Public Enemy without Flavor Flav,' the excerpt continues.

Flav's (seen in August 2019) attorney David Chesnoff told TMZ: 'In alleged domestic violence cases, there are often 2 sides to the story and we will explain our side in the courtroom and not in the media'

At the end of the letter, Flavor Flav added a hand-written note stating, 'Hey Bernie, don't do this!!'

Flavor Flav has been in conflict with the group since 2017, when he sued main MC of the group, Chuck D, and the band's management firm over unpaid royalties and merchandise profits.

Chuck D - real name Carlton Ridenhour - added a pointed statement that seemed to indicate his partnership with Flavor Flav was coming to an end shortly after the cease and desist was sent.

Fight The Power: Things have been tumultuous between Public Enemy (seen in March 2020) in recent years as he was the band said it was 'moving forward' without Flav, officially ending his 37-year career with the group, back in March 2020.

'Flavor chooses to dance for his money and not do benevolent work like this. He has a year to get his act together and get himself straight or hes out,' Chuck D said.

Chuck D's lawyer added, 'From a legal standpoint, Chuck could perform as Public Enemy if he ever wanted to; he is the sole owner of the Public Enemy trademark.'

'He originally drew the logo himself in the mid-80s, is also the creative visionary and the groups primary songwriter, having written Flavors most memorable lines,' he added.

Days later, Chuck announced that the firing was a hoax, however, Flav states after that he was not part of the hoax and disapproved of the stunt.

Flav has also famously had a career in reality television most notably dating show Flavor Of Love which aired over three seasons from 2006 to 2008.
Celine Dion is suffering from serious muscle spasms that have required her to postpone her upcoming residency in Las Vegas.

After retiring her famous Caesars Palace residency in 2019, the 'Queen Of Vegas' had been coaxed back to Sin City to perform at the new Resorts World on the Strip.

But the promoter AEG Presents revealed Tuesday that Celine, 53, has had to scrap the first two sets of shows in November, January and February, Variety reports.

'I'm heartbroken by this': Celine Dion is suffering from serious muscle spasms that have required her to postpone her upcoming residency in Las Vegas

'Im heartbroken by this. My team and I have been working on our new show for the past eight months, and to not be able to open this November saddens me beyond words,' the My Heart Will Go On hitmaker shared.

'My partners at Resorts World Las Vegas and AEG have been working around the clock to get this brand-new state-of-the-art theater ready, and its absolutely beautiful,' the songbird continued.

'I feel so bad that Im letting them down, and Im especially sorry for disappointing all the fans whove been making their plans to come to Las Vegas. Now, I have to focus on getting betterI want to get through this as soon as I can.'

The official announcement of the postponement said that Celine has been coping with 'severe and persistent muscle spasms.'

Planning ahead: Her Courage world tour is still slated to restart next March; she is pictured during a Miami date of that tour in January 2020

Her medical issues have advanced to the point that even going to rehearsal has evidently become unfeasible.

The first engagement was supposed to run from November 5 to November 20 followed by another run from January 19 to February 5.

Both of those stretches of concert dates have now been canceled - but her Courage world tour is still slated to restart next March.

Fans who bought tickets directly from Resorts World Las Vegas or axs.com by card will get an automatic refund that may take 30 days to go through.

Staying positive: When her residency delay was announced she said: 'Now, I have to focus on getting betterI want to get through this as soon as I can'; pictured in 2019 in Paris

When the new show dates go public, those who bought seats to the canceled gigs will get a special pre-sale window to buy tickets.

Celine's Courage world tour was interrupted by the coronavirus lockdowns last year but will resume next March for a string of shows in America and her native Canada.

That leg of the tour will continue into April and then be immediately followed by a European leg that will last through the summer until late September.

Axed: The first engagement was supposed to run from November 5 to November 20 followed by another run from January 19 to February 5

After she wraps up her European gigs in Paris on September 24 she will not resume the tour until May 2023 when she will begin performing abroad again in Tel Aviv.

Resorts World Las Vegas, which opened this summer and has Liberace's old Rolls Royce in the lobby, has a number of other acts booked.

Katy Perry, Luke Bryan and Carrie Underwood have also all been hired to perform residencies at the new property.
Lake Placid actress Meredith Salenger and The Goldbergs star Patton Oswalt are still going strong.

The actors were seen arm in arm at the Eternals premiere held at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood on Monday evening alongside the movie's stars Angelina Jolie and Salma Hayek.

The two wed four years ago after Patton endured a painful family tragedy.

Two peas in a pod: Lake Placid actress Meredith Salenger and The Goldbergs star Patton Oswalt are still going strong. The actors were seen arm in arm at the Eternals premiere in Los Angeles on Monday

Meredith, 51, glowed in red lipstick with her dark hair back at the premiere of the Marvel movie as they smiled at each other.

She wore a long black dress with heels that knotted in front, showing off her pedicure.

Patton, 52, kept it basic with a blue suit and maroon sneakers.

It has been four years since they tied the knot following the tragic death of his first wife Michelle McNamara in 2016.

Fancy venue: They were at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood

It's love: Meredith, 51, glowed in red lipstick with her hair back on the carpet for the premiere of the Marvel movie as they smiled at each other

A good gown: She wore a long black dress with heels that knotted in front, showing off her blood red pedicure

In 2019 Oswalt admitted there was 'some weirdness' when he remarried 18 months later giving his daughter Alice a stepmother, according to People.

'When Michelle was Alices mom, Alice .... was still a little kid,' he told Kevin Nealon on Hiking With Kevin on YouTube.

'Then I marry Meredith. Now Alice is 10 and both Meredith and I are like, "You have responsibilities, you have some chores." Were treating her like a 10-year-old.'

Still good: They looked happy on the blue carpet for the premiere of season two of the hit TV series Ted Lass in July

The comedian and actor acknowledged that Alice sometimes tries to play her two moms off each other.

'Theres been times where she goes, "With Mommy, I didnt have to do this,"' he explained.

He went on that he tells his daughter: Well, thats because you were five, and if Mommy were here, youd be doing all this same stuff - probably even more.'

Oswalt also talked about how he sometimes struggles with his only child growing up so fast and how he still wants her to be his little girl.

Alice's mom Michelle McNamara, whom he had married in 2005, died unexpectedly in her sleep in April 2016 from an undiagnosed heart condition combined with prescription medication.

Oswalt announced his engagement to Salenger in July 2017 and the two tied the knot a few months later in November.

At the time, Alice was eight years old.

Adjustment: His first wife passed away in 2016. And Patton Oswalt admits there was 'some weirdness' when he remarried 18 months later giving daughter Alice a stepmother (pictured in June 2015)

Tragic: McNamara, pictured with Oswalt in December 2011, died unexpectedly in her sleep in April 2016 from an undiagnosed heart condition combined with prescription medication

After the couple went public with their romance, they faced some criticism on social media, with some questioning how Oswalt could move on so quickly after the death of his wife.

Salenger responded, explaining that they had the support of McNamara's family and friends.

She added: 'I think for Patton, having met and found love after over a year of intense therapy and openly grieving and dealing with his painI am grateful to be the one who helps him climb out of the depths of grief and find some joy again. And most of all Alice is happy and feels loved.'

Salenger continued: 'I have waited 47 years to find true love. Creating our family unit while honoring the brilliant gift Michelle has given me will be my life's goal and happiness. I am deeply in love with both Patton and Alice and very much looking forward to a beautiful happy life having adventures together.'

Stepmom: Alice was seven when her mom Michelle McNamara passed away. They're pictured July 2018
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They've been head-over-heels for one another since their romance began this past summer.

And Ant Anstead still looked smitten while visiting girlfriend Renee Zellweger on the set of her new film The Thing About Pam in New Orleans, Louisiana on Monday.

The Wheeler Dealers host, 42, treated his darling to lunch during a brief break from the shoot, which had Renee, 53, donning a padded suit and facial prosthetics to play murderess Pam Hutt.

VIP visitor: Renee Zellweger looked happy to have her boyfriend Ant Anstead visit her while working on her movie The Thing About Pam in New Orleans, Louisiana on Monday. She's been sporting a padded suit and face prosthetics to play convicted murderer Pam Hutt

Cool: Ant was casual for his stop by set, seen donning a dusty blue tee shirt and matching pants

Continuing the look, Zellweger had on a striped shirt and loose jeans over the 'fat suit.' She slipped on a pair of bright running shoes while her hair was styled into a choppy, straw-hued blonde bob.

Later the star tossed on a deep red sweater as the evening chill crept in.

Renee's physical transformation didn't just extend to her padded suit, but also included significant amounts of makeup and facial prosthetics to give her a fuller face and deeper wrinkles than she normally has.

She also seemed to wear a prosthetic nose to make it appear wider and flatter.

Transformation: Renee, 53, was donning a padded suit and facial prosthetics to play murderess Pam Hutt

Bobbed: Renee had her blond tresses styled into a bob similar to the one worn by Hupp (R), though the convicted murder has more recently been seen with long gray hair after being imprisoned

Treat: The Wheeler Dealers host, 42, treated his darling to lunch during a brief break from the shoot

Safety first: He kept on a black face mask for the majority of his visit, but was seen pulling it down briefly to reveal his pearly white smile

Gentleman: The English TV personality carried onto a boxed lunch, drink and tablet for his love as they made their way to her trailer for some private time

Ant was casual for his stop by set, seen donning a dusty blue tee shirt and matching pants. He kept on a black face mask for the majority of his visit, but was seen pulling it down briefly to reveal his pearly white smile.

The English TV personality carried onto a boxed lunch, drink and tablet for his love as they made their way to her trailer for some private time.

Although the acclaimed actress was wearing a 'fat suit' to get into character, the use of the prosthetics has been heavily criticized by body positivity activists, who claim they are primarily used to mock fat people.

The use of the padding has also been called out because it allows thin actors to play characters of any weight, while larger actors are denied roles that are considered traditionally attractive and are also shut out of playing fat characters.

Plus-size writer Sarah Alexander told Metro.co.uk: 'A fat suit has always been a way of mocking fat people no matter who wears it, even if it is for an acting role.'

Actors that have previously worn them (Gwyneth Paltrow, Sarah Paulson) have admitted they regret their choice in wearing one and that it causes harm.

Easy: Zellweger had on a striped shirt and loose jeans over the 'fat suit' on bright running shoes on foot

Warming up: Later the star tossed on a deep red sweater as the evening chill crept in

Slipper time: Between takes the Oscar winner donned a pair of slippers and socks

Critical: Although the acclaimed actress was wearing a 'fat suit' to get into character, the use of the prosthetics has been heavily criticized by body positivity activists, who claim they are primarily used to mock fat people

There are plenty of incredibly talented plus-size actresses that could have been hired for the role instead of Zellweger. Why were they overlooked and a fat suit considered a viable option?

For Zellweger to masquerade as a plus-size person is damaging, fatphobic and potentially triggering to other plus-size people. It seems like she has not considered the effects this will have on fat people, and is unaware and/or naive that she is adding to the stigma fat people already face on a daily basis.

Zellweger has experience playing bigger characters, having gained weight for her role in Bridget Jones' Diary, but for that role she physically gained 30lbs instead of using prosthetics and padding.

Sarah Paulson recently came under fire for using a padded suit to play Linda Tripp in Impeachment: American Crime Story.

In an August interview with the Los Angeles Times, she expressed regrets about wearing the suit and added: 'I think fatphobia is real. I think to pretend otherwise causes further harm.'

Courteney Cox and Neil Patrick Harris have also been previously criticized for using fat suits in flashbacks for their characters on Friends and How I Met Your Mother, respectively.

Mocking: Plus-size writer Sarah Alexander told Metro.co.uk of the part, 'A fat suit has always been a way of mocking fat people no matter who wears it, even if it is for an acting role'

Cheery: Ant looked cheery while talking to part of the film crew

Body double: Also on set was the body double for Katy Mixon, who plays victim Betsy Faria in the project

In the past: Zellweger has experience playing bigger characters, having gained weight for her role in Bridget Jones' Diary, but for that role she physically gained 30lbs instead of using prosthetics and padding

As for the real-life Hupp, this past July she pleaded not guilty to the murder of her friend Elizabeth 'Betsy' Faria, who was brutally stabbed 55 times in 2011.

Prosecutors claim that the convicted killer murderer Faria just days after she talked her in to naming Hupp as the beneficiary of her $150,000 life insurance policy.

Hupp was the last person seen with Faria when she drove her home after Faria got a chemotherapy treatment and visited her mother.

Faria's husband Russ was gone for the day, but when he returned home that evening he found it covered in blood, and Betsy had been stabbed numerous times.

She had lacerations on her arms that went down to the bone, and a knife was lodged in her neck when he found her, while another blade was found near her body.

Russ Faria was convicted of her murder in 2013, only to have the conviction overturned as police turned their suspicions toward Hupp.

She later pleaded guilty to shooting to death a disabled man named Louis Gumpenberger in 2016 and is currently serving life in prison, though in July of this year she was also charged with the murder of Besty Faria.
She's known for transforming into any character with ease.

And Nicole Kidman looked completely in her element as Lucille Ball in the first trailer for Amazon Prime's Being the Ricardos.

The film follows Lucille's rise to the top as one of the world's most prominent comedians with her husband, Desi Arnaz, played by Javier Bardem, by her side.

Make em laugh: Nicole Kidman looked completely in her element as Lucille Ball in the first trailer for Amazon Prime's Being the Ricardos

'I am the biggest asset in the portfolio of the Columbia Broadcasting System, the biggest asset in the portfolio of Philip Morris Tobacco Westinghouse,' she said in the minute long clip released on Tuesday.

'I get paid a fortune to do exactly what I love doing.'

Packed studio audiences applauded as they watched Lucy and Ricky perform each night between scenes of table reads with producers and studio execs.

'I work side by side with my husband who is genuinely impressed by me, and all I have to do to keep it is kill for 36 weeks in a row, and then do it the next year. I had no idea it was going to be a hit.'

Uncanny: Nicole (left) is recreating a scene as Lucille Ball playing Lucy Ricardo in Lucy's Italian Movie (right, 1956)

Together forever: The film follows Lucille's rise to the top as one of the world's most prominent comedians with her husband, Desi Arnaz, played by Javier Bardem, by her side

'I am the biggest asset in the portfolio of the Columbia Broadcasting System, the biggest asset in the portfolio of Philip Morris Tobacco Westinghouse,' she said in the minute long clip released on Tuesday

Beloved: Packed studio audiences applauded as they watched Lucy and Ricky perform each night between scenes of table reads with producers and studio execs

'I work side by side with my husband who is genuinely impressed by me, and all I have to do to keep it is kill for 36 weeks in a row, and then do it the next year. I had no idea it was going to be a hit.'

Kidman dressed down in an off-the shoulder blouse and culottes to reenact the infamous grape smashing scene from I Love Lucy.

The limited series is being produced by Nicole's production company, Blossom Films, alongside Big Little Lies collaborators Bruna Papandrea and David E. Kelley.

It's set over a week of rehearsals leading up to the taping of an I Love Lucy episode and explores the dynamics of Lucy and Desi's ultimately failed marriage.

Queen: Nicole reenacted the infamous grape smashing scene in the film

Busy: It's set over a week of rehearsals leading up to the taping of an I Love Lucy episode and explores the dynamics of Lucy and Desi's ultimately failed marriage

The limited series is being produced by Nicole's production company, Blossom Films, alongside Big Little Lies collaborators Bruna Papandrea and David E. Kelley.

Being the Ricardos was not without controversy though as Lucille and Desi's daughter, Lucie, pushed for a few 'inaccurate' scenes to be deleted from the film before it was released.

'I mean, there are certain scenes that I wished hadn't been in the feature film. I couldn't get my way and have them taken out, but they weren't accurate,' she told Palm Springs Life.

'And I thought: "That shouldn't be in there, because that never happened. That's not true." And it's not just theatrical license, it just wasn't true. And the day they shot the scene, the sprinklers went off on the set and destroyed the whole set.'

Lucie contended that in the movie 'stuff happens that week that didn't happen altogether the way Aaron has written it.'

She also acknowledged: 'I think they are accurate composites of these people. And what I've seen of it... I haven't seen any of the rushes, but I was on the set for just two days. What I saw was extraordinarily classy and first rate.'
Johnny Depp appeared to be in good spirits as he was mobbed by fans while leaving his hotel on Tuesday after attending the Rome Film Festival.

The Hollywood actor, 58, looked suave in a black jumper worn under a blue suede bomber jacket with brown patches while posing for selfies.

Shortly before making an exit Johnny greeted the large gathering of fans outside with a wave from his hotel balcony.

Looking cool: Johnny Depp 58, was suave in a black jumper which he wore under a blue suede bomber jacket with brown patches

He fashioned the look with a pair of black jeans and accessorised with white beads and a distinctive keychain, while a flat cap and a pair of blue coloured sunglasses rounded things off.

The actor was in Italy for the Rome Film Festival which hosted a screening of his new TV series Puffins.

The show takes viewers on the adventures of a group of little birds who are the minions of a sly walrus.

Johnny plays central character Johnny Puffin in the animated series, which is available to stream on Apple TV and Amazon Prime Video.

Happy: The Pirates of the Caribbean star, 58, looked confident as he posed with fans on leaving the hotel in Rome during the festival

Johnny famously lost a libel trial against The Suns publisher last year over an article that branded him a wife-beater following his acrimonious, ill-fated marriage to actress Amber Heard.

According to the Metro, Johnny is suing his former wife over a 2018 Washington Post op-ed.

She wrote: I became a public figure representing domestic abuse, and I felt the full force of our cultures wrath for women who speak out.

Back in court: The actor is suing his former partner Amber Heard over a 2018 Washington Post op-ed

In August, a judge ruled that the actor will be allowed to have a second libel trial despite losing the first one.

Johnny's appearance comes after he condemned the cancel culture movement.

During an appearance at the San Sebastian Film Festival, in Spain, last month, he expressed his fear that his stint at the festival would offend people.

Cancel culture: Johnny has spoken out against the movement and said 'Its so far out of hand now that I can promise you that no one is safe. Not one of you. Not anyone out that door'

It can be seen as an event in history that lasted for however long it lasted, this cancel culture'.

'This instant rush to judgement based on what essentially amounts to polluted air, he said.

'Its so far out of hand now that I can promise you that no one is safe. Not one of you. Not anyone out that door. No one is safe.'

Be careful: The actor said It takes one sentence and theres no more ground, the carpet has been pulled

'It takes one sentence and theres no more ground, the carpet has been pulled.'

'Its not just me that this has happened to, its happened to a lot of people. This type of thing has happened to women, men.

'Children have suffered from various types of unpleasantries. Sadly at a certain point they begin to think that its normal. Or that its them. When its not.

'Its so far out of hand now that I can promise you that no one is safe. Not one of you. Not anyone out that door'.

Victim: Johnny feels that its got out of hand and that its happened to a lot of people to women and to men

'No one is safe. It takes one sentence and theres no more ground, the carpet has been pulled.'

Its not just me that this has happened to, its happened to a lot of people.

'This type of thing has happened to women, men. Children have suffered from various types of unpleasantries.'

Sadly at a certain point they begin to think that its normal. Or that its them. When its not.
Edie Falco made a shocking admission on Monday when she named her 'real soul mate.'

The blonde actress, 58, told the New Yorker that person was her Sopranos costar James Gandolfini, who died in 2013 from a heart attack. He was only 51-years-old at the time.

Edie and James played married couple Carmela and Tony Soprano who try to live a normal life in New Jersey despite his criminal career on the popular HBO series that aired from 1999 until 2007.

So close: Edie Falco made a shocking admission on Monday when she named her 'real soul mate.' The blonde actress told the New Yorker that person was her Sopranos costar James Gandolfini, who died in 2013 from a heart attack. He was only 51-years-old at the time. Seen in 2003

They had a deep bond: Edie and James played married couple Carmela and Tony Soprano who try to live a normal life in New Jersey despite his criminal career on the popular HBO series that aired from 1999 until 2007

The Nurse Jackie actress said that he was not a typical Hollywood star as he did not have any false fronts.

'He was totally un-actor-y, and was incredibly self-deprecating, and he was a real soul mate in that regard,' said the Brooklyn native.

'We did not spend a lot of time talking about the scripts,' Falco said. 'It was like when you see two kids playing in the sandbox, completely immersed in their imaginary world. That's what it felt like acting opposite Jim.'

Falco, whose last TV series was Tommy, explained they had the same upbringing and look on life.

Unfussy: The Nurse Jackie actress said that he was not a typical Hollywood star as he did not have any false exterior. 'He was totally un-actor-y, and was incredibly self-deprecating, and he was a real soul mate in that regard,' said the Brooklyn native. Seen in 2000

Their TV family: The stars on set with Robert Iler and Jamie-Lynn Sigler

Just playing: 'We did not spend a lot of time talking about the scripts,' Falco said. 'It was like when you see two kids playing in the sandbox, completely immersed in their imaginary world. That's what it felt like acting opposite Jim'

'I don't know how to explain this. We were just really regular middle-class, suburban kids that were never supposed to become famous actors,' the beauty said.

'My interpretation is that the whole time, he was, like, 'What the hell is going on?' ' she continued.

'I remember, when we got picked up for the second season, he said to me, 'Yeah, well, I just have no idea what the hell we did, but we've got to try to do it again.' And I said, 'I hear you. I don't know. We'll figure something out.'

The series also starred starred Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Lorraine Bracco, Michael Imperioli, Steven Van Zandt, Robert Iler and Tony Sirico.

Edie admitted she is unable to watch old episodes of The Sopranos because she finds it too difficult to see her late co-star.

She said: 'I tried. It was too upsetting. To see Jim, of course.'

A movie prequel to the series called The Many Saints of Newark was released on October 1. The film stars Gandolfinis real-life son, Michael Gandolfini, as the young Tony.
Harry Potter star Evanna Lynch has revealed that her recovery from her eating disorder, which she battled aged 11 and 12, is a continuous 'healing process'.

The 30-year-old actress, who shot to fame as Luna Lovegood in the film franchise, opened up about her ordeal in a her new memoir The Opposite of Butterfly Hunting: The Tragedy and The Glory of Growing Up, in which she says is an opportunity to re-introduce herself to the world.

And in a new interview with E!, Evanna discusses her decision to share her anorexia story in her new book which explores her recovery both physically and mentally, with the star hoping her honesty opens conversations about physical and mental health.

Open: Harry Potter star Evanna Lynch has revealed that her recovery from her eating disorder, which she battled aged 11 and 12, is a continuous 'healing process'

Speaking about her recovery, she explained: 'I don't have an eating disorder at all anymore. It's been years of eating like a normal, healthy person and having balanced habits. And it's different - somebody asked me recently, "Oh, is it similar to alcoholism, where you're always going to have to avoid it?"

'And it's like, well, no, because you have to eat, you have to do it. And you have to learn how to do it in a functional way. So, I do believe you can properly recover and move on. But I think the healing process continues.'

The Irish beauty, who in the past has spoken openly about her anorexia battle which at times had left her hospitalised, told how it was important to not gloss over her tough times in the memoir and to be as honest as she can so as to spark meaningful conversations.

Memoir: The 30-year-old actress, who shot to fame as Luna Lovegood (pictured in character) in the film franchise, opened up about her ordeal in a her new memoir The Opposite of Butterfly Hunting: The Tragedy and The Glory of Growing Up

She said: 'You want to be honest, you know? I don't want to just say, "Everything's cool now, happier, I've fixed all these weird issues." So, I had to find a way that I could be honest about where I'm at, but be positive and leave people with a warm, inspired feeling.'

The My Name Is Emily star added that she had wanted to pen her book 'for years' as she's been discussing topics of her life for a 'long time' but had not managed to get the complexity' and the 'nuance' of her story across.

Extracts from her book, as revealed in The Irish Times, reveal Evanna's shock about being called an anorexic as she'd never planned for it to be 'her thing', with the star candidly telling how she had to battle to 'urge to die' amid her ordeal.

She penned: 'When I first heard about anorexia, I never planned for it to become my thing. I didnt connect to it or dwell on it or decide to try it out for a while. All Id known was that I was empty, unremarkable, unexceptional at everything, and that it would be hard to find love, friends, work, a place in the world at all, if I didnt find something by which to define myself  and then Id found it.

Interview: Evanna discusses her decision to share her anorexia story in her new book which explores her recovery both physically and mentally, with the star hoping her honesty opens conversations about physical and mental health (pictured in 2018)

'I think to me, being unremarkable was the same thing as being unlovable, and if I didnt have love, I wouldnt want to live, and if I didnt want to live, Id eventually die. And I really wanted to find a way to fight that urge to die. People see eating disorders as slow self-destruction, but the intention is quite the opposite. Its a stab at life, at asserting oneself.

'Its a fierce, war-like struggle to battle all the voices  internal and external  telling you youd be better off dead. I hadnt planned for this to be my path, was shocked to hear that dangerous, spiky word affixed to me by my sister but okay, now Id found it, and here we were, and I didnt know how  nor did I care  to find a way out of it.'

During a past appearance on Dancing With The Stars in 2018, Evanna credited Harry Potter author J.K Rowling with saving her life as she recalled how the famous books gave her comfort in her darkest times, while J.K became her pen pal ahead of being cast in the films.

Lifesaver; During a past appearance on Dancing With The Stars in 2018, Evanna credited Harry Potter author J.K Rowling with saving her life as she recalled how the famous books gave her comfort in her darkest times (pictured together in 2013)

'Anyone who's had an eating disorder knows that it completely takes over your life, the only thing that could take my attention apart from that was the Harry Potter series,' Evanna recalled at the time.

'So I started writing to J. K. Rowling and she wrote back and we became pen friends after that,' added the star.

'I was in and out of hospital, getting these letters, her books and her kindness made me want to live again.'

Meanwhile, in her interview with E!, Evanna told how a 'big part' of wanting to write the book is so that people get a sense of who she 'really is', after having made her film debut portraying Luna in 2007's Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

She told how people often see her as a 'sweet, airy, fairy person' like her onscreen character, but was quick to insist that it wasn't 'really real'.

She added that people's perceptions of her meant that she hasn't been able to form 'true connections' with them, noting she wanted to use her book show who she really is 'on the page'.
Lala Kent and Randall Emmett called off their engagement, it was claimed on Monday.

But the next day sources shared with TMZ that the 31-year-old Vanderpump Rules star and the 50-year-old movie producer are at their Bel-Air, California home together.

And it was added the two, who share seven-month-old daughter Ocean, are 'working on their relationship' with the hopes to stay engaged.

Hold up folks: Lala Kent and Randall Emmett called off their engagement, it was claimed on Monday. But the next day sources shared with TMZ that the 31-year-old Vanderpump Rules star and the 50-year-old movie producer are at their Bel-Air, California home having deep talks together. Seen in July

On Monday it was claimed by PageSix that Lala had left Randall after he was seen partying with women in Nashville.

It was added she left their home and checked into the Beverly Hills Hotel.

But TMZ's sources say they are working it out, adding her checking into a hotel was part of a planned girls trip.

'Lala and Randall have not broken off their engagement, despite reports to the contrary,' a source told the site.

Not done: And it was added the two, who share seven-month-old daughter Ocean, are 'working on their relationship' with the hopes to stay engaged

'Lala went to the Beverly Hills Hotel on Sunday night, and stayed there, as part of a planned night out with her girlfriends and she's now back home in the couple's Bel-Air estate,' it was added.

When Lala shared video from the Beverly Hills Hotel on social media, fans thought she had moved out of the mansion she shares with Randall.

On Tuesday, it looked as if Kent's new social media posts were filmed in the home she lives in with the producer.

On Monday fans were shocked when PageSix claimed the blonde beauty had broken off her engagement of three years with Emmett.

The site added that he had cheated on the reality TV star when he was working on Nashville, Tennessee recently.

Done? On Monday it was claimed by PageSix that Lala had left Randall after he was seen partying with women in Nashville. It was added she left their home and checked into the Beverly Hills Hotel; they are pictured in July

'Randall always lives a double life,' a source told the site. 'He lives the life of a husband or boyfriend, and then he lives the life of a serial partier and then goes on a bender.'

Over the weekend she cleaned her social media pages of her husband to be. And she liked a post that accused him of cheating on her following video posted to social media of him partying in Nashville.

She even took to Instagram to share a video of herself moving into the BHH while Beyonces Sorry played.

This supposed 'split' comes seven months after they welcomed their first child together, a daughter named Ocean.

Kent and Emmett initially met in 2015, and they began a relationship not long after they made each other's acquaintance.

The wedding that won't happen: Last week she also showed photos of the wedding dress she was supposed to wear for her 2020 wedding to Randall if the ceremony had not been delayed by the pandemic

Prior to becoming involved with the social media personality, the producer was married to his first wife, Ambyr Childers, with whom he shared two children.

The two initially separated in 2015, and although they reconciled, they went on to formally dissolve their union in 2017.

Emmett and Kent went public with their relationship in 2018, and the Midnight in the Switchgrass director popped the question that same year.

The pair initially planned to have their wedding ceremony in April of 2020, although they postponed their plans in response to the ongoing state of the global pandemic.

Moving quickly: Earlier this month the star expressed that she would begin trying for another baby the 'second' her daughter Ocean turned one

The two later rescheduled their nuptials and went on to announced that they were expecting to bring a child into their lives last September.

Kent eventually shared a picture of Ocean to her Instagram account for the first time not long after she gave birth in March.

All seemed fine between the power couple a week ago.

She said she was 'ready to go' with regard to having a second baby with Randall.

The 31-year-old reality television personality spoke to People during Travel & Give's fourth annual fundraiser in West Hollywood and told the media outlet about her desire to expand her family.

Two of a kind: Kent and Emmett initially met in 2015 and began a relationship not long after they met

During the event, Kent noted that the 'second' her daughter turned one, she and Emmett, 50, would be 'back at it with the calendar that shows ovulation.'

The reality television personality also told the media outlet that 'I'm oversharing with you but that's how it goes.'

And last week she also showed photos of the wedding dress she was supposed to wear for her 2020 wedding to Randall if the ceremony had not been delayed by the pandemic.

Milestones: The pair went public with their relationship in 2018, and the producer popped the big question that same year

Lala said she was inspired to post some photos of the gown after a 'beautiful conversation' with her stylist.

'I wanted to share my wedding dress that I was going to wear on April 18th 2020,' the star captioned her slideshow. 'This dress was custom designed by [Alexandra Renee Scott].'

When asked if she would be wearing it on her special day, which will take place next year by a fan in her comment section, Kent replied she and her designer are 'going to start from scratch.'
She is a Marvel Cinematic Universe veteran.

And Garcelle Beauvais made a splash at the Monday night Los Angeles premiere of the worldwide juggernaut's latest film, The Eternals.

The 54-year-old, who is now a Real Housewife Of Beverly Hills, posed up a storm in a fashionable Love Moschino sweater featuring a massive red heart.

Looking fab: Garcelle Beauvais made a splash at the Monday night Los Angeles premiere of the worldwide juggernaut's latest film

Teaming the top with a pair of gleaming black leather trousers, she wore her hair in an elegant bob for her night on the town.

Garcelle accentuated her screen siren features with makeup and brought the outfit together with white nail polish.

The actress added a splash of dazzle to the proceedings with a bracelet as well as a pair of gleaming earrings.

Directed by Chloe Zhao of Nomadland fame, Eternals features an all-star cast including Angelina Jolie and Salma Hayek.

On the town: The 54-year-old, who is now a Real Housewife Of Beverly Hills, posed up a storm in a fashionable Love Moschino sweater featuring a massive red heart

Game Of Thrones heartthrobs Richard Madden and Kit Harrington are also in the cast along with Crazy Rich Asians actress Gemma Chan.

Garcelle became a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe when she featured in the 2017 movie Spider-Man: Homecoming starring Tom Holland in the title role.

She plays the mother of a character called Liz played by Laura Harrier who becomes the love interest of Spider-Man's alter ego Peter Parker.

However these days she can be seen as herself on The Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills which is currently airing its fiery reunion specials.

Swanking about: Garcelle accentuated her screen siren features with makeup and brought the outfit together with white nail polish

Beauvais told DailyMail.com while at the the 16th annual Christmas In September charity event at The Abbey in West Hollywood that she thinks things are looking up for several of the cast members, including scandal-plagued Erika Jayne.

'She came to he reunion, it was long hours and a lot was divulged, Andy Cohen did not hold back,' said the Coming To America actress. 'She was really honest and she really said a lot of things we wanted answers to but we were not sure she would divulge.'

In last week's episode Garcelle could be seen feuding with her co-star Dorit Kemsley who accused her of duplicity.

There she is: Garcelle became a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe when she featured in the 2017 movie Spider-Man: Homecoming starring Tom Holland in the title role

'You dont say much when were together or to someones face, and then youll say it in the confessionals,' Dorit sniped at Garcelle.

Meanwhile Garcelle argued that she was in a hopeless position as 'First I say too much, and then I dont say enough - like, I cant win with you.'

At the moment Garcelle is working on a memoir called Love Me As I Am that is slated for publication this coming April.

She has told People she will dish about defying 'the stereotypes that define and limit African American women in popular culture.'

Garcelle has also teased 'juicy behind-the-scenes stories' from the Real Housewives as well as talking about how in her 40s her view of her sexuality evolved.

Good stuff: Beauvais told DailyMail.com while at the the 16th annual Christmas In September charity event at The Abbey in West Hollywood that she thinks things are looking up for several of the cast members, including scandal-plagued Erika Jayne. 'She came to he reunion, it was long hours and a lot was divulged, Andy Cohen did not hold back,' said the Coming To America actress. 'She was really honest'
Addison Rae looked like she was having the time of her life during her recent getaway to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

The TikTok triumph, 21, couldn't hide her smile while enjoying the sun and sand South of the border.

Addison appeared to be savoring the vacation before getting to work on a brand new unscripted series for Snapchat, which will be about her return to her Louisiana roots, according to Variety.

Fun in the sun: Addison Rae soaked up the sun in Cabo San Lucas on Instagram this week

Peachy keen: The beauty revealed her backside while taking a photo perched on the deck of a luxury yacht

The social media sensation showed off her curves in an array of slinky bikinis.

She looked radiant in a blue two-piece teamed with a flowy navy cover up.

Flaunting her flexibility, Addison teased her taut tummy and toned legs as she did a modified headstand on the sand.

Later on, the beauty revealed her backside while taking a photo perched on the deck of a luxury yacht.

Flex appeal: Flaunting her flexibility, Addison teased her taut tummy and toned legs as she did a modified headstand on the sand

Looking good: The social media sensation showed off her curves in an array of slinky bikinis

Mean green: She turned heads while exploring the city in a body-hugging neon green dress and matching highlighter yellow shoes

She also turned heads while exploring the city in a body-hugging neon green dress and matching highlighter yellow shoes.

'STAY HYDRATED,' Rae captioned the array of snaps.

Addison's trip comes amid news she'll be starring in the upcoming unscripted Snapchat series Addison Rae Goes Home.

Thirsty? 'STAY HYDRATED,' Rae captioned the array of snaps

Calm before the storm: Addison appeared to be savoring the vacation before getting to work on a brand new series for Snapchat, which will be about her return to her Louisiana roots, according to Variety

New side: According to Snapchat: 'Addison will reveal a more personal side than fans have ever seen before'

According to Snapchat: 'Addison will reveal a more personal side than fans have ever seen before.'

The series is scheduled to premiere in 2022 and is being produced by Maven Screen Media, which was founded by Sting's wife Trudie Styler and Oscar-winning producer Deline Rattray.

Snapchat has been keen on snapping up key TikTok talent. They also have a competition show hosted by Dixie and Charlie D'Amelio in the works.

Meanwhile, Addison recently made her feature film debut in Netflix's He's All That, a gender-swapped version of the 1999 high school rom-com She's All That.
Ulrika Jonsson accidentally flashed fans her nipple in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

Taking to Instagram, the star, 54, suffered a nip slip while posing in bed, writing: 'Personally what I love most is when my body clock wakes me up at 3.44 and I can't go back to sleep.'

Ulrika posed make-up free while resting her head on her pillow and wore a low-cut black spaghetti strap top, adding: 'Sets me up nicely for the day.'

Oops: Ulrika Jonsson, 54, accidentally flashed her Instagram followers her nipple in the early hours of Tuesday morning

Early morning: Taking to Instagram, the star suffered a nip slip while posing in bed, writing: 'Personally what I love most is when my body clock wakes me up at 3.44'

Oblivious to the fact she was showing off a little more than she bargained for, the doting mother also let her followers know she was craving a cup of tea, writing: 'Contemplating tea.'

The star had not taken off her jewellery before bed and was wearing two chic gold necklaces.

Ulrika has since deleted the photo from her social media account.

It comes after Ulrika addressed the 'Strictly Curse' after Sophie Ellis-Bextor revealed how her time on the show 'took such a toll' on her marriage that her husband ended up in counselling.

'I came home a much-changed wife': Ulrika revealed in a column for The Sun on Saturday how her time hosting Gladiators contributed to her marriage breakdown and 'subsequent unfaithfulness'. Pictured in a promo shot for Gladiators in 1994

Honest remarks: Ulrika recalled how she 'faltered' during the second year of the show's recording (1993) when a camera crew member 'caught her eye' (Pictured in 2019 )

In a column penned for The Sun earlier this month, Ulrika said she understands how work trips and office parties can create 'insecurity and excitement for both partners'.

The Swedish-British TV presenter, who hosted Gladiators from 1992, recalled how her time on the show eventually led to her marriage breakdown with John Turnbull.

Ulrika recalled how she 'faltered' during the second year of the show's recording (1993) when a camera crew member 'caught her eye' at a party towards the end of filming.

Over: Ulrika eventually divorced John Turnbull in 1995. 'My marriage broke down and I was subsequently unfaithful,' she wrote. Pictured together in 1994

'We ended up dancing together, albeit not Strictly-styley. Not intimate but enough for me to get a taste of something enticing and forbidden,' she wrote.

'Nothing happened but I developed feelings for this man and came home a much-changed wife. I didn't want to be at home.'

Ulrika explained how the excitement of the show made her feel 'more than just a wife'.

Unlike Sophie, who was able to repair her marriage, Ulrika eventually divorced John in 1995.

'My marriage broke down and I was subsequently unfaithful. Eventually we did manage to reheat the marriage souffle, but I completely understand how going away on work trips and office parties creates an insecurity and excitement for both partners,' she said.
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills' Erika Jayne bought herself a bouquet of flowers while stepping out amid various bitter fallouts with her co-stars.

While she has been laying low after her reality series' reunion tell-all aired last week, the 50-year-old ex of Tom Girardi kept her look casual in an all-black Alexander Wang x Adidas tracksuit and white sneakers.

As she brightened her day with some fresh white hydrangeas and roses, the star kept her blue eyes hidden under a pair of oversized black shades.

Rough week: Real Housewives of Beverly Hills' Erika Jayne bought herself a bouquet of flowers while stepping out amid various bitter fallouts with her co-stars

As she shopped with her assistant in Los Angeles on Monday afternoon, Erika wore her long platinum blonde tresses up in a sleek top knot.

On Wednesday's RHOBH reunion, the The Pretty Mess author defended herself amid calls for her to be fired over her ex's embezzlement scandal.

Her ex, Girardi, 82, is facing claims of embezzling millions of funds that were meant for the families of plane crash victims, while Jayne has been embroiled in the suit after it was revealed she allegedly pocketed $25million in expenses from her senior husband.

Fresh flowers: While she has been laying low after her Bravo series' reunion tell-all aired last week, the 50-year-old star kept her look casual in an all-black Alexander Wang x Adidas tracksuit and white sneakers

Cozy: As she brightened her day with some fresh blooms, the mother-of-one kept her blue eyes hidden under a pair of oversized black sunglasses

However, Jayne appeared defiant on the reunion show as she clapped back at calls for her to be axed from the show as a result.

'Why should I be fired?' Jayne snapped. 'Why are you presuming that I've done something? Why aren't we letting the legal process play out?'

She added: 'You've heard one side... and a lot of bulls*** on that side. Give me a chance to defend myself. Watch me. I'm ready for the challenge. Watch me do it.'

Casual: As she shopped with her assistant in Los Angeles on Monday afternoon, Erika wore her long platinum blonde tresses up in a sleek top knot

Both Jayne and Girardi were named as defendants in a federal lawsuit filed in December alleging they stole funds meant for the families, including widows and orphans, of the victims of the 2018 Lion Air plane crash.

Tom had his California license to practice law revoked in March 2021 after the Los Angeles Times reported that he had been sued more than 100 times.

He also had been the subject of numerous bar complaints alleging financial malfeasance involving millions of dollars owed to clients, including female cancer victims and a burn victim.

Take that! Erika snapped back at calls for her to be fired as she battled it out on last Wednesday's RHOBH reunion show

Andy asked Erika if her lawyers ever advised her to quit the show and she said they did.

'And then I said, ''No, because I have nothing to hide.'' And they said, ''Well, you know that this s*** can get flipped around on you.'' Everything can be parsed, twisted, turned and yes, possibly turned against you. Whether it is true or not, it almost doesn't even matter at this point,' Erika said.

Andy asked Erika if she ever thought about quitting the show and she admitted that she considered it.

Scandal: Erika has been embroiled in an embezzlement scandal involving her 82-year-old estranged husband Tom Girardi (pictured on the show) and disgraced lawyer Tom.

'But I'm not a quitter and I wanted to honor my commitment. I wasn't going to run away from what's coming at me,' Erika said.

Andy pointed out that without her estranged husband's income the show was now her main job and asked her how much that factored into her decision. She said that didn't factor into her decision then but that it was more a consideration now.

The one-hour episode was the first of four reunion shows for a turbulent season 11 that was dominated by Erika's divorce and subsequent legal troubles.

Andy at the start of the reunion asked Erika if she was ready to finally address her situation and Erika said she was happy to share what she could.

Legal process: 'Why should I be fired?,' Erika sharply said. 'Why are you presuming that I've done something? Why aren't we letting the legal process play out?'

No quitting: Andy asked Erika if she ever thought about quitting the show and she admitted that she considered it

Together again: The one-hour episode was the first of four reunion shows for a turbulent season 11 that was dominated by Erika's divorce and subsequent legal troubles

'This is the toughest part of my life,' Erika said.

'I could imagine,' Andy replied.

Two weeks before the reunion, Lisa Rinna, 57, visited Erika at her house and asked her if she was going to show up at the reunion. She told her people had said that she wasn't.

So true: 'There are going to be some winners and some losers,' said Erika

'I'm going,' Erika told her. 'I'm not a f***ing quitter.'

Erika told her that she had a dream that they were at the reunion and that there were going to be some shots fired and shots taken.

'There are going to be some winners and some losers,' said Erika.

'Well, that's life baby,' Lisa responded.
She famously quit smoking while expecting daughter Suri, over 15 years ago.

But it looked like Katie Holmes was back to old habits while in Brooklyn, New York on Tuesday.

The Secret: Dare To Dream actress, 42, bundled up before taking a car from her home in Manhattan to a secluded spot to smoke a cigarette a borough away.

Vices: Katie Holmes was seen smoking in Brooklyn, New York on Monday, 15-plus years since she quit while expecting her first child

Katie kept comfortable in a navy blue hoodie and black jeans which she teamed with white sneakers and a red knit newsboy cap.

The mother-of-one clutched onto her cigarette tightly, revealing chipped red nail polish as she puffed away.

Appearing to pack in as much nicotine at once, Holmes quickly sucked down three whole cigarettes.

Though she was widely reported to have stopped smoking around 2005 at the bequest of ex-husband Tom Cruise, Katie has appeared to indulge every now and then since their divorce.

Away: The Secret: Dare To Dream actress, 42, bundled up before taking a car from her home in Manhattan to a secluded spot to smoke a cigarette a borough away

Chain smoker: Appearing to pack in as much nicotine at once, Holmes quickly sucked down three whole cigarettes

Not that often: Though she was widely reported to have stopped smoking around 2005 at the bequest of ex-husband Tom Cruise, Katie has appeared to indulge every now and then since their divorce.

She was spotted enjoying a smoke during a trip to Miami in 2014 and then sneaking away for a cigarette while on the set of her movie All We Had in 2015.

Even so Katie - who starred in the 2005 satirical comedy movie Thank You For Smoking - prefers to keep the habit private.

It seems Holmes has been busy lately.

Earlier in May, Deadline reported Holmes had finished work on her upcoming second directorial effort, which was shot in secret.

Comfy: Katie kept comfortable in a navy blue hoodie and black jeans which she teamed with white sneakers and a red knit newsboy cap

Sometimes: She was spotted enjoying a smoke during a trip to Miami in 2014 and then sneaking away for a cigarette while on the set of her movie All We Had in 2015

She previously made her debut as a filmmaker with 2016's All We Had, which was based on Annie Weatherwax's novel of the same name.

The yet-to-be-titled feature will focus on a troubled couple who is forced to quarantine in an upstate New York Airbnb.

The flick will star Melissa Leo, Jim Sturgess and Derek Luke, along with Katie herself.

In addition to directing and appearing in the feature, the Batman Begins actress also penned its screenplay.
A new Real Housewives tell-all revealed that Taylor Armstrong was living in a 'constant state of anxiety' during her physically abusive marriage to husband Russell before he died by suicide after she filed for divorce.

In the new book, Not All Diamonds and Rose: The Inside Story of The Real Housewives From the People Who Lived It by Dave Quinn and published by Andy Cohen Books, Taylor recalled fearing for life between physical altercations with Russell to dealing with insignificant tiffs with the women of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.

'In the middle of all the arguing with the girls, it was more scary for me to go home to Russell,' Taylor said before adding that she believed Russell was convinced 'he would absolutely be loved by America.'

Difficult: A new Real Housewives tell-all revealed that Taylor Armstrong was living in a 'constant state of anxiety' during her physically abusive marriage to husband Russell before he died by suicide after she filed for divorce; seen in 2011

Taylor starred on RHOBH when it first began airing in 2010, and worked alongside Camille Grammer, Adrienne Maloof, Lisa Vanderpump, and Kim and Kyle Richards in the first three seasons of the popular Bravo program before quitting the show.

'As we got deeper into filming, we would get calls where Taylor would describe arguments with her husband that were not outright physical abuse but sounded really concerning,' producer Alex Baskin recalled.

Baskin noted that production offered to put her and the couple's daughter, Kennedy, up in a hotel if she was ever 'fearful' for their safety, but Taylor would ultimately refuse any assistance and then deny the issues as 'misunderstandings.'

She believed the show's cameras 'did provide some protection' from the abuse she was suffering at home under Russell's control and thought the shooting schedule might 'keep him under control.'

Golden girls: Taylor starred on RHOBH when it first began airing in 2010, and worked alongside Camille Grammer, Adrienne Maloof, Lisa Vanderpump, and Kim and Kyle Richards in the first three seasons of the popular Bravo program before quitting the show

Baskin noted that production offered to put her and the couple's daughter, Kennedy, up in a hotel if she was ever 'fearful' for their safety, but Taylor would ultimately refuse any assistance and then deny the issues as 'misunderstandings' (seen in 2011)

Producer Chris Cullen said filming soon became 'an enormous crisis of conscience' for everyone involved in the show as the abuse raged on.

The women confronted producers about Russell's abusive nature, but production didn't want to break Taylor's trust and wanted her to come forward with her own story when she was ready.

After Taylor confided in Camille Grammer about what was going on at home when Russell allegedly 'knocked her eye out of the socket', Camille mistakenly brought up the abuse on camera during a tea party at Lisa Vanderpump's house.

Camille assumed Taylor wanted to talk about the abuse while Taylor really wanted to talk about Lisa not having her back as a good friend, but the bombshell was already on the table, forcing Taylor to address the elephant in the room.

Tough call: The women confronted producers about Russell's abusive nature, but production didn't want to break Taylor's trust and wanted her to come forward with her own story when she was ready; seen in 2011

'When Camille said, "We don't say he hits you, but now we said it," I was completely in shock,' Taylor said.

All was not immediately OK, though, as the Armstrongs served Camille legal papers and she threated to sue production if any of the abuse allegations aired.

Amid legal issues, Taylor and Russell were disinvited to a cast trip to Hawaii, which then prompted Russell to allegedly punch Taylor in the face.

'I ended up in Cedars-Sinai Hospital, it was inevitable it was coming out,' she said, which lead to her admitting on camera that she was being abused by her husband and also allowed Bravo to air footage without having to cut out allegations.

Russell and Taylor were married for nearly six years before she filed for divorce on July 15, 2011. 'Although we have tried our best to work out our differences, I have come to the conclusion that it is in the best interest of our family that we separate,' she said at the time.

On August 15, Russell died by suicide.
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Beyonce brought back Old Hollywood glamour in a shimmery bias-cut gown in a minty green color in a new Instagram album she posted Tuesday.

The 40-year-old pop star and her husband Jay-Z could be seen dressed to the nines like James Bond characters while lounging on a boat in Venice, Italy.

They were in the Floating City to attend the wedding of Alexandre Arnault whose father Bernard is the third-richest man on the planet.

Beyonce brought back Old Hollywood glamour in a shimmery bias-cut gown in a new Instagram album with her husband Jay-Z that she posted Tuesday

Beyonce showed off her sensational legs in her split sky blue Parla Double Drape dress by Saint Mojavi, which featured a plunging neckline that flashed her matching bra.

Sharpening her features with makeup. she looked ready for her closeup. She also draped herself in jewels including multiple necklaces and drop earrings.

In her album she included not just a picture of herself stretching languorously across a bench, but also a snap of Jay-Z taking that picture.

Once they were off the boat Beyonce was pictured wearing a black coat flung fashionably over her shoulders, matching her mask.

Glowing: The 40-year-old pop star and her husband could be seen dressed to the nines while lounging on a boat in Venice, Italy

Place to be: They were in the Floating City to attending the wedding of Alexandre Arnault whose father Bernard is the third-richest man on the planet

Beyonce's accessories for the wedding included a glittering jeweled round handbag, as well as a pair of sleek narrow sunglasses.

They were in Venice to see Alexandre Arnault marry Geraldine Guyot who founded the high-end fashion accessory brand DEstree.

The father of the groom is the chairman and CEO of Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton (LVMH), with a net worth that was estimated in May to be at 135billion ($186 billion).

Looking fab: Sharpening her screen siren features with makeup she draped herself in jewels including multiple necklaces and drop earrings

Perspectives: In her album she included not just a picture of herself stretching herself languorously across a bench - but also a snap of Jay-Z taking that picture

Alexandre himself went from being CEO of the luggage manufacturer Rimowa to now being executive vice president of LVMH brand Tiffany & Co.

Less than three years ago Beyonce traveled to India for the nuptials of Isha Ambani whose father Mukesh Ambani is the richest man in Asia.

Isha, who had just been Priyanka Chopra's bridesmaid, had an extravagant array of pre-wedding functions including a paid performance by Beyonce.

Swanking about: Beyonce's accessories for the wedding included a glittering jeweled round handbag, as well as a pair of sleek narrow sunglasses
Megan Fox looked sizzling hot as she announced on Tuesday that her new Boohoo campaign has launched.

The 35-year-old actress looked curvy in the fun fall fashions which included a black dress and several red pieces.

'The wait is nearly over for the designed collection by female icon @meganfox Set your alarms, you don't want to miss this one,' is said on the Boohoo Instagram caption.

Tops: Haute Fox: Megan Fox looked sizzling hot as she announced on Tuesday that her new Boohoo campaign has launched

This comes after Fox said she thinks Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker are a 'perfect match'.

The 35-year-old actress is a good friend of the brunette beauty, and she thinks that Kourtney, 42, and the Blink-182 rocker are 'soulmates'.

Megan told E! News: 'I think they're just a perfect match for each other because they have a karmic bond with each other.

Curves ahead: The 35-year-old actress looked curvy in the fun fall fashions which included a black dress

It's here: 'The wait is nearly over for the designed collection by female icon @meganfox Set your alarms, you don't want to miss this one,' is said on the Boohoo Instagram caption

'They are soulmates. They love each other and they have a really intense connection.'

Travis and Kourtney got engaged over the weekend at the Rosewood Miramar Beach hotel in Montecito, California.

The music star popped the question as the sun was setting and Kourtney accepted Travis' proposal.

An eyewitness said: 'Travis escorted Kourtney down to the beach, where he had red and white florals set up in the shape of a heart. It looked very romantic.

The Ohio look works for her: She also had on a Letterman jacket in black and white

Red-y for some fun on the town: And there was a long red coat that looked to be made of leather

Red is here for the holidays: And this suit was a button down top and slacks

'I could see Kourtney smiling from ear to ear and put her hand over her mouth looking surprised.'

Kourtney - who has Mason, 11, Penelope, nine, and Reign, six, with Scott Disick - was caught off guard by Travis' proposal.

An insider shared: 'She teared up, and couldn't stop saying, 'I love you.''

Last month, Travis admitted he feels 'invincible' when he's alongside Kourtney.

The musician started dating the reality star earlier this year, and he revealed how Kourtney convinced him to overcome his fear of flying. Travis said: 'I made a deal with her that she had just said to me, 'I would love to do so much travelling with you. I want to go to Italy with you. I want to go to Cabo with you. I want to go to Paris with you. I want to go to Bora Bora with you.' And I said, 'Well, when the day comes you want to fly, I'm telling you I'll do it with you. I would do anything with you. And just give me 24 hours notice.' And that's what she did.'

Travis was involved in a plane crash in 2008, but Kourtney has managed to convince him to fly again.

He added: 'I'm invincible when I'm with her. It's just like I never dreamed, I never even considered flying again.'

Bold and beautiful: She looked incredible in this black cut out dress

Lady in red! Megan rocked a cut-out dress in one snap shared to her social media platform

Soul time: This comes after Fox said she thinks Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker are a 'perfect match'. The 35-year-old actress is a good friend of the brunette beauty, and she thinks that Kourtney, 42, and the Blink-182 rocker are 'soulmates'

Megan and MGK's whirlwind relationship began last year while filming Randall Emmett's crime thriller, Midnight In The Switchgrass, with Bruce Willis, Emile Hirsch and Lukas Haas in Puerto Rico.

During an interview on Lala Kent's podcast, Megan said she 'knew right away that he was what I call a twin flame.'

She added: 'Instead of a soul mate, a twin flame is actually where a soul has ascended into a high enough level that it can be split into two different bodies at the same time. So we're actually two halves of the same soul, I think.'

Megan would have been with her ex Brian Austin Green at the time of this first meeting, with whom she shares sons Noah, nine, Body, seven, and Journey, five, with.

Sneak peek: The 35-year-old actress looked curvy in the fun fall fashions which included a black dress and several red pieces

'This weird thing happened,' Megan told British GQ Style. 'We didn't see each other. I don't remember [his] face. I just remember this tall, blond, ghostly creature and I looked up and I was like, 'You smell like weed.' He looked down at me and he was like, 'I am weed.' Then, I swear to God, he disappeared like a ninja in a smoke bomb.'

She added: 'Our souls chose this to absolutely have to face our shadow selves; to face things about ourselves we didn't want to have to know, that we tried to push away.'

MGK added, 'It should be light, but also we go to hell with each other. It's ecstasy and agony for sure... I don't want people to think anything's perfect with us.'

'I didn't say it was the darkest fairy tale for no reason. God help you if you would've met us last Saturday,' he said, as Fox laughed.

They made their red carpet debut at the American Music Awards where she revealed a new tattoo likely dedicated to her musician beau with the Spanish words 'el pistolero' scrawled across her collarbone, which roughly translates to 'the gunman.'

Kelly  who's real name is Colson Baker  revealed that he wears a vial of her blood on a necklace so that he wouldn't miss her when she went out of the country for a film role.
He's just finished shooting the third season of his popular reality show SAS Australia.

And Ant Middleton has bid farewell to Australia in a heartfelt Instagram post as the 41-year-old former soldier prepares to fly back to the UK.

Posing in front of the Sydney Opera House, Ant began his caption: 'Australia, my work here is done'

Time to say goodbye: Ant Middleton has finally bid farewell to Australia in a heartfelt Instagram post as the 41-year-old former soldier prepares to fly back to the UK

He continued with a promise to return, writing: 'Thank you and goodbye for now. See you beautiful lot in January!'

It comes after the British adventurer enjoyed a cruise with friends aboard a yacht on Sydney Harbour, sharing images to Instagram.

In his caption, Ant thanked Channel Seven - and the Australian people - for welcoming him.

Fun: On Sunday, the British adventurer, 41, enjoyed a cruise with friends aboard a yacht on Sydney Harbour, sharing images to Instagram

'Huge congrats to all @channel7 for your #1 success and many thanks towards your commitment to myself and @sasaustralia,' he wrote, referencing the recent ratings success of the program.

He added: 'Proud to be part of the C7 family and also for the Australian public for embracing me as one of their own! I've only just begun!'

Ant had lots of support from celebrities, including Shane Warne who commented, 'Congrats mate' while Erin Holland added, 'the best'.

Close: In his caption, Ant thanked Channel Seven - and the Australian people - for welcoming him. 'Huge congrats to all @channel7 for your #1 success and many thanks towards your commitment to myself and @sasaustralia,' he wrote

He added: 'Proud to be part of the C7 family and also for the Australian public for embracing me as one of their own! I've only just begun!'

Even Piers Morgan got involved, adding clapping emojis, as did former contestants Schapelle Corby.

It comes after Ant had some harsh words for the UK version of SAS, called SAS: Who Dares Wins.

The former soldier says he only accepted the role on the local sister show because it was less produced.

Pleased: It comes after Ant had some harsh words for the UK version of SAS, called SAS: Who Dares Wins. The former soldier says he only accepted the role on the local sister show because it was less produced

'The UK version fell out of my grasp and was taken out of my grip, so I was worried about this version being the same,' he told The Daily Telegraph.

'It wasn't until I sat down with the heads of Channel 7 and they said, "we want you to run it and do what you do best", I knew it would be different.'

Ant added that he is more than happy to cut ties with the UK version of the show.

Oh dear: Ant added that he is more than happy to cut ties with the UK version of the show

'The last UK episode finishes on Sunday and then I am going to wipe my hands of them and move forward. Hopefully they leave me alone.

'There's a lot of witch hunting going on, there's no doubt about that,' he said.



Ant was dropped by Channel 4 due to his 'personal conduct', with the station claiming they will not work with him again.

'The last UK episode finishes on Sunday and then I am going to wipe my hands of them and move forward. Hopefully they leave me alone. There's a lot of witch hunting going on, there's no doubt about that,' he said

His departure came months after Ant sparked controversy by referring to Black Lives Matter protesters as 'absolute scum', and urging people to 'carry on as normal' and not change their habits amid the global Covid pandemic.

A spokesperson for Channel 4 told MailOnline: 'Ant Middleton will not be taking part in future series of SAS: Who Dares Wins.

'Following a number of discussions Channel 4 and Minnow Films have had with him in relation to his personal conduct it has become clear that our views and values are not aligned and we will not be working with him again.'
Joey Essex is among a string of reality stars to have been caught up in a crypto coin con thought to have squeezed 500,000 worth of investment from their social media followers, according to reports.

Joey, 30, promoted EATS Coin, a company 'linked to supposed food delivery app CryptoEat' on his Instagram alongside the likes of Love Island's Belle Hassan, with the pair even sharing photos from a swanky bash held by CryptoEat last week.

However, The Sun reports that yesterday 'all traces of CryptoEats had vanished online', prompting Joey to tell the paper: 'It's disgusting and I feel bad for anybody in that situation. I do tons of appearances. It's difficult to vet everybody.'

Con: Joey Essex is among a string of reality stars to have been caught up in a crypto coin con thought to have squeezed 500,000 worth of investment from their social media followers

Promotional content: Joey, 30, promoted EATS Coin, a company 'linked to supposed food delivery app CryptoEat' on his Instagram and attended a bash in the brand's name (pictured)

Also at last week's CryptoEats event - held at the exclusive London Reign club - were DJ Charlie Sloth and influencer Mandi Vakili.

Joey, Belle, Charlie and Mandi have more than a million followers combined, all of whom would have seen their promotional content.

The stars' followers were enticed to invest in EATS Coin, which could then be used to purchase food on CryptoEats.

According to the paper, 'the company's website and social media accounts are down and anyone trying to sell their EATS Coin is getting error messages'.

Social media posts: DJ Charlie Sloth plugged the brand

Party: Love Islands' Belle Hassan was also seen in photos at the swanky bash held by CryptoEat last week

Support: Influencer Mandi Vakili also offered the brand her support, posing with merchandise stamped with Crypto Eats' logo

Joey added when speaking to The Sun: 'This company used my name to dupe lots of people into investing money.

He continued: 'It was all done in good faith, but I feel terrible for people who have lost out.'

Joey's manager Dave Read told the paper that the TOWIE star was 'thinking of investing himself' and 'feels awful'.

Video: DJ Charlie even produced a promotional video for the brand

Investigating: Charlie and his team have since confirmed in an Instagram statement that his team are investigating the incident

DJ Charlie even produced a promotional video for the brand and has since confirmed in an Instagram statement that his team are investigating the incident.

One of the event's coordinators said many celebrities and influencers were in attendance and plenty of alcohol was available, with guests having a good time. They added that in hindsight 'it all looks like a big scam'.

The Met Police told The Sun last night it was unaware of the scam.

MailOnline has reached out to representatives for Joey, Charlie and Belle for comment. Mandi's representative declined to comment.
He may be having a hard time moving on, but she's certainly not.

And Amelia Hamlin was happy to be throwing her support toward Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker after they became engaged on Sunday night.

The 20-year-old supermodel was perusing through Instagram when she stumbled upon a shot shared to Khloe's account and liked the stunning snap, amid reports her ex, Scott Disick, is 'going crazy' after Kravis' proposal.

Love is in the air: Amelia Hamlin was happy to be throwing her support toward Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker after they became engaged on Sunday night

Love conquers all things: The 20-year-old supermodel was perusing through Instagram when she stumbled upon a shot shared to Khloe's account and liked the stunning snap, amid reports her ex, Scott Disick, is 'going crazy' after Kravis' proposal

Insiders told Page Six that Disick, who recently broke up with ex-girlfriend Amelia Hamlin, 20, is not in a good place after hearing the news of the engagement despite having split from the eldest Kardashian daughter more than five years ago.

'Scott is going crazy,' an insider told the publication. 'He's going to go off the deep end. It's really bad. It's about to get dark.'

The Blink 182 drummer dropped down to one knee and proposed to Kourtney on the beach overlooking the sunset in Montecito on Sunday night with her famous family looking on from the Miramar hotel.

Disick then became a trending topic after fans were curious about his reaction following his disastrous leaked direct message to her ex, Younes Bendjima, where he criticized Kourtney for too much PDA with Travis on their trip to Italy.

'Yo is this chick ok!??? Broo like what is this. In the middle of Italy,' Scott wrote as he sent a photo of Kourtney kissing and straddling the Blink-182 drummer on an inflatable boat.

Bendjima, 28, responded back: 'Doesn't matter to me as long as shes happy. PS: i aint your bro.'

All the small things: The Blink 182 drummer dropped down to one knee and proposed to Kourtney on the beach overlooking the sunset in Montecito on Sunday night with her famous family looking on from the Miramar hotel

Trouble in paradise: Scott Disick is reportedly 'going crazy' after Travis Barker proposed to the mother of his children, Kourtney Kardashian, at sunset on Sunday night in Montecito

The way they were: Amelia reportedly 'ended things' with Scott in September after nearly one year together

Yikes: Things were certainly tense leading up to the split, when just last week, the Talentless designer sent Kourtney's ex Younes Bendjima a direct message about her PDA-packed behavior with boyfriend Travis Barker

Kourtney and Scott dated on and off for nearly a decade and had three children together  Reign, six, Penelope, eight, and Mason, 11  before officially ending things romantically in 2015.

He's remained an active co-parent and friend of the family appearing on Keeping Up with the Kardashians and at every major familial event through the years despite his relationship status.

Travis' ex-wife, Shanna Moakler was certainly in her feels as well when she took to Instagram on Sunday night hours after the engagement with a dramatic reaction as she admitted to being 'temporarily closed for spiritual maintenance.'

The 46-year-old former pageant queen has had a contentious time with Kravis, and even at one time admitted that their romance was 'putting a wedge' between her relationship with her kids.

In the past: Kourtney and Scott dated on and off for nearly a decade and had three children together  Reign, six, Penelope, eight, and Mason, 11  before officially ending things romantically in 2015; seen in 2015

Travis famously filed for divorce from Shanna in 2006 after just two years of marriage following claims that she had been unfaithful.

Earlier this year, Shanna decried her exes very public new romance and told Us Weekly that it's negatively affecting the bond she has with her two kids.

'The Kardashians are buying my kids Prada every other day,' the former Miss USA told the publication.

'They're going on lavish trips. They're doing all these things, which is fine. I think it's nice that they're being kind to my kids. I want that for my children.'

Love lost: Travis famously filed for divorce from Shanna in 2006 after just two years of marriage following claims she had been unfaithful; seen in 2005

She noted that there's 'severe distancing' between her and Alabama, 15, and Landon, 18, and noted: 'I don't think it's great when they put a wedge in between their biological mother.'

Kourtney went public with her new romance at the beginning of the year, and has Reign, six, Penelope, eight, and Mason, 11, with Scott.

Shanna also recently told US Weekly that his infidelity with Kim Kardashian was the catalyst to finally end their relationship.

'I divorced my ex because, I saw them  I caught them having an affair,' she said.

Shanna added that she 'saw text messages' between the pair and alleged the 'affair' took place before Keeping Up With The Kardashians premiered in 2007.
Two years after Meryl Streep made her TV debut in HBO's Big Little Lies, the legendary actress is returning to the small screen in Apple TV Plus' Extrapolations.

The 72-year-old actress has signed on for an unspecified role in the anthology series, which is created by Scott Z. Burns, who wrote the 2019 movie The Laundromat that Streep starred in.

Netflix unveiled the full primary cast in a press release on Tuesday, which also includes Gemma Can, Kit Harington, David Schwimmer, Sienna Miller, Tahar Rahim, Matthew Rhys, Daveed Diggs and Adarsh Gourav.

TV return: Two years after Meryl Streep made her TV debut in HBO's Big Little Lies, the legendary actress is returning to the small screen in Apple TV Plus' Extrapolations

Cast: Netflix unveiled the full primary cast in a press release on Tuesday, which also includes Gemma Can, Kit Harington, David Schwimmer, Sienna Miller, Tahar Rahim, Matthew Rhys, Daveed Diggs and Adarsh Gourav

The anthology series will tell, 'intimate, unanticipated stories of how the upcoming changes to our planet will affect love, faith, work and family on a personal and human scale.'

The first season will be comprised of, 'eight interconnected episodes,' with each episode set to, 'track the worldwide battle for our mutual survival spanning the 21st century. '

'The only thing we know for sure about the future is that we are all going there together - and we're taking with us our hopes, our fears, our appetites, our creativity, our capacity for love and our predilection to cause pain,' Burns said in a statement.

Anthology: The anthology series will tell, 'intimate, unanticipated stories of how the upcoming changes to our planet will affect love, faith, work and family on a personal and human scale'

'These are the same tools that storytellers have been using since the beginning of time. Our show is just using them to keep time from running out,' Burns added.

The character that Streep is playing has not been disclosed at this time, though they did reveal details about the other primary characters.

Sienna Miller is portraying a marine biologist named Rebecca Shearer, while Kit Harington plays Nicholas Bilton, 'the CEO of an industrial giant.'

Character: The character that Streep is playing has not been disclosed at this time, though they did reveal details about the other primary characters

Sienna and Kit: Sienna Miller is portraying a marine biologist named Rebecca Shearer, while Kit Harington plays Nicholas Bilton, 'the CEO of an industrial giant'

Tahar Rahim (The Mauritanian) plays Ezra Haddad, described as, 'a man struggling with memory loss.

Emmy Award-winner Matthew Rhys plays Junior, a real estate developer, while Daveed Diggs stars as Marshall Zucker, a South Florida Rabbi.

Gemma Chan, who stars in the upcoming Marvel movie Eternals, plays Natasha Alper, described as a single mother and micro-finance banker.

Tahar: Tahar Rahim (The Mauritanian) plays Ezra Haddad, described as, 'a man struggling with memory loss

Matthew and Daveed: Emmy Award-winner Matthew Rhys plays Junior, a real estate developer, while Daveed Diggs stars as Marshall Zucker, a South Florida Rabbi.

David Schwimmer plays Harris Goldblatt, who is a father to a teenage daughter, with Adarsh Gourav rounding out the cast as Gaurav, a driver for hire.

The show will be executive produced by Burns, Media Res' Michael Ellenberg and Lindsey Springer, Greg Jacobs and Dorothy Fortenberry.

Extrapolations marks another partnership for Apple TV Plus and Media Res, following their critically-acclaimed series The Morning Show.

Father: David Schwimmer plays Harris Goldblatt, who is a father to a teenage daughter
Rylan Clark-Neal has been urged to take a year off by BBC bosses, according to reports.

The request came after Rylan, 32, 'broke down during his Radio 2 show' last month which led to producers 'holding a crisis meeting'.

Rylan - who is set to divorce his husband Dan Neal after fighting to save their six-year marriage - stepped down from his BBC Radio 2 show for four months following their split earlier this year and has now raised concerns his return to work was too hasty.

Time off: Rylan Clark-Neal, 32, has been urged to take a year off by BBC bosses, according to reports

A source told The Sun that Rylan 'started crying during a Radio 2 show in September' meaning 'colleagues had to load the next track so Rylan could compose himself'.

They added: 'Rylan's one of the BBC's favourite stars. When he returned to work everyone supported him but when he broke down people were concerned he'd come back too fast.'

The source continued: 'One of the BBC's top brass was at the meeting. They even suggested he take a year's break to focus on himself.'

In the wake of Rylan and policeman Dan's split, friends have insisted the couple spent weeks 'trying to work through their problems', but the marriage is now said to be unsalvageable.

It's over: Rylan is set to divorce his husband Dan Neal after fighting to save their six-year marriage (pictured in 2017)

MailOnline has reached out to Rylan's representatives for comment.

In June, Rylan broke his silence to say: 'Following reports about Dan and I spending time apart, I feel I have to speak out as the way it is being reported is unfair.

'I have made a number of mistakes which I deeply regret and have inevitably led to the breakdown of our marriage.'

Sources close to Clark-Neal told The Mail on Sunday the couple tried to reconcile at their marital home after he spent much of the summer with his mother, Linda, who appears on his Saturday afternoon Radio 2 show.

Speaking out: In June, Rylan broke his silence to say: 'Following reports about Dan and I spending time apart, I feel I have to speak out as the way it is being reported is unfair' (pictured in 2017)

'Things were looking so good, like they were back together,' said one. 'They hoped they could avoid divorce, but it's now looking like the only way forward.

'Many around them were desperately hoping they can win the battle to save their relationship. It's very sad.'

The couple married in 2015 at Braxted Park in Essex with guests including his This Morning co-stars Ruth Langsford and Eamonn Holmes.

They met in 2013 and got engaged in Paris. In July 2016, they stepped in for Mr Holmes and Ms Langsford, becoming the first gay couple to present the ITV programme.
Christine Flowers is an attorney and a columnist for the Delaware County Daily Times, and can be reached at cflowers1961@gmail.com
Terry Mattingly leads GetReligion.org and lives in Oak Ridge. He is a senior fellow at the Overby Center at the University of Mississippi.
Members of the Dancehall and Reggae fraternity have expressed horror at Sunday nights bizarre incident in Montego Bay, where two people were killed as part of a human sacrifice during a ritual by members of what the police theorise to be a religious cult.

Spragga Benz, Foota Hype, CeCile, Mr. Lexx, Lila Ike and director of the Reggae studies Unit, Dr. Stanley Niaah all expressed revulsion after news surfaced about the going-ons at the church located in Albion, St. James, where a policewoman aligned to the religious cult, also featured in the dramatic incident.

In addition to the two church members who were sacrificed, a third man who attacked the security forces with a knife was shot dead.

According to Nationwide News Network, a joint team of Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) soldiers and members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) descended on the church at about 7 o clock on Sunday evening, after reportedly received information that the religious cult was in the process of sacrificing some of its members.

Upon infiltrating the premises, the security forces reportedly came under a hail of bullets which were fired by members of the religious cult. When the gunfire ended, the soldiers and police searched the building and found the body of a woman clad in white, who had been sacrificed, lying face down with her throat slashed, allegedly by a member of the church.

According to Nationwide, a male member of the church was also discovered lying in the prone position with stab and gunshot wounds to his back, and reportedly said that he was shot and stabbed by the pastor and a female police officer who attends the church.

The man reportedly told the security forces that he was about to be sacrificed by the religious cult.

A male member of the church, who allegedly attacked the lawmen with a knife was shot dead by the security forces, while the pastor, who is said to be among the leading members of the religious cult, was captured and taken into custody.

A bevy of female members of the church were all detained, and images have been circulating of them being shooed into military trucks, and according to Nationwide, up to Monday morning, several members of the church remain in custody where they are awaiting interrogation by the police.

On Monday morning, after reading a post shared by ZJ Sparks about the incident on Instagram, Foota Hype, a harsh critic of Christendom, took on the church, declaring that he wanted nothing whatsoever to do with Christians.

Ok then I have some videos and pics from that place I cant even post mi nuh want si nuh church mi good wid mi ancestors, he declared.

He then went to war with andreantomicka after she told him that: @footahypemusic footah dat a no church. Dem use the word church under disguise.

@andreantomicka shut the fuc up, Foota responded.

He was, however, summarily rebuked by the commenter who replied: footah a no you alone can talk eno. We all have mouth to speak and mi na tell you to shut up. Your views is your views mine is mine. Ignorance no neccessary.

The Dark Knight producer was undeterred though.

@andreantomicka fuc views this is facts mi nuh want hear foolish excuses mi have 0 tolerance fi unu and unu brainwash behavior look how long unu team a do these things kmt, he stated.

All Christians are working for the devil and dont even know thats what Im saying and even when unu si di plain truth unu too caught up in the lie to accept the truth the origin of Christianity is evil and wickedness so none a it cant good I want to have nothing to do wid dem, he added.

Over on his Instagram page, Spragga shared a post noting: A wha really a gwaan inna Jamaica cult sacrificing wi deh now? WTF, later adding: Corrupt.


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The police suspects that the victims were killed with a sharp weapon apparently by someone known to them in cold blood in connection with a property dispute regarding the house. Representational Image. (DC File Image)

Kolkata: A corporate honcho was brutally murdered along with his car driver under mysterious circumstances at his palatial ancestral residence in South Kolkata on Sunday evening. The victims were Subir Chaki, 61, the managing director of Kilburn Engineering, and the driver of his car, Robin Mondal, 65.

Chaki, a student of the citys St. Xaviers Collegiate School, who had later graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, and did his MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, used to stay with his wife, mother and mother-in-law at New Town, near Salt Lake. His daughter lives in Bengaluru while son was in London for work.

At around 5.30 pm on Sunday, Chaki travelled in his Mercedes, driven by Mondal, to his ancestral residence at Kankulia Road in Gariahat. He was planning for the past one year to sell the house as it has been lying abandoned. But this was the first time the corporate honcho had visited the location personally for talks on the sale. On his behalf, Mondal had earlier guided many prospective buyers for a visit to the house.

The double murder came to light at night when Chakis family members found both his and Mondals mobile phones switched off and called the Gariahat police station. The police entered the house and found Chaki and Mondal lying dead in a pool of blood.

Their bodies had stab injuries in the throat and deep cut marks on the legs, which looked strangely familiar to officers of the Kolkata Police detective department. Besides, Mondal was stabbed in the back as well. While Chakis body was found on the first floor of the house, Mondals body was lying at the second floor.

The police suspects that the victims were killed with a sharp weapon apparently by someone known to them in cold blood in connection with a property dispute regarding the house. Post-mortem reports suggested that the two deceased had consumed some food before they were killed.
Hyderabad: The festival of humanity, Milad-un-Nabi will be celebrated grandly this year in the city after a gap of two years due to Covid. The Milad-un-Nabi is observed every year to commemorate the birth anniversary of Prophet Muhammed as a new era of peace and prosperity began with his birth, according to the Muslim community.

The Muslim community celebrates this festival by following the teachings of prophet Muhammad and by feeding the poor and by giving alms, said Syed Aneesuddin, chairman, reception committee, Yaum-e-Rahmatul-lil-Alameen, organised by All India Majlis-e-Tameer-e-Millat.

However, a few people are also observing this year's festival with a heavy heart and deep grief as more than 300 Eminent Islamic scholars from across India as well their near and dear ones passed away during the pandemic. We must fight to end Islamophobia and by spreading the teachings of Prophet Muhammed of peace and harmony, added Syed Aneesuddin.

The festival is observed by propagating that Islam is a religion of peace, love, brotherhood and equality. There is no room for any kind of terrorism or extremism in Islam, said Syed Fazil Hussain Parvez, a senior member of the community.

Many in the city are celebrating the festival by offering special prayers, said Mohammad Mushtaq Mallik, president TMS.

I thank the government for allowing us to celebrate the festival in a grand manner this year. We put up lights in our lanes, masjids and are disturbing food and clothes to everybody. This year we will also be helping those who are suffering from Covid or those who lost their family members because of Covid, said Syed Ali Raj Mohameed, president, Jaan Nisaran-e-Mehdi Maood Alaihis Salam (JNM).

All India Majlis-e-Tameer-e-Millats 72nd annual public meeting will be held on Tuesday at Exhibition Grounds, Nampally, from 9 am to 1 pm. Known as Jalsa-e-Rahmatul lil Alameen, the public meeting is a grand annual affair organised by the Tameer-e-Millat. The topic for the 72nd annual Jalsa is Solutions to Contemporary Problems Faced by Muslims'. Every year, renowned political leaders and Islamic scholars from different organisations deliver talks.
Zomato further said it was building a Tamil version of its mobile app. (Photo: PTI/File)

Chennai: Restaurant aggregator and food delivery company Zomato on Tuesday apologised to a person, who alleged that he was denied refund by its customer care agent for not knowing Hindi and announced terminating the services of the employee concerned.

A tweet from a user who goes by the handle "@Vikash67456607" triggered a major Twitter backlash, with the hashtag "Reject_Zomato" trending on top at the microblogging site.

In response, Zomato apologised to Vikash and also issued a statement both in Tamil and English, stressing that the company stood for diversity.

Earlier, Vikash tweeted he had ordered food on Zomato and complained that an item was missing.

"Customer care says amount can't be refunded as I didn't know Hindi. Also takes lesson that being an Indian I should know Hindi. Tagged me a liar as he didn't know Tamil. @zomato not the way you talk to a customer," he tweeted and tagged the company while sharing screenshots of his purported chat with the former customer care agent in question.

The Zomato agent also allegedly told Vikash that Hindi was the country's national language.

In its statement in the two languages which started off with the traditional Tamil salutation "Vanakkam" Tamil Nadu, Zomato said the company was "sorry" for the behaviour of its former employee.

"We have terminated the agent for their negligence towards our diverse culture. The termination is in line with our protocols and (the) agent's behaviour was clearly against the principles of sensitivity that we train our agents for on a regular basis," the statement uploaded on Zomato's Twitter handle said.

It said the sacked employee's statements do not "represent our company's stance towards language and diversity."

Zomato further said it was building a Tamil version of its mobile app and that it had already localised its marketing communication in the local language in the state.

It also pointed to roping in well-known Tamil musician Anirudh Ravichander as its local brand ambassador.

The company was in the process of building a local Tamil call/support centre in Coimbatore in the state.

"We understand food and language are core to any local culture and we take both of them seriously," it added.
HYDERABAD: The Telangana High Court on Monday issued notices to the Chief Secretary, Special Chief Secretary, Principal Secretary (Revenue) and

Chief Commissioner of Land Administration, directing them to inform

the court what steps the government had taken to minimise the frequent

technical glitches in Dharani portal.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice A. Rajashekar Reddy was hearing a PIL filed by T. Indra Prakash, an advocate practising in the High Court, seeking directions from the court to the Telangana government to continue with the old method of registration of properties as registrations through Dharani portal were literally stopped due to frequent technical glitches.

The petitioner drew the attention of the court to the hurdles being faced by farmers in selling or purchasing lands due to technical snags in Dharani portal. He said most of the lands were inserted in the list of the prohibited land, without evaluating the land details and classification.

While hearing the case, the court observed that the Telangana government has taken up this project of Dharani portal without putting sufficient infrastructure in place, due to which the citizens are facing hardship.

The court adjourned the case to November 22. Farmers and agricultural landowners have complained about glitches on the Dharani portal even a year after its inauguration. Farmers also alleged that due to the inefficiency of the government in streamlining the functioning of the portal, lakhs of landowners are in utter distress. Even issues pertaining to 20 lakh acres which were placed under the category of the prohibited land are yet to be addressed, they say.

Landowners say replies to complaints to the Dharani portal get vague replies such as issue has been forwarded to the MRO Office. But when the complainant meets the MRO they were being told that the issue has been referred to the district collector. Furthermore, the collector, when asked, says that it has been referred to the higher-ups in the government
In 2015, Indias ranking on the Global Hunger Index was 55. Last year, in 2020, it fell by 39 places to land at 94. India went behind Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal. This index tracks undernourishment, child stunting (low height for age), child wasting (low weight for age) and child mortality (number of children who die before the age of five).

At that time, the government did not accept the data (which is collected mostly by agencies linked to the United Nations and the World Bank). In Parliament, the government had offered an unusual defence of its performance. Agriculture minister Parshottam Rupala said that in India whenever a street dog gives birth in our village, even though it bites, our women provide them with sheer (sweet dish). So we should not be sensitive to such reports As far as these surveys are concerned, even healthy and strong children are counted there should be awareness in society, our dynamic minister Smriti (Irani) ji has started a Jan Andolan, and 13 crore events have been done.

Now this year, India has fallen another seven places to land at 101. Only 15 nations like Afghanistan, Somalia, Yemen and some other African countries are worse off than India. This time the government has again refuted the finding that the proportion of undernourished Indians has gone up from 14 per cent to 15.3 per cent. The government has said: The report completely disregards the governments massive effort to ensure food security of the entire population during the Covid-19 period, verifiable data on which are available. The opinion poll does not have a single question on whether the respondent received any food support from the government or other sources. The representativeness of even this opinion poll is doubtful for India and other countries.

The government appears to be saying that it is doing its job by providing free grain (five kilos of rice or wheat and one kilo of dal) to 60 per cent of the population, or over 800 million people. This is true, and it has been doing this since the past year. The question then is why are so many Indians queueing up each month for free rations? The answer can only be that they are hungry, and need it.

As I wrote last week, the Indian governments own National Family Health Survey of 2019-20 says that things have deteriorated on the malnourishment front. In fact, in Assam, Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra and West Bengal, a higher percentage of children were found wasted in 2019-20 compared to 2005-06. This means that 15 years of progress has been ceded.

More than half the surveyed states reported that every third child below the age of five is suffering from chronic malnourishment. The governments survey put out data for 22 states and Union territories. Its analysis of 10 major states showed that anaemia among children was higher in all the 10 states in 2019-20 compared to 2015-16. In seven of the 10 states which were analysed, a higher percentage of children were underweight (low weight for age) in 2019-20 compared to 2015-16.

This is a crisis that we need to first acknowledge and then work on. It is a difficult problem and will require the Union and state governments as well as civil society, meaning NGOs, to work together.

What is happening instead is that the Government of India has become defensive about every finding that shows a deterioration in governance.

When the Economist Intelligence Unit Democracy Index showed that India had fallen by 26 places from 27 to 53, the government refused to engage on the subject in Parliament. It said the issue is very sensitive in nature but also trivial. The United States Commission for International Religious Freedom last year marked India as one of the 15 nations globally as countries of particular concern. This was because the minorities in India were under assault. The government said that its biased and tendentious comments against India are not new. This year again the USCIRF has returned the same findings, retained India as a country of particular concern and recommended sanctions against some Indian individuals. When Freedom House demoted India from being free to partly free and Jammu and Kashmir from being partly free to not free, the Indian government said that the political judgments of Freedom House are inaccurate and distorted, and for example, on the Covid-19 situation, there is a widespread appreciation in the world of our response.

With every new report coming out which shows that things are slipping, we have become creative in trying to show how everyone else is wrong. When the Global Terrorism Index showed that India was stuck as the eighth most affected nation on earth, the Niti Aayog questioned how the organisation could provide country-wise national peace reports with just 24 staff members and six volunteers.

On four dozen indicators, India has fallen since 2014. Our response in all of these has not been to engage with the facts as many other nations have done. Our response is to say that the findings are wrong because under this government, India can simply do no wrong.
Japan's military said its initial analysis suggested the North fired two ballistic missiles and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said officials were examining whether they were SLBMs. (AP photo)

Seoul: North Korea on Tuesday fired at least one ballistic missile into the sea in what South Korea's military described as a weapon likely designed for submarine-based launches, marking possibly the most significant demonstration of the North's military might since President Joe Biden took office.

The launch came hours after the U.S. reaffirmed its offer to resume diplomacy on North Korea's nuclear weapons program. It underscored how the North continues to expand its military capabilities amid a pause in diplomacy.

The South's Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement it detected the North firing one short-range missile it believed was a submarine-launched ballistic missile from waters near the eastern port of Sinpo, and that the South Korean and U.S. militaries were closely analyzing the launch.

The South Korean military said the launch was made at sea, but it didn't elaborate whether it was fired from a vessel submerged underwater or another launch platform above the sea's surface.

Japan's military said its initial analysis suggested the North fired two ballistic missiles and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said officials were examining whether they were SLBMs.

After the launch, Kishida interrupted a campaign trip ahead of Japanese legislative elections later this month, returning to Tokyo. The leader ordered his government to start revising the country's national security strategy to adapt to North Korea's growing threats.

We cannot overlook North Korea's recent development in missile technology and its impact on the security of Japan and in the region, he said.

South Korean officials held a national security council meeting and expressed deep regret over the launch that came despite efforts to revive diplomacy. A strong South Korean response could anger North Korea, which has accused Seoul of hypocrisy for criticising the North's weapons tests while expanding its own conventional military capabilities.

The apparent site of the missile firing  a shipyard in Sinpo  is a major defense industry hub where North Korea focuses its submarine production. In recent years, the North has also used Sinpo to develop ballistic weapons systems designed to be fired from submarines.

North Korea had last tested an SLBM in October 2019.

Analysts had expected the North to resume tests of such weapons after it rolled out at least two new SLBMs during military parades in 2020 and 2021. There have also been signs that the North is trying to build a larger submarine that would be capable of carrying and firing multiple missiles.

Japan's Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihiko Isozaki said Tokyo has lodged a strong protest to North Korea through the usual channels, meaning their embassies in Beijing. Japan and North Korea have no diplomatic ties.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said the tensions on the Korean Peninsula were at a critical stage and called for a renewed commitment to diplomatically resolving the issue.

Ending a monthslong lull in September, North Korea has been ramping up its weapons tests while making conditional peace offers to Seoul, reviving a pattern of pressuring South Korea to try to get what it wants from the United States.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is developing submarine-launched ballistic missiles because he wants a more survivable nuclear deterrent able to blackmail his neighbors and the United States, said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor of international studies at Ewha Womans University in Seoul.

Easley added that North Korea cannot politically afford appearing to fall behind in a regional arms race with its southern neighbour.

North Korea's SLBM is probably far from being operationally deployed with a nuclear warhead, he added.

North Korea has been pushing hard for years to acquire an ability to fire nuclear-armed missiles from submarines, the next key piece in Kim Jong Un's arsenal that includes a broad range of road mobile missiles and ICBMs with potential range to reach the American homeland.

Still, experts say it would take years, resources and major technological improvements for the heavily sanctioned nation to build a fleet of at least several submarines that could travel quietly in seas and reliably execute strikes.

Within days, Biden's special envoy for North Korea, Sung Kim, is scheduled to meet with U.S. allies in Seoul over the prospects of reviving talks with North Korea.

Nuclear negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang have stalled for more than two years over disagreements in exchanging the release of crippling U.S.-led sanctions against North Korea and the North's denuclearization steps.

But while North Korea is apparently trying to use South Korea's desire for inter-Korean engagement to extract concessions from Washington, analysts say Seoul has little wiggle room as the Biden administration is intent on keeping sanctions in place until the North makes concrete steps toward denuclearization.

The U.S. continues to reach out to Pyongyang to restart dialogue. Our intent remains the same. We harbor no hostile intent toward the DPRK and we are open to meeting without preconditions, Sung Kim told reporters on Monday.

Last week, Kim Jong Un reviewed powerful missiles designed to launch nuclear strikes on the U.S. mainland during a military exhibition and vowed to build an invincible military to cope with what he called persistent U.S. hostility. Earlier, Kim dismissed U.S. offers for resuming talks without preconditions as a cunning attempt to conceal its hostile policy on the North.

The country has tested various weapons over the past month, including a new cruise missile that could potentially carry nuclear warheads, and a developmental hypersonic missile.

The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said North Korea's latest launch did not pose an immediate threat to U.S. personnel, territory, or that of its allies.
The government is considering making changes to the definition of 'employment' to extend coverage to gig workers, Anganwadi workers and platform workers, a government official told The Economic Times.

The Centre is gearing up to roll out the National Employment Policy that seeks to protect workers from exploitation. The evolving forms of work in India have prompted the government for a revised and comprehensive definition of employment, the official said.

"The new form of workers, including gig and platform workers, need to be factored in when the government comes up with India's first National Employment Policy," the official told the publication.

Read | Gig workers forgo dignity, safety in quest for a living

Under disguised employment, many workers are susceptible to exploitation as their arrangement may not come under the existing norms of employment.

As for the employers, some liabilities may arise in case of increased norms of minimum wage, weekly rest and annual waves along with other for-worker benefits.

Under the Industrial Relations Code, 2020 defines 'employee' as any person (other than an apprentice engaged under the Apprentices Act, 1961) employed by an industrial establishment to do any skilled, semi-skilled or unskilled, manual, operational, supervisory, managerial, administrative, technical or clerical work for hire or reward while an 'employer' means a person who employs, whether directly or through any person, or on his behalf or on behalf of any person, one or more employee or worker n his establishment.

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Dr Reddy's Laboratories on Tuesday said it has received approval from the US health regulator to market Lenalidomide capsules, used to treat multiple myeloma and myelodysplastic syndromes.

The company has received final approval of its abbreviated new drug application (ANDA) for Lenalidomide capsules in 2.5 mg and 20 mg strengths, and tentative approval for 5 mg, 10 mg, 15 mg, and 25 mg strengths from the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA), the Hyderabad-based drug major said in a regulatory filing.

The company's product is the generic version of Revlimid (lenalidomide) capsules. With the approval, Dr Reddy's is eligible for 180 days of generic drug exclusivity for Lenalidomide capsules, 2.5 mg and 20 mg, the drugmaker said.

In September 2020, the company had announced a settlement agreement of their litigation with Celgene, the maker of Revlimid capsules and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bristol Myers Squibb, relating to patents for the branded drug.

In settlement of all outstanding claims in the litigation, Celgene agreed to provide Dr Reddy's with a license to sell volume-limited amounts of generic lenalidomide capsules in the US, beginning on a confidential date after March 2022, subject to regulatory approval. The agreed-upon percentages remain confidential. As part of the settlement, Dr Reddy's is also licensed to sell generic lenalidomide capsules in the US without volume limitation beginning on January 31, 2026.

We are pleased with the Agency's approval of Lenalidomide capsules, 2.5 mg and 20 mg and being eligible for 180-day market exclusivity. We look forward to bringing a more affordable generic version of this drug to market for the benefit of patients, Dr Reddy's Laboratories CEO (North America Generics) Marc Kikuchi said. Shares of Dr Reddy's were trading 1.31 per cent down at Rs 4,810.15 apiece on the BSE.

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M arzia has dedicated the past decade to treating some of Kabul's poorest women, but the midwife has now packed up her stethoscope along with a few precious photos, ahead of leaving Afghanistan with her husband and son.

The health worker is part of a major brain drain of professional women - entrepreneurs, lawyers, scientists, journalists and more - that many predict will set the country back decades.

"I am not leaving happily, but with a broken heart," she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

"So many educated and professional women like me are leaving because of threats to our lives. But this will be devastating for the country in the long term," said Marzia, who asked not to use her full name.

Also read: Zalmay Khalilzad, US envoy for Afghanistan, steps down

Tens of thousands of people fled Afghanistan in a mass evacuation arranged by the United States and partner countries after the Taliban took control on Aug. 15.

Others have left with help from international organisations, or under their own steam, fearing danger in the new Taliban era.

Marzia, 34, said the exodus would hurt the country's economy as well as decimate the aspirations of younger generations.

When the Taliban were last in power from 1996-2001, they barred women from work and imposed harsh restrictions on their daily lives, flogging or stoning those who broke the rules.

Education for girls was also banned.

Role Models

Since then, there has been a massive international effort to boost women's education, empowerment and economic opportunities.

"The brain drain is a huge concern," said Manizha Wafeq, president of the Afghanistan Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry (AWCCI).

"We all invested so much in creating a great pool of professionals to support the country - in politics, the economy, engineering, the environment - everything."

There are an estimated 57,000 women-led businesses in Afghanistan, from handicraft traders to dried fruit exporters.

They employ about 130,000 people, and provide work for thousands of women making handicrafts at home.

Also read: US says won't join Afghanistan talks announced by Russia

Wafeq said women had increasingly made inroads into traditionally male sectors such as IT and media services.

Even running a cafe is considered man's work given it is often taboo for women to interact with men outside the home.

The loss of women exemplars will hit girls especially hard.

"We had created a lot of role models for the next generation," Wafeq said.

"They were seeing so-and-so has started a travel agency, a construction company, an IT company, and saying 'I can do it too'. If these women leave, we're losing hope."

The Taliban say women will be allowed to work in accordance with Islamic law, but have not clarified exactly what this means.

Many women - including female civil servants  have already lost their jobs; others have been told to stay home.

Also read: Malala sends letter to Taliban one month after girls' school ban

The AWCCI has asked the Taliban to let women-led businesses resume operations, and is awaiting a meeting with officials.

"(Many women) don't want to leave. They've given all their lives to build these businesses," Wafeq said.

Zahra Rezaie, 34, who runs a carpet business providing work for 200 weavers, is among those who have fled.

Now in Albania and hoping to get to the United States, Rezaie said she had decided to leave partly because she lived alone - "a big taboo for the Taliban".

"I was so scared," said Rezaie, who still runs her business from abroad.

Health and Education

The World Bank says Afghanistan's long-term outlook hinges on greater female participation in the economy and society.

Before the Taliban takeover, one in five urban women worked. Women accounted for about a quarter of civil servants and MPs, and tens of thousands were studying at universities.

Economists say broadening women's opportunities helps lift their families, communities and countries out of poverty too.

Experts fear the exodus of professionals could also cut women's future access to healthcare and education.

The Taliban say men should not teach girls or women and many men do not let male doctors treat their wives and daughters.

Afghanistan has more than halved maternal and child mortality rates in the last 20 years, but the World Bank says a collapsing health service could see this now rise by a third.

Death Threats

Farzana Rahimi, a 43-year-old counsellor from the city of Mazar-i-Sharif, said the brain drain would also sabotage efforts to help women access justice and tackle domestic violence.

Studies suggest 87 per cent of Afghan women experience abuse.

Rahimi, who worked for an organisation providing victims with legal support and trauma counselling, was on her way to the airport with family when the Taliban took Kabul.

"I thought I'd be killed on the spot," said Rahimi, now rebuilding her life in Canada.

Rights activists, lawyers and judges have also fled or gone into hiding, fearing reprisals from Taliban supporters.

Female judges have received death threats after the Taliban released some men they jailed. Others are at risk after ruling against men in domestic violence, divorce and custody cases.

Rahimi said women would no longer get justice in court as the Taliban did not accept a woman had the right to judge men.

"Society will go back to past centuries," she said.

"When I think about all we've done in the last 20 years to build our country - it's now a big zero."
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken heads Tuesday to Ecuador and Colombia in a bid to support and broaden ties with Latin America's democracies, amid a new spike in tension with Venezuela.

In both Ecuador and Colombia, Blinken will meet right-leaning elected leaders, part of President Joe Biden's push of promoting democracy but also keeping up the pressure against leftist strongmen in Latin America.

Blinken "will highlight how specifically countries like Ecuador and Colombia have been able to build on their democratic values and commitment to benefit their peoples," said Brian Nichols, the top US diplomat for Latin America.

Blinken arrives Tuesday in Quito where he will meet President Guillermo Lasso, a banker who was the surprise winner in elections earlier this year.

"The immediate progress that President Lasso made in delivering Covid-19 vaccinations to the people of his nation in comparison with the administration that preceded him is a concrete example of what a transparent and democratic government can achieve," Nichols told reporters.

Colombia is a longstanding ally of the United States and Biden has largely kept his predecessor Donald Trump's support of President Ivan Duque, despite calls on Biden by progressives in his own Democratic Party to speak more forcefully against police brutality.

Blinken will meet human rights groups and will also address two key issues for the Biden administration -- climate change and migration.

"It's a big democracy trip for Secretary Blinken but it's also a realignment of the relationship with democratic Latin America beyond the traditional issues that have dominated the conversation for many years," said Muni Jensen, a former Colombian diplomat who is now a senior advisor at the Albright Stonebridge Group in Washington.

Colombia has pleased the Biden administration by adopting some of Latin America's most ambitious targets on climate change ahead of next month's high-stakes UN summit on climate, while Ecuador is especially sensitive as home of the Galapagos.

In Bogota, officials said Blinken would meet with ministers from around the region on a humane migration policy amid a spike of desperate Haitians seeking to make the long trek to the United States from Colombia.

Kevin Whitaker, who was the US ambassador to Colombia from 2014 to 2019, said that a strong message from Blinken on democracy -- and on issues broader than just security cooperation -- could have a significant impact at a time that growing US competitor China is making inroads in Latin America.

"Democracy is on somewhat shaky legs in the hemisphere. We've seen authoritarian populism rise," Whitaker said.

The Trump era and the January 6 assault on the Capitol by his supporters "served to discredit the model of American democracy for certain elites," he said, on "what they always believed the United States would represent in the region."

Biden's worldwide push for democracy and away from Trump's embrace of autocrats has proved subtle in Latin America.

Seeking progress on climate, the Biden administration has stepped up talks with Latin America's most populous nation Brazil, whose far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, has mused about rejecting next year's election outcome.

Biden has also kept up the pressure on autocratic leftist leaders in Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua, after Trump's hard line was seen as paying political dividends in the key state of Florida.

Blinken's trip comes days after the West African nation of Cape Verde extradited to Miami one of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro's close aides, Alex Saab, who is accused of siphoning millions of dollars meant for food aid in a country mired by dire poverty.

Maduro -- considered illegitimate by most Western and Latin American nations -- responded by suspending Norwegian-backed talks with the US-backed opposition led by Juan Guaido, considered interim president by Washington.

Venezuela is likely to come up with Duque, a staunch critic of Maduro whom he accuses of promoting drug trafficking and harboring armed Colombian rebels.

Whitaker, the former ambassador, said that Maduro was showing his motivations.

"The Venezuelans were looking for a way to get out of these discussions. They found it and they latched on to it. It doesn't seem any more complex than that," he said.

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A letter petition has been sent to Chief Justice of Bangladesh Supreme Court, Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain to ensure the safety and security of Hindus, demanding an inquiry into recent attacks on the minority community during Durga Puja.

Delhi-based lawyer Vineet Jindal said incidents of damaging temples and killings of Hindus in recent times have increased significantly, creating a negative image for Bangladesh at an international level.

"Bangladesh government has been vowing to protect the Hindus on numerous occasions but the rising number of incidents related to damaging of Hindu temples and other human right violation shows that it has failed to secure the rights of Hindus granted by the Constitution," he said.

In his letter, he contended that the recent attacks on Hindu minorities in districts Noakhali and Feni are evidence of the miserable condition of Hindu minorities in Bangladesh.

He also cited provisions of the Bangladesh Constitution which provided for non-discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth, to demand protection for rights of Hindus.

The advocate asked the Chief Justice of Bangladesh Supreme Court to protect and secure the rights and dignity of Hindu women and ensure adequate security at all Hindu temples and places. He sought direction to the government to grant compensation to the families of Hindu victims killed owing to their minority status.

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The EU will not hold talks in Brussels on Thursday with Iran on restarting negotiations over the country's nuclear deal, the bloc's foreign policy chief said, contradicting a declaration by Tehran.

"I heard that someone was convinced that next Thursday was going to be a meeting -- no," Josep Borrell said Monday after a meeting of EU foreign ministers.

"But we made clear to the Iranians that time is not on their side, and it is better to go back to the negotiation table quickly."

His remarks came after Iran's foreign ministry spokesman said the country's lead nuclear negotiator, Ali Bagheri, would go to Brussels for discussions Thursday.

The 2015 pact with world powers limited Tehran's nuclear ambitions in exchange for sanctions relief but was hit by the withdrawal of the US under former president Donald Trump in 2018.

The EU, which acts as the coordinator for the deal, has been seeking to restart talks aimed at reviving it.

Negotiations got underway in Vienna in April after Trump's successor President Joe Biden signalled a willingness to come back on board and lift sanctions imposed by Trump.

But the talks have been suspended since June when ultraconservative Ebrahim Raisi was elected president of Iran.

In Washington, US State Department spokesman Ned Price called on Iran to resume the talks on reviving the accord "as soon as possible".

"The destination we seek is in Vienna, not an intermediate step in Brussels," Price told reporters.

"There is no daylight with our partners. There is no disagreement that a mutual return to compliance remains in our interests."

Tehran has repeatedly said in recent weeks that it is seeking to return to the negotiations soon in Vienna but has set no date for doing so amid growing impatience from the other parties.

Borrell insisted he remains willing to meet with Iran's representative bilaterally "if they need some clarifications" before restarting talks in Vienna.

"I will do because it is my duty, and my will is to do my best in order to restore negotiations as soon as possible. But there is nothing concrete about it," he said.

The US has participated only indirectly in the Vienna talks, and Washington insists Iran must return to its nuclear commitments that it has been rolling back.

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Meghan Markle's estranged father on Tuesday pleaded with his daughter to let him see his grandchildren.

Thomas Markle told ITV's Good Morning Britain programme that "we're at a point where I think both of us, we should grow up, talk, make up for the sake of the children."

"This is ridiculous, almost four years, it's crazy," he said.

He is yet to meet grandson Archie, born in 2019, or granddaughter Lilibet, who was born in June.

"My message for the kids is that they have two loving families," he said.

"Their great grandmother is the Queen of England, and I think it's important for them to know that they have two families and eventually they're going to grow up and they're going to want to know more about them."

Also read: Harry and Meghan get into sustainable investing with fintech partnership

The 77-year-old Emmy-winning former lighting director was interviewed from his home in Mexico.

He claimed that Meghan, who became the Duchess of Sussex on marrying Prince Harry, had wanted him to stop talking to her step-sister and step-brother, "and I couldn't".

"She's never been that way before. And once she hooked up with Harry, she changed," he added.

Thomas separated from Meghan's mother Doria Ragland when the duchess was young.

Raglan was at her wedding at Windsor Castle and has had tea with Queen Elizabeth II.

Thomas Markle declined to attend the wedding after he took part in staged paparazzi photos. He also cited forthcoming heart surgery. Meghan dropped contact with him soon after the wedding.

Harry and Meghan stunned the royal family last year when they announced they were stepping back from frontline royal duties.

They moved to Los Angeles, cutting financial ties with the royal family and signing a string of lucrative deals, including with the streaming giant Netflix, and Apple TV+.

But they caused controversy by accusing an unnamed senior member of the royal family of racism, in a tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey that divided opinion on both sides of the Atlantic.
Pakistan may remain on the 'grey list' of the FATF till the global money laundering and terror financing watchdog meets for its next session in April 2022, according to a media report on Tuesday.

Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF) will be in session for three days from October 19-21 and it is expected that Tuesday's session may be informed that Pakistan is still short of meeting the FATF criterion, according to a report in The News International reported from the French capital.

The report, quoting sources in German media house Deutsche Welle, said the global body's decision on putting Pakistan off the 'grey list' may be taken in the next session slated for April 2022.

The FATF in June retained Pakistan on its 'grey list' for failing to check money laundering, leading to terror financing, and asked Islamabad to investigate and prosecute senior leaders and commanders of UN-designated terror groups, including Hafiz Saeed and Masood Azhar.

It also asked Pakistan to work to address its strategically important deficiencies.

Virtually connected delegates will join those that are able to travel to Paris for three days of meetings, during which they will discuss key issues to strengthen global action against the financial flows that fuel crime and terrorism, the FATF said in a statement on Monday.

The FATF said it will finalise key reports, including the revised guidance on virtual assets and their service providers, and discuss next steps to strengthen its standards on transparency of beneficial ownership.

Delegates will also discuss the outcomes of the FATFs survey to identify areas where divergent anti-money laundering and counter terrorist financing rules or their implementation cause friction for cross-border payments. FATF is leading work on this aspect of the G20s priority to improve cross-border payments, it said.

The FATF, which will announce the outcomes of the plenary on October 21, will also update its statements identifying jurisdictions with strategic deficiencies in their measures to combat money laundering and terrorist financing.

Pakistan was placed on the grey list by the FATF in June 2018 and was given a plan of action to complete it by October 2019. Since then the country continues to be on that list due to its failure to comply with the FATF mandates.

With Pakistan's continuation in the grey list, it is increasingly becoming difficult for the country to get financial aid from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank, Asian Development Bank (ADB), and the European Union, thus further enhancing problems for the country.

Pakistan has so far avoided being on the blacklist with the help of China, Turkey, and Malaysia.

The FATF is an inter-governmental body established in 1989 to combat money laundering, terrorist financing, and other related threats to the integrity of the international financial system.

The FATF currently has 39 members including two regional organisations -- the European Commission and Gulf Cooperation Council.

India is a member of the FATF consultations and its Asia Pacific Group.

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Iraq's October 10 elections reinforced the parliamentary strength of mercurial Shiite preacher Moqtada Sadr and saw a sharp decline in that of his adversaries, the pro-Iran Hashed al-Shaabi alliance, according to preliminary results.

A final tally from the ballot, organised to appease youth-led anti-government protests that began in 2019, is expected in the next few weeks, but so far no bloc has a clear mandate.

That means the numerous political parties will engage in lengthy negotiations to form alliances and name a new prime minister.

Also Read | Sadrists claim most seats in Iraq parliament after vote

Harith Hasan, a nonresident senior fellow at the Carnegie Middle East Center, generally sees two main potential scenarios.

The first is the revival of a "Shiite alliance" between Sadr, who has criticised Iranian influence, and the Hashed, a former paramilitary network now integrated into the regular security forces.

Results so far show Sadr won more than 70 of the 329 parliamentary seats.

This coalition option would see Sadr accepting "a new power-sharing arrangement with a compromise candidate" as prime minister, Hasan said.

There would also be an agreement "on certain 'principles' for reform, including the future and the structure of Hashed al-Shaabi," he said.

Any compromise candidate for prime minister will have to have the tacit blessing of Tehran and Washington, arch-foes that are both Baghdad allies.

According to preliminary results the Conquest (Fatah) Alliance, the political arm of the multi-party Hashed, emerged from the election with only around 15 seats in parliament.

In the last chamber it had 48, which made it the second largest bloc.

A source in Fatah told AFP that some of its leaders "suggested to a representative of the Sadrists to conclude an alliance" with them and other Shiite entities.

A second scenario would see Sadr align himself with Massoud Barzani, the longtime head of the Kurdistan Democratic Party which runs the Kurdish autonomous region in northern Iraq.

Mohammed al-Halbussi, the former parliamentary speaker who cultivates an image of dynamism and leads a construction boom in his home city of Ramadi, would also be part of this coalition, along with smaller groups.

This scenario is only possible if Sadr "did not succumb to the pressure" of Hashed, said Hasan, who does not exclude "some kind of chaos or armed conflict" in the country where virtually all political actors have links to armed groups.

Despite losing seats, the Hashed is still expected to carry weight in parliament through the support of members who say they are independent, and arrangements with former prime minister Nuri al-Maliki, who held the post between 2006 and 2014.

An ally of Hashed and a figure close to Iran, Maliki won more than 30 seats.

No name has yet emerged as a replacement for Mustafa al-Kadhemi.

Sadr had claimed he was going to name the next prime minister, but the one ultimately chosen "has to be a consensus candidate," said Lahib Higel, a senior analyst on Iraq at the International Crisis Group.

It could be Kadhemi himself.

Well connected both in Tehran and Washington, he brought forward the elections, originally scheduled for 2022, in response to the anti-government protests over endemic corruption, unemployment and failing public services.

With no base of his own and no seat in parliament, Kadhemi could be a convenient choice "because to a certain degree you will get rid of a part of the responsibility when the face of the government is someone else," Higel said.

"He has a chance."

In Hasan's view, "Kadhemi still stands a good chance to stay in office."

The loss of seats by Fatah, which is very close to Iran, will not necessarily weaken Tehran's role in Iraq.

"Iran has had an influence in Iraq ever since 2003," years before the Hashed alliance first entered parliament in 2018, Higel said.

According to Hasan, Iran has three main interests in its neighbour: ending the US military presence which numbers 2,500, and making sure there are no threats coming from Iraq; supporting Hashed; and keeping the Iraqi market open to products from Iran's crippled economy.

Hasan added that Iran "don't see Sadr as an enemy, but they are attentive to the risk of having him dominating" the Shiite scene.

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At least 42 people died and more than a dozen were missing after landslides and flash floods triggered by several days of heavy rain hit Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh, officials said Tuesday.

Officials in Uttarakhand said 35 people were killed in fresh landslides on Tuesday after six died in similar incidents a day earlier. Reports said that four fatalities were witnessed in Uttar Pradesh.

At least 30 of them were killed in seven separate incidents in the worst-affected Nainital early Tuesday, after cloudbursts -- an ultra-intense deluge of rain -- triggered a series of landslides and destroyed several structures.

"So far 30 people have been confirmed dead, while many people are still missing," Nainital senior civil officer Ashok Kumar Joshi told AFP.

Also Read | Over 300 people rescued from flood-affected Uttarakhand: NDRF

Joshi said several remote areas in the hilly region witnessed widespread damage in the intense rainfall.

Five of the dead were from a single family whose house was buried by a massive landslide, another local civil officer Pradeep Jain told AFP.

Another landslide in the northern Almora district killed five people after huge rocks and a wall of mud demolished and engulfed their home.

At least six others were killed on Monday in two remote districts of the state.

The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) extended and widened its weather alert on Tuesday, predicting "heavy" to "very heavy" rainfall in the region over the next two days.

The weather office said several areas were drenched by more than 400 millimetres (16 inches) of rainfall on Monday, causing landslides and flooding.

Authorities ordered the closure of schools and banned all religious and tourist activities in the state.

Also Read | Kerala floods: Shutters of Idukki dam opened, orange alert in 11 districts

Television footage and social media videos showed residents wading through knee-deep water near Nainital lake, a tourist hotspot, and the Ganges bursting its banks in Rishikesh.

More than 100 tourists were stuck inside a resort in Ramgarh after the overflowing Kosi river deluged several areas.

Landslides are a regular danger in India's north, but experts say they are becoming more common as rains become increasingly erratic and glaciers melt.

Experts also blame construction work on hydroelectric dams and deforestation.

In February, a ferocious flash flood hurtled down a remote valley in Uttarakhand, killing around 200 people. At least 5,700 people perished there in 2013.

Forecasters have also warned of more downpours in the coming days in Kerala where floods have already killed at least 27 people since Friday.

Many dams in the state were nearing the danger mark and authorities were evacuating thousands to safer locations as major rivers overflowed.

India's weather office said heavy rains will again lash the state in the next two days after a brief reprieve on Tuesday.
Eight states in India showed double-digit unemployment in September defying the decline in nationwide joblessness which was under 7 per cent, according to data by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE).

Delhi's unemployment rate touched a four-month high of 16.8 per cent in September, after rising steadily during this period.

Also Read | Unemployment rate rises to 10.3% in October-December 2020: NSO survey

Meanwhile, Jammu and Kashmir, with a 21.6 per cent joblessness rate, touched an eight-month high. The government has come under fire from opposition parties for high unemployment numbers for promoting a growth and development-centric narrative in the UT since the abrogation of its special status.

Other states with high unemployment rates are Bihar (10 per cent), Haryana (20.3 per cent), Jharkhand (13.5 per cent), Rajasthan (17.9 per cent), Puducherry (11.2 per cent) and Tripura (15.3 per cent).

Also Read | 14 crore lost jobs but Modi govt launched no scheme for them, says Congress leader

The trend revealed in this data can be broadly attributed to the K-shaped recovery which our economy is experiencing after the pandemic, Jyoti Prakash Gadia, MD of investment banking firm Resurgent India, told DH. "Sectors like IT and Pharma have gained because of digitisation and an emphasis on health care to cope up with imperatives of Covid-19, while other sectors suffered heavily," he said.













States/UTs Unemployment rate in September (%) August July June May Delhi 16.8 11.6 10.7 8.8 45.6 Haryana 20.3 35.7 28.1 27.8 28.7 Jammu and Kashmir 21.6 13.6 15.4 10.6 11.9 Jharkhand 13.5 16 9.4 12.7 16 Puducherry 11.2 8.6 9.6 47.1 24 Rajasthan 17.9 26.7 21.1 26.3 27.6 Tripura 15.3 15.6 13.3 9.6 19.9 Bihar 10 13.6 13 10.5 13.8

Gadia added that as a part of the revival effort, spending on infrastructure and credit boost to MSME is helping the economy. "All this has to lead to the creation of new jobs and revival of old jobs in these sectors and the eight states having a lesser concentration of such sectors have been left in a backward position on the employment front," he said.

Even though Haryana and Jharkhand showed high numbers, they actually saw a fall in unemployment rates from 35.7 per cent and 16 per cent in August respectively. Rajasthans tally is also lower than the previous month.

Odisha, Meghalaya and Gujarat had unemployment rates under 3 per cent, with Gujarat having the lowest among all states at 1.3 per cent.

Also Read | Unions protest against national monetisation plan

Indias employment situation, already frail, was further wrecked by the Covid-19 pandemic. After coronavirus hit in March 2020, Indias unemployment rate in April and May was as high as 23 per cent and 21.7 per cent. Moreover, the second wave of the pandemic brought more bad news as nearly 32 lakh salaried Indians lost their jobs in July.

Even as it has been contained in September at 6.9 per cent, marginally lower than August, it remains a cause to worry. The rate as of October 17 is slightly higher, at 7.3 per cent.

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Gangster Suresh Pujari who is wanted in several extortion cases in Mumbai and surrounding areas has been arrested in the Philippines, police sources said on Tuesday.

The police in Thane, where most of the extortion cases have been registered against him, has started the process to seek his custody, a senior police official told PTI.

While Mumbai Police did not comment on the development, a report on the website of the Manila Bulletin, a newspaper in the Philippines, said the "Bureau of Immigration" had arrested Suresh Basappa Pujari (48) from Paranaque city, and he would be "expelled".

He was staying in the country illegally, it added. At least 23 cases of extortion are registered against him in Thane, said the senior police officer.

Thane Police had issued a look-out notice against Pujari and an Interpol red corner notice was also issued against him, the official added.

Suresh is a close relative of gangster Ravi Pujari who was arrested in Senegal two years ago and deported to India. After parting ways with Ravi Pujari in 2007, Suresh fled abroad. He also used an alias of `Satish Shekhar Pai', the official said. According to police sources, he was arrested last Thursday.

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Within hours of food delivery company Zomato sacking a customer care executive for telling a customer from Tamil Nadu that Hindi is the countrys national language, the company founder Deepinder Goyal tweeted saying they are reinstating the employee, underlining that the "level of tolerance and chill in our country needs to be way higher than it is nowadays".

"An ignorant mistake by someone in a support centre of a food delivery company became a national issue. The level of tolerance and chill in our country needs to be way higher than it is nowadays. Who's to be blamed here? On that note, we are reinstating the agent  this alone is not something she should have been fired for. This is easily something she can learn and do better about going forward," Goyal said in a tweet.

Also Read  #RejectZomato trends on Twitter after executive tells Tamil Nadu customer 'Hindi is national language'

An ignorant mistake by someone in a support centre of a food delivery company became a national issue. The level of tolerance and chill in our country needs to be way higher than it is nowadays. Who's to be blamed here?  Deepinder Goyal (@deepigoyal) October 19, 2021

Adding that "we should all tolerate each other's imperfections and appreciate each other's language and regional sentiments," Goyal said, "Tamil Nadu  we love you. Just as much as we love the rest of the country. Not more, not less. We are all the same, as much as we are different."

Earlier, after an uproar over the incident, Zomato released a statement in English and Tamil on Tuesday afternoon to apologise on behalf of the customer care agent, saying the company understands that food and language are "core to any local culture" and that it "takes both of them seriously".
China has increased the intensity of carrying out military drills and deployment in its depth areas opposite the Arunachal Pradesh sector and India has correspondingly readied contingency plans to deal with any security challenges in the region, Eastern Army Commander Lt Gen Manoj Pande said on Tuesday.

Giving an account of India's overall military modernisation, Lt Gen Pande also said that an in-principle approval has been given to new combat formations called the Integrated Battle Groups (IBGs) which can mobilise fast with a more effective approach.

The IBGs will comprise a mix of infantry, artillery, air defence, tanks and logistics units and the new set up is expected to revamp the Army's war fighting capabilities, particularly along the borders with China and Pakistan.

Lt Gen Pande added that the plan to operationalise the 17 Mountain Corp has been implemented in sync with a plan finalised in 2014.

"The annual training exercise that the PLA carries out there has seen some increase in the level of activities in the depth areas. Some of the reserve formations which the PLA mobilised continue to remain in their training areas that are in the operational depth areas," he said.

"Both sides are attempting to develop infrastructure closer to the Line of Actual Control (LAC) that create certain issues at times," he said, adding there has been an increase in deployment of troops following the development of new infrastructure.

Also read: India enhances day and night surveillance over LAC in Arunachal sector

The commander said India has taken a number of steps and the foremost among them is enhancing surveillance both close to the LAC and the depth areas by synergising all surveillance resources right from the strategic level to the tactical level.

"We have adequate forces that are available in each sector to deal with any contingency that may arise. We are practising and rehearsing various contingencies that may arise," he said.

Asked about the recent agreement between China and Bhutan to resolve their decades-old boundary dispute and whether it will impact India's strategic interests in the areas around Doklam tri-junction, the Army Commander did not give a direct reply but said authorities concerned in the government must have taken note of the pact.

On China violating various border agreements and protocols, Lt Gen Pande indicated that the issue is being discussed at a higher level.

"In terms of our larger guidance, strategic guidance in terms of dealing with situation on the LAC is to respect the mutually agreed protocols and agreements, and that has been our effort, notwithstanding what has been the action or response from the other side," he said.

"Consequent to what happened and what we need to do in the future, is something I reckon is being looked into at the larger level," he said.

A fourth hotline between the two sides has been activated recently, he added.

As tensions increased following the eastern Ladakh row last year, India ramped up overall deployment of troops along the nearly 3,400 km LAC besides speeding up infrastructure development to gain tactical advantage.

The Army is also cranking up its day and night surveillance over the LAC in the region using a fleet of remotely piloted aircraft

A sizeable fleet of Israeli-made Heron medium-altitude long endurance drone is carrying out round-the-clock surveillance over the LAC in the mountainous terrain and sending crucial data and images to command and control centres.

Along with the drones, the Indian Army's aviation wing has also been deploying the Weapon System Integrated (WSI) variant of the Advanced Light Helicopter Rudra in the region adding more teeth to its tactical missions in the region, they said.

The government is also working on connecting Tawang with a railway network as part of the decision to enhance infrastructure in the region.

The eastern Ladakh border standoff between the Indian and Chinese militaries erupted on May 5 last year following a violent clash in the Pangong lake areas and both sides gradually enhanced their deployment by rushing in tens of thousands of soldiers as well as heavy weaponry.

The tension escalated following a deadly clash in Galwan Valley on June 15 last year.

As a result of a series of military and diplomatic talks, the two sides completed the disengagement process in Gogra area in August and in the north and south banks of the Pangong lake in February.

The last round of military talks on October 10 ended in stalemate following which both sides blamed each other for the impasse.

In a strong statement after the 13th round of talks, the Indian Army said the "constructive suggestions" made by it at the negotiations were neither agreeable to the Chinese side nor Beijing could provide any "forward-looking" proposals.

Each side currently has around 50,000 to 60,000 troops along the LAC in the sensitive sector.

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India on Monday joined Israel, United Arab Emirates and the United States to launch a new quadrilateral consultation for expanding economic and political cooperation in West Asia, in addition to step energy and maritime security cooperation.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid joined the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, and the UAE Foreign Minister, Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, in a video conference.

The virtual meeting took place about a year after the Abraham Accords were signed in Washington D.C. in September 2020 started the process of normalization of relations between Tel Aviv and Abu Dhabi and thus opened up a new opportunity for India to go for deeper engagement with Israel without risking its relations with the UAE and the other Arab states of the Persian Gulf.

Jaishankar later called the video conference with his counterparts in Israel, the UAE and the US a fruitful first meeting, thus indicating that it was not a one-off consultation and the four nations would continue to remain engaged in the quadrilateral format. He tweeted that the virtual meeting ended with all sides agreeing on expeditious follow-up to the discussion they had on working together more closely on economic growth and global issues.

Ned Price, the spokesperson of the US State Department, said that the four sides had discussed expanding economic and political cooperation in the Middle East and Asia, including through trade, combating climate change, energy cooperation, and increasing maritime security. They also discussed people to people ties in technology and science and ways to support global public health in view of the Covid-19 pandemic. Blinken reiterated the support of US President Joe Bidens administration support for the Abraham Accords and normalization agreements and discussed future opportunities for collaboration in the region and globally.

The Abraham Accords are the pacts Israel inked with Bahrain and the UAE in September 2020. Bidens predecessor Donald Trumps administration played a key role in getting the agreements signed and thus setting in motion the process of normalization of Israels relations with the UAE and Bahrain. India welcomed the Abraham Accords, stating that it always supported peace and stability in West Asia  a region, which it considered as its extended neighbourhood.

India-Israel cooperation in counterterrorism and defence sectors widened over the past few years. Israel has been one of the largest suppliers of military hardware to India. Indias energy and economic ties with the UAE also expanded significantly. The UAE has also been quietly mediating between India and Pakistan and facilitated back-channel talks between the two neighbours last year.

With the Talibans return to power in Kabul giving Pakistan a strategic edge over India in Afghanistan, New Delhi is now keen to take advantage of the Abraham Accords, which has given India flexibility to expand its strategic partnerships with Israel as well as the UAE and the other nations in the Gulf, like Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain.

A source in New Delhi said that India was confident about balancing its ties with Iran and Israel too. Jaishankar had two back-to-back visits to Tehran in July and August and extended an invitation on behalf of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the new Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi for an early visit to India.

The virtual meeting Jaishankar had with Blinken, Lapid and Zayed was the second quadrilateral consultation with participation of India and the US, which in 2017 had also re-launched another four-nation coalition with Japan and Australia, primarily to build a coalition of democracies to counter communist Chinas expansionist aspirations in the Indo-Pacific region. Modi last month joined Biden, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and then Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga for the first in-person summit of the quad in Washington D.C.

Jaishankar and Lapid earlier had a bilateral meeting in Jerusalem. They agreed to relaunch the negotiations for the India-Israel Free Trade Agreement from next month.

Lapid agreed with Jaishankar to allow travellers inoculated with the Covid-19 Covishield vaccines in India to travel to Israel without any hassle. New Delhi also agreed to recognize the vaccination certificates issued by the Government of Israel while allowing travellers from the West Asian Jewish nation to travel to India.

Our bilateral relations have been on a qualitatively different trajectory in the last few years, said Jaishankar, who is currently on a visit to Israel. Our two countries (India and Israel) share values of democracy and pluralism. We also share some of our guiding civilizational philosophies: Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam in India, or the world is one family, and Tikun Olam in Israel, or heal the world, the External Affairs Minister said during an interaction with Indologists and the representatives of the Indian Jewish community of Israel.

We (India and Israel) also share similar challenges to our society from radicalism and terrorism, apart from many other emerging developments on the geopolitical landscape.

Modis visit to Tel Aviv and Jerusalem in July 2017 was the first by a Prime Minister of India to Israel. It de-linked Indias relations with Israel and Palestine.

Indian dignitaries visiting Israel in the past had made it a point to visit Palestine too. The then President Pranab Mukherjee had visited both Israel and Palestine in October 2015. The then External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, too had visited Palestine after touring Israel in January 2016, just as one of her predecessors, S M Krishna, had done in October 2012. India was the first non-Arab country to recognise Palestine way back in 1988. But New Delhi's growing ties with Israel after the BJP's ascent to power in May 2014 fuelled speculation about India reviewing its position on Palestine.

The Modi government, however, made it clear that while India would continue to support the cause of Palestine, it would also seek to build stronger ties with Israel. New Delhi also played host to the then Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in January 2018.

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The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) will likely hand over the probe of recent civilian killings in Kashmir to the National Investigation Agency (NIA), sources in the security set up said here on Tuesday.

According to sources, the investigation in these killings indicate a definite pattern leading to the terror angle, therefore, the investigation may be assigned to the national anti-terror probe agency.

They also said that this issue was discussed threadbare in the National Security Strategy Conference held on Monday wherein Union Home Minister Amit Shah discussed it with all stakeholders in detail.

Another source in the government set up said that civilian killings in Kashmir have given a wrong signal and most of the migrant labourers and non-Kashmiris are leaving Kashmir leading to a sense of fear among the local residents too.

These gruesome incidents have also spread fear among the Kashmiris Pandits who were willing to go back to the valley on behest of the government initiatives.

The local NIA team has already been assisting the J&K Police in the killings probe and trying to identify the masterminds behind these killings.

The sources also said that the central agencies have been scanning the old cases of stone pelters as targeted killings revealed that these killers are not from the regular terrorists' cadre.

"The probe agency will take over the cases of Kashmiri Pandit Pharmaceutical dealer Makhan Lal Bindroo; Virendra Paswan, a non-Kashmiri street vendor from Bihar and the other labourers," the senior officials added.

The NIA Director General Kuldeep Singh visited Srinagar on Monday and reportedly discussed the situation with other security stakeholders.

Singh, who is also the DG of the CRPF which is playing a major counter terror operation in the valley, has also directed the force to re-strategise the operation against the terror groups in the valley.

So far, 11 civilians have been killed in the last 16 days.

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Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and briefed him about the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir in the wake of the targeted killings of Hindu and Sikh minorities in the region.

Shah met the Prime Minister at the latter's official residence. They are learnt to have discussed steps to be taken in the valley to restore the confidence of the religious minorities who have begun moving out of the Kashmir valley fearing for their lives.

At least 11 persons, mostly non-local, have been gunned down in the Kashmir valley by terrorists in the last fortnight, reviving memories of the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from the valley in the 1990s.

Shah had met top security officials from the Intelligence Bureau, National Investigation Agency, Directors General of Police and Directors General of central paramilitary forces on Monday to deliberate on various internal security challenges and tackle them firmly.

Also read: Shah reviews security situation, discusses civilian killings in Kashmir with police top brass

The Kashmir issue is expected to be taken up for discussion at the cabinet meeting on Wednesday where steps to deal with the situation are likely to be on the agenda.

Shah has asked investigative and intelligence agencies to act on every piece of input received in the matter.

The Home Minister is scheduled to visit Jammu and Kashmir on October 23 and 25 to review the security situation in the union territory. This is Shah's first visit to Jammu and Kashmir after the reading down of Article 370 and bifurcation of the state of Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories.

Shah is expected to announce some development projects in the union territory.

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After suffering nine casualties in as many days, the army has upped the ante against the terrorists holed up in the jungles of Poonch in the Jammu region, asking locals not to venture out of their homes and blocking main roads for a full-scale operation, officials said.

As loud explosions and staccato of gunfire pierced the air in the border district of Poonch with the troops advancing into the dense forests, Army Chief General M M Naravane on Tuesday visited forward areas along the LoC to review the ground situation and ongoing counter-infiltration operations.

"General MM Naravane #COAS (Chief of Army Staff) visited forward areas of #WhiteKnight Corps & undertook a first-hand assessment of the situation along the Line of Control.

"COAS was briefed by commanders on the ground about the present situation & ongoing counter-infiltration operations," the Additional Directorate General of Public Information (ADGPI) of the Indian Army tweeted.

Also Read | Pakistan commandos suspected behind J&K encounters: Report

The area where the operation is currently going on falls under XVI Corps of the army, also known as 'White Knight'.

Earlier last week, Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat had visited Poonch and other forward areas to review the situation, the officials said.

Before concluding his two-day tour, the officials said the Army chief visited the border districts of Rajouri and Poonch, where the massive operation to track down terrorists hiding in the forest areas of Mendhar, Surankote and Thanamandi has been going on since October 11.

The operation to neutralise the holed-up terrorists intensified on Tuesday with authorities asking people in Mendhar in Poonch to stay indoors for their safety.

The people were alerted through the public address system in local mosques in Bhatta Durrian and adjoining areas as the security forces were preparing a final assault against the terrorists believed to be hiding in the forest area, the officials said.

The residents were asked not to venture into the forest area and also keep their livestock at their homes in view of the ongoing operation. Those who have gone outside were asked to suspend their activities and return to their homes along with their animals, the officials said.

The deafening sounds of explosions and gunfire shook the forest area shortly after the announcements with security forces launching assaults on suspected locations, mostly natural caves. However, there was no immediate report of any casualty.

Also Read | Amit Shah briefs PM Modi on J&K situation, discusses steps to be taken

A Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) and four other security personnel laid down their lives in a fierce gunfight during the start of the counter-insurgency operation in Surankote forest of Poonch on October 11 and four other soldiers including another JCO lost their lives in another encounter in Nar Khas forest in Mendhar on Thursday evening after the security forces extended the cordon and search operation.

Drones and helicopters were pressed into service to assist the marching troops, which included para-commandos, in the jungle spread over nearly 8 km X 2 km area at a distance of four km from the Line of Control, the officials said.

The entire forest belt is still under tight security cordon to neutralise the terrorists, the officials said, adding the area is mountainous and the forest is dense, making the operation difficult and dangerous.

Eight suspected persons including a mother-son duo were detained for questioning from Bhatta Durrian in connection with providing logistic support to the terrorists. However, it is to be seen whether the support was given voluntarily or under duress, the officials said.

Earlier on Saturday, Deputy Inspector General of Police, Rajouri-Poonch range, Vivek Gupta said the presence of terrorists in the forest area connecting Poonch and Rajouri was observed two and a half months ago and accordingly tactical operations were launched to track them down.

Also Read | Migrant workers fleeing Kashmir throng railway stations, bus stands in Jammu, Udhampur

"The joint security grid was tracking different groups of terrorists but sometimes operations take time, depending on the topography of the area.

"'The contact with the terrorists was established on three occasions during the start of the operation, based on the intelligence inputs," the officer had said, adding the terrorists are holed up and the joint forces are on the job to take the operation to the logical conclusion.

The traffic between Mendhar and Thanamandi along the Jammu-Rajouri highway remained suspended as a precautionary measure for the fifth day on Tuesday in the wake of the ongoing operation.

Rajouri and Poonch in Jammu region have witnessed a rise in infiltration attempts since June this year, resulting in the killing of nine terrorists in separate encounters.

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The Uttar Pradesh police on Monday apprehended four more persons, including a BJP worker, over the Lakhimpur Kheri violence, taking the number of arrests in the episode to 10, said officials.

Union Minister Ajay Mishra's son Ashish Mishra along with others accused in the case were also sent into judicial custody from police custody on Monday, the officials said.

Eight persons, including four farmers, were killed in the October 3 violence during a farmers' protest in the Tikonia area of the district, with the incident snowballing into a major political controversy over the alleged involvement of the Union minister's son.

Also Read | Lakhimpur Kheri: Congress slams PM for not removing Ajay Mishra despite son's arrest

Four persons were arrested on Monday by the Crime Branch of the Lakhimpur Kheri police along with the SWAT team. The SIT investigators and other senior officials are interrogating the accused and further probe is underway, the UP police said in a statement.

Those held have been identified as Sumit Jaiswal, Shishi Pal, Satya Prakash Tripathi alias Satyam and Nandan Singh Bisht, the police said.

So far, the special investigation team (SIT) has arrested 10 persons including the key accused Ashish Mishra, Ankit Das, Ashish Pandey, Lavkush Rana, Shekhar Bharti and Latif.

Ashish Mishra, Ankit Das, Shekhar Bharti and Latif were remanded in judicial custody on Monday after nearly a fortnight in police custody, the officials said.

An FIR was lodged at the Tikonia police station on October 3 over the episode in which the son of Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Ajay Mishra 'Teni' was named as accused besides 15 to 20 unnamed persons.

The next day, a counter-FIR was lodged at the same police station on the basis of a complaint by Sumit Jaiswal, who has now been arrested.

In the complaint, Jaiswal, a resident of Ayodhyapuri here, identified himself as a BJP worker who was on his way to welcome Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya for a wrestling event at Banbirpur, the native village of the union minister, when the violence

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At least 24 people died and more than a dozen were missing after landslides and flash floods triggered by several days of heavy rain hit northern India, officials said Tuesday.

Forecasters have also warned of more downpours in the coming days in the southern state of Kerala where floods have already killed at least 27 people since Friday.

Officials in the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand said 18 people were killed in fresh landslides on Tuesday after six died in similar incidents a day earlier.

At least 13 of them were killed in three separate incidents in Nainital town early Tuesday after a cloudburst -- an ultra-intense deluge of rain -- triggered a landslide and destroyed several structures.

Also read: Idamalayar, Pampa dams in Kerala opened

"Twenty-four people have died in the state in two days. There were six deaths in the state on Monday and so far 18 people have lost their lives on Tuesday," Ashok Kumar, Uttarakhand police chief, told AFP.

Five of the dead were from a single-family whose house was buried by a massive landslide, local civil officer Pradeep Jain told AFP.

Another landslide in the northern Almora district killed five people after huge rocks and a wall of mud demolished and engulfed their home.

The Indian Meteorological Department extended and widened its weather alert on Tuesday, predicting "heavy" to "very heavy" rainfall in the region over the next two days.

The weather office said several areas were drenched by more than 400 millimetres (16 inches) of rainfall on Monday, causing landslides and flooding.

Authorities ordered the closure of schools and banned all religious and tourist activities in the state.

Television footage and social media videos showed residents wading through knee-deep water near Nainital lake, a tourist hotspot, and the Ganges bursting its banks in Rishikesh.

More than 100 tourists were stuck inside a resort in Ramgarh after the overflowing Kosi river deluged several areas.

Landslides are a regular danger in India's Himalayan north, but experts say they are becoming more common as rains become increasingly erratic and glaciers melt.

Experts also blame construction work on hydroelectric dams and deforestation.

In February, a ferocious flash flood hurtled down a remote valley in Uttarakhand, killing around 200 people. At least 5,700 people perished there in 2013.

In the south, large parts of Kerala have been battered by floods and landslides since late last week, leaving at least 27 people dead.

Many dams in the state were nearing the danger mark and authorities were evacuating thousands to safer locations as major rivers overflowed.

India's weather office said heavy rains will again lash the state in the next two days after a brief reprieve on Tuesday.

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Former Jammu and Kashmir minister Prem Sagar Aziz quit the National Conference (NC) on Tuesday and extended support to former party colleague Devender Singh Rana, who joined the BJP recently.

Aziz, who was the NC's Bani Assembly constituency in-charge, said he is resigning from the primary membership of the party, along with his supporters.

"I was in the Congress for 45 years and joined the National Conference only because of Rana. As I know that he is working for the cause of Jammu, I support his cause unequivocally.

"Now that Rana has dissociated himself from the National Conference for the sake of Jammu, I cannot continue in the party and extend my support to Rana," he said in a statement here.

Rana, the younger brother of Union minister Jitendra Singh, quit the NC on October 10, along with senior party colleague and former minister S S Slathia. Both of them joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Delhi the next day.

Rana was the provincial president of the NC.

Aziz said he will "stand like a rock behind Rana" as his contribution to the cause of Jammu has been an inspiration for him to work for people.

Rana had taken over as the NC's provincial president in 2011 after relinquishing his office as the political advisor to the then Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah.

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In continuation with its efforts to rightsize the Railways, the Railway Board has issued an order closing down the Indian Railway Stations Development Corporation (IRSDC) that was set up for the redevelopment of stations across the country.

This is the second organisation under the Railway Ministry to be shut down after the closure of the Indian Railways Organisation for Alternative Fuel (IROAF) on September 7, 2021.

The step is a move to accept the recommendation of the Finance Ministry, which in a report has recommended rationalisation of government bodies either by closing them down or through merging multiple organisations under different ministries.

The order issued by the Railway Board late on Monday said the stations managed by the IRSDC will now be handed over to the respective zonal railways and the corporation will pass on all project related documents to them for further development.

Among several other projects, IRSDC, which was set up in March 2012, was involved in the bidding process for the redevelopment of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus in Mumbai.

The IRSDC recently invited bids for setting up of "Rail Arcade" at Chandigarh and KSR Bengaluru Railway Stations. It had also announced plans to undertake facility management of 90 railway stations across South India.

The report prepared by Principal Economic Advisor, Sanjeev Sanyal, has also recommended the merger of the Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL), which implements projects relating to creation and augmentation of railway infrastructure, with the Indian Railway Construction Limited (IRCON), a specialised infrastructure construction organisation.

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Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa on Tuesday called the lynching of a labourer at the Singhu border a possible conspiracy to defame the farmers agitation, citing a purported photograph of Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar with a Nihang leader.

Former state Congress chief Sunil Jakhar also joined the controversy triggered by the appearance of the photograph on social media, alleging that Central agencies could be involved in last week's murder at a farmers protest site near the Delhi-Haryana border.

The group photo includes Tomar and a man in blue robes of the Sikh order of the Nihangs. The Union minister has in the past met farmer protest leaders to negotiate a solution to the deadlock over agri-marketing laws.

Also read: 3 accused sent to police remand, 2 SITs conducting probe

Without mentioning any name, Randhawa claimed that the same Nihang leader was defending the main accused in the killing. The Nihang group had accused the victim of desecrating a Sikh holy book.

In view of the recent disclosures about one of the Nihang leaders having already been in touch with the Government of India, Minister for Agriculture N S Tomar in particular, the lynching incident has now taken an entirely different turn, Randhawa alleged in a statement.

There appeared to be a deep-rooted conspiracy to defame the farmers' stir, the minister claimed.

He said Lakhbir Singh, the Dalit victim who belonged to Cheema Kalan village in Tarn Taran district, was very poor. We need to find out who lured him to the Singhu border and who paid for his travel as he could not even afford his meals, the Punjab minister said.

Also read: Singhu border lynching: Who are Nihang Sikh warriors?

The deputy CM said he has instructed the local administration to find out under what circumstances the man was taken from his home to the Singhu border.

In view of the recent photographic evidence available, the Nihang leader will also need to explain in what capacity he had met Union Agriculture Minister N S Tomar and whether he was mandated to do so by the farmers' organisations spearheading the campaign against the three black farm laws.

Given the importance of the place where the Nihang leader was camping, it was mandatory on his part to keep the farmers' unions informed and updated about his meetings with the Union minister, Randhawa said.

This has raised genuine doubts and suspicion among the minds of people and these need to be cleared, he added.

The minister said the Punjab government will do everything to get to the root of the conspiracy and expose and punish the culprits.

Former state Congress chief Sunil Jakhar alleged that there could be a role of the agencies in the murder at the Singhu border. But he did not elaborate on this.

There is certainly something more than what meets the eye, he said in a statement.

The BJP has long been trying to tarnish the secular farmers struggle as a Sikh movement to term protesting Sikhs as militants," Jakhar alleged, adding that the Punjabis are the countrys sword arm.

He demanded a thorough investigation into events leading to the death.

Lakhbir Singh was brutally killed last week and his body strung to a barricade at the farmers' protest site with a hand chopped off and multiple wounds caused by sharp-edged weapons.

Sarabjit Singh, who was among the Nihangs arrested for the murder, claimed that he had "punished" the man for "desecrating" a Sikh holy book.

A large number of farmers mostly from Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, have been camping at Delhis border for nearly a year, demanding the repeal of the three farm laws enacted at the Centre.

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Food delivery platform Zomato faced flak on social media after a customer care executive told a customer from Tamil Nadu that he should know Hindi since it is the countrys national language.

Three hashtags -- #Hindi_Theriyathu_Poda, #HindiIsNotNationalLanguage, and #RejectZomato  have been trending on Twitter since Monday evening.

Ordered food in zomato and an item was missed. Customer care says amount can't be refunded as I didn't know Hindi. Also takes lesson that being an Indian I should know Hindi. Tagged me a liar as he didn't know Tamil. @zomato not the way you talk to a customer. @zomatocare pic.twitter.com/gJ04DNKM7w  Vikash (@Vikash67456607) October 18, 2021

After an uproar over the incident, Zomato released a statement in English and Tamil on Tuesday afternoon to apologise on behalf of the customer care agent, saying the company understands that food and language are "core to any local culture" and that they "take both of them seriously".

As #RejectZomato hashtag trends on Twitter, Zomato comes out with a statement in English and Tamil regretting an incident where its customer care executive told a person from #TamilNadu to learn "national language" Hindi. Zomato says it will set up a call centre in Coimbatore https://t.co/cd8hWEoG6X  Sivapriyan E.T.B |  .. (@sivaetb) October 19, 2021

Netizens said that Zomatos executives assertion was wrong and the company should respect the sentiments of the locals. The hashtag also received support from outside Tamil Nadu with people from southern states including Karnataka narrating incidents of customer care executives insisting them to speak in Hindi.

Apparently, @zomato which operates in Tamil Nadu won't have any customer support in Tamil. They want the Tamils to learn Hindi to speak to them. This sense of entitlement of Hindi speaking people is what Tamil Nadu has been opposing all along @zomatocare https://t.co/x79TRBefIS   (@angry_birdu) October 18, 2021

The issue also received political attention with DMK MP Kanimozhi tweeting that it should be made mandatory for companies to serve their customers in their local language. A customer doesnt necessarily need to know Hindi or English. #Hindi_Theriyathu_Poda, she wrote on her verified Twitter page.

Vikash, who is from Tamil Nadu, took to Twitter on Monday evening to complain that he was denied a refund for a missing food item in his order for not knowing Hindi and shared screenshots of his conversation. The agent told Vikash that he was not able to get a refund from the restaurant due to language barrier to which the customer responded that Zomato should have hired people with knowledge of Tamil since it doing business in Tamil Nadu.

For your kind information, Hindi is our national language. So it is very common that everybody should know Hindi a little bit, the Zomato agent told Vikash, according to the screenshot of their conversation.

As the issue dominated the discussion on Twitter, Zomato issued a statement apologising for the incident. We have terminated the agent for their negligence towards our diverse culture. The termination is in line with our protocols, and agent's behaviour was clearly against the principles of sensitivity that we train our agents for on a regular basis, Zomato said.

This customer care agent's statements do not represent our company's stance towards language and diversity, the company said, adding that besides building a Tamil version of its app, Zomato has already localised marketing communication in Tamil for the state by signing up music director Aniruddh Ravichander."

We are in the process of building a local Tamil call/support centre in Coimbatore. We understand food and language are core to any local culture and we take both of them seriously, the company said.

After the statement said the agent was being sacked, Tamil Twitter was at it yet again seeking to know the need for firing someone rather than helping them understand. Hours later, Goyal took to Twitter to announce that the agent has been reinstated.

An ignorant mistake by someone in a support centre of a food delivery company became a national issue. The level of tolerance and chill in our country needs to be way higher than it is nowadays. Who's to be blamed here? he asked.

An ignorant mistake by someone in a support centre of a food delivery company became a national issue. The level of tolerance and chill in our country needs to be way higher than it is nowadays. Who's to be blamed here?  Deepinder Goyal (@deepigoyal) October 19, 2021

And remember, our call centre agents are young people, who are at the start of their learning curves and careers. They are not experts on languages and regional sentiments. Nor am I, btw. Having said that, we should all tolerate each other's imperfections. And appreciate each other's language and regional sentiments, he added.

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Describing the alleged attacks on Telugu Desam Party offices as "state-sponsored terrorism", the party supremo N Chandrababu Naidu on Tuesday called for a state-wide bandh in Andhra Pradesh on Wednesday protesting the incidents.

Speaking to reporters, he said he apprised the Governor Biswa Bhusan Harichandan of the situation even as the DGP Gautam Sawang did not respond to his phone calls. "Police and government colluded and attacked offices at several places.

These are organised attacks. I appeal to the people, we call for a state-wide bandh... Why should we hesitate to ask for the implementation of Article 365 what else do we need to show the failure of law and order in the state, he said at a press conference.

The DGP is not fit for the post, he alleged. He said there should be a thorough inquiry on the attacks.

The TDP chief alleged the state has become a home for ganja cultivation and drug mafia.

Ruling YSR Congress Party cadre on Tuesday allegedly ransacked Telugu Desam Party's headquarters at Mangalagiri near here, offices at Visakhapatnam and other places, blaming that a spokesperson of the opposition party made objectionable comments against the Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy in a press conference.

TDP spokesperson K Pattabhi Ram earlier in the morning, objecting to police notices to former minister Nakka Ananda Babu, made caustic remarks against Jagan Mohan Reddy.

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In a major blow to Nirav Modi, a bankruptcy court in the US has rejected a petition of the fugitive diamond merchant and two of his associates, seeking dismissal of fraud allegations against them by the trustee of three companies they previously owned indirectly.

The allegations were made in a New York court by Richard Levin, the court-appointed trustee of three US corporations--Firestar Diamond, Fantasy Inc and A Jaffe--indirectly owned by 50-year-old Modi previously.

Levin had also sought a minimum compensation of $15 million for the harm suffered by the debtors of Nirav Modi and his associates Mihir Bhansali and Ajay Gandhi.

Southern District of New York Bankruptcy Court Judge Sean H Lane issued the order last Friday, in a major blow to the Indian fugitive and his accomplices.

Nirav Modi, who is currently lodged in a jail in the UK, is challenging India's attempts to extradite him to face charges of fraud and money laundering in the Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam case.

Also Read | New revelations reopen 'Pandora's box' for Nirav Modi

SDNY Bankruptcy Court Judge Lane in a clear decision denied defendants Modi, Bansali and Gandhis motions to dismiss US Trustee Richard Levins amended complaint in the adversary proceeding arising out of Modis initial chapter 11 bankruptcy petition, alleging fraud, breach of fiduciary duties, RICO and related state law claims, Indian American attorney Ravi Batra told PTI.

Explaining the 60-page order, Batra said Modi outdid Crazy Eddie (Eddie Antar), the founder of an American electronics retail chain, who ploughed his profits back into his own company as additional sales to falsely raise the stock price/company valuation, by setting up a scheme to defraud PNB and other banks of over $1 billion by a shell game, where the ball gets bigger with each sleight of hand, and then issue Letters of Undertaking (sort of a guarantee) to PNB and get loans based upon the inflated balls value.

But to get the ill-gotten funds by bank fraud out of his companies, he engaged in a separate fraud to hide those withdrawals for personal benefit as if they were ordinary business transactions, Batra said based on the court papers.

According to the court order, Levins petition sought to recover damages for harm inflicted by Modi and his two accomplices on the debtors and their estates as a result of his six-year extensive international fraud, money laundering and embezzlement scheme.

The scheme resulted in accrual of claims against the debtors of over $1 billion in favour of Punjab National Bank, the diversion of millions of dollars of the debtors assets for the benefit of the family of Modi and Bhansali, and the collapse of the debtors and the resulting loss of value of their businesses.

The courts refusal to dismiss RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act) count is legally satisfying, but there is a hole in this celebration by law abiding banks and people: once the appeals are taken, and Modi remains charged with the US Trustees amended complaint, in whole or in part, and the case goes to a jury and wins a judgment, its only the assets Modi and his cohorts then have can they be compelled to disgorge, Batra said.

Here, as in every type of pump and dump cases, its not what was fraudulently taken from Banks' remains, but the size of the original balls value in the shell game, less high living expenses, waste, defence fees, etc. Today is a great day for the rule of law, thanks to Judge Lane, as now Modis US companies, run by the US Trustee, are going after Modi and his co-defendants so Punjab National Bank can get 10-25 cents on the dollar, Batra told PTI in response to a question.

According to the court ruling, from early 2011 to early 2018, Modi and his associates orchestrated and carried out a scheme to obtain loans, credits, or other funds under false pretences and without collateral from numerous banks, including the PNB.

The bank fraud involved the use of letters of undertaking (LoUs), a financial instrument unique to India, designed to facilitate efficient import transactions.

Modi and the co-conspirators sought to artificially inflate the import volumes of Modis India-based companies with sham transactions so as to obtain more LoU funding, it alleged.

To carry out this scheme, Modi and his co-conspirators used a web of shell companies known as shadow entities based in Hong Kong and Dubai that posed as legitimate businesses to create fake import transactions and launder the proceeds, it said.

The PNB and the other defrauded banks are reported to have lost in excess of $1 billion as a result of the fraud, the judge wrote in his order.

In his petition, Levin listed examples of how Modi, Bhansali and Gandhi directly benefited from fraudulently issued LoUs and were involved in circular transactions until early 2013, when the debtors no longer directly participated in import and export transactions underlying LoU issuances and instead received proceeds indirectly through the shadow entities.

Meanwhile, the UKs Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said in August that it is reviewing the London High Court ruling to grant Modi permission to appeal against his extradition order with the Indian government for the next stage in the legal process.

The CPS, which represents the Indian authorities in court, highlighted that the appeal can be heard at a full hearing on two grounds related to the mental health of the diamantaire, who is lodged at Wandsworth Prison in south-west London as he fights his extradition to face charges of fraud and money laundering in the estimated $2-billion Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam case.

Modi is the subject of two sets of criminal proceedings, with the CBI case relating to a large-scale fraud upon the PNB through the fraudulent obtaining of letters of undertaking (LoUs) or loan agreements, and the ED case relating to the laundering of the proceeds of that fraud.

He also faces two additional charges of "causing the disappearance of evidence" and intimidating witnesses or criminal intimidation to cause death, which were added to the CBI case.

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Over 2,100 kg of beef sourced from meat traders in Karnataka is consumed in Goa every day, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant told the state legislative assembly on Tuesday.

In a written reply to Congress MLA Aleixo Reginaldo, tabled during the ongoing two-day session of the Goa legislative assembly, Sawant also said that over the last six months, 388 tons of beef was procured by dealers from Karnataka.

"On an average, based on the meat inspection charges collected by the competent authorities, 2,120 kg of beef is received from Karnataka for consumption on a daily basis," Sawant said.

CM Sawant also said that while the price of beef sold in Goa ranges from Rs 3.27 lakh to Rs 3.75 lakh, 388 tons of beef was procured from Karnataka by local beef traders over the last six months. Both slaughtered beef were sourced from cattle and buffalo.

The recent passing of the Karnataka Prevention of Slaughter and Preservation of Cattle Bill (2020) by the Karnataka assembly had caused a beef shortage in Goa for several months. After a similar law was passed in Maharashtra earlier, Karnataka was the sole major supplier of fresh beef and livestock to Goa.

Goa's beef-eating minority communities account for more than 30 per cent of the state's population.

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Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel is credited with steering Congress to power in Chhattisgarh after its top-rung leaders were killed by Naxals in 2013. Under his leadership, Congress overthrew the BJP, which was in power for 15 years. Congress has now drafted Baghel, a man with an eye for detail, to assist Priyanka Gandhi in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections. The OBC strongman, who appears to have thwarted an attempt by a party colleague to unseat him, knows the pulse of the voter, and the Congress hopes to cash it. Baghel spoke to DHs Shemin Joy.

You have been made senior party observer for UP polls, where Congress is fighting under Priyanka Gandhis leadership. How do you see the partys situation in UP?

After Priyanka Gandhi was appointed the partys general secretary in charge of Uttar Pradesh, Congress strength has improved. Party workers are very enthusiastic. She has made an impact on the cadre. She is hands-on and catches the bull by its horns. Till the time Priyanka was appointed, the party was not very active and the leaders restricted themselves to issuing statements. However, with her entry, the situation has changed. She has been on the ground and fighting for those who are denied justice. She went to Sonbhadra when 10 people were killed in July and were detained. How she was stopped while on the way to Hathras was seen by everybody. After the Lakhimpur Kheri incident, she was detained for four days. She is leading us from the front and has prepared a roadmap for us. Thanks to her, people are more receptive to Congress.

Also Read | Narayanpur SP 'assaults' driver over 'unclean' car; officer moved out after CM rap

What are the plans to change the perception that the party is not a major player in UP?

Across the state, we are conducting training programmes for party leaders and workers. These programmes are conducted at panchayat and district levels, among others. Through these programmes, we have attracted a large number of people and cadre. Earlier, people used to say that Congress does not have workers on the ground. After Priyankas appointment, the party has managed to set up committees from the panchayat level up. The work is on.

How do you rate the Yogi Adityanath governments performance? What will be Congress campaign plank?

Promises were made by the BJP in the 2017 Assembly elections but nothing has been delivered. They promised to double the income of farmers but nothing happened. Instead, the farmers are protesting and have even been mowed down, allegedly by a BJP Union ministers son. Some action was taken only after Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi put pressure. The farmers in the state are not getting justice. The employment scene in UP is pathetic. Unemployment is high. The government has also failed to contain price rises. We will raise all those issues that have an impact on peoples lives and that the Adityanath government has failed to address.

Also Read | Bhupesh Baghel is India's best performing Chief Minister: Governance Index

There is an impression among people that Congress is in a big crisis, that it cannot win elections or counter the BJP effectively. Even some Opposition parties and your allies share this view

When a party is out of power, people make such comments. Its natural. Its nothing new. Almost all parties have faced this. But you will have to agree with me that Congress has been at the forefront of peoples struggles when it is out of power.

We used to hear the slogan Congress-mukt Bharat, but that is not going to happen. You saw that we won Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, etc. In Maharashtra and Jharkhand, we are allies in the government. In the last Assembly elections in Gujarat, Congress almost won the state. The BJP just scraped through in Gujarat. Now, will you say that we will have Congress-mukt Bharat?

Also Read | CWC Saturday meet to announce membership drive, delay organisation elections

It is not just the BJP, but Congress own allies and other Opposition parties do not shy away from targeting it. The Trinamool Congress directed its attack on Rahul Gandhi after your response to election strategist Prashant Kishors tweet targeting the Congress.

A statement has already been made and there is no need to add to it. A serious effort should be made as far as alliance and leadership are concerned and it cannot be decided superficially.

Rahul Gandhis leadership is questioned by a section of people. What is your view?

Rahul Gandhi is our unquestionable leader. He is raising issues of the people with vigour. He has put the Narendra Modi government on its toes. The whole country has faith in him.

Also Read | Opposition putting hurdles in development agenda: Nadda

In Chhattisgarh, we have recently seen one of the senior leaders, T S Singh Deo, raising the demand for change in chief ministership. He has spoken about rotational chief ministership. The issue was discussed with Rahul Gandhi. Is the leadership question in Chhattisgarh settled?

The Congress in charge of Chhattisgarh, P L Punia, has already made a statement on this. He has made a very clear statement. I dont think there is any need for me to add to that.

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Africa's rare glaciers will disappear in the next two decades because of climate change, a new report warned Tuesday amid sweeping forecasts of pain for the continent that contributes least to global warming but will suffer from it most.

The report from the World Meteorological Organisation and other agencies, released ahead of the UN climate conference in Scotland that starts October 31, is a grim reminder that Africa's 1.3 billion people remain extremely vulnerable as the continent warms more, and at a faster rate, than the global average.

And yet Africa's 54 countries are responsible for less than four per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions.

Also Read | Climate Change: Removing CO2 from the air no longer optional

The new report seizes on the shrinking glaciers of Mount Kilimanjaro, Mount Kenya and the Rwenzori Mountains in Uganda as symbols of the rapid and widespread changes to come.

Their current retreat rates are higher than the global average. If this continues, it will lead to total de-glaciation by the 2040s, it says.

Massive displacement, hunger and increasing climate shocks such droughts and flooding are in the future, and yet the lack of climate data in parts of Africa is having a major impact on disaster warnings for millions of people, WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas said at Tuesday's launch.

Estimates of the economic effects of climate change vary across the African continent, but in sub-Saharan Africa, climate change could further lower gross domestic product by up to 3 per cent by 2050, Josefa Leonel Correia Sacko with the African Union Commission writes in the report.

Not only are physical conditions getting worse, but also the number of people being affected is increasing.

Also Read | Concrete is the world's 3rd largest CO2 emitter

By 2030, up to 118 million extremely poor people, or those living on less than $1.90 a day, will be exposed to drought, floods and extreme heat in Africa if adequate response measures are not put in place, Sacko adds.

Already, the UN has warned that the Indian Ocean island nation of Madagascar is one where famine-like conditions have been driven by climate change.

Despite the threats ahead to the African continent, the voices of Africans have been less represented than richer regions at global climate meetings and among the authors of the crucial Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change scientific assessments. African participation in IPCC reports has been extremely low, according to Future Climate for Africa, a multi-country research programme.

The costs ahead are huge. Overall, Africa will need investments of over $3 trillion in mitigation and adaptation by 2030 to implement its (national climate plans), requiring significant, accessible and predictable inflows of conditional finance, the WMO's Taalas said.

The cost of adapting to climate change in Africa will rise to $50 billion per year by 2050, even assuming the international efforts to keep global warming below 2 degrees Celsius.

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Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Tuesday said order has been issued to shift Article 371(J) Cell to Kalaburagi from Bengaluru to supervise the developmental works and appointments in the Kalyana Karnataka region and the cell will soon start functioning in Kalaburagi.

Speaking to media persons at Kalaburagi airport, he said as assured in the legislative session, a permanent secretary has been appointed to Kalyana Karnataka Region Development Board (KKRDB). The Article 371(J) cell will soon be shifted. "I will speak about the recruitment of vacant posts in this region after the bypolls are over," the CM told.

The government is ready to pay an additional of Rs 1,500 crore along with an annual budgetory allocation of Rs 1,500 crore to the KKRDB. Before which, the board must spend the funds being released by the government. The officials have been directed to prepare a Detailed Project Report for the additional funds only after spending the total allotted funds, Bommai explained.

Revenue minister R Ashoka visited the tremor-hit villages and has spoken to the residents and the scientists on the frequent tremors in Gadikeshwar and its surrounding villages. The government will take a call on constructing personal sheds for the residents after scientists and earthquake experts submit their report, he told.

The CM exuded confidence that the BJP will win in the bypolls to Hanagal and Assembly assembly segments.

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The Karnataka government has received 4,500 applications for the Rajyotsava awards, Kannada & Culture Minister V Sunil Kumar said Tuesday.

"The shortlisted names will be announced on October 28," he said.

In a first, the government had asked citizens to nominate deserving people for this year's edition of the Rajyotsava awards, taking a leaf out of Prime Minister Narendra Modis call for people to nominate achievers for the Padma awards.

The Rajyotsava award, instituted way back in 1966, is Karnatakas second-highest civilian honour after the Karnataka Ratna. Recipients of the award receive a cash prize, a gold medal and a citation.

The government will recognise 66 achievers this year.

On Tuesday, Kumar unveiled a new pro-Kannada campaign 'Kannadakkaagi Naavu' (We stand for Kannada) ahead of the Rajyotsava celebrations on November 1.

Natives of Karnataka have to make an effort to converse in chaste Kannada for one week between October 24 and 30, to mark Kannada Rajyotsava, while those residing here from other states must aim to learn at least a hundred sentences in the regional language.

Also read: In a first, citizens can recommend names for 2021 Rajyotsava award

Through this, the government wants to encourage people to converse in Kannada not just in personal spaces but even online and at work. "This is a public programme initiated by the government. None of this is mandatory," Kumar specified.

On this occasion, the government will hold various cultural programmes in the five Rangayanas of the state. A similar set of programmes including theatre, dance and music will be held in Bengaluru's public spaces, IT companies, metro stations and Vidhana Soudha.

At 11 am on October 28, one lakh people across the state will sing at the same time. The government has chosen three Kannada songs for this event. The department has reached out to fourteen Kannada associations in other states and countries, all of whom will take part in singing.

Further, the government will conduct a contest where participants are required to speak about Karnataka, Kannada and heritage for four minutes in chaste Kannada.

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Karnataka Congress president D K Shivakumar, who retracted an "uncivil" tweet made by his party on Monday, has demanded an apology from his BJP counterpart Nalin Kumar Kateel for calling former AICC chief Rahul Gandhi a "drug addict and peddler".

While speaking at an event in Hubballi, Kateel claimed his remarks on Rahul were based on media reports. Congress leaders, however, condemned the statement, asking the BJP to sack Kateel.

"Yesterday I said I believe we should be civil and respectful in politics, even to our opponents. I hope the BJP agrees with me and will apologise for their state presidents abusive and unparliamentary remarks against Shri Rahul Gandhi," Shivakumar said in a tweet.

Yesterday I said I believe we should be civil and respectful in politics, even to our opponents. I hope the BJP agrees with me, and will apologise for their state presidents abusive and unparliamentary remarks against Shri Rahul Gandhi.@RahulGandhi  DK Shivakumar (@DKShivakumar) October 19, 2021

Kateel's remarks came as an apparent strike against Congress for calling Prime Minister Narendra Modi "#HebbettuGiraakiModi" which translates into the belittling Hindi expression angootha chhaap for an illiterate person.

Also read: Karnataka Congress withdraws 'illiterate Modi' tweet; Shivakumar 'regrets' language

Shivakumar regretted the tweet and said it was posted by a "novice social media manager". Shivakumar added that he always believed that civil and parliamentary language was non-negotiable in political discourse and that the tweet was "regretted and withdrawn."

Meanwhile, condemning Kateel's statement, AICC general secretary Dinesh Gundu Rao demanded that BJP remove Kateel from the post.

"Being a party president, he should not make such baseless statements and stoop to this level. It is shameful that a person with such a mentality is the state president of a national party," Rao said, calling Kateel "senseless" and as someone who had lost his "mental balance".

Lashing out at the ruling party, Rao further alleged that BJP was a corrupt party both financially and morally. "They have no principles. They take God's name for ulterior political motives," he said.

He urged Chief Minister Bommai to take control of what his party leaders were speaking.

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Karnataka will allow monetisation of a treasure trove of citizen data available at its disposal by anonymising personal details under its new open data policy, as the government looks to take advantage of increasing digitalisation to provide "effective governance".

Notified recently and reviewed by DH, the Karnataka Open Data Policy governs the use of public data. The policy classifies name, address, ID details and religion as personal data. Only anonymised data could be shared and monetised, the policy states.

Also Read | Consent in the digital age

What this means is: any organisation, institution (educational or research), corporate body, the private agency registered in India and operational for 24 months can ink an agreement with the government, including a non-disclosure pact, and buy data to make business decisions.

In Karnataka, we know where schools and hospitals are located," Shreevyas HM, project director of the Karnataka Open Data Interface at the Centre for e-Governance, told DH, explaining how monetisation works.

Also Read | How digital cash can lift Gross National Happiness

"We also know the literacy rates, disease and patient details. So, data on an area with a high population but low literacy where there arent good schools may be purchased to identify where a school or hospital can be opened."

Giving an example, he pointed out how the Ministry of Transport had monetised information on vehicles that Ola and Uber have purchased.

Also Read | Karnataka e-governance projects can go national: Union Minister

With its own policy, Karnataka joins a select club of states  Telangana, Odisha, Sikkim and Punjab  in having an open data regime.

The state government is sitting on a vast collection of citizen data. The new policy classifies data based on its intended usage: shareable data, sensitive data (that can be disclosed only on a need-to-know basis) and restricted data (that can cause a threat to life or loss of public assets, accessible only through a prescribed process of registration and authorisation).

...growing digitalisation in Karnataka has increased the quantities of different forms of data and information being generated...Sharing of data is imperative to facilitate effective and transparent governance, the policy states, adding that the government aims to tap the power of data.

The policy requires every department to have a chief data officer (CDO), who will be the owner of departmental data. All heads of departments have been told to strictly direct the CDOs to publish datasets in the Karnataka Open Data Interface portal, Shreevyas said.

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Foyle MP, Colum Eastwood, has said that legacy scars from the Troubles will not fully healed unless properly addressed by political leaders.

The SDLP leader was speaking following the death of former British Army soldier, Dennis Hutchings, who died from Covid, while his trial regarding the murder of John Pat Cunningham was ongoing.

Mr Cunningham of Co. Tyrone was killed in 1974 after being shot in the back as he ran away from an army patrol that Mr Hutchings was part of.

Mr Hutchings was charged four decades later for attempting to murder and cause grievous bodily harm to Mr Cunningham.

This comes on the back of the legacy case against Soldier F for what happened on Bloody Sunday in Derry 49 years ago being dropped  much to the anger of the victims' families.

Speaking after a meeting at Westminster with victims and survivors, Mr Eastwood said: The failure to address the legacy of conflict in Ireland and Britain has had a devastating and lasting impact on families who have lost loved ones.

The transgenerational trauma which has affected people and infected our politics has been fuelled by political cowardice. We need to deliver on the endless promises to secure truth, justice and accountability for victims and survivors.

My thoughts today are with the family of John Pat Cunningham. A vulnerable man, unarmed and posing no threat to anyone, who was cruelly and needlessly shot and killed.

Their campaign for justice and accountability has been arduous and I am so sorry they have not been able to get the closure they need and deserve.

I also want to acknowledge the family of Denis Hutchings who have suffered the loss of a loved one. They, too, are grieving today.

The failure of politicians to decisively address legacy has contributed to the pain that everyone feels on days like today.

There is no victory for anyone in any of this. It is incumbent on all of us to find a better way.
Stephen McLaughlin is a Derry-born; London-based artist. He creates dark ambient as An Trinse, lo-fi Techno as TFT and has the monthly show First Trans- mission on Threads radio.

He also works as a designer and animator who has created multi-disciplinary work for clients including Nike and Adidas.

What influences you?

With the An Trinse project Ive always thought of it as being indebted musically to the surrealism of Nurse with Wound and later Coil with a heavy dose of Irish history in there.

My techno records as TFT are much more straightforward and fit into the classic Dutch Clone/Viewlex template or L.I.E.S. Ive enjoyed handing over the visual side to Ben Lee who is an incredible designer.

The current visual work with Maxwell Sterling stems from getting obsessed with Peter Greenway a long time ago and suddenly having an outlet for this baroque sensibility.

Maxs work is so rich and cinematic I was instantly inspired to find a way to create a version of the layered theatrical world of Prosperos Books mixed with images generated via AI with painterly elements and I think we have arrived at a pretty individual visual soup.



Any Irish stuff out there?

Some of my favourite Irish music of the last few years has come from the label Fort Evil Fruit, they have built up a formidable discography over the last decade across the spectrum of experimental sound.

Also, a big fan of From the Bogs of Aughuska as we share a love of the crossover of Irish History, drone, and black metal who I always thought deserved more attention, but I guess its a bit of a niche interest.

Recently been loving the unpronounceable Lighght from Cork who makes really eclectic danceable electronica.



How was your lockdown?

I cant pretend I didnt think it was the end of the world at the start but once we settled into the long-drawn-out boring apocalypse it has shaken up my work a bit. I was in great form, had just completed an An Trinse audio-visual show which premiered at one of CTM festival in Berlins associated events in January and was hoping to tour the projects throughout the year plus was in the process of setting up a celebratory gig for my split album with Il Santo Bevitore.

I had also just worked on the visual direction of the NME awards which was one of the biggest projects I had overseen.

That all went in the bin along with my main revenue source working as an editor and animator in the creative industry, so it was a very scary few months till everything stabilised a bit. I tried to use the time to collaborate with artists on music videos which crazily ended up helping on Kylie Minogues online show and directing a piece for Yousef and Gorgon City.

I also ended up exhibiting work in some online exhibitions which has led to my current work with the Most Dismal Swamp collective but there was a lot of staring at the wall wondering where it was all going.

Later in the year, I did some online gigs including a collaboration with Bratislavan artists Monika Subrtova which felt good if a little weird staring in a camera in an empty room.

The project with Maxwell came out of lockdown as well, we were both working on a video project with architecture collective The Decorators who were similarly trying to find ways to show work when everyone is stuck in the house.

That project has just been shown at the V & A museum at the London Design Festival which was a bit of a dream come true.



New normal?

Im hoping that the show me and Maxwell are doing at MIRA festival in Barcelona is the start of something positive for the new year. We were slightly shocked to get booked so early as we had so far only presented an embryonic version of the show once and was a bit of a disaster technically.

We have done one more show since and its light years ahead now and very excited about presenting it on 15m screens.

Any music over there youd recommend?

Well i would definitely say check out Maxs new album Turn of Phrase, Im extremely excited about working on the live presentation and its without doubt one of the best albums of the year.

My pal Yaws is also putting out some wild bendy tempo electronics that you will struggle to pin down.

Also, if anyone is interested in the world of digital art and experimental music, I would check out Clot magazine ran by my wonderful other half.

www.clotmag.com/news/performance-maxwell-sterling-stephen-mclaughlin-a-v-at-space-289-london
Dhamaka trailer: Kartik Aaryan has everything to lose as he negotiates with a terrorist in this gripping thriller

Kartik Aaryan is all set to put his days of friendship dramas and romantic comedies behind with a bang. The actor is all set to play a journalist in Dhamaka and the rather thrilling trailer of this Netflix film has now arrived. The film shows Kartik who plays Arjun Pathak, get caught in the crosshairs of a terror attack.

An anonymous caller on Arjuns radio show says hes about to blow up the Mumbai sea-link and follows through on his threat a moment later. Arjun takes charge to lead the coverage on prime time news only to have his personal life hang in the balance as his wife Saumyas (Mrunal Thakur) life is threatened who is reporting the incident live from the ground. The terrorist on the call wants Arjun to negotiate an apology from a minister in exchange for the lives of all the people stranded on the bridge.

Media politics, race for TRPs, personal life struggles, power play, all tie in together to make for a gripping trailer and make Dhamaka a film to watch out for. The performances of Kartik and Mrunal form the highlight of the trailer as the trailer keeps us hooked.

Ram Madhvanis Dhamaka, if as well-executed as the trailer, can be a real game-changer for Kartik who is starring in a thriller for the first time. Dhamaka arrives on Netflix on November 19.
Here's what Vicky Kaushal was up to at the time of his rumoured engagement with Katrina Kaif; reveals how he reacted

Dating rumors about Vicky Kaushal and Katrina Kaif began back when the two spoke about each other on Karan Johars chat show Koffee With Karan season 6, in 2018. Well, a few months ago it was reported that the two have decided to take their relationship to the next level and have gotten engaged in a secret ceremony. While the actors did not comment on this, Vickys brother Sunny Kaushal revealed that their family had a good laugh and even teased the actor by asking him for sweets. In a recent radio interview, Vicky shared what he was up to when he heard this rumor.

In a report shared by ETimes, the Bollywood heartthrob was quoted saying, To be honest, mere paas woh mental space hi nahi tha (I didnt have the mental space), because I was right in the middle of a shoot Funnily enough, what happens is, these rumours start at 9 oclock in the morning by the media and by 4.30, the media only negates the same rumours and says no, its not true. So, you dont have to do anything. I had my blinders on, on my work, and I keep focusing on work.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Vicky Kaushal (@vickykaushal09)

In another interview Vicky, who is currently busy promoting his film Sardar Udham, shared that he plans to get engaged soon for real, when the time is right. While he did not take anybody elses name, even this statement of his gave crazy ideas to fans who are shipping Vicky and Katrina. Guess well just have to wait and watch what happens.
The Embassy team was delighted to welcome Margaret Anne Suggs

News

Mrs Suggs is one of the Irish artists exhibiting at the Bratislava Illustration Biennial (BIB). The BIB is the premier international expo for the promotion of book culture and illustration for children. The participation of the Irish illustrators is being supported by Culture Ireland. After meeting with Ambassador McGauran at the Embassy, Margaret travelled on to a primary school for a drawing workshop with children on Halloween themes. This was a great success, with the pupils demonstrating their talents as budding young artists. We wish the Irish illustrators the best of luck at the BIB!

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By MATT OTT and MARCY GORDON

AP Business Writers

WASHINGTON  U.S. House lawmakers held out the threat of seeking a criminal investigation of Amazon, saying they're giving the tech giant a final chance to correct previous testimony by executives on its competition practices.

The action, coming in a letter Monday to Amazon President and CEO Andy Jassy, marks an escalation in a bipartisan battle against Amazon by the House Judiciary Committee panel that has investigated the market dominance of Big Tech. The lawmakers are giving Amazon until Nov. 1 to correct the record and provide new documents and evidence.





. . .
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WASHINGTON, D.C.  Legislation signed Sept. 30 by President Joe Biden to keep the federal government running at least through early December includes $10 billion in disaster relief funding.

This relief is meant to address losses occurred during the past two years from hurricanes, drought, flood, winter storms, extreme cold, wildfires and smoke.





. . .
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SEATTLE  An older office building at 3240 Eastlake Ave. E. sold for over $3.5 million, according to King County records.

The buyer was PND Engineers, which in August sold its SoDo headquarters for about $5.8 million.





. . .
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MILL CREEK  Monterra in Mill Creek, at 13401 Dumas Road, sold for $55 million, according to King County records.

The seller was SRGMF II Dumas Mill Creek LLC, associated with Sares Regis Group, which acquired the property in 2018 for $39 million.





. . .
Local

Itawamba Community College job training program hit with fraud probe, auditor's investigation

File Photo This file photo shows the David Cole Student Services Building on the Itawamba Community College campus in Fulton.

TUPELO  The state Auditors Office has charged a former Itawamba Community College administrator and a furniture business figure with fraud involving public money meant for job skills training.

Joseph Lowder, a former dean of economic and community services with ICC, was arraigned Monday morning in Lee before Circuit Court Judge John White and released on a $5,000 bond, according to his attorney.

Eureda Edie Washington, associated with furniture manufacturing company Chapter 3 Inc, turned herself over to authorities at the Itawamba County Jail on Monday morning and was released after less than an hour, according to her attorney. She has not been arraigned yet.

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Both individuals have been indicted on separate fraud charges stemming from an investigation by State Auditor Shad White. Lowder was indicted during the most recent grand jury in Lee County. Washington was indicted over a year ago, with the indictment kept secret until now, her attorney said.

State workforce training money at root of Washington charges

Washington is alleged to have fraudulently obtained over $680,000 for a private company, Chapter 3 Inc., from the state-funded Workforce Enhancement Training program, which is intended to provide job training to private businesses through community colleges. Paperwork submitted to secure these payments allegedly contained discrepancies.

The auditors office says that Washington had previous experience applying for WET program money, as its typically called, and that she was paid a cut of the companys award from the program.

Authorities allege that fraudulent activities involving Washington occurred from December 2017 to February 2019.

Though she was indicted last year, her attorney, Jason Herring, said she only learned of the charges on Friday.

"Ms Washington, through all of this, is somewhat dumbfounded by the news of this," Herring said. "We emphatically maintain our innocence."

Jennifer and David Schock  owners of the Chapter 3 furniture company  have also been issued repayment demands by the auditor, but they have not been criminally charged.

Lowder charged with 'double-billing' scheme involving ICC workforce training payments

Lowder faces charges involving claims that he produced fraudulent documents to hide a double-billing scheme involving nearly $10,000, according to the auditor.

According to a demand letter, this double-billing scheme allegedly involved reimbursements to ICC from the Community College Board over job training hours for which the college also received payments from private companies.

Authorities claim these payments occurred from December 2019 to June 2020.

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Lowder was the economic and community services dean at ICC from June 2016 until July 2021, after holding the title director of workforce training and development for eight months before that, according to his page on professional social networking site LinkedIn.

Belmont-based attorney and state legislator Daniel Sparks is representing Lowder. Sparks told the Daily Journal that his client maintains that he "operated properly" while he was employed by the college.

"The actual allegations, while genuinely and generally listed in the indictment, certainly will be supplemented by much discovery from the state," Sparks said. "We await those specifics from the state."

The auditor has demanded that both Washington and Lowder repay money, as well as investigative costs.

Sparks said that he and Lowder have 30 days to respond to the demand letter, and they are currently reviewing the contents and merits of the letter.

Though Lowder and Washington have both been charged with fraud over alleged payments involving state workforce training money, auditor's office spokesman Logan Reeves said no allegation of a criminal conspiracy linking the two cases has been brought.

ICC hit with repayment demands, 'looks forward to its day in court'

As part of its investigation into this alleged scheme, the auditor is also demanding that ICC repay $1.4 million over allegations that the college paid WET funds with sufficient documentation.

They underlying basis of this repayment demand involves the double-billing scheme as well as additional payments involving Southern Motion, a Pontotoc-based furniture manufacturing.

ICC leadership said no wrongdoing has occurred, adding that the educational institution has fully cooperated with the auditors office during the course of its investigation.

The college has also retained former United States Attorney Mike Hurst, now of the Phelps Dunbar law firm, to conduct an internal investigation into the auditors allegations.

Based upon that internal investigation, the College strongly denies any and all allegations of illegal or improper activity by the institution or its current or former employees, an ICC spokesman said in a statement.

The ICC statement further said that the school looks forward to its day in court in order for the truth to be told, these unfounded allegations be rejected by a jury of its peers, and be exonerated of all charges.

State Auditor Shad White urges lawmakers to review spending in Mississippi's workforce training programs

In announcing the allegations brought by his office, White called for stronger scrutiny of Mississippis sprawling portfolio of job training programs.

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Im thankful for investigators work which put a stop to this improper workforce training spending, said White in a written statement. Now is the time for policymakers to acknowledge there are not enough fraud-prevention safeguards in place in our workforce training program. Hundreds of millions of dollars are being spent on this every year. We need to be sure the money is being used appropriately.

These allegations of wrongdoing linked to the states workforce development spending comes even as lawmakers have repeatedly tried to impose centralized oversight over the states extensive but disorganized spending on worker training.

The WET program sees about $20 million to $25 million in revenue from the unemployment insurance tax on businesses transferred to community colleges for jobs training. Until July of this year, the Community College Board largely controlled that money. The newly-created Office of Workforce Development  or Accelerate Mississippi  how has oversight of that money, though the community colleges still play a role in the training programs funded with WET money.

William Moore contributed to this report.
GUTHRIE [ndash] Darris Dean Flowers passed away on Friday, Oct. 8, 2021. He was born Jan. 26, 1942, to Denman Marion Flowers and Margie Gray Flowers. A Celebration of his life occurred on Oct. 9 with family and friends at his home in Guthrie, OK. Darris was especially proud to donate his bod
A total of seven pubs in Louth were shuttered due to the Covid-19 pandemic, according to new licence registration figures released earlier this week.

Both the Licenced Vintners Association and Vintners Federation of Ireland have said that this is down to the impacts of the pandemic, with a total of 349 pubs being shut nationwide.

In January 2020, there were 188 seven-day pub licence renewals in Louth, compared to 181 renewals in September 2021.

It comes as the Government prepare to announce their plans for the further relaxation of restrictions on October 22nd, with some concerns over whether or not all restrictions will be removed due to the worsening Covid-19 situation in Irish hospitals.

Padraig Cribben, Chief Executive of the VFI, says that the drop in licences show the impact the pandemic has had on pubs nationwide.

"To lose 5% of pubs in such a short timeframe is unprecedented and underlines how the pub trade bore the brunt of pandemic restrictions," said Mr Cribben.

"In light of recent speculation about delaying the ending of restrictions, the news that pubs are closing across the country will only heighten anxiety in the trade. Uncertainty is a key factor in why so many pubs have closed so Government must put an end to the crisis by announcing the easing of restrictions will proceed as planned.
A Louth man who used a wooden post to strike a woman on the head during an anti-lockdown rally last year has been jailed for two years.

Judge Martin Nolan described the attack by Michael Quinn, 30, of Malone Flats, Market Street, Ardee, Louth, on Ruth O'Rourke AKA Izzy Kamikaze in September 2020 as cowardly.

He said the behaviour of Quinn and his associates after the attack was reprehensible.

Dara Hayes BL, prosecuting, outlined to Dublin Circuit Criminal Court how on September 12 last year Ms Kamikaze, 58, had attended a rally in the city centre in support of front line workers.

On the same day a yellow vest protest was taking place near Custom House and protestors from this event were later making their way up towards Kildare Street, where a further protest against Covid lockdown regulations was taking place outside Leinster House.

Reading from her own victim impact statement today, Ms Kamikaze said that after being struck by the post she fell to the ground. She said her presence and the presence of her friends was then highlighted by a speaker from the platform and hundreds of protesters then turned to them.

The entire crowd turned towards us. They swarmed towards us with the aim of driving us off the street, Ms Kamikaze said. She said they were shouting, Paedo scum off our streets with the air of a crazed mob.

She said she lay on the ground for 10 seconds listening to the protestors baying for her blood.

Ten seconds is a long time to listen to that chanting. Ten seconds is a long time to listen to a mob baying for your blood, especially when youre lying on the ground, she said.

I thought I was about to die or receive life-threatening injuries, Ms Kamikaze said. She said she was able to get up before the first angry boot could hit her face.

She said when she got back to her feet she stood for around five minutes to exercise my right to stand in the street. She said blood was running down her head and face and soaking her clothes as protesters shouted a tirade of abuse at her and her four friends, who included a teenager and two women in their 40s and 50s.

The abusive terms included paedos, weirdos, dyke and shouting you think you're a man and how's the head, missus along with laughter.

She said she was grateful that Quinn's cudgel struck her head and not the head of a more vulnerable person and that Quinn hurt himself and his movement far more than he hurt me.

Video footage of the assault and the mob's behaviour afterwards was released online and Ms Kamikaze said that this meant a lot of people came to their senses about how dangerous it is to ignore far right protests.

She said the footage caused people to consider the evil in the heart of people who would beat people off the street for their gender or ethnicity.

Quinn, of Malone Flats, Market Street, Ardee, Louth, entered a guilty plea last June to assault causing harm to Ruth O'Rourke AKA Izzy Kamikaze on Kildare Street, Dublin 2 on September 9, 2020. His 48 previous convictions include assault, violent disorder, affray, burglary, theft and public order offences.

Justin McQuaid BL, defending, told the court that his client had instructed him to offer a public apology to Ms Kamikaze. He asked the court to note a Probation Service report which stated that Quinn has displayed some level of victim empathy and is remorseful.

He said Quinn takes full responsibility for his actions and that is his reason for his early plea of guilty. He said his client suffers from mental health, takes anti-depressants and that alcohol is a feature in his life.

He said that domestic violence and alcohol featured in his upbringing but said he is taking steps to address his issues.

Judge Nolan said that everyone is entitled to demonstrate but that the injured party was perfectly entitled to be on a public street.

He said this was a serious assault, partly as a result of the motivations. He said Quinn has shown a propensity for violence in the past and imposed a three-year prison term. He suspended the final year on certain conditions.
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A Government TD has warned that he will oppose any cut to agriculture emissions which adversely impacts rural Ireland and would "wipe farmers off the land".

Fine Gael TD Michael Ring said: "If it is proportionately too much that rural Ireland cannot bear this, I'll do whatever I'll have to do".

Speaking on RTE's Morning Ireland on Tuesday, Mr Ring said he expects rural TDs in his parliamentary party to to back his stance.

"We now need to put our foot down and we need now to put our stamp on this one," he added.

Deputy Ring also hoped there would be cross party support from members in Fine Gael and Fianna Fail to oppose the measures.

Fianna Fail Deputies Barry Cowen and Jackie Cahill have also voiced their opposition to any reduction of the size of the national herd.

Macra na Feirme also recently hit out at climate change measures which they say disproportionately affects young farmers.

"Climate justice is about the fair treatment of all people and the freedom from discrimination in the creation of policies. The blanket reductions disproportionately affect young farmers by limiting their ability to enter the sector and creating instability for those who have recently heavily invested in their businesses," said Macra na Feirme National President John Keane.

"Placing a cap on the agriculture sector in Ireland will exclude young people from entering the sector. We are already facing a crisis in Ireland with regard to the age breakdown of farmers, placing further restrictions on the sector and limiting young new entrants will only further deepen the crisis," Mr Keane said.
Irish presenter, Claire Byrne, has told a former British MP he hasn't "got a clue" about the history and "precarious nature" of peace in Ireland.

She made the comments during a segment on her late night show, Claire Byrne Live, with former UKIP leader, Nigel Farage.

The pro-Brexiteer questioned Ireland's membership of the European Union and said, "Why don't you ask yourselves in Dublin a question? Why did you fight the British for five hundred years - five hundred often very bloody, difficult years - until the 1920s, what was the point of it if you're now governed by [sic]?"

Mr Farage recently went viral for saying the Irish Republican phrase "Up the Ra" in a birthday greeting video, the meaning of which he stated he had no knowledge of.

This was then raised by Ms Byrne, who played the clip and said, "I want people to see just how much you know about the history and culture on this island."

She continued: "I know you said sorry, I know you get eighty seven quid and it's entirely within your rights to do that, but come on, don't try to lecture the Irish people on the culture and history and precarious nature of peace on this island. You haven't got a clue."

Mr Farage concluded by saying, "Do you want to be an Independent democratic nature or governed by foreign bureaucrats? That's the question that Ireland will ask itself. Those of you in the national media and national policies in Dublin will fight that as hard as you can because you will benefit financially. Do the Irish people wish to be independent or not? That is a debate that will happen in your country in the next few years, believe you [sic]."
Claremont, NH (03743)

Today

Showers this morning becoming less numerous during the afternoon hours. High 43F. Winds WNW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 40%..

Tonight

Mainly clear skies. Low 23F. Winds NW at 5 to 10 mph.
For more than 90 years, The Eagle-Tribune Santa Fund has assisted those in need in the Merrimack Valley through generous contributions from businesses, organizations and individuals. This year the need is as great as ever.

Contribute
PORTALES  No one who spoke at a Portales Municipal School board work session Monday had much good to say about the New Mexico Public Education Departments proposed standards for teaching Social Studies from kindergarten to 12th grade.

Wade Fraze, a history teacher at Portales High School and an outspoken advocate for conservatism, believes that word choices and subject matter in the proposed standards demonstrated they are based on Critical Race Theory, which he said is steeped in progressive or liberal ideas.

Another person who spoke called the standards indoctrination into a false way of thinking.

District Superintendent Johnnie Cain, however, was more concerned about the heavy use of terms like identity that he said are not defined, and whether the standards required levels of learning too advanced for the grade levels to which they are applied.

He was also concerned that many of the goals and objectives of the standards are controversial and may not reflect community standards.

Cain guided discussion for the workshop by scrolling through the standards, pointing out what he found objectionable and inviting school board and audience members to offer comments on the standards as they appeared on a projector screen.

The work sessions intent was not to produce a decision about how the district will respond to the PED on the standards. Cain said the board will have more discussion and decide on their response at their next meeting at 6 p.m. Nov. 8 in the school administration building.

Cain repeatedly questioned the meaning of terms like identity, affinity group, and primary and secondary sources, which are used frequently in the standards.

He also expressed concern that the word systemic implied an incorrect assumption that all of certain groups, such as whites and government officials, were responsible for some developments, as in systemic inequity and systemic oppression.

Fraze said the standards use of the words systemic, inequity instead of inequality, and oppression were derived from Marxism.

Inequity, Fraze said, implies equal outcomes, whereas inequality applies to opportunities. Equal outcomes, he said is a goal of Marxism.

Oppression of the poor and minorities to keep them down, is a Marxist theme, he added.

Imposing identities, whether religious, racial or sexual orientation, is putting people in groups and telling them how they should act, Fraze said.

The standards are designed to emphasize the differences rather than the similarities between people and create division, Fraze said.

Cain was also concerned that historical attitudes should be taught in a way that recognizes the perceptions of the times, rather than from current perspectives.

A lot of things that were OK in 1855 and even 50 years later are rejected today, Cain said.

An example, he said, is current demands in New York to remove a statue of Thomas Jefferson, one of the chief architects of the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution, because he was a slave owner.

Cain said it would be difficult to teach New Mexico history from the viewpoints required in the standards because we have one history book and its 40 years old.

Teachers were particularly concerned about online availability of historic maps online. They could not be found, they said, even after thorough searches.

Cain also questioned how the scope of U.S. history required for a single year could be taught in that time when history classes he taught seldom got beyond World War II.

Cain and audience members also questioned standards that could lead to controversy.

One standard, for example, asks teachers to guide classes to brainstorm ways in which New Mexicans might heal from past and current injustices.

Fraze responded that because he is part Irish and because the Irish were treated badly at some points in history, he would be allowed to nurse a grudge even now.

The standard, he said, injects an attitude in students that says Im downtrodden and oppressed and Im going to make them pay.
EGP 80 million EBRD loan to Reefy to finance women entrepreneurs in Egypt

Donor support from European Union

Focus on women-led private businesses outside of Greater Cairo and Alexandria

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is stepping up its support for women entrepreneurs in Egypt, with a loan of EGP 80 million (4.3 million equivalent) to Reefy Microfinance Enterprise Services, the countrys first licensed microfinance institution.

The loan will be provided under the EBRDs Women in Business programme. It will be used to support privately owned micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) that are owned by women, especially in governorates other than Greater Cairo and Alexandria. Supported by funds from the European Union Initiative for Financial Inclusion,* and in conjunction with the EBRDs Advice for Small Businesses unit, the programme will also offer capacity-building and advisory services directly to women-led MSMEs to boost women entrepreneurs know-how.

The loan will help Reefy introduce new financial products, modified lending practices and business models that are more inclusive and gender-responsive.

The EBRDs Women in Business programme promotes the participation of women in the economy and provides financial, advisory, training and mentoring support to female entrepreneurs. It focuses in particular on women-led small businesses with fewer than 250 employees and less than 50 million in annual turnover. The programme covers most sectors and industries.

The loan to Reefy marks the EBRDs second engagement in the microfinance sector of Egypt, where Reefy is one of the leading players, with a fast-growing balance sheet and an expanding branch network. Access to finance is a key requirement for the growth of the private sector, the engine of Egypts economy.

Alain Pilloux, EBRD Vice President, Banking, said: We are very happy to partner with the EU and Reefy to empower women entrepreneurs by helping them gain access to finance and know-how. We believe that equality of opportunity for women entrepreneurs is a priority from a gender and an economic perspective as it helps create jobs for a big segment of Egyptian society and drives economic growth.

Todays signature of the Reefy microfinance loan is another important step in the joint support provided by the European Union and the EBRD. It reflects our strong commitment to supporting womens economic empowerment in Egypt, said Ambassador Christian Berger, Head of the EU Delegation to Egypt.

Ahmed Labib, CEO of Reefy, commented: We are eager to be joining forces with the EBRD, as part of Reefys strategy to further diversify our funding sources and increase our corporate social responsibility. Following our robust network expansion plan in 2020, it is essential to gear up to cater for the business activity we anticipate, in parallel with the markets recovery. Approximately 42 per cent of our outstanding portfolio is to fund women-led businesses, emphasising their role in boosting the economys growth.

Egypt is a founding member of the EBRD. Since the start of the Banks operations there in 2012, the EBRD has invested almost 8 billion in 136 projects in the country. The EBRDs areas of investment include the financial sector, agribusiness, manufacturing and services, as well as infrastructure projects such as power, municipal water and wastewater services, and contributions to the upgrade of transport services.

* The EU Initiative for Financial Inclusion is a comprehensive programme to help micro, small and medium-sized businesses in the southern and eastern Mediterranean region to become more competitive and grow. It provides finance and know-how to boost development and create jobs.
A GARDA operation is set to target driver behaviour for the rest of this year.

Operation Teorainn will involve nationwide checkpoints to target drink- and drug-drivers, as well as motorists who flout mobile phone, seat belt, and speeding laws.

According to the Road Safety Authority (RSA), there were 24 road deaths in August, the highest number of monthly fatalities since June 2012, when there were 26 deaths.

So far this year, there have been 111 deaths on Irish roads, down 10 on the same period last year.

However, the RSA says there has been a 19% increase in the number of drivers killed this year compared to the same period in 2020 up from 48 in 2020 to 57 this year.

To date this year, 78% of fatalities have occurred on rural roads with a speed limit of 80km/h or above, which will be a particular focus of Operation Teorainn.

Every fatal or serious injury collision has a devastating impact on the family, friends, and communities of the people involved, said Chief Superintendent Michael Hennebry of the Garda National Roads Policing Bureau. Our focus for the remainder of 2021 will be to reduce these collisions through this road safety enforcement campaign.

Our roads are shared spaces, and we all have a duty of care, to ourselves and to others, to keep each and every road user safe.

I am urging every road user to play their part by complying with the road traffic legislation and assist An Garda Siochana to make our roads safer places for all, he said.

RSA chief executive Sam Waide said the authority would be supporting Operation Teorainn by running an intensive education and awareness-raising programme of activity.

This will include mass media campaigns focused on the main contributing factors to road-user fatalities and injuries, namely speeding, drink-driving, drug-driving, and non-seat belt wearing.

Learner and novice drivers

The RSA also plans to deploy two new radio and digital-led interventions in support of the Garda enforcement effort, Mr Waide said. The first will target learner and novice drivers to remind them that they are subject to a lower penalty point threshold than ordinary drivers. If they accumulate seven points in a three-year period, they face disqualification for six months. It will also remind learner drivers that if they drive unaccompanied, they face two penalty points, an 80 fine, and their car will be seized and impounded.

Male drivers target of campaign

The second campaign is targeted at male drivers.

Analysis of collision data clearly tells us that road safety is a significant male problem, Mr Waide said. "79% of driver fatalities between 2016-2020 were male.

"We will be laying bare more of these facts and challenging males to examine their road behaviour in our new campaign.
Like most Americans, you probably pay a LOT of money for the prescription drugs used by you and your family. The statistics about prescription drug use in America are rather shocking:

But, the truth is, it doesnt have to be this way, especially as we grow older and find ourselves needing prescription drugs more frequently. And theres something we can do about it.

Here are some facts about prescription drugs that you may not know:

Taxpayers fund the research on nearly ALL new prescription drugs

A common myth  largely spread by Big Pharma corporations  is that they have to keep their drug prices high to pay for all of the research they do to develop new drugs. But the fact is, the research on most new drugs was funded by taxpayers through the National Institute for Health (NIH). Only after a new drug shows promise and is likely to turn a profit is it handed off to the drug manufacturers.

One study found that 9 out of 10 Big Pharma corporations spent more on marketing than on new drug research.

So, taxpayers fund the risk and Big Pharma earns the profits.

And, make no mistake, they are WILDLY profitable. Drug companies earn an average 15-20% profit margin (compared to an average of 4-9% for non-drug companies) and raked in roughly $851 BILLION of revenue in 2020. That translates to an industry profit of $127-$170 billion dollars in a single year.

The federal government is prohibited from negotiating drug prices with the big pharmaceutical companies

If you work for a large company, chances are they negotiate with their insurance companies on the cost of your healthcare coverage, including how much youll pay for your prescriptions. Not many people know this but the federal government is prohibited BY LAW from negotiating with big pharmaceutical companies for the prices of the drugs they buy as part of Medicare.

This is such a good deal for Big Pharma that they are spending a LOT of money to stop progress on allowing the government to negotiate with them. When a small handful of Democrats (yes, sadly, they are Democrats) decided to pull their support from provisions in the current reconciliation bill that do away with the prohibition on Medicare negotiating with the drug makers, the pharmaceutical lobby began an ad campaign praising them. In addition to this, a phony senior citizens advocacy group funded by the Koch brothers empire is running an incredibly deceptive ad that makes false claims about the bill.

Allowing the federal government to negotiate with drug companies would fund other important healthcare initiatives

Its easy to see why Big Pharma likes things the way they are. It is estimated that the federal government would save A HALF TRILLION DOLLARS over ten years if they were allowed to negotiate with the drug makers.

If the reconciliation bill working its way through Congress is passed into law, those savings will be reinvested to cover dental, hearing, and vision in Medicare (which are currently NOT covered, believe it or not), enormously offsetting the total and without increasing taxes. That benefits EVERYONE because, like it or not, sooner or later nearly all of us will be at an age where we are eligible for Medicare.

Allowing the federal government to negotiate with drug companies is wildly popular

In these polarized times, there are few things that most Americans agree on. However, when it comes to getting rid of the ban on the federal government negotiating Medicare drug prices, that is not at all the case. In a recent poll asking about provisions in President Bidens Build Back Better plan, it was the most popular element.

And its not just Democrats who like it. In a recent Kaiser Family Foundation poll, 83% of Americans support the government being able to negotiate with drug companies, including 71% of Republicans.

It doesnt have to be this way and YOU can help resolve this problem

The law prohibiting the federal government negotiating with Big Pharma to control the cost of Medicare prescription drugs exists only because the pharmaceutical corporation lobbyists and donations from these companies have convinced even some Democrats to go against the will of their constituents and against doing whats right for average Americans so they can keep the campaign cash flowing.

One of things you can do to help solve this greed-driven problem is to make sure your U.S. Senator backs two things: getting rid of the filibuster so we can begin to pass laws with a majority vote and making sure they support doing away with the law that prohibits the federal government from negotiating Medicare prescription drug prices with the Big Pharma corporations by making sure this provision remains part of the current reconciliation bill and that it gets the support it needs to be passed into law.

You can also support groups like the Committee to Protect Healthcare who are working hard on this and a wide array of other issues around expanding access to affordable, quality health care for EVERY American. You can do that by clicking HERE.


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Businesses are flocking to software-as-a-service applications as a means to improve the efficiency of their operations and the productivity of their employees, but weak control of access to cloud apps is putting the data of many organizations at risk.

According to a study released Tuesday by DoControl, the average 1,000-person company using SaaS apps is exposing its data to between 1,000 and 15,000 external collaborators.

Between 200 and 3,000 companies also have access to a company's data, it added, while 20 percent of a typical business's SaaS files are shared internally to anyone who can click a link.

The report cautioned that the risk posed by unmanageable SaaS data access is no isolated or trivial problem.

Forty-three percent of data breaches analyzed in 2020 were attributable to web application vulnerabilities, the report noted. While it may come as a surprise that nearly half of all data breaches can be traced back to SaaS applications, given the growing reliance on those programs by businesses, it makes sense that this is such a huge area of threat.

"On average, a 1,000-person company stores between 500,000 to 10,000,000 assets in SaaS applications," said Adam Gavish, co-founder and CEO of the New York city-based DoControl, which provides data access monitoring, orchestration, and remediation for SaaS applications.

"Therefore, companies enabling public sharing may unwittingly allow up to 200,000 of these assets to be shared publicly," he told TechNewsWorld.

The problem is likely to get worse. Gartner predicts that use of SaaS services will continue to grow, with revenues jumping more than 30 percent from US$110.5 billion in 2020 to $143.7 billion in 2022.

Accelerated by Covid

That growth was given a boost by the worldwide pandemic.

"SaaS solutions have really proven their value since the start of the pandemic," said Jake Kouns, CEO and CISO of Risk Based Security, a provider of vulnerability intelligence, breach data and risk ratings in Richmond, Va.

"SaaS offerings are easy to set up and usually don't require IT resources to provision," he told TechNewsWorld.

"This means that the business can identify problems and procure solutions on their own, in their own time frame," he said.

"Furthermore," he continued, "with the shift to remote working, the ability to access a SaaS solution from anywhere with an internet connection is extremely valuable."

Covid-19 certainly had a big impact on the adoption of cloud services, maintained John Morgan, CEO of Confluera, a cyberthreat tracking platform maker in Palo Alto, Calif.

"While many organizations had already planned such adoption, the timetable was greatly accelerated due to Covid-19 and the need to be able to work remotely," he told TechNewsWorld.

"The rush to adoption has also created security coverage gaps which are resulting in data exposures and breaches," he said.

Software Visibility Gap

Liz Herbert, a vice president and principal analyst at Forrester Research, explained that as SaaS took hold in the early 2000s, many individuals and line-of-business executives pursued free and small-scale SaaS offerings that were easy to purchase under the radar because they felt the offerings better met their needs and gave them more speed and agility, compared to corporate-sanctioned options.

"In many cases, they achieved strong business results -- at least in the beginning," she told TechNewsWorld.

"Today, SaaS sprawl has grown to be a significant problem -- and in most cases no one really knows just how big," she said.

Any assets that are unmanaged pose a risk, added Mark Guntrip, senior director of cybersecurity strategy at Menlo Security, a cloud security provider in Mountain View, Calif.

"As you look at the rise in adoption of SaaS applications, including personal use applications, individuals and even departments can easily introduce a new application without the involvement of IT," he told TechNewsWorld.

"This can create a visibility gap for security which can impact an organization," he said.

By design, the cloud obfuscates the inner workings of the applications and the data stored in it, Morgan added.

"While this can offer simplicity to some organizations, the obfuscation can also blur insight into potential threats and attacks," he said.

"Modern threats leverage this characteristic to hide under the radar to navigate through the organization networks to identify target data," he added.

Data Everywhere Problem

With the cloud and SaaS platforms of today, the corporate network is no longer the only way to access data, explained Brendan O'Connor, CEO and co-founder of AppOmni, a cloud security posture management provider in San Francisco.

Data is now frequently accessed through third party apps, IoT devices in the home, and portals created for external users like customers, partners, contractors and MSPs, he continued.

"Often, access through these channels completely bypasses the corporate network, instead relying on OAuth tokens or other types of verification," he told TechNewsWorld.

"While companies are eager to use these access points to increase the functionality of their cloud and SaaS systems," he said, "they often neglect to secure and monitor them in the same way they're secured on their corporate network, leading to major access vulnerabilities that may be completely unknown to the company."

Unmanaged SaaS usage means that sensitive corporate data may proliferate to locations that were never intended to house that type of data, added Sounil Yu, CISO of JupiterOne, a Morrisville, N.C.-based provider of cyber asset management and governance solutions.

"SaaS applications often integrate with other SaaS applications," he told TechNewsWorld. "If those integrations are also not managed, then organizations risk granting overly permissive and continuous access to their corporation data through multiple SaaS channels."

What To Do

Organizations are making an effort to reduce the risk posed to their data by SaaS apps without stifling speed, creativity and business success, Herbert noted.

"The solution is not simple but generally a combination of education, governance and pre-vetting apps," she said.

"Some organizations have tried penalties and punishment, but that has had mixed success versus education and smarter sourcing strategies," she added.

O'Connor maintained that a new approach is needed in order to keep up with quickly changing cloud and SaaS environments.

"Security and IT teams can no longer rely exclusively on in-house expertise and expect to keep up," he asserted.

"Since the complexity of cloud and SaaS environments -- and the associated security configurations -- will only continue to increase, companies will need to use automated tools to ensure that their security settings match their business intent, and to continuously monitor security controls to prevent configuration drift," he said.

"This is simply no longer a task that teams will be able to keep up with using only manual processes," he added.

John P. Mello Jr. has been an ECT News Network reporter since 2003. His areas of focus include cybersecurity, IT issues, privacy, e-commerce, social media, artificial intelligence, big data and consumer electronics. He has written and edited for numerous publications, including the Boston Business Journal, the Boston Phoenix, Megapixel.Net and Government Security News. Email John.




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Call Centers are often consumers' first encounter with a business. That experience can make or break a customer's decision to continue interacting with the company.

Because call centers shoulder the burden of a customer's first look into a company, it is imperative the business invest in keeping its call center employees on board for the long run to encourage brand loyalty at all levels.

For many business operations, a failing call center is the typical outcome of customer inquiries. Call centers can experience turnover rates up to 100 percent in a single year, notes Sean Loboda, chief human resources officer at Leaf Home. This problem impacts the business at large because if you cannot create brand ambassadors out of your employees, how do you expect to foster loyalty among your customers?

Leaf Home designed an unusual approach to help assure that its call center employees happily remain for the long term. The company built its call center operation to drive potential customers to a cheerful encounter with all the departments to which they connect. That pleasant working relationship starts with Leaf Home's call center staff.

The role of the call center agent is more than just being the face of the business through the phone. Call center workers tactically assess and qualify the leads coming in, according to Loboda.

"Call centers, in general, have received a bad rap, and frankly some of it is probably deserved," he told CRM Buyer.

State-of-the-Art Facilities

Today, Leaf Home serves customers in the U.S. and Canada from 143 direct customer service delivery centers.

The company started in 2005 as LeafFilter, a gutter protection solutions company. Three other businesses layered in over the past two to three years. Leaf's approach to handling customers helped it succeed in expanding to a series of home safety services and more.

Leaf Home Safety Solutions products help ensure mobility while reducing the risk of injury around the home. Leaf Home Water Solutions offers customized water softener and water filtration systems tailored to meet municipal or well water needs. Leaf Home Enhancements provides customized design options for kitchen cabinets, bathroom upgrades, windows, and doors. The company has also added a few other business-related services.

Leaf's call center employees ascertain callers' needs and navigate them to the proper department. For that internal flow to travel efficiently, the call center must ensure that seasoned phone agents do not want to stop coming to work.

To maintain that outcome, Leaf Home integrates an in-house designed CRM platform with a call center culture that permeates the other departments. The company shuns one-size-fits-all platforms. It also puts its call center workers in over-the-top surroundings.

The call center is people-focused first. It is also tech centered. One of its key job skills is to ensure that its workers are able to successfully navigate a CRM platform while talking to potential and established customers.

"I think the reason call center turnover is so high is because there are so many call centers out there that do not view it as a people business. Companies view those workers as warm bodies until they are no longer useful. Then they discard them," said Loboda.

He has set up, recruited, and staffed countless call centers. It is really easy to set up a call center in the sense that anyone can get some phones, get a list of old leads, and get some people to call, he observed. Leaf Home wanted something far more dependable and productive, he explained.

'Home at Work' Environment

While it is easy to set up a call center, it is hard to set up a people-first call center. That is a big difference and a worthwhile challenge. Leaf Home is definitely the latter, mused Loboda.

"We fully recognize that our role is arguably the most important. If our call center representatives are not having a great day, and they do not have positive energy, and they do not feel valued, they are not going to exude it back to the customer. They are not going to set that customer lead for a sales rep," he explained.

Sean Loboda, Leaf Home

Chief Human Resources Officer

His call center amenities are high-end. It does not just have a fridge that everyone shares. There are multiple full kitchens with huge islands and contemporary furnishings and lounge spaces. The facility has places for staff to take a break with music playing.

"So it's a destination, not just the place that you plug in your headset, get some old coffee in the coffee maker, and then clock out for the day," he said.

Loboda has seen a ton of call centers during his years in the business. With the refurbished facilities completed last year, he readily admits that they are beyond beautiful. But it is not just about the physical space.

"Anyone can put nice flooring and wallpaper up. We really thought about all the things that people in a call center representative roles struggle with, and how can we make that easier for them to make work a more enjoyable place," he said of the design process.

More Than Money Matters

Part of that redesign focused on the little things for call center staffers. Loboda's mantra is that money does not make the world go round. It does not buy happiness. But it does make life easier.

"We are constantly doing the little things like bringing in lunch. We understand that people in a role like this may have challenges with getting somewhere for lunch or being able to bring lunch. So we want to make sure that we have the resources available," he offered.

Another part of the call center culture is constantly evaluating and adjusting compensation rates to make sure that the company stays competitive in the market. The compensation includes daily, weekly, and monthly incentive programs for all of its call center representatives that truly reward them for what they do, Loboda said.

"All these things make us remember this is a people-first business," he said.

The KISS Principle Works

One of the driving elements in piloting the call center redesign adhered to the KISS factor, as in Keep It Simple, Stupid!

"I know that sounds maybe cliche, but I think we have kept it very simple. When people come to us wanting a product or a service, they want a seamless uninterrupted experience," he observed.

The call center redesign helped Leaf Home not stray from its core business plan. The call center has new bells and whistles and a proprietary in-house CRM tool to handle the expanded product lines.

"But really, we have never gotten away from the people first, Keep It Simple idea," said Loboda. "If you are keeping the call center effectively simple and efficient, your customers are going to be happy, and then everything else takes care of itself."

Flexible Schedules, With Perks

Call center workers' essential role in the company is also signaled by flexible scheduling. Call centers typically impose rigid working time blocks of eight hours or more.

Leaf Home offers part-time through full-time schedules to its more than 375-person call center staff that work at least 70 different shifts. Those workers opting for the full-time opportunity get company-paid healthcare.

Perhaps a final gesture is the frequently-provided food breaks that call center workers enjoy.

Jack M. Germain has been an ECT News Network reporter since 2003. His main areas of focus are enterprise IT, Linux and open-source technologies. He is an esteemed reviewer of Linux distros and other open-source software. In addition, Jack extensively covers business technology and privacy issues, as well as developments in e-commerce and consumer electronics. Email Jack.


Southeastern Illinois Community Foundation manages more than 180 funds for the immediate and long-term benefit of communities in southeastern Illinois. For more information, contact Alex Pleasant , Interim President/CEO of Southeastern Illinois Community Foundation, at 217.342.5419 or alex@enrichingourcommunity.org.
Zoox has been testing its Level-3 (L3) autonomous vehicles in Las Vegas and the Bay Area for four years, way before Amazon acquired the self-driving company in 2020. But to be able to train its technology further, it has to hold trials in other locations with different environmental conditions  like Seattle. Zoox has announced that it will soon start testing its L3 vehicles in the city to collect data and trial new hardware in the face of frequent rains.

"It rains more frequently in Seattle than it does in San Francisco," the company said in its announcement. Zoox built special hardware into its sensors to give its vehicles the capability to automatically remove water and debris when needed. The Seattle trial will help it validate whether its system and new hardware will work as intended. At the beginning of its trial, the company will deploy a small fleet of L3 vehicles to assess the demands of the Seattle area, including its narrow tunnels and one-way roads, before expanding its tests.

Zoox introduced a fully autonomous robotaxi last year, which is a tiny four-wheeled bi-directional vehicle without a steering wheel. Its existing L3 vehicles, however, are Toyota Highlanders outfitted with Zoox's sensors and powered by its autonomous driving software with a human driver behind the wheel. That said, all its vehicles will use the same sensor architecture, so any data the L3 vehicles collect will also benefit its Level-5 robotaxis.
Showing up in everything from cosmetics and dental floss to product packaging and cleaning supplies. polyfluoroalkyl and perfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, are ubiquitous to the modern world. They're also known as "forever chemicals" as they do not break down in nature. What's more, they've been linked to a host of human diseases, from thyroid conditions to certain cancers, which is why, in 2016, the Obama administration enacted a unenforceable recommendation limiting the amount of PFAS in a given product should not exceed 70 parts per trillion. On Monday, the Biden administration announced that it will give Obama's recommendation some teeth.

Today, @EPAMichaelRegan announced EPAs Strategic Roadmap to confront #PFAS. This roadmap delivers on the agencys mission to protect public health & the environment and answers the call for action on these persistent & dangerous chemicals. Read more here: https://t.co/2GyHIfEVaj pic.twitter.com/kDHbwYgEJm  U.S. EPA (@EPA) October 18, 2021

This is a really bold set of actions for a big problem, EPA administrator Michael Regan told The Washington Post. This strategy really lays out a series of concrete and ambitious actions to protect people. There are concrete steps that we are taking that move this issue forward in a very aggressive way.

The EPA unveiled its 3-year roadmap towards regulating the class of chemicals on Monday centers on a trio of approaches: "increase investments in research, leverage authorities to take action now to restrict PFAS chemicals from being released into the environment, and accelerate the cleanup of PFAS contamination," according to the EPA. To that end, the administration plans to set enforceable drinking water limits under the Safe Drinking Water Act, designate PFAS as a hazardous substance under CERCLA (which would hold manufacturers financially liable for incinerating the chemical or releasing it into waterways), set timelines for establishing effluent guideline limitations under the Clean Water Act, review rules and guidance under the Toxic Substances Control Act, and expand monitoring, data collection and research of the chemicals. Additionally, the agency announced a new national testing strategy that will require PFAS manufacturers to provide toxicity data on the chemicals they create.

Communities contaminated by these toxic forever chemicals have waited decades for action, Ken Cook, President of the Environmental Working Group, said in a press statement. So, its good news that Administrator Regan will fulfill President Bidens pledge to take quick action to reduce PFOA and PFOS in tap water, to restrict industrial releases of PFAS into the air and water, and to designate PFOA and PFOS as hazardous substances to hold polluters accountable. Its been more than 20 years since EPA and EWG first learned that these toxic forever chemicals were building up in our blood and increasing our likelihood of cancer and other health harms. Its time for action, not more plans, and thats what this Administrator will deliver."

A handful of states including New Jersey, Vermont, Michigan, and New York, have already moved to regulate the chemicals on their own  California banned their use in baby and toddler products earlier this year  while the EU has banned many of the chemicals outright. The US Navy has announced that it will ban PFAS from its firefighting foam by October, 2023, as directed by Congress.
If you ever wished as a child that your fake Fisher-Price telephone would actually work, well, ready your credit card, because you can now make that dream come true. The toy company has made a special edition the iconic Chatter telephone for its 60th anniversary  one that's fully functional and can make and receive calls. Before you start planning on where to display it at your home, know that it doesn't work as a landline unit. It connects to your iOS or Android phone via Bluetooth instead and has to be within 15 feet of your mobile device to work.

You'll get nine hours of talk time on the Chatter phone on a single charge, and it comes with a speakerphone button. Other than the features that make it a working device, this Chatter for grown-ups looks just like its toy counterpart with its rotary dial, red handset and wheels. While the device can't do anything other than make or take calls  and we doubt you'd carry it wherever you go just for that purpose  it's a cool piece of novelty gadget that can bring on the nostalgia. You can get the fully functional Chatter for $60 exclusively from Best Buy's website, starting today until supplies last.
Microsoft is spicing up Flight Simulator with an expanded re-release, although this one may be more ambitious than some. It's releasing Flight Simulator: Game of the Year Edition on November 18th with both a heaping of new content as well as some meaningful feature upgrades. To start, there are five new stand-out aircraft, including the F/A-18 Super Hornet  you won't have to wait until the Top Gun expansion to buzz the tower in a fighter jet. You'll also get to fly the VoloCity air taxi, PC-6 Porter short-takeoff aircraft, the bush flying-oriented NX Cub and the single-seat Aviat Pitts Special S1S.

The GOTY upgrade adds eight airports, including Marine Corps Air Station Miramar and Patrick Space Force Base. Eight cities will get photogrammetry detail upgrades, such as Helsinki, Nottinghm and Utrecht. There are accordingly new tutorials (such as bush flying and IFR) and Discovery Flights.

The update adds useful features, too. You'll have early access to DirectX 12 features, an improved weather system and a developer mode replay system, among other improvements.

Most notably, you won't have to pay for any of this as a veteran player existing Flight Simulator owners will receive a free update on both Windows PCs and Xbox Series X/S. The paid GOTY release exists chiefly to entice first-timers. For everyone else, this is billed as a "thank you" upgrade that could keep them coming back.
In addition to camera features like Magic Eraser, Google's Pixel 6 and 6 Pro phones will have something special for Snapchat users. Snap CEO Evan Spiegel joined the company's Pixel 6 event on Tuesday to announce Quick Tap to Snap. The gesture allows you to access the Snapchat camera by tapping the back of the Pixel 6 or 6 Pro twice. Quick Tap launches the app into camera-only mode directly from the lockscreen. Once you've captured a Snap, you'll need to authenticate your identity to access the rest of the app.

Spiegel said Quick Tap to Snap makes the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro the fastest phones for capturing Snaps. He also said the company is working with Google to bring other Pixel-exclusive features like Live Translate to Snapchat. Once available, it will allow you and your friends to converse in 10 different languages with real-time translations. The two companies are also working together to launch exclusive augmented reality lenses.

Spiegel described Quick Tap to Snap as a "Pixel-first" feature, suggesting it will make its way to other devices at a later date. But securing an exclusive Snapchat feature, even if it's only a timed one, is still a big win for Google. A lot of Snapchat users, many of whom are teens, prefer the iPhone for the simple reason that the app works best on iOS. If this is the start of a better Snapchat experience on Android, it could do a lot to change that dynamic.

Catch up on all the latest news from Google's Pixel 6 event!
Disney is out in the orchard picking stars off the trees again, this time for a remake of Disney's not-that-classic-movie-based-on-a-classic-ride, Haunted Mansion.

Originally a fun smoke-and-mirrors dark ride at Disneyland, the Haunted Mansion ride didn't make its way onto the big screen until over 30 years after it was built, in a 2003 comedy starring Eddie Murphy. The movie unfortunately bombed with both critics and audiences, earning an abysmal 14% score on Rotten Tomatoes.

IMAGE INSERT

Now, it seems Disney is ready to try again, and just to ensure a different result, they've been studding the cast with stars every step of the way. They've already tapped Lakeith Stanfield, Tiffany Hadish, Owen Wilson, and Rosario Dawson to play various roles in the film, though only Stanfield and Haddish have received named roles yet; Stanfield will play the lead, Ben Matthias, a widowed and disenfranchised engineer, and Haddish will play "a hapless psychic who is hired to speak with the spirits at the Haunted Mansion."

Today, Disney has added a new star to the lineup, and we even know who he will play: Danny DeVito, known for a myriad of roles in projects that range from It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia to Matilda to Hercules. The comedy legend will be playing "a smug professor," according to The Hollywood Reporter.

This new iteration of The Haunted Mansion - not to be confused with the Muppets version that just aired on Disney+ - is due to begin production sometime this winter.
Tuesday, October 19, 2021

Oct 1, 2021

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The SAC Release

Strong Relationships and Proactive Strategies Are Key to Successful Navigation of Supply Chain Disruption

CLAREMONT, CA Ongoing supply chain volatility and disruption are creating major challenges for manufacturers, distributors, construction firms and retail groups. The strength of your customer and supplier partnerships is critical to successfully weathering the storm and thriving with high levels of disruption, according to The Society for the Advancement of Consulting (SAC) Supply Chain SIG. Proactive prioritization and allocation of products and services will create customer loyalty and enable profitable growth.

The World on Backorder  How the Best Supply Chains Compete

"Globally, we are experiencing significant supply chain delays. At various points in the supply chain, organizations may be feeling material disruptions, resource constraints, and cost increases. Expect these interruptions into 2022," says Diane L. Garcia of Lorraine Consulting, LLC, who has over 13 years' experience in operations and supply chain management and is an expert in helping clients improve their unique business processes. Diane applies cutting edge supply chain optimization knowledge and implements best practices to manufacturing and distribution companies in North America.

"With such dramatic changes, it's critical to align your supply chain performance to meet changing demand," according to Garcia. "To do this, my best clients focus on building flexibility, predictability, and scalability into their supply chain processes and relationships. Lastly, with limited material availability, have a robust allocation process established across your organization. This mitigates delays to key customers."

How Companies Navigate Disruption Will Separate Winners From Losers

"If there is one item every client has in common no matter the size or geography, it's the increased level of supply chain material disruption," points out Lisa Anderson, president of Claremont, CA-based LMA Consulting Group, Inc and manufacturing expert known for creating supply chain resiliency. "Material shortages. Transportation capacity constraints. Extended lead times. Rising prices. The level of disruption is extreme, and there is no end in sight. We are in a new era of transition, disruption, and volatility.

"There will be a large separation between the winners and losers following this pandemic, similarly to the period following the Great Depression," she adds. "The companies to thrive will focus on talent, innovation, revamping their supply chain (partnership, reshoring and nearshoring will continue to increase), proactive and integrated business planning (Sales, inventory and operations planning (SIOP/ S&OP), and the digitization of the supply chain. The rest will struggle and diminish."

The New Trifecta: Anticipate, Manage, and Maintain

"Disruption in the supply chain is the new normal," explains Elizabeth Warren, President and CEO of Dialed-In Partners, a consulting firm that assists clients in achieving the best possible outcome for their projects. "Today's executives and supply chain managers have to anticipate and manage disruption, while keeping operations running smoothly.

"As shortages continue to impact markets, businesses should find alternative suppliers now, not when inventory is depleted," adds Warren. "Businesses survive by pivoting, using materials on hand, such as distilleries making hand-sanitizer, or clothing manufacturers making face masks.

"The post-pandemic business environment continues to be in a state of flux, and the need to strengthen existing supplier relationships, while simultaneously building new ones, is critical," Warren notes. "Disruptions aren't going away anytime soon. The key to surviving and thriving is to be flexible and pivot."

The Fruitful Areas of Supply Chain Resilience

"Supply chain material disruptions across many sectors and global regions have been a key feature of the last eighteen months. This is due to a combination of factors including the COVID pandemic, geopolitical tensions, accidents, and natural phenomena," remarks Dublin, Ireland-based Patrick Daly, managing director of Alba Consulting, author of the book International Supply Chain Relationships: Creating Competitive Advantage in a Globalized Economy, and host of the Interlinks podcast on globalization.

"This has provided opportunities for those businesses that have explored three aspects of their activity to change and improvenamely, their internal processes, their relationships with key supply chain partners, and innovation arising directly from the disruption and volatility of the trading environment," points out Daly.

"If you want to look forward to a better future for your business beyond the pandemic and in a world of permanent disruption and volatility, these are the fruitful areas on which to focus to ensure ongoing resilience and adaptability," he recommends.

Velocity Can Reduce Supply Chain Challenges

"The COVID-19 pandemic has taught organizations how to conquer any global supply chain disruption," says Art Koch, President of Arthur Koch Management Consulting, LLC, based in Miami, FL. "As the world exits the COVID-19 pandemic, we encounter localized hot spots that disrupt supply chains.

"Diligent, insightful supply chain leaders are transforming their supply chains to be more flexible, responsive, and predictable," Koch notes. "It's all about increasing supply chain velocity with reduced lead-times by near-shoring, on-shoring, and in-sourcing. An additional strategy is to partner with suppliers that have dual manufacturing capabilities. These tactics give supply chains added resilience during global, regionalized, or localized disruption. Hence, greater flexibility and responsiveness."

One Beacon of Light in the Current Chaos

"Supply Chain disruption is an opportunity to create predictability in client communication," says Dr. Karen Wilson-Starks, President and CEO of TRANSLEADERSHIP, INC., and an executive leadership development expert based in Colorado Springs, CO.

"Companies that are open, honest, and timely in their communications garner respect and trust from their clients," explains Wilson-Starks. "Clients know they can count on you to keep them informed, to anticipate what they need to know, and to prioritize their best interests. Whenever unavoidable changes and delays occur, proactive communication opens the door for partnership and co-creation of mutually beneficial solutions. You become a beacon of light in chaos."

Lean is Not Dead

"Some say that lean is dead because disruptions in supply chains have shown how vulnerable lean is and that it exposes companies and supply chains to shortages," says Antonio Zrilic, Managing Director of LOGIKO CONSULTING, based in Zagreb, Croatia, and the author of the book Six Step Inventory Optimization. "They also blame lean supply chains for material shortages, while others suggest that less rigid inventory management would in some way improve the availability."

However, Zrilic points out, "They forget that lean should not be implemented without a heavy dose of cooperation and relationships with partners. Lean without relationships is an empty phrase."

Vulnerability Exposes 18-Month Road to Recovery

"Global supply chains are suffering their own version of Warren Buffett's famous saying, 'Only when the tide goes out, do you discover who's been swimming naked,'" says David Ogilvie of David Ogilvie Consulting a niche consulting firm based in Brisbane Australia. "COVID has exposed how vulnerable the supply chains of the world really are to disruption. It would be fair to say not enough risk management was conducted. No one really role played this type of scenario to the level that has come to pass.

"Companies need to revisit their supply chain strategy and inventory management practices in light of this disruption," adds Ogilvie. "It will take 18 months or more to recover. This will have a large impact on cash flow as a result. A review and potentially redesign of your supply chain is the most strategic and impactful thing you can do right now."

Deep Relationships Offset Long Lead Times

"Long lead times due to supply chain disruption are here for the foreseeable future," said Evan Bulmer, director of EBAA in Adelaide, Australia. The author of Numbers that Matter: Learning What to Measure to Achieve Success in Your Business, Evan is the Financial Concierge for small business.

"It's critical that businesses maintain strong and effective communication with their customers to help them through what is now a much longer and more problematic buying cycle," explains Bulmer. "Without that input and direction, your customers are likely to get frustrated and look for alternative solutions."

About SAC

The Society for the Advancement of Consulting (SAC) is the premier association for independent consulting professionals who subscribe to an industry code of ethics and provide significant consulting results among their clients. Founded by Million Dollar Consulting guru Alan Weiss in 2003, SAC offers a series of in-person and online programs to help consultants share best practices and learn from industry experts and thought leaders in the business world. SAC today has members in 14 countries around the world.

For more information, go to http://www.consultingsociety.com, email info@consultingsociety.com, or call (909) 563-1803.
Early in the coronavirus pandemic, nurses were hailed as heroes for working long shifts to care for infected patients, often at the risk of their own safety.

But as the public health crisis nears 2 years old, hospitals report that their front-line workers are increasingly exposed to physical harm from patients and their families.

San Antonio hospital administrators and nursing advocates called attention to the rise in workplace violence against nurses at a roundtable last week with U.S. Sen. John Cornyn at University Hospital, and they urged him to support legislation thats been stalled in a U.S. Senate committee. The problem has prompted many nurses to leave the profession, which has exacerbated staffing shortages.

The pandemic has caused some of the strongest among us  which nurses are notoriously strong  to feel defeated and hopeless because of the multiple surges that we kept experiencing, said Jane McCurley, chief nursing executive at Methodist Healthcare, which operates nine hospitals in the city and employs more than 4,000 nurses.

Were now facing increasing abuse from our patients and families when they come into our health care environment, she said. Its just disrespectful. Its very discouraging to our health care providers.

McCurley described how some of the same emergency room nurses who worked nonstop since the first COVID-19 patient arrived in March 2020 are now dealing with hostile family members.

On ExpressNews.com: 'We didn't need to be here': Health workers frustrated amid third surge of COVID hospitalizations

Donna Wallis, a former ER nurse and president of the Texas Nurses Associations Central Texas region, said the risk of violence on the job has been around for a long time but that COVID-19 has made the problem worse.

One in two Texas nurses will become a victim of workplace violence during their careers, according to the Texas Center for Nursing Workforce Studies.

Nelson Tuazon, who is treasurer of the Texas Nurses Association and a nursing executive at University Health, told Cornyn and his staff that the pandemic has been traumatizing for nurses, particularly for those in critical care and emergency nursing.

Tuazon said there are estimates that more than 60 percent of critical care nurses will leave the profession early because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

He asked Cornyn, R-Texas, to support the federal Workplace Violence Prevention for Health Care and Social Service Workers Act, which is intended to protect nurses.

Advocates of the bill said it would make health care professionals safer by requiring employers to develop and implement comprehensive workplace violence prevention plans.

The bill was passed by the House, largely along party lines, and has sat in the Senates Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions since April. All of Texas 13 Democratic House members voted for the bill, while only one of the states 22 Republican members supported it.

On ExpressNews.com: Amid coronavirus pandemic, will retired nurses and new nursing grads offset shortage?

Tuazon said without legislative action, the nursing industry will continue to lose skilled workers and mentors, which means the medical work done on the front lines could grind to a halt.

The state is already experiencing a shortage of 20,000 nurses, he said.

Dr. Charles Hankins, senior vice president of pediatrics and chief medical officer of Christus Santa Rosa, said during the roundtable that the third patient surge in San Antonio, which is slowly subsiding, has been very different from the first two, which occurred before vaccines were available.

What were seeing now is nurses are taking care of patients their own age that are dying, Hankins said. Its different when you are taking care of a 75- or 80-year-old. I think that its not as much of compassion fatigue as its a stress builder.

McCurley said nurses have to combat the feeling that more could have been prevented had more people been vaccinated and more people been compliant with wearing masks to protect themselves and others.

Cornyn said he wasnt aware that workforce violence was such a big problem in the health care industry and said that one explanation could be the severe amount of stress that people face during the pandemic.

Its maybe the most surprising thing Ive heard here today, he said. To me, its just not acceptable.

During a press conference after the meeting, the Texas lawmaker also pushed for COVID-19 vaccination.

laura.garcia@express-news.net
Last year, a Dallas man's Halloween display made headlines after police visited his home multiple times for it's realistic look. This year, Steven Novak's spooky decor is going viral again with an even more violent and grisly scene.

Novak, an artist and engineer, calls the display "The Dallas Massacre," which consists of several mutilated mannequins and a lot of fake blood.

On Expressnews.com: Muertos Fest in San Antonio announces music lineup

In the past, the realistic-looking bloodbath has prompted neighbors to call police after they thought they had come across a crime scene, according to the Dallas Observer. That hasn't stopped Novak from adding even more to his display this year.

The fake blood is made out of red food coloring and corn syrup, Novak explains in videos on his social media accounts.

In addition to last year's rooftop "dead body," Novak added several body parts from mannequins, stuffed with skeleton parts and styrofoam and painted them red before displaying them across his front yard.

He also bought another door, damaged it and kept it slightly ajar to look like it was busted open. He gives his social media followers a behind-the-scenes look at his creative process on his TikTok account. A video explaining how his new woodchipper sprays fake blood onto his yard has racked up over 3 million views on the video-sharing platform.

The woodchipper fountain, which looks like it has a body part going through it, sprays fake blood into a kiddie pool across the lawn. He says the water in the pool is recycled back to the fountainhead in the woodchipper, allowing it to continue spraying the fake blood.

Malak.Silmi@express-news.net
Some Texas colleges and universities are seeing increases in enrollment, particularly among underrepresented groups, despite the continuing COVID-19 pandemic.

Texas A&M University and University of Texas at Austin both welcomed more students than last year, according to preliminary reports.

UT-Austin boasted its largest incoming class, with 9,060 first-time freshmen  a 7 percent increase from last year. Overall enrollment at UT also increased by 3 percent with 51,992 students  close to its all-time high of 52,261 in 2002, according to a news release.

Texas A&Ms first-day enrollment of 72,982 students on the main campus in College Station was about 2.6 percent higher than last year. Nearly 11,500 of them were freshmen .

The San Antonio campuses of both university systems also had record numbers of first-year students.

The University of Texas at San Antonio said it has 5,500 new freshmen, up from 5,300 a year ago, a 3.7 percent increase. Added to returning students still considered freshmen based on their course loads, the current total of 6,574 is similarly higher than the 6,349 total in the fall 2020 semester.

UTSA also saw a 2.7 percent increase in enrollment in its masters programs and a 6.7 percent increase in doctoral programs. Overall enrollment, however, was essentially the same as last years.

Texas A&M-San Antonio is celebrating its largest freshman class of 1,058 this year, up 68 percent from the 629 freshmen who enrolled in the fall of 2020. The universitys total enrollment grew by a more modest 1.8 percent, to 6,891.

Fall 2021 represents Texas A&M University-San Antonios largest incoming class in our 12-year history, Jeanette M. De Diemar, its vice president for advancement and external relations, said in a written statement, calling it a reflection of the universitys focus on our students, academic excellence and a destination for earning a quality degree where 96 percent of students receive financial support.

A&M-San Antonio has always had a high percentage of first-generation students, and for undergraduates, it is even higher now, having increased almost 5 percentage points since last year, to 73.2 percent. But among graduate students, the proportion who are the first in their families to attend college decreased from 70.8 percent last year to 64.1 percent today.

Preliminary numbers at the University of Houston s main campus showed that its total enrollment stayed almost the same, decreasing by just 70 students.

UT-Austin noted an increase of first-generation students, bringing this population to about 23 percent of all undergraduates. The university also enrolled more Hispanic students than last year, reaching 27.1 percent Hispanic undergraduate enrollment. The number of white undergraduates dropped by more than 2 percentage points, to 35.1 percent this year.

That trend also showed up at Rice University, which saw its white graduate student population decrease by around 3 percent, while nearly every other population category saw more students. Overall enrollment grew 8 percent, which included nearly a 5 percent increase in undergraduate students.

Daniel Villanueva, vice president of enrollment and management at the University of Houston-Downtown, said the decline in white students at some Texas institutions could be because many come from socioeconomic backgrounds that allow them to be more mobile and flexible in their college choices, while students from underrepresented communities might stay closer to home because of family responsibilities and jobs.

Villanueva said UHDs student population is also slowly becoming more Hispanic and its white component decreased by 9 percent since last fall.

We see that more white students have options to go out-of-state and that more out-of-state institutions that are right around Texas offer in-state tuition waivers for students, Villanueva said. And so as white students navigate higher ed, theyre not only looking at the landscape exclusive to Texas but nationwide.

While this trend is more specific to Texas, an increase in diversity  particularly among Hispanic and female students  is happening nationwide, Villanueva said.

In San Antonio, private universities have seen only small changes in total enrollment. Trinity University and St. Marys University saw small decreases, while the University of Incarnate Word had a slight increase this fall.

Except for the number of visitors to campus, you would not have known the pandemic was taking place, said Eric Maloof, vice president for enrollment at Trinity.

He said he was surprised by the stability of the numbers and credited the university opening for campus visits earlier than competing schools during the pandemic and spending time speaking with students early in their high school careers. The way that it handled the pandemic as a well-resourced school that provides an intimate learning setting also helped, he said.

Trinity has 663 first-year students, 23 more than its goal, and saw a record retention rate of 92 percent from first year to second year students, who stayed on despite the strain of the pandemic. Forty-two percent of Trinitys students are from underrepresented groups, down 2 percent from last year.

St. Marys has a total enrollment of 3,432 students this fall, just 26 fewer than in 2020. But the universitys freshman class grew by almost 18 percent, to 606 students.

Rosalind Alderman, vice provost for enrollment management at St. Mary's, called it a good year for the freshman class and said the overall drop in enrollment was expected, given the difficulty of retaining students taking online classes during the pandemic, among other factors.

Students who choose a school like St. Marys were obviously not coming to St. Marys to be virtual, Alderman said. So that was tough.

The University of the Incarnate Word has an overall enrollment of 5,912 across its San Antonio campuses  the main campus and the Ila Faye Miller School of Nursing & Health Professions  an increase of about 1.2 percent from the fall of 2020. First-year students there now total 962, an increase of almost 4.8 percent over last fall.

San Antonios community college system, Alamo Colleges, saw a decrease in its overall headcount across its five campuses  San Antonio College, Northeast Lakeview, Northwest Vista, Palo Alto, and St. Philips. The districts enrollment today is 64,768, a 5.8 percent decrease from last fall.

The college district did see gains in some important areas, said Thomas Cleary, its vice chancellor for planning, performance and information systems. The total of first-time students, 10,810, is a nearly 4.7 percent increase over last fall, while the number of transfer students jumped 34 percent, to 4,701.

But Cleary is concerned about a roughly 10 percent decrease in continuing students who returned to classes from the previous year. That dropped from 36,175 last fall to 32,513 today. Dual enrollment high school students taking college courses also decreased, from 14,083 last fall to 12,210, a drop of about 13 percent.

Cleary suspects the sharp declines might be caused by changing student priorities amid the ongoing effects of the pandemic.

Even though COVID didnt discriminate  it certainly had a much harsher impact on lower socioeconomic students, who tend to be our students, he said. But we are expecting a big bounce-back  because weve never, ever seen a decrease like weve had now in continuing students.

Claire.Bryan@express-news.net; Danya.Perez@express-news.net; brittany.britto@chron.com
After a governors veto earlier this year, an #AbbottHatesDogs Twitter campaign and hours of debate and consternation, both houses of the Texas Legislature passed a bill mandating safety requirements for dogs that are kept outdoors.

It now goes to Gov. Greg Abbott, who is expected to sign.

The bill requires that dogs be provided adequate shelter from heat and access to water when restrained outside without the owner present, that their collars be properly fitted to them and  most controversially  that dogs may not be left outside on their own attached to certain kinds of restraints, including chains. Under current law, law enforcement officials who observe a dog in unsafe conditions must provide 24 hours for the owner to address the matter, but under this bill they would be able issue criminal citations immediately.

The bill is hailed by supporters as a common-sense set of policies to offer greater protections to dogs in Texas.

Were taking steps to make sure our dogs are not abused in any way, to make sure theyre not harmed or abused in any way, Sen. Eddie Lucio, a Brownsville Democrat who has carried the legislation for several sessions, said on the Senate floor Monday. We wouldnt obviously be having this bill and carrying this bill at this point if it werent for the good of the owner and the good of the dog.

IN-DEPTH: Advocates hopeful lifesaving dog legislation will pass after statewide outcry over Abbott veto

But the bill has drawn ire particularly in rural areas of Texas, where some felt the legislation would impose on their ability to care for their pets and that chains can be used humanely, particularly to restrain larger, more aggressive dogs that could be a threat to children or others without them.

Abbott vetoed the legislation when it was passed in the regular session, siding with those critics, despite the bills passage with wide support from members of both parties. He said the bill was micro-managing and over-criminalization and listed as examples the tailoring of the dogs collar, the time the dog spends in the bed of a truck, and the ratio of tether-to-dog length, as measured from the tip of the nose to the base of the tail.

Animal rights and anti animal cruelty advocates who pushed the bill for years were surprised by the decision, and the veto drew a great deal of negative attention along with the backlash on social media.

Abbott ultimately changed his mind, calling for the bill to be passed again in the third special session with his concerns addressed.

The bill makes two things a crime: a dog cant be restrained outdoors without the owner present unless it has access to shade, shelter and water; and a restraint cant be used for a dog when the owner isnt around if its a chain, if its too short, if its not properly attached to a collar or harness or if its weighted. There are a few exceptions, including for those who are camping and complying with campground regulations, working with livestock or working in agriculture.

In a lengthy debate Saturday night, the Texas House added an amendment that would have allowed dogs to be chained up that could otherwise be dangerous, but Lucio objected and the amendment was ultimately struck. Changes from from the regular session version of the bill include that dog collars can be whatever material, as long as theyre safe, and dogs can remain unattended in the back of a truck for a reasonable amount of time.
Austin may be getting a new congressional district, but its triggering a political shift that will have major implications for San Antonio and result in a new member of Congress for the heart of downtown.

U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, has already announced hes leaving behind the district he has represented since 2013 that runs from San Antonio to Austin. Instead, Doggett will run next year in the new 37th Congressional District, which is more centrally located in Travis, his home county.

The result is a wide-open race in 2022 for the reconfigured 35th Congressional District that now includes downtown San Antonio. Without Doggett, the district now has no incumbent and heavily favors a Democrat. That could draw in dozens of well-known Texas Democrats to a battle in which candidates from both Austin and San Antonio will have a shot at it.

It didnt take long for State Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer, D-San Antonio, to become part of the conversation. As the Texas Senate was debating the final passage of the proposed statewide redistricting plan, the Republican carrying the legislation said Martinez Fischers interest in running for the new 35th Congressional District had been obvious in closed-door negotiations about its boundaries.

State Sen. Joan Huffman, R-Houston, said Martinez Fischer requested a last-minute alteration in the map that placed his home into the district. His request was approved.

You bet Im going to look at it, Martinez Fischer said on Tuesday.

Martinez Fischer said San Antonios growth justifies it having another member of Congress from the city.

San Antonio needs its representation, he said.

Currently, two of the five congressional districts that include portions of Bexar County are represented by members of Congress from other cities  Austin and Laredo.

IN-DEPTH: What new congressional districts mean for San Antonio voters

But hes not the only one considering a bid for the open seat. Austin City Council member Greg Casar, a Democrat, announced on social media he is considering running to represent our community in the United States Congress.

Though Casar isnt officially in the race, hes already started to pick up notable endorsements, including from former Democratic gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis and Austin Mayor Steve Adler.

State Rep. Eddie Rodriguez, who represents many of the areas in East Austin now included in the 35th Congressional District, is also considered a potential challenger.

The sudden shift in the 35th District underscores the stakes in redistricting, a once-in-a-decade process required by law to redraw the states congressional districts to reflect population changes identified by the census.

Does I-35 corridor give Austin candidates an edge?

On Monday night the House and Senate both put the finishing touches on the plan that now goes to Gov. Greg Abbott.

Even if it becomes law immediately, the plan is likely to face lawsuits that could delay its implementation. The primary elections are set for March 1, but court delays could interfere with the implementation of the maps, possibly pushing the primary deeper into spring 2022.

Still, the stage is set for another all-out primary battle featuring two of Texass biggest Democratic strongholds.

The redesigned 35th Congressional District has 303,000 people from Bexar County and about 300,000 people from Travis County. It will also pick up 137,000 people in Hays County and 25,000 in Comal County, mostly along I-35. As the district is now drawn, Black and Hispanic voters will make up 68 percent of its residents.

Democratic political strategist Colin Strother said those portions of Hays County might help an Austin-based candidate because much of the growth in Hays is driven by people who have been priced out of Austin. Those votes might gravitate more to an Austin candidate than one from San Antonio, he said.

The San Antonio portion of the district is significant in that it takes in Hemisphere Park, UTSAs downtown campus, areas around San Antonio Community College and Trinity University, plus picks up areas around Prospect Hill and Woodlawn Lake. It also takes up large segments of the Northeast Side from I-35 to Randolph Air Force Base, including Kirby, Converse and parts of Schertz.

The redistricting plan is also shaking up the congressional representation in other parts of San Antonio.

U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio, is losing Helotes, Lackland Air Force Base and Joint Base San Antonio from his 20th Congressional District. Meanwhile, U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellars Laredo-based 28th Congressional District will now take in more of San Antonios South and East sides along with parts of downtown around the Alamo.

U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, R-Austin, will continue to represent 340,000 people in Bexar County, including Alamo Heights, Castle Hills and Hollywood Park, but his district is losing 200,000 voters in Travis County to make it a more solidly Republican district after two consecutive close November races against Democrats.

The 23rd Congressional District will also get a little safer for newly elected U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales. The San Antonio Republican will pick up areas around Lackland and Port San Antonio. His district will also include more of El Paso on the western end of the sprawling district that takes in more than 800 miles of the Texas border with Mexico.

For Doggett, the redistricting offers a homecoming. He was originally elected to Congress in 1994 in the then-Austin-based 10th Congressional District. But excessive gerrymandering by Republicans in 2011 splintered Travis County, a Democratic haven, into six congressional districts to limit the number of Democrats that could be elected to Congress. That forced Doggett to move into the 35th that had a core in Austin but stretched to downtown San Antonio.

Im running to represent the only place Ive ever called home  and ensure that we are bringing our full power and our full voice to Washington. For bold policies and bold people. Doggett said on social media on Monday announcing his decision.

jeremy.wallace@chron.com
The Texas Legislature on Monday put the finishing touches on a redistricting proposal that has major implications for hundreds of thousands of people who live in and around San Antonio. Here is a summary of how Bexar Countys five Congressional districts are changing for 2022.

San Antonio Democrat Joaquin Castro, 20th Congressional District

The 20th Congressional District is losing Lackland Air Force Base and Port San Antonio, as well as all of Helotes and thousands of residents from along the southside of Bandera road between Loop 1604 and Gilbeau Road. In exchange, Castros district will go deeper into the South Side, picking up Palo Alto College and the Gillette area, which are all in the 23rd Congressional District now.

On ExpressNews.com: Legislature strikes deal to shift Alamo and Lackland AFB to new districts

Austin Republican Chip Roy, 21st Congressional District

Nearly 50,000 more people in Bexar County will soon be in Roys 21st Congressional District. Roy already represents Alamo Heights, Castle Hills and Hollywood Park. Under the new plan hed also pick up thousands of homes from Loop 1604 to Nacogdoches Road on the Northeast Side would shift from Lloyd Doggetts 35th Congressional District to Roys. The 21st Congressional District is also going to lose about 200,000 people in Travis County. The result is Bexar County will have twice as many voters as any other county, giving it increased sway in deciding who represents the district in the future.

San Antonio Republican Tony Gonzales, 23rd Congressional District

All of Lackland Air Force Base and Port San Antonio will be moved into the 23rd Congressional District. The district will also pick up all of Helotes and scoop up thousands of homes along Bandera Road from Loop 1604 to Gilbeau Road. But about 50,000 people on the South Side and East Side will be taken out of the 23rd. That will include areas around Palo Alto College and areas just outside Loop 410 from U.S. 281 to China Grove.

Laredo Democrat Henry Cuellar, 28th Congressional District

The Alamo is moving. Currently, in Rep. Lloyd Doggetts 35th Congressional District, Alamo Plaza and the Alamodome will be shifting into Rep. Cuellars 28th Congressional District. Hell also pick up nearly 60,000 people in Bexar County on the East Side. All of San Antonio from I-37 to Loop 410 will now move from Doggetts district to the 28th Congressional District.

Austin Democrat Lloyd Doggett, 35th Congressional District

More than 40,000 people in Bexar County are being pulled out of Doggetts district. Hell lose Alamo Plaza, The Alamodome and thousands of homes on the East Side, primarily to Cuellars 28th Congressional District. Doggett will also lose parts of the Northeast Side along Nacogdoches Road to the 21st Congressional District.
U.S. Army North said this week it was dispatching medical teams to a pair of cities in Washington state to help support civilian health care workers treating COVID-19 patients.

The San Antonio-based command will send 40 military medical specialists in response to a request from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

One of the teams will support Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane. The other will support Confluence Health in Wenatchee.

The military medical personnel, split into two 20-person teams, include U.S. Navy nurses, respiratory therapists and medical doctors.

Nine other teams are working in nine hospitals  three in Louisiana, two in Mississippi, two in Alabama, one in Idaho, and one in Tennessee. Altogether, around 240 service members from the Army, Air Force and Navy are supporting those hospitals, Army North spokeswoman Charlotte A. Reavis said.

Army North provides operational oversight to the Pentagons active-duty military coronavirus assistance to the federal government and the states.

As the whole-of-government, including U.S. Army North, continues to respond to this pandemic, our service members are working tirelessly to provide the best care possible to hospitals and communities in need, Lt. Gen. John R. Evans, Jr., Army Norths commander, said in a prepared statement.

An Army team supporting the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock, Arkansas, ended its mission Oct. 11.

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The Army North mission has helped civilian workers at hospitals across the United States overwhelmed by COVID during the first year of the pandemic. At the height of the COVID, units led by the command headquartered at the historic Quadrangle helped support civilian hospitals across the nation  including some here.

Army North last November at one point had around 560 military medical personnel working alongside civilian healthcare providers treating patients sickened by the virus in six states and the Navajo Nation.

It had provided active-duty support to federal vaccination efforts after Feb. 4, overseeing around 150 military medical and support personnel from the Army, Marine Corps, Navy and Air Force. Working in 25 states and the U.S. Virgin Islands, Army North teams also administered around 5 million vaccines before ending that mission on June 21.

Evans, the Army North commander, praised the medical teams as defenders of the nation and said they are deployed within the homeland to support our local, state and federal partners as we work together to defeat COVID-19.

sigc@express-news.net
Theres something sinister happening in the state of Texas. Rather than trying to win on policy, conservative lawmakers spent this years special sessions perverting the building blocks of our democracy by making it more difficult to vote and suppressing young peoples desire to vote and engage in the first place.

Senate Bill 1 and House Bill 3979 are a two-pronged approach to ensuring people of color do not turn out on Election Day. The first makes it more difficult to vote today, and the second sets up a generation to be excluded and uninvolved in our democratic process.

As the executive director of Jolt Action, an organization dedicated to voter registration and youth leadership, and a public school board of trustee, I have the unique perspective to see how the lessons learned in our classrooms impact the future of civic engagement.

SB 1 limits 24-hour voting and drive-thru voting. It prohibits election officials from proactively sending out applications for mail-in ballots. It empowers partisan poll workers and makes it more difficult for anyone to help a voter  including those with disabilities  fill out a ballot.

The new restrictions will disproportionately impact people of color and low-income Texans. How? Harris County, home to more than 4.7 million people, embraced drive-thru voting and 24-hour voting in the 2020 election. We saw in that election that young people voted at all hours, while working-class voters need extended and weekend hours.

Emboldening partisan poll watchers will leave some voters feeling intimidated. And the move to make it more difficult for people to help other voters is designed to discourage turnout in the Latino community, where non-native English speakers often require assistance in completing and submitting ballots.

But lawmakers are not content with simply making it more difficult to vote. HB 3979 will chill civic engagement in the first place. This bill discourages teachers from fully addressing the role race has played in American history. It shuts down lessons on the contributions of people of color, including Mexican Americans and Black Americans. Essentially, this legislation restricts how teachers can talk about both the history of this country and its current events.

The bill also prohibits students from getting credit or extra credit for participating in civic activities, including political activism or lobbying elected officials.

Why would lawmakers want to discourage our students from learning about the democratic process? Because if they dont learn the process, they wont know how to engage with it and wield power.

More than 200,000 Texan Latinos turn 18 every year. We owe it to our young people of color to educate them on how to be engaged and productive members of our democracy.

This starts by knowing the history of this country and the contributions of all people  not just white men who look like the traditional Founding Fathers. Whether it is Cesar Chavez organizing farmworkers or Harriet Tubman helping slaves to freedom, when students see people who look like them in the history books, theyre more likely to feel inspired and see the ways in which their civic participation can make a difference in their communities.

When we whitewash history, were telling entire communities like mine that our ancestors stories dont matter. Our nations legacy is built on all of our stories, and yet, some students may never see themselves in the history books they read. That is a disservice to all children.

The right to vote is sacred. Our communities must stand together to protect that right and prepare our students to be fully engaged members of our democracy. Lets double down on lifting people up and telling them they matter  particularly while they are young  to shape them for the rest of their lives. We must tell people of color their votes matter and encourage them to pursue leadership positions to more fairly and accurately represent the fabric of our society.

Gloria Gonzales-Dholakia, Ph.D., is the executive director for Jolt Action (jolttx.org) and a school board trustee for the Leander Independent School District. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of Gonazles-Dholakia and do not necessarily reflect the views of Leander ISD.
With Mondays passing of Colin Powell, America lost more than a barrier-breaking Army general and civil servant. We lost a wise, humble and steady leader and family man who helped the U.S. navigate tough national security issues from the Cold War era through the war on terror.

As the nations first African American national security adviser, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and secretary of state, Powell often inspired millions with his character and leadership style. From a calm, courageous demeanor and straight-forward approach to a deep-rooted care for subordinates and ability to acknowledge mistakes  and, yes, his invocation of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq was a glaring and costly error  Powell exemplified patriotism, humility and service.

The 84-year-old died of COVID-19 complications at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, in Bethesda, Md. He was fully vaccinated but had a compromised immune system following treatment for multiple myeloma, a type of blood cancer. He was also under care for early-stage Parkinsons disease.

The son of Jamaican immigrants, Powell grew up in the South Bronx, New York. He attended City College of New York and earned an Army commission via ROTC. During two tours in Vietnam, he earned a Purple Heart, Bronze Star and Soldiers Medal for heroism, among other decorations. He left Vietnam with a cautious approach to using military force that influenced his 35-year Army career and tenure as secretary of state.

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His approach eventually became known as the Powell Doctrine, which argued military force should be the last resort. It called for clear goals, public support and a commitment to using overwhelming force.

He quickly rose through the ranks and became the youngest one-star general in the Army in 1979 at age 42. From there, he influenced Americas national security issues for decades.

As national security adviser, he helped President Ronald Reagan negotiate arms treaties with the Soviet Union in the 1980s. As chairman of the Joint Chiefs, he oversaw the 1989 Panama invasion and 1991 Persian Gulf War as well as operations in Bosnia and Somalia.

After retiring from the Army in 1993, he was so widely popular that he briefly considered a presidential bid. In 1994, he joined a peacekeeping delegation to Haiti that helped end military rule and establish an elected government.

Powell became President George W. Bushs secretary of state in 2001 and was widely criticized for his February 2003 speech to the United Nations about Iraqs weapons of mass destruction. The flawed and discredited presentation, in part, helped lead to the March 2003 invasion of Iraq. Powell saw the speech as a blot on his career and took responsibility for it. How we respond to failure is also a measure of character.

Powell is a problem-solver. He was taught as a soldier to solve problems, he said in a 2007 New York Times interview, where he described himself in the third person. So, he has views, but hes not an ideologue. He has passion, but hes not a fanatic. Hes first and foremost a problem-solver.

One of his famous quotes summarizes his leadership approach: the day soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them.

This sentiment says so much, and its only one example of his wisdom that has served as a moral compass for generations of everyday people as well as military leaders, civil servants and corporate execs.

It is difficult to overstate the difference he made, said Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III, who called Powell one of his best friends and mentors. There will never be another Colin Powell. He made history. He made the country he loved a safer, better place.

Powell leaves behind his wife of nearly 60 years, Alma, and adult children Michael, Linda and Annemarie.

The world is more peaceful because of his life of steady service, and our hope is his legacy and example will live on.
Not one but two consultants are now tasked with helping Bexar County solve its jail problems following a spicy exchange Tuesday at Commissioners Court.

Taking action a week earlier than planned, county commissioners agreed to retain their own consultant to review the facility, which has been the source of lawsuits and runaway staffing costs. Commissioner Trish DeBerry said she moved the issue up a week after Sheriff Javier Salazar announced at a news conference last week that hed hired Belton-based Detain Inc. to offer recommendations for improving operations at the jail through a contract that will be paid with seized asset forfeiture funds.

To perform a separate study, commissioners voted to hire a Florida firm, American Correctional Consultants, at a cost not to exceed $19,500.

Even though Salazar had been in talks with commissioners about hiring a consultant everyone could agree on, he said DeBerry had weaponized the process by inviting a reporter to document her efforts to professionalize the jail  what he viewed as a step toward privatization of the facility. But DeBerry countered that Salazar had suddenly decided to hire his own consultant and thumb your nose at us.

On ExpressNews.com: Sheriff announces plans to hire jail consultant

On the surface, the commissioner and sheriff sniped at each others consulting proposals. DeBerry questioned why Detain Inc. didnt have an active website. The companys president, Billy Bryan, said, Im pretty well known in the state, among jail administrators.

Salazar said Detain, at a cost of about $50,000, would provide an in depth look at what were doing  far more than a 50,000-foot overview that DeBerry said the Florida firm would provide.

But signs of personalities at play, or politics, bubbled to the surface at times.

I get that you dont appreciate me in general, Salazar snapped at DeBerry, who responded, I never said that.

This was how we get to better solutions, DeBerry said. Were going to be facing a record high of $13 million in overtime.

Kin Man Hui /Staff photographer

That overtime figure, the total for fiscal year 2021, is one of the problems the two consultants will seek to address, although Bryan cautioned that jails across the country are facing problems with staffing and retention, partly as a result of the pandemic.

Despite the tension in the Double-Height Courtroom, Salazar said he would accommodate with Keith Neely, founder of American Correctional Consultants. Neely spoke to commissioners virtually from South Florida.

Ill cooperate with the gentleman from Florida. Ive got no reason not to, Salazar said.

Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff thanked the sheriff for his efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19 in the jail, and said, well work this out, regarding the dual consultants.

Im glad youre taking all the responsibility for it because it is your responsibility, Wolff said of the jail.

According to a county memo, the Florida firm will evaluate existing systems and conditions at the jail and identify areas for improvement, recommend strategies to enhance services and  take advantage of unseen opportunities. The county reviewed a shortlist of potential consultants from the county staff and received proposals from two of them before interviewing Neely.

American Correctional Consultants has 30 years of correctional experience and is familiar with Texas jail standards, the memo states.

Commissioners also approved Salazars requested payment of 22,100 hours of mandatory staff overtime for deputies at the jail during September at the cost of $896,747 in salaries and benefits and 60,143 hours projected for Oct. 8 to Dec. 31, at just over $2.4 million. The jail overtime in September leaves the total overtime cost for fiscal 21, which ended Sept. 30, at nearly $13.3 million.

The hours projected through Dec. 31 will be applied to the fiscal 2022 budget, which has $8 million allocated for jail overtime. The average hourly overtime cost is estimated at $33.31.

DeBerry has said she was alarmed by reports of an inmate incarcerated five months after his scheduled release. She wants a complete overhaul of jail management, an independent review and a reduction in staff overtime. She has said shed rather have one independent consultant but cant stop the sheriff from doing whatever he wants to do with asset forfeiture funds.

Salazar has stood firmly by his selection of Detain Inc. this week and said the detention center, currently near capacity with about 4,400 inmates, is my jail to run.

By statute, by law, its my jail. Its within my purview. And I dont want those decisions being made for me, the sheriff said.

Justice of the Peace

Commissioners also voted Tuesday to abolish Precinct 1, Place 2 Justice of the Peace court, which remains the only part-time court of its kind in the county. As caseloads in those courts have declined, the county has phased out the part-time precinct courts. Ciro Rodriguez, a former U.S. congressman who held the Place 2 bench on the South Side, recently resigned, after commissioners approved a proposal to reduce his salary to part-time and initiated an analysis to determine whether the court should be eliminated.

Commissioners also voted to accept Rodriguezs resignation. The county will accept applications for a part-time judge to serve out his term, set to run through Dec. 31, 2022.

New housing

Commissioners met as the Bexar County Housing Finance Corp. and approved resolutions to position four proposed affordable housing developments for a tax credit lottery, pending approval by the Texas Bond Review Board. If approved, the entity would issue revenue bonds in the amounts of $38 million for the Viento Apartments at Zarzamora Street and S.W. Loop 410; $50 million for the Connally Loop Apartments at 13107 S.W. Loop 410; $35 million for the Overlook Apartments at Overlook Parkway and U.S. 281; and $20.6 million for the Pavilion at Culebra Apartments, 4740 Culebra Road.

If approved, a public hearing would be scheduled for each development. But officials noted that theres only $600 million available for projects statewide, and $3 billion in requests are expected to have been submitted by a deadline on Wednesday.

Help for Probate Court No. 1

A proposal to allocate $323,516 for additional staffing for Bexar County Probate Court No. 1 Judge Oscar Kazen also was approved in response to increased caseloads attributed to a rise in deaths during the pandemic. An associate judge, staff attorney and paralegal will be added to the court, to mirror increased staffing requested last year by Probate Court No. 2 Judge Veronica Vasquez.

Vasquez told commissioners in June the deaths related to COVID-19, as well as other causes attributed by the Medical Examiners Office to health problems from people deferring medical care during the pandemic, had driven up caseload from small estate filings in the countys two probate courts. As a results, surviving spouses and family members were having to pay more in attorney fees and court costs as cases were delayed.

On ExpressNews.com: Probate court flooded with COVID-19 deaths, caseload

To date, more than 4,650 deaths in Bexar County have been attributed to the coronavirus.

We will dedicate ourselves to the public service that I know you demand and expect, Kazen told commissioners.

COVID-19 and Brighter Journeys

The Bexar County Child Welfare Board, which advocates on behalf of abused and neglected children, presented its annual report to commissioners. During 2020, more than $450,000 in federal COVID-19 relief funds were used to support families assisted through the welfare board, including just over $300,000 for coronavirus testing that benefited more than 8,700 families. Other support included $75,000 in bill payment assistance for 91 families, and $45,000 for food boxes and additional nutrition support for 1,500 families.

In all, the welfare board reports an overall investment of $582,892 for 2020.

shuddleston@express-news.net
Texas lawmakers late Monday approved an 11th-hour plan to provide property tax relief for roughly 5.7 million homeowners by asking voters to raise the states homestead exemption for school property taxes, capping the Legislatures third special session of the year.

Both chambers suspended a slew of rules shortly before midnight to push through state Sen. Paul Bettencourts proposed constitutional amendment, which he introduced a day before the deadline for the session to end. If approved by voters next May, the measure would allow property owners to shave $40,000 off the taxable value of their home, an increase of $15,000 from the current amount  which Bettencourt said would save homeowners about $176 a year.

An exemption is permanent relief, and really is the most powerful property tax relief that you can have, because its an immediate cut, said Bettencourt, R-Houston. Theres no definition of this thats not a cut, because that basically is $15,000 more in exemption than any homeowner would have in the previous year.

Lawmakers passed the proposal after scrapping earlier plans to buy down billions of dollars in school property taxes and use federal COVID-19 aid to send one-time checks to Texans who had claimed homestead exemptions on their property. The constitutional amendment emerged as a third option after a committee of House and Senate members was unable to settle their differences on the bill.

REELECTION STIMULUS PLAN SCRAPPED: Texas GOP tax relief proposal would have used billions in Biden COVID aid

Democrats and progressive policy advocates criticized the earlier property tax plans, which would have used about a fifth of Texas $16.3 billion allotment from the federal American Rescue Plan  the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package approved by Congress in March without the support of any Republican lawmakers.

One version had called for checks to go out to homeowners by Sept. 1, right before the fall elections next year. State Sen. Nathan Johnson, D-Dallas, said the payments amounted to re-election stimulus checks.

Some lawmakers said the initial plans would have left the state vulnerable to an audit from the Biden administration, which said states cannot use the funds to directly or indirectly offset reduced tax revenue from a law change. Texas Republicans had said the spending was justified by guidance allowing states to respond to the negative economic impacts of COVID-19, including assistance to households.

Progressive tax relief

To prevent school districts from losing revenue, the homestead exemption tweak  which would cost about $660 million in the first year, according to Bettencourt  would be funded by dipping into the states more than $4 billion surplus of general revenue funds, which mostly come from sales and consumption taxes.

Bettencourt acknowledged the measure would require the state to cover a higher share of public education funding than it does now  slightly shifting the burden away from school districts, who would not see their property tax revenue decrease under the plan.

The state can afford to cover the cost because it has steadily collected more tax revenue each year, a trend that will likely continue in the long run, Bettencourt said.

The plan drew overwhelming bipartisan support, passing both chambers of the Legislature unanimously. Democrats lauded the measure while noting they had proposed similar plans over the years, behind the idea a flat increase in the homestead exemption generally means more to middle-class homeowners than those with million-dollar homes.

Raising the homestead exemption is the most progressive way to provide long-term tax relief for property owners, state Sen. Jose Menendez, D-San Antonio, said Monday.

State Sen. Royce West, D-Dallas, noted that the unanimous Democratic support was a break from most other high-profile bills approved by the Legislature this year, many of which passed along party lines over bitter opposition from Democrats.

Do you know that this is probably the best bill thats come out of what is otherwise a bad legislative session? West asked Bettencourt on the Senate floor.

Some conservatives were critical of the measure, arguing it did not go far enough to address the states rising property tax bills. State Rep. Matt Schaefer, R-Tyler, said on Twitter that some would see their savings from the higher homestead exemption erased by rising appraisal values.

I will not be calling it property tax relief, Schaefer said. I will take it, but I wont make much of it when I explain it to folks back home.

Bettencourt said the measure would be bolstered by legislation passed during the previous special session also aimed at providing tax relief to homeowners. In August, lawmakers sent a bill to Gov. Greg Abbotts desk that would would extend the Legislatures 2019 cuts on school property tax rates to elderly and disabled homeowners, providing a rare decrease in their annual bills. That measure will take effect in January 2023 if voters approve a constitutional amendment authorizing the tax cuts next May.

The Legislature also recently passed a bill from Bettencourt that makes people immediately eligible for a homestead exemption after buying a house, instead of making them wait until January of the following year.

When you look at homesteads, this is about the best package of property tax relief that I can think of, Bettencourt said.

The homestead exemption plan also freed up $3 billion of the states $16.3 billion allotment from the American Rescue Plan.

TEXAS TAKE: Get political headlines from across the state sent directly to your inbox

Lawmakers agreed on a plan Monday evening to spend $13.3 billion of the relief, devoting more than half to replenishing the state fund used to pay out unemployment benefits, which had been drained by an explosion of claims during the pandemic. The remaining $3 billion would have funded the earlier plan to cut checks to property owners with homestead exemptions, but that initiative was scrapped in favor of Bettencourts proposal.

In a joint statement Tuesday, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and House Speaker Dade Phelan said the $3 billion will be held for future tax relief that the Legislature will study before the next legislative session.

The COVID-19 spending package also puts $2 billion toward hospital surge staffing, therapeutic drugs such as monoclonal antibody treatments, and the cost of operating regional infusion centers. And it taps $500 million for broadband infrastructure and $325 million to support a package of construction projects at universities around the state, financed by more than $3 billion in tuition revenue bonds.

jasper.scherer@chron.com
Fairfield, MT (59436)

Today

Generally cloudy. High near 50F. Winds WSW at 10 to 20 mph..

Tonight

Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low 26F. Winds W at 10 to 15 mph.
Here are the prime movers of the false Trump-Russia theory that roiled U.S. politics for years: Clinton lawyers Michael Sussmann, left, and Marc Elias. Some of Sussmann's role emerges in his recent indictment for lying to the FBI -- but more consequential acts are outlined below. And Elias's role in the Steele dossier was hidden through lies, "with sanctimony, for a year," as one journalist put it.

By Aaron Mate, RealClearInvestigations

October 19, 2021

The indictment of Hillary Clinton lawyer Michael Sussmann for allegedly lying to the FBI sheds new light on the pivotal role of Democratic operatives in the Russiagate affair. The emerging picture shows Sussmann and his Perkins Coie colleague Marc Elias, the chief counsel for Clinton's 2016 campaign, proceeding on parallel, coordinated tracks to solicit and spread disinformation tying Donald Trump to the Kremlin.

In a detailed charging document last month, Special Counsel John Durham accused Sussmann of concealing his work for the Clinton campaign while trying to sell the FBI on the false claim of a secret Trump backchannel to Russias Alfa Bank. But Sussmann's alleged false statement to the FBI in September 2016 wasn't all. Just months before, he helped generate an even more consequential Russia allegation that he also brought to the FBI. In April of that year, Sussmann hired CrowdStrike, the cybersecurity firm that publicly triggered the Russiagate saga by lodging the still unproven claim that Russia was behind the hack of Democratic National Committee emails released by WikiLeaks.

At the time, CrowdStrike was not the only Clinton campaign contractor focusing on Russia. Just days before Sussmann hired CrowdStrike in April, his partner Elias retained the opposition research firm Fusion GPS to dig up dirt on Trump and the Kremlin.

These two Clinton campaign contractors, working directly for two Clinton campaign attorneys, would go on to play highly consequential roles in the ensuing multi-year Russia investigation.

Working secretly for the Clinton campaign, Fusion GPS planted Trump-Russia conspiracy theories in the FBI and US media via its subcontractor, former British spy Christopher Steele. The FBI used the Fusion GPS's now debunked "Steele dossier" for investigative leads and multiple surveillance applications putatively targeting Trump campaign volunteer Carter Page.

CrowdStrike, reporting to Sussmann, also proved critical to the FBI's work. Rather than examine the DNC servers for itself, the FBI relied on CrowdStrike's forensics as mediated by Sussmann.

The FBI's odd relationship with the two Democratic Party contractors gave Sussmann and Elias unprecedented influence over a high-stakes national security scandal that upended U.S. politics and ensnared their political opponents. By hiring CrowdStrike and Fusion GPS, the Perkins Coie lawyers helped define the Trump-Russia narrative and impact the flow of information to the highest reaches of U.S. intelligence agencies.

The established Trump-Russia timeline and the public record, including overlooked sworn testimony, congressional and Justice Department reports, as well as news accounts from the principal recipients of government leaks in the affair, the Washington Post and the New York Times, help to fill in the picture.

'We Need to Tell the American Public'

In late April 2016, after being informed by Graham Wilson, a Perkins Coie colleague, that the DNC server had been breached, Michael Sussmann immediately turned to CrowdStrike. As Sussmann recalled in December 2017 testimony to the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, the cyber firm was hired based on his "recommendation."

Although it is widely believed that CrowdStrike worked for the DNC, the firm in fact was retained by Sussmann and his Clinton campaign law firm. As CrowdStrike CEO Shawn Henry told the House committee, his contract was not with the DNC, but instead "with Michael Sussmann from Perkins Coie."

And it was Sussmann who controlled what the FBI was allowed to see. After bringing CrowdStrike on board, Sussmann pushed aggressively to publicize the firm's conclusion that Russian government hackers had attacked the DNC server, according to a December 2016 account in the New York Times.

"Within a day, CrowdStrike confirmed that the intrusion had originated in Russia," the Times reported, citing Sussmann's recollection. Sussmann and DNC executives had their first formal meeting with senior FBI officials in June 2016, where they encouraged the bureau to publicly endorse CrowdStrike's findings:

Among the early requests at that meeting, according to participants: that the federal government make a quick "attribution" formally blaming actors with ties to Russian government for the attack to make clear that it was not routine hacking but foreign espionage. You have a presidential election underway here and you know that the Russians have hacked into the D.N.C., Mr. Sussmann said, recalling the message to the F.B.I. We need to tell the American public that. And soon.

But the FBI was not ready to point the finger at Russia. As the Senate Intelligence Committee later reported, "CrowdStrike still had not provided the FBI with forensic images nor an unredacted copy of their [CrowdStrikes] report."

Instead of waiting for the FBI, the DNC went public with the Russian hacking allegation on its own. On June 14, 2016, the Washington Post broke the news that CrowdStrike was accusing Russian hackers of infiltrating the DNC's computer network and stealing data. Sussmann and Henry were quoted as sources. According to the Times' account, the DNC approached the Post "on Mr. Sussmanns advice."

'We Just Dont Have the Evidence'

The Washington Post's June 2016 story, generated by Sussmann, was the opening public salvo in the Russiagate saga.

But it was not until nearly four years later that the public learned that CrowdStrike was not as confident about the Russian hacking allegation that it had publicly lodged. In December 2017 testimony that was declassified only in May 2020, Henry admitted that his firm was akin to a bank examiner who believes the vault has been robbed  but has no proof of how. CrowdStrike, Henry disclosed, "did not have concrete evidence" that alleged Russian hackers removed any data from the DNC servers.

"There's circumstantial evidence, but no evidence that they were actually exfiltrated," Henry told the House Intelligence Committee. "There are times when we can see data exfiltrated, and we can say conclusively. But in this case it appears it was set up to be exfiltrated, but we just dont have the evidence that says it actually left."

Read in retrospect, public statements from U.S. intelligence officials indicate that they knew of this crucial gap early on, and used qualified language to gloss it over.

A joint FBI-DHS report in December 2016  the first time the US government attempted to present evidence that Russia hacked the DNC  describes the alleged Russian hacking effort as "likely leading to the exfiltration of information" from Democratic Party networks. (Emphasis added.)

The report by Special Counsel Robert Mueller of April 2019, which found no Trump-Russia collusion, likewise stated that Russian intelligence "appears to have compressed and exfiltrated over 70 gigabytes of data" and "appear to have stolen thousands of emails and attachments" from Democratic Party servers. (Emphasis added.)

These qualifiers  "likely" and "appear"  signaled that U.S. intelligence officials lacked concrete evidence for their Russian hacking claims, a major evidentiary hole confirmed by Henry's buried testimony.

CrowdStrike's admission that it lacked evidence of exfiltration was not its first such embarrassment. Just months after it accused Russia of hacking the DNC in June 2016, CrowdStrike was forced to retract a similar accusation that Russia had hacked the Ukrainian military. The firm's debunked Ukrainian allegation was based on it claiming to have identified the same malware in Ukraine that it had found inside the DNC server.

Conflicting Accounts on DNC Server Access

The FBI relied on CrowdStrike's forensics of the DNC servers, but both sides have given conflicting accounts as to why. The FBI claims that the DNC denied it direct access to its computer network, while the DNC claims that the FBI never sought such access. Once again, Sussmann was in the middle of this, and his sworn testimony is at odds with other accounts.

In their December 2017 testimony to the House Intelligence Committee, both Sussmann and CrowdStrike's Henry claimed that the FBI did not try to conduct its own independent investigation of the DNC servers.

"I recall offering, or asking or offering to the FBI to come on premises, and they were not interested in coming on premises at the time," Sussmann said. Instead, he recalled, "we told them they could have access to everything that CrowdStrike was developing in the course of its investigation." Asked directly if the FBI sought access to the DNC servers, Sussmann replied: "No, they did not." He then added: "Excuse me, not to my knowledge."

Henry also told the committee that he was "not aware" of the FBI ever asking for access to the server or being denied it.

In 2017 congressional testimony, however, then-FBI Director James Comey recalled that the FBI made "multiple requests at different levels," to access the DNC servers, but was denied. Asked why FBI access was rejected, Comey replied: "I dont know for sure." According to Comey, the FBI would have preferred direct access to the server, but "ultimately it was agreed to [CrowdStrike] would share with us what they saw."

And while Sussmann testified that Perkins Coie offered the FBI "access to everything that CrowdStrike was developing," FBI officials and federal prosecutors tell a different story.

According to the Senate Intelligence Committee, CrowdStrike delivered a draft report to the FBI on Aug. 31, 2016 that an unidentified FBI official described as "heavily redacted." James Trainor, then-assistant director of the FBI's Cyber Division, told the committee that he was "frustrated" with the CrowdStrike report and "doubted its completeness" because "outside counsel"  i.e. Sussmann  "had reviewed it." According to Trainor, the DNC's cooperation was "moderate" overall and "slow and laborious in many respects." Trainor singled out the fact that Perkins Coie  and specifically, Sussmann  "scrubbed" the CrowdStrike information before it was delivered to the FBI, resulting in a "stripped-down version" that was "not optimal."

In court filings during the prosecution of Trump associate Roger Stone, the Justice Department revealed that Sussmann, as the DNC's attorney, submitted three CrowdStrike reports to the FBI in draft, redacted form. According to prosecutor Jessie Liu, the government "does not possess" CrowdStrike's unredacted reports. It instead relied on Sussmann's assurances "that the redacted material concerned steps taken to remediate the attack and to harden the DNC and DCCC systems against future attack," and that "no redacted information concerned the attribution of the attack to Russian actors."

In short, the FBI failed to conduct its own examination of the DNC server, and instead relied on CrowdStrike's forensics. It also allowed Sussmann  now indicted for lying as part of an effort to spread the Russiagate conspiracy theory  to decide what it could and could not see in CrowdStrike's reports on Russian hacking. The government also took Sussmann's word that the redacted information did not concern "the attribution of the attack to Russian actors."

CrowdStrike's reports on the DNC server breach have never been publicly released. RealClearInvestigations has sought to obtain them under the Freedom of Information Act, but that request remains pending.

One source, who was able to review some of the redacted CrowdStrike reports and requested anonymity because this person is not authorized to publicly discuss them, said that they were unconvincing. "My impression was that CrowdStrike was trying very, very hard to make a case that this was Russia," the source told RCI. "Their case, to me, was weak."

Although Special Counsel Durham has recently subpoenaed Perkins Coie for documents, there are no indications that CrowdStrike's work for the firm is a focus of his inquiry. A CrowdStrike spokesperson told RealClearInvestigations that the company has not heard from Durham's office.

In response to questions about CrowdStrike, an attorney for Sussmann told RealClearInvestigations: "Mr. Sussmann is not answering questions at this time."

Henry Struggles, Perkins Coie Intervenes

In addition to revealing a major evidentiary gap regarding alleged Russian hacking, Henry's December 2017 testimony revealed that Sussmann's law firm exerted significant influence over the flow of information in CrowdStrike's handling of it.

Joining Henry at the deposition was Sussmann's Perkins Coie partner, Graham Wilson, who represented the DNC, and David Lashway, who represented CrowdStrike.

Henry's acknowledgment that CrowdStrike did not have "concrete evidence" of exfiltration came only after he was interrupted and prodded by his attorneys to correct an initial answer. After claiming that he knew when Russian hackers exfiltrated data from the DNC, Henry offered a sharp correction: "Counsel just reminded me that, as it relates to the DNC, we have indicators that data was exfiltrated. We do not have concrete evidence that data was exfiltrated from the DNC, but we have indicators that it was exfiltrated."

In another exchange, Republican Rep. Chris Stewart of Utah pressed Henry to explain why the FBI relied on CrowdStrike. "I don't understand why the FBI wouldn't lead or at least have some role in investigating the evidence," Stewart said. "Could they [the FBI] conduct their own investigation in a thorough fashion without access to the actual hardware?"

Henry struggled to respond to Stewart's queries, before finally answering: "You're asking me to speculate. I don't know the answer."

At this point, Stewart noted that Henry had been actively consulting with his Perkins Coie attorney. "By the way, you need to pay him [Henry's attorney] well, because he's obviously serving you well today as you guys have your conversations back and forth together," Stewart quipped.

Shortly after that exchange, the attorney present for CrowdStrike, Lashway, stressed that Henry's testimony was subject to Perkins Coie's discretion. Henry was discussing "work that was performed at the behest of counsel, Perkins Coie, Mr. Sussmann's law firm," Lashway said. Accordingly, he added, "we would turn to Perkins Coie, as counsel to the DNC, to ensure that Mr. Henry can actually answer some of these questions."

An 'Extraordinary Coincidence'

The CrowdStrike-Perkins Coie contract, signed in early May 2016, ensured that Sussmann and his firm would oversee the cyber firm's work product, and subject it to the secrecy of attorney-client privilege.

The Perkins Coie-CrowdStrike contract is similar to the arrangement between the firm and another contractor pivotal to the Trump-Russia investigation, Fusion GPS. In their 2019 book, Fusion GPS founders Glenn Simpson and Peter Fritsch wrote that Sussmann's colleague Elias "wanted it that way for legal reasons: If Fusions communications were with a lawyer, they could be considered privileged and kept confidential."

After being hired in the same month of April, the two firms also lodged their respective Russia-related allegations within days of each other two months later in June. Just six days after CrowdStrike went public with the allegation that Russia had hacked the DNC on June 14, Christopher Steele produced the first report in what came to be known as the Steele dossier.

Over the ensuing months, the two firms and their Democratic clients actively spread their claims to the FBI and media. Steele and Fusion GPS, backed by their Perkins Coie client Elias, shared the fabricated dossier claims with eager FBI agents and credulous journalists, all while hiding that the Clinton campaign and DNC were footing the bill. "Folks involved in funding this lied about it, and with sanctimony, for a year," the New York Times' Maggie Haberman commented when Elias' secret payments to Fusion GPS were revealed in October 2017.

After going public with its Russian hacking allegation in June, CrowdStrike had contact with the FBI "over a hundred times in the course of many months," CEO Henry recalled. This included sharing with the FBI its redacted reports, and providing it with "a couple of actual digital images" of DNC hard drives, out of a total number of "in excess of 10, I think," Henry testified. When Wikileaks released stolen DNC emails on the eve of the Democratic convention in July, senior Clinton campaign officials doggedly promoted CrowdStrike's claim that Russia had hacked them.

In congressional testimony, Fusion GPS founder Glenn Simpson said that it was an "extraordinary coincidence that the Russian hacking allegation (by fellow Clinton/Perkins Coie contractor CrowdStrike) overlapped with his firm's Trump-Russia collusion hunt (while working for Clinton/Perkins Coie).

Coincidence is one possibility. Another is that the roles of Sussman and Elias behind CrowdStrike and Fusion GPS's highly consequential claims about Russia and the 2016 election could be pillars of the same deception.

Whatever additional scrutiny they may face, it will no longer be as partners at Perkins Coie. Elias, who was also the Democrats' leading election law attorney opposing Trump challenges to the 2020 vote, resigned in August to launch a new firm, taking 13 colleagues with him. Upon his indictment by Durham three weeks later, Sussmann stepped down as well to focus, he said, on his legal defense.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other top California political figures are notably silent on a big cultural issue roiling Hispanics, Native Americans, and the Catholic Church, even last week when it was commanding the media spotlight in the state.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, President Bidens stalled choice for ambassador to India, announced the renaming of Father Serra Park, located across the street from Union Station in the heart of the city. Garcetti timed the event to what is now officially known in the city as Indigenous Peoples Day, but still Columbus Day to the federal government.

The move followed California Gov. Gavin Newsoms decision to sign a bill permanently removing St. Junipero Serras statue from Capitol Park in Sacramento where it has stood since the 1960s. The eight-foot bronze figure and several others like it were defaced and toppled last summer during the nationwide protests denouncing racial injustice. Under the new law, a monument commemorating Californias native peoples will replace it.

Two of Californias Catholic archbishops, Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco and Jose Gomez of Los Angeles ardently opposed the bill and refuted its characterization that enslavement of both adults and children, mutilation, genocide and assault on women were all part of the mission period initiated and overseen by Father Serra.

While there is much to criticize from this period, no serious historian has ever made such outrageous claims about Serra or the mission system, the two prelates wrote in a Sept. 12 Wall Street Journal op-ed.

RealClearPolitics reached out to Pelosis office several times over the past week seeking her opinion about the Serra controversy. Her office didnt respond, and neither did press secretaries for Vice President (and former California senator) Kamala Harris, as well as Democratic Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Alexa Padilla.

It was tough timing for Pelosi, a self-described devout Roman Catholic. On Oct. 9, two days before Garcettis announcement, she met with Pope Francis at the Vatican. (President Biden, who is also a practicing Catholic, plans a Vatican visit and a meeting with the pope later this month.) After the visit, Pelosi and Francis touted their shared vision for combating climate change. There was no public mention of their divergent opinions on abortion  or her views on the Serra controversy.

Pelosis silence shows just how thoroughly the dogma of post-colonialism has taken root in the Democratic Party, as well as the secular public sphere. In 2015, both Pelosi and Biden were front and center for the ceremony in which the pope celebrated the canonization of Serra inside the U.S. Capitol. Pelosi is also mum on whether she believes the Serra statue representing California (along with another depicting Ronald Reagan) in the U.S. Capitols Statuary Hall should remain. Pelosis party wont allow the ambivalence forever.

Californias Banished Founding Father

Although most Americans may not be familiar with Junipero Serra, in California his name and legacy are enshrined in the states history just as the Spanish-style missions he founded still influence the states iconic orange and red-tiled stucco architecture. Long venerated as a state founding father, the Franciscan priest is the architect of Californias 21 Spanish missions, nine of which were built during his lifetime. The missions, which still dot the California landscape from Sonoma to San Diego, were devoted to converting Native Americans to Catholicism. They were also the first European outposts established between 1769 and 1833 in what is now the state of California but back then was known as Alta California or New Spain.

The Spanish colonization across Central and South America brought devastating disease and was undeniably brutal, with conquistadors wiping out the Aztec and Mayan cultures. When it came to settling California, the Spanish military worked alongside the church. While nothing like the slaughters that took place to the South, the Spanish soldiers in California were still known for their cruelty, and the two institutions  the church and the military  were often at odds with one another. Whether Serra embodies that colonialism or served as an imperfect type of buffer for its harsher elements is a matter of fierce debate.

Serra, as the man behind the missions, was responsible for baptizing thousands of Native Americans. Historians in recent years have discovered that many, if not all, of the missions Serra founded recruited indigenous people, then forced them to convert and remain there, subject to corporal punishment if they tried to flee or engaged in behavior the missions had outlawed. In exchange, the missions offered food and stability along with a pious, regimented life and what Catholics and other Christians value most: eternal salvation.

Through the lens of secular modernity, Serras role has shifted from historical hero to cultural villain. But the truth is somewhere in-between  and dependent on the personal values of each interpreter. The popes decision to canonize Serra in 2015 still divides liberals and historians as well as Native Americans, roughly a quarter of whom are Catholic, according to Crux Now, an online newspaper focusing on news related to the Catholic Church.

For the better part of a century, elementary school children in California were taught to revere Serra. Building a model mission  usually out of clay and cardboard  was often an obligatory fourth-grade project. School lessons devoted to him were usually one-dimensional: Serra was a devoted and pious figurehead beloved by all, the man responsible for the gift of modern California, as one essayist put it. Over the last several years, as more negative information surfaced, many Native Americans have denounced those teachings.

Serra did not just bring us Christianity, Deborah Miranda, a Native American and professor of literature at Washington & Lee, told the New York Times in 2015. He imposed it, giving us no choice in the matter. He did incalculable damage to a whole culture.

But such absolutist portrayals are one-dimensional and strip Father Serra not only of his humanity, but also his historical context, counters Franciscan priest Joseph Chinnici, the president emeritus of the Franciscan School of Theology at the University of San Diego, a Catholic institution. Serra was not simply a colonizer or promoter of Spanish-ization, he told RCP. He stood as a mediator between different cultures  the Native American culture and the Spanish culture.

Instead of trying to launch a genocide against the native Californians, Serra was focused on what the church considers the opposite: protecting them from the vicissitudes of the Spanish military and the evils of the world. Chinnici believes Serra himself would have no problem with public officials replacing his statues with those celebrating Native Americans.

He was too much of a student of history and too reliant on the providence of God not to try to discover Gods presence even in the present actions  and argue for a path forward, he said.

For some tribal leaders who are Catholic, Serras sins  forced conversions, indentured servitude and corporal punishment inflicted on natives  cannot be rationalized away even though they still value the Catholic heritage Serra provided.

Jesus Tarango, chairman of the Rancheria Tribe in Elk Grove, Calif., who is Catholic, agrees with Gov. Newsoms decision to sign the bill permanently removing the Serra statue from Capitol Park. He penned an op-ed outlining his views for the Sacramento Bee last month.

I'm a Catholic man, but my views are simple, Tarango told RCP. There's no Catholic person around today who I know who would suggest that we would accept his behavior and what he did here today in our day. Still, Tarango said, he doesnt condemn Catholicism or even Serra himself for actions of more than 200 years ago. He simply doesnt believe the state should publicly celebrate him.

Other Native Americans active in the Catholic Church tell a different, more complicated story.

Deacon Andrew Orosco is a Kumeyaay tribal member from the San Pasqual Band of Mission Indians in North County San Diego. That band of Kumeyaay readily embraced Catholicism during Serras time, unlike their neighbors to the South who fought it. Orosco, whose grandfather was baptized into the Catholic faith in mission San Diego, opposes the removal of the Serra statues and argues that the vitriol aimed at him would be better directed at Peter Burnett, Californias first governor before it became a state.

[Burnett] is the one that caused a lot of death and destruction within the native tribes of California  and his likeness is still in the state Capitol, Orosco told RCP.  In the state history, these things did happen [to natives], but if you pin them down in a timeline, most of it took place during the 1850s. I think Junipero Serra gets the blame because he was the first one who brought Western civilization to California, but thats just turning a blind eye to those who are truly responsible.

The controversy over Serras treatment of Native Americans isnt manufactured, however. There are documented examples of Serra directing the Spanish military to round up and punish deserters with whippings and ordering Spanish military commanders to use shackles on them. The late author Elias Castillo chronicled what he cast as a mission system of indentured servitude and corporal punishment, A Cross of Thorns: The Enslavement of Californias Indians by the Spanish Missions, published in 2015.

Serras Complexities

But even Castillo acknowledges that one of Serras likely motivations for keeping natives inside the missions, in addition to shielding them away from sinful elements of society, was to protect them from the Spanish military, which ran the nearby towns. Spanish soldiers were known for raping women and even children, and spreading the deadly diseases they carried. Serra repeatedly clashed with military leaders, especially Felipe Neve, a Spanish solider turned governor who prevented him from establishing any new missions for five years.

While Serra treated mission deserters harshly, he also demonstrated mercy in the wake of assaults by natives on him and fellow priests. When natives attacked and burned the San Diego mission in 1775, they tortured and executed Serras friend, a fellow missionary priest, Father Luis Jayme. Nevertheless, Serra pleaded with colonial authorities to show the attackers mercy. Let the murderer live so he can be saved, which is the purpose of us coming here and the reason for forgiving him, Serra wrote in a letter to the viceroy of New Spain.

Other historians have noted that Serra allowed the natives to preserve some cultural elements of their pre-mission lives and defended their property rights when disputes with settlers arose. Once at the missions, native peoples continued traditional songs and dances and most dressed the same way they did before they entered the Catholic communities, according to Steven Hackel, a professor of history at the University of California, Riverside. Hackel is the author of Junipero Serra: Californias Founding Father.

In November 1777, when Californias first civilian settlement was founded in San Jose, disputes arose immediately over the takeover of native land. The laws state distinctly that all of that territory, and the water right too, are the property of the Indians living in this mission, Serra wrote to another priest in 1778.

With the flood of white settlers came diseases that decimated natives. Castillo cites mission records for some years during Serras rule showing more deaths than births.

That pattern accelerated over the course of the 75 years following Serras death in 1784. By the end of the Gold Rush, 80% of the native population in California had perished. The Spanish soldiers and ranchers took over Native American land, and Peter Burnett, who became Californias governor 67 years after Serras death, was directly responsible for launching a deliberate genocide against the indigenous people.

Extermination Strategy

Burnett, who also tried to keep blacks and Chinese out of the state, called for the extermination of the Native American race. The legislature responded by paying to raise militias and fund bounties for killing native people. Between 9,000 and 16,000 natives were murdered in cold blood by white settlers.

Even though his ignominious history has forever tainted Burnetts legacy (so much so that most Californians dont know who he is), his portrait still hangs on the first floor of the state Capitol. In his first months as governor, Newsom denounced Burnetts racist war of extermination but did not remove it. Garcetti, during last weeks renaming of the park, was careful to spread the blame even as the event focused on erasing Serras name.

Were sorry for all the things that were done as a Spanish city, a Mexic[an] city, an American city to erase the peoples whose land this is and always will be, Garcetti told several tribal leaders gathered alongside him for the announcement in the same park where critics of Serra toppled his statue last year.

Church leaders also have tried to grapple with Serras mixed legacy while still honoring him for his role in spreading the Gospel in the New World. In a speech at Catholic University in Washington, D.C., where Serra was canonized, Chinnici pointed out that Serra died 15 years before the Spanish colonial system responsible for so many natives deaths really took hold in California. Even so, Chinnici added, Serra participated in the mechanism of colonization while at the same time fighting with the public authorities for the protection of native rights, the amelioration of their sufferings, the softening of their punishments, the forgiveness of their violence and the preservation of their land.

In post-colonialist academia and broader secular society, few scholars value Serras complexities, and, for a very basic reason: They place no premium whatsoever on saving souls. That is not Pope Francis worldview, however. In his first major apostolic letter, Evangelii Gaudium, Francis repeatedly extols the virtues and even comforting joy he has found in proclaiming the Gospel.

When this endeavor is discounted by secularists, Serras mission work is inevitably boiled down to his role as a colonizer who helped wipe out another culture  even if his lifes work of saving souls was often at odds with the Spanish crowns bigger goals of profiting off the land and transforming the natives into subjects.

Theres no doubt that Serra belonged to a system that was oriented to colonization and Spanish-ization [of California], Chinnici said. But he was coming from a place from within that system  from the space of his religious convictions  his commitment to the Gospel and his desire to spread the good news that included the formation of a community of people.

Before canonizing Serra, Pope Francis made a point of acknowledging the churches failings, especially with its missionary efforts. During a visit to Bolivia, he said, Many grave sins were committed against the native peoples of America in the name of God. In a speech before 1,500 delegates, he asked forgiveness not only for the offenses of the Church herself, but also for crimes committed against the native peoples during the so-called conquest of America. Francis pointedly noted, however, that many missionary priests had helped protect native peoples from violence at the hand of the Spanish military.

While critics, even fans of Francis  the first pope from Latin America  question his decision to honor Serras work, others say he has many practical, as well as theological, reasons to do so.

At a time when the Catholic church is becoming more and more Hispanic and Latino, theyre trying to say, you know, Catholicism in America needs to be understood as always having had this kind of Hispanic element to it, Robert Senkewicz, a professor of history at Santa Clara University, a Jesuit college and the oldest institution of higher learning in California, told the Atlantic in 2015. Its campus surrounds Mission Santa Clara de Asis, the first one named for a woman (Saint Claire of Assisi), which Serra founded.

Over the last year, the university itself has struggled to confront its origins and put Serras role in the larger historical context. The Serra statue has been placed in storage until a more comprehensive history that appropriately acknowledges Serras legacy at Santa Clara can be devised, according to a university web page devoted to the controversy.

Pelosis Choice

After visiting with Pope Francis, Nancy Pelosi issued a statement linking the pontiff to the Bay Area district she represents. In San Francisco, we take special pride in Pope Francis, who shares the namesake of our city and whose song of St. Francis is our anthem, Lord, make me a channel of thy peace. Where there is darkness, may we bring light. Where there is hatred, may we bring love. Where there is despair, may we bring hope.

Pelosi failed to mention that the city of San Francisco and the anthem are both derived from the eponymous mission that Serra, a member of the Franciscan order, built there. In fact, many of Californias major cities are named after either the first nine missions Serra established or the 12 others built after his death, including San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, Santa Cruz, San Luis Obispo, and Santa Barbara.

Its a fact and part of Californias rich but deeply flawed history that could have stirred up controversy for Pelosi, so she avoided it. But trying to sidestep the issue or worse  erase Serra from the California landscape  is not only impossible but a mistake that discounts its citizens ability to both recognize and correct the injustices Native Americans suffered but also to understand and appreciate the complex heritage they share, blemishes and all.
Farming charity RABI has extended its level of support to the pig industry as the current crisis has left some farmers facing 'enormous emotional impacts'.

The labour shortage crisis facing the sector remains critical despite the government's support package announced last week.

The National Pig Association (NPA) estimates that between 120,000 and 150,000 pigs are currently backed up on farms, leading to welfare culls.

The trade body said around 6,600 healthy pigs that had been culled and disposed of so far due to a lack of butchers in abattoirs and processing plants.

The government said it would allow 800 overseas pork butchers into the UK on temporary visas to help stem the industry's chronic labour shortage.

Responding to the current crisis, the Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution (RABI) has announced the immediate availability of additional support to those affected.

Supplementing its existing package of practical and financial support, the charity has introduced access to in-person professional counselling support.

It comes as its Big Farming Survey confirmed that high levels of poor mental health exist across the UK agricultural industry.

The survey also evidenced that depression rates are particularly high in the pig sector, with 47% likely to be probably or possibly depressed.

RABI corporate partnership manager, Suzy Deeley said: The worsening situation and potential of on-farm culls has led to this in-person support being made available immediately.

"Developing bespoke, in-person counselling support to supplement existing services already available in some areas of the county, and ensuring this is available on-demand consistently across England and Wales, has been a focus for the charity.

"All those working in the pig sector can access this, along with any of our services, on our confidential 24-hour helpline, 0800 188 4444.

The NPA welcomed RABIs response. It said the current crisis was the sector's worst 'in over twenty years', putting 'incredible emotional strain on farmers'.

Dr Zoe Davies, NPA chief executive said: "The additional support from RABI has come at a time when our industry really needs it.

"It is so important that we look after ourselves and others so we would encourage anyone feeling overwhelmed to reach out for the support available."

RABIs online platform can be accessed anonymously, and the charity also provides remote counselling through an online chat function.
Firefighters used farm machinery to rescue four cows that were trapped in a slurry pit on a farm in Cumbria.

The dramatic incident happened on a farm in Biglands, Cumbria on Saturday (16 October).

Firefighters were called to the farm early in the morning to rescue the animals.

It took crews from Carlisle East and West station several hours to rescue the cows. All four survived.

Firefighters took to social media to share images of the successful rescue operation.

Crews utilised farm machinery to remove the slurry from the pit, and all 4 cows were successfully brought to safety by specially trained animal rescue technicians, using animal rescue strops and a farm tele-handler. pic.twitter.com/UFz8koK2Vh  Carlisle East Fire Station (@CarlisleEast) October 16, 2021

A spokesman for Carlisle East said: "At about 5.25am, appliances from Carlisle East, Carlisle West, and Wigton, were mobilised to reports of cows stuck in a slurry pit.

"In attendance, crews discovered that four cows had fallen about two metres through the entrance to a slurry pit, and were stuck below ground.

"Crews utilised farm machinery to remove the slurry from the pit, and all four cows were successfully brought to safety by specially trained animal rescue technicians, using animal rescue straps and a farm tele-handler."
A man has been jailed after 170 animals were found living in poor conditions on a Surrey farm in one of the UK's biggest ever animal rescue operations.

The Surrey man was sentenced at Guildford Crown Court on 15 October to 19 weeks in prison and disqualified from keeping animals for life.

The court heard how he failed to meet the needs of 171 animals including 131 horses, 33 dogs, two alpacas and five birds.

Surrey Police executed a warrant at the Ripley farm in January 2019 as part of an investigation led into concerns for the welfare of horses at the site.

Rescuers who arrived at the scene discovered two starving ponies, suffering from cyathostominosis, a disease caused by parasites, and a collapsed goat.

In court, the owner admitted to failing to provide them with enough nutritious food or seek vet treatment for them.

All three animals were put to sleep at the scene on the advice of vets to prevent them from further suffering.

Herds of ponies, many riddled with worms, were living out in fields with hazardous metal and broken fencing sticking up from the thick mud.

Inside two barns were pens full with donkeys, goats, alpacas and ponies; many of them standing on top of 2ft-3ft of months worth of waste and faeces. Many were skinny and had underlying health conditions.

Dozens of dogs - some heavily pregnant and others with puppies in tow - were found chained and tethered on the filthy yard, while others were shut inside tiny cramped cages or makeshift kennels.

The RSPCA's Special Operations Unit (SOU) said the rescue mission was a huge multi-agency attempt which was the culmination of weeks of planning and evidence gathering.

SOU case officer Kirsty Withnall said: "In total, there were 100 staff from different agencies working on the case to help round up the animals.

"It took almost 12 hours on the day to assess all of the animals, load them into horse boxes and animal ambulances, and move them off-site; making it one of the biggest coordinated rescue missions the UK has ever seen."

PC Hollie Iribar from Surrey Police added that it was one of the most difficult cases she had ever seen.

"I'm glad that this heartbreaking case has seen a resolution in the courts, and that the animals involved were rescued and given a second chance at a happy and healthy life."
The UKs first natural capital market has been launched for farmers and landowners to trade carbon and biodiversity assets.

Trinity Natural Capital Markets (Trinity NCM) is a new platform for land managers to monetise their efforts at reducing carbon and boosting biodiversity.

Natural capital covers all aspects of nature such as woodland, hedges, ditches, meadows, as well as bird cover, soil, air and water resources.

The platform was launched by Trinity AgTech during last week's Countryside COP, which saw a series of virtual events covering key climate issues facing the farming and rural sector.

Trinity NCMs senior natural capital manager, Louisa Knocker, said it was time farmers and land managers were 'properly rewarded' for the natural capital in their care.

Farmers can determine their baseline and credibly measure services such as carbon reductions and biodiversity improvements to add value beyond the end product," she explained.

"Credits are then generated when increasing carbon sequestration or enhancing biodiversity that can be sold through the marketplace.

As society increasingly values and recognises natural capital, she added: With the removal of the BPS, Trinity NCM will help farmers get ahead of the curve on the ELM Scheme and boost returns from the work they undertake.

Farmers wishing to participate in the marketplace should determine their carbon footprint baseline and develop a natural capital plan which will generate carbon credits and biodiversity tokens, the firm said.

Then, through the platform, land managers and farmers have three options in which to sell their natural capital stock.

These include on the marketplace setting their own criteria and a minimum price for bidders, rather like traditional selling online.

Farmers could also sell to corporate investors who may well have already set their purchase price and criteria.

Finally, those using the platform could use the credits to sell or barter with businesses where a relationship already exists, such as to processors, retailers, or other farmers.

Juan Palomares, Trinity managing director, said the "time is right to facilitate an open and transparent marketplace".

"Farmers and land managers can derive real rewards by collecting and trading carbon credits for the CO2 they remove or emissions they reduce," he added.

"And buyers are able to access a diverse range of credible and high-quality carbon credits to invest in and offset their own residual emissions.
An organic vegetable farmer from Shropshire has made efficiency savings of more than 25% while almost doubling the land he manages for potatoes thanks to a new app.

Nick Taylor, who farms at Home Farm, has been instrumental in developing Crop4Sight, and is now using the platform to realise massive efficiencies in his business.

He is growing 40 hectares of salad potatoes and 130ha of main crop potatoes this year which represents a significant step up in crop size compared to previous years.

But by adopting the app into the day-to-day running of the business, he has reduced the management time invested in producing the crops by more than a quarter, without compromising on the quality demanded by contracts with retailers.

Crop4Sight utilises thousands of data points to accurately predict the size fractions of potato crops from first emergence, enabling growers to better plan crop inputs, labour, burndown, irrigation, and storage.

It also enables farmers to benchmark their crops against other UK growers of the same variety and manage customer expectations around size fractions, quality, and contract fulfilment.

Mr Taylor said the app had given him far greater transparency over his potatoes, enabling him to focus attention where it is most needed.

It also significantly reduced the number of yield digs that need to be carried out, which has brought welcome efficiencies to the growing process.

Mr Taylor said: The app is capable of taking account of the different variables at play and providing a detailed picture of the crop at all points of development.

Before using it, in the most intensive part of the growing cycle we would carry out yield digs of five samples once a week to assess growth curve and size distribution.

Now, we only need to do this once or twice between planting the crop and burndown as all the information is provided by the app.

If the variables change, the app takes account of that, enabling us to take the necessary steps earlier to manage the bell curve of growth to achieve the maximum saleable yield.

Mr Taylor added that the app was playing a significant role in grower/customer relations. "For customers, the graphical representations of the crops development are very useful, he said.

The app enables us to provide critical information to customers on the progress and quality of the crop we are growing for them. This in turn makes them more confident in what we are doing.

That can be the difference between having a contract for next year and year after and the customer deciding to put their contract elsewhere.

Paul Coleman, managing director of Crop4Sight, said that Mr Taylor's ?experience with the app was mirrored by many growers who had adopted the technology.

He said digital technology was starting to revolutionise agriculture and bring new efficiencies to businesses that had not been previously possible.

With Crop4Sight, we wanted to create a powerful tool that used data and modelling to provide highly accurate crop forecasting to help agronomists and professional potato growers become more efficient," he explained.

The app provides total transparency across a crop to the grower, the agronomist and, critically, the client, meaning the best management decisions can be made and the best saleable yield achieved.

Not only does this help streamline the growers business by optimising inputs, labour and storage, it enables them to better meet customer requirements to build robust, long-term relationships."
The majority of students studying agriculture at Aberystwyth University are women for the first time in the institution's history.

Academics at the university have hailed the development as an important milestone in what is seen as a traditionally male-dominated industry.

However, the proportion of female farmers is increasing, with the university confirming that a record number of women have started agriculture courses there.

One is 22-year-old Bethany Harper, from Wiltshire, who is in her second year studying for a degree in agriculture.

She said it was 'fantastic' that so many women were now studying and working in agriculture.

"Not only can us women do a mans job; we can also promote and inspire the next generation of young farmers," she added.

Im not from a farming background, but I did grow up around both horses and dogs.

"I studied agriculture during my GCSEs and I absolutely loved it. I had the bug then, so I carried on studying it at college."

Bethany then spent two years working full time on a mixture of farms in the UK, the US and New Zealand.

"It was a fabulous experience and gave me an opportunity to see so many different things," she said.

Anais Bunyan, 20-years-old from Luton, is in her second year studying agriculture, and she said it was "great see more women stepping forward in this traditionally male dominated industry".

Farming is not in my family, but Ive always grown up with a love for animals; my parents always told me the importance of respecting animals and the world around us.

"Although it was an industry I knew nothing about and had no experience in, the more work I did, and the more responsibility I was given, the more I felt fulfilled by my work.

Seeing so many other women on my course, and women holding lectures and classes, is so empowering and definitely feels like a step in the right direction for the agricultural industry.

Dr Pip Nicholas-Davies, current head of the Agriculture teaching group at Aberystwyth University, said the news was an 'important milestone' for the university.

"Its fantastic to see so many more young women studying agriculture who have a real enthusiasm for food, farming and the environment."

It comes as the Scottish government launched a programme last month seeking to make agriculture a more inclusive industry for women.

The Be Your Best Self programme encourages more women take on senior roles in farming organisations.

The scheme, which is accessible to everyone, also aims to ensure farm succession is not determined by gender.
Parsons, KS (67357)

Today

A mix of clouds and sun early followed by cloudy skies this afternoon. High 56F. Winds S at 15 to 25 mph. Higher wind gusts possible..

Tonight

Cloudy early with some clearing expected late. Low 39F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph.
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LAS VEGAS, NV / ACCESSWIRE / October 18, 2021 / Planet 13 Holdings Inc. (CSE:PLTH)(OTCQX:PLNHF) ("Planet 13" or the "Company"), a leading vertically-integrated Nevada cannabis company, announces adjustment of vesting schedule to previously issued restricted stock units ("RSUs").

Due to the blackout period for Company insider stock transactions arising after the September 30 quarter end and continuing until the disclosure of applicable financial results, and the requirement to sell a portion of the vested RSUs to remit federal tax obligations shortly following the RSU award vesting dates, the Company has approved the following vesting schedule adjustments to previously awarded RSUs:

For the RSU award announced on April 19, 2021, RSUs issued to Company insiders in the amount of 3,763,594 and with a previous vesting schedule of three equal tranches vesting on November 1, 2021, November 1, 2022, and November 1, 2023 have been adjusted to vest over three equal tranches on December 1, 2021, 2022, and 2023, or, one month later than originally scheduled.

For the RSU recipients impacted by the above one month deferral of each vesting date under the April 19, 2021 RSU award, the Company has approved a one month acceleration of the originally scheduled one-third final vesting tranche of the RSU award originally announced on July 2, 2019, being 835,484 unvested RSUs remaining which were originally scheduled to vest on January 1, 2022 that are now scheduled to vest on December 1, 2021.

For more information on Planet 13, visit the investor website.

About Planet 13

Planet 13 (www.planet13holdings.com) is a vertically integrated cannabis company, with award-winning cultivation, production and dispensary operations in Las Vegas, dispensary operations in Orange County, California, and a Florida MMTC license. Planet 13's mission is to build a recognizable global brand known for world-class dispensary operations and a creator of innovative cannabis products. Planet 13's shares trade on the Canadian Stock Exchange (CSE) under the symbol PLTH and OTCQX under the symbol PLNHF.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" (collectively, "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements and are based on expectations, estimates and projections as at the date of this news release. Any statement that involves discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions, future events or performance (often but not always using phrases such as "expects", or "does not expect", "is expected", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", "plans", "budget", "scheduled", "forecasts", "estimates", "believes" or "intends" or variations of such words and phrases or stating that certain actions, events or results "may" or "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken to occur or be achieved) are not statements of historical fact and may be forward-looking statements. In this news release, forward looking-statements relate to the future amended vesting dates described above.

These forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions and estimates of management of the Company at the time such statements were made. Actual future results may differ materially as forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to materially differ from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors, among other things, include: risks associated with COVID-19 and other infectious diseases presenting as major health issues; fluctuations in general macroeconomic conditions; fluctuations in securities markets; expectations regarding the size of the Nevada and California cannabis market and changing consumer habits; the ability of the Company to successfully achieve its business objectives; plans for expansion; political and social uncertainties; inability to obtain adequate insurance to cover risks and hazards; and the presence of laws and regulations that may impose restrictions on cultivation, production, distribution and sale of cannabis and cannabis related products in the State of Nevada; and employee relations. Although the forward-looking statements contained in this news release are based upon what management of the Company believes, or believed at the time, to be reasonable assumptions, the Company cannot assure shareholders that actual results will be consistent with such forward-looking statements, as there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. Readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements and information contained in this news release. The Company assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements of beliefs, opinions, projections, or other factors, should they change, except as required by law.

The Company is indirectly involved in the manufacture, possession, use, sale and distribution of cannabis in the recreational and medicinal cannabis marketplace in the United States through licensed subsidiary entities in states that have legalized marijuana operations, however, these activities are currently illegal under United States federal law. Additional information regarding this and other risks and uncertainties relating to the Company's business, including COVID-19, are contained under the heading "Risk Factors" and elsewhere in the Company's annual information form dated April 5, 2021 filed on its issuer profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

No stock exchange, securities commission or other regulatory authority has approved or disapproved the information contained herein.

For further inquiries, please contact:

LodeRock Advisors Inc., Planet 13 Investor Relations

mark.kuindersma@loderockadvisors.com

(416) 519-2156 ext. 2230

Robert Groesbeck or Larry Scheffler

Co-Chief Executive Officers

ir@planet13lasvegas.com

SOURCE: Planet 13 Holdings

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/668642/Planet-13-Announces-One-Month-Adjustment-to-Vesting-Schedules-of-Restricted-Stock-Units
Trigo, an Israel-based computer vision company disrupting retail with frictionless checkout technology, has partnered with one of the world's largest grocery chains Tesco PLC to open its first fully autonomous checkout-free grocery store in one of London's busiest commercial centers.

Located in High Holborn in central London, the Tesco Express store is 225 sq m, and outfitted with cameras on the ceilings, will allow customers to walk in, pick their desired items, and walk out without stopping at the checkout. Payments and receipts are settled digitally. This will be the first time anyone other than Amazon is rolling out frictionless checkout grocery stores in the world, and comes as the US giant pursues its grocery strategy globally, which also includes Just Walk Out technology.

Trigo transforms existing supermarkets and groceries into fully autonomous, digital stores. Trigo's GDPR-compliant AI solution is built with a privacy-by-design architecture which anonymizes a shopper's movement and product choice data. No biometric or facial recognition data are gathered or analyzed.

The move builds on Trigo's ongoing work with German supermarket giants REWE Group and Aldi Nord, as well as Israel's largest supermarket chain Shufersal.

Michael Gabay, Trigo co-founder and CEO said: "Trigo is immensely proud and honored to be rolling out its frictionless grocery shopping technology with Tesco, one of the world's biggest and most innovative grocery retailers. We look forward to transforming other Tesco stores across the UK."

Guus Dekkers, Chief Technology Officer at Tesco said: "We're excited to bring this new technology to customers in London. This new proposition will save customers time, removing any friction from the checkout and offering even more convenience for shoppers. Working in partnership with Trigo, we have combined the range, quality and value of Tesco products with the latest in-store innovation and we can't wait to see how customers respond."

About Trigo

Trigo is a computer vision startup reshaping the retail experience. Leveraging world class AI and algorithmics experts, the company's advanced retail automation platform identifies customers' shopping items with exceptional levels of accuracy, creating an entirely seamless checkout process. Trigo works closely with retailers to convert their existing stores while maintaining their unique character and layout and leveraging their physical grocery scale to roll out next-generation offerings securely. Powered by its proprietary 3D engine, Trigo offers grocery retailers a range of additional solutions called StoreOS, including predictive inventory management, pricing optimization, security and fraud prevention, planogram compliance, and event-driven marketing. This layer quickly enables actionable insight that boosts the chain's efficiency. Please visit Trigo for more information.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211018005203/en/

Contacts:

Trigo PR:

Amir Mizroch

amir@orangegrovecomms.com
DGAP-Ad-hoc: Dexus Finance Pty Limited / Key word(s): Real Estate/Quarter Results

Dexus Finance Pty Limited: September 2021 quarter update - Platform expansion in line with strategy



19-Oct-2021 / 01:28 CET/CEST

Disclosure of an inside information acc. to Article 17 MAR of the Regulation (EU) No 596/2014, transmitted by DGAP - a service of EQS Group AG.

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.



Dexus (ASX: DXS) ASX release 19 October 2021 September 2021 quarter update - Platform expansion in line with strategy Dexus today announced an update for the quarter ended 30 September 2021 which saw the continuation of COVID-19 lockdowns in Sydney and Melbourne and acceleration of the COVID-19 vaccine roll out, with restrictions easing recently. Darren Steinberg, Dexus CEO said: "It's been an active start to the financial year, in which we have continued growth in our funds management business. We finalised the acquisition of APN Property Group and helped to deliver significant initiatives for both listed REITs through acquisitions and equity raisings. "Despite the disruption caused by the lockdowns in Sydney and Melbourne, leasing activity has continued across our portfolio and occupancy remains above 95%. Continued evidence of a flight to quality within our leasing results highlights the demand for quality workspace in well-located CBD assets." Highlights Following the approval by APN securityholders, Dexus implemented the acquisition of all the APN stapled securities on 13 August 2021 and rebranded to Dexus on 5 October 2021

Undertook equity raisings of circa $405 million for Dexus Industria REIT (Industria) and Dexus Convenience Retail REIT (DXC), facilitating quality acquisitions with Dexus investing alongside Industria to acquire a $1.5 billion [1] industrial portfolio and achieve transformational growth for Industria

industrial portfolio and achieve transformational growth for Industria Completed 95 leasing transactions[2] across 129,043 square metres in the Dexus office portfolio and Dexus industrial portfolio, and maintained high rent collections of 97.9% for the September quarter Funds Management Consistent with Dexus's strategic focus to expand and diversify the funds management business, Dexus undertook several initiatives in an active first quarter, including acquisitions and equity raisings for DXC and Industria mentioned above. The funds business now has 20 vehicles across $25.7 billion. Dexus Healthcare Property Fund (DHPF) recently acquired Arcadia Pittwater Private Hospital and day rehabilitation facility located in Warriewood on the Northern Beaches of Sydney, growing DHPF's funds under management to over $1.3 billion[3] across nine assets. Dexus now has $1.8 billion3 of healthcare property and investments across the group. Dexus Real Estate Partnership 1 has received first capital commitments, with multiple closes anticipated over the next 12 months. The fund is in the process of executing its first two investments and is actively pursuing further opportunities. In April 2021 when unitholders in both Dexus Wholesale Property Fund (DWPF) and AMP Capital Diversified Property Fund (ADPF) approved the merger of the two funds, ADPF was subject to a meaningful volume of redemption requests from existing ADPF Unitholders, which Dexus expects to satisfy on a pro rata basis over an approximate 18-month period through the divestment of a number of assets. During the quarter DWPF completed two asset sales from the portfolio of Dexus ADPF Identified Assets. This will enable the first partial settlement of redemptions of approximately $620 million to be paid to Dexus ADPF Unitholders in the coming quarter. Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) update Dexus has once again been recognised as a global leader in sustainability by Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB) in its 2021 Real Estate Assessment, with Dexus and Dexus Office Trust (DOT) ranking 1st in Public Disclosure for Australian Office entities, and DWPF was named Overall Regional Sector Leader for Diversified Office and Retail entities. DHPF also ranked 1st in Healthcare Centres and 2nd in Developments for Non-Listed Healthcare entities. In addition, DXS, DWPF and DOT each retained a 5 Star GRESB rating, placing their portfolios in the top 20% of all GRESB participants globally. Property portfolio Dexus Office Portfolio Key metrics 30 Sept 2021 30 June 2021 Occupancy by income 95.1% 95.2% Occupancy by area 94.6% 94.6% Weighted average lease expiry (by income) 4.8 years 4.6 years Average incentives 31.3% 24.9% Over the quarter to 30 September 2021, a total of 45,138 square metres[4] of office space was leased across 73 transactions. In addition, 323 square metres4 was leased across one transaction at an office development. Dexus office portfolio occupancy reduced marginally to 95.1%. Key leasing activity included: In Melbourne, securing two new customers across 10,858 square metres at 180 Lonsdale Street

securing two new customers across 10,858 square metres at 180 Lonsdale Street In Perth, securing leasing across 2,141 square metres at 240 St Georges Terrace

securing leasing across 2,141 square metres at 240 St Georges Terrace In Sydney, renewing a customer across 3,139 square metres at 383-395 Kent Street and securing leasing across 8,575 square metres at 100 Harris Street, Pyrmont The lockdowns have extended for longer than anticipated back in early August, however enquiry volumes have remained buoyant, predominantly driven by the finance, government, IT and business services sectors. The path to recovery is clearer, with the return to work expected to gain momentum from early CY22. In addition, during the quarter a number of customers were secured from lower quality buildings, a continuation of the trend observed in FY21. While companies will continue to experiment with different workplace models, the majority see the office as a very important part of their organisational strategy. Average incentives in the quarter were elevated compared to FY21, driven by larger deals secured in lockdown-affected markets. As the return to work takes hold from early 2022, we expect incentives to moderate once again and continue to see the potential for incentives to decline in Sydney and Premium grade Melbourne assets, albeit the latest lockdowns could slow the rate of improvement.



Dexus Industrial Portfolio Key metrics 30 Sept 2021 30 June 2021 Occupancy by income 97.2% 97.7% Occupancy by area 98.2% 98.7% Weighted average lease expiry (by income) 4.6 years 4.4 years Average incentives[5] 8.2% 17.8% Over the quarter to 30 September 2021, 53,326 square metres4 of industrial space was leased across 15 transactions. In addition, 30,257 square metres4 was leased across 6 transactions at industrial developments. Dexus industrial portfolio occupancy reduced slightly to 97.2% following the completion of the development at 425-479 Freeman Road, Richlands. WALE increased slightly to 4.6 years due to development completions and acquisitions. Key leasing activity included: Renewing a tenant across 27,612 square metres at Kings Park Industrial Estate, Marayong

Securing a new tenant across 3,761 square metres at 1 Foundation Place, Greystanes

Securing development leasing of 6,099 square metres at 12 Frederick Street, St Leonards Development and Trading Dexus's group development pipeline increased to $15.4 billion, of which $9.0 billion sits within the Dexus portfolio and $6.4 billion within third party funds. During the quarter, Dexus completed a 51,600 square metre industrial development at Lot 401 Innovation Drive, Mickleham in Victoria and progressed five other industrial projects, all in Victoria. Transactions Continuing an active year of transactions, $1.6 billion of acquisitions were undertaken across the group in the industrial, healthcare and convenience retail sectors. The recently announced industrial portfolio acquisition including Jandakot Airport in Perth provides a meaningful industrial footprint in Western Australia and new Sydney product to service our growing customer base, with scope to enhance returns through development and the introduction of additional third party capital. Post 30 September, the Dexus Industrial Partnership completed the circa $123 million acquisition of

113-153 Aldington Road in Kemps Creek, NSW. Summary and outlook Darren Steinberg said: "Strong momentum has continued across our diversified property platform in the first quarter of FY22. Moving forward, we will continue to deliver superior risk-adjusted returns for investors by executing on our strategic objectives of increasing the resilience of portfolio income streams, while expanding and diversifying the funds management business. "It is encouraging that with high vaccination rates there is a roadmap out of the intermittent lockdowns that Australia has experienced over the past 18 months, and with the Australian economy in a good position we expect office markets to strengthen from early next year." Dexus maintains its guidance of delivering distribution per security growth of not less than 2% for the 12 months ended 30 June 2022 based on current expectations relating to COVID-19 and barring unforeseen circumstances. Authorised by Brett Cameron, General Counsel and Company Secretary of Dexus Funds Management Limited. For further information please contact: Investors

Rowena Causley

Senior Manager, Investor Relations

+61 2 9017 1390

+61 416 122 383

rowena.causley@dexus.com Media

Louise Murray

Senior Manager, Corporate Communications

+61 2 9017 1446

+61 403 260 754

louise.murray@dexus.com [1] Reflects combined acquisition price and includes the fund-through cost of Lot 2, 884-928 Mamre Road, Kemps Creek and excludes forecast future development spend. [2] Including Heads of Agreement and development leasing transactions. [3] Includes Dexus ownership interest on completion value of assets under development. Includes Spring Hill Medical Centre and Herston Car Park expected to settle in the coming months. [4] Including Heads of Agreement. [5] Excludes development leasing. FY21 industrial incentives were previously stated including development leasing at 19.1%. Including development leasing, industrial incentives were 15.3% for the quarter to 30 September 2021. Information and Explanation of the Issuer to this News:



About Dexus Dexus (ASX: DXS) is one of Australia's leading fully integrated real estate groups, managing a high-quality Australian property portfolio valued at $42.5 billion. We believe that the strength and quality of our relationships will always be central to our success and are deeply committed to working with our customers to provide spaces that engage and inspire. We invest only in Australia, and directly own $17.5 billion of office, industrial and healthcare properties, and investments. We manage a further $25.0 billion of office, retail, industrial and healthcare properties for third party clients. The group's $15.4 billion development pipeline provides the opportunity to grow both portfolios and enhance future returns. Sustainability is integrated across our business, and our sustainability approach is the lens we use to manage emerging ESG risks and opportunities for all our stakeholders. Dexus is a Top 50 entity by market capitalisation listed on the Australian Securities Exchange and is supported by more than 30,000 investors from 23 countries. With over 35 years of expertise in property investment, funds management, asset management and development, we have a proven track record in capital and risk management and delivering superior risk-adjusted returns for investors. www.dexus.com Dexus Funds Management Ltd ABN 24 060 920 783, AFSL 238163, as Responsible Entity for Dexus (ASX: DXS)

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SHENZHEN, China, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- At the Better World Summit (BWS) hosted by Huawei in partnership with Informa Tech, Bob Cai, Chief Marketing Officer of Huawei's Carrier Business Group, delivered the opening speech titled "Green ICT for Green Development". "As a leading global provider of ICT infrastructure and smart devices, Huawei incorporates green development into everything we do. We see this as part of our social responsibilities. In addition, Huawei is ready to become the best partner for operators in their efforts toward carbon neutrality," said Cai. "With our innovative products and solutions, we will help operators cut carbon emissions and make their networks more energy efficient. We also want to work with operators and use ICT to better enable other industries to cut carbon emissions and become carbon neutral faster."

In June 2021, Huawei and Informa Tech jointly proposed the Network Carbon Intensity (NCI) initiative, in which carbon emissions per bit of data is defined as a new metric for green networks. Huawei emphasized that people's pursuit of better lives must be balanced with the need for lower carbon emissions, so the company proposed this initiative to better manage and measure carbon reduction roadmaps.

During this summit, Huawei stressed the need to establish a platform for industry collaboration on green development and said that BWS is a good example. This platform will regularly bring together industry partners and operators to share innovative technologies and latest practices in how to cut carbon emissions and contribute to a greener ICT industry. According to Cai, at MWC Barcelona 2022, Huawei will continue to hold a green development forum with its partners to share industry practices and latest solutions, and all industry partners and operators are welcome to attend the forum.

"We believe the BWS in Dubai is a good beginning. Looking ahead, we will continue to work with our industry partners and operators to empower green development of all industries using our innovative technologies," said Cai at the end of his speech. "As we envision in the theme of our flagship exhibition hall in Dubai, 'Lighting up the Future', we believe that together, we will light up a greener future."

Other attendees who spoke at the event included Richard Mahony, Vice President of Service Provider Markets of Informa Tech; Dr. Dena Assaf, UN Resident Coordinator of the United Arab Emirates; Tommy Stadlen, Co-Founder of Giant Ventures; Dr. Ahmed Bin Ali, Corporate Communications SVP of Etisalat; Herve Suquet, Group Energy SVP of Orange; Dirk Karl, Chief Procurement Officer of MTN; Tanveer Mohammad, SVP of Global Operation of Telenor; and Aaron Jiang, Vice President of Huawei Wireless Product Line.

About Huawei

Founded in 1987, Huawei is a leading global provider of information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure and smart devices. We have more than 197,000 employees, and we operate in more than 170 countries and regions, serving more than three billion people around the world.

Our vision and mission is to bring digital to every person, home and organization for a fully connected, intelligent world. To this end, we will drive ubiquitous connectivity and promote equal access to networks; bring cloud and artificial intelligence to all four corners of the earth to provide superior computing power where you need it, when you need it; build digital platforms to help all industries and organizations become more agile, efficient, and dynamic; redefine user experience with AI, making it more personalized for people in all aspects of their life, whether they're at home, in the office, or on the go. For more information, please visit Huawei online at www.huawei.com or follow us on:

http://www.linkedin.com/company/Huawei

http://www.twitter.com/Huawei

http://www.facebook.com/Huawei

http://www.youtube.com/Huawei

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Figure1. The newly developed system

TOKYO, Oct 19, 2021 - (JCN Newswire) - Aichi Cancer Center (1) and Fujitsu Limited today announced the development of an AI solution able to select effective medical treatment from a wide range of drugs based on patients' individual cancer types and various genomic variants (2).The effectiveness of the new solution has been verified in clinical trials by physicians at Aichi Cancer Center.With current cancer genomic medicine in Japan, treatment plans are considered based on the patients' unique circumstances, including the type of cancer and the actionable genomic variants detected in cancer cells.Specialists for cancer drug treatment thus rely on their own experience, knowledge, and medical literature to study treatment strategies in order to find the best possible medication for the patients' individual conditions.Test data of effective medical treatment of different cancer types and genomic information in external databases, which are sorted and managed based on different keywords and rules, remain difficult to use.Combining the know-how of Aichi Cancer Center in drug selection and Fujitsu's AI-based data-integration technology, the new solution is able to sort and combine these data under common keywords and a single data format and generate a structured data of knowledge, called Knowledge Graph, in order to find the medications that are likely to be highly effective for each patient (3).Aichi Cancer Center and Fujitsu anticipate that the new solution will contribute to a significant reduction in the time required for physicians to estimate the effectiveness of drugs in a clinical setting, as well as to conduct research about data that can be used as evidence for their estimations. It will furthermore help physicians to effectively and precisely choose the medicine expected to achieve the best results based on patients' genomic variants and to achieve better results by avoiding unnecessary treatments.Aichi Cancer Center and Fujitsu will continue cooperation to further enhance the application of AI technology in cancer genomic medicine in order to contribute to further achievements in this field.BackgroundCancer is the leading cause of death in Japan, and the number of new cases now exceeds one million per year with the trend rising in recent years.Therefore, cancer genomic medicine or precision oncology, a form of personalized medical care based on the genomic variants in each cancer, has been gaining increasing attention. Although a nationwide system to enhance cancer genomic medicine has been established in Japan, the shortage of specialists in this field represents a major issue.The current situation thus demands further expansion of programs to train medical specialists as well as the development of an AI with capabilities comparable to those of medical specialists in order to support more effective medical treatment.In November 2019, Aichi Cancer Center and Fujitsu concluded a comprehensive joint research agreement (4) in order to drive the application of AI technology in the field of cancer genomic medicine and jointly promoted R&D of technologies and systems applied during clinical tests.About the newly developed technologyDrawing on Aichi Cancer Center's knowledge of drug selection with Fujitsu's AI-based data-integration technology, the new solution enables users to organize information like test data of effective medical treatment for different cancer types and genomic variants in external medical databases by grouping information under common terms and data formats.The new system is also able to build a Knowledge Graph by automatically linking data with the same underlying subjects (5).For cancer treatment, the system can deliver an objective score about the expected level of effectiveness of a planned course of treatment based on the information about the patients' cancer type and genomic variants. In this way, the system can help to efficiently narrow down the number of possible options of drugs that are likely to be highly effective for each patient.Moving forward, by combining this system with Fujitsu's AI technology for language processing which identifies terms and phrases used in research papers from context (6), physicians will be able to instantaneously refer to relevant information from a total of more than 1.2 million medical papers when evaluating the effects of a planned course of treatment. Thus, this new system will not only help physicians to verify the validity of their drug selections but also to improve the overall efficiency of their work.During the current verification trials, which were supervised by an expert panel (7) at Aichi Cancer Center, the system was used to evaluate the effects of drug treatment with approximately 450 patients. Results showed that standard treatments for eight different genomic variants could be successfully determined.The system also proved to be efficient in identifying drug candidates (8) from a wide range of treatments based on an objective score of the effectiveness of medications and the characteristics of related cancer cells.Based on the system results, physicians will be able to efficiently collect various information about the level of effectiveness of a specific treatment based on the genomic variants of individual patients.In this way, the new system will help to create an environment where physicians will be able to choose appropriate medications and to propose new treatments even if they are not specialists with a high level of knowledge in cancer genomic medicine.Future plansAichi Cancer Center and Fujitsu will continue collaboration in order to verify and improve the ability of the current system to integrate and output data from multiple databases and actively promote the full-scale introduction of an easy-to-use system in clinical practice of cancer genomics.The two partners will furthermore strive to develop an intra-hospital information integration environment to assist the expert panel with a solution that enables a more accurate, efficient, and stress-free selection of the right treatment for their patients in order to contribute to a more personalized approach to cancer treatment.Aichi Cancer Center and Fujitsu will furthermore consider using the improved system to determine the start or participation of clinical trials by adding clinical information and to propose potential new drug targets through analyzing integrated data from a research perspective.Both parties will continue to improve the system to make the results more reliable and user-friendly, with the aim of expanding its use to Japanese hospitals nationwide that provide cancer genomic medicine.Fujitsu plans to continue practical use of the technology in clinical settings, to ultimately offer customers new solutions to support their well-being (9) and "Healthy Living" (10). Based on the results from the current trials, Fujitsu also aims to develop a new AI technology able to recommend new treatment methods by linking clinical data extracted from electronic medical record systems and genome data in order to create various solutions to improve the quality of life of each patient.(1) Aichi Cancer Center:Location: Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture; President: Takashi Takahashi(2) Genomic variants:Structural alterations in the genome.(3) Knowledge Graph:A dataset that uses connections representing relationships between information collected from a variety of textual information sources such as essays and research results.(4) A comprehensive joint research agreement:"Fujitsu Laboratories and Aichi Cancer Center in Japan Sign Comprehensive Joint Research Agreement to Drive Advances in Cancer Genomic Medicine with AI Technology" (November 29, 2019; Press release)(5) Automatically linking data with the same underlying subjects:"Fujitsu Laboratories Develops Technology for Automatically Linking with Open Data throughout the World"(January 16, 2014; Press release)(6) Fujitsu's AI technology for language processing which identifies terms and phrases used in research papers from context:"Fujitsu Improves Efficiency in Cancer Genomic Medicine in Joint AI Research with the Institute of Medical Science at the University of Tokyo" (November 6, 2019; Press release)(7) Expert Panel:Committee of experts that analyses the patients' genomic variants and determines individual treatment strategies based on the results(8) Drug candidates:For example, researchers found that EGFR inhibitors were effective under certain conditions when the BRAF protein was mutated as denoted "G466V".(9) Well-being:State of physical, mental, and social well-being(10) "Healthy Living":One of Fujitsu's seven key focus areasAbout Aichi Cancer CenterAichi Cancer Center is one of the largest and oldest comprehensive cancer centers in Japan. For more than 50 years, the Aichi Cancer Center has been a leader in cancer research and treatment, offering state-of-the art care available and advancing the knowledge for future improvement. Our dedicated clinical and research staff, who are working passionately and collaboratively, are relentlessly committed to providing hope to currently uncurable patients and making cancer a disease of the past. For more information, please see: https://www.pref.aichi.jp/cancer-center/english/cc/index.html.About FujitsuFujitsu is the leading Japanese information and communication technology (ICT) company offering a full range of technology products, solutions and services. Approximately 126,000 Fujitsu people support customers in more than 100 countries. We use our experience and the power of ICT to shape the future of society with our customers. Fujitsu Limited (TSE:6702) reported consolidated revenues of 3.6 trillion yen (US$34 billion) for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2021. For more information, please see www.fujitsu.com.Source: Fujitsu LtdCopyright 2021 JCN Newswire . All rights reserved.
DGAP-Ad-hoc: Dexus Finance Pty Limited / Key word(s): AGM/EGM/Real Estate

Dexus Finance Pty Limited: 2021 AGM Chair and CEO address



19-Oct-2021 / 05:27 CET/CEST

Disclosure of an inside information acc. to Article 17 MAR of the Regulation (EU) No 596/2014, transmitted by DGAP - a service of EQS Group AG.

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.



Dexus (ASX: DXS) ASX release 19 October 2021 2021 AGM Chair and CEO Address Dexus releases the attached Chair and CEO address for the Dexus Annual General Meeting (AGM) which is being held today at 2.00pm (AEDT). The meeting will be webcast and can be viewed by using the following link:

https://agmlive.link/DXS21 To view the full ASX release and presentation, download the PDF available at https://www.dexus.com/investor-centre/results-and-reporting/asx-announcements Authorised by the Board of Dexus Funds Management Limited For further information please contact: Investors

Rowena Causley

Senior Manager, Investor Relations

+61 2 9017 1390

+61 416 122 383

rowena.causley@dexus.com Media

Louise Murray

Senior Manager, Corporate Communications

+61 2 9017 1446

+61 403 260 754

louise.murray@dexus.com Dexus 2021 Annual General Meeting Chair's address Good afternoon everyone and welcome to our 2021 Annual General Meeting. I'm Richard Sheppard, Chair of the Board of Directors of Dexus Funds Management Limited. On behalf of the Dexus Board, I appreciate your understanding of the changes we have made to the meeting format. It is encouraging to see the increased vaccination rates across the country and that restrictions have recently started to ease for vaccinated people in New South Wales, with a further easing in the coming months. We hope that next year we will be able to hold this meeting in person at one of our Dexus Place facilities, which is our preferred format. I'll table my appointment as Chair of today's meeting and open the meeting. I would like to acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we are presenting from today, and pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging. I would also like to extend that respect to, and welcome, any First Nations people who are joining our meeting today. This acknowledgement is important to us as we are starting our journey to implement the first stage of our Reconciliation Action Plan which is focused on initiatives that enhance our connection with First Nations peoples and promote reconciliation across our operations and communities. I will start today's presentation by looking at our business. Dexus is one of Australia's leading real estate groups, managing a high-quality Australian property portfolio valued at $42.5 billion - up from $32 billion last year. This includes our $17.5 billion investment property portfolio and our $25.0 billion funds management business. In addition, we have a $15.4 billion group development pipeline that will create future value. We have built significant scale across the office, industrial, healthcare and retail property sectors and believe our capabilities across these asset classes, along with our engaged workforce, enables us to stay connected to our purpose which is to create spaces where people thrive. We released our 2021 Annual Report and Sustainability Report in August which reinforce our focus on creating long-term value from a financial and non-financial perspective and covers our key ESG achievements. Both reports are available on our website. Each year, our strategy review process looks at our existing strategy and how we can better position Dexus to capitalise on new opportunities and be prepared for challenges. The pandemic has reinforced the importance of having a diversified business model, a high-quality property portfolio and a strategy that can deliver through the cycle. Throughout the year, we maintained our focus on the strategic initiatives of increasing the resilience of portfolio income streams, expanding and diversifying the funds management business, and progressing the group development pipeline. These initiatives have now been incorporated into revised strategic objectives that will guide the next stage of our business evolution. They include investing in sustainable income streams that provide resilience through the cycle, and being identified as the real estate investment partner of choice by expanding and diversifying our funds management business. The strength of Dexus's balance sheet, our access to pools of capital and an agile, solution-based culture all enable us to deliver our strategy, along with our prudent approach to capital management and commitment to sustainability. The delivery of our strategy also requires us to maintain and develop a strong and experienced Executive team, which I will have more to talk about shortly. As I just mentioned, one of our key areas of focus has been to grow and diversify the funds management business. During the year we implemented some major strategic initiatives which grew the funds management business and positioned it for future growth including securing the merger of AMP Capital Diversified Property Fund with Dexus Wholesale Property Fund, simplifying the Dexus corporate structure (which you as Security holders approved earlier in the year), and acquiring APN Property Group. Our funds management business provides a capital efficient way to increase our exposure to growth sectors. Our focus on growing and diversifying this business has resulted in funds under management increasing to $25 billion dollars across diversified capital sources incorporating wholesale pooled funds, listed REITs, joint ventures and real estate securities. Over the past nine years our funds business has achieved an 18% compound annual growth rate. Notably, our healthcare fund now stands at more than $1.3 billion, and during the year we attracted a new capital partner to form a partnership to invest in an interest of 1 Bligh Street in Sydney. We are now integrating the APN Property Group business onto our platform and leveraging our expertise to support the strategies of those funds. Dexus's activity during the year drove a solid financial result. From a challenging starting position during the pandemic, we provided guidance in October 2020 for a distribution per security amount that was consistent with last year. The expectation was that the operating environment would remain subdued, that our financial performance would be impacted by asset sales to maintain our balance sheet strength, and we were in the middle of the pandemic and its associated challenges and uncertainties. A combination of better-than-expected outcomes across the property portfolio, as well as delayed settlements of asset sales and other initiatives, enabled us to announce in May this year an upgrade in our guidance to 3% growth in distribution per security. We delivered this guidance, with a full year distribution of 51.8 cents per security - resulting in a 5.5% compound annual growth rate since FY12 - or to put a bit differently, distributions have grown from 32.1 cents per security in FY12. This result was achieved despite the ongoing impacts of the pandemic on our customer base and the extension of the government mandated National Commercial Code of Conduct, which saw rent relief provided to small and medium sized customers impacted by COVID-19. We delivered a Return on Contributed Equity of 8.3% driven largely by Adjusted Funds From Operations and revaluation gains from completed developments at 180 Flinders Street, Melbourne and our industrial estate at Ravenhall, Victoria. Our strong balance sheet was maintained with gearing well below our target range of 30-40%. On behalf of the Board, I would like to acknowledge the efforts of Management and our employees in achieving these financial outcomes in what has been a very difficult operating environment. Our properties demonstrated their resilience against the background of the pandemic and the associated lockdowns. Significant leasing was achieved over the year which resulted in office and industrial portfolio occupancy levels remaining high - and Mr Steinberg will discuss our current position on this shortly. Obviously, the question that people are asking about office is: "what does the future hold?". Our experience based on leasing activity over the past year has shown that offices are still in demand, with a number of companies centralising into quality assets in the CBD from suburban markets. The feedback we are getting from our customers is that workplace flexibility is here to stay, but to different degrees depending on the company. Many are adopting a blended or hybrid model that allows greater flexibility for employees to work from home but where offices continue to play an important role. The office will retain its role as a hub for collaboration, social interaction, career development and culture. This trend has some time to play out as our customers explore how to create the optimal blend of the physical and virtual workplace. And with Prime grade assets making up 94% of our office portfolio, we have seen asset values supported through transactions, and in challenging markets tenants choosing to upgrade to better quality buildings. We moved early in the pandemic, bringing forward some planned asset sales to enhance our financial strength at a time of heightened risk. This also ensured that we could fund the significant pipeline of growth opportunities in the development and funds business. As you can see from this slide, we have been active in redeploying capital into opportunities across a range of sectors and into strategic transactions, all of which we believe offer attractive risk adjusted returns. We will continue to selectively recycle assets to ensure that we maintain our balance sheet strength and reinvest into higher returning opportunities. Our portfolio of city-shaping projects are the cornerstone of the development pipeline which has grown to over $15 billion, with the planning progressed at a number of these projects. The key projects in our development pipeline include: Waterfront Brisbane, which is a major redevelopment of the Eagle Street Pier site and will make way for two office towers creating a vibrant retail and public space;

Central Place Sydney which is a large scale mixed-use development integrating a pedestrian and transport solution above Central station;

Right next door is the Atlassian development which will push the boundaries of what the future of workplace looks like and how it works, adopting leading sustainability credentials;

The Pitt and Bridge precinct which is a significant future office tower development in the financial core of the Sydney CBD; and

60 Collins Street, Melbourne which will create a Premium grade office tower across the road from our recently completed development at 80 Collins Street As we emerge from the pandemic, our customers are looking to invest in their workplaces to ensure they support their business success- and so having iconic projects in prime locations is going to be an important part of meeting their future demands. Environmental, Social and Governance, or ESG principles, are integrated across our business operations and continue to grow in importance for our customers and investors. We are focused on managing ESG risks and opportunities while progressing our Sustainability Approach. This slide shows our achievements across key areas of our business for the year and shortly we will show you a video covering this in more detail. Recognising the urgency to act on climate change, we have brought forward our net zero emissions target from 2030 to 30 June 2022. Through this action, which is a key focus for a number of our investors and customers, Dexus estimates it will avoid a further one million tonnes of carbon emissions from our original target. This will be achieved through continued investment in energy efficiency initiatives, transitioning to renewables, and supported by nature-based carbon offsets. We have an experienced management team that continues to deliver on strategy. They have demonstrated their ability to capitalise on opportunities while also being able to address challenges. Before I move on, I would like to address the topic of remuneration. While the poll on the Remuneration Report has not yet been taken, based on the proxy votes already received for Resolution 1, we expect a substantial vote against it. The remuneration decisions made by the Board in FY21 were focused on ensuring key Executives are retained and motivated, while recognising the importance of strengthening our senior leadership succession planning and maintaining stability within a highly competitive market for talented executives. We are dealing with an uncertain and complex operating environment and refocusing our strategy to funds management to drive long-term security holder returns, reinforcing the rationale for our decisions to retain key members of our executive team. Our decisions were not made in isolation. We sought views from our major Security holders as well as proxy advisers to ensure their feedback was incorporated into the final decisions and structure of the retention awards granted during the year. During this engagement process, many of those consulted were supportive of measures to retain key Executives. We value the views of our Security holders and are committed to consult, listen and consider all feedback when making remuneration decisions in the year ahead. From what you have heard in my address today, Dexus has performed well across all financial and non-financial areas throughout FY21, including its financial performance during the COVID-19 crisis and across key non-financial measures of culture, engagement, safety and diversity. Looking forward, we are confident of being able to deliver long-term performance beyond the recovery, through our scale and capability across traditional and emerging real estate sectors, our funds management business which provides a capital efficient way to increase our exposure to growth sectors, and our substantial city-shaping development pipeline. Based on current expectations relating to impacts from COVID-19 and barring unforeseen circumstances, we expect to deliver distribution per security growth of not less than 2% for the 12 months ended 30 June 2022. CEO's address Thanks Richard and good afternoon everyone. Despite the current complex operating environment, we had an active quarter across our business, and it is encouraging that with increased vaccination rates there is a roadmap out of the continual lockdowns that Australia has experienced over the past 18 months. Leasing continued over the first quarter of the year, with over 129,000 square metres of space leased across our office and industrial properties, which is a strong result in a lockdown environment. We've maintained our focus on rent collections which resulted in 97.9% of rent being collected and were involved in $1.6 billion of acquisitions which have supported the growth of our Funds Management business. Looking at the performance of our $17.5 billion property portfolio, and over the past few months we've seen leasing activity continue and enquiry volumes remain buoyant across our office portfolio. Our portfolio occupancy remained high versus the market at 95.1% for office and 97.2% for industrial. Across both our office and industrial portfolios, the Weighted Average Lease Expiry has increased slightly. As Richard mentioned, our customers use of office space will continue to evolve, as it has done over time. The office is a key driver for culture, collaboration and innovation and quality workspaces will remain in demand by companies seeking to differentiate themselves in order to attract talent. Over the past quarter we have maintained momentum from a transactional perspective through the acquisition of a portfolio of quality industrial properties alongside Dexus Industria REIT for a combined acquisition price of $1.5 billion, including Jandakot Airport and its associated industrial precinct in Perth. These high-quality investments will further enhance the resilience of our property portfolio. The near-term development potential and scope to enhance returns by introducing third party capital is aligned with our priorities to grow our funds management business and recycle capital into high returning opportunities. This transaction also provides the opportunity to achieve a step change in growth for the Dexus Industria REIT as it secures an interest in quality logistics-oriented real estate with embedded development potential. We acquired a further healthcare property for Dexus Healthcare Property Fund and now have $1.8 billion of healthcare real estate on the platform. So, to conclude, we are well prepared to continue to deliver for our investors. We have a high-quality real estate portfolio that continues to remain relevant to our customer base. Our diversified funds business with long-term partnerships continues to attract capital, providing secure annuity-style income and co-investment opportunities. And our significant development pipeline provides embedded growth for Dexus and our third party capital partners. All of this is enabled by our quality people, scalable and efficient operating platform, and strong balance sheet. Before passing back to Richard, I would like to thank my fellow Directors and the Dexus team for their commitment and contribution over the past 12 months, and you, our investors, for your continued support. ENDS 19-Oct-2021 CET/CEST The DGAP Distribution Services include Regulatory Announcements, Financial/Corporate News and Press Releases.

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European venture capital firm has raised 1 billion in the last 12 months across its expanding life science investment platform

Sofinnova Partners, a leading European life sciences venture capital firm based in Paris, London and Milan, announced today the close of its latest early-stage healthcare venture capital fund, Sofinnova Capital X, oversubscribed at 472 ($548) million. This brings the total amount the VC has raised to 1 billion in the last 12 months across its multi-fund platform, and the total AUM to over 2.5 billion. Capital X, the 10th iteration of Sofinnova Partners' flagship fund, is the largest healthcare fund dedicated to early-stage investments and company creation in Europe.

Sofinnova Capital X will invest in the most promising biopharmaceutical and medical device start-ups that address pressing unmet clinical needs and aim to transform patients' lives. In keeping with the current strategy, the team will source and create value across a portfolio of groundbreaking innovations in healthcare, supporting entrepreneurs globally in the creation and growth of their companies.

Capital X was successfully raised with institutional investors including pension funds, insurance companies, foundations, endowments, corporate investors, and prominent family offices from across Europe, Asia, and North America. The Fund welcomed back existing investors and attracted new blue chip limited partners, reflecting sustained confidence in the firm's capacity to generate strong financial returns.

Antoine Papiernik, Managing Partner and Chairman of Sofinnova Partners, said: "The close of Capital X, significantly oversubscribed and raised in record time, comes at a pivotal moment as the importance of healthcare innovation has become exceedingly clear to all. The fact we have been able to raise 1 billion across our platform over the past 12 months is a tribute to our investors and their conviction in our ability to bolster our leading position in Europe."

Henrijette Richter, Managing Partner of Sofinnova Partners, said: "We are thrilled to have raised the largest fund dedicated to early-stage healthcare investments in Europe. This is an important milestone for Sofinnova Partners. Capital X will allow us to leverage over 30 years of cumulative experience perfecting this strategy. We now have more capital than ever to support leading entrepreneurs as they launch new companies to develop groundbreaking therapies that have the potential to change peoples' lives."

Clifford Chance acted as legal counsel and Triago as placement agent.

About Sofinnova Partners

Sofinnova Partners is a leading European venture capital firm in life sciences, specializing in healthcare and sustainability. Based in Paris, London and Milan, the firm brings together a team of professionals from all over the world with strong scientific, medical and business expertise. Sofinnova Partners is a hands-on company builder across the entire value chain of life sciences investments, from seed to later-stage. The firm actively partners with ambitious entrepreneurs as a lead or cornerstone investor to develop transformative innovations that have the potential to positively impact our collective future.

Founded in 1972, Sofinnova Partners is a deeply-established venture capital firm in Europe, with 50 years of experience backing over 500 companies and creating market leaders around the globe. Today, Sofinnova Partners has over 2.5 billion under management. For more information, please visit: www.sofinnovapartners.com

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Contacts:

Bommy Lee

Head of Communications, Sofinnova Partners

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+33 (0) 6 47 71 38 11

North America

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France

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Italy

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The market research leader sought a rejuvenated and modern identity to reinforce its pioneering roots in behavioural science

PARIS, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- PRS IN VIVO, the world's leading research consultancy in packaging, shopper experience and new products, today announces the launch of a refreshed brand identity, developed in partnership with international design consultancy, Elmwood.

Breaking corporate conventions of branding in the research field, PRS IN VIVO's new identity was designed to make it look and feel like a modern brand while also capturing the company's legacy as a pioneer in Behaviour First market research. Led by co-CEOs Karen Gombault and Olivier Blanchet, PRS IN VIVO works with many of the largest global retail and FMCG brands, applying sophisticated behavioural science, advanced biometrics and AI/machine learning to help them understand, predict and influence consumer choice.

Over the last decade, market research has been heavily impacted by digital technologies. While this has made gathering consumer insights faster and easier, it has also made the amount of data feel overwhelming to organisations often lacking the infrastructure and expertise to interrogate and truly understand it. By combining decades of experience in behavioural science with the latest digital research techniques, PRS IN VIVO helps companies see through all that data to gain a deeper understanding of authentic consumer behaviour. They call this approach "The Human Advantage".

"PRS IN VIVO has been unlocking the potential of behavioural science in market research for decades," said Olivier Blanchet, co-CEO at PRS IN VIVO. "While much of the research world has focused on providing cheap and quick data to brands, we have always prioritised the need to go deeper and empower companies with real shopper insights."

PRS IN VIVO's new brand embodies these qualities. It dynamically forms a focusing lens that gives clarity to a circular cluster of dots, representing the company's ability to see through complexity and provide clear direction in a world of messy data. The vibrant colour palette and style guide encapsulate the diversity of people and the company's rich behavioural knowledge, while two new typefaces balance humanity and elegance with future-facing innovation and precision.

"The beauty of working with Elmwood was that they quickly homed in on our pioneering roots as a springboard for challenging the cold and corporate look and feel of branding in our industry," said Matt Michaud, Chief Creative Officer at PRS IN VIVO. "They did what they do best: pushed us to be bold and go further. I think the results really speak for themselves."

"There are very few, if any, companies in research today that look and act like a modern brand," said Greg Taylor, Chief Provocation Officer at Elmwood. "PRS IN VIVO's new identity challenges this convention, bringing the world of brand to the world of insight, and perfectly capturing their ability to bridge the tension between automation and human experience."

About PRS IN VIVO Group

PRS IN VIVO Group (a BVA Group Company) is a global shopper and product experience consultancy with offices in New York, London, Paris, Geneva, Milan, Shanghai, and Singapore, working in over 50 countries around the world. We specialise in the application of behavioural science to help companies predict and influence consumer choice and drive brand growth.

We conduct consumer research right across the globe, utilizing best in class technology to draw on our decades of experience, our category and product expertise, and our behavioural framework, to help clients improve their brand and product marketing, and achieve better business outcomes.

We are dedicated to helping clients succeed through the passion and engagement of our teams, our commitment to partnership, and our trusted, proven, innovative and agile solutions.



About Elmwood

Elmwood is a global design consultancy working locally in London, New York and Singapore. We have over 30 years of experience and our clients include GSK, Heineken, Danone and Mars. We believe tension is at the heart of powerful brands. We harness its energy-turning its potential into transformative design.

Media Contacts

Global Contact:

Ginger Hsu, +33 6 19 36 66 68, ginger.hsu@prs-invivo-group.com

UK Contact:

Will Hurrell, +44 755 192 7321, willhurrellpr@gmail.com

US Contact:

Toni Lee, +1 203-246-7524, toni@tonileepr.com

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NEW YORK CITY (dpa-AFX) - Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Ltd. (RDY) announced Tuesday the final approval of its Abbreviated New Drug Application or ANDA for Lenalidomide Capsules, a therapeutic equivalent generic version of REVLIMID (lenalidomide) Capsules, from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration or FDA.



The final approval for the drug is in 2.5 mg and 20 mg strengths, while the regulator also granted tentative approval in 5 mg, 10 mg, 15 mg, and 25 mg strengths.



With this approval, Dr. Reddy's is eligible for 180 days of generic drug exclusivity for Lenalidomide Capsules, 2.5 mg and 20 mg.



In September 2020, Dr. Reddy's announced a settlement agreement of its litigation with Celgene, the maker of REVLIMID (lenalidomide) Capsules and a subsidiary of Bristol Myers Squibb (BMY), relating to patents for the branded drug.



In settlement of all outstanding claims in the litigation, Celgene agreed to provide Dr. Reddy's with a license to sell volume-limited amounts of generic lenalidomide capsules in the U.S. beginning on a confidential date after March 2022 subject to regulatory approval.



The agreed-upon percentages remain confidential. As part of the settlement, Dr. Reddy's is also licensed to sell generic lenalidomide capsules in the U.S. without volume limitation beginning on January 31, 2026.



Marc Kikuchi, CEO, North America Generics, Dr. Reddy's, said, 'We are pleased with the Agency's approval of Lenalidomide Capsules, 2.5 mg and 20 mg and being eligible for 180-day market exclusivity. We look forward to bringing a more affordable generic version of this drug to market for the benefit of patients.'



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DR REDDYS-Aktie komplett kostenlos handeln - auf Smartbroker.de
Invisible Nation is a worldwide network of patient organizations committed to driving a decline in cardiovascular (CV) death by effecting systemic change in atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) care





Facilitated by Novartis, Invisible Nation will aim to reduce and ultimately prevent many of the 15 million 1 ASCVD deaths each year and dramatically lower what is estimated to become $1 trillion in annual CV disease care cost by 2030 2





ASCVD deaths each year and dramatically lower what is estimated to become $1 trillion in annual CV disease care cost by 2030 Network members will engage policymakers, healthcare systems and others to change the way ASCVD is identified, managed, and ultimately, prevented

Basel, October 19, 2021 - Global Heart Hub and Novartis today announced the launch of the Invisible Nation program. Invisible Nation will bring together a worldwide network of patient organizations and other stakeholders in the cardiovascular (CV) space committed to effecting systemic change in the management of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD). The program aims to prevent many of the 15 million yearly ASCVD deaths1 and reduce what could soon become $1 trillion in annual CV disease cost2.

Although the vast majority of ASCVD-related deaths are preventable3, most countries are not yet on course to meet the World Health Organization (WHO) goal of a 25% reduction in CV mortality by 20253. Invisible Nation will highlight the human and societal costs of ASCVD, advocate for high-level government commitments to tackle the disease and bring forward innovative partnerships and novel access models that can fast-track a worldwide effort to reduce ASCVD-related mortality.

"Many are surprised to learn that millions and millions of people die each year from ASCVD, and they are even more surprised when they realize that this terrible loss of life is roughly 60% higher than the number of deaths attributed to cancer," said Neil Johnson, Executive Director of the Global Heart Hub. "This is a shocking fact, and even more shocking is that 80% of CV events can be prevented. Patient organizations have an opportunity - and a responsibility - to expose the realities of ASCVD, leading to a better prognosis and reduction in premature deaths. By increasing awareness, we will activate change."

Invisible Nation will advocate for policy-shaping efforts to rewrite how governments, health systems and others can work together to change the trajectory of ASCVD and begin a generational decline in CV death.

Starting today, Global Heart Hub will begin working with patient groups and CV stakeholders to finalize the action plan and align on specific initiatives designed to help governments and health systems reach the WHO goal of a 25% reduction in CV mortality by 20253. Novartis will assist this community-driven movement by helping network members access the information and evidence needed to engage with local health systems, health authorities and policymakers.

Alongside Invisible Nation, Novartis supports the recent Declaration of the G20 Health Ministers, which acknowledges that non-communicable diseases, such as CV disease, may increase the severity and risk of death from COVID-19. Novartis is also committed to working with renowned thought leaders, medical societies, health authorities and non-governmental organizations around the world to highlight the urgency to treat CV disease and identify new partnership models for broader access to innovation and healthcare system transformation.

"We see Invisible Nation as a catalyst for action among patient organizations worldwide," said Marie-France Tschudin, President of Novartis Pharmaceuticals. "The groups that speak for the millions of people globally who die from ASCVD have a powerful mandate to ensure that it is recognized and addressed as the number one killer in the world. Novartis is proud to partner with Global Heart Hub and take this next concrete step to reverse this health crisis and make the loss of life and financial cost of ASCVD unignorable."

To learn more, visit www.InvisibleNation.com (http://www.InvisibleNation.com).

Disclaimer

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements can generally be identified by words such as "potential," "can," "will," "plan," "may," "could," "would," "expect," "anticipate," "seek," "look forward," "believe," "committed," "investigational," "pipeline," "launch," or similar terms, or by express or implied discussions regarding potential marketing approvals, new indications or labeling for the investigational or approved products described in this press release, or regarding potential future revenues from such products. You should not place undue reliance on these statements. Such forward-looking statements are based on our current beliefs and expectations regarding future events and are subject to significant known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements. There can be no guarantee that the investigational or approved products described in this press release will be submitted or approved for sale or for any additional indications or labeling in any market, or at any time. Nor can there be any guarantee that such products will be commercially successful in the future. In particular, our expectations regarding such products could be affected by, among other things, the uncertainties inherent in research and development, including clinical trial results and additional analysis of existing clinical data; regulatory actions or delays or government regulation generally; global trends toward healthcare cost containment, including government, payor and general public pricing and reimbursement pressures and requirements for increased pricing transparency; our ability to obtain or maintain proprietary intellectual property protection; the particular prescribing preferences of physicians and patients; general political, economic and business conditions, including the effects of and efforts to mitigate pandemic diseases such as COVID-19; safety, quality, data integrity or manufacturing issues; potential or actual data security and data privacy breaches, or disruptions of our information technology systems, and other risks and factors referred to in Novartis AG's current Form 20-F on file with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Novartis is providing the information in this press release as of this date and does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this press release as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

About Invisible Nation

Currently 300 million people live with ASCVD1 - more than the populations of Canada, South Africa, France, Mexico and Singapore combined - a number that is quietly growing4. After recognizing that the significant prevalence of ASCVD continues to hide in plain sight, Global Heart Hub and Novartis decided to create Invisible Nation. The name of the program reflects the massive unseen burden, which can no longer be ignored. Visit www.InvisibleNation.com (http://www.InvisibleNation.com) for ASCVD resources and access to upcoming conferences and virtual events, which will feature key opinion leaders, patient groups, experts, policymakers and others.

About Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease (ASCVD)

Atherosclerosis corresponds to the accumulation of lipids over time, mainly low-density lipoprotein cholesterol in the inner lining of the arteries. Unexpected rupture of an atherosclerotic plaque can cause an atherosclerotic cardiovascular event such as a heart attack or stroke5-6. ASCVD accounts for over 85% of all cardiovascular disease deaths3. ASCVD is the primary cause of death in the European Union7. The number of deaths from ASCVD is roughly 60% higher than the number of deaths attributed to cancer8. ASCVD risk equivalent corresponds to conditions that confer a similar risk for an ASCVD event (e.g., diabetes, heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia)9-10.

About Novartis in Cardiovascular-Renal-Metabolism

Cardiovascular (CV), renal and metabolic diseases are a global health crisis3,11-13. These chronic, complex and often hereditary diseases are frequently inter-related, and come with healthcare and treatment barriers and a lack of transformative medicines and almost always lead to the same outcome: death due to CV disease3,11-13.

CV disease is the number one killer in the world3. Taking more lives than all cancers combined, it contributes to one in every three deaths globally3,14. Of all CV events, 80% can be prevented15. Patients and their families deserve better, and our society deserves more.

Thanks to a combination of our legacy, global footprint and leading science, Novartis is uniquely positioned to help change this landscape. We are transforming the way we think about the relationship between these diseases and how they are managed throughout life. Our efforts include the use of early interventions and the development of pioneering treatments that address the spectrum of CV, renal and metabolic diseases, from prevention to management, as well as the creation of innovative access models. By re-writing the way we work with society, we will lead a worldwide effort to improve health outcomes and roll back the crisis of CV death.

Our goal is to bend the curve of life by reducing and stopping premature death from CV disease.

About Novartis

As a leading global medicines company, we use innovative science and digital technologies to create treatments in areas of great medical need. In our quest to find new medicines, we consistently rank among the world's top companies investing in research and development. Novartis products reach nearly 800 million people globally and we are finding innovative ways to expand access to our latest treatments. About 110,000 people of more than 140 nationalities work at Novartis around the world. Find out more at https://www.novartis.com (https://www.novartis.com).

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References

Roth GA, Mensah GA, Johnson CO, et al. Global Burden of Cardiovascular Diseases and Risk Factors, 1990-2019: Update from the GBD 2019 Study [published correction appears in J Am Coll Cardiol. 2021;77(15):1958-1959]. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2020;76(25):2982-3021. Bloom DE, Cafiero ET, Jane-Llopis E, et al. The Global Economic Burden of Noncommunicable Diseases. Geneva: World Economic Forum. 2011. World Health Organization (WHO). Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). Available at: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/cardiovascular-diseases-(cvds) (https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/cardiovascular-diseases-(cvds)). [Last accessed October 2021]. Barquera S, Pedroza-Tobias A, Medina C, et al. Global Overview of the Epidemiology of Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease. Arch Med Res. 2015;46(5):328-338. Mayo Clinic. Arteriosclerosis / atherosclerosis. Available at: https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/arteriosclerosis-atherosclerosis/symptoms-causes/syc-20350569 (https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/arteriosclerosis-atherosclerosis/symptoms-causes/syc-20350569). [Last accessed October 2021]. Goldstein J, Brown M. A century of cholesterol and coronaries: from plaques to genes to statins. Cell. 2015;161(1):161-172. OECD/The King's Fund. Is Cardiovascular Disease Slowing Improvements in Life Expectancy?: OECD and The King's Fund Workshop Proceedings. OECD Publishing, Paris. 2020. World Health Organization (WHO). Noncommunicable diseases. Available at: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/noncommunicable-diseases (https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/noncommunicable-diseases). [Last accessed October 2021]. Ray K, Wright R, Kallend D, et al. Two Phase 3 Trials of Inclisiran in Patients with Elevated LDL Cholesterol. N Engl J Med. 2020;382(16):1507-1519. National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) Expert Panel on Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Cholesterol in Adults (Adult Treatment Panel III). Third Report of the National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) Expert Panel on Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Cholesterol in Adults (Adult Treatment Panel III) final report. Circulation. 2002;106(25):3143-3421. National Kidney Foundation. Global Facts: About Kidney Disease. Available at: https://www.kidney.org/kidneydisease/global-facts-about-kidney-disease (https://www.kidney.org/kidneydisease/global-facts-about-kidney-disease). [Last accessed October 2021]. Levey AS, Atkins R, Coresh J, et al. Chronic kidney disease as a global public health problem: approaches and initiatives - a position statement from Kidney Disease Improving Global Outcomes. Kidney Int. 2007;72(3):247-259. World Health Organization. Diabetes. Available at: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/diabetes (https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/diabetes). [Last accessed October 2021]. American Cancer Society. Global Cancer Facts & Figures 4th Edition. Available at: https://www.cancer.org/content/dam/cancer-org/research/cancer-facts-and-statistics/global-cancer-facts-and-figures/global-cancer-facts-and-figures-4th-edition.pdf (https://www.cancer.org/content/dam/cancer-org/research/cancer-facts-and-statistics/global-cancer-facts-and-figures/global-cancer-facts-and-figures-4th-edition.pdf). [Last accessed October 2021]. World Health Organization (WHO). Cardiovascular diseases - Data and statistics. https://www.euro.who.int/en/health-topics/noncommunicable-diseases/cardiovascular-diseases/data-and-statistics (https://www.euro.who.int/en/health-topics/noncommunicable-diseases/cardiovascular-diseases/data-and-statistics). [Last accessed October 2021].

# # #

Novartis Media Relations

E-mail: media.relations@novartis.com (mailto:media.relations@novartis.com)

Richard Jarvis

Novartis External Communications

+41 79 584 2326 (mobile)

richard.jarvis@novartis.com (mailto:richard.jarvis@novartis.com)







Julie Masow

Novartis US External Communications

+1 862 579 8456

Julie.masow@novartis.com (mailto:Julie.masow@novartis.com) Phil McNamara

Global Head, Cardio-Renal-Metabolism Communications

+41 79 510 8756 (mobile)

phil.mcnamara@novartis.com (mailto:phil.mcnamara@novartis.com)







Jamie Bennett

Director, US External Engagement

+1 862-217-3976

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Novartis Investor Relations

Central investor relations line: +41 61 324 7944

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Inspired By Sakharat Al-Maraj, "the Rock Of Ascension", and in the spirit of the historic Abraham Accords, the AlSakhra Collection - crafted with authentic Jerusalem Stone, Gold and Diamonds -- will be unveiled at the Jewelry Arabia2021 exhibition in Bahrain. The Collection was designed by Mr. Avi Tavisal, founder of the Israel Diamond Center (IDC)

TEL AVIV, Israel, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- On November 16-20, Bahrain will host the Gulf Region's most prestigious international diamonds and jewelry exhibition 'Jewellery Arabia'. For the first time, in the spirit of the Abraham Accords, the Israeli diamond industry will be represented at the exhibition.

In honor of the occasion, Mr. Avi Tavisal, founder of the Israel Diamond Center (IDC) and one of the founders of the world-leading Israel Diamond Exchange, has designed and created the AlSakhra Collection, which will be on display in the company's booth.

A stunning collection of Islamic fine jewelry and collectors' art, AlSakhra was created in the spirit of Islamic faith and culture. The choice of the name "AlSakhra" for this special collection is a reference to the Sakharat Al-Maraj "the Rock of Ascension" from which Muhammad, peace be unto him, ascended to the heavens for his Night Journey, and the beautiful gilded Dome of the Rock above it. In reverence to the Islamic faith, the Collection is crafted with authentic Jerusalem Stone, Gold and Diamonds.

Avi Tavisal immediately agreed to the Israel Diamond Exchange's request to be among the first diamond and fine jewelry dealers to represent Israel at this important exhibition. In cooperation with a team of expert craftsmen, jewelers and advisors, he captures the beauty of Islam, Islamic history and culture in a complete line of AlSakhra jewelry and a collection of one-of-a-kind sculptures crafted from Jerusalem Stone, Gold, Diamonds and Gemstones. These Masterpieces are valued at hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Mr. Shady Kheir, IDC's VP Business Development, explained, "The Abraham Accords motivated us to combine our vast experience in the diamond industry, artistic vision and great appreciation to the leaders who realized the historic peaceful relations in the region into this unique brand which has already stirred curiosity in the Gulf region.



"Israel is well known as the "Start-up Nation" and as the number one diamond exporter in the world. We are extremely delighted and honored to take part in this important event," said Kheir.

Jewellery Arabia is regularly attended by senior officials and respected dignitaries from the Emirates and all over the world. The Royal Family of Bahrain, which plays an active role in hosting the event, will be present throughout the exhibition and will take part in various related events.

Avi Tavisal, a seventh-generation Jerusalemite and member of his family's second generation engaged in the jewelry profession, said, "Today, we are making history. This is a very exciting and important development. Dealing with diamonds connects me to a very special place - diamonds saved my father's life during World War II and gave me a rare opportunity to become one of the founders of the Israeli Diamond Exchange and industry. It is a privilege to use my skills, creativity and faith to honor Islam and our partners in the historic Abraham Accords."

Link to the website - https://www.al-sakra.com

Contact -

Yair Marton

Yair@m-pr.co.il

+972-54-7620667




VYZULTA and ZERVIATE prescriptions in the U.S. increased by 35 % and 2 13 % respectively in Q 3 20 21 compared to Q 3 2020 Net Revenue of  2.4 million in the third quarter of 2021 and c ash of  32.7 million on September 3 0 , 20 2 1

October 19, 2021- release at 7:30 am CET

Sophia Antipolis, France



Nicox SA (Euronext Paris: FR0013018124, COX), an international ophthalmology company, provided business and financial highlights for Q3 2021 for Nicox SA and its subsidiaries (the "Nicox Group") as well as key expected value-inflection milestones today.



Third Quarter 2021 Financial Highlights







As of September 30, 2021, the Nicox Group had cash and cash equivalents of 32.7 million as compared with 36.5 million at June 30, 2021 and 47.2 million at December 31, 2020. The Company is financed for 12 months, based on the development of NCX 470 alone. Net revenue1 for the third quarter of 2021 was 2.4 million (including 0.7 million of net royalty payments and 1.7 million of licensing payment). Net revenue1 for the third quarter of 2020 was 0.8 million (consisting of net royalty payments and license fees from smaller markets).



As of September 30, 2021, the Nicox Group had financial debt of 18.1 million consisting of 16.1 million in the form of a bond financing agreement with Kreos Capital signed in January 2019 and a 2.0 million credit agreement guaranteed by the French State and granted in August 2020 in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.



Third Quarter 2021 and Recent Operational Highlights



VYZULTA prescriptions 2 in the U.S. increased by 35% in the third quarter of 2021 compared to the third quarter of 2020, and for Z ERVIATE the increase was 213% for the same period. Nicox reported new data on NCX 470 in a nonclinical model of retinal cell damage induced by endothelin-1. The results suggest that NCX 470 improves ocular perfusion and retinal function in damaged eyes compared to vehicle and therefore may have therapeutic properties over and above lowering of intraocular pressure.

prescriptions in the U.S. increased by 35% in the third quarter of 2021 compared to the third quarter of 2020, and for the increase was 213% for the same period. Key expected milestones



NCX 470 in glaucoma : Phase 3 clinical trials Mont Blanc and Denali results to be communicated in Q1 2023 and by the end of 2023 respectively.

Phase 3 clinical trials Mont Blanc and Denali results to be communicated in Q1 2023 and by the end of 2023 respectively. NCX 4251 in blepharitis : Meeting with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in early 2022 to discuss next development steps based on the recently announced Phase 2b trial results.

Meeting with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in early 2022 to discuss next development steps based on the recently announced Phase 2b trial results. ZERVIATETMin allergic conjunctivitis (China): A Phase 3 clinical trial intended to support an application for regulatory approval in China, conducted and financed by our partner Ocumension, is ongoing.



Only the figure related to the cash position of the Nicox Group as of December 31, 2020 is audited; all other figures in this press release are non-audited.



Notes



Net revenue consists of revenue from collaborations less royalty payments, which corresponds to Net Profit in the consolidated statements of profit and loss Bloomberg data, comparing the period of the weeks ending 9 July 2021 to 1 October 2021 with the period of the weeks ending 10 July 2020 to 2 October 2020
TOKYO, Oct 19, 2021 - (JCN Newswire) - Mitsubishi Power, a power solutions brand of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) has received an order from Snowy Hydro Limited, a dynamic, integrated energy business, for two M701F gas turbines and related auxiliaries equipment for the Hunter Power Project in New South Wales, southeastern region of Australia.The total power output of the plant will be 660MW and commercial operations are set to begin in 2023. From the standpoint of reducing CO2 emissions, the plant has a potential for up to 15% hydrogen co-firing.The power plant is located in Hunter Valley, approximately 120km north of Sydney. The project is intended to secure an alternative cleaner power supply following the scheduled shutdown of a large-scale coal-fired power plant in Australia, as well as providing the necessary dispatchable 'firmed' energy, ensuring security and stability to support the volatility that arises from intermittent renewables.Mitsubishi Power will supply the M701F gas turbines, generators, and related auxiliary equipment from Japan through Mitsubishi Power Australia Pty. Ltd. The two gas turbines will be manufactured in Takasago Machinery Works in Hyogo Prefecture, and the generators will be made by Mitsubishi Electric Corporation.Mr. Nishiyama, Managing Director and CEO of Mitsubishi Power Australia Pty. Ltd. stated "Our M701F gas turbine is one of the most efficient in F class gas turbines in the world and has a proven operation records worldwide, maintaining a high reliability rate of over 99%. We are very pleased that our M701F gas turbines will be able to contribute to the stable power supply in Australia together with increasing renewable energy. Our gas turbine is capable of operating on natural gas, or on a mixture of natural gas and hydrogen. The gas turbines can utilize up to 30% hydrogen for co-firing with current technology and can be configured in the future to operate on 100 percent hydrogen for zero-carbon emissions."Mitsubishi Power will continue its efforts to focus on promoting widespread adoption of high-efficiency, environmentally responsible thermal power generation equipment using gas turbines, in order to support the stable electric power, essential for global economic development, and contribute to the realization of a sustainable decarbonized society.About MHI GroupMitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) Group is one of the world's leading industrial groups, spanning energy, logistics & infrastructure, industrial machinery, aerospace and defense. MHI Group combines cutting-edge technology with deep experience to deliver innovative, integrated solutions that help to realize a carbon neutral world, improve the quality of life and ensure a safer world. For more information, please visit www.mhi.com or follow our insights and stories on www.spectra.mhi.com.Source: Mitsubishi Power, Ltd.Copyright 2021 JCN Newswire . All rights reserved.
AIM and Media Release

19 October 2021

BASE RESOURCES LIMITED

Quarterly Activities Report - September 2021

Key Points

Ongoing strong demand for all products supported further price increases in the quarter.

Kwale Operations mine life extended to December 2023 following finalisation of mining lease extension.

following finalisation of mining lease extension. Bumamani PFS released concluding that higher grade subsets of the Bumamani and Kwale North Dune deposits can be economically mined, which would extend Kwale mine life to mid-2024.

Three Tanzanian prospecting licences granted, with a fourth pending, and preparatory work for an exploration program commenced.

Ranobe Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves estimates updated to incorporate drilling program results.

Toliara Project scale and economics enhanced with release of DFS2.

FY21 full-year dividend of AUD4.0 cents per share paid, totalling US$34.8 million .

African mineral sands producer, Base Resources Limited (ASX & AIM: BSE) (Base Resources or the Company) is pleased to provide a quarterly operational, development and corporate update.

COVID-19 UPDATE

Base Resources continues to closely monitor the COVID-19 pandemic and its impacts on the Company's business, people and wider stakeholders. The Company's Kwale Operations in Kenya operates under a suite of controls and mitigations aimed at protecting the health and safety of our employees and neighbouring communities, including modified workplace practices and a focus on hygiene and social distancing. On site rapid antigen COVID-19 testing is utilised and employees have been encouraged to access the Government of Kenya vaccination program. The Company continues to assist governments and communities with initiatives focused on the construction of hygiene facilities, and the donation and distribution of food and medical supplies and equipment.

KWALE OPERATIONS

Production & Sales Sept 2020 Quarter Dec 2020 Quarter Mar 2021 Quarter June 2021 Quarter Sept 2021 Quarter Production (tonnes) Ilmenite 65,863 78,500 84,178 88,735 72,866 Rutile 15,513 18,171 19,448 20,116 17,762 Zircon 6,000 6,677 7,388 7,057 6,069 Zircon low grade* 426 516 482 454 506 Sales (tonnes) Ilmenite 75,502 53,798 97,179 93,959 34,107 Rutile 11,651 12,017 26,074 24,597 13,791 Zircon 7,336 6,399 6,612 7,690 5,622 Zircon low grade* 505 - 502 698 617

*Reported as tonnes of zircon concentrate which contains low grades of zircon and rutile credits.

Mining operations continued to plan on the South Dune orebody with mined tonnage decreasing due to two mining block moves during the quarter. As expected, heavy mineral (HM) grade for the quarter was lower at 3.26% (last quarter: 3.65%) due to mining commencing on the lower grade fringes of the new mining blocks.

Mining & WCP Performance Sept 2020 Quarter Dec 2020 Quarter Mar 2021 Quarter June 2021 Quarter Sept 2021 Quarter Ore mined (tonnes) 3,938,494 4,600,172 4,695,052 4,748,860 4,409,883 HM % 3.12 3.43 3.58 3.65 3.26 VHM % 2.36 2.62 2.80 2.78 2.50 HMC produced (tonnes) 103,730 142,309 149,618 162,428 133,874

Wet concentrator plant (WCP) production of heavy mineral concentrate (HMC) was lower as a consequence of the lower mined tonnes and ore grade. HMC stocks were slightly lower at 16.5kt (last quarter: 20kt). Sand tails continued to be deposited into the mined-out Central Dune area and capped with a 2m thick co-disposed slimes/sand layer to aid water retention and subsequent rehabilitation or alternate land use. Agricultural trials on the co-disposed water retention layer are proving successful. Rehabilitation of the mined-out sections of the South Dune proceeded according to plan.

MSP Performance Sept 2020 Quarter Dec 2020 Quarter Mar 2021 Quarter June 2021 Quarter Sept 2021 Quarter MSP Feed (tonnes of HMC) 114,873 134,019 145,110 160,691 137,182 MSP feed rate (tph) 61 64 69 76 64 MSP recovery % Ilmenite 100 102 102 101 100 Rutile 102 102 100 100 104 Zircon 86 87 85 86 84

Mineral separation plant (MSP) feed tonnage of 137kt was lower than the prior quarter (last quarter: 161kt), being limited by HMC feed availability. Underlying MSP product recoveries were steady, with the increase in reported rutile recoveries due to a one-off stock adjustment. Production of final products was in line with plan. Production of HMC, MSP feed and final product output are expected to increase in the coming quarter as higher-grade mining areas are accessed.

Bulk loading operations at the Company's Likoni export facility continued to run smoothly, dispatching a combined 54kt of bulk ilmenite and rutile during the quarter (last quarter: 104kt). Containerised shipments of rutile and zircon through the Mombasa Port proceeded to plan.

Summary of unit costs

& Revenue per tonne (US$) Sept 2020 Quarter Dec 2020 Quarter Mar 2021 Quarter June 2021 Quarter Sept 2021 Quarter Unit operating costs per tonne produced $189 $161 $142 $148 $174 Unit cost of goods sold per tonne sold $192 $207 $169 $202 $264 Unit revenue per tonne of product sold $413 $464 $478 $497 $668 Revenue: Cost of goods sold ratio 2.1 2.2 2.8 2.5 2.5

Total cash operating costs of US$16.9 million were steady compared to the prior quarter (last quarter at US$17.2 million), however lower production results in higher unit operating costs of US$174 per tonne produced (rutile, ilmenite, zircon and low-grade zircon) (last quarter: US$148 per tonne).

Unit cost of goods sold is influenced by both the underlying operating costs and product sales mix. Operating costs are allocated to each product based on revenue contribution, which sees the higher value rutile and zircon products attracting a higher cost per tonne than the lower value ilmenite. Therefore, the greater the sales volume of rutile and zircon relative to ilmenite in a quarter, the higher both unit revenue per tonne and unit cost of goods sold will be.

Ilmenite, and most rutile, is sold in bulk, with typical shipment sizes of 50kt for ilmenite and 10kt for rutile, which means any given quarter will usually contain either one or two bulk ilmenite and rutile sales. Zircon is sold in smaller parcels and sales generally align with production volume. Product sales mix will therefore vary depending on the number of bulk shipments of ilmenite and rutile in each quarter.

Cost of goods sold of US$264 per tonne sold (operating costs, adjusted for stockpile movements, and royalties) increased due to the sales mix (last quarter: US$202 per tonne). Average unit revenue increased to US$668 per tonne (prior quarter: US$497 per tonne) due to sales mix and increased prices for all products. Due to the above factors and the timing of sales, the revenue to cost of goods sold ratio for the quarter remained steady at 2.5 (last quarter: 2.5).

FY22 PRODUCTION GUIDANCE

Kwale Operations production guidance for the 2022 financial year remains at:

Rutile - 73,000 to 83,000 tonnes.

Ilmenite - 310,000 to 340,000 tonnes.

Zircon - 24,000 to 28,000 tonnes.

This guidance is based on the following assumptions:

Mining of 17.4Mt at an average HM grade of 3.53%.

Average MSP feed rate of 68tph.

Average MSP product recoveries of 101% for rutile, 101.5% for ilmenite and 84.5% for zircon.

The possibility of a halt to, or curtailment of, operations at some point in the future remains if a severe COVID-19 outbreak occurs on site or if government health directives change.

MARKETING

Despite the usual seasonal dip in the Chinese pigment market at the start of the northern hemisphere summer, which has since recovered, overall global pigment demand remained very strong through the quarter leading to ongoing robust demand for titanium feedstocks. As a result, pigment prices maintained upward momentum with further price increases expected in coming months.

Demand for ilmenite as a feedstock for Chinese pigment producers was again very strong in the quarter, enabling further ilmenite price gains. Increased ilmenite supply from some African sources, Vietnamese exports and Chinese domestic production through 2021 is not yet sufficient to meet demand and ilmenite prices are expected to continue their upward trend through the December quarter. However, escalating bulk freight costs to China are partially eroding these price gains.

Demand for high grade feedstocks (which includes rutile) increased significantly through the quarter as western pigment producers sought to maximise output rates and the welding consumable and titanium metal sectors continued to strengthen. The tight market for high grade feedstocks is being exacerbated by supply constraints and uncertainties at major high grade feedstock producers. Rutile prices increased through the quarter and are expected to accelerate further through the coming quarters.

Zircon demand continues to be very strong due to recoveries in all end use sectors and regions, which, when combined with limited supply and minimal inventories, has resulted in a tightening zircon market and significant upward price pressure. Zircon prices for the Company's September quarter contracts increased by approximately US$150/t from the June quarter and prices agreed for the Company's December quarter contracts have increased by an additional US$600/t.

SAFETY

There were no lost time injuries during the quarter, or in the past year, at Kwale Operations or the Toliara Project, resulting in a lost time injury frequency rate (LTIFR) for the Company of zero. Compared to the Western Australian All Mines 2019/2020 LTIFR of 2.1, this is an exceptional performance reflective of the ongoing focus and importance placed on safety by management. Base Resources group employees and contractors have now worked 25.9 million hours lost time injury (LTI) free, with the last LTI recorded in early 2014.

Two medical treatment finger injuries were recorded during the quarter. As a result, Base Resources' total recordable injury frequency rate is 0.50 per million hours worked.

COMMUNITY AND ENVIRONMENT

Kwale Operations

Base Resources has continued to assist the Kwale community through the COVID-19 pandemic, including collaborating with county and national health authorities to provide public education through community health workers.

Agricultural livelihood programs in Kwale continued through the PAVI farmer's cooperative although, with rains being significantly below average throughout most of the year, alternative drought resistant crop variants have been planted. Poultry and beekeeping continue to expand and provide farmers and community groups with substantial incomes.

Implementation of the Community Development Agreements (CDAs) with the Msambweni, Lunga and Likoni communities progressed well. Representing their respective communities, each committee undertook further training and capacity building to ensure more efficient delivery of community development projects set out in each CDA.

Rehabilitation activities on the mined-out sections of the South Dune continued in the quarter with community groups supplying indigenous legumes, grass seed and manure.

The heads of several government ministries and lead agencies visited Kwale Operations in the quarter to see the success of ongoing rehabilitation activities and the agricultural potential of rehabilitated land on the South Dune. This information sharing is key to creating awareness and understanding among stakeholders of the various options being considered for post-mining land use. Crops harvested from trial plots on the South Dune continue to be distributed to local schools and children's homes.

Toliara Project

All community training programs, and social infrastructure construction, remained on hold with the Government of Madagascar's suspension of the Toliara Project's on-the-ground activities. The 24 Malagasy apprentices, who recently completed their two-year training programs in Kenya at Kwale Operations, returned to Madagascar following their certification through the Kenyan training authority and completion of further work experience at Kwale Operations.

Base Resources partnered with local governments and community health groups in the Toliara region to provide additional support to vulnerable communities affected by COVID-19, including programs to address food insecurity and hygiene.

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

Toliara Project development - Madagascar

In November 2019, the Government of Madagascar required the Company to suspend on-the-ground activity on the Toliara Project while discussions on fiscal terms applying to the project were progressed. Activity remains suspended as Base Resources continues to engage with the Government in relation to the country's Large Mining Investment Law regime, fiscal terms applicable to the Toliara Project and the lifting of the on-the-ground suspension.

In September, updated Ranobe Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves estimates were released, incorporating available assay results from the 2018/19 drill program. This resulted in the Ranobe Mineral Resources almost doubling to 2,580Mt (597Mt Measured, 793Mt Indicated, 1,190Mt Inferred) at an average HM grade of 4.3% and Ore Reserves contained heavy mineral tonnes increasing by 45% to 55Mt (30Mt Proved, 25Mt Probable) at 6.1% HM grade.1

The substantially increased Ranobe Ore Reserves estimate, combined with the attractive long-term supply-demand outlook for mineral sands, provided the opportunity for Base Resources to complete an enhanced Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS2) for the Toliara Project incorporating an increase in scale, the outcomes of which were released in September 2021. DFS2, compared to the 2019 DFS, has delivered a substantial improvement in the forecast financial returns for the Toliara Project, including a post-tax/pre-debt (real) NPV10 of US$1.0 billion and an average revenue to cost of sales ratio of 3.5, over an initial 38-year mine life.2

The DFS2 schedule assumes construction will commence at the start of 2023, at a capital cost of US$520 million, which would see production starting in early 2025. However, timing of the Final Investment Decision (FID) to proceed with the construction of the Toliara Project remains subject to lifting of the suspension of on-the-ground activities and agreeing acceptable fiscal terms with the Government of Madagascar. Once these two key milestones are achieved, there will be approximately 11 months' work to complete prior to reaching FID, including finalising funding, completing the land acquisition process, concluding major construction contracts and entering into offtake agreements with customers. Resumption of reasonable international travel will also be required to complete a significant portion of this pre-FID work and the Company maintains readiness to accelerate progress when conditions support.

Total expenditure on the Toliara Project for the quarter was US$2.1 million (last quarter: US$3.1 million).

[Notes:

(1)For further information, refer to Base Resources' announcement on 27 September 2021 "Updated Ranobe Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves estimates". Base Resources confirms that it is not aware of any new information or data that materially affects the information in this announcement and that all material assumptions and technical parameters underpinning the estimates in that announcement continue to apply and have not materially changed.

(2)Forfurther information, refer to Base Resources' announcement on 27 September 2021 "DFS2 enhances scale and economics of the Toliara Project". Base Resources confirms that all the material assumptions underpinning the production information and forecast financial information in this announcement continue to apply and have not materially changed.]

Kwale mine life extension

Significant progress was made in the quarter to extend mine life at Kwale Operations.

In anticipation of completing tenure arrangements to extend the boundary of Kwale's Special Mining Lease 23 (SML 23), the Kwale South Dune Ore Reserves estimate was updated to incorporate previously defined Mineral Resources falling outside of SML 23, resulting in Ore Reserves of 40Mt (30Mt Proved, 11Mt Probable) at an average grade of 3.3% for 1.3Mt of contained HM as at 30 June 2021.3 The Company subsequently finalised a Deed of Variation with the Government of Kenya to extend the boundary of SML 23 to incorporate these additional South Dune Ore Reserves, taking mine life to December 2023.

In addition, Base Resources completed the Bumamani pre-feasibility study (PFS) which concluded that it was economically viable to mine higher-grade subsets of the Bumamani and Kwale North Dune (P199) deposits, which would extend mine life at Kwale Operations by a further 7.5 months to July 2024.4 A DFS is now underway to improve the accuracy of project estimates and is expected to be completed in the first half of 2022.

Refer to the full PDF version of this announcement, available from Base Resources' website (https://baseresources.com.au/investors/announcements/), for a map showing the extended boundary of SML 23 and the location of the P199 higher grade subsets.

[Notes:

(3): For further information, refer to Base Resources' announcement on 20 August 2021 "Updated Kwale South Dune Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves estimates". Base Resources confirms that it is not aware of any new information or data that materially affects the information in this announcement and that all material assumptions and technical parameters underpinning the estimates in that announcement continue to apply and have not materially changed.

(4): For further information, refer to Base Resources' announcements on 3 September 2021 "Bumamani PFS supports extension of Kwale mine life" and "Further supporting information for Bumamani PFS". Base Resources confirms that all the material assumptions underpinning the production information and forecast financial information in these announcements continue to apply and have not materially changed.]

Extensional exploration - Kenya & Tanzania

No further work was conducted on Vanga Prospecting License (PL/2015/0042) in the quarter and completion of the remaining drilling program (4,200 metres) in the North-East Sector (Kwale East) of PL 2018/0119 remains on hold pending community access being secured.

Prospecting licence applications lodged for an area in the Kuranze region of Kwale county, about 70 km west of Kwale Operations (applications 2019 0260, 2510 and 2512), together with an area south of Lamu (applications 2019 0263, 0265, 0266), remain in progress towards granting. An additional prospecting licence application has been lodged for the area surrounded by the Kuranze applications in Kenya, however application numbers and boundaries have not yet been issued. A Government of Kenya moratorium on the issuance of prospecting licences in November 2019 has affected the progress of all licence applications. The Company continues to work with the Government, and other mining sector stakeholders, to see the moratorium lifted and recommencement of the issuance of mineral rights.

During the quarter, the Company received three prospecting licences in Tanzania for areas adjacent to the Kuranze region in Kenya with a fourth licence pending. Training of a Tanzanian exploration field team is underway ahead of an auger drilling program planned to commence in the December quarter.

Refer to the full PDF version of this announcement, available from Base Resources' website (https://baseresources.com.au/investors/announcements/), for a map showing the location of the Company's Tanzanian prospecting licences and remaining prospecting licence application, and Kuranze prospecting licence applications.

Expenditure on exploration activities in Kenya during the quarter was US$0.3 million (last quarter: US$0.1 million) and in Tanzania was US$0.1 million (last quarter: zero).

CORPORATE

FY21 full-year dividend payment

Following release of the Company's FY21 annual financial results, the disciplined application of the Company's capital management policy saw a full-year dividend of AUD 4.0 cents per share (unfranked) paid to shareholders on 29 September 2021, representing a cash payment of US$34.8 million (in aggregate). This takes total dividends in respect of FY21 to US$61.4 million, representing AUD 7.0 cents per share (unfranked).

Kenyan VAT receivable and Kwale royalty rate

During the period Base Titanium Limited, Base Resources' wholly owned Kenyan Subsidiary, and the Government of Kenya signed Deeds of Variation for the Kwale SML 23 that amended the mining lease boundary and increased the rate of royalties payable5 to the Government of Kenya, such that:

For the period from the date of first export of minerals to 30 June 2018, the royalty is increased to 3%.

For the period from 1 July 2018 to the end of SML 23, the royalty is increased to 5%.

[Note (5): For further information, refer to Base Resources' announcement on 30 September 2021 "Kwale mining lease extension secured and royalty discussions finalised".]

Prior to being varied, the applicable royalty rate under SML 23 was 2.5% and it is on this basis that royalties have been paid. However, from first export of minerals, royalty costs have been provided for, and expensed, by the Company at an assumed royalty rate of 5%, based on an expected outcome from the long running discussions with the Government of Kenya. In consideration for entry into the Deeds of Variation, in particular agreement to a royalty for the period to 30 June 2018 at a rate lower than had been accrued, Base Titanium withdrew its claim for refund of VAT receivables related to the construction of Kwale Operations.

On the basis of values at 30 June 2021, the net effect of the above is:

Payment by Base Titanium of US$18.6 million for the agreed increases in royalty rates, consisting of the 0.5% increase for the period to 30 June 2018 and the 2.5% increase for the period from 1 July 2018.The related accruals will be extinguished.

for the agreed increases in royalty rates, consisting of the 0.5% increase for the period to and the 2.5% increase for the period from 1 July 2018.The related accruals will be extinguished. A net US$3.2 million expense will be recorded in the Company's financial statements, consisting of the write back of the excess 2% royalty accrual for the period to 30 June 2018 , totalling US$12.8 million , and the write-off of the construction period VAT receivable of US$16.0 million .

The above additional royalty payments are due in the December quarter.

Base Resources continues to have refund claims for VAT paid in Kenya relating to the period since operations commenced, which totalled approximately US$4.5 million at 30 September 2021. No VAT refunds were received during the quarter (last quarter: nil).

In summary, as at 30 September 2021:

Net cash of US$36.7 million consisting of: Cash and cash equivalents of US$36.7 million . No debt.

consisting of:

As at 18 October 2021:

1,178,011,850 fully paid ordinary shares on issue.

62,435,197 performance rights on issue pursuant to the terms of the Base Resources Long Term Incentive Plan, comprising: 13,835,392 vested performance rights, which remain subject to exercise 6 . 48,599,805 unvested performance rights subject to performance testing in accordance with their terms of issue.



[Note (6): Vested performance rights have a nil cash exercise price. Unless exercised beforehand, these rights expire five years after vesting.]

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

Certain statements in or in connection with this announcement contain or comprise forward looking statements. Such statements may include, but are not limited to, statements with regard to future production and grades, capital cost, capacity, sales projections and financial performance and may be (but are not necessarily) identified by the use of phrases such as "will", "expect", "anticipate", "believe" and "envisage". By their nature, forward looking statements involve risk and uncertainty because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that will occur in the future and may be outside Base Resources' control. Accordingly, results could differ materially from those set out in the forward-looking statements as a result of, among other factors, changes in economic and market conditions, success of business and operating initiatives, changes in the regulatory environment and other government actions, fluctuations in product prices and exchange rates and business and operational risk management. Subject to any continuing obligations under applicable law or relevant stock exchange listing rules, Base Resources undertakes no obligation to update publicly or release any revisions to these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after today's date or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

ENDS.

For further information contact:

James Fuller, Manager Communications and Investor Relations UK Media Relations Base Resources Tavistock Communications Tel: +61 (8) 9413 7426 Jos Simson and Gareth Tredway Mobile: +61 (0) 488 093 763 Tel: +44 (0) 207 920 3150 Email: jfuller@baseresources.com.au

About Base Resources

Base Resources is an Australian based, African focused, mineral sands producer and developer with a track record of project delivery and operational performance. The Company operates the established Kwale Operations in Kenya and is developing the Toliara Project in Madagascar. Base Resources is an ASX and AIM listed company. Further details about Base Resources are available at www.baseresources.com.au

PRINCIPAL & REGISTERED OFFICE

Level 3, 46 Colin Street

West Perth, Western Australia, 6005

Email: info@baseresources.com.au

Phone: +61 (0)8 9413 7400

Fax: +61 (0)8 9322 8912

NOMINATED ADVISOR

RFC Ambrian Limited

Stephen Allen

Phone: +61 (0)8 9480 2500

JOINT BROKER

Berenberg

Matthew Armitt / Detlir Elezi

Phone: +44 20 3207 7800

JOINT BROKER

Canaccord Genuity

Raj Khatri / James Asensio / Patrick Dolaghan

Phone: +44 20 7523 8000


PERTH, AUSTRALIA / ACCESSWIRE / October 19, 2021 / Centamin plc ("Centamin", "Group"or "the Company") (LSE:CEY)(TSX:CEE)

QUARTERLY REPORT

for the three months ended 30 September 2021

MARTIN HORGAN, CEO, commented: "This quarter marked another period of solid operational delivery. We entered the final quarter in a good position and remain firmly on track to meet our stated guidance for 2021. As outlined at the recent Geology capital markets event, the Company has been busy progressing several growth projects at the same time as delivering the Sukari operational reset. Centamin continues to generate positive free cash flow whilst delivering increased investment into key capital projects, underpinning the long-term sustainability of Sukari. Further to this, we very much look forward to updating the market on the results of our Sukari Life of Asset optimisation work, which we expect to announce on Wednesday the 1st of December."

HIGHLIGHTS

Solid operational performance

Gold production for the third quarter ("Q3") was slightly ahead of schedule at 103,546 ounces ("oz"), bringing production for the nine months of the year ("YTD") to 307,821 oz, and the Company remains on track to achieve 2021 production guidance

Revenue generated of US$182.9 million from gold sales of 103,514 oz at an average realised gold price of US$1,764/oz sold

Cash costs of US$846/oz produced (YTD: US$ 820/oz) and all-in sustaining costs ("AISC") of US$1,266/oz sold (YTD: US$1,197/oz), and the Company remains on track to achieve 2021 cost guidance

Adjusted Group free cash flow of US$6.9 million (YTD: US$23.8m) was ahead of budget reflecting stronger gold price partially offset by increased mining costs driven by more open pit material mined

Growth capital projects progressed on schedule with US$67.6 million of capital expenditure ("capex") (YTD: US$146.9m)

Egyptian exploration bid round terms signed and finalised, securing c.3,000km 2 of highly prospective greenfield landholding within the Eastern Desert of the Egyptian Arabian Nubian Shield

of highly prospective greenfield landholding within the Eastern Desert of the Egyptian Arabian Nubian Shield Strong balance sheet with no debt, no hedging and cash and liquid assets of US$256.1 million, as at 30 September 2021, after US$46.1 million interim dividend distribution on 30 September 2021

Full COVID-19 protocols remain in place and operations, supply chains and gold shipments have not been materially impacted.

OUTLOOK

On track to meet full year 2021 guidance

Gold production guidance maintained: 400,000 to 430,000 oz, targeting the midpoint of 415,000 ounces

Cost guidance maintained: cash costs of US$800-900/oz produced and AISC of US$1,150-1,250/oz sold, targeting the lower half of both the guidance ranges

Capex guidance maintained: US$225 million, with a 65% spend in H2 (previously 55%) due to timing adjustments to the payment schedule

Exploration expenditure guidance maintained at US$17 million

The Company will publish updated Sukari Mineral Reserve and Resource statements and the results of the Sukari Life of Asset (Phase 2) optimisation work programme on Wednesday 1 December 2021.

WEBCAST AND CONFERENCE CALL

The Company will host a webcast and conference call today, Tuesday, 19 October at 08.30 BST to discuss the results, followed by an opportunity to ask questions.

Webcast link: https://www.investis-live.com/centamin/6156f486e7d5c90c00312729/iewlw

Dial-in telephone numbers:

United Kingdom (and all other locations) +44 (0) 203 936 2999

United States +1 646 664 1960

South Africa +27 (0) 87 550 8441

Participation access code: 291583

RESULTS SUMMARY

QoQ comparative YoY comparative Q3 2021 Q2 2021 % Q3 2020 % YTD 2021 OPEN PIT Total material mined (kt) 31,656 25,585 24% 17,682 79% 79,824 Ore mined (kt) 2,915 3,031 (4%) 3,805 (23%) 9,708 Ore grade mined (g/t Au) 1.02 0.76 34% 1.01 1% 0.84 Ore grade milled (g/t Au) 1.05 0.87 21% 1.28 (18%) 0.94 UNDERGROUND Ore mined (kt) 201 223 (10%) 139 45% 594 Ore grade mined (g/t Au) 4.47 4.67 (4%) 5.38 (17%) 4.94 PROCESSING Ore processed (kt) 2,885 2,804 3% 2,931 (2%) 8,706 Feed grade (g/t Au) 1.29 1.18 10% 1.48 (13%) 1.21 Gold recovery (%) 88.7 89.3 (1%) 87.4 2% 89.1 Gold production (oz) 103,546 100,228 3% 128,240 (19%) 307,821 COST & SALES Gold sold (oz) 103,514 97,229 6% 118,617 (13%) 307,316 Cash costs (US$/oz produced) 846 883 (4%) 682 24% 820 AISC (US$/oz sold) 1,266 1,232 3% 961 32% 1,197 Realised gold price (US$/oz) 1,764 1,822 (3%) 1,933 (9%) 1,787 Revenue (US$m) 182.9 177.5 3% 229.6 (20%) 550.3 CAPEX (US$m) 67.6 41.6 63% 38.7 75% 146.9 Free Cash Flow (US$m) 6.9 6.9 0% 36.3 (81%) 23.8

FOR MORE INFORMATION please visit the website www.centamin.com or contact:

Centamin plc Alexandra Barter-Carse, Corporate Communications

+44 (0) 7700 713 738

investor@centaminplc.com Buchanan Bobby Morse/ Ariadna Peretz/ James Husband

+ 44 (0) 20 7466 5000

centamin@buchanan.uk.com

HEALTH AND SAFETY

Operational safety remains a focus throughout the Group in creating a safe work environment which supports a healthy and productive workforce. In Q3, there were zero lost time injuries ("LTI") (YTD: four) therefore resulting in a lost time injury frequency rate ("LTIFR") of zero (YTD: 0.51 per 1,000,000 site-based hours worked). The total recordable injury frequency rate ("TRIFR") for Q3 was 3.84 per one million site-based hours worked (YTD: 3.60). Both lagging indicators are better than targeted for the year.

In Q3, Centamin experienced no material production, sales or supply chain disruptions due to COVID-19 at Sukari or the exploration projects in West Africa. Full COVID-19 protocols remain in place.

PRODUCTION

(Q3 2021 vs Q2 2021)

Sukari gold production for the quarter was 103,546 oz, a 3% improvement QoQ and slightly ahead of budget. Year-to-date gold production for the first nine months of the year was 307,821 oz and remains on track to meet 2021 guidance.

Open Pit Mining

Record quarterly total material moved (waste + ore) of 31.7Mt (YTD: 79.8Mt), a 24% increase QoQ, driven by improved operating efficiencies and productivities leading to continued owner-operator fleet outperformance and contract-mining reaching capacity run rate ahead of schedule.

Open pit ore mining in Q3 continued to focus on the Stage 5 North and Stage 4 West areas. Total open pit ore mined for the quarter was 2.9Mt (YTD: 9.7Mt), a 4% reduction QoQ, at an average mined grade of 1.02 grams of gold per tonne ("g/t Au") (YTD: 0.84 g/t Au), a 34% improvement QoQ driven by scheduled higher grades delivered from Stage 4 West.

Record total open pit waste material mined for the quarter was 28.7Mt (YTD: 70.1Mt), a 27% increase QoQ, driven by the continued ramp up of the open pit waste-stripping programme. The owner-operated fleet moved 20.3Mt and the contract-miner moved 8.4Mt of waste material. The strip ratio for the quarter was 9.9:1 (waste:ore) (YTD: 7.2:1). Collectively, year to date, the owner operator and contractor have outperformed the schedule by 17%.

Underground Mining

Total material mined (waste + ore) of 301kt (YTD: 871kt), a 4% reduction QoQ.

Total ore mined was 201kt (YTD: 594kt) at an average combined (stoping and development) grade of 4.47g/t Au (YTD: 4.94 g/t). In line with the mine plan, this represented a 10% reduction in ore tonnes QoQ and a 4% reduction in grade QoQ.

The underground ore split was 138kt of ore mined from stopes, at an average grade of 4.69g/t Au, and 63kt of ore mined from development, at an average grade of 4.00g/t Au.

The Sukari underground mining tender process progressed well during the quarter. The independently run process has reached the evaluation phase, including assessing several competitive contractor proposals and a cost and risk benefit analysis of both contract-mining versus owner-operator mining the underground operations.

Processing

The plant processed 2.9Mt of ore (YTD: 8.7Mt), a 3% increase QoQ, at an average feed grade of 1.29g/t Au (YTD: 1.21 g/t), a 10% improvement QoQ. There were several planned maintenance projects completed during the quarter, including mill relining and polyurethane coating spray.

The metallurgical gold recovery rate was 88.7% for the quarter (YTD:89.1%), less than a 1% reduction QoQ.

During the quarter, the low-grade stockpiles increased from 18.8Mt to 18.9Mt at 0.46g/t Au.

CAPITAL PROJECTS

Total capex in Q3 was US$67.6 million (YTD: US$146.9m), which was an 63% increase QoQ and in line with full year budget. Sukari capital projects progressed well including the second tailings storage facility ("TSF2"), solar plant construction, equipment rebuild programme, development of the underground paste-fill plant and processing plant optimisation work.

SALES AND COSTS

Gold sales for the quarter were in line with budget at 103,514oz (YTD: 307,316 oz), a 6% improvement QoQ. The average realised gold price for the quarter was US$1,764/oz (YTD: US$1,787/oz), down 3% QoQ. Revenues generated of US$182.9 million (YTD: US$550.3m), increased by 3% QoQ, driven by higher gold sales and offset by lower realised gold price.

Total cash costs of production were slightly better than budget at US$87.6 million for the quarter (YTD: US$252.3m), a 1% reduction QoQ, with lower underground costs partially offsetting higher fuel prices and increased open pit costs due to more material moved. Unit cash costs of production were US$846/oz produced (YTD: US$820/oz), a 4% reduction QoQ.

Total all-in sustaining costs ("AISC") were slightly ahead of budget at US$131.1 million for the quarter (YTD: US$367.9m), as the open pit contractor waste-stripping programme ramped up to full capacity. This marked an 9% increase in AISC QoQ, predominantly reflecting higher than scheduled sustaining capital expenditure in the quarter. Unit AISC of US$1,266/oz sold (YTD: US$1,197/oz), a 3% increase QoQ, reflecting higher costs offset by higher gold sales.

FINANCIAL POSITION

Free Cash Flow

Under the terms of the Sukari Concession Agreement, the Egyptian government earned US$5.5 million in royalty payments (YTD: US$16.5m) and received US$15.5 million in profit share payments during the quarter (YTD: US$61.2m). After Sukari profit share distribution, Group exploration expenditure and corporate investing activities, Group free cash flow for the quarter was US$6.9 million (YTD: US$23.8m).

The Company is in a strong financial position, with net cash and liquid assets to US$256.1 million as at 30 September 2021, and after distribution of the 2021 interim dividend totalling US$46.1 million. The Company remains unhedged and debt-free.

EXPLORATION

Total exploration expenditure in the quarter was US$2.7 million (YTD: US$7.5m).

Doropo Project (Cote d'Ivoire): Pre-feasibility study ("PFS") progressed throughout the quarter, including commencing the 70,000 metre reverse circulation and environmental and social impact assessment ("ESIA") baseline work programme. The PFS remains on track for completion during mid-2022.

ABC Project (Cote d'Ivoire): An updated Mineral Resource estimate was announced in September, doubling the gold Mineral Resource to 2.16Moz @ 0.93 g/t Inferred. A further contiguous permit was secured - the Windou permit - which extends the landholding along the Sassandra Fault system to 90km. Soil sampling ongoing across all three permits, Farako-Nafana, Kona and Windou with the aim of delineating additional exploration targets for further investigation.

Egyptian Bid Round: Finalised and signed exploration terms, securing c.3,000km2 of highly prospective greenfield acreage within the Eastern Desert of the Egyptian Arabian Nubian Shield:

 Nugrus Block (1,086km2) - the licenses surrounding the Sukari Mining Concession targeting potential satellite deposits and low capex mill feed to the Sukari processing plant

 Najd Block (1,374km2) - located 100km northwest of Sukari in the Central Eastern Desert, exploring for a potential standalone operation

 Um Rus Block (524km2) - is a new block of licenses, located 40km north of Sukari, exploring for a potential standalone operation. Note: The previously announced Samyoky Block (705km2) has been relinquished for the preferred Um Rus block.

ENDNOTES

Guidance

The Company actively monitors the developments of the COVID-19 pandemic and guidance may be impacted if the workforce or operation are disrupted.

Financials

Financial data points included within this report are unaudited.

Non-GAAP measures

This statement includes certain financial performance measures which are non-GAAP measures as defined under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). These include Cash costs of production, AISC, Cash and liquid assets, and Free cash flow. Management believes these measures provide valuable additional information for users of the financial statements to understand the underlying trading performance. Definitions and explanation of the measures used along with reconciliation to the nearest IFRS measures are detailed in the Company's 2020 Annual Report https://www.centamin.com/investors/results-reports/.

Royalties

Royalties are accrued and paid six months in arrears.

Cash and liquid assets

Cash and liquid assets include cash, bullion on hand, gold sales receivables and financial assets at fair value through profit or loss.

Forward-looking Statements

This announcement (including information incorporated by reference) contains "forward-looking statements" and "forward-looking information" under applicable securities laws (collectively, "forward-looking statements"), including statements with respect to future financial or operating performance. Generally, these forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "believes", "expects", "expected", "budgeted", "forecasts" and "anticipates". Although Centamin believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, Centamin can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Forward-looking statements are prospective in nature and are not based on historical facts, but rather on current expectations and projections of the management of Centamin about future events and are therefore subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially from the future results expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. In addition, there are a number of factors that could cause actual results, performance, achievements or developments to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements; the risks and uncertainties associated with the ongoing impacts of COVID-19 or other pandemic, general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties; the results of exploration activities and feasibility studies; assumptions in economic evaluations which prove to be inaccurate; currency fluctuations; changes in project parameters; future prices of gold and other metals; possible variations of ore grade or recovery rates; accidents, labour disputes and other risks of the mining industry; climatic conditions; political instability; decisions and regulatory changes enacted by governmental authorities; delays in obtaining approvals or financing or completing development or construction activities; and discovery of archaeological ruins. 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 information or statements, particularly in light of the current economic climate and the significant volatility, uncertainty and disruption caused by the outbreak of COVID-19. Forward-looking statements contained herein are made as of the date of this announcement and the Company disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.

LEI: 213800PDI9G7OUKLPV84

Company No: 109180

This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact rns@lseg.com or visit www.rns.com.

SOURCE: Centamin PLC

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/668630/Centamin-PLC-Announces-Q3-2021-Report
Launch of work for a new set of commercial assets in Combani, Mayotte

A first investment of 23 million for 72,118 sq ft of leasable area

More than 75% of space commited with Carrefour, Mr. Bricolage, C'TAM and Distrimax

Delivery: 2nd half of 2023

CBo Territoria has announced the start of construction of a shopping center in Combani, Mayotte, for a total investment of 23 million. Commercial leases were signed with CARREFOUR, Mr.BRICOLAGE, C'TAM and DISTRIMAX.

The delivery of the shopping center is scheduled for the 2nd half of 2023. The completion of the site's preparation and the construction work have been assigned to the COLAS group.

This large-scale operation is fully in line with the Group's strategy to increase its ownership of tertiary assets.

The creation of the equipment is financed by the Banque des Territoires and the Agence Francaise de Developpement (French Development Agency, AFD), in equal shares.

Marketed to date at 79% of the total surface area, the commercial package will include:

A shopping center of 61,354 sq ft net usable area, including:

A Carrefour supermarket on 20,667 sq ft

A Mr. Bricolage store on 12,917 sq ft

A C'TAM personal and home equipment business on 12,917 sq ft

A shopping gallery of 17 shops on 15,069 sq ft

A sales counter and its 10,280 sq ft of warehouse for the Cananga group, under the Distrimax brand

Located in the town of Combani, the future equipment will benefit from a strategic central position on the island. At the crossroads of departmental roads linking the North, South and West of the territory, the new center satisfies the need of commercial equipment in the area.

In continuity with the shopping center, CBo Territoria also owns 215,278 sq ft of land, which has been granted a development permit and on which real estate projects in the Land and Promotion sectors will be developed, in particular to meet the needs of local institutional stakeholders.

Mayotte, French department since 2011, supported by a government plan of 1,3 billion, is a territory well known by CBo Territoria. In 2016, the Group acquired a commercial asset of 24,757 sq ft, that houses the C'TAM brand of the Cananga Group, a historical partner of CBo Territoria in Mayotte. In 2018, CBo Territoria created Kinga, the largest Mahorese Business Center, with an area of 146,389 sq ft, of which 108 716 sq ft were sold in Real Estate Development and 405 520 sq ft are retained as tertiary assets by the Group and are fully leased to institutional players.

 The commitment of leading brands in the operation of this new commercial complex reflects our confidence in the development of this flagship project for the French department of Mayotte. We welcome our partnership with the company Colas and our financiers Banque des Territoires and Agence Francaise de Developpement (French Development Agency, AFD) on this iconic project says Eric Wuillai, CEO of CBo Territoria.

About CBo Territoria

Leading property developer and planner in Reunion Island and Mayotte, CBo Territoria is a real estate operator listed on Euronext C (FR0010193979, CBOT), and eligible for the PEA PME (Leveraged Share Savings Plan for the SME).

The Group has been in the Top 10 (compartment C) of the Gaia Index for 5 years for its ESG approach and relies on best practices for its governance.

Owner of 2950 hectares, the Group aims mostly to become a multi-regional Tertiary Property company, whose development is co-funded by its promotional activity.

www.cboterritoria.com

Contacts

INVESTOR RELATIONS TEAM

Caroline Clapier

Administrative and Financial Manager

direction@cboterritoria.com PARIS MEDIA RELATIONS TEAM

dmorin@capvalue.fr REUNION MEDIA RELATIONS TEAM

Catherine Galatoire

06 92 65 65 79

cgalatoire@cboterritoria.com

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Figure 1: Principle of targeted alpha therapy(TAT)



Figure 2: Method of 225Ac production using an electron linear accelerator

TOKYO, Oct 19, 2021 - (JCN Newswire) - Hitachi, Ltd. (TSE: 6501), Tohoku University and Kyoto University have become the world's first (1) to establish technology for the highly efficient and high-quality production of actinium-225 (225Ac), a substance required for a form of radiation therapy known as targeted alpha therapy (TAT). TAT is a new cancer therapy which combines a substance that emits alpha particles which destroy cancer cells with a compound that selectively accumulates in cancer cells. The combined alpha-emitting agent is administered to a patient to attack cancer cells within the body (Figure 1). It is known to be effective against forms of cancers that are difficult to treat with existing methods of treatment, including cancer cells that are spread widely through the body, and its practical applications are eagerly awaited. The three-party team has now established technology that enables production of high-quality 225Ac in an efficient manner without producing impurities, which are usually difficult to separate, by using an electron linear accelerator (2) with radium-226 (226Ra) as a source material.Hitachi, Tohoku University, and Kyoto University will continue research and development efforts to bring this production technology into commercial use, to help put TAT into clinical practice and ultimately improve cancer patients' quality of life (QoL). In addition, Hitachi is set to start a study to evaluate the applicability (3) of 225Ac produced using this new technology in pharmaceutical products in October 2021 in collaboration with the National Cancer Center Japan. Hitachi makes effort to pursue research and development that promotes the Security & Safety (healthy and comfortable life for each individual) of society.Types of radiation therapy include external and internal. External radiation uses beams of radiation delivered outside the body to target cancer cells, while internal radiation involves internal delivery of radiation. TAT is a form of treatment in which alpha-emitting agents are administered into the body to selectively target cancer cells, while producing fewer side effects. It is a potentially promising form of treatment especially for cancers that are difficult to treat with existing methods, including advanced cancer where cells are spread widely through the body. Following a report*4 of its high therapeutic effects in patients with metastatic prostate cancer, therapies using 225Ac as an alpha-emitter have been studied for their efficacy and safety in clinical trials (5) across the world. However, the only established method of producing 225Ac that has been one that uses thorium-229, a nuclear material (6) that is difficult to handle, and it produces only a small amount of 225Ac (63 GBq/y).(7) This has posed obstacles to any widespread use of TAT, as 225Ac is not available in a sufficient amount.To tackle the situation, Hitachi, Tohoku University's Research Center for Electron- Photon Science, and Kyoto University's Institute for Integrated Radiation and Nuclear Science have joined forces to develop a method of producing 225Ac that does not involve nuclear material by applying technologies Hitachi has accumulated in the fields of particle therapy and nuclear power generation. Together, they have successfully established for the first time technology for highly efficient and high-quality production of 225Ac that uses an electron linear accelerator with 226Ra as the source material. This production method involves the use of highly penetrating bremsstrahlung radiation (8) to irradiate 226Ra. In addition to being an efficient production method, it also produces high-quality 225Ac because it does not produce impurities that are difficult to separate (Figure 2).The team has conducted a proof-of-principle test on the production of 225Ac using a small amount of 226Ra, and collected detailed data on 226Ra's photonuclear reactions.(9) Based on the findings from the test, the team, in a joint research project with the addition of researchers from Tohoku University's Institute for Materials Research, who own the technology to handle large amounts of radium, has succeeded in producing approximately 370 kBq of 225Ac, an amount that is sufficient for the future evaluation of its applicability in pharmaceutical products. This represents a major step forward for commercial application of this production method, such that the amount of 225Ac currently produced globally in a year (63 GBq/y) (7) can be produced in one day.(10)Parts of these results will be shared as a Top Rated Oral Presentation at the 34th Annual Congress of the European Association of Nuclear Medicine, (11) which takes place October 20-23, 2021.(1) World's first as a technology that uses an electron linear accelerator to produce 225Ac through a photonuclear reaction of226Ra as a source material.(2) A type of linear particle accelerator that accelerates electrons to produce a high-energy beam.(3) An evaluation of levels of efficiency and stability of 225Ac in being bound to drug.(4) C. Kratochwil et al., J Nucl Med. 2016, vol.57, p1941-1944.(5) A scientific research method that looks into the efficacy and safety of a new medicine or therapy in healthy adult or patient populations.(6) A material that makes nuclear fuel in nuclear power stations ( uranium, plutonium, thorium)(7) A. K. H. Robertson et al., Curr. Radiopharm., 2018, vol.11, p156-172.(8) Electromagnetic radiation produced by irradiating target metal with high-energy electrons.(9) A type of nuclear reaction that is caused by high-energy photons (such as bremsstrahlung).(10) Estimates were made based on the results of simulations using theoretical values of reaction cross -section (reaction probability) and the amounts of 225Ac produced at the proof-of-principle testing.(11) The 34th Annual Congress of the European Association of Nuclear Medicine (EANM2021). https://eanm21.eanm.org/About Hitachi, Ltd.Hitachi, Ltd. (TSE: 6501), headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is contributed to a sustainable society with a higher quality of life by driving innovation through data and technology as the Social Innovation Business. Hitachi is focused on strengthening its contribution to the Environment, the Resilience of business and social infrastructure as well as comprehensive programs to enhance Security & Safety. Hitachi resolves the issues faced by customers and society across six domains: IT, Energy, Mobility, Industry, Smart Life and Automotive Systems through its proprietary Lumada solutions. The company's consolidated revenues for fiscal year 2020 (ended March 31, 2021) totaled 8,729.1 billion yen ($78.6 billion), with 871 consolidated subsidiaries and approximately 350,000 employees worldwide. For more information on Hitachi, please visit the company's website at https://www.hitachi.com.About TohokuU's Research Center for Electron-Photon ScienceThe Research Center for Electron-Photon Science (ELPH) is a research institute affiliated with Tohoku University. Equipped with an electron linear accelerator and an electron booster-synchrotron accelerator, ELPH has a capacity of generating up to 1.3- GeV electron or photon beams and provides them for use in scientific experiments by researchers through the national "Joint Usage" scheme. In addition to promoting research in the structure and nature of materials in a wide range of fields, from quarks and hadrons which are found in atomic nuclei to materials science. ELPH pursues leading-edge research in accelerator science and beam physics to help make it possible to conduct beam-based experiments that are even more advanced.About TohokuU's Institute for Materials ResearchThe Institute for Materials Research (IMR) is a research institute affiliated with Tohoku University, which is dedicated to research into scientific principles related to material- based sciences and their applications. By combining science with engineering, IMR is engaged in research and educational activities in the field of materials science, covering both fundamental and applied research.About KyotoU's Institute for Integrated Radiation and Nuclear ScienceThe Institute for Integrated Radiation and Nuclear Science at Kyoto University is engaged in isotope application chemistry research and educational activities in a wide range of fields, including physics, chemistry, biology, engineering, agriculture and medicine, using two research reactors (KUR and KUCA) and accelerators, as a designated research center under the Joint Usage / Research Center in National Universities scheme.Contacts:For more information, use the enquiry form below to contact the Research &Development Group, Hitachi, Ltd. Please make sure to include the title of the article.https://www8.hitachi.co.jp/inquiry/hqrd/news/en/form.jspResearch Center for Electron Photon Science (ELPH), Tohoku University Hidetoshi Kikunaga, Associate Professor1-2-1 Mikamine, Taihaku-ku, Sendai, Miyagi 982-0826 JAPANPhone: +81-22-743-3425E-mail:kikunaga@lns.tohoku.ac.jpLaboratory of Alpha-Ray Emitters, Institute for Materials Research, Tohoku University Kenji Shirasaki, Head of Laboratory / Senior Assistant Professor2-1-1 Katahira, Aoba- ku, Sendai, Miyagi 980-8577 JAPANPhone: +81-22-215-2161E-mail: kshira@imr.tohoku.ac.jpInstitute for Integrated Radiation and Nuclear Science, Kyoto University2-1010, Asashiro-Nishi, Kumatori-cho, Sennan-gun, Osaka 590-0494 JAPANPhone: +81-72-451-2300Source: Hitachi, Ltd.Copyright 2021 JCN Newswire . All rights reserved.
LONDON (dpa-AFX) - Moneysupermarket.com Financial Group Ltd., a subsidiary of Moneysupermarket.com Group Plc (MONY.L), on Tuesday, announced that it has agreed to acquire 100% of the issued share capital of Maple Syrup Media Ltd. (trading as Quidco), a consumer cashback business. The initial consideration is 87 million in cash with a further 14 million deferred. Quidco is being purchased from Maple Syrup Group Ltd. on a debt-free, cash-free basis. Moneysupermarket.com noted that the acquisition is expected to be earnings accretive in 2022. Quidco delivered revenue of 59.2 million for the year ending 31 July 2021, with adjusted EBITDA growing significantly year on year to 7.9 million. Peter Duffy, CEO of Moneysupermarket Group, said, 'Moneysupermarket Group exists to help households save money. Today we've added a broad and compelling cashback offer. We welcome Quidco: a profitable, successful business, with strong consumer engagement and high growth potential...' 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.
DJ EQS-News: Newborn Town Announced its Operating Figures for the First Three Quarters; Expected Revenue Growth of Over 115% YoY; MAU of Social Apps Reached 20.43 million

EQS-News / 19/10/2021 / 09:53 UTC+8

Newborn Town Announced its Operating Figures for the First Three Quarters

Expected Revenue Growth of Over 115% YoY

MAU of Social Apps Reached 20.43 million

On 18 October, Newborn Town Inc. (9911.HK), China's top social networking enterprise going global announced its operating figures for the first three quarters of 2021. The Company expects the revenue for the first three quarters will reach RMB 1.58 to 1.70 billion, representing a significant growth of over 115% year-on-year (YoY).

Revenue from the Company's value-added service business is expected to reach RMB 1.35 to 1.40 billion. The value-added service business, which is mainly contributed by social networking business, has achieved remarkable breakthroughs in developed markets such as Europe, North America, Japan and Korea.

On user base, the average monthly active users (MAU) of Newborn Town's social networking products for the third quarter this year reached approx. 20.43 million, representing an increase of approx. 12.07% quarter-on-quarter (QoQ). As of 30 September 2021, the cumulative number of downloads of the social networking products reached 298 million, representing a growth of 17.38% as compared to 30 June 2021.

Social networking business grew rapidly with breakthroughs in developed markets

Since 2013, Newborn Town has been focusing on the overseas market. The Company expanded into social networking business in 2015, and completed its IPO in Hong Kong in 2019. As China's top social networking enterprise going global, Newborn Town has developed a series of global audio and video social networking products, such as MICO and YoHo.

For the nine months ended 30 September 2021, the total revenue of the Company is expected to reach RMB 1.58 to 1.70 billion, representing a growth of over 115% YoY. The surge in revenue is primarily attributable to the rapid growth in social networking business. During the nine-month period, the Company's revenue from value-added service business is expected to reach RMB 1.35 to 1.40 billion, which is mainly from social networking business.

The announcement stated that Newborn Town's social networking business achieved remarkable breakthroughs in developed markets such as Europe, North America, Japan and Korea. Newborn Town's social networking products have been leading the way in emerging markets such as Middle East, Southeast Asia and South Asia, and the Company has successfully replicated the success to developed markets such as North America and Europe.

Figures from App Annie showed that MICO ranked Top 10 of the Highest-Grossing Social Applications in 100 countries and regions, including Canada, United Kingdom and Sweden. YoHo, the audio social networking app also ranked Top 10 of the Highest-Grossing Social Applications in European and American countries such as the US and France. In addition to the growing user base, there is also a huge increase in user value.

Achieve greater business scale and brand effect by further investing in R&D and operation

Newborn Town further invested in product development, promotion, localization and talent cultivation this year, resulting in continuous enhancement in performance.

According to the Interim Report of 2021, the Company's R&D expenses in the first half of the year increased by almost 4 times YoY. Along with this, the Company also increased its inputs on localization.

In the U.S. market, Newborn Town organized activities such as Rap Battle and Best DJ to merge its social application with cultures of Rapping and Electronic Music. The Company also organized public wellbeing activities to for instance, battle against cyberbullying. In Japan, the Company embraced elements of animation by inviting the actress of Ultraman

- Japan's national superhero series, to join their platform and collaborate with AnimeJapan to promote its product. Recently, the Company joined hands with the Osaka City Hall to co-organize "Illuminating Osaka", an event that was well received by the local government and mainstream media in Japan.

Outstanding performances in overseas markets, attracting attention from investors and media

Newborn Town has been developing at a high pace and is seen as the representative of Chinese companies with focus on overseas markets. It received continuous attention from media and institutions domestically and overseas.

Last week, the renowned weekly magazine The Economist released a full-page report on the Company. In the last few months, the Company was also covered by the Financial Times' Chinese website, China Daily, the overseas edition of People's Daily, Hurun Report, and numerous respected newspapers and magazines, recognizing the Company's overseas social business.

Meanwhile, the capital market has also been paying more attention to Newborn Town. Earlier this year, Newborn Town was added to MSCI's China Small Cap Index. BlackRock, Goldman Sachs Asset Management, and State Street Global Advisors are among the group of nearly 10 top-notch institutional investors which had set open positions on the Company. In particular, BlackRock has increased its stake for several times, showing a vote of confidence on Newborn Town and the social networking business.

Lately, China's major investment and trading platforms such as Wind, TongHuaShun (10JQKA) and Xueqiu (Snowball) have established their "Overseas Internet Business" division and set up a more details grouping to response to the "Overseas business" concept. The capital market has eyes on this sector, and it is expected the industry will draw more attentions in the future.

Conclusion

Newborn Town has been constantly devoting more on all aspects, including product development, localized operation and talent cultivation. The Company's competitive edges and first mover advantage are getting more obvious. Along with its healthy cash flow and capital structure, Newborn Town is opening room for promising growth. The Company is expected to perform even better as it maintains its competitive advantages in the field of overseas social networking.

19/10/2021 Dissemination of a Financial Press Release, transmitted by EQS Group. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. Media archive at www.todayir.com

Image link: https://eqs-cockpit.com/cgi-bin/fncls.ssp?fn=show_t_gif&application_id=1241648&application_name=news

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 18, 2021 21:53 ET (01:53 GMT)
Discover was recognized by Great Place to Work in their 2021 UK's Best Workplaces in Tech list in the United Kingdom.

Discover ranks No. 8 in the large company category. The Best Workplaces list is based on responses from a comprehensive employee survey of UK-based tech employees. Discover has two UK offices in Farnborough and Hammersmith.

"The survey results show employees at Discover feel a strong sense of trust, fairness, pride, camaraderie and well-being because of how Discover treats them," said Steve Croke, vice president of Core Payment Systems. "Discover strives to be the best place to work by making meaningful changes to improve how we recruit, retain and nurture our talent."

"Technology is what has enabled the world of work to evolve with pace during the pandemic and what will continue to push even more leaders to embrace new ways of working, no matter what their organisation's size, location or industry. Those within the UK's tech space who have actively prioritised building a positive employee experience and supported their people's personal wellbeing are the ones we're proud to celebrate today," said Benedict Gautrey, Managing Director of Great Place to Work UK.

Discover provides a competitive benefits package to all of its employees including a flexible work environment, company culture, competitive pension offering, tuition reimbursement, family friendly benefits and leave and commuter benefits. The company provides various training programs to help foster career growth such as the Discover Technology Academy, a world-class, in-house technology curriculum which cultivates continuous skill development, collaborative learning and innovation in the company's engineering culture. The company also has 11 Employee Resource Groups globally, which provides tools and resources to help employees connect, build communities at work and foster an inclusive environment.

Discover is hiring talented engineers across domains including cybersecurity, data, devops, infrastructure and software. To learn more on how technology is driving business at Discover, please visit https://medium.com/tech-discover and for more information on job opportunities, visit http://discover.com/stemcareers.

To view Discover's full profile on the GPTW list, please visit https://www.greatplacetowork.co.uk/awards/uks-best-workplaces-in-tech/uks-best-workplaces-in-tech-2021/.

About Discover

Discover Financial Services (NYSE: DFS) is a digital banking and payment services company with one of the most recognized brands in U.S. financial services. Since its inception in 1986, the company has become one of the largest card issuers in the United States. The company issues the Discover card, America's cash rewards pioneer, and offers private student loans, personal loans, home loans, checking and savings accounts and certificates of deposit through its banking business. It operates the Discover Global Network comprised of Discover Network, with millions of merchant and cash access locations; PULSE, one of the nation's leading ATM/debit networks; and Diners Club International, a global payments network with acceptance around the world. For more information, visit www.discover.com/company.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211019005111/en/

Contacts:

Sheetal Shah

Discover

224-405-0297

sheetalshah@discover.com

@Discover_News
Epazz, Inc.

Epazz, Inc.: Epazz's CryObo Technology to Digitalize Harvests for Ireland Farmers Using Blockchain and Drone Technology



19-Oct-2021 / 09:00 CET/CEST





Epazz's CryObo Technology to Digitalize Harvests for Ireland Farmers Using Blockchain and Drone Technology

Tokenization of real estate assets and raw materials enables farmers to potentially access new funding sources

CHICAGO - via NewMediaWire -- Epazz Inc. (OTC Pink: EPAZ), a mission-critical provider of blockchain cryptocurrency mobile apps and cloud-based business software solutions, today announced a presentation by its CryObo client, Greenheart, at the White Label conference in Frankfurt, Germany, circular economy and how Greenheart plans to help Ireland's farmers to additional funding sources using blockchain and drone technology. Epazz's CEO, Shaun Passley, attended the conference in support of Greenheart.

To see a video clip of the presentation, click below.

https://youtu.be/xB-qh_J_sX8

CryObo technology will focus on the real estate market, which includes farmland. The tokens will be backed by real estate and farmland. Real estate developers will appraise for current value; however, the future of real estate will be evaluated. The goal is for real estate developers to assess the future value of properties once land is developed and buildings are constructed. This technology would allow real estate developers to raise capital at better terms and allow the token holder to raise appraisals of the tokens and earned income. Passley said, "Paul Walsh gave a great speech how Greenheart will change farming."

About CryObo Inc.

CryObo Inc. will enhance its software to give early-access companies backed by real assets an easy way to access the token markets. The company's platform will change how people transact real estate, digital assets, crops and raw materials by allowing companies to access the future value of their assets. The growth of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies is bringing new regulations for large financial service companies, which will require a smart solution to manage their growing portfolios.

About Epazz Inc. (www.epazz.com)

Epazz Inc. is a leading cloud-based software company that specializes in providing customized cloud applications to the corporate world, higher-education institutions and the public sector. Epazz BoxesOS v3.0 is the complete business web-based software package for small to midsize businesses, Fortune 500 enterprises, government agencies and higher-education institutions. BoxesOS provides a combination of many of the web-based applications that an organization would otherwise need to purchase separately. Epazz's other products are DeskFlex (room scheduling software) and Provitrac (applicant-tracking system).

SAFE HARBOR

The "Safe Harbor" statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Certain statements contained in this press release are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements generally can be identified by the use of forward-looking language, such as "may"; "expect"; "intend"; "estimate"; "anticipate"; "believe"; "continue"; the negative thereof or similar terminology. Such forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause the actual results to differ materially from future results or those implied by such forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned that any forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, and actual results may differ materially from those contemplated by such forward-looking statements. Epazz Inc. assumes no obligation and has no intention of updating forward-looking statements. It has no obligation to update or correct information prepared by third parties that are not paid for by Epazz Inc. Investors are encouraged to review Epazz Inc.'s public filings on SEC.gov and otcmarkets.com, including its unaudited and audited financial statements and its OTC Markets filings, which contain general business information about the company's operations, results of its operations and risks associated with the company and its operations.

Contact

For more information, please contact

Investor Relations

investors@epazz.net

312-955-8161

www.epazz.com

Dissemination of a CORPORATE NEWS, transmitted by EQS Group.

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.




PARIS, FRANCE / ACCESSWIRE / October 19, 2021 / Pharnext SA (FR0011191287 - ALPHA) (the "Company"), an advanced late-stage clinical biopharmaceutical company pioneering new approaches to developing innovative drug combinations based on big genomics data and artificial intelligence using its PLEOTHERAPY platform, is pleased to announce the strengthening of its senior management team with the appointments of Raj Thota, as Chief Manufacturing Officer and Head of CMC, Abhijit Pangu as the Head of Regulatory Affairs and the promotion of Xavier Paoli to Chief Operating Officer.

Raj Thota brings over 28 years of experience in pharmaceutical development, CMC filings, tech transfer, scale-up, and commercialization to Pharnext and previously served as Vice President, General Manager, and site head at Frontida BioPharm. Throughout his career, Raj has successfully led the development, optimization and launch of numerous products, including Xtampza(R) ER Capsules, Vimovo(R) Tablets, Osmolex(R) CR Tablets and Entocort(R) ER Capsules, and many more complex & patentable clinical stage molecules. Raj received a M.S. in Pharmaceutical Technology from IIT BHU, India, and M.B.A. in general management from Xavier University USA. He also completed a Regulatory Affairs Certification (RAC) from Regulatory Affairs Professional Society and Lean Six Sigma Greenbelt Certification from Villanova University, USA.

With over 20 years of pharmaceutical industry experience, Abhijit Pangu specializes in navigating drug development with global regulatory authorities to serve patients with high unmet needs ingastroenterology, neurology, urology/reproductive health, and rare diseases. He has provided strategic and operational guidance as a Senior Consultant to global companies to develop and implement US regulatory strategies for a diverse pipeline of products from early stages of development through late stages, commercialization and life-cycle management. Previously Abhijit hasheld leadership positions at Orphazyme, Ferring, and multiple generic pharmaceutical companies. Abhijit is a pharmacist by training with a Master's degree in Pharmacy and holds a globally recognized Regulatory Affairs Certification (RAC).

Xavier Paoli has been promoted to Chief Operating Officer, effective immediately. Xavier joined the Company in 2014 as the Commercialization Strategy Director and then has held the Chief Commercial Officer position since 2017. Xavier has almost 20 years of experience in drug commercialization in the biotech sector. He has been involved in successfully launching several brands at regional and national level for diseases with high unmet need and notably for rare diseases. Leveraging its scientific background in genetics and immunology, Xavier previously held marketing positions in several well-known companies, including GlaxoSmithKline, UCB Pharma and Alexion Pharmaceuticals. Xavier holds a Master's degree in Immunology and Genetics from the University Denis Diderot (Paris VII), and in Marketing from HEC Business School (Paris).

David Horn Solomon, Chief Executive Officer of Pharnext said: "I would like to welcome Raj and Abhijit to Pharnext and to congratulate Xavier on his promotion. Raj's extensive experience in pharmaceutical development and Abhijit's past work in navigating drug development with global regulatory authorities will considerably augment the strength of our senior management team. We are also delighted to promote Xavier, who played an instrumental role in setting up prelaunch activities for PXT3003 in Charcot-Marie-Tooth type 1A disease ('CMT1A') and has built strong ties with key opinion leaders and patient advocacy groups. He was also involved in many key transversal projects over the years and is perfectly suited to his new role of COO.

"Their combined expertise will be highly valuable as we continue to drive growth and deliver the successful commercialization of our products, pending positive clinical trial results. Our pivotalPhase III clinical study of PXT3003 in CMT1A, the PREMIER trial, is currently ongoing in the US and Europe and remains our key focus."

About Pharnext

Pharnext is an advanced clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing novel therapeutics for orphan and common neurodegenerative diseases that currently lack curative and/or disease-modifying treatments. Pharnext has two lead products in clinical development. PXT3003 completed an international Phase III trial with positive topline results for the treatment of Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease type 1A ('CMT1A') and benefits from orphan drug status in Europe and the United States. An international pivotal Phase III study of PXT3003 in CMT1A, the PREMIER trial, is currently ongoing. PXT864 has generated encouraging Phase II results in Alzheimer's disease and will be advanced through partnerships. Pharnext has developed a new drug discovery paradigm based on big genomics data and artificial intelligence: PLEOTHERAPY. Pharnext identifies and develops synergic combinations of drugs called PLEODRUG. More information can be found at www.pharnext.com .

Pharnext is listed on the Euronext Growth Stock Exchange in Paris (ISIN code: FR0011191287).

Disclaimer

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements concerning Pharnext and its business, including in respect of timing of and prospects for clinical trials and regulatory submissions of the Company's product candidates as well as a potential financing transaction, the use of proceeds therefrom and cash runway. Such forward-looking statements are based on assumptions that Pharnext considers to be reasonable. However, there can be no assurance that the estimates contained in such forward-looking statements will be verified, which estimates are subject to numerous risks including the risks set forth in Pharnext's URD approved by the AMF on November 9, 2020 under number N R. 20-029 as well as in its annual periodic management reports and press releases (copies of which are available on www.pharnext.com) and to the development of economic conditions, financial markets and the markets in which Pharnext operates. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are also subject to risks not yet known to Pharnext or not currently considered material by Pharnext. The occurrence of all or part of such risks could cause actual results, financial conditions, performance or achievements of Pharnext to be materially different from such forward-looking statements. Pharnext disclaims any intention or obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

This press release and the information that it contains do not constitute an offer to sell or subscribe for, or a solicitation of an offer to purchase or subscribe for, Pharnext shares in any country, including the United States. The Company's securities may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an exemption from registration; any public offering of securities to be made in the United States will be made by means of a prospectus that may be obtained from the issuer that will contain detailed information about the Company and management, as well as financial statements.

Contacts

David Horn Solomon

Chief Executive Officer

contact@pharnext.com

+33 (0)1 41 09 22 30

Media Relations (International)

Consilium Strategic Communications

Mary-Jane Elliott

Sukaina Virji

Alexandra Harrison

pharnext@consilium-comms.com

Financial Communication (Europe)

Actifin

Ghislaine Gasparetto

ggasparetto@actifin.fr

+33 (0)6 21 10 49 24

Media Relations (France)

Ulysse Communication

Bruno Arabian

barabian@ulysse-communication.com

+33 (0)6 87 88 47 26

+33 (0)1 81 70 96 30

SOURCE: Pharnext

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/668673/Pharnext-Strengthens-its-Management-Team-with-Three-Key-Appointments-to-Support-Ongoing-Development-of-PXT3003-Toward-Approval-and-Commercialization
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - October 19, 2021) - Spearmint Resources Inc. (CSE: SPMT) (OTC Pink: SPMTF) (FSE: A2AHL5) (the "Company" or "Spearmint") wishes to announce the Company has applied for a drill permit from the Bureau of Land Management ("BLM") on the 'McGee Lithium Clay Project' in Clayton Valley, Nevada directly bordering Cypress Development Corp. and Pure Energy Minerals Limited. Earlier this year, on June 11, 2021, Spearmint received the technical report on its 100-per-cent-owned 'McGee Lithium Clay Project' which included a maiden resource estimate of 815,000 indicated tonnes and 191,000 inferred tonnes for a total of 1,006,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE). The technical report was prepared in accordance with the requirements of National Instrument 43-101 by Stantec Consultant Ltd.'s qualified persons (Allan Turner, PGeol, and Derek Loveday, PGeo). The goal of the upcoming drill program will be to increase the maiden resource estimate by following the drilling recommendations provided by Stantec in the Technical Report. Spearmint's two other lithium projects in Clayton Valley, Nevada include the recently acquired 'Green Clay Lithium Project' comprised of 97 contiguous claims totaling approximately 2,000 acres, and the 'Elon Lithium Brine Project' which has access to some of the deepest parts of the only lithium brine basin in production in North America. Lithium prices have recently broken out to all-time highs, having seen an approximate 100-percent surge since August 1, 2021, and are now up over 290-percent in 2021.

On October 13, 2021, Cypress Development Corp announced "the assembly of the pilot plant for the company's 100-per-cent-owned Clayton Valley lithium project in Nevada is complete. As seen on the map below, Cypress Development Corp. and Spearmint share this blanket-like, lithium-bearing claystone formation. Also, on August 17, 2021, Pure Energy Minerals Ltd. partner Schlumberger New Energy announced receiving approval from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for a plan of operations covering the construction and operation of a pilot plant at Pure Energy's Clayton Valley, Nevada, lithium brine project, which Spearmint directly borders. Management cautions that past results or discoveries on properties in proximity to Spearmint may not necessarily be indicative to the presence of mineralization on the Company's properties.





Clayton Valley Map

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/4360/100206_fc1b2f4fe48b8be4_002full.jpg

James Nelson, President of Spearmint Resources stated, "We are very pleased to have applied for a drill permit from the BLM for the 'McGee Lithium Clay Project' in Nevada. This project directly borders Cypress Development Corp. in Clayton Valley, Nevada, which is the premier address for lithium in North America. Since August 1st, 2021, lithium prices have gone parabolic, increasing over 100% and are now up over 290% since the beginning of 2021. Clearly, this is an opportune time to be recommencing operations on our lithium holdings in Clayton Valley, Nevada. A drill program is currently being formulated using the recommendations provided by Stantec in the Technical Report. With approximately $3 million in the treasury, we are well funded for multiple drill and work programs in the US and Canada with no need to raise additional funds. We look forward to building upon an already active and successful year. The remainder of 2021 and beyond will be an extremely active period for Spearmint with potential catalysts coming ahead on multiple projects."

Qualified Person

Mr. Frank Bain, P.Geo., a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical disclosure contained within this news release.

Additionally, the Company has granted six million stock options at an exercise price of fifteen cents to directors, officers and consultants of the company for a term of one year, pursuant to its rolling stock option plan.

About Spearmint Resources

Spearmint's primary projects include three lithium projects in Clayton Valley, Nevada; the 'McGee Lithium Clay Project' which has a maiden resource estimate of 815,000 indicated tonnes and 191,000 inferred tonnes for a total of 1,006,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE), directly bordering Pure Energy Minerals & Cypress Development Corp.; the 'Elon Lithium Brine Project' which has access to some of the deepest parts of the only lithium brine basin in production in North America; and the recently acquired 'Green Clay Lithium Project' comprised of 97 contiguous claims totaling approximately 2,000 acres.

Spearmint's other primary projects include the 'Goose' Gold project directly bordering New Found Gold Corp. where Spearmint has sampled up to 973 ppb gold, and the Perron-East Gold Project consisting of 5 mineral claim blocks covering 11,608 acres located in the Abitibi greenstone belt of northwestern Quebec in the direct vicinity of Amex Exploration Inc.'s Perron property and past-producing Normetal mine. For a complete list of Spearmint's projects please visit spearmintresources.ca. Management cautions that past results or discoveries on properties in proximity to Spearmint may not necessarily be indicative to the presence of mineralization on the Company's properties.

If you would like to be added to Spearmint's news distribution list, please send your email address to info@spearmintresources.ca

Contact Information

Tel: 1604646-6903

www.spearmintresources.ca

"James Nelson"

President

Spearmint Resources Inc.

The CSE has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of the content of this release.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/100206
SPARK Microsystems, a fabless semiconductor company specializing in next-generation ultra-wideband (UWB), has announced a new sales and support network for the Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) markets. The network includes both local European SPARK Microsystems sales and technical support resources, as well as manufacturer's representatives in each region.

"EMEA represents a prime market for the adoption of SPARK Microsystems' products in industries such as AR/VR, audio, gaming and industrial IoT," said Fares Mubarak, CEO, SPARK Microsystems. "As such, the company has directly employed both sales and application engineers in the region to pursue this major market opportunity

In addition to bringing on board SPARK Microsystems sales and application engineers, the company has developed a vast manufacturer's representative network in EMEA. SPARK Microsystems is represented in Germany, Austria and Switzerland by ActiveRep GmbH, in France and Tunisia by Spectrum Design, in the UK, Nordics and Poland by Cedar Technologies, in Spain and Portugal by Natura and in South Africa by Inventworx.

"On a regional level, SPARK Microsystems wants to ensure a sales presence and support systems for our customers in each of these high-value markets," said Julie Delamarre, SPARK Microsystems' new Vice President of EMEA sales. "As EMEA market growth matures, SPARK Microsystems will extend its distribution in the region with additional partners in the coming months. New representation for Italy and Turkey will also be added shortly."

Resources

Contact your SPARK Microsystems regional office: https://www.sparkmicro.com/contact-us/

Find your regional distributor and sale representative: https://www.sparkmicro.com/distributors-and-sales-representatives/

About SPARK Microsystems

SPARK Microsystems is a fabless semiconductor company that is leading the way towards ultra-low power wireless communications for high-performance personal area networks and IoT-connected devices. ??With its patented technologies, SPARK Microsystems is bringing to market a next-generation ultra-wideband wireless transceiver that allows for orders of magnitude improved power consumption, latency and more accurate ranging and positioning, while providing higher data rates than competing technologies. For more information, please visit www.sparkmicro.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211019005046/en/

Contacts:

Jenna Beaucage, Rainier Communications

508-340-6851

spark@rainierco.com
WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Southwest Airlines Co. (LUV) on Monday announced a series of near-term goals, actions, and initiatives in support of a 10-year plan that aims at maintaining carbon neutrality to 2019 levels and achieving carbon neutral growth every year through the end of the decade. The company's plans to reduce, replace, offset, and partner is part of the ultimate objective of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. The airline has planned to reduce its carbon emissions per available seat mile (including scope 1 and scope 2 emissions) by at least 20 percent by 2030 through fleet modernization, route optimization, and other initiatives. The airline also plans to replace 10 percent of its total jet fuel consumption with sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) by 2030. The company will launch a carbon offset offer with loyalty points in such a way that for every dollar contributed toward offsetting Southwest's carbon emissions, Southwest will be making matching contribution. It hopes to be the first U.S.-based airline to do so. In addition, the Dallas-based airline said it would continue to partner with organizations and non-profits whose work complements its efforts to improve environmental sustainability and would also invite customers to join in the effort. Shares of Southwest Airlines closed Monday's trading at $49.77, down $0.59 or 1.17 percent from previous close. 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.
HEIDELBERG, GERMANY / ACCESSWIRE / October 19, 2021 / Heidelberg-based biopharmaceutical company is conducting a follow-up study with highly purified stem cells (AMESANAR (R) ) for the treatment of previously incurable chronic ulcers.

Heidelberg, 19. October 2021 - More than 80,000 people in Germany suffer from chronic venous ulcers (CVU). Triggered by venous insufficiency, wounds and weeping ulcers can develop that may not heal for years. Severely affected patients experience intense pain every day. Until now, there has been no effective treatment - but this could change soon.

A first successfully completed clinical trial (JID Innovations, ahead of print) with a limited number of patients confirmed the safety of the stem-cell agent. Initial data also showed the therapy to be effective. Germany's Federal Institute for Vaccines and Biomedicines (Paul-Ehrlich-Institut) has now approved a follow-up study to investigate the efficacy in a large-scale population. The first patient in this follow-up study has already been treated.

In addition, the company recently received the national marketing authorization ( 4b German Medicinal Products Act) for the treatment of these patients with AMESANAR (R) . This means that a much larger group of patients can finally be helped.

"These approvals are not only of great significance for those affected, but they are also an important milestone for a new product class in a relatively young research area." says Dr. Ganss, physician and CEO of RHEACELL."

Stem-cell-based therapies are becoming increasingly important, especially in incurable diseases. These approvals by Germany's Federal Institute for Vaccines and Biomedicines (Paul-Ehrlich-Institut) are a clear signal of support for the development of cell-based drugs.

RHEACELL is a pioneer in stem-cell-based drug development. In addition to non-healing chronic venous wounds and non-healing diabetic foot wounds, its research focuses on serious and rare diseases such as epidermolysis bullosa (butterfly disease) which mainly affects children.

It's goal is to advance medical progress while maintaining the highest quality and safety standards in order to help people for whom there was previously no hope of a cure.

CVUs occur as a result of insufficient venous return in the lower extremities predominantly caused by venous reflux or obstruction of the leg veins. Increased venous pressure causes impaired microcirculation which, through a cascade of pathophysiological events, eventually leads to tissue breakdown and the development of painful wounds. Until now, there is no conclusive evidence that dressings, topical or systemic agents are effective in promoting the healing of venous ulcers. For severely affected patients, surgery to remove the cause of the increased venous pressure is often the only remaining option.

Press contact for RHEACELL:



Dr. Christoph Ganss

RHEACELL GmbH & Co. KG

Im Neuenheimer Feld 517

69120 Heidelberg, Germany

T +49 6221 71833-0

F +49 6221 71833-291

E media@rheacell.com

W www.rheacell.com

RHEACELL GmbH & Co. KG

RHEACELL is dedicated to drug development based on anti-inflammatory ABCB5-positive mesenchymal stem cells. A key component of RHEACELL's research program is developing new and innovative therapy approaches and testing them in clinical trials. The aim is that patients have new therapy options for previously untreatable or insufficiently treatable diseases.

RHEACELL is the world-wide exclusive licensee for all patents surrounding ABCB5 held by Boston Children's Hospital, a teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts. Dr. Markus Frank, Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Dermatology, Harvard Medical School and discoverer and leading expert on ABCB5, is acting as a scientific adviser to RHEACELL.

RHEACELL is conducting several national and international multicenter clinical trials. RHEACELL holds orphan drug designation through the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the United States Federal Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of epidermolysis bullosa (EB) and limbal stem cell deficiency (LSCD). RHEACELL has also received the "Fast Track Status" for treatment of LSCD from the FDA. The EMA's PDCO has also approved the pediatric investigation plan for RHEACELL's Epidermolysis Bullosa program.

RHEACELL GmbH & Co. KG is a joint venture between Muller Holding (Ulm, Germany) and TICEBA GmbH (Heidelberg, Germany). RHEACELL's development program is supported by Muller and by TICEBA's know-how.

TICEBA - the parent company of RHEACELL - is pioneering the production of ABCB5-positive (ABCB5+) mesenchymal stem cells in accordance with the highest pharmaceutical quality standards - the AMG: German Medicinal Products Act - with more than 15 years of expertise in the field of advanced stem cell research and regenerative medicine - paving the way to the patient for its innovative stem cell therapeutics (ATMP).

RHEACELL GmbH & Co. KG

Im Neuenheimer Feld 517

69120 Heidelberg, Germany

T +49 6221 71833-0

F +49 6221 71833-291

E media@rheacell.com

W www.rheacell.com

SOURCE: RHEACELL GmbH & Co. KG

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/668676/From-Chronic-to-Curable-RHEACELL-is-Developing-a-Novel-Cell-Therapy-Agent-for-the-Treatment-of-Chronic-Venous-Ulcers
Nay Pyi Taw, Oct 19, 2021 - (ACN Newswire) - The Myanmar Government announced today it would reopen schools from next month and take urgent measures to support its currency and accelerate economic recovery so as to restore national stability quickly amid an unprecedented 'triple crisis' situation in the country.Myanmar is facing crises of pandemic infection, economic slowdown and national stability at the same time, a situation not shared by any other country in ASEAN or even Asia. Hence, even as the country pursues recovery, it looks forward to support from the international community, the Government said in a statement.COVID-19 UpdateBased on latest data from the Ministry of Health, as of 16 October 2021 Myanmar had recorded 486,851 COVID-19 cases and 18,329 fatalities deaths (most of whom were aged 45 to 75) since the first confirmed case of infection on 23 March 2020. Currently, the daily average COVID-19 positivity rate in Myanmar is 7.7%, which is lower than that of some ASEAN countries.The first wave of the pandemic started in March 2020 and the second in August 2020. In the third wave that started in May 2021, a high incidence of the Delta variant has been behind the 343,533 confirmed cases and 15,113 deaths to date. The Ministry of Health is still responding to the third wave even though cases have declined since July 2021.Currently, 113 townships - about a third of Myanmar's total - are regarded as 'high burden' and are under the Stay-At-Home (SAH) programme. The Ministry of Health intends to ease restrictions gradually, after ascertaining there is no community transmission after lifting of SAH.Update on Vaccination Status and VaccinesAs of 16 October 2021, 4.57 million people were fully vaccinated, while 6.65 million people have received one dose each. The cumulative vaccinated population is 11.22 million and cumulative vaccinations administered stood at 15.8 million doses. Myanmar has received 31.3 million doses of vaccines as of 17 October 2021. These include:Ministry/Organization | Type | Country of Origin | Amount (doses)Ministry of Health | Covishield | India | 4,500,000Ministry of Health | Sinopharm | China | 21,300,000Ministry of Health | Sinovac | China | 4,000,000Ministry of Defense | Sinopharm, Covaxin, Spunik V | China, India, Russia | 802,800Private sector | Sinopharm | China | 700,000Grand total (National Figure) | 31,302,800Over October and November 2021, 8.0 million doses of Sinopharm are scheduled to arrive through Myanmar Government procurement channels. The Ministry of Health is collaborating with GAVI COVAX Facility ("COVAX") to receive 4.05 million doses of COVAX vaccines, and separately 2.2 million doses of SINOVAC vaccine. Ongoing discussions to receive Pfizer vaccine from the facility are also in progress.Reopening of Schools and Colleges by November 2021To accelerate recovery of social and economic activity, Myanmar Government has directed the Education Ministry to prioritise the re-opening of schools which had shut on 9 July 2021 due to the spread of COVID-19. While schools were reopened on 21 July, the Ministry again closed them on 27 August due to the third wave of the pandemic.The Education Ministry will re-open schools from November 2021 by working with the Ministry of Health to vaccinate all remaining unvaccinated students (mostly between the ages of 12 and 17, by the end of this month). Over 2.2 million students have been vaccinated nationwide so far. All teachers have already been vaccinated. These vaccinations involved mostly the use of the SINOVAC vaccine, with two doses administered over an interval of 28 days.To facilitate the reopening, schools will be ranked according to health and safety readiness in matters such as availability of disinfectants, sanitisers, personal protection equipment, thermometers, face masks and shields, and of hygiene facilities such as toilets, wash basins, wells and water purifiers.In view of some reports of civil disobedience, security measures will also be introduced in schools to prevent disruption and ensure the safety of teachers and students."The reopening of schools is an urgent priority of our country. Vaccination and health protocols are a pre-requisite. Hence, teachers and students, including those between 12 and 18 years of age should get vaccinated. Myanmar Government encourages students to complete at least lower secondary education and endeavours to nurture more educated resources for the future development of Myanmar," said Education Minister Dr. Nyunt Phay.Reviving Business Confidence Within Myanmar and With International CommunityThe Myanmar Government has identified the main economic and financial challenges as confidence in banking and financial institutions, reviving employment and business activity, attracting and supporting foreign investors and economic partners, and ensuring stability of the kyat currency.MIFER notes with concern the ongoing four-prong economic sabotage by opponents of the Government who continue to try to stir panic in the financial sector while openly declaring 'war' within Myanmar. These opponents appear to be supported by foreign elements.It involves attempts at disrupting international economic and financial relations in order to halt existing development projects and delay disbursement of grants, aid and concessionary loans; deterring inflows of Foreign Direct Investment by projecting a negative image; boycotting payment of electricity bills and of Government lotteries to disrupt revenue collection; and spreading rumours to trigger a local banking and financial crisis.Despite the sabotage, the Government will do its utmost to support the economy as well as all Myanmar people.MIFER has stepped up dialogue with leaders of foreign chambers of commerce and accelerated international economic exchanges. A notable development has been the highly successful virtual Myanmar-Russia business matching seminar held last month."Myanmar Government has already implemented measures to ensure continuity in the agriculture sector, including farmers and those involved in livestock and fisheries sector. We have also extended soft loans/financial aid to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)," said Minister Aung Naing Oo."We detect a great sense of urgency among local businesses to return to normalcy. Our priority is to restore confidence, create jobs and revive commercial activity. Despite the challenges, investor confidence is clearly increasing. We are also greatly encouraged by the positive response of Russian business groups who are very keen to forge bilateral economic activities," he said.Supporting The Myanmar KyatCentral Bank notes with collective concern the recent weakness of the kyat. To restore confidence in the currency, the following actions have been or will be implemented:- Encouraging and strengthening online banking payments- Tax reduction and incentives (waiver or deferral of the payment of rental fees)- Regulatory and other measures to streamline online transactions, reduce barriersto business and regulatory red-tape, and improving commercial transparency- Issuing Central Bank's notifications to have trust in the domestic banking system- Regulating drawing limit from the banks.National Security Matters"Despite the efforts of Myanmar Government to restore political, social and economic stability amid the pandemic, those opposed to recovery have stepped up violence and disruption of the economy. The Government has a duty to ensure political and social stability and will exercise this duty with firmness and restraint at the same time even as it seeks to win investor confidence, and revive economic and social activity such as re-opening of schools and cinemas," the Minister said.Issued by Ministry of Information, Union Government of MyanmarFor more information, please contact: mediacontact@e-information.gov.mmSource: Ministry of Information, Union Government of MyanmarCopyright 2021 ACN Newswire . All rights reserved.
Industrial Edge is quickly becoming a critical way for manufacturers to utilize data

LONDON, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Industrial Edge continues to be a hot topic for industrial and manufacturing firms when it comes to understanding the performance of their equipment and production line overall. In its latest report, global technology intelligence firm, ABI Research highlights the top vendors working with customers to deliver insights on-premises for data utilization.

"The Industrial Edge will help to avoid unplanned downtime and prolonging asset life by collecting data from sensors close to a piece of equipment (Edge Connectivity), processing and analyzing the information locally (Edge Computing/Intelligence), and managing the deployment of IoT devices, data collection, analysis, and transfer (Edge Orchestration)," explains Michael Larner, Principal Analyst, Industrial & Manufacturing at ABI Research.

Suppliers in this space either focus on delivering one aspect of the Industrial Edge such as ADLINK for edge connectivity, the computing and intelligence (Altizon, Cognex, Emerson, FogHorn, IOTech, or Telit), or look to orchestrate the entire process (AVEVA, Siemens).

"For time sensitive use cases such as condition-based monitoring, organizations want the low latency provided by an Industrial Edge architecture. They also want to save on the transfer and data storage costs when using cloud infrastructure," Larner points out.

Companies looking to deliver an Industrial Edge architecture vary from industrial automation providers (AVEVA, Emerson), companies already monitoring the production line (Cognex), and analytics specialists such as Litmus and FogHorn.

"Industrial Edge shouldn't be considered in isolation, rather the tip of the sword for collecting sensitive equipment information that forms part of a production line's digital twin. To maximize investments, buyers need to understand the protocols that suppliers' solutions utilize to ensure smooth data transfer, the industrial applications to which the data can be transferred, and the partnerships a vendor has to foster innovation," Larner concludes.

These findings are from ABI Research's Hot Tech Innovators: Industrial Edge report. This report is part of the company's Industrial & Manufacturing research service, which includes research, data, and ABI Insights. Hot Tech Innovators reports focus on companies at the forefront of transformational innovation, particularly those that are younger and less well-known than the incumbents, at the technological forefront of their markets, developing new business models, destabilizing the current market and prime acquisition targets.

About ABI Research

ABI Research is a global technology intelligence firm delivering actionable research and strategic guidance to technology leaders, innovators, and decision makers around the world. Our research focuses on the transformative technologies that are dramatically reshaping industries, economies, and workforces today.

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For more information about ABI Research's services, contact us at +1.516.624.2500 in the Americas, +44.203.326.0140 in Europe, +65.6592.0290 in Asia-Pacific or visit www.abiresearch.com.

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DGAP-Ad-hoc: Dexus Finance Pty Limited / Key word(s): AGM/EGM

Dexus Finance Pty Limited: 2021 Annual General Meeting result



19-Oct-2021 / 10:00 CET/CEST

Disclosure of an inside information acc. to Article 17 MAR of the Regulation (EU) No 596/2014, transmitted by DGAP - a service of EQS Group AG.

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.



Dexus (ASX: DXS) ASX release 19 October 2021 2021 Annual General Meeting results In accordance with Listing Rule 3.13.2 and section 251AA of the Corporations Act, Dexus advises the outcome of each resolution put to the Annual General Meeting held today, 19 October 2021. Resolution 1 relating to the Remuneration Report was not passed, and as more than 25% of the votes were cast against Resolution 1, this constitutes a first strike for the purposes of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth). The following resolutions were passed on a poll: Resolution 2 Grant 2021 long-term incentive performance rights to the Chief Executive Officer Resolution 3.1 Approval of an Independent Director - Warwick Negus Resolution 3.2 Approval of an Independent Director - Penny Bingham-Hall Resolution 3.3 Approval of an Independent Director - Tonianne Dwyer Resolution 4 relating to Constitutional Amendments was withdrawn ahead of the meeting, as per the announcement released to the Australian Securities Exchange on 18 October 2021. Details of the total number of votes cast on the poll and the total number of proxy votes are attached to this release. The full release is available at https://www.dexus.com/investor-centre/results-and-reporting/asx-announcements Authorised by Brett Cameron, General Counsel and Company Secretary of Dexus Funds Management Limited.



For further information please contact: Investors

David Yates

Executive General Manager, Investor Relations

+61 2 9017 1424

+61 418 861 047

david.yates@dexus.com Media

Louise Murray

Senior Manager, Corporate Communications

+61 2 9017 1446

+61 403 260 754

louise.murray@dexus.com Information and Explanation of the Issuer to this News:



About Dexus Dexus (ASX: DXS) is one of Australia's leading fully integrated real estate groups, managing a high-quality Australian property portfolio valued at $42.5 billion. We believe that the strength and quality of our relationships will always be central to our success and are deeply committed to working with our customers to provide spaces that engage and inspire. We invest only in Australia, and directly own $17.5 billion of office, industrial and healthcare properties, and investments. We manage a further $25.0 billion of office, retail, industrial and healthcare properties for third party clients. The group's $15.4 billion development pipeline provides the opportunity to grow both portfolios and enhance future returns. Sustainability is integrated across our business, and our sustainability approach is the lens we use to manage emerging ESG risks and opportunities for all our stakeholders. Dexus is a Top 50 entity by market capitalisation listed on the Australian Securities Exchange and is supported by more than 30,000 investors from 23 countries. With over 35 years of expertise in property investment, funds management, asset management and development, we have a proven track record in capital and risk management and delivering superior risk-adjusted returns for investors. www.dexus.com Dexus Funds Management Ltd ABN 24 060 920 783, AFSL 238163, as Responsible Entity for Dexus (ASX: DXS)

Level 25, 264 George Street, Sydney NSW 2000 19-Oct-2021 CET/CEST The DGAP Distribution Services include Regulatory Announcements, Financial/Corporate News and Press Releases.

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ADELAIDE, AUS, Oct 19, 2021 - (ACN Newswire) - Agilex Biolabs, the Australian regulated bioanalytical and toxicology laboratory facilities for clinical trials is presenting a new webinar entitled "Getting it right! Considerations for Immuno-oncology and Vaccine Studies and the Bioanalytical Tools used" in partnership with Outsourcing Clinical Trials (OCT).Agilex Biolabs' Director, Immunoassay, Kurt J. Sales (B.Sc; B.Sc (MED) Hons; M.Sc, Ph.D, PGCM) said:"Choosing the right bioanalytical platform for your immunology or vaccines clinical trial is critical to data collection. But navigating the intricate bioanalytical process and selection of assay platforms can be difficult. This webinar covers these platforms in detail and the selection process."Agilex Biolabs is the largest regulated bioanalytical laboratory in Australia with over 24 years' experience in early phase clinical trials with a track record of enabling the movement of new drug entities to market.Agilex Biolabs specialises in pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, and biomarker evaluation, which is key to understanding the drug absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion as well as target engagement and efficacy of the drug during clinical development."This webinar will demystify the bioanalytical requirements for clinical studies and will discuss the most common bioanalytical platforms used during clinical trials to measure vaccine responses and levels of inflammatory mediators in biological fluids," said Dr. Sales.Key Learning Objectives- Learn how to determine the right bioanalytical platform for your immunology or vaccines clinical trial- Understand what do these bioanalytical platforms look like in use- Understand the process of selecting the right bioanalytical platform- Demystify the bioanalytical requirements for clinical studiesThe webinar will also cover Australian research, and regulatory and clinical infrastructure, which provides a favorable environment for rapid vaccine development. It will also include discussion of a case study for rapid vaccine development based on non-clinical research conducted with a novel COVID-19 protein subunit vaccine.Register Here https://bit.ly/3aPlWsxDate: 4 NovemberTime: 2PM London/3PM CETSpeaker: Dr Kurt Sales: Director, Immunoassay, Agilex BiolabsAgilex Biolabs' world-class laboratories feature state-of-the-art equipment including Gyrolab Xplore, MSD Quickplex 120, Luminex Magpix, BD FACSymphony A3 flow cytometer and digital droplet quantitative real-time RT-PCR.The company offers services for both small molecules and biologics for PK, immunogenicity (PD) and biomarker bioanalysis utilising the two platforms of LC-MS/MS and Immunoassay.Australian clinical trials have remained open for business and Agilex Biolabs is a designated essential service so clients can be assured of study continuity.Agilex Biolabs has more than 140 staff which includes 85 dedicated laboratory staff, and supports client pharma and biotech companies from US, Europe and APAC.Book a confidential briefing with our scientists before you start your next clinical trial. https://calendly.com/agilexbiolabs/30minAbout Agilex Biolabs https://www.agilexbiolabs.com/Agilex Biolabs, the Australian specialist bioanalytical and toxicology laboratory facilities for clinical trials, has more than 24 years' experience in performing regulated bioanalysis, including quality method development, method validation and sample analysis services. It has successfully supported hundreds of preclinical and clinical trials from around the world where customers choose Australia for the streamlined regulatory process and access to the world's most attractive R&D rebate of more up to 43.5% on clinical trial work conducted in Australia.Agilex Biolabs also offers toxicology services through its company TetraQ.Agilex Biolabs has the leading certifications including OECD GLP Recognition with NATA (Australian Government OECD GLP Compliance monitoring authority) and ISO 17025 Accreditation for global recognition.The company has recently expanded its main labs by more than 30% to accommodate biotech demand from APAC and the USA. In addition it has launched a new Immunobiology lab - watch the video here. https://www.agilexbiolabs.com/launch-of-immunobiology-laboratory/Agilex Biolabs specialises in bioanalysis of small molecules and biologics for PK, immunogenicity, biomarkers and immunological pharmacodynamics assessments utilising LC-MS/MS, immunoassay (Mesoscale, Gyrolab, Luminex) and flow cytometry (BD FACSymphony A3, 20 colour cell analyser).Agilex offers pharmacodynamics services that include immunobiology services using the latest state-of-the-art technology to support immunology, cell biology and mode of action assays, including:- Immunophenotyping- Receptor occupancy- Cytokine release assays (whole blood or PBMC stimulation assays) and cytokine/biomarker profiling- PBMC assays and cellular mechanism of action assaysAgilex Biolabs Media Contact:Kate NewtonMedia@AgilexBiolabs.comSource: Agilex BiolabsCopyright 2021 ACN Newswire . All rights reserved.
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - October 19, 2021) - MAX RESOURCE CORP. (TSXV: MXR) (OTC: MXROF) (FSE: M1D2) ("Max" or the "Company") is pleased to report new assay results from a reconnaissance sampling program have further expanded the CONEJO zone, along the CESAR North 90-km-long belt, Max's wholly-owned CESAR project in NE Colombia (refer to Figure 1).

Highlights

- 3.3% copper and 5 g/t silver outcrop over 15.0m (876847)

- 2.8% copper and 13 g/t silver outcrop over 20.0m (876823)

- 1.1% copper and 1 g/t silver outcrop over 15.0m (876843)

- 4.4% copper and 54 g/t silver outcrop over 1.5m (878757)

The new results are significant as they extend the high-grade CONEJO zone further south with reconnaissance rock sample values up to 3.3% copper and 54 g/t silver. The CONEJO zone which lies along the mid portion of the 90-kilometre-long CESAR North copper-silver belt, now spans 3.2-km by 1.9-km and still remains open in all directions.

To date, 44 rock samples returned values over 3.0% copper, 55 returned over 2.0% copper, 21 returned over 30 g/t silver, with intervals ranging from 0.3 to 20.0m. Highlight rock sample values were 12.5% copper and 120 g/t silver (refer to Figure 2).

The CONEJO mineralization occurs both as a stockwork of crosscutting fractures and as disseminated mineralization hosted in igneous rock. Observed minerals include: chalcocite, native copper, cuprite and copper oxides. Epidote is commonly associated with the copper mineralization (refer to Figures 3 and 4).

"The CONEJO continues to develop to the point where Max is considering it as a significant stand-alone copper project," commented Max CEO, Brett Matich.

"We look forward to assay results from the CONEJO high-grade zone, expected shortly. Concurrently, the Max technical team has commenced a targeted exploration program over the 48-km URU zone, as well as prospect the favourable horizons further into the CESAR basin," he continued.

"The price of copper continues to rise, reaching an all-time high of $4.79 per pound this week, driven by the insatiable demands of the green revolution and the ever-depleting copper reserve base. Max shareholders are well positioned to take advantage, with significant potential for district scale discoveries throughout the CESAR basin," he concluded.





Figure 1. CESAR North - CONEJO location

.https://www.maxresource.com/images/gallery/MXR_CESAR-Copper-Silver_News_59.jpg

To view an enhanced version of Figure 1, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/3834/100139_ff5173dde48d5a10_002full.jpg





Figure 2. CONEJO 3.2-km by 1.9-km copper-silver zone.

https://www.maxresource.com/images/gallery/MXR_CESAR-Copper-Silver_News_60.jpg

To view an enhanced version of Figure 2, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/3834/100139_ff5173dde48d5a10_003full.jpg





Figure 3. 2.8% copper and 13 g/t silver widths of 20.0m (876823).

https://www.maxresource.com/images/gallery/MXR_CESAR-Copper-Silver_News_61.jpg

To view an enhanced version of Figure 3, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/3834/100139_ff5173dde48d5a10_004full.jpg





Figure 4. Sample rock mineralization (876823).

https://www.maxresource.com/images/gallery/MXR_CESAR-Copper-Silver_News_62.jpg

To view an enhanced version of Figure 4, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/3834/100139_ff5173dde48d5a10_005full.jpg

Visible mineralization reports the presence of chalcocite, native copper and copper oxides. Two types of mineral events have been observed:one type is hosted in a stockwork within igneous host rock and is associated with the presence of epidote, and the second type is sediment-hosted stratiform copper silver mineralization of Kupferschiefer. The stratiform type is cross cut by the mineralized stockwork associated with igneous rocks (refer to Figure 4).

Max interprets the sediment-hosted stratabound copper-silver mineralization in the Cesar basin to be analogous to both the Central African Copper Belt (CACB) in the south and the Polish Kupferschiefer in the north. Almost 50% of the copper known to exist in sediment-hosted deposits is contained in the CACB, including Ivanhoe Mines Ltd (TSX: IVN) 95-billion-pound Kamoa-Kakula copper deposit in the Congo.

Kupferschiefer, the world's largest silver producer and Europe's largest copper source, is a mining orebody ranging from 0.5 to 5.5m thick, at depths of 500m, with grades of 1.49% copper and 48.6 g/t silver. The silver yield is almost twice the production of the world's second largest silver mine.

Source: Central African Belt Descriptive models, grade-tonnage relations, and databases for the assessment of sediment-hosted copper deposits with emphasis on deposits in the Central Africa Copperbelt, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zambia by USGS 2010. Kamoa-Kakula by OreWin March 2020. World Silver Survey 2020 and Kupferschiefer Deposits & Prospects in SW Poland, September 27, 2019. Max cautions investors that the presence of copper mineralization of the Central African Copper Belt and the Polish Kupferschiefer are not necessarily indicative of similar mineralization at CESAR.

Copper Silver Width Sample # 3.4% 54 g/t 1.5m - Chip Channel 878757 3.3% 5 g/t 15.0m - Representative 876847 2.8% 13 g/t 20.0m - Representative 876823 1.1% 1 g/t 15.0m - Representative 876843

Table 1. Rock assay results that returned over 1.0% copper and silver. Max cautions investors that panel and representative grab sampling can be selective and are not necessarily representative of the mineralization.

QUALITY ASSURANCE

All CESAR rock chip samples are shipped to ALS Lab's sample preparation facility in Medellin, Columbia. Sample pulps are then sent to Lima, Peru, for analysis. All samples are analyzed using ALS procedure ME-MS41, a four-acid digestion with inductively coupled plasma finished. Over-limit copper and silver are determined by ALS procedure OG-62, a four-acid digestion with an atomic absorption spectroscopy finish. ALS Labs is independent from Max.

Max uses standard chip and channel sampling where possible, but also relies on composite grab sampling. Max considers composite grab samples to be representative but cautions investors that individual grab samples can be selective and may not be representative of continuous mineralization at CESAR.

QUALIFIED PERSON

The Company's disclosure of a technical or scientific nature in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Tim Henneberry, P Geo (British Columbia), a member of the Max Resource Advisory Board, who serves as a Qualified Person under the definition of National Instrument 43-101.

CESAR COPPER-SILVER PROJECT IN COLOMBIA - OVERVIEW

CESAR lies along the copper-silver rich 200-kilometre-long Cesar Basin in northeastern Colombia. This region enjoys major infrastructure resulting from oil & gas and mining operations, including Cerrejon, the largest coal mine in Latin America, now held by global miner Glencore (refer to Figure 4).





Figure 5. CESAR Project location.

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To view an enhanced version of Figure 5, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/3834/100139_ff5173dde48d5a10_006full.jpg

Due to the district-scale and copper-silver prospectivity of the Cesar Basin, Max has implemented a multi-faceted exploration program for 2021:

Advanced Drill Core Analysis and Modelling: ongoing interpretation of seismic sections and analysis of historical drill holes are all being integrated into our structural modelling of the Cesar Basin, in collaboration with Ingenieria Geologica Universidad Nacional de Colombia ("IGUN") in Medellin (January 7, 2021 NR) .

. Geochemical and Mineralogical: research programs by the University of Science and Technology ("AGH") of Krakow, Poland. AGH bring their extensive knowledge of KGHM's world renowned Kupferschiefer sediment-hosted copper-silver deposits in Poland to the CESAR project.

Geophysical: Fathom Geophysics is interpreting seismic data, funded by the Company in collaboration with one of the world's leading copper producers.

Proprietary Field Exploration & Techniques: Max's in-country exploration teams continue to target new copper-silver stratabound mineralized zones.

CESAR North 90-kilometre-long-copper-silver zone:

- In 2020, Max discovered both the copper-silver rich AMS (previously named AM South) zone and the AMN (previously named AM North) zone 40-km north, collectively spanning over 45-km. Highlight values of 1.0 to 34.4% copper and 5 to 305 g/t silver. Intervals range 0.5 to 25.0m;

- In March 2021, Max announced the CONEJO discovery, now spanning 3.2-km by 1.9-km and open in all directions. CONEJO returned values greater than 5.0% copper from 23 rock panels varying from 5.0m by 5.0m to 1.0m by 1.0m. In addition, 66 rock panel samples returned values over 1.0% copper (March 24, 2021 NR):

- 12.5% copper + 84 g/t silver over 5.0m by 5.0m

- 10.5% copper + 50 g/t silver over 3.0m by 2.0 m

- 10.4% copper + 95 g/t silver over 5.0m by 5.0m

- 10.2% copper + 62 g/t silver over 5.0m by 5.0m

- 10.0% copper + 80 g/t silver over 5.0m by 5.0m

- 8.7% copper + 89 g/t silver over 5.0m by 5.0m

- 8.4% copper + 60 g/t silver over 5.0m by 5.0m

- 7.9% copper + 21 g/t silver over 5.0m by 5.0m

- 7.7% copper + 84 g/t silver over 5.0m by 5.0m

- 7.4% copper + 47 g/t silver over 5.0m by 5.0m

- The 2021 URU discovery, located 30-km south of CONEJO, has been expanded to 48-km is and open in all directions. URU appears to have major-scale potential with highlight assay values of 0.5 to 14.8% copper and 5 to 132 g/t silver. Widths range 1.0 to 10.0m (June 10, and October 7, 2021 NR):

- 14.8% copper and 132 g/t silver outcrop over 1.5m x 0.8m

- 6.5% copper and 6 g/t silver outcrop over widths of 1.0m

- 5.6% copper and 87 g/t silver outcrop over 1.0m by 1.0m

- 4.3% copper and 8 g/t silver outcrop over widths of 10.0m

- 3.9% copper and 7 g/t silver outcrop over widths of 10.0m

- 3.6% copper and 12 g/t silver outcrop over widths of 10.0m

- 3.0% copper and 6 g/t silver outcrop over widths of 10.0m

- 3.0% copper and 37 g/t silver outcrop over widths of 10.0m

- By late April 2021, MAX had identified five copper discoveries at CESAR North 80-km belt: URU, CONEJO, SP, AMN and AMS;

- The new SP target reconnaissance composite grab sampling over a 25.0m outcrop averaging 4.8% copper and 51 g/t silver is considered very significant (September 7, 2021 NR);

- Exploration continues on the CONEJO and URU zones;

- Max has initiated the process of mineral claim approvals and drill permitting;

CESAR West: Max has identified copper porphyry-style mineralization.

ABOUT MAX RESOURCE CORP.

Max Resource Corp. is a copper and precious metals exploration company, engaged in advancing both the newly discovered district-scale CESAR copper-silver project (100% owned) in Colombia and the newly acquired RT Gold project (100% earn-in) in Peru. Both projects have potential for the discovery of large-scale mineral deposits; both stratabound-type copper-silver in Colombia and high-grade gold porphyry and massive sulfide in Peru.

Max Resource was awarded a Top 10 Ranked Company in the Mining Sector on the TSX Venture 50 for 2021, achieving a market cap increase of 1,992% and a share price increase of 282% in 2020.

For more information visit: https://www.maxresource.com/

For more information visit: www.tsx.com/venture50

TSX Venture 50 for 2021 video: MAX Resource Corp. (TSXV: MXR) - 2021 TSX Venture 50 - YouTube

For additional information contact:

Max Resource Corp.

Tim McNulty

E: info@maxresource.com

T: (604) 290-8100

*The Venture 50 ranking is provided by TSX Venture Exchange Inc. ("TSXV") for information purposes only. Neither TMX Group Limited nor any of its affiliated companies guarantees the completeness of this information and are not responsible for any errors or omissions in or any use of, or reliance on, this information. The Venture 50 program is not an invitation to purchase securities listed on TSX Venture Exchange. TSXV and its affiliates do not endorse or recommend any of the referenced securities or issuers, and this information should not be construed as providing any trading, legal, accounting, tax, investment, business, financial or other advice and should not be relied on for such purposes"

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.

Except for statements of historic fact, this news release contains certain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities law. Forward-looking information is frequently characterized by words such as "plan", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates at the date the statements are made and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements including, but not limited to delays or uncertainties with regulatory approvals, including that of the TSXV. There are uncertainties inherent in forward-looking information, including factors beyond the Company's control. There are no assurances that the commercialization plans for Max Resources Corp. described in this news release will come into effect on the terms or time frame described herein. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking information if circumstances or management's estimates or opinions should change except as required by law. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Additional information identifying risks and uncertainties that could affect financial results is contained in the Company's filings with Canadian securities regulators, which filings are available at www.sedar.com

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/100139
KUNMING, China, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- LONGi founder and president Li Zhenguo has announced an ambitious pledge to convert the company's Baoshan production base in Yunnan Province into its first "Net-zero Plant" by 2023. The announcement was made at the UN Biodiversity Conference (COP15) in Kunming, China and delivery on the pledge will see the beginning of "Net-zero LONGi" and a test field for the company's "Solar for Solar" sustainable development concept.

With the challenges of climate change and biodiversity loss growing, the realization of global sustainable development has reached a crossroads. As the only solar energy company invited to attend the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP15), LONGi firmly believes that photovoltaics can change the earth's ecology and contribute to biodiversity protection.

"Climate change has an all-round impact on biodiversity, and unreasonable energy development modes represent a key factor leading to climate change and increasing biodiversity issues," said Li, going on to add that LONGi is a staunch supporter of climate action, in the belief that photovoltaics plus energy storage can be a powerful weapon to mitigate climate change. The company has taken the lead in promoting the reduction in cost and increase in efficiency of photovoltaic products, reducing the cost of photovoltaic power generation by more than 90% over the past decade, providing technical support for the achievement of carbon peak and neutrality goals.

LONGi launched its "Solar for Solar" concept in December 2018, based on manufacturing photovoltaic products driven by photovoltaic power generation, with the objective of extending the role of PV in ecological restoration. The concept had originated in Yunnan Province, where LONGi was the first PV company to establish a base, going on to play a leading role in the development of the province's new energy industry.

In 2020, LONGi successively joined RE100, EV100, EP100 and Scientific Carbon Target (SBTi), becoming the only Chinese solar technology company to join four international initiatives at the same time. The company's Baoshan production base, in effect the first "Net-zero Plant", was also a concrete implementation of the four initiatives, and can be viewed as the starting point for "Net-zero LONGi".

Yunnan is the province with the most abundant green energy in China. Installed capacity accounts for 85%, with power generation from green energy reaching 90%, laying a very solid foundation for building a net-zero plant.

"We are planning on two years to achieve zero emissions within the operational scope of the LONGi Baoshan base by purchasing green power, energy-saving technological transformation and carbon emission offset measures." Li divided the realization of the "Net- zero Plant" into four steps: Firstly, ensuring that 100% of the Baoshan base utilises green power throughout the year; secondly, completing the production technology transformation of the base's carbon deposition materials to significantly reduce natural gas leakage; thirdly, promoting green production in the base and, finally, purchasing Chinese Certified Emission Reduction (CCER) to offset carbon emissions that cannot be completely eliminated.

Li concluded: "LONGi will always be a defender of and contributor to ecological harmony, sparing no effort to achieve net-zero targets, promote global energy transformation and join hands with partners from all walks of life to jointly realize this vision."

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1662604/LONGi_founder_president_Li_Zhenguo_announced_ambitious_pledge_convert_company_s.jpg

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/781516/LONGi_Solar_Logo.jpg
TOKYO, Oct 19, 2021 - (JCN Newswire) - Woven Capital, L.P., the investment arm of the Woven Planet Group, a Toyota subsidiary that is dedicated to building the safest mobility in the world, today announced that it has made an investment in UP.Partners' newly launched $230M venture capital fund. The fund is dedicated to supporting early-stage companies that are transforming the moving world. UP.Partners' focus is well aligned with Woven Capital, which is an $800 million global investment fund that supports innovative, growth-stage companies in mobility, automation, artificial intelligence, data and analytics, connectivity, and smart cities."Transforming mobility through technology is central to the mission of Woven Planet, and UP.Partners' investment strategy is in complete lockstep," said Betty Bryant, Principal, Woven Capital. "Woven Capital is excited to invest in UP.Partners' fund as they encourage entrepreneurs who are focused on wide-ranging solutions that allow people, goods and information to move more seamlessly, cost-effectively, and sustainably than ever before, benefiting humanity and the health of the planet for all.""The investment from Woven Capital is a significant endorsement of our unwavering commitment to the future of mobility," said Ben Marcus, Co-Founder & Managing Partner, UP.Partners. "We see artificial intelligence, advanced sensors, edge computing, fuel cells, batteries, additive manufacturing, and other emerging technologies serving as the foundation of a new era of transportation--one that is cleaner, faster, lower cost, and more accessible for all."UP.Partners has already made ten investments to companies including leading flight autonomy company Skydio, manufacturing quality assurance leader UnitX, and electric vertical aircraft developer Beta Technologies.About Woven CapitalWoven Capital is an $800 million global investment fund that supports growth-stage companies focused on technology and innovation in mobility. It was founded in 2021 as the corporate venture capital investment arm of the Woven Planet Group, a group of subsidiaries of Toyota. Woven Capital invests in mobility technologies, automation, artificial intelligence, data and analytics, connectivity, and smart cities globally.About Woven Planet GroupWoven Planet Group represents a carefully curated blend of expertise and resources dedicated to bringing the vision of "Mobility to Love, Safety to Live" to life. Through innovations and investments in automated driving, robotics, smart cities, and more, we are transforming how humankind lives, works, and moves. We exist to design, build, and deliver secure, connected, and sustainable mobility solutions that benefit all people worldwide. Founded in 2018 as Toyota Research Institute - Advanced Development ("TRI-AD"), Woven Planet is composed of four complementary companies: Woven Planet Holdings, Woven Core, Woven Alpha, and Woven Capital.For more information, please visit: https://www.woven-planet.global/About UP.PartnersTransportation is the underlying fabric of society. UP.Partners invests in the pioneering entrepreneurs who are creating the key enabling technologies that help move people and goods cleaner, faster, safer, and more efficiently--in a multi-dimensional world. We partner with some of the world's most innovative investors and companies--including Alaska Airlines, ARK Invest, and Woven Capital, the investment arm of Toyota subsidiary Woven Planet Group--and via the UP.Summit convene the mobility community's brightest minds each year to help humanity go UP. Together we are transforming the moving world. For more information, visit UP.Partners or follow us on Twitter @UpPartnersVC or LinkedIn.Contact:Woven Planet Holdings, Inc.pr@woven-planet.globalSource: Toyota Motor CorporationCopyright 2021 JCN Newswire . All rights reserved.
-- Adding deep preclinical and clinical immuno-oncology expertise to expand InteRNA's preclinical pipeline and accelerate clinical-stage lead candidate INT-1B3 --

InteRNA Technologies, a clinical-stage biotech company developing microRNA (miRNA)-based therapeutics with a focus on cancer, today announced the establishment of a Clinical Advisory Board (CAB) and the appointment of new members to its Scientific Advisory Board (SAB). Both the SAB and CAB will further guide the Company in the development of cancer therapies that are based on the unique features of InteRNA's proprietary miRNAs.

The CAB is chaired by Emile Voest, MD, PhD, who transitions from Chairman of InteRNA's SAB. Prof. Dr. Voest is the former Medical Director and currently Senior Group Leader at the Netherlands Cancer Institute in Amsterdam. In addition, he serves as Senior Scientist of the Dutch Oncode Institute and Director of Cancer Core Europe, a collaboration of seven renowned comprehensive cancer centers across Europe.

Further members of the CAB include:

Lillian L. Siu, MD, is Senior Medical Oncologist at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre (PMCC), Professor of Medicine at the University of Toronto and Director of the Phase I Program and Co-Director of the Bras and Family Drug Development Program at the PMCC in Toronto, Canada. Dr. Liu holds the BMO Chair in Precision Genomics and is also the Clinical Lead for the Tumor Immunotherapy Program at the PMCC. She served previously on the Board of Directors for the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), as a member of the Nomination Committee for the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) and on the AACR Board of Directors.

is Senior Medical Oncologist at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre (PMCC), Professor of Medicine at the University of Toronto and Director of the Phase I Program and Co-Director of the Bras and Family Drug Development Program at the PMCC in Toronto, Canada. Dr. Liu holds the BMO Chair in Precision Genomics and is also the Clinical Lead for the Tumor Immunotherapy Program at the PMCC. She served previously on the Board of Directors for the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), as a member of the Nomination Committee for the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) and on the AACR Board of Directors. Josep Tabernero, MD, PhD, is Head of the Medical Oncology Department at the Vall d'Hebron University Hospital, Director of the Vall d'Hebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO) in Barcelona and Professor of Medicine at UVic-UCC in Vic, Barcelona, Spain. Dr. Tabernero is a former President of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) and has been Principal Investigator of several Phase I pharmacodynamic studies and translational projects with tumor-directed targeted therapies and immune-based therapies.

is Head of the Medical Oncology Department at the Vall d'Hebron University Hospital, Director of the Vall d'Hebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO) in Barcelona and Professor of Medicine at UVic-UCC in Vic, Barcelona, Spain. Dr. Tabernero is a former President of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) and has been Principal Investigator of several Phase I pharmacodynamic studies and translational projects with tumor-directed targeted therapies and immune-based therapies. William C. Hahn, MD, PhD, is also transitioning from the SAB. He is the William Rosenberg Professor of Medicine in the Department of Medical Oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School and an Institute Member of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard in Cambridge/Boston, USA. He serves as an Executive Vice President and the Chief Operating Officer at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

InteRNA is further appointing a new Chairman of its SAB, Jorg Vollmer, PhD. Dr. Vollmer currently holds the position of CSO at Abalos Therapeutics, a biotech company focusing on the development of a novel virus-based anti-tumor treatment. He has a track record of advancing immuno-oncology and RNA-based approaches towards clinical application in leadership roles, including as CSO at Rigontec GmbH (advancing a RIG-I RNA agonist into the clinic), CEO and Managing Director at Nexigen GmbH (cell penetrating peptide therapeutics targeting tumor stem cell signaling pathways) and Managing Director and Site Head at Pfizer's Oligonucleotide Therapeutics Unit in Dusseldorf, Germany, where he was responsible for therapeutic oligonucleotide research and development subsequent of the acquisition of Coley Pharmaceuticals by Pfizer.

The SAB is completed by the following members:

Michel Streuli, PhD, has been newly appointed to InteRNA's SAB. Dr. Streuli is CEO of the immunotherapy company Foundry Innovations. Previously, he was CSO of Pionyr Immunotherapeutics, and prior to Pionyr, he held senior research positions at Gilead, Merck, Schering-Plough, and Organon, following a decade on the faculties of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School. At Merck he was instrumental as preclinical lead in the development of anti-PD1 antibody Keytruda.

Graham Dixon, PhD, remains a member of the SAB. Dr. Dixon is CSO/Head R&D of Mithra Pharmaceutical SA. In his 27-year career in the pharmaceutical industry, he has worked in a range of R&D management positions at AstraZeneca plc and in C-level management positions in several biotech companies including F2G Ltd, Entomed SA, Galapagos NV, Addex Therapeutics SA, Sensorion SA, Onxeo SA and Neem Biotech Ltd. He has played leadership roles in the successful regulatory clearance of three compounds: Meropenem (AstraZeneca), Belinostat (Onxeo) and Nextellis/Drovelis (Mithra).

Edwin Cuppen, PhD, scientific co-founder of InteRNA Technologies, remains a member of the SAB. Dr. Cuppen is Scientific Director of the Hartwig Medical Foundation, a not-for-profit organization that aims to improve cancer care by systematic whole genome sequencing analysis of tumors. He is also professor of Human Genetics at the Center for Molecular Medicine of the University Medical Center in Utrecht and invited member of the virtual national cancer research organization Oncode Institute. Previously, he held research and group leader positions at the Netherlands Cancer Institute in Amsterdam and the Hubrecht Institute in Utrecht.

Dr. Streuli and Dr. Vollmer will succeed Prof. Dr. Jaap Verweij and Dr. Eugene Berezikov, who have stepped down from their positions on the SAB.

"With the clinical development of our lead candidate INT-1B3 under way, it was critical to assemble the right experts to support both our clinical and further pipeline development. We are honored to have attracted such an experienced team that is highly committed to advising us in bringing a novel class of RNA therapeutics to patients, addressing multiple cancer-pathways simultaneously," said Roel Schaapveld, CEO of InteRNA Technologies. "The complementary knowledge of the renowned clinicians and scientists in these Advisory Boards will contribute significantly to our programs and success of the Company."

"I believe that a collaborative approach supported by industry experts can significantly accelerate the fundamental research and clinical development of promising new therapeutic approaches that are urgently needed in the immuno-oncology field," added Prof. Dr. Emile Voest, Chairman of InteRNA's Clinical Advisory Board. "As the Company is advancing its lead candidate INT-1B3 through early clinical evaluation, I am looking forward to working closely with the InteRNA team to potentially bring novel treatment options to cancer patients."

"Similar to the other members of InteRNA's Scientific Advisory Board, I have dedicated my career to the identification and development of novel drug candidates that can improve the current standard of care for cancer patients," added Dr. Jorg Vollmer, Chairman of InteRNA's Scientific Advisory Board. "I believe RNA therapies have a significant potential to provide a different strategy to targeting cancer. Specifically, InteRNA's miRNA-approach enables engaging different signal transduction targets simultaneously to initiate a coordinated anti-cancer attack and I am excited to advise Roel and his team as they materialize on the full potential of their proprietary miRNAs."

About INT-1B3

INT-1B3's unique mechanism of action addresses multiple hallmarks of cancer simultaneously. It directly targets tumor cells and the tumor microenvironment by specific modulation of multiple signaling pathway components across the PTEN tumor suppressor pathway and the oncogenic PI3K/Akt and Ras/MAPK pathways resulting in inhibition of proliferation and migration and induction of cell cycle arrest and apoptosis. The triggering of the immunogenic tumor cell death (ICD) process as well as downregulation of the adenosine-A2A receptor pathway through inhibition of CD39/CD73 leads to a decrease in immunosuppressive FoxP3/Lag3 regulatory T cells and monocytic myeloid-derived suppressor cells (mMDSCs), and maturation of dendritic cells. As a result, the immune system is activated, and long-term immunity is triggered by recruitment of CD8+ effector T cells leading to decreased metastasis development and improved animal survival compared to anti-PD1 treatment.

About InteRNA Technologies

InteRNA is a Dutch clinical-stage biotech company developing a pipeline of proprietary microRNA (miRNA) therapeutics targeting key processes in initiation and progression of human diseases, with a focus on cancer. Selected through InteRNA's leading miRNA discovery and functional validation platform and enabled with a 3rd generation drug delivery formulation, these miRNA compounds can mount a coordinated anti-cancer attack by engaging multiple signal transduction targets simultaneously. With this approach, we address the high need for novel therapeutics with improved efficacy and less prone to drug-acquired resistance that will benefit cancer patients.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211019005517/en/

Contacts:

InteRNA Technologies

Dr. Roel Schaapveld, CEO

Phone: +31 (0)30 760 7621

E-mail: schaapveld@interna-technologies.com

Trophic Communications

Dr. Stephanie May

Phone: +49 171 185 5682

E-mail: interna@trophic.eu
New brand LR SOUL OF NATURE taps into current trends and shows a clear commitment to more sustainability

Fragrances have always been an integral and successful part of the LR Health Beauty product portfolio. With the brand LR SOUL OF NATURE, LR is building on this success story and expanding its range of fragrance products. What makes this so special is that this new brand links "natural fragrances" with an emotional aroma-wellness component and uses recycled plastic and waste glass as packaging.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211019005586/en/

Product selection of the Mood World "LR SOUL OF NATURE Cheerful Soul" (Photo: LR Health Beauty)

Investing in a growth market

By expanding its product portfolio, LR is investing in an attractive growth market: "Analyses* have shown that the market value of essential oils worldwide will increase from USD 17.36 billion in 2017 to USD 27.49 billion in 2022," explains Andreas Friesch, CEO and spokesperson for the management. "And additional in-depth market research has encouraged us to enter into this product segment. We are therefore certain that this strategic decision will lead to another great chapter in LR's success story."

Clearly committed to more sustainability: Product packaging made of recycled PET and waste glass

Taking on social responsibility and saving resources is a matter of course for LR. In order to act in an increasingly sustainable way, LR has already launched several internal projects and successfully so, because the sustainability aspect is also reflected in the new brand. For instance, the SOUL OF NATURE packaging is predominantly** made of recycled plastic (rPET) and glass with a high percentage of waste glass. "By using recycled PET, we are saving natural resources," explains Friesch and adds, "With the new brand, we are actively aiming to reach people who place a great value on being mindful of nature." The LR SOUL OF NATURE product portfolio comprises eight 100% pure and natural essential oils and four aroma mood worlds with four to five care products each.

Source(s): PR Newswire; Transparency Market Research

** Seals, caps and lids made of plastic (PP)

LR Health Beauty

"More quality for your life" that's what the LR group of companies, headquartered in Ahlen, Westphalia, stands for. It manufactures and sells a wide range of health and care products in around 28 countries. As a modern social selling platform, the company links personal exchange within its community with efficient, digital solutions.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211019005586/en/

Contacts:

LR Global Holding GmbH

Almut Kellermeyer Head of PR Public Affairs

Tel.: 02382 7658-106

E-Mail: A.Kellermeyer@LRworld.com
Kroll Bond Rating Agency Europe Limited (KBRA) assigns preliminary ratings to Glen Securities Finance DAC (Glen Securities), a 1.397 billion partially-funded synthetic securitisation of Irish residential mortgages originated by members of the Bank of Ireland Group.

Glen Securities will issue up to four classes of Credit Linked Notes, the Class A CLNs, the Class B CLNs, the Class C CLNs and the Class D CLNs, which reference certain tranches of the residential mortgage portfolio. KBRA has assigned preliminary ratings to the Class A CLNs, the Class B CLNs and the Class C CLNs. Whilst the credit analysis for the note ratings is based on loss estimates of the underlying portfolio, it also considers linkage to the credit strength of Bank of Ireland as the entity which, amongst other things, funds the interest due on the notes through the payment of the protection fee amounts payable as the protection buyer to Glen Securities under a Loan Portfolio Credit Protection Deed.

As of the initial pool cut-off date of 30th June 2021, the underlying residential mortgage portfolio consists of 14,657 seasoned first-lien performing loans with a total current balance of 1.47 billion, secured primarily by owner occupied (64%) and Buy-To-Let (36%) properties. 76% of the loans in the portfolio have been restructured in the past with a significant majority of these restructures (77%) occurring more than five years prior to the pool cut-off date.

Click here to view the report. To access ratings and relevant documents, click here.

Related Publications

European RMBS Rating Methodology

European RMBS Rating Methodology Country Addendum: Republic of Ireland

Global Structured Finance Counterparty Methodology

ESG Global Rating Methodology

Disclosures

Further information on key credit considerations, sensitivity analyses that consider what factors can affect these credit ratings and how they could lead to an upgrade or a downgrade, andESG factors (where they are a key driver behind the change to the credit rating or rating outlook) can be found in the full rating report referenced above.

A description of all substantially material sources that were used to prepare the credit rating and information on the methodology(ies) (inclusive of any material models and sensitivity analyses of the relevant key rating assumptions, as applicable) used in determining the credit rating is available in the Information Disclosure Form(s) located here.

Information on the meaning of each rating category can be located here.

This credit rating is endorsed by Kroll Bond Rating Agency UK Limited for use in the UK. Information on a credit rating's endorsement status is available on its rating page at KBRA.com.

Further disclosures relating to this rating action are available in the Information Disclosure Form(s) referenced above. Additional information regarding KBRA policies, methodologies, rating scales and disclosures are available at www.kbra.com.

About KBRA Europe

Kroll Bond Rating Agency, LLC (KBRA) is a full-service credit rating agency registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission as an NRSRO. Kroll Bond Rating Agency Europe Limited is registered as a CRA with the European Securities and Markets Authority. Kroll Bond Rating Agency UK Limited is registered as a CRA with the UK Financial Conduct Authority pursuant to the Temporary Registration Regime. In addition, KBRA is designated as a designated rating organization by the Ontario Securities Commission for issuers of asset-backed securities to file a short form prospectus or shelf prospectus. KBRA is also recognized by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners as a Credit Rating Provider. Kroll Bond Rating Agency Europe is located at 6-8 College Green, Dublin 2, Ireland.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211019005593/en/

Contacts:

Analytical Contacts

Killian Walsh, Director (Lead Analyst)

+353 1 588 1184

killian.walsh@kbra.com

Karl Cummins, Director

+353 1 588 1240

karl.cummins@kbra.com

Gianfranco Di Paolo, Senior Analyst

+353 1 588 1205

gianfranco.dipaolo@kbra.com

Ashish Sharda, Senior Director

+1 (646) 731-2415

ashish.sharda@kbra.com

Jack Kahan, Senior Managing Director (Rating Committee Chair)

+1 (646) 731-2486

jack.kahan@kbra.com

Business Development Contacts

Mauricio Noe, Co-Head of Europe

+44 208 148 1010

mauricio.noe@kbra.com

Miten Amin, Managing Director

+44 208 148 1002

miten.amin@kbra.com
Featuring 5 new apps, 3 new services, and 7 major platform enhancements, Zoho One helps businesses unify systems, data and teams. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Since its release in 2017, over 40,000 organizations have chosen Zoho One as their operating system. During the months of global and economic crises, Zoho One witnessed a 60% y-y customer growth with average number of apps used by businesses rising to 21.

Austin, Texas, Oct. 19, 2021, the operating system for business. The new release empowers businesses to solve disjointed data challenges and close communications gaps across silos, so organizations can become more productive, adapt more quickly to changing business conditions, and become poised for growth.

"The experience that employees, customers, partners, and suppliers get when dealing with businesses is typically a reflection of how that business and its systems are structured internally. Today, the majority of systems are disconnected as a result of siloed solutions offered by vendors," said Raju Vegesna, Chief Evangelist at Zoho. "Unification of a business requires unification of the underlying systems, which can then provide a truly unified experience, internally and externally, along with unified insights. Zoho One was created with this vision and keeps expanding its unbeatable value with new additions and improvements year over year."

Zoho One aims to resolve operational, digitization, and retention challenges that businesses encounter. Enhancement categories include:

Unified, Real-time Insights for Critical Business Decisions

Businesses now have stronger real-time, organization-wide analytics, connecting the dots between data previously lost across departments, teams, and accounts. Powered by Zia, Zoho's AI assistant, and Zoho's BI and Analytics Platform, Zoho One allows users to predict and provide insights across the organization enabling confident decision-making. New innovations include:

Embedded and Conversational BI: Zoho One now features embedded and conversational analytics enabling decision makers to drill down into their data and glean cross-departmental insights, all through natural language commands using Zia Insights. By providing 1,500+ pre-built analytics reports and dashboards, critical business decisions can be made with greater precision and speed.

Zoho One now features embedded and conversational analytics enabling decision makers to drill down into their data and glean cross-departmental insights, all through natural language commands using Zia Insights. By providing 1,500+ pre-built analytics reports and dashboards, critical business decisions can be made with greater precision and speed. Data Preparation: (https://www.zoho.com/dataprep/) This self-service data preparation and management tool is now available in Zoho One. Whether users are preparing data from third-party apps or other sources, DataPrep, powered by machine learning, can help business users integrate, model, cleanse, transform, enrich, and catalog data, as well as integrate with Analytics or a third party for new-found insights.

This self-service data preparation and management tool is now available in Zoho One. Whether users are preparing data from third-party apps or other sources, DataPrep, powered by machine learning, can help business users integrate, model, cleanse, transform, enrich, and catalog data, as well as integrate with Analytics or a third party for new-found insights. Work Graph: Zoho's new back-end service, an industry-first for business software, maps interactions between people, resources, systems and processes by studying signals and their strength across the board to build a business-wide work graph that is specific to each individual within the organization. The result of a work graph will be seen in the day-to-day productivity of users across various apps.

Zoho's new back-end service, an industry-first for business software, maps interactions between people, resources, systems and processes by studying signals and their strength across the board to build a business-wide work graph that is specific to each individual within the organization. The result of a work graph will be seen in the day-to-day productivity of users across various apps. Enterprise Search: Zoho's actionable, organization-wide search, which is powered by Zia, can now understand natural language requests. Natural language powered search will lead to more accurate data discovery across teams and functions.

Scale and Manage Operations More Effectively in Unpredictable Climates

Global health and economic crises have accelerated the need for digital solutions that support varying workplace and business models. Operations have become more complex, making employee data and security a priority. The addition of Mobile Application Management and Zoho Commerce aim to help businesses better manage operations:

Mobile Application Management (MAM): (https://www.manageengine.com/mobile-device-management/) With remote work now persistent, Zoho One now includes enterprise-grade Mobile App Management capabilities. Admins can easily add and manage all of their users' devices for better insight and control of provisioning, specific app permissions and policies, locking and wiping devices remotely, and more, to support employee mobility and flexibility.

Zoho Commerce (https://www.zoho.com/commerce/): Businesses need to digitize faster than ever. The addition of Zoho Commerce enables retailers to easily build online shops with the tools needed to construct a website, accept orders, track inventory, process payments, manage shipping, market their brand, and analyze data. Zoho Commerce also integrates with third party payment gateways.

Build Strong Employee Experiences, From Anywhere

To help close the distance between employees, employers, and teams, which has widened with remote work, Zoho One delivers solutions that promote stronger collaboration and employee experience to support any mode of work:

Zoho Learn (https://www.zoho.com/learn/): Organizations now have a learning management tool that enables interactive training programs and assessments with Zoho's course builder. Online centralization of company information, training programs, and more, gives businesses a better way to nurture employee growth.

Organizations now have a learning management tool that enables interactive training programs and assessments with Zoho's course builder. Online centralization of company information, training programs, and more, gives businesses a better way to nurture employee growth. Zoho Lens (https://www.zoho.com/lens/): To facilitate better communication and collaboration in a remote-work environment, Zoho Lens provides remote assistance and guidance to employees through augmented reality (AR) via real-time AR annotation, VoIP and text chat, and more.

To facilitate better communication and collaboration in a remote-work environment, Zoho Lens provides remote assistance and guidance to employees through augmented reality (AR) via real-time AR annotation, VoIP and text chat, and more. TeamInbox (https://www.zoho.com/teaminbox/): Teams use this shared email inbox to eliminate task duplication and streamline email conversations in one central location.

Teams use this shared email inbox to eliminate task duplication and streamline email conversations in one central location. Org Dictionary: Another industry-first, this new organization-wide service offers a central dictionary for the entire organization. It automatically incorporates the organization's employee name and other sources offering a central, consistent diction across various Zoho applications and users.

Unified and Personalized Experience with Context

Zoho One's enhanced user experience allows easy customization and personalization of workspaces:

Unified Console, Dashboards, and Smart-Stack UI: Employees are now able to see their apps, services, and dashboards in one view with centralization across calendars, dashboards, navigation, and more.

Employees are now able to see their apps, services, and dashboards in one view with centralization across calendars, dashboards, navigation, and more. Customizable Dashboard with Pre-Built Widgets: Widgets encapsulating data across the organization can be aggregated together in a custom dashboard. This provides users visibility across the organization in a single view with the ability to drill down just one click away.

"Being reactive does not work well in the e-commerce and retail business. The decisions we make today will impact our business 18 months from now. We needed a unified, data-driven solution that provides real-time visibility on our customers, distributors, and suppliers, while giving us insight into every aspect of our business," said Bryan Duggan, Director of Sales Operations, Counter Culture Coffee. "The intuitive and contextual nature of Zoho One allows us to not only be proactive in our growth strategy, but also to understand our customers better. The comprehensive data pulled from the front and back office, alongside our existing third-party apps, have helped us get to know our customers and their expectations, doubling the satisfaction rate each quarter. We look forward to growing Counter Culture Coffee with Zoho One to expand our operations internationally."

A Deep Ecosystem that Extends and Integrates

Recognizing that businesses value flexibility in choosing apps that serve their specific needs, the Zoho One platform already integrates with 1,000+ third party solutions on Zoho Marketplaceand now extends integration with 100+ telephony providers to enable seamless communications between stakeholders. Zoho One also includes a comprehensive platform for developers and business users to create, extend, and integrate. The platform includes newly released no-code tool, Canvas, low-code tool, Zoho Creator, and pro-code platform, Catalyst.

Zoho Pricing: Pricing starts at $37 USD per employee. For comprehensive pricing information, please go to: https://www.zoho.com/one/pricing/

Zoho Privacy Pledge

Zoho respects user privacy and does not have an ad-revenue model in any part of its business, including its free products. More than 70 million users around the world, across hundreds of thousands of companies, rely on Zoho every day to run their businesses, including Zoho itself. For more information, please visit https://www.zoho.com/privacy.html

About Zoho

With 50+ apps in nearly every major business category, including sales, marketing, customer support, accounting and back-office operations, and an array of productivity and collaboration tools, Zoho Corporation is one of the world's most prolific technology companies.

Zoho is privately held and profitable with more than 10,000 employees. Zoho is headquartered in Austin, Texas, with international headquarters in Chennai, India. Additional offices are in the United States, India, Japan, China, Canada, Singapore, Mexico, Australia, the Netherlands, Brazil, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. For more information, please visit www.zoho.com/

Attachments
Accenture (NYSE: ACN) has acquired Xoomworks Group, a consulting and technology company that specializes in procurement technology, digital innovation and software solutions development. The acquisition will expand Accenture's capabilities for helping clients accelerate technology-led business and procurement transformation. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211019005584/en/

Xoomworks is now part of the Accenture family (Graphic: Business Wire)

Established in 2000, Xoomworks operates two distinct businesses: Xoomworks Procurement, a specialist consultancy focused on sourcing and procurement transformation, and Xoomworks Technology, a software development business that partners with clients across industries to help them innovate at speed and scale digital solutions that create value and solve complex business problems. Headquartered in London, Xoomworks's team of more than 250 professionals are joining Accenture from across their operations in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Romania, Bulgaria, Denmark and Sweden.

Xoomworks Procurement brings proprietary methodologies and solutions for full procurement lifecycle implementations, data-driven spend management and change management. The addition of Xoomworks Procurement strengthens Accenture's Closed Loop Spend Management capabilities, which help clients with end-to-end transformations that deliver unprecedented visibility across direct and indirect cost categories and drive new ways of working to generate sustainable cost savings and top line value. Xoomworks shares deep relationships with Accenture ecosystem partners, including SAP Ariba, Coupa and Jaggaer.

"Now more than ever, companies need to take a more proactive approach to managing third-party spend that positions them for enduring growth and prepares them for what's next," said Pierre-Francois Kaltenbach, senior managing director within Accenture's Supply Chain Operations group. "We're delighted to welcome Xoomworks to our team and join our mission to help clients transform their procurement capabilities to accelerate innovation and drive breakthrough value, while answering the call for more responsible business."

Xoomworks Technology has in-depth experience in bespoke software development, UX mobile, data engineering, product innovation, and cloud integrations. With a strong reputation for problem-solving, Xoomworks Technology brings a carefully developed approach for delivery designed to create value, foster innovation and achieve business outcomes, which has translated into long-lasting strategic client relationships.

Jan Van Den Bremen, senior managing director and Accenture's Intelligent Platform Services Europe Lead, said: "Intelligent platforms and ecosystem partners play a pivotal role in bringing together the major capabilities needed to run a modern enterprise and take advantage of new business models. With the addition of Xoomworks, we are expanding our deep technology expertise to further help accelerate the path to value for our clients at speed."

Malcolm Clark, Co-founder and Group CEO, Xoomworks, added: "When we founded Xoomworks 21 years ago, we set out to create technology-led solutions to solve specific business problems and deliver high-performance outcomes with a focus on forming deep client relationships built on trust. We've done just that. I'm immensely proud of our people, our achievements and our collaborative values-led approach. The world has changed radically in the last two decades; by combining our experience, capabilities and expertise and with a shared vision of the future, we know we can have an even bigger impact as part of Accenture."

About Accenture

Accenture is a global professional services company with leading capabilities in digital, cloud and security. Combining unmatched experience and specialized skills across more than 40 industries, we offer Strategy and Consulting, Interactive, Technology and Operations services-all powered by the world's largest network of Advanced Technology and Intelligent Operations centers. Our 624,000 people deliver on the promise of technology and human ingenuity every day, serving clients in more than 120 countries. We embrace the power of change to create value and shared success for our clients, people, shareholders, partners and communities. Visit us at www.accenture.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

Except for the historical information and discussions contained herein, statements in this news release may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as "may," "will," "should," "likely," "anticipates," "expects," "intends," "plans," "projects," "believes," "estimates," "positioned," "outlook" and similar expressions are used to identify these forward-looking statements. These statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied. These risks include, without limitation, risks that: the transaction might not achieve the anticipated benefits for Accenture; The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted Accenture's business and operations, and the extent to which it will continue to do so and its impact on the company's future financial results are uncertain; Accenture's results of operations have been, and may in the future be, adversely affected by volatile, negative or uncertain economic and political conditions and the effects of these conditions on the company's clients' businesses and levels of business activity; Accenture's business depends on generating and maintaining ongoing, profitable client demand for the company's services and solutions including through the adaptation and expansion of its services and solutions in response to ongoing changes in technology and offerings, and a significant reduction in such demand or an inability to respond to the evolving technological environment could materially affect the company's results of operations; if Accenture is unable to keep its supply of skills and resources in balance with client demand around the world and attract and retain professionals with strong leadership skills, the company's business, the utilization rate of the company's professionals and the company's results of operations may be materially adversely affected; Accenture faces legal, reputational and financial risks from any failure to protect client and/or company data from security incidents or cyberattacks; the markets in which Accenture operates are highly competitive, and Accenture might not be able to compete effectively; Accenture's ability to attract and retain business and employees may depend on its reputation in the marketplace; if Accenture does not successfully manage and develop its relationships with key alliance partners or fails to anticipate and establish new alliances in new technologies, the company's results of operations could be adversely affected; Accenture's profitability could materially suffer if the company is unable to obtain favorable pricing for its services and solutions, if the company is unable to remain competitive, if its cost-management strategies are unsuccessful or if it experiences delivery inefficiencies or fail to satisfy certain agreed-upon targets or specific service levels; changes in Accenture's level of taxes, as well as audits, investigations and tax proceedings, or changes in tax laws or in their interpretation or enforcement, could have a material adverse effect on the company's effective tax rate, results of operations, cash flows and financial condition; Accenture's results of operations could be materially adversely affected by fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates; changes to accounting standards or in the estimates and assumptions Accenture makes in connection with the preparation of its consolidated financial statements could adversely affect its financial results; Accenture might be unable to access additional capital on favorable terms or at all and if the company raises equity capital, it may dilute its shareholders' ownership interest in the company; as a result of Accenture's geographically diverse operations and its growth strategy to continue to expand in its key markets around the world, the company is more susceptible to certain risks; if Accenture is unable to manage the organizational challenges associated with its size, the company might be unable to achieve its business objectives; Accenture might not be successful at acquiring, investing in or integrating businesses, entering into joint ventures or divesting businesses; Accenture's business could be materially adversely affected if the company incurs legal liability; Accenture's global operations expose the company to numerous and sometimes conflicting legal and regulatory requirements; Accenture's work with government clients exposes the company to additional risks inherent in the government contracting environment; if Accenture is unable to protect or enforce its intellectual property rights or if Accenture's services or solutions infringe upon the intellectual property rights of others or the company loses its ability to utilize the intellectual property of others, its business could be adversely affected; Accenture's results of operations and share price could be adversely affected if it is unable to maintain effective internal controls; Accenture may be subject to criticism and negative publicity related to its incorporation in Ireland; as well as the risks, uncertainties and other factors discussed under the "Risk Factors" heading in Accenture plc's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and other documents filed with or furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Statements in this news release speak only as of the date they were made, and Accenture undertakes no duty to update any forward-looking statements made in this news release or to conform such statements to actual results or changes in Accenture's expectations.

Copyright 2021 Accenture. All rights reserved.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211019005584/en/

Contacts:

Maggie Nolan

Accenture

+1 917-452-3964

margaret.d.nolan@accenture.com
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - October 19, 2021) - Heliostar Metals Limited (TSXV: HSTR) (OTCQX: HSTXF) (FSE: RGG1) ("Heliostar" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that, further to its news releases dated October 4, 2021 and October 6, 2021, it has closed the first tranche of its non-brokered private placement offering (the "Offering") of up to 5,714,285 units (each a "Unit") of the Company at a price of $0.70 per Unit (the "Offering Price"). In the first tranche, the Company completed the sale of 1,857,465 Units at the Offering Price for gross proceeds of $1,300,225.50.

Heliostar CEO, Charles Funk, commented: "This $4 million Offering has received strong support; it is already over-subscribed and we intend to close on the balance over the next two weeks. The next step for Heliostar is to commence a 2,500 to 3,000 metre drilling on the recent Verde discovery at Cumaro, in Mexico, in November. The potential of the project based on the recently received assay results has caused us to prioritize this drill program for Q4, 2021. Heliostar has one of the most exciting portfolios of high-grade gold and silver projects in the industry and we expect that this financing will set the stage for news flow over the coming months."

About the Private Placement

Each Unit consists of one common share in the capital of the Company (each a "Share") and one half of one common share purchase warrant (each whole warrant a "Warrant"). Each Warrant is exercisable for one additional Share (a "Warrant Share") at an exercise price of $1.20 for a period of 24 months following the Closing Date.

An aggregate amount of $40,675.53 in cash and 58,107 broker warrants ("Broker Warrants") were paid as finders' fees to three qualified finders in connection with the completion of the first tranche of the Offering. Each Broker Warrant is exercisable into one Share (each a "Broker Warrant Share") at an exercise price of $1.20 for a period of 24 months following the Closing Date.

The Shares, any Warrant Shares issued upon exercise of any of the Warrants and any Broker Warrant Shares issued upon exercise of any of the Broker Warrants are subject to a four month and one-day restricted resale period expiring February 19, 2022 in accordance with the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange and securities laws applicable in Canada. The Warrants and the Broker Warrants are not transferable. In addition to Canadian resale restrictions, any of the securities sold to investors from other jurisdictions may be subject to additional resale restrictions, including those of the federal laws of the United States of American and any State or territory thereof.

The Company intends to use the net proceeds from the Offering to advance its Alaskan and Mexican projects, focusing primarily on the proposed Cumaro drill program in Q4, 2021, as well as for working capital and general corporate purposes.

Jacques Vaillancourt, a director and an 'insider' of the Company, purchased 286,000 Units in the first tranche of the Offering and the Offering is therefore considered to be a "related party transaction", as defined under Multilateral Instrument 61-101, Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions ("MI 61-101") and Policy 5.9 of the TSX Venture Exchange, which require that the Company, in the absence of exemptions, obtain a formal valuation for, and minority shareholder approval of, the related party transaction. However, the Offering is exempt: (i) from the formal valuation requirement of MI 61-101 (and Policy 5.9) pursuant to the exemption contained in section 5.5(b) of MI 61-101 as none of the Company's securities are listed on any of the markets specified in section 5.5(b) of MI 61-101, and (ii) from the shareholder approval requirement of MI 61-101 (and Policy 5.9) pursuant to the exemption contained in section 5.7(1)(a) of MI 61-101 because the fair market value of the securities sold to related parties in the Offering did not exceed 25% of the Company's market capitalization.

None of the securities to be issued in the Offering have been or will be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "1933 Act"), and none may be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements of the 1933 Act. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of the securities offered in the Offering in any state where such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful.

About Heliostar Metals Ltd.

Heliostar is a junior exploration and development company with a portfolio of high-grade gold projects in Alaska and Mexico. The company's flagship asset is the 100% controlled Unga Gold Project on Unga and Popof Islands in Alaska. The project hosts an intermediate sulfidation epithermal gold deposit, located within the district-scale property that encompasses 240km2 across the two islands. Additional targets on the property include porphyry, high sulphidation and intermediate sulphidation epithermal veins. On Unga Island, priority targets include: the SH-1 and Aquila, both on the Shumagin Trend, the former Apollo-Sitka mine, which was Alaska's first underground gold mine and the Zachary Bay porphyry gold-copper prospect. Gold mineralization at the Centennial Zone is located on neighbouring Popof Island within four kilometres of infrastructure and services at Sand Point.

In Mexico, the company owns 100% of three early stage epithermal projects in Sonora that are highly prospective for gold and silver. Cumaro forms part of the El Picacho district, while the Oso Negro and La Lola projects are also prospective for epithermal gold-silver mineralization.

For additional information please contact:

Charles Funk

Chief Executive Officer

Heliostar Metals Limited

Email: charles.funk@heliostarmetals.com

Rob Grey

Investor Relations Manager

Heliostar Metals Limited

Email: rob.grey@heliostarmetals.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.

Forward-Looking Information. This release includes certain statements that may be deemed "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 "would", "may", "could" or "should" occur. Forward-looking statements in this press release include Heliostar's intent to close the balance of the Offering over the next few weeks, its planned use of proceeds, including the plan to prioritize and commence a drill program at Cumaro during Q4, 2021; it expectation that this financing will set the stage for news flow over the coming months. Although Heliostar believes that the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not a guarantee 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 market prices, exploitation and exploration successes, weather, 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.



Not for Dissemination in the United States or to U.S. Newswire Services

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/100134
Extensive Exploration Conducted Throughout the Summer to Develop Drill Target Zones

VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / October 19, 2021 / Victory Resources Corporation (CSE:VR)(FWB:VR61) (OTC PINK:VRCFF) ("Victory" or the "Company") is excited to announce that the Company has filed its drill permit application for its Smokey Lithium property in Esmeralda County, Nevada.

Highlights of Smokey Lithium Advancement

Victory conducted extensive exploration and sampling throughout the summer to identify its approach to drilling the property

Drill permit has been filed for a program with four holes, which the Company plans to expand to fifteen holes pending results and analysis

Plan is to commence drilling in late fall, early winter pending permit approvals

Through May and June, Victory's exploration team conducted mapping and sampling using both a Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) Analyzer* and the collection of claystone samples which were submitted to ALS in Reno. Values up to 630 ppm Li were returned from the surface sampling. The LIBS results were often several times higher than the associated rock sample results, possibly due to the high summer heat and/or the unconsolidated nature of the samples, therefore these results could only be used qualitatively.

Victory's exploration team continued to conduct exploration activities through July in order to better understand the geology and confirm a strategy for drilling. Surficial sediment sampling was conducted in the southwest and central zones of the property and taken from animal burrows. In addition, seven sites for deeper sampling were chosen based on their elevated surficial lithium values. Holes were dug and samples were taken from > 1 m deep in an attempt to find claystone beneath the generally unconsolidated surficial sediment.

As a result of the extensive exploration work and analysis conducted to date, the Company's exploration team has identified drill targets that will determine whether a relationship exists to the high Li zone on the adjacent Jindalee property.

Victory's Smokey Lithium project is a clay lithium property that lies approximately 20 miles north of Clayton Valley, and 20 miles west of American Lithium's flagship lithium project. Smokey Lithium is located 25 km northwest of Cypress' Clayton Valley Lithium Project and 35 km southwest of American Lithium Corporation's Tonopah Lithium Claims Property in southwest Nevada. Esmeralda County Nevada is a prolific region for lithium clay deposits, (Noram, Cypress, American Lithium, Spearmint, Enertopia, and Jindalee).

The Smokey Lithium property is located 35 km west of Tonopah, Nevada within the Walker Lane trans tensional corridor on the western margin of the Basin and Range province. The property's geology consists of Miocene - Pliocene tuff deposits, claystones, and siliciclastic beds (Esmeralda Formation) with overlying younger alluvium deposits and desert pavement formation. The claystone, which can carry high lithium concentrations, is observed as highly weathered light grey to tan mounds of unconsolidated clay from 0.10 - 1.50 meters thick. The flat lying nature of the claystones, together with the frequent occurrence of transported cover requires drilling to fully validate and assess Smokey Lithium's the potential as indicated by surface sampling.

Scientific and technical information contained in this press release was reviewed and approved by Mr. Helgi Sigurgeirson, Victory Geologist, and a "qualified person" under NI 43-101.

* Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) is a rapid chemical analysis tool that is used to detect and characterize materials. Focusing a powerful laser pulse onto the surface of solid, liquid or even gaseous matter is analyzed to determine the elemental composition of the sample.

For further information, please contact:

Mark Ireton, President

Telephone: +1 (236) 317 2822 or TOLL FREE 1 (855) 665-GOLD (4653)

E-mail: IR@victoryresourcescorp.com

About Victory Resources Corporation

VICTORY RESOURCES CORPORATION (CSE: VR) is a publicly traded diversified investment corporation with mineral interests in North America. The company is also actively seeking other exploration opportunities.

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward Looking Statements

Certain information set forth in this news release may contain forward-looking statements that involve substantial known and unknown risks and uncertainties. All statements other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, statements regarding future financial position, business strategy, use of proceeds, corporate vision, proposed acquisitions, partnerships, joint-ventures and strategic alliances and co-operations, budgets, cost and plans and objectives of or involving the Company. Such forward-looking information reflects management's current beliefs and is based on information currently available to management. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "predicts", "intends", "targets", "aims", "anticipates" or "believes" or variations (including negative variations) of such words and phrases or may be identified by statements to the effect that certain actions "may", "could", "should", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. A number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors may cause the actual results or performance to materially differ from any future results or performance expressed or implied by the forward-looking information. These forward-looking statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, certain of which are beyond the control of the Company including, but not limited to, the impact of general economic conditions, industry conditions and dependence upon regulatory approvals. Readers are cautioned that the assumptions used in the preparation of such information, although considered reasonable at the time of preparation, may prove to be imprecise and, as such, undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements. The Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise its forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, except as required by securities laws.

SOURCE: Victory Resources Corporation

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/668643/Victorys-Exploration-Team-Files-Drill-Permit-Application-for-Smokey-Lithium-Nevada
HALIFAX, NS / ACCESSWIRE / October 19, 2021 / Silver Tiger Metals Inc. (TSXV:SLVR)(OTCQX:SLVTF) ("Silver Tiger" or the "Corporation") has intersected 3,856.2 g/t silver equivalent over 0.5 meters in the Sooy Vein in Drill Hole ET-21-244 from 251.0 meters to 251.5 meters within a broader mineralized interval of 7.5 meters grading 491.1 g/t silver equivalent from 244.0 meters to 251.5 meters.

Drill hole ET-21-244 also intersected the Sooy Footwall Zone returning 0.5 meters grading 2,132.6 g/t silver equivalent from 274.3 meters to 274.8 meters within a broader mineralized interval of 1.8 meters grading 624.5 g/t silver equivalent from 273.0 meters to 274.8 meters

Highlights from the on-going drilling program targeting the Sooy Vein and the Benjamin Vein (northern Sooy extension) include the following:

Hole ET 21-244 (Sooy Vein): 0.5 meters grading 3,856.2 g/t silver equivalent from 251.0 meters to 251.5 meters, consisting of 3,531.0 g/t silver, 1.30 g/t gold, 1.06% copper, 3.64% lead and 1.18% zinc, within 7.5 meters grading 491.1 g/t silver equivalent from 244.0 meters to 251.5 meters, consisting of 454.8 g/t silver, 0.16 g/t gold, 0.12% copper, 0.33% lead and 0.16% zinc.

from 251.0 meters to 251.5 meters, consisting of 3,531.0 g/t silver, 1.30 g/t gold, 1.06% copper, 3.64% lead and 1.18% zinc, from 244.0 meters to 251.5 meters, consisting of 454.8 g/t silver, 0.16 g/t gold, 0.12% copper, 0.33% lead and 0.16% zinc. Hole ET-21-244 (Sooy Vein Footwall): 0.5 meters grading 2,132.6 g/t silver equivalent from 274.3 meters to 274.8 meters consisting of 2,030.0 g/t silver, 0.40 g/t gold, 0.46% copper, 0.99% lead and 0.16% zinc, within 1.8 meters grading 624.5 g/t silver equivalent from 273.0 meters to 274.8 meters consisting of 593.4 g/t silver, 0.13 g/t gold, 0.13% copper, 0.28% lead and 0.06% zinc.

from 274.3 meters to 274.8 meters consisting of 2,030.0 g/t silver, 0.40 g/t gold, 0.46% copper, 0.99% lead and 0.16% zinc, from 273.0 meters to 274.8 meters consisting of 593.4 g/t silver, 0.13 g/t gold, 0.13% copper, 0.28% lead and 0.06% zinc. Hole ET-21-243 (Benjamin Vein): 0.5 meters grading 965.3 g/t silver equivalent from 78.8 meters to 79.3 meters consisting of 864.0 g/t silver, 0.05 g/t gold, 0.54% copper, 0.52% lead and 1.00% zinc, within 4.3 meters grading 155.0 g/t silver equivalent from 75.5 meters to 79.8 meters consisting of 138.5 g/t silver, 0.02 g/t gold, 0.07% copper, 0.13% lead and 0.14% zinc.

Additional results are presented in the Drill Hole Results table below along with the details for the calculation of the silver equivalent grades.

A Plan Map of the El Tigre Veins and Drill Holes is attached. Also attached is El Tigre Cross Section 4000N detailing Drill Hole ET-21-244 and El Tigre Cross Section 6025N detailing Drill Hole ET-21-243. A Plan Map of the 600 meter central portion of the Sooy Vein is also attached.

Silver Tiger's CEO, Glenn Jessome, stated, "Our decision to focus our drilling along kilometers of the Sooy Vein, that had limited historical mining, is advancing the El Tigre District very quickly. Step-out drill Hole 244 on the Sooy Vein is located approximately 1.1 kilometers to the south of Discovery Hole 202 and step-out drill Hole 243 is located approximately 1.1 kilometers to the north of Discovery Hole 202. The next step in advancing the El Tigre District is the drilling that we have begun on the Seitz Kelly Vein, which also had limited historical mining."

Drill Hole Results Table

Hole ID Comment From To Length(1) Gold Silver Copper Lead Zinc AgEq Total (2) m m m g/t g/t % % % g/t ET-21-243 Benjamin Vein 73.0 79.8 6.8 0.02 91.8 0.07 0.11 0.12 107.1 including 75.5 79.8 4.3 0.02 138.5 0.07 0.13 0.14 155.0 including 78.8 79.3 0.5 0.05 864.0 0.54 0.52 1.00 965.3 and 132.8 135.2 2.4 0.07 30.4 0.01 0.02 0.06 38.9 ET-21-244 159.0 160.0 1.0 0.08 304.3 0.08 0.05 0.16 323.9 Sooy Vein 244.0 251.5 7.5 0.16 454.8 0.12 0.33 0.16 491.1 including 249.0 251.5 2.5 0.33 1,073.1 0.30 0.82 0.30 1,156.4 including 251.0 251.5 0.5 1.30 3,531.0 1.06 3.64 1.18 3,856.2 FW Zone 273.0 274.8 1.8 0.13 593.4 0.13 0.28 0.06 624.5 including 274.3 274.8 0.5 0.40 2,030.0 0.46 0.99 0.16 2,132.6 ET-21-249 80.3 83.0 2.7 0.11 40.1 0.01 0.01 0.00 49.1 81.3 82.3 1.0 0.22 82.2 0.01 0.02 0.00 100.1 Sooy Vein 158.4 158.9 0.5 0.04 40.9 0.01 0.07 0.10 49.7 El Tigre Vein Mining VOID 253.7 258.7 5.0 * * * * * * El Tigre Vein 261.8 268.1 6.3 0.13 55.5 0.02 0.03 0.02 68.0 294.4 297.3 2.9 0.07 113.4 0.03 0.01 0.01 121.5 312.3 316.8 4.5 0.15 84.8 0.02 0.01 0.07 100.2 366.5 367.5 1.0 0.03 132.0 0.02 0.02 0.01 137.3 380.3 381.5 1.2 0.14 122.0 0.03 0.02 0.01 135.9 ET-21-252 25.7 36.1 10.4 0.02 32.0 0.00 0.02 0.00 34.1 28.7 36.1 7.4 0.02 40.1 0.00 0.02 0.00 42.1 Sooy Vein 109.8 116.8 7.0 0.09 16.7 0.01 0.02 0.05 26.2 including 110.5 113.6 3.1 0.15 22.0 0.01 0.02 0.03 35.5 ET-21-253 Sooy Vein 261.2 265.6 4.4 0.49 37.8 0.01 0.04 0.60 95.6 including 263.2 264.6 1.4 1.02 95.8 0.01 0.11 1.94 240.5 289.0 294.4 5.4 0.02 23.8 0.00 0.01 0.02 26.4 ET-21-255 88.0 88.5 0.5 0.02 138.0 0.07 0.13 0.33 160.8 103.7 106.5 2.8 0.05 56.3 0.02 0.06 0.10 66.6 Sooy Vein 113.5 114.5 1.0 0.16 90.2 0.02 1.25 2.57 218.9 including 114.0 114.5 0.5 0.26 170.0 0.03 2.49 5.10 420.8 127.0 128.0 1.0 0.06 16.2 0.00 0.84 2.46 122.5 ET-21-256 230.1 230.9 0.8 0.20 88.5 0.00 0.04 0.16 110.0 Sooy Vein 249.7 253.5 3.8 0.05 81.2 0.01 0.03 0.17 92.5 including 251.9 252.4 0.5 0.22 493.0 0.07 0.22 1.06 556.2 271.9 284.0 12.1 0.05 38.4 0.01 0.03 0.06 45.5 275.9 284.0 8.1 0.05 48.8 0.01 0.04 0.07 56.9 El Tigre Vein 403.1 409.0 5.9 0.04 124.8 0.04 0.12 0.59 154.4 including 403.1 403.6 0.5 0.10 984.0 0.22 0.32 1.76 1,078.2 including 408.0 409.0 1.0 0.10 201.5 0.15 0.54 2.48 318.3 ET-21-259 129.0 134.4 5.4 0.02 31.1 0.05 0.33 0.29 55.0 Sooy Vein 142.4 146.4 4.0 0.02 19.8 0.00 1.28 1.08 88.3 including 145.7 146.4 0.7 0.10 101.0 0.00 7.41 4.97 448.9

Notes:

Not true width. Silver Equivalent ("EqAg") ratios are based on a silver to gold price ratio of 75:1 (Au:Ag). Copper, lead and zinc are converted using $3.66/lb copper, $0.90/lb lead, $1.26/lb zinc at 100% metal recoveries based on a silver price of $26.00/oz. Excludes 1.5 meters of mining void.

* Mining void.

Drill Hole Location Table

Hole ID Section Easting Northing Elevation Az Dip Length ET-21-243 6012.5N 670404.8 3386015 1906.486 90 -40 216.55 ET-21-244 3825N 670885.9 3383824 1821.455 60 -45 294.3 ET-21-249 3875N 670889.843 3383877.317 1822.51 90 -25 440.7 ET-21-252 6125N 670410.6 3386113 1937.172 90 -35 183.0 ET-21-253 4450N 670708.6 3384462 1944.909 90 -57 427.0 ET-21-255 6150N 670666.5 3384409 1964.206 90 -45 448.35 ET-21-256 4400N 670813.1 3384048 1877.801 90 -30 399.55 ET-21-259 6150N 670377.45 3386149.218 1941.747 90 -55 210.45

Plan Map of the El Tigre Veins and Drill Holes

El Tigre Cross Section 4000N (Drill Hole ET-21-244)

El Tigre Cross Section 6025N (Drill Hole ET-21-243)

Plan Map of 600 Meters of the Sooy Vein

El Tigre Resource Estimate

After acquiring El Tigre, Silver Tiger drilled 12,500 meters to define the wide halo of near surface gold mineralization around the mined high-grade veins of the historic El Tigre Mine. This allowed Silver Tiger to deliver a maiden resource estimate for the El Tigre Property to a depth of 150 meters containing indicated resources of 661,000 gold equivalent ounces at 0.77 g/t (21 g/t silver and 0.51 g/t gold) and inferred resources of 341,000 gold equivalent ounces at 1.59 g/t (88 g/t silver and 0.52 g/t gold). The National Instrument 43-101 Technical Report titled "NI 43-101 Technical Report and Updated Mineral Resource Estimate on the El Tigre Project, Sonora, Mexico" effective as of September 7, 2017 and dated October 26, 2017 prepared by David Burga, P.Geo., Yungang Wu, P.Geo., Fred Brown, P.Geo., Jarita Barry, P.Geo., Eugene Puritch, P.Eng., FEC, CET, Alfred Hayden, P.Eng. and Richard H. Sutcliffe, Ph.D., P.Geo. of P&E Mining Consultants Inc. is available on the Corporation's website at www.silvertigermetals.com and on www.sedar.com under the Corporation's profile.

About the El Tigre Historic Mine District

Silver Tiger Metals Inc. is a Canadian company whose management has more than 25 years' experience discovering, financing and building large hydrothermal silver projects in Mexico. Silver Tiger's 100% owned 28,414 hectare Historic El Tigre Mining District is located in Sonora, Mexico. Principled environmental, social and governance practices are core priorities at Silver Tiger.

The El Tigre historic mine district is located in Sonora, Mexico and lies at the northern end of the Sierra Madre silver and gold belt which hosts many epithermal silver and gold deposits, including Dolores, Santa Elena and Las Chispas at the northern end. In 1896, gold was first discovered on the property in the Gold Hill area and mining started with the Brown Shaft in 1903. The focus soon changed to mining high-grade silver veins in the area with production coming from 3 parallel veins the El Tigre Vein, the Seitz Kelley Vein and the Sooy Vein. Underground mining on the middle El Tigre vein extended 1,450 meters along strike and was mined on 14 levels to a depth of approximately 450 meters. The Seitz Kelley Vein was mined along strike for 1 kilometer to a depth of approximately 200 meters. The Sooy Vein was only mined along strike for 250 meters to a depth of approximately 150 meters. Mining abruptly stopped on all 3 of these veins when the price of silver collapsed to less than 20 per ounce with the onset of the Great Depression. By the time the mine closed in 1930, it is reported to have produced a total of 353,000 ounces of gold and 67.4 million ounces of silver from 1.87 million tons (Craig, 2012). The average grade mined during this period was over 2 kilograms silver equivalent per ton.

The El Tigre silver and gold deposit is related to a series of high-grade epithermal veins controlled by a north-south trending structure cutting across the andesitic and rhyolitic tuffs of the Sierra Madre Volcanic Complex within a broad silver and gold mineralized prophylitic alteration zone developed in the El Tigre Formation that can be up to 150 meters wide. The veins dip steeply to the west and are typically 0.5 meter wide but locally can be up to 5 meters in width. The veins, structures and mineralized zones outcrop on surface and have been traced for 5.3 kilometers along strike in our brownfield exploration area. Historical mining and exploration activities focused on a 1.6 kilometer portion of the southern end of the deposits, principally on the El Tigre, Seitz Kelly and Sooy veins. The under explored Caleigh, Benjamin, Protectora and the Fundadora exposed veins continue north for more than 3 kilometers. Silver Tiger has delivered its maiden 43-101 compliant resource estimate and is currently drilling to update its resource estimate and publish a PEA.

VRIFY Slide Deck and 3D Presentation - Silver Tiger's El Tigre Project

VRIFY is a platform being used by companies to communicate with investors using 360 virtual tours of remote mining assets, 3D models and interactive presentations. VRIFY can be accessed by website and with the VRIFY iOS and Android apps.

Access the Silver Tiger Metals Inc. Company Profile on VRIFY at: https://vrify.com

The VRIFY Slide Deck and 3D Presentation for Silver Tiger Metals Inc. can be viewed at: https://vrify.com/explore/decks/492 and on the Corporation's website at: www.silvertigermetals.com.

Procedure, Quality Assurance / Quality Control and Data Verification

The diamond drill core (HQ size) is geologically logged, photographed and marked for sampling. When the sample lengths are determined, the full core is sawn with a diamond blade core saw with one half of the core being bagged and tagged for assay. The remaining half portion is returned to the core trays for storage and/or for metallurgical test work.

The sealed and tagged sample bags are transported to the Bureau Veritas facility in Hermosillo, Mexico. Bureau Veritas crushes the samples (Code PRP70-250) and prepares 200-300 gram pulp samples with ninety percent passing Tyler 200 mesh (Code PUL85). The pulps are assayed for gold using a 30-gram charge by fire assay (Code FA630) and over limits greater than 10 grams per tonne are re-assayed using a gravimetric finish (Code FA530). Silver and multi-element analysis is completed using total digestion (Code MA200 Total Digestion ICP). Over limits greater than 100 grams per tonne silver are re-assayed using a gravimetric finish (Code FA530).

Quality assurance and quality control ("QA/QC") procedures monitor the chain-of-custody of the samples and includes the systematic insertion and monitoring of appropriate reference materials (certified standards, blanks and duplicates) into the sample strings. The results of the assaying of the QA/QC material included in each batch are tracked to ensure the integrity of the assay data. All results stated in this announcement have passed Silver Tiger's QA/QC protocols.

Qualified Person

David R. Duncan, P. Geo., V.P. Exploration of the Corporation, is the Qualified Person for Silver Tiger as defined under National Instrument 43-101. Mr. Duncan has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical information in this press release.

For further information, please contact:

Glenn Jessome

President and CEO

902 492 0298

jessome@silvertigermetals.com

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT:

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.

This News Release includes certain "forward-looking statements". All statements other than statements of historical fact included in this release, including, without limitation, statements regarding potential mineralization, resources and reserves, the ability to convert inferred resources to indicated resources, the ability to complete future drilling programs and infill sampling, the ability to extend resource blocks, the similarity of mineralization at El Tigre to Delores, Santa Elena and Chispas, exploration results, and future plans and objectives of Silver Tiger, are forward-looking statements that involve various risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements are frequently characterized by words such as "may", "is expected to", "anticipates", "estimates", "intends", "plans", "projection", "could", "vision", "goals", "objective" and "outlook" and other similar words. Although Silver Tiger believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, there can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from Silver Tiger's expectations include risks and uncertainties related to exploration, development, operations, commodity prices and global financial volatility, risk and uncertainties of operating in a foreign jurisdiction as well as additional risks described from time to time in the filings made by Silver Tiger with securities regulators.

SOURCE: Silver Tiger Metals Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/668659/Silver-Tiger-Intersects-38562-gt-AgEq-over-05-meters-within-a-Broader-Interval-of-75-meters-Grading-4911-gt-AgEq-in-the-Sooy-Vein


Ev Dynamics' Chongqing plant is at full steam to meet increasing overseas order volumes



Ev Dynamics will provide not less than 500 units of the 6.5-meter COMET electric minibus to the Philippines and Malaysia by March 2023



Ev Dynamics is fully armed to complete sales orders from the Philippines and overseas markets

HONG KONG, Oct 19, 2021 - (ACN Newswire) - Ev Dynamics (Holdings) Limited (the "Company", Stock Code: 476, together with its subsidiaries, collectively "Ev Dynamics" or the "Group"), a provider of new energy vehicles and integrated technology solutions, has already delivered over 70 units of 6.5-meter COMET electric minibuses to the Philippines.The delivery is part of the long-term supply agreement signed in March 2021 between the Company and GET Worldwide Inc. ("GET Worldwide"), following the first batch of COMET electric minibuses supplied to Metro Manila and Davao, the Philippines in December 2020. Under the supply agreement, the Company will provide GET Worldwide no fewer than 500 vehicle units within 24 months from the effective date of the agreement. The electric vehicles will be mainly used in the Philippines and Malaysia.Freddie Tinga, CEO of GET Worldwide, said: "The Philippines alone could have a demand of at least 100,000 units of this type of vehicle. We have to replace over 300,000 old gasoline mini-buses (Jeepneys)."Miguel Valldecabres Polop, CEO of Ev Dynamics, said: "Our production plant in Chongqing, which boasts sufficient capacity and advanced technologies, has been operating at full steam to meet the increasing volume of overseas orders. Though our production schedule and fulfilment of orders have been interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, our output has been picking up steadily thanks to the reliable supply chains in the PRC. We are confident that we can complete the sales orders from the Philippines and other orders for e-platforms and e-buses elsewhere overseas. The future is very promising for our Company."John Ma, COO of Ev Dynamics, said: "The COMET is the outcome of 3 years of hard development of our R&D team. The task was to create a vehicle with a very low cost and top technology. The COMET has a complete powertrain developed by the Company and most important the VCU (Vehicle Control Unit) or the brain that operates the complete bus."For the European market, the Company's 12-meter E-Bus model has passed the homologation tests of the Economic Commission of Europe. Leveraging the business network and experience of strategic partner Quantron AG, the Group believes the high-performing and environmentally friendly bus will be welcomed in the European market as a solution to replace diesel buses currently in use.In addition, the Group has secured a sizable order for 12-meter e-platforms and 12-meter city buses from Latin America.About Ev Dynamics (Holdings) Limited (Stock Code: 476)Ev Dynamics (Holdings) Limited is a pioneer and a prominent player in China's new energy commercial vehicles market, as well as a whole-vehicle manufacturer of specialty passenger vehicles and new energy passenger vehicles. It is an integrated driving and logistics solutions provider with a solid technological foundation in diverse areas including new energy platform power systems and their key components. The Group has a production base in Chongqing and it has developed its sales network in Mainland China, Hong Kong, Asia Pacific and South America.Media EnquiryStrategic Financial Relations LimitedPhoebe Leung +852 2114 4172 phoebe.leung@sprg.com.hkBrigid Lee +852 2114 4313 brigid.lee@sprg.com.hkWebsite: www.sprg.com.hkSource: Ev Dynamics (Holdings) LimitedCopyright 2021 ACN Newswire . All rights reserved.
CAIRO, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- In September this year, Chery Automobiles and its Egyptian distributor GB Auto held a joint launch event debuting the Tiggo 7 PRO. Tiggo 7 PRO represents the distinctive features of the PRO series meeting global consumers' new expectations for automotive style, technology, and strong power.

Since the beginning of the year, Chery's new PRO series has been launched in Russia, Chile, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, the Philippines among other countries with consumers around the world expressing high levels of satisfaction sparking a "stylish" and "technological" Chery trend. Chery Automobiles sold 9,123 units in Egypt from January to August this year, up 85.31 percent year-on-year, ranking 6th in the commercial vehicle field, according to Egypt Automobile Market Information Council (AMIC) sales data.

Chery's sales have been boosted by the global launch of the new PRO series. In September, Chery exported 22,052 units, up 108.7 percent year-on-year, breaking the record of 20,000 units for the fifth time this year. Cumulative exports from January to September were 187,910 units, 2.55 times that of the same period last year. While setting a new record, Chery continues to firmly occupy top spot in exports of passenger cars among Chinese brands.

The PRO series models have distinctive PRO features: The stylish PRO design adopts the new sun-star front face, with a geometric matrix diamond front grille and LED headlight design, all of which make the PRO series highly recognizable and passionate. The interior features the family-specific wrap-around cabin design, creating a dynamic and high-tech interior. "PRO Technology" brings an advanced intelligent experience thanks to the ultra-clear central control screen, power trunk lid, 360-degree panoramic imaging, wireless charging and other technology configurations that surpass those of equivalents, giving consumers an intelligent driving experience that exceeds their expectations. In addition, the PRO series models are equipped with engines that are not only powerful but also more fuel-efficient, as Chery has the most advanced engine development technology in China, with a total of six engines winning the "Top 10 Engines" in China.

Now, Chery has launched Tiggo 7 PRO (the first model of the PRO series) for Egyptian consumers who pay attention to joy of life and its experience, perfectly carrying the "style" and "science and technology" genes of the PRO series and ushering in a brand-new driving experience.

For more information, please log in:

https://www.chery-eg.com/web/

https://www.facebook.com/CheryEgypt

Xuqiang Gong

gongxuqiang@mychery.com

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1664092/Tiggo_7_PRO.jpg
BMO Real Estate Investments Limited

(a closed-ended investment company incorporated in Guernsey with registration number 41870)

LEI Number: 2138001XRCB89W6XTR23

(The "Company")

19 OCTOBER 2021

NOTICE OF ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

Notice is hereby given that the Seventeenth Annual General Meeting of the Company will be held at the offices of BMO Global Asset Management, Quartermile 4, 7a Nightingale Way, Edinburgh, EH3 9EG on 17 November 2021 at 1:00pm.

The Notice of AGM together with the 2021 Annual Report and Consolidated Financial Statements for the have been posted to shareholders.

In accordance with Listing Rule 9.6.3, the Notice of Annual General Meeting, proxy form and accounts have been submitted to the National Storage Mechanism and will shortly be available for inspection at: https://data.fca.org.uk/#/nsm/nationalstoragemechanism

Given the ongoing Covid-19 situation the Company may, in accordance with its Articles of Incorporation, impose entry restrictions on certain persons wishing to attend the AGM or may be required to adjourn the AGM. Other restrictions may be imposed as the Chairman of the meeting may specify in order to ensure the safety of those attending the AGM. In any case, shareholders should give careful consideration as to whether attendance in person this year is in their best interests.

All shareholders are strongly encouraged to exercise your votes in respect of the AGM in advance if possible. This should ensure that your votes are registered and count at the AGM. Furthermore, the Board always welcomes questions from our shareholders at the AGM and this year shareholders are invited to submit their questions to the Board in advance and the answers to these questions will be posted on the website after the AGM. Shareholders should submit any questions they may have to BREICoSec@bmogam.com before 15 November 2021. Any changes to the arrangements for the AGM necessitated by Covid-19 will be announced by RNS and placed on the Company's website.

Enquiries:

Northern Trust International Fund Administration Services (Guernsey) Limited

The Company Secretary

Trafalgar Court

Les Banques

St Peter Port

Guernsey

GY1 3QL

Tel: 01481 745001

END
TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / October 19, 2021 / Pelangio Exploration Inc. (TSXV:PX)(OTC PINK:PGXPF) ("Pelangio" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has completed a follow-up ground induced polarization (IP) survey across a large 1.5 by 1 km VTEM anomaly on its Gowan Project. The Gowan Project is located approximately 16 km east of Glencore's Kidd Creek Mine and approximately 23 km southeast of the Canada Nickel Company's Crawford deposit in Timmins Ontario. (see Fig.1)

Highlights:

The IP survey defined two high-priority base metal targets: A copper zinc volcanogenic massive sulphide "VMS" target in the northeast of the property; and A nickel copper target in the ultramafics centered on the larger airborne VTEM anomaly.



Ingrid Hibbard, President and CEO stated, "We are exceptionally pleased that the follow-up ground IP survey further refined the highly prospective copper zinc VMS target and the nickel copper target. The VMS target is of particular interest due to historical copper intercepts in a geological setting similar to Glencore's Kidd Creek Mine. We eagerly anticipate our winter drilling program scheduled for early in the new year."

Discussion of Results (see Fig.2 and 3):

The follow-up ground IP survey on the Gowan Project outlined two significant IP anomalies. In the northeastern portion of the property, a new and previously undetected VMS IP anomaly was outlined. The second anomaly confirmed the presence of a nickel copper target coincident with a previously identified airborne electromagnetic (EM) or VTEM target.

VMS Target IP Anomaly

This IP target represents a high priority copper zinc VMS target. The anomaly has a southeasterly strike of approximately 400 meters and extends from just below overburden depth to the maximum extent of the ground IP survey at 325 meters. The strength and width of the IP anomaly or chargeability response improves with depth.

Two historical holes designated Hole 2 and 77-1 were drilled parallel to the outer edge of the anomaly and intersected some significant base metal mineralization in a felsic volcanic package. Hole 2 returned 10.97 meters of 0.32% copper and 11.99 g/t silver including a higher-grade intercept grading 3.81 meters at 0.66% copper and 10.62 g/t silver. Hole 77-1 skimmed the southern extremity of the anomaly (see Fig.3) and returned an anomalous section grading 0.18% copper and 2.24 g/t silver over 5.79 meters with a higher-grade section assaying 0.45% copper and 4.8 g/t silver over 1.67 meters. (References: Resident Geologist Assessment Files Timmins Ontario; Drill Reports by Alamo Petroleum and Newmont Canada).

Nickel Copper Target - IP Anomaly Coincident with VTEM

The recently completed IP survey also outlined a broad, moderate, 400 meter wide IP anomaly coincident with the airborne VTEM anomaly and represents a high priority nickel copper target. The IP anomaly starts at approximately 275 meters below surface and extends downwards to the maximum extent of the IP survey at about 325 meters. Notably, the chargeability response strengthens at depth and appears to extend beyond survey depth limitation.

The IP anomaly was detected across all three survey lines cut across the airborne EM anomaly, and extends from east to west for a minimum of 270 meters and is open to the east and west. Limited proximal historical drilling on the periphery of the IP anomaly and short of the anomaly depth suggests that the IP anomaly is hosted in ultramafic rocks (see Fig 3).

A fully funded diamond drill program designed to test both the VMS target and the nickel copper target on the Gowan Property is scheduled for January 2022 when winter conditions allow for cost-effective access via established winter trails.

Figure 1: General Location Map

Figure 2: Property Compilation Map Plan

Figure 3: IP Pseudo-section Along Line 0

Qualified Person

Mr. Kevin Filo, P.Geo. (Ontario), is a qualified person within the meaning of National Instrument 43-101. Mr. Filo approved the technical data disclosed in this release.

About Pelangio

Pelangio acquires and explores prospective land packages located in world-class gold belts in Ghana, West Africa and Canada. In Ghana, the Company is exploring its two 100% owned camp-sized properties: the 100 km2 Manfo property, the site of eight near-surface gold discoveries, and the 284 km2 Obuasi property, located 4 km on strike and adjacent to AngloGold Ashanti's prolific high-grade Obuasi Mine, as well as the newly optioned Dankran property located adjacent to its Obuasi property. In Canada, the Company is currently focused in Ontario at its Dome West property, situated some 800 meters from the Dome Mine in Timmins; at its Gowan polymetallic project, located 16 km east of the Kidd Creek Mine, and is exploring its Hailstone property in Saskatchewan. See www.pelangio.com for further detail on all Pelangio's properties.

For additional information, please visit our website at www.pelangio.com, or contact:

Ingrid Hibbard, President and CEO

Tel: 905-336-3828 / Toll-free: 1-877-746-1632 / Email: info@pelangio.com

Forward Looking Statements

Certain statements herein may contain forward-looking statements and forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking statements or information appear in a number of places and can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate" or "believes" or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. Forward-looking statements and information include statements regarding the Company's strategy of acquiring large land packages in areas of sizeable gold mineralization, and the Company's ability to complete the planned exploration programs. With respect to forward-looking statements and information contained herein, we have made numerous assumptions, including assumptions about the state of the equity markets. Such forward-looking statements and information are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the Company's actual results, performance or achievements, or industry results, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statement or information. Such risks include the changes in equity markets, share price volatility, volatility of global and local economic climate, gold price volatility, political developments in Ghana, and Canada, increases in costs, exchange rate fluctuations, speculative nature of gold exploration, including the risk that favourable exploration results may not be obtained, delays due to COVID-19 safety protocols, and other risks involved in the gold exploration industry. See the Company's annual and quarterly financial statements and management's discussion and analysis for additional information on risks and uncertainties relating to the forward-looking statement and information. There can be no assurance that a forward-looking statement or information referenced herein will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements or information. Also, many of the factors are beyond the control of the Company. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward- looking statements or information. We undertake no obligation to reissue or update any forward-looking statements or information except as required by law. All forward-looking statements and information herein are qualified by this cautionary statement.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

SOURCE: Pelangio Exploration Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/668629/Two-High-Priority-Base-Metal-Targets-Defined-at-Pelangios-Gowan-Project-16-km-East-of-Kidd-Creek-Mine
Division continues to successfully commercialize its product pipeline in key markets, including XtendFlex soybeans and SmartStax PRO corn in North America, and Intacta 2 Xtend soybeans in South America

Successful launches demonstrate progress towards mid-term growth targets in Crop Science and strength of the division's innovation, digital transformation and sustainability capabilities

Bayer today announced continued progress in delivering customer-focused, sustainable agricultural innovation in an update with investors. The company's success in translating research and development (R&D) leadership into differentiated and advanced products for farmers is driving operational performance, while shaping the future of agriculture. Progress is being powered by strong commercial execution in a positive market environment, particularly in fungicides and herbicides.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211019005406/en/

Farmer With Tablet in Cornfield (Photo: Business Wire)

"As the leader in agricultural input sales, profitability and R&D investment, we have delivered on commercial milestones that will advance our leadership, further increasing confidence in our ability to achieve our goals," said Liam Condon, member of the Board of Management of Bayer AG and President of the Crop Science Division. "Our leading commercial portfolio, digital platform and unmatched innovation are driving significant value for our grower customers. We are confident that the convergence of our technology platforms to drive more customer-centric solutions will deliver above market sales growth and leading profitability as we look out to 2024."

Innovation leadership fueling strong market position

Bayer is further strengthening its market position through recently commercialized innovations. For example, in the key North American market, Bayer has defended its position as the number one soybean weed control system provider with its Roundup Ready Xtend Crop System.

Bayer is successfully upgrading its Roundup Ready 2 Xtend footprint with XtendFlex soybeans, which have already reached approximately 15 million acres this year. This latest offering adds glufosinate tolerance to provide additional weed-control flexibility. Farmers chose to plant these two trait offerings on more than 55% of the U.S. soybean acres this year. Bayer expects to continue to upgrade soybean acres to XtendFlex in the U.S. in the years ahead, thanks to the proven yield benefits and exceptional weed control.

In Brazil, the launch of its new Intacta 2 Xtendsoy on approximately 600,000 acres is currently underway, as the company upgrades its leading soybean trait platform in South America. Built on the performance of first-generation Intacta, Intacta 2 Xtend adds two proteins for insect control, which is important for insect resistance management, as well as tolerance to dicamba. The demonstrated performance advantage of the technology is significant for farmers, delivering approximately three bushels per acre more compared to similar varieties that are in the market.

Bayer is supplementing this continued sales momentum in Brazil with fungicides by upgrading its Fox Franchise with Fox Xpro Fungicide. To date, Fox Xpro has been a key driver of its global sales in fungicides, which rose 22% on a currency- and portfolio-adjusted basis in the first half of the fiscal year. With 25% market share in soybean fungicides in Brazil, Bayer plans to upgrade this product in 2022 with the launch of Fox Supra, further expanding its leading position in this highly important market, with a peak sales potential of more than 500 million.

In corn, the company is introducing its corn rootworm 3 (CRW3) technology as part of SmartStax PRO, and the sales rollout for the 2022 launch in the U.S. is underway. This year's field trials brought to light the upgraded product's better stands and stronger roots. In fact, hybrids with the SmartStax PRO technology demonstrated a 97%-win rate in the field.

"This is a particularly timely introduction and we expect it to be well-received by growers following increased rootworm pressure this summer in the U.S.," added Condon. "Not only did SmartStax and SmartStax PRO perform well, but we were particularly pleased with how these products performed compared to competitive alternatives."

The company anticipates transitioning its 15-million-acre trait SmartStax footprint in the U.S. over the next few years to this new CRW3 technology. Innovations like this protect corn yield, which is made possible by top-performing germplasm. This helps sustain the company's leading market positions in the top corn markets around the world.

Leading the digital transformation of agriculture and setting new standards in sustainability

Bayer is also expanding its industry-leading Climate FieldView digital agriculture platform now being used on more than 180 million subscribed acres across 23 countries. The company is also seeing increased sales of its own products among FieldView users.

The connectivity from these acres, including logging information from planters, sprayers and combines, is helping farmers make data-driven decisions and optimize yield while lowering the environmental footprint of their farming operations.

FieldView is also expected to enable a simple, robust, scalable process to measure, verify and report on practices that sequester carbon. In the first year of its Carbon Initiative, Bayer enrolled more than 2,500 FieldView users in carbon farming trials in the U.S. and Brazil alone.

"With carbon markets worth more than $200 billion annually, we are leading the way in helping make carbon farming a reality through our global Carbon Initiative," added Condon. "By incentivizing farmers to adopt climate smart practices, as well as future products that yield more and sequester more carbon, we are creating new value opportunities for the farmer and our company."

Notes to editors:

To hear Liam Condon and Bob Reiter discuss Crop Science highlights, tune into the investor webinar on October 19, 2021 at 8:00 a.m. EDT 2:00 PM CEST

About Bayer

Bayer is a global enterprise with core competencies in the life science fields of health care and nutrition. Its products and services are designed to help people and planet thrive by supporting efforts to master the major challenges presented by a growing and aging global population. Bayer is committed to drive sustainable development and generate a positive impact with its businesses. At the same time, the Group aims to increase its earning power and create value through innovation and growth. The Bayer brand stands for trust, reliability and quality throughout the world. In fiscal 2020, the Group employed around 100,000 people and had sales of 41.4 billion euros. R&D expenses before special items amounted to 4.9 billion euros. For more information, go to www.bayer.com.

www.bayer.com/en/investors/ir-team

Find more information at www.bayer.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This release may contain forward-looking statements based on current assumptions and forecasts made by Bayer management. Various known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors could lead to material differences between the actual future results, financial situation, development or performance of the company and the estimates given here. These factors include those discussed in Bayer's public reports which are available on the Bayer website at www.bayer.com. The company assumes no liability whatsoever to update these forward-looking statements or to conformthem to future events or developments.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211019005406/en/

Contacts:

Contact for media inquiries:

Carly Scaduto, +1 314-439-6978

Email: carly.scaduto@bayer.com

Contact for investor inquiries:

Bayer Investor Relations Team, phone +49 214 30-72704

Email: ir@bayer.com
Growing demand for dust control agents is prognosticated to be the prominent driver of growth for the lactic acid & polylactic acid market during the forecast period

Polylactic acid mimic the properties of conventional polymers even if they are bio-based and biodegradable, assuring considerable growth prospects for the global market

ALBANY, N.Y., Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The popularity of polyactic acid as an economical material produced from renewable resources to offer substantial growth for the lactic acid & polylactic acid market during the forecast period of 2021-2031. In addition, the use of lactic acid as a synthetic intermediate in biochemical industries and organic synthesis is expected to prove as a growth-boosting factor.

The increasing use of lactic acid as a vital ingredient in canned vegetables, fermented foods, yogurt, butter, and others will assure promising market growth. Furthermore, the rising use of polylactic acid in the production of microwaveable containers such as disposable food containers and cutlery is expected to drive the global market. With polylactic acid, packaging containers attain certain qualities such as better printability, esthetic appeal, resistance to oil & grease, and others. These aspects drive the lactic acid & polylactic acid market.

Transparency Market Research (TMR) has conducted an extensive research on various aspects associated with the growth of the lactic acid & polylactic acid market. The analysts at TMR expect the global market for lactic acid and polylactic acid to expand at a CAGR of 13.7% and 15.8%, respectively, during the forecast period of 2021-2031. The lactic acid & polylactic acid market is extrapolated to reach US$ 16.21 Bn by 2031.

Get PDF Brochure for More Insights - https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=83039

The production of lactic acid from biodiesel waste from proprietary processes has garnered extensive traction over the years. The growing popularity of such processes is anticipated to increase the growth prospects of the lactic acid & polylactic acid market. Furthermore, the utilization of lactic acid in cosmetic products, bioplastics, and pharmaceuticals is expected to drive the growth trajectory of the lactic acid & polylactic acid market. However, the possible side effects of lactic acid on the skin are leading to a decrease in the adoption of products. Manufacturers in the lactic acid & polylactic acid market should boost awareness among consumers regarding taking doctor's advice before application of skincare products with lactic acid.

Ask for Special Discount on Report - https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=D&rep_id=83039

Key Findings of Report

Robust Demand for Bioplastics in Packaging Industry to Enhance Growth Structure of Lactic Acid & Polylactic Acid Market

Biodegradable polymers are making a mark across various sectors and industries. The rising awareness among consumers about the importance of polymers produced by using polyactic acid is inviting substantial growth. Polylactic acid is a thermoplastic polymer developed from renewable resources. Thus, this aspect proves to be beneficial for the growth of the lactic acid & polylactic acid market.

Packaging Segment to Propel Growth Opportunities

The use of polyactic acid for general packaging applications such as yogurt cups and trays is likely to drive the global market. The increasing demand for takeaway food due to the pandemic-induced lockdowns will generate demand for takeway food packaging, thereby increasing the growth rate of the lactic acid & polylactic acid market. Based on these factors, the packaging end-use segment observed a dominating run in 2020. A similar trend is expected to continue further due to rising inclination toward sustainable packaging across numerous industries. Furthermore, the properties of polylactic acid plastic bottles such as easy disposability, durability, and transparency present an array of growth opportunities for the lactic acid & polylactic acid market.

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Some of the key players in the lactic acid & polylactic acid market are Jungbunzlauer Suisse AG, GODAVARI BIO-REFINERIES, VIGON INTERNATIONAL, Musashino Chemical Laboratory, HENAN XINGHAN BIOTECHNOLOGY, and NatureWorks LLC.

Global Lactic Acid & Polylactic Acid Market - Segmentation

By Source

Corn

Sugarcane

Cassava

Others (including Sugar Beet)

By Form

Powder

Liquid

By End-use

Lactic Acid

Polymer



Food & Beverages



Personal Care



Pharmaceutical



Others (including Polylactic Acid)

Polylactic Acid

Packaging



Textile



Automobile



Electrical & Electronics



Agriculture



Construction



Others (including Biomedical)

By Region

North America

Europe

Asia Pacific

Latin America

Middle East & Africa

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Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - October 19, 2021) - LaSalle Exploration Corp. (TSXV: LSX) ("LaSalle" or the "Company") is pleased to announce assay results for seven holes drilled as part of the maiden drill program on the 100% owned Radisson Property located in the Eeyou Istchee - James Bay Territory, Quebec. These holes tested both the Goldhawk and Goldfang zones, discovered late in the 2020 field season (December 7, 2020 news release) by surface prospecting, and which occur within an extensive, gold enriched structural corridor (Figure 1) that extends more than 8 kilometres to the east/southeast onto the neighbouring Serpent property, that is actively being explored by Harfang Exploration Inc.

Table 1: Diamond Drill Hole Gold Intersections

Hole ID From (m) To (m) Interval (m)* Gold (g/t) Goldhawk Zone LXR21-001 25.00 28.00 3.00 2.13

80.02 102.42 22.40 1.64 including 80.02 92.00 11.98 2.69 including 80.02 85.50 5.48 3.93 including 83.50 85.50 2.00 7.52 including 85.00 85.50 0.50 15.85 LXR21-002 36.93 41.22 4.29 1.09

64.00 74.00 10.00 1.37 including 70.00 74.00 4.00 2.35 including 73.00 74.00 1.00 6.37

152.60 156.43 3.83 0.63 LXR21-003 34.45 39.30 4.85 1.30 including 35.45 37.45 2.00 3.04

156.25 158.25 2.00 8.63 including 156.25 157.25 1.00 17.15 Goldfang Zone LXR21-004 28.00 32.83 4.83 1.99 including 28.00 29.13 1.13 7.74

*Note: lengths represent core lengths

Commented Ian Campbell, President and CEO: "We are extremely pleased by the progression of successes of our 2021 field program. Considering that we started by prospecting isolated showings in June and have now identified multiple gold mineralized structures covering a large area is exciting in itself. What's more, the extent of the mineralized halo containing high-grade structures confirms the prospectivity of the Goldhawk Zone. We look forward to the next phase of drilling which is expected to commence early in the new year."

Goldhawk Zone (Figure 2)

Three drill holes totaling 763 metres tested the Goldhawk Zone over 100 metres of strike length. All three holes intersected the 10 to 25 metre wide Goldhawk Main Shear Zone. In addition, a 3 to 6 metre wide shear zone was intersected at shallow depths in each of the drill holes. Both shears consist of 1-3% laminated sheared quartz veins with 1 to 3% pyrite. The diorite host wallrock locally contains up to 5% pyrite. The shears are also characterized by intense alteration along with iron oxide staining and pyrite mineralization.

The main shear intersections ranged from 1.37 to 1.64 g/t over 10 to 22 metres, with higher grade intersections up to 15.85 g/t over 0.50 metres (Table 1). The shallow shear intersections ranged from 1.09 to 2.13 g/t over 3 to 6 metres. Both well mineralized shear zones are hosted within a 50 to 75 metre wide gold anomalous (i.e., >0.050 g/t gold) zone. There is strong assay support for the high-grade intersections with gold grades in the adjacent sheared diorite wallrock ranging from 1.10 to 6.37 g/t over 1 to 3 metres.

Ongoing prospecting discovered the Goldhawk Extension 1 km west-northwest of the current Goldhawk drilling (Figure 1). This discovery is characterized by a 1 to 3 metre wide shear zone hosted in altered diorite with 5-10% laminated quartz veins. Mineralization in the quartz veins consists of 0.5 to 2% pyrite and locally up to 5% pyrite in the host diorite with occurrences of visible gold noted.

Goldfang Zone

Four drill holes totaling 408 metres tested the Goldfang Zone over 100 metres of strike length. Gold mineralization was intersected in one of these drill holes (Table1). The intersection consists of quartz veins with 1-2% pyrite and pyrrhotite hosted in altered amphibolite that returned 7.74 g/t over 1.13 metres.

Silver and base metal mineralization was intersected in two of these drill holes (Table 2). These intersections contain anomalous to high grade silver, up to 219 g/t, anomalous copper, with values up to 1,040 ppm and anomalous to high grade molybdenum, with values up to 4,910 ppm. This mineralization is hosted in narrow quartz veins and irregular fractures with 1-2% disseminated chalcopyrite, pyrite, pyrrhotite and molybdenite within altered amphibolite and felsic dykes. These metre scale intersections are part of wider (i.e., 2 to 7 metres) zones with anomalous values.

Table 2: Diamond Drill Hole Base Metal Intersections

Hole ID From (m) To (m) Interval (m)* Silver (g/t) Copper (ppm) Molybdenum (ppm) Goldfang Zone LXR21-005 70.00 71.00 1.00 1.0 1,030 49

73.00 74.00 1.00 0.6 946 1

76.00 77.00 1.00 219.0 578 197 LXR21-006 79.00 80.00 1.00 0.9 1,040 4,910 LXR21-007 No significant results

*Note: lengths represent core lengths

2021 Field Work

The recently completed 2021 field program consisted of systematic prospecting, geological mapping and bedrock sampling along the extensions of the greater Goldhawk, Goldfang and Talon target areas. In addition to the newly discovered Goldhawk Extension, a 2 to 3 metre wide shear zone with 5% quartz veins and 1-2% pyrite hosted in sheared diorite was discovered 300 metres along strike to the southeast of the Talon Zone. Additional work was also completed along strike to the northwest and north of the Goldfang trend. A total of 158 grab samples were collected for analysis.

Assays for the remaining five holes together with the results from the extended field season prospecting and channel sampling on the Goldhawk and Talon Zones are pending.

Field Work and COVID-19 Protocols

The health and safety of the staff at site, and the communities in which the Company operates, is of paramount importance to LaSalle. All employees and contractors work according to the most recent government protocols on COVID-19 restrictions, which define the measures and constraints to be adopted in order to limit the risks associated with COVID-19, ensuring the health and safety of everyone involved in the exploration programs.

Qualified Person

The technical information in this news release was reviewed and approved by Alan Sexton, P.Geo., Vice-President, Exploration of LaSalle Exploration Corp., who is a non-independent qualified person for the technical disclosure as defined by National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101").

The rock samples reported above were delivered to ALS of Rouyn-Noranda, a certified and accredited laboratory service provider, for sample preparation, with analyses being carried out by ALS in Vancouver. All rock samples were prepared by procedures CRU-31 (crush entire sample to 70% <2mm), PUL-32 (pulverize 1000 grams to 85% <75 microns) and SPL-21 (split 250 grams from the entire sample using a riffle splitter). A 30 gram sub-sample from the 250 gram riffle split was analysed for gold by FA/AA (method Au-AA23), with any samples returning values of 10 g/t gold or higher being re-assayed by FA with a gravimetric finish (method AA-GRA21). All core samples were also analysed for 33 elements by 4-acid ICP-AES (method ME-ICP61) and any base metals that returned values of 10,000 ppm or greater were assayed by a 4-acid ore grade (method Cu-OG62). The LaSalle QA/QC protocol includes the regular insertion of certified standards and blanks every ten (10) samples. In addition, ALS routinely inserts certified standards, blanks and pulp duplicate samples. Results of all ALS QA/QC samples are reported to LaSalle.

About LaSalle Exploration Corp.:

LaSalle Exploration Corp.is an exploration company focused on less explored districts of the Abitibi, recognized for mining investment based on mineral potential, policy and success, and the developing Eeyou Itschee-James Bay region in Quebec as well as the high-grade gold Blakelock and Egan properties located in northeastern Ontario. LaSalle Exploration Corp. is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange ("TSX-V") under the symbol "LSX". Additional information about LaSalle can be found on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and on the Company's website at www.lasallecorp.com.

On behalf of the Board of Directors

LASALLE EXPLORATION CORP.

"Ian Campbell"

President and Chief Executive Officer

Telephone: (604) 647-3966

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements and Information

The information in this news release includes certain information and statements about management's view of future events, expectations, plans and prospects that constitute forward-looking statements. These statements are based upon assumptions that are subject to significant risks and uncertainties. Because of these risks and uncertainties and as a result of a variety of factors, the actual results, expectations, achievements or performance may differ materially from those anticipated and indicated by these forward-looking statements. Any number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements as well as future results. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in forward looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurances that the expectations of any forward-looking statements will prove to be correct. Except as required by law, the Company disclaims any intention and assumes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect actual results, whether as a result of new information, future events, changes in assumptions, changes in factors affecting such forward-looking statements or otherwise.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.





Figure 1 - Radisson



To view an enhanced version of Figure 1, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/6809/100138_fig1.jpg





Figure 2 - Goldhawk Zone



To view an enhanced version of Figure 2, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/6809/100138_fig2.jpg

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/100138
The annual awards celebrate the beauty of the microscopic world through imaging

WALTHAM, Mass., Oct. 19, 2021. Winners will be selected by a jury and announced in April 2022.



Contest Details

Prizes include an Olympus SZX7 stereo microscope with a DP28 digital camera for the global winner and an Olympus CX23 upright microscope for the regional winners in Asia, Europe and the Americas.

The international jury includes experts from both science and the arts, including Wendy Salmon, director of the Hooker Imaging Core Facility at the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill School of Medicine; Geoff Williams, manager of the Leduc BioImaging Facility at Brown University; Harini Sreenivasappa, microscopy facility manager of the Cell Imaging Center at Drexel University; Rachid Rezgui, research instrumentation scientist at New York University Abu Dhabi; Sian Culley, postdoctoral research associate at the MRC Laboratory for Molecular Cell Biology at UCL; Stefan Terjung, operational manager of the Advanced Light Microscopy Facility at EMBL Heidelberg; Wen-Biao Gan, director of the Institute of Neurological and Psychiatric Disorders at Shenzhen Bay Laboratory; and Anne Beghin, research assistant professor at MechanoBiology Institute, National University of Singapore.

All entries will be evaluated based on artistic and visual aspects, scientific impact and microscope proficiency.

About the Image of the Year (IOTY) Award

Olympus' IOTY Award began in 2017 as the Image of the Year European Life Science Light Microscopy Award with the aim to celebrate both the artistic and scientific value of microscopy images. Today, the competition stays true to this mission by encouraging people around the world to look at scientific images in a new way, appreciate their beauty and share images with others.

More information about the Global Image of the Year Life Science Light Microscopy Award, including jury members' biographies, last year's winning images and the full terms and conditions, can be found at Olympus-LifeScience.com/IOTY.

For more information about Olympus Life Science, please visit Olympus-LifeScience.com.

About Olympus

Olympus is passionate about creating customer-driven solutions for the medical, life sciences and industrial equipment industries. For more than 100 years, Olympus has focused on making people's lives healthier, safer and more fulfilling by helping to detect, prevent and treat disease; furthering scientific research; and ensuring public safety.

Olympus has manufactured microscopes since the company's founding in 1919. Today, our Life Sciences business is dedicated to meeting and exceeding the evolving needs and expectations of life science professionals through a comprehensive range of clinical research, educational, and high-end research microscopes and microscope systems. For more information, visit Olympus-LifeScience.com.

Olympus and the Olympus logo are trademarks of Olympus Corporation or its subsidiaries.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/f7f5045d-ec30-4aef-8900-876aec195721
AUSTIN, TX / ACCESSWIRE / October 19, 2021 / SmallCapVoice.com Inc. ("SCV") announces the availability of a new interview with Rhett Doolittle, CEO of Business Warrior Corp. (OTC:BZWR) ("the Company"), and Company President Jonathan Brooks to discuss what the ongoing financial audit says about the Company's broader growth strategy.

As recently announced, Weinberg and Company is conducting a two-year audit of Business Warrior's financials for fiscal years 2020 and 2021. Notably, Business Warrior has powered through each quarter of 2021 with triple-digit revenue growth - reporting $1 million in gross revenues for the month of May alone - and has forecast a turn to profit for full-year 2021, nearly two years ahead of schedule.

Upon completion of the ongoing audit, expected at the end of November, Business Warrior will be fully compliant with the SEC's reporting standards and on its way to uplisting to the OTCQB Venture Market. This progress represents months of diligent leadership and enables continued momentum.

"Not only are we doing all the things right structurally with getting the company in the position to grow, but in the backend, we're doing some really amazing stuff. New products coming out - that will be a big announcement here shortly - specifically, where we're going to be starting is improving our software. We're coming out with a new version that's going to give even more data, more personalization to our subscribers. So that's a milestone and a leap that we've been working on rigorously over the last several months," Brooks explained to SCV's Stuart Smith.

Brooks underscored the addition of high-caliber professionals to help lead Business Warrior's growth initiatives and build corporate value.

"We have really gelled well together as a team as we've grown and expanded," he said. "Who's going to get rewarded the most is really our subscribers and obviously we want to make sure that shareholders are seeing value too. It's going to be a busy fall for us. We're going to make sure we're rolling into 2022 on a high note."

Doolittle explained that strategic partnerships are also critical to Business Warrior's business model. In addition to attracting top in-house talent and engaging a quality auditing firm, Business Warrior has partnered with award-winning companies and vendors that provide synergy that supports its corporate vision.

"We've got credibility in the market now  and Rhett's been very great at making sure we're transparent with all of our shareholders. Now we're going to take that level of professionalism with all these new partners going into the OTCQB. It's going to be a great way that we get in and to wrap up 2021 and catapult into 2022," added Brooks.

Looking ahead, Doolittle and Brooks are confident that Business Warrior's history signifies future success.

"Our foot was on the gas all in 2021 and we broke records way above planned. We expect nothing less in 2022," Doolittle concluded. "We've got serious momentum going into next year and we can't wait to share with everybody what we have going on."

The full interview can be heard at: https://www.smallcapvoice.com/october-interview-business-warrior-bzwr/.

About Business Warrior

Business Warrior Corp. (OTC: BZWR) 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' 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 www.BusinessWarrior.com.

About SmallCapVoice.com

SmallCapVoice.com, Inc. is a recognized corporate investor relations firm, with clients nationwide, known for its ability to help emerging growth companies, small cap and micro-cap stocks build a following among retail and institutional investors. SmallCapVoice.com utilizes its stock newsletter to feature its daily stock picks, podcasts, as well as its clients' financial news releases. SmallCapVoice.com also offers individual investors all the tools they need to make informed decisions about the stocks in which they are interested. Tools like stock charts, stock alerts, and Company Information Sheets can assist with investing in stocks that are traded on the OTCMarkets. To learn more about SmallCapVoice.com and its services, please visit https://www.smallcapvoice.com/small-cap-stock-otc-investor-relations-financial-public-relations/.

Socialize with SmallCapVoice and their clients at

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SmallCapVoice/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/smallcapvoice

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smallcapvoice/

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.

Contact Information:

Business Warrior

Investor Relations

Jonathan Brooks

855-884-5805

Investors@BusinessWarrior.com

SmallCapVoice.com

Stuart T. Smith

512-267-2430

Info@SmallCapVoice.com

SOURCE: Business Warrior Corporation

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/668590/Business-Warrior-Highlights-Momentum-Builders-and-Milestones-in-Audio-Interview-with-SmallCapVoicecom
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / October 19, 2021 / Wedgemount Resources Corp. (CSE:WDGY) ("Wedgemount" or the "Company"), is pleased to announce that it has commenced an Induced Polarization (IP) survey at the Company's road accessible Eagle copper - gold project, located in the highly prospective Quesnel trough copper-gold porphyry belt of central British Columbia.

The program will include up to 22.0 line kilometres of ground IP survey focused on the 3.5 kilometre Nighthawk-Mid-Vector copper-gold mineralized trend.

Mark Vanry, President and CEO of Wedgemount commented, "We are aggressively following up on the initial assay results from the Eagle Phase One exploration program (see August 4, 2021 news release). Grab rock sample results such 9.86 % copper, 2.5 grams per tonne (g/t) gold and 77.7 g/t silver from the Nighthawk zone clearly demonstrate the porphyry-related, copper-gold potential of the Nighthawk to Vector corridor which will be the focus of the Phase Two IP Program."

Program Detail

A total of 11 survey lines averaging 2.0 line kilometres in length, at a line spacing of 400 metres, are planned for a total survey length of 22.0 line kilometres. The program is scheduled to be completed by the end of October.

Figure 1: Planned Induced Polarization (IP) survey coverage over priority areas.

2021 Exploration Program Update

The overall goal of the 2021 exploration program is to improve the understanding of mineralization and alteration styles of the main zones and to define new vectors to aid in drill hole targeting. A thorough review of all compiled recent and historical exploration data resulted in the identification of other high-priority targets which were ranked and prioritised.

The first phase of the 2021 exploration program was initiated to brush out old exploration trails for improved access followed by targeted geological mapping and geochemical sampling of the main zones of known porphyry-related copper and gold mineralization (e.g., Nighthawk, Vector and Mid).

The geochemical results from Phase One (see August 4, 2021 news release) will be integrated with the IP results to assist with development of priority drill targets. Based on a thorough assessment of all exploration data, a decision will be made whether to commence with drill testing.

Eagle Project

The road accessible, 2,530 hectare project is situated in the heart of BC's prolific Quesnel trough copper-gold porphyry belt mid-way between the Mt. Milligan copper-gold mine of Centerra Gold and the Kwanika copper-gold development project of Northwest Copper. The property is underlain by the Late Triassic to Early Cretaceous Hogem Intrusive Suite, a large, regional batholith comprised of alkaline and calc-alkaline plutons that have been emplaced into the Middle Triassic to Lower Jurassic Takla Group volcanic rocks and sedimentary sequences. Historical work from the late-1960s to the early 2000's, including geological mapping, geophysical and geochemical surveys and limited drilling have outlined three main porphyry-related copper-gold targets. The discrete zones identified on the Eagle property to-date are hosted within a broad, northwest-trending, 3.5 km long structural corridor of copper-gold mineralization and widespread anomalous copper in soils. The Eagle project is subject to an earn-in agreement with ArcWest Exploration Inc (see AWX news release dated October 5th, 2020).

Data Verification and National Instrument 43-101 Disclosure

Some data disclosed in this news release relating to sampling and drilling results are historical in nature. Neither the Company nor a Qualified Person, as defined by National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101"),have verified the data, and, therefore, investors should not place undue reliance on such data. In some cases, the data may be unverifiable due to lack of drill core. Mineralization hosted on adjacent and/or nearby and/or geologically similar properties is not necessarily indicative of mineralization hosted on the Company's property. The technical information disclosed in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Ken Macdonald, P.Geo., a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101.

About Wedgemount Resources Corp.

Wedgemount Resources is a junior mineral exploration company focused on maximizing shareholder value through the acquisition, discovery and advancement of high-quality copper - gold projects in North America.

On behalf of the Board of Directors,

WEDGEMOUNT RESOURCES CORP.

Mark Vanry, President and CEO

For more information, please contact the Company at:

Telephone: (604) 343-4743

info@wedgemountresources.com

www.wedgemountresources.com

Reader Advisory

This news release may contain statements which constitute "forward-looking information", including statements regarding the plans, intentions, beliefs and current expectations of the Company, its directors, or its officers with respect to the future business activities of the Company. The words "may", "would", "could", "will", "intend", "plan", "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "expect" and similar expressions, as they relate to the Company, or its management, are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. Forward looking statements made in this news release include the Company's plans for exploration of the property and anticipated exploration results. Investors are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future business activities and involve risks and uncertainties, and that the Company's future business activities may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, including, but not limited to, availability of funds, personnel and other resources necessary to conduct exploration programs, successes of the Company's exploration programs, availability of capital and financing and general economic, market or business conditions. There can be no assurances that such information will prove accurate and, therefore, readers are advised to rely on their own evaluation of such uncertainties. The Company does not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking information except as required under the applicable securities laws.

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

SOURCE: Wedgemount Resources Corp.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/668591/Wedgemount-Commences-IP-Geophysical-Survey-at-Its-Eagle-Copper-Gold-Project
Leading jewelry firm expands foray into Amazon to boost sales for the lucrative Cyber 5 (Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday), the kick-off for the holiday shopping season

FAIRFIELD, NJ / ACCESSWIRE / October 19, 2021 / Bergio International, Inc. ("Bergio," or the "Company") (OTC PINK:BRGO), an American holding corporation and global leader in fine, demi-fine and fashion jewelry has announced that Aphrodite's, their fast-growing DTC (direct to consumer) label has already surpassed last quarter's Amazon's percentage of overall revenue based on internal figures. Entering this eCommerce marketplace in early August, Aphrodite's has achieved quick month over month sales growth. It has already doubled Amazon's percentage of total store revenue to approximately 20% from its launch.

Amazon is the top-ranking eCommerce platform in the US and one of the world's largest marketplaces. In 2020, it had almost $500 billion in sales. This year, it is estimated that their gross merchandising volume (GMV) will be $600 billion in sales. Aphrodite's is poised to hyper-accelerate its revenue while connecting with and expanding its global consumer base.

"Despite only releasing 2 popular products to test out the market, we quickly solidified Amazon as a key sales channel which accounted for almost 10% of overall revenue in Q3. We also ranked #1 in certain new product categories. It's a promising start and we are currently expanding into Amazon in other countries like Canada. We've already quickly built strong momentum in this quarter to close out the year with exponential growth," shared Jonathan Foltz, President of Aphrodite's.

Berge Abajian, Chief Executive Officer of Bergio International, added, "Our successful entry into Amazon for Aphrodite's has over-exceeded our sales projections. It has brought an additional revenue stream, further cements our distribution diversification strategy and enhances our marketing P & L (profit loss). It also helps us increase our digital footprint to better own our customer experience wherever they shop globally".

He added, "We saw that our meaningful gifting products' performance on Amazon surpassed our expectations so to prepare for the holiday season, we more than quintupled our products offered on Amazon and are continuously adding more along with building out our branded Amazon store to meet consumer demand. Experiential gifting continues to gain traction and with the upcoming holidays, we are at a momentous junction to further boost our rapid upward trajectory in this niche."

Bergio International acquired Aphrodite's earlier this year for $5 million. Bergio has improved all core components of its new label including operations, marketing, and revenue.

A key competitive advantage, Bergio International has end to end control over its manufacturing to ensure consistent quality of product, cost and supply chain efficiencies. It is finalizing the last phase of due diligence of a new facility in the Republic of Armenia. This strategic move coupled with its digitally native label, Aphrodite's, successful expansion of Amazon and other key distribution channels positions the firm for a monumental close to an already exceptional year.

All sales figures and data for Amazon are preliminary, unaudited, and are based on the information currently available to the Company through its sales reporting system.

For more information on Aphrodite's, please visit www.aphrodites.com.

About Bergio International, Inc.

The Bergio brand, the primary portfolio asset, is associated with high-quality, handcrafted, and individually designed pieces with a European sensibility, Italian craftsmanship, and a bold flair for the unexpected. Established in 1995, Bergio's signature innovative design, coupled with extraordinary diamonds and precious stones, earned the company recognition as a highly sought-after purveyor of rare and exquisite treasures from around the globe. With family jewelry roots reaching back to the 1930s, founder, CEO, and designer Berge Abajian is a third-generation jeweler, blending superior knowledge in design and manufacturing to create unparalleled collections in craftsmanship and style. The Bergio brand features fine jewelry, silver fashion jewelry, bridal, couture, and leather accessories, ranging in price from $50 to $250,000. For further information, please visit www.bergio.com.

This press release includes forward-looking statements regarding our business strategy and plans as well as expectations of future growth, all of which are subject to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are not historical in nature and include those related to future financial and operating results, benefits, and synergies of the combined companies, statements concerning the Company's outlook, pricing trends, and forces within the industry, the completion dates of capital projects, expected sales growth, cost reduction strategies, and their results, long-term goals of the Company and other statements of expectations, beliefs, future plans and strategies, anticipated events or trends, and similar expressions concerning matters that are not historical facts. These forward-looking statements are only predictions and may differ materially from actual results due to a variety of factors, including changes in the general economy; changes in demand for the Company's products or in the cost and availability of its raw materials; the actions of its competitors; the success of our customers; technological change; changes in employee relations; government regulations; litigation, including its inherent uncertainty; difficulties in plant operations and materials; transportation, environmental matters; and other unforeseen circumstances. A number of these factors are discussed in the Company's previous filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including those detailed under the caption "Risk Factors" in our Annual Report for the year ended December 31, 2019 filed with the SEC. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update any forward-looking statements as a result of developments occurring after the date of this press release. The safe harbor for forward-looking statements contained in the Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (the "Act") protects companies from liability for their forward-looking statements if they comply with the requirements of the Act.

Media Contact

Alina Keo

alina@aphrodites.com

(952) 681-0406

Investor Relations

John Guercio

jpguercio@aol.com

(845) 216-3100

SOURCE: Bergio International, Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/668451/Bergio-Internationals-Aphrodites-Brand-Recent-Launch-on-Amazon-Dominates-Profit-Margin-Sales
TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / October 19, 2021 / EYEFI Group Technologies Inc. (CSE: EGTI) (OTC PINK: EGTTF) ("EYEfi") has signed a strategic product development agreement with a major global camera manufacturer; with further details to be disclosed in a follow up announcement over the coming weeks.

The global camera manufacturer has a wide range of highly sophisticated IP network cameras used in the large enterprise, government, and consumer market segments. These cameras require end-users to implement third-party solutions to enable end-to-end provisioning and a cloud monitoring platform. EYEfi's strategic agreement will provide those capabilities, allowing end-users to activate and monitor the manufacturer's cameras on the internet, using EYEfi Cloud. This will enable easy access, monitoring and control of the cameras and events using EYEfi's streamlined cloud platform and technology.

The partnership arrangement will provide EYEfi with access to a large network of existing distributors and resellers of the camera technology in Australia and New Zealand, leading to many tens of thousands of downstream customers having access to EYEfi Cloud, by simply using their PC or Smartphone. The partnership provides a significant potential revenue opportunity for EYEfi based on monthly recurring subscription fees for access to the EYEfi Cloud platform.

The EYEfi's CEO and founder, Simon Langdon, said:

"We foresee this engagement as providing a significant growth opportunity for EYEfi, not only in Australia and New Zealand (NZ), but eventually in the United States and other regions around the world once rolled out in Australia and NZ. EYEfi currently has over $35 million in our sales pipeline across Australia and NZ, and this engagement brings an opportunity for EYEfi to grow our business by gaining access to an existing distribution network and large customer base. This will be welcome news for prospective customers that have struggled to find an industrial-grade solution to easily connect, access and monitor remote camera deployments."

EYEfi and the camera manufacturer will be making a joint announcement about the engagement over the coming weeks, and plans are on-track to release the product to market in the January-March quarter of 2022.

Investors and brokers can contact Mark van der Horst at mark@galecapital.com 604 200-1480 (Cell 604 760-7604)

Sales enquiries can be directed to Michael Consolo, Head of Sales and Marketing for Australia and NZ, on info@eyefi.com.au or on +613 94175777 during business hours (AEST)

---- end ---

About EYEfi

EYEfi is connecting the world's people and devices with the world around them, in real-time and in ways not previously possible.

EYEfi is a software and electronics engineering company that has developed, patented and commercialized an innovative spatial technology; spatial, predictive, approximation and radial convolution (SPARC) and an associated product suite, that turns sensors, cameras and smartphones (fixed, mobile, airborne, portable or handheld) into geo-target co-ordinate acquisition devices.

EYEfi has also developed Industrial IoT (IIoT) sensor hardware and associated cloud software, as a second pillar within its product offering. EYEfi Cloud is a next generation cloud platform that provides a secure and centralized environment where customers can manage their EYEfi product deployments and applications.

On behalf of the board of directors of EYEFI GROUP TECHNOLOGIES INC.

"Simon Langdon"

Simon Langdon, CEO

For more information contact:

Simon Langdon

Chief Executive Officer

EYEfi Group Technologies Inc.

Email: info@eyefi.com.au Mark van der Horst

Investor Relations

EYEfi Group Technologies Inc.

Telephone: +1 (604) 760 7604

Email: mark@galecapital.com

THE CANADIAN SECURITIES EXCHANGE HAS NOT REVIEWED AND DOES NOT ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ACCURACY OR ADEQUACY OF THIS RELEASE. NO SECURITIES COMMISSION OR OTHER REGULATORY AUTHORITY HAS APPROVED OR DISAPPROVED THE INFORMATION CONTAINED HEREIN.

FORWARD LOOKING INFORMATION

This news release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. These statements relate to future events or future performance. All statements other than statements of historical fact may be forward-looking statements or information.

The forward-looking statements are based on the reasonable assumptions, estimates, opinions and analyses of management made in light of its experience and perception of historical trends in the delivery of services through its Cloud, current conditions, expected future developments and other factors management of the Company believes are appropriate, relevant and reasonable in the circumstances at the date that such statements are made. All of these assumptions, estimates and opinions will necessarily be subject to change due to future events and other circumstances outside the control of the Company, including the effect of the Covid 19 virus. The Company has based the forward looking information on various material assumptions, including: despite the threat of the Covid 19 virus, the Company will sustain or increase profitability although on a slower projection then previously planned, and will be able to fund its operations with existing capital and projected revenue from its current agreements with its Channel Partners; the Company will be able to attract and retain key personnel in future if required; the general business, economic, financial market, regulatory and political conditions in which the Company operates will remain positive as its services can be provided in the Company's Cloud although deliver of its hardware may be affect by supply chain disruptions; that the general regulatory environment will not change in a manner adverse to the business of the Company; the tax treatment of the Company and its subsidiary will remain constant and the Company will not become subject to any material legal proceedings; the economy generally; competition, and anticipated and unanticipated costs

Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements, timelines and information contained in this news release. Readers are cautioned that the foregoing list of factors, assumptions and exclusions is not exhaustive.

The forward-looking statements and information contained in this news release are made as of the date hereof and no undertaking is given 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 or the Canadian Securities Exchange. The forward-looking statements or information contained in this news release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement.

SOURCE: EYEfi Group Technologies Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/668669/EYEFI-Signs-Strategic-Partnership-with-a-Major-Global-Camera-Manufacturer
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / October 19, 2021 / Naturally Splendid Enterprises Ltd. ("Naturally Splendid", "NSE" or "the Company") (FRANKFURT:50N) (TSXV:NSP) (OTC:NSPDF) is pleased to announce the latest shipping container of NATERA Plant Based Foods from Australia has been received.

In this shipment, we are excited to receive new SKUs including plant-based "Chick-Un Wings & Drumettes' and a new Plant Based "Spicy Chick-Un Burger" that will be introduced to the Canadian Consumer. We also continue to receive more of our existing NATERA Plant Based Foods Breaded Cutlets (Schnitzel), Stuffed Chick-Un Breast (Garlic & Butter Flavoured), Sweet Chili Chick-Un Tenders, Seasoned Chick-Un Tenders, Chick-Un Nuggets, Chick-Un Patties, Crispy Fish-Un Fillets, Garlic Chick-Un Bites (Garlic & Butter Flavoured) and Cheesy Chick-Un Bites.

As we continue to expand from food service channels, the Company is installing two separate packaging lines capable of providing a wide range of retail packaging options for both the freezer and chiller categories in order to penetrate multiple retail channels.

Naturally Splendid CEO Mr. J. Craig Goodwin states, "One of the reasons we're excited to have teamed up with Australia's largest plant-based manufacturer is the wide range of products they have to offer, over forty (40) plant-based products to date with more products in development. This extensive range of plant-based alternatives to beef, chicken, pork, fish and seafood creates a competitive edge when measured against the majority of plant-based manufacturers with a lessor selection. We will continue to add additional plant-based offerings to the existing range of products we currently carry to penetrate a wide range of customers through multiple distribution channels. We look forward to providing timely updates as these products are brought to market"

About Naturally Splendid Enterprises Ltd.

Founded in 2010, NSE operates a food manufacturing facility just outside Vancouver, BC in Canada. The Company has established numerous healthy, functional foods under recognized brands such as Natera Sport, Natera Hemp Foods, CHII, Elevate Me and Woods Wild Bar, and most recently Natera Plant Based Foods, a line of delicious plant-based meat alternatives for the rapidly growing plant-based market segment. The Company has a myriad of new products and line extensions under development that are approaching launch. NSE, through its joint venture Plasm Pharmaceutical, has been approved for conducting a phase 2 clinical trial approved by Health Canada for treatment of COVID-19. NSE has also developed proprietary technologies for the extraction of high-demand, healthy omega 3 and 6 oils from hemp.

NSE contract manufacturers for healthy, functional food products and ingredients focusing on plant-based ingredients. The Company provides contract manufacturing services for many healthy food companies, private labeling a wide variety of nutritional food products destined for global healthy food markets.

For more information e-mail info@naturallysplendid.com or call Investor Relations at 604-465-0548 (ext. 105)

On Behalf of the Board of Directors

Mr. J. Craig Goodwin CEO, Director

Contact Information

Naturally Splendid Enterprises Ltd.

(NSP - TSX Venture; NSPDF - OTCQB; 50N - Frankfurt)

#108-19100 Airport Way

Pitt Meadows, BC, V3Y 0E2

Office: (604) 465-0548

Fax: (604) 465-1128

E-mail: info@naturallysplendid.com

Website: www.naturallysplendid.com

Forward-Looking Statements

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. Naturally Splendid 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 Naturally Splendid's control including, Naturally Splendid's ability to compete with large food and beverage companies; sales of any potential products developed will be profitable; sales of shelled hemp seed will continue at existing rates or increase; the ability to complete the sales of all bulk hemp seed purchase orders; and the risk that any of the potential applications may not receive all required regulatory or legal approval. 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, Naturally Splendid undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise forward-looking information

SOURCE: Naturally Splendid Enterprises Ltd.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/668667/Naturally-Splendid-Container-of-NATERA-Plant-Based-Foods-Arrives-With-Additional-Plant-Based-Offerings
MIAMI, FL / ACCESSWIRE / October 19, 2021 / Star8 Corp. (OTC PINK:STRH), a publicly traded technology and eCommerce company based in Miami, Florida, is pleased to announce the launch of its new in-house digital marketing business. The new digital marketing services will help clients grow their digital footprint and create a recognizable brand that resonates with potential customers across the internet.

"Our digital marketing team has some of the industry's best and brightest talent in terms of eCommerce and technology veterans," said Mario Diez, Chief Executive Officer of Star8 Corp. "Our eCommerce driven strategies help build brand awareness and customer loyalty for our clients and their followers."

Star8 Corp.'s digital marketing team helps clients generate leads, drive website traffic and build brand awareness through strategic engagement tactics on sites such as LinkedIn, Instagram, Amazon and Facebook.

For more information about Star8 Corp.'s digital marketing services, please visit Star8Corp.com.

About Star8 Corporation

Star8 Corporation (OTC PINK:STRH) is a publicly traded company with expertise in technology and eCommerce driven solutions. Additionally, Star8 Corp. provides sustainable marketing, technology, sales and distribution consulting for clients. Its subsidiary companies are TempuCheck. To learn more about star8 Corp. please visit Star8Corp.com.

For inquiries please contact: info@star8corp.com | 1-866-316-0808

Investor Inquiries:

Star8 Corp.

1-866-316-0808

Safe Harbor

Statements about the Company's future expectations and all other statements in this press release other than historical facts, are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The Company intends that such forward-looking statements be subject to the safe harbors created thereby. The above information contains information relating to the Company that is based on the beliefs of the Company and/or its management as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to the Company or its management. When used in this document, the words "anticipate," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "plans," "projects," and similar expressions, as they relate to the Company or its management, are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Such statements reflect the current view of the Company regarding future events and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions, including the risks and uncertainties noted. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove to be incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described herein as anticipated, believed, estimated, expected, intended or projected. In each instance, forward-looking information should be considered in light of the accompanying meaningful cautionary statements herein. Factors that could cause results to differ include, but are not limited to, successful performance of internal plans, the impact of competitive services and pricing and general economic risks and uncertainties. The Company disclaims any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements.

SOURCE: Star8 Corp.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/668649/Star8-Corp-Transformation-on-Digital-Marketing
Westlake, Ohio--(Newsfile Corp. - October 19, 2021) - ECHO Health announced its first partnership for Premium Payment Manager (PPM), the Company's new automated payment solution for Individual Coverage Health Reimbursement Arrangements (ICHRAs). Following early employer ICHRA adoption and savings, health insurance consulting company, InsureOne Benefits, an Oswald company, has fully integrated PPM into its ezICHRA solution to solve ICHRA's administrative burdens.

To view the full announcement, including downloadable images, bios, and more, click here.

Key Takeaways:

InsureOne Benefits, has integrated ECHO Health's PPM into its ICHRA offering, ezICHRA, allowing its clients to seamlessly reimburse their employees' premiums.

ezICHRA helps employers plan their ICHRA offering by defining contribution limits and employee eligibility requirements aligned with their culture and budget.

By integrating PPM into ezICHRA, the offering will provide employers the option to offer ICHRAs to their employees with no administrative burden and an easy, automated premium reimbursement process, ultimately encouraging the adoption of ICHRAs across American businesses.

Click image above to view full announcement.

About ECHO Health Inc.

ECHO is a leading provider of electronic healthcare payment solutions, connecting payers, vendors, providers and plan members. ECHO's patented, ERISA, HIPAA and CORE compliant solution addresses the hurdles payers face: connection, compliance, efficiency and ease of use. ECHO now processes 300+ million claims and over $60 billion in payments annually. For more information, visit www.echohealthinc.com.

About InsureOne Benefits, Inc.

Since 2001, InsureOne has helped over 60,000 individuals, families and Medicare beneficiaries find personal health insurance policies to meet their individual needs. Learn more at insureonebenefits.com.

About Oswald Companies

Founded in 1893, Cleveland-based and employee-owned, Oswald is one of the nation's largest independent insurance brokerage and risk management firms. As a proud Partner of Assurex Global, the world's largest association of privately held insurance brokers, our risk management professionals service and support the needs of our clients throughout the U.S. and worldwide. Learn more at www.OswaldCompanies.com.

Contacts:

Brian Young

+1 (404) 432 - 9419

byoung@echohealthinc.com

Source: ECHO Health, Inc.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/100161
Sudbury, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - October 19, 2021) - Transition Metals Corp (TSXV: XTM) ("Transition", "the Company") is pleased to announce its summer prospecting and sampling work continues to support the interpretation that its Jolly Gold property covers the western extension of the prolific Beardmore-Geraldton Greenstone Belt (BGB) (Figure 1). The property covers a sulphide-facies iron formation that caps the northern assemblage of mafic metavolcanic flows overlain by intermediate pyroclastics. Gold deposits elsewhere in the BGB, such as the 4.5 Moz I&I Hardrock deposit under development by Greenstone Gold near Geraldton, are considered classic examples of epigenetic, non-stratiform, banded iron formation-hosted gold deposits. Other notable deposits within the BGB include the Brookbank (0.6 Moz M&I), the Sand River and Leitch Mine (past production of 0.9 Moz), the Northern Empire Mine and Sturgeon River Mine.

In July the Company completed a first pass mapping and prospecting program on Jolly Gold which included cutting and assaying of 114 channel samples on the historical Fat Beagle trench (Figure 2, Table 1) as well as collecting 82 prospecting grab samples across the 45.6 km2 property before work was halted due to local forest fire conditions. This work followed up on the initial property visit conducted in September 2020 (see November 24th, 2020 press release). Much of the property is covered by unconsolidated sediment and Nipigon diabase, limiting the exposure of the targeted Archean host rocks.

Channel sampling within the historic Fat Beagle trench returned very high-grade zones of gold mineralization, with assays of up to 146.5 g/t Au over 0.41 m, and 24.4 g/t Au over 0.61 m (Figure 2, Table 1). The best result from the 82 grab samples collected outside of the showing area returned was 1.35% Zn from an outcrop of sulphide facies iron formation (Figure 3).

CEO Scott McLean commented, "The results of the sampling in the historic trench and identification of prospective sulphide facies iron formation supports the interpretation that our claims cover the western extension of the prolific Geraldton-Beardmore gold belt and have the potential to host significant gold mineralization. This camp scale exploration opportunity has seen only limited exploration despite its' accessible location. We believe that the application of advanced exploration techniques including, biogeochemical surveys that have proven successful on our Wollaston Cu project will assist in advancing our understanding of the property's prospectivity and identify major target areas for further exploration including diamond drilling."

 Gignac et al. 2020. NI 43-101 Technical Report Hardrock Project Ontario, Canada - Premier Gold Mines Limited, Sedar Jan. 26, 2021.

Lewis et al 2013. Premier Gold Mines Limited Technical Report on the Mineral Resource Estimate for the Hardrock, Brookbank and Key Lake Projects- Sedar Feb 1, 2013

 http://www.geologyontario.mndm.gov.on.ca/mndmfiles/mdi/data/records/MDI52H09SE00004.html

Figure 1. Regional Geological Map Showing Projected Extension of Geraldton-Beardmore Greenstone Belt and Locations of Major Gold Deposits and Transition Jolly Gold Property (MRD 126, 1:250 000 Scale Bedrock Geology of Ontario, OGS)

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/2766/100159_0b056e8fd44d8828_002full.jpg

Table 1. Highlights from sampling on the Jolly Gold Property.

Channel Number Sample ID Sample Length (m) Easting Northing Au (g/t) Ag (g/t) Bi (ppm) Cu (ppm) Zn (ppm) Te (ppm) Fat Beagle Trench Samples 13.1 X926030 0.41 321825.5 5448865.9 146.50 1.68 275.00 268 18.1 117.00 13.2 X926031 0.54 321825.7 5448865.5 9.99 0.63 602.00 421 17.0 68.30 14.1 X926032 0.61 321823.9 5448865.9 24.40 0.47 80.30 195 21.0 36.10 34.2 X926071 0.69 321791.0 5448826.0 0.81 0.18 40.30 316 65.0 0.72 34.3 X926072 0.53 321791.2 5448825.5 2.38 0.61 76.80 297 75.0 0.51 10.1 X926027 0.70 321832.6 5448864.5 2.10 0.19 1230.00 320 73.0 16.60 16.1 X926034 0.63 321826.4 5448861.2 0.70 0.11 5.07 334 68.0 0.45 16.2 X926035 0.55 321826.5 5448860.6 1.68 0.33 18.15 716 47.0 7.51 32.1 X926067 0.62 321794.0 5448823.4 1.66 0.16 50.50 195 73.0 2.46 9.1 X926021 0.42 321833.8 5448863.9 1.10 0.08 9.19 245 21.0 4.08 9.2 X926022 0.38 321833.9 5448863.5 0.63 0.15 5.15 425 73.0 1.21 36.3 X926078 0.65 321785.5 5448824.7 0.56 0.10 7.19 244 79.0 0.30 31.2 X926066 0.58 321796.3 5448825.9 0.53 0.28 68.20 862 71.0 1.21 Grab Sample X926222 0.01 0.19 0.12 109 1.35% 0.68

Figure 2. Fat Beagle trench map with channel sample highlights.

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/2766/100159_0b056e8fd44d8828_003full.jpg

Figure 3. Grab sample location map with historical trenches and showings, and mapped and interpreted structures.

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/2766/100159_0b056e8fd44d8828_004full.jpg

Qualified Person

The technical elements of this press release have been reviewed and approved by Mr. Thomas Hart, P.Geo. (PGO), a Qualified Person as defined under National Instrument 43-101. All analytical work performed was conducted at ALS Laboratories, an independent lab with analyses completed in North Vancouver, B.C. The quality system used by ALS Laboratories meets all requirements of International Standards ISO/IEC 17025:2005 and ISO 9001:2015. Grab samples are selected samples and are not necessarily representative of the grade of mineralization in the area sampled.

About Transition Metals Corp

Transition Metals Corp (TSXV: XTM) is a Canadian-based, multi-commodity project generator that specializes in converting new exploration ideas into Canadian discoveries in Canada. The award-winning team of geoscientists has extensive exploration experience in established, emerging and historic mining camps and actively develops and tests new ideas for discovering mineralization in places that others have not looked, which often allows the company to acquire properties inexpensively. The team is rigorous in its fieldwork and combines traditional techniques with newer ones to help unearth compelling prospects and drill targets. Transition uses the project generator business model to acquire and advance multiple exploration projects simultaneously, thereby maximizing shareholder exposure to discovery and capital gain. Joint venture partners earn an interest in the projects by funding a portion of higher-risk drilling and exploration, allowing Transition to conserve capital and minimize shareholder's equity dilution. The Company has an expanding portfolio that currently includes more than 25 gold, copper, nickel and platinum projects across Canada.

Cautionary Note on Forward-Looking Information

Except for statements of historical fact contained herein, the information in this news release constitutes "forward-looking information" within the meaning of Canadian securities law. Such forward-looking information may be identified by words such as "plans", "proposes", "estimates", "intends", "expects", "believes", "may", "will" and include without limitation, statements regarding estimated capital and operating costs, expected production timeline, benefits of updated development plans, foreign exchange assumptions and regulatory approvals. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate; actual results and future events could differ materially from such statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include, among others, metal prices, competition, risks inherent in the mining industry, and regulatory risks. Most of these factors are outside the control of the Company. Investors are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking information. Except as otherwise required by applicable securities statutes or regulation, the Company expressly disclaims any intent or obligation to update publicly forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Further information is available at www.transitionmetalscorp.com or by contacting:

Scott McLean

President and CEO

Transition Metals Corp.

Tel: (705) 669-1777

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/100159
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - October 19, 2021) - Bluesky Digital Assets Corp. (CSE: BTC) (CSE: BTC.PR.A) (OTCQB: BTCWF) ("Bluesky" or the "Corporation") announced today that, consistent with its previously announced plans to scale mining operations in a staged approach to increase revenue and profitability, Bluesky has formally closed another high value mining asset order.

The current new material order that was finalized on October 19th represents the acquisition of $1,183,576 CDN of custom GPU mining rigs.

This latest acquisition of highly customizable GPU mining assets from Pandaminer builds upon and leverages the relationship between Bluesky and Pandaminer that was announced on February 8th, 2021. At a time of industry chip shortages and major delays, Bluesky has executed on another major order and expects these new assets to arrive to its primary facility in the next 2-3 weeks. This custom order made to Bluesky specifications will be furthered optimized by the Bluesky technical internal team and is expected to be in full production within 45 days.

This order is focused on GPU mining technology and is reflective in great part on the success that Bluesky has had mining Ethereum (ETH), which contributed greatly to the Bluesky previous October 1st, 2021 announced record Q3 revenue results exceeding $1M for the quarter. It also reflects management's belief that GPU mining, and specifically an ETH focus at this time, is a prudent business decision and should continue to demonstrate growth and additional profitability for our bottom line.

Ben Gelfand, CEO, stated: "We continue to demonstrate our ability to execute rapidly against our plans and announced strategies. Leveraging strategic relationships in the hardware space with key vendors and industry leading players ensures that we can acquire the right hardware, at the right price points, and in a timely fashion so we can put our shareholders' investments to work."

Mr. Weicheng (Wilson) Guo, Pandaminer CEO, stated: "Our continued deep working relationship with Bluesky continues to be a mutually beneficial relationship that contributes to the positive growth and results of our respective organizations. Bluesky always demonstrates a discerning eye for equipment that is cost effective and delivers the best value for the investment. We welcome this kind of intelligent client as our customer's success ensures that we too are successful."

Anthony R. Pearlman, COO, stated: "This latest order continues our staged approach of growth for our mining operations. We continue to effectively use our capital with a business focus on revenue and the bottom line. Currently, we are actively looking to put additional capital to work for us as we acquire additional ASIC mining assets. These efforts will round out our diversified mining activities and take advantage of a strong performing virtual asset like Bitcoin (BTC)."

About Bluesky Digital Assets Corp.

Bluesky Digital Assets Corp, is building a high value digital currency enterprise. Bluesky mines digital currencies, such as Bitcoin and Ether, and is developing value-added technology services for the digital currency market, such as proprietary technology solutions. Offering a complete ecosystem of value-creation, Bluesky is targeting reinvesting appropriate portions of its digital currency mining profits back into its operations. A percentage of the profit will be invested in the development of a proprietary Artificial Intelligence ("AI") based technology. Overall, Bluesky takes an approach that enables the Corporation to scale, and respond to changing conditions, within the still-emerging Blockchain industry. The Corporation is poised to capture value in successive phases as this industry continues to scale.

For more information please visit Bluesky at: https://www.blueskydigitalassets.com

For further information please contact:

Mr. Ben Gelfand

CEO & Director

Bluesky Digital Assets Corp.

T: (416) 363-3833 T: (647) 466-4037

E: ben.gelfand@blueskydigitalassets.com

Mr. Frank Kordy

Secretary & Director

Bluesky Digital Assets Corp.

E: frank.kordy@blueskydigitalassets.com

Forward-Looking Statements

Information set forth in this news release may involve forward-looking statements under applicable securities laws. The forward- looking statements contained herein are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. The forward-looking statements included in this document are made as of the date of this document and the Corporation 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. Although management believes that the expectations represented in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities described herein and accordingly undue reliance should not be put on such. Neither CSE nor its Regulation Services Provider as that term is defined in the policies of the CSE accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. We seek safe harbor.

- 30 -

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/100135
A report from Australia's Future Battery Industries Cooperative Research Centre which analysed the development of battery hubs in the U.S., Germany and Japan, has found that co-location and cooperation between industry and government were key to their success. For Australia to play the same game, it will have to leverage its wealth of resources, and clean up its act along the way.A report published by the Future Battery Industries Cooperative Research Centre (FBICRC) has emphasized the role of co-located energy hubs for nations wishing to compete in the growing battery industry. The author of ...

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.
EQS Group-News: Partners Group / Key word(s): Investment/Private Equity

Partners Group and Kohlberg & Company acquire BluSky, a leading US provider of commercial restoration services



19.10.2021 / 14:31





Denver, CO and Mount Kisco, NY, US; 19 October 2021

With more than 900 employees serving 5,000-plus customers across the country, BluSky is one of the largest commercial restoration service providers in the US

Both firms have become equal partners in the Company following the acquisition

Key value creation initiatives include entering new markets, expanding service capabilities, and partnering with customers on ESG and workplace safety

Partners Group, a leading global private markets firm, and Kohlberg & Company ("Kohlberg"), a New York-based investment firm with more than 30 years of private equity experience, have jointly acquired BluSky Restoration Contractors ("BluSky" or "the Company"), a leading US provider of restoration services for commercial, industrial, healthcare, and multifamily real estate, on behalf of their clients. Kohlberg and Partners Group acquired equal equity stakes in the transaction, with the Company's management team also retaining a meaningful ownership stake. BluSky's previous majority owner, Dominus Capital, retained a minority stake in the Company.

BluSky specializes in real estate damage services that stabilize emergency situations and restore businesses and property back to pre-loss condition. The Company's restoration, remediation, environmental, and preventative planning services are essential for customers that experience water, fire, wind, environmental damages, or biological contamination at their buildings. BluSky has more than 900 employees and 40 branches across the country. BluSky's national presence and support team, combined with a local, customer-centric delivery model, ensures consistent, reliable, and comprehensive services for both local and multi-location customers.

Both Partners Group and Kohlberg have extensive experience creating value at leading commercial and facility services businesses. Key management collaboration initiatives will include branch expansion into new markets, growing national accounts, expanding service capabilities, partnering with customers on ESG and workplace safety initiatives, and pursuing acquisitions.

Ahmed I. Wahla, Partner, Kohlberg, comments: "Led by a world-class management team, BluSky has a reputation for quality service across an array of geographies, and a well-recognized brand known for high customer and employee satisfaction. Built on recurring relationships, the Company has a proven growth platform predicated on culture and trusted local relationships. We are excited to bring our shared network, resources, transformational investment strategies, and platform building expertise into partnership with Kent Stemper, Drew Bisping, and the rest of the BluSky team."

Kent Stemper, Chief Executive Officer, BluSky, comments: "The rapid restoration and future protection of commercial buildings in the US has never been more important as weather patterns become more unpredictable and populations in urban areas densify. At BluSky, we have worked hard to build our platform and culture across the US under Dominus Capital's stewardship, and look forward to this next step in our growth journey. We think the operational expertise and financial resources of both Partners Group and Kohlberg will be incredibly valuable as we invest in new capabilities and expand into new markets. We are also excited to continue our relationship with Dominus who have guided us to today's milestone and remain incredibly supportive of our continuing journey."

Mike Sexton, Member of Management, Private Equity, Partners Group, states: "All stakeholders involved in addressing unplanned-for building damage benefit from timely and high-quality restoration services to protect human safety, mitigate future damages, preserve property value and function, and restore operations and economic activity as rapidly as possible. BluSky is well-positioned to benefit from this increasingly important transformative trend, driven by a team that shares an extraordinary bond of loyalty, teamwork, service excellence, and relentless commitment to provide customers with an exceptional experience."

Robert W. Baird & Co. and Ropes & Gray LLP advised Kohlberg and Partners Group on the transaction.

About Partners Group

Partners Group is a leading global private markets firm. Since 1996, the firm has invested over USD 150 billion in private equity, private real estate, private debt and private infrastructure on behalf of its clients globally. Partners Group seeks to generate strong returns through capitalizing on thematic growth trends and transforming attractive businesses and assets into market leaders. The firm is a committed, responsible investor and aims to create sustainable returns with lasting, positive impact for all its stakeholders. With USD 119 billion in assets under management as of 30 June 2021, Partners Group provides an innovative range of bespoke client solutions to institutional investors, sovereign wealth funds, family offices and private individuals globally. The firm employs more than 1,500 diverse professionals across 20 offices worldwide and has regional headquarters in Baar-Zug, Switzerland; Denver, USA; and Singapore. It has been listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange since 2006 (symbol: PGHN). For more information, please visit www.partnersgroup.com or follow us on LinkedIn or Twitter.

About Kohlberg

Kohlberg & Company, LLC ('Kohlberg') is a leading U.S. private equity firm based in Mount Kisco, New York. Since its inception in 1987, Kohlberg has organized nine private equity funds, through which it has raised $12 billion of committed equity capital. Over its 34 year history, Kohlberg has completed 88 buyout transactions and more than 200 add-on acquisitions, with an aggregate transaction value of nearly $30 billion. For more information, please visit www.kohlberg.com.

About BluSky Restoration Contractors, LLC

Denver, Colorado-based BluSky Restoration Contractors, LLC is a full-service national restoration, renovation, environmental, and roofing provider for properties damaged by water, fire, wind, storms, and other disasters across the Continental US and Continental US Island Communities. For more information about BluSky Restoration Contractors, please visit www.goblusky.com.

Partners Group media relations contact

Molly Nagel (Prosek Partners)

Email: Pro-PartnersGroup@prosek.com

Kohlberg media relations contact

Andrew Johnson

FINSBURY GLOVER HERING

Email: andrew.johnson@fgh.com

BluSky media relations contact

Media@goblusky.com

End of Media Release


Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - October 19, 2021) - SoLVBL Solutions Inc. (CSE: SOLV) ("SoLVBL" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has granted the Company U.S. Patent No. 11,146,3866 for its "Method and System for Authentication Seal Deployment in Networked Immutable Transactions".

This patent confirms that the intellectual property of the Company's flagship cryptographic cybersecurity product, Q by SoLVBLTM, is both unique and will be protected, and creates enhanced value for the Company's growing intellectual property portfolio.

Q by SoLVBLTM allows users to authenticate their data in real-time. The users can be confident that their data has not been altered or substituted, and they know the provenance of their data, and these attributes extend to third-party users of the same data. Outside users can in real-time perform the same checks and receive the same assurances.

This key patent is the next step in the Company's growth and has been nearly two years in the making. In the ever-evolving world of cybersecurity and overall technological developments, this patent sets the Company apart from its peers.

"We are pleased to have reached the remarkable milestone of having been granted this patent by the USPTO," said Raymond Pomroy, CEO of SoLVBL. "In any Company's growth, being able to validate technology that is indeed unique and worthy of receiving a patent is not a common occurrence, and one we have worked very hard to procure. This patent grant is a critical milestone for SoLVBL. It confirms to shareholders SoLVBL's ground-breaking best-in-class cryptographic cybersecurity technologies and the carrying value of one of our key assets. It also greatly enhances SoLVBL's strength in negotiating business development, partnership and sales opportunities with international organizations. SoLVBL has taken a reputational leap with the official grant of this broad, commercially relevant US patent and I'm confident it will prove to be a key steppingstone in our journey to profitability," added Raymond Pomroy, CEO of SoLVBL.

The patent granted comes after a rigorous process conducted by the USPTO following the first lodgment on January 17, 2020. The granting of the patent also validates an independent third-party cryptographic review and validation, that was previously announced, that had been provided by Professor Sonam Kaul of University of Toronto's Mathematical and Computational Sciences Department.

Q by SoLVBLTM ensures that the data you use has not been subject to unauthorised modifications, which allows you to create Trust, Fast.

If you have data worth forging, it's worth protecting with Q by SoLVBLTM.

SoLVBL Solutions Inc.

SoLVBL is an innovative cybersecurity company. SoLVBL Inc. takes a different approach to cybersecurity with its proprietary Q by SoLVBL protocol that quickly and cost-effectively establishes the authenticity of digital records at very high speed. We don't believe that any system is 'un-hackable', no matter how secure it appears to be, and if a system can be hacked, the data within that system is subject to manipulation. Bad data leads to bad decisions. Our Mission: 'To empower better, faster decisions by developing a universal standard for establishing the accuracy of digital records with an application which is easy to adopt, cheap to use, offers cryptographic assurances, and will not bottleneck systems.'. The Company is currently pursuing the use of Q by SoLVBL in the following verticals: NG-911 (Next Generation 911); data used in the financial sector; medical data applications; and critical IoT infrastructures.

For Further Information, Contact:

SoLVBL Solutions Inc.

Raymond Pomroy, CEO

100 King Street West, Suite 5700

Toronto, ON, M5X 1C7

E: Ray.Pomroy@SoLVBL.com

T: 905.510.7982

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-looking Information

The CSE has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release.

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. CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION: This news release contains "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" (collectively, "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of the applicable Canadian securities legislation. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements and are based on expectations, estimates and projections as at the date of this news release. Any statement that involves discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions, future events or performance (often but not always using phrases such as "expects", or "does not expect", "is expected", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", "plans", "budget", "scheduled", "forecasts", "estimates", "believes" or "intends" or variations of such words and phrases or stating that certain actions, events or results "may" or "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken to occur or be achieved) are not statements of historical fact and may be forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable, are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors which may cause the actual results and future events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, but are not limited to: the ability of the Company to successfully achieve its business objectives, including, the implementation and success of Q by SoLVBLTM, and expectations for other economic, business and/or competitive, factors. 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 the forward-looking statements and information contained in this news release. Except as required by law, SoLVBL assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements of beliefs, opinions, projections, or other factors, should they change, except as required by law.

This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities described herein in the United States. The securities described herein have not been registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act"), or any state securities law and may not be offered or sold in the "United States", as such term is defined in Regulation S promulgated under the U.S. Securities Act, unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws or an exemption from such registration requirements is available.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/100163
Credence MedSystems, Inc. announced today that it has formed a strategic collaboration with Phillips-Medisize, a Molex company, a global leader in the design and manufacturing of solutions for the pharmaceutical drug delivery market.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211019005175/en/

The Credence Companion Syringe System enables pharmaceutical manufacturers to provide their end users with enhanced safety and usability while preserving the use of trusted components and processes. (Graphic: Business Wire)

The strategic relationship will support scaling of the manufacture of the Credence Companion and Dual Chamber Reconstitution Systems. Other potential collaboration areas include autoinjectors and connectivity solutions. The Credence Connect Auto-Sensing Injection System is a connected solution for syringes targeting chronic disease management and enabling improved clinical trial compliance. Molex Ventures also participated in Credence's most recent round of financing.

"We're very excited about the close collaboration with Phillips-Medisize and the opportunity to manufacture our devices at their Letterkenny, Ireland site and new Poland facility, which are both located in close proximity to our customers and supply chain partners," said Jeff Tillack, Credence's Chief Operating Officer.

Paul Chaffin, President of Phillips-Medisize, said, "Phillips-Medisize has a long-standing working relationship with Credence. Our new collaboration will focus on scaling from a clinical line to large-scale manufacturing that includes high volume automation in a state-of-the-art plant located in Eastern Europe. The capabilities of Phillips-Medisize align effectively with Credence's product portfolio, which fills important needs in the market, and we look forward to accelerating the delivery of their innovative injection system to market."

John Merhige, Credence's Chief Commercial Officer, stated, "With the previously announced $39.9 million funding, including investments from Molex Ventures and Novartis, we are able to take the important next steps toward putting our technology in the hands of users and providing critical safety and usability enhancements."

About Credence MedSystems, Inc.

Credence MedSystems is an innovator of drug delivery systems that solve unmet market needs for the pharmaceutical industry. Credence's philosophy of Innovation Without Change allows pharma manufacturers to impress and protect their end users while preserving their existing processes, sourcing strategies and preferred primary package components. The Companion family of syringe systems includes proprietary needle retraction technology, syringe reuse prevention and other critical safety and usability features. The Dual Chamber Reconstitution platform offers single-step mixing and injection for medicines that require reconstitution at the time of delivery. The Credence Connect brings digital connectivity to any syringe and has the potential to impact chronic disease management and clinical trial compliance. Metered dose systems and other novel devices address the needs of specific therapeutic markets such as ocular therapies and cosmetic applications. Find more information on www.CredenceMed.com.

About Phillips-Medisize

Phillips-Medisize, a Molex company, brings decades of innovation to leading healthcare and life science companies to develop groundbreaking solutions that help people live healthier, more productive lives. On average, the company commercializes 50 new products a year for customers, including the first-to-market FDA-registered drug-delivery device utilizing a connected health system. Molex brings decades of experience in advanced electronics, connectivity and sensor technologies to help transform medical and pharmaceutical solutions. For more information, visit https://www.phillipsmedisize.com.

About Molex

Molex is a global electronics leader committed to making the world a better, more-connected placeWith a presence in more than 40 countries, Molex enables transformative technology innovation in the automotive, data center, industrial automation, healthcare, 5G, cloud and consumer device industries. Through trusted customer and industry relationships, unrivaled engineering expertise, and product quality and reliability, Molex realizes the infinite potential of Creating Connections for Life. For more information, visit www.molex.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211019005175/en/

Contacts:

Credence MedSystems, Inc.

John A. Merhige

jmerhige@credencemed.com

www.CredenceMed.com

+1-844-263-3797 (+1-844-CMEDSYS)
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - October 19, 2021) - Nextleaf Solutions Ltd. (CSE: OILS) (OTCQB: OILFF) (FSE: L0MA) ("Nextleaf", "OILS", or the "Company"), a federally regulated producer of cannabis oil that owns one of the largest portfolios of U.S. patents for the extraction and distillation of cannabinoids, is pleased to announce the Company has entered into a supply agreement with Quebec-based licensed producer Medicibis ("Mendo") to supply its medical platform www.Mendocannabis.ca with Glacial Gold branded products.

Mendo operates an online portal for medical patients that ships nationwide through www.Mendocannabis.ca. Glacial Gold CBD and THC vapes and distilled oils will be distributed by Mendo to their medical cannabis clients in Quebec and across Canada.

Quebec is the third-largest cannabis market in Canada, representing approximately 15%[1] of Canadian cannabis retail sales in the country, and approximately 22% of the Canadian population[2].



Figure 1: Glacial Gold CBD and THC Vapes and Distilled Oils

To view an enhanced version of Figure 1, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/5347/100149_54a84d0cc4d15940_001full.jpg

Canadian spending on medical cannabis totaled $587 million in 2020[3]. Medical cannabis has become an important component of Canadian healthcare, with $119 million of medical cannabis purchases reimbursed by the Federal Government through Veterans Affairs Canada in 2020[4]. Despite Canada's progressive cannabis regulation, price is still a major barrier for many medical patients.

Nextleaf leverages its patented high-efficiency ingredient processing technology to gain a competitive advantage and improve cannabis oil economics through the low-cost production of cannabis distillate standardized for potency and purity.

"Launching accessibly priced Glacial Gold vapes and distilled oils in Canada's medical market and in Quebec have been important milestones for Nextleaf. We believe Mendo and their Quebec-based medical platform is positioned to become one of the leading suppliers of medical cannabis to patients and veterans in this country," said Paul Pedersen, co-founder and CEO of Nextleaf Solutions. "Our innovative technology enables us to produce high purity ingredients at a low cost per molecule to offer patients quality CBD and THC products."

"We are delighted to work with Nextleaf to offer Glacial Gold products through our recently expanded national portal, accessible by medical patients Canada-wide," said Jay Schwartz, Director of Mendo Medical. "We are excited to feature the seven Glacial Gold SKUs that launched last month in British Columbia and to help them launch two new CBD SKUs that we think patients will be eager to experience."

Nextleaf launched its award-winning, prohibition-era brand Glacial Gold in British Columbia last month, receiving national attention for quality products at disruptive price points. Included in the initial launch of Glacial Gold were seven total SKUs, consisting of four 1-gram vape SKUs and three distilled oil SKUs.

Glacial Gold Distilled CBD 50 Oil, Distilled THC 30 Oil, and Distilled 30:30 Blend feature high-purity distillate in a base of organic coconut MCT oil for a premium consumption experience, without premium pricing. A clean tasting and neutral oil allows for the greatest flexibility in use and consumption occasions.

The initial vape lineup from Glacial Gold is offered in two potency levels to match the consumer's tolerance level or consumption occasion. The Session THC Vape features a full potency THC profile for cannabis enthusiasts who seek a more elevated experience and connection. The Anytime 1:1 Vape is formulated with a balanced THC and CBD profile for consumers looking for a more moderate, go-to vape.

About Medicibis

Medicibis is a federally licensed producer of dried cannabis and distributes its products under the brand name ENDO. Medicibis operates out of its 20,000 sq.ft. facility located 15 minutes from downtown Montreal in St Jean Sur Richelieu. Medicibis operates an online portal for medical patients that ships nationwide through their website mendocannabis.ca. Mendo's menu has been carefully curated to offer a variety of products from licensed producers from all over Canada. Mendo is positioned to become one of the leading suppliers of medical cannabis to patients and veterans in the country.

About Nextleaf

Nextleaf is a federally regulated producer of cannabis oil that owns one of the largest portfolios of U.S. patents for the extraction and distillation of cannabinoids. Nextleaf distributes cannabis vapes and distilled oils under its award-winning prohibition-era brand, Glacial Gold, and supplies cannabis distillate to its wholesale customers. Nextleaf's proprietary closed-loop automated extraction plant in Metro Vancouver efficiently transforms cannabis and hemp grown in B.C. and throughout Canada into high-purity cannabis distillate at an industrial scale. Nextleaf is developing delivery technology and differentiated cannabinoid-based formulations through its Health Canada Research Licence with sensory evaluation of cannabis via human testing. The Company owns 17 U.S. patents and has been issued 95 patents globally.

Nextleaf Solutions trades as OILS on the Canadian Securities Exchange, OILFF on the OTCQB Market in the United States, and L0MA on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.

Follow the Company across social platforms: Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.

www.nextleafsolutions.com

Follow Glacial Gold across social platforms: Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. www.Glacial.Gold

For more information please contact:

Jason McBride, Corporate Development

604-283-2301 (ext. 219)

jason@nextleafsolutions.com

On behalf of the Board of Directors of the Company,

Paul Pedersen, CEO

Certain statements contained in this press release constitute "forward-looking statements". All statements other than statements of historical fact contained in this press release, including, without limitation, those regarding the Company's ability to capitalize on its IP portfolio, the Company's strategy, plans, objectives, goals and targets, and any statements preceded by, followed by or that include the words "believe", "expect", "aim", "intend", "plan", "continue", "will", "may", "would", "anticipate", "estimate", "forecast", "predict", "project", "seek", "should" or similar expressions or the negative thereof, are forward-looking statements. These statements are not historical facts but instead represent only the Company's expectations, estimates and projections regarding future events. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve assumptions, risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict. Therefore, actual results may differ materially from what is expressed, implied or forecasted in such forward-looking statements. Additional factors that could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially include, but are not limited to the risk factors discussed in the Company's MD&A for the most recent fiscal period. Management provides forward-looking statements because it believes they provide useful information to investors when considering their investment objectives and cautions investors not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Consequently, all of the forward-looking statements made in this press release are qualified by these cautionary statements and other cautionary statements or factors contained herein, and there can be no assurance that the actual results or developments will be realized or, even if substantially realized, that they will have the expected consequences to, or effects on, the Company. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this press release and the Company assumes no obligation to update or revise them to reflect subsequent information, events or circumstances or otherwise, except as required by law. The CSE has not reviewed or approved the contents of this press release.

[1] Statistics Canada, July 2021 cannabis retail sales

[2] Statistics Canada

[3] https://mjbizdaily.com/canadas-legal-cannabis-market-continues-to-erode-illicit-markets-share/

[4] https://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/about-vac/research/research-directorate/publications/reports/cmp2018

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/100149
Exposure draft aims to identify the most important management accounting skills for all entry-level accountants and influence college and university accounting curricula

MONTVALE, NJ / ACCESSWIRE / October 19, 2021 / IMA (Institute of Management Accountants), the global association of accountants and financial professionals in business, has opened a public comment period on its exposure draft, "Essential Management Accounting Competencies for All Entry-Level Accountants," which identifies the key management accounting skills needed by entry-level accountants in a changing world. The exposure draft was developed by the IMA Management Accounting Competency Task Force in response to new and emerging technologies, the increased importance of data analytics, and the changing role of the professional accountant. The draft identifies the necessary competencies and learning outcomes for entry-level accountants in the realm of management accounting and suggests course topics encompassing the essential competencies.

"The management accountant's role is going through immense change, due to both technological advancements that are rapidly eliminating routine tasks and rising volumes of data combined with more sophisticated analytics," said Raef Lawson, PhD, CMA, CPA, IMA Research Foundation Committee Chair and Chair of the Task Force that compiled the draft. "Changes to the accounting curriculum at colleges and universities should reflect these developments, regardless of whether students are planning on entering public accounting, industry, or some other field of accounting. It's crucial that they develop competencies in the areas of strategic management accounting and analysis; revenue, cost, and profitability management; technology, analytics and data management; and professional ethics."

This draft was prepared by a core team with extensive experience in developing competency and implementation guidance for both universities and accounting associations (including IMA, the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants (AICPA), Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada (CPA Canada), and the International Accounting Education Standards Board (IAESB)). The initial recommendations developed by the Task Force, a group of IMA volunteer leaders, were reviewed by academic and practice review panels, and their feedback was incorporated in the recommendations contained within the draft.

The public comment period on the exposure draft will conclude on November 12, 2021. To read the full report and submit a comment, please visit IMA's website.

About IMA (Institute of Management Accountants)

IMA is one of the largest and most respected associations focused exclusively on advancing the management accounting profession. Globally, IMA supports the profession through research, the CMA (Certified Management Accountant) and CSCA (Certified in Strategy and Competitive Analysis) programs, continuing education, networking, and advocacy of the highest ethical business practices. Twice named Professional Body of the Year by The Accountant/International Accounting Bulletin, IMA has a global network of about 140,000 members in 150 countries and 350 professional and student chapters. Headquartered in Montvale, N.J., USA, IMA provides localized services through its four global regions: The Americas, Asia/Pacific, Europe and Middle East/India. For more information about IMA, please visit www.imanet.org.

CONTACT:

Giuseppe Barone

IMA

(201) 474-1681

giuseppe.barone@imanet.org

Taylor Fenske

Stern Strategy Group

(908) 325-3866

tfenske@sternstrategy.com

SOURCE: IMA (Institute of Management Accountants)

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/668597/IMA-Opens-Public-Comment-Period-on-Essential-Management-Accounting-Competencies
Highlights

Ucore is developing the Alaska SMC for the processing of rare earth elements in Southeast Alaska

Vital Metals is producing rare earth concentrate from its Nechalacho rare earth project in NWT, Canada

Vital Metals is constructing a Rare Earth Extraction Plant to produce a mixed rare earth chemical concentrate in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan from the Nechalacho deposit

The Alaska SMC is planned to commence production of up to 2000 tonnes per annum (tpa) of individual rare earth oxides from US-allied feedstock by H1-2024

Vital Metals is expected to commence the supply of a minimum of 500 tpa of a cerium depleted concentrate to Ucore in 2024; expandable to over 2,500 tpa by 2026

Halifax, Nova Scotia--(Newsfile Corp. - October 19, 2021) - Ucore Rare Metals Inc. (TSXV: UCU) (OTCQX: UURAF) ("Ucore" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the execution of a Memorandum Of Understanding ("MOU") setting forth certain nonbinding understandings and binding agreements between Ucore and Vital Metals Limited (ASX: VML) ("Vital Metals" or "Vital") (collectively the "Parties"). The MOU is the first step towards the establishment of a long-term supply agreement for the delivery of mixed rare earth chemical concentrate ("MREC") from Vital Metals' Nechalacho project to Ucore's planned Alaska Strategic Metals Complex ("Alasks SMC") in Ketchikan, Alaska. The MREC will be shipped from Vital's Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Rare Earth Extraction Plant which is expected to enter into production in 2022.

Vital Metals is Canada's first - and North America's second - rare earths producer, with production underway at their Nechalacho mine in the Northwest Territories, Canada. Vital aims to produce a minimum 5,000 tonnes of contained rare earth oxides ("REO") at Nechalacho by 2025. Mining at Nechalacho's North T Zone is underway as part of Vital Metals' Stage 1 production strategy. They are now crushing and sorting ore before it is sent to their Saskatoon cracking and leaching facility (the Rare Earth Extraction Plant) later in 2021. Vital has commenced drilling to define a mine plan for Stage 2 at Nechalacho as it works to develop a larger scale, longer life rare earths project.

Vital aims to become the lowest cost producer of mixed rare earth oxide outside of China by developing one of the highest grade rare earth deposits in the world and the only rare earth project capable of beneficiation solely by ore sorting. Vital Metals other projects include the high-grade Wigu Hill rare earth resource in Tanzania and the recently acquired Kipawa and Zeus heavy rare earth projects in Quebec, Canada.

Ucore is developing the Alaska SMC as the first planned component of the Bokan-Dotson Ridge Rare Earth Element Project ("Bokan"). The SMC will be initially designed to process up to 2,000 tonnes per annum (tpa) of US-allied MREC into individual rare earth oxides, expandable to over 5,000 tpa by 2026. The Alaska SMC will be based on the RapidSX rare earth element separation technology platform, developed by Ucore's wholly owned subsidiary, Innovation Metals Corp. ("IMC"). There is currently no commercial rare earth separation taking place in North America and Ucore and Vital Metals envision the Nechalacho mine to Saskatoon to Ketchikan supply route as the first major step in the establishment of an independent North American supply chain.

The MOU outlines the intent for Vital to ship Ucore a minimum of 500 tpa of a cerium depleted MREC commencing in 2024, expanding to over 2,500 tpa as Ucore expands its capabilities by 2026. The parties envision shipping the MREC via rail service from Saskatoon to Prince Rupert, British Columbia, followed by a short marine transit of approximately 90 nautical miles to Ketchikan and the Alaska SMC.

"Vital Metals is the first rare earth producer in Canada and Ucore is racing to construct the first modern rare earth processing plant in the United States," said Mike Schrider, P.E., Ucore Vice President and COO. "The combination of our efforts clearly work together towards the collective goal of establishing an ex-China rare earth supply chain to ensure that Western world manufacturers have access to North American produced and sourced rare earth oxides. This partnership with Vital Metals signifies another critically important moment for the development of the Alaska SMC as we continue to cultivate collaborative relationships with potential upstream and downstream partners in the growing North American rare earth supply chain."

Vital Metals' Managing Director, Geoff Atkins noted that the MOU with Ucore was an important step in Vital positioning itself as a key supplier of rare earth feedstock in the North American critical minerals supply chain.

"This agreement is an important and exciting entrance into the North American downstream rare earth supply chain. To reach this agreement to ensure Ucore's Alaska SMC has a guaranteed supply of rare earth feedstock to service the North American market is an important milestone in the delivering Vital's business plan. This agreement will help position Vital as a critical supplier of rare earth feedstock into the North American market. We are continuing to grow our operations in Canada and are well-placed to supply both North America and Europe with the complete suite of rare earths," Mr. Atkins said.

"We look forward to further developing our relationship with Ucore with a view to finalising a definitive off-take agreement and the commencement of supply of feedstock for the Alaska SMC."

Terms of the MOU

The main terms of the non-binding MOU are as follows:

Vital will sell to Ucore a minimum of 500t REO (ex-cerium)/year by H1 2024.





Vital will expand its operations to supply to Ucore a minimum of 50% of Ucore's proposed 5,000t TREO/yr RE separation plant by 2026.





Customer acceptance protocols will include the supply of a sample (1-2kg) this quarter with a 1t sample supplied in H2 2022.





The MOU is subject to the completion of due diligence by each party.





The parties will negotiate one or more formal agreements (" Definitive Agreements ") which will include such covenants, conditions, indemnities, representations and warranties as are customary for this type of transaction.





") which will include such covenants, conditions, indemnities, representations and warranties as are customary for this type of transaction. The rights and obligations of the parties under the MOU expire upon the execution of Definitive Agreements. Either party may terminate the MOU after seven months from the date of execution.

Ucore's development plan for the Alaska SMC calls for substantial completion of construction by the end of 2023, followed by commissioning, product qualification testing with Vital Metals' and other US-allied feedstock, and production of individual REOs in H1 of 2024. On October 7, 2021, Ucore announced the execution of a Memorandum of Agreement with Alaska's Southeast Conference for the funding of the Alaska SMC.

# # #

About Ucore Rare Metals Inc.

Ucore is focused on rare- and critical-metals resources, extraction, beneficiation, and separation technologies with potential for production, growth, and scalability. Ucore has a 100% ownership stake in the Bokan-Dotson Ridge Rare-Earth Element Project in Southeast Alaska, USA. Ucore's vision and plan is to become a leading advanced technology company, providing best-in-class metal separation products and services to the mining and mineral extraction industry.

Through strategic partnerships, Ucore's vision includes disrupting the People's Republic of China's ("PRC") control of the US REE supply chain through the development of a heavy rare-earth processing facility - the Alaska Strategic Metals Complex in Southeast Alaska and the long-term development of Ucore's heavy rare-earth element mineral resource property located at Bokan Mountain on Prince of Wales Island, Alaska.

Ucore is listed on the TSXV under the trading symbol "UCU" and in the United States on the OTC Markets' OTCQX Best Market under the ticker symbol "UURAF".

For further information, please visit www.ucore.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements" regarding, among other things, the Company's ALASKA2023 Business Plan as well as the upcoming prospective financing activities involving the Company and AIDEA. All statements in this release (other than statements of historical facts) that address future business development, technological development and/or acquisition activities (including any related required financings), timelines, litigation outcomes, events, or developments that the Company expects, are forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance or results and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in forward-looking statements. In regard to the disclosure in the "About Ucore Rare Metals Inc." section above, the Company has assumed that it will be able to procure or retain additional partners and/or suppliers, in addition to IMC, as suppliers for Ucore's expected future Alaska Strategic Metals Complex ("Alaska SMC"). Ucore has also assumed that sufficient external funding will be found to prepare a new National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101") technical report that demonstrates that the Bokan Mountain Rare Earth Elements project ("Bokan") is feasible and economically viable for the production of both REE and co-product metals and the then prevailing market prices based upon assumed customer off-take agreements. Ucore has also assumed that sufficient external funding will be secured to develop the specific engineering plans for the Alaska SMC and its construction. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include, without limitation: Innovation Metals Corp. ("IMC") failing to protect its intellectual property rights in RapidSX; RapidSX failing to demonstrate commercial viability in large commercial-scale applications; Ucore not being able to procure additional key partners or suppliers for the Alaska SMC; Ucore not being able to raise sufficient funds to fund the specific design and construction of the Alaska SMC and/or the continued development of RapidSX; adverse capital-market conditions; unexpected due-diligence findings; the emergence of alternative superior metallurgy and metal-separation technologies; the inability of Ucore and/or IMC to retain its key staff members; a change in the legislation in Alaska and/or in the support expressed by the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority ("AIDEA") regarding the development of Bokan and/or the Alaska SMC; the availability and procurement of any required interim and/or long-term financing that may be required; and general economic, market or business conditions.

Neither the TSXV nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined by the TSXV) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

CONTACT

Mark MacDonald

Vice President, Investor Relations

Ucore Rare Metals Inc.

+1 902 482 5214

mark@ucore.com

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/100166
The Silicon Valley-based AI innovation leader adds GPT language model to its state-of-the-art Dataflow-as-a-Service offering enabling greater enterprise adoption of AI language models

SambaNova Systems, the company building the industry's most advanced software, hardware and services to run AI applications, announced today the availability of the company's Generative Pre-trained Transformer (GPT) language model included in SambaNova's Dataflow-as-a-Service for language increasing the capability of SambaNova's Natural Language Processing (NLP) model with unmatched speed and accuracy, and equalizing opportunity for enterprises to jump-start AI language applications overnight.

"The AI market is expected to break the $200 billion mark by 2025, Natural Language Processing represents a significant portion of this," said Matt Eastwood, Senior Vice President of Enterprise Infrastructure, Cloud, Developers and Alliances of IDC. "SambaNova Dataflow-as-a-Service GPT is the first enterprise grade AI offering of its kind to address this market opportunity."

SambaNova's Dataflow-as-a-Service for language now with GPT introduces a full suite of Natural Language Processing for production and deployment of language models. The language model uses deep learning to produce human-like text leveraging large amounts of data, and is the first enterprise-grade large AI language model and services offering on the market designed for the most business and mission critical text- and document-based use cases, not just hypotheses.

"Customers face many challenges with implementing large language models including the complexity and cost," said R "Ray" Wang, founder and principal analyst of Constellation Research. "Leading companies seek to make AI more accessible by bringing unique large language model capabilities and automating out the need for expertise in ML models and infrastructure."

SambaNova's low-code API interface enables enterprises to easily deploy NLP solutions at scale. SambaNova's GPT is faster to deploy, easier to use and delivers quicker time to value, reducing costs. Organizations can be up and running with a customized language model with unmatched market accuracy in as fast as one month as opposed to nine months or a year. SambaNova eliminates model and infrastructure hassles for machine learning engineering teams by maintaining and training models for accuracy.

"Enterprises are insistent about exploring AI usage for text and language purposes, but up until now it hasn't been accessible or easy to deploy at scale," said Rodrigo Liang, CEO and co-founder of SambaNova. "By offering GPT models as a subscription service we are simplifying the process and broadening accessibility to the industry's most advanced language models in a fraction of the time. We are arming businesses to compete with the early adopters of AI."

Use cases for SambaNova's Dataflow-as-a-Service GPT include:

Sentiment analysis: Enable enterprises to save costs and time while implementing the most accurate sentiment analysis in scenarios such as customer support and feedback, brand monitoring and reputation management.

Document classification: Enable solutions such as sorting articles or texts and routing them to relevant teams.

Information extraction: Enable enterprises to save time and money by more accurately extracting information from invoices, electronic health records, financial documents and others.

SambaNova's flagship offering, Dataflow-as-a-Service, is an extensible AI services platform, enables organizations to jump-start AI initiatives overnight by augmenting existing capabilities and staffing with a simple subscription. The platform is powered by DataScale, an integrated software and hardware platform delivering unrivaled performance, accuracy, scale and ease of use built on SambaNova's Systems Reconfigurable Dataflow Architecture.

With AI becoming a business necessity in the global economy, customers need complete solutions that can run at scale in a financially viable way. With an integrated full-stack system, including best-in-class AI models, software and hardware, SambaNova provides the most expansive, accessible and impactful AI applications in the world. To learn more about SambaNova's Dataflow-as-a-Service for language with GPT, visit: https://sambanova.ai/solutions/gpt/

SambaNova continues to garner accolades throughout the industry, including recognition by Gartner as a "Gartner Hype Cycle for Artificial Intelligence, 2021," and industry awards for Best AI Product in Next-Generation Infrastructure by CogX and VentureBeat's Innovation in Edge Award for 2021. The company was named one of CRN's 10 Hottest AI Chip Makers in 2021 and one of CRN's 20 Coolest Tech Startups Of 2020. SambaNova was also Great Place to Work certified in 2021.

About SambaNova Systems:

SambaNova Systems is an AI innovation company that empowers organizations to deploy best-in-class solutions for natural language processing, computer vision, recommendation systems, and AI for science with confidence. SambaNova's flagship offering, Dataflow-as-a-Service, helps organizations rapidly deploy AI in days, unlocking new revenue and boosting operational efficiency. SambaNova's DataScale is an integrated software and hardware system using Reconfigurable Dataflow Architecture, along with open standards and user interfaces. Headquartered in Palo Alto, California, SambaNova Systems was founded in 2017 by industry luminaries and hardware and software design experts from Sun/Oracle and Stanford University. Investors include SoftBank Vision Fund 2, funds and accounts managed by BlackRock, Intel Capital, GV, Walden International, Temasek, GIC, Redline Capital, Atlantic Bridge Ventures, Celesta, and several others. For more information, please visit us at sambanova.ai or contact us at info@sambanova.ai. Follow SambaNova Systems on LinkedIn.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211019005302/en/

Contacts:

Erin McDermott

Walker Sands for SambaNova Systems

sambanovapr@walkersands.com

(831)251-1188
Milan-based Electric Mobility Company Leverages the Ascend Platform for an 80% Reduction in Time Spent Building and Managing End-to-End Data Pipelines

Ascend.io, the data engineering company, today announced that Be Power, a company dedicated to the diffusion of charging infrastructures for electric mobility, has deployed the Ascend Unified Data Engineering Platform to significantly increase its data engineering velocity. Instead of pursuing custom-built solutions, Be Power leverages Ascend to dynamically generate and optimize autonomous data pipelines in a fraction of the time. To design and implement the solution, Be Power worked with Moviri, the EMEA-based Ascend partner offering bespoke end-to-end business analytics solutions for enterprise businesses.

"The Ascend platform is a phenomenal application for data engineering in companies like Be Power, which benefits from an end-to-end platform like Ascend instead of investing in custom open-source solutions that take massive amounts of time and effort to build and operate," said Paolo Esposto, chief data officer, Be Power. "I've searched for something like Ascend for a long time."

Headquartered in Milan, Italy, Be Power is a high-tech company that aims to radically transform the energy sector by bringing together the fields of energy and mobility through the innovative management of digital flows. Through its subsidiaries, Be Charge and 4energia, Be Power offers charging services for electric vehicles with a nationwide public charging infrastructure. The company also offers flexible services for the national energy grid by aggregating distributed energy resources in real-time, at scale. With the Ascend platform, Be Power was able to reduce time spent building data pipelines by 80%, while at the same time massively lessening the burden on the data engineering team for the production and monitoring phases.

"As a key innovator in the electric mobility sector, Be Power understands just how valuable data productivity is to their business," said Sean Knapp, founder and CEO of Ascend.io. "With Ascend, Be Power has been able to leap-frog the complexity created by traditional ETL and open-source tools. Be Power's data teams have vastly increased their productivity and can focus even more energy on innovating with data, creating greater value for the business and their consumers."

Working together, Moviri, Ascend.io, and Be Power conducted an extensive evaluation, the outcome of which demonstrated dramatically increased data team productivity, ease of building and debugging data pipelines, and the ability to operate under tight infrastructure budget constraints.

As Moviri Analytics Business Development Manager Matteo Longoni explains, "One of Moviri's key strengths is the ability to anticipate technological trends that will have a positive impact on our customers' business. We have already been working with Be Power for some time and, in Ascend, we found an innovative technology and the ideal solution to help Be Power rethink data pipeline management while opening new fruitful partnerships in the market. This represents a tangible example of Moviri's role in identifying and supporting the adoption of advanced solutions to accelerate our customer's business."

To learn more about the Ascend platform, schedule a demo with one of Ascend.io's data engineers.

Additional Resources

Follow Ascend.io on Twitter and LinkedIn

Read the Ascend.io blog

About Ascend.io

Ascend.io, the data engineering company named a 2021 Gartner Cool Vendor, provides the most advanced automation for data and analytics engineering workloads. Ascend unifies the core capabilities of data engineering-data ingestion, transformation, delivery, orchestration, and observability-into a single platform so that data teams deliver 10x faster. With 96% of data teams already at or over capacity, engineering productivity is a top priority for enterprises. Ascend's Flex-code user interface empowers any member of the data team-from data engineers to data scientists to data analysts-to quickly and easily build and deliver on the data and analytics workloads they need. And with Ascend's DataAware intelligence, data teams no longer spend hours carefully orchestrating brittle data workloads and instead rely on advanced automation to optimize the entire data lifecycle. Ascend runs natively on data lakes and warehouses and in AWS, Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211019005328/en/

Contacts:

Andrew Smith

Bhava Communications for Ascend.io

press@ascend.io

+1 (310) 941-7251
JAB and BNP Paribas Cardif to provide a range of pet insurance and other pet healthcare services throughout the UK, EMEA and Latin America

Strategic partnership follows JAB's recent acquisitions of leading U.S. pet insurance businesses, expanding its global pet insurance platform

JAB and insurer BNP Paribas Cardif today announced a strategic alliance to deliver a range of pet insurance services throughout the UK, EMEA and Latin America, with a vision to offer additional pet healthcare services over time. As part of the agreement, JAB will hold a majority stake in a new holding company to which BNP Paribas Cardif will contribute Cardif Pinnacle, its subsidiary focused on the rapidly growing pet insurance sector. BNP Paribas Cardif will remain significantly involved in the pet healthcare activity, supporting the development of this alliance through a continued stake in the business. The transaction is expected to close in Q2 2022, subject to customary closing conditions, including applicable regulatory approvals.

Cardif Pinnacle has built a leading pet insurance business providing solutions to partners and pet owners based on innovation and a scalable platform. The Company's business proposition leverages digital services, artificial intelligence and continuous improvement of both technology and the customer journey to support the evolving needs of its partners and customers.

"We are delighted to partner with JAB to deliver a holistic suite of pet insurance and healthcare services," said Pauline Leclerc Glorieux, CEO of BNP Paribas Cardif. "We believe the combination of BNP Paribas Cardif's global partnership know-how and strong technical capabilities, drawn from extensive experience, with JAB's expertise establishing world-class brands and platform building, ideally positions us to become one of the leaders in the growing pet healthcare industry."

Cardif Pinnacle's core ethos is founded on strategic long-term partnerships with highly reputable organisations which share its commitment to customer service. The Company will continue to focus on serving the needs of its partners as a fundamental principle for this new joint venture.

The alliance significantly enhances JAB's pet insurance platform, now extending its reach into the UK, EMEA and Latin America. Through its Independence Pet Holdings platform (previously called Iguana Capital), JAB recently acquired several leading American pet insurance businesses including Figo Pet Insurance and IHC's pet insurance business.

"Though the European pet insurance market is the world's second largest, the quality and availability of services vary dramatically from country to country," added JAB Insurance Partner Dirk Beeckman. "Our collaboration with BNP Paribas Cardif reflects a shared vision that pet owners in the UK and Europe deserve better, and that by combining forces we can build on BNP Paribas Cardif's strong expertise and support to enter new markets and achieve accelerated, long-term growth."

About JAB

JAB Holding Company invests in consumer-focused industries with attractive long-term dynamics, including strong growth prospects, attractive margin and cash flow characteristics, and proven resiliency. Together with JAB Consumer Partners, JAB Holding Company is the largest shareholder of Keurig Dr Pepper, a leader in the North American beverage market, and has controlling stakes in JDE Peet's, the largest pure-play fast-moving consumer goods coffee company in the world; NVA, one of the world's largest animal care services platforms; Independence Pet Holdings, a leading provider of pet insurance; Krispy Kreme Doughnut, a global leader in doughnuts and other premium-quality sweet treats; Panera Brands, one of the world's largest fast casual restaurant companies, which includes Panera Bread, Caribou Coffee and Einstein Bagels; Pret A Manger, a leading company in the ready-to-eat food market; Espresso House, the largest branded coffee shop chain in Scandinavia. JAB Holding Company is also the largest shareholder in Coty Inc., a global leader in beauty, and owns luxury goods company Bally.

About Cardif Pinnacle

Cardif Pinnacle is the UK insurance business within BNP Paribas Cardif, which has a presence in 33 countries around the world. The company is part of the global banking group, BNP Paribas, a European leader with a significant international reach. As the insurance subsidiary of BNP Paribas, BNP Paribas Cardif is the world leader in bancassurance partnerships and creditor insurance. Within the UK, Cardif Pinnacle develops products and services focused on the Pet Insurance market.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211019005684/en/

Contacts:

The One Nine Three Group for JAB

Zach Siegel: zach@the193.com



BNP Paribas UK

Richard Lindsay: richard.lindsay@uk.bnpparibas.com

+44(0)7979 592 156



BNP Paribas Cardif

Valerie Oberlin: valerie.oberlin@bnpparibas.com

+33 (0)1 41 42 78 17
TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / October 19, 2021 / DIGIMAX GLOBAL INC. (the "Company" or "DigiMax") (CSE:DIGI) is pleased to provide an update on several of the new initiatives it has engaged in the past several months, and an outlook on what lies ahead.

DigiMax has embarked on several seemingly disparate projects that are now converging into a strong performing set of Artificial Intelligence assets, and a growing network of key partnerships that are starting to accelerate the growth of these assets.

A brief description of these follows:

CryptoHawk

After its first three stellar months of performance commencing with the launch June 1, 2021 in which gains of more than 50% were demonstrated for BTC and more than half that for ETH, CryptoHawk did appear to have a few hiccups in September. These have been more than offset in October and the prediction tool is continuing to provide extraordinary return opportunities.

Added to this, the DigiMax team has developed a trading strategy that it has shared with its subscribers through webinars that it calls "Modulation." By waiting for a preset price flow after an indicator is published, CryptoHawk performance has been demonstrated to be nearly doubled in most months. Modulation also has the effect of cutting the number of trades by approximately 50%.

A recent combined management and external study of CryptoHawk's (and including its predecessor CryptoDivine, together herein referred to as "CryptoHawk") Artificial Intelligence for predicting trading performance using published trading signals suggests that since January 1, 2021, an investment of $100,000 would be worth more than $1 million as of October 15, 2021 trading in Bitcoin and more than $5,000,000 trading in ETH. According to the study, these results could be achieved by re-investing all profits from each trade into the next trade, trading long and short, and using the Modulation method DigiMax has developed.

As subscribers are learning how simple, and less stressful, it is to use this Modulation method, CryptoHawk is becoming a very profitable tool even for the average investor. Potentially even more enticing than the returns, is the fact that the monthly variability in returns is actually very low. CryptoHawk is fully achieving its goal of "harnessing the high volatility of cryptocurrencies, while delivery high, but stable, monthly returns to the investor.

CryptoHawk Growth Fund

This 2021 information is also useful for prospective investors into the CryptoHawk Growth Fund (the "Fund") based in the Cayman Islands, that recently started trading. Investment into that fund was seeded by a US$1 million deposit into the Fund by DigiMax. Additional investors have shown great interest in the backtesting results but most are watching for actual results of the fund prior to making large investments. As a result, DigiMax is pleased that is attracting lots of attention from primarily institutional investors, knowing that the Assets Under Management will accelerate more in the second half of the first year of operation more than the first.

The backtesting results, combined with the 1% modulation strategy is being studied and used in real time by a growing number of CryptoHawk subscribers with some already achieving significantly positive results.

Results at the Fund have been very strong after a late start in September caused by funds not flowing through the banks on time to commence trading on September 1. This resulted in getting in late on a great CryptoHawk bullish indicator and suffering opening losses as a result. Since then, the Fund has risen 30% above the low and is experiencing weekly gains similar to the Modulation gains described above.

CommodityHawk Growth Fund

The Commodity Fund and the institutional targeted prediction service is on track to commence before the end of the year. DigiMax is using a combination of its own AI and proven AI developed by Delphi to produce a similar suite of products to CryptoHawk. Results of internal trading of these predictions has been equal to the Modulation returns for CryptoHawk and DigiMax is excited to share these products through the same investor network as is being developed for the CryptoHawk Fund.

DigiMax believes the opportunity for the AI driven Commodities Fund is enormous as commodities are fast becoming the number-one sector for investors around the globe.

ETF Funds

While not confirmed 100%, DigiMax has researched offering long-only funds similar to ETF's and expects to confirm this intention in the near future. This would allow investors to move funds between the DigiMax Fund family that would include US Cash, the Hawk Funds and the ETF Funds to provide whatever balance each investor is seeking. We believe this will accelerate the accumulation of capital invested at the front end of the life of the Funds.

Partnerships, Affiliates, and Marketing

DigiMax continues to expand its relationships with Crypto Exchanges with more official relationships expected to be announced on an ongoing basis. These would be similar in structure to the relationship announced with Bitget Exchange. The launch of collaborative activities was slowed by issues between countries but this has been worked out and the collaboration is expected to grow quickly going forward.

The efforts to expand awareness in Asia is seeing very positive results. There are now CryptoHawk websites available in both Korean and Chinese languages and the CryptoHawk app is available in Chinese as well. These efforts are supporting a growing number of followers in these countries with an increase in subscriptions expected to follow.

With Asian marketing efforts now operating quite smoothly, attention is being refocused on North America with additional social media platforms being added and numerous articles being present across a wide array of financial media. While not all affiliates are being announced in public, a growing number of smaller partners are beginning to access our affiliate program whereby they can join CryptoHawk to their own network and automatically share in some of the revenues generated from their referral efforts. Finally, at the request of multiple partners, we have added a 7-day free trial that does not require a credit card to be filed in advance of the 7-day free trial that does require credit card registration. This has resulted in a substantial increase in daily new trials and we expect an acceleration of new subscribers.

Looking Ahead

The effort to bring these products to market all since late February of this year has been extraordinary and DigiMax is very proud of the hard work its team of very talented people have put forth to get to this stage. As a result, we now have a much more seamless operation consisting of a base Artificial Intelligence core, and a growing marketing team that is reaching out to a common group of investors.

This organic effort is resulting in a growing awareness in the investor community around the world and an accelerating adoption of these products. As this happens, we expect to add key personnel assets where required to both assist in, and accelerate this growth.

Going forward we expect to add additional "channels" to market by through new partnerships with exchanges, and by reaching out to different large groups around the world that have different associations with cryptocurrencies.

Finally, momentum continues to build with the other assets owned by DigiMax including the personnel products offered to larger organizations and the investment in Kirobo. Both of these will be discussed in more detail in separate releases during Q4 of this calendar year.

About DigiMax

DigiMax is an Artificial Intelligence technology company committed to unlocking the potential of disruptive technologies by providing advanced financial, predictive, and cryptocurrency solutions across various verticals. DigiMax is an official IBM Watson partner, and the Company's engineering team has extensive experience in Machine Learning, Neural Language Processing, AI, Big Data and Cryptocurrency technology.

To learn more, visit our website: https://digimaxglobal.com/

Contact:

David Bhumgara

Chief Financial Officer

416-574-4603

dbhumgara@digimaxglobal.com

Chris Carl

President & CEO

416-312-9698

ccarl@digimax-global.com

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-looking Statements

NEITHER THE CANADIAN SECURITIES EXCHANGE, NOR THEIR REGULATIONS SERVICES PROVIDERS HAVE REVIEWED OR ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE

This press release contains "forward-looking statements". Forward-looking statements can be identified by words such as: anticipate, intend, plan, goal, seek, believe, project, estimate, expect, strategy, future, likely, may, should, will and similar references to future periods. Examples of forward-looking statements in this press release include, among others, statements we make regarding the Company's future plans, expectations and objectives.

Forward-looking statements are neither historical facts nor assurances of future performance. Instead, they are based only on our current beliefs, expectations and assumptions regarding the future of our business, future plans and strategies, projections, anticipated events and trends, the economy and other future conditions. Because forward-looking statements relate to the future, they are subject to inherent uncertainties, risks and changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict and many of which are outside of our control. Our actual results and financial condition may differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements. Therefore, you should not rely on any of these forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause our actual results and financial condition to differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements include, among others, the following: the adequacy of our cash flow and earnings, the availability of future financing and/or credit, and other conditions which may affect our ability to expand the platforms and software described herein, the level of demand and financial performance of the cryptocurrency industry, developments and changes in laws and regulations, including increased regulation of the cryptocurrency industry through legislative action and revised rules and standards applied by the Canadian Securities Administrators, Ontario Securities Commission, and/or other similar regulatory bodies in other jurisdictions, disruptions to our technology network including computer systems, software and cloud data, or other disruptions of our operating systems, structures or equipment, as well as those risk factors discussed or referred to in disclosure documents filed by the Company with the securities regulatory authorities in certain provinces of Canada and available at www.sedar.com.

Any forward-looking statement made by us in this press release is based only on information currently available to us and speaks only as of the date on which it is made. Except as required by applicable securities laws, we undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether written or oral, that may be made from time to time, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise.

SOURCE: DigiMax Global Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/668708/As-Crypto-Prices-Reach-for-New-Highs-DigiMax-Strategy-Continues-to-Strengthen
VANCOUVER, BC, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- PODA HOLDINGS, INC. ("Poda" or the "Company") (CSE: PODA) (FSE: 99L) (OTC: PODAF) is pleased to provide the Company's shareholders with a corporate update from Ryan Selby, the founder and Chief Executive Officer of PODA.

Poda was listed on the CSE on May 4, 2020 ("Public Listing Date") and is actively engaged in the global commercialization of Heat-not-Burn ("HNB") smoking products, which have the potential to reduce the risks associated with combustible smoking products. The company has developed a patented HNB system that uses proprietary biodegradable single-use pods, which are both consumer and environmentally friendly. As a benchmark, international tobacco giant Philip Morris International ("PMI"), maker of the IQOS (I Quit Ordinary Smoking) product line, recently announced that as of Q2 2021, it has acquired over 20 million IQOS users globally. In just Q2 2021 alone, PMI sold over 24 billion units of its IQOS-compatible HEETS tobacco sticks in the HNB space and is on track to sell over 100 billion HEETS sticks in 2021.

Environment, Social and Governance ("ESG") has been at the forefront of PODA's invention since its was incubated in Q1 of 2015.

Environment - PODA has developed a fully bio-degradable PODA Pod that can be used with multiple substrates. Cigarette butts contain plastics and are one of the largest plastic pollutants in the world. PODA's goal is to help solve this with its bio-degradable option.





Social - PODA's system is based on a heating element that heats the substrate at much lower temperatures than traditional combustible smoking products using HNB technology. PMI has committed to generating at least $0.50 /cent of its net revenues from the sale of reduced-risk products (primarily the IQOS product) within the next five years, and PMI has a stated goal of eliminating its sales of traditional combustible cigarettes by the year 2030. This has a major social impact as HNB products have the potential to reduce the risks associated with combustible smoking products.





/cent of its net revenues from the sale of reduced-risk products (primarily the IQOS product) within the next five years, and PMI has a stated goal of eliminating its sales of traditional combustible cigarettes by the year 2030. This has a major social impact as HNB products have the potential to reduce the risks associated with combustible smoking products. Governance - The Company is now listed on multiple exchanges including CSE, OTC and FSE. It has developed internal policies and built a Board of Directors and Global advisors with experience in practicing good governance.

Historic Developments

The following are some of the more prominent historical developments since PODA's inception:

Fully granted patent received in Canada and filed in 65 additional countries for the Company's closed ended system that requires zero cleaning and provides a consistent quality consumer experience;

and filed in 65 additional countries for the Company's closed ended system that requires zero cleaning and provides a consistent quality consumer experience; Developed a proprietary manufacturing system for PODA Pods with the ability to produce 400,000 PODA Pods per month;

Listed on the CSE, OTC and FSE and raised approximately $20 million in equity financings since the Public Listing Date;

in equity financings since the Public Listing Date; Entered into the medical device market by hiring a Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Jagdeep Gupta who is currently working on clinical trials for the cessation of smoking using the PODA HNB system;

who is currently working on clinical trials for the cessation of smoking using the PODA HNB system; Filed trademarks in Canada , the United States and Europe for Beyond Burn . Beyond Burn Poda Pods have been expertly crafted to mimic the sensorial experience of traditional cigarettes without the smoke, without the smell and without the tobacco;

, and for . Poda Pods have been expertly crafted to mimic the sensorial experience of traditional cigarettes without the smoke, without the smell and without the tobacco; Established a Global Advisory Board, adding Jon Ruiz (former PMI executive), Michael Nederhoff (former President of JUUL Canada), Nicholas Kadysh (former head of corporate affairs for JUUL Canada) and Daniel Chen (CEO and Founder of Eson);

(former PMI executive), (former President of JUUL Canada), (former head of corporate affairs for JUUL Canada) and (CEO and Founder of Eson); Entered supply agreements with bio-degradable filter manufacturer Greenbutts, LLC. Greenbutts has developed a natural filter technology that was created to provide an alternative to the common non-biodegradable cellulose acetate cigarette filter giving PODA a fully bio-degradable option; and

Received purchase order for 500,000 PODA Pods to be delivered within 30 days after receiving purchase order.

Future Developments

PODA intends to continue deploying its capital to commercialize the PODA system globally. Some of the near-term future developments are as follows:

Expand distribution channels in Europe and Asia in the Beyond Burn and Tobacco markets;

and in the and Tobacco markets; Expand PODA Pod production capacity from 400,000 units per month to 10 million units per month;

Expand distribution channels in North America in the Beyond Burn , THC and CBD space; and

in the , THC and CBD space; and Obtain patents in the US and Europe for the Company's proprietary closed ended system that has fully granted patents in Canada .

CEO Comments

Ryan Selby, CEO commented "We have had an exciting year to date since launching as a publicly listed entity in May. The focus prior to our public listing was to finalize approximately six years of research and development. Our goal at that stage was to spend our time and capital to develop and protect our inventions in the HNB space. We accomplished that goal by receiving a granted patent on being the only company in the globe with a closed ended cigarette resulting in a zero-clean experience. What this means to consumers is a consistent quality product that provides a pleasurable experience each time the PODA system is used. Our competitors cannot achieve the same experience level given the open-ended cigarette ashes on the heating element requiring cleaning after only a few uses. We strongly believe our technology is disruptive in the multi-billion HNB space. Our focus is now on increased capacity and distribution, and we continue to utilize the capital raised as a public company to achieve our objectives."

On Behalf of the Board,

Ryan Selby

CEO, Director, and Chairman of the Board

Poda Holdings, Inc.

Toll-free North America: +1-833-TRY-PODA (879-7632)

Outside North America: +1-406-TRY-PODA (879-7632)

investors@poda-holdings.com

www.poda-holdings.com

ABOUT PODA HOLDINGS, INC.

Poda Holdings, Inc. ("Poda" or the "Company") is actively engaged in the global commercialization of heat-not-burn ("HNB") smoking products, which have the potential to reduce the risks associated with combustible smoking products. The Company has developed a patented HNB system that uses proprietary biodegradable single-use pods, which are both consumer and environmentally friendly. The innovative design of the Company's HNB platform prevents cross-contamination between the heating devices and the pods, eliminating all cleaning requirements and providing users with the most convenient and enjoyable potentially-reduced-risk smoking experience. Poda's HNB system is fully patented in Canada and is patent pending in over 60 additional countries, covering almost 70% of the global population. The Company's Poda Pods are the first and only cigarettes to have a completely closed end. This exclusive design eliminates all cleaning requirements and provides a truly ashless HNB cigarette. Poda's fully patented system is one of a kind and solves the major pain-point that ALL other HNB products suffer from: daily cleaning requirements. The Company's flagship Beyond Burn Poda Pods contain a unique tobacco-free blend of pelletized tea leaves infused with synthetic nicotine, which provides adult smokers with a smoke-free alternative to their regular habit without sacrificing satisfaction. Beyond Burn Poda Pods have been expertly crafted to mimic the sensorial experience of traditional cigarettes without the smoke, without the smell, and without the tobacco.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Although Poda Holdings, Inc. believes, in light of the experience of its officers and directors, current conditions and expected future developments and other factors that have been considered appropriate, that the expectations reflected in this forward-looking information are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on them because Poda Holdings, Inc. can give no assurance that they will prove to be correct. Readers are cautioned to not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Actual results and developments may differ materially from those contemplated by these statements. The statements in this press release are made as of the date of this release. Poda Holdings, Inc. undertakes no obligation to comment on analyses, expectations or statements made by third-parties in respect of Poda Holdings, Inc., its securities, or financial or operating results (as applicable). Poda Holdings, Inc. 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.

The Canadian Securities Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of the content of this news release.
Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance (BHSI) today announced that it has expanded its global network to encompass owned offices and network partners that can provide BHSI customers with locally admitted insurance policies in 170 countries worldwide.

"We are very pleased to welcome so many outstanding partners around the globe to the BHSI family," said David Valzania, Head of Multinational, BHSI. "Each of these carriers share BHSI's values, and align with our product offerings, focus on excellent customer service, and commitment to the CLAIMS IS OUR PRODUCT philosophy."

BHSI undertook a rigorous search, evaluation and due diligence process to select the carrier partners best suited to represent the Berkshire Hathaway brand and our customers. Policies issued by network partners receive the backing of BHSI's financial strength.

"Our multinational capabilities have been growing rapidly. With our expanded network, we look forward to providing consistently world-class products and services to our multinational customers around the globe," said Amy Bowman, Vice President, Multinational, BHSI.

BHSI provides multinational programs across all lines of business, including commercial property, casualty, executive professional lines, surety, and accident health programs.

To learn more about BHSI's multinational capabilities, visit https://bhspecialty.com/bhsi-multinational/.

Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance (www.bhspecialty.com) provides commercial property, casualty, healthcare professional liability, executive and professional lines, transactional liability, surety, marine, travel, programs, accident and health, medical stop loss, homeowners, and multinational insurance. The actual and final terms of coverage for all product lines may vary. It underwrites on the paper of Berkshire Hathaway's National Indemnity group of insurance companies, which hold financial strength ratings of A++ from AM Best and AA+ from Standard Poor's. Based in Boston, Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance has offices in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Indianapolis, Irvine, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, San Ramon, Seattle, Stevens Point, Adelaide, Auckland, Brisbane, Cologne, Dubai, Dublin, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, London, Macau, Madrid, Manchester, Melbourne, Munich, Paris, Perth, Singapore, Sydney and Toronto.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211019005414/en/

Contacts:

JoAnn Lee +1 617.936.2937
Award-winning process management and automation software company is growing rapidly and adding developers, engineers, sales and customer success professionals to its global remote-first workplace

LONDON, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Nintex, the global standard for process management and automation, announced the company is hiring more than 50 new team members for its award-winning organisation behind growing market demand for automation. Today's announcement follows recent investor news, TPG Capital agrees to make a majority investment in digital process automation leader Nintex. Nintex generates more than $250 million in sales with more than 850 employees serving 10,000 customers in nearly every major industry like healthcare, financial services, high tech, manufacturing, and state and local governments.

To view worldwide job openings at Nintex, visit www.nintex.com/careers/ and to learn more about the Nintex engineering team, visit www.nintex.com/careers/engineering/

Nintex has consistently maintained its stature as a great place to work with product innovation and a track-record of growth and numerous successful acquisitions including that of process automation provider K2 Software, Inc. in October 2020 and eSignature provider AssureSign in June 2021, to further complement workflow automation, application development, and eSignature capabilities of its complete process platform.

"It's an exciting time to be part of Nintex as the market demand for automation software continually accelerates," said Nintex Chief Executive Officer Eric Johnson. "We're looking for talented professionals to join our engineering, product, sales and customer support teams to ensure organisations digitally transform their business processes with our powerful and easy-to-use solution technologies."

Recent accolades for Nintex as a company and its products include: Great Place to Work's UK Best Workplaces; SD Times' 100 Best in Show in Software Development; TSR's Top 100 Software Companies 2021; Digital.com's Best Business Process Management Software Companies; Puget Sound Business Journal's Best Places to Work; Top 10 GeekWire 200; and Singapore Business Review's Technology Excellence Awards 2021. Additionally, independent research and advisory company Aragon Research named Nintex a leader in the Aragon Research Globe for Digital Transaction Management, 2021, as well as in the Aragon Research Globe for Digital Business Platforms, 2021 and Nintex RPA was featured in the 2021 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Robotic Process Automation.

Strong talent is the backbone of Nintex's collaborative workplace

Nintex embraces flexible work models and remote working, especially since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 while maintaining office locations in 20 cities across North America, Asia Pacific, and Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Pulse surveys indicate that Nintex's employee engagement score ranked 8.2 out of 10, which is more than double the engagement score of average US-based employees, according to a recent Gallup Poll.

"We're committed to ensuring everyone who joins us has rewarding and inclusive work experiences," said Nintex Chief People Officer Nellie Thompson. "It's the passion of our people that makes Nintex such a great, fun place to work."

Employees at Nintex enjoy comprehensive health, wellness and flexible time off benefits, recognition programs, and opportunities for career development. In fact, the company has an average employee tenure of 4.9 years, with 11 percent of its team members celebrating more than 10 years with the organisation. Recent winner of the 2021 Reseller News Women in Information Technology Awards, Nintex Automation Test Engineer Maria Alcantara, is passionate about her work and workplace, stating, "I like making sure we build quality technology. As a test engineer, quality is not just work. It's a way of life. We apply it every single day."

To explore a new career at Nintex and search open roles, visit www.nintex.com/careers.

Media Contact

Kristin Treat

Nintex

kristin.treat@nintex.com

cell: +1 (215) 317-9091

About Nintex

Nintex is the global standard for process management and automation. Today more than 10,000 public and private sector organisations across 90 countries turn to the Nintex Platform to accelerate progress on their digital transformation journeys by quickly and easily managing, automating and optimising business processes. Learn more by visiting www.nintex.com and experience how Nintex and its global partner network are shaping the future of Intelligent Process Automation (IPA).

Product or service names mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/700078/Nintex_Logo.jpg
DUBAI, UAE, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The 7th Ultra-Broadband Forum (UBBF 2021), jointly hosted by the UN Broadband Commission and Huawei, officially opened today in Dubai. As the world's largest summit in the fixed network field, this year's UBBF focuses on the theme "Extend Connectivity, Drive Growth". At the event, leading global operators and equipment vendors exchanged ideas on a wide array of topics - including network infrastructure construction, regional digital economy, successful solution application, and expansion of industry growth space. They also shared best practices and discussed how to deepen business cooperation.

This year's UBBF takes place over two days, during which several keynote speeches and sessions focused on fixed networks are held simultaneously. Professionals from governments, enterprises, operators, and academia discussed and exchanged ideas relating to the current status of ultra-broadband network development and the new challenges faced, while also sharing related insights and success stories.

"Connectivity is more than just an expansion of functions; more importantly, it is an emotional bond," said Ryan Ding, Executive Director and President of the Carrier Business Group, Huawei, in his speech. "More than 170 years ago, the world's first submarine cable was laid, sending the first communication signal across the ocean. This was a huge step forward for humanity. About 20 years ago, connection speeds exceeded 32 Kbps, and video began to surpass text as the major form of traffic, allowing us to communicate like never before," he added. He also stated that connectivity "makes the world a better place."

The value of connectivity is being redefined by society, and industry development is ramping up. In his speech, Peng Song, President of the Global Carrier Marketing & Solution Sales Dept at Huawei, defined and elaborated on Huawei's Coverage/Architecture/Fusion (C.A.F) model. Peng highlighted how connectivity should be extended inside every home and every enterprise, and converge with the cloud to "meet both present and future requirements". Building the competitiveness of connectivity based on the C.A.F model is the key to new growth."

Coverage: Connectivity extending to each room will significantly improve the value of home broadband. The ever-changing demands of homes and enterprises require operators to extend connectivity to every room, every device, and every enterprise production system, and transform private lines to private networks once broader coverage becomes available. This will grow the number of connections, increase user stickiness, and ultimately create more business opportunities.

The ever-changing demands of homes and enterprises require operators to extend connectivity to every room, every device, and every enterprise production system, and transform private lines to private networks once broader coverage becomes available. This will grow the number of connections, increase user stickiness, and ultimately create more business opportunities. Architecture: Network architecture is the cornerstone for business success both now and in the future. Future-oriented new architecture requires more elastic networks, greener services, and lower OPEX. Huawei will continue to explore new technologies - such as OXC, SRv6, and ADN - to strengthen the foundation of architecture.

Future-oriented new architecture requires more elastic networks, greener services, and lower OPEX. Huawei will continue to explore new technologies - such as OXC, SRv6, and ADN - to strengthen the foundation of architecture. Fusion: Connectivity will bring huge opportunities. Building network competitiveness based on the C.A.F model is critical for operators. Digitalization is the biggest opportunity for the ICT industry. It has evolved from being a concept to a practice. It is undeniable that cloud is the core of digitalization, but connectivity also plays a key role. Without connectivity, "cloud would become nothing but a large data island." According to Peng, "Fusion" is important because connectivity needs to be cloud-centric and help enterprises migrate to cloud. Connectivity and cloud need to be converged. Operators can play a big role in this process.

Kevin Hu, President of Huawei's Data Communication Product Line, explained that digitalization, while enhancing convenience, also introduced many challenges to existing networks. For example, due to the limited space inside a CO equipment room, it is difficult for existing nodes to provide comprehensive service processing capabilities. The fixed homing relationships between resources and networks make it challenging to flexibly schedule inter-DC traffic. The hybrid service operations of existing networks are ill-equipped to meet today's differentiated service requirements. To address the network challenges facing customers during digital transformation, Huawei introduced its Intelligent Cloud-Network Solution featuring four new capabilities - all-service super edge CO, tenant-level hard slicing, SRv6-powered network programmability, and cloud-network integration. This solution maximizes the value of operator network resources and the complementary advantages of the cloud and network, helping operators build a DICT service architecture that features cloud-network integration.

At the conference, Kevin Hu also introduced the NetEngine series intelligent routers for all scenarios, helping operators build intelligent cloud-networks in the digital era. These devices include intelligent cloud access routers (NetEngine A800 series), all-service aggregation routers (NetEngine 8000 M series), and intelligent backbone routers (NetEngine 8000 X16).

Currently, Global operators are continuously increasing their investment in optical fibers, improving broadband quality, and developing services such as FTTR and OTN premium private lines to boost revenue from fixed networks. As a fundamental element of green and smart cities, all-optical target networks have gradually become an industry consensus. However, in the process of building all-optical target networks for smart cities, operators still face difficulties such as high costs, slow service provisioning, and difficult management of FTTH ODN construction. In addition, device deployment, network evolution, and new service development also represent pressing concerns.

At the conference, Bill Wang, Vice President of Huawei Optical Product Line, said, "To overcome these challenges, Huawei has launched the Digital QuickODN (DQ ODN) and Edge OTN series products. These products have been designed to help operators quickly build all-optical target networks that are visible and manageable from end to end, greatly reduce operator O&M costs, and provide a high-speed entrance to the digital world for various industries and households. They can help operators expand the enterprise market, improve home broadband experience, reduce costs, and increase revenue.

At the conference, the following notable speakers delivered keynote speeches and shared their insights and successful application cases of Huawei solutions and products in the fixed network domain: Doreen Bogdan-Martin (Director of ITU's Telecommunications Development Bureau), Bocar A. BA (CEO of SAMENA Telecommunications Council), Ricardo Varzielas (CFO of MTN GlobalConnect), Per Morten Torvildsen (Chairman of the Board of GlobalConnect), Bader Abdullah Allhieb (Vice President of STC's Infrastructure Department), Alaa A. Malki (CTO of Mobily Etihad Etisalat), and Waqar Mahmood (CTO of the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan).

In 2014, to promote the sustainable development of the global ultra-broadband fixed network industry, Huawei launched the Ultra-Broadband Forum (UBBF) with the Broadband Commission (jointly established by ITU and UNESCO) and top regional operators. The forum aims to build a high-level dialogue platform focusing on ultra-broadband experience sharing, cross-industry cooperation, and promotion of the entire industry, in order to unleash the potential of ultra-broadband and benefit operators, consumers, and content providers.

UBBF has been successfully held each year since its inception in 2014, and has become the most important event leading the development of the ultra-broadband industry.

https://www.huawei.com/minisite/ubbf/en

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JERSEY CITY, N.J., Oct. 19, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via InvestorWire -- Vision Hydrogen Corporation (OTCQB:VIHD) (the "Company") is pleased to announce that VoltH2, a Europe-based developer of green hydrogen production infrastructure projects that is 15.9% owned by the Company, has expanded its management team.



VoltH2 continues to make significant progress in realizing its objectives and has made a number of strategic hires, increasing its core team of highly experienced commercial and engineering professionals to 10 individuals, with a plan to double the team headcount by Q2 2022 as the pace of business continues to increase. Since commencing operation in early 2020, VoltH2 has been successfully executing on its mission to design, develop and build scalable hydrogen production facilities at multiple strategic locations in Western Europe. Deploying only proven and commercial technologies in partnership with established energy-industry participants, VoltH2 has been awarded permits for its initial electrolysis plant in Vlissingen, the Netherlands.

New hires include Paul Spoeltman, Head of Electrical Engineering; Bas Lavalaye, Commercial Manager focusing on business development and offtake partnerships; and Chris de Borst, Financial Controller. Mr. Spoeltman brings over 40 years of experience working for organizations such as Engie Belgium and RWE Generation NL in the areas of power generation, storage and distribution, with core competencies in renewable energy, liquified gas and cryogenic systems including LNG, LPG and Hydrogen. Mr. Lavalaye has spent 15 years working in the Dutch and Belgium energy market and has advised domestic and international customers on their purchase and consumption of renewable energy. He has extensive experience in preparing Power Purchase Agreements and previously was responsible for starting up the gas portfolio for Eneco in Belgium. Mr. de Borst joins VoltH2 from Orsted Netherlands where he was responsible for finance, IT and treasury and served as a board member of the offshore windfarm Borssele 1&2. He oversaw the growth of the organization from 6 to 60 employees within 24 months and assisted in the successful divestment of 50% of the Borssele portfolio for 1.5 billion.

Also recently hired are Gerwin Hament, Head of Project Management and Hans Brinkhof, Project Manager covering Germany. Mr. Hament has 20 years of experience in the energy markets with the last 10 years overseeing projects in the renewables market. Previously he has worked for Focus ON, Euroloop B.V. and E-On Benelux. Mr. Brinkhof is a Civil Engineer with over 30 years of experience as a technical manager across the construction and telecom sectors and has spent 25 years working in the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure (RWS). The core team has developed and built wind, solar, biogas, biomass and CCGT energy projects, collectively worth over 4 billion Euros and will continue to work closely with the VoltH2 external engineering, technical and commercial partners to continue the successful development and delivery of the pioneering VoltH2 clean hydrogen production projects.

To accommodate the expanding team and to support operational coverage of a rapidly increasing inventory of project locations across the Benelux, France and Germany, VoltH2 has recently moved into new corporate head offices located in Bergen-op-Zoom, the Netherlands. This location is ideal due to its close proximity to the Belgium border and major road access to the Western borders of Germany. VoltH2 will continue to update on corporate and project development reflecting the most recent progress of VoltH2 as it continues to increase its footprint of clean hydrogen projects in Western Europe.

About VoltH2:

VoltH2 is in the business of designing, developing, building and operating green hydrogen plants in Europe. With two production facilities currently being developed in the Netherlands, both plants are forecasted to be in production in Q1 2023 with the capacity for each to produce 3.5 million kilograms of green hydrogen per year scalable to a combined 24.5 million kilograms per year. The strategic European location will allow for the green hydrogen to be transportable by road, rail and waterways. Local industries will be able to purchase green hydrogen to meet their environmental objectives. Please visit www.volth2.comfor more information including the VoltH2 corporate presentation.

About Vision Hydrogen:

Vision Hydrogen Corporation is focused on hydrogen production for transportation and power requirements, with a goal of contributing to a clean-energy environment. Our commitment is to provide the highest-quality hydrogen production, storage and distribution services for the hydrogen economy supply chain, serving residential, commercial and government sectors.

Contact:

Vision Hydrogen Corporation/Investor Relations

95 Christopher Columbus Drive, 16th Floor

Jersey City, NJ 07302

551-298-3600 USA

www.visionh2.com

Corporate Communications:

InvestorBrandNetwork

310.299.1717 Office

Editor@InvestorBrandNetwork.com

Forward Looking Statements:

Certain statements in this press release are forward-looking within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements may be identified by the use of forward-looking words such as "anticipate," "believe," "forecast," "estimate," "expect" and "intend," among others. These forward-looking statements are based on current expectations, and actual results could differ materially. The Company does not undertake an obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement. The information set forth herein speaks only as of the date hereof.
SmartyStreets, a leader in location data intelligence, is pleased to announce the release of International Address Autocomplete to help companies better serve their global customers and users.

SmartyStreets International Address Autocomplete predicts global addresses in real time while users complete forms with address fields. Whether companies use address forms for customers on a website or for employees via internal applications, International Address Autocomplete streamlines the data-entry process through predictive analytics while the user types. It also ensures address data integrity across various business systems by standardizing addresses at the point of entry.

"For years our customers have used our US Address Autocomplete to provide a better customer experience and prevent incorrect and bad addresses from entering their databases," states Jonathan Oliver, Founder of SmartyStreets. "They've also been looking forward to us expanding our services to include international addresses because of the complexity involved."

"A universally accepted address format doesn't exist," explains Berk Charlton, Chief Product Officer. "The differences between address formats across countries are frequently substantial. They must also conform to the unique language, character sets and addressing standards of local postal authorities around the world. International Address Autocomplete handles all that with ease."

International Address Autocomplete is available via API, and predicts standardized street addresses for more than 110 countries including the United Kingdom, France, Germany Japan and Canada. Companies can capture and maintain accurate and clean address data to positively impact their global business operations such as accurate shipping, data governance, and customer intelligence.

About SmartyStreets

SmartyStreets is a leader in location data intelligence-providing enterprise-grade address validation, standardization, and geocoding services in 240+ countries and territories. Through easy-to-use website tools, SDKs and fully-documented APIs, SmartyStreets' customers process billions of addresses every day.

More information about SmartyStreets can be found at https://www.smartystreets.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211019005305/en/

Contacts:

Trent Howell

trent@smartystreets.com
Registration now open to the only global multidisciplinary conference featuring world-class speakers, cutting-edge research presentations, case study reviews and more specifically in the field of Atopic Dermatitis

CHICAGO, Oct. 19, 2021.

"This year's annual conference agenda is packed with symposia focused on emerging therapies, panel discussions led by industry leaders, industry sessions sponsored by global companies and the awarding of the new Totally 'RAD' Award," said Dr. Jonathan I. Silverberg, MD, Ph.D., MPH, RAD Conference Chair. "The Annual Live RAD Conference offers great opportunities to hear about emerging therapies and industry 'hot topics' from the best in the field."

New to this year's Conference, the Totally "RAD" Award recognizes a healthcare provider in the dermatology field who has provided invaluable impact to patient care or research of AD. The recipient of the Totally "RAD" Award will receive a prize, complimentary registration to the December 2021 and 2022 conferences, as well as recognition on RAD's website and social media. Nominations are due by November 19, 2021. Submit your nominee at http://revolutionizingad.com/award.

"I am excited to again be a part of the Annual Live RAD Conference and look forward to presenting on the current findings between COVID-19 and atopic dermatitis at Sunday's Hot Topic session," said Jacob P. Thyssen, MD, Ph.D., DmSci. "It is an honor to be part of an educational conference whose mission is to create a learning space where - through cutting-edge abstracts, case studies and oral presentations - we can all share in the latest advances and late-breaking research."

RAD 2021 conference faculty include Jonathan I. Silverberg, MD, Ph.D., MPH, Conference Chair; Sabra Abbott, MD, Ph.D.; Katrina Abuabara, MD; Andrew Alexis, MD, Ph.D., MPH; Andrew Blauvelt, MD; Genery Booster, Ph.D.; Korey Capozza, MPH; Zelma Chiesa-Fuxench, MD, MSCE; Raj Chovatiya, MD, PhD; Mark Davis, MD; Aaron Drucker, MD; Anna Fishbein, MD; Phil Greenland, MD; Jon Hanifin, MD; Candrice Heath, MD; Peck Ong, MD; Amy S. Paller, MD, MS; Stephen Sheldon, DO; Eric Simpson, MD, MCR; Anne-Marie Singh, MD; Jacob P. Thyssen, MD, Ph.D., DmSci; Maria Wei, MD, Ph.D.; Prof. Stephan Weidinger, MD; Gil Yosipovitch, MD; and Phyllis Zee, MD, Ph.D.

More than 500 attendees are expected to register. To view the complete conference agenda, list of symposia leaders, and to register, visit RevolutionizingAD.com.

Saturday, December 11: 6:00 p.m. (EST) - Poster Viewing Opens

Sunday, December 12: 7:00 a.m. - 7:30 p.m. (EST)

Monday, December 13: 7:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m. (EST)

Follow the RAD Conference on the following social media sites:

Linked in - linkedin.com/company/revolutionizingad/

Twitter - twitter.com/revatopicderm

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/revolutionizingad

Press Contact: Patrice Melluso, patrice@revolutionizingad.com

JOINT ACCREDITATION STATEMENT

In support of improving patient care, this activity has been planned and implemented by the Postgraduate Institute for Medicine and Foundation for Dermatology Education. Postgraduate Institute for Medicine is jointly accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), and the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), to provide continuing education for the healthcare team.

###

About the Foundation for Dermatology Education

The Foundation for Dermatology Education is devoted to educating dermatologists, allergists, primary care clinicians, nurse practitioners, physicians assistants, nurses, and other allied health professionals, and patients about atopic dermatitis.

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Attachment
Strict rules levied by governments has banned non-biodegradable packaging material mostly for food industry, which will afterward drive the demand for durable light weight packaging material.

JERSEY CITY, N.J., Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Verified Market Research recently published a report, "Nanocellulose Market" By Type (Nanocrystalline Cellulose, Cellulose nanofiber and Micro fibrillated), By Application (Pulp & Paper, Biomedical & Pharmaceutical, Packaging), and By Geography. According to Verified Market Research, the Global Nanocellulose Market size was valued at USD 278.5 Million in 2020 and is projected to reach USD 1262.5 Million by 2028, growing at a CAGR of 20.94% from 2021 to 2028.

Download PDF Brochure: https://www.verifiedmarketresearch.com/download-sample/?rid=36374

Browse in-depth TOC on "Nanocellulose Market"



202 - Pages

126 - Tables

37 - Figures

Global Nanocellulose Market Overview

Nanocellulose significantly used in the pulp and paper industry as an additive to produce light and white paper, therefore boosting the market growth. It is being employed in health care applications including biomedicines, personal hygiene products, and cosmetics for its nontoxic properties. Nanocellulose has excellent adsorption capacities and therefore it acts as a suitable ingredient to produce wound dressings and sanitary napkins. The growing research activities on nanocellulose have further fueled the market.

Nanocellulose possesses the potential to replace numerous petrochemical based products and has been cost effective compared to other nanoscale high performance materials. It offers superior properties such as ease of disposability, biodegradability, transparency, flexibility, high mechanical strength & barrier properties etc. Rising food & beverage industry along with improving health concern will be a major factor contributing to nanocellulose market share in the coming years.

Although cellulose is abundantly existing in nature, the production of such nanomaterials needs large machinery and technical knowledge, which leads to the growth of the production charge and high production cost may hamper the market growth.

Key Developments in Nanocellulose Market

In February 2019 , CellForce had declared that it has upgraded CNC plant in Montreal , which will operate at production capacity of 300 tons/Year.

, CellForce had declared that it has upgraded CNC plant in , which will operate at production capacity of 300 tons/Year. In September 2020 , CellForce has declared the signing of an agreement with MNCs that are operating in cosmetic sector in order to make full supply of CNC for the coming 10 years. The company has also valued that there will be the need of a new plant to meet the demand for this agreement. The MNC is approved a global exclusiveness for the commercialization of CNC-based cosmetic products and is likely to launch new product progressively over the agreement period.

The major players in the market are CelluForce Inc, Kruger Inc, Sappi Ltd, Innventia AB, Nippon Paper Group Inc, Borgward and GranBio Technologies.

Verified Market Research has segmented the Global Nanocellulose Market On the basis of Type, Application, and Geography.

Nanocellulose Market, By Type

Nanocrystalline Cellulose



Cellulose Nanofibers



Micro-fibrillated Cellulose

Nanocellulose Market, By Application

Pulp & Paper



Biomedical & Pharmaceutical



Packaging



Others

Nanocellulose Market by Geography

North America



U.S





Canada





Mexico



Europe



Germany





France





U.K





Rest of Europe



Asia Pacific



China





Japan





India





Rest of Asia Pacific



ROW



Middle East & Africa

&



Latin America

Browse Related Reports:

Nanocrystalline Cellulose Market By Grade (Industrial Grade, Pharmaceutical/Food Grade), By Form (Powder, Liquid), By Source (Softwood Pulp, Hardwood Pulp), By Application (Composites, Personal Care, Packaging, Paper Processing), By Geography, Forecast, 2021-2028

Flexographic Inks Market By Ink Type (Volatile ink, Energy curable ink), By Resin Type (Polyurethanes, Acrylic, Polyamides, Nitrocellulose), By Technology of Application (Water-based, Solvent-based, Ultraviolet (UV)), By Geography, Forecast, 2021-2028

Microcrystalline Cellulose Market By Source Type (Wood-based and Non-wood-based), By Application (Pharmaceutical, Food & Beverage, Cosmetics & Personal Care), By Geography, Forecast, 2021-2028

Hydroxy Ethyl Cellulose (HEC) Market By Product Type (Industrial Grade, Cosmetic Grade, Food Grade, and Pharmaceutical Grade), By Application (Building Material, Oilfield, Personal Care and Cosmetic, Food, Pharmaceuticals, Paper, Adhesives and Textiles), By Geography, Forecast, 2021-2028

Top industrial packaging suppliers providing a safer way of dispatching products

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NEW YORK / ACCESSWIRE / October 19, 2021 / Madison Technologies, Inc., (MDEX) today announced the purchase of a KYMU-LD television broadcast station in Seattle, WA, the number 12 ranked DMA (Designated Market Area) in the nation. The acquisition, filed in July with the FCC, adds to the already purchased stations in LA, Houston and San Diego and the signed APA's and LOI's for stations in Chicago, Phoenix, New York, Miami, Tampa, Atlanta, Nashville, Indianapolis, Minneapolis and Kansas City.

Madison's goal is to continue with it's acquisition strategy focusing on the top 50-100 DMA's with the objective of building out a state of the art broadcast and OTT platform. The result will be a broad, nationwide, OTA independent distribution platform to host various content providers and data transmissions of many sorts, creating not only a unique, independent platform but an alternative to the existing Cable, OTT, and Internet platforms for those seeking to expand viewership of their content.

"With little or no technology changes in more than a generation, the broadcast TV industry today is poised for dramatic change as new disruptive technology prepares to roll out allowing for OTA mobile viewing and other major advancements, "said Philip Falcone, Founder, and CEO of Madison Technologies, Inc. "The OTA market represents an untapped and sizeable market opportunity, and our goal is to continue expanding our platform to capitalize on the changing media and viewer landscape and growing OTA viewership in the U.S.

Strong Tailwinds for OTA TV and Online Streaming

Consumers have embraced cutting the cord trend and moving to broadband (Netflix, Apple, Disney) and OTA (to continue to watch the basics). OTA households alone have doubled over the last 10 years to 20MM, becoming a material part of the addressable TV universe.

As cord-cutting continues to accelerate in conjunction with other factors (e.g., censorship) affecting distribution, the need for an alternative distribution platform will accelerate, ultimately driving higher rates and higher valuation all without even factoring in the true value of the spectrum.

Says, Mr. Falcone, "This opening allows for new revenue opportunities to address the mobile tv viewing marketplace and potentially subscription-based Over-the-Air TV. This Houston purchase represents the start of a wave of more station acquisitions in the works as part of our build-out of a free local and national network of OTA content distribution."

The OTA market represents a compelling market opportunity. With an estimated 107MM TV households in the U.S., 57.9MM households use Cable, 28.7MM use alternative or satellite dish delivery systems while 20.4MM use OTA antennas - representing 44.8MM people. As any TV set purchase comes equipped by federal law to be OTA accessible, the adoption opportunities are massive if the right offer is presented to the market that is already growing weary of the recurring costs associated with content subscriptions.

An even bigger opportunity lies in the forthcoming advent of NextGen TV. In late 2017, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted to allow broadcasters to use the Next Gen TV using the new ATSC 3.0 broadcast standard on a voluntary basis. This new OTA broadcast technology offers high definition, mobile video, 4K resolution video, interactive features like polling and voting as well as e-Commerce capabilities for TV-based shopping. Sovryn's plans include leveraging these innovations and others to bring a truly modern interactive experience to consumers for free.

About Madison Technologies

Press Contact

Jeff Canouse

Madison Technologies, Inc.

770-235-6053

jeff@madisontech.io

SOURCE: Madison Technologies, Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/668723/Madison-Technologies-Inc-Completes-Purchase-of-TV-Station-KYMU-SEATTLE
New B2B Payments Offering Powered by Stripe Automates Payments for Enterprises Across the Globe

SANTA CLARA, CA / ACCESSWIRE / October 19, 2021 / AUDITORIA.AI, a pioneer in AI-driven automation solutions for corporate finance teams, today introduced Auditoria SmartPay, an automated B2B Payments offering, at SuiteWorld 2021. Combining artificial intelligence (AI), finance process automation, and payments processing, Auditoria SmartPay significantly expands Auditoria's finance automation market leadership by providing enterprises with a wide range of automated options to collect payments from their customers.

"Cash performance is a top priority for companies today," said Rohit Gupta, CEO and co-founder of Auditoria.AI. "Auditoria SmartPay completely revolutionizes how enterprises collect payments - delivering sustained reductions in accounts receivable balances. Now enterprises will have the ability to seamlessly and rapidly collect customer payments while delivering a best-in-class payer experience to strengthen their cash positions. With Auditoria SmartPay and Autonomous Collections, CFOs and corporate finance teams have the power to drastically improve critical financial indicators including DSO and bad debt write-offs."

Built in collaboration with Stripe and its market-leading payment processing solutions, Auditoria SmartPay is a native extension to Auditoria's Autonomous Collections. By leveraging cutting-edge machine learning algorithms, Autonomous Collections mine through millions of invoices to decipher payer behavior patterns, continually and automatically. SmartPay significantly expands Autonomous Collections capabilities by streamlining and automating one of the most manual and time-consuming aspects of the order-to-cash business process.

Features and benefits of SmartPay include:

Broad Payment Preferences: SmartPay gives enterprises the ability to collect payments through a wide variety of payment methods, including partial payments, accelerated payments, and flexible installments.

SmartPay gives enterprises the ability to collect payments through a wide variety of payment methods, including partial payments, accelerated payments, and flexible installments. Autonomous Payment Processing: SmartPay provides autonomous capabilities for processing payments on behalf of Payers, dynamically applying the record of payments to invoices and ensuring automated reconciliation with ERP applications.

SmartPay provides autonomous capabilities for processing payments on behalf of Payers, dynamically applying the record of payments to invoices and ensuring automated reconciliation with ERP applications. Lower Costs and Fees: SmartPay reduces the total cost of payment processing while ensuring there is no compromise in end-user experience.

SmartPay reduces the total cost of payment processing while ensuring there is no compromise in end-user experience. Best-of-Breed Security and Compliance: SmartPay is fully secure and PCI compliant, leveraging modern KYC and AML capabilities to provide a more convenient and flexible payment experience to customers.

"The Collections function is one area of Corporate Finance that is notoriously slow and tedious," said R "Ray" Wang, CEO and founder, Constellation Research. "Finance leaders seek turnkey solutions that bring together AI, Collections Process Automation and Payments in a simple, compelling user experience that is built for the digital, autonomous enterprise. Almost every finance team I talk to seek integrated payment offerings in the order-to-cash business process to streamline collections and cash posting while recovering thousands of hours wasted in manual back-office processing."

Auditoria will be featuring live demonstrations of Auditoria SmartPay at booth 928 during NetSuite SuiteWorld 2021. At the Auditoria booth, SuiteWorld attendees will also have the opportunity to experience the power of finance automation for themselves via Auditoria SmartBots , meet with Auditoria experts to discuss modern techniques to address challenges of the finance back office, and register to win a Peloton Bike+, among other giveaways. Attendees could also relax and recharge in the Auditoria Lounge at SuiteWorld, located on the Veranda.

In addition to live demonstrations, Nick Ezzo, Vice President of Marketing, Auditoria, will be presenting both live and virtual sessions of Auditoria's powerful technology, "Supercharge Oracle NetSuite with AI-Based SmartBots." The live session will occur on Wednesday, October 20, 2021, at 3 pm PT. Register here to learn how applying technology to automate the routine, repetitive, and laborious parts of the finance function frees teams to perform more impactful, higher-level business functions.

As a 'Built for NetSuite ' certified platform, Auditoria.AI increases finance teams' speed, accuracy, and efficiency using intelligent SmartBots to automate manual and time-consuming Accounts Payable and Receivable processes. Purpose-built for finance, with next-gen advanced technology, Auditoria SmartBots integrate with systems of record and email boxes to act as a system of engagement to streamline collections, add controls to procurement spend, optimize vendor management, and handle helpdesk inquiries using automation. Auditoria integrates with industry-leading ERP and Financial applications, including Bill.com, Oracle ERP Cloud, Oracle NetSuite, Sage Intacct, Workday, Stripe, and collaboration tools such as Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace.

Visit Auditoria at booth 928 during SuiteWorld to see Auditoria SmartBots in action, or schedule a demo today: https://info.auditoria.ai/request-a-demo

About Auditoria

Auditoria is an AI-driven SaaS automation provider for corporate finance that automates back-office business processes involving tasks, analytics, and responses in Vendor Management, Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, and Planning. By leveraging natural language processing, artificial intelligence, and machine learning, Auditoria's platform removes friction and repetition from mundane tasks while also automating complex functions. Corporate finance and accounting teams use Auditoria to accelerate business value while minimizing heavy IT involvement, improving business resilience, lowering attrition, and accelerating business insights. Give your finance teams superpowers at Auditoria.ai .

Follow Auditoria on LinkedIn and Twitter to stay connected.

About Stripe

Stripe is a technology company that builds economic infrastructure for the internet. Businesses of every size-from new start-ups to public companies like Salesforce and Facebook-use the company's software to accept online payments and run technically sophisticated financial operations in more than 100 countries. Stripe helps new companies get started and grow their revenues, and established businesses accelerate into new markets and launch new business models. Over the long term, Stripe aims to increase the GDP of the internet.

About SuiteWorld

SuiteWorld is the cloud ERP industry's premier conference. The annual event gathers NetSuite customers and partners as well as their industry peers, product experts, partners, developers, and others who run fast-growing businesses on NetSuite. This year, SuiteWorld will be held on October 18- 21, 2021, at Caesars Forum in Las Vegas and online. For registration and additional details, please visit www.netsuitesuiteworld.com . To join the SuiteWorld conversation on social, please use SuiteWorld.

Trademarks of Bill.com, Google, Microsoft, Oracle, Sage, and Workday are the properties of their respective owners.

Media Contact:

Meaghan McGrath

York IE

communications@auditoria.ai

SOURCE: Auditoria

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/668585/AuditoriaAI-Debuts-SmartPay-at-SuiteWorld-2021
Beijing, China--(Newsfile Corp. - October 19, 2021) - Sino Biological, Inc. (SZSE: 301047) ("Sino Biological" or the "Company"), a biotechnology company which provides biological research reagents and related technical contract research services, will be featured on Worldwide Business with kathy ireland, airing on FOX Business Network, Bloomberg International and other outlets as sponsored content. Hosted by business mogul Kathy Ireland, this award-winning television series takes an in-depth look at companies around the world currently impacting different sectors of business and society. Dr. Rob Burgess, Chief Business Officer for Sino Biological, will be interviewed.





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"It's exciting and quite an honor to have an opportunity to be interviewed by Kathy Ireland on Worldwide Business and to share the corporate vision that we have at Sino Biological. I'm also delighted with the chance to outline the company's global impact on human health and biomedical research and I look forward to describing how Sino Biological's offering helps to drive advances in biomedical research and promote the research and development of innovative drugs, vaccines and diagnostic tests," stated Dr. Burgess.

Rob Burgess and Kathy Ireland on Worldwide Business

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"Sino Biological Incorporated is providing value-added, cost-effective solutions and is turning scientific advances into reality," stated Kathy Ireland.

The interview will first be airing on Worldwide Business with kathy ireland on FOX Business Network domestically in the United States on Sunday, October 24, 2021 at 5:30pm eastern standard time. Other airings on Bloomberg business and other outlets will follow shortly thereafter. A preview of the interview can also be found on the Success Magazine website by visiting https://www.success.com/a-global-leader-in-recombinant-technology/https://www.success.com/a-global-leader-in-recombinant-technology/. For more information about the interview please visit https://worldwidebusinesswithkathyireland.com.

About Sino Biological

Sino Biological is an international biological reagent supplier and service provider. The company specializes in recombinant antigen production and antibody development. The company's ever-growing portfolio of products includes recombinant proteins, monoclonal antibodies, ELISA assay kits, expression clones, cell culture media, and other molecular biology tools. The company also offers a variety of customized services, mainly focusing on recombinant production of antigens and antibodies. Sino Biological is dedicated to virology and infectious disease research. Its newly launched ProVir collection is the world's largest viral antigen bank, consisting of over 1,000 proteins from 350 strains of viruses. More information about Sino Biological and its offering can be found at www.sinobiological.com.

About Worldwide Business with kathy ireland

Worldwide Business with kathy ireland is a weekly half-hour show hosted by a business mogul, Kathy Ireland, featuring exclusive interviews of global executives sharing their business insights and success stories that shape their industries. The show broadcasts on Fox Business Network as part of their branded content line up and globally on Bloomberg Television. Worldwide Business with kathy ireland extends beyond the weekly on-air program with digital content delivered on various video platforms across social media.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements in the Worldwide Business with kathy ireland segment and this document are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act. These statements are based on management's current expectations and are subject to uncertainty and changes in circumstances. Actual results may differ materially from those included in these statements due to a variety of factors, over which Biological has no control. Sino Biological assumes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements and does not intend to do so.

Contacts:

Sino Biological, Inc.

Email: ir@sinobiological.cn

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/100174
JO LYNN MILLER NAMED "AGENT OF THE YEAR" AT NATIONAL REAL ESTATE SUMMIT

BIRMINGHAM, AL / ACCESSWIRE / October 19, 2021 / Lake Homes Realty agent Jo Lynn Miller received the company's 2021 "Splash Award" at the brokerage's annual Lake Homes Realty Agent Summit. Miller sells lake homes and lots on Possum Kingdom Lake in Texas. The Splash Award is given to the company's overall top-performing agent/agent of the year. Miller was honored for her achievements in real estate over the last year and is a resident of Graford, Texas. The Agent Summit took place Oct. 12 to 14 in Birmingham, Alabama, where the company is headquartered.

"I'm honored to win this year's Splash Award because it recognizes my relationships within my community and the level of service I provide to my clients," Miller said. She has been in the real estate industry for the past 14 years and secured her license in 2009 before joining Lake Homes Realty in 2018. "I love helping clients find great lake homes and get the same great feeling I had moving into my Possum Kingdom Lake home," she said. Through her hard work, she also received a Big Wave Award for selling more than $10 million and earned the "Premier Agent" designation.

"Our Premier Agents are our brokerage's top producers and some of the best ambassadors of our brand," said company CEO Glenn S. Phillips, "We are so proud to have Jo Lynn as part of our Lake Homes team." Phillips and Sergeant Noah Galloway (Purple Heart recipient, double amputee, finalist on Dancing with the Stars, and Men's Health Man of the Year) honored Miller and the other Splash Award finalists on October 14. Miller was announced as the award winner on Thursday, October 15 at the Lake Homes Realty Agent Summit. The other agent of the year finalists included Pam DeBlasio (Lake Livingston, Texas), Mike Goins (Lake Houston, Lake Conroe and Lake Woodlands, Texas), Sheila Howell (Deep Creek Lake, Maryland), and Terri and Kyle Griner (Lake Oconee, Georgia).

To determine the 2021 Splash Award winner, Lake Homes Realty agents were each ranked for performance in six key areas over a 12-month period, starting September 1, 2020, and ending August 31, 2021. Performance areas included the number of transaction sides closed, total transaction volume, net by side commission percentage of closed transactions, list side commission percentage of closed transactions, and percentage increase of year-over-year transaction volume.

"There was a minimum $3.5 million in transaction volume in order to be eligible for consideration for the Splash Award and Jo Lynn far exceeded that amount," Phillips explained, adding that the total volume represented the final sale price of a property, independent of agent splits or applicable commissions. "Our agents are the 'special forces' of the lake real estate niche. Their expertise and talents continue to impress us year after year, and this year's Summit was the best yet because of all that they do."

For Miller, living at Possum Kingdom Lake is about more than simply owning property along the lakeshore. From learning to ski on the lake as a teenager to moving to the area permanently in 2007, Miller has entrenched herself in the Possum Kingdom Lake community. She is a member of the Board of Directors of the Possum Kingdom Water Supply Corporation, an officer in the PK Women's Club, and can be found participating in several community events.

Miller is a native of Wichita Falls, Texas and spent most of her life in Iowa Park, Texas. She was actively involved with United Way, as the Executive Director of the Iowa Park Recreational Activities Center for many years, and dedicated time to many other community activities.

About Lake Homes Realty

Lake Homes Realty is the nation's largest lake-focused real estate company. Lake Homes Realty provides full-service, multi-state real estate brokerage services in 34 states and growing. LakeHomes.com has more than 70,000 lake properties listed, totaling $30 billion. Inc. Magazine has ranked Lake Homes Realty as one of the fastest-growing companies for the past five years. For more on Jo Lynn Miller and Lake Homes Realty, visit www.lakehomes.com.

Attached photo: Jo Lynn Miller of Possum Kingdom Lake in Texas was named agent of the year for Lake Homes Realty, the country's largest lake-focused real estate company. Sergeant Noah Galloway and Lake Homes Realty CEO Glenn Phillips recognized Miller for her national real estate honor.

Media Contact:

Bill Lang

Lake Homes Realty

205.218.3561

blang@lakehomes.com.

Interviews available.

SOURCE: Lake Homes Realty

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/668717/Texas-Realtor-Named-National-Agent-of-the-Year-by-Lake-Homes-Realty
Chicago, Illinois--(Newsfile Corp. - October 19, 2021) - According to a new market research report "RegTech Market by Component (Solutions and Services), Application (Risk and Compliance Management, Identity Management, Regulatory Reporting, AML and Fraud Management), Vertical, Deployment Type, Organization Size, and Region - Global Forecast to 2025" published by MarketsandMarkets, the RegTech Market size is expected to grow from USD 6.3 billion in 2020 to USD 16.0 billion by 2025, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 20.3%.

The major drivers for the RegTech market include the increased cost of compliance, rising need for faster transactions, regulatory sandbox approach to support RegTech innovations, and lower entry barriers with Software as a Service (SaaS)-based offerings.

Browse in-depth TOC on "RegTech Market"

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41 - Figures

166 - Pages

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Regulatory intelligence application to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period

Regulatory intelligence is the process of continuously monitoring and tracking various regulations and compliances. RegTech providers offer several tools for identifying and interpreting regulatory changes by providing a real-time catalog of various regulatory requirements. RegTech solutions process targeted information and data from multiple sources, analyze this data, and generate an output that outlines the risks and opportunities for formulating the most appropriate regulatory strategy. The adoption of RegTech solutions by financial institutions enables easy management of the changing regulatory environments and minimizes the risks related to non-compliance. The providers of RegTech solutions are incorporating Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) to automate the tracking of global regulatory data.

Large enterprises segment to hold a higher market share during the forecast period

The large enterprises segment is expected to hold a higher market share, as most publicly traded companies are compelled to adopt regulatory programs. Additionally, as rules and regulations keep altering as per industry and region, keeping a check on all the processes manually is not feasible, which further emphasizes on the importance of RegTech solutions and services. Service and consulting vendors, such as Deloitte, IBM, PwC, and Thomson Reuters assist large enterprises to realize the benefits of efficiently managing their business functions in accordance to the compliance mandates by enabling them to effectively implement RegTech solutions as per their business requirements.

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North America is expected to hold the highest market share during the forecast period

As per the geographic analysis, North America is estimated to hold the highest market share during the forecast period. This is due to the early adoption of RegTech solutions by the North American financial institutions to reduce compliance cost by leveraging advanced technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), blockchain, big data, and cloud computing. North America constitutes of developed economies, such as the US and Canada. These countries are significantly advanced in terms of technology and its application deployments. Stringent regulations and the need to comply with them are expected to drive the market growth in North America.

The major vendors covered in the RegTech market include Accuity (US), ACTICO (Germany), Ascent (US), Ayasdi (US), Broadridge (US), Chainalysis (US), ComplyAdvantage (UK), Deloitte (UK), Fenergo (Ireland), London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) (UK), IdentityMind (US), IBM (US), Jumio (US), MetricStream (US), Nice Actimize (US), Pole Star (UK), PwC (UK), Thomson Reuters (Canada), Trulioo (Canada), and Wolters Kluwer (The Netherlands).

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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To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/100018
Xi'an, China--(Newsfile Corp. - October 19, 2021) - The 2021 Euro-Asia Economic Forum kicked off on Oct 18 in the city of Xi'an - capital of Northwest China's Shaanxi province - and is scheduled to run to Oct 20.

The 2021 Euro-Asia Economic Forum kicks off in Xi'an on Oct 18. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

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Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the forum is being held both onsite and online this year.

Among those participating are representatives are Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member states, politicians from the countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), ministerial officials, representatives of important international organizations - as well as representatives of sister cities, experts and academics.

Established with the approval of the State Council, China's Cabinet, the forum is a high-level and open international conference for the Eurasian region, with the SCO member states as the main body.

At the opening ceremony, Ting Bater - Vice-Chairperson of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference - gave a keynote speech.

He urged all sides to use the forum as an opportunity to further promote Eurasian cooperation and the high-quality development of the BRI, and to contribute to the promotion of regional and global economic development and prosperity.

Liu Guozhong, Secretary of the Shaanxi Provincial Party Committee, expressed his vision that the province would deepen its practical cooperation with Eurasian countries in science and technology, industry, economy and trade, low carbon and in culture.

During this year's forum, nearly 30 activities are scheduled to be held. These include the opening ceremony, a roundtable for SCO envoys, a forum on the high-quality development of the China-Europe freight train, a photo exhibition marking the celebrations for the 20th anniversary of the SCO, as well as various support events and activities.

Contact:

Euro-Asia Economic Forum

15679105995

178540927@qq.com

https://www.eaforum.cn/

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/100177


WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - President Joe Biden termed the late General Colin Powell 'a patriot of unmatched honor and dignity'.



'Having repeatedly broken racial barriers, blazing a trail for others to follow in Federal Government service, Colin was committed throughout his life to investing in the next generation of leadership,' he said in a condolence message on the death of the four-star general.



Gen. Powell, who was also the first Black chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the youngest, died at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, in Bethesda, Maryland. He was 84. Although he was fully vaccinated, his family said in a statement that he died of complications from COVID-19. 'We have lost a remarkable and loving husband, father, grandfather and a great American,' Powell's family said in a statement.



The son of immigrants, born in New York City, raised in Harlem and the South Bronx, he rose to the highest ranks of the United States military and to advise four presidents.



With a degree from the City University of New York, Powell was commissioned in 1958. By the time his nearly half-century career in public service had ended, the son of Jamaican immigrants had in many ways come to symbolize the American dream. He was a Black American who began his journey in a segregated nation while rising to the highest levels in government. His career was capped by his oversight of the 1991 Gulf War while chairman of the Joint Chiefs and later as secretary of state during the administration of President George W. Bush.



As chairman, Powell also presided over the U.S. invasions of Panama in 1989 and Somalia in 1992, as well as dozens of other U.S. military operations overseas. He was guided by his belief that when the U.S. military acts, it should do so with overwhelming force and only when the goals are clear and attainable - a philosophy that came to be known as the Powell Doctrine.



After the Persian Gulf War, Powell received a Congressional Gold Medal, struck in his honor, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.



Powell also served as the senior military advisor to Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger and as national security advisor to President Ronald Reagan. He helped to guide the U.S invasion of Grenada in 1983 that was carried out in response to a communist threat on the island. Three years later, he also was instrumental in U.S. retaliation for a terrorist attack at a West Berlin disco blamed on Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi in which two American servicemen were killed.



Powell was credited with crafting a compromise known as 'don't ask, don't tell' in which homosexuals entering the U.S. military would not be asked about their sexual orientation and would be allowed to serve as long as they kept it private.



At his retirement in 1993, General Powell was awarded a second Presidential Medal of Freedom, this one with distinction. Later that year Queen Elizabeth II made him an honorary Knight Commander of the Bath.



In an address to the United Nations Security Council during the final days before the 2003 Iraq invasion, Powell alleged that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein has biological weapons, which later proved to be based on faulty intelligence. He announced his resignation as secretary of state the next year.



As a mark of respect for General Powell and his life of service to the Nation, the flag of the United States shall be flown at half-staff at the White House and upon all public buildings and grounds until October 22.



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Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - October 19, 2021) - Anacortes Mining Corp. (TSXV: XYZ) ("Anacortes" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has resolved all outstanding issues with Minera Boroo Misquichilca SA (formerly Minera Barrick Misquichilca) ("MBM") and completed the transfer of ownership of surface rights, drill core and all related data associated with its 100% owned Tres Cruces project located in north-Central Peru, approximately 10 kms south of Barrick's past-producing Lagunas Norte operation. As a result, MBM has no further rights related to Tres Cruces.

Mr. Jim Currie, CEO of Anacortes states, "This is an important step in advancing the Tres Cruces project as now all mineral claims, surface rights, core, reverse circulation pulps and rejects as well as the entire exploration data base are completely under the ownership of Anacortes. This will allow us to move forward with the planning of a drill program aimed at providing further information for the Feasibility Study on the oxide resource at Tres Cruces, while further exploring the high-grade gold discovered at depth, not included in initial resource estimates."

Pursuant to a Share Purchase Option and Joint Participation Agreement (the "Option Agreement") dated May 31, 2002, Anacortes subsidiary, New Oroperu Resources Inc. ("New Oroperu") granted an option (the "Option") to MBM to earn up to 70% of the equity in Aurifera Tres Cruces S.A. ("ATC"), a New Oroperu (now an Anacortes) subsidiary, by, among other things, conducting exploration activities on the Tres Cruces gold project owned by ATC. In 2006, in order to enable MBM to conduct exploration activities on the Tres Cruces, ATC assigned the project to MBM pursuant to the terms of a Mining Assignment Agreement dated December 18, 2006 (the "Mining Assignment Agreement").

Under the terms of the Option Agreement, MBM was required to make a production decision in respect of the Tres Cruces project on or before December 31, 2020 and if it did not do so, New Oroperu had the right to terminate the Option Agreement and the Option. Similarly, the Mining Assignment Agreement expired by its terms on December 31, 2020. The Mining Assignment Agreement further provided that promptly following expiration, MBM would assign to ATC any surface/access rights to the Tres Cruces project acquired by MBM during the term of the Mining Assignment Agreement for a purchase price equal to the book value of those surface rights.

MBM did not make a production decision in respect of the Tres Cruces project on or before December 31, 2020. On October 18, 2021, following acquisition of New Oroperu by Anacortes Mining Corp., MBM, Anacortes and its subsidiaries (including ATC) confirmed that the Option Agreement, the Option, and the Mining Assignment Agreement have been terminated and MBM has transferred to ATC the surface/access rights to the Tres Cruces project in exchange for payment to MBM of the sum of US$1,620,709.

Tres Cruces is one the highest-grade, undeveloped gold oxide deposits globally with a leachable gold resource of 630,000 ounces grading 1.3 g/t contained within a larger indicated gold resource of 2,474,000 ounces grading 1.65 grams per tonne gold and an inferred resource of 104,000 ounces grading 1.26 g/t gold.

Tres Cruces is strategically located in a highly prospective geological belt that hosts such significant gold deposits as Yanacocha, Lagunas Norte and Pierina.

For more information visit: www.anacortesmining.com

Twitter: @anacortesmining

LinkedIn: Anacortes Mining

On Behalf of the Board:

Jim Currie

President & CEO

Investor Relations Contact:

Kin Communications Inc.

Victor Ostlund

604-684-6730

XYZ@kincommunications.com

About Anacortes

Anacortes is a new growth-oriented gold company in the Americas, which owns a 100-per-cent interest in the Tres Cruces gold project located in Peru. Anacortes is well capitalized and intends initially to aggressively advance the oxide resource at Tres Cruces through feasibility and to production under a heap leach open-pit scenario. Additionally, Anacortes will continue to seek further growth opportunities in the Americas, with the goal of creating the next mid-tier multi asset gold producer.

Cautionary Statement on Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains forward-looking statements which constitute "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation ("Forward-looking Statements"). All statements included herein, other than statements of historical fact, are Forward-looking Statements and are subject to a variety of known and unknown risks and uncertainties which could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those reflected in the Forward-looking Statements.

The Forward-looking Statements in this news release may include, without limitation, statements about the the services to be provided to the Company by Kin and ITG and the Company's plans to aggressively advance Tres Cruces through feasibility and to production. Often, but not always, these Forward-looking Statements can be identified by the use of words such as "anticipated", "estimated", "potential", "open", "future", "assumed", "projected", "used", "detailed", "has been", "gain", "planned", "reflecting", "will", "anticipated", "estimated" "containing", "remaining", "to be", or statements that events, "could" or "should" occur or be achieved and similar expressions, including negative variations.

Forward-looking Statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, many of which are beyond the ability of the Company to control or predict and which may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the Forward-looking Statements. These risks include changes in general economic conditions and financial markets; political risks; risks relating to the current and potential adverse impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the economy, financial markets and the Company's operations; and risks inherent in mineral exploration. Although Forward-looking Statements contained in this news release are based upon what each of the parties believe are reasonable assumptions at the time they were made, such statements are made as of the date hereof and the Company disclaims any obligation to update any Forward-looking Statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise, except as required by law. There can be no assurance that these Forward-looking Statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, the reader should not place undue reliance on Forward-looking Statements.

The TSXV has in no way approved or disapproved of the contents of this press release.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/100180
TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / October 19, 2021 / Zoompass Holdings Inc. (Formerly OTCQB:ZPAS) ("Zoompass" or "Company") announces that the Company was not in compliance with Rule 15c2-11, as amended effective September 28, 2021, and as a result, the Company, together with approximately 2,800 securities, according to The OTC Markets (OTC), was removed from the publicly quoted market. To begin public quoting on the OTC again, all such affected entities, including the Company, can engage a sponsoring market maker willing to review the company's information and file a Form 211 with FINRA, or the company can now ask OTC Markets to perform an "Initial Information Review", and if the OTC satisfactorily completes such review, it will announce the fact and that it believes the company complies with Rule 15c2-11 and brokers may rely thereon upon. The Zoompass is evaluating these options.

In addition, Zoompass is completing its full financial disclosures and is reviewing various strategic alternatives to effect a Canadian public listing. Such a listing would allows Zoompass to enhance its opportunities for funding and an orderly trading market on a recognized stock exchange. In the meantime, of course, the company continues to function in its normal business capacity and ongoing operations.

We are working towards completing this process by end of the first quarter of 2022. Zoompass will continue to provide updates in a timely manner as we complete the various stages of this process.

Investor Relations

Email: ir@zoompass.com

Website: zoompass.com

About Zoompass

Zoompass operates as a technology and infrastructure provider (Platform as a Service - PaaS) to hasten crypto and fiat payment networks through our blockchain technology, 3rd party integrations and the development of strategic partnerships to connect various verticals in multiple markets to create a global ecosystem.

Zoompass Safe Harbor Statement

Certain statements contained within this release are considered to be forward-looking under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and are subject to risks and uncertainties including, but not limited to, the risk that any projections or guidance, including revenues, margins, earnings, or any other financial results are not realized, the impact of changes in tariffs, adverse changes in the global economic conditions, significant volume reductions from key contract customers, financial stability of key customers and suppliers, and availability or cost of raw materials. Forward-looking statements can often be identified by words such as "anticipates, " "expects," "intends," "plans," "predicts," "believes," "seeks," "estimates," "may," "will," "should," "would," "could," "potential," "continue," "ongoing," similar expression, and variations or negatives of these words. These forward-looking statements are not guaranteeing of future results and are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause actual results to differ materially and adversely from those expressed in any forward-looking statement. Additional cautionary statements regarding other risk factors that could have aneffect on the future performance of Zoompass are contained in the Company's Form 10-k filing for the fiscal year ending in December 31, 2020, and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

SOURCE: Zoompass Holdings, Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/668732/Zoompass-Announces-Plan-to-Seek-New-Public-Listing
Former RF Code executive tapped to lead marketing; former Dell Technologies engineer becomes GRC's first EU-based solutions architect

GRC (Green Revolution Cooling), the leader in single-phase liquid immersion cooling for data centers, announced today the next steps in expanding their global presence with the addition of an industry marketing professional at their headquarters, and a new solutions architect located in Ireland to address the needs of European customers.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211019005906/en/

Gregg Primm (Photo: Business Wire)

GRC has appointed Gregg Primm to the position of Vice President of Marketing, which will be based in their Austin office. In his new role, Mr. Primm is responsible for the championing the global marketing strategy and guiding GRC in the next phase of supporting customers and their expanded product portfolio. An IT marketing leader with over 25 years of experience in small and large technology environments, Mr. Primm joins GRC following previous positions with IBM, Netbotz, and most recently as the senior marketing director at RF Code.

"Data centers continue to evolve, as do servers themselves. And the power demanded by and heat created by today's newest chip technologies continue to grow, too. The challenges organizations face in keeping their critical data center assets cool, but doing so in an economically sustainable and environmentally responsible manner, are tremendous, and can only be met by rethinking our approaches to power usage and data center efficiency," said Gregg Primm. "I look forward to building on GRC's unrivaled reputation in the data center industry, while also helping to educate the data center ecosystem on the inarguable benefits of liquid immersion cooling."

Also joining GRC is Bhagyashree Angadi, GRC's first EU-based solution architect. In her new role Ms. Angadi is responsible for providing strategic direction and supporting customers' data center cooling needs leveraging software, hardware, and infrastructure. Ms. Angadi will draw on her experience aligning business needs, developing technical solutions, and supporting customer engagements as a solutions architect engineer at Dell Technologies. In addition, she has a master's degree in computer and communications systems engineering.

"I am excited to assist new and existing clients in solving their most challenging data center cooling issues," said Bhagyashree Angadi. "GRC has developed a suite of data center liquid cooling products that are transforming the way data centers implement their critical cooling infrastructure."

"GRC is delighted to bring these new hires on board to help lead the company through its next stage of growth," said James Weynand, CRO at GRC. "These two roles, marketing VP and a European based solutions architect, are critical steps in supporting our growth and enabling our data center customers to reduce complexity and become more energy efficient."

About GRC

GRC is The Immersion Cooling Authority. The company's patented immersion cooling technology radically simplifies deployment of data center cooling infrastructure. By eliminating the need for chillers, CRACs, air handlers, humidity controls, and other conventional cooling components, enterprises reduce their data center design, build, energy, and maintenance costs. GRC's solutions are deployed in twenty countries and are ideal for next-gen applications platforms, including artificial intelligence, blockchain, HPC, 5G, and other Edge computing and core applications. Their systems are environmentally resilient, sustainable, and space saving, making it possible to deploy the solution in virtually any location with minimal lead time. Visit http://grcooling.com for more information.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211019005906/en/

Contacts:

Adam Waitkunas

Milldam Public Relations

978-369-0406 (office)

978-828-8304 (mobile)

adam.waitkunas@milldampr.com
Regulatory News:

Easy, reliable, high quality and cost-effective testing for SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) is critical to help reopen and keep open many aspects of society and business sectors worldwide. Eurofins (Paris:ERF) is working with schools and education authorities to design and implement cost-effective solutions to test this important part of our community regularly and reliably.

Since spring 2021, Eurofins has been supporting schools in Europe and the USA through COVID-19 monitoring programmes, in collaboration with local health and education authorities. Group companies pioneered case studies, early in the pandemic, in schools in the USA and Germany to assess the effectiveness of pooled PCR testing. The findings of these studies have allowed Eurofins to develop customer-focussed, cost-effective testing solutions for schools and universities. Pooled testing is underpinned by the gold standard of COVID-19 PCR testing, but significantly reduces the cost of monitoring programmes by simultaneously testing a group, or 'pool', of samples to detect the presence of SARS-CoV-2. Such pooled testing programmes can be replicated in other settings, such as care facilities and workplaces.

These school monitoring programmes are effective and easy to carry out and have been proven to:

Quickly identify positive cases from symptomatic and asymptomatic individuals to enable rapid isolation and contact tracing.

Increase confidence in in-person teaching among school staff and parents.

Distinguish between seasonal flu and COVID-19 infections and avoid unnecessary isolation measures.

Having ramped up the necessary capacity, Eurofins intends to continue to support communities around the world with innovative and cost-effective COVID-19 testing solutions and expand its partnerships within the education sector to facilitate schooling in safe environments.

Since 2020, Eurofins has reacted quickly to meet the global challenge of COVID-19, by creating the capacity to help over 20 million patients monthly who may have been impacted by the pandemic with our testing products and services and has carried out over 30 million PCR tests in its own laboratories.

For more information, please visit SAFER@WORK TM

About Eurofins the global leader in bio-analysis

Eurofins is Testing for Life. Eurofins is the global leader in food, environment, pharmaceutical and cosmetic product testing and in agroscience Contract Research Organisation services. Eurofins is one of the market leaders in certain testing and laboratory services for genomics, discovery pharmacology, forensics, advanced material sciences and in the support of clinical studies, as well as having an emerging global presence in Contract Development and Manufacturing Organisations. The Group also has a rapidly developing presence in highly specialised and molecular clinical diagnostic testing and in-vitro diagnostic products.

With 55,000 staff across a decentralised and entrepreneurial network of 900 laboratories in over 50 countries, Eurofins offers a portfolio of over 200,000 analytical methods to evaluate the safety, identity, composition, authenticity, origin, traceability and purity of a wide range of products, as well as providing innovative clinical diagnostic testing services and in-vitro diagnostic products.

The Group's objective is to provide its customers with high-quality services, innovative solutions and accurate results on time. Eurofins is ideally positioned to support its clients' increasingly stringent quality and safety standards and the increasing demands of regulatory authorities as well as the requirements of healthcare practitioners around the world.

In 2020, Eurofins reacted quickly to meet the global challenge of COVID-19, by creating the capacity to help over 20 million patients monthly who may have been impacted by the pandemic with our testing products and our services and directly supporting healthcare professionals working on the front line to fight the virus. The Group has established widespread PCR testing capabilities and has carried out over 30 million tests in its own laboratories, is supporting the development of a number of vaccines and has established its SAFER@WORK testing, monitoring and consulting programmes to help ensure safer environments, travel and events during COVID-19.

Eurofins has grown very strongly since its inception and its strategy is to continue expanding its technology portfolio and its geographic reach. Through R&D and acquisitions, the Group draws on the latest developments in the field of biotechnology and analytical chemistry to offer its clients unique analytical solutions.

Shares in Eurofins Scientific are listed on the Euronext Paris Stock Exchange (ISIN FR0014000MR3, Reuters EUFI.PA, Bloomberg ERF FP).

Until it has been lawfully made public widely by Eurofins through approved distribution channels, this document contains inside information for the purpose of Regulation (EU) 596/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 April 2014 on market abuse, as amended.

Important disclaimer:

This press release contains forward-looking statements and estimates that involve risks and uncertainties. The forward-looking statements and estimates contained herein represent the judgment of Eurofins Scientific's management as of the date of this release. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees for future performance, and the forward-looking events discussed in this release may not occur. Eurofins Scientific disclaims any intent or obligation to update any of these forward-looking statements and estimates. All statements and estimates are made based on the information available to the Company's management as of the date of publication, but no guarantees can be made as to their completeness or validity.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211019005867/en/

Contacts:

Investor Relations

Eurofins Scientific SE

E-mail: ir@eurofins.com
MIAMI, FL / ACCESSWIRE / October 19, 2021 / Environmental social government compliance, or ESG for short, establishes standards for a company's operations that investors use to screen potential investments through a lens of sustainability and social responsibility. ESG compliance helps investors measure the overall societal impact of investing in a company and can sometimes determine the financial viability of a company. While all three components of ESG are equally important, the environmental piece can be extremely difficult for some companies to address due to high startup costs and limited availability of easily integrated systems.

eCombustible Products Holdings , a company dedicated to producing a hydrogen-based, carbon-free fuel that replaces and outperforms fossil fuels, is on a mission to help companies reduce their negative environmental impact. Founder and CEO Jorge Arevalo understands how difficult it can be for certain companies to improve their environmental impact.

"For companies that have relied on nonrenewable energy for decades, it can be a significant time and resource investment to ensure their operations are more sustainable," says Jorge Arevalo . "However, failure to do so could, in the future, dissuade potential investors and lead to capital loss over time. eCombustible helps companies immediately and materially reduce their carbon footprint."

Why are companies increasingly investing in environmental compliance?

Adhering to ESG compliance can add value to a company in terms of investment opportunities, which will attract investors and ultimately lead to increased capital over time. Socially conscious investors want to know that their investments are being used in a sustainable and ethical way, so it's important now more than ever for companies to ensure that they have a strong ESG compliance plan. According to EY , 75 percent of investors "would find value in assurance of the robustness of an organization's planning for climate risks."

"While we most often think that investment decisions are made by considering financial factors, non-financial factors such as environmental impact are becoming just as important," says Jorge Arevalo . "I know firsthand that environmentally-aware investors want their investments to be aligned with their long-term values."

How can eCombustible help achieve compliance?

As a renewable hydrogen-based fuel, eCombustible is uniquely positioned to offer an almost immediate solution for companies looking to incorporate environmental compliance into their energy operations. Because of its ability to be tailored to the customer's facility and equipment without any major modifications, eCombustible fuel is easily integrated into existing systems and structures, therefore allowing for immediate material steps toward ESG compliance, faster than almost any other fuel, while also being carbon-free.

For example, imagine a mining company that relies on natural gas as a primary source of energy to be burned in a boiler. Once the company makes the switch to eCombustible, it would move into compliance fairly quickly as it would then be operating on a renewable and sustainable fuel source. While there may still be CO2 from the prior natural gas energy source that needs to be burned off over time to get down to carbon-free, the company now burning eCombustible will not be releasing any additional gas into the atmosphere.

"eCombustible is a major step forward in companies having better access to sustainable and renewable energy sources," says Jorge Arevalo . "At the end of the day, corporate leaders and investors alike should want their operations to have as little impact on the environment as possible, and eCombustible can help achieve those goals almost immediately."

Contact:

Andrew Mitchell

media@cambridgeglobal.com

SOURCE: eCombustible

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/668735/What-ESG-Compliance-Means-for-Businesses-Jorge-Arevalo
Highlights for the first half of 2021: Listing on Euronext Growth Paris Net assets of 9.1m as at June 30, 2021

Post-closing events: Investment in Exos Financial Investment in Miami International Holdings



Regulatory News:

Hamilton Global Opportunities plc (Paris:ALHGO) provides 2021 half-year financial statements and operation report. The 2021 half-year financial report is available on the company's website, in the Investor section (hamiltongo.eu).

PERFORMANCE Assets as at 30 June 2021 (in ) June 30, 2021 December 31, 2020 Tangible assets 2,978 3,691 Investments 292,194 292,194 Fixed Assets 295,172 295,885 Debtors: amounts falling due within one year 240,134 166,518 Cash at bank and in hand 8,935,469 22,746 Current assets 9,175,603 189,264 Creditors: amounts falling due within one year (320,913) (396,015) Net current assets/(liabilities) 8,854,690 (206,751) Net assets 9,149,862 89,134

Details of the financial statements

Net Assets stood at 9.1m (vs 0.09m as of 31 December 2020). The change in Net Assets during the first half resulted mainly from the increase of Cash and cash equivalents, due to a capital increase carried out during the period for an amount of 9.6m. Hamilton's net cash position as of 30 June 2021 was 8.9m. No investments or commitments were completed during the period.

Highlights of the first half of 2021 and post-closing events

Listing of Hamilton Global Opportunities shares on Euronext Growth Paris

On April 26, 2021, Hamilton Global Opportunities plc announced the direct listing of its shares on Euronext Growth Paris. Hamilton Global Opportunities plc gives to investors the opportunity to access private equity capital returns through a listed investment vehicle which focuses on investments in Tech, Fintech and MedTech principally in the United States and Israel.

First major investment as a listed entity in Exos Financial

On July 6, 2021, Hamilton Global Opportunities plc announced its first major deal with a $3 million investment in Exos Financial, as part of a Series B funding round which will be used to accelerate growth both organically and through acquisitions. Exos builds a data-enabled institutional finance platform designed to deliver the full suite of investment banking services in a modern and interconnected way. Exos was founded in the United States in 2018 by an experienced team of financial services professionals and data experts led by Brady Dougan, former global CEO of Credit Suisse.

Investment in Miami International Holdings, the leading private US multi-platform exchange operator

On October 7, 2021, Hamilton Global Opportunities plc announced a USD $3 million investment in Miami International Holdings, Inc. one of the leading exchange players in the U.S. options market. Miami International Holdings, Inc. (MIH) is the parent company of multiple securities exchanges, based on the MIAX platform, developed in-house and designed for derivatives trading. In addition to three licensed U.S. securities exchanges Miami International Securities Exchange, LLC (MIAX), MIAX Pearl, LLC (MIAX Pearl) and MIAX Emerald, LLC (MIAX Emerald and together with MIAX and MIAX Pearl, the MIAX Exchange Group) MIH is also the parent company of the Minneapolis Grain Exchange, LLC, a Designated Contract Market (DCM) and Derivatives Clearing Organization (DCO) licensed by the U.S.

Gustavo Perrotta, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Hamilton Global Opportunities plc declares: "We are thrilled with the development of Hamilton Global Opportunities plc so far. Indeed, following our listing on Euronext Growth in Paris, which was intended to give investors access to a permanent capital vehicle able to capture value creation from investment opportunities in Tech, Fintech and Medtech with a particular focus on social impact, mainly in the United States and Israel. We have concluded two major deals: Exos Financial and Miami International Holdings for amounts of $3 million each. These achievements perfectly illustrate our investment rationale and demonstrate the quality of our operational processes in addition to a strict and optimised control of our financial balance. Thus, we are confident for the future expansion of Hamilton Global Opportunities' portfolio, which will benefit from strong deal flow perspective supported by our extensive network in the United States and the rest of the world and with a growing interest in private equity."

About Hamilton Global Opportunities

Hamilton Global Opportunities PLC ("HGO") is an investment company listed on the Euronext Growth Market focusing on investments in Tech, Fintech and MedTech principally in the United States and Israel. The HGO management team has significant relevant experience in structuring direct investments in the areas above mentioned. For more information, please visit: hamiltongo.eu

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211019005949/en/

Contacts:

Hamilton Global Opportunities

Gustavo Perrotta

Founder CEO

gp@hamiltongo.eu

Gavin Alexander

Partner

ga@hamiltongo.eu

Andrew Wynn

Partner

aw@hamiltongo.eu

NewCap

Louis Tilquin Louis-Victor Delouvrier

Investor Relations

hamilton@newcap.eu

+33 (0)1 44 71 98 53

NewCap

Nicolas Merigeau

Media Relations

hamilton@newcap.eu

+33 (0)1 44 71 94 98




Lyon, 19 October 2021 - Theranexus, a biopharmaceutical company innovating in the treatment of neurological diseases and pioneer in the development of drug candidates modulating the interaction between neurons and glial cells, today announces its cash position as at 30 September 2021.



Total available funds on 30 September 2021 stood at 12.5 M, compared with 13.5 M on 30 June 2021. The Company's cash position is relatively stable and provides financial visibility for the next 18 months in accordance with its set targets. During the second half of 2021, the Company should also benefit from the 2020 Research Tax Credit (CIR) for a sum of 1.0 M, and from Bpifrance funding for an amount of 1.0 M in connection with the Neurolead project.

Thierry Lambert, Chief Financial Officer of Theranexus, made the following comment: "The Company's cash position of 12.5 M on 30 September 2021 illustrates controlled cash consumption and is consistent with our objective to maintain financial visibility for at least the next 18 months."





Theranexus appoints Marie Sebille as Chief Medical Officer

The Company has appointed Marie Sebille, MD, PhD, as Chief Medical Officer to run Theranexus' main clinical programs of development. Doctor Werner Rein will continue to support the Company as senior consultant in its overall clinical development strategy.

Marie is an MD by training and holds a PhD in neurosciences. She has almost 30 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, where she has worked in various positions as a physician in Global Medical and Global Clinical Development. She contributed to the development of multiple drugs in neurology and psychiatry, then she held several executive positions managing Clinical Operations in Sanofi R&D. During her tenure, Marie's organization supported all major registration files in Rare Diseases, Oncology, I&I and Diabetes & Metabolism, as well as Life Cycle Management programs.

Franck Mouthon, Chairman, CEO and co-founder of Theranexus, made the following comments: "We are delighted to welcome Marie to support us in the pursuit of our clinical programs. Her expertise in the development of drugs for neurology and rare diseases is a key asset for Theranexus. We would also like to thank Werner for his contribution to the development of Theranexus' pipeline and we are glad to continue benefiting from his strategic vision."





Progress on the main clinical programs



Drug candidate THN 102 - Excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) in Parkinson's disease

THN102 is the first potential treatment for excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) in patients with Parkinson's disease. Discussions with several potential industrial partners are still continuing. The teams remain fully committed and dedicated to ensuring industrial development of the drug candidate THN 102 through an industrial partnership governing the usage format, geographical areas concerned and clinical development pathway.



Drug candidate BBDF 101 for Batten disease, a rare orphan pediatric disorder of the nervous system

In early September 20211, Theranexus announced receipt of Investigational New Drug (IND) approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to launch a Phase I/II clinical trial of their drug candidate BBDF 101 for juvenile Batten disease, a rare and fatal disorder.

The clinical program will start by the end of 2021 with Phase I/II. Phase III will start after consulting with the FDA in the second half of 2022, once the pharmacokinetic and tolerance results have been established during the first 4.5 months of Phase I/II treatment.

ABOUT THERANEXUS



Theranexus is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company that emerged from the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) in 2013. It develops drug candidates for the treatment of nervous system diseases.

Thanks to its knowledge of neuron and glial cell interactions, THERANEXUS is a pioneer in the design and combination of approved substances and has a solid and diversified portfolio of drug candidates in clinical-phase testing. The company's combined drug repurposing strategy based on a solid commercial footing and a capability to rapidly demonstrate its clinical worth, enables it to produce different high-value-added proprietary drug candidates, significantly reduce development time and costs, and considerably increase the chance of its drugs reaching the market.

Accordingly, THERANEXUS is well-positioned in several indications, including for Parkinson's and Batten disease, for which there is currently no treatment available.

Theranexus is listed on the Euronext Growth market in Paris (FR0013286259- ALTHX).

More information at: www.theranexus.com







More information on: http://www.theranexus.com

Click and follow us on Twitter and Linkedln





Contacts



THERANEXUS

Thierry LAMBERT

Chief Financial Officer

investisseurs@theranexus.fr





ACTUS finance & communication

Claire RIFFAUD

Investor Relations

+33 (0)1 53 67 36 79

theranexus@actus.fr





FP2COM

Florence PORTEJOIE

Media Relations

+ 33 (0)6 07 76 82 83

fportejoie@fp2com.fr

1 See press release of 9 September 2021 (Theranexus and the Beyond Batten Disease Foundation (BBDF) win American Investigational New Drug (IND) approval to start clinical development of BBDF 101)

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Regulatory News:

CHARLATTE AUTONOM, a joint venture between NAVYA (Paris:NAVYA) and CHARLATTE MANUTENTION, announces that it has issued the CE declaration of conformity to the Machine Directive for the AUTONOM TRACT AT135, a decisive step towards its commercialization and operation in complete autonomy, without a safety driver.

A state-of-the-art design, in compliance with CE and ISO regulation

The AUTONOM TRACT AT135 is the result of an inherently safe technical development that allows it to issue its CE declaration in compliance with the 2006/42 Machine Regulation. To ensure the safe operation of the AT135 in its environment, a global risk assessment led to the development of a safe hardware and software architecture. As a result of this design, the AUTONOM TRACT complies with the industry standard ISO 3691-4:2020 for driverless industrial trucks.

Experiment with GEODIS in real conditions

The AUTONOM TRACT AT135 is already in use in real conditions on the production site of a major global car manufacturer, operated by the logistics company GEODIS. This experiment allows the AT135 to be evaluated under demanding conditions and to demonstrate, with performance measurements, its safe operation as well as its operational and economic relevance. It fits naturally into existing traffic, both indoors and outdoors, offering a maximum operating speed of 15km/h in full autonomy and a traction capacity of 25 tons.

Autonomous driving as a solution for the logistics sector

The main markets targeted by CHARLATTE AUTONOM are industrial and airport logistics, which are suffering from staffing issues due to the lack of manpower and need flexible solutions. As a pioneer in the electrification of handling vehicle fleets in industrial and airport environments, CHARLATTE MANUTENTION supports its customers in optimizing their performance by providing them with autonomous mobility solutions.

Pierre Lahutte, CEO of NAVYA, states: "The achievement of this new milestone is the result of the joint design work of CHARLATTE MANUTENTION and NAVYA, carried out in full compliance with industry standards. This CE certification demonstrates the safe operation of the AUTONOM TRACT AT135, based on Driven by NAVYA technology, and now allows us to launch its awaited commercialization in a context of increasing lack of qualified resources in the logistics sector

Bastien Devaux, President of CHARLATTE MANUTENTION, indicates: "This step marks the beginning of the commercialization phase of the AUTONOM TRACT AT135, meeting the needs identified in the industrial and airport handling markets to deploy safe, high-performance solutions that generate productivity gains

Thierry Schnepp, Project Director for GEODIS' Contract Logistics Division, states: "This experiment is in line with GEODIS' 'Keep Rising' philosophy, which encourages us to anticipate and take advantage of technological developments. It helps us to continually offer innovative solutions to improve our customers' performance

About NAVYA

Created in 2014, NAVYA is a leading French name specialized in the supply of autonomous mobility systems and associated services. With 280 employees in France (Paris and Lyon), in the United States (Michigan) and in Singapore, NAVYA aims at becoming the leading player in Level 4 autonomous mobility systems for passenger and goods transport. Since 2015, NAVYA has been the first to market and put into service autonomous mobility solutions. The Autonom Shuttle, main development axis, is dedicated to passenger transport. Since its launch, more than 180 units have been sold in 23 countries as of 31 December 2020. The Autonom Tract is designed to goods transport. Engaged in an ambitious CSR approach, the Company has an active policy in this area, as illustrated by the obtaining of the ISO 9001 certification in September 2021. The Valeo and Keolis groups are among NAVYA's historical shareholders.

NAVYA is listed on the Euronext regulated market in Paris (ISIN code: FR0013018041- Navya).

For more information visit: www.navya.tech/en

About CHARLATTE MANUTENTION

Charlatte Manutention, a Fayat Group company, is the world leader in electric luggage tractors. With 140 employees in France and the United States, Charlatte Manutention generated sales of 65 million euros in 2017-2018. With a presence in 170 countries through its 196 companies, and thanks to the involvement of its 21,425 employees, the Fayat Group, founded in France in 1957, supports its customers throughout the world with innovative and sustainable solutions for the construction market and in the seven major sectors around which it has been built: Public Works, Foundations, Building, Energy Services, Metal and Mechanical Construction, Boilermaking and Road Material. In 2018, the Group generated sales of 4.4 billion. World leader and specialist in road equipment, Fayat offers a complete and high-performance range of equipment in line with each stage of the road's life cycle.

About CHARLATTE AUTONOM

CHARLATTE AUTONOM is a joint venture created in 2018 by NAVYA, a leader in autonomous mobility systems, and CHARLATTE MANUTENTION (Fayat Group), a world leader in the design and manufacture of electric handling equipment for industrial and airport use, with the aim of developing autonomous tractor solutions for industrial and airport sites. As a result of this shared expertise and know-how, the AUTONOM TRACT AT135 is an autonomous, electric and supervised solution for the transport of goods.

About GEODIS www.geodis.com

GEODIS is a global leading transport and logistics services provider recognized for its commitment to helping clients overcome their logistical constraints. GEODIS' growth-focused offerings (Supply Chain Optimization, Freight Forwarding, Contract Logistics, Distribution Express, and Road Transport) coupled with the company's truly global reach thanks to a global network spanning nearly 170 countries, translates in top business rankings, #1 in France and #7 worldwide. In 2020, GEODIS accounted for over 41,000 employees globally and generated 8.4 billion in sales.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211019005998/en/

Contacts:

NAVYA

CSR, Marketing

Communication Manager

Melanie Voron

melanie.voron@navya.tech

+33 (0)6 68 23 82 84

CFO

Benoit Jacheet

finance@navya.tech

NewCap

Investor relations

Thomas Grojean

Nicolas Fossiez

navya@newcap.eu

+33 (0)1 44 71 94 94

NewCap

Media relations

Nicolas Merigeau

navya@newcap.eu

+33 (0)1 44 71 94 98
LONDON, United Kingdom, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Knowde Group Inc., the Canadian based Global Contract Research Organization and hybrid consultancy specialising in cannabis and psychedelic research, announced today that it has incorporated in the United Kingdom.

"As a global CRO, it was important for us to incorporate in the United Kingdom providing our footprint into Europe. We have had meetings with regulatory and funding bodies, to strategically position Knowde Group to assist our clients in pursuing clinical trials in Europe focused on these novel therapeutics." said Jaspreet Grewal, CEO Knowde Group Inc.

In addition to incorporating, Knowde Group has entered into a strategic partnership with QNTM Labs in Denmark, a pharmaceutical laboratory developing analytical methods for cannabinoid-based products.

"We are pushing the cannabis industry to take a high standard pharmaceutical approach and challenging how the lab industry works in the process, as traditional lab facilities struggle to deliver medical cannabis testing at EU-GMP standards." said Justin Ihnken, CEO & Co-founder of QNTM Labs. "This partnership will allow for both companies to support clients from implementing a full suite of GMP-level analysis to the conduct of robust clinical trials to advance cannabinoid products."

As part of our move into Europe, Knowde Group is also pleased to announce the appointment of our Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Steve Hajioff. He is an accomplished physician, epidemiologist and clinical leader with a long track record of innovation and thought leadership in the life sciences, research and healthcare sectors.

In addition, Knowde Group is pleased to announce our Global Project Manager in the UK, Eleanor Owen-Jones, is a RN, Project Manager and previous MSL for Canopy Growth. Eleanor will be leading our research and projects in Europe. Eleanor comes with extensive clinical trial, project management experience, and regulatory affairs experience in Europe.

About Knowde Group: www.knowdegroup.com

Knowde Group , Inc is a Canadian-based, female-founded global contract research organisation (CRO) and hybrid consultancy dedicated to the advancement of Plant-Based and Progressive Therapeutics . As a decentralised CRO, Knowde Group can engage and manage registry and phase 1-4 clinical trials around the globe. Areas of focus include medicinal cannabis, psychedelics, natural health products, supplements, food products and the use of artificial intelligence for drug discovery through to human trials.

About QNTM Labs: https://qntmlabs.com/

QNTM Labs is an advanced analytical laboratory providing research, development, and regulatory compliance services for pharmaceutical companies. Founded in 2020 and headquartered in Odense, Denmark, QNTM Labs is dedicated to developing innovative analytical methods while maintaining the highest quality levels to forge new industry standards., QNTM Labs is determined to improve transparency and access to robust scientific analysis, working hand-in-hand with global cultivators, API manufacturers, and pharmaceutical industry stakeholders through analytical testing, contract research, and clinical trials support.

For business development and partnership inquiries please contact: Sabrina Ramkellawan, COO Knowde Group:info@knowdegroup.com; Connor Murphy, COO QNTM: InvestorRelations@qntmlabs.com

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Chicago, Illinois--(Newsfile Corp. - October 19, 2021) - According to the new market research report "Epilepsy Monitoring Devices Market by Product (Conventional & Wearable Devices, Standard EEG, Video EEG, Ambulatory EEG, EMG, MEG, Deep Brain Stimulation Devices) End User (Hospitals, Neurology Centres, ASC, Home Care Settings) - Global Forecast to 2026", published by MarketsandMarkets, the Epilepsy Monitoring Devices Market is projected to reach USD 615 million by 2026 from USD 489 million in 2021, at a CAGR of 4.7% during the forecast period.



Browse in-depth TOC on "Epilepsy Monitoring Devices Market"



130 - Tables

43 - Figures

187 - Pages



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The growth of this Epilepsy monitoring devices is majorly attributed to the increasing incidence and prevalence of epilepsy, growing preference for ambulatory healthcare and increasing use of wearables, growing demand for continuous monitoring, and the rising awareness of neurodegenerative diseases, including epilepsy. On the other hand, the high cost of complex epilepsy monitoring procedures and devices and the unfavorable reimbursement policies are restraining the growth of this market.



By product type segment, the conventional devices segment accounted for the largest market share during the forecast period.



Based on products, the epilepsy monitoring devices market has been segmented into wearable devices and conventional devices. The factors attributing to the large revenue of the conventional devices segment include the increasing incidence of epilepsy, especially in developing countries, and rising awareness about neurodegenerative diseases like epilepsy among the population.



Monitoring devices accounted for the largest market share in the conventional devices segment during the forecast period.



In the conventional devices segment, monitoring devices accounted for the largest market share during the forecast period. This can be attributed to the increasing demand for continuous, non-invasive monitoring of epilepsy and the application of these devices in other areas of neurology.



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North America dominates the epilepsy monitoring devices market during the forecast period.



North America accounted for the largest share of the market in 2020. The high incidence of neurological disorders, a growing number of clinical trials for epilepsy monitoring devices, and a large number of end users in the US are the major factor contributing to this.



The major players in the global epilepsy monitoring devices market include Natus Medical, Inc. (US), Compumedics Limited (Australia), Empatica, Inc. (US), The Magstim Co. Ltd. (UK), Nihon Kohden Corporation (Japan), Medtronic Plc (Ireland), Masimo Corporation (US), Boston Scientific Corporation (US), Dragerwerk AG & Co. KGaA (Germany), mjn Neuroserveis S.L. (Spain), Abbott Laboratories, Inc. (US), LivAssured B.V. (Netherlands), BioSerenity (France), Aleva Neurotherapeutics (Switzerland), Medpage, Ltd. (UK), Neurosoft (Russia), Advanced Brain Monitoring (US), Lifelines Neuro Company, LLC (US), Mitsar Co., Ltd. (Russia), Rimed (US), Emotiv (US), CGX (A Cognionics Company) (US), Mindray Medical International Ltd. (China), Cadwell Industries, Inc. (US), NeuroWave Systems, Inc. (US), and MC10, Inc. (US).



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Content Source: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/PressReleases/epilepsy-monitoring-devices.asp

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/100152
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - October 19, 2021) - Upco International Inc. (CSE: UPCO) (OTC Pink: UCCPF) (FSE: U06) ("Upco" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the appointment of Juan Jose Ojeda as Chief Financial Officer.

New Chief Financial Officer

Juan Jose Ojeda will immediately succeed Osvaldo Navarro who announced his resignation earlier this week. Mr. Juan Jose Ojeda previously held the position as CFO in LImpiolux S.A Mr Ojeda has a degree of Public Accountant in Universidad de Belgrano. He also furthered his education at IAE, where he graduated PDD program. He is a native Spanish speaker and fluent in English.

"We welcome Mr. Ojeda to our leadership team," said Andrea Pagani, CEO of Upco International. "His more than 20 years of experience in the financial sector brings Upco a strong network and knowledge needed to support our growth initiatives." Mr. Pagani, continued: "We would like to thank Mr. Navarro for his work over the past year overseeing our financial restructuring and wish him success in his future endeavors."

Juan Jose Ojeda, CFO of Upco International stated: "I look forward to the opportunity of contributing to Upco's future success and growth of the company."

The company further announces that it has granted an aggregate of 800,000 stock options to certain employees of the Company. The options will vest 25% in 12 Month from the Issuance, 25% 24 months from date of issuance and 25% at 36 and 48 months from the date of issuance and may be exercised at an exercise price of CAD$0.09 per common share, for a period of 4 years from the date of issuance or earlier in accordance with the Company's incentive stock option plan.

About Upco International Inc. ("Upco")

Upco International is a cloud-based mobile technology and telecommunications company focused on providing users with a secure communication ecosystem for texting and calling globally. Upco's telecom division is managed by its wholly owned subsidiary Oktacom Inc. The Company is a licensed Global Telecom Carrier allowing its international VoIP (voice over IP) wholesale business to more efficiently execute high-quality voice termination to a market driven by the growing activity in online communications and commerce. Upco's digital division is managed by its second wholly owned subsidiary, UpOne. UpOne is building a mobile app, currently available on Android and iOS, that is advancing towards offering users the ability to send invoices, approve payments, transfer international funds, convert international currencies, and track transfers and payments.

Please visit www.upcointernational.com for further information.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Andrea Pagani, CEO and Director

office@upcointernational.com

+1 (646) 766-1275

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking information or forward-looking statements (collectively "forward-looking information") within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking information is typically identified by words such as: "will" "may" "believe", "expect", "anticipate", "intend", "estimate", "development", "forthcoming", "potentially" and similar expressions, or are those, which, by their nature, refer to future events. Upco cautions investors that any forward-looking information provided by Upco is not a guarantee of future results or performance.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/100203
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - October 19, 2021) - The 2021 Canadian Hedge Fund Awards, the highest honour in Canada's hedge fund industry, were presented this afternoon at the virtual event produced by Alternative IQ.

The Canadian Hedge Fund Awards help investors identify the most exceptional hedge funds, recognizing winners in 5 categories as well as the Overall Best 2021 Canadian Hedge Fund.

A total of 226 Canadian Hedge Funds were included in the 2021 CHFA program. The awards are based solely on quantitative performance data to June 30th, with Fundata Canada managing the collection and tabulation of the data to determine the winners. There is no nomination process or subjective assessment in identifying the winning hedge funds.

For the full Directory of Canadian Hedge Funds, including performance data, check here: http://alternativeiq.com/hf-directory/.

Average Performance as at June 30, 2021

Category Avg 1Yr Return Avg 3Yr Return Avg 5Yr Return Avg 3Yr Sharpe Avg 5Yr Sharpe Equity Focused 48.91 12.73 11.73 0.65 0.76 Credit Focused 15.80 6.28 7.40 0.75 0.99 Market Neutral 9.01 4.47 3.43 0.40 0.44 Global Macro/Managed Futures/Multi-Strategy 21.71 6.55 6.41 0.65 0.72 Private Debt 4.18 4.98 6.05 n/a n/a Total 33.49 9.40 9.13 0.64 0.75

Overall Best 2021 Canadian Hedge Fund:

(based on best combined 10 year annualized return and Sharpe ratio).

(based on 10 Year Return AND Sharpe Ratio) Place Fund Name 10 Year Return 10 Year Sharpe Ratio 1 GFI Good Opportunities Fund 16.30% 1.31 2 ROMC Fund 14.61% 0.81 3 WARATAH Performance 9.38% 1.21

2021 Canadian Hedge Fund Award Winners by Category are:

Equity Focused Category

1 Year Return Place Fund Name Return 1 Palos WP Growth Fund 206.95 2 XIB Fund 165.04 3 AlphaNorth Partners Fund 153.35 3 Year Return Place Fund Name Return 1 Lynwood Opportunities Fund 51.99 2 AlphaNorth Partners Fund 40.98 3 Palos WP Growth Fund 36.17 5 Year Return Place Fund Name Return 1 AlphaNorth Partners Fund 40.35 2 MMCap Canadian Fund 33.97 3 Covista Value Fund LP 28.73 3 Year Sharpe Ratio Place Fund Name Sharpe Ratio 1 Lynwood Opportunities Fund 1.94 2 Forge First Long Short LP 1.44 3 NewGen Equity Long-Short Fund LP 1.42 5 Year Sharpe Ratio Place Fund Name Sharpe Ratio 1 WARATAH Performance 1.75 2 NewGen Equity Long-Short Fund LP 1.54 3 Lumen Long Short Equity Fund 1.44

Credit Focused Category:

1 Year Return Place Fund Name Return 1 NorthStream Credit Strategies Fund LP 55.69 2 RP Select Opportunities Fund 37.87 3 Wealhouse Amplus Credit Income Fund 28.00 3 Year Return Place Fund Name Return 1 NorthStream Credit Strategies Fund LP 12.31 2 East Coast Strategic Credit Trust 10.11 3 Purpose Credit Opportunities Fund 9.26 5 Year Return Place Fund Name Return 1 NorthStream Credit Strategies Fund LP 13.23 2 Picton Mahoney Special Situations Fund 10.81 3 Purpose Credit Opportunities Fund 10.77 3 Year Sharpe Ratio Place Fund Name Sharpe Ratio 1 Marret Diversified Opportunities Fund 2.17 2 Marret Enhanced Tactical Fixed Income Fund 1.67 3 Picton Mahoney Special Situations Fund 1.09 5 Year Sharpe Ratio Place Fund Name Sharpe Ratio 1 Marret Enhanced Tactical Fixed Income Fund 2.01 2 Picton Mahoney Special Situations Fund 1.60 3 Picton Mahoney Income Opportunities Fund 1.44

Market Neutral Category:

1 Year Return Place Fund Name Return 1 Picton Mahoney Arbitrage Plus Fund 39.48 2 The HGC Fund LP 32.40 3 Picton Mahoney Arbitrage Fund 18.53 3 Year Return Place Fund Name Return 1 The HGC Fund LP 18.80 2 Picton Mahoney Arbitrage Plus Fund 18.14 3 Picton Mahoney Arbitrage Fund 8.89 5 Year Return Place Fund Name Return 1 The HGC Fund LP 14.34 2 Picton Mahoney Arbitrage Fund 6.82 3 Picton Mahoney Market Neutral Equity Fund 5.84

3 Year Sharpe Ratio Place Fund Name Sharpe Ratio 1 The HGC Fund LP 1.47 2 Picton Mahoney Arbitrage Plus Fund 1.45 3 Picton Mahoney Arbitrage Fund 1.37 5 Year Sharpe Ratio Place Fund Name Sharpe Ratio 1 The HGC Fund LP 1.43 2 Picton Mahoney Arbitrage Fund 1.29 3 Picton Mahoney Market Neutral Equity Fund 1.05

Global Macro/Managed Futures/Multi-Strategy Category:

1 Year Return Place Fund Name Return 1 Palos Income Fund, LP 53.89 2 Viewpoint Global Risk Parity LP 53.50 3 Level 3 Total Return Opportunities Fund 51.96 3 Year Return Place Fund Name Return 1 The K2 Principal Fund LP 19.74 2 K2 Principal Trust 19.16 3 AIP Convertible Private Debt Fund LP 16.40 5 Year Return Place Fund Name Return 1 AIP Convertible Private Debt Fund LP 20.42 2 The K2 Principal Fund LP 17.23 3 K2 Principal Trust 17.06 3 Year Sharpe Ratio Place Fund Name Sharpe Ratio 1 TURN8 Alternative Fund 1.95 2 AIP Convertible Private Debt Fund LP 1.78 3 Forge First Multi Strategy LP 1.53 5 Year Sharpe Ratio Place Fund Name Sharpe Ratio 1 TURN8 Alternative Fund 2.23 2 AIP Convertible Private Debt Fund LP 1.95 3 Kensington Alternative Strategies Fund 1.79

Private Debt

1 Year Return Place Fund Name Return 1 Purpose Specialty Lending Trust 12.46 2 Ninepoint Monroe U.S Private Debt Fund 12.33 3 Portland Private Income Fund 11.58 3 Year Return Place Fund Name Return 1 Westbridge Capital Partners Income Trust 11.54 2 Invico Diversified Income Fund 9.28 3 Portland Private Income Fund 8.19 5 Year Return Place Fund Name Return 1 Bloom Burton Healthcare Lending Trust 9.89 2 Invico Diversified Income Fund 9.75 3 Ninepoint TEC Private Credit Fund 8.64

The 14th Annual Canadian Hedge Fund Awards and Virtual Conference:

In addition to the announcement of the Winners of the 2021 Canadian Hedge Fund Awards, online guests heard from industry thought leaders on a range of topics. Speakers included Steven Palmer, Founding Partner and CIO, AlphaNorth Asset Management; Chung Kim, Portfolio Manager, Arrow Capital Management; Tim Elliott, President at Connor, Clark & Lunn; Scott Miller, Director of Business Development, East Coast Fund Management; and Sandy Liang, Partner and Portfolio Manager, Purpose Investments.

The 2021 Canadian Hedge Fund Awards program would not have been possible without the generous support of its Sponsors:

Principal Sponsors: Fundata Canada and KPMG

Supporting Hedge Funds: AIP Asset Management, AlphaNorth Asset Management, Arrow Capital Management, Connor Clark & Lunn Financial Group, East Coast Fund Management, GFI Investment Counsel, HGC Investment Management, Picton Mahoney Asset Management, Purpose Investments and Waratah Capital Advisors

Associate Sponsors: National Bank Independent Network, Osler, RBC Capital Markets, Scotiabank, SGGG Fund Services, Sigma Sandbox, SS&C Technologies, and TD Bank

Media Partner: Newsfile

For more information about the annual CHFA program, go to: www.alternativeiq.com or call:

Julie Makepeace

Managing Director, Alternative IQ; and

President, Alliance Sales and Marketing, Inc.

jmakepeace@alliancesalesandmarketing.com

416-906-3782

About Alternative IQ: Alternative IQ produces the annual Canadian Hedge Fund Awards program and its presentation events held in Toronto each October (performance as at June 30th), the annual CHFA Winners Showcase Investor Conferences which present managers of award-winning hedge funds to investors, and various other programs and publications serving the hedge fund industry in Canada. Alternative IQ is dedicated to celebrating, supporting and expanding Canada's Hedge Fund Industry. AIQ is a division of Alliance Sales and Marketing, Inc.

About the Annual Canadian Hedge Fund Awards: The Annual Canadian Hedge Fund Awards were first held in 2008 and have a two-fold objective: First, to celebrate the talent and accomplishments of Canada's hedge fund industry, and second, to draw attention to Canada's hedge funds by raising the awareness of that expertise in the media and among the wider investment community.

- 30 -

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/100053
QIAGEN leverages QuantiFERON-TB technology to advance global efforts against TB

TB IGRA testing now accessible in high burden, low resource and decentralized settings

Study data also showcased at the Union World Conference show promising results

QIAGEN N.V. (NYSE: QGEN; Frankfurt Prime Standard: QIA) today announced the launch and CE marking of QIAreach QuantiFERON-TB test for tuberculosis (TB) infection, in order to help achieve global TB elimination targets by increasing access to easy and reliable TB testing, especially in high burden countries, low-resource regions.

A milestone in the fight against a pathogen estimated to be carried by over two billion people worldwide, built on the proven QuantiFERON-TB Gold Plus technology, QIAreach QuantiFERON-TB is a portable device that enables the ultrasensitive digital detection of TB infection with an end-to-end workflow that is simple and cost efficient, and increases access to reliable Interferon Gamma Release Assay (IGRA) testing. QIAGEN will focus on regions that face a high burden of the disease, and where getting access to lab infrastructure and resources for testing are limited.

"With QIAreach QuantiFERON-TB we have taken a great step towards leaving no one behind when facing a deadly disease like tuberculosis that is preventable and curable. With this groundbreaking new way to detect TB infections we can aid to prevent patients, especially those in high burden countries, from developing the active form of TB," said Thierry Bernard, CEO of QIAGEN. "It combines QIAGEN's proven QuantiFERON-TB technology with a very portable and field-friendly digital device to deliver extremely reliable results without the need for complex laboratory infrastructure at effective cost."

A quantum leap from the traditional TB skin test, QuantiFERON-TB uses blood samples to test for interferon-gamma molecules released from T-cells that have come into contact with TB bacteria. QIAreach QuantiFERON-TB runs these tests on the digital eHub and eStick system, a true walkaway solution with random access and no calibration or maintenance. QIAreach QuantiFERON TB testing requires one patient visit and produces an easy-to-read result in 20 minutes after sample incubation, with the ability to record and send results for improved data management, making it ideal for TB screening programs.

QIAGEN will work with commercial distribution partners as well as the Stop TB Partnership's Global Drug Facility to ensure affordable access across all high burden, low and middle-income countries. In parallel, QIAGEN will continue its close collaboration with a variety of international organizations and public health institutions to help drive scale-up through innovative implementation projects.

"Lack of access to the latest diagnostic tests is just one of the reasons the world is not on track to meet UN Sustainable Development goals to end TB," said Dr. Lucica Ditiu, Executive Director of the Stop TB partnership. "The COVID-19 pandemic saw nine of the countries with the most TB cases cut diagnosis and treatment of the disease by 16-41 percent, setting us back to 2008 levels. Without rapidly rolling out new tools, the commitments made by heads of states to find and treat 40 million people by the end of 2022 will not be met."

Clinical evaluations of the test demonstrated an excellent level of agreement as well as high sensitivity when compared with QuantiFERON-TB Gold Plus, the most recognized, gold standard IGRA marketed worldwide by QIAGEN. The new QIAreach QuantiFERON-TB test was assessed at the Nagasaki Genbaku Isahaya Hospital, Japan, and the six Zambart project sites (Zambia), and shown to be a novel portable and simple-to-use assay that can be implemented with minimal infrastructure for the diagnosis of TB infection.

Published study results can be found here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2531043721001513

Additional study results from Malaysia on QIAreach QuantiFERON-TB will also be featured in a symposium at the 52nd annual Union World Conference on Lung Health from October 19th-22 2021, held virtually this year. Further details and event information can be found here: https://theunion.org/our-work/conferences/52nd-union-world-conference-on-lung-health

Find more information on the QIAreach QuantiFERON-TB platform at http://www.qiagen.com/qiareach

About QIAGEN

QIAGEN N.V., a Netherlands-based holding company, is the leading global provider of Sample to Insight solutions that enable customers to gain valuable molecular insights from samples containing the building blocks of life. Our sample technologies isolate and process DNA, RNA and proteins from blood, tissue and other materials. Assay technologies make these biomolecules visible and ready for analysis. Bioinformatics software and knowledge bases interpret data to report relevant, actionable insights. Automation solutions tie these together in seamless and cost-effective workflows. QIAGEN provides solutions to more than 500,000 customers around the world in Molecular Diagnostics (human healthcare) and Life Sciences (academia, pharma R&D and industrial applications, primarily forensics). As of June 30, 2021, QIAGEN employed approximately 5,900 people in over 35 locations worldwide. Further information can be found at http://www.qiagen.com

Forward-Looking Statement

Certain statements contained in this press release may be considered forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. To the extent that any of the statements contained herein relating to QIAGEN's products, including those products used in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, timing for launch and development, marketing and/or regulatory approvals, financial and operational outlook, growth and expansion, collaborations markets, strategy or operating results, including without limitation its expected adjusted net sales and adjusted diluted earnings results, are forward-looking, such statements are based on current expectations and assumptions that involve a number of uncertainties and risks. Such uncertainties and risks include, but are not limited to, risks associated with management of growth and international operations (including the effects of currency fluctuations, regulatory processes and dependence on logistics), variability of operating results and allocations between customer classes, the commercial development of markets for our products to customers in academia, pharma, applied testing and molecular diagnostics; changing relationships with customers, suppliers and strategic partners; competition; rapid or unexpected changes in technologies; fluctuations in demand for QIAGEN's products (including fluctuations due to general economic conditions, the level and timing of customers' funding, budgets and other factors); our ability to obtain regulatory approval of our products; difficulties in successfully adapting QIAGEN's products to integrated solutions and producing such products; the ability of QIAGEN to identify and develop new products and to differentiate and protect our products from competitors' products; market acceptance of QIAGEN's new products and the integration of acquired technologies and businesses; actions of governments, global or regional economic developments, weather or transportation delays, natural disasters, political or public health crises, including the breadth and duration of the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on the demand for our products and other aspects of our business, or other force majeure events; as well as the possibility that expected benefits related to recent or pending acquisitions may not materialize as expected; and the other factors discussed under the heading "Risk Factors" contained in Item 3 of our most recent Annual Report on Form 20-F. For further information, please refer to the discussions in reports that QIAGEN has filed with, or furnished to, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Category: Corporate

Source: QIAGEN N.V.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211019006154/en/

Contacts:

QIAGEN

Investor Relations

John Gilardi +49 2103 29 11711

Phoebe Loh +49 2103 29 11457

e-mail: ir@QIAGEN.com

Public Relations

Thomas Theuringer +49 2103 29 11826

Robert Reitze +49 2103 29 11676

e-mail: pr@QIAGEN.com
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - October 19, 2021) - ALX Resources Corp. (TSXV: AL) (FSE: 6LLN) (OTC: ALXEF) ("ALX" or the "Company") announced today that the Company has both staked and purchased additional claims at its 100% owned Lazy Edward Bay Uranium Project ("Lazy Edward Bay"), and has negotiated a three-year extension of time with an underlying vendor for two claims within its 100%-owned Newnham Lake Uranium Project ("Newnham Lake"). Each of the projects are located in the Athabasca Basin, Saskatchewan.

Lazy Edward Bay Acquisitions

ALX has executed a purchase agreement (the "Purchase") with Eagle Plains Resources Ltd. ("Eagle Plains") for a 100% interest in nine (9) claims totaling 2,409.75 hectares (5,954.5 acres) as a complement to the Company's existing land package at Lazy Edward Bay. The combination of the Purchase with six (6) additional claims staked by ALX in mid-September 2021 will bring the total area of Lazy Edward Bay to 10,984.33 hectares (27,142.28 acres). As consideration for the Purchase, Eagle Plains has agreed to receive 600,000 common shares of ALX and will retain a 2.0% net smelter returns royalty ("NSR"), of which ALX has the right to purchase 1.0% (one-half) of the NSR for $1.0 million.

Newnham Lake Option Agreement Extension

ALX has negotiated a three-year extension of time (the "Extension") with an underlying arms-length vendor for two claims totaling 1,518.6 hectares (the "Claims") within Newnham Lake. Under the terms of an option agreement dated August 21, 2014, and a previous extension agreement dated August 19, 2019, ALX was obligated to spend $1.5 million in exploration expenditures on the Claims by August 28, 2022. All other monetary terms of the option agreement (cash and shares payable to the vendor) have been satisfied by ALX. In consideration for a three-year extension to August 28, 2025 for ALX to complete the exploration expenditures, ALX has agreed to issue 300,000 common shares of the Company to the vendor.

Closing of the Purchase and the Extension are each subject to the acceptance of the TSX Venture Exchange.

For maps and photos of Lazy Edward Bay and Newnham Lake, please visit our website at: www.alxresources.com

About ALX

ALX is based in Vancouver, BC, Canada and its common shares are listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol "AL," on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange under the symbol "6LLN" and in the United States OTC market under the symbol "ALXEF."

ALX's mandate is to provide shareholders with multiple opportunities for discovery by exploring a portfolio of prospective mineral properties, which include uranium, nickel-copper-cobalt and gold projects. The Company uses the latest exploration technologies and holds interests in over 250,000 hectares of prospective lands in Saskatchewan, a stable Canadian jurisdiction that hosts the highest-grade uranium mines in the world, a producing gold mine, and production from base metals mines, both current and historical.

ALX holds interests in a number of uranium exploration properties in northern Saskatchewan, including a 20% interest in the Hook-Carter Uranium Project, located within the uranium-rich Patterson Lake Corridor with Denison Mines Corp. (80% interest) operating exploration since 2016, a 40% interest in the Black Lake Uranium Project (a joint venture with UEX Corporation and Orano Canada Inc.), and 100% interests in the Gibbons Creek Uranium Project, the Sabre Uranium Project and the Javelin and McKenzie Lake Uranium Projects.

ALX also owns 100% interests in the Firebird Nickel Project (now under option to Rio Tinto Exploration Canada Inc., who can earn up to an 80% interest), the Flying Vee Nickel/Gold and Sceptre Gold projects, and can earn up to an 80% interest in the Alligator Lake Gold Project, all located in northern Saskatchewan, Canada. ALX owns, or can earn, up to 100% interests in the Electra Nickel Project and the Cannon Copper Project located in historic mining districts of Ontario, Canada, the Vixen Gold Project (now under option to First Mining Gold Corp., who can earn up to a 100% interest in two stages), and in the Draco VMS Project in Norway.

For more information about the Company, please visit the ALX corporate website at www.alxresources.com or contact Roger Leschuk, Manager, Corporate Communications at: PH: 604.629.0293 or Toll-Free: 866.629.8368, or by email: rleschuk@alxresources.com

On Behalf of the Board of Directors of ALX Resources Corp.

"Warren Stanyer"

Warren Stanyer, CEO and Chairman

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

Statements in this document which are not purely historical are forward-looking statements, including any statements regarding beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions regarding the future. Forward-looking statements in this news release include: the Company's exploration projects are prospective for uranium and other minerals. It is important to note that the Company's actual business outcomes and exploration results could differ materially from those in such forward-looking statements. Risks and uncertainties include that ALX may not be able to fully finance exploration at its exploration projects, including drilling; initial findings at its projects may prove to be unworthy of further expenditure; commodity prices may not support exploration expenditures at its projects; and economic, competitive, governmental, societal, public health, environmental and technological factors may affect the Company's operations, markets, products and share price. Even if we explore and develop our mineral exploration projects, and even if uranium or other metals or minerals are discovered in quantity, the projects may not prove to be commercially viable. Additional risk factors are discussed in the Company's Management Discussion and Analysis for the Six Months Ended June 30, 2021, which is available under the Company's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com. Except as required by law, we will not update these forward-looking statement risk factors.

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/100216
Judo Bank is now live on the nCino Bank Operating System platform, providing a single digital engagement experience for its customers and employees

SYDNEY, Australia, Oct. 19, 2021.



Judo Bank is now live on nCino's Bank Operating System platform, providing a single digital engagement experience for its customers and employees. Together, these solutions create an agile, scalable, single end-to-end platform for Judo Bank, an SME-focused business bank.

Lisa Frazier, chief operating officer at Judo Bank, said nCino's cutting-edge solutions were a perfect fit for the SME business bank whose strategy is to bring back the craft of relationship banking. "Judo Bank's relationship-based model of getting to know our customers, understand their business and build trust with them, regardless of their location, has been particularly critical during the pandemic," said Frazier. "At Judo Bank, our relationship bankers are passionate about our SME customers and spending quality time with them to deeply understand their business. However, their time is finite. Therefore the systems that support them need to take administration off their plate, support communications and generate fast decisions for customers. We're really excited about the way nCino's cutting-edge technology facilitates this approach - enhancing the way we continue to listen, support and provide finance to more of Australia's SME businesses."

The execution of the cloud-first transformation was led by Accenture, leveraging its nCino expertise and proven track record of helping financial institutions optimise and digitise their processes. The integration was run remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, demonstrating the efficacy of cloud-based software solutions.

"Regardless of geographic location, the fact remains that financial institutions must embrace changing customer dynamics and make their digital offerings their top priority," said Laura Valmorbida, a managing director within Accenture's Financial Services practice in Australia. "Judo Bank's successful cloud implementation helps it deliver an improved, tailored experience that will provide them a significant advantage in the market."

"COVID-19 forced financial institutions to adapt to a new and critically important digital first market, which Judo Bank has embraced and is now realising the benefits of," said Mark Bernhardi, general manager of APAC at nCino. "The partnership with Judo Bank and Accenture further underscores that it takes a culture of innovation and collaboration to enable a financial institution to continue to meet their customers' ongoing needs. We are so proud of the incredible teamwork from all three parties and are thrilled to continue our work with Judo Bank."

About nCino

nCino.

About Judo Bank

Judo Bank is Australia's first fully licensed, purpose built challenger bank dedicated to lending to small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) . Built from the ground up by a small group of deeply experienced and highly credentialed business lending professionals, Judo Bank has brought back old-style, traditional relationship banking -- banking as it used to be, banking as it should be, supported with the latest, legacy free technology environment.

AboutAccenture

Accenture is a global professional services company with leading capabilities in digital, cloud and security. Combining unmatched experience and specialised skills across more than 40 industries, we offer Strategy and Consulting, Interactive, Technology and Operations services - all powered by the world's largest network of Advanced Technology and Intelligent Operations centers. Our 624,000 people deliver on the promise of technology and human ingenuity every day, serving clients in more than 120 countries. We embrace the power of change to create value and shared success for our clients, people, shareholders, partners and communities. Visit us at www.accenture.com.

MEDIA CONTACTS

Sutton Resler, nCino Catalina Garcia, nCino +1 571.236.4966 +61 418 215 423 sresler@mww.com (mailto:sresler@mww.com) catalina.garcia@ncino.com (mailto:catalina.garcia@ncino.com)

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements generally include actions, events, results, strategies and expectations and are often identifiable by use of the words "believes," "expects," "intends," "anticipates," "plans," "seeks," "estimates," "projects," "may," "will," "could," "might," or "continues" or similar expressions. Any forward-looking statements contained in this press release are based upon nCino's historical performance and its current plans, estimates, and expectations, and are not a representation that such plans, estimates, or expectations will be achieved. These forward-looking statements represent nCino's expectations as of the date of this press release. Subsequent events may cause these expectations to change and, except as may be required by law, nCino does not undertake any obligation to update or revise these forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially including, among others, risks and uncertainties relating to the market adoption of our solution, international expansion, and privacy and data security matters. Additional risks and uncertainties that could affect nCino's business and financial results are included in reports filed by nCino with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commissionor the SEC's web site at www.sec.gov). Further information on potential risks that could affect actual results will be included in other filings nCino makes with the SEC from time to time.
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / October 19, 2021 / The Power Play by The Market Herald has announced the release of new interviews with SoLVBL Solutions, Xebra Brands Ltd., Prophecy DeFi, and Max Resource discussing their latest press releases.

The Power Play by The Market Herald provides investors with a quick snapshot of what they need to know about the company's latest press release through exclusive insights and interviews with company executives.

SoLVBL Solutions (CSE:SOLV) granted U.S. patent for Q by SoLVBL

SoLVBL Solutions has received a U.S. patent for its cryptographic product, Q by SoLVBLTM. Raymond Pomroy, CEO of SoLVBL sat down with Caroline Egan to discuss the implications of this critical patent.

For the full interview with Raymond Pomroy and to learn more about the patent, click here.

Xebra Brands (CSE:XBRA) commences trading on the CSE

Xebra Brands has announced that it received final approval to list its common shares on the Canadian Securities Exchange. Board Chairman Robert Giustra spoke with Dave Jackson to discuss the CSE listing, the company's DTC and OTC applications, its upcoming FSE listing and the Mexican Supreme Court injunction vote.

For the full interview with Robert Giustra to read more about the listing, click here.

Prophecy DeFi (CSE:PDFI) subsidiary generates over $2.0M in returns in first 90 days of operation

Prophecy DeFi subsidiary Layer2 Blockchain has generated yield and capital gains of $2.0M over a 90-day period beginning on July 17th. John McMahon, CEO of Prophecy DeFi sat down with Caroline Egan to discuss Layer2's performance and the success of Prophecy DeFi.

For the full interview with John McMahon and to read more about the announcement, click here.

Max Resource (TSXV:MXR) reports standout copper assays

Max Resource has assayed 3.3 per cent copper over 15m at its Cesar Project in northeastern Colombia. Brett Matich, CEO of Max Resource spoke with Dave Jackson to discuss the significance of the results.

For the full interview with Max Resource Corp. and to learn more about their recent assay, click here.

Interviews for The Power Play by The Market Herald are released daily. To learn more about the companies featured in The Power Play or to explore our other interviews visit The Power Play by The Market Herald.

About The Market Herald

The Market Herald Canada is the leading source of authoritative breaking stock market news for self-directed investors. Our team of Canadian markets reporters, editors and technologists covers the entire listed company universe in Canada. We cover over 3,985 businesses, their people, their investors, and their customers. We write the stories that move the Canadian capital markets.

Contact Information:

The Market Herald

Brianna Anthony

brianna.anthony@themarketherald.ca

themarketherald.ca

SOURCE: The Market Herald

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/668768/The-Power-Play-by-The-Market-Herald-Announces-Interviews-with-SoLVBL-Solutions-Xebra-Brands-Ltd-Prophecy-DeFi-and-Max-Resource-on-Latest-Company-News
CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - Japan will on Wednesday release September figures for imports, exports and trade balance, highlighting a modest day for Asia-Pacific economic activity. Imports are expected to surged 34.4 percent on year, slowing from 44.7 percent in August. Exports are called higher by an annual 11.0 percent, down from 26.2 percent in the previous month. The trade deficit is pegged at 519.2 billion yen following the 635.4 billion yen shortfall a month earlier. Australia will see September results for the leading economic index from Westpac; in August, the index dipped 0.3 percent on month. Taiwan will provide September numbers for export orders, with forecasts suggesting a jump of 17.0 percent after rising 17.6 percent in August. China will see September data for house prices; in August, the house price index was up 4.2 percent on year. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
3DEO  l-r Andrew MacPherson, Lee Humble, Ian Wilson, Thea Tebble

3DEO, a Belfast, UK-based company advancing a 5D mapping system, raised UK750k in funding.

The North East Venture Fund (NEVF), supported by the European Regional Development Fund and managed by Mercia, provided the funding.

The company intends to use the funds to further develop the product, take on new client projects, and create 20 jobs.

Founded in 2016 in Belfast by Andrew MacPherson, who had spent years working with 3D interactive technologies, 3DEO is a company with a new interactive 5D mapping platform that makes it easier to monitor and manage complex infrastructure. The system is already being used by BT on 5G projects and by ports and harbours to monitor and manage day to day operations. The cloud-based system combines data and information from diverse sources such as satellites, cameras, sensors and vehicle tracking, visualising it on a single screen to provide a live 5D model of the area.

The platform was initially used by the Port of Belfast to visualise and manage efficient dredging of the seabed and has since been adopted by the ports of Dublin, Warrenpoint and Cork and by Forth Ports at seven of its ports in Scotland.

3DEO is also working in partnership with BT and is a partner in a major environmental project, Forth-ERA, with the University of Stirling. The company received an initial 2m investment from Co Fund NI, managed by Clarendon Fund Managers, and global tech firm FD Technologies. It now has its main operations centre in North Shields where it employs four people. and create 20 new jobs in the North East in the next three years.

FinSMEs

19/10/2021
Accenture (NYSE: ACN) acquired Xoomworks Group, a London, UK-based consulting and technology company that specializes in procurement technology, digital innovation and software solutions development.

The amount of the deal was not disclosed.

The acquisition will expand Accentures capabilities to enable clients to accelerate technology-led business and procurement transformation.



Established in 2000 and led by CEO Malcolm Clark, Xoomworks operates two distinct businesses:

Xoomworks Procurement, a specialist consultancy focused on sourcing and procurement transformation, and

Xoomworks Technology, a software development business that partners with clients across industries to allow them to innovate at speed and scale digital solutions that create value and solve complex business problems.

The firms team of more than 250 professionals are joining Accenture from across their operations in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Romania, Bulgaria, Denmark and Sweden.

The addition of Xoomworks Procurement strengthens Accentures Closed Loop Spend Management capabilities, which help clients with end-to-end transformations that deliver unprecedented visibility across direct and indirect cost categories and drive new ways of working to generate sustainable cost savings and top line value. Xoomworks shares deep relationships with Accenture ecosystem partners, including SAP Ariba, Coupa and Jaggaer.



Xoomworks Technology has in-depth experience in bespoke software development, UX & mobile, data engineering, product innovation, and cloud integrations.

FinSMEs

19/10/2021
Endpoint, an El Segundo, Calif.-based digital title and settlement services company, secured an additional $150m in funding.

The backer was its parent company, First American Financial Corporation, a provider of title insurance, settlement services and risk solutions for real estate transactions.

This latest investment, which broguht the total capital raised by the company to $220m, will allow the company to augment its technology team, further invest in title and settlement automation, and expand its capabilities for proptech companies and real estate professionals.

Led by Scott Martino, CEO, Endpoint is a digital title and settlement services company built to deliver a closing experience for real estate agents, proptech companies and their buyers and sellers. Through its digital platform, the company provides a simplified real estate closing from start to finish. Endpoint has offices and operations in Washington, California, Arizona and Texas.

Since its launch in 2018, Endpoint has teamed with real estate agents, brokerage firms and proptech companies to close more than $2.5 billion in transactions. In 2021, the company doubled its employee base as it expanded into Northern California and Texas, and continued to grow its existing operations in Washington, Arizona and Southern California.

FinSMEs

19/10/2021
Geneva, NY (14456)

Today

Considerable cloudiness with occasional rain showers. A few flurries or snow showers possible. High 42F. Winds WNW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 60%..

Tonight

A few passing clouds, otherwise generally clear. Low near 30F. Winds light and variable.
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Google just announced new Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro 5G smartphones at its fall launch event, as promised. The Pixel 6 comes with a 6.4-inch FHD+ OLED display with 90Hz refresh rate, and the Pixel 6 Pro comes with a 6.7-inch Quad HD+ OLED display with 120Hz variable refresh rate. Both the smartphones are powered by Google Tensor SoC with support for 5G SA/NSA and come with Titan M2 Security chip. These run Android 12, and Google has confirmed that starting with Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro, Pixels will receive security updates for at least 5 years, but OS updates is at 3 years.

Both the phones feature a new 50-megapixel camera with Samsung GN1 sensor to capture more colour, more detail and 150% more light than Pixel 5. There is a 12-megapixel ultrawide lens. The Pixel 6 Pro also has a 48MP telephoto camera with 4x optical zoom and Super Res Zoom lets you zoom up to 20x. It also comes with Google Tensors custom image processor and built-in computational photography with features like Night Sight, Portrait Mode, Magic Eraser and Face Unblur, which can deblur a face to make it sharper.

Google already confirmed that the Pixel 6 will come with an aluminium frame with matte finish and the Pixel 6 Pro comes with a polished aluminium frame. The phones have Corning Gorilla Glass Victus protection on the front, the Pixel 6 Pro also has a Gorilla Glass Vicus protection on the back, and the Pixel 6 replaces this with Gorilla Glass 6. These have IP68 ratings for dust and water resistance.

The Pixel 6 has a 4614mAh battery and the 6 Pro model has a 5000mAh battery, the biggest on a Pixel phone till date. Google says that the Pixel 6 Pro will last for more than 24 hours, even on 5G. The phones support 30W wired charging that can charge Pixel 6 Pros battery up to 50% in just 30 minutes. Google also sells Qi-certified Google Pixel Stand (2nd gen) that offers up to 21W charging for the Pixel 6 and up to 23W charging for the Pixel 6 Pro.

Google Pixel 6 specifications

6.4-inch (1080 x 2400 pixels) FHD+ AMOLED display with 90Hz refresh rate, Corning Gorilla Glass Victus protection

Google Tensor processor (2x 2.80GHz Cortex-X1 + 2 x 2.25GHz Cortex-A76 + 4 x 1.80GHz Cortex-A55) with 848MHz Mali-G78 MP20 GPU, Titan M2 security chip

8GB LPDDR5 RAM, 128GB / 256GB UFS 3.1 storage

Android 12

Dual SIM (nano + eSIM)

50MP rear camera with Samsung GN1 sensor, f/1.85 aperture, OIS, 12MP Ultra-wide camera with Sony IMX386 sensor, f/2.2 aperture, spectral and flicker sensor, 4K video recording at up to 60fps

8MP front camera with /2.0 aperture, 84 wide field of view,

In-display fingerprint scanner

Dimensions: 158.674.88.9 mm; Weight: 207g

USB Type-C audio, Stereo speakers, 3 microphones

Dust and Water-resistant (IP68)

5G SA/NA, 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 6E 802.11ax (2.4/5 GHz), Bluetooth 5.2 LE, GPS, USB Type C 3.1 (1st Gen), NFC

4614mAh battery with 30W wired fast charging, 21W wireless charging

Google Pixel 6 Pro specifications

6.7-inch (3120 x 1440 pixels) curved pOLED LTPO display with 10Hz-120Hz adaptive refresh rate, Corning Gorilla Glass Victus protection

Google Tensor processor (2x 2.80GHz Cortex-X1 + 2 x 2.25GHz Cortex-A76 + 4 x 1.80GHz Cortex-A55) with 848MHz Mali-G78 MP20 GPU, Titan M2 security chip

12GB LPDDR5 RAM, 128GB / 256GB / 512GB UFS 3.1 storage

Android 12

Dual SIM (nano + eSIM)

50MP rear camera with Samsung GN1 sensor, f/1.85 aperture, 12MP Ultra-wide camera with Sony IMX386 sensor, f/2.2 aperture, 48MP telephoto camera with Sony IMX586 sensor, /3.5 aperture, 4X optical zoom, 4K video recording at up to 60fps

11MP front camera with Sony IMX663 sensor, /2.2 aperture, 94 field-of-view, 4K video recording at up to 60fps

In-display fingerprint scanner

Dimensions: 163.975.98.9 mm; Weight: 210g

Dust and Water-resistant (IP68)

USB Type-C audio, Stereo speakers, 3 microphones

5G SA/NA, 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 6E 802.11ax (2.4/5 GHz), Bluetooth 5.2 LE, ultra-wideband (UWB), GPS, USB Type C 3.1 (1st Gen), NFC

5000mAh battery with 30W wired fast charging, 23W wireless charging

Pricing and availability

The Pixel 6 comes in Stormy Black, Kinda Coral and Sorta Seafoam colours and is priced at $599 (Rs. 44,970 approx.) for the 8GB + 128GB version and the 8GB + 256GB version costs $699 (Rs. 52,480 approx.).

The Pixel 6 Pro comes in Stormy Black, Sorta Sunny and Cloudy White colours and is priced at $899 (Rs. 67,490 approx.) for the 12GB + 128GB version, $999 (Rs. 74,995 approx.) for the 12GB + 256GB version and the top-end 12GB + 512GB version costs $1099 (Rs. 82,500 approx.).

These are available to order from today and will be available from stores and major U.S. carriers starting on October 28th. It will also be available in Canada, Australia, Japan, France, Germany, Taiwan and United Kingdom. No details about India launch yet.
SANTA ROSA COUNTY, Fla. (WALA) -- The death of a young child is being investigated by authorities in Santa Rosa County as an accidental drowning, according to officials.

The Santa Rosa County Sheriff's Office says deputies responded to a medical emergency call Saturday, when a 4-year-old child who was missing was found by family members in a pond about 150 yards from the family home.

The child was rushed to a local area hospital by helicopter.
(CNN) -- Colin Powell, the first Black US secretary of state whose leadership in several Republican administrations helped shape American foreign policy in the last years of the 20th century and the early years of the 21st, has died from complications from Covid-19, his family said on Facebook. He was 84.

"General Colin L. Powell, former U.S. Secretary of State and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, passed away this morning due to complications from Covid 19," the Powell family wrote on Facebook, noting he was fully vaccinated.

A source familiar with the matter said Powell had multiple myeloma, a cancer of plasma cells that suppresses the body's immune response. Even if fully vaccinated against Covid-19, those who are immunocompromised are at greater risk from the virus.

"We have lost a remarkable and loving husband, father, grandfather and a great American," the family said.

Powell was a distinguished and trailblazing professional soldier whose career took him from combat duty in Vietnam to becoming the first Black national security adviser during the end of Ronald Reagan's presidency and the youngest and first African American chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under President George H.W. Bush. His national popularity soared in the aftermath of the US-led coalition victory during the Gulf War, and for a time in the mid-90s, he was considered a leading contender to become the first Black President of the United States. But his reputation would be forever stained when, as George W. Bush's first secretary of state, he pushed faulty intelligence before the United Nations to advocate for the Iraq War, which he would later call a "blot" on his record.

Bush said in a statement Monday that Powell was "a great public servant" who was "such a favorite of Presidents that he earned the Presidential Medal of Freedom -- twice. He was highly respected at home and abroad. And most important, Colin was a family man and a friend."

Though Powell never mounted a White House bid, when he was sworn in as Bush's secretary of state in 2001, he became the highest-ranking Black public official to date in the country, standing fourth in the presidential line of succession.

"I think it shows to the world what is possible in this country," Powell said of his history-making nomination during his Senate confirmation hearing. "It shows to the world that: Follow our model, and over a period of time from our beginning, if you believe in the values that espouse, you can see things as miraculous as me sitting before you to receive your approval."

The Point: The Colin Powell Republican no longer exists in the Republican Party

Later in his public life, Powell would grow disillusioned with the Republican Party's rightward lurch and would use his political capital to help elect Democrats to the White House, most notably Barack Obama, the first Black president whom Powell endorsed in the final weeks of the 2008 campaign.

The announcement was seen as a significant boost for Obama's candidacy due to Powell's widespread popular appeal and stature as one of the most prominent and successful Black Americans in public life.

Powell is survived by his wife, Alma Vivian (Johnson) Powell, whom he married in 1962, as well as three children.

It is not clear if Powell had received a booster dose of the vaccine. Covid-19 vaccines are a highly effective tool in preventing severe disease and death, but no vaccine is 100% effective.

More than 7,00 breakthrough cases of Covid-19 that have resulted in death have been reported to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention through October 12. By that time, more than 187 million people in the US were fully vaccinated. That's one out of every 26,000 fully vaccinated people who has died of Covid-19, or 0.004%.

Of those breakthrough cases resulting in death, 85% were among people age 65 and older and 57% were among men, according to the CDC.

CDC data also show that the risk of dying from Covid-19 is more than 11 times higher for unvaccinated adults than it is for vaccinated adults throughout August. Among seniors, who are more susceptible to severe Covid-19, that gap is smaller. Among those 80 and older, the risk of dying from Covid-19 in August was about five times higher among unvaccinated people than among fully vaccinated people.

Leaders mourn a 'trailblazer and role model'

Powell's death was met with an outpouring of grief from former and current leaders, including former Vice President Dick Cheney, who served alongside Powell under Bush.

"I'm deeply saddened to learn that America has lost a leader and statesman. General Powell had a remarkably distinguished career, and I was fortunate to work with him," Cheney said in a statement, adding that Powell was a "trailblazer and role model."

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in remarks on Monday that in Powell he "lost a tremendous personal friend and mentor."

"He always made time for me and I could always go to him with tough issues. He always had great counsel. We will certainly miss him," said Austin, who himself made history earlier this year as the first Black Defense secretary.

Retired Gen. Martin Dempsey, who served for a time as Obama's chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, also mourned the loss of Powell, writing in a tweet on Monday that he was "A superb soldier, statesman, and lifelong public servant."

And former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, who was in office while Powell served in the Bush administration, called Powell "a towering figure in American military and political leadership," adding in a statement that he "inspired loyalty and respect."

Professional soldier

Colin Luther Powell was born April 5, 1937, in Harlem, New York, to Jamaican immigrants. After growing up in the South Bronx, Powell attended school at the City College of New York, where he participated in ROTC, leading the precision drill team and attaining the top rank offered by the corps, cadet colonel.

"I liked the structure and the discipline of the military," Powell said, according to a CNN profile of him in the early 2000s. "I felt somewhat distinctive wearing a uniform. I hadn't been distinctive in much else."

He entered the US Army after graduating in 1958, and later served two tours in South Vietnam during the 1960s, where he was wounded twice, including during a helicopter crash in which he rescued two soldiers. He stayed in the Army after returning home, attending the National War College and rising in leadership. He was promoted to brigadier general in 1979, appointed as Reagan's final national security adviser in 1987 and was tapped by the elder Bush in 1989 to head the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Powell's tenure in the elder Bush's administration was marked by his involvement in some of the most notable American military actions of the late 20th century, including the 1989 Panama operation, the 1991 Gulf War and the US humanitarian intervention in Somalia, though he retired from the Army days before the disastrous Battle of Mogadishu.

Although Powell was initially reluctant to commit US troops when Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990, he became one of the administration's most trusted spokesmen when the assault on Saddam Hussein's army finally came.

"First we're going to cut it off. Then we're going to kill it," Powell famously said at a news conference at the time, referring to the Iraqi army.

Following the assault, Powell became something of a national hero, enjoying a 71% favorability rating in the first few year years after the war. His efforts during the war also earned him two prominent awards: a Congressional Gold Medal in March 1991 "in recognition of his exemplary performance in planning and coordinating" the US response to Iraq's invasion, and a Presidential Medal of Freedom.

As the elder Bush presented Powell with the award at a White House ceremony in 1991, he said the general's "deep compassion for every one of the thousands of men and women under (his) command will always be remembered."

During Powell's time in the military, which lasted until 1993, he also received a number of other notable awards, including the Bronze Star and two Purple Hearts. He received his fourth star in 1989, becoming the second African American to rise to that rank.

In addition to the military awards, Powell also received the President's Citizens Medal, the Secretary of State Distinguished Service Medal, and the Secretary of Energy Distinguished Service Medal, as well as a second Presidential Medal of Freedom, awarded with distinction, from President Bill Clinton.

Top diplomat during turbulent time

With a prominent national profile, Powell was floated as a potential presidential candidate in the 1996 election. But in a highly anticipated decision, he declined to participate in the race, citing a lack of "passion" for electoral politics.

"Such a life requires a calling that I do not yet hear," he told reporters in 1995. "And for me to pretend otherwise would not be honest to myself, it would not be honest to the American people."

Powell was again encouraged to run in the 2000 presidential election, but rebuffed calls for him to mount a bid. He instead endorsed George W. Bush, delivering a speech at the Republican National Convention in which he argued that the then-governor of Texas would "help bridge our racial divides."

He was Bush's first Cabinet selection when he was announced as the 43rd President's nomination for secretary of state, and with his expertise in foreign policy and widespread popularity, he was unanimously confirmed by the Senate.

He shared Bush's reluctance to project military strength across the globe, a view that was quickly displaced by the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. As Bush's top diplomat, he was tasked with building international support for the War on Terror, including the Afghanistan War, but it was his involvement in the administration's push for intervention in Iraq, over the concerns of many of America's longtime allies, for which his tenure at State would become best known.

In February 2003, Powell delivered a speech before the United Nations in which he presented evidence that the US intelligence community said proved Iraq had misled inspectors and hid weapons of mass destruction.

"There can be no doubt," Powell warned, "that Saddam Hussein has biological weapons and the capability to rapidly produce more, many more."

Inspectors, however, later found no such weaponry in Iraq, and two years after Powell's UN speech, a government report said the intelligence community was "dead wrong" in its assessments of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction capabilities before the US invasion.

But the damage was already done -- to both Iraq, which the US went to war with just six weeks after Powell's speech, and to the reputation of the once highly popular statesman, who was reportedly told by Cheney before the UN speech: "You've got high poll ratings; you can afford to lose a few points."

Powell, who left the State Department in early 2005 after submitting his resignation to Bush the previous year, later called his UN speech a "blot" that will forever be on his record.

"I regret it now because the information was wrong -- of course I do," he told CNN's Larry King in 2010. "But I will always be seen as the one who made the case before the international community."

"I swayed public opinion, there's no question about it," he added, referring to how influential his speech was on public support for the invasion.

In his 2012 memoir, "It Worked for Me," Powell again acknowledged the speech, writing that his account of it in the book would likely be the last he publicly made.

"I am mad mostly at myself for not having smelled the problem. My instincts failed me," he wrote, referring to the report he used that contained faulty evidence of supposed Iraqi WMDs. "It was by no means my first, but it was one of my most momentous failures, the one with the widest-ranging impact."

"The event will earn a prominent paragraph in my obituary," Powell wrote.

Shifting politics

After leaving the Bush administration, Powell returned to private life. He joined the renowned venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins in 2005, where he worked as a strategic adviser until his death. For a time, he gave speeches at "Get Motivated!" business seminars, and he authored the 2012 memoir.

Though the large majority of Powell's time as a public servant was spent in Republican administrations, the later years of his life saw him supporting Democratic presidential candidates and harshly criticizing top Republican leaders.

By 2008, the longtime Republican's coveted presidential endorsement went to another party when he announced his support for Obama's White House bid. At the time, he touted Obama's "ability to inspire" and the "inclusive nature of his campaign," while criticizing attacks on the Illinois senator by Republican presidential nominee John McCain's campaign as "inappropriate." He was later named an honorary co-chair of Obama's inauguration and endorsed him again in 2012.

Powell went on to vote for Hillary Clinton in 2016 over Donald Trump, whom he had strongly condemned as a "national disgrace and an international pariah."

In an extraordinary move that year, three presidential electors in Washington state cast votes for Powell rather than Clinton, resulting in state fines that were later upheld by the Supreme Court.

He again snubbed Trump in 2020 during the President's second campaign, announcing his support for Joe Biden in June of that year while blasting Trump's presidency.

"We have a Constitution. And we have to follow that Constitution. And the President has drifted away from it," he told CNN, adding that he "certainly cannot in any way support President Trump this year." The retired general later delivered an address in support of Biden during the Democratic National Convention.

And after Trump incited a deadly insurrection at the US Capitol in early January 2021, Powell told CNN that he no longer considered himself a Republican, with the longtime grandee of the GOP saying he was now simply watching events unfold in a country he long served.

"I can no longer call myself a fellow Republican. I'm not a fellow of anything right now," he told CNN's Fareed Zakaria on "GPS." "I'm just a citizen who has voted Republican, voted Democrat throughout my entire career. And right now, I'm just watching my country and not concerned with parties."

CNN's Deidre McPhillips and Jake Tapper contributed to this report.

The-CNN-Wire &  2021 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved.
Transblue Opens 1st Connecticut Location in Hartford

Global Entrepreneurs Bring Luxury Exterior Design Services to the States Northern Region

October 19, 2021 // Franchising.com // HARTFORD, Conn. - Transblue, a construction and project management company, has opened its newest location in Hartford on October 11. Locally owned by international construction duo Mirco Berti and Andrea Fregonese, Transblue will offer luxury exterior design services to commercial, multi-family and homeowner properties across northern Connecticut.

As the professional link between clients and contractors, Transblue manages all aspects of exterior construction projects to ensure form, beauty and function for all outdoor needs.

The Hartford Transblue franchise owners, Mirco Berti and Andrea Fregonese, bring 45+ years of combined construction, project management and business development expertise to the table with plans to expand the brand throughout additional areas of Connecticut.

Both men have executive experience with Permasteelisa, a leading global contractor for design, engineering and manufacturing, where they were responsible for the North American Interiors Division. They then began working with Italian eyewear conglomerate Luxottica by spearheading their construction department, which is dedicated to the design and building of its fleet stores (Ray-Ban, Oliver Peoples, LensCrafters, Oakley and Sunglass Hut, among others) based in East Granby, CT.

Andrea and Is similar backgrounds in construction and project management services aligned perfectly with Transblues general contracting operations, as we are all driven by the same mission of providing excellent quality service to each of our clients, said Berti. Were thrilled to be entering this new business venture together and look forward to introducing Transblues world-class exterior services to the Hartford community.

With 65+ years of varied industry experience, Transblue prides itself on its unique client-focused approach. CEO Dave Wescott started the business in 2004 with one lawnmower and molded the company into the world-class general contracting company that it is today. Transblue also partners with local charities, non-profits and churches, continuing to honor their mission to give back and improve the communities they serve.

Were honored to be expanding our brand into Connecticut with Mirco and Andrea leading the charge in Hartford, said Vince Ortiz, Director of Franchise Development for Transblue. With their unique international perspective on luxury construction management operations and local community ties, they are outstanding additions to the Transblue franchise family, and were excited to be supporting their continued development throughout the state.

*Referenced in Transblue 2021 FDD.

SOURCE Transblue

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Lebanon firefighters struggled to put out a fire that blazed through a house Thursday night, Oct. 14.

An alleged kitchen fire at 37635 Rock Hill Drive was reported by a resident on Central Avenue at around 9:07 p.m. According to a news release from Lebanon Fire District, fire officials believe the fire had been burning for a significant amount of time when the resident called it in because of the heavy involvement throughout the two-story building.

Lebanon fire crews were on the scene in less than six minutes from the time of the call. When they arrived, a resident was trying to extinguish the fire with buckets of water from an above ground swimming pool.

The man trying to put out the fire was evaluated by paramedics and determined to have suffered mild smoke inhalation. There was no need to transport him to the hospital.

According to the news release, the home and its contents were a complete loss and initially valued at $325,000. Twenty-one personnel on 11 fire apparatus responded. The Tangent Fire District provided one water tender and two personnel.

What made putting out the fire difficult was the structures location, according to the Fire Department. The building was located outside of the citys hydrant system, so firefighters had to establish a rural water supply using water tenders and portable water tanks.

Water tenders from LFD and TFD created a water shuttle where they dumped water into portable tanks and drove around 1 mile to the nearest hydrant to fill up and return to the scene.

It was challenging for firefighters to enter the home because of a heavy accumulation of personal belongings, according to the news release. One report stated that as many as seven people were in the house at the time of the fire, but no victims were found.

The entire second floor of the building collapsed onto the first floor of the home, which made extinguishing the fire even more difficult for firefighters, the Fire Department reported. One fire engine remained at the site overnight and crews returned early Friday morning to meet with the property owner.

After evaluating the lack of stability of the structure, the Lebanon Fire Marshal determined it would be unsafe for fire investigators to enter the building. After consulting with the property owner, an excavator was brought to the site to tear down the house so firefighters could completely extinguish the fire.

Firefighters completely cleared the scene around 8 a.m. Friday morning, about 11 hours after the initial call, according to the Fire Department. No injuries to firefighters occurred.

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WASHINGTON (AP)  Former President Donald Trump on Monday sought to block the release of documents related to the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection to a congressional committee investigating the attack, challenging President Joe Biden's initial decision to waive executive privilege.

In a federal lawsuit, Trump said the committee's request was "almost limitless in scope," and sought records with no reasonable connection to that day. He called it a "vexatious, illegal fishing expedition" that was "untethered from any legitimate legislative purpose," according to the papers filed in federal court in the District of Columbia.

Trump's lawsuit was expected, as he had said he would challenge the investigation and at least one ally has defied a subpoena. But the legal challenge went beyond the initial 125 pages of records that Biden recently cleared for release to the committee. The suit, which names the committee as well as the National Archives, seeks to invalidate the entirety of the congressional request, calling it overly broad, unduly burdensome and a challenge to separation of powers. It requests a court injunction to bar the archivist from producing the documents.

The Biden administration, in clearing the documents for release, said the violent siege of the Capitol was such an extraordinary circumstance that it merited waiving the privilege that usually protects White House communications.

Lawmakers want the documents as part of their investigation into how a mob of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol building on Jan. 6 in a violent effort to halt the certification of Biden's election win. The committee demanded a broad range of executive branch papers related to intelligence gathered before the attack, security preparations during and before the siege, the pro-Trump rallies held that day and Trump's false claims that he won the election, among other matters.

Trump's lawsuit says the "boundless requests included over fifty individual requests for documents and information, and mentioned more than thirty individuals, including those working inside and outside government."

The files must be withheld, the lawsuit says, because they could include "conversations with (or about) foreign leaders, attorney work product, the most sensitive of national security secrets, along with any and all privileged communications among a pool of potentially hundreds of people."

The suit also challenges the legality of the Presidential Records Act, arguing that allowing an incumbent president to waive executive privilege of a predecessor just months after they left office is inherently unconstitutional. Biden has said he would go through each request separately to determine whether that privilege should be waived.

While not spelled out in the Constitution, executive privilege has developed to protect a president's ability to obtain candid counsel from his advisers without fear of immediate public disclosure and to protect his confidential communications relating to official responsibilities.

But that privilege has its limitations in extraordinary situations, as exemplified during the Watergate scandal, when the Supreme Court ruled it could not be used to shield the release of secret Oval Office tapes sought in a criminal inquiry, and following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Monday's lawsuit was filed by Jesse Binnall, an attorney based in Alexandria, Virginia, who represented Trump in an unsuccessful lawsuit late last year seeking to overturn Biden's victory in Nevada. Trump and his allies have continued to make baseless claims about voter fraud in the 2020 election.

Trump's suit quotes from the U.S. Supreme Court's 2020 ruling in a case by House committees seeking the then-sitting president's tax returns and other financial records. But that case involved courts enforcing a congressional subpoena. The high court in that case directed lower courts to apply a balancing test to determine whether to turn over the records  it's still pending.

The lawsuit came the day before the Jan. 6 committee was scheduled to vote on whether to recommend criminal contempt charges against former White House adviser Steve Bannon after he defied a subpoena.

While Bannon has said he needs a court order before complying with his subpoena, former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and former White House and Pentagon aide Kashyap Patel are negotiating with the committee. It is unclear whether a fourth former White House aide, Dan Scavino, will comply.

The committee has also subpoenaed more than a dozen people who helped plan Trump rallies ahead of the siege, and some of them have already said they would turn over documents and give testimony.

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Richard Southwell, 1536, Hans Holbein the Younger, oil on panel. Gallerie degli Uffizi, Florence . Image: Gabinetto Fotografico delle Gallerie degli Uffizi. Su concessione del Ministero della Cultura

In his portraiture Holbein immortalized a vibrant Renaissance culture of self-definition, luxury, knowledge, and wit. He devised inventive pictorial solutions for a variety of clients: celebrity scholars, ambitious merchants, and officials at the English court. Holbein achieved the powerful impression of presence and specificity by means of a flexible working process and rapport with his sitters. Some patrons demanded not just accurate likenesses but celebrations of their values, aspirations, and professional identities. Holbeins detailed interiors are splendid enclosed spaces particular to each sitter, very probably created in consultation with them. An array of carefully selected and realistically rendered objectsincluding books, documents, and letters inscribed with addressessurround the patrons, indicating their interests as well as their rank and status. Holbein worked on different scales, from small portable portraits to large rectangular panels. Round formats were associated with both classical and Christian conceptions of eternity, and thus were especially appropriate to a portraits commemorative function. Many of his subjects participated in the exchange of ideas centered on the culture of ancient Greece and Rome or asserted their commitment to Christian values by including mottoes and quotations in their portraits. An expert letterer, Holbein deployed inscriptions throughout his portraits, and some give the likeness a voice that praises the painters skill.
Ethan Beachy, Bermudian Springs Football: Ethan rushed for 3 touchdowns and rushed for 2 more TDs in a 33-21 win over Littlestown.

Honey Strosnider, Fairfield Cross Country: Honey posted the fastest time among Times Area girls' runners in the YAIAA Championships after placing 16th in 21:07.3

Landon McGee, Gettysburg Football: Landon rushed for an area-high 235 yards and a touchdown in a 27-10 win over New Oxford

Denae Bello, Delone Catholic Girls' Volleyball: Denae combined for 20 kills, 23 digs and 45 serve-receive point in 3 matches for the Squirettes

Drew Cole, Gettysburg Cross Country: Drew was the fastest among Times Area runners at the YAIAA Championships, placing 19th in 17:25.0

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This year, Midwestern University honored first- and second-year students from 12 graduate programs, as the 2020 ceremonies were postponed due to the pandemic.
Ketchikan, Alaska, Oct. 18, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- It is October, and that means it is also time to learn who are Alaskas Top 49ers in business. Cape Fox Corporation (CFC) has enjoyed five consecutive years of growth. Last year in 2020, CFC reported its most significant year of growth with over 60% increase in revenue, and this growth is being recognized. Alaska Business, a monthly Alaska magazine that provides insights, discussions, and spotlights of Alaska business and the various industries throughout the state, has named CFC #28 in top Alaska businesses for 2021. This year CFC leaped ahead 12 positions in the rankings, making CFC the biggest mover in the rankings.

Alaska Business is the premier magazine and website publication for businesses in Alaska that covers news and recognition of Alaska businesses from large multinational corporations to small businesses. The magazine has awarded the Top 49er award to companies since 1985. This award recognizes companies ranked by their gross revenue. To be recognized, an enterprise must be at least 51 percent Alaska-owned with operations in the state. The Top 49er recognition includes Alaskas major business sectors, including Alaska Native, transportation, oil and gas, finance, construction, and retail.

Last year was unique, and it required CFC, employees, Shareholders, and customers to adapt to new situations. CFCs success last year was due to the hard work and unity and our resilience and adaptability. CFCs extraordinary growth in 2020 shows that our Cape Fox Team strives for success together. A companys success is not accomplished alone, and our Team has shown what can be achieved when a team works in unity. Our ranking shows more than a company of steadiness and growth but also a company that strives to lead. Our increase in ranking is more than a number; it recognizes us as a leader among Alaskan businesses. As a leader, we provide employment, give back to communities, provide education benefits, and continue to maintain the heritage and culture of our organization. We are a team and a family, and this award is for the hard work and dedication of everyone at CFC.

To read more about the CFCs 2021 Top 49ers ranking, you can visit The 2021 Top 49ers (akbizmag.com) or follow our @CapeFoxCorp on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, and LinkedIn. For additional information, email Heather Kaiser at hkaiser@capefoxss.com or call (703) 749-3045.

About Cape Fox Corporation

Cape Fox Corporation (CFC) was formed as part of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) of 1971. Cape Fox Corporation is the Alaska Native Corporation for the village of Saxman.

Today, Cape Fox Corporation is comprised of a family of businesses divided between two distinct groups: The Federal Contracting Group and The Commercial (Tourism) Group. Collectively, CFC and its subsidiaries specialize in tourism, information technology and cybersecurity; professional services; health care services; marketing; training services, and logistical services.

Visit Cape Fox Corporation to learn more.

Attachment
SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 18, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Hagens Berman urges Ginkgo Bioworks Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: DNA) investors with significant losses to submit your losses now.



Visit: www.hbsslaw.com/investor-fraud/DNA

Contact An Attorney Now: DNA@hbsslaw.com

844-916-0895

Ginkgo Bioworks Holdings, Inc. (DNA) Investigation:

Ginkgo Bioworks is a synthetic biology company that uses a cell programming platform called Ginkgo Foundry to assist companies in finding more effective ways to create products.

The company has touted its 70 major customer programs utilizing its platform, its growing upfront Foundry revenues and downstream royalty revenue potential. These claims allowed Ginkgo Bioworks to go public via a SPAC transaction in Sep. 2021 with a $15 billion valuation, generating over $1.63 billion in gross proceeds.

The accuracy of Ginkgo Bioworks claims came into serious question on Oct. 6, 2021, when analyst Scorpion Capital published a scathing investigative report concluding Ginkgo is a house of cards  in our opinion, one of the most brazen frauds of the last 20 years.

According to the report, Ginkgo Bioworks business model is a related-party model whereby essentially 100% of the companys deferred revenue are derived from related-party customers it created, funded, controls or influences via its ownership position and board seats. Scorpion alleges [i]nvestments into these entities by Ginkgo and its largest investors are recycled back to Ginkgo and recorded as deferred or current revenue. Scorpion also alleges Ginkgo has engaged in a brazen effort to misclassify and misreport related-party revenue and deceive investors with phony accounting and at least half of Ginkgos reported foundry revenue is phantom, non-cash and pure accounting hocus-pocus.

Shares in Ginkgo Bioworks have fallen 20% after publication of the report.

Were focused on investors losses and whether Ginkgo has concealed related-party revenue and engaged in accounting improprieties, said Reed Kathrein, the Hagens Berman partner leading the investigation.

If you invested in Ginkgo Bioworks and have significant losses, or have knowledge that may assist the firms investigation, click here to discuss your legal rights with Hagens Berman.

Whistleblowers: Persons with non-public information regarding Ginkgo Bioworks should consider their options to help in the investigation or take advantage of the SEC Whistleblower program. Under the new program, whistleblowers who provide original information may receive rewards totaling up to 30 percent of any successful recovery made by the SEC. For more information, call Reed Kathrein at 844-916-0895 or email DNA@hbsslaw.com.

About Hagens Berman

Hagens Berman is a national law firm with eight offices in eight cities around the country and over eighty attorneys. The firm represents investors, whistleblowers, workers and consumers in complex litigation. More about the firm and its successes is located at hbsslaw.com. For the latest news visit our newsroom or follow us on Twitter at @classactionlaw .
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Oct. 18, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ceylon Graphite Corp. (Ceylon) (TSX-V: CYL) (OTC:CYLYF) (FSE: CCY) is pleased to announce that, further to its press releases of October 1 and 14, 2021, it has received TSX-Venture Approval to amend (the "Amendment") the terms of an aggregate of 10,500,000 warrants (each, a "Warrant") issued by Ceylon in connection with its non-brokered private placement which closed in two tranches on October 16, 2019 and December 6, 2019, respectively.



Pursuant to the terms of the Amendment, the expiry date of the Warrants have been amended such that 8,000,000 Warrants will expire on October 16, 2022 and 2,500,000 warrants will expire on December 6, 2022.

All other terms and conditions of the Warrants will remain unchanged.

About Ceylon Graphite Corp.

Ceylon Graphite is a public company listed on the TSX Venture Exchange, that is in the business of mining for graphite, and developing and commercializing innovative graphene and graphite applications and products. Graphite mined in Sri Lanka is known to be some of the purest in the world and has been confirmed to be suitable to be easily upgradable for a range of applications including the high-growth electric vehicle and battery storage markets as well as construction, healthcare and paints and coatings sectors. The Government of Sri Lanka has granted the Companys wholly owned subsidiary Sarcon Development (Pvt) Ltd. an IML Category A license for its K1 mine and exploration rights in a land package of over 120km. These exploration grids (each one square kilometer in area) cover areas of historic graphite production from the early twentieth century and represent a majority of the known graphite occurrences in Sri Lanka.

Further information regarding the Company is available at www.ceylongraphite.com

Don Baxter, Chief Executive Officer

info@ceylongraphite.com

Corporate Communications

1 604-765-8657

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

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS:

This news release contains forward-looking information as such term is defined in applicable securities laws, which relate to future events or future performance and reflect management's current expectations and assumptions. The forward-looking information includes statements about Ceylon Graphites grids, Ceylon Graphites plans to undertake additional drilling and to develop a mine plan, and to commence establishing mining operations. Such forward-looking statements reflect management's current beliefs and are based on assumptions made by and information currently available to Ceylon Graphite, including the assumption that, there will be no material adverse change in metal prices, all necessary consents, licenses, permits and approvals will be obtained, including various Local Government Licenses and the market. Investors are cautioned that these forward-looking statements are neither promises nor guarantees and are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause future results to differ materially from those expected. Risk factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results expressed or implied by the forward-looking information include, among other things, an inability to reach a final acquisition agreement, inaccurate results from the drilling exercises, a failure to obtain or delays in obtaining the required regulatory licenses, permits, approvals and consents, an inability to access financing as needed, a general economic downturn, a volatile stock price, labour strikes, political unrest, changes in the mining regulatory regime governing Ceylon Graphite, a failure to comply with environmental regulations and a weakening of market and industry reliance on high quality graphite. Ceylon Graphite cautions the reader that the above list of risk factors is not exhaustive.
New Delhi & New York, Oct. 18, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- (via NGO Wire) Ashwini Kakkar was elected Chairman of Action Against Hungers International Network on October 12, 2021. The organization aims to end life-threatening hunger for good within our lifetimes.

Indian entrepreneur and philanthropist Ashwini Kakkar has been involved in the fight against hunger for many years, having served as President of Action Against Hunger India since 2012. His election as International Chairman comes at a crucial time in the global fight against hunger, as COVID-19, conflict, and climate change have pushed millions more people into food insecurity and malnutrition. Today, as many as 811 million people are suffering from global hunger.

"The world has made incredible strides in the fight against hunger, but that progress is now reversing. It is more important than ever before that we come together to fight this scourge and create a brighter future, for everyone, for good," says Kakkar.

Kakkar succeeds Raymond Debbane, who has served as Chairman of the Action Against Hunger International Network for the past four years. Debbane, Founder and CEO of The Invus Group, will continue in his role as Action Against Hunger USAs Chair of the Board of Directors, where he has been a member for more than two decades.

I have been honored to lead Action Against Hungers Network as we expanded our global reach to millions more hungry people around the world. I am thrilled to see Ashwini Kakkar take on the role of International Chairman to further galvanize this movement to end hunger in our lifetimes, says Debbane.



Photo Available: Ashwini Kakkar (left), the newly elected Chairman of Action Against Hungers International Network, is pictured here with outgoing Chairman, Raymond Debbane (right). Photo: Tony Trichanh for Action Against Hunger.

Mr. Debbanes steady commitment and guidance have helped to expand our global footprint and reach more people in need through innovative and evidence-based programs, says Dr. Charles E. Owubah, CEO of Action Against Hunger USA. I am thankful that Mr. Debbane will continue to serve as Chair of our Board in the United States. We welcome Mr. Kakkar and look forward to building on the past four years of growth.

Action Against Hungers International Network shares a singular vision of a world free from hunger through close collaboration and sharing of human resources, logistics, and technical capacities. The organizations Network includes seven members - France, Spain, the United States, India, United Kingdom, Germany, and Canada - as well as an office in Italy.

As Chairman of the Network, Kakkar will provide oversight to the Action Against Hunger Network and ensure the organization upholds its key principles: independence, neutrality, non-discrimination, free and direct access to victims, professionalism, and transparency.

We are excited to have Mr. Ashwini Kakkar as our next International Chairman, says Snigdha Sahal, Action Against Hunger Indias Executive Director. His ability to bring people from different walks of life together and mobilize them is unique and exceptional, making him invaluable for Action Against Hungers global Network and our partners.

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Action Against Hunger

Action Against Hunger is leading a global movement to end hunger in our lifetimes. It innovates solutions, advocates for change, and reaches 25 million people every year with proven hunger prevention and treatment programs. As a nonprofit that works across 50 countries, its 8,300 dedicated staff members partner with communities to address the root causes of hunger, including climate change, conflict, inequity, and emergencies. It strives to create a world free from hunger, for everyone, for good.
Invisible Nation is a worldwide network of patient organizations committed to driving a decline in cardiovascular (CV) death by effecting systemic change in atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) care





Facilitated by Novartis, Invisible Nation will aim to reduce and ultimately prevent many of the 15 million 1 ASCVD deaths each year and dramatically lower what is estimated to become $1 trillion in annual CV disease care cost by 2030 2





ASCVD deaths each year and dramatically lower what is estimated to become $1 trillion in annual CV disease care cost by 2030 Network members will engage policymakers, healthcare systems and others to change the way ASCVD is identified, managed, and ultimately, prevented

Basel, October 19, 2021  Global Heart Hub and Novartis today announced the launch of the Invisible Nation program. Invisible Nation will bring together a worldwide network of patient organizations and other stakeholders in the cardiovascular (CV) space committed to effecting systemic change in the management of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD). The program aims to prevent many of the 15 million yearly ASCVD deaths1 and reduce what could soon become $1 trillion in annual CV disease cost2.

Although the vast majority of ASCVD-related deaths are preventable3, most countries are not yet on course to meet the World Health Organization (WHO) goal of a 25% reduction in CV mortality by 20253. Invisible Nation will highlight the human and societal costs of ASCVD, advocate for high-level government commitments to tackle the disease and bring forward innovative partnerships and novel access models that can fast-track a worldwide effort to reduce ASCVD-related mortality.

Many are surprised to learn that millions and millions of people die each year from ASCVD, and they are even more surprised when they realize that this terrible loss of life is roughly 60% higher than the number of deaths attributed to cancer, said Neil Johnson, Executive Director of the Global Heart Hub. This is a shocking fact, and even more shocking is that 80% of CV events can be prevented. Patient organizations have an opportunity  and a responsibility  to expose the realities of ASCVD, leading to a better prognosis and reduction in premature deaths. By increasing awareness, we will activate change.

Invisible Nation will advocate for policy-shaping efforts to rewrite how governments, health systems and others can work together to change the trajectory of ASCVD and begin a generational decline in CV death.

Starting today, Global Heart Hub will begin working with patient groups and CV stakeholders to finalize the action plan and align on specific initiatives designed to help governments and health systems reach the WHO goal of a 25% reduction in CV mortality by 20253. Novartis will assist this community-driven movement by helping network members access the information and evidence needed to engage with local health systems, health authorities and policymakers.

Alongside Invisible Nation, Novartis supports the recent Declaration of the G20 Health Ministers, which acknowledges that non-communicable diseases, such as CV disease, may increase the severity and risk of death from COVID-19. Novartis is also committed to working with renowned thought leaders, medical societies, health authorities and non-governmental organizations around the world to highlight the urgency to treat CV disease and identify new partnership models for broader access to innovation and healthcare system transformation.

We see Invisible Nation as a catalyst for action among patient organizations worldwide, said Marie-France Tschudin, President of Novartis Pharmaceuticals. The groups that speak for the millions of people globally who die from ASCVD have a powerful mandate to ensure that it is recognized and addressed as the number one killer in the world. Novartis is proud to partner with Global Heart Hub and take this next concrete step to reverse this health crisis and make the loss of life and financial cost of ASCVD unignorable.

To learn more, visit www.InvisibleNation.com.

Disclaimer

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements can generally be identified by words such as potential, can, will, plan, may, could, would, expect, anticipate, seek, look forward, believe, committed, investigational, pipeline, launch, or similar terms, or by express or implied discussions regarding potential marketing approvals, new indications or labeling for the investigational or approved products described in this press release, or regarding potential future revenues from such products. You should not place undue reliance on these statements. Such forward-looking statements are based on our current beliefs and expectations regarding future events and are subject to significant known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements. There can be no guarantee that the investigational or approved products described in this press release will be submitted or approved for sale or for any additional indications or labeling in any market, or at any time. Nor can there be any guarantee that such products will be commercially successful in the future. In particular, our expectations regarding such products could be affected by, among other things, the uncertainties inherent in research and development, including clinical trial results and additional analysis of existing clinical data; regulatory actions or delays or government regulation generally; global trends toward healthcare cost containment, including government, payor and general public pricing and reimbursement pressures and requirements for increased pricing transparency; our ability to obtain or maintain proprietary intellectual property protection; the particular prescribing preferences of physicians and patients; general political, economic and business conditions, including the effects of and efforts to mitigate pandemic diseases such as COVID-19; safety, quality, data integrity or manufacturing issues; potential or actual data security and data privacy breaches, or disruptions of our information technology systems, and other risks and factors referred to in Novartis AGs current Form 20-F on file with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Novartis is providing the information in this press release as of this date and does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this press release as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

About Invisible Nation

Currently 300 million people live with ASCVD1  more than the populations of Canada, South Africa, France, Mexico and Singapore combined  a number that is quietly growing4. After recognizing that the significant prevalence of ASCVD continues to hide in plain sight, Global Heart Hub and Novartis decided to create Invisible Nation. The name of the program reflects the massive unseen burden, which can no longer be ignored. Visit www.InvisibleNation.com for ASCVD resources and access to upcoming conferences and virtual events, which will feature key opinion leaders, patient groups, experts, policymakers and others.

About Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease (ASCVD)

Atherosclerosis corresponds to the accumulation of lipids over time, mainly low-density lipoprotein cholesterol in the inner lining of the arteries. Unexpected rupture of an atherosclerotic plaque can cause an atherosclerotic cardiovascular event such as a heart attack or stroke5-6. ASCVD accounts for over 85% of all cardiovascular disease deaths3. ASCVD is the primary cause of death in the European Union7. The number of deaths from ASCVD is roughly 60% higher than the number of deaths attributed to cancer8. ASCVD risk equivalent corresponds to conditions that confer a similar risk for an ASCVD event (e.g., diabetes, heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia)9-10.

About Novartis in Cardiovascular-Renal-Metabolism

Cardiovascular (CV), renal and metabolic diseases are a global health crisis3,11-13. These chronic, complex and often hereditary diseases are frequently inter-related, and come with healthcare and treatment barriers and a lack of transformative medicines and almost always lead to the same outcome: death due to CV disease3,11-13.

CV disease is the number one killer in the world3. Taking more lives than all cancers combined, it contributes to one in every three deaths globally3,14. Of all CV events, 80% can be prevented15. Patients and their families deserve better, and our society deserves more.

Thanks to a combination of our legacy, global footprint and leading science, Novartis is uniquely positioned to help change this landscape. We are transforming the way we think about the relationship between these diseases and how they are managed throughout life. Our efforts include the use of early interventions and the development of pioneering treatments that address the spectrum of CV, renal and metabolic diseases, from prevention to management, as well as the creation of innovative access models. By re-writing the way we work with society, we will lead a worldwide effort to improve health outcomes and roll back the crisis of CV death.

Our goal is to bend the curve of life by reducing and stopping premature death from CV disease.

About Novartis

As a leading global medicines company, we use innovative science and digital technologies to create treatments in areas of great medical need. In our quest to find new medicines, we consistently rank among the worlds top companies investing in research and development. Novartis products reach nearly 800 million people globally and we are finding innovative ways to expand access to our latest treatments. About 110,000 people of more than 140 nationalities work at Novartis around the world. Find out more at https://www.novartis.com.

Novartis is on Twitter. Sign up to follow @Novartis at https://twitter.com/novartisnews

For Novartis multimedia content, please visit https://www.novartis.com/news/media-library

For questions about the site or required registration, please contact media.relations@novartis.com

References

Roth GA, Mensah GA, Johnson CO, et al. Global Burden of Cardiovascular Diseases and Risk Factors, 1990-2019: Update from the GBD 2019 Study [published correction appears in J Am Coll Cardiol. 2021;77(15):1958-1959]. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2020;76(25):2982-3021. Bloom DE, Cafiero ET, Jane-Llopis E, et al. The Global Economic Burden of Noncommunicable Diseases. Geneva: World Economic Forum. 2011. World Health Organization (WHO). Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). Available at: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/cardiovascular-diseases-(cvds). [Last accessed October 2021]. Barquera S, Pedroza-Tobias A, Medina C, et al. Global Overview of the Epidemiology of Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease. Arch Med Res. 2015;46(5):328-338. Mayo Clinic. Arteriosclerosis / atherosclerosis. Available at: https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/arteriosclerosis-atherosclerosis/symptoms-causes/syc-20350569. [Last accessed October 2021]. Goldstein J, Brown M. A century of cholesterol and coronaries: from plaques to genes to statins. Cell. 2015;161(1):161-172. OECD/The Kings Fund. Is Cardiovascular Disease Slowing Improvements in Life Expectancy?: OECD and The Kings Fund Workshop Proceedings. OECD Publishing, Paris. 2020. World Health Organization (WHO). Noncommunicable diseases. Available at: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/noncommunicable-diseases. [Last accessed October 2021]. Ray K, Wright R, Kallend D, et al. Two Phase 3 Trials of Inclisiran in Patients with Elevated LDL Cholesterol. N Engl J Med. 2020;382(16):1507-1519. National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) Expert Panel on Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Cholesterol in Adults (Adult Treatment Panel III). Third Report of the National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) Expert Panel on Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Cholesterol in Adults (Adult Treatment Panel III) final report. Circulation. 2002;106(25):3143-3421. National Kidney Foundation. Global Facts: About Kidney Disease. Available at: https://www.kidney.org/kidneydisease/global-facts-about-kidney-disease. [Last accessed October 2021]. Levey AS, Atkins R, Coresh J, et al. Chronic kidney disease as a global public health problem: approaches and initiatives  a position statement from Kidney Disease Improving Global Outcomes. Kidney Int. 2007;72(3):247-259. World Health Organization. Diabetes. Available at: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/diabetes. [Last accessed October 2021]. American Cancer Society. Global Cancer Facts & Figures 4th Edition. Available at: https://www.cancer.org/content/dam/cancer-org/research/cancer-facts-and-statistics/global-cancer-facts-and-figures/global-cancer-facts-and-figures-4th-edition.pdf. [Last accessed October 2021]. World Health Organization (WHO). Cardiovascular diseases - Data and statistics. https://www.euro.who.int/en/health-topics/noncommunicable-diseases/cardiovascular-diseases/data-and-statistics. [Last accessed October 2021].

# # #

Novartis Media Relations

E-mail: media.relations@novartis.com

Richard Jarvis

Novartis External Communications

+41 79 584 2326 (mobile)

richard.jarvis@novartis.com







Julie Masow

Novartis US External Communications

+1 862 579 8456

Julie.masow@novartis.com Phil McNamara

Global Head, Cardio-Renal-Metabolism Communications

+41 79 510 8756 (mobile)

phil.mcnamara@novartis.com







Jamie Bennett

Director, US External Engagement

+1 862-217-3976

jamie.bennett@novartis.com

Novartis Investor Relations

Central investor relations line: +41 61 324 7944

E-mail: investor.relations@novartis.com
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Oct. 19, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Fundamental reform of Canadas health care system needs to start with replicating changes made in the 1990s when Ottawa removed strings to federal funding for welfare to provide the provinces with more autonomy and flexibility, finds a new study released today by the Fraser Institute, an independent, non-partisan Canadian public policy think-tank.



COVID-19 has exacerbated two of the most important ongoing public policy challenges facing Canada: the deterioration of government finances, and the comparative underperformance of our health care system, said Ben Eisen, senior fellow at the Fraser Institute and co-author of Less Ottawa, More Province, 2021: How Decentralized Federalism Is Key to Health Care Reform.

The study notes that despite high spending levels in Canada, compared to other universal health care countries, our performance is poor to moderate on most measures.

Critically, Canada ranks fifth highest out of 28 universal health care countries examined in terms of age-adjusted health care expenditures per capita, as well as 26th for physicians, 14th for nurses, 25th for curative (acute) care beds (out of 26), and 24th for psychiatric care beds per thousand population on an age-adjusted basis.

The study highlights the successes of the Chretien-era welfare reforms, which provide a blueprint for health-care reforms.

Consider that in 1994 more than 10 per cent of Canadians  over 3.1 million people  were on welfare and it was consuming large portions of provincial budgets. As part of its deficit reduction plan, the federal government reduced federal welfare transfers to the provinces while also eliminating most of the strings attached to the funding, spurring innovation and reform by the individual provinces.

As reforms were introduced by the provinces, particularly programs like workfare and limiting benefit periods for employable people, the proportion of Canadians on welfare dropped to less than five per cent and welfare spending as a share of provincial program spending dropped to less than four per cent by 2008.

Cutting the strings attached to the health-care transfers from Ottawa  as the Chretien government did with welfare  while maintaining the principles of universality and portability, would free the provinces to experiment and reform health-care delivery and financing, said Eisen.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Ben Eisen, Senior Fellow

Fraser Institute

Jason Clemens, Executive Vice-President

Fraser Institute

To arrange an interview, please contact:

Drue MacPherson, 604-688-0221 ext. 721, drue.macpherson@fraserinstitute.org

Follow the Fraser Institute on Twitter and Facebook
New York, Oct. 19, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Oil & Gas Sensors Market Overview: According to a comprehensive research report by Market Research Future (MRFR), Oil & Gas Sensors Market Research Report, Type, Connectivity, Sector and Region - Forecast till 2028 the market is projected to be worth USD 11.42 Billion by 2028, registering a CAGR of 5.17% during the forecast period (2021 - 2028).

List of the companies profiled in the global oil & gas sensors market research report are-

Honeywell (US)

Emerson (US)

ABB (Switzerland)

GE (US)

Rockwell (US)

Siemens (Germany)

TE Connectivity (US)

BD Sensors (Germany)

Lord (US)

Fortive (US)

Bosch (Germany).

Among others.



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https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/6965





Market Research Futures Review on Oil & Gas Sensors Market

Increasing Adoption of IoT Products

Oil and gas sensors are IoT-enabled detectors that provide a high level of accuracy, reliability, and flexibility for a variety of applications in the oil and gas industry, including remote monitoring, condition monitoring, and analysis and simulation. Sensors are primarily used to measure pressure, level, flow, and temperature. With the rising use of unconventional drilling, there is a significant demand in the upstream industry for liquid-level sensors. Similarly, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, accidents during drilling and exploring activities in the United States accounted for around 40% of all employee deaths. As a result, demand for oil and gas sensors is expected to rise over the projected period, in line with the safety criteria indicated by the Application of Safety Instrumented Systems for the Process Industry in 2017.

The growing adoption of IoT products is a primary driver of the worldwide oil & gas sensors market. Furthermore, governments all over the world are enacting rules to encourage the adoption of IoT technology in order to increase efficiency, downtime, and operational costs. According to Oxford Economics, the use of IoT in the oil and gas industry could boost global GDP by USD 816 billion between 2018 and 2028. As a result, the need for sensors in the oil and gas industry is increasing.



Browse In-depth Market Research Report (188 pages) on Oil & Gas Sensors

https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/oil-gas-sensors-market-6965





Market Segmentation

The global oil & gas sensors market has been segmented based on connectivity, type, and sector.

Based on connectivity, the global oil & gas sensors market has been classified into wired and wireless.

Based on type, the global oil & gas sensors market has been classified into pressure sensor, temperature sensor, level sensor, vibration sensor, and others. The pressure sensor segment is leading the market and has the largest market share, mainly due to its wide application in the upstream, midstream, and downstream sectors to measure the pressure of gases and liquids and provide accurate data to detect changes in the pressure.

Based on sector, the global oil & gas sensors market has been classified into including upstream, midstream, and downstream. The downstream segment of the global oil & gas sensors market is projected to register the highest growth rate during the forecast period.





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Regional Analysis

North America to Dominate the Global Market

Due to increased offshore investments in the oil and gas industry, the global oil and gas sensors market is predicted to grow significantly during the forecast period. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), offshore oil production will increase to 27.4 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (mboe) by 2040, up from 26.4 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (mboe) in 2016. This would result in an increase in global demand for oil and gas sensors. Due to growing upstream spending in nations such as the United States, Canada, and Mexico, North America has the greatest share of the oil and gas sensor market. The growing use of unconventional drilling techniques presents opportunities for the oil and gas sensor market. For example, the Department of Energy would invest USD 30 million to boost unconventional oil and gas recovery.

APAC to Follow North America

The Asia Pacific is expected to follow North America. The increasing adoption of industrial automation in emerging nations such as India and China is one of the primary factors driving market growth in this region. Furthermore, according to IBEF, ONGC (India) would invest USD 2.73 billion in drilling oil and gas wells between 2018 and 2019. Furthermore, Saudi Aramco intends to engage in India's downstream sector. Such factors would propel the country's market.

Segmentation of Market covered in the research:

Oil & Gas Sensors Market Research Report: Information by Type (Pressure, Temperature, Level, Vibration), Connectivity (Wired, Wireless), Sector (Upstream, Midstream, Downstream), and Region  Global Forecast till 2028



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About Market Research Future:

Market Research Future (MRFR) is a global market research company that takes pride in its services, offering a complete and accurate analysis with regard to diverse markets and consumers worldwide. Market Research Future has the distinguished objective of providing the optimal quality research and granular research to clients. Our market research studies by products, services, technologies, applications, end users, and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help answer your most important questions.

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BASEL, Switzerland and NEW YORK, Oct. 19, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Myovant Sciences (NYSE: MYOV) and Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) today announced the presentation of new data from clinical studies of its once-daily relugolix combination therapy (relugolix 40 mg plus estradiol 1.0 mg and norethindrone acetate 0.5 mg) in premenopausal women with uterine fibroids and in women with endometriosis pain (an investigational use). The data are being presented in oral sessions during the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) 2021 Congress.



These studies provide important new data for relugolix combination therapy, including detailed two-year efficacy and safety data in women with heavy menstrual bleeding associated with uterine fibroids from the Phase 3 LIBERTY studies, said Juan Camilo Arjona Ferreira, M.D., Chief Medical Officer of Myovant Sciences, Inc. They also provide additional insight into the potential effect of relugolix combination therapy in women with pain associated with endometriosis.

These presentations also include the results of the first pooled analysis of data from the LIBERTY and SPIRIT studies, which strengthen our clinical understanding of relugolix combination therapy and its potential benefits for women with these common and often debilitating conditions, said James Rusnak, M.D., Ph.D., Senior Vice President, Chief Development Officer, Internal Medicine and Hospital, Global Product Development at Pfizer.

Details of the presentations of data from the Phase 3 LIBERTY randomized withdrawal study of women with uterine fibroids are as follows:

LIBERTY Randomized Withdrawal Study: 2-Year Efficacy and Safety of Relugolix Combination Therapy in Women with Heavy Menstrual Bleeding Associated with Uterine Fibroids (Scientific Congress Prize Paper)

This presentation reports on the results of the Phase 3 LIBERTY randomized withdrawal study, which was designed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of relugolix combination therapy for up to two years in premenopausal women with heavy menstrual bleeding associated with uterine fibroids who completed the 24-week LIBERTY 1 or 2 trials and the 28-week long-term extension study.

Effects of Relugolix Combination Therapy on Bone Mineral Density through 2 Years in Women with Heavy Menstrual Bleeding Associated with Uterine Fibroids

This presentation shares data on changes in bone mineral density observed in the Phase 3 LIBERTY randomized withdrawal study, which reflects up to 104 weeks of treatment with relugolix combination therapy.



Details of the presentations of data from the SPIRIT 1 and 2 studies of women with pain associated with endometriosis are as follows:

Relugolix Combination Therapy Improves Multiple Dimensions of Quality of Life in Women with Endometriosis-Associated Pain: Results from the SPIRIT Program

This presentation shares data on the potential effect of relugolix combination therapy on health-related quality of life domains, including emotional well-being, self-image and sense of control, which were assessed using the Endometriosis Health Profile (EHP)-30 questionnaire during the Phase 3 SPIRIT 1 and 2 studies.

Details of the presentations that assessed pooled data from both the LIBERTY and SPIRIT studies are as follows:

Assessment of Common Adverse Events of Relugolix Combination Therapy in Premenopausal Women Treated for Symptomatic Estrogen-Driven Conditions: LIBERTY and SPIRIT Studies

This presentation shares data on the adverse events observed in premenopausal women on relugolix combination therapy, based on a pooled analysis of data from the LIBERTY 1/2 and SPIRIT 1/2 studies.

Integrated Long-Term Bone Mineral Density (BMD) Outcomes in Women Receiving Relugolix Combination Therapy in LIBERTY and SPIRIT Studies vs. Non-Treated Women

This presentation reports on the results of a pooled assessment of data from the LIBERTY and SPIRIT studies and the LIBERTY long-term extension study, which analyzed bone mineral density outcomes in premenopausal women with uterine fibroids or endometriosis-associated pain.

In the U.S., relugolix combination tablet (relugolix 40 mg, estradiol 1.0 mg, and norethindrone acetate 0.5 mg) is currently available as MYFEMBREE for the management of heavy menstrual bleeding associated with uterine fibroids in premenopausal women, with a treatment duration of up to 24 months. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved MYFEMBREE for this indication on May 26, 2021, based on data from the Phase 3 LIBERTY program. Myovant and Pfizer are jointly developing and commercializing MYFEMBREE in the U.S. Relugolix combination therapy is under investigation for the use for pain associated with endometriosis; the efficacy and safety for this use have not been demonstrated. On September 9, 2021, Myovant and Pfizer announced that the FDA accepted for review a supplemental New Drug Application (sNDA) for MYFEMBREE for the management of moderate to severe pain associated with endometriosis with a target action date of May 6, 2022.

About MYFEMBREE

MYFEMBREE (relugolix, estradiol, and norethindrone acetate) is the first once-daily oral treatment for heavy menstrual bleeding associated with uterine fibroids in premenopausal women approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, with a treatment duration of up to 24 months. MYFEMBREE contains relugolix, which reduces the amount of estrogen (and other hormones) produced by ovaries, estradiol (an estrogen) which may reduce the risk of bone loss, and norethindrone acetate (a progestin) which is necessary when women with a uterus (womb) take estrogen.

For full prescribing information including Boxed Warning and patient information, please click here .

Indications and Usage

MYFEMBREE is indicated for the management of heavy menstrual bleeding associated with uterine leiomyomas (fibroids) in premenopausal women. Limitations of Use : Use of MYFEMBREE should be limited to 24 months due to the risk of continued bone loss which may not be reversible.

Important Safety Information

BOXED WARNING: THROMBOEMBOLIC DISORDERS AND VASCULAR EVENTS

Estrogen and progestin combination products, including MYFEMBREE, increase the risk of thrombotic or thromboembolic disorders including pulmonary embolism, deep vein thrombosis, stroke and myocardial infarction, especially in women at increased risk for these events.

MYFEMBREE is contraindicated in women with current or a history of thrombotic or thromboembolic disorders and in women at increased risk for these events, including women over 35 years of age who smoke or women with uncontrolled hypertension.

CONTRAINDICATIONS

MYFEMBREE is contraindicated in women with any of the following: high risk of arterial, venous thrombotic, or thromboembolic disorder; pregnancy; known osteoporosis; current or history of breast cancer or other hormone-sensitive malignancies; known hepatic impairment or disease; undiagnosed abnormal uterine bleeding; known hypersensitivity to components of MYFEMBREE.

WARNINGS AND PRECAUTIONS

Thromboembolic Disorders: Discontinue immediately if an arterial or venous thrombotic, cardiovascular, or cerebrovascular event occurs or is suspected. Discontinue at least 4 to 6 weeks before surgery associated with an increased risk of thromboembolism, or during periods of prolonged immobilization, if feasible. Discontinue immediately if there is sudden unexplained partial or complete loss of vision, proptosis, diplopia, papilledema, or retinal vascular lesions and evaluate for retinal vein thrombosis as these have been reported with estrogens and progestins.

Bone Loss: MYFEMBREE may cause a decrease in bone mineral density (BMD) in some patients, which may be greater with increasing duration of use and may not be completely reversible after stopping treatment. Consider the benefits and risks in patients with a history of low trauma fracture or risk factors for osteoporosis or bone loss, including medications that may decrease BMD. Assessment of BMD by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) is recommended at baseline and periodically thereafter. Consider discontinuing MYFEMBREE if the risk of bone loss exceeds the potential benefit.

Hormone-Sensitive Malignancies: Discontinue MYFEMBREE if a hormone-sensitive malignancy is diagnosed. Surveillance measures in accordance with standard of care, such as breast examinations and mammography are recommended. Use of estrogen alone or estrogen plus progestin has resulted in abnormal mammograms requiring further evaluation.

Depression, Mood Disorders, and Suicidal Ideation: Promptly evaluate patients with mood changes and depressive symptoms including shortly after initiating treatment, to determine whether the risks of continued therapy outweigh the benefits. Patients with new or worsening depression, anxiety, or other mood changes should be referred to a mental health professional, as appropriate. Advise patients to seek immediate medical attention for suicidal ideation and behavior and reevaluate the benefits and risks of continuing MYFEMBREE.

Hepatic Impairment and Transaminase Elevations: Steroid hormones may be poorly metabolized in these patients. Instruct women to promptly seek medical attention for symptoms or signs that may reflect liver injury, such as jaundice or right upper abdominal pain. Acute liver test abnormalities may necessitate the discontinuation of MYFEMBREE use until the liver tests return to normal and MYFEMBREE causation has been excluded.

Gallbladder Disease or History of Cholestatic Jaundice: Discontinue MYFEMBREE if signs or symptoms of gallbladder disease or jaundice occur. For women with a history of cholestatic jaundice associated with past estrogen use or with pregnancy, assess the risk-benefit of continuing therapy. Studies among estrogen users suggest a small increased relative risk of developing gallbladder disease.

Elevated Blood Pressure: For women with well-controlled hypertension, monitor blood pressure and stop MYFEMBREE if blood pressure rises significantly.

Change in Menstrual Bleeding Pattern and Reduced Ability to Recognize Pregnancy: Advise women to use non-hormonal contraception during treatment and for one week after discontinuing MYFEMBREE. Avoid concomitant use of hormonal contraceptives. MYFEMBREE may delay the ability to recognize pregnancy because it alters menstrual bleeding. Perform testing if pregnancy is suspected and discontinue MYFEMBREE if pregnancy is confirmed.

Risk of Early Pregnancy Loss: MYFEMBREE can cause early pregnancy loss. Exclude pregnancy before initiating and advise women to use effective non-hormonal contraception.

Uterine Fibroid Prolapse or Expulsion: Advise women with known or suspected submucosal uterine fibroids about the possibility of uterine fibroid prolapse or expulsion and instruct them to contact their physician if severe bleeding and/or cramping occurs.

Alopecia: Alopecia, hair loss, and hair thinning were reported in phase 3 trials with MYFEMBREE. Consider discontinuing MYFEMBREE if hair loss becomes a concern. Whether the hair loss is reversible is unknown.

Effects on Carbohydrate and Lipid Metabolism: More frequent monitoring in MYFEMBREE-treated women with prediabetes and diabetes may be necessary. MYFEMBREE may decrease glucose tolerance and result in increased blood glucose concentrations. Monitor lipid levels and consider discontinuing if hypercholesterolemia or hypertriglyceridemia worsens. In women with pre-existing hypertriglyceridemia, estrogen therapy may be associated with elevations in triglycerides levels leading to pancreatitis. Use of MYFEMBREE is associated with increases in total cholesterol and LDL-C.

Effect on Other Laboratory Results: Patients with hypothyroidism and hypoadrenalism may require higher doses of thyroid hormone or cortisol replacement therapy. Use of estrogen and progestin combinations may raise serum concentrations of binding proteins (e.g., thyroid-binding globulin, corticosteroid-binding globulin), which may reduce free thyroid or corticosteroid hormone levels. Use of estrogen and progestin may also affect the levels of sex hormone-binding globulin, and coagulation factors.

Hypersensitivity Reactions: Immediately discontinue MYFEMBREE if a hypersensitivity reaction occurs.

ADVERSE REACTIONS



Most common adverse reactions for MYFEMBREE (incidence 3% and greater than placebo) were hot flush/hyperhidrosis/night sweats, abnormal uterine bleeding, alopecia, and decreased libido. These are not all the possible side effects of MYFEMBREE.

DRUG INTERACTIONS



P-gp Inhibitors: Avoid use of MYFEMBREE with oral P-gp inhibitors. If use is unavoidable, take MYFEMBREE first, separate dosing by at least 6 hours, and monitor patients for adverse reactions.

Combined P-gp and Strong CYP3A Inducers: Avoid use of MYFEMBREE with combined P-gp and strong CYP3A inducers.

LACTATION

Advise women not to breastfeed while taking MYFEMBREE.

About Myovant Sciences

Myovant Sciences aspires to redefine care for women and for men through purpose-driven science, empowering medicines, and transformative advocacy. Founded in 2016, we have two FDA-approved products. ORGOVYX (relugolix) was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2020 as the first and only oral gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) receptor antagonist for the treatment of adult patients with advanced prostate cancer, and relugolix is also under regulatory review in Europe for men with advanced prostate cancer. Relugolix combination tablet (relugolix 40 mg, estradiol 1.0 mg, and norethindrone acetate 0.5 mg) was approved in 2021 in the U.S. as MYFEMBREE as the first once-daily treatment for the management of heavy menstrual bleeding associated with uterine fibroids in premenopausal women, and by the European Commission as RYEQO for the treatment of moderate to severe symptoms of uterine fibroids in adult women of reproductive age. We have filed a supplemental New Drug Application (sNDA) for the management of moderate to severe pain associated with endometriosis, which was accepted for review by the FDA in September 2021. The therapy is also being assessed for the prevention of pregnancy. We are also developing MVT-602, an oligopeptide kisspeptin-1 receptor agonist, which has completed a Phase 2a study for female infertility as part of assisted reproduction. Sumitovant Biopharma, Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma Co., Ltd., is our majority shareholder. For more information, please visit our website at www.myovant.com. Follow @Myovant on Twitter and LinkedIn.

About Pfizer: Breakthroughs That Change Patients Lives

At Pfizer, we apply science and our global resources to bring therapies to people that extend and significantly improve their lives. We strive to set the standard for quality, safety and value in the discovery, development and manufacture of health care products, including innovative medicines and vaccines. Every day, Pfizer colleagues work across developed and emerging markets to advance wellness, prevention, treatments and cures that challenge the most feared diseases of our time. Consistent with our responsibility as one of the world's premier innovative biopharmaceutical companies, we collaborate with health care providers, governments and local communities to support and expand access to reliable, affordable health care around the world. For more than 170 years, we have worked to make a difference for all who rely on us. We routinely post information that may be important to investors on our website at www.Pfizer.com.

In addition, to learn more, please visit us on www.Pfizer.com and follow us on Twitter at @Pfizer and @Pfizer News, LinkedIn, YouTube and like us on Facebook at Facebook.com/Pfizer.

Myovant Sciences Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. In this press release, forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, all statements reflecting Myovant Sciences expectations, including: statements regarding Myovants aspiration to redefine care for women and for men; and the statement about additional insight into the potential effect of relugolix combination therapy in women with pain associated with endometriosis.

Myovant Sciences forward-looking statements are based on managements current expectations and beliefs and are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors known and unknown that could cause actual results and the timing of certain events to differ materially from future results expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, including unforeseen circumstances or other disruptions to normal business operations arising from or related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Myovant Sciences cannot assure you that the events and circumstances reflected in the forward-looking statements will be achieved or occur and actual results could differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Factors that could materially affect Myovant Sciences operations and future prospects or which could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations include, but are not limited to the risks and uncertainties listed in Myovant Sciences filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), including under the heading Risk Factors in Myovant Sciences Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed on July 28, 2021, as such risk factors may be amended, supplemented or superseded from time to time. These risks are not exhaustive. New risk factors emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for Myovant Sciences management to predict all risk factors, nor can Myovant Sciences assess the impact of all factors on its business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements. You should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements in this press release, which speak only as of the date hereof, and, except as required by law, Myovant Sciences undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of such statements.

Pfizer Disclosure Notice

The information contained in this release is as of October 19, 2021. Pfizer assumes no obligation to update forward-looking statements contained in this release as the result of new information or future events or developments.

This release contains forward-looking information about MYFEMBREE (relugolix, estradiol, and norethindrone acetate) for the treatment of heavy menstrual bleeding associated with uterine fibroids in premenopausal women and for the management of moderate to severe pain associated with endometriosis, including their potential benefits, that involves substantial risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements. Risks and uncertainties include, among other things, uncertainties regarding the commercial success of MYFEMBREE; the uncertainties inherent in research and development, including the ability to meet anticipated clinical endpoints, commencement and/or completion dates for clinical trials, regulatory submission dates, regulatory approval dates and/or launch dates, as well as the possibility of unfavorable new clinical data and further analyses of existing clinical data; the risk that clinical trial data are subject to differing interpretations and assessments by regulatory authorities; whether regulatory authorities will be satisfied with the design of and results from the clinical studies; whether and when applications may be filed in any additional jurisdictions for MYFEMBREE for the treatment of heavy menstrual bleeding associated with uterine fibroids in premenopausal women or for the management of moderate to severe pain associated with endometriosis or in any jurisdictions for any other potential indications for MYFEMBREE; whether and when the FDA may approve the supplemental new drug application for the management of moderate to severe pain associated with endometriosis, whether and when regulatory authorities outside the U.S. may approve pending or filed applications for the treatment of heavy menstrual bleeding associated with uterine fibroids in premenopausal women and whether and when regulatory authorities in any jurisdictions may approve any such other applications for MYFEMBREE that may be pending or filed, which will depend on myriad factors, including making a determination as to whether the products benefits outweigh its known risks and determination of the products efficacy and, if approved, whether MYFEMBREE will be commercially successful; decisions by regulatory authorities impacting labeling, manufacturing processes, safety and/or other matters that could affect the availability or commercial potential of MYFEMBREE; whether our collaboration with Myovant Sciences will be successful; uncertainties regarding the impact of COVID-19 on Pfizers business, operations and financial results; and competitive developments.

A further description of risks and uncertainties can be found in Pfizers Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020 and in its subsequent reports on Form 10-Q, including in the sections thereof captioned Risk Factors and Forward-Looking Information and Factors That May Affect Future Results, as well as in its subsequent reports on Form 8-K, all of which are filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and available at www.sec.gov and www.pfizer.com.

Myovant Sciences Contacts

Ryan Crowe, Investors

+1 (650) 781-9106

investors@myovant.com

Albert Liao, Media

+1 (650) 410-3055

media@myovant.com

Pfizer Contacts

Media Relations

PfizerMediaRelations@Pfizer.com

+1 (212) 733-1226

Investor Relations

+1 (212) 733-4848

IR@Pfizer.com




Dublin, Oct. 19, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Contact Centre Operations in South Africa 2021" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



This report focuses on the South African contact centre industry, a subsector of the business process outsourcing industry. It includes information on the state of the sector, job creation, government support, and influencing factors.

There are profiles of 40 companies including international companies with call centre operations in South Africa such as Aegis, CCI, Merchants, Outworx and Webhelp, and back office suppliers such as Altron and Business Connexion.

The South African contact centre industry, which includes call centres, technical support and back and front office services for multinationals and South African companies, has recorded exceptional growth in recent years, driven by strong support by government through the incentives offered by the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition.

The industry specialises in customer service and shared services, specifically in banking, financial services, insurance, and niche legal services. It is seen as an employment creator and foreign currency earner from outsource services.

Competitive Advantage

South Africa was voted by contact centre managers globally as the preferred business process outsourcing location in the world, after being placed second for three years in a row. More than half of the work performed by South Africa's call centre outsourcing currently comes from the UK. South Africa's competitive advantages include availability of skills, infrastructure, risk profile, business environment, English fluency and time zone alignment.

Government Support

Support by government, through the incentives offered by the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition, has seen the sector grow despite the challenges posed by the coronavirus pandemic. The Global Business Services Incentive was introduced in 2019 to create employment for young people and contribute to the country's export revenue from offshoring services.

Key Topics Covered:



1. INTRODUCTION



2. DESCRIPTION OF THE INDUSTRY

2.1. Industry Value Chain

2.2. Geographic Position



3. SIZE OF THE INDUSTRY



4. STATE OF THE INDUSTRY

4.1. Local

4.1.1. Corporate Actions

4.1.2. Regulations

4.1.3. Enterprise Development and Social Economic Development

4.2. Continental

4.3. International



5. INFLUENCING FACTORS

5.1. Coronavirus

5.2. Economic Environment

5.3. Rising Input Costs

5.4. Government Support

5.5. Labour

5.6. Technology, Research and Development (R&D) and Innovation



6. COMPETITION

6.1. Barriers to Entry



7. SWOT ANALYSIS



8. OUTLOOK



9. INDUSTRY ASSOCIATIONS



10. REFERENCES

10.1. Publications

10.2. Websites

Companies Mentioned

1Stream Managed Technology Solutions (Pty) Ltd

Accenture Services (Pty) Ltd

Aegis Outsourcing South Africa (Pty) Ltd

Altron TMT (Pty) Ltd

AVirtual Services (Pty) Ltd

Business Connexion (Pty) Ltd

Care Call Retail and Distribution Services (Pty) Ltd

CCI SA (Durban) (Pty) Ltd

CCI SA Johannesburg (Pty) Ltd

CCI South Africa (Pty) Ltd

Centrevo (Pty) Ltd

Digital Mall (Pty) Ltd

Dreamscheme 76 (Pty) Ltd

Durban Technology Hub NPC

EC Three (Pty) Ltd

Ernst and Young Services (Pty) Ltd

EXLService South Africa (Pty) Ltd

FSP Solutions (Pty) Ltd

Full Circle Contact Centre Services (Pty) Ltd

Gijima Group Ltd

i-Talk Call Centre Solutions (Pty) Ltd

iContact (Pty) Ltd

Ignition Telecoms Investments (Pty) Ltd

Laboria Solutions (Pty) Ltd

Mango 5 (Pty) Ltd

Market IQ (Pty) Ltd

Merchants SA (Pty) Ltd

Mindpearl South Africa (Pty) Ltd

MTN Group Ltd

Nextec Industrial Technologies (Pty) Ltd

O'Keeffe and Swartz Consultants (Pty) Ltd

Outworx Contact Centre (Pty) Ltd

SA Commercial (Pty) Ltd

SoluGrowth (Pty) Ltd

State Information Technology Agency SOC Ltd

Talksure Trading (Pty) Ltd

TP South Africa Trading (Pty) Ltd

Webhelp SA Outsourcing (Pty) Ltd

WNS Global Services SA (Pty) Ltd

WNS South Africa (Pty) Ltd

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/uifxap




ATLANTA, Oct. 19, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Kill Cliff , the Worlds best-selling and best-tasting clean energy drink, announces Todd Thomason as Chief Customer Officer. Thomason is poised to catapult Kill Cliffs unprecedented growth in the clean energy and CBD space, following his years of success growing Fortune 50 and startup beverage brands.



Kill Cliffs unique positioning in the beverage industry is something Ive never seen before, and I knew this was a company and movement I wanted to be a part of, said Todd Thomason, Kill Cliff CCO. The energy drink space is an extremely crowded market, but if theres any brand that can break through the noise and reach new consumers, its Kill Cliff. They have a differentiated marketing plan, the right relationships and distribution system in place, a creative and talented team like no other, and most importantly, make the best-tasting, clean energy and CBD beverages on the market.

In 2021, Kill Cliff has continued its impressive growth trajectory with more than a 50 percent increase in online sales and in points of distribution. Kill Cliffs CBD line commands more than 5x the web traffic of other leading brands on a monthly basis. Under Thomasons direction, the company will continue to build on this momentum, focusing on consumer education and activation as large areas for growth. The brand will also continue to grow its strong partnership with the Navy SEAL Foundation. As the foundations first-ever Official Partner, the brand has already donated more than $1 Million to the organization to date.

Thomason is renowned for his ability to transform brands into major household names. As the Vice President and General Manager of Red Bull, he grew the Midwest region from its first sale to becoming a multi-million dollar division of the company. He also led the international growth for soda company Big Red and supported Gilberts Craft Sausages in becoming the fastest-growing brand in the category three years in a row.

With Todds success in the beverage industry, were honored to have him join our team at Kill Cliff, said John Timar, Kill Cliff CEO. Our brand is experiencing serious growth, and were at an important inflection point. With Todds background and industry relationships, we have the opportunity to build on our success by creating sustainable growth, building new points of distribution and becoming a household name across the country.

To learn more about Kill Cliff and its goal to satisfy every drinkhole in America with its clean energy and CBD drinks, visit killcliff.com . You can also download the Kill Cliff TV app on iOS or Android.

About KILL CLIFF

Founded and created by a Navy SEAL with the spirit of giving back to the community, Kill Cliff makes the worlds best and first clean energy drink. Headquartered in Atlanta, the Kill Cliff team includes civilians and accomplished military veterans and is absolutely committed to serving and supporting the Navy SEAL community. Kill Cliff honors the dedication and sacrifice made by these warriors and their families by donating a portion of the proceeds through their Official Partnership with the Navy SEAL Foundation . Visit KillCliff.com and follow KILL CLIFF on Facebook , Twitter , YouTube , and Instagram @killcliff .

Media Inquiries

Dani Kraycik

dani@commodditiesinc.com

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/dfc8928a-baff-44de-b456-fe3b7250c11a
Portland, OR, Oct. 19, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- According to the report published by Allied Market Research, the global ice cream ingredients market was estimated at $50.1 billion in 2020 and is expected to hit $93.5 billion by 2028, registering a CAGR of 8.5% from 2021 to 2028. The report provides an in-depth analysis of the top investment pockets, top winning strategies, drivers & opportunities, market size & estimations, competitive scenario, and wavering market trends.

Increasing demand for ice creams and growing inclination toward impulse ice cream desserts fuel the growth of the global ice cream ingredients market. On the other hand, rising prevalence of lactose intolerance and surge in diabetic population impede the growth to some extent. However, introduction of novel combinations & low-fat/sugar ingredients and rise in craze for organic food products are expected to create lucrative opportunities in the industry.

Download Report (245 Pages PDF with Insights, Charts, Tables, Figures) at https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/request-sample/13988

COVID-19 scenario-

The outbreak of the pandemic gave way to a sudden downfall of demand for ice creams and other frozen products, thereby impacting the global ice cream ingredients market negatively.

However, as the manufacturers have already started responding quickly in terms of incorporating necessary actions and minimizing the effect of the global crisis, the market is projected to recover soon.

The global ice cream ingredients market is analyzed across type, application, and region.

Based on product, the dairy solids segment accounted for the major share in 2020, holding nearly two-fifths of the global market. The milk-solid-not-fat segment, however, would grow at the fastest CAGR of 10.5% throughout the forecast period.

Get detailed COVID-19 impact analysis on the Ice Cream Ingredients Market: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/request-for-customization/13988?reqfor=covid

Based on application, the impulse ice cream segment generated the highest share in 2020, accounting for more than two-fifths global market. The artisanal ice cream segment, on the other hand, is projected to manifest the fastest CAGR of 9.5% from 2021 to 2030.

Based on region, the market across Asia-Pacific held the lions share in 2020, garnering around two-fifths of the global market. The same region is also expected to cite the fastest CAGR of 9.2% by the end of 2030. The other provinces studied in the report include North America, Europe, and LAMEA.

Schedule a FREE Consultation Call with Our Analysts/Industry Experts to Find Solution for Your Business: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/purchase-enquiry/13988

The key market players analyzed in the global ice cream ingredients market report include BASF SE, Tate & Lyle, Cargill, Incorporated, Royal FrieslandCampina N.V., California Dairies, Inc., Dairy Farmers of America, Hilmar Ingredients, Fonterra Co-Operative Group Limited, Grassland Dairy Products Inc., and Westland Milk Products (yili Group).These market players have incorporated several strategies including partnership, expansion, collaboration, joint ventures, and others to brace their stand in the industry.

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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.
JERSEY CITY, N.J., Oct. 19, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via InvestorWire -- Vision Hydrogen Corporation (OTCQB:VIHD) (the Company) is pleased to announce that VoltH2, a Europe-based developer of green hydrogen production infrastructure projects that is 15.9% owned by the Company, has expanded its management team.



VoltH2 continues to make significant progress in realizing its objectives and has made a number of strategic hires, increasing its core team of highly experienced commercial and engineering professionals to 10 individuals, with a plan to double the team headcount by Q2 2022 as the pace of business continues to increase. Since commencing operation in early 2020, VoltH2 has been successfully executing on its mission to design, develop and build scalable hydrogen production facilities at multiple strategic locations in Western Europe. Deploying only proven and commercial technologies in partnership with established energy-industry participants, VoltH2 has been awarded permits for its initial electrolysis plant in Vlissingen, the Netherlands.

New hires include Paul Spoeltman, Head of Electrical Engineering; Bas Lavalaye, Commercial Manager focusing on business development and offtake partnerships; and Chris de Borst, Financial Controller. Mr. Spoeltman brings over 40 years of experience working for organizations such as Engie Belgium and RWE Generation NL in the areas of power generation, storage and distribution, with core competencies in renewable energy, liquified gas and cryogenic systems including LNG, LPG and Hydrogen. Mr. Lavalaye has spent 15 years working in the Dutch and Belgium energy market and has advised domestic and international customers on their purchase and consumption of renewable energy. He has extensive experience in preparing Power Purchase Agreements and previously was responsible for starting up the gas portfolio for Eneco in Belgium. Mr. de Borst joins VoltH2 from Orsted Netherlands where he was responsible for finance, IT and treasury and served as a board member of the offshore windfarm Borssele 1&2. He oversaw the growth of the organization from 6 to 60 employees within 24 months and assisted in the successful divestment of 50% of the Borssele portfolio for 1.5 billion.

Also recently hired are Gerwin Hament, Head of Project Management and Hans Brinkhof, Project Manager covering Germany. Mr. Hament has 20 years of experience in the energy markets with the last 10 years overseeing projects in the renewables market. Previously he has worked for Focus ON, Euroloop B.V. and E-On Benelux. Mr. Brinkhof is a Civil Engineer with over 30 years of experience as a technical manager across the construction and telecom sectors and has spent 25 years working in the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure (RWS). The core team has developed and built wind, solar, biogas, biomass and CCGT energy projects, collectively worth over 4 billion Euros and will continue to work closely with the VoltH2 external engineering, technical and commercial partners to continue the successful development and delivery of the pioneering VoltH2 clean hydrogen production projects.

To accommodate the expanding team and to support operational coverage of a rapidly increasing inventory of project locations across the Benelux, France and Germany, VoltH2 has recently moved into new corporate head offices located in Bergen-op-Zoom, the Netherlands. This location is ideal due to its close proximity to the Belgium border and major road access to the Western borders of Germany. VoltH2 will continue to update on corporate and project development reflecting the most recent progress of VoltH2 as it continues to increase its footprint of clean hydrogen projects in Western Europe.

About VoltH2:

VoltH2 is in the business of designing, developing, building and operating green hydrogen plants in Europe. With two production facilities currently being developed in the Netherlands, both plants are forecasted to be in production in Q1 2023 with the capacity for each to produce 3.5 million kilograms of green hydrogen per year scalable to a combined 24.5 million kilograms per year. The strategic European location will allow for the green hydrogen to be transportable by road, rail and waterways. Local industries will be able to purchase green hydrogen to meet their environmental objectives. Please visit www.volth2.com for more information including the VoltH2 corporate presentation.

About Vision Hydrogen:

Vision Hydrogen Corporation is focused on hydrogen production for transportation and power requirements, with a goal of contributing to a clean-energy environment. Our commitment is to provide the highest-quality hydrogen production, storage and distribution services for the hydrogen economy supply chain, serving residential, commercial and government sectors.

Contact:

Vision Hydrogen Corporation/Investor Relations

95 Christopher Columbus Drive, 16th Floor

Jersey City, NJ 07302

551-298-3600 USA

www.visionh2.com

Corporate Communications:

InvestorBrandNetwork (IBN)

Los Angeles, California

www.InvestorBrandNetwork.com

310.299.1717 Office

Editor@InvestorBrandNetwork.com

Forward Looking Statements:

Certain statements in this press release are forward-looking within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements may be identified by the use of forward-looking words such as anticipate, believe, forecast, estimate, expect and intend, among others. These forward-looking statements are based on current expectations, and actual results could differ materially. The Company does not undertake an obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement. The information set forth herein speaks only as of the date hereof.
SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 19, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco awarded $175,000 in grants to seven Nevada nonprofits through its 2021 AHEAD Program. The grants, delivered through local FHLBank San Francisco member financial institutions, are aimed at advancing innovative economic and community development initiatives that bring greater opportunity to underserved populations.



Through the AHEAD Program, Bank members boost local programs and projects targeting pressing needs. The grant recipients support various priority beneficiaries, including aspiring housing; services to people experiencing homelessness; educational programs for schools, students, and teachers; and workforce training programs in a variety of sectors, including childcare, construction, and healthcare.

Communities across Nevada have faced an onslaught of challenges over the past 18 months, many of which will have long-term economic impacts, said Teresa Bazemore, president and CEO of FHLBank San Francisco. Our AHEAD Program was established in 2004 to provide valuable resources to help our communities solve for such challenges. Never has the need for innovative initiatives and services been more crucial, and were proud to provide this support.

This year, nine applications from Nevada nonprofits were submitted, and grants of $25,000 each were delivered to seven winning applicants through six participating local lender members.

From creating jobs to workforce training, from financial education to providing resources for underserved populations, this years grantees exemplify the intent of the AHEAD Program, said Marietta Nunez, senior vice president and community investment officer at FHLBank San Francisco. The awardees represent innovative, targeted initiatives that will create economic opportunity by expanding proven development models or piloting new interventions.

2021 AHEAD Program $25,000 Grant Winners:

Safe Nest (Sponsored by Bank of George) , the largest provider of shelter, advocacy, and counseling for victims of domestic violence in southern Nevada. AHEAD will fund direct financial assistance to survivors for rent, security deposits, utility assistance, childcare costs, and transit passes.

, the largest provider of shelter, advocacy, and counseling for victims of domestic violence in southern Nevada. AHEAD will fund direct financial assistance to survivors for rent, security deposits, utility assistance, childcare costs, and transit passes. The Public Education Foundation (Sponsored by Wells Fargo National Bank West) , which provides programs and resources to help public school students, families, and educators in southern Nevada. The grant will provide operational support and stipends for program participants seeking to become teachers.

, which provides programs and resources to help public school students, families, and educators in southern Nevada. The grant will provide operational support and stipends for program participants seeking to become teachers. St. Judes Ranch for Children (Sponsored by Toyota Financial Savings Bank) , a residential foster care facility that provides housing and services for foster children and transition-age foster youth at risk of homelessness. The AHEAD grant will support a project that helps foster youth gain valuable job skills such as customer service, inventory control and cash management at an on-campus thrift store.

, a residential foster care facility that provides housing and services for foster children and transition-age foster youth at risk of homelessness. The AHEAD grant will support a project that helps foster youth gain valuable job skills such as customer service, inventory control and cash management at an on-campus thrift store. Chicanos Por La Causa Nevada Inc. (Sponsored by Western Alliance Bank) , which provides housing, financial education and empowerment programs, and social services to underserved residents of Nevada. The AHEAD grant will support a project providing individuals experiencing homelessness in Las Vegas with education and workforce development, including vocational skills in construction or another in-demand industry, career counseling, and employment support services.

, which provides housing, financial education and empowerment programs, and social services to underserved residents of Nevada. The AHEAD grant will support a project providing individuals experiencing homelessness in Las Vegas with education and workforce development, including vocational skills in construction or another in-demand industry, career counseling, and employment support services. Nevada Partners Inc. (Sponsored by Toyota Financial Savings Bank), which provides programs and services for education, workforce development, financial literacy, and housing to low- and moderate-income children, families, and other individuals in West Las Vegas. The grant will help provide operating support and enable the organization to hire additional staff focused on healthcare careers, as well as supporting paid work experience or job training costs for participants.

which provides programs and services for education, workforce development, financial literacy, and housing to low- and moderate-income children, families, and other individuals in West Las Vegas. The grant will help provide operating support and enable the organization to hire additional staff focused on healthcare careers, as well as supporting paid work experience or job training costs for participants. Andson Inc. (Sponsored by Silver State Schools Credit Union) , which provides mentoring, tutoring and financial literacy education to students in southern Nevada. Funds from the AHEAD grant will be used for staff, curriculum expenses, organizational costs and supplies for a project providing 400 low-income elementary school students in Clark County with in-class financial literacy lessons focused on money management, how to set financial goals, and the benefits of a college savings account.

, which provides mentoring, tutoring and financial literacy education to students in southern Nevada. Funds from the AHEAD grant will be used for staff, curriculum expenses, organizational costs and supplies for a project providing 400 low-income elementary school students in Clark County with in-class financial literacy lessons focused on money management, how to set financial goals, and the benefits of a college savings account. Catholic Charities of Southern Nevada (Sponsored by Meadows Bank), which provides food, shelter and comprehensive services to vulnerable community members. The AHEAD grant will help cover the cost of staff and administrative support for a program assisting homeless men with achieving and maintaining self-sufficiency by providing housing, life skills classes, access to no-cost food programs, and intensive case management.



A full list of this years AHEAD grant winners and more information about the program is available at fhlbsf.com.

Since 2004, the Bank has awarded $20 million in AHEAD Program grants to support over 660 nonprofit projects and programs across Arizona, California and Nevada.

About Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco

The Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco is a member-driven cooperative helping local lenders in Arizona, California and Nevada strengthen communities, create opportunity and change lives for the better. The tools and resources we provide to our member financial institutions  commercial banks, credit unions, industrial loan companies, savings institutions, insurance companies and community development financial institutions  promote homeownership, expand access to quality housing and boost economic development. Together with our members and other partners, we are making the communities we serve more vibrant, equitable and resilient.
SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 19, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco (FHLBank San Francisco) awarded $1.5 million in grants to 60 nonprofits through its 2021 AHEAD Program. The grants, delivered through FHLBank San Francisco member financial institutions in Arizona, California, and Nevada, are aimed at advancing innovative economic and community development initiatives that bring greater opportunity to underserved populations.



Through the AHEAD Program, Bank members boost local programs and projects targeting pressing needs. The grant recipients support various priority beneficiaries, including aspiring homebuyers, people experiencing homelessness, minority- and women-owned small businesses, Tribal organizations, and workforce training programs in a variety of sectors, including childcare, construction, and healthcare.

Communities nationwide have faced an onslaught of challenges over the past 18 months, many of which will have long-term economic impacts, said Teresa Bazemore, president and CEO of FHLBank San Francisco. Our AHEAD Program was established in 2004 to provide valuable resources to help our communities solve for such challenges. Never has the need for innovative initiatives and services been more crucial, and were proud to provide this support.

This year, 309 applications were considered for a total of $1.5 million in AHEAD funding, and grants of $25,000 each were delivered to 60 winning applicants through 47 participating local lender members.

From creating jobs to workforce training, from supporting small businesses to providing resources for underserved populations, this years grantees exemplify the intent of the AHEAD Program, said Marietta Nunez, senior vice president and community investment officer at FHLBank San Francisco. The awardees represent innovative, targeted initiatives that will create economic opportunity by expanding proven development models or piloting new interventions.

Sampling of 2021 AHEAD Program $25,000 Grant Winners:

North Coast Opportunities (Sponsored by Community First Credit Union) , which helps provide various support services to strengthen low-income individuals and families in north central California. The Building Homes, Building Lives in Lake County project provides construction and soft job skills training as well as a living wage, safety gear and tools to those in the rapid rehousing program, all of whom are formerly or at risk of being homeless.

, which helps provide various support services to strengthen low-income individuals and families in north central California. The Building Homes, Building Lives in Lake County project provides construction and soft job skills training as well as a living wage, safety gear and tools to those in the rapid rehousing program, all of whom are formerly or at risk of being homeless. Red Feather Development (Sponsored by Clearinghouse CDFI) , which partners with the Navajo Nation and the Hopi Tribe in Arizona to provide sustainable housing solutions in their respective tribal communities. The AHEAD grant will help fund the Native Home Resource Network - COVID Resilience and Recovery program staff and associated travel for outreach across the region.

, which partners with the Navajo Nation and the Hopi Tribe in Arizona to provide sustainable housing solutions in their respective tribal communities. The AHEAD grant will help fund the Native Home Resource Network - COVID Resilience and Recovery program staff and associated travel for outreach across the region. Linc Housing Corporation (Sponsored by Arizona Central Credit Union) , which renovates and preserves sustainable affordable homes for seniors, families, and special needs populations throughout California. The grant will help pay for kitchen equipment, including light fixtures, fire sprinklers and a hood system at the commercial kitchen space.

, which renovates and preserves sustainable affordable homes for seniors, families, and special needs populations throughout California. The grant will help pay for kitchen equipment, including light fixtures, fire sprinklers and a hood system at the commercial kitchen space. Opportunity Junction (Sponsored by City National Bank) , an organization that offers various job training and placement programs in Contra Costa County, California, to help residents overcome barriers to employment and career advancement. The grant will help the organization to maintain adequate staffing by supporting the salaries of the certified nursing assistant instructor and professional development instructor.

, an organization that offers various job training and placement programs in Contra Costa County, California, to help residents overcome barriers to employment and career advancement. The grant will help the organization to maintain adequate staffing by supporting the salaries of the certified nursing assistant instructor and professional development instructor. Nevada Partners Inc. (Sponsored by Toyota Financial Savings Bank) , which provides programs and services for education, workforce development, financial literacy, and housing to low- and moderate-income children, families, and other individuals in West Las Vegas. The grant will help provide operating support and enable the organization to hire additional staff focused on job development, as well as supporting paid work experience or job training costs for participants.

, which provides programs and services for education, workforce development, financial literacy, and housing to low- and moderate-income children, families, and other individuals in West Las Vegas. The grant will help provide operating support and enable the organization to hire additional staff focused on job development, as well as supporting paid work experience or job training costs for participants. Housing and Economic Rights Advocates (Sponsored by East West Bank), a legal service and advocacy organization addressing various financial wellness and housing issues that exacerbate disparities in low- and moderate-income communities in California, including student loan and medical debt, credit building, and fair access to financial resources and housing. The grant will support staff attorneys providing workshops and one-on-one counseling.

A full list of this years AHEAD grant winners and more information about the program is available at fhlbsf.com.

Since 2004, the Bank has awarded $90 million in AHEAD Program grants to support over 660 nonprofit projects and programs across Arizona, California, and Nevada.

About Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco

The Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco is a member-driven cooperative helping local lenders in Arizona, California and Nevada strengthen communities, create opportunity, and change lives for the better. The tools and resources we provide to our member financial institutions  commercial banks, credit unions, industrial loan companies, savings institutions, insurance companies and community development financial institutions  promote homeownership, expand access to quality housing and boost economic development. Together with our members and other partners, we are making the communities we serve more vibrant, equitable and resilient.
Dallas, Texas, Oct. 19, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Texas-style barbecue brand is proud to announce 15 additional locations opening in Singapore. Mavin Singh and his business partner Ang (Ding) Yen are opening the additional locations over 10 years.

The additional locations come after Mavin Singh opened a Dickeys Barbecue Pit Ghost Kitchen nine months ago, and he met Ang (Ding) Yen while the two shared adjacent stalls in the same ghost kitchen in the central business district in Singapore.

Barbecue is a unique delicacy and has been so well received here in Singapore says Singh.

Our partnership is very exciting; we complement each other with our backgrounds and our determination and energy. Says Yen. The complimentary skill set and growing friendship with both men and their wives is also key to the success of introducing barbecue to Singapore.

We are thrilled to expand with Mavin and Ding further across Singapore said Roland Dickey Jr., CEO of Dickey's Capital Group.  And we welcome Ding and his partner Geraldine alongside of Mavin and his spouse Jasmin

Dickeys Barbecue Pit is celebrating its 80th anniversary, its original location is still open and operating today. Dickeys Barbecue Pit is the worlds largest barbecue concept. The meats are slowly smoked and freshly made each day. They sell barbecue brisket, chicken, ribs and wings along with savory sides and desserts.

We consider Singapore to be one of the gateways to Asia and I could not be more pleased with the partnership in Ding and Mavin to bring more barbecue to Singapore. Said Jim Perkins Executive Vice President of International Development.

About Dickeys Barbecue Restaurants, Inc.

Dickey's Barbecue Restaurants, Inc., the worlds largest barbecue concept, was founded in 1941 by Travis Dickey. For the past 80 years, Dickeys Barbecue Pit has served millions of guests Legit. Texas. Barbecue. At Dickeys, all our barbecued meats are smoked onsite in a hickory wood burning pit. Dickeys proudly believes theres no shortcut to true barbecue and its why they never say bbq. The Dallas-based, family-run barbecue franchise offers several slow-smoked meats and wholesome sides with 'No B.S. (Bad Stuff)' included. The fast-casual concept has expanded worldwide with international locations in the UAE and Japan. Dickeys Restaurant brands have over 550 locations nationwide. In 2016, Dickeys won first place on Fast Casuals Top 100 Movers and Shakers list, was named a Top 500 Franchise by Entrepreneur in 2018 and was named to Hospitality Technology Industry Heroes in 2021. Led by CEO Laura Rea Dickey, who was named among the countrys 50 most influential women in foodservice in 2020 by Nations Restaurant News and was recognized as one of the top 25 industry leaders on Fast Casuals 2020 Top 100 Movers and Shakers list, Dickey's Barbecue Pit has also been recognized by Fox News, Forbes Magazine, Franchise Times, The Wall Street Journal and QSR Magazine. For more information, visit www.dickeys.com.

Attachment
CHICAGO, Oct. 19, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Chief Learning Officer (CLO), a subsidiary brand of BetterWork Media Group, announced last night during a special virtual ceremony the winners of the 2021 Learning in Practice Awards, honoring individuals and companies that are applying innovation to corporate education to improve workplace and business performance. Fifty-four winners were announced, including the top honor, CLO of the Year, which went to Lou Tedrick, vice president of global learning and development at Verizon.

Tedrick is recognized for being an inspirational talent leader and business pacesetter who thrives on transformation. She has shaped world-class organizations by engaging employees  motivating them to outperform expectations and create powerful customer experiences. Throughout her career, she's driven change and executed new initiatives in centralized and decentralized business models, including matrix environments. She's spearheaded innovative global L&D technological solutions. Time and again, she's summoned the courage required to lead in new and unpredictable spaces.

Since 2003, the annual Learning in Practice Awards have recognized greatness in the design and delivery of enterprise education initiatives, awarding gold, silver and bronze in two classes: Practitioner Awards, which are organized into two divisions based on organization size and recognize CLOs and qualified senior learning leaders for outstanding learning and development initiatives. The other class, Provider Awards, recognizes qualified service providers, vendors and consultants for their work on behalf of a client organization.

"Every year we have a new round of applicants to evaluate, and every year it seems our job gets harder," said Ashley St. John, chief content officer and editor-in-chief of BetterWork Media Group, the parent company of CLO. "The incredible dedication and tenacity of our participants prove time and time again that innovation is truly instrumental in the advancement of the learning function's role in business performance. This is especially true during a year of so much pivoting and perseverance."

See the complete list of the 2021 Learning in Practice Award winners here.

###

About Chief Learning Officer

Chief Learning Officer is dedicated to serving as a platform and vehicle for C-suite and senior-level learning and development professionals to connect and advance in the profession and their personal careers. We are by CLOs, for CLOs.

About BetterWork Media Group

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Palm City - Margaret Jan Crandall passed away at home on November 14. Her daughter Martha and her husband Robert were at her side. Jan Crandall, nee Schmults, was born on June 2, 1935, in Barrington, Rhode Island. During WWII, the family lived in Newport where her father, Ernest, worked at t
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Ford announced that it intends to invest up to 230 million (US$316 million) at its Halewood vehicle transmission facility to transform it to build electric power units for future Ford all-electric passenger and commercial vehicles sold in Europe.





Halewood will be Fords first electric vehicle component in-house assembly site in Europe with production beginning in 2024. Production capacity is planned to be around 250,000 units a year. The investment is subject to and includes UK Government support through its Automotive Transformation Fund.

This is an important step, marking Fords first in-house investment in all-electric vehicle component manufacturing in Europe. It strengthens further our ability to deliver 100 percent of Ford passenger vehicles in Europe being all-electric and two-thirds of our commercial vehicle sales being all-electric or plug-in hybrid by 2030. Stuart Rowley, president, Ford of Europe

The power unit is the complete all-electric assembly that replaces the engine and transmission in a conventional gasoline or diesel engine vehicle. The Ford Halewood transmission facility was chosen to supply the power units given its excellent record on quality, competitiveness and the strong skills base and commitment of the employees.

Halewood currently builds transmissions for a number of Ford passenger and commercial vehicles and exports 100% of its production. Before being taken back completely into Ford ownership earlier this year, Halewood had been part of Getrag Ford Transmissions, the transmission manufacturing joint venture co-owned by Ford and Magna, for more than 20 years.

Ford is one of the UKs largest exporters, exporting engines and transmissions from its facilities to more than 15 countries on six continents, with overseas sales generating around 2.5 billion (US$3.4 billion) annually.

The Halewood news follows a number of major electrification announcements from Ford in Europe this year. Spearheading Fords advance into an all-electric future is a new $1-billion investment to modernize its vehicle assembly facility in Cologne, Germany, one of its largest manufacturing centers in Europe and the home of Ford of Europe.

The investment will transform the existing vehicle assembly operations into the Ford Cologne Electrification Center for the manufacture of electric vehicles, Fords first such facility in Europe. Fords first European-built, volume all-electric passenger vehicle will roll off Colognes production line in 2023.

Ford also announced earlier this year that in addition to building the all-electric E-Transit from 2022, Ford OtosanFords joint venture in Turkeywill produce an all-electric version of the next-generation Transit Custom from 2023 at its manufacturing facility in Kocaeli, Turkey. A new light commercial vehicle being built by Fords vehicle assembly operations in Craiova, Romania, also will include an all-electric derivative from 2024.
Foxconn (Hon Hai Technology Group), a global leader in smart manufacturing, unveiled three electric vehicles in has developed in-house: the Model C recreational vehicle; the Model E sedan; and the Model T electric bus. The announcement was made during the livestreamed Hon Hai Tech Day 2021 (HHTD21) event, underlining Hon Hai's commitment to become a global next-generation automotive manufacturer.

Upholding the companys vision of 3+3= which symbolizes the infinite possibilities created by the groups industrial advancement and emerging technologies, this years Tech Day focused on four core themes: Passion, Technology, Software and Experience. As the HHTD21 event kicked off, Young Liu, Chairman of Hon Hai Technology Group, introduced the three autonomously developed electric vehicle models. Lilian Chen, CEO of Yulon Motor Group, appeared alongside a Model C electric vehicle together with Shen Jong-chin, Vice Premier of the Executive Yuan, who was present to deliver the keynote speech. Terry Gou, Founder of Hon Hai, made a surprise appearance by driving out in a Model E electric car.

This years HHTD was organized on the Founders birthday. Terry Gou has always believed that the adoption of electric vehicles would inevitably be a global trend because of the simple fact that it has become the worlds largest and most expensive smart electronic device. He believes that with the strong capabilities in electronic manufacturing, including semiconductors, modules, precision machinery and operation, Taiwan can play a key role in the development of electric vehicles. He expressed that the Model E electric car was the best birthday present for him, which is why he insisted on driving it himself.

Lilian Yen Chen, CEO of Yulon Motor Group said that within less than a year since its establishment, Foxtron, the joint venture between Hon Hai and Yulon Motor, has successfully demonstrated Hon Hais strong capability and speed of delivery as well as Taiwans decades-long history of research and development expertise.

Yulon Groups Luxgen and CMC proprietary brands will be the first key partners to adopt Foxtrons product platform.

Young Liu, Chairman of Hon Hai Technology Group, said that Hon Hai had announced its electric vehicle strategy during last years Tech Day, and throughout the year, the company had announced, on average, one partnership announcement per month, creating a Hon Hai electric vehicle supply chain and distribution network while demonstrating its achievements in hardware development. In the next two years, Hon Hai will bring to the industry more updates from its software and semiconductor businesses to allow the development of easy-to-use, highly efficient and high-performance electric vehicles.

Hon Hai is ready and no longer the new kid in town. Young Liu

The Model C is the first model built on Hon Hais electric vehicle open platform. The Model C, which is 4.64 meters long with a wheelbase of 2.86 meters, offers comfortable seating for 5+2 people and plenty of storage space, making it easy to navigate crowded metro areas while still enjoying the luxury of a larger car.





The Model C, with a low 0.27 drag coefficient, accelerates from 0 to 100 km in 3.8 seconds and delivers an extended range of 700 km (435 miles). Thanks to the open platform sharing advantages, consumers can have a pure electric SUV with high performance, high efficiency, high intelligence, low energy consumption and large space at a reasonable price comparable to a fuel-powered car.

The Model E, jointly developed by Hon Hai and Italian design firm Pininfarina, is a technologically innovative luxury flagship sedan that can meet the needs of middle and high-end consumers. The rear seat space can transform into a dedicated mobile office, with personal mobile devices seamlessly connected to the passenger car, enabling a series of smart applications such as face recognition door opening, smart windows and vehicle and environment interfaces.





In addition to luxury and comfort, the Model E, with high performance and advanced dynamic control technology, delivers a power output of about 750 horsepower and achieves 0 to 100 km acceleration in 2.8 seconds, better than comparable models in the market and almost at the pace of a Formula One racing car. The Model E also has a 750 km range.

Positioned as an intelligent transportation solution, the Model T is a stylish urban bus. Its high rigid body design and protection meets the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) regulations and standards. In addition, the Model T has completed 200,000 km of acceleration endurance test and more than 1,000 hours of rigid strength tests at the Automotive Research & Testing Center (ARTC) Testing.





In terms of energy consumption and endurance, the Model Ts battery can withstand temperatures of up to 400 degrees, across a range of more than 400 kilometers. Under full load conditions, the maximum climbing capacity can reach 25%, and the maximum speed can reach 120 kilometers per hour.
Carbon transformation company Twelve (formerly Opus 12, earlier post) has produced the first fossil-free jet fuelcalled E-Jetfrom CO 2 electrolysis, demonstrating a scalable, energy-efficient path to the de-fossilization of global aviation. This project was supported through funding from the US Air Force (USAF), and produced fuel globally applicable for both commercial and military aviation.

Global aviation produces 1.2 billion tons of CO 2 emissions per year and represents one of the hardest-to-abate sectors, since it is technically unfeasible to electrify long-haul planes at scale due to power density challenges. Twelves jet fuel, produced using its carbon transformation technology in partnership with Fischer-Tropsch conversion experts Emerging Fuels Technology (earlier post), is a fossil-free fuel that offers a drop-in replacement for petrochemical-based alternatives without any changes to existing plane design or commercial regulations.

Electrifying planes with batteries has proven unfeasible for at-scale decarbonization of aviation, necessitating the production of fossil-free jet fuel. Weve essentially electrified the fuel instead through our electrochemical process, and the fuel drops right into existing commercial planes, allowing operators to instantly reduce their carbon footprint without any sacrifice to operating quality. Since you cant electrify the plane, weve electrified the fuel. Twelve Co-Founder and CEO Nicholas Flanders

Twelve has developed an efficient polymer-electrolyte membrane (PEM) CO 2 electrolyzer that uses proprietary CO 2 -reducing catalysts to split CO 2 with just water and renewable electricity as inputs, syngas (CO and hydrogen) as the output, and pure oxygen as the only byproduct. For the USAF project, Twelve and EFT upgrade the syngas to aviation fuel. Twelve says that its technology connects to any source of emissions, is completely modular, and integrates seamlessly into existing industrial systems at any scale.

Creating jet fuel from CO 2 enables the Air Force to increase energy independence and reduce risk in fuel logistics without compromising on fuel quality or reliability. Twelve worked in partnership with the Air Forces Operational Energy office through a joint contract with AFWERX, a program office at the Air Force Research Laboratory, and SBIR, the Small Business Innovation Research program.

One of our main goals with this project was to create a clean jet fuel that enhances security and energy independence without sacrificing operational readiness. The successful completion of the project proves that efficiency and environmental responsibility are not mutually exclusive. Roberto Guerrero, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Operational Energy

In July, Twelve raised $57 million in Series A funding from lead investors Capricorn Technology Impact Fund and Carbon Direct Capital Management. Seed round lead DCVC, as well as Munich Re Ventures, Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund, Breakout Ventures, and Evok Innovations also participated in the round.

Twelve was founded in 2015 by Dr. Etosha Cave, Dr. Kendra Kuhl, and Nicholas Flanders, who met as graduate students at Stanford University. Formerly Opus 12, Twelve is based in Berkeley, California. Twelve refers to the Carbon-12 isotope, the most abundant form of the element that amounts to 98.93% of the carbon on Earth.
Tom Purcell is an author and columnist for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Copyright 2021 Tom Purcell, distributed exclusively by Cagle Cartoons newspaper syndicate.
More than three weeks after medical providers in Connecticut started giving out COVID-19 booster shot for some Pfizer recipients, less than a third of eligible people age 65 and older have gotten the extra doses.

As federal officials move toward approving Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines for booster doses, the pace of the Pfizer shots suggests demand is unlikely to come near the first rollout.

State officials say supply is ample. But unlike last winter and spring, the Lamont administration is not making a broad and energetic push for the boosters  with a lower-key promotion to eligible people.

When Connecticut providers began adminsitering the Pfizer boosters on Sept. 24, state officials said about 270,000 residents 65 and older qualified.

Since then, 84,568 adults 65 and older have gotten either a booster or third dose, data provided by the state to Hearst CTInsider shows. Thats about 31 percent of those whove been fully vaccinated for at least six months. Its unknown how many people in this age group are immunocompromised and thus qualify for a third shot.

State officials do not count boosters and third shots separately. Boosters are given after at least six months to groups, including those 65 and older, who studies have shown may lose protection; third doses can be given anytime to people deemed to need the extra protection from the outset.

Approval for the boosters followed earlier authorization for third doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines for people with weakened immune systems, which started Aug. 13. Providers in the state, including pharmacies, hospital systems, physicians offices and clinics have administered 109,949 boosters and third shots since the August date.

The largest share, 42,958 doses, have gone to people ages 65-74, followed by 75-to 84-year-olds who received 31,975 of the doses.

Millions more Americans could soon be eligible for Covid-19 booster shots, with a Food and Drug Administration panel recently recommending the extra doses for certain recipients of the Johnson & Johnson and Moderna vaccines.

In Connecticut, eligibility would open to hundreds of thousands of people. State officials say they are promoting the availability of the boosters to those who are eligible.

Were continuing to let eligible groups know the booster is available and we encourage those eligible to consult with their physician to ensure theyre doing everything they can to protect themselves from COVID-19, Max Reiss, a spokesman for Gov. Ned Lamont, said in a written statement Monday.

Connecticut continues to top the nation for its vaccination rates and data released by the state Monday shows the daily infection rate remains low, at 1.83 percent for the three days since Friday.

Howver, the number of people hospitalized due to COVID-19 remains where it was three weeks ago, after weeks of decline. Over the weekend, hospitals reported 15 additional inpatients for a total of 249, as fluctuations in a narrow range continue.

Public health officials have pushed boosters as way to boost waning immunity for older populations, who were among the first to get inoculated and who are at higher risk for severe illness and death.

We're encouraged by the number of people who have gotten their boosters following CDC and FDA guidance thus far, and we look forward to further federal approvals and more residents following the advice of scientists and medical professionals, Lora Rae Anderson, spokeswoman for the states chief operating officer, said in a written statement Monday.

The death of former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell on Monday from complications of Covid-19 renewed attention on the rarity of severe breakthrough cases. Powell, 84, who was fully vaccinated, had undergone treatment in recent years for a type of blood cancer, which is known to weaken the immune system.

Connecticut has reported 144 breakthrough deaths. Thats less than one percent of all reported breakthrough cases. More than 71 percent of the deaths have involved people 75 and older. But the state has not released data showing the lengths of time the deaths occurred after the deceased were fully vaccinated.

julia.bergman@hearstmediact.com
WASHINGTON - A senior Biden health appointee who made history when she became the nation's highest-ranking openly transgender official has also become its first openly transgender four-star officer.

Rachel Levine, the U.S. assistant secretary for health, was sworn in Tuesday as an admiral of the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, a 6,000-person force that responds to health crises on behalf of the federal government, including administering coronavirus vaccines and delivering care after hurricanes. Levine is also the organization's first-ever female four-star admiral.

The move was hailed by advocacy groups like the gay rights organization GLAAD, and health care leaders who called it a breakthrough moment.

The group representing public health officials "is here to support you and your team defend the health of all Americans!" Michael Fraser, CEO of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, wrote on Twitter.

Some conservatives, meanwhile, dismissed the swearing-in as a political gesture. "Biden gang playing quota politics with public health service," Tom Fitton, president of conservative legal group Judicial Watch, wrote on Facebook.

In an interview, Levine stressed that her new position as an admiral was "not just symbolic," and that she would take a leadership role in shaping the public health corps' priorities. "I'm doing this because of my dedication to service . . . [and] with the utmost respect and honor for the uniform that I will be wearing," Levine said, adding she would begin wearing the group's blue uniform immediately.

The public health service is one of the nation's eight uniformed services, although it is distinct from the six military services - including the Navy, Army and Air Force - by explicitly focusing on medical issues. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Officer Corps, whose officers command vehicles that probe hurricanes and map the seafloor, is also a uniformed service.

The 63-year-old Levine, who was previously Pennsylvania's health secretary and had not served in the commissioned corps, is now set to take a more prominent role in the service's operations. She will be the sixth four-star admiral in the corps' history, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.

Political appointees are regularly tapped for senior roles in the corps. Brett Giroir, Levine's predecessor during the Trump administration, was sworn in as an admiral after his 2018 Senate confirmation. Vivek H. Murthy, the nation's surgeon general, also serves as a vice admiral.

The long-running health corps traces its history to 1798, but the service was formally established by Congress in 1889. The oft-overlooked corps has struggled with retirements and visibility; it was slow to get access to its own supply of coronavirus vaccines, even as its officers helped deliver shots around the nation.

Administration officials touted the significance of Levine's elevation to admiral, praising President Joe Biden's commitment to diversity and noting that the ceremony will occur during LGBTQ history month.

"Admiral Levine's historic appointment as the first openly transgender four-star officer is a giant step forward toward equality as a nation," HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement.

Levine has been repeatedly targeted by conservative advocacy groups and politicians, who claimed her historic selection - as the first openly transgender official ever confirmed by the Senate - was a political gesture by Biden. At Levine's confirmation hearing to serve as assistant secretary for health, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., tried to draw a connection between genital mutilation and transition-related care, which prompted stern rebukes from Paul's Democratic colleagues.

But Levine shrugged off questions about a similar backlash to Tuesday's announcement, even as her appointment became a leading topic on conservative talk radio and social media on Tuesday. "I am not worried," she said. "I'm such a strong proponent of diversity, equity and inclusion . . . and we have a president that is such a strong advocate of diversity, equity and inclusion as well."
Now that the new Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro are finally fully official after months of controlled leaks and teasers, Google has also issued a blog post purportedly talking about its Tensor chipset, which is powering the two new phones.

The company isn't at all interested in letting us in on any details of the SoC, however. There are literally zero specs in its entire 18-paragraph post, but thanks to Engadget we found out that we're dealing with a chip built on a 5nm process, with a CPU that has a tri-cluster architecture, with two big ARM Cortex-X1 cores running at up to 2.8 GHz.

That's an extra X1 core compared to the likes of the Snapdragon 888, although Qualcomm's lone X1 core is clocked slightly higher. Moving on, the Tensor's CPU also has two Cortex-A76 cores clocked at up to 2.25 GHz, as well as four Cortex-A55 cores running at up to 1.8 GHz. Tensor also features an ARM Mali-G78 GPU, although we have no official information on how many cores it has - rumor has it it's 20, and that would be something.

What Google does say is that Tensor was co-designed with Google Research, which allowed it to build an AI/ML platform that's fit for the future. Tensor unlocks "new experiences that require state of the art ML", like Motion Mode, Face Unblur, Speech enhancement mode for videos, and applying HDRnet to videos (at up to 4K60).

Tensor uses the most accurate automatic speech recognition ever released by Google, and for the first time a high-qualuty model can be used even for long-running apps like Recorder or Live Caption without quickly draining the battery. Tensor also powers the Live Translate feature on the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro, and chat apps like Messages and WhatsApp will allow for direct translations. Live Translate also works on media like videos with on-device speech and translation models. The new on-device neural machine translation model uses less than half the power on Tensor.

Thanks to Tensor, the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro should also have more accurate face detection in photos and videos, locating and focusing on your subject quicker. Together with the Titan M2, the Tensor security core and TrustZone running Trusty OS, the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro have the most layers of hardware security in any phone, Google boasts.

The Tensor security core is a new CPU-based subsystem that works with the Titan M2 security chip to protect your sensitive user data. Independent security lab testing showed that Titan M2 can withstand attacks like electromagnetic analysis, voltage glitching and even laser fault injection.
Russia's communications regulator is looking to slap Google with an up to $240 million fine

Russias communications regulator, Roskomnadzor, issued fines totaling RUB 32.5 million ($458,000) to Google for not deleting content that was deemed illegal. However, the company has not paid those fines yet, so now the regulator is planning to take the search giant to court, reports Reuters.

Roskomnadzor will seek between 5% and 20% of Googles turnover in Russia. Last year Google brought in RUB 85.5 billion from the country, so those 5-20% work out to between $60-240 million.

The regulator announced earlier this month that it is seeking to slap Facebook with a similar turnover fine, now its preparing to do the same to Google. The case against Google will be sent to the court on the 27th, the court session is planned for November 8.

Source
A few months ago, I hosted a 3-part beginner yoga series for those who had never tried yoga before or had taken under 10 classes.

When speaking with some of my students, many of them expressed that they had always wanted to try yoga, but they were intimated to take a class in person as a beginner.

Theres a common misconception that to do yoga you have to be flexible, have good balance or even be able to get into an Instagram-worthy pose.

But the truth is, yoga is for everyone, and the focus on breath and mindfulness coupled with physical movement allows students to find a deeper connection to their minds and bodies.

As a first timer, you might be wondering things like: Which way do I set up my mat? Do I breathe out of my nose or mouth? What if I cant do a pose? What if I fall asleep at the end?

These are all common thoughts and questions that beginners may face. To help kick start you on your yoga journey, here are five recommendations:

Talk to your teacher

When you arrive at a class, I recommend letting the teacher know its your first time doing yoga.

I advise informing them if you have any current or previous injuries (for example, sensitive knees) or if youre pregnant. This will allow the teacher to provide safe modifications depending on the postures of the class.

Every instructor has a different background and style of teaching yoga, so I also recommend trying out different studios and teachers as you start your journey to find a space or teacher that you connect with.

Listen to your body

During your first classes, youll soon realize that yoga props are your friend! Yoga blocks, cushions and straps can all aid in modifying or enhancing certain postures.

For example, a yoga block can be used to sit on, to bring the floor closer to you, for restorative poses and more. Outside of modifying postures, its also important to go at your own pace.

Childs pose is always welcomed, and so is taking a break for a sip of water. The beauty of yoga is you can customize your practice to support what you need that day.

Remember to breathe

A big piece of any yoga class is remaining aware of our breath. In my classes, I focus on linking breath to movement, and cue most inhales and exhales.

In addition, activating our deep belly breath can trigger our parasympathetic nervous system or relaxation response. One of my teachers always used to say when you lose the breath, you lose the pose.

So, as you start taking classes and you find yourself in a more challenging position, remember to come back to your breath to experience each pose fully.

Grab a yoga buddy

A few weeks ago, I tried my first aerial yoga class, and invited a friend to join. If youre feeling intimidated to try a class for the first time, bringing along someone can be a great way to bond as you experience something new together.

In addition, having a friend join can be an extra level of accountability as you look to make attending yoga sessions a habit.

Dont skip savasana

Savasana, also known as corpse pose, is considered the most important pose of yoga. Movement is just the warm-up to the actual aim of yoga: to improve our ability to meditate and self-actualize in our minds.

The goal of savasana? Complete surrender. Be prepared to leave class feeling relaxed and refreshed.
Jury selection and trial for former Guam Housing and Urban Renewal Authority attorney, Mark Smith will begin at 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday.

According to the 2017 indictment, Smith rented property from the Section 8 housing program while serving as GHURAs legal counsel. He then signed the properties over to his friend, Glenn Wong, who collected rent money and gave it to Smith.

The conspiracy alleged is to have spanned between November 2011 to September 2016.

Smiths scheduled trial follows a motion to dismiss the case on the grounds Chief Judge Ramona Manglona from the District Court of the Northern Mariana Islands is not qualified to oversee the case.

Another motion by Smiths attorney, Michael Phillips, requested to reschedule the trial citing the rising cases of COVID-19.

Manglona denied both motions.

Former GHURA counsel asks court to dismiss criminal case Former Guam Housing and Urban Renewal Authority attorney Mark Smith, who faces federal crimi

Coronavirus on Guam: COVID-19 concerns could push back money laundering, wire fraud trial Concerns over COVID-19 could push back trial for former Guam Housing and Urban Renewal lawye

Smith stands trial for charges that include money laundering, wire fraud, theft of government property, making a false statement on a loan application and engaging in monetary transactions with the proceeds of unlawful activity, court documents state.

Wong allegedly transferred the following amounts to Smith during the conspiracy:

$243,839.76 in deposits to Smiths loan or credit card accounts.

$23,900 in cash to Smith through checks, made out to cash, from Wongs account. A third person endorsed the checks and gave the cash to Smith.

$15,569.94, in deposits to Smiths checking or savings account.

Wong died earlier this year and the case against him was dismissed in June.
Residents will have to start dialing 671 when making local calls starting Sunday, or theyll get a recorded message instructing them to add the area code.

Thats because the Federal Communications Commission has designated 988 as the service number to connect to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.

Similar to the way 911 is currently used to contact police and fire departments in an emergency, 988 will be a direct line as part of an effort to elevate the response to mental health issues.

Guam is among 82 areas that have phone numbers starting with the 988 extension, so to avoid mixups, the island will switch to 10-digit dialing.

Responses

The islands three telecommunications companies, Docomo, GTA, and IT&E have been engaging in a united effort to inform customers about the change in the way local numbers must be dialed, but some residents question the necessity of the change.

I think itll make things more difficult. Were out in the middle of the ocean, I doubt anyone would really need to dial (671). Its more of a hassle, seeing as weve been doing it for so long, why change it? said Jae Taimanglo of Talofofo.

Its an extra three digits, said Jahnsen Quintal of Yigo. It would be a hassle to many who are used to just dialing the seven digits (like myself), but we will eventually adapt to the change.

Assistance

Docomo Public Relations Manager Jared Roberto said the company has received a few inquires regarding the necessity of the change, and some residents have suggested alternative solutions.

Roberto tells them the change is a mandate from the FCC, and they must comply with it.

The new service number will allow those suffering from mental health issues a chance to receive help.

In moments where every second counts, they will soon be able to dial 988 to reach the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, rather than dialing a long 1-800 number. We appreciate the communitys support during this important islandwide and nationwide transition, said Roberto.

The telecommunication companies said they will supply constant reminders about the change, through in-store flyers, social media and billing statements.

Weve been sending out SMS messages to our subscribers to remind them about 10-digit dialing, said GTA Community Relations Manager Michele Catahay Perez.

Weve also included 10-Digit dialing messaging on our bill messages every month. Its also on our website, weve posted on our social media sites and published a joint ad on print media. We also e-mail messages to our consumer and business customers, Catahay Perez said.

Spread the word

Roberto added that an informational graphic was circulated in WhatsApp groups, posted on each of our social media pages, and inserted monthly in multiple Guam newspapers.

Additionally, we have in-store flyers have been posted within our retail stores and radio ad spots were prepared and launched, he added.

A final collaborative press release with GTA, IT&E, and Guam Behavioral Health and Wellness will be sent this week, according Roberto.
Touchless water bottle filling stations, handwashing stations in the hallways and plexiglass dividers on cafeteria tables are among the several layers of COVID-19 protective measures in the islands public schools, where students and employees are required to wear masks unless they are eating.

Each school, as required by Public Health guidance, has a designated quarantine room, separate from the school nurses office, to isolate any students who might have COVID-19.

At C.L. Taitano Elementary School, the teachers lounge was converted into a quarantine room, including a new double door, two beds and a hospital-grade portable air purifier. The plan is to use federal pandemic funding to purchase and install similar HEPA filter air purifiers in every Guam DOE classroom.

C.L. Taitano school nurse Corman Smau said the Sinajana school has used its quarantine room four times since classes resumed in late September.

Im not only using it for positive cases, but also if I suspect (COVID), then they come here, Smau said. He said the quarantine room also is used to bring students who possibly were exposed to someone with COVID-19.

No cases

There have been no cases of COVID-19 spreading in public schools. All positive cases among students and employees have been linked to outside contacts.

If there is a positive case, then it is the responsibility of the school to come up with a contact tracing list and inform Public Health, as well as the parent that the student has been identified as part of contact tracing, and to quarantine, said Erika Cruz, deputy superintendent for educational support and community learning. She said Public Health has one person specifically assigned to follow up with contact tracing on any positive cases in the schools.

Daily schedule

Because it is an elementary school, students at C.L. Taitano remain in the same room most of the day, except to eat or to go to the CHamoru language classroom, Cruz said.

Bus riders are not screened before boarding the bus for school, but are temperature screened at the campus entrance.

Students eat lunch in shifts, according to grade level, sitting at long tables divided by plexiglass cubes. Every other cube is off-limits, so students are not sitting next to each other.

Cruz said the high schools no longer use cafeteria tables and have replaced them with individual student desks, set several feet apart.

While C.L. Taitano was built with a faucet and sink in every classroom, other Guam DOE schools have installed handwashing stations in the hallways to promote frequent hand washing, Cruz said.

Cohorts

This is the fourth week of classes since Guam DOE students returned to campus following the temporary shutdown ordered by the governor.

In order to further promote social distancing after the shutdown ended, Guam DOE changed its policy and assigned students to two cohorts  A and B  with students on campus only every other day.

As long as those students are attending classes in cohorts they are losing a week of instructional time for every two weeks of school.

At C.L. Taitano, with classrooms now only half full, the unused desks are pushed together to provide larger working areas for those students on campus that day.

Full return

The islands COVID Area Risk score has been slowly dropping in recent days, from 24.3 on Oct. 11, to 17.5 on Oct. 18, but Guam DOEs separate weekly dashboard continues to assess the community risk level as high.

Superintendent Jon Fernandez has said Guam DOE will return to five-day instruction as soon as the COVID situation in the community improves, but said there is no specific benchmark  CAR score or otherwise  which would trigger the shift.

Were sticking with the two cohorts until such time we feel that the schools and the community is ready for our students to come back 100%, Cruz said. Whats important, whats paramount for us is the health and safety of our students, our employees The anxiety level and stress level is also high on parents as well as our employees. So thats something we have to balance, though there is instructional time thats being lost.
Sen. Sabina Perez is asking that a permit to allow Andersen Air Force Base to dispose of ordnance in an open burn unit be denied, and that the practice be prohibited on island.

Perez wrote Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero and Guam Environmental Protection Agency Director Walter Leon Guerrero on the matter, and also asked that alternative technologies for ordnance disposal be required, among other things. According to Guam EPA last week, the permit goes up for renewal every three years and the comment period on the latest draft permit has already closed. The permit also allows for the open detonation of ordnance.

Leon Guerrero last week said that Guam EPA could not deny the permit if it was in compliance with all Guam EPA requirements. The unit at Andersen has been in use since 1980. While the open burn unit has not been used since 2002, it was still included in the permit.

The open burn/open detonation pit is sited in the north near our islands two most populated villages of Yigo and Dededo. The draft permit would allow the release of hazardous chemicals such as lead, which has been banned on Guam since 1990, and highly carcinogenic substances such as strontium and uranium, Perez wrote.

Dioxin, an endocrine disrupter and carcinogen, has also been detected at open burn and open detonation sites, she said. Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, known as PFAS or forever chemicals, are also included in compounds used in equipment such as military flares, and not broken down in open burn and open detonation disposal.

Clean up costs at open burn and open detonation pits can reach more than half a billion dollars at a single site, the senator said. A previous site used for open burn at Andersen is now on the U.S. EPAs priority cleanup list.

Severe environmental damages include chemical infiltration into our largest drinking water supply and air pollution due to virtually no regulation or control mechanisms planned to contain harmful substances that may be released into the air. Of great concern is the lack of information regarding the chemical composition of wastes and chemical by-products included with the permit application.

A report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in 2019 documented viable alternatives for the disposal of ordnance, she said, which have already been implemented by the Department of Defense throughout the U.S.

The Public Affairs Office at Andersen did not respond to request from the PDN about the viability of alternative technologies for ordnance disposal on island, or whether they were currently being considered for use at the base.

Perez asked that Guam EPA and the governor join the Legislature in formally opposing the permit. She also asked that the public comment period be re-opened.
Trial for SNAP fraud defendants Basiano Joysa and Hilario T. Willy is scheduled to begin in December.

In 2017 Joysa and Willy were indicted for charges of wire fraud and unauthorized use of food stamp benefits. Their scheme to defraud the United States Department of Agriculture involved creating fictional recipients for the transactions of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, court documents state.

The scheme is alleged to have occurred from January 2008 to September 2013.

Joysa and Willy executed the scheme by overcharging SNAP recipients EBT cards at their business, Angarap Fish Mart, and transferring the money to a bank account outside of Guam. They acquired at least $560,000 in benefits from the SNAP program, court documents state.

Sharon Chargualaf indicted for allegedly defrauding food assistance program Sharon Afaisen Chargualaf was indicted Friday by a grand jury on an allegation of defrauding

At a hearing before Chief Judge Frances Tydingco-Gatewood at the District Court of Guam, Willys co-counsels requested the trial be pushed back, since attorney Louie J. Yanza has not received discovery since his appointment on Sept. 2.

Willys other attorney, Curtis Van de Veld, said the exchange was going to happen following the hearing. However, Tydingco-Gatewood expressed her concern over the transfer because it had been six weeks since Yanzas appointment and the exchange had not occurred.

The next hearing was originally scheduled for Nov. 4. but has been postponed to Dec. 7.
Julie Ramona Flores was charged with possessing about 2 ounces of methamphetamine after she was pulled over by a Guam Police Department officer, according to a magistrates complaint filed in the Superior Court of Guam.

On Dec. 1, 2020, a patrol officer saw Flores driving between 17 and 25 mph in a 35 mph zone on Route 14 in Tamuning. The officer followed Flores and discovered the license plate was registered to an individual with priors for illegal possession of controlled substances and burglary, according to the complaint.

The officer then pulled Flores over for several other traffic violations along with still driving at a slow speed, documents state.

Flores was identified as the driver, but had no identification or drivers license and the vehicle was not registered to her, documents state.

Flores told the officer she was on probation and has been checking in on a weekly basis, according to the complaint.

The officer searched the vehicle and found a brown Gucci hand bag in the center portion of the backseats. In the bag was a clear, resealable plastic bag containing methamphetamine which weighed about 2 ounces, according to the complaint.

On Tuesday, Flores was charged with possession of a Schedule II controlled substance with intent to deliver as a first-degree felony.

Joseph Roman II to serve no additional time in prison for meth conspiracy Joseph Bo Roman II will serve no additional time in prison after he was sentenced to credi
In this Oct. 6, 2021, photo, the light in the cupola of the Capitol Dome is illuminated, indicating that work continues in Congress, in Washington. It makes no sense for Americans who earn Supplemental Security Income to lose it by moving one of the colonies  um, territories.




Haiti - Environment : UEH receives 3 million for scientific research on solid waste management





Friday, October 15, 2021, James CADET the Minister of the Environment through the Solid Waste Management (SCM) project funded by Japan, in the presence of the Chief ai of Cooperation of the Embassy of Japan in Haiti, the Chief of the Resilience Unit of the United Nations Development Program in Haiti (UNDP), executives and employees, presented a check of 3 million gourdes to the Rector of the State University of Haiti (UEH) Fritz Deshommes .



This check will allow researchers and students from the State University of Haiti to conduct studies and research on solid waste management in Haiti to help the Ministry of the Environment to act better on the ground.



In his speech, Minister Cadet insisted on the importance of science in actions aimed at improving the living conditions of populations, affirming that scientific research constitutes an essential tool for political decision-makers.



It was also the opportunity for the Minister of the Environment to announce to the various partners of the Ministry, the forthcoming establishment of the National Documentation Center on the Environment and Biodiversity (CNDEB), in other words a green library which will be a space for dissemination and access to studies carried out on the environment but above all a space for promoting environmental education.



For his part, Rector Deshommes praised the dynamism of Minister Cadet who, through this initiative, highlights scientific research with a view to preserving the environment. He took the opportunity to announce to the Minister that universities of Saint Lucia and Dominica are collaborating with the UEH in order to put in Creole the various basic concepts of the environment.



See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34904-haiti-environment-waste-collection-donation-of-heavy-equipment-by-japan.html



HL/ HaitiLibre


















By William Schwartz | Published on 2021/10/18

I had expected the ultimate explanation of why Chief Hong left Seoul to be maudlin and contrived. It seems unlikely, after all, that Chief Hong had actually killed the security guard as implied or he would be in jail. But I was pleasantly surprised by the story we ended up getting. It is, of all things, a more effective critique of capitalism than anything "Squid Game" did that ties in quite well to Chief Hong's backstory, explaining why he is who he is.

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In short, Chief Hong used to be a hedge fund manager. He used to value money and success, despite his personality not really being suited to the work. Chief Hong rationalized the apparently useless nature of his job by telling himself that through hedge fund management, he could give poor people a hope of one day being rich themselves. The security guard was one such man, wanting wealth not for himself but to give his family a better life.

What crushed Chief Hong's spirit and sent him back to Gongjin wasn't just the death of two people he considered friends. It was the realization that in his pursuit of status, he had caused those deaths. However indirect Chief Hong's own contributions to those deaths may have been, he was still acting in his capacity as a servant for capital. As Jesus Christ himself said, no man can serve two masters. And so Chief Hong renounced his wealth, and dedicated his life to helping people directly.

It's not a perfect metaphor, mind you, given how aggressive "Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha" has been with its product placement. Although I am starting to wonder the exact source of Hye-jin's wardrobe, which feels bizarrely old-fashioned even compared to the old ladies. Still, the sentiment is in the right place, and perfectly encapsulates the appeal of Gongjin as a community not just for its characters but for the viewer. It's a town where people actually care about each other, and express that via their actions rather than through monetary exchange.

This is also mostly well-communicated through the subplots. Yeong-gook and Hwa-jeong reconcile, accepting their mutual sentiment as sincere. The resolution of Cho-hee's storyline also demonstrates that even small towns aren't perfect, both in terms of regressive ideals and also the simple reality of how you can love someone that can't love you back the same way. Acknowledging and accepting that uncomfortable truth is bittersweet yet therapeutic.

Review by William Schwartz

___________

"Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha" is directed by Yoo Je-won, written by Sin Ha-eun, and features Shin Min-a, Kim Seon-ho, Lee Sang-yi, Gong Min-jung, Seo Sang-won-I, Woo Mi-hwa. Broadcasting information in Korea: 2021/08/28~2021/10/17, Sat, Sun 21:10 on tvN.
Published on 2021/10/18 | Source

New stills added for the upcoming Korean documentary "The Man Who Paints Water Drops" (2020)

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Directed by Brigitte Bouillot, Kim Oan

"The Man Who Paints Water Drops" is a co-production between South Korea and France

Synopsis

Letter and Repetition: Echo of the Water Drop Painter, Kim Tschang-yeull's Work

-Water

Water is a recurring element in this movie and appears repeatedly in various forms, including rain, sea, glass of water, and puddles. Such a humorous way of healing is not only literal reflection and refraction of Kim's fundamental main theme, but also the way he exists in the world. Such an object is to immerse the audience in the obsession and microscopic detail associated with the writer's daily life.

-Repetition

This work focuses on the radical character of Kim Tschang-yeull's minimal and repetitive atmosphere through scenes, sounds, and repetition of words. One of the ways we use for this purpose is the repetitive phosphorus accumulation method. For example, a woman bends and gets up and bows again 10 or 15 times. You can experience this tremendous accumulation of gestures in your daily life.

-Separation

In his work, as in his life, Kim Tschang-yeull has a special relationship with the world of separation and patience, which he observes, expresses and sometimes tries to imitate. Therefore, the work expresses the world around him with patience through the separation of the streets of Seoul and Paris, the nature around his home, the kind of news he hears on the radio, and the kind of desire he has.

Release date in Korea : 2021/10/19
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Hastings, NE (68901)

Today

Mostly sunny this morning then becoming cloudy during the afternoon. High 53F. Winds SSW at 15 to 25 mph. Higher wind gusts possible..

Tonight

A few clouds. Low 31F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph.
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Havre Police Department

An 8:40 a.m. Friday call about a four-point buck on Eighth Avenue with silver cord wrapped around its horns and neck was referred to another agency.

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Spencer Owen Lagree of Havre, 47, was arrested on charges of fleeing or eluding a peace officer, no vehicle insurance, obstructing a peace officer or other public servant, resisting arrest and driving under the influence and on a pick up and hold order during a vehicle stop that started at First Street and Seventh Avenue Friday at 9:06 a.m.

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Raymon Patrick Romero of Havre, 32, was issued a summons on a theft charge after someone with Great Falls Police Department reported Friday at 11:38 a.m. that their department had some property that appeared to have been stolen from the Havre area, and a 12:51 p.m. caller on 16th Street called to report a stolen trimmer.

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Jacob Gary Spang of Box Elder, 40, was arrested on charges of DUI, driving with a suspended or revoked driver's license, operating a vehicle without valid registration, expired vehicle registration and theft after he called from Fifth Street at 7:49 p.m. Friday reporting he was chased earlier.

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Havre 911 received a call Friday 9:24 p.m. from a Havre caller that a Havre High School bus hit a horse near Hays and Fort Belknap law enforcement had been notified.

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Krystle K. Morsette of Montana, 35, was arrested on charges of aggravated DUI, no driver's license, tail light violation and open container in a vehicle on a highway during a vehicle stop on Second Street Saturday at 12:11 a.m.

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Kalem Emanuel Freyholtz of Havre, 31, was arrested on charges of obstructing a peace officer or other public servant, DUI, driving with a suspended or revoked driver's license, and possession of drug paraphernalia during a vehicle stop on the viaduct on Seventh Avenue Saturday at 12:55 a.m.

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Shannon Lee Monteau of Havre, 45, was arrested on a charge of partner or family member assault by officers responding to a Sunday 12:24 a.m. request from 15th Street for assistance removing a man.

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Sunday at 4:09 p.m., a caller reported that a Sixth Street organization's van has a broken windshield.

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An 11th Street West caller reported Sunday at 5:16 p.m. that their apartment had been broken into while the caller was away.

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Dixie Lynn Hernandez of Havre, 50, was arrested on charges of DUI, careless driving and resisting arrest after a Rocky Boy Police officer reported an erratic driver near Assiniboine Avenue at 11:10 p.m. Sunday and Havre Police made an 11:13 p.m. vehicle stop in the alley between Fourth and Fifth, avenue or street not specified in the dispatch log.

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Two arrests were made after a caller at a First Street establishment reported at 1:13 a.m. today that possible shots were fired. No details on charges were provided in the dispatch log, but two people named as involved parties were listed in the jail roster this morning. Jacob Lamere was being held on charges of criminal endangerment, obstructing a peace officer of other public servant, false reports to law enforcement and tampering with evidence, and Thomas Gardipee was being held on a disorderly conduct charge.

Hill County Sheriff's Office

Deputies were called Friday at 9:10 a.m. to assist another agency on the north side.

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A deputy on Fifth Street North between Seventh and Eighth avenues North asked for assistance removing the a taser dart from a man Friday at 9:11 a.m.

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Jacob Logan James Folk of Havre, 32, was arrested on a charge of violation of conditions of release after a caller on U.S. Highway 2 East reported Sunday at 11:21 p.m. that someone was firing off fireworks.

Havre Fire Department

Emergency medical personnel responded to seven calls Friday, three calls Saturday and nine calls Sunday.

Havre Animal Shelter

The shelter this morning held six kittens of varying ages and of unknown gender, three female cats, one female 25-week-old kitten, one male cat, one female 18-week-old kitten and one male 6-month-old kitten.

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The shelter also held two female mixed-breed dogs, two male mixed-breed dogs and a male border collie german shepherd cross dog. Also, a male and a female 9-week-old mixed-breed puppies were being held separately.
International Bat Week set for Oct. 25-29

Mike Borgreen, Bureau of Land Management, Glasgow Field Office wildlife biologist, takes morphological measurements of a bat (myotis sp.) during a multi-agency bat survey conducted in late-July 2021 near Fort Peck.

From U.S. Bureau of Land Management

International Bat Week is just around the corner, and the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument team will celebrate by showcasing the 15 different bat species that call Montana home.

BLM photo by Nikie Bilodeau, Glasgow Field Office biological science technician Mike Borgreen, Bureau of Land Management, Glasgow Field Office wildlife biologist, removes a silver-haired bat (lasionycteris noctivagans) from a mist net during a late-July multi-agency bat survey conducted near Fort Peck.

People can stop by the Missouri Breaks Interpretive Center in Fort Benton Oct. 25-29, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., to learn about these special animals, take part in crafts and activities, and attend a short program about bats.

Bats play a unique role in our environment by controlling insect populations that may otherwise harm homes, agriculture and forests.

Currently, bat species across the country are threatened by a fatal disease called white-nose syndrome The more people can do to ensure the survival of this important and beneficial animal, the better off everyone will all be.

BLM encourages people to drop in during Bat Week to learn more about what they can do to help.

For more information about this fee-free event, people can call the Interpretive Center at 406-622-4000, or visit https://batweek.org for a full list of inspiring bat-ivities they can do from home.
Rocky Boy resident Whitford participates in cultural exchange with Georgetown, Princeton schools

In recognition of Indigenous Peoples Day, Rocky Boy resident and Navajo Preparatory School student Watson Whitford participated in a youth cultural exchange hosted by Georgetown Day School junior Roshan Natarajan and the Princeton High School Philosophy Club in Princeton, New Jersey.

Philosophy Club founders and presidents Maya Lerman and Nivan Dhamija and their club advisor John Bathke invited Watson and fellow Navajo Prep student, Yinazbah Wauneka-Yellowhorse to join via Zoom and share their perspectives on the federal holiday that was signed into effect just days before. The event was well-attended by more than 40 Princeton High School students during their lunch hour Monday.

Watson,Yinazbah and their teacher Donna Fernandez opened the event with traditional introductions in Cree, Navajo, and Pomo, respectively, followed by Watsons views on the effects of colonization of the Americas. Yinazbah then presented her stance on the impact of the nationally celebrated Columbus Day holiday on the indigenous people. Finally, the discussion was opened to Princeton High School students, who were curious about the biggest challenges facing Native American communities, the governments role in restricting indigenous identity through blood quantum, and how students like themselves can fight against the ongoing effects of colonization.

Watson, Yinazbah and the students at Princeton High School said they would like to continue these conversations on a regular basis and are excited to expand the youth cultural exchange across the nation, focusing on Montana, New Mexico, Washington, D.C., California and New Jersey.

People can stay tuned for future events.
Friends praise a beloved teacher, mentor and director on Tom Orr Day

Pats School of Dance students performed during to open the celebration of Tom Orr Day Saturday at the Historic Courthouse plaza.

A crowd of more than 120 people gathered at the Historic Courthouse plaza Saturday to listen to former students, friends, a fellow faculty member, a renowned author and others praise Thomas E. Tom Orr as a mentor and teacher of hundreds, an inspiring and creative theater director and a keeper of the communitys history.

Braving a gusty wind that swept across the courtyard, the audience heard tales of Orrs storied teaching career at Hendersonville High School, his resourcefulness in staging ambitious musical productions for the annual senior play and his devotion to preserving the history and culture of Hendersonville though his weekly newspaper column.

In remarks read by Steve Carlisle, Robert Morgan praised Orr as an exemplar of the local historian that has a genuine affection for his subject.

For any community or region, the local historian is essential, for he or she is almost always a part of the community they write about, said Morgan, the award-winning author of the Gap Creek series. There is a special intimacy and understanding that only the resident antiquarian and historian can provide.

Once someone asked me if there was anyone in Hendersonville, past or present, that Tom did not know, or know about, he said. My answer was that if there was such a person I have not been able to find him.

Morgan extolled the local color, nostalgia and affection for community found in Orrs Ridge Lines, the weekly column that ran in the Times-News for more than 10 years.

His writing is a window on a world many of us have forgotten, giving us a new appreciation of our own community and heritage, Morgan said. In Toms prose we can relish the smell of popcorn at the old Fox Theater, and recall the scent of warm cashews in white paper bags from the candy counter at Woolworths.



In retirement he continued to teach'

Seven other speakers made tributes to Orr. Gary Jones talked about Orrs friendship with his brother, Chat Jones, and their mutual devotion to exhuming, preserving and highlighting local history, especially the history of Hendersonvilles Main Street. Judy Abrell praised his determination as the leader of the committee responsible for saving the Historic Courthouse, Ronnie Pepper recalled his creation of the Walk of Fame, Pat Shepherd remembered his staging of historical dramas and McCray Benson announced the upcoming collection of his columns, titled Ridge Lines: Steps in Time.

Orrs niece, Ashley Orr Self, who is leading a campaign to name the HHS auditorium for her uncle, introduced family members who traveled from near and far for Tom Orr Day.

Kaye Youngblood, who was both a student and colleague of Orrs, spoke of his skill and devotion as a classroom teacher and his inspiring direction of the senior play. Serious students eagerly looked forward to the first day in Mr. Orrs senior English class almost as a rite of passage.

When that day finally occurred for me and my classmates from the Class of 1980, we were not disappointed, she said. On the first day of class, in walks this tall, dark and handsome young man. The room was totally silent, and we all felt a bit awkward as he looked around the class at each face as if he was to choose one of us for the firing squad. But instead, he slowly and dramatically lifted up a book and began reading a poem.

His delivery was intentional, and we were all soon mesmerized by the words. As he would weave in and out of the rows of students, he would occasionally stop and look a student in the eyes as he slowly read a line of the poem. I dont think any of us will ever hear the last soliloquy from Macbeth or the Lords Prayer in Olde English without thinking of Mr. Orr.

The exhilarating experience of the schools legendary senior play paid lifelong dividends beyond the theater stage. It taught teamwork, work ethic, dedication and gave the students so much pride every class left HHS thinking their play was truly the best play ever performed on that stage, she said.

Youngblood and every other speaker noted that Orrs service went beyond his paid day job and endured until his death.

To say Mr. Orr was a teacher at HHS, was accurate, but not nearly the whole picture, she said. When he retired from the Henderson County school system, he continued to teach. Not in the traditional classroom setting but instead he began to teach our entire community.  Through his plays, his newspaper columns, his work with the Education Foundation, the Historic Courthouse and the Walk of Fame, he found a new classroom, with new students and a new subject: our people, our community.



He made me a better person

David Drake, a student of Orrs in the mid-sixties, credited his eighth-grade English teacher and theater director with important life lessons.

He was a great teacher. I was a terrible student, and he let me know that several times, Drake said. He promised me that if I would just pay attention once in a while and shut my mouth  I was a bit of a wise-cracker  that he would get me through those five years and that by the time I was ready to graduate I would appreciate my life in high school, so I held him to his word.

Drake recalled that under Orrs inspiring leadership the Dramatics Club grew from a handful members to 225. In 1966, a Hollywood producer contacted Orr and told him he needed some high school age kids to audition for a part in the show Lassie that was to film in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Drake got the role of the mountain boy and was eagerly awaiting the day he would star in the popular Sunday night show.

I had about 7 minutes of face time in that 22-minute show, he said. The night that it was showing, the town of Hendersonville shut down. Churches canceled their evening service. Everybody was in front of their black and white TV. And there I was, on the screen, but not for seven minutes. After show merged several different stories into one episode, my seven minutes got whittled down to 18, 19 seconds. My mother was livid.

Drake himself was crushed and he let Mr. Orr know it.

The teacher responded: It doesnt matter. Look what you did. You had your 15 seconds of fame.

That is the biggest lesson Tom ever taught me, Drake said. Feel better about what you do. Never be embarrassed by doing something incredible. And thats what experience was for me.

Drake recalled that Orr, freshly graduated from UNC at Chapel Hill, had applied for a tour of duty in the newly formed Peace Corps. Before he heard whether he was accepted, he received a call from city schools Superintendent Hugh Randall offering him the job teaching freshman English at HHS.

I dont know if Tom Orr ever got a phone call from the Peace Corps, Drake said. I hope he did, and I hope had a chance to tell them, Folks, I appreciate the opportunity. But the calling I got, the service that I need to make, has already been here the last three or four years. Ive got a family of a hundred kids or 500 kids or a thousand kids or 22,000 kids.

Tom Orr was more than a teacher, more than a historian, more than a community actor. Virtually everybody talked about the same thing: He did so much for me. He made me a better person. He made me feel good about myself.
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Robert Webb

Baillie Gifford Marquee

A JOVIAL Robert Webb took to the stage of the Baillie Gifford marquee to discuss his first novel, Come Again.

He began by reading an extract from the book, which follows Kate, a widow who wakes up one morning as her 18-year-old self, who is about to meet her late husband at university.

With a wry smile, he described it as a grief-stricken time-travelling rom-com thriller adventure and informed interviewer Cesca Major that he had the idea for the story while waiting for some electricians to change the lights on the set of Peep Show.

Major praised the dialogue of the book and observed that it was a strength that had clearly carried over from Webbs career as a sketch writer.

Webb said: Dialogue is my sort of comfort zone. Coming from sketch comedy, Im happiest when I get the characters talking. Ive always liked books and plays and films where there is that snappy dialogue.

He then opened up about his battle with alcohol addiction, saying: I treat my body like a skip.

He confided that he had been trying to give up drinking and smoking for the last five, six, 10 years  something that he only succeeded in doing after being diagnosed with a congenital heart condition during a routine medical for his Channel 4 series Back.

Reflecting on a hospital stay that he referred to as a circuit breaker, he decided to make changes to his lifestyle and described the lengthy recovery process. He had to be extremely careful and gradually progressed from walking to running again.

Now he is dancing as one one of 15 celebrities competing in this years series of Strictly Come Dancing and he gave the audience an insight into life in the ballroom.

Webb was an enigmatic guest and it seemed he couldnt help but break out into little sketches  performing a bit as the two doctors that discovered his heart condition and eliciting plenty of laughs from the audience.

I have to admit, however, that I was slightly underwhelmed by Cesca Majors interviewing.

Along with many prominent figures in the British TV comedy scene, Webb is a former Cambridge Footlight.

A great amount of time seemed to be devoted to recalling his days in the renowned student comedy society, which was a shame as I felt the time could have been better spent unpacking his novel or his memoir How Not to Be a Boy.

What makes him stand out among his contemporaries is his interest in gender roles and his frank explorations in his work of the harmful impact of toxic masculinity on society.

While some discussion of these topics was shoehorned in at the end of the hour, I felt that it was a little haphazard and prevented Webb from expanding on the subject in great depth.

Having lost track of time, Major was forced to skip the audience Q&A  a result which I felt was very disappointing.

Lucie Richardson
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If you go

Below are the scheduled meetings for local cities and towns to vote on a proposed 0.3% increase in the public safety income tax for Madison County.

Each community will receive a portion of the funding based on population, along with Madison County government.

Oct. 21: Lapel, 7 p.m.

Oct. 25: Elwood, 6 p.m.

Oct. 25: Markleville, 7 p.m.

Oct. 27: Pendleton, 6 p.m.

Oct. 28: Edgewood, 5 p.m.

Oct. 28: Anderson, 6 p.m.

Oct. 28: Alexandria, 7 p.m.
BENTON HARBOR  Benton Harbor city commissioners declared a local state of emergency over lead in some of the citys drinking water Monday night, but exactly what that means is still being worked out.

The resolution was not on Mondays agenda and the city attorney said he needed more time to figure out the legal ramifications.

City Commissioner Ron Singleton, who presented the resolution from the floor, said that if it means the mayor can take some actions without city commission approval, hes OK with that.

Mayor Marcus Muhammad thanked the commissioners for giving him the responsibility to take care of the city during this crisis.

He said hes been working 70 hours a week at his job while trying to handle state business during his lunch breaks.

Ive been going out to my car over Zoom because Im somewhere else, he said. ... This will afford me the opportunity to put in the necessary work for the city.

After the meeting, Muhammad said he will take a leave of absence from his job to work for the city 24/7, with details such as how much he will be paid to be worked out.

Its not about the pay, but I have a family of nine to take care of, he said.

He said the residents deserve a mayor who is working for them on a full-time basis during this crisis.

Muhammad initially appeared during the meeting to be against declaring a local state of emergency, saying the city was already receiving emergency help from the state due to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signing an executive directive last week.

That directive calls for an all-hands-on-deck approach from the state to accelerate the replacement of lead service lines in the city from 14 years to 18 months, Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist II announced during a news conference Thursday in Benton Harbor.

In the short term, Gilchrist said that starting this week, the state is sending 20 semi-trucks carrying 35,000 cases of bottled water weekly to the city.

After the meeting, Muhammad said he was hesitant because he wanted the city commissioners to understand what they were approving.

Muhammad said hes meeting with Whitmer today and will have more information to share with residents after that.
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Now Open

19 October 2021

Residence Inn by Marriott Playa del Carmen has officially opened its doors, with a prime location on the Federal Highway Cancun, Chetumal, and close proximity to world-renowned beaches and breathtaking views. With a global presence of over 860 hotels in the United States, Canada, Europe, the Middle East and Central America, Residence Inn is the world leader of the longer stay lodging segment, arriving for the first time in Playa del Carmen.

The hotel also marks the arrival of the third Residence Inn in Mexico, debuting at a time when guests are looking for alternative lodging options to a traditional hotel stay for longer stays. Residence Inn Playa del Carmen is the ideal destination for executives and leisure travelers who are in the city for both business and leisure with more room to spread out, for family and even pets.

Located in the Playacar complex, Residence Inn Playa del Carmen offers 149 pet-friendly spacious suites combining comfort and style with fully equipped kitchens complete with a refrigerator, cooktop, microwave, dishwasher, residential-size appliances, dishes and cookware. Guests can settle into their home away from home with separate areas for living and sleeping paired with personalized service and amenities including a complimentary American breakfast for all guests.

The hotel offers additional amenities including complimentary grocery delivery service, The Market open 24 hours for gab-and-go options, a self-service laundry room, mobile app, fitness center, outdoor swimming pool, and complimentary high-speed WiFi.

Residence Inn Playa del Carmen offers 54.27 square meters of event and meeting space filled with natural light and built-in multimedia technology.

For more information about Residence Inn Playa del Carmen visit: www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/cunrp-residence-inn-playa-del-carmen
Rebranding

19 October 2021

We are pleased to announce the addition of Anantara Palazzo Naiadi Rome Hotel to the brand's portfolio, heralding the continued growth of Anantara's European footprint.

The historic property features 238 guest rooms and suites and is the perfect retreat to rediscover the Eternal City. The hotel is currently undergoing its transition to the Anantara brand and the full suite of Anantara hallmarks and experiences will be introduced over the coming months. The refurbishment will reveal a glamorous new lobby, a bar with original Art Nouveau decor and an innovative rooftop space with unrivalled panoramic views. The eclectic cuisine and exciting mixology will ensure the hotel becomes one of Rome's hotspots.

Anantara Palazzo Naiadi Rome Hotel sits at the heart of Piazza della Repubblica and is a 40-minute drive from Fiumicino and Ciampino airports.
Reopening

19 October 2021

Saba Rock, an island resort destination in the British Virgin Islands, celebrated its grand reopening on Oct. 15, debuting a fresh design concept and unveiling new guest experiences. Saba Rock's General Manager Alain Prion announced the resort's official opening following a ribbon-cutting in front of more than 100 guests from the BVI community including government and tourism officials, hospitality partners, and residents.

The much-anticipated event comes five years after the destination was hit by Hurricane Irma, leaving the iconic island, which was made famous by diving legend Bert Kilbride, completely destroyed. Czech-based ADR Architects was brought in to create an elevated design concept that is not only structurally sound to withstand future storms but keeps the fun-loving vibe and charm that Saba Rock was known for among divers, kiteboarders, and sailors who frequented the island.

Saba Rock's new contemporary aesthetic features a fresh take on the destination's nautical lifestyle and features seven guestrooms and two suites designed as a chic retreat that plays up the island's reputation as a kiteboarding and sailing destination. The island also has an expansive, open-air restaurant, lounge, two bars (including a rooftop sunset bar), spa room, and retail space, that also serves as a museum with artifacts from nearby shipwrecks. The designers abandoned the traditional color scheme often seen in the region and embraced color with bright pops of cerulean blue and crimson red, creating a fun and unexpected setting in Virgin Gorda's North Sound. To play up the playful spirit that Saba Rock is known for, the designers added some surprising elements to the island such as two classic British phone booths brought in from England, and commemorative memory walls in guestrooms that display photography of the island's past.

While some of Saba Rock's favorite attractions are back such as the daily tarpon feedings, new activities and amenities have been added to create a turn-key vacation experience for guests and visitors including diving, snorkeling, standup paddleboarding, waterfront yoga, kiteboarding, glass-bottom boat tours, charter boat and rib rentals, and more.

Saba Rock is welcoming guests now with a fourth night free special offer. Available now through Nov. 20, visitors can take advantage of the Stay & Play opening special to receive a fourth night free when booking a minimum of three nights. Offer also includes daily breakfast, roundtrip ferry transfers from Gun Creek and Leverick Bay, as well as a special welcome gift upon arrival. Nightly rates start at $750 USD, based on double occupancy. For more information or to book, visit www.sabarock.com.
Now Open

19 October 2021

Located in the high desert community of Palmdale, DoubleTree by Hilton welcomes the first full-service hotel brand to the market. With rich agricultural roots and unique aviation history, DoubleTree by Hilton Palmdale will feature 134 guest rooms, including corner rooms and suites with sweeping views of the surrounding mountains and local area.

DoubleTree by Hilton Palmdale guest rooms features a 55" HD TV, mini-refrigerator, in-room safe and premium bath amenities. In addition, the hotel boasts several on-property amenities, including an outdoor pool, 24-hour fitness center, free Wi-Fi and spacious meetings and events space, along with a special connectivity area for the traveling executive. The public lobby space and Hangar 300 Bar & Restaurant area are perfect for guests traveling for all occasions, whether business, leisure, or some combination of the two.

The City of Palmdale celebrated its 50th anniversary of incorporation on Aug. 24, 2012. As one of the fastest-growing cities in California and in the country, Palmdale has continued to cherish the small-town values of a family-oriented community while enjoying the conveniences of its booming retail and commercial sectors.

DoubleTree by Hilton Palmdale is part of Hilton Honors, the award-winning guest loyalty program for Hilton's 18 world-class brands. Hilton Honors members who book directly through preferred Hilton channels have access to instant benefits, including a flexible payment slider that allows members to choose nearly any combination of Points and money to book a stay, an exclusive member discount and free standard Wi-Fi.

DoubleTree by Hilton Palmdale is now accepting reservations for Oct 31, 2021, and beyond. For more information or to make a reservation, please visit www.dtpalmdale.doubletree.com.

About Sethi Management Group

JP Sethi is the founder and core leader of all that Sethi Management has accomplished. He was born and raised in New Delhi, India and moved to the United States in 1976 in hopes for a brighter future.

The Sethi Family has successfully owned and operated over 75 businesses across a diversified portfolio, which includes convenience stores, hotels, restaurants, tanning salons, and commercial real estate., guests, and associates. Sethi Management continues to strive for success by building its management structure, developing its executive team, and staying loyal to its values. For more information, please visit https://www.sethimanagment.com

About Level3 Design Group

"We are managing every aspect and detail of this project from construction, design, FF&E purchasing, plus millwork and installation, so literally all hands are on deck," said Jim Spitzig, President of Level 3 Design Group. "It's exciting because it's a great opportunity for the city of Palmdale. New hotel, new jobs, new guests, and I hope a great boost to their economy. We're looking forward to a big reveal before the end of the year."

In typical Level 3 style, no design stone has been left unturned. The 134-room hotel (custom designed by Eduardo Renteria) will have more of a metropolitan upscale flair than the traditional Doubletree brand standard. Hundreds of unique items have been procured to accentuate the classy, chic, and elegant design of the property.

Level 3 Design Group is recognized nationally as a Top 10 hospitality design and purchasing firm. The firm has expanded internationally as well, completing projects in the Caribbean. For more information, please visit www.level3designgroup.com
Reopening

19 October 2021

Lemala Authentic Camps and Lodges is pleased to announce the reopening of Uganda's premier private island resort as Lemala Wildwaters Lodge after an extensive refurbishment in May 2021. Nestled on Kalangala Island in a rainforest reserve on 16 protected acres, Lemala Wildwaters Lodge is an adventure seeker's paradise. Accessible only by boat and helicopter, the nine suites and one family suite offer private views of the Nile River and the dense riverine forest that naturally covers the island with the main lodge located on a solid rock peninsula. Located close to the adventure hub of Jinja and 1.5 hours from Kampala, Lemala Wildwaters Lodge is the perfect extension to a gorilla trekking safari.

Major renovations at Lemala Wildwaters Lodge include bright and modern updated suites that feature glass-fronted windows, locally handmade furniture, stylish bathrooms with rain showers, and secluded wooden decks with daybeds and elegant freestanding baths that add a level of sophistication and adventure for guests. To elevate the public spaces of the property, a new pool was added and lounge areas re-imagined. The menu was also updated to reflect Lemala's healthier and lighter fares that highlight local produce and dishes across their properties.

The lodge is at the heart of the newly formed Wildwaters Reserve, a group of mid-stream islands in the Nile, widely recognized for its legendary whitewater rafting. Visitors 12 and over can enjoy activities including whitewater rafting, horseback safaris, quad biking, kayaking, guided fishing, river surfing, bungee jumping, banana boat cruises. mountain biking, birding, and Nile walks. The Wildwaters Reserve is also home to river otters, giant monitor lizards, and hundreds of species of birds. The lodge is the centerpiece for a conservation initiative aimed at protecting this pristine riverine environment for future generations, in part by ensuring that the local communities benefit directly from the visitors to the lodge and the protection of these beautiful, heavily forested islands in the Nile.

After a day of adventure, guests can dip in the natural formed swimming pool, relax in comfort in this private oasis, enjoy a massage at the spa or sip a cocktail on the deck listening to the thunder of the Nile rapids or the sounds of the many species of bird who call the island home. Elevated wooden walkways gracefully link the rooms to the restaurant and bar area and offer an unforgettable walk through the heart of the forest. Meals can be enjoyed in the dining room of the main lodge or outside on the verandah overlooking the pool or privately on your villa terrace. Local fishermen (bavubi) catch fresh tilapia (Ngenge) daily and are compensated directly by the lodge, while exotic produce is sourced from a seed bank in the local community.

Owned and operated by Lemala Authentic Camps and Lodges, Wildwaters Lodge was reimagined in May 2021 with superior accommodations, healthy dining options, and new guest experiences that align with the level of service across their African portfolio. Uganda's iconic private island resort hosts ten suites overlooking the Nile River. The lodge is both a tranquil rainforest retreat and an adventure lover's paradise boasting a plethora of activities from white water rafting to horseback riding. Wildwaters Lodge is a centerpiece for conservation aimed at protecting this pristine riverine environment for future generations, in part by ensuring that the local communities benefit directly from the visitors to the lodge and the protection of the few remaining beautiful, heavily forested islands on the Nile. This is the ultimate location to enjoy one of the last wild areas on the Nile and is the perfect extension to an East African safari.
Appointment

19 October 2021

Today, Hilton San Francisco Union Square announced Marcelo Salinas as executive chef of the largest hotel in San Francisco and in Hilton Hotels & Resorts' west coast portfolio. Salinas will oversee culinary operations for the property's 130,000 square feet of meeting space as well as its five food and beverage outlets, including Poached breakfast cafe, Urban Tavern gastropub, and Cityscape Lounge, the hotel's popular 46th floor sky bar.

The son of Argentinian and Bolivian immigrants, Salinas was exposed to flavors from around the world in his hometown of Queens, New York. He graduated from the Westminster College of London's Hotel & Catering program, and started his culinary career at the Fairmont San Francisco. Salinas later as served executive chef for several five-star hotels and Michelin-starred restaurants around the world, including the Fontainebleau Miami Beach, the Fairmont Grand Hotel Kyiv; Fairmont the Palm in Dubai, and Cairo Marriott Hotel & Omar Khayyam Casino.
Appointment

19 October 2021

With close to 20 years of hospitality experience, Reiplinger is a proven leader who brings strong business acumen and a sense of community to Timber Cove. As the newly appointed managing director, Reiplinger will oversee all aspects of the property, providing leadership and strategic direction for the resort, food and beverage, guest services, operations and asset management. Prior to joining Timber Cove Reiplinger spent seven years with Woodside Hotel Group, most recently as managing director at the AAA Four Diamond Bodega Bay Lodge. Prior to joining the Woodside Hotel Group, he held a variety of senior leadership roles at award-winning properties, including general manager of Roka Akor and Roka Bar, director at Bellagio Resort & Casino, where he achieved annual revenue of over $30M and director of food & beverage for San Francisco's The Battery Hotel & Private Members Club, overseeing two restaurants and four bars.

As managing director, Reiplinger will also look to elevate the guest experience at Timber Cove, exceeding expectations through adding even more memorable moments and thoughtful touches that reflect the uniqueness of the resort. "I look forward to building upon the Timber Cove Resort reputation and further exceeding guest expectations," said Reiplinger. In his new role Reiplinger will also oversee management of The Setting Inn, Napa Valley and The Setting Inn, Willamette Valley, Oregon, which are both managed by Ironwave Hospitality Management.
Press Release

19 October 2021

Tourism being a major contributor to the GDP of several countries, the governments are taking various measures to revive the industrys business from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. An analysis of GlobalDatas Social Media Analytics (SMA) Platform, which identifies and tracks the emerging trends, pain areas, new fields of innovation among discussions of Twitter influencers and Redditors, has revealed Virtual Tourism as the most popular type of tourism, followed by Space Tourism in 2021*.

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Smitarani Tripathy, Influencer Analyst at GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, lists the top five popular types of tourism in 2021*.

Photo: GlobalData Plc

1. Virtual Tourism | 4,400 + discussions

Virtual Tourism tops as the most discussed tourism type among Twitter influencers and Redditors in 2021*. Discussions around Virtual Tourism were related to how virtual tour has provided a new experience to the visitors through different technologies-enabled methods such as 360-degree photo, virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), a video tour, Google Arts.

Ms Smitarani explains: Influencers sentiment was largely positive about Virtual Tourism as it became an alternative solution for tourism business to rebuild interest among travelers during the COVID-19 pandemic where social distancing became a new norm.

2.Space Tourism | 4,100 + discussions

Space Tourism emerged as the next most discussed tourism type according to GlobalDatas Social Media Analytics Platform. Majority of the discussions on this topic were based on the launch of two successful space flights - Virgin Galactic by Richard Branson and Blue Origin by Jeff Bezos in July and August, respectively.

Twitter influencers were seen more active in discussions related to Space Tourism, as compared to Redditors in 2021*. Among them, the technology experts have opined that though the era of space tourism has heralded with the successful launch of both space flights, but it could be a giant leap for air pollution.

3. Adventure Tourism | 3,100 + discussions

Discussions around Adventure Tourism were mostly driven by epic ideas shared by Twitter influencers for various adventure travels in different countries like mountain climbing in Tuscanys Rolling Hills and Dolomite Mountains in Italy, Sperrin Mountain in Northern Ireland, Choquequirao trek in Peru.

They also shared tips and the essential items to be packed while going for any adventure travel, including waterproof socks, flashlights, tow rope and ice scraper. Influencers opine that Adventure Travel can transform the world from one of monotony and drabness to one of excitement.

4. Food Tourism | 1,510 + discussions

The conversations on Food Tourism were largely about attractive food tourism destinations with reasonable prices, such as Vancouver and Nova Scotia in Canada and Bern in Switzerland. The contributors also discussed their foodie experiences, delicacies, and the culinary heritage of different destinations globally. Mole Poblano Sauce of Mexico was one of the top discussed food items among influencers.

5. Wine Tourism | 900+ discussions

Discussions around Wine Tourism were surged the most during the first week of September 2021, led by the fifth UNWTO Global Conference on Wine Tourism in Portugal, which was focused on the potential to generate development opportunities in rural destinations. Influencers also discussed various initiatives taken by different countries to promote Wine Tourism, such as the Santorini event by Greek and the implementation of the Iter Vitis Caucasus route by Azerbaijan.

*As on 10 October 2021.

About GlobalDatas Social Media Analytics Platform

GlobalDatas Social Media Analytics platform allows businesses to understand brand sentiments, product led conversations, buzzing trends over Reddit and Twitter by using a combination of AI and human based analysis that curate content and displays only what matters to you.
Supplier News

19 October 2021

PITTSBURGH - Finding the right hotel accounting software can be challenging but finding a hospitality financial management partner that offers unparalleled and flawless customer service is a real coup. The Battery, a private social club with a handful of guestrooms in San Francisco, has done just that with Aptech. Serving 5,000 members, The Battery is leveraging PVNG from Aptech to manage its enterprise accounting. In addition to being extremely pleased with the user-friendliness of the solution, the club operator says the responsive, intelligence, and overall knowledge of the Aptech support team is what has them elated over service.

Every time I get off the phone with someone at Aptech I look around the room and say to my accounting team: I wish every company was like Aptech, said Rachael Horlak, The Battery Director of Finance. I have been in hospitality finance for 20 years. The customer service we receive from Aptech is unparalleled from any software company I have ever interacted with in my professional career. They ensure your set-up experience is flawless without missing any steps, and that you are completely comfortable before they leave you on your own to manage the software. I have never called Aptech and received a customer service associate who was not extremely kind and professional or who did not (or could not) answer the question or issue I was facing. I have never had to wait for a call back. I have never been transferred around to multiple people to troubleshoot an issue. Their team is responsive, intelligent, and every single employee seems to have the same high level understanding of the product. There isn't anything more frustrating than lack of knowledgeable customer service standing in the way of productivity."

We are very pleased with PVNG too; it is an extremely user-friendly product, Horlak said. It has the ease of popular off-the shelf accounting software but the built-in layered security of required approvals that products of that type are lacking. As happy as we are with PVNG, its Aptechs customer service that is the real shining star, and its what I like best about working with this company.

For 50 years, Aptech has been developing web-based, customizable, financial-management software that todays hoteliers need to access, view, compare, and dynamically analyze the performance data of their single hotel or multi-property, multi-branded portfolios. Employing hotel industry standards and best in class technology at more than 4,000 hotels, Aptechs solutions work independently or in sync to quickly respond to changes in revenue and expenses and identify trends that will better position the asset for growth and profitability.

PVNG is a game-changer in the world of hotel accounting. If features the Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, General Ledger, Statistics, Financials, and Bank Reconciliation that todays hotel operators are seeking with much-needed browser navigation. Its OCR invoice processing, myriad of payment options, drill-down capabilities in financial statements and reports, ability to handle single or multi-property accounting, and the fact that it can be deployed as a hosted service, explains why this accounting solution is in such high demand.

We are thrilled that The Battery is so pleased with the support they are receiving from Aptech, said Sam Costa, Aptech Director of Customer Service and Support. This is the BEST support team weve ever had."

There has never been a single complaint; I receive nothing but praise. What people say they like most is the immediate attention provided. There is no going through receptionists. No call-backs days later. When you call Aptech support between 8:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. EST, you get results.

Our team takes great pride in their work and values our long-term partnerships with our customers, he said. We aim to provide feature rich solutions that are simple to use. PVNG especially is so user friendly that even those working from home say accessing the cloud solution is effortless. The fact that Aptech has been in the hotel financial management for 50 years speaks volumes to the quality of our solutions and the customer service our team is driven to provide. We appreciate our relationship with The Battery, and our support team is standing by to assist . . . no matter the need.

For more information on Aptech solutions, visit www.aptech-inc.com.

About Aptech Computer Systems Inc.

Aptech Computer Systems, Inc., based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is the only provider of a fully integrated enterprise accounting, business intelligence and planning ecosystem to the hospitality industry. All clients are companies like yours, which own or manage hotels. Its solutions help customers at both the corporate and property levels understand their financial and operational data for faster goal achievement. The company is renowned for introducing business intelligence into the hotel industry and offers a solid resource of hospitality professionals. Aptech is an IBM Software Value Plus partner and Premier Solution Provider, as well as a Prophix Premier Business Partner. Incorporated in 1970, Aptechs state-of-the-art back office, true business intelligence and enterprise planning solutions are 100% hotel specific. Solutions include PVNG, Execuvue and Targetvue. Clients comprise more than 4,000 properties  including large chains, multiple-property management companies and single-site hotels. Execuvue is registered to Aptech Computer Systems Inc. All other trademarks are owned by their respective holders. For more information, please visit www.aptech-inc.com.
Opinion Article

19 October 2021

On October 12th, leaders in the field of revenue management gathered in London at Leadership from Chaos, to discuss and debate the latest news and trends, and set the industry agenda on existing practices and future strategies.

OTA Insights Chief Commercial Officer and Co-founder, Gino Engels, spoke on the panel session: Time Bomb or Saviour? Can we inject our way out of this crisis? where he provided analysis on the recovery of the UK and Europes travel and hotel industry, supplemented with OTA Insight data to fully illuminate the situation.

In this post we summarise Ginos thoughts on the status of travel and hospitality in the UK and Ireland, and in some cases Europe as a whole, and its prospects moving in to 2022.

Demand Recovery

Business and corporate travel

Using OTA Insights predictive intelligence solution, Market Insight, we observed Global Distribution System (GDS) searches, which gives a good indication on the state of corporate travel. We compared data up to October 10th from the start of the year for Europe's leading financial centres, which displayed marked growth.

London saw a 14-fold increase in GDS searches, equivalent to a 1400% jump, Amsterdam at just under 10 times and Zurich at 7. However, Paris and Frankfurt are lagging slightly behind with 3- and 2-fold raises, respectively, which demonstrates that it is still very much market dependent.

Photo: OTA Insight

There are clearly promising signs for corporate travel but its by no means a complete recovery in Europe yet. There is still some way to go. If we zoom in on the UK and Irelands GDS data, we see that there has been a pronounced increase in GDS search volume from the beginning of the year to present day. Manchester and Edinburghs GDS search is up 27 times or 2700%, Birmingham 16, Leeds 9, and Dublin 6. From this we can infer that corporate travel across the UK and Ireland is making positive steps toward recovery.

Photo: OTA Insight

Leisure travel

At a regional scale, in the UK and Ireland, there is an equally distinct pattern of improvement from the start of the year, when looking into the leisure travel segment. By examining flight search evolution in Market Insight from the start of the year until October 11th, we can see that most key travel destinations in the region have been tracking at a similarly positive rate. Manchester, London, Dublin and Edinburgh have had the largest increase at 6.7 times the volume of searches compared to January 2021, and Leeds the lowest still at 6.3 times and then Birmingham in the middle at 6.4 times.

Photo: OTA Insight

Then looking at the OTA/Meta hotel search evolution in Market Insight, the positive upward trend continues: Manchester up 11 times or 1100%, Leeds 9, Birmingham 9, Edinburgh 8, London 7, and Dublin 6.

Photo: OTA Insight

International versus domestic demand (short-haul vs. long-haul)

2020 proved to be a disastrous year for domestic and international tourism. However, the data clearly shows that when tourists were allowed to travel domestically, they did so, booking accommodation and providing much-needed revenue for the industry.

Domestic travel still needs to be top of mind for hoteliers, but slowly the tide is slowly turning. With the gradual removal of international travel restrictions, there is now a much more positive outlook, even for some long-haul destinations

Using our free data tool, Global Market Insight, we can look at the top 5 countries searching for flights and hotels for a destination. For example, recently, the US announced it would be easing its coronavirus travel restrictions and reopening to passengers from the UK, EU, and other nations from November.

In July, we saw that 75.9% of all flight searches to Orlando were coming from within the US. Fast forward to October 11th and the United Kingdom is now top with 48% of all flight searches. An obvious indication of international travel picking up.

However, the more common trend is that short-haul regional travel is resuming at a far greater rate. On July 1, the European Union made its vaccine passport available for all EU citizens and residents in a bid to restore freedom of travel across member states, which certainly helped.

If we take Amsterdam, the top three countries searching for hotels in the Dutch capital are UK (17%), Germany (15%) and France, and Italy (both 9%).

In Porto, Portugal it is Spain (31%), Brazil (12%) and France (10%).

In Krakow, Poland it is the UK (36%), Norway (7%) and Germany, Italy, and France (all 6%).

Photo: OTA Insight

We must take it market by market though - there are still large variations across Europe and in some destinations, domestic travel is dominating. For example, in Edinburgh, Scotland 71% of all hotel searches are from within the UK and Hamburg. And in Germany, 77% of all hotel searches are within the country of Germany.

Common trends, different markets

So what trends are we able to reveal at this point? This is an incredibly difficult question to answer. After the past eighteen months, the hospitality industry may look at the idea of complete recovery with a large dose of skepticism for some time. It is dependent on several factors, many of which are out of our industrys control. The factor: vaccination rate of a nation, as this enables the economy to reopen, travel to resume, and hotels to operate and function properly.

The good news is that in large swathes of Europe hotel and flight searches are now increasing week over week. In September, European nations dominated the top rungs of Bloombergs Covid Resilience Ranking for a third month. Ireland took the top spot with about 90% of its adult population fully vaccinated.

As part of our free Global Market Insight tool, there is a recovery trend panel, which is a search evolution index, tracking flight and hotel search volumes for the last 6 months. If we pick out a few cities in Europe we can see that:

Flight and hotel search volume for Paris has increased 7.4 times since the beginning of April - equivalent to a 740% rise.

Berlin has had a 10-fold increase in hotel search volume and a 7.6-fold increase in flight search.

Vienna has had a staggering 13-fold increase in hotel search volume, or 1300%, and a 10-fold increase in flight search volume.

Photo: OTA Insight

Overall, the data tells us that Europe is well-positioned for recovery, epecially when we compare to a couple of cities further afield. In America, hotel search volume for New York has increased 2.6 times and flight search volume has increased 3 times. Bangkok has had a 1-fold increase in hotel search volume and a 1.6-fold increase in flight search volume.

Summary

Domestic demand evidently returned, and in some destinations, surpassed pre-pandemic levels. How long will this last? Well, that all depends on the recovery of travel, both regionally (short-haul) and globally (long-haul). But ultimately thats just speculation. We can try and guess as much as we like, but no one has a crystal ball with the answers.

The closest thing we do have is a predictive demand solution, powered by forward-looking data. At a time when previous demand trends and historical analysis cannot be relied upon and entire segments of the market are barely operating; real-time data that can forecast shifting demand patterns is vital to drive revenue.

Thankfully as shown by the data above, regional short-haul European travel is starting to see a resurgence. Hotel and flight searches are now increasing week-over-week. The increase in longer length of stay and lead times also indicate less concern around cancellations  another sign of renewed traveller confidence. The balance between domestic and international travel may in fact be starting to shift.

The key to success? Utilise forward-looking datasets, such as flight and hotel demand, GDS search, lead times, and average length-of-stay as a holistic method to judge demand trends for your market. In turn, you can then optimise your hotel revenue and avoid losing business to your competitors - whether this comes from domestic travellers or international.
Q. My mother passed away in late 2020, and my sister is the executor of her estate. My mother had six biological children, me being number five. My siblings and I had a falling out after mom died, so we don't speak. What should I do? I have heard nothing from anyone.

A. If your sister who is the executor has probated your mother's will and filed an inventory with the court, you should start by contacting the clerk of the court to obtain a copy.

Otherwise, you can either ask your siblings for information and hope that they respond, or you can hire a lawyer to do that for you. Keep in mind that much of your mother's property might have passed outside her will, directly to your siblings or others, by beneficiary designation or by rights of survivorship.

Q. My mother's home is to become mine when she passes away. She is 85. It is so stated in her will. Would it be beneficial if she gave ownership to me now, and I let her continue to live there? I know her property taxes would increase but would this help her out should she need to go into a nursing home?

A. Giving you the home now is risky for your mother because you might die before her and leave the home to a person who boots her out or starts charging her rent. You might also lose the home to creditors, especially if it is not your homestead.

Planning for your mother to qualify for Medicaid is complicated, especially if she owns other assets besides her home. The two of you should meet with an attorney who specializes in "elder law" to properly plan her estate.

Q. Before my mother-in-law passed away, she changed her will and left everything to my husband. Her lawyer advised her to do this and stated to her that Texas is a community property state so I would share all property with my husband. Since I am older than my husband, I would like to claim the homestead exemption since I am now 65. Unfortunately, my name is not on the deed to the house. Do we have to see a lawyer to add my name to the deed, or can we fill out paperwork and file it ourselves?

A. Your husband owns the house as his separate property, contrary to what the lawyer told his mother. Of course, it would be unusual for a mother to leave a home jointly to her son and daughter-in-law, so the fact that the home belongs entirely to your husband is entirely normal.

At this point, your husband can give you half of the home by signing a gift deed, if he wants. The two of you can also sign an agreement which makes the home owned as community property.

It is highly unlikely that you will be able to prepare the proper forms correctly on your own. Therefore, you should hire a lawyer.

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.
Tackling climate change, experts say, will require a massive energy transition fueled by technological breakthroughs in renewables, batteries, hydrogen and carbon capture to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming.

But its hard to come up with the next eureka moment in energy while sitting in a staid office conference room  or worse, attempting to brainstorm with colleagues at home over Zoom while the kids are running around in the background.

Enter Deloittes Greenhouse, a 14,000-square-foot innovation laboratory designed to spark new ways of thinking, particularly among the largest oil and gas companies in Houston. The high-tech space, on the 45th floor of Deloittes offices in downtowns Heritage Plaza, opened this month as more workers are returning to the office.

We saw a demand for clients to co-create, experiment and have breakthrough innovations, said Amy Chronis, Deloittes vice chairman overseeing the global consulting firms oil, natural gas and chemicals business. This is a really pivotal moment for the energy industry. This is really a new frontier.

Houston has seen an explosion of new innovation laboratories, particularly after the citys failed bid to land Amazons second headquarters  a national competition in which the countrys fourth-largest city was knocked out in the first round. In the wake of Amazons rejection, Houstons city, academic and industry leaders have fostered a bevy of startup accelerators and incubators, including the Ion for tech companies, Greentown Labs for energy companies and the upcoming TMCx for medical inventors.

ENERGY TRANSITION: Oil leaders clash over fuel's future

Unlike the others, Deloittes Greenhouse is not a startup accelerator where fledgling firms can co-work, network and gain access to new capital. The London consulting giant expects that its lab will be used by many of its largest clients in energy, health and business. Deloitte declined to name specific clients using its lab.

The Houston Greenhouse, the largest of Deloittes six labs in the U.S., features seven rooms for brainstorming sessions, collaborations and presentations. The first opened in Singapore in 2013, and the company has since opened 40 others in major cities around the world.

Theres a circular room with expansive screens and speakers for an immersive business presentation. Another room features a virtual reality headset and screen demonstrating oil-field training simulations. A showroom displays the latest in oil-field technology, such as a robotic dog, drones and artificial intelligence software that can detect corroded pipelines from camera feeds.

Down the hall, a brainstorming room features gray and red chairs on wheels, allowing meeting moderators to quickly organize breakout group discussions. Several touchscreens, including one that spans 16 feet, display videos, reports and slideshows.

Nearby, a maker lab has rows of large work desks and a 3D printer that clients can use to prototype models and build conceptual designs using Lego pieces. A lounge and an executive training room round out the space. Throughout the Greenhouse there are signs with words of encouragement, such as Make a mess, Evolve and Assumptions, beliefs and dogma are the enemy.

Jennifer Juneau, managing director of the Deloitte Greenhouse in Houston, said the consultants oil and gas clients will typically come in for two-day sessions in the lab, where they talk through business challenges, brainstorm and prototype solutions. Ultimately, Chronis and Juneau said they hope their Houston lab can accelerate the transition toward a low-carbon future.

Having a verbal conversation is different than having an immersive experience, Juneau said. We want companies to challenge the old way of thinking and cultivate new and different ways of thinking.

paul.takahashi@chron.com

twitter.com/paultakahashi
This Friday-only special is a prime example of the Superior Sandwich Principal: namely, that the whole must be greater than the sum of the parts.

The parts of this particular cemita, a regional sandwich specialty from Puebla, are exemplary at family-owned Pueblas Mexican Kitchen in Sunset Heights. Its anchored by a thin, superbly crusty milanesa, the pounded-flat and pan-fried steak that youd never catch me eating were it served by itself.

But in the context of this sandwich, I become a rabid milanesa fan, exulting in its contrast with soft slides of avocado and strips of fresh white cheese that relax into smoothness as they absorb heat. Lashings of a hottish red-chile mayo knit these elements together inside super-toasty, sesame-seeded halves of a broad, flattish cemita bun that is made in-house, which makes all the difference.

The cemita is enormous. Itll ruin your Friday-night fajitas, joked my friend Misha, a cemita connoisseur whos been talking about this version for many months.

So finally we consumed it on a vibrantly hued front patio under a rustic wood-beamed portico, with big fat tamarindos and limonadas. Pueblas started life as a bakery and branched out into dine-in, a classic arc. (See: La Guadalupana.) Its all cozy charm and solicitous, friendly service, and guess what? The place serves breakfast right up through 3 p.m. closing time, too.

Pueblas Mexican Kitchen, 6320 N. Main, 713-426-9062

Alison Cook / Alison Cook

Chile relleno at Pueblas Mexican Kitchen

Were not leaving Pueblas just yet  not until I have sung the praises of the light, lush chile relleno in its fluffy cushion of egg batter. This is elemental stuff, in which controlled poblano heat meets melty fresh white cheese and a simple, tomatoey ranchera sauce. Slap a slab into one of the restaurants superb corn tortillas, ladle on more of that salsa and treat yourself to one of the finer taco genres known to womankind.

Alison Cook / Alison Cook

Dark Chocolate and Orange Bar from Cacao & Cardamom in Uptown/Galleria

Thats too pretty to eat, I told the staffer at my local Kickin Kombucha Taproom & Market as I ogled one of Annie Rupanis big bars of artisanal chocolate, stationed dangerously close to the register.

I lied. Over the next four days, I luxuriated in hunks of 68 percent Bolivian dark chocolate, one side studded with translucently thin slices of dehydrated orange and blood orange. The other side, scored with a design like some interplanetary computer keyboard, revealed chunks of candied citrus rind at intervals. It snapped apart into dessert-sized and snack-sized portions with ease.

And what a trip. The undersides wheels of concentrated orange tartness hit the tongue first, and then it was down, down, down into the vortex of seriously dark chocolate, thrumming with that deep, pleasantly bitter tang that makes it irresistible to me. The sweet, crystallized rinds jumped in at the end to complete the circle.

You can order this $9.99 bar online or purchase it at your better local markets, like I did. Or, as my friend Salome suggests, visit Rupanis Galleria-area flagship store and lab to goggle at the breathtaking visual effects she achieves. She really does put the art in artisanal.

Cacao & Cardamom , 5000 Westheimer, Suite 602, 281-501-3567

Alison Cook / Alison Cook

Roasted Lamb Rib Chop and Iberico Ham Risotto with Mint Oil at Costa Brava Bistro in Bellaire

Among the special events Ive really missed during the pandemic are the monthly wine dinners staged by Angeles Duenas and chef Kitty Bailey at their Costa Brava Bistro.

Their wine list has always been keenly suited to their Spanish menu and its French overtones; the selection has only improved over the nine years theyve been operating, as they travel and taste and think and make wine-world connections. Their wine dinners show that off, and theyre where Bailey really pulls out the stops with new ideas.

I managed to snag an outdoor table for their latest wine dinner, which celebrated the bottlings from Pedro Ruiz Aragoneses Alma Carrovejas Projects in Segovia. Angeles and Kitty put their heads together with wine rep Pablo Romero, out of Dallas, to come up with some unexpected pairings.

The one that surprised me most involved a rosy, beautifully roasted lamb rib chop laid athwart a hillock of risotto that had been studded with tiny cubes of Iberico ham. These salty and profoundly porky morsels turned a dish I often find underwhelming into something that interested me.

Even more interesting, the combination of a white wine with a dish traditionally paired with red. In this case, the Ossian Vidas y Vinos 2018 Castilla y Leon, made with verdejo  the varietal associated with albarino. It had enough edge and buoyant acid to stand up to the lamb, to my surprise. A week later Im still thinking about it, and why it worked, and whether I would have preferred one of the Ribera del Dueros (one of my favorite reds on the planet) we got to taste later.

And thats the point.

Costa Brava Bistro, 5107 Bellaire, Suite 100, 713-839-1005

Alison Cook / Alison Cook

Smoked Pear and Blue Cheese Brulee at Costa Brava Bistro

Bailey and Duenas turned this pairing on its head, too. Instead of the white dessert wine or sherry you might expect with a creme brulee, they poured one of the Ribera del Dueros I had been dreaming about earlier.

It worked, too: because Bailey had transformed a sweet into a savory, by smoking the pears in the delicate custard and spiking it with blue cheese. The crackle of the bruleed sugar top, the silk of the custard, the wisp of smoke and blue cheese pungence all suited the black fruit of a Milsetentayseis 1076 2018 Ribera del Duero, a tempranillo from old vines planted at high altitude. A little bit of native albillo, a white varietal gave the win grace and smoothness.

It was a matchup I wont forget.

alison.cook@chron.com
Lyndsay Levingston tries to keep track of how long she has been cancer-free.

It has been one year and eight months since she received the call that the combination of surgeries and treatments she received had succeeded. Levingston, now 39, is a breast cancer survivor. And in this role, the Houston native feels a responsibility to educate and inform others about the realities of breast cancer and genetic testing so fewer women feel surprised and dejected when they are diagnosed.

I learned so much information during my journey that I didnt want to move forward without helping other women, she said. So I created SurviveHER, an organization where I can use my story in a purposeful and impactful way to inspire women well beyond the month of October.

When she was declared cancer-free 20 months ago, Levingston was a different person, she said, living in New York City and working in broadcast media, busy trying to climb the career ladder and make a name for herself.

A grape-sized lump in her breast changed everything.

Under the age of 40, I didnt think or fathom I could have breast cancer, Levingston said. I didnt know it was prevalent on my dads side of the family.

In July 2019, Levingston felt the lump in her breast during a self exam. She thought it might be a cyst, but it was tender to the touch. A New York gynecologist ordered her first mammogram and a subsequent biopsy to confirm the diagnosis: Stage 2B triple negative breast cancer, one of the most aggressive subtypes that typically responds well to chemotherapy.

On HoustonChronicle.com: More 20- and 30-year-olds are being diagnosed with aggressive breast cancer. Early treatment has saved lives.

The initial treatment ordered for her cancer included chemotherapy, a lumpectomy (in which doctors remove the lump, but not the whole breast) and radiation. Levingston moved home to Houston to prepare for treatment at Texas Oncology.

Before starting, she had a conversation with a cousin on her fathers side that altered Levingstons treatment plan.

Shes a breast cancer survivor who was diagnosed at a young age, Levingston said. She told me about the BRCA1 mutation and said I should get genetic testing because it runs on my dads side of the family. I received the results that I had a BRCA1 mutation, and it changed my surgical plan.

There are 10 genes that increase a womans risk of breast cancer. The two most common are referred to as BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, said Dr. Arlene Ricardo, breast cancer surgeon at Memorial Hermann Southwest Hospital. Ricardo was not Levingstons doctor.

While less than 1 percent of the population carries one of these mutations, and only 5 percent of all breast cancers are associated with these genes, those who test positive for the mutation are 58 percent more likely to develop breast cancer by the time they turn 50 and up to 90 percent after the age of 70.

With news of Levingstons BRCA1 mutation, her oncologist said there was a higher chance of the cancer recurring in her breast or moving to her ovaries. In short, she needed to make life decisions fast. After 15 rounds of chemotherapy, Levingston underwent a bilateral mastectomy, a subsequent breast reconstruction surgery and a procedure that removed both of her ovaries all in the span of one year.

There is power in genetic tests because it changed my surgical plan, and we were able to take life-saving preventative measures, she said. If I didnt know I had the BRCA1 gene, we would have proceeded with the lumpectomy, and my cancer could have recurred.

Dr. Jessica Jones, medical oncologist with UT Physicians in the Memorial Hermann Cancer Center, said cancer is still a spontaneous event even for women who have gene defects or a family history that predisposes them to certain cancers.

If the patients mother had breast cancer, a doctor is better able to predict if the patient will, too. Levingstons gene was passed paternally, but Jones said spontaneous mutations are happening more often.

Even if you do have a family history, its important to know that you can prevent cancer, Jones said. Its also important to know that its not the end of the world.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Pearland breast cancer survivor poised for next step in emotional recovery

Under no circumstances was breast cancer going to be the end of Levingstons world, she said. And once she was declared cancer-free last year, she wanted to spread the gospel of genetic testing and cancer awareness through SurviveHER.

In the year since she started the wellness platform, Levingston has partnered with The Rose and the American Cancer Society to keep breast health top of mind for Houstonians. In recent months, SurviveHER received nonprofit organization status, which means she can begin fundraising toward a $1 million goal to go to local breast cancer charities.

Recently, SurviveHER partnered with AfroPink, Inc., a nonprofit dedicated to increasing breast cancer awareness in communities of color, for a block party in Brooklyn that provided eight uninsured women with mammograms.

Starting out, it has been a lot of speaking engagements and collaborative efforts with other organizations, Levingston said. This is my passion  helping and educating other women.

American Cancer Society executive director Dan DArmond said Levingstons story is a powerful one about early detection through self breast exams, education about genetic testing and survivorship. There has been close to an 80 percent decrease in annual mammograms during the pandemic, he said.

Its all about survivorship and putting programs in place to increase survivorship, DArmond said. The biggest challenge we have is getting women to go back out and get their mammograms scheduled. Having people like Lyndsay telling their story about early detection and screenings will save lives.

So far, she has raised about $8,000 for The Rose and the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. Earlier this year, she launched a podcast on her website and interviewed Mathew Knowles, father to Beyonce and Solange Knowles, who underwent treatment for breast cancer in 2020.

Levingston has been featured in Oprah Magazine and Essence, as well as on the Susan G. Komen Foundation podcast and KHOU. Her main calls-to-action include scheduling an annual mammogram if youre over 40 and taking a genetic test.

julie.garcia@chron.com

Twitter.com/reporterjulie

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I fidgeted in my seat, the crinkly paper rustling beneath me as I gathered the courage to answer my doctor. Do you have any other questions? shed just asked me.

And I did. I had a big one, working its way up through my vocal cords. It was early March 2021  four days before my 35th birthday. A birthday that, for many women, holds a certain significance. Its the year at which you cross over to high risk, should you choose to become pregnant. And, oh, I wanted to be pregnant.

This week had stared at me on my calendar with ever-heightening urgency since the pandemic took hold in Houston, almost exactly a year earlier. Back then, Id been turning 34 and engaged. We had to decide: Would we ditch our dream, 150-person wedding, or scale it back to just our parents and sisters to keep our August 2020 date? And even though Id spent three decades imagining that big, all-out bash, it was the thought of turning 35 this year that made the decision for me.

We had to get married. Then, we could have our baby. So we had our 12-person affair. And then we waited. And waited. And waited. The pandemic, Id thought, would have been over by now. But here I was, March 2, 2021, on the 22nd floor of a Texas Medical Center tower, trying to work up to courage to ask the question I hoped could define the rest of my life:

Would you get pregnant in a pandemic? I finally asked.

My doctor gave me a look so direct that I felt the medical paper crinkle beneath me again as my nerves took over, and I readjusted.

Youre 35. You dont have a choice, she said, in the no-nonsense manner Ive come to expect from her.

My husband and I went that night to a CVS near our home in the East End, another attempt at hovering around near closing time in hopes for a surplus dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. Im the health editor at the Houston Chronicle  at that time, serving as our COVID editor  and Id read and even written horror stories about how COVID could affect a woman and her pregnancy. So I made a plan: Wed get pregnant as soon as possible after we were fully vaccinated.

And we did. It was early June when I held the third positive test in a row in my hand, tears welling in my eyes. I turned my attention from the little pink strip to the bathroom mirror in front of me, pulling up my shirt to wonder at my belly where a poppy-seed-sized miracle bloomed. Hello, I whispered. To her or him, I didnt know yet. And I didnt care. All I cared was that my little poppy seed was there. And with COVID rates declining as vaccination rates increased, she or he would be safe.

Then came July. And the delta variant.

I wasnt yet pregnant enough to tell people. Given my advanced maternal age  a lovely phrase I dont resent at all, of course  I held tight to the idea that we would keep our baby a secret until our second trimester, when we were past the riskiest portion of the pregnancy. So I assigned and edited stories about breakthrough infections, overwhelmed ICUs and vaccine hesitancy as I battled first-trimester fatigue and the guilt that comes with second-guessing a blessing, rubbing my belly out of the Zoom frame, wondering, Did I do the absolute wrong thing?

And obviously, I know Im not alone.

In the early days of the pandemic, jokes circulated that there would be a baby boom nine months after we were all sent home for two weeks. But as the severity of the pandemic became clear, something different happened: The U.S. experienced a baby bust.

Typically, births increase in the spring, peak in summer and decline through the fall before hitting a low in December. So it was expected that birth figures in December  when the first pandemic babies were born  would be slightly lower than they had in, say, August. But according to the U.S. Census Bureau, the number of births in December 2020 fell by 7.7 percent when compared to the previous December  a substantial drop that cant be explained by seasonality.

On average, the census reports, there were 763 fewer births each day last December than the year before. And thats just in America. A study out of Italy examined birth rates in 22 high-income countries, finding that seven of the nations studied had statistically significant drops in birth rates last winter  beginning about nine months after the World Health Organization declared a public health emergency.

This has happened before: Births dipped after the 2008 financial crisis; perhaps more relevantly, they plummeted following the 1918 flu outbreak. A century later, advances in modern medicine have brought about some interesting side effects as well: Local fertility clinics reported an increase in couples freezing their eggs as they wait to become pregnant at a safer time.

It makes sense. During pregnancy, a womans immune system becomes suppressed so that it wont attack the foreign body growing inside her. This makes it easier to become sick. And any illness can have adverse effects on a growing baby. At this point, Im not even supposed to go in a hot tub, lest my body temperature creep too high. The high-grade fevers that can accompany COVID are out of the question.

And though we as a society dont talk about miscarriage often, any woman whos spent time on a What to Expect messaging board knows theyre more frequent than most people realize: About one in five pregnancies ends in miscarriage. Its likely that the rate is even higher since many occur before a woman even knows shes conceived.

As the delta wave slammed into Houston hospitals, peaking with 3,500 daily admissions in late August, I worried to myself: What if?

We are on our way out of the delta peak now, with the number of hospital admissions dropping by 50 percent in the past month. But in March 2020, we thought this would last only two weeks. When I read those pink lines in June, I thought we were nearly finished. And now? I have no clue if the pandemic will linger long enough that my daughter will be born into a world that has yet to return to the one we knew before. Yes, my daughter. At five months and counting, I now know were having a girl, whom were naming after my late mother.

I sometimes wonder whether Id be sitting here, typing on a laptop that juts into a growing belly in a work-from-home office that will soon be repurposed into a nursery, had my doctor told me to wait. But all these months later, I know Im right where Im supposed to be.

Even if it terrifies me.

maggie.gordon@chron.com
Art Acevedo was never going to go away quietly.

Days after being fired from his job as Miamis police chief, Acevedo  who became a national advocate for police reform during his time in Austin and Houston  spoke to NBC News and CNN about his brief, stormy tenure in Florida.

Its a pretty embarrassing episode in a 35-year career, Acevedo told NBCs Gabe Gutierrez in a brief segment on Monday. (Acevedo declined a request for an interview from the Chronicle).

The same day, he spoke to CNN anchor Erin Burnett about resistance from many law enforcement officers to getting vaccinated against COVID-19. He noted recent developments in Chicago, where more than a third of officers have defied orders from their mayor to report their vaccination status.

He also pointed to similar predicaments in Massachusetts and Los Angeles.

A lot of folks are just making decisions not to take the vaccine, Acevedo, 57, told Burnett. And consequently, people are dying unnecessarily and I just wish people would just pay attention to the actual data out there.

During the interview, he pleaded with officers to take a step back.

Push the emotion side and just start getting the information from public health authorities and understand that we have a responsibility not just to ourselves and our families but we have a responsibility to the public whom we come in contact with every day, he said.

A rocky rise: Acevedo survived controversy on way to top policing jobs

He referenced the recent death of Houston Police officer John Wilbanks, who died from COVID on Oct. 13. His funeral was Monday.

The hardest thing you can do as a police chief is having to go to one of your officers funerals, he said Monday. Houston just buried an officer today that unfortunately passed away from COVID and its something that, whether its a gunshot or its a virus, it is permanent and its fatal.

Acevedo, who served as Houstons police chief for four and a half years, joined the Miami Police Department in April, a surprise hire given he had never formally applied for the job. Miamis mayor hailed Acevedo at the time as the Michael Jordan and Tom Brady of police chiefs.

His tenure was beset by controversy from the start. City commissioners were miffed by his unorthodox hiring decisions. Matters only worsened after a series of personnel moves, including demoting four majors and firing a married couple for failing to properly report damage to a city-owned vehicle.

City commissioners later used the incident to accuse Acevedo of hypocrisy after his city-owned SUV also suffered minor damage, and Acevedo apparently didnt report it.

Then, during roll call, Acevedo made a comment to officers likening the departments leadership to the Cuban Mafia, a term that was used by the late dictator Fidel Castro to describe Cuban exiles in Miami. City commissioners were outraged.

Racial Profiling?: Virtually everyone a Fort Bend police officer stopped was Hispanic. His bosses shrugged.

The comments prompted commissioners to hold two lengthy hearings blasting the chief. Acevedo, meanwhile, wrote a lengthy memo to his bosses accusing commissioners of corruption and misconduct, a move that all but sealed his doom.

The citys mayor, Francis Suarez, withdrew his support, saying a situation where a top city administrator is at war with city elected leadership is simply untenable and unsustainable.

During a hearing on Thursday, commissioners voted to fire Acevedo. He did not testify at the meeting.

Acevedos attorney John Byrne said at the meeting there wasnt enough time to build a case to properly defend his client.

Based on what we have seen here today, it is clear the commissioners have not a valid basis for terminating Chief Acevedo, Byrne said. He added that the reasons stated by the city manager were pretextual and that the real justification was the eight-page memo accused city commissioners of meddling in the police department and internal investigations.

Trouble in Florida: Former HPD Chief Art Acevedo to be fired from new job as Miami police chief after controversy

Marta Lavandier, STF / Associated Press

If chief Acevedo could say anything that would make any difference, he would. Its very clear whats going on, Byrne said.

Two of the commissioners, also of Cuban descent, criticized Acevedo for not attending.

He had the courage to write a false memo, full of lies, said Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla upon learning that Byrne rested his case during the trial-like proceeding without calling witnesses. He should have the courage to stand up here and address this commission, the courage or the guts to do it.

In his TV interviews, Acevedo briefly addressed the firing, saying that he regretted the Cuban Mafia statement, which he said commissioners used for political gain but that nevertheless offended some members of the exile community. Acevedos parents had fled Cubas Castro when he was 4.

He did not address whether he would fight his dismissal, noting to CNN that he had put out a memo detailing some really serious concerns involving political leadership and been fired as a consequence.

He gave little clue about his future plans, saying only that he planned to take a few weeks to think about future opportunities.

Im going to recharge for the next few weeks and then I am going to see whats my path forward, he told CNN. Public service is in my DNA and I am hoping the future will bring an opportunity to continue serving the American people and the good men and women in law enforcement.

The Associated Press contributed to this report

st.john.smith@chron.com
Jay R. Jordan / Jay Jordan, Staff

A man faces an intoxication manslaughter charge in a Friday crash downtown that left another man dead, according to Houston Police.

Police said 35-year-old Timoteo Arteaga ran a stop sign in a black Volkswagen Tiguan at the intersection of Pierce and St. Emanuel streets and then a black Kia Forte on Pierce Street hit him.
City housing officials on Tuesday said they are working to review and cut down administrative expenses, submit expenditures for reimbursement in a more timely manner and adjust reporting structures to help close a potential budget hole in the Harvey recovery program they presented earlier this month.

Temika Jones, the housing departments chief financial officer, laid out the six-point corrective plan to City Councils housing committee. Three of the items relate to trimming or re-evaluating administrative expenses, two involve submitting costs to the state for reimbursement on a more timely basis, and one would seek to open a line of communication from Jones to the finance department and the mayors office.

The plans have led to some incremental success so far, Jones said: The Texas General Land Office, which administers the funds, has approved another $9 million in reimbursements and the department has moved closer to hitting the GLOs end-of-year progress benchmarks.

A lot of the corrective actions we were going to recommend that we didnt get to last (meeting), we as a department went ahead and implemented those, Jones told council members. These are the direct result of a lot of those corrective actions being implemented and executed well.

District F Councilmember Tiffany Thomas, who chairs the housing committee, called the progress very good, while acknowledging there was a lot of work left to do.

Jones and Interim Housing Director Keith Bynam outlined the financial holes earlier this month and suggested Bynams predecessor, Tom McCasland, had not presented them to Mayor Sylvester Turner or the council.

McCasland was fired for publicly alleging Turner was steering Harvey affordable housing funds to a specific developer. The Chronicle later reported that Turners former longtime law partner, Barry Barnes, was a co-developer on the deal.

Turner has denied any wrongdoing and subsequently hinted McCasland was covering for mismanagement of his own. The mayor later dropped the housing deal at the center of the allegations.

McCasland has said on Twitter the council and administration were briefed on the expenses and there were no secrets about how the department is funded. He declined comment on the corrective action plan or Tuesdays committee meeting.

The GLO is reviewing the citys process for awarding the federal Harvey affordable housing funds and is expected to have a draft report to the city next week, city officials said Tuesday. The city will have 30 days to comment on the report.

Bynam and Jones said the GLO takeover of the citys Harvey recovery program earlier this year slashed administrative budgets below what the city already had spent, resulting in a hole of tens of millions of dollars if the GLO does not reimburse the city for those expenditures. The state agency has said the city will be on the hook for any overruns, but the agency will work with officials to find reimbursable costs.

Houstons budget for administering the entire $1.2 billion Harvey recovery program was cut from $31 million to $15 million, but the city has already spent $16 million, resulting in a $1 million deficit. Its delivery budget for the homeowner assistance program, a $440 million effort to repair or reconstruct single-family homes, was slashed from $42 million to $8.2 million, but the city already had spent $30.6 million. That brought the citys potential liability to more than $23 million.

Three of the corrective plans six items relate to trying to limit that damage by reviewing administrative costs. It calls for reducing future spending; re-evaluating all staffing decisions McCasland approved before his firing; and aligning future expenditures with program spending, which would include financial dashboards with monthly updates to the housing committee.

The costs are difficult to trim because they mostly apply to personnel, meaning cuts quickly equate to staff reductions. Jones said the focus right now is on eliminating vacant positions that do not tie directly to services.

Those will be reduced either by realigning their responsibilities and/or taking another look at personnel. Personnel reductions are going to be the last possible (action), she said.

Another tenet of the corrective plan is making sure the department submits those costs to the GLO in a timely manner.

To that end, the department plans to submit all prior expenditures by an Oct. 28 deadline.

Earlier this month, Jones told council members the department had submitted $158 million of $272 million in expenditures, leaving $114 million in expenditures yet to be submitted. Jones said about half the $114 million relates to older contracts that could have passed a 90-day GLO deadline to submit reimbursements.

Of the $158 million submitted to the GLO, the agency has approved $116 million in reimbursement. Jones said the department since has won approval of another $9 million in expenditures since the last housing committee meeting, bringing that figure to $125 million.

The last corrective item involves restructuring the housing department to create lines of communication from Jones, the chief financial officer, to the finance department and the mayors office. Jones previously said she raised these concerns about administrative funds to McCasland, but the mayor has said he was not aware of them.

dylan.mcguinness@chron.com
Marie D. De Jesus, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer

The services for the constable deputy who was killed early Saturday in an ambush outside a north Houston bar is set for next week, according to an announcement Monday.

The family of Kareem Atkins of Harris County Constable Precinct 4 will hold private services at the Champions Forest Baptist Church from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. on Oct 25, followed by a public viewing. A graveside funeral will follow at 2 p.m. at Klein Memorial Park Cemetery.
Steve Gonzales, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer

Californians have long exchanged their Hollywood stars for Texas cowboy boots in a migration trend that has sailed for more than a decade, and isn't showing signs of anchoring anytime soon.

A one-way trip from California to Texas is one of the busiest interstate relocation routes in the U.S., according to StorageCafe, only challenged by the New York to Florida moving corridor.
In December 2000, just three days after accepting his victory after that years contentious election, President-elect George W. Bush announced that Americas next  and its first Black  secretary of state would be Colin Powell, the retired four-star U.S. Army general and former national security adviser and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

His entire life has prepared him to fulfill the responsibilities that he will soon hold, Bush said during a ceremony at an elementary school in Crawford.

Powell had served in the Army for 35 years, had been Ronald Reagans national security adviser and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton. His status as an ultimate professional had allowed him to stand almost outside of partisan politics and his status as Americas first Black secretary of state offered at last hope of an America capable of judging its citizens merits without regard to their race.

Gen. Powell is an American hero, an American example, and a great American story, Bush said. Its a great day when a son of the South Bronx succeeds to the office first held by Thomas Jefferson.

For his part, Powell, the son of immigrants from Jamaica, merely noted that given his big-city roots, he was glad the ceremony was being held at the school rather than at Bushs nearby ranch. I dont care what you say, those cows look dangerous, he joked.

Powells remarkable story ended Monday when he died at age 84 of COVID-19. He had been fully vaccinated, but according to a family spokeswoman, a long fight with multiple myeloma, a cancer that forms in plasma cells, had compromised his immune system.

His death is a great loss for a country that can use all the heroes it can get, and one that still finds itself riven by race and class, despite both Powells own service and that of the man Powell would later cross party lines in 2008 to support as the nations first Black president.

And yet Powells story also is a cautionary tale about the ease with which men and women who serve presidents can lose their way when loyalty outshines judgment. Its an old tale in Washington, where Robert McNamara helped Lyndon Johnson, another president from Texas, prosecute the Vietnam War long after he and Johnson had given up on winning it.

McNamaras decision to keep mum while both in and out of office helped lead tens of thousands of additional soldiers to their deaths. In a 1995 memoir, he apologized and said he weeps often for the dead. It did them little good by then, though.

Powells mistake was smaller perhaps but still heartbreaking  and deadly. All during the buildup to the Iraq War, and then during its prosecution until he was told to resign in January 2005, Powell acquiesced to the presidents pursuit of the war. Time and again he offered words of caution and pushed back against some of the most hawkish advice from other members of the Cabinet, but by his own admission he never directly advised the president against invading. Perhaps most fatefully, he agreed in February 2003 to make the administrations flimsy case that Saddam Hussein was building an arsenal of weapons of mass destruction.

These mistakes leave a lasting mark on his record that not even all his glories, nor all the ways in which his personal qualities of modesty, service and patriotism shone across 40-plus years, can erase.

For many who opposed the war, Powells role in selling it had come as a shock. Surely, he was too seasoned to have been duped by what subsequent proof showed had been deeply flawed evidence, they reasoned. And too wise to have supported the invasion in the first place. After all, the then-famous Powell Doctrine, developed in the early 1980s by Powell and his boss, Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger, held that before American forces were committed to combat, they were owed two things: First, a clearly articulated purpose, and second, that they should be sent in with overwhelming force to achieve it.

Neither condition was met in the Iraq War. When Gen. Eric Shinseki, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told Congress, accurately it turned out, that to accomplish what the White House wanted would require hundreds of thousands of additional troops, he was fired.

As for the clear purpose, Powells speech to the U.N. ensured that the war would be launched under false pretenses.

And yet despite this, and despite his sage warning to his colleagues that whatever the invasion breaks, the U.S. will be on the hook to fix, he remained at his post until he was asked to resign in early 2005.

Biographer Karen DeYoung, author of Soldier: The Life of Colin Powell, concluded that Powell both underestimated the fervor with which hawks within the Cabinet would maneuver the nation into war and overestimated his own capacity to influence Bush.

Above all, she writes, Powell struggled with the conflict between what his experience in Vietnam had taught him  that the use of force should come as a last resort  and a soldiers sense of duty to his president.

On Monday, President Joe Biden ordered flags to be lowered to half-staff in honor of Powell. Thats only fitting. Those of us left to consider the lessons of his life and to mourn his death can take comfort in knowing that a single mistake, even a big one, cannot overshadow entirely a life lived in such fullness, in such service, and with such dignity.

As another person with a long record of presidential service and deep Texas ties said in a statement late Monday, Powell is worthy of all the honor his country can pay him.

America has lost a great patriot and public servant, said former Defense Secretary Robert Gates. A friend for nearly 40 years, Colins whole life was about duty, honor and country. He is gone far too soon. My thoughts and prayers are with General Powells family.
Brittney Poolaw, then 19 years old, showed up at the Comanche County Memorial Hospital in Oklahoma last year after suffering a miscarriage at home. She had been about 17 weeks pregnant. According to an affidavit from a police detective who interviewed her, she admitted to hospital staff that she had recently used both methamphetamine and marijuana.

A medical examiner cited her drug use as one of several conditions contributing to the miscarriage, a list which also included congenital abnormality and placental abruption. Poolaw was arrested on a charge of manslaughter in the first degree, and because she couldnt afford a $20,000 bond, jailed for a year and a half awaiting trial.

The trial finally took place this month and lasted one day. According to a local television station, an expert witness for the prosecution testified that methamphetamine use may not have been directly responsible for the death of Poolaws fetus. Nevertheless, after deliberating for less than three hours, a jury found her guilty, and she was sentenced to four years in prison.

From the detectives affidavit, it seems possible Poolaws entire ordeal might have been avoided had she had access to decent reproductive health care. Poolaw, the detective wrote, stated when she found out she was pregnant she didnt know if she wanted the baby or not. She said she wasnt familiar with how or where to get an abortion.

Poolaws case is an injustice, but it is also a warning. This is what happens when the law treats embryos and fetuses as people with rights that supersede the rights of those who carry them. And it offers a glimpse of the sort of prosecutions that could become common in a world in which Roe v. Wade is overturned, one we could be living in as soon as next year.

Abortion opponents often insist they have no intention of imprisoning women who end their pregnancies. When, as a presidential candidate, Donald Trump said that there should be some form of punishment for women who have abortions, he was widely denounced by mainstream anti-abortion activists: Peggy Nance, head of Concerned Women for America, called him the caricature that the left tries to paint us to be.

But for years now, the anti-abortion movement has been working to change state laws to define embryos and fetuses as people or children. This has resulted in women being punished for things they do, or dont do, while pregnant. Often, these prosecutions target women who take drugs; ProPublica reported on a case in Alabama in which a woman was charged with chemical endangerment of a child because she twice took half a Valium when she was pregnant.

In 2013, a peer-reviewed study by National Advocates for Pregnant Women, a reproductive justice organization, found 413 cases from 1973 to 2005 of women arrested or otherwise deprived of liberty because they were accused of endangering or harming their fetuses. Since then, the pace of prosecutions has escalated; between 2006 and 2020, National Advocates for Pregnant Women identified 1,254 such cases.

The effort to add fetuses to the Constitution is increasingly an idea picked up by prosecutors to justify essentially removing the constitutional rights of pregnant people, said Lynn Paltrow, executive director of National Advocates for Pregnant Women, which has reached out to Poolaw and could represent her on appeal. What were seeing as Roe becomes more vulnerable, and claims of fetal rights increase, she added, is that prosecutors feel liberated to use a variety of criminal laws to arrest women in relation to their pregnancies and pregnancy outcomes.

An Alabama Supreme Court judge made the anti-abortion ideology underlying these prosecutions clear in a 2014 opinion. Voting to uphold the conviction of a woman who used cocaine while pregnant  before giving birth to a healthy baby  he wrote, This case presents an opportunity for this court to continue a line of decisions affirming Alabamas recognition of the sanctity of life from the earliest stages of development.

Because of Roe v. Wade and the 1992 decision that upheld it, Planned Parenthood v. Casey, only a small handful of cases of women prosecuted for pregnancy loss involve those who intended to abort. For now, as long as Roe and Casey remain on the books, women who have abortions have some protection from prosecution, Paltrow said. The women who are not intending to end their pregnancies do not have that protection.

But if and when Roe falls, prosecutors will have free rein to go after women who decide to terminate their pregnancies. Paltrows organization worked with the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers on a recent report about what a post-Roe legal landscape could look like. It found more than 4,450 crimes in the federal criminal code, tens of thousands of state criminal provisions  including criminal abortion laws  still on the books, as well as state conspiracy, attempt, and accomplice statutes that could subject a wide range of individuals to criminal penalties if Roe is overturned.

The end of Roe, Paltrow said, will unleash vigilante prosecutors to apply the criminal law to people who seek to end their pregnancies, and we know that because weve already seen it for all the other cases National Advocates for Pregnant Women does. According to the detectives affidavit in Poolaws case, she was surprised to find herself under investigation. Apparently, she didnt realize that Oklahoma would consider her catastrophe a crime. How could she have? What happened to her still isnt normal. It could soon become so.

Goldberg is a columnist for the New York Times.
Todays global energy inequities are staggering.

Video gamers in California consume more electricity than entire nations. The average Tanzanian used only one-sixth the electricity consumed by a typical American refrigerator in 2014.

Globally, the top 10 percent of countries consume nearly 20 times as much energy as the bottom 10 percent. And 1.1 billion sub-Saharan Africans share the same amount of power generation capacity as Germanys 83.2 million people. At least half have no access to electricity at all.

These stark energy inequalities are fueling thorny debates around financing Africas energy future as world leaders and their negotiators prepare for COP26, the United Nations climate conference in Glasgow, Scotland, in November.

One increasingly common theme from wealthy countries  including those responsible for the majority of greenhouse gas emissions over time  is a vow that they will cease public funding for all (or nearly all) fossil fuel projects in less developed countries, even as they continue financing, and in many cases heavily subsidizing, fossil fuels domestically.

It is generally easier for countries that offer overseas development finance for energy projects to make low-carbon rules for others, rather than for themselves. For example, China, Japan and South Korea  some of the worlds highest coal-consuming nations  have each recently pledged to stop funding coal projects overseas and increase investments in renewables. But they have made no equivalent commitments at home.

The U.S. Treasury and the United Kingdoms development finance institution, CDC Group, have taken a more nuanced approach. They are limiting all coal and oil-based power generation projects and leaving a narrow window available for natural gas projects in poor countries that pass a rigorous screening process. This is roughly similar to the approach of the World Bank.

As experienced clean energy policy researchers, we believe the blunt exclusion of all nonrenewable energy projects from development finance is an inequitable and ineffective climate strategy that gaslights over 1 billion Africans.

Tiny climate gains, major development losses

Focusing on limiting the emissions of the worlds poorest countries while emissions continue to rise in industrialized countries is clearly misdirected, in our view. Given stark inequalities in energy use and emissions, this could instead entrench poverty and widen inequality induced by worsening climate change, while simultaneously accomplishing very little to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions.

Together, the U.S., U.K., European Union, Japan and Russia have almost the same population  1.1 billion people  as sub-Saharan Africa, but 35 times as many gas-fired power plants in operation or under development, and 52 times as many coal plants.

When it comes to carbon dioxide emissions, sub-Saharan Africa is collectively responsible for barely half a percent of all global emissions over time, while the U.S., U.K., E.U., Japan and Russia are responsible for more than 100 times that amount, or about 57 percent.

The upper bound for Africas future growth in power sector emissions is also negligible. If the regions electricity demand hypothetically tripled tomorrow, rather than doubling by 2040 as the International Energy Agency recently forecast, and if only natural gas was used to meet the new demand, annual global emissions would increase by only 0.62 percent, according to one estimate. Thats equivalent to the state of Louisianas annual emissions today.

Whats more, the share of renewable power in many sub-Saharan African national grids is already higher than for nearly all the big greenhouse gas emitters. In at least six countries  Kenya, Ethiopia, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique and Uganda  renewables make up more than 50 percent of their annual generation. In 2018, hydropower, geothermal, solar and wind made up about 20 percent of the continents total power generated.

Most of the region will find renewable power to be the fastest and cheapest way to expand their generation capacity, but some areas may still need to rely on some fossil fuels in various sectors of the economy as they develop.

It has been clear for decades that the world needs to rapidly and aggressively cut its greenhouse gas emissions to keep global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius and avoid the worst impacts of climate change. Many regions in Africa, including the Sahel and Mozambique, are already facing the effects of climate change, including worsening droughts, food insecurity and severe storms. Adapting to climate change and building resilience requires the very energy, economic development and infrastructure currently lacking in some of the most affected regions and those least prepared to adapt.

Climate colonialism and legacies of colonization

Other experts agree that this direction of climate policy is not just ineffective, its rooted in the historic inequities of colonialism.

The philosopher Olufemi O. Taiwo defines climate colonialism as the deepening or expansion of foreign domination through climate initiatives that exploits poorer nations resources or otherwise compromises their sovereignty.

Colonialisms legacy is a contributing factor to a wide range of issues, from conflict to corruption, and to the poor state of electricity access across much of Africa today.

While industrializing nations in the 1900s were building electricity grids through massive public spending campaigns, like Franklin Roosevelts New Deal in the United States and the Electricity Supply Act of 1926 in the U.K., most of Africa was being actively pilfered of its rich natural resources. Much of the infrastructure built in colonial Africa during that time was built only to facilitate resource extraction operations, such as mined commodities, oil, timber, rubber, tea, coffee and spices.

In 1992, a coalition of low-income nations successfully advocated for the U.N.s climate mitigation pathways to include their right to development, and a common but differentiated responsibility to address the dual problems of development and climate change. This language has long been the basis of equity considerations in climate policy, including in the 2015 Paris Agreement, which expects deeper emissions cuts from developed countries based on their respective capabilities.

A transition from what?

Nigerian Vice President Yemi Osinbajo recently described energy transition as a curious term when applied universally, given the energy shortfalls in countries like Nigeria. He has argued for an energy transition in which Africa can develop quickly and grow. Increasing electricity in industrializing regions of sub-Saharan Africa would first power income-generating activities and public services, both drivers of economic growth.

Equitable and effective climate negotiations will require nuanced policy considerations that balance the priorities of alleviating energy poverty with urgent climate change mitigation and adaptation. A just energy transition would leave African governments to make and implement policies and deliver on their own national climate commitments under the Paris Agreement rather than shouldering the Wests.

Benjamin Attia is a non-resident fellow and Morgan Bazilian is a professor at Payne Institute for Public Policy of the Colorado School of Mines. This piece was first published by the Conversation.
State Rep. Dan Huberty, R-Houston, announced Tuesday he will not seek re-election to another term in the Texas House.

Hubertys announcement came the morning after lawmakers wrapped up the third special session of the year. Republican leaders have indicated they do not expect Gov. Greg Abbott to call them back to Austin before the next regularly scheduled session in 2023, meaning Hubertys time at the Capitol is likely finished.

Now midway through his sixth term, Huberty was first elected to the House in 2010, after serving for five years on the Humble ISD board of trustees. He continued to focus on education policy in the Legislature, serving on the House Public Education Committee each term and as chair of the committee during the 2017 and 2019 sessions.

In 2019, Huberty helped lead a landmark plan to boost state public education spending and reduce school property tax rates, issues that have vexed lawmakers in Austin for years. In a statement announcing his retirement, Huberty cited the legislation, House Bill 3, as a key accomplishment.

My interest in and passion for public education remains at my core, Huberty said. I believe the work we have accomplished, specifically HB3  will have a lasting impact for the schoolchildren of Texas for a long time to come.

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Viewed as one of the most moderate Republicans in the Texas Legislature, Huberty is an investment consultant known for his sharp, brightly colored suits. He has said he considered retiring after the 2017 session, when he authored a less ambitious school finance plan that failed to win consensus in Austin.

After the House passed Hubertys 2019 education spending bill, then-speaker Dennis Bonnen said Huberty has worked harder than Ive ever seen a member, in my 22 years of service in the House, on an issue.

Hubertys retirement announcement comes several months after he was charged with driving while intoxicated after crashing his Corvette in Porter while driving back from the legislative session in Austin. He later apologized in an emotional speech on the House floor, which he opened by saying, My name is Dan, and Im an alcoholic.

Hubertys two-year term is up in January 2023. His northeast Harris County district was already being targeted by Republican Anthony Dolcefino, a former Houston City Council candidate who announced a primary challenge to Huberty shortly after the incumbents arrest in April.

The district takes in Kingwood, Humble and Atascocita, all areas it is set to retain under the House redistricting map approved by lawmakers Monday.

jasper.scherer@chron.com
The Texas Legislature on Monday put the finishing touches on a redistricting proposal that has major implications for millions of people who live in and around Houston. Here is a summary of how Harris Countys nine Congressional districts are changing for 2022.

Hundreds of thousands of Houston residents west of downtown are about to lose Crenshaw as their congressman. The entire western tail of the 2nd Congressional District that includes Memorial Park, Rice University, the Addicks Reservoir, and suburban areas just inside the northwest sections of the Sam Houston Tollway are all being removed. Instead, his district will head north to pick up 340,000 people in Montgomery County, including all of The Woodlands, which was previously in the 8th Congressional District. Harris County voters in Spring, Atascocita and Kingwood will remain in the district.

Houston Democrat Lizzie Fletcher, 7th Congressional District

About 200,000 people in the 22nd Congressional District in Fort Bend County are being shifted into Fletchers 7th Congressional District. That includes parts of Sugar Land and up to Richmonds city limits. Meanwhile, Jersey Village, parts of the Energy Corridor, and River Oaks are all being removed and shifted into a new district  the 38th Congressional District, which is drawn to favor a Republican candidate in the future. The 7th District will also pick up Rice University, which is now in the 2nd Congressional District.

Woodlands Republican Kevin Brady, 8th Congressional District

Almost 300,000 people in northwest Harris County and parts of Katy are being moved into the 8th Congressional District that is represented by Brady, who is not seeking re-election. The district is also losing all of the Woodlands and about 330,000 people overall in Montgomery County to the 2nd Congressional District.

Houston Democrat Al Green, 9th Congressional District

Thousand of people living around Hobby Airport will now be in Greens district instead of Rep. Sylvia Garcias distrct. The 9th Congressional District will also now take Sunnyside and South Park neighborhoods that had previously been represented by Sheila Jackson Lee. The 9th Congressional District will add nearly 90,000 people in Brazoria County, including most of Pearland and part of Manvel. Greens district will also lose the International District and parts of Fort Bend County to Fletchers 7th Congressional District.

Austin Republican Michael McCaul, 10th Congressional District

Almost 400,000 people in northwest Harris County will be removed from the 10th Congressional District, and will instead be mostly split between the new 38th Congressional District and the completely reconfigured 8th Congressional District that Brady now holds. McCaul will still represent all of Waller County and have a portion of Katy.

Houston Democrat Sheila Jackson Lee, 18th Congressional District

At one point Republicans tried to remove all of Third Ward, downtown, and the University of Houston from Jackson Lees district. But Democrats were able to block that effort. Still, Jackson Lee will lose residents around Sunnyside and South Park who are shifting into the 9th Congressional District. The 18th Congressional District will also reach up to take in more of Humble and Atascocita.

Fort Bend Republican Troy Nehls, 22nd Congressional District

More than 200,000 people in Fort Bend County, including those who live in certain parts of Sugar Land, are being shifted into the 7th Congressional District. Nehls will also lose about 90,000 people in Brazoria County to Greens 9th Congressional District and about 100,000 people near the Harris-Galveston county border. The 22nd Congressional District will keep nearly 500,000 Fort Bend County residents, but now stretch into Matagorda and Wharton counties, plus pick up areas of Katy in Harris County that previously were in the 10th Congressional District.

Houston Democrat Sylvia Garcia, 29th Congressional District

Neighborhoods around Hobby Airport will no longer be in Garcias district, which also will lose parts of Golden Acres and other areas just inside the Sam Houston Tollway in southeast Harris County. Those areas will now be in the 36th Congressional District. The 29th Congressional District will pick up areas around Greens Landing and neighborhoods around the Houston National Cemetery that had been in Jackson Lees 18th Congressional District.

Woodville Republican Brian Babin, 36th Congressional District

About 100,000 Harris County residents in neighborhoods along the Gulf Freeway from the Sam Houston Tollway to the Galveston County line will be shifted into Babins district, which will continue to stretch to Newton County on the Louisiana border. Hell lose parts of Harris County from Lake Houston to Interstate 10, an area that will now be in Crenshaws 2nd Congressional District.

The newly drawn 38th Congressional District

More than 766,000 Harris County residents west of downtown are getting a completely new member of Congress. Lawmakers have created the new 38th Congressional District, which will take pieces of what had been in Crenshaws, Bradys, Fletchers, and McCauls districts. That will include most of the Energy Corridor, along with Cypress and Tomball. It will also bring in neighborhoods around Memorial Park.

jeremy.wallace@chron.com
Chicago, IL (60637)

Today

Some sun this morning with increasing clouds this afternoon. Temps nearly steady in the upper 30s. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph..

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Overcast. Low 34F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph.
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About This Property Situated on over six secluded acres in highly sought after Kenzeegan Woods, this recently constructed single level contemporary home blends modern details with classic Berkshire living. This two-bedroom, two-bathroom home features soaring 25' ceilings in the open floor plan living, dining and kitchen space where three 8' wide Anderson sliding doors provide all day sun and provide views of the old forest trees and radiant heating will keep you warm on the coldest of Massachusetts winter days. The primary bedroom features an en-suite bathroom with dual sinks and a large walk-in shower as well as a large master closet outfitted with custom shelving. The second bedroom is situated on the far side of the house, providing for maximum privacy.



Land Details Community Details Acres Apx: 6.35

Parking Type: Off Street

Lot Description: Add'L Land Avail,Wooded

Region: Berkshire - South

Elem School: NM Central

Middle School: Mount Everett

High School: Mount Everett

Exterior Details Interior Details Color: Brown

Style: Cabin,Contemporary

Construction: 0-5 Yrs Construction

Exterior: Wood

Water: Well

Sewer: Private

Underground Oil Tank: No

Garage: None

Total Rooms: 5

Total Full Baths: 2

Fuel: Propane

Hot Water: Propane

Electric: 200 Amp

Floor: Wood

Lead Paint: N/A, built after 1978

Heat/Cool: Radiant

Appliances Incl: Dishwasher,Dryer,Range/Stove,Refrigerator,Washer

Accessibility: 1st Flr Bdrm w/Bath



Search More Properties With these Features Deciduous Shade Trees Patio Privacy Vaulted Ceilings
Trick-or-Treat, Halloween Events 2021

Halloween this year means extra precautions because of the novel coronavirus and towns are weighing safe ways for trick-or-treaters to celebrate the spooky holiday. This may mean community events, limited trick or treating or cancelations. Check back as the holiday approaches for what your town is doing.

If you are going door to door, remember to dress appropriately, carry a flashlight and only visit homes with lights on in your neighborhood. Some special precautions to prevent COVID-19 transmission include wearing a cloth mask instead of a costume mask, reducing physical contact between people as much as possible, handing out candy with minimal or no contact such as in small bags and cleaning hands frequently.

Below is a list of towns holding trick-or-treat hours on Halloween, unless otherwise noted. Those towns that are crossed out have not been confirmed. The towns with the asterisks are the same times every year.

If you don't see your town listed and you know the hours, let us know at info@iberkshires.com.

There are also plenty of other fun holiday-related events happening in the Berkshires, too! If your organization is holding something Halloween related, let us know at info@iberkshires.com.

Trick-or-Treat hours on Halloween unless otherwise noted

Adams: 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Lion's Club Halloween parade begins at 4 p.m. from the Adams Community Bank parking lot and marches through a haunted Adams Theater and ends at the Visitors Center.

Becket: 5 to 7 p.m. Volunteer Fire Department handing out prepackaged candy at Fire Station 1 from 5:30 to 7:30 for children in Becket and Washington. Costumes and cameras encouraged.



Cheshire: 5:30 to 7 p.m.

Clarksburg: 5:30 to 7 p.m.; Clarksburg School's annual Haunted Hayride is Saturday, Oct. 23, 6:30 to 9 p.m. at Clarksburg State Forest. Tickets are $8/$5.

Dalton: 5:30 to 7 p.m.

Egremont: The town is holding a Halloween event at French Park on Saturday, Oct 30, at 6 p.m. Each child will receive a bag with treats. There will be contests for pumpkin carving and costumes, doughnuts and cider, games and scary stories.

*Florida: 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.



Great Barrington: Trick-or-treat is from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Participants should limit their groups to households or "pods" and keep groups as small as possible and wear a mask or face covering when visiting indoors and/or outdoors when proper social distancing is not possible.

Hancock: 5:30 to 7 p.m.



Hinsdale: Trunk-or-Treat on Halloween from 4 to 5:30 p.m. Children are encouraged to come in costume and walk around town for treats; park at Town Hall and walk to Kittredge School.

Lanesborough: 5 to 7 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 30.

Lee: 5 to 7; Drive-thru trunk-or-treat on Friday, Oct. 29, from 5 to 8 p.m. for children attending Lee schools and child care. Registration required here.



Lenox: 5:30 to 7 p.m.; Trunk or Treat at the Community Center on Friday, Oct. 29, from 5:30 to 7. Facemasks must be worn.

Monterey: On Saturday, Oct. 31 from 5 - 7pm the library, community center and parks dept. will be hosting a socially distanced, outdoor trick or treat with bags of candy for pick-up at the library, town hall and in the center of town near the church (all weather permitting).



*Mount Washington: No designated times



New Ashford: 5 to 7.



New Marlborough: 5 to 7.

North Adams: 5:30 to 7 p.m. Participants are expected to follow COVID-19 safety precautions

Otis: Trunk-or-treat on Friday, Oct. 29, from 5 to 7 p.m. Open to children who have already registered.

*Peru: No posted hours

*Pownal, Vt.: No posted hours

Pittsfield: 5:30 to 7 p.m.; virtual Halloween Spirit contest runs through Oct. 24.

Readsboro, Vt.: 6 to 8 p.m.

Richmond: 5:30 to 7 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 30; leave an outdoor light on to participate. The town and school are holding a Trunk-or-Treat from 5 to 7 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 29, in the school parking lot.

*Sandisfield: No posted hours



Savoy: Trunk or treat will be held at the Savoy Town Park on Oct. 30 from 1 to 3 p.m.



Sheffield: Trick-or-Treat will be held on Oct. 31 from 5-7 PM.

Stamford, Vt.: 6 to 7:30 p.m.

Stockbridge: Oct. 31 5:00 PM-7:00 PM.

West Stockbridge: Halloween Trick or Treat will be held in the Town of West Stockbridge on Sunday, Oct. 31 from 4-6 PM. If you would like to receive trick or treaters, please have your porch light on during those hours. After trick or treating, there will be a free Halloween Haunts Drive-Thru at Town Hall, 21 State Line Road from 7-9 PM.

Williamstown: 6 to 7:30 p.m.



Windsor: 4 to 7 p.m.

Halloween Safety Tips from the state Department of Fire Services:

* Remind youngsters to cross at crosswalks or corners and not to dart out between parked cars. More children are hit by cars on Halloween than any other single day.



* Children should carry a flashlight or glow sticks; costumes should be bright-colored or have reflective tape to highlight them.



* Be sure all parts of costumes are labeled flame retardant.



* Costumes should not have trailing materials or tails long enough to cause falls.



* If a child is wearing a mask instead of make-up, make sure the eye holes are large enough to see through clearly.



* Make sure your home is well-lit inside and out and that there is a clear path to your door.



* Use a small flashlight or battery-operated tea light in pumpkins instead of a candle.



* Keep decorations like cornstalks and leaves away from heat sources and lit candles.



* Children under 12 should always be with an adult. Its best to take little ones out early. If older children are going out without you, go over the ground rules first and set a curfew. Have them travel in a group and with a cell phone and flashlight.



* Fireworks are dangerous and illegal in Massachusetts. The ban includes firecrackers, cherry bombs and party poppers.
State Rep. Paul Mark announces his run for state Senate on Monday at Park Square. The Peru Democrat has represented the 2nd Berkshire District since 2011.

Paul Mark Announces Run for State Senate



Mark is endorsed by his House colleagues John Barrett III, left, Smitty Pignatelli and Tricia Farley-Bouvier. With his district being eliminated, Mark would have had to take on Barrett next election to stay in the House PITTSFIELD, Mass.  Paul Mark made official his run for the state Senate next year representing Berkshire, Hampshire, Franklin, and Hampden District on Monday afternoon.

The 2nd Berkshire state representative had been expected to make a bid for the seat  the current senator, Adam Hinds, is running for lieutenant governor and Mark's own House district in Berkshire and Franklin is about to disappear in redistricting.

Mark made the the announcement in Park Square surrounded by supporters, including endorsements by his fellow House colleagues William "Smitty" Pignatelli, Tricia Farley-Bouvier, and John Barrett III.

The six-term representative said the people of the Berkshire district deserve a dedicated advocate in the Senate. He cited the devastation that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on its communities and small businesses and how it widened the divide between the wealthy and those struggling to put food on the table.

"At this moment, we have a unique opportunity to develop policies and a state budget that not only heals our economy, but recreates and re-envisions our government in a way that truly supports our families, neighbors, and those who are most in need," the Peru Democrat said.

"That is the work that I am committed to and why today, I am happy to announce my candidacy for state Senate."

Mark largely spoke on the importance of advocating for Western Massachusetts during decision-making in Boston and his working-class background.

When he was about 12 years old, his father's place of employment  a warehouse  shut down and compromised his family's livelihood. Mark said he went without food and hot water and internalized the stigma of government assistance, staying silent about his family's struggles.

"I couldn't understand why things like this would happen to so many people that did absolutely nothing wrong," he said about his family and others who were put in a tough place with the warehouse closure.

After high school, Mark learned firsthand how hard it was to pursue higher education and the barriers that exist for many people. He attended the University of Massachusetts and realized that he couldn't afford to stay there after a year.

Upon dropping out, Mark took a job for a phone company, Verizon, and joined the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers union. He said this changed everything because, suddenly, he had educational benefits, a fully paid health plan, access to a dental plan, a pension, a living wage, and job security.

Within two months of finishing his doctorate in law and public policy from Northeastern University, a seat opened up in the Legislature and he decided that he wanted to serve the working people of Western Mass. He was elected in 2010, replacing Denis Guyer.

During the past decade, Mark has represented 29 different communities across three counties through two district configurations. He currently represents 15 communities, five in the Berkshires, and including Greenfield. He has advocated for Medicare for All, higher education funding reform, student debt relief, additional funding for vocational programs, solutions to combat the climate crisis, providing good-paying jobs, convenient and affordable transportation options, and high-speed broadband internet.

"Paul Mark has not only been my friend and somewhat of a mentor to me as I entered the Legislature just about a year after he did, but he's also been a strong partner in representing and advocating for Pittsfield," Farley-Bouvier said. "He also knows the needs of rural communities, which in this Senate District, which is vast and complicated, is incredibly important and for those reasons and for many more, he has earned my support for state Senate."

Barrett said he couldn't be happier that Mark is running for Senate.

"We need someone who states and understands all of Berkshire County, all Franklin County, all of Western Massachusetts, we have that individual: Paul Mark," he said.

"I am here sincerely because I believe he is the best candidate, in fact when we heard that Senator Hinds would be leaving, which we learned about several weeks ago, the delegation, each and every one of us in unison said [Mark] has to run, he has to be our candidate."

Pignatelli said he and Mark represent the two largest geographic districts in the House of Representatives, meaning that he truly understands Western Massachusetts. He cited the state's coming redistricting that would pull Mark from Pittsfield and said this is the opportunity to retain his voice.

"Paul Mark is the best choice. I don't care who else gets in this race, there's nobody better than Paul Mark," he added.

The new configuration for the state Senate district would add five communities to its current 52 and cover all of Berkshire County and parts of Franklin, Hampshire and Hampden.



Liz Recko-Morrison of the public community college union, speaks in support of Mark's campaign for state Senate. Liz Recko-Morrison, assessment and testing coordinator and Berkshire Community College and director of the Berkshire chapter of the Massachusetts Community College Council, also spoke in support of Mark.

"There are many things that make Paul Mark qualified for this job, he understands rural communities understand gateway cities, understands, education, from zero through public higher education, but the thing that I want to speak about a few seconds here is his commitment to the labor movement," she said.

"He has been a champion of the rights of working families, not only here in the Berkshires but across the state, he himself has been a union member and retains his union membership, both from his position at Verizon and when he is an adjunct faculty member at [Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts]."

"He understands what it's like to come from a family that doesn't know whether they are on secure grounds, he understands that unions make life bearable, in fact, move people into the middle class, if I had to choose from every single person that I know and I know many wonderful legislators, I would want Paul Mark."
The Northern Berkshire School Union Committee is hearing a request from Hawlemont Regional to join the shared-services partnership.

Hawlemont Seeks to Join Northern Berkshire School Union

CLARKSBURG, Mass.  The Northern Berkshire School Union is looking for a lot more information before it makes a decision on accepting the Hawlemont Regional School as a member.

The regional school serves the elementary needs of Charlemont and Hawley and recently contacted NBSU about joining the union.

NBSU is five independent town school districts that share administrative services between Clarksburg, Florida, Monroe, Rowe and Savoy.

Monday's meeting of the School Union Committee was to hear a presentation of the proposal but the lack of a quorum because of missing Monroe members prevented more than a brief general discussion and a recommendation from Chair Judy Oleson of Florida that it would continue under better circumstances.

"All we've really had so far is a couple of phone conversations," said NBSU Superintendent John Franzoni. "I did follow up and talk with our school attorney from Dupere Law Associates. And I also spoke with a couple of [Department of Elementary and Secondary] representatives in regard to regionalization, and they all said, basically what you're saying and I agree 100 percent, is that this process takes a while to determine if this would be the right move for the five districts in the NBSU and for Hawlemont."

Hawlemont is a partner of the K-12 Mohawk Trail Regional School District, which educates students in Ashfield, Buckland, Charlemont, Colrain, Hawley, Heath, Plainfield and Shelburne Falls. They operate similar to how Mount Greylock Regional had operated with the former Williamstown and Lanesborough elementary school districts.

But the cost-sharing agreement between the two regional districts is set to expire next June and Hawlemont officials are considering a different partnership. Heath, which had been sending its students to both Hawlemont and Mohawk Trail, recently decided to send all its pupils to one of the Mohawk Trail elementary schools in part because of this.

Franzoni had told the Clarksburg School Committee last week that he didn't think it possible for Hawlemont to join before the next school year. Clarksburg is dealing with financial issues, and the possible departure of the assistant superintendent, Jennifer Macksey, should she win election as North Adams mayor, he said, and is in the midst of making agreements for new educational and communications software.

"I think it's important to vet that process early, how it's going to affect our shared special education people, who would obviously have to take on some new responsibilities ... how many new staff members would that require?" he told the Clarksburg committee.

Franzoni reiterated on Monday some of the concerns he expressed in Clarksburg and again pointed to the study done when the school was considering merging with Stamford (Vt.) School as an example of how to proceed.

"That went on for two years, using some grant funds," he said on Monday. "You hire an outside company to come in and do a feasibility study for us. ...

"I think we all need to just kind of take a step backwards and take all this information and share it before any decision can be made at all."

All six of the Hawlemont committee members eventually logged into the virtual meeting but neither side was really prepared to either answer detailed questions or to accept them.

"I don't think that's something we want to share right now I think it's just something we're saying that we need to get through the course of vetting the process and study," said Franzoni. "I don't know we want to have that conversation right now."

The two committees were, however, able to assure a concerned Hawlemont parent who called in to say "busing those kids over the mountain would be insane."

No one would be bused to North Berkshire, Hawlemont School Committee member Charlie Ricko said, adding at some point there would be a forum to answer parents and staff's questions.

It would not be possible Monday night for any further discussion, as Macksey was unable to rustle up one more member and Oleson closed the meeting for lack of a quorum.

"I know that there's a lot more research to be done. There's a lot of numbers to be put together, a lot of the questions as [committee member] Suzanne [Crawford] just illustrated are going to need to be answered," said Ricko. "As far as I'm concerned, I personally, I think that if the numbers work out, and it seems to be beneficial for all of us, I would certainly be in favor of joining the NBSU."
BCC Sees Increase in Enrollment Count

PITTSFIELD, Mass  Berkshire Community College (BCC) recently released its enrollment data for fall 2021  a season still impacted by COVID-19, but with a growing number of first-year and continuing students.

Key findings include:

Overall enrollment is up 1.4 percent over 2020

The first-year student population is up 16.4 percent

Continuing students are up 3.9 percent

Full-time equivalent (FTE) students are down 1.2 percent

Readmitted students (those who leave college for less than a year and reapply) are down 27.27 percent

The number of non-degree-seeking students has also grown, largely due to BCC's Early College program, which offers up to 15 free college credits to high school juniors and seniors. BCC has increased the number eligible students for the program.

"I'm thrilled that our new student and continuing student numbers are up. The BCC team has worked so hard to create an environment during the pandemic in which students could continue to thrive," said Adam Klepetar, BCC Vice President for Student Affairs and Enrollment Management. "We continue to operate successfully in a very challenging enrollment environment, with decreases in the number of high school graduates and increases in competition."

In total, there has been a 28 percent drop in full-time students since 2019: 512 students in 2019, 412 in 2020, and 366 in 2021. Related to that decrease, the total student credit load has also decreased, from 6,943 credit hours in 2019 to 5,759 in 2020 and 4,967 in 2021. However, part-time students, which numbered 1,001 in 2019 (6,434 credit hours) and 908 in 2020 (5,865 credit hours), have increased to 982 in 2021 (6,513 credit hours).

Further findings show the percentage of "stopout" students, or those who discontinue their education for a semester or more with plans to return later, has decreased from about 32 percent in spring 2019 to about 29% in spring 2020, the most current data available.

"The ultimate goal at BCC is to provide an excellent teaching and learning environment supported by services that are delivered to students where and when they need them," Klepetar said. "We strive to ensure that our students are able to meet and surpass their goals, providing them with the career skills they need to succeed."
Debra Jarvis, a former fire chief and principal of a management consulting firm in Overland Park, Kan., and Richard Downey, village administrator in Kronenwetter, Wis., with a background in municipal management, are the finalists for Williamstown town manager.

Williamstown Interviewing Town Manager Finalists

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass.  The administrator of a similarly sized Midwestern town and a principal in a management consulting firm are the finalists to be the new town manager.

The Select Board on Monday decided on an interview schedule to consider the two finalists recommended by the Town Manager Search Advisory Committee it created this summer.

Richard Downey, the village administrator in Kronenwetter, Wis., and Debra Jarvis of Vision Values LLC in Overland Park, Kan., will meet with Town Hall staff and other stakeholders on Thursday and be interviewed by the Select Board from 9 a.m. to noon on Friday morning.

There will be a meet-and-greet for residents at the Williams Inn on Thursday from 6 to 8 p.m.

The Select Board plans to meet on Friday at 1 p.m. and could make its decision as early as that session.

Jarvis brings experience in both municipal government and diversity, equity and inclusion work, a major priority for town government, to the table.

She is a retired fire chief with 25 years of experience in fire departments in the Chicago and Indianapolis areas, according to her biography on the Vision Values website.

Vision Values touts itself as building "bridges of understanding within your organization to achieve optimum performance."

Jarvis has spent the last 10 years doing leadership, management and DEI consulting. She has completed a certificate program in diversity, equity and inclusion at Cornell University, the firm's website says.

Downey has served as village administrator in the central Wisconsin town of Kronenwetter since 2012.

On his Linkedin bio, he lists his specialties as "union negotiation, economic development, human resources, grant administration, local and state government."

Economic development was a major priority for town officials when they hired Williamstown's previous town manager, Jason Hoch, in 2015. Hoch resigned this winter after a tumultuous six months following the release of a federal lawsuit against him, the town and the former police chief, who reports directly to the town manager.

Prior to arriving in Kronenwetter, a town of 7,800 according to the 2010 U.S. Census, Downey served as an administrator in several Midwest communities.

He was city administrator from 2000-03 in Elkhart, Kan.; from 2003-11 in Rock Falls, Ill.; and for three months in 2011 in Washington, Ill.
CHP Will Assist with Open Enrollment for ACA Insurance Starting Nov. 1

GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass.  Beginning Nov. 1, the open enrollment season begins for Massachusetts residents covered by ACA health insurance plans.

The Community Health Programs insurance enrollment team is available to assist consumers with questions, plan changes or new enrollments.

Open enrollment runs through Jan. 23, 2022, but ACA customers are urged to review their plans in November to begin their process and avoid any lapse in coverage.

Many covered by Affordable Care Act plans are automatically re-enrolled in their existing plans. But anyone with questions about coverage or anyone wishing to change plans must do so during this enrollment window to remain covered in 2022.

State residents without insurance, including new residents, may also apply for new coverage.

The CHP insurance enrollment team can assist without charge. It is not necessary to be a CHP patient to use this service.

"We want to help people avoid any lapse in coverage, and to get the best possible coverage," said William Cruz, lead patient navigator for insurance enrollment at CHP. "We can help anyone who needs assistance."

Cruz said the federal American Rescue Plan Act provides subsidies for ACA monthly insurance premiums, but that many ACA enrollees are not aware of this extra financial benefit.

Residents covered by ACA insurance plans will be receiving mail reminding them to re-enroll. Renewal and new applications require certain paperwork and updated proof of income, and while this process can be completed online, not all have reliable internet, and the process can seem complicated.

CHP has four patient navigators who can assist area residents with re-enrollments, or new applications. Navigators also help people figure out if the plan they have is adequate for themselves and their family.

Massachusetts state law requires that all residents have insurance or face a state tax penalty. Income eligible residents can receive ACA insurance, for which premium payments are subsidized with government funding.

Patients who receive their health coverage through the Berkshire Fallon Health Collaborative (MassHealth) are not subject to the open enrollment season requirements; their coverage can be altered at any time during the year.

Those in need of assistance may contact the CHP insurance enrollment team at email enrollment@chpberkshires.org or call 413-717-6268.

Applicants also have the option of renewing or enrolling online at mahealthconnector.org

CHP's insurance navigator team is supported by a two-year, $150,000 grant from the Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector Authority.
Kashmir authorities have detained and questioned five journalists and media workers since October 8, two of whom remain imprisoned, as hostility towards media increases in the region. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and its Indian affiliates, the Indian Journalists Union (IJU) and the National Union of Journalists - India (NUJ-I), condemn the intimidation and harassment of journalists in Kashmir and call for the journalists immediate release.

In South Kashmirs Anantnag district, editor of weekly digital magazine Kashmir First, Salman Shah, was detained after a raid of his residence on the night of October 12. Freelance journalist and contributor to private news websites The Kashmiriyat and Maktoob Media, Suhail Dar, was also detained by Kashmir authorities on October 8, with both Shah and Dar moved to Anantnag jail on October 14. Anonymous government officials said that the two journalists were accused of disturbing the public piece and charged under sections 107 and 151 of the Indian Penal Code.

In Srinagar, Mukhtar Zahoor, photojournalist and stringer for the BBC, was detained overnight at a police station after a midnight raid of his home on October 12. According to Zahoors relatives, police seized his camera and did not specify a reason for his detainment. Zahoor said police questioned him on his whereabouts on September 1, the day separatist leader, Syed Ali Shah Geelani died, despite already having all the relevant data on his whereabouts and movements for that period. They also checked my phone and inquired about all the pictures in my gallery, he said. Following his questioning, Zahoor was released.

On October 13, freelance journalist, Majid Hyderi, was summoned by Jammu and Kashmirs anti-insurgency police unit for questioning related to his social media posts, two of which were regarding separatist leader, Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Muharram, the advent of the Islamic New Year. Muharram processions were banned in Kashmir 30 years ago until authorities lifted the ban in August of this year. Hyderi said that three plain-clothed police questioned him about his income sources as well as his decision to become a journalist.

Sajud Gul, a fourth freelance journalist and contributor to news websites The Kashmir Walla and Mountain Ink, was called in for questioning by authorities on October 13. Gul was questioned in relation to a video posted to his Twitter profile and a news report on the death of a young man in a gunfight on October 11. The video shows the deceaseds family claiming that police orchestrated the young mans death. Gul was subsequently released after an hour of questioning.

The five detainments coincide with the arrival of the Press Council of India (PCI) in Kashmir on October 13. The PCIs three-member committee is investigating claims of intimidation and harassment against journalists. Journalists in Kashmir continue to work under increasingly hostile conditions, with four journalists homes raided before their questioning and temporary detainment last month.

The IJU president, Geetartha Pathak, said: IJU demands the immediate release of journalists arrested and detained since October 8 and asks the Kashmir authorities to stop arresting and harassing journalists. If the pattern of attack on freedom of press in Kashmir is not resisted this may be extended in other parts of the country. IJU therefore appeals to all stakeholders of freedom of press and freedom of expression to raise their voice against the onslaught on the journalists in Kashmir.

The NUJ-I president, Ras Bihari, said: Jammu and Kashmir is becoming a camp for terrorists and one of the worlds most dangerous countries for journalists. They are exposed to every kind of attack, including police violence against reporters, ambushes by political activists, and reprisals instigated by criminal groups. This action is against Press Freedom, we are going to take up this issue with authorities."

The IFJ said: These arbitrary detainments and investigations into media workers are further evidence of the increasing systemic intimidation and harassment of independent media by the authorities in Kashmir. These acts are not isolated incidents and are clear attempts to stifle a free press. The IFJ calls for the immediate release of Salman Shah and Suhail Dar and the cessation of police harassment towards journalists in Kashmir.
F(DEV), the premier corporate-led venture builder in the Philippines, marks its first anniversary by launching its new venture portfolio targeting big gaps in the market with technology-driven business models.

The Filinvest Innovation Park is strategically located in New Clark City. The park is a springboard to development, trailblazing the road to the future.

As technology takes on a more pivotal role in the countrys economic recovery, the venture builder aims to introduce digital innovations and disruptive platforms to empower Filipinos and Filipino businesses toward boosting the countrys digital economy.

F(DEV), or FUNCTION DEV, is backed by the Filinvest Group of Companies and has been under the radar since its establishment in October 2020, quietly growing and strengthening its portfolio of new businesses. Its first three digital startups address gaps in the Fintech and eCommerce space, with a heavy emphasis on enabling local businesses, especially the hard-hit MSMEs, to accelerate towards a digital future. With MSMEs accounting for more than 99 percent of businesses in the country1, F(DEV) believes that technology is an essential driver for recovery and growth as the country tries to bounce back from the effects of the pandemic.

F(DEV) is led by its CEO and Managing Director, Xavier Marzan, who himself has been a startup CEO and previously led new digital product development and scale-up for two of the Fintech unicorns in the region. Our mission at F(DEV) is to venture into technology-based businesses that serve and empower underserved markets as well as disrupt traditional industries. We have shown in the past year that we can take a startup idea from the venture lab to market commercialization and scale-up quite rapidly  and weve done all of this in a lockdown environment.

F(Dev) Venture Studio is located at the The Beaufort by Filinvest 5th Ave, corner 23rd St., Taguig City

Venture builder ecosystem

F(DEV)s core team is a diversified group of seasoned entrepreneurs, product specialists, venture operators, data mavens, designers and engineers, operating under a lean startup and innovation architecture. F(DEV) also taps on the extensive ecosystem of the Filinvest Group to support its ventures. The group has a strong presence in several industries, including banking and finance, real estate, hospitality, F&B, infrastructure, energy, and technology. By mobilizing its team in an ecosystem, fueled by its startup DNA, the venture builder is able to accelerate time-to-market for its startups before opening it up to the broader market.

The team is also exploring strategic investment opportunities in other startups that have disruptive business models to solve real-world problems and uplift the countrys digital economy at scale.

Building a Massive Portfolio of Digital Businesses

Although still very young in the industry, F(DEV) is already supporting a growing list of digital startups with a combined mission of serving underserved segments and transforming brick-and-mortar industries with technology-based business models. For the past year, the venture builder identified key market gaps and executed on these opportunities. In its portfolio today, the F(DEV) team is proud to have launched the following:

Investree Philippines , the countrys very first SEC licensed crowdfunding platform, has already provided more than Php100 million in financing to local MSMEs on its platform. It aims to address the Php11 trillion MSME credit gap in the country;

, the countrys very first SEC licensed crowdfunding platform, has already provided more than Php100 million in financing to local MSMEs on its platform. It aims to address the Php11 trillion MSME credit gap in the country; Qwote , a B2B e-commerce startup that seeks to disrupt the buying experience for businesses and make it extremely easy. Today, the Qwote platform already has more than 30,000 product listings and close to a thousand suppliers, providing goods and services to a fast-growing network of multinational and local corporate brands such as Amazon and Toyota;

, a B2B e-commerce startup that seeks to disrupt the buying experience for businesses and make it extremely easy. Today, the Qwote platform already has more than 30,000 product listings and close to a thousand suppliers, providing goods and services to a fast-growing network of multinational and local corporate brands such as Amazon and Toyota; Fastwire , a new innovative Software as a Service (SaaS) solution that aims to make financial transactions smooth and simple for businesses;

, a new innovative Software as a Service (SaaS) solution that aims to make financial transactions smooth and simple for businesses; The team also supports its various group ecosystem ventures including Komo, the first exclusively digital banking service to be offered by a local bank, and a soon-to-be-launched digital service by the groups hospitality unit.

Marzan remarked, We are both humbled and inspired by what we have accomplished in such a short span of time. But we know there is so much more work to be done. At the end of the day, we also believe that the Philippines needs more startups to drive innovation and growth in the digital economy. Growth in the digital economy means a stronger Philippines in a regional and global landscape.

Learn more about the F(DEV) Venture Builder here: www.teamf.dev
We're nearly two years into the pandemic, and many employers are still figuring out how to bring employees back into the office safely, if at all. Return-to-the-office plans initially slated for the spring of 2021 continue to be pushed back, with some companies like Google, Apple, and Starbucks now delaying their return until January 2022.

At the core of each company's decision lies employee safety, a concept that has changed dramatically over the past 18 months. Employees have new expectations of their employers and workplaces, including the freedom to continue to work remotely. According to a recent survey by Morning Consult, one in three American workers would not want to work for an employer that requires them to work on-site full-time.

The attractiveness of remote work lies in the ability to ditch the daily commute, gain more freedom and family time, and perhaps save some money without expenses like gas, dry-cleaning, or buying lunch. But it's also reassured employees that they're safe inside their homes, limiting their exposure to Covid-19 as well as other common seasonal illnesses, like the flu. 

Whatever the reasons, it has become clear that workforce dynamics are shifting and may never go back to the way they were pre-pandemic. Employers today need a new framework for how to keep employees engaged, connected, and safe.

Revisiting Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs for the Modern Workforce

When we think about safety and what humans expect on a most basic level, Abraham Maslow still explains it best. His hierarchy of needs, first introduced in a 1943 paper titled "A Theory of Human Motivation," outlines the five categories of needs that dictate an individual's behavior. These include physiological, safety, love and belonging, esteem, and self-actualization needs. The basic premise is that humans must meet their physiological needs first before they meet their safety needs, and when these two needs are met, humans intrinsically move to seek love and belonging needs, and so on. Safety needs represent our health and well-being, a place to shelter, and job security.

Businesses have long used Maslow's hierarchy to help their employees reach their highest potential and achieve success in their field, but how we've approached the theory in the past no longer applies. Safety specifically can no longer be easily guaranteed.

Instead, it's time we redefine our needs under Maslow's hierarchy through the lens of a pre- and post-Covid world. In exploring our new normal and how employee expectations have changed, employers will be better able to attract and retain talent and ensure their workforce remains engaged, connected, and satisfied.

Physiological and Safety Needs

Starting with the first and second tiers of Maslow's Hierarchy, let's explore how physiological and safety needs have changed. Before Covid, these needs included salary, job stability and security, and a stable work environment. But when the pandemic took hold and the world moved into lockdown, some organizations responded with layoffs and reduced pay. Others were left navigating employee questions about what to do when they didn't even know themselves.

Fast-forward to today, and nearly every industry is suffering from a tight labor market. Employers have had to increase pay or add new benefits as incentives to attract talent. At the same time, employees report feeling more anxiety and stress than ever before and are looking to their employers for resources to support their mental health.

The pandemic may have fundamentally changed how we conduct business and where work takes place, but it hasn't changed an organization's legal and ethical "duty of care" to keep its employees safe from unnecessary risk of harm. Fulfilling employees' physiological and safety needs today starts with efficient communication. Be transparent about the steps you're taking to address our "new normal." Outline the steps you've taken to make working conditions as safe as possible--including tangible efforts like policy changes and new tools, like implementing a mass notification system specifically for emergencies or threats. While no company can prevent an emergency from happening, they can--with a robust emergency communication plan--prevent them from escalating into a crisis and mitigate their impact on employee safety.

Belonging Needs

Belonging needs in the workplace include healthy work culture, cooperative colleagues, and supportive bosses. Before the pandemic, these needs fell primarily to HR and senior executives responsible for creating a feeling of camaraderie among workers. But today, with so few of us back in the office, the flow of communication is compromised. Employees can no longer bond over impromptu in-person meetings or discuss work over a cup of coffee.

Employers must take care to ensure these types of activities continue even in a virtual world. At my company AlertMedia, one way we've addressed this is by encouraging employees to participate in virtual coffee chats every month. For 20 minutes, those who participate hop on a video/phone call and talk about any subject of their choice. As information has become more siloed, this has helped colleagues get to know one another and learn something new about work happening outside of their immediate team or department.

Esteem Needs

In addition to a feeling of belonging, employees also want acknowledgment for the effort they put into their work. Receiving recognition from their co-workers and feeling a sense of accomplishment are vital for staying engaged and fulfilling employees' esteem needs. Before Covid, bosses and colleagues appreciated and recognized one another in regular group meetings and town halls. Today, managers often struggle to keep the feedback loop going or remember to acknowledge their remote employees' efforts in real-time.

When nearly every U.S. employer is struggling to fill jobs, it's vital to keep a pulse on employee satisfaction. Consider establishing a Teams or Slack channel designated explicitly for recognition and team praise. Set aside 5-10 minutes of each virtual staff meeting to acknowledge the previous week's most significant wins. Encourage your teams to express gratitude and provide recognition to each other. Employees want to know their hard work is seen and appreciated, even when miles apart.

Self-Actualization Needs

Self-actualization needs can be harder to define and even harder to measure. They involve the desire to develop skills or become an expert in an employee's respective field, which can vary significantly from person to person. Before Covid, these needs were generally managed by the individual but in a conducive work environment. Now, our limited infrastructure and communication channels affect the pace of self-actualization, and motivation is compromised.

Review your learning and development program to keep employees feeling as though they are still progressing in their careers. If you can offer virtual training or access to virtual industry conferences, let employees know where to find that information. Ask executives within your organization if they are willing to host a virtual lunch-and-learn session, and if the budget allows, bring in external speakers as well. It's also worth recommending that employees network within the company, scheduling virtual coffee breaks with managers or colleagues they admire for the opportunity to continue learning from others in their field.

A Sixth Need

Maslow's original five needs continue to be relevant at work and in our personal lives. However, there's also room for an additional, sixth need: psychological safety. According to psychologist William A. Kahn, this is being able to show and employ one's self without fear of negative consequences of self-image, status, or career. Before the pandemic, this meant freedom of expression in the workplace without fear of repercussion. But today, having to wear a mask or hide part of who they are results in employees feeling as though they can't bring their whole selves to work, leading to additional stress and anxiety.

Employees are already dealing with burnout and exhaustion as a result of the past 18 months. In addition to the pandemic, we've also seen numerous wildfires across the western United States, a record-setting hurricane season, and an extreme winter storm in Texas with record-low temperatures and massive power outages. As a result, many people are dealing with "disaster fatigue," a term that NPR states is a type of emotional tiredness that comes from dealing with an abundance of bad news.

Workforce mental health can have a significant financial impact on a company, with employees choosing to leave because of burnout and stress. HR leaders need to prioritize their commitment to employees' mental well-being in addition to physical well-being by offering mental health resources. This can include mental health days or access to trained therapists, but it also requires communication. Make sure managers know how to discuss personal problems with their workers and check in with employees consistently to find out how they're feeling from a psychological standpoint.
Prepare for serious inspiration. The 2021 Inc. 5000 Vision Conference, a virtual event honoring the fastest-growing companies in the U.S., begins on October 19. There's still time to register for the conference, which features three days packed full of interviews with high-profile thought leaders, panel discussions on all manner of topics vital to business owners, and networking sessions with successful entrepreneurs from a wide range of industries. Below, some of this year's can't-miss programming:

1. Tune in to a candid interview with Sheryl Sandberg, who will be making some of her first public remarks since the recent Facebook controversy began.

2. Listen to VaynerX chairman and social media supernova Gary Vaynerchuk share his new secrets on leading with emotional intelligence. Expect plenty of useful advice on how to connect with employees.

3. Figure out how to assess what you value most in your work life with the help of Arianna Huffington, who's been outspoken about the need to prevent burnout--both for your employees and yourself.

4. Hear straight from LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman how to successfully scale your business, and take away the key advice he's gleaned from the world's best business leaders.

5. Find out the best ways to prioritize your employees' well-being--and what kinds of wellness resources can help you to attract and retain talent--from Amy Friedrich, president of U.S. Insurance Solutions, Principal Financial Group, and Allan Njoroge, CEO of Actriv Healthcare.

6. Learn how to make meaningful and lasting changes in your organization with respect to diversity, equity, and inclusion through direct and actionable goals.

7. Check into peer-led networking sessions that will help you make connections that could shape the future of your business.

8. Learn how the expansion of broadband technology in the infrastructure bill could enhance your business (and get up to speed on the status of the legislation).
There's one truth about the new generation of business leaders, they lead with purpose. But more, demonstrate it with actions not merely words. In this case two burgeoning authors came together to support a brick and mortar bookstore called Brome Lake Books, following the pandemic's toll on independent bookstores.

Six years ago, at the peak of their coming-of-age, lifelong best friends Haley Crawford and Tamara Southward drafted a first outline for The Wasp's Nest, their novel that follows two girls on the brink of new adulthood over the course of a summer. Now young professionals working in New York and London respectively, the two attribute the fruition of their project to maintaining an unwavering commitment to their vision and purpose.

Thanks to their parents' close friendships, Haley and Tamara were born best friends. "Our mothers were pregnant at the same time!" Haley says. "The day I was born, Tamara's mom impatiently phoned mine, asking for every detail just weeks before her own daughter was due." At the age of six, Tamara's family moved to Europe while Haley's remained in Canada, marking the beginning of a cross-continental sisterhood. From that moment, the pair would write novels and short stories, sharing them with one another on the shores of a lake where they reunited each summer.

Despite being based in different cities for most of their lives, the two experienced many turning points of adolescence together - though it is perhaps the moments which they experienced apart that made them realize the similarity of their storytelling abilities. "When we're not together, we want to paint the brightest possible picture of the story we are

sharing with the other," Tamara says. "So we have learned to become highly descriptive and apply this to our writing." Haley adds, "Writing a novel that encapsulated the hopes and fears that we shared in our late teens prompted us to share what we were feeling with the world the way we know best - through writing."

In 2015, weeks before Haley was heading off to a year in Italy and Tamara to South Africa, the pair committed to bringing a story to life based not only on things they'd observed, but on things they'd felt, which is where their purpose comes into place. Tamara says, "When you're a teenager, feeling that every move is life-defining, that no one understands you, and in the case of our characters, balancing the combined fears of living within a bubble and leaving it - we wanted to capture that seemingly ceaseless uncertainty that comes with new adulthood."

Initially, The Wasp's Nest was loosely based on the girls' own summers. But over time, the

co-authors realized the greater potential of a work of fiction, shifting more autobiographical chapters to their archives and focusing on imagining new experiences for their two main characters, Rose Harleston and Avery Breckenridge. Rather than being reflections of themselves, the co-authors describe these characters as their fictional best friends. They wanted to create something that made readers remember what it was like to be a teenager, and to help those still navigating their adolescent years feel understood.

Aside from their busy schedules and being at a point in their lives dominated by university exams and job applications, the two acknowledge the length of time it took to write the book as due to the evolution of their writing styles. "We started writing the book when we were at the same stage in life as our characters, so our observations and interpretations of the topics in our story changed as we moved from experiencing them to looking back at them," Haley says. Over years, friends and family would read drafts, and recurring feedback that the co-authors would receive was - much to their relief - with regard to the maturity of their writing evolving.

After countless rewritten chapters and final edits, the pair finally felt ready to share their novel with the world outside of their immediate circle. They wanted to bring their story to audiences across the globe, but as they explored publication options, it became clear to them that supporting the literary community closest to home was central to their purpose. As an homage to the region that was the backdrop to their own teenage summers, and as a means of showing their support for small booksellers as the world emerged from a year of lockdowns, the authors committed to donating 25% of proceeds from their global online book sales to Brome Lake Books, their local independent bookstore.

So far, the book has found itself in the hands of many readers experiencing their own coming-of- age. And despite being classified as a young adult novel, Haley and Tamara emphasize the importance of the story to older readers - not only to evoke nostalgia, but to emphasize the importance of friendship.

"Something that Haley and I feel strongly about is keeping the essence of our best friendship alive regardless of our age. We recently rewatched Stand By Me, which ends with a grown-up version of the teenage narrator stating: I never had friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, does anyone? Haley and I practically looked at each other with our hands raised. We have never underestimated the power of friendship, and that is why this book exists in the first place."

"Our purpose has been to share our story of friendship with the world," says Haley. "With young people heading off to university, with anyone forging a new and unknown path, with people rekindling old friendships and with those fostering new ones."
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BEIJING, Oct. 16, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The three Chinese astronauts or taikonauts, carried into space on board the Shenzhou-13 spaceship, entered the core module Tianhe of China's space station on Saturday, according to the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA). The trio  Zhai Zhigang (the commander), Wang Yaping and Ye Guangfu  entered Tianhe hours after the spaceship successfully docked with the core module, becoming the second crew to be stationed there. Wang also became the first female taikonaut to work in the space station and take a spacewalk. Tasks ahead during Shenzhou-13 mission During their six months' in-orbit stay, the crew will carry out a series of tasks as scheduled. Two to three extravehicular activities (EVAs), also known as spacewalks, are planned for the mission, which will be completed via collaboration, Ye told China Media Group (CMG) in an interview before their launch. The specific division of work will be arranged and adjusted depending on the actual situation, Ye added. Different tasks are set in each EVA for the construction of the space station, Zhai told CMG. "We'll have more space science experiments than the Shenzhou-12 crew as we have a longer flight time," said Zhai. A special task this time is that the crew will remotely control a spacecraft to dock with the space station, Zhai added. Tests of key technologies, further verification of life support technologies and comprehensive performance and compatibility assessment of all systems will also be conducted. During the Shenzhou-10 mission in 2013, Wang, along with her then crew members Nie Haisheng and Zhang Xiaoguang, completed China's first space teaching task. During the Shenzhou-13 mission, new lessons can be expected. "Apart from the tasks, we also hope to do more space science education, to bring space closer to the general public," said Wang, which she hoped will help people learn more of space and the taikonauts' life in space. China launched the Shenzhou-13 manned spaceship in the early hours of Saturday morning from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China's Gobi Desert, after a see-off ceremony held on the ground Friday evening. The Shenzhou-13 mission is one of a series of launches to complete the building of China's new space station called Tiangong by the end of 2022. Previously, China successfully launched the Tianhe core module, two Tianzhou cargo ships and the Shenzhou-12 crewed spaceship to construct the space station. With the International Space Station set to retire in the coming years, China's space station will become the only one in Earth's orbit. The China National Space Administration has expressed its desire for international cooperation and non-Chinese astronauts are being trained for future space station missions. https://news.cgtn.com/news/2021-10-16/China-s-Shenzhou-13-crew-enters-space-station-14oFV8ew2qc/index.html Video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVVcwLr30F0
Recently, a Twitter user was denied information on Chandrayaan 2 and 3 missions by ISRO citing exemptions under Section 8 of the RTI Act, which has once again reflected the organisation's old tradition of warding off eyes and the increasingly inaccessible nature.

ISRO

Notwithstanding the criticism, ISRO has been the pioneer space exploration agency of the Government of India and at times successfully demonstrated its unique and cost-effective technologies which has made it one of the elite space agencies in the world over the years.

How did ISRO come into being?

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is India's national space agency. India has been steadily building its launching and exploration capabilities for decades. Its roots date back to 1962, when India's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, enlisted physicist Vikram Sarabhai to set up the Indian National Committee for Space Research (INCOSPAR). Later, INCOSPAR was superseded by ISRO in 1969.

ISROs First Communication Satellite | Reddit

The Department of Space was created in 1972 and ISRO became a part of it and remains so till date. The Space Department reports directly to the Prime Minister of the country. During 1975-76, the Satellite Instructional Television Experiment (SITE) was conducted which was hailed as 'the largest sociological experiment in the world.

It was followed by the Kheda Communications Project (KCP), which worked as a field laboratory for need-based and locale-specific program transmission in Gujarat state.

After a year of establishment of INCOSPAR, India launched its first rocket which flew from Saint Mary Magdalene Church in the fishing village of Thumba in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.

The sounding rocket, which only reached sub-orbital space, was called Nike-Apache and its components were built by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The payload was famously transported to the launch site by bicycle.

The church is now famously referred to as the Mecca of Indian rocket science by ISRO.

ISRO since 1960s

The biggest success came when the country launched its first satellite, called Aryabhata, into orbit with the help of the Soviet Union on April 19, 1975. Named after an ancient Indian astronomer, Aryabhata conducted experiments in X-ray astronomy and solar physics, though it ceased to function just after a few days in space.

ISRO

In 1979, ISRO conducted the first tests of its own homegrown orbital rocket, the Satellite Launch Vehicle-3 (SLV-3). The four-stage vehicle was capable of placing payloads up to 88 lbs. (40 kilograms) into orbit.

The year 1980 marked the launch of RH-75 (Rohini-75), which was the first satellite to be successfully placed in orbit by SLV-3, an Indian made launch vehicle making India the sixth nation to achieve spaceflight.

After that ISRO launched its first INSAT satellite in 1982. It was a communication satellite named INSAT-1A, which failed in orbit. Next year another communication satellite INSAT-1B was launched. Today the Indian National Satellite (INSAT) system is one of the largest domestic communication satellite systems in the Asia-Pacific region with nine operational communication satellites placed in Geostationary orbit.

File

So far, ISRO has developed three types of launch vehicles (or rockets) namely, the PSLV (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle), the GSLV (Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle) and Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark III (GSLV Mark III or LVM).

In 2008, the agency launched its lunar mission by sending off the Chandrayaan-1 orbiter to the moon. A decade later the second lunar mission which although couldn't make a soft-landing on the lunar surface, yet its orbiter part has been functioning normally along with a scheduled Chandrayaan-3 mission, which is likely to be launched late next year.

Further, ISRO also flew the Mars Orbiter Mission, nicknamed Mangalyaan or "Mars craft" to the Red Planet. The vehicle successfully reached Mars in 2014, making India's space agency just the fourth entity to place a spacecraft in Martian orbit. The mission was completed at a record-low cost of $74 million.

ISRO's manned mission to space

The first and so far only Indian astronaut, or rather cosmonaut, is Rakesh Sharma, an Indian Air Force pilot who flew with two Russian cosmonauts to the Soviet space station Salyut 7 in 1984.

However, ISRO is aiming to change history by becoming one of the few nations to send humans into space using their own rockets.

PTI

In his Independence Day speech in 2018, PM Narendra Modi announced that the country expects its first crewed flight in 2022. ISRO's human spaceflight program has been allocated the equivalent of $1.3 billion to achieve this task under a scheduled series of missions called Gaganyaan.

What will Indian spacefarers be known as?

As U.S. spacefarers are known as astronauts, Russian as cosmonauts and the Chinese equivalents have been dubbed Taikonauts, if the mission Gaganyaan becomes successful, Indian spacefarers will be called Vyomanauts, which is derived from the Sanskrit word "Vyoma", meaning "sky", as per an article in Scientific American.
Talking about the sensitive topic of marijuana plantation and consumption could be debatable but well, it is what it is.

For the first time ever, police authorities have seized the largest plantation of marijuana in European history.

Pen News

According to reports, the facility was unearthed in Huerta de Valdecarabanos, Toledo, Spain and spanned 120,000 sq metres. It was apparently being used to grow hemp for industrial use.

However, when authorities from the Civil Guard investigated, they discovered that it was growing Cannabis sativa which was genetically modified to look like legal hemp.

Pen News

Officers seized 135,000 marijuana plants, making it the largest seizure ever made during a police operation in Europe. Three arrests were also made.

30 tonnes of dried marijuana and 3,720kg of buds that were ready for distribution were found in nearby warehouses.

A Civil Guard said: "The farm where this plantation was located covered an area of 12 hectares, with permanent surveillance 24 hours a day. In the vicinity, there were two warehouses arranged with material to be converted into indoor marijuana crops for a greater increase in production. There was also a drying area with a closed system of security and surveillance cameras."



Pen News

The spokesperson also revealed that the farmworkers were mostly foreigners and employed unofficially. He said the employees were housed in 'the most minimal conditions of habitability'.
The technologies used in aeronautics are becoming more and more sophisticated and formidable among the countries around the world. The fighter planes are notably endowed with exponential powers, with really surprising gadgets that are enough to take down the enemies. It is difficult to establish a classification because each plane evolves in different fields of competence.



Now, can you imagine the value of a huge commercial jet or a military transport or attack plane? They are very expensive. Let's take a look:

1. Lockheed Martin F-35B and F-35C: $135.8 and $117.3 million (over Rs 1,024 crore and Rs 884 crore)

RAF

The F-35B and F-35C are the most powerful fighter jets although the price of these series of fighter jets has dropped dramatically in recent years. The more expensive F-35B is equipped for short take-off and vertical landing (STOVL), while the F-35C is the carrier-carried variant; they all share no more than 30% of the parts with each other, which means that optimizing the production of one affects the other. The cost of the F-35B is estimated at $135.8 million (Rs 1,024 Crore) and F-35C is estimated at $117.3 million (Rs 8,84 crore).



2. Eurofighter Typhoon: around $124 million (over Rs 930 crore)

AFP

The Eurofighter Typhoon fighter plane was developed by the Eurofighter GmbH consortium which brings together the United Kingdom, Spain, Italy and Germany. It is a multi-role and twin-engine aircraft, the first series of which was released in 2004. The Eurofighter Typhoon is the worlds most advanced swing-role combat aircraft which is another European fighter jet that can cost up to $50 million to buyers in the European Union, but the export price is much higher. In 2018, Airbus would have offered Eurofighters to India for up to 138 million per piece, which is still cheaper than what was paid for Rafales. The latest configuration of both the Eurofighters and Rafale: Tranche 4 and F3-R (or equivalent), respectively. This fighter jet provides simultaneously deployable Air-to-Air and Air-to-Surface capabilities.



3. Dassault Rafale: around $115 million (over Rs 862 crore)

AFP

Dassault Rafale is one of the best and powerful fighter jets around the world and most powerful in France. Around 237 Rafale have been manufactured by France. India has 26 Rafale jets in its airbase. The first batch of the five Rafale jets arrived in India on July 29, nearly four years after India signed an inter-governmental agreement with France to procure 36 of the aircraft at a cost of Rs 59,000 crore. So India paid around Rs 1,638 crore for a single Rafale that almost doubled its actual cost around $115 million (over Rs 862 crore).



4. Chengdu J-20: $100 million (over Rs 750 crore)

Alert5/Wikipedia

Not much information is available about the fifth-generation Chinese jet. Its price is also mere speculation. However, considering the facts that just a few decades ago China had no aviation industry as such and that labour costs in the country are steadily rising - just as until recently the country had to buy all of Russia's jet engines - the estimate seems realistic.



Manufactured by Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group (CAIG) of China for the People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) is a single-seat, multirole stealth fifth-generation fighter aircraft. The J-20 is not for sale as China never intended to export its main weapon. In the very near future, it may offer another 5th generation fighter jet, the Shenyang FC-31, to the international market, although its price so far is also unknown but considered around $100 million.

5. McDonnell Douglas F-15EX Strike Eagle: $87.7 million (over Rs 652 crore)

USAF

The F-15 itself was not meant to be cheap, and its latest variant, the F-15EX, demonstrates this. It is expected to replace the older C and D models that include best-in-class payload, range and speed, although it is more affordable than the more advanced 5th generation jets. This accessibility comes primarily from operating costs, as the aircraft itself is more expensive than the F-35A.



Its operating cost is expected to be only $29,000 per hour, however, and the US government only hopes to bring the F-35 A's operating cost to $36,000 by 2024. The F-15 makes the F-15EX an attractive aircraft for many countries.

According to Air Force Magazine, "The new airplanes would have a substantially more powerful mission computer, new cockpit displays, a digital backbone, and the Eagle Passive Active Warning Survivability System (EPAWSS) -- an electronic warfare and threat identification system."

6. Sukhoi Su-35 Flanker E: $85 million (over Rs 637 crore)

Airforce technology

Russian fighter jets have a reputation for being cheap. The Su-35 is not. In fact, its export price is higher than that of the Su-57, the latest 5th generation Russian fighter. Of course, no contract has been signed so far for the Su-57 and its cost is unofficial and speculative. So, at least so far, the Su-35 remains the most expensive Russian jet. The fighter jet is an advanced capability multirole air superiority fighter developed from the Su-27.



Its price may also seem a bit confusing: being an update of the Soviet-era Su-27, the Su-35 belongs to the same family as the Su-30, Su-33, Su-34 and Su-37. While the Su-33 and Su-37 aren't for sale, the Su-34 and Su-30 (as well as their numerous variants) are more than twice as cheap as the Su-35.

This explains why Russia has been struggling to find a customer for this jet, and while some counties are supposedly interested - besides China and Egypt, which have already bought some - compared to the Su-30, the Flanker E seems a little useless.

7. Saab JAS 39E/F Gripen: $85 million (over Rs 637 crore)

SAAB

The Swedish JAS 39 Gripen, C and D variants are the light single-engine multirole fighter aircraft manufactured by the Swedish aerospace company Saab AB, are known to be one of the cheapest new 4 or 4.5 generation combat fighters on the market. It can cost as much as $30 million for single aircraft, a bargain for such an advanced machine.



Its latest variants, the E and F with greater range and payload capability while vastly improving the Gripens avionics are still much cheaper to operate than 5th generation fighter jets, the cost of one of these jets has more than doubled. One explanation for this lies in the jets' differences: almost everything except the fuselage has been updated. New radar, engine, avionics, improved weapon systems - very little is left of the old Gripen.

In 2012, the new generation of the JAS 39 was expected to cost more than $100 million. Only in recent years has Saab managed to reduce the price and, with the reduction, the Gripen has once again become a sought-after jet in the international market.`

8. Lockheed Martin F-35A: $77.9 million (over Rs 577 crore)

USAF

Everything about the F-35 is complicated. It has gone down in history as the most expensive weapon system of all time, and while Lockheed Martin has managed to reduce the cost of a single ready-to-use F-35A to less than $80 million, that price is just the tip of it. iceberg.



The operating costs of the newest American jet are some of the highest in the world, so the aircraft is relatively cheap to buy but very expensive to maintain.

9. Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet: up to $67.4 million (over Rs 502 crore)

US Navy

The F/A-18 Super Hornet came in the late 1990s, replacing the older Hornets of the A, B, C, and D variants. Although originally - and primarily - an aircraft carrier-based aircraft, it found a good deal of interest from countries that intend to use it only as a ground-based aircraft.



The latest F/A-18 update, the Block III configuration, features major improvements to avionics and weapon systems. It puts the Super Hornet in line with the latest generation 4.5 fighters, but it also raises the price.

The most expensive variant of this jet is the EA-18G Growler, an electronic warfare aircraft priced up to $100 million. Although it can be equipped with both air-to-air and air-to-ground ammunition, it is too specialized to be considered in the same way as normal fighter jets.

10. Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70/72: $64 million (over Rs 480 crore)

Lockheed martin

The F-16 was created as a lightweight, manoeuvrable jet fighter that would provide an affordable alternative to the F-15. Its older variants cost about $30 million each -- cheaper than the vast majority of contemporary fighters -- but the more advanced ones are actually quite expensive.



The Block 70 and 72 configurations include many of the upgrades aimed at the F-16V and are likely to be very similar to the F-21, a jet that Lockheed Martin offered to India.

While we can never know the price of the F-21 or F-16V, the cost of a single F-16 Block 70 gives an idea of how much a top-of-the-line jet, based on the venerable F-16 fuselage, might cost.

Source: Aerotime Hub

Did you know about any of these aircraft's prices before? Keep reading Indiatimes.com for the latest trending news.


Sometimes, landlords have bizarre terms and conditions for the tenants who move into their properties and an example of the same is doing the rounds on Reddit.

An advert was shared on Reddit - it said that prospective tenants will get one bedroom, a bathroom and a kitchen for $1,300 (Rs 97,000) a month. Yikes.

Investopedia (Representational image)

The rent is not the bad bit - the advert says that the tenant will not be allowed to consume meat on the premises since the owners are vegan. The tenant will also not be allowed to play music or watch television after 9.30 pm. And, the tenant will be forbidden from keeping any pets.

Amazon (Representational image)

If the tenant wants access to Wi-Fi, they will be charged an extra $75, and if any guests come over to visit, they will have to stay in the rented room and won't be allowed to use the bathroom.

Rent includes one bedroom only! You will have access to the bathroom, but you must not shower after 8 pm! You may use my kitchen, you must clean up after yourself," it said.



The advert read, You will need to provide your own toilet paper, you must provide your own soap and shampoo. You will have to buy your own food! You will not be allowed to cook meat in my house as I am a vegan! No music or TV will be allowed after 9.30 pm."

The Sun

The owners identified themselves as Kate and Jim and asked interested tenants to contact them.

Do you feel bad for the person who might end up living there? We do!
A bag of potato chips is mostly filled with air, not the chips. But what if instead of air and chips, you get a potato in the bag? Bizarre, right? Well, that is what happened to a man in the UK.

Dr David Boyce, a physics teacher, found a whole potato in a bag of Kettle Chips and needless to say, he was quite confused. He took to Twitter to share this weird experience. The post has now gone viral.

Twitter

In the picture he posted on the microblogging website, Dr Boyce can be seen holding a bag of the Mature Cheddar and Red Onion flavoured Kettle chips with a small potato.

According to a report by LincolnshireLive, he said, My mind went completely blank. At first, I thought 'How is this even in here?' and then I thought 'what a champion, this little guy is a survivor - the little potato that refused to be a crisp.

I thought about scanning it and making a 3D print of it to incorporate it into a statue, reminding me of the glorious moment when I discovered it. Not the greatest moment in my scientific career, but I'll take what I can get these days, he added.

The caption of the post reads: So I opened a bag of Kettle Chips UK today to find no crisps. Just a whole potato."

So I opened a bag of @KETTLEChipsUK today to find no crisps. Just a whole potato.  pic.twitter.com/PGEqGMqIWF  Dr David Boyce (@DrDavidBoyce) October 16, 2021

The post has more than 500 likes on the microblogging website. Users took to the comments section to express their amusement.

Kettle Chips also replied to the post and asked Dr Boyce to send them a direct message.

Not sure how that got in there! Do you mind sending us a DM so we can gather some details and ask our team to look into this? the company said.

Not sure how that got in there! Do you mind sending us a DM so we can gather some details and ask our team to look into this? - Zoe  KETTLE Chips (@KETTLEChipsUK) October 16, 2021

Dr Boyce replied to their comment and wrote, "Yeah I still have it! It was so unexpected. You can have it if you like!"
British actor David Oyelowo (left) announces Takachar, from India, as the winner of the Clean Our Air award on stage during the inaugural Earthshot Prize awards ceremony at Alexandra Palace in London on Oct. 17, 2021. (Yui Mok/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)
Real-time social media posts from local businesses and organizations across Northern Virginia, powered by Friends2Follow. To add your business to the stream, email cfields@insidenova.com or click on the green button below.
A 20-acre estate on Tucsons east side recently sold for $4,080,000, making it the citys most expensive residential real estate sale on the multiple listing service of southern Arizona since 2007. The property on 1416 N. Smokey Springs is a 8,860 square-foot home with six bedrooms, seven ba
Arthur J. Gallagher & Co., the Rolling Meadows, Ill.-based broker, announced the acquisition of Taupo, New Zealand-based Matt Jensen Insurance Brokers Ltd.

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Founded in 2005, Matt Jensen Insurance Brokers provides a comprehensive range of fire and general insurance and life & health insurance solutions to clients across the central North Island, with a focus on the forestry and transportation industries, and local small and medium-sized businesses. Matt Jensen and his team will continue to operate from their current location under the direction of Carl OShea, CEO of Crombie Lockwood (NZ) Ltd., Gallaghers New Zealand brokerage operations.

Matt Jensen Insurance Brokers is a well-run, growing business with an excellent client-service culture that will expand our brokerage capabilities in New Zealands central North Island, said J. Patrick Gallagher Jr., chairman, president and CEO. I am delighted to welcome Matt and his associates to our growing, global company.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. 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.

Source: Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

Topics Mergers Agencies A.J. Gallagher
Amazon.com Inc. appealed a record 746 million-euro ($865 million) penalty for allegedly violating the European Unions tough data-protection rules.

The appeal was filed at the Luxembourg Administrative Tribunal on Friday [Oct. 15], according to Luxembourg court spokesman Henri Eippers.

The challenge comes after CNPD, Luxembourgs data protection regulator, where Amazon has its EU base, slapped the U.S. tech giant with the fine in July.

The regulator ruled that Amazon violated the blocs General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR, through its processing of users personal data. The decision was triggered by a 2018 complaint from French privacy rights group La Quadrature du Net.

The worlds biggest online retailer has drawn scrutiny in recent years for the vast trove of data it has amassed on a range of customers and partners, including independent merchants who sell on its retail marketplace, users of its Alexa digital assistant, and shoppers whose browsing and purchase history inform what Amazon shows them on its website.

Amazon declined to comment on the appeal, but referred to a previous statement in July that there has been no data breach, and no customer data has been exposed to any third party.

Amazon previously said it strongly disagreed with the Luxembourg authoritys findings.

The company says it collects data to improve the customer experience, and sets guidelines governing what employees can do with it. Some lawmakers and regulators have raised concerns that the company has used what it knows to give itself an unfair advantage in the marketplace.

EU data protection regulators powers have increased significantly since the blocs GDPR rules took effect in May 2018. The law allows watchdogs to levy fines of as much as 4% of a companys annual global sales.

The privacy probe adds to intense antitrust scrutiny of Amazons business in Europe. Amazon is being probed by the EU over its use of data from sellers on its platform and whether it unfairly favors its own products. Germany has multiple probes into Amazons sales. The UK is also examining similar issues to the EU.

Photograph: A picture taken on Aug. 28, 2019 shows the logo of Amazon displayed on a tablet. Photo credit: Denis Charlet/AFP/Getty Images.

Copyright 2021 Bloomberg.

Topics Europe Amazon
D&O Insurer Tegron Names Tokio Marines Shergill as Senior U/W

Tegron Specialty, the Beat Capital backed D&O underwriting specialist, announced the appointment of Kiran Shergill as senior underwriter. Shergill will report to Ray Pallett, CUO, and assumes her role with immediate effect.

Having amassed considerable experience in the international D&O market during her five years as an underwriter for Tokio Marine HCC, Shergill will play a central role in the development of Tegrons specialty capabilities. Shergill will be supported by Daniel Brennan who joins Tegron as assistant underwriter.

Kiran and Daniel are fantastic additions to our expanding team and are indicative of the caliber of talent we are attracting. With her impressive background working with a wide range of both public and private D&O risk carriers across numerous industries and regions, Kiran will be integral as we grow our international portfolio and harness the wealth of opportunities found in the D&O market, commented Pallett.

Formed this year, Tegron Specialty Ltd. is a specialist underwriting vehicle focused on commercial D&O. Beat Capital is a long-duration investment firm exclusively focused on the insurance industry that supports world-class insurance underwriters seeking to start their own businesses. It provides high quality teams start-up funding, infrastructure, risk capital and A+ rated paper, plus experienced guidance and support. Beats investments operate independently of one another under their own management and brand.

Beat was formed in 2017 and is owned by its management, including founders John Cavanagh and Tom Milligan, Bain Capital Credit, global insurance investor Paraline Group, Ltd. and specialty wholesale insurance distributor AmWINS Group Inc. Beat has backed eight insurance underwriting businesses and in 2018 acquired rights with respect to Lloyds Syndicate 4242.

***

AXIS Insurance Financial Institutions Hires 3 for London Team

AXIS Insurance, the specialty insurance business segment of AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd., announced three appointments within its Financial Institutions London team, effective immediately.

Beth Convey, Julieta Moya and Mark Sutton all join as senior underwriters. Reporting to Calum McPherson, head of Financial Institutions in London, the new hires will be responsible for deepening relationships with existing distribution partners and exploring new relationships that are accretive and sustainable, underpinning the long-term outlook and strategy for AXIS.

Convey joins from CNA Hardy where she was responsible for underwriting a portfolio of public and private financial institutions and commercial entities. Prior to that, she spent three years as an underwriter at Neon.

Moya was previously a financial institutions lead specialist at Marsh McClennan where she advised clients on insurance opportunities and placement strategy.

Sutton was previously a financial institutions underwriter at Barbican/Arch Insurance Group where he was responsible for business planning and formulating underwriting strategy.

***

Atrium Appoints Aon Res Russell as Casualty Treaty U/W

Atrium Underwriting, the managing agent for Lloyds Syndicate 609, announced the appointment of Toby Russell as casualty treaty underwriter, reporting to Andrew Winyard, head of Casualty Treaty.

Russell joins Atrium from Aon Re, where he worked the past eight years as a broker within the North American Casualty Treaty team.

Toby has spent the past eight years as part of the Aon North American casualty team and has demonstrated his strong understanding of the U.S. casualty treaty market, commented Andrew Winyard, head of Casualty Treaty.

Syndicate 609 is managed by Atrium Underwriters Ltd., a regulated Lloyds managing agency, and part of the Atrium Group. Writing specialist insurance and reinsurance business, Syndicate 609s capacity for 2021 is 625 million, up from 525 million in 2020.

Topics Aon Insurance Wholesale London Casualty
Jeffrey Austin White joins Holmes Murphy

Jeffrey Austin White has joined Holmes Murphy as its Chief Analytics Officer (CAO), bringing his nearly three decades of expertise focused on strategic investments in talent and technology to the national insurance brokerage.

In this new role for Holmes Murphy, White will work to increase emphasis on innovation and data intelligence, helping to drive the companys potential and performance for clients. He will largely be responsible for defining and driving analytics and business intelligence initiatives, including assessing the current state of data and analytics capabilities, developing an analytics strategy, and leveraging innovations in artificial intelligence to propel Holmes Murphy and its clients forward.

White will also be working to provide insight on potential opportunities for BrokerTech Ventures (BTV), the first broker-led convening platform and accelerator program focused on delivering innovation to the insurance broker industry.

White most recently served as the Senior Vice President and Product Manager of Workers Compensation at Gallagher Bassett, where he was largely responsible for advanced analytics, digital technologies, and product development efforts for the companys global operations.

Waukee, Iowa-based Holmes Murphy is an independent brokerage serving business and industry leaders across the nation in the areas of property casualty insurance, employee benefits, captive insurance, risk management and loss control.

GCG Financial hires Pauline Sobelman as SVP, Benefits Consulting

GCG Financial, an Alera Group Company and a full-service financial services firm, has named Pauline Sobelman Senior Vice President, Benefits Consulting.

Her appointment is part of Deerfield, Illinois-based GCGs ongoing efforts to accelerate growth and position the company for long-term success, while continuing to focus on delivering exceptional client experience.

With over 25 years of employee benefits experience  including extensive knowledge of the risk industry  Sobelman will join GCGs team to further enhance the firms focus on overall client experience, building upon the development and implementation of strategic plans along with strong carrier and vendor partner relationships.

Sobelman also brings experience and training in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and is well-positioned to lead GCG and its clients in these critical efforts.

Joining existing Senior Vice President Jeff Kolker, the two will partner with GCGs team to support the large market segment. Additionally, as Senior Vice President, Sobelman is charged with supporting new business development, mentoring rising members within the team, and providing consulting support, thought leadership, and subject matter expertise.

Prior to joining GCG Financial, Sobelman held various employee benefits leadership positions for companies such as Lockton Companies, USI Insurance Services, and most recently, Risk Strategies Company. She is licensed in both life, accident & health and property & casualty lines of business.
Enbridge has failed to meet a deadline set by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources for cleaning up a site where an aquifer ruptured during construction of the Line 3 oil pipeline, DNR officials said.

The agency had given the company until Friday to repair the damage that caused the artesian aquifer near Clearbrook to leak at least 24 million gallons of groundwater. Regulators will require compensation for the additional time it takes to stop the groundwater flow.

The DNR has already ordered Enbridge to pay $3.32 million for failing to follow environmental laws.

Regulators also announced they are investigating two separate sites where the company may have caused additional groundwater damage, the Star Tribune reported.

Enbridge is fully cooperating with the Minnesota DNR in correcting uncontrolled groundwater flows at Clearbrook, and is working with the DNR as two other locations are being evaluated, company spokeswoman Juli Kellner said in an e-mail Saturday.

Line 3 starts in Alberta, Canada, and clips a corner of North Dakota before crossing Minnesota en route to Enbridges terminal in Superior, Wisconsin.

Winona LaDuke, who heads the Honor the Earth Indigenous environmental group, called the companys failure to meet the deadline alarming. If Enbridge cant meet basic safety requirements, they should not be allowed to operate a pipeline, she said, adding that it doesnt bode well for the future.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Minnesota
After their 16-year-old daughter died in a car crash, David and Wendy Mills wondered whether she would be alive if federal rules on rear seat belt warnings had been issued on time.

Four years later, with no rule and traffic fatalities spiking, theyre still at a loss over the inaction.

The teenager was riding in the back seat of a car to a Halloween party in 2017 just a mile from her house in Spring, Texas, when she unfastened her seat belt to slide next to her friend and take a selfie. Moments later, the driver veered off the road and the car flipped, ejecting her.

Kailee died instantly. Her three friends who remained buckled walked away with minor scrapes.

A 2012 law had directed the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, an agency of the Department of Transportation, to implement safety rules requiring car manufacturers to install a warning to drivers if an unbuckled passenger is sitting in a rear seat. The agency had three years to act.

But the regulation wasnt done when Kailee climbed into her friends car, though its been estimated that it could save hundreds of lives each year. Its one of more than a dozen car safety rules now years overdue, according to an analysis by The Associated Press.

The ever-growing docket has become one of the biggest tests for the federal agency since its founding in 1970, when public pressure led by safety activist Ralph Nader spurred NHTSAs mission to save lives, prevent injuries and reduce economic costs due to road traffic crashes.

Advocates worry that the agency has lost focus and risks getting bogged down under President Joe Biden, at a time of increasing road accidents and reckless driving during the COVID-19 pandemic.

We need a call to action, said Jonathan Adkins, executive director of the Governors Highway Safety Association. He called the pandemic surge in accidents a car crash epidemic.

The rules backlog would only increase with the sweeping technological requirements included in a $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill pending in Congress, from new breathalyzer devices that would disable a car if a driver is drunk to stiffer standards for reporting safety recalls.

Currently, the 600-employee federal agency lacks a permanent leader. Its acting administrator is Steven Cliff, a former deputy executive officer at the California Air Resources Board, which regulates auto emissions, a key component of Bidens climate agenda.

Government should not take this long to act on safety, said David Mills, who started a Houston-area foundation in Kailees honor aimed at promoting seat belt safety. The foundation keeps a list, known as Kailees Angels, of some of the teenagers around the country who died in car crashes after failing to buckle up.

Its devastating to families, he said.

The rear seat belt reminder requirement is now scheduled to start moving through the cumbersome regulatory process in January, but a final rule could be years away. The agency in the past has repeatedly blown past deadlines, including those promised in federal court.

The AP review of NHTSAs rule-making activities under the last three presidents found at least 13 auto safety rules that are years overdue based on deadlines set in laws passed by Congress.

In most cases, those rules are opposed by powerful industries as expensive, outdated or restrictive. Other pending rules have been slowed by the bureaucracy or taken a back seat to other priorities under Democratic presidents. For example, a 2011 initiative that large commercial vehicles be equipped with devices to limit their speed was recently put on indefinite hold by Biden.

President Donald Trump sidetracked at least four major road safety proposals, including medical evaluations of commercial truck drivers for sleep apnea.

Pending Rules

Pending rules include side-impact standards for child car seats, originally due in 2014. Attorneys general of 17 states and the District of Columbia wrote to the Biden administration in July, urging immediate action. Other pending rules would require car manufacturers to maintain records of safety defects for at least 10 years, as required by Congress and originally due in 2017, and anti-ejection protection measures for larger buses, due in 2014.

Standards for smart car headlights, begun in 2018, are incomplete despite car industry support. Smart headlights would adjust a high intensity light to oncoming traffic, so drivers dont have to toggle between high and low beams.

NHTSA declined to make Cliff available for comment. The agency instead released a list of steps it has taken to address auto safety, including recently announced proposed fuel economy standards that Biden has promoted to confront climate change.

The agency points in part to plans to require or set standards for automatic emergency braking systems on new passenger vehicles and heavy trucks, a reversal from the Trump administration, and to move forward on some of the delayed regulations, though it did not offer firm guarantees on timing.

NHTSA has pledged to require what it said are rigorous testing standards for autonomous vehicles and set up a national database to document automated-vehicle crashes. It has prodded electric vehicle maker Tesla to recall dark touch screens and is investigating the companys Autopilot partially automated driving systems failure to stop for parked emergency vehicles.

In recent public remarks, Cliff said the agency is committed to address rising traffic fatalities and he stressed a transformational and collaborative approach to safety.

Jason Levine, executive director of the nonprofit Center for Auto Safety, and other consumer groups have been urging Biden to quickly nominate an agency leader. The last Senate-confirmed NHTSA administrator served under President Barack Obama until 2017.

You have a Biden administration it seems across the board more interested in acting in a regulatory fashion than the previous administration, Levine said. Thats why theres so much excitement, but also quite frankly frustration that things arent moving with a greater sense of urgency.

The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, the trade association representing all auto manufacturers but Tesla, declined to comment for this story.

Automakers have made some progress on safety issues on their own or in voluntary agreements with the government. For instance, 20 companies agreed with NHTSA in 2016 to make automatic emergency braking standard on at least 95% of their new passenger vehicles by Sept. 1, 2022. At least 10 have already met the goal. Two years ago, 20 auto companies agreed to install electronic reminders to check back seats so drivers dont leave children in hot cars. The industry would install the reminders in new vehicles by the 2025 model year.

The Governors Highway Safety Association has been strongly pushing for rear seat belt reminders since 2015, noting back then that fewer passengers were buckling up in the back when riding in increasingly popular Uber, Lyft and other for-hire vehicles.

Last year, over half of all crash fatalities involved unbelted drivers or occupants, the highest level since 2012, according to NHTSA.

An estimated 38,680 people were killed in traffic crashes in 2020, the highest total since 2007, even though total miles driven dropped due to stay-at-home orders at the beginning of the pandemic. In the first three months of 2021, 8,730 people died in motor vehicle traffic crashes, a 10.5% increase from the same period last year.

More than 800 people who were unbelted in the back seat die in car crashes each year, and an analysis of NHTSAs data by the governors group found that wearing seat belts would have saved more than half of them.

Those grim statistics and rising fatalities have spurred states in recent months to seek ways to boost seat belt use, such as with Click it or Ticket law enforcement campaigns. In Connecticut, a law signed by Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont took effect this month that requires all rear seat passengers 16 and older to wear a seat belt. Those under 16 already had been required to buckle up.

Adkins said state highway safety officials were heartened to see Biden elevate Jennifer Homendy, a former congressional staffer and member of the National Transportation Safety Board who has spent two decades working on transportation safety, to NTSB chair. In recent months, shes appeared with Lamont to promote the new rear seat belt law, railed against Teslas misleading marketing that she says puts lives at risk and called for stronger federal safety standards.

But as NTSB head, she has no actual regulatory authority, and the buzz at a recent governors safety conference was the impact she could have if she were NHTSAs administrator.

We need a NHTSA administrator who is confirmed and has the political ability to get some things done, Adkins said. Theres no time for a learning curve. Were in a bad spot in traffic safety. Weve got work to do. And we need the administrations attention.

Various NHTSA delays have led to a patchwork of safety features initiated by the auto industry that have no clear minimum level of standards, said Cathy Chase, president of Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety. Many of the features also are typically sold in high-end cars or luxury packages, in effect imposing an upcharge for consumer safety.

She noted that a 2008 congressional mandate to install backup cameras in passenger vehicles took NHTSA 10 years and a lawsuit by her group and others before the rule was finally implemented; the original deadline was 2011.

Meanwhile, the European Union began requiring seat belt reminder systems in the front and rear seats of new cars in September 2019.

I cant say the U.S. regulator of the auto industry is at all on track, Chase said. Were years behind at this point. I dont want to be critical because they are still in their first year, but the infancy of the new administration will soon expire, and its time for them to move forward.

Yen reported from Washington and Austin, Texas, and Krisher from Detroit.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Auto USA
Back in the cockpit after time off recovering from Covid-19, an airline pilot forgot to start his planes second engine for takeoff, a mistake that could have ended in disaster if he hadnt aborted the flight.

Another pilot, fresh from a seven-month layoff because of the pandemic and descending to land early in the morning, realized almost too late he hadnt lowered the wheels and pulled out of the approach just 800 feet (240 meters) from the tarmac.

Weeks earlier, a passenger plane leaving a busy airport headed off in the wrong direction, flown by a captain who was back on deck for the first time in more than six months.

These potentially disastrous errors all took place in the U.S. in recent months as pilots returned to work. In every case, crew blamed their oversight on a shortage of flying during Covid, the most deadly pandemic since the 1918 influenza outbreak and certainly the only one to have wreaked such havoc on what was a burgeoning global aviation industry.

The incidents are among dozens of mistakes, confidentially declared by out-of-practice pilots since the start of the pandemic, that are stored on a low-profile database designed to identify emerging safety threats. The monitoring program, funded by the Federal Aviation Administration, is decades old but is now flashing warning signs as planes return to the skies across the world.

Deep cuts by airlines left some 100,000 pilots globally working skeleton hours or on long-term leave, according to consulting firm Oliver Wyman. Many havent flown for more than 18 months. But as rising vaccination rates allow travel to resume, concerns are growing that a lack of proficiency, confidence, or simply one moment of forgetfulness could lead to tragedy.

It is really a critical situation, said Uwe Harter, a grounded Airbus SE A380 pilot for Deutsche Lufthansa AG whos also the executive vice president for technical and safety standards at the International Federation of Air Line Pilots Associations. The last thing the industry needs now is a bad accident.

While some airlines are providing pilots with adequate retraining, others are offering the bare minimum, if anything at all, said Harter, who himself hasnt flown since February 2020. The regulations that we have arent sufficient.

Its not as if authorities are blind to this. The International Civil Aviation Organization, which sets industry standards, and the International Air Transport Association have seen the risks looming for months. Both bodies, as well as Europes top aviation regulator, have published detailed training guides to help airlines transition out-of-practice pilots back into the air.

But interviews with pilots from Asia and Europe  and the database of anonymous accounts in the U.S.  reveal varying degrees of ability and confidence among those who have returned to duty, including pilots who have completed retraining programs.

Thats partly because no amount of classroom or virtual theory, or practice in a flight simulator, can replicate the real-life pressures of a cockpit. Nor do these preparations fully take into account the psychological, emotional and financial stresses from the pandemic weighing on airline crew.

Aviation has largely been defined by its colossal financial losses  $138 billion last year alone and another $52 billion expected in 2021  since Covid brought travel to a standstill. As the industry tries to claw back some of its lost revenue, managing the safety risks posed by returning pilots is an additional burden and one that airlines with stronger balance sheets have the luxury of handling more proficiently than others.

The scale of the problem is partly documented on the U.S. Aviation Safety Reporting System, the database of safety incidents voluntarily reported by pilots, crew and air-traffic controllers.

The pilot who tried to get airborne on one engine in December last year said in his report that his recovery from a Covid infection was heavy on my mind and contributed to his lack of focus. The ASRS reports dont name the crew, airlines or airports involved.

Flight Safety Foundation, a Virginia-based not-for-profit group that advises the aviation industry, said its aware of the incidents on the ASRS database and is monitoring the situation globally. The more we know about potential safety issues, the better we are able to mitigate the risk, Flight Safety Foundation President and Chief Executive Officer Hassan Shahidi said.

In a line of work where theres little room for professional error, the dangers become stark. While most of the mistakes are minor  they include flying momentarily at the incorrect altitude or speed, or taxiing across a runway in the wrong place  some of the worst aviation disasters are rooted in seemingly inconsequential missteps.

And worryingly, the number of incidents tied to a lack of pilot proficiency climbed almost immediately after the pandemic began to disrupt commercial flying schedules, according to a February study by the Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Arizona.

Rajee Olaganathan, an assistant professor at the university, found one such ASRS report in the eight months before March 2020, then 10 in the next eight months. All of them referred to problems landing the aircraft. In one, a pilot described approaching the runway with too much altitude. I wasnt at the comfort level I would have liked, he wrote.

Olaganathan said her findings show airlines need to educate pilots about skill deterioration and build suitably tailored training programs. But crew also need to be candid about their abilities. Pilots need to make an honest assessment of their skills and confidence upon returning to work, she said in an interview.

The obvious dangers posed by poor pilots, even before Covid, have made the job one of the most strictly controlled on the planet. United Nations agency ICAO usually requires pilots undergo two proficiency checks every 12 months and perform three takeoffs and landings every 90 days. Theyre also subject to examinations from doctors specializing in aviation medicine.

When the pandemic began, ICAO allowed airlines flexibility in meeting these rules because the virus was devastating enough, as long as carriers incorporated other safeguards. But with flying on its way back, the Montreal-based agency says its becoming less lenient.

Theres going to be a point beyond which you cant stretch standards, said Ian Knowles, a technical officer within ICAOs air navigation bureau, which leads the agencys response to crises. Standards are there for a reason.

Even so, ICAO is still offering 41 exemptions from the standards in 11 countries including Cambodia, Nigeria and Pakistan, according to its website. Air Niugini in Papua New Guinea, for example, has been allowed to stretch its pilot-proficiency checks to 12-month intervals because Covid restrictions make it difficult to access flight simulators in nearby Australia and Singapore. Pilots at the airline must instead undergo more theoretical and practical training to compensate, details of the exemption show.

Knowles, who was a British Airways pilot before joining ICAO, concedes that just meeting ICAO requirements is no guarantee of performance.

You could still be needing that extra edge, he said. There is a certain loss of confidence and ability that comes with even maintaining the very bare minimum.

Its this element of human variation that makes it hard for regulators to get a handle on the risks posed by recently returned pilots, and the many who are yet to make a comeback.

While commercial flying in the U.S. is 17% off normal levels, activity in Western Europe remains down 35%, according to OAG. The shortfalls are even greater in the Middle East, Southern Africa and Southeast Asia, where many international borders remain shut.

In interviews, some pilots who have returned to work report a loss of the muscle memory that once helped them follow procedures on the flight deck without pause. Others wonder if they still possess the clear-mindedness to handle a mid-air crisis.

A senior pilot for Qantas Airways Ltd., who spoke on condition of anonymity, said colleagues who havent flown for six months typically make one or two minor procedural errors on their return.

They might forget to enter data into the flight computer at the appropriate time, or land the plane harder than normal, the pilot said. Actions that were once immediate and instinctive require more time and thought. Thats after refresher sessions in a flight simulator, the pilot said.

If theres an engine failure or a fire, then you have to implement that procedure, said Amit Singh, a former head of pilot training at Indian airline IndiGo who founded not-for-profit organization Safety Matters. If you havent flown for a long time, it may take you a few minutes or seconds extra.

Despite the mistakes made by pilots since the pandemic, IATA, major regulators and some of the largest airlines insist the risks are under control.

As the crisis has continued, mitigations to risks that emerged over the past 18 months are getting stronger and more robust, IATAs safety director Mark Searle said.

The FAA said in a statement that its comprehensive data-driven safety oversight system enables the agency to detect risks and address problems early, including any that may result from pilots returning to work after Covid-related furloughs.

And American Airlines Group Inc. and Delta Air Lines Inc., two of the biggest U.S. carriers, say their pilot training exceeds regulatory requirements.

The European Union Aviation Safety Agency, meanwhile, said it had identified a small number of incidents potentially linked to pilot proficiency. Although it warned of the dangers when pilots lose even a little flying ability in August, EASA said in a statement it sees no need for further action.

Yet crew who have come back on duty with little recent flying experience have already come close to disaster. In September last year, a Lion Air Group plane carrying 307 passengers veered off the runway after landing at Medan in northern Indonesia. The pilot had flown less than three hours in the previous 90 days.

No one was injured and its true that serious incidents in aviation in general remain very rare. There was just one major accident for every 5 million jet flights between 2016 and 2020, according to IATAs latest Safety Report.

Evidence, however, suggests more oversight is needed in certain regions. Many of the safeguards against a lack of proficiency, such as rostering more-experienced crew in the cockpit and running additional simulator sessions, represent an additional cost  one that airlines under financial stress may struggle to foot.

Read more: One Airline Is Set to Emerge From Covid Stronger Than Ever

Sydney-based Qantas, which has one of the strongest balance sheets of any airline despite the pandemic, dedicated an entire team to addressing pilot rustiness. Staff combed through research on other professions with similar skill sets to pilots and eventually found helpful parallels in surgery.

The research showed that the fine motor skills of surgeons withstood long periods out of theater. But it was different when surgeons had to complete a list of procedures or apply previously acquired knowledge.

With that evidence, Qantas now puts its Boeing Co. 737 pilots through a six-day course before they get back in the sky, and a senior training captain sits in on their initial flights. The airlines A380 pilots have two days of training on the ground and in the simulator every 90 days, even though Qantas hasnt yet resumed flying the enormous jets.

We realized very early on that we needed to think differently, Qantas Chief Pilot Dick Tobiano said. The data has shown that our pilots are coming back with the skills and confidence to do their job safely.

At Indonesias Lion Air, however, a senior captain speaking on condition of anonymity said hes so concerned about his colleagues flying ability that hes scaled back his own flying hours. Indonesia has one of the worlds poorest safety records with 105 accidents and 2,356 related fatalities, worse than Mexico and Venezuela, Aviation Safety Network data from 1945 through October show.

The captain said he had to take over the controls approaching Semarangs Ahmad Yani International Airport in Central Java during a flight mid last year. The junior pilot flying the plane hadnt worked for three months and failed to notice the aircraft wasnt locked into the airports landing guidance system. Lion Air didnt respond to a request for comment.

That may sound minor but the number of badly executed landings worldwide  coming in too high and too fast, for instance  almost tripled from pre-pandemic levels to 35 out of every 1,000 by May 2020, according to the U.K.s own confidential safety incident reporting program.

Its important because more than half of all fatal commercial-jet accidents from 2011 through 2020 occurred on a planes final approach to landing or the landing itself, research from Boeing shows. At lower altitudes, pilots have limited height and therefore less time to recover from an error or mechanical failure.

Indeed, some of the errors declared by pilots in the ASRS database have echoes in the most grim airline disasters.

In June last year, a first officer for an airline in the U.S. who hadnt flown in nearly three months forgot to switch on the anti-icing mechanism for the planes airspeed sensors. In 2009, those same sensors iced up and triggered the crash of Air France Flight 447 on its way to Paris from Rio de Janeiro, killing all 228 people aboard.

The solution, according to Lufthansa pilot Harter, involves going beyond the pre-pandemic standards of pilot proficiency. Rather than prescribing enough training to meet requirements, airlines and regulators must give crew whatever they need to feel comfortable again, whether thats more time in a simulator or the acknowledgment there may be a mental component that extra rules cant always adequately address.

Thats the way forward, he said. And thats not written in any regulation.

With assistance from Mary Schlangenstein, Siddharth Philip, Harry Suhartono and Alan Levin.

Copyright 2021 Bloomberg.

Topics Aviation
There was $590 million in suspicious activity related to ransomware in the first six months of 2021, exceeding the entire amount in 2020, when $416 million was reported, according to a report released Friday by the U.S. Treasury Departments Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.

The average amount of reported ransomware transactions per month in 2021 was $102.3 million, according to the report. If the current trend continues, suspicious activity reports filed in 2021 are projected to have a higher ransomware-related transaction value than SARs filed in the previous 10 years combined, according to the report. SARs is shorthand for suspicious activity reports.

U.S. based cybersecurity companies filed most of the SARs related to ransomware while banks and cryptocurrency exchanges filed more than a third of the reports. The reports reflect just how quickly ransomware attacks have grown.

The report offers new insight into the scale of ransomware attacks devastating U.S. businesses and impacting critical infrastructure. A Treasury spokesperson said the SARs dont represent all ransomware payments.

Reporting ransomware payments to the Treasury via a suspicious activity report is often a requirement of cybersecurity insurance policies, according to a person familiar with the matter.

FINANCIAL TREND ANALYSIS: Ransomware Trends in Bank Secrecy Act Data Between January 2021 and June 2021

The Treasury Department also identified 68 ransomware variants, noting that the most commonly reported types were REvil, Conti and DarkSide. Ransomware groups often sell their malware, or variant, to affiliates who then use it to plot attacks, in what is known as ransomware-as-a-service. REvil, Conti and DarkSide are suspected by cybersecurity firms of being tied to Russia in some way  because they use the Russian language or are suspected of being based there.

The report was filed as the Treasury Department issued guidance to the virtual currency industry to prevent exploitation by entities sanctioned by the U.S. and ransomware groups. It is part of a broader effort by the Biden administration to attempt to curb ransomware attacks. In ransomware attacks, hackers encrypt a victims files and promise to unlock them if they are paid a fee.

Among the more notable attacks were those in May on Colonial Pipeline Co. in May that squeezed fuel supplies on the East Coast and on the meatpacker JBS SA.

The Treasury report stated that ransomware actors are increasingly requesting payment in cryptocurrencies like Monero, which are designed to enhance anonymity.

Photo: Fuel storage tanks connected to the Colonial Pipeline system in an industrial area of the Port of Baltimore in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S., on Tuesday, May 11, 2021. Photographer: Samuel Corum/Bloomberg

Copyright 2021 Bloomberg.

Topics Cyber Trends
A federal jury convicted a Houston-area physician for unlawfully prescribing more than 1.3 million doses of opioids, the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Southern District of Texas reported.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Parvez Qureshi, 56, of Houston, Texas, a medical doctor, unlawfully prescribed controlled substances from 2014 through February 2016 for patients at Spring Shadows Medical Clinic of Houston, a clinic owned by Rubeena Ayesha, an advanced practice nurse practitioner.

Ayesha, 52, of Houston, previously pleaded guilty to participating in the scheme and is awaiting sentencing before U.S. District Judge Kenneth M. Hoyt of the Southern District of Texas.

Trial evidence showed that Qureshi issued unlawful prescriptions for controlled substances to over 90 people on the clinics busiest days. So-called runners brought numerous people to pose as patients at Spring Shadows and paid for their visits. Spring Shadows charged approximately $250-$500 for each patient visit and required payment in cash.

The evidence also showed that Qureshi pre-signed prescriptions for controlled substances and issued prescriptions for patients who were not evaluated by a physician. Throughout the scheme, Qureshi wrote prescriptions for over 1.3 million dosage units of hydrocodone, and over 40,000 dosage units of oxycodone, both Schedule II controlled substances.

Ayesha wrote prescriptions for over one million dosage units of carisoprodol, commonly known as Soma, a Schedule IV controlled substance, usually for patients who had also been prescribed oxycodone or hydrocodone by Qureshi. The combination of oxycodone/hydrocodone and carisoprodol is a dangerous drug cocktail with no known medical benefit. The clinic made over $4 million from prescriptions issued in the scheme, over $1.5 million of which went to Qureshi.

Qureshi was convicted of one count of conspiracy to unlawfully distribute and dispense controlled substances and four counts of unlawfully distributing and dispensing controlled substances.

He is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 10, 2022, and faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison per count. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Source: U.S. Department of Justice
A veteran police officer and fire investigator has been named director of the states Insurance Fraud Bureau and assistant state fire marshal.

Bill Herman began his career at the Montgomery County Police Department, then became a deputy state fire marshal, and was named a special agent in 2019. Herman moved into his new office this week, the state Department of Insurance announced.

Throughout his career, Bill has distinguished himself as an outstanding investigator and team leader, Insurance Commissioner Jim Ridling said. His experience and commitment to public service will be an asset to the people of Alabama.

The Insurance Fraud Bureau and fire marshals office are divisions of the Alabama Department of Insurance. The bureau investigates allegations of insurance fraud, and includes four investigators, five special agents and a forensic accountant.

Topics Fraud Alabama
As part of its effort to reduce its ballooning exposure level and trim the number of policyholders, Floridas insurer of last resort will increase its property inspections by almost 70-fold over the next four years  with plans to spend an extra $43 million.

Citizens Property Insurance Co., the state-backed insurer that is now one of the largest property and casualty carriers in Florida, also posted new eligibility and underwriting rules, which will make properties ineligible for coverage if inspections show the structure is unsafe. Besides its own inspections, to be done mostly by private inspection firms, Citizens also may require copies of inspection reports done by local or state governments.

The rules kicked in Oct. 15 for new and renewal policies, according to an agent bulletin that Citizens posted last week.

The move is a huge shift for Citizens and will take the insurer from inspecting about 1% of its policyholder properties in 2020 to more than 9% by 2025. Ultimately, some policyholders will end up paying higher premiums or spending more on repair work to bring homes up to snuff.

Weve lagged behind the private market in inspection levels, and this will correct that, said Michael Peltier, media relations manager for Citizens.

Citizens spending on inspections will jump from about $1.2 million in 2021 to more than $17 million in 2025, according to information presented at a recent Citizens Board of Governors meeting. In all, the corporation will spend more than $43 million on inspection vendors and staff in coming years. The number of inspections will jump from about 5,200 in 2020 to more than 350,000 by 2025.

Citizens had already begun increasing inspections for this year, as it became clear that the insurer was adding policies at a record pace. The number of policies has increased dramatically, from 420,000 in 2019 to an expected 1 million or more by the end of 2022, a number that threatens to overwhelm the carriers reserves if multiple disasters strike the state, officials have said.

Florida homeowners have flocked to Citizens as they have seen increased premiums and canceled policies in the private market, as private insurers have grappled with hurricanes, fraud and what they call excessive litigation.

The beefed-up inspection plan is a significant increase over Citizens staff members initial recommendation last summer. At the July board meeting, staff recommended a $21 million plan. But by the Sept. 22 meeting, the chief operating officer, Kelly Booten, had doubled the program.

The plan will do three things, staff told the board members:

Reduce loss frequency by insuring sounder properties. Citizens will be able to better guard against adverse selection, or the tendency for people with the greatest chance of losses to be the ones most likely to purchase policies.

Improve premium accuracy. Inspections will likely result in a large number of premium corrections.

Exposure reduction through private insurers assuming Citizen policies. A current inspection is one of the key items private insurers have told us they value when considering which Citizens risks to assume, staff wrote. The more risks we inspect, to validate the exposure they truly represent, the better positioned we are to increase the amount of risk removed from Citizens.

The type and depth of inspections also will improve. Previous inspections focused mostly on the general condition of a property and on mobile home tie-down checks. New inspections will be mostly four-point reviews that look at roofs, plumbing, electrical and air and heating systems.

The reaction that policyholders may have in coming years remains to be seen.

We are in the process of reaching out to agents and policyholders through multiple channels to inform them of these upcoming changes, Peltier said.

Topics Property
A federal report aimed at improving aviation safety in Alaska recommends improvements in providing weather information to pilots and continued work to update maps with information on mountain passes, among other steps.

The Federal Aviation Administration, which released the report last week, said it will establish a team to outline plans for implementing the proposals. Several of the recommendations are already underway, the agency said.

The report comes after the National Transportation Safety Board in early 2020 called for a comprehensive review to improve aviation safety in Alaska, citing a fatal and non-fatal accident rates far higher than the national average.

Board Chair Jennifer L. Homendy in a statement called the FAA report a step forward in addressing Alaskas unique place in aviation safety. But more needs to be done to ensure air transportation is as safe in Alaska as in the rest of the nation. We look forward to reviewing the recommendations.

Matt Atkinson, president of Alaska Air Carriers Association, said despite progress that has been made, theres roughly 100 communities, numerous tour routes, mountain pass routes that lack basic aviation weather reporting, adequate communications infrastructure and other aspects that are necessary for safe operations in Alaska, Alaskas News Source reported.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Aviation Alaska
Washington Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler says he will seek an effective date of Jan. 1, 2022 for a permanent rule to temporarily ban the use of credit scores for insurance policies for three years.

Kreidlers emergency order prohibited insurers from using a consumers credit score to price auto, renters and homeowners coverage. Hes been working to eliminate credit scores from insurer consideration for some time. His most recent effort failed when a bill he backed, Senate Bill 5010, was gutted by an insurance industry amendment in the Senate Business, Financial Services & Trade Committee on Feb. 15.

A public hearing on the proposed rule is scheduled for Nov. 23.

Kreidler rejected a recent call from the American Property Casualty Insurance Association and the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies to abandon his commitment.

The lobbying groups made the request after a Thurston County Superior Court on Oct. 8 issued a ruling against an emergency rule that took effect in June.

APCIA has argued that the commissioner failed to satisfy the requirements necessary to adopt a rule on an emergency basis and side-step the statutory rulemaking process that requires notice and comment from those who would be affected by the rule.

Since the imposition of Kreidlers emergency rule, seniors have been disproportionately and negatively impacted, and the emergency rule resulted in higher premiums for more than one million Washington residents, according to the groups.

The groups issued a statement via email from Mark Sektnan, APCIA vice president for state government relations.

The statement reads: It is time to return to a normal insurance marketplace and end the chaos that Insurance Commissioner Kreidlers emergency rule created, and that his proposed rule will perpetuate. A return to normal means returning to risk-based pricing for insurance, which includes the use of credit-based insurance scores. Through the Office of the Insurance Commissioners emergency rule, now invalidated, we all had an opportunity to see what can happen to consumers when the use of risk-based factors like credit-based insurance scores are not permitted to be used. It means higher premiums for more than a million low-risk policyholders who purchase auto, homeowners insurance, renters insurance, and other personal lines of coverage.

The insurance industry in Washington wants to hang on to an unjust, secretive and unrealistic method to determine what consumers pay for insure their vehicles and homes, Kreidler said in a statement. I will continue a well-supported effort to permanently ban credit scoring. Consumers deserve better. The multibillion-dollar industry needs to take action to rid itself of this unreliable practice.

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Interview Myanmar President Reveals Details of his Arrest

President U Win Myint in 2018.

Ousted President U Win Myint appeared at a special court in Naypyitaw on Oct. 12 to face incitement charges over a National League for Democracy (NLD) central executive committee (CEC) statement condemning the Feb. 1 coup.

State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and former Naypyitaw Mayor Dr. Myo Aung also appeared at the court for the same charge.

President U Win Myint for the first time revealed details of his detention on the morning of the Feb. 1 coup during his testimony. He said the military tried to force him to step down before the coup but he refused.

The presidents lawyer, U Kyi Win, told The Irrawaddy about his first public comments since he was detained.

What did President U Win Myint testify about his detention?

The court asked his age, address and occupation. He said he was 70 but that he didnt even know where he was being held and that he lived at the presidential residence until Feb. 1.

And he said his occupation was president, which suggested he still considered himself to be the president.

He said soldiers entered his bedroom at around 5am on Feb. 1. He said he took his medicines, said his prayers, got dressed and went with them.

He was taken to the Presidents Office and was asked to wait outside his office. Two generals asked him to resign on health grounds.

He said he was in good health and would not resign. One of the generals asked him to reconsider his decision, saying he could be harmed.

He said he would rather die than resign. He told them to act lawfully and not to stage a coup. He was taken back to his presidential residence.

At the residence, many soldiers had seized communication devices from the building. At noon, he was told he would have to move within three days. So he and his family started packing.

He said he was moved to a house in the ministers neighborhood on Feb. 4. He was moved again on May 23. He didnt know where it to.

Many soldiers were waiting for them at the new house. He said he lost contact with the outside world on Feb. 1 and there was no television or newspapers.

He said it was unreasonable to charge him over the NLD statement which was issued after his detention and that he was not guilty.

Was he detained with his family?

All we know is he said he packed with his family. We assume they are still together.

To what extent will his testimony impact the case?

The prosecutors have charged him under Article 505(b) of the Penal Code for incitement.

They cannot prove he was involved in the NLD statement. The prosecutor failed to submit evidence.

In Myanmar, prosecutions cant proceed unless the prosecutor can submit evidence. The president cited Article 64 of the Constitution: If the president or vice-presidents are members of a political party, they shall not take part in its party activities.

He said he strictly followed Article 64 and had not engaged in the partys activities since he assumed the presidency.

He said the accusation that he was involved in the NLDs statements on Feb. 7 and Feb. 14 was unsubstantiated because he was detained on Feb. 1. He said the charge was therefore baseless. He said they only charged him because he was on the NLDs CEC.

We heard the prosecutor asked him about the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw, National Unity Government and Peoples Defense Forces. What was his response?

Prosecutors asked him if he knew about the organizations. He said he didnt because he had been isolated since Feb. 1.

Did Daw Aung San Suu Kyi instruct you to inform the public about the testimonies made in court?

Yes. She said the public must be informed about the trial. Trials are supposed to be held in public. She said people should know if a trial is unfair. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi asked us to release the testimonies.

What is your legal assessment of the case?

Legally, [U Win Myint] did not violate the law. The prosecution cannot prove he was involved with the statements.

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Burma After Summit Exclusion, Myanmar Junta Chief Says ASEAN Envoy Made Impossible Demands

A video screengrab of Myanmar coup leader Min Aung Hlaing making a televised address on Oct. 18.

Myanmars military coup leader has responded to his exclusion from the upcoming ASEAN summit by insisting that the regional blocs special envoy made requests that were impossible to accommodate.

ASEAN on Saturday decided not to invite Senior General Min Aung Hlaing to the Oct. 26-28 summit in Brunei after the blocs special envoy to Myanmar was denied permission to meet all stakeholders in Myanmars crisis, including the countrys detained elected leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, during his planned visit.

Excluding a member states leader from a summit is a rare and bold move for the bloc, which has historically stuck to a policy of noninterference in the domestic affairs of member countries.

Erywan Yusof, Bruneis second minister of foreign affairs, was appointed as ASEANs special envoy to Myanmar in August in an effort to mediate the countrys crisis, which was triggered by the militarys Feb. 1 coup. He has been trying to visit Myanmar since then, in line with commitments made by the military regime to the regional bloc.

However, the junta has failed to implement the agreed steps, including facilitating the special envoys visit.

In his speech to the nation late Monday morning, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing said the envoy had made multiple requests regarding his visit, adding that negotiations with ASEAN were ongoing.

There are points impossible to accommodate in the ASEAN special envoys request, he said, referring to Erywans call that he be allowed to meet Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. The junta said last week that the special envoy couldnt meet the detained State Counselor as she is now facing criminal charges.

The junta leader added that Whatever it is, Myanmar will try as best as possible, because its an ASEAN member.

I think ASEAN will carry out the summit and related meetings based on the ASEAN Charter, he said, expressing hope that the bloc would reverse his exclusion.

The regimes Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Saturday that it was very disappointed with ASEANs decision to exclude Min Aung Hlaing from the summit and condemned the move.

In his 13-minute speech, the coup leader also criticized the bloc and the international community, saying that while they asked the junta to end its violence against civilians, no one was concerned about stopping the growing and deadly armed struggle against the regime by civilian resistance groups and some ethnic organizations who are sympathetic to them.

We have been trying to solve this until today. I want to say ASEAN needs to tackle it, he said.

The 10-member blocs exclusion of Min Aung Hlaing from the summit was a huge blow for Myanmar junta. It desperately seeks official recognition from other countriesespecially those in ASEANas Myanmars rightful government because it faces a contesting claim by the National Unity Government (NUG) formed by elected lawmakers from the ousted National League for Democracy (NLD) and their ethnic allies. At the same time the regime is regarded as an outcast by much of the international community, especially in the West, for its coup and subsequent brutality in killing over 1,000 peaceful anti-regime protesters.

Note: The story was updated to include the Myanmar Ministry of Foreign Affairs comments on ASEANs decision



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Burma Anti-Regime Protesters Arrested After Attack by Myanmar Junta Troops

Mandalay anti-regime protesters shortly before the crackdown on October 18. / CJ

An anti-regime protest march in Mandalay was attacked by junta soldiers on Monday, leaving almost 20 civilians injured. Another 10 people were arrested.

A protester who managed to evade arrest said that over 50 soldiers drove their vehicles into the march in Maha Aung Myay Township in Mandalay on Monday morning.

Nearly 20 people were wounded and 10 arrested, he said.

After ramming the protesters, soldiers in plainclothes kicked them and struck them with the butts of their weapons, before dragging them into their cars, witnesses said.

The whereabouts of those detained is still unknown. Following the crackdown, junta troops cordoned off the area and searched pedestrians.

Mandalay has experienced anti-regime protests every day since the militarys February 1 coup, despite ongoing crackdowns by the junta.

On Monday, the military regime freed over 5,600 people who had been jailed for their participation in anti-coup protests or detained while awaiting trial.

The amnesty came after the Association of Southeast Asian Nations barred coup chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing from participating in a leaders summit later this month, over his failure to implement agreements made with the regional bloc to resolve Myanmars post-coup political crisis.



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Burma Ethnic Minority Student Killed in Myanmar Junta Custody

Ko Lin Paing Soe. / CJ

A final-year engineering student who led anti-regime protests in Naypyitaw and Mandalay has died in military custody, his friends told The Irrawaddy.

Ko Lin Paing Soe, a Buddhist Gurkha student from Kyaukse Technological University, was tortured because of his ethnicity and died on his first night in custody, said his friend, who is a member of Mandalay Yadanabon University student union.

We only just learned that he died. He died soon after he was detained on Sept. 30. He was beaten because he was non-Burmese and died in interrogation. The regime said he was sent to Obo Prison in Mandalay, which was a lie, he told The Irrawaddy.

Ko Lin Paing Soe led protests in Mandalay and Naypyitaw and was detained with two classmates and a striking nurse when junta forces in Mandalay raided the houses of protest leaders on Sept. 30.

They were beaten by junta soldiers while being taken away, said another friend.

He said a military source says they were taken to Mandalay Palace and interrogated the whole night.

I was told [soldiers] used racially and religiously offensive language against Ko Lin Paing Soe during interrogation and he was beaten inhumanely, said his friend.

His death was only revealed on Monday. It is the inhumanity of the fascist military. Besides jailing civilians, they are killing people and covering up the deaths. Ko Lin Paing Soes family should have been told about his death, said his friend.

The military regime has used live ammunition on peaceful protesters and rammed them with vehicles. It has detained thousands of anti-regime activists and striking government employees.

Non-Buddhists, LGBT people, student union members and National League for Democracy supporters were reportedly subjected to harsher torture during interrogation.



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Burma Honest, Brave, Hardworking: Myanmars Detained President Has Always Put Country First

President U Win Myint

I would rather die than resign.

This was the response of President U Win Myint when two senior army officers told him to resign on health grounds on the morning of the military coup on Feb. 1 and threatened him with harm if he refused.

U Win Myint testified about the circumstances of his detention during a court hearing in Naypyitaw on Oct. 12. The regime has filed several charges against him since his detention.

He was then told that he could be harmed if he refused, and was told to reconsider. He replied that he had faced dangers along the way and faced the risk of death, lawyer U Khin Maung Zaw said, recounting U Win Myints testimony to the court.

U Win Myint also told the two military officers to act in line with the 2008 Constitution and not to stage the coup.

Though President U Win Myint, State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and Naypyitaw Mayor Dr. Myo Aung were detained on the day of the military takeover on Feb. 1 and have been isolated since then, the regime has charged them with incitement over a statement condemning the coup that was issued by the National League for Democracy (NLD)s Central Executive Committee a few days after their detention.

While U Win Myints testimony has won loud applause from many in Myanmar, the response to another detained senior NLD member, Yangon Region Chief Minister U Phyo Min Thein, has turned out to be just the opposite. In the eyes of many, U Phyo Min Theins political career ended the moment he testified that he bribed Daw Aung San Suu Kyi with more than 11 kg of gold and US$600,000a claim that angered and disappointed many in the country.

When there are violent political storms, U Win Myint is prepared to row with his hands if there is no oar. U Phyo Min Thein belongs to those who want to hitch a lift, said political analyst U Than Soe Naing.

A true peoples representative

U Win Myint has won four electoral races on the NLD ticketin the general elections in 1990, 2015 and 2020, and in a by-election in 2012.

Born in Danubyu Township of Ayeyarwady Region, U Win Myint was trained as a lawyer. He has engaged in politics for more than 30 years since the pro-democracy movement in 1988, joining the NLD in its early days.

Like many other politicians of the time, U Win Myint ended up in prison after the military refused to honor the results of the 1990 general election. Back then, he was offered large sums of money and a permit to import a car, a rare luxury at the time, if he resigned from the NLD. But he chose prison over the money, and not even the lousy food and terrible conditions in prison could shake his faith.

U Win Myint is imbued with all four attributes of a politicianbravery, honesty, industriousness and humility, remarked U Than Soe Naing, who has known U Win Myint for two decades.

When the NLD boycotted the military-orchestrated general election in 2010, U Win Myint stood firmly with the party line. And when he was elected to Parliament alongside Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in the 2012 by-election, he was the youngest member of the NLDs Central Executive Committee. When Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was appointed to the Committee for Rule of Law and Stability in the Lower House in the same year, U Win Myint served as the committees secretary, and the two worked together more closely.

He seems to be meticulous and uncompromising, but he is very cooperative and hard-working, both in the party and the government, said NLD lawmaker U Bo Bo Oo.

Stony-faced Speaker

One question on voters minds ahead of the 2015 election was who would serve as Myanmars president if the NLD won, as Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was constitutionally barred from taking the countrys top job. Myanmars military and their allied parties expressed doubts as to whether the NLD had a person capable of assuming the presidency.

In response to the criticisms, U Win Myint, speaking in a pre-election debate program organized by media outlet DVB, implied in his comments that no one could do a worse job of managing the country than the military, saying, Every bird is as beautiful as a vulture.

After the NLD won a majority in the 2015 poll, U Htin Kyaw became president, and U Win Myint, due to his legal knowledge, was elected Lower House Speaker. He was 66 at the time.

As Parliament Speaker, U Win Myint was not liked even by fellow NLD lawmakers, as he never hesitated to complain about any lawmakerregardless of what party they were fromfor any act deemed to be inappropriate, including reading journals during parliamentary sessions.

He often confronted ministers when they failed to give clear answers to lawmakers questions.

It was the first civilian government since 1962, and U Win Myint shrewdly managed the Parliament to avoid friction between military-appointed representatives and elected lawmakers, according to political analysts.

There could have been problems, should there have been constant friction between elected lawmakers and the military appointees. The problem, I mean, is that there could have been a coup back then, U Bo Bo Oo said.

U Win Myint did not show any bias toward his party when he was in charge of the Lower House, said Shan Nationalities League for Democracy chairman U Sai Nyunt Lwin.

When I asked how he was doing as the Parliament Speaker, he said it was an unspeakable trouble, said U Sai Nyunt Lwin.

U Win Myints daughter married while he held the Parliament Speaker role, but he insisted that no wedding gifts would be accepted. The politician also earned plaudits for his handling of land issues for farmers.

Lowly politician to President

After two years as the Parliament Speaker, U Win Myint became the President in March 2018 after U Htin Kyaw retired on health grounds.

Anti-graft efforts were stepped up after he assumed the presidency, both in the administrative and judicial branches. One of the most significant reforms was to bring the General Administration Department, which had been overseen by the military-controlled Ministry of Home Affairs, under civilian oversight. However, the military transferred the department back to the Home Affairs Ministry after the coup.

He has not changed his stance along the way from a [rank-and-file] politician to a president, said U Than Soe Naing.

No fault can be found with U Win Myint throughout his political journey to the presidency, said politicians and political analysts.

We believe he will remain firm in his stance. And we should praise him for that, U Sai Nyunt Lwin said.



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Burma Hundreds of Myanmar Junta Soldiers and Police Plan to Defect Since Peoples War Declaration: NUG

Regime troops on the Armed Forces Day parade in March 2021.

More than 760 junta soldiers and police plan to join the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) defying military rule since the declaration of a peoples war against the regime by the civilian National Unity Government (NUG) on Sept. 7.

In his speech on Sept. 7, the NUGs acting president, Duwa Lashi La, urged anyone serving the regime, including soldiers and police, to leave their jobs, while calling on all citizens to revolt against military rule.

The NUGs defense ministry said between Sept. 7 and Oct. 7, 429 regime soldiers and 334 police contacted Peoples Embrace, a group formed by defectors helping personnel to abandon their posts, to join the CDM. But the ministry did not reveal how many have defected so far.

Former army captain Nyi Thuta of the Peoples Soldier group, which helps military personnel to defect, recently told The Irrawaddy that large numbers of soldiers would defect in the face of determined resistance from the People Defense Forces (PDF).

Many soldiers and police are defecting each day by contacting the PDFs in their area.

Since Sept. 7, 21 police officers and nine soldiers in Chin State have joined the CDM through the Chinland Defense Force, according to the group.

A total of 350 police and 21 soldiers have now gone on strike against military rule in Chin State since the Feb. 1 coup.

High numbers of defections are also reported in Sagaing Region and Chin and Kayah states.

Around 320 police officers who defected from the juntas Ministry of Home Affairs after the coup have formed a militia working with anti-regime groups in Kayah State.

Between February to August, around 2,000 soldiers and police officers have joined the CDM, said Peoples Embrace.

Police Captain Khun Aung Ko Ko, who defected after the coup and has been helping other officers defect, recently told Radio Free Asia that around 6,000 police have defected since February.



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Burma Myanmar Capital Hit by Another Bomb Blast at Local Administration Office

Naypyitaw on Feb. 2, a day after the coup / The Irrawaddy

A ward-level administrators office in Pyinmana Township, Naypyitaw was hit by a bomb blast on Sunday evening, local residents told The Irrawaddy. It was the second bombing in the township in a week and the latest in a string of attacks exposing security vulnerabilities in Naypyitaw, Myanmars capital and the military regimes seat of office.

No casualties were reported in Sundays attack on the Yan Aung 2 Ward administration office.

A local resident who asked not to be named for security reasons said the blast occurred at about 5 p.m.

They came by motorbike and threw a handmade bomb. No casualties, the resident said, adding that security forces came and inspected the scene.

On Friday, the Naypyitaw Peoples Defense Force, a civilian armed resistance group, attacked a branch of military-owned Myawaddy Bank with a homemade bomb. The group claimed it killed two security personnel but local residents said there were no casualties.

Security has been tightened in Naypyitaw since the shadow civilian National Unity Government declared war on the junta on Sept. 7, and junta forces have stepped up their arrests of locals, according to residents. Among those arrested is Pyinmana poet and English teacher U Myo Taza Maung, who was charged with incitement under Section 505-A of the Penal Code, which carries a prison term of three years upon conviction.

Early this month, Naypyitaw saw three explosions within a week, including a bloody blast at the Myanmar Police Forces Criminal Investigation Department in which five policemen including a senior officer were seriously wounded, and an explosion at the office of the Directorate of Procurement of the Commander-in-Chief of Defense Services (Army) in Pobbathiri Township. No one was injured in that attack.



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Burma Myanmar Junta Releases Over 5,600 Anti-Coup Protesters

Anti-regime protesters in downtown Yangon in February. / The Irrawaddy

Myanmars military regime released over 1,300 people jailed for participating in anti-coup protests on Monday, while also freeing more than 4,300 detainees who were facing charges for their anti-regime activism.

The amnesty came after coup chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing was excluded on Saturday from an annual Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) leaders summit.

Snr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, who seized power in a February 1 coup, was barred from the summit for failing to fulfil promises made to ASEAN of engaging in dialogue with the juntas opponents and de-escalating the violence in Myanmar.

Some 24 artists and 10 celebrities who were facing lawsuits for their role in anti-regime movements had the cases against them closed as part of the amnesty. But those charged with bombings or destroying public property were excluded from the amnesty.

The 5,600-odd people freed on Monday were warned that if they are re-arrested they will have to serve the rest of their original sentences, as well as any new one. If they commit crimes again, they will have to serve the remaining sentences in addition, said the junta statement accompanying the prisoner release.

In the first week of August, the regime also released a number of detained civil servants, including a few doctors, who had been arrested for their participation in the Civil Disobedience Movement.

However, hundreds of government employees and medics are still detained in prisons nationwide.

On June 30, the regime also released over 2,200 detainees, most of whom had been charged with incitement for joining anti-regime protests.

As of Saturday, 9,028 people, including elected government leaders, have been detained since the coup, while 1,178 people have been slain by junta forces during their raids, crackdowns, arrests, interrogations and random shootings, said the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.



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Burma New Crony Brokers Israeli Aircraft Parts for Myanmar Air Force

Myanmars new crony Dr. Tun Min Latt.

Among Myanmars emerging cronies with deep business ties to the countrys military is Dr. Tun Min Latt of the Star Sapphire Group of Companies who brokered drones and aircraft parts for the Myanmar Air Force.

The company is in partnership with military-owned business conglomerates  Myanma Economic Holdings Ltd (MEHL) and the Myanmar Economic Corporation (MEC)  in numerous ventures, according to sources.

The Star Sapphire Group of Companies made a large donation to Myanmars military following its clearance operations against the Rohingya in Rakhine State during 2017, according to a 2019 United Nations fact-finding mission report.

The military operations caused the exodus of over 700,000 Rohingya and led to accusations of genocide by the international community.

Dr. Tun Min Latt was named in the UN mission report on the militarys economic interests as a significant shareholder in Star Sapphire. He has been important in securing imports of Israeli reconnaissance drones and aircraft parts for Myanmars air force, according to sources.

The report said the conglomerate was one of 45 companies, together with MEHL and MEC, that made donations to the military after the brutal Rohingya clearance operations.

He also brokered land-lease agreements between Hong Kong-listed firm VPower and MEHL to run a liquefied natural gas (LNG) power plant on military land in Thanlyin Township in Yangon, Nikkei Asia reported in May.

The deal was one of the projects invited in 2019 under emergency tender by the National League for Democracy government. The US$297-million, 350-megawatt LNG plant in Thanlyin halted operations in July due to uncertainties over its commercial viability.

Dr. Tun Min Latt is the son of a retired air force lieutenant colonel, U Khin Maung Latt.

U Khin Maung Latt served as a director-general at the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism after 1996 under the previous military regime of Senior General Than Shwe, according to a tour operator who asked for anonymity.

U Khin Maung Latt was known as the longest-serving director-general among tour operators in Myanmar, the source said.

In partnership with Thai investors, Dr. Tun Min Latt runs several hotels in Tachileik, a casino city in Shan State on the Thai border, the tour operator said.

Tachileik is dubbed the capital of the golden triangle, where Myanmar, Laos and Thailand meet and is infamous as the worlds largest heroin and meth hub.



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Burma Political Prisoners Freed by Myanmar Junta Rearrested on Same Day

Family members wait outside Yangon's Insein Prison after a mass amnesty on Tuesday.

Some political prisoners freed by the junta on Monday were rearrested on the same day and charged under the terrorism law, their colleagues said.

Myanmars regime released over 5,600 people, most of whom were arrested and facing trial for participating in anti-junta protests. As of Saturday, more than 7,300 people had been detained by the junta since the coup.

In Mandalay Regions Meiktila town, 11 of 38 political prisoners released were apprehended by police after walking out of Meiktila Prison. Those rearrested were an elected lawmaker from the National League for Democracy (NLD), other NLD members, and political activists including members of the 88 Generation students movement.

NLD sources said on Tuesday morning that the 11 would be charged under sections 50A and 52J of the Counterterrorism Law for attempted terrorism and having contact with terrorist groups. If found guilty, they could be sentenced to up to seven years in prison.

Sources at the Mandalay branch of the NLD said U Lwin Maung Maung, who was elected to the Mandalay regional parliament in 2020 on the NLD ticket, was taken by the police at around 6 p.m. in Mandalay.

I saw Ko Lwin [U Lwin Maung Maung] at the prison gate but police took him to the No. 1 Police Station near Meiktila Prison right after his release and some were arrested before arriving home, said a source who was in front of the prison at the time.

U Lwin Mg Mg was first arrested in late April and charged with sedition under Section 505-A of the Penal Code, which carries a maximum sentence of three years imprisoment.

The Irrawaddy could not reach police for comment.

Mondays amnesty came right after ASEANs exclusion of junta leader Min Aung Hlaing from the groups upcoming summit for his regimes failure to collaborate with the regional blocs efforts to resolve Myanmars post-coup political crisis. The junta said the prisoners were freed on humanitarian grounds, but many believe the amnesty on Monday was the regimes attempt to appease 10-member ASEAN, of which Myanmar is a member.

Previously, the regime announced mass amnesties in February and April.



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Burma Senior NLD Official, Prominent Myanmar Comedian Freed Alongside Activists, Journalists

Detainees are seen following their release from Insein Prison in Yangon on Oct. 19 after the regime's mass amnesty on Monday.

A National League for Democracy (NLD) official and other party members, around a dozen journalists, student activists, a writer, a comedian and a few striking civil servants were among those released under Mondays amnesty order.

Coup leader Min Aung Hlaing on Monday announced the regimes decision to free over 1,300 people jailed for participating in anti-coup protests and more than 4,300 detainees who were facing trial on incitement charges for their anti-regime activism.

The amnesty followed an announcement by ASEAN that Min Aung Hlaing would not be invited to its annual summit later this month after the regional blocs call to end the ongoing violence in Myanmar in April was ignored.

NLD information secretary released

Monywa Aung Shins wife, Daw Kay Thwe Moe, told The Irrawaddy the detained politician returned to the family on Monday evening.

Monywa Aung Shin was arrested by regime forces at his home in Yangons Tamwe Township at around 4:30 a.m. on Feb. 1, the day the junta overthrew the democratically elected NLD-led government.

He was one of around 150 senior NLD leaders and Central Executive Committee members, prominent activists, writers and monks who were arrested on the first day of the coup.

Since then, the whereabouts and condition of the 76-year-old politician had remained unknown to the family until his release.

In an interview with local media outlet DVB news, Monywa Aung Shin said he was kept at a military interrogation center in Mingalardon Township and no charge was filed against him, despite his being detained for over eight months.

Several NLD members and elected lawmakers remain in detention. And some of those who were included on the release list on Monday were rearrested for allegedly having connections with the parallel National Unity Government, its parliamentary committee and the Peoples Defense Force, according to sources.

The junta has brought several charges, from bribery to incitement, against NLD leaders including State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, President U Win Myint, chief ministers and the partys elected parliamentary speakers.

Some journalists freed

As of late Tuesday afternoon, the release of around a dozen journalists had been confirmed. Those included three journalists from Myitkyina Journal, one each from 74 Media and Kachin Wave, three from DVB who were sentenced to prison terms, and three from Mizzima including its co-founder Ma Thin Thin Aung and one reporter from Mon State.

Ko Aung Kyaw, the recently released DVB reporter, said that during his detention he was interrogated and tortured, and also forced to labor in prison, according to DVB.

He was violently arrested on March 1 after he livestreamed police and soldiers shooting at houses and destroying possessions of civilians during their crackdown. He also reported that a pregnant woman in Myeik had been beaten and her home looted by security forces.

He was convicted of incitement and sentenced to two years in June. He said that more than a hundred dissidents remained in Myeik Prison.

Writer, comedian released

Well-known comedian U Zaganar was also released on Monday, according to his friends. The comedian, who was in and out of prison under the previous military regime for his pro-democracy activism following the 1988 uprising, was detained at his home in Tamwe Township, Yangon Region in April. No reason has been given for his abduction this time.

Writer and media trainer Ma Tu Tu Tha and a member of her family who were arrested at their home in Thanlynn Township in Yangon were released on Tuesday. According to local residents, soldiers and police searched her house and arrested four, including her son, brother and one of their friends during an overnight guest inspection.

Activists among the released

According to a local media report, two ethnic Kachin youth political activists, Lum Zawng and Seng Nu Pan, were released from Myitkyina Prison on Tuesday.

Ma Shwe Yupar Linn, Ko Lin Htet, Ko Kyaw Min Tun and Ko Soe Htet Oo from the University Students Unions Alumni Force were also freed from Insein Prison on Tuesday after six months of detention for their anti-regime activism.

Junta tactic

According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), an activist group recording killings and arrests of junta forces, more than 9,000 people have been arrested since the coup.

The group described the detainees release as a tactic of the junta to stop international condemnation.

These releases will not end the coup, the AAPP said in a recent report.

The group called for the unconditional release of State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, President U Win Myint and all political prisoners, and the restoration of the democratically elected leaders to their positions.

As of Oct. 18, at least 1,181 people had been killed by junta forces and 131 had been tortured to death, according to the AAPP.

Action must be taken against those who committed arbitrary arrests and torture. Moreover, the junta must take full responsibility as perpetrators, apologize and institute reparations for those arbitrarily detained and physically and mentally tortured, the AAPP said.

The 5,600-odd people freed under Mondays amnesty were warned that if they are rearrested they will have to serve the rest of their original sentences, as well as any additional sentence. If they commit crimes again, they will have to serve the remaining sentences in addition [to the old one], said a junta statement accompanying the prisoner release.

UN Special Rapporteur Tom Andrews said in a statement released after the announcement of the amnesty that the release of detainees is clearly not because the junta has had a change of heart, but because of the pressure on it.

He urged sustained pressure to deny the junta money, weapons and legitimacy, saying this is the best way the international community can support the people of Myanmar, as the arbitrary arrest and persecution of those exercising their fundamental human rights continues.



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Burma Thousands of Civilians Displaced by Myanmar Military Raids Hit by Floods

Displaced people in Gangaw affected by flooding.

Civilians displaced from their homes by fighting in Gangaw Township, Magwe Region have been hit by floods, according to local sources.

Thousands of displaced residents from Hnan Khar Village, who fled across the Myitthar River after junta raids, have had to abandon their temporary shelters due to severe flooding.

The Myitthar River is swollen due to heavy rain, while the water level in Myitthar Dam is now more than five feet above its spillway.

Hnan Khar village is one of the villages in Gangaw Township that has been severely targeted by the military regime. Troops have looted properties, arrested people arbitrarily and killed civilians during their raids. Around 50 houses were torched during three raids in September, according to a local resident, and the village was also raided in June and August.

Most of the people displaced by the fighting along the Myitthar River are from Hnan Khar Village. When junta troops raided our village, we crossed the river to the opposite bank. There is a sandbank, so we built temporary shelters and stayed there. But we have had to move again as the sandbank has flooded, said a Hnan Khar villager.

The villagers are now in need of food and medical supplies. Other villages along the Myitthar River are also experiencing flooding and residents have been evacuated.

The Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management Ministry of the parallel National Unity Government said heavy rain is expected in Magwe, Mandalay, Sagaing, Bago and Yangon regions from October 22-24.



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Guest Column Myanmar Military Struggles to Adapt to New Kind of Conflict

A local PDF fighter in Kayah State undergoes weapons training. / KNDF

Bomb blasts not only in major cities like Yangon, Mandalay and Naypyitaw, but also in smaller upcountry towns, ambushes on army convoys, gun battles in Magwe and Sagaing regions, and, across the country, assassinations of suspected military informants. While it is too early to describe the violence that has broken out in the Myanmar heartland since the Feb. 1 coup as a full-scale civil war, the military, known as the Tatmadaw, has for the first time in decades had to fight armed rebels in areas far away from the countrys traditional trouble spots in the ethnic-minority-inhabited frontiers. It is an entirely new kind of conflict that the Tatmadaw is not used to fighting and, therefore, incapable of containing. It is, for instance, doubtful whether its intended attacks on the rebel forceswhich amount to indiscriminate firing into inhabited areas because the soldiers are unable to locate themwill have any effect other than further alienating and radicalizing a population that previously only demonstrated peacefully against the coup.

Myanmars new kind of armed conflict differs also in many other respects from the old wars against ethnic rebels in the border areas, as well as the fighting in the heartland in the years immediately after independence from Britain in 1948. Myanmars ethnic insurgents have always been organized along strict military lines, which makes them unique in a global perspective. Unlike rebels in other countries, they are dressed in distinct uniforms with insignia showing their ranks. Myanmars ethnic rebels look more like regular armies and control and administer areas, and have camps complete with barracks, parade grounds and makeshift office buildings.

The Burman militants who after independence resorted to armed struggle against central authorities were not that well-organized. But they also established huge base areas which they governed and from there launched attacks on government positions. That applied to smaller groups like militants from the Peoples Volunteer Organization, a paramilitary force formed by General Aung San after World War II that rebelled after independence, and various bands of mutineers from the Tatmadawbut mainly to the once powerful Communist Party of Burma (CPB).

Communist strongholds attacked

Soon after the outbreak of the civil war in 1948and at that time, it was an all-out civil warthe CPB established strongholds in the Pegu Yoma mountains north of Yangon, in the Irrawaddy Delta, the Arakan Yoma, Tenasserim (now Tanintharyi), and upper Sagaing Division (now region). It was also active in and around Pyinmana, where the party organized farmers in struggles and strikes against landlords and moneylenders. At one stage, the cabinet of the then prime minister, U Nu, was referred to as the Yangon government because it did not control much more than the then capital itself.

Karen rebels battled in the eastern mountains and in the Irrawaddy Delta for independence. In northern Arakan (now Rakhine State), Muslim rebels known as mujaheeds fought for accession to Pakistan (Bangladesh was then the eastern part of Pakistan.) Smaller groups of Karenni and Mon rebels had their own armed bands in areas near the Thai border. Nationalist Chinese, or Kuomintang, forces that had been defeated by the communists in the Chinese civil war, had bases in northern and eastern Shan State from where they tried, unsuccessfully, to re-enter China and foment an uprising against Mao Zedongs government. In the late 1950s, a rebellion broke out among the Shan and, in the early 1960s, the Kachin organized one of the strongest ethnic resistance armies in Myanmar.

While the Tatmadaw never managed to defeat the ethnic rebels in the border areas, it was more successful fighting the CPB. By the late 1950s, the CPBs forces had been more or less contained to the Pegu Yoma with smaller units holding out in the mountains of northwestern Arakan, the jungles of Tenasserim, and the Pinlebu area in upper Sagaing. The Kuomintang, meanwhile, had been driven across the border to Thailand and no longer poses any serious threat to national security. Myanmars communist insurgency would also have been overhad it not been for the Peoples Republic of China.

In 1968, CPB soldiers, of whom many were Chinese Red Guard volunteers accompanied by Burman political commissars, poured across the border with China into northern Shan State. They soon recruited local tribesmen to fight for them and, within a couple of years, a new and very different CPB base area had been established. It encompassed more than 20,000 square kilometers of territory adjacent to China, stretching from Panghsai and Mong Ko in northernmost Shan State, to Kokang and the Wa Hills, and down to the mountains north of Kengtung. The new CPB had its own administration in those areasand was much better armed than the old CPB. During the decade 1968-1978, China poured in more arms, ammunition and other supplies to the CPB than to any other foreign communist resistance movement outside Indochina.

But the CPB never intended to stay in the wild mountains on the Chinese frontier. The plan was to push down to the Pegu Yoma and other strongholds in central Myanmar and, eventually, take over Yangon. The Tatmadaw realized that, and also concluded that it would not be able to defeat the new, well-equipped forces. Hence, the Tatmadaw decided to contain the CPB in the northeast  and to wipe out what remained of the CPB in central Myanmar. In that way, the CPB would never be able to seize power.

That strategy was clever and it worked. The Irrawaddy Delta region and some smaller strongholds were pacified in the late 1960s and early 1970s. A massive offensive was then launched against the Pegu Yoma. The CPB camps there were overrun in 1975 and the civilian population in and around the mountain range was resettled in other parts of central Myanmar. After that, there was no more fighting in the Myanmar heartland against the CPB. Karen rebels who had also been active in the Pegu Yoma and the Irrawaddy Delta lost their bases there as well, and the survivors retreated to the Thai border.

It was only in 1991 that the Karen National Union (KNU) managed to send some troops to re-enter a Karen-inhabited area in the Irrawaddy Delta. Unexpectedly for the Tatmadaw, Karen rebels, who had come from the Thai border, were seen digging trenches and stockpiling guns in the Bogalay area only some 140 km southwest of Yangon. The Tatmadaw responded with fury using newly acquired Chinese aircraft and gunboats. The then commander of the Tatmadaws infantry, General Than Shwe, led the campaign, which was codenamed Operation Storm and led to the KNU troops in the area being eliminatedbut at a heavy price for the civilian population, who suffered badly during the onslaught on the rebels. Villages were bombed and, among those killed, most were ordinary villagers, not insurgents.

Ceasefire with the Wa

After the fall of the Pegu Yoma, insignificant CPB units managed to hold out in northern Arakan and in Tenasserim, but the party had become isolated in its base area in the northeast, where it did not belong and never had any intention of staying. That, in turn, led to a mutiny within the non-Burman, mainly Wa but also Kokang, rank-and-file of the CPBs army in 1989. The old CPB leadership was driven into exile in China while its former forces were reorganized into ethnic armies, the strongest of which became the United Wa State Army (UWSA). But rather than fighting, it entered into a ceasefire agreement with the Tatmadaw soon after the mutiny.

Since then, rather curiously, the UWSA has become stronger and better equipped than the CPB ever wasand its guns and other supplies have been obtained from China. While the UWSA is not doing any fighting on its own, it has shared some of its weaponry with other ethnic armies such as the Shan State Army of the Shan State Progress Party, the Palaung Taang National Liberation Army, the Kokang-based Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, and, to a lesser extent, the Kachin Independence Army (KIA).

Those armies are fighting the Tatmadaw, but the powerful Arakan Army (AA), which has also benefited from UWSA arms supplies, has distanced itself from all other resistance armies in Myanmar. The AA says it wants to regain the independence the old Arakan kingdom lost to the Burman kings when they occupied the area in 1785. With that aim in mind, the AA has not established any liberated areas but, instead, built up a parallel administration in Rakhine State.

That, briefly, was the situation until the Feb. 1 coup. The new Burman resistance fighters are supposed to be organized into a loose alliance called the Peoples Defense Force (PDF). That umbrella organization is considered the armed wing of the National Unity Government (NUG), which was set up by ousted MPs and other politicians after the Tatmadaw staged its coup and formed a junta called the State Administration Council (SAC). But it is uncertain how much coordination there is between the different PDFs and, in addition to those, there is an abundance of other local resistance forces that operate independently. But all in all, the anti-SAC resistance is active mainly in Magwe, Sagaing, Ayeyarwady, Mandalay and Tanintharyi regions, where there has been no heavy fighting for decades. Fighting has also flared up in Chin and Kayah (Karenni) states, ethnic areas which before the coup were the scene of only low-intensity conflicts.

PDF/ethnic alliance

The PDFs in the far north are allied with the KIA, whose soldiers have even accompanied groups of Burman resistance fighters in raids outside the boundaries of Kachin State. By doing so, the KIA is hoping to draw Tatmadaw units away from its besieged bases in Kachin State, a military strategy that seems to have had the desired effect. The Tatmadaw now appears to be gearing up for major offensives in Magwe Region and Chin State, not in the far north.

The outcome of the fight against the PDF is uncertain, as the Tatmadaw cannot employ the same tactics as it did against the CPB. The new-era rebels, unlike the CPB in central Myanmar in the old days, do not have any liberated areas with camps that can be overrun. And they cannot be contained in the border areas because those are controlled by the KIA and other ethnic armies. In rural areas, it is a hit-and-run game while, in the towns, Myanmar is for the first time in history facing urban guerrillasand the Tatmadaw has zero experience of that kind of warfare.

It is also a question of what kind of resources the Tatmadaw can throw into battling this new kind resistance. An offensive in one part of the country could lead to more rebel activity, ethnic as well as Burman, in other states and regions. The Tatmadaw will be stretched thin on many battlefronts at a time when the morale of its troops is already low. Constant ambushes and bomb attacks along roads which only a year ago were considered safe have taken their toll on the soldiers willingness to fightand that applies to all corners of the country. According to local, non-partisan civil organization workers, Tatmadaw units in Karen State have even resorted to reporting phantom battles to their high command in Naypyitaw. They claim that they have captured Karen rebel camps and outposts when no such attacks occurred, and to have been engaged in battles that never took place.

It is impossible to say what the extremely complex situation that the coup has caused will lead to. In the worst-case scenario, it could cause a fragmentation of Myanmar with no one able to hold the country reasonably well together. Dissent within the ranks of the Tatmadaw could also led to coups or coup attempts with extremely uncertain outcomes, even a repeat of the mutinies and chaos that prevailed in the wake of independence in 1948. But gone is the cautious optimism that many, falsely it turned out, felt after the Tatmadaw decided to open up the country in 2011. False hopes on the part of the Tatmadaw because it had not expected the massive rebirth of the National League for Democracyand a development that was misinterpreted by mostly foreign pundits who seemed to believe that the generals had gone through some democratic awakening experience. In the end, it was inevitable that the Tatmadaw would intervene and try to reassert power. We are now experiencing the disastrous consequences of that fateful decision.

Bertil Lintner is a Swedish journalist, author and strategic consultant who has been writing about Asia for nearly four decades.



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Guest Column Myanmars Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement is Dead

Members of an ethnic armed group in northern Shan State. / The Irrawaddy

On the sixth anniversary of the signing of the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) it is worth considering how much can be salvaged from a discredited peace process, when Myanmar is facing multiple conflicts on top of the worlds longest-running and most complex civil war.

Myanmars latest dictator, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, welcomed the sixth anniversary of the NCA with a statement in the same unhinged cadence that has marked his speeches since he seized power in the February 1 coup.

Outlining steps to galvanize the NCA process ahead of the 75th anniversary of Union Day in 2022 he said, In line with a saying goes: when one has been saying nothing, it would be easier to think nothing, it is impossible to stop the peace process primarily essential for the country. Only when relevant organizations are always talking about something and holding negotiation will they always have critical thinking and ideas on how to do improvement(S)ome ethnic armed organizations need to practically review the concepts without fictional thoughts that it does not need to talk with the current government as the latter is not the elected one and that the current government cannot fully implement the peace process.

The NCA was signed on October 15, 2015 between the Myanmar military, the nominally civilian government of President Thein Sein and eight ethnic armed organizations (EAOs).

Only two major insurgent groups, the Karen National Union (KNU) and the Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS), signed on after years of negotiations that started in 2012, alongside six small, almost insignificant armed groups such as the Chin National Front and two splinter groups from the KNU. Two other small armed groups  the New Mon State Party and the Lahu Democratic Union  who were not permitted to join in 2015 were allowed to sign up in 2018.

In retrospect the NCA was a cobbled-together compromise, as well as a concession to Thein Sein for being such a good sport, as his administration was so accommodating to international engagement and investment ahead of what was an almost inevitable victory by the National League for Democracy (NLD) and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. The actual text of the NCA isnt problematic. It was the implementation that doomed the agreement, the skeins of committees, procedures, sequencing, the impossibility of having so many diverse armed groups with quixotic leaders and questionable legitimacy, within a milieu of so many other rapid changes in Myanmar.

Most commentary on the failings of the NCA stresses three core impediments.

First, the Myanmar military was never fully sincere. It agreed grudgingly to the NCA to give credibility to the transition, but felt it had already granted enough concessions just by signing on and discussing federalism. But the military continued to adopt a dual strategy of talking to the EAOs and playing along with the incessant peace process activities, while exhibiting little evidence of changing its behavior in Kachin, Kayin and Shan States, as well as its mass crimes against humanity in Rakhine State. There is probably no better insight to the armys intransigence than the Joint Ceasefire Monitoring Committee (JMC), which swallowed an estimated US$10 million in international funding, a pile of donated cares from China and India, multiple meetings and no peace to show for it. A senior EAO official who attended JMC meetings observed that they were performances of insincerity, not resolution. Snr. Gen. Min Aung Haings approach was to bully, belittle, bluster and belch insults, as he did on the third anniversary of the NCA when he insulted the RCSS leader and the Kachin people, and soon afterwards declare a unilateral ceasefire for perpetual peace. Fighting across Myanmar escalated.

Second, Daw Aung San Suu Kyis NLD government did not treat national peace and reconciliation as a priority. In fact, Suu Kyi thought of peace process matters in two strands. The first was seeking some understanding with the military, it was an accord between Bamar-Buddhist elites, not the ethnic nationalities who had faced crushing discrimination and state violence for seventy years, exacerbated by economic plunder with little development. The second was using her father General Aung Sans standing to re-brand the process as 21st Century Panglong, a form of symbolism that failed to conceal the political insincerity and her disdain for ethnic aspirations.

The peace process during the NLD government was kept on life support to maintain some semblance of progress following the crimes against humanity perpetrated against the Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine State, in which the international community was complicit. That Suu Kyi was blithely unconcerned with the horrific crimes against the Rohingya was obvious, but she also had no sympathy for civilians in conflict zones in Kachin, Shan and Southeast Myanmar. And all of those fine principles espoused by Western donors such as gender inclusion were lost on Suu Kyi whose misogyny was on par with that of the generals, while human rights, accountability and genuine rule of law were largely ignored, something that many Western donors accepted with alacrity.

The third impediment was the internal divisions between the signatories and the exclusion of non-signatories. It became a cliche to dismiss the NCA as not nationwide. Nor was there much cessation of conflict as fighting continued in Shan, Kayin and Kachin States, and increased dramatically in Rakhine and Chin States from the third NCA anniversary in 2018. That the small and largely moribund Arakan Liberation Party was included but not the Arakan Army, which after 2018 became Myanmars deadliest EAO, speaks to the absurdity. Many non-signatories refused to sign the NCA and wanted parallel bilateral initiatives. When the government negotiators stated that acceding to the NCA was a prerequisite and that signing the NCA was walking through a door that led to political negotiations, EAOs heard walk into an ambush. The COVID-19 pandemic generated optimism that the NLD and the military could cooperate with the EAOs on containment measures, but that did not occur. In fact, the army destroyed EAO COVID-19 checkpoints.

The coup gave many, but crucially not all, EAOs a clearer sense of the militarys defiance. The KNU said on 15 October in a statement that the coup has breached all the NCAs principles and implementation and outlined six calls for a resolution of the crisis including cessation of hostilities, end to abuses and provisions for humanitarian assistance. The RCSS claimed that the situation has become so bad that it is impossible to continue implementing the NCA and the Peace Process. In other words, the two most significant EAO signatories think that the NCA is under some form of suspension, and appear unwilling to completely declare its demise.

The Peace Process Steering Team (PPST), a highly-divided assembly of the ten signatories, expressed full support for the establishment of the Committee Representing the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw [and the Federal Democracy Charter in April this year]. But soon after, the divided PPST suggested that the NCA be used as a vehicle of possible mediation, sending a private letter to international signatories and witnesses urging them to support such an idea. While the anti-NCA faction of the KNU thought this was delusional, the more malleable factions have gotten behind the NCA is still breathing delusion. On the sixth anniversary of the NCA, the PPST said in a statement that they uphold the essence of the NCA and commit to continuing a political stance of the peaceful resolution of the current crises. Without diminishing the PPSTs sincerity, one shouldnt question their current irrelevance under the circumstances.

The Euro-Burma office recently released a small report titled Is the NCA Dead?, in which they argue the NCA may be dead but could be reanimated somehow. Argued with insight and reason, this approach is still completely out of step with the conflict realities Myanmar now faces. Why would any of the post-February conflict actors listen to a bunch of old men who have been talking with the Myanmar army for years without making any real progress?

This is not to suggest that the EAOs, the real ones, not the artificially-inflated groups, have no role to play. They certainly do, but the NCA is not the vehicle for this. The dilemma is that dim-witted or desperate decision makers will throw funds at something they perceive might work, including using the NCA signatories. The caravan of international charlatans creeping to Naypyitaw may have ceased, but shoddy ideas will never die.

Now there is an often unacknowledged fourth reason for the failure of the NCA: the political and financial backing of Western donors. The international community must face a harsh reality: the NCA is kaput. The vital signs were weak for years ahead of the coup, and from late 2018 the NCA was comatose. Advanced rigor mortis started in 2020. Decomposition began on February 1. The cause of death was clearly the coup, but the underlying conditions were clearly evident.

Many Western donors were complicit in the artifice of the NCA. The 11-donor Joint Peace Fund (JPF), which closes up after spending tens of millions in Western funding, plus other funds and bilateral funding for peace related support, have little to show for their support for the formal process.

Western donor chicanery on honestly assessing the state of the peace process could be cast in two extreme pathologies: ignorance to the point of criminal negligence or active connivance in a cover-up. This may sound too strong. But another often unacknowledged feature of the failing NCA was that civilians were being killed and abused in ongoing conflict, and many donors downplayed the extent of this. They tacitly exonerated the abuses of the Myanmar army in the interests of engagement, and cynically sustained support for the NLD when Suu Kyis commitment to peace was clearly not there.

Its not just states, there are also a slew of complicit international NGOs involved in the peace-industrial complex who produced shady reports and indemnified analysis to donors to ensure that the cash spigot continued to gush. Western donors who refused to countenance a different course of action financed this make-believe world. Bureaucratic inertia, hubris and misguided optimism are all symptoms of moral cowardice. Regardless of Western donors insistence on aid accountability, there will be no reckoning with the chicanery of many peace process actors such as the JPF.

How can the West actually support peace in Myanmar in more meaningful ways? One approach to avoid is the Great White Man theory of conflict resolution, something that infected the peace process to the point of incapacitation. If any condescending charlatan from South Africa, Switzerland or Scandinavia declares an interest, drive them away. This is not because people from Myanmar will be beguiled by such expertise, as so many were baffled by the pontificating dolts who showed up at workshops, briefings and during study tours. Its because the Western donors paying for these flimflam artists want to promote the transformative interventions of their sage and bathe in reflected glory, reap political and commercial capital, and generally use peace to advance their interests.

This partly explains the allure of Jonathan Powell and his group Inter Mediate. Powell is a negotiator and former chief of staff to former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and the author of Talking to Terrorists [the NCA signatories were removed from the list of terrorist organizations the day before signing: most didnt even know they were listed as terrorists]. Over several years and possibly several million UK Pounds worth of funding, Powell and his colleagues who were based in secret in Naypyitaw have little to show for his shady dealings or his showy study tours with EAO leaders. That detestable war criminal Tony Blair also travelled to Naypyitaw, where he likely felt in fine company with Snr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing after his dealings with Middle Eastern despots. A senior EAO leader told me in 2020 that Powell was resented for getting in the way of negotiations, not facilitating them, and had virtually no use for them [this EAO had not signed the NCA or achieved any peace since Powell showed up, which is as solid a metric as one needs].

Similar sentiments where expressed about the Center for Humanitarian Dialogue, who were seen as meddling, not mediating, and fawning over the military to maintain access to high-level officials for their workshops. The lavishly Western-funded Myanmar Institute for Peace and Security (MIPS) was also treated with suspicion for their subtly pro-Myanmar military reporting. That a senior member of MIPS joined the juntas administration so soon after the coup cannot be dismissed as mere coincidence. The international community had a clear pro-state bias in their approach to peace, and gravitated too close to the senior army leadership.

The Western donors to the process, those who fueled the money pit of the JPF and many other doomed ventures of flawed thinking, should examine their efforts at great length before engaging in any future peace support. The first lesson must be to slow down or suspend support for any process that has stalled or is taking on a clearly-skewed statist stance, as was glaringly obvious after October 2018.

Second, inclusion must be a reality, not rhetoric. To marginalize the actual victims of a conflict is to exacerbate that conflict, and the most acute gauge of the health of a peace process is asking real people who live around men with guns, not some geriatric windbag in the lobby of a luxurious hotel. Office-bound officials become intoxicated around supposedly violent rebels and the thrill of civilizing them, without admitting that most of the ones they engage with are incontinent minor players.

Third, and almost impossible for the mandarins of Western development to countenance, approach other peoples suffering with some humility, empathy and a genuine desire to help. Listen, learn, dont impose and dont believe that throwing money at a problem is synonymous with success. Understanding the nature of the conflict takes time, and isnt helped by incessant comparisons along the lines of, When I was in Nepal [or Afghanistan, Nigeria, or Cambodia], when you cant find Kutkai or Hpapun on a map or constantly make the dim-witted amateur joke that Myanmars proliferation of political acronyms is like the Monty Python skit from the movie Life of Brian. So many peace entrepreneurs spoke incomprehensible nonsense about procedural issues and peace architecture precisely because they didnt know anything about Myanmar. Thats why so many of them believed that the Shan artist Sawangwongse Yawnghwes Peace Industrial Complex 1 (2014) artwork was some secret schematic that explained it all.

It is an absurdist coincidence that just two days before the sixth anniversary of the NCA, the opulent Kempinski Hotel in Naypyitaw closed its doors. So much of the Western experiment with discipline-flourishing democracy was staged from this hotel, including the peace process. Many of its Western guests have already sought fortunes on other foreign shores as Myanmar descends into multiple civil wars. When an inevitable process of peace and reconciliation resumes in Myanmar one of the key characteristics must be the strictly sparing use of foreign carpetbaggers, and all the curdled expertise they retch onto a reality that they care not to comprehend.

David Scott Mathieson is an independent analyst working on peace, conflict, and human rights issues on Myanmar



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Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates appears to have had a history of inappropriate behaviour towards female employees, The Wall Street Journal reports.

In an exclusive report, the newspaper's Emily Glazer wrote that a 2019 report by an engineer about an affair that Gates had with a female employee preceded the co-founder's removal from the board in 2020.

Gates and his wife, Melinda, whom he met while she was a program manager at Microsoft, announced on 3 May they were getting a divorce which was finalised in August.

The WSJ report said executives at Microsoft had discovered emails between Gates and a mod-level female employee in 2008, when he was still employed by the software behemoth. He was flirtatious and propositioned the female employee.

He was told such behaviour needed to stop by the general counsel at the time, Brad Smith, and chief people officer Lisa Brummel and he agreed to stop behaving in such a manager.

The report cited Microsoft spokesman Frank Shaw as saying the company came to know of the flirtatious and propositioning emails  which were sent in 2007  just before Gates stepped down as a full-time worker in 2008.

While flirtatious, they were not overtly sexual, but were deemed to be inappropriate, Shaw was quoted as saying.

Gates' spokeswoman, Bridgitt Arnold, said in a statement: "These claims are false, recycled rumors from sources who have no direct knowledge, and in some cases have significant conflicts of interest."

A female engineer's letter, sent in 2019, alleging a prior sexual relationship with Gates was being investigated by a law firm at the time the Microsoft co-founder left the board in 2020.
Qualcom says its Smart Cities Accelerator Program brings technologies and companies together to collaborate, innovate, and accelerate the rollout of smart cities and smart connected spaces globally.

Cepton https://www.cepton.com believes its presence in this ecosystem aligns with Qualcomm's vision of bringing efficient, safe, and advanced technology to fast-growing urban environments. With its membership, Cepton aims to advance the use of lidar-based solutions with ecosystem members of the Qualcomm Smart Cities Accelerator Program across smart cities and smart connected spaces.

Through the Qualcomm IoT Services Suite, Cepton and one of its key partners in smart spaces, The Indoor Lab, plan to collaborate with Qualcomm in offering Smart Venues as a Service, utilising a lidar-based crowd analytics system which adheres to the privacy concerns and optimises the utilisation of spaces.

Cepton says with its high-accuracy, 3D perception capabilities and 24/7 availability, lidar can enable a wide range of applications to help build safer, smarter, and better-connected environments. Thanks to their anonymised data, lidars maximise protection of peoples privacy as they collect useful information to help drive intelligent decisions in smart cities and smart spaces.

Cepton said it has been working with global partners to enable the transformation of transportation infrastructure, public venues and large commercial facilities using smart lidar solutions. For example, Ceptons partnership with The Indoor Lab deployed a lidar-based crowd analytics solution as a pilot project at an Orlando International Airport terminal in 2020 to offer anonymous foot fall tracking, helping maintenance crews in targeted cleaning and travellers in avoiding crowded areas.

We are proud to join Qualcomm Technologies network of technology innovators through the Qualcomm Smart Cities Accelerator Program as we work to help advance the future of smart infrastructure with our lidar technologies, said Cepton CEO Dr. Jun Pei.

To date, our technology has been successfully used to enable real-time traffic and pedestrian monitoring at road and rail intersections, free-flow electronic tolling systems, critical infrastructure security, and crowd analytics. By joining the Qualcomm Smart Cities Accelerator Program ecosystem, we look forward to making our technologies more accessible on a global scale, Pei said.

Our partnership with Cepton has been invaluable to establish The Indoor Lab as a market leader for lidar-based analytics, said The Indoor Lab co-founder and chief product officer Patrick Blattner.

Last week at the 3rd Annual Qualcomm Smart Cities Accelerate Event, we were proud to showcase our solution and its wide variety of applications to the global Qualcomm Smart Cities Accelerator Program ecosystem, Blattner concluded.

"We are pleased to welcome Cepton as a member of our cutting-edge Qualcomm Smart Cities Accelerator Program. We look forward to working together to bring cutting-edge smart lidar solutions and applications to a variety of urban environments and collaborating to offer Smart Venues as a Service through the Qualcomm IoT Services Suite," said Qualcomm Technologies senior director business development and global head of smart cities Sanjeet Pandit.

This first appeared in the subscription newsletter CommsWire on 12 October 2021.
Companies efforts to attract and recruit from a diverse talent pool are proving more successful than internal efforts to sustain diversity within the organisation, highlighting the complex challenges businesses face in order to build a diverse workforcefrom a junior hire to tenured leadership, according to research by specialised talent solutions provider Robert Half.

The impact of cultural perceptions on hiring agendas and diversity

Despite a significant rise in unemployment levels in 2020, economic recovery is bringing new growth opportunities for businessesleading to companies reinstating roles and increasing staff headcount.

According to the research, when making a hiring decision, almost half (49%) of employers think they are already working with a diverse talent pool.

A similar proportion (46%) state their dominant applicant profile is well-balanced with diverse candidates while 5% think their roles only attract a single dominant applicant profile.

When broken down by industry, one-third of Australian chief information officers are more confident that their available talent pool allows them to grow their teams diversity than their chief financial officer counterpartsjust 1% of CIOs feel their roles attract a similar applicant profile compared to 9% of CFOs.

Total CFO CIO Yes, I am mostly working with a diverse candidate pool 49% 44% 58% Sometimes. There is a balance between a dominant applicant profile and more diverse candidates 46% 47% 41% No, many of the roles attract a similar type of applicant 5% 9% 1%

How diversity has been impacted during COVID-19

The study says that with workforce restructuring comes the opportunity for employers to redress imbalances within their talent pool and improve representation across their workforces with more hiring plans.

In fact, the creation of new roles and refilling vacant or reinstated roles has given businesses the opportunity to increase the diversity in their organisation, according to 45% and 44% of Australian employers respectively.

Corporate diversity, equity and inclusion programs

There is more to building diverse and inclusive workforces than hiring practices alone; it also requires companies to embrace diversity and inclusion in promotion, development, leadership, and team management.

However, the Robert Half research reveals that the existing DEI programs have not had the intended effect for all Australian organisations. While more than four-in-ten (42%) Australian employers agree that corporate diversity, equity and inclusion programs have allowed room for more diversity, a similar proportion of 41% say they have had no impact on their diversity levels. Almost one-in-five (16%) believe they may even have had an adverse effect, questioning the effectiveness of either the development or implementation of some DEI programs.

Our survey results show that proactive hiring efforts can be a game-changer for achieving greater diversity among the workforce, and with significant growth opportunities on the horizon, many businesses are finding themselves at this pivotal moment. However, having the opportunity to hire for newly created roles or re-hiring for vacant roles wont achieve diversity by itself. Businesses must ensure they support their hiring efforts with a culture of inclusivity that values diverse backgrounds and perspectives, comments Robert Half director Nicole Gorton.

With the majority of Australian business leaders believing their DEI programs have had either no impact or a negative one, we see that diversity remains a deeply ingrained and complex structural issue that positive sentiment and intent alone cannot solve, adds Gorton.

To make diversity and inclusion part of the fabric of corporate culture and hiring practices, there are a few key steps businesses should take. Firstly, diversity and inclusion efforts are not a set and forget project  effective programs require an always-on approach to refining and improving efforts in dialogue with employees and external consultants who can review institutional blindspots, suggests Gorton.

Efforts also need to be measured against evolving goals. Culturally, employers should lead by example to ensure the mindset of diversity and inclusion cascades down the organisation. Promoting diverse employees, seeking out diverse voices in decision making, eradicating potential biases, creating a culture of safety when it comes to expressing viewpoints, and communicating the shared benefits of diversity and inclusion are all essential building blocks for successful diversity and inclusion.

Gorton says that the value of a diverse and inclusive workforce is two-fold when successful.

Employees and staff who feel they can actively participate, contribute, and that their views are being heard, they are much more likely to be happier, more motivated and engaged with their work and employer on a deeper level.

At the same time, the resulting improvement to staff retention and productivity gains can be a real boost to an organisations bottom line, concludes Gorton.
The annual cybersecurity report from Acronis has arrived, showing companies, IT managers, remote workers and more seriously struggling with cyber fitness, packing on the security vulnerability kilos after 18 months on the COVID couch in what is a MUST READ report for every modern company.

With the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic continuing to cripple businesses worldwide, with previous Acronis research showing more than 80% of global companies admitted they were not prepared to switch to remote work, with IT infrastructure suffering, 2021 has also proven to be an even bigger security challenge.

Ahead of next weeks Acronis #CyberFit Summit World Tour 2021 kicking off in Miami, Florida on October 25-27 with a hybrid event, the launch of the detailed, 20-page Cyber Readiness Report 2021 has a range of alarming findings that need immediate action to solve.

Candid Wuest, Acronis VP of Cyber Protection Research said: "The cybercrime industry proved to be a well-oiled machine this year  relying on proven attack techniques, like phishing, malware, DDoS and others. Threat actors are increasingly expanding their targets, while organisations are held back by the growing complexity of IT infrastructure.

"Only a small number of companies have taken the time to modernise their IT stack with integrated data protection and cybersecurity. The threat landscape will continue to grow and automation is the only path to greater security, lower costs, improved efficiency and reduced risks."

Some of the key findings of the global report show that:

53% of global companies exhibit a false sense of security when it comes to supply chain attacks  despite cases of Kaseya and SolarWinds

3 out of 10 companies report facing a cyberattack at least once a day. Only 20% of companies reported not getting attacked  a drop from 32% in 2020

The most common attack types at record-high levels this year: phishing attacks  faced by 58% of respondents, malware attacks  36.5%, an increase from 22.2% in 2020

The demand for URL filtering solutions has grown 10 times since 2020  still, only 20% of global companies fully recognize the danger of phishing

Yet, nearly half of IT managers (47%) are not using MFA solutions  leaving their businesses exposed to phishing attacks

The demand for antivirus has grown from 43% last year to 73.3% in 2021, while the demand for an integrated backup/disaster recovery with antivirus solutions more than doubled  from 19% last year to 47.9% in 2021. Time of standalone solutions is over

1 in 4 remote employees reported struggling with the lack of IT support as one of the key challenges they faced this year

1 in 4 remote employees are not using MFA  while 1 in 5 remote employees gets heavily targeted by phishing attacks, receiving well over 20 phishing emails per month.

Here's some more detail:

Attacks growing in volume and sophistication

Three out of 10 companies report facing a cyberattack at least once a day  similar to last year; but this year, only 20% of companies reported not getting attacked  a drop from 32% in 2020, meaning that the attacks are increasing in volume.

The most common attack types reached record-high levels this year, including phishing attacks  that continue to grow in frequency, and are now the top attack type at 58%. Malware attacks are also increasing in 2021: detected by 36.5% of companies this year  an increase from 22.2% in 2020.

However, this year was the year of phishing: the demand for URL filtering solutions has grown 10 times since 2020  with 20% of global companies now recognizing the danger phishing presents to their business.

Despite growing awareness of multi-factor authentication (MFA), nearly half of IT managers (47%) are not using MFA solutions  leaving their businesses exposed to phishing attacks. According to these findings, they either see no value in it or consider it too complex to be implemented.

In response, organisations worldwide have begun to prepare for the growing threats  but for every step companies are taking, cybercriminals have already taken three.

The demand for antivirus solutions has grown by 30%  from 43% last year to 73.3% in 2021. However, companies are just discovering that standalone antivirus solutions no longer work against modern threats: Acronis saw the demand for an integrated backup/disaster recovery with antivirus solutions more than double  from 19% in 2020 to 47.9% this year.

Demand for vulnerability assessments and patch management grew significantly: from 26% in 2020 to 45% this year. This can be attributed, in part, to the increased volume of vulnerabilities exposed this year in critical and in-core software deployments such as Microsoft Exchange servers, Chrome browsers or Apache webservers.

Not surprisingly, the demand for better and more secure remote monitoring and management tools grew over three times  35.7% this year, up from 10% in 2020. With remote work now being recognized as a long-term default format of work, it's more important that ever for IT managers to be able to monitor and manage a wide range of remote devices.

Remote employees make the most attractive targets

These Acronis findings and external research clearly illustrate why organizations need a cyber protection solution that reduces complexity and improves security to support remote work environments, and that this solution must be cost-effective in order to address the increased scale of the remote workforce.

One in four remote employees reported struggling with the lack of IT support as one of the key challenges they faced this year. The top-three tech challenges identified by remote employees globally: Wi-Fi connectivity, using a VPN and other security measures, lack of IT support.

One in four remote employees are not using multi-factor authentication  making them easy phishing targets, with phishing being the most common attack type in 2021.

On average, one in five remote employees gets heavily targeted by phishing attacks, receiving well over 20 phishing emails per month  with 71% of respondents confirming being targeted by it each month. Learning to identify such attacks through cybersecurity awareness training is crucial in keeping organizations protected, and personal assets as well.

Acronis has seen attackers aggressively expanding their target pool  it is no longer just Microsoft Windows OS based workloads  where users reported a spike in attacks against Linux, MacOS, Android and iOS devices as well. Attackers are also going after virtualized environments more often.

Unfortunately, cybercriminals don't need to be tech-savvy to create chaos anymore  take malware for example. Cybercriminal gangs have further expanded their malware-as-a-service model, that provides step-by-step guides on how to make a profit out of compromising targets.

Yet despite the growing dangers for employees, remote work is here to stay; Acronis says people will continue to work and hire remotely, and that's the reality most IT teams still need to get ready for: finding a solution to hardware shortages, increased complexity, an increased need for IT support and better cybersecurity solutions. This is an existential crisis companies must prepare for now  the potential costs for not doing so are just too great.

Platform with deeper industry insights

Remote work is here to stay, and so are increasingly sophisticated cyberattacks. So it's up to both the organization and the individual to follow the best cyber protection practices available.

There is also an APAC regional deep dive document here.

Acronis' report explores in detail:

What new challenges do IT leaders and managers struggle with the most.

What key IT infrastructure vulnerabilities caused the most damage across all industries in the past year.

How many cyberattacks do large businesses, SMBs, and consumers truly face on a daily basis.

What types of attacks cybercriminals favor  and which they will focus on next year.

How ready are employees to switch to permanent remote work  compared to last year.

Acronis conducted an independent research study which surveyed 3,600 IT managers and remote workers across 18 countries, with the findings providing a clear picture of modern cybersecurity needs, how the business world will cope with remote work further, the changed cyber landscape  and how it will evolve from here.

Acronis #CyberFit Summit World Tour 2021:

If you are keen to learn more about cybersecurity pain points and available solutions for businesses, Acronis is holding #CyberFit Summit World Tour 2021 as a hybrid in=person and virtual event, kicking off in Miami, Florida on October 25.

As you'd expect, Acronis says the summit enables you to:

Attend result-focused virtual sessions for free and hear world-class experts explain strategies and deployment options for cyber protection

Enhance your MSP business's cyber protection capabilities with advice from top IT channel, cybersecurity, and industry experts

Hear exclusive case studies of successful, profitable and scaling MSPs and MSSPs

Learn how to grow your business with cybersecurity-forward services

Join hands-on, interactive workshops; insightful panels and breakouts; and inspirational keynotes  while enjoying numerous IT channel networking opportunities.

You can register to attend the Acronis #CyberFit Summit World Tour 2021 virtually here.

The Cyber Readiness Report 2021 is available to download here.
Brett Callow: "Everybody knows the forums are monitored, and that includes the crims."

A seasoned ransomware threat researcher has warned against taking any of the chatter around the disappearance of the Windows REvil ransomware group for a second time seriously, given that the forums on which these posts have appeared are heavily monitored.

Brett Callow, who works with the New Zealand-headquartered security outfit Emsisoft, told iTWire: "Everybody knows the forums are monitored, and that includes the crims. The information they post is likely to be complete bollocks intended to mislead anybody who may be trying to work out what theyre actually up to. Law enforcement, for example."

The website Bleeping Computer, which is something of a specialist operation as far as ransomware is concerned, said the shutdown had taken place after someone hijacked the group's Tor payment leak portal and data leak blog on the dark web.

Reporter Lawrence Abrams said a person known as Dmitry Smilyanets, who works for the threat intelligence firm Recorded Future and also writes for The Record, a website belonging to the company, had found a thread claiming to offer the reason for the disappearance of REvil. The CIA's investment arm, In-Q-Tel is an investor in Recorded Future.

REvil quitting again announcement in GIF form pic.twitter.com/E21W3UOuxn  Kevin Beaumont (@GossiTheDog) October 18, 2021

Inin The Record itself, reporter Catalin Cimpanu quoted Smilyanets without giving any indication about the relationship between Recorded Future and The Record.

REvil went offline in July for the first time, after the ransomware had been used to attack about 60 managed service providers, using a zero-day flaw in the Kaseya VSA remote management software. Kaseya is a solutions developer for MSPs.

Roughly two months later, REvil came back online. There has been speculation that the dark web operations of REvil disappeared in July due to a technical issue. Once the site came back online, it was taken to mean that the operators had been merely lying low.

Pressure on ransomware gangs has increased after a hit on the Colonial pipeline in the US in May by the DarkSide ransomware gang.

That was ramped up further after the Kaseya incident, with US President Joe Biden raising the issue with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, during talks.

The US convened an online meeting of some 31 countries recently to discuss steps to prevent ransomware attacks, but for some unknown reason did not invite either Russia or China.

Many ransomware gangs are based in Russia, but appear to be free to operate provided they do not attack sites within the country.

Callow said he had no clue as to what had happened to take the REvil site offline again. "They could've been taken down as part of an effort by law enforcement, or Team REvil could be pulling a disappearing act in an attempt to scam their partners in crime, or it could be something else entirely," he said.

"What I do know, however, is that comments made in forums by individuals purporting to be members of cyber crime operations should be viewed with extreme scepticism."

REvil has been one of the most prolific ransomware groups since the time when this genre of malware became the top issue affecting network security at companies running Windows.
Online retail giant Amazon has been accused of misleading the government's Committee on the Judiciary about its business practices, in the wake of a Reuters report that the company was copying Indian products and manipulating search results to favour its own products over private Indian brands.

Five members of the Judiciary Committee of the US House of Representatives made the accusation in a letter sent to Andy Jassy, the president and chief executive of Amazon on Monday. The company has not made any public statement about the accusations.

"We write in response to recent, credible reporting that directly contradicts the sworn testimony and representations of Amazons top executives  including former CEO Jeffrey Bezos  to the Committee about their companys business practices during our investigation last Congress," the letter said.

A Counsel for Amazon told me that the company does NOT, use any specific seller data when creating its own private brand product.



Reports have revealed that was a lie: they DO access and use data on third-party sellers. Amazon must be held accountable.https://t.co/rKjNl4JTAH  Rep. Pramila Jayapal (@RepJayapal) October 18, 2021

"At best, this reporting confirms that Amazons representatives misled the Committee. At worst, it demonstrates that they may have lied to Congress in possible violation of federal criminal law."

The five are Jerrold Nadler, chairman of the Judiciary panel; David Cicilline, chairman of the Sub-committee on Anti-trust, Commercial and Administrative Law; and Ken Buck, Pramila Jayapal and Matt Gaetz, all ranking members on the same sub-committee.

The five said the matter was "serious" and gave Jassy until 1 November "to provide exculpatory evidence to corroborate the prior testimony and statements on behalf of Amazon to the Committee".

"We strongly encourage you to make use of this opportunity to correct the record and provide the Committee with sworn, truthful, and accurate responses to this request as we consider whether a referral of this matter to the Department of Justice for criminal investigation is appropriate."

The Reuters report, by Aditya Kalra in New Delhi and Steve Secklow in London, examined thousands of internal documents from the company. It said the copying and rigging of search results was systematic and part of a formal strategy employed by the company.

"...thousands of pages of internal Amazon documents examined by Reuters  including emails, strategy papers and business plans  show the company ran a systematic campaign of creating knockoffs and manipulating search results to boost its own product lines in India, one of the companys largest growth markets," Kalra and Secklow wrote.

"The documents reveal how Amazons private-brands team in India secretly exploited internal data from Amazon.in to copy products sold by other companies, and then offered them on its platform.

"The employees also stoked sales of Amazon private-brand products by rigging Amazons search results so that the companys products would appear, as one 2016 strategy report for India put it, 'in the first 2 or three  search results' when customers were shopping on Amazon.in."

The Judiciary Committee's letter cited the Reuters report as providing "one example, [where] Amazon replicated a popular brand of shirts, copied the measurements of the shirt 'down to the neck circumference and sleeve length', and then partnered with the manufacturer of the product to produce a version of similar quality".

"As Amazons internal document noted, 'It is difficult to develop this expertise across products and hence, to ensure that we are able to fully match quality with our reference product, we decided to only partner with the manufacturers of our reference product'," the five US politicians said.

They emphasised that this was not a rogue report, saying that similar stories had appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The Markup and The Capitol Forum.

Jassy was ordered to produce the following by 1 November:
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Dominion Energy Virginia, State Corporation Commission Staff, Office of Attorney General, and Other Parties File Comprehensive Rate Settlement Agreement That Provides Significant Customer Benefits
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Partly cloudy skies this morning will become overcast during the afternoon. High 56F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph..

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This question of compensation, it is not and should not be a gift. In the spirit of the Commission, it is an obligation. Jean-Marc Sauve did not mince his words during the presentation of the report that bears his name on October 5 in front of French bishops. Standing on the dais before the president of the Independent Commission on Sexual Abuse in the Church (Ciase), Francois Devaux, a victim and founder of the association La Parole liberee (now dissolved) pointed at the bishops and declared: You must pay for all these crimes!

In a shocked France, reparation for the hundreds of thousands of victims of sexual abuse within the Church appears non-negotiable. This reparation is very important, says Brother Michel Laloux, head of the Franciscan congregation and member of the Conference of Religious Orders of France (Corref), which initiated Ciase along with the Conference of Bishops of France. Even if the victims do not want financial compensation, which could signal the Church buying their silence, a sum of money could be symbolic for them in recognition of the facts, he specifies.

In concrete terms, says Jean-Marie Burguburu, a lawyer and member of Ciase, this sum could reimburse part of the expenses incurred by a victim for psychotherapy or psychoanalysis over a long period of time, compensate for the loss of a job because of health problems due to a secret that was too heavy to bear and reimburse legal expenses.

Given the diversity of the victims backgrounds, they will have to come forward individually and claim what they feel is their due, says Jean-Marie Burguburu. The Commission rejects the idea of a lump sum, but recommends individualizing the calculation of the compensation owed to each victim and favouring a calculation method that takes into account the harm suffered rather than referring to categories.

How much will it cost? The reports figure of 330,000 victims (alive at the time of writing) of sexual assaults by clerics, priests, and laity practising in the Church (from 1950 to 2020) is a floor figure, in other words the tip of the iceberg. Even with the best will in the world, it is very difficult to put a figure on the reparations. But it is already huge that the report insists on the need for the Church to make individual reparations, says Jean-Pierre Massias, president of the Francophone Institute for Justice and Democracy.

The abuser and their institution must pay

The compensation of victims, the Sauve report recommends, should be handled by an independent body, external to the Church which will have the triple mission of receiving the victims, offering mediation between them and the aggressors (if they are still alive and if they agree to take part in the process) and the institutions to which they belonged at the time of the aggression, and of arbitrating the differences. This body has not yet been set up. Its creation is expected to be on the agenda of the General Assembly of the Bishops of France, which will be held from November 3 to 8 in Lourdes (southern France).

On the financing of reparations, the report is clear, indicating that they must come from the patrimony of the aggressors and the Church of France. The Corref, which groups about 400 religious congregations, specifies that it will propose concrete actions. We are sure of one thing: compensation must be paid by the institution to which the aggressor belongs. If the institution in question no longer exists, there will be a fund to which the victim can make a claim, says Brother Laloux.

At least two billion euros

According to the Conferences external relations department, the bishops are currently studying the report and will not be able to express themselves on the subject [of reparations] until the end of the Plenary on November 8. In July 2021, the bishops of France already created the Selam fund for relief and the fight against abuse of minors with bishops personal money and donations. This fund aims to collect 5 million euros in a first phase, according to the French Bishops Conference. This contradicts the Sauve report, which clearly rules out appealing for donations from the faithful and making the financing collective.

With such amounts we are very far from whats necessary, says Olivier Savignac, spokesman for the victims association Parler et revivre. If you take the reports estimate of at least 330,000 victims [in France], it would take at least two billion euros if we wanted to compensate all victims with between 5,000 and 10,000 euros, calculates Savignac, who calls on each diocese to put aside at least 5% to 10% of its real estate even if that means some dioceses might go bankrupt. Devaux, for his part, is calling for an audit of the Churchs own funds.

There are precedents in other countries following similar commissions. The amount attributed to victims in Belgium was 4.6 million euros, in Germany 10.3 million, in the Netherlands 27.8 million, and it exceeded 4 billion dollars for the American Church (leading to the bankruptcy of the diocese of Boston).

On this question of financing, Ciase does not go any further. Our job was to take stock of the situation, says Burguburu. The situation is now in the hands of the Conference of Bishops of France. They must first get to grips with the report, to understand the drama and make the right choices.

Symbolic acts and profound changes

Financial reparation cannot be without a humble acknowledgement of responsibility on the part of the Church authorities for the faults and crimes committed in its midst, the report states. When questioned by Ciase, victims asked for more symbolic reparations, including public ceremonies, church services remembering the suffering inflicted or a memorial to the victims and their suffering. When asked by Ciase, Savignac stressed the need for a memorial process of public recognition of the acts and deeds committed by the Church, which could be through a law similar to the one of January 29, 2001 on recognition of the Armenian genocide. According to him, this would make it possible to consider the victims as a whole; today only one or two victims out of ten can expect a trial. In addition to the report, a literary memorial, a collection of victims words entitled From Victims to Witnesses, has already been published.

It is very important that this work has taken place and that victims are asking for an official apology and recognition of the deep and serious problem of sexual abuse in the Church, says international jurist Anna Myriam Roccatello, deputy executive director of the International Center for Transitional Justice. Uncovering such a repressed, denied truth may change the system of power that has allowed those in positions of responsibility to rape and abuse those who are not.

Nadia Debbache, former lawyer for the association La Parole liberee which brought together victims of Father Preynat during his trial in March 2020, doubts the capacity of the Church to make reparation. If you have listened carefully, since the report was handed over Church leaders have never used the terms responsibility or reparations, but rather financial contributions. Its an indicator, a very bad one, that the Church is not ready, she says.

Bishop Eric de Moulins-Beaufort, president of the French Bishops Conference, expressed to the victims his shame, his shock and his determination to act with them so that the refusal to see and hear, the will to cover up the facts disappear from the Church. But a few hours later, in an interview with France Info, he added that the confidentiality of Confession is superior to the laws of the Republic. This remark is symptomatic of the state of mind of this Church hierarchy, laments Debbache, who promises she will continue to be at the side of victims, who are likely to come forward after the publication of the report.

How many will they be? What will they receive, and when? Reparations will take time, but the Ciase report has put the Churchs back against the wall.
Investigations into claims of abuse by British troops in Iraq have closed without a single prosecution being brought, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said on Tuesday.

Allegations against British soldiers who served in the conflict  and elsewhere around the world  have dogged the government and military.

But in June last year, an independent investigator looking into claims of war crimes between 2003 and 2009 said all but one of the thousands of complaints had been dropped.

In a written statement to parliament, Wallace said 178 allegations had been formally pursued through 55 separate investigations, but no soldiers had been prosecuted.

In all, 1,291 allegations were assessed since July 2017 and the body responsible, the Service Police Legacy Investigations (SPLI), had officially closed its doors.

The vast majority of the more than 140,000 members of our armed forces who served in Iraq did so honourably, Wallace said.

The SPLI was set up to replace the Iraq Historic Allegations Team after a lawyer who had submitted a slew of cases was struck off for misconduct and dishonesty.

Wallace said some allegations were credible but others were not, and investigating them all posed a significant challenge, including in collecting evidence.

Not all allegations and claims were spurious, otherwise investigations would not have proceeded beyond initial examination and no claims for compensation would have been paid, he added.

It is sadly clear, from all the investigations the UK conducted, that some shocking and shameful incidents did happen in Iraq.

We recognise that there were four convictions of UK military personnel for offences in Iraq, including offences of assault and inhuman treatment.

The governments position is clear  we deplore and condemn all such incidents.

In February 2005, three soldiers were jailed for between 20 weeks and two years by a court martial for abusing Iraqi civilians at a camp near Basra in southern Iraq in 2003.

In 2007, a soldier was jailed for a year in connection with the death of Iraqi hotel receptionist Baha Mousa, who was beaten while held in custody by British troops in 2003.

The Ministry of Defence has paid out a total of more than 20 million ($28 million, 24 million euros) in compensation settlements for abuse claims from Iraqi nationals.

Wallace said: I apologise unreservedly to all those who suffered treatment at the hands of UK forces, which was unacceptable.
Election time is almost here, and one small business owner says she hopes residents vote yes on amendments one and two to help small businesses see sales tax collection improved.

"Louisiana is one of two states in the United States that does not have a streamlined tax reporting system."

Abform Workwear has been in business for 40 years. Owner Elizabeth Abdalla's company specializes in creating uniforms for businesses in all sixty-four parishes in Louisiana. "I sell uniforms to emergency medical services to utility services. To oil and gas industry and just anyone looking for career apparel."

Abdalla is one businessowner asking voters to vote yes on amendment one in november because the current sales tax causes difficulty for small businesses in Louisiana. they have to report each sale to different tax collectors, which becomes time-consuming.

"You could be on one side of the street, pay one percentage, be on the other side of the street, pay a different percentage. nobody really knows what they percentages are. It's a very intense duty for small business owners."

Currently the Louisiana department of revenue collects a state sales and use tax at 4.45% while local governments collect their own sales taxes.

She says businesses have to file sales taxes with more than 50 local tax collectors, with each parish assigning a collector, while most states have just one. "If we had the streamline, we would just remit to one entity, and they would trickle down the taxes to the different divisions."

Abdalla says that voters passing the amendment would be a big help for small businesses in the state, "Everyone knows how hard it is to be a small business, working in this business environment. So if everyone can go out and vote yes, we would certainly appreciate it as a small business owner."

If passed by voters on November13, the amendment would still need implementing as statutory legislation to go into effect and to outline the new system further.
Student Housing at the University of Kansas has finalized its plan to move forward in the demolition of Oliver Hall and has released further details about how the project will proceed. The demolition is expected to begin in May 2022, however this date is subject to change.

Since the demolition of Oliver Hall was approved in May 2020, little has changed. The project is still expected to cost $2.2 million and will be funded by Student Housing and Transportation Services Funds at KU, according to KUs request for authorization from the Kansas Board of Regents this September.

This past summer, KU Student Housing began a small pre-demolition, demolishing Olivers connections to surrounding halls, said Sarah Waters, director of KU Student Housing.

There was a hallway link that connected the South Commons dining area to Oliver and we did demolish that this summer," Waters said. "We had to demolish that to be able to finish all the disconnects inside the old Oliver complex. The infrastructure and the electrical systems were all tied together. We also completed abatement there to get all the asbestos out.

KU Student Housing and the Facility Planning Department finalized plans regarding the demolition approach of Oliver Hall, Waters said.

When the building itself starts to demolish, the current plan is that it will be mechanically taken down with large pieces of equipment," Waters said. "It will not be imploded and it will likely not even be a wrecking ball. The engineering firms have looked at it and theyre recommending the best way is to take it down in sections.

KU Student Housing has not sent the plan to be bid amongst demolition firms and when this will occur is unknown, Waters said.

There are many qualified firms that might bid on the project, but I am unable to specifically name them due to procurement guidelines, Waters said. But since we havent confirmed when the project will officially begin, we dont have a timeline of when it will be put out to bid.

Student traffic and safety in the area surrounding Oliver Hall affects when and how the demolition will be conducted, Waters said.

Based on how busy the area of 19th and Naismith is, KU Student Housing understands the Oliver demolition itself has to be a summer project, said Waters. There will be fencing that has to go up. We have to obviously be really intentional about safety.

Waters said the May date was decided on due to a decrease in student populations on campus going into the summer months. As for plans after the demolition, the land underneath Oliver Hall is intended to become a lawn area, Waters said.
Alex Murdaugh waived an extradition hearing in Florida on Friday, according to the Orange County Corrections office, and returned to South Carolina a day later to face charges related to the misappropriation of settlement funds in connection with the 2018 death of his family's longtime housekeeper.

He was booked into the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center in Columbia, according to Richland County, South Carolina, online records.

The waiver of extradition, provided by Orange County Corrections, said Murdaugh agreed to "waive the issuance and service [warrant] and all other procedures incidental to extradition proceedings," and agreed to remain in custody without bail.

South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson announced Friday Murdaugh's bond hearing on charges of obtaining property by false pretenses will take place on Tuesday, October 19 at the Richland County Courthouse in Columbia.

Murdaugh was out on bond on an insurance fraud case and was in a drug rehabilitation facility in Orlando, Florida, when he was arrested on Thursday on charges related to misappropriation of settlement funds.

The housekeeper's death

The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, or SLED, announced in mid-September it was opening a criminal investigation into the death of Gloria Satterfield, Murdaugh's former housekeeper. SLED launched the investigation after a request from the Hampton County coroner highlighting inconsistencies in the ruling of her manner of death, as well as other information gathered during other investigations involving Murdaugh.

Satterfield worked for the Murdaughs for 25 years and died following what was described as a "trip and fall" accident at the Murdaugh home in 2018, said Eric Bland, an attorney for Satterfield's estate.

In its request to SLED, the coroner's office wrote Satterfield's death was "not reported to the coroner at the time, nor was an autopsy performed." Her death certificate notes the manner of death was "natural," which the coroner wrote was "inconsistent with injuries sustained in a trip and fall accident."

After Satterfield died, a $500,000 wrongful death claim was filed against Murdaugh on behalf of her estate, Bland told CNN. The estate has not received any of the money owed as the result of a 2018 civil settlement, according to Bland.

In September, Bland filed a lawsuit against Murdaugh on behalf of Satterfield's estate, seeking the money they say they are due.

Bland released a statement Thursday on behalf of Satterfield's children -- Tony Satterfield and Brian Harriott -- in relation to Murdaugh's arrest.

"Today is a bittersweet day for the Satterfield and Harriott Families," Bland's statement read. "The families and their attorneys are proud of how our justice system has conducted itself since the family had the courage to file its initial lawsuit ... no one is above the law."

Other cases

Thursday's arrest represents the latest legal and personal challenge for Murdaugh, who survived being shot in the head in September and, authorities said, then admitted the shooting was a conspiracy with a former client to kill him as part of a fraud scheme so his only surviving son could collect an insurance payout.

Medical records released by Murdaugh's attorney show he was taken to Memorial Health University Medical Center in Savannah, Georgia, following the shooting and was discharged two days after being admitted.

The documents show Murdaugh called EMS himself and arrived in a trauma bay "awake and alert."

A "head to toe examination ... revealed two superficial appearing bullet wounds to the posterior scalp with no active hemorrhage," the records say, noting he had no other signs of trauma.

Authorities have said several other investigations related to the Murdaugh family are underway, including into the June deaths of Murdaugh's wife and other son, who were gunned down at their family estate in Islandton.

The-CNN-Wire

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MEDFORD, Ore.  With the deadline for Oregon's COVID-19 vaccine mandate at hand as of Monday morning, a representative for southern Oregon hospital system Asante said that the situation remains "fluid" with their figures changing by the hour, but the medical provider has adopted a policy that keeps all unvaccinated workers home effective immediately.

Lauren Van Sickle, senior public relations specialist at Asante, said that roughly 88% of Asante's workforce had provided proof of vaccination by Monday morning, representing about 5,400 staff of the more than 6,000 total in their workforce. Another 175 are in the process of becoming fully vaccinated, and the vaccination status of nearly 300 more workers is still being verified.

"We're finding that every hour we're getting updates from employees who have been vaccinated but who have not yet turned in their information ... so we're finding that it could change by the hour, even by the minute, as to the number of employees who are vaccinated," Van Sickle said.

About 490 Asante workers have received a valid religious or medical exception, Van Sickle said. However, the exception does not represent a pass for normal work status at Asante, with or without regular COVID-19 tests. Of those employees with exceptions, 123 are now working remotely, and the others have been placed on administrative leave.

Workers on leave still receive their benefits and earned time off, such as vacation and sick leave, but the leave is not otherwise paid.

RELATED: Asante will close two of its urgent care clinics

Van Sickle said that Asante has not terminated the employment of anyone not in compliance with the mandate, but there have been 58 resignations connected to the requirement. She also indicated that the end of October will be a demarcating line for employees on leave to have either become fully vaccinated or prove significant progress toward that status, with termination of employment likely for those who do not.

"Right now we're at the point where, if they're not vaccinated, then there's a period of time where  through the end of October  they will either become fully vaccinated or start their series of vaccinations," Van Sickle said. "So it's kind of a really fluid number right now and we just don't have a firm idea of the total number of employees who will still be with our health system come the end of the month."

Traveling nurses and other contracted healthcare staff are not exempted from the requirement. The Oregon Health Authority's rule applies to "any individual paid and unpaid, working, learning, studying, assisting, observing or volunteering in a healthcare setting providing direct patient or resident care or who have the potential for direct or indirect exposure to patients, residents, or infectious materials."

Van Sickle expressed dismay about the change in temperature between the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic and now  how healthcare workers and first responders were hailed as heroes for working to save lives in the face of the unknown, and now face an environment of anger and hostility surrounding COVID-19 and the vaccine.

"We appreciate the support that Asante's received from the community, for those caregivers who have stayed," Van Sickle said. "Patient safety really is our priority and we want to make sure when you come here that you're as safe as possible, and that means our workforce needs to be vaccinated to make sure that we're not infecting anybody who comes into our hospital for any purpose."

A spokesperson for Providence Medford Medical Center said that the hospital system in southern Oregon had a compliance rate of 96% as of Monday morning, which includes healthcare workers that are fully vaccinated or have received an exception.

"Again, we are grateful that the vast majority of our caregivers have received their vaccinations," said Julie Denney, senior communication manager at Providence. "This number changes daily as caregivers either get vaccinated, receive an approved exemption, or new caregivers join the organization and have yet to upload their vaccination information."

Unlike Asante, Providence did not indicate that workers who were granted exceptions have been placed on leave or transitioned to remote work. Caregivers who have taken no action to either prove vaccination status or receive an approved exception "will be taken off the schedule and placed on unpaid administrative leave."

The Jackson County Board of Commissioners declared a state of emergency at the end of September, anticipating mass staffing losses in education and healthcare due to enforcement of the mandate. While Asante's policy on exceptions mean that it has sidelined a not-insignificant number of employees, the news so far from local school districts and other impacted entities suggests that the fears of major upheaval were unfounded.

NewsWatch 12 spoke with several local fire agencies on Monday to see how they were faring with employees covered by the mandate. Jackson County Fire District 3 said that 99% of employees had either been vaccinated or turned in an exception. Rural Metro Fire in Josephine County, while loathe to detail specific numbers, said that they would not be losing anyone due to the mandate.

While not all firefighters are covered by the vaccine mandate, those licensed through the OHA as an emergency medical services provider (EMSP) were included in the mandate. Police officers were not covered by the mandate, with the exception of state employees like those with Oregon State Police.

NOTE: This article has been edited with updated figures from both Asante and Providence, as well as info from first responder agencies.
KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. -- The Family Farm Alliance aims to protect water for Western agriculture and describes itself as a powerful advocate before the government for family farmers, ranchers, irrigation districts, and allied industries in 17 Western states. The drought-stricken Klamath Basin is one area that they've identified as needing legislative change.

The alliance says it has this goal to ensure the availability of reliable and affordable irrigation water needed to produce the worlds food, fiber, and fuel.

"We developed some written testimony," said Daniel Keppen, executive director of the Family Farm Alliance. "We asked Senator Barrasso and Senator Kelly to include it in the hearing record, which they did, and they actually discussed our testimony at the hearing."

The comprehensive 27-page testimony by the alliance covered everything from key concerns from members of the alliance, to what can be done to mitigate future droughts.

The key concerns included are water infrastructure, water management, wildfire disasters, and lack of collaboration between farmers and the government.

In terms of water infrastructure, Keppen said, "When people talk about infrastructure, water infrastructure isn't talked about very much. Usually it's railroads and ports and transportation, highways, and bridges. When they do talk about water back in D.C., a lot of times, it's drinking water."

The alliance says water infrastructure is needed to protect future water supply reliability. With water management in the west believed to be "too inflexible," the alliance is looking at how the Western United States can manage environmental demands for the limited water resources to places like Californias Central Valley Project, the Klamath Project, and the Columbia River Basin, where each faces regulatory droughts."

"A group of us created a coalition to draw attention to our types of water, because we had a sense that there would be a very big stimulus package developed by congress, which is what we're seeing right now."

Keppen tells NewsWatch 12 that some aging areas of agricultural infrastructure, including the Klamath Irrigation Project, are over 100 years old.

"We don't have the funding resources like we used to, to take care of that aging infrastructure."

The proposed solutions include investing in Western water infrastructure.

Keppen tells NewsWatch 12 that a package the coalition developed was included in a bi-partisan senate bill that passed earlier this summer, with $8.3 billion that could go toward new water storage, improved conveyance facilities, groundwater recharge, water conservation, water management improvements, water reuse, and desalination.

A large part of the drought in the United States is the toll that it has taken on the country's ability to maintain food independence. While the Family Farm Alliance says the country should be responsible for providing a healthy, abundant, and transparent food supply, it says it is also a matter of national security.

On Wednesday, September 20, some representatives of the Family Farm Alliance will share their own testimonies for the second part of the hearing on the Colorado River Drought Conditions and Response Measures held by the Subcommittee on Water, Oceans, and Wildlife.
MEDFORD, Ore. -- The FDA is in talks about allowing Americans to get a different booster shot than their initial vaccine, if they choose to. Even with an FDA recommendation, nothing can be done without CDC approval.

According to the Associated Press, the FDA announcement is likely to accompany authorization of boosters for the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines. The Pfizer vaccine was authorized for booster shots among many Americans last month. The FDA may say that sticking with the same vaccine is still preferrable.

The CDC will meet Wednesday, which will hopefully provide either some clarity, or news of approval.

To look at this from the local level, Newswatch 12 reporter Hailey Gravitt asked Jackson County health officer Dr. Jim Shames what he thinks will come of mixing booster shots here in Southern Oregon.
MEDFORD, Ore.  In a letter to Governor Kate Brown and state officials approved last week, the Jackson County Board of Commissioners asked for assistance from the Oregon National Guard in cracking down illegal marijuana production in the area. But a response from the Governor's office suggests that the help is unlikely to come anytime soon.

Jackson County declared a state of emergency last Wednesday, in part as a vehicle to lobby the state for funding that could translate into more law and code enforcement personnel to deal with the rapid escalation of unlicensed marijuana grows and local authorities' inability to respond quickly enough.

Commissioner Rick Dyer confirmed on Monday that they'd also asked the Governor for National Guard support, which was first reported by the Associated Press.

In a statement NewsWatch 12, Governor Brown's press secretary Liz Merah indicated that Brown agreed with the commissioners' assessment of the severity of the problem, but would not be able to commit more resources until next year.

RELATED: Jackson County task force raids illegal marijuana grow and processing center near Medford

Merah cited Brown's support of House Bill 3000, one of the most recent legislative efforts to combine state and local resources in cracking down on unlicensed cannabis, and the creation of a multi-agency team to work on implementing it.

"This team has been hard at work in the region during harvest season," Merah said. "Additionally, and after conversations with local leaders, the Governor directed OSP to specifically dedicate additional resources to multi-agency operations."

Brown also authorized doubling the size of cannabis-related law enforcement grants for the region, Merah said, but those funds won't come through until just prior to the 2022 growing season.

The Oregon National Guard does already have a presence on several drug enforcement teams in southern Oregon, Merah said  although it likely does not represent the kind of investment in personnel that Jackson County has requested. One full-time National Guardsman is embedded each with the OSP Marijuana Task Force based in Medford, the Homeland Security Investigations Medford office, and with the Klamath County High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area task force.

Merah said that this year the Oregon Military Department also has an aviation program with two pilots who have flown missions in support of law enforcement agencies.

"The message is clear  Oregon is not open for business to illegal cannabis grows," Merah continued. "These are criminal enterprises that deplete water resources while our state is in drought, hold their workforce in inhumane conditions, and severely harm our legal cannabis marketplace."

Guardsmen are unlikely to be mobilized in force to southern Oregon on marijuana enforcement duty this year for two reasons, Merah said: first, because many of them have already been deployed to support hospitals during the COVID-19 Delta variant surge; and because the current growing season is already essentially over.

"The Governor remains concerned about the situation and will continue to monitor what resources might be needed for the 2022 growing season," Merah concluded.
GRANTS PASS, Ore.  Coronavirus cases in southwest Oregon have been trending downward for weeks after peaking in the midst of the late-summer Delta variant surge. In spite of those trends, Josephine County Public Health called for renewed caution on Tuesday, noting that cases rose again last week  marking the end of a 7-week decline.

For the week ending October 16, Josephine County Public Health reported 149 new cases of COVID-19 among residents, up from 137 the week before. Before last week, the number of cases each week had been dropping progressively from the high of 876 reached during the week of August 15 through 21.

Public Health officials said that this should serve as a reminder that COVID-19 is still spreading in the community  and while mitigation strategies like wearing masks and social distancing help, receiving a free vaccination is the best way to protect residents and their families.

Coronavirus Watch: Jackson County surpasses 300 deaths attributed to COVID-19

Vaccination is the strongest tool we have available and requires only intermittent effort; I know that masks, physical distancing and limiting social gatherings are ongoing efforts that can get tiring, said Dr. Leona OKeefe, JCPH deputy health officer. Unfortunately, COVID-19 does not pay attention to how tired we are with it, so we must continue our efforts to limit its spread for the sake of protecting our community, especially when we are in a time of high transmission, such as now.

In Josephine County, COVID-19 cases declined by 20% during the week of October 3 through 9 and increased by 8% the following week. JCPH said that more than 65% of local COVID-19 cases are younger than 50, and 31% of hospitalized cases are younger than 60.

COVID-19 was a top-10 cause of death in the United States for all age groups in August and September of this year, OKeefe said, and it was the number-one cause of death in those age 35-54 for the same time period. That same age group represents the highest rate of infection in Josephine County.

As of Oct. 18, 57.9% of Josephine County residents aged 18 and older had received at least one COVID-19 vaccine.

Josephine County residents can visit the county public health website to schedule an appointment for vaccination, or call the Josephine County COVID-19 Call Center at (541) 916-7030 to ask questions, schedule a vaccine appointment, or schedule a testing appointment.
GRANTS PASS, Ore.  Deputies from the Josephine County Sheriff's Office arrested a Grants Pass-based realtor on Tuesday in connection with the black market marijuana trade that has rapidly expanded in southern Oregon within the last several years.

According to Sheriff Dave Daniel, his agency had been investigating a broker employed with RE/MAX in Grants Pass who had allegedly conducted more than two dozen transactions related to property used for illegal marijuana operations.



File photo of marijuana seized during the raid of a black market processing operation. File photo of marijuana seized during the raid of a black market processing operation.

Sheriff Daniel said that, over the space of several years, the realtor had transferred ownership of properties from individuals to LLCs in order to cover illegal activity. Detectives are also looking into potential money laundering.

Investigators served search warrants on Tuesday at a residence in Rogue River and the brokerage office in Grants Pass.

41-year-old Tyra Polly Ann Foxx was booked into the Josephine County Jail on Tuesday on charges for Unlawful Manufacture of a Marijuana Item, Hindering Prosecution, Tampering With Physical Evidence, and Forgery in the First Degree. She posted bail later the same day.

Foxx has yet to be arraigned or indicted in court.

As both Josephine and Jackson counties work to crack down on illegal marijuana grow operations, they differ somewhat on how they approach the issue. Jackson County recently asked Governor Brown to bring in the National Guard. But Sheriff Daniel said that he does not think that is the answer.

Daniel says, for one, he doesn't think Governor Brown would active the National Guard for this purpose. Meanwhile, recent state assistance and the prospect of federal aid could help Josephine County address the situation on their own terms. Daniel said that the recent passage of House Bill 3000 will support the county's efforts by doubling the size of the Josephine Marijuana Enforcement Team (JMET).

"I was on a Zoom call yesterday with Congressman Cliff Bentz who is going to be speaking with the Attorney General," Daniel said. "I asked for assistance in the form of investigative support, I asked for the DEA to become more involved  as of right now they have not been  I have asked for the IRS assistance in investigations to be more active into money laundering, into where it's going and how it's getting there."

According to Sheriff Daniel, the problem is not a local one so much as an international one.

"We have cartel-type operations from Bulgaria, China, Ukraine, Mexico ... all different countries," Daniel said. "And so it's an international problem, so I think on the federal level is really where some assistance would be very much welcomed."
SEATTLE, Washington (KPTV) -- Washington State Patrol announced Tuesday that 127 of its employees have lost their job after the state's COVID-19 vaccinate mandate deadline.

The deadline for Washington state employees to provide proof of vaccination or receive approved exemption was Monday.

As of the end-of-business on Monday, WSP said 53 civilians and 74 commissioned officers (67 troopers, six sergeants and one captain) were let go after not meeting the mandate.

"We will miss every one of them," said WSP Chief John R. Batiste. "I extend a hardy thanks to those who are leaving the agency. I truly wish that you were staying with us. You have my utmost appreciation for the hard and successful work that you have provided during your valued WSP careers. You will forever have our respect for your courage and your commitment in all you have done on behalf of the agency."

WSP has about 2,200 personnel in eight districts and multiple geographic detachments and operational divisions. WSP says it plans to gauge the impacts of the staffing losses over the next several days, but plans to immediately move resources where necessary.

"As for the more than 2,000 individuals who elected to stay with our agency, I am forever thankful. We have the responsibilities of the agency to carry forward and I am not going to ask you to do more with less. We shall do our very best to keep our remaining staff from becoming overburdened by these temporary losses," said Chief Batiste. "We must now turn our attention to making sure we deploy our resources in a manner that continues to keep our roadways safe and meets the other core law enforcement responsibilities this agency has met with honor for over 100 years."

State employees across Oregon and Washington had until Monday to be vaccinated or risk losing their jobs.

Monday was also the deadline for Washington school employees to become vaccinated or receive approved exemption.
Newfoundland and Labrador Minister of Justice and Public Safety and Attorney General John Hogan speaks to media following the government's swearing in ceremony, at Government House in St. John's, Thursday, April 8, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Daly
Toronto actor and producer Folklaur Chevrier and Janet and Kenneth Jessop are shown in a handout photo. Chevrier says she has exclusive rights to the story of nine-year-old Christine Jessop and is developing "Darkness in Daylight" with the permission of the family, including her mother and brother, Janet and Kenneth Jessop. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Folklaur Chevrier **MANDATORY CREDIT**.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford makes a funding announcement for a new hospital in Windsor, Ont. on Monday, October 18, 2021. Ford would not apologize Tuesday for comments about immigrants that some called "callous" and "xenophobic." THE CANADIAN PRESS/ Geoff Robins
Contrary to the title of the Buggles song Video Killed the Radio Star, which launched MTV 40 years ago, audio content is alive and well in 2021, not only through radio broadcasts, but also through a proliferation of podcasts.

In the span of the last three years, the number of these streamable series has grown from 500,000 to 2 million. I listen every day to at least one podcast, beginning on Sunday night with This American Life, and take in more during the week, including Kenosha area podcasts.

Jason Hedman and Donny Stancato produce and host K-Town Connects, featuring weekly, hour-long interviews with community leaders, and Koerri Elijah delivers Oh, word?, offering live conversations with actors, musicians, politicians, and more Kenoshans. Both programs are available on many podcasting platforms. In addition, local radio stations, WLIP and WGTD, offer podcasts of their popular programming.

Arriving in November 2021, Cruising Through History, a collaboration between the Kenosha Public Library and Kenosha Community Media, will offer insights every two weeks into historical events and individuals. The series host is Scott Kroes, collection development and cataloging librarian, and the shows name is wordplay on Scotts surname, which is pronounced, kruz. Scott has held a lifelong interest in history and earned both his bachelor and masters degrees in this field of study.

The genesis for the idea of a podcast came from one of my coworkers, Scott shared with me. I would tell historical tidbits, and shed say, You should do a podcast. She even suggested the name.

Scott has teamed with Zander Miller, Digital Strategies Librarian, and with Jason Rimkus from Kenosha Community Media to produce the series. The first three programs will drop during in early November and be available on the Kenosha Public Library website, as well as podcasting platforms, such as Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Google Podcasts. Thereafter, theyll appear every two weeks.

Cruising Through Historys first episode will explore a different side of our 16th President. Abraham Lincoln was not only a statesman, he was also an accomplished wrestler, recognized by the National Wrestling Hall of Fame. Listen to future episodes to learn how World War II Navy personnels exposure to mustard gas led to advancements in chemotherapy, and to get acquainted with the Turtle, a Revolutionary War submarine.

Weve kept the podcast [episodes] to around a half an hour to keep the listener engaged, Scott said. We explore some lesser known historical events and try to tie them into larger events. These arent lectures, per se, but more a conversation to stimulate interest from our listeners to explore these topics more in-depth on their own.

Visit Kenosha Public Library at mykpl.info and Kenosha Community Media at kenoshamedia.org.

John Bloner Jr. is executive director of Kenosha Community Media.

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Snow this morning will give way to rain this afternoon. High 41F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 100%. About one inch of snow expected..

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They are firing me for not getting the COVID vaccine. I can make more money working at Michaels than I do at this job. I was only doing this because I like to help people. But this is it for me. Im quitting. Ill miss the patients, but I cannot be forced into doing something that I dont believe in.

The patient care tech said to me after putting my patient in the room. We had just received a system-wide email from the hospital administration that due to the New York states health care employee vaccination mandate, all health care employees who refuse to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, would be terminated in a few days.

I am as pro-vaccine as anyone could possibly be. I have received the Moderna vaccine myself, and I have had my teenage children vaccinated as well. I have been quite open and vocal about the benefits of vaccines in front of my patients and colleagues. I even wrote a KevinMD article supporting COVID vaccines. I ask my patients to trust me when I tell them that they should also receive the vaccine. I make it clear to any of my patients or colleagues who refuse to get vaccinated that, in my opinion, they are making the wrong decision, but I also tell them that I respect their decision. At every encounter, I try to change their mind a little bit, hoping that they will start trusting the science and eventually make the right decision. But I do not force my decision upon them.

The practice of medicine was quite paternalistic up to a few decades ago. When I was a resident, our teaching attendings used to tell us that not too long ago, the doctors would assign the code status for patients without having them even participate in the decision-making process. With time, patient autonomy has become more important, and in todays world, adult patients make all health care decisions by themselves after being adequately informed by their care providers. Under such circumstances, penalizing a patient for making a decision pertaining to their own health seems rather outdated.

There are multiple examples in medicine where patients make decisions based on their beliefs which are considered wrong or unbelievable by others. For example, a Jehovahs Witness patient will refuse to receive blood products despite life-threatening anemia, which is widely acceptable to health care providers. Not too uncommonly, my patients struggle with the concept of adjuvant chemotherapy. This is when a tumor has already been surgically removed and the scans do not show any cancer in the body. At this time, chemotherapy is given to reduce the chances of the cancer coming back. Patients refuse to have poison injected into their veins, pointing out that their scans are negative, choosing to ignore and doubt the plethora of clinical evidence that backs this approach. Muslims worldwide choose to fast for long hours during the month of Ramadan and risk dehydration, orthostatic hypotension, and hypoglycemia in the face of kidney disease and diabetes and yet feel empowered and happy about their decision. As health care providers, we often roll up our eyes in these instances but do not force our recommendations upon them.

Some argue that receiving a vaccine is different because it is not just about the patients themselves but also about the community since unvaccinated people are putting others at risk. That is true, but not entirely. We know that vaccinated people can also acquire and transmit COVID infection, albeit at a lower rate. If unvaccinated hospital employees wear personal protective equipment (PPE) and are given non-clinical roles when possible, the chances of transmission of infection could be reasonably curtailed.

My problem with mandating vaccines for health care workers is that such restrictions feed into their mistrust for the vaccines. People who have decided not to get the vaccine are clearly being led by the factually erroneous beliefs that have been fed to them by various resources, including various forms of media and word of mouth. The endorsements of major health care organizations such as the CDC and FDA are quite clear, but they choose to doubt them. The anti-vaxxers do not mean harm to other people in the community but truly believe that they are making the right decisions for themselves and their children. They are not mentally inferior or challenged but rather very intelligent people with different perceptions of the same situation. How can we, as health care providers and policymakers be so arrogant and naive to think that we should force our decisions upon them?

As a physician, I cannot think of many treatments for various disorders where I can quote a hundred percent success rate to the patient. Similarly, when it comes to the issue of vaccines, it would be unreal to think that a hundred percent of the population would be willing to take the vaccine. When health care policies are made, it should be kept into account that a portion of the population will not immediately, or ever, agree to get vaccinated.

Unvaccinated people should be left alone, and accommodations should be made for them to remain functional in their jobs. Stringent measures should be taken for them to be routinely tested and have them wear PPE and be given preferably less clinical roles. Over a period of time, which could be months or a few years, when the same people see that only those around them are getting seriously sick and dying are the unvaccinated ones, their thought process will automatically shift in favor of vaccines. But if we force the vaccines on them now, they will become spiteful and will keep refusing the vaccines for a long time to come or perhaps forever, perceiving it as a rights or freedom issue rather than a health care issue.

I see statistics every day in the newspaper purporting the success of vaccine mandates. They are looking at the number of people being vaccinated. The higher the number, the more successful they claim to be. In my eyes, this may be a short term win of increasing the numbers but every person who is against the vaccine and yet getting vaccinated just to keep their job, or deciding to quit their job and remain unvaccinated, is being made to do something against their will and we are losing their trust. This unquestionably hurts the vaccine cause in the long term.

Why have we become so polarized as a people? We are polarized in politics, race, religion, personal liberties, and almost every aspect of life. Why do we have to be so polarized in health care? Why cant we strive to find the center of every issue at hand? Why cant we meet in the middle? If I am pro-vaccine, why do I have to be pro-mandate? Polarization worsens problems. Lets try to meet in the middle and respect the anti-vaxxers. Lets use mutual respect and trust rather than reprimand and fear to win the vaccine debate.

Farhan S. Imran is a hematology-oncology physician who blogs at Did I Ask?

Image credit: Shutterstock.com
Much to his later regret, then-Secretary of State Colin Powell became the centerpiece of the George W. Bush administration's case for going to war in Iraq. That fact was noted in the obituaries and opinion pieces published after Powell's death Monday at the age of 84. But the events of that era deserve closer examination.

Powell's presentation to the UN Security Council on February 5, 2003, six weeks before the American invasion of Iraq, laid out the case Bush wanted to make. But the case fell apart following the American occupation of Iraq, which revealed that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein didn't have an active weapons of destruction program, nor was Hussein allied to al Qaeda -- as Powell had asserted at the UN.

A hero of the first Gulf War, Powell was a widely admired figure in the Bush administration and had considerably more credibility than other senior officials when it came to Iraq. A Gallup poll before his UN speech found that Powell was trusted on US-Iraq policy by 63% of Americans versus only 24% who trusted Bush on the issue.

Recognizing this, Bush asked Powell to make the case to the UN about the necessity of the Iraq War.

Powell was more skeptical about the decision to invade Iraq than other Cabinet officials such as Vice President Dick Cheney. "If you break it, you own it," Powell told Bush in August 2002, according to Robert Draper's authoritative account of the run up to the invasion of Iraq, "To Start a War."

Cheney's office pressed for the most expansive case for the purported connections between Iraq's leader Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda in Powell's UN speech, which was supposed to be a replay of the kind of definitive presentation that Adlai Stevenson, the US ambassador to the United Nations, had given in 1962 at the height of the Cuban missile crisis. In that speech, Stevenson had used aerial photographs to successfully convince the world that the Soviets had installed nuclear missiles in Cuba.

Al Qaeda was responsible for the deadliest attack ever on American soil -- the 9/11 hijackings that killed nearly 3,000 people, brought down the twin towers of New York's World Trade Center and damaged the Pentagon. Connecting Hussein to the terrorists who engineered 9/11 was key to establishing a reason to go to war against Iraq.

Powell's deputy, Richard Armitage, remembered that the vice president's office wrote up a submission for his boss to deliver to the UN that included "every kitchen sink that you could imagine," including the notion that the lead 9/11 hijacker, Mohamed Atta, had met in Prague with an Iraqi intelligence agent before 9/11.

But, a month earlier, a CIA report titled "Iraq Support for Terrorism" had already concluded that "we are increasingly skeptical that Atta traveled to Prague in 2001 or met with the (Iraqi official)."

Deputy CIA Director John McLaughlin recalls that the White House material about the putative al Qaeda-Iraq connections had not been cleared by the CIA. McLaughlin told Powell and his staff, "This is not our draft. There's all sorts of garbage in here."

Despite the good-faith efforts to exclude questionable material about Hussein's connections to al Qaeda in Powell's speech, much that remained in the final text would later be discounted following the occupation of Iraq.

In hindsight, Powell did his job too well. His presentation was a bravura performance that seemed to establish beyond a doubt that Hussein was actively concealing an ongoing weapons of mass destruction program and was in league with al Qaeda. Powell asserted that "Saddam Hussein and his regime are concealing their efforts to produce more weapons of mass destruction," and he pointed to a "sinister nexus between Iraq and the al Qaeda terrorist network."

At one point, to show the dangers WMD can pose, the secretary of state dramatically brandished a small vial of a white powder of supposed anthrax saying "about this amount ... shut down the US Senate in the fall of 2001."

As Powell gave his speech, sitting directly behind him was CIA Director George Tenet, giving a visual imprimatur to what Powell was saying.

One section of Powell's UN speech tried to make the case for an emerging alliance between Saddam and al Qaeda. "Iraq today harbors a deadly terrorist network headed by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, an associate and collaborator of Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda lieutenants," he said.

But Powell's speech made a gossamer-thin case for the Iraq-al Qaeda nexus, even with the faulty intelligence that was then available. The relationship between Zarqawi and al Qaeda was already known to be far from clear-cut. Until 2004, Zarqawi ran an organization separate from al Qaeda, known as Tawhid, whose name corresponds to the idea of monotheism in Arabic. Indeed, Shadi Abdalla, a member of Tawhid who was apprehended in Germany in 2002, told investigators that the group saw itself to be in competition with al Qaeda.

Even after the Iraq war began in March 2003, Zarqawi was still running his own outfit independent of al Qaeda. Unlikely support for that fact came from Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, who said of Zarqawi at a Pentagon briefing in June 2004, "Someone could legitimately say he's not al Qaeda."

On October 25, 2005, the CIA released a report that finally disposed of the myth that Saddam and Zarqawi had ever been in league, assessing that prior to the war, "the regime did not a have a relationship, harbor, or turn a blind eye towards Zarqawi."

An additional exhibit in Powell's UN speech that was intended to prove an al Qaeda-Saddam-WMD nexus was the Kurdish Islamist group, Ansar al-Islam, which was experimenting with crude chemical weapons in its training camp in northeastern Iraq, a facility that was described as a "poison factory" by Powell in an aerial photograph of the camp that Powell displayed in his UN presentation.

However, the only reason that Ansar al-Islam could exist in that part of Kurdish Iraq was because the US Air Force had been enforcing a no-fly zone in the region for more than a decade, which meant that the Pentagon had more control over that part of Kurdistan than Saddam did.

Obviously well aware of the fact that Hussein did not control Kurdish Iraq, Powell said that the Iraqi dictator had a high-level spy in Ansar al-Islam. However, while Hussein may have had a spy in Ansar al-Islam, this hardly meant that he had control over the group.

It was Powell's speech that will be long remembered as making the best public case for the Iraq war. And it was a speech that would later be shown to be rife with false assertions and erroneous assumptions once the United States had occupied Iraq.

The CIA director George Tenet later wrote, seemingly without irony, of Powell's speech "it was a great presentation, but unfortunately the substance didn't hold up."

In 2005, Powell told ABC News' Barbara Walters that his UN speech was "painful" for him and a permanent "blot" on his record.

Powell's admission came as Iraq was descending into an intense civil war. Ultimately, more than 4,400 US troops would die in Iraq, as well as many scores of thousands of Iraqi civilians.

Powell grew up in the South Bronx, the son of Jamaican immigrants. He rose from serving in the jungles of Vietnam where he was as a young officer to become former President Ronald Reagan's national security adviser and later the first Black secretary of state.

His speech at the UN doesn't define Powell's extraordinary career, but he came to bitterly regret ever giving it.

The-CNN-Wire

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EUGENE, Ore. - With the Oregon vaccine mandate officially in effect, firefighters across Lane County are reporting high vaccination rates.

About 97% of firefighters throughout Lane County are in compliance with the mandate, according to Coburg Fire Chief Chad Minter. That means they are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or have received an approved medical or religious exemption. For context, Minter said there's about 600 firefighters currently serving Lane County.

According to Minter, there are currently 28 fully vaccinated people serving in the Coburg Rural Fire District. Twenty-five people are volunteers and three are paid, staff members.

"Coburg's been 100% vaccinated since early on, only because we just happened to get lucky and felt like it's the moral responsibility of healthcare providers to get it," Minter said.

RELATED: BROWN ORDERS TEACHERS, HEALTH CARE WORKERS TO BE VACCINATED

Other districts are experiencing similar situations in their departments.

"People aren't going to wait any longer than normal because of the mandates," Tressa Miller, a Lieutenant with Lane Fire Authority said. "It may affect other industries in different ways, but it's not going to affect us or our ability to respond to those who need our help."

Miller said all but one of Lane Fire Authority's staff members are fully vaccinated. She said there are more than 80 people on staff currently and the department is preparing to welcome a graduating class of eight additional people.

Miller said the one staff member who is not vaccinated has an approved exemption. This person is not a line responder, so they're not someone that's responding to emergencies and interacting with the public in person.

According to Eugene Springfield Fire, 92.6% of its staff members are fully vaccinated. That accounts for 291 of the department's 314 total employees. Forty-eight staff members are non-licensed healthcare providers, which means the mandate does not apply to them.

Of the staff members who are licensed healthcare providers, 21 employees have asked for medical or religious exemptions and two have not requested an exemption.

The department said it has accommodated its unvaccinated staff members by requiring them to wear fit-tested N95 masks at all times, disinfect their private dorm at the end of their shift, and remain at least six feet apart from other staff members when eating or drinking.

Unvaccinated staff members will have to follow routine testing requirements if their lead agencies or the city of their employment implements them, Eugene Springfield Fire said.
EUGENE, Ore.-- Eugene 4J students enjoyed a long weekend as the school district scheduled a "vaccine mandate transition day" for Monday.

By Governor Brown's orders  Oct. 18, is the deadline for all teachers, support staff, and volunteers in K-12 schools to submit proof of vaccination or receive an approved exemption.

More than 96% of all regular district staff have been verified to be fully vaccinated in Eugene. That's more than 93% in Springfield and 96% in Bethel. Roseburg Public Schools didn't say how many employees did not get the vaccine. They said 99.8% have met the state's requirement of getting vaccinated or providing an exemption.

A spokesperson for the Eugene 4J told KEZI they've received more than 100 requests for exemptions. They're now assessing each one individually, which will take some time.

Parents have mixed reactions to the mandate.

4J parent of three, Sarah Ann Madrid, said she's had a hard time accepting this mandate.

"At the end of the day, I think the vaccine mandate is needed because there are so many people refusing to, but I am concerned," Madrid said.

Madrid said she's concerned the mandate is a slippery slope, leading to more mandates in the future.

But for others like 4J parent Jarl Berg, he is thankful for this mandate.

"I really hoped that this wouldn't have to happen, but I am kind of glad they are sticking to their guns a little bit and saying, 'this is a public safety issue, this is not a hard thing.' We all have been vaccinated in different areas of our lives; why is this one different," Berg said.

For Kathleen Pizzola, she has to accept a new reality. She's one of the few teachers with an approved exemption. However, this 6th-grade math teacher will have to leave her classroom behind.

"Today was my last technical day paid with the school district, and as of tomorrow for the foreseeable future, I'm placed on essentially administrative unpaid leave," Pizzola said.

The Fern Ridge school district recently decided it wasn't safe for unvaccinated teachers to remain at their normal post.

"Any teaching staff, or educational support staff, secretary, anything like that that are unvaccinated, they felt we were too much of essentially a danger to be around the kids that closely," Pizzola said.

She said right now, there's no option to come back if she decides to get the vaccine. But she said her superintendent would consider giving her the job back next year, depending on the current state and mandates.

Pizzola said she wishes the district would've worked with her more. She said the school district wouldn't allow any accommodations for those not vaccinated who work closely with the students, even if their exemption was approved.
EUGENE, Ore. -- The pressure is on for small businesses, as the supply chain crisis continues to take a toll across the world.

With Christmas right around the corner, this is just one more added challenge in the fight to stay afloat.

KEZI checked in with multiple business owners who say they began preparing for this well ahead of time.

Andrew Agerter is the manager of Eugene Toy and Hobby, a shop that just celebrated its 88th anniversary.

We have a lot of companies in the Pacific Northwest that get stuff to us in about a week to two, but other things can take upwards of a few months to see something, Agerter said.

Agerter said his store typically stocks up around late August -- but this time around theyve been doing that since the end of April and leading into May.

So many things are sold out -- Hot Wheels, Mattel, Lego -- we're not getting shipments that we made earlier in the first half of the year, Agerter said. They say they're gonna get some stuff out, but we'll see.

Brian Aljian, the owner of Bricks and Minifigs, in Eugene agreed. He has also seen the impact firsthand.

Half of our business is new Lego sets, and Lego is having a hard time keeping up with demand, Aljian said.

His strategy is to buy as much as he can -- as early as possible.

Last year I started buying for Christmas in October, Aljian said. This year I started buying in September. Were trying to forecast what the demand will be, so we can have enough sets for everyone who wants one.

Jeff Benhke is a frequent shopper at Eugene Toy and Hobby. Hes been a professional model builder for about 40 years.

It is getting thinner and thinner because of all the supply chains and everything else, Benhke said. Its getting harder, and the prices are really going up.

Aljian described how UPS and USPS are overloaded -- as well as Lego who ships overseas. He believes the supply chain issues will continue to get worse this year.

If you see something, buy it now, Aljian said. It may not be available later."

Experts say supply chain issues impacting the United States are expected to continue into 2022.

Just get out there as soon as you can, Agerter said. The shelves are emptying quickly, and it's not just here locally. You see that anywhere you go. Things are moving fast.

Agerter said hes grateful that people want to support local and emphasized that staying positive is key.

Were holding steady, Agerter said. Were going to be here next year.
Weather Alert

...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 10 AM PST THIS MORNING... * WHAT...Wet snow. Additional snow accumulations up to one inch. * WHERE...Coeur d'Alene, Post Falls, Airway Heights, and Hayden. * WHEN...Until 10 AM PST this morning. * IMPACTS...Plan on slippery road conditions. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... Slow down and use caution while traveling. The latest road conditions for the state you are calling from can be obtained by calling 5 1 1. &&
Weather Alert

...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 10 AM PST THIS MORNING... * WHAT...Wet snow. Additional snow accumulations up to 1 inch on the West Plains, and Coeur d'Alene area. * WHERE...Coeur d'Alene, Post Falls, Airway Heights, Davenport, and Hayden. * WHEN...Until 10 AM PST this morning. * IMPACTS...Plan on slippery road conditions. The hazardous conditions could impact the Friday morning commute. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... Slow down and use caution while traveling. The latest road conditions for the state you are calling from can be obtained by calling 5 1 1. &&
Nine local charities have received cheques from the Kilkenny Lions Club at a presentation in Butler House, Kilkenny.

Lions Club President Eddie Holohan thanked the Lions partners, KCLR and the Kilkenny People, whose vital support makes many of the fundraising events possible. He also expressed the Lions gratitude to the people and business community of Kilkenny who have generously supported the various Lions fund raising events throughout the past 12 months.

He referred to the Lions policy of distributing funds throughout County Kilkenny and said that they were very happy to assist such worthy organisations. He thanked the Lions Committee for organising this event and in particular Philip ONeill, Marie Kennedy and Philip Tierney.

Cathaoirleach of Kilkenny County Council Fidelis Doherty said that Kilkenny Lions Club has a long history of helping local organisations, with the club distributing over 800,000 to over 100 organisations over the past 18 years. She acknowledged the incredible charity work and community engagement of the Lions Club throughout County Kilkenny.

Mayor Andrew McGuinness paid tribute to the Lions for their great work in assisting local organisations over the years and said that the people of Kilkenny were very thankful to them.

He also thanked the voluntary work of the organisations who were receiving cheques, as they play a huge role in improving the services available in their communities.

The nine recipients were:

 Family Carers Ireland

 Carlow/Kilkenny Homecare

 Alzheimers Society Kilkenny

 South East Radiotherapy Trust-SERT

 LArche

 Cois Nore Cancer Support

 Gowran Day Care Centre

 Kilkenny Bereavement Support

 Sub Aqua Kilkenny
Irelands Water Schools of the Year, including Loreto Kilkenny, have been honoured for their efforts in highlighting the value of water at the annual Green-Schools Awards.

Hosted by An Taisces Green-Schools and Irish Water, this years virtual awards celebrated schools all over Ireland who have participated in the Green-Schools Water theme. Last year, over 125,000 students in 480 schools all over Ireland participated in the programme.

In the Eastern and Midlands region, Loreto Kilkenny was selected as regional winner in the secondary school category for their efforts in promoting the value of water through carrying out varies activities in their school. Some of these activities included, conducting a water use survey, investigating the water pressure in taps and water fountains and the possibility of rainwater harvesting in the school. They also reviewed the use of detergents and cleaning agents in the school that may be hazardous and carried out a beach/river/canal clean-up. In addition to their overall school being honoured, Lucy Dalton and Medha Trehan also scooped the regional ambassadors award.

They were among eight regional winners, who were awarded for their water conservation measures as part of their participation in the Green-Schools Water theme. The Green-Schools Water theme is supported by Irish Water.

Ardgillan College in Fingal was named the overall Secondary Water School of the Year, while Scoil Treasa Naofa in Dublin 8 were the winners in the Primary category.

The Green-Schools programme has moved much of its interaction online for the past two school years, having developed a suite of Green-Schools Stay Home resources, including 13 weeks of activities related to the Water theme. This is the eighth year of the awards and partnership with Irish Water, which has seen over 1,600 schools attend interactive Water Workshops or Walk for Water Events since 2013. During this time, hundreds of pupils have visited their local water and wastewater treatment plants where they learned about the complex processes involved in safeguarding water supplies and protecting the environment. While COVID restrictions prevented such visits over the past 18 months, many opted to view the Irish Water documentary, The Story of Water, to learn more about our precious water resources.

Speaking at the awards today, Geoffrey Bourke of Irish Water, said: A key part of Irish Waters role in safeguarding Irelands water supplies is helping the next generation understand the importance of conserving water. It is truly inspiring to see how the schools taking part in the Green-Schools water theme have taken this to heart and are setting an example for how we can all value our precious water resources.

The success of the participating schools in reducing water usage and raising awareness about water issues really highlights how important it is to learn about the value of water and water conservation from a young age. Thats why this is such an important programme and one that Irish Water is proud to sponsor.

Green-Schools Manager Cathy Baxter said: Despite the Covid restrictions presenting challenges in how we engage with our participating schools, we have used a variety of techniques and technologies to continue to support our schools and encourage them to carry out as much Green-Schools work as possible throughout the past year. It is also wonderful to see how the students have developed innovative new ways of engaging with their fellow students and wider community to help spread the work about the value of water.

This was the second year hosting the awards ceremony virtually and it was great to see schools from all over the country joining in the ceremony through a live link.
The Rochester City Council approved the allocation of $33,000 from the city's contingency funds for redistricting resources at their meeting on Monday at 6:15 p.m.

Funds will be split among three services, which include: $3,000 for legal fees, $10,000 for communication and engagement and $20,000 for GIS support, which includes the drafting of geopolitical maps.

More 2020 Census information was also revealed at the meeting, highlighting Rochester as the third fastest-growing city in Minnesota, behind Minneapolis and St. Paul.

Among the six wards, 1st Ward and 3rd Ward had the largest population percentage increase, with 24.7% for the former and 24.1% for the latter.

6th Ward had the lowest population growth, with only 5.9% of new Med-City residents.

Rochester's Deputy City Administrator Cindy Steinhauser said there will be upcoming events held with the community to discuss legislative changes.

"October 28th, not November 28th, League of Women voters virtual event, which will be in attendance along with representatives with the county, to talk about the redistricting process," Steinhauser said.

Minnesota's deadline for redrawn wards and precincts is March 29th.
ROCHESTER, Minn. - In addition to rejecting a proposal to create a new local landmark, Med City leaders made a string of significant decisions Monday evening.

$10 million worth of Discovery Walk contracts approved

It's finally official: work on a major upgrade for a key stretch of Downtown Rochester will get underway next spring.

The Rochester City Council signed off on $10 million worth of contracts related to the highly-anticipated Discovery Walk project. Local leaders say Discovery Walk will transform four blocks of 2nd Ave SW into a linear parkway full of amenities and gathering spots.

Rochester Mayor Kim Norton says adjacent business owners have expressed excitement about the project during regular meetings with planners.

"Many of the businesses are really looking forward to what this will do activating the community in that area. and I think it will really help us develop that area even better," Mayor Norton said.

Two council members voted against approving the contracts, citing concerns about excessive spending and project details.

Construction on Discovery Walk is expected to cost more than $18.6 million in total, wrapping up by fall of 2023.

New Collective Bargaining Agreement for City Staff

City council members have approved a new collective bargaining agreement with the Rochester Supervisory Association.

The deal includes a 2.75% general wage increase for city employees next year, as well as a 2% adjustment for both 2023 and 2024. The city's HR department says the new CBA will also come with a "slight medical plan premium increase for employees, an adjustment in the merit pay range, and a $25 increase in the safety shoe reimbursement."

Other changes are considered to be minor and scope according to city council documents.

Additional Updates:
AUSTIN, Minn.  A man accused of sexually abusing a minor in Mower County is pleading guilty.

Jerome Anthony Watkins, 31, was arrested in June 2020 and charged with two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and three counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct. Investigators say Watkins had sexual contact with an underage victim multiple times over the court of several years.

Watkins entered a guilty plea Monday to two counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct. His sentencing is scheduled for February 4, 2022.
Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation officials confirmed to KCCI Tuesday that a search warrant has been executed at a home in New Sharon that is related to the Xavior Harrelson case.

Multiple law enforcement agents could be seen Tuesday at a home in New Sharon.

Iowa DCI officials are assisting the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco Firearms and Explosives agents in the search.

On Friday, The Poweshiek County Sheriff Office confirmed that remains found north of Montezuma belong to Harrelson.

On May 27, 10-year-old Xavior Harrelson was reported missing by a family friend. He was last seen in Montezuma, where he lived with his mother.

Authorities located his remains on Sept. 30, about three miles north of Montezuma.

The cause of death has not been released. Xavior went missing only days before his eleventh birthday.

New Sharon is about 13 miles from Montezuma.
SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP)  Dozens of Iowa National Guard members are being deployed to help resettle Afghan refugees.

The Sioux City Journal reported Tuesday that about 30 members of the 185th Air Refueling Wing in Sioux City are being deployed. About 35 others are from the 132nd Wing in Des Moines.

The Iowa members will be assigned to an undisclosed location in the U.S. to assist with Operation Allies Welcome, an effort to bring U.S. citizens home from Afghanistan and to resettle vulnerable Afghan refugees.

The Iowa National Guard said guard members will deploy for roughly 60 to 90 days starting next month.
ROCHESTER, Minn.  A bar attack results in probation for a Kasson man.

Jonathan Wayne Collett, 35, was sentenced Monday to five years of supervised probation. He pleaded guilty to third-degree assault for an incident at Roosters Too! in Rochester on February 9.

Authorities say Collett hit a man in the head with a beer mug, leaving his victim with minor injuries.
ROCHESTER, Minn. - Rochester grew roughly 14 percent in a ten-year span, and affordable housing continues to be an issue.

Wednesday, the Olmsted County Housing Team will meet to discuss the county's commitment to housing and homelessness solutions.

Olmsted County is one of several counties in Minnesota that has developed local strategies to end homelessness.

There will be a virtual meeting focused on resources offered in the community, followed by a tour of both the new Empowering Connections and Housing Outreach Center (ECHO) and the Rochester Community Warming Center.

"The ECHO Center is a place for people to go when they don't know where to turn if they're struggling with their housing," said Olmsted County Director of Housing Redevelopment Authority Dave Dunn. "It allows people an actual place to go and be able to have those housing needs assessed and see where we can help meet them on the way of their housing journey."

Dunn said the county is using subsidies available to them, such as the American Rescue Plan Act Fund, to help decrease rent for people experiencing homelessness.

"A lot of times, the people that we talk to and meet, they're no different than you and I," said Dunn. "A couple of bad breaks, a couple bad choices along the way...it's a situation that many of us can be in. I think a lot of times it's really that stigma to start with and then it's understanding that these people are no different than you and me. Working with and addressing those needs and finding housing helps them to thrive just like it would anyone else."
ROCHESTER, Minn. - It's official: Democratic Gov. Tim Walz is launching his campaign for a second term.

In a Youtube announcement, Walz says he's made the tough calls necessary to beat back the pandemic and revive the economy.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz - AP photo. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz - AP photo.

It's an announcement that's been expected for some time and it's no surprise it's receiving mixed reviews.

Olmsted County's DFL Senate District 26 says while it's been a tough time to be a leader in Minnesota Walz has shown he's ready to take on a second term.

Chair Mark Liebow said, "He's stepped up to it and done a really wonderful job. He's led, not just with the pandemic, but other areas that kind of get overshadowed by the pandemic. He's worked on education, trying to get relief to farmers who have been hurt by drought and dealing with the forest fires in the north."

On the other side of the aisle, the Republican Party of Olmsted County believes it's time for new leadership.

Chairman Chris Brandt said, "We need someone who does not allow Minneapolis to get burned down by riots and waiting multiple days before calling in the National Guard. We need someone who doesn't want to use taxpayer money to pay for the $500 million in damage that caused. We need someone who supports the police."

Brandt says early Republican candidates like former State Majority Leader Paul Gazelka and former State Sen. Scott Jensen are better options for governor.

He added "There are at least six that have announced. The endorsement process begins in February so it will be a very interesting time to find who is the best candidate to run against Tim Walz."

Liebow is still hopeful the incumbent governor's track record will prove him worthy of another four years to enact change.

"For most people, they're going to want to know what's going to happen in the next term if we reelect you," he said.

A statistic in favor of the incumbent governor is that there hasn't been a Republican to win statewide office in Minnesota since Gov. Tim Pawlenty was reelected in 2006.
ROCHESTER, Minn. - Operation Christmas Child is hosting a shoebox packing event this week at Christ Community Church to spread some holiday joy to children who may need it the most.

All ages are welcome to the event Thursday through Sunday to fill boxes with toys, personal hygiene items, school supplies and seal the box with a personal note.

The boxes are then sent to children all over the world.

"When they get the box, they'll open it up and find out that God prompted someone's heart across the world to pack that box for them," said Operation Christmas Child Project Leader Janice Hofer. "It really speaks loudly to the children that receive these boxes. For many of them, the most precious thing in the box is the personalized note."

The organization's goal is to pack 1,000 boxes at this week's event.

Last year, Operation Christmas Child packed 10 million boxes nationwide.

You can sign up for the event on Christ Community Church's website or even build and send a box online.
ROCHESTER, Minn. - A shooting hoax late Monday night prompted a large police presence in a Rochester neighborhood.

Police were called at 10:19 p.m. to the 3500 block of Birchwood Ln. W. for a report that a male shot his uncle and the uncle was not breathing.

The caller said they had an AR-15 style rifle and said they would shoot police if they showed up.

Police set up a perimeter and made unsuccessful attempts to contact the residents before it was determined the call came from an IP address in Australia.

A 44-year-old male eventually exited the house and gave consent for police to search.

The resident said he has a nephew who lives out of state that plays online games with people all over the world, and that in the past he's made people upset. Officers said they believe he made someone in Australia upset and they made the call.

The Rochester Police Department says approximately 14 officers were involved in Monday's incident, including the use of emergency response officers and equipment.

Captain Casey Moilanen with RPD says false incidents like this take up a lot of equipment and time.

Revenge to get back at people, they'll do it as a practical joke, he explains. Unfortunately it ties up a lot of resources, people have gotten hurt and killed in other locations of the country.

He says the department is fully aware of these types of incidents and takes these calls seriously.

If what the person called in doesn't match what we are seeing when we get there, those are some red flags that say maybe we should slow things down, and ensure that this incident really took place, Moilanen explains.

Captain Moilanen says these types of incidents can be dangerous.

With these types of phone calls if somebody gets seriously hurt or killed in the process, they're going to be responsible for that, so they could end up in prison for a long time if something really bad happened with calls like this.

The case remains under investigation.
ROCHESTER, Minn. - Med City leaders have rejected a proposal to designate the Labor Temple Building, also known as the former site of Legends Bar and Grill, a local historic landmark.

The decision follows months of passionate debate on the downtown building's future. Having long been considered a key component of DMC's efforts to revitalize Rochester's riverfront, plans for the city-owned property were upended earlier this year after a forgotten chapter in its history was uncovered.

Once being slated for demolition, documents recovered by a Med City resident revealed the Labor Temple was home to one of the first Red Owl grocery stores, and the depression-era Time Theatre. Coming into Monday's city council meeting, Rochester's Heritage Preservation Commission recommended the two adjoined buildings making up the Labor Temple be deemed local historic landmarks, but city staff and experts felt the buildings no longer have enough historic integrity to receive landmark status.

Ultimately, four of the six council members voting on the matter felt the Labor Temple doesn't meet recognized standards for local landmark designation.

"There are reasons why you could consider this to be historic with some of the history and some of the things that I've seen about it, but I think architectural integrity and building integrity are important," said Council Member Patrick Keane. "As we look forward in terms of when we look at our downtown and our other parts of the city and looking at landmark designation, I think we've got to make sure we're following good state level and national standards, and not just being emotional."

Following a spirited discussion on next steps, city staff have been directed to draw up options for future use of the Labor Temple Building, which could include adaptive reuse of existing structures. In the meantime, the city will spend over $18,000 maintaining the property through the winter.
ST. PAUL, Minn.  A gunshot in Rochester is sending a man to federal prison.

Seth Grant Huntington pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm and was sentenced Monday in Minnesota federal court to 15 years behind bars, followed by five years of supervised release.

Rochester police arrested Huntington in June 2020. Officers first responded to a report of shots fired at Huntingtons apartment and arrested Huntington two days later after police said he was seen driving a stolen vehicle. That led to a search of Huntingtons apartment, where officers said they found a 9-millimeter semiautomatic pistol.

The Minnesota state crime lab then said it found Huntingtons DNA on the pistol.

The U.S. Attorneys Office for the State of Minnesota says Huntington has past convictions for:

- Third-degree assault in Waseca County in 2006

- First-degree burglary in Steele County in 2008

- Fifth-degree drug possession in Faribault County in 2011

- Possession of precursors with intent to manufacture methamphetamine in Waseca County in 2015

- Third-degree drug possession in Waseca County in 2015

- Third-degree assault in Mille Lacs County in 2018
To all the men and women corralled into a conference room for two days in St. Charles, this was the chance to take one last stab at a case that is nearly 30 years old. They recognize it likely may be their last, best chance.
Former Secretary of State and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, General Colin Powell, has died. The 84-year-old died of complications from Covid-19. He was fully vaccinated but battled underlying conditions, including Parkinson's disease. CBS's Meg Oliver takes a look at Powell's extraordinary l
A hiring shortage saw trash pile up across St. Louis City, but a $3,000 bonus is seeing applications pile up as well. The extra cash is drawing in new hires for the Refuse Department.
Terry Jarrett is an energy attorney and consultant who has served on the board of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners and the Missouri Public Service Commission. He regularly contributes to LeadingLightEnergy.com.
Katie Roling, a member of the Council for Drug Free Youth committee said getting rid of unwanted drugs in homes does more than just clear up cabinet space.
A man was arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting a woman on a SEPTA train in Philadelphia last week, even as a number of witnesses failed to stop the incident or call police, authorities said.
Powerful gang behind kidnapping of 17 US and Canadian missionaries in Haiti, security source says
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken / REUTERS-Yonhap

The U.S. State Department on Tuesday condemned North Korea's latest missile launch as a threat to the region while urging the reclusive state to engage in dialogue.



"The United States condemns the DPRK's ballistic missile launch. These launches are a violation of multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions and are a threat to the region," a State Department spokesperson told Yonhap News Agency in an email.



"We call on the DPRK to refrain from further provocations and engage in sustained and substantive dialogue. Our commitment to the defense of the Republic of Korea and Japan remains ironclad," the spokesperson added.



North Korea fired what Seoul officials believed to be a submarine launched ballistic missile into the East Sea on Tuesday (Seoul time).



The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM) in Hawaii earlier said it was aware of the North Korean ballistic missile launch, without elaborating on the type of missile launched.



The INDOPACOM said the missile launch did not pose an "immediate threat" to the U.S. or its allies.



The latest missile test marks the eighth known projectile launch by North Korea this year.



North Korea has ignored numerous U.S. overtures for dialogue as it has continued to stay away from talks with the U.S. since early 2019.



U.S. special envoy for North Korea, Sung Kim, again offered to meet with North Korea without any preconditions Monday after his bilateral meeting with his South Korean counterpart, Noh Kyu-duk, in Washington.



"The U.S. continues to reach out to Pyongyang to restart dialogue. Our intent remains the same. We harbor no hostile intent toward the DPRK, and we are open to meetings without preconditions," said Kim, referring to North Korea by its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.



The U.S. envoy is set to visit Seoul later this week to again talk with his South Korean counterpart on ways to bring North Korea back to the dialogue table that he said may include providing humanitarian assistance to the people of North Korea and declaring a formal end to the Korean War. (Yonhap)


By Trudy Rubin





Just over a year ago, a deal was signed on the White House lawn between Israel and two tiny Arab Gulf countries. It was billed as a game changer in the Middle East.



Called the Abraham Accords, the deal normalized relations between the Jewish state, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and got the ball rolling with Sudan and Morocco. The Bahrainis and Emiratis were the first, and only, Arab states to formalize ties with Israel since Jordan and Egypt decades ago.



The Israelis had every right to be thrilled. Embassies were exchanged, direct flights began, and about 200,000 Israelis flocked to the Emirates in the past year, including many business delegations. Israel has a big pavilion in the current Dubai World Expo, whose motto is "Connecting Minds, Creating the Future."



On Oct. 13, Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid joked familiarly with UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed in a press conference in Washington alongside Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Lapid invited bin Zayed to his Tel Aviv home for dinner.



Yet there is a glaring omission in the Abraham Accords that was noticeable in the banter on the stage, an omission that threatens Israel more than its Arab partners. The Biden team could help, but is reluctant to get involved.



That omission: Palestinians were not part of the Abraham Accords, which were deliberately formulated to work around them. At Wednesday's press conference, Palestinians living under Israeli occupation on the West Bank, in Gaza and Jerusalem, got only the most pro forma mention.



Prior to the accords, the common Mideast wisdom contended that further normalization of relations between Israel and Arab states (beyond Egypt and Jordan) must be preceded by an Israel-Palestine peace deal. This was the formula enshrined in the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative, promoted by Saudi Arabia.



But former President Trump and his son-in-law Jared Kushner turned that formula on its head with the Abraham Accords. They called for normalization by Arab states to come first in an effort to compel the Palestinians to accept a very limited form of autonomy proposed by former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Under Trump and Netanyahu's plan, the concept of a two-state solution with a disarmed Palestinian state alongside Israel would end, once and for all.



The Palestinians refused. Trump and Netanyahu were defeated. And now, despite the people-to-people warmth of the new Gulf-Israel accords, reality rears its head.



The expanding Arab normalization isn't likely to go much farther. It was primarily based on common security needs since Israel and the Gulf states share a hostility toward Iranian aggression. They have been sharing intelligence and exchanging unofficial visits for years.



But common security concerns weren't sufficient to get a deal. The Trump White House sweetened the pot by selling the UAE advanced F-35 jets, removing Sudan from the list of terrorism sponsors, and recognizing Morocco's claim to Western Sahara (a position reversed by Biden).



The Trump team even considered granting Saudi Arabia primary responsibility for Jerusalem's Holy Places, pushing aside close U.S. ally Jordan, but this effort failed. No further big bribes are likely under Biden, and the Saudis seem unlikely to normalize relations in the foreseeable future.



Most importantly, the Abraham Accords won't solve Israel's Palestine problem. The state of Israel faces the same existential problem it did before the accords: continued occupation of the West Bank, Gaza and Arab East Jerusalem effectively creates one Israeli state between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean. And within that territory the number of disenfranchised Palestinians already outnumbers Israeli Jews.



In an effort to address the big omission, the Israel Policy Forum (which supports a "viable two-state solution") has put out a timely report on whether the Accords might be used to break the Israel-Palestine stalemate. Called The New Normal: Arab-Israeli Normalization and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, the report argues that the Israeli government might be willing to accept tradeoffs that advance Israel-Palestinian peace in exchange for further normalization.



And it urges the UAE and other Arab normalizers to press for Palestinian involvement in economic initiatives on trade, environment, and tourism that evolve under the accords.



But the authors recognize that the Gulf Arabs have little interest in getting involved in the Palestinian issue, nor is Israel eager to bring the Palestinian Authority into the process. "For any of this to work we need a bigger American role," co-author Michael Koplow told me. "Without it, it will be tougher to proceed and bring in the Palestinians."



Moreover, without political talks, it is impossible to improve the Palestinian economic situation. Investment in the West Bank and Gaza is stalled due to the uncertain political situation, where Israel can block imports or exports or movement of workers, or even bandwidth for fast internet.



So the economic promise of the Abraham Accords should indeed be expanded to include Palestinians, but this can't be done without a renewal of Israeli-Palestinian political talks. That would require pressure from the White House on both the Israelis and the Emiratis.



Unless those accords expand, and political talks evolve, Israel will still face its existential Palestinian problem. All the excitement of the Dubai World Expo won't change that immutable fact.





Trudy Rubin (trubin@phillynews.com.) is a columnist and editorial-board member for the Philadelphia Inquirer. This article was distributed by Tribune Content Agency.


Texas plane crash: No one seriously injured after MD-87 jet heading to Boston goes down near Houston
BILLINGS - Over $1,400 was raised by the Billings community to purchase a hydroponics growing system for Ben Steele Middle School.

The idea is to get kids hands on the things that theyre working on -- instead of just on a book or a screen, Michael Thomas, Ben Steele Middle School science teacher, said. Giving them the ability to see things go from seed to food gives them ownership of it and it really helps them understand the concepts that were working on.

ELEPHAS Real Estate Group, a local real estate business brokered by eXp Realty, led fundraising efforts for projects that spark creativity, encourage critical thinking and promote practical learning in K-12 classrooms in Billings.

Local realtor and founder of ELPHAS Neil Beyer is working with two other teachers to begin fundraising efforts for new projects.

To nominate or apply for funding, learn more or contribute as a local business you can visit https://elephasre.com/classroom-contributor/.
BILLINGS - In the midst of a critical blood and platelet shortage Vitalant is asking all eligible donors to make an appointment now.

Vitalant wrote in a release that donations are going out to the 900 hospitals they serve, including approximately 29 in Montana, quicker than they are coming in.

Type O blood, which is the most transfused blood type, has apparently plummeted to under a two-day supply  its lowest level since May 2020.

As people resume routine activities, busy donors are not making enough appointments, or keeping them. Scheduling and keeping donation appointments are both critical to meeting patient needs.

Compared to the beginning of the pandemic, patient needs are stronger than we expected, Cliff Numark, Vitalant senior vice president, said. Were seeking about 1,000 additional volunteer donors to make and keep an appointment each week for the foreseeable future to ensure Vitalant can help trauma victims, cancer patients and critical surgeries.

In order to help, St. Vincent Healthcare is hosting a public Blood Drive on Thursday, Oct. 21 from 2 p.m. to 6:45 p.m. It will be located at the Marillac Auditorium.

To sign up you can contact Melissa Siemsen at 406-237-8032, or email her at melissa.siemsen@schlhealth.org.

Vitalant is also experiencing a critical shortage of platelet donations. Platelets are tiny cells that help blood clot. They must be transfused within about a week of donation and about 50% of platelets are given to cancer patients undergoing treatment.

There is no waiting period to give a donation after receiving a flu shot or COVID-19 vaccine as long as all other eligibility requirements are met. Donors also must feel well the day of their donation.

Appointments are encouraged, but walk-ins are welcome.

To learn more and schedule an appointment head over to our connections page on Kulr8.com and click on the link or call 877-25-VITAL (877-258-4825).

Vitalant follows strict protocols to ensure the safety of donors, patients, and staff, including social distancing and other precautions. To support a safe environment and most efficiently follow the latest CDC guidance, masks are required for all donors, staff, volunteers, and guests at Vitalant blood drives and facilities regardless of vaccination status.
HELENA, Mont. - Fuels reduction and forest stand improvement work is underway on Flathead National Forest Lands through a Good Neighbor Authority (GNA) partnership with the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation (DNRC), according to a release from the Governor's Office.

To address Montanas forest health crisis, were committed to using tools like Good Neighbor Authority partnerships to bring more federal forested acres under active management, Governor Greg Gianforte said. Working with our federal partners, well continue to aggressively pursue projects like this to protect our communities, improve the health of our forests, support our local economies, and be better stewards of our treasured natural resources.

Located 19 miles north of Columbia Falls and one mile south of the Camas Creek entrance to Glacier National Park, the project was identified as a top priority to be funded from GNA timber sale revenue and implemented under the GNA.

Under the project, heavy fuels within the Wildland Urban Interface will be reduced to protect communities and infrastructure and promote a healthier, more fire resilient forest.

The State of Montana awarded the contract to a local contractor to thin dense stands of sapling size trees that are a result of the 2001 Moose Fire. The area will be thinned from 10,000-15,000 trees per acre to 275-325 trees per acres using a mid-size excavator equipped with a mastication head and favor the long-lived, fire adapted western larch.

We have outstanding employees who work for both agencies that are committed to sustaining a healthy working forest that provides for so many, Forest Supervisor Kurt Steele of the Flathead National Forest said. I look forward to continuing our strong partnership with the State in our continued quest to be great stewards of our public lands.

Consistent with the governors goals to increase use of GNA and collaborative stewardship agreements, DNRC is striving to treat approximately 25,000 acres by the end of the year.
Microsoft confirmed on Monday that Bill Gates was told by fellow executives to stop inappropriately emailing with an employee. Bill Gates is shown here at a press conference in New Delhi, India on November 05, 2008.
A 33-year-old man has been charged with homicide in connection with the Oct. 9 car crash near Lauderdale Lake that ended in a fatal vehicle fire.

Timothy Creiglow of Seattle, Washington, is charged with homicide by negligent operation of a vehicle, according to a criminal complaint filed Monday, Oct. 18. The crash occurred on Highway 12 east of Jackson Road in the town of LaGrange.

The complaint describes the Oct. 9 incident, during which a Walworth County Deputy was dispatched to locate a reckless driver on Highway 12 in the town of Lafayette.

The caller reported that the Jeep vehicle had left the roadway, struck a sign and continued driving, according to the complaint. The vehicle reportedly crossed into the oncoming lane of traffic multiple times.

The vehicle ultimately crashed in the town of LaGrange.

According to the complaint, a second deputy from the Walworth County Sheriff's Office assisted at the scene and observed that a blue Jeep driven by Creiglow had crossed the highway's center line and struck an oncoming vehicle  a green BMW.

When the deputy originally responding to the call arrived at the scene, she observed extensive damage to the front of the BMW and an odor of gasoline, the complaint states. The deputy reportedly saw an unresponsive adult male lying from the passenger seat across the center console and into the rear passenger seat of the vehicle.

The deputy reportedly attempted to remove the male from the BMW as a fire burned near the front passenger tire of the vehicle, but was ultimately unsuccessful as the car became engulfed in flames.

The man driving the BMW died as a result of the crash and the ensuing fire, the deputy reports.

According to the complaint, the deputy then moved onto Creiglow in the driver's seat of the Jeep vehicle, who was being assisted by a nurse who had stopped at the scene. Creiglow was reportedly in and out of consciousness until EMS arrived.

The deputy reports that Creiglow had a significant head laceration and emitted an odor of intoxicants. He was transported to Froedtert Hospital in Wauwatosa.

Blood samples were taken from Creiglow later that night, according to the complaint. The samples were reportedly packaged for transport to the Wisconsin State Crime Lab for analysis.

If convicted, Creiglow faces possible fines up to $25,000, imprisonment for up to 10 years, or both.

An adjourned initial appearance has been scheduled for Tuesday morning, Nov. 16 at the Walworth County Judicial Center.

As of Tuesday, Oct. 19, authorities had not released the name of the victim.

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A Town of Sugar Creek man was arrested on 10 counts of possession of child pornography, Oct. 15, according to police.

Officials from the Walworth County Sheriff's Office said they conducted an investigation on Kent Jones-Anderson, 27, after receiving a tip from the Wisconsin Crimes Against Children Task Force regarding possible possession of child pornography.

Police said detectives contacted Jones-Anderson who gave them permission to search his cell phone for possible Child Sexual Abuse Material. Detectives located numerous photos, according to police.

Jones-Anderson was arrested and booked into the Walworth County Jail on 10 counts of possession of child pornography, according to police. He was released on $10,000 signature bond, and his initial court appearance is set for Oct. 21.

Police said the investigation if ongoing.
Patna, October 19: BJP MLA Gyanendra Singh Gyanu on Tuesday said that the Centre should provide arms to non-local civilians in Jammu and Kashmir so that they can defend themselves from terrorists.

"The Centre should provide arms to the non-local residents so that they can defend themselves from terrorists and teach them a lesson. When terrorism was prevalent in Punjab, people were being given licences to own AK-47 rifles.

The same can be done with people in Jammu and Kashmir. Government should unite these non-local civilians, settle them in a particular area, provide them individual security as well as government security besides employment," he said.

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Gyanu said that the terrorists were trying to establish an atmosphere of terror by attacking poor, underprivileged people.

"These terrorists are cowards. They are making the poor and underprivileged their target. Will they dare fight the Border Security Force (BSF) or our Army like that? It is the Pakistani terrorists or those influenced or paid by Pakistan who are killing the people," he added.

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Over the past few days, several civilians have been killed by terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir, sparking fear in the Valley.

Three non-Kashmiri labourers were fired upon by terrorists in the Kulgam district of Jammu and Kashmir. As per CID sources, all three labourers are residents of Bihar.

Earlier a gol-gappa hawker from Bihar and a carpenter from Uttar Pradesh were shot dead by terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir on Friday. The hawker, Arbind Kumar Sah, and another Sagir Ahmad from UP, were shot dead by terrorists in Srinagar and Pulwama.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
New Delhi [India], October 19 (ANI): Delhi police busted a gang for defrauding Rs 1.35 crore and arrested five persons including a Germany-based Non-Resident Indian citizen.

They had established a network in India for sweeping away funds from accounts having an enormous amount of money. Several persons fell prey to this online fraudster.

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According to the police, the case was registered under section 420 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for cheating and dishonesty in Rajinder Nagar police station in Delhi last year.

The complainant Kanika Girdhar had alleged that in November 2020 she tried to log into her bank account, but access was denied for want of the correct password. After she approached the bank officials, she learnt that her fixed deposits (FDs) had been liquidated and an amount of Rs 1.35 crore had been fraudulently withdrawn through online transfer, cheque and ATM withdrawals.

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The bank officials said that a fresh cheque book and new ATM card were issued against her account lately. The bank officials also informed the complainant that the said a new chequebook and ATM card were received by a person who introduced himself as Vishal, brother of the complainant.

The complainant said she has never made any such request to issue any cheque book or ATM card to the bank. She has no siblings.

During the investigation, on the basis of details obtained from the bank as well as technical surveillance, the actual culprit was identified as Sumit Pandey, an employee of ICICI Bank.

He was later apprehended and subjected to interrogation in which he detailed the complainant's account and said by taking advantage of his official position at the ICICI Bank, he got to know that an amount of Rs 1.35 crore was lying in the account.

The police said he later passed on the relevant information pertaining to the complainant's bank account to Shailendra Pratap Singh, kingpin of the syndicate who hatched a conspiracy for withdraw the amount from the complainant's account.

The accused Shailendra Pratap Singh arranged an office at Badkhal Chowk, Faridabad and started office for a fake company named Workforce India Pvt. Ltd. in the disguise of supply of labourers in big construction companies.

He deputed two of his associates namely Jagdamba Prasad Pandey and Rahul there as managers. They eventually hired around 10-odd labourers for the company and made them open their bank accounts in Equitas Small Finance Bank, AU Small Finance Bank, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank.

He collected ATM Cards and cheque books of those labourers and after that, they started withdrawing amounts from the ATM cards.

After withdrawal, an amount of Rs 63 only was left in the account. Whereas the offender was so desperate that they deposited Rs 37 only to take the total remaining upto Rs 100 and withdrew Rs 100 After withdrawal, they locked the rented office and disappeared. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Lucknow, Oct 19 (PTI) The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case on Tuesday released pictures of six people standing near an SUV, which was set ablaze during the October 3 incident.

It has assured that details of those giving information will not be revealed besides informers will be given due rewards.

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The Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh had set up the SIT to investigate the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case in which eight people, including four farmers, were killed.

"The SIT team probing the October 3 violence has got some photos and videos. We are releasing photographs and appeal to people to identify them," an SIT official said.

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"Six photographs have been released for identification," he said.

The SIT has already issued notices to over three dozen farmers for questioning in a case related to the lynching of BJP workers.

Two FIRs were registered at the Tikonia police station after eight people, including four farmers, were killed in the violence. In the first FIR, MoS Ajay Mishra's son Ashish was named as accused besides 15 to 20 unidentified persons.

Another FIR was lodged at the same police station on the basis of a complaint by Sumit Jaiswal, who has now been arrested.

In the complaint, Jaiswal, a resident of Ayodhyapuri here, identified himself as a BJP worker who was on his way to welcome Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya for a wrestling event at Banbirpur, when the violence broke out.

So far, 10 people, including the MoS' son Ashish Mishra, have been arrested in the case.

The farmers alleged that Ashish Misra was present in one of the vehicles during the incident, a charge which has been denied by him.

The minister's son claimed he was present in Banbirpur village at the time to attend a wrestling event.

Among eight killed, four were farmers, one was a local journalist and three were BJP workers.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Pune (Maharashtra) [India], October 19 (ANI): Union Minister of State (MoS) for Health and Family Welfare Dr Bharati Pravin Pawar on Tuesday visited the Serum Institute of India in Pune and conveyed her gratitude for playing a crucial role in the COVID-19 vaccination campaign in the country.

Taking to Twitter the Union Minister conveyed her gratitude to the manufacturing institute for playing a crucial role in the Covid vaccination campaign in India.

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"Today I visited serum Institute of India, Pune, one of the prominent manufacturers of Vaccines headed by Adar Poonawalla. Conveyed my gratitude for playing a crucial role in the Covid vaccination campaign in India especially," she said in a tweet.

"When we are on the way to achieving hundred crore vaccination of our citizens under the able leadership of our PM @narendramodi," she further tweeted.

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India's COVID-19 vaccination drive was launched on January 16, 2021. Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya informed that the cumulative COVID vaccination coverage crossed 99 crores on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan reviewed the progress of COVID-19 vaccination with Health Secretaries and National Health Mission MDs of states and UTs, through a video conference yesterday.

Highlighting that the nation is close to administering a billion doses, the Health Secretary congratulated the states and UTs on their effort to vaccinate all citizens. It was highlighted that a sizeable number of beneficiaries who are eligible have not received their second dose.

States and UTs were urged to focus on these second vaccination doses in the review meeting.

The Health Ministry said that it has issued various SOPs over the last one year for international travel. It is in the process of reviewing the guidelines in consultation with all stakeholders including the Ministry of Home Affairs, Bureau of Immigration, Ministry of Civil Aviation and the Ministry of External Affairs. States and UTs were also requested to share their suggestion or feedback. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
New Delhi, October 19: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday to inaugurate Kushinagar International Airport along with various other developmental projects in the district.

"At around 10 AM, the Prime Minister will inaugurate the Kushinagar International Airport. Subsequently, at around 11:30 AM, he will participate in an event marking Abhidhamma Day at Mahaparinirvana Temple. Thereafter, at around 1:15 PM, the Prime Minister will attend a public function to inaugurate and lay the foundation stone of various development projects in Kushinagar," read a release by the Prime Minister's office.

Also Read | Lakhimpur Kheri Violence: BJP Leader, Who was Seen Inside the SUV That Mowed Down Farmers in UP, 3 Others Arrested.

The inauguration of the Kushinagar International Airport will be marked by the landing of the inaugural flight at the airport from Colombo, Sri Lanka, carrying a Sri Lankan delegation of over hundreds of Buddhist monks and dignitaries including the 12-member holy relic entourage bringing the holy Buddha relics for exposition.

The delegation also comprises Anunayakas (deputy heads) of all four Nikatas (orders) of Buddhism in Sri Lanka, that is, Asgiriya, Amarapura, Ramanya, Malwatta as well as five ministers of the Sri Lanka government led by Cabinet Minister Namal Rajapakshe.

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The Kushinagar International Airport has been built at an estimated cost of Rs 260 crore. It will facilitate domestic and international pilgrims to visit the Mahaparinirvana sthal of Lord Buddha and is an endeavour in connecting the Buddhist pilgrimage holy sites around the world. The airport will serve nearby districts of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar and is an important step in boosting the investment and employment opportunities in the region, the official statement said.

The prime minister will visit the Mahaparinirvana temple, offer Archana and Chivar to the reclining statue of Lord Buddha and also plant a Bodhi tree sapling.

PM Modi will also participate in an event, organised to mark Abhidhamma Day. The day symbolises the end of a three-month rainy retreat-Varshavaas or Vassa-for the Buddhist Monks, during which they stay at one place in vihara and monastery and pray. The event will also be attended by eminent monks from Sri Lanka, Thailand, Myanmar, South Korea, Nepal, Bhutan and Cambodia, as well as ambassadors of various countries.

The prime minister will walk through the exhibition of paintings of Ajanta frescos, Buddhist Sutra calligraphy and Buddhist artefacts excavated from Vadnagar and other sites in Gujarat.

He will also participate in a public function at Barwa Jangal, Kushinagar. In the event, he will lay the foundation stone of Rajkiya Medical College, Kushinagar which will be built at a cost of over Rs 280 crore, informed the PMO release.

The medical college will have a 500-bed hospital and provide admissions to 100 students in the MBBS course in academic session 2022-2023. Prime Minister will also inaugurate and lay the foundation stone of 12 development projects in Kushinagar worth over Rs 180 crores.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Kabul [Afghanistan], October 19 (ANI): The Journalists Association has called on the international organizations which stand for freedom of media to support and back Afghanistan's media, saying that there is a lack of access to information despite the introduction of spokespersons to the government departments.

They called on officials of the Islamic Emirate on Monday to take steps to resolve the problem faced by the journalists.

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According to Tolo News, calling access to information an "obstacle", the journalists have complained about the same.

However, the deputy minister of information and culture, Zabiullah Mujahid clarified that the spokespersons would start interacting once they are done with their basic training, according to the news channel.

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"As long as we are responsible, the cases are under investigation. Some of the people who were negligent toward the media were punished and introduced to the judicial system, but we haven't seen a big issue yet. There was some negligence for some reasons," Tolo News reported Mujahid as saying.

The deputy minister further said that some of the spokespersons will be in "direct" contact with the media once they are trained and graduated from the workshops, according to the news channel.

"It is really concerning. We call on international organizations that support the freedom of speech and media, and on the countries that have helped in the past, to support and back the Afghan media; otherwise, we will witness a great obstacle in the path of access to information in Afghanistan," said Hojatullah Mujadidi, deputy of the Afghan Independent Journalists Association.

At least 70 per cent of media outlets have stopped working in Afghanistan since the Taliban took control over the country due to financial problems, National Association of Journalists.

The national association of journalists in a press conference in Kabul on October 3, said that they found the statistics after conducting an online survey in 28 provinces of Afghanistan, Khamma Press reported.

"40 per cent of the Afghan journalists are worried about their safety in Afghanistan and rest of them are living a difficult life as they have lost their jobs," said Masroor Lutfi, head of the national association of journalists.

The re-emergence of the Taliban in Afghanistan raised the concerns among many that journalists in the country would be targeted to silence dissent.

Earlier, two Afghan journalists were beaten in police custody after covering a protest by women in Kabul.

At the first Taliban news conference on August 17 after the group took Kabul, Zabiullah Mujahid, said that media will remain "free and independent," provided they work according to "Islamic principles," and are fair and serve "national interests."The Human Rights Watch said that Taliban authorities in Afghanistan have imposed wide-ranging restrictions on media and free speech that are already stifling criticism and dissent.

Taliban security forces have also arbitrarily detained journalists and beaten several. The head of a journalists' advocacy group told Human Rights Watch that the Taliban have taken at least 32 journalists into custody since they took power in Kabul on August 15, the Human Rights Watch said. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Islamabad [Pakistan], October 19 (ANI): Pakistan Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry has claimed that "all issues" between the government and the Pakistani Army pertaining to the next Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Director-general are now settled.

According to Dawn, Chaudhry while interacting with the media on Monday said that the notification of the new DG of ISI would be issued this week.

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The Minister further denied reports of new names for the post being sent to the Prime Minister's Office, Dawn reporterd

Earlier, Pakistan Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed had said that the issues concerning the appointment of the new ISI chief will be resolved by Friday.

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Amid the ongoing tussle between the Pakistan Army and Imran Khan govt over the appointment of the next spymaster, Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa on Monday visited the Pakistan intelligence agency's headquarters to discuss "internal security and the ongoing situation in Afghanistan" with ISI chief Lieutenant General Faiz Hamid.

The meeting came amid an ongoing standoff between the army and government led by Prime Minister Imran Khan over the appointment of the next ISI chief.

The army had announced on October 6 that the incumbent ISI chief, Lt Gen Hameed, had been made the Peshawar corps commander, while Lt Gen Nadeem Ahmed Anjum was appointed in his place.

However, the prime minister's office has since not issued an official notification of Lt Gen Anjum's appointment, leading to rumours about strains in civil-military relations. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Dubai [UAE], October 19 (ANI/WAM): Expo 2020 Dubai has welcomed 771,477 ticketed visits through its gates since its 1 October opening, up substantially from the 411,768 ticketed visits during the mega-event's first ten days.

Almost half of all visitors hold a Season Pass, with more than 100,000 people visiting the site twice and more than 35,000 coming three times during the first 15 days, highlighting the number of attractions on offer at the largest event ever held in the Arab world.

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To date, visitors to the World Expo - the first ever held in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia (MEASA) - came from 181 nationalities, only 11 fewer countries than the 192 participating in the event, each with their own pavilion.

The figures include all ticket holders, but exclude representatives, delegations and guests of International participants, partners and other stakeholders, as well as Expo staff.

Also Read | UK to Impose Visa Penalties to Speed Up Deportations of Illegal Migrants.

Expo 2020 Dubai runs until 31 March 2022, with more than 200 pavilions and countless other attractions for visitors to explore, plus up to 60 events daily, as well as panel discussions, cultural performances and much more.

Bringing Expo 2020 Dubai to a global digital audience, the number of virtual visitors has risen to 9.3 million since 1 October, up from 7.8 million last week. (ANI/WAM)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Naypyitaw [Myanmar], October 19 (ANI): The Myanmar Military on Monday announced that more than 5,000 people who were arrested for opposing the coup will be freed under a grant of amnesty.

The head of Myanmar's junta Min Aung Hlaing made the announcement during a nationwide televised speech, VOA reported.

Also Read | UK to Impose Visa Penalties to Speed Up Deportations of Illegal Migrants.

"More violence happened due to provocations of terrorist groups," Min Aung Hlaing said in a speech, where he appeared in civilian attire, VOA reported citing news agencies.

"No one cares about their violence, and is only demanding we solve the issue. ASEAN should work on that," he added.

Also Read | COVID-19 Vaccine Update: China's Inhalable Ad5-nCoV Vaccine May Boost Antibodies Upto 300-Fold, Claims Report.

The grand amnesty came days after the decision by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to exclude Myanmar coup leaders from the upcoming October 26-28 summit.

Instead, ASEAN is inviting a non-political representative from the country, VOA reported.

Meanwhile, Myanmar is in turmoil since the coup on February 1, when the Myanmar military led by Senior General Ming Aung Hlaing overthrew the civilian government and declared a year-long state of emergency. The coup triggered mass protests and was met by deadly violence.

On Saturday, Myanmar's military junta had also expressed disappointment over their leader Min Aung Hlaing's exclusion from the upcoming ASEAN summit. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Omaha, Oct 19 (AP) US Rep. Jeff Fortenberry of Nebraska expects to be charged with lying to the FBI while federal agents were investigating campaign contributions funneled to him from a Nigerian billionaire, the nine-term Republican said as he proclaimed his innocence and promised to fight the charges.

In a YouTube video posted Monday night, Fortenberry said he was shocked and stunned by the allegations and asked his supporters to rally behind him. Knowingly making false statements to a federal agent is a felony, punishable by up to five years in prison.

Also Read | COVID-19 Vaccination: Will Make Life Very Difficult for Unvaccinated Citizens, Says Malaysian Health Minister.

"We will fight these charges, he said in the video, filmed inside a pickup truck with his wife, Celeste, against a backdrop of corn. I did not lie to them. I told them what I knew. But we need your help."

Also Read | Malala Yousafzai Asks Taliban in Afghanistan to Reopen Schools for Girls.

The expected indictment stems from an FBI investigation into $180,000 in illegal campaign contributions from Gilbert Chagoury. The contributions were funneled through a group of Californians from 2012 through 2016 and went to four US politicians, including $30,200 to Fortenberry in 2016 and $10,000 to then-Rep. Lee Terry, who represented the Omaha area in 2014.

The FBI office in Omaha referred questions Tuesday to the U.S. Attorney's office for the Central District of California, which didn't immediately return a phone message Tuesday morning.

Fortenberry's campaign has said he didn't know the donations, which the campaign received during a fundraiser in Los Angeles, originated with Chagoury. (AP)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
When the Peoples Republic of Latgale was proclaimed on the Internet in late January, security officials in this small former Soviet republic took notice.

Until the furtive creators of the website declared independence on behalf of the countrys Russian-speaking eastern enclave, authorities here had dismissed the threat of aggression by Moscow as all but unthinkable, thanks to the collective security shield wielded by a member of NATO.

But that first online hint of pro-Russia insurrection spurred an investigation that has identified the perpetrators, Latvian Interior Minister Rihards Kozlovskis said. He declined to name the suspects or say whether anyone has been arrested, disclosing only that a criminal process has been started.

Latvia is a democratic country where freedom of speech is respected, Kozlovskis said, but an invitation to undermine the territorial integrity of the Republic of Latvia is a criminal action.

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The Latgale proclamation, which journalists and others with intelligence connections say has been traced to provocateurs in Russia, continues to unsettle Latvians and their neighbors in Lithuania and Estonia for its similarity to acts of rebellion in Ukraine a year ago that have escalated into vicious warfare and more than 6,000 deaths.

Russias annexation of Ukraines Crimea region and its support for secessionist rebels in the east have been justified as protection of Russians who find themselves living in a foreign country after the 1991 breakup of the Soviet Union. Russian troops moved into Crimea just days after a popular uprising ousted Kremlin-allied President Viktor Yanukovich, who had angered millions of Ukrainians by trying to scuttle their shift in alliance from Moscow to the European Union.

Latvia and Estonia have considerably larger proportions of Russians and Russian speakers than does Ukraine, and the three Baltic states induction into NATO 11 years ago has drawn increasingly ominous bombast from Russian President Vladimir Putin, who portrays the North Atlantic Treaty Organization as hostile toward Russia and plotting his demise.

In Latvia, 38% of residents claim Russian as their mother tongue, with immigrants from Belarus and other former Soviet republics joining the 26% of the country that is ethnic Russian in preferring their language to Latvian, which no one was required to learn before independence. Russians make up the vast majority of Latvias 280,000 noncitizens, or 13% of the countrys 2.1 million residents, and, as foreigners, they cant vote and are ineligible for senior government positions.

If Putin felt justified in his actions against Ukraine, where 17% of the population is ethnic Russian and 24% Russian-speaking, Latvias allegedly endangered minority would seem to provide him with a convenient pretext for action.

Latvias state secretary for foreign affairs, Andrejs Pildegovics, worries that the Russian economic crisis brought on by Western sanctions and fallen oil prices has made the Kremlin very intolerant, autocratic and inward-looking, and the Russian people supportive of warmongering.

Mr. Putin has to be taken very seriously, said Pildegovics, a former ambassador to the United States. Hes one of the longest-serving leaders in the world. He could be in office until 2024, and hes very outspoken about his ultimate goals: the restoration of the Great Russian state.

While the Kremlin plays up the plight of Russians here, it simultaneously works to discourage them from becoming citizens of Latvia, offering them Russian passports instead. Russian citizenship accords visa-free travel to the vast federation and the opportunity to collect pensions seven years earlier than in Latvia, said Maris Cepuritis, a researcher at Rigas Center for East European Policy Studies.

Kremlin complaints of discrimination against Russians here have been a constant for two decades but have taken on a more ominous quality since the Crimea annexation showed that Putin isnt all talk, Cepuritis said.

Even so, the possibility of Russians in Latvia undertaking a separatist rebellion is remote, he said.

Theres only a small percentage of people here who can be called radicals, maybe 5[%] to 8%, who tell pollsters that they strongly support Russias actions in Crimea, Cepuritis said. He attributes broad resistance to territorial alliance with Russia to Latvias better living standards and the travel, work and study opportunities that came with its membership in the European Union, gained in 2004.

Still, hostile words emanating from Moscow, an escalation of Russian warplane intrusions into or near NATO airspace and incidents like the September abduction of an Estonian security official along the Russian border have eroded Latvians confidence that the Western military bloc would protect them from the stealth intrusions and disinformation that Russia has used to destabilize Ukraine.

Many Russians here share the view of journalist and social activist Igors Vatolins that the post-independence leaders of Latvia have erred in limiting citizenship for minorities and by stripping the Russian language of its official status.

He also accuses the government of failing to encourage candid discussion of Latvians wartime history. They are often seen in Riga, the capital, as victims of the secret Hitler-Stalin pact to divide Europe, but in Moscow many consider prewar Latvian leaders to have been Nazi collaborators.

After Crimea, all of these issues have been a great resource for Kremlin propagandists, Vatolins said. And in this situation, with Mr. Putin in the Kremlin deciding what happens in Latvia, it is neither right nor rational to ignore these problems.

He echoes Latvian security officials in saying there is little desire for secession of Russian enclaves, the most populous of which are ethnically diverse Riga and the Latgale area on the Russian and Belarus borders.

The Latgale website is believed to have been inspired from abroad, said Vatolins, an ethnic Russian who writes political commentaries and markets handicrafts made by seniors and the disabled.

It looks like they get their money from a Russian foundation that uses every opportunity to show Latvia as a bad place, Vatolins said of the backers of Latgale.

Military aggression in the old style  tanks crossing the border  is not likely here, he said. But what they call a hybrid offensive  provocations, a media war  that is very possible and hard to defend against.

Russians have legitimate gripes, but few advocate secession, said Elizabete Krivcova, a tax attorney and leader of the Non-Citizens Congress of Latvia. The interest group lobbies for more rights for minorities.

People know the problems of corruption and human rights in Russia, she said of fellow Russians. But those who only get their information from Russian television  and most of them havent been in Russia for 10 years  are not very critical. Half of the noncitizens sympathize with the Russian government. They say that if Russia is strong and powerful, they will help us. They say Russia is the only ally we have, and if they are weak, we will be alone.

Even in the Latgale region, there is no outward sign of unrest, Krivcova said, yet she worries about persistent interethnic friction.

People who came during the Soviet period are viewed as illegal immigrants. But they were invited here to work in industry; it wasnt a political act, she said of the migration of Russians after World War II.

Latvians and ethnic Russians alike dispute that Putin would risk interference here and tempt a decisive NATO response. But they keep a wary eye on their neighbors and the Kremlin leaders daring maneuvers to fan nationalist pride and expansionist ambitions.

The situation in Russia is unstable. Im concerned about their desire to reestablish the Russian empire, said Uldis Gerbashevskis, a 38-year-old coin dealer in Riga.

Russias history of domination of the Baltic states, which were independent after World War I until the Soviet Union annexed them in 1940, give him pause to contemplate Moscows intentions.

I worry that they see us as a way to enlarge their territory and to gain access to ports on the Baltic Sea, he said, though he nonetheless claimed to be confident of NATOs protection.

Tatiana Makarova was born in Russia 69 years ago. She moved to Riga with her mother at age 6 after her father died and the Soviet government was shifting masses of workers from the Russian heartland. Unlike many Russians her age here, she speaks fluent Latvian and easily passed the naturalization tests on language, history and the national anthem that have been required to gain citizenship since independence.

I consider myself Russian, but I have always felt comfortable here, the retired telephone factory worker said. To Moscows accusations of mistreatment and discrimination, she asserts with a huff that nobody has to be saved from anything here.
Robert Durst has been diagnosed with COVID infection. His lawyer said that Durst is currently on a ventilator just days after receiving his life imprisonment sentence for the murder of Susan Berman.

Durst's lead defense attorney, Dick DeGuerin, said that his client has been hospitalized and been provided with a breathing aid machine, according to a People report.

He added that they were notified that he tested positive and they were all worried about it.

Durst had appeared in his sentencing wearing a brown prison jumper and a mask. DeGuerin said that his 78-year-old client looked terrible at the sentencing, adding that he was concerned as Durst was having difficulties breathing, as well as speaking.

DeGuerin did not give any other details on Durst's condition or where he is currently hospitalized. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department also refused to give information about Durst's health.

DeGuerin said that Durst's health had deteriorated over the weeks of the trial.

READ NEXT: Gabby Petito, Brian Laundrie Supposed Beach Wedding in Florida Cancelled Due to COVID Pandemic

Life Imprisonment Sentence

The jury had convicted Durst in Los Angeles. He also faces a possible murder indictment in New York in connection to the disappearance of Kathie Durst, according to The New York Times report.

Durst noted to filmmakers that before Kathie had disappeared, his marriage had arguments, fighting, slapping, pushing, and wrestling. However, he insisted that he did not kill his wife. Her body has never been found.

A documentary series "The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst" had brought a wave of new public attention to the accusations against Durst six years ago.

Berman was shot at point-blank range in the back of the head in her Los Angeles home in December 2000, according to an NPR report.

Berman was reportedly prepared to tell police how Durst's wife had vanished.

In 2015, he was arrested in a New Orleans hotel. Durst had incriminating evidence against him, with prosecutors saying that it was a confession. He was confronted with evidence and made what prosecutors said was a confession.

Durst could be heard muttering himself on a live microphone in a bathroom, saying, "There it is. You're caught."

Durst was the estranged scion of a New York real estate developer and has made the headlines when his wife vanished.

New York authorities had reopened the case in late 2000. He had escaped close investigation from investigators from when his wife disappeared before the case was reopened again.

He fled to Texas, where he rented a cheap apartment and lived as a "Dorothy Ciner." He pretended to be a woman who couldn't speak and eventually dropped the disguise after walking into a men's restroom.

He testified that he traveled to Los Angeles to visit Berman for a "staycation." He added that he was planning to see some of the tourist sites.

However, Durst had long denied ever being in Los Angeles when Berman died. He claimed during a trial that he found Berman dead on a bedroom floor when he arrived.

READ MORE: Brian Laundrie Manhunt: Parents of Gabby Petito's Fiance Change the Date of Florida Fugitive's Disappearance

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Mary Webber

WATCH: Robert Durst hospitalized with COVID-19, his lawyer says - from ABC7






The State Department Inspector General (IG) will launch a series of "reviews" about the Afghanistan operation, including the Biden administration's pullout from the South Asian country.

State Department's Acting Inspector General Diana Shaw, confirmed the move on Monday, through a letter sent to the foreign affairs and intelligence committees of both U.S. House and U.S. Senate, Fox News reported.

"Given the elevated interest in this work by Congress and the unique circumstances requiring coordination across the inspector general community, I wanted to notify our committees of jurisdiction of this important work," Shaw indicated in the letter.

READ NEXT: Taliban Says U.S. Agreed to Provide Humanitarian Aid to Afghanistan, but Not Recognition

Despite saying that the IG will launch a probe, State Department's OIG spokesperson, Ryan Holden, pointed out that "reviews" will take place and not "investigations."

"This [review] will be conducted in coordination with the with other members of the Inspector General community. However, it is inaccurate to say that these projects are investigations. We indicated to Congress that these projects will be reviews," Holden underscored.

The Focus of the State Department's Review

The reviews by the said inspector general will focus on different aspects of the Afghanistan operations, such as the Special Immigrant Visa Program Afghans processed for refugee admission into the U.S., and resettlement of the visa recipients and the Afghan refugees.

The said review will also look into the emergency evacuation on the U.S. Embassy in Kabul including the evacuation of Americans and Afghans from the South Asian country.

Moreover, a separate letter from Inspector General Shaw also revealed that her office was launching "several oversight projects" related to the end of the diplomatic mission and U.S. military operations in Afghanistan.

Reviews From Other Inspector Generals, Other Agencies

Aside from the IG of the State Department, other inspector generals from other agencies including the Department of Defense started their reviews.

Pentagon's inspector general has at least three reviews related to the Afghanistan evacuation. The reviews of the said agency would evaluate the Kabul drone strike that killed at least 10 civilians instead of the Islamic State target; an audit for DOD's support on relocating Afghans; and a review of DOD's screening process on displaced Afghanistan nationals.

Other inspector generals, including the one from the Afghanistan Reconstruction, may also review the end of U.S. operations in Afghanistan.

U.S. Withdrawal on Afghanistan

The series of reviews from the State Department's inspector general came weeks after the U.S. decided to withdraw on Afghanistan on August 30, ending the longest war in the history of the United States.

Although the last plane carrying Americans departed from the South Asian country at around 3:29 p.m. (ET), Marine General Frank McKenzie noted that they were not able to get everyone out of Afghanistan.

McKenzie did not provide details on how many Americans were left in the country at that time, but a senior State Department official noted that under 250 Americans were left in the South Asian country during that time.

As of date, Fox News said that an untold number of Americans and U.S. allies remain in Afghanistan, prompting the retired military officials to call for the mass resignation of Biden's diplomatic and military leaders.

READ NEXT: Drone Strike Kills Senior Al Qaeda Leader in Syria , U.S. Officials Say

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written By: Joshua Summers

WATCH: The Reality of the US Withdrawal From Afghanistan - From VICE News
Former U.S. President Donald Trump filed a lawsuit against the Congress select committee, led by the Democrats, to try to stop the documents related to the January 6 Capitol riot from being turned over to the panel.

Aside from the House select committee that is trying to investigate the Capitol riot events, the National Archives is also included in the lawsuit, according to an NPR report.

The lawsuit stated that the Committee's request for the documents is nothing less than a "vexatious, illegal fishing expedition" that was endorsed by U.S. President Joe Biden.

The lawsuit added that it is designed to unconstitutionally probe Trump and his administration. It was filed in the U.S. District Court in Washington D.C.

Trump said in a lawsuit that the laws do not permit such "an impulsive, egregious action" against a former president and his close administration officials.

The former president had urged former officials in his administration not to comply with the subpoenas from the House panel.

Trump had cited the executive privilege. However, it only applies to the current sitting president, not the former ones.

READ NEXT: Donald Trump Campaign Paid Over $4.3 Million to Capitol Riot Organizers Before the Jan. 6 Event: Report

January 6 Documents

At least one Trump ally, Steve Bannon, has defied the subpoena issued by the House panel, according to an Associated Press News report.

The Biden administration noted that the violent event that enveloped Capitol Hill was such as an extraordinary event that merited waiving the privilege that usually protects White House communications.

Deputy Counsel Jonathan Su said that the president's decision on the submission of the documents applied to Bannon, as well. Su added that they are not aware of any basis for his refusal to appear for a deposition.

Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, heading the committee, has denounced Trump's executive privilege, claiming it as "insufficient, blanket, and vague," according to a USA Today report.

The House committee panel responsible for the investigation of the Capitol riot demanded a range of executive branch papers related to intelligence gathered before the attack. It also includes security preparations during and before the siege, and pro-Trump rallies held that day.

They are also looking at Trump's false claims that he won the election.

In September, the select committee had received thousands of pages of documents regarding the January 6 event. However, they did not describe the contents of the documents further, according to a CBS News report.

The committee noted that the documents supplement the material that they've received from other House Committees related to their earlier probes of the Capitol riot.

Some of the agencies that were asked to hand over related documents were the Defense Department, Homeland Security Department, Department of Justice, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The Department of the Interior, the National Counterterrorism Center, and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence were asked to hand over the requested records.

The committee had its first public hearing in late July, wherein officers who had defended the Capitol had testified about their experience.

The officers had recounted their physical and emotional injuries from that day.

READ MORE: Pres. Joe Biden Says He Does Not Care if People Think He's 'Satan Reincarnate' After Expressing Support On Bipartisan Probe of Capitol Riot

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Written by: Mary Webber

WATCH: Trump sues to block release of documents to Jan. 6 committee - from 10 Tampa Bay






A Brian Laundrie lookalike was questioned by federal investigators at gunpoint and was handcuffed as authorities worked on confirming his identity.

Severin Beckwith was mistaken by tipsters as the main person of interest in Gabby Petito's case. He was traveling with his companion Anna Brettman, according to a Daily Mail report.

Beckwith was napping at a North Carolina lodge when officials had entered their room. He noted that they were wearing riot shields, with a text saying they were U.S. Marshals.

He added that handguns were pointed at his face. Beckwith was then handcuffed and then taken into the hotel hallway while investigators were working on confirming his identity.

One of the agents that were checking Beckwith had noted that he had a notch in the upper part of his inner ear, just like Laundrie.

He was released after providing an ID and showing he did not have any tattoos like Laundrie, according to a TMZ report.

Beckwith was fingerprinted by the U.S. He was also warned that she should shave his beard for the foreseeable future.

The Laundrie lookalike said that he immediately regretted shaving his beard as he has "less of a chin than Laundrie does."

Beckwith and his companion Brettman were given a free night's stay and free breakfast at the lodge for their incident before moving along on the Appalachian Trail, according to a Washington Examiner report.

READ NEXT: Brian Laundrie 'Very Much in Control' of Gabby Petito 'the Whole Time,' Ex-FBI Researcher Says

Brian Laundrie Manhunt

The nature reserve where police had been conducting their manhunt for Laundrie was seen with police tapes across one of its entrances. The station noted that it was the first time it had seen police tape being used at the reserve, according to a New York Post report.

Meanwhile, some of those following the investigation on Petito's case had drawn parallels between the case and the murder of Kristin Smart from 25 years ago.

Petito's remains were discovered in Wyoming in September 19. Her mother, Nicole Schmidt, reported her missing on September 11, adding that he had not spoken to her daughter since August 30.

Petito was last with her fiance, Laundrie, traveling across the country and visiting national parks in her white van. However, Laundrie had returned to North Port, Florida on September 1. He had made it back with the van, but not with Petito, according to a Fox News report.

Police had tried to speak with Laundrie. However, his parents had allegedly "had papers at the door" instructing police to contact their attorney, according to Petito's father, Joe Petito.

Petito's mother said that they remembered Laundrie being a quiet and polite young man. Schmidt added that he even read books to their youngest child.

Schmidt saw the bodycam footage and said that it was just hard to watch. She added that she wanted to jump through the screen and rescue her daughter, according to an Independent report.

Petito's cause of death was manual strangulation, according to a Wyoming medical examiner's finding.

READ MORE: Brian Laundrie Manhunt: Parents of Gabby Petito's Fiance Change the Date of Florida Fugitive's Disappearance

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Mary Webber

WATCH: Brian Laundrie lookalike held at gunpoint by U.S. Marshals on Appalachian Trail, report says - from WFLA News Channel 8






The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will allow a mix-and-match approach on COVID booster shots, giving permission to Americans to receive a different brand of a booster, instead of the extra dose made by the company they were originally inoculated with.

The news was confirmed by The New York Times on Monday, citing sources familiar with the agency's move.

Although the agency will allow Americans to get a different brand of booster shots, sources familiar with FDA's plans pointed out that the agency will not recommend one brand jab over the other when they announced the new approach, and mention that getting the same brand of the booster is preferable.

It can be recalled that both FDA and CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) previously warned Americans not to mix and match vaccine shots from any of the three manufacturers namely: Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson and Johnson.

The FDA has not yet issued an official statement about the move.

READ NEXT: CDC Director Says People Should Determine "Own Risk and Benefit" for Booster Vaccine Shots

Study on 'Mix and Match' Booster Vaccine Approach

The news about FDA's plan to allow the "mix and match" approach when it comes to booster vaccine shots came after a study from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) revealed that people who got Johnson and Johnson vaccine had higher antibody levels when they get a Pfizer or Moderna booster shot.

The said data was presented by the agency's researchers to an FDA advisory panel on Friday.

The study showed that when the individuals who got the J&J vaccine received a Moderna booster, their antibody levels spiked 76-fold over two weeks. Meanwhile, when they received a booster shot from Pfizer, their antibody levels increased to 45-fold.

Pfizer vaccine takers also showed increased antibody levels to 32-fold when they received a booster shot from Moderna.

"What the study shows is that regardless of what individuals received originally, getting boosted with one of the three vaccines... led to good antibody responses in each group," lead study author Dr. Robert Atmar said.

Despite presenting promising results, researchers of the study warned that their data was based on a small group of people about 450, a much smaller population than the 30,000 people enrolled in the original COVID-19 trials.

Moderna, Johnson and Johnson Booster Shots Received Recommendation

The "mix and match" approach on booster shots came as the extra doses for both Moderna and Johnson and Johnson were recommended by an advisory panel from the FDA.

An independent advisory panel for the agency recommended the Moderna booster on Thursday for those 65 years and older adults who are at high risk of COVID due to severe illness or exposure due to work setting. This is in line with the guidance given to the Pfizer vaccine.

Despite recommending Moderna's extra dose, the advisory panel did not mention the interval vaccine takers must wait before getting the brand's booster shot.

Meanwhile, the same committee also recommended the J&J booster shots on Thursday to Americans 18 years and older, at least two months after the initial dose.

Approval of booster shots from the said brands is anticipated from the U.S. FDA.

READ NEXT: Dr. Fauci Under Fire After Saying It's "Too Soon to Tell" About Christmas Gathering

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written By: Joshua Summers

WATCH: Booster Shot Questions About the Johnson & Johnson Vaccine - From ABC News
Two brothers from Arizona were arrested after keeping a dead body of a woman inside a plastic container, police announced on Monday.

The brothers from Arizona - identified as Daniel Blas Torrealba, 21; and Edwin Chavez-Blas, 19 - are now accused of covering up the death of the woman identified as Destiny Munoz, 17, New York Post reported.

Aside from concealment of a body, police spokesperson Sgt. Ann Justus said that the brothers were also accused of evidence tampering, AZ Central reported.

READ NEXT: Robert Durst Tested Positive for COVID, Now on Ventilator Days After Receiving Life Imprisonment Sentence

Arizona Man Kept Woman's Body in Plastic Container

Torrealba, who happens to be Munoz's boyfriend/live-in partner and a father to the victim's 1-year-old child, was reported to admit to the authorities that he placed Munoz inside a plastic container because "he wanted to remain close to her."

The arrest of the Arizona brothers happened when their family phoned the authorities on October 5, saying that Munoz went missing for about 10 days, 12 News reported.

According to the court documents, a large plastic tote container that give off a strong odor was found in Torrealba's car, as the brothers transferred the container from a Honda into a Ford truck before they left home.

When police arrived at the residence where the Ford truck was parked, they discovered Munoz's body inside the plastic container, showing signs of decomposition, as officials believed that the woman died sometime on September 26.

Furthermore, the woman was discovered wrapped in plastic and tape aside from being kept inside a container.

The court documents furthered that multiple items including a chainsaw, gloves, duct tape, 9 mm handgun, and a receipt from Home Depot were recovered from Torrealba's Ford truck.

Moreover, the papers also noted that officers saw evidence of blood splatter in one of the rooms of Torrealba and Munoz's home.

The Death of the Woman Inside the Plastic Container

The results of an examination from the Office of the Medical Examiner revealed that the woman inside the plastic container died due to a gunshot wound.

According to Arizona police, Torrealba claimed that Munoz shot herself in the face during an altercation about their relationship. The Arizona man then furthered that his girlfriend often threatened to kill herself, and Torrealba told her "to go ahead and do it" during their dispute.

After Munoz's death, Torrealba was reported to call his brother, Chavez-Blas, to help in covering the death of his girlfriend. A store video showed Chavez-Blas buying a tote container as well as a chainsaw from a Home Depot. Authorities alleged that the chainsaw was going to be used to dismember Munoz.

The court records also revealed that Torrealba used Munoz's phone to text her family to "not worry about her" after the victim's death.

The family who reported to the authorities also claimed that Torrealba told different stories about what happened between him and his girlfriend, saying that he pushed Munoz during a fight or either hit her head or was accidentally shot when she fell.

As a result, the Arizona brothers were booked in Maricopa County Jail on suspicion of one count each of evidence tampering and one count of concealing/abandoning body parts. Chavez-Blas was also charged with an additional count of hindering prosecution while Torrealba faces a count of weapon possession by a prohibited person.

Court documents also revealed that Chavez-Blas's bail was set to $25,000 while Torrealba's bail amounts to $125,000.

READ NEXT: Brian Laundrie Lookalike Questioned at Gunpoint, Handcuffed in North Carolina Lodge

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written By: Joshua Summers

WATCH: Violence Against Women: Strengthening the Health System Response - From World Health Organization
Mexican drug cartel, Jalisco cartel, has been expanding its criminal connections into Central America and South America through alliances, threatening authorities, and appropriating drug routes.

Jalisco cartel has spread its operations to almost every state in Mexico and most recently to nearby countries such as Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua.

Colombia and Chile have also been reached by the Mexican drug cartel, according to a Business Insider report.

U.S. officials had described the Jalisco cartel as the best armed criminal organization in Mexico and one of the most dangerous transnational criminal groups globally.

READ NEXT: Warning Made on Behalf of Jalisco Cartel Boss: TV Reporter Azucena Uresti Threatened To Be Killed for Alleged Unfair Coverage

Jalisco Cartel: Extending Operations Throughout Central America and South America

Chile's Attorney General's Office noted in a recent report that Jalisco cartel is trying to establish operations inside the country for large-scale production of marijuana.

Chile's Attorney General Jorge Abbott addressed the issue, saying that Chile had gone from being a transit country for drugs heading north to being a country where well-known Mexican drug cartels are looking to settle.

Guatemala has been facing the same issues. The cartel's members recently threatened Guatemala's Police for "stealing" loads of drugs belonging to the Jalisco cartel leader.

Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, also known as "El Mencho," is leading the cartel. U.S. authorities are offering $5 million for his capture.

An active member of the Nicaraguan military also confirmed the presence of Jalisco cartel in Honduras and Nicaragua.

The operative added that the Jalisco cartel is allied with several gangs involved in shipping cocaine to Europe.

Sergio Guzman, director of Colombia Risk Analysis, noted that the Sinaloa cartel and Jalisco cartel are now posing threats to all the region.

Colombian groups like Medellin and Cali cartels used to reign in Colombia. However, more Mexican criminal groups upped their presence in the country when the two groups fell from power.

Jalisco Cartel

Jalisco cartel had risen to power after former Sinaloa cartel capo Ignacio Coronel was killed by Mexican security forces in July 2010.

Two groups fought for control of drug trafficking in Jalisco upon Coronel's death. The Torcidos and La Resistencia were the two factions that fought.

The Torcidos now became the Jalisco cartel and rising as the successors to the Sinaloan cap's network in the region, according to an InsightCrime report.

Jalisco cartel has been associated with the use of extreme violence, with homicides, forced disappearances, and the discoveries of mass graves rising in Jalisco.

The group was also known to recruit children as young as 10. One witness recounted being recruited when he was 12 to carry out his first murder for the cartel, according to an Associated Press report.

The witness, identified as Jacobo, said that the cartel looks for kids who are out on the streets and need money. He added that by the time he was 12, he became sort of a hired killer.

He also picked up a drug habit, partly due to the psychological effects of what he was doing.

When he reached his mid-teens, he said that he was torturing members of rival cartels for information, killing them, and dismembering their bodies.

Jacobo recounted his story to a Mexican non-profit group, Reinserta.

READ MORE: Clashing Mexican Drug Cartels Leave 2 Police and 7 Others Dead in Mexico

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Written by: Mary Webber

WATCH: New Generation Jalisco drug cartel spreads through Mexico - from CGTN America






The recent redistricting maps drawn by the Texas Legislature prompted several Latino individuals and groups to file a lawsuit Monday, challenging the move that the Latino groups claimed diluted their voting rights.

Latino Groups File Lawsuit Against Abbott, Esparza

According to NBC News, the lawsuit was filed by the Latino groups Monday afternoon days prior to the completion of the Texas Legislature of the U.S. House maps. The groups pointed out that the maps shored up Republicans and did not have additional Latino majority districts, despite the fact that Latinos as a group accounted for more than half of the state's growth.

In their suit filed against Texas Governor Greg Abbott and Deputy Secretary of State Jose A. Esparza filed in federal court in El Paso, the Latino organizations have asked the federal court to toss out the new maps targeting to discriminate against them.

The plaintiffs in the lawsuit filed on Monday included the League of United Latin American Citizens, Mi Familia Vota, and Southwest Voter Registration Education Project. It also included other organizations and even individual voters joined.

The congressional maps are still in negotiations. The House and Senate in Texas are still ironing out their differences regarding redistricting.

Meanwhile, the Voting Rights Act protects minority voters' right to choose who represents them, whether or not that is a person of color.

Moreover, the president and the general counsel of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund also known as MALDEF, Thomas Saenz, said that it was a move that disregarded the minority group.

The Latino legal civil rights group leader pointed out that the maps were the same as previous attempts by Texas' GOP-controlled Legislature to dilute the voting rights of the Latinos. MALDEF is currently representing the plaintiffs.

Saenz said that the state of Texas has a unique record of disregarding the growth of the Latino community that could be traced back decades.

READ MORE: Police Kill Armed Latino Man in Front of U.S. Open of Surfing Fans in Southern California Beach

Latinos Consider Texas Political Maps as Intentionally Discriminatory

Based on the lawsuit filed by the Latino Groups, the maps drawn for congressional, legislative, and State Board of Education districts violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act and should be thrown out. The lawsuit was filed by the group in the U.S. District Court for Western Texas.

The plaintiffs argued the new maps for the U.S. House, Texas House, Texas Senate, and State Board of Education did not reflect the growth of the Hispanic community, The Dallas Morning News reported.

Furthermore, Republicans have defended the maps. They have stated that they were drawn without regard to race and that the maps have passed legal tests.

On the other hand, based on the 2020 census, the numbers showed that Texas' population grew by almost 4 million individuals. The latest recorded numbers made it the only state to add two congressional seats because of the growth in terms of its population. The numbers showed the Latino population in Texas grew by 1.98 million.

READ NEXT: Mattel Unveils Barbie Dolls Inspired by Latin Icons Celia Cruz, Julia Alvarez in Honor of Hispanic Heritage Month

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Written by: Jess Smith

WATCH: University of Houston professor shares thoughts on Texas redistricting | FOX 7 Austin


The families of the 17 people killed in a Florida high school massacre in 2018 have reached a $25 million settlement with the Broward County school district in a lawsuit that accused it of negligence.

According to the families' attorney, David Brill, 52 families from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High in Parkland will be part of the settlement. But he did not detail how much each family would receive.

Brill said the families of the 14 students and three staff members killed would get the largest shares and be equal, U.S. News reported.

The $25 million settlement came after the school district had won a state Supreme Court ruling that could have amounted total damages at $300,000 without approval from the Legislature.

Brill said the current settlement is fair given the circumstances. However, he noted that it is "nowhere near enough money" to compensate the victims. The Broward County school district has yet to comment on the matter.

READ NEXT: Florida Mom Kills Daughter With Special Needs by Crushing Her Under Table Inside Hospital Room

Stoneman Douglas High School Mass Shooting in Florida

The gunman behind the 2018 shooting, Nikolas Cruz, would be pleading guilty to their murders, according to his attorneys.

The guilty plea would set up a penalty phase where the now 23-year-old suspect would fight against the death penalty and hope for a life without parole, Associated Press reported.

The pleas will come with no conditions, and prosecutors are still eyeing the death penalty. Cruz's guilt was widely perceived as a foregone conclusion after a video recording he made shortly before the killings emerged.

In one segment of the video, Nikolas Cruz said that people would know who he was with the "power" of his AR, NPR reported. He added that his life was nothing and meaningless, saying that he lives in seclusion and solitude. Cruz said he hates "everyone and everything."

According to Cruz, he has not been on medication for about a year. He was earlier told that he suffered from anxiety and depression, but he was not formally diagnosed and was mentally fit to plead guilty.

Jury selection in Cruz's trial started earlier this month. Cruz was armed with an AR-15 when he killed 14 students and three staff members. He also managed to wound 17 others.

Nikolas Cruz had been expelled from the school the previous year, NBC News reported. He confessed to the attack, saying he had brought the weapon and several loaded magazines inside his backpack.

He also admitted to investigators that he planned to leave them behind in an effort to mix in with fleeing students. Nikolas Cruz has legally bought the .223-caliber rifle in 2017 in a federally licensed gun store.

The suspect, then 19, arrived at the campus in an Uber on February 14, 2018, assembled his rifle in a stairwell and then opened fire in the three-story classroom building.

Tony Montalto, the father of victim Gina Montalto, said that school shootings are a systemic and recurring issue in the country.

Parkland student activists had formed "March for Our Lives." It's a group clamoring for tight gun policies in the country.

READ MORE: 13-Year-Old Boy Arrested for Shooting Younger Sister to Death

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Written by: Mary Webber

WATCH: Parkland Shooter to Plead Guilty to 17 Murders - From CBS Evening News






Duane Chapman, also known as Dog the Bounty Hunter, believes that Brian Laundrie has made himself a murderer by reading "demonic" serial killer books.

The 68-year-old reality star told The Sun that he thinks the "dark side" books that Gabby Petito's fiance read as a child could have influenced him to be a killer. Chapman said this is what happens when children are looking at these kinds of things.

"[It] catches on, and it's demons, and it's blood, and it's this and that, look what that led to," he noted, adding that Brian has "obviously" taken these books to heart.

Dog the Bounty Hunter also believes that Gabby Petito's fiance did not become a killer "overnight." He said a killer is made, and Laundrie is "built to be a killer." Chapman further noted that he's also thinking about Laundrie possibly being a "serial killer" and not just Petito's killer.

Brian Laundrie previously boasted on Instagram that he and Petito had read Chuck Palahniuk's novels "Lullaby" and "Rant." "Lullaby" recounts the story of Carl Streator, who is a journalist writing an article about crib death. Streator then noticed a strange connection between the deaths of babies and those of his wife and infant.

The journalist then finds out that his wife and kid had died after reading them a "culling song" from a book. He unintentionally memorized the rhyme and became a serial killer who kills people over minor annoyances.

"Rant" centered around a high school rebel, Buster "Rant" Casey. It takes the form of an oral history of Casey, in which friends, admirers, enemies, and relations have their say on this evil character, who may "be the most efficient serial killer of our time."

Brian Laundrie wrote on Instagram that it was the "craziest out of all of Chuck's books" on his shelf. Laundrie added that he and Gabby Petito had read the story aloud, and he could not believe some of the stuff coming out of their mouths.

Laundrie's Instagram page also displays depictions of blood, knives, and grim reapers. He also appears to have a Pinterest profile with some pinned images depicting death and violence, sketches of skulls, and pictures of The Joker, Frankenstein, and The Invisible Man.

READ NEXT: Gabby Petito, Brian Laundrie Supposed Beach Wedding in Florida Cancelled Due to COVID Pandemic

Dog the Bounty Hunter Says Brian Laundrie's Life Will Be 'Hell in Jail'

Dog the Bounty Hunter also told The Sun that other prisoners would make Brian Laundrie's life "hell in jail" once police arrested him. He also believes that Gabby Petito's fiance is still alive.

Duane Chapman said he does not think Laundrie has the guts to kill himself and does not think "he's that personality." Dog the Bounty Hunter also said that he believes it's only a matter of time before investigators capture Laundrie.

He also alleged that the Florida fugitive would soon be charged for Petito's death even though Laundrie was not currently considered a suspect. Duane Chapman believes that Laundrie committed a "terrible crime," and might get 20 years in prison "and do 11."

However, Dog the Bounty Hunter said "cowboys" inside a Wyoming penitentiary do not like it if someone kills a girl or a child.

"Almost every penitentiary in America don't like if you kill a girl or child so he was going to have, as they would say in Wyoming, hell to pay," Chapman noted.

Brian Laundrie's Attorney Says Gabby Petito's Fiance is Not a Suspect

Last week, Brian Laundrie's attorney, Steve Bertolino, said his client has not been charged and was not even a suspect in Petito's homicide. The FBI has issued a federal arrest warrant for Laundrie but over debit card fraud.

"Brian is only considered a person of interest in relation to Gabby Petito's demise... At this time Brian is still missing and when he is located we will address the pending fraud charge against him," Bertolino noted.

Brian Laundrie was named a person of interest by North Port police after returning home on September 1 or 10 days before Gabby Petito was reported missing by her family.

Petito disappeared on a cross-country road trip with Laundrie. The couple was traveling to Oregon when the YouTuber stopped communicating with her family in Wyoming in late August.

Petito's body was found at the Spread Creek Dispersed Campground near Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming on September 19.

Teton County, Wyoming coroner Brent Blue said Petito was strangled to death by "human force," and the manner of death was homicide.

Dog the Bounty Hunter has been searching for Gabby Petito's fiance since late last month. Authorities are still trying to locate Brian Laundrie after he was reported missing on September 17.

Laundrie's parents said they last saw him on September 13, leaving home to go to the Carlton Reserve area for a hike.

READ MORE: Brian Laundrie Manhunt: Parents of Gabby Petito's Fiance Change the Date of Florida Fugitive's Disappearance

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Written by: Mary Webber

WATCH: Here's Where Dog the Bounty Hunter Thinks Brian Laundrie Is - From Fox 13 Tampa Bay






Actress Kirstie Alley has voiced out her theory about the whereabouts of Brian Laundrie as authorities continue to look for Gabby Petito's fiance.

Alley took to Twitter on Sunday her new theory on where Laundrie might be hiding.

"I think Brian Laundrie is in his house. When the FBI went in they didn't go in with dogs. I think he was either not there at the 'moment' or in a crawlspace. I literally think he's in there," the actress wrote.

Heres my new, well not so new because I keep going back-and-forth on it, theory. I think Brian Laundrie is in his house. When the FBI went in they didnt go in with dogs. I think he was either not there at the moment or in a crawlspace. I literally think hes in there.  Kirstie Alley (@kirstiealley) October 17, 2021

Kirstie Alley's tweet garnered different reactions from netizens. One user agreed with the actress, saying many criminals were caught near their homes or underground near their homes.

mostly all criminals are caught near their homes or underground near their homes.  Catherine Runnals (@ctrunnals) October 17, 2021

Another user believed that Laundrie's parents were assisting the Florida fugitive, adding that they should also be charged for aiding him.

But one user disputed Kirstie Alley's theory, saying Laundrie was no longer inside his home and that "someone is hiding him" from authorities.

"I'm more inclined thinking someone is hiding him. I don't believe he's been in the outside elements this long. His parents don't act like they are concerned or grieving. It causes me to strongly feel his parents know he's safe," the netizen noted.

Hmmm. I hadnt thought about Brian being in the house. Im more inclined thinking someone is hiding him.I dont believe hes been in the outside elements this long.His parents dont act like they are concerned or grieving. It causes me to strongly feel his parents know hes safe!  Pela (@Pela59818289) October 17, 2021

READ NEXT: Dog the Bounty Hunter Refutes Rumors He's Pitched Show on Brian Laundrie Search; Ex-FBI Says Reality Star Could Sabotage Manhunt

Dog The Bounty Hunter Believes Brian Laundrie's Parents Know More About Their Son's Story

Like many netizens, Dog The Bounty Hunter also believed that Brian Laundrie's parents know more about their son's story.

The 68-year-old reality star, whose real name is Duane Chapman, earlier told The Sun that he believes that Laundrie called his parents immediately after he killed Gabby Petito and encouraged their son to rush home to North Port in Florida following Petito's death.

Dog the Bounty Hunter noted that if parents of Laundrie knew about Petito's death in Wyoming, they had probably pointed out to their son that Wyoming is one of the states that still has the death penalty.

Last week, Chapman said that Petito's cause of death "doesn't look good" not only for Laundrie but also to his family.

"The coroner's report is not good for the entire Laundrie family... Strangulation is not an accident," he noted.

Dog the Bounty Hunter also believed that Laundrie's parents had stonewalled Petito's family because they knew what their son had done and helped him run.

"And now it seems like, based on the [autopsy] report and coupled with their behavior, they have most likely aided and abetted a murderer," Chapman said.

Dog the Bounty Hunter also thinks that Cassie Laundrie Luycx "absolutely" has more information on her brother's whereabouts, more than what she admitted. Chapman has been searching for Petito's fiance since late last month.

Florida Police Not Convinced About Stories of Brian Laundrie's Parents

The North Port police also sounded their suspicion on the stories provided by Brian Laundrie's parents. Josh Taylor, a spokesman for the North Port Police Department, earlier told NewsNation that there were a lot of inconsistencies and oddness in Laundrie's parents' story.

According to his parents, they last saw Laundrie on September 13 and not September 14, leaving home to go to the Carlton Reserve area for a hike.

The elder Laundries had changed the date of their son's disappearance from September 14 to September 13. They also announced that Laundrie was missing on September 17.

"I mean, your son walks out there... Now they're saying on a Monday, you know, to report that on a Friday, and then be confused on what day that was... There are a lot of things that are odd there," Taylor noted.

Taylor also said he doesn't know what to believe anymore. However, he noted that Laundrie's parents may be "expressing what they know, but we'll see."

"This is an ongoing investigation that will continue to evolve," he added.

Gabby Petito disappeared on a cross-country road trip with Brian Laundrie. The couple was traveling to Oregon when the YouTuber stopped communicating with her family in Wyoming in late August.

Laundrie was named a person of interest by North Port police after returning home on September 1 or 10 days before Gabby Petito was reported missing by her family.

Petito's body was found at the Spread Creek Dispersed Campground near Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming on September 19.

Teton County, Wyoming coroner Brent Blue said Petito was strangled to death by "human force," and the manner of death was homicide.

The FBI has already issued a federal arrest warrant for Brian Laundrie but over debit card fraud. Authorities are still trying to locate him.

READ MORE: Dog the Bounty Hunter Tells Brian Laundrie 'Let Me Have You' as He Furiously Calls for Gabby Petito's Fiance to End the Chase

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Written by: Joshua Summers

WATCH: Florida Gov. DeSantis Says It's 'Disappointing' Brian Laundrie Has Not Been Found - From FOX 13 Tampa Bay
A Florida deputy saved a 3-year-old boy from a house fire on Sunday. Bodycam video released by the Flagler County Sheriff's Office showed that the child was hiding under a blanket.

The Flagler County Sheriff's Office said the first responders arrived at a home in the W section of Palm Coast and a neighbor noted that a fire had broken out of the house's kitchen but had not seen the three residents living there that day.

Child Hides Under a Blanket During Fire in Florida

Based on the sheriff's office report, the fire, at the time, was spreading from the kitchen stove to the cabinets, filling the home with black smoke.

K-9 Deputy First Class Marcus Dawson arrived at the home in Palm Coast and saw movement in the home's back bedroom.

Despite the statement from a neighbor who said he didn't believe anyone was inside, Dawson still checked the house. He said he had seen active flames, and he could hear a smoke detector while dogs were barking.

According to CBS42, a bodycam video showed Dawson checking the house. He knocked on the front and back door, but he got no response.

However, when he was on the back patio, the Florida deputy saw the 3-year-old boy in the bedroom and immediately got inside to get him out.

READ NEXT: Florida Dad Arrested After Toddler Accidentally Shot Mom in the Head During Zoom Call

Florida Deputy Saves 3-Year-Old Boy From Fire

The Florida deputy said he was observing the dogs when he suddenly saw a head pop up from the covers and then went back under it.

When Dawson asked the 3-year-old where his mother was, the boy only replied that he wanted his mom. The sheriff's office said the child was fearfully hiding from the smoke under some blankets while watching a cartoon. After finding the child, Dawson carried the boy out of the home to get immediate medical attention.

Meanwhile, investigators said there had been some miscommunication between family members. That's why the 3-year-old boy was left alone at the house.

Investigators said the father had left a 17-year-old with the 3-year-old while he quickly ran an errand, but the 17-year-old thought the toddler was with dad, so the teen took off, WESH reported.

Dawson said the father of the 3-year-old boy went into full panic mode when he returned and saw the flames. The Florida deputy said he had to reassure the child's father that his son was fine because he said he did not care about the house and was more concerned for his child.

Dawson noted that situations and rescues like this were part of the job, but apparently, life-saving comes naturally to him. The recent rescue was the seventh time he saved someone's life since he started for Flagler County in 2016.

"I have children of my own so just knowing that a father gets to see their kid one more time makes it a lot better for me, makes me happy at the end of the day," Dawson said.

The sheriff's office said the child's father told the deputies that he had just left to pick up dinner and left the boy sleeping at home with an older sibling. No injuries were reported in the fire incident.

READ MORE: Florida Man Sues Authorities Over Wrongful Conviction; Exonerated 37 Years Later After Forensic Dentist Shares Testimony About Faulty Beeswax Mold

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Written by: Jess Smith

WATCH: Deputy Rescues 3-Year-Old From Flagler County House Fire - From News4JAX
A man caused 500 damage to a kitchen of a woman who was in a relationship with at the time, after he drank too much and then later urinated in a public area of Portlaoise Garda Station.

Mateusz Podraza, 157 The Hermitage, Portlaoise was charged with causing criminal damage to kitchen cabinets at that address on July 1 last, and with urinating in a doorway at Portlaoise Garda Station on July 2 last.

The court heard that there was a cost of 150 clean up after the incident at Portlaoise Garda Station. The court heard the defendant had two previous public order convictions.

The defendant had been in a relationship with his landlord. He was drinking earlier that day and then caused the damage when he returned to the house.

It would be very much out of character for him, defence solicitor Josephine Fitzpatrick said.

He is on good terms with the owner of the house. He had written a letter of apology and she had accepted this in her reply.

He works as a chef in an adjoining county, Ms Fitzpatrick told the court.

The defendant had a lot of alcohol consumed and had little recollection of the event at the garda station.

Thats no excuse, Judge Catherine Staines said.

Ms Fitzpatrick agreed, saying: It must have been very unsavoury for all.

The defendant will be able to repair the damage to the kitchen caused by him, and has the skills to do so, Ms Fitzpatrick said.

Judge Staines said she was going to put in place a restorative justice order which involves a letter or apology etc, but the victim and the defendant seem to be doing this themselves, she said of their correspondence.

Adjourning the case to December 2, Judge Staines said she wanted the defendant to pay 300 to the landlady, in addition to the repairs.

He also had 200 with him in court, which was to be paid in compensation for the clean-up at the garda station.
Pressure on the Emergency Department and expansion of the maternity unit were among the issues raised by frontline staff at meetings in Portlaoise hospital with Sinn Fein spokesperson on Health, David Cullinane TD.

The TD has visited Laois for a series of meetings and discussions with patients, staff and unions about the future of the health service.

Dep Cullinane said he was delighted to have visited Laois on Monday, October 19 as as part of my tour of the island to hear about experiences of the healthcare system.

I visited Midland Regional Hospital Portlaoise, where I met with hospital management to discuss access to care and concerns about capacity. We particularly discussed how Emergency Department attendances are currently high. We discussed the importance of expanding maternity services and ensuring more beds are put in place to meet requirements.

I met with representatives of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation to hear about their experiences of working on the frontline in Laois. I paid tribute to the extraordinary work that nurses and midwives are doing in very challenging circumstances.

It is clear that there are many challenges in recruitment and in retaining staff. Burnout is a real challenge for staff, especially as those on the frontline face into a difficult winter. It is clear that we need to train more nurses and increase capacity, to ensure that nurses have the resources necessary to meet these challenges," he said.

The Waterford TD also met with people on the frontline in the community.

I was grateful to have the opportunity to meet with Beth Wogan from Carers Ireland in Laois yesterday. We discussed the incredibly important role that carers play across the country and the need for this role to be better recognised and better supported. In particular we discussed the considerable difference that the Crisis Fund is making for carers. It is important that this fund needs to be made permanent, with sustainable funding, to ensure that it is deliverable into the future.

It is clear that change is needed in our health service in order to meet the needs of patients, carers and staff. We need to see targeted investment in key areas in order to secure the capacity needed to bring about these reforms.

Sinn Fein in government would deliver the change needed to ensure we have a health service that works. In my Alternative Budget for Health last month, I set out my detailed plans showing exactly how these changes can happen, how they can be delivered and how they will be funded, he said.

Dep Cullinane concluded by thanking all the groups who took the time to meet with him in Laois.
A new purpose has been requested for a former famine workhouse in Laois, to once again support local communities but in a modern way.

Donaghmore Workhouse in south Laois is one of only three still intact in Ireland, now an educational visitor attraction run by a local volunteer group.

However an extra use has been suggested, to compliment new free high speed broadband that has been installed at the workhouse.

Cllr John King wants it to also become a technology training centre, for local small business owners including farmers.

He tabled a motion at the October meeting of Laois County Council, which for the first time was held at Donaghmore workhouse, in its dining hall restored using Government grants.

We are all here in Donaghmore today and the best part of 100,000 was invested in it. Its near the motorway and there are 55 or 60 businesses in the Rathdowney area who have asked me if they can avail of this property.

I met Dermot Bannon here to showcase it some weeks ago. The fact that we own this place with parking and toilets, I am asking the chief executive to develop this, he said.

The Cathaoirleach Cllr Conor Bergin seconded the motion.

On one hand it is a solemn occasion to have our meeting here, remembering the suffering and hardship of people who died here. But this is also a modern facility managed by local people, owned by Laois County Council and offering high speed broadband, he said.

In response, Laois County Council said that future plans need to be developed to explore increased space in Donaghmore, and that as it is a protected structure, any intervention will require expertise and a source of funding.

Donaghmore is one of five signal blackspot rural locations in Laois to be made a free high speed broadband hub to support communities under the Town & Village Renewal Scheme. Users can pull up in carparks and log in, with money secured for furniture and IT equipment inside the hubs once Covid-19 restrictions end. The others are Vicarstown, Oisin House in Rossmore, Emo NS and Shanganamore.

The hubs are in place until National Broadband Ireland can fulfill its remit to bring broadband to the door of every single rural premises in Ireland, which it expects to do by 2027.
Young people in Ireland will get the opportunity to partake in the National Youth Climate Summit organised by ECO-UNESCO and 4 national youth organisations.

The summit will allow young people the opportunity to learn more about climate issues and how to make a positive environmental difference.

ECO-UNESCO is Ireland's leading environmental education and youth organisation working to conserve the environment and to inspire young people.

The summit is scheduled to run online every Wednesday, starting from October 20 to November 11.

The online summit will take place in the lead-up to and during COP26 which will run from October 31 to November 12.

COP26 is the 26th United Nations Climate Change conference taking place in Glasgow, Scotland, and will bring countries together to tackle the current climate crisis.

To mark COP26, the Youth Climate Summit will host online environmental activities and events for young people from 10 to 18 years of age.

National Director of ECO-UNESCO, Elaine Nevin said: "The motive behind this Summit came from the results of our Climate Justice Survey in 2020, where a significant number of young people felt their voices on Climate Change were unheard.

58% of young people also said they would like more local opportunities to get involved in climate action."

ECO-UNESCO hope this will provide a perfect platform for 'young people to have their voices heard and gain the knowledge and tools to make a positive environmental impact'

UN Observer and Senator Pauline O'Reilly will be among the special guests in attendance at the online summit.

ECO-UNESCO will be running a Climate Action workshop with SpunOut and SEAI will be talking about Sustainable Energy.

Winners from the 2021 Young Environmentalists Awards will also attend and speak about current climate issues.

For more information and to get involved in the Youth Climate Summit, click here
Ireland's restrictions to lift as expected despite going through a "twin peak" of positive Covid cases.

That's according to Tanaiste Leo Varadkar, who announced an update today along with Taoiseach Micheal Martin about the expected lifting of restrictions on October 22nd.

The Tanaiste said it was hoped the country would be past the peak of the Delta wave, but that NPHET modelling has predicted it will "probably continue to rise and peak around October and November".

He said, "The pandemic isn't over yet. Unfortunateyl we're going to have to get through at least another winter before we can safely say it's behind us. The situation took a turn for the worse two weeks ago with rising case numbers, rising hospitalisations and rising ICU numbers."

He called the situation "deeply disappointing" and said, "We're not where we hoped to be."

The Taoiseach said rising Covid numbers are "a cause for concern" but that it was a "timely reminder" of how dangerous the virus remains and the need for ongoing vigilance.

The announcements today include confirmation that table service only will be available at hospitality venues, with a maximum of ten adults per table and fifteen total per table including children.

Covid passes will reportedly not be required for outdoor events, however sectors should ensure appropriate protective measures are in place.

Fixed capacity will no longer apply for indoor and outdoor activities, and when groups mix in doors pods of six will apply.

Weddings and religious ceremonies can now proceed without capacity limits.

Return to work is to continue on a phased and cautious basis, and protocols of same are set to be discussed later today during a meeting of the Labour Employer Economic Forum (LEEF).

Taoiseach Martin also confirmed there will be an "enhanced role" for the use of antigen testing throughout society.

He said the progress made over the course of the last year is "real and tangible and has to be protected". He said, "The changes gives us the space for the next steps towards normality we take to be safe and sustainable."
Sisters of Charity of Jesus and Mary, Rosglas Convent, Mainistir Ui Mhordha, Mainistir Eimhin, Moore Abbey, Monasterevin, Co. Chill Dara. Co. Kildare.

We are looking to recruit:



CARE ASSISTANT

For the specified purpose of providing care for residents of the Convent. Part Time (40 hours per fortnight) Roster to include early/lates and night duty with flexibility to provide additional relief hours if required.



Essential Requirements:  FETAC/QQI level 5 Major Award in Healthcare Support/Health Service Skills, or equivalent  Experience in and commitment to supporting elderly residents of the convent  Experience in following care plans; respecting the rights and dignity of residents  Excellent communication skills  Ability to work using own initiative  Full clean driving licence



STAFF NURSE

For the specific purpose of providing care for residents in the Convent. Maternity Leave Cover (64 hours per Fortnight)

This position is for a minimum of 9 months beginning late November 2021. Working hours are 32 hours per week. Roster to include early shifts, with flexibility to provide additional relief hours if required.

Essential Requirements:  Registered as active member of An Bord Altranais.  Have excellent leadership and communication skills.  Be flexible and have the ability to use own initiative.  Experience in formulating and adapting rosters.  Full clean driving licence.

To apply: Please complete an application form which can be requested from: Majella O Connor oconnom2@tcd.ie / 0860724819

Closing Date for receipt of completed applications: Monday 1st November 2021.

(Due to the current Covid-19 Pandemic interviews may be carried out using the Microsoft Teams App)

Please note that for each position a panel may be formed.

The Sisters of Charity of Jesus & Mary is an equal opportunities employer.




The rate of Covid-19 infections in the Naas area is higher than the national average, the latest figures show.

There were 166 confirmed cases in the Naas Local Electoral Area (LEA) for the two-week period up to October 11.

The area, which has a population of nearly 40,000 people, had an infection rate per 100,000 of 424.3.

The current national average is 394.2 per 100,000 people.

The Government is meeting at Dublin Castle to consider the advice from the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) in relation to the planned easing of restrictions on this Friday, October 22.

The information for Co Kildare is based on official figures provided by the HSE and the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC)

The second highest infection rate in the county was in Athy which saw 100 cases and an LEA rate of 376.8

The Maynooth area had a total of 98 confirmed cases and a rate per 100,000 of 329.6.

In Kildare town LEA, there were 82 confirmed cases and a rate per 100,000 of 319 while Newbridge had 94 confirmed cases and an LEA rate per 100,000 of 264.9.

In Clane, there were 81 confirmed cases and an LEA rate per 100,000 of 248.8.

Celbridge saw 45 cases and a rate per 100,000 of population of 208.1.

In Leixlip, there were 32 cases and an LEA rate per 100,000 of 201.8.
A Senator from County Kildare has welcomed the extension to the shared healthcare scheme following a Brexit meeting in the Seanad.

Labour Senator Mark Wall made the comments following his attendance at the Seanad Special Committee on the Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the EU.

Senator Wall, who is also the party's spokesperson for Defence, Tourism and Sport, welcomed the confirmation from the Department of Health that the Northern Ireland Planned Healthcare Scheme will be extended into the New Year.

Previously due to end in December of this year, he said the scheme is vital to the Defence Forces, with over 300 PDFORRA members having used the PMAS scheme to receive treatment to date.

Senator Wall explained: "The Labour Party welcomes the extension of the current scheme into next year... This will be hugely welcome to members of PDFORRA in particular."

"Their excellent PMAS scheme has enabled members to receive treatment to continue on their career in the Defence Forces and it is vital to the future of our Forces."

"It will also give hope to the many who see their waiting times growing for procedures that may be completed in the North through this scheme and give them back a quality of life that they deserve."

He continued: "Over 300 members of the Defence Forces have already availed of this scheme, allowing them to return to work.

"PDFORRA have previously highlighted that by having a comprehensive health scheme in place, the Force can retain members; where once members may have retired due to injury, the PDFORRA healthcare scheme not only gets these members back on their feet, but also promotes the continuation of their natural military career, with many examples of where those who have availed of the scheme go on to promotion through the ranks."

Senator Wall added that as the Defence Forces battle longer waiting lists, he feels that the Irish Government must move immediately to put this scheme on a permanent legal footing.

He explained: "It has made a difference to so many, and particularly those from lower incomes who need it most."

"Many of those who have availed of the scheme would still be waiting for that procedure here, given the continuing problems we have with waiting lists and our health system in general," Senator Wall concluded.

In related news, Senator Wall recently called on the govt to provide "clarity" for the National Register by creating a list of locations where defibrillators are present.
A Senator from Kildare has called for the implementation of 'enhanced scrutiny and oversight' for issues concerning water management.

Fianna Fail Senator Fiona OLoughlin specifically called for these changes to take place at the Ballymore Eustace water treatment plant.

She said in a statement: "We were all shocked in August when we learned of the incidents which occurred at the Creagh Water Treatment Plant in Gorey, and the Ballymore Eustace Water Treatment Plant."

"It is clear that the management of these facilities failed, and failed miserably, to protect and safeguard the quality of water which was coming from their facilities."

Senator O' Loughlin also claimed that failure of the local authorities to report issues of water quality to Irish water in a timely manner led to "an unacceptable delay" in the EPA and HSE being notified.

She elaborated: "There was no opportunity to issue a boil water notice; a prompt response here could have protected the over 900,000 people who were dependant on this water supply from being needlessly put at risk.

"What I find even more concerning than the reports of how the specific issues were dealt with- the pump failure in Ballymore Eustace or the power failure at Creagh Water Treatment Plant- is the fact that even under normal circumstances, we were failing to protect our water supply."

"A recent audit found that chlorine levels at the Ballymore Eustace plant were below standards even when the facility was functioning normally."

Senator OLoughlin continued: "The entire process of how we supply water in this country needs to be reviewed, and its clear that enhanced scrutiny and oversight of the entire process is needed.

"We are all aware of the eel situation at Carlow North Regional water facility in September, which supplies water to Castledermot."

These are just 3 examples, I could go on all day recounting stories of issues from across the country."

She concluded: "We need to see better oversight, and we need to ensure that the water coming from peoples taps is of the highest standard."

Senator O' Loughlin also raised the issue in the Seanad, under the commencement: "The plans to ensure water supplies are reliable and safe, particularly in view of issues at the Ballymore Eustace plant."

#Seanad Commencement Matter 4 @Fiona_Kildare The plans to ensure water supplies are reliable and safe, particularly in view of issues at the Ballymore Eustace plant https://t.co/tQua4zpQ2C #seeforyourself pic.twitter.com/eCLlSPAfU5  Houses of the Oireachtas - Tithe an Oireachtais (@OireachtasNews) October 19, 2021

Senator Fiona O' Loughlin recently also made headlines yesterday when she welcomed the announcement of a new Disability Participation and Awareness Fund.

Worth 2.5 million, the Fund will be allocated to local authorities to implement opportunities for people with disabilities.
As World Osteoporosis Day approaches; the Irish Osteoporosis Society are urging women over 65 to make bone health a priority. This follows their recent survey of GPs across the country who revealed that 92% of patients diagnosed with osteoporosis after suffering a fracture are surprised with their diagnosis2. In 2019, almost 4,000 people were hospitalised for osteoporosis related hip fractures in Ireland, of which 69% were females.

The research indicates that the treatment gap for the silent disease is widening across the country and Ireland has the sixth highest rate of hip fragility fractures (breaks) in the world[3].

The Irish Osteoporosis Society are focusing on women with more than half (53%) at increased risk of a fragility fracture still untreated for osteoporosis[4], leaving a large proportion of women at risk of debilitating, but preventable, fractures. Some of which can occur from something as simple as a sneeze or bending over to tie a shoelace[5].

Professor Moira OBrien, Founder of the Irish Osteoporosis Society, describes the diagnosis rate as, Shocking, considering most fractures can be prevented and osteoporosis, unlike many diseases, is treatable. Early diagnosis of this silent disease is extremely important to help people, particularly women, avoid potentially life changing injuries. Our recent GP survey indicates clearly that more awareness is needed but also GPs need better access to resources like DXA scans, which in some areas GPs can send public patients to several private clinics. We know that recovery from bone fractures can be very difficult, so we are asking people to become aware of their bone health and speak to their GP or contact us at the Irish Osteoporosis Society, this World Osteoporosis Day.

Risk factors for osteoporosis include those that are out of our control such as, being a woman over 65, having a history of osteoporosis in your family and having a history of broken bones. Other risk factors that we can control include being a smoker, drinking excessive amount of alcohol and having a low body weight.

Irish Osteoporosis Society Ambassador and TV presenter Mary Kennedy is encouraging women to start thinking about protecting their bone health, I had never given much thought to my bone health until I learned about the risks, particularly to women my own age, over 65. There are some simple steps to take to help protect your bones. For example, every day, I make sure that I take the daily recommended amounts of calcium and Vitamin D and I also try to ensure I get my 5-a-day when it comes to fruit and vegetables. Regular exercise is part of my daily routine. I like to get out for a walk almost every day. I would encourage all women to speak to their GP about potential risk factors and steps that can be taken to help protect bone health or visit the Irish Osteoporosis Society website.

54% of the GPs surveyed across the country admitted that a lack of resources has a negative effect on diagnosing osteoporosis2, making it increasingly important that each patient has a better understanding of the risk factors in order to manage their bone health and raise any concerns with their own G.P. The survey also found that 69% of GPs offer advice to at risk patients on how to avoid fractures while 100% believe that patient knowledge needs to be improved2.

Visit www.irishosteoporosis.ie for up-to-date advice on how to protect your bones. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for regular updates and information. The She Doesnt Deserve A Break campaign is associated with the Irish Osteoporosis Society and organised by Amgen.
Kildare County Council has launched Kildares first Climate and Energy Week which will take place from 26th  29th October 2021.

The 4-day schedule of online and in-person events will focus on highlighting and raising awareness of our energy and climate action responsibilities. The events are planned throughout Kildare Climate & Energy Week and will cover themes such as energy awareness, biodiversity, green business innovation and community activation. Registrations for all events are available on the Kildare County Council website:

https://kildare.ie/ countycouncil/AllServices/ ClimateAction/ KildareClimateandEnergyWeek/

Kildare Climate & Energy Week is being hosted by Kildare County Council, supported by SEAI in partnership with communities, business, other state bodies and will feature panel discussions, demonstrations, presentations and expert insights.

The packed programme aims to share knowledge, demystify misconceptions and encourage people to switch on to the conversation and our collective and personal responsibilities to achieve a greener, more sustainable future.

Kildare Climate & Energy Week takes place at a time when we are reminded of the ongoing importance of addressing climate action and each of us as individuals have an important role to play.

Speaking at the launch of Kildare Climate & Energy Week, Councillor Naoise O Cearuil, Cathaoirleach, Kildare County Council said; I'm delighted to launch Kildare County Council's Climate and Energy Week. The Council continues to promote Climate awareness but is committed to acting upon it as well. We have been working with a range of community groups throughout the County that are bringing their passion and knowledge to the table. I encourage all Kildare people to get involved with the events happening throughout the week. Together we can build a more sustainable County and Country."

Sonya Kavanagh, Interim Chief Executive, Kildare County Council added: Kildare County Council is proud to be hosting Kildares first ever Climate and Energy Week. We are committed to our objective to lead a climate resilient Kildare, working to build climate change resilience as well as protecting and promoting our natural and built environment for the well-being of present and future generations.

"We are delighted to be partnering with SEAI as well as many community groups and businesses to deliver Kildare Climate & Energy Week and thank them for collaborating with us on this exciting and diverse programme of events.

"We hope Kildare Climate & Energy Week will help to increase awareness and understanding and encourage everyone to switch on to our collective Climate Action responsibilities.

Ruth Buggie, Programme Manager, Sustainable Energy Communities, SEAI said: SEAI provides dedicated supports to communities across Ireland to support their ambitions in achieving a sustainable energy future. Kildare County Council are championing the transition to clean energy and SEAI support their achievements in launching Kildare Climate and Energy Week, we hope it encourages more communities to get involved with the SEAI community network.

Keep up to date on Kildare Climate & Energy Week on:

Twitter: @KildareCoCo

Facebook: @KildareCountyCouncil

And at #TimeToSwitchOn #KCEW21


The increased use of antigen testing for COVID-19 could come sooner rather than later, as the process has found a supporter in An Taoiseach Micheal Martin.

He joins Professor of immunovirology at University College Cork Liam Fanning in his support of antigen testing, in contrast to recent comments from chief scientific advisor to the Government Professor Mark Ferguson.

Professor Mark Ferguson said that while antigen tests are useful and provide an extra layer of protection, they are "not a solution" to preventing the contraction the virus, while Mr Fanning instead suggested during a radio interview that free antigen tests in every house in Ireland during winter could help in managing the spread of the virus.

The Fianna Fail leader's comments follow just after new figures released by the HSE showed that nearly four in every five (79 per cent) antigen test results that indicated the presence of COVID-19 were correct.

At present, the HSE recommends anyone who shows symptoms of the virus to undertake its standard PCR test, regardless of whether or not they took an antigen test or not.

The Taoiseach's speech:

Speaking on his views while in County Sligo, the Taoiseach said: "I'm a strong believer in antigen testing; our public health officials have a more moderated perspective on the value of antigen testing."

"But some sectors have rolled out antigen testing and that's something that the Government will be considering," he added.

He also said that the Irish govt does not differ with Dr Ronan Glynn over his recent view that a return to remote working should be put in place.

Mr Martin further explained that he did not accept suggestions that this week was "Groundhog Day" with people once more facing uncertainty: "I do not accept that presentation that has been made because of the fact that the economy has rebounded very significantly and in a very fast way, because of the reopening of society that has occurred over the last number of months and that has to be acknowledged."

"But Covid has many twists and turns: we are witnessing another now at this particular time which will give us pause for reflection."

Mr Martin insisted that it had not been a mistake on the govt's part to list this Friday, October 22nd, as a date for the lifting of almost all restriction: "Back then, we were on a very good trajectory and up to last week public health (advice) was positive enough about the ways things were going."

Previously, this Friday had been the scheduled reopening date for Irish society, and while the Taoiseach acknowledged that the rise in hospitalisations and admissions to intensive care units is causing concern, he stressed that the govt wanted to provide clarity later today on the easing of restrictions.

The sentiments of An Taoiseach and Prof Fanning were echoed by infectious diseases expert Prof Paddy Mallon, who questioned why Ireland remains an "outlier" when it comes to antigen testing compared to the rest of the Europe.

Background on the divide:

According to a recent article published in The Irish Examiner, the final report of the Rapid Testing Group on antigen testing was published in April.

It saw four of the six members approve the rollout of lateral flow antigen tests (LFAT) and loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) testing as a "compliment" to the existing testing regime.

However, aside from pilot events, the use of antigen tests has been restricted amid warnings from the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET).

Earlier this year in May, Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly was criticised by Harvard University Epidemiologist and Immunology Professor Michael Mina, saying that he believed the Irish govt's stance on antigen tests "was not helpful."

He added that he felt that failure to trust people to use antigen tests correctly has blocked the use of a "very powerful tool" in the fight against COVID-19 in Ireland.

Around the same time, Chair of the NPHET modelling group Professor Philip Nolan negatively compared antigen tests sold at supermarket chain Lidl to "snake oil."

In response to this, Prof Mina elaborated on his stance by saying: "The science is saying something different versus what folks like Nolan have inferred; I do believe we are all on the same side and it is sad to see it get so charged that they are calling a very powerful test, in the middle of pandemic, snake oil... it is just not appropriate."

Prof Mina's sentiments were also echoed by Newstalk host and veteran broadcaster Pat Kenny, who accused Minister Donnelly of spreading "propaganda" instead of facts in an on-air interview.

The govt will later today decide what further public health restrictions will be eased this Friday.
A doctor has warned parents that an outbreak of Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) in children is "more contagious" than Covid that parents can expect to hear reports of other children, be it in school or in a creche, being sick.

Dr. Duffy outlined that different viruses, including those seen specifically in children, share similar symptoms with Covid, but that the highly infectious nature of RSV means that it is currently presenting as more contagious than Covid.

Speaking on The Pat Kenny Show on Newstalk on Monday, Dr Illona Duffy noted that her Monaghan practice is seeing a "massive rise" in the general viruses that doctors would traditionally see around this time of year.

Amid a rise in the Respiratory Syncytial Virus, Dr Illona Duffy says it has the same symptoms seen with #COVID19.https://t.co/1ZwhUqN3jP  NewstalkFM (@NewstalkFM) October 19, 2021

When asked how infectious the virus is, she said:



"Very infectious. Definitely on the ground and in [the] general practice we're seeing that where classroom-loads of kids are all going out sick, my own family I'm seeing it where all my kids have been sick with it.

"Definitely, we're seeing this as much more contagious than even Covid. I think that's to be expected  if you have one child in your house who is sick and suddenly everybody is sick you know this is more likely to be viral because bacteria don't spread as quickly.

"So, again, it can give you some bit of reassurance that you can monitor your child, you can treat their temperatures, push the fluids  don't mind if they're not eating too much as long as they're drinking and getting that little bit of sugar; that it's not just water you're giving them because then they can actually go low and become hypo-glycemic."

"We'd normally say if they have temperatures going beyond three days, we would kind of be concerned, especially if they're very high and hard to control," she said.

"Or if their breathing is getting worse or if they had low temperatures and then a few days later the temperature is getting worse and the child is getting worse and not improving  that may indicate that because of that wheezing and that tightening of the airways; mucus hasn't been able to get up and get out, they're developing that secondary bacterial infection."

Dr. Duffy also noted that there is no vaccine available for RSV at the moment but pointed parents in the direction of the HSE's 'Under the Weather' website if they have concerns.
Responding to reports that the National Immunisation Advisory Committee (NIAC) has not recommended booster shots for healthcare workers at this time, the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) is calling on the Government to include healthcare workers in their plans for an immediate rollout of the booster vaccination programme, as a health and safety imperative.

This comes after the Governments announcement today that vaccine boosters have been approved for the over 60s.

The INMO has also requested the Health and Safety Authority to reinforce the risk mitigation requirements of the Biological Hazards Directive which is now transposed into Irish law.

INMO General Secretary Phil Ni Sheaghdha said:

It is disappointing that NIAC have not advised that healthcare workers receive the vaccine at this stage in the booster vaccine campaign. The Government needs to step up now and make the right decision to include healthcare workers in the next phase of the vaccination campaign.

In the last month the number of COVID infections has increased amongst healthcare workers, with nurses and midwives representing the highest cohort of those infected. In the last month over 371 nurses and midwives were infected.

Many in the over-60 cohort that NIAC has recommended receive a booster in the coming weeks would have received the AstraZeneca vaccine. Many healthcare workers received this vaccine in late January and February. They should be prioritised for an MRNA vaccine booster.

Healthcare workers are receiving vaccine boosters in Northern Ireland, England, Canada, South Africa and many parts of the USA. Why are we not following their lead? Why are we contemplating delaying protecting those on the frontline who are already working in overcrowded conditions?

Our members have been on the frontline dealing with non-COVID and COVID patients. Our hospitals are not just full, they are overcrowded.

"This airborne infection poses a high risk of breakthrough infection to those already vaccinated, and the health services are obliged, in accordance with the Safety Health and Welfare protocol dealing with the biological hazard COVID 19, to provide all necessary protections, including vaccines, where they are available, to afford maximum protections available to those exposed to this hazard.

"This therefore is a legal requirement on the employer to provide boosters to frontline healthcare workers in our view.
Tanaiste Leo Varadkar has said that a full return to offices "as we knew them" will not be happening until next spring.

The comments were made during a Government press conference on Tuesday October 19th, after the announcement of the country's revised reopening plan, where Taoiseach Micheal Martin confirmed all of the restrictions set to ease from Friday, 22 October and the restrictions that will remain in place.

"The pandemic isn't over yet. Unfortunately, we're going to have to get through at least another winter before we can safely say that it's behind us," Varadkar said at the press conference.

"The situation took a turn for the worse about two or three weeks ago and since then, we've seen rising case numbers, rising hospitalisations and rising ICU numbers.



"So, we're not where we hoped to be or expected to be for 22 October... we're not past the peak of the Delta wave."

Later in the press conference, he said the government would be meeting with unions and employer representatives to update the Work Safely Protocol.

"We'll have that done over the next couple of days and essentially what we're saying is that a staggered and phased return to the office is possible," he explained.

"So, people going back to the office for a specific business purpose, like a meeting or a training, for example, or inductions - that is allowed.

"But certainly people who can work from home and want to continue to work from home, their employer should facilitate that.

"But bear in mind, there are also people who've been working from home with a laptop on a bed for 18 months now and they really want to get back to the office.

"And if that can be facilitated, if they can be in an office on their own or in an office where they're socially distanced from other people, that should be facilitated too.

"But the full return to offices as we knew them, that will be next spring", added the Tanaiste.

The announcement from the Tanaiste comes days after Deputy Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Dr. Ronan Glynn advised the public to "work from home where possible" this autumn and winter.
GARDAI investigating the murder of a pensioner at his home in West Limerick almost 12 years ago have issued a fresh appeal for information.

The body of 92-year-old bachelor James Mulqueen was discovered at his small, rural cottage at Ballymakeery, Kilcolman at around 11am on October 23, 2009.

He had been assaulted prior to his death and the murder sent shock waves through the rural community in which he was born and lived out his later life having returned from the UK.

While a man was arrested and questioned about his death, nobody has ever been charged in relation to what happened.

Making a fresh appeal on RTEs Crimecall programme on Monday night, Detective Sergeant Mike Reidy said the investigation is very much live and ongoing and that gardai believe someone in the local community has information about what happened.

Next Saturday marks the 12th anniversary of Jims murder. We believe the key to solving this murder lies within the local community. Im appealing to anyone who may have any information who, for whatever reason, hadnt come forward previously to please contact us, he said.

Did anyone see anyone acting suspiciously in the Kilcoman or Ballymakeery area of west Limerick in the days preceding the finding of Jims body? Im also appealing to anyone who, at this stage, may have information  it may be a case that they were privy to a conversation  to please pick up the phone and contact us, he added.

While significant progress has been made by investigating gardai, Detective Sergeant Reidy said they are keeping an open mind as to the motive for the murder.

At this time, the motive is undetermined. While we believe a sum of money may have been taken from his home in or about the time of his death we, the investigation team, are keeping an open mind in respect of the motive for Jims murder, he said.

Gardai at Newcastle West are investigating James Mulqueens murder and can be contacted at 069 20650.

Crimestoppers is also offering a cash reward for information which helps progress the garda investigation in the pensioners murder.
THE Mayor of the City and County of Limerick has thanked those who continue to help keep Limerick free of litter.

Volunteers from Tidy Towns groups and various other community groups are working in parallel with Limerick City and County Council teams to maintain a litter free Limerick.

Cllr Daniel Butler made his comments following the publication of the first Irish Business Against Litter report since the pandemic hit last year.

While some issues of concern are highlighted in the report, it shows that of the 25 locations surveyed 10 received an A rating, seven a B+ or B rating, three a C+ or C rating while five received a D rating.

It is heartening to know that in the latest IBAL report many areas have received A and B grades. The hard work carried out by Council teams and volunteers is invaluable and we thank them for the time and effort they put in on a daily basis. We all must take responsibility for our own rubbish," said Cllr Butler.

The IBAL report does indicate a number of areas that need to be addressed. Its disappointing that sometimes all the good work being done by people is being undone by a handful. Its not acceptable for people to just throw their rubbish on the ground. Please use bins provided and if there arent bins around, please take your rubbish home with you. It wont cost you anything but it will help keep Limerick litter free," he added.

Cigarette butts appear to be coming a wider issue  smokers need to act responsibly and dispose of their butts correctly. Just recently the Council has unveiled the Ballot Box in the city centre which is in innovative way to get people to dispose of their butts by asking them a Yes/No question.

Cllr Butler said innovative ideas such as the ballot box needs to continue to engage the public and highlight the need for proper disposal of litter.

Private property owners also have to ensure that their buildings are litter free, especially in basements in our Georgian core, which has been highlighted in the report.

According to the IBAL report for Limerick City South - Galvone, the 10 areas surveyed received One A rating, four B+ or B ratings, three C ratings and two D ratings.

Again it is important to thank those for the work they have carried out and urge them to continue. We all must redouble our efforts to see how best to improve our city. We all have our part to play and it seems that there is a cohort of people who continue to through their rubbish around indiscriminately," said Cllr Butler.

The message though is simple, use the bins provided and if there are no bins around, bring your rubbish home and dispose of it correctly," he added.
GARDAI have issued an appeal for witnesses to a serious road traffic collision on the outskirts of Limerick city yesterday afternoon.

The collision, involving an articulated truck and a tractor, occurred at approximately 3.20pm on the N18 dual carriageway near the Limerick Tunnel.

"The truck, which had a trailer attached, collided with the back of the tractor, which also had a trailer attached. Significant material damage was caused to both vehicles," said a garda spokesperson.

While the drivers of both vehicles attended University Hospital Limerick, their injuries are not believed to be life threatening.

Gardai say the scene was forensically examined following the collision and that any witnesses are being asked to come forward.

"Any road users who were travelling on the N18, at Ballinacurra, yesterday afternoon between 3pm and 3.30pm and who may have camera footage, including dash cam footage, is asked to make it available to gardai," said a spokesperson.

Gardai at Roxboro Road can be contacted at (061) 214340.
Irish scientists are among a global group hunting for a genetic explanation as to why some people seem resistant to COVID-19 while others experience life-threatening symptoms. In a landmark paper published on Monday, October 18, in the leading journal Nature Immunology the consortium sets out a strategy for answering one of the pandemics greatest questions: why do some people not get COVID-19?

The COVID-19 Human Genome Effort is being led by Jean Laurent Casanova of the Rockefeller Institute in New York and Helen Su of the National Institutes of Health in the US. It involves teams from over 50 countries including one from Trinity College Dublin.

Throughout history, infectious diseases have imposed a strong evolutionary pressure on humans. Viruses, particularly, seem to have been dominant drivers of genetic change as adaptations have arisen that protect individuals from infection or from serious illness during infection.

Scientists over the years, have discovered genetic factors that partly explain why infections such as malaria, HIV, and hepatitis C affect some people more than others. The consortium has already discovered how variation in some immune genes contributes to severe COVID-19 infection.

Now the COVIDHGE consortium wants to find the genes responsible for why some people are resistant to COVID-19. The effort to uncover natural resistance to COVID-19 is being led by Andras Spaan of the Rockefeller University in New York.

The global strategy and the Irish project

The collaborating COVIDHGE scientists will, over the next 12 months, seek people who seem to be naturally resistant to COVID-19 (having been exposed, in close quarters, and for significant time to an infected person) and compare their genetic  and other biological  profiles with those of non-resistant people who become infected.

In doing so, they will hunt  in a targeted manner  for genetic answers that could explain why some people are resistant and others not, and by extension, make a global impact in fighting the virus.

The Irish group, led by Cliona OFarrelly, Professor of Comparative Immunology at Trinity College Dublin, has been a member of COVIDHGE since June 2020 and is now supported by Science Foundation Ireland to contribute to the global effort, via the DIRECTS: Detecting Innate pRotECTion against SARS-CoV2 project.

Professor OFarrelly, whose team is based in the Trinity Biomedical Sciences Institute and who collaborates with clinicians and scientists in St Jamess Hospital, said:

There is a growing awareness that many people seem to have innate immune-mediated resistance to viral infections. My team and I have been highlighting this for a number of years since our discovery that around one-third of Rhesus-negative Irish women exposed to hepatitis C-contaminated anti-D in 1977-79 did not ever show symptoms of the virus.

Because of that work, and growing information regarding the wildly variable responses that people have to COVID-19 exposure, we are convinced that a proportion of the population is resistant to the virus.

Jamie Sugrue, PhD Candidate in Professor OFarrellys team, added:

We have recruited 30 'resistors' from St James Hospital  people who remained COVID-negative while living with someone who was infected  and have DNA and serum samples ready to be analysed. Over the next 12 months we will collect more biological material from the resistors and their virus susceptible living partners to compare their innate immune responses and identify biological hallmarks of resistance to COVID-19.

We hope by combining the genetic, biological and serological data we will identify a biomarker signature of resistance to COVID-19. This signature could then be used to find out  with great accuracy  how many people are resistant to COVID-19 and may help inform novel antiviral therapies.
A plan to provide tourists visiting Ireland with carbon calculators is expected to be agreed this week.

Carbon calculators are expected to be in place by the end of March, 2022.

This will enable tourists to calculate the impact of their holidays carbon footprint on the environment.

It is understood that the Government Cabinet will today consider a new report from the Governments Sustainable Tourism Working Group on ways to promote sustainable and environmentally friendly tourism.

A new system for hotels, bed and breakfast providers and short term letting hosts, is also to be included to allow them report on their carbon reduction efforts.

New data will also be gathered on the carbon emissions from tourists flying in and out of the country, as well as the emissions from tourists travelling in cars or buses.

The plan states that incentives should be put in place to encourage tourism businesses to go green
IRELAND'S Covid-19 restrictions will be eased as expected, this Friday, despite going through a "twin peak" of positive Covid cases.

That's according to Tanaiste Leo Varadkar, who announced an update today along with Taoiseach Micheal Martin about the expected lifting of restrictions on October 22.

The Tanaiste said it was hoped the country would be past the peak of the Delta wave, but that NPHET modelling has predicted it will "probably continue to rise and peak around October and November".

He said, "The pandemic isn't over yet. Unfortunately, we're going to have to get through at least another winter before we can safely say it's behind us. The situation took a turn for the worse two weeks ago with rising case numbers, rising hospitalisations and rising ICU numbers."

He called the situation "deeply disappointing" and said, "We're not where we hoped to be."

The Taoiseach said rising Covid numbers are "a cause for concern" but that it was a "timely reminder" of how dangerous the virus remains and the need for ongoing vigilance.

The announcements today include confirmation that table service only will be available at hospitality venues, with a maximum of ten adults per table and fifteen total per table including children.

Covid passes will not be required for outdoor events, however sectors should ensure appropriate protective measures are in place.

Fixed capacity will no longer apply for indoor and outdoor activities, and when groups mix in doors pods of six will apply.

Weddings and religious ceremonies can now proceed without capacity limits.

Return to work is to continue on a phased and cautious basis, and protocols of same are set to be discussed later today during a meeting of the Labour Employer Economic Forum (LEEF).

Taoiseach Martin also confirmed there will be an "enhanced role" for the use of antigen testing throughout society.

He said the progress made over the course of the last year is "real and tangible and has to be protected".

He said, "The changes gives us the space for the next steps towards normality we take to be safe and sustainable."
New Delhi: HDFC Bank has suspended the employees who were arrested by the Delhi Police for alleged involvement in attempts of unauthorised withdrawal from high-value NRI account.

"Basis the FIR, police has arrested suspects including bank staff. We have suspended bank staff pending outcome of the investigation," the bank said in a statement on Tuesday.

"Our systems detected unauthorised and suspicious attempts to transact in certain accounts. Basis the system alerts, we reported the matter to law enforcement agencies for further and necessary investigation, and lodged an FIR," added the bank.

The bank further informed that it is extending full support to the law enforcement agencies in the investigation. "At HDFC Bank, there's zero tolerance for any misconduct, financial or otherwise," it added.

Delhi Police Cyber Cell arrested 12 people, including three HDFC bank employees, for attempting to make unauthorised withdrawals from a high-value NRI account.

KPS Malhotra, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DCP) (Cyber Cell), informed today that as many as 66 attempts of unauthorised online transactions were made by the group on the high-value account.

"The accused had fraudulently obtained cheque book which has been recovered. Mobile phone number identical to that of account holder's US-based phone number was also procured by the fraudsters," the DSP stated.

"On the basis of technical evidence, footprints, and human intelligence, multiple geolocations were identified. In all, raids were conducted at 20 locations across Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh," he further informed.

Further raids are in progress and investigation in the case is being carried out.

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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Mastodons were prehistoric relatives of today's elephants. Like their modern cousins, mastodons had tusks, flappy ears and a long nose. Both animals, as well as the woolly mammoth, are members of the order Proboscidea, a name that comes from the Greek word proboskis, which means nose.

The difference between mastodons and mammoths

Mastodons and woolly mammoths both look like ancient elephants, but they are separate species. One big difference between them is when they appeared on Earth. Mammoths appeared about 5.1 million years ago in Africa, according to Ross MacPhee, a curator at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. Mastodons, on the other hand, appeared about 27 million to 30 million years ago, primarily in North and Central America. [Related: Mammoth or Mastodon: What's the Difference?]

There are several other differences. Mastodons were slightly smaller than mammoths. Though they are both herbivores, they ate differently. Mastodons had blunt, cone-shaped molars that would crush vegetation, while mammoths had ridged molars that cut plants, much like today's elephants. Naturalist Georges Cuvier named them "mastodon" because of their breast-like tooth protrusions, according to Wired.

Appearance

Unlike modern elephants, mastodons had much smaller ears and foreheads and were covered in a thick layer of brown hair. Hairs on their coats, could grow up to 35 inches (90 centimeters) and the males' tusks grew to about 8 feet (2.5 meters). Females did not have tusks.

From foot to shoulder, mastodons were between 8 and 10 feet (2.5 and 3 m) tall. They weighed between 4 and 6 tons (3,500 and 5,400 kilograms), according to the Illinois State Museum. That isn't much different from their modern counterparts. Modern elephants weigh 3 to 7 tons (2,722 to 6,350 kg) and range from 5 to 14 feet (1.5 to 4.3 m) tall, according to The Defenders of Wildlife.

Habitat

Though mastodons appeared primarily in North and Central America, they eventually spread all over the world, in every continent except for Antarctica and Australia. They typically inhabited spruce woodlands around valleys and swamps, according to Cochise College.

Extinction

Mastodons went extinct around 10,000 years ago. There are many theories as to why. Most of these theories boil down to climate change and/or human hunting, according to Simon Fraser University. Some scientists think that the Earth warmed up from the Ice Age too quickly for the mastodon to adapt or that humans hunted them to extinction.

Others, like researchers Bruce Rothschild of the Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine and Richard Laub of the Buffalo Museum of Science in New York, have a different theory. They found that 52 percent of the 113 mastodons they studied had signs of tuberculosis. This led the researchers to think that a tuberculosis pandemic contributed to their extinction. Though death by disease sounds like a cut-and-dry answer, "Extinction is usually not a one-phenomenon event," Rothschild told Live Science. It is likely that the disease didn't kill off the animals directly, but made them weak. Coupled with the coming out of the Ice Age and fighting off humans, the species just couldn't survive.

Sculptures by artist Sergio de la Rosa show three elephant relatives, from left to right: the mastodon, the mammoth and the gomphothere. (Image credit: Sergio de la Rosa)

Fossil discoveries

The first mastodon fossils were found in 1705, according to the Oregon History Project, when a large tooth and bone fragments were found in the Hudson River Valley in New York. Not long after, in 1807, Thomas Jefferson personally financed an expedition that was by led William Clark to excavate mastodon and mammoth fossils from the Big Bone Lick site in Kentucky.

There have been many mastodon fossil discoveries in the past few hundred years. Sometimes, they are found in unusual places. For example, on October 16, 1963, Marshal Erb was using a dragline to excavate a pond and found fossils that came to be known as the Perry Mastodon. In another instance in 2016, a sinkhole in Floridas Aucilla River was declared an "archaeological gold mine" after an ancient human tool and mastodon bones are found inside.

Additional resources
French conglomerate has declined to comment on reports of a potential divestment of its African assets, which have an estimated value of 2-3bn

French conglomerate Bollore is considering the sale of logistics assets in Africa comprising port terminals, maritime agencies, port handling and rail transport, according to Le Monde, which quotes corroborative sources.

Its Bollore Africa Logistics (BAL) unit generated a 2020 turnover of 2.1 billion and has an estimated value of 2-3 billion, the newspaper noted. Bollores freight forwarding assets in Africa are not thought to be included in any potential sale.

Investment bank Morgan Stanley has been handed the task of sounding out potential buyers, notably major players in ocean shipping. Le Monde said the possible sale of BAL has caught the eye of CMA CGM and Maersk, while port operator Dubai Ports World and Chinas Cosco Shipping  which runs the Greek port of Piraeus  could also emerge as potential candidates.

Bollore has declined to comment.

Contacted by the Agence France Presse, Maersk also declined to comment on the report, merely pointing out that it is constantly exploring opportunities to connect and simplify its customers' supply chains.

Bollore describes BAL as the biggest transport and logistics operator in Africa, where it has a network without equal, employing more than 20,000 staff. It is present in more than 20 countries, notably in the operation of 16 container terminal concessions, located principally in the Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon, Congo, Togo and Guinea. It also operates seven ro-ro terminals, two timber terminals and a river terminal, as well as being active in port handling.

BAL also has a network of 74 maritime agencies, as well as operating three rail concessions in Africa which serve as important corridors for freight carrying export and import traffic.

BALs first-half 2021 revenue was up 8%, on the same period a year earlier, driven by growth in port terminals, Bollore said.

Image: Alamy
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Barbra Streisand is funding a UCLA research institute to tackle a broad range of social issues. Housed in UCLAs division of Social Sciences, the institute bearing her name will include four research centers. These centers will delve into climate change and environmental health, the dynamics of gender relationships and power, the arts and how to combat disinformation in the national discourse.

Building upon her decades of work as an artists and activist, Barbra Streisands visionary act of generosity will enable UCLA scholars from many different fields to collaborate on research that will move society forward, UCLA chancellor Gene Block said.

Ahead of the formal establishment of the institute, which will occur when the full gift amount is received, the work will be housed at the UCLA Center for the Study of Women. Streisands gift extends the centers own research on critical issues that affect women and the larger society.

Streisand, a multitalented performer, producer and director, has won two Oscars, five Emmys, 10 Grammys, a Tony Award, numerous Golden Globe trophies and three Peabody Awards over the span of her career. She has also been active in philanthropy: She has supported cardiovascular research and education at Cedars-Sinai since 2007, and in 2012, the Barbra Streisand Womens Heart Center at Cedars-Sinai was renamed in her honor. Streisand also established the Streisand Chair in Cardiology at UCLA in 1984. In 2014, the Barbra Streisand Womens Heart Health Program was established at the university, examining stress and the connection between the heart and the mind.

It is my great pleasure to be able to fund an institute at UCLA, one of the worlds premier universities, Streisand said. This will be a place where future scholars can discuss, engage and argue about the most important issues of the day; where innovators will speak truth to power, help save our planet, and make glass ceilings for women an anachronism; and in the process give us a chance to have a brighter, more promising future.

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Jay-Zs legal team hired a retired cop to sniff around the neighborhood of a former perfume company president involved in the rap stars cologne breach-of-contract trial starting this week in New York.

Donald Loftus, the ex-CEO of Parlux, cited health problems and fear of Covid-19 in his bid to avoid testifying in person at the trial. But the former NYPD sergeant Jay-Z hired snapped Loftus walking in Manhattan without a mask, boarding multiple MTA buses, shopping inside an Upper East Side grocery store, and standing in a crowd at the recent Pulaski Day Parade, according to an affidavit filed late Friday and obtained by Rolling Stone. The gumshoe also claims Loftus frequently dined at a neighborhood restaurant and wasnt opposed to eating indoors, at least according to one employees account included in the affidavit.

Fragrance brand Parlux sued Jay-Z for breach of contract in 2016. The company claims the music mogul reneged on a deal to promote his signature cologne, Gold Jay Z, even though he was paid nearly $2 million in royalties under a 2012 deal. In a 2017 sworn statement, Loftus told the court Jay-Z, whose legal name is Shawn Carter, never once personally appeared to promote the fragrance, failed to develop product-line extensions called flankers, and never returned a prototype Gold Jay Z bottle designed by Jacob the Jeweler with an 18-carat gold exterior valued at more than $20,000  even though he rejected the design. The company claims total losses from the failed venture topped $18 million.

Jay-Z countersued, saying Parlux breached its own obligations under the deal by failing to provide accounting reports, business plans, adequate promotional resources, and royalty payments.

Jay-Z is expected to be called as a witness in the long-awaited trial. But Loftus, who is no longer with Parlux, is asking to testify remotely. To that end, he submitted two doctors letters, at least one from a gastroenterologist, asking the court to exercise its discretion and allow him to answer questions over a live video link, according to a filing from Jay-Zs lawyer. His letters reportedly claim hes so fearful of Covid-19 that he has carefully avoided indoor public settings since the beginning of the pandemic.

Jay-Zs lead lawyer Alex Spiro didnt buy the excuse, and argued in his Friday filing that the evidence collected by his private investigator proves Loftus wasnt being forthright.

Supreme Court of the State of New York Supreme Court of the State of New York

Despite Mr. Loftus and plaintiffs counsels misrepresentations otherwise, the pandemic has not proven exceptional for Mr. Loftus, who is living his life as if it is 2019, Spiro wrote in the filing obtained by Rolling Stone. Covid-19 has not stopped Mr. Loftus from participating in any activities similar to, or more risky than, attending an in-person trial around other socially-distanced, masked individuals.

Donald Loftus did not return a call from Rolling Stone seeking comment Monday. Attempts to reach lawyers for Parlux were not immediately successful.

According to the underlying lawsuit, Parlux arranged for Jay-Z to peddle the cologne on Good Morning America, in Womens Wear Daily, and during an in-store appearance at Macys, but the Empire State of Mind rapper declined each time. Parlux named Jay-Z and his company S. Carter Enterprises as co-defendants in the lawsuit.
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More than 16 years after Kate Walsh made her splashy Greys Anatomy debut as Dr. Addison Montgomery-Shepherd, the then-unmentioned estranged wife of Dr. Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey), the actor is back in her old stomping grounds.

Walsh was so dynamic as Addison, ABC launched its first Greys spinoff, Private Practice, centered around her character. The drama, which co-starred current Greys star Caterina Scorsone, who plays Dr. Amelia Shepherd, ran from 2007-2013.

It felt just beautiful and I was so pleased, Walsh told reporters of fan reaction to her return to Greys during a discussion on Monday. For years and years, there wasnt an interview that Ive ever done where someone hasnt said, So fans are wondering, will you ever go back to Greys? And so, I did.

I think it seems successful, she added with a laugh. I was very satisfied and delighted by it. And, honestly, thats always been [the thought]: you do this for the fans. One of the great experiences of having been on Greys way back in the day, when it first began, was this crazy meaning of it being critically acclaimed and being a delight to do as an actor, [while] having mass appeal and having fans just love it.

Before returning to the long-running ABC drama, Walsh was warned by another vet who had his own recent resurrection to expect emotions to run high. She recalled running into Patrick Dempsey, who played Dr. Derek Shepherd for a decade, randomly on a plane from France only a month before she was set to return to the show.

I told him I was going to come back, and he had said, Oh, its going to be so intense for you. And so emotional, like so many feels and then closure, too, in a strange way,' she said. When we started that show, it was such a very specific time for all of us, and the entire castit really changed every single persons life in a pretty dramatic way.

Returning now, in Season 18, is like a fever dream, she said. It was easy to show up, emotionally, and just all of a sudden get cracked open in the elevator because theres just so much.

But what comes next? Walsh shared a little tease of her next episode  and whether she might return.

Addison and Amelia team up

While the first hour of Addisons return to Seattle centered more on closure about Dereks death, the next will put her in tight quarters with her former sister-in-law and colleague.

The second episode is a little more contained, and you really see Addison and Amelias dynamic play out and their reconnecting, Walsh previewed. That was a total delight for me, and I think fans will enjoy that, as well. Its a completely different kind of episode than the first one, but intensely intimate and satisfying.

After spending so much time working together on Private Practice, there was a concentrated effort to make sure the dynamic did not revert to what it was on that shorter-lived spinoff. Greys showrunner Krista Vernoff, Walsh said, made sure all of the personal stuff that transpires is really still framed around these life and death moments and whats going on with [Addisons patient] Tova.

Thats the magic of Greys and what Shonda [Rhimes] originally created that is still going forward and why its still so successful: it is all framed within this very heightened, contained, combustible space of the hospital and these very life and death moments, Walsh explained.

For Walsh, who played Addison on Greys and Practice for more than 170 episodes combined, differentiating between how her character fit into the world now was something she had to think about.

When the spinoff was first launching, Walsh noted that Rhimes had wanted Greys to focus on the stories of interns working to become doctors, whereas Practice would show what happened when they actually got to the top of their field.

Addison, even as fallible as she always was in her personal life, she was still a boss in Private Practice, she said. And they were all bosses and experts, gathered together. In Greys, shes still a mentor and a teacher, and you see that obviously with the interns in [the episode that aired last week].

But even with the dynamic [with] Amelia, its still really grounded in the Tova case and medical, and then from that, the real personal [stuff] comes out, she continued. It was just much more of a combustible environment, because it is actually a hospital and a teaching hospital, as opposed to a private practice [office], which is a little more lax [more] Malibu energy, a little more chill, a little more adult. And Greys just has the combustibility Theres something magical that happens that comes out of the characters personal revelations, when its all on this ticking clock of waiting for brain scans or test results or if this patients going to pull through or not. Theres a heightened aspect to it that is very specifically Greys.

And Addison and Amelias long history, both personally and professionally, could be key to getting insight into Amelias mindset with her recent estrangement from her ex/babys father, Link (Chris Carmack).

The next episode of Greys also provides a bit more insight into Addisons life post-Private Practice finale, including updates on her husband and son.

Theyre still married You hear a little more of Addisons backstory, if you will, with Jake and Henry, particularly as it correlates to COVID and what she went through. It will be really interesting to hear where shes been and what shes been experiencing, Walsh said.

Getting closure.

In the years since Addison was seen on-screen, there was a sizable change to the Greys world: Derek died.

How the hell are they going to deal with that? Walsh recalled thinking. She didnt even go to Dereks funeral. How are we going to sort that out?

It took until after Addison performed the surgery in her return hour  with an assist from Meredith (Ellen Pompeo), her exs widow  and endured gossip from the interns before she had a moment of quiet with Meredith in the elevator. Addison broke down, lamenting that she couldnt feel her ex there; she thought she would. (Meredith offered to let her meet his kids, which Addison took her up on.)

I thought the writing was so beyond, she gushed. [Jamie Denbo] wrote it in such a sophisticated way: I thought hed be here. Its so not what youd expect. Its so tangential, its so not how shes feeling, its not on the nose. It was so beautiful. One of my other friends who works in post was talking about it just that specificity of the writing in that moment was so good. And I just loved it.

Walsh was equally enthused to reunite with Pompeo. Ellens just awesome, because were just two people who, literally up through rolling, are just gabbing, and then you stop and then go into the scene, she said. Shes literally telling me, Oh, this is where you can get your smoothies from, this is where you should go. And then its action.

So, in that way, its awesome, she continued. Which may sound weird to the outside world. But I think when youve been doing this show for so long, or you know these characters so welltheres this strange thing that happens when youre just there, its like a little wormhole that you go into, and thats really what makes it a fun ride. Shes been playing Meredith for so long now, and the beautiful thing is then as long as you know the lines, you just go and see what happens.

When it came time to film the scene, neither of us knew what really was going to happen, Walsh recalled. Basically what they wrote was Addison goes from laughing to crying. And then you get to interpret that and hopefully it works. Im glad that it felt right; it felt wildly uncomfortable and weird and I think thats exactly what it was, too. And vulnerable. Then when Meredith goes to give her a little embrace at the end, these things arent written thats the beauty of, you know, being able to do this stuff.

Could she return?

Though Greys has notably welcomed back former performers into the fold, Walsh isnt sure what her future on the franchise might be.

Right now were just doing a few episodes and well see what happens, she said. I was excited, though, to make the comeback to where it all began for me. The couple of episodes that we shot, there was a great response to that first one, and I think the second one people are gonna really love, too. Nobody knows what the future holds but for now, this is what weve got planned: just to have Addison pop in and well see what happens, what transpires.

Greys Anatomy airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. on ABC.

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In the 25-year history of The View, Meghan McCain is one of the only co-hosts to leave on her own  without being fired.

McCains decision to quit the most-watched show on daytime TV wasnt one that came easily for her. Her four years on The View were marked by ratings peaks in ABC daytime, as she succeeded at the Hot Topics table where other conservatives  who werent Elisabeth Hasselbeck  had failed.

But it was also a devastating time in her personal life. Her father, Sen. John McCain, who had encouraged Meghan to take the job at The View in October 2017, died of glioblastoma in August 2018. The country was consumed by Trump. Backstage at The View, Meghan felt like she couldnt say or do anything without someone on the show leaking stories about her being cold or difficult to the tabloids. It all took a toll on her, she says.

When asked for comment, an ABC spokesperson responded: Like all of the co-hosts, Meghan was an impactful editorial voice at the show influencing booking such guests as Steve Scalise, Lindsey Graham, Madison Cawthorn and Marsha Blackburn and discussing stories including Alexei Navalny, Biden transition plans, Afghanistan and paid family leave, to name a few.

As McCain writes in her new audio memoir, Bad Republican (available this week on Audible), she decided that she had to leave The View on Jan. 5, her second day back from maternity leave. McCain had given birth to her daughter, Liberty, in September 2020, and she was suffering from severe postpartum anxiety. She experienced irrational fears that someone would kidnap or hurt her daughter, and she was terrified about being on TV again.

READ AN EXCLUSIVE EXCERPT FROM BAD REPUBLICAN

During a political debate that day, McCain made a joke about how Joy Behar, the shows resident liberal, must have missed her when she was gone. Behar scowled at her. I did not miss you, Behar said. Zero!

McCain said she sobbed during the commercial, and had a panic attack after the show wrapped, vomiting in her office. Overcome by her own anxieties as a new mom, she realized she couldnt keep doing The View, given how toxic the job had become for her and her family. She left the show in August.

Stories about drama and backstabbing on The View are as old as the show itself, which launched in 1997 at the hands of creator Barbara Walters. As the author of Ladies Who Punch, a book about the daytime talk show, I wrote about HR complaints that fell on deaf ears for years, and firings  from Star Jones to Nicolle Wallace  that were orchestrated like something out of Survivor.

Full disclosure: McCain is a friend of mine. We worked together years ago at Newsweek and The Daily Beast, where I was her editor. I started reporting on my book before she joined The View. In a recent interview with me, McCain talked about her time on The View, and why she hopes the culture at the show changes. As he recalled a particularly difficult day in December 2019 at The View  when Whoopi Goldberg told her, Girl, please stop talking. Please stop talking right now  she started to cry during our conversation.

And to enhance McCains point about the shows atmosphere, this past July, Barbara Fedida, one of the executives in charge of The View, was fired for making racially insensitive comments.

Why do you think theres so much drama backstage at The View?

My take on the problems of The View are that its a show with a lot of demons that started in the beginning, and none of those demons have been exorcised. I want to share an anecdote with you. I ran into Rosie ODonnell at the premiere of Frozen on Broadway. She said, Hows the show going? I said, You know And she goes, Its not nearly as fun as it should be. That always stuck with me. This is something that is supposed to be really fun and its not at all.

Its a show that there is an expectation you wont survive. When you come in as a host, you are a rotating peg on a carousel, and youll be in and out. It doesnt breed an environment where youre close. It feels siloed. There was no collaboration.

You write in your book that The View is a toxic work environment.

I feel like everybody knows that. You can watch the show and see that its unhinged and disorganized and rowdy. For me personally, it felt extremely isolating because of my political ideology. I was the only conservative on the show. The third year, they ended up hiring a producer for me who was also conservative.

I need to put the context in. I was working on the show as the only conservative during the Trump years. I felt like a lot of people took out their anger on the administration on me because I was the only person in the building who was a Republican. I felt like I was too many degrees of separation close to Trump, despite the fact that everyone who worked on the show saw firsthand how much President Trump and his family put me through emotionally.

I feel like I have post-traumatic stress from having to feud with the president when my dad was dying, and then having to feud with the president after he died. And I havent fully healed.

What are some examples of how you were treated differently on the show because youre a Republican?

It was the way topics were addressed. Each host picks a topic. They give you a list at night. I would obviously choose the one that made Democrats look bad. It was much harder to get those on-air because all the producers are liberal, all the hosts are liberal. The excuse is more people picked that topic. Of course! Im outnumbered. I used to say, This is crazy-making. Youve got to hire more Republicans on staff.

I always thought for TV, for the viewers watching, it benefits everybody to have more balance. I didnt feel like there was balance.



Wasnt the point of having you on the show to present the other side?

Yeah. I think I did as much as I could.

What was it like being backstage?

People were not comfortable around me. I was there less than a month when the first article came out about me, about what a disappointment I was and my nickname backstage was Elsa the ice princess [from Frozen]. My dad was dying of glioblastoma. I got permission from the network to take every other Friday off to go home to Arizona and help him get treatment. If I was cold, with this giant show with a group of strangers, I was trying to do well. There were never bad stories leaked about anyone else, and there was certainly bad behavior that could have leaked.

Do you think all those women are peaches and cream in the morning? Are you fucking kidding me? But it was always like, Meghan is  I thought it was unfair.

Did you find out who was leaking to the tabloids?

I tried very hard. I had ideas. It started to have a real impact, not only on my life, but on the lives of people who loved me and would read it and get upset.



Did you complain to ABC about the leaking?

I complained to [former ABC News president] James Goldston, [former ABC News executive] Barbara Fedida, the new president Kim Godwin and [senior vice president of ABC News] Galen Gordon. I made official complaints with HR. They knew how I felt. The excuse was, We dont know how to control it.

For the record, Kim almost talked me into staying. She seems like a great leader. When I was leaving, I gave her an explicit rundown of whats wrong with the show and what should change.



When you first started out on The View, you and Whoopi were close, right?

Not close, but warm and friendly.

And then what happened?

I have a lot of love and affection for her. She was surprised when I left. She yields an unfathomable amount of power in television, in culture. And it felt at a certain point, she didnt want me at the table anymore. It started with the Girl, please stop talking! incident. I remember when it happened almost crying on the show. I never wanted to upset her.

But I also wanted to be truthful about how I felt about politics and my perspective, and sometimes those two things couldnt co-exist. At a certain point, I made the decision it was more important to be honest than to be liked.

How did you feel after the please stop talking incident?

It was horrible. To her credit, Whoopi apologized the next morning. I would apologize when I messed up. I fucked up a lot on that show. [She starts to cry.] I dont know why Im getting emotional talking about this. A lot of this feels like such a waste. It was humiliating for me, and Im a serious person. I felt like I was being talked to like I was a child and a brat. And when things go viral on Twitter and people write things, it really does impact you. I felt very lonely.

I love Whoopi. I felt at a certain point she stopped respecting me, and it was hard. I dont know why Im crying so much. I wish things could have been different. I know she had her own dark times. When I was on the show, she almost died of pneumonia. I wish we had better leadership that could have stopped a lot of it.

When you say better leadership, who are you talking about?

Brian [Teta, the executive producer] tries, and hes a very decent person. I feel like no one could control anything.

Did you know you were going to leave The View when you wrote this book?

I didnt know I was going to leave until my second day back from maternity leave when Joy told me that Nobody missed me  zero. That was the day I decided.

How did you and Joy get along at first?

Fine. There were pockets of time when Joy and I had a great relationship. We have foundational things that are similar. Were both strong. We were both unemotional. Neither of us like talking about our personal life on camera. I found a lot of synergy between us as women.

When did things turn?

COVID. I think its easier to solve problems in person.

How did the conversation unravel on-air that day with Joy?

I had postpartum anxiety. When I was back, I was really nervous. It was like starting TV all over again. I felt unsteady. I was trying to make a joke, You missed me so much. If you watch the clip, her reaction is very sharp. I cant explain what it felt like. The people in the room with me in the D.C. bureau, there was a sound engineer and the hair and makeup artists. The sound woman looked shell-shocked at what shed seen.

And you cried during the commercial break.

Bad  and started lactating. I did end up being able to go back on-air. I remember Dr. Sanjay Gupta was on, and he looked weirded out. He went out of his way to be nice to me. After the show, I went back to my office and I had a panic attack. I couldnt stop crying, and Im not always crying. I couldnt compose myself. I threw up in the garbage can. I was so overcome. This is my narrative  I come back from maternity leave and no one missed me. I knew it was going to be everywhere. I was just so confused, because women when they have babies should be treated respectfully when they come back to work.

Did Joy apologize?

I asked for an apology from our executive producer and her producer. They said she wouldnt do it. I dont know if they asked her.



Why do you think Joy was so mad at you?

I dont know. She might have hated me.

You thank Abby Huntsman and Sunny Hostin in your book.

I have a legitimate friendship and sisterhood with both those women outside of The View.

After Elisabeth Hasselbeck left, why do you think it took so long to find a Republican who worked?

Because what they want and what they need are different things. They want someone who is not a real conservative because they will be easier to get along with  you dont fight as much. What they need is someone whos actually representing people in Kentucky and Arizona. I was told when I left, they were looking for a real conservative. I gave them a list. None of them have tested, by the way.



Did ABC ever give you notes?

Barbara Fedida told me to smile more. Things about my hair and clothes. I should wear brighter colors. In my exit interview, the last thing I told Kim is, You got to change the culture on the show or the culture is going to change you, Ellen style. Theyve got to start changing things or it will not survive.

Do you think The View is as bad as Ellen?

In a different way, yeah. I dont think anyone should walk into a work environment where they feel like they cant have a bad day without it being blasted over the internet, painting them out to be a psycho. I dont think you should feel disliked or ostracized for not voting for Obama. The liberal media bubble is real. No one walks away from a giant contract like the one I had if it was good.

What are some of your happier memories at The View?

Interviewing presidential candidates. Having my dad on. Having friends come. Jamie Lee Curtis, who Ive become friends with. We bonded over having famous dads. I love Mark Cuban. There are a lot of amazing people on the show. I love so many guys in the crew. I love the wardrobe people.

Would you consider going back?

No. Thats not going to happen. Someone else should get a shot at it. They should be giving conservative women opportunities to be on TV.

Do you watch the show now?

No. It would be like looking at an ex-boyfriends Instagram. Whats the point?

This interview has been edited and condensed.

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Netflix has acquired The Henna Artist, a series being developed by Sri Rao as an adaptation of Alka Joshis novel of the same name.

Freida Pinto will star in and executive produce The Henna Artist, which is set in 1950s Jaipur, India and follows Lakshmi (Pinto) as the citys most in-demand henna artist. She gains access to the secrets of the citys wealthiest women as she builds her life in newly-independent India and falls in love, but her status is threatened by the secrets of her past. Rao, Mirsada Abdool Raman and Michael Edelstein also executive produce and Miramax Television serves as the studio.

The acquisition comes as part of a new first look deal between writer, director and producer Rao, who will create scripted and unscripted series for the streamer with a focus on South Asian American stories. Raman will continue as head of development for Sri & Company, a role she has held since Oct. 2020.

Rao is also currently finalizing the upcoming series Finding Anamika, with Netflixs creative team in India. The series stars Bollywood star Madhuri Dixit and is set to premiere in early 2022.

Im incredibly grateful to Bela, Peter, Nne and the overall deals team at Netflix for this opportunity and vote of confidence, Rao said. For the longest time, no one in Hollywood was interested in my experiences as an Indian-American person. I often found myself creating worlds that were filled entirely of white characters. But I held on long enough to get to this point where the industry is slowly changing. Our mission at Sri & Company is to find the most talented South Asian writers, actors, authors and other artists from around the world and create compelling content thats entertaining for all audiences, regardless of the color of their skin.

Weve seen global stories resonate and become more embraced around the world  their impact is universal, said Nne Ebong, Netflixs vice president of overall deals. Its one of the reasons were so excited to collaborate with Sri Rao. Hes a gifted writer and director whose unique perspective as a Bollywood and Hollywood storyteller will help bring to life stories that will entertain our global members and enable them to see themselves and their experiences reflected on screen.

Raos previous credits include writing Baar Baar Dekho and producing the films New York and Badmaash Company for Yash Raj Films. Rao is also the author of Bollywood Kitchen, a book that pairs recipes with contemporary Bollywood musicals and pairs a menu of home-cooked recipes with each film. He is based in New York.

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Wes Anderson's "The French Dispatch" pays oblique but ferociously detailed tribute to the New Yorker, a magazine its founding editor, Harold Ross, famously declared would not cater to the taste of the "old lady from Dubuque," but which wound up bringing a frisson of East Coast sophistication to Midwestern households for a generation, infiltrating the imaginations of culture-hungry teenagers and filling them with dreams of conquering Manhattan themselves one day.

That powerful transfer of postwar values is only briefly acknowledged in "The French Dispatch," which features Bill Murray as Arthur Howitzer Jr., the Ross-like editor of the titular magazine, which is published in the fictional French town of Ennui-sur-Blase. "He brought the world to Kansas," Angelica Huston's narrator declares with typical Andersonian authority. The inciting incident of the film is Howitzer's demise, with the rest of the movie making up a special edition of his most memorable collaborations with his stable of famously eccentric writers.

The omnibus includes a winsome portrait of Ennui, past and future; a profile of a temperamental artist and his unlikely muse; an intimate account of a revolutionary uprising (motto: "The students are grumpy!"); and a shaggy-dog tale of a food writer's dinner with a police commissioner that ends with a crime and a car chase. The cast includes Owen Wilson, Tilda Swinton, Benicio Del Toro, Lea Seydoux, Frances McDormand, Timothee Chalamet and Jeffrey Wright. The fun, for New Yorker fans, is the parlor game of connecting them to such real-life analogues as Joseph Mitchell, Rosamond Bernier, Mavis Gallant, Janet Flanner, James Baldwin, A.J. Liebling and others that Anderson identifies in the end credits.

With its squared-off framing, Tati-esque compositions and bespoke production design, "The French Dispatch" bears the Anderson signatures that have made his movies an artisanal cottage industry. He's an unapologetic fetishist, filling his world with the colors, textures, objects and behaviors that bring him pleasure, confident that enough viewers will agree with him to allow him to do it again next time. "The French Dispatch" is undeniably delightful to look at - the physical choreography possesses the grace and wit of a densely layered tableau vivant - and, even within the crisp, regimented acting style Anderson favors, a few genuine performances manage to take hold. Wright is so convincing as the Baldwin-like writer Roebuck Wright that audiences might find themselves longing for a serious biopic of the writer for him to star in.

For the most part, though, "The French Dispatch" keeps things on an attractive but shallow surface, with Anderson tossing out inside references like so many candied chestnuts in self-conscious and digressive vignettes. As a valentine to old-school publishing, from the lovable rogues of its most storied past to the fonts and serifs of pre-digital typography, "The French Dispatch" embodies a wistful look back, but not a particularly penetrating one. (The film benefits from a delicately thoughtful musical score by Alexandre Desplat). More serious ideas, including moral double standards for creative genius, the commodification of art or the wounding heedlessness of generational change, are glanced at but never plumbed. Anderson seems far more interested in concocting his dollhouse world than inhabiting it with messy human feelings.

There are moments in "The French Dispatch" when it's unclear if Anderson is paying tribute to the arch tone and middlebrow high-mindedness the New Yorker came to symbolize, or making a burlesque of it. In the end, his surpassing formal gifts keep substance and emotion at arm's length. "The French Dispatch" winds up resembling the movie version of Eustace Tilley, the top-hatted dandy who appeared on The New Yorker's first cover, haughtily examining a butterfly through his monocle. There's attentive scrutiny here, and a surfeit of playful style, but precious little genuine curiosity or interest.

- - -

Two stars. Rated R. At theaters. Contains graphic nudity, some sexual references and strong language. 103 minutes.

Ratings Guide: Four stars masterpiece, three stars very good, two stars OK, one star poor, no stars waste of time.
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Having penned hits such as Shame and The Iron Lady, Abi Morgan is undoubtedly one of the U.K.s best-known screenwriters. Now the creator of shows including The Hours and The Split is turning her hand to filmmaking.

Morgan, a BAFTA and Emmy-award winning writer, will make her directorial debut with an upcoming episode of The Split, which she also executive produces alongside Jane Featherstone (Chernobyl), Lucy Dyke (Black Mirror) and Lucy Richer (Small Axe).

Season 3 of the hit show, about a family of divorce lawyers working through their own personal problems, is set to air in the U.K. on the BBC and in the U.S. on BBC America in 2022, and will be available to stream on iPlayer in the U.K. and Sundance Now in the U.S.

Morgans pivot to directing has been a long time coming. She has spent almost three decades behind the scenes, as both a writer and an executive producer. Having closely observed and shadowed the many auteurs shes worked with, such as Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave), Sarah Gavron (Suffragette), Phyllida Lloyd (The Iron Lady), David Yates (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them) and The Split Season 3 lead director Dee Koppang OLeary (Bridgerton), Morgan says moving from scribe to director felt like she was suddenly being invited to a party that Id sort of been involved in organizing.

When I go on set I [usually] feel a bit redundant, Morgan tells Variety. Once Ive chatted to the actors and Ive annoyed the director, I do always end up next to the catering van eating a lot and talking to whoever is around. I dont really have a role and Ive kind of accepted that [as a writer] my job is done. Ive never really understood entirely where I fit in the picture.

Morgan was in part inspired to make the jump thanks to a new generation of multi-hyphenate female filmmakers such as Emerald Fennell (Promising Young Woman) and Phoebe Waller Bridge (Killing Eve), as well contemporaries Moira Buffini (Harlots) and Rebecca Lenkiewicz (Small Axe). I think that I was very confident about my ability to own the space on the page, says Morgan. What I wasnt confident about was, could I own the room? Could I captain a ship? Could I lead? And one of the revelations for me was, not only did I feel I could do it, I really enjoyed it, and it feels like a very natural progression. And if anything, I could kick myself for not doing it earlier.

In fact, Morgan reveals, she is already planning to embark on more directorial projects: Its made me really want to go direct more, she says of her experience on The Split. She already has a movie and a series in mind.

First, however, Morgan must finish working on screenplays for another film and a number of big series already in the pipeline. Were thinking about directors, and I wouldnt put myself necessarily forward for that yet, Morgan says. Also because I love the collaboration with a brilliant director, and I really admire and value what they do.  So to a certain degree, I kind of feel like I love the gap, the kind of alchemy that happens when you hand over [a story].

Morgan is also busy working on her first book  a memoir called This Is Not a Pity Memoir  scheduled for spring 2022. It is, ostensibly, about the day she came home to find her husband collapsed on the bathroom floor, but will, no doubt, give readers a glimpse into her own journey with cancer, with which she was diagnosed in 2019 (she is now in remission). Morgan says it is highly likely she will adapt the memoir for the big screen. Certainly, its the natural domain for me to want to make that into a film so that will be something Ill be definitely thinking about doing, Morgan says. I think Ive had a very significant life shift as well. And thats been also the motivator to want to direct and re-think.

And despite the latest season of The Split being billed as its final, Morgan admits she is in discussions about returning for a fourth season. I think Id write another series if I genuinely felt I had more story, she says, despite having envisaged the series as a three-act structure. I did actually always feel like this was going to be the last series. But I feel quite reinvigorated having directed so that slightly changed the way I feel.

Having now delved into a variety of topics on screen, including divorce, politics and feminism, is there anything Morgan is still yearning to explore? Id love to try and write a big action film one day, she admits. I just havent quite occupied that space yet. But again, its, you know  its confidence and its knowing that you can still be here [working] in your 50s and your 60s, she says, citing Nora Ephron as an influence.

And, she says, as well as mentoring younger writers, she continues to look to women such as Michaela Coel (I May Destroy You), Lucy Kirkwood (Adult Material) and Lucy Prebble (Succession) for inspiration. Inherently we know that we are in a very important moment of change, Morgan says. Theres always been these important moments of change at every level. We know we want more equality, we definitely know we have to have more diversity. And so, in a way, I think everything is up for grabs at the moment.

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Erik Cowie, the onetime Joe Exotic ally who cared for the animals in his zoo, died of acute and chronic alcohol use, the N.Y.C. Medical Examiners office announced Monday.

The cause of death was confirmed to Variety by Julie Bolcer at the NYC Office of Chief Medical Examiner.

On Sept. 3, Cowie, 52, was found dead in a Brooklyn apartment by police responding to a 911 call of an unconscious male inside of 21 East 55 Street in the confines of the 67 Precinct. According to the NYPDs official statement, EMS was on scene and pronounced the man dead.

Cowie was a zookeeper at Exotics G.W. Zoo in Wynnewood, Okla., and was featured on Netflixs hit docuseries Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness. He was charged with a DUI in Oklahoma in May, and spoken on the show about his struggles with alcohol.

Even after Exotic went to prison, Cowie remained at the zoo, although his loyalties to the larger-than-life owner had shifted. During the trial, Cowie testified that he had seen Exotic have animals killed.

On the Tiger King after-show The Tiger King and I, Cowie spoke about his regrets working with Exotic.

A lot of times when we put cats down, they used me because just by my appearance or my voice, I could get a cat up the side of a cage, where we can dart it and tranquilize it so they could be put down and stuff, he said. You know, those cats trusted me up until the end, and somehow, sometimes I swear theyre like, Dude, you let me down kinda thing. I could see it in their face and their eyes.

Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness was a massive hit for Netflix, with the streamer saying it was sampled by 64 million households worldwide in the first month on the platform.

J. Kim Murphy contributed to this report.

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Terra Field, a trans Netflix employee who denounced Dave Chappelles attacks [on] the trans community in his new special The Closer, has elaborated on her criticism of the companys defense for releasing the special.

On Monday, Field shared an online essay titled It Was Never About Dave on her Medium blog. Field begins the essay by recounting a similar internal backlash that followed Netflixs release of Chappelles previous special Sticks & Stones in 2019.

Two years ago when Sticks & Stones released, the Black and Trans* ERGs came together and held very candid and vulnerable discussions about how the transphobic content of [the special] contributes to a culture that marginalizes the Trans community and a culture that is particularly violent towards Black transgender women, Field writes. Two years later, The Closer released and the same conversation started again I felt like all the work we did after Sticks & Stones was meaningless and that having the exact same internal dialog and pile of emotional labor from the Trans* ERG was just going to get us the same canned statement about artistic freedom (and it did).

Field continues, clarifying that her criticisms are directed towards Netflixs defenses for releasing the special. Last Wednesday, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos doubled down on his defense of the special, arguing that the company has a strong belief that content on screen doesnt directly translate to real-world harm.

Dave [Chappelle] is not, and has never been, the cause of this problem  he is a symptom of it, Field writes. That [Chappelle] believes the things he says and can say them with relative impunity is a result of the culture we live in: a culture that marginalizes and devalues trans people. He contributes to that culture in a very real way, but at least he isnt out there bragging about how many LGBTQ+ allyship awards he has won while he is doing it.

When a company like Netflix says something like, We do not believe this content is harmful to the transgender community, you can be virtually certain that not a single trans person was involved in that decision, Field continues. How are we supposed to speak up for ourselves if we arent in the room? And how are Black trans women supposed to speak up for themselves if the company doesnt employ any (that our ERG is aware of)? Field concludes her piece by asking Netflix and other companies to stop pretending that transphobia in media has no effect on society, include content warnings for existing media containing transphobic material and provide trans talent with more visibility and opportunities.

Field was one of the first Netflix employees to voice her criticism of The Closer, posting a Twitter thread on Oct. 6 that has since gone viral. Our existence is funny to him  and when we object to his harm, were offended, Field wrote. What we object to is the harm that content like this does to the trans community (especially trans people of color) and VERY specifically Black trans women.

A group of trans employees and allies at Netflix will stage a company walkout on Wednesday in to draw attention to Netflixs handling of issues involving the trans community. The protest has drawn the support of stars including Angelica Ross, Jonathan Van Ness, Jameela Jamil, Eureka OHara and Colton Haynes.

Read Fields full essay here.

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During the Laredo City Council meeting on Monday night, city officials debunked a rumor spreading that cases of leprosy were found at the Holding Institute.

These rumors were found on social media and had been shared by many throughout the city. Thus, officials felt it was necessary to spend time and addresses them head on.

City staff are in constant communication with the Holding Institute and Catholic Charities, which are non-governmental organizations which are holding migrants within the city.

District VI Councilmember Dr. Marte Martinez emphasized that the rumors online were false and he has been updated on the current state of the shelter.

In fact, recent reports show that migrants being sheltered at the centers are down significantly. This may be a result of the Border Patrol stopping the transporting of migrants from Del Rio and the Rio Grande Valley to these NGOs since the summer.

These reports are not the first to put the blame on migrants at the shelter over spreading diseases, although it is recently the first which has not involved COVID-19.

Saenz has frequently in the past blamed migrants for the influx of COVID cases locally, with the City of Laredo even filing a lawsuit in July against the United States to get a temporary restraining order on migrants coming to the NGOs. It was dismissed in August for not providing enough clarity.

The mayor has said the reason his stance was so sharp was that locals needed first rights to hospital facilities over migrants, stating that this is really the argument for the judge to rule on in the initial lawsuit. However, Laredos medical leaders have often countered the mayor on this point saying migrants have rarely been taken to these medical facilities.

In this current case, Saenz firmly asked during the council meeting if there was any case of leprosy involved within the Holding Institute. The answer was a definite no.

Regardless, this new clarification was prompted by a public comment lamenting the false reports of leprosy. It was made clear that online rumors may sometimes steer residents to creating incorrect conclusions and may stoke fear without reason.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, leprosy can affect nerves, skin, eyes and the lining of the nose. However, it can be treated easily enough with early diagnosis and treatment. The CDC also states that the disease is not easily spreadable, and treatment is effective, as long as it does not go untreated.

cocampo@lmtonline.com
Lockport, NY (14094)

Today

Mostly cloudy skies early, then partly cloudy this afternoon. A few flurries or snow showers possible. High 42F. Winds W at 15 to 25 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy this evening, then becoming cloudy after midnight. Low around 30F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph.
Music, Movies & Entertainment, Community, Charity & Cause, Arts & Culture

By Chris Boyle Published: October 19 2021

Music education has been a cornerstone of our historic company since the late 1800s, and today is no different, said Gavin English, President of Steinway & Sons.

Ms. Siyuan Zhou, a local piano teacher from Great Neck, NY, has been inducted into the Steinway & Sons Teacher Hall of Fame, a prestigious designation recognizing the work of North Americas most committed and passionate piano educators. 2021 marks the second class of honorees, following the Hall of Fames inaugural class in 2019.

Ms. Siyuan Zhou graduated from Mannes College of Music and is the 1st Prize winner of the Second Chinese Composition Piano Competition. She co-founded the Growing Music Studio in 2018, which is the home and nurturing ground for aspiring musicians and attracts many of talented music students. Steinway Piano Gallery Long Island is the only company owned showroom on Long Island offering new Steinway pianos, factory rebuilt Steinway pianos and the Steinway-designed Boston and Essex pianos.

This fall, 44 teachers from the United States and Canada were inducted into the Steinway Teacher Hall of Fame with special events hosted at the historic Steinway factory in New York City. Each teacher inducted into the Hall of Fame was nominated by a Steinway & Sons showroom in the teachers home region. The teachers names are now displayed on a commemorative display wall inside the iconic factory.

Music education has been a cornerstone of our historic company since the late 1800s, and today is no different, said Gavin English, President of Steinway & Sons Americas. We are very proud to work with the talented music educators inducted this fall into the Steinway & Sons Teacher Hall of Fame. These teachers foster passion, creativity, and discipline in the next generation of piano artists. Their work deserves the highest praise.

About Steinway & Sons
Local News, Business & Finance

By Chris Boyle Published: October 19 2021

Hundreds of jobs available for residents with local companies.

Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone has announced the Suffolk County Department of Labor and the Long Island Food Council will be hosting a Food, Beverage, and Hospitality Job Fair at Island Harvest in Melville on Tuesday, October 19 from 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM.

Long Islands food, beverage, and hospitality industry was hit especially hard during the COVID-19 pandemic, but with the industry on the rebound, there are plenty of opportunities for our residents to become a part of this industry that makes our region so special, said Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone. With employers big and small slated to participate, this job fair is the perfect opportunity for residents to learn more about meaningful career opportunities in both Suffolk and Nassau.

There are hundreds of jobs in food related occupations  a cluster that is both a maker industry as well as a cornerstone of the thriving hospitality sector. said Commissioner Rosalie Drago of the Suffolk County Department of Labor, Licensing and Consumer Affairs. Chefs, growers and beverage makers lure foodies from around the globe. Food scientists and front line staff make sure people get food at home, in the stores, in restaurants and even in times of need. Thanks to the partnership with Long Island Food Council and Island Harvest jobseekers can meet employers, learn about new career opportunities, apply for jobs and secure interviews.

LIFC are advocates for the Long Island Food and Beverage industry, an information hub and a catalyst for networking. We are committed to offering meaningful benefits and resources you need to grow and run a profitable business. said President of the LI Food Council, Michael Tucker. Partnering with the state, county and local agencies to leverage the power of the food and beverage industry will help grow the economy on Long Island.

The Long Island Food, Beverage & Hospitality Job Fair will take place on Tuesday, October 19th from 10:00 AM  12:00 PM at Island Harvest, located at 126 Spagnoli Road in Melville.

The Suffolk County Department of Labor has partnered with LI Food Council, MTRC at Stony Brook, Empire State Development, New York Department of Labor, and the Workforce Development Board Serving Glen Cove, Oyster Bay & North Hempstead for the job fair. The job fair will feature hundreds of job opportunities from Suffolk and Nassau County food, beverage and hospitality companies looking for local talent.

Companies attending include: Arizona; Eat Mud; Europastry USA; Farmingdale Meat Market; FSQA Solutions, LLC; Frito Lay; Insite Street Media; Lessing's Hospitality Group; Life's WORC; Nassau Candy Distributors; Price Paper; Ruth's Chris Steak House; St. Joseph's Hospitality Program; Summit Safety & Efficiency Solutions; The Family Grubb Hubb, Inc.; Twin Fork Beer Co Inc.; Water Lilies Food; Zest; Zorn's of Bethpage.
Investment company managers talk about their ESG approaches.

Whilst nations around the world have adopted net zero commitments, there is still much debate about how to balance growth and sustainability in emerging markets.

Ahead of the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow in November, the Association of Investment Companies (AIC) has spoken to emerging markets managers to discover their approach to sustainability and ESG, the themes that most excite them, and how they engage with portfolio companies.

Balancing growth and sustainability in emerging markets

Emily Fletcher, Co-Manager of BlackRock Frontiers Investment Trust, said: We feel strongly that the world cannot craft a path to net zero emissions without emerging and frontier markets playing a pivotal role. While the stage of economic development in some cases presents challenges, we do not view sustainability and economic growth as incompatible ambitions. For many of the companies in our investible universe, addressing climate risk embedded in their business is new. This presents an opportunity for fundamental investors with a deep understanding of these companies business models. In our view, both public equity and other forms of capital have a key role to play in incentivising and supporting companies through this crucial transition.

Usman Ali, Partner and Head of ESG and Engagement at Mobius Investment Trust, said: While there will inevitably be a negative short-term impact on sectors such as fossil fuels, there are tremendous long-term opportunities across emerging markets within sectors such as renewable energy as well as other new and innovative environmental technologies. For such sectors, patient capital is required. Transforming and establishing new energy projects can take between five to ten years. Accordingly, investors must have a long-term horizon.

It is also important for sustainable growth to impact the real economy. Being underweight or overweight in a sector such as fossil fuels will not necessarily translate into a real-world impact. Investors must critically use data and assess the true impact of their portfolio companies rather than through the limited lens of how the portfolio compares to the MSCI Emerging Markets Index.

Most exciting sustainable themes

Andrew Ness, Portfolio Manager of Templeton Emerging Markets Investment Trust, said: Electric vehicle (EV) battery manufacturers, which are concentrated in Asia, are at the forefront of innovation, enabling the EV mass market to take off. LG Corp, for instance, which Templeton Emerging Markets Investment Trust invests in, has amongst its subsidiaries Korea's largest EV battery manufacturer. It used to be considered an old chemical industry company, but now it has a 25% share of the EV battery market. Its clients include Tesla, Ford, Daimler and Volkswagen. It is the sole battery supplier of EV and hybrid cars. It strengthened its battery stability by improving the batterys durability and heat resistance through a nano ceramic coating technology. LG Corp consequently has a number of advantages that offer the potential for an investor in emerging markets to tap into the long-term structural theme of EV production.

Emily Fletcher, Co-Manager of BlackRock Frontiers Investment Trust, said: Frontier markets are home to three billion of the worlds poorest people. We believe that companies which are run to take into account all stakeholder interests can have a substantial impact in driving economic growth in the countries that we invest in. Given the stage of development and the proportion of people who are unbanked in this part of the world, financial inclusion continues to be a key theme as well. These countries are also home to large reserves of commodity resources, the responsible extraction of which is crucial to long-term sustainable value for many companies in our universe. We see direct and indirect investment implications of this shift. One example is the desire to diversify away from the dependence on hydrocarbon as the driver of economic growth for many Middle East countries, providing investment opportunities in other areas.

Austin Forey, Portfolio Manager of JPMorgan Emerging Markets Investment Trust, said: We consider sustainability in the broadest sense, and see positive attributes in companies across the breadth of the portfolio. For example, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, the world leading semiconductor foundry, was one of the first emerging market companies to include the cost of carbon emissions in their financial analysis when building new foundries. Over the last year, EPAM Systems displayed social strength, introducing masks for medical professionals designed by EPAM Continuum. And in India, Housing Development Finance Corporation showed itself to be a good corporate citizen by committing 1.5 billion rupees to the PM-Cares Fund to support the government for its relief and rehabilitation measures towards the COVID-19 pandemic.

What are portfolio companies doing to reduce carbon emissions?

Usman Ali, Partner and Head of ESG and Engagement at Mobius Investment Trust, said: We have engaged with every portfolio company on environmental issues. This includes the initiation of reporting in line with Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) standards. Our holdings have made substantial progress on this, and as of June 2021, 62% of our portfolio companies have environmental reporting in place.

Some of our holdings have clear three- and five-year climate change targets in place. For example, in June 2021, Yum China announced their commitment to the Science Based Targets Initiative. Previously, in 2018, Yum China set clear targets to reduce energy consumption and GHG emissions across their restaurants by an additional 10% compared to their 2017 baseline. This target was met in 2020. A new climate change strategy has been established to reduce energy, improve green building design and reduce water usage.

Austin Forey, Portfolio Manager of JPMorgan Emerging Markets Investment Trust, said: Investing sustainably has always been an integral part of our research and investment approach, well before ESG factors became mainstream. We dont hold, for example, energy stocks and miners, and havent for a long time. The trusts portfolio naturally tilts towards industries with a significantly better-than-average carbon footprint, to use a common environmental yardstick. In fact, the carbon emissions of the trusts investments amount to a mere one twentieth of that of the MSCI Emerging Markets Index. So, for every $1 million of investment in our portfolio, 8.2 tonnes of carbon emissions are generated per year. If you bought an ETF passively tracking the emerging market equity index, the same million dollars invested would produce 225 tonnes.

ESG in emerging markets versus developed markets

Emily Fletcher, Co-Manager of BlackRock Frontiers Investment Trust, said: Emerging and frontier markets are at a different point in their ESG journey than developed markets. We believe that the variability in quality and disclosure of ESG information in these markets requires an active investment approach in evaluating this data. The challenges with data quality and availability mean that we cannot solely rely on third-party providers and instead need to conduct our own proprietary ESG research as part of our fundamental bottom-up company research process. Societal values and concepts are not always consistent between developed and emerging/frontier markets, which necessitates a nuanced approach to ESG assessment and engagement.

Usman Ali, Partner and Head of ESG and Engagement at Mobius Investment Trust, said: There is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to ESG in emerging markets. Each country and sector is confronted with unique ESG challenges and opportunities. What is considered to be good practice in Brazil may not work in Taiwan. Executive compensation is a good example of this where regulations on stock options vary significantly across the world.

Emerging and frontier market countries are also among the most exposed to the impacts of climate change, as well as local pollution and resource scarcity issues. These challenges are likely to intensify in the coming years. As incomes rise in emerging and frontier markets, the demand for resources continues to intensify. The UN expects the worlds population to rise from 7.7 billion to 9.8 billion by 2050, with the majority of the increase taking place in the worlds poorest countries. In just the next fifteen years, McKinsey & Co expects that global demand for primary energy, food and water will increase by 25% to 40%. The World Economic Forums 2021 Global Risks Report cited extreme weather and natural disasters as key risks the world faces over the next 10 years, with many emerging and frontier markets among the most vulnerable.

Andrew Ness, Portfolio Manager of Templeton Emerging Markets Investment Trust, said: Innovation is at the cornerstone of emerging markets today. Companies in these markets are innovating faster and to a more successful extent than their developed market peers. We are seeing agile companies adjusting their business models to adapt to the changing world.

Engaging with companies

Austin Forey, Portfolio Manager of JPMorgan Emerging Markets Investment Trust, said: We regularly challenge companies on issues that are specific to what they do. For example, we recently engaged with a pharmacy company to discuss its use of inappropriate third-party advertising from a product manufacturer, to understand how a mistake had been made, what had been done about it and what steps had been taken to make sure this wouldnt happen again in the future.

Usman Ali, Partner and Head of ESG and Engagement at Mobius Investment Trust, said: We have been engaging with APL Apollo in India on governance factors since we invested in 2019. This included changing the auditor and appointing a newly created role of Chief Strategy Officer. As governance factors improved over time, we shifted our focus to board diversity and sustainability reporting. While our engagement has already shown positive results with this company, we continue to push gender diversity at the board level and encourage all our portfolio companies to adopt Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) reporting standards.

Notes to editors

The Association of Investment Companies (AIC) was founded in 1932 to represent the interests of the investment trust industry  the oldest form of collective investment. Today, the AIC represents a broad range of closed-ended investment companies, incorporating investment trusts and other closed-ended investment companies and VCTs. The AICs members believe that the industry is best served if it is united and speaks with one voice. The AICs mission statement is to help members add value for shareholders over the longer term. The AIC has 364 members and the industry has total assets of approximately 259 billion.

Disclaimer: The information contained in this press release does not constitute investment advice or personal recommendation and it is not an invitation or inducement to engage in investment activity. You should seek independent financial and, if appropriate, legal advice as to the suitability of any investment decision. Past performance is not a guide to future performance. The value of investment company shares, and the income from them, can fall as well as rise. You may not get back the full amount invested and, in some cases, nothing at all.
19th October 2021

Runtime 04:26





Tesco (TSCO) denies the British of their queuing pastime, ASDA becomes even more indebted and US companies to watch include the workwear packhorses clothing our Christmas Elves. Sarah talks about trading non-UK shares, why the supermarkets are in the spotlight with tech, debt and suitors and which housebuilder could set itself up as a bank.
(Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers on AIM in London on Tuesday.







AIM - WINNERS







Alien Metals Ltd, up 12% at 0.8133 pence, 12-month range 0.65p-3.19p. The exploration and development company says initial independent scoping study for the Hancock iron ore project demonstrates "exceptionally strong returns are possible" from a potential development. Initial life of mine studies show current resource will sustain 8-year life based on mining rate of 1.3 million tonnes per year with a pre-production capital estimate of less than USD30 million. "Given the exceptional results from the scoping study, the company has begun planning the next stages of development with the appointment of a highly experienced iron ore operations manager to commence the permitting process," says Alien. Chief Executive & Technical Director Bill Brodie Good says firm "could not be more pleased" with progress on project.







Rambler Metals & Mining PLC, up 9.8% at 23.33p, 12-month range 16.5p-63p. The copper and gold notes drilling results at Ming mine in Canada, intersecting multiple drill holes in excess of 20 metres of over 2% copper. Highlights include 27.5 metres at 3.3% copper - including 8.0 metres at 3.7% copper and 17.5 metres at 3.4% copper - and 28.7 metres at 2.4% copper. "With drilling on three of the four infill targets completed, the company has improved its confidence in near-term production plans. While we are still awaiting assays on some holes, our confidence has been bolstered by the assay results we have seen to date," says President & Chief Executive Toby Bradbury.







D4T4 Solutions PLC, up 7.2% at 380.5p, 12-month range 173p-410p. The data management company reports interim revenue up 47% year-on-year at GBP7.5 million, and says half-year revenue and adjusted profit both in line with management forecasts. "The board remains confident in delivering a solid full year FY22, in line with management expectations," company says, adding that second half prospects underpinned by significant new business pipeline.







AIM - LOSERS







Providence Resources PLC, down 8.0% at 3.17p, 12-month range 2.86p-8.84p. Chief Executive Alan Linn steps down from the oil and gas exploration company to "devote more time to my other business interests". "Following the recent strategic decision by the Board to take the management and financing of the Barryroe project in-house, this is the opportune time to hand over to new leadership," he adds. Firm will start search for his replacement and in the meantime, James Menton will assume role of executive chair.







By Lucy Heming;A lucyheming@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2021 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
LONDON, Oct 20 (Reuters) - Britain's Royal Mint said on

Wednesday it planned to build a plant in Wales that could

reclaim hundreds of kilograms of gold and other precious metals

from electronic waste such as mobile phones and laptops.

Gold and silver are highly conductive and small quantities

are embedded in circuit boards and other hardware, along with

other precious metals.

Most of this material is never recovered, with discarded

electronics often dumped in landfill or incinerated.

The more than 1,100-year old mint said it had partnered with

a Canadian start-up called Excir which has developed chemical

solutions to extract the metals from the circuit boards.

"It's able to selectively pull out precious metals with a

high degree of purity," said Sean Millard, the mint's chief

growth officer.

He said the mint was currently using the process at small

scale while designing a plant that "would look to process

hundreds of tonnes of e-waste per annum, generating hundreds of

kilograms of precious metals".

The plant should be up and running "within the next couple

of years", he said, declining to say how much it would cost.

A kilogram of gold is worth around $55,000 at current

prices.

(Reporting by Peter Hobson; Editing by Jan Harvey)
GCP Student Living PLC - company which invests in student accommodation - UK Competition & Markets Authority reveals it has got its eye on company's takeover.

GCP agreed to a GBP969 million takeover back in July from a consortium which includes student accommodation provider Scape Living and also iQSA Holdco. Scape is funded by funds managed by APG, an investor in GCP, and iQSA by funds advised by Blackstone.

The regulator said it is mulling whether the deal will lessen competition, and has until December 13 to decide whether to progress the probe or not.

Separately, GCP reports EPRA net tangible asset per share ends June 30 at 195.05 pence, up sharply from 171.78p at the same point the year before.

Declares annual dividend of 0.75p, slumping from 6.15p the year before.

Property portfolio value rises to GBP1.14 billion from GBP1.00 billion.

Chair David Hunter says: "Through its strategic focus on providing high-quality student accommodation primarily in and around London, the company has delivered exceptional returns to shareholders since its IPO in 2013."

Annual NAV total return 15.0%, and notes NAV return 13.1% since IPO.

"The year under review has been dominated by the Covid-19 pandemic, with the UK's departure from the EU adding to wider market uncertainty. Notwithstanding the resultant operational challenges faced by the company during the year, the focus on assets in and around London has delivered strong NAV performance. This has been driven by valuation uplifts underpinned by strong institutional demand for private student residential accommodation assets in the company's core market, as evidenced by the approach to acquire the company which was received post year end," Hunter adds.

Current stock price: 211.50 pence

Year-to-date change: up 48%

By Paul McGowan; paulmcgowan@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2021 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Salt Lake Potash Ltd - Western Australia-focused organic sulphate-of-potash miner - Request suspension of trading in its shares on AIM in London, together with an extension of an already several-months-long trading suspension on the Australian Securities Exchange in Sydney. Has been working on finalising a fundraise that is "necessary to continue operations". Now asks for the AIM suspension "in light of the uncertainty that the fundraising will be concluded successfully".

Stock price on Monday: 2.25 pence

Year-to-date change: down 90%

By Tom Waite; thomaslwaite@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2021 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
(Sharecast News) - London stocks were steady in early trade on Tuesday amid worries about rate hikes and as investors eyed key US earnings later in the session.



At 0900 BST, the FTSE 100 was flat at 7,206.67.



Neil Wilson, chief market analyst at Markets.com, said: "European stocks are flat in early trade as risk remains on watch for a range of factors, including earnings, inflation and expectations central banks will tighten the screw.



"Also worrying markets are central banks - the Bank of England has put the cat among the pigeons with its hawkish talk, nudging markets to price in some hikes in the next year that just weren't expected a few weeks ago."



Wilson also pointed there are "some big names reporting earnings today, including Netflix, United Airlines, and Tesla".



In UK equity markets, British Airways and Iberia parent IAG was the worst performer on the FTSE 100 after a downgrade to 'hold' from 'buy' at Berenberg.



Gambling firm 888 was on the back foot as it said it will take a $10m hit to profits after its Dutch business stopped operations from the start of October because of changes to gaming rules.



On the upside, Hikma was the biggest gainer on the top-flight index after an upgrade to 'overweight' at Morgan Stanley, while education publisher Pearson rose after an upgrade to 'hold' from 'sell' at Berenberg.



Bellway gained ground after the housebuilder increased its final dividend by almost two-thirds as it reported a 72% increase in annual profit and a solid order book.



Online price comparison platform Moneysupermarket.com rallied after saying it was buying consumer cashback website Quidco for up to A101m.



Market Movers



FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,206.67 0.04%

FTSE 250 (MCX) 23,069.92 0.44%

techMARK (TASX) 4,535.33 -0.11%



FTSE 100 - Risers



Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 2,416.00p 2.90%

Evraz (EVR) 646.60p 2.70%

Fresnillo (FRES) 885.00p 2.55%

Pearson (PSON) 630.80p 2.54%

Polymetal International (POLY) 1,372.50p 2.16%

Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 158.10p 1.74%

Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,531.50p 1.52%

Next (NXT) 8,040.00p 1.41%

Rio Tinto (RIO) 5,066.00p 1.28%

Intermediate Capital Group (ICP) 2,115.00p 1.15%



FTSE 100 - Fallers



International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 170.30p -3.08%

Schroders (SDR) 3,538.00p -1.06%

Entain (ENT) 2,107.00p -0.80%

Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 141.62p -0.72%

CRH (CDI) (CRH) 3,413.00p -0.70%

Flutter Entertainment (CDI) (FLTR) 14,285.00p -0.66%

Legal & General Group (LGEN) 274.50p -0.65%

AstraZeneca (AZN) 8,645.00p -0.62%

Associated British Foods (ABF) 1,802.50p -0.61%

Reckitt Benckiser Group (RKT) 5,470.00p -0.55%



FTSE 250 - Risers



Moneysupermarket.com Group (MONY) 215.40p 6.11%

RHI Magnesita N.V. (DI) (RHIM) 3,102.00p 5.01%

Network International Holdings (NETW) 356.10p 4.86%

Hochschild Mining (HOC) 149.60p 4.76%

AO World (AO.) 153.30p 3.44%

Bellway (BWY) 3,455.00p 3.07%

Darktrace (DARK) 901.00p 2.97%

Diversified Energy Company (DEC) 115.40p 2.67%

Chrysalis Investments Limited NPV (CHRY) 240.00p 2.13%

Wood Group (John) (WG.) 229.70p 2.09%



FTSE 250 - Fallers



IP Group (IPO) 124.60p -2.81%

TUI AG Reg Shs (DI) (TUI) 251.80p -2.40%

Softcat (SCT) 2,064.00p -1.43%

Trustpilot Group (TRST) 377.80p -1.10%

Virgin Money UK (VMUK) 200.90p -1.08%

Wizz Air Holdings (WIZZ) 4,475.00p -0.97%

easyJet (EZJ) 621.20p -0.93%

SDCL Energy Efficiency Income Trust (SEIT) 114.00p -0.87%

Pantheon International (PIN) 2,990.00p -0.83%

Cranswick (CWK) 3,518.00p -0.79%
(Alliance News) - Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Tuesday urged foreign investors to buy into post-Brexit Britain as he seeks to power future prosperity on renewable energy and green technology.

His government also outlined more detailed plans to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, including a drive towards electric vehicles.

The moves are part of a GBP90 billion plan that ministers say will support 440,000 jobs by 2030.A

Johnson is keen to burnish his green credentials before hosting world leaders at the UN's COP26 climate summit in Glasgow next month.A

He also wants to boost investment to grow the British economy as it grapples with the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic and Brexit, which have combined to strain the logistics sector, labour market and other areas.

Climate experts gave only a cautious welcome, and campaigners said the moves did not go far enough.

Johnson kicked off a Global Investment Summit in London by announcing a GBP400 million partnership with the Bill Gates Foundation to invest in "the next generation of ground-breaking clean energy technologies".

The tie-up, which will see both sides stump up GBP200 million, follows Spanish renewable energy giant Iberdrola announcing plans to invest GBP6 billion to create Britain's biggest offshore wind development.

In his sales pitch, Johnson promised government backing for private investment in sustainable projects, saying Britain was now "moving in an exciting new direction with a green, industrial revolution, with new regulatory freedoms".

The investment summit, however, was attacked for "corporate greenwashing".

Social activism group Global Justice Now noted four banks invited have invested a combined USD173 billion in fossil fuels in recent years.

It also condemned the involvement of British energy giant Drax Group, which the NGO said released more emissions than Ghana in 2019.

"Our government is once again running cover for some of the biggest corporate climate villains in the world," Daniel Willis, of Global Justice Now, said.

Campaigners also criticised the government's "net zero strategy" to reach carbon neutrality by mid-century, for lacking ambition and adequate funding.

As well as boosting the production of electric vehicles, it offers homeowners in England and Wales subsidies of GBP5,000 from next year as part of a GBP450 million scheme to help them replace old gas boilers with low-carbon heat pumps.

Writing in The Sun newspaper, Johnson sought to reassure homeowners they would not be compelled to rip out their existing boilers.

"While we're going to have to make some pretty major changes to the way we heat our homes, the Greenshirts of the Boiler Police are not going to kick in your door with their sandal-clad feet and seize, at carrot-point, your trusty old combi (boiler)," he said.

Experts noted the government had scrapped a prior scheme to improve homes' insulation, which is key for the pumps to work effectively, and that the grants will fund just 90,000 of the devices.

Activists from the campaign group Insulate Britain have sought to highlight that issue by blocking motorways and main roads in recent weeks.

Rebecca Newsom, Greenpeace UK's head of politics, said the government "can't just keep dining out on its 'ambitious targets'".A

"Until the policy and funding gaps are closed, Boris Johnson's plea to other countries to deliver on their promises at the global climate conference next month will be easy to ignore," she added.

The Gates Foundation tie-up a run through the Microsoft co-founder's Breakthrough Energy CatalystA arm a will focus on four key green technology areas.

They inclue green hydrogen, long-term energy storage, sustainable aviation fuels and so-called direct air capture, which takes carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere.

Appearing with Johnson, Bill Gates said the joint investment would begin next year, and he hoped that at least one of the four areas would be "ready to scale" within five years and the remainder within a decade.

Iberdrola SA's wind project is one of 18 deals worth a total of GBP9.7 billion and creating a potential 30,000-plus jobs formally announced at the investment summit.

Iberdrola and the UK government said the project off the east coast of England a which still requires planning consent a would supply enough energy to power 2.7 million homes and create 7,000 jobs.

By Joe JACKSON

jj-phz/jit/A pvh

source: AFP

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:







Base Resources Ltd - mineral sands developer with assets in Kenya and Madagascar - Produces 72,866 tonnes of ilmenite in the quarter ended September 30, up 11% from 65,863 in the same period a year earlier. Rutile output rises for 17,762 tonnes in the September quarter, from 15,513 tonnes the year prior. While zircon production rises 1.2% year-on-year to 6,069 tonnes, from 6,000 tonnes. Compared to the same period a year prior, ilmenite sales fell sharply to 34,107 tonnes from 75,502 tonnes as zircon sales also dropped 23% to 5,622 tonnes from 7,336 tonnes. Rutile sales rose year-on-year to 13,791 tonnes from 11,651 tonnes. Extends the mine life of its Kwale Operations to December 2023, following a mining lease extension.







Carnival PLC - Florida, US-based cruise operator - Closes USD2.3 billion senior secured term loan facility for refinancing. Says proceeds from the new incremental term facility will be used to redeem all outstanding 12% first priority senior secured notes due in 2023, including interest. Expects the refinancing to extend maturities and produce annual interest savings of USD135 million. "Loans under the new incremental term facility will bear interest at a rate per annum equal to adjusted LIBOR with a 0.75% floor, plus a margin equal to 3.25%, and will mature in 2028," the company adds.







Augmentum Fintech PLC - fintech-focused investment company - Contributes GBP10 million to the latest funding round of digital bank Zopa alongside other existing investors IAG Silverstripe LLC, Northzone, and Davidson Kempner Capital Management. Says the GBP220 million funding round was led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2. The funding will be used to meet Zopa's capital requirements as its balance sheet expands, the company says. To date, Zopa has received around GBP675 million in deposits via its fixed savings accounts.







Condor Gold PLC - mine developer in Nicaragua - Expects to release a feasibility study for its La India project in Nicaragua in the first quarter of 2022. Says supporting field and testing studies are nearing completion at La India, with final mine design to commence in November. These studies will increase confidence in the project and support operating cost estimates, the company says. This includes surface water modelling as well as processing plant and tailings storage design, all of which are complete. Whilst a draft report of its metallurgical studies are due by the end of October. A mineral resource estimate and geotechnical drilling results are also well underway.







Tatton Asset Management PLC - Wilmslow-based fund manager - Says assets under management total GBP10.8 billion in the six months ended September 30, up from GBP7.8 billion at the same point a year earlier. Notes strong growth across all key metrics as it trades in line with expectations in the first half.







Lexington Gold Ltd - gold exploration and development company operating in North and South Carolina in the US - Begins 5,000 metre reverse circulation drilling programme at its Carolina Belle and Jones-Keystone-Loflin projects in the US. Says drilling has now begun at the Carolina Belle area.







United Oil & Gas PLC - producer and explorer in the Mediterranean, Caribbean and Latin America - Begins production at ASX-1X exploration well in the Abu Sennan licence, onshore Egypt. Declares new commercial discovery at the ASX-1X well. "Preliminary results suggest the well encountered a combined net pay total of at least 10m across a number of reservoir intervals, including the primary reservoir targets of the AR-C," the company says.







Invinity Energy Systems PLC - Jersey-based manufacturer of vanadium flow batteries - Delivers 0.8 megawatt storage system to Scottish Water. Says the vanadium flow battery and solar PV generation will reduce energy costs at Scottish Water's waste water treatment works in Perth. Begins work alongside the principal contractor, Absolute Solar and Wind, to set up and commission the system. Expects the system to go live by the end of 2021.







Itim Group PLC - technology company based in London - Launches omni-channel store solutions product, Chameleon 360. Rolls out the product to many clients. Says the product includes in-store mobile apps, consumer apps, integrated with e-commerce platforms. "The platform gives stores similar functionality that would be expected in a call centre from a 'customer service' perspective. The system also provides store staff with a real-time view of stock across the network," the company says.







Ecofin US Renewables Infrastructure Trust PLC - London-based investor in US renewable energy assets - Subsidiary RNEW Capital LLC enters USD65 million secured revolving credit facility with KeyBank. The facility includes: a USD50 million two-year facility at LIBOR plus 1.8%; a USD15 million three-year facility priced at LIBOR plus 2.0%; and, a USD20 million conditional Accordion option. Plans to use the facility to fund its committed pipeline of USD50 million.







Tremor International Ltd - Tel Aviv-based advertising technology company - Buys ad server and media management platform Spearad for USD14.7 million. The consideration includes USD11.0 million in cash, with remaining USD3.7 million to be satisfied through the issue of 370,000 ordinary shares to be released over three years.







By Scarlett Butler; scarlettbutler@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2021 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
LONDON, Oct 20 (Reuters) - British foreign minister Liz

Truss will travel to Saudi Arabia and Qatar this week, seeking

to further the case for a trade deal with Gulf countries and

deepen diplomatic ties.

Truss, formerly Britain's trade minister, will meet her

Saudi counterpart Prince Faisal bin Farhan and Qatar's Emir

Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani during the visit, the foreign office

said.

Earlier this month Britain took the first steps towards

starting trade negotiations with the Gulf Cooperation Council

which includes both Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

Since moving to the foreign office in a reshuffle last

month, Truss has tried to more closely align Britain's economic

and trading ambitions with its diplomatic, defence and security

agenda - seeking to maximise the country's global influence

following its exit from the European Union.

"I want a closer trading and investment relationship with

the Gulf and for us to collaborate more closely on issues like

intelligence sharing, development, security and defence," Truss

said.

She will also discuss cooperation on Afghanistan with Qatar,

which has been hosting talking between the Taliban and Western

officials since Taliban forces took control of Kabul.

(Reporting by William James; editing by Costas Pitas)
(Adds quotes and details)

LONDON, Oct 19 (Reuters) - China attaches great importance

to tackling climate change but an announcement has yet to be

made on whether or not President Xi Jinping will attend the

COP26 summit, China's special climate envoy, Xie Zhenhua, said

on Tuesday.

Asked by Reuters if Xi would attend the COP26 conference in

person, or by video call or not at all, Xie said: "We still need

to wait for the information (from the) Ministry of Foreign

Affairs, and only after they make an announcement will we tell

you."

Britain's Queen Elizabeth said last week she was irritated

by world leaders who talk about climate change but do nothing to

address global warming, and added it was still unclear who would

turn up at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson, as host of the summit, has

cast the meeting as one of the last major chances to cool down

the planet, and had hoped it would showcase his attempt at

global leadership.

Biden and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison will

attend the summit. The Kremlin has not yet said whether Russian

President Vladimir Putin will attend.

Xi, Chinas most powerful leader since Mao Zedong, has not

left the People's Republic since the start of the coronavirus

pandemic, though he has joined video calls with global leaders.

Xie, speaking through a translator via video link, said that

the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow was deeply significant

and that the People's Republic was working for the success of

the conference.

Xie said China wanted to work with the international

community to slow climate change and that the world's second

largest economy would do its best to achieve carbon neutrality

by 2060.

Developed countries, Xie said, should honour their promises.

Zhao Yingmin, the vice-minister of ecology and environment,

said leaders at COP26 should avoid "empty slogans" and that

Beijing hoped to see progress on climate issues for developing

countries.

(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge; editing by Alistair Smout and

Kate Holton)
The UK aviation regulator said Britain's biggest airport Heathrow will not be permitted to raise passenger charges by as much as it had wanted, but airlines opposed the scale of the hike as the hub and carriers battle to recover pandemic-linked losses.

COVID-19 has restricted flying for more than 18 months, placing huge financial strains on Heathrow and airlines like its biggest user, British Airways, and putting airport charges at the centre of a bitter row.

Airlines on Tuesday criticised the UK's Civil Aviation Authority's (CAA) initial proposals for Heathrow to be allowed to charge as much as 50% more per passenger over the 2022-2027 period.

Heathrow had wanted to almost double charges at the top end of its request.

Airlines UK, the country's industry body, said it would oppose the CAA's proposals "in the strongest terms".

"Its Heathrows shareholders and not our customers who should be asked to foot the bill," the group said in a statement.

Heathrow wants to be able to charge more to help recover pandemic losses of $4 billion, but airlines, who have also lost billions, don't want to have to raise ticket prices to cover higher airport charges just as they are trying to stimulate demand.

British Airways, owned by IAG, and UK-based competitor Virgin Atlantic, say that Heathrow is already the most expensive airport in the world and that they would oppose the proposals in the coming consultations with the regulator.

"The disproportionate increase compared to other European hubs will undermine its (Heathrow's) competitiveness even further and UK consumers will be losing out," IAG boss Luis Gallego said.

The CAA said its proposals, which will be finalised next year, struck the right balance between protecting consumers and allowing the airport to continue to invest.

Heathrow is owned by investors including Spain's Ferrovial , the Qatar Investment Authority and China Investment Corp.

Responding to the proposals, Heathrow said that the regulator should safeguard a fair return for its investors.

"The settlement is not designed to shield airlines from legitimate cost increases or the impacts of fewer people travelling," an airport spokesman said.

Under the CAA proposals, Heathrow could raise its per passenger charge to between 24.50 pounds and 34.40 pounds.

Heathrow had requested that the cap be set at 32 to 43 pounds. In 2020, the charge was 22 pounds.

There would be no additional adjustment to Heathrow's regulatory asset base, something which Heathrow had requested, said the CAA, outlining plans for introducing a new risk sharing mechanism to prevent either the airport or the consumer bearing all the risk of future uncertainty.
Tamil Nadu's ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) has extended financial aid to its neighbouring state of Kerala which is battered with torrential rains and floods resulting in heavy loss of life and property.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin announced on Monday that the DMK Charitable Trust, helmed by him, will donate Rs 1 crore favouring the Kerala Chief Minister's Relief Fund to carry out relief operations in the flood-stricken state.

In a party release, DMK conveyed its condolences to those killed in rain-related incidents in Kerala and extended its sympathies to those affected.
Mankato, MN (56001)

Today

A mix of clouds and sun with gusty winds. High 43F. Winds S at 20 to 30 mph. Higher wind gusts possible..

Tonight

Considerable cloudiness. Low around 30F. Winds SSW at 10 to 20 mph.
Mankato, MN (56001)

Today

A mix of clouds and sun with gusty winds. High 43F. Winds S at 20 to 30 mph. Higher wind gusts possible..

Tonight

Considerable cloudiness. Low near 30F. Winds SSW at 10 to 20 mph.
Jurgen Klopp is bringing his Liverpool team back to the Estadio Wanda Metropolitano this week, back to the ground where they won the 2018/19 Champions League and also the ground where they lost to Atletico Madrid last time out, as the Spanish side edged their 2019/20 last 16 tie.

Atleti fans will be ready for this big occasion, with this the second match back at the Estadio Wanda Metropolitano with 100 percent of capacity allowed. The last time, they defeated Barcelona 2-0 with goals from Thomas Lemar and Luis Suarez.

Suarez will now be going up against another of his former clubs, looking to fire Atletico Madrid to what could be three vital points in this group of death. Diego Simeone might be without Anfield hero Marcos Llorente, as he remains a slight doubt along with Jose Maria Gimenez, but Suarez has what it takes and was the hero last time out in the victory over AC Milan.

Gimenez's absence would be a problem if the Uruguayan can't start, since Stefan Savic is still suspended in UEFA competition. But, Simeone expressed optimism in his pre-match press conference over the possibility of having the defender with the team.

In that press conference, Simeone also dismissed the idea that there is a bitter rivalry between himself and Klopp over their respective playing styles, replying - in English - "nothing" when asked what he had to say to the German.

Klopp will be focused on getting his team ready for this match, after they had a domestic fixture last weekend, unlike Atleti. Tiago, Curtis Jones and Harvey Elliott are out for the Reds, but they're still going to be able to put out one of the strongest XIs in the competition.

It should be a thriller and it'll get underway at 21:00 CEST this Tuesday night.
Mauricio Pochettino is busy preparing for a Champions League clash with RB Leipzig, yet the Argentine did take questions on the situation surrounding Mauro Icardi's private life, insisting that people will know of his availability by Monday evening.

Icardi had been implicated in yet another romantic scandal, at least according to his wife and agent, Wanda Nara, and the Argentine has since been given time off from training.

"Due to the international triple-header commitment, we haven't had the desired preparation for this kind of match," Pochettino explained in his pre-match press conference.

"Due to personal problems, Mauro hasn't been able to train today, but is in tomorrow's squad.

"Tonight we will analyse the situation and see if he can be with the group."

When pressed on the merits of RB Leipzig, Pochettino was complimentary about how the German team play.

"I think that both Leipzig and us need the victory," Pochettino added.

"It's clear that Leipzig are a team with a lot of energy, with high-quality and aggressive offensive players who are going to seek the best result.

"We must have very good defensive organisation, work in an intelligent way in possession and make sure that their transitions don't cause us problems."
As That Boutique-y Rum Company celebrates its third birthday, we talk to rum sniffer outer extraordinaire Peter Holland on how he got the rum bug, why the category could do with more transparent labelling and falling down the sugar cane rabbit hole.

Peter Hollands love of rum started, appropriately enough, with meeting the lady who is now my wife. Her family is from Barbados and it was seeing her swigging a neat rum that piqued Hollands rum curiosity. If youre marrying into a West Indian family, then it would be rude not to take an interest. Previously his experience had begun and ended at navy rum which didnt appeal.

Rum epiphany

But it was a trip to Rumfest in London in 2008 that Holland described as an epiphany moment. He realised that that world of rum was much bigger than Mount Gay Eclipse. Rum wasnt just the Caribbean, it was world wide. It sparked the journey.

At the time, premium rum was still something of a niche category. There was a small group of bartenders centred around bars such as Trailer Happiness in London who appreciated the good stuff. Holland found himself pulled ever deeper into the world of rum which would end up with him becoming involved with That Boutique-y Rum Company in 2018, which celebrates its third birthday this month.

Following his sugar cane awakening, Holland began regularly blogging on his Floating Rum Shack website and his free time was spent at tastings and rum events. His first post was in Feb 2009 and within a year or two you get invited to Cuba, a glorious time to start a blog, he said. The website got loads of traffic, before Google changed the algorithms.

Time to jump

By 2014, Holland had reached the point where he could not take his rum odyssey further with a full time job as an engineer working in product development. My job was pretty stressful, it was making me ill, so it was an obvious decision to turn his hobby into a job. If I dont jump now, its never going to happen, he thought.

Many people have tried to do something similar, Holland succeeded. First Richard Seale from Foursquare in Barbados got in touch, he needed a part time brand ambassador. This suited Holland down to the ground, he never wants to be an employee again. I dont want to be in a position when someone has to sign my holiday card, he explained.

Then, once youve got time people come to you with more offers, he said. The next person to come knocking was Ben Ellefsen from Atom (Master of Malts parent company). In 2017 he was looking to set up an independent rum bottler to go alongside That Boutique-y Whisky Company and needed an expert.

The birth of That Boutique-y Rum Company

He gave me a huge bag of samples and asked why he shouldnt just release all of these. Holland gave Ellefsen his professional view, some were past their best, and by October they were ready to launch That Boutique-y Rum Company.

The range is now huge, taking in all the major rum producing countries like Jamaica and Barbados but also quirky stuff from Thailand and Madeira. There are funky agricole rums, single still bottlings from Guyana and blends that are perfect for mixing. Below Holland has come up with some of his current favourites.

I asked Holland how he managed to track down interesting and unusual rums. Apparently stumbling over a forgotten cask in a distillery is not going to happen for the bigger producers. You are just not going to have access. Foursquare, for example, doesnt sell direct. You have to go through third parties. But with smaller players, you can still visit and have a rummage.

Holland is particularly excited about a single cask from William Hinton on Madeira that was aged in an Amarone (Italian red wine) cask. Coming soon to That Boutique-y Rum Company. People think older and more expensive is better, he said. But there are bargains to be had with younger and more obscure distilleries. Hes a particular fan of another Madeira producer: O Reizinho.

No way back

Despite being full time in the drinks business for seven years, Holland tries to keep a rum lovers perspective: I think back to what it was like being a wide-eyed enthusiast blogger and not lose that sense. I like being on the consumer side of the bar.

He sees it as his job as a sort of rum tourist guide. There are always new people to bring on board, people who are drinking Bacardi & Coke or Malibu & pineapple and thinking theyre great rum drinkers. If theyre receptive, they can carry on that journey. When you get people down to a blanc agricole then theyre really screwed. There really is no way back.

Hes a particular fan of rums made from sugar cane juice like Clairin from Haiti but also excited about less traditional rum countries like England and Scotland, though both have a much longer rum making heritage than you might imagine. There were two Scottish and one English rum released as part of Boutique-ys home nation series released earlier this year. Holland thinks part of the appeal is like with gin  people like buying the bottle thats made just down the road from them.

He loves experimenting with rum in cocktails and recommends swapping out the Cognac in a Vieux Carre for an aged rum. His favourite cocktail, however, is the Daiquiri made with Signature Blend No 1, though he did add that it would have to be served with a side order of Gaviscon to combat the acidity.

A confusing category

The sheer variety, however, within rum can make it confusing especially for beginners. People like Woods and Coke but give them blanc agricole from Martinique and they would not recognise it as rum. Rum is such a tiny word but it covers so much.

Holland admits that inconsistent rules among the various rum countries adds to the confusion. The messaging on age statements would be such a useful thing to move forward with. People will continue with solera blending but drop the 23 please, its highly misleading. He pointed to brands like Mount Gay who dont have age statements at all. Hed also like to see more obvious labelling of additions such as sugar rather than hiding them away on the website like some big Venezuelan brands. But, he doesnt think this will do much to change tastes, its easy to drink neat spirit when it has 40g of sugar. People like sweet things.

Its a long road from sweetened rum to rhum agricole. Holland says: My first taste of agricole rum or cachaca, I just didnt get it. What the fuck is this in my glass? It was a similar story with Caroni, a now closed distillery in Trinidad that is sometimes called the Port Ellen of rum. Holland found it too big and dirty but the next day I woke up after drinking Caroni and thought now I get it. There are, however, some bottlings that are too much even for Holland like some of Jamaican single marks from Velier, rum which were created for blending rather than drinking neat: if anyone claims its their favourite rum and its all they drink at night, Im calling bullshit. Too funky for Holland? That makes me want to try it.

Three rums to try

To help you along your rum journey, Holland has picked three from the Boutique-y range, one for people at the beginning of their rum journey, one gateway bottling and one for confirmed rum nuts.

Secret Distillery #2 Batch 1 10 year old  An aged rum from Panama, Holland describes this as an easy going getting started type of rum.

Secret Distillery #1 Batch 1  A rum for those well on their way. Well for me, thats going to be something much more full bodied like a well aged (9 year old) pot still rum from Jamaica, he explained.

Issan Batch 1  From Thailand, according to Holland, its a rum for those in deep nerd mode, something unaged, something entirely about the distillation, something that cant hide behind the years in a cask. In this case. Its a pot still rum made from a monovarietal of sugarcane.
Julia A. Johnston, 68, of Wilburton, OK passed away at her home in Wilburton on Sunday, November 14, 2021. Services will be on Wednesday, November 17, 2021 at 2 p.m. at the Waldrop Funeral Home Chapel in Wilburton, OK with the burial to follow in the Peachland Cemetery in Bengal, Oklahoma. O
Meadville, PA (16335)

Today

Overcast. A few flurries or snow showers possible. Temps nearly steady in the mid to upper 30s. Winds W at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies this evening will become overcast overnight. Low 27F. Winds light and variable.
MIAMI

Oct. 19, 2021

Richie Davidson

University of Wisconsin-Madison

Rebecca Robbins

Harvard Medical School

Louis Schwartzberg

Hanna Poikonen

Freddie Moross

Boston, Massachusetts

Nov. 30 to Dec. 3

Susie Ellis

Richie Davidson

University of Wisconsin-Madison

Freddie Moross

Hanna Poikonen

Rebecca Robbins

Harvard Medical School

James B. Maas

Louie Schwartzberg

$4.5 trillion

Switzerland

Turkey

Bali

India

Morocco

Mexico

Austria

Italy

Singapore

Boston

Beth McGroarty

/PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- The Global Wellness Summit (GWS), the annual gathering of international leaders in the global wellness economy, today announced a key topic for its upcoming conference: future directions in mental health and wellnessand how new neuroscientific research is speeding up innovative approaches to help solve the global mental wellness crisis.The conference will bring together leading academics, such as Dr., professor at the, and Dr.of, presenting new research on the topic, as well as diverse experts and companies on the dramatically new directions unfolding in mental wellness. For instance,will present on how psychedelic mushrooms will provide sustainable solutions for the most challenging conditions, such as depression or PTSD. Dr., neuroscience researcher at ETH Zurich, will keynote on how a new understanding of the connection between embodiment and cognition, movement and the mind, will change how we approach mental wellness., of music-for-wellbeing innovator Myndstream, will deliver a keynote (with a live musical performance) on how young generations are embracing experiments that use music as medicine for the mind.The Summit takes place in-person inand virtually from. View the evolving lineup of speakers on the future of wellness."The demand for 'more mental wellness solutions' was really driving the wellness market pre-pandemic, and then COVID-19 took its terrible toll on the world's mental health. A new report in The Lancet shows major depression and severe anxiety have increased nearly 30% globally," said, chair and CEO of GWS. "With such a dire need for more accessible and evidence-based mental health and wellness solutions, we felt it was crucial to bring together scientists and innovators that are now trailblazing that future."More about the speakers:Dr.is professor of psychiatry and psychology at theand founder and chair of the Center for Healthy Minds, an institute that conducts rigorous neuroscientific research on what exactly constitutes "a healthy mind" to create approaches that can relieve suffering. He has published hundreds of scientific papers on the neural bases of emotion, the science of neuroplasticity, and the impact of meditation and contemplative practices on the brain.is senior marketing manager at the major music brand Cutting Edge Group (UK and US), and their consumer-facing wellness brand Myndstream, which produces music for mental wellbeing and is home to chart-topping, critically-acclaimed global artists who collectively have amassed multi-billions of streams. Their platform has been used in yoga studios and spasand prisons, hospitals and government organizationsto relieve stress and to create tranquil environments. His multimedia presentation: "Music, Mental Health and My Generation."Dr., PhD, is a researcher in neuroscience at the Professorship for Learning Sciences and Higher Education at ETH Zurich. Her studies focus on the connection between embodiment and cognition and how the brain can be transformed through movement. She is also founder of WiseMotion, a workshop concept (held at wellness resorts such as Six Senses) which improves embodied cognition and mental wellness through dance, movement and neuroscience.Dr.is an Instructor in Medicine atand an Associate Scientist at the Brigham and Women's Hospital. Her research on sleep and circadian health has been published in numerous peer-reviewed medical journals and she is co-author of Sleep for Success! with Dr.. She will present eye-opening new research on sleep and workplace performance in her talk, "The Forgotten Frontier: Why You Should Be Sleeping on the Job."is an award-winning cinematographer and director, famed for his breathtaking imagery using time-lapse, high-speed and macro cinematography techniques. His theatrical releases include the 3D IMAX film Mysteries of the Unseen World and Wings of Life for Disneynature. He is also a mycelium expert, and his latest film, Fantastic Fungi (which ranked #1 for four weeks on iTune's documentary charts), explores how the fascinating organisms that are mushrooms can be deployed to treat everything from Alzheimer's to depression. His three TED talks have attracted over 60 million views.Registration is now open for the in-person event at the Encore Boston Harbor; space is extremely limited.Virtual attendees from around the world will be hosted by Anna Bjurstam, Six Senses Wellness Pioneer, and will have access to all on-stage presentationslive and on-demandas well as special online breakout sessions and networking opportunities. Register to attend virtually here.Media: To apply to attend the Summit virtually or in-person as press, please fill out the media accreditation form.About the Global Wellness Summit The Global Wellness Summit is the premier organization that brings together leaders and visionaries to positively shape the future of theglobal wellness economy. Its future-focused conference is held at a different global location each year and has traveled to the US,and. GWS also hosts regular virtual gatherings, including Wellness Master Classes, Wellness Sector Spotlights and Investor "Reverse Pitch" events. The organization's annual Global Wellness Trends Report offers expert-based predictions on the future of wellness. The 2021 Summit will be held infrom November 30December 3., Global Wellness Summit, +1 213-300-0107, beth.mcgroarty@globalwellnesssummit.comSOURCE Global Wellness Summit
Bollywood actor Vicky Kaushal has been one actor who really has had an upward trajectory unlike any other actor with the credit clearly going to his raw talent and physical presence that he brings to the screen. The 33-year-old actor landed his first leading role in the independent drama film Masaan back in 2015.

 Disney+ Hotstar

The film earned him many accolades with the IIFA award and the Screen Awards being a few of them.



Well, Vicky really hasn't looked back since and followed it up with power-packed performances in Raazi, Sanju, and Uri: The Surgical Strike, the film that finally got him the National Film Award for Best Actor. Well, with some really big commercial hits under his belt, it would really seem like Vicky has had a smooth ride due to the fact that he is the son of action director Sham Kaushal.

 BCCL

However, the actor says that it has really been anything but that. Vicky, while speaking to Zoom TV, said that like every other actor in India, he too, had to battle with hundreds and thousands of people in order to prove his mettle.



"When you start giving auditions, aapko pata chalta hai ki aap kitne paani mein ho (you realize where you stand). Because you are competing with hundreds and thousands of people who want the same job," he said.

The actor also opened up on the insecurities faced during his struggling days. "You go and stand in queues with hundreds of other actors. And actors who are very good actors and youre sitting in rooms with some people who are doing a far better job than you...Sometimes, it kind of takes a toll on you and it really accentuates your insecurities and inferiorities. Then you have to keep surpassing that every day of your life till you get that job, you do good in that and then your confidence starts building up." he added.

 Prime Video

Vicky also spoke on how despite the tremendous competition for places, he really did not have a 'safety net' or a 'plan B'. What people dont realize is that if Ive cracked 10 auditions, I've actually failed in 1,000 auditions. I got rejected in a thousand auditions but I got selected in 10 but what is visible is only the 10 opportunities that I got, and sabko lagta hai ki arey yeh toh aasani se mil gaya (everyone thinks he got it easily)...I had no option... I knew I dont have any safety net and if I fall from here, its straight on the ground because I have nothing in the pedal. So having no plan B also gives you a lot of strength, he said.



Vicky's latest project is the biopic Sardar Udham where he plays Sardar Udham Singh, the freedom fighter who assassinated former Lieutenant Governor of Punjab in British India Michael O'Dwyer in 1940.

Singh had carried out the assassination to avenge the brutal killings of the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre back in 1919.
Arrangements are currently incomplete at Berry and Gardner Funeral Home for Mr. William "Sonny" McGruder, 71, of Enterprise, who passed away on Wednesday, Nov. 17, 2021, at his residence.
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In summer 2020, The New York Times coordinated a nationwide project to document the lives of Americans out of work because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The study involved collaborating with 11 other local newsrooms around the U.S. The Messenger-Inquirer was the only newspaper from Kentucky in the collaboration. The resulting collection of stories was published Oct. 23, 2020, in the New York Times print edition and at nytimes.com/outofwork. The following list is the Messenger-Inquirer's local unemployment coverage from that time period; read more by clicking the "New York Times Project" header. Click on "Out Of Work In America" to go to the full
Ambassador of Belarus D.Harelik meets the Minister of Road and Transport Development of Mongolia

On October 19, 2021, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Belarus to Mongolia Dzmitry Harelik met with the Minister of Road and Transport Development of Mongolia, co-chairman of the Joint Belarusian-Mongolian Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation Luvsan Khaltar.

During the meeting, the main attention was paid to the discussion of a number of topical issues of bilateral trade and economic cooperation, including the implementation of joint projects within the framework of the General Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Belarus and the Government of Mongolia on extending export loan, as well as the holding of a meeting of the Joint Commission on Trade and Economic cooperation in 2022 in Minsk.

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Ambassador of Belarus V.Baranovsky meets the First Deputy Minister of Foreign Trade and Investment of Cuba

On October 18, 2021, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Belarus to the Republic of Cuba Valery Baranovsky met with First Deputy Minister of Foreign Trade and Investment of Cuba Ana Teresita Gonzalez Fraga.

The parties discussed the current state and prospects for the development of bilateral trade and economic cooperation. An agreement to intensify interaction involving Belarusian and Cuban business circles was reached.

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Attorney General Nessel Joins Coalition Seeking Answers on Facebook XCheck Protections for "Disinformation Dozen"

Attorney General Nessel Joins Coalition Seeking Answers on Facebook XCheck Protections for "Disinformation Dozen"

Attorney General

Media contact: Lynsey Mukomel 517-599-2746

Public inquiries: 517-335-7622

October 19, 2021

LANSING - Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel joined a coalition of 14 attorneys general asking Facebook to disclose whether members of the so-called "Disinformation Dozen" were granted "XCheck" protections that allowed them to spread COVID-19 falsehoods and anti-vaccine misinformation in violation of Facebook policies.

Internal Facebook documents shared by whistleblower Frances Haugen revealed that Facebook maintains a "whitelist" of users under the project name "XCheck" that allowed select celebrities, politicians, and journalists to share content in violation of Facebook policies. Documents showed those posts contained harassment, incitement of violence, and disinformation regarding vaccinations and COVID-19.

"We have seen the impact of the rampant disinformation over the course of this pandemic," Nessel said. "Facebook has been inconsistent in their effort to address vaccine disinformation, effectively undermining efforts to safely and quickly distribute vaccines and leading to further loss of life."

In their letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, the attorneys general also ask Facebook to disclose the extent to which whitelisted content has been deemed to be anti-vaccine, and how many user complaints regarding such anti-vaccine posts have resulted in removal of the content, among other questions.

Despite efforts Facebook has taken to address some elements of vaccine disinformation, evidence is clear that Facebook's algorithm has promoted anti-vaccine content and that those who have chosen not to be vaccinated have been influenced by disinformation shared on Facebook. Unvaccinated individuals are 10 times more likely to be hospitalized and 11 times more likely to die of COVID-19 than those who are fully vaccinated. COVID-19 vaccines are safe, effective, and available.

Attorney General Nessel joined eleven other attorneys general in March calling on both Facebook and Twitter to take stronger measures to stop the spread of anti-vaccine COVID-19 disinformation on their social media platforms. Digital media research groups have estimated that 12 anti-vaxxers' personal accounts and their associated organizations, groups and websites - the "Disinformation Dozen" -- are responsible for 65% of public anti-vaccine content on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. The coalition's latest letter notes that Facebook remains inconsistent in its actions with regard to these individuals.

Joining Attorney General Nessel in sending this letter are the attorneys general of Connecticut, California, Delaware, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Virginia.

A copy of the letter can be found here.

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Gov. Whitmer Meets with Benton Harbor Residents and Local Leaders, Underscores Actions to Provide Safe Drinking Water

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

October 19, 2021

Contact: press@michigan.gov

Gov. Whitmer Meets with Benton Harbor Residents and Local Leaders, Underscores Actions to Provide Safe Drinking Water

Governor calls on legislature to fully fund LSL replacement with additional $11.4 million investment, reiterates goal to replace 100% of Benton Harbor lead service lines in 18 months

LANSING, Mich. - Governor Gretchen Whitmer today met with residents and local leaders in Benton Harbor, underscoring the Executive Directive she signed a few days ago implementing an all-hands-on-deck, whole-of-government approach to coordinate federal, state, and local resources to move forward with urgency and ensure that every parent in Benton Harbor can give their kid a glass of water with confidence. The governor reiterated her administration's goal to replace 100% of lead service lines (LSLs) in Benton Harbor in 18 months and called on the legislature to fully fund the cost of replacement with an additional $11.4 million investment.

"Every Michigander deserves safe drinking water," said Governor Gretchen Whitmer. "Today, I visited Benton Harbor to hear from community leaders doing the work on the ground and residents living through water challenges every day. I called on the legislature to fully fund lead service line replacement with an additional $11.4 million investment, helping us meet our expedited timeline to replace 100% of lead service lines in 18 months. Our work will build on the Executive Directive I signed last week to pursue an all-hands-on-deck approach to protect access to safe drinking water right now and make lasting investments in water infrastructure. I cannot imagine the stress that moms and dads in Benton Harbor are under as they emerge from a pandemic, work hard to put food on the table, pay the bills, and face a threat to the health of their children. That's why we will not rest until every parent feels confident to give their kid a glass of water knowing that it is safe."

"With Governor Whitmer's visit today, our administration continues to lift up the Benton Harbor community in every way that we can," said Lieutenant Governor Garlin Gilchrist II. "Last week's executive directive reaffirmed our strong partnership with Benton Harbor residents and local officials. It implements a whole-of-government approach to the challenges facing this community and commits state government to helping Benton Harbor replace every lead service line with better infrastructure. We must complete these critical upgrades as quickly as possible, and I join the governor in calling on the legislature to work with us to appropriate the funds Michigan has received from the American Rescue Plan."

"Today's listening sessions demonstrated the Whitmer-Gilchrist administration's commitment to the Benton Harbor community and were a welcome chance for residents and community leaders to communicate their concerns directly to Governor Whitmer," said Benton Harbor Mayor Marcus Muhammad. "I am grateful that Governor Whitmer visited Benton Harbor today, and for our continued partnership with the state of Michigan as we work to protect access to safe drinking water, upgrade our community's water infrastructure, and keep Benton Harbor families safe."

"Clean water is not a luxury. It's a basic necessity," said Rep. Fred Upton. "In 2016, I worked with Representative Dan Kildee, who represents Flint, to require the EPA to immediately notify states of potential lead contamination. Last October, I also helped secure $5.6 million for lead pipe replacement in Benton Harbor. Replacing lead lines is not a partisan issue and I would hope that every Republican and Democrat would work together on this issue confronting our communities."

"The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services is committed to partnering with the Berrien County Health Department and other community, state and federal partners to provide safe drinking water to Benton Harbor residents until lead service lines are replaced," said MDHHS Director Elizabeth Hertel. "MDHHS will be there for the residents of Benton Harbor - today, tomorrow and until lead has been eliminated from the city's drinking water. We will ensure that residents have an alternative drinking water supply by helping them access free bottled water. And we will work swiftly on a long-term solution by replacing lead service lines."

"It's past time to 'fix the damn pipes.' Our decades-long failure to invest in infrastructure continues to threaten the health and safety of Michigan children," said Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha. "The best path forward to guarantee safe drinking water is the quick replacement of Benton Harbor's lead pipes."

"We commend Governor Whitmer's commitment to the health and well-being of Michigan's families and communities," said We the People of Detroit, a water justice organization. "By working to replace 100% of lead service lines in Benton Harbor in 18 months, she's following through on her responsibility to protect drinking water in the state of Michigan. We will continue working with local and state leaders to replace every lead pipe in every community in our state so that all Michiganders can give our children a glass of clean affordable drinking water and have confidence that it is safe."

"Benton Harbor is a proud community with a rich history and everyone I talk to in Benton Harbor wants to protect their children, neighbors and friends. They just want to know that the water is safe to

drink," said Regina Strong, Michigan's Environmental Justice Public Advocate. "That's why Governor Whitmer's actions today are so important. They reflect what we have committed to do - ensure that everyone in Benton Harbor has access to clean, safe drinking water. Standing with the families of Benton Harbor is an environmental justice priority that we must address with urgency."

Funding

The estimated cost to replace 100% of LSLs in Benton Harbor is $30 million. The State of Michigan has so far delivered $18.6 million with $10 million in the recently signed FY 2022 budget, $3 million from the MI Clean Water plan, and a $5.6 million Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act grant from the Environmental Protection Agency.

With $18.6 million out of $30 million appropriated to date, Benton Harbor still needs at least $11.4 million to replace 100% of their LSLs in the next 18 months. Today, Governor Whitmer called on the legislature to secure the remaining funding by utilizing the billions in federal funding available to Michigan under the American Rescue Plan.

The FY 2022 budget also includes $15 million in water emergency funding currently being used to supply bottled water to Benton Harbor, among other key uses.

Executive Directive (ED)

The ED builds on ongoing efforts underway at various departments and by critical stakeholder groups and community leaders, ensuring state government and its partners are all rowing in the same direction and laser-focused on shared goals.

Here are some of the actions the ED takes:

Residents of Benton Harbor must continue to have access to free bottled water until further notice.

Residents must be offered free or low-cost lead-related services including but not limited to drinking water testing and health services.

The State of Michigan will collaborate closely with federal partners, county officials, city officials, and community leaders to communicate up-to-date information and leverage every available resource to accelerate lead service line replacement.

To view the full executive directive, click the link below:

[EXECUTIVE DIRECTIVE 2021-06]

Lead Service Lines (LSLs)

Under Michigan's Lead and Copper Rule, the strictest nationwide, every community is required to replace 5% of its LSLs every year, meaning 100% replacement in 20 years. However, any community experiencing an action level exceedance, or ALE, is required to replace their LSLs at a rate of 7% per year, meaning 100% completion in just under 15 years.

With additional federal funding expected under the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act making its way through Congress, the State of Michigan will receive billions more to fix its infrastructure, including lead pipes.

Lead

There is no safe level of lead. Lead exposure harms brain development in children and it causes both short and long-term health problems for adults. The leading causes of lead exposure are drinking water and paint. About 34 million homes have lead-based paint and around 9.2 million have lead pipes. Michigan's top priority is simple: safe drinking water for everyone. Residents should visit MI Lead Safe (michigan.gov/lead) to see all available resources and guides.

Whitmer-Gilchrist Administration Actions

In the two and a half years since the Whitmer-Gilchrist Administration took office in January 2019, the State of Michigan has invested more in its water infrastructure than the previous five years-from 2014 to 2018-combined. The governor launched the MI Clean Water plan to invest $700 million to build up drinking and wastewater infrastructure while supporting 10,000 good-paying jobs. The plan addresses high water rates, tackles toxic contaminants like PFAS, builds up sewer and septic systems that can't meet demand, and replaces lead service lines. In addition to MI Clean Water plan, Michigan has invested millions in drinking water, stormwater, and wastewater facilities across the state supporting thousands of local jobs.

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I-94 closed at Elm Road in Jackson beginning Thursday

Aaron Jenkins, MDOT Office of Communications, 517-243-9075 Transportation

COUNTY:

Jackson

HIGHWAYS:

Elm Road

I-94

CLOSEST CITY:

Jackson

NIGHT ONE WORK BEGINS:

9 p.m.

Thursday, Oct. 21, 2021

NIGHT ONE WORK ENDS:

6 a.m.

Friday, Oct. 22, 2021

NIGHT TWO WORK BEGINS:

9 p.m.

Saturday, Oct. 23, 2021

NIGHT TWO WORK ENDS:

6 a.m.

Sunday, Oct. 24, 2021

OVERALL I-94 PROJECT COMPLETION DATE:

June 2023

PROJECT:

The Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) will close I-94 at Elm Road in Jackson for overnight bridge beam placement on Thursday and Saturday nights.

This work is part of MDOT's ongoing $120 million investment to rebuild and widen I-94 near the Airport Road interchange to just west of the east US-127/I-94 interchange in Blackman and Leoni Township. The I-94 project involves upgrading the US-127/M-50 (West Avenue)/I-94 interchange to a diverging diamond interchange, the Elm Road interchange with roundabouts, and the Lansing Avenue bridge over I-94.

Funding for this project is made possible by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's Rebuilding Michigan program to rebuild the state highways and bridges that are critical to the state's economy and carry the most traffic. The investment strategy is aimed at fixes that result in longer useful lives and improves the condition of the state's infrastructure.

TRAFFIC RESTRICTIONS:

I-94 traffic will be closed in both directions while beams are being placed at the Elm Road overpass. Please follow posted detours. Motorists are advised to seek alternate routes.

SAFETY BENEFITS:

This traffic configuration will increase safety for workers and motorists through this work zone. These improvements will provide increased safety and mobility in this area of I-94, which is a significant local and national trade corridor.
PHOTOS: Governor Whitmer Joins American Battery Solutions at New Lake Orion Battery Manufacturing Facility

PHOTOS: Governor Whitmer Joins American Battery Solutions at New Lake Orion Battery Manufacturing Facility

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

October 18, 2021

Contact: Press@Michigan.gov

PHOTOS: Governor Whitmer Joins American Battery Solutions at New Lake Orion Battery Manufacturing Facility

New facility will manufacture lithium-ion batteries for clients on cutting edge of mobility and electrification, creating over 100 good-paying jobs and doubling company's workforce in MI by 2023

LANSING, Mich. - Governor Gretchen Whitmer joined Michigan manufacturer American Battery Solutions Inc. (ABS) for the ribbon cutting ceremony of their new lithium-ion battery manufacturing facility in Lake Orion. ABS will create more than 100 good-paying jobs and build on Michigan's leadership in the mobility and electrification space with the new facility. The investment complements the governor's MI New Economy plan to grow the middle class, support small businesses, and invest in communities and builds on statewide efforts to grow electric vehicle manufacturing and infrastructure in Michigan.

"I'm proud that American Battery Solutions is growing in Michigan, and I am laser-focused on collaborating with them and so many other innovators to continue creating thousands of good-paying jobs and building up industries of the future," said Governor Gretchen Whitmer. "We've already made several announcements and investments in the mobility and EV space to complement the work underway in the private sector at the state-level, and I look forward to many more. Together, we can write the next era of Michigan's story-from being the place that put the world on wheels, the arsenal of democracy, the state that built the middle class, the leader in mobility and electrification, to whatever may come next-I am grateful to have partners like ABS as we work together to shape tomorrow.

"We are delighted to be in Michigan and expanding our operations in the state and see Lake Orion as an ideal location for new capacity to attract the talent we need," said Chairman and CEO Subhash Dhar. "We are most attracted to Michigan's open business climate, its education system, a long heritage of innovation and excellence, as well as its deep pool of talent and resources in power/battery engineering and complementary disciplines. We see ourselves in strategic partnership with government and business leaders looking to grow and strengthen Michigan's economic base."

ABS will invest more than $7 million in their Lake Orion facility in the coming years, creating more than 100 good-paying engineering, manufacturing, and administrative jobs. The company currently has 115 employees in Michigan, and this facility will double their statewide workforce by 2023. ABS will build lithium-ion battery packs in Lake Orion, delivering solutions for their global customers on the cutting edge of mobility and electrification. Their innovative technology will support a range of cutting edge clients and products. ABS has experienced exponential growth, going from $270,000 in revenue in 2019 to a projected $45 million next year and over $600 million projected by 2026.

Mobility and Electrification Leadership

REV Midwest: Last month , Governor Gretchen Whitmer joined her colleagues in Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, and Wisconsin to collaborate on electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure across the Midwest region, signing the Regional Electric Vehicle for the Midwest Memorandum of Understanding, or REV Midwest, to collaboratively accelerate electrification.

Lake Michigan Electric Vehicle Circuit: Announced at the Mackinac Policy Conference in September, the Lake Michigan E lectric V ehicle Circuit delivers on Governor Whitmer's vision for an electric vehicle route with reliable charging options along Lake Michigan and key tourism clusters. The circuit will be the best clean-energy road trip in American, tying together key coastal and rural communities, state and national parks, and tourism attractions along the Lake Michigan shoreline into a wider electric vehicle infrastructure network. The project will install chargers where needed to meet the demands of high summer utilization and challenging winter weather battery performance constraints.

Michigan Electric Vehicle Jobs Academy: The governor announced the Michigan Electric Vehicle Jobs Academy at the Mackinac Policy Conference to continue advancing Michigan's electric vehicle and mobility leadership by ensuring the strong pipeline of talent needed for automotive mobility and electrification career pathways. The administration has remained laser-focused on making sure Michigan workers can access the training and education they need to stay competitive in this new economy. The new academy will position Michigan at the center of that growth by proactively preparing the talent needed for automotive mobility and electrification current, emerging, future jobs and career pathways.

Wireless Charging Road: Governor Whitmer announced a new initiative to develop the nation's first wireless charging infrastructure on a public road in Michigan. The development of a wireless dynamic charging roadway in Michigan is a step forward in addressing range anxiety and will accelerate the transition to all-electric transit fleets in Michigan, and beyond.

Smart Parking Lab: The governor also announced the Detroit Smart Parking Lab , a first-of-its-kind collaborative effort between Ford, Bosch, Bedrock, and the State of Michigan to find innovative solutions to parking challenges and build better parking structures as we transition to clean energy vehicles.

Auto Industry Leadership

Michigan is the place that put the world on wheels. Governor Whitmer has built on that rich automotive legacy by creating over 15,000 auto jobs since taking office, including the first new auto plant in Detroit in 30 years.

Michigan has attracted more than $9 billion in EV-related investment in less than two years:

Ford announced a new $250 million investment and 450 direct jobs across three Southeast Michigan facilities to support F-150 Lightning production capacity increase. They are also opening a new global battery center of excellence (Ford Ion Park) in Michigan to accelerate research and development of battery and battery cell technology

GM announced the Wallace Battery Cell Innovation Center to speed up battery production and lower costs. They also located their first fully dedicated electric vehicle assembly plant (GM Factory Zero) in Hamtramck, with a commitment of 2,200 jobs.

Stellantis is building JEEP plug-in hybrid models at the first new assembly plant in Detroit in three decades as part of investment that brought 6,433 jobs in Michigan, including for more than 4,100 Detroiters.

Semiconductor wafer manufacturer SK Siltron is establishing new facility in Monitor Township to support electric vehicle growth, creating up to 150 jobs, investing $302 million

Manufacturers, suppliers, and R&D facilities are also choosing Michigan with XL Fleet opening its new Fleet Electrification Technology Center in Wixom and Magna International building a state-of-the-art facility in St. Clair to support GM's new GMC Hummer EV.

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A nonprofit group is raising money to preserve a Bad Axe landmark and create more affordable housing in the process.

According to its GoFundMe page, the Friends of Hubbard Memorial Hospital is seeking the publics help to complete the purchase of the building and begin work to convert it into a combination of monthly rental units, senior apartments and overnight lodging. The group has set a fundraising goal of $75,000.

Ken Guza, a member of the Friends of Hubbard Memorial Hospital, said hes gauged the level of community support for the project and found many have been receptive to the idea, and members of the business community have also expressed a willingness to lend a hand, but the group is relying on the members of the community for the financial backing needed to bring their plans to fruition.

Guza added the Friends of Hubbard Memorial Hospital have also partnered with the city of Bad Axe, Huron County, the state of Michigan and the federal government to obtain available funding and tax abatements, but the project wont happen without public backing.

Its a blight on the neighborhood, its a blight on the community, he said.

The Hubbard Memorial Hospital was built in 1906 to serve the people of Bad Axe and surrounding communities. The hospital closed around 1970 and was converted into apartments, which had been occupied until recently. The building is currently vacant and requires a realistic approach in purpose and goals, Guza said, which includes priorities when it comes to repairs.

The group has divided the project into three levels of priorities. The first level would be making units ready for monthly rental.

The second level would be a repurposing of the buildings third floor into a senior retirement community, intended for seniors who no longer want or are able to be on their own. It would not serve as a skilled nursing home environment. Assistance to residents for their daily needs would come from the community.

The third level of the project would be the creation of overnight lodging.
If youve noticed an alarming amount of acorns raining down on your deck or that your evergreens are covered with cones, youre not alone.

Oaks, black walnuts and other nut trees have produced a bumper crop of nuts this year, referred to as a seed mast. At the same time, many conifers, notably spruces, firs and Douglas-firs, have also produced huge cone crops .

To look at the reasons behind this bounty of nuts and cones, we need to work our way back through their development. In the case of the heavy mast of acorns and black walnuts produced this year, the nuts we see on the sidewalk or have to dodge with our bicycle tires began as flowers produced earlier this spring. If you are like most people, there is good chance you never noticed these flowers because they are pale green and inconspicuous on the trees. These flowers, or catkins, emerge from buds that were formed the previous year (i.e., 2020).

For much of Michigan, the late spring and summer 2020 were relatively dry. Trees often increase flower bud production when they are under stress, so the dry weather in 2020 resulted in increased production of flower buds that emerged in spring 2021 to produce the acorns were stepping on this fall.

For spruces and firs, it is similar phenomenon; tree stress in 2020 resulted in increased production of cone buds that emerged and developed in 2021. In addition to weather in the previous year, reproduction in trees is also influenced by alternate bearing cycles, where heavy mast years alternate with lighter years.

Lastly, weather when oak or walnut catkins are out can influence the mast as flowers may be subjected to damage from late frost, or prolonged, wet weather can reduce pollination. In the case of 2021, all of these factors coalesced into a perfect storm for a heavy year for acorns, nuts, and cones.

For the most part, the nuts and cones were seeing this year are mostly just a nuisance. For folks that manage wildlife, heavy mast years are a boon as acorns and other nuts provide high-fat food that is valuable to deer, turkey and other wildlife.

Heavy nut or cone production can cause reductions in growth as trees shift their available resources to producing reproductive structures instead of growth. However, Michigan State University Extension notes that heavy mast years are part of a natural cycle and should not cause long-term issue for trees.
Harbor Beach Board of Education members received a number of updates from administrators during the districts recent monthly meeting.

Elementary Principal Matt Quintano kicked off the meeting with student count numbers, reporting there were 188 students in grades K-5, and an additional 39 in pre-K. Afterward, Quintano gave his monthly report and detailed some important events.

The elementary school used grant money to hire Brian Stack, professional learning community guru, to visit the school several times during the 2021-22 school year. He was recently at the school, and he will revisit three more times in person. He will also hold five on-line meetings with school personnel.

During his visit, Stack worked with the upper elementary grade staff to create action steps and to set specific goals. Other topics covered included understanding rubrics and creating them with common assessments.

In addition, he discussed different areas of English and language arts, and he covered a new reading series, if needed.

In the lower elementary grades, Stack discussed foundational reading, math standards, and helped personnel investigate more ways to conduct cross-grade level interventions.

In his report, Quintano said the Harbor Beach homecoming parade was a huge success. The K-5 students rode a hay wagon in the parade and they had a great time. He also stated the Acadience testing is complete for the fall, and NWEA is now in progress.

Harbor Beach Middle School and High School Principal Aaron Bulgrien told the board there were 215 students in the high school, and 103 students in the middle school.

While discussing points of pride, Bulgrien said the third annual calling fair was recently held at Harbor Beach. Presenters from several professions were at the school to present classes. Grades 6-12 could choose up to five sessions to go to throughout the day. In addition, high school special education instructor Lindsey Talaski had received a grant through the ISD to purchase $3,000 worth of materials and resources for her students.

Later, Harbor Beach Schools Superintendent Shawn Bishop told the board that there was some damage to the roof during a recent storm. There had also been some small amount of water damage done because of the damaged roof.

He explained a roof hood had blown off and needed to be replaced. Luckily, it looks as if all repairs will be covered by the schools insurance.

He went on to tell the board there is a possibility there will be some funds left over from the recent school bond issue. If there are leftover funds, they will be spent to put air conditioning in up to eight rooms in the school.

Bishop concluded by saying he and his assistant, Deb Hunter, are looking into leases for new copy machines. He surprised the board by telling them that about 100,000 black and white copies are made each month in the schools. He then explained any lease that gives a small discount per copy will add up to a significant amount of money each month.
The demolition of the old Holiday Inn property still faces setbacks with asbestos removal.

On Monday, a review hearing for the old Holiday Inn case was supposed to take place, but it turned into more of a planning session. The property owner Jeff Kern appeared in court over the phone, and concerns were raised about the demolition delays as cold weather creeps into Midland.

Midland City Attorney James Branson said Kern recently replaced his previous lawyer, Richard Wolney, with attorney Floyd Gates, who appeared over Zoom during the court session. Kern had previously added and dropped an attorney earlier this year, making this Kerns third legal representative since this case started. Kern also changed his construction contractors, Branson said.

This caused the review hearing to be pushed back about 45 days until December, giving everything a fresh start, Branson said. No demolition progress has been made since the previous hearing on Sept. 20, he said. At the last hearing, the building was reported to be between 55% and 66% torn down.

The remaining portion of the building that is still standing is a hotbed of asbestos.

Gates said he will learn something from Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) sometime within the next 45 days, so Judge Michael Carpenter, of the 75th District Court, set the review hearing at 9 a.m., Dec. 6. The judge will ask how much of the building is torn down and how much of Kerns fines have been paid. Kern must appear in person, Carpenter said.

Gates said the building will not be down by Dec. 6, but said the building needs to come down. He reached out to an asbestos abatement and demolition company and had them conduct a site visit. The company came back and said the building was in horrible condition and was in danger of collapsing. Gates was given two options.

One option was to abate the asbestos, then demolish the building. The second option is to demolish the building as containing asbestos. This means the building would be torn down, then the remaining debris would be treated for asbestos. This would save time by not abating the asbestos, but would add to the removal time, Gates said.

The company said the building could be a candidate for this process, so he reached out to EGLE, and the representative said a local building official needs to determine if the building is in danger of collapsing or receive that opinion from a structural engineer. Gates said EGLE would check the site themselves to see if they will allow Kern to continue demolishing as containing asbestos.

Branson said Kern would have to employ a structural engineer to determine if the building is in danger of immediate collapse. He also said it would be dangerous to send in a city inspector.

Because of this, Carpenter said it doesnt sound like this option is viable, but Gates said its the only viable option. Gates said the company said the building could be down within the next 60-90 days, but it depends on the weather. If the building is torn down with asbestos, it must be wet while doing so, which would be a problem once winter arrives.

Branson said he is concerned about security of the building, with a section of the back gate removed and doors to the building wide open. He said it is a magnet for people to get in there, with new graffiti recently found on the building.

The 142,500-square-foot property has sat condemned since 2018. The city filed a lawsuit against Kern in 2020 after a long period of little action from the owner to tear down the structure located at 1500 W. Wackerly St.

Carpenter said if after a while, no progress is made, Kern could face charges of contempt of court again.

I believe that you are working on it, but I am going to keep reviewing this case until that building is down, Carpenter said.
On Monday, digital real estate company Zillow announced that due to a backlog in renovations and operational capacity constraints, the Zillow Offers program will not sign any new, additional contracts to buy homes through the end of the year.

Zillow Offers, Zillow's iBuyer program, was introduced in 2018 and now operates in 25 cities. iBuyer programs operate in markets including Grand Rapids, according to iBuyer.com. Zillow bought 3,805 homes in its 25 markets in the second quarter, a record high and more than double the number of homes the company purchased in the first quarter of 2021. Zillow Offers uses data and algorithms about the property and the market to make a cash offer on an off-market home, and buys directly from the homeowner.

The pausing of new contracts will allow Zillow Offers to focus operations on purchasing homes with already-signed contracts which have yet to close, reducing the renovation pipeline, the company said in a news release. Zillow will continue to market and sell homes through Zillow Offers during upcoming months.

"We're operating within a labor- and supply-constrained economy inside a competitive real estate market, especially in the construction, renovation and closing spaces," Jeremy Wacksman, chief operating officer at Zillow, said in a statement. "We have not been exempt from these market and capacity issues and we now have an operational backlog for renovations and closings. Pausing new contracts will enable us to focus on sellers already under contract with us and our current home inventory."

The announcement caused Zillow's stock to plummet 10% on Monday and Zillow shares have now fallen more than 30% this year, according to GeekWire. The housing market has shown signs of slowing in recent months.

Zillows home-buying segment brought in $772 million in Q2 revenue, up 70% year-over-year, and accounted for more than half of Zillows total revenue. The homes segment posted an adjusted loss of $29 million, down from $60 million.

Programs called iBuyers like Zillow Offers appeal to home sellers because closings can take place anywhere from 7 to 90 days after the contract is signed and can provide some certainty and control over the sale of their home without the hassle of finding an agent and prepping the house for market, according to CNN. According to Zillow, the fee to the seller for Zillow Offers averages 5%, but can vary based on market conditions.

"If you're trying to be number one in the market, slamming on the brakes is one of the worst things you can do," Mike DelPrete, an independent real estate technology strategist and scholar in residence at the University of Colorado Boulder, told CNN. "You want to make some adjustments before you get to that point -- slow down, switch gears. This is not the preferred outcome for Zillow."

Correction: Zillow Offers does not operate in Grand Rapids. Other iBuyers do.
Middletown Police / Contributed

MIDDLETOWN  A North Carolina man was arraigned in Superior Court at Middletown Tuesday on an assault charge after a victim was dropped off at a local hospital with what police described as severe injuries.

A female assault victim, who had extensive facial injuries, was dropped off at the Middlesex Hospital emergency department by a dark-colored sport utility vehicle, police said in a report. The driver then left the hospital.
NEW HAVEN  Long Wharf Theatre is staging The Chinese Lady, the intriguing true tale of a 14-year-old girl from the Guangzhou Province in China who comes to America in 1834.

The theater is offering live theater once again after a long hiatus due to the pandemic.

Afong Moy, the youngest of seven children, has no say in this momentous decision and soon finds herself a sideshow attraction. What was to be a two-year commitment ultimately lasts for decades  more than five.

Until Oct. 31, you are invited into her intimate world as penned by Lloyd Suh and lyrically directed by Ralph B. Pena as you make the acquaintance of a luminous Shannon Tyo as Afong Moy.

Living in a virtual box, she soon finds herself satisfying the curiosities of white visitors who have never seen a woman from China before. Afong May is thought to be the first person of Chinese origin to come here. She shows them how she dresses, what she eats, and, most especially, how she is able to walk on feet that have been crippled and bound with silk cord.

Afong Moy is regarded as a curiosity, figure to be studied, object to be examined. The decades she is put on display as a celebrity take a toll on her image of herself and her exotic ways. In the beginning, she is delighted to share her uniqueness, her chopsticks instead of a fork, her distinctive and colorful clothing, all the vestiges of a life that is rich and culturally different.

At her side over the years is her guardian and translator Atung, played by Jon Norman Schneider, who cares for her and protects her, especially when she goes on a many city tour, even meeting President Andrew Jackson.

She is never asked if this is what she wants with her new life, if she has ambitions that are never realized, whether she wishes to go home to see her family, that she is being exploited and never even paid. This is no grand mission of worldly understanding.

This is not a joyful honor of which Afong should feel pride.

The playwright skillfully inserts Chinese history into the story.

For tickets ($59), call Long Wharf Theatre, 222 Sargent Drive, New Haven, at 203-693-1486 or online at longwharf.org. Performances are Tuesday at 7 p.m., Wednesday at 2 and 7 p.m., Thursday and Friday at 7 p.m., Saturday at 2 and 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m.

Patrons must show fully vaccinated card and wear a mask.

Follow the fascinating journey of a young Chinese girl as she brings her culture and homeland to our shores.
STAMFORD  A 51-year-old city man who police say was behind seven commercial burglaries in just over a month was arrested Sunday.

Capt. Richard Conklin said Fabio Martinez-Rodriguez, 51, of Stamford, was arrested by police around 3:30 a.m. following a reported break-in at a variety store in downtown Stamford.

Police responded to a break-in at Parkview Variety, 233 Main St., at 3:15 a.m.

The suspect, who was caught on camera, smashed the front door of the store and made off $237, Conklin said.

Using surveillance footage from the store, police released a description of the suspect to all patrol officers and, within minutes, officers found a man fitting that description, later identified as Martinez-Rodriguez, walking down Atlantic Street.

Conklin said Martinez-Rodriguez had cuts on his hand from the smashed window at the store, as well as $237 in his pockets. Martinez-Rodriguez was treated for the cuts to his hands and then arrested, according to Conklin.

While in custody, Martinez-Rodriguez confessed to six other commercial burglaries, all of which involved smashing windows at local convenience stores and making off with money left in the register, over the past month, Conklin said.

According to Conklin, Martinez-Rodriguez confessed to burglarizing businesses at 162 Grove St. on Sept. 11, 820 East Main St. on Sept. 24, 777 Atlantic St. on Sept. 24, 320 Elm St. on Oct. 5, 27 Bedford St. on Oct. 9 and 199 Main St. on Oct. 10.

Martinez-Rodriguez was charged with third-degree burglary, sixth-degree larceny and criminal mischief in connection to Sundays break-in.

Conklin said police are in the process of drafting arrest warrants tied to the previous six burglaries.

Martinez-Rodriguez is being held on $100,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in court on Nov. 1.
Senate Democrats proposed a $24 billion boost in defense funding on Monday that could accelerate sexual assault reforms and bankroll the Marine Corps' effort to realign in the Pacific to counter China.

The annual spending bill unveiled by the Senate Appropriations Committee Monday would give the Pentagon $725.8 billion for fiscal year 2022, which started at the beginning of October. The federal government is currently funded with a stopgap spending measure as Congress debates funding levels.

The bill included more money than President Joe Biden had requested for defense. The legislation, produced by the committee that is currently controlled by Democrats, still must be debated and passed by the full Senate.

"It makes key investments to address the most pressing needs of our military so we don't lose ground to our adversaries, like China," Senate Appropriations Committee defense subcommittee Chairman Jon Tester, D-Mont., said in a statement. "It also makes common-sense cuts to underperforming programs and instead focuses on ensuring that our troops are well trained and well equipped with the most up to date technology."

Read next: Colin Powell, Former Secretary of State and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Has Died

The bill provides $400 million to "accelerate" implementation of the Pentagon's Independent Review Commission recommendations to reduce sexual assaults in the military, according to a committee summary.

The commission delivered its findings to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in June, and the Pentagon has said its first wave of foundational reforms will take six years to complete.

The Senate bill also added $2.5 billion for capabilities in the Indo-Pacific region. That includes $793 million more to help the Marine Corps realize its "Force Design 2030," the service's plan to restructure to better compete with China, according to the summary.

There's $41 million more for a missile defense radar on Hawaii; $100 million more for a missile defense system on Guam; and $750 million more for the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command to deploy a missile-tracking satellite demonstration system.

The Air National Guard would get $1.8 billion for 16 more C-130J aircraft, and military-wide operations would get a $4.3 billion boost.

Meanwhile, the legislation would eliminate an earlier $3.3 billion administration request for Afghan security forces, as well as rescind $500 million in unspent funds, after the U.S.-backed government in Afghanistan fell to the Taliban over the summer. The Pentagon has insisted it did not foresee such a quick collapse.

The bill released Monday is close to a $25-billion defense spending increase that the Senate Armed Services Committee approved in July when it advanced its defense policy bill and the House agreed to when it approved its own version of the defense policy bill last month.

But there will still be wrangling over what the final defense budget looks like for fiscal 2022.

Progressive Democrats have been hoping to slash the defense budget by as much as 10%, arguing even Biden's request was too large in the face of pressing domestic needs and nonmilitary threats such as pandemics.

Republicans and some centrist Democrats, meanwhile, have argued it's necessary to go over Biden's request to better compete with China.

Meanwhile, Congress passed a stopgap measure, known as a continuing resolution, on the last day of the fiscal year in September. That staved off disruptions in military pay and furloughs, but the measures prevent the Pentagon from starting new programs.

The Senate Appropriations Committee previously voted to approve a $124.4 billion Veterans Affairs and military construction spending bill in August, but the full chamber has not taken up any spending bills. The House passed a seven-bill spending package in August that included Veterans Affairs, but has not taken up the remaining bills including the Pentagon spending measure.

The stopgap funding lasts through Dec. 3. Senate Democrats released Monday's spending bills without Republican agreement, making it unclear whether Congress will be able to come to a deal and fund the Pentagon and the rest of the government by the December deadline.

If Democrats want full year appropriations bills, they must abandon their go-it-alone strategy and come to the table to negotiate, Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., the ranking member of the committee, said in a statement. We need a topline agreement that does not shortchange our nations defense and a willingness to set aside partisan politics.

-- Rebecca Kheel can be reached at rebecca.kheel@military.com. Follow her on Twitter @reporterkheel.

Related: Congress Votes to Avert Shutdown, Avoiding Military Pay Issues
More than a dozen unidentified U.S. service members have filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn the Defense Department's COVID-19 vaccine order, saying they have natural immunity from contracting the illness, are pregnant or trying to have a baby and don't want the vaccines.

The lawsuit -- the second filed by U.S. military personnel against DoD leadership and the acting commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration -- seeks exemptions from Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin's Aug. 25 mandate requiring the vaccine, as well as a temporary restraining order to stop the ongoing immunizations.

The suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for Northern Florida, argues that the order infringes "upon the plaintiffs' constitutional rights" and says the Food and Drug Administration did not consider COVID-19 immunity or pregnancy before approving the vaccine for adults ages 18 and older.

The FDA issued an emergency use authorization for Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine in December 2020 following clinical trials that showed the vaccine was more than 90% effective against the illness. Pregnant women and those who contracted COVID-19 were excluded from the initial trials, although studies are underway among pregnant women. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends the vaccine for this group, noting that COVID-19 often is more severe in pregnant women and the benefits outweigh the risks.

The service members, identified in court documents as John Doe 1-14 and Jane Doe 1-2, are represented by a team that includes lawyers for Defending the Republic, a Texas-based organization associated with Sidney Powell, the attorney for former President Donald Trump who filed several quickly dismissed lawsuits alleging, without evidence, widespread voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election.

Read Next: Military Would Get Boost for Sexual Assault Reform and Pacific Capabilities in Senate Budget Bill

The Florida case does not name the defendants. But it says several have requested religious exemptions and medical waivers but are facing deadlines for their respective services' mandates.

Of the two women and 14 men, seven are in the Air Force or Air Force Reserve; five are in the Marine Corps; three are in the Navy; and one is in the Army Reserve.

Nine are officers. At least six have requested religious waivers and one, a sailor, has had a religious exemption since 2013 but was told it does not apply to the COVID vaccine. Several have said they had COVID-19 and believe they qualify for a medical exemption.

One service member, an airman located in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, said he was forced to get a vaccine -- the single-dose Johnson & Johnson immunization, currently offered under an emergency use authorization.

Quoting a pre-print study -- meaning it has not been reviewed by other scientists as is required ahead of publishing for academic journals -- conducted in Israel of the lasting effects of natural immunity versus vaccination, the suit argues that "natural immunity confers longer lasting and stronger protection against infection."

The study, using data from Israel's second-largest medical organization, found that natural immunity provided longer-lasting and stronger protection against infection, symptomatic disease, and hospitalization specifically from the Delta variant.

It also found, however, that having COVID-19 and receiving at least one dose of the vaccine offered maximum protection. The data review found that those who had a previous coronavirus infection were twice as likely to get the illness again, compared with those who'd had COVID-19 and gotten the vaccine.

The Florida case is the second filed by service members in the past two months seeking to negate the vaccine order.

Army Staff Sgt. Daniel Robert and Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Hollie Mulvihill filed a potential class-action suit Aug. 17 in U.S. District Court in Colorado seeking an exception to the order for military members who have recovered from the illness.

The pair argue that service members who have natural immunity, developed from surviving the virus, should be granted a medical exception to the waiver.

Robert and Mulvihill also say, as do the Florida plaintiffs, that the Defense Department is pulling a "bait and switch," saying that the Pfizer vaccine supply used by the DoD is not the one licensed by the FDA and therefore can't be required since it was manufactured under an emergency use authorization.

According to the Food and Drug Administration, the FDA-approved vaccine, licensed under the brand name Comirnaty, is exactly the same as the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine tested in clinical trials and authorized for emergency use, or EUA. The FDA says they "can be used interchangeably to provide the COVID-19 vaccination series without presenting any safety or effectiveness concerns." By allowing medical providers to use vials of the vaccine manufactured before the full FDA approval, the Pentagon was spared from wasting thousands of doses that doctors say bear no difference to those produced shortly thereafter.

Plaintiffs in both cases say, however, that they can be required to take only the FDA-licensed vaccine under federal law.

Two judges already have recused themselves in the new vaccine mandate lawsuit case -- the first because he owns stock in Pfizer and the second for reasons not explained. Judge Allen Winsor has conducted a hearing on the motion on the temporary restraining order with responses due from the plaintiffs and defendants by Oct. 24.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs also have requested protective orders for their clients to ensure that their identities remain available only to a select few, including the defendants' attorneys.

As of Wednesday, 67 service members have died of COVID-19, including 41 since late July. Just one had been partially vaccinated. Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said last week that nearly 97% of active-duty personnel have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine and 84% were fully vaccinated.

When factoring in the National Guard and Reserve troops, however, the numbers drop: As of Wednesday, 75% of all forces had received at least one dose, including 60% who were fully vaccinated. Pentagon officials say the real numbers are likely higher as they arent able to track all the vaccines administered to Guard and reserve forces, many of whom may have gotten their vaccines at civilian facilities and havent reported their status to their commands.

While troops are able to apply for religious or medical waivers for the vaccines, few are being approved, according to data provided by the services.

As of August, the Navy had not issued any religious waivers for sailors and Marines, while the Air Force had given 336 administrative exemptions, including an unknown number of religious waivers.

The Army has issued 106 administrative exemptions, according to a report Monday in Military Times.

As of Oct. 7, roughly 103,000 active-duty service members had failed to get their first shot and face pending deadlines: The Air Force has set a Nov. 2 deadline, while active-duty Navy sailors and Marines have until Nov. 28. Active-duty Army soldiers must be vaccinated by Dec. 15.

Service members could face disciplinary actions if they refuse the vaccine. While the Army, Air Force and Marine Corps have yet to release their plans for handling personnel who refuse, Navy officials announced new administrative guidance last week for discharging noncompliant sailors.

Those who refuse the shot may be reassigned while their cases are heard and will not be promoted or given any other orders -- even if they have a pending exemption application, according to the guidance.

The specter of mass military discharges over the vaccine mandate has alarmed the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee. Sen. Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma released a letter Tuesday that he wrote to Austin demanding that the defense secretary "immediately suspend" what Inhofe called a "haphazardly implemented and politically motivated" mandate.

Pointing to a recent Washington Post article on how many troops have yet to be vaccinated, Inhofe suggested that "tens of thousands" of troops could be unable to comply with the mandate by the military services' deadline.

"The lack of strategic foresight in the implementation of the COVID vaccination mandate is inexcusable," Inhofe wrote in the letter. "Plainly stated, no service member, Department of Defense civilian or contractor supporting the department should be dismissed due to failure to comply with the mandate until the ramifications of mass dismissals are known."

Kirby said last week that, while the services may discharge members, Austin "believes there's lots of tools available to leaders, short of using the Uniform Code of Military Justice" to get troops to comply with the mandate.

"He wants to see everybody that can get the vaccine so that they can be safe for themselves and safe for their families, safe for their units," Kirby said.

-- Patricia Kime can be reached at Patricia.Kime@Military.com. Follow her on Twitter @patriciakime.

-- Rebecca Kheel can be reached at Rebecca.Kheel@Military.com. Follow her on Twitter @ReporterKheel.

Related: Pentagon to Require COVID-19 Vaccine for US Troops
The days of "Love Boat" ridicule for the Navy over unplanned pregnancies are a distant memory now.

The destroyer tender USS Arcadia gained the nickname during the Gulf War when at least 36 of its service women had to be transferred off the ship while deployed to the Persian Gulf due to pregnancies.

In the years since, the Navy has surpassed the other services in providing access to contraceptives, including those considered the most foolproof and effective.

Nearly 30% of Navy and Marine women were using long-acting reversible contraceptives, or LARCs, by 2019, according to a study in the current issue of the Defense Health Agency's monthly medical journal.

By contrast, less than a quarter of Air Force women were using the intrauterine devices and hormonal implants, which are nearly 100% effective in preventing pregnancy, and fewer than 20% of Army women were.

"Navy medicine continues to prioritize both contraception education and contraception access for sailors and Marines," Navy spokeswoman Angela Steadman said in an email. "We recognize that contraception is not only for family planning purposes, but is also incredibly important to our active duty women for menstrual management and operational readiness should they desire it."

The study showed increases in LARC use since 2016, when the Navy opened walk-in contraceptive clinics offering same-day services without an appointment to increase access to contraceptive counseling and prescriptions.

As of February, the Navy had more than 22 such clinics, usually held once weekly, including at bases in Europe. The Army had five, including a monthly clinic at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, and the Air Force had one.

The Defense Health Agency is now considering whether to mandate them at all military treatment facilities.

"The Navy has done a really great job with those clinics," said Army Lt. Col. Erin Keyser, the director of the gynecologic surgery and obstetrics program at Brooke Army Medical Center.

Keyser said that after the walk-in clinics patterned on the Navy's were launched at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, it took on average two hours for a patient to be provided with a LARC or other contraception.

That was compared with the average of eight hours it took when troops had to make appointments, often with different providers.

"Especially for young service women, it was a struggle, needing two or three appointments, and the delays that caused," Keyser said.

Overall LARC use in the services increased from 21.9% to 23.9% between 2016 and 2019, the study found, while usage of short-acting contraceptive use, such as hormonal rings, patches and oral contraceptives, decreased from 28.3% to 24.9%.

LARCs are more effective than other types of birth control because they're not reliant on the user, medical officials said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommend LARCs as the most effective means for preventing unintended pregnancy in women and adolescents. Some are also helpful in menstrual suppression, which can be welcome for service members during deployment.

But obstetrician Dr. Nisha Verma said it is important that providers discuss values and preferences with patients to decide together on the "best" contraceptive.

"It's really very individual," she said. "I'm always cautious about making sure we're not pushing it on people. Condoms might be the best for one person."

Barriers remain for servicewomen's health care, however.

Many female troops have said they received no contraceptive briefing before deployment, studies have shown, and fears of being reprimanded for sexual activity during deployment have caused some to forgo contraceptives.

Expert recommendations mandating pre-deployment women's health visits, ideally three months in advance so that any problems with contraceptives could be remedied, have been rejected, Keyser said.

But one of the most glaring omissions in service women's health care, according to clinicians, is the absence of abortion services.

The military does not perform abortions, and it pays for them only in cases of rape, incest or life endangerment. It also has no data pertaining to abortions.

A study by the research organization Ibis Reproductive Health found that service women with unplanned, unwanted pregnancies often avoided military treatment facilities because they feared stigma, lack of confidentiality and career impacts.

The study also found that some of those who did visit a military clinic "reported feeling upset or abandoned by the lack of options, counseling and referral" for abortion care.

Texas, which is home to numerous military bases, recently banned nearly all abortions, including in rape and incest cases. The ban challenges the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Roe v. Wade that legalized abortion nationwide.

"We're still in discussions whether we follow state or federal law," Keyser said, referring to abortions for rape, incest or life endangerment.
Richard Sisk has more than 45 years of journalism experience in reporting and editing in the U.S. and abroad for United Press International, the New York Daily News and now for Military.com. He has covered police beats, the courts, transportation and politics in New York City and Washington, D.C., and had numerous assignments in the Middle East, Europe and Latin America. He can be reached at Richard.Sisk@Military.com.

The opinions expressed in this op-ed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Military.com. If you would like to submit your own commentary, please send your article to opinions@military.com for consideration.

Back in February 2013, Colin Powell was at the State Department to preside over the official unveiling of the portrait commemorating his time as secretary of state.

But, first, the retired general and former Joint Chiefs chairman wanted to talk about hot dogs.

"I'm a New York guy," said Powell, who grew up on curving "Banana Kelly" Street in the South Bronx. "Whenever I go back to New York, I love walking up one of the great avenues, usually Park, and admiring the buildings and see[ing] all of humanity going by.

"And I always stop at one of the numbered cross streets to buy a hot dog from the hot-dog peddler, one of those New York dirty-water dogs that so many of you are familiar with," he continued. "But it has to have the mustard, the Sabrett mustard, and the red-onion relish. That's what makes a New York hot dog. And I do it all the time. And not too long ago, I was walking up Park Avenue. And I was going to follow my traditional pattern of going over to the hot-dog peddler ..."

But the vendor wouldn't take his money.

He was an immigrant, now a citizen, and he knew that Powell's parents were immigrants from Jamaica. Powell said the guy told him, "You can't pay me. I've already been paid. America has paid me. I'm here."

Powell was told by a bystander at the State Department event that he had it all wrong: A New York City dog minus the sauerkraut ain't a real city dog, they opined. But he was firm on the relish -- the kraut was out, at least for him. And then he cracked up.

Giving a discourse on hot dogs at a formal State Department event was typical of Powell, who mixed an innate sense of fierce pride with a sometimes self-deprecating attitude that communicated an air of accessibility, despite the high positions he held.

He could admit mistakes, although that might take a while, as he did about being wrong on the presence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. And he didn't hold a grudge, although that also might take a while.

Powell famously had a blowup with Hillary Clinton over her emails but went on to support her for president over Donald Trump.

He also had practical sense in his makeup, an ability to see where others wanted to go or could be convinced to go, that made him a leader despite his admittedly "C" average at City College in New York.

Powell carried that common sense with him through two tours in Vietnam, the rebuilding of the Army after the war, and his rise to chairman of the Joint Chiefs. He was the first person to hold that position to come from the Reserve Officers' Training Corps, or ROTC, as opposed to the "ring knockers" of West Point or the other service academies.

He was a car nut, rebuilding old models, and always wanted to be at the wheel -- to the dismay of his drivers when he was the top uniformed officer in the military.

He loved telling the story of ordering his driver into the back and driving up to the gate himself on a trip to the CIA. As related by Powell, the flabbergasted guard at Langley could be overheard telling a buddy: "I don't know who that guy in the back is, but he must be somebody really big. Colin Powell's his driver."

Powell brought to the positions he held a sense of the limitations of power and his ability to control events, and he spoke to those limitations on the way to address the Harvard Business School in June 1993.

The military at the time still had a ban on LGBTQ Americans serving in the ranks, and there was concern that Harvard, which was a hotbed of anti-war protest during Vietnam, might be confrontational about Powell's appearance. But the future masters of the universe at the Business School gave him a rousing welcome.

Somebody in a scrum of reporters, looking for a superlative out of Powell, asked his opinion on the best or worst thing about being Joint Chiefs chairman.

Powell said the worst thing was knowing that right then somebody, somewhere, in the chain of command was doing something so stupid -- something that might even start a war -- that it defied belief, "and there's not a damn thing I can do about it."

In November 2015, Powell was back at Harvard, this time for a panel discussion at the Law School, where he spoke about his 13 rules for great leadership. One of the rules was, "It ain't as bad as it looks. It will look better in the morning."

Powell added a caveat: Sometimes, it's worse in the morning, but you have to stay positive despite the mess. "You have to keep your team up," he said.
"It was all very pleasant just lying in the sun and watching the girls go by, but one day I suddenly felt bored with hanging around and went and joined the Marines," said no one ever.

Wait, someone did actually say (and do) that. The Cooler King, the King of Cool -- Steve McQueen -- who is a definite candidate for the Most Interesting Man in the World.

In the 1960s and 1970s, there was no American actor who personified cool like Steve McQueen. Whether the role was race car driver, detective, card player, gun for hire, escaping World War II prisoner of war or thief, casting McQueen made the character that much cooler -- and sometimes iconic.

No wonder he was one of the best-paid actors in Hollywood. But it was a long road to Los Angeles from his hometown outside of Indianapolis, Indiana. He was the love child of a stunt pilot, and his mother left the young boy on a farm with his grandparents, which was the best part of his childhood, he once told a journalist.

Eventually, his mother asked for him to be sent to live with her in Los Angeles. His then-stepfather was abusive, and Steve found himself on the streets at age nine, roaming around with a gang. He soon found himself in a juvenile detention facility, where he was unpopular with the other boys.

At age 16, he moved to New York with his mother, where he met two merchant mariners. They convinced him to join the U.S. Merchant Marine, his first taste of service. At his first stop in the Dominican Republic, he quickly abandoned his post and started working in a brothel.

From there, McQueen drifted about, doing odd jobs such as lumberjacking in Canada or selling pens in Texas. He was eventually arrested for vagrancy in the deep south of the United States and forced to work 30 days on a chain gang.

In 1947, at age 17, McQueen received permission from his mother to join the Marine Corps. He went through basic training at Parris Island, South Carolina. Initially, he was promoted to private first class in an armored division, but had trouble with authority and was demoted to private no less than seven times. At one point, he went absent without leave to spend two weeks with his girlfriend and was confined to the brig for 41 days.

Somehow, McQueen was assigned to the honor guard protecting the presidential yacht, the USS Williamsburg, where he spent the rest of his career until leaving the Marines in 1950.

Despite his trouble adjusting to military life, he remembered the Marine Corps fondly, saying, "The Marines made a man out of me. I learned how to get along with others, and I had a platform to jump off of."

Related: To create a personalized transition plan for yourself, and for transition guides and checklists, visit the Military.com Transition Center.

The GI Bill he earned as a Marine allowed McQueen to study acting in New York at Sanford Meisner's Neighborhood Playhouse and at HB Studio under famed actress Uta Hagen. To earn money while in school, he began racing motorcycles -- and he was good at it.

He soon had a couple of bikes of his own, along with a burgeoning stage career, and was ready to leave New York for Los Angeles. He was first noticed during an appearance on the CBS anthology series "Westinghouse Studio One" in a two-part crime show called "The Defenders."

McQueen's new manager got him roles in B movies to build up his repertoire. His first role was alongside a young Paul Newman. But his breakout came on television, on the CBS TV western "Wanted: Dead Or Alive." Steve McQueen was soon a household name.

By age 29, he'd come a long way from the brothels of the Dominican Republic, starring alongside Frank Sinatra in "Never So Few." Then came "The Magnificent Seven," a role with Yul Brenner, Eli Wallach, Robert Vaughn, Charles Bronson, Horst Buchholz and James Coburn. After that, he was done with television.

Next came "The Great Escape" and a slew of other hit movies; an Academy Award nomination; and his own favorite film, "Bullitt," and its legendary car chase scene -- in which McQueen does some of the driving himself.

Although the 1970s were less kind to his career, his reputation never suffered. He worked until he was diagnosed with mesothelioma in 1980. After doctors removed a series of tumors from the actor's neck, a heart attack ended his life at age 50.

-- Blake Stilwell can be reached at blake.stilwell@military.com. He can also be found on Twitter @blakestilwell or on Facebook.

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[October 19, 2021] Taiwan Innovations for the Automotive Market Take Centerstage at "Lights, Cameras, Electronics & Cockpits" Webinar AAPEX - Are you a buyer looking for the latest in advances in automotive parts for EOM and aftermarket? If so, now's your chance. To familiarize US buyers with Taiwanese automotive aftermarket products, Taiwan Excellence - the symbol of the best and most innovative products from Taiwan - will hold a webinar titled "Lights, Cameras, Electronics & Cockpits - Hot Innovations from Taiwan for Automotive Market" on October 27, 2021. The event will showcase some of the country's most technologically advanced automotive systems and components that drastically improve performance, safety, and comfort for drivers around the world. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211019005465/en/ Unveiling automotive breakthroughs from Taiwan for the US and Mexico Markets. Register here: https://bit.ly/3jf83Z7 (Graphic: Business Wire) Organized by the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA), Taiwan's foremost trade promotion organization, the webinar will shine the spotlight on advancements from 10 trailblazing companies unveiling next-generation technology for automotive OEM and aftermarkets. The event will also feature opening remarks from Amy Antenora, Editor of Aftermarket News. She will provide insights on the US automotive industry and Taiwan's contribution. In spite of Covid, the growth of the US automotive aftermarket is skyrocketing, and is expected to exceed US $448 billion by 2025 according to ResearchandMarkets. The US has become the largest market for Taiwan's automotive parts, accounting for more than 40% of the country's exports. The main exports include car lights, tires, and other items such as suspension and transmission systems. "Taiwan's auto-parts industry has leveraged small size into big output. They have invested heavily in automation and today excel in rapid prototyping and produce small batch orders on demand in less time and at competitive prices compared to the competition," said Mr. C. K. Wu, executive vice president, Taiwan Transportation Vehicle Manufacturers Association. "But even more important is the industry's commitment to innovation and investment. The U.S. is a beneficiary of many of Taiwan's most innovative and noteworthy products." The "Lights, Cameras, Electronics & Cockpits " webinar, which will broadcast on Taiwan Excellence's YouTube channel, will take place at 2:00PM EDT on Wednesday, October 27 with the following innovative automotive parts firms presenting their latest products: CUB ELECPARTS INC

Founded in 1979, CUB first made its name by manufacturing electrical switches and has since grown into a global automotive leader in electrical parts. Its innovative millimeter radar Blind Spot Detection System and itegrated tire pressure sensors are leading the way to make the road safer for all vehicles.



MiTAC Digital Technology

MiTAC Digital Technology embraces next-generation A-IoT, i.e. Artificial Intelligence of Things, to create advanced "smart" dashcams that help users navigate life - and the road - with increased peace of mind and performance. The company is unveiling their newest dashcams made for everyone from trucking fleet managers to everyday commuters.



EverFocus Electronics Corp. A leading provider of smart surveillance and smart transportation solutions, EverFocus aims to jumpstart smart transportation with a robust range of turnkey solutions on view, including industrial vehicle PCs integrated with the latest AI to monitor driver fatigue, component status, GPS tracking, and more. EverFocus' goal: improving vehicle safety and security.



Mobile Drive

A newcomer to the automotive industry, Mobile Drive's next-generation smart cockpit solution is poised to fundamentally change the driving experience. The company's all-inclusive cockpit system combines best-in-class infotainment with AI, deep learning and more to create a seamless technology solution that provides a cutting-edge user experience. A joint venture between Taiwan's Foxconn Group and car giant Stellantis, Mobile Drive focuses on in-car infotainment, telematics, cloud networks, and connected-car technologies.



Noodoe Corporation

With a mission to make the world greener through electric transportation, Noodoe transforms parking lots and traditional charging stations into smart EV charging locations that generate additional revenue. At the heart of this is Noodoe EV OS, a cloud-based network management solution. A global leader in EV charging technology, the company's products are used in 110 countries worldwide.



Chu Hung Oil Seal (CHO)

Founded in 1988, CHO is one of the worldwide leaders in sealing technology. The company's 35+ years of specialized expertise serves the auto industry with high-quality water and oil resistant seals for trucks, trailers, wheels, power steering, and more. Introducing a second patented design wheel hub seal, it is designed to reduce damage to the seal during installation, the primary cause of premature seal failure.



Hua-Jie Corp

Hua-Jie has over 30 years of experience in developing products that help "switch" the driving experience to the future - literally. A global touch switch manufacturer that develops innovative components to improve the user experience. It's newest design-quiet switches-eliminate the annoying "click," allowing drivers to operate the vehicle without being agitated by noise.



Uni Auto Parts

How easy is it to "sit back and relax" in your car? Uni Auto Parts believes that everyone should feel comfortable while driving - and they've made it their mission for over 50 years with their luxury car seats. Uni Auto Parts' luxury car seats are used worldwide in such global brands such as Mercedes-Benz, Ford (News - Alert), Honda, Kia, and more. They'll be showcasing their UNI Ottoman Luxury Car Seat which features a six-way power function: armrest, cup holder, ottoman, waist support, ventilation, heating, 2 position memory seat.



Lucidity Enterprise Co.

A brighter future for drivers lies ahead thanks to Lucidity Enterprise. Lucidity's mission is to bring brightness and safety to the world's transportation through comprehensive vehicle lighting products, including LED lights, incandescent lights, reflectors and more. The company is unveiling three innovative new products lighting up the roads - a 4" round rear lamp that improves and allows for personalization of the tailgate; it's turbo series which is easy on the eyes of other drivers; and new interior light designs that expand and multiply the luminosity.



DEPO Auto Parts (Maxzone)

DEPO was founded in 1977 to carry out its philosophy of "Perfect Auto Lamps, Perfect Safety." Two decades later, it brought that philosophy - and high-quality replacement auto lamps - to the North American market through its local distributor Maxzone. DEPI will showcase its advanced OLED environmentally friendly tail lights for the automotive aftermarket. The new taillight's multi-angle design reduces glare to other vehicles, helping reduce traffic accidents by vehicles coming from the rear and the sides. It not only is innovative but also improves safety. "Lights, Cameras, Electronics & Cockpits" Webinar Registration On Wednesday, October 27, TAITRA will host the webinar at 2:00PM EDT. The webinar will provide access to these innovative companies' spokespeople and their products. The first 60 registered attendees will receive a free $25 Amazon gift card. Interested buyers and media representatives are encouraged to register in advance, as well as to request for one-on-one briefings here. Information about TAIWAN EXCELLENCE and TAITRA: The symbol of Taiwan Excellence was established in 1992 by Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs, and subsequently the Taiwan Excellence Selection was launched the following year. The selection is based on the distinct criteria of R&D, quality, design, and marketing. Products that have been selected for the Taiwan Excellence Awards would serve as examples of the domestic industries and be promoted by the government in the international market in an effort to shape the creative image for Taiwanese businesses. This year marks the 26th selection, making the symbol of Taiwan Excellence a prestigious brand for enterprises in Taiwan to strive and be recognized by, and is highly reputed throughout the world. Please visit www.taiwanexcellence.org for more information. Organized by: Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) is the foremost non-profit, semi-governmental trade promotion organization in Taiwan. Founded in 1970 to help promote foreign trade, TAITRA is jointly sponsored by the government, industry associations, and several commercial organizations. TAITRA assists Taiwanese businesses in strengthening their international competitiveness and in dealing with the challenges they face in foreign markets. TAITRA boasts a well-coordinated trade promotion and information network consisting of over 1,200 trained specialists stationed throughout its Taipei headquarters and 60 branches worldwide. Together with its sister organizations, the Taiwan Trade Center (TTC) and Taipei World Trade Center (TWTC), TAITRA has created a wealth of trade opportunities through effective promotion strategies. www.taitra.org.tw View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211019005465/en/

[ Back To www.mobilitytechzone.com\LTE's Homepage ]
The economic offences wing (EOW) of Delhi police has arrested three persons for siphoning off Rs300 crore taken as loan from Yes Bank. Those arrested include Yateesh Wahal and Satish Kumar Narula, both directors of former corporate lobbyist Nirra Radia's Nayati Healthcare & Research NCR Pvt Ltd, and Rahul Singh Yadav, proprietor of Ahluwalia Construction, a dummy firm. Mr Narula is managing director, and Mr Wahal is executive director of Nayati Healthcare & Research Pvt Ltd, founded by Ms Radia and her sister Karuna Menon.

In his complaint, Delhi-based orthopaedic surgeon Dr Rajeev K Sharma has alleged Nayati Healthcare & Research NCR, floated by Ms Radia in May 2018, allegedly took a loan of Rs312 crore from Yes Bank to develop a hospital for Vidyasagar Institute of Mental Health, Neuro & Allied Sciences (VIMHANS) but misappropriated the money.

Last year in November, the EOW had registered a case against two firms, including Nayati Healthcare and Narayani Investment Pvt Ltd, the holding company of Nayati Healthcare & Research NCR. Nayati Healthcare and Narayani Investment are accused of siphoning, embezzlement and forgery of a bank loan of Rs312.50 crore in 2018-2020 in Primamed Hospital projects of Gurugram and Vimhans Hospital in Delhi. ( Read: EOW files case against Niira Radia's Nayati Healthcare for Rs300 crore fraud

In a release, the Delhi police says, Dr Sharma owned 49% in OSL Healthcare Pvt Ltd, with Chandan Mishra and Charchit Mishra holding the balance. OSL Healthcare signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for operating and managing VIMHANS' internal patients' department (IPD), out-patients department (OPD), emergency and diagnostic services. Dr Sharma was promised a remuneration of Rs30 lakh per month as his professional fee for his services.

However, OSL Healthcare faced financial issues during the completion and sold its 51% to Narayani Investment for Rs99 crore. However, Dr Sharma alleged that his stake was reduced to mere 6.3% from 49% in a 'deceitful manner' after this deal, and his remuneration worth Rs15.28 crore was not paid.

During the investigation, Delhi Police says "found that after receiving a loan, a sum of Rs208 crore was transferred to a bank account in the name of Ahluwalia Construction. On verification of the account, it was found that Rahul Singh Yadav opened it (the bank account) to divert or siphon off the loan amount as it was a dummy account. Ahluwalia Construction, a renowned builder, replied that it has worked at the site of the Gurugram project and had received only Rs10 crore from the company. The project is still incomplete."

"It was also found that the transfer of Rs208 crore was authorised by Yateesh Wahaal and Satish Narula, being the directors or authorised signatories of the loan account of the alleged company," the release says.

Promoted by Ms Radia, Nayati Healthcare & Research claims to be India's first multi super-speciality healthcare chain starting operations in tier-II and tier-III cities. The former corporate lobbyist's taped telephone conversations implicated her influence in the allocation of key ministries in the government of India in 2009. Discussion of the tapes resulted in the "Radia tapes controversy", which resulted in the resignation of A Raja, the then telecom minister and Ms Radia's departure from corporate lobbying.

The website of Nayati Healthcare is, however, not reachable. Even after trying to access it on different browsers and devices, we received an error message that says, "nayatihealthcare.com took too long to respond." Even Facebook and LinkedIn pages of Nayati Healthcare are not updated. The last message on the company's LinkedIn page was posted about nine months ago. Similarly, its Facebook page shows the last message posted in January 2021.

Earlier on 29 September 2019, Uttar Pradesh (UP) chief minister (CM) Yogi Adityanath inaugurated Arogya Mandir (mobile hospital) funded and run by Ms Radia's Nayati Healthcare in Varanasi.

Hon'ble Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Shri #YogiAdityanath

inaugurating Shri Kashi Vishwanath Arogya Mandir, Varanasi, managed and operated by Nayati Healthcare, under the aegis of Shri Kashi Vishwanath Temple Trust. @myogiadityanath @shrivishwanathhttps://t.co/6gyIanlQDK  Nayati Healthcare (@Nayatihealth) September 29, 2019

Photos of the CM and Ms Radia during the inauguration ceremony were tweeted by the official handle of the CM office.
Janis Bruwelheide began her career at Montana State University in 1974 and retired in 2013 as professor emerita. She received a sabbatical to work for OCHE on distance education and interactive television when the Internet was in the early phases of educational use. Bruwelheide was an early advocate of distance education using interactive television and software. With a substantial U.S. Department of Education grant, Bruwelheide created the Borderless Access to Training and Education (BATE) program, which converted a campus-based undergraduate K-12 school library media program into an ongoing self-sustaining graduate online program serving thousands of teachers throughout Montana and beyond. BATE helped expose, reduce and resolve barriers to distance education. For 39 years at MSU, Bruwelheide remained on the cutting edge. Her determination and foresight are part of the reason why her college was an early adopter of distance learning despite skepticism from her primarily male colleagues in instructional technology. She understood that distance learning would deliver educational opportunities to all of Montana in support of the land-grant mission. She is a nationally recognized expert on copyright law with a landmark book published by the American Library Association and National Education Association, The Copyright Primer (2nd Ed., 1995).

Without Janis Bruwelheides dedication and hard work, the Borderless Access to Training and Education program, which positively impacts so many lives and careers, in Montana and beyond, simply would not exist.
Florence Dunkel has made remarkable contributions to the status of women at Montana State University as well as nationally and internationally. Joining MSU as an entomology professor in 1988, she became the College of Agriculture's first female department head and the second woman to chair an entomology department at any U.S. land-grant university. She has inspired countless women students to pursue careers in the life sciences. Dunkel's innovative, experiential teaching methods have garnered many awards, including the President's Excellence in Teaching Award (2013) and the Entomological Society of America's Distinguished Achievement Award in Teaching (2012). Her courses are multicultural in perspective and strongly emphasize engagement. For example, her fifth and most recent academic book (Elsevier 2017) documents how she engaged students in service-learning on the Northern Cheyenne and Apsaalooke reservations as well as in "Peace Corps-type" projects in Africa. One of these projects is credited with virtually eliminating malaria in a village in Mali. Dunkel was the first woman to lead a USDA scientific team to mainland China. Her research on the biocontrol of insects and biorational natural products resulted in safe alternatives to chemical pesticides, for which she has been awarded two patents, each sub-licensed to biotech firms.

Florence Dunkel is an extraordinary exemplar of engagement and has truly advanced the status of women during MSU's first 125 years.
Dorothy Eck served in the late 1960s as president of the Montana League of Women Voters and was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention in 1972. The Montana State Constitution was widely hailed as one of the best in the country. As part of the Bill of Rights committee, she worked on the all-important "right to know" and "right to participate." Demanding open and participatory government as a right was an important part of Eck's lasting legacy. In 1973, Eck was asked to be the state-local coordinator to put the participatory goals of the new constitution into practice. She was the first woman to hold high office in the executive branch of Montana government, and she chaired the Governor's Task Force on Citizen Participation. Eck was elected to the state senate in 1980 and was a relentless advocate for funding for education and for the Montana University System. She worked for more robust health care for children and families and for adequate mental health care. After she retired from the senate in 2000, she remained an engaged and active citizen and continued to be a role model for many young people.

Dorothy Eck brought a steady, strategic and compassionate spirit to her work and gained the respect even of those who opposed her.
Florence Garcia (Dakota-Nakoda) has served in multiple leadership roles at Montana State University institutions and at a tribal college. Garcia is the associate dean of City College of MSU-Billings where she is responsible for all academic programs. At MSU-Bozeman, Garcia served as TRIO director, a Council of Elders member, adjunct faculty in several departments and an alumni board member. Garcia has held multiple administrative and academic positions, culminating in her becoming the first woman president at Fort Peck Community College. Subsequently, she attended the 2012 HERS Summit for Women Presidents and Chancellors and was then instrumental in forming the Montana Tribal College Presidents Association. Garcia is an advocate for inclusivity at all institutions; she nominates and encourages underrepresented students to apply for awards, scholarships, internships, honors and employment. She works to increase student retention and graduation through cultivating a sense of belonging. Garcia fosters cross-cultural understanding by taking non-Native faculty to tribal colleges to deepen their knowledge of Native culture and education, then teaches them how to integrate this knowledge into courses. Garcia gave the keynote address at the 2018 MSU Native alumni breakfast and inspired a broad audience to continue to grow in understanding.

Florence Garcia has served in leadership roles at mainstream universities and tribal colleges. At each one, she was an advocate for inclusivity, cross-cultural understanding and cultivating a sense of belonging.
Nora Chestnutt Gerrity graduated from Montana State Universitys inaugural Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana and Idaho (WWAMI) medical program class in 1975 and the University of Washington Medical School in 1979. After residency in pediatrics at the University of Michigan, she began pediatric practice, specializing in endocrinology, in Great Falls. She has been a tireless advocate for women in medicine in Montana for over 35 years. Gerrity provided care to children with severe illness, trauma, disability and alleged abuse. She was a part of the early development of the child advocacy team for treatment of sexual assault victims in Cascade County and served as the WWAMI site coordinator in pediatrics for 14 years and on the board of directors for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Montana for 20 years. She guided the development of the hospitalist model and the creation of simulation laboratories for nursing students. Her quiet caring and gentle demeanor made a positive impact on the lives of many nurses, students, physicians, children and their families. Gerrity and her husband, Tom, established a scholarship for advanced practice nurses in honor of her mother who was an MSU School of Nursing grad in 1971.

Nora Gerrity has made a significant difference in medicine, in the development of the hospitalist model, and in the lives of many nurses, students, physicians, children and their families in the course of an outstanding career.
Olga Ross Hannon taught art at the Sheridan, Wyoming, high school before joining the faculty at Montana State College in 1921. She served as head of applied art at MSC from 1941-1947. She served as acting dean of the Division of Household and Applied Arts in 1944-1945. In addition to teaching, she organized Delta Phi Delta, the art honorary at MSC and served as a national president for eight years. Hannon was Montanas representative on the American Artists Professional League. She was editor of the art section of the MEA. Hannon was a collector of Indian, oriental and Mexican arts and crafts and photographed Native people throughout Montana and other western states. She spearheaded a project for preserving the designs on the painted lodges of the Blackfeet Indians by means of the silkscreen process.  from the Montana State University Library, Merrill G. Burlingame Special Collections description.

Hannon Hall, one of the remaining two all-women's residence halls, was named in honor of Olga Ross Hannon.
Michelle Maskiell received her Ph.D. in history from the University of Pennsylvania and pursued a long and successful career in academics studying gender in South Asia. Rumor has it that a stay in India during college sent her home with a diamond in her nose and a career-shaping interest in the history and culture of South Asia. She began working at Montana State University in 1984 and served in a number of high-level administrative positions, including affirmative action officer, assistant dean in the College of Letters and Science and assistant vice president for academic affairs. In 1988, Maskiell became the first woman to chair the Department of History, Philosophy and Religious Studies at MSU. With an eye toward a possible future major in womens studies, Maskiell helped form and co-chaired the founding committee to organize what is now the women's gender and sexuality studies minor. In addition to many other awards, she received the Betty Coffey award in 2002. Her numerous publications made her a leading voice on gender issues in modern South Asia.

Michelle Maskiell taught me how to think. She taught me how to write. She taught me how to take a break. She taught me how to believe in myself. But, most of all, Michelle gave me an opportunity. I am beyond grateful.
Helene Michael earned her bachelors degree in mechanical engineering technology from Montana State University in 1985 and launched a successful career at Boeing. After serving in various positions at the company, including manufacturing engineer, engineering supervisor and factory supervisor, she was named vice president of 737 manufacturing operations. In 1993, she represented Boeing at the international welding conference in Kiev, Ukraine, and Moscow, Russia, where delegates from five nations gathered to discuss the need for an international aerospace welding exchange. Michael worked for the company for more than a quarter of a century before retiring in 2011. Michael has contributed to the Norm Asbjornson College of Engineerings advisory council since 2007 and has been involved with MSUs Women in Engineering student chapter. She was the keynote speaker at the Women in Engineering dinner in 2005 and 2011. In 2013, MSU awarded Michael an honorary doctorate in engineering. In 2014, Michael joined the MSU Alumni Foundation board of governors and the building committee for the Norm Asbjornson Innovation Center. In addition, she has actively mentored students participating in the MSU Mentoring Program since the kickoff of the program in 2013.

Helene Michael, retired vice president at Boeing, is known as a great advocate for women in engineering.
Shyla Patera may perceive herself as an ordinary individual, but she is truly extraordinary when it comes to perseverance and overcoming obstacles. At an early age, Patera endured four surgeries in hopes that she would one day walk. She was eventually diagnosed with cerebral palsy and accepted that she would never walk. She remained focused on her dream to go to college even when others said it would be impossible, and her determination to achieve her goals never wavered. In 1993, Patera graduated from Montana State University. Words cannot begin to describe her fortitude when helping others despite significant limitations. After graduation, Patera spent a summer in Bulgaria exchanging ideas with other disabled citizens as communism was coming to an end. She worked in Florida at a Center for Independent Living, and lived in Philadelphia for 13 years where she was an aide at Philadelphia Differed Schools and a Vista volunteer. Patera eventually returned to Montana where she presently works at North Central Independent Living Services Inc. in Black Eagle. She remains a constant citizens advocate and has spoken before the legislature in advocacy for others. Patera knows the challenges facing the future, but remains undaunted in her enthusiasm to continue making a difference in the lives of others.

Shyla Patera knows the challenges facing the future, but remains undaunted in her enthusiasm to continue helping and making a difference in the lives of others.
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October 19, 2021 More Brain Death At NATO Two years ago France President Macron diagnosed NATO's 'brain death': "What we are currently experiencing is the brain death of Nato," Mr Macron told the London-based newspaper. He warned European members that they could no longer rely on the US to defend the alliance, established at the start of the Cold War to bolster Western European and North American security. Since then NATO's condition has further deteriorated. The second biggest army under NATO command, Turkey's, is now hostile to the U.S. which continues to support PKK terrorists who are fighting against the Turkish state. Since the 2016 coup attempt against President Erdogan Turkey had leaned towards Russia. It has bought Russian air defense systems which enables it to defend itself against NATO attacks. The relations with the U.S. and with NATO have since further declined. Macron's diagnose came when the U.S. pulled some forces out of Syria. The NATO allies had not been informed about the move. This year's U.S. retreat from Afghanistan was likewise not communicated before its announcement even as NATO had an official mission in Afghanistan. Getting ignored by the U.S. does not create the trust needed for an enduring military partnership. Then came the new AUKUS alliance which put the U.S. focus on China while screwing France out of a huge submarine contract with Australia. When U.S. President Biden called Macron to apologize for the insult Macron gained a statement of U.S. support for an independent European army: The United States also recognizes the importance of a stronger and more capable European defense, that contributes positively to transatlantic and global security and is complementary to NATO. The folks at NATO's headquarter in Brussels will have read that with deep fears. A separate European Union army, which France has long promoted, will inevitably diminish NATO's role. NATO's original mission, to keep the U.S. in Europe, to keep Russia out of Europe and to hold Germany down, has withered away. The U.S. is concentrating on China and will do so for the foreseeable future. Russia is no longer interested in Europe. Germany is militarily irrelevant, has an aging population and no interest in any expansion. With Russia having no interest in Europe NATO also lost its favored enemy. While the Baltic states, Poland and the United Kingdom are still hyping Russia as an enemy - mostly for domestic reasons - no one in Italy, France or Germany believes that Russia has plans to attack anyone. The NATO bureaucrats know all this. To stay in business they continue to lash out at Russia. Most recently by sending some Russian diplomats at NATO's headquarter back home without any sane reason. Russia wasn't impressed by the move. It has resolved to from now on ignore NATO: Russia plans to cease its diplomatic engagement with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the Russian foreign minister said on Monday, in the latest sign of unraveling relations between Moscow and the West.

...

By early next month, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said, Russia will halt the activities of its representative office at NATO headquarters in Brussels and withdraw diplomatic credentials from emissaries of the alliance working in Moscow.

...

Earlier this month, NATO ordered eight Russian diplomats to leave Belgium by Nov. 1, saying they were undeclared intelligence officers. The alliance also reduced the size of the Russian representative office.

...

Relations with the alliance had in any case long ago gone off the rails, he said. NATO had already twice reduced the size of the Russian delegation, in 2015 and 2018, he said. On the military level there are absolutely no contacts taking place, he said. He said NATO had set up a prohibitive regime for Russian diplomats in Brussels by banning them from its headquarters building. Without visiting the building, he said, they could not maintain ties with alliance officials. Mr. Lavrov suggested the expulsions of Russian diplomats had come as an unwelcome surprise, as he had met in New York just days earlier with the alliances secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, and discussed de-escalating tensions. He in every way underscored the honest, as he said, interest in the North Atlantic alliance in normalizing relations with the Russian Federation, Mr. Lavrov said. Since his surprise move against Russian diplomats NATO's secretary general has visited the U.S. where he received new marching orders. He announced these in an interview (paywalled) with the Financial Times. Alex Lantier takes it apart: Speaking yesterday to the Financial Times of London, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg demanded that the military alliance intensify its threats against China. His remarks highlighted both the extremely aggressive policy pursued by the NATO alliance and explosive divisions emerging among the NATO imperialist powers.

...

Stoltenberg was returning from a meeting with Biden in Washington, where he also spoke at Georgetown University, provocatively demanding that NATO step up and do more to allow countries on Russias borders to join the NATO alliance. His Financial Times interview was a barely disguised message from the White House calling for the EU powers to fall in line with the mounting US war drive targeting China. NATO, Stoltenberg insisted, should target not only Russia but China as well. He criticized this whole idea of in a way distinguishing so much between China, Russia, either Asia-Pacific or Europe, adding, its one big security environment, and we have to address it all together.  Its about strengthening our alliance to face any potential threat. He denounced China, claiming it was a major security threat in Europe. Good luck with selling that to European taxpayers. China is by no means a security threat to Europe. Certainly none which a military alliance bound to the North Atlantic's geography has to or can confront. China has good relations with most European countries, is trading with all of them and is Germany's largest customer. NATO was created when it was in the common interests of its members to counter the Soviet Union. With regards to China U.S. and European interests diverge strongly. What the U.S. sees as a serious competitor to its outsized role in the world is seen in Europe as a non aggressive partner that creates new economic opportunities. During next years NATO summit in Madrid the U.S. will want to put China firmly on NATO's agenda. But I highly doubt that the European NATO countries will commit to anything but mealy mouthed statements. They will certainly not cough up money to create new NATO capabilities that could actually be used against China. NATO is dead. It has outlived its purpose and utility. To keep peace in Europe the creation of a new military cooperation framework in parallel to the European Union makes much more sense. It should not be the aggressive imperial force France envisions to defend its interest in Africa. To keep peace within Europe a defensive cooperation, operationally limited to its members' European geography, makes the most sense. The incoming new German government could take the initiative to create it. Posted by b on October 19, 2021 at 17:31 UTC | Permalink Comments next page  next page 
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp addresses the Governors Luncheon at the Sunbelt Ag Expo Tuesday. From left are 2021 Virginia 4-H Youth in Action Award winner and State 4-H Cabinet member Andrew Charlie Sloop, Associate Dean and Director of Virginia Cooperative Extension Edwin Jones, Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black, Kemp, owner of VM, LLC Van McCall, VP Smokeless Marketing for Swisher International Inc. Ron Carroll and Executive Director for the Sunbelt Ag Expo Chip Blalock.
Robert Bob Martin Hall of South Carolina was named the Swisher / Sunbelt Expo Southeastern Farmer of the Year Tuesday at the Expos Governors Luncheon. From left are Expo Director Chip Blalock, Hall, his wife Susan, and Ron Carroll, VP Smokeless Marketing, Swisher International Inc.
The Texas Legislature finalized a senate bill Monday that will include $40 million to expand access to mental health services in West Texas by funding construction of a new mental health focused hospital campus.

The bill is Senate Bill 8 and it makes supplemental appropriations of specific funds Texas received under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.

The $40 million for West Texas mental health services will includes funding for the construction of a new mental health focused hospital campus that  when completed -- will be operated by a partnership between the Midland County Hospital District and Ector County Hospital District. This funding will benefit Texans by helping to meet a shortage of mental health care in the area.

This funding has been a priority of state Rep. Tom Craddick and area health care leaders.

"Our communities in West Texas have a dire need for quality mental health care, Craddick said in a news release. The mental health campus is a great stride toward meeting the mental health needs of West Texas. I am honored to have worked on securing this funding and look forward to this facility being a resource for generations to come."

The campus will not only include inpatient services, but also a crisis stabilization unit, therapeutic spaces appropriate for all ages, counseling offices, community education and residency services. The campus is expected to be completed before 2024.

The bill has gone through the conference committee of the Texas House and Senate. The ensuing conference committee report still must be adopted by both legislative bodies.
Sun Valley, ID (83353)

Today

Mainly cloudy with a mixture of rain and snow showers developing during the afternoon. High near 40F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%..

Tonight

Some clouds. A few flurries or snow showers possible. Low 23F. Winds light and variable.
News

top story

National dog agility competition draws in Rutherford County residents

SUBMITTED Ten-year-old dog handler Mahayla Shirley guides her Havanese pooch Dolly Barkin through the blue and yellow weave poles at LiveWire Agilitys advanced training course in Christiana. SUBMITTED Ten-year-old dog handler Mahayla Shirley (left) and her four-legged friend Dolly Barkin work with dog trainer Tawni Millet (right) at her LiveWire Agility training course in Christiana each week. Mahayla and her dad, Michael Shirley, agree that Dollys favorite obstacle is the A-frame that shes resting on in the photo. He said her excitement soars when she hears Mahayla instructs her to Climb it! Climb it! Climb it! SUBMITTED Tawni Millet and her border collie Little Sparkle won Team USAs only gold medal at the 2019 World Agility Championships. SUBMITTED Dog trainer Tawni Millet of Christiana and her dog, Jolt, won the agility competition held in 2019 in Murfreesboro.

Four-legged athletes from across the country will soon pad their paws into Murfreesboro for an opportunity to show off their skills in a five-day agility competition to reveal which canine competitor is top dog.

The Cynosport Dog Agility World Games sponsored by the United States Dog Agility Association, is set to take place at the Tennessee Miller Coliseum from Wednesday, Oct. 20 through Sunday, Oct. 24. The Middle Tennessee event is one of two national championships to take place this year. The other will begin on Nov. 30 in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Pooches will be partnered up with their handlers to run, jump and weave their way through a series of obstacles that showcase obedience, coordination and the bond between owner and pet. Pairs are scored based on timing and accuracy in completing the course in the correct order for a chance to win $15,000.

Murfreesboro previously hosted the event in 2019, when Tawni Millet of Christiana took home the Grand Prix of Dog Agility win in the 22-inch division with her border collie, Jolt, named after the Mountain Dew Live Wire drink.

Millet, a full-time dog trainer and owner of LiveWire Agility, is scheduled to compete again this year with Jolts canine kids, Little Sparkle and Legendary. Jolt will compete in the performance level, which includes jumps at a lower height to accommodate aging dogs.

Little, who took home gold as the U.S. competition at the World Agility Championships in Hellendoorn, Netherlands, was the littlest dog of the Little Sparks litter and Millets first homebred pup.

She was born at only seven ounces. The rest of her litter was twice the size of her, said Millet. I wanted her to have a very special name because she was so small, and I couldnt change it after eight weeks.

Millet, who moved to Middle Tennessee from the Chicago area three and half years ago, owns a brood of border collies, whom she posts regular updates about on her social media pages. When shes not working with her own dogs, shes helping others in and outside of the county learn how to become better connected with their own.

Staying positive and relationship building is one of the most important things in my opinion. If you dont have a relationship there, it doesnt matter how good all the other pieces are. It just doesnt come together the same way, said Millet, who has been competing in agility since she was in the seventh grade in 2004.

Training Dolly Barkin

One  or two  of the clients Millet has taken on in the last year are Mahayla Shirley, 10, and her 4-year-old Havanese Dolly Barkin, named after the Country Music Hall of Famer Dolly Parton.

Because her parents own Family Pet Health, a veterinary clinic on Manchester Pike in Murfreesboro, Mahayla has been around animals all her life.

This year, the McFadden School of Excellence student successfully raised two breeds of chickens as a part 4-H Chick Chain Show project and regularly helps out with cleaning and fabric-cutting tasks around the clinic. She also worked with horses before severe allergies came into play.

Shes the middle child of three, with an older brother Tristan, 20, who used to show pigs in 4-H and FFA and a younger brother M.J., 8, recently started testing his border terrier Cookie Doughs speed at the Murfreesboro Obedience Training Club.

Agility training truly came into Mahaylas focus after her father, former Riverdale High agriculture teacher Michael Shirley, took her on a daddy-daughter date to the 2019 competition. He credits his FFA students for brainstorming Dollys name.

Mahaylas mom, Dr. Amy Shirley, said Dolly was the preferable option to the suggested name, Oreo.

Shirley remembers having a ringside view of the competition dogs winding their way in and out of the weave poles while shooting photos and video for the clinics Facebook page.

Mahayla said that she wanted to try that with Dolly, and the rest is history as they say, said Shirley, who came home to his daughters DIY-version of an agility course assembled from household items strewn together in the familys living room.

I used a hula hoop, and I used chairs, and I tied it together for the first jump, said Mahayla, explaining the elements of her homemade course.

The pair now uses the former agility equipment Dr. Jean Lavalley, a Murfreesboro veterinarian who competes in events with her Shetland sheepdogs.

Lavalley will team up with Venture, co-owned by Linda Robertson, and Bee, co-owned by Jennifer Crank. Crank will compete in the individual events and Lavalley in the team events.

Shirley and Dolly began their training journey at Wag It Better before moving on to the Murfreesboro Obedience Training Club. Since then, Dolly has earned her Canine Good Citizen certificate and completed her Tricks and Acting class.

Shirley said the biggest benefit of the agility training has been the physical and mental stimulation it has for pets and their owners. Rather than building a super athlete with jogs and games of fetch, theyre getting a workout of the mind.

Mahayla and Dolly have since worked their way through the beginner and intermediate classes at Murfreesboro Obedience Training Club and now meet with Millet on Wednesday evenings for advanced practice of the numbered obstacles.

To Mahaylas surprise, Dollys favorite agility obstacle is the A-frame, an incline shaped like the letter A that the dogs will ascend and descend.

I thought shed get scared when it comes time to running straight down something pretty much, but shes like, Oh, Yay!,  said Mahayla, whos now working to get Dolly more comfortable with the seesaw and weave poles.

Her dad agreed, noticing the physical change in Dollys demeanor when approaching this specific obstacle.

When she sees the A-frame and hears Mahayla say, Climb it! Climb it! Climb it! she starts running hard, and her tail, which is naturally curled up, stretches out in a straight line and she shoots right up that A-frame and right down the other side, said Shirley.

The biggest lesson the pair have learned is to lock eyes and stay connected, the piece of advice that has been Millets tagline for quite some time.

In the few months that theyve worked together, shes noticed a great deal of improvement in her youngest clients confidence, techniques and handling choices to guide her girl through the course.

It reminds me of when I first got into this sport, and just seeing her happiness, her attitude with Dolly, it just lights up my day when they come to class, said Millet, who teaches between 75 and 100 clients in and outside of the county. Shes hardworking and shes just the sweetest girl. Its great to see her and her dog having fun.

Mahayla and Shirley will be volunteering at the Cynosports, taking competitors leashes from the starting point of the course to the finishing area and setting and resetting jumps.

Mahayla competes with Dolly in other dog agility competitions, but shes typically the only competitor in the beginner division. Her biggest competition is herself.

First off, theres not a lot of junior handlers, so thats one thing that I would encourage, said Shirley. For kids at home with a dog, this is a phenomenal sport for them because theyve got to take care of their dog anyway.
age 95, a long time resident of Beggs, OK, transitioned in her grandsons home in Tulsa, OK with family at bedside. Arrangements are pending with House of Winn Funeral Home-Okmulgee.
Chris Bohjalian, the author of 22 books that have been adapted into three movies and a television series, will speak about his newest release, Hour of the Witch, during a Zoom event in which Jacksonville Public Library is participating.

Bohjalians novels include the best-sellers Midwives, The Sandcastle Girls and The Flight Attendant, the latter of which has been adapted for a drama starring Kaley Cuoco.
Morgan County

Sheriff

ARRESTS, CITATIONS

 Kathy A. Sigite, 61, of Cottage Hills was booked into the Morgan County jail at 9:40 p.m. Saturday on a disorderly conduct charge.

Jacksonville Police

ARRESTS, CITATIONS

 Cecil A. Parr, 37, of Shipman was booked into the Morgan County jail at 9:25 a.m. Monday on a charge of criminal damage to property. He was accused of damaging property Oct. 8 in the 400 block of South East Street.

THEFTS, BURGLARIES

 A water heater and furnace were stolen from a residence in the 600 block of North East Street, according to a report filed at 1:34 p.m. Monday.



Pike County

Sheriff

ARRESTS, CITATIONS

 Christopher D. Wood, 36, of Barry was booked into Pike County Jail at 12:36 a.m. Sunday on a robbery charge.

 Thomas J. Ionson, 36, of Griggsville was booked into Pike County Jail at 9:38 a.m. Friday on a residential burglary charge.

 Jeffrey A. Singleton, 37, of Louisiana, Missouri, was booked into Pike County Jail at 3:16 p.m. Sunday on a theft charge.

 Landon K. Miller, 24, of Perry was booked into Pike County Jail at 7 p.m. Thursday on a charge of criminal damage to property.

 Troy F. Boston, 32, of Phillipsburg, Missouri, was booked into Pike County Jail at 5:55 p.m. Oct. 12 on a petition to revoke probation.

Pittsfield Police

ARRESTS, CITATIONS

 Anthony A. Kirkwood, 23, of Pittsfield was booked into Pike County Jail at 8:15 a.m. Oct. 11 on a domestic battery charge.

State police

ARRESTS, CITATIONS

 Daryl C. Turner Reed, 29, of Chicago was booked into Pike County Jail at 6:33 p.m. Oct. 12 on a charge of having unstamped cigarettes.

 William C. Bergheger, 40, of New Canton was booked into Pike County Jail at 5:18 p.m. Oct. 12 on a petition to revoke probation.

 Lacee J. Blevins, 38, of Quincy was booked into Pike County Jail at 8:19 p.m. Saturday on charges of driving under the influence and having expired registration.

 James J. McAfee, 32, of San Bernadino, California, was booked into Pike County Jail at 6:50 p.m. Wednesday on a charge of driving under the influence.

Compiled by David C.L. Bauer
Self-talk is a big thing. Whether we say something out loud or in our head, most of us talk to ourselves. It can be as simple as, Dont forget to take out the trash, or as motivational as, Ive got this.

It seems that our pandemic world has taken self-talk to a new level. Maybe its because there are fewer people around us. I made a note of some of the more frequent things we say to ourselves  from thoughtful to optimistic to possibly harmful. Here is a small sampling.

Its only five pounds. This is often preceded by, The last time I weighed myself and is sometimes followed by, Well, we need some bulk to gear up for old age. Its true that most of us can cite a relative or parent who got scarily thin in later years with no reserve when illness struck. So at the core, this self-talk has truth, though the last time I weighed myself feels like a loophole that throws only five pounds into doubt.

Weve learned through COVID that we dont need much. In the early months of COVID-19, the streets were littered with piles of possessions being thrown out or given away. We were channeling Marie Kondo. I realized that I wear one of three pairs of jeans on most days. This made me wonder as I glanced at my closet, Why so many pants? I can always explain away, but I also know the truth.

Except that its not We dont need that much. Rather, We need different. We need more human contact, easier get-togethers, less anxiety. We actually need a lot  its just not the material possessions that weve worked hard to afford.

The kids will come around. This is my favorite. For the most part, our kids are very different from us, and we see this in so many ways. What they expect, how they work, how they socialize, and the language they use to communicate suggests a different modus operandi.

We worry whether our kids will make the right choices. We ask, Why cant they get a job like we did? Answer: Those jobs mostly dont exist. We ask, Why are they always talking crypto? Answer: Because they can. They know things that we dont.

Maybe The kids will come around should really be, Maybe Ill come around. Maybe we need to remember the expectations our parents had of us that felt off-kilter. Its hard to be open-minded when our world feels so scary, and yet never do open minds matter more. We can start by repeating, Ethereum (a cryptocurrency) 10 times in various sentences. Its part of the playbook called, Fake it till you make it, as we work to build a cross-generational bridge.

Well get back to normal, and boy, will we appreciate it! This self-talk is used to reassure ourselves. We wont always be in this sorry state. This is when we break out into singing Annies, The sun will come out tomorrow, or remind ourselves that rainbows usually follow a storm.

The challenge here is defining normal. No doubt there will be a new normal, but what will it be? Will masks continue to dominate? Is going hybrid a permanent workforce change? Will having a slight cough lead to panic? If we can restore connections with people, and rediscover energy at work and in our communities, then we will be back to something that we appreciate.

I am doing fine. How often do we falsely claim this state of being? Its a pernicious form of denial that inhibits our ability to really be doing fine. But we say this so that we dont sound or feel pathetic. Recent tracking data from the Kaiser Family Foundation cites 56% of all households have members experiencing significant depression, anxiety, and more. If you are a health care provider, the number increases to 64%. This puts those not doing fine in good company.

Bottom line: Im doing fine is the most dangerous self-talk of all. Honesty is essential, as is the need to reach out and find support.

Yes, the pandemic has changed much of what we say to ourselves, which speaks to a larger truth about how we see our world. We should use self-talk as an opportunity for candid introspection. Thats what we deserve. Its also how we serve our loved ones best.

Jill Ebstein is the editor of the At My Pace series of books and the founder of Sized Right Marketing, a Newton, Massachusetts, consulting firm. She wrote this for InsideSources.com.
North Korea is carrying out one missile test after another lately, at the same time indicating  or is it?  interest in talks with South Korea about reducing tensions.

Late last month, North Korea launched two short-range ballistic missiles from railways over the Sea of Japan, violating United Nations prohibitions and raising alarm bells in nearby countries. It followed up with tests of long-range cruise missiles, a hypersonic missile, and a new antiaircraft missile.

Do these tests amount to a higher level of threat from North Korea, or to a show of strength that might be preliminary to entering negotiations?

Weapons specialists seem to dominate discussion of North Korea these days, and they are inclined to accent North Korean capabilities rather than examine their intentions.

Certainly, North Korea has invested heavily in missiles, carrying out more than 150 tests since 1984, roughly 80% of them since Kim Jong-un succeeded his father.

From the perspective of the weapons folks, some of the latest tests show that North Korea is continuing work on nuclear weapon delivery systems that could serve either as an attack force or as a deterrent against U.S. attack. Back in January, the North Koreans paraded its first submarine-launched missile, which some experts interpreted as showing progress toward having a solid-fuel long-range missile, armed with a nuclear weapon, that would be difficult to attack before launch and would be able to reach the U.S.

South Korea announced it had successfully developed a supersonic cruise missile and a long-range air-to-land missile to be mounted on the KF-21, a South Korean supersonic fighter jet, and that it had developed a ballistic missile powerful enough to penetrate North Koreas underground wartime bunkers. South Korea doesnt have a nuclear weapon program, though it certainly could have one if not for U.S. opposition.

Still, the South Korean tests, coming after the annual joint military exercises with the U.S. in August, should lead U.S. strategists to at least consider the possibility that Kim Jong-un wants two things: a reliable deterrent to U.S.-South Korean attack, and renewal of talks on the nuclear issue that might lead to another North Korean moratorium on missile tests.

Kim and South Koreas President Moon Jae-in have been exchanging letters for months in an effort to move forward on talks, and some progress has been achieved. Their hot line was restored in July after a years absence, and Moons proposal at the United Nations for a joint declaration ending the Korean War was greeted favorably in Pyongyang.

Most recently, Kims influential sister, Kim Yo-jung, said that if South Korea shows fairness and mutual respect  referring to the double standard of criticizing the Norths missile tests while the South is carrying out its own weapons tests  a North-South Korea summit is possible.

It also happens, and probably not accidentally, that Chinas foreign minister Wang Yi was in Seoul when the North Korean tests took place. What message might Kim have sent China with the timing of the missile tests?

The Biden administration has on the table a proposal to Pyongyang for nuclear talks without preconditions. It has tried to entice Kim by not imposing new sanctions or making threats.

But what it has failed to do  just as previous U.S. administrations have failed to do  is offer sanctions relief and other incentives at a time when North Koreas economy and probably its health care system are in serious trouble.

While the North Koreans still support commitment for commitment, action for action  the principle adopted by all six parties (including Russia, China, South Korea, and Japan) to a September 2005 agreement  the U.S. has held back.

Public opinion generally favors inducements to North Korea in return for progress on denuclearization, but Bidens team doesnt seem to have North Korea high on its priorities list.

Nobody ever said that dealing with North Korea is easy. It is not the hermit kingdom, but it is one of the worlds most closed societies.

Regardless, North Korea deserves attention, not just because of its nuclear weapons, but just as much because of its multiple human security problems  hunger, basic rights, and a pandemic of unknown dimensions being especially prominent now.

In short, the U.S. should be looking beyond missiles to see what actually motivates North Koreas behavior.

To my mind, Kim Jong-un isnt looking for a fight; hes looking for reassurances about the security of his regime and compensation for putting a lid on North Koreas nuclear and missile capabilities, perhaps through another moratorium on missile tests.

If Im right that those are his aims, they call for a diplomatic rather than a military response, or no response at all.

Mel Gurtov, syndicated by PeaceVoice, is professor emeritus of political science at Portland State University and blogs at In the Human Interest.
Sonora, CA The CHP has released more information about the accident that took place over the weekend that sadly left one dead. The original story covering the incident can be found here.

The unidentified person who passed away at the scene was driving a Toyota Pickup eastbound on highway 108 west of Sanguinetti Loop at 55-65 MPH and was approaching the rear of a Chevrolet Avalanche pickup that was being driven by Brian McGregor of Moccasin at similar speeds. Evan Hatler of Coulterville was driving a Dodge Pickup with a trailer in tow westbound on highway 108. behind him was Colleen Kotoske of Jamestown driving a Subaru Forester, additionally behind her was Arturo Balderas of Modesto driving a GMC Suburban

The unidentified driver in the Toyota tried to pass the Chevy by driving on the right shoulder. Trying to avoid a collision, McGregor drove his vehicle to his left. The left side of the Toyota struck the right side of the Chevrolet and pushed the vehicle into the westbound lane directly into the path of the Dodge. The left side of the Chevrolet struck the right side of the Dodges trailer and Mcgregor lost control of his vehicle and drove off the north edge of the roadway and down the north embankment, striking a boulder and coming to a stop.

Hatler was able to maintain control of his vehicle and came to a stop in the westbound lane and struck the left front of the Subaru. Colleen Kotoske lost control of the Subaru and drove off the north edge of the roadway and rolled down the north embankment coming to a rest on its roof. The Toyota continued out of control in the westbound lane and was struck on its right side in the front by the GMC Suburban. The Toyota immediately caught fire after making contact with the Suburban. The sole occupant of the Toyota was trapped in his vehicle as a result of the crash and the fire. A witness to the collision assisted the driver and passenger out of the Suburban before the flames spread to that vehicle.

The driver of the Toyota was pronounced dead at the scene, everyone else involved suffered no injuries or minor injuries.

The roadway was completely blocked for 3 hours due to the investigation and clean-up. It is unknown at this time if alcohol and drugs played a role in this collision
Hooters Mexico

Hooters employees must meet certain physical attributes to get the job, they also wear revealing uniforms and have to be perfectly made up and combed. Last week they changed the shorts of the uniform and social networks were filled with complaints from the workers because they do not feel comfortable wearing it.

These videos have had millions of views and have reignited the conversation about the restaurant's problematic dealings with its employees.
Hand-out/Taco Bell Corp.

The bells are ringing over at Taco Bell to alert the hungry and tired masses that breakfast is back. To celebrate, they're giving away free toasted breakfast burritos at restaurants nationwide on Thursday, October 21, from 7 to 11 a.m. while supplies last.

San Antonio is a city that generally rejects the concept of burritos entirely, instead falling firmly in the taco camp. However, a toasted and cheap burrito is an undeniable guilty pleasure that even the proudest taco-loving San Antonians indulge in from time to time. There's no shame in it (at least not when it's free).
Dutch Bros

In September, Oregon-based Dutch Bros opened its first location the city. The brand, which operates a cross-country network of coffee shops, didn't need much of an introduction when the first Dutch Bros started brewing at 8614 Potranco Road, as illustrated by the long lines of San Antonio coffee fans who welcomed the chain.

MySA previously reported the company is planning to open in Castle Hills and Universal City. Filings with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation now show a Leon Valley location is also pending, with a location listed at 7962 Bandera Road.
Solutions to the Bexar County jail's ongoing issues will now come down to dueling reports from two consulting firms.

Bexar County Commissioners Court approved an agreement with Florida firm American Correctional Consultants (ACC) at a contentious meeting Tuesday at a cost not to exceed $20,000, setting up a secondary, if not competing, jail inspection.

In an impromptu news conference last week, Sheriff Javier Salazar announced he hired jail consulting firm Detain Inc. to conduct a inspection and submit a report separate from the county's. Salazar said at the meeting that he will use $49,000 in asset forfeiture funds to pay Detain's bill.

Both firms, commissioners and Salazar say, will evaluate and identify concerns within the jail and present a report laying out improvements recommendations.

Billy Calzada /San Antonio Express-News

Precinct 3 Commissioner Trish Deberry criticized Detain Inc. for what she called a lack of "professionalization," calling the firm out for not having a working website or LinkedIn profiles with photos.

She also called into question Detain's experience with large urban jails of Bexar County's population size of about 4,400 inmates. Bill Bryan, president of Detain Inc., said his largest jail inspection was in Lubbock County, which has about 1,600 beds.

Salazar apologized to Bryan during the meeting for being "insulted" by DeBerry.

DeBerry bristled at Salazar's accusation. She called into question the timing of last week's impromptu press conference after a story about Cody Demond Flenoury appeared in TPR. Flenoury, who is houseless and struggles with mental illness, spent five extra months in jail after he was arrested for punching a store employee while attempting to shoplift, according to TPR.

"So the fact that you just went off and decided that you're basically going to thumb your nose at us regarding an issue that we're trying to help you with, is incredibly, to use your words, insulting," DeBerry said.

ACC Founder Keith Neely, in response to a question from Precinct 1 Commissioner Rebeca Clay-Flores, said his firm hasn't inspected jails within Texas, nor comparable to the size of the Bexar County jail.

The county has spent years trying to identify the cause of staffing and overtime issues at the Bexar County jail. Commissioners also approved 22,100 of mandatory paid overtime for officers that worked at the jail from September 10 to September 30, and then an additional 60,143 hours of mandatory overtime from October 8 to December 31.

DeBerry said there are 315 open positions within the jail, and the county is now facing a record high of $30 million in overtime. Salazar says the true number is 178, because cadets or recruits are assigned to a portion of those open positions.

A timeline for ACC's inspection and report was not laid out at the meeting, but Bryan says that Salazar is pushing ACC to finish the inspection by the afternoon of October 19, and multiple draft reports will be delivered to the sheriff's office in the coming months.

Salazar did say that he would allow the county's consultant into the jail.
Twitter is coming for Gov. Greg Abbott again.

The Texas Governor is receiving backlash after he railed against the idea of mandating people to be vaccinated annually against COVID-19. Abbott voiced his views during an interview with Fox News' Maria Bartiromo on Sunday, October 17.

He expressed his disapproval of President Joe Biden's mandate requiring companies with 100 or more employees ensure that their work forces are vaccinated or regularly tested.

"Where does this end? We're talking about a federal mandate for a shot," Abbott, who banned vaccine mandates in Texas, said. "Are people going to be required by the federal government to take a shot every year for the rest of their lives? Americans need to come to grips with the unconstitutional overreach of the Biden administration."

You can watch the clip here:

In the comments and quote retweets, many folks on Twitter criticized Abbott for his stance on the annual vaccine. Bill Kristol, the former Chief of Staff to Vice President Dan Quayle, called out Abbott and said "wait until he hears about the flu shot."

See more reactions below:
MIAMI (AP)  Billed by Miami's mayor just months ago as the Michael Jordan and Tom Brady of policing, top cop Art Acevedo ended up being not the right fit for Miami.

The city manager decided this week to suspend Acevedo, with the intention of firing him, after a tumultuous six-month tenure in which the new police chief fired high-ranking officers and accused influential city commissioners of running the city the way Fidel Castro ruled Cuba.

Despite Acevedo's origins in Havana, some among Miami's prominent Cuban-American community regarded Acevedo as an outsider.

Raised in California, he was the first Hispanic to lead the Houston police department and earned name recognition after calling for gun control and marching with protesters following George Floyds death. Acevedo spoke at the Democratic convention and criticized Trump, who gained enthusiastic support among Miami Cubans by taking a hard line as president against the leaders of Venezuela and Cuba.

His toughest critic in Miami, Cuban American city commissioner Joe Carollo, said Acevedo isn't a real Cuban. Commissioners also objected to the way Acevedo was chosen without an open search process, and without consulting the commission.

The ouster follows two raucous meetings where Carollo led other commissioners in lambasting Acevedo and his leadership, deciding to form an investigative committee with subpoena power to examine his appointment.

The chief had been chosen by Mayor Francis Suarez, who despite likening Acevedo to Jordan and Brady in March did not attend any of the recent commission meetings on Acevedo to speak on his behalf.

Suarez, who has been on a quest to market Miami as a tech hub, planned a press conference Tuesday afternoon to discuss the matter.

At one of the meetings, Carollo questioned the chief's suitability by playing videos of Acevedo slapping a womans rear in a skit during a fundraiser and impersonating Elvis Presley in a white jumpsuit that Carollo complained was too tight in the midsection."

At another, Carollo asked to be arrested on the spot if it were true that the new police chief had proof  as Acevedo alleged  that he and other politicians were interfering with police internal affairs investigations.

Carollo was referring to an eight-page memo sent by Acevedo to the city manager and mayor, which also alleged that commissioners ordered police to crack down on certain establishments based on nothing more than the whims of commissioners.

Acevedo hasn't made any public statements beyond that document, which also accused commissioners of hampering his reform mandate by eliminating positions and said he had spoken to U.S. Justice Department officials to review the city's police internal affairs procedures and non-fatal use of force incidents.

In a farewell email to staffers sent Monday, he said he would continue to fight the good fight to rid MPD of the political interference from city hall that unfortunately continues to negatively impact this organization.

Acevedo began clashing with the police union almost immediately after his April swearing-in, by taking over internal affairs and making significant changes to his command staff. He demoted four majors and fired two high-level police officers  a married couple  because they werent truthful about a crash involving a city-issued SUV.

Last month, reports emerged that Acevedo talked to officers about a Cuban mafia that runs the city. He later apologized and said he didnt know that the late Castro used the term to refer to exiles in Miami.

City Manager Art Noriega appointed Assistant Police Chief Manny Morales as interim chief, and the commission will hold a special meeting about Acevedo on Wednesday. Under city rules, commissioners make the final decision after receiving the notice from the city manager.

The relationship between the Chief and the Police Department he leads -- as well as with the community  has deteriorated beyond repair, said Noriega in a statement released late Monday. Relationships between employers and employees come down to fit and leadership style and unfortunately, Chief Acevedo is not the right fit for this organization."
Good morning, San Antonio. The contract extension deadline for Spurs favorite Lonnie Walker IV came and went Monday, meaning he will become a free agent after this season, the fourth and final season of his rookie contract.

News of contract deadline passing without a deal for the Spurs guard was reported by numerous outlets, including by Tom Osborn with the Express-News.

Walker, who was drafted by the Spurs in 2018, told the Express-News that he would like to stay in the Alamo City.

"When it comes to the fans, the food, the community, I am all in," Walker says.

The same thing happened to Spurs center Jakob Poeltl in 2019, but he later signed a three-year deal as a restricted free agent.

Here's what else you need to know today.

Historic Hays Street Bridge park designs revealed

Designs for a park at the historic Hays Street Bridge were revealed and approved by the Historic and Design Review Commission.

The renderings show vibrant plans for a playground and skate park.

See the designs here.

Black Swan Inn owner shares spooky stories

Victorias Black Swan Inn, named after Shakespeare's favorite bar, is a spooky haunt used for parties and weddings.

Now, the owner is sharing her paranormal experiences at the venue.

Read more here.

Mystery Amazon project planned for North Star Mall

A recent filing to the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation shows that Amazon plans to remodel a space inside of North Star Mall.

Find out what we know here.

Elizabeth Olsen, Ben Affleck filming in Central Texas

After news broke last month that Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck were renting a home in Austin, we now know what Affleck will be doing in Texas.

He's not the only A-list star spending time in Texas.

Read more here.
San Antonio Housing Authority extended its pause on evictions protecting thousands of families.

The moratorium is now extended through March 1, 2022, for more than 10,000 families under SAHA's public housing and mixed-income housing programs, according to a news release.

This is an extension of the city's moratorium that began in March 2020 and continues past the federal eviction moratorium, which expired over the summer.

"The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately impacted economically disadvantaged families, and at the center are SAHA residents, who have a median household income of approximately $10,000," says SAHA President and CEO Ed Hinojosa Jr.in the news release.

Hinojosa also took to Twitter to ask housing choice voucher landlords to work with residents to apply for rental assistance.

SAHA has also called on the city of San Antonio and Bexar County to designate funding from the American Rescue Plan Act to help clear approximately $3 million in debt currently owed by more than 2,700 SAHA residents.

SAHA as a public housing authority is prohibited from forgiving rent or debt under U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development regulations. Families that are evicted face houselessness and are not eligible for any other housing programs until their debt is cleared.
The San Antonio Police Department is asking for help identifying a person of interest in the murder of a former San Antonio TV account executive.

On Monday, October 18, police released more video clips of an unknown man leaving the home of 40-year-old Christopher Olivarez. Olivarez was found dead with trauma to his body on September 25 at his home in the 300 block of Kirk Place.
Steven Martin

Welcome to Southlake, recently dubbed "best small city" in the state and one of the top 20 in entire country. On October 19, personal finance site WalletHub released its 2021 Best Small Cities in the U.S. study analyzing the best towns in America, and wouldn't you know, Southlake was tops in Texas.

Southlake, a suburb of Dallas, ranked in the 98th percentile among all U.S. small towns ... wait a minute, why have we heard of Southlake before? It certainly can't be the same Southlake that made headlines last week for suggesting that teachers offer "opposing views" to the Holocaust. Oh, it is? The best small city in Texas is the same place where educators were told to offer different viewpoints (Nazism, in this case) when discussing the mass genocide of millions of Jews during World War II?
After public pressure forced a retreat from plans to raze and replace the citys oldest public housing complex  a move housing advocates said would displace most current residents  the San Antonio Housing Authority is working on a new proposal to overhaul Alazan Courts on the near West Side.

The authoritys board recently selected South Texas firm Able City to create a master plan for the complex, which encompasses 501 units near Sidney Lanier High School.

And it is seeking about $75 million for the project from the citys upcoming $1.2 billion bond issue.

But redeveloping Alazan is expected to cost more than $300 million, CEO Ed Hinojosa Jr. wrote in an Aug. 23 letter to city officials. His agencys bond request includes $40 million for constructing new units and $35.2 million for infrastructure improvements by the city, CPS Energy and San Antonio Water System.

Given the toll of this historic pandemic on the residents of the community, including long-term credit damage and financial hardship, SAHA is committed to retaining  or increasing if possible  the existing 501 public housing units currently in the Alazan community, he wrote.

We envision a new community with high-quality, affordable, sustainable and with all the modern conveniences, such as central air conditioning, washer and dryer connections, spacious, livable spaces for families and adequate infrastructure below and above the ground.

On ExpressNews.com: We can't do this: How 501 public housing units in San Antonio were suddenly spared destruction

Future still unclear

Whether Alazan will be torn down and rebuilt, or existing apartments rehabilitated, has yet to be determined. Figuring that out is part of the master-planning process, which will be informed by community input, Hinojosa said in an interview.

There are different opinions about how to move forward, he said. We want to make sure everybodys voice is heard and considered.

Many residents want the buildings to be refurbished rather than replaced, said Kayla Miranda, an Apache Courts tenant who opposed the agencys previous plan to partner with a private developer to tear down Alazan and build mixed-income apartments.

Regardless of which option is decided upon, the redevelopment will be done in phases so residents can remain in the area.

We made a commitment to residents that we will not force displacement out of the community, Hinojosa said. The architect will have to figure out the best way to phase construction  so that we can keep residents within the community.

For the bond funding request, city officials met with Hinojosa and asked the housing authority to provide more details, including breaking out the improvements by utility, said spokeswoman Laura Mayes.

Its cost estimates for the project are based on the price tag for demolishing the Wheatley Courts on the East Side and replacing it with residences known as East Meadows.

The housing authority will provide final cost estimates for the city to review next year, and then the project will be evaluated for eligibility, Mayes said. Staff will also look into other financing sources.

The agency is evaluating selling vacant land to fund the Alazan project and has some funds it may also allocate, Hinojosa said. Traditional loans and tax credit equity are other options.

Its very early to be talking about how the projects actually funded because, at this point, we still dont know how were going to move forward and how many phases well have and whether its going to be new construction or rehab, he said.

Able Citys selection

Able City, the firm leading the master-planning process, has offices in San Antonio, Laredo and Mission and provides architecture, urban planning, economic development and community engagement services. It has worked on rehabilitation and historic preservation projects in South Texas, including housing and religious facilities, said co-founder Mario Pena.

Able City was selected to lead Alazan master-planning after a four-month selection process that involved input from West Side leaders, including District 5 Councilwoman Teri Castillo, the housing authority said. The firm is working with Alamo Architects and consultants Economic & Planning Systems Inc. on the project and will start by asking residents about meeting times and formats, Pena said.

We lead with the intent of being proactive. Thats what makes community engagement work, he said. If you do it early enough where people feel theyre being proactive about decision-making, thats really the key. Were happy that were at a point where we have the opportunity to now be proactive with the community.

Alazan Courts and the neighboring Apache Courts were built between 1939 and 1942, according to the Texas State Historical Associations Handbook of Texas.

The apartments provided clean housing for Mexican American families on the West Side who were living in homes with tin roofs, dirt floors and no indoor plumbing. But the complex gradually fell into disrepair and lacks modern amenities.

By 1985, then-Mayor Henry Cisneros had proposed tearing down and replacing the Alazan and Apache buildings. But amid opposition, he instead supported renovations.

Plans to rebuild the complex came up again in 2017, when the housing authority sought but failed to get a federal grant for the project.

On ExpressNews.com: San Antonio Housing Authority walks back private partnership to redevelop Alazan Courts

Two years later, the agency requested proposals from private developers and chose NRP Group, a Cleveland-based company that has built or managed over three dozen apartment complexes locally.

The developer proposed razing the Alazan Courts 501 units and replacing them with 648 units at a mix of income levels. A mere 10 percent were to be for families earning less than 30 percent of the area median income, or about $26,200 for a family of four.

That threshold was well above current residents means. On average, a family living at the Alazan Courts made $8,796 a year and paid $131 per month in rent, the housing authority said in 2020.

Tenants and housing advocates fought the plans, raising concerns about displacement and the loss of affordable housing.

The housing authoritys leadership changed, with CEO David Nisivoccia departing for the Denver Housing Authority and Hinojosa taking the reigns. In January, the agency scrapped the partnership with NRP Group and instead pledged to redevelop the Alazan Courts itself.

madison.iszler@express-news.net
Yves here. I am a big believer in anger. Its been disconcerting, if revealing, to see the degree to which even fairly mild forms of conflict are increasingly treated as deviant behavior. One staple is the small city public meeting where a citizen gets up to complain about something in public comments. Even if his tone remains measured, straight talk is often depicted by the chair as angry or disrespectful.as if any criticism is out of line and public officials were superior to their constituents.

In other words, the prohibitions against anger have increased as inequality and class disparities have risen. Only those in a superior or equal position are allowed to be angry, but even then, they risk a hostile response from their uncouth underlingssome of whom may be ticking time bombs thanks to oppressive work environments or other societal stressors.

In addition, I am told that young people have been brought up to be conflict averse. Some of this is the weird new normal of being made responsible for other peoples feelings. My friends in therapy used to tell me that not taking on the burden of the emotional reactions of others was a sign of good boundaries.what happened to that? Now the fad of policing microagressions requires treating everyone around you as if they are fragile and neurotic. The Japanese can pull this off because they have a vague language and regard talking much as rude. But chatty, extroverted Americans?

It has hit the point that friends my age who work with college debaters have noticed that when the engage with other people their age and have what they regard as normal give-and-take around hot topics of the day, the students are clearly uncomfortable with what they see as too much conflict.

Another possible side effect of the increased US prohibitions against anger is our high level of depression. While not all depression is unexpressed anger channeled internally, some is. And our level of anti-depressant use confirms we are a mighty depressed population.

By Richard Murphy, a chartered accountant and a political economist. He has been described by the Guardian newspaper as an anti-poverty campaigner and tax expert. He is Professor of Practice in International Political Economy at City University, London and Director of Tax Research UK. He is a non-executive director of Cambridge Econometrics. He is a member of the Progressive Economy Forum. Originally published at Tax Research UK

I wrote this on Twitter yesterday:

I get so bored with just people telling me I should not get angry. I disagree. I think we should get very angry with those who are doing wrong. Unless we do we permit that wrongdoing through our failure to object. Which is just what those who say we should not get angry want.  Richard Murphy (@RichardJMurphy) October 17, 2021

I thought there was some risk in saying this. The anti-angry brigade is everywhere right now.

I am often told that it is now unacceptable to be angry within work environments. Those who might be upset by anger are always right according to those who say this  even when they are not. As a result bullies are actively enabled and get away with whatever they want, because anger is the natural reaction to being abused.

And anger is also unacceptable in politics, apparently. This has been one of the reactions to the death of Sir David Amess. Apparently, we are meant to be nicer to politicians, even when they have a consistent voting pattern of seeking to undermine the wellbeing of those who are dependent on the state. However nice Sir David was wrong I can still be angry about his voting record.

We can be angry when we see something that is wrong. We should be. And we should show it. All that we must not be is two things. The first is violent, of course. And the second is to think that the person with whom we are angry is inherently evil, because I do not believe that simply because thinking in that way suggests that there is no power to argument, and there is. It is my belief that a person can be persuaded to change their mind. Otherwise, why do I spend so much time trying to persuade people that they are wrong and that there are better options?

I spent some time talking to an old friend yesterday who wondered where I get the ideas from to write this blog each morning. The answer is simple. I wake up every day angry that we still face a world full of fear when I believe that fear is wholly unnecessary. Whether the fear is of hunger, disease, or the right to worship, or to be the person someone feels that they are, it is necessary. We can do better on all such issues, and more. Why shouldnt we be angry that we arent? That is what motivates me every morning. And if that makes me an angry person, so be it. What else changes the world?
Sixteen percent of the countrys officially employed workforce just lost their jobs (temporarily for the moment). And as one would expect, theyre not happy.

It is a strange experience watching the events currently unfolding in Italy from the relative calm and normality of Catalonia. As I reported in August, Spains Supreme Court ruled against the use of covid passports to restrict access to public spaces  specifically hospitality businesses (bars, restaurants and nightclubs). Since then the court has scaled back the ruling, allowing certain regions, including Galicia and Catalonia, to use the digital documents to restrict access to bars and nightclubs. But things are still moving quite slowly though Im sure theyll pick up speed soon. Italy, by contrast, has just introduced the strictest rules in Europe.

No Jab, No Job Writ Large

As of last Friday all residents of Italy need a covid passport, or Green Pass, to access not only public spaces but also public and private workplaces. The pass proves that they have either been vaccinated against Covid-19, have recovered from the disease in the past six months or have recently tested negative. And now they need it to make a living, to feed their families.

The no jab, no job rule applies to workers of all kinds, including the self employed, domestic staff and even people working remotely. If youd still rather not get vaccinated, you have the option of showing proof of a negative test every two days. That can cost anywhere between 15 and 50 each time  far beyond the means of most low-paid workers. If you still refuse to get vaccinated or present proof of negative tests, you face unpaid suspension as well as a fine of up to 1,500. Public sector workers have five days to present the green pass before being suspended. Private sector workers without a green pass face suspension from the first day.

Heres more from Politico (comment and emphasis in brackets my own):

By law, all workers must be able to show a so-called Green Pass, proving they are vaccinated against COVID-19 or have tested negative in the past 48 hours. Roughly 81 percent of Italians over 12 are fully vaccinated.

While polls suggest the majority of Italians are in favor of vaccine passes (just as the majority of people in all countries are in favour of vaccine passes, according to polls), there are still 3.8 million unvaccinated workers, many in strategic sectors and public services such as ports, trucking, health care and law enforcement, who will be unable to work.

Massive Cull of Workers

This is by any measure a massive cull of workers. Three point eight million is more than 5% of Italys entire population and over 16% of the countrys officially employed workforce (22.7 million). The total number of people currently unemployed in Italy is 2.3 million. In other words, if none of the unvaccinated workers were to cave in to the governments demands  some will, of course, we just dont know how many  the number of people without work in Italy would increase by well over 150%  in the space of just one week! And as the Politico article mentions, many of these workers are in strategic sectors and public services.

This is all happening as Europe  and the world at large  faces the worst supply chain crisis in decades as well as acute energy and labor shortages. The move also risks giving a huge boost to Italys already quite large informal economy. Given as much, this is a huge, high-stakes bluff on the part of Draghis technocratic government, which was formed eighth months ago. If it pays off, the vast majority of Italys vaccine holdouts will fall into line and go back to work, and other governments across Europe will follow suit with similar mandates. If it doesnt, Italys economy could be plunged into chaos.

So far, data suggest that the governments no jab, no job rule hasnt exactly had the desired effect. When the rule was initially unveiled, on September 16, Italys Public Administration Minister Renato Brunetta said it would trigger such a huge boost vaccination take-up that its job would largely be done before it even came into effect. That hasnt happened. As El Mundo reports, in the week through Oct.8 some 410,000 people received the first dose, according to official data, a 36% drop from the previous week and the lowest weekly count since early July.

Over the last few days the response of many of the affected workers has been to stage rolling strikes and protests across the country. Roads and ports have been blocked. This has coincided with hundreds of flight cancellations due to strikes by workers at the former flagship airline Alitalia, which flew its last flight on Thursday. There have also been violent demonstrations by far-right groups such as Casa Pound and Forza Nuova as well as a 24-hour general strike held last week by unions to protest the governments labour and economic policies.

Since Friday Italys largest port, Trieste, 40% of whose employees are unvaccinated, has been an important focal point of industrial action.

There are no blockades, whoever wants to work does, said Stefano Puzzer, leader of the protest against the health pass in the port of Trieste, on Friday. Yet although the strike was reportedly entirely peaceful and workers who wanted to work were allowed to do so, riot police yesterday used water cannons and tear gas to evict the longshoremen.

One Little Flaw

The ostensible logic behind the governments latest mandate is that by nudging almost everyone who can get vaccinated to get vaccinated, it will help the country finally achieve herd immunity and thereby eliminate the virus. Also, work spaces will become much safer places because all workers will either have been fully vaccinated against covid-19, will have natural immunity or will have recently tested negative for the virus.

Theres just one little flaw in the plan: the current crop of covid-19 vaccines are rather leaky, particularly with regard to the Delta variant. As such, people who are vaccinated are still liable to catch and transmit the virus and in some countries (such as the UK) the vaccinated account for more cases (in nominal terms) than the unvaccinated. In addition, what protection the vaccines do provide tends to wane rapidly. At the peak of Israels latest wave of infections, in August, half of the seriously ill hospitalized patients had been fully vaccinated at least five months prior, reported NPR.

Which begs the question: if a vaccinated person and an unvaccinated person have a similar capacity to carry, shed and transmit the virus, particularly in its Delta form and even more so after four of five months after vaccination, what difference does implementing a vaccination passport, certificate or ID actually make to the spread of the virus?

Vaccine Passport: An End In and Of Itself?

In sum, Italy just unleashed the most severe de facto vaccine mandate in Europe on the basis of a vaccine that doesnt actually work very well and is still only authorised by the European Medical Agency for emergency use. To give an idea of just how extreme the Draghi governments position now is, the only other country in the world to have introduced a mandatory Covid passport for all workers is Saudi Arabia, reports Thomas Fazi in a recent article:

With these changes, we are effectively stripping citizens who havent broken any law whatsoever (in Italy, like elsewhere, Covid vaccines are not mandatory) of their basic constitutional rights  the right to work, to study, to move freely. That should give anyone reason to pause and reflect. This kind of discrimination is also in direct violation of EU Regulation 2021/953, which states that [t]he issuance of [Covid] certificates should not lead to discrimination on the basis of the possession of a specific category of certificate, and that [i]t is necessary to prevent direct or indirect discrimination against persons who are not vaccinated, for example because of medical reasons or because they have not yet had the opportunity or chose not to be vaccinated.

That claim has now been thoroughly disproved by myriad scientific studies, as Yves painstakingly documented in August. So why do governments continue to repeat it? Why arent they rethinking their strategy? Perhaps, as Fazi postulates, the green pass is not just a means to an end  mass vaccination  but also an end in and of itself:

The Italian economic-political establishment has a long history of invoking, embellishing or even engineering crises  usually economic in nature  to justify technocratic governments and emergency measures, as well as the sidestepping of the normal channels of democracy. In this sense, it is not outlandish to posit that the countrys elites, under Draghis leadership, may view the current conjecture as a golden opportunity to complete the oligarchisation of the country theyve been working at for the past decades (and in which Mario Draghi has played a central role).

A crucial feature of this process has been the transition from a post-war regime based on the centrality of parliament to one dominated by executive, technocratic and supranational powers, in which the legislature performs a marginal role, thus insulating policymaking from democratic processes. As a result, there has been an increased resort to so-called technical governments run by experts supposedly untainted by political partisanship and unburdened by the complications of parliamentary politics  as well as the transfer of key policy tools from the national level, where a certain degree of democratic control can always potentially be exercised, to the supranational institutions of the EU, which are undemocratic by design.

Now Draghi is even being heralded in some quarters as a possible new figurehead for Europe in the post-Merkel era. The financial and economic elite are no doubt salivating at the prospect.
(Natural News) Lawyer Tom Renz tackled Texas Gov. Greg Abbotts recent order banning vaccine mandates during the Oct. 12 episode of Lawfare with Tom Renz on Brighteon.TV. He discusses the matter with Dr. Richard Bartlett and Dr. Bryan Ardis, who hosts the Brighteon.TV program The Dr. Ardis Show. All three concur that the executive order came rather late.

Renz denounces the nefarious actions of the Biden administration amid the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic  including the vaccine mandates. Its one thing that these bad guys are doing bad things, but the level to which theyre sinking to just never ceases to amaze me. These people are just evil, I dont know what else to say about it, he says.

The lawyer is doing his best to hold those people accountable. He has filed a suit alleging that the federal government has covered up as many as 45,000 deaths related to the COVID-19 vaccine in just one reporting system.

The Lawfare with Tom Renz host discusses Abbotts executive order against vaccine mandates.

According to Fox News, the governors new rule prohibits any entity  public or private  to compel anyone who objects to such vaccination for any reason of personal conscience to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. It adds that Abbotts order applies to both employees and customers turning down the vaccine because of religious belief or medical reasons, including prior recovery from COVID-19.

Renz says Abbotts executive order is no doubt, in response to what were seeing with Southwest Airlines that mandated COVID-19 vaccinations for employees. People like freedom in Texas, he says.

The two doctors also laud the order by Abbott. I was super excited and thrilled to see this because there have been so many fearful people in Texas. I will just say this is a huge win, Ardis says. Meanwhile, Bartlett calls Abbotts order as a victory and adds that the will of the people is being acknowledged. (Related: Gov. Greg Abbott bans vaccine mandates in Texas.)

Executive order is not enough, rock-solid legislation needed

While the three praise Abbott for his executive order, Renz and his two guests are in agreement that legislation is much better. This is not enough. We need legislation, rock-solid legislation. An executive order  it can come [and] go. We need rock-solid legislation that bans any sort of genetic mRNA vaccines of any type. You cant just say [COVID-19] vaccines because theyll just change the name, Renz says.

Bartlett criticizes the order as too late and has only served as a response to political pressure. He says: There are so many people that I know [who] have felt coerced into getting the jab because of fear of not being able to provide for their families. And for Gov. Abbott to sit on [the executive order] for a year before he did this is inexcusable. (Related: Dallas-based Southwest Airlines to ignore state of Texas ban on vaccine mandates, setting up major legal fight.)

Ardis agrees with the two, acknowledging the temporary nature of executive orders. This does not mean its permanent. There needs to be more done, the host of The Dr. Ardis Show on Brighteon.TV says.

Bartlett then continues: We do need legislation. [State] Sen. Bob Hall is a hero in the United States. He served our country in the military, [and] hes serving our country now as a state senator in Texas. Ardis seconds Bartletts remarks, confirming that Abbott contacted the Republican state lawmaker so the Texas State Legislature can act on a bill banning vaccine mandates.

The Fox News report backs up their statements, reporting that Abbott has formally requested the Texas State Legislature to draft bills similar to his executive order. True enough, the GOP state senator has filed a bill toward this goal. Halls Senate Bill 14 explicitly bans vaccine mandates, and allows people subject to government vaccine mandates to seek injunctive relief in district court and be reimbursed for legal costs.

I think all three of us have had the opportunity to work with the good Sen. Hall. The man is a patriot. Hes a hero and God bless him for his tireless work, Renz says.

Bartlett comments about the overall effects of Abbotts pro-health freedom order. Im so excited about the freedom we have here being protected for a moment. This is not an accident that this has occurred. There are people who are getting the truth out and they are finally being acknowledged for a moment, he says.

Watch the full Oct. 12 episode of Lawfare with Tom Renz below. Tune in to Lawfare with Tom Renz every Tuesday at 11:30-12 p.m. on Brighteon.TV.

HealthFreedom.news has more articles about state leaders pushing back against COVID-19 vaccine mandates.

Sources include:

Brighteon.com

Renz-Law.com [PDF]

FoxNews.com

StateOfReform.com
(Natural News) Pfizer Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Albert Bourla claims that his company has done so much good to humanity that no other in the history of the world compares. Bourla makes this statement during an interview with liberal commentator and television host George Stephanopoulos in This Week on ABC.

During the interview, Bourla stands by his companys so-called achievements during the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. (Related: Pfizer CEO says US to return to normal within a year but only if everybody takes COVID-19 vaccines.)

We are very proud of what we have done. We are very proud. We have saved millions of lives with the vaccine, he says. There is no other company that can claim to have done so much good to humanity as we have done.

Bourla wants his companys booster vaccines to be distributed to all fully vaccinated Americans

Bourlas interview with Stephanopoulos is an attempt to convince the American public that COVID-19 boosters are necessary. The Pfizer CEO has tried to assure the public that his company will be able to manufacture and distribute booster doses and primary doses for the unvaccinated at the same time.

The conversation between Bourla and Stephanopoulos is a result of an ongoing scientific debate.

One camp believes it would be more prudent for the United States to focus on vaccinating as many Americans as possible and then shipping off unused vaccines to countries with fewer resources. This is the position held by the World Health Organization (WHO), which has been calling for a moratorium on the distribution of booster doses.

On the other camp are Big Pharma companies like Pfizer, which stand to make a lot more money from the distribution of COVID-19 vaccine boosters. They believe it is morally acceptable for countries like the U.S. to put more resources into providing booster doses of the vaccine.

Pfizer is set to make a lot of money from the sale of booster doses since it is currently the only one approved to distribute its COVID-19 vaccine as a booster.

I think it is also not the right thing to try to resolve it with an or when you can resolve it with an and,' says Bourla. Its not, Shall we give boosters or give primary doses to other people. I think the answer should be, Lets give both boosters and doses for other people.'

And this is the way, why we have invested so hard and we put all our scientists and engineers to work hard, so that they can produce enough doses for all, Bourla continues. Right now, by the end of this month, we will have produced two billion doses.

Earlier this month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced that people 65 years old and above who have completed the initial two-dose regimen of COVID-19 vaccination with Pfizers vaccines are now eligible for a third dose as long as six months have passed since the last dose.

The CDC has indicated that adults who have underlying medical conditions and who work certain jobs like first responders, academic staff, grocery store workers and public transit workers are also eligible to get booster doses.

Bourla calls this decision to expand the pool of people allowed to get his companys COVID-19 vaccines as boosters a very good one.

We are looking forward to being able to vaccinate all these vulnerable people so that we can put an end to this pandemic, he says.

CDC report proves booster doses are dangerous

A report published by the CDC earlier this month, titled the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, proves that the COVID-19 booster vaccine doses created by Pfizer and Moderna are dangerous.

One part of the report has surveyed more than 12,500 after they got the third dose. Of those people, 79.4 percent  or nearly 10,000 people  have experienced local side effects like intense itching or pain and redness at the injection site. Around 74 percent of respondents  around 9,200 people  have experienced more severe reactions like fatigue, muscles aches and headaches.

The authors of the report say: These initial findings indicate no unexpected patterns of adverse reactions after an additional dose of COVID-19 vaccines; most of these adverse reactions were mild to moderate.

While admitting that the COVID-19 vaccines cause a lot of mild and moderate side effects, the report conveniently ignores the more severe reactions experienced by the people who took the booster doses. A more comprehensive report would have pointed out the number of people who have experienced more serious side effects from the vaccines.

Keep up to date on the latest news involving Big Pharma companies like Pfizer and their experimental and deadly COVID-19 vaccines by reading the latest articles at Vaccines.news.

Sources include:

GlobalResearch.ca

ABCNews.go.com 1

ABCNews.go.com 2

MedicalDaily.com

SRDTF.org
(Natural News) The Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has had a negative impact on the U.S. at large. However, an impending economic collapse  with the economy showing signs of it  is threatening to make things worse. The recent shortages in manpower and energy reported in various parts of the world can attest to this.

Southwest Airlines is one such company that has experienced a labor shortage during a critical time. According to a USA Today report, the Dallas-based carrier has canceled 808 flights on Oct. 9 and an additional 1,018 flights on Oct. 10. The total cancellations amounted to almost 2,000 flights on that weekend alone.

Southwest attributes the cancellations to air traffic control issues and disruptive weather. The airline says in a tweet that these two problems have resulted in a high volume of cancellations throughout the weekend. It adds: We appreciate your patience as we accommodate affected customers, and customer service wait times are longer than usual.

However, actual reports have denounced the airlines reasons for the cancellations  instead pointing to Southwests vaccine mandate. Inside sources claim that pilots and air traffic controllers have engaged in a sickout to protest the company requiring COVID-19 vaccination for employees.

Stranded passengers taking to social media also second the vaccine mandates as a reason for the shortages. One Twitter user says: This is not due to bad weather. All flights have been canceled because employees are walking out due to the vaccine mandate.

Even Southwest employees themselves say that the cancellations are due to the employee protest of the mandate, another user says. (Related: Pilot calls on Americans to push back against vaccine mandates and fight for their health freedom.)

Writing for SHTFPlan.com, author Michael Snyder says: Right now, we are already facing the most epic labor shortage in U.S. history. If millions more qualified people are thrown out of work in the months ahead due to these absurd mandates, that is going to cause unprecedented chaos all across America. A weekend of canceled flights might be bad, but it is nothing compared to the complete and utter nightmare our society will be facing if all of these mandates go through.

Energy shortages threaten to cripple the economy

Snyder adds: On top of everything else, now we are facing a severe global energy crisis. This crisis affects not only the U.S., but also other countries such as China and India.

True enough, the Indian capital of Delhi faces a power crisis as its power plants are running low on coal. It follows similar warnings regarding the growing possibility of blackouts by the eastern Indian state of Odisha and the southeastern state of Tamil Nadu.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal warned of this power crisis through an Oct. 9 tweet. He says: Delhi could face a power crisis. I am personally keeping a close watch over the situation. We are trying our best to avoid it. [Meanwhile], I wrote a letter to [the prime minister] seeking his personal intervention.

Kejriwals letter to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi notes that five power plants supplying electricity to the capital have dangerously low coal supplies.

If the situation continues unabated, it would severely impact the power supply situation in Delhi, he writes. The chief minister proposes that coal and natural gas be diverted to power plants near Delhi to maintain uninterrupted power.

China has also borne the brunt of the energy crisis, with its state planning agency curbing projects that use excessive amounts of power. The countrys National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) says it will halt the development of energy-intensive projects. The agencys move follows the country rationing out electricity amid a dwindling power supply.

The national energy conservation situation is very severe, NDRC spokeswoman Meng Wei says. She adds that nine provinces and regions in China have seen their annual energy consumption increase in the first half of the year alone. The agency has stopped reviewing proposals in the areas for new project that have no national government support and consume high amounts of energy for the rest of 2021.

Snyder says: If things are this bad already, how crazy will things get in the middle of winter when demand for energy is at the highest? It isnt just the U.S. economy that is crumbling. Literally, the economic infrastructure of the entire globe is falling to pieces, and experts are warning that things will continue to break down in the months ahead. (Related: Millions of Americans will suffer amid mass power outages this winter, thanks to a burgeoning energy crisis, insider warns.)

Collapse.news has more articles about the impending economic crash worldwide.

Sources include:

SHTFPlan.com

USAToday.com

Twitter.com 1

BizPacReview.com

Twitter.com 2

NASDAQ.com
(Natural News) Dr. Alan Keyes of Lets Talk America touches on the playbook enemies of the U.S. follow to undermine the country. The former State Department official elaborated on this during the Oct. 13 edition of his show on Brighteon.TV. Jeff Pedersen and Shady Grove of The Matrixxx Grooove Show join Keyes in his program, pointing out that this playbook has been used throughout history.

According to Keyes, Brighteon.TV has brought together people who wish to restore the integrity of our self-government and rid the country of the shadow of this effort to install a government that really reflects the Marxist understanding.

He adds: We need to remember exactly that its about an ideology, a philosophy, an understanding that has been proven in practice to be obsessed with nothing but power. Anything that gets in the way of the consolidation of power in the hands of an elitist few is discarded.

Keyes notes that the U.S. has been in a position to prove that [it] could build a nation whose success has never been equal or exceeded in the history of mankind. He adds: Do you think any of the philosophers thought that government of, by and for the people would result in the regime that put all the others in the shade? No, they didnt. They scoffed at the very idea and we made it work.

The Matrixxx Grooove hosts then elaborate on the reason why the leftist playbook needs to be understood.

What we want to do is to have people understand what the playbook really is and how it works. Because if you understand: Know thy enemy and the truth shall set you free, Pedersen explains.

Weve actually done a lot of digging as to the controlling mechanism that does plague us. However, I dont think a lot of people are seeing a lot of actual wins that have actually taken place  and thats why were here. Basically theres a playbook being used. (Related: YES, its communism we face, and the revolutionary playbook is unfolding right on schedule.)

Pedersen, Grove draw parallels from the past and the present

Grove says: The tools that theyre using against us arent new tools, [although theyre] new to a lot of people here in America. You mentioned history, Alan, and I think thats very important  because what youre watching right now is the mob basically tearing down our history.

The Matrixxx Grooove host also mentions that Americans who grew up in the country 25 to 30 years ago had a grasp of the Constitution, alongside the concept and importance of freedom.

Now, every country pretty much doesnt respect those freedoms the way we do here in America, Grove says. Right now, America is somehow the bad guy and the enemy, and the people that want freedom are the people that are standing in the way of getting back to normal.

Pedersen then cites Melina Abdullah as one parallel between events in the past and the present. Born Melina Rachel Reimann, Abdullah is heavily linked to the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement. Her profile at California State University Los Angeles describes her as among the original group of organizers that convened to form BLM. She continues to serve as an L.A. chapter lead and contributes to the national leadership.

She was born a Reimann, who is her relative? Well, its Gunther Reimann  who is part of the Nazi Party. In fact, he was also part of the Communist Party of Germany, Pedersen adds. Reimann is Abdullahs father, establishing the BLM-Nazi Party link.

Aside from this, Pedersen also mentions that Antifa is not a recent occurrence as it was used previously in Germany by the communists there. In Germany, there was a playbook for Antifaschistische Aktion. Today theres Antifa, he says.

Pedersen adds that even the concept of police defunding was not a novel concept, having been proposed earlier by Nazi official Hermann Goering. Now we have the BLM playbook along with the German playbook. I think thats pretty interesting, and its a huge red pill for a lot of people. The old playbook is there today, compare and contrast, he remarks.

Keyes throws in his two cents on the matter: The enemy is seeking to destroy us, but the enemy has attacked us before. As a matter of fact, since we rose to preeminence in this world, the enemy has attacked us continually in every way they could come up with. Old playbooks, new playbooks every playbook. (Related: Mother who managed to survive Maos Cultural Revolution warning that she sees the American left moving in the same direction.)

Throughout the whole time of their advance, they were attacking capitalism, and therefore attacking the American way of life, exploiting various fault lines in our societies and civilization. When it didnt work based on the fault line of wealth, they decided to go to other things. So they played religious differences, racial differences and so forth, the Lets Talk America host adds.

Watch the full Oct. 13 episode of Lets Talk America in the video below. Lets Talk America with Dr. Alan Keyes airs from Monday to Friday at 1-3 p.m. on Brighteon.TV.

LeftCult.com has more articles about the lefts attempts to undermine the United States.

Sources include:

Brighteon.com

CalStateLA.edu
(Natural News) It is now becoming common knowledge that the Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) did not magically appear at a Wuhan wet market, but rather was an invention tied to the infamous Wuhan Institute of Virology in China.

Tony Fauci, Shi batwoman Zhengli, Bill Gates and various other career criminals each played a role in hatching the idea of covid for the purpose of plunging the world into total chaos and medical fascism.

Even the mainstream media now admits that the official story makes no sense, and that the Chinese Virus was deliberately created as opposed to just appearing out of the blue as a product of nature.

We now know that Fauci funneled millions of American taxpayer dollars to China to conduct illegal gain-of-function research on bat coronaviruses  this is an undeniable fact.

A year and a half ago, anyone who suggested any of this was labeled a crazy conspiracy theorist. Now, the conspiracy theory is believing that bat soup caused the plandemic.

The Washington Post is one of the corporate media outlets that published leaked intelligence supporting the lab leak hypothesis. The World Health Organization (WHO) also now agrees that Chinese Germs probably did not come from bat meat.

The New Yorker also published what is perhaps the most detailed account of the controversy to date, revealing that  from the beginning  the virus appeared like a human virus.

Infectious disease expert says covid appeared like a human virus almost from day one

Scripps Research infectious disease expert Kristian Andersen has been confused from the very start about how the Fauci Flu could have spread so rapidly around the world when coronaviruses are not very good at transferring from human to human, let alone from bat to human.

It seemed to be locked and loaded for causing the pandemic, Andersen is quoted as saying, his suggestion sounding a lot like the Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) was concocted by humans, not nature.

This, almost from day one, appeared like a human virus.

At the time, Andersen was eager to share his thoughts with Fauci, whom he believed to be an honest and trustworthy doctor. We now know, however, that Fauci is anything but honest and trustworthy.

In his letter, Andersen told Fauci that the SARS-CoV-2 genome seemed inconsistent with expectations from evolutionary theory. A really small part of the virus had unusual features, Andersen added.

Its spike  the crucial bit of surface protein that a coronavirus uses to invade a cell  appeared able to bind tightly to a human-cell receptor known as ACE2, Anderson explained, adding that this means its more effective at infecting human cells.

Another significant trait was a rare insertion into the genome of 12 nucleotides, also known as a furin cleavage site, which may have made the virus more transmissible, Andersen said.

One has to look really closely at all the sequences to see that some of the features (potentially) look engineered, he added.

Fauci, of course, denies everything. Even though the evidence is everywhere to convict him  and painfully so  Fauci continues to lie, lie and lie some more whenever pressed for answers to the glaring anomalies that demarcate his plandemic narrative.

Strangely enough, Andersen changed his tune not long after making all these statements and inquiries to Fauci. Andersen later said that the notion of the Fauci Flu being concocted in a laboratory was a crackpot idea, and that natural transmission makes the most sense.

A month or two after it surfaced, one guy that studied it early said it had HIV in it, added a Zero Hedge commenter to the conversation  and keep in mind that Fauci was obsessed with AIDS back in the 1980s. He said no way thats in there unless it was put there. All I needed to hear!

The latest news about Chinese Virus deception can be found at Pandemic.news.

Sources for this article include:

ZeroHedge.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) There is currently massive congestion in ports all over the world. This disaster is also affecting China as the countrys ports are now filled with goods waiting to be unpacked and transported. The seas around Chinas ports are also packed with ships waiting to unload their containers.

Containerized trades through Chinese ports account for as much as 40 percent of all global container trades. The country is also home to the first and third busiest shipping container ports in the world: the Port of Shanghai and the Port of Ningbo-Zhoushan.

This means that even slightly unnatural levels of congestion in these ports have global ramifications, especially since many of Chinas primary trade routes lead to Northern Europe and Americas West Coast. (Related: Supply chain issues, soaring food prices wreak havoc on US economy #EmptyShelvesJoe.)

According to data obtained earlier this month by supply chain technology company Project44, there were approximately 386 ships anchored outside or at the terminals in Shanghai and Ningbo-Zhoushan. This is in addition to the estimated 228 cargo ships and 45 container vessels already docked at those two ports.

The number of shipping containers in Shanghai and Ningbo-Zhoushan that miss their scheduled sailings shows the enormity of the problem. As much as 41 percent of shipping containers in Shanghai have been delayed. For Ningbo-Zhoushan, that number is at 36 percent.

This problem is occurring in ports all over the country. In the Port of Hong Kong, the eighth busiest shipping container port in the world, 37 percent of shipping containers are delayed.

When there are cargo rollovers due to vessel space capacity, overbooking, blank sailings, etc., additional costs will be incurred by way of port costs which contributes to increases in freight rates, writes a supply chain expert from Project44.

The delays caused by cargo rollovers also affect production and delivery patterns at the destination ports as customers who have placed orders for raw materials for manufacturing or retail goods for consumers cannot get their goods in time.

Josh Brazil, vice president of marketing at Project44, describes the current bottlenecks in the supply chain as a global whiplash effect.

We can expect these growing backlogs across Chinese manufacturers and ports to exacerbate imbalances at U.S. and European ports, says Brazil.

Some of the problems plaguing Chinas ports include the countrys ongoing Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The countrys ports also have significantly fewer workers during the first week of October due to Golden Week, a week-long national holiday celebrating the creation of the communist nation.

The Shanghai and Ningbo-Zhoushan ports were also forced to close down in mid-September for three days due to the impact of Typhoon Chanthu. The ongoing energy crisis in China caused by coal shortages and the communist governments strict rationing of electricity has also hampered efforts to decongest the ports.

As it becomes increasingly hard to get inventory from factory floors to end-consumers, competition for shipping capacity will heat up, says Brazil. At this point, pretty much everybody is feeling the pain. The challenge is less about achieving full inventory  that ship has sailed  and more about adapting to, and planning for future disruption.

US ports experiencing intense congestion

The situation in the United States is not better. It was reported several weeks ago that there were a record-breaking 73 ships anchored in San Pedro Bay, off the coast of Americas two largest ports  the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach, respectively. Together, they account for approximately 40 percent of all shipping containers entering the U.S.

Those cargo ships were unable to dock and start unloading their cargo because the ports were filled up with shipping containers.

On Wednesday, Oct. 13, President Joe Biden announced a plan to try to ease the burdens experienced by the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports. This mainly involves forcing port operators and companies like FedEx, UPS, Walmart and Home Depot to extend their operating hours, sometimes up to 24 hours a day.

The Port of Long Beach already shifted to this kind of operating schedule in September. The Port of Los Angeles announced on Wednesday that it was following suit. This announcement was followed by similar proclamations by the other companies listed above that they will expand their operating hours so that they can make deliveries at any time of the day.

But ramping up operating hours for ports alone will not solve the supply chain crisis.

The massive labor shortage plaguing America right now means a lot of industries that the ports rely on to help decongest their docks need workers. For example, there is a shortage of long-haul truck drivers. This will negatively impact how quickly the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach can be opened up.

The White House also announced that it would not be providing port operators with any federal funding to help them pay their workers to keep the ports open for longer hours. This could potentially cause trouble with the powerful International Longshore and Warehouse Union, which represents thousands of workers at the ports and may not be willing to work if port authorities do not have the resources to pay them off.

The supply chain is, essentially, in the hands of the private sector, so we need the private sector to step up to help solve these problems, says an administration official.

The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are not the only ones affected by the global supply chain crisis. One report states that as many as 80,000 unloaded shipping containers are stacked up on the docks in the Port of Savannah, the countrys fourth-largest port.

Learn more about how the supply chain crisis is affecting the entire world by reading the latest articles at MarketCrash.news.

Sources include:

Alt-Market.us

Maritime-Executive.com

ShipAFreight.com

CNBC.com
(Natural News) The medical profession is fast becoming an unattractive prospect to young people, many of whom are not at all interested in become just another Big Pharma pawn.

Brain drain, as they call it  this is when there is not enough interested talent to maintain a profession  is spreading like wildfire throughout the health care sector because nobody wants to be force-vaccinated just to keep their jobs.

While there are, in fact, other industries doing the same, there is arguably no industry more fascist than todays medical profession, which no longer respects freedom of choice and the right to resist pharmaceutical drugging.

Hospitals all across the country are seeing their staff flee due to jab mandates, which has left many of them unable to operate as normal. In upstate New York, as one example, an entire health systems maternity ward has had to close down due to a lack of nurses.

Healthcare professionals who choose to make their own personal health decisions  the same people who were celebrated last year as front-line heroes  are now being fired or forced to resign because of this mandate, writes Simon Black for The Daily Bell.

Thats bad enough  But the potential to drive good doctors and nurses out of the U.S. healthcare system goes far beyond executive orders, he adds, referring to fake president Joe Bidens mandatory vaccination EO.

Who wants to be a slave to the misguided public health decrees of corrupt bureaucrats?

If you can even believe it, doctors in the United States who dare to even so much as question the safety and effectiveness of Fauci Flu shots are being told that they could lose their medical licenses for spreading misinformation.

Anything that does not align with the official plandemic narrative is now off-limits, says the Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB), which basically governs how medicine is practiced in America.

No longer are doctors and nurses allowed to think for themselves and come to their own conclusions about how to treat their patients  or themselves, for that matter. Everything is dictated from the top down now, which is systematically destroying health care in this country.

Real medicine involves physicians having the freedom to assess each individual patient in a unique way and provide customized care. The same applies to physicians themselves, which should always have the liberty to treat their own bodies as they best see fit.

All people, just to be clear, have the God-given right  no matter what the government says  to care for their own bodies however they choose. No politician, corporation or other outside entity can take that right away from someone.

They are certainly trying, though, and some are complying. The good news is that many are not, including the next generation of potential doctors who are staying far, far away from the compromised profession.

It really makes you wonder how long all of the good, sane doctors who just want to help patients are going to stick around and put up with it all, Black writes. These trends have long term consequences, and this is just another example of the systemic issues that are pushing America into decline.

Because of how badly thing have already declined in the U.S., many who have the means and ability are traveling elsewhere for care, including to Mexico where the quality of care, ironically enough, is better than it is in many parts of America. Mexican health care is also far less expensive than American health care.

The latest news about the engineered collapse of the United States due to covid can be found at Collapse.news.

Sources for this article include:

TheDailyBell.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) The White House confirmed they are speaking with oil and gas producers in the United States about reducing rising energy prices, just days after Joe Biden boasted about suspending drilling in Alaska.

(Article by Charlie Spiering republished from Breitbart.com)

Reuters reports White House officials reached out to energy companies as the world faces record high prices and a shortage of supply.

A week earlier, Biden boasted during a White House event on national monuments he had suspended oil and gas drilling on federal lands in Alaska.

Alaska is pretty big. Theres an awful lot we need to protect, Biden said Friday. Thats why Im refusing to sell out the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve to oil and gas drilling.

In June, Biden suspended oil leases in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge after President Donald Trump opened the area up to drilling in 2017.

Biden also halted new oil and gas leasing and drilling permits on federal lands in January.

The price of U.S. crude oil hit $80 a barrel this month, a seven-year high. This year oil production remains about two million barrels a day lower than the nearly 13 million barrels per day produced by the United States in 2019, prior to the pandemic.

The United States government announced Wednesday that households could see heating bills jump as much as 54 percent.

Last week, the White House blamed Septembers Hurricane Ida for the spike in energy costs in the fall, but said that the presidents priority was to shift to cleaner sources of energy.

Certainly, we all want to keep gasoline prices low, but the threat of the crisis  the climate crisis  certainly cant wait any longer, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said to reporters.

Read more at: Breitbart.com
(Natural News) The Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has made many young workers rethink their jobs and careers. With many suffering from burnout while working desk jobs, some have shifted to doing manual labor as farm workers.

CBS News talks to two individuals  James Marriott and Cat Steckbeck  who have given up their office jobs to work on a farm.

Twenty-four-year-old Marriott leaves his home before the sun rises. He commutes to work, passing by the crowded streets of Boston  but he is not going to an office in the city. Rather, he heads to Drumlin Farm at Lincoln, Massachusetts.

Marriott has degrees in neuroscience and global health, a perfect fit for his earlier job at a biotechnology firms laboratory. He used to develop vaccines in his former job, but his current farm work requires a different skill set. Alongside his farm duties, Marriott is pursuing a masters degree in epidemiology.

This was a very intentional decision, not something like I dont know what to do, let me just go work on a farm. This is how I want my life to go. I dont see myself doing this forever, but I will always keep farming in some kind of way, he says.

Meanwhile, physical therapist Steckbeck has chosen the green outdoors instead of the hospital. She says: It was a very stressful time. For me, it was just not the right setting  and I think [COVID-19] certainly sped up the feelings of burnout.

Steckbecks decision to shun a hospital job comes with a price. Aside from callused hands and a sore back, her income has dropped by a little more than 50 percent of what she received from her previous job. Its been a life adjustment. I mean, its certainly reevaluating what I choose to spend my money on, the former hospital worker adds. (Related: Pandemic drives Americans away from expensive cities.)

Despite being unsure if her career move is permanent, Steckbeck says the COVID-19 pandemic has helped her realize that life is fragile and that she should spend time doing what makes her happy. She says: I kind of thought it might just be a break. Maybe it is and maybe its not.

COVID-19 pandemic has made people rethink their careers

Drumlin Farm Crops Manager Matt Celona says he is not surprised by the applicants looking for work on the farm. Makes sense to me. They tried a job, they dont like it. They want to try something else. They have an interest in the environment, he elaborates.

Marriot and Steckbeck  both in their 20s  join the many workers in their age group who have shifted careers entirely as the COVID-19 pandemic swept the United States. Their transition to farm work is part of a seismic shift.

According to a study done in July 2021, nearly a third of U.S. workers under 40 years old have considered changing careers during the pandemic.

A February 2021 report by McKinsey & Company touched on how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected different sectors of work. The report named 10 work arenas that have varying levels of physical proximity, or interaction between people. It noted that work arenas with higher levels of physical proximity such as healthcare and retail are likely to see greater transformation after the pandemic. (Related: Jobless claims spike to 6.6 million, doubling last weeks record, as layoffs mount amid coronavirus pandemic.)

The report notes that the outdoor production and maintenance arena suffered the least impact from COVID-19. Work in this arena requires low proximity and few interactions with others, and takes place fully outdoors, it says.

However, Marriot shares a deeper reflection about his shift to farm work. He says: Weve all kind of felt like were cogs in the wheel of this larger system that we didnt really want to be a part of. This was our way of taking back our lives and just being like this is what we want to be doing rather than doing something that we felt we had to be doing.

Pandemic.news has more articles about American workers shifting careers entirely during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sources include:

CBSNews.com

McKinsey.com
(Natural News) Nearly a quarter of a million workers who belong to one of the North Americas most dynamic and diverse unions are just saying no to mandatory Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) vaccination.

In a letter to the Union Pacific Company, International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers (SMART) general chairman Roy Davis expressed strong disapproval with the companys unilateral requirement that all workers get jabbed for the Fauci Flu.

Davis also wants an immediate response from the Union Pacific Company about the unions concerns, as well as confirmation that it will negotiate in good faith to drop the requirement.

We understand that OSHA has issued a Federal requirement (September 24, 2021), but Carrier has created new working conditions without negotiations with the Organization, the letter reads.

We also recognize the seriousness of the pandemic, but such does not permit Carrier to institute an arbitrary policy, which will have a sweeping effect on the current working conditions and Union Pacific Railroad, rather than negotiate an agreement.

The letter goes on to explain that according to Section 6 bargaining requirements, Union Pacific is required to maintain the status quo, not to arbitrarily impose a sweeping change to the current working conditions that do not meet the standards as contained in the Railway Labor Act.

The Act mandates that Carriers and representatives of the employees shall give at least thirty days written notice of an intended change in agreements affecting rates of pay, rules, or working conditions, and the time and place for the beginning of conference between the representatives of the parties interested in such intended changes shall be agreed upon within ten days after the receipt of said notice, and said time shall be within the thirty days provided in the notice.'

SMART petitions to sue Union Pacific Railroad for trying to mandate covid jabs

Until Union Pacific agrees to meet with SMART to negotiate in good faith about all this, the union says it remains vehemently opposed to any change to working conditions, including Chinese Virus injection mandates.

Union Pacific has no legal or rightful authority to act in this manner, SMART says, and given how serious this is, the union is asking for a written response from the railroad immediately.

SMART actually sent a second letter to Union Pacific that same day expressing grave concern about the mandate and requesting immediate court action to address it.

We adamantly believe that the terms of a vaccine mandate must be negotiated, so as to protect the membership, this second letter reads.

The fact that Union Pacific made no good faith effort to negotiate with the Organization in this manner constitutes a failure to make and maintain Agreements concerning rules and working conditions, and we view Carriers recent actions as an attempt to exert an illegal change in working conditions.

Since more than 203,000 people are represented by SMART, this pushback against Union Pacific is a big deal. It piggybacks on a move by union employees of Boeing who have begun staging sickout protest days every Friday against the company for trying to force them to get injected for Chinese Germs.

I have a feeling this is exactly what they want, wrote one skeptical commenter at The Gateway Pundit. Stop the supply chain and then the country will be ripe for invasion.

Another agreed, noting that the elites do not depend on the infrastructure of society to survive  all of that is for us to survive. And since we are the ones they want to cull, the supply chain issues caused by strikes will only create further shortages by design.

The latest news about Fauci Flu shot fascism can be found at Fascism.news.

Sources for this article include:

TheGatewayPundit.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) Across America, even left-wing Biden voters in blue cities are now joining protests against vaccine mandates and Bidens heavy handed tactics that violate medical choice / human rights.

Over just the last few days, weve seen protests by teachers in New York City, Boeing employees protesting in Seattle, Southwest Airlines workers protesting in Dallas, California parents protesting vaccines mandates in schools and a law enforcement revolt against coercive vaccine mandates in Chicago.

We will not comply: protests against vaccine mandates erupt in progressive Seattle, reports the Post Millennial.

Seattle saw protests on Monday after the city and state terminated fired an unprecedented number of workers who refused to comply with Governor Jay Inslees vaccine mandate. The requirement went into effect at midnight on Oct. 18, by which time most people would have had to receive their first shot.

The rally hosted by March For Freedom Washington brought out firefighters, law enforcement officers, nurses, teachers, and bus drivers to Seattle City Hall. The crowd met around noon and people gave their heartbreaking testimonies as to why they chose not to get vaccinated.

On Sunday, the day before the deadline to submit vaccination status, Seattle police officers who would not comply took a strong stance and hung Gadsden flags from patrol vehicles.

WOW! @SeattlePD officers make a huge statement day before officers get fired over the vaccine mandate. pic.twitter.com/bzZo6VpsL9  Katie Daviscourt (@KatieDaviscourt) October 17, 2021

I served as a firefighter for 23 years. I have seen things that you wouldnt wish on your greatest enemy. I never thought this is how my career would end, a Seattle firefighter told The Post Millennial. Last year we were frontline heroes, this year were enemies.

Protests were also organized in Dallas, where Southwest Airlines employees were seen chanting, Lets Go Brandon!

DALLAS TX: Southwest employees chant LETS GO BRANDON in front of the South West headquarters to protest the airline vaccine mandate Get More News: https://t.co/u7URmoOvPT pic.twitter.com/JwSKXrzqaa  Drew Hernandez (@DrewHLive) October 18, 2021

Unlike the engineered protests of Black Lives Matter and Antifa in 2020  all organized and funded by globalists like George Soros  these health freedom protests are organic, genuine and attended by real people who show their faces and arent hiding behind masks.

Protests are popping up all over the United States and things could get really ugly really quickly, writes Mac Slavo from SHTFplan.com.

On Monday, hundreds of demonstrators held signs aloft that read, Terminate the mandate, Freedom not force and No jabs for jobs, as they convened at Southwest Airlines headquarters in Dallas to protest against the mandate. Attendees also chanted My body, my choice as they lined the highway outside the airline facility.

DALLAS- John, a pilot for Southwest Airlines shares an important message on behalf of employees: No medical tyranny should be allowed at Southwest Airlines. Our slogan is freedom, yet our executive management is trying to take away our freedoms of choice pic.twitter.com/fq4isEnZwq  Sav (@RapidFire_Pod) October 18, 2021

Former Biden supporters are now chanting, Lets Go Brandon!

When campaigning in 2020, Biden told America he would never push vaccine mandates. His gullible supporters believed him and touted the progressive idea of, my body my choice.

But it didnt take long for Biden to betray his own voter base, declaring, YOUR body, MY choice! by pushing coercive, dangerous vaccine mandates.

Trump is only slightly less offensive in all this, by the way, because he relentlessly pushes covid vaccines and is still trying to claim credit for bringing them into existence, but he says he wouldnt force them on people.

Biden, on the other hand, is aggressively pushing vaccine mandates as a requirement to work. By doing so, he is exposing the real agenda of the radical Left  complete tyranny and total government control over your body, your life and your behavior. For many progressives, thats just too much to swallow, and they are pushing back like never before.

In Australia, Premier Daniel Andrews is now threatening the DOUBLE vaxxed with being locked up if they dont agree to an endless series of booster shots (which really arent boosters but rather contain full doses of more spike protein bioweapons). This should be a warning to all Americans: If you are foolish enough to comply with the first two vaccine shots, you will be forced to be injected with many more yet to come.

As an increasing number of former Biden supporters are now discovering, you cant comply your way out of tyranny. At some point, you have to take a stand against it and engage in mass civil disobedience to reject the insanity.

This is just the first step of the backlash, by the way. Soon, youll hear a nationwide call for mass arrests of Biden and his regime cohorts for carrying out crimes against humanity. The war crimes tribunals wont be far behind, especially as vaccine deaths accelerate through the 2021-2022 winter (and all the dead bodies cant be covered up by the complicit media any longer).

Get full details on all this and more in todays hard-hitting Situation Update podcast:

Brighteon.com/246812e2-6ccc-4b96-8e14-2bfd1993f663

Discover a new podcast and amazing interviews each day at:

https://www.brighteon.com/channels/hrreport
(Natural News) If you were a mayor or the head of a county government would you implement a policy that would lead to mass resignations and disruption of vital services like fire, police and EMS for the citizens you are charged with serving and protecting?

The sane response, of course, is no  not purposefully, anyway.

Why would any elected public servant willingly endanger his or her community?

Willingly is a keyword here because what is going on in major cities and moderately sized communities all over the country is a willingness to put citizens in danger by creating as much chaos as possible  since you need chaos to effect a revolution.

Left-wing mayors and other officials are ordering first responders to take the COVID-19 vaccine or else risk losing their jobs, and an increasing number of frontline responders are taking the latter option, as The Post Millennial reports:

The Seattle Fire Department is currently under a significant staffing crisis that is set to grow more dire come October 18 when the city terminates dozens of unvaccinated firefighters for not taking the mandatory COVID-19 vaccine, a requirement for all city employees.

Sources within SFD told The Post Millennial that the department hit a record-low number of available staffers over the weekend which resulted in the unavailability of five aid units, three fire engines, and two medic units.

If Seattle Mayor Durkan follows through on terminating unvaccinated city employees, the department is predicted to lose 5-10 engines, according to sources who also said there are 55 Seattle Fire employees that havent submitted vaccination records. 54 of them are uniformed firefighters, the outlet added. Among those who havent submitted records are chief officers, firefighters, and EMTs, according to sources.

Meanwhile, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, a massive COVID mandate hypocrite, is facing the choice of ignoring her vaccine mandate for all city workers, to include first responders, or enforcing it and firing perhaps hundreds of police officers at a time when crime in the Windy City is already out of control in many neighborhoods.

Chicago Fraternal Order of Police President John Catanzara is directly challenging Lightfoots order, imploring officers to ignore her mandate and force her to decide what to do.

Do not fill out the portal information, he said. Ive made my status very clear as far as the vaccine, but I do not believe the city has the authority to mandate that to anybodylet alone that information about your medical history.

Its safe to say that the city of Chicago will have a police force at 50 percent or less for this weekend coming up, Catanzara said last week  a dismissal that did not happenyet.

I can guarantee you that no-pay status will not last more than 30 days, Catanzara said on Tuesday. Theres no way theyre going to be able to sustain a police department workforce at 50 percent capacity or less for more than seven days without something budging.

This is very clearly not a job action, he noted, not a call for a strike.

In Seattle, one firefighter told The Post Millennial: Our last shift we are able to work without getting the vaccine is Oct 17th, which gets off at 0800 on the 18th. We have not been officially fired yet. We are not allowed to work, but can use paid time off (vacation/comp time) while awaiting next steps.

Think staffing was bad before and the citizens were impacted? Medic units, Aid Cars, and engines will be browned out, the firefighter added, according to the outlet.

I have been with the Seattle Fire Department for a little over 15 years. Before I moved to Seattle, I worked as a firefighter for over a decade. I gave up everything to come here. I only wanted to work 5 more years and then I could retire with a full investment in the retirement system here. However, now I am facing being fired because of this vaccine mandate. I am absolutely devastated! another fire source said.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva has the solution to preserving the staff of his department and Los Angeles city fire, police and EMS: He is refusing to enforce the mandate.

Short of that, we are about to see the purposeful creation of mass chaos with the intent of leftists swooping in like Stalin to clean it all up with authoritarian crackdowns.

Sources include:

ThePostMillennial.com

FoxNews.com

BizPacReview.com

Chaos.news

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) A Massachusetts State Police sergeant ended up in the intensive care unit (ICU) after getting Johnson & Johnsons (J&J) Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine. Reports say the 19-year police veteran received the J&J vaccine on Oct. 15.

Following the incident, his fellow officers expressed concerns about Massachusetts Governor Charlie Bakers Oct. 17 vaccine mandate for state employees, which requires officers like them to get vaccinated or risk losing their jobs.

According to Attorney William Gens, whose Boston law firm was hired to represent a group of state police, many state troopers are concerned because of the highly disturbing incident. He also said that Bakers vaccine mandate has forced the state troopers to take the Johnson & Johnsons single-dose vaccine for fear of losing their jobs.

A trooper shared that the sick sergeant is a gentleman and a good man. His fellow officers wish for his safe recovery, with some lamenting that this should never have happened. (Related: Denver police officer who lost ability to walk after first covid vaccine fired for refusing second jab.)

Multiple sources say the 19-year veteran is married with two children. Brigham and Womens Hospital has confirmed a patient with his name is in intensive care, but details remain scarce and efforts to reach family members have been unsuccessful.

Dave Procopio, spokesman of the Massachusetts State Police, refused to comment when asked how the sergeant ended up in the ICU.

Governor Baker: Get vaccinated or risk losing your jobs

On Aug. 19, Baker announced that tens of thousands of state government workers who continue to say no to the COVID-19 vaccine could lose their jobs.

The governor ordered all executive branch employees to provide proof that they have been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus by Oct. 17. Otherwise, unvaccinated workers face disciplinary action, up to and including termination.

According to Bakers office, the new mandate covers an estimated 42,000 employees from the governors office to departments of public safety, education, transportation and others. The draconian mandate also covers at least 2,000 additional contracted employees under the states executive departments.

Bakers office also said that employees will also need to get coronavirus vaccine boosters in the future after federal officials release guidance for the additional shots. The policy applies to both employees working in-person and those who are working from home even though there are plans to shift almost 50 percent of the states workers into remote work.

The mandate includes exemptions for workers who are unable to get vaccinated because of medical conditions or have a sincerely held religious belief against the coronavirus vaccine. Bakers administration will provide further guidance if there are workers who want to get exempted from vaccinations.

However, all executive branch workers must provide proof that they have received either two doses of the Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines or one dose of the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine by Oct. 17. According to officials, all documents related to vaccinations will be maintained confidentially.

Back in May, Baker announced that he was firmly against a vaccine mandate, even saying that the states strategy should focus on making appointments convenient and creating positive incentives to encourage people to get vaccinated.

Bakers about-face could cause more incidences of vaccine injuries like what happened to the Massachusetts State Police sergeant who got vaccinated simply because he didnt want to lose his job.

Visit HealthFreedom.news to read more articles about workers and law enforcement officers who are fighting back against vaccine mandates.

Sources include:

CitizenFreePress.com

BostonHerald.com

Boston.com
(Natural News) The government is determined to enforce vaccine mandates in the country to try and slow the spread of the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19). But instead of forcing civilians and service members to get vaccinated, it seems like the government should have been trying to address a more pressing matter.

According to a study, suicides among active-duty members of the U.S. Army have increased by 46 percent in 2021.

Findings from the study, which was commissioned by the Pentagon, show that suicides in the U.S. Armys active-duty forces have increased by a shocking 46 percent in the second quarter compared to the same period last year.

According to the new suicide report from the Pentagon, 60 active-duty U.S. Army personnel members lost their lives to suicide in Q2 of 2021. There were 41 suicide deaths recorded in Q2 last year.

Findings also reveal that the number of U.S. military personnel, both active-duty and reserve, who died from suicide in Q2 of 2021 is 139 . There were 130 recorded suicide deaths during the same period in 2020.

The numbers are shocking, especially since the total count of military personnel who have died from the coronavirus since the start of the pandemic is at 67.

Senior leaders call for more efforts to address the mental health crisis among service members

In September, the military released figures showing that suicides in the armed forces increased by 15 in 2020. Because of the troubling and significant increases in suicides among the Army and Marine Corps, senior leaders have highlighted the need for immediate action to reverse the trend.

Study findings show that there were 580 suicides in 2020 compared with 504 the prior year.

Within that period, the number of suicides by Army National Guard troops increased by about 35 percent, from 76 in 2019 to 103 in 2020.

There was an almost 20 percent increase in suicides among the active-duty Army. Marine Corps suicides increased by more than 30 percent from 47 to 62. For the Marine Corps Reserves, suicides went from nine deaths to 10.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin says that suicide rates among service members and military families are still too high. He adds that things need to be done to help improve the situation and prevent more suicide deaths.

Focus on mental health, not vaccine mandates

According to a research paper released in the summer of 2021, 30,177 American active military personnel and veterans involved in post-9/11 wars are estimated to have died by suicide. The figure is at least four times greater than the 7,057 service members who died in combat during the same period.

The statistics comes from a report from the Cost of War Project, a joint research effort between Brown University and Boston University.

The report authors warned that if the U.S. government and society dont make significant changes in the management of the mental health crisis among service members and veterans, suicide rates will continue to climb.

That is a cost of war we cannot accept, the authors of the report conclude.

While military leaders do enforce anti-suicide programs, some have questioned if the Department of Defense is spending enough resources on suicide prevention. (Related: Mental health crisis, tyrannical mandates characterize pandemic  Brighteon.TV.)

Austin highlights the fact that the military may be focusing too much on the coronavirus instead of the mental health of service members. Army leaders suggest enforcing measures to help identify signs or red flags of impending mental health breakdowns among fellow soldiers to prevent suicide attempts.

On Tuesday, Oct. 12, Army Sergeant Major Michael Grinston spoke at the annual Association of the United States Army conference. He explains that since most suicides are linked to poor finances or failed relationships, checking for any warning signs could mean helping soldiers maintain a healthy family life or making sure theyre handling their finances responsibly and paying bills on time.

Grinston emphasizes the importance of recognizing the signs of someone having a hard time before things are too late so they can get the help they need. He adds that in most cases, suicide prevention is reactionary and often comes too late.

The Army should approach the sensitive issue by going beyond behavioral health and involving general quality-of-life upgrades. Suicides can be prevented by starting courses to help teach soldiers how to make better financial decisions and how to be better partners in relationships, adds Grinston.

Go to Pandemic.news for more updates on how the pandemic has affected the lives of service members and millions of Americans.

Sources include:

BigLeaguePolitics.com

Military.com
(Natural News) The Pennsylvania School Boards Association (PSBA) is joining 10 other state boards in officially withdrawing from the National School Boards Association (NSBA) due to the organizations conspiring with the White House to push Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) fascism in public schools.

A recent letter sent by the NSBA to the White House was the final straw, the PSBA announced.

The Pennsylvania School Boards Association was not consulted prior to the letter being sent by the National School Boards Association to President Biden, said PSBA chief communications officer Annette Stevenson.

We were not asked for input nor discussion on its content.

The NSBA letter to the White House calls on federal authorities to send in the troops to deal with the alleged increase in domestic terrorism and hate crimes from angry parents who do not want their children forcibly vaccinated and masked for eight hours a day.

The letter also blasts concerned parents for spreading propaganda purporting the false inclusion of critical race theory, the idea being that all opposition to CRT is just propaganda.

In response, the Biden regimes Justice Department indicated that it is already planning to develop specialized training for school boards and administrators to identify what they perceive as threats to their Fauci Flu mandates and CRT curriculum.

Parents: Keep speaking out LOUDLY in defense of your children

The PSBA does not want anything to do with this nonsense, which suppresses the voices of parents who, by the way, are the only rightful authority over their own children.

PSBA has always encouraged local school boards to welcome input and remarks from community members and all stakeholders, Stevenson emphasized, differentiating the PSBA from the NSBA, the latter of which has gone full fascist.

Pennsylvania has had a long history of relying on local school district control to ensure that the will of the community and parents is best represented.

While the PSBA does not condone a lack of civility by some parents, it is certainly understandable that many of them are escalating the situation amid constant abuse by corrupt school boards that feel as though they can do whatever they want with other peoples children.

PSBA is strongly adverse [sic] to the lack of civility and violence being witnessed in some districts, and we support that local districts need to be able to work with their local and regional law enforcement to address such safety concerns, Stevenson added.

Attorney General Merrick Garland appears to be siding with the fascists, though, having suggested in a memo that there is a disturbing spike in harassment, intimidation, and threats of violence against schools.

Merrick has never once explained why this spike is happening, and that it would go away in an instant if the public school fascists would simply back down from their crusade against students rights.

Even so, Merrick says his Justice Department, at the direction of Beijing Biden and his handlers, plans to discourage these threats, identify them when they occur, and prosecute them when appropriate.

Meanwhile, public schools where a high percentage of student and staff are fully vaccinated for the Fauci Flu are seeing a massive surge in new cases of the disease.

Other states where school boards are engaging in a state-level pushback against the NSBA include New Hampshire, Texas, Florida, Arkansas, Missouri, Montana, North Carolina, Tennessee, Louisiana and Virginia.

This is a bold move by PSBA, tweeted one individual. If it would recognize a parents ability to choose the best educational option for their children it would be real progress.

More news about the governments never-ending Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) tyranny can be found at Fascism.news.

Sources for this article include:

HumanEvents.com

BizPacReview.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) A Southwest Airlines pilot has stepped forward to reveal the companys vaccination policies.

Ive been an airline pilot for 18 years, and now I am facing an ultimatum  not a choice, but an ultimatum. Ive been told in order to continue my career as an airline pilot, I must be vaccinated, which really means I have to choose between putting food on the table for my family and my freedom of choice, the pilot, identified as Shawn Andrew Walker, says on a TikTok video.

Dr. Eric Nepute talks about Walkers brave stance in his show Real Talk on Brighteon.TV. Theyre trying to coerce people into getting these experimental jabs, which still have not been proven safe and more and more have not been proven effective, Nepute says.

Case in point: Pfizer is not 97 percent effective as they originally claimed, but only 47 percent effective against the virus.

Vaccine mandate may cause sickouts

Walker cites the vaccine mandate as a cause for sickouts in an anti-vaccination rant. After the Biden administration announced that all federal employees must be vaccinated in September, most major airlines  which are technically government contractors  have followed suit and have since required their workers to get vaccinated.

It does not bode well for everyone and an emerging group of disgruntled airline employees comes forward on social media to complain about the mandatory vaccinations.

Walkers video has gone viral and amassed over 50,000 views. On Sunday, Oct. 10, Southwest Airlines announced the cancellation of more than a quarter of its flights due to an operational meltdown.

However, rumors have circulated that the cancellation was due to sickouts, or workers using their sick leaves to stay home in a show of protest against the vaccination mandate.

Early in October, a group of United Airlines staff asked a Texas federal judge to temporarily block the airline from firing them or for placing them on leave for being unvaccinated. However, the airlines CEO does not seemed worried at all, saying that the number of employees who have quit their jobs over the mandate is negligible.

Southwest Airlines cancel over 2,000 flights

Southwest Airlines canceled more than 2,000 flights over the weekend due to bad weather and operational issues. However, rumors online have emerged that the delays were actually from a pilot protest over the companys vaccine mandate.

The mass pilot sickout claim started circulating on social media after a Texas federal judge was asked to block the airlines COVID-19 vaccine mandate until their lawsuit is resolved. (Related: Southwest Airlines sickout protest spreads to Amtrak, which is canceling trains due to employees refusing covid vaccination.)

The Southwest Airlines Pilots Association (SWAPA), a union representing over 9,000 pilots of the airline, says that flight cancellations were unrelated to vaccination requirements.

But the public knows better.

Southwest Airlines told their pilots and flight attendants they had until November to get jabbed. So now they have to use all their banked vacation and personal time or lose it, reads a post online. A similar version of the same text has been shared on Facebook and Twitter as well.

While the flight cancellations come as Southwest announced its workers must be fully vaccinated by December 8, an airline spokesperson insists that the flight cancellations and the mandates are unrelated.

This is not the first time that vaccine mandates have been blamed for flight delays. The same thing happened in August, with U.S. flights being backed up because airline employees refused to get COVID-19 shots.

Two days before the flight cancellations, workers at several airlines  including Southwest Airlines and American Airlines  have started protesting their companies COVID-19 vaccination mandates. Hundreds of workers and allies have demonstrated outside the American Airlines headquarters at Fort Worth, Texas.

The SWAPA has also filed a lawsuit against the company over its vaccine mandate and has authorized its members to demonstrate against it and other strenuous working conditions that they faced during the pandemic.

Watch the Oct. 12 episode of the Real Talk with Dr. Eric Nepute below:

Catch new episodes of the Real Talk with Dr. Eric Nepute every Tuesday at 4-5 p.m. on Brighteon.TV.

Get more vaccination mandate updates at Pandemic.news.

Sources include:

Brighteon.com

USAToday.com

Instagram.com

Newsweek.com
(Natural News) A group of 57 scientists, doctors and public health policy experts from around the world has released a report questioning the supposed safety and efficacy of the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccines. This international group of experts is calling for an immediate end to all mass vaccination programs.

The groups study is titled SARS-CoV-2 mass vaccination: Urgent questions on vaccine safety that demand answers from international health agencies, regulatory authorities, governments and vaccine developers. The preprint version of the study has been published online on the collaborative research platform Authorea.

Since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak, the race for testing new platforms designed to confer immunity against SARS-CoV-2 has been rampant and unprecedented, leading to emergency authorization of various vaccines, the researchers write in the abstract of their study.

Despite progress on early multidrug therapy for COVID-19 patients, the current mandate is to immunize the world population as quickly as possible. (Related: Scientists warn push for COVID-19 booster shots not based on scientific data; politics and profits now driving vaccine policies.)

The scientists point out that none of the widely available COVID-19 vaccines have gone through proper testing. None of these vaccines have even gone through animal trials before pharmaceutical companies started trials using human subjects.

They also note that the emergency use authorization agreements granted to many of the COVID-19 vaccines in use today are based on safety data generated during trials that lasted only several months.

This lack of thorough and long-term testing should raise a lot of questions regarding the safety and efficacy of the vaccines. But that is not the case.

Despite calls for caution, the risks of SARS-CoV-2 vaccination have been minimized or ignored by health organizations and government authorities, the study authors write. We appeal to the need for a pluralistic dialogue in the context of health policies, emphasizing critical questions that require urgent answers if we wish to avoid a global erosion of public confidence in science and health.

COVID-19 vaccines kill more people than they save

No matter how much peer-reviewed scientific evidence is presented to health regulators and other authorities, they are unwilling to even rethink their COVID-19 vaccination policies.

But this is not always the case, such as when the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee of the Food and Drug Administration voted against recommending President Joe Bidens proposed COVID-19 booster dose program continue.

Before voting 16-2 against the booster vaccination program, the committee has listened to more than eight hours of testimony from public health experts regarding how dangerous it would be for booster doses to become available. Those experts include Dr. Steve Kirsch, director of the COVID-19 Early Treatment Fund, an organization dedicated to treating coronavirus patients without resorting to vaccinations.

Kirsch points out that the mass vaccination program is already killing more people than it is helping, and a booster vaccination program would only make this situation worse.

The vaccines kill more people than they save, says Kirsch. Today, we focus almost exclusively on COVID death saves and vaccine efficacy because we were led to believe that vaccines were perfectly safe. But this is simply not true.

Kirsch says the number of heart attacks reported due to COVID-19 vaccination has increased dramatically. VAERS shows heart attacks happened 71 times more often following these vaccines compared to any other vaccine, he says. Kirsch is referring to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, a federal database for tracking adverse reactions to vaccinations.

Even if the vaccines had a 100 percent protection [rate], it still means we killed two people to save one life, says Kirsch.

Learn more about how the COVID-19 vaccines are endangering the lives of millions of people by reading the latest articles at Vaccines.news.

Sources include:

GlobalResearch.ca

Authorea.com

NewsRescue.com
(Natural News) It is estimated that only one percent of all vaccine adverse events are reported, mainly because people are either scared or they just cant see or imagine the correlation. After all, every single vaccine ever made has been marketed as safe and effective so often, its no wonder kids arent singing it as a jingle. Sadly, theres nothing funny about the thousands and thousands of injuries and deaths (reported and unreported) caused directly by the latest unsafe and ineffective jabs  a.k.a. spike protein gene therapy injections. Just looking at the one percent of adverse events reported to UKs Yellow Card (similar to VAERS), its a horror story bad enough to make any sane person question the entire vaccine industry, especially the Pfizer China Flu shots.

After all, who would trust the very same industry that actually created the genetically mutated animal virus so that it could attack humans in the first place? How many injured, dying and dead folks is it going to take before the world wakes up and sees the forest for the trees?

How many are dead, about to die or are already permanently injured by Covid vaccines?

Did you know if you die one hour after getting a Covid vaccine, the doctors and hospitals will not blame the vaccine? They just run a PCR test (nearly always false-positive result) and declare that the victim died of Covid, adding that the vaccine did not have time to take effect (2 weeks is the claim, meaning youre officially unvaccinated), with no comments about the experimental, deadly, blood-clotting stab the patient just received an hour ago, or even a few days ago. You can be sure if you tested positive for Covid a month prior, you would most definitely be labeled as a Covid-caused death.

Common injuries listed on the British governments Pfizer jab data (see UKcolumn.org) reveal vaccine injuries, some that happened almost immediately or within a few days, including heart attacks, miscarriages, sepsis, paralysis, Bells Palsy, strokes, shingles, Covid-19, deafness, blindness, and psychiatric disorders (prion disease like Mad Cow disease). Now how could the range of horrific problems be so broad from one shot or two shots of spike proteins? Simple answer: There are several billion spike proteins in the blood of these vaccine victims, creating absolute chaos in the entire vascular system.

European database lists HORRIFIC health outcomes for Pfizer-Biotech, Moderna, Janssen (J&J) and AstraZeneca Covid stabs

Step right up folks and get your clot shots, for free, regardless of what the cost is to your health and possibly your life. According to the press, if you dont support blood clots and tens of thousands of deaths from Covid shots then you are anti-science. Yet, the tables are turning, once again, on fake news and bad medicine, as the injuries and deaths caused directly by the Covid jabs are piling up.

Heres just a peek at some of the vaccine injury horror stories posted and reported that you dont hear about on mass media, ever. And if anyone posts any of these injuries or death to social media, they get banned permanently.

#1. A medical worker who was mandated to take the jab has to get both legs and one hand amputated after getting injected with billions of blood-clogging spike proteins.

#2. A 14-year-old boy died from massive brain bleed just a few hours after his 2nd Pfizer jab.

#3. A baby became paralyzed from the Covid vaccine.

#4. A woman died from a rare brain disease within 12 weeks of getting the 2nd Pfizer jab.

#5. A navy doctor spills the truth and says more soldiers have died from the jab than the virus.

#6. A mother reported her daughter died 5 hours after getting the Pfizer jab.

#7. A boys school made him get the Covid vaccine and now he has a serious heart condition.

#8. A womans son was a healthy athlete, now he can barely walk.

#9. 13% of pregnant women suffer miscarriage shortly after Covid vaccines.

#10. Mother reported 2nd Pfizer jab made her mute.

Realize that not everybody has medical insurance, or life insurance, or savings piled up for emergencies, permanent crippling injures, and deaths. These toxic clot shots are their own pandemic, and its spreading as governments all over the world are forcing more people to get them.

Tune your truth news dial to Pandemic.news to stay informed of the engineered pitfalls of the Covid scamdemic. It doesnt take a scientist or doctor to see that Covid vaccines, Remdesivir and ventilators are compounding the problems of the pandemic, creating a pandemic of their own.

Sources for this article include:

Pandemic.news

TruthWiki.org

NaturalNews.com

ZeroHedge.com

TheExpose.uk

UKcolumn.org
Things to Know Before Visiting Nepal

Nepal is a beautiful country with rich culture and history. It is a country in the Himalayas that has been historically isolated from many other countries. The country is full of natural beauty and diverse culture that you will surely enjoy when you visit. All this makes it a perfect tourist destination for most people. If you are looking to explore the Himalayan, here are some things to know before visiting Nepal.

You Can Get Your Nepal Visa Online

When you apply for your Nepal visa online, it will give you the luxury of choosing a convenient and comfortable time and place to pick it up. There is no need to travel far or waste time looking for VFS centres as they are available in more than 150 countries worldwide.

You also do not have to worry about losing out on your chance for a visa if you arrive late, as the system will give you ample time to choose your pick-up date and place. This service is user-friendly and straightforward, allowing you to go through the application process without any hassle.

Buddhism is the main religion in Nepal

This means that you will find monasteries and stupas in almost every corner of the country. You can learn more about Buddhism as you travel, as there are various Buddhist pilgrimage sites and museums that feature Buddhist artefacts. As a traveller, being a devout Buddhist is not mandatory, though; it's up to you if you want to explore this side of Nepal as well.

You Can Get Around Is By Taxi Cab

When travelling in Nepal, the most favourable way to get around is by hiring a taxi cab. You can easily book one online or through your hotel receptionist or concierge service. The cabs are available in both standard and deluxe models, depending on your budget and preference. You can also check online for the latest offers and discounts on different models.

The machines used in Nepal are usually petrol operated, so make sure that you have a full tank before you set off to your destination. It is essential to know that there are no surcharges during the night-time or public holidays, but keep an eye out for the peak hour charge.

Nepal has something for everyone

Nepal has something for everyone, whether you love adventure, culture, history, nature, or just relaxing and taking selfies with monkeys. This country is truly blessed with natural beauty that you will find more than your expectations. You can experience high-mountain lakes, green forests and magnificent mountains in just one day.

Visit between September to mid-November and March to May.

Though there are no seasons in Nepal, these months offer you comfortable weather during your stay. The climate changes drastically when compared with the rest of the year, especially at higher altitudes. So if you want to explore this climatically diverse region, better choose a good time during this period.

The only exception to the rule is that you can get a full view of Mount Everest in October or November, even if there are clouds later on.

The People of Nepal Do Not Speak English or Hindi

Even though the official language of Nepal is Nepali, most people do not speak or understand it. English too is not that commonly understood by locals, especially in rural areas. This means that you might have to settle for sign language and body gestures when interacting with Nepalis.

To make things easier, you can learn a few words and expressions in Nepali, such as "Namaste" (hello), "thank you", and "how much". However, do not expect everyone to know these words; it is more common for people living in cities or those working in the tourism industry to understand them.

You can use Google translator or a similar app, which will easily help you quickly get around the language barrier. It is also a good idea to print out a few copies of your contact details in both English and Nepali, just in case. The locals here appreciate it when a foreigner tries speaking their language, so demonstrate a few words of how to say "hello" and "thank you" in Nepali, and they will be more than happy to provide you with extra assistance.

Nepalis are Friendly

The people of Nepal are very friendly and helpful, so you don't have to worry about their receptiveness to foreigners. As long as you follow local rules and customs, you will surely enjoy your visit without any problems. It is also possible for you to book an all-inclusive tour package with hotel accommodation, guide services and some activities. This way, you can ensure that everything is taken care of beforehand so that your journey is smooth and hassle-free.

Conclusion

Nepal is truly a fantastic travel destination, so you should never miss out on the opportunity to visit this place at least once in your life. Just remember to prepare yourself before travelling so that you can get the most out of your trip.
As experts anticipate that a phenomenon known as La Nina will emerge for the second year in succession, the rainy winter that the American southwest had hoped for as it faces terrible drought and heat is becoming increasingly unlikely to materialize.

Worsening Weather Patterns

By 2022, the weather pattern may exacerbate the worst consequences of the drought that most regions are now experiencing, including increased wildfire danger and water shortages.

Related Article: La Nina Winter: Atmospheric Extremes May Last the Entire Season



La Nina

La Nina is a climatic trend that brings more dry days to the southern portion of the United States. Its drought-causing impacts are most evident in the southwest, but the phenomena will also contribute to increased hurricane chances as the aid of the wind in the formation of storms.

Through early spring next year, the trend can affect both precipitation and temperatures. While the system has long been linked to above-average temperatures in the southern United States, scientists have noticed that the pattern of higher temperatures has spread north. "Climate change has a different factor," said Michelle L'Heureux, a meteorologist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

La Nina did not surprise experts because it occurred last year and may endure up to two years. However, it began forming in July this year, and NOAA scientists started to see the conditions develop over the past month. As a result, they issued an alert this week stating that there is a 90% chance that the system would influence winter weather across the United States.

La Nina is defined by colder-than-average sea surface temperatures near the equator in the Pacific Ocean. "It reorganizes tropical heat and tropical rainfall on such a big scale that it affects the jetstream across the north Pacific ocean and has downstream effects over North America," L'Heureux told the Guardian.

How will La Nina Impact the West?

Winds push warm water west during La Nina years. This produces a churn off the coast of South America, bringing the cold waters from the depths to the surface. The way the ocean interacts with the atmosphere changes as its temperature varies - even by a few degrees - which may impact weather worldwide as rain clouds develop over warm regions of the ocean.

Different regions of the United States will have different outcomes. For example, wetter conditions are possible in Washington, Oregon, and maybe northern California, which might cause issues if the rain arrives as a deluge.

"When we talk about whether it was a rainy or dry year, we usually average the entire season," said John Fasullo, a scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). "However, due to climate change, larger volumes of rainfall are delivered in shorter bursts."

In areas near fire footprints or drought-stricken regions, the topsoil cannot absorb ample rainfall, especially after plants whose roots helped hold the soil in place have died. "Short severe downpour episodes can be a detrimental and harmful occurrence," he added, citing climate change as a "multiplying impact."

2022 Weather Patterns

"As the temperature warms, the southwest dries up, so when there's less rain, the droughts grow worse and more extreme," Fasullo said, emphasizing that a lack of precipitation is only one aspect of the problem.

Heatwaves that last longer and are more intense bake even more moisture out of the atmosphere. Warming also depletes the snowpack, a crucial water supply for streams, rivers, and reservoirs.

According to the US Drought Monitor, 93 percent of the west is now under dryness, with close to 60 percent of the region experiencing severe or exceptional drought. According to scientists at the National Weather Service's climate prediction center, most of the western area is so dry that "any improvements would need persistent above-normal precipitation for several weeks."

La Nina, on the other hand, is more of a forecast than a promise for what will happen in the following months. "It can be overblown," Fasullo said, "and each event has its particular flavor in a given year." In addition, various variables influence rainfall patterns, and there has been much fluctuation in this phenomenon in the past.

Although La Nina may increase the chance of dry weather in the southwest, Park Williams, a climate scientist, and professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, believes it will have less influence elsewhere. "Historically, the link between La Nina and dryness in the Sierra Nevada and upper Colorado River Basin has been quite weak," he added.

While the severity of the drought is yet unknown, Williams believes climate change will continue to be an issue for the region. "The dice are loaded toward ever warmer temperatures as long as greenhouse gases build in the atmosphere," he added, "meaning less mountain snowpack, greater spring evaporation, and more extreme summer heatwaves and wildfire activity."

Also Read:Snow will Cover a Significant Area of the Northwest in the Following Weeks

For more news about making the environment sustainable, don't forget to follow Nature World News!
Colin Powell 84 years old, recently departed US Secretary of State, who also completed his vaccination passed away last Monday as a result of Covid-19 problems. Powell was known to be suffering from hematological malignancies, a kind of blood illness.

Healthcare experts are concerned that anti-vaccine campaigners may use Powell's fate to demonstrate why vaccinations are ineffective because what is the purpose of vaccinating with Covid-19 if you might possibly end up dying afterward?

Importance of Covid-19 Vaccination

According to the interview with CNN Dr. Leana Wen, Ph.D. explained the worth of taking the vaccines.

"We must begin with scientific knowledge and the results of the data. The Covid-19 vaccinations are quite efficient at eliminating sickness, particularly serious infection. As of the latest statistics from US Centers for Disease Control and Protection, they lower the probability of testing positive for Covid-19 by 6 times and the chance of mortality by 11 times," Dr. Wen remarked.

"Such that, if people are vaccinated, they are 6 times lesser susceptible to getting Covid-19 compared if you are not. In addition, individuals are 11 times least likely to be a victim from Covid-19 than an uninfected individual," she expounded.

In the continuation of her Interview Dr. Wen stated "Unfortunately, the Covid-19 vaccinations cannot provide complete protection. There is no such thing as a vaccination, and almost no medical therapy is guaranteed to be 100% successful. Which doesn't imply the vaccination isn't effective and that people shouldn't get it."

When asked by the reporter if people may suffer the severe outcomes of Covid-19 despite getting vaccinated, Leana Wen answered yes. Using Colin Powell's situation and who fell from the category.

It is one of the grounds why enhancer injections are advised. In August, health officials advised that patients who received the Pfizer or Moderna vaccinations and had severe or profound immunocompromise have a further dose of the drug.

Researchers cautioned that even with high dosage, sick people should take extra measures. That is because this is a group of individuals who are more vulnerable to negative effects.

Also read: Vietnamese Dog Owners Devastated After Having 12 of Their Dogs Killed Over COVID

Effectiveness of Vaccines

Rebutted with question about the effectivity of vaccines Wen agreed and explained the effectiveness of the vaccines to a raincoat. Which protects one in drizzle but doesn't mean that one won't get wet during a hurricane.

She continues to explain that vaccine is not the problem but the virus around us and that what will help is getting majority of the population to get vaccinated to reduce the rate of infection.

A study of 13 states over 6 months showed that fully vaccinated individuals made up only 4% of all hospitalizations from Covid-19.

Unvaccinated people are 17 times more likely to be hospitalized for coronavirus than fully vaccinated adults, according to that CDC study.

According to modeling research funded by the National Academy of Medicine, the Covid-19 vaccinations saved over 139,000 lives in first 5 months they were accessible. By 9th of May, there had been about 570,000 Covid-19 fatalities in the United States. With the absent vaccinations, there might have been 709,000 fatalities.

The ultimate conclusion is that vaccinations are effective. These lower the chances of developing infection, becoming seriously unwell, and death. They are not completely satisfied because nothing is.

Meanwhile, with just 57% of the US populace completely vaccinated, new surge of illnesses is inevitable.

Also read: U.S. Water Supply Contaminated by 42,000 Toxic "Forever Chemicals"
One brown bear assaulted a journalist's camcorder, resulting in a gruesome image which earned the artist honor.

Zack Clothier, a Montana-based professional photographer, set up a webcam bait aimed at an elk corpse in the hopes of capturing images of opportunistic animals. He came back only to find the equipment setting destroyed and just one clear image of the perpetrator: a big grizzly bear or also known as the Ursus arctos horribilis.

Titled 'Grizzly leftovers,' the photograph was taken shortly before the bear lunged at the camcorder.

Later on, October 12, Clothier learned that his picture had received the 2021 Wildlife Photographer of the Year Award for the Animals in their Environment category during an awarding event.

Grizzly Bear Photobomb, Instant Award

Clothier found the elk corpse nearby his Montana house during winter of year 2019 up to year 2020.

Wherein he arranged a digital bait by securing his camcorder in a container and mounting it on a tripod near the cadaver for approximately 2 months, till bears emerged from their winter hibernation at the start of spring.

"I was under disbelief, I couldn't grasp it," Clothier explained.

"I personally enjoy the photograph; it is indeed certainly a one-of-a-kind portrait."

Clothier discovered grizzly footprints on the trail leading to the corpse while returning to the location where he had abandoned his equipment.

As he examined another webcam, he'd put up to watch the path and saw film of a huge male grizzly leaving the footprints that same day.

Clothier noticed his photography box in disarray just at lower part of a tree near the cadaver. The camcorder was already torn from its stand and was pointed up in air, with scratch imprints on the casing and saliva on the lenses.

Luckily, the equipment survived the ordeal within its container, and Clothier was able to extract the grizzly photographs. Video pits use a thermal scanner to recognize movements and snap photographs.

"I lingered out for a bit mostly just creating disturbance, only to frighten anyone off the corpse that was on it, specifically the grizzly," Clothier recalled. Since he didn't notice anything, he examined the remains with caution.

Also read: German Scientists Develop a New Breathing Technique for Frogs

Grizzly Leftovers at London Competition





Grizzlies are known to be quite territorial of corpses, and noise of the cam lens might probably frightened the bear.

"I suppose he simply noticed the noise and didn't like it, so he trashed it," Clothier remarked.

"Black bears have done comparable actions. I believe it is more of a wonder with men. They approach to check the device, sniff the lenses, nibble the casing, and beat it about a bit. Bears have a strong aversion to surveillance cameras."

On the 15th of October the photograph in titled, 'Grizzly leftovers' was displayed alongside fellow images from 2021 Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition in London.

The Natural History Museum in London creates as well as produces Nature Photographers of the Year. Beginning on Monday, October 18, the institution shall welcome submissions in next year's competitive rivalry till 6:30 a.m. ET on 9th of December.

Also read: The Age of Snakes: Cold-Blooded Reptiles Thrived After Dinosaur Extinction
After phoning a reptile rescue to handle a few rattlesnake sightings in their home, a California homeowner was surprised to discover that they were sharing their space with at least 92 of the snakes.

Why did the rattlesnakes flock to their house?

Al Wolf, the director of Sonoma County Reptile Rescue, removed 22 adult rattlesnakes and 59 babies from the foundations of the building, and later came back to carry 11 more.

Because most of the boulders in the earth were left in when builders dug the home's foundation, Wolf told the Santa Rosa Press-Democrat that the region was excellent for rattlesnake denning. The snakes were released in an area remote from human habitation by Wolf.

According to Emily Taylor, a herpetologist at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo who also relocates rattlesnakes, the foundations could have been a rookery or a spot where rattlesnakes meet in huge numbers to give birth.

Taylor told Live Science that this would explain the enormous number of newborns. The choice of a home's foundations for a rookery, on the other hand, is unusual, she said.

"It's not common in California at low elevations to have so many snakes, and it's certainly not common for them to be under a house," she explained.

Also Read: Rattlesnakes Can Deceive You Into Thinking They're Closer With This 'Sound Trick'

Rattlesnakes characteristics

Northern Pacific rattlesnakes (Crotalus oreganus) are widespread throughout much of western North America and western Canada. Rattlesnakes give birth to live babies.

Females sometimes find an abandoned rodent burrow and give birth alone, while others congregate in rookeries, according to Taylor. She claims that these rookeries are more common at higher elevations, where the snakes have fewer warm dens to choose from.

However, it's unclear why certain snakes choose rookeries while others prefer to go it alone. According to Taylor, snakes that congregate in rookeries may be connected and cooperate to provide their young a greater chance of survival.

Snake mummies were thought to raise their infants for around two weeks before the young snakes shed their skin for the first time and set out on their own, according to researchers.

However, according to Taylor's research, snake motherhood is more complicated. She set up the first Livestream of a rattlesnake rookery this summer, and preliminary observations indicate that the mothers and youngsters may come and go over a longer length of time.

Drought contributes to snake presence in yards

The babies are born in August in a study area near Steamboat Springs, Colorado, where Taylor and her colleagues also observe rattlesnakes. They stay with their mothers through the winter while hibernating. The newborns in that population do not leave until the spring.

Wolf told the Press-Democrat that the majority of the snakes removed from the Sonoma County property were "mellow." Rattlesnakes, in general, avoid humans, according to Taylor. They stay away from high-traffic places and will try to leave before biting.

Rattlesnakes, on the other hand, frequently find a pleasant environment near humans, who prefer to live near water and shade, which attracts rodents, according to her. Droughts in California have attracted snakes into yards, where sprinkler systems provide a water source.

According to Taylor, the snakes in the foundation of the house were presumably attempting to keep to themselves, but if a householder had cornered them or stepped on a basking snake, there was a possibility of a bite.

Related Article: Heroic Great Dane Saves Owner's Life From Rattlesnake Attack in California

For more news, updates about rattle snakes and similar topics don't forget to follow Nature World News!
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NEW CANAAN  Two school board candidates are condemning racist letters reportedly left on the front steps of some town residents that took aim at the Democrats.

The anonymous pamphlet, obtained by Hearst Connecticut Media on Thursday, primarily targets Fatou Niang, a Black woman who started Stand Together Against Racism after the death of George Floyd in 2020, and Janet Leung Fonss, who is of Chinese ethnicity.

The school board is the only major contested town race this November, with nine candidates running for six seats of the nine-person board.

I am sad, hurt and, frankly, angry that yesterday, under the veil of anonymity and the cover of night, concerned parents dropped racist letters about me and what I stand for on doorsteps across town, Niang said.

The writers claimed that Niang said she hopes to see 25 percent of faculty of color employed in academic disciplines by 2025. The letter states that, in order to achieve this goal, 89 of the current 417 white teachers in our schools would need to be replaced with non-white teachers.

I never said that, Niang said. That is in the letter the alumni group sent to the school way before they got involved with S.T.A.R. and they never asked for any teacher to be fired or replaced with a teacher of color. They would like the administration to cast a wider net when recruiting for the teachers positions.

Police Chief Krolikowski told Hearst he had not yet seen the letter and I would need to review to see if it requires police involvement.

The writers, who referred to themselves as very concerned parents wrote that while we agree our children should learn about slavery, Jim Crow and segregation, the Democratic candidates want to take things too far.

The letters have been distributed around the South School district, according Alyssa MacKenzie and other sources. MacKenzie said people in that area have been asked by fellow concerned citizens if anyone was seen on home surveillance video dropping the letters off, and none have been discovered yet.

Fonss was upset by the letter that targets her support of S.T.A.R. and Niang.

To be singled out as someone to be feared  someone dangerous  is to label me an outsider who does not belong, and reading those words brought back the childhood trauma of being called racial slurs by hateful people who inexplicably felt threatened by my very existence, she said.

First Selectman Kevin Moynihan said Thursday he had not heard about the letters. In response to prior incidents, Moynihan has said New Canaan is not a racist town.

Schools Superintendent Bryan Luizzi said he also has not seen the pamphlet. He added that, without knowing much on the topic, this appears to be an election issue.

As superintendent, I dont feel it is appropriate for me to become involved in election issues, Luizzi said. Our focus is on the success of every child in the New Canaan Public Schools.

Republican Town Committee Chairman Patrick Donovan could not be reached for comment.

We have to question why anyone might be against ensuring all families feel like they belong, Democratic Town Committee Chair Lisa Hannich said in a statement from the group, which denounced the pamphlets Thursday.

This is not the first time during this election season that the issue of race has been raised.

In a debate leading up to the Republican caucus, school board candidate Philip Hogan asked if local families should know if critical race theory is coming to their schools.

CRT is a controversial academic framework through which to view systems of racism and oppression in America. School officials, including Luizzi, have denied its part of their curriculum and there has been no evidence supporting it is being taught in Connecticut classrooms.

A statement from the RTC in August read, None of the Republican candidates has stated that CRT is in New Canaans classrooms, despite the misstatements by the Democratic candidates and their 203Action/DTC surrogates.

Republican candidates have not individually expressed their opinions on CRT.

In July 2020, the school board established a goal to educate on issues of diversity, equity and inclusion and promised to update the social studies curriculum. The board then approved $25,000 for diversity awareness training in the 2020-21 budget.

This September, the Board of Education revised that DEI goal, by changing the term cultural humility to cultural understanding, at the behest of Republican Dionna Carlson. It remains unclear how this will affect the districts curriculum.

Students and alumni, including Broadway star Jelani Alladin, told the board they felt the district did not adequately incorporate teachings on race. The students argued the history curriculum was incomplete and the district needed a more diverse staff. They argued they felt having mostly white teachers shortchanged their education when they entered a diverse workforce.

Niang lists achieving our DEI goals by fostering a safe school environment where all students are not only welcome but belong, as a priority in an answer for vote411.org, a website that promotes voter literacy.
Pat McDermott, county attorney of Blue Earth County Minnesota, believes the collateral consequences of committing a minor crime often are worse than the crime itself, and therefore has begun a program of expungement.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise company Aruba is taking the wraps of a new flagship data-center switch aimed at helping to better control and secure hybrid-cloud traffic in the enterprise.

The Aruba CX 10000 Series switch is a top-of-rack, L2/3 data-center box with 3.2Tbps of switching capacity, 48 ports of line rate 10/25GbE and six 40/100GbE ports, the company says. But its most intriguing component is an integrated Elba programmable data processing unit (DPU) from Pensando that helps eliminate the need for separate appliances for security and load balancing, for example.

Pensando is a startup lead by a crew of ex-Cisco stars including its chairmen of the board, former Cisco CEO John Chambers. Others leaders of the company include former Cisco engineering icons Mario Mazzola, Prem Jain, Luca Cafiero and Soni Jiandani, collectively known as MPLS based on their first initials. The MPLS group has founded a number of companies that were spun back into Cisco during Chambers time as CEO including Andiamo Systems for SAN switching, Nuova Systems for data-center switching and Insieme Networks for software-defined networking systems.

HPE is a big investor in Pensando having been part of its Series C funding, along with Lightspeed Venture Partners, of some $145 million in 2019. HPE too has implemented the Pensando technology in some of its server line.

The Pensando DPU can support software-defined cloud, compute, networking, storage and security services that run in combination with Arubas AOS-CX network operating system. That combination can provide wire-rate routing and switching with L4-L7 stateful software services including firewall, DDoS, encryption, network address translation, load balancing, network telemetry, and automation that can be applied to widely distributed workloads.

For example, the DPU can create port-level application or network segmented security policies across the enterprise, Aruba stated.

The CX 10000 also runs Aruba Fabric Composer software that promises to simplify network provisioning across the companys CX switches and automates operations across a wide variety of virtualized, hyper-converged, and HPE compute and storage environments.

The idea with the CX10000 is to bring advanced network and security services as close as possible to where applications are processedat the border between the server and the networkrather than at the perimeter as in a traditional data-center network. With firewall, encryption, tunneling, and other services running on a distributed services switch, organizations can scale new service capabilities faster, wrote David Hughes, Arubas chief technology and product officer in a blog about the introduction.

The CX10000 switch will have 100 times the scale and 10 times the performance at a third the cost of traditional switching, hardware firewall, and server agents, Hughes said.

Chambers said the integrated features of the new Aruba switch with Pensando technology creates a new category of network switches where customers can redefine everything in software, simplify their environments by reducing the need for all types of legacy hardware appliances, and support integrated security and automation. It really is the next big thing, Chambers said.

The CX10000 offers organizations some intriguing options as they build out their data-center networks to handle ever-more diverse and distributed workloads, experts said.

Enterprise customers struggle with the amount of data, location of data, and security in the hybrid and multi-cloud world, said Alan Weckel, founder and technology analyst with the 650 Group. This switch helps change some of these boundaries and simplifies deployment compared to existing solutions. In addition, customers should be excited to see new approaches as the current way of architecting networking isnt scaling with the data.

Adding a DPU allows customers to rethink security policy and how they deploy in colocation in the future, Weckel said. In addition, this new Aruba switch will enable them to rethink costs and come up with a total solution that is lower cost compared to existing solutions.

Weckel said that Aruba and Pensando have enabled a new type of distributed services architecture that lets enterprises create and operate network infrastructures that perform and scale just like the hyperscale infrastructure giants.

I think other vendors will look to expand their existing lines. In the case of Cisco and Arista, they have FPGA accelerated switches today, mostly targeting high-frequency trading, that could be expanded to include a DPU, or they could come out with a new platform with a DPU in it, Weckel said.

Every vendor targets the enterprise slightly differently, and I would expect many vendors to come out with similar products. Launches may be delayed somewhat due to semiconductor and supply-chain shortages as well, Weckel said.

The Aruba CX 10000 will be generally available in January 2022 with pricing starting at $45,000 and will include a stateful firewall, zero trust, segmentation, telemetry, and DDoS security features.
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New Jerseys 16th Legislative District has races in both the State Senate and General Assembly in the Tuesday, Nov. 2, general election.
Reporter

Debra Pressey is a reporter covering health care at The News-Gazette. Her email is dpressey@news-gazette.com, and you can follow her on Twitter (@DLPressey).
Our County Editor

Dave Hinton is editor of The News-Gazette's Our County section and former editor of the Rantoul Press. He can be reached at dhinton@news-gazette.com.
While some of the logistical details are yet to be worked out, heres a look at what we do know about the security upgrades coming no later than the end of November to Central and Centennial after being approved by school board members Monday night.
Longview, TX (75601)

Today

Sunny. High 62F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low 41F. Winds light and variable.
You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.

John 15:3
Researchers from Cornell University are blending food science expertise and computer programming savvy to help the food industry stop Listeria outbreaks.

Listeriosis, an infection caused by eating food contaminated by the bacterium Listeria monocytogenes, causes approximately 260 deaths and 1,600 infections each year. If certain foods aren't pasteurized, cooked thoroughly enough or washed properly, the bacteria can take hold and cause severe illness, including brain infections.

In a new study, the researchers developed a "digital twin" of two fresh-cut produce facilities, using these digital models to identify the optimal times and locations to look for the bacteria's presence and therefore prevent food contamination.

"Our findings are another step forward in equipping food producers with science-based tools to manage food safety risks," said Renata Ivanek, associate professor at the College of Veterinary Medicine and senior author on the paper that published in the Journal of Applied and Environmental Microbiology.

The researchers' model provides a novel way for food safety managers to first visualize microbial contamination risks and patterns in their operations, and then to experiment with different environmental sampling practices, such as collecting sponge samples from different pieces of equipment.

Because of the complexity of these facilities, experimenting in the actual environment is not always practical, and by using a digital twin, each facility can personalize its unique features.

For example, in the two facilities we modeled in this study, we wanted to find when sampling certain types of locations would be more beneficial than sampling random locations, and vice versa." Renata Ivanek, Associate Professor, College of Veterinary Medicine

The next step in this research will develop similar models for produce packing houses as well as grocery stores. Ultimately, the authors hope to provide the food industry with digital twins that can be updated with real-time data, and can use simulation, modeling and machine learning to help workers make decisions about food safety hazards.

"For this vision to become reality, there is also a great need to ensure secure and confidential data sharing among food production businesses, and also to regulate liabilities from using such tools," Ivanek said.

This study is part of a larger, multi-institutional effort to develop digital decision support tools for various parts of the food system, from farm to retail, with the ultimate goal of developing systems models and digital twins that will improve food safety decision-making system-wide.

"The learning curve needed to develop such models is steep, requiring understanding of food systems and food safety on the one hand and computer programing on the other," Ivanek said. "There is a great need for cross-training between food safety and computer science disciplines and we hope our scholarship encourages that."

This study was supported by the Center for Produce Safety, USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture, the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, and the Washington State Department of Agriculture.
Most universities are encouraging vaccination, and many have mandated vaccination for all students. Given the availability of effective vaccines, there is a growing need to reevaluate the importance of university COVID-19 protocols. If a student population is completely vaccinated, are testing and quarantine still important to limit viral spread on college campuses?

Florida Atlantic University in collaboration with Duke University and the University of North Carolina conducted an analytical study of 5,000 simulated undergraduates to evaluate the use of surveillance testing and quarantine in a fully-vaccinated student population for whom vaccine effectiveness may be affected by the type of vaccination, presence of variants, and loss of vaccine-induced or natural immunity over time.

For the study, researchers assumed that 100 percent of residential undergraduates were vaccinated. Under varying levels of vaccine effectiveness (90 percent, 75 percent, and 50 percent), they estimated the reductions in the numbers of positive cases under various mitigation strategies that involved surveillance testing and quarantine.

Results, published in JAMA Health Forum, showed that if 100 percent were vaccinated with 90 percent vaccine effectiveness, surveillance testing and quarantine were not associated with a substantial reduction in infections. However, if vaccine effectiveness was reduced to 75 percent, weekly surveillance testing was associated with a substantial reduction in the number of infections; at 50 percent vaccine effectiveness, surveillance testing and quarantine were associated with a marked reduction in the estimated number of infections. At 50 to 75 percent effectiveness, surveillance testing was estimated to reduce the number of infections by as much as 93.6 percent. A 10-day quarantine protocol for exposures was associated with only modest reduction in infections until vaccine effectiveness dropped to 50 percent.

"Findings from our study suggest that surveillance testing and isolation of positive cases may remain important mitigation strategies for universities even if 100 percent of the students are vaccinated. Our results also support the suggestion that quarantine may be unnecessary for a well-vaccinated student population," said Francis Motta, Ph.D., lead author and an assistant professor, Department of Mathematical Sciences, FAU Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, who worked closely with Steven B. Haase, Ph.D., corresponding author and a professor of biology at Duke University.

Mathematical models have been useful tools for exploring the SARS-CoV-2 infection dynamics and the effects of various mitigations on university campuses. For this study, researchers used simulated infection dynamics of an agent-based, modified Susceptible, Exposed, Infected, Recovered (SEIR) model to investigate the effect of surveillance testing and quarantine in this student population. They also estimated the added reduction in viral transmission because of quarantining reported contacts or increasing surveillance testing frequency over weekly surveillance testing alone.

Our modeling efforts came at a time when many universities were abandoning their COVID-19 mitigation programs, when it looked like cases were plummeting in the U.S. and the Delta variant was not yet making headlines." Francis Motta, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Mathematical Sciences, FAU Charles E. Schmidt College of Science

Recent CDC guidance suggests that mitigations, such as testing, quarantine, and masking are not necessary for vaccinated populations, and universities are likely to continue to adopt these guidelines as university policy.

"Relaxing mitigations will necessarily increase the number of interactions within student populations; thus, without surveillance testing, limiting infections on campus will mostly rely on the capability of vaccines to prevent infection and transmission," said Motta.
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic led to a high influx of patients suffering from acutely symptomatic infection with the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The sheer volume of such cases inevitably affected routine care of other patients in hospitals, as well as those in COVID-19 wards.

A new study published on the preprint server medRxiv* explores the utility of modeling the impact of mass vaccination on the number of hospital beds occupied by acute COVID-19 cases. This was found to allow for more effective planning and decision-making with respect to healthcare systems.

Study: Modelling The Effect Of COVID-19 Mass Vaccination on Acute Admissions in A Major English Healthcare System. Image Credit: VideoFlow / Shutterstock.com

Background

The pandemic led to the imposition of multiple restrictions on the ordinary functioning of society, including business closures, the shutting down of in-person schooling, limits on social gatherings, and travel bans. In order to accelerate the return of these areas to some semblance of normalcy, efforts were made towards rapid vaccine development and deployment.

In terms of the load on healthcare systems, the expectation was that mass vaccination would reduce the risk of infection and transmission of SARS-CoV-2, thus allowing non-COVID-19 patients to receive pre-pandemic levels of care for elective therapies.

In order to plan how to use hospital capacity and allot beds, it is necessary to be able to forecast case trends one may expect once vaccines are rolled out on a mass scale. Though national demographics, rural population numbers and distribution, as well as prior infection rates are all available, these are not useful for planning at the level of local authorities, which was found to be limited following a survey of current literature.

About the study

The current study data comes from the South West of England through the BNSSG system, which is a healthcare region that covers Bristol, North Somerset, and South Gloucestershire. A third of the population had received one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, either the Pfizer/BioNTech or AstraZeneca vaccines.

The planned course of pandemic management envisaged the relaxation of all pandemic restrictions by June 21, 2021. Thus, the researchers estimated the number of new infections occurring by then, as modified by mass vaccination and events that could introduce delays into the process.

The BNSSG healthcare system used a modeling technique to plan for future bed requirements during the pandemic period. This was based on the projections made by a combination of public health information specialists, healthcare planners, academic scientists, and epidemiologists using data on testing, the movement of the public, bed occupancy, and extant restrictions.

Study findings

The data examines the risk of a third wave of COVID-19 during the autumn of 2021 caused by the rapid spread of SARS-CoV-2 within the susceptible population, including children and approximately 5% of the population who have not been vaccinated. This estimate shows that peak occupancy of hospital beds would be during the period from late November to the middle of December 2021, at which point herd immunity would be at its highest from a combination of natural infection and vaccination.

The models showed that with reduced vaccine uptake, delayed vaccine rollout, or both, a third wave would happen, with the peak case incidence and mortality being at different levels depending on the exact parameters. In the most likely cases, the infection trajectories varied from approximately 25 to 250 acute bed users at their peak, with the peak intensive care unit (ICU) bed user being less than 50.

The other three scenarios modeled higher peak demands that were above the second wave peak in January 2021, which is when the acute and ICU bed demand was at 388 and 68 beds, respectively. The highest demand among these three trajectories was at more than 2,000 and 400 acute and ICU beds, respectively. These trajectories were considered unlikely.

Implications

The scientists concluded that high vaccine coverage would be necessary for preventing undue pressure on hospital acute and ICU beds over fall and winter 2021. The target uptake of 95% adult vaccination by the end of July 2021 would not prevent the occurrence of the third wave; however, it would significantly lower peak demand for beds as compared to that observed at the peak of the second wave.

If the uptake was 75%, as expected from a normal vaccination campaign, the result would be excessive demand for acute and ICU beds, the latter being a fifth higher than that in January 2021. The pressure this would put on hospital capacity means that restrictions would probably be required again to control the incidence.

If the uptake of the vaccine occurs at a slower rate, with 95% uptake by September 30, 2021, peak demand would be approximately the same but would be advanced by six weeks due to the increased rate of spread among the non-vaccinated.

Conversely, if vaccine supply were to be reduced and vaccination was delayed by two months, bed demand would increase so slowly that a full reopening would occur. This would, however, lead to a rapid surge in cases until a peak resembling that of January 2021 occurred. Thus, those individuals who are at low risk but can still carry the virus to infect others need to be vaccinated to prevent viral spread to high-risk individuals.

The current study did not consider future variants of the virus or waning antibody titers over time, nor did it consider the variation in immunity after one or two doses. However, the authors here follow the line of earlier studies that suggest the need for restrictions, in addition to vaccination, to contain the virus. In fact, some scientists projected a rise in acute admissions in the weeks and months after completing the vaccination effort.

The seven-month gap since the completion of the modeling effort allows comparison with the actual scenario and the model within the BNSSG system. The vaccine uptake was eventually 83%, and the closest scenario shows that the peak demand for acute and ICU beds would be in early November 2021.

In real life, the peak came considerably earlier by the middle of September. The projected versus actual peaks were 138 and 29 for acute and ICU beds as compared to 105 and 21, respectively. At present, COVID-19 hospitalizations continue to wane, and vaccination is now being offered to children, while adults are being encouraged to take the third dose to boost their immunity.

The use of open-source code allows these modeling approaches to help healthcare systems plan their strategies for the best use of their resources.

Future investigators may wish to consider how efforts may be directed at the local level in supporting individual healthcare systems with easy-to-use, locally-configurable and reusable models; recognising that much of the actual on-the-ground decision-making takes place at this level.

*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
Relapse is a common feature of addiction recovery  two in three patients treated for substance use disorder in the United States relapse within 12 months, according to the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Substances of misuse hijack the brain's pleasure and reward systems, reinforcing drug-seeking behaviors by flooding the system with "feel good" chemicals, while also producing long-lasting functional changes in brain regions that regulate decisions and motivation.

Combined, these hard-wired biological changes make drug cravings harder to ignore for some, but researchers are developing new ways to prevent relapse by chemically tweaking individual components of neuronal networks, leaving the rest of the brain intact.

In new findings published in Neuron, neuroscientists at the University of California San Diego and the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC singled out the specific brain circuit that triggers cocaine relapse in mice. When they applied a molecular brake to block activity in this circuit, the mice completely lost their previously avid interest in the drug, resuming normal behavior.

They went back to baseline  as though they never had been exposed to the drug before. We've uncovered a hidden molecular regulator that may play a key role in understanding the tendency to relapse." Byungkook Lim, associate professor of biological sciences at UC San Diego, and study's lead author

Lim said the finding expands on previous research about how substances of misuse  cocaine, alcohol, tobacco, and other illicit drugs  alter dopamine signaling pathways in the brain, contributing to addiction, a chronic condition that affects 10 percent of American adults, according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

The research team, which included co-author Sora Shin, who is now an assistant professor at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute and in the Department of Human Nutrition, Foods, and Exercise in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Virginia Tech, began the five-year study by examining changes in brain chemical levels after a prolonged period of withdrawal from cocaine.

The scientists focused on the ventral pallidum, a tiny "stepping stone" brain region that connects cortical, amygdalar, and striatal circuits, making it an anatomical hub for encoding rewards, Shin explained. The researchers discovered that cells in this brain area expressed extremely high levels of a certain protein, dopamine receptor D3 (DRD3), two weeks after withdrawal from cocaine.

"This change in brain chemistry wasn't immediate," Shin said. "DRD3 production ramped up only after prolonged abstinence, which was a compelling find. This led us to ask: What cells are expressing this protein, and where do they connect in the brain?"

Using a harmless virus to illuminate a neural path, the researchers revealed two locations where these cells connected after leaving the ventral pallidum: the lateral habenula and the ventral tegmental area. Shin developed a genetic knockdown system, targeting a specific molecule, and closely monitored rapid changes in calcium levels in living neuronal cells, allowing her to detect dynamic changes in cellular activity. Combining these techniques, Shin and the other researchers individually compared how these two circuits influenced drug-seeking, and how DRD3 contributes to brain-circuit function.

When the researchers blocked DRD3-expressing neurons connecting the ventral pallidum and lateral habenula, the mice lost complete interest in the cocaine.

Cocaine is a dopamine reuptake inhibitor, which means it floods the brain with dopamine by inhibiting cells from reabsorbing excess dopamine. Previous studies have shown that psychostimulant drugs  such as cocaine and amphetamine  elevate DRD3 expression in several brain regions, in both humans and animals. But this study identifies a specific DRD3 circuit that appears to directly regulate relapse and drug-seeking behavior after a period of abstinence.

"More research is needed, but modulating activity in this specific brain circuit could be effective in preventing drug relapse," Lim said.
A pregnancy constantly overshadowed by the unknown. That is how women in Sweden who have been pregnant during the pandemic describe it. A study lead by researchers from University of Gothenburg now highlights the insecurity and loneliness they have been experiencing.

The study, published in the scientific journal Women and Birth, is based on in-depth interviews with 14 women in Sweden. The purpose was to clarify how women who have not been infected with SARS-CoV-2 experienced being pregnant during the pandemic. The interviewees had given birth during the period from August to November 2020, and were interviewed in March and April 2021.

Being pregnant is a life-changing event. It transforms a womans existence, whether she is expecting her first baby or a mother already. Restrictions aimed at stemming the spread of SARS-CoV-2 have affected pregnant women in various ways.

Globally, the emotional well-being of pregnant women has deteriorated in conjunction with concerns about COVID-19 and national lockdowns to prevent the spread of infection. In Sweden, a measurable rise in health-related anxiety among pregnant women was found at the outset of the pandemic, but how this has affected these women since then has been unclear.

Feeling uncertain and lonely

Verena Sengpiel, associate professor in obstetrics and gynecology at Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, and also an obstetrician at Sahlgrenska University Hospital:

Weve known for some time that pregnant women are especially affected by mental stress during natural disasters or other traumatic events, since theyre responsible for not only their own health and safety, but also the well-being of the unborn child, she says.

Globally, weve seen indications that pregnant womens emotional well-being has suffered during the COVID-19 pandemic. But since Sweden chose a different strategy to prevent infection, its uncertain whether these results are applicable to Swedish conditions.

Karolina Linden, Ph.D., midwife and researcher in health and care sciences at the University of Gothenburgs Sahlgrenska Academy, is the studys lead author. She relates how the pregnant respondents felt "constantly overshadowed by the unknown", as they put it.

The experience was characterized by having to deal with the uncertainties caused by the pandemic and the need to constantly take in new information relating to COVID-19 and pregnancy. Women felt lonely and abandoned when their partner was not allowed to attend medical consultations, especially in cases where complications had arisen during the pregnancy. At the same time, the women had great trust in the prenatal and maternity care services, although they stated that they were not receiving enough information about pregnancy and COVID-19 from their health-care providers. Karolina Linden, Ph.D., studys lead author

Up-to-date information vital

The researchers, who believe the study results have a potential bearing on the care of pregnant women, advise these women to proactively raise issues concerning anxiety, uncertainty, and how they should relate to the constant flow of information and knowledge.

Linden again: I urge all pregnant women to talk to their midwife about any worries they have about COVID-19. Today, we know more about how SARS-CoV-2 affects both the expectant mother and the unborn child during pregnancy. Its important for the maternity care services to communicate up-to-date information directly to pregnant women, especially since advice and recommendations change as we gain more knowledge.

This is especially vital now in terms of vaccination against SARS-CoV-2, given that weve seen relatively low vaccination coverage of pregnant women, compared with the rest of the population.

Now that the restrictions have eased care providers also need to take note of the importance of allowing the pregnant woman's partner to attend care visits, Linden concludes.
In the era of "publish or perish," research results that disprove the hypothesis tested often go unpublished. In addition, many researchers who have been unable to reproduce results from other laboratories have found it difficult to publish their findings. In this special issue on the "Null Hypothesis" of the Journal of Neuromuscular Diseases investigators illustrate the importance and value of sharing well-conducted studies with negative or irreproducible results.

"Negative results are just as useful as positive ones," explained Guest Editors Virginia Arechavala-Gomeza, PhD, Neuromuscular Disorders, Biocruces Bizkaia Health Research Institute, Barakaldo; and Ikerbasque, Basque Foundation for Science, Bilbao, Spain; and Annemieke Aartsma-Rus, PhD, Department of Human Genetics, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, the Netherlands. "Research results that prove an original hypothesis to be incorrect advance knowledge as much as those that confirm it. If the experiments are done and analyzed correctly, negative results let us advance in our research and sharing this information avoids duplication of work. A publication bias towards therapeutic approaches that appear to have beneficial effects and a lack of published studies where therapies are either not useful or toxic, or where published results are not reproducible, not only impedes science and therapy development, but also leads to unnecessary duplication of effort and a waste of resources."

The need to share negative information is gaining backers, but in a rare disease field such as neuromuscular disorder research, not having all the information is a tragedy." Dr. Virginia Arechavala-Gomeza, PhD

This special issue marks the inauguration of a new section of the Journal of Neuromuscular Diseases dedicated to negative results that nevertheless provide valuable contributions to the scientific record. It presents eight articles on a variety of subjects, from animal models to biomarkers and clinical trials.

One contribution re-examines the effect of simvastatin in Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). A study in 2015, led by Nick Whitehead, PhD, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA, provided evidence that simvastatin, a widely used cholesterol lowering drug, had potential to be a novel treatment for DMD. Two independent labs led by Prof. Dr. Aartsma-Rus in the Netherlands and Dominic J. Wells, VetMB, PhD, Department of Comparative Biomedical Sciences, Neuromuscular Diseases Group, Royal Veterinary College, London, UK, were unable to replicate the results in DMD model mice (mdx mice) although the treatment protocol was similar. They concluded that simvastatin did not improve DMD pathology, suggesting this could either be due to the ineffectiveness of simvastatin itself or low simvastatin plasma levels following oral administration in the mice's chow.

In a rebuttal published in this issue, Dr. Whitehead noted that his lab and many others have conducted many studies, some unpublished, using several batches of simvastatin in chow, on at least three colonies of mdx mice. All of these showed an improvement in mdx skeletal and cardiac muscle health and function. He pointed out that his lab achieved much higher drug exposure. "Replication of results by an independent lab is the foundation of scientific inquiry," he stated. "We welcome a careful effort to replicate our results. Unfortunately, they failed to meet the most critical aspect of animal drug studies - levels of drug exposure in the therapeutic range."

In their response, Prof. Dr. Aartsma-Rus and colleagues explained that the batch of chow they fed to the mdx mice contained the same dose of simvastatin and was prepared in an identical manner as the original study and queried the results of similar studies that either did not mention the dose or used a higher dose. "While these studies confirm the therapeutic effect of simvastatin treatment in mdx mice, they do not confirm that this can be achieved at doses that are in the range of what humans use."

Commenting on this productive exchange among researchers, the Guest Editors added, "Failure to replicate the finding does not mean that simvastatin does not work; it means that in different lab settings the same dose of simvastatin in chow resulted in different plasma levels. This is something that needs to be studied further and for now clinical trials should be held off. These kinds of studies are often not 'sexy' enough for regular funders. The Duchenne UK patient association funded the replication studies because they felt it important to only plan clinical trials if a robust treatment effect could be replicated."

The issue also highlights reporting on a clinical trial on edasalonexent, a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, global phase 3 study in pediatric patients 4-8 years old with DMD, the results of the PolarisDMD trial, by Richard S. Finkel, MD, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN, and Nemours Children's Hospital, Orlando, FL, USA, and colleagues. While edasalonexent was generally well tolerated with a manageable safety profile at the dose of 100 mg/kg/day, it did not achieve statistically significant improvement of DMD in the study population. Results did suggest edasalonexent may slow disease progression in patients under 6.

"We of course regret that this did not work out," noted the Guest Editors. "However, we really appreciate that the clinical experts involved and the industry sponsor pushed for timely publication so the field can benefit from these results." Studies such as this are important to publish, especially when the results fail to confirm the preliminary favorable findings in the Phase 2 study. They provide an opportunity to explore the reasons for a failure to replicate the earlier findings.

"While most researchers consider it important to share negative results many themselves do not actually do this. This mindset needs to change," commented Prof. Dr. Aartsma-Rus. "In a field such as neuromuscular disorders, which are rare diseases, not having all the information is a big problem. If a potential therapeutic approach is not effective in cells, mice, or patients, the field needs to know this as soon as possible to avoid unnecessary duplication of work."

"Sharing results of a research question that turned out to be incorrect gives less 'credit' than sharing results of a research question that was correct," added Dr. Arechavala-Gomeza. "We need to adopt a new mindset in which sharing well conducted research is valued regardless of whether the research question was correct or not."

"The only really 'negative' results are those that end up in a drawer and are never shared!" concluded the Guest Editors.
Workplace infection risk and failing crisis information dissemination are both factors contributing to high incidence of COVID-19 among foreign-born workers in low-status occupations, a report from the University of Gothenburgs Unit of Occupational and Environmental Medicine shows.

Prevalence of COVID-19 is not only high among employees in the health and social care sectors. Overrepresentation is also prevalent in jobs characterized by low pay, low educational requirements, and a high proportion of foreign-born workers.

An interview study conducted by researchers at Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Sahlgrenska Academy at University of Gothenburg, and at Angered hospital, has focused on elevated risks of COVID-19 infection in taxi drivers, bus- and tram drivers, pizza bakers, cleaners, and janitors.

The strength of the study lies not in its size  the number of interviewees was limited to 11  but in the information is obtained from people from especially vulnerable groups, who seldom take part in research studies. The researchers thus found new themes that can form the basis for larger studies.

The interviewees countries of origin were Iraq, Palestine, Somalia, Syria, and Turkey. The interviews were conducted in various languages, using semi-structured methodology, which combines a fixed template with open-ended questions allowing participants to describe their situation freely.

Exposed to infection

Workplace infection risks were mainly due to a lack of adequate protective equipment and to close proximity with other people. Taxi drivers might, for example, get explicit instructions to help people with physical disabilities on transportation service journeys.

"When we get a booking, its sometimes stated in detail that we have to go up to the apartment to assist the customer down to the car. Most of them are older people, who need help in getting from their apartment door to the car door," says a taxi driver in the report.

Nearly all the participants had numerous social contacts, with both colleagues and others. Most were able to adhere to social distancing at work. Hospital cleaners, who are one example of an exception, described cramped spaces and belated introduction of protective measures.

In summer 2020, plastic gloves were the only personal protective equipment available for use when cleaning hospital rooms where COVID-19 patients had been cared for. As one interviewee said, At the beginning, they sent us to a ward called an intensive care unit, we went there without protection, without mouth protection, last summer."

Other interviewees also testified to scarce or delayed protective measures and employers who turned a blind eye when staff came to work with obvious symptoms of illness.

Customized crisis information lacking

Another aspect that seemed highly important was shortcomings in the initial crisis information that was disseminated. The Swedish Public Health Agency was unknown to many, and there was no information outreach to them in a language they understood.

Their sources were often social media, and media from their former homeland. A bus driver describes the situation in spring 2020: Swedish children stopped taking the bus, our compatriots and their children continued traveling by bus. I felt that Swedes had more information about corona.

However, several mentioned the local health center as a trusted place to which they could turn to. A janitor in the report says, Im newly arrived in Sweden, and there are lots of websites linked to government agencies I lack information about. I dont know who to contact, perhaps Ill go to the local health center or the pharmacy.

According to the researchers, knowledge about the relevant occupational groups vulnerability has been relatively sparse.
People who had received a first dose of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine and received an mRNA vaccine for their second dose had a lower risk of infection compared to people who had received both doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. This is shown in a nationwide study performed by researchers at Umea University, Sweden.

Having received any of the approved vaccines is better compared to no vaccine, and two doses are better than one. However, our study shows a greater risk reduction for people who received an mRNA vaccine after having received a first dose of a vector-based, as compared to people having received the vector-based vaccine for both doses." Peter Nordstrom, professor of geriatric medicine, Umea University

Since the use of Oxford-AstraZeneca's vector-based vaccine against COVID-19 was halted for people younger than 65 years of age, all individuals who had already received their first dose of this vaccine were recommended an mRNA vaccine as their second dose.

During a 2.5-month average follow-up period after the second dose, the study showed a 67% lower risk of infection for the combination of Oxford-AstraZeneca + Pfizer-BioNTech, and a 79% lower risk for Oxford/AstraZeneca + Moderna, both compared to unvaccinated individuals. For people having received two doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, the risk reduction was 50%. These risk estimates were observed after accounting for differences regarding date of vaccination, age of the participants, socioeconomic status, and other risk factors for COVID-19. Importantly, the estimates of effectiveness apply to infection with the Delta variant, which was dominating the confirmed cases during the follow-up period. There was a very low incidence of adverse thromboembolic events for all vaccine schedules. The number of COVID-19 cases severe enough to result in inpatient hospitalization was too low for the researchers to be able to calculate the effectiveness against this outcome.

Previous research has demonstrated that mix-and-match vaccine schedules generate a robust immune response. However, it has been unclear to which extent these schedules may reduce the risk of clinical infection. This is the knowledge gap which the new study conducted by the Umea researchers aimed to fill. The study is based on nationwide registry data from the Public Health Agency of Sweden, the National Board of Health and Welfare, and Statistics Sweden. In the main analysis, about 700,000 individuals were included.

"The results of the study may have implications for vaccination strategies in different countries," says Marcel Ballin, doctoral student in geriatric medicine at Umea University and co-author of the study. "The World Health Organization has stated that despite the promising results from previous studies regarding immune response from mix-and-match vaccination, there is a need for larger studies to investigate their safety and effectiveness against clinical outcomes. Here we now have one such study."
As the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) spread far and wide after its emergence in China, restrictions on social interactions, travel, leisure activities, and business interactions led to significant difficulties with meeting people in-person for the purpose of healthcare, unless for emergencies. Elective treatments, for example, were mostly postponed.

A new study published on the preprint server medRxiv* concludes that the lack of transportation led to impairments in child mental health services. However, the advent of telehealth services was found to reduce the negative correlation between caregiver transport and clinical outcomes in children.

Study: Child Mental and Behavioral Health Services During The COVID-19 Pandemic: Trends and Implications for Service Outcomes During Telehealth Expansion. Image Credit: VH-studio / Shutterstock.com

Background

In the United States, the non-pharmaceutical measures that were used to contain the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 severely impacted in-person visits with physicians and other healthcare providers. This led to a shift towards remote consultation, or telehealth, irrespective of the type of facility.

Across the spectrum of federal, state, and private insurance providers, telehealth coverage increased as policy shifts occurred. Telehealth technology underwent a fast expansion of use and, as a result, thousands of patients experienced its benefits in gaining access to healthcare without the risk of contracting the virus.

In the U.S., almost one in five children have a diagnosis of mental, behavioral, or developmental ill-health. Since the pandemic began, this population has seen an increasing number of mental health concerns; however, many caregivers from low-income or rural settings have found it difficult to access their healthcare providers.

It is estimated that almost a tenth of children from poor families, which is defined as those with an annual household income less than $50,000, miss key medical visits because they have no transportation even though, in some cases, insurance coverage was present. The long-term outcome for these patients is worse than for those who do not face transportation problems.

Earlier reports showed that telehealth coverage also varies by racial and ethnic backgrounds. Extensive research has also been done on the use of telehealth technology by older adults within long-term care facilities and in large hospitals.

The current study seeks to examine the deployment of telehealth in relation to patient outcomes in the U.S. among children served by public mental and behavioral healthcare facilities. Notably, many of these children have more than one problem relating to medical or psychosocial issues.

Study findings

The authors of the current preprint used data from the Idaho Child and Adolescent Needs and Strengths (CANS), which is a detailed behavioral evaluation for children that is the most widely used such tool for young people in the U.S. It is used initially and then at intervals of 90 days, and includes over 80 items across six domains.

The study shows that from April 1 to December 31, 2020, the number of CANS assessments declined by two-fold compared to the same period in 2019. Transportation problems were reported to be unresolved in more cases by the caregivers; however, the frequency of assessment increased.

Among individual groups, the number of registrations for girls, Whites, and Asians increased over this period.

In the pre-pandemic period, providing a solution to the problem of transport was linked to improved function among children in need. Specifically, childrens needs were being met 5% better. Children were functioning better, behaving better with better emotional regulation, and building new strengths.

Conversely, during the pandemic, this association was lacking. Moreover, pandemic-period improvements in strength and behavior-emotional domains were only half of those in the preceding period. This pattern agrees with that of several other healthcare delivery systems in the U.S.

Implications

The authors demonstrate that telehealth services reduced the impact of the shortfall in transportation facilities for caregivers. This was reflected in the improvement in clinical outcomes in children being treated at public facilities for mental and behavioral health.

Overall treatment effects did not significantly differ pre- and during pandemic, indicating that the care provided was of measurable value to children served during the pandemic.

In fact, the Idaho Office of the Governor released data showing that telehealth service delivery had gone up 40-fold. Further research will be needed to understand the background in which these findings were obtained.

However, it seems clear that telehealth is here to stay. Doctors, scientists, and patients agree on the need to establish this option as a permanent one, and on the high satisfaction index reported by patients and providers. However, this does not excuse the lack of transportation for certain patient populations.

One such systems-level change may be supporting and advocating for the continued use of telehealth for clients with transportation needs as a bridge to support service delivery while also working towards the resolution of transportation needs.

*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 University of Chicago and Rush University have received a $20M, five-year grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to establish a Center for Multiple Chronic Diseases Associated with Health Disparities. The National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, a division of the NIH, awarded grants to establish 11 new Centers across the country to support clinical research to improve health in minority communities.

UChicago and Rush will use the grant to launch the Chicago Chronic Condition Equity Network (C3EN), a project that will focus research efforts on addressing health disparities for African Americans and Latinos in the Chicago region. The Network is designed to facilitate community-based research across the area, connecting existing community-based organizations and small medical practices with large academic medical institutions. It will support three clinical trials focused on reducing health problems associated with obesity and heart disease, with the flexibility to support research in other areas, including HIV, substance abuse, and social factors that affect health like crime and poverty.

It's really hard to do this kind of research in community organizations and small medical practices that are scattered across the city and serve different neighborhoods. This really gives us the ability to build a true community research network that makes more connections across organizations at a much larger, regional scale." Elbert Huang, MD, Professor of Medicine and Public Health Sciences at UChicago and Co-Director of C3EN with Elizabeth Lynch, PhD, Associate Professor of Preventive Medicine at Rush

The first clinical trial, led by Arshiya Baig, MD, Associate Professor Medicine at UChicago, is called VIDA, or Virtual Diabetes Group Visits Across Health Systems. Instead of visiting a doctor and attending diabetes educations classes individually, patients in this trial will have combined, online doctor visits and classes with a group of other patients. The research will also take place across two Chicago medical systems: Access Community Health, a network of Federally Qualified Health Centers, and Advocate Health. The combination of multiple patient populations with different diabetes care options will give researchers unique insight into how the effects of the virtual group visits are affected by their setting.

The second trial, led by Megan Huisingh-Scheetz, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine at UChicago, will use an Amazon Alexa-based voice assistant called EngAGE to deliver exercise programming to older adults in their home to reduce frailty. Huisingh-Scheetz has already developed and tested the system with a pilot group of residents at an assisted living facility. The new trial will provide the system to homebound, older African American patients with multiple chronic conditions and their caregivers to test its effectiveness versus a control group that receives paper handouts with exercise routines.

The third trial is also an exercise-based research project. Keep It Movin', or KIM, led by Lynchand Steve Rothschild, MD, Chair of Family Medicine at Rush, will tap into church communities to test an intervention to improve mobility in African Americans with functional limitations and multiple chronic illnesses. In this randomized trial of 24 Chicago-area churches, some congregations will be offered an intensive exercise class. The goal of this trial is to understand the effects of a social network who can encourage other church members to participate in the program and exercise more often.

"These are all fairly ambitious trials, in terms of their effort to reach across the city in totally different settings," Huang said. "But they all share the same themes of social connection, to get people to encourage their friends and family to make behavior changes that will improve their health."

The Network will also establish research core teams to engage with community organizations and provide funding and research mentorship for pilot projects. The Community Engagement Core, led by Doriane Miller, MD, Professor of Medicine and Director of the Center for Community Health and Vitality at UChicago, along with David Ansell, MD, Senior Vice President for Community Health Equity at Rush and Sheila Dugan, MD, Interim Chair of Physical Medicine at Rush, will take a holistic approach to health disparities research that includes local medical systems, community health centers, public health agencies, and community-based organizations. Miller's team will facilitate partnerships among community stakeholders and researchers to co-design research projects that incorporate input from community members.

Finally, the Investigator Development Core will award six grants of up to $50,000 per year to early-stage investigators to conduct pilot projects addressing health disparities, prioritizing those working with community organizations. The awards will be determined by a council composed of community leaders and researchers who meet regularly to identify promising projects.

"This is all going to be hard work, but it will push us to make connections between young investigators and the communities they want to serve," Huang said. "We want to plant the seeds for the next generation of researchers and community leaders to launch programs that will improve people's lives in a meaningful way."
Researchers from The University of Queensland and Australia's national science agency CSIRO have found SARS-CoV-2 virus in wastewater samples from long haul flights of returning Aussies, proving they can detect it before passengers show symptoms.

The CSIRO and UQ scientists worked with Qantas to demonstrate that wastewater surveillance can provide valuable data for public health agencies and help improve confidence in Australia's safe reopening to the world.

CSIRO lead author Dr Warish Ahmed said as global travel returns, wastewater testing of flights can be an effective way to screen incoming passengers for COVID-19 at points of entry.

It provides an extra layer of data, if there is a possible lag in viral detection in deep nasal and throat samples and if passengers are yet to show symptoms. The rapid on-site surveillance of wastewater at points of entry may be effective for detecting and monitoring other infectious agents that are circulating globally and provide alert to future pandemics." Dr Warish Ahmed, CSIRO Lead Author

Co-author Professor Jochen Mueller from UQ's Queensland Alliance for Environmental Health Sciences said wastewater testing could be a useful additional tool.

"The paper recommends that wastewater surveillance be used as part of an efficient clinical surveillance and quarantine system  providing multiple lines of evidence of the COVID-19 infection status of passengers during international travel," Professor Mueller said.

"Wastewater surveillance from large transport vessels with their own sanitation systems significantly improves our ability to control the spread of infection from overseas travellers."

Published today in Environment International, the study analysed wastewater samples from 37 Australian Government repatriation flights from COVID-hotspots including India, France, UK, South Africa, Canada and Germany landing at Darwin International Airport between December 2020 and March this year.

The research found wastewater samples from 24 of the 37 repatriation flights (65 per cent) showed a positive signal for the virus that causes COVID-19 despite all passengers (except children under age five) testing negative to the virus 48 hours before boarding.

Infected people shed the virus in their faeces about two to five days before showing symptoms.

Traces of COVID can also be detected in wastewater from people who were previously infected, are still shedding the virus, but no longer infectious although this is typically a weaker signal.

During 14 days of mandatory quarantine after arriving in Australia, clinical tests identified only 112 cases of COVID-19 among the 6570 passengers (1.7 per cent).

This was the first official study of wastewater from Australian repatriation flights returning from hot spots and the first time researchers have matched the plane wastewater testing with the follow-up clinical data testing of passengers in quarantine.
This year, the Illinois legislature was considering measures to expand oral health treatment in a state where millions of people live in dental care deserts.

But when the Illinois State Dental Society met with key lawmakers virtually for its annual lobbying day in the spring, the proposals to allow dental hygienists to clean the teeth of certain underprivileged patients without a dentist seemed doomed.

State Sen. Dave Syverson, a Republican legislative leader, warned against the bills even if they sounded minor. "Its just getting the camel's nose under the tent," he said in an audio recording of the meeting obtained by KHN. "Well have, before long, hygienists doing the work that, if they wanted to do, they should have gone to dental school for."

The senator added that he missed "the reception and the dinners that you guys host" and the "nice softball questions that I usually get" from the dental society's past president, who happens to be his first cousin.

The bills never made it out of committee.

The situation in Illinois is indicative of the types of legislative dynamics that play out when lower-level health care providers such as dental hygienists, nurse practitioners and optometrists try to gain greater autonomy and access to patients. And the fate of those Illinois bills illustrates the power that lobbying groups such as the Illinois dental society have in shaping policies on where health professionals can practice and who keeps the profits.

"Theres always a struggle," said Margaret Langelier, a researcher for the Center for Health Workforce Studies at the University of Albany in New York. "We have orthopedists fighting podiatrists over who can take care of the ankle. We have psychiatrists fighting with clinical psychologists about who can prescribe and what they can prescribe. We have nurses fighting pharmacists over injections and vaccinations. It's the turf battles."

In 2015, the Illinois Dental Practice Act was revised to let hygienists treat low-income patients on Medicaid or without insurance in "public health settings"  such as schools, safety-net clinics and programs for mothers and children  without a dentist examining them or being on-site. Besides doing cleanings, the hygienists can take X-rays, place sealants and apply fluoride.

This year, lawmakers proposed bills that would have expanded those settings to include nursing homes, prisons and mobile dental vans.

The state dental society, in a memo to members, wrote that the fact it took years for hygienists to develop their public health training program shows "they have no real interest in providing access to care to needy patients."

As it is, Illinois trails many other states in allowing dental hygienists unsupervised contact with patients. In Colorado, on the extreme end, hygienists can own practices.

"It's just the nature of the beast politically in Illinois. The dental lobby isnt as strong in those other states," noted Margaret Vaughn, executive director of the Illinois Rural Health Association. "The Illinois State Dental Society is much more powerful, and theyre much more organized than the hygienists are politically."

From 2015 to 2019, the dental society spent more than $55,000 on lobbying, for its annual gathering and meals for lawmakers, typically hosted at a swanky Italian spot near the state Capitol in Springfield, according to public disclosures. In the same period, the Illinois Dental Hygienists Association reported spending nothing in its lobbying reports. (Neither group has listed any expenditures since the beginning of 2020.)

The dental society has two exclusive lobbyists and four lobbying firms on contract, state records show. The hygienist group, meanwhile, employs no lobbyists and contracts with just one firm.

The dental society donates generously to both Republicans and Democrats. Its political action committee had nearly $742,000 in cash on hand as of June 30, according to Reform for Illinois' Sunshine Database. While the PAC has given $4,050 since 2014 to support the campaigns of state Sen. Melinda Bush, a Democrat who sponsored the nursing home bill, the database shows it has contributed far more to help elect Syverson, the senator who spoke at the conference. It has given more than $123,000 to his campaigns since 1999, with bigger annual gifts than to Bush.

"I receive contributions from many groups on both sides of issues," Syverson emailed KHN. "They are not contributing to influence my vote on a particular bill. In fact, if a PAC sent a check while we were negotiating or voting on an issue they are involved with, I would not accept it."

The hygienists' PAC gave $1,100 to the campaign committee of Bush, according to the database, but nothing to Syverson. Bush did not respond to requests for comment.

"The bottom line is, if you don't have a healthy mouth, you don't have a healthy body," said Ann Lynch, director of advocacy and education for the American Dental Hygienists Association. "It only makes sense that we would remove any barriers that do not allow a licensed health care provider to practice at the top of their scope."

But Dave Marsh, a lobbyist for the Illinois dental society, said it would be dangerous for hygienists to treat nursing home residents, who are often elderly and sick.

"I just dont feel anybody with a two-year associates degree is medically qualified to correct your health," Marsh added. "Theyre trained to clean teeth. They take a sharp little instrument and scrape your teeth. That's what they do. That's all they do."

He said the problem is not a shortage of dental professionals but, rather, a lack of dentists who can afford to accept Medicaid patients  and "nobody wants to raise taxes to actually be able to reimburse" dentists at higher rates.

He also pointed to the scarcity of research on the benefits of dental hygienists having more professional freedom.

Langelier acknowledged that little academic literature exists on this topic, in part because of inadequate data collection on oral health. But in 2016, a study she co-authored in Health Affairs found that, as dental hygienists gained more autonomy, fewer people had teeth removed because of decay or disease. And she said Medicaid data shows more children had dental visits as hygienists expanded their practice.

"I don't want this to be acrimonious," said Laura Scully, chair of the access-to-care committee of the state hygienists association. "I would like it to be more of a collaboration, because truly thats what this is about: getting together so we can help more people."

Karen Webster works as a dental hygienist for the Tri City Health Partnership, a free clinic in St. Charles, Illinois, about 40 miles west of Chicago. In the past, she could only briefly screen patients before scheduling them with one of the center's volunteer dentists, often months out.

"Imagine if you had a toothache and the doctor couldn't see you that day," she said, noting that her patients have low incomes. "They can't afford the services. They wait till something hurts."

But since becoming a public health dental hygienist, Webster now does immediate cleanings, takes X-rays she sends to teledentists for exams, and applies a solution called silver diamine fluoride that can halt tooth decay.

"The whole thing, start to finish, its just a lot more efficient," she said.
The rapid outbreak of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) virus has resulted in the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. COVID-19 can lead to life-threatening symptoms, such as severe pneumonia, in the elderly and those with underlying medical conditions. Vaccines are available, but they do not work for everyone, and life-saving therapeutic drugs still need to be developed.

In a recent study published in the journal PLOS Pathogens, scientists showed that nasal administration of a single-domain antibody (VHH), named K-874A, brought about inhibition of SARS-CoV-2 titers in infected lungs of Syrian hamsters.

Background

The receptor-binding domain (RBD) of the SARS-CoV-2 Spike (S) protein binds to the host cell receptor, angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2). After binding to ACE2, a protease on the host cell surface cleaves and activates the S protein. This allows the virus membrane to fuse with the host cell membrane. Blocking this process is therefore thought to be an effective therapeutic strategy. In addition, direct delivery of antiviral drugs to the respiratory system should augment efficacy as SARS-CoV-2 infects cells in the lungs or nasal mucosa that express ACE2.

Camelid single-domain antibodies comprise a single heavy chain, and VHHs (variable domain of heavy chain antibodies) bind viruses, such as influenza, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), etc. VHHs have some advantages over monoclonal antibodies, such as the ability to be easily modified and produced using bacteria, being stable against heat and pH, and the ability to be stored longer. VHHs can also be nebulized and administered utilizing an inhaler.

Recently, scientists used the S1 domain of SARS-CoV-2 S protein as an antigen to identify a standalone VHH specific to SARS-CoV-2 (K-874A). K-874A is a promising therapeutic candidate as it does not require any modifications with antibody fragments.

A New Study

Using in vitro selection, researchers identified a standalone VHH that binds to the S protein of SARS-CoV-2. The binding affinity of this VHH was higher or equivalent to previous VHHs or single-domain antibodies. Additionally, excellent neutralizing ability in VeroE6/TMPRSS2 cells and human normal alveolar-derived cells was observed.

The binding affinity of K-874A was 1.4 nM and IC50 was 5.742.6 g/ml, which is higher or equivalent to prior VHHs. Further Fc-fusion was required for most previous VHHs and they mainly targeted the ACE2 binding. In contrast, scientists documented, in the present case, the VHH neutralized SARS-CoV-2 by preventing the viral membrane from fusing with the host cell membrane.

Researchers analyzed the S protein-VHH complex and documented that the VHH binds between the RBD and NTD region, rather than at the interface of the RBD and ACE2. A cryo-EM analysis revealed that K-874A binding induced a conformational change of S protein. However, scientists warned that more research is needed to understand the neutralizing mechanism independent of RBD-ACE2 binding inhibition.

The VHH reduced the production of virus progeny in human lung-derived alveolar organoids and this progeny was found to be less infectious than those spreading from untreated infected cells. In addition, researchers reported that nasal administration of VHH to Syrian hamsters (infected with SARS-CoV-2) prevented weight loss, viral replication, and upregulation of cytokines.

Further analysis indicated that K-874A might effectively neutralize SARS-CoV-2 variants and combinations of VHHs targeting different epitopes might lead to the development of cocktail therapeutics. Thus, the need of the hour is to develop neutralizing VHHs targeting the conserved region, as new variants will likely emerge in the future.

Isolation and characterization of K-874A. (A) Schematic showing in vitro selection of VHHs against SARS-CoV-2 S1 protein using VHH-cDNA display. In vitro transcription and translation of VHH-cDNA library form VHH linked to its mRNA with a puromycin linker. cDNA of linked mRNA was reverse-transcribed and VHH-cDNA complex was produced. High-affinity VHH-cDNA complex to immobilized S1 protein was isolated, and its cDNA was amplified. Three rounds of selection were performed, cDNA libraries from rounds 2 and 3 were sequenced, and anti-SARS-CoV-2 VHH candidates were translated. (B) Frequency distribution of amino acid sequences corresponding to VHH antibody candidates targeting SARS-CoV-2 S1 subunits in the selected VHH libraries. Sample ID 1 with the highest frequency (39.5%) is clone K-874A. (C) Binding affinity of K-874A to SARS-CoV-2 S1 subunits. Biolayer interferometry sensorgram measures the apparent binding affinity of K-874A-6xHis to immobilized SARS-CoV-2 S1 fused with sheep Fc. Binding curves for different concentrations of K-874A are shown in different colors. The black curves are 1:1 fits of the data. (D) Direct antigen ELISA measuring the binding affinity of FLAG-tagged K-874A to immobilized S1-6xHis subunits of beta- coronaviruses (HCoV-HKU1, HCoV-OC43, SARS-CoV-1, SARS-CoV-2) (left). Each immobilized S1-6xHis subunit was detected by anti-His antibody (right). Error bars are mean  SD (N = 3). Data are from a representative experiment of three independent experiments.

Advantages of the New VHH

As alluded to previously, the present VHH has several advantages, including its stability and capacity to be stored over more extended periods.

Previous studies have shown that inhaling a human monoclonal antibody can inhibit virus replication in the lung and nasal turbinate, suggesting that the benefits of the VHH could also be delivered by means of an inhaler.

Nasal administration could lower the amount of VHH entering the bloodstream, which could effectively reduce the chances of immunoreaction against VHH. Further, the risk of Fc-related antibody-dependent enhancement is less likely because the VHH has promising antiviral effects without the additional Fc domain.

Because the VHH prevents viral fusion, scientists believe that it could reduce viral infection and, thereby, inhibit interferon upregulation. They, however, highlighted that the efficacy could be augmented by using in conjunction with antibodies that block ACE2-RBD binding.

Conclusion

This study showed that the nasal delivery of a novel, unmodified camelid single-domain antibody (VHH), termed K-874A, was effective in inhibiting SARS-CoV-2 titers in infected lungs of Syrian hamsters. Further, no weight loss and cytokine induction were observed. Based on this study, scientists proposed that nasal administration of K-874A could be a new treatment for COVID-19 patients.
Nearly half of our DNA has been written off as junk, the discards of evolution: sidelined or broken genes, viruses that got stuck in our genome and were dismembered or silenced, none of it relevant to the human organism or human evolution.

But research over the last decade has shown that some of this genetic "dark matter" does have a function, primarily in regulating the expression of host genes -; a mere 2% of our total genome -; that code for proteins. Biologists continue to debate, however, whether these regulatory sequences of DNA play essential or detrimental roles in the body or are merely incidental, an accident that the organism can live without.

A new study led by researchers at University of California, Berkeley, and Washington University explored the function of one component of this junk DNA, transposons, which are selfish DNA sequences able to invade their host genome. The study shows that at least one family of transposons -; ancient viruses that have invaded our genome by the millions -; plays a critical role in viability in the mouse, and perhaps in all mammals. When the researchers knocked out a specific transposon in mice, half their mouse pups died before birth.

This is the first example of a piece of "junk DNA" being critical to survival in mammals.

In mice, this transposon regulates the proliferation of cells in the early fertilized embryo and the timing of implantation in the mother's uterus. The researchers looked in seven other mammalian species, including humans, and also found virus-derived regulatory elements linked to cell proliferation and timing of embryo implantation, suggesting that ancient viral DNA has been domesticated independently to play a crucial role in early embryonic development in all mammals.

According to senior author Lin He, UC Berkeley professor of molecular and cell biology, the findings highlight an oft-ignored driver of evolution: viruses that integrate into our genome and get repurposed as regulators of host genes, opening up evolutionary options not available before.

The mouse and humans share 99% of their protein coding genes in their genomes -; we are very similar with each other. So, what constitutes the differences between mice and humans? One of the major differences is gene regulation -; mice and humans have the same genes, but they can be regulated differently. Transposons have the capacity to generate a lot of gene regulatory diversity and could help us to understand species-specific differences in the world." Lin He, Study Senior Author and Professor, Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California - Berkeley

Colleague and co-senior author Ting Wang, the Sanford and Karen Loewentheil Distinguished Professor of Medicine in the Department of Genetics at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri, agrees.

"The real significance of this story is it tells us how evolution works in the most unexpected manner possible," Wang said. "Transposons were long considered useless genetic material, but they make up such a big portion of the mammalian genome. A lot of interesting studies illustrate that transposons are a driving force of human genome evolution. Yet, this is the first example that I know of where deletion of a piece of junk DNA leads to a lethal phenotype, demonstrating that the function of specific transposons can be essential."

The finding could have implications for human infertility. According to first author Andrew Modzelewski, a UC Berkeley postdoctoral fellow, nearly half of all miscarriages in humans are undiagnosed or don't have a clear genetic component. Could transposons like this be involved?

"If 50% of our genome is non-coding or repetitive -; this dark matter -; it is very tempting to ask the question whether or not human reproduction and the causes of human infertility can be explained by junk DNA sequences," he said.

Embryo implantation

He, the Thomas and Stacey Siebel Distinguished Chair Professor at UC Berkeley, studies the 98% or more of our genome that does not code for proteins. For most of He's career, she has focused on microRNAs and longer pieces of non-coding RNAs, both of which are potent gene regulators. Five years ago, however, her team accidentally discovered a microRNA regulator for a transposon family called MERVL (mouse endogenous retroviral elements) that was involved in cell fate determination of early mouse embryos. The unexpected abundance of transposon transcription in mouse embryos led He's team to investigate the developmental functions of transposons, which have taken up residence in the genomes of nearly every organism on Earth.

In a paper appearing this week in the journal Cell, He and her team identify the key regulatory DNA involved: a piece of a transposon -; a viral promoter -; that has been repurposed as a promoter for a mouse gene that produces a protein involved in cell proliferation in the developing embryo and in the timing of implantation of the embryo. A promoter is a short DNA sequence that is needed upstream of a gene in order for the gene to be transcribed and expressed.

Wild mice use this transposon promoter, called MT2B2, to initiate transcription of the gene Cdk2ap1 specifically in early embryos to produce a short protein "isoform" that increases cell proliferation in the fertilized embryo and speeds its implantation in the uterus. Using CRISPR-EZ, a simple and inexpensive technique that Modzelewski and He developed several years ago, they disabled the MT2B2 promoter and found that mice instead expressed the Cdk2ap1 gene from its default promoter as a longer form of the protein, a long isoform, that had the opposite effect: decreased cell proliferation and delayed implantation.

The result of this knockout was the death at birth of about half the pups.

Modzelewski said that the short form of the protein appears to make the many embryos of the mouse implant with a regular spacing within the uterus, preventing crowding. When the promoter is knocked out so that the long form is present only, the embryos implant seemingly randomly, some of them over the cervix, which blocks exit of the fully developed fetus and sometimes kills the mother during the birthing process.

They found that within a 24-hour period prior to embryo implantation, the MT2B2 promoter ramps up expression of the Cdk2ap1 gene so much that the short form of the protein makes up 95% of the two isoforms present in embryos. The long isoform is normally produced later in gestation when the default promoter upstream of the Cdk2ap1 gene becomes active.

Working with Wanqing Shao, co-first author of the study and a postdoctoral fellow in Wang's group at Washington University, the team searched through published data on preimplantation embryos for eight mammalian species -; human, rhesus monkey, marmoset, mouse, goat, cow, pig and opossum -; to see whether transposons are turned on briefly before implantation in other species. These online data came from a technique called single cell RNA sequencing, or scRNA-seq, which records the levels of messenger RNA in single cells, an indication of which genes are turned on and transcribed. In all cases, they had to retrieve the data on non-coding DNA because it is typically removed before analysis, with the presumption that it's unimportant.

While transposons are generally specific to individual species -; humans and mice, for example, have largely different sets -; the researchers found that different species-specific transposon families were turned on briefly before implantation in all eight mammals, including the opossum, the only mammal in the group that does not employ a placenta to implant embryos in the uterus.

"What's amazing is that different species have largely different transposons that are expressed in preimplantation embryos, but the global expression profiles of these transposons are nearly identical among all the mammalian species," He said.

Colleague and co-senior author Davide Risso, a former UC Berkeley postdoctoral fellow and now associate professor of statistics at the University of Padua in Italy, developed a method for linking specific transposons to preimplantation genes so as to weed out the thousands of copies of related transposons that exist in the genome. This method is crucial to identifying individual transposon elements with important gene regulatory activity.

"It's interesting to note that the data that we used were mostly based on the previous sequencing technology, called SMART-seq, which covers the full sequence of the RNA molecules. The current popular technique, 10x genomics technology, would not have shown us the different levels of protein isoforms. They're blind to them," Risso said.

Viruses are evolutionary reservoir

The researchers found that in nearly all of the eight mammalian species, both short and long Cdk2ap1 isoforms occur, but are switched on at different times and in different proportions that correlate with whether embryos implant early, as in mice, or late, as in cows and pigs. Thus, at the protein level, both the short and long isoforms appear conserved, but their expression patterns are species-specific.

"If you have a lot of the short Cdk2ap1 isoform, like mice, you implant very early, while in species like the cow and pig, which have none to very little of the short isoform, it's up to two weeks or longer for implantation," Modzelewski said.

Wang suspects that the promoter that generates the long form of the protein could be the mouse's original promoter, but that a virus that integrated into the genome long ago was later adapted as a regulatory element to produce the shorter form and the opposite effect.

"So, what happened here is a rodent-specific virus came in, and then somehow the host decided, 'OK, I'm going to use you as my promoter to express this shorter Cdk2ap1 isoform.' We see the redundancy that's built into the system, where we can take advantage of whatever nature throws at us and make it useful," he said. "And then, this new promoter happened to be stronger than the old promoter. I think this fundamentally changed the phenotype of rodents; maybe that's what makes them grow faster -; a gift of having a shorter pre-implantation time. So, they probably gained some fitness benefit from this virus."

"Whatever you look at in biology, you're going to see transposons being used, simply because there are just so many sequences," Wang added. "They essentially provide an evolutionary reservoir for selection to act upon."
A new study in American veterans posted to the medRxiv* preprint server suggests severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) vaccines are less effective in preventing infection after six months. The decline was most significant with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, with vaccine effectiveness plummeting from 88% to 3%.

The SARS-CoV-2 Delta variants increased infectiousness and ability to evade neutralizing antibodies have weakened vaccine protection. However, the study researchers continue to emphasize that vaccines remain the best form of protection against SARS-CoV-2 and coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

Future work is needed to see if the reduction in vaccine protection translates to reduced protection against hospitalization and death. As a result, having multiple forms of protection, including booster shots and following public health measures, may help with preventing and transmitting infection.

COVID-19 vaccines remain the most important tool to prevent infection, severe illness, and death, but vaccines should be accompanied by additional measures, including masking, hand washing, physical distancing, and other public health interventions, in the face of increased risk of infection due to the Delta variant, explained the researchers.

Study details

The researchers looked at the number of SARS-CoV-2 infections amongst U.S. veterans who received care via the Veterans Health Administration. They observed infection rates that took place from February 1, 2021, to August 13, 2021  when vaccines became available to U.S. veterans.

As of mid-August 2021, approximately 3.3 million veterans are fully vaccinated.

The VA Corporate Data Warehouse was used to collect information on veterans vaccination status and the type of vaccine given, if applicable. Veterans who received partial vaccination or vaccinations not approved by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) were not included in the final analysis.

Time dependent vaccine protection against SARS-CoV-2 infection as estimated from Cox proportional hazards models, adjusted for age, race, ethnicity, sex and comorbidity Associations are presented as 1  hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals. Associations for each month were estimated from contrasts using product terms for vaccination status by time to most recent RT-PCR.

Factors influencing COVID-19 infection rates

The risk of infection was highest among unvaccinated Veterans  about 16.6% tested positive on a PCR test for COVID-19.

Other common factors shared among veterans positive for COVID-19 included being female (10.2%) and being older than 50 (13.6%).

People who identified as Hispanic, American Indian/Alaska Native, or Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander were more likely to have COVID-19 infection.

Kaplan-Meier curves illustrating risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection by vaccination status and age: A) all ages; B) age <50 years, C) age 50-64 years; D) age 65 years The survival function estimates time to infection detected by most recent RT-PRC.

Waning immunity and the rise of Delta

All FDA-approved COVID-19 vaccines reduced the risk of infection in early 2021.

But, all vaccines showed reduced protection over time, with the most significant decline in protection correlating with an increase in infections observed in July and August 2021. The researchers note the increased infections overlapped with the spread of the Delta variant in the summer.

Increasing risk of infection was not explained by age or comorbidity, implicating increased infectivity of the Delta variant vs. waning immunity as the primary determinant of infection, explained the researchers.

Johnson & Johnson showed the largest decline

The largest decline in vaccine protection came from the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

Initially, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine was 88% effective in preventing infection. But by August, vaccine effectiveness dropped to 3%.

For the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, vaccine protection started at 91% and was reduced to 50% protection by August.

The Moderna vaccine showed the smallest reduction in vaccine effectiveness. A 92% vaccine effectiveness decreased to 64% by August.

The proportional reduction in vaccine effectiveness against infection across all age groups underscores the critical importance of a layered approach to protection, while enhancing continued efforts to increase vaccination among the 90 million Americans who remain unvaccinated, conclude the researchers.

*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 Centre for Health Protection today said it is investigating two additional imported COVID-19 cases, both involving mutant strains.

The cases involve a 51-year-old man and a three-year-old girl. The man arrived in Hong Kong from the UK, while the girl had travelled from Mongolia and Korea.

Both of them tested positive upon arrival at Hong Kong International Airport.

Meanwhile, specified people linked to Tower 10, Phase 3 - The Graces, Providence Bay in Tai Po are reminded to undergo testing tomorrow in accordance with the compulsory testing notice.

Two schools or their specified levels are covered in the latest compulsory testing notice due to an outbreak of upper respiratory tract infection or influenza-like illness.

The Food & Health Bureau announced that the testing frequency for airport staff of targeted groups will be enhanced to one test every three days starting tomorrow, as an enhanced precaution for the fifth wave of the epidemic.

The daily booking quota of the airport's community testing centre at the Ground Transportation Lounge will be increased to over 3,000 starting tomorrow. The testing centre will also be supplemented with additional manpower.

The Government will also temporarily increase the number of booths at the mobile specimen collection station at South Transition Deck, L6, Terminal 1 tomorrow to divert airport staff who need to undergo testing.

It will adjust the service arrangements depending on the testing centres actual usage.

A total of 69 cases were reported in Hong Kong in the past 14 days, one of which is a local case with an unknown infection source and the rest are imported.

For information and health advice on COVID-19, visit the Government's dedicated webpage.
Shirley Temple Smith, 82, passed away on Thursday, November 18, 2021 at her home surrounded by her family. She was born in Columbia, Kentucky, and was a loving wife and mother. She was preceded in death by her husband Vernon Russel Smith. Survivors include her sons, David Smith (Jennifer) of
The River Ridge Development Authority is expected to move into its new location next week, the third floor of the new build on Corporate Drive in Jeffersonville. Clark County government offices will own and occupy the first two floors, which are expected to be complete by March or April.
Secretary of State Colin Powell looks on as President Bush addresses State Department employees Feb. 15, 2001, at the State Department in Washington. Powell, former Joint Chiefs chairman and secretary of state, has died from COVID-19 complications.
(Newser)  Microsoft told Bill Gates to stop sending flirty emails to a staffer as long ago as 2008, the Wall Street Journal reports. Not long after Gates and his ex-wife, Melinda French Gates, split, reports started to surface of affairs and other sketchy behaviors. Now, the WSJ reports that Microsofts top lawyer and top HR staffer took Gates aside and told him to knock it off. At the time Gates was sending the emails to the mid-level staffer, in 2007, Gates was married, a full-time Microsoft employee, and chairman of the board.

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Then-General Counsel Brad Smith and then Chief People Officer Lisa Brummel learned of emails Gates had sent to a woman who worked for the company that were flirtatious and suggested getting together outside of work, per the Journal. Smith and Brummel met with Gates, who didnt deny sending the emails. Gates reportedly agreed they werent appropriate and promised to stop. Then, Brummel and Smith told the Microsoft board, which decided that was enough and because the exchanges werent overtly sexual, nothing physical ever came of them, and the other party never complained, they would let the matter lie. Gates retired from the day-to-day running of Microsoft in 2008 and stepped down as chairman of the board in 2014. He resigned from the board last year.

A Gates spokesman denied the WSJ report in a statement to the Guardian. "These claims are false, recycled rumors from sources who have no direct knowledge, and in some cases have significant conflicts of interest," the spokesman said. Microsoft, however, confirmed the report Monday, the AP reports. (Gates has acknowledged that hanging out with Jeffrey Epstein was a "huge mistake.")
(Newser)  Police in Italy may have spoiled some mobsters' banquets when they raided a cannabis farm. Authorities say the Saturday raid in southern Italy found dormice in cages and more than 200 that had been frozen and packaged for sale or consumption, the BBC reports. The animals, a protected species in Italy, were a delicacy in Roman times and apparently remain so today for high-ranking members of the 'Ndrangheta mafia clan. According to wildlife protection organisation LIPU, senior 'Ndrangheta members serve dormice during "reconciliation" banquets to bring feuding factions together.

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LIPU says poaching of the nocturnal rodents is widespread in the mountains of Calabria, with animals captured in traps sold to gangsters or restaurants, AFP reports. Three people arrested in the raid will be charged with killing and captured protected animals as well as drugs offenses, reports Corriere Della Calabria. Police say more than 700 cannabis plants were seized in the raid. The dormice were found after the search was expanded from the farm to nearby ruins and other properties. (Read more Italy stories.)
(Newser)  After more than 100 years, a statue of Thomas Jefferson is being evicted from the New York City Council chamber at City Hall. The New York City Public Design Commission voted unanimously Monday to remove the statue, but its final destination is unclear, ABC7 reports. Calls to remove the 7-foot statue of the nation's third president because he was a slaveowner began in 2001, and the issue got fresh attention in the wake of last year's George Floyd protests, reports the New York Times. Commission members were split on plans to send it on long-term loan to the New York Historical Society because it would have involved fees. Members suggested sending it to New York Public Library or a small museum inside City Hall instead.

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Jefferson owned around 600 slaves, and historians believe he fathered six children with one of them, Sally Hemings, in a relationship that began when she was around 14 years old. "How the hell can people see as a hero someone who had hundreds of enslaved Africans, someone who was a racist and who said we were inferior and someone who was a slaveholding pedophile? Assemblyman Charles Barron, who led the push to have the statue removed in 2001, tells the Times. "For him to be canonized in a statue is incredibleincredibly racist." Committee members say they will find a new home for the statue by the end of the year.

The City Councils Black, Latino, and Asian Caucus had requested the removal of the statue, a plaster model of the bronze statue in the Capitol Rotunda. It arrived at City Hall in 1834 and was moved to the council chamber around 80 years later. Last week, Mayor Bill de Blasio described Jefferson as a "complex" historical figure. Republican mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa, who held a "Save Our Statue" rally last week, has vowed that the statue will be returned to City Hall if he wins next month's election. (The University of Missouri has installed protection for Jefferson's original headstone.)
(Newser)  Wall Street's iconic Charging Bull statue is currently facing off with a gorilla. Not just any gorilla, but Harambe: A 7-foot-statue of the Cincinnati Zoo gorilla who was fatally shot as he carried around a 3-year-old boy who'd gotten into his enclosure in 2016 was, on Monday, installed across from the bull statue. In addition, the bull was surrounded by 10,000 bananas, which will later be given to local food banks and community fridges, NBC New York reports. The organizers of the piece say it is meant to bring attention to vast wealth inequality and point out that Wall Street is "bananas," with the 1% out of touch with what the 99% truly need, PIX 11 reports.

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The organizers are Robert Giometti, Tejay Aluru, and Ankit Bhatia, founders of Sapien.Network, an upcoming social media platform that pledges to put "the needs and welfare of human beings first." They commissioned the bronze statue, and they say Harambe represents the millions of people for whom the US' system of capitalism "enriches wealthy elites and leaves the average person behind." But, Giometti says, they're not advocating for ditching capitalism. Rather, he says, the statue is about "revolving [capitalism and the current system] into the current future and letting them empower more groups of people." (Read more Harambe stories.)
(Newser)  Accusing the House panel seeking his records related to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol of harassment, former President Trump sued the committee and the National Archives on Monday. Jesse Binnall, a Trump attorney, wrote that the committee is harassing Trump "by sending an illegal, unfounded, and overbroad records request to the Archivist of the United States," ABC reports. President Biden had declined Trump's request to block the release by exerting a claim of executive privilege, and the Trump filing included him in its criticism, calling the decision "a political ploy to accommodate his partisan allies."

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Trump's filing makes arguments concerning:

Legality . The broad request is an attempt to unconstitutionally investigate Trump, the lawyer wrote. "Our laws do not permit such an impulsive, egregious action against a former President and his close advisors," the filing says.

. The broad request is an attempt to unconstitutionally investigate Trump, the lawyer wrote. "Our laws do not permit such an impulsive, egregious action against a former President and his close advisors," the filing says. Relevance . There's no legitimate legislative purpose for the congressional request, the filing says, giving the example of information to be used in writing a bill, per the Washington Post.

. There's no legitimate legislative purpose for the congressional request, the filing says, giving the example of information to be used in writing a bill, per the Washington Post. Time . Trump's team hasn't been given enough time by the committee to review the records it wants, the filing says.

. Trump's team hasn't been given enough time by the committee to review the records it wants, the filing says. Next steps. The district court should toss out the committee's request and enjoin the National Archives from turning over the files, the filing says.

Stephen Gillers, a New York University law professor, called the suit an obvious attempt to stall the committee until the 2022 congressional elections, when Republicans could take control of the House. He wondered how long the courts will allow that before imposing sanctions, per the Post. "The credibility of the federal judiciary is at stake," Gillers said. Laurence Tribe of Harvard said a judge might indeed narrow the request to fewer records. But he found it a very weak complaint" overall. "The idea that Congress has no legitimate purpose in making this request is almost insane," Tribe said. (Read more Donald Trump stories.)
(Newser)  Severin Beckwith has the misfortune of resembling Brian Laundrie, who continues to elude the authorities searching for him in connection with the murder of Gabby Petito. Beckwith, meanwhile, is currently hiking the Appalachian Trail with his girlfriend, and while they were taking a break two miles off the trail at the Lodge at Fontana Village Resort in North Carolina, someone knocked on their door and then kicked it in before Beckwith, who had been napping, unlocked it. It was US Marshals, pointing guns at him, Beckwith tells the New Yorker. He says they handcuffed him, while he was still in his underwear, and fingerprinted him before ultimately realizing he wasn't Laundrie. See the New Yorker for the full story.

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Meanwhile, the real Laundrie's father was on Monday summoned to court, the Independent reports. Protesters who suspect Laundrie's parents of helping him evade authorities have descended on the family home, and Laundrie's father is accused of trashing one of their signs that was left on his Florida lawn, the New York Post reports. Protester Andra Griffin filed the complaint, saying she helped pay for the sign, which asked "What if it was Cassie?" who had gone missing. That's a reference to Brian Laundrie's sister. (Read more Brian Laundrie stories.)
(Newser)  Right-wing radio host Dan Bongino dared his radio distributor to cancel his show on Monday in response to its "unethical" and "immoral" vaccine mandate. Cumulus Media, which carries The Dan Bongino Show on hundreds of stations, announced in August that it would require employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19 by Sept. 27, unless they have a legal exception or work remotely. As a result, several Cumulus employees were fired or quit, per Inside Radio. Bongino, who recently completed treatment for Hodgkin Lymphoma, is fully vaccinated. But he dared Cumulus to cancel their partnership nonetheless.

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"I'm not going to play along," said the former New York City police officer and Secret Service agent, per the Daily Beast. "Because it's really unfortunate that people with a lower profile than me, who dont have 300-plus stations, have been summarily either shown the door or been put in really untenable circumstances because they simply want to make a medical decision by themselves." "Cumulus is going to have to make a decision with meif they want to continue this partnership or they don't," he added, per the Washington Post. Of his show and the vaccine mandate, he added, "You can't have both."

Bongino's radio show is live-streamed on Fox Nation. He also hosts a talk show, Unfiltered, on Fox News on Saturday evenings. Yet he did not refer to Fox Corp.'s vaccine rules, which require that employees be vaccinated or undergo daily COVID-19 testing. Under the Biden administration's rules, companies with more than 100 employees need only accept a negative test result from unvaccinated employees once per week. Other on-air Fox personalities, including Tucker Carlson, have recently skirted questions about Fox's policy, even while Carlson blasted the administration's policy as "totally insane," per the AP. (Read more vaccine mandate stories.)
(Newser)  North Korea on Tuesday fired at least one ballistic missile into the sea in what South Koreas military described as a weapon likely designed for submarine-based launches, marking possibly the most significant demonstration of the Norths military might since President Biden took office. The launch came hours after the US reaffirmed its offer to resume diplomacy on North Koreas nuclear weapons program, the AP reports. It underscored how the North continues to expand its military capabilities amid a pause in diplomacy. The Souths Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement it detected the North firing one short-range ballistic missile it believed to be a submarine-launched ballistic missile from waters near the eastern port of Sinpo, and that the South Korean and US militaries were closely analyzing the launch.

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The South Korean military said the launch was made at sea, but it didnt elaborate whether it was fired from a vessel submerged underwater or another launch platform above the seas surface. But Japanese Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi said his countrys initial analysis suggested that the North fired two ballistic missiles. Japans coast guard issued a maritime safety advisory to ships but didnt immediately know where the alleged missiles landed. The shipyard in Sinpo is a major defense industry hub where North Korea focuses its submarine production. In recent years, the North has also used Sinpo to develop ballistic weapons systems designed to be fired from submarines. North Korea had last tested an SLBM in October 2019. Analysts had expected the North to resume tests of such weapons after it rolled out at least two new SLBMs during military parades in 2020 and 2021.

(Read more North Korea stories.)
(Newser)  In his 1992 sci-fi novel, Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson mentions a concept called the "Metaverse," a giant, shared virtual world combining augmented reality with virtual reality, where users appear as avatars and access this new world via special goggles. Facebook is now ready to bring that idea to fruition, with plans to hire 10,000 workers in Europe over the next five years toward that end, reports NPR. In a blog post, the social media giant notes that "the metaverse has the potential to help unlock access to new creative, social and economic opportunities." Critics, however, wonder how Facebook will handle user privacy, as well as the misinformation and conflict that seem to emerge whenever the platform pushes toward more connectivity. More on the metaverse plan:

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Explainers: The BBC and Reuters get into the nitty-gritty, delving more into exactly what the metaverse is, why there's suddenly buzz about it, and other entities that may have interest in it.

The BBC and Reuters get into the nitty-gritty, delving more into exactly what the metaverse is, why there's suddenly buzz about it, and other entities that may have interest in it. Ownership: Getting a queasy feeling that Facebook is taking yet another step to take over the world? The company assures in its post that "no one company will own and operate the metaverse. Like the internet, its key feature will be its openness and interoperability."

Getting a queasy feeling that Facebook is taking yet another step to take over the world? The company assures in its post that "no one company will own and operate the metaverse. Like the internet, its key feature will be its openness and interoperability." Mark Zuckerberg Q&A: The Verge sat down with the CEO, where he had this to say about the metaverse, using their interview as an example: "In the future, instead of just doing this over a phone call, you'll be able to sit as a hologram on my couch, or I'll be able to sit as a hologram on your couch, and it'll actually feel like we're in the same place, even if we're in different states or hundreds of miles apart. So I think that ... is really powerful."

The Verge sat down with the CEO, where he had this to say about the metaverse, using their interview as an example: "In the future, instead of just doing this over a phone call, you'll be able to sit as a hologram on my couch, or I'll be able to sit as a hologram on your couch, and it'll actually feel like we're in the same place, even if we're in different states or hundreds of miles apart. So I think that ... is really powerful." Brands, take note: Ad Age looks at the possibilities from an advertising angle, and it predicts that the metaverse could be a "revolution," with "all signs [pointing] to massive potential and possibilities, including the opportunity to completely redefine how we interact with consumers."

Ad Age looks at the possibilities from an advertising angle, and it predicts that the metaverse could be a "revolution," with "all signs [pointing] to massive potential and possibilities, including the opportunity to completely redefine how we interact with consumers." 'Bleak' outlook? Ben Sixsmith agrees that a metaverse could have its benefits. "Escaping, or at least subverting, individual, geographic and societal limitations offers people pleasure and [fulfillment]," he writes for the Spectator . But he also notes that metaverses won't solve the "propaganda, misinformation and abuse" wrought by social media, or the resulting loneliness, conflict, and compulsive use. "We should have learned by now that the digital isn't altogether healthier than the real," he writes.

Ben Sixsmith agrees that a metaverse could have its benefits. "Escaping, or at least subverting, individual, geographic and societal limitations offers people pleasure and [fulfillment]," he writes for the . But he also notes that metaverses won't solve the "propaganda, misinformation and abuse" wrought by social media, or the resulting loneliness, conflict, and compulsive use. "We should have learned by now that the digital isn't altogether healthier than the real," he writes. Lagging tech : Writing for Fast Company, Mark Sullivan sees a different problem: The technologyincluding high-performing VR/AR glasses and extended battery lifejust isn't there yet. "It's a mistake to continue talking about it years before this mythical realm actually exists," he notes. "Facebook may eventually be seen as just another Big Tech company that promised something it wasn't able to deliver."

: Writing for Fast Company, Mark Sullivan sees a different problem: The technologyincluding high-performing VR/AR glasses and extended battery lifejust isn't there yet. "It's a mistake to continue talking about it years before this mythical realm actually exists," he notes. "Facebook may eventually be seen as just another Big Tech company that promised something it wasn't able to deliver." Devices : While Screen Rant concedes that the gear needed to support the metaverse is likely still in the infancy stage, it does find hints in what that gear would look like, pointing to a recent Facebook post by Zuckerberg himself. An Oct. 13 image shows the CEO wearing a bulky device over his eyes, which he calls "an early retina resolution prototype," before adding: "The future is going to be awesome."

: While Screen Rant concedes that the gear needed to support the metaverse is likely still in the infancy stage, it does find hints in what that gear would look like, pointing to a recent Facebook post by Zuckerberg himself. An Oct. 13 image shows the CEO wearing a bulky device over his eyes, which he calls "an early retina resolution prototype," before adding: "The future is going to be awesome." Stephenson's take: Vanity Fair asked the man who came up with the metaverse concept what he thought "of the prospect of a Zuckerberg-controlled Metaverse." Stephenson's reaction, per the magazine: "low laughter and a very, very, very long pause." Check out the rest of his response here.

(Read more Facebook stories.)
(Newser)  A Phish concert in California took a grim turn over the weekend after two separate falls led to one death and two serious injuries. A spokesman for the San Francisco Police Department tells KPIX that cops received a call around 9pm of a person needing medical assistance at the Chase Center, where the band was performing. When they arrived on the scene, a man was injured, apparently from a fall, but despite emergency responders' efforts, the man died. Police say that while an investigation continues, there's so far no evidence of foul play.

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About 45 minutes later, cops got a second call, this time in another part of the arena, where one man had fallen onto another man in a section below. "He clearly missed a step and wasn't holding onto that handrail and just kept going," a witness says. KTVU reports that both men were taken to a local hospital; the man who fell had serious but non-life-threatening injuries, while the man who got hit was hospitalized with serious injuries. Police say there didn't appear to be any "criminal violation" involved with this second fall.

Robert Moen of Texas witnessed both incidents, telling the outlet that the man who died in the first fall appeared to have intentionally jumped. "We saw him right when he put his feet on the barrier, stood up, and just leapt," he says, adding it was "a huge drop, maybe four stories or so." Moen notes that he and his wife, shaken by what they'd witnessed, moved to another part of the stadium, "far away to try to recenter ourselves," when they saw the second person fall, though Moen adds that fall appeared to be accidental. By that point, he and his wife decided to leave.

Attendees tell KPIX that some of the guardrails in the arena aren't high enough to keep someone from tumbling over. "They weren't really designed for an event where everyone is up and dancing and there's a whole lot of drug use," one concertgoer notes. In a statement, Chase Center said "we are working with the local authorities to determine exactly what happened," noting all inquiries should be directed to the San Francisco Police Department. SFGate notes that as of Monday afternoon, Phish hadn't commented on either incident. (Read more Phish stories.)
(Newser)  The Haitian group that kidnapped 16 American missionaries and another from Canada has named its priceit wants $17M, or $1 million for each person taken, reports the Wall Street Journal. Now the negotiating begins as more light is shed on what happened. Details:

Victims: All those kidnapped are Mennonites who belong to Christian Aid Ministries, based in Berlin, Ohio. They come from all over the US, and one is from Ontario. An 8-month-old baby is among those kidnapped, as are youths ages 3, 6, 14, and 15.

All those kidnapped are Mennonites who belong to Christian Aid Ministries, based in Berlin, Ohio. They come from all over the US, and one is from Ontario. An 8-month-old baby is among those kidnapped, as are youths ages 3, 6, 14, and 15. Kidnappers: The group known as 400 Mawozo abducted the missionaries on Saturday from an orphanage in the Port-au-Prince suburb of Croix-des-Bouquets, per CNN. Mawozo means "from the countryside," an homage to the group's roots. In recent years, gang members have moved from cattle theft to car theft to kidnappings for ransom.

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A shock: More than 600 such kidnappings have been reported since January in Haiti, and most victims are Haitians. But the scale of the latest mass kidnapping has "shocked officials for its brazenness," reports the New York Times. The one silver lining is that the kidnappings are purely for financial motive, meaning victims are likely to be freed eventually. The kidnappers are reportedly in communication with the FBI in addition to Haitian officials. President Biden is being briefed.

More than 600 such kidnappings have been reported since January in Haiti, and most victims are Haitians. But the scale of the latest mass kidnapping has "shocked officials for its brazenness," reports the New York Times. The one silver lining is that the kidnappings are purely for financial motive, meaning victims are likely to be freed eventually. The kidnappers are reportedly in communication with the FBI in addition to Haitian officials. President Biden is being briefed. The experience: One unidentified Haitian businessman who was abducted by 400 Mawozo tells the Times that he was held without food for the first four days and frequently beaten with the handles of machetes or guns. He said children around 10 years old were among the kidnappers who beat him. He was freed after 12 days for a ransom of $70,000, instead of the $5 million demanded.

One unidentified Haitian businessman who was abducted by 400 Mawozo tells the Times that he was held without food for the first four days and frequently beaten with the handles of machetes or guns. He said children around 10 years old were among the kidnappers who beat him. He was freed after 12 days for a ransom of $70,000, instead of the $5 million demanded. Anger: Haiti is gripped by chaos and violenceas evidenced by the recent assassination of the Haitian presidentand a national transportation union brought Port-au-Prince to a virtual standstill on Monday with a strike demanding better security. "If the prime minister cant fulfill our demands, we will call on him to resign," says the union's leader. "We want the end of insecurity and the end of the kidnappings."

(Read more Haiti stories.)
(Newser)  Colombian journalist Jineth Bedoya was kidnapped at gunpoint outside a prison in Bogota, where she'd expected to interview an imprisoned paramilitary leader in May 2000. It was the start of 16 hours of torture that would include a gang-rape, reports CBS News. "All I know is that I wanted to die," the reporter for El Espectador told the Guardian in 2019 as three paramilitary leaders were finally convicted in the case, which became a symbol of sexual violence against women during the nation's five-decade-long civil war. Now, Colombia's government has been found responsible.

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The attack "could not have been carried out without the consent and collaboration of the State, or at least with its tolerance," the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruled Monday, noting sexual violence against women was a systematic "weapon of war," per CBS and the Washington Post. The court found Colombia "internationally responsible" for violating Bedoya's rights, as the government bungled the investigation into the crime, failed to investigate a 1999 attack on the journalist and her mother, failed to protect Bedoya from other threats, and discriminated against her on the basis of her gender.

Bedoya, 47who wrote in 2016 that "it took me many months to stop feeling filthy and many years to allow a man to touch me again"said the historic decision was "vindication of the rights of thousands of women who have been victims of sexual violence and of women journalists who leave a part of their lives in their work." The government had apologized to the journalist, winner of the 2020 UNESCO World Press Freedom Prize, at a March hearing. But its representatives walked out of that same hearing, calling for the recusal of five of six judges, per the Guardian.

Still, President Ivan Duque tweeted Monday that the government "fully accepts the decision"it is not possible to appeal, per CBSand will consider the sentence "as a guide to actions that can be implemented to prevent anything like this from happening again." The court ordered the government to pay damages, "punish those remaining responsible for the acts of violence," launch a full investigation, track violence against journalists, and fund protections for female journalists, among other things. (Read more Colombia stories.)
(Newser)  Alabama police have charged a third person with capital murder in the killing of a 13-year-old boy who was hit by a bullet that entered his bedroom as he played on an iPad, per the AP. Jaden Zaire Jenkins, 19, was arrested Monday in the death of Kei'lan Allen, Tuscaloosa police said. Julian Lamont Gordon, 21, and James Deanthony Reed, 18, were charged previously. Kei'lan was in his bedroom when gunfire erupted outside on Friday, police said. At least one bullet entered the residence and struck the child. Multiple shell casings were found outside the house.

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Investigators believe shooters who drove by the home intended to target an older member of Kei'lan's family but shot the boy instead, said Capt. Jack Kennedy, commander of the Tuscaloosa Violent Crimes Unit. Cousin Corey Prewitt, 26, tells Al.com that Kei'lan's mother called out to her son after the gunshots. "He didnt answer after that, so she walked in the room, and he was slumped over," he recounts. She just grabbed him and was telling him, 'I love you. I love you.' An innocent child with a bullet hole in his head." Supporters have set up a GoFundMe account for the family.

(Read more shooting stories.)
(Newser)  Nearly five years after it was urged to make affordable hearing aids available over the counter, the FDA is taking a big step toward that goal. In a plan released Tuesday, the agency says it will create a new category of hearing aids that will be made available online and over the counter without a prescription and without a visit to a doctor or audiologist for a hearing exam. The FDA hopes this will increase competition, bringing down prices as new companies enter the market, though some existing manufacturers have expressed safety concerns, per the Washington Post.

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Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra says the move "takes us one step closer to the goal of making hearing aids more accessible and affordable for the tens of millions of people who experience mild to moderate hearing loss." About 15% of US adults have difficulty hearing. But only about 15% of those who can benefit from a hearing aid use one, according to the FDA. That's partly because theyre so expensive, costing more than $5,000 per pair on average, per the Post.

While diagnostic hearing tests are generally covered by Medicare, hearing aids themselves are not, the AP reports, noting companies have said they can produce cheaper versions for $50 to $500. The President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology recommended the FDA create a new category of "basic" hearing aids under President Obama in 2015. In 2017, President Trump approved a 2020 deadline that was missed. President Biden then instituted a November deadline this past summer. Public comments will be accepted before the proposal is finalized. (Read more FDA stories.)
(Newser)  The FBI raided homes linked to Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska Tuesday. The agency didnt say why they carried out the raids or what they were looking for, saying through a spokesperson only that they were carrying out a "court-authorized law enforcement activity," at a mansion near Embassy Row in Washington, DC, per the AP. FBI agents were also present at a house in Greenwich Village in New York that Deripaska owns through a company in Delaware. Deripaska made his money, reputedly billions, in the aluminum business, but was sanctioned by the Trump administration in 2018, along with other oligarchs with ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin. He also has done business with Paul Manafort.

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The sanctions against the billionaire and his companies were imposed by the Treasury Department as part of the response to allegations that Russia meddled in the 2016 elections, and other cyberattacks. Deripaska sued to have the sanctions dropped, but a judge upheld them, the Wall Street Journal reports. Years ago, neighbors used to see Deripaska at the DC home overseeing renovations; it is owned by one of his companies, the Washington Post reports. The oligarch himself hasnt been in the US in years, having been denied a visa, but NBC News reports he recently was given diplomatic status by the Russian government. A spokesperson for Deripaska said the houses are owned by relatives. (Read more Russian oligarchs stories.)
(Newser)  Some 10 months after British authorities said they were keeping an eye on a COVID variant that became known as alpha, experts say they are now monitoring a mutation in the delta variant. The AY.4.2 mutationalso known as "delta plus," was first detected in India in May and it now makes up more than 6% of new cases in Britain. Authorities in the UK say they are monitoring the strain and while it appears to have some survival advantages over the normal delta variant, it does not appear to be significantly more transmissible, the BBC reports. "It's nothing compared with what we saw with alpha and delta, which were something like 50 to 60% more transmissible," says Francois Balloux, director of University College London's Genetics Institute.

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"We are talking about something quite subtle here and that is currently under investigation," Balloux says. "It is likely to be up to 10% more transmissible." At this stage, Balloux says, "I would say wait and see, don't panic. It might be slightly, subtly more transmissible but it is not something absolutely disastrous like we saw previously." It's not clear whether the delta offshoot is linked to a recent surge in COVID cases in the UK, which lifted most restrictions in July. Ravi Gupta, a professor of clinical microbiology at the University of Cambridge, tells the Guardian that the rise in cases probably has more to do with the fact that Britain "has fundamentally failed to control transmission" than the mutation.

Former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb called for "urgent research" of the mutation, noting that on Sunday, Britain saw its biggest one-day jump in COVID cases since July, Bloomberg reports. "Theres no clear indication that its considerably more transmissible, but we should work to more quickly characterize these and other new variants," Gottlieb tweeted. He added that the mutation should be a "reminder that we need robust systems to identify, characterize new variants," as already happens with the flu. (Read more coronavirus stories.)
(Newser)  A judge denied bond Tuesday for Alex Murdaugh, saying the attorney's considerable financial resources and mental instability appear for now to make it too risky to allow him to await trial outside of jail on charges he stole $3.4 million in insurance money meant for the sons of his housekeeper. Defense attorneys asked Circuit Judge Clifton Newman to release Murdaugh on his own recognizance, as a different judge had in September on charges that he tried to arrange his own death to obtain a $10 million insurance policy, the AP reports. Prosecutors asked for a $200,000 bond and GPS monitoring for the latest charges, obtaining property by false pretenses.

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"Im not satisfied as to his mental condition, Newman said, adding that he needed more information. He said he would reconsider his decision after receiving it. One of Murdaugh's attorneys, Dick Harpootlian, said after the hearing that therapists at the drug rehab centers in Georgia and Florida where Murdaugh spent the past six weeks will send their records to a local psychiatrist, who will prepare a report for the judge, hopefully within a week. "Were more than happy to comply with his request," Harpootlian said, adding of Murdaugh, "He seemed much more clearheaded today than Ive ever seen him."

Harpootlian and Murdaugh's other attorney, Jim Griffin, have said he is dealing with crushing grief and guilt after finding the bodies of his wife and son shot to death at their home in June. Murdaugh has adamantly denied having anything to do with their deaths and no one has been charged. Harpootlian and Griffin said Murdaugh needs more treatment for an opioid addiction that has lasted for more than a decade. "He's not going to run," Harpootlian said. "Thats not where he is now." The latest charges against Murdaugh involve insurance payments that were supposed to go to the sons of his longtime housekeeper Gloria Satterfield, who died in 2018 a few weeks after falling at the familys home. No autopsy was performed and state police said Tuesday in court that they are still investigating the circumstances of her death. (Read more Alex Murdaugh stories.)
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TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

UAE Federal National Council (FNC) Speaker Saqr Ghubash and his accompanying parliamentary delegation will arrive today in Bahrain on an official visit to the kingdom.

The visit, through the invitation by Council of Representatives Speaker Fawzia bint Abdullah Zainal, is part of plans of the Council of Representatives to boost parliamentary diplomacy and discuss cooperation between the two countries.

It also aims to highlight the kingdoms civilisation achievements under the comprehensive development march led by His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa.

The visit will include meetings with senior officials in the kingdom as well as holding discussions to boost bilateral parliamentary cooperation and unify visions regarding various issues.
TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain National Pavilion at GITEX Dubai 2021 attracted nearly 5,000 visitors in the first two days of opening. Representative of regional and international technology companies who looks forward to entering into deals with Bahrain companies, officials of Pakistani and Jordanian pavilions visited Bahrain pavilion.

The highlight of the second day at the Bahrain National Pavilion was a presentation by the Bahrain Export Centre for Bahraini companies participating in the expo.

Bahraini companies at the expo held business meetings with their counterparts on cooperation and commercial representations in foreign markets.

Talks also focused on inviting foreign companies to invest in the Kingdom. Bahrain Society for Technology Companies and WorkSmart, in association with labour fund Tamkeen, is organising Bahrains pavilion at the show for the 15th year in a row.


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NEW MILFORD  After absentee ballot applications were sent out containing a scanned signature of a Democratic Town Committee member, some residents raised concerns about regulations relating to a wet ink signature rule.

The Secretary of the States Office has said that the applications should still be considered valid and pointed to a miscommunication on the rule with one of its consultants. The member whose signature was on the applications, Joe Baker, said that he checked with the Town Clerks Office Tuesday and was told the applications were acceptable.

Anyone who helps a voter fill out the application is required, per Connecticut state statute, to provide a wet or handwritten signature.

Before sending out over 5,000 absentee ballots with his reproduced signature on them, Joe Baker, whose name appears on the application, said he cleared the signature format with the Secretary of State through the Town Clerks office.

Before I mailed several thousand of these things, I wanted to make sure they were right, Baker said. Theres absolutely nothing wrong with the ballot applications, and people should use them with confidence.

The issue, which is affecting several towns, stemmed from a miscommunication between the Secretary of State and a consultant. An Oct. 14 letter from Director of Elections Ted Bromley to the State Elections Enforcement Commission explained the confusion.

Our review of the communication between this office and a representative of various campaigns across the state has led us to the conclusion that, due to a miscommunication caused by imprecise language on our part, many campaigns may have understandably relied on those emails to believe that it was permissible to use a reproduced signature on the pre-filled applications, the letter says. Although Connecticut statute does require a wet ink signature, it is clear that campaigns could have justifiably relied on our advice to believe the opposite was true.

The miscommunication should not affect the processing of applications.

Our office  as soon as we found out that there was some sort of issue  notified the town clerks that when they get these back from voters, they should process them, said Gabe Rosenberg, general counsel for the Connecticut Secretary of the States office. They dont need to worry. They will get a ballot if they filled out those forms.

Rosenberg explained that part of the confusion stems from the fact that this is the first election where absentee ballot applications may be coming from a third party. Last year, the Secretary of States office dealt with absentee ballot applications, sending them to all residents because of the pandemic.

Our most important consideration is that every eligible voter is able to cast their ballot conveniently and safely in the manner of their choosing, the letter concluded.

As of Monday afternoon, the New Milford Town Clerks office has not recorded any complaints related to the issue.

Baker, however, said he has been threatened and harassed by residents over the issue.

Its not been pleasant, he said.

In Guilford, Republican Town Committee members submitted a complaint to the State Elections Enforcement Commission last week that claimed Democrat and independent Board of Education candidates and a campaign adviser had illegally distributed unsolicited absentee ballot applications.

The state determined the ballot applications were valid.

Rosenberg also debunked a statement that he said was being repeated by local news outlets that a person assisting in the absentee application had to be physically present when the voter signed the application.

News stations just repeated that, and thats just not in Connecticut law, he said. It is 100 percent not the case.

Correction: This story has been updated to reflect that it was a miscommunication with a state consultant, not a contractor.
Khalilzad was the person who led talks with the Taliban in Qatar that resulted in the Doha agreement between the Islamic group and former US President Donald Trump to fully withdraw US troops by May 2021.

US top envoy to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad resigned from his position on Monday. As Special Representative for Afghan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad steps down from his role, I extend my gratitude for his decades of service to the American people, US Secretary of the State Antony Blinken said in a statement. This came after Khalilzad wrote a resignation letter to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken informing him about stepping down from the post, The New York Times reported.

Thomas West, who previously served as the Deputy Special Representative will be the Special Representative for Afghanistan after Khalilzad, Blinken informed. West, who served on then-Vice President Bidens national security team and on the National Security Council staff, will lead diplomatic efforts, advise the Secretary and Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, and coordinate closely with the US Embassy Kabul presence in Doha on Americas interests in Afghanistan, the US Secretary said. He added, I thank Ambassador Khalilzad for his service and welcome Special Representative West to the role.

Khalilzad, who was born in Afghanistan and grew up in the capital, Kabul, was a veteran of past Republican administrations who helped President George W Bush plan the overthrow of the Taliban in 2002, The New York Times reported. The developments came almost two months after the US withdrew from Afghanistan in a chaotic and deadly evacuation process, CNN reported. Khalilzad was the person who led talks with the Taliban in Qatar that resulted in the Doha agreement between the Islamic group and former US President Donald Trump to fully withdraw US troops by May 2021. The last two US officials to step off Afghanistan soil and onto a US military aircraft were General Chris Donahue, commander of the 82nd Airborne Division, and the top US diplomat in Kabul, Charge dAffaires Ross Wilson, reported CNN.
EAST HAVEN  A mixed-income senior housing development in town has been honored by a sustainable building group, according to a release.

The Tyler, WinnDevelopments 70-unit project inside a former high school building, was recognized by the Green Building Council and Novogradac for its innovative approach using state and federal historic tax credits to incorporate the industrys strictest standard for energy performance in a residential historic adaptive reuse project, the release said.

The nonprofit council gave the project its 2021 Award of Excellence, the release said, which honors excellence in green building design and construction that supports the broader goals of using the built to combat climate change within the state of Connecticut and beyond.

According to the release, The Tyler is expected to use 20 percent less energy than new Energy Star construction, and also avoided 18,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by reusing the former school.

The housing project also was honored recently with the 2021 Novogradac Journal of Tax Credit Award for Historic Rehabilitation, the release said.

Projects like The Tyler demonstrate the inherent sustainability of adapting historic structures to meet 21st century environmental expectations, Adam Stein, executive vice president of WinnDevelopment, said in the release. This award-winning effort would not have been possible without the foresight and support of the Connecticut Department of Housing, Connecticut Housing Finance Agency (CHFA) and the State Historic Preservation Office.

The Tyler, which is managed by WinnResidential, opened in October 2020, the release said, and had been vacant for almost 21 years after being used as the towns high school. The academic core of the building now houses 67 one-bedroom units and three two-bedroom units, available for a range of incomes, the release said.
The state Medical Examining Board agreed Tuesday to withdraw the charges filed against a Durham physician accused of providing fraudulent exemptions for COVID-19 vaccines and masks after she voluntarily relinquished her medical license while it was suspended.

Dr. Sue McIntosh, a retired physician, will not face any discipline and will not be able to practice medicine unless she seeks a formal reinstatement before the board, state Department of Public Health officials said.

The boards vote was unanimous. The board did not discuss the case before the vote other than a comment by Chairwoman Kathryn Emmett, who said since McIntosh voluntarily had surrendered her license, there was no license to reprimand.

McIntosh was accused of deviating from the standard of care by failing to properly diagnose or examine people to whom she issued signed exemptions for COVID-19 vaccines and masks. The state said McIntosh failed to build a patient and physician relationship with those who requested the exemptions, failed to obtain their medical history and failed to comply with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines by providing advice that was harmful to the public.

The board suspended McIntoshs medical license on Sept. 24 after a brief investigation revealed she was providing signed exemptions to anyone who sent a self-addressed, stamped envelope to her Durham address, agency documents said.

The exemption paperwork that McIntosh would mail back included explanations of what various exemptions would be, such as cancers, autism disorders, autoimmune disorders and others, and how to fill out the exemption paperwork, documents said.

You may copy and distribute as many forms as you wish to anyone, the instructions provided by McIntosh said. Keep blank copies for yourself for future use. She ended the instructions with Let freedom ring! the documents said.

DPH officials recommended the board withdraw the charges on the grounds the continued prosecution of the case is unnecessary, and it is in the interests of administrative economy to terminate proceedings.

McIntosh voluntarily surrendered her license Oct. 1, before a hearing could be held on the state charges.

In July, the Federation of State Medical Boards warned physicians that they could face disciplinary action by their own state medical boards for spreading disinformation about COVID-19 vaccines. DPH officials said in early September that any complaints about COVID-19 vaccine misinformation would be investigated. The DPH received an anonymous tip on July 30 that McIntosh was mailing people exemptions.

Due to the nature of the allegations, the DPH sent out an advisory requiring all long-term care facilities to review exemptions to determine whether any staff required to be vaccinated had received an exemption from McIntosh. The DPH did not provide information on whether the investigation uncovered widespread fraudulent exemptions. No one on the board asked about the number of exemptions during the meeting.

The board also agreed Tuesday to place a Yale School of Medicine psychiatry resident on probation for two years and reprimand the license of a Florida physician disciplined by Iowa health authorities for prescribing medication for telehealth patients by reviewing online questionnaires.

Dr. Darja Djordjevic, a psychiatry resident at the Yale School of Medicine, has an emotional or mental health disorder that could impact her ability to safely treat patients, DPH documents said. Under a consent order approved Tuesday, Djordjevic must seek therapy during probation and provide the agency with quarterly reports from her employer that indicate whether she is practicing medicine safely. She cannot enter into her own private practice until her probation is complete, the order said.

The board also reprimanded the Connecticut license of Dr. Alexandar Jovanovich, who had been disciplined by the Iowa Board of Medicine for prescribing medications without establishing valid professional relationships with telehealth patients.

Jovanovich, who is now a Florida resident providing health consultant services, would issue the prescriptions based on online questionnaires, DPH officials said. While Jovanovich held a Connecticut medical license, he never practiced medicine or telemedicine in Connecticut, documents said.

Since the Iowa discipline, Jovanovich has allowed his medical licenses in 32 states to lapse and he does not plan on renewing his Connecticut license, which expired in May, DPH officials said.

The board also agreed to reinstate the license of a Vernon physician who practiced cardiology and internal medicine before retiring in 2018 due to family circumstances, officials said.

Dr. Ali Shakibai recently has taken the required amount of education credits to resume work as a physician, DPH officials said.

This story was reported under a partnership with the Connecticut Health I-Team (c-hit.org), a nonprofit news organization dedicated to health reporting.
With so many new dramatic series, Hulus The Handmaids Tale: Season 4 somehow got put on a back-burner, begging to be binge-watched.

Thats perhaps understandable since Bruce Millers loose cinematic adaptation of Margaret Atwoods 1985 dystopian novel made its debut in April 2017  perfect timing as the misogynistic religiosity of (fictional) Gilead matched the authoritarian conservatism of Donald Trumps all-too-real assumption of the U.S. presidency.

Unfortunately, lacking its previous topical urgency but retaining its feminist rage, the fourth season begins where the relentless third left off, as heroically tormented June Osbourne (Elisabeth Moss) dispatches a plane filled with 86 children and numerous women fleeing from the tyranny of Gilead into Toronto, Canada.

Thats where Junes best friend Moira (Samira Wiley) is helping to raise Nichole, the baby June gave birth to in Gilead, fathered by Commander Nick Blaine (Max Minghella).

Hiding from the ever-present Eyes in a friendly farmhouse with other renegade handmaidens and child-wife Marthas, June is plotting her next phase of rebellion, perhaps joining an underground resistance movement known as Mayday, but wary of causing any more destruction and death to her followers.

Youre so bossy and judgmental, complains Janine (Madeline Brewer). You need to stop trying to save me to make yourself feel better.

Then theres Rita (Amanda Brugel), the escaped Martha who is adjusting to freedom, as Junes captors Serena Joy (Yvonne Strahovski) and Fred Waterford (Joseph Fiennes) await trial in a Canadian court for their crimes against humanity.

All this arouses even more ire in sadistic, tyrannical Aunt Lydia (Ann Dowd), who has always sided with the brutal Gilead regime. Determined to subjugate child-bearing women, she finds a new ally in Commander Lawrence (Bradley Whitford).

Im ready for it all to be over, June sighs at one point  and I find myself agreeing with her.

On the Granger Gauge, The Handmaids Tale continues with a precariously steely 6, awaiting Season 5.

Susan Granger has been an on-air television and radio commentator and entertainment critic for more than 25 years. Raised in Hollywood, Granger appeared as a child actress in movies with Abbott & Costello, Red Skelton, Lucille Ball, and Lassie. She currently resides in Westport.
WEST HAVEN  Sometimes the apparition in your bedroom is just the shadow of tree branches blowing in the wind, illuminated by headlights from passing cars.

But not always.

So say John and Diana McManus, married paranormal investigators and West Haven residents. The couple has volunteered their services through their Liberty Ghost Hunters group since 2017, looking to first comfort homeowners instead of alarm them.

We try to prove its not paranormal first, said Diana McManus. A lot of times things do have an explanation and we dont want people to be afraid to live in their homes.

Other times, they say, it is in fact the paranormal.

Diana McManus said the pair and their seven associates  including twin psychic mediums, tech wizards and a minister  have all the equipment you would see on any paranormal show, but their intentions are not to exploit the paranormal.

Were in it to help people. Were not in it to gain fame or money, said John McManus.

When money is involved, its not the Liberty Ghost Hunters who profit. Sometimes, for example, the pair and their associates will conduct investigations of places such as Masonic lodges: they present their research as a fundraiser for those lodges, selling tickets for admission to the presentation.

Brian A. Pounds / Hearst Connecticut Media

Evidence review

Childhood experiences with the paranormal drew the couple together, they said.

As a teenager, John McManus said he was having a bad day when suddenly he felt a hand on his back when no one else was around.

It really freaked me out, he said.

It wasnt until his late 20s, he said, that he realized it was a deceased relative offering him support.

Diana McManus said she is an empath, which she said has made her always able to sense the paranormal. She said her hope is that using her strong sense of connection can help to demystify the paranormal for others. An empath feels and absorbs other peoples emotions and/or physical symptoms, according to Psychology Today online.

I was always scared as a child when I heard things. I dont want anyones child to be afraid to sleep in their bedroom, she said.

Now, the actual process of conducting the investigations can be time-consuming, they said.

Its hours and hours of evidence review, Diana McManus said.

She said they may set up around five to eight cameras to capture different angles of dominoes, a ping pong ball or a house of cards for several hours to detect any movement, so the process of reviewing multiple versions of the same three- to five-hour span takes awhile. Once they have the footage, the pair will review to see whether they can discover if there is anything that might disprove the presence of the paranormal.

Brian A. Pounds / Hearst Connecticut Media

On the ground, the pair has other methods  such as readers that can detect shifts in electromagnetic activity, which they use so paranormal entities can answer yes-or-no questions, and a spirit box.

The spirit box is a radio that rapidly shifts through channels on the AM frequency.

Its flipping through 220 stations backwards, so you get little clips of whatever is coming through the radio, John McManus said.

To operate it, Diana McManus wears a blindfold and noise canceling headphones to create complete sensory deprivation. Separately, John McManus and others who live or work at the site will ask questions of the spirits; Diana, unaware of the questions, makes note of the audio clips that comprise an entitys answer  if it answers at all.

All evidence collected is the thoroughly scrutinized for any possible explanations that would cause the activity to take place. and then compiled to be presented to the client(s), the couple explains online. It includes historical reviews of properties and events that have taken place there.

The (spirits) weve encountered thankfully have been, for the most part, harmless, John McManus said. Like family members or part of the building from the past. Weve had a couple where its just a loop in time thats stuck: it happens every time where its the same thing, with the same location and it happens like clockwork. Theres not much you can do with those.

Sometimes the spirits are more playful, he said.

You get the fun ones that make fun of you or call you names, he said.

But its not always fun and games.

Brian A. Pounds / Hearst Connecticut Media

We do get some people speaking vicious. We dealt with a nasty entity at one of our locations. When we gave a presentation, it slapped one of our investigators, Diana McManus said.

John McManus said they have video footage: there was a blip of light flashing before the investigators face shortly before he felt something. When McManus shone his flashlight on the investigator at the time, he said there was a handprint on his face that began to turn red.

I get my hair pulled sometimes. We get poked, Diana McManus said.

Despite that encounter, the Liberty Ghost Hunters say they mostly have fun. The two occasionally record a podcast, in which they may play games or conduct interviews. The podcast has helped them to reach clients as far as New Jersey, as well as some others even farther from the region who they have referred to more local investigators.

In some cases the paranormal can be really detrimental to a family or a person, but most times you take it with a grain of salt, John McManus said.

The couple and their team also offer paranormal remediation, which can include learning to live with the paranormal phenomenon or trying to make it leave, according to the couple.

Diana McManus said they use the psychics to try to move things on and also work with a minister to perform blessings but only with permission from the client.

Just dont take it too lightly, they say.

We warn against Ouija boards and opening portals, Diana McManus said.

Why poke the hornets nest? John said.

You dont want to do that, Diana said. But if you did, we would be there to help.

brian.zahn@hearstmediact.com
Gov. Ned Lamont criticized protesters Tuesday who greeted President Joe Biden last week in Hartford with cussing and angry chants.

Biden visited Capitol Child Development Center in the city Friday to advocate for his Build Back Better Agenda. Across the street were some supporters waving and cheering, but more critics brandishing flags for former President Donald Trump and chanting expletives.

Lamont said you could hear it loud and clear from the playground of the daycare center.

In a press conference Tuesday on voting and absentee ballots for the Nov. 2 municipal elections, Lamont took the podium to address the importance of voting in another way by recalling Fridays events.

We saw the president on one knee surrounded by some parents and teachers and 35 kids - something these kids will never forget for the rest of their lives, and right across the fence were angry protesters - yelling, cursing, dropping the F-bomb - and it was embarrassing, Lamont said.

Protesters Friday said they were exercising their First Amendment rights.

Lamont said he wouldve said the same thing if Trump was in the daycare center as well.

Thats not who we are as Americans, thats not who we are as Connecticut, he added.

Lamont contrasted that moment with eulogies for former Secretary of State Gen. Colin Powell, who died Monday at the age of 84 from coronavirus complications. In the eulogies, Lamont recalled they said Democracy and American democracy is the last great hope on earth.

We have many, many faults, but go out and fix those faults. Dont curse the faults, fix the faults, he advised. Get involved in your local community level, get involved in public service, get involved in a not-for-profit, run for office and for Gods sake vote.

Id like people to know their vote makes a difference, I want you to have a stake in the election, I want you to have a stake in the outcome, because thats how we make this a better state and a better country, he added.

The local municipal elections take place Nov. 2. The deadline to register to vote is midnight on Oct. 26. To register to vote online, visit www.VoterRegistration.CT.gov/OLVR.

To view other ways to register to vote, sample ballots or other election information, visit www.MyVote.CT.gov.

liz.hardaway@hearst.com
3 1 of 3 Justin Kegley Show More Show Less 2 of 3 The Washington Post/The Washington Post via Getty Im Show More Show Less 3 of 3





Hartford and New Haven are ranked toward the top of U.S. News & World Report's 2021-2022 list of the best places to retire.

Hartford was ranked as the 36th best place to retire while New Haven ranked as 60th best place on the list of 150 metropolitan areas.
NEW HAVEN  A student attending Lincoln-Bassett School was hospitalized Tuesday after being bitten by a wandering pit bull during recess, according to the New Haven Public Schools.

Justin Harmon, director of marketing and communications for the district, said in an email that the incident occurred in the morning, while first-grade students at Lincoln-Bassett School were outdoors at recess, a pit bull came onto the property and began chasing children.

Staff responded by getting children indoors or out of the dogs reach on the gym equipment. Unfortunately, one child was bitten and was transported to the hospital for treatment. Two others were treated on scene for scratches, said Harmon.

The parents of the injured students were notified, Harmon said, and the schools social worker and a psychologist met with first-grade students to help them process the experience.

Going forward, we will conduct their recess inside the enclosed playground on the school property, said Harmon. Our students safety is our highest priority. We are grateful for the assistance of the police and paramedics who responded to our call.

Officer Scott Shumway said New Haven police were investigating.

The dog had not been located as of late Tuesday afternoon, but police were still looking, Shumway said. The identity of its owner was still unknown, he said.

Earlier this year, Lincoln-Bassett was placed into lockdown in September after shots were fired outside the building.

No injuries were reported; counselers met with students at the school after the incident.

william.lambert@hearstmediact.com
Hygiene may be among the least controversial topics no one wants to talk about. I mean, its assumed, right? You could be of any geographic origin, any age or gender, Republican or Democrat, Giants or Dodgers fan  were all in favor of staying clean. And yet, you almost never talk about it in polite company.

Now, Ive done a little research (in secret, of course) to uncover these items that could fill the gaps in our routines. Excited? I know I am. Feel free to read on. Just burn this when youre done.

Oral Breeze Shower Breeze

Oral Breeze Showerbreeze - $38.95

Oral Breeze Showerbreeze 6' Oral Breeze amazon.com $38.95 Shop Now

Oral Breeze is a manufacturer of oral irrigators, gadgets to clean your teeth with a stream of forceful water, much like the well-known Waterpik. Theyre not Waterpiks, of course, but the concept is the same.

This model allows you to clean your teeth while you clean the rest of you in the shower, which does a lot to keep your bathroom dry.

Heres my personal story: A few years ago my periodontist (gum doctor) was concerned about a certain tooth, warning that unless its circumstances changed for the better, something would need to be done. He wouldnt tell me what, but it was plenty ominous.

When he left the room, the hygienist recommended I try an oral irrigator. I did, and on my very next visit, the tooth had improved dramatically, and I never had to find out what he was threatening me with  all thanks to this little gadget.

Phone Soap 3 Sanitizing Phone Charger

Phone Soap 3 Sanitizing Phone Charger - $74.95

PhoneSoap 3 UV Sanitizer and Dual Universal Cell Phone Charger PhoneSoap amazon.com $69.95 Shop Now

Are you a germaphobe? Get ready to reconsider that question once youve finished reading this.

A recent study suggests our precious cell phones harbor a huge array of bacteria and mold. Are we surprised? After all, we sport our talkative little buddies most everywhere we go. On average, were using them a whopping five hours a day.

So whats the answer? You cant exactly take it with you into the shower. The practical answer could be to sanitize with UV light as you charge it every evening.

BioBidet BB-270 (warm water)

BioBidet BB-270 - $64.00

Bio Bidet BioBidet amazon.com $64.00 Shop Now

Okay, since I have to be indelicate, Im not asking if youve actually used one, but Im going to assume you know about bidets.

The BioBidet BB-270 isnt a real start-to-finish bidet, but an easy-to-fit attachment to convert a conventional American-style toilet to the ultra-personal appliance used throughout Europe and Asia.

This model allows a warm-water hookup. An absolute necessity!

But why switch to something only foreigners use? Lets explore three reasons.

You Wont Need so Much Toilet Paper

Youll still need some, of course. You cant just walk around wet in the wrong places. But going full bidet will save you money, as well as trips to the supermarket

Better for the Environment

If everyone had a bidet we might not flush the equivalent of some 30,000 trees down our toilets every day. And think of the sewage lines unclogged.

Better for Your Butt (What? How would you have said it?)

Lets face it, folks. While bidets might seem a little weird, theyve gotta be more sanitary. You know what Im saying? And if you happen to suffer from any kind of maladies back there, bidets are a kinder, gentler option than paper. So consider it a healthy option, because it is one.

Clearoo Ear Wax Removal Tool

Clearoo Ear Wax Removal Tool - $34.99

Clearoo Ear Cleaner Clearoo amazon.com $34.99 Shop Now

If youre my age, you remember back in junior high (middle school now) when you asked someone to repeat something and they in turn suggested you clean the wax out of your ears. Well, if you ever needed to, now you can  and with a professional-style instrument, no less.

This otoscope/endoscope combination features a 360 degree professional grade lens, along with six LED lights and a 1080p HD camera, to help you (or your help-mate) know exactly where you are inside the ear.

Just download the included app and the Clearoo works with your android or ios device to locate and scoop away that nasty, obtrusive ear wax.

In addition, you can use the Clearoo to inspect areas inside the nose, mouth, or throat. Because the system works with interchangeable ear spoons and cones, you can even examine your pets. And wont that be fun!

Luxice Touchless Bathroom Faucet

Luxice Touchless Bathroom Faucet - $79.99

Luxice Sensor Automatic Touchless Bathroom Sink LUXICE amazon.com $89.99 Shop Now

Alright, I admit it: Im a hopeless germaphobe. I mean, not like Howard Hughes exactly, but yeah  I really like a touchless faucet.

Theyre most appreciated on occasions where I find myself in a public restroom. Sincerely, if I went to bed thinking of the microscopic life doing the boogaloo on a roadside restroom faucet, Id never get a wink of sleep.

Home faucets arent nearly so bad, of course. But if you think about it, we wash our hands to get them clean, right? Next we put a nice clean hand on the faucet handle to turn the water off. Now... where was the last place we had our dirty hands?

We can avoid this scenario without an automatic faucet. It may not be the most popular trend out there, but theyre a real conversation starter and they serve a hygienic purpose.

PEET Ultra Dryer UV Shoe Sanitizer

PEET Ultra Dryer UV Shoe Sanitizer - $59.99

PEET, Ultra Dryer, Sanitizer, and Deodorizer for Shoes PEET amazon.com $59.99 Shop Now

Do you suffer from sweaty, maybe smelly feet? The truth is, almost anyone might benefit from sanitizing their shoes overnight.

As the name declares, the PEET dries and sanitizes your shoes using UV light. It does this silently as you sleep, using no more electricity than an ordinary lightbulb.

It comes down to more than just odor: a 2012 study published by the Journal of the American Podiatric Medical Association (as cited by HU17.net) showed that UV light reduces by 80% the two common microorganisms that cause nail infection and athletes foot. So maybe check this gadget out.

Kinsman Reach N Scrub

Kinsman Reach N Scrub - $17.95

Reach N Scrub Kinsman amazon.com $17.95 Shop Now

Oh man, what a way to end a piece! Reach N Scrub, where have you been all my life?

Theres not a lot to say here, really. Mesh sponge (great for back-scratching). Twenty-four inch bendable handle (whoopee). Foldable for travel.

You know, a recent study indicates that people who wash their backs thoroughly in the shower are 88% more likely to enjoy their day. That isnt true  I made up that statistic, which is why theres no link. I just really enjoy a thorough back-wash, and the Reach N Scrub is a great way to make that happen.
Photo by RobShots Antonio Carr is led out of a home on 18th Street on Sunday afternoon. He has been charged in connection with the shooting death of Tracy Green on Oct. 2.
Ifeanyi Ubah, senator representing Anambra south, has sought an order of a federal high court in Abuja to visit Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the...

Ifeanyi Ubah, senator representing Anambra south, has sought an order of a federal high court in Abuja to visit Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).

Kanu is currently in the custody of the Department of State Service (DSS).

Ubah, who is also the candidate of Young Progressives Party (YPP) in the November 6 Anambra governorship election, sought the order in a motion on notice marked: FHC/ABJ/CR/383/2015, which was dated and filed on October 15, by Agugoesi Ikem, his counsel.

He added that as a senator from the south-east, he wishes to carry out oversight legislative functions to visit Kanu to ascertain if he is involved in any way in what is happening in the south-east.

According to the notice, he is requesting an order of this honourable court granting leave to Sen. Ifeanyi Ubah to visit the defendant, Nnamdi Kanu, as part of his oversight legislative function.

He is also seeking an order of this honourable court directing the complainant and/or the Department of State Services(DSS) to allow the said Senator Dr. Ifeanyi Ubah access to their detention facility for purposes of visiting the defendant, Nnamdi Kanu.

In the affidavit to support the motion, Ubah said as a lawmaker from the south-east, it is his responsibility to promote peace and security.

That I know that the defendant in this matter was arrested and brought into Nigeria by the Department of State Services(DSS) of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and since he was brought into Nigeria, he had been detained at the detention facility of the DSS pending his trial, the affidavit reads.

That I know that the defendant was charged with several offences and the DSS had only produced him on one occasion in court.

That there is an allegation that criminalities are being championed by the Indigenous People of Biafra under the leadership of the detained defendant; an allegation which has been denied severally; yet the situation continues to worsen.

That I visited and intend to visit the defendant in my capacity as a senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and for purposes of attempting to ameliorate and fashion a meeting point or create a discussion table aimed at reducing tension and quelling the agitation and killings in the South East.

The court is yet to fix a date for the hearing of the suit.

Meanwhile, Kanus trial continues on Thursday.
Alexandre Lacazette scored deep into injury time to rescue a point for Arsenal as club legend Patrick Vieira was denied a winning return wit...





Alexandre Lacazette scored deep into injury time to rescue a point for Arsenal as club legend Patrick Vieira was denied a winning return with Crystal Palace.

The Eagles were set for three points until they failed to clear a corner and Lacazette pounced after Ben White's effort was saved.

The Gunners started brightly and led deservedly through Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang after Vicente Guaita's diving save to deny Nicolas Pepe.

But Palace improved - as the Gunners faded - and Christian Benteke continued his good record in games against the Gunners with the equaliser.

Thomas Partey was caught in possession by Jordan Ayew and Benteke drilled a shot into the bottom corner.

Palace again stole the ball off Arsenal to go ahead, as this time Conor Gallagher dispossessed Albert Sambi Lokonga in his own half, and the visitors broke quickly, with Odsonne Edouard hammering in a shot via the underside of the bar.

Kieran Tierney almost equalised for Arsenal late on but blasted against the bar with his shot.

And it looked as if they were going to fall short before substitute Lacazette steered home a loose ball from close range.

Arsenal were understandably aggrieved when James McArthur was only booked late in the first half for a wild kick at Bukayo Saka, who went off injured at half-time.

Arsenal move up to 12th with a sixth game unbeaten, while Palace remain 14th after a third draw in a row.
Three suspected armed robbers are now in police net for allegedly terrorising Mowe and its environs. Abimbola Oyeyemi, the State Police Publ...





Three suspected armed robbers are now in police net for allegedly terrorising Mowe and its environs.

Abimbola Oyeyemi, the State Police Public Relations Officer, said Tuesday that the suspects were nabbed on Monday.

Oyeyemi identified the three suspects as Daniel Okereke, Henry Osagwe and Wisdom Atuba, saying their arrest followed a tip-off received by the policemen attached to Mowe division around 10 pm.

According to him, the policemen were informed that about seven men suspected to be armed robbers were sighted in a hideout at Ajeonibode area of Mowe, where they were perfecting plans on when and how to attack their targeted victims.

With the information, the DPO of Mowe police station, CSP Saminu Akintunde, was said to have quickly mobilized his men to the scene.

On sighting the policemen, the hoodlums took to flight, but with the assistance of members of the community, three among them were apprehended while others escaped, he said.

The police spokesman hinted that one locally-made short gun loaded with two live cartridges, two jack knives and criminal charms were recovered from the apprehended suspects.

He added that the case would be transferred to the State CIID, Eleweran, Abeokuta, on the order of the Ogun State Commissioner of Police, CP Lanre Bankole, who also directed that the fleeing members of the gang be hunted for with a view to bringing them to justice as soon as possible.
Watertown, NY (13601)

Today

Partly to mostly cloudy. A few flurries or snow showers possible. High around 40F. Winds WNW at 10 to 20 mph..

Tonight

Clear to partly cloudy. Low 27F. Winds light and variable.
Louisiana officials are spending $1.375 million to have a giant alligator float in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade for the next three years.

The 60-foot alligator float will roll through the streets of New York City "in an effort to put Louisiana on a national and international stage" and attract more tourists, state officials announced Tuesday.

"When we come out of COVID, we are competing against every state," said Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser, who oversees Louisiana's tourism efforts.

About 75 million people will be at the parade or watching it on TV or via livestream, he said, making it a "great win for Louisiana."

While Louisiana-based bands and organizations have marched in the parade, this is the first time the state has had an official float.

The team at Macy's designed the "Celebration Gator," and Nungesser said it took a few tries before they got the "wow factor" needed to represent a state known for putting on spectacular parades.

"I think it captured all of Louisiana," he said, as he excitedly talked about seeing the gator crawl down the streets of Manhattan. "I'm real proud of the end result."

The float will be built in New Jersey by Macy's. The cost of the float is included in the agreement, according to Veronica Mosgrove, the director of communications for Nungesser's office.

The gator float will be used in three consecutive parades, starting this November. A multi-year commitment is required by Macy's, she said.

Mini French Quarter on a gator

An artist rendering shows a large gator as the base of the float. On top, there are buildings that Nungesser's office said showcase a "blend of the New Orleans French Quarter architecture with heavy influences of Spanish colonial rule and Creole fashion."

At the very top, there's a stage, where parade floats usually have special guests or musical performers. Officials said they'll announce the name soon of the Louisiana musician who will perform as the special guest.

The buildings in the rendering are bright - orange, pink, yellow, aqua - and have shutters and balconies. There are trees draped in Mardi Gras beads and Spanish moss, along with a street light and an "Orleans" street sign.

There's a smokestack at the back of the buildings and a bright red paddlewheel underneath, giving the impression of a riverboat riding on a gator. Fleur de lis run the length of the gator's tail, and "Louisiana" is written prominently on the sides of the gator.

And of course, there are pelicans. The float appears to have confetti cannons incorporated as well.

Macy's employees will ride on float

The riders and walkers with the float will be Macy's employees and children of Macy's employees, Mosgrove said.

The children will be wear baby gator costumes, she said. They will be accompanied by stilt walkers and people dressed as members of a traditional brass band.

Unlike Mardi Gras parades, participants in the Thanksgiving Day parade don't throw anything to spectators.

The goal is to show the riders and walkers some Southern hospitality by serving them Louisiana seafood, Nungesser said, but the details haven't been worked out yet.

Tourism officials also hope to host Louisiana-focused events in New York the week of the parade, but Nungesser said plans haven't been finalized either.

He acknowledged that the parade expense may be hard for some to see, especially after their homes have been devastated by yet another hurricane.

But, he said, the state needs to "juggle that recovery with letting people know we'll be open for business."

The 95th Annual Macys Thanksgiving Day Parade airs on NBC on Thursday, Nov. 25, from 9 a.m. to noon.

How does it compare with the Bacchagator?

The state already has a famous alligator float - the Bacchagator, which was introduced in the 1986 Bacchus parade in New Orleans.

It's 105 feet long and split into three parts. It can accommodate 86 riders, according to the Bacchus website. The riders in previous years have worn big alligator hats during the parade.

Kern Studios in New Orleans made the Bacchagator, which lights up at night and has a moving head.

Watch the Bacchagator in the 2019 Bacchus parade (Can't see it? Watch here):
Louisiana officials are hoping to lure tourists to the state by participating in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade for the first time ever.

Update: Louisiana to spend $1.375 million to be in multiple Macy's Thanksgiving Day parades

They have entered a giant, 60-foot alligator float in the parade that rolls through the streets of New York City, state officials said Tuesday.

The Louisiana Office of Tourism is handling the project, according to a joint statement with Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser and Macy's. They didn't say how much the state is spending to participate. They also didn't say who built the float or how much it cost to make.

The goal, Nungesser said, is to inspire spectators along the route and watching on television to visit Louisiana, "where every day is a celebration of life, and we treat you like family," he said.

Mini French Quarter on a gator

The "Celebration Gator" is "inspired by all facets of Louisiana's culture and thriving tourist appeal," tourism officials said.

An artist rendering shows a large gator as the base of the float. On top, there are buildings that showcase a "blend of the New Orleans French Quarter architecture with heavy influences of Spanish colonial rule and Creole fashion."

At the very top, there's a stage, where parade floats usually have special guests or musical performers. Officials haven't said who will ride on the Louisiana float. (Update - The Louisiana musician will be announced "soon.")

The buildings in the rendering are bright - orange, pink, yellow, aqua - and have shutters and balconies. There are trees draped in Mardi Gras beads and Spanish moss, along with a street light and an "Orleans" street sign.

There's a smokestack at the back of the buildings and a bright red paddlewheel underneath, giving the impression of a riverboat riding on a gator. Fleur de lis run the length of the gator's tail, and "Louisiana" is written prominently on the sides of the gator.

The float appears to have confetti cannons incorporated as well.

Costumes will be 'lavish' baby gators

The float celebrates the "state's unique fusion of European, Caribbean, African and Native American cultures," officials said in the announcement.

Float participants will be dressed in "lavish baby gator costumes," state officials said, and will be accompanied by stilt walkers.

Unlike in Mardi Gras parades, riders in the Thanksgiving Day parade usually don't throw anything to spectators. Officials didn't say what the plans are as far as throws for the Louisiana float. (Update - They won't throw anything.)

When it comes to parading, there is one thing Louisiana knows how to do and thats throwing a party on wheels aboard the biggest float we can build, Nungesser said.

The 95th Annual Macys Thanksgiving Day Parade airs on NBC on Thursday, November 25, from 9 a.m. to noon.

How does it compare with the Bacchagator?

The state already has a famous alligator float - the Bacchagator, which was introduced in the 1986 Bacchus parade in New Orleans.

It's 105 feet long and split into three parts. It can accommodate 86 riders, according to the Bacchus website. The riders in previous years have worn big alligator hats during the parade.

Kern Studios in New Orleans made the Bacchagator, which lights up at night and has a moving head.

Watch the Bacchagator in the 2019 Bacchus parade (Can't see it? Watch here):
A cornucopia of drama hits the stages of the metro area, many with the flavor of the Halloween season  a little something for just about everyone.

Family ties

Despite the effects still being felt from Hurricane Ida, there's plenty to smile about in the Jefferson Performing Arts Society's production of "The Addams Family," a comedy musical transported to the auditorium at East Jefferson High School.

The family of cartoon, television and motion picture fame is embroiled in a comical controversy when little miss doom and gloom, Wednesday Addams, falls in love with a "normal" boy.

Hilarity ensues when the two families gather at the Addams' house for a meet-and-greet.

Enrico Cannella and Kali Russell play Gomez and Morticia Addams, with Maddie Fry as Wednesday and Janet Shea as Grandma. Eric Lincoln is Lurch, Christopher Bentivegna is Uncle Fester and Bryson Morse is Pugsley.

Costumes are encouraged for those attending the show (perhaps something in black?).

The show, rescheduled and relocated, opens at 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays through Halloween at 400 Phlox Ave. in Metairie. Tickets start at $20. jpas.org.

That old blues magic

The Depression was depressing enough, but for Toulou, a young Black women in Memphis, Tennessee, at the time, having her blues musician lover laugh at her dreams is just too much. Enlisting the help of her neighbor, a practitioner of Hoodoo, a form of African American folk magic, she casts a spell  but this only complicates some weighty issues.

That's the story behind "Hoodoo Love," the opening production of Theatre UNO's season at the Robert. E. Nims Theatre on the Lakeshore Drive campus.

Written by Katori Hill, the show has mature subject matter, including violence, slavery, sex, alcoholism and incest.

"Hoodoo" runs Thursdays to Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. through Oct. 30, with a 2 p.m. matinee Sunday. Tickets start at $10 (free for UNO students). uno.edu/sota-performances.

'It's just a jump to the left ...'

Audiences in Slidell will "shiver with antici ... pation" to immerse themselves in "Rocky Horror Voodoo," the annual musical mashup of stage show and audience participation that has been around for decades, in a "Time Warp," even.

Cutting Edge Theater has successfully performed the stage version of the infamous midnight movie about a "sweet transvestite from (the planet) Transsexual, Transylvania," his bizarre household staff, a pair of naive kids out on a rainy night, a motorcycle rebel without a clue and laboratory-made muscle man "with blonde hair and a tan." Plus there's more hanging out "over at the Frankenstein place."

Jeremy Lloyd is Dr. Frank-N-Furter, with Hunter Kilpatrick as Rocky, Jennifer Gestvanter as the narrator, Bryton Gunther as Riff Raff and Mandi Rae as Magenta.

Cutting Edge puts an additional twist into the plot as they are encouraging costume attire, with audiences expected to dress in their best voodoo New Orleans or Halloween look. There's even a contest.

The show opens at 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays through Oct. 30 at 767 Robert Blvd., Slidell. Tickets are $27.50. cuttingedgetheater.com.

Eco-culture and a benefit

The wilderness setting of A Studio in the Woods is the site for "Ezell: Ballad of a Land Man," an immersive experience in five acts by Clear Creek Creative eco-cultural theater and Mondo Bizarro Production to benefit Hurricane relief.

The guided show is billed as a "parable of domination and resilience from the foothills of Appalachia" and how one man faces a boom in fracking and how it will affect the people and the land.

Attendees are encouraged to dress for outdoor trekking, with bug spray, water, a light and cash.

The experience runs at 3:30 p.m. Thursday through Sunday, with a 10 a.m. Saturday show at 13401 Patterson Road, New Orleans, behind English Turn on the west bank. astudiointhewoods.org.

Trumpet times

"Swing That Music: A Tribute to Louis Armstrong" features Wendell Brunious, jazz legend and former bandleader for the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, in a show about Satchmo that presents music and stories about the New Orleans born-and-raised trumpet legend.

Backed by Tom Hook and a band of Crescent City superstars, Brunious brings the music and magic to life Thursday at BB's Stage Door Canteen at the National WWII Museum. The performances run at 7 p.m. Thursdays to Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays through Nov. 7. Tickets start at $37. nationalww2museum.org.

And you thought your prom was bad

The perils of prom for the undead come to life (ha) when Brother Martin's Dionysians take to the stage for the campy, '60s-style teen musical "Zombie Prom."

When her boyfriend nosedives into the town's nuclear reactor, Toffee mourns enough for him to come back to life with a desire to finish school, but the school principal wants to squelch that and may end up canceling the entire prom to keep Johnny at bay.

The madcap musical starts Saturday at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. and continues at 7 p.m. Oct. 28-30 in the school's auditorium, 4401 Elysian Fields Ave., New Orleans. Tickets are $20 in advance (reserved) or $15 at the door. brothermartin.com.

Funny folks

Laughter will echo through several venues in the area this week as some laugh-meisters take to the stages.

Tonight features New Orleans native Bianca Del Rio in the "Unsanitized" tour at the Orpheum Theater at 129 Roosevelt Way, New Orleans, at 8 p.m. A few blocks away at the Saenger Theatre at 1111 Canal St., Aussie Jim Jefferies takes to the stage for "The Moist Tour" at 7 p.m. Over at the Comedy House New Orleans, 609 Fulton St., another New Orleanian, Mark Caesar, grabs the mic at 8 p.m.

Friday and Saturday, Ben Roy takes up the laugh tasks at Comedy House with four shows, at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. each night.

Wednesday at the Joy Theater, 1200 Canal St., Nurse Blake, an RN with a large internet following, brings his funny, raw and true stories that are his PTO Tour to the stage at 7:30 p.m.

In production

"Dear Mr. Williams": Thursday through Saturday, Sunday at 3 p.m.; Le Petit Theatre du Vieux Carre, 616 St. Peter St., New Orleans. Bryan Batt stars in the self-penned coming of age story that includes quotes from Tennessee Williams. Tickets start at $35. lepetittheatre.com.

"Wedding Secrets": 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday; Playmakers Inc., 19106 Playmakers Road, Covington. A young couple, secretly wed in Las Vegas, go to an "engagement" dinner for the families to meet. In addition to the secret marital status of the couple, there's lots of family secrets to go around in this comedic romp that includes financial and physical difficulties for some of the parents, assorted relatives with sordid tales to tell and lots of laughs. Tickets $20. playmakersinc.com.
The Krewe of BOO! Halloween parade Saturday may serve as a trailblazer for the Carnival season. So long as the participants and spectators at the procession stay healthy afterward, New Orleans City Hall seems ready to greenlight Carnival 2022.

The Krewe of BOO! parade, which New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell OK'd in late September, is the first float parade permitted by the city in 18 months, since the pandemic made it necessary to pull the plug on Carnival 2021.

Cantrell told a gathering of Mardi Gras parade captains on Oct. 7 that City Hall was doing all it could to see that Carnival take place next year, so long as the celebration can be conducted without any regrets at all. The Krewe of BOO! parade, she said, would be a great opportunity to test the coronavirus-thwarting protocols that can make future parading safe.

+3 Mayor says the city is striving to make Mardi Gras 2022 possible, but no greenlight yet Mayor LaToya Cantrell and New Orleans' top health official told leaders of many of the citys 34 parading organizations Thursday that the city

So, what precautions will be in place when BOO! rolls?

First off, all the ghosts and ghouls participating in the parade must provide proof of vaccination or recent negative COVID test before they can ride on a float, march, dance of otherwise take part. Documentation is being uploaded in advance via the krewe website. All those who qualify will be issued wristbands as proof of their compliance.

Plus, according to the New Orleans Health Department, the current COVID-19 guidelines mandate that masks be worn by everyone, paraders and spectators alike.

To find out if the virus suppressing strategies have succeeded, representatives of the Health Department will request contact information to check the well-being of volunteers after the event.

We will make ourselves available to krewe float riders and parade walkers who are willing to participate in a surveillance study, wrote Health Department representative Isis Casanova, so that we can understand how these types of events affect the incidence of COVID-19.

The Health Department will then conduct a follow-up survey one week and two weeks after the parade, Casanova wrote.

To be sure that members of the parade audience stay healthy afterward, Health Department employees and volunteers will fan out along the route, requesting that members of the crowd share contact information for a follow-up survey similar to the one given to parade participants.

To further monitor the large outdoor gathering, the city will conduct voluntary COVID PCR nose swab tests at the Krewe of BOO! staging area for parade participants, and at the foot of Canal Street near Harrahs Casino for spectators.

The Krewe of BOO! parade was founded in 2008 by the late float builder Blain Kern. The parade did not take place in 2011 and 2012, but returned in 2013. Of course, it was canceled last year because of the COVID quarantine. Considering that all of Carnival 2022 is at stake, Saturdays comeback Krewe of BOO! is one of the most important New Orleans parades ever.

Based on a preview conversation with the organizers, it promises to be a monstrous feast for the parade-starved city, with 400 costumed riders atop 13 floats, augmented by bands, mounted riders and a selection of New Orleans beloved Mardi Gras dance troupes.

As a bonus, this years parade celebrates two of New Orleans favorite music makers, with funk maestro George Porter Jr. serving as king, and rapper and record producer extraordinaire Mannie Fresh as Grand Marshal.

Krewe of BOO! captain Brian Kern, who is the son of Blaine Kern, said that presenting the first float parade since the advent of the pandemic has presented a few challenges. Logistics had to be finalized in record time, he said. Cups and some other throws are a bit pricier than 2019 and the cost to clean up afterwards has skyrocketed, he said. But coordinating with the New Orleans Health department has gone smoothly and hes happy to pioneer the procedures necessary to return to normal.

The Krewe of BOO!, he said, is going to be the defibrillator for the city, bringing it back to life.

+20 Day of the Dead parade to rattle bones in St. Roch neighborhood, Nov. 2 To the sound of drums and the smell of burning sage, a candle-lit parade of skeletons will ramble through the streets of the St. Roch neighbor

The collapse of the Hard Rock Hotel caused the Krewe of BOO! to curtail part of its parade route in 2019. But the spooky procession is back to full length this year.

The parade will line up on Elysian Fields Avenue in the Marigny. It will roll at 6:30 p.m., turning right on North Peters Street, heading uptown through the French Quarter and merging onto Decatur Street.

After passing Jackson Square, the parade will keep left, returning from Decatur Street to North Peters Street, and continue to Canal Street, where it will turn right. The parade will travel Canal Street to Burgundy Street where it will U-turn and come back along Canal Street to Tchoupitoulas Street.

The parade will then turn right and head uptown to Andrew Higgins Drive, where it will disband.
And then there were none.

COVID-19 completed its sweep of New Orleans' 2021 music festivals on Friday when producers of BUKU: Planet B announced the cancellation of their event.

The festival was to have featured Megan Thee Stallion, Machine Gun Kelly, Playboi Carti, Illenium and dozens of additional acts performing along the Mississippi riverfront near Mardi Gras World on Oct. 22-23.

The 2021 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and 2021 French Quarter Festival, which, like BUKU, initially shifted from spring to fall, had already bowed out.

+13 Quint Davis on why the 2021 New Orleans Jazz Fest was canceled: 'Safety, reality, finances' As he struggled with whether to cancel the 2021 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, producer Quint Davis had a sobering conversation wit

In a statement from BUKU's producers, the cancellation was blamed on the surging rates of COVID-19 infections, hospitalizations and deaths due to the highly contagious delta variant.

"We've spent the last couple weeks trying to hang on, but don't see a guaranteed path forward under the current and projected public health conditions," the statement read.

The BUKU Music & Art Project has over the past decade established itself as a springtime staple with a decidedly younger fanbase than New Orleans' other music festivals, thanks to a roster heavy on underground hip-hop and electronic dance music. BUKU normally occupies several buildings at Mardi Gras World as well as the open space near the shuttered Market Street Power Plant.

The 2020 BUKU was initially postponed, then canceled because of COVID. The producers hoped it would return in spring 2021.

After it became clear that BUKU wouldn't happen this spring, organizers pivoted to a slightly downsized event in October dubbed BUKU: Planet B. It was to have been staged entirely outdoors, on the grounds near the power plant and in the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center's parking lot K.

However, given the delta variant's surge, BUKU's producers at Winter Circle Productions and AEG came to the same conclusion as the producers of Jazz Fest and French Quarter Fest: with the variables and risks posed by COVID projections, a mass gathering this fall was untenable.

"The purpose of Planet B was to 'set yourself free' as we celebrate the return of festivals in New Orleans," the statement read. "Simply put, we're not quite there yet. ... We believe we are doing the right thing to preserve the future and ensure that this surge is the last."

+3 2021 French Quarter Festival canceled over COVID, plans return next spring With Jazz Fest also scrapped, what looked to be jam-packed October is now much less so

The producers also said that "we support the city's current guidelines and we fully support those festivals moving forward in other locations around the country. It was just bad timing for us down here, but the city of New Orleans is resilient."

The 2022 BUKU is scheduled for March 25-26. The lineup, Friday's statement promised, "is insane so far. Can't wait."

Ticket holders will receive an email about refunds or rolling tickets to next year's BUKU.
Revelers attending Krewe of Boo on Saturday should wear masks to mitigate the spread of coronavirus during the city's first parade in more than a year, the city's health director said Tuesday.

Dr. Jennifer Avegno and her team are planning to use the parade, which will roll in the French Quarter at 6:30 p.m., as a test case for whether New Orleans can support parades during Carnival 2022, she said. In addition to wearing masks while on the route, Avegno is hoping to get contact information from as many as 1,000 people at the event, so that the city can check on their health in the coming weeks.

Swampus, 'Blacula,' Peek-a-boo at the Zoo and more Halloween and Day of the Dead events in New Orleans There are two weeks to Halloween and the Day of the Dead, and a variety of scary and unscary events are on the calendar. Here is a list of spe

If most people who attend the parade remain symptom free a few weeks later, the city will consider the event a success. That survey model could be replicated at future parades, Avegno said at a Tuesday news conference.

"This is how we save Carnival 2022," she said. "All together, pitching in. If you are going to the parade, please look for our team while you wait for it to roll."

The city's current coronavirus mitigation guidelines generally don't require residents to be masked while attending outdoor events, save in certain situations at smaller outdoor venues. But Avegno is urging paradegoers to mask up anyway as a precaution.

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On Saturday, members of her team will be in costume and holding signs to identify themselves. They will ask paradegoers to take a survey using a QR code on their phones. Everyone who takes the survey will receive a goodie bag with a free coronavirus test, Avegno said.

The city is averaging 27 new cases of the disease per day, a fraction of its late summer peak of 327 new cases. The city's positive test rate stands at 1%, again far lower than an 11% high in late August.

Krewe of Boo will be the city's first parade since Carnival 2020, when celebrations resulted in a rise in COVID infections.

In addition to the tests performed this weekend, Mayor LaToya Cantrell is considering requiring the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport to mandate vaccines for guests that land in the city in the final two weeks of Carnival to keep the disease at bay. Her team is still studying how such a mandate would work.
It had been more than 19 months since a jury had been seated in Criminal District Court. But on Monday, an Orleans Parish prosecutor finally uttered the words: "Ready for trial."

An hour later, dozens of New Orleans residents trudged into court for jury selection in the trial of 22-year-old Nashawhan Thompson, the first since the coronavirus pandemic ground the city's criminal justice system to a halt in March 2020. Jury selection was ongoing Monday night.

Thompsons armed robbery charge hardly stands out among the hundreds of defendants awaiting trial in New Orleans, many of whom have spent more time in jail and are accused of more serious crimes. Yet his name could be etched in local legal history.

His trial will be a test run for Orleans Parish Criminal District Court, which has been much more cautious than others in Louisiana. While the parish boasts one of the highest vaccination rates in the state, it has lagged behind in hosting criminal jury trials.

+2 Retrial delayed for Cardell Hayes in 2016 killing of ex-Saints star Will Smith A retrial for Cardell Hayes in the 2016 slaying of retired Saints defensive star Will Smith and the shooting of his wife wont happen this yea

That has given new District Attorney Jason Williams, a career defense attorney who took office Jan. 11, few chances to prove his chops as a prosecutor. In July, an earlier attempt at holding a jury trial was delayed due to witness issues and turnover in his office. The delta surge and Hurricane Ida led to a weeks-long shutdown after that.

On Monday, there were obvious precautions against COVID-19. Ned McGowan, the chief of trials for the district attorney, sported a face mask along with his trademark bowtie.

Judge Angel Harris, overseeing her first jury trial, ordered the courtroom cleared of spectators during jury selection to allow for social distancing. Many assistant district attorneys and public defenders watched along via Zoom instead.

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Yet when McGowan asked the second panel of prospective jurors if COVID-19 made them nervous about spending time at the courthouse, none answered in the affirmative. No hands? said McGowan. Okay.

Later on, another juror's main concern was whether she would be able to go home at night. "Somebodys gotta take care of my pets," she said. McGowan told her she didn't need to worry.

The criminal defense bar has expressed concerns about whether COVID-19 and Hurricane Ida will make the jury pool less representative of the community at large. By afternoon Monday, lead defense attorney John Fuller had not lodged public objections to its makeup.

Out of earshot of the jury, Fuller did make a stink about the prosecutions plan to tell jurors that his client was arrested in a stolen car. Fuller claimed that was trial by ambush from former Harry Connick prosecutors, since the illegal possession of a stolen auto charge wasnt before the jury.

+4 New Orleans DA reaches $2 million settlement with Robert Jones in wrongful conviction case Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams agreed Monday to settle a wrongful conviction lawsuit filed by a freed Angola lifer for $2 mil

Connick is a former district attorney whose tenure has come under increasing scrutiny in recent years -- including from recently elected District Attorney Jason Williams, who hired McGowan away from the Plaquemines Parish District Attorney's Office this summer.

McGowan, who once served as an assistant district attorney under Connick, said Fuller well knew of the separate allegation against Thompson.

Harris sided with Fuller, ruling that the prosecution should have filed a motion to introduce the evidence before the day of trial.
The documents involving one of the most sensational cases in the long colorful history of Louisiana corruption arrived in the mail last week  a mere 12 years after I requested them.

When I filed a Freedom of Information Act request in 2009, my Times-Picayune editors figured it would be newsworthy to examine documents related to the criminal investigation, prosecution and trial of former U.S. Rep. William Jefferson, D-New Orleans.

But when the documents arrived, the case had been over  in every sense  for four years. The final chapter came when a federal judge in 2017 reduced Jeffersons 13-year corruption sentence to the five years, five months he had already served. My career in daily journalism had ended even earlier than that, in 2015.

Still, it was exciting to dig into documents connected to a case that had generated so much interest and took more of my time than any other story. The Jefferson case was what news people called a reader because of its multiple sensational elements.

Top among them: the discovery of $90,000 in $20 bills stuffed in Boca Burger boxes in Jeffersons Washington apartment freezer. It put the case on the late-night shows, with the hosts joking about cold cash.

Then there was word that the cases key witness, Virginia businesswoman Lori Mody, didnt testify in Jeffersons trial because she was involved in a brief sexual affair with an FBI agent assigned to the case.

Nigerian candidate tied to ex-Rep. William Jefferson loses presidential election Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday (Feb. 27) defended his sweeping re-election win over a billionaire former vice president who 

In all, after a dozen years, the FBI decided that 293 pages of Jefferson investigation documents were responsive to my FOIA request. The FBI then agreed to release 83 of them, but even the pages released had large sections redacted.

Though one suspects revealing details about the case were buried in the redacted sections, there are still new disclosures in the released material.

One such nugget centers on the simultaneous Aug. 3, 2005, raids of Jeffersons Washington, D.C. and New Orleans homes, and other homes and offices tied to the investigation.

For the first time, the documents disclose that another raid was scheduled that day  at Jeffersons congressional office. In the days before Aug. 3, the office is listed as one of the scheduled takedowns, which is how agents refer to searches in a criminal investigation.

But it was called off. An unidentified FBI official wrote that the decision made by the Justice Department and its Public Integrity Section was not for lack of probable cause. No reason was offered.

Still, there is a clue provided in one of the documents.

The office raid postponement came after another unnamed FBI official wrote the congressional office raid would be constitutional, while warning agents to take care not to be seen as threatening the independence of Congress. If that happened, the official wrote, the consequences could be dire.

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Nine months later, in May 2006, the postponed raid was back on. And the FBI officials earlier warning appeared prescient.

The raid drew rare bipartisan condemnation from members of the House, including Republican House Speaker Dennis Hastert and Democratic minority leader Nancy Pelosi. Both said it threatened congressional independence, and a federal appellate court agreed.

Soon after the raid, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty, and FBI Director Robert Mueller all threatened to resign if the documents were returned to Jefferson by their boss, President George W. Bush.

The Times-Picayunes FOIA request asked for memos, emails and other documents from Mueller, Gonzales, and McNulty. None were provided, though its possible the three officials did not put their threats in writing.

The information mailed by the FBI comes from a request under the Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA. The law dates back to 1966 and is intended to give the public and news organizations information about the federal government.

FOIA requests are supposed to be answered within 20 days, though thats almost never what actually happens.

The Freedom of Information Act is broken, said Anna Diakun, staff attorney with the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University. Agencies commonly take months or years to respond to even simple requests, and when they do, the records they turn over are often heavily redacted.

+12 Here's what the William Jefferson deal means for ex-congressman's criminal case William Jefferson, the former U.S. representative who received the longest prison sentence in history for a member of Congress, returns to cou

In letter accompanying the Jefferson case FOIA response, the FBI cited various reasons for withholding information: Among them, material compiled by law enforcement that could be construed as invasion of personal privacy, result in disclosure of a confidential source, or disclose procedures of law enforcement.

Not every document requested by a journalist or a member of the public should be made public. But it is hard to defend the decade-plus it took the FBI to respond to the Jefferson file request  or the heavy redactions.

For example, one document is from a report on what Lori Mody, the Virginia businesswoman who secretly recorded conversations with Jefferson, told FBI agents. But her words are not provided. Why? The Jefferson case is over.

And why refer to her as CW, for cooperating witness? Everyone who followed the case knows who she is.

Claire Regan, president-elect of the Society for Professional Journalists, said reforming FOIA should be a priority.

Critical information obtained through FOIA requests enables journalists to raise awareness, minimize harm and hold the powerful accountable, Regan said. The process should be efficient, not bogged down by lengthy delays and obstacles that can weaken a story and interfere with the public's right to know.
Authorities have arrested a Gretna man in connection with a fatal shooting at a New Orleans auto repair shop in September.

Ulysses Thomas, 33, was taken into custody Thursday at his Franklin Avenue home on a warrant obtained by the New Orleans Police Department. He was brought to Orleans Parish Prison Saturday and booked with being a principal to second-degree murder, according to arrest and court records.

After argument, man helped others shoot his cousin to death at car repair shop, NOPD says A man got into an argument with his cousin and then helped several others shoot him to death inside of a car repair shop on Tchoupitoulas Stre

Thomas is accused in the Sept. 20 death of Torrin Girard, authorities said. Girard, 20, was shot to death at an auto shop in the 4300 block of Tchoupitoulas Street.

Girard's cousin, Dominique Buggage, 30, was the first suspect arrested in the case back on Sept. 29. Buggage, who was also booked as a principal to second-degree murder, argued with Girard on the day of the shooting, court records said.

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About an hour after the disagreement, Girard was at the Tchoupitoulas Street repair shop when Buggage pulled up in one of two vehicles, accompanied by the alleged gunmen, according to authorities. Buggage and two men walked over, and Girard was shot and killed.

While Buggage isn't accused of firing a gun at his cousin, authorities say he fled in one of the two getaway cars with the alleged shooters.

No information was available Monday on whether investigators suspect Thomas was one of the men that came to the repair shop with Buggage.

Thomas was being held Monday on a $250,000 bond.
New Orleans District D City Councilman Jared Brossett, who hoped to rebound from a 2020 drunk-driving arrest with a longshot bid for an at-large council seat, was booked again for driving while intoxicated early Monday morning, leaving his political future in doubt.

New Orleans police said they found Brossett passed out behind the wheel of a white 2021 Lexus at a Brothers Xpress Food Market on Elysian Fields Avenue near Interstate 610, just a few blocks from where Brossett totaled his city-owned Chevrolet Tahoe last year when he allegedly careened it across the neutral ground and into another car while drunk.

According to court documents, police woke up Brossett, 39, and noticed a strong smell of alcohol on his breath. They arrested him and took him to the NOPDs DWI testing unit on Tchoupitoulas Street, where he failed a field sobriety test.

He was booked into the New Orleans jail at 5:14 a.m. Monday and was released several hours later.

It was Brossett's third arrest for driving drunk and occurred in the final weeks of the race for the Division 2 at-large council seat. The incident led to one public call for Brossetts resignation and immediately shook up one of the most closely-watched races in New Orleans upcoming municipal elections.

Brossett was running against fellow City Councilmember Kristin Gisleson Palmer, former state Sen. JP Morrell and a fourth candidate, Xavier University administrator Bart Everson, in the citywide race.

+4 Two New Orleans council members seeking at-large seat endorse each other, slam JP Morrell New Orleans City Council members Jared Brossett and Kristin Gisleson Palmer, opponents in the race for an at-large council seat, have a new pi

Last week, Palmer and Brossett announced that they were endorsing each other in an effort aimed at preventing Morrell from winning outright. At the time, Palmer and Brossett touted their work together on the council and their pursuit of "multiple progressive issues" such as a $15 minimum wage for city employees.

"Jared and I don't agree on everything, but we believe that councilmembers should be servants of the people," Palmer said. "I support him because of that."

Palmer said early Monday that she was preparing a statement. She had not issued any comments as of publication time.

Reached early Monday, Brossetts campaign spokesperson, Greg Buisson, said he was determining the status of Brossetts candidacy. He did not respond to additional requests for comment.

The election is set for Nov. 13.

'A very sad situation'

Brossett has represented District D on the City Council since 2014 and was term-limited out of running again for the district seat. A former state representative, Brossett has worked in New Orleans politics for most of his career, starting as an aide to Orleans Parish Sheriff Marlin Gusman when he served on the city council before Hurricane Katrina.

He later served as an aide to Councilmember Cynthia Hedge-Morrell, the mother of his opponent in the at-large race, before moving on to a seat in the Louisiana Legislature and then the council.

Brossett chairs the council's budget committee, which was scheduled to meet Tuesday morning. Departmental hearings for the 2022 budgeting process are scheduled to begin Nov. 1.

Silas Lee, a veteran political consultant and Xavier University professor who said he taught Brossett as an undergraduate, said Brossett needs to assess his physical, mental and emotional capacity to serve out his term while also campaigning in a high-profile race.

The demands of voters are not going to go away, no matter what," Lee said. "No one is going to be upset with him if he decides he wants to move on to something else. He has to take care of Jared. The voters are not going to take care of Jared."

A joint statement from current councilmembers-at-large Helena Moreno and Donna Glapion said Brossett's arrest would not disrupt the council's work.

"This is overall a very sad situation. We hope that our friend and colleague takes the necessary steps to make himself well. Alcoholism is a disease and should be treated as such," the statement said.

They did not say whether they thought Brossett should resign his seat or withdrawal from the race. In fact, few New Orleans politicians made any public comments about the incident at all. The exception was Troy Glover, a candidate for Brossett's District D seat, who called on him to resign.

Late Monday, Gambit reported that Brossett was expected to step down as chairperson of the council's budget committee and would be replaced as chair by Moreno.

Brossett was well behind in the money race for the at-large seat, raising just a fraction of the funds pulled in by Morrell and Palmer. But he had still received several notable endorsements.

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In addition to Palmer, other supporters include the Greater New Orleans AFL-CIO, which issued a dual endorsement of Brossett and Morrell.

AFL-CIO President Tiger Hammond said the endorsement will stand at least until the board meets on Oct. 27, assuming Brossett stays in the race.

"I think Jared Brossett has got to decide what he's going to do first before anybody else who may have endorsed him decides what they are going to do," Hammond said.

Brossett also claimed support from the Community Organization of Urban Politics, or COUP, which is a political organization based in the 7th Ward. COUP's members include former Mayor Sidney Barthelemy, as well as City Constable Lambert Boissiere, Jr. and his son, Public Service Commissioner Lambert Boissiere III.

Barthelemy, Boissiere Jr. and Boissiere III did not respond to messages.

Mayor LaToya Cantrell declined to comment.

Brossett's 3rd DWI arrest

Monday's arrest marks Brossett's third for drunk driving after the 2020 incident and an earlier DWI arrest in Florida in 2006. He eventually pleaded no contest to a charge of reckless driving in the Florida case.

Brossetts DWI arrest in 2020 came after police said he crashed his city-owned Tahoe near the Lowes department store on Elysian Fields. He barreled over the neutral ground, swerved and hit an oncoming Nissan Rogue.

When New Orleans police arrived at the scene, Brossett appeared confused, had alcohol on his breath and was slurring his words, according to the police report and a widely circulated bystander video.

In a statement released the next day, Brossett apologized to his family and the citizens of New Orleans and said he was entering a treatment program.

Officers later booked him with driving while intoxicated, reckless operation and leaving a roadway lane.

He pleaded not guilty to those charges. The city attorney's office in December referred the case to then-District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro to prosecute in Municipal and Traffic Court.

Cannizzaro allowed Brossett to enroll in a diversion program, documents show. That program required Brossett to avoid alcohol or drugs and regularly update his diversion counselor on his progress.

He also entered into a payment plan to reimburse the city for the cost of the SUV.

A spokesperson for current DA Jason Williams said Monday "there's no scenario" in which Williams would approve diversion for Brossett's latest alleged offense.

Councilmember Brossett is going to be treated like any other citizen who found themselves in this particular situation," Williams told WGNO earlier Monday.

The 2020 wreck left the driver of the Rogue with nagging injuries, according to a friend. It also led the City Council to establish new rules for the use of take-home cars, which, among other things, banned drunk driving.

Asked about the 2020 incident during an Oct. 11 appearance on Louisiana Considered, a public radio show, Brossett said he had completed a six-week addiction treatment program and group therapy sessions over the last year.

Brossett said he is "a better man today, and stronger than ever before."

You never know what anybody is going through in life. Nobody has to go through it alone, because I didnt, Brossett said.

Staff writers Carlie Kollath Wells, Jeff Adelson and Jessica Williams contributed to this story.
William Jefferson, the former U.S. representative who received the longest prison sentence in history for a member of Congress, returns to court on Friday (Dec. 1) to learn whether he may close the books on his criminal case. Jefferson's attorneys and federal prosecutors have reached an agreement, subject to court review, that "would be dispositive of this matter in its entirety, and would obviate the need for further litigation."

An 18-year veteran of the House of Representatives and patriarch of an influential New Orleans political family, Jefferson was indicted in 2007. He was convicted in 2009 of 11 counts of political corruption related to taking bribes to drum up business deals in Nigeria. One conviction was soon overturned.

U.S. District Judge Judge T.S. Ellis, whom President Ronald Reagan appointed to the court, sentenced Jefferson to 13 years, to be followed by three years of supervised probation. Jefferson reported to prison in 2012.

In October, however, Ellis threw out seven more of Jefferson's convictions, citing new Supreme Court jurisprudence making it more difficult to convict public officials on bribery charges. He ordered Jefferson, incarcerated for five years and five months, released from prison.

Since then, prosecutors and defense attorneys have been evaluating the ruling and negotiating a new sentence, whether prosecutors will appeal the dismissals and other contingencies. Their agreement is subject to the judge's review. Here's what it means:

Jefferson, now 70, will serve no more prison time.

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"It makes some sense for all parties to have some finality," Mike Magner, a former federal prosecutor now practicing law at the Jones Walker firm in New Orleans, said Thursday. "A lot of time has passed, and a lot of water has gone under the bridge."

In folding their tent, prosecutors had to evaluate the time and expense of retrying an old case with a higher bar for conviction, said David Courcelle, who practices criminal defense law in the New Orleans area. Jefferson, he said, "is very fortunate."

Friday's hearing begins at 8 a.m. central time in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Va., where Jefferson stood trial in 2009.

Read the new agreement:

. . . . . . .

Drew Broach covers Jefferson Parish politics and Louisiana interests in Congress, plus other odds and ends, for NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune. Email: dbroach@nola.com. Facebook: Drew Broach TP. Twitter: drewbroach1. Google+: Drew Broach.
Seven months removed from prison, former U.S. Rep. William Jefferson of Louisiana is trying to undo a $392,000 civil judgment for stockholders in a defunct telecommunications company that figured into his criminal case. He's asked a federal judge in Louisville, Ky., to reverse the order that he pay the money to iGate Inc. investors.

The reason: The convictions on which the civil award rested have been overturned. "Thus, no basis any longer exist[s] on which this court may maintain its judgment and order," Jefferson's motion says.

The lawsuit was filed 11 years ago by Daniel Cadle of Newton Falls, Ohio, on behalf of himself and other iGate shareholders. It's been pending so long that the original judge has taken semi-retirement.

Much else has changed in the interim. Jefferson, a New Orleans Democrat who served 18 years in Congress, lost his 2008 reelection race while under indictment in a case in which the FBI famously found $90,000 cash in his freezer. The next year, he was convicted of corruption charges for accepting more than $400,000 in bribes and seeking millions more in exchange for brokering business deals in Africa.

He and his wife, Andrea Jefferson, declared bankruptcy. Soon Jefferson was sentenced to 13 years in prison -- the longest ever for a member of Congress.

The couple sold their Uptown house in 2015 for $758,000, according to public records. They now live in a gated apartment complex near Gretna.

A Harvard Law School graduate, Jefferson has been disbarred. He's now representing himself in the Kentucky civil case, after having had prestigious Washington attorney Robert Trout defend him in the criminal case.

Jefferson's original convictions -- 11 at trial, although one was soon overturned by the judge -- were for soliciting bribes, depriving citizens of honest service, money laundering and using his congressional office as a racketeering enterprise. Prosecutors portrayed the publicly soft-spoken congressman as a bullying, back-room schemer who demanded that companies seeking his official help pay dummy corporations set up for and run by his family.

One of the companies that sought his marketing help was the Louisville-based iGate, where chief executive officer Vernon Jackson had developed a way to transmit high-speed voice, data and video across conventional copper telephone lines. Jefferson got Jackson to sign a "professional services contract" with ANJ Group, a Louisiana company that listed Andrea Jefferson as manager, and to give it $456,800 in cash and travel expenses and more than 30 million shares of iGate stock, the government alleged.

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The shareholders' lawsuit tracks the criminal charges, blaming Jefferson, his wife, ANJ Group and Jackson for ruining iGate. "The wrongful and tortious conduct of the defendants not only put iGate out of business to the detriment of its shareholders but also dissipated hundreds of thousands of dollars on the shareholders' collective investment," the suit says.

The plaintiffs sought $2.3 million. On July 14, U.S. District Judge Charles Simpson III awarded them $391,994, about 17 percent of the claim.

Less than three months later, however, the criminal case fell apart. U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III, who had presided over Jefferson's trial in Alexandria, Va., threw out of seven of the 10 remaining convictions and the government dismissed another charge, leaving Jefferson guilty of two counts. The reason was that the U.S. Supreme Court, in an unrelated case, had essentially changed the law to make it more difficult to convict public officials of bribery.

Jefferson was released from prison Oct. 5. He had served five years and five months.

The criminal case is over, and if Jefferson has his way, the civil case would be resolved in his favor. He says every conviction related to iGate is now erased.

The shareholders disagree and are trying to sustain the monetary judgment. They argue that Simpson relied in his monetary judgment order not so much on the criminal case but on evidence in civil case, as well as on "Jefferson's failure to dispute certain elements and Jefferson's still-valid conviction" for conspiracy.

The question now rests with Judge Rebecca Grady Jennings, whom President Donald Trump nominated to the bench in 2017. She took over the case from Simpson last week.

. . . . . . .

Drew Broach covers Jefferson Parish politics and Louisiana interests in Congress, plus other odds and ends, for NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune. Email: dbroach@nola.com. Facebook: Drew Broach TP. Twitter: drewbroach1. Google+: Drew Broach.
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday (Feb. 27) defended his sweeping re-election win over a billionaire former vice president who in 2005 was supposedly to receive a $100,000 bribe from U.S. Rep. William Jefferson, D-New Orleans. Buharis chief opponent, Atiku Abubakar, did not concede defeat, however, instead alleging manifest and premeditated malpractices in many of Nigerias 36 states.

Jefferson was convicted in 2009 on 11 corruption charges at a trial where prosecutors said he took $100,000 from a businesswoman to deliver to Abubakar, at a time when Jefferson was seeking contracts for a technology company in Nigeria. The businesswoman was secretly helping the FBI, which famously found all but $10,000 of the marked bills in a freezer at Jeffersons Washington, D.C., townhouse. Abubaker was Nigerias vice president at the time.

The judge sentenced Jefferson to 13 years in prison, the longest in history for a sitting member of Congress. But after nine of convictions were overturned on appeal or dismissed, the judge ordered him freed. He had served five years and five months.

Ex-Rep. Bill Jefferson, freed from prison, wants to void $392,000 judgment against him

Nigeria voted for president on Saturday, and election officials declared Buhari the clear winner on Wednesday. A former military dictator, he campaigned on an upright reputation in an oil-rich country weary of politicians enriching themselves instead of the people. Abubakar said he would have conceded within seconds if the vote had been free and fair.

71 Louisiana politicians who were sentenced to prison or probation

. . . . . . .

The Associated Press contributed to this report. Drew Broach covers Jefferson Parish politics and education plus other odds and ends. Email: dbroach@nola.com. Facebook: Drew Broach TP. Twitter: drewbroach1.
Jefferson Parish Sheriff Joe Lopinto III made a surprise announcement as a part of a Facebook visit with the 35-position Jefferson Parish Democratic Executive Committee on Thursday night. His office has been the largest law enforcement agency in Louisiana without body and vehicle cameras. He told the group he had signed an $8.7 million contract with Axon  in June  to add cameras as early as December.

Jefferson is the last large law enforcement agency without cameras  following Orleans, St. Bernard and St. Tammany parishes, among others across the state. Lopinto has given the impression that the timing hasnt been right for cameras. It seemed cameras were in the parishs distant future.

During the Dems Facebook event, Lopinto said hes never opposed using cameras. Recently, when he has discussed cameras, hes regularly said he tied his camera concerns to state public records, the challenge of storing all of the video data and the cost of camera equipment.

Paul Anger, the committees second vice chair for public relations, said the parish Sheriffs Office had become an outlier in refusing to use cameras so his group was pleased to hear the news. If used effectively and if video is made appropriately available to the public, cameras can bring much more transparency to policing in Jefferson Parish, he said.

Theres the rub. During the Facebook event, Lopinto said he plans to consider releasing video incidents on a case-by-case basis. While there may be some who would argue that all video should be released immediately, thats not always realistic. But when there is an officer-involved shooting or a serious injury, why wouldnt the office release the video? Loptintos answer: Theres a time and a place where it makes sense for me to show video. Theres a time and a place where it doesnt make sense for me to show video.

Just a few years ago when the New Orleans Police Department added cameras there were some inconsistencies, including officers forgetting to turn the cameras on, officers forgetting to charge them and malfunctions. In time, the NOPD got to the point of operating more effectively and more efficiently with the cameras. Now, theres a mostly regular release of video.

Law enforcement video is good for the officers and good for citizens. Lopinto said hes concerned about video influencing investigations because it might have an impact on recollections. The sheriff knows a lack of transparency might make it appear theres a deputy coverup, something he said he wouldnt do. But sometimes overlooked is the opportunity to see video and use it to strongly suggest to a defendant that the video is clear and theres no need to go through a trial. Perhaps a plea might be best, saving time and money.

Jefferson Parish state Rep. Rodney Lyons, who has pushed for cameras and striking a balance that works for the sheriff, said hes happy with the decision. This is the right move for law enforcement in Jefferson as the citizens overwhelmingly supported and urged the use of cameras, he said.

The ACLU of Louisiana has been advocating for cameras in Jefferson Parish for some time. ACLU of Louisiana Legal Director Nora Ahmed said Lopintos decision is long overdue and the right move and an important part of being accountable. Body cameras are key to police transparency and after growing recognition that JPSO has been wholly unaccountable to the people, these cameras will have the potential to serve as a much-needed oversight tool, she said.

A 2019 body camera survey of 93 responding state law enforcement agencies showed that 33 were not using cameras. The Louisiana Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Criminal Justice Statistical Analysis Center noted that there are more than 300 agencies. So we cant be certain about the others. I hope other state law enforcement agencies  including the many sheriffs offices, municipalities and college campuses  follow the sheriffs lead. I hope the timing works that Jefferson Parish will see cameras in the field by December as Lopinto wishes.

There are camera company supply chain issues that might delay the delivery of the parishs accountability steps, but I hope the Grinch wont steal this gift from Jefferson Parish citizens.

Merry Christmas, Jefferson Parish.
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Union County, Pa. -- An inmate has died from COVID-19 complications after serving 60 months out of a 100-month sentence at FCI Allenwood, a low security federal correctional institution.

On Tuesday, Oct. 5, 2021, inmate Michael Hadam tested positive for COVID-19 and was placed in medical isolation.

Subsequently, on the same day, he was evaluated by institution medical staff for flu like symptoms and respiratory distress, and transported to a local hospital for further treatment and evaluation. On Friday, Oct. 15, 2021, Mr. Hadam was pronounced deceased by hospital staff.

Mr. Hadam was a 66-year-old male sentenced in the Western District of Pennsylvania to a 100- month sentence for Distribution of Child Pornography. He had been in custody at FCI Allenwood Low since June 8, 2015.




Bloomsburg -- For the eighth year, Bloomsburgs Exchange Gallery will host an end-of-year show with artwork by dozens and even hundreds of artists from throughout Central and Eastern Pennsylvania.

As with all of the Gallerys open-call shows, Cash & Carry welcomes participation by people of all ages and levels of experience, and for this show The Exchange facilitates that participation by giving away panels for the artists to make work on. Artists may work in ANY medium: painting, drawing, photography, collage, sculpture, fiber, you name it. Your piece can hang on the wall or sit or stand on its own.

The Exchange started out with 432 eight-inch-square, 1/2-thick panels (eight inches for the eighth year) and has given about half of them away already, but you still have plenty of time to stop in to pick up yours at the Exchange Gallery at 24 East Main Street in Bloomsburg.

Every year, we get amazing work in this show says Exchange executive director Oren B. Helbok. It takes more than one visit to take it all in  in fact, I see something new every day, and I work here every day!

In addition to work by Bloomsburg University art professors and other artists with decades of experience, Cash & Carry always has work by children, some as young as two and three years old. Student work in the past has come from Berwick High School, Bloomsburg High School and Bloomsburg Middle School, Central Columbia Middle School, Greenwood Friends School, Mifflinburg High School, and New Story in Berwick, as well as Bloom U.

Every piece will sell for $25, with the artist receiving $20 and the rest going to support the Exchange Gallerys ongoing operations. Although the show will open on November 23, sales will not begin until 6 p.m. on Friday, December 3, during Downtown Bloomsburgs Coming Home For Christmas holiday event. This gives buyers time to come in and decide which pieces they like best.

At the reception, all attendees wishing to buy will receive numbers; at the moment when sales start, the person with #1 may choose one piece from the walls, and if they want a second piece, they must get another number and go to the back of the line. So on with #2, #3, etc. This prevents any one buyer from getting all of the good stuff and it makes for a lot of fun.

Our buyers enjoy the process, says Helbok, and they all talk to each other as they strategize about which pieces to go for.

One can pay with cash, check, or charge card; The Exchange staff just likes the name Cash & Carry and it indicates that, unlike other shows, one may take ones artwork home right then and there, rather than waiting until the end of the show. These small and affordable pieces make great holiday gifts!

The exhibition will run from Nov. 23 through Dec. 30 at the Exchange Gallery, 24 East Main Street in Bloomsburg. The Gallery has regular hours from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Mondays and Fridays; hours vary on Tuesdays through Thursdays, and the gallery opens on occasional Saturdays. For more information about The Exchange, including week-to-week Gallery hours, visit ExchangeArts.org or Facebook.com/ExchangeArtsDotOrg or call (570) 317-2596.




Lewisburg, Pa.  The homicide case against a truck driver accused of killing a former model in February and dumping her body off Interstate 80 inched one step closer to trial last week after a hearing was held at Union County Court.

Union County Public Defender Brian Ulmer, who is representing the accused, Tracy Ray Rollins Jr., said he would like to submit for a psychological evaluation of his client. Union County District Attorney, Pete Johnson, said as of Friday night he hasnt yet received the motion. The case is expected to move to trial sometime in 2022.

Rollins, 29, of Dallas, TX, awaits trial on homicide and abuse of a corpse charges for allegedly slaying Rebecca Landrith and leaving her body at the Mile Run interchange off I-80 on Feb. 7.

Union County Judge Michael Hudock presided over the hearing Tuesday in which the defense also questioned if Union County would be the appropriate place for Rollins trial. District Attorney Johnson said Ulmer made a motion to move the trial out of Union County, but it was denied by Judge Hudock. It is unknown at this point if the killing occurred in Union County or if Rollins had killed Landrith elsewhere and then dumped her body later.

Investigators determined that Rollins and Landrith had traveled together in his tractor-trailer from Wisconsin to Pennsylvania.

Landrith, 47, of Virginia, was shot at least 18 times in the head, neck, and chest inside the cab of Rollins tractor-trailer truck. Rollins was arrested by state police in Connecticut on Feb. 10 after investigators followed a paper trail to track the suspect down. Through receipts found in Landriths jacket, police were able to match dates and times to surveillance footage at several restaurants and convenience stores in Wisconsin and Indiana.

It is believed that Landrith had traveled with Rollins for several months during his deliveries. She had allegedly gone by the name Leslie Myers.

A PennDOT worker found Landriths body the morning of Feb. 7 off the Mile Run interchange near the Clinton County line. Fingerprints were used to identify Landrith, since she did not have identification on her.

Rollins was extradited back to Pennsylvania on Feb. 23 where he was arraigned by District Judge Jeffrey Mensch on charges of felony homicide and a misdemeanor of abuse of a corpse. Mensch denied bail with the reason being criminal homicide and no ties to the community according to court documents. Rollins has been committed to Union County Jail since then.
Watsontown -- Rine G. Winey, Jr., 97, formerly of Watsontown, passed away Saturday, October 16, 2021 at Buffalo Valley Personal Care Home where he had been residing. Having lived in Watsontown for 49 years, he moved to Lewisburg in 2001 and resided at the Buffalo Valley Lutheran Village.

Born February 21, 1924 in Millersburg, Dauphin County, he was the son of the late Rine G. and Lottie (Walborn) Winey. In 1929 the family moved to Selinsgrove where he was a graduate of Selinsgrove High School in the class of 1942, and Susquehanna University in 1946.

He was married to the former Lois J. Derr of Sunbury on February 24, 1952 and they celebrated 47 years of marriage until her death on August 21, 1998.

He was employed at the First National Bank of Sunbury after graduating from college until 1952, when he accepted a position with the former Watsontown National Bank, now First National Bank of Pennsylvania. Over the years he served in various offices until he was elected president in 1983.

In October 1975 he was appointed to the Board of Directors of the bank and served as Chairman of the Board from 1989 until he retired in 1992. In addition, he served on the Sun Bancorp Board in Selinsgrove from 1989 to 1992.

While at Watsontown, he completed the American Institute of Banking classes and was a graduate of the Stonier Graduate School of Banking at Rutgers University in 1956, where his thesis "Motel Financing" was selected for use by the Libraries of the American Bankers Association and Rutgers University. In addition, he graduated from the Senior Bank Officer's Seminar at Harvard College in 1975.

Interested in collector's plates, following his retirement from banking, he started a business "The Plateman," selling artwork at the Route 15 Market Center, Lewisburg from 1992 to 1999, when he continued it from his home.

He had served in a number of capacities in area banking groups, church and community activities, fund raising campaigns, and formerly served on the Watsontown Borough Council. He was a member of the Watsontown Jaycees and Watsontown Lodge #401, Free and Accepted Masons.

He was an associate member of the First Lutheran Church of Watsontown since 2005, where he was a former member for 53 years, and treasurer for 35 years. He served on their church council and the finance committee as chairman for several terms. He and Dr. Robert Funk were Sunday school teachers and headed the junior department of the Sunday school there for many years. Since 2005 he was a member of Christ's Lutheran Church, Lewisburg.

Surviving is a son, David S. Winey and his wife Alicia of Mount Joy; a daughter, Elaine Ann Winey; two grandchildren: Bret M. Winey and his wife Michelle of Lebanon and Michael D. Winey of Denver, Colorado; three great-grandsons: Carter, Bennett, and Griffin Winey; one great-granddaughter: Hadley Winey; two step-granddaughters: Bethany and Kara Schwartz; and two nephews: Timothy and Thomas Moorhead.

Preceding him in death besides his wife was a sister, Bettie G. (Winey) Moorhead of Martinsburg in 1993 and a daughter-in-law, Linda C. Winey in 2004.

In accordance with his wishes, a private graveside service will be held at the convenience of the family in Watsontown Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Buffalo Valley Lutheran Village Endowment Fund, C/O Diakon Lutheran Social Ministries, Office of Advancement, 798 Hausman Road, Suite 300, Allentown, PA 18104-9108 or at www.diakon.org.

Arrangements have been entrusted to Brooks Funeral Home and Cremation Svc, PC, 124 Main Street, Watsontown. To share a memory or condolence with the family, please visit www.wfbrooksfuneralhome.com.




For three days (18-20 Oct.) 400 guests will discuss issues relating to the general topic "From crisis to opportunity - How can philanthropy accelerate sustainable change?"

Vienna, 19 October 2021 / News Aktuell- The city of Vienna is currently the European capital of philanthropy: for three days some 400 representatives of philanthropic foundations and organisations operating across Europe are meeting to discuss emerging trends and possible solutions to the climate crisis, democracy development, philanthropy, and society. The conference kicked off on Monday (18 Oct.) at Gartenbaukino cinema with a short trailer specially produced for the conference, featuring Austrian artist and musician Andre Heller.

In his capacity as chairman of the supervisory board of ERSTE Foundation, Andreas Treichl welcomed the guests and introduced them to Kenan al Barede, a student who had come to Vienna as a refugee and talked about his experiences. EFC president Angel Font ("la Caixa" Foundation) stressed: "The current huge challenges - the climate crisis, democracy development, global inequality - can only be solved together in and with society. The coronavirus crisis and the rapid development of vaccines have impressively demonstrated this."

Delphine Moralis, CEO of the European Foundation Centre since 2020, explained in her introduction to the opening plenary: "Everyone is connected to everyone else, and as philanthropic foundations we can build the bridges for solutions - from crisis to opportunity. Currently, every foundation should also be a climate foundation, that is to say putting a climate lens on all its activities."Treichl urged his guests: "The philanthropic world and the corporate world need to take the same line and call for decisive action from politics - this trend will grow." Anne-Birgitte Albrectsen (LEGO Foundation) addressed the issue of the young generation and the responsibility of adults: "Creativity is not limited to children; adults should allow themselves to be inspired by them. What we do now will determine what will become of the world for them. Foundations can take more risks here, moving ahead of governments and administrations and leading the way." Activist Kumi Naidoo also appealed: "The philanthropic sector now needs to get more involved in solving the interconnected crises. We cannot simply address the symptoms, but we have to be addressing the root causes of the crisis: what's needed now is system innovation, system redesign and system transformation." This requires the creativity of foundations and fresh perspectives from young people, he added.

The round of experts from civil society and philanthropy was followed by representatives from politics. Mayor of Budapest Gergely Karacsony, who only recently announced his withdrawal from next year's parliamentary elections in Hungary, stated in his speech how civic councils in Budapest had discussed environmental projects and prepared them for a vote; these had then been adopted and implemented by the city council. The Mayors' Forum, which is also supported by ERSTE Foundation, demonstrates how philanthropy can collaborate with politics. "Progress and reform from the top down is not enough. Direct democracy and representative democracy must work together," Karacsony is convinced.

The last speaker was Martin* Stakis, mayor of Latvian capital Riga since 2020. In his speech, he explained that the purpose of cities is not limited to cleaning its sidewalks. "They also have a global responsibility. Only cities that actively encourage and support civic engagement will be successful in the future," Stakis explained. To this end, a digital discussion platform was also implemented in Riga.

The recording of the event is available at https://streaming.ots.at/streaming/efc-conference-opening/ (from 18 Oct./approx. 5 p.m.).

The event also features showcases, discussions, keynote speeches - Wednesday's closing plenary is available via live stream

The conference programme is generally divided into four thematic tracks. On Tuesday afternoon mainly Austrian foundations will discuss their work in Viennese coffee houses and special locations such as magdas Hotel, the Wiener Zentralfriedhof (Vienna's largest cemetery), the Burgtheater, the Steinhofgrunde area, the Erste Financial Life Park and the Turkis Rosa Lila Villa LGBTIQ community centre. On Wednesday, 20 October, the closing plenary will be streamed from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., featuring a keynote speech by Laurence Tubiana, CEO of the European Climate Foundation. (Link: https://streaming.ots.at/streaming/efc-conference-closing/)

General information on the event in German and English is available at: https://science.apa.at/medienkooperation/erste-stiftung/

About the conference: This year's annual conference of the European Foundation Centre (initially planned for early 2020) takes place in Vienna for the first time. The event in the Austrian capital is organised by a host committee chaired by ERSTE Foundation and including the Verband fur gemeinnutziges Stiften (Association of Public Benefit Foundations), Caritas Foundation Austria, the Central European University Budapest Foundation, the Essl Foundation, the European Forum Alpbach non-profit private foundation, the Katharina Turnauer Private Foundation, Nadace Ceske sporitelny, Nadacia Slovenskej sporitelne, Porticus, the Robert Bosch Stiftung and the Stiftung Mercator. Guests represent the entire spectrum of philanthropic activity across Europe and the world with institutions including Bertelsmann Stiftung, IKEA Foundation, LEGO Foundation, Porticus, Stiftung Mercator, Open Society Foundations, ZEIT-Stiftung Ebelin und Gerd Bucerius, Fondation de France, and "la Caixa" Foundation.

Further inquiries & contact:Thomas Goiser M: +43 664 2410268 thomas@goiser.at

ERSTE Stiftung - Communications Maribel Koniger M: +43 664 8385341 maribel.koeniger@erstestiftung.org
Wagner: Is it time to get rid of Columbus Day celebration?
Congressman Frank J. Mrvan weighed in on U.S. Steel's discharges of iron and an oily sheen into the Burns Waterway at the mouth of Lake Michigan, saying "more most be done to prevent discharges."

Mrvan wrote a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency saying, "simply mitigating environmental violations after the incident is not sustainable and cannot continue to be the norm."

U.S. Steel's Midwest Plant in Portage discharged an oily substance into Lake Michigan on Oct. 7 and wastewater with elevated levels of iron on Sept. 26. Beaches at the Indiana Dunes National Park were closed as a result of both discharges.

The company said the oily sheen on Oct. 7 did not harm human health, aquatic life or wildlife. But the Indiana Department of Environmental Management found the Sept. 26 discharge violated the company's wastewater permit for the amount of iron that could be released into the source of drinking water for millions of Chicago metro area residents, referring the case to the EPA and U.S. Department of Justice for action.

Mrvan expressed his concerns to the EPA.
A good credit score has many benefits in today's society, including greater access to credit, more favorable loan terms and lower interest costs.

It's crucial to getting that credit card, car or house.

People can learn more about how to earn and maintain a good credit score at an upcoming United Way of Northwest Indiana class.

The organization will host a virtual Get Smart About Credit event on Thursday. The public can attend five different Zoom sessions on the hour between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. to learn from experts on topics like Creating Your Budget, What is Credit? Building Your Credit, Monitoring Your Credit, and Repairing Your Credit.

The United Way of Northwest Indiana, which offers more than 70 programs to improve the health, education and financial wellness of everyone in Northwest Indiana, developed the class in conjunction with Centier Bank, Chase Bank, First Financial Bank, First Merchants Bank, and Peoples Bank.
A doctor at the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago said the alleged victim suffered "the worst brain injury I have ever seen," according to court documents. The doctors determined the injuries were consistent with being shaken and must have occurred during the time he was in the care of Jones when his former wife and the boy's mother was at her overnight nursing job.

The defense team argues further that there have been multiple Facebook posts by the child's mother related to the case, as well as a support group for the alleged victim and online petitions against Jones.

"Additionally, the alleged Victim has been used as the poster child for a Shaken Baby Syndrome website despite the Defendant never being convicted of this crime," the defense says.

All this came despite a gag ordered issued by the court against the mother, Jones said.

The mother was also interviewed about the case on Chicago television, which was seen by countless potential jurors, the defense says.

"During said interview, it is stated that Mother of the Alleged victim posted the recording of the 911 call online and said call had been viewed over 20,000 times," the motion says.
HAMMOND  A Chicago man with ties to a Northwest Indiana street gang has admitted he helped kill a 10-year-old and a 22-year-old man in separate 2017 gang shootings.

Justin Anaya, 20, of Chicago, pleaded guilty last week to a federal racketeering charge that he was a member of the Latin Dragon Nation.

Anaya was one of 19 a federal grand jury first indicted in 2017 on allegations they trafficked in illicit drug and gun trafficking for the Latin Dragon Nation, which operates in Chicago, Hammond and other parts of the Region.

Anaya had faced trial in January in U.S. District Court on charges that carried a potential life sentence.

Anaya recently signed a plea agreement in which he gave up his right to make the government prove the charges against him in return for a more lenient sentence.

The plea agreement states Anaya and the government agree that Anaya must serve a 35-year prison term. His sentencing date is yet to be scheduled.

Anaya admitted in his 9-page agreement that he was driving a stolen car July 14, 2017, near Chicagos Calumet Park with a fellow gang member when they spotted opposition gang members in a nearby SUV.
HAMMOND  An 18-year-old woman was found dead in north Hammond Monday in what police describe as a homicide.

Alyssa Flores, 18, died at her home at the 4000 block of Towle Avenue, according to the Lake County coroner's office.

Flores' death was one of three homicides Monday in Hammond.

Hammond police were dispatched about noon to a home in the 4000 block of Towle Avenue and found a woman dead inside, Lt. Steve Kellogg said.

Investigators did not think Flores' death was related to an earlier double homicide in the area. In that case, two Chicago residents died after a shooting at Hohman and Gostlin avenues and a crash at Gostlin and State Line Avenue, police said.

Flores' cause and manner of death were pending an autopsy, a coroner's release said.

Crime scene tape circled the front yard of a home Monday afternoon as police investigated a death in a residential neighborhood southeast of the intersection of Calumet Avenue and the Indiana Toll Road, not far from the Illinois state line. People could be heard crying as Hammond officers investigated.

A Hammond police crime scene van and other law enforcement vehicles were parked along Towle Avenue, just north of Gostlin Avenue.
HAMMOND  Police said Monday they were seeking information about a stolen Dodge Charger linked to a shooting late Sunday that left a Chicago couple dead, officials said.

Christienne Cloutier, 27, and Krystol McDonald-Jones, 30, both of Chicago, were riding with a 2-year-old child in a Buick Rendezvous that crashed into a building at Gostlin Street and State Line Avenue, according to Lt. Steve Kellogg and the Lake County coroner's office.

The child was not hurt in the shooting or crash, police said.

Hammond police initially responded about 11:40 p.m. to the area of Hohman Avenue and Gostlin for a report of shots fired, Kellogg said. The coroner's office was called out to the scene not far from the Illinois state line about 25 minutes later and ruled McDonald-Jones dead at the scene.

A witness told police three men in masks were arguing with another man in a parking lot and they began shooting at each other, Kellogg said.

The male victim got into the Buick with a female passenger and left the area, police said.

The three men also got into a vehicle and left.
"She was special to me individually as she was to so many lawyers, staff members and others around the (Lake County) Government Center who she went out of her way to get to know, befriend and make part of her extended family," he said. "We knew she dedicated her life to improving the lives of others, not because she told us but because we witnessed it every day.

"We saw the kindness she extended to a victim's family and the concern and guidance she provided a young person who found himself in front of her. We are thankful and blessed for having experienced her love and leadership. She had an uncommon warmth and brought a rare humanity to the bench that won't soon be forgotten by all of those lucky enough to have crossed her path."

Attorney Matthew Fech, a past president of the Lake County Bar Association, served as a Lake County public defender in Boswell's court for many years.

"She was just one of the most genuine people that you would have ever met, and she had a genuine care for defendants as human beings and as individuals," Fech said. "It was a regular course that before accepting a plea agreement, she would ask young men and young women what their plans were after their case was concluded."

Boswell wanted to ensure defendants were on a path to a better life, Fech said.
Police arrested a 16-year-old student whose social media threat caused Morton High School and Scott Middle School to be locked down on Thursday.

"A 16-year-old student was arrested and charged this morning with making an overnight threat against a Hammond School," Hammond Police Department said in a statement.

The student posted a threat on the social media network Snapchat that involved the image of a gun.

Snapchat posts are typically only available for a fleeting amount of time before disappearing. Hammond Police Department Spokesman Steven Kellogg said police tracked the student who originally posted the threat down via "electronic forensics."

The School City of Hammond locked down the buildings, allowing no one in or out for part of the day Thursday, after the social media post threatening violence at its schools.
MOSCOW  A populist politician and convicted kidnapper won a landslide victory on Sunday in a snap presidential election in Kyrgyzstan triggered by a popular uprising against the previous government.

Sadyr Japarov, the winning candidate, got nearly 80 percent of the vote, according to the central electoral commission of the mountainous country, the only democracy in Central Asia. More than 80 percent of voters also supported Mr. Japarovs proposal to redistribute political power away from Parliament and into the presidents hands.

In September, Mr. Japarov, 52, was still in jail, serving a lengthy term for orchestrating the kidnapping of a provincial governor, a charge he denounced as politically motivated. A violent upheaval that erupted in October over a disputed parliamentary election sprung Mr. Japarov from a prison cell to the prime ministers chair.

A few days later, he assumed the interim presidency before resigning to run for that office. The countrys main investigative body quickly canceled Mr. Japarovs conviction.
Robert Haas, a financier who in his 50s used his wealth to go in a markedly different direction, becoming a published aerial photographer, and then in his 60s began collecting vintage and custom-made motorcycles and creating a Texas museum to display them, died on Sept. 28 in a hospital in Dallas. He was 74.

The cause was a respiratory illness, said Stacey Mayfield, his companion and the director of the Haas Moto Museum & Sculpture Gallery in Dallas.

Mr. Haas, who was known as Bobby, made his fortune in the 1980s. He and a partner, Thomas Hicks, led a group of investors in the leveraged buyouts of 7-Up and Dr Pepper, then sold 49 percent of the combined soft drink companies for $600 million to Prudential-Bache Securities in 1988.

I was 41 years old and Im where I thought I might be when I was 71, times 10, he said in Leaving Tracks (2021), a self-produced documentary film. What do I do now?
Mr. Scott died during the deadliest year in the jail system since 2016, as city officials have struggled with converging crises  mounting disorder at Rikers Island, the main jail complex, fed by the coronavirus pandemic and rampant staff absenteeism. His death also occurred on the same day that the Board of Correction, a jail oversight panel, issued an alarming report that detailed the failings of the Correction Department in averting an earlier suicide attempt by another detainee  one whose case had parallels to Mr. Scotts.

Image Anthony Scott is the 14th person to die in the custody of the New York City Department of Correction this year.

In the other episode, which took place at Rikers in late 2019 and was the subject of a New York Times investigation, Nicholas Feliciano tried to hang himself with a sweatshirt in the presence of multiple guards and paramedics, some of whom walked by without intervening.

Like Mr. Scott, Mr. Feliciano, then 18, had struggled with mental illness. His suicidal tendencies were also well documented during past stays in city juvenile centers, mental health units and jails, where records show he had spent weeks at a time on suicide watch and had disclosed a history of depression, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and psychiatric hospitalization.

Even so, when he was brought to Rikers after an arrest on a parole violation in November 2019, his jailers failed to flag him as at risk for harming himself. They placed him in the jails general population, in a section known among detainees as being rife with gang violence.

On Nov. 27, after a fight with other incarcerated people, Mr. Feliciano tied his sweatshirt around a metal hook in the ceiling of his cell and began to hang himself with it. Over the next seven minutes and 51 seconds, seven guards, a captain and two paramedics walked by his cell without stepping in to stop him, surveillance footage shows.
President Bidens policy agenda is hanging by a thread. And the reason can be summarized in two words: Joe Manchin. (Well, also Kyrsten Sinema, but does anyone know whats going on with her?)

Manchin, the Democratic senator from West Virginia  whose vote is essential given scorched-earth Republican opposition to anything Biden might propose  is reportedly against the Clean Energy Payment Program, the core of Bidens attempt to take action on climate change, and wants to impose work requirements on the child tax credit, a key element in plans to invest in the nations children.

You might be tempted to view this impasse as an indictment of Americas wildly unrepresentative political system, which effectively allows the interests of a small state  West Virginia has substantially fewer residents than the borough of Brooklyn  to dominate national concerns. But its actually worse than that: Manchin appears ready to veto policies that would be in the interests of his own constituents.

Lets talk about what considerations should sway a politician serving the people of West Virginia.

At first glance, West Virginia might seem less exposed than many other states to the effects of climate change. Its landlocked, so rising sea levels arent a direct threat; its relatively rainy, so its not in immediate danger of sharing in the disastrous droughts afflicting the U.S. West.
Public health in crisis

At the beginning of the summer, when it looked like the U.S. was turning the corner on the pandemic, my colleagues Danielle Ivory and Mike Baker set out to answer a question: How prepared are local and state health departments for the next pandemic?

They worked with The Timess coronavirus data team to survey hundreds of local and state health departments across the country, mine hundreds of pages of records, scour thousands of bills in every state and watch more than 100 hours of public meetings. Danielle and Mike spoke with more than 140 health officials, lawmakers and other experts.

What they found was grim: The nation is more poorly equipped to confront a pandemic now than it was at the beginning of 2020.

We were hearing the same things over and over again, Danielle told me. It was worrying, very worrying.
WASHINGTON  Christina Hayes, 34, stopped going to the doctor for treatment of her lupus when she was pregnant and working at a cable company in Michigan in 2013. She had used up her vacation days, and without paid sick leave, she worried about paying her rent and electricity bill if she took more time off.

But after her blood pressure spiked, her doctors induced labor two months early, fearing that she might have a seizure. She and her baby ended up being fine, but Ms. Hayes, now an airline gate agent in Inkster, Mich., said that having paid leave would have allowed her to prioritize her health over her paycheck.

I would have been able to schedule doctors appointments better, she said. I might not have gone into premature labor.

Paid leave, a cornerstone of President Bidens economic agenda, is one of the many proposals at risk of being scaled back or left out of an expansive social safety net bill that Democrats are trying to push through Congress. Mr. Bidens initial $3.5 trillion plan called for providing up to 12 weeks of paid leave for new parents, caretakers for seriously ill family members and people suffering from a serious medical condition. Democrats proposed compensating workers for at least two-thirds of their earnings and funding the program with higher taxes on wealthy people and corporations.
SEOUL  North Korea on Tuesday conducted its first test in two years of a submarine-launched ballistic missile, just hours after special envoys on North Korea met in Washington to discuss how to deal with the isolated countrys nuclear capabilities.

The test was the latest in a series of provocations from North Korea in recent weeks, forcing the National Security Council of South Korea to discuss the Norths steady acts of aggression in the region. The council expressed deep regret that the North had launched a missile amid international efforts to continue dialogue.

The South Korean military said that the missile was fired from Sinpo, a city on the east coast where North Korea has often conducted its missile tests. It also has a naval base in the area, which is home to its submarine-launched ballistic missile program.

South Koreas military provided no further details of the test while its officials continued to analyze data collected from the launch. The National Security Council at the Souths presidential office usually convenes when the North conducts a missile test to assess the dangers posed.
This article is part of our latest Fine Arts & Exhibits special report, about how art institutions are helping audiences discover new options for the future.

It was 150 years ago that Mrs. OLearys cow kicked over a candle, touching off the Great Chicago Fire, or so the legend goes.

The blaze, which burned for three days in October 1871, killed 300 people and left more than 100,000 homeless.
At the Anchorage Museum in Alaska, where climate change has already led to the relocation of a whole village, the director Julie Decker has made the climate and its impact on local populations one of the institutions core themes.

Its important that museums not be episodic in how they talk about climate change, Ms. Decker said. We need to make it part of our programs everyday.

One of two climate-related exhibitions opening at the museum this fall, Borealis: Life in the Woods is a photographic and textual record of the photographer Jeroen Toirkens and the journalist Jelle Brandt Corstiuss journey through the boreal forests. They are a band of mostly pine, birch and spruce trees that stretches across Alaska, Canada, northern Scandinavia and Siberia, and is home to hundreds of Indigenous communities like the Innu and Cree.

The boreal region, or taiga, is threatened by rampant fires and logging.

With Borealis and the Anchorage Museums other climate initiatives, Ms. Decker hopes to avoid what she sees as the tendency of climate exhibitions and programs to make simplistic statements that amount to a collective declaration of calamity, or to separate environmental and human impacts.

Borealis offers no easy narratives, telling the stories of loggers and Cree hunters, as well as nonprofit interventions into the environment (both good and bad), and tracking changes in the ecosystem and their effect on peoples lives.
Griggs set about bringing his uncles old Akai reel-to-reel player back to working order. Finally when I did get it working and I could listen to the tapes, I started looking through the Coltrane material, and there was this one tape that said, Coltrane  A Love on the box, Griggs remembered in an interview.

He had stepped into Joe and Virginia Brazils basement hoping to find clues into Coltranes historic week in Seattle, thinking he might write something about it. He got more than hed imagined possible. This recording has kind of exceeded my wildest dreams of making that scene come alive on paper, he said.

The first notes of the suite he heard were from Psalm, its last movement, the tenderest part: a praise poem, addressed directly to God, that Coltrane had set to music and played through his saxophone. The poem itself is printed in the original albums liner notes.

In Seattle, he chops up and reorders the melody, lingering on and repeating certain phrases (like he did in France, on the other live recording). With Coltrane the lone saxophone on this track, its a respite after more than an hour of soaring and crashing, hard-blown notes over Joness polyrhythmic waves. Griggs didnt know about all that until he flipped the tape, and played it back from the beginning.

In concert Coltrane was known for pushing himself, and his horn, to the physical limits. It is part of what drew him to Sanders, whose role in the group was largely to provide atonal cries and expressionist sounds (what today would be called extended technique, but his critics often called noise).

Coltranes studio albums, including A Love Supreme, had included more digestible helpings of spitfire improvising, held to the ballast of his quartet. That would change with Ascension, a howling large-ensemble session that Coltrane recorded at Rudy Van Gelder Studios in summer 1965, shortly before leaving for the West Coast tour, and that Impulse! would release the following year.
As with that 2019 production of Improvement, the revival of eL/Aficionado accompanies a new recording, to be released on Friday by Lovely Music, the influential new-music label that Johnson has run since the late 1970s. Hamilton, who also produced the album, believes that having two recorded versions available will serve both to guide future performers and to illustrate the potential for expressive freedom.

I think Kayleighs performance speaks to the viability of the work itself, and how it can change and grow in someone elses hands, he said. And I suspect that in the future, groups will rely more on the recorded material than on the score to catch the style of the piece.

The opera features a spy, named simply the Agent, who has done a careers worth of work for an unnamed organization and is now on trial facing three interrogators, one superior and two more junior. Through a series of obscure responses to them, sometimes resembling personal or real estate advertisements and sometimes psychoanalytic sessions, the Agent relates four stages of her biography in reverse chronological order, seemingly revealing what led her to a life of espionage.

The taut braiding of speech and singing in eL/Aficionado, often performed in double time over the 72-beats-per-minute pulse of the accompaniment, would seem to allow for little creative variation. But while Thomas Buckner portrayed the Agent as a sullen figure expressing an almost ghostly contrition for his deeds, Butchers interpretation adds a defiant tone, as if the Agent is as confused as the audience as to why her work should be subject to scrutiny. A line like Can you blame me for being skeptical? A mere boy. I dont think he was 10 years old turns from Buckners desperate appeal into a confident avowal.
Included in the exhibition are works by Djeneba Aduayom, Arielle Bobb-Willis, Quil Lemons, Brad Ogbonna and Isaac West that go beyond simply documenting the world in which they moved, Ms. Brielmaier said. This is a generation who has a certain sense of freedom to work across what used to be fairly firm boundaries.

The photographers were directed to use their smartphones  their image-making tool, she said  and turn the lens on themselves. And they are sharing images that reflect their interior lives, Ms. Brielmaier said.

The show at the International Center of Photography on Manhattans Lower East Side, which runs until Jan. 10, is one of many across the United States that is spotlighting the work of Black photographers, as well as artists from other racial and ethnic groups.

Museums and galleries in Los Angeles, St. Louis, Boston, New York and Richmond, Va., among others, have been featuring works that show the range of art being created by once-marginalized artists, and provide insights into their outer worlds and individual perspectives.

The works cover a variety of styles and focus, including portraiture, conceptual pieces and fashion photography. The artists are both newcomers and others who already are established in the photography world.
This article is part of our latest Fine Arts & Exhibits special report, about how art institutions are helping audiences discover new options for the future.

WASHINGTON  It is being compared to the waking of Sleeping Beauty.

In just a few weeks, the long dormant, 140-year-old Arts and Industries Building  closed for structural reasons since 2004  will come back to life, reopening temporarily with a sprawling multidisciplinary show called Futures, which explores the pluralism of possibilities in what might lie ahead.

The exhibition and its monthlong opening festival, starting Nov. 20, are the centerpieces of the Smithsonian Institutions 175th anniversary celebration.
As newcomers to America, theirs was not the Ellis Island and Lower East Side narrative usually associated with the migration saga. Some came to the South as early as Colonial times and later from Germany, France and Eastern Europe. Instead of working in sweatshops and living in crowded urban ghettos, the newcomers frequently moved to the frontier, supporting themselves as itinerant peddlers.

In the loneliness of the rural South, the vendors were welcomed for much needed goods and news. Some settled into hospitable communities and established shops or bought land, something that had often been prohibited in the old country. Often, they would be the only Jews in the region.

Today, Jews represent less than 1 percent of the Souths population, Mr. Hoffman said.

The museums first gallery, From Immigrants to Southerners, tells the settlement story. Front and center is the steamer trunk that Rachmeil Shapiro brought with him in 1905 as he journeyed from Russia to Germany to Galveston, Texas.

Nearby, is a peddlers cart, filled with typical merchandise  bolts of cloth, pots, tools, childrens toys.

Next to it is a composite recreation of a small-town retail shop at the turn of the last century. The clock once hung at Rosenzweigs in Lake Village, Ark. The hat press comes from Flowers Brothers in Lexington, Miss. There is an elaborate gilded cash register from Galantys Mens Wear in Lake Providence, La.
THE WRITING OF THE GODS

The Race to Decode the Rosetta Stone

By Edward Dolnick

On a steamy day in July 1799, a member of a French military work detail at a tumbledown fort in the Nile Delta made an unusual discovery. Amid a pile of rubble being used for a renovation project, he noticed a 4-foot-by-3-foot granite slab, covered on one side with intricate inscriptions. Lt. Pierre-Francois Bouchard, the officer in charge, sensed its significance and turned it over to scholars for analysis.

The nearly one-ton stela, experts determined, had come from a temple dedicated to the Greek-Egyptian King Ptolemy V in 196 B.C. And the three bands of text  classical Greek, hieroglyphs and an Egyptian shorthand called Demotic  were intended to proclaim the monarchs achievements in multiple tongues to the peoples of the empire. All three were dead languages, but the Greek alphabet was still in use. The discovery of the slab, called the Rosetta Stone after the town in which it was found, reignited the ultimate linguistic challenge: deciphering the symbols of the Pharaohs.

Edward Dolnicks The Writing of the Gods: The Race to Decode the Rosetta Stone is an engrossing account of the 20-year competition that followed. A former science writer for The Boston Globe and the author of books about Isaac Newton and a Dutch art forger who duped the Nazis, Dolnick here conjures up another intricate intellectual caper. With its thrilling dissection of the decoding process, it calls to mind Margalit Foxs The Riddle of the Labyrinth: The Quest to Crack an Ancient Code (2013), about three scholars who deciphered Linear B, the 3,400-year-old script excavated from the ruins of Cretes Minoan civilization. Like Fox, Dolnick exuberantly captures the frustrations and triumphs of scholars as they puzzle out the meaning of long-dead runes, seduced by tantalizing clues and then careening into dead ends and losing hope, but then spotting new markers and dashing off jubilantly once more.
The most effective way to reduce caseloads is to continue raising the countrys vaccination rate, through workplace mandates and other measures. Vaccinating children under 12 can also save the lives of older people.

Cases in the U.S. have already fallen 50 percent since Sept 1. If the declines continue  and can be maintained  the risks for older Americans will be much more manageable than they were in the late summer.

2. Give booster shots

Scientists are still trying to figure out how quickly vaccine immunity wanes. But the bulk of the evidence suggests that it does wane at least somewhat in the first year after vaccination, which creates additional risks for older people. Among that evidence: Covid case counts are higher in Britain, where vaccinations tended to happen earlier, than in other parts of Europe, as John Burn-Murdoch of The Financial Times has noted.

Waning immunity, in turn, suggests that booster shots can protect vulnerable people.

In the U.S., the federal government has not yet authorized booster shots for any recipients of the Moderna or Johnson & Johnson vaccines, although a scientific advisory panel has recommended them for people who are 65 and older, among others. Pfizer vaccine recipients 65 and older are already eligible for a booster once they are at least six months removed from their second shot.

Powell was set to receive a booster shot last week but had to postpone it when he became sick, a spokeswoman said.

3. Expand rapid testing

If rapid Covid tests were widely available, as they have been in much of Western Europe, they could help protect the elderly.
Investigators said more than $200 million of that money was diverted to pay bribes and kickbacks to enrich foreign officials and former bankers at Credit Suisse, in a scandal that became informally known as the tuna bond affair. Three former Credit Suisse bankers pleaded guilty in connection to the investigation.

The S.E.C. said in a filing that Credit Suisse had misled investors about the bond offerings by not disclosing the misuse of funds and that Mozambiques outstanding debt was far higher than what had been stated in the documents. Federal prosecutors said in a statement that Swiss authorities will appoint an outside monitor for some of the banks transactions and risk management systems.

This coordinated global resolution demonstrates this offices commitment to working across borders with our global law enforcement partners to root out abuse and fraud by financial institutions in order to protect investors here in the United States, said Breon Peace, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York in Brooklyn.

It has been a difficult year for Credit Suisse. The bank lost more than $5 billion in the collapse of Archegos Capital Management, a family office that Credit Suisse had lent money and helped arrange hefty derivatives trades that unraveled spectacularly in March. And it took a loss on a $160 million loan when Greensill Capital collapsed that same month. A number of executives were ousted following those losses.

In a statement, Credit Suisse said it expected to take a $230 million charge in the third quarter in connection with the settlement.
Market mechanics

The frenzied trading in shares of GameStop, AMC and other so-called meme stocks in January led to big losses for some hedge funds, an outcry from retail investors who were abruptly shut out from trading and calls from Capitol Hill to overhaul market rules. But a long-awaited S.E.C. report about those events, released yesterday, concluded that the markets operated largely as intended, debunking conspiracy theories. The report proposed no policy changes.

Is that it? The 45-page report was simply meant to describe events, a senior S.E.C. official told reporters. But many observers anticipated much more, considering that the S.E.C. chairman, Gary Gensler, has hinted at big changes to the way markets work.

What about payment for order flow? Gensler recently suggested that the way some popular retail brokerages are compensated by bigger Wall Street firms may have to change. Payment for order flow  when brokerage firms sell the right to execute retail investors trades to bigger trading houses, like Robinhood does with Citadel Securities  has long drawn criticism about conflicts of interest. (A class-action suit by retail investors against Robinhood took particular issue with the practice.) These concerns were noted in the S.E.C.s report, but payment for order flow was not fundamentally challenged.

And settlement times? Speeding up the settlement cycle, the report suggested, could help avoid a repeat of the January trading chaos. At the peak of the meme-stock surge, Robinhood and other platforms limited trading in certain shares after the industry-run clearinghouse that settles most stock trades  a process that takes two days  demanded billions in additional cash. The S.E.C. said that the clearinghouses demands were a sign of the market working normally, but policymakers should consider ways to speed up settlement times to reduce the impact of future margin calls. Robinhood has pushed this point since it was caught out during the meme-stock mania.
So Ms. Eager, 25, is looking for work. She has applied for dozens of jobs and had a handful of interviews, so far without luck. But she is taking her time. Ms. Eager says she is still worried about catching Covid-19  she would prefer to work remotely, and if she does end up taking an in-person job, she wants it to be worth the risk. And she doesnt want another job with low pay, little flexibility and no benefits.

Many, many people are realizing that the way things were prepandemic were not sustainable and not benefiting them, she said. She has been applying for jobs in data analysis, nonprofit management and other fields that would offer better pay, benefits and a sense of purpose.

Ms. Eager, who is vaccinated, said that she had always been careful with money and that she built savings this year by staying home and socking away unemployment benefits and other aid. My financial situation is OK, and I think that is 99 percent of the reason that I can be choosy about my job prospects, she said.

Americans have saved trillions of dollars since the pandemic began. Much of that wealth is concentrated among high earners, who mostly kept their jobs, reduced spending on dining and vacations, and benefited from a soaring stock market. But many lower-income Americans, too, were able to set aside money thanks to the governments multitrillion-dollar response to the pandemic, which included not only direct cash assistance but also increased food aid, forbearance on mortgages and student loans and an eviction moratorium.

Economists said the extra savings alone arent necessarily keeping people out of the labor force. But the cushion is letting people be more picky about the jobs they take, when many have good reasons to be picky.

In addition to health concerns, child care issues remain a factor. Most schools have resumed in-person classes, but parents in many districts have had to grapple with quarantines or temporary returns to remote learning. And many parents of younger children are struggling to find day care, in part because that industry is dealing with its own staffing crisis.
As China Evergrande Group teeters on the edge of collapse, videos of protesting home buyers have flooded social media. Online government message boards teem with complaints and pleas for intervention to save the huge property developer. The hashtag What does Evergrande mean for the real estate market? has been viewed more than 160 million times on one platform.

But if trouble threatens for Chinas economy, you wouldnt know it from reading the countrys front pages.

The name Evergrande has barely been mentioned by top state-run news outlets in recent weeks, even as the companys uncertain fate has rattled global financial markets. Coverage of its recent troubles has been concentrated in a handful of business publications.

Only on Friday did the countrys central bank comment on the company by name, more than a month after anxiety about its debt crisis began lighting up the Chinese internet  and then only to say the situation was under control.
For years, online decorating offerings had the same whiffs of desperation as the debut of online dating.

But theres been a real change in the mentality around it, Ms. Segal said. Design is kind of an archaic process and hasnt actually really changed that much over the last 40 years. The pandemic has forced designers, and clients, and our vendors to get a little bit more onboard with doing things digitally.

And just like online dating, remote design is now totally mainstream, said Ellen Fisher, the New York School of Interior Designs vice president for Academic Affairs and dean. The pandemic is obviously a terrible time for many of us, but it opened up tremendous opportunities for interior designers.

She said the schools continuing education courses now include how to annotate shared screens on Zoom and follow up with meeting minutes after a video call.

Even design luminaries have embraced remote design full throttle. You either do it or you start losing business, at this point, said Martyn Lawrence Bullard, a Los Angeles designer and Bravo star who has designed for Cher and some of the Kardashians. Every single one of his clients now have some level of virtual design, even the ones that are 10 miles away, theyre almost more comfortable with having a Zoom session to look at furniture plans and layouts and maybe a rendering.
Given the uncertainty about whether those workers will ever return, one industry expert predicts robots will take over some of the tasks once done by workers who have found better paying jobs elsewhere.

Hotels are also experimenting with ways to boost revenue  for instance, charging extra for some services, scaling back reward programs and adding amenities to attract longer-term guests free to work from anywhere.

The impact of the pandemic on the industry has been uneven at best, with U.S. cities like New York among the hardest hit. One glimmer of hope: the Biden Administration announced it will open U.S. borders in November to vaccinated travelers from certain countries, including Canada and Mexico.

In China, travel has been greatly affected by Covid-related lockdowns, and Africas low vaccination rates have depressed international travel there, said Jan Freitag, national director for hospitality market analytics at CoStar Group.

Michael Bellisario, lodging analyst for Robert W. Baird & Co., said in the week ending Oct. 2, 20 percent of hotel rooms in the New York metropolitan statistical area  which includes New York City and surrounding communities  remain closed, though there are some signs of improvement.
We own a lot of inventory, but its just not where we can use it, said Katherine Gold, the president of Goldbug, a childrens sock manufacturer based in Denver. Its sitting on a boat or its sitting in a port.

Beyond the immediate challenges, the upending of the supply chain has exposed fault lines for manufacturers and retailers. And it has forced a rethinking of the classic business model, developed by Toyota Motor in the 1970s, which strives to streamline manufacturing and keep the work force and inventory levels lean. That process, known as just in time, has evolved into just in case, said Cathy Roberson, who conducts market research in logistics.

And it has resulted in a rethinking of business plans, with companies investing more in inventory, looking for alternative sources and pivoting to new product lines when previous ones become unavailable. Some are also trying to reduce the number of products they offer. It is so much more efficient to run 100 beds that are similar than 10 different runs of 10 beds that are dissimilar, said Rion Morgenstern, the chief executive of Pleasant Mattress in Fresno, Calif.

The backlogs and shortages could last well into 2022  and possibly beyond. In the near term, businesses are scrambling to have sufficient inventory, sometimes at any cost. A company that might have spent $3,000 to ship its product in a container from Asia now might have to spend 10 times as much.

When logistics companies told us several months ago that containers might cost $25,000 to $30,000, we thought it was a scare tactic. But its proven to be true, said Rick Woldenberg, the chairman and chief executive of the Illinois-based toy manufacturer Learning Resources and Hand2mind.

Because the cost of shipping rests on volume, rather than the value of the goods, those who manufacture or import lower-priced items get hit harder than, say Apple, which ships iPhones.

According to Jeff Kaufman the president and chief operating officer of Avanti Linens, a privately held textile and accessories company in Moonachie, N.J., we can produce a wastebasket for $9, but the freight from China and India, where we manufacture, can now cost $8 per basket. Last year, it cost roughly $1 to ship.
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SEATTLE  One of the first things youll notice about Bateau, a critically acclaimed steakhouse in a city typically associated with seafood, is that it doesnt look like a steakhouse.

There is no shrimp cocktail or Caesar salad on the menu. The white, window-lined dining room will not be mistaken, as many steakhouses could be, for the man cave of a wealthy lawyer with a thing for cowboy-rancher iconography. In fact, by the time you order, its possible the kitchen will have run out of some steaks  rib-eye, New York strip, filet  that most diners consider prerequisites for a steakhouse.

Renee Erickson, the influential Seattle chef and Bateaus co-owner, concedes that the restaurant bewilders some first-time customers. Its definitely not a steakhouse for everyone, she said. I wish it were.
As Mazen Ali put it, referencing an Arabic proverb, A monkey, in its mothers eyes, is a gazelle. Mr. Ali, 60, is the co-founder of a nonprofit group dedicated to preserving the regions olive trees. Though he is from the neighboring village of Deir Hanna, even he acknowledged that Ramehs oil is exceptional.

So what makes this oil so good, even superior? Explanations abound.

There are many factors, Mr. Ali said, like the olive fruit fly, a pest that attacks olive trees from the coast inward. The fly forces other villages to harvest their olives earlier, before the crop is damaged. But Rameh, because it is situated higher and farther inland, can wait longer and allow the olives to ripen on the tree. This makes for oil that has a pleasant bitterness, but is still delicate and fruity, he said.

But enough, I will get upset now, he said, laughing. Deir Hannas olive oil is also very good.
Headliner

Sobre Masa Tortilleria

Having successfully tested the waters with their cafe, Sobre Masa, in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, Zack and Diana Wangeman are opening a more ambitious place: a tortilla factory and restaurant that will eventually include a retail store and bar. Here, Mexican ingredients and their own corn tortillas will be for sale. To make their tortillas, they are importing more than a dozen varieties of heirloom corn in a rainbow of colors; about 20,000 pounds, in sacks, are stacked throughout the premises. A glassed-in, tortilla-making area is adjacent to the future shop; beyond is the dining room and bar. Mr. Wangeman came from Oaxaca right after high school and studied at the Culinary Institute of America to become a pastry chef, and worked at El Celler de Can Roca in Spain and Per Se in New York. He returned home to deepen his understanding of Mexican cuisine, and later, back in New York, opened pop-ups featuring traditional Mexican ingredients. His wife, a physician whose mother, Carina Santiago Bautista, is the owner and chef of Tierra Antigua near Oaxaca, joined him in the business. Mr. Wangeman said they feature tacos al pastor and that their gringas are made with corn tortillas instead of the more typical wheat but that they use cacahuazintle, an heirloom varietal that is soft and white like wheat flour. There are also side dishes, and the drinks menu focuses on mezcals, tequilas and other Mexican spirits.

52 Harrison Place (Morgan Avenue), Bushwick, Brooklyn, sobremasa.com.

Opening

Aperitivo

In the rather grand space that housed Rotisserie Georgette, brick walls replaced Portuguese tiles, and an open kitchen was expanded with a pizza oven to accommodate this Italian restaurant. Its the work of Nick Pashalis and Nick Tsoulos, who just opened one of their Anassa Tavernas in Battery Park City. A fairly typical lineup of thin-crust pizzas, appetizers like fritto misto and baked clams, salads, pastas and main dishes is the work of two chefs, Balente Barroso and Jesus Candia. There is an aperitif session from 4 to 6 p.m. daily, when cocktails and wines by the glass are served with bar snacks from a special menu.

14 East 60th Street, 646-693-9990, aperitivonyc.com.

Sweetbriar

The chef Bryce Shuman, who rose to prominence at Betony after working at Eleven Madison Park, is the executive chef at this replacement for Covina in the Park South Hotel. A palette of rose and green defines the decor. The menu is American fare, much of it prepared over wood or charcoal, or smoked, including a smoked half chicken, grilled short rib, black pepper-maple ribs and grilled hen-of-the-woods mushrooms with lentils. (Wednesday)

127 East 27th Street, 212-204-0225, sweetbriarnyc.com.

Comodo

Latin American food from Felipe Donnelly and Tamy Rofe of Colonia Verde in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, is the focus of this replacement for Gabriel Stulmans Simon & the Whale in the Freehand New York hotel. Its actually a reprise of the restaurant Comodo, which the couple owned in the West Village from 2012 to 2017. Here, theyre serving lamb sliders on Brazilian pao de queijo buns, and tilefish in a mushroom and mezcal mole, in addition to breakfast. (Wednesday)

Freehand New York, 23 Lexington Avenue (23rd Street), 212-475-1920, comodonyc.com.
The Food and Drug Administration seems likely to allow Americans to switch vaccines when choosing a Covid-19 booster shot. That authorization, which could come this week, is the latest development in a long-running debate over whether a mix-and-match strategy helps protect people from the coronavirus.

Here are answers to some common questions about mixing and matching booster shots.

How is mix-and-match different?

Immunizations typically consist of two or more doses of the same vaccine. The Moderna vaccine, for example, is administered in two identical shots of mRNA, separated by four weeks.

A double dose can create much more protection against a disease than a single shot. The first dose causes the immune systems B cells to make antibodies against a pathogen. Other immune cells, called T cells, develop the ability to recognize and kill infected cells.

The second shot amplifies that response. The B cells and T cells dedicated to fighting the virus multiply into much bigger numbers. They also develop more potent attackers against the enemy.
Youre hiking in the woods, some distance from where you started. Something bad happens  you twist an ankle, get lost, run out of food or water, or encounter weather youre not prepared for.

What happens if you need to be rescued by park rangers or other emergency workers? Should you be billed for their services afterward? Or, is that part of the job of being a rescuer? Is it up to the agencies that run parks to hire more people as more inexperienced hikers visit parks and the need for such assistance increases? If so, how should that be paid for?

In You Got Lost and Had to Be Rescued. Should You Pay? Claire Fahy explores these questions and more. The article begins:

It was 11 p.m. one night last July when a couple realized they would not make it back down the Old Bridle Path. They were with their two children just over a mile into the hiking trail on Mount Lafayette, roughly 70 miles north of Concord, N.H.

They had underestimated the time it would take to complete the 7-mile hike, rated as difficult by AllTrails.com. They had been overtaken by darkness.

The couple and their children, who were tourists from Florida, did not have flashlights or water and were tired, so they called 911, according to Col. Kevin Jordan of the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department. Four officers found them around 12:30 a.m., gave them water and helped them back to the trailhead, Colonel Jordan said.

Now, in what has become an increasing trend in many states, New Hampshire plans to bill the family for the cost of the rescue. The total could be $5,000, Colonel Jordan estimated. The Florida family could not be reached for comment.

The coronavirus pandemic has led to a surge of inexperienced hikers venturing into the outdoors. And that in turn has increased the pressure on search and rescue teams, as well as the costs. Increasingly, states are looking for ways to penalize people who take unnecessary risks. But some question whether these laws might also discourage people from seeking help soon enough after putting their lives at risk because of an honest mistake.

New Hampshire passed a law in 2008 that allowed it to seek reimbursement if state officials deemed that a rescued person was negligent.

We dont do it very often, Colonel Jordan said. Its got to be something thats pretty wild, pretty out there. But one thing I am pretty strict on is being unprepared, because those are literally the things that cost lives.

Five other states  Hawaii, Idaho, Maine, Vermont and Oregon  have similar laws allowing them to bill people for the cost of rescues in certain situations.

Hawaii has two bills pending that would allow search and rescue operators to seek reimbursement from those who strayed from hiking trails or intentionally disregarded a warning or notice, then had to be rescued.

And South Dakota passed a law to help offset search and rescue costs. In March 2020, Gov. Kristi Noem signed Senate Bill 56, allowing rescue agencies to charge each person as much as $1,000.

Eric Neitzel, a retired firefighter turned drone operator in Arizona who volunteers his services to search and rescue missions, thinks that a law patterned after the states Stupid Motorist Law should be adopted for hikers.

Though rarely enforced, the 1995 law said that if a driver drove through floodwaters then needed help, the expenses of an emergency response are a charge against the person liable for those expenses.

Something needs to happen, Mr. Neitzel said. Its kind of like regulating common sense.
Governing for the common good would be the final rejection of the neoliberal dogma that if you leave individuals to seek their own ends, youll necessarily build a good society, Sohrab Ahmari, the former opinion editor of The New York Post, who says he is launching a new media company, told me. Ahmari, a recent convert to Catholicism, is one of Vermeules most visible allies and has become practically synonymous with a self-consciously pugilistic right. He urged conservatives in a 2019 essay to approach the culture war with the aim of defeating the enemy and enjoying the spoils in the form of a public square reordered to the common good and ultimately the Highest Good, a phrase that has enjoyed a long half-life. I dont want to turn this into a Catholic country, Ahmari told me when I met him earlier this year. But he counts himself among those who believe conservatism has failed because it insists that the only kind of tyranny comes from the public square and therefore what you should do is check government power.

This is where it has proved helpful to have models abroad. Theres a tendency thats almost universal to want somewhere in the world that you can point to and say, Its really happening, Goldman said. And now here was this other, European tradition of Catholic conservatism, that was afraid neither of a strong state, nor of using it to promote a conservative vision of life. Hungary and Poland offered an example of something that looks different, Goldman went on. And thats thrilling to people who are trying to break out of the strictures of liberalism and have been told, in some cases for their entire lives, You cant do that, theres nothing else. Damon Linker, a columnist at The Week and a friend of Drehers (Linker also left the Catholic church over the abuse scandals) no longer considers himself a member of the right but noted that these conservatives see Hungary and think: Actually, we like that Orban makes it so that you can be against him, the state wont throw you in jail. But just as a conservative in our country has a hard time getting a job at a university, now, in our world, liberals are going to have a hard time getting a job.

In Hungary, Dreher and others claim, there is true freedom; no online vigilante mob is waiting to deprive people of their livelihood for uttering a wrong word. (This freedom does not extend to the journalists whove had their phones surveilled by the Hungarian government or been taken in for questioning by the Hungarian police.) It comes from a reversal of the cultural and institutional tilt: Orban pushed out the Soros-backed Central European University and used hostile takeovers to transform the media, outlet by outlet, into a conservative (and government-friendly) landscape. American conservatives might not use the same methods, but they would have no compunctions about using state power, Linker said, to impose a different set of moral views than the default ones that weve lived with for 50 years.

Dreher seemed to confirm this. If the right should somehow gain that kind of power, I dont trust us with it, Dreher told me. He seemed uncomfortable with the way this sounded like a threat, even as he articulated it. I dont trust us to be judicious and fair to the others in victory, he went on. The left is not being that way to us. And were not going to be that way to them.

Orban was elected in 2010 with the help of a political machine that remains beholden to him. For most of the last decade, his party, Fidesz, has held a supermajority in the Hungarian Parliament, thanks to the way he has intertwined politics and business and the changes the party made to election laws, which bolstered its representation. Along with what has been described as perfect party discipline  no one breaks rank  this has enabled Orban to govern with great efficiency. He has put in place numerous policies to counter a low birthrate and encourage Hungarian, not immigrant, babies: There are subsidies for family cars; women who have four or more children will never pay income tax again; and some older citizens who leave their jobs to take care of grandchildren are compensated by the government.

Along with Orbans rhetorical homages to Christian civilization, these family programs have given American conservatives reason to feel they have much to learn: Ahmari and Deneen have also visited Budapest recently. Apart from the stubborn question of whether Orbans rhetoric isnt just a front for a kleptocracy  he has shuffled millions in E.U. subsidy money into contracts with family members and close friends  his penchant for positioning himself as the sine qua non of the global culture wars suggests the true objective may simply be power.

Nearby Poland has also made an illiberal turn, though with less showmanship than in Hungary, from whose playbook it nonetheless borrows. Poland, too, has placed family policy at the center of its programs, with generous monthly allowances and some success in increasing the birthrate. Earlier this year, it pushed through a law that eliminated one of the few exceptions under which an abortion is permitted. The Polish government also recently engaged in an Orban-like legal battle for greater control of media outlets. And, like Hungary, Poland has placed its own laws and Constitution above the E.U.s, in part in reaction to L.G.B.T.Q. protections, even as this stance threatens its standing in the body.
As Mogadishu crumbles, the South Koreans, out of sheer good will (or perhaps ethnic solidarity), take in the vulnerable members of the North Korean Embassy, underscoring the values of inter-Korean cooperation that would register innocuously were it not for the backdrop of African people meeting bloody fates.

With little interest in elucidating the conflict at hand, much less in distinguishing between the various Somali parties in play, Escape is a wildly inadequate history lesson  its a silly blockbuster after all. More offensive is the films eagerness to whittle one nations traumatic episode into a setting for confectionary escapades, one in which child soldiers are practically punch lines and dead bodies are obstacles rather than people worth mourning.

Toward the end of the film, theres an immersively zippy car chase through the rebel-occupied streets involving a motorcade armed with books and bags of sand. For a moment, I was taken out of the films context and plunged into the mode of a harmless action-adventure movie. If only!

Escape From Mogadishu

Not rated. In Korean, with subtitles. Running time: 2 hours 1 minute. Rent or buy on Apple TV, Google Play and other streaming platforms and pay TV operators.
The New York City Board of Health declared racism a public health crisis on Monday, passing a resolution that directed the Health Department to take steps to ensure a racially just recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.

The resolution called on the department to work with other agencies to root out systemic racism within policies, plans and budgets on a wide range of matters that affect health, including land use, transportation and education. It also directed the department to improve data-collection practices and examine both the health code and its own history for structural bias.

Dr. Dave A. Chokshi, the departments commissioner, is also one of the 11 medical experts who sit on its board. At the meeting on Monday, he noted that the board was founded amid epidemics of yellow fever, cholera and smallpox in the early 1800s. Advances in sanitation and understanding the links between environmental factors and health helped curb those diseases.

He drew a parallel to the current pandemic, and its outsize toll on communities of color.

Why do some nonwhite populations develop severe disease and die from Covid-19 at higher rates than whites? he said. Underlying health conditions undoubtedly play a role. But why are there higher rates of hypertension, diabetes and obesity in communities of color? The answer does not lie in biology. Structural and environmental factors such as disinvestment, discrimination, and disinformation underlie a greater burden of these diseases in communities of color.
Their neighborhood was the setting for the 1981 movie Fort Apache, the Bronx. Powell said in his 1995 autobiography My American Journey that the movie presented the area as an urban sinkhole, block after block of burned-out tenements, garbage-strewn streets and weed-choked lots.

That is not quite the Hunts Point I was raised in, although it was hardly elm trees and picket fences, he wrote. We kept our doors and windows locked. He said that burglaries were common and drug use was on the rise.

He remembered other sights and sounds of the neighborhood. There were Saturday double-features at the Tiffany Theater, a short walk from the four-bedroom apartment where his family lived for most of his boyhood.

He remembered running through Van Cortlandt Park with the track team from Morris High School. He remembered the school, which he visited in 1991 for the first time since his graduation day in 1954. I remember the feeling that you cant make it, he said. But you can.

Powells diploma is on display in the building that housed Morris Park High School, now home to the Bronx International High School. He said he graduated with an average of 78.3.

He also remembered drug dealers in the 1950s working the corner at the end of the street where he grew up. And while he remembered that there were egg creams and seltzers at the candy store down the block and that every few blocks you found a Jewish bakery and a Puerto Rican grocery store, he said he did not recall any Black-owned businesses.

Powell went on to City College, where he discovered the Reserve Officers Training Corps and graduated with the rank of cadet colonel. As he rose through the ranks in the Army, his old neighborhood went through what he called the tragedy of the Bronx.
I wasnt completely surprised to find a backcountry ranger perched atop Kearsarge Pass, high above Californias Owens Valley, when I lumbered up last month. The gateway into the far reaches of Kings Canyon National Park requires a coveted wilderness permit, and I figured she wanted to check mine.

But the ranger was not there for that. She had bad news to deliver: The wilderness was closed. The National Park Service had declared a smoke emergency and urged her to abandon her post. Already, cigarette-blue smoke from the distant KNP Complex fire poured into nearby valleys and smudged the granite peaks. If you keep going, the ranger advised, you might want to sleep with a KN95 mask.

I told myself that nature doesnt care about my plans. Its silent agnosticism toward anything on the human time scale is part of why I wander into wilderness as often as I can. I told myself to be grateful for the privilege of having ready access to the range that inspired John Muir and helped propel the nations conservation movement. I would just have to come back another day.

But as I trudged back toward the valley floor, I thought: Would there be another day? I worried that more than just this trip was over and wondered if we are living through the end of the wilderness experience as we know it.
None of this would actually improve the program  Narrowly targeting the credit to the lowest income families risks creating a stigmatizing poverty trap, Samuel Hammond of the Niskanen Center told The Washington Post  but it would undermine progressives and stop the march of an entitlement society which, for Manchin, is good enough.

Opinion Debate Will the Democrats face a midterm wipeout? Mark Penn and Andrew Stein write that "only a broader course correction to the center will give Democrats a fighting chance in 2022" and beyond.

write that "only a broader course correction to the center will give Democrats a fighting chance in 2022" and beyond. Tory Gavito and Adam Jentleson write that the Virgina loss should "shock Democrats into confronting the powerful role that racially coded attacks play in American politics."

write that the Virgina loss should "shock Democrats into confronting the powerful role that racially coded attacks play in American politics." Ezra Klein speaks to David Shor, who discusses his fear that Democrats face electoral catastrophe unless they shift their messaging.

speaks to David Shor, who discusses his fear that Democrats face electoral catastrophe unless they shift their messaging. Ross Douthat writes that the outcome of the Virginia gubernatorial race shows Democrats need a new way to talk about progressive ideology and education.

As I argued earlier this month, the senator appears to be committed to a conservative producerism that treats the market as a crucible in which ordinary workers prove their moral worth. We are not an entitlement society, says Manchin; we are a reward society. To thrive, you must work. And if you do not work, then you forfeit whatever help the government might deign to give. To give help without work  to shield ordinary workers from the market in the name of security or dignity  is to undermine and weaken the very fiber of society.

In fairness to him, Manchin made it clear that this was his perspective at the start of the year, before Biden was even in office. I dont ever remember F.D.R. recommending sending a damn penny to a human being. We gave em a job and gave em a paycheck. Yeah. Jesus criminy, cant we start some infrastructure program to help people, get em back on their feet? Do we have to keep sending checks out? as Manchin put it to The Washington Post.

There was an irony in Manchins decision to invoke Franklin Roosevelt, one worth examining as Manchin takes a stand against the effort to expand the social safety net without forcing ordinary Americans to earn the support they need to live their lives. Animating the New Deal, Mike Konczal writes in his book, Freedom From the Market: Americas Fight to Liberate Itself From the Grip of the Invisible Hand, was a new idea of freedom that limited and constrained markets and put limits on market dependency.
The news report that emerged over the weekend sounded alarming: China, a rising military power, had unexpectedly fired a novel space weapon two months ago. It circled the planet and then re-entered Earths atmosphere, gliding at velocities far faster than the speed of sound toward a destination on Chinese territory.

As a military capability, bombarding a target from orbit in this way could overcome existing missile defenses. But many experts expressed doubts about the report.

Theres nothing we know from reliable sources, said Jonathan McDowell, a Harvard astronomer who tracks global space launches. The U.S. military unit that reports on orbital events had made public no information on an August launch by China that matched the reported claim about a weapons test, McDowell said.

Every aspect of this story has question marks, he added.

Did China really test and develop a surprise space weapon? Here are some of the military and technical points that are known about the system, as well as some of the responses to and uncertainties about the flight test.
Boeings second chance to test launch its troubled astronaut capsule to the International Space Station was delayed again, possibly until the middle of 2022, as NASA and the aerospace giant go to new lengths to investigate problems with the spacecrafts fuel valves.

The postponement adds to the woes of Boeings Starliner spacecraft, a striking contrast with SpaceX, the private company founded by Elon Musk. Its passenger spacecraft, Crew Dragon, has lofted crews to orbit four times in the past two years, with a fifth scheduled on Halloween.

The Starliner capsule came within hours of launching to the space station on an Atlas 5 rocket in August, as part of a 10-day test mission without humans on board. The goal was to demonstrate that the spacecraft was safe enough to fly NASA astronauts. But some of Starliners fuel valves, supplied by Aerojet Rocketdyne, a maker of rocket engines, didnt open as designed during last-minute launch preparations, prompting engineers to roll the rocket back into its tower and, eventually, the capsule back to its factory.

We had no indication that there was going to be any problem with these valves, John Vollmer, the manager of Boeings commercial crew operations, told reporters on Tuesday. The valves are part of an ornate network of plumbing in a detachable trunk called the service module that houses Starliners propulsion gear. The components worked during previous tests, including a trial of the spacecrafts emergency abort system in 2019, Mr. Vollmer added.
When Shanna Williams, a forensic anthropologist at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine Greenville, was in graduate school around a decade ago, it was still customary to sort skeletons into one of the Big Three possible populations  African, Asian or European.

But Dr. Williams grew suspicious of the idea and the way ancestry was often assigned. She saw skulls designated as Hispanic, a term that refers to a language group and has no biological meaning. She considered how the field might try, and fail, to sort her own skull. My mom is white, and my dad is Black, she said. Do I fit that mold? Am I perfectly one thing or the other?

The body of a skeleton can provide a persons age or height. But the question of ancestry is reserved for the skull  specifically, features of face and skull bones, known as morphoscopic traits, that vary across different groups of humans and can occur more frequently in certain populations.

One trait, called the post-bregmatic depression, is a small indentation located on top of some peoples heads. For a long time, forensic anthropologists assumed that if the skull was indented, the person may be Black.

But forensic anthropologists know little else about the post-bregmatic depression. Theres not been any understanding as to why this trait exists, what causes it, and what it means, Dr. Bethard said.

Moreover, the science linking the trait and African ancestry was flawed. In 2003, Joe Hefner, a forensic anthropologist at Michigan State University, used trait lists from a key textbook, Skeletal Attribution of Race, to examine more than 700 skulls for his masters thesis. He found that the post-bregmatic depression was present in only 40 percent of people with African ancestry, and is actually more common in many other populations.
More than 13 years after leaving fashion behind, Martin Margiela, the elusive and highly influential Belgian designer who changed how we dressed in the 1990s, is back. But not as part of a nostalgia-driven trend wave. As an artist.

On Oct. 20, Mr. Margielas debut solo show, which is untitled, opens at Lafayette Anticipations  Fondation dentreprise Galeries Lafayette in Paris. Like the Margiela clothes, which deconstructed notions of the suit and beauty through unconventional materials and approaches, the exhibition creates a sense of wonder around the banal through some 40 sculptures, collages, paintings, installations and films. It is almost as though Mr. Margiela views the world through the lens of a photographic negative, highlighting the details most of us never see and demanding they be reconsidered.

I became obsessed with fashion very early in my life and developed my own vision by presenting it in the most conceptual way possible, Mr. Margiela, now 64, wrote in an email. (The designer famously never showed his face or gave an in-person interview during his time in fashion, and he has not changed his approach now.) But, he wrote, I needed to explore other mediums, to enjoy pure creation without boundaries.
WASHINGTON  Facebook agreed on Tuesday to pay up to $14.25 million to settle claims brought by the federal government in the waning days of the Trump administration that the company had discriminated against United States workers.

The Justice Department sued the company in December, arguing that Facebook had declined to recruit, consider or hire qualified United States workers for thousands of positions. Instead, prosecutors said, the company gave those jobs to foreign workers who held temporary work visas.

The agreement with the Justice Department included payments of $4.75 million to the government and as much as $9.5 million to eligible victims of Facebooks alleged discrimination, according to a news release. The combined settlement is the largest ever collected by the agencys civil rights division for violations of the anti-discrimination provision in the Immigration and Nationality Act. The company also separately settled concerns raised by the Labor Department this year over whether it had violated labor regulations.

The claims were part of an effort by the Trump administration to push the countrys biggest tech companies to hire more United States workers. The administration tightened the requirements to receive a so-called H-1B visa, which are popular with technology companies hiring foreigners, including increasing the salaries companies needed to pay workers as part of the program.
But Nina Jackel, founder of Lady Freethinker, said in an interview that there was no gray area with many of the animal abuse videos, and that a company of YouTubes size and resources should be able to identify and remove these clear violations.

Ivy Choi, a YouTube spokeswoman, said the company had expanded its policy on animal abuse videos this year. Since then, she said, it has removed hundreds of thousands of videos and terminated thousands of channels for violations. She cautioned that it took time to increase enforcement.

We agree that content depicting violence or abuse toward animals has no place on YouTube, Ms. Choi said in a statement. Of 10 animal videos that The New York Times shared with YouTube, the company removed nine for violating its violent or graphic content policy. The one that was not removed shows a live rabbit being fed to a python. YouTube declined to explain why this video did not violate its guidelines.

Through its lawyers, Lady Freethinker also sent a letter to the Justice Department on Monday, accusing YouTube of aiding and abetting the violation of animal crushing law. Created in 1999 and amended in 2010 and 2019, the federal law prohibits making or distributing videos in which animals are purposely crushed, burned, drowned, suffocated, impaled or otherwise subjected to serious bodily injury.

The law allows exceptions for videos in which animals may be harmed in slaughter for food, legal hunting, the protection of people or property, medical research and euthanasia.

In the complaint and letter, the animal rights group said YouTube was profiting from animal abuse because some of the videos ran advertisements. For example, a video of a puppy desperately trying to escape the grasp of a python was preceded by a commercial for Vrbo, the vacation rental unit of Expedia Group.

Many of the comments on the video are also troubling. Under one video in which a baby monkey is manhandled while it screams in terror, one commentator called it a thrill. Under the same video, another person wrote that the creator should break the monkeys arms to instill some severe discipline.
MONETA, Va.  On a sunny Thursday morning in September, a few dozen high school students gathered for a weekly chapel service at what used to be the Bottoms Up Bar & Grill and is now the chapel and cafeteria of Smith Mountain Lake Christian Academy.

Five years ago, the school in southwestern Virginia had just 88 students between kindergarten and 12th grade. Its finances were struggling, quality was inconsistent by its own admission, and classes met at a local Baptist church.

Now, it has 420, with others turned away for lack of space. It has grown to occupy a 21,000-square-foot former mini-mall, which it moved into in 2020, plus two other buildings down the road.

Smith Mountain Lake is benefiting from a boom in conservative Christian schooling, driven nationwide by a combination of pandemic frustrations and rising parental anxieties around how schools handle education on issues including race and the rights of transgender students.
The family of Elijah McClain, a 23-year-old Black man who died in 2019 after the police in Aurora, Colo., restrained him with a chokehold maneuver that has since been banned, has reached a settlement with the city, an official and lawyers for his parents said on Tuesday.

Ryan Luby, a spokesman for the city of Aurora, confirmed in a statement that the settlement had been reached in principle over the summer to resolve a civil rights lawsuit that Mr. McClains family filed in 2020, after Mr. McClains tragic death.

Mr. Luby said that city leaders would sign it after family members agreed on how the settlement money would be allocated. He said the parties could not disclose the amount of the settlement until those issues are resolved and the agreement is in its final form.

The settlement was discussed earlier this month in U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado. A court filing says that Magistrate Judge N. Reid Neureiter held a hearing on Oct. 8 to discuss the logistics of how the lawsuit would be resolved.
WASHINGTON  Senate Democrats on Tuesday, bowing to an aggressive lobbying campaign by the banking industry and pushback from Republicans, scaled back a Biden administration plan for the Internal Revenue Service to try to crack down on tax cheats.

The new proposal, which would help pay for the expansive social policy and climate change bill that includes it, narrows the scope of information that banks would have to provide to the I.R.S. about customer accounts. Under the revised plan, which is backed by the Biden administration, banks would be required to provide data on accounts only with total annual deposits or withdrawals worth more than $10,000, rather than the $600 threshold that was initially proposed. The reporting requirement would not apply to payroll deposits for wage and salary earners or to beneficiaries of federal programs such as Social Security.

The plan was narrowed after a steady lobbying campaign by banks and a barrage of criticism from Republicans, who argued that the administrations desire to bolster the I.R.S. to shrink the $7 trillion tax gap amounted to an invasion of privacy and government overreach.

Senators Ron Wyden of Oregon, chairman of the Finance Committee, and Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts, accused detractors of lying to protect affluent tax cheats. But their decision to pull back the initial proposal showed how legislation containing measures that Democrats believed only weeks ago would be politically unassailable  from cracking down on rich tax scofflaws to allowing the government to negotiate lower drug prices  could succumb to challenges from well-financed opponents. With no votes to spare in an evenly divided Senate, opponents need to change just one vote to doom a provision in the social policy bill.
The government said in court filings that in spring 2018, one of Mr. Fortenberrys fund-raisers told the congressman that he had funneled $30,000 from Mr. Baaklini to the 2016 re-election event, but that the money probably did come from Gilbert Chagoury.

The fund-raiser, referred to as Individual H in the indictment, was cooperating with law enforcement when he spoke with Mr. Fortenberry, according to the indictment.

Despite the fact that the donations were most likely illegal, Mr. Fortenberry did not take appropriate action, such as filing an amended report with the Federal Election Commission or returning the contributions, the indictment said. It was not until after the Justice Department contacted him in July 2019 that Mr. Fortenberrry returned the contributions, according to the document.

In his initial interview with the F.B.I. in 2019, Mr. Fortenberry said that the people who had contributed during his fund-raising event in 2016 were all publicly disclosed, and that he was unaware of any contributions made by foreign citizens, according to the indictment.

During a subsequent interview at the office of Mr. Fortenberrys lawyer, the Justice Department alleged that Mr. Fortenberry falsely stated that he had not been told by Individual H during the 2018 call that Baaklini had given Individual H $30,000 cash to funnel into his campaign, and that he was not aware of any illicit donation made during the fund-raising event.

Mr. Fortenberry told investigators that he had ended the 2018 call with the governments cooperating witness after that person had made a concerning comment, even though the indictment alleged that the witness went on to repeatedly and explicitly describe illegal contributions and referred to an illegal contribution from a foreign national.
Iowas Democratic Party chair said on Tuesday that he received a lynching threat and several other racist phone and email messages after he wrote a column in the states largest newspaper denouncing former President Donald J. Trump and Republicans.

The party chairman, Ross Wilburn, the first Black person to lead the Democratic Party in Iowa, the presidential proving grounds, said that he turned the messages over to the police in Ames, Iowa, and planned to press charges if the people who sent the messages were identified.

Speaking to reporters over Zoom, Mr. Wilburn, a state representative from Ames, said that the threatening messages were in response to an Oct. 8 opinion article that he wrote in The Des Moines Register titled, Iowa Republicans put loyalty to Trump over helping Iowans.

The columns publication preceded Mr. Trumps rally on Oct. 9 at the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines, his first visit to the state since losing the election in 2020 and the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
WASHINGTON  Just months ago, the rocky relationship between the United States and Venezuela seemed to be taking a turn for the better.

President Biden had eased a pressure campaign started by the Trump administration, dropping threats of ousting President Nicolas Maduro with military power. New negotiations between Mr. Maduro and his political opponents raised hopes of a breakthrough. European officials were considering rescinding some financial sanctions against Venezuela if local elections across the country scheduled for November turned out to be free and fair.

Then on Saturday, Alex Saab, a close adviser to Mr. Maduro, was extradited to the United States on charges of money laundering and links to Hezbollah, and the window of opportunity for a political resolution slammed shut  at least for now.

Mr. Maduro immediately called off the negotiations and detained six U.S. oil executives, derailing any glimmer of rapprochement as Venezuelas economy crumbles and its people suffer from rampant violence, poverty and disease.
WASHINGTON  Senate Republicans were expected again on Wednesday to block action on voting rights legislation, intensifying calls by activists and lawmakers for Democrats to finally do away with the filibuster or find themselves at a steep disadvantage in next years midterm elections and into the future.

For the third time this year, Republicans were poised to use the procedural weapon to thwart an attempt by Democrats to ensure access to the ballot box and counteract a raft of G.O.P.-written state laws around the country imposing new election restrictions.

Anticipating the move, President Biden, who has been criticized by progressives for not being aggressive enough on voting rights, reached out on Monday to Senate Democrats to express his support for what the White House described as a must-pass priority.

And at least one Democrat who had previously been reluctant to alter filibuster rules said he was ready to do so when it came to the voting measure.
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A startling amount of money is pouring into American elections, especially the race for control of Congress in 2022. Every House and Senate candidate in the country was recently required to detail their spending and fund-raising through the end of September. Here are some takeaways, tidbits and trends from those financial reports.

How Trump factors in

Former President Donald J. Trump has been doing a lot of endorsing in Republican primaries ahead of the 2022 midterms. His backing is, by far, the most coveted in the party. But a Trump blessing has not necessarily translated to a cash boom for those Senate hopefuls he backs, the records show.

In Alabama, Mr. Trump is supporting Representative Mo Brooks  who has literally worked the endorsement into his logo  but Mr. Brooks was nonetheless badly out-raised for the second consecutive quarter, pulling in only $670,000 compared with $1.5 million for Katie Boyd Britt, a former chief of staff to Senator Richard Shelby.

In Alaska, Mr. Trump is supporting Kelly Tshibaka, a primary challenger to Senator Lisa Murkowski, who voted to convict Mr. Trump in his second impeachment trial. Ms. Murkowski doubled Ms. Tshibakas haul. In North Carolina, Mr. Trumps preferred choice, Representative Ted Budd, was narrowly edged by former Gov. Pat McCrory.
You, doctor, are going to be arrested for crimes against humanity. The governing body should fear the people. We are pissed off. Dr. Berry, were coming for you. [music plays] Quit abusing our kids! We will not bow down to communism! We will not allow this regime to continue! And I will not be muzzled like a mad dog! We will be outside your houses with megaphones. You will not get sleep. We are not giving up any rights. My 12-year-old son is home by himself right now, and there are protesters banging outside the door. Do you think that the four feet of marble that holds you above, high in this chamber, will help you from the fate of humanity, which you are unleashing? No, it wont! Ill get in if I want, I promise you. This is not your building. This is not your building. No, no, no, no, no, we will not be pushed  locked out. [Chanting] U.S.A, U.S.A, U.S.A., U.S.A.! You! The evil, the wicked, will be dethroned. Put our public servants on notice that we will not now, nor ever again, allow our inalienable rights and constitutionally protected liberties be taken from us! We will give no more ground! We will not comply! And for you to propose vaccines for children is genocide. This is wrong! You all know it! I told you! [Chanting] No more masks! No more masks! No more masks! And Im not going to threaten anybody, but theres a lot of good guys out there ready to do bad things soon. Watch whats coming!
That LUMA contract has to be thrown in the trash! protesters chanted on Friday.

Crews patched Puerto Ricos grid with $3.2 billion in emergency repairs after Hurricane Maria, which shredded the islands power lines as a Category 4 storm in September 2017. Congress earmarked about $10 billion through the Federal Emergency Management Agency to rebuild the system. Those projects will be contracted out by the new consortium, with the aim of restoring the grid to how it was before the storm, with some modernization.

That approach, while consistent with how the federal government deals with disasters, is shortsighted and unsustainable, said Agustin A. Irizarry, an electrical engineering professor at the University of Puerto Rico who has promoted a plan to distribute solar energy across residential and commercial rooftop panels and storage batteries.

People are doing it on their own, without the government stepping in, he said. Eventually, there wont be clients for the electrical grid because they will not have taken the trouble to modernize the grid.

Last week, the government of Puerto Rico announced the first disbursement of federal funds for reconstruction: $7.1 million.

Puerto Rico awarded a 15-year contract to LUMA last year to operate the transmission and distribution system and handle its reconstruction, arguing that a private company would do better than PREPA, one of the two largest public power utilities in the United States. While PREPA is in bankruptcy  it is $9 billion in debt  Puerto Rico is paying the new company a fixed annual fee of $115 million.

Gov. Pedro R. Pierluisi said the new contract came with a promise to reduce the number and length of outages. But the contract drew criticism from the start, with some analysts noting that the company would not face penalties if it did not find savings and lower rates.

LUMA took over in June, with its top officials saying they were prepared to handle a Category 2 hurricane. (None have hit the island this year.) Almost immediately, huge outages began. Customers found the company slow to respond to their complaints. Some residents tried to fix the grid themselves, prompting the utility to warn against such dangerous attempts.
A new study showed that Pfizer-BioNTechs Covid-19 vaccine is highly effective against hospitalization for children aged 12 to 18.

Mix-and-match vaccines

The F.D.A. seems likely to allow Americans to switch Covid vaccines when choosing a booster in a decision that is expected later this week. Scientists have been experimenting with the mix-and-match strategy for years, and they have long suspected that a combination of different authorized vaccines may sometimes work better than two identical doses.

My colleague Carl Zimmer answered some common questions about mixing and matching shots.

How does mix-and-match work?

We have data from other vaccines  for example, experimental H.I.V. vaccines  that suggest that mixing vaccines could create a broader, more potent response than multiple doses of a single vaccine. Different types stimulate the immune system in different ways, and switching between two vaccines might give people the best of both worlds.

What do we know about mixing Covid vaccines?

The pandemic gave scientists new opportunities to test the mix-and-match idea. Young people in Europe who had received one dose of AstraZeneca were offered a second dose of Pfizer because of a small but real risk of blood clots. The two vaccines are profoundly different, but when researchers looked at the immune response from this mix-and-match approach, they found that it produced more antibodies than two shots of AstraZeneca alone.
Last December, I cried into my mask on the subway home after getting the only holiday gift I wanted: the Pfizer vaccine. As a gastroenterologist treating hospitalized Covid patients, it brought back a flood of difficult memories from the past year. Among the most haunting were the pregnant people with severe liver injury I cared for in the intensive care unit who couldnt see their newborns.

Two months later, I became pregnant myself.

The pandemic has transformed pregnancy, an already stressful life event, into a unique minefield. Pregnant people faced early bans on hospital visitors during labor, exclusion from the original vaccination studies and disproportionate devastation from the Delta variant, which in August cost 22 lives  the highest number of Covid-19 deaths in a single month among pregnant people since the pandemic started.

Since January 2020, at least 180 pregnant people have died from Covid-19. The recent pleas from federal health officials for all pregnant people to get vaccinated as soon as possible has provided the kind of no-nonsense clarity that expecting parents might have been waiting for. But what does that mean for boosters?

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lists pregnancy as a medical condition that would make someone eligible for a Covid-19 booster. Official guidelines firmly declare that you should get a booster if you meet certain criteria  for instance if you work in a high-exposure field, like as a nurse or teacher (both professions that incidentally make up the two most common occupations for pregnant workers in the United States). But the guidelines recommend that people who fall into other high risk categories, including those who are pregnant, weigh the individual risks and benefits of the booster.
The last three mountain glaciers in Africa are receding at such a rapid pace that they could disappear within two decades, a symbol of the broader devastation being wrought by climate change on the continent, according to a new U.N. report.

While African nations contribute less than 4 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, the report by the World Meteorological Organization and other agencies underscored the outsize impact that changes in the climate are having on the continents 1.3 billion people as floods grow worse, droughts last longer and temperatures continue to rise.

The rapid shrinking of the last remaining glaciers in eastern Africa, which are expected to melt entirely in the near future, signals the threat of imminent and irreversible change to the Earth system, the World Meteorological Organizations secretary general, Petteri Taalas, said in a foreword to the report.

The climate in Africa in 2020 was characterized by continued warming temperatures, accelerating sea-level rise, extreme weather and climate events, such as floods, landslides and droughts, and associated devastating impacts, he added in the report presented in advance of the U.N. climate conference in Scotland starting on Oct. 31.
The South African government has conceded that dozens of former freedom fighters have not received their promised benefits. But officials blamed obstacles, including an out-of-date database and the very definition of who is a veteran. A spokesperson for the Department of Defense and Military Veterans estimated that there are at least 20,000 veterans from liberation groups, and that the government has compensated 495 of them since 2016, offered trauma counseling to 4,500 veterans and their families, and promised to repatriate the remains of dozens of fighters who died in exile.

Ms. Modise, herself once a guerrilla fighter, said that before the tensions rose last Thursday, she had joined the veterans singing liberation anthems, because they were our songs, too. Afterward, she said of her politically awkward face-off with her former comrades, We were not threatened, just uncomfortable with being held against our will.

She was recently appointed defense minister and promised to investigate why the veterans had not received their benefits. She had been meeting with the veterans as part of a task force set up by President Cyril Ramaphosa in November to address the bottlenecks in delivering benefits.

The 53 veterans  among them several women  were charged on Tuesday in a packed courtroom inside a prison where many liberation-era fighters were executed by the apartheid regime. A judge granted 42 of them bail of 500 Rand  about $34 each  but kept 11 in custody because of prior convictions. Prosecutors did not rule out the possibility of also charging them with terrorism at the next hearing, scheduled for February.

Outside the prison, Mr. Kgogo and his comrades, some dressed in faded fatigues, sang old liberation songs.

Like many government service programs in post-apartheid South Africa, the distribution of veterans benefits has been plagued by allegations of corruption and mismanagement.
BRASILIA, Brazil  A Brazilian congressional panel is set to recommend that President Jair Bolsonaro be charged with crimes against humanity, asserting that he intentionally let the coronavirus rip through the country and kill hundreds of thousands in a failed bid to achieve herd immunity and revive Latin Americas largest economy.

A report from the panels investigation, excerpts from which were viewed by The New York Times ahead of its scheduled release this week, also recommends criminal charges against 69 other people, including three of Mr. Bolsonaros sons and numerous current and former government officials.

The panel initially recommended in the report that Mr. Bolsonaro be charged with mass homicide and genocide against Indigenous groups in the Amazon, where the virus decimated populations for months after hospitals there ran out of oxygen. But less than a day after The Times and several Brazilian news outlets reported on those plans, several senators said that the accusations had gone too far.

Late Tuesday, on the eve of the scheduled release of the report, the committee removed the recommended charges of homicide and genocide, Renan Calheiros, the centrist Brazilian senator who was the lead author of the report, said just after midnight on Wednesday local time.
In an effort to eradicate polio and boost health measures for children in Afghanistan, the Taliban government has agreed to restart a door-to-door vaccination program next month, and will allow women to be frontline workers in the drive, health officials announced on Tuesday.

The announcement, by the World Health Organization and United Nations Childrens Fund, is a breakthrough in a country that has been called the worlds polio capital, a place where vaccinators have faced the twin challenges of a lack of access to patients and deadly violence.

The five-day nationwide program to distribute the polio vaccine, which is given orally and in multiple doses, will begin Nov. 8, according to officials. The drive aims to reach about 10 million children, according to Dr. Hamid Jafari, head of polio eradication for the W.H.O.s eastern Mediterranean region.

More than 3.3 million children had previously remained inaccessible to vaccination campaigns, according to the statement announcing the drive. Children who are 6 months to 59 months old will also be given vitamin A supplements during the campaign, officials said.
LONDON  Two weeks before a global summit on climate change that some fear is already foundering, Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain on Tuesday tried to recapture momentum by announcing a host of measures to bolster his own countrys push toward carbon neutrality.

The British government published documents outlining plans for a big expansion of electric vehicles, more offshore wind power and greater use of hydrogen.

But Mr. Johnsons efforts to make Britain a pacesetter on climate change could face economic and political headwinds at home. And there is little evidence that it will galvanize global action at a time when the leaders of several of the worlds largest carbon emitters are expected to stay away from the two-week conference in Glasgow.

President Xi Jinping of China, the worlds most populous nation, is not expected to attend the event, called Cop26, in person, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India has yet to decide whether he will come. On Wednesday the Kremlin said that Russias president, Vladimir V. Putin, would not attend, declining to provide a reason.
Typically, groups that provide humanitarian assistance in dangerous places have kidnapping insurance, and it is insurance companies crisis teams that negotiate for the release of hostages, said Mr. Saale, who is a security consultant.

In Haiti, the power of gangs is such that kidnappers often dont bother to hide, and operate nearly unafraid of repercussions, said Eric Jean-Jacques, 48, a Haitian businessman whose cousin was held hostage last month by a gang called 5 Segonn. His aunt was also kidnapped by another gang that he could not identify.

The kidnappers initially demanded $1 million for Mr. Jean-Jacques aunt and $2.5 million for his cousin, in the mistaken belief that she was the daughter of a former prime minister.

Gang members were so confident they were not in danger that they spent long minutes on the phone during negotiations, even though it might have allowed them to be located, he said.

They dont care, Mr. Jean-Jacques said. They know we cannot enter their territory.

And when Mr. Jean-Jacques went to deliver payment  $30,000 raised among family members for the cousins release, and nothing for the aunt, who was let go  the meeting took place in plain sight, he said, near the presidential palace in the center of Port-au-Prince.

He did not even have a mask on, Mr. Jean-Jacques said of the gang member.

At the heart of this recent spate of kidnappings is the group that the police believe abducted the missionaries on Saturday.

Known as 400 Mawozo, the gang controls the area where the missionaries were abducted in the suburbs of Port-au-Prince. The group has sown terror there for several months, engaging in armed combat with rival gangs and kidnapping businessmen and police officers.
SAKHALIN ISLAND, Russia  Sixteen wind turbines are slated to go up amid the winding coast and wooded hills of this Russian island in the Pacific, creating a wind park bigger than any that currently exists in the vast reaches of the countrys Far East.

The clean energy generated by the new wind park will go toward mining more coal.

Russia is scrambling to retain the wealth and power that come from selling fossil fuels to the world, even as the Kremlin increasingly acknowledges climate change to be a human-made crisis that the country needs to do more to address.

Last week, President Vladimir V. Putin said Russia would stop adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere by 2060. It was a remarkable reversal since Mr. Putin has long dismissed climate science and many in his country see international efforts to combat global warming as part of a Western plot to weaken Russia. His announcement comes two weeks before world leaders are set to converge in Glasgow for a pivotal U.N. climate summit.

But its unclear if Russia is sincere in its new pledge. Russian energy experts and government officials acknowledge the moves are largely driven by economics, with the European Unions plans for tariffs on heavily polluting countries threatening exports from Russia, the fourth biggest among nations in terms of greenhouse gas emissions. Some elements of Russias plans have prompted skepticism, including a heavy reliance on forests as a tool to absorb carbon dioxide.
KYIV, Ukraine  The Ministry of Health in Ukraine, the country with the lowest rate of coronavirus vaccination in Europe, reported on Tuesday that 538 people had died of Covid-19 in the country over the previous 24 hours. It was the highest daily death toll since the beginning of the pandemic.

The countrys health officials are struggling with two interconnected and vexing problems: widespread vaccine skepticism, and illegal schemes selling fake Covid credentials that people use to get around restrictions intended to slow the virus spread, like a new rule taking effect Thursday that requires a vaccination certificate or negative test to board a train.

The problem of fraud is significant enough that President Volodymyr Zelensky discussed it at a meeting with government ministers and law enforcement officials this week.

The proliferation of fake vaccination certificates in a country that has struggled for years with corruption in many spheres of public life threatens to undermine Ukraines fight against the virus. A deputy minister of health, Maria Karchevych, said in a statement earlier this month that police officials suspect at least 15 Ukrainian hospitals of having issued fake certificates in exchange for payments.
In pulling out of Afghanistan, President Biden declared that he would not pass the conflict to another president and another generation. He would bring closure. But the shambolic withdrawal and the failure to evacuate thousands of now threatened Afghans whose help was essential to the American effort has only deepened the alienation felt by many veterans.

Mr. Sappenfields emotions rise and fall with each message from P, who tried and failed three times to reach the Abbey Gate, one of the Kabul airports main entries, during the American evacuation.

I tell my students in 11th grade that they are the only ones who can betray their integrity, Mr. Sappenfield said. Its theirs to give away if they choose to lie or cheat. But in this case, someone else broke my word for me. It just irritates the heck out of me.

If Not Me, Then Who?

Did our service matter?

The question gnawed at Lt. Gen. Lawrence Nicholson as he drafted a letter in August to the men and women with the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade who fought alongside him in Afghanistan. Nothing, he wrote, can diminish your selfless service to our nation.

Nothing  not the Talibans sweeping takeover after two decades of war, not the desperate Afghans falling from planes, not disbelief that Afghanistan had fallen overnight to the same enemy that the Americans had vanquished 20 years ago.

I felt I had to say to the guys, Hey, get your heads up, said General Nicholson, who retired as a three-star in 2018. Recalling the 92 Marines who died under his command in Helmand Province, the 2,461 American service members overall who died in Afghanistan and the untold treasure lost, he wrote to his fellow Marines:

You raised your hand and said, IF NOT ME, THEN WHO?
Who is attending COP26?

President Biden arrived the first Monday of the conference. He is among about 130 heads of state and government who attended, including Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain and Nicola Ferguson Sturgeon, the first minister of Scotland. Presidents Xi Jinping of China, Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil and Vladimir V. Putin of Russia did attend .

Thousands of diplomats from nearly 200 countries conducted the nuts and bolts of the negotiations throughout the two weeks, while business leaders, academic experts and activists, including Ms. Thunberg, monitored the proceedings and in many cases pushed for more ambitious targets.

What is the 1.5 degrees Celsius target?

The British and United Nations hosts have said they want to keep hope alive of constraining global temperature rise to under 1.5 degrees Celsius, or 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit, compared with levels before the Industrial Revolution. Thats the threshold beyond which scientists say the dangers of global warming  such as deadly heat waves, water shortages, crop failures and ecosystem collapse  grow immensely.

Meeting that goal means all countries must commit to cutting emissions faster and deeper than they already are doing. There is also an expectation that wealthy countries will significantly increase financial support to help the most vulnerable nations adapt to the impacts of warming and build economies that dont depend on fossil fuels.
By late afternoon, the firestorm finally lost steam and the clouds began to dissipate. But the Dixie fire continued to stir up powerful storms as it grew into the largest blaze of the year.

To the northwest, a new pyroCb cloud abruptly shot up. The downburst winds may have helped push Dixies flames into a new pocket of fuel, Dr. Lareau said, kicking up more fire clouds.

The dry, thirsty atmosphere sucked up much of the moisture before it reached the ground. But the winds continued to descend, fanning out across the terrain.

Eventually, the storm clouds began to rain, pushing moisture and strong winds to the surface.

Neil Lareau, an atmospheric scientist who advised this project, called the firestorm a watershed moment for the Dixie fire and an early sign of its destructive power.

The storms towering, anvil-shaped clouds reached more than 40,000 feet into the air, well above the typical cruising altitude of a passenger plane .

Like regular thunderclouds, pyroCbs generate wind and lightning, increasing the risk of spreading a fire, but they dont often produce significant rain.

Soon, the fire clouds grew into an extreme form: Pyrocumulonimbus, or pyroCb, for short  a fire-fueled thunderstorm .

The strong updraft funnelled smoke and heat into the atmosphere like a chimney.

Feasting off of abundant dry fuels, the fire intensified, spewing plumes of smoke and rapidly heating the air above it, which began to quickly rise.

The Dixie fire had already burned through more than 30,000 acres of densely forested land in less than a week, when on July 19 things took a turn for the worse.

Using high-resolution radar data, which picked up ash particles from smoke plumes and water droplets from clouds, The New York Times reconstructed a 3-D model of the Dixie fires first massive thunderclouds.

Now, for the first time, you can see one of these firestorms up close.

From California to Canada, the landscape was primed to burn: A severe drought and high summer temperatures magnified by climate change left vegetation tinder-dry, with low humidity and strong winds further amplifying the risk. Given a spark, new fires grew explosively. Several became so large and intense that they powered their own weather systems, spawning towering storm clouds, lightning and even some fire whirls, spinning vortices of flames.

The storm  an early sign of Dixies devastating potential  was part of a broader outbreak of extreme fire behavior across the West this summer.

Days after Californias Dixie fire ignited in mid-July, towering storm clouds burst from the flames, generating lightning and wild winds that pushed the fire in every direction, according to firefighters battling the blaze.

Over its lifespan, the Dixie fire generated eight firestorms and displayed other extreme behaviors, including at least one fire whirl, a sort of mini-tornado. David Peterson, a meteorologist who tracks fire-driven thunderstorms at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, called Dixie the most prolific producer of pyroCbs in the United States this summer.

These storms create a very dangerous situation for our firefighters on the ground, said Edwin Zuniga, a public information officer for Cal Fire, Californias firefighting agency.

When wildfires are driven by wind, they usually move in a predictable direction. If the wind is blowing from the southwest, we know the fire will be travelling to the northeast, Mr. Zuniga said. But fires that are plume-dominated  like those creating and sustaining their own weather systems  are more volatile. They spew their own erratic winds and can throw embers long distances, causing spot fires miles away.

Faced with pyroCb clouds, firefighters are usually forced to pull back from a blaze. Its really nearly impossible to contain at that point, Mr. Zuniga said.

Cal Fire firefighters battling the Dixie Fire near Milford, Calif., this summer. Patrick T. Fallon/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

Since it began in July, when a small cluster of flames was discovered near downed power lines, the Dixie fire has burned through nearly a million acres across the Sierra Nevada, triggering mass evacuations and destroying thousands of homes, businesses and other structures, including much of the town of Greenville.

Today, the fire is almost fully contained, though pockets still smolder.

Competing forces helped Dixie grow into a monster, said Ryan Bauer, a fire manager at Plumas National Forest. Strong winds often pushed flames across the rugged terrain of the Sierra. But even when the winds were calm, the fire created its own momentum, kicking up powerful plumes and pyro-clouds.

Recent extreme heat and drought had turned Californias overgrown forests into potent fuel for either scenario. The stage was set for fire to spread no matter what the conditions, Mr. Bauer said. It was just a matter of whether it was going to be wind-driven that day or plume-dominated.

Sept. 12 Eagle Lake Sierra Nevada CALIFORNIA Aug. 6 Dixie fire Chester Janesville Lake Almanor Honey Lake Aug. 6 Almanor Dixie fire July 24 Greenville July 24 Sept. 12 July 19 Aug. 31 CALIF. July 17 70 MILES Sept. 12 Sierra Nevada CALIFORNIA Aug. 6 Dixie fire Chester Janesville Aug. 6 Almanor Dixie fire July 24 Greenville Sept. 12 July 24 July 19 Aug. 31 CALIF. July 17 70 MILES Sept. 12 Sierra Nevada CALIFORNIA Aug. 6 Dixie fire Aug. 6 Dixie fire July 24 Sept. 12 July 24 July 19 Aug. 31 CALIF. July 17 70 MILES CALIFORNIA Sept. 12 Dixie fire CALIF. Aug. 6 Dixie fire Aug. 6 July 24 Sept. 12 July 19 Aug. 31 July 17 70 MILES Note: Graphic reflects the extent of the fire at the end of the day for each date.  Source: CalFIRE

Wildfires on the West Coast have grown larger and more intense in recent years, especially in California. Experts attribute the trend to a combination of factors, including decades of aggressive fire suppression that left forests dangerously overgrown, and climate change, which has parched the landscape, priming it to burn at record scale.

Fire clouds have also become increasingly common on the landscape. In California, where powerful infernos have burned close to population centers, snapshots of the mushroom-like clouds have spread widely on social media.

Dr. Petersons team recorded 33 pyroCb clouds in the American West this year, tying a record set in 2013.

Aug. 13, 2021 OREGON PyroCb cloud Antelope fire Dixie fire McFarland fire CALIFORNIA Aug. 13, 2021 OREGON PyroCb cloud Antelope fire Dixie fire McFarland fire CALIFORNIA Source: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; David Peterson

Its not yet clear whether there is a sustained long-term trend toward more fire-fueled storms, in part because the record of these events is still relatively short: An effort to consistently track pyroCb formation across the globe, based on satellite observations, dates back about a decade.

What is clear is that the ingredients necessary for firestorm activity  drier landscapes that support larger, more intense fires; more atmospheric instability, which aids the development of thunderstorms; or both  are becoming more common in many parts of the world as human-caused climate change pushes temperatures higher.

Following a historic heat wave early this summer, Western Canada experienced a particularly explosive run of pyroCb activity. On two occasions, the powerful storm clouds grew so tall  the largest reached an altitude of 57,000 feet  that they broke through the lower atmosphere and injected smoke into the stratosphere. The smoke particles can linger in this layer for months and make their way around the globe, which can even lead to some temporary regional cooling.

Firestorm clouds have regularly been documented in Western North America, Southern Australia and across much of Siberia, where wildfires are seasonal events. But extreme fire weather is now occurring in less expected places, too: A pyroCb cloud formed north of Athens this year, part of a disastrous outbreak of summer wildfires.

We're creating an environment that favors these positive feedbacks, where the fire makes itself worse, said Dr. Lareau, an assistant professor at the University of Nevada, Reno. It tips the balance between what may have been an ordinary fire in decades past and a fire that can grow into a megafire.
When roughly one million public school students returned to classrooms in New York City last month amid the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant, families and educators expressed profound concern. But for the past five weeks, case counts have remained low.

The average weekly positive rate among students in public schools is 0.25 percent  well under the citys daily average rate of 2.43 percent. Experts, however, say the city may not be testing enough students.

Average weekly positive rate Average weekly positive rate Students only Staff only Totals 0.1% 0.2% 0.3% 0.4% 0.5% STATEN ISLAND MANHATTAN BRONX QUEENS BROOKLYN Tap a district for more information Source: School testing, cases and enrollment data from the New York City Department of Education  Note: Positive rates are calculated from processed tests and results through Oct. 15.

The citys Covid safety plan for schools includes mandatory masking, improved ventilation in classrooms, a vaccine mandate for staffers and weekly testing of students, all of which are critical to reducing the spread of the virus, according to experts.

The measures appear to be working: The low positive rates in all 32 districts suggest that the full reopening of the nations largest school system has not yet prompted any significant outbreaks. The early success in schools has most likely been aided by the citys overall Covid levels, which have dropped substantially since schools opened.

The low rates, however, do not account for tests conducted outside the in-school testing program. While the program identified just under 400 student cases as of Oct. 15, tracking that includes laboratory tests has identified more than 3,900 cases among public school students in New York City since schools reopened in mid-September.

And, experts say, the number of tests the city is conducting within the in-school program is too modest to detect outbreaks before they start. The citys goal is to randomly test 10 percent of unvaccinated children in its schools each week. That level of testing is fine for tracking infections, said Ashish Jha, the dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, but not enough to keep infection numbers low.

You want to test enough students so that you find them when theyre infected and you can pull them out before they go around infecting others, Dr. Jha said.

About 300 of the citys 1,600 schools are falling below the target of 10 percent, according to the Department of Education, which shared figures that exclude charter school students. About 550,000 of the citys students are considered unvaccinated, either because they are not yet eligible or have not submitted proof of vaccination. Only about 200,000 of those students  about 36 percent  are eligible to be tested.

Students only Staff only Totals District District Total cases Total

cases Avg. weekly

cases Avg.

weekly

cases Avg. weekly

positive rate Avg.

weekly

positive

rate Avg. weekly tests

per 10k students Avg.

weekly

tests

per 10k

students Citywide total Total 378 378 67 67 0.25% 0.25% 302 302 1, Manhattan 1, Manhattan 3 3 0 0 0.07% 0.07% 236 236 2, Manhattan 2, Manhattan 12 12 2 2 0.21% 0.21% 174 174 3, Manhattan 3, Manhattan 7 7 1 1 0.15% 0.15% 416 416 4, Manhattan 4, Manhattan 8 8 2 2 0.59% 0.59% 225 225 5, Manhattan 5, Manhattan 1 1 0 0 0.06% 0.06% 384 384 6, Manhattan 6, Manhattan 16 16 4 4 0.61% 0.61% 390 390 7, Bronx 7, Bronx 6 6 1 1 0.27% 0.27% 229 229 8, Bronx 8, Bronx 10 10 1 1 0.26% 0.26% 255 255 9, Bronx 9, Bronx 20 20 4 4 0.31% 0.31% 404 404 10, Bronx 10, Bronx 23 23 3 3 0.20% 0.20% 384 384 11, Bronx 11, Bronx 11 11 2 2 0.18% 0.18% 373 373 12, Bronx 12, Bronx 4 4 1 1 0.14% 0.14% 194 194 13, Brooklyn 13, Brooklyn 10 10 2 2 0.29% 0.29% 286 286 14, Brooklyn 14, Brooklyn 9 9 2 2 0.28% 0.28% 357 357 15, Brooklyn 15, Brooklyn 9 9 2 2 0.19% 0.19% 507 507 16, Brooklyn 16, Brooklyn 5 5 1 1 0.28% 0.28% 400 400 17, Brooklyn 17, Brooklyn 15 15 3 3 0.33% 0.33% 379 379 18, Brooklyn 18, Brooklyn 6 6 2 2 0.31% 0.31% 444 444 19, Brooklyn 19, Brooklyn 16 16 3 3 0.44% 0.44% 387 387 20, Brooklyn 20, Brooklyn 16 16 4 4 0.20% 0.20% 414 414 21, Brooklyn 21, Brooklyn 9 9 2 2 0.12% 0.12% 347 347 22, Brooklyn 22, Brooklyn 13 13 2 2 0.16% 0.16% 311 311 23, Brooklyn 23, Brooklyn 7 7 2 2 0.41% 0.41% 436 436 24, Queens 24, Queens 19 19 3 3 0.22% 0.22% 345 345 25, Queens 25, Queens 7 7 1 1 0.24% 0.24% 169 169 26, Queens 26, Queens 3 3 1 1 0.07% 0.07% 376 376 27, Queens 27, Queens 10 10 2 2 0.12% 0.12% 467 467 28, Queens 28, Queens 13 13 3 3 0.23% 0.23% 428 428 29, Queens 29, Queens 16 16 4 4 0.39% 0.39% 501 501 30, Queens 30, Queens 5 5 1 1 0.15% 0.15% 233 233 31, Staten Island 31, Staten Island 44 44 6 6 0.34% 0.34% 434 434 32, Brooklyn 32, Brooklyn 13 13 1 1 0.14% 0.14% 454 454 75, Special 75, Special 12 12 2 2 0.37% 0.37% 252 252 79, Special 79, Special 0 0 0 0 0.00% 0.00% 242 242 Source: School testing, cases and enrollment data from the New York City Department of Education  Note: Data includes processed tests and results through Oct. 15. Only tests that have been processed are counted. Tests and positive results from in-school visits are counted only if all test results from those visits have been processed.

The city requires parents to submit consent forms before it will test students, and many parents have not done so. Some experts believe schools should give parents the option to opt out of testing, rather than asking them to opt in.

If youre going to do opt-in, I worry a lot about whether schools are going to do the hard work of really trying to explain the benefits and value to all parents, Dr. Jha said. You may see in certain communities less opting in because people may not have as much trust in what the purpose of these tests are. And what I would not want is a system where youre essentially testing kids whose parents are wealthier and more educated, and getting a skewed view of what is happening.

Vaccinated students and staffers are not included in the testing program, though some experts believe they should be.

Testing vaccinated students as part of routine surveillance still has a role given breakthrough infections among the vaccinated, said Thomas Tsai, an assistant professor in the health policy department at Harvard University.

He added that the city is using tests that take up to three days to return results, and that such a delay could reduce the ability of testing to limit transmission.

Average weekly tests per 10,000 students Average weekly tests

per 10,000 students 250 300 350 400 450 STATEN ISLAND MANHATTAN BRONX QUEENS BROOKLYN Tap a district for more information Source: School testing, cases and enrollment data from the New York City Department of Education  Note: Data includes processed tests and results through Oct. 15. Only tests that have been processed are counted. Tests and positive results from in-school visits are counted only if all test results from those visits have been processed.

City officials are hoping that cases will decline further in schools over the next few weeks. A strict vaccine mandate for all adults working in school buildings took effect in early October, and while students in middle and high school are already eligible for the vaccine, it is likely to be only a few weeks until younger children become eligible, pending a decision by the Food and Drug Administration.

Despite the concerns over testing, Dr. Jha said, as long as infection numbers are low, you cant really argue with success.
Katherine Nicol

Health professionals remain the most trusted influencers of vaccination decisions, even in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and related vaccine hesitancy, a recent study by the Kaiser Family Foundation confirmed.

When respondents were asked who they trust to provide reliable information about the COVID-19 vaccines, 83 percent of adults said they trust their own doctor a great deal or a fair amount, and 85 percent of parents said the same about their childs pediatrician.

Doctors, nurses, physician assistants and nurse practitioners are essential to increasing acceptance and uptake of vaccinesfrom delivering information and answering questions, to administering vaccines, increasing vaccination rates and reducing hesitancy.

Its therefore critical that health professionals have the communications skills necessary to recommend vaccines effectively and to acknowledge and discuss patients questions and concerns in a confident and knowledgeable manner.

This article is featured in O'Dwyer's Oct. '21 Healthcare & Medical PR Magazine

(view PDF version)

The benefits of and focus on effective provider-patient communications are not unique to vaccination. In 2017, the American Society of Clinical Oncology issued guidelines to improve provider communications with patients. Particularly in the context of a diagnosis like cancer, providers must have the ability to support patients by effectively building rapport, providing information in a manner that the patient understands, and addressing patient concerns in a complete yet concise way. The ASCO guidelines include recommendations for core communication skills and training, and strategies for communicating effectively, particularly when barriers exist. There are, of course, parallels with using effective patient-provider communication to overcome barriers to vaccination.

Upon release of the ASCO guidelines, the Journal of Clinical Oncology noted that, Good interpersonal skills are not a substitute for strong health care communication skills. ASCO is one of many professional organizations that have come to recognize that communication is not a soft skill for providers, but is, in fact, a critical element of their profession. Health professionals must have the knowledge and understanding of both the clinical topic as well as the patients own barriersperceived or otherwiseto inform and influence their patients decisions. Providers must have the confidence and ability to communicate effectively with patients and their caregivers.

In recent years, more and more provider organizations, public health entities, and federal agencies have developed guidance, tools, and resources to elevate and enhance provider-patient communications and make the most of the often limited time a provider has to spend with a patient. Most recently, vaccine hesitancy in the context of the COVID-19 vaccine as well as other pediatric and adult vaccines, has created an urgent need for a focus on effective patient-provider communication.

How can these standard communication guidelines be applied in a manner that maximizes patient trust and effectively addresses vaccine hesitancy? There are five core elements of effective patient-provider communications that are consistent across clinical practice, specialty area, and diagnosis that are of particular relevance to health professionals working to overcome vaccine hesitancy. These elements provide useful and essential guidance for healthcare providers.

Use clear, plain language. Whether taking a medical history, sharing test results, explaining a diagnosis or treatment plan, or responding to questions about vaccines, health professionals should avoid medical jargon, abstract concepts and long, complex sentences. Additionally, remember that illness, uncertainty, and stressincluding the unprecedented stress of a global pandemiccan affect comprehension and a persons ability to process information.

Educate as well as inform. A providers role goes beyond simply reporting test results or a diagnosis, or recommending a vaccine. The provider must help the patient understand what they mean. In some cases, this means providers can use visual aids to show in addition to telling. Providers should share evidence-based resources and materials with patients and be aware of digital resources that can be shared during telehealth visits. Focus on the benefits of vaccinations, and clearly and concisely explain the health risks of getting and of not getting vaccinated. Be open, direct, and honest. Bring cultural competence to the discussion. Remember that transparency mattersstate the knowns and unknowns in this ever-evolving situation. Providers should not hesitate to share their own stories of why they chose to get vaccinated and/or vaccinate their family, backed by the science that informs that narrative.

Make a strong, confident recommendation. Building on the trust that already exists, and mindful of the health professionals well-established position as trusted messenger, use affirmative language that conveys confidence. Be reassuring and use science and current, trusted data to inform and shift inaccurate perceptions of social norms. Leave space for patients and/or parents and caregivers to feel comfortable asking questions.

Listen not just to hear, but to understand. Particularly in the case of vaccination, acknowledge that this is a personal decision. Listen to what the patient or caregiver is saying, carefully and with empathy. Then, formulate a response. This can be a challenging exercise when a patient has a lot to say, particularly with regard to vaccine misinformation or disinformation. Many professional organizations and federal resources offer communications tips and time-savers or Q&As to help guide these types of patient-provider discussions.

Ask the patient to share their understanding. Can the patient briefly and accurately share their understanding of the recommendation, diagnosis, or medical orders? Providers should ask patients to repeat key points back to make sure they have a clear understanding, particularly when it comes to correcting inaccurate perceptions based on vaccine misinformation or disinformation.

Increasing the overall quality of communications skills among providers is worth the time and investment that many professional organizations are dedicating, and when implemented will no doubt improve health outcomes, including the uptake of potentially life-saving vaccines. And that benefits everyone.

***

Katherine Nicol is Executive Vice President, Health Practice Director at Hager Sharp.
David Finn

David Finn, a founding father of modern PR who launched Ruder Finn in 1948 with Bill Ruder, has died. He celebrated his 100th birthday on Aug. 30.

As RF chairman and CEO for more than 70 years, Finn nurtured the growth of corporate communications.

His 1969 book, The Corporate Oligarch, developed the groundwork for stakeholder capitalism by depicting corporations as the central institution in American life while underscoring the importance of public service.

By agreeing to take on only clients and projects that he believed in, Finn helped set the stage for the development of the corporate social responsibility practice.

Finn was a leading voice promoting ethics in business and Ruder Finn became the first firm with a standing ethics committee.

He led a full life beyond the world of public relations. He was a celebrated photographer who wrote or contributed his photos to more than 100 books.

Finn was an adjunct professor of PR at New York University, fellow at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and member of the advisory council for the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Ruder Finn has established www.rememberingdavidfinn.com to honor its co-founder.
Conor McGregor

Donald Trump wanted to recruit Irish mixed martial arts fighter Conor McGregor as a spokesperson in the US governments anti-COVID-19 campaign, according to a new book by RTE Washington correspondent Brian ODonovan.

In Four Years in the Cauldron, ODonovan says he saw a document looking at the possibility of tapping McGregor, who is a former Ultimate Fighting featherweight champ, for the PR campaign.

McGregor, who has had several run-ins with the law, was said to appeal to the general public, as well as super-spreaders who were less likely to wear masks and practice social distancing.

The Irishman also is a big fan of Trump.

He tweeted that Trump was quite possibly the greatest president of all time and at the very least sits atop the shoulders of many amazing giants that came before him."

McGregor is back in the news this month for his out-of-the ring fisticuffs activity.

He allegedly broke the nose of Italian DJ Francesco Facchinetti during an unprovoked 2:30 am attack.

Facchinetti was helping McGregor and his fiancee celebrate the Vatican baptism of their son, which occurred the previous day.

In September, McGregor got into a tussle with rapper Machine Gun Kelly at the MTV Awards ceremony.

The mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic dealt a severe blow to America's image as the US fell from No. 4 to No. 17 on Brand Finances rankings of the strength of national brands.

The UK, Japan and France also tumbled from the Top Ten list in the category that evaluates brand investment, equity and performance.

Switzerland moved to the top of the list due to its strong response to the pandemic. It used a mix of compulsory and non-compulsory measures to cure the spread of the virus.

The Swiss governments order to stay at home was only advisory, letting the people make the decision for themselves.

Brand Finance also noted that Switzerlands model of government, allowing the people to provide input via frequent referenda drew kudos. The Swiss rejected a motion to end its freedom of movement agreement with the EU and voted to make discrimination of the basis of sexual orientation illegal.

David Haigh, CEO of Brand Finance, said Switzerlands standing in next years ranking may take a hit.

"The nation recently went into the global spotlight with the leak of the Pandora Papers, which could taint its reputation as Swiss financial advisors are scrutinized on the global stage.

Germany, which had held the No. 1 spot, slipped to No.5. Australia and New Zealand moved into the Top 10 due to their early lockdown orders and quick reactions to subsequent outbreaks.

The US remains the worlds most valuable nation brand with a value of $24.8T, up five percent from a year ago.

China retained the No. 2 position as its brand value advanced six percent to $19.9T.
October 18, 2021  The United States will virtually host the 2021 International Summit on the Teaching Profession together with Education International (EI) and the OECD on October 19-21, 2021. U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona, head of the U.S. delegation, will be joined in Washington, D.C. by President of the American Federation of Teachers Randi Weingarten; President of the National Education Association Becky Pringle; and CEO of the Council of Chief State School Officers Carissa Moffat Miller.

Fourteen high-performing countries from Asia, Europe, and the Western Hemisphere will participate in the virtual summit.





The focus of this years summit is Learning from the Past, Looking to the Future: Excellence and Equity for All. This marks the ten year anniversary.





The International Summit on the Teaching Profession, begun in 2011 by then U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, brings together ministers and secretaries of education from around the world, the heads of their teacher unions and other representatives of the teaching profession. The goal of the summit is for countries to learn from each other about how to strengthen education and elevate and enhance the teaching profession.





The summit takes place from Tuesday, October 19, to Thursday, October 21. Tuesdays opening remarks and Thursdays closing remarks are open to the press. Summit Opening Remarks When:

Tuesday, Oct. 19, 2021

8-8:30 a.m. ET (14h00-14:30 CET) Where:

Opening remarks can be viewed Opening remarks can be viewed here Speakers:

U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona

OECD Director for Education and Skills Andreas Schleicher

President of Education International Susan Hopgood



Press: This event is open press. Summit Closing Remarks When:

Thursday, Oct. 21, 2021

9:30-10 a.m. ET (15h30-16h00 CET) Where:

Closing remarks can be viewed Closing remarks can be viewed here Speakers:

U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona

General Secretary of Education International David Edwards

OECD Secretary-General Mathias Cormann



Press: This event is open press.

Contacts for U.S. and Canada

Miguel Gorman Senior Manager for Public Affairs and Media

+1 202 822 3865

miguel.gorman@oecd.org





Working with over 100 countries, the OECD is a global policy forum that promotes policies to preserve individual liberty and improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world.
Labour housing spokesperson Rebecca Moynihan has said the rogue practice of landlords charging 'pet rent' must be stamped out.

Calling for government support for Labours renters rights bill, Senator Moynihan said the blanket ban on pets in rental accommodation needs to end.

Senator Moynihan said: Animals play such an important part in the lives of many and the blanket ban on pets by many landlords and even approved housing bodies is simply unfair. This affects everyone, from older people moving into senior citizens accommodation who are asked to give up their beloved furry friends, to families renting who are excluded from ever owning a family pet.

Pets play a huge role in many peoples lives. They provide companionship and emotional support, enhancing overall wellbeing. With a greater percentage of people renting now than ever before, we have to explore ways that allow responsible owners have their pets and companions in their rented homes.

Charging pet rent is yet another example of the power imbalance in the rental market between renters and landlords. Renters are expected to put up with extortionate rents, evictions at the drop of the hat and many cant make the place feel like a home. Labours renters rights bill seeks to change this and level the playing field for renters, including ending the blanket ban on pets in rented accommodation.

Current policies do not go far enough to help renters. It should be no surprise to anyone that at the start of the pandemic, many renters fled Dublin at the first opportunity because they simply do not feel at home in their accommodation. Labours Bill would improve renters quality of life and end the practice of renters being asked to choose between a roof over their head or their pet.

The issue came up on Monday's Liveline show with Joe Duffy but listeners were divided on Twitter.

Proper order. Imagine having to clean out an apartment after someones pets had the run of it. The landlord is dead right  ClaraKid (@ChrisCu91793156) October 18, 2021

No it isn't. Any responsible cat owner will know how to look after their cat so that it doesn't ruin the apartment.



And if not, that's the whole point of the deposit.



An ongoing monthly fee per pet is unreasonable.  Damien Fenton (@dfenton21) October 18, 2021

Pet rent should be banned! Animal shelters are already at crisis point with costs, lack of fosters & adoptions. This will no doubt put extra pressure on shelters as less people will foster/adopt and more people will be forced to give up their pets.  Emily Memily (@EmilyMemily3) October 18, 2021
A plan to export live pigs from Ireland to China will be protested by animal welfare activists today.

Animal welfare group, Ethical Farming Ireland (EFI), are organising the protest to highlight what they call an "outdated and barbaric industry that should be banished to history books".

It comes on the foot of a new agricultural deal struck between the two countries, which allows for the export of sheep meat and live breeding pigs.

These innocent animals who have no voice need our help to speak out for them. Please come along on Tuesday 19th October and let our govt know this is not acceptable and we are not OK with this! If we sit back and do nothing, nothing will change. Are you OK with this? pic.twitter.com/PdBqRO7A64  Ethical Farming Ireland (@ethicalfarmIE) October 15, 2021

In a Twitter statement, EFI urged people to "speak up for the thousands of innocent animals who have no voice".

The group is encouraging anyone concerned to gather with them outside Leinster House from noon until 3pm today.

Actress Pauline McLynn of Father Ted fame and musicians Cathy Davey and Neil Hannon are expected to join the protest.
AN initiative by students involved in the Gaisce programme at Colaiste Choilm will see much needed finance raised to feed hungry school children in the Third World.

Iggy's Horsebox was officially opened and blessed at a function in the Tullamore secondary school on Friday afternoon last.

The brand new horsebox was donated by an anonymous benefactor and will also be used to publicise the work of Mary's Meals, the charity which will benefit from the tuck shop's profits.

Mary's Meals is a voluntary organisation, with a very active committee in Offaly, which feeds over two million school children in Africa.

The paltry sum of 18.30 will feed a child for a full year thus ensuring they reap the full benefits of the education system.

Speaking at the launch last Friday, Joe Hughes said he and his fellow students had come up with the novel fund-raising and promotional idea as part of their requirements for the Gaisce programme.

The horsebox is named in honour of the founder of the Christian Brothers, Blessed Edmund Ignatius Rice, as Colaiste Choilm was previously run by the Order and known as St Columba's CBS.

Mr Hughes thanked all the students involved in the project, the generous benefactor who wishes to remain anonymous and Cllr Tony McCormack, whose firm Print Plus had provided all the signage free of charge.

We're delighted to launch this project because we are trying to help children of our own age. We're just a bunch of lads in school in Ireland trying to help a bunch of lads in school in Africa, he stressed.

He added that Mary's Meals was a simple charity founded in Scotland and admitted to being astounded when he discovered that just 18.30 will feed a child for a full year.

I was talking to a guy in sixth year about it and he said he had spent 18 on a hair cut, outlined Mr Hughes.

He also thanked local stores who had provided support including Lidl, Dunnes, Aldi, Tyrrell's Home Baking and John Cusack, manager of the Bridge Centre.

Niamh McDermott, Gaisce co-ordinator, explained the programme was a personal development one for young people to challenge them to reach their full potential.

She said that one of the measures involved community involvement and helping others.

I have been amazed by this group of lads, in particular Joe, for their enthusiasm and commitment in getting this project together, she outlined.

Business man, Paul Galvin, from Offaly Mary's Meals group, recalled starting school at the former CBS when he was just four and a half years old in 1965.

I remember my first teacher was Miss Savage and she was the exact opposite of her name, a lovely gentle woman.

He thanked Colaiste Choilm for their support and said he really admired all the students involved in the project. These are the young heroes of the future, stressed Mr Galvin.

He said the concept behind Mary's Meals, which was founded in Sctoland in 2002, was a very simple one.

The problem was that a lot of children were not sent to school because of poverty and were kept at home to beg or work. A lot of kids also in school were not reaching their full potential as they were hungry.

Mr Galvin said the charity sources all its food and utensils in the local areas thus helping the economy.

While Mary's Meals set up the project in a particular they then hand it over to the local community to take charge of day to day running.

He added that the vast majority of funds raised, over 95 per cent, goes to feed children with running costs of the charity kept to an absolute minimum.

Every cent we raise in Offaly goes direct to Mary's Meals, added Mr Galvin saying that committee members paid for any small expenses out of their own pockets.

Concluding he again thanked Joe Hughes and the other students involved and said their fundraising efforts to date meant that 1,000 children in Africa were now being fed for a year.

School Principal, Tadhg O'Sullivan also paid tribute to the students and said he had been amazed by their commitment to the project.

He stressed it was lovely to see the ethos of the school being lived out by driven by Transition Year students.

Local curate Rev. Fr Luke Ohiemi praised the students for their efforts to make the world a better place.

Christ said what you do for the least of my brothers and sisters you do for me, he added.

Just returned from his native Nigeria, Fr Luke said he always emphasised to boys and girls there the importance of education.

Cllr Tony McCormack, Cathaoirleach of Tullamore Municipal District, recalled his own school days at the CBS and said he had commenced first year there 40 years ago.

He remembered with affection the old school shop, run by Bro Rossiter, which also doubled as a bingo hall for fund raising purposes.

This school has a great record in producing the finest people in sport, academia and business, he outlined.

He praised the students for their work describing them as fine young men and heroes and said Mary's Meals was a brilliant charity.

Formalities concluded with the official cutting of the ceremonial tape to declare the mobile shop open by Cllr McCormack.
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Bailey McCann, Opalesque New York:

Ares Management Corporation has closed its latest direct lending fund - Ares Private Credit Solutions II - on $5.1 billion. The fund, which was targeting $4 billion, hit its hard cap and is approximately 50% larger than its 2017 predecessor fund.

"Upper middle market businesses are increasingly looking to scaled private credit providers to meet their financings needs," said Michael Smith, Partner and Co-Head of the Ares Credit Group. The fund is already approximately 20% invested across nine companies.

The fund will provide tailored junior capital financing solutions to upper middle market companies. The strategy in......................

To view our full article Click here
The Annual Pharma Supply Chain and Security World Summit is a major global event for the pharmaceutical industry, bringing together the whole Pharma Supply Chain community for two days of discussion on new developments, technologies, strategies and best practices to ensure an agile, responsive, streamlined and a secured supply chain. The pharmaceutical supply chains are facing a significant challenge in the form of counterfeit drugs that are entering the supply chain from various 
The Cut Fashion Design Academy (TCFDA) located in Vancouver, BC, Canada is the only accredited educational institution that offers diploma and certificate course customization with a 1:8 teacher-student ratio. Garment industry veteran Liza Deyrmenjian launched The Cut Fashion Design Academy to upend the traditional learning model in the fast-paced technology-oriented fashion industry. Deyrmenjian explains, "Our model is sleek by design with no 'filler' classes as the goal is not to hold student's 
The Energy from Waste industry is striving to achieve targets set by the EU, with many countries aiming to be one of the world's first circle economies. This December, the progress of residual waste will be discussed in depth at the 13th annual Energy from Waste conference, which will take place in London on 1st  2nd December 2020 to explore how market leaders are paving the way for a low 
COVID-19 Report for Oct. 18, 2021

About 10% of Oswego County Residents Have Now Been Infected with COVID Virus -



OSWEGO COUNTY  Oswego County Public Health Director Jiancheng Huang announced today, Oct. 18, that 531 additional residents tested positive for COVID-19 this past week. This brings the total cumulative number of positive cases since the county began monitoring for COVID-19 in March 2020 to 12,187.

Currently, there are 647 active positive cases.

We are also sad to report that we lost three more residents to COVID-19 this past week, said Huang. Every death is an unfortunate set-back in our efforts to fight this virus and something we never want to see. Our condolences go out to the families and friends of these patients.

Huang said that weekly new case counts remain high in Oswego County.

Over the past several weeks, on average, about one-third of new cases are school-related, said Huang. There are many micro-clusters in many families in the community. Since the pandemic started, more than 12,000 positive cases have been reported. This means about 10% of our residents have been infected with the COVID virus.

Huang said the number fully vaccinated residents continues to increase slowly. Currently 55.4% of Oswego County residents have been vaccinated.

With high natural infection and an increasingly fully-vaccinated share of the population, the remaining one-third of county residents are at an increased risk of contracting the virus, said Huang. I encourage vaccine eligible residents to get fully vaccinated to protect themselves and those who are not eligible for the vaccines. Working together, we can make this community safer and healthier.

This report is current as of 1 p.m. Oct. 18.

Total # of positive cases currently active: 647

Total # of people currently in mandatory isolation/quarantine: 1,558

The following numbers are cumulative since the county began monitoring COVID-19 in March 2020. They are updated weekly to show new cases or changes. Those who have been released are not removed from the running total of positive cases.

Total # of tests conducted: 296,690

Total # of negative results: 280,719

Total # of positive cases: 12,187

Total # of positive cases released: 11,437

Total deaths reported by the New York State Department of Health: 112

COVID-19 vaccines are widely available through the County Health Department, at area pharmacies and community health care clinics, and through local physicians and health care providers.

The Oswego County Health Department hosts COVID-19 vaccine clinics from 1 to 5:30 p.m. every Wednesday at the Nick Sterio Public Health Clinic, 70 Bunner St., Oswego.

The Health Departments COVID-19 vaccine clinics are open to anyone who is eligible for the vaccine. Patients may receive their first, second or third dose of vaccine or the Pfizer (Comirnaty) booster. Currently there is no Moderna booster available. Those eligible for the Pfizer booster must register in advance.

On Wednesday, Oct. 20, health department staff will administer the patients choice of the Pfizer and Janssen/Johnson & Johnson vaccine between 1 and 5:30 p.m., and the Moderna vaccine between 5 and 5:30 p.m. only.

The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are both two-dose vaccines and the Janssen/Johnson & Johnson vaccine is a one-dose vaccine. The Pfizer vaccine is approved for those aged 12 years and over. The Moderna and Janssen/Johnson & Johnson vaccines are approved for those aged 18 years and over.

Although walk-ins are welcome, online pre-registration is encouraged and appreciated for the clinics efficiency. People can pre-register online at https://health.oswegocounty.com/information/2019_novel_coronavirus/covid-19_vaccine.php or by calling the COVID-19 Hotline at 315-349-3330.

The CDC recommends that certain groups of people get the Pfizer booster six months from their last dose of Pfizer. They include:

Those who are 65 years old and over.

People who are 18 years old and over and live in a long-term care setting such as a nursing home.

Those who are 50 to 64 years old with certain underlying medical conditions (HIV, active cancer, COPD, asthma, chronic kidney disease, sickle cell, obesity, heart disease, chronic liver disease, immune deficiency, diabetes, or history of solid organ transplant or STEM cell transplant etc.).

The CDC further states that the following groups may choose to get the Pfizer booster if they have already received the Pfizer vaccine:

Those who are 18 to 49 years old with certain underlying medical conditions mentioned above.

Those who are 18 to 64 years old and work in a setting that puts them at high risk of COVID-19 exposure. This includes first responders such as police, firefighters, and health care workers, as well as those who work in grocery stores, food and agricultural sites, education and daycare facilities, manufacturing and public transit places, correctional facilities and the US Postal Service.

The Oswego County Office for the Aging can help people aged 60 and over who need help navigating the internet to make appointments. Call 315-349-3484.

Free transportation is provided to residents to go to COVID-19 testing and vaccination sites through a partnership between Oswego County and Oswego County Opportunities, Inc. Rides are available between 6 a.m. and 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Call 315-598-1514 to schedule a ride in advance.

Oswego County Legislature Chairman James Weatherup reminds residents that Oswego County continues to have a high community transmission level according to the CDC.

If you have not been vaccinated yet, now is time to get your shot -- not only to protect yourself, but your family and friends, and your community as well, he said.

Symptoms of COVID-19 include fever, cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, muscle pain, headache, sore throat, chills, repeated shaking with chills, gastrointestinal illness and new loss of taste or smell.

Residents are urged to continue taking precautions to prevent the spread of COVID-19 including:

Get vaccinated if you are 12 years of age or older.

Stay home if you are sick and keep your children home if they are sick.

Wash your hands often.

Keep six feet distance between you and those you do not live with, especially if you are unvaccinated.

Wear a face mask inside public spaces you visit or patronize, where you work, or in crowded outdoor settings, regardless of your vaccination status.

All residents should follow COVID-19 prevention measures local businesses and workplaces may have in place. Check the New York State website at forward.ny.gov for additional guidance.

For more information, go to the Oswego County Health Departments COVID-19 page at health.oswegocounty.com/covid-19 or call its COVID-19 Hotline at 315-349-3330. Phone lines are open from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, and from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays.

For information about emotional supports, visit the Oswego County Department of Social Services Division of Mental Hygiene at www.oswegocounty.com/mentalhygiene.

Under New York State Public Health Law, the Oswego County Health Department is the local public health authority regarding the COVID-19 pandemic response within the County of Oswego. The Oswego County Health Department works closely with New York State Department of Health regarding COVID-19 monitoring, response, and reporting.
In this photo from video, the six candidates seeking three seats on the Ottumwa City Council gather for a community forum on Monday at Ottumwa City Hall. The forum was sponsored by the Ottumwa League of Women Voters.
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MANISTEE COUNTY -- The following includes reports made to the Manistee County Sheriff's Office from Sept. 17-19.

All calls may not be reported. This is part of a lengthy report and is compiled by assistant editor Arielle Breen.

Sept. 17

 A noise disturbance was reported at 1:29 a.m. in Maple Grove Township.

 A juvenile was reported as a runaway at 1:03 a.m. in Kaleva.

 Malicious destruction of property was reported at 6:46 a.m. in the county.

 A private property damage crash was reported at 9:40 a.m. in Manistee Township.

 Deputies assisted EMS at 10:19 a.m. in Manistee Township.

 A person was reported to have been voluntarily missing at 11:10 a.m. in Filer Township.

 A residential alarm was reported at 11:39 a.m. in Filer Township.

 A civil property incident was reported at 9:44 a.m. in Kaleva.

 A custody dispute was reported at 12:18 p.m. in Bear Lake Township.

 A Costco fraud incident was reported at 2:14 p.m. in Maple Grove Township.

 Animal control was called to Kaleva at 1:14 p.m. in Kaleva.

 A vehicle was reported as being abandoned at 4:14 p.m. in Manistee Township.

 A two-vehicle property damage crash was reported at 6:46 p.m. in Filer Township.

 A vehicle-deer accident was reported at 8:30 p.m. in Norman Township.

 A person was reported to have been operating while intoxicated fourth offense, without a driver's license and with open intoxicants at 10:02 p.m. in Kaleva.

Sept. 18

 A noise disturbance was reported at 1:36 a.m. in Bear Lake Township.

 A residential alarm was reported at 6 a.m. in Norman Township.

 A person reportedly drove off without paying for gasoline at 5:38 p.m. in Filer Township.

 A vehicle-deer accident was reported at 6:08 p.m. in Cleon Township.

 A vehicle-deer accident was reported at 7 p.m. in Manistee Township.

 A personal injury crash was reported at 7:53 p.m. in Onekama Township.

 Deputies assisted Michigan State Police at 5:19 p.m. in Cleon Township.

 A property damage crash was reported at 11:23 p.m. in Onekama Township.

 Fraud was reported at 5:58 p.m. in Dickson Township.

 Fraud was reported at 6 a.m. in Manistee Township.

Sept. 19

 A vehicle-deer accident was reported at 2:33 a.m. in Manistee Township.

 A vehicle-deer accident was reported at 4:35 a.m. in Springdale Township.

 Animal control was called to Maple Grove Township at 7:41 a.m.

 Deputies assisted with a vehicle-bear crash at 9:21 a.m. in Pleasanton Township.

 A personal injury crash, where a driver had no license and no insurance was reported at 1 p.m. in Manistee Township.

 Felonious assault was reported at 2:07 p.m. in Manistee Township.

 Larceny of a catalytic converter was reported at 2:29 p.m. in Springdale Township.

 A neighbor dispute was reported at 1:55 p.m. in Norman Township.

 A property dispute was reported at 4:04 p.m. in Filer Township.

 A 911 call was reported to have been abandoned at 6:30 p.m. in Dickson Township.

 Deputies had a civil standby situation at 6:06 p.m. in Manistee Township.
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP)  A judge denied bond Tuesday for a prominent South Carolina attorney who has become embroiled in two multimillion-dollar insurance fraud cases months after he found his wife and son dead in their home.

The judge said Alex Murdaugh's considerable financial resources and mental instability appear for now to make it too risky to allow him to await trial outside of jail on charges he stole $3.4 million in insurance money meant for the sons of his housekeeper.

The ruling means weeks, if not months in jail for the 53-year-old man who inherited part of a legal empire in tiny Hampton County, South Carolina. Murdaughs father, grandfather and great-grandfather were all elected prosecutors. The familys law firm, located in the most impressive building in town after the courthouse, has spent a century winning multimillion-dollar verdicts.

Still unsolved is what started the legal problems and at least six state investigations into Murdaugh and his family back in June: the deaths of his wife and son, who were found shot multiple times outside their home.

Defense attorneys asked Circuit Judge Clifton Newman to release Murdaugh on his own recognizance, as a different judge had in September on charges that he tried to arrange his own death to obtain a $10 million insurance policy. Prosecutors asked for a $200,000 bond and GPS monitoring for the latest charges, obtaining property by false pretenses.

Im not satisfied as to his mental condition, Newman said, adding that he needed more information. He said he would reconsider his decision after receiving it.

One of Murdaugh's attorneys, Dick Harpootlian, said after the hearing that therapists at the drug rehab centers in Georgia and Florida where Murdaugh spent the past six weeks will send their records to a local psychiatrist, who will prepare a report for the judge, hopefully within a week.

We understand the judges concerns about Alexs mental condition. Were more than happy to comply with his request, Harpootlian said, adding of Murdaugh, He seemed much more clearheaded today than Ive ever seen him.

Harpootlian and Murdaugh's other attorney, Jim Griffin have said he is dealing with crushing grief and guilt after finding his wife and son's bodies. Murdaugh has adamantly denied having anything to do with their deaths and no one has been charged.

The latest charges against Murdaugh involve insurance payments that were supposed to go to the sons of his longtime housekeeper Gloria Satterfield, who died in 2018 a few weeks after falling at the familys home, investigators said.

No autopsy was performed, and a coroner said her death was improperly described as natural on her death certificate. State police said Tuesday in court that they are still investigating the circumstances of her death. Murdaugh denies having anything to do with her death, Harpootlian said after the hearing.

Murdaugh told Satterfields sons he would help them get insurance settlements for her death, recommending they hire attorney Cory Fleming without telling them Fleming was a family friend, according to a lawsuit filed by the sons.

Murdaugh negotiated more than $4 million in payments, then had the checks  minus fees and attorney payments  sent to a fraudulent bank account, investigators said.

A lawyer for the sons said they havent seen any money from the settlements.

He stole. He is a liar and a cheat, attorney Eric Bland told the judge Tuesday.

South Carolina Assistant Attorney General Creighton Waters said Murdaugh quickly took the money and put it in his personal accounts.

He had been carrying a $100,000 credit card balance for months," Waters said. That gets paid off. He writes 300 and some odd grand to his father. He writes a check for 610 grand to himself. He writes a check for 125 grand to himself. Not a dime goes to this family.

Waters asked for a $200,000 bond and GPS monitoring, saying, A man who is a danger to himself is a danger to others.

Harpootlian and Griffin said Murdaugh needs more treatment for an opioid addiction that has lasted for more than a decade.

Hes not going to run, Harpootlian said. Thats not where he is now."

Griffin argued that the Alex Murdaugh who is not hooked on drugs has lived a good, fruitful life  a law-abiding life.

"Only when he got hooked on opioids did things turn south and he truly regrets his conduct, Griffin said.

Murdaugh has been in jail since his arrest Thursday at a drug rehab center near Orlando, Florida.

The housekeeper's insurance isn't the only six-figure case being investigated by state police. Murdaugh's former law firm  founded by his great-grandfather a century ago  has accused him of stealing possibly millions of dollars.

Prosecutors hinted at Tuesday's hearing that Murdaugh has turned over all his affairs to his surviving son and in recent weeks sold a boat and property in Beaufort County in what they said might be an attempt to hide money from at least three ongoing lawsuits.

Each charge of obtaining property by false pretenses carries a sentence of up to 10 years. The three felony charges from the botched attempt to arrange his own death could bring up to 20 years in prison if he's convicted.

Murdaugh continues to insist he had nothing to do with the June deaths of his wife, Maggie, 52, and their son Paul, 22. Murdaugh said he returned to their rural Colleton County home to find them shot to death. Tight-lipped state police have neither named any suspects nor ruled anyone out.

In addition to all of the other cases, state police are looking into whether Murdaugh has connections to a 2015 hit-and-run death and whether he or other family members tried to obstruct the investigation into a boat crash involving Paul Murdaugh that killed a 19-year-old woman in 2019. Murdaugh also denies any wrongdoing in these cases, Harpootlian said Tuesday.

The Murdaugh family has dominated the legal community in Hampton County for nearly the past century. Murdaugh's father, grandfather and great-grandfather were elected prosecutors and their prestigious law firm became known for suing railroads.

___

This story has been edited to correct the housekeeper's name to Gloria and that she died in 2018.

___

Follow Jeffrey Collins on Twitter at https://twitter.com/JSCollinsAP.
Connie Koutouzos has been chosen as the new president and CEO of both McLaren Thumb Region and McLaren Caro Region, the medical organization announced this week.

Koutouzos first day at her new role will be Nov. 1, filling the position vacated by Michael Johnston and served in an interim role by Matt Rick, the director of operations.

Koutouzos has 30 years of health care experience in nursing and administration, having most recently served as the president and CEO of Aspirus Iron River, a 25-bed critical access hospital in Iron River, in the Upper Peninsula. She holds a Bachelor of Science in nursing and Master of Science in nursing administration from Northern Michigan University, and a Master of Business Administration from Michigan Technological University.

Connies health care experience in the rural setting set her apart from many of the candidates we interviewed, said John Hunt, the chairman of McLaren Thumb Regions board of directors, in a statement. She has a great understanding of critical access hospitals and what they mean to the community.

Her commitment to ensuring everyone has access to quality health care was evident based on her demonstrated history supporting rural health, said John Hunter, the chair of McLaren Caro Regions board of directors, in a statement. She has a passion for serving the community and we believe she will do a wonderful job.

Magen Samyn, the regional vice-president of marking and business development, said that after interested candidates applied for the position, they were interviewed by members of both the McLaren Thumb and Caro Regions board of directors, medical staff, and senior leadership team. A phone screening also took place to ensure all competencies.

Michael Johnston, the previous McLaren Thumb and Caro Regions President and CEO, announced in April that he had accepted a position in Minneapolis after serving the role for about three years.
Getty Images

Today, Gov. Whitmer and the Michigan Department of Corrections announced a policy directive that will guarantee critical medical resources and support to pregnant and post-partum prisoners and their newborns. The directive will also allow prisoners more time with their newborns immediately after delivery.

Formalizing existing MDOC practices in areas such as the limitation on the use of restraints and the provision of Medication Assisted Treatment, while expanding the use of birth plans, the directive aims to "make our corrections system more just," according to Whitmer.
The topic of Michigan voting redistricting was a hot topic at Monday's Midland City Council meeting.

Councilors and residents met at City Hall to discuss a potential statement from council on recently proposed maps. Council also discussed a purchase order for surveying services for the citys flood mitigation/stormwater improvement plan, Concept Five.

Redistricting

City manager Brad Kaye presented to council maps recently proposed by the Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission. The commission is citizen-led and is comprised of 13 members. Four are Republicans, four are Democrats, and five are political independents.

Constitutional priorities for the process include having the districts be equal in population, having them reflect diverse populations and communities of interest, having them reflect county and city boundaries, and not letting them favor a political party or incumbent, Kaye said. The maps will be fully approved on or after Dec. 30, 2021, with public comment hearings held between Oct. 20-26.

This discussion comes after Midland Mayor Maureen Donker rose concerns about the city of Midland being separated from the rest of Midland and Gladwin counties in almost all of the proposed maps for U.S. House and State Representative/House. Only one of the maps for State House would group all of Midland County, the Midland city limits, and some of Gladwin County together in one district.

The rest of the maps either group the city of Midland with Bay City, with the Tri-Cities area, or with Flint and Fenton.

Kaye said the non-partisan council had three options at Monday's meeting: take no position, make public comment as council, or comment individually as citizens.

Donker, and many other city councilors, had concerns about the city being separated from its watershed in Midland and Gladwin counties. Donker said the city limits need to be included with the rest of the county due to flooding issues.

There was consensus among a few of the councilors to make public comment to the commission that they wanted an undivided county. Councilor Steve Arnosky said the county seat of Midland should stay with the county it resides in and to do otherwise sounds like gerrymandering. Councilor Marty Wazbinski said while the current districts are gerrymandered, he is concerned about the city being carved out to join other areas.

Councilor Diane Brown-Wilhelm agreed, stating the city needs to stay with its county.

If it turns out to (include) Bay City, Saginaw and down to Grand Blanc, so be it, Brown-Wilhelm said. But we want Midland city in Midland County.

However, Councilor Pam Hall said excluding Saginaw from the voting district would not be a good idea, and that gerrymandering is an issue.

The fact that gerrymandering exists in America is a grave concern to our democracy and it clearly excludes the majority vote of individual people, Hall said.

People who spoke during the public comment period agreed, with former State House candidate Sarah Schulz arguing that the proposed maps increase fairness and the council should honor its bipartisan mission with whatever actions it takes.

Voting to support a proposed map that connects us to the northern communities, and not the proposed maps that connect us to Bay City and Saginaw, will be voting against fairness and voting for the unfair status quo, Schulz said.

Jennifer Austin, chair of the Midland County Democrats, said the redistricting committee is comprised of citizens, and any governing body commenting on the proposed maps would be inappropriate.

While Donker understood the arguments about fairness, she said Midland faces an important issue that it will be working on for the next 10 years.

We have a major issue that no one else in the state is facing, Donker said. What we face is different and I think that has to do with flooding. There are 1,000 dams across the state of Michigan and ours were the first two that were breached. How we respond to that I think is critically important.

Kaye said the council had to come to a consensus if it wanted to make a comment as council, because the next council meeting doesn't take place until after the public comment meetings for the redistricting commission. Council did not reach a consensus.

Footing Drain Disconnect Services

Director of Wastewater Services Jared Driscoll presented the proposed purchase order for the citys Footing Drain Disconnect Plan (FDDP), which is part of the Concept Five plan. Concept Five would increase the sizes of certain sewers, add off-line sanitary sewage storage, repair structurally defective sewer pipes, and implement the FDDP.

The resolution on deck for the council would authorize the purchase to Moore & Bruggink for services for Phase Two of the FDDP. These services would cost $154,500, according to Driscoll.

Phase Two of the FDDP would consist of survey services for major Concept Five elements, the continuation and finalization of the FDDP, and outlining the next steps once the FDDP is finalized. This includes a two-person crew working for the next six to seven weeks doing the survey work.

Phase Three-Five will consist of the program design that will take place from December to June, Driscoll said. The purchase order is urgent due to the need of completing the surveying to stay on the plans timeline.

The FDDP has stirred up controversy for the 370 homeowners currently selected for this program. This is due to concerns of sump pump failures during storms and not improving the pump in the Moorland District.

John Elsen asked if the red zone report, a report of sewer lines in the city that need to be fixed that the city has been working on, was used in consideration of Concept Five, and he asked if there will be a detailed plan.

Kaye said the red zone data has been driving where the city is targeting the FDDP. Driscoll said the camera work has been completed and that it will take a significant undertaking to compile the data into a report.

Council approved the resolution for the $154,500 purchase in a 5-0 vote.

Other Council Business
Midland County residents will notice a change in the domain in which they find online county-related services and activities soon.

The Midland County Board of Commissioners approved a request to change the countys website domain from .us to a format commonly used by government agencies, .gov (DOT-Gov).

This was a discussion that had been taking place on and off in the website committee about whether or not we do this, said Administrator/Controller Bridgette Gransden in the Tuesday board meeting. But were at the point with our consultants who are actually doing the website redesign for us that we need to make a decision. So, that is why we decided to take a chance and move it to the full board (as opposed to sending it to a committee) right now so that we dont lose pace in our redesign.

The Midland County Board of Commissioners approved this request among all other agenda items at its regularly scheduled board meeting at 9 a.m. on Tuesday in the County Services building.

The only agenda item with a dissenting vote was Health Officer Fred Yanoskis request to hire a Public Health Preparedness Coordinator, which was a vacant position, at a step 7 of the salary grade. Despite Commissioner Jeanette Snyders vote no, the Commissioners approved Yanoskis request to hire the candidate.

In other business, some Midland County employees are now allowed to cash out up to five days of annual leave for 2021 only, due to the ongoing pandemic. The change - which was approved 7-0 on Tuesday - varies from a policy in traditional years which only allowed employees to cash out up to two days of annual leave each year in December.

And the commissioners established the salaries of the countys elected officers, 7-0. The 2022 budget was required to be completed by Nov. 1.

The 2022 budget, which goes into effect on Jan. 1, 2022, includes a 2% wage increase for elected officials.

Next years salaries for Midland Countys elected officials will be as follows: $131,743 for Prosecuting Attorney, $111,941 for Sheriff, $88,044 for Treasurer, $84,513 for Clerk, $82,693 for Drain Commissioner and $80,630 for Register of Deeds.

In addition, 42nd Circuit Courts two law clerk positions will receive a 2% wage increase. For the 2022 budget, the first-year law clerk will receive a salary of $51,512 and the second-year law clerk will receive a salary of $54,503.

And seasonal workers will also see an increase in pay.

For seasonal workers employed by Parks & Recreation and Mosquito Control departments, a $2.23 increase over the 2021 rates will be applied next year.

For example, first-year seasonal workers who are currently paid $11.87 per hour will now make $14.10 per hour.

Midland County residents had an opportunity to comment on the 2022 budget. A public hearing was opened by Chair Mark Bone during the Tuesday meeting to receive comments from county constituents regarding the 2022 proposed budget. But a public hearing ultimately did not take place because members of the public did not voice any comments during a motion for a public hearing.

Another agenda item approved in Midland County supports a 2022 Interlocal Agreement with Great Lakes Bay Michigan Works! The Interlocal Agreement includes Michigan Works service area, which includes the surrounding counties of Bay, Gratiot, Isabella and Saginaw. According to Michigan Works, similar requests were shared with the other counties.

The original nine-page Interlocal Agreement was signed in 2017, and according to Michigan Works, no changes were made in content or verbiage other than to update the effective and expiration dates. The agreement will be in effect from Jan. 1, 2022 through Dec. 31, 2026.

Also approved 7-0 was an agreement with Medcom Benefit Solutions to continue providing Affordable Care Act reporting services for Midland County. According to public documents from the county, Medcom is a leading employee benefit administrator and provider of health and welfare compliance consulting and actuarial services. The estimated fee for services is $6,533, which is a $489 decrease from 2018s costs of $7,022. A 50% down payment is due with the signed agreement by the end of October.

Following its board meeting, the board met in a closed session around 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday to discuss labor negotiations.

The next regularly scheduled Midland County Board of Commissioners meeting will be held at 9 a.m. on Nov. 2 at the County Services building at 220 W. Ellsworth Street in Midland.
Some Midland area roads, including Saginaw Road, were briefly closed Tuesday for a local firefighter's funeral procession.

Retired Midland City firefighter Lt. Timothy Longlet, 54, died on Friday after a four-year battle with cancer.

To honor Longlet, the Midland Fire Department Station #3 displayed an American flag over Saginaw Road. The fire station is located on North Saginaw Road in Midland, where the funeral procession briefly passed during its route from Midland Evangelical Free Church to the Midland City Cemetery.

Longlet had been a State of Michigan Certified Service Officer with the Midland City Fire Department and was union president of Local 1315 over 10 years.

The Midland City Police asked residents early on Tuesday to avoid select roads due to funeral route. This alert has not yet been updated.

Related content

Midland roads to close for funeral procession
Cora Heart Crether, 64 of Palestine, died on November 10th in Tyler. Funeral service will be held Saturday at 1 p.m. at Rising Star Baptist Church in Grapeland. Burial will follow in Golden Gate Cemetery in Grapeland. The viewing will be Friday from 10 to 6 at Emanuel Funeral Home Palestine.
Tripoli, Libya (PANA) - Libyan Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Najla al-Mangouch has called on her European Union (EU) counterparts to play their role by providing the necessary support to help Libyans achieve the desired stability and end the transitional stages
Khartoum, Sudan (PANA)  The Sudan Council of Ministers has set formed a joint "crisis cell" from all parties to resolve the current political tension highlighted by numerous feuds within the government
Photo: (Photo : Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has answered his critics who questioned his decision to take paternity leave in August to care for his new adopted twin babies, Penelope and Joseph, with husband Chasten Buttigieg.

During a session with "Meet the Press, the secretary said that he and his husband were not on vacation as having a new baby is still work, amid the joy and wonderful feeling of expanding their family. This was his answer to Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who implied that the Buttigiegs didn't deserve the longer family leave because they were not "trying to figure out how to breastfeed."

In another interview via CNN, Buttigieg said that they have been bottle feeding the twins "all hours of the day and night." The secretary said he doesn't have to apologize to his critics for taking care of their premature infant twins.

Read Also: Father Gets Prison Sentence for Taking 7-Year-Old Son to Watch Dogfighting

Crucial Paid Paternity Leave

Buttigieg has been off work at a crucial time for President Joe Biden as his infrastructure package, "Build Back Better," is currently under debate among lawmakers. Questions about his absence drew even more criticism when a spokesperson from his department said that Buttigieg was "mostly offline for four weeks" except for major matters that cannot be delegated to his staff.

However, the spokesperson reiterated that the secretary has been "ramping up activities" a month after his paternity leave though he continues to enjoy the parental benefits with his husband. Incidentally, paid family leave is also outlined in Biden's package, and Buttigieg's case has been highlighting how much every American parent deserves to have this proposal approved. Among the developed nations around the world, the U.S. is the only country that does not have a nationwide government-supported paid parental leave.

Molly Day of PL+US, an advocacy group for paid parental leave in the U.S., said that criticisms against Buttigieg show that the stigma around fathers taking a break from work to care for their children is still present. However, plenty of newer and younger generations of men are now more than willing to step up to their roles as parents, who are grabbing the opportunity to look after their babies. The advocate said that the public should support this changing tide among the men even as caregiving is still predominantly a woman's turf.

Jen Psaki, the White House Press Secretary, also defended Buttigieg from his critics and said that she is proud to work with a "role model" who is showing that paternity leave is important.

Also proud to work in an Administration that is fighting to make paid leave a reality for everyone, and with people like @SecretaryPete who are role models on the importance of paid leave for new parents https://t.co/Zby6W6XoNo  Jen Psaki (@PressSec) October 15, 2021

Most Demanding to Take On

As a first-time parent with a high-profile job, Buttigieg said that having kids has been the most demanding thing he has taken on with his husband. Speaking with the "Morning Joe" show on MSNBC, the secretary said it had been an "amazing" first few months with their newborns.

He revealed that the biggest surprise for him was feeling so much joy even with the hard parts of raising a baby. He said he's getting used to taking naps at 5:00 a.m. because of the twins' irregular sleep schedule, but he finds himself "grinning half the time."

The Buttigieg couple first announced that they were having kids in August as they had decided to grow their family. He and Chasten married in 2018 while he served as mayor of South Bend, Indiana.

Related Article: Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Husband' Overjoyed' About Becoming Fathers
Photo: (Photo : RADEK MICA/AFP via Getty Images)

Parents who prefer the Moderna vaccine for teens will need to wait for a few more weeks. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has delayed its approval due to concerns over myocarditis, also known as heart inflammation that causes abnormal heart rhythms.

According to The Wall Street Journal, FDA plans to probe more data and compare the results of previous clinical trials to determine the risk of myocarditis in male vaccine recipients. This is after receiving reports that Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden had stopped giving Moderna jabs for those under 30 years old.

Researchers had seen a small number of cases linking heart inflammation in both Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, as these scientific inventions use the same mRNA technology. Currently, the FDA has limited the distribution of Moderna vaccines to young people until the FDA review is complete and final.

However, Paul Burton, the chief medical officer from Moderna, told The Journal that the public could be reassured that the risk is low and balanced between the two leading vaccine brands in the U.S.

Read Also: Parents Said Walgreens Pharmacy Injected COVID-19 Vaccine, Not Flu Shots, to Their Kids

The outcome of Moderna Clinical Trials

In August, Moderna sought an emergency use authorization (EUA) for 12 to 17 years old with the FDA after submitting the results of the clinical trials done among 3,730 teenagers. The study showed that the Moderna vaccine for teens brought on a similar immune response to adults' trials. The teenagers who participated in the trial also exhibited similar minor side effects as the adults, such as headache, fatigue, and pain in the arm.

Dr. Gary Berman, who was one of the principal investigators of the study in Minneapolis, said that the outcome among the younger group proves that the Moderna vaccine is safe and effective among the 12 to 17 years old. Berman is aware of the myocarditis cases, but he believes that this is rare among the younger recipients. For the expert, the outcome is still in line with the pronouncements of various health agencies that vaccine is better at protecting the children versus no vaccination at all.

Dr. Wassim Ballan of the Phoenix Children's Hospital told Forbes that the Moderna vaccine trial in teens was larger than the trials conducted by Pfizer, which was among 2,260 children. However, Moderna's result had a 96 percent effective outcome while Pfizer had 100 percent. Pfizer's age group was also narrower at 12 to 15 years old compared to Moderna's trials.

However, the slight differences do not mean that one vaccine for teens is better than the other. For parents in doubt on which vaccine to get, they could speak to their children's pediatrician for guidance. However, Dr. Lowell Gordon of the Families Together medical facility in Orange County said that the better vaccine is still whatever the families can access.

Vaccine Incentives

Meanwhile, as the U.S. government continue to encourage or mandate vaccination, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz announced that children between the ages of 12 to 17, who get their first dose beginning October 18 to November 9, are eligible to receive a $200 Visa gift card under the "Kids Deserve a Shot" initiative.

On the other hand, teenagers who get fully vaccinated by the end of 2021 can qualify for a $100,000 scholarship for any public or private college institution within the state. To date, some 54 percent of teenagers in Minnesota have had their first jab.

  Minnesota teens: Not only are you eligible to get vaccinated, but starting today, you can also get $200 AND a shot at a $100,000 college scholarship.



Tell your friends and head to https://t.co/ZXyR6Vm1eU pic.twitter.com/xfd9jqogh4  Governor Tim Walz (@GovTimWalz) October 18, 2021

Related Article: COVID-19 Vaccination in Children: White House Tells States to Prepare Giving Doses to Kids 5-11 Years Old
Photo: (Photo : Marcelo Hernandez/Getty Images)

The Centner Academy, a private school in Miami, has informed parents that their children must quarantine at home for 30 days if they have gotten jabs for the COVID-19 vaccine.

In a letter sent to moms and dads, the school's Chief Financial Officer made it clear that vaccinated children will need to stay home for a month for each of the shots, including boosters. They may be allowed back to the school only if they are "healthy and symptom-free."

The school also suggested that parents wait to get their kids vaccinated until the summer to reduce the chances of "shedding" onto others. The officials apparently believe claims that those who have had the COVID-19 vaccine could shed some components that could trigger an infection.

The memo comes as the White House informed governors to prepare for the upcoming rollout of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for children between 5 to 11 years old by the end of October or early November. Pfizer jabs for 12 to 17 years old kids had been authorized for emergency use since the summer.

Read Also: Routine Childhood Vaccinations Dropped During the Pandemic, Causing Concerns for Parents and Doctors

What is Vaccine Shedding?

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), vaccine shedding refers to the discharged vaccine components outside of the body if there are live but weakened components of the virus. Many common vaccines -- such as chickenpox, measles, rotavirus, mumps, and rubella -- have live pathogens that must be replicated inside the body to generate an immune response.

"Shedding" doesn't equate to transmission in most cases, except for the oral polio vaccines, which have not been used nor distributed in the country for decades. None of the authorized COVID-19 vaccines in the U.S. contain any pathogen, which means that vaccine shedding is impossible.

But social media has been littered with false information about COVID-19 vaccine shedding, prompting The Centner Academy to tell its school community to limit interaction with the vaccinated. In April, the private institution also discouraged its educators and staff from getting vaccinated or risked losing their jobs.

In a statement to NBC News South Florida, Leila Centner, the co-founder of the academy, said that there are "too many unknown variables" to ascertain that the COVID-19 vaccine is 100 percent safe. On the other hand, David Centner also issued a statement to emphasize that they want to "err on the side of caution" when it comes to the school community's health until there are enough "definitive and scientifically proven studies" about the vaccines.

Expert Call out The Centner Academy

Dr. Aileen Marty, an infectious disease expert, said that the letter to the parents had been written by someone who has no understanding of science. She called out the school for its destructive and misleading claims, which could hurt people who are not well-versed in science.

Some parents told a local news network that they had decided to pull out and transfer their children to other schools when The Centner Academy first made their vaccination policy known last spring. However, a few parents who have remained with the school because they have paid the $30,000 outright said that they were asked to sign a document preventing them from speaking to the press about the school policies.

Related Article: Mom Sues Wisconsin School After Son Contracts COVID-19 From Classmate
This marker for the Arizona Peace Trail is located in Bouse. The new OHV staging area in Quartzsite will lead into the Peace Trial, a loop of trails from Yuma to Bullhead City.
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Today Apple unleashed the completely reimagined MacBook Pro powered by the all-new M1 Pro and M1 Max  the first pro chips designed for the Mac. Available in 14- and 16-inch models, MacBook Pro delivers groundbreaking processing, graphics, and machine learning (ML) performance whether running on battery or plugged in, as well as amazing battery life  enabling workflows previously unimaginable on a notebook. While Microsoft's new Surface Laptop Studio that was delivered last month could be considered by many of binging a nice general laptop, Apple's new MacBook Pro models blow the competiton away.

Presented below is Apple's new marketing video that takes a whole-new direction from marketing of the past to match the insanity of the new MacBook Pros.







The new MacBook Pro also features a stunning Liquid Retina XDR display, that's vastly superior to PC laptops with OLED displays, a wide range of ports for advanced connectivity, a 1080p FaceTime HD camera, and the best audio system in a notebook.

Combined with macOS Monterey, which is engineered down to its core to take full advantage of M1 Pro and M1 Max, the user experience is simply unrivaled. Shattering the limits of what a notebook can do, MacBook Pro is designed for developers, photographers, filmmakers, 3D artists, scientists, music producers, and anyone who wants the worlds best notebook.

The new MacBook Pro joins the 13-inch MacBook Pro with M1 to form the strongest lineup of pro notebooks ever. Customers can order the new 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro models today, and they will be available beginning Tuesday, October 26.

We set out to create the worlds best pro notebook, and today were excited to introduce the all-new MacBook Pro with M1 Pro and M1 Max  a game-changing combination of phenomenal performance, unrivaled battery life, and groundbreaking features, said Greg Joswiak, Apples senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing.

Joswiak added that "The all-new MacBook Pro adds a breathtaking XDR display, more ports like MagSafe 3, an advanced 1080p camera, and a sensational six-speaker sound system, all in a stunning new design. The new MacBook Pro simply has no equal and is by far the best pro notebook weve ever built."













M1 Pro: A Whole New Level of Performance and Capability

Utilizing the industry-leading 5-nanometer process technology, M1 Pro packs in 33.7 billion transistors, more than 2x the amount in M1. A new 10-core CPU, including eight high-performance cores and two high-efficiency cores, is up to 70 percent faster than M1, resulting in unbelievable pro CPU performance. Compared with the latest 8-core PC laptop chip, M1 Pro delivers up to 1.7x more CPU performance at the same power level and achieves the PC chips peak performance using up to 70 percent less power.1 Even the most demanding tasks, like high-resolution photo editing, are handled with ease by M1 Pro.

(Click on image to Enlarge)

M1 Pro has an up-to-16-core GPU that is up to 2x faster than M1 and up to 7x faster than the integrated graphics on the latest 8-core PC laptop chip.1 Compared to a powerful discrete GPU for PC notebooks, M1 Pro delivers more performance while using up to 70 percent less power.2 And M1 Pro can be configured with up to 32GB of fast unified memory, with up to 200GB/s of memory bandwidth, enabling creatives like 3D artists and game developers to do more on the go than ever before.

M1 Max: The Worlds Most Powerful Chip for a Pro Notebook

M1 Max features the same powerful 10-core CPU as M1 Pro and adds a massive 32-core GPU for up to 4x faster graphics performance than M1. With 57 billion transistors  70 percent more than M1 Pro and 3.5x more than M1  M1 Max is the largest chip Apple has ever built. In addition, the GPU delivers performance comparable to a high-end GPU in a compact pro PC laptop while consuming up to 40 percent less power, and performance similar to that of the highest-end GPU in the largest PC laptops while using up to 100 watts less power.2 This means less heat is generated, fans run quietly and less often, and battery life is amazing in the new MacBook Pro. M1 Max transforms graphics-intensive workflows, including up to 13x faster complex timeline rendering in Final Cut Pro compared to the previous-generation 13-inch MacBook Pro.

(Click on image to Greatly Enlarge)

M1 Max also offers a higher-bandwidth on-chip fabric, and doubles the memory interface compared with M1 Pro for up to 400GB/s, or nearly 6x the memory bandwidth of M1. This allows M1 Max to be configured with up to 64GB of fast unified memory. With its unparalleled performance, M1 Max is the most powerful chip ever built for a pro notebook.

Feast your eyes on XDR

Liquid Retina XDR. The best display ever in a notebook features Extreme Dynamic Range and a million to one contrast ratio. HDR content comes to life in photos, video, and games  with refined specular highlights, incredible detail in shadows, and vibrant, true-to-life colors. Each display is factory calibrated and features pro reference modes for HDR color grading, photography, design, and print production.

ProMotion. ProMotion comes to Mac for the first time, making everything from scrolling through a web page to gaming super fluid and responsive  while also reducing power consumption. With refresh rates of up to 120Hz, the adaptive technology automatically adjusts to match the movement of the content. ProMotion video editors can also choose a fixed refresh rate that precisely aligns with their footage.

(Click on image to Enlarge)

There's so much more about the MacBook Pros to explore here and the new mind boggling M1 Pro and M1 Max processors here.

You could also watch and listen to Apple's SVP, Hardware Technologies, Johny Srouji describe the new processors in detail between the 18:40 and 26:00 minute marks on the event video below. You could then advance the video to the 33:40 minute mark to begin listening to John Ternus, Apple's Senior Vice President of Hardware Engineering, describe the new MacBook Pros along with yet another cool video to watch. The video continues through to other Apple managers going through various aspects fo the new MacBook Pros from the new keyboard to the new larger mini-LED backlit displays with it's TrueDepth notch and new FaceTime camera system.






Carabiners, have become integrated into everyday use as a convenient method of holding key rings, various tools, and other objects, due to the ease and speed with which objects can be attached and removed from the device. Today the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office officially granted Apple a patent that relates to a carabiner-type AirTag carriers, and, more particularly, to an AirTag carrier with a unibody construction.

Apple's granted patent covers a carabiner-type carrier that can form a ring shape with a rigid frame and a moveable gate that interlock together to form the loop shape that continuously encloses an inner region in the closed configuration.

It would be advantageous to provide a carrier with a capability to secure hold a device while simultaneously providing a mechanism for easily attaching the carrier to other items. Such items can include key rings, loops on clothing, and other articles while securely retaining any device supported by the carrier.

It can also be advantageous to provide the carrier in a form that is resistant to wear. Given that an item supported by the carrier may be frequently used, the carrier can have a construction that is resistant to wear during active use and transport of the carrier. The carrier can also have a construction that facilitates exchange of carried and/or coupled items so that a user can easily attach, detach, and/or exchange items without causing harm to the carrier.

It can also be advantageous to provide the carrier in a form that is aesthetically pleasing. While some carriers, such as carabiners, as of a sturdy construction, they often feature bulky metal components, hinges, and other assembled parts that may have an unpleasing appearance.

Device carriers described herein can enable a user to readily attach, detach, and exchange a device with other objects and/or to a user for easy access. The construction can include both rigid and flexible parts that are formed together to both facilitate easy operation and be resistant to wear. The construction can further provide an elegant appearance.

Apple's patent FIG. 1 below illustrates a device carrier that can be provided with an ability to support a device as well as an ability to attach to other objects; FIG. 2 illustrates a front view of the device carrier of FIG. 1 in an open configuration.

Apple's patent FIG. 6 above illustrates a perspective view of a device carrier having a first body, a second body, and a third body, along with a device (AirTag) to be inserted into the third body.

For more details, review Apple's granted patent 11,147,359.
Police are investigating whether a suspect arrested at the scene of Fridays attack in a church hall was motivated by Islamist extremism, stoking fears for the safety of elected representatives.



Members of the House of Commons, most dressed in black, observed a minutes silence at the start of a special debate. Many then called for an end to the bitterly divisive rhetoric that has swelled since Britains 2016 Brexit referendum.



They recalled the Conservative Amess bipartisan cooperation, his ebullient sense of humour, and his deep Catholic faith: one remembered him inadvertently getting a packet of cough sweets blessed by the pope on a visit to the Vatican.



We will cherish his memory. We will celebrate his legacy, Johnson told the debate, which ended with MPs filing in cross-party procession to a religious remembrance service.



And we will never allow those who commit acts of evil to triumph over the democracy and the parliament that to Sir David Amess, meant so much, he added.



Home Secretary Priti Patel has ordered a review of security measures for parliamentarians and vowed to close any gaps in security provision.



Breaks my heart



Amess was one of Britains longest-serving and most respected MPs. He campaigned on a range of causes, including obtaining city status for the seaside town of Southend, east of London, which he represented.



Queen Elizabeth II has now formally granted the request, Johnson said to cheers.



Earlier, Amess widow Julia and other members of his family visited the scene of the attack in Leigh-on-Sea, near Southend, wiping away tears as she reviewed a sea of floral tributes.



On Sunday, his family said they were absolutely broken by his death and made a plea for tolerance.



Set aside hatred and work towards togetherness. Whatever ones race, religious or political beliefs, be tolerant and try to understand, they added, after the second killing of a UK politician in five years.



Jo Cox, of the opposition Labour party was killed by a far-right extremist just before the Brexit referendum in 2016.



Coxs constituency in northern England is now represented by her sister, Kim Leadbeater, who recalled at Mondays debate physically trembling when she was told about that attack.



And it breaks my heart to think that another family has had to experience that phone call, and the nightmare which follows, she said.



Its a rollercoaster of deep trauma that no one should have to experience.



But the threats to MPs have not stopped, especially to women.



Former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith said that on Monday, his staff had received a newspaper front-page featuring Amess and daubed with the handwritten words like you, you bastard.



Labour MP Chris Bryant said he notified police of another death threat on Saturday, after having urged more civility in politics.



Bryant attributed the rise in abuse to Brexit and anti-vaccine protests.



Closing the debate, Labours Rupa Huq dwelt fondly on sharing a recent foreign trip to QatarAmess last as an MPand urged colleagues to follow his example in being less cross and more cross-party.



Last month, Labours deputy leader Angela Rayner triggered a storm of protest after describing Conservatives as scum.



But critics have also long condemned Johnsons provocative language against a range of targets in print and in speeches.



Investigation



Police have until Friday to charge the 25-year-old man who was arrested at the scene.



Detectives have declared the killing a terrorist incident and said they were investigating a potential motivation linked to Islamist extremism.



British media, citing official sources, have identified the suspect as Ali Harbi Ali, a British national of Somali descent from London.



Before the attack, the suspect had been referred to Prevent, the official counter-terrorist scheme for those thought to be at risk of radicalisation, according to reports.



His father is a former prime ministerial adviser in Somalia and his uncle is the East African countrys ambassador to China, while his aunt runs a security think tank in the war-ravaged Somali capital Mogadishu, the reports added.







Source: AFP









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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A hospital specializing in digestive diseases has opened at Ashaiman in the Greater Accra Region.



Pleasant Medical Centre (PMC) was built by a consortium of doctors led by Dr. Robert Nunoo, a colorectal surgery specialist who practices in Cary, North Carolina and is affiliated with the medical facilities Wakemed Cary Hospital and WakeMed Raleigh Campus.



He graduated from the Karolinska Institutet, one of the world's foremost medical universities and is Sweden's single largest centre of medical academic research in 1998.



After 30 years of practice in the US and Sweden, Dr. Nunoo decided to establish a hospital in Ghana to treat digestive diseases. In 2014, he put together a team from Ghana and the United States to work towards establishing a medical facility that will provide general medical care but specialize in digestive diseases.



An estimated 117,000 people die each year from cancers of the digestive tract, which include the colon, the gallbladder, and the stomach. Noncancerous digestive diseases cause 74,000 deaths a year, with 36 percent caused by chronic liver disease and cirrhosis.



At the inauguration of the facility at Ashaiman in the Greater Accra Region, Dr. Nunoo said the facility will have 65 beds in the next two years as it expands. Dr. Nunoo and the individuals he describes as a consortium of friends and family are also working to introduce emergency and ICU services.



Currently PMC will provide general medical services and aims to commence its Digestive Diseases Centre before the end of 2022. The impressive facility also has an ultra-modern lab, digital Xray, Pharmacy, Physiotherapy Unit, Obs & Gyne Unit and its own fully equipped ambulance. The facility runs a paperless system; using cutting edge Hospital Management Software.



It will also add to its portfolio endoscopy and the treatment of kidney diseases.



The Pleasant in the hospitals name means it must deliver the highest standard of healthcare.



Whats the pleasant way? The pleasant way is the combination of thoughts and tenants that we go by. And those are the principles that are going to lead us in treating our patients, Dr. Nunoo said.



He said the hospital will run on the values of honesty and integrity, respect, teamwork, and continuous improvement.



There are always newer techniques and were here to embrace new ways and new techniques to improve ourselves to offer better care to the people of Ashaiman, he said.



The CEO of the hospital, Dr. Ann-Shirley Andoh said the hospital was the result of her teams resolve to provide Ghanaians with quality healthcare.



Our intention to bring high-quality healthcare, which is affordable and protocol-driven to all Ghanaians, finds representation in this beautiful building that we have today, Dr. Andoh said.



She added that: The challenges we face in the health sector are not insurmountable. Together with my colleague collaborators, we have decided to leave indelible footprints in the sands of time.



Programmes Manager at JOY FM, Edem Knight-Tay, was MC for the event. She praised Dr. Nunoo and his teams decision to establish a facility that provided affordable care to the sick.



A fathers dream



Dr. Robert Nunoo describes his father, Dr. P.K. Nunoo, as his primary inspiration. Senior Nunoo founded Bukom Ellphkwei Hospital, which stood at the very location the new edifice, Pleasant Medical Centre, now proudly stands.



Sadly, the senior doctor passed away in August this year and was buried a week before the inauguration of his sons new specialist hospital. During his address, Dr. Robert Nunoo led the audience to observe a minutes silence for his father.



Having grown up in Ashaiman, Dr. Nunoo remarked I think that Ashaiman deserves a big hospital considering how fast its growing.



With a population of over 300,000 Ashaiman continues to expand with new real estate developments springing up on the outskirts.





















































Source: Peacefmonline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The Management of the Tropo Farms Limited, producers of tilapia at Mpakadan in the Asuogyaman District in the Eastern Region, has called for urgent dialogue between the company and stakeholders in the railway and fisheries sectors.



They said the dialogue was needed to resolve issues relating to the construction of the New Akrade to Mpakadan section of the Tema - Mpakadan railway line.



The call follows an incident last Friday during which armed policemen numbering about 10, accompanied by two excavators and a bulldozer, invaded part of the premises to clear a portion of land, which destroyed the water system of the company and disrupted electricity supply.



The Chief Operations Officer of the company, Mr. Andries Zwaga, made the appeal when he took newsmen to see the extent of damage to the company's properties, last Tuesday.



Incident



He said the most worrying aspect of the incident was that there was no communication and what they realised was that armed men had invaded the company's premises.



He said the Ministry of Railways, Ministry of Fisheries and the Ghana Railway Development Authority must come together to find an amicable solution to any matters arising, since the company was ready to cooperate.



"We are not against the construction of the railway line. It is a laudable project and we will not do anything to sabotage it. However, the compensation process must be expedited, since we are ready to relocate our operations to other areas on the Volta Lake," he told newsmen.



Compensation



According to him, the issue of compensation had become critical, since the relocation would come at a greater cost to the company with most of the workers losing their jobs.



Mr. Zwaga said the company, which employed 800 workers, was made to understand that the line would pass through the farm to the yet-to-be-constructed harbour attached to the project.



He said a lot of noise, vibration and dumping of boulders by the construction firm, AFCON, an Indian company, could lead to stress, leading to diseases with their attendant consequences.



He added that the company had boosted the economy of surrounding communities such as Atimpoku, Juapong, Akrade, Frankadua, Fentey and Tusker, as a result of its operations.



The company is the largest producer of tilapia in Ghana and the second largest in sub Saharan Africa. It has a total land area of 2,000 acres and over 300 cages on a portion of the Volta Lake and produces 200 tonnes of tilapia weekly.













Source: graphiconline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The Executive Director of the National Service Scheme (NSS), Hon. Osei Assibey Antwi together with Kwaku Ohene Gyan and Deputy Executive Director have toured various national service registration centers in Kumasi, Sunyani and Tamale respectively.



The purpose of the tour was to afford the management opportunity to monitor the activities at the various registration centres and get firsthand information.



The delegation was received by the various NSS directors.



They had interactions with the staff and volunteers and further headed to the registration stands to witness the fast and smooth activities.



Other members of the team included Arstrong Essah, Head of Corporate Affairs and Emmanuel Akorsah, NASPA President.

Source: Peacefmonline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Chief Hamilton Biney, Deputy National Organizer of the largest opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has hit hard at the ruling New Patriotic Party(NPP) for deceiving the people of Cape Coast on his facebook wall.



According to him, "dishonest President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and his deceptive vice president Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia have been exposed big time by the God of central region".



President Akufo-Addo has said that a Habour project was never a part of the list of commitments tabled before him for his second term.



The commitment was never to a harbour; it was to a landing site, he said on Cape Coast-based Eagle FM on Monday.



Bawumia's manifesto launch address



During his address at the launch of the partys manifesto in August 2020, Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia also disclosed that, for the people of Cape Coast, I have good news for you. We are building a new harbour in Cape Coast and a new airport in Cape Coast.



Cape Coast airport



Meanwhile, on the idea of an airport in the region, President Akufo-Addo explained that consensus about the location among other studies is complete.



The commitment to build the airport in Cape Coast, that one is 100% committed, work is ongoing it, and I think very soon, just as we have seen with Wa, Ho, Sunyani  its almost complete, Cape Coast will get its own airport, he added.



To Chief Biney, politics is about truthfulness and consistency and not dishonesty.



He said the "NDC and all Ghanaians for that matter must come together and speak truth to power to rescue mother Ghana from this clueless administration".



Chief Biney posted on his facebook wall:



"Dishonest President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and his deceptive vice president Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia have been exposed big time by the God of central region. I thank the almighty God that the internet is not controlled by the mother serpent and his assistant because they would have manipulated it to change their own words as they always do. Politics is about truthfulness and consistency and not dishonesty. The NDC and all Ghanaians for that matter must come together and speak truth to power to rescue mother Ghana from this clueless administration."

#2gether2rescue

#GhanaMustWork











Akufo-Addo says he never promised to build a habour in Cape Coast



Residents of Cape Coast who have been waiting on the construction of a new harbour since the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) won its re-election bid in 2020 may have their hopes dashed.



According to President Akufo-Addo, that infrastructure project was never a part of the list of commitments tabled before him for his second term.



The commitment was never to a harbour; it was to a landing site, he said on Cape Coast-based Eagle FM on Monday.



It was the first stop on his two-day tour of the Central Region as part of his annual working visits to the countrys 16 regions.



Source: Peacefmonline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The Flag Bearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the 2020 elections, John Dramani Mahama believes that the Military was used to declare the 2020 elections in favour of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) in some collation centres.



He explained that the deployment of the military forced some officers of the electoral commission to declare wrong results to favour his opponent, Nana Akufo-Addo and the NPP.



Mr. Mahama made the claims when he spoke on Global FM last Monday morning to kick start his one-day Thank You tour of the Volta Region.



He said We won the majority in Parliament, but you saw what happened on the day. In many of the collation centres they injected soldiers and forced the electoral officers to pronounce results that were not real.



He cited a situation in Sefwi Wiawso where a ballot box got missing in transit, thereby allowing the EC to pronounce the election in favour of the NPP candidate, although he (Mahama) had won the presidential ballot.



According to him, a careful analysis of the incidents that happened during the 2020 elections point to the fact that the NDC won the elections, but the scheming turned the tide in favour of the incumbent NPP at the time.



But for a lot of scheming that took place, the NDC would have won the election. I do believe that we did win, but a lot of things went untoward and so even though power did not come into our hands, it does not mean we do not have the prospects of winning.



He was therefore surprised that the Electoral Commission in a recent comment described the 2020 election as the best ever since the inception of the fourth republic.



The Chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC), Jean Mensa, described the 2020 general election as historic, transparent, efficient, and cost-effective in a recent interaction with some foreign dignitaries.



She acknowledged that although there were some pockets of electoral and post-electoral violence (61 recorded cases) across the country, the seven lives that are alleged to have been lost did not occur at the polling stations or arise as a result of misconduct on the part of the electoral officers or the commission as a whole.



She therefore urged the security agencies to make public the findings from the investigations conducted into the circumstances that led to the killing of the seven persons during the 2020 general elections because One life lost is one too many.



More so, the recommendations will facilitate future learning and make elections in subsequent years better.



Reacting to this, Former President Mahama stressed that the 2020 elections were not transparent because right from the onset the EC had plotted to rig the election for the NPP.



He alleged that She (Jean Mensah) got a mindset towards rigging the election for the NPP. They have conducted the worst election. You have an EC commissioner that says that NDC was an existential threat to the elections of the country.

Mr. Mahama noted that the correction of errors by the EC was evidence of rigging. He also alleged the stuffing of ballot boxes and illegal printing of extra ballot papers and stamping of same, as a basis for a rigged election.



Although the president could not prove these claims at the Supreme Court when he contested the election results earlier this year, he noted that as far as he is concerned, They (EC) have conducted the worst election. They should use the 2024 general elections to redeem themselves.





Source: Daily Guide









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It may come as a surprise to some, but celebrity endorsements have existed for hundreds of years. Its roots can be traced as far back as the 18th century when a British businessman named Josiah Wedgwood branded one of his tea sets as Queensware, to signify the elegant design as attributable to Queen Charlotte. With the endorsement of the monarch, Wedgwoods business became an instant hit.



Leveraging Celebrity Endorsements for Brand Building



These days, celebrity endorsements have become the norm. In fact, large corporations like Pepsi, Louis Vuitton, and Nike have all allocated large amounts of money to getting the best and brightest stars to endorse their brands.



This is true even for budding businesses like Flawless Diamonds Co. Nicholas Flathau, the daring and young owner of the custom jewelry shop, learned that by leveraging celebrity endorsements, one could increase revenue exponentially.



In 2019, following his success in obtaining his own AT&T franchise, Flathau decided to risk it all and create his very own business from scratch. He was enticed by a jeweler from Dallas, Texas who eventually became his mentor after Flathau saw the craftsmanship of his pieces. With the help of his mentor, and his fair share of research, Flathau earned his first million at the young age of 25.



His business flourished. He has been trusted by celebrities who fell in love with his custom jewelry, such as Tea Cooper, NLE Choppa, King Louie, Chatarius Tutu Atwell, Cole Bennett and more.



Craftsmanship: More than Meets the Eye



Celebrity endorsements will surely attract customers, but that doesnt mean that influencers will always actively affect a consumers buying behavior. A study conducted by researchers from Nanhua University in Taiwan found that celebrity endorsers could indeed affect a customers brand awareness, especially if they are credible and trustworthy. However, buying intentions still depend on subjective perceptions and preferences that are not dictated by an idol or personality that endorses the product.



Hence, a business should still focus more on the quality of its product or service rather than just paying celebrities to promote them.



Flawless Diamonds Co. knows this by heart. Thats why craftsmanship, above all, is the name of their game.



Quality is all we know, says Flathau. They wouldnt attract the attention of these celebrities if they did not know how to deliver the best jewelry pieces to each and every one of their clients.



Its a struggle starting out because people dont know who you are, [and have] no respect towards your name until they start seeing your work, adds Flathau.



Today, Flawless Diamonds Co. is well on its way to being recognized as a premium jewelry company, thanks to its dedication to quality products and its ability to leverage celebrity endorsements as well. Flathau says that any business can achieve this level of success by following in his footsteps and making the right sacrifices at the right time.













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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Actress, Benedicta Gafah has announced the demise of her dear, father.



She announced the unfortunate demise of her father over the weekend on Saturday, October 16, 2021.



In a now-deleted post, she prayed for her dads soul to rest well as she cried why he left at this time.



This is the second major death the actress has been hit within less than a year according to Adomonline.



In October 2020, she took to social media to mourn the death of her best friend of eight years, Esther Maame Esi, who was killed in a car crash.



She died few hours after she spoke to her on phone, before embarking on the journey that she never returned.

Source: Eugene Osafo-Nkansah/Peacefmonline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The beef between two popular Ghanaian gospel artistes, Brother Sammy and Ernest Opoku may be far from over or if it has ever been over, then it may soon be revived as Brother Sammy has for the first time spilled the beans on why he and Ernest Opoku are at each other's throats.



Brother Sammy, speaking on UTV's 'United Showbiz', disclosed there is conflict between Ernest Opoku and him because the former has refused to honour him.



According to him, he mentored Ernest Opoku to develop his music prowess as the latter copied his style of singing but he (Ernest Opoku) has refused to tell Ghanaians and the world the truth.



Giving the impression that Ernest Opoku doesn't give him gratitude, Brother Sammy said; "It disturbs him (Ernest Opoku) to say I'm his father or mentor or was following me. This is what has brought about all this problem . . . It worries him to admit this and publicly honour me''.



Watch his full submissions below:











Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Comedian Funny Face has been arrested by the Ghana Police Service for threatening to kill his baby mama, Bismark the joke, and James Gardiner through videos and posts he shared on his social media pages.



Funny Face, born Benson Nana Yaw Oduro Boateng will be assisting the police in investigations but will first be sent to the psychiatric hospital for examinations before he finally endures the full weight of the law.



The security agency confirmed the arrest of Funny Face on Twitter and additionally gave the general public a hint about the current state of Funny Face.



A tweet about Funny Face arrest on the official Twitter handle of Ghana Police Service reads;



Funny Face in Police Custody for Allegedly Threatening Some Individuals. The Police have today, Monday, 18th October, 2021, at 10:14 pm arrested Benson Nana Yaw Oduro Boateng, popularly known as Funny Face for allegedly threatening certain individuals via some Social Media platforms.



Due to the history of the suspect, the police shall submit Benson Nana Yaw Oduro Boateng to the court for an order for psychiatric examination, to determine the next line of investigative action. Over the weekends, Funny Face became the talk of town after he launched an aggressive attack on Fadda Dickson, Bola Ray, and his good old friend Adebayor.



In a series of posts he shared on his IG page also, he accused James Gardiner and Bismark The Joke of sleeping with his baby and additionally swore to k!ll the three of them and commit suicide afterwards.



These threats from Funny Face are what have landed him in the grips of the police service again after suffering a similar fate not long ago.









Funny Face in Police Custody for Allegedly Threatening Some Individuals.



The Police have today, Monday, 18th October, 2021, at 10:14 pm arrested Benson Nana Yaw Oduro Boateng, popularly known as Funny Face for allegedly threatening certain individuals via pic.twitter.com/fOu7ltKu2A



 Ghana Police Service (@GhPoliceService) October 18, 2021



some Social Media platforms.



Due to the history of the suspect, the police shall submit Benson Nana Yaw Oduro Boateng to the court for an order for psychiatric examination, to determine the next line of investigative action. pic.twitter.com/p1BdfprsqF

 Ghana Police Service (@GhPoliceService) October 18, 2021

Source: twitter/GC









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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Earlier yesterday, the African Dancehall King through his a$$ lickers whom he addresses as his right-hand men sent shivers down the spines of his fans and loved ones after they lied that he has been shot by gunmen.



According to one Nana Doe who lives under the same roof with Shatta Wale, he was shot by a gang of some notorious armed robbers at East Legon around 6 pm yesterday.



He later proceeded to lie more that Shatta Wale has been hospitalized and was receiving treatment from the emergency ward at an unnamed hospital. This news went rife on the local digital space prompting the Ghana Police Service to launch serious investigations into the matter.



According to the police, all attempts to reach out to the artist who rides on controversies to make it into the news have been futile.



A statement released by the police also states that both Shatta Wales friends and family claim that they dont know about his current whereabouts.



Search in the various hospitals in Accra has also proven that Shatta Wale hasnt been hospitalized as alleged by Nana Doe who is his road manager.



The police also called on the general public to assist them in finding Shatta Wale. Shatta Wales shooting story has been described as a cock and bull story by a lot of netizens after Nana Doess false publications.



Many social media users opined that it is a strategy to promote his yet-to-be-released album dubbed GIFT OF GOD.









Police Investigate Claims of Shooting Incident Involving Shatta Wale.



Read more from the link below https://t.co/6sJKj9x3x3 pic.twitter.com/AgItVSerrA



 Ghana Police Service (@GhPoliceService) October 18, 2021

Source: ghanacelebrities









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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President Joe Biden signed his $1 trillion infrastructure deal into law Monday on the White House lawn, hailing it as an example of what bipartisanship can achieve.
Travel Tuesday presented by Brevard

How does Travel Tuesday work?

Simply enter your name below and click "Enter" for your chance to win a trip for two adults to Brevard.

Prize Details

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 3 nights for 2 people in a cabin at Foggy Bottom Cabins  Meals for the entire stay  Visa Gift Card Bike Rentals for 2 people for 3 days from the Hub  Swag Bag courtesy of CognativeMTB and Earth Mountain Bikes  1 Demo Carbon spoke/carbon rim wheelset from Gulo Composites  US $500 for travel expenses Total prize value = $2,970 USD

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**October 19, 2021 at 9:00 AM Pacific Standard Time (PST) to November 2, 2021 at 11:59 AM PST (the Contest Period)

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Welcome to Brevard, the cycling capital to the South, with more than 300 miles of single track get ready to shred! You'll spend 3 nights in a special cabin Foggy Bottom Cabins 7 minutes from Pisgah National Forest and 11 minutes from Dupont State Forest. Bike rentals from the Hub will provide you what you need to ride the ridgelines and creek crossings in DuPont or tackle the gnarliest roots and rocks in Pisgah. Fuel up before and after your rides at one of our numerous restaurants. All meals included as well as a $500 travel voucher to help get you here. You will also have the chance to ride with the locals of The Bike Farm for one of the days during your visit to Brevard. CognativeMTB has got you covered with new ride gear including jerseys, gloves and socks! Earth Mountain Bicycle will offer up two locally designed tees, two water bottles, and two pounds of locally-roasted coffee beans. Gulo Composites has got your back with tees, stickers and a unique wheel house experience not to mention the opportunity to ride a demo wheelset on one of your rental bikes during your stay!Learn more at explorebrevard.com
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A plant vital to the long-term cleanup of the Savannah River Site is projected to process millions of gallons of radioactive waste in its first year of operations, the S.C. governors nuclear advisers were told Monday.

Recent performance indicates some 4 million gallons of waste, a serious environmental and health hazard, will be handled by the Salt Waste Processing Facility in its inaugural year, according to Thomas Johnson Jr., the deputy manager at the Savannah River Site.

To date, a little more than 2 million gallons have been processed. The Salt Waste Processing Facility received its first batch of radioactive waste, siphoned from underground storage, in October 2020, and broke the million-gallon mark over the summer.

The Department of Energys nuclear cleanup office, Environmental Management, expected the SWPF to churn through 6 million gallons in 2021. Falling short of that figure, Johnson said Monday, is the result of a conservative approach.

Now, the thing that we were trying to do there, thats the capacity of the facility, the deputy manager told the Governors Nuclear Advisory Council, which met in Columbia. But being in its first year of operations, we were wanting to make sure that everything was working according to plan before we were able to step up to that level of processing in the facility.

A request for comment made to Parsons, the Virginia-based company running the Salt Waste Processing Facility, was not immediately answered Monday.

Promptly and safely addressing nuclear waste stored in aging tanks  at the Savannah River Site and at the Hanford site in Washington, for example  is among the Energy Departments most significant responsibilities. The departments environmental liabilities total $512 billion, according to the Government Accountability Office, with the vast majority attributed to Environmental Management.

Tank closure can happen at an unprecedented rate with the Salt Waste Processing Facility online, Savannah River Site manager Michael Budney has said.

Construction of the SWPF wrapped in 2016. A ribbon was cut at the facility in September 2020.
ISLE OF PALMS  It's going to take more than a legal opinion to get shipping lines to call on the Leatherman Terminal, the top North American bosses at two major ocean carriers said Oct. 19 during the South Carolina International Trade Conference.

A labor dispute between the State Ports Authority and the union that represents dockworkers has kept most shipping lines from using the new terminal in North Charleston. Although a judge for the National Labor Relations Board ruled Sept. 16 in favor of the SPA, the companies that move containers aboard megaships visiting the Port of Charleston want a more definitive answer.

"To me, it comes down to having a formal agreement between the parties on the terms of labor and how they operate in the terminal," said Uffe Ostergaard, president of Hapag-Lloyd America. "That is still pending, despite the fact that the (union's) claim was rejected. That's what needs to be formalized."

Narin Phol, regional managing director for Maersk North America, added he doesn't believe the issue has been resolved to the point where the Danish shipping giant  the port's biggest customer  would be willing to use the terminal. He said the SPA's Wando Welch Terminal in Mount Pleasant has enough capacity to meet his company's needs.

The labor dispute centers around who will operate the cranes and heavy-lift equipment at the $1 billion first phase of the Leatherman Terminal. The SPA wants its employees to run the machinery. The International Longshoremen's Association said its contract with shipping lines calls for union workers to operate the cranes.

The labor board's judge ruled in favor of the SPA, but the union has asked for an additional 30 days to file an appeal that would be heard by a five-member board appointed by the president.

Jim Newsome, president and CEO of the State Ports Authority, said he is talking with union leaders about finding a way to end the impasse.

"We need to find some type of agreement. I'm not sure what that looks like or if it has to be written," he said. "You can be sure it's my top priority."

ILA spokesman Jim McNamara did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

The union is counting on a more pro-labor NLRB under President Joe Biden, who has appointed two members to the board. Those members, along with an appointee by former President Barack Obama, give the board a Democrat majority, which is seen as being more favorable to organized labor.

Hapag-Lloyd is the only major carrier to use Leatherman since the first phase of the terminal opened in April, sending its weekly North European service of mostly small- to mid-sized containerships to the site. Ostergaard said Hapag-Lloyd won't send any other vessels to the site until the line is convinced the labor dispute is fully resolved.

"I feel confident there will be a meeting of minds to resolve that and get the asset activated," he said.

It could be a while before that happens. If the labor board hears the union's appeal, it could take months to rule on the matter. And getting the type of written agreement between the SPA, the union and shipping lines that would give Ostergaard and others the comfort they're seeking could take months longer.

"The terminal is very nice and very well-equipped," Osgtergaard said. "It's a pity that you have that sort of state-of-the-art asset sitting there in a market where everything is clogged up and you can't use it because of disputes on labor issues that have, at least from what I've always experienced, always run well here in Charleston."

Just 28,246 containers of all sizes moved through the Leatherman during the first three months of fiscal 2022, which started July 1. The terminals first phase has capacity for 700,000 containers a year.

With a record influx of retail-related cargo and a broken global supply chain, Newsome of the SPA said Leatherman is needed now more than ever.

Theres no sense to have underutilized capacity today when the supply chain is taxed as it is in other places, he said.
Charleston International's fleet of air carriers will grow to nearly a dozen by next spring.

Sun Country Airlines announced Oct. 19 it will launch twice-weekly flights between the Lowcountry and its home base of Minneapolis on April 7.

Flights will be offered on Thursday and Sunday, with one-way fares starting at $89. Fares must be purchased before midnight Nov. 2 to qualify for the introductory rate.

The nearly three-hour flight departs from Charleston at 1:35 p.m. It takes off from the Twin Cities area at 8:35 a.m., according to the carrier's website.

Sun Country's posted flight schedule runs through early September 2022. Service on the new route is shown through Sept. 5.

"With more folks eager to resume leisure travel, were excited to be able to offer them another option to get away (next) spring and summer to enjoy the historic and charming city of Charleston," said Grant Whitney, the airline's chief revenue officer.

Charleston airport CEO Elliott Summey said the Twin Cities region is a bustling metropolitan area with much to offer and he encouraged Lowcountry residents to visit the upper Midwest.

"Giving our passengers options when it comes to their air travel is a top priority for us," Summey said.

Charleston's chief tourism official Helen Hill pointed to the Lowcountry's "ever-expanding route map."

"Sun Country joining our roster of carriers is further testament to the reputation and desirability of the Charleston region and is another positive step in our community's and industry's pandemic recovery," said Hill, who also chairs Charleston County Aviation Authority.

Sun Country already serves Myrtle Beach and Savannah, and it will launch flights from Jacksonville next spring.

The airline flies Boeing 737-700 jets that seat 138 passengers and larger Boeing 737-800 aircraft with room for 186.

Sun Country is not the first to offer service to the Minnesota Twin City from Charleston. Delta Air Lines added daily nonstop flights in 2019 to Minneapolis for a while.

Sun Country follows the recent arrival of Utah-based Breeze Airways last spring when it started point-to-point service from the Lowcountry to 11 cities, including seven not previously served by other airlines.

Charleston is also served by carriers that include Alaska, Allegiant, American, Delta, Frontier, JetBlue, Silver, Southwest and United.
COLUMBIA  A Lexington County school board member is facing a state ethics hearing on accusations over multiple votes on projects and contracts that allegedly steered money toward her husbands architectural firm.

An S.C. Ethics Commission probable cause investigation concluded Sept. 28 that Lexington School District Two trustee ElizaBeth Branham voted 10 times between 2017 and 2019 on contracts for Stevens and Wilkerson Architects, where her husband, Keith, is a principal, according to documents obtained by The Post and Courier. The Columbia firm is actually called Stevens and Wilkinson and is misidentified in state documents.

The firm secured work in the district following a $225 million bond referendum in 2014. According to a profile on the companys website, Keith Branham oversees the production of projects worth more than $100 million.

The state ethics report did not say how much money Stevens and Wilkinson received from alleged votes by ElizaBeth Branham. The ethics hearing is the result of a complaint filed in November 2020 by a West Columbia resident.

Branham could not immediately be reached for comment Oct. 19, but her attorney, Scott Winburn, said in an ethics commission filing that a committee that did not include school trustees brought the preferred vendors to the board for consideration.

Jumper Carter Sease Architects in West Columbia was one of the approved vendors. Stevens and Wilkinson was listed as a subcontractor with Jumper Carter Sease for several district projects funded by the bond referendum.

The school board does not have control or oversight of the subcontracts made by the architect firms hired, Winburn wrote to the Ethics Commission.

He also said Branham sought advice from the state Ethics Commission on whether she needed to recuse herself from voting on any projects or budget approvals for Jumper Carter Sease and was told it was not necessary.

However, as shown by the minutes, Ms. Branham still chose to recuse herself from certain votes out of an abundance of caution if she believed or felt the scope of the project was increasing or there would be any appearance of conflict, Winburn wrote.

South Carolina law states no public official, public member or public employee may make, participate in making, or in any way attempt to use his office, membership or employment to influence a governmental decision in which he, a family member, an individual with whom he is associated, or a business with which he is associated has an economic interest.

Branham faces up to a $2,000 fine on each charge if she is found guilty.

A public hearing on the charges is slated for 9:30 a.m. April 21 at the S.C. Ethics Commission's Columbia headquarters.
GREER  Political machinations and a more fiscally-conservative economic course set by Greenville County Council's chairman may scuttle tax incentives intended to boost a $43.5 million mixed-use project across from Greer City Park.

The loss of incentives could torpedo the project, the developer said. The city of Greer, meanwhile, has already spent $2 million on street improvements in what Greer Mayor Rick Danner said was an expectation the county would approve the package.

In an about-face, the County Councils finance committee rejected a fee-in-lieu-of-tax agreement (FILOT) with the North Carolina-based developer for the project, codenamed Project Homecoming. It would remake a blighted area near downtown Greer into a mixed-use development with apartments, retail and restaurant space with views of Greers central park near the heart of the citys downtown.

The committees decision came two months after it had already approved the incentives package and sent it to the full council. In early September, developer Keith Eades said Greenville County Council Chairman Willis Meadows convinced him to ask to send the project back to the finance committee so Eades could gather more information on economic models for the project and speak with the countys economic engine, the Greenville Area Development Corporation.

By the time the agreement arrived back to the finance committee, Meadows had removed two councilmen  Joe Dill and Butch Kirven  from the finance committee. They were replaced by Ennis Fant and Stan Tzouvelekas, who then joined Meadows in voting against the incentives package. The matter can still come before the full County Council, which next meets Oct. 19.

In an email informing Dill he was off the committee on the weekend before it was set to vote on the incentives, Meadows said Dill was too busy with his role as chairman of the councils planning and development committee to also serve on the finance committee.

Dill said he was caught by surprise by the suddenness and felt the move was a personal affront by a colleague he once stood beside on many contentious issues.

I didnt need a break, Dill said. I didnt need any rest.

Meadows said Oct. 18 he did not replace Dill to manufacture the votes he needed to kill incentives for Project Homecoming. Rather, he said, the chairman of the planning and development committee normally didnt serve on another committee because of the workload.

That had nothing to do with it, Meadows said. It happened to come up at the same time.

But, he added, the finance committee would now be a more conservative thing on economic development now that he had reshaped it with different members. Those members, Tzouvelekas and Fant, have voted in near lockstep with Meadows in his 10 months as council chairman.

Project Homecoming

Greenville County often offers financial incentives to induce economic development projects. Most of the time, but not always, those projects promise a certain monetary investment and number of jobs created within a timeframe as part of the agreement. If the project doesnt pan out or the company doesnt deliver, the agreements include clauses allowing the county to recover its investment.

Often those agreements are hashed out in secret executive sessions by the council before being voted on publicly. The projects are given codenames in most cases to keep the company name a secret until the day an agreement is finalized.

In the case of Project Homecoming, the developer asked to pay a set fee instead of full property taxes on the land it acquired and planned to improve. For 15 years, the county would collect a fraction of the full taxes on the properties, saving the developer money as the improved properties would be assessed at higher values.

The codename Homecoming fit the bill because Eades is a Greer High School graduate whose North Carolina development company, Idea River Development, has an office in Spartanburg and completed a project recently in Boiling Springs.

Eades said the city of Greer had approached him about the project after past attempts to revitalize a stagnant block of the citys downtown had fallen through. The site at the corner of Cannon and Jason streets sits a block from Greers recently renovated Trade Street and in the midst of the citys Center City downtown economic development area.

The city of Greer approved a plan to pay for public improvements to the site and Greenville County Schools approved the tax incentives plan.

Eades planned to build a $43.5 million mixed-use project on the full city block of land that overlooks a large pond, gazebo and walking paths in the city park across the street. His company, under the name Park View Greer LLC, paid $3.43 million in late 2020 for 10 properties totaling just under six acres, according to county records. Eades has already broken ground on the project.

The site has significant challenges that have prevented its redevelopment for years, Mayor Danner said. A former tire business required cleanup under state Department of Health guidelines and the site slopes drastically, requiring thousands of yards of dirt to be added to the location, he said.

Seven of the 13 buildings located on the site were vacant or abandoned prior to Eades purchase, he said.

Danner called it the last blighted section of the citys downtown core. He said the city worked with Eades in good faith that the county would follow through on its incentives.

Tax break opposition

Though most county economic development incentives are for industrial or job-creating commercial projects, the county has given FILOT packages to a number of other mixed-use developments in recent years.

It approved a FILOT for the $50 million Project Unity Gateway where CitySculpt plans a mix of market rate and workforce apartments at the corner of Academy and West Washington streets in downtown Greenville. It also approved a FILOT for The McLaren, another downtown Greenville mixed-use project with market rate and affordable apartments. Earlier this year, the council approved a FILOT agreement for Bridgeway Station, a mixed-use project by developer Phil Hughes along Interstate 385 and Bridges Road in Mauldin.

Meadows, a noted fiscal hawk, said the agreement for Bridgeway Station slipped past him. Otherwise, he said he would have opposed it for the same reasons he opposes incentives for Project Homecoming. Meadows said he also deferred in part to Councilman Mike Barnes, in whose district the project would reside.

Barnes hasnt yet had to vote on the project. He is not on the finance committee, and the council hasnt held a vote on it yet. That could change during its Oct. 19 meeting, when Councilman Lynn Ballard said he plans to make a motion to recall the agreement from the finance committee for a vote by the full council.

Barnes told The Post and Courier he is opposed to giving a tax break to a developer for a project that isnt bringing a specified number of new jobs to the county and isnt recruiting a business to relocate from out of state.

A tax break for one project puts other taxpaying businesses nearby at a disadvantage, Barnes said.

Meadows said Project Homecoming doesnt meet the criteria he believes should be present for tax incentives. A project for the public good should benefit all taxpayers, not a select few, he said.

Its unfair for the competition, Meadows said. Heres one man whos paying 3 percent on his taxes. Heres another whos paying 25 percent more right next to him.

Meadows said if the developer needed the county to chip in to make a project work, he was overextended.

If you look at the property, you cant pay too much for it, he said. If you pay too much for it, youre not going to make it. I dont know what he paid for it, but he said hes got to have us in order to get his financing. That tells me hes overextended.

Eades said he has already spent $6 million on the project and planned to invest $43.5 million in all. Construction costs increased $3 million to $4 million since the pandemic began and the total return on the project would be around $44 million, not enough to secure financing from a bank, he said.

The county incentives would correct that loan-to-value ratio and make the project financing work, Eades said.

'A frontal stab'

Meadows said he told Eades he would rather see him request turning the project site into a tax increment financing (TIF) district, a separate type of incentive structure where the properties are taxed at their current price for a specified number of years even as improvements are made to the site.

Danner said the city had previously considered a TIF district for its entire downtown as it began its revitalization efforts, but the school district immediately rejected the proposal because it would have lost out on significant tax revenue.

The city was led to believe the county would approve its request for a FILOT agreement, Danner said. He said County Council had pulled the rug out from under the city after he was led to believe the project would qualify for incentives.

I have no objection for County Council creating a standard for a project that should qualify or not qualify for a FILOT, Danner said. Moving the goalposts on a project that met all local and state parameters was not the time to do that.

Whether or not its illegal, its unethical, and opens them up to a lawsuit, Danner said.

Eades said Meadows hoodwinked him by convincing him to send the incentives package back to the finance committee where it was rejected.

Thats just wrong. Its manipulative, its underhanded. Its an abuse of power. Thats a black eye for Greenville County, Eades said.

Meadows declined to comment on Eades assertions about him but maintained that he was opposed to the projects incentives from the start and tried to convince Eades to seek a TIF rather than a FILOT agreement.

In this case, a FILOT would actually add more revenue to the countys coffers over the next 15 years than would a TIF district. While a TIF is taxed at the same assessment over 15 years or longer, a FILOT would be reassessed when a developer receives occupancy permits, multiplying the property tax assessment and adding more tax revenue even if a developer was only required to pay a fraction of it under the FILOT.

Danner said the move sends a message to Greenvilles business community to be wary of working with the county. Dill said hed already heard from a number of people connected to business that were upset by the machinations.

The councils new direction on incentives should be a signal to the countys business class, Meadows said. It has tightened its criteria for approving project incentives.

Meadows said he did not stab Eades in the back by walking back the incentives deal.

It was a frontal stab if anything because I told him at the beginning I wouldnt support it, he said.
Mauldin City Council officially approved a zoning change that blocks Habitat for Humanity of Greenville County from opening a ReStore secondhand shop in a vacant former Bi-Lo on West Butler Road.

The nonprofit is considering filing a lawsuit against the city in response, according to its CEO.

The 4-3 vote during an Oct. 18 meeting amended Mauldin's zoning ordinance to restrict the number of thrift stores and consignment shops allowed in the city. It requires, among other things, a 200-foot buffer between any such businesses and the nearest residential property line, as well as mandating they operate in a multitenant building.

Mayor Terry Merritt and council members Diane Kuzniar, Taft Matney and Jason Kraeling voted in favor of the measure, saying the new business would not be consistent with their vision for Mauldin's central district, particularly the coming city center project which will be built nearby. Dale Black, Carol King and Michael Reynolds voted against the ordinance.

Council first passed a resolution instructing the citys planning commission to consider a zoning amendment in July. Habitat's application for a business license to operate out of the vacant grocery store was rejected several weeks later in light of the pending rule change.

The planning commission voted to recommend the two restrictions that would prevent Habitat from opening the ReStore  the minimum distance from residential property and the multitenant requirement  be removed from the ordinance, but council voted last month to put the requirements back in before approving first reading of the ordinance.

Habitat for Humanity of Greenville County CEO Monroe Free, who has spoken at every meeting during which the ordinance was discussed, told council Oct. 18 he was frustrated the city was planning to prevent the nonprofit from moving into the 49,000-square-foot space. He said the store would help fund the construction of dozens of low-cost homes as Greenville County's need for affordable housing grows.

"I've had the privilege of speaking to a number of councils and committees of councils about the issue of affordable housing," he said. "I do think this is the first time I've spoken to try and stop something that would hurt affordable housing. Everybody else wants to do something to help."

He said the nonprofit was not done fighting the ordinance.

"We're disappointed in the vote and disappointed in what the vote represents," he said. "I think the mayor and some council members made their positions clear, not just on affordable housing but the kind of exclusive community that they desire to have."

Free said his organization is discussing next steps with its attorneys.

Kraeling said ahead of the vote he supported Habitat for Humanity in general, but that the presence of secondhand stores in central Mauldin discourages developers and investors from coming to the city.

"It's not about Habitat, it's not about one group of people, it's about a math problem," he said. "When a developer comes here, the comments that they bring to the city is 'We like it, but we have to get a return on our investment.' When they look at those stores, they see there's just too many of them in a small place."

King, who voted against the ordinance, said ReStores are quality retail operations that support a good cause and the location is not close enough to the future city center site to justify barring the move. She said she was also concerned the building would sit vacant for years to come. The property's landlord previously told council they solicited many other businesses, none of whom were interested, before partnering with Habitat for Humanity.
Over the weekend, the state Department of Health and Environmental Control reported 3,277 newly confirmed and probable COVID-19 cases. The agency also reported 87 new deaths during the same period.

While the number of new cases in the state is continuing to decline, experts still recommend residents remain vigilant in masking and social distancing to further curb the spread of the virus ahead of a possible winter surge in cases.

Statewide numbers

New cases reported: Saturday, 977 confirmed, 296 probable; Sunday, 835 confirmed, 247 probable; and Monday, 708 confirmed, 214 probable.

Total cases in S.C.: 711,874 confirmed, 175,661 probable.

Percent positive: 5.3 percent.

New deaths reported: Saturday, six confirmed, 10 probable; Sunday, 22 confirmed, zero probable; and Monday, 42 confirmed, seven probable.

Total deaths in S.C.: 11,531 confirmed, 1,788 probable.

Percent of ICU beds filled (with COVID-19 and other patients): 74.07 percent.

S.C. residents vaccinated

In South Carolina, 61.8 percent of people who are eligible for the vaccine have received one shot, and 54.1 percent of eligible residents are considered fully vaccinated.

Hardest-hit areas

On Oct. 18, Greenville (125), York (58) and Richland (42) counties saw the highest totals of newly confirmed cases.

What about the tri-county?

Charleston County had 36 new cases on Oct. 18, while Berkeley had 15 and Dorchester had 5.

Deaths

DHEC releases county-level data regarding COVID-19 deaths and the ages of those who have died from the virus on Tuesdays. According to the latest data, at least 315 people in South Carolina died from the virus from Oct. 3 to Oct. 9, and their ages ranged from pediatric (17 and younger) to elderly (65 and older).

Spartanburg and Greenville counties recorded 38 COVID deaths that week  the highest numbers in the state. Health officials have reported the vast majority of patients who are dying from the coronavirus at this stage of the pandemic are unvaccinated.

Hospitalizations

Of the 1,023 COVID-19 patients hospitalized as of Oct. 18, 307 were in the ICU and 204 were using ventilators.

Variants of concern

DHEC sequences a small, random sample of positive COVID-19 cases each week to determine which variants of concern (alpha, beta, gamma and delta) are circulating in the state. According to the latest data published by the agency on Oct. 13, 3,299 samples have been identified as variants of concern over the course of the pandemic. Of those, 2,053 have been identified as the delta variant, which health officials say is now the dominant strain in South Carolina.

What do experts say?

A recent analysis from DHEC for the month of September showed over 75 percent of the all reported COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths continue to be in those who are not fully vaccinated.

The organization continues to encourage all who are eligible to get vaccinated.

To find a vaccine clinic near you, go to vaxlocator.dhec.sc.gov.
A World War II soldier from South Carolina who disappeared during the 1944 winter battle of the Hurtgen Forest has been formally identified more than seven decades after being killed in action.

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency said Oct. 18 that Army Staff Sgt. William R. Linder, of Piedmont, was accounted for after he'd previously been marked as unknown in a military cemetery in Belgium.

In late 1944, Linder, then 30, was assigned to Company E, 12th Infantry Regiment of the 4th Infantry Division, putting him in the vicinity of the Hurtgen Forest, a particularly costly, snowy and hilly battle site blocking the Allies' path deeper into Germany.

He was reported missing in action on Nov. 16 that year, but German forces never listed him as a prisoner of war. The War Department issued a presumptive finding of death on Nov. 17, 1945, according to the Pentagon's recovery announcement.

After the war, the American Graves Registration Command traveled to the Hurtgen hills several times between 1946 and 1950 looking for missing personnel but were unable to recover or identify Linders remains. He was declared non-recoverable in December 1951, the Pentagon said.

Decades later, an accounting agency historian determined a set of unidentified remains discovered by Hurtgen residents after a forest fire swept through the area in 1947 may belong to Linder. The remains had been buried in the Ardennes American Cemetery. They were disinterred in April 2019 and sent to the agency's laboratory at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska for examination and identification.

His formal identity was confirmed using dental and anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial and material evidence, the Pentagon said.

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"Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and Y chromosome DNA (Y-STR) analysis," the accounting agency said.

The DNA was confirmed by two of Linder's cousins said his niece, Norma Araujo, 82, of Lakeland, Fla., who said she was just a little girl when she knew Linder.

She remembers her grandmother often crying because Linder was declared missing with no answers how and that she expected him to come home eventually.

"I know it affected the family for years," she said, calling the wonder of DNA matching an amazing feat.

"I think it opened wounds and I think it gave us a lot of faith that this could be done," she said of the mystery being solved.

Linder will be buried on Oct. 29 in Anderson.

He is the second soldier from South Carolina whose remains have been confirmed in recent months by recovery team examination. Army Pfc. Louis N. Crosby of Orangeburg was accounted for on April 21, decades after the 18-year-old soldier died in combat near the Chosin Reservoir during the Korean War.
The University of South Carolina School of Law's recent bar exam results left the Charleston School of Law in the dust.

Over 80 percent of USC law students passed the bar compared to approximately 46 percent of Charleston School of Law students, according to data the Office of Bar Admissions released Oct. 15.

This is a change from the schools' previous neck-and-neck pass rates. As recently as February 2021, about 54 percent of Charleston School of Law students passed the bar, compared to 57 percent of USC law students. The state's bar exam is administered twice a year, in February and July.

The Office of Bar Admissions includes both people who took the exam for the first time and repeat test takers in its overall passing rate. Although the overall score fell behind USC and past years, the Charleston School of Law saw about 63 percent of students pass the bar on the first try. The score is the highest for the school since the state adopted the Uniformed Bar Exam in 2017. It's also a 10 percent increase from the July 2020 passing rate, Dean Larry Cunningham said.

The first-time passing rate is often a better indicator of performance because the overall score may be weighed down by students who are taking the exam for the fifth, sixth or seventh time. The first-time scores are a confirmation of the school's upward trajectory, Cunningham said.

"In terms of assessing progress, (the overall score) is actually a pretty poor measure," he told The Post and Courier.

In 2017, the school fell out of compliance with the American Bar Association's standards, which require at least 75 percent of students to pass the exam within two years of graduation. The school fell just short of that benchmark with 72 percent of its 2017 class making a passing score. In March, the association announced that the school was back in compliance with its standards.

The bar association looks both at the percent of students who passed within two years of graduation and percent of students who passed on their first try.

"There are really excellent lawyers and judges, including prominent ones, who were not successful on the first attempt, so the ABA looks at what's that pass rate within two years," Cunningham said.

The Charleston School of Law is waiting for test scores from students who took the bar in other states. The dean is hoping those results will buoy its standing. Charleston School of Law has increased its admissions standards and student supports in recent years.

This year's freshman class has the highest credentials the school has seen since 2012. The median GPA for the class of nearly 250 students is 3.35, and the median LSAT score is 151 out of 180, according to the Charleston School of Law website.

"We've had increases for the last four years all really geared towards improving the profile of the school and improving the bar passage rate," Cunningham said.

The school has also included a bar-review course and increased the number of workshops, programs and individual services to help both current students and graduates who are taking the exam.

Editor's note: This story has been updated with the percentage of Charleston School of Law students who passed the bar exam on their first try.
COLUMBIA  Alex Murdaugh, the disgraced attorney whose prominent family was long thought untouchable in Hampton County, will be stuck in jail for at least another week as he awaits trial on allegations that he plundered millions from the family of his late housekeeper.

Circuit Judge Clifton Newman on Oct. 19 ordered that Murdaugh be detained pending the results of a psychiatric exam. The ruling punctuated an hourlong hearing in which a state prosecutor laid out new details of Murdaughs alleged financial schemes and Murdaughs attorneys attempted to shift blame to one of his purported co-conspirators.

Newmans decision, issued to a courtroom packed with dozens of lawyers and reporters, marks another precipitous drop in the suspended lawyers stunning fall from grace. It was also a stark departure from the light-handed treatment Murdaugh received in a similar bond hearing a month ago in his native Hampton County.

In September, a magistrate released Murdaugh on a $25,000 personal recognizance bond after he was charged with enlisting a hitman to kill him in a failed scheme to collect a $10 million life insurance payout.

Murdaugh is the scion of a wealthy legal family that simultaneously ran a high-powered Hampton law firm and the 14th Circuit Solicitors Office for nearly a century. He appeared in court Oct. 19 to face two felony charges that he siphoned $3.4 million from a wrongful death settlement intended for the sons of Gloria Satterfield, a housekeeper who was mortally injured at a Murdaugh family home.

At the hearing, Creighton Waters, a lawyer from the state Attorney Generals Office, laid out in painstaking detail how Murdaugh allegedly tricked Satterfields sons into filing a legal claim against him, then pocketed the proceeds. Waters, an experienced public corruption prosecutor, called it a chain of events that, your honor, Ive never seen before.

Satterfield died in February 2018 after a slip-and-fall accident at Murdaughs home in Colleton County, Waters explained. Murdaugh then approached her sons, encouraged them to file a lawsuit against him and pointed them in the direction of an attorney who could handle their case, Waters said.

The sons hired Beaufort lawyer Cory Fleming, not realizing he was Murdaughs longtime friend, his former classmate and the godfather to one of Murdaughs sons.

Once the case ended in a pair of financial settlements worth $4.3 million, Murdaugh intervened and had Fleming direct the Satterfields money to a fraudulent bank account Murdaugh had created in 2015, Waters said.

Murdaugh named the account Forge to make it appear connected to Forge Consulting, an Atlanta-based financial firm that handles lawsuit settlements, Waters said.

Within a few months after Satterfields money was deposited into the dummy account, Murdaugh transferred it to his personal bank account, pocketing about $3.4 million of the overall settlement, Waters said.

Among a flurry of transactions that followed, Murdaugh wrote checks for $610,000 and $125,000 to himself, and cut his father a check for more than $300,000, Waters said.

He had been carrying a $100,000 credit card balance for months. That gets paid off, Waters said.

Satterfields family, who was in court Oct. 19, got nothing after Murdaugh absconded with the money, Waters said.

He absolutely used his position, his prestige, his reputation as a lawyer to steal from this family, the prosecutor said. They trusted him.

Eric Bland and Ronnie Richter, attorneys for the Satterfield family, also spoke in court Oct. 19. They described Murdaugh as a stain on the legal profession and the state of South Carolina.

Richter alleged Murdaugh not only stole from the Satterfield family, he also embezzled $10 million from his former law office of Peters, Murdaugh, Parker, Eltzroth, Detrick.

The Hampton firm in early September accused Murdaugh of stealing from his partners and clients and forced him to resign, but it hasnt put a number on its loss. Murdaugh has admitted to stealing from the firm his great-grandfather founded in 1910, but he has yet to face criminal charges in connection with those allegations.

Bland and Richter said the only difference between Murdaugh and a bank robber is that he used a pen, not a gun, to pilfer millions of dollars.

We have never seen such a breach of trust, Bland said. A man who stole money from the very family of the housekeeper who helped raise his kids.

Murdaughs attorneys, Dick Harpootlian and Jim Griffin, countered that Murdaugh was the defendant, not a practicing lawyer, in the Satterfield case.

They said Fleming, the Satterfields attorney, and Chad Westendorf, the banker who represented the Satterfield estate, should have ensured the settlement money got to the family.

They were responsible for making sure Mr. Murdaugh could not, if he in fact did, purloin that money, Harpootlian said.

Fleming has since settled a lawsuit brought over the missing money by Satterfield's sons. He acknowledged making mistakes and agreed to pay back all legal fees he earned from the case. But also blamed Murdaugh for the disappearance of the money, saying his friend duped him. Fleming said he didn't realize the Satterfield family never received the money until last month.

Waters recommended Newman release Murdaugh on a $200,000 surety bond, which would require the attorney to put up $20,000 cash as collateral to ensure he continues to appear in court as required. The prosecutor also argued Murdaugh should be subject to GPS monitoring and the surrender of his firearms.

Waters reasoned that Murdaughs access to money and the enormity of the allegations against him make him a flight risk. Murdaughs recent attempt to orchestrate his own murder shows he can be dangerous to the community, Waters said.

A man who is a danger to himself is a danger to others, Waters said.

Murdaughs attorneys asked Newman to release Murdaugh on a personal recognizance bond. They stressed Murdaugh has lived in Hampton County his entire life and needs more treatment for his yearslong opioid addiction after spending the past six weeks in detox and rehab facilities.

Hes really got nowhere to go, Harpootlian said. Hes from South Carolina. Hes lived here his whole life.

Bland and Richter said Murdaugh shouldnt be released at all.

He stole, Bland said. He is a liar and a cheat.

After weeks of lawsuits and criminal charges, Murdaughs attorneys have acknowledged their client will likely spend time in prison.

Murdaugh remains a person of interest in the State Law Enforcement Divisions investigation of the fatal shootings of his wife Maggie and son Paul at the familys Colleton County home  the same property where Satterfield suffered her fatal fall  his lawyers said last week. But they again insisted after the Oct. 19 hearing that Murdaugh had nothing to do with the slayings.

Murdaughs attorneys have said they are running their own investigation into the deaths of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh. But Harpootlian has refused to disclose any findings from that private probe. He said he has shared nothing with SLED, either.

At one point in the Oct. 19 hearing, Newman called up a SLED agent to testify about the status of other investigations involving Murdaugh and his family.

The agent was hesitant to speak but ultimately acknowledged that SLED is probing other allegations of financial crimes against Murdaugh. The agency is also investigating the manner of Satterfields death, the agent said.

And, he said, SLED has reopened an investigation into the 2015 unsolved death of 19-year-old Stephen Smith, whose body was found with blunt-force head trauma on a Hampton County road in July 2015. The agency had previously acknowledged reopening that case because of information it gathered while investigating the deaths of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh in June.

Waters called the revelation of Murdaughs alleged financial schemes the tip of the iceberg.

This is an ongoing investigation, he told Newman. And I think there is going to be far more that we reveal.
More than 3,000 South Carolina students are expected to sign a pledge to end gun violence in their schools this week.

For the 20th year in a row, South Carolina schools are participating in the Student Pledge Against Gun Violence as part of the National Day of Concern. The goal is to teach students about gun safety and encourage students to avoid using guns to resolve conflict.

The pledge comes as many S.C. students return to in-person learning after taking class remotely during much of the pandemic. Before schools across the nation went virtual, gun violence was plaguing American schools. So far this year there have been 196 incidents of gun violence in schools across the nation. In 2001, there were 16 incidents, according to the Center for Homeland Security's K-12 School Shooting Database.

The issue has also come up in Charleston-area schools. On Oct. 14, a security officer at Fort Dorchester High School found a handgun in a student's backpack. There was no threat to students and no disruption to school operations, according to a Dorchester School District Two news release.

The pledge is voluntary and given out to students in all education levels. At the middle and high school level, students pledge to never take a gun to school or solve a dispute with a gun. They will also pledge to use their influence to prevent their friends from using guns.

The elementary school pledge focuses on educating students on what to do if they see a gun. Students who sign it promise to never touch a gun if they see one and always tell their teacher or a trusted adult. They are also told to assume that any gun they see is loaded.

Six law enforcement agencies and 13 schools across the state are participating in the program this year, including the Charleston Police Department and Julian Mitchell Elementary School in Charleston.

Senior Police Officer Ryan Brown, who works as Mitchell's school resource officer through the Charleston Police Department, said the program helps him educate students about safety. While the idea of a young child finding a gun is terrible, he believes it's best for them to know what to do if this happens rather than taking the gun and injuring themselves or someone else.

"The sooner we start the conversation the better," he said.

On Oct. 20, Brown will be travelling to some classrooms to demonstrate gun safety to students at Mitchell. He will also be sending a video with his lessons about gun safety to teachers throughout the school, who can then choose if they want to use the lesson with their students.

The idea of the program is to give young people the education and tools they need to avoid gun violence. While the pledge is simple, it presents an opportunity for dialogue about gun violence.

Police and sheriffs departments in Bennettsville, Cherokee County, Chesterfield County, Easley and Lexington County are also participating in the program.

The program also includes students from Brookdale Elementary in Orangeburg, Cheraw Intermediate School, Elloree Elementary, Fairfield Magnet School for Math and Science, Marlboro County High School in Bennettsville, McKissick Academy of Science and Technology in Easley, Rivelon Elementary in Edisto, Sandhills Middle School in Lexington County, Swansea Freshman Academy, Wallace-Gregg Elementary School in Florence County and Luther Vaughn and Northwest elementary schools in Cherokee County.
The Oct. 9 editorial, Murdaugh mystery raises questions about SC legal system. We need answers, says Judge Carmen Mullen should undergo public questioning about a wrongful death settlement she was asked to approve in a matter involving Alex Murdaugh, who of course has been the subject of intense media scrutiny of late.

We favor transparency in the judicial system, applaud public scrutiny of the courts and of lawyers and fully concur with the editors observation that public confidence is the foundation of our legal system. However, although the editorial called on the S.C. Supreme Court to "find a way to both allow and require" Judge Mullen to testify, we worry that readers could have read it as a call for Judge Mullen to make that decision on her own.

Judges are bound by a strict code of ethics and have long been barred from speaking publicly about pending cases. Judge Mullen is not free to subject herself to public questioning. We write to offer some insight into the role of judges in approving wrongful death settlements, which we hope will relieve any sense of unease about our judicial system.

The editorial questions why an order was signed in a matter where no lawsuit had been filed. In fact, all wrongful death settlements are required to be approved by a judge, whether a lawsuit has been filed or not. The applicable statutes allow the parties to reach a settlement before suit has to be filed, but specifically provide that whether suit has been filed or not, it is only valid with court approval.

The statute governing the process for court approval of pre-suit wrongful death settlements provides in part that the "court shall schedule a hearing and receive into evidence those facts that the court considers necessary and proper to evaluate the settlement. After conducting this inquiry, the court shall issue its order either approving or disapproving the proposed settlement. If the settlement is approved by the court, the personal representative has the power to conclude the settlement, including the execution of those documents as the settlement terms contemplate. This is the procedure that Judge Mullen appears to have followed.

The editorial also suggests that the public needs to know why the order at issue was not filed. Wrongful death settlements are usually uncontested matters, and the attorneys prepare the petition for approval of the settlement and a proposed order for the judges consideration. It has long been the practice in South Carolina for an attorney to file an order signed by a judge at a hearing. The attorney, as an officer of the court, takes the signed order from the courtroom and delivers it to the clerk for filing.

The editorial also says the public needs to know why Judge Mullen recused herself in a criminal matter involving Mr. Murdaughs son but not in the matter involving the approval of a wrongful death settlement involving Mr. Murdaughs housekeeper.

In South Carolina, disqualification is governed by the S.C. Code of Judicial Conduct, which calls on judges to disqualify themselves in any proceeding in which their impartiality might reasonably be questioned, including instances where they have a personal bias or prejudice concerning a party or a partys lawyer or personal knowledge of disputed evidentiary facts concerning the proceeding.

A judge, however, is also required to hear and decide matters assigned to the judge except those in which disqualification is required. Accordingly, the decision as to whether judges disqualify themselves is specific to the facts of each case. It is not unusual for judges to recuse themselves from contested matters in which lawyers or their families are parties precisely because, as the editors note, judges often know the lawyers in their communities. Approval of a wrongful death settlement is a different matter, as these are typically uncontested hearings

As the editorial argues, it is important that the public have confidence in our legal system, and regulating the conduct of lawyers and judges is a vital part of instilling that confidence. In South Carolina, the task of regulating lawyers and judges is that of the Office of Disciplinary Counsel, which is a division of the S.C. Supreme Court.

The Office of Disciplinary Counsel is tasked with receiving, screening and investigating all complaints made against both lawyers and judges in South Carolina. Importantly, any lawyer who has knowledge that another lawyer or judge has committed a violation of the rules of professional conduct or the applicable rules of judicial conduct has an ethical duty to inform the Office of Disciplinary Counsel.

Your readers should be assured that while our legal system may not be perfect, most lawyers and judges in South Carolina go above and beyond on a daily basis to serve their clients and communities. From resolving complicated issues and volunteering services, to helping those in need, to giving hours to educate the next generation on legal principles, we are, as a whole, dedicated problem solvers committed to making a positive difference in South Carolina.

Beverly A. Carroll is chairwoman of the S.C. Bar Judicial Independence and Impartiality Committee.
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.
The 2020 census of the United States is completed. Now it is time for the various state and local governing bodies to redistrict their geographic areas based on the new population figures.

In South Carolina, elected officials are left to design the districts for their own elections.

It is tempting to rearrange the districts to preserve them for the current officeholders.

Both parties are guilty of this little perversion of democracy.

We urge each lawmaker to consider fairness and common political interests rather than the preservation of their own ability to get reelected when determining the new lines.

ELLIE SETSER

Program chair, Charleston American Association of University Women

Charleston

Weber for District 4

The editorial endorsing Robert Mitchell for Charleston City Council District 4 devoted only one paragraph to candidate Tim Weber, who has lived in this neighborhood for a long time.

Mr. Weber and many others are frustrated with Mr. Mitchell and his apparent indifference to the East Side. Since the district spans a number of different neighborhoods, its interesting to see Mr. Mitchells varied level of concern for different voting populations.

It seems like every time an issue comes up that is specific to the East Side, he has the same comment: The city has no money for the East Side.

These issues include the most recent replanting of the Hampstead Mall (which was done with personal donations and not a penny of matching city funds) as well as the saving of the historic smokestacks. Contrary to the editorial, he was not in favor of saving them.

On the other hand, when its for a park in Mazyck-Wraggborough, the city seems to have plenty of money.

Mr. Mitchell seems to be a reverse Robin Hood. He is all too willing to help the nicer neighborhoods but has nothing for the East Side.

Does he assume that he will get the black vote without having to do anything for the community?

CHARLES HABER

Charleston

Griffin for District 10

In the race for Charleston City Council District 10, there are two people running.

In a mailer from one candidate, it stated he would never embarrass me. He also mentioned he hopes to keep his day job if elected but admitted it is demanding.

I appreciate his perspective.

Where did he get the idea that I was embarrassed?

Harry Griffin has been a tremendous and respected advocate for his community, working tirelessly to improve our area. Before his arrival, flooding was a problem.

As a result of his hard work, our district remains dry in most circumstances, something that would not have happened prior to Mr. Griffin getting involved and actually doing something. How refreshing.

For the record, he has never embarrassed me and I suspect many would say the same thing. He has worked hard to improve our lives and understands his district and our concerns.

Our taxes will remain low due to Mr. Griffins insistence that the increased property tax proposed by City Council would be eliminated if council found the money elsewhere. Through his dedication, City Council did find the money and the tax increase was gone.

Finally, and more importantly, he is never too busy to stop and listen to his constituents, no matter how busy his life may be.

While his opponents lack of experience in leadership and government is glaring, I am proud to have an experienced councilman in my district.

Im voting for Harry Griffin so he can continue his great work in making our lives better in the district.

DON LUNDY

Charleston

Rethink gift-giving

Recent news reports seem to indicate that we, and certainly our children, will have a bleak Christmas this year because

Recent news reports seem to indicate that we, and certainly our children, will have a bleak Christmas this year because of a toy shortage due to global supply chain woes and the lack of Chinese manufactured semiconductor chips.

I suggest that this will be the case only if we insist on buying toys made in China with all of the latest lights, bells and whistles.

There are alternatives.

More than a few of our favorite toys and products are still made in this country.

Beyond that, we might think about reframing our gift-giving so that its less about clicking Buy Now and more about connecting with each other in ways that have meaning, which is something that COVID-19 has brought into stark focus.

Handmade gifts abound in the Lowcountry.

Support local merchants, writers and artisans. Take a few Saturdays and make some food gifts for family and friends.

All of the touted benefits of global trade notwithstanding, self-sufficiency still needs to be in our national vocabulary.

May this years holiday giving be truly brought home.

JENNIE C. OLBRYCH

Charleston
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., wears a "Trump Won" face mask as she arrives on the floor of the House to take her oath of office on opening day of the 117th Congress at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Sunday, Jan. 3, 2021. File/Erin Scott/Pool via AP
A forensic autopsy has been performed on the Marine veteran who died after being brutally beaten outside of a Tamuning restaurant earlier this month.

Jaron "JC" Weilbachers autopsy was completed this past weekend by a forensic examiner from Hawaii, according to the Guam Office of the Attorney General.

The results have not yet been made public, as investigators are reviewing it, along with additional information that prosecutors received.

The pair accused in the fight are scheduled to have their cases go before a grand jury in the Superior Court of Guam this week.

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John Mike Muliaga, 22, and his brother, U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Fiataugaluia Ahkee, 31, are each facing assault-related charges in connection with the death of the 23-year-old.

No murder charges have been filed against the defendants.

A third suspect, Army Spc. Joseph Decady, 36, was arrested by Guam police but has not been charged in local court.

Investigators said Weilbacher died on Oct. 9 after the fight outside Kings Restaurant in Tamuning.


Miranda Devine and a raft of reporters have the New York Post cover story Biden secretly flying underage migrants into NY in dead of night. The story opens:

Planeloads of underage migrants are being flown secretly into suburban New York in an effort by President Bidens administration to quietly resettle them across the region, The Post has learned. The charter flights originate in Texas, where the ongoing border crisis has overwhelmed local immigration officials, and have been underway since at least August, according to sources familiar with the matter. Last week, The Post saw two planes land at the Westchester County Airport, where most of the passengers who got off appeared to be children and teens, with a small portion appearing to be men in their 20s. Westchester County cops stood by as the passengers  whose flights arrived at 10:49 p.m. Wednesday and 9:52 p.m. Friday  got off and piled into buses. Some of them were later seen meeting up with relatives or sponsors in New Jersey, or being dropped off at a residential facility on Long Island.

The Post has much more, including a note that secret flights are also landing in Florida. Looking for comments on the secrecy involved here, I see that a spokesman Governor DeSantis responded to the Post: If the Biden Administration is so confident that their open-border policy is good for our country, why the secrecy? Why is the Biden Administration refusing to share even the most basic information about illegal alien resettlement in communities throughout our state and the entire country? Washington DC sets immigration policies that do not affect them, and states  that lack information about migrant resettlement and do not have the authority to change federal immigration policy  are expected to bear the brunt of Bidens reckless open-borders agenda.

At the bottom of the story the Post quotes a spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services: It is our legal responsibility to safely care for unaccompanied children until they can be swiftly unified with a parent or a vetted sponsor. Our Office of Refugee Resettlement facilitates travel for the children in its custody to their family or sponsors across the country. In recent weeks, unaccompanied children passed through the Westchester airport en route to their final destination to be unified with their parents or vetted sponsor.

The HHS spokesman offers no explanation of the secrecy. The Post figures it out in the companion editorial.
Across the country, parents and concerned citizens are rising up against unresponsive left-wing school boards, most of which have been put in place without much public oversight by far-left teachers unions. The movement for reform has now reached as far as San Francisco:

Three San Francisco school board members are heading to a recall election early next year after the citys elections department confirmed the organizers of the recall collected and submitted enough signatures from registered voters.

***

The organizers of the recall campaign told National Review in September that they were confident they would get the recall on the ballot. They say they submitted more than 80,000 signatures from registered San Francisco voters for each of the three races, far more than the 51,325 verified signatures they needed to get on the ballot.

The grounds for the recall are typical of those we are seeing nationwide:

Siva Raj and his partner, Autumn Looijen, spearheaded the recall effort in February when they grew frustrated that the school board wasnt prioritizing reopening public schools closed during the coronavirus pandemic. Rather than working on a reopening plan, it appeared to Raj and others that the board was focusing its energy on social justice issues: rechristening schools named after such troubling American figures as Abraham Lincoln and Paul Revere, making a highly-selective magnet school more diverse, and deciding if a gay white dad was diverse enough to join a volunteer parent committee made up exclusively of women.

While the phrase critical race theory doesnt appear in the article, it is implicit in the attacks on the troubling Abraham Lincoln and Paul Revere and the other issues raised. (Parenthetically, I have no idea what is troubling about Paul Revere, but no doubt the leftists can come up with something. Maybe it is a retrospective OSHA violation, since his apprentice Johnny Tremain burned his hand while working in Reveres shop.)

Then, of course, we have the issue of the school boards basic competenceagain, something we see in one district after another:

The district also is facing a budget deficit of well over $100 million, a drop in enrollment, and significant learning loss, especially among underprivileged kids, Raj said.

Will the recall succeed, or will it fizzle out like the attempted recall of Governor Newsom?

Raj said hes confident voters will recall the board members in February, citing polling that has shown public dissatisfaction with the boards performance, and the general energy around the recall effort. Even if the recall ultimately is not successful, he said theyve already made an impact. Theres been this entire grassroots community thats emerged that is absolutely passionate about public education, and is not going to go away, Raj said. We are here. We are going to make sure our schools serve our children. And you cant wish us away anymore.

I certainly hope the rebels win, but Rajs point is well taken. For a generation, most parents have turned the education of their children over to their local public schools, in part because they were too busy to do anything else. But that is changing. Public attentionespecially parental attentionhas focused on the public schools over the last couple of years, and most parents dont like what they see. Prospects for reform are bright, whether that reform means voting corrupt union proxies off school boards, promoting charter schools, or taking ones children out of the public system altogether, through home schooling or private education.
Earlier this month, Iraq held elections. Fifteen years ago, Iraqi elections were considered a big deal in the U.S. Nowadays, hardly anyone here pays attention to them.

Thats understandable. Saddam Hussein, al Qaeda in Iraq, and ISIS are all long gone.

But Iran isnt. Neither are those strong Iranian-backed militias. And the U.S. still has a small contingent of troops there.

Thus, its worth taking a moment to consider the outcome of the latest election there. The Washington Post reports that what happened is (1) an alliance of candidates representing Shiite militias supported by Iran lost ground and (2) the party of Muqtada al-Sadr, a one-time bitter enemy of the U.S. and threat to our troops, won a plurality of parliamentary seats.

Back when al-Sadr was leading his militia against America, I always suspected that if we didnt kill him  and he would have deserved it  the young, firebrand Orson Wells lookalike would one day emerge as the leading player in Iraq and maybe even a force for stability. Our policy makers may have suspected the same thing. Reportedly, when our military had the chance to take al-Sadr out, we didnt do it.

Al-Sadr had charisma that other contenders for power seemed to lack. He established his credibility by taking on American forces and getting away with it. Hes a Shiite, and thus part of the dominant religious sect. And he was not controlled by Iran, which gave him appeal to an Iraqi nationalism which says, in effect, neither America nor Iran.

Almost 20 years later, al-Sadr is playing that part, and has been for some time. And because America is only lightly engaged in Iraq now, while Iran seeks thoroughly to dominate its politics, al-Sadrs nationalism seems to run mostly in an anti-Iran direction.

The New York Times calls al-Sadr an arms-length American ally who is helping the United States by preventing Iraq from tilting further into Irans axis. Exaggeration? Maybe. The Post calls al-Sadr close to Iran.

But his anti-Iranian-backed militia rhetoric support the Times characterization. In a pointed reference to these militias, some of which have grown more powerful than Iraqs official security forces and pose a threat to the U.S. in Iraq, al-Sadr said:.

From now on, arms must be restricted in the hands of the state. The use of weapons shall be prevented outside of the states framework.

Discounting the argument that militias and weapons are necessary to resist the U.S. presence, al-Sadr added that it is time for the people to live in peace, without occupation, terrorism, militias, kidnapping and fear.

Can al-Sadr make this stick? His party won only 73 seats in the 329-member parliament. Yes, that gives him the biggest single bloc of votes in Parliament and a decisive voice in choosing the next Iraqi prime minister. But this doesnt necessarily translate into the ability to crack down successfully on pro-Iranian militias.

Remember, though, that al-Sadrs strength isnt just electoral. He has his own powerful militia and his own social network which, the Times says, provides food, support for orphans and widows, and many other services the Iraqi government fails to deliver.

According to the Times, this son of a leading Shiite cleric (whom Saddam Hussein killed) commands the loyalty of millions of Iraqi Shiites. Additionally, in recent times, he has reached out to Sunnis, Christians, and other minorities.

What about Americas role in Iraq following the election? Al-Sadr says he will leave it to the incoming government to decide whether U.S. forces should remain in Iraq. This sounds disingenuous given the major role hes likely to play in determining the composition of the incoming government.

The U.S. has agreed to withdraw all combat troops from the country by December 31. However, our government doesnt deem the 2,000 troops currently in Iraq to be on a combat mission.

The Times predicts that we will continue to maintain troops at this level next year, with Baghdads agreement  and al-Sadrs.
in Canada. Via PJ Media, the Canadian government has apparently banned the phrase Lets go Brandon in any government communications. It appears that some Canadian officials have been getting rambunctious in their memos and correspondence; hence the need to prohibit the uses of colloquialism or sayings with intended double meaning or offense. But in particular, there must have been an outbreak of Lets go Brandon, and one suspects that this was the sole reason for the memo.

This memo testifies to the remarkable popularity of Lets go Brandon. I am not sure why the phrase, and the circumstances from which it arose, resonate so mightily with people, but for whatever reason, they doin Canada as well as the U.S., apparently.

The memo raises questions, however. Such as: why do they care? After all, Joe Biden is not the Prime Minister of Canada. On its face, there is nothing offensive about Lets go Brandon, so why are Canadian authorities so anxious to suppress it? (grounds for immediate dismissal without recourse or labour union representation) Are leftists in Canada acting out of solidarity with leftists in the U.S.? It seems so.

This, of course, is the sort of contrast we like: a popular uprising driven by humora memesuppressed by censorious pecksniff liberals.

A final comment: when I first wrote about the Talladega race, the crowds chant, and NBC sportscaster Kelli Stavasts quick recovery, some commenters thought I was criticizing her for coming up with Lets go Brandon. On the contrary! My comment at the time was, That young woman has a bright future in journalism! No irony was intended, although I admit the reference to journalism, a discredited field, may have created ambiguity.

In fact, I credit Ms. Stavast with quick thinking. There was a pause in her interview with Brandon Somebody, and for some reason the camera panned away from Stavast and Brandon to the crowd, and you could clearly hear the crowd chanting F*** Joe Biden. I thought Ms. Stavast made a clever recovery, and it is obvious from the way she laughed that she was well aware of the crowds chant and quickly deflected the interview back to its subject, Brandon. Well done.

SCOTT adds this update: The story that Lets go Brandon was banned in Canada is fake news. We regret the error.
The Nigerian government will spend N19 billion on computer software in 2022, according to the budget proposal for the year submitted by President Muhammadu Buhari to the National Assembly.

The amount is spread across nearly 200 offices, and is bound to be a lot higher as it does not cover computer and software expenditure by the armed forces and dozens of government offices whose budgets are not submitted as part of the whole to the National Assembly.

Some offices not listed in the governments general annual budget document include the Central Bank of Nigeria, Customs Service, NNPC and Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS). Punch reported on Monday that the tax office, FIRS, plans to spend a whopping N2.04 billion all by itself on computers alone, and another N1.3 billion on office stationery and computer consumables.

Rising software spending

The huge figures help raise the budgets total deficit to over N6 trillion. At a time of low government revenue, they reflect how the country is made to bear the burden of increased spending on items that are ordinarily vital for government operations, but whose costs are made higher, in part, due to fragmented purchases by agencies that have little or no consideration for cost-reduction or value.

As countries continue to respond and recover from public health uncertainties due to the COVID-19 pandemic, spending on IT products by governments around the world is expected to rise next year to $557.3 billion, an increase of 6.5 per cent from 2021, according to Gartner Inc., a Stamford, Connecticut-based technology research and consulting company.

Gartner said in an August forecast that the disruptions caused by the pandemic have also reinforced a key digital government tenet, which is that public policy and technology are inseparable.

Many governments have over the years put in place processes that take advantage of bulk and discounted procurement of software to save cost. In 2016, the United State government issued a new policy that tightened the reins on wasteful software purchasing by its agencies.

The policy made it mandatory for agencies to appoint officials to centrally manage their software buying. Agencies were also required to continually update inventory of software licenses to track usage and remove redundant applications. The policy aimed to save taxpayers money and deliver more value for the American people.

There is no indication the Nigerian government has made efforts to streamline its spending in a similar manner. The lack of coherence sometimes leads to apparently inflated rates for computer services and packages.

In 2020, PREMIUM TIMES reported how the Kogi State government claimed it spent N150 million on a software to track coronavirus cases. The company contracted by the government confirmed to PREMIUM TIMES that the package sold for only N300,000. Amid public backlash, the government later claimed the actual amount it spent was N890,000, without explaining the whereabouts of the huge balance.

Also, in 2015, Works and Housing Minister Fashola Babatunde said a IT firm developed his personal website for N78 million, but the firm initially denied being paid the amount. It subsequently clarified that less than N10 million was paid by the Lagos state government for the website.

Nigerian governments top 10 software spenders in 2022

Nigeria Immigration Service 4702149860 Federal Ministry Of Works And Housing 1155460014 Nigeria Airspace Management Agency 1033091529 National Emergency Management Agency 734211867 Federal Ministry Of Finance, Budget And National Planning - Hqtrs 684500000 Office Of The Head Of The Civil Service Of The Federation - Hqtrs 580000000 National Identity Management Commission 557307022 National Social Investment Office 545000000 State House Headquaters 470795521 Federal Ministry Of Health  qtrs 439436140

Top Spenders

It is not clear the nature of computer packages the Nigerian government seeks to acquire and why they cost that much. But the budget proposal shows that 196 government ministries, departments and agencies have lined up to buy assorted software packages next year, according to details of the budget collated by PREMIUM TIMES.

Some of the biggest spenders will be the Immigration Service, which alone allocates N4.7 billion for software  24 per cent of the governments total amount. A spokesperson for the service, Amos Okpu, did not provide details of the planned expenditure when contacted weekend.

That office is followed by the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing with N1.1 billion, the Nigeria Airspace Management Agency which proposes N1 billion and the National Emergency Management Agency, which will be spending N734 million.

Other top software spenders are the Federal Ministry Of Finance, Budget and National Planning with N N684 million, the office of Head of Civil service with N580 million, National Identity Management Commission with N557 million, and the National Social Investment Office which plans to spend N545 million.

The State House will spend N470 million of computer software  the ninth highest amount.

If the new amount is approved by the National Assembly, then the State House would have spent N723.5 million on software in the last five years.

The presidents office spent N54.8 million on software in 2021, N24.2 million in 2020, N45.7 million in 2019 and N120 million in 2018.

Meanwhile, internet services at the presidential villa will cost N67 million next year, the same amount the government spent on internet in 2021, 2019 and 2018. In 2020, N45.9 million was allocated for that purpose.
One of the most talked-about BBNaija season 6 housemates, Akpore Boma, has said that he has put all that happened during the show behind him and would be returning to his girlfriend.

Boma, who was allegedly romantically involved with a married housemate, Tega, in the just concluded BBNaija season, made this known in a recent interview with media personality, Chude Jideonwo.

The 34-year-old actor, who was married to his ex-wife, Adetokunbo Owolabi, in the U.S., for six years, also spoke about life after his BBNaija episode with a fellow housemate, Tega.

However, Boma insisted that all his romantic moments with Tega in the BBNaija house were just him playing out a script as the house felt like a movie set to him with all the cameras around.

Not like there was a written script to follow but my actions were premeditated. You cant ask me to bring my reality where there are cameras everywhere, he said.

Acting versus reality show

The ex-housemate, who is an actor, likened the show to shooting a movie.

According to him as a professional actor, he has kissed other peoples wives and girlfriends onset, saying it was not any different from the show.

Ive been on set and Ive done the same actions or even worse than that.

Not sex because I didnt have sex with Tega, but Ive kissed, Ive romanced people.

Ive played romantic scenes with peoples wives and peoples girlfriends or whoever they were. Im not the casting director. I didnt choose who to be my partner. You know, these are professional actors, Im a professional actor. Member of the screen actors guild of American federation, not a YouTube actor or something, no shades. But I do this professionally, it pays the bills he said.

Speaking further, he said: I wont lie to you, it was a show. Thats someone that asked me when I left the show without me even knowing what was going on, we are all going back to our families. Im going back to my girl. Oh yes, I have a girlfriend and nobody still knows, how private can one be?.

Boma also said people come to the Big Brother house for a prize and the prize isnt necessarily money. The prize could be fame; the prize could be focusing on the things that matter.

He said: Look at Kayvee, for instance, he came out of the Big Brother house and became the poster boy for taking care of your mental health. People go into this for a prize, the problem is that most people forget what that prize is, and they forget to keep working towards that prize.

Prior to BBNaija, Boma had a budding acting career in the U.S. and was popular for his cameo appearance in the Blacklist series.

To make ends meet, he said he worked as a bartender by night, and a masseuse by day.
Tonto Dikehs ex-lover, Prince Kpokpogri, has said that he never promised her marriage, nor does he have the sex tapes of over 30 women on his phone as widely reported.

Mr Kpokpogri, in an exclusive interview with PREMIUM TIMES on Tuesday, shortly after his release from police detention, said the controversial actress literally forced their tumultuous and short-lived relationship into existence.

Kpokpogri, who was thrust into the limelight after Ms Dikeh unveiled him on the occasion of his birthday on June 27 on her official Instagram page, also insinuated that the actress threw herself at him.

I was not into the relationship as she was, have you ever wondered why she was always posting our relationship here and there on social media, and I did little or less posting? he said.

No marriage plans

In a petition against Kpokpogri dated September 6 and addressed to the Commissioner of Police, FCT Command, Dikeh through her counsels in Festus Keyamo Chambers, Okechukwu Uju-Azorji, and Arinze Egbo, said Kpokpogri carefully planned his entry into her life and started to court her with a proposal to marry her.

Kpokpogri, who has been popular in the Delta State political scene in recent years, also said he was hesitant to proceed with the affair at first.

He said, When Tonto and I started talking, she said she is the relationship type, this and that but I never promised her marriage. I didnt know her, I was on my own when one Mr Suleman called me and told me that he was coming to my house with somebody, I asked who was that, he said when he comes I would see the person. Lo and Behold when he came it was Tonto.

I took him aside and asked him Is this not Tonto Dikeh, the one that destroyed her husband, Churchill? and he told me that she had repented, shes now a church lady and her birthday was coming up!

According to Kpokpogris lawyer, Ojefia, Dikeh filed a petition on breach of contract for marriage, which is why she holds claims to the Lexus SUV.

Ordeal

Kpokpogri also narrated the hurdles he encountered while trying to retrieve his SUV LX570 that was allegedly stolen by his ex-lover, which led to his detention.

He said, I was not arrested by the police, I went to retrieve my SUV car that was stolen by her (Dikeh), she does not own a car, she only rents cars around.

However, Kpokpogri noted that while he was detained, Dikeh and her colleague, Doris Ogala, were dancing and singing around the place.

The police have searched my phones and devices but there was no sex video as she had said.

He also said, contrary to stories bandied around by Ms Ogala, he has never been imprisoned.

Which prison did they say I was in? Is it Kirikiri, Port-Harcourt, or Calabar? Which prison? Or which judge convicted me, when? Which court? All these are stories they feed people on social media with!

Lexus SUV

Kpokpogri was arrested for attempting to cause a breach of the peace at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Maitama, Abuja, on Monday.

He was said to have visited the luxury hotel with two police guards in a bid to retrieve a Lexus SUV parked by Dikeh, who lodged there.

He allegedly blocked the vehicle with his car and when cautioned, his police escort reportedly threatened to shoot a female worker of the hotel.

The hotel management subsequently invited the police who whisked all the parties to the Federal Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department. This led to his detention.

Explaining his side of the story, Kpokpogri said he tracked his Lexus SUV on Saturday to the parking lot of Transcorp Hilton Abuja and went there with his mobile police.

He said, I had told the management of Transcorp and as a law-abiding citizen and I went to the police command at Maitama to help me recover my car, but we discovered that the car has been reprogrammed. I informed the management of Transcorp who had chain-locked my car and I told my mobile police and driver to keep surveillance over the car.

I dont know who told her but she came in the night, to secretly take the car away, and my driver blocked her with the white Mercedes-Benz we came with so that she would not take the car away. While I went and reported to the FCIID. I didnt see her with my eyes that day.

Kpokpogri also debunked allegations by Dikeh that he pointed a gun to her head and threatened to shoot her.

He said, There was no time my mobile police pointed a gun at her, I dont know where she got that one from. I went to the FCIID the next day, after writing statements, the DIG kept us there till 10 pm. During the interview, the DIG sent my lawyers away and did not give me the opportunity to talk but he allowed her to speak.

It was an arrangement, that provoked me, and I started shouting, it was in the presence of three commissioners of police who were trying to calm me down. They didnt give me a fair hearing. They did not allow my lawyers to be there for the interview. That was why the DIG detained me.

The Deputy Inspector-General of Police, FCIID, Joseph Egbunike, who confirmed Kpokpogri arrest and release in a Punch report, said he directed a Commissioner of Police to arrest Kpokpogri following reports of a threatening situation at the hotel.

According to him, the police escorts were being detained for failing to bring the situation at the hotel under control, adding that Kpokpogri has been released on bail.

Toyota Hilux

Kpokpogri, who is popularly called the prince of Niger Delta, also revealed that the Toyota Hilux, Dikeh, presented to him on his birthday was not a 2020 model as speculated by her.

He also said she didnt purchase the vehicle that she gifted him on his birthday.

She faked the receipt, the car was what she got from one politician, it was a 2017 model that was refurbished to 2020 model, and it came with no custom papers, nothing nothing.

He also hinted that the birthday gifts that she posted online on his birthday were all fake.

Kpokpogri said that he had also returned the diamond gift and the car, and they were in the custody of the police.

He said, Tonto is yet to return my car, my Iphones, and the gold earrings that she borrowed from my daughter amongst my other properties in her possession.

This is the first time, the politician would be revealing that he is a single father.

The chairman of the Anti-Corruption and Integrity Forum, also said that he is not a blackmailer as his estranged ex-lover and her colleague had claimed.

I have said that if anybody has any evidence of me blackmailing them, let them present it, up till now, no one has been able to present anything.

Tonto hits back

Although the reporter was unable to reach Dikeh, on Tuesday she accused her ex-lover of attempted murder and insisted that he was in possession of her sex tape, recorded during her moments of vulnerability.

The controversial actress said this while responding to comments on a popular gossip blog on Tuesday.

She wrote, Let God not punish you for this nonsense, has he returned my brand new Hilux, I bought for him? My diamonds I got from Bozdiamonds for him, shouldnt he answer to blackmailing me with my sex tape illegally recorded or the release of a vulnerable moment illegally recorded and realised?

In my opinion, he deserves No mercy, let the law prevail. If I were the law, he will rot in jail but Im not. Or pay back all the money he owes me, he needs to answer for putting a gun to my head. Threatening my life and the possession of over 30 illegal recorded sex tapes. A 2017 refurbished Lexus isnt my issue. I drive a BentleyI have a G Wagon, I have a Lexus car and a Mercedes van.

The once happy relationship crashed after a viral voice note and a phone call between Kpokpogri and a socialite was leaked online by a notorious Instagram gossip blogger.

Ever since the once admirable couple have been locked in a war of words on Instagram.
The Kaduna State Government says over 50 armed bandits were killed in a combined ground and air assault by security forces in Birnin Gwari Local Government Area of the state.

The states commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Samuel Aruwan, disclosed this in a statement on Wednesday.

PREMIUM TIMES reported an official on Monday disclosing how security forces killed at least 10 bandits at Kwanan Bataru, on the outskirts of Fatika in Giwa local government area of the state.

Both Giwa and Birnin Gwari are among council areas in Kaduna in the frontline of banditry.

In an inspiring success for the security forces, over 50 bandits have been neutralised during a combined ground and air assault in the Saulawa-Farin Ruwa axis of Birnin Gwari LGA, Mr Aruwan said.

According to operational feedback to the Kaduna State Government from the Command of the Joint Operations, a Nigerian Air Force helicopter gunship provided close air support to ground troops advancing from the Dogon Dawa-Damari-Saulawa axis.

Following extensive scans, bandits were spotted on five motorcycles, about 4km east of Saulawa, waiting to ambush the ground forces. They were engaged vigorously by the helicopter gunship, and were wiped out.

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After this, armed bandits on about 50 motorcycles were sighted fleeing towards Farin Ruwa, and were struck effectively by the gunship. Fleeing remnants were mopped up by ground forces.

A second helicopter gunship joined the operations, and many more fleeing bandits were neutralised by precise strikes. Assessment revealed that more than 50 bandits were neutralised during the joint operation.

Governor Nasir El-Rufai expressed his satisfaction at the operational feedback, and congratulated the ground troops and gunship crews on the rout. He urged them to sustain the momentum and bring even more bandits to their bitter end, Mr Aruwan said in the statement.
Victims of snake bite in Nigeria are faced with very slim chances of survival as the prices of Anti-Snake Venom (ASV) have gone up drastically, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.

A correspondent, who visited some snake bite treatment centres in Plateau, reports that the cost of treatment had risen drastically with many victims struggling to foot hospital bills.

NAN investigation revealed that a vial of ASV, which used to cost between N23,000 and N25,000, currently costs more than N45,000, almost double its former price.

Nyam Azi, a medical officer with the JUTH Comprehensive Medical Centre, a specialist snake bite treatment outfit in Langtang, Plateau State, attributed the rise in ASV cost to rising dollar rates.

It is a hard situation. It is particularly regrettable coming at a time when a high number of cases are being recorded.

A vial of ASV costs at least N45,000; it used to be around N23,000 to N25,000. The current price is very high considering that it is peasants that are mostly affected.

There are peak periods for snake bites  the heat season, planting and harvest time. We are entering the peak of harvest season, so the numbers are going up.

We record about 50 cases per month; sometimes we get 20 cases per week. This month alone, we recorded about 40 and the month is not over yet, he said.

Mr Azi said that the snake bite victims in his health centre come from Benue, Taraba and Nasarawa states.

He added that the situation was worrisome as patients required four or more doses for standard treatment.

The standard dose a patient requires is four vials of polyvalent or one vial of monovalent, while some patients require even more, he said.

Mr Azi regretted the high cost of treatment, adding that some patients had absconded from the hospital after treatment without paying for the drugs.

Such abscondments lead to huge losses to the hospital, he said.

He said that death was almost certain and inevitable without the ASV, especially since most of the victims were usually bitten by carpet vipers, the most common snakes in central Nigeria.

He disclosed that the ASV produced by ECHITAB remains the only potent vaccine for effective treatment.

The physician urged government to resume subsidising the ASV for victims to ease their sufferings.

Government used to subsidise the rates of the ASV, but no one does that anymore. They have stopped. I want to urge them to resume the subsidy to reduce the suffering of the peasants in this area.

Most of the snake bite victims are peasant farmers and children. The cost of treatment is too high and they can barely afford it.

Nandul Durfa, Managing Director of ECHITAP, producers of the ASV potent for the treatment of bites from snakes in Nigeria, told NAN that the cost of the vaccines went up because of the rise in hard currency.

The vaccine is produced in Liverpool in UK; the rise in the exchange rate of the Naira to the Pound Sterling has pushed up the local cost of the drug.

The only solution is for Nigeria to begin the production of ASV locally. If we cannot do that, well continue to suffer this persistent rise in the cost of this very crucial drug, he said.

NAN recalls that the Minister of State for Health, Olorunnimbe Mamora, recently said that an average of 20,000 cases of snake bites were recorded in Nigeria every year.

Mr Mamora added that about 2,000 of such victims die from the menace annually, while 1,700 lose their legs or arms to the menace.

The minister, in an address to mark the 2021 International Snakebite Awareness Day, urged stakeholders to put heads together toward tackling the trend.

NAN reports that snakes bites, especially in the central and southern zones of Plateau and adjoining states such as Benue, Gombe, Nasarawa, have remained a common and worrisome trend over the years.

Various accounts from victims indicate that snakebites inflict sustained psychological torment with significant level of mortality that result into attendant distortions in family and social structure.

Major effects of the menace include loss of breadwinners, prolonged hospital stay and incidental expenses, amputation, loss of income and productivity, among others.

(NAN)
The Kaduna State Government has ordered all civil servants in the state to get vaccinated against the deadly coronavirus disease, saying beginning from October 31, evidence of vaccination will be a requirement to gain access to their offices.

This was conveyed via a statement issued on Tuesday and signed by the special adviser to the Governor Nasir El-Rufai on media and communication, Muyiwa Adekeye.

PREMIUM TIMES reported six days ago how the Nigerian government directed all its employees to get vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus as this will soon become a prerequisite for gaining access into their various offices.

According to the statement from Kaduna, apart from civil servants, visitors to government offices will need to present their vaccination cards or evidence of registration with the state Ministry of Health for the purpose of vaccination, with their protective masks worn before they would be allowed into the government offices.

The statement reads in part:

The commencement of vaccinations against COVID-19 is the most significant development in the public health space since the virus began its tragic worldwide spread. Thus far, only a minority of Nigerians have been vaccinated against COVID-19 because of supply issues.

The Kaduna State Government will from 31st October 2021 require compliance with Covid-19 protocols, especially facemasks and vaccination, for access to its offices. The Ministry of Health has since commenced the vaccination of all civil servants, and this is expected to be completed by 31st October 2021. All civil servants are required to be vaccinated by that date.

The government, therefore, advised residents to register at the nearest primary health centres for vaccination.

COVID-19 in Kaduna

The North-western state has consistently appeared on the daily infections log for COVID-19 in Nigeria.

The state recorded 34 cases each on Monday and Sunday.

According to NCDC data, Kaduna has since the outbreak of COVID-19 recorded 9,935 cases, coming fourth after Lagos State, the FCT and Rivers State.

While the state has successfully treated and discharged 9,756 people, 78 fatalities have been recorded.
The federal government says it has taken delivery of the final batch of the 12 A-29 Super Tucano fighter jets expected from the United States.

The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, disclosed this on Monday when he featured on a phone-in programme of TV Continental, This Morning, monitored by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

All the 12 Super Tucano fighter jets have been received. As at this morning, all the 12 were here and they have been deployed to the North-east.

We can see that the Tucano jets are actually game changers.

Most of the successes we have recorded in recent times is because of the acquisition of new platforms, not limited to the super Tucano, he said.

The minister said with the recent notable successes recorded by the military on insecurity, he was amused by a story on Monday that the Nigerian Air Force paid N20 million to bribe bandits so that they would not bring down the presidents aircraft.

Fortunately, the Air Force immediately debunked this because this exposes their ignorance.

Between Zamfara, Katsina, parts of Kaduna and Niger states, there are about 150 bandit camps. Who then was the money given to?

It does not make any sense and it is because they do not understand how bandits operate that is why they can peddle that kind of fake news, he said.

Mr Mohammed said with the improved security situation in the North-east and North-central zones the nation would experience improved food security.

If you observe what is happening recently, you can see heightened activities in the agricultural area.

This is because of the superior fire power of the military which is now making it possible for people to go to their farms, especially in the North east.

They have been able to put the criminals at bay, he said.

The minister gave an assurance that the success of the military against terrorists and bandits would be sustained.

He therefore solicited the cooperation and support of Nigerians for the sustenance of the military action.

The Nigerian Air Force on July 22 took delivery of the first batch of six of the A-29 Super Tucano aircraft from the United States.

The Director of Public Relations and Information, NAF Headquarters, Edward Gabkwet, who made the announcement, said the aircraft arrived in Kano.

The officials that received the aircraft included the Minister of Defence, Bashir Magashi, Chief of Army Staff, Faruk Yahaya and Chief of Air Staff, Oladayo Amao.

(NAN)
The Japanese government has earmarked 260,000 dollars in its bid towards combating piracy and kidnapping in the Gulf of Guinea (GoG), especially Nigerian waterway.

The UN Development Programme (UNDP) Team Lead on Governance, Peace and Security, Matthew Alao, said this on Monday at the inauguration ceremony of a two-week anti-piracy first course organised by the Martin Luther Agwai International Leadership and Peacekeeping Centre (MLAILPKC) in Jaji, Kaduna.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that, the anti-piracy course was also a collaboration with UNDP and Japanese Government.

Mr Alao said that out of the funds set aside for the project, $98,350 was set aside for the anti-piracy course which main objective was to abate the menace of piracy in the Gulf of Guinea (GoG).

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that 16 coastal countries that are situated along the Gulf of Guinea include Nigeria, Angola, Benin, Cameroon, Cote dIvoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Republic of Congo, Guinea, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Gabon, Ghana, Sao Tome and Principe, Togo and Sierra Leone.

The imperative of this project cannot be overemphasised as about 90 per cent of the yearly kidnapping incidents worldwide occur in GoG and the pirate operations in the region are becoming more sophisticated.

These pirate activities pose serious threats to trades and businesses along the corridor and retard the economies of the GoG countries particularly Nigeria.

This glooming outlook calls for concerted actions by the multi-lateral and development partners and the GoG countries to reduce the influence and activities of piracy for improved security, peace and sustainable development in the area.

The published report on the root causes of piracy in GoG will contribute to evidence-based programmatic and policy interventions by the GoG countries and the development partners aimed at curtailing maritime crimes in the region, he said.

According to him, the publication already informed the development of the counter-piracy course curriculum which is being used to run the course.

This is equally helping to strengthen the capabilities of MLAILPKC and expand its mandate to conduct courses on anti-piracy thereby assisting to reduce the influence of piracy in GoG.

The Government of Japan and other like-minded partners are encouraged to invest more in projects that will curtail the activities of these pirates to promote security, peace, economic advancement and stability in the region.

These should include targeted investments that will positively impact on the livelihoods and income generating activities of the inhabitants of the GoG coastal communities, Mr Alao said.

He thanked the Government of Japan for investinginto the project and for the sustained strong partnership with UNDP Nigeria.

He also commended the commandant of the Centre, and his predecessor, James Ataguba for providing the right leadership and direction required for the effective and timely implementation of the project.

Also, speaking, the Ambassador of Japan to Nigeria, Matsunaga Kazuyoshi, said countries such as United Kingdom and United States are working together with the Nigerian government on security in the Gulf of Guinea.

Mr Kazuyoshi, who spoke via recorded video, noted that the Japanese Government was committed to contributing to the security of West Africa and protecting peoples lives through a variety of measures including capacity building for personnel in charge of maritime safety.

This project is one of Japans contributions towards capacity building. We hope that the training would improve the safety of the Gulf of Guinea through the knowledge the 30 participants will acquire.

The project also falls under the category of Support for stabilisation of regions facing conflicts which is one of the three main areas of Japans New Approach to Peace and Stability in Africa, the so called NAPSA initiatives announced in 2019.

This is also a project on the Free and Open Indo-Pacific, (FOIP), an initiative of the Japanese Government to build a rules-based international order, free trade, freedom of navigation, and the rule of law, all of which are essential principles for achieving regional stability and prosperity.

The total trade volume between Nigeria, the economic powerhouse in Africa, and Japan is one billion USD per year. In light of this, ensuring maritime safety in the Gulf of Guinea is a key trade hub in West Africa needed to promote bilateral trade, he said.

He said a research on piracy in the Gulf of Guinea, which was released in August as part of a component of the project, has revealed that the root cause of piracy is economic and employment difficulties.

Japan and Nigeria are far apart, but we are connected by sea, therefore as a true friend of Nigeria, it can be said that Nigerias matter is Japans matter, MrKazuyoshi said.

He reassured everyone that the Government of Japan, in cooperation with other countries would continue to contribute to the peace and stability GoG for the livelihood of Nigerians and for regional economic stability.

Earlier, the Commandant of MLAILPKC, Auwal Fagge, said the Centre was saddled with the responsibilities of delivering realistic training to potential peacekeepers and leaders for the multi-dimensional challenges of contemporary peace support operations and security challenges.

He noted that training was essential to performance and the overall successes in the field and other areas of endeavors in general.

Piracy in particular has become increasingly sophisticated especially with the influx of Small Ams and Light Weapons (SALW) in the hands of pirates, non state actors and other criminals on the waterways and high seas, he said.

He also noted that the research and curriculum for the anti-piracy Course I of 2021 is successfully completed and developed respectively.

The aim of the course is to train members of the Amed Forces, staff of national maritime organisations and relevant agencies as well as relevant stakeholders from the GoG States on anti-piracy strategies.

The course is a two-weeks programme of intensive presentations and practical exercises designed to provide security personnel and other relevant stakeholders with an understanding of intricacies of piracy especially in the Gulf of Guinea, Mr Fagge said.

He lauded the Government of Japan for its support to the centre and the UNDP for facilitating the project.

He urged the participants to participate actively and contribute positively during the course.

(NAN)
Three persons have been reportedly trapped under the rubbles of a building that collapsed at the Ikorodu area of Lagos on Monday.

According to the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), the collapsed building is located at 97, Lagos Road, Haruna, Ikorodu.

Confirming the incident, Ibrahim Farinloye, the Acting Coordinator of NEMA, Southwest, said the building collapsed around 10 p.m. on Monday.

The official said two persons have been rescued, with different degrees of injuries sustained, and they are at Ikorodu General Hospital, receiving medical treatment.

Although no casualty is yet to be confirmed, the agency said three persons are currently trapped in the building.

Immediately the incidence occurred, the local residents within the area mobilised themselves to carry out initial rescue activities. Though, fire service and Police responded, but unable to do much due to unavailability of equipment to lift the rumble on the suspected location of the trapped victims, Mr Farinloye said.

He added that the agency gathered that the affected building is an abandoned one, whose owner had asked the occupants to leave but some remained without the owners consent.

Mr Farinloye said operations are ongoing to locate the persons trapped in the building.
The Assistant Inspector-General of Police in charge of Zone One, Abubakar Bello, has ordered an investigation of a police officer caught on camera voting at the state congress of the All Progressive Congress (APC) in Kano.

The police spokesperson for the zone, Abubakar Zayyanu, identified the officer as Bashir Muhammad, attached to Kano Government House.

The police officer was caught voting at the congress which took place at Sani Abacha Indoor Stadium at Kofar Mata.

The spokesperson said the AIG has referred the matter to the Zonal X-Squad, for investigation.

The statement said the officer was attached to Government House, Kano, from where he was deployed to work with the then state caretaker committee chairperson of the APC, Abdullahi Abbas, who was elected state chairman of the APC at the congress.

The police said the appropriate disciplinary measures will be taken against the officer if found wanting, adding that further development on the matter would be communicated to members of the public.
President Muhammadu Buhari hosts President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey to a two-day official visit to Nigeria starting today, Tuesday, October 18th.

Accompanied by the First Lady, Emine Erdogan, President Erdogan is expected to come in from Angola and depart to Togo at the end of his visit.

In the course of the visit, the leaders of the two countries are expected to consider about two dozen Bilateral Agreements and Memoranda of Understanding, MOUs, and they will authorise the signing of those on which there is a concurrence.

In addition to the bilateral discussions, President Erdogan will hold one-on-one meeting with President Buhari and he is expected to commission the Turkish Cultural Centre in Abuja while his wife, Emine, accompanied by the First Lady, Aisha Buhari, is expected to commission the newly-renovated Government Secondary School in Wuse 11.

The school was renovated by a Turkish aid organization, the Turkish Cooperation and Coordinating Agency, TIKA.

Nigeria considers Turkey a close partner and sees this visit as a milestone in our bilateral relations.

Garba Shehu

Senior Special Assistant to the President

(Media & Publicity)

October 19, 2021
Scores of young Nigerians will gather in Abuja Wednesday to deliberate and discuss on the issues of equipping Nigerian youths with political engagement strategies and tools ahead of 2023 in the hope of building a better Nigeria.

According to a statement by the organisers, Ernest and Ibrahim Foundation, the event is set to be focused around strategies for the engagement of the Nigerian youth and the role of policy makers and the media.

Read the full statement below.

#FixingNigeria 4.0  Nigerian youth leaders, others, set to discuss engagement strategies ahead of 2023

 Fixing Nigeria youth conference 4th Edition holds October 20th

A significantly historic gathering of youth leaders, lawmakers, policy makers, civil society leaders and the media is set to occur on Wednesday, 20th of October, 2021 by 10 a.m. at the Yar Adua Centre in Abuja to deliberate and discuss on the issues of equipping Nigerian youths with political engagement strategies and tools ahead of 2023 in the hope of building a better Nigeria.

The Ernest and Ibrahim Foundation-powered #FixingNigeria National Youth Conference will have in attendance, Ghali NaAbba (Former Speaker, House of Representatives, Federal Republic of Nigeria), Uche Ekwunife (Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria), Muntari Dandutse (Member, House of Representatives, Federal Republic of Nigeria), Bamidele Salam (Member, House of Representatives, Federal Republic of Nigeria), Nkem Abonta (Member, House of Representatives, Federal Republic of Nigeria), Victor Kolade Akinjo (Member, House of Representatives, Federal Republic of Nigeria), Darlington Nwokocha (Member, House of Representatives, Federal Republic of Nigeria) and Alexander Ogbe (MD, Ochacho Foundation).

Also in attendance as speakers and panelists will be Shola Olapade (Leadership and Governance Consultant), Samson Itodo (Executive Director, YIAGA Africa; Convener, #NotTooYoungToRun), Bernard Ibelih (Senior Communications Manager, LEAP Africa), Chibuzo Okereke (Legislative Expert), Jeanette Washington (Activist, M.Ed USA Education), Martins O. Justice [J. Martins] (MD, J.Martins Foundation), Josie Itoyah-Slendor (Social Change Activist) and Zainab Galadima (Activist, Entrepreneur, and Grassroots Politician).

In the words of Ernest Nwosu, the convener of the #FixingNigeria, the National Youth Conference is a platform for all Nigerian youth and leaders alike to learn, debate, discuss, brainstorm and exchange ideas on both short and long term strategies to fixing the nation while equipping oneself with the leadership skills required for imminent national assignments.

The annual event, which has seen three past editions bear fruits in astonishing proportions, is set to be focused around strategies for the engagement of the Nigerian youth and the role of policy makers and the media, the organizers have confirmed.

The 1st edition of the #FixingNigeria conference which took place on the 29th of May 2017, had hundreds of youth leaders in attendance with a major call to action for active citizenship, nation building and patriotism. While the 2nd edition took place on the 29th of May, 2018 with the theme  Promoting Good Governance and Youth Participation in Politics, the 3rd edition focused on Nigeria @ 60: Building A Sustainable and Efficient Democracy; Issues on Accountability and Transparency in Governance and was held on the 1st of October 2020.

The overall goal of the #FixingNigeria4.0 Conference is for lawmakers, policy makers, CSOs and the media to share ideas on youth engagement as it concerns the active, empowered and intentional partnership with youth, stakeholders, problem solvers and change agents in their communities and to proffer strategies targeted at nation building for a better Nigeria.

The organizers of the event have said that Nigeria is on the cusp of greatness as she approaches a destiny-defining moment in her history. There is a portentous transition looming that will see a generation of patriots and nationalists rise from the brightest and often ignored percentage of our populace; a great move of youth that will build upon the foundations set by past and present leaders to create a Nigeria driven by selfless, visionary leadership and strong institutions deeply set in strong democratic doctrine, ethics and values that will promote patriotism.

Hence, this is a call to all youth leaders, grassroot activists and the general youth populace to answer the call of destiny by convening at the event where we can engage in interactive plenaries, brain storming sessions and debates.

Although attendance is free and open to the public, registration and accreditation is required. Prospective participants are therefore, required to visit www.fixingnigeria.org to register as accreditation will be done at the reception of the event. The foundations website, www.ernestandibrahim.org is also available to the public to offer additional information about the organisers of the event and their projects.

Signed by:

Rukayya Ibrahim

Project Director
At least eight terrorists of the Islamic State West Africa (ISWAP) and Boko Haram have been killed in an encounter with troops of Operation Hadin Kai, Nigerias counter terrorism operation in the North-east.

Army spokesperson, Onyema Nwachukwu, a brigadier general, disclosed this in a statement on Monday.

According to him, the eight terrorists died during two different operations.

The first incident took place on Monday at the Forward Operating Base (FOB) Wulgo, Borno state. The second took place around 151 Battalion location where their gun truck ran over a Vehicle Improvised Explosive Device.

Four terrorists died in each of the operations, the official added.

Fighting equipment such as AK 47 rifles, six magazines and 50 rounds of 7.62mm special were also recovered from them.

According to the statement, the chief of Army staff, Faruk Yahaya, commended the efforts of the troops and urged them to be more focused.

The Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lieutenant General Faruk Yahaya has commended the efforts of the troops and charged them to remain aggressive and focused, as they dominate their areas of operational responsibility, in order to ensure complete extermination of the terrorists and restoration of normalcy, it said.

Read full statement:

*OPERATION HADIN KAI: TROOPS EXTERMINATE ISWAP/BHTS IN ENCOUNTER  4 others get killed in IED Explosion.*

Troops of Joint Task Force North East Operation HADIN KAI (OPHK) deployed alongside Cameroonian Defence Force have exterminated four ISWAP/BHTs at the Forward Operating Base (FOB) Wulgo, on 18 October 2021.

The vigilant troops successfully foiled an attempted infiltration of the terrorists group into the camp, while on a patrol to dominate their area of responsibility. The troops swiftly responded with overwhelming volume of fire and spontaneous reinforcement from the Battalion Headquarters, compelling the terrorists to retreat.

Troops immediately carried out a hot pursuit and exploitation after the encounter, along the terrorists route of withdrawal and neutralised three BHTs. The gallant troops also recovered three AK 47 rifles, six magazines and 50 rounds of 7.62mm special.

In another development, four ISWAP/BHTs terrorists have met their waterloo same date, around 151 Battalion location. The terrorists were burnt beyond recognition, as their Gun truck mounted with Anti Aircraft Guns ran over Vehicle Improvised Explosive Device. Own troops are currently conducting further exploitation ahead of the location to clear any surviving terrorist.

The Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lieutenant General Faruk Yahaya has commended the efforts of the troops and charged them to remain aggressive and focused, as they dominate their areas of operational responsibility, in order to ensure complete extermination of the terrorists and restoration of normalcy.

ONYEMA NWACHUKWU

Brigadier General

Director Army Public Relations

18 October 2021
Police authorities, during an #EndSARS panels hearing, in Abuja, on Monday, denied liability for the killing of a member of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) reportedly shot by a police officer in July 2018.

Twenty-three-year-old Linda Igwetu was allegedly shot by a police officer identified as Benedict Peters around Ceddi Plaza, in the central area of Abuja, on July 4, 2018, the day she was meant to conclude her national service.

Her sister, Chinenye Igwetu, who petitioned the #EndSARS panel in Abuja, said she was shot while returning home from where she had gone to celebrate her successful completion of the scheme with her colleagues.

I want justice for my sister. I want my family to be compensated, even though no amount of money can bring my sister back, Chinenye had told the panel.

Denials

The Inspector General of Police and the Commissioner of Police (IGP), Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, through their lawyers, denied liability for the killing at the hearing of the case by the #EndSARS panel in Abuja on Monday.

#EndSARS panel is the common name given to the various panels of inquiry set up in about 28 states and Abuja to probe cases of rights violations and brutality perpetrated by the operatives of the defunct Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), and other police tactical units.

That of Abuja, an 11-man Independent Investigative Panel set up by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), resumed sitting on Monday after lack of funding crippled it for over six months.

The petition on the killing of Linda Igwetu was one of the first cases heard by the panel headed by Suleiman Galadima, a retired Justice of the Supreme Court, on Monday.

Addressing the panel, police lawyer, Fidelis Ogwobe said the IGP and the FCT police commissioner cannot be vicariously held liable for Lindas death.

Mr Ogwobe urged the panel to dismiss the petition on the grounds that the man accused of the killing, Benedict Peters, a former police inspector, is being tried for culpable homicide at the FCT High Court in Maitama.

The police challenged the jurisdiction of the Abuja #EndSARS panel to entertain the petition on the killing.

Chinenye, the petitioner, asked for compensation of N250 million for the alleged murder of her sister by the police.

Pwadumdi Okoh, the petitioners lawyer, objected to the call by police authorities for the dismissal of the case.

She insisted that police authorities were vicariously liable since Mr Peters was at the checkpoint where he shot the deceased as an agent of the IGP and the Commissioner of Police.

Subsequently, the panel adjourned the matter for report of the progress made in the criminal trial of the accused police officer.

Family of slain member seeks N200 million compensation

The petition filed by the family of one Festus Idehen allegedly killed extra-judicially by the police in 2016 came up for hearing on Monday.

The family seeks to be awarded N200 million for the killing.

Counsel for the family, Kuyik Usoro, while presenting his final address to the panel on Monday, said justice must be seen to be done in what he said was a clear case of violation of the right to life of Mr Idehen by the police.

Police lawyer, Umoh Inah, said he could not file his reply address because he was served the complainants address late.

The panel chairman, Mr Galadima, directed the lawyer to the police to present his written address unfailingly on October 20.

Meanwhile, the officer in charge of the FCT Police legal department, James Idachaba, said many of the legal officers of the force who were handing the various petitions retired during the panels protracted hiatus.

My Lord, we seek the panels indulgence for a short adjournment to enable us put our house in order, because most of the lawyers handling petitions at this tribunal have retired during the (#EndSARS panel break in Abuja), Mr Idachaba said.

Meanwhile, counsel for the police, Malik Taiwo, who handles the case of alleged unlawful arrest and detention of Mustapha Sabo, could not present his address because he was also said to have been served the complainants address late.

Godwin Ijeoma, who is in charge of the case of alleged extra-judicial killing of Kenneth Ummunna, was said to have retired from the force.

Mr Galadima directed the head of the police legal team, Mr Idachaba, to take over the matter and respond to the addresses by the complainants.

The case was adjourned till November 1.

Background

The federal and state governments resolved to set up the #EndSARS panels following the #EndSARS anti-police brutality protest which held for weeks in many cities in the country in October last year.

Organisers have been mobilising to mark the first year anniversary of the historic protest on October 20, which will be exactly one year peaceful protesters participating in the #EndSARS demonstrations at Lekki Tollgate in Lagos State, were shot at by soldiers.

Authorities, including federal and state governments, had warned against the protest. But responses from the organisers have been that of defiance.
The federal government says it has scraped three oil sector agencies as required under the new petroleum law.

Under the Petroleum Industry Act, enacted in August, the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), and the Petroleum Equalisation Fund (PEF) no longer exist.

They are replaced by the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, NPRA, and the Nigerian Upstream Regulatory Commission, NURC.

The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, confirmed the new departments have taken off on Monday, as he inaugurated their boards in Abuja.

He said the staff of the scraped agencies will be retained while new

chief executives will take charge, Punch reported Tuesday.

President Muhammadu Buhari in September nominated the chairpersons, members and commissioners of the new agencies. The nominees were approved by the Senate on October 6.

The law states that all the assets and even the staff of the DPR are to be invested on the commission and also in the authority. So that means the DPR doesnt exist anymore, Mr Sylva told journalists, according to Punch.

And, of course, the law specifically repeals the DPR Act, the Petroleum Inspectorate Act, the Petroleum Equalisation Fund Act and the PPPRA Act. The law specifically repeals them. It is very clear that those agencies do not exist anymore.

The law also provides for the staff and the jobs in those agencies to be protected. But Im sure that that doesnt cover, unfortunately, the chief executives, who were on political appointments.

Mr Sylva said, The authority has its staff coming from the defunct PEF, PPPRA and DPR. The commission has staff coming over from DPR and the process is going on for the next few weeks.

Mr Sylva said the inauguration of the boards on Monday marked the beginning of the successor agencies.

So far, the chief executives of these agencies have not been in place, but of course, Mr President in his wisdom made the appointment a few weeks ago and they went through a rigorous process of confirmation at the National Assembly.

The agencies have now taken off because they now have clear leadership and todays event marks the beginning for the new agencies, he said.

He further stated that with the passage of the PIA into law, after spending over 20 years in the process, the coast was clear for investors to fully invest in Nigerias oil sector.

Today, the PIA has clarified the legal framework around the sector and the agencies are now in place. So I dont see anything now stopping investors from coming, he said.
The proceedings at the Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry came to an end Monday, with the panel awarding N148.2 million as compensation to 23 victims of police brutality.

The panel had previously awarded a total of N262 million as compensation to 47 petitioners.

With the new compensations, a total of (N410.2M million) had been given to 70 petitioners as compensation.

Petitions

According to Doris Okuwobi, the chair, the panel heard 186 petitions from 252 petitioners. She said cases not opened and unconcluded would be sent to the Lagos State Ministry of Justice for consideration on the future body that would handle human rights violations in the state.

Mrs Okuwobi advised the police to further investigate two officers, identified as Bawa and Salisu, attached to the Ojo police station. She did not give details of what the policemen committed.

Concerning Pelumi Onifades petition vs state environmental task force, Mrs Okuwobi said petition adjourned sine die to await recommendations of panel on the unheard petition.

Lekki shooting investigation

On Lekki shooting, the panel said it would submit its findings which include individual petitions on the incident to the state government and recommend compensation to the petitioners.

Mrs Okuwobi said the Lekki shooting report would be made public by the state government.

The judicial panel was set up by the Lagos State government in the wake of the #EndSARS protest against police brutality in October 2020 to investigate the excesses of the dissolved Federal Special Anti-robbery Squad and to the Lekki shootings.

Below is the full list of the 23 compensations and the recipients:

1. Late Michael Owoicho N10m

2. Late Fatai Ogunseye N10m

3. Adeola Mukaila N700,000

4. Stellar Edegwa N500,000

5. Late Akapo Adekunle N10m

6. Late Mustapha Moruf N10m

7. Kufrey Jackson N5m

8. Late Ikechukwu Iloamuzor N10m

9. Segun Adekoya N1m

10. Late Yusuf Omole 10m

11. Segun Ishola N5m

12. Late Bukola Adeogun N10m

13. Late Okoronkwo Sylvester N10m

14. Titi Agnes N10m

15. Prince Akaba N500,000

16. Chukwudera Uba N4m

17. Late Gabriel Ayodele N10m

18. Abayomi Likinyo N4m

19. James Arebha N4m

20. Juliana Adeoti N1m

21 Adaeze Samson N2.5m

22. Late Yemi Abdulkareem N10m

23. Late Gabriel Ayedungbe N10m
Armed bandits collected a multi-million naira ransom before they released the Emir of Bungudu in Zamfara State, Hassan Attahiru, family sources have said.

The bandits successfully negotiated the ransom with emirate officials despite the shutdown of telecommunications in the state. The ransom included a first payment of N20 million, after which the bandits refused to release the emir until they were given more money.

The Emir of Bungudu was kidnapped on the Kaduna-Abuja highway while travelling to Abuja. The Bungudu Emirate Council on Monday announced that he had returned home, 32 days after his kidnap.

The emir was abducted two weeks before the Kaduna State government asked telecommunications firms to suspend their services in part of the state from September 30.

The measure, which was aimed at checking the activities of bandits, was also adopted by the governments of Zamfara, Katsina and Sokoto states.

However, the absence of telecommunications services in Kaduna temporarily disrupted the negotiation and delayed the release of the emir.

Family sources told PREMIUM TIMES that negotiation began before the cut of telecommunications networks in parts of Kaduna State but continued afterwards until the emir was released.

The source said following the networks shutdown, the bandits moved to areas where they could access mobile telecommunications services and continued pressing their demands.

However, they could not connect the monarch with his loved ones and officials on phone as they usually did when they could access services from their strongholds.

We stopped speaking with the emir on the phone after the government announced the networks shutdown in certain areas, until he eventually regained freedom, one of the family members who spoke to this newspaper, said.

How ransom was delivered

The sources said the bearer of the N20 million initially paid rode on a motorcycle for about three hours from Rigachikum town to the forest and trekked for another hour with the bag containing the money.

Then, communication between the ransom bearer and the bandits broke with the bandits phone numbers no longer accessible, so the ransom bearer returned to Kaduna with the money. However, upon his arrival in Kaduna, the bandits called and asked him to return to the forest with the money.

When the ransom bearer moved further into the forest, he was asked to park his motorcycle at a certain place. The bandits were calling to give him direction until he delivered the ransom in a thicker forest covered by creeks, the source said.

N20 million not enough

The source said after collecting N20 million from the ransom bearer, the kidnappers refused to release the monarch, demanding more money.

The kidnappers had demanded a N100 million ransom. The negotiation was going on when the networks were cut in parts of Kaduna.

The second ransom payment was also huge but I cannot ascertain the amount. Following the intervention of Miyetti Allah and others, the bandits agreed to free the monarch. But more ransom was paid, the source said.

Upon his release, the emir trekked for about three hours in the forest before reaching a place where he was picked with a motorcycle and brought to where vehicles were parked waiting for his arrival, the source concluded.
The police in Lagos have said that some faceless groups and individuals are planning to stage an anti-EndSARS anniversary protest in Lagos on October 20.

This is contained in a statement released on Tuesday by Adekunle Ajisebutu, the Lagos police spokesperson.

In the statement, the Lagos police command said a post being circulated on social media insinuating that the police in Lagos have agreed to allow street protests in commemoration of the one year EndSARS anniversary is false.

We wish we could permit such street protests. However, intelligence at our disposal has revealed plans by some faceless groups or individuals to stage an anti-EndSARS anniversary protest in the state same day.

On the contrary, the police will only allow an indoor and virtual event in commemoration of the EndSARS anniversary and will provide adequate security at the venue (s) if known. This is in recognition of the rights of every Nigerian to express his or her interest, the statement read.

The police said in view of the conflicting interest between the pro and anti- EndSARS anniversary groups and threat to cause mayhem, youth are warned against protests.

It is acknowledged that citizens have the right to peaceful protests.

However, in this instance having carried out a critical security assessment and intelligence report at the disposal of the Lagos Command in respect of the planned protests and attendant implications on public safety, the Command considers it inappropriate to allow such protests to hold. It will not stand aloof and allow breakdown of law and order which the protests may cause.

The police had earlier said it will not allow any form of protests to hold in the state, saying Lagosians cannot afford to relive the distasteful experience of last years protests which caused pain, anguish, needless loss of lives and wanton destruction of public and private properties.

Several groups and human rights organisations condemned the attempt by the police to clamp down on protesters, saying it is a fundamental right.

Again, in its recent statement, the police command maintained its position against planned protests.

It said this is to avoid a recurrence of the gory protests of last year during which some innocent Nigerians including police officers were gruesomely murdered, private and public property plundered and maliciously destroyed.

The police will not abdicate their responsibilities of protection of lives and property by allowing such avoidable incident happen again in the state

In the interest of security and public safety, the Commissioner of Police, CP Hakeem Odumosu, wishes to warn the organisers of the protests that the police will deploy all legitimate means to stop or neutralise the planned protests, the statement reads.

Mr Ajisebutu, a Chief Superintendent of Police, said parents and guardians should warn their children against participating in the protests, while youths or groups planning to take part should in their own interest to shelve the plan.
Nine governors will participate at the 17th All Nigeria Editors Conference which opens in Abuja on Thursday.

The governors are Ifeanyi Okowa (Delta); Nasiru El-Rufai (Kaduna); Yahaya Bello (Kogi); Seyi Mankide (Oyo); Bello Matawalle (Zamfara); Babagana Zulum (Borno), and David Umahi (Ebonyi).

Others are Oluwarotimi Akeredolu (Ondo) and Adegboyega Oyetola (Osun).

Also expected at the event the Minister of Defence, Bashir Magashi; Minister of Works, Babatunde Fashola; Chief of Defence Staff, Lucky Irabor; National Security Adviser, Babagana Monguno; Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mele Kyari; Publisher of PREMIUM TIMES, Dapo Olorunyomi and other veteran journalists.

A statement by the President and General Secretary of the Nigerian Guild of Editors, Mustapha Isah and Iyobosa Uwugiaren, on Tuesday, said the conference would focus on the insecurity in the country.

It said the governors invited to be part of the conversation are those whose states are facing security challenges.

It said, The conference with the theme, Media in Times of Crises: Resolving Conflict, Achieving Consensus, will bring together editors and media owners across the country, as well as their foreign colleagues to discuss the security challenges in the country and agree on the solution to the raging strife.

The statement said Mr Olorunyomi, an accomplished internationally acclaimed investigative journalist, would give the keynote address that would be discussed by security chiefs, including Mr Monguno; Irabor; Director-General, Department of State Security Services, Yusuf Bichi; and the Inspector-General of Police, Usman Baba.

It added, A doyen of the media, Mr. Ray Ekpu, would chair the opening session with Fashola and others, including President, Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Mr. Chris Isiguzo, and foreign ambassadors giving goodwill messages.

Besides the opening session, the conference would have three others; the second session for the Day 1 of the conference has a paper titled, Conflict Reporting: The Editor as a Mediator, to be delivered by the Editor-in-Chief, Leadership Newspapers, Mr. Azu Ishiekwene.

The paper would be discussed by Editor-in-Chief, 21st Century Chronicle, Dr. Mahmud Jega; Director-General, Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN), Mr. Mansur Liman; and another leading journalist, Mr. Emmanuel Yawe. Noted broadcaster, Ms. Kadaria Ahmed, would chair the session.

The statement said that the morning session of the Day 2 (22 October), would have Managing Director, Nigerian Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agriculture Lending (NIRSAL), Aliyu Abdulhameed, presenting a paper, Accessing Capital for Alternative Career Development for Editors.

Discussants at the session to be chaired by the Managing Director/CEO, Access Bank Plc, Herbert Wigwe, are former NGE President, Funke Egbemode; Managing Director of New Telegraph Newspapers, Ayodele Aminu; and Executive Director (News), FRCN, Sani Suleiman.

The afternoon session with the theme, Security Challenges: Recovering Lost Grounds, which the statement explained, would be attended by state governors, will be chaired by Mr Magashi.

It said the conference, which is supported by corporate organisations, including Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), United Bank for Africa (UBA), Glo, Zenith Bank, Access Bank, Air Peace and Trustfund Pensions Limited, the conference will take place at the Nigerian Air Force Conference Centre, Kado area of Abuja.

Over 300 editors and media owners  from print, broadcast stations and online newspapers, according to the statement, are attending the conference.
As we seek alternatives to the present failure, we must reopen the issue of progressive taxation, introduce property taxes and the benefits to be obtained in a dispassionate manner, as part of a strategic imperative for the future. Anthropologists are in agreement about the communal organisation of social structure in Yoruba land. Yoruba thought and culture are not averse to contributions for the good of the community.

Right after the treaty ending the Kiriji War was signed, a renaissance of Yoruba culture, norms and economic development was induced. The logical end result to cement the advances was the 1948 formation of the Egbe Omo Oduduwa, which eventually transformed into the Action Group, a political party.

The Action Group ascended into power under the MacPherson Constitution, riding on a manifesto centered around making life more abundant, which had been largely inspired by the British Labour partys inspirational and game changing 1945 platform, Let us face the future. To fulfill the promises made to the electorate, the Action Group needed resources outside the commodities export trade, largely centered on Cocoa. Taxation to finance commitments to the provision of social services, health and free education became the decisive territory of political thought and action in the Western Region from 1952. Throughout the 1950s, the anti-colonial struggle across the globe adopted the battlecry of the American revolution: No taxation without representation. In their struggle for independence, several nations agreed implicitly that taxation is a vital part of the social contract and a central pillar of democracy and representative government.

In the Western Region, revenue from commodities, with its inbuilt price instability, was never going to be adequate. Individual tax contributions had to be levied and enforced. For a political party in a nascent democracy, it was difficult. For one, there were bound to be issues of fairness in weighing the progressive distribution of the tax burden, not just between social strata but, crucially, between the urban and rural areas. A further dilemma was the distribution of the benefits of tax contributions vis-a-vis the equitable catering to the needs of the urban and rural areas. At the time, the key problem was the failure of the Regions premier, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, to negotiate a democratic agreement and consensus to take the tax issue out of politics.

The opposition National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC) stoutly refused to have a bipartisan consensus, much to Awolowos deep regret, as he was to point out in speeches and in books. In a principled forgoing of electoral consequences, tax was levied and enforced. Enforcement was sometimes a pitched battle. The level of taxation was high, reaching 63 per cent to the GDP ratio, which was certainly higher than just about everywhere else, including the United States of America. It nevertheless brought in the funds needed for an audacious trajectory of social engineering, sustainable development and elevation of living standards unmatched elsewhere. It crowned the Yoruba renaissance and the efforts of so many precursors, such as Ladipo Solanke and the his fellow intellectual activists in the London founded and based Western African Students Union (WASU).

The transformative effects have been well documented and have continued to be a benchmark often cited as the gold standard for sustainable development. It, however, came with a price tag. The Action Group suffered tremendous electoral defeats in the 1954 central elections (federal elections) to the Federal House of Representatives and local government elections conducted by its own electoral board in 1956 and 1958. The local government elections were actually a rout. The elections became a debacle for the ruling party in the region. Awolowos chances of cobbling together a majority in the 1959 pre-independence federal election was also gravely affected. Notably, taxation based development funding edified Awolowos presence of mind and principled commitment. He refused to make a U-turn and seek the convenient crowd pleasing way out. Mercifully, the verdict of history has been very fair and positive to his endeavour. A clear problem was the urban-rural dichotomy. The opposition swept the rural areas because of the perception that these areas (shades of resource control) disproportionately contributed the lion share of the benefits going to the urban areas. Flashpoints resonated on this issue of and on, most notably in the Agbekoya peasant revolt in 1968-1969.

The gains of the eventual acceptance of taxation must be lauded. By doggedly sticking to course and demonstrating the efficacious benefits of tax contributions, the Yoruba people accepted the need for taxation to the extent that in 1961, an attempt, for purely opportunistic reasons, to cut taxes on the eve of the local government elections was resisted. In actual fact, there was a riot, leading to scores of people bounded over to keep the peace.

It is sad that the political sophistication exhibited by the acceptance of the need for taxation was destroyed by the military takeover. In discrediting the politicians as punitive, the baby and bathwater were thrown overboard. After a succession of uncaring and self-centered military and civilian governments, the case for taxation as a very crucial necessity is going to be difficult to make, but it has to be made.

It is sad that the political sophistication exhibited by the acceptance of the need for taxation was destroyed by the military takeover. In discrediting the politicians as punitive, the baby and bathwater were thrown overboard. After a succession of uncaring and self-centered military and civilian governments, the case for taxation as a very crucial necessity is going to be difficult to make, but it has to be made. For right now the illusion of the sustainability of the rentier state, based on rent seeking, consumption and racketeering has been laid bare.

As we seek alternatives to the present failure, we must reopen the issue of progressive taxation, introduce property taxes and the benefits to be obtained in a dispassionate manner, as part of a strategic imperative for the future. Anthropologists are in agreement about the communal organisation of social structure in Yoruba land. Yoruba thought and culture are not averse to contributions for the good of the community. The present aversion is the result of the pushback against state capture and a retrogressive political class, which is anti-people. A case in point is Lagos. It is legitimate to ask questions about the use of taxes in Lagos State. There is absolutely nothing equitable about the distribution of the benefits of taxation from land use charges, signage etc. Nevertheless we must remember our culture and history and the great gains we once made and must reignite.

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
Plattsburgh, NY (12901)

Today

Snow this morning will transition to snow showers this afternoon. High 39F. Winds WNW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of snow 80%..

Tonight

Clear skies. Low near 25F. Winds WNW at 5 to 10 mph.
Larry Rock, 76, of Charles Way, passed away on November 17, 2021 at his home. He was born May 17, 1945 the son of Clarence and Rose (Rell) Rock. Services will be private and held at the convenience of the family. Larry will be laid to rest in St. Mary's Cemetery in Champlain. Arrangements ha
PORTLAND, Ore., Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Dyrt, the No. 1 camping app with the most active camping community in the world, recently closed an over-subscribed Series B round of funding led by Realization Capital Partners. The investment, combined with strong revenue from The Dyrt PRO, has the company adding 30 new roles to its current remote team of 40.

The Dyrt co-founders Sarah Smith and Kevin Long

"The Dyrt was built by campers to solve issues they ran into; and as a result has built an incredibly engaged community of campers that contribute a continual stream of reviews and helpful content. The engagement shows in their data, and The Dyrt is uniquely positioned to win the camping vertical thanks to their awesome users," says Realization Capital Partners' Kevin Iudicello, who will be joining The Dyrt's board of directors.

Unlike other niche camping apps, The Dyrt has focused on building a camping-for-all community  tent campers, dispersed campers, RVers and glampers  and has crowd-sourced over 4 million photos, reviews and tips of 44,000 campgrounds across the US.

"Our mission has always been to make it easier for anyone anywhere in the US to go camping," says Sarah Smith, founder of The Dyrt. "Our new open job postings across technology, marketing and support allow us to really scale up toward the realization of our vision, this $11 million Series B funding marks the beginning of an exciting new chapter."

"The camping industry is growing at a rapid pace, with over 4 million Americans who went camping for the first time this year," says Kevin Long, CEO of The Dyrt. "There are so many different reasons for this increase in popularity. People need breaks from the hustle culture, parents want their kids to have less screen time, there's heightened awareness for the environment. And, of course, the effects of the pandemic have people just wanting to be outside more often."

The Dyrt has come a long way since Smith launched it back in 2013 after growing frustrated over not being able to find adequate campground information online. Now, a different camper comes to The Dyrt every second. As it grows, the Dyrt continues to outpace tech and outdoors industry standards with a workforce comprised of 50 percent women .

"Both in what it does and how it does it, The Dyrt is an exciting company at the very forefront of the outdoors tech industry," says Iudicello. "The team Kevin and Sarah have built is truly phenomenal, and I can't wait to see what they are able to accomplish with the talent they are currently adding."

About The Dyrt

The Dyrt's mission is to expand the camping community and help more people enjoy the outdoors. With over 4 million user-generated reviews and tips for US campgrounds, The Dyrt is the largest source of camping information and the Apple and Google Play App Stores' No. 1-ranked camping app. The Dyrt helps campers find their ideal destinations by collecting reviews, photos and videos from fellow campers through the app. The Dyrt PRO enables campers to plan road trips, find free camping areas on public lands, use the app offline and more. www.thedyrt.com

Media Contact:

Maggie Fisher

860-526-1555

[email protected]

SOURCE The Dyrt
AUBURN HILLS, Mich., Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ --

2021 Ram 1500 TRX wins Texas Truck of the Year and High-performance Truck of the Year

2021 Jeep Gladiator wins Off-road Truck of the Year

All-new 2021 Jeep Grand Cherokee L wins Full-size SUV of the Year

2021 Jeep Wrangler 392 wins High-performance SUV of the Year

The 2021 Ram 1500 TRX received the top honor as the Texas Truck of the Year in addition to High-Performance Truck of the Year at the Texas Motor Press Association Texas Off-Road Invitational event.

"The challenging off-road trails were no problem for Ram 1500 TRX as it easily trekked over the roads with massive horsepower, multiple drive modes and lofty ground clearance. It was so much fun to experience the truck conquer the trails. We all took notice of the wild animal roar exhaust note off in the distance," said Bryan Grant, president Texas Motor Press Association.

Jeep brand took home several awards as well, including the 2021 Jeep Gladiator as Off-road Truck of the Year, all-new 2021 Jeep Grand Cherokee L as Full-size SUV of the Year and 2021 Jeep Wrangler 392 as High-performance SUV of the Year.

"Jeep brought an impressive lineup, especially the Jeep Wrangler 392. It's very easy to fall in love with this Wrangler from the moment you fire up the HEMI V-8. The Sky One-Touch Power-Top made it super easy to enjoy the drive with the roof open or closed," said Grant. "The new Jeep Grand Cherokee L with its luxurious interior, roomy three rows, incredible McIntosh stereo and an array of impressive technology features, is sure to win a big audience of buyers, and the Jeep Gladiator offers amazing off-road capabilities and the practicality of a truck, a win-win for Texas consumers."

Texas Motor Press Association

Texas Motor Press Association (TxMPA) is a registered 501(c)3 organization that is focused on bringing together automotive industry professionals to create informed content highlighting various facets of the industry in ways that register with a Texas-based audience and beyond. The membership is made up of automotive industry journalists that cover cars, trucks, SUVs, ATVs, and UTVs in a variety of media as well as professionals that represent corporate interests in the automotive community. TxMPA members represent the best of the Texas automotive industry. Media members have engaged, interested, enthusiastic, and influential audiences that span the media landscape. The membership is as diverse in coverage and membership as the state itself.

Ram Truck Brand

In 2009, the Ram Truck brand launched as a stand-alone division, focused on meeting the demands of truck buyers and delivering benchmark-quality vehicles. With a full lineup of trucks, the Ram 1500, 2500/3500 Heavy Duty, 3500/4500/5500 Chassis Cab, ProMaster and ProMaster City, the Ram brand builds trucks that get the hard work done and families where they need to go.

Ram is the number one brand in new vehicle quality and is the only truck-exclusive brand to ever finish first in J.D. Power's Initial Quality Study (2021), which tracks new vehicle performance over the first three months of ownership. In the same study, Ram Heavy Duty models also scored best, making Ram the number-one truck brand in new vehicle quality among large heavy-duty pickups.

In addition, the latest J.D. Power APEAL study, which rates the emotional bond between customers and their vehicles, named the 2021 Ram 1500 as the best vehicle in the large light-duty pickup category. This marks the second straight year Ram 1500 has received top honors.

The 2022 Ram 1500 lineup includes the Know & Go mobile app featuring an immersive experience for customers who want to learn more about their vehicles. Ram continues to outperform the competition and sets the benchmarks for:

1,075 lb.-ft. of torque with Cummins Turbo Diesel

Towing capacity of 37,090 lbs. with Ram 3500

Segment first 1,000 lb.-ft of torque with Cummins Turbo Diesel

Payload of 7,680 lbs. with Ram 3500

Most luxurious: Ram Limited with real wood, real leather and 12-inch Uconnect touchscreen

Best ride and handling with exclusive link coil rear and auto-level air suspensions

Most interior space with Ram Mega Cab

Most capable full-size off-road pickup  Ram Power Wagon

Ram 1500, America's most powerful half-ton diesel pickup with 480 lb.-ft. of torque, achieves an unsurpassed 33 mpg highway and delivers up to 1,000 miles of range on a single tank of fuel

Ram 1500 TRX is the quickest, fastest and most powerful mass-produced pickup truck in the world

Most awarded light-duty truck in America

Highest owner loyalty of any half-ton pickup

Ram is part of the portfolio of brands offered by leading global automaker and mobility provider Stellantis. For more information regarding Stellantis (NYSE: STLA), please visit www.stellantis.com.

Jeep Brand

Built on 80 years of legendary heritage, Jeep is the authentic SUV with capability, craftsmanship and versatility for people who seek extraordinary journeys. The Jeep brand delivers an open invitation to live life to the fullest by offering a full line of vehicles that continue to provide owners with a sense of security to handle any journey with confidence. Jeep Wave, a premium owner loyalty and customer care program that is available to the entire Jeep lineup, is filled with benefits and exclusive perks to deliver Jeep owners the utmost care and dedicated 24/7 support.

The Jeep vehicle lineup consists of the Cherokee, Compass, Gladiator, Grand Cherokee, Renegade and Wrangler. To meet consumer demand around the world, all Jeep models sold outside North America are available in both left- and right-hand drive configurations. Jeep is part of the portfolio of brands offered by leading global automaker and mobility provider Stellantis. For more information regarding Stellantis (NYSE: STLA), please visit www.stellantis.com.

Follow Jeep and company news and video on:

Company blog: http://blog.stellantisnorthamerica.com

Media website: http://media.stellantisnorthamerica.com

Jeep brand: www.jeep.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/jeep

Instagram: www.instagram.com/jeep

Twitter: www.twitter.com/jeep

YouTube: www.youtube.com/thejeepchannel or https://www.youtube.com/StellantisNA

SOURCE Stellantis
Made in Calgary, Alberta, Alberta Premium Cask Strength Rye is crafted from 100% Canadian prairie rye grains grown by local farmers and nutrient-dense, glacier-fed spring water from the famed Rocky Mountains. The result is a perfectly balanced liquid that reflects the brand's unique natural surroundings, Canadian heritage, and expert whisky craftsmanship.

"Following the success of Alberta Premium Cask Strength Rye's debut in the U.S. last year, we are thrilled to offer stateside whisky drinkers the limited 2021 release of our award-winning whisky," said George Teichroeb, General Manager of Alberta Distillers. "When Alberta Premium debuted in 1958, we were one of the first distilleries to create a true 100% rye whisky, and this cask strength rye is the culmination of our hard work and dedication to crafting exceptional rye whisky."

Highly revered by whisky enthusiasts, the 2020 release of Alberta Premium Cask Strength Rye received numerous prestigious awards including Double Gold at the 2020 and 2021 San Francisco World Spirits Competitions, Double Gold at the 2021 SIP Awards, Best All Rye Whisky at the 2021 Canadian Whisky Awards and 1st Place Best Canadian Whisky at the 2021 International Whisky Competition. This special whisky is best enjoyed neat with a drop of water or on the rocks, and features the following characteristics:

Alberta  Premium Cask Strength Rye:

Proof: 63-67%

Taste: Exceptionally smooth with notes of caramel, vanilla and a hint of chocolate balanced with the spiciness of rye and black currant

Finish: Smooth and lingering with the complexity of spice, warm vanilla, and dark fruit

Packaged in an eye-catching, faceted glass bottle, Alberta Premium Cask Strength Rye will be available in limited quantities in select U.S. markets beginning this month for an SRP of $74.99 for a 750ml bottle. With demand and popularity gaining for the distillery's premium spirits in the U.S, whisky fans can rest assured there's more to come from Alberta Premium in 2022. For more information on Alberta Distillers visit www.albertadistillers.com .

About Alberta Distillers

Founded in 1946, Alberta Distillers continually sets the gold standard for Canadian spirits, offering distinguished quality. Pure Rocky Mountain water and rich prairie grainsgrown by farmers who have worked with us for decadescreate the hearty foundation of every handcrafted liquid we make. We're proud to be using only the finest ingredients. Experience the incredible strength and flavor that can only be found in an award-winning collection like ours. Visit www.albertadistillers.com for more information.

About Beam Suntory, Inc.

As a world leader in premium spirits, Beam Suntory inspires human connections. Consumers from all corners of the globe call for the company's brands, including the iconic Jim Beam and Maker's Mark bourbon brands, Suntory whisky Kakubin and Courvoisier cognac, as well as world renowned premium brands including Knob Creek, Basil Hayden's and Legent bourbon; Yamazaki, Hakushu, Hibiki and Toki Japanese whisky; Teacher's, Laphroaig and Bowmore Scotch whisky; Canadian Club whisky; Hornitos and Sauza tequila; EFFEN, Haku and Pinnacle vodka; Sipsmith and Roku gin; and On The Rocks Premium Cocktails.

Beam Suntory was created in 2014 by combining the world leader in bourbon and the pioneer in Japanese whisky to form a new company with a deep heritage, passion for quality, innovative spirit, and vision of Growing for Good. Headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, Beam Suntory is a subsidiary of Suntory Holdings Limited of Japan. For more information on Beam Suntory, its brands, and its commitment to social responsibility, please visit www.beamsuntory.com and www.drinksmart.com .

Alberta Premium Cask Strength Rye Whisky 63-67% alc/vol, 2021 Alberta Distillers, LTD, Chicago, IL

SOURCE Alberta Premium

Related Links

http://www.albertadistillers.com


ZURICH, Switzerland, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Amcor plc (NYSE: AMCR; ASX: AMC) will announce its results for the three months ended 30 September 2021 after the US market closes on Tuesday 2 November 2021.

A conference call and webcast to discuss the results will be held at 5.30pm US Eastern Daylight Time on Tuesday 2 November 2021 / 8.30am Australian Eastern Daylight Time on Wednesday 3 November 2021. For those wishing to participate in the call please use the following dial-in numbers:

US and Canada: 866 211 4133 (toll-free)

Australia: 1800 287 011 (toll-free)

United Kingdom: 0800 051 7107 (toll-free)

China Hong Kong: 800 901 563 (toll-free)

Singapore: 800 852 6506 (toll-free)

All other countries: +1 647 689 6614 (this is not a toll-free number)

Conference ID 5385928

Access to the webcast and supporting materials will be available via the Investors section of Amcor's website (www.amcor.com/investors). A webcast replay will be available at the conclusion of the call.

ENDS

For further information please contact:

Investors: Tracey Whitehead

Global Head of Investor Relations

Amcor

+61 3 9226 9028 / +1 224-478-5790

[email protected] Damien Bird

Vice President Investor Relations

Amcor

+61 3 9226 9070

[email protected]



Media  Europe

Ernesto Duran

Head of Global Communications

Amcor

+41 78 698 69 40

[email protected] Media  Australia

James Strong



Citadel-MAGNUS

+61 448 881 174

[email protected] Media  North America

Daniel Yunger



KekstCNC

+1 212 521 4879

[email protected]

About Amcor

Amcor is a global leader in developing and producing responsible packaging for food, beverage, pharmaceutical, medical, home- and personal-care, and other products. Amcor works with leading companies around the world to protect their products and the people who rely on them, differentiate brands, and improve value chains through a range of flexible and rigid packaging, specialty cartons, closures, and services. The company is focused on making packaging that is increasingly light-weighted, recyclable and reusable, and made using a rising amount of recycled content. Around 46,000 Amcor people generate US$13 billion in sales from operations that span about 225 locations in 40-plus countries. NYSE: AMCR; ASX: AMC

www.amcor.com I LinkedIn I Facebook I Twitter I YouTube

SOURCE Amcor
MUNICH, Oct. 18, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Nagarro, a global leader in digital engineering, has reached an agreement with the shareholders of the US-headquartered Advanced Technology Consulting Service (ATCS), to bring the companies together to better address key markets and verticals.

ATCS, an established international firm, has experienced rapid growth owing to its strategic focus on niche areas, including digital, data, and analytics. The Inc. 5000 has placed ATCS among the "Fastest-Growing Private Companies in the US" for the past two years. The company has a well-established and robust client base across multiple industries, especially Automotive and Life Sciences, with clients in the US, Canada, Germany, India, China, and Australia.

For Nagarro, the transaction primarily deepens access to the important US and German markets, aligns sweetly in terms of vertical and horizontal capabilities, and also adds new heft across the Asia-Pacific. For ATCS, the Nagarro affiliation represents a significant opportunity to further build on a stellar record of deep client impact by gaining access to a large digital engineering talent pool. Clients can expect an even more enhanced level of ATCS services with a continued focus on speed, flexibility, and value generation. ATCS has been tailoring its service offerings around the rapidly evolving digital landscape with the objective of supporting clients in their journey towards a data- and technology-driven business ecosystem. Nagarro will strengthen these offerings through greater access to talent, investments, and solution innovations.

This agreement is the result of a thoughtful and careful evaluation of culture and spirit. Nagarro is well known for successfully building flat, non-hierarchical global teams and caring culture. ATCS, a recipient of the Gallup Great Workplace award, maintains a close-knit culture built on trust, collaboration, and entrepreneurial spirit. Working together, a positive aggregation of these two cultures will make this affiliation one of the best places to work and build a career.

Manas Fuloria, co-founder of Nagarro, states:



"On behalf of all Nagarrians, I would like to congratulate our new colleagues from ATCS for building a fantastic company over two decades. Our discussions and diligence has established that the ATCS team has great entrepreneurial energy, agility and solid values. We welcome them into the global Nagarro family."

Manish Krishnan, founder, and CEO of ATCS, states:

"The decision to join Nagarro came naturally to us primarily due to our similar culture and values. This affiliation will not only allow us to scale up more effectively and provide greater value to our clients but will also create new and bigger opportunities for our workforce. I am really excited and looking forward to doing great things together in the coming years."

About Nagarro:

Nagarro, a global digital engineering leader, helps clients become innovative, digital-first companies and thus, win in their markets. The company is distinguished by its entrepreneurial, agile, and global character, its CARING mindset, and its approach of thinking breakthroughs. Nagarro employs over 10,000 people in 26 countries. For more information, visit www.nagarro.com.

FRA: NA9 (SDAX, ISIN DE000A3H2200, WKN A3H220)

About ATCS: A global, innovative technology solutions company, ATCS was founded in 2000 and is headquartered in Montvale, New Jersey, USA. ATCS specializes in Enterprise IT, Data & Analytics, Marketing Tech & Insights, and Digital Transformation with its highly skilled and engaged employees spread across 10 global offices in North America, Germany, China, and India.

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/844192/Nagarro_Logo.jpg

SOURCE Nagarro
"At its core, AGB is a platform to advocate for social and environmental responsibility," says Avocado Founder and CMO Mark Abrials. "By growing into the responsible fashion and beauty spaces, we believe we can be a greater force for good. Our Hass and Reed + Gwen products, like our line at Avocado, speak for themselves  they're the ultimate in quality and sustainability."

The Hass apparel launch includes organic cotton everyday essentials, alpaca sweaters, and Lenzing certified modal leisurewear. By harnessing natural, organic, and innovative materials, as well as non-toxic dyes, Hass works with the planet  not against it. And because they stitch nearly everything in Global Organic Textile Standard certified facilities in Los Angeles, Hass ensures social responsibility at every step of the supply chain. Hass believes its fashion model is better for customers, farmers, factory workers  and the planet. Hass will also donate one meal to someone in need through its partnership with City Harvest, in New York City, and Food Forward, in Southern California, to fight food waste and food insecurity. Shoppers can learn more at shophass.com.

The mission for Reed + Gwen is to set a new standard for sustainability in the beauty space. Their plant-based beauty products, including a body melt, body scrub, bath soak, and body oil at launch, are radically sustainable, obsessively safe, formulated with little or no water, made in the USA with the very best ingredients sourced from around the world, and free from synthetic fragrances. The transparent formulations represent the pinnacle of nature and science for the ultimate performance. One percent of all Reed + Gwen revenues will support safe drinking water access for all through a collaboration with Water For People. To learn more, shoppers can visit the Reed + Gwen website.

As subsidiaries of Avocado Green Brands, both Hass and Reed + Gwen are Climate Neutral Certified for net-zero emissions, with verified offsets for all their scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions. They're also Certified B Corporations legally obligated to balance purpose with profit, and they're members of 1% For the Planet, through which they'll donate 1% of all sales to organizations dedicated to supporting people and planet.

Avocado Green Brands builds trusted conscious lifestyle brands to help change the world. We unite social responsibility with environmental sustainability for greater impact. How do we do it? We back our claims with trusted certifications. We support environmental nonprofits with verified giving. We vertically integrate from our farms to our factories. We sell across channels and marketplaces, with rich direct-to-consumer, video, and IRL retail experiences. And we drive home the reason for our products, to engage on a higher and more emotional level, and with greater authenticity, transparency and passion. The urgent mission for our 700+ member team of activists is clear: to become one of the world's most sustainable businesses. Learn more at AvocadoGreenBrands.com.

If you would like more information, please contact Jessica Hann at [email protected].

SOURCE Avocado Green Brands

Related Links

https://www.avocadogreenmattress.com


VANCOUVER, BC, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Lithium South Development Corporation (the "Company") (TSX-V: LIS) (OTCQB: LISMF) (Frankfurt: OGPQ) is pleased to announce that Eon Minerals of Miami Florida, through its laboratory located in Salta, Argentina, will be conducting test work to produce battery grade lithium carbonate from a bulk sample of brine to be recovered from the Hombre Muerto North Lithium Project (HMN Li Project), Argentina. Conventional process technology, based upon the proven evaporation extraction process of lithium will be utilized in this test phase.

The testing will begin with a pre-concentration process of 15 cubic meters of brine in ponds located at the project site. Work will include liming, solid-liquid separation, removal of boron through Solvent Extraction, polishing of the brine, precipitation of primary lithium carbonate, bi-carbonation, polishing of the brine by Ion Exchange, resulting in a targeted-battery grade lithium carbonate product. The process will also produce a lithium chloride solution with a targeted concentration up to 6% wt., which will be shipped to Chemphys Chengdu in China for further refinishing to their customer specifications.

The process test work will result in hard data for the design of a pilot test plant. Recovery rates of lithium under salar conditions will provide the information required for a National Instrument 43-101 Technical Report. The process test work will be supervised by Mr. Alex Mezei, a Qualified Person for the purposes of N.I. 43-101 and a recognized expert within the industry.

Company President, Adrian F.C. Hobkirk is quoted: "We are very pleased to move our project forward towards the pilot plant stage, as part of our evaluation of the best process to use in achieving lithium production at the HMN Li Project."

About Eon Minerals

Eon Minerals of Miami Florida has a fully capable laboratory in Salta Argentina, equipped for lithium test work. The company is well experienced in the lithium industry. Past and current clients include Ganfeng Lithium, Neo Lithium and Rincon Ltd. Eon Minerals technical staff includes Susana Martinez, PhD in Chemistry with specialization in synthesis and nanomaterials, Ivan Machin, PhD in Chemistry with specialization in thermodynamic and catalysis, Lorena Perez, MSc specializing in heavy and extra heavy oil extraction, and Gonzalo Chaparro who has worked on engineering for the most important projects in Argentina. The team has a joint experience of more than 50 years in process development, and more than 15 years with specific lithium experience. The Company is owned and operated by Fernando Villarroel, Vice President, and Director of the Company.

About Lithium South

Lithium South is focused on developing the Hombre Muerto North Lithium Project (HMN Li Project), located on the Hombre Muerto Salar, a major lithium-producing salar in Argentina. The property is adjacent to land under development by the Korean multinational corporation POSCO, which acquired the ground from Galaxy Resources Ltd. for US $280 million. The Company completed a Preliminary Economic Assessment of the HMN Li Project in 2019, utilizing conventional evaporation extraction. The Company is focused on evaluating alternative extraction methods for the HMN Li Project.

This news release was reviewed and approved by Mr. Alex Mezei, P.Eng., a Qualified Person for the purposes of NI 43-101, and technical consultant to the Company. Mr. Mezei participated in the production of this news release and approves of the scientific disclosure contained herein.

On behalf of the Board of Directors

Adrian F. C. Hobkirk

President and Chief Executive Officer

Investors / Shareholders call 855-415-8100 / website: www.lithiumsouth.com

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. The TSX Venture Exchange has not reviewed the content of this news release and therefore does not accept responsibility or liability for the adequacy or accuracy of the contents of this news release.

This news release contains certain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 21E of the United States Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Except for statements of historical fact relating to the Company, certain information contained herein constitutes forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based upon opinions and estimates of management at the date the statements are made and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors which could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward- looking statements. We seek safe harbor.

SOURCE Lithium South Development Corporation
LONDON, Oct. 18, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Bechtel has entered into its first exporter agreement with U.K. Export Finance to secure a 430 million guaranteed loan for the construction of a 5G-ready motorway in Serbia. The UKEF-supported Buyer Credit Facility will help Bechtel in its joint venture with ENKA to create value worth 150 million to the U.K. economy, driving investment into local communities and supporting jobs. This is also the first export credit deal to be concluded by UKEF for Serbia's Ministry of Finance.

The Morava Corridor (Infrastructure Corridor E-761) will be the second major transport artery in Serbia, connecting communities and businesses from Pojate in the east to Preljina in the west, and linking the country's North-South motorway between the country's borders with Hungary and North Macedonia.

The announcement was made during this week's U.K. Government's Global Investment Summit, hosted by Prime Minister Boris Johnson in London.

"This welcome support from UK Export Finance will allow Bechtel, together with our partner ENKA, to deliver this transformational infrastructure project using goods and services exported from the U.K.," said Brendan Bechtel, Bechtel Chairman and CEO. "At a time of post-COVID-19 recovery, this investment in the supply chain will benefit both the U.K. and Serbian economies, and will also enable Bechtel to continue to grow our partnerships in both countries."

"This partnership between Bechtel and UKEF will boost UK exports, drive investment, support jobs and bolster local economies, helping us build back better from the pandemic," said Anne-Marie Trevelyan, U.K. International Trade Secretary. "This week's Global Investment Summit is attracting the world's top investors to the U.K., showing why the U.K. is the best destination for foreign investment. There is no better time to invest in the U.K."

Bechtel Enterprises, the project development and financing arm of Bechtel, supported the Republic of Serbia throughout the financing process together with JP Morgan Chase Bank as mandated lead arranger of the facility. Global law firm Ashurst advised JP Morgan and U.K. Export Finance on the financing.

"This transaction is exemplary of the creative outcomes that can be achieved for our customers when export credit agencies, development finance institutions, international banks, and the supply chain work together," said Keith Hennessey, President, Bechtel Enterprises. "We are proud to partner with the Government of Serbia and UKEF in this transformational project and we look forward to bringing energy and creativity to deliver this world-class motorway in this strategically important part of Europe. We thank the Government of Serbia for their active engagement throughout the financing process."

A major flood defense system is included in the motorway design to protect surrounding areas from flooding, erosion, and subsequent water pollution. This is the first flood mitigation system of this scale to be built alongside a motorway in the Balkans, reflecting the Serbian government's commitment to strengthening the national infrastructure's resilience against extreme weather conditions.

About Bechtel

Bechtel is a trusted engineering, construction and project management partner to industry and government. Differentiated by the quality of our people and our relentless drive to deliver the most successful outcomes, we align our capabilities to our customers' objectives to create a lasting positive impact. Since 1898, we have helped customers complete more than 25,000 projects in 160 countries on all seven continents that have created jobs, grown economies, improved the resiliency of the world's infrastructure, increased access to energy, resources, and vital services, and made the world a safer, cleaner place.

Bechtel serves the Energy; Infrastructure; Nuclear, Security & Environmental; and Mining & Metals markets. Our services span from initial planning and investment, through start-up and operations. www.bechtel.com

Media contact:

Aileen Easton

C : +44 (0) 7769 242448

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE Bechtel

Related Links

http://www.bechtel.com


NEW YORK, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Bradford Allen, a full-service, national commercial real estate services firm headquartered in Chicago, announced its expansion with the opening of a New York office and the strategic hiring of industry veteran Glenn Isaacson as President of the New York office. The announcement was made by the firm's principals and founders Jeffrey Bernstein and Laurence Elbaum.

Glenn Isaacson, President of Bradford Allen New York

Bradford Allen was co-founded in 2003 to fill the void between large commercial real estate providers and small boutique firms. Headquartered in the heart of downtown Chicago, the entrepreneurial firm has grown into a best-in-class brokerage offering a full array of services, including tenant representation, landlord representation, consulting and advisory services, property and asset management and construction and project management. With three offices in Chicago, the company is comprised of over 100 professionals providing strategy, marketing, and transaction execution for occupiers and owners of commercial real estate.

Bradford Allen New York represents a return to Manhattan for the firm's founders who began their real estate careers as a team at Walter & Samuels in 1992 and then at the Edward S. Gordon Company and Insignia/ESG. Bernstein and Elbaum completed more than seven million square feet of transactions while teamed in New York, and together helped shape the office landscape of Midtown South.

"Our return to the New York City market gives us the opportunity to introduce the differentiated Bradford Allen platform to the world's most dynamic, vital business hub," said Mr. Bernstein. "In this era of consolidation and mega-firms, we fill a void for principal-driven service and attention, and a commitment to excellence in all we do."

Mr. Elbaum said the opportunity dovetails with Bradford Allen's ability to secure Glenn Isaacson as principal and president of the New York operation. "We have confidence in Glenn to build and lead this office, to create a professional and collegial environment where experienced, talented and inspired real estate service experts can work together to craft and execute transactions that serve their clients' business goals."

One of the most accomplished professionals in New York commercial real estate, Mr. Isaacson brings 40 years of leadership and experience to his new role. Mr. Isaacson has held some of the most senior and prestigious posts at New York's top real estate services firms, culminating as Vice Chairman at Cushman & Wakefield prior to his appointment as President of Bradford Allen New York. Recognized as both a strong manager and seasoned brokerage professional, Mr. Isaacson has completed more than 20 million square feet of leasing transactions.

His customers include a large number of prominent owners and agencies, as well as esteemed tenants such as Boston Consulting Group, Northwell Health, Avenues Schools, China Merchants Bank and Seyfarth Shaw. In addition, he is recognized for work on behalf of respected nonprofit organizations such as Carnegie Hall Corporation, UJA Federation of Jewish Philanthropies, American Kennel Club and the American Foundation for AIDS Research (on whose board he now sits).

As President of Bradford Allen New York, he will be responsible for managing brokerage services and company operations in addition to leading transactions with landlords and tenants, directing new business development, and assembling a group of top professionals to strengthen the firm's position in the regional marketplace.

The process of forming the Bradford Allen New York team is underway with the hiring of Tony Builder as Associate Broker and Kim Woodruff-Walker as office manager. Mr. Isaacson said he and his partners are meeting with several seasoned professionals to build out a strong core team.

"I'm excited by the opportunity to build Bradford Allen New York and lead the office forward through exceptional client servicing and top-talent recruiting," adds Mr. Isaacson. "Over the course of my career, I've learned first-hand what works and what doesn't work in the brokerage industry. Bradford Allen's platform and efficient process is compatible with my own approach to transacting business, with a value proposition that combines the expertise of a large brokerage alongside the nimble mobility of a privately held firm. It's the ideal time for Bradford Allen to plant its flag in the dynamic New York City market and the commercial real estate environment in this region is ripe for our future growth."

About Bradford Allen

Bradford Allen (https://www.bradfordallen.com/) is a national commercial real estate firm based in the heart of downtown Chicago. The company offers a full array of brokerage services and expertise to entrepreneurial, corporate, and not-for-profit clients. Services include strategy, marketing, and transaction execution for occupiers, investors, and owners of commercial real estate. Bradford Allen is the brand name of Bradford Allen Realty Services. Bradford Allen is the Chicago affiliate for TCN Worldwide, a global consortium of independent commercial real estate firms.

CONTACT:

Tom Nolan  [email protected]

Great Ink Communications  212-741-2977

SOURCE Bradford Allen

Related Links

https://www.bradfordallen.com/


STAMFORD, Conn., Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Cantu Beauty , an award-winning multicultural hair care brand, announced today a $150,000 investment in nontraditional students at historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) across the country in partnership with UNCF (United Negro College Fund). Nontraditional college students face unique challenges to completing their college education, primarily stemming from balancing heightened family and financial obligations. Cantu will help support these students by offering a career-readiness curated content series through UNCF this fall along with awarding 15 scholarships, valued at $5,000 each, to students attending the sessions.

Cantu Beauty and United Negro College Fund offer nontraditional college students career-readiness workshops and award 15 scholarships Cantu Beauty and United Negro College Fund invest in nontraditional HBCU students United Negro College Fund Logo

"Higher education is a catalyst that propels Black and brown communities forward," said Dametria Mustin, global vice president of marketing, Cantu Beauty. "Cantu continues to remain committed to paving the way for the next generation of leaders, entrepreneurs and shapers of our community through financial support and seminars preparing nontraditional college students for success early-on in their careers."

Nontraditional undergraduate students are a demographic not often highlighted in college brochures or highly considered when making campus-wide decisions. These students may have delayed enrollment into postsecondary education, attend college part-time, work full-time, have dependents other than a spouse and/or are single parents. Cantu and UNCF-hosted sessions surrounding the topics of learning leadership skills, building confidence and communication skills, managing work-life balance, and maintaining overall health and wellness will aide students in developing intangible skills that need to be nurtured and strengthened outside of the classroom.

"Our partnership with Cantu Beauty is unique in that they have a heart for a segment of the HBCU student population that is rapidly growing, especially amid the pandemic, as more people return to their education," said Maurice E. Jenkins, Jr., executive vice president and chief development officer, UNCF. "Work-readiness resources and financial scholarships for nontraditional students can make a big difference in how they are able to maximize their college experiences."

Cantu Beauty's partnership with UNCF is one of its continued commitments to elevating and uplifting diverse communities. Earlier this year, Cantu Beauty announced its investment in Gyrl Wonder , a nonprofit dedicated to serving ambitious young women of color and empower them as they take the next steps to successful careers. Additionally, last fall, Cantu Beauty launched Cantu Elevate: a program in collaboration with 25 Black Women in Beauty to lift up Black female entrepreneurs to shape the future of beauty. The inaugural program awarded three Black female entrepreneurs a Cantu-sponsored advertising campaign valued at approximately $160,000.

To learn more, follow UNCF on Instagram , Facebook and Twitter. Additionally, stay connected with Cantu Beauty on Instagram , Facebook, and Twitter or visit them at cantubeauty.com.

ABOUT CANTU

It's Cantu Beauty's mission to celebrate you in all your glory. Whether you're rocking coils, curls, waves, or straight tresses, Cantu designs products specifically with you and your hair's versatility in mind. Cantu's collection of award-winning products is inspired by beautifully textured hair to help you achieve any look you desire. With a one-of-a-kind formula, Cantu helps achieve everything from cutting-edge looks to classic styles. Cantu Beauty is a part of PDC Wellness & Personal Care. For more information, visit pdcwellness.com.

ABOUT UNCF

UNCF (United Negro College Fund) is the nation's largest and most effective minority education organization. To serve youth, the community and the nation, UNCF supports students' education and development through scholarships and other programs, supports and strengthens its 37 member colleges and universities, and advocates for the importance of minority education and college readiness. UNCF institutions and other historically Black colleges and universities are highly effective, awarding nearly 20% of African American baccalaureate degrees. UNCF administers more than 400 programs, including scholarship, internship and fellowship, mentoring, summer enrichment, and curriculum and faculty development programs. Today, UNCF supports more than 60,000 students at over 1,100 colleges and universities across the country. Its logo features the UNCF torch of leadership in education and its widely recognized trademark, A mind is a terrible thing to waste." Learn more at UNCF.org or for continuous updates and news, follow UNCF on Twitter at @UNCF.

MEDIA CONTACT

Sydney Tukes, Reddish

[email protected]

212-714-5743

SOURCE Cantu Beauty

Related Links

https://www.cantubeauty.com/


Harder to manage pediatric and adolescent patients achieve 74% Time in Range, and 82% overnight Time in Range, well surpassing clinical consensus guidelines for glycemic control

DUBLIN, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Medtronic plc (NYSE: MDT), a leading global healthcare technology company, recently announced one-year, real-world clinical data on 3,211 pediatric and adolescent patients with type 1 diabetes 15 years old and below using the MiniMed 780G system1 with the Guardian Sensor 3. Data on this subset of patients on the system in Europe showed an average Time in Range of 74%  surpassing Clinical Consensus Guidelines and closely mirroring Time in Range for adults at 77%. Overnight Time in Range of 82% also mirrored that of adults (82%) demonstrating that the Advanced Hybrid Closed Loop (AHCL) algorithm offers even stronger glycemic control and protection against lows while children are sleeping. The MiniMed 780G system delivers near real-time basal insulin and auto correction boluses (every 5 minutes) to address underestimated carb counts and occasional missed meal doses to deliver more Time in Range.

"These results are extremely encouraging. Glycemic control has been much harder to achieve in children due to unpredictable factors common in this age group, including physical growth and development, hormonal changes and active lifestyles. In fact, young adults around the age of 15 have the highest reported A1C in the T1D Exchange Registry, which includes data on over 31,000 individuals with type 1 diabetes and demonstrates the unique challenges in younger populations. Because the algorithm in the MiniMed 780G system adjusts basal and correction insulin doses in near real-time every 5 minutes thereby providing near real-time course correction, it helps make up for underestimated carbohydrate counting and occasional late or missed meal doses," said Robert Vigersky, M.D., chief medical officer of the Diabetes business at Medtronic. "The Medtronic AHCL algorithm offers advanced protection and permits unprecedented personalization in insulin delivery by offering a wide range of Active Insulin Time settings and three different glucose targets. These improvements reinforce that the MiniMed 780G system is a better alternative than previous therapy these patients were on, even for those who were relatively well-controlled."

From an experience perspective, younger users remained in Advanced Hybrid Closed Loop (AHCL) mode, also referred to as the SmartGuard algorithm, for an average of 93% of the time, similar to the 92% observed in users over 15 years old. When the pediatric group set a blood glucose target of 110mg/dL (6.1 mmol/L) and an Active Insulin Time (AIT) of two hours, they achieved an average Time in Range of 77% and a Glucose Management Indicator (GMI) of 6.7%. With these settings, they only spent 2.7% of their time <70 mg/dL (5.9 mmol/L).

The real-world performance analysis aggregates information from children 15 years old and below whose caregivers agreed to allow Medtronic to use anonymized data that was automatically uploaded their data to CareLink Personal from August 27, 2020 to July 22, 2021. A large majority of pediatric users included in the analysis are achieving glycemic goals recommended by major diabetes professional organizations, including:

75.3% of pediatric users had a Glucose Management Indicator (GMI) less than 7%, which mirrors the average A1C level that would be expected based on mean glucose.

69.6% of pediatric users had a Time in Range above 70%.

67.5% of pediatric users achieved both, a GMI less than 7% and a Time in Range above 70%.

A sub-analysis of patients 15 years old and younger with at least 10 days of CGM data both pre- and post-AHCL initiation (n=661) showed substantial improvements across both Time in Range and GMI  even among those who were relatively well controlled at baseline. This group saw a 12% increase in Time in Range, to 74% on average  equivalent to an additional 2.8 hours/day in the target range. From a user experience perspective, results also showed patients were able to stay in AHCL mode 93% of the time once it was initiated.





Pre-AHCL

Initiation

Post-AHCL

Initiation

Change Number of users, n

661

661



Total Daily Dose

(of insulin), units

30.5

34.6

+ 4.1* Time in AHCL, %

-

92.8



Mean SG, mg/dL

163

146

- 17* GMI, %

7.2

6.8

- 0.4* Overall Time in Range, %

62.1

73.8

+11.7* Users with GMI <7%, %

37.8

72.5

+ 34.7* Users with TIR >70%, %

31.3

67.6

+ 36.3*

The MiniMed 780G system's SmartGuard algorithm (also referred to as the AHCL algorithm) automates the delivery of insulin every five minutes  personalizing these doses to auto-correct highs and lows 24 hours a day based on CGM readings.2,3 Autocorrection dosing is designed to correct highs that may result from forgetting to bolus insulin prior to eating a meal, missing it altogether or underestimating the carbohydrate content in the meal resulting in an inaccurate dose of insulin. This feature offers an additional layer of protection and provides extra coverage to help reduce the burden associated with diabetes management and improve outcomes by bringing users closer to the target range throughout the day and night.

"We know that adolescents in particular lead very active lives and often eat on the go  running from one activity to the next. This system was designed to help individuals living with diabetes have some extra coverage and protection when life gets in the way and they're not able to manage their diabetes in the way they'd like to," said Julie Foster, vice president of Customer Experience for the Diabetes business at Medtronic. "We're confident we've designed a system that keeps lifestyle and experience front and center as we work to help make life easier for people living with diabetes."

The MiniMed 780G system is the most advanced insulin pump system from Medtronic, currently approved for the treatment of type 1 diabetes in people age 7 to 80 years. The system enables the personalization of glucose goals with an adjustable target setting as low as 100 mg/dL (5.5 mmol/L). The MiniMed 780G system is now available in 38 countries across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and is currently being reviewed by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for approval in the U.S.

Time in Range

Clinical consensus regarding Time in Range means that a person living with diabetes should be in the recommended range of 70-180 mg/dL (3.9  10 mmol/L) for at least 70% of time to be well-controlled. This may increase the likelihood that short and long-term complications of this chronic disease can be avoided.

About the Diabetes Business at Medtronic (www.medtronicdiabetes.com)

Medtronic is working together with the global community to change the way people manage diabetes. The company aims to transform diabetes care by expanding access, integrating care and improving outcomes, so people living with diabetes can enjoy greater freedom and better health.

About Medtronic

Bold thinking. Bolder actions. We are Medtronic. Medtronic plc, headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, is the leading global healthcare technology company that boldly attacks the most challenging health problems facing humanity by searching out and finding solutions. Our Mission  to alleviate pain, restore health, and extend life  unites a global team of 90,000+ passionate people across 150 countries. Our technologies and therapies treat 70 health conditions and include cardiac devices, surgical robotics, insulin pumps, surgical tools, patient monitoring systems, and more. Powered by our diverse knowledge, insatiable curiosity, and desire to help all those who need it, we deliver innovative technologies that transform the lives of two people every second, every hour, every day. Expect more from us as we empower insight-driven care, experiences that put people first, and better outcomes for all. In everything we do, we are engineering the extraordinary. For more information on Medtronic (NYSE: MDT), visit www.Medtronic.com and follow @Medtronic on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Any forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties such as those described in Medtronic's periodic reports on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Actual results may differ materially from anticipated results.

______________________ 1 Not approved by FDA and not for sale in the U.S. 2 Carlson, A.L. et al. Safety and glycemic outcomes during the MiniMed Advanced Hybrid Closed-Loop system pivotal trial in adolescents and adults with type 1 diabetes. Diab Tech Ther 2021; in press. 3 Collyns.O. et al Improved Glycemic Outcomes With Medtronic MiniMed Advanced Hybrid Closed-Loop Delivery: Results From a Randomized Crossover Trial Comparing Automated Insulin Delivery With Predictive Low Glucose Suspend in People With Type 1 Diabetes. Diab Care 2021, 44: 969-975

Contacts:

Kendra Cassillo Ryan Weispfenning Public Relations Investor Relations +1-818-576-5611 +1-763-505-4626

SOURCE Medtronic plc

Related Links

http://www.medtronic.com


BEIJING, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (CKGSB) simultaneously held the first graduation ceremony in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, both online and offline, since the COVID-19 pandemic started, with a record-breaking number of graduates in attendance. 1568 MBA, EMBA and Business Scholars Program graduates from 2020 and 2021 attended. Due to the disruptions caused by lockdown measures, the 2020 graduation ceremony was cancelled. Founding Dean and Professor of China Business and Globalization at CKGSB, Xiang Bing and 26 professors attended this momentous event.

Dean Xiang sent his wishes to graduates through video saying, "Congratulations to all graduates! I deeply believe that you, our business elites in China, should and could integrate the knowledge, values and vision you acquired here in your path ahead to create economic and social advancement for the greater good."

As a research-driven business school, CKGSB values students' ability to run in-depth and applicable research. At the ceremony, CKGSB Professor of Operations Management Li Lede (Lode) announced the 2020 & 2021 outstanding dissertation award winners. Professor of Finance Huang Chunyan (Jennifer), Associate Dean and Dean's Distinguished Chair Professor of Finance Li Haitao, Associate Dean and Dean's Distinguished Chair Professor of Finance Ouyang Hui, Associate Dean and Professor of Human Resource Management and Economics Wang Yijiang and Professor of Marketing Zhu Rui (Juliet) granted awards to winners and certificates to Dean's List graduates.

Graduate representatives from the school's Business Scholars Program, Executive MBA program and MBA program expressed their gratitude to the school and shared their stories with their fellow classmates during their speech. Shen Guojun, Founder and Chairman of Yintai Group, Ni Da, General Manager of the CH New Energy, and Zhao Zizhou, Founder of AIATOR all gave speeches and shared their experiences of how CKGSB has helped them develop their careers and companies.

Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (CKGSB) is the first choice for management education among China's established business leaders and entrepreneurs shaping the future. CKGSB is also the preferred institution for academics returning to China from globally-leading business schools. Since its establishment in November 2002 as China's first privately-funded and research-driven business school, it has cultivated transformative business leaders with a global vision, social responsibility, innovative mindset and ability to lead with empathy and compassion.

SOURCE Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (CKGSB)
SAN ANTONIO, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Clearday, Inc. (OTCQB-CLRD) ("the Company") is pleased to announce that it has entered into an agreement for electronic media and webcast services, design, development and dissemination services with Emerging Markets Consulting, LLC (EMC). EMC will be providing investor relation services to the Company, effective October 18, 2021. The EMC agreement has an initial term of 30 days, and the Company has paid EMC a non-refundable cash fee of $150,000 (USD). EMC distributes content to numerous investor relations consultants consisting of stockbrokers, investment bankers, fund managers and institutions that actively seek opportunities in the microcap and small-cap equity markets. Neither EMC nor any of its principals currently own any securities, directly or indirectly, of the Company or have any intentions to acquire any securities of the Company. The compensation to EMC does not include any equity compensation.

James Walesa, Chairman of Clearday, said: "Following our recent merger and listing on the OTCQB, we believe the time is right to further our reach to investors. We expect the engagement of EMC will help us expand our corporate messaging and shareholder outreach." It is Clearday's intention to share with all investor groups our vision of care in the coming years.

James Painter, President of EMC, said, "With the tremulous year we have all faced, hope springs eternal. Working with Clearday is an honor and a privilege. The Company's prospects met our stringent client requirements, and we are happy to have Clearday on our prestigious client roster."

About Emerging Markets Consulting LLC.

Based in Orlando, Florida, Emerging Markets Consulting, LLC (EMC) brings multiple decades of combined experience in the investor relations industry. EMC is an international investor relations firm with affiliates around the world. EMC is relationship-driven and results-oriented with the goal of seeking attractive emerging companies and concentrating its resources and efforts to serve a limited number of high-quality clients. For more information, visit EMC's website at http://www.emergingmarketsconsulting.com/ .

About Clearday, Inc.

Clearday is an innovative non-acute longevity health care services company with a modern, hopeful vision for making high quality care options more accessible, affordable, and empowering for older Americans and those who love and care for them. Clearday has decade-long experience in non-acute longevity care through its subsidiary Memory Care America, which operates highly rated residential memory care communities in four U.S. states. Clearday at Home  its digital service  brings Clearday to the intersection of telehealth, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), and subscription-based content.

Learn more about Clearday at www.myclearday.com .

Learn more about Clearday at Home at www.cleardayathome.com .

Learn more about Clearday Clubs at clubs.myclearday.com .

Learn more about the Clearday Network at https://business.cleardayathome.com

No Offer or Solicitation

This communication is not intended to be and shall not constitute an offer to sell, the solicitation of an offer to sell or an offer to buy or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities, or a solicitation of any vote or approval, nor shall there be any sale of securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such jurisdiction. No offer of securities shall be made except by means of a prospectus meeting the requirements of Section 10 of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements (including within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended) concerning the Company. These statements may discuss goals, intentions and expectations as to future plans, trends, events, results of operations or financial condition, or otherwise, as well as assumptions made by, and information currently available to, management and may include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the Company's opportunities with its innovative products and services, and statements regarding the nature, potential approval and commercial success of Clearday and its product line, the effects of having shares of its capital stock traded on the OTC Market, the Company's financial resources and cash expenditures. 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 "may," "will," "should," "would," "expect," "anticipate," "plan," "likely," "believe," "estimate," "project," "intend," and other 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 and are not guarantees of future performance. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, risks and uncertainties. These factors, risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: the risks regarding the Company and its business, generally; risks related to the Company's ability to correctly estimate and manage its operating expenses, including with respect to future financial and operating results; the ability to develop its innovate non-acute care businesses and the acceptance of its proposed products and services; the ability of the Company to protect its intellectual property rights; competitive responses to the Company's businesses, including its innovative non-acute care business; unexpected costs, charges or expenses; regulatory requirements or developments; changes in capital resource requirements; and legislative, regulatory, political and economic developments. The foregoing review of important factors that could cause actual events to differ from expectations should not be construed as exhaustive and should be read in conjunction with statements that are included herein and elsewhere, including the risk factors included in the Company's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Current Reports on Form 8-K filed with the SEC and the registration statement regarding the Company's previously announced merger, that was filed and declared effective. The Company can give no assurance that the actual results will not be materially different than those based on the forward looking statements. The forward-looking statements included in this press release represent the Company's views as of the date hereof. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing the Company's views as of any date subsequent to the date hereof. Except as required by applicable law, the Company undertakes no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statement, or to make any other forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Investor Contact:

Ginny Connolly

[email protected]

1.210.451.0839

SOURCE Clearday

Related Links

www.myclearday.com


Key findings:

58% of Americans said they would avoid low-vaccine parts of the country, 51% said they would avoid companies without a vaccine mandate, and one in ten said they have cut off unvaccinated friends;

61% of Democrats would cut off friends who are vaccinated, and nearly one in five (18%) already have; by contrast 32% of Republicans say they would and only 6% say they already have;

Americans are now are the least likely to take the vaccine out of countries surveyed while simultaneously being more concerned about the impact of the coronavirus than other countries surveyed;

Of those already vaccinated, 83% of Americans surveyed said they would get a booster shot;

41% of Americans said that a vaccine mandate from their employer would make them more likely to look for another job, while only 33% said it would make them less likely to seek out a different employer;

Consistent with last year, almost six in ten Americans surveyed said they expected another severe wave of coronavirus this winter;

Confidence in the CDC, President Biden, and every level of government has decreased since May, with confidence in the President falling from the highest rated institution to the second lowest.

In regards to the findings, Piotr Pillardy, Deputy Head of Knowledge, Intelligence, Research, and Analysis at Kekst CNC said, "Our research indicates a clear division between those who are willing to get vaccinated and those who are not. Given how politicized the vaccine has become, it is ever more important for businesses to navigate the issue in an informed way. Since our last poll in April, the percentage of respondents willing to take a Covid-19 vaccine has nearly remained flat, only increasing by 3% to 79%. This leaves the US at least 5 percentage points behind the other markets surveyed."

Approximately 41% of respondents in the US said they would be more likely to look for another job if their employer mandated their vaccination. Other Americans, however, find vaccinations essential to a return to office plan, with 55% of respondents indicating they would work from home to avoid unvaccinated colleagues.

Pillardy continued, "While avoiding interactions with unvaccinated people is a priority for some Americans, there is still a general interest in avoiding any national lockdown measures. While 53% of Americans endorse a mandatory mask mandate indoors if hospitals are struggling, less than one in four of respondents support the closing of nightclubs (26%), non-essential shops (20%) and restaurants (24%) under any scenario."

"Despite initial optimism for President Biden, the CDC, and all levels of government in May, the percentage of respondents indicating that the President, CDC, and all levels of government were responding to the coronavirus well declined, with President Biden falling to his lowest position yet (14% net "well"). That said, Americans expressed positive sentiments towards how CEOs of major companies have responded to the pandemic, addressed the welfare of their employees, and racial inequality," Pillardy concluded.

Americans also indicated concern for the future, expecting the cost of living, taxes, national debt and crime to all rise substantially in the next three years. Respondents also reported that they believe the quality of their political leadership will decline and the standing of the United States on the world stage will not increase as much as they hope.

The approval of all major industries' response to the pandemic declined since May, with the largest declines in the food/essential retailers and automotive/car industries. Online retailers remained the highest scored. The social media industry achieved a net positive approval rating for the second time since the tracking survey began.

Comparing the U.S. to the other countries surveyed:

Nearly three-quarters (73%) of Americans believed the impact on businesses and how they function would last longer than a year, coming last behind Japan (90%), the UK (85%), France (80%), and Sweden (77%).

(90%), the UK (85%), (80%), and (77%). Only 31% of US respondents indicated they believed the national economic situation would be weaker in three months, falling in the middle of countries surveyed. Japan (43%) led the negative three-month outlook, followed by the UK (tied with US at 31%), France (28%), Germany (23%), and Sweden (18%).

(43%) led the negative three-month outlook, followed by the UK (tied with US at 31%), (28%), (23%), and (18%). American respondents were the most concerned about the health of people in the country as a whole (57%), an increase from 52% in May. 46% of the respondents in the U.K. were also worried about the health of people in their country as a whole, a decline from 53% in May. Less than half of respondents in Germany (39%), France (35%), Sweden (33%), and Japan (28%) expressed a high level of concern for the health of people in their country as a whole.

(39%), (35%), (33%), and (28%) expressed a high level of concern for the health of people in their country as a whole. U.S. respondents remained the most likely to say they feared for their own health (53%), followed by those in the UK (42%), France (41%), Germany (38%), Sweden (29%) and Japan (28%). The U.S. and the UK were the only countries that saw an increase in concern for personal health from May.

Methodology and Full Results

Nationally representative sample of 1,000 adults in The United States , 1,000 adults in Great Britain , 1,000 adults in France , 1,000 adults in Germany , 1,000 adults in Sweden , and 1,000 adults in Japan

, 1,000 adults in , 1,000 adults in , 1,000 adults in , 1,000 adults in , and 1,000 adults in Fieldwork took place from September 28 th  October 5 th , 2021

 , 2021 Quotas and weights on gender, age, and region in each country

Margins of error of +/- 3.3% for all markets

Full results of the global survey available at: https://www.kekstcnc.com/insights/covid-19-opinion-tracker-edition-9

About Kekst CNC

Kekst CNC is a leading global strategic communication consultancy. The team of over 250 experienced professionals serve clients from 14 offices in New York, London, Munich, Berlin, Frankfurt, Paris, Brussels, Tokyo, Seoul, Hong Kong, Dallas, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Stockholm. As trusted advisors, the firm contributes its expertise on such high-stake matters as: M&A, shareholder activism and governance, crisis communications, restructurings, regulatory investigations, litigation support, investor relations, IPO communications, issues and reputation management, change management and employee engagement, as well as digital and social communications. For more information, please visit: www.kekstcnc.com.

Media Contacts:

For the U.S.

Jeffrey Taufield

212-521-4815

[email protected]

For the U.K., France, Germany, and Sweden

James Johnson

+447826714286

[email protected]

For Japan

Jochen Legewie

+819027547776

[email protected]

SOURCE Kekst CNC

Related Links

https://www.kekstcnc.com


HAMBURG, Germany, October 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- AI.HAMBURG will present the first all-day AI SUMMIT 2021 on artificial intelligence at the Emporio Tower in Hamburg on December 1st, 2021.

With the topic "Accelerating the Cognitive Economy", more than 20 international experts and thought leaders will discuss the latest developments and applications of artificial intelligence.

The conference is targeted at entrepreneurs, researchers, politicians, start-up companies and students. A day ticket for the AI.SUMMIT is available for 114 EUR, the online ticket for 35.50 EUR at https://ai.hamburg/ai-summit-2021/ .

Part of the program will be a Start-up Pitch Award, where northern German start-up companies will present their artificial intelligence-based solutions to an expert jury and win an attractive prize.

Moderated by AI expert Prof. Olaf Groth, and initiated by AI.HAMBURG, the AI.SUMMIT forms the pre-event to Blockchance Europe 2021, which will take place from December 2-4, 2021 at the Hamburg Chamber of Commerce.

Due to the international nature of the event, all AI.SUMMIT presentations will be in English.

Covid-19 info: AI.SUMMIT will be held as a 2G event, attendees who will join the event in person need to be either fully vaccinated or recovered.

Organizer

AI.HAMBURG , founded in 2019 by Petra Vorsteher and Ragnar Kruse, is a founding member of the umbrella initiative AI4Germany, the Transatlantic AI eXchange and well connected in the German AI ecosystem and the US, especially in Silicon Valley. AI.HAMBURG promotes the exchange of knowledge about and the broad application of artificial intelligence and machine learning, especially in business, politics and science.

Moderator

Olaf Groth, CEO & Founder of the think tank Cambian Futures (Berkeley), is a Professor at HULT International Business School, Professional Faculty at Berkeley Haas and author. Professor Groth has 20 years of experience in business, consulting firms and academia.

Partner

BLOCKCHANCE is Germany's leading conference and trade show for AI, blockchain and sustainability. A business-to-business and community networking event for these trending topics. It is local and international. Founder and entrepreneur Fabian Friedrich is managing director, initiator and main shareholder at Blockchance.

Sponsors and Media Partners

Novomind AG, Carl Group, Hamburg Startups, Next Commerce Accelerator, UnternehmerTUM Gateway49, de:hub and BVMW (Bundesverband mittelstandische Wirtschaft e.V.).

For more information on AI.SUMMIT, please visit our website at https://ai.hamburg/ai-summit-2021/.

We have prepared some press material for you here: Press material AI.SUMMIT

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1664267/Ai_fur_Hamburg_Logo.jpg

SOURCE Ai fur Hamburg
FUNetix Offers Free Kindle Devices to Help Baltimore Children Learn to Read Tweet this

FUNetix is dedicated to combating these challenges and bringing extra help and inspiration to Baltimore children who are just learning how to read, or struggling with reading. Each free Kindle device will be pre-loaded with the FUNetix 12 Hour Reading App, giving each family a built-in "Learn to Read" tool that teaches kids how to read fast! There are no required subscriptions, in-app purchases, or other costs for Baltimore families; FUNetix only asks that the families agree to use the FUNetix app with their children, and to stay in touch with a local FUNetix community liaison who will support them for up to 14 weeks (also for free) as the children progress through the app and strengthen their reading skills.

"I grew up in Maryland outside of D.C. cheering for the Orioles," said Mr. R. Kali Woodward, founder of FUNetix and Executive Director of the American Youth Literacy Foundation. "Baltimore has a special place in my heart. Baltimore kids have suffered disproportionately for decades, but they have unlimited potential to become excellent readers, at a young age, and to transfer that skill into secondary and higher education. Our foundation has been bringing out the reading potential in kids all across the country since we started in 2008, and we believe the Baltimore community is the perfect place to launch our new 'Legacy of Literacy' free Kindle Giveaway initiative."

FUNetix has a team of local volunteers and community liaisons in Baltimore who are in the process of building relationships with area schools, identifying families who would like to receive a free Kindle, and working with donors and local businesses to secure funding to scale the program throughout the city.

"I think children are the future of our country and the world, and it is up to the generation before them to teach them great things, including literacy," said Monique Lynelle Gray, with Kappa Epsilon Psi Military Sorority, Baltimore Chapter. "Because I have a diverse background, including the U.S. Army, cosmetology, and authoring a book for teens, I understand that education, and being able to read and communicate, are essential to any field. By giving families a free Kindle with a powerful, pre-installed reading app, we can help close the digital divide, put educational technology into more homes, and boost reading scores and lifelong literacy skills in Baltimore."

The FUNetix team is launching the Kindle Giveaway program in Baltimore, and then plans to take the initiative to dozens of other cities nationwide, including Philadelphia where AYLF is headquartered, Albuquerque and Los Angeles, where Woodward formerly lived and attended UCLA Law.

"By giving away free Kindles to families in need, with our free, fun, FUNetix 12 Hour Reading App pre-installed, we plan to help tens, or even hundreds of thousands of American children recover from the educational impacts of the pandemic, and fight America's decades-old literacy crisis," Woodward said. "We're asking the Baltimore business community and local nonprofits and schools to join us in investing in Baltimore's families, to be partners in literacy, helping to teach Baltimore's children to read, together."

If your Baltimore business, charitable foundation, school, church, volunteer group, or community organization would like to partner with FUNetix, if you can help connect FUNetix with families in Baltimore who would like to receive a free Kindle, or if you would like to donate funds to the Baltimore Kindle giveaway, please visit https://funetix.org/baltimore-kindle-giveaway/ or contact [email protected] .

Baltimore families that would like to receive a free Kindle are invited to sign up at bit.ly/MyKindleBaltimore .

About FUNetix

FUNetix is a free, groundbreaking reading app designed for children ages 5-9 that helps children learn to read FAST, from the ABC's to Grade 2 reading level, in about 12 hours. FUNetix is a gamified mobile app that creates a simulated one-on-one tutoring experience in an immersive learning environment. The FUNetix method of learning to read was forged through 18 years of clinical research and neuroscientific fundamentals of how children learn to read most effectively. FUNetix helps children see the sounds of the words as they read. FUNetix is patented, and offered free of charge, by the American Youth Literacy Foundation, a registered 501(c)(3) charitable nonprofit organization. To learn more visit FUNetix.org

SOURCE FUNetix

Related Links

funetix.org


HONG KONG, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- HGC Global Communications Limited (HGC), a fully-fledged ICT service provider and network operator with extensive global coverage, and AMS-IX (Amsterdam Internet Exchange), the world leading Internet Exchange (IX), today announce that they are expanding their partnership for both AMS-IX Bay Area and AMS-IX Chicago in the US.

Customers connected to the AMS-IX Chicago and Bay Area Internet Exchange have the ability to exchange Internet traffic with a multitude of networks using a single connection. This enables companies such as ISPs, OTTs, and telecom carriers to offer low latency and engaging online experiences to the more than 300 million internet users across the US. Customers at AMS-IX Chicago and Bay Area include companies like Amazon, Google, and Microsoft.

Under the partnership, HGC will serve as the commercial partner and exclusive global sales and marketing arm for AMS-IX US. AMS-IX will be in control over the technical and operational management of the exchange and offers its expertise on peering, network monitoring capabilities, and operations support.

Customers connected at AMS-IX Chicago and Bay Area will benefit from HGC's edge facilities and globally meshed network infrastructure. Both exchanges will be integrated in HGC's global digital infrastructure, which enables peering members in both Chicago and Bay Area to reach more than 130 locations all over the world via HGC's telecom hubs in Los Angeles and New York. With concerted efforts, peering at AMS-IX Chicago and AMS-IX Bay Area, which builds on the neutral and proven success model of AMS-IX in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, will help customers from the U.S., Europe and Asia to enhance their network efficiency and expansion in a flexible and value-for-money manner.

"This extension of our partnership is a new step in our evolving relationship with HGC, who has demonstrated great commitment to delivering neutral and high-performance connectivity solutions throughout the world. We are really pleased with this extension of our partnership and will continue to serve and bring value to our customers at AMS-IX Chicago and AMS-IX Bay Area," said Peter van Burgel, CEO at AMS-IX.

"We are excited about the strengthened collaboration in AMS-IX US which marks an important milestone to serve ever-increasing interconnection growth globally. HGC's premium edge digital infrastructure expansion has seen a boost in deployments to capture new eyeballs, a trend that is not set to slow down," says Ravindran Mahalingam, SVP International Business of HGC.

"HGC and AMS-IX have a long-term collaboration since 2012 by setting up a neutral and independent Internet Exchange in Hong Kong (AMS-IX Hong Kong), which has grown out to become one of the leading hubs for Internet traffic. We are committed to support the growing peering community with reliable and carrier-grade infrastructure across the globe," added Victor Tang, AVP  Technology & Network Strategy, International Business of HGC.

AMS-IX Bay Area: https://www.ams-ix.net/bay/connected-networks

AMS-IX Chicago: https://www.ams-ix.net/chi/connected-networks

About HGC Global Communications Limited

HGC Global Communications Limited (HGC) is a leading Hong Kong and international telecom operator and ICT solution provider. The company owns an extensive network and infrastructure in Hong Kong and overseas and provides various kinds of services. HGC has 23 overseas offices, with business over 5 continents. It provides telecom infrastructure service to other operators and serves as a service provider to corporate and households. The company provides full-fledged telecom, data centre services, ICT solutions and broadband services for local, overseas, corporate and mass markets. HGC owns and operates an extensive fibre-optic network, five cross-border telecom routes integrated into tier-one telecom operators in mainland China and connects with hundreds of world-class international telecom operators. HGC is one of Hong Kong's largest WiFi service providers, running over 29,000 Wi-Fi hotspots in Hong Kong. The company is committed to further investing and enriching its current infrastructure and, in parallel, adding on top the latest technologies and developing its infrastructure services and solutions. HGC is a portfolio company of I Squared Capital, an independent global infrastructure investment manager focusing on energy, utilities and transport in North America, Europe and selected fast-growing economies.

To learn more, please visit HGC's website at: www.hgc.com.hk

About AMS-IX

AMS-IX (Amsterdam Internet Exchange) is a neutral member-based association that operates multiple interconnection platforms around the world. Our leading platform in Amsterdam has been playing a crucial role at the core of the internet for more than 25 years and is one of the largest hubs for internet traffic in the world with over 10 Terabits per second (Tbps) of peak traffic. Connecting to AMS-IX ensures customers such as internet service providers, telecom companies and cloud providers that their global IP traffic is routed in an efficient, fast, secure, stable and cost-effective way. This allows them to offer low latency and engaging online experiences for end-users. AMS-IX interconnects more than 1000 IP-networks in the world.

AMS-IX also manages the world's first mobile peering points: the Global Roaming Exchange (GRX), the Mobile Data Exchange (MDX) and the Internetwork Packet Exchange (I-IPX) interconnection points.

More information: www.ams-ix.net

SOURCE HGC Global Communications Limited (HGC)

Related Links

http://www.hgc.com.hk


In June 2021, Huawei and Informa Tech jointly proposed the Network Carbon Intensity (NCI) initiative, in which carbon emissions per bit of data is defined as a new metric for green networks. Huawei emphasized that people's pursuit of better lives must be balanced with the need for lower carbon emissions, so the company proposed this initiative to better manage and measure carbon reduction roadmaps.

During this summit, Huawei stressed the need to establish a platform for industry collaboration on green development and said that BWS is a good example. This platform will regularly bring together industry partners and operators to share innovative technologies and latest practices in how to cut carbon emissions and contribute to a greener ICT industry. According to Cai, at MWC Barcelona 2022, Huawei will continue to hold a green development forum with its partners to share industry practices and latest solutions, and all industry partners and operators are welcome to attend the forum.

"We believe the BWS in Dubai is a good beginning. Looking ahead, we will continue to work with our industry partners and operators to empower green development of all industries using our innovative technologies," said Cai at the end of his speech. "As we envision in the theme of our flagship exhibition hall in Dubai, 'Lighting up the Future', we believe that together, we will light up a greener future."

Other attendees who spoke at the event included Richard Mahony, Vice President of Service Provider Markets of Informa Tech; Dr. Dena Assaf, UN Resident Coordinator of the United Arab Emirates; Tommy Stadlen, Co-Founder of Giant Ventures; Dr. Ahmed Bin Ali, Corporate Communications SVP of Etisalat; Herve Suquet, Group Energy SVP of Orange; Dirk Karl, Chief Procurement Officer of MTN; Tanveer Mohammad, SVP of Global Operation of Telenor; and Aaron Jiang, Vice President of Huawei Wireless Product Line.

About Huawei

Founded in 1987, Huawei is a leading global provider of information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure and smart devices. We have more than 197,000 employees, and we operate in more than 170 countries and regions, serving more than three billion people around the world.

Our vision and mission is to bring digital to every person, home and organization for a fully connected, intelligent world. To this end, we will drive ubiquitous connectivity and promote equal access to networks; bring cloud and artificial intelligence to all four corners of the earth to provide superior computing power where you need it, when you need it; build digital platforms to help all industries and organizations become more agile, efficient, and dynamic; redefine user experience with AI, making it more personalized for people in all aspects of their life, whether they're at home, in the office, or on the go. For more information, please visit Huawei online at www.huawei.com or follow us on:

http://www.linkedin.com/company/Huawei

http://www.twitter.com/Huawei

http://www.facebook.com/Huawei

http://www.youtube.com/Huawei

SOURCE Huawei
NEW YORK, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The global Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell (iPSC) market size is expected to reach USD 2,893.3 million by 2028 according to a new study conducted by Polaris Market Research. the market is anticipated to register a CAGR of 9.3% from 2021  2028. A surge in demand for vaccine production across the globe coupled with significant investments for the research on the development of regenerative medicine is the major growth driver for the global market. The increasing scope of iPSC-derived cardiac cells in drug screening, cardiotoxicity testing, and lectrophysiology applications are contributing to the exponential market growth. The global market is further complemented by increasing cases of chronic disorders such as stroke, diabetes, cancer, and heart disease.

Request for a sample report: https://www.polarismarketresearch.com/industry-analysis/induced-pluripotent-stem-cell-ipsc-market/request-for-sample

Key Highlights of Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell (iPSC) Market

In terms derived cell , cardiomyocytes segment accounted for the largest share in the global market and is anticipated to grow further with the same trend during the forecast period. Cardiomyocytes bring major advantages to researchers owing to their continuous and reliable supply that can be applied in diverse applications.

, accounted for the largest share in the global market and is anticipated to grow further with the same trend during the forecast period. owing to their that can be applied in diverse applications. Based on application, the drug development & discovery emerged as the major segment and led the major growth for the market. iPSCs find wide application in safety and efficacy assessment during the drug development process .

emerged as the major segment and led the major growth for the market. . China is expected to remain as the rapidly progressing regional market during the forecast period, owing to the presence of advanced research facilities , supportive government initiatives , and increasing preference for regenerative medicine in the Asia Pacific region.

is expected to remain as the during the forecast period, owing to the , , and in the region. Implant Therapeutics, a US startup, has signed a research agreement with the Belgian biotech to gain access to induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC), including differentiation techniques, hypoimmunogenic cell lines, and expertise.

Heavy investment in R&D activities pertaining to the development and optimization of iPSC reprogramming process in order to achieve sufficient production is a key industry trend. In the recent past, companies focused more on hepatic, cardiac, pancreatic cells, among others. However, with the advent of a number of new participants as well as advancements and breakthroughs achieved, it is anticipated that the application portfolio will further increase in the near future.

Have Any Query Or Specific Requirement? Feel Free To Ask Our Industry Experts At: https://www.polarismarketresearch.com/industry-analysis/induced-pluripotent-stem-cell-ipsc-market/speak-to-analyst

Regional Developments

North America dominated the induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) market, on account of major advances in the iPSC technology coupled with increasing access to functional cells that are adopted during the pre-clinical drug screening. Moreover, the regional market growth is further propelled by increasing adaptation of the iPSC platform and rising investments in R&D activities. On the other side, the regional market in the Asia Pacific is expected to register the fastest growth owing to increasing government support and the presence of well-established players in the region.

Competitive Outlook

The leading companies are working to maximize the potential of iPSC therapy in a variety of developing applications, which is helping to drive market expansion. An important industry trend is the development of sophisticated infrastructure and platforms with the goal of industrializing proprietary iPSC-based applications. Players such as Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., FUJIFILM Holdings Corporation (Cellular Dynamics), Takara Bio Inc, Astellas Pharma Inc., Fate Therapeutics, Axol Bioscience Ltd., Cynata Therapeutics Limited, Ncardia, REPROCELL USA, Inc., ViaCyte, Inc., among others are some of the prominent market participants holding a key position in the induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) market.

Target Audience

Supply Side: Biotech Company

Biotech Company Demand Side: Pharmaceutical Companies

Pharmaceutical Companies Regulatory Side: World Health Organization

Buy Now this Premium Report to Grow your Business @ https://www.polarismarketresearch.com/checkouts/9821

Polaris Market Research has segmented the iPSC market report on the basis of derived cell, application, and region:

iPSC, Derived Cell Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2017  2028)

Hepatocytes

Fibroblasts

Amniotic Cells

Cardiomyocytes

Others

iPSC, Application Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2017  2028)

Manufacturing

Academic Research

Drug Development And Discover

Toxicity Screening

Regenerative Medicine

iPSC Regional Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2017  2028)

North America

U.S.



Canada

Europe

France



Germany



UK



Italy

Asia Pacific

China



India



Japan



South Korea

Latin America

Middle East & Africa

Find more research reports on Healthcare by PMR

Research Antibodies Market Share, Size, Trends, Industry Analysis Report, By Product; By Type; By Technologies; By Source; By Application; By End-Use; By Region; Segment Forecast, 2021 - 2028

Single-cell Analysis Market Share, Size, Trends, Industry Analysis Report, By Product (Consumables, Instruments); By Application; By Workflow; By End-Use; By Region; Segment Forecast, 2021-2028

Laparoscopic Power Morcellators Market Share, Size, Trends, Industry Analysis Report, By Application (Hysterectomy, Myomectomy, Others); By Region; Segment Forecast, 2021  2028

About Polaris Market Research

Polaris Market Research is a global market research and consulting company. The company specializes in providing exceptional market intelligence and in-depth business research services for our clientele spread across different enterprises. We at Polaris are obliged to serve our diverse customer base present across the industries of healthcare, technology, semi-conductors and chemicals among various other industries present around the world. We strive to provide our customers with updated information on innovative technologies, high growth markets, emerging business environments and latest business-centric applications, thereby helping them always to make informed decisions and leverage new opportunities. Adept with a highly competent, experienced and extremely qualified team of experts comprising SMEs, analysts and consultants, we at Polaris endeavor to deliver value-added business solutions to our customers.

Contact Us:

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SOURCE Polaris Market Research
"CYBERBOARD is a product for nerds in the know. Many of its early supporters came from tech companies like Google, Tesla and Facebook." said Li Nan, founder of Angry Miao. "However, street fashion and unique sub-cultures are something we're truly interested in. Hypebeast's coverage on our AM HATSU keyboard only further strengthened this interest. Thus, Wes Anderson inspired this generation of CYBERBOARD. We hope that the striking shades of his color palette - pink in particular - would interest new female users. Although we may find out that buyers are still the hardcore geeks afterall."

Inspired by Wes Anderson

The new colors of CYBERBOARD R3 were inspired by the color palette of talented director Wes Anderson. This palette stands out with its soft pastels and low saturation. Supplemented by symmetrical compositions, elegant settings, and a memorable soundtrack, it brings a true sense of exquisite wonder. Those who have watched Wes Anderson movies will find a sense of familiarity with CYBERBOARD R3.

To transplant this high-level and understated color palette onto CYBERBOARD, Angry Miao experimented with hundreds of different color adjustments and decided to use electrophoresis with a higher level of color saturation, creating its unique color shade.

The aluminum frame on the front of CYBERBOARD is formed through CNC processing, sandblasting and anodizing electrophoresis. Afterwards, a unique matte ceramic texture with its stylish and delicate color shade is formed. This form of metal processing also ensures a higher level of scratch resistance.

In addition, Angry Miao has also prepared Basalt Black for our most hardcore fans. This profound and restrained black color is the perfect cure for undecided.

A familiar Gasket Mount

CYBERBOARD R3 adopts the latest generation of Gasket Mount. Carefully optimized according to the feedback from our fans, this generation of CYBERBOARD feels and sounds even better.

The default plate once again adopts hollow processing with leaf spring-like structure, reducing resonance and allowing for a purer typing sound. Besides the default plates matching CYBERBOARD's colors, Brushed Brass, Golden Black FR-4, 1.5mm Translucent PC and Black Aluminum plates are also available for the true OGs.

Show Off Your Creativity

When it comes to custom lighting effects, CYBERBOARD R3 has got you covered with three DIY lighting effect slots and key light linkage functionality. Brand-new RGB hardware and 256-level DC dimming bring a higher refresh rate and stronger color performance. To meet the needs of individual users, a DIY Wes Anderson color scheme is included.

Combining an elegant and advanced color scheme with a hardcore shape is yet another bold effort by Angry Miao. Worried that this combo won't work? Seeing it in real life will instantly take away your doubts. Whether you're a mechanical keyboard lover or Wes Anderson fan, this is a product that's worth your while.

About Angry Miao

Established in 2019, Angry Miao is committed to bringing future technology to consumers through close community interaction, while at the same time providing advanced futuristic product designs. This towards building a Future Art Community.

Products include TWS and revolutionary wireless desktop products, as well as IP-centric products, in order to enhance the emotional brand connection.

Angry Miao founder Li Nan believes that through the Community Driven and D2C sales model, Angry Miao is capable of creating a high-end trendy hi-tech brand widely recognized by global consumers.

SOURCE Angry Miao

Related Links

www.angrymiao.com


SAN JOSE, Calif., Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- There's been a lot of discussion lately about student loan forgiveness. One popular resolution , for example, calls for President Biden to use executive action to cancel up to $50,000 of student debt for all U.S. student loan borrowers.

It's still unclear how the Biden Administration will respond to the pressures to introduce a new student loan cancellation policy. But whether borrowers receive a loan discharge through new legislation or through an existing program, here's what to consider with how the forgiveness could impact tax liability, from myFICO.

For more loan and credit education, visit myFICO's blog at https://www.myfico.com/credit-education/blog

Receiving $50,000 of student loan cancellation might sound wonderful on the surface. But if those forgiven dollars are considered taxable income by the federal government, you could find that you suddenly owe an extra $10,000 or more (depending on your tax bracket) to the IRS on your next tax return.

Whether or not student loan forgiveness is tax-free usually depends on the type of forgiveness that you receive. But recent legislation from Congress has temporarily expanded the availability of tax-free student loan forgiveness. Here's what you need to know.

What Types of Student Loan Forgiveness Are Always Tax-Free?

The IRS says that, as a general rule, if debts are: "Canceled, forgiven, or discharged for less than the amount you must pay, the amount of the canceled debt is taxable and you must report the canceled debt on your tax return for the year the cancellation occurs."

But there have always been exceptions to this rule, especially when it comes to forgiveness for student loans. For example, 26 U.S. Code  108 states that when students attend programs that "encourages its students to serve in occupations with unmet needs or in areas with unmet needs," their student loans can be discharged tax-free.

This means that most occupation-specific student loan forgiveness programs are federally tax-exempt. This would include the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program (PSLF) program , the Teacher Loan Forgiveness Program , and Perkins Loan Cancellation .

Profession-specific student loan cancellation isn't the only type of forgiveness that's automatically excluded from income on federal tax returns. Other notable exceptions include closed school discharges, false certification discharges, and unpaid refund discharges.

When Can Student Loan Forgiveness Be Considered Taxable Income?

The most notable type of federal student loan cancellation that could be taxable is forgiveness that's received at the end of an income-driven repayment (IDR) plan . Currently, there are four IDR plans:

Pay As You Earn (PAYE)

Revised Pay As You Earn (REPAYE)

Income-Based Repayment (IBR)

Income-Contingent Repayment (ICR)

Depending on the IDR plan they join, borrowers will receive forgiveness on any remaining balance after 20 to 25 years. If a borrower's income was relatively low during that 20- to 25-year repayment period, the amount left over to be forgiven could be substantial.

Under current tax rules, such forgiven balances would normally be considered taxable income. In addition to IDR forgiveness, federal student loan discharges due to death and disability have been historically viewed as taxable income by the IRS.

Related: Student Loan Basics: From Taking One Out to Paying it Back

Is All Federal Student Loan Forgiveness Currently Tax-Free?

Yes, the Biden Administration's American Rescue Plan , which passed in March 2021, included an income tax exclusion for all federal student loan discharges through December 31, 2025.

This new exclusion makes IDR forgiveness tax-free as well as any other type of student debt cancellation that a borrower may receive from the federal government. Note that the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (which went into effect January 1, 2018) had already made death and disability discharges tax-exempt through 2025.

It's important to understand that the new laws passed by Congress only directly influence the federal taxability of student loan forgiveness. Depending on where you live, you may still owe state income taxes on the cancelled debt.

While many states that charge state income tax do conform with the federal government's definition of adjusted gross income (AGI), some don't. Check with your state's Department of Revenue or consult with a tax professional to learn more about how student loan forgiveness could impact your state tax bill.

How Can Insolvency Reduce the Taxability of Student Loan Forgiveness?

There's one additional exception that can lessen the tax consequences of your student loan forgiveness  insolvency. The "insolvency rule" has been a part of the IRS tax code for decades and applies to all cancelled debt, not just student loans.

When borrowers have total liabilities that are higher than the total fair market value (FMV) of all their assets, the IRS considers them to be insolvent. And this insolvency can reduce or, in some cases, completely eliminate the tax liability of their debt cancellation.

The IRS provides an insolvency worksheet for borrowers who recently received debt cancellation. To complete the worksheet, you'll need to list all of your debts (credit cards, auto loans , personal loans, student loans, etc.) and FMV of your current assets (bank accounts, retirement accounts , tangible assets, etc.).

Let's say that you have $25,000 in assets and $50,000 in total liabilities, making you insolvent by $25,000. Next, we'll say that you receive $20,000 in student loan cancellation. Since your insolvency before cancellation ($25,000) was higher than the amount cancelled ($20,000), the entire amount would be excluded from your taxable income.

But let's make one change to the example above and assume that $40,000 of your liabilities are student loans and you receive cancellation for the entire amount. In this case, $15,000 of the cancellation must be included in your taxable income since you can't exclude more than the amount that you're insolvent. Here's the calculation:

$40,000 (cancelled debt) - $25,000 (insolvency amount) = $15,000 of taxable income

The Bottom Line

All student loan forgiveness and discharges are exempt from federal income taxes through 2025. But what if you only recently joined an IDR plan and won't be eligible to receive forgiveness for another 10, 15, or 20+ years?

In these cases, there's certainly a chance that any forgiveness you receive at that time could be considered taxable income by the IRS. The good news is that you have a long time to plan. And the earlier that you begin saving for a future "tax bomb," the easier it will be to do so without causing a strain on your budget .

Let's say you plan to receive $50,000 of forgiveness in 16 years and expect that you'll owe approximately $5,000 of taxes on the forgiven amount. If you started saving today, you'd only need to set aside about $26 per month.

Borrowers should also continue to monitor future student loan legislation, especially from now until the end of 2025. It's very possible that Congress could move to make student loan forgiveness permanently tax-free before the temporary provisions expire.

About myFICO

myFICO makes it easy to understand your credit with FICO Scores, credit reports and alerts from all 3 bureaus. myFICO is the consumer division of FICO get your FICO Scores from the people that make the FICO Scores. For more information, visit https://www.myfico.com.

SOURCE myFICO

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MT. PLEASANT, Mich., Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Isabella Bank Corporation (the "Corporation") (OTCQX: ISBA) announced today the final results of its modified "Dutch auction" tender offer (the "Tender Offer") to purchase for cash up to $20,000,000 of shares of its common stock (the "Common Stock") at a price per share not less than $23.00 and not greater than $27.00, which expired at 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on October 13, 2021.

Based on the final count by Broadridge Corporate Issuer Solutions, Inc., the depositary for the tender offer, a total of 396,576.78534 shares of common stock were properly tendered and not withdrawn at a price at or below $27.00 per share. Consequently, the Corporation has accepted for purchase 396,576.78534 shares of its common stock at a price of $27.00 per share.

The aggregate purchase price for the shares purchased in the Tender Offer is approximately $10,707,573.20, excluding fees and expenses relating to the Tender Offer. These shares represent approximately 5.0% percent of the shares outstanding. The depositary will promptly pay for the shares accepted for purchase.

The information in this press release describing the Tender Offer is for informational purposes only and does not constitute an offer to buy or the solicitation of an offer to sell shares of Common Stock in the Tender Offer. The Tender Offer was made only pursuant to the Offer to Purchase and the related materials that the Corporation filed with the SEC, as amended or supplemented. Shareholders who have questions or would like additional information about the Tender Offer may contact Debra A. Campbell, Secretary, Isabella Bank Corporation at 989-779-6237.

About Isabella Bank Corporation

Isabella Bank Corporation (OTCQX: ISBA) is the parent holding company of Isabella Bank, a state chartered bank headquartered in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan. Isabella Bank was established in 1903 and has been committed to serving the local banking needs of its customers and communities for 118 years. The Bank offers personal and commercial lending and deposit products, as well as investment, trust and estate planning services through Isabella Wealth. The Bank has locations throughout seven Mid-Michigan counties: Clare, Gratiot, Isabella, Mecosta, Midland, Montcalm, and Saginaw.

For more information about Isabella Bank Corporation, visit the Invest in Us link at www.isabellabank.com. Isabella Bank Corporation common stock is quoted on the OTCQX tier of the OTC Markets Group, Inc.'s electronic quotation system (www.otcmarkets.com) under the symbol "ISBA." The Corporation's market maker is Boenning & Scattergood, Inc. (www.boenninginc.com) and its investor relations firm is Renmark Financial Communications, Inc. (www.renmarkfinancial.com).

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release includes forward-looking statements. To the extent that the foregoing information refers to matters that may occur in the future, please be aware that such forward-looking statements may differ materially from actual results. Additional information concerning some of the factors that could cause materially different results is included in the sections entitled "Risk Factors" and "Forward Looking Statements" set forth in Isabella Bank Corporation's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which are available from the Securities and Exchange Commission's Public Reference facilities and from its website at www.sec.gov.

SOURCE Isabella Bank Corporation
ALBANY, N.Y., Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The popularity of polyactic acid as an economical material produced from renewable resources to offer substantial growth for the lactic acid & polylactic acid market during the forecast period of 2021-2031. In addition, the use of lactic acid as a synthetic intermediate in biochemical industries and organic synthesis is expected to prove as a growth-boosting factor.

The increasing use of lactic acid as a vital ingredient in canned vegetables, fermented foods, yogurt, butter, and others will assure promising market growth. Furthermore, the rising use of polylactic acid in the production of microwaveable containers such as disposable food containers and cutlery is expected to drive the global market. With polylactic acid, packaging containers attain certain qualities such as better printability, esthetic appeal, resistance to oil & grease, and others. These aspects drive the lactic acid & polylactic acid market.

Transparency Market Research (TMR) has conducted an extensive research on various aspects associated with the growth of the lactic acid & polylactic acid market. The analysts at TMR expect the global market for lactic acid and polylactic acid to expand at a CAGR of 13.7% and 15.8%, respectively, during the forecast period of 2021-2031. The lactic acid & polylactic acid market is extrapolated to reach US$ 16.21 Bn by 2031.

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The production of lactic acid from biodiesel waste from proprietary processes has garnered extensive traction over the years. The growing popularity of such processes is anticipated to increase the growth prospects of the lactic acid & polylactic acid market. Furthermore, the utilization of lactic acid in cosmetic products, bioplastics, and pharmaceuticals is expected to drive the growth trajectory of the lactic acid & polylactic acid market. However, the possible side effects of lactic acid on the skin are leading to a decrease in the adoption of products. Manufacturers in the lactic acid & polylactic acid market should boost awareness among consumers regarding taking doctor's advice before application of skincare products with lactic acid.

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Key Findings of Report

Robust Demand for Bioplastics in Packaging Industry to Enhance Growth Structure of Lactic Acid & Polylactic Acid Market

Biodegradable polymers are making a mark across various sectors and industries. The rising awareness among consumers about the importance of polymers produced by using polyactic acid is inviting substantial growth. Polylactic acid is a thermoplastic polymer developed from renewable resources. Thus, this aspect proves to be beneficial for the growth of the lactic acid & polylactic acid market.

Packaging Segment to Propel Growth Opportunities

The use of polyactic acid for general packaging applications such as yogurt cups and trays is likely to drive the global market. The increasing demand for takeaway food due to the pandemic-induced lockdowns will generate demand for takeway food packaging, thereby increasing the growth rate of the lactic acid & polylactic acid market. Based on these factors, the packaging end-use segment observed a dominating run in 2020. A similar trend is expected to continue further due to rising inclination toward sustainable packaging across numerous industries. Furthermore, the properties of polylactic acid plastic bottles such as easy disposability, durability, and transparency present an array of growth opportunities for the lactic acid & polylactic acid market.

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Some of the key players in the lactic acid & polylactic acid market are Jungbunzlauer Suisse AG, GODAVARI BIO-REFINERIES, VIGON INTERNATIONAL, Musashino Chemical Laboratory, HENAN XINGHAN BIOTECHNOLOGY, and NatureWorks LLC.

Global Lactic Acid & Polylactic Acid Market  Segmentation

By Source

Corn

Sugarcane

Cassava

Others (including Sugar Beet)

By Form

Powder

Liquid

By End-use

Lactic Acid

Polymer



Food & Beverages



Personal Care



Pharmaceutical



Others (including Polylactic Acid)

Polylactic Acid

Packaging



Textile



Automobile



Electrical & Electronics



Agriculture



Construction



Others (including Biomedical)

By Region

North America

Europe

Asia Pacific

Latin America

Middle East & Africa

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About Transparency Market Research

Transparency Market Research is a global market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. Our experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyse information.



Our data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts, so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in developing distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.

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Transparency Market Research

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United States

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Email: [email protected]

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Press Release Source: https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/pressrelease/lactic-acid-and-polylactic-acid-market.html

SOURCE Transparency Market Research
"In Louisiana, if there's one thing we know how to do, it is how to parade," said Louisiana Lt. Governor Billy Nungesser. "Participating in a parade as historic as the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is a real honor for the people of Louisiana. In celebrating our state's incredible lineup of music, food, and culture, we hope people from all over the country, and the world, will take part in visiting our lively state where every day is a celebration of life, and we treat you like family."

"The Macy's Parade is thrilled to welcome this awe-inspiring and colorful float to our lineup," said Jordan Dabby, producer of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. "Sharing Louisiana's rich history of celebration, the Parade's newest float will bring the revelry to spectators lining the streets of New York City and enjoying the pageantry from homes nationwide."

Inspired by all facets of Louisiana's culture and thriving tourist appeal, the "Celebration Gator" features a colorful street view of Louisiana: a blend of the New Orleans French Quarter architecture with heavy influences of Spanish colonial rule and Creole fashion. In addition to celebrating the state's unique fusion of European, Caribbean, African, and Native American cultures, the float will include participants dressed in lavish baby gator costumes, as well as a team of stilt walkers, all done in an elaborate celebration of Louisiana traditions for millions of spectators in New York City and TV viewers across the nation.

The 95th Annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade airs live nationwide on NBC on Thursday, November 25, 2021, from 9 a.m.  12 p.m. in all time zones.

About the Louisiana Office of Tourism

The Louisiana Office of Tourism's vision is to promote Louisiana as a travel destination, increasing revenue generated by the tourism industry and contributing to the economic impact of tourism across the state. Partnering with tourism professionals and industry stakeholders in private and public sectors, it strives to extend and enhance their efforts to reach domestic and international consumers and travel trade. For more information on all that awaits you in Louisiana, please visit LouisianaTravel.com or follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

SOURCE Louisiana Office of Tourism

Related Links

https://www.louisianatravel.com


PISCATAWAY, N.J. and BANGALORE, India, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Marlabs Inc ., a leading digital solutions company, today announced it has joined the Infor Partner Network (IPN) and will offer Infor's cloud-based software solutions (CloudSuites) to its distribution and manufacturing industry customers. Marlabs will provide Infor's CloudSuite Distribution solutions, as well as solutions powered by the Infor LN and Infor M3 ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) platforms. The company also will offer Infor Coleman AI, warehousing and eCommerce solution deployments.

Marlabs expects to play a pivotal role in licensing and servicing Infor's modern business application software to help customers drive their digital transformation journeys and cloud-first adoption throughout North America, Europe, and Asia. Infor is one of the world's largest providers of enterprise applications and services, with more than 65,000 customers.

"We are extremely excited to be part of the Infor Partner Network, which will enable us access to Infor's innovative tools, collaborate with its industry and technology experts, and serve our customers with industry-specific functionality and solutions," said Vikas Kumar, Chief Commercial Officer, Marlabs. "We are confident that Infor's out-of-the box, last-mile, industry-specific functionality and disruptive digital technologies will not only offer more flexibility at a lower cost of ownership, but will also help improve profitability, reduce inventory turns, provide visibility across the supply chain and help ensure sustainable business outcomes."

Shannon Forsythe, Vice President, Ecosystems, Infor, said, "Infor is pleased to welcome Marlabs to our growing partner program. Infor provides partners with extensive access to resources at every stage of the sales cycle and implementation  from planning and enablement, through demand generation, sales, delivery, and support. The partnership structure has been designed to help our partners track their progress through the respective tiers within the program based upon their Infor product specialization, level of certification and sales performance, and we believe Marlabs will be able to quickly provide value to their customers across North America, Europe and Asia."

About Marlabs Inc.

Marlabs helps leading companies around the world drive digital transformation and cloud-first adoption while making operations sleeker. The company helps customers transform data into decisions, de-risk cyberspace, boost legacy systems, and capture novel opportunities and digital-led revenues. It provides digital-first strategies and advisory services, rapid solution incubation and prototyping, and agile digital solution engineering. It also offers data-as-a-service, testing and development-operations automation for Infor M3, Infor LN and Infor CloudSuite Distribution. In addition, the company offers prize-winning platforms in AI and analytics, digital labs for future innovation, data center migration, application modernization, cybersecurity and IoT.

Marlabs is headquartered in New Jersey, with offices in the U.S., Germany, Brazil and India. Its 2,500+ global workforce includes highly experienced technology, platform, and industry specialists from the world's leading technical universities.

About Infor

Infor is a global leader in business cloud software specialized by industry. Providing mission-critical enterprise applications to 65,000 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

Media contact:

[email protected]

SOURCE Marlabs
The market is fragmented, and the degree of fragmentation will accelerate during the forecast period. Airsprung Group Plc, Breckle GmbH Matratzenfabrik, Casper Sleep Inc., Hilding Anders International AB, King Koil Licensing Co. Inc., Recticel Group, Royal Auping BV, Serta Simmons Bedding LLC, Silentnight Group Ltd., and Tempur Sealy International Inc. are some of the major market participants. The growth of the healthcare and hospitality sectors will offer immense growth opportunities. However, the high manufacturing cost will challenge the growth of the market participants.

Mattresses Market in Europe 2020-2024: Segmentation

Type

Innerspring



Memory Foam



Others

Geographic Landscape

Germany



France



The UK



Rest of Europe

Mattresses Market in Europe 2020-2024: Scope

Technavio presents a detailed picture of the market by the way of study, synthesis, and summation of data from multiple sources. Our mattresses market in Europe report covers the following areas:

Mattresses Market in Europe 2020-2024: Vendor Analysis

We provide a detailed analysis of around 25 vendors operating in the Mattresses Market in Europe. To make the most of the opportunities, market vendors should focus more on the growth prospects in the fast-growing segments, while maintaining their positions in the slow-growing segments.

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Mattresses Market in Europe 2020-2024: Key Highlights

CAGR of the market during the forecast period 2020-2024

Detailed information on factors that will assist mattresses market in Europe growth during the next five years

growth during the next five years Estimation of the mattresses market in Europe size and its contribution to the parent market

size and its contribution to the parent market Predictions on upcoming trends and changes in consumer behavior

The growth of the mattresses market in Europe

Analysis of the market's competitive landscape and detailed information on vendors

Comprehensive details of factors that will challenge the growth of the mattresses market in European vendors

Related Reports:

Smart Mattress Market -The smart mattress market size has the potential to grow by USD 819.27 million during 2020-2024, and the market's growth momentum will accelerate during the forecast period. Download a free sample report now!

Pressure Relief Mattress Market -The pressure relief mattress market size has the potential to grow by USD 264.67 million during 2021-2025, and the market's growth momentum will accelerate at a CAGR of 3.18%. Download a free sample report now!



Mattresses Market In Europe Scope Report Coverage Details Page number 120 Base year 2019 Forecast period 2020-2024 Growth momentum & CAGR Accelerate at a CAGR of 3% Market growth 2020-2024 USD 741.92 million Market structure Fragmented YoY growth (%) 2.45 Regional analysis Germany, France, the UK, and the Rest of Europe Performing market contribution Rest of Europe at 55% Key consumer countries Albania Competitive landscape Leading companies, competitive strategies, consumer engagement scope Companies profiled Airsprung Group Plc, Breckle GmbH Matratzenfabrik, Casper Sleep Inc., Hilding Anders International AB, King Koil Licensing Co. Inc., Recticel Group, Royal Auping BV, Serta Simmons Bedding LLC, Silentnight Group Ltd., and Tempur Sealy International Inc. Market Dynamics Parent market analysis, Market growth inducers and obstacles, Fast-growing and slow-growing segment analysis, COVID-19 impact and future consumer dynamics, market condition analysis for the forecast period Customization purview If our report has not included the data that you are looking for, you can reach out to our analysts and get segments customized.

About Us

Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focus on emerging market trends and provides actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions. With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios.

Contact

Technavio Research

Jesse Maida

Media & Marketing Executive

US: +1 844 364 1100

UK: +44 203 893 3200

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.technavio.com/

SOURCE Technavio

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NEW YORK, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Modern Aviation, a New York based company, today announced it has a definitive agreement with Sheltair Aviation, the nation's largest privately-owned aviation network, to acquire the operations and facilities underlying Sheltair's five New York FBOs following the review and approval of appropriate government agencies.

Sheltair's President Lisa Holland, stated, "During the past year, we received an unsolicited overture from Modern Aviation that compelled us to review our role in New York at a time when we are significantly enlarging our national footprint in other parts of the country. Modern Aviation became an obvious and appropriate buyer given their corporate presence in New York, their track record of excellence at major airports elsewhere in the country, and their roster of respected professionals with extensive experience in the New York aviation community."

As noted, the agreement is subject to review and approval of various government agencies.

The Sheltair properties under contract include those at LaGuardia, JFK, Westhampton, Republic/Farmingdale, and Long Island MacArthur Airports.

Ms. Holland stated, "Among our key considerations in determining how best to proceed was the fact that Modern Aviation reflects our corporate family's values in how we strengthen, nurture, and support our employees' careers as well as embracing strict performance standards at the airports we serve."

Modern Aviation has distinguished itself in the marketplace by delivering world class customer service, extraordinary quality, and a commitment to safety. Modern enjoys an excellent reputation as a strong partner to the airport authorities at each of its locations and is the top ranked FBO in each of its major markets for customer service by the prestigious Aviation International News ("AIN") Annual Survey.

Modern Aviation's CEO, Mark Carmen, said, "We founded Modern Aviation to develop a national network of FBOs. The opportunity to acquire Sheltair's five New York locations within our own New York footprint, and build upon their well-deserved reputation for client service is a significant milestone in executing our strategy. Sheltair has a world class staff of professionals at these airports where customers expect excellence with every arrival and departure. Modern intends to hire all of Sheltair's current employees in the New York market as these are the people who developed that excellent reputation."

Carmen added, "We are very excited to be in a position to take over Sheltair's operations in New York, where we founded Modern and are based. We know the New York market is a highly attractive, growing general aviation market, and we plan to invest in additional infrastructure as we have continued to do in our other markets. This is an important step in the evolution and growth of Modern and we intend to continue to focus on providing world class customer service, outstanding quality and safety everywhere we operate."

Sheltair and Modern expect the transaction to close in the fourth quarter of 2021.

About Sheltair

Sheltair is a family-owned company that enjoys a national reputation for its superior customer focus and service-driven corporate culture. Founded in 1963 by Jerry Holland, father of current Sheltair President Lisa Holland, it is the nation's largest privately-owned aviation network, proudly operating 19 award-winning FBOs and a portfolio of over 4.5 million square feet of aviation-related properties across the country. https://sheltairaviation.com/

About Modern Aviation

Modern Aviation is a growing company that is building a national network of premium FBO properties. Modern Aviation's strategy is to acquire and develop FBO operations in growth markets and to focus on providing exceptional service, extraordinary quality and industry-leading safety. Modern Aviation has secured the backing of the growth-oriented infrastructure private equity fund, Tiger Infrastructure Partners. Modern Aviation is actively engaged in pursuing additional FBO acquisitions and development opportunities in North America and the Caribbean. For more information visit: https://modern-aviation.com.

SOURCE Modern Aviation
PASADENA, Calif., Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, the Pacific Research Institute published an issue brief revealing overwhelming public disapproval for Medicare reforms that Congress is considering as part of its $3.5 trillion spending bill.

Click here to read the full issue brief, "Drug Pricing Proposals Threaten America's Most Vulnerable Patients."

Pacific Research Institute

"It's a relief that Americans oppose Congress's drug pricing proposals once voters learn the true consequences of these misguided reforms," said Sally C. Pipes , the brief's co-author and PRI president, CEO, and Thomas W. Smith Fellow in Health Care Policy.

To cut Medicare costs, lawmakers want U.S. officials to negotiate prices with drug makers. In reality, these "negotiations" merely amount to the imposition of a system of price controls. Proposals include tying drug prices to those paid by the Veterans Health Administration or by healthcare systems in Canada and Europe. In both cases, bureaucrats assign a value to a person's life based on their age and health and then undertake a cost-benefit analysis to determine whether to cover a medication and how much to pay for it -- and who is and isn't eligible for certain drugs.

"America's most vulnerable patients could lose out on hundreds of new life-saving medicines," Pipes said.

Although leaders have assured their members these policies are popular with voters, new survey and focus group data from OnMessage Inc. find that when Americans learn how the government would determine prices, support declines dramatically.

According to a survey of likely general election voters:

When asked whether Medicare should base its drug prices on decisions made by government officials in Canada and Europe , nearly 60% opposed the idea.

and , nearly 60% opposed the idea. Nearly 78% of voters oppose government setting drug prices based on calculations that determine the value of a patient's life (so-called QALY-based systems).

When informed that under such plans as the House and Senate are considering, "people who are older or who have disabilities are less likely to get the newest medicines," more than 72% of voters said they were less likely to support the reform.

When asked if they would be more or less likely to support a candidate for Congress who voted in favor of one of these drug pricing reforms, nearly 66% said "less likely," with over half saying "much less likely."

Focus groups of female swing voters expressed strong disapproval for these policies. One described policies that rely on QALY as "Government playing God."

Another said, "it's an unnecessary evil, having anyone make those decisions outside of the doctor."

"These results should fundamentally transform the way Washington approaches drug pricing reform," Pipes said. "Our politicians need to prioritize patients' best interests."

For a full summary of the poll's results, click here . For a full summary of the focus group findings, click here . To view a summary of the poll and the focus group's findings, click here .

About the Pacific Research Institute

The Pacific Research Institute (www.pacificresearch.org) champions freedom, opportunity, and personal responsibility by advancing free-market policy ideas. Follow PRI on Facebook , Twitter , and LinkedIn .

CONTACT:

Joe Timm

202-471-4228 ext. 130

[email protected]

SOURCE Pacific Research Institute

Related Links

http://www.pacificresearch.org


On July 16, 2020, the FCC adopted an Order (FCC 20-100) approving 988 as the three-digit abbreviated dialing code to reach the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline starting July 16, 2022. The Order requires all telecommunications carriers, interconnected Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) providers, and one-way VoIP providers (covered providers) to make any network changes necessary to ensure that users can dial 988 to reach the existing National Suicide Prevention Lifeline by July 16, 2022.

To ensure everyone is able to reach the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline using the three-digit 988 code in the 82 area codes in 36 states below, every customer with a number in those area codes with seven-digit local dialing must be transitioned to 10-digit (area code + telephone number) local dialing (or 1+10-digit local dialing in CA and parts of IL).

State Area Code(s) State Area Code(s) Alaska 907 Minnesota 218,952 Alabama 251 Mississippi 662 Arkansas 501 Missouri 314,417,660,816 Arizona 480,520,928 Montana 406 California 209*,530*,562*,626*,650*,707*,925* 949*,951* Nevada 775 New Hampshire 603 Colorado 719,970 New Jersey 856,908 Delaware 302 New Mexico 505,575 Florida 321(Brevard County only), 352,561, 941 New York 516,607,716,845,914 Georgia 478,912 North Carolina 910 Guam 671 Ohio 440,513 Hawaii 808 South Dakota 605 Illinois 309,618,708* Tennessee 731,865 Indiana 219,574 Texas 254,361,409,806,830,915,940 Iowa 319,515 Vermont 802 Kansas 620,785 Virginia 276,804 Kentucky 859 Washington 509 Louisiana 337,504 Wisconsin 262,414,608,920 Michigan 616,810,906,989





* 1 + 10-digit dialing is required

Beginning October 24, 2021, all consumers with numbers in the area codes above must dial 10 digits (area code + telephone number) or 1+10-digits (1+ area code + telephone number in CA and parts of IL) for all local calls. On and after this date, local calls dialed with only seven digits may not be completed, and a recording may inform you that your call cannot be completed as dialed. If you get this recording, you must hang up and dial again using the area code with the seven-digit telephone number.

What other changes need to be made?

Important safety and security equipment, such as medical alert devices, and alarm and security systems must be reprogrammed to use 10-digit (or 1+10-digit) dialing by October 24, 2021. Many systems operate on 10-digit (or 1+10-digit) dialing by default, but some older equipment may still use seven-digit dialing. Please contact your medical alert or security provider if you are not sure whether your equipment needs to be reprogrammed to accommodate the upcoming change to 10-digit (or 1+10-digit) local dialing in order to avoid interruption of services. Some other examples of services that may need to be re-programmed are:

life safety systems or medical monitoring devices

PBXs

fax machines

Internet dial-up numbers

fire or burglar alarm and security systems or gates

speed dialers

mobile or other wireless phone contact lists

call forwarding settings

voicemail services and other similar functions

Be sure to check your website, personal and business stationery, advertising materials, personal and business checks, contact information, your personal or pet ID tags, and other such items to ensure the area code is included.

What will remain the same?

Your telephone number, including current area code, will not change

The price of a call, coverage area, or other rates and services will not change due to the dialing change

What is a local call now will remain a local call regardless of the number of digits dialed

You will continue to dial 1+ the area code + telephone number for all long-distance calls

You will continue to dial a prefix (such as "9") when dialing from a multi-line telephone system (e.g., in a hotel, office building, etc.) as required

You can still dial just three digits to reach 711 (relay services) and 911 (emergency services)

If 211, 311, 411, 511, 611, or 811 are currently available in your community, continue to dial these codes with just three digits

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline can still be reached by dialing 1-800-273-TALK (8255) even after the 988 code is in effect

Beginning July 16, 2022, dialing "988" will route your call to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. Customers must continue to dial 1-800-273-8255 (TALK) to reach the Lifeline until July 16, 2022 .

For questions about the dialing procedure change, email the North American Numbering Plan Administrator (NANPA) at [email protected]. For additional information, visit the NANPA website and the FCC website.

About Somos, Inc.

As the world becomes more interconnected, Somos enables brands, consumers, and communities to communicate in an environment of greater trust and convenience. Somos is a global source of number administration, routing data, identity verification, and identity management services for the telecommunications ecosystem. As the trusted administrator of the North American Numbering Plan (NANPA), Toll-Free Numbering (TFNA), and the Reassigned Number Database (RNDA), we support over 1,400 service providers in North America and manage over 3 billion numbers to enable seamless communications between enterprises and consumers.



Through our portfolio of products and services, and a collaborative approach in everything we do, Somos helps ensure trust in an increasingly digital world while delivering value, innovation, and results to consumers. To learn more about Somos, please visit www.somos.com.

SOURCE Somos, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.somos.com


"New York City is my home, my constant source of inspiration; it has molded me and given me so much," said Kenzo Digital. "With Air , I want to create a space that shares the intoxicating sense of aspiration and inspiration that New York gives me with everyone who visits ita beacon of possibility that pays tribute to all that New York is, can be, will be."

Air is a walkthrough art experience that begins after entering SUMMIT One Vanderbilt adjacent to Grand Central Terminal and extends through a mirrored, light-infused elevator ride up a thousand feet to the 91st floor. Once atop the building, Air offers visitors a multi-floor, multi-space immersion that challenges their notions of physical reality, the city that surrounds them, and their sense of self.

Air is a story of both literal and figurative reflection. Through the use of glass mirrors on every structural surface, Air appears boundless, without fixed form, and offers a tantalizing and singular experience for each visitor at each moment. With everything mirrored, each step rearranges what visitors see with incredible complexity and scale, as if in defiance of physics. Air defamiliarizes the world, and the process of finding a new equilibrium opens up a sense of elemental curiosity.

Air is an immersion in nature in the heart of Manhattan, likened to a Central Park in the sky. With its unique vantage point, Air brings the outside environment into the space and then magnifies it infinitely. Whether sunrise or sunset, blue sky or cloudy, rain or snow, inside Air, every weather pattern conjures a revelatory world that provides endless opportunity for exploration.

In addition to its remarkable materiality, Air is a living, breathing entity, expressed through its multisensory use of sound, lighting, production design, and game engine. It's a story that evolves with each successive space, bringing visitors deeper and deeper into the experience until finally, they become part of it. Though Air is deeply personal, the experience reveals shared consciousness, inviting visitors of any age to revel in collective wonder.

After the sun sets, the magic of Air takes new form as the space is transformed through a one-of-a-kind light and sound story, turning it into a beacon of energy, visible to all of New York City.

"Air is another dimension, where you discover that time rearranges itself as fluidly as the view," said Kenzo Digital. "Through its boundless juxtapositions of form, Air compels you to live in the present moment: calm, aware, free."

Kenzo was commissioned to design the installation by SUMMIT One Vanderbilt. Air represents a bold, innovative leap forward in physical-space storytelling and the remarkable potential at the intersection of art and real estate on a grand scale. Air serves as the crown jewel of SUMMIT One Vanderbiltits unique illusions are visible from the street all around the city.

Air opens to the public on October 21. Air can be viewed and experienced exclusively at Summit One Vanderbilt. Tickets are on sale now at: https://summitov.com/tickets/

About Kenzo Digital

Kenzo is an artist who creates emotionally powerful, mind-bending alternate worlds in physical and virtual spaces. He juxtaposes elements of art, film, theater, and architecture to produce groundbreaking work that upends your sensory experience in service of story. His goal is not just to entertain or excite, but to engage in ways that create memories of lasting meaning.

Media Contact:

Marissa Paiano, [email protected]

SOURCE Kenzo Digital
MONTREAL, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Optable, a SaaS data connectivity platform and clean room solution designed for the advertising ecosystem, has launched a suite of solutions to help publishers make anonymous traffic more effective and authenticated traffic more privacy-safe. The suite includes Optable's SDK, which allows publishers to enable cookieless targeting, as well as tools to segment traffic in real time into targetable cohorts.

The advertising ecosystem is undergoing a radical transformation in how audience data can be used as third-party cookies go away, mobile IDs are overhauled, and new privacy legislation emerges. This creates a pressing need for new solutions that enable audience targeting for advertisers, publishers, and the entire adtech ecosystem with safety and security in mind.

"Diminishing identifiers reduces the amount of traffic that a publisher can make addressable, and unaddressable traffic has a much lower yield," said Vlad Stesin, Co-founder and CPO, Optable. "Optable increases the amount of addressable traffic through programmatic channels, thereby providing drastically improved revenue opportunities for publishers."

Publishers are faced with the challenge of defragmenting across devices, traffic that is authenticated vs. unauthenticated, and the various targeting strategies based on first, second or third party data. The addition of cookieless targeting to Optable's platform gives publishers simple tools to defragment their traffic so they can focus on solving their partners' business objectives. Benefits of Optable's data connectivity platform include:

Improving the addressability of the audiences and enabling people-based targeting by using identity data in a privacy-preserving way.

Increasing the profitability of ad inventory by better addressing unidentified, cookieless inventory.

Gathering powerful audience insights based on imported audience data.

Assembling audiences using safely imported events, traits and characteristics.

"The need for publishers to offer privacy-conscious solutions has never been stronger,'' continued Stesin. "Optable enables a whole suite of solutions for anonymous and authenticated traffic so publishers can maximize their yields and provide better customer experiences for advertisers that respect the privacy of their users."

Empowering publishers and advertisers to take ownership of their first-party data requires infrastructure tools for anonymous and authenticated traffic. Optable provides a platform to collect data, build audiences that signal the adserver direction, resolve identity regardless of the browser or device, and securely match to partners' first-party data for collaboration. Often only a portion of publishers' traffic is authenticated, so adding cookieless targeting tools to the Optable data connectivity platform is a natural addition to the suite of solutions.

About Optable

Optable is a SaaS data connectivity platform designed for the advertising ecosystem in the age of privacy. Inspired by the radical transformation in how data is governed, connected, and used, Optable was built by veterans of the ad tech industry to address the need for a new generation of privacy-preserving data connectivity software. Leveraging cryptographic technology, Optable is the only clean room solution that offers a decentralized, "headless" approach to enabling advertisers, publishers, data companies, and other partners to safely and securely compare and leverage audience data. https://www.optable.co/

Media contacts

Kate Tumino / Michael Vaughan

212-896-1252 / 813-210-1706

[email protected] / [email protected]

SOURCE Optable

Related Links

https://www.optable.co/


BROOKLYN, N.Y., Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Press Hook, a Brooklyn based, tech-enabled, public relations platform, has announced $1.5 million in venture-funding after a successful year of growth. Funding was led by Emergent Ventures, The Fund and TnT Ventures.

Founded in October 2020 by Michelle Songy, Press Hook was created in response to an industry she considered inefficient and cost prohibitive for most startups and small businesses. Filling the gaping hole for businesses that were previously unable to afford public relations, Press Hook connects brands with the media in an efficient and cost effective way. Press Hook's clients range from consumer packaged goods to up and coming tech brands.

"With the media publishing a greater amount of content, and more frequently, getting a pitch noticed can feel daunting," says Songy. "Press Hook adds to a reporters preferred communication method by creating a platform that connects journalists directly with their sources, cutting out the back and forth between publicists and editors, in a way traditional PR has shied away from."

Highlights of the platform include a searchable database of digital press kits, the ability for journalists to connect with press contacts to request interviews or product samples, and places products into guides for journalists. With publications seeing a 30% or more increase in articles published in the last decade, according to a report by The Atlantic, Press Hook is helping to simplify the PR process on both ends - for brands and editors.

Press Hook's vision is to build the next-generation digital newsroom, designed to automate and streamline workflow between businesses, publicists and journalists.

"Press Hook's unique market network is bringing transparency and efficiency to a space which has historically been very opaque - how brands get covered by media,'' said Ankur Jain, founder of Emergent Ventures. "We are very excited to partner with Press Hook as it will level the playing field and change this industry forever."

To learn more about Press Hook or get started on the platform, whether a brand of the media, please visit www.presshook.com.

About Press Hook and CEO Michelle Songy

In 2020, second time entrepreneur Michelle Songy and her team brought their years of public relations and tech experience together to create Press Hook, the first marketplace that intelligently pairs brands and media. Prior to Press Hook, Michelle founded a mobile payment app, Cake Technologies, a company she sold to American Express within 3 years, and experienced first hand how difficult it was for a small business to access and afford quality PR, so she launched her own PR firm catered to startups.

By leveraging technology, Press Hook unlocks a new marketing channel for the 70 percent of small businesses who need press but don't have the resources.

SOURCE Press Hook

Related Links

http://www.thepresshook.com/


JINAN, China, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The 120th anniversary ceremony of Shandong University, or SDU, was held at the university's stadium in Jinan, China on Oct 15, bringing together 3,000 people, including government officials, well-known academicians and presidents of universities.

More than 30 academicians participated in the ceremony, many of whom are the alumnus of SDU. Before the celebration, more than 180 colleges and universities worldwide have sent congratulatory letters and videos to SDU, highly appraising its history and achievements.

Li Ganjie, Party chief of Shandong, said that Shandong government will fully support the university. He hoped that university would nurture more high-end talents, and make new contributions in the construction of a modern and powerful province.

Wang Xuedian, chief editor of the Journal of Chinese Humanities, said that they would foster a discourse and academic system with Chinese characteristics, and fully promote Chinese culture and Chinese experience.

Xue Qikun, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, delivered a speech as the representative of the alumni. He expressed his pride in the development and achievements of SDU, and added that it was the inspiration of the school motto "Noble in Spirit; Endless in Knowledge" and the solid foundation laid during his four-year study that had benefited him throughout his life and inspired his enthusiasm for exploration.

Fan Liming, president of SDU, introduced the achievements of SDU such as the successful "double first-class" construction and the contribution to the high-quality development of Shandong's economy.

She added that the cultural core of SDU covered the full love for the country, the commitment to taking responsibilities, the pursuit of lofty characters and the ability to innovative exploration.

Samuel C.C.Ting, the Nobel Laureate in Physics, praised the university for its contribution to the AMS experiment on the International Space Station program, whose experimental thermal system was fully designed and manufactured by SDU.

The Ministry of Education and Shandong Province signed a joint construction agreement on continued construction of SDU. The conference was broadcast live on various media.

A music and dance party was held on the evening. Most of the programs were originally createdwith students in SDU as the major actors. A special video showing alumni's blessings to the alma mater was also screened at the party.

The commemorative stamps marking the celebration of SDU's 120th anniversary were issued by China Post Group Corporation on the same day.

SOURCE Shandong University
CHICAGO, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Sikich announced today the acquisition of PA Group USA, an enterprise software and cloud services firm that implements and optimizes enterprise resource planning, customer relationship management and manufacturing execution systems.

"As we continue to support manufacturers in their digital transformation journeys, PA Group USA will help us strengthen our capabilities in this key industry," said Jim Drumm, head of Sikich's technology team. "The addition of PA Group USA is another important step in our ongoing growth efforts, which, in the end, enhance our ability to address clients' evolving business needs."

A Microsoft Dynamics Gold Certified Partner and Cloud Solutions Provider, PA Group USA offers ERP, CRM and MES consulting, alongside business intelligence, marketing automation and cloud and IT infrastructure services.

"We're excited to join forces with a major industry player like Sikich," said Bradley Hanon, CEO of PA Group USA, who will join Sikich as a partner. "Our team and our clients will benefit from access to Sikich's deep bench of experts and wide range of digital transformation capabilities."

Sikich's national technology consultancy helps companies across industries  including life sciences, finance, manufacturing, distribution, and professional services  improve productivity and performance with innovative digital strategies and technology solutions. Sikich is a leader in digital transformation , which includes cloud and emerging technologies, and has one of the deepest, most diverse solution portfolios in the middle market. Sikich's solutions include business applications and workplace productivity, security and compliance, artificial intelligence, machine learning, blockchain and robotic process automation.

Approximately 20 employees from PA Group USA will join Sikich and continue to work from their office in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The transaction is scheduled to close on Oct. 31.

About Sikich

Sikich LLP is a global company specializing in technology-enabled professional services. With more than 1,000 employees, Sikich draws on a diverse portfolio of technology solutions to deliver transformative digital strategies and ranks as one of the largest CPA firms in the United States. From corporations and not-for-profits to state and local governments, Sikich clients utilize a broad spectrum of services* and products to help them improve performance and achieve long-term, strategic goals.

*Securities offered through Sikich Corporate Finance LLC, member FINRA/SIPC. Investment advisory services offered through Sikich Financial, an SEC Registered Investment Advisor.

SOURCE Sikich

Related Links

http://sikich.com


CHICAGO, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- According to a new market research report "Software Asset Management Market with COVID-19 Impact, by Component, Deployment Model (On-premises, Cloud), Organization Size (Large Enterprises, SMEs), Vertical, & Region (North America, Europe, APAC, MEA, and Latin America) - Global Forecast to 2026", published by MarketsandMarkets, the global Software Asset Management Market size is expected to grow at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 18.1% during the forecast period, to reach USD 4.8 billion by 2026 from USD 2.0 billion in 2021.

Key factors that are expected to drive the growth of the market are the rising need to manage audits and meet regulatory compliance standards, growing need to manage and optimize the purchase, deployment, maintenance, utilization, and disposal of software applications within the business, and lower software spend cost. These factors are driving the demand for software asset management.

Browse in-depth TOC on "Software Asset Management Market"

464  Tables

69  Figures

359  Pages

Ask for Report Brochure: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownloadNew.asp?id=235932482

Services segment to hold a larger market size during the forecast period

Based on services, the Software Asset Management Market is segmented into two categories: professional and managed services. These services assist in building, assessing, and leveraging software asset management environments to avoid time wastage and effort on a failed implementation. These services help optimize software licensing costs, IT assets, and ensure compliance standards by managing audits. Enterprises need active support from skilled professionals to minimize their software asset downtime during the pre-and post-installation of software asset management solutions. These services provide the necessary support to uphold the efficiency of business processes, increase enterprise growth, and reduce unwanted IT expenses.

SMEs segment to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period

SMEs are defined as organizations with an employee strength ranging from 1 to 1,000. These enterprises face greater challenges of a limited budget as compared to large enterprises and require better methods to resolve complexities for improving the cost optimization of their business processes. However, the SMEs segment is expected to grow at a higher CAGR during the forecast period. Due to the limited budget, SMEs mostly prefer cloud-based solutions over on-premises solutions, and this adoption trend is expected to accelerate in the years to come, enabling the cloud deployment model to have a considerable market size during the forecast period. SMEs use software asset management solutions for license management, software discovery, optimization, and metering. These factors are also expected to encourage more SMEs to adopt software asset management solutions and services at a rapid pace. This segment has a huge potential and will continue to flourish in the Software Asset Management Market in the coming years.

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Healthcare and life sciences industry vertical to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period

Healthcare and life sciences is one of the fastest-growing verticals with respect to the adoption of advanced technologies and services in terms of the Software Asset Management Market. It is in fact, a highly regulated one. Software asset management solutions can help healthcare organizations, hospitals, and clinics in tracking, monitoring, and managing their software assets to improve the efficiency. Healthcare institutions using software asset management solutions for operational activities and management of medical devices have to adhere to regulations as per the laws of governing bodies. In the recent years, the focus on the healthcare and life sciences industry vertical is increasing across the regions. The risk associated with selecting and managing the appropriate software is of utmost importance to this industry vertical. The strict laws governing the healthcare and life sciences industry vertical encourage the healthcare companies to adopt effective software asset management solutions and associated services.

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North America to account for the highest market share during the forecast period

The Software Asset Management Market is segmented into five regions: North America, Europe, APAC, MEA, and Latin America. The software asset management report provides insights into these regional markets in terms of market size, growth rates, future trends, market drivers, and COVID-19 impact. North America is expected to hold the highest market share in the overall Software Asset Management Market during the forecast period. Following North America, Europe is expected to hold the second-highest market share during the forecast period. High need to optimize software licensing cost and manage audits to meet compliance standards is expected to drive the North American and European markets. APAC and MEA are also expected to witness high growth rates during the forecast period.

The Software Asset Management Market comprises major providers, such as Snow Software (Sweden), Flexera (US), USU Software AG (Germany), Ivanti (US), BMC Software (US), ServiceNow (US), Certero (UK), Matrix42 (Germany), Broadcom (US), Eracent (US), Scalable Software (US), Belarc (US), IBM (US), Micro Focus (UK), Microsoft (US), ManageEngine (US), Xensam (Sweden), InvGate (Argentina), Symphony SummitAI (US), 1E (UK), Open iT (US), Lansweeper (Belgium), and License Dashboard (UK). The study includes an in-depth competitive analysis of key players in the Software Asset Management Market with their company profiles, recent developments, COVID-19 developments, and key market strategies.

Browse Adjacent Markets: Software and Services Market Research Reports & Consulting

Related Reports:

Contract Management Software Market by Component (Software and Services), Business Function (Legal, Sales, Procurement, and Finance), Deployment Type (On-premises and Cloud), Organization Size, Vertical, and Region - Global Forecast to 2024

License Management Market by Component (Software and Services), Application Area (Audit Services, Advisory Services, Compliance Management), Deployment Type, Organization Size, Industry Vertical, and Region - Global Forecast to 2022

About MarketsandMarkets

MarketsandMarkets provides quantified B2B research on 30,000 high growth niche opportunities/threats which will impact 70% to 80% of worldwide companies' revenues. Currently servicing 7500 customers worldwide including 80% of global Fortune 1000 companies as clients. Almost 75,000 top officers across eight industries worldwide approach MarketsandMarkets for their painpoints around revenues decisions.

Our 850 fulltime analyst and SMEs at MarketsandMarkets are tracking global high growth markets following the "Growth Engagement Model  GEM". The GEM aims at proactive collaboration with the clients to identify new opportunities, identify most important customers, write "Attack, avoid and defend" strategies, identify sources of incremental revenues for both the company and its competitors. MarketsandMarkets now coming up with 1,500 MicroQuadrants (Positioning top players across leaders, emerging companies, innovators, strategic players) annually in high growth emerging segments. MarketsandMarkets is determined to benefit more than 10,000 companies this year for their revenue planning and help them take their innovations/disruptions early to the market by providing them research ahead of the curve.

MarketsandMarkets's flagship competitive intelligence and market research platform, "Knowledge Store" connects over 200,000 markets and entire value chains for deeper understanding of the unmet insights along with market sizing and forecasts of niche markets.

Contact:

Mr. Aashish Mehra

MarketsandMarkets INC.

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USA: +1-888-600-6441

Email: [email protected]

Research Insight: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/ResearchInsight/software-asset-management-market.asp

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Content Source: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/PressReleases/software-asset-management.asp

SOURCE MarketsandMarkets
QINGDAO, China, Oct. 18, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- SOS Limited (NYSE: SOS) (the "Company" or "SOS") announced the lease of its North American headquarters at 866 2nd Ave, New York. SOS Information Technology New York Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of SOS Ltd., has leased a full floor of office space at 866 2nd Ave, New York, NY.

SOS has been actively expanding its global footprint during the past year or so. Leasing of the Manhattan space signifies a new chapter of SOS' growth. The facility is expected to accommodate SOS's business development, management, blockchain R&D activities in North America.

Mr. Yandai Wang, CEO of SOS, commented, "We are committed to further expand our blockchain technology business in countries outside of mainland China. As we move forward into our next stage of growth, this office in Manhattan will serve as headquarters for our North America Operations for our blockchain R&D business.

About SOS Limited

SOS is an emerging blockchain-based and big data-driven marketing solution provider, with a nationwide membership base of approximately 20 million in China. SOS is also engaged in blockchain and supercomputing operations, and may expand into.cryptocurrency security and insurance in the future Since April 2021, we launched commodity trading via our subsidiary SOS International Trading Co. Ltd, The core infrastructure of SOS' marketing data, technology and solutions to insurance and emergency rescue services is built on big data, blockchain-based technology, cloud computing, AI, satellite, and 5G network, etc. SOS has created a cloud "software as a service (SaaS)" platform for emergency rescue services, with three major product categories: basic cloud, cooperative cloud, and information cloud. This system provides innovative marketing solutions to clients such as insurance companies, financial institutions, medical institutions, healthcare providers, auto manufacturers, security providers, senior living assistance providers, and other service providers in the emergency rescue services industry. For more information, please visit: http://www.sosyun.com/

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements in this press release may constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the federal securities laws, including, but not limited to, our expectations for future financial performance, business strategies or expectations for our business. These statements constitute projections, forecasts and forward-looking statements, and are not guarantees of performance. SOS cautions that forward-looking statements are subject to numerous assumptions, risks and uncertainties, which change over time. Words such as "may," "can," "should," "will," "estimate," "plan," "project," "forecast," "intend," "expect," "anticipate," "believe," "seek," "target," "look" or similar expressions may identify forward-looking statements. Specifically, forward-looking statements may include statements relating to the Company's:

ability to execute its business plan;

changes in the market for SOS' products and services; and

expansion plans and opportunities.

These forward-looking statements are based on information available as of the date of this press release and our management's current expectations, forecasts and assumptions, and involve a number of judgments, risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results or performance to be materially different from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements.

These risks and uncertainties include, but not are limited to, the risk factors described by SOS in its filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"). These risk factors and those identified elsewhere in this press release, among others, could cause actual results to differ materially from historical performance and include, but are not limited to:

Local government's policies and regulatory oversight of crypto currency mining operation and our other operations;

SOS's blockchian and supercomputing, commodity trading and marketing solutions businesses are still under development, with many uncertainties in the future direction and integration of these various business segments;

Failure to manage the newly launched commodities trading business effectively;

Loss of key customers in the commodity trading business;

failure to access a large quantity of power at reasonable costs could significantly increase SOS operating expenses and adversely affect our demand for SOS's mining activities;

any significant or prolonged failure in the data warehouse facilities and data mining facilities that SOS operates or services it provides, including events beyond its control, would lead to significant costs and disruptions and would reduce the attractiveness of its facilities, harm its business reputation and have a material adverse effect on its results of operation;

security breaches or alleged security breaches of our data warehouses could disrupt SOS operations and have a material adverse effect on its business, financial condition and results of operation; and

other risks and uncertainties indicated in SOS's SEC reports or documents filed or to be filed with the SEC by SOS.

Accordingly, forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing our views as of any subsequent date, and you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements in deciding whether to invest in our securities. We do not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date they were made, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required under applicable securities laws.

SOURCE SOS Limited
NEW YORK, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Squarespace, Inc. (NYSE: SQSP), the all-in-one website building and ecommerce platform that enables millions to build a brand and transact with their customers in an impactful and beautiful online presence, today announced it will report its financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2021, after market close on Monday, November 8, 2021.

Squarespace will host a conference call and webcast to discuss third-quarter results at 4:30PM ET / 1:30PM PT on the same day. To register or participate in the conference call or webcast, please visit the Events & Presentations section of Squarespace's Investor Relations website at investors.squarespace.com.

An archived replay of the webcast will be available following the conclusion of the call.

Upcoming Investor Day

We are pleased to announce that Squarespace intends to host our first ever virtual Investor Day, as a public company, on November 18, 2021. Members of Squarespace's senior leadership team will host a series of presentations and participate in a Q&A session. More details will follow.

About Squarespace

Squarespace is the all-in-one platform with everything to sell anything, providing customers in approximately 200 countries and territories with all the tools they need to sell physical products, digital content, classes, appointments, reservations and more. Powered by best-in-class design for a consistent brand experience across all touchpoints, our suite of fully integrated products enables anyone to manage their projects and businesses through websites, domains, ecommerce, marketing tools, and scheduling, along with tools for managing a social media presence with Unfold and hospitality business management via Tock. Squarespace's team of more than 1,400 is headquartered in downtown New York City, with offices in Dublin, Ireland, Portland, Oregon, Los Angeles, California and Chicago, Illinois. For more information, visit www.squarespace.com.

Contacts

Investors

Christopher Chiou

[email protected]

Media

Amanda Cowie

[email protected]

SOURCE Squarespace, Inc.

Related Links

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LOS ANGELES, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- SuperWorld, the virtual world in Augmented Reality (AR), has partnered with design platform 3Deluxe to bring AR experiences to the attendees of the Monaco Yacht Show in Port Hercules, Monaco.

A highlight of the Monaco Show will feature the launch of an emissions-free "super yacht" by 3Deluxe, which will be for sale as an NFT (non-fungible token) in the SuperWorld NFT Salon. At the same time as the Monaco Boat Show, the 3D super yacht will be free to admire in the SuperWorld app.

Monaco Yacht Show Visualization by 3Deluxe

The effects of climate change are felt in every industry, and in every part of the world, which is why many organizations have been forced to rethink their future as it relates to the sustainability of the planet. Within the boating sector, there are a number of factors that can be improved upon to mitigate climate impact, including zero emission ships.

Shipyards are experimenting with fuel cell technology to decrease emissions, but there remains room for improvement. The architecture and design studio, 3Deluxe, has for many years stood at the vanguard of design for expedition and cruise ships, and will now present a design study for a zero-emission "super yacht."

"Working with 3Deluxe is ideal for SuperWorld," said SuperWorld Co-Founder and CEO Hrish Lotlikar. "Our vision is to help build a better world, and a move toward greater sustainability for yachts--or any form of transportation--aligns perfectly with our business model. This partnership gives us and our users the perfect opportunity to showcase AR and NFTs that affect profound change."

With this initiative, half the proceeds from the sale of the super yacht NFT will go to Sea Change, a marine conservation organization who are also the producers of the Oscar-winning film, My Octopus Teacher.

"Ideally," says the 3Deluxe team, "the ship will be made available by the future owner for educational purposes while it is at rest. Our aim is to use the project as a communicative platform for discussion of the complex challenges of our time and as an unconventional location for summits, conferences and think tanks."

About 3Deluxe:

3Deluxe is a small, multi-faceted German studio that works within the constantly changing realms of architecture, design, and popular culture.

About SuperWorld:

SuperWorld is a virtual world mapped over the real world, which uses AR to let anyone explore, create, and monetize over 64.8 billion unique plots of NFT land anywhere on Earth.

SOURCE SuperWorld

Related Links

Superworldapp.com


"The launch of Douglas Ranch is momentous news for Phoenix and the state of Arizona. We are creating a city of the futureleveraging The Howard Hughes Corporation's development expertise to build a community with limitless potential to spur growth, business expansion, economic opportunity and innovation," said Jerry Colangelo, sports executive, businessman, and long-time Phoenix resident whose development company, JDM Partners, is one of the largest owners of entitled land in Arizona.

"To ensure the success of Douglas Ranch, we specifically sought out The Howard Hughes Corporation for its unique capability to build exceptional communities, implement proven best-in-class practices across new platforms at significant scale, and rapidly deliver on build-to-suit opportunities to help businesses relocate," Colangelo continued. "As we prepare to start selling homes, we are excited that Douglas Ranch has been elevated to the ranks of the Howard Hughes communities that are among the most sought-after places to live, work and thrive in the nation."

Douglas Ranch will become an industry-leading community focused on sustainable development and technological advancement which will help serve and drive the substantial growth that is taking place in the Phoenix regionwhich has ranked as the country's top metropolitan area for net migration for the past three years, owing to its strong economy, low unemployment rate, business-friendly environment, and educated workforce. Phoenix has added almost a million residents in the last decade and is expected to grow by approximately 100,000 residents annually over the next 10 years. The city's West Valley showed outsized growth in new home construction in the region at over 8% per year and captured 57% of all housing demand in Phoenix. The area is positioned for exponential growth as long-term migration of residents and businesses is projected to continue.

With this acquisition, The Howard Hughes Corporation now operates the country's largest portfolio of large-scale master planned communities, with over 100,000 acres, including Summerlin in Las Vegas, and The Woodlands and Bridgeland in the Greater Houston area, which all consistently rank among the country's best places to live. The company also operates acclaimed mixed-use developments including Downtown Columbia, MD, the Seaport in New York City, and Ward Village in Honolulu.

"We are excited to partner with JDM and El Dorado to launch what will be the leading master planned community in the Western United States," said David R. O'Reilly, Chief Executive Officer of The Howard Hughes Corporation. "Douglas Ranch will be a model for forward-thinking development and offer an extraordinary lifestyle built on a robust economic foundationincorporating best practices from across our national portfolio to advance environmental priorities and technological innovations."

The $600 million acquisition of the 37,000-acre Douglas Ranch is a unique opportunity to add a fully entitled, "shovel-ready" MPC to HHC's acclaimed portfolio of award-winning communitieswithout hindering the company's already extensive development pipeline. With the expectation of 1,000+ lot sales in 2022, Douglas Ranch is able to replicate the self-funding business model synonymous with HHC's other large-scale master planned communities. Further demonstrating its strong market position, HHC is equipped with ample excess liquidity available to be allocated to continue meet underlying demand across its portfolio.

"The characteristics of this community are vastly similar to HHC's other MPCs across the country, with a prime location, strong demographics in a thriving job market, high barriers to entry, and limited competition," added O'Reilly. "Phoenix ranks as one of the country's most affordable metropolitan areas, and as it continues its dynamic growth as an extremely well-situated regional hub, Phoenix's West Valley is the ideal location for people and businesses looking to thrive for generations to come."

Douglas Ranch is projected to become home to over 300,000 residents and to emerge as a vital commercial business center as residents move into the community and growing appetites for commercial amenities create development opportunities for new diversified product types within the Howard Hughes portfolioincluding single family for rent and industrial assets. It is strategically positioned in the pathway of Phoenix's significant growth in the West Valley and has direct access to I-10 through the Sun Valley Parkway. Additionally, Douglas Ranch is located off the future home of the I-11 interstate which has received Congressional approval and is projected to create $30 to $60 billion of economic impact in the region. I-11 will connect Phoenix, Las Vegas, and Southern California, and eventually establish a new trade route between Canada and Mexico by way of Idaho, Arizona and Nevada.

"Douglas Ranch will be a catalyst for growth, an economic boon for Arizona, and an ideal strategic fit within our HHC portfolio," said Jay Cross, President of The Howard Hughes Corporation. "As we shape our cities of tomorrow and deliver the new urban experiences that people and businesses are seeking today, we are designing communities with urban amenities and intelligent infrastructure integrated into expansive open settings, with convenient access to major metropolitan cities. This transaction presents an opportunity to implement impactful ESG initiatives to support the community and promote renewable practices. The Howard Hughes Corporation is defined by our steadfast commitment to the master planned communities we develop and operate, and we are thrilled to include Phoenix as a place we call home."

Centerview Partners LLP served as exclusive financial advisor to The Howard Hughes Corporation.

Investor Presentation Call Information

The company will hold an investor conference call and presentation today, Tuesday, October 19 at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time.

To access the live presentation, use this weblink.

To participate in the live Q&A, dial 1-877-883-0383 within the U.S., or 1-412-902-6506 when dialing internationally.

All participants should dial in at least five minutes prior to the scheduled start time using 49965822 as the passcode.

The presentation will be available on the Investors section of the company's website following the conference call.

About The Howard Hughes Corporation

The Howard Hughes Corporation owns, manages and develops commercial, residential and mixed-use real estate throughout the U.S. Its award-winning assets include the country's preeminent portfolio of master planned communities, as well as operating properties and development opportunities including: the Seaport in New York City; Downtown Columbia, Maryland; The Woodlands, The Woodlands Hills, and Bridgeland in the Greater Houston, Texas area; Summerlin, Las Vegas; Ward Village in Honolulu, and Douglas Ranch in Phoenix. The Howard Hughes Corporation's portfolio is strategically positioned to meet and accelerate development based on market demand, resulting in one of the strongest real estate platforms in the country. Dedicated to innovative placemaking, the company is recognized for its ongoing commitment to design excellence and to the cultural life of its communities. The Howard Hughes Corporation is traded on the New York Stock Exchange as HHC. For additional information visit www.howardhughes.com.

Safe Harbor Statement

Statements made in this press release that are not historical facts, including statements accompanied by words such as "will," "believe," "expect," "enables," "realize," "plan," "intend," "assume," "transform" and other words of similar expression, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based on management's expectations, estimates, assumptions, and projections as of the date of this release and are not guarantees of future performance. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in these statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially are set forth as risk factors in The Howard Hughes Corporation's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its Quarterly and Annual Reports. The Howard Hughes Corporation cautions you not to place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements contained in this release. The Howard Hughes Corporation does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect future events, information or circumstances that arise after the date of this release.

The Howard Hughes Corporation

Cristina Carlson, 646-822-6910

Senior Vice President, Head of Corporate Communications

[email protected]

For HHC Investor Relations

John Saxon, 281-929-7808

Investor Relations Associate

[email protected]

Correne S. Loeffler, 281-929-7787

Chief Financial Officer

[email protected]

SOURCE The Howard Hughes Corporation

Related Links

http://www.howardhughes.com


TEL AVIV, Israel, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- On November 16-20, Bahrain will host the Gulf Region's most prestigious international diamonds and jewelry exhibition 'Jewellery Arabia'. For the first time, in the spirit of the Abraham Accords, the Israeli diamond industry will be represented at the exhibition.

In honor of the occasion, Mr. Avi Tavisal, founder of the Israel Diamond Center (IDC) and one of the founders of the world-leading Israel Diamond Exchange, has designed and created the AlSakhra Collection, which will be on display in the company's booth.

A stunning collection of Islamic fine jewelry and collectors' art, AlSakhra was created in the spirit of Islamic faith and culture. The choice of the name "AlSakhra" for this special collection is a reference to the Sakharat Al-Maraj "the Rock of Ascension" from which Muhammad, peace be unto him, ascended to the heavens for his Night Journey, and the beautiful gilded Dome of the Rock above it. In reverence to the Islamic faith, the Collection is crafted with authentic Jerusalem Stone, Gold and Diamonds.

Avi Tavisal immediately agreed to the Israel Diamond Exchange's request to be among the first diamond and fine jewelry dealers to represent Israel at this important exhibition. In cooperation with a team of expert craftsmen, jewelers and advisors, he captures the beauty of Islam, Islamic history and culture in a complete line of AlSakhra jewelry and a collection of one-of-a-kind sculptures crafted from Jerusalem Stone, Gold, Diamonds and Gemstones. These Masterpieces are valued at hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Mr. Shady Kheir, IDC's VP Business Development, explained, "The Abraham Accords motivated us to combine our vast experience in the diamond industry, artistic vision and great appreciation to the leaders who realized the historic peaceful relations in the region into this unique brand which has already stirred curiosity in the Gulf region.



"Israel is well known as the "Start-up Nation" and as the number one diamond exporter in the world. We are extremely delighted and honored to take part in this important event," said Kheir.

Jewellery Arabia is regularly attended by senior officials and respected dignitaries from the Emirates and all over the world. The Royal Family of Bahrain, which plays an active role in hosting the event, will be present throughout the exhibition and will take part in various related events.

Avi Tavisal, a seventh-generation Jerusalemite and member of his family's second generation engaged in the jewelry profession, said, "Today, we are making history. This is a very exciting and important development. Dealing with diamonds connects me to a very special place  diamonds saved my father's life during World War II and gave me a rare opportunity to become one of the founders of the Israeli Diamond Exchange and industry. It is a privilege to use my skills, creativity and faith to honor Islam and our partners in the historic Abraham Accords."

Link to the website  https://www.al-sakra.com

Contact 

Yair Marton

[email protected]

+972-54-7620667

SOURCE The Israel Diamond Center (IDC)
TriLite's ultra-compact projection displays are ideal for consumer augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR) applications, enabling AR/MR glasses to finally overcome the bulkiness and weight that has so far prevented their mass market adoption. Worldwide shipments of head-mounted displays (HMDs) are forecast to grow at an annual rate of 60% CAGR between 2020 and 2027. TriLite's unique laser beam scanner (LBS) technology is an essential enabler of this growth.

Alexander Moser-Parapatits, Managing Director at B&C Innovation Investments, said, "We are excited to be part of TriLite as they leverage years of leading development to realize the smallest display to enable leading OEMs in the AR/MR market. We are looking forward to a long-term partnership with TriLite and we are convinced that this ground-breaking technology will provide substantial additional value to new products and applications."

Deep-Tech pioneer, Hermann Hauser, Founder of Hermann Hauser Investment GmbH, expanded, "TriLite's tiny displays are set to be a game-changer for AR/MR glasses since they'll be as lightweight as today's eyewear, and this is sure to finally drive mass adoption of AR/MR in the consumer market."

Peter Weigand, CEO at TriLite, said, "This new round of funding will enable us to invest in innovation and increase our competitive advantage, whilst further strengthening our patent portfolio and building our manufacturing services platform."

Building upon pioneering research over the last ten years, TriLite's Trixel 3 is the world's smallest and lightest projection display, with a total volume of just 0.92cm3. Trixel 3 incorporates a micro-optical RGB laser light source and a micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) mirror, enabling it to generate bright, high-quality images while setting benchmarks for lowest power consumption.

In addition to its market-leading hardware, TriLite has invested heavily in innovative software, which makes it simple for developers to adopt its solutions. The software includes proprietary calibration algorithms that enable the size and complexity of the optical system to be minimized.

TriLite offers a manufacturing platform that accelerates time-to-market of its customers and provides a robust, high-volume supply chain. Through this platform, TriLite combines its own manufacturability expertise with industry-leading partners to secure a successful production ramp for end-customers.

About TriLite

TriLite designs and builds the world's smallest projection displays and ensures that everyone can enjoy augmented vision as lightweight as the eyewear of today. TriLite's display solutions are based on proprietary, multi-parameter algorithms and deploy advanced machine learning algorithms to generate laser beam scanning devices with unprecedented size, weight and image quality. An outstanding team of multidisciplinary researchers and manufacturing experts stands behind TriLite's multiple-patented technology. TriLite enables its customers to accelerate the availability of leading-edge display solutions for mass market Augmented Reality applications.

See www.trilite-tech.com

About APEX Ventures

APEX Ventures is a Europe based Venture Capital Firm investing into deep-tech start-ups with a focus on unique and defendable intellectual property and above-average market potential. APEX funds have completed numerous investments in Europe and in the U.S., among others in the fields of A.I. for medical applications, quantum and laser technologies, automation and robotics, computer vision, space technologies, as well as digital forensics. APEX Ventures closely supports the founding teams in their go-to-market approaches to help accelerate international growth. To identify talented teams and support their ideas at an early stage, APEX Ventures closely works with academic institutions, entrepreneurship programs and other international VC partners.

See: www.apex.ventures

About B&C Innovation Investments

Founded in 2016, B&C Innovation Investments (BCII, www.innovation-investments.at) is a subsidiary of B&C Private Foundation (www.bcprivatstiftung.at). BCII focuses on investments in growth industrial tech companies ("scaleups") and currently holds minority interests in the companies TTTech, Frequentis, Flightkeys, contextflow, TriLite, Citrine, Kinexon, Klarx, Kreatize, as well as in an Austrian start-up fund. By means of B2B-focused investments, BCII concentrates on new technologies that are relevant to the industrial sector and pursues a long-term investment strategy. Through the activities of BCII, as well as majority shareholdings in AMAG Austria Metall AG, Lenzing AG and Semperit AG Holding and fostering scientific research and education initiatives, the B&C Group contributes to promoting Austria as an attractive business location.

About QCVENTURES

QCVENTURES is the Vienna-based venture capital arm of boutique investment platform QADVISERS, backing exceptional companies that have potential for growth, disruption and ambition to scale internationally. QCVENTURES has a proven track record and expertise in the fields of longevity and life sciences, disruptive technologies and a growing interest in investments that effectively combine profit with purpose. Founded by Fritz Schweiger, QADVISERS and its subsidiaries are active in real estate, venture capital, private equity and asset management.

About Hermann Hauser Investment GmbH

The Hermann Hauser Investment GmbH bundles the business angel activities of Hermann Hauser in Central Europe. He is co-founder of Amadeus Capital Partners and invests since more than 30 years in scaling deep technology companies. Hermann's successes at Amadeus include CSR, Entropic Research Laboratory, Solexa and Icera. He is also Vice-Chair of the EIC Pilot Advisory Board. In 2012 he was elected to be a member of the Royal Society and in 2015 he was awarded a KBE.

About TEC Ventures

TEC Ventures is a family-owned and independent Venture Capital Firm based in Germany and belongs to an international Group of Companies. TEC Ventures invests in markets and industries characterized by high growth and product innovation with a focus in the fields of Deeptech, Health and LifeScience. We support our portfolio companies with our strong network of corporates and VC investors.

See: www.tec-ventures.com

SOURCE TriLite Technologies GmbH
CANADIAN, Texas, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Abraham Trading Company ("ATC"), an alternative investment manager with a 33-year investment track record, announced the launch of its first mutual fund today. The firm converted its private hedge fund, the Abraham Fortress Fund LP, into an SEC-registered mutual fund as of Thursday, October 14.

"Every investor deserves institutional-quality investments," remarks Salem Abraham, ATC president. "As a company with over three decades in the investment space, the mutual fund conversion allows us to share our 33 years of experience with both retail and institutional investors alike."

The firm began in January 1990 as a commodity futures investment company, building a managed futures investment fund and a client base of institutional and high net worth investors. By 2018, Mr. Abraham saw a need in the retail investment marketplace for institutional-quality, lower volatility funds, prompting the firm to launch a multi-asset strategy called the Abraham Fortress Fund LP. The new fund combined traditional equity and fixed income assets with diversifying investments in third-party investment funds. The conversion of the Fortress Fund LP into a mutual fund opens the previously private investment strategy to all investors.

"Investors in the Fortress Fund can expect an experienced team, smart risk management, and what we believe are fair, competitive fees. We want to bring the same care and professional management to an individual investor's retirement portfolio as we would to a large college endowment. We believe investors should be carefully evaluating their equity exposure, especially now," Abraham added.

Salem Abraham, the 55-year-old founder and president of the firm, began trading in the futures markets in 1987 as an undergraduate at the University of Notre Dame. After he graduated and returned to his hometown in Texas, he started the firm and its managed futures investment strategy.

ATC has operated out of Canadian, Texas since its founding in 1990, and it has a marketing and client services office in Aspen, Colorado. Follow the fund's ticker symbols  FORTX and FORKX  for Fortress Fund performance. Visit www.abrahamtrading.com for more information about Abraham Trading and the Fortress Fund. A copy of the prospectus can be found here .

Media Contact: Armel Leslie; [email protected]

Investors should consider the investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses carefully before investing. For a prospectus or summary prospectus with this and other information about the Fund, please call 806-323-8000 or visit the Abraham Trading (ATC) website at www.abrahamtrading.com . Read the prospectus or summary prospectus carefully before investing. This communication is for informational purposes only and does not constitute an offer of any securities for sale.

ATC's investment funds and investment strategies may not be suitable for everyone. All of the investment strategies utilized by ATC are speculative and subject to significant risk of capital loss. No representation is being made that an investor will or is likely to achieve profits similar to those achieved in the past. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. As with all investments, the risk of loss in trading these investments can be substantial. Investment return and principal value of an investment will fluctuate; therefore, you may have a gain or loss when you sell your shares. People can and do lose money. Carefully consider your personal financial situation and your risk tolerance before investing.

Abraham Trading Company ("ATC") is the Advisor for the Abraham Fortress Fund which is distributed by IMST Distributors, LLC. IMST Distributors, LLC and Abraham Trading Company are not affiliated.

NOT FDIC INSURED | MAY LOSE VALUE | NO BANK GUARANTEE

PAST PERFORMANCE IS NOT NECESSARILY INDICATIVE OF FUTURE RESULTS.

SOURCE Abraham Trading

Related Links

http://www.abrahamtrading.com


The New American Perspectives program provides support for a series of events at HIFF, underwritten by a grant from the foundation. The program's key events include screenings of five films by foreign-born filmmakers, curated by festival staff, and events and talks with seven of the immigrant filmmakers whose work was integral in the development of this year's selected films. Programs include film screenings (both in person and online) and filmmaker Q&A sessions.

"The New American Perspectives program highlights the value of diversity in artistry."

"The New American Perspectives program highlights the value of diversity in artistry," says Vilcek Foundation President Rick Kinsel. "Just as there is no single way to tell a story, there is no singular immigrant story or narrative. In centering the voices of foreign-born filmmakers with this program, we seek to build dialogue about the importance of immigration for the arts, culture, and society."

In 2021, the New American Perspectives program includes five films led by foreign-born filmmakers, including:

7 Days (2021)

Director and screenwriter Roshan Sethi (b. Canada ), screenwriter and actor Karan Soni (b. India ), and actor Geraldine Viswanathan (b. Australia ) will present their pandemic-era romantic comedy, 7 Days, at the festival. The three filmmakers will also present a master class on their collaboration and their work in film and television on Saturday, November 13 . 7 Days marks the directorial debut of Sethi, who co-wrote the film's screenplay with Soni in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.





(2021) Director and screenwriter (b. ), screenwriter and actor Karan Soni (b. ), and actor (b. ) will present their pandemic-era romantic comedy, at the festival. The three filmmakers will also present a master class on their collaboration and their work in film and television on . marks the directorial debut of Sethi, who co-wrote the film's screenplay with Soni in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Americanish (2021)

Written by actor, screenwriter, and comedian Aizzah Fatima (b. Saudi Arabia ), Americanish tackles and celebrates the complex intersectionalities of womanhood by welcoming audiences into the world of three women living in the Jackson Heights neighborhood of Queens, New York. In this lighthearted reimagination of (and critical divergence from) the classic romantic comedy, career-driven Pakistani American sisters Maryam and Sam (played by Fatima), and their newly immigrated cousin, Ameera, must navigate the consistent and conflicting demands of romance, culture, work, and family.





(2021) Written by actor, screenwriter, and comedian Aizzah Fatima (b. ), tackles and celebrates the complex intersectionalities of womanhood by welcoming audiences into the world of three women living in the neighborhood of Queens, New York. In this lighthearted reimagination of (and critical divergence from) the classic romantic comedy, career-driven Pakistani American sisters Maryam and Sam (played by Fatima), and their newly immigrated cousin, Ameera, must navigate the consistent and conflicting demands of romance, culture, work, and family. Red Rocket (2021)

The 2021 drama Red Rocket marks the latest collaboration between producer Shih-Ching Tsou (b. Taiwan ) and Sean Baker . Following on themes explored in Tsou's films with Baker to date (including 2015's Tangerine and 2017's The Florida Project ), Red Rocket plumbs the experiences of people living at the fringes of society. The foundation previously worked with Tsou in 2009, when she was named a Vilcek Foundation Creative Promise Prize honoree.





(2021) The 2021 drama marks the latest collaboration between producer (b. ) and . Following on themes explored in Tsou's films with Baker to date (including 2015's and 2017's ), plumbs the experiences of people living at the fringes of society. The foundation previously worked with Tsou in 2009, when she was named a Vilcek Foundation Creative Promise Prize honoree. Users (2021)

Natalia Almada (b. Mexico ) is a 2012 MacArthur Fellowship recipient and two-time recipient of the Sundance Documentary Directing Award. Almada's latest documentary, Users , highlights the tensions between technology and the world we live in. In Users , Almada frames a wider discussion on technology and the environment around personal questions that came to Almada on her own journey into motherhood. In this visually arresting film, urgent global issues like climate change and privacy are explored through the intimate lens of a mother's love for her children.





(2021) (b. ) is a 2012 MacArthur Fellowship recipient and two-time recipient of the Sundance Documentary Directing Award. Almada's latest documentary, , highlights the tensions between technology and the world we live in. In , Almada frames a wider discussion on technology and the environment around personal questions that came to Almada on her own journey into motherhood. In this visually arresting film, urgent global issues like climate change and privacy are explored through the intimate lens of a mother's love for her children. Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched (2021)

Kier-La Janisse (b. Canada ) is a producer with Severin Films, an author and film historian, and the founder of the Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies. The 2021 documentary Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched marks her directorial debut. The film explores the genre of folk horror from its beginnings through culturally specific manifestations from around the globe.

All seven of the New American Perspectives filmmakers will participate in a panel discussion which will be live-streamed on Saturday, November 13, at 1 p.m. HST. The panel discussion will center on diversity, access, and representation in film and media.

In the coming weeks, the Vilcek Foundation will publish profiles of each of the films and filmmakers on the foundation's website, and share content on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn about New American Perspectives filmmakers and events. Read more about this year's filmmakers: New American perspectives in Filmmaking at HIFF 2021.

Journalists interested in covering the New American Perspectives program, and individuals interested in learning more about this year's programs should reach out to Vilcek Foundation Communications Manager Liz Boylan at [email protected] or 212-472-2500.

The Vilcek Foundation

The Vilcek Foundation raises awareness of immigrant contributions in the United States and fosters appreciation of the arts and sciences. We accomplish our mission through our prizes program and through partnerships like the New American Perspectives program at HIFF. The innovation and perspective of foreign-born artists have made an indelible impact on filmmaking in the United Statesexpanding the boundaries of the medium as an art form and inspiring the next generation of artists and storytellers.

Since 2000, the foundation has awarded over $6.4 million in prizes to foreign-born individuals, and has supported nonprofit organizations with more than $5.5 million in grants.

Contact

Elizabeth Boylan

The Vilcek Foundation

212-472-2500

[email protected]

SOURCE The Vilcek Foundation

Related Links

http://www.vilcek.org


BENTON HARBOR, Mich., Oct. 18, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Today the board of directors of Whirlpool Corporation declared a quarterly dividend of $1.40 per share on the company's common stock. The dividend is payable on December 15, 2021, to stockholders of record at the close of business on November 19, 2021.

About Whirlpool Corporation

Whirlpool Corporation (NYSE: WHR) is committed to being the best global kitchen and laundry company, in constant pursuit of improving life at home. In an increasingly digital world, the company is driving purposeful innovation to meet the evolving needs of consumers through its iconic brand portfolio, including Whirlpool, KitchenAid, Maytag, Consul, Brastemp, Amana, Bauknecht, JennAir, Indesit and Yummly. In 2020, the company reported approximately $19 billion in annual sales, 78,000 employees and 57 manufacturing and technology research centers. Additional information about the company can be found at WhirlpoolCorp.com, or find us on Twitter at @WhirlpoolCorp.

Website Disclosure

We routinely post important information for investors on our website, whirlpoolcorp.com, in the "Investors" section. We also intend to update the Hot Topics Q&A portion of this webpage as a means of disclosing material, non-public information and for complying with our disclosure obligations under Regulation FD. Accordingly, investors should monitor the Investors section of our website, in addition to following our press releases, SEC filings, public conference calls, presentations and webcasts. The information contained on, or that may be accessed through, our webpage is not incorporated by reference into, and is not a part of, this document.



SOURCE Whirlpool Corporation

Related Links

http://www.whirlpoolcorp.com


RALEIGH, N.C., Oct. 18, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Two attorneys, Patrick Mincey of North Carolina and Phil Brewster of Illinois, were recently discussed and quoted in the Miami Herald for their representation of a North Carolina whistleblower who exposed an alleged international conspiracy to launder more than $100 million through major U.S. securities firms, including Morgan Stanley and Interactive Brokers.

The Miami Herald detailed the alleged conspiracy involving a network of international actors and firms collaborating to steal $2 billion from PDVSA, the state-owned oil company of Venezuela. As part of the investigation, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and other federal agencies are trying to determine why U.S. firms managed more than $100 million in securities for a suspicious Venezuelan businessman when the accounts displayed what authorities have listed as red flags for potential money-laundering activities.

U.S. authorities launched the investigation after attorneys Mincey and Brewster filed their client's whistleblower complaint with the SEC in 2019. "Our client, Mark Coffey, has made heroic sacrifices to bring public attention to a systemic crisis within the American securities industry. We are honored to represent Mark as he reveals this significant threat to U.S. national security and the integrity of the American financial system," Mincey and Brewster said in a joint statement.

Attorney Patrick M. Mincey is Chair of the White Collar, Government Investigations & Special Matters Group at Cranfill Sumner LLP in North Carolina.

Attorney Phil Brewster is the founding partner of Brewster Law Firm LLC in Winnetka, Illinois, a firm dedicated to whistleblower matters and government investigations.

ABOUT CRANFILL SUMNER LLP

Cranfill Sumner LLP serves clients in 28 practice areas. For more information, visit www.cshlaw.com.

ABOUT BREWSTER LAW FIRM LLC

Brewster Law Firm LLC is dedicated to whistleblower matters and government investigations. For more information, visit www.brewsteradvisory.com.

SOURCE Cranfill Sumner LLP

Related Links

https://www.cshlaw.com/


Themed "Sustainable Transport, Sustainable Development," the conference centered on the opportunities and challenges of various means of transportation to provide specific solutions for the sustainable development of global transportation.

XCMG's 5G intelligent cabin drew wide attention at the conference with the interactive experience allowing visitors to remotely control XCMG's unmanned road roller in Xuzhou through a VR headset in real time.

"The VR headset can help the operator to monitor the surrounding environment and related vehicle and construction quality data, offering an intelligent solution in areas unsuitable for manual operation, high altitude and extreme climate," said Lu Chuan, president of XCMG. "Adhering to an innovation-driven development strategy, XCMG persists in serving global construction and customers with the best products and services."

Because of its relatively closed and solitary nature, road machinery may be the first sector in the construction machinery industry to achieve large-scale unmanned operations, explained Cui Jisheng, general manager of XCMG Road Machinery. And with the continuous development of information technology and AI, standardized unmanned construction is no longer out of reach. XCMG now has the largest scale unmanned road construction fleet in the world, and it has completed several projects including the maintenance of the Shanghai-Nanjing Expressway.

XCMG Road Machinery has participated in many major record-breaking road construction projects at home and abroad, including the Qinghai-Tibet Expressway at an altitude of 4,500 meters, the world's longest desert expressway Beijing-Xinjiang Expressway, the world's highest bridge Beipanjiang Bridge as well as the Nairobi Expressway in Kenya, the Hoima International Airport in Uganda, Africa's largest oil refinery Dangote Refinery in Nigeria and more.

"From supply chain management, design and R&D, manufacturing to remanufacturing throughout the whole value chain, XCMG has adjusted the structure, optimized links, conserved energy and reduced emissions. The operation of XCMG has always been centered on green and sustainable development, and we have transcended the tradition of profit as the sole goal for business operation," said Wang Min, chairman and CEO of XCMG.

SOURCE XCMG

Related Links

www.xcmg.com


BEIJING, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- China Zenix Auto International Limited (OTC: ZXAIY) (the "Company"), one of the largest commercial vehicle wheel manufacturers in China in both the aftermarket and OEM market by sales volume, today announced that it has entered into an Agreement and Plan of Merger (the "Merger Agreement") with Newrace Limited ("Parent"). Pursuant to the Merger Agreement, a British Virgin Islands company limited by shares and a wholly owned subsidiary of Parent to be formed promptly after the date hereof ("Merger Sub") will merge with and into the Company, with the Company continuing as the surviving company and becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of Parent (the "Merger"), in a transaction implying an equity value of the Company of approximately US$55.755 million.

Pursuant to the Merger Agreement, at the effective time of the Merger, each ordinary share of the Company (each a "Share") issued and outstanding immediately prior to the effective time of the Merger will be cancelled and cease to exist, in exchange for the right to receive US$0.27 in cash per Share (the "Per Share Merger Consideration") without interest, other than (a)(i) Shares held by Parent, Merger Sub and their affiliates; (ii) Shares held by the depositary and reserved for issuance, settlement and allocation pursuant to any incentive plan of the Company, and (iii) Shares beneficially owned by the Company or any of its subsidiaries or held in the Company's treasury ((i), (ii) and (iii) collectively, the "Excluded Shares") which will be canceled and cease to exist without payment of any consideration, (b) Shares held by holders who have validly exercised and not withdrawn or lost their rights to dissent from the Merger pursuant to Section 179 of the BVI Companies Act (collectively, the "Dissenting Shares"), which will be canceled and cease to exist in exchange for the right to receive payment of the fair value of such Dissenting Shares in accordance with Section 179 of the BVI Companies Act, and (c) Shares represented by ADSs. Each American depository share of the Company (each, an "ADS"), representing four Shares, issued and outstanding immediately prior to the effective time of the Merger, together with the Shares represented by such ADSs, will be cancelled in exchange for the right to receive US$1.08 in cash per ADS without interest.

The merger consideration represents a premium of approximately 390.9% to the closing price of the ADSs on August 9, 2021, the last trading day prior to the Company's announcement of its receipt of the preliminary non-binding "going-private" proposal from Mr. Jianhui Lai and Parent, and premiums of approximately 224.6% and 219.2% to the volume-weighted average trading price of the ADSs during the 60 trading days and 90 trading days, respectively, prior to and including August 9, 2021. The Per Share Merger Consideration also represents an increase of approximately 20.0% over the US$0.225 per Share initially offered in the "going-private" proposal from Parent and Mr. Jianhui Lai.

The merger consideration will be funded through cash contribution by Parent and its affiliates (the "Buyer Group").

The Company's board of directors, acting upon the unanimous recommendation of a committee of independent directors established by the board of directors (the "Special Committee"), approved the Merger Agreement and the Merger, and resolved to recommend that the Company's shareholders vote to authorize and approve the Merger Agreement and the Merger. The Special Committee negotiated the terms of the Merger Agreement with the assistance of its financial and legal advisors.

The Merger is currently expected to close during the first quarter of 2022 and is subject to customary closing conditions, including the approval of the Merger Agreement by the affirmative vote of shareholders representing a majority of the voting power of the outstanding Shares (including Shares represented by ADSs) present and voting in person or by proxy at a meeting of the Company's shareholders. Parent has agreed to vote and cause to be voted all Shares beneficially owned by it and its affiliates, which represent approximately 69.53% of the voting rights attached to the outstanding Shares as of October 18, 2021, in favor of the authorization and approval of the Merger Agreement and the Merger. If completed, the Merger will result in the Company becoming a privately held company wholly owned by Parent and its ADSs (including Shares underlying the ADSs) will no longer be registered under the Securities Exchange Act, and the Company will cease to have reporting obligations to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC").

Duff & Phelps, A Kroll Business operating as Kroll, LLC is serving as the financial advisor to the Special Committee. Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP is serving as U.S. legal counsel to the Special Committee.

Zhong Lun Law Firm is serving as legal counsel to the Buyer Group. Campbells LLP is serving as British Virgin Islands legal counsel to the Buyer Group.

Additional Information About the Merger

The Company will furnish to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission a current report on Form 6-K regarding the Merger, which will include as an exhibit thereto the Merger Agreement. All parties desiring details regarding the Merger are urged to review these documents, which will be available at the SEC's website (http://www.sec.gov).

In connection with the Merger, the Company will prepare and mail a Schedule 13E-3 Transaction Statement (the "Schedule 13E-3") to its shareholders. The Schedule 13E-3 will be filed with the SEC. INVESTORS AND SHAREHOLDERS ARE URGED TO READ CAREFULLY AND IN THEIR ENTIRETY THE SCHEDULE 13E-3 AND OTHER MATERIALS FILED WITH OR FURNISHED TO THE SEC WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE, AS THEY WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THE COMPANY, THE MERGER, AND RELATED MATTERS. In addition to receiving the Schedule 13E-3 by mail, shareholders also will be able to obtain these documents, as well as other filings containing information about the Company, the Merger, and related matters, without charge from the SEC's website (http://www.sec.gov).

About China Zenix Auto International Limited

China Zenix Auto International Limited is one of the largest commercial vehicle wheel manufacturers in China in both the aftermarket and OEM market by sales volume. The Company offers more than 800 series of aluminum wheels, tubed steel wheels, tubeless steel wheels, and off-road steel wheels in the aftermarket and OEM markets in China and internationally. The Company's products are primarily sold to large PRC commercial vehicle manufacturers and exported to over 54 distributors in more than 24 countries worldwide. With six large, strategically located manufacturing facilities in multiple regions across China, the Company has a designed annual production capacity of approximately 15.5 million units of steel and aluminum wheels as of March 31, 2021. For more information, please visit: www.zenixauto.com/en.

Safe Harbor Statement

The Company may make written or oral forward-looking statements in periodic reports filed with the SEC, annual reports to shareholders, press releases such as this announcement, other written materials furnished to investors, and oral statements made by its officers, directors or employees. These statements are made under the "safe harbor" provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. They can be identified by terminology such as "will," "expects," "anticipates," "future," "intends," "plans," "believes," "estimates," "confident" and similar statements. Statements that are not historical facts, including statements about the Company's beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. A number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement. Further information regarding these risks is included in the Company's annual Form 20-F filings with the SEC. The coronavirus outbreak, together with a deterioration of the general economic conditions and the automobile industry triggered by the outbreak in part, has adversely affected the financial position and operating results of the Company. The outbreak's impact on our supplier and customers, including disruptions and inefficiencies in the supply chain, could be unpredictable.

For further information, please contact:

Kevin Theiss

Awaken Advisors

Tel: +1-(212) 521-4050

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE China Zenix Auto International Limited

Related Links

http://www.zenixauto.com


OSLO, Norway and SANTIAGO, Chile, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- IC Payment is partnering with Zwipe, a Norway-based biometric fintech, to offer biometric payment solutions in the Latin American and Caribbean markets.

IC Payment is a Fintech, expert in the development of new technologies behind different payment methods. It is based in Santiago de Chile with offices in Uruguay and Argentina as well as a solid network of partners across Latin America. IC Payment offers a complete set of payment solutions for both in person and digital environments. Highlighting its instant issuance solution for financial cards through a self-service model, called "Instant CardPoint". Allowing to issue a card instantly ready to be used without limitations of designs, brands, or customer service hours.

Speaking on this collaboration, Mr. Christian Herrera, CEO of IC Payment, said "Biometric payment cards are attracting increased interest from issuers as they deliver a much better user experience through transaction security and safety. We are delighted that our partnership with Zwipe enables us to provide the ultimate next-generation payment experience in the market. This innovation will help our partners and customers to differentiate their offerings. Making them more competitive as a result, which in turn drives further growth".

The two organizations will now align their product delivery and initiate joint sales efforts to bring biometric cards across key markets in Latin America.

"We are thrilled that IC Payment has selected Zwipe Pay ONE to enable their issuer, processor and card bureau clients to adopt biometric payment cards. We look forward to introducing the next generation of contactless payment cards in large and high growth payment markets in Latin America and the Caribbean. IC Payment is a well-recognized brand in the card payments space in these markets, and we look forward to mutual success in this region," said Andre Lvestam, CEO of Zwipe.

About IC Payment

IC Payment was born with the mission of bringing new payment method technologies to the financial sector through innovation and security. In its nine years of operation in Latin America, IC Payment has promoted and accompanied its clients in the early adoption of new payment technologies. IC Payment's current commitment is to take the instant issuance of financial cards beyond the scope of bank branches. Expanding its hourly service, physical presence and promoting financial inclusion. IC Payment consolidated a strategic alliance with the fintech of the French group be ys, to continue strengthening its research and development in an environment of continuous advancement of innovation and sustainability.

For further information please contact Sean McRostie, CCO of IC Payment at +(56) 9 3430 0695 - [email protected]

About Zwipe

Zwipe is pioneering the next generation contactless payments experience, providing biometric payment cards components and wearables technology that enable consumers to authorize transactions with their fingerprints without compromising their privacy. Together with an ecosystem of partners including global brands within digital security and financial services, Zwipe is "Making Convenience Safe & Secure" for banks, merchants and consumers. Zwipe's solutions address the hygiene and data theft pitfalls inherent in traditional authentication methods. Headquartered in Oslo, Norway, with a global presence, Zwipe is leading the next great shift in payments from contactless to contact free. To learn more, visit zwipe.com

For further information please contact Andre Lvestam, CEO, +47 991 66 135 [email protected]

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

The following files are available for download:

https://mb.cision.com/Main/18194/3435698/1482890.pdf Zwipe une fuerzas con IC Payment para ofrecer Tarjetas de Pago Biometricas a los Emisores Financieros en Latino America https://mb.cision.com/Public/18194/3435698/b249ee504000a05f_org.png IC Payment PR

SOURCE Cision AB

Related Links

https://www.cision.com/


A Kid's Book About Your Microbiome invites kids (and their grownups) to discover the microbiomethe community of trillions of microbes (too small to see!) that live in, on, and all around us. Seeded at birth, our microbiome performs critical functions, from how we digest food to how our immune system knows what's helpful or harmful. 1 And, the bacteria in our microbiome alone make up 50% of the cells in our body! 2

Written for kids five years and up, A Kids Book About Your Microbiome answers questions like, "What is my microbiome?", "Where did it come from?", "What does it do?", and "How can I help it thrive?".

Beyond Katz and Dhir's work at Seed Health pioneering microbiome research for both human and planetary health, their team has been recognized for its award-winning scientific communication and focus on education. Inspired by her conversations about the microbiome with her son, Katz wrote this book to give kids a whole new way to see their bodies and evolve how grownups understand health.

"As a child of the antibiotics generation, it's extraordinary to think that our children will grow up with an entirely new perspectivethat 99% of microbes, especially bacteria, are actually beneficial and critical to our health. This book empowers each of us to see ourselves as science doesas walking, talking ecosystemsas superorganisms!" said Katz, smiling.

Grounded in their belief that kids are ready to talk about the hard stuff, A Kids Company About is a Black-owned media company known for its provocative and inspiring books on topics like racism , gender , and body image . A Kids Book About Your Microbiome marks the company's first effort to tackle a complex scientific topic in human biology.

"Kids books are an amazing medium to communicate big ideas and concepts like the microbiome that can shape how children see the world and themselves," said Jelani Memory, co-founder and CEO of A Kids Company About. "As we expand into topics of health and science, we were inspired by Ara's authentic perspective and the opportunity to introduce kids to their 'galaxy within'their microbiome!"

To celebrate the launch, Seed created a unique digital "learn to earn" experience , where the first 500 curious humans can unlock a free copy of the book for a child in their life. Participants simply enter their email to access a "science class" in their inbox and then ace a quiz to receive a book. Seed is also gifting books to literary organizations, schools, and community libraries to ensure superorganisms everywhere can learn about their microbiome.

The book is also available for purchase here .

Disclaimer

This book may result in a radical shift in perspective, a new appreciation for your body, and the mind-blowing knowledge that approximately 2,400 species of microbes live right inside your belly button.3

About A Kids Company About

A Kids Company About is a new kind of kids media company working to empower a generation of kids through diverse storytelling. Founded in 2019 in Portland, Oregon, A Kids Company About is built on the belief that kids are ready to have challenging, important, and empowering conversations with the grownups in their lives. For more information, visit www.akidsco.com .

About Author, Ara Katz

Ara Katz is the co-founder and co-CEO of Seed Health , a microbial sciences company pioneering the application of microbes to impact human and planetary health. She is also the co-founder of Seed Health's environmental division, SeedLabs , and its first partner biotech company focused on unmet medical needs in women's health, LUCA Biologics . A serial entrepreneur, she has co-founded and exited two startups, and advises companies across health, consumer, and tech. Her work has earned accolades such as Fast Company's World Changing Ideas 2019 , 2020 , 2021 , and TIME's Best Inventions 2018 .

About Seed Health  Seed

Seed Health is a microbial sciences company pioneering applications of microbes for human and planetary health. In collaboration with leading academic researchers, we advance breakthrough discoveries in microbial science across a pipeline of novel therapeutics, consumer health innovations, and environmental solutions. All consumer innovations are commercialized under Seed. seedhealth.com / seed.com

About Climate Change

It's real.

Citations

1 The microbiome plays critical roles in the training and development of major components of the host's immune system.

Zheng, D., Liwinski, T. & Elinav, E. Interaction between microbiota and immunity in health and disease. Cell Res 30, 492506 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41422-020-0332-7

2 You are home to a community of trillions of microorganisms, including 38,000,000,000,000 bacteria that live in and on you.

Sender, R., Fuchs, S., & Milo, R. (2016). Revised Estimates for the Number of Human and Bacteria Cells in the Body. PLOS Biology, 14(8), e1002533. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1002533

3 There are as many as 2,400 unique species of bacteria living in our belly button.

Hulcr, J., Latimer, A. M., Henley, J. B., Rountree, N. R., Fierer, N., Lucky, A., Lowman, M. D., & Dunn, R. R. (2012). A jungle in there: bacteria in belly buttons are highly diverse, but predictable. PloS one, 7(11), e47712. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.004771

Contact: [email protected]

SOURCE Seed Health

Related Links

http://seedhealth.com


From July through September 2021, NIXLA hosted an exclusive Accelerator Series consisting of ten unique online training sessions designed to help leaders advance DEI within their institutions, schools, and organizations. Featured topics included:

DEI Strategic Planning and Implementation

Conducting Climate and Inclusion Research

Enhancing Chief Diversity Officer Roles

Mitigating Unconscious Bias

Responding to Microaggressions

Becoming an Anti-Racist Ally and much more

Participants of the 2021 Accelerator Series included individuals and institutional teams from Johns Hopkins University, University of Michigan, Columbia University, Stanford University, University of Maryland-Baltimore, Motlow State Community College, Western Washington University, and the University of Northern Iowa, among others.

"Back in March 2020, we decided that we needed to develop a program that would help leaders tackle key DEI topics with greater urgency," said Damon A. Williams, Ph.D., Chief Catalyst for the NIXLA and the Center for Strategic Diversity Leadership and Social Innovation as well as a Senior Scholar and Innovation Fellow with Wisconsin's Equity and Inclusion Laboratory (Wei LAB) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Michael L. Torrence, Ph.D., President of Motlow State Community College, enrolled a team to complete the series to help advance their overall strategic planning efforts. "The collective response from our team to the content, program design, and scholarship of the series was overwhelmingly positive."

Carolyn Yoon, Ph.D., Associate Dean for DEI and Wilbur K. Pierpont Collegiate Professor of Management at the University of Michigan, shared that, "As a diversity officer and faculty member, participating in the series this summer allowed me to explore many different, important topics in a truncated amount of time, yet still in a meaningful, purposeful way. At times those serving as diversity officers can be thrust into these roles with little to no space, time, or resources available to do the work. It was great to have this dedicated time to think creatively, and thought-partner with others around DEI strategies and initiatives."

Mark Nook, Ph.D., President of the University of Northern Iowa, said, "I appreciated the opportunity to learn more about what other institutions have done to achieve positive outcomes. Hearing from other presidents and administrators allowed me to think outside the box when it comes to my approach to strategic diversity leadership. I found the content relevant, timely, and applicable to my work and role."

The NIXLA continues to expand this year with the launch of a new internship program to help expose more Gen Z youth to strategic DEI management. The recipient of this past summer's NIXLA internship was Raven Heyward, a current high school senior enrolled at Enloe Magnet High School in Raleigh, NC.

When asked about her experience, Raven said, "the NIXLA summer internship was eye-opening. I enjoyed learning about DEI tools and resources used by companies or on campuses such as climate studies, surveys, and strategic planning. I also enjoyed how the NIXLA team kept all the participants engaged during the series."

"We believe in offering programs and experiences that are game-changing and equip leaders of all experience levels with the knowledge, strategies, tools, and resources to transform their current realities as it relates to DEI," also said Dr. Williams.

Through proof of concept, dedication to diversity, and unwavering commitment to helping modern leaders thrive through DEI, Dr. Damon A Williams' purpose-driven vision has come to fruition with the conclusion of the NIXLA Accelerator Series.

To learn more about The National Inclusive Excellence Leadership Academy, please visit: inclusiveexcellenceacademy.org

About The National Inclusive Excellence Leadership Academy

The NIXLA program is dedicated to helping participants boost their strategic diversity leadership skills, disrupt the status quo at their institutions, and become innovators around issues of DEI. Dr. Damon A. Williams, Chief Catalyst, National Inclusive Excellence Leadership Academy (NIXLA), and author of Strategic Diversity Leadership: Activating Change and Transformation in Higher Education and The Chief Diversity Officer, Strategy, Structure and Change Management. He is a sought-after keynote speaker, strategist, educator, and social impact leader. For more information, visit drdamonawilliams.com.

Press Contact

Lindsay Timperman

+1 (614) 370-7309

https://inclusiveexcellenceacademy.org/

SOURCE The National Inclusive Excellence Leadership Academy
AMSTERDAM and NEW YORK and ARMONK, N.Y., Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Kyndryl and IBM today announced an agreement with ABN AMRO, a 420 million Euro deal that builds upon their long-standing services relationship for the management of the bank's hybrid cloud infrastructure, supporting its domestic and international operations through the end of 2029. Based in the Netherlands, ABN AMRO serves retail, private and corporate banking customers in Northern Europe with loans, mortgages and other banking solutions.

This innovative agreement is intended to enable the bank to transform and modernize its IT operating model. The goal is to have a more responsive and client centric way of working to help towards a faster, flatter, more focused, more flexible and provide more degrees of freedom. This can help ABN AMRO to realize its goal of developing and delivering more personal services to its customers in the digital age.

The transformation includes:

The integration of the Kyndryl team with the ABN AMRO team to implement a single services delivery model This will have the goal of helping to eliminate the duplication and management of overhead.

Alignment of these jointly provided services to the bank-owned strategic platforms with SaaS, Azure*, mainframe, and on-premises private cloud services.

The implementation of a single set of tooling and consistent processes used by Kyndryl and ABN AMRO and across all platforms.

Convergence of current on-premises platforms to a single private cloud, helping to eliminate duplication and provide enhanced services for consumers.

Further modernization of the mainframe platform, building on industry best practices, including enablement of DevOps and CI/CD.

Modernization of middleware through the deployment of IBM Cloud Paks.

IBM will supply IBM Z hardware and software, including IBM Cloud Pak for Data, IBM Cloud Pak for Integration and WebSphere Hybrid Edition to help accelerate the journey to hybrid cloud. By shifting from traditional licenses towards IBM Cloud Paks, ABN AMRO can benefit from the flexibility to run existing workloads on both on-premises and public cloud platforms enabling a faster pace with the journey to cloud.

"This agreement is core to achieving our IT operating model goals for the current decade. ABN AMRO will re-take end-to-end control and responsibility for platform services while maintaining close support from essential, embedded capabilities provided by Kyndryl. More parties in the complex ecosystem will have controlled access to production environments enabling true multi-party Agile and DevOps. We will integrate the teams into a single service delivery model in order to ensure speed, flexibility and consistency for our consumer community," said Jan van Groningen, ABN AMRO Chief Technology Officer. "We are pleased to continue a productive and successful collaboration with IBM and Kyndryl moving forward."

"ABN AMRO has been a key IBM client for decades," said Marcell Schmidt, Technology Leader for IBM Netherlands. "We look forward to a continued close relationship, collaborating with Kyndryl, enabling the modernization of existing applications and new solutions powering ABN AMRO's platforms."

"We are delighted with ABN AMRO's engagement of Kyndryl and look forward to continuing the transformation of the services we provide to the bank," said Jonathan Ingram, Kyndryl Managing Partner for ABN AMRO. "This approach can enable clients to fully adopt DevOps while maintaining the security, resilience and high availability services that Kyndryl prides itself on."



IBM and ABN AMRO signed their hybrid cloud infrastructure transformation agreement in June 2021 (IBM's second quarter 2021).

*Azure is a trademark of the Microsoft group of companies.

About ABN AMRO

ABN AMRO is one of the Netherlands' leading banks. We create value for our stakeholders by providing individuals and businesses with banking services such as loans, mortgages, payments, savings, advice and asset management. Our focus is on Northwest Europe, with over 19,000 ABN AMRO employees worldwide. Outside the Netherlands, ABN AMRO has offices in 13 countries. Our vision is to be a personal bank in the digital age, serving clients where we have scale in the Netherlands and Northwest Europe.

For more information, visit: www.abnamro.com

About Kyndryl

Kyndryl is the new independent public company that will be created following the separation of IBM's Managed Infrastructure Services business, expected to occur by the end of 2021. Kyndryl designs, builds, manages and modernizes the mission-critical technology systems that the world depends on every day, with the industry's most experienced services experts.

For more information, visit www.kyndryl.com

About IBM

For more information on IBM, visit www.ibm.com

Contact

Stanislava (Stanka) Sucha

E-mail: [email protected]

SOURCE Kyndryl

Related Links

https://www.kyndryl.com


CORAL SPRINGS, Fla., Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- A&C Advisors, a strategic advisory firm for the global investment management industry has named noted financial executives Bruce Park and Mark Lewis to its independent director team as it marked the firms' 20th anniversary.

The expanded team of Park and Lewis will serve institutional fund managers with corporate governance services, regulatory guidance and strategic consulting services across all asset classes, investment products and strategies. A&C serves institutional clients in 16 countries that collectively manage more than $20 billion in assets.

"During the past 20 years, we have seen the role of highly experienced independent directors become an invaluable business resource to institutional investors and managers alike," said Daniel Strachman, Managing Partner, A&C Advisors. "As the industry continues to evolve institutional investors must insist that managers engage directors who understand the investment management business and are not simply placeholders who sign documents."

Expanded Independent Director Team

Mark Lewis has nearly 27 years of experience in the offshore investment funds industry. Specifically in legal aspects of hedge fund and private equity product development, distribution, administration, and compliance. He is currently also the managing director of RiskPass AML + Compliance Ltd in the Cayman Islands.

Bruce Park is a veteran financial executive and independent director and trustee who has decades of experience with investment management, custody, compliance, and corporate governance. He has overseen $3.5 billion and fixed income portfolio. He is currently Vice President and Head of Treasury of Molina Healthcare Inc. in Long Beach, California.

"We are grateful for our long-term and trusted relationships with our clients," continued Strachman, "and look forward to advising our clients through the innovations ahead."

About A&C Advisors, LLC

A&C Advisors serves the global investment management industry by providing corporate strategic consulting services, including product development, business development, operations support and corporate governance services. Founded in 2001, the firm currently serves clients in 16 countries that collectively manage more than $20 billion in assets. Learn more about A&C Advisors.

Media Contact

Kiersten Williams

Genesis Strategies, LLC

[email protected]

(D) 917-873-3266

SOURCE A&C Advisors
"We are so grateful for the support of ACE Cash Express through their Give a Little Campaign," said Lauren Brooke, Senior Field Development Coordinator at Autism Speaks . "It's partnerships like this that fuel our mission of creating a kinder and more inclusive world for people with autism and their families."

The Give A Little Campaign is a national in-store fundraiser that supports charities selected by ACE employees. The charities selected are those focused on helping children, supporting education, and promoting financial literacy. By supporting Autism Speaks, ACE is helping to provide crucial autism research, advocacy, services and support for people with autism.

"We are proud to support Autism Speaks this year," said Eric Norrington, Senior Vice President of Public Affairs for Populus Financial Group. "Our employees selected Autism Speaks for our Give A Little Campaign in order to increase autism awareness and show support for the autism community both at ACE and in the communities we serve."

Nationally, the 2021 Give A Little Campaign raised more than $188,000 for the local chapters of charities across the country including AdoptAClassroom.org, Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation, Autism Speaks, Back on My Feet, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Boys & Girls Clubs of America, Feeding America's Local Food Banks, Homes For Our Troops, Humane Society of the United States, National Breast Cancer Foundation, Save the Children, and Triumph Over Kid Cancer. This fundraiser is a part of the ACE Community Fund, ACE's charitable-giving program, which has donated more than $15 million since its inception in 2004 to organizations in communities where ACE operates.

About Populus Financial Group

Populus Financial Group provides financial services through its family of brands including ACE Cash Express, ACE Elite Visa Prepaid Debit Card, ACE Flare Account by MetaBank and Porte. Populus Financial Group delivers a broad range of financial products and services including short-term consumer loans, card services, check cashing, money transfers, bill payments and money orders. Visit PopulusFinancial.com for more information.

About Autism Speaks

Autism Speaks is enhancing lives today and accelerating a spectrum of solutions for tomorrow. Autism, or autism spectrum disorder (ASD), refers to a broad range of conditions characterized by challenges with social skills, repetitive behaviors, speech and nonverbal communication. They are dedicated to promoting solutions, across the spectrum and throughout the life span, for the needs of individuals with autism and their families. To learn more about autism or Autism Speaks please visit their website www.autismspeaks.org.

SOURCE Populus Financial Group

Related Links

populusfinancial.com


REHOVOT, Israel and HEIDELBERG, Germany, October 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- AION Labs, a first-of-its-kind innovation lab spearheading the adoption of AI technologies and computational science to solve therapeutic challenges, and German independent research institute BioMed X, announced today the launch of the first global call for application to identify biomedical scientists and inventors to form a new startup at AION Labs' headquarters in Rehovot, Israel.

The chosen AION Labs startup team will be sponsored by several industry-leading partners and supported by the Israel Innovation Authority (IIA). The sponsors of this call for application are AstraZeneca, Merck, Pfizer, Teva and the Israel Biotech Fund, with close support from Amazon Web Services (AWS).

"We are excited to extend our portfolio of career opportunities for talented academic researchers to Israel," said Dr. Christian Tidona, Founder and Managing Director of the BioMed X Institute. "Located in the heart of the 'startup nation,' AION Labs is the perfect place for biomedical scientists from around the globe to learn how to become successful biotech entrepreneurs."

Therapeutic antibodies are well established life-saving drugs. Discovery of existing therapeutic antibodies relies on immunization or in-vitro selection from large, pre-defined libraries with limited sequence space coverage. Selecting a drug candidate from billions of potential antibody sequences is laborious and expensive and, in many cases, fails to identify functional antibodies. Recent advances in protein structure prediction, artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms, and increased availability of experimentally determined antigen-antibody structures present a unique opportunity for AI-driven antibody discovery.

AION Labs is inviting computational biologists and biomedical scientists at academic and industry research labs worldwide to propose the development of a next-generation general computational platform for the design of high-affinity and biophysically well-behaved antibody binders directed towards epitopes of choice, starting from an antigen structure or antigen sequence as an input. The AION Labs pharma partners involved in this project will provide a wealth of data for model training and their expertise in setting specifications and evaluating the outcome. Original ideas that go far beyond the current state-of-the-art are being encouraged.

"AION Labs is proud and excited to be launching our first call for application," said Mati Gill, CEO of AION Labs. "We look forward to providing the chosen startup with our strong resources and mentorship as we work together to develop a cutting-edge solution to overcome the pharmaceutical challenge of selecting drug candidates from antibody sequences. This is just the beginning."

As part of the online application procedure, interested candidates are requested to submit a competitive project proposal. After a preliminary short-listing round, candidates will be invited to a five-day innovation boot camp in Rehovot. With the support of experienced mentors from the pharma, tech and VC industries, the winning team of scientists will be trained and guided during a fully-funded incubation period of up to four years towards

becoming an independent startup.

Further details about this call for application can be found on the AION Labs website: www.aionlabs.com. Interested candidates are invited to apply via the BioMed X Career Space at https://career.bio.mx/call/2021-AIL-C01 before December 12, 2021.

About AION Labs

AION Labs is a first-of-its-kind alliance of AstraZeneca, Merck, Pfizer, Teva, the Israel Biotech Fund and Amazon Web Services (AWS) that have come together with one clear mission: to create and adopt groundbreaking new AI technologies that will transform the process of drug discovery and development in order to contribute to the health and well-being of all people world-wide.

Located within the Israeli biotech hotspot in Rehovot adjacent to Weizmann Institute for Sciences, AION Labs is a unique venture hub where brilliant innovators convene from around the world to solve the biggest R&D challenges guided by years of accumulated know-how, data and experience in pharma. The lab leverages its partners' wealth of knowledge and a new multidisciplinary mindset with the ingenuity, agility and innovative power of Israel's start-up ecosystem, to develop strong companies with clear long-term strategies, that will pave the way to the future of healthcare. AION Labs cultivates innovation from within; its unique venture creation process bridges the gap between outstanding academic research in the field of AI and the biggest R&D needs in the discovery and development of new medicines for the benefit of patients.

For more information, visit aionlabs.com

About BioMed X

BioMed X is an independent research institute located on the campus of the University of Heidelberg in Germany, with a world-wide network of partner locations. Together with our partners, we identify big biomedical research challenges and provide creative solutions by combining global crowdsourcing with local incubation of the world's brightest early-career research talents. Each of the highly diverse research teams at BioMed X has access to state-of-the-art research infrastructure and is continuously guided by experienced mentors from academia and industry. At BioMed X, we combine the best of two worlds  academia and industry  and enable breakthrough innovation by making biomedical research more efficient, more agile, and more fun.

For more information, visit bio.mx

Media Contact:

Lior Feigin

FINN Partners for AION Labs

[email protected]

@LiorFeigin

+1 929 588 2016

+972 54 282 4503

SOURCE AION Labs
JACKSONVILLE, Fla., Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Availity, one of the nation's largest real-time health information networks, announced today that Jim McNary has joined the company as chief operating officer (COO). As COO, McNary is responsible for leading cross-departmental operations, refining business processes, and maintaining alignment throughout the company for both organic and inorganic initiatives. Availity's technology, product management, implementations, and strategy/corporate development teams will report to McNary.

To download a photo of Jim McNary, please click here.

As the central platform that connects health plans and health care providers nationwide, Availity needed a COO who understood the unique complexities of the healthcare industry and the processes necessary to drive meaningful improvement; Jim McNary's distinguished career makes him an ideal fit for the healthcare platform company. In his most recent role, McNary served as chief executive officer of Consortium Health Plans where he was charged with helping to position Blue Cross Blue Shield as the preferred carrier for national accounts. Prior to this, McNary served as the North American Business Leader for Mercer Health & Benefits. McNary joined Mercer from the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) where he was a member of the healthcare practice area. Prior to working at BCG, he served as an officer in the U.S. Navy SEAL teams.

McNary conducted his undergraduate studies at Vanderbilt University. He completed his graduate work at Harvard University, earning an MBA from the Harvard Business School as well as a master's degree in public administration from Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government.

"It is my great pleasure to welcome Jim to Availity's executive leadership team," said Russ Thomas, chief executive officer, Availity. "Not only is Jim the kind of person who excels wherever he goes, but he does so while living a life of service to others. It's this combination of IQ and EQ that makes Jim the right person both for our leadership team and our culture as we enter an exciting, high growth chapter at Availity."

About Availity

Availity is the place where healthcare finds the answers needed to shift focus back to patient care. We work to solve communication challenges in healthcare by creating a richer, more transparent exchange of information among health plans, providers, and technology partners. As one of the nation's largest health information networks, Availity facilitates billions of clinical, administrative, and financial transactions annually. Our suite of dynamic products, built on a powerful, intelligent platform, enables real-time collaboration for success in a competitive, value-based care environment.

For more information, including an online demonstration, please visit www.availity.com or call 1.800.AVAILITY (282.4548).

Media Contact:

Maddie Noteboom

Amendola Communications for Availity

512.422.3425

[email protected]

SOURCE Availity

Related Links

http://www.availity.com


TORONTO, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- For as long as we can remember, patients have been travelling to and from in-person medical appointments. Individuals in major urban and suburban centres usually have plenty of clinics near to them, while those in more rural areas often make longer trips to see a doctor.

Dr. Richard Tytus, Co-Founder and Medical Director of Banty Inc.

What all of these people have in common, though, is that they shouldn't be obligated to physically visit a medical clinic for every single appointment they need. With improvements continually emerging in the telemedicine landscape, their doctors should make virtual visits available, no matter where someone might live.

According to a survey conducted by the COVID-19 Healthcare Coalition, more than 60% of physicians polled said that telemedicine solutions are "easy to use within their practice across urban, suburban, and rural locations."

Dr. Richard Tytus, Co-Founder and Medical Director of telemedicine solution Banty Inc., treats patients from all types of communities in a virtual capacity. He believes telemedicine services should be offered to patients in most communities, because:

Everyone could use the convenience: Even if a medical practice is situated in a densely populated area, that shouldn't deter it from providing patients with a more convenient treatment experience. In-person doctor's appointments often require people to miss work or other important obligations. Virtual appointments, however, can be done anywhere, meaning a person could take a quick break in their day for a consult, as opposed to wasting hours commuting and sitting in a waiting room

Even if a medical practice is situated in a densely populated area, that shouldn't deter it from providing patients with a more convenient treatment experience. In-person doctor's appointments often require people to miss work or other important obligations. Virtual appointments, however, can be done anywhere, meaning a person could take a quick break in their day for a consult, as opposed to wasting hours commuting and sitting in a waiting room Internet connectivity is easy to come by: While not everyone has top-tier Internet connectivity, even those in the most rural of locations can find a signal capable of helping them attend an online doctor's appointment. In urban and suburban areas, Internet connectivity is widely available and often times of the highest quality

While not everyone has top-tier Internet connectivity, even those in the most rural of locations can find a signal capable of helping them attend an online doctor's appointment. In urban and suburban areas, Internet connectivity is widely available and often times of the highest quality Doctors can maintain better appointment routines with patients: If patients live far away from a medical clinic, or simply have trouble blocking out the time required for an in-person appointment, it is likely they'll not see their doctor as often as necessary. By providing virtual visits, doctors are able to establish a proper appointment routine with all patients

If patients live far away from a medical clinic, or simply have trouble blocking out the time required for an in-person appointment, it is likely they'll not see their doctor as often as necessary. By providing virtual visits, doctors are able to establish a proper appointment routine with patients Banty Medical is accessible to everyone: The Banty Medical telemedicine solution is HIPAA/PHIPA compliant for virtual medicine. What's more, it employs end-to-end encryption to keep all appointments private and secure. Meanwhile, doctors get to create a custom Banty address (i.e., Banty.com/MyClinic). This is where patients will always go for their appointments. Better yet, patients do not need to have a Banty account to visit a doctor using that solution

"No matter where a doctor is based, they should make telemedicine services available to all patients," adds Dr. Tytus. "Taking this step shows patients that their doctor is willing to provide excellent care in an environment that's easy, safe, and convenient for all involved."

Banty.com's video call service offers all subscribers a custom, permanent URL (i.e., Banty.com/MyMeeting ); a secure, end-to-end encrypted meeting space; excellent video quality; unlimited meetings each month; and straightforward scheduling tools.

Banty has a number of solutions that are meant to make it easy to meet with those who matter most to you. (Watch the 'Banty Is Easy' video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhmVdwrR_w8&t=10s )

Today, everyone has a mobile number and an email address. In the near future, everyone will have a Banty video chat address: Banty.com/YourName

About Banty

Founded in 2020, Banty offers exceptional video conferencing solutions for Businesses , Medical Practices , Virtual Events , and Personal use . Banty video conferencing is easy to use and ultra-secure. The platform provides users with a dedicated Banty.com URL , accessible via any desktop browser or through iOS and Android mobile apps.

In order to receive government approval to become a verified medical platform, Banty was upgraded to meet new cyber security standards, making it one of the most secure platforms available. Each day, the Banty team goes above and beyond to ensure the platform remains one of the most secure and innovative virtual meeting solutions in the world.

For more information, please visit Banty.org/solutions , or follow Banty on social media to learn more about the latest platform innovations: LinkedIn , Twitter , Facebook , YouTube , Instagram .

Media Contact

Scott Wilson

289-259-8059

[email protected]

SOURCE Banty Inc.
VANCOUVER, BC, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - Barsele Minerals Corp.  (TSXV: BME) (the "Company" or "Barsele") is pleased to announce that its common shares have commenced trading on the OTCQB Venture Market ("OTCQB") in the United States ("U.S.") under the symbol "BRSLF". The Company's common shares will continue to trade on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol "BME".

The OTCQB is for earlier-stage and developing U.S. and international companies. To be eligible, companies are required to meet certain conditions including, filing of audited financial statements, current disclosure requirements, a minimum bid price, and submitting to an annual verification and management certification process. The OTCQB Venture quality standards provide greater transparency and disclosure, along with enhanced technology features and regulation to improve the information accessibility and trading capability for investors.

Barsele's President and CEO Gary Cope states, "We are extremely happy with this new achievement in the Company's development as we look forward to expanding our reach into the U.S. Capital Markets. The OTCQB platform will enable Barsele to access a larger investor base and subsequently lead the Company to increased liquidity and shareholders."

About the Barsele Project

The Barsele Project is located on the western end of the Proterozoic "Skellefte Trend", a prolific volcanogenic massive sulphide deposits belt, that intersects with the "Gold Line" in Northern Sweden. Both polymetallic deposits and intrusive hosted orogenic gold deposits are present in this region and on the property. Current and past producers in the region include Boliden, Kristineberg, Bjorkdal, Svartliden and Storliden.

About Barsele Minerals Corp.

Barsele is a Canadian-based junior exploration company managed by the Belcarra Group, comprised of highly qualified mining professionals. Barsele's main property is the Barsele Gold Project in Vasterbottens Lan, Sweden, a joint venture with Agnico Eagle. An amended NI 43-101 Technical Report on the Barsele Project with an effective date of February 21, 2019, was filed on SEDAR on December 16, 2020.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors

Gary Cope

President and CEO

Forward Looking Statements

Information set forth in this press release contains forward-looking statements. These statements reflect management's current estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations; they are not guarantees of future performance. The Company cautions that all forward-looking statements are inherently uncertain and that actual performance may be affected by a number of material factors, many of which are beyond the Company's control. Such factors include, among other things: risks and uncertainties relating to exploration and development, the ability of the Company to obtain additional financing, the need to comply with environmental and governmental regulations, fluctuations in the prices of commodities, operating hazards and risks, competition and other risks and uncertainties, including those described in the Company's financial statements 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, the Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise forward-looking information.

NEITHER THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE.

SOURCE Barsele Minerals Corp.

Related Links

www.barseleminerals.com


DIAMOND BAR, Calif., Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Bedsure, a leading home textile manufacturer with products sold to over 15 million customers worldwide, launches a Customers Appreciation Festival to celebrate its 6th Anniversary with its fans this month.

The Festival starts with an Early Black Friday sales event on items across all categories. Starting from October 16th until October 23rd, customers will be able to shop Bedsure's most popular items and new-arrivals for up to 50% off.

In addition, Bedsure is also in a process of finding the first six Bedsure customers on its social media outlets and the first six Bedsure customers found will be gifted with a whole set of Bedsure-powered beddings, tailored to the style of their bedroom. Bedsure firmly believes that the trust from customers lays the foundation of Bedsure's success today, and the foundation started from day one.

Founded in 2016, Bedsure started carrying its mission to Link the Home Products Industry and Create a Global Brand with the versatile Bedsure Flannel Fleece Blanket, one of Bedsure's most popular products and an Amazon's Choice item now with over 83,000 5-star ratings on Amazon.

Since its debut in 2016, the Bedsure Flannel Fleece Blanket has attracted a large amount of attention. "I have never loved my bed so much until I bought this blanket." A customer from the United States reviewed the blanket on Amazon. Similar reviews can also be found on nearly all of Bedsure's comprehensive product offerings across categories. To this date, Bedsure's wide range of blanket products has served over 8 million families worldwide.

In order to stay true to Bedsure's mission to Link the Home Products Industry and Create a Global Brand, Bedsure has been listening to the feedback of customers since its founding. Upon realizing the high demand of high-quality bed sheets, Bedsure introduced several bed sheet products to meet the demands of all customers.

The Bedsure 100% Bamboo Sheet Set, for example, comes in twelve color options and six sizes. The cool and breathable bamboo viscose provides peaceful nights' sleep for customers who live in hot and humid areas. The Bedsure Egyptian Cotton Sheet Set, on the other hand, is made with Egyptian cotton to provide sufficient thickness and superior durability to achieve Bedsure's signature coziness and hotel-grade aesthetics in the bedroom.

Over the course of past six years, Bedsure listened to the customers, inspired by the customers, and further expanded to offer products in other segments, including pillows and pillowcases, comforters, duvet covers, pet accessories, and more to meet the demands of customers, and provide comprehensive comfort and coziness at great everyday value.

To celebrate and commemorate the success in the first six years and to look forward to many prosperous years to come, Bedsure has recently also upgraded its brand concept to reflect and prospect the success.

Looking forward, Bedsure is committed to continuing its tradition to put customers first and carry on its mission to Link the Home Products Industry and Create a Global Brand by providing comprehensive comfort and coziness at home for the great everyday value.

About Bedsure

From the moment you wake up to the second you fall asleep, Bedsure aims to make you and your family comfortable. Founded in 2016, Bedsure is a leading home textile manufacturer with products sold to over 15 million customers in the US and Europe. Since its founding, Bedsure has maintained a compound growth rate of 100% for five consecutive years. While Bedsure has grown into a global company with diverse products to meet different customer needs, its focus on comfortable home products and everyday value stays the same.

SOURCE Bedsure
NEW YORK, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- BizVibe has added key challenges and trends for grantmaking and giving services industry profiles on their platform. All 39,000+ company profiles will now contain 50+ company data points, including a list of potential challenges which are expected to impact market participants over the next few years.

Snapshot of key challenge impacting BizVibe's grantmaking and giving services industry group.

One challenge which is being highlighted is navigating regulations and the social climate. Local law enforcement, regulations, and the socio-political landscape sometimes create barriers for charities trying to provide help to individuals or groups. Without support from the government or a significant portion of the population, fundraising and providing aid can be difficult. By identifying such challenges, BizVibe is helping users analyze which suppliers are right for their business, while allowing them to efficiently monitor the risk of doing business.

Get Free Access to all Industry Challenges

Key Insights Provided for Grantmaking and Giving Services Companies

In addition to analysis on how key challenges are expected to impact businesses, BizVibe company profiles contain numerous high-quality insights to help users discover, track, compare, and evaluate suppliers or sales prospects. These insights include:

Relevance and influence of industry trends and challenges, segmented by region

Press releases and news coverage referencing key trends and challenges

Risk of doing business score, segmented by operational, financial, compliance, and country risk

Top company competitors at the global, regional, and national levels

Names of top company decision makers, including job titles and social profiles

Company financials such as annual revenue, profitability ratios, and management effectiveness

View 50+ Company Data Points for Free

Grantmaking and Giving Services Categories

BizVibe's platform provides access to over 10 million buyer and supplier company profiles. Businesses from more than 200 countries are categorized into 40,000+ product and service categories, each providing detailed insights tailored to the needs of procurement and sales teams globally. The grantmaking and giving services industry group features 39,000+ company profiles categorized into multiple service categories, enabling clients to identify and connect with potential new business partners across diverse market segments.

Get Free Company Profile Access for all Categories

BizVibe for Buyers and Sellers

BizVibe is a modern B2B platform dedicated to connecting buyers and sellers from around the world. Powered by the latest best-in-class solutions, BizVibe is designed to help companies generate leads, shortlist suppliers, request proposals, and identify global companies. Evaluate companies side-by-side to compare key metrics and initiate productive partnerships.

Buyers use BizVibe to discover suppliers from among more than 5 million companies using advanced search filters and comparison tools. Features for buyers include:

Shortlist potential suppliers

Track and compare companies

Set up custom news alerts

Quickly create and customize RFIs

Explore BizVibe's buyer services: https://www.bizvibe.com/buyers

Sellers can take advantage of BizVibe's smart sales intelligence tools to discover, evaluate, and communicate with prospects across 300+ categories. Features for sellers include:

Identify and qualify sales prospects

Receive customized prospect recommendations

Analyze and evaluate potential buyers

Integrate CRMs for efficient data transfer

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

https://www.bizvibe.com/


BOSTON, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- For 2022, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts (Blue Cross) has added more enhanced benefits to its popular PPO and HMO Medicare Advantage plansproviding older adults with a suite of health benefits and plans starting with premiums as low as $0 per month.

"We know older adults in Massachusetts want a Medicare plan they can trust and that provides highly coordinated care management dedicated to their individual needs," said Blue Cross Vice President of Medicare Product Eddie Walker. "As the health plan with the most Medicare beneficiaries across Massachusetts,ii we continue to offer current and prospective members more benefits for their dollar while providing them with an unparalleled local service experience."

Blue Cross' popular Medicare Advantage plans may now include:

* New* $0 copays for primary care visits

for primary care visits * New* $0 copay for hundreds of prescription drugs

for hundreds of prescription drugs * New* $150 toward over-the-counter health care purchases

* New* Enhanced dental coverage

* New* Enhanced fitness and weight loss reimbursement that now includes fitness equipment and virtual classes

that now includes fitness equipment and virtual classes $0 copay for routine dental visits

for routine dental visits $0 copay for routine vision exams

for routine vision exams $0 copay for routine hearing exams

for routine hearing exams Allowance for eyewear

Hearing aid benefit

Telehealth visits, allowing members to see their doctor from the comfort of home

allowing members to see their doctor from the comfort of home Meal delivery for up to eight weeks after hospitalization or outpatient surgery

Individuals with Medicare can choose the best Medicare Advantage and prescription drug plan for their health care needs during the Oct. 15 - Dec. 7, 2021, annual enrollment period (enrollment is effective Jan. 1, 2022.) A Blue Cross Medex or dental plan can be selected any time of the year.

Blue Cross' $0 premium Medicare PPO Blue SaverRx and $0 premium Medicare HMO Blue SaverRx Medicare Advantage plans provide additional benefits that Medicare doesn't generally cover, such as dental, hearing and vision coverage, an over-the-counter drug benefit, as well as a fitness and weight loss reimbursement benefit up to $400 per calendar year. Blue Cross' PPO plan provides seniors access to both in- and out-of-network providers with no referrals required.

Blue Cross plans are consistently highly rated, with Medicare Advantage PPO and HMO plans and Blue MedicareRx Prescription Drug Plan all receiving an overall rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars for CY2022 from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. i

To learn more about Blue Cross' broad suite of Medicare coverage options and a list of covered medications, and to find the plan that's right for you:

Visit www.bluecrossma.com/medicare to compare plans

Call Blue Cross' award-winning sales call center iii at 1-800-678-2265 (TTY: 711), from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern time , seven days a week, Oct. 1 through March 31. From April 1 through Sept. 30, you can call 8 a.m. through 8 p.m. Eastern time, Monday through Friday.

Medicare beneficiaries also can contact:

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227), 24 hours a day, seven days a week. TTY users call 1-877-486-2048.

Serving the Health Insurance Needs of Everyone (SHINE), 1-800-243-4636 TTY users call 1-800-439-2370.

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts is an HMO and PPO Plan with a Medicare contract. Enrollment in Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts depends on contract renewal.

Anthem Insurance Companies, Inc., Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts, Inc., Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island, and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Vermont are the legal entities which have contracted as a joint enterprise with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and are the risk-bearing entities for Blue MedicareRx (PDP) plans. The joint enterprise is a Medicare-approved Part D Sponsor. Enrollment in Blue MedicareRx (PDP) depends on contract renewal.

This information is not a complete description of benefits. Contact the plan for more information. Limitations, copayments and restrictions may apply. Benefits, premiums and/or co-payments/co-insurance may change on Jan. 1 of each year. You must continue to pay your Medicare Part B premium.

i Every year, Medicare evaluates plans based on a 5-star rating system.

ii Represents Medicare Advantage and Medicare Supplemental Individual and Group plan membership based on data from CMS ( www.cms.gov ) and Massachusetts DOI ( www.mass.gov ).

iii SQM Call Center World Class FCR Certification (Retail Sales and Retention) Award for 2020. SQM is not affiliated with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts or CMS, nor is the award given or endorsed by Medicare.

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts complies with applicable federal civil rights laws and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, or gender identity.

ATENCION: Si habla espanol, tiene a su disposicion servicios gratuitos de asistencia linguistica. Llame al 1-800-200-4255 (TTY: 711).

ATENCAO: Se fala portugues, encontram-se disponiveis servicos linguisticos, gratis. Ligue para. 1-800-200-4255 (TTY: 711).

About Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts (bluecrossma.org) is a community-focused, tax-paying, not-for-profit health plan headquartered in Boston. We are committed to the relentless pursuit of quality, equitable and affordable health care with an unparalleled consumer experience. Consistent with our promise to always put our members first, we are rated among the nation's best health plans for member satisfaction and quality. Connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn.

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SOURCE Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts
CHICAGO, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois (BCBSIL) will host a series of fresh farmers markets, vaccine clinics and Community Care Fairs throughout the state to continue driving equitable access to health and wellness resources. BCBSIL is supporting members and residents by joining forces with community groups and hosting events to offer free resources ranging from vaccine clinics to fresh fruits and vegetables.

"Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois is committed to working alongside our community partners to help connect as many people as possible with wellness resources and services  especially as we continue the fight to stay healthy amid the pandemic," Steve Hamman, president of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois.

Fresh farmers markets and vaccine clinics will be hosted at BCBSIL's Blue Door Neighborhood Centers and feature free produce giveaways and immunizations for the flu (ages 6 months and up), COVID-19 (ages 12 and up) and pneumonia (ages 65 and up).

Upcoming farmers markets and vaccine clinics:

Morgan Park : Nov. 11 , 12-2 p.m. and Dec. 9 , 12-2 p.m.

, and , Pullman: Nov. 10 , 12-2 p.m. and Dec. 8 , 12-2 p.m.

, and , South Lawndale : Nov. 11 , 1-3 p.m. and Dec. 9 , 1-3 p.m.

Community Care Fairs will offer free health screenings, flu shots, fresh produce, haircuts, winter coat giveaways and more. With twelve events scheduled to date through 2021, Community Care Fairs are also planned for Oct. 23 in Springfield, Nov. 13 in Joliet, and Nov. 20 in Chicago.

"We are fortunate to have partners throughout Illinois ready to join us in expanding access to quality, preventive care in our communities," said Harmony Harrington, vice president of government, communications and community relations at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois. "These farmers markets and care fairs are just the latest demonstration of our commitment to continuously building healthy communities in every part of this diverse state."

All events are free and open to the public. Follow us at facebook.com/bluecrossandblueshieldofillinois to stay up to date on the latest information, events and activities from BCBSIL.

About Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois (BCBSIL) is committed to expanding access to quality, cost-effective health care to as many people as possible in Illinois. BCBSIL is dedicated to innovation and exploring, nurturing and activating future possibilities to make the health care system work better for our members and our communities. BCBSIL is a division of Health Care Service Corporation, a Mutual Legal Reserve Company and an Independent Licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.

SOURCE Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois

Related Links

http://www.bcbsil.com


THOUSAND OAKS, Calif., Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Today synED, a national non-profit organization that identifies emerging best practices for effective articulation between employers, job seekers, and education providers, announced that Luis Plascencia, a Computer Science student at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly), is this month's CyberHero.

synED, a national non-profit organization that identifies emerging best practices for effective articulation between employers, job seekers, and education providers, announced that Luis Plascencia, a Computer Science student at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly), is this months CyberHero. Luis Plascencia

Luis is a third-year student at Cal Poly and a native of the nearby coastal town of Cambria, California. His story exemplifies both the power of cybersecurity competitions to inspire young people to cyber careers and the power of young people to make a difference in the world, given the tools and space to lead.

Luis was only introduced to cybersecurity competitions as a high school sophomore, when a teacher convinced him to lead a team in the California Cyber Innovation Challenge (CCIC). Now, he's helping design, manage and write code for the same cybercrime-solving competition while leading cybersecurity and digital transformation outreach efforts at his university and beyond.

"I'm definitely super grateful to be in this position, to help other students that are in the position that I was back in high school," Luis said.

"Luis is not only an incredible employee, but an incredible human being," Danielle Borelli, Operations Coordinator at CCI, said. "He is often up at 5am every day, starting his day off with self-reflection and journaling. He then breaks into additional challenges or learning new skills, all before the workday begins. Going above and beyond is just who Luis is."

An annual event organized by the California Cybersecurity Institute (CCI), the CCIC went from in-person to virtual when the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020. Participation has actually increased, however, with over 400 students last year and about the same number this year. The competition utilized Amazon Web Services' Sumerian tool in 2020 and used Unity, a game development platform, for this year's competition. Students search virtual rooms for clues, scour computer files, and analyze evidence using cybersecurity software.

In 2020, Luis helped the team transition the in-person aspects of the CCIC to virtual. Now CCI has no plans to return to in-person competitions. "Having it virtual gives an opportunity to more students to compete, regardless of their situation," Luis said. "We think that's a very valuable aspect, because we do want to highlight those students that are underrepresented."

Luis was the project lead for CCIC this year, helping with coding, developing the answer key and evidence chain, even programming several bots to help teams that get stuck during the competition. When CCI puts on a new Space Grand Challenge cybercompetition in April next year, Luis will be leading the student team developing the code. The Space Grand Challenge, which will task students with solving a simulated cybercrime on a communications satellite, will be open to participants from other states and even other countries, including Australia.

The CCIC this year allowed participants to collaborate on Discord servers while they competed, and also incorporated a livestream of the event through the e-sports and gaming platform Twitch, which allowed close to a thousand spectators to watch the action throughout the day.

"Last year we found that parents and spectators didn't have a chance to see what students were doing," Luis said, "so we wanted to find a way to help these people understand what these high school and middle school students are doing, and one way that we found was pretty useful was creating a Twitch livestream during the competition where anyone can join in."

Twitch, which allows viewers to watch in-game action and communicate with each other, donated two hours of its homepage to the CCIC on the day of the competition. Cal Poly's student e-sports club was brought in to help with the gamification of the competition, helping to promote the event and run the Twitch livestream.

Gamification is increasingly being recognized as an avenue for improving education outcomes in a variety of ways  as discussed in SynED's most recent ReportOUT, a quarterly review of innovative applications in alternative education.

"Luis is an amazing coworker, an amazing person. The first word that comes to mind is 'committed,'" said Sal Gutierrez, a student at Cal Poly and Lead Educator & Software Developer at CCI. "He's a very committed individual, and that's something I really admire about him. If you have to rely on him, he is going to do it, no matter what, and he's going to get it done by the deadline."

Sal credits Luis with getting him more involved  and getting him a job at CCI. After deciding to create the Digital Transformation Club at Cal Poly early this year, Luis convinced Sal to join him and help lead the new group as Vice President. "I remember he told me, 'Sal, join this club and it will change your life.' He was not kidding!"

The Digital Transformation Club focused at first on basic cybersecurity and computer science-related education for Cal Poly students but has since broadened its aims. Luis came up with the idea to include students from a wider variety of majors and disciplines and try to tackle a complex problem each school year. This year, they are seeking to develop novel solutions to climate change in San Luis Obispo and at Cal Poly.

Luis also works on CCI's Cyber to Schools program, helping underserved students around the country learn progressively more challenging computer science and cybersecurity areas of knowledge, and find nontraditional pathways to cyber careers. Last summer, they trained more than 800 students from K-12 schools in the Cherokee Nation, Kansas City, Inglewood, and elsewhere.

"He came in as a software programmer and was developing and doing all of these things on the backend, with coding, architecting on AWS, all of that. He's such a talented individual," said Makenna Downing, Marketing and Communications Coordinator at CCI. "We were blown away by his skills, so he's really become an asset to the team. A remarkable example of student interns and what they can do, every success that they can accomplish."

Luis is exploring his options for post-graduate studies and career paths, including a fifth-year master's degree option at Cal Poly. "Some areas that interest me are data science or cloud computing, and I've been playing around with them a little bit to get an idea of what it's like," Luis said. "But cybersecurity would definitely be a top one."

What began with an Introduction to Cybersecurity course in high school, and that first cybersecurity competition, has turned into a passion that will undoubtedly lead to a successful career in cybersecurity or computer science.

"I feel like Luis is already above our paygrade. We all joke, 'we're going to be working for him one day," concluded Ms. Downing.

About SynED CyberHero's Series

SynED's CyberHero's series is a monthly column published nationally that highlights individuals who quietly go above and beyond in helping to secure our nation and communities by developing cyber talent. SynED is a national non-profit that identifies and highlights emerging best practices for effective articulation between employers, job seekers, and education providers. SynED is the proud recipient of the 2021 Association for Career & Technical Education Business-Education Partnership Award.

Contact:

Liz Fraumann

866-420-4573

[email protected]

SOURCE synED

Related Links

https://syned.org/


MIAMI, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Cano Health, Inc. (NYSE: CANO or the "Company"), a leading value-based primary care provider for seniors and underserved communities, will host a conference call on Tuesday, November 9, 2021, at 8:30 AM Eastern Time to review the Company's business and financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2021. A press release announcing the third quarter results will be issued earlier that morning.

To access the live call and webcast, please dial (844) 684-0650 for U.S. participants, or +1 (343) 761-2594 for international participants, referencing the Cano Health Third Quarter 2021 Earnings Conference Call and Conference ID 7473021. The conference call will also be webcast live in the "Events & Presentations" section of the Investor page of the Cano Health website (investors.canohealth.com).

Following the conclusion of the live call, a replay will be available in the "Events & Presentations" section of the Cano Health website for on-demand listening shortly after the completion of the call and will be available for 30 days.

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 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

Investor Relations

Alan Oshiki or Sydney Isaacs

Abernathy MacGregor

(212) 371-5999 / (713) 817-9346

[email protected] / [email protected]

Media Relations

Patricia Graue

Brunswick Group

(212) 333-3810

[email protected]

SOURCE Cano Health, Inc.
Stock Market Symbols

GIB (NYSE)

GIB.A (TSX)

www.cgi.com/newsroom

MONTREAL, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - CGI (TSX: GIB.A) (NYSE: GIB) has partnered with the Bank of Montreal (BMO) and the National Bank of Canada (NBC) to pilot the use of intelligent process automation in capturing, identifying and classifying documents as part of the CGI Trade360 global trade platform's transaction flow. The purpose of the pilot is to help these banks and others accelerate their digital transformation by automating paper document flows, ultimately improving their trade finance operations, compliance and relationship management. CGI collaborated with technology partner Conpend, a leading provider of artificial intelligence solutions for trade finance processes, in planning and executing the pilot project.

The pilot proved the integrated CGI Trade360 and Conpend solution increased efficiency and effectiveness of trade finance processes for the participating banks. The project team also documented accuracy and data capture rates as part of a broader set of metrics, which will be used to benchmark the commercial version of the Trade AI platform.

"We at BMO view this initiative as foundational in our ambition to be a digitally enabled Global Trade Finance business. Integration to our core CGI Trade360 platform will enhance operational efficiency and our client experience with this proven intelligent process automation. We appreciate the partnership with CGI and Conpend in our digital transformation journey," said Dean Gillis, Managing Director & Head, Global Trade, BMO.

"This pilot is very exciting for National Bank of Canada since it enables us to accelerate the deployment of digital solutions for our trade finance activities. We are confident this will improve our customers' experience while allowing us to be more efficient, flexible and agile in answering their ever evolving needs," said Normand D'Arcy, Senior Manager, International Services, National Bank of Canada.

Marc Smith, founder and director of Conpend, said: "Via our Trade AI application, Conpend provides digital transformation software to the trade finance industry  automating the processing of both digital and paper-based trade documentation. Working collaboratively with CGI Trade360, we are able to substantially and rapidly extend our reach to global financial institutions, many of whom have been struggling with the manual processing of documentation for decades."

Torben Sauer, CEO at Conpend, added: "This pilot is an excellent example of the Conpend-CGI partnership, and its success strongly demonstrates the transformative potential of Trade AI."

"Financial institutions have a growing need to accelerate their digitization initiatives to become more resilient and meet increased customer and employee expectations around digital capabilities and services," said Frank Tezzi, Vice-President of Trade and Supply Chain Solutions at CGI. "With this successful pilot, our client banks are able to empower their employees and refocus on high-value work while further digitizing trade finance processes and reducing costs."

About CGI Trade360

CGI Trade360 delivers all of the software, infrastructure and support resources necessary to power a bank's global trade business. Delivered as a software as a service (SaaS), CGI Trade360 enables banks to provide the full range of traditional trade, supply chain (payables, receivables), cash and collateral management services to their customersanywhere, anytimeon a single, integrated and global platform.

About CGI

Founded in 1976, CGI is among the largest independent IT and business consulting services firms in the world. With 78,000 consultants and other professionals across the globe, CGI delivers an end-to-end portfolio of capabilities, from strategic IT and business consulting to systems integration, managed IT and business process services and intellectual property solutions. CGI works with clients through a local relationship model complemented by a global delivery network that helps clients digitally transform their organizations and accelerate results. CGI Fiscal 2020 reported revenue is C$12.16 billion and CGI shares are listed on the TSX (GIB.A) and the NYSE (GIB). Learn more at cgi.com .

About Conpend

By automating document checking using AI and machine learning, Conpend's clients can streamline paper-based processes  providing operational efficiency as well as increasing competitiveness by freeing resources for more meaningful reallocation.

Conpend's TRADE AI app checks against International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) rules and undertakes compliance checking against the Bankers Association for Finance and Trade (BAFT) anti-money laundering (AML) guidelines and regulatory sanctions screening, including Office for Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). Conpend strives to be part of our clients' journey every step of the way  offering them the latest innovative solutions that will change their business for the better.

Visit conpend.com to find out more.



SOURCE CGI Inc.

Related Links

www.cgi.com


This 3D transportation grid zigzags across Chongqing's mountainous landscape. The masterminds behind these sprawling subway lines have had to deal with mountains, rivers and many challenging terrains. Where large mountains once stood in the way, the people have now pushed through with deep tunnels and high overpasses along the vast landscape.

Chongqing has the world's largest monorail equipment manufacturing base. Line 3 is the longest monorail line in the world, with a length of 67.09KM. The most famous mind-boggling monorail route in Chongqing is the world-famous Line 2, and the Liziba Station on Line 2 is an engineering masterpiece, where the monorail passes through a 19-story building. In fact, the building and station were built at the same time. Chongqing's monorails technology no longer requires any outside expertise. It's 95% locally patented.

Type AS subway train is also a local feature of Chongqing, which meets the needs of mountain climbing and small turning radius, with a capacity of 2322, some type AS trains have AC/DC dual pantographs, which can match the power supply system of different lines and reach a speed of 140Km/h.

In terms of efficiency, Express Train is also the first application in the country, which is able to cross between several specified lines via the interconnection system.

Chongqing's rail transit infrastructure is mainly carried out in Chongqing's metropolitan area, The metropolitan area covers an area of 28,700 square kilometers, with a population of 20.27 million and an economic aggregate of 1.8 trillion yuan, constituting the core carrier of Chongqing as a national central city.

Chongqing is building an "one-hour commuter circle," which includes suburban railways, intercity railways and national railways, in addition to monorails and subways, totaling more than 6,000 kilometers.

Chongqing and China are putting their money where their mouth is and investing billions into the future and its people. Both Chongqing and China recognize the vast advantages of infrastructure investments.

(Video link: https://youtu.be/_tEDrpptbug)

https://www.ichongqing.info/2021/10/17/chongqings-rail-your-ticket-to-the-future/

SOURCE iChongqing
SEOUL, South Korea and WASHINGTON, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The toy brand Mecard, which is developed with proprietary and patented technology owned by Korean toy-content company Choirock Contents Company Co., Ltd. (CEO: Jong-il Choi), prevailed on an appeal case filed by Spin Master, Ltd., a Canadian global toy company, in the United States. This victory likely puts an end to a series of global patent disputes between the two companies.

On October 12, 2021, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed the final written decisions of the United States Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) that invalidated all of the challenged claims of three "Bakugan" patents owned by Spin Master in inter partes review petitions filed by Choirock. Both the PTAB and Federal Circuit agreed with Choirock that Spin Master's patents are invalid.

In 2018, Spin Master sued US toy company, Mattel, Inc., in the United States, Canada, and Australia, among other jurisdictions, alleging that Mecard toys infringed Spin Master's "Bakugan" patents. Mattel was distributing Mecard toys in those countries through its license obtained from Choirock. Despite the PTAB's rulings that invalidated its "Bakugan" patents, Spin Master continued to obstruct Mecard's entrance into the global market by appealing the PTAB's rulings to the Federal Circuit. Spin Master's prolonged litigation against Choirock has obstructed Choirock's Mecard business for many years, and further caused Choirock to spend an immense cost to defend the Spin Master litigations.

In addition to its victory in the United States, Choirock has won all of its other global patent disputes with Spin Master in China and Europe. An Italian Court (EU) and the Supreme Court of China also ruled that Spin Master's EU patent is unpatentable and that Mecard toys do not infringe Spin Master's Chinese patent, respectively. These rulings effectively put an end to the parties' legal fights in China and the EU. The recent ruling of the Federal Circuit in the U.S. re-confirmed that Spin Master's "Bakugan" patents lack patentability because they are nothing more than a combination of previously developed or known toy technologies.

Having successfully lifted Spin Master's obstruction of Choirock's global toy business, the Mecard brand now likely secures even more dominance in the toy-content market with the addition of its latest product, MecardBall. Inspired by "Marbles Shooting," one of Korea's popular traditional games, MecardBall utilizes a high-tech skill for causing an instant transformation of a toy from a car into a robot when the car embraces a marble. MecardBall is continuing the success of TurningMecard.

Choirock owns intellectual property rights associated with the Mecard brand. Choirock announced that "with our recent victory on the US appeal, we have successfully overcome all of the legal barriers that were raised by Spin Master. Mecard was awarded 'The Best Selling Toy in Korea' (Certified by Korea Record Institute) and has various lines of products. With the addition of MecardBall, which is already drawing attention in the toy industry, the company will accelerate its plan to launch Mecard in the global market and expects to see a positive response from the industry."

Like "Squid Game," a drama series streaming on Netflix that introduced Korea's traditional play culture and games to the world, the company hopes that Mecard brand also contributes to spreading Korea's traditional play culture and games to the world. Mecard brand is similar to "Squid Game" in the sense that Mecard has been applying Korea's play culture and games since its inception.

SOURCE Choirock Contents Company Co., Ltd.
SAN DIEGO, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- As the Citizen CPR Foundation's Cardiac Arrest Survival Summit approaches, the Foundation is thrilled to announce a Summit milestone: the first-ever Signature Sponsor, ZOLL Medical Corporation.

"We were excited to already have ZOLL on board as a platinum sponsor of the Cardiac Arrest Survival Summit," said Foundation President Stu Berger. "Through continued discussions, ZOLL's passion for the critical lifesaving work that happens at the Summit became even clearer, and we worked together to create an exciting opportunity that gives ZOLL a more significant role in the Citizen CPR Foundation's signature event."

Nurses, doctors, first responders, bystanders, sudden cardiac arrest survivors, researchers, scientists and anyone passionate about saving more lives from sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) will gather in San Diego, Dec. 7-10. The Cardiac Arrest Survival Summit is the only opportunity to learn, collaborate on and implement the latest resuscitation science across the full chain of survival.

"We're continually impressed by the caliber of speakers and the insights shared at the Cardiac Arrest Survival Summit," said Elijah White, President, ZOLL Resuscitation. "Events such as this help advance emergency care and are aligned with ZOLL's focus on improving patient outcomes and helping save more lives."

In fact, ZOLL's focus on clinicians, EMS and fire professionals, and lay rescuers aligns with several targeted learning tracks available at Summit 2021, including:

Resuscitation Education: Science, Implementation and Innovation

Hospital: Clinical Challenges and Innovations

EMS, Fire & Law Enforcement: Public Safety Challenges and Innovations

Community Strategies and Survivorship: Engagement, Awareness and Support

For more information on the Cardiac Arrest Survival Summit, including a full agenda, list of speakers and registration details, please visit http://bit.ly/CCPRFSummit2021 .

About the Citizen CPR Foundation

Founded in 1987, the mission of the Citizen CPR Foundation is to save lives from sudden cardiac arrest by stimulating effective community, professional and citizen action. The non-profit foundation is supported by donations, including the generous funding of the Citizen CPR Foundation's Partner Council, each member of which helps to advance the foundation's life-saving mission through strategic collaborations, initiatives and outreach. The Partner Council includes AED Superstore, the American Heart Association, the American Red Cross, Brayden by Innosonian Inc., Defibtech, Laerdal Medical, MD Solutions International, NASCO Healthcare, Philips, PRESTAN Products, WorldPoint and ZOLL. Every two years, the Citizen CPR Foundation holds its international Cardiac Arrest Survival Summit, formerly the Emergency Cardiovascular Care Update (ECCU), which features the latest information and trends in cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

About ZOLL

ZOLL, an Asahi Kasei company, develops and markets medical devices and software solutions that help advance emergency care and save lives, while increasing clinical and operational efficiencies. With products for defibrillation and cardiac monitoring, circulation enhancement and CPR feedback, supersaturated oxygen therapy, data management, ventilation, and therapeutic temperature management, ZOLL provides a comprehensive set of technologies that help clinicians, EMS and fire professionals, as well as lay rescuers, improve patient outcomes in critical cardiopulmonary conditions. For more information, visit www.zoll.com.

Media Contact:

Katy Schamberger

[email protected]

816.809.4474

SOURCE Citizen CPR Foundation
LAS VEGAS, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- SUITEWORLD 2021 -- Clickstop, a multi-brand retailer serving a range of diverse markets, is using Oracle NetSuite to support its rapid growth. With NetSuite and NetSuite Analytics Warehouse, Clickstop has been able to successfully integrate multiple acquisitions, increase efficiencies by centralizing its business operations on a single platform, and make faster and more informed decisions as it continues to grow.

Learn more about the Clickstop story and get all the latest updates from SuiteWorld by registering for SuiteWorld On Air: netsuitesuiteworld.com/onair. By registering, attendees will have access to keynotes, NetSuite's two-day live broadcast, NetSuite TV, sessions and demos. Learn more about how the fastest-growing businesses are tackling challenges across finance, supply chain, inventory, and more.

Founded in 2005, Clickstop has grown from a basement in Iowa to a $50+ million company that now sells a wide range of products across diverse industries, from hot pepper seeds and plants to cargo equipment. After a series of acquisitions over the past decade, Clickstop's financial and inventory management systems became complex and difficult to manage. This made it extremely challenging for the Clickstop team to access the business insights they needed to make timely decisions as they continued their rapid growth. With NetSuite, Clickstop was able to address this challenge and quickly gain meaningful and actionable business insights from its financial and inventory management systems.

"Considering we grew from a $4 million company in 2009 to a $50+ million one today, we have always had ambitious growth plans  but our sluggish and error-prone data analysis and reporting were preventing us from reaching our goals," said Tom Altman, CTO, Clickstop. "By centralizing our financial and inventory management systems on NetSuite and using NetSuite Analytics Warehouse to analyze our data, we've been able to gain and act on invaluable business insights much faster than before. With a comprehensive picture of the health of our business at any given moment, NetSuite has undoubtedly been one of the keys to our rapid growth over the past decade."

With NetSuite, Clickstop was able to centralize enterprise resource planning (ERP), accounting, and inventory management on a single business platform. This has helped Clickstop significantly increase the accuracy of its financial and inventory management data and reduce the time required to generate actionable reports. In addition, with NetSuite Analytics Warehouse, Clickstop has been able to improve the speed and accuracy of its data analysis, which has helped it make faster and more informed business decisions. For example, Clickstop anticipates that NetSuite Analytics Warehouse will help it produce reports 60 percent faster than before.

"Clickstop's rapid growth is impressive, especially considering that the retail industry is such a competitive market," said Evan Goldberg, EVP, Oracle NetSuite. "With NetSuite, the Clickstop team has a single platform to run their entire business and are able to take advantage of comprehensive data analytics and reporting capabilities to continue the journey towards their ambitious growth goals."

About Oracle NetSuite

For more than 20 years, Oracle NetSuite has helped organizations grow, scale and adapt to change. NetSuite provides an integrated system that includes financials / Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), inventory management, HR, professional services automation and omnichannel commerce, used by more than 27,000 customers in 215 countries and dependent territories.

Learn more at https://www.netsuite.com. Like us on Facebook, and follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter.

SOURCE Oracle NetSuite
CHICAGO, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- CNA Financial Corporation (NYSE: CNA) will report third quarter 2021 results before the market opens on Monday, November 1, 2021. The news release, earnings presentation and financial supplement will be available on CNA's website at www.cna.com. A conference call for investors and analysts is scheduled for 8 a.m. CT and will be hosted by Dino E. Robusto, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of CNA Financial Corporation.

A live webcast will be available via the Investor Relations section of www.cna.com. Those interested in participating in the question and answer session should dial (800) 289-0571, or for international callers, +1 (720) 543-0206. An online replay will also be available on CNA's website following the call.

About CNA

CNA is one of the largest U.S. commercial property and casualty insurance companies. Backed by more than 120 years of experience, CNA provides a broad range of standard and specialized insurance products and services for businesses and professionals in the U.S., Canada and Europe. For more information, please visit CNA at www.cna.com.

Follow CNA (NYSE: CNA) on: Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn | YouTube

Press Contacts

Chris Stroisch

CNA

[email protected]

309-660-6001

CNA Newsroom

[email protected]

312-822-5167

Analyst Contact

Amy C. Adams

CNA

[email protected]

312-822-5533

SOURCE CNA

Related Links

http://www.cna.com


SINGAPORE, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Metaverse Blockchain Fusion NFT company, Coinllectibles, a wholly owned subsidiary of Cosmos Group Holdings Inc. (OTC: COSG) is pleased to announce that it will launch the Fusion NFT Heritage Series 2 on 21 October 2021 at 12pm (GMT+8). The Heritage Series 2 will feature 4 rare Qing Dynasty era ceramic collectibles priced at US$972,000 collectively.

The 4 items that form the "Coinllectibles Heritage Pieces" are:

Lacquer Engraved Globular Shape Ceramic Vase with Gilded Dragons of the Qing Dynasty (19th Century) Blue-and-White Hua Gu Vase in Underglaze Red with Lotus Pattern Characteristic of the Qing Dynasty (19th Century) Apple-Shape Zun Vessel in Altar-Red Glaze of the Qing Dynasty (19th Century) Yu Hu Chun Vase in Altar-Red Glaze of the Qing Dynasty (19th Century)

Heritage Series 2 is an entire collection of Qing Dynasty era ceramic collectibles. For information, the art of ceramics reached its zenith during the Qianlong reign in the Qing dynasty, and the emperor's obsession with refined, artful pieces helped promote the development of the craft. An example is the "Lacquer Engraved Globular Shape Ceramic Vase with Gilded Dragons of the Qing Dynasty (19th Century)" that features dragons rising from the sea that soar among the clouds in red lacquer which suggest royal demeanour. The colour red was not only a common colour in engraved lacquerware but also conveyed imperial majesty. Interestingly, the "Blue-and-White Hua Gu Vase in Underglaze Red with Lotus Pattern Characteristic of the Qing Dynasty (19th Century)" also uses the colour red as an underglaze mixed with blue and white porcelain to craft the masterpiece that it is today.

Within the Heritage Series 2 collection, there were 2 pieces  the "Apple-Shape Zun Vessel in Altar-Red Glaze of the Qing Dynasty (19th Century)" and the "Yu Hu Chun Vase in Altar-Red Glaze of the Qing Dynasty (19th Century)"  which were sent overseas and later were returned to China. These two ceramics are wrapped in altar-red glazed porcelain which was particularly favoured in traditional Chinese ceramics. Historically, bright-red glazed porcelain found favour among the nobility.

More details of the 4 Fusion NFTs Heritage Series 2 can be accessed from the following link: https://www.coinllectibles.art/en/new-launch.

Commenting on the launch of Heritage Series 2, Nancy Wong, Chief Assets Officer of Coinllectibles said, "This is a special launch where we feature all ceramics exclusively from the Qing Dynasty. Following the success from our previous launch where we saw a quick take-up of the "Heritage Pieces", we decided to bring an entire series of rare Qing Dynasty pieces. These 4 items have been certified by renowned Hong Kong appraisers as being made in the 19th Century and we believe they would be of great value to art collectors."

Chai Kok Young Chief Technology Officer of Coinllectibles added, "All the Qing Dynasty pieces in Heritage Series 2 will have NFC tags embedded within the Qing Dynasty pieces. The NFC tag consists of a UUID (universally unique identifier) which will display provenance records on the NFC tag server. This is on top of the Gold Standard process where we have the sale and purchase agreement, bailment terms, transfer deed, ownership title deed, and the unequivocal identification file of the underlying asset, whose ownership is reflected in the title deed represented by the Fusion NFT."

Akin to all Fusion NFTs, buyers will receive both the digital Fusion NFT as well as the physical art piece. Similarly, Fusion NFT owners may choose to either take possession of the art piece or showcase the physical item in Asia's first Fusion NFT gallery in K11 MUSEA, Hong Kong. All the pieces for Fusion NFT will be sold on a fixed price basis.

For pre-registration of interest for Coinllectibles Fusion NFTs Heritage Series 2, please visit www.Coinllectibles.Art or join the Coinllectibles Telegram Channel at https://t.me/Coinllectibles.

About Cosmos Group Holdings Inc

Cosmos is a business group that operates in two business segments:

Arts and Collectibles





Financing

Through CoinllectiblesTM, the group provides authentication, valuation and certification (AVC) service, sale and purchase, hire purchase, financing, custody, security and exhibition (CSE) services to art buyers through traditional channels, as well as through leveraging blockchain technology through the creation of non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

With subsidiaries licensed under Hong Kong's Money Lenders Ordinance, the group currently primarily provides unsecured personal loan to private individuals, with a small portfolio of mortgage loans.

The group is integrating the two business segments by offering secured financing services to prospective art and collectibles purchasers to provide a one-stop arts and collectibles purchasing and financing experience.

About the Company  Coinllectibles

Coinllectibles is an ACT (Arts and Collectibles Technology) company, which is redefining how the world thinks about art and collectible ownership in the digital age.

Their minted curated Fusion NFTs, capture all the rights and independent valuation and ownership of physical arts and collectibles securely underpinned by smart contracts stored on the blockchain.

Coinllectibles Fusion NFTs bridge the physical and virtual dimensions of the arts and collectibles market, providing a pleasurable, transparent, and frictionless experience to customers from all walks of life.

Website: www.coinllectibles.art

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Coinllectibles

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/coinllectibles/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/coinllectibles

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/coinllectibles

Telegram: https://t.me/Coinllectibles

About Coinllectibles Fusion NFT

Coinllectibles prides the Fusion NFT as the industry "Gold Standard". Being a Gold Standard, a Fusion NFT contains the following on the Inter Planetary File System (IPFS)  (1) a sale and purchase agreement reflecting the purchase, by the person minting the Fusion NFT, of the underlying asset at a fair value with all rights and restrictions clearly detailed, (2) bailment terms governing the rights to possession whilst the underlying asset remains with Coinllectibles, (3) a transfer deed reflecting the transfer of the ownership of the underlying asset (together with all rights and restrictions) by the transferor to the holder of the Fusion NFT, (4) ownership title deed written into the description of the Fusion NFT and (5) the unequivocal identification file of the underlying asset, whose ownership is reflected in the title deed represented by the Fusion NFT.

For media queries, please contact:

Ms Rachel Lim

Marketing & PR

[email protected]

SOURCE Cosmos Group Holdings Inc.
LONDON, SAN FRANCISCO, and SINGAPORE, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- ConveGenius has raised $5M USD in Venture Capital funding to grow its conversational AI platform in India and South-East Asian markets.

The company first launched its conversational AI platform in 2020 with a focus on providing a tailor-fit EdTech solution that offers an adaptive Whatsapp-based learning system for K-12 students from lower tier cities, who has been deeply affected by school closures amidst the COVID pandemic. Within a year of launch, Its EdTech solution has blitzscaled to 14 million monthly active users with 35 million daily conversations, catering to 10 different languages and continues to grow at a rapid pace.

With this round of funding, Convegenius.AI aims to expand its products on Whatsapp ecosystem and other Conversational AI based channels beyond EdTech, to service more customers across different verticals and allow developers to launch their solutions on the platform. ConveGenius AI will also continue to strengthen its AI / ML capabilities and is currently in advanced talks with multiple businesses to deliver sector-focused solutions to over 500 million users currently active on different chat platforms.

This funding round was led by new investors, BAce Capital, Heritas Capital and 3Lines Venture Capital as well as existing investor, Michael and Susan Dell Foundation.

Quotes by Stakeholders:

"As schools were closed over prolonged periods during the pandemic, we believe that ConveGenius is well placed to tackle the learning crisis and gaps that have severely impacted students across India and in other emerging markets in the region. We are pleased to support ConveGenius in their mission to further scale their impactful solutions, providing greater access to affordable quality education for all," said Ms. Janet Chia , Head of Venture Capital at Heritas Capital.

said Ms. , Head of Venture Capital at Heritas Capital. "ConveGenius has focused on the broad and hitherto unserved market of 235M students who belong to the first-generation mobile internet users with households using smartphones and mobile devices for the first time. Its focus on mass market users and democratisation of personalised content distribution by building conversational user experiences for mobile devices has created a niche segment for innovation and value creation ," said Pallab Chatterjee , Chairman 3 Lines VC Rocket Fund.

said , Chairman 3 Lines VC Rocket Fund. "The Dell Foundation first invested in the company in 2016 and we believe this is the right time to take the product to millions of children by launching the direct-to-consumer (D2C) version ," says Prachi Windlass (Director, Michael & Susan Dell Foundation).

says Prachi Windlass (Director, Michael & Susan Dell Foundation). "We are excited to execute on our mission to take our value proposition to one billion users globally and make knowledge and content accessible for all in a one-click experience ," said Jairaj Bhattacharya , the CEO of ConveGenius.

SOURCE ConveGenius International
"The Premier network includes many of the top hospitals in the nation, and we are thrilled to provide its members access to the RESPOND Ventilator," stated Richard S. Walsh, CEO of CorVent Medical. "Over the last few years hospital respiratory needs have shifted to require more streamlined, flexible systems that have a lower cost of ownership. The RESPOND Ventilator meets that need with ICU-quality respiratory support in a reliable, easy-to-use system that does not require service and maintenance plans."

The RESPOND Ventilator expands critical care ventilation capacity to meet day-to-day demands and overflow ventilation needs in one easy-to-use, lightweight system. Designed to meet individual patient needs, the sophisticated system includes mandatory, assist, and spontaneous ventilation modes as well as built-in safeguards. Compatible with all low flow oxygen sources, the streamlined system enables efficient staff training and is ready to ventilate in under 10 minutes. In addition, the RESPOND Ventilator filters out 99.9% of viral pathogens to protect both patients and staff. Built in the US, the robust design eliminates the need for maintenance and service requirements, providing hospitals significant savings.

Premier is a leading healthcare improvement company, uniting an alliance of more than 4,400 U.S. hospitals and approximately 225,000 other providers and organizations to transform healthcare. With integrated data and analytics, collaboratives, supply chain solutions, and consulting and other services, Premier enables better care and outcomes at a lower cost.

About CorVent Medical, Inc.

CorVent Medical, a privately held portfolio company of medtech incubator Coridea LLC, is committed to developing versatile, lifesaving ventilators for critical care. The company's first product, the RESPOND Ventilator, provides ICU-quality respiratory support that expands ventilation capacity with reliable and affordable deployment when you need it most. The streamlined system enables sophisticated ventilation that includes lifesaving, life sustaining and weaning capabilities with excellent infection control. The robust, lightweight system eliminates the need for costly service and maintenance plans and was designed in partnership with Design Catapult and built in California in collaboration with Design Catapult Manufacturing. The RESPOND Ventilator has FDA Emergency Use Authorization (EUA), is CE Marked, and is available for sale in countries that accept those regulatory approvals. To learn more, please visit www.corventmedical.com.

SOURCE CorVent Medical, Inc/SPRIG Consulting

Related Links

http://www.corventmedical.com/


DENVER, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released its latest report last summer on the state of the warming planet, declaring: "It is unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ocean, and land." Findings from the report  approved by 195 governments and based on more than 14,000 studies  also showed that aggressive, rapid, and widespread cuts to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, if they begin immediately, could limit warming beyond 2050. In response to the grim forecast, Keith Walzak, Director of Urban Planning and Landscape Architecture at the multidisciplinary design firm Cushing Terrell, calls for reforms to include:

More conscious and thoughtful land-use planning

Enhanced research and education regarding land-use development

Strengthened partnerships between design firms, city leaders, developers, and financing institutions

Walzak's call to action: "Now, we need to go deeper than all-electric homes, solar panels, and recycled materials; we need to focus on why, where, and how to build in general. This means rethinking the entire planning, design, and construction process as well as changing local development regulations and policies that currently promote urban sprawl development patterns."

Walzak identifies human-centered design, a defining characteristic of Cushing Terrell's multi-phased design process, as a key solution to the problem of expedient development. He notes, "Battling climate change through design, while having obvious implications for land use, is about centering development on the users. Designing for people's well-being tends to result in more conscious, sustainable design."

Read the full-text article.

About Cushing Terrell

Cushing Terrell was founded in 1938 on the belief that integrating architecture, engineering, and design opens the doors for deepened relationships and enhanced creativity. This foundation continues to define the multi-disciplinary firm today. Driven by empathy, the team works to design systems and spaces that help people live their best lives, achieve their visions, and enjoy healthy, sustainable built environments. With more than 425 team members and expertise across the commercial, education, government, healthcare, residential, and retail markets, the firm has offices in Colorado, Idaho, Louisiana, Minnesota, Montana, Texas, and Washington.

SOURCE Cushing Terrell

Related Links

https://www.cushingterrell.com/


SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Datatron announced today enhancements to its MLOps and AI governance solution, making it even easier for enterprises to catalog, operationalize, monitor and govern AI/ML models.

Click to Tweet: @datatron adds new functionality to Reliable AI platform for MLOps and AI governance https://datatron.com/platform/ #MLOps #ModelOps

With Datatron, customers experience 15 to 20 times more effectiveness in model deployment, bringing substantial business gains and productivity improvements. Datatron also eliminates the complexity and expense associated with constant iteration and management of many AI models at one time.

Key enhancements to the Datatron Reliable AI platform include:

ML Gateways: ML Gateways provide centralization and orchestration of models and data in complex, multi-tenant environments. It's designed to support a growing number of use cases, helping enterprises overcome challenges, including compliance, differing model technologies, and AI ownership across subsidiaries, partners, and internal data science teams

ML Gateways provide centralization and orchestration of models and data in complex, multi-tenant environments. It's designed to support a growing number of use cases, helping enterprises overcome challenges, including compliance, differing model technologies, and AI ownership across subsidiaries, partners, and internal data science teams Customer-defined KPIs: This enables enterprises to define their own formulas for continuous analysis of statistics and measures, set thresholds for warning and alert conditions, and include KPIs in the central governance dashboard

This enables enterprises to define their own formulas for continuous analysis of statistics and measures, set thresholds for warning and alert conditions, and include KPIs in the central governance dashboard Explainability with confidence: This unique innovation is a departure from many theoretical exercises by others. Datatron builds in a confidence score that is used against explainability, helping customers understand what data was relevant in the results and the level of trust one can place in those results

This unique innovation is a departure from many theoretical exercises by others. Datatron builds in a confidence score that is used against explainability, helping customers understand what data was relevant in the results and the level of trust one can place in those results Native Jupyter support: Supports direct import of Jupyter notebooks by data scientists to silently run alongside current models to get faster validation of fit, making all the governance metrics available before the model goes live

Supports direct import of Jupyter notebooks by data scientists to silently run alongside current models to get faster validation of fit, making all the governance metrics available before the model goes live Rapid setup and deployment: A new five-step guided process allows customers to run a selected model in production as APIs for real-time inferencing or scheduled batches in less than 10 minutes

Zack Fragoso, manager, data science and AI, Domino's, said: "At Domino's, we understood very early on that for our AI initiatives to be successful, it was important to bridge the skill sets gap between the different data scientist teams and IT organizations. Not only does Datatron's platform make this possible, but it also enables us to implement strong MLOps to rapidly operationalize our machine learning models."

Harish Doddi, CEO, Datatron, said: "Despite all the readily available open source MLOps frameworks, building your own MLOps infrastructure from scratch is no trivial task. Constant iteration and management of many AI models can be incredibly complex and expensive. That's why we're dedicated to making it even easier than ever for enterprises to operationalize, monitor and govern a large number of AI models."

About Datatron

Founded in 2016, Datatron's centralized AI ModelOps and Model Governance platform helps organizations unlock the value of their machine learning and artificial intelligence investments. With Datatron's Reliable AI platform, customers harness the power of AI and ML by automating and standardizing the deployment, monitoring, governance, and validation of all AI models developed in any environment. Industry leaders in financial services, insurance, pharmaceutical, and food and drinks rely on Datatron to operationalize and govern AI solutions at scale, producing predictable, rapid and reliable business outcomes. Datatron is a privately held, venture-backed company headquartered in San Francisco, California. For more information, please visit www.datatron.com or follow @datatron .

Media Contact:

Corey Eldridge

[email protected]

SOURCE Datatron

Related Links

https://www.datatron.com


ATLANTA, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Davidson Hospitality Group has newly appointed Rick Colangelo to head its lifestyle operating vertical, Pivot, which encompasses independent and soft brand properties in 15 states throughout the U.S. As Executive Vice President, Colangelo is responsible for driving the overall success and bottom-line results for the premier hospitality management company's lifestyle & luxury operating division. Among his focus areas will be furthering strategic portfolio growth, expanding brand equity, and directing operating standards across the hotels and restaurants managed under Pivot.

"With his demonstrated ability to elevate lifestyle hotels and his commitment to operational excellence, Rick is a best-in-class leader who is well-suited to chart the path that will take Pivot into its next great chapter," said Davidson Hospitality Group COO Pete Sams. "Rick's comprehensive industry perspective, creative dynamism and highly specialized expertise in the lifestyle space will be invaluable to our ownership partners, team members and guests in redefining the way quality and innovative hospitality is delivered."

Building his career at both global and emerging hospitality companies, Colangelo has extensive experience and an established reputation in the industry's lifestyle sector. He most recently served as Senior Vice President of Operations at Virgin Hotels where he spearheaded the brand's growth, opening hotels in Dallas, Nashville, Las Vegas and most recently New Orleans. His resume also includes stints at Hyatt Hotels Corporation, overseeing the brand's lifestyle portfolio as Senior Vice President of Field Operations, and at Two Roads Hospitality where he led the evolution of the Thompson and Joie de Vivre brands as Executive Vice President. There, he played an integral role in the company's nationwide expansion while continuing to add value to the portfolio's existing 35 hotels and resorts. Prior to that, Colangelo held an 11-year tenure at Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants during which he grew the brand's footprint in the Northeast, South Florida and Texas markets.

Colangelo currently serves on the Hospitality and Tourism Management Advisory Board for the Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

About Pivot

Pivot is the lifestyle operating vertical of Davidson Hospitality Group. With a deep-rooted passion for continuous innovation, Pivot offers exceptional service delivery, revenue generation, integrated marketing and financial responsibility. Constituted by some of the most accomplished leaders in lifestyle hospitality, Pivot caters to today's independent, adventure-minded traveler through approachable design, locally-inspired food and beverage, intuitive, heartfelt service and authentic experiences at each of its properties. For more information, visit www.davidsonhospitality.com/pivot. Follow us on Instagram: @davidsonhospitality and Twitter: @DavidsonHospGrp. Like us on Facebook: @DavidsonHospitalityGroup. Connect with us on LinkedIn: @DavidsonHospitalityGroup. #PivotHotels

About Davidson Hospitality Group

Davidson Hospitality Group is an award-winning, full-service hospitality management company comprised of 67 existing hotels and resorts; more than 165 restaurants, bars and lounges; and nearly 1.5 million square feet of meeting space across the United States. A trusted partner and preferred operator for Hilton, Hyatt, Kimpton, Marriott, and Margaritaville, Davidson offers a unique entrepreneurial management style and owners' mentality that provides the individualized personal service of a small company, enhanced by the breadth and depth of skill and experience of a larger company. In keeping with the company's heritage of delivering value, Davidson Hospitality Group is comprised of four highly specialized operating verticals: Davidson Hotels, Pivot, Davidson Resorts and Davidson Restaurant Group. For more information, visit www.davidsonhospitality.com. Follow us on Instagram: @davidsonhospitality and Twitter: @DavidsonHospGrp. Like us on Facebook: @DavidsonHospitalityGroup. Connect with us on LinkedIn: @DavidsonHospitalityGroup. #DavidsonHospitality

Media contact:

Kevinie Woo PR

[email protected]

310-270-5675

SOURCE Davidson Hospitality Group

Related Links

http://www.davidsonhospitality.com


DENVER, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- DaVita Inc. (NYSE: DVA), announced today that it will hold its quarterly conference call to discuss third quarter results on Thursday, October 28, 2021, at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time. The company plans to release its results after market close the same day.

This call is also being webcast and can be accessed at the DaVita IR web page. You can join this call as follows:

Thursday, October 28, 2021

Starting at 5:00 p.m. EDT

Dial in number: 877-918-6630

International dial in: 517-308-9042

Webcast: investors.davita.com

When calling in, please provide the operator the password "Earnings" and provide your name and company affiliation. Investors unable to listen to the conference call will be able to access a replay via our website at investors.davita.com. There will be no telephone replay.

About DaVita Inc.

DaVita (NYSE: DVA) is a health care provider focused on transforming care delivery to improve quality of life for patients globally. The company is one of the largest providers of kidney care services in the U.S. and has been a leader in clinical quality and innovation for more than 20 years. DaVita cares for patients at every stage and setting along their kidney health journeyfrom slowing the progression of kidney disease to helping to support transplantation, from acute hospital care to dialysis at home. As of June 30, 2021, DaVita served 204,300 patients at 2,828 outpatient dialysis centers in the United States. The company also operated 331 outpatient dialysis centers in ten countries worldwide. DaVita has reduced hospitalizations, improved mortality, and worked collaboratively to propel the kidney care industry to adopt an equitable and high-quality standard of care for all patients, everywhere. To learn more, visit DaVita.com/About.

Contact Information

Investors:

Jim Gustafson

[email protected]

SOURCE DaVita

Related Links

http://www.davita.com


DENVER, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- DaVita Inc. (NYSE: DVA), announced today that it will host a virtual Capital Markets Day on Tuesday, November 16, 2021, from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Eastern Time.

A direct link to the webcast is: https://davita.zoom.us/j/86374282834?pwd=WTc0MDNaSEZaUnRIZ3ErZ0N6YjUxdz09

The event will be broadcast live via webcast on our web site at investors.davita.com. Investors who are unable to listen live will be able to access a replay of the presentation via our website.

About DaVita Inc.

DaVita (NYSE: DVA) is a health care provider focused on transforming care delivery to improve quality of life for patients globally. The company is one of the largest providers of kidney care services in the U.S. and has been a leader in clinical quality and innovation for more than 20 years. DaVita cares for patients at every stage and setting along their kidney health journeyfrom slowing the progression of kidney disease to helping to support transplantation, from acute hospital care to dialysis at home. As of June 30, 2021, DaVita served 204,300 patients at 2,828 outpatient dialysis centers in the United States. The company also operated 331 outpatient dialysis centers in ten countries worldwide. DaVita has reduced hospitalizations, improved mortality, and worked collaboratively to propel the kidney care industry to adopt an equitable and high-quality standard of care for all patients, everywhere. To learn more, visit DaVita.com/About.

Contact Information

Investors:

Jim Gustafson

[email protected]

SOURCE DaVita

Related Links

http://www.davita.com


BOSTON, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- DepositLink, the premier provider of electronic payment solutions for the real estate industry, appoints Chris Mackey to directorship serving on the board.

Mr. Mackey is the founder of MackeyRMS , a leading provider of SaaS-based research management software for investment professionals. Chris led strategy and operations as CEO for over a decade and oversaw a client roster consisting of users in 30+ countries managing ~$2.5T in assets.

"We are thrilled to welcome Chris to the board and look forward to leveraging his expertise as we propel DepositLink forward," said Jay Rooney, CEO & Founder.

Under Chris' leadership, the company announced a strategic equity partnership with Resurgens Technology Partners in 2019 and a merger with InsiderScore in 2021 to create a best-of-breed investment and research management data, analytics, and software platform. Chris currently serves on the Board of Directors for both MackeyRMS and InsiderScore.

Mr. Mackey received his BA from Harvard University and his MBA from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management.

"Chris' relevant experience and success with founding, growing, and exiting a tech startup will add tremendous value to DepositLink," said Darrell West, CFO & Co-founder.

About DepositLink

DepositLink is a mobile responsive digital payments solution for real estate businesses. With DepositLink, real estate and title companies can collect earnest money deposits, send and request commission payments, issue refunds, and request rental deposits electronically. Payments made on DepositLink's platform deliver good funds through the ACH network in less than one business day. www.depositlink.com

Media Contact:

Christina Kline

Director of Marketing

[email protected]

SOURCE DepositLink

Related Links

https://www.depositlink.com


CHARLOTTE, N.C., Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK) has been ranked No. 1 among U.S. utilities for investor transparency in 2021 by an independent global communications firm that specializes in corporate disclosure documents.

Atlanta-based Labrador reviewed the proxy statements, SEC Form 10-K filings and website investor pages of all S&P 250 companies  the nation's 250 largest companies based on market capitalization.

The firm ranked Duke Energy's disclosure documents No. 1 for investor transparency among the nation's utilities  and No. 7 among all companies  based on quality and completeness of information.

"For the 3rd consecutive year, Duke Energy scored among the Top 20 for overall corporate transparency," Labrador said. "It's clear that Duke Energy places an emphasis on providing clear and meaningful disclosure to its stakeholders. The company goes beyond regulation, and provides the additional information key stakeholders are seeking."

"Each year, the (ranking) criteria evolve and address more issues as the needs of the investor community grow, but the mission of these awards remains the same: Transparency creates confidence and therefore value for companies and their stakeholders," Labrador added.

The review covers various criteria that reflect what Labrador calls "the four pillars of transparency"  accessibility, precision, comparability and availability.

"Duke Energy makes transparency a top priority," said Kodwo Ghartey-Tagoe, Duke Energy executive vice president, chief legal officer and corporate secretary. "Providing clear, complete and easily accessible information to our customers, investors and the general public is a cornerstone of our company's commitment to integrity and openness."

Duke Energy web pages and documents reviewed by Labrador include:

Duke Energy

Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK), a Fortune 150 company headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., is one of America's largest energy holding companies. Its electric utilities serve 7.9 million customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky, and collectively own 51,000 megawatts of energy capacity. Its natural gas unit serves 1.6 million customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Ohio and Kentucky. The company employs 27,500 people.

Duke Energy is executing an aggressive clean energy strategy to create a smarter energy future for its customers and communities  with goals of at least a 50 percent carbon reduction by 2030 and net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. The company is a top U.S. renewable energy provider, on track to own or purchase 16,000 megawatts of renewable energy capacity by 2025. The company also is investing in major electric grid upgrades and expanded battery storage, and exploring zero-emitting power generation technologies such as hydrogen and advanced nuclear.

Duke Energy was named to Fortune's 2021 "World's Most Admired Companies" list and Forbes' "America's Best Employers" list. More information is available at duke-energy.com. The Duke Energy News Center contains news releases, fact sheets, photos and videos. Duke Energy's illumination features stories about people, innovations, community topics and environmental issues. Follow Duke Energy on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook.

Media contact: Dave Scanzoni

800.559.3853

SOURCE Duke Energy

Related Links

http://www.duke-energy.com


The new capital will be used to drive additional growth through investments in product development, customer service and company culture. Furthering its mission to make IT easy for small businesses, Electric plans to expand its partner and integration ecosystem and extend its IT management platform, providing more proactive tools for customers to efficiently manage employees, networks, devices and applications.

"We're focused on building a company that can lead the market for a very long time," said CEO and founder Ryan Denehy. "Our existing investors share that vision, so we were thrilled to be able to complete the Series D without bringing on any new capital partners. It's a testament to the belief everyone around the table has in our technology and Electric's future."

When Electric was founded in 2016, the average SMB had eight SaaS applications running simultaneously; today, that number is 88. IT is an acute pain point for small businesses navigating hybrid work scenarios, particularly given the rise in security threats and the proliferation of SaaS applications. Electric simplifies IT for small businesses, giving them a single platform to view, purchase and manage their entire IT infrastructure, as well as real-time support to free them from daily IT tasks that drain resources.

"The complexity of IT for SMBs has gone way up in the last 5-10 years, and is not going back," said Jeff Richards, Managing Partner at GGV Capital. "SMBs spend $300-400 billion a year on IT in the US alone, a number that will continue to grow for decades as every industry is transformed by digitization, which only accelerated in the pandemic. In a recent survey we did of US SMB's, 68% said their IT budget is increasing in 2021 vs 2020, and 71% said remote work had impacted their IT budget. We've been lucky to watch Ryan and his team build Electric from the Series B and are thrilled to be more than doubling down to lead this new round of financing."

The Series D comes on the heels of Electric's acquisition of Techvera, its second in less than a year following the acquisition of Sinu in November 2020. While important to any business, growth for the sake of growth has never been Electric's mission; both acquisitions were made strategically to further expand product offerings and market presence on its path towards becoming the top IT technology provider in the country. In order to get there, the team is focused on scaling responsibly with customer service and employee wellness at the forefront.

In addition to acquisitions, the last 12 months of hypergrowth at Electric have resulted in 183% increase in headcount (up to 444 employees) and a 111% increase in annual recurring revenue (ARR), Forrester's Total Economic Impact report demonstrates that Electric delivers 105% return on investment (ROI) with a six-month payback for its clients. Electric currently supports over 700 customers and 40,000 end users, including Morning Brew, Pacific Catch and Social Fly.

On October 28, Electric will be hosting its inaugural conference, Elevate, bringing together powerful changemakers to educate and inspire attendees to elevate the world around them. Emmy award-winning writer, actor, director and producer Dan Levy will be delivering an exclusive Q&A and Tara Goldman, SVP of Product at Electric, will be giving the product keynote speech to further discuss how the Series D investment will be focused. For more information about Elevate, visit https://learn.electric.ai/elevate/ .

To learn more about Electric, visit electric.ai .

About Electric

Electric is the industry leader in providing world-class IT technology and real-time support for small and mid-sized businesses. With over 700 customers and more than 40,000 employee end-users, Electric's IT platform includes: real-time support powered by 100+ IT technicians, security, device & inventory management, network & server management, application & cloud management, employee on-boarding and off-boarding, procurement & provisioning, and data monitoring & insights. Electric is funded by an all-star team of investors including: Bessemer Venture Partners, GGV Capital, 01 Advisors, Primary Venture Partners, Bowery Capital, Slack, Atreides Management, Vintage Investment Partners, and Greenspring Associates. For more information, visit www.electric.ai .

About GGV Capital:

GGV Capital is a global venture firm that invests in local founders, managing $9.2 billion with investments in the United States, Canada, China, Southeast Asia, India, Latin America, and Israel from offices in Silicon Valley, San Francisco, Singapore, Shanghai, and Beijing. As a multi-stage, sector-focused firm, GGV Capital invests in seed-to-growth stage companies across three sectors: Social/Internet, Enterprise Tech, and Smart Tech. Over the past two decades, the firm has backed more than 400 companies around the world, including Affirm, Airbnb, Alibaba, Big Commerce, Grab, HashiCorp, Hello, Keep, Kujiale, NIU, Opendoor Technologies, Peloton, Poshmark, Slack, Square, StockX, Udaan, Wish, Xpeng, Zendesk and more. More information at www.ggvc.com and @ggvcapital.

Press contacts:

Kayla Perkins; N6A on behalf of Electric

[email protected]

978-870-3598

Christine Hinton on behalf GGV Capital

[email protected]

SOURCE Electric

Related Links

electric.ai


For each pathway, the average and median charge amount and estimated allowed amount are given:

Average: The value computed by dividing the sum of all the values by the number of values.

The value computed by dividing the sum of all the values by the number of values. Median: The midpoint of the distribution of values below and above which there is an equal number of values.

The midpoint of the distribution of values below and above which there is an equal number of values. Charge amount: The amount charged to a patient who is uninsured or obtaining an out-of-network service.

The amount charged to a patient who is uninsured or obtaining an out-of-network service. Estimated allowed amount: The estimated total fee negotiated between an insurance plan and a provider for an in-network service. It includes both the portion to be paid by the plan member and the portion to be paid by the plan.

The new tool offers two views:

State-by-state profiles: Click on a state in the map for a state-specific infographic displaying the average and median charge amount and estimated allowed amount for all three COVID-19 treatment pathways.

Click on a state in the map for a state-specific infographic displaying the average and median charge amount and estimated allowed amount for all three COVID-19 treatment pathways. National heat maps: Each of six heat maps shows the average and median costs for a single COVID-19 treatment pathway by state for either in-network or out-of-network values. Shading on the maps indicates ranges, with the darkest states those where the median total treatment costs are highest.

The tool uses data from the most recent release of FH Total Treatment Cost COVID-19 benchmarks. The benchmarks, in turn, are based on FAIR Health's vast repository of private healthcare claims, the largest such database in the nation.

COVID-19 Medical and Hospitalization Costs by State are the latest addition to States by the Numbers, FAIR Health's series of geographic windows into healthcare data. Previous examples of States by the Numbers include the ongoing Monthly Telehealth Regional Tracker, which tracks telehealth utilization by region across the nation, and Opioid Abuse and Dependence: State-by-State, an interactive, geographic study of opioid abuse and dependence.

FAIR Health President Robin Gelburd stated: "FAIR Health is pleased to launch COVID-19 Medical and Hospitalization Costs by State as a public service to provide stakeholders with valuable insights into pandemic-related healthcare spending. We hope that the tool inspires further research and informs policy making and is otherwise put to practical use."

For COVID-19 Medical and Hospitalization Costs by State, click here.

Follow us on Twitter @FAIRHealth

About FAIR Health

FAIR Health is a national, independent nonprofit organization that qualifies as a public charity under section 501(c)(3) of the federal tax code. It is dedicated to bringing transparency to healthcare costs and health insurance information through data products, consumer resources and health systems research support. FAIR Health possesses the nation's largest collection of private healthcare claims data, which includes over 35 billion claim records and is growing at a rate of over 2 billion claim records a year. FAIR Health licenses its privately billed data and data productsincluding benchmark modules, data visualizations, custom analytics and market indicesto commercial insurers and self-insurers, employers, providers, hospitals and healthcare systems, government agencies, researchers and others. Certified by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) as a national Qualified Entity, FAIR Health also receives data representing the experience of all individuals enrolled in traditional Medicare Parts A, B and D; FAIR Health includes among the private claims data in its database, data on Medicare Advantage enrollees. FAIR Health can produce insightful analytic reports and data products based on combined Medicare and commercial claims data for government, providers, payors and other authorized users. FAIR Health's systems for processing and storing protected health information have earned HITRUST CSF certification and achieved AICPA SOC 2 compliance by meeting the rigorous data security requirements of these standards. As a testament to the reliability and objectivity of FAIR Health data, the data have been incorporated in statutes and regulations around the country and designated as the official, neutral data source for a variety of state health programs, including workers' compensation and personal injury protection (PIP) programs. FAIR Health data serve as an official reference point in support of certain state balance billing laws that protect consumers against bills for surprise out-of-network and emergency services. FAIR Health also uses its database to power a free consumer website available in English and Spanish, which enables consumers to estimate and plan for their healthcare expenditures and offers a rich educational platform on health insurance. An English/Spanish mobile app offers the same educational platform in a concise format and links to the cost estimation tools. The website has been honored by the White House Summit on Smart Disclosure, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), URAC, the eHealthcare Leadership Awards, appPicker, Employee Benefit News and Kiplinger's Personal Finance. FAIR Health also is named a top resource for patients in Dr. Marty Makary's book The Price We Pay: What Broke American Health Careand How to Fix It and Dr. Elisabeth Rosenthal's book An American Sickness: How Healthcare Became Big Business and How You Can Take It Back. For more information on FAIR Health, visit fairhealth.org.

Contact:

Rachel Kent

Senior Director of Marketing, Outreach and Communications

FAIR Health

646-396-0795

[email protected]

SOURCE FAIR Health
After more than 40 years in business, First Bank & Trust has grown considerably, opening 24 full-service branches and eight loan production offices . While the bank has maintained a customer base that expands well beyond the borders of Virginia and Tennessee, First Bank & Trust has not previously expressed intent to operate physical branches beyond the bounds of those states.

President & CEO, Mark Nelson said, "Over the last few years, it's become very clear to our team that we can have a positive impact in the North Carolina market, particularly in relation to agriculture lending. As we have retained more customers from North Carolina, despite working across state lines, we knew it was time for us to move forward with branch expansion in that market."

The bank has been making strides into North Carolina since recently opening a loan production office in Mount Airy. Additionally, a second office in Red Oak is slated to become the bank's first full-service location in North Carolina as early as November of 2021. Expanding into North Carolina has provided innumerable opportunities for the future expansion of the bank.

To differentiate First Bank and Trust Company in North Carolina, the bank has organized their operations there as First Bank and Trust Co. of Virginia. The modified logo utilizes a deeper burgundy color, providing differentiation from other North Carolina financial institutions while remaining recognizable to the bank's existing customer base.

The marketing team at First Bank & Trust has already launched separate social media channels for the North Carolina market, including Facebook and Instagram.

The bank's commitment to this latest expansion is made apparent by their robust investment in North Carolina personnel. In 2020, First Bank & Trust welcomed Nash County, North Carolina native Sam Johnson, a powerhouse in the agriculture lending space. Johnson was recently joined by Leonard Pittman, Jr., a Rocky Mount native with 38 years of commercial lending expertise in Virginia and North Carolina. In January of 2021, First Bank & Trust made a similar investment in Mount Airy, North Carolina where they welcomed Travis Wilmoth and Myra Edwards as a comprehensive lending team. Most recently, Trevor Smith joined the bank's lending team serving eastern North Carolina including Harnett, Johnston, Cumberland, Lee, Duplin, Sampson, Wake and Greene Counties.

About First Bank & Trust Co. of Virginia

First Bank & Trust Co. of Virginia is an extension of The First Bank & Trust Company brand into North Carolina. First Bank & Trust Co. of Virginia offers comprehensive lending solutions managed by mortgage, agricultural and commercial lending divisions. First Bank & Trust Co. of Virginia was formed to differentiate from similarly named institutions in the state of North Carolina.

About First Bank & Trust Company

First Bank & Trust Company, one of the top community banks in the United States, is a diversified financial services firm with more than thirty office locations throughout Southwest Virginia, Virginia's New River and Shenandoah Valleys and Northeast Tennessee. The bank's financial solutions include free checking products for personal and business accounts, savings, money market and time deposit accounts. Lending solutions are managed by mortgage, agricultural and commercial lending divisions. Comprehensive wealth management solutions are available through First Trust & Wealth Management.

For more information, visit www.firstbank.com.

Media Contact:

Kaitlyn Widner

Vice President  Marketing

276-285-0293

[email protected]

SOURCE First Bank & Trust Company; First Bank & Trust Co. of Virginia

Related Links

https://www.FirstBank.com


NEW YORK, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- FIRST, a leading global brand experience agency operating out of New York, Los Angeles, London, Dublin and Singapore, today announced its 25th anniversary celebration. FIRST has grown from a small events company to a globally recognized brand experience collective made up of over 550 employees in 12 countries. The company's founding motivation and entrepreneurial spirit continues to shape and drive today's innovation and delivery of award-winning client experiences.

FIRST was founded in London in 1996 by Richard Waddington as First Protocol, focused on delivering top-tier client events. In 2000, Maureen Ryan Fable launched Ryan Fable Productions, and the two companies merged in 2004 under First Protocol. Ryan Fable assumed the helm in the Americas. The company continued to grow exponentially, turning into a powerhouse and positioning it as a global industry leader. In 2016, First Protocol rebranded to FIRST.

Over the years, the company has grown and expanded beyond New York and London. FIRST opened its Los Angeles hub in 2012, its Singapore office in 2013 and its Dublin hub in 2018. Partnerships have also helped the company gain more traction and grow its creative influence, with the acquisition of the Barkley Kalpak Agency in the Americas in 2016 and Clive Agency in the UK in 2018. These partnerships have helped FIRST focus on the future, expanding teams to help clients deliver their messages effectively across the globe. The company has maintained its privately held ownership throughout its history.

Maureen Ryan Fable, CEO, Group at FIRST stated, "Our 25-year history has shown we can and will always look to the future of events and how to best serve our international roster of clients. From somewhat humble beginnings, our teams never stop collaborating, creating, innovating, and pushing the limits. Shifting focus this past year to further expand our service offering to produce virtual events has made us stronger, and with our deep bench of seasoned expertise, we are well positioned for the future."

This milestone anniversary comes during a year of unprecedented growth during uncertain times. FIRST continued to thrive and adapt to better serve digital, hybrid, and in-person audiences. The company embedded teams with clients, vastly increasing reach and engagement, while continuing to deliver the first class, high touch, creative experiences for which FIRST is known. As a creatively led organization, the evolved service offering focuses on content, technology, and data & insights, allowing clients to better lean on FIRST for their complete brand experience needs.

Peter Godfrey, Chairman of the Board at FIRST said, "Having been part of FIRST since its inception in 1996, I remain proud to witness the amazing journey that's been achieved thus far. Over 25 years, FIRST has expanded globally and transformed through innovative products and services, while consistently creating the best teams to serve our clients worldwide. Our people are our finest assets; they have the knowledge to deliver the high-quality experiences our clients have come to expect from FIRST. I'm excited to see how we can continue to grow and adapt into the future and am sure that the next 25 years will be just as extraordinary."

About FIRST

FIRST is a leading global brand experience agency providing Content, Creative, Digital Technology, Management & Delivery, and Data & Insights services. Operating as a full-service agency partner or through embedding specialist talent into client teams, FIRST brings brands and people together through creative, connected experiences. Spanning 12 countries with more than 550 team members, FIRST works with clients across industries including financial services, technology, media, consumer electronics, medical and healthcare, automotive, aerospace, and the nonprofit sector. Most recently, Eventex honored FIRST as one of the Top 150 Event Organizers & Agencies in the USA, while Chief Marketer listed FIRST among their "200 Top Marketing Agencies of 2021" and Special Events recognized FIRST as one of their "50 Top Event Companies'' at the end of 2020. Crain's New York Business included FIRST in the Top 100 "Best Places to Work in NYC'' for 2020, and The London Stock Exchange Group once again listed FIRST as one of '1000 Companies to Inspire Britain' in 2020. For more information, please visit www.firstagency.com.

CONTACT: Christine Cullity, [email protected]

SOURCE FIRST

Related Links

https://firstagency.com/




- Fact.MR's latest survey on crop protection chemicals market provides in-depth analysis on the current trends and opportunities affecting growth through 2031. It discloses hidden prospects for expansion across various segment in terms of crops, product, source, form, and mode of application. The report also profiles the leading companies involved in crop protection chemicals market and presents a detailed assessment of their key strategies.

NEW YORK, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The global crop protection chemicals market is expected to surpass US$ 122 Bn by 2031, as per Fact.MR. Rising emphasis on increasing the crop output to counter food security is estimated to propel the demand for crop protection chemicals.

On account of this, sales of crop protection chemicals are projected to grow by 5.3% CAGR over the forecast period 2021-2031 in comparison to 4.3% CAGR registered between 2016 and 2020.

Plant pests, weed, and diseases have become more common due to the change in environmental circumstances. Hence, modern farmers are extensively adopting crop protection chemicals such as herbicides, insecticides, and fungicides to increase agricultural yield by safeguarding crops against pests and weeds.

Driven by this, demand for crop protection chemicals is anticipated to increase by 1.6x over the coming decade.

Request a report sample to gain comprehensive insights at https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=S&rep_id=6992

Also, growing investments and the introduction of subsidies by the government to increase the overall agricultural output will boost the market. These subsidies are intended to facilitate agricultural production and address surging demand for food in Brazil, India, the U.S., and China.

In terms of source, bio-based crop protection chemicals are expected to register the fastest growth. Expansion of this category is attributed to the increasing commercialization of bio-based chemicals derived from plants, bacteria, minerals and animal sources and increasing awareness regarding the ill effects of using synthetic chemicals on arable land.

"The market is expected to gain traction from the increasing adoption of integrated pest management (IPM) solutions. Incorporation of advanced technologies such as Internet of Things (IoT) to optimize the farming techniques and monitor the growth of pest, weeds and plant diseases is expected to propel the growth of the market," says a Fact.MR analyst.

Key Takeaways from the Crop Protection Chemicals Market Study

Driven by the increasing adoption of bio-based crop protection chemicals across the U.S., the North America market is likely to account for more than one-fifth of global sales in 2021.

market is likely to account for more than one-fifth of global sales in 2021. The Latin America market is forecast to expand at a CAGR of 4.7% through 2031, owing to the increasing import of crop protection chemicals in Brazil and Argentina .

market is forecast to expand at a CAGR of 4.7% through 2031, owing to the increasing import of crop protection chemicals in and . India and China are projected to collectively account for the largest revenue share in Asia Pacific , favored by the increasing government investment in the agriculture sector.

and are projected to collectively account for the largest revenue share in , favored by the increasing government investment in the agriculture sector. Bio-based crop protection chemicals are expected to emerge as one of the most remunerative source segments, contributing nearly 423 BPS by 2031.

Based on products, herbicides are estimated to dominate the segment, accounting for more than 40% of the total demand in 2021.

Key Drivers

Rising inclination towards the use of eco-friendly crop protection products and increasing focus on sustainable agricultural production are spurring the sales of bio-based crop protection chemicals.

Superior efficiency of herbicides over manual weeding procedures and scarcity of manpower for mechanical weeding across the U.S. and countries in the European Union will propel the demand for herbicides, fueling growth

Key Restraints

Adverse effects of pesticides on human health due to their persistent nature, lipophilicity, bioaccumulation, and toxic properties are hampering the growth of the market.

Decline in effectiveness of crop protection chemicals owing to the increased resistance of pests and evolving metabolism patterns in insects is expected to hinder sales.

To learn more about Crop Protection Chemicals Market, you can get in touch with our Analyst at https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=AE&rep_id=6992

Competitive Landscape

As per Fact.MR, tier-1 crop protection chemicals manufacturers are expected to account for more than one-third of the global sales in 2021. Key manufacturers are heavily investing in the research and development (R&D) for introducing novel crop protection solutions and focusing on geographical and capacity expansion to expand its market share. For instance,

In July 2021 , Corteva Agriscience, a leading American agricultural chemical and seed company, announced introducing its new product, Resicore XL corn herbicide for the 2022 season. The herbicide is a three-mode crop protection chemical that works before as well as after the emergence of weeds.

, Corteva Agriscience, a leading American agricultural chemical and seed company, announced introducing its new product, Resicore XL corn herbicide for the 2022 season. The herbicide is a three-mode crop protection chemical that works before as well as after the emergence of weeds. In January 2021 , Nufarm Limited, an Australian agricultural chemical company, announced launching a new brand named NUCROP  hybrid electric crop protection. The electrifying solution offer alternative weed control to the farmers and contractor in France , Germany , the Netherlands , and Belgium .

Some of the key players in the market profiled by Fact.MR are:

Bayer CropScience AG

ChemiChina Corporation

BASF SE

Corteva Agriscience

UPL Limited

FMC Corporation

Nufarm Ltd

Sumitomo Chemicals

American Vanguard Corporation

ISAGRO Spa

Bioworks Inc.

Ishihara Sangyo Kaisha Ltd

Marrone Bio Innovations Inc.

Syngenta International AG

More Valuable Insights on Crop Protection Chemicals Market

Fact.MR, in its new report, offers an unbiased analysis of the global crop protection chemicals market, analyzing forecast statistics through 2021 and beyond. The survey reveals growth projections on in crop protection chemicals market with detailed segmentation:

By Crop

Grains & Cereals



Pulses and Oilseeds



Fruits and Vegetables



Others (Plantation Crops, etc.)

By Produce

Herbicides



Insecticides



Fungicides



Others (Rodenticides, etc.)

By Source

Synthetic Crop Protection Chemicals



Bio-based Crop Protection Chemicals

By Form

Liquid Crop Protection Chemicals



Solid Crop Protection Chemicals

By Mode of Application

Foliar



Seed Treatment



Soil Treatment

Key Questions Covered in the Crop Protection Chemicals Market Report

The market survey also highlights projected sales growth of the crop protection chemicals market between 2021 and 2031

The report offers insight into crop protection chemicals demand outlook for 2021-2031

Crop protection chemicals market share analysis of the key companies within the industry and coverage of strategies such as mergers & acquisitions, collaborations or partnerships, and others

Crop protection chemicals market analysis identifies key growth drivers, restraints, and other forces impacting prevailing trends and evaluation of current market size and forecast and technological advancements within the industry

Explore Fact.MR's Coverage on the Chemical & Materials Domain 

Pre-emergent Herbicide Market- Pre-emergent herbicides are widely utilized in agricultural lands, lawns, and other locations where weed development is a major concern. The grass keeper, nurseryman, or farmer selects and applies pre-emergent herbicides strategically to successfully control weed development over the long and short term, depending on the herbicide selected. In industrialized locations such as Europe and North America, pre-emergent herbicides are mostly used. During the historical period, the market has gained traction in various regions.

Aerosol Insecticides Market- Insecticides are frequently used in agricultural fields, urban green spaces, and public health initiatives to protect humans and plants from numerous diseases. Aerosol insecticides, or insecticides packaged in aerosol form, are praised for producing less waste than other types of insecticides since they are designed to deliver only a specified amount of poison during each spray. As a result of this, the global market for aerosol insecticides continues to play a significant role in the insecticides sector.

Bio rational Fungicides Market- Bio rational fungicides are fungicides that have no or minimal negative effects on the human body or the environment. They are suitable for use in organic greenhouses and indoor agricultural facilities due to their low toxicity. The industry is expected to benefit from the growing trend of using organic fertilizers, insecticides, and fungicides instead of chemicals. Growing global knowledge of the benefits of using organic farm products is driving demand for organic agricultural ingredients, which will eventually increase demand for organic pesticides, particularly bio rational fungicides.

About Fact.MR

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The prestigious recognition is a testament to Mucke's long track record of contributions to disease-focused neuroscience, and particularly to Alzheimer's disease and other conditions that rob people of their abilities to control and enjoy their lives.

Alzheimer's disease is a complicated and multifactorial condition that affects more than 50 million people worldwide, including 6 million in the United States, causing many abnormalities in the brain. Mucke has played a leading role in deciphering which of these abnormalities actually contribute to cognitive declineand therefore merit therapeutic interventionand which may be "red herrings," for example changes that look ominous under the microscope but do not actually cause loss of memory or other key symptoms of the disease.

In doing so, Mucke has debunked several dogmas and helped focus the field's attention on molecular and cellular processes that truly matter in regard to brain functions and the main symptoms that impair the lives of patients and their caretakers. His discoveries include the demonstration that key proteins implicated in Alzheimer's diseaseincluding amyloid-beta, apolipoprotein E4 (apoE4), and taucan cause brain dysfunctions independent of plaques and tangles, which are pathological hallmarks of the disease.

Mucke also discovered that tau regulates the activity of neurons, and that reducing the levels of this protein in the brain blocks abnormal neuronal activities in experimental models of diseases as diverse as Alzheimer's, epilepsy, and autism. Several of his scientific discoveries are being translated into novel therapeutics for these and related conditions by his team and others in academia and the biopharmaceutical industry.

"I am most grateful to the outstanding investigators who nominated me and to the many NAM members who supported me with their vote," says Mucke, who is also the Joseph B. Martin Distinguished Professor of Neuroscience and a professor of neurology at UC San Francisco. "Many of my former and current coworkers contributed to this achievement, and we all share this honor together. I greatly appreciate what the NAM stands for and will do whatever I can to support its mission."

A Global and Multipronged Approach to Overcoming Alzheimer's Disease

Despite a significant investment in research, potential therapies for Alzheimer's disease have been slow to arrive, most likely because of the complexity and multifactorial nature of the disease.

"The path toward generating therapeutics that are efficacious and safe when given to millions of people for many years is always challenging," Mucke notes. "This process is made even more difficult in the case of Alzheimer's disease because it affects the elderly, who often suffer from other aging-related conditions requiring treatments that might adversely interact with novel therapeutics for Alzheimer's."

To address this complexity, Mucke is leading efforts at Gladstone to investigate how multiple genetic and non-genetic factors come together to promote the disease. This multipronged approach is helping to diversify the drug development portfolio for Alzheimer's disease. Mucke and his colleagues are also using similar approaches to develop better therapies for other diseases that affect the nervous system, including Parkinson's disease, frontotemporal dementia, epilepsy, and autism.

"My hope is that our comprehensive strategy will improve treatment options for several common, devastating, and incurable diseases," says Mucke. "To be successful in this quest, we must continue to nurture interactions between basic scientists and clinicians, as well as between academia and industry."

To ensure an even broader, global impact of his experience and expertise, Mucke has served as an advisor on innovative neurodegenerative disease-focused initiatives to the governments of the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom, and to several major pharmaceutical companies.

He has also mentored over 60 graduate students and postdoctoral scholars, many of whom are now leading their own labs throughout the country and continuing to contribute to the field of neuroscience research.

"I have a great passion for mentorship and like to tailor my approaches to the particular needs and potential of each individual," he says. "I believe that my colleagues and I have created an adventuresome team spirit and uncompromising standard of excellence that is ideal for training in disease-focused neuroscience."

Mucke has been at Gladstone since 1996, but can trace his interest in neuroscience and medicine back to his teenage years.

"I developed a great interest in psychiatry, neurology, and neuroscience when I was in high school and to this day can't think of anything more fascinating and rewarding than to discover how the brain works and how to preserve the fragile structures that harbor the very essence of who we are," he says.

He is a graduate of the Georg-August University and the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry (Neurobiology) in Gottingen, Germany. He trained in internal medicine at the Cleveland Clinic, in neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, and in neuroimmunology and neurovirology at The Scripps Research Institute. He is also a member of the American Neurological Association and the Association of American Physicians.

Mucke's election was announced on October 18, 2021, by the NAM, which is part of the congressionally chartered National Academy of Sciencesprivate, nonprofit institutions that provide objective advice on matters of science, technology, and health. He joins six fellow NAM members from Gladstone Institutes: Jennifer Doudna, PhD, senior investigator; Warner Greene, MD, PhD, senior investigator and director of the Michael Hulton Center for HIV Cure Research; Robert W. Mahley, MD, PhD, senior investigator, president emeritus, and Gladstone founder; Deepak Srivastava, MD, senior investigator and current president of Gladstone; R. Sanders Williams, MD, former Gladstone president; and Shinya Yamanaka, MD, PhD, senior investigator.

About Gladstone Institutes

To ensure our work does the greatest good, Gladstone Institutes focuses on conditions with profound medical, economic, and social impactunsolved diseases. Gladstone is an independent, nonprofit life science research organization that uses visionary science and technology to overcome disease. It has an academic affiliation with the University of California, San Francisco.

Media Contact: Julie Langelier | Associate Director, Communications | [email protected] | 415.734.5000

1650 Owens Street, San Francisco, CA 94158 | gladstone.org

SOURCE Gladstone Institutes

Related Links

https://gladstone.org


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 on pros and cons of prevalent pricing models.

Methods to help engage with the right suppliers and discover KPI's to evaluate incumbent suppliers.

Get a free sample report for more information

Insights into buyer strategies and tactical negotiation levers:

Several strategic and tactical negotiation levers are explained in the report to help buyers achieve the best prices for the Elevator market. The report also aids buyers with relevant Elevator pricing levels, pros, and cons of prevalent pricing models such as volume-based pricing, spot pricing, and cost-plus pricing and category management strategies and best practices to fulfil their category objectives.

For more insights on buyer strategies and tactical negotiation levers, www.spendedge.com/report/elevator-sourcing-and-procurement-intelligence-report

Key Drivers and Trends Fueling Market Growth:

The pressure from substitutes and a moderate level of threat from new entrants has resulted in the low bargaining power of suppliers.

Price forecasts are beneficial in purchase planning, especially when supplemented by the constant monitoring of price influencing factors.

Identify favorable opportunities in Elevator TCO (total cost of ownership).

Expected changes in price forecast and factors driving the current and future price changes.

Identify pricing models that offer the most rewarding opportunities.

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Some of the top Elevator suppliers listed in this report:

This Elevator procurement intelligence report has enlisted the top suppliers and their cost structures, SLA terms, best selection criteria, and negotiation strategies.

Otis Worldwide Corp.

Schindler Group

KONE Corp.

Kleemann Hellas SA

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Changing market landscape with yearly forecast till 2025.

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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

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Marketing Manager

Ph No: +1 (872) 206-9340

https://www.spendedge.com/contact-us

SOURCE SpendEdge
DUBLIN, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Flow Cytometry Market: Global Industry Trends, Share, Size, Growth, Opportunity and Forecast 2021-2026" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The global flow cytometry market exhibited moderate growth during 2015-2020. Flow cytometry refers to a biophysical and laser-based analytical technology that is used in the analysis of the cells or micelles that are usually suspended in a fluid using a laser beam. This technique aids in subclassifying cell types and detecting residual levels of disease through probes to develop the best treatment plan for the patient. Fluorescent probes, such as bisoxonol, can bind to proteins present on the cell membrane to facilitate the identification of various stages of cell injuries or necrosis. This technique also aids in understanding the structure and composition of the cells for chromosome analysis, cancer diagnosis, protein expression and diagnosis of diseases and hematological malignancies.



The increasing prevalence of chronic medical ailments, such as HIV-AIDS and cancer, is one of the key factors driving the growth of the market. The diagnosis of these diseases requires toxicity testing and an accurate, rapid and sensitive prognosis technique, which, in turn, is creating a positive outlook for the market growth. Furthermore, the widespread adoption of stem cell therapy is also enhancing the utilization of flow cytometry. Rising awareness regarding the benefits of this technique in immunophenotyping, cell sorting, cell proliferation assays and intracellular calcium flux is acting as another major growth-inducing factor. Additionally, several technological advancements, such as the integration of flow cytometry devices with artificial intelligence (AI) platforms, along with the advent of advanced methods, are also contributing to the market growth. Other factors, including improvements in the healthcare infrastructure, along with extensive research and development (R&D) activities in the field of biotechnology, are projected to drive the market further. Looking forward, the analyst expects the global flow cytometry market to grow at a CAGR of 8.2% during 2021-2026.



Competitive Landscape

The report has also analysed the competitive landscape of the market with some of the key players being Agilent Technologies Inc., Apogee Flow Systems Ltd., BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company), Beckman Coulter Inc. (Danaher Corporation), Bio-RAD Laboratories Inc., Enzo Life Sciences Inc., Luminex Corporation, Merck KGaA, Sony Biotechnology Inc., Sysmex Partec GmbH, Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., etc.



Key Questions Answered in This Report

How has the global flow cytometry market performed so far and how will it perform in the coming years?

What are the key regional markets?

What has been the impact of COVID-19 on the global flow cytometry market?

What is the breakup of the market based on the product and service?

What is the breakup of the market based on the technology?

What is the breakup of the market based on the application?

What is the breakup of the market based on the end-user?

What are the various stages in the value chain of the industry?

What are the key driving factors and challenges in the industry?

What is the structure of the global flow cytometry market and who are the key players?

What is the degree of competition in the industry?

Key Topics Covered:



1 Preface



2 Scope and Methodology



3 Executive Summary



4 Introduction

4.1 Overview

4.2 Key Industry Trends



5 Global Flow Cytometry Market

5.1 Market Overview

5.2 Market Performance

5.3 Impact of COVID-19

5.4 Market Forecast



6 Market Breakup by Product and Service

6.1 Instruments

6.1.1 Market Trends

6.1.2 Market Forecast

6.2 Reagents and Consumables

6.2.1 Market Trends

6.2.2 Market Forecast

6.3 Accessories

6.3.1 Market Trends

6.3.2 Market Forecast

6.4 Software

6.4.1 Market Trends

6.4.2 Market Forecast

6.5 Services

6.5.1 Market Trends

6.5.2 Market Forecast



7 Market Breakup by Technology

7.1 Cell-Based Flow Cytometry

7.1.1 Market Trends

7.1.2 Market Forecast

7.2 Bead-Based Flow Cytometry

7.2.1 Market Trends

7.2.2 Market Forecast



8 Market Breakup by Application

8.1 Oncology

8.1.1 Market Trends

8.1.2 Market Forecast

8.2 Drug Discovery

8.2.1 Market Trends

8.2.2 Market Forecast

8.3 Disease Diagnosis

8.3.1 Market Trends

8.3.2 Market Forecast

8.4 Stem Cell Therapy

8.4.1 Market Trends

8.4.2 Market Forecast

8.5 Organ Transplantation

8.5.1 Market Trends

8.5.2 Market Forecast

8.6 Hematology

8.6.1 Market Trends

8.6.2 Market Forecast

8.7 Others

8.7.1 Market Trends

8.7.2 Market Forecast



9 Market Breakup by End-user

9.1 Hospitals and Clinics

9.1.1 Market Trends

9.1.2 Market Forecast

9.2 Academic and Research Institutes

9.2.1 Market Trends

9.2.2 Market Forecast

9.3 Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology Companies

9.3.1 Market Trends

9.3.2 Market Forecast

9.4 Others

9.4.1 Market Trends

9.4.2 Market Forecast



10 Market Breakup by Region



11 SWOT Analysis



12 Value Chain Analysis



13 Porters Five Forces Analysis

14 Competitive Landscape

14.1 Market Structure

14.2 Key Players

14.3 Profiles of Key Players

14.3.1 Agilent Technologies Inc.

14.3.1.1 Company Overview

14.3.1.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.1.3 Financials

14.3.1.4 SWOT Analysis

14.3.2 Apogee Flow Systems Ltd.

14.3.2.1 Company Overview

14.3.2.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.3 BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company)

14.3.3.1 Company Overview

14.3.3.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.3.3 Financials

14.3.3.4 SWOT Analysis

14.3.4 Beckman Coulter Inc. (Danaher Corporation)

14.3.4.1 Company Overview

14.3.4.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.4.3 SWOT Analysis

14.3.5 Bio-RAD Laboratories Inc.

14.3.5.1 Company Overview

14.3.5.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.5.3 Financials

14.3.5.4 SWOT Analysis

14.3.6 Enzo Life Sciences Inc.

14.3.6.1 Company Overview

14.3.6.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.7 Luminex Corporation

14.3.7.1 Company Overview

14.3.7.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.7.3 Financials

14.3.7.4 SWOT Analysis

14.3.8 Merck KGaA

14.3.8.1 Company Overview

14.3.8.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.8.3 Financials

14.3.8.4 SWOT Analysis

14.3.9 Sony Biotechnology Inc.

14.3.9.1 Company Overview

14.3.9.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.10 Sysmex Partec GmbH

14.3.10.1 Company Overview

14.3.10.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.10.3 Financials

14.3.11 Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.

14.3.11.1 Company Overview

14.3.11.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.11.3 Financials

14.3.11.4 SWOT Analysis



For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/isusqv

Media Contact:

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BANGALORE, India, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Healthcare Supply Chain Management Market is Segmented by Type (Software, Hardware), Application (Manufacturers, Providers, Distributors). The report covers global opportunity analysis and industry forecasts from 2021 to 2027. It is published in Valuates Reports under Health Category.

The global Healthcare Supply Chain Management market size is projected to reach USD 4225.6 Million by 2027, from USD 2267.5 Million in 2020, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 9.3% during the forecast period 2021-2027.

Major factors driving the growth of the Healthcare Supply Chain Management market are

The Healthcare Supply Chain Management market is expanding due to the increased need for healthcare providers and manufacturers to improve operational efficiency and profitability while cutting operating costs.

Healthcare Supply Chain Management market growth is also being fueled by the adoption of cloud-based and mobile-based solutions in the healthcare industry. Furthermore, the Healthcare Supply Chain Management Market is expected to benefit from improvements in Big Data analytics and machine learning.

Get your sample today: https://reports.valuates.com/request/sample/QYRE-Othe-1Z479/Healthcare_Supply_Chain_Management_Market

Trends Influencing The Growth Healthcare Supply Chain Management Market

Improved operations, efficient resource utilization, effective treatment, and satisfied patients are all advantages of a well-run healthcare supply chain. The Supply Chain ensures that all of the hospital's departments, operations, and revenue cycles are connected effectively. The Supply Chain can be thought of as a back-end program that connects all of the different processes. The supply chain ensures that medications and products are available at the right time, reducing inventory waste, improving patient care, and reducing human error and medication errors. Thus the advantages associated with Healthcare Supply Chain Management are expected to drive the growth of the Healthcare Supply Chain Management market.

Furthermore, healthcare SCM encompasses all processes connected to the producing, acquiring, storing, and shipping of numerous product types, such as surgical supplies, medical devices, and medications. Greater adoption of software-based systems is expected to enhance the Healthcare Supply Chain Management market growth due to the benefit of controlling several processes on a single platform.

The healthcare supply chain market is expected to develop due to rising competition and the need to remain ahead of the changing healthcare landscape. Due to the rapidly changing healthcare market, companies in the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries have been driven to build supply chain models that can satisfy demand. Businesses must strengthen healthcare supply chain management and utilize its benefits to transform speed, flexibility, efficiency, and dependability across the whole value chain to stay ahead of the competition.

By lowering the cost and time spent moving products, understanding supply chain management in healthcare, and investing in better-organized logistics will boost the product or service value. For healthcare firms aiming to develop and become more robust, having a logistics system in place is crucial since it allows for the reliable, timely, and safe delivery of supplies at a reasonable cost. Thus the cost-efficiency and reliability offered by a streamlined SCM is expected to further increase the growth of the healthcare supply chain market

Browse the Table of Contents and List of figures at:

https://reports.valuates.com/reports/QYRE-Othe-1Z479/healthcare-supply-chain-management

Healthcare Supply Chain Management Market Share Analysis

During 2018, the United States was the most dominant region. This dominance can be linked to the presence of major pharmaceutical companies in the area, as well as various government initiatives and increased use of technologically advanced solutions.

During the forecast period, the software segment is expected to be the most lucrative. Software solutions are significantly more acceptable than hardware systems as a result of the growing number of online purchases, improved business information, and a growing desire for eco-friendly logistics.

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Key Players in the Healthcare Supply Chain Management Market

McKesson

SAP SE

Oracle Corporation

Infor

HighJump

Manhattan Associates

JDA

TECSYS

Kinaxis

BluJay Solutions

Jump Technologies

LogiTag Systems

Others

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SIMILAR REPORTS

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- The global Healthcare IT Market size was valued at USD 250,577.15 Million in 2020 and is projected to reach USD 880,688.75 Million by 2030, registering a CAGR of 13.3% from 2021 to 2030.

- The global healthcare analytics market size was valued at USD 23.51 billion in 2020 and is projected to reach USD 6.90 billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 15.3% from 2021 to 2030.

- The global Healthcare Consulting Services market size is projected to reach USD 15690 Million by 2026, from USD 8944.8 Million in 2019, at a CAGR of 8.3% during 2021-2026.

- The global Big Data Analytics in Healthcare market size is projected to reach USD 20910 Million by 2026, from USD 8965.4 Million in 2019, at a CAGR of 12.4% during 2021-2026.

- The global supply chain management market size was valued at USD 15.85 Billion in 2019, and is projected to reach USD 37.41Billion by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 11.2% from 2020 to 2027.

To see the full list of related reports on the Healthcare Supply Chain Management

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SOURCE Valuates Reports
The new property gives the company a total of 350,000sf of manufacturing space with over 600 employees to support its "Made in America, Or Not Made at All" mantra. The facility will initially be machining parts for the company's lineup of more than 200 models of rifles and shotguns. The additional Ladysmith acreage also allows for future expansion.

"Staking our flag at a new facility is the beginning of another exciting chapter in our company's history, and we are wasting no time prepping the building for our machines," said Andy Wickstrom, President of Henry Repeating Arms. Wickstrom continued, "We thank the state of Wisconsin and Rusk County officials for keeping the door open for us, and we look forward to adding members of another great Wisconsin community to our family."

"We're excited to see Henry Repeating Arms make a commitment to Ladysmith, WI and Rusk County. They are an employer we are eager to see grow in our community for years to come," added Andy Albarado, Rusk County Economic Development.

Henry firearms are purchasable only through a licensed firearms dealer. For more information about Henry Repeating Arms and its products, visit henryusa.com or call 866-200-2354.

About Henry Repeating Arms:

Henry Repeating Arms is one of the leading rifle and shotgun manufacturers in the United States and a world leader in the lever action category. The company motto is "Made in America, or not made at all," and its firearms come with a lifetime guarantee backed by award-winning customer service. The company is also known for its Guns For Great Causes charitable program, which focuses on assisting the families of sick children, children's hospitals, military veteran organizations, Second Amendment advocacy groups, and wildlife conservation organizations. The company currently employs over 550 people and has 350,000sf of manufacturing space in its Wisconsin and New Jersey facilities. The company is named in honor of Benjamin Tyler Henry, who invented and patented the Henry lever action rifle in 1860  the first practical repeating rifle. The lever action rifle is America's unique contribution to international firearms design and is one of the most legendary, respected, and sought-after rifles in the history of firearms. Visit Henry Repeating Arms online at henryusa.com, on Facebook at facebook.com/HenryRepeating, and @henry_rifles on Instagram.

SOURCE Henry Repeating Arms

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RICHMOND, Va., Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Hilb Group announced today that it has acquired Connecticut-based Gerardi Insurance Services, Inc., increasing its New England footprint. The transaction became effective October 1, 2021.

Based in Putnam, Connecticut, Gerardi Insurance is dedicated to offering a full suite of Property & Casualty and Employee Benefits products and services for clients throughout the region. Agency Principals Matthew Desaulnier and Edward Desaulnier and their team of insurance professionals will be joining Hilb Group's New England regional operations.

"We take great pride in the trusted relationships we have formed over many years, and we look forward to building on these connections and adding to what we can deliver for the clients we serve," Matthew Desaulnier said.

"We are excited to take this next step and join with the Hilb Group to bring the very best in resources to our long-standing customers," Edward Desaulnier added.

"Gerardi Insurance brings deep expertise, a reputation of stellar service, and extensive relationships that represent a terrific match for our growth strategy," said Hilb Group CEO Ricky Spiro. "We are pleased to welcome them to the Hilb Group and look forward to the next steps together."

About Hilb Group: The Hilb Group is a leading property and casualty and employee benefits insurance brokerage and advisory firm headquartered in Richmond, Virginia. Hilb Group is a portfolio company of The Carlyle Group, a global investment firm. Hilb Group seeks to grow through strategic acquisitions and by leveraging its resources and expertise to drive organic growth in its acquired agencies. The company has completed more than 120 acquisitions and now has over 100 offices in 21 states. Hilb Group is rated as one of the Fastest Growing Brokers by Business Insurance, a Top P/C Agency by Insurance Journal, and one of America's Fastest Growing Private Companies in the Inc. 5000. For more information on Hilb Group's growth as well as career opportunities, please visit our website at http://www.hilbgroup.com.

Media Contact:

Peter Lobred

804.548.4629

[email protected]

M&A Contact:

Ryan Havermann

804.414.6508

[email protected]

SOURCE The Hilb Group, LLC

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NEW YORK, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Hired , the leading AI-driven hiring marketplace that matches tech and sales talent with top companies, has released its annual report, Hiring in the Great Resignation: 2021 State of Tech Salaries , which uncovers how the shift to remote work has impacted tech salaries across different markets, roles, and industries. Analyzing Hired's marketplace data and an additional survey, the report provides companies with insights on compensation, benefits, and remote work trends in tech and offers guidance on how to navigate changing candidate preferences and hiring needs amid the "Great Resignation."

Key findings include an increase in global tech salaries in most cities, including a 5% increase in average remote salaries from 2020 to 2021. Increased demand for junior candidates lowered overall salary averages in New York City and San Francisco between 2020 and 2021, but salaries for experienced candidates (2+ years) increased across all markets. Average tech salaries for remote roles and candidates in smaller markets (tier 2 and tier 3 in the 2021 State of Tech Salaries report) have seen the largest increases. To keep up with the demand for talent, companies are hiring faster than ever across all markets, with 30 days to hire in the U.S. and 34 days in the U.K., down 25% on average from a year ago.

"As companies look to maximize their talent pipelines and meet high demands, we see that the majority of open job positions on Hired's marketplace are now open to remote  a 5x increase since January 2020. Remote work preferences from Hired candidates are also at a record high, with over 90% indicating a preference for remote roles," said Josh Brenner, CEO of Hired. "While the Great Resignation causes many challenges, employees leaving their jobs in droves also means that companies have an incredible opportunity to hire some of the best, diverse talent that's on the market right now. Increasing hiring efficiency and offering the right benefits will be absolutely critical to compete for top tech talent."

The findings are based on the analysis of more than 525,000 interview requests and 10,000 job offers facilitated through Hired's marketplace from January 2019 through June 2021. Hired also surveyed over 1,200 tech employees about their remote work, salary, and benefits preferences.

Additional key findings from the 2021 State of Tech Salaries report include:

Tech workers' money would go much further in cities such as Dallas and Atlanta compared to major tech hubs. When adjusting average salaries for cost of living, making the average $165k salary in San Francisco would be the equivalent of making $243k in Dallas . Only Washington D.C. and New York City top San Francisco's steep cost of living.

When adjusting average salaries for cost of living, making the average salary in would be the equivalent of making in . Only and top steep cost of living. Flexible work options remain a necessity to compete for tech talent. Almost all tech workers want to work remotely to some degree, with 52% favoring a remote-first model with flexibility to go to an office, and 33% wishing to stay fully remote indefinitely. Only 1% are interested in returning to an office full-time.

Almost all tech workers want to work remotely to some degree, with 52% favoring a remote-first model with flexibility to go to an office, and 33% wishing to stay fully remote indefinitely. Only 1% are interested in returning to an office full-time. Lowering salaries for remote workers might increase turnover. 74% of tech workers said they would start looking for a new job if their salaries were to decrease or if they were denied a raise over the next six months. 35% expect salaries to increase up to 10% over the next half year.

74% of tech workers said they would start looking for a new job if their salaries were to decrease or if they were denied a raise over the next six months. 35% expect salaries to increase up to 10% over the next half year. Base compensation is not everything for candidates. 76% are willing to accept a lower base salary in exchange for other forms of compensation such as equity and flexible work options. Younger, less experienced tech workers value tuition reimbursement and more experienced tech professionals count childcare services and paid parental leave as top benefits outside of compensation.

76% are willing to accept a lower base salary in exchange for other forms of compensation such as equity and flexible work options. Younger, less experienced tech workers value tuition reimbursement and more experienced tech professionals count childcare services and paid parental leave as top benefits outside of compensation. Employer transparency around remote compensation and other pay structures is critical. There are mixed opinions among candidates on how remote salaries should be determined. 45% of candidates disagree with using the cost of living of the employee's location as a baseline.

To access the full report, Hiring in the Great Resignation: State of Tech Salaries 2021, visit: https://hired.com/state-of-salaries-2021 .

About Hired

Hired is the largest AI-driven marketplace that matches tech and sales talent with the world's most innovative companies. Backed by the world's leading talent advisory and solutions company, The Adecco Group, Hired combines intelligent job matching with unbiased career counseling to help people find a job they love and reach their full potential. By providing accurate, real-time information, access to equal opportunity, efficiency, and transparency, the Hired platform serves as the backbone for hiring managers, recruiters, and C-level executives to surface the best matching talent and build ambitious, diverse teams. Hired is committed to building equity in the hiring process through a more representative talent pool, using diversity goals, customized assessments, and salary bias alerts to help remove unconscious bias when hiring. For more information, visit hired.com .

Media Contact:

Gravitate PR for Hired

[email protected]

SOURCE Hired

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Launching Subtle's AI solutions further supports Horizon's goal of prioritizing patient-centred care. Tweet this

"Our doctors and healthcare workers are constantly looking for ways to bring medical innovation and new clinical programs to life. They are backed by an ambitious and progressive foundation that's continually striving to support them by investing in healthcare innovation for the benefit of all New Brunswickers. We look forward to seeing these new innovations in practice," says Jamie Gallagher, President & CEO for the Foundation.

Shorter scan times are particularly beneficial to children and patients who experience pain and anxiety during these procedures. Reducing scan times could also allow institutions to schedule more patients a day on their existing scanners, resulting in shorter wait times for patients in critical need of medical imaging.

"The launch of Subtle's AI solutions is one step further in supporting Horizon's goal of prioritizing patient-centred care," said Zach Kilburn, Regional Director of Diagnostic Imaging for Horizon Health Network. "The SubtlePET technology not only improves patient experience during procedures, but also allows us to see more patients, creating a better, more efficient imaging program at our center."

"We are grateful for the support from The Saint John Regional Hospital Foundation and proud that Horizon Health Network is the first to use Subtle Medical's AI solutions in Canada," said Josh Gurewitz, Chief Commercial Officer at Subtle Medical. "The Canadian healthcare system is among the best in the world, so it's only natural that hospitals and medical centers recognize the critical role AI plays in improving healthcare inefficiencies and providing the highest level of care to their patients."

About Subtle Medical

Subtle Medical, Inc. is a healthcare technology company with a suite of deep learning solutions that increase the quality and efficiency of medical imaging. It was named CB Insights Top AI 100 and Digital Health 150 company in 2020 and is an Nvidia Inception Award Winner. For more information, please visit subtlemedical.com or email [email protected] .

Media Contact:

Anna Menyhart-Borroni

Head of Marketing

[email protected]

About the Saint John Regional Hospital Foundation

The Saint John Regional Hospital Foundation is a charitable organization focused on funding health care initiatives outside the scope of government. Our donors have contributed over $123,000,000. Learn more at www.thegive.ca.

Media Contact:

Shannon Hunter

Director, Marketing and Communications

[email protected]

About Horizon

Horizon Health Network is the largest regional health authority in New Brunswick with expertise in diverse areas of health and community services.

Media Contact:

Kris McDavid

Media Relations

[email protected]

SOURCE Subtle Medical, Inc.

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HOUSTON, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- 2021 has been an exceptional year for Houston entrepreneur and philanthropist Bryce Thompson. On Friday, October 8, 2021, Bryce announced the release of his first book, MILLIONS: Accepted and Excepted, which he self-published and debuted on Amazon as the #1 new release in Entrepreneurship and #39 overall.

Bryce Thompson MILLIONS Accepted and Excepted - book cover

"I want to inspire others to recognize the revolutionary in the regular. I've felt the stings of racism and been subjected to the scrutiny and limitations of stereotypes and social constructs designed to box those who look like me into a life of poverty and mediocrity. I want Accepted and Excepted to give hope and assurance to all of those going through what I've been through," says Thompson.

In February 2021, through his IAMS Foundation (It'll All Make Sense), Thompson awarded ten students attending HBCUs $10,000 scholarships each. The students attended Howard University, Hampton University, Livingstone College, Morehouse, Bethune-Cookman University, Texas Southern University and Prairie View A&M.

In May 2021, over 14,000 people from across the United States gathered in Miami, Florida at The Hard Rock Stadium for I Millennials 3, an "Edutainment" event that included motivational speakers sharing information on financial literacy and performances from megastars, DaBaby, Coi Leray and Sir Trilli. Without any sponsors or partnerships, Bryce Thompson's ability to lead and champion a community, shows why he is a Powerhouse in the business and financial arena.

At 25 years old, Thompson's resume is beyond impressive. A native of Missouri City, Texas, he attended Morehouse College, where he studied engineering with plans on working for a prestigious company in the field. However, his career interests took an entrepreneurial turn when he was introduced to cryptocurrency and investing. He began studying the industry and developed a skill for teaching others how to make profitable investments through emerging technologies.

Today, Bryce is not only fulfilling that promise to uplift others in need, but he is showing communities how to develop their own economic prosperity.

Media Relations Contact

W&W Public Relations, Inc.

Christopher Brown / [email protected]

Karen E. Lee / [email protected]

864-612-8950

Stay connected to Bryce Thompson:

https://brycethompsonofficial.com/

https://www.instagram.com/bthompsonofficial/

SOURCE Bryce Thompson

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HONG KONG, Oct. 18, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Huobi Technology Holdings Limited (Huobi Tech, stock code: 1611), a leading virtual asset services platform, participated in the Greenwich Economic Forum (GEF), an annual global investment conference. Lily Zhang, CFO of Huobi Tech spoke during a fireside chat, "Global regulatory landscape for digital assets and what's next for the sector." During the panel, she discussed several topics, including the benefits of adaptive regulations for cryptocurrency and the importance of communication between regulators and business operators, as well as Huobi Tech's evolving global strategy as it complies with regulatory requirements around the world.

Greenwich is famous as the "hedge fund capital of the world" and many of the leading hedge fund, private equity, and venture capital firms are represented at the Greenwich Economic Forum. The blockbuster speakers such as founder of Bridgewater Associates - Ray Dalio, Former Chair of US Federal Reserve - Alan Greenspan, and New York University's Stern School of Business Nouriel Roubini attended the forum. While a finance conference at its core, GEF also includes discussion and debate on topics related to government, healthcare, technology, and culture.

During the panel on the digital asset regulatory landscape, Zhang highlighted the importance of regulations, as they establish orders so that the industry can function more efficiently and safely, and with predictable outcomes. She pointed out that recent cases in regions such as El Salvador, the United States, and Indonesia suggest that regulators and market players can and will work together on establishing regulation. Zhang also emphasized the importance of listening to different perspectives regarding regulation, as it fosters the industry to be regulated and compliant overall.

"By communicating in different ways within different parties, such as regulators, investors, industry organizations, the industry development can be led by clearer regulations and secure environment, Zhang said.

Zhang added that because the digital asset industry is still in its early stages, regulators are unsure of how to deal with its borderless nature. Currently, regulatory supervision is divided into the European, Asian, and American markets, and "each region is copying and learning from each other."

Zhang also touched on Huobi Tech's approach to navigating the evolving regulatory landscape as it continues to expand its international footprint. One of its wholly-owned subsidiaries Huobi Asset Management received approval from The Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong ("SFC") to conduct Type 4 (advising on securities) and Type 9 (asset management) regulated activities last year, with five funds successfully launched early this year, to meet professional investors' growing demands. Huobi Tech has also established two more wholly-owned subsidiaries: Huobi Trust, a U.S.-based trust company licensed by the state of Nevada, and Huobi Trust Hong Kong, a registered Trust Company under the Hong Kong Trust Ordinance with Trust or Company Service Provider (TCSP) license. As of the end of August, the asset under custody by Huobi Trust Hong Kong has exceeded US$1 billion.

About Huobi Technology Holdings Limited

Huobi Technology Holdings Limited ("Huobi Tech", formerly known as "Pantronics Holdings Limited") was listed in November 2016. Primarily engaged in OEM & EMS manufacturing of power-related and electronic products, Huobi Tech is actively developing the blockchain ecosystem and virtual asset ecosystem business. Huobi Tech is committed to becoming the leading one-stop virtual asset service platform in Asia. Huobi Tech currently offers data centre services, cloud-based services, SaaS, virtual asset management, custody, trust, and other related services. In May 2021, the company was included in the MSCI Hong Kong Small Cap Index.

Huobi Tech is applying for virtual asset and finance-related licenses in major markets around the world. Up to now, its respective subsidiaries have already successfully gotten approval from the SFC to conduct Type 4 (advising on securities) and Type 9 (asset management) regulated activities, registered as Hong Kong trust company with the Trust or Company Service Provider License (Hong Kong), and the Trust Company License (Nevada USA).

SOURCE Huobi Technology
WASHINGTON, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- According to a new survey released today by the Institute for Family Studies and the Wheatley Institution, interest in marriage has increased by only two percent overall since the advent of the coronavirus pandemic, while the share of Americans expressing a desire to have children fell 7% overall. The responses from the survey, The Divided State of Our Unions: Family Formation in (Post-) COVID-19 America, also indicated that a divide about family and children along economic, religious, and partisan lines has grown deeper since the onset of COVID-19.

"We know that even before the onset of the pandemic, American marriage and fertility rates were falling, with a record number of young adults projected to neither marry nor have children," said Brad Wilcox of the Institute for Family Studies. "Our report shows that post-COVID attitudes toward marriage and childbearing are becoming increasingly polarized along economic, religious, and political lines. When it comes to class, the findings are more complex, with childbearing trends among the poor becoming closer to those of more educated and affluent Americans."

The study, based on two new YouGov surveys by the Institute for Family Studies and the Wheatley Institution, analyzed where the American family is headed as COVID-19 finally seems to be abating. It sought to answer three questions: Will marriage and fertility fall further in the wake of the pandemic? Are Americans likely to turn toward family formation in response to the loneliness from pandemic lockdowns? And will post-COVID attitudes regarding family formation be further polarized along economic, religious, and partisan differences?

Key findings include:

Interest in family formation is higher among the rich, the religious and Republicans .

. The desire to marry increased nine percentage points overall among higher-income Americans vs. 4% for middle-income and 2% among lower-income Americans.



The desire to marry has increased by eight percentage points overall among unmarried Americans who regularly attend church, synagogue, temple, or a mosque, but has not increased among Americans who never/seldom attend religious services. The desire to have children only fell by a net of one percentage point among Americans who attend religious services at least once a month but fell by a net of 11 percentage points for Americans who never/seldom attend services.



The desire to marry has increased by five percentage points overall among unmarried Republicans and three percentage points for Democratsand it fell by four percentage points for Independents. Likewise, the desire to have children rose one percentage point overall among Republicans but fell 11 percentage points for Independents and 12 percentage points for Democrats.

Interest in having children decreased among lower-income individuals: Interestingly, while the desire to have children increased one percentage point among higher-income Americans, it decreased six percentage points among middle-income Americans and 11 percentage points among lower-income Americans.

Interestingly, while the desire to have children increased one percentage point among higher-income Americans, it decreased six percentage points among middle-income Americans and 11 percentage points among lower-income Americans. Historically, lower income has been linked to higher fertility and lower levels of childlessness, but childlessness is rising among less-educated, lower-income men and women, a trend that COVID-19 seems likely to amplify. This would bring childbearing trends among the poor closer to those of more educated and affluent Americans.



Low-income childless men are especially likely to report not wanting to have children, with 51% expressing this sentiment.

Working-class Americans with less education will continue to become less likely to marry: Since the 1970s, working-class Americans have changed from being more likely to marry to becoming less likely to marry than college-educated Americans.

Since the 1970s, working-class Americans have changed from being more likely to marry to becoming less likely to marry than college-educated Americans. COVID-19 may intensify that divide, as Zoom-class workers use their newfound flexibility to start married lives, while "essential workers" on the frontlines deal with deteriorating work environments and greater risk of infection.



The fallout of COVID-19 seems more likely to drive childlessness higher among those with the least resources. This might further reduce the parenthood gap between blue-collar and digital workers.

When it comes to racial and ethnic divides, the story may be one of reduced polarization in terms of marriage and childbearing behaviors:

Black and Hispanic women are most likely to report that COVID-19 increased their desire to wed, and they are also among the most likely to have never been married.



In terms of childbearing desires, Hispanics had the largest decline due to COVID-19, but also already had the lowest childlessness, which could again serve to reduce the gap in childlessness between Hispanics and Americans of other ethnic groups.

The medical, financial, and emotional toll associated with the pandemic did not affect all Americans equally : While lower- and middle-class Americans were more likely to have been financially impacted by job loss or the requirement to do in-person work, more educated and affluent Americans, who were more able to work from home, reported that their financial situation improved.

While lower- and middle-class Americans were more likely to have been financially impacted by job loss or the requirement to do in-person work, more educated and affluent Americans, who were more able to work from home, reported that their financial situation improved. 70% of upper-income Americans reported working from home after COVID-19 hit, compared to just 58% of middle-income and 51% of lower-income Americans.

"The pandemic appears to have deepened the class divide in marriage and family life, with the affluent feeling better prepared to start families," said Jason Carroll, Associate Director of the Wheatley Institution. "Going forward, policy makers should pursue family-friendly policies that can bridge this divide and make family formation more accessible for those who desire it."

The Institute for Family Studies/Wheatley Institution survey was conducted by YouGov between September 3 and 14 (the September survey), with a representative sample of 2,500 adults ages 18 to 55 living in the United States. The survey focuses on the changes in respondents' desire for marrying or having children because of COVID-19. A total of 2,596 interviews were completed and then matched down to a sample of 2,500 to produce the final dataset. The September survey was an update from the IFS/Wheatley survey conducted between May 28 and June 10, 2021 (the May-June survey), where a broader range of family-related questions were asked (see more details in thisreport).

The study, which is sponsored by the American Enterprise Institute, the Institute for Family Studies, and the Wheatley Institution, along with the survey methodology, is available at https://ifstudies.org/reports/the-divided-state-of-our-unions/2021/executive-summary.

About the Institute for Family Studies

The mission of the Institute for Family Studies (IFS) is to strengthen marriage and family life and advance the well-being of children through research and public education. For more information, visit https://ifstudies.org/

About the Wheatley Institution

The Wheatley Institution at Brigham Young University produces consequential scholarship in key topics consistent with its core mission of lifting society by preserving and strengthening core social institutions. For more information, visit https://wheatley.byu.edu/

SOURCE Wheatley Institution

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BOSTON and KINGSPORT, Tenn., Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Medical technology innovator Ivenix collaborated with Eastman to incorporate Eastman Tritan MXF copolyester into its groundbreaking Ivenix Infusion System. The new system includes a large-volume infusion pump, a portfolio of administration sets, and a suite of IV management tools and analytics to inform care and advance clinical and operational efficiency. Ivenix selected Tritan MXF for the pump exterior because of its excellent chemical resistance and durability in the face of the aggressive disinfection protocols needed to prevent the spread of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs).

Eastman (PRNewsfoto/Eastman) Medical technology innovator Ivenix collaborated with Eastman to incorporate Eastman Tritan MXF copolyester into its groundbreaking Ivenix Infusion System.

"The Ivenix Infusion System has several key advantages over our competitionone being its durability in real-world clinical environments," said Josh North, director of sales at Ivenix. "The ability to stand up to the short kill-time disinfectants like quaternary ammonium and ammonium chloride resonates with infection prevention and patient safety teams. Also, our pumps successfully endure the 'tough love' experienced in day-to-day clinical use, and this has a real impact on repair costs and downtime for our customers."

Because Tritan MXF is resistant to a larger number of disinfectants, infection preventionists can rest easy knowing that they can choose from a variety of cleaners and wipes that won't adversely impact their devices. This simplifies cleaning protocols and alleviates worries about voiding warranties because the wrong cleaner was used.

Among hospital patients, 90% require the use of infusion pumps, critical medical devices that deliver fluids such as essential nutrients and medications into a patient's body in controlled amounts. They are also the number one medical device plagued with significant safety issues related to failures. Infusion pump failuressuch as broken components, corrosion of electric pins and even cracks, no matter the sizecan compromise the safe use of pumps and lead to catastrophic outcomes for patients.

Infusion pumps, like many medical devices, are constantly handled by multiple people, are moved across many environments, and can get dropped or bumped on hard surfaces. Frequent cleaning, like that endured by medical devices (often on an hourly basis), can weaken typical polymers used in device housings, making them brittle and more likely to crack.

Recognizing the link between chemical resistance, impact and device failure, Ivenix needed a polymer for the pump's exterior housing that would address all these issues. The company selected Tritan MXF early in the design process, because it demonstrates the right combination of properties to provide lightweight durability and chemical resistance.

Eastman's medical polymers enable Ivenix to deliver an infusion pump that is stronger and more disinfectant ready, contributing to more consistent device performance, longevity and, ultimately, patient safety. To learn more about how material choice impacts IV pump failures and cleaning the Ivenix Infusion System, visit: www.ivenix.com/learn/cleaning.

Visit Ivenix.com or call them at (978) 775-8050 for more information on the Ivenix Infusion System and their approach to revolutionizing infusion delivery. Visit eastman.com/medical for more information on Eastman's medical polymers.

About Ivenix

Ivenix, located in North Andover, Mass., is a medical technology company with the vision of eliminating infusion-related errors by transforming infusion delivery. The Ivenix Infusion System includes a large-volume infusion pump, a portfolio of administration sets, and a suite of infusion management tools and analytics to inform care and advance clinical and operational efficiency. Infusion-related errors account for more than 50% of the 1.5 million adverse drug events reported annually to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Infusion-related adverse drug events account for more than $2 billion in annual healthcare costs. Ivenix has a vision and commitment to improving infusion safety and medication delivery.

About Eastman

Founded in 1920, Eastman is a global specialty materials company that produces a broad range of products found in items people use every day. With the purpose of enhancing the quality of life in a material way, Eastman works with customers to deliver innovative products and solutions while maintaining a commitment to safety and sustainability. The company's innovation-driven growth model takes advantage of world-class technology platforms, deep customer engagement, and differentiated application development to grow its leading positions in attractive end markets such as transportation, building and construction, and consumables. As a globally inclusive and diverse company, Eastman employs approximately 14,500 people around the world and serves customers in more than 100 countries. The company had 2020 revenues of approximately $8.5 billion and is headquartered in Kingsport, Tennessee, USA. For more information, visit eastman.com .

Media Contacts:

Ivenix

Robert Canfield

Director of Marketing

Ivenix, Inc.

+1 (619) 325.9106

[email protected]

Eastman

Jacob Teetzmann

[email protected]

+1 (423) 494.3673

SOURCE Eastman

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JOHNS CREEK, Ga., Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- World Financial Group Insurance Agency, LLC (WFGIA) and Transamerica Financial Advisors, Inc. (TFA) are pleased to announce that one of their top independent agents and representatives, Jan Zhuang, Ph.D., CFP and Executive Vice Chairperson, has been recognized as one of the top-ranked advisors in the United States on Forbes' most recent list of America's Top Financial Security Professionals. This annual list, compiled by SHOOK Research, spotlights the nation's top-performing advisors who are evaluated on quantitative and qualitative criteria, including personal interviews, industry experience and revenue trends.

In addition to being an insurance agent with WFGIA, Zhuang is a registered representative and an investment advisor representative with WFGIA's affiliate broker/dealer and registered investment advisor, Transamerica Financial Advisors, Inc. With these qualifications, Zhuang can provide securities and investment advisor products and services, in addition to life insurance, to individuals, families and businesses.

"I came to the United States to obtain a Ph.D. in organic chemistry, but when I had my daughter, I wanted to begin planning for her future and realized I didn't know much about personal finances," Zhuang said. "I heard about the World Financial Group business opportunity and joined because I desired more flexibility to raise our children, travel and help others towards financial independence. I later became a representative with TFA so I could offer a deeper portfolio of products and services to my clients. Leveraging the company's business platform and having a team of people to work with, we can build a business for ourselves, but not by ourselves, and impact more people by offering products, services and value. I believe everyone deserves an opportunity to succeed!"

"Jan is an inspiration to all those who work with her," said George Chuang, President of TFA. "As a WFGIA agent and as a TFA representative, which led her to being named on this Forbes list, she has learned how to build a successful business and, more importantly, how to help her clients achieve financial success. Jan's outstanding achievements resulted in this recognition as one of America's Top Financial Security Professionals."

About World Financial Group

In the United States, life insurance and fixed products are offered by independent agents of World Financial Group Insurance Agency, LLC, World Financial Group Insurance Agency of Hawaii, Inc., World Financial Group Insurance Agency of Massachusetts, Inc., World Financial Insurance Agency, LLC and/or WFG Insurance Agency of Puerto Rico, Inc.

Those agents who are properly licensed may offer securities and investment advisory services through the affiliate broker/dealer, Transamerica Financial Advisors, Inc. (TFA), Member FINRA, SIPC and Registered Investment Advisor.

Individuals who reside in California may become sales representatives with WFG Direct, a direct sales marketing platform offered through World Financial Group, Inc.

To learn more, go to: http://www.WorldFinancialGroup.com/

Press Inquiries: [email protected]

SOURCE WFG
When the dust settled after the sixth Rebelle Rally, Jeep SUVs overwhelmingly led the pack. The 2021 Jeep Wrangler 4xe is the first electrified vehicle to win the 1,500-mile trek across the Nevada and California deserts, finishing in both first and second place, taking the overall win and the Bone Stock award. In addition, the Jeep Wrangler swept the podium, securing the top three positions, while also taking five of the top 10 spots.

"The Jeep brand continues to dominate for a reason," said Emily Miller, founder  Rebelle Rally. "Off the showroom floor, a Jeep 4x4 is an exceptionally capable vehicle to take on the Rebelle Rally. The Wrangler 4xe definitely proved itself in an impressive way, taking the top two positions in the overall competition."

Team 4xEventure (team 129) of Nena Barlow and Teralin Petereit and their Jeep Wrangler Rubicon 4xe took the overall win and Bone Stock award in this year's Rebelle Rally. The team's Wrangler Rubicon 4xe was also the top-scoring electrified vehicle. Barlow and Petereit were consistently dominant, taking the most points in four of the seven stages, never scoring lower than third. This is Petereit's third overall win while placing on the podium in her two other years of competition, making her the most successful Rebelle Rally competitor.

"The course was more challenging than ever this year, but the Wrangler 4xe made it easy," said Nena Barlow of Team 4xEventure. "We torqued up dunes and rock-crawled mountains and washes with ease and efficiency. Not to mention, we never lacked for range or power."

Team Jeep Thrills (team 177) brought home a strong second place. The mother and daughter team of Christine and Emily Benzie and their 2021 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon 4xe took one stage win and never finished out of the top 10. This is their third Rebelle podium in the Bone Stock category, with one win, and their first podium in the overall.

"The Rubicon 4xe was pure pleasure to drive during the Rally," said Emily Benzie of Team Jeep Thrills. "The suspension smoothed the many whoops and washouts we encountered in the Nevada and California deserts. On the third day of competition, we opened the Sky One-Touch Power-Top, without having to stop the Jeep, to admire the steep cliff faces of the scenic Titus Canyon in Death Valley, and then closed it as a dust storm began to form on the valley floor. On the last afternoon, the added torque from the Rubicon 4xe electric mode combined with the eight-speed transmission created the perfect machine to tackle the soft sand in the large dunes of the Glamis sand dune complex."

Jeep proudly teamed up with Team Asdzaa Skoden Rebelles (team 160) of Shandiina Peters and Racquel Black, the first all-Navajo team to compete in the Rally. As Rebelle Rally rookies, they piloted their Jeep Wrangler Rubicon 4xe to a respectable finish of 29th overall.

"Participating in the Rebelle Rally this year was definitely an unforgettable experience," said Racquel Black of Team Asdzaa Skoden Rebelles. "Our opportunity and success at the rally came to fruition because of the Jeep brand's amazing sponsorship of the beautiful and powerful plug-in hybrid Wrangler Rubicon 4xe!"

The Bone Stock designation requires vehicles to be as delivered from the manufacturer, with the only allowances for aftermarket tires and wheels in the factory sizes. New last year, the Electrified Designation applies to EVs, PHEVs and hybrid vehicles.

"The Jeep brand has supported the Rebelle Rally since the beginning six years ago and, this year, we were excited to showcase the new Wrangler 4xe in the most difficult off-road rally conditions," said Jim Morrison, Vice President, Jeep Brand North America. "It's a testament to our teams in the race and our engineering teams at home that this year Jeep Wrangler swept the podium, with two Wrangler 4xe SUVs placing first and second overall, as well taking the Bone Stock and electrified awards without a single issue the entire Rally. Congratulations to everyone who rallied this year."

As the Jeep brand works toward its ultimate goal of zero-emission freedom, events like the Rebelle Rally are key to prove and showcase both its industry-best 4x4 capability, as well as its class-exclusive, off-road 4xe powertrain. The Jeep Wrangler 4xe delivers 49 MPGe and 21 miles of all-electric range with no range anxiety.

The Jeep Wrangler 4xe's propulsion system combines two electric motors, a 2.0-liter I-4 engine and eight-speed automatic transmission for nearly silent propulsion and enhanced 4x4 off-road capability, without EV range anxiety. This arrangement enables the Trail Rated Jeep Wrangler 4xe to retain running gear that includes solid front and rear axles, full-time two-speed transfer case, a fully articulating suspension and 30 inches of water fording capability.

The E-Selec modes let the driver tailor the Jeep Wrangler 4xe propulsion to the trip: hybrid, electric and eSave, which conserves the battery pack charge for later use. The Wrangler 4xe's 17-kilowatt-hour battery pack recharges in approximately two hours on Level 2 (220-volt) power and in about 12 hours on Level 1 (110-volt) household power.

The Rebelle Rally is the longest competitive off-road rally in the United States. Traversing over 2,500 kilometers through Nevada and California's iconic terrain, it is an endurance competition for women consisting of precision driving and navigating - not fastest speed. The competition is innovative and unique, using maps, compass, roadbooks and strategy - known as Rebelle format. GPS and other electronic devices are strictly prohibited. Remote and off-grid for eight competition days, the Rebelle Rally is considered a proving ground for people, products and stock manufacturer vehicles. To learn more, visit www.rebellerally.com.

Jeep Brand

Built on 80 years of legendary heritage, Jeep is the authentic SUV with capability, craftsmanship and versatility for people who seek extraordinary journeys. The Jeep brand delivers an open invitation to live life to the fullest by offering a full line of vehicles that continue to provide owners with a sense of security to handle any journey with confidence. Jeep Wave, a premium owner loyalty and customer care program that is available to the entire Jeep lineup, is filled with benefits and exclusive perks to deliver Jeep owners the utmost care and dedicated 24/7 support.

The Jeep vehicle lineup consists of the Cherokee, Compass, Gladiator, Grand Cherokee, Renegade and Wrangler. To meet consumer demand around the world, all Jeep models sold outside North America are available in both left- and right-hand drive configurations. Jeep is part of the portfolio of brands offered by leading global automaker and mobility provider Stellantis. For more information regarding Stellantis (NYSE: STLA), please visit www.stellantis.com.

Follow Jeep and company news and video on:

Company blog: http://blog.stellantisnorthamerica.com

Media website: http://media.stellantisnorthamerica.com

Jeep brand: www.jeep.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/jeep

Instagram: www.instagram.com/jeep

Twitter: www.twitter.com/jeep

YouTube: www.youtube.com/thejeepchannel or https://www.youtube.com/StellantisNA

SOURCE Stellantis
PLYMOUTH MEETING, Pa., Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- New research in the October 2021 issue of JNCCNJournal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network assessed patient satisfaction and preferences for telemedicine, finding 45% of people with cancer preferred telemedicine, while 34% preferred office visits, and 21% had no preference.

The researchers reviewed survey responses from 1,077 radiation oncology patients across NCCN Member Institution Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK)'s main campus and six regional locations across New York and New Jersey. The questionnaires were based on office and telemedicine visits between December 2019 and June 2020. In terms of patient satisfaction, most reported either no difference or improvement with telemedicine overall (91%) compared to office visits, with similar results for their confidence in their physician (90%), understanding their treatment plans (88%), and confidence their cancer will be treated appropriately (87%).

"These findings provide some evidence that there is a role for telemedicine beyond the COVID-19 pandemic and that it can be a particularly useful tool for certain patientsespecially those who may have challenges coming on-site for an appointment," said co-lead author Narek Shaverdian, MD, MSK Department of Radiation Oncology. "Giving patients flexibility and options by being able to see them both in-person and through telemedicine can improve access to care."

Notably, the survey results found that two-thirds of respondents considered telemedicine to be a superior option when it came to treatment-related costs, such as travel and lost wages.

"An individual visit to the physician's office can be costlyincluding transportation, parking, and time off from other activities," said co-lead author Erin F. Gillespie, MD, MSK Department of Radiation Oncology. "Telemedicine takes away most of this cost and inconvenience, and could therefore reduce the overall burden of engaging with the healthcare system. Also, the ability for family and friends to join the conversation from any location can be game-changing."

The researchers found patient responses varied significantly between video conferencing versus audio. Patients who had telephone-only appointments were more likely to say they thought they would benefit more from an in-person visit.

"Telemedicine can be a resource to increase access to care, but only if patients have and can use these video capabilities," said Dr. Shaverdian. "There is so much that you learn just by seeing a patient and using visual cues to guide a discussion. A voice-only encounter with a patient you've never met before is challenging."

"Digital tools like telemedicine have the unfortunate potential consequence of paradoxically increasing disparities in access to care," noted Dr. Gillespie. "But the counter to that is there will be some disadvantaged patients that would not have accessed the system at all, either due to technologic barriers or travel time, and now can connect at least by phone, which is an important and positive change."

"Telehealth has transformed cancer care throughout the United States, with widespread adoption in an incredibly short timeframe in response to the pandemic," commented Anne Chiang, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Medicine, Yale Cancer Center/Smilow Cancer Hospital, a member of the NCCN Policy Advisory Group who was not involved in this research. "This is such an important study as it collects and analyzes data from more than 1,000 radiation oncology patients to compare telehealth and in-person office visits. From the viewpoint of the patient, there were no significant differences across multiple domains of patient satisfaction between types of visits. In fact, some patients preferred telehealth visits and noted that telemedicine could reduce travel costs and time. The bottom line is that this study supports the use of telehealth as a permanent transformation of the healthcare landscape."

The NCCN EHR Oncology Advisory Group also recently published research in the Journal of Oncology Practice sharing the oncologist perspective on telemedicine. They surveyed 1,038 providers from 26 institutions in the summer of 2020 and found an estimated 46% of post-pandemic visits could be virtual.

Visit JNCCN.org for more on these findings. Complimentary access to "Impact of Telemedicine on Patient Satisfaction and Perceptions of Care Quality in Radiation Oncology" is available until January 10, 2022.

About JNCCNJournal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network

More than 25,000 oncologists and other cancer care professionals across the United States read JNCCNJournal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network. This peer-reviewed, indexed medical journal provides the latest information about innovation in translational medicine, and scientific studies related to oncology health services research, including quality care and value, bioethics, comparative and cost effectiveness, public policy, and interventional research on supportive care and survivorship. JNCCN features updates on the NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology (NCCN Guidelines), review articles elaborating on guidelines recommendations, health services research, and case reports highlighting molecular insights in patient care. JNCCN is published by Harborside. Visit JNCCN.org. To inquire if you are eligible for a FREE subscription to JNCCN, visit NCCN.org/jnccn/subscribe. Follow JNCCN on Twitter @JNCCN.

About the National Comprehensive Cancer Network

The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) is a not-for-profit alliance of leading cancer centers devoted to patient care, research, and education. NCCN is dedicated to improving and facilitating quality, effective, efficient, and accessible cancer care so patients can live better lives. The NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology (NCCN Guidelines) provide transparent, evidence-based, expert consensus recommendations for cancer treatment, prevention, and supportive services; they are the recognized standard for clinical direction and policy in cancer management and the most thorough and frequently-updated clinical practice guidelines available in any area of medicine. The NCCN Guidelines for Patients provide expert cancer treatment information to inform and empower patients and caregivers, through support from the NCCN Foundation. NCCN also advances continuing education, global initiatives, policy, and research collaboration and publication in oncology. Visit NCCN.org for more information and follow NCCN on Facebook @NCCNorg, Instagram @NCCNorg, and Twitter @NCCN.

Media Contact:

Rachel Darwin

267-622-6624

[email protected]

SOURCE National Comprehensive Cancer Network

Related Links

www.nccn.org


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SOURCE SpendEdge

Related Links

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As U.S housing demands continue to outpace housing starts at 9% below the historical average, Legacy DCS is helping investors and property developers design and construct award-winning communities with their Peak Performance Lifestyle Homes to capitalize on the demand for sustainable housing. Since opening in 2008, Legacy DCS has grown to become a family of companies with a full service, in-house team of expert building professionals. They formally announced to press this month the launch of a new division at the company, Ledgestone Development Group, utilizing vertical integration as a strategic business approach to optimize their growth. This year, they received "Best Neighborhood" and "Best Detached Community" at the 2021 Max Award for their recent project, The Isabella, and also made both history and headlines for the "first-ever, record-breaking sellout" at their new community, The Station at St. Elmo ( Austin-American Stateman, May 2021 ).

Recognized as a "Top Woman Owned Business," Legacy DCS hired 14 women in the past year and is constantly seeking qualified candidates. Despite challenges such as COVID-19 and the scarcity of resources stunting growth for most businesses nationwide, Legacy DCS has continued to lead the real estate industry's highly competitive business environment with core values such as perseverance, doing the right thing, and teamwork.

Principal and Creative Director, Carrie Brewer, believes that Legacy DCS continues to succeed by creating a strong company culture where people want to come to work. CEO and President, Cass Brewer, is a dedicated leader who takes pride in the family legacy of superior quality construction that was passed onto him by his father. Together, they are changing lives with their extraordinary work.

For more information, visit legacydcs.com or legacy-family.com

For Media Inquiries, email [email protected]

SOURCE Legacy DCS

Related Links

https://www.legacydcs.com


Each Feel The Love recipient is an unsung hero who may be going through hardship, facing adversity or in need of community support. Recipients were nominated by their neighbors, friends and family members as a way of bringing hope and support to homes across North America. In 2021, Lennox continued to expand the Feel The Love program to honor essential and frontline workers who went above and beyond to keep their communities safe during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"We greatly appreciate Lennox for choosing us to be a part of this wonderful program," said Courtney Johnson, Dallas Hope Center's housing manager and 2021 Feel The Love recipient. "The installation definitely put a lot of smiles on our board members faces, our CEO's and on mine as the housing manager. There are a lot of things that are needed in the community, and having the organization see those needs and act is very imperative and exciting. I'm very grateful to be a part of it."

The Feel The Love program is made possible through the ongoing partnership of the Lennox dealer network across North America. Since the inaugural Feel The Love program in 2009, Lennox and its dealers have completed over 1,600 free installations, with 130 installations occurring in 2021 alone. Every donated unit comes complete with 3-year Comfort Shield Labor Protection Plans, and Feel The Love dealers donate their time and labor to make the program a success.

"At Lennox, we believe everyone deserves clean, perfect air, and we're dedicated to making sure everyone feels safe and comfortable in their own homes," said Kim McGill, Vice President of Marketing at Lennox Industries. "Through our Feel The Love program, we honor local heroes in the communities where we work and live and are proud to give those in need the perfect air they deserve, thanks to the collaboration and generosity of our dealer partners."

For more information about the Feel The Love program and its impact on the community, visit FeelTheLove.com.

About Feel The Love

Since 2009, Feel The Love (formally known as Heat U.P.) has been a key program for Lennox Industries to give back to its communities. Culminating in Feel The Love Week, Lennox partners with HVAC installers and local community members in the United States and portions of Canada to deliver units at no cost to people who consistently put others before themselves and need a helping hand. For more information about how Lennox is bringing perfect air to deserving households across the United States and Canada, visit FeelTheLove.com.

About Lennox Industries

Lennox Industries, a division of Lennox International Inc. (NYSE: LII), is in constant pursuit of perfect air because we believe everyone deserves it. Whatever your version of perfect is, we can help make it happen. Offering some of the quietest and most efficient units on the market, the first ultra-low emissions furnace, and hospital-grade air filtration, Lennox has a history of designing innovative heating, cooling and indoor air quality products. Lennox' approach to product design has earned it more Dealer Design awards than its competitors combined and multiple ENERGY STAR Most Efficient certifications. Lennox is a proud contributor to its communities, investing in the future of the HVAC industry and giving back through its corporate social responsibility program, Feel The Love. For more information about how Lennox is redefining air, visit Lennox.com/Residential.

SOURCE Lennox Industries
NEW ORLEANS, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- On the new episode of the Let's Talk STEM with Dr. Calvin Mackie podcast, the host and his guest, Dr. Carlotta Berry, an Electrical and Computer Engineering professor, provide a peek behind the curtain at the challenges faced by African American engineering professors working at predominantly white higher education institutions.

Video Link

Audio Link

The engaging conversation between the two highly acclaimed engineering professors provides a fresh and earnest perspective of being Black in academia in the age of Black Lives Matters and Generation X, and the joys and pressures that come with it.

Dr. Mackie and Dr. Berry also discuss the importance of Black representation in higher academia, specifically, the ways modern tools, practices and support groups can be used to improve the representation of Black professors, educators and scientists, and provide diverse students with the support needed to thrive.

The two educators, who both earned advanced degrees at Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), also openly discussed the tensions and discrimination faced as young engineering students. "I had professors who did not know my name, did not seem to acknowledge me, and did not really seem to support whether I graduated or not," recalled Dr. Berry, who now teaches at the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute, Indiana.

"I love the field, but the way I was being taught and the way it was being portrayed to me, it was not a welcoming," Dr. Berry said, noting that she got her doctorate so she could teach students a better way.

A challenge that they faced as professors and students was that few of their colleagues or fellow students were Black. Dr. Mackie, a former tenured engineering professor at Tulane University, said Blacks students frequently lined up in front of his office door. "I was a professor at Tulane for 12 years...and I'll never forget it. All of the Black and Brown kids and would line up outside my door. And my (white) colleague asked me one day, 'What are you telling them in there?' And I said, 'You get in line because you need to hear too.'"

At one point, Dr. Berry noticed that, despite being the electrical and computer engineering professor, she received emails from Black students studying civil engineering, chemical engineering and mechanical engineering. "And I was like, 'why are they sending these students over here?' I'm the electrical engineering professor.' Faculty would say, 'Well, they're having a problem. So, I'm sending them to the Black professor.' And what I told them is diversity is important to me. But everybody on this campus needs to be able to counsel every student on this campus, no matter what their needs are."

In 2013, Dr. Mackie founded STEM NOLA, a New Orleans-based, non-profit committed to bringing STEM education to area neighborhoods and communities at churches, community centers and schools. STEM NOLA has impacted more than 80,000 students, 20,000 families and 2,150 schools across the United States and in five other countries. This summer, he founded STEM Global Action, which oversees STEM NOLA and other affiliates across the country and in Africa.

(For print or broadcast interviews with Dr. Calvin Mackie, please contact Michael K. Frisby, [email protected] or 202-625-4328.)

For an archive of Let Talk STEM with Dr. Calvin Mackie Podcasts, click HERE.

Contact:

Michael K. Frisby

[email protected]/202-625-4328

SOURCE STEM Global Action

Related Links

https://stemglobalaction.com


LAS VEGAS, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- SUITEWORLD 2021 -- The Lovesac Company , the home furnishing brand best known for its Sactionals, The World's Most Adaptable Couch, has scaled its operations to become a billion-dollar company while running on Oracle NetSuite . With NetSuite, Lovesac has been able to take advantage of an integrated business platform at every stage of its impressive growth story to support new product lines, meet changing customer expectations, adapt its business and sales models, and manage the rigorous demands of becoming a publicly traded company.

Learn more about the Lovesac story and get all the latest updates from SuiteWorld by registering for SuiteWorld On Air: netsuitesuiteworld.com/onair. By registering, attendees will have access to keynotes, NetSuite's two-day live broadcast, NetSuite TV, sessions, and demos. Learn more about how the fastest-growing businesses are tackling challenges across finance, supply chain, inventory, and more.

Founded in 1998 in a basement in Utah, Lovesac has grown into a billion-dollar company. Over that time, Lovesac has expanded its product lines to offer a wide range of adaptable couches and accessories and changed the way it engages with customers by adopting a direct-to-consumer business model. In 2018, Lovesac executed a highly successful IPO and in 2020, as the global pandemic took hold, Lovesac was able to adapt its sales model to meet increasing demand and continue delivering a high-touch customer experience  all while its physical showrooms were closed for varying periods of time. Today, Lovesac continues to adapt its business model to deliver the best possible customer experience, and earlier this year it debuted Mobile Concierge, a fully-equipped mobile showroom aimed to engage customers in a new and convenient way. As Lovesac grows towards becoming a billion-dollar company, NetSuite has supported it in every step of its journey.

"Since our founding, we've been on an incredible growth trajectory, and the breadth, depth, and scalability of NetSuite has played a crucial role in helping us achieve our growth goals," said Shawn Nelson, CEO and founder, Lovesac. "By providing a single software platform that can help us with everything from launching new product lines to going public and becoming a billion-dollar company, NetSuite has been an invaluable partner. Ultimately, NetSuite is the centerpiece of our entire business operations."

With NetSuite, Lovesac has been able to adapt and scale its core business processes to support its rapid growth. To help ensure a successful initial public offering, NetSuite enabled Lovesac to optimize financial processes, including financial planning, budgeting, and reconciliation, and helped improve the accuracy of its bookkeeping. As Lovesac expanded its product lines, NetSuite served as the hub for its order management and inventory management functions. This helped ensure that Lovesac was able to manage high order volumes across its supply chain from its ecommerce website and showrooms, in addition to gaining deep, real-time visibility into stock levels across multiple warehouse and store locations. NetSuite also helped Lovesac adapt its business to meet new customer expectations during the global pandemic. This included providing Lovesac's field sales team with the real-time information they needed to serve customers remotely and helping Lovesac identify skills and resource gaps across its workforce.

"We're proud to be part of Lovesac's impressive story," said Evan Goldberg, EVP, Oracle NetSuite. "We've worked closely with the Lovesac team as their business has grown and have helped ensure their core business processes are able to meet changing demands. We look forward to supporting them as they unlock even more success."

About Oracle NetSuite

For more than 20 years, Oracle NetSuite has helped organizations grow, scale and adapt to change. NetSuite provides an integrated system that includes financials / Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), inventory management, HR, professional services automation and omnichannel commerce, used by more than 27,000 customers in 215 countries and dependent territories.

Learn more at https://www.netsuite.com . Like us on Facebook , and follow us on LinkedIn , Instagram , and Twitter .

SOURCE Oracle NetSuite
"Our goal has always been to offer the most advanced screening tools for the earliest detection of cognitive disorders" says Dr. Ziad Nasreddine, Neurologist and MoCA creator. "Research has shown additional training to be helpful in reducing common administration errors and improving standardization, which limits risks for clinicians and patients, and improves quality of care."

The test, available in paper and digital formats, is widely used in clinical, research, and senior care settings across the globe. The official MoCA Certification was established in response to the many requests from healthcare providers, professional associations and organizations aiming to increase user proficiency in administering MoCA and to limit risks associated with improper scoring. Training and certification also became necessary to maintain MoCA's superior accuracy and scientific validity. Analysis of pre- and post-training knowledge assessments have demonstrated substantial effectiveness of MoCA certification. A formal study for publication is underway, across multiple countries and professions.

The one-hour training and certification module is available on MoCA's website. MoCA users can download free MoCA assessment pages (PDF format), including variations for hearing or visual impairment, low education, and telemedicine. Health professionals and researchers can also access the MoCA app, which offers automatic scoring, storing of results, and simple electronic health record (EHR) uploads.

MoCA's official website: www.mocatest.org

More about MoCA:

MoCA (formally the Montreal Cognitive Assessment) is a 10-minute comprehensive test, developed by Dr. Ziad Nasreddine, that helps healthcare professionals detect cognitive disorders very early on, allowing for faster diagnosis and better patient care. Over 500 peer-reviewed studies have shown MoCA to be more sensitive and accurate than other common assessments, including the MMSE. Leading hospitals and research institutions have chosen MoCA as the preferred tool for rapid cognitive assessment. MoCA is used in nearly every country, in over 100 languages and dialects, and was named among Canada's "Top Innovations in Alzheimer's Research."

About Ziad Nasreddine MD FRCP(C)

Dr. Ziad Nasreddine is the creator of MoCA and director of MoCA Clinic and Institute, in Montreal. After graduating from Medical School and Neurology at the University of Sherbrooke, he completed a post-doctoral fellowship in Neurobehavior at UCLA and is certified by the Medical Board of California and by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology.

In 1992, during his residency, Dr. Nasreddine recognized the need for a more comprehensive cognitive screening tool that could better serve clinicians. He began the journey of creating his own, more responsive test. In 1996, Dr. Nasreddine released the first version of a more specialized assessment that could directly support specialty clinics with a high volume of patients: the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, now commonly known as MoCA. As a renowned expert on cognition, Dr. Nasreddine has been interviewed by CNN, Washington Post, New York Times, and many other news sources.

Contact: Rebecca Persian, 310-331-8085, [email protected]

SOURCE MoCA
CHICAGO, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Chicago Atlantic Advisers, LLC ("Chicago Atlantic") today announced Matt Schref has joined the firm as Managing Director, Investor Relations based in Chicago. Matt's primary responsibilities include developing new client relationships and strengthening the existing client base at the firm.

Matt Schref Joins Chicago Atlantic

Prior to joining Chicago Atlantic, Matt spent time working in alternative investments with Vida Capital. He has spent over 15 years working in business development covering RIAs, family offices and institutions for Guggenheim Investments and ProShares ETFs. He holds an MBA from the University of Notre Dame and Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration from Augustana College (IL). He was a Division III collegiate athlete and is currently enrolled in the CFA program.

About Chicago Atlantic Group

Chicago Atlantic Group ("Chicago Atlantic") is a private market investment firm combining deep expertise with an entrepreneurial approach to multi-asset class investing. Founded in 2018 by Tony Cappell, John Mazarakis, and Andreas Bodmeier, the firm seeks to capitalize on North American investment opportunities that are time-sensitive, complex, or in dislocated markets, where risk is fundamentally mispriced. Chicago Atlantic combines out-of-the-box thinking and modern technology with proven underwriting to provide investors risk-adjusted returns exceeding traditional markets. The focus is on industries that have limited access to bank financing or seek to avoid regulations and bureaucracy associated with traditional lenders. To learn more about Chicago Atlantic Group, please visit http://www.chicagoatlantic.com/

Media Contact

Andreas Bodmeier

773-680-7041

[email protected]

SOURCE Chicago Atlantic Group, LLC
DAYTON, Ohio, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Gild Insurance, a nationally licensed, digital independent insurance agency serving the small commercial property and casualty market, is shaking up the small business insurance industry with its online quote-to-bind services, available 24/7/365. Their artificial intelligence-based digital services offer the knowledge, personalization and trustworthiness of a local agent, available when business owners need it and how they want it.

"We know small business owners, entrepreneurs, soloprenuers and freelancers don't work a normal nine to five, so their insurance shouldn't either," said Mary Duggan Hoeprich, founder and CEO of Gild Insurance. "There are 31.7 million small businesses in our country1 and we firmly believe they're essential to the character and success of communities across the nation. The current insurance market is built for larger corporations and isn't designed to overcome distribution challenges for small enterprises and individuals. Gild Insurance eliminates the pain points and innovates the current process, without losing knowledge and personal connection."

By leveraging an algorithmic end-to-end risk assessment and analyzing the specific business risks of the customer, Gild Insurance is more than an aggregator. Gild is moving consumers beyond simplistic online price shopping to offer a personalized experience, but on the business owner's terms. Gild Insurance is not a marketplace, it is a truly digital independent insurance agency composed of qualified insurance professionals who know the industry.

"At Gild Insurance, the artificial digital assistant is Gildber, a friendly dog bot with a human touch, delivering the feel of a face-to-face interaction. With Gildber's help, Gild is taking the industry beyond online forms, policy aggregators and superficial phonetree interactions," said Duggan Hoeprich. "Whereas it may take up to several weeks for a traditional agent to pinpoint, quote, and bind an appropriate insurance coverage, Gild's technology reduces this timeframe to minutes. Gildber asks the questions an agent would, and then some, to find tailored solutions rapidly, no matter what time of day."

With extensive knowledge of the market, Gild Insurance has partnered with best-in-class national insurance providers who take care of clients from beginning to end. These specialized partners are truly invested in high-quality products and customer care  people clients can trust long after selecting a policy.

In a 2018 study by S&P Global Market Intelligence, 89% of small businesses surveyed were buying insurance directly from an agent, typically over the phone or in person. Gild Insurance wants to streamline this process for entrepreneurs, soloprenuers, small businesses, microbusinesses and freelancers to give them their valuable time back. Few companies can offer a fast and easy process, but the expertise and personalization of its digital service is what sets Gild Insurance apart.

To learn more about the first company in the small commercial insurance space to use this AI-based technology, their trusted partners and to start chatting with Gildber, visit www.yourgild.com.

About Gild Insurance

Gild Insurance Agency is a nationwide, digital insurance agency specifically designed for microbusinesses, freelancers, and solopreneurs. Gild Insurance brings a modern, personal approach to commercial insurance, built especially for those businesses. Through provider partnerships, Gild presents coverage options to address the diverse risks these smaller businesses face that are personalized to offer high caliber service, with the latest technology options. All of these features are typically reserved for larger, high-net-worth businesses, something Gild Insurance is working to change. For more information, visit www.yourgild.com or contact us at [email protected].

1 According to the 2020 Small Business Profile report by the U.S. Small Business Administration

SOURCE Gild Insurance Agency

Related Links

http://www.yourgild.com


COLUMBUS, Ohio, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Mix Talent, the life science recruiting and consulting firm based in Columbus, is gearing up to release their brand-new podcast titled, The Mix Tape. With episodes launching weekly, the podcast will feature candid conversations between Mix Talent team members and life science industry leaders about the work that they do in an informative and entertaining way  touching on a variety of topics such as: the art of returning to the office post-COVID, cracking the code of building a winning sales team, the growth of the Ohio bioscience industry, and more.

The idea for the podcast was brought to light by Mix Talent Recruiter, Cameron Crockett, who thought it would be an effective way to connect people in the life science industry. He said, "I love a good podcast. When I realized there weren't many podcasts in the life science talent space, I thought we should put one out that shares great conversations with the incredible people we get to work with as well as promotes what Mix is all about, and that is connecting people."

The Mix Tape will be routinely hosted by Valerie McCandlish and Maggie Painter from Mix's recruiting team. Painter commented on the podcast by saying, "I feel so blessed to be able to take part in The Mix Tape I think the podcast will accomplish getting the word out on trending topics and common challenges we all face and provide helpful solutions from leaders with expertise in those areas. I [also] think this will have an overall positive affect on the life sciences industry as well as help enlighten listeners to best practices in recruiting."

The Mix Tape is set to be released on all platforms this month and will also be available on Mix Talent's website.

About Us

Mix Talent was built to support the near-term goals and long-term success of pharma, biotech, and gene therapy organizations. We leverage 30 years of experience in clinical and commercial executive search, sales builds, human resources, and talent assessment to anticipate your challenges and solve your complex problems, helping you grow your organization with full attention to your culture: the most powerful force for talent there is.

SOURCE Mix Talent

Related Links

https://mix-talent.com


LAS VEGAS, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- SUITEWORLD 2021 -- Modsy, a leading online interior design service, has selected Oracle NetSuite to scale its operations to meet skyrocketing customer demand. With NetSuite, Modsy is taking advantage of an integrated business platform to gain deeper insights from its data, increase productivity, enhance the customer experience, and establish a flexible and scalable foundation for continued growth.

Learn more about Modsy's story and get all the latest updates from SuiteWorld by registering for SuiteWorld On Air: netsuitesuiteworld.com/onair. By registering, attendees will have access to keynotes, NetSuite's two-day live broadcast, NetSuite TV, sessions, and demos. Learn more about how the fastest-growing businesses are tackling challenges across finance, supply chain, inventory, and more.

Founded in 2015 in San Francisco, Modsy combines 3D rendering technology with deep interior design expertise to transform customers' living spaces. To meet growing demand as people stayed home during the global pandemic, Modsy needed to replace its existing financial system with a new enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. After careful evaluation, Modsy selected NetSuite as the centralized platform to manage its financial, order management, and customer relationship management operations. With NetSuite, Modsy will enhance decision making by improving visibility across its business, use its employee resources more effectively, and scale its operations to meet growing customer demand as sales increase  for example, sales for Modsy's Luxe experience have increased 275 percent year-over-year.

"Our business is constantly growing, but when the global pandemic took hold, we braced ourselves for a downturn in sales. We soon discovered that the opposite was happening, and quickly realized that our existing IT systems couldn't scale to meet the rising customer demand we were experiencing," said Shanna Tellerman, CEO and founder, Modsy. "We have a data-obsessed culture because it helps us deliver a better service. Through the data-driven insights NetSuite will provide, we can scale our operations with confidence and increase productivity. As a result, we've set the stage for continued rapid growth, and we're excited for NetSuite to continue to be an invaluable partner in our evolution."

With NetSuite, Modsy will gain greater visibility into its financial, supply chain, and inventory management data, which will help Modsy streamline processes and make more informed business decisions. For example, Modsy will be able to analyze shipping and pricing data to adjust product pricing in real time and determine the most cost-effective shipping routes. This visibility into its supply chain will also help Modsy enhance the customer experience by providing its customers with precise details on the status of each shipment. In addition, NetSuite will help Modsy use its employee resources more effectively by automating previously manual tasks, including processing orders and refunds, which allows Modsy's workforce to focus on delivering an excellent customer experience. Finally, Modsy will use NetSuite SuiteAnalytics as a single source of truth for data across its organization, which will help it gain a complete and real-time picture of the health of its entire business.

"The global pandemic tested the resilience of nearly every organization, and Modsy is a perfect example of a company that was able to adapt its operations to meet and exceed rapidly-changing customer demands. To make those changes when you are operating three different and interrelated business models  which Modsy is doing as a technology, design, and retail company  is even more impressive," said Evan Goldberg, EVP, Oracle NetSuite. "By using NetSuite, Modsy is significantly increasing the value of its data and establishing a centralized and scalable platform that will support its future growth."

About Oracle NetSuite

For more than 20 years, Oracle NetSuite has helped organizations grow, scale and adapt to change. NetSuite provides an integrated system that includes financials / Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), inventory management, HR, professional services automation and omnichannel commerce, used by more than 27,000 customers in 215 countries and dependent territories.

Learn more at https://www.netsuite.com. Like us on Facebook, and follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter.

SOURCE Oracle NetSuite
SAN DIEGO, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Molecular Assemblies, Inc., today announced that it has been awarded a $250,000 Phase I Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant (Award No. R43HG011679) from the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) at the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH). The grant supports Molecular Assemblies' development of a fully enzymatic synthesis cycle for a complete workflow for DNA synthesis, with commercial potential for implementation as a replacement for chemical DNA manufacturing.

DNA synthesis has revolutionized the field of synthetic biology, leading to new therapeutics, bio-based fuels and chemicals, and materials. However, the current, three-decade-old method for chemically synthesizing DNA is inherently limited to relatively short DNA sequences, requires extensive post-synthesis processing, and uses hazardous chemicals. While enzymatic synthesis holds the potential to create long, highly pure DNA, most approaches still rely on chemical steps, which can degrade the DNA product and ultimately limit the commercial potential.

"Synthetic biology has outpaced chemical DNA synthesis technology with research and applications being limited by cost and length of synthesized DNA," said J. William Efcavitch, Ph.D., Cofounder and Chief Scientific Officer of Molecular Assemblies. "A fully enzymatic DNA synthesis platform has the potential to deliver long, highly pure DNA to drive innovation in many industries, especially life sciences, DNA-based data storage, and advanced agricultural and industrial products."

Scientists at Molecular Assemblies have pioneered a two-step enzymatic DNA synthesis process that can deliver highly pure, sequence-specific DNA on demand, without a template, and can scale to longer DNA sequences. This proprietary process uses aqueous, non-toxic reagents and requires minimal post-synthesis purification and processing. This grant will further Molecular Assemblies' process by developing three key enzymatic steps: 1) proprietary polymerase incorporation of 3-O-blocked nucleotides, 2) an enzymatic deblocking step to remove the blocking group from the 3-hydroxyl, and 3) a novel enzymatic clean-up to deplete unreacted material.

"With this recognition and funding from NIH and NHGRI, we believe we can create and commercialize a fully enzymatic DNA synthesis that can overcome the significant limitations of phosphoramidite chemistry and enable the cost-effective production of ever-lengthening strands of DNA," said Michael J. Kamdar, President and CEO of Molecular Assemblies.

The contents of this press release are solely the responsibility of the author and not necessarily the official views of the NIH.

About Molecular Assemblies

Molecular Assemblies, Inc. is a private life sciences company developing an enzymatic DNA synthesis technology designed to power the next generation of DNA-based products. The company's patented enzymatic method, based on making DNA the way nature makes DNA, produces long, high quality, sequence-specific DNA reliably, affordably, and sustainably. Molecular Assemblies' technology will enable the reading and writing of DNA for industries, including industrial synthetic biology and precision medicine, as well as emerging applications of DNA for data information storage, nanomachines, and bio-based electronics. Molecular Assemblies is headquartered in San Diego. For more information, please visit www.molecularassemblies.com .

Media Contact:

Jessica Yingling, Ph.D., Little Dog Communications Inc., [email protected] , +1.858.344.8091

SOURCE Molecular Assemblies, Inc.

Related Links

http://molecularassemblies.com


MANILA, Philippines, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Mynt, the holding company of Globe's fintech arm managing the popular e-wallet GCash, is the lone Philippine startup that made it to Credit Suisse's Southeast Asia 35 Unicorns list. The list highlights technology companies in several industries and countries in the sub-region that are valued at over US$1 billion or wherein the last funding round was at least US$800 million and backed by strong business momentum.

The latest ASEAN Equity Research entitled ASEAN Unicorns, Scaling New Heights looks at the top startup companies in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines. Companies in Singapore and Indonesia comprise 74% of the 35 unicorns. Sector-wise, fintech leads the pack, with 26%, followed by e-commerce - 20%, logistics -11%, and diversified internet - 8%.

In a primarily cash-driven society like the Philippines, Mynt is the first mover in the country in enabling financial access for consumers and merchants. Its services include payments, remittances, loans, business solutions, and platforms.

Over the past year and a half, the pandemic became a catalyst in the acceleration of digital payments and e-commerce in the country, with merchants and consumers shifting from offline to online transactions during the year. This shift is expected to sustain even after the crisis as people get used to convenience and ease of use.

With the fintech sector in SEA attracting significant investor interest, Mynt attracted fresh capital investment in the middle of 2020 from ASP Philippines LP, a limited partnership fund managed by Bow Wave Capital Management. Mynt raised over $175 million in fresh capital from both Bow Wave and its existing shareholders, across multiple tranches, with a post-money valuation of the final tranches at close to $1 billion.

Since then, GCash has sustained its remarkable growth, with its target gross transaction value seen to triple to over P3 trillion this year from over P1 trillion in 2020. Registered users continued to increase, with over 44 million registered users and more than 2.5 million merchants and social sellers as of end-June. Moreover, active users continued to increase, growing 2.8x as against the same period the year before. Lastly, Mynt has shown the ability to scale sustainably, registering positive EBITDA and net income in June this year.

"Wallet sizes are increasing, credit traffic flow is accelerating, and use cases are widening, and Mynt has been able to capitalize on these trends with the transformation of its GCash service to a super app that includes e-commerce (GLife) and financial services (lending, insurance, savings, and investments)," the research said.

Aside from GCash, Mynt also has its lending arm, FUSE, another subsidiary that benefits the unbanked population through innovative credit products powered by its proprietary credit scoring algorithm.

To know more about Mynt, visit https://www.mynt.xyz .

Globe Press Room: https://www.globe.com.ph/about-us/newsroom.html

Twitter: @talk2GLOBE  Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/globeph

SOURCE Globe Telecom

Related Links

https://www.globe.com.ph/


JERSEY CITY, N.J., Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Verified Market Research recently published a report, "Nanocellulose Market" By Type (Nanocrystalline Cellulose, Cellulose nanofiber and Micro fibrillated), By Application (Pulp & Paper, Biomedical & Pharmaceutical, Packaging), and By Geography. According to Verified Market Research, the Global Nanocellulose Market size was valued at USD 278.5 Million in 2020 and is projected to reach USD 1262.5 Million by 2028, growing at a CAGR of 20.94% from 2021 to 2028.

Download PDF Brochure: https://www.verifiedmarketresearch.com/download-sample/?rid=36374

Browse in-depth TOC on "Nanocellulose Market"



202 - Pages

126  Tables

37  Figures

Global Nanocellulose Market Overview

Nanocellulose significantly used in the pulp and paper industry as an additive to produce light and white paper, therefore boosting the market growth. It is being employed in health care applications including biomedicines, personal hygiene products, and cosmetics for its nontoxic properties. Nanocellulose has excellent adsorption capacities and therefore it acts as a suitable ingredient to produce wound dressings and sanitary napkins. The growing research activities on nanocellulose have further fueled the market.

Nanocellulose possesses the potential to replace numerous petrochemical based products and has been cost effective compared to other nanoscale high performance materials. It offers superior properties such as ease of disposability, biodegradability, transparency, flexibility, high mechanical strength & barrier properties etc. Rising food & beverage industry along with improving health concern will be a major factor contributing to nanocellulose market share in the coming years.

Although cellulose is abundantly existing in nature, the production of such nanomaterials needs large machinery and technical knowledge, which leads to the growth of the production charge and high production cost may hamper the market growth.

Key Developments in Nanocellulose Market

In February 2019 , CellForce had declared that it has upgraded CNC plant in Montreal , which will operate at production capacity of 300 tons/Year.

, CellForce had declared that it has upgraded CNC plant in , which will operate at production capacity of 300 tons/Year. In September 2020 , CellForce has declared the signing of an agreement with MNCs that are operating in cosmetic sector in order to make full supply of CNC for the coming 10 years. The company has also valued that there will be the need of a new plant to meet the demand for this agreement. The MNC is approved a global exclusiveness for the commercialization of CNC-based cosmetic products and is likely to launch new product progressively over the agreement period.

The major players in the market are CelluForce Inc, Kruger Inc, Sappi Ltd, Innventia AB, Nippon Paper Group Inc, Borgward and GranBio Technologies.

Verified Market Research has segmented the Global Nanocellulose Market On the basis of Type, Application, and Geography.

Nanocellulose Market, By Type

Nanocrystalline Cellulose



Cellulose Nanofibers



Micro-fibrillated Cellulose

Nanocellulose Market, By Application

Pulp & Paper



Biomedical & Pharmaceutical



Packaging



Others

Nanocellulose Market by Geography

North America



U.S





Canada





Mexico



Europe



Germany





France





U.K





Rest of Europe



Asia Pacific



China





Japan





India





Rest of Asia Pacific



ROW



Middle East & Africa

&



Latin America

Browse Related Reports:

Nanocrystalline Cellulose Market By Grade (Industrial Grade, Pharmaceutical/Food Grade), By Form (Powder, Liquid), By Source (Softwood Pulp, Hardwood Pulp), By Application (Composites, Personal Care, Packaging, Paper Processing), By Geography, Forecast, 2021-2028

Flexographic Inks Market By Ink Type (Volatile ink, Energy curable ink), By Resin Type (Polyurethanes, Acrylic, Polyamides, Nitrocellulose), By Technology of Application (Water-based, Solvent-based, Ultraviolet (UV)), By Geography, Forecast, 2021-2028

Microcrystalline Cellulose Market By Source Type (Wood-based and Non-wood-based), By Application (Pharmaceutical, Food & Beverage, Cosmetics & Personal Care), By Geography, Forecast, 2021-2028

Hydroxy Ethyl Cellulose (HEC) Market By Product Type (Industrial Grade, Cosmetic Grade, Food Grade, and Pharmaceutical Grade), By Application (Building Material, Oilfield, Personal Care and Cosmetic, Food, Pharmaceuticals, Paper, Adhesives and Textiles), By Geography, Forecast, 2021-2028

Top industrial packaging suppliers providing a safer way of dispatching products

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SOURCE Verified Market Research
"The current New York City residential market is experiencing an unprecedented period where occupancy rates are at historic highs. In many instances, there are multiple renters submitting applications, with rates going above asking. Securing this iconic inventory in the heart of Manhattan during these times, is such a significant win for our organization," states Tom Curcio, Regional Director at National.

National at 888 6th Avenue is a substantial development in the New York market and marks the expansion of National's housing capabilities in the U.S. This partnership with Torkian Group represents National's continued focus on expansion to properly service the demands of global customers.

Ariel Torkian of Torkian Group states: "The Torkian Group is pleased to announce its newly established relationship with National Corporate Housing. We look forward to watching them service the industry in a first-class manner synonymous with their brand."

About Torkian Group

The Torkian Group, led by Hersel Torkian, is a privately held, family owned and operating company. Vertically integrated, The Torkian Group proudly acquires, develops, manages and leases all aspects of its award-winning properties.

About National Corporate Housing

Founded in 1999, National Corporate Housing is a global multi-brand corporate housing company that provides fully furnished, temporary housing throughout the United States, Canada, EMEA, APAC, and Latin America. National's unique business model offers a Single Source Solution for temporary living, including furnished apartments, international serviced apartments, rental assistance, destination services, corporate travel, insurance housing, and talent solutions. For more information on National Corporate Housing, please visit NationalCorporateHousing.com.

Contact Information:

[email protected]

SOURCE National Corporate Housing
FORT ATKINSON, Wis., Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Niemann-Pick Disease Foundation (NNPDF), the leading advocacy organization for people living with Niemann-Pick disease in the United States, today commemorates the third annual Niemann-Pick Disease Awareness Day, a global effort to build awareness of the significant impact this rare genetic disease has on patients, caregivers and families. NNPDF joins with the global community to honor patients and families and to highlight the critical need for increased awareness and research that can lead to new treatments and services for people affected by the disease.

"Niemann-Pick Disease Awareness Day is an important opportunity to recognize the amazing work of our patient community in fighting to raise awareness and for research that can lead to new treatment options for patients around the world," said Joslyn Crowe, executive director of NNPDF. "In the past year, we have faced many challenging setbacks, but our community stayed together to continue fighting and advocating for all those affected by Niemann-Pick disease. We have also seen promising advances in research and are hopeful about what the next year might bring to the community."

In recent months, NNPDF has initiated and engaged in many efforts to support people affected by Niemann-Pick disease including a recent virtual annual meeting where more than 300 community members joined together to learn about advances in clinical research, new support services and different patient family journeys. NNPDF has also led two recent community listening sessions with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to discuss topics important to the Niemann-Pick community including the urgent need for approved treatments. Throughout October, NNPDF has worked to raise awareness of the disease and highlight the needs of the community through various initiatives including webinars with industry partners, a social media campaign, and working with patients and caregivers to help them share their stories of living with Niemann-Pick disease.

Niemann-Pick is a fatal, rare genetic disease that can affect both children and adults. It is neuro-degenerative and caused by a build-up of toxic materials in the body's cells that can cause enlarged liver or spleen, difficulties with motor skills, speech, swallowing and feeding as well as cognitive impairment. For many patients, these symptoms can have a severe impact on the ability to participate in the activities of daily life. There is currently no approved treatment for Niemann-Pick disease in the U.S. and limited options available throughout the world.

"Niemann-Pick Disease Awareness Day is a time for our community to recognize and celebrate the advances we have made while also working together to continue fighting for access to better care and support for research to develop a treatment for this devastating disease," said Laurie Turner, family services manager at NNPDF.

About the National Niemann-Pick Disease Foundation

The National Niemann-Pick Disease Foundation, Inc. (NNPDF) is a non-profit patient advocacy and family support organization dedicated to supporting and empowering patients and families affected by Niemann-Pick disease through education, collaboration and research. Founded in 1993, NNPDF serves families throughout the nation at all stages of their Niemann-Pick journey. NNPDF is the US member organization of the International Niemann-Pick Disease Alliance (INPDA).

Media contact:

Holly Stevens

Berry & Company Public Relations

[email protected]

212 253 8881

SOURCE National Niemann-Pick Disease Foundation
HOUSTON, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- NerdsToGo , the leading computer and technology repair service franchise, is looking to expand its presence in the Greater Houston area by opening 15 new locations within the next year. To showcase the NerdsToGo franchise opportunity, the brand will attend the 2021 Franchise Expo Houston (Booth #115) taking place at the NRG Center Oct. 29-30.

"The Greater Houston area is one of the largest and most diverse business regions in the nation and we see tremendous growth potential in this market," said Mark Jameson, chief support and development officer at Propelled Brands. "As the number of businesses choosing to work remotely continues to rise, tech service and repair is becoming a necessary and valuable resource. We are confident that with our proven business model, managed service plans, and the support and resources we provide, our franchisees will thrive."

NerdsToGo is currently seeking qualified franchisees to be owner-operators and help the brand grow across the United States. Prospective franchisees do not need experience in information technology but should have a strong desire to grow a successful business in their local community, developing relationships with small business owners to become their outsourced IT department.

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 net worth 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, including 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/houston/welcome-1 .

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).

SOURCE NerdsToGo, Inc.

Related Links

https://www.nerdstogo.com


SPRINGFIELD, Ill., Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Community Health Workers throughout Illinois responded in September to more than 5,500 requests for immediate pandemic assistance, a more than 30 percent increase from the benchmark set in August, according to data released today by the Illinois Public Health Association.

Service requests were addressed by the team of well-trained 800 Community Health Workers hired through the Pandemic Health Navigator Program's network of community-based organizations and federally qualified health centers in 92 Illinois counties. Requests came from individuals experiencing hardships because of the COVID-19 pandemic that infected nearly 109,500 Illinoisans in September  1,023 of those cases were fatal.

"Community Health Workers are a support system for our neighbors trying to navigate the challenges and interruptions of a traumatic event, like the COVID-19 pandemic," said Dr. Tracey Smith, director of community health and programs at the Illinois Public Health Association. "The September surge in COVID cases likely contributed to this increase in service requests, but we are also helping people affected now by the virus' long-term impact on their health and livelihood."

Since the Pandemic Health Navigator Program launched in April and through the end of September, Community Health Workers have fulfilled nearly 17,000 service requests. Of those, roughly 82 percent have been for basic human needs, such as food, income assistance, household items, or help finding a place to live. A comprehensive breakdown of the requests is available now for public inspection on the Program's new blog on helpguidethrive.org.

Despite the uptick, Community Health Workers were still able to turnaround most requests within 48 hours after receiving them from clients or through a local health department referral.

September also marked six months since Illinoisans at least 65 years old or with underlying medical conditions received their second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine manufactured by Pfizer. The Illinois Public Health Association renewed today their call for those inoculated six months ago with the Pfizer vaccine to get the single-dose booster shot, which was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in late September.

"Data are showing the vaccines are effectively keeping people out of hospitals," Dr. Smith said. "We are fortunate to have vaccines readily available in Illinois. The job now is getting the people to the vaccine."

BACKGROUND

The Illinois Public Health Association (I.P.H.A.) is the state's oldest and largest public health association.

In partnership with the Illinois Primary Health Care Association, I.P.H.A. administers the state's Pandemic Health Navigator program in Regions 2  9 with grant funding provided by the Illinois Dept. of Public Health. The Program supports over 80 community-based organizations and federally qualified health centers hire and train Community Health Workers who provide residents with meals, medication, work and income resources, immigration support, mental health services, and safe living conditions. I.P.H.A. also provides Community Health Workers with educational resources regarding the COVID-19 virus and vaccines.

A full directory of service providers is available online at helpguidethrive.org.

MEDIA OPPORTUNITIES

More data regarding September 2021 service requests is available online.

service requests is available online. Schedule an interview with Dr. Tracey Smith of the Illinois Public Health Association. Please indicate your media affiliation and deadline.

of the Illinois Public Health Association. Please indicate your media affiliation and deadline. Schedule to interview a Community Health Worker in Regions 2  9.

B-roll footage, logos, and fact sheets are available in the Digital Media Kit.

SOURCE Illinois Public Health Association

Related Links

https://www.helpguidethrive.org


FACTS AT A GLANCE Edition: 6; Released: April 2021 Executive Pool: 21031 Companies: 12 - Players covered include ActiveViam; Advizor Solutions, Inc.; Amazon Web Services, Inc.; Exasol, INC.; Hitachi Vantara Corporation; IBM Corporation; Information Builders, Inc.; Kognitio Ltd.; MicroStrategy, Inc.; Oracle Corporation; Qlik Technologies, Inc.; SAP SE; SAS Institute, Inc.; Software AG and Others. Coverage: All major geographies and key segments Segments: Application (Risk Management & Fraud Detection, Sales & Marketing Optimization, Financial Management, Supply Chain Optimization, Other Applications); Component (Software, Services); Deployment (Cloud, On-Premise); Vertical (BFSI, Telecommunications & IT, Retail & E-Commerce, Government & Defense, Media & Entertainment, Other Verticals) 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 In-Memory Analytics Market to Reach $6.4 Billion by 2026

Amid the COVID-19 crisis, the global market for In-Memory Analytics estimated at US$1.9 Billion in the year 2020, is projected to reach a revised size of US$6.4 Billion by 2026, growing at a CAGR of 22% over the analysis period. Software, one of the segments analyzed in the report, is projected to record a 22.6% CAGR and reach US$5.5 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 Services segment is readjusted to a revised 20.6% CAGR for the next 7-year period.



The U.S. Market is Estimated at $724.9 Million in 2021, While China is Forecast to Reach $1.1 Billion by 2026

The In-Memory Analytics market in the U.S. is estimated at US$724.9 Million in the year 2021. China, the world`s second largest economy, is forecast to reach a projected market size of US$1.1 Billion by the year 2026 trailing a CAGR of 21.5% over the analysis period. Among the other noteworthy geographic markets are Japan and Canada, each forecast to grow at 20% and 18.6% respectively over the analysis period. Within Europe, Germany is forecast to grow at approximately 15.3% CAGR. More



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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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"Eaglestone is proud to announce the two latest additions to our growing group of best-in-class affiliated companies," said Andru Coren, CEO of Eaglestone, LLC. "We look forward to working with New York Engineers and Solar Energy Systems teams' and providing them with the financial support and business-related management services needed to allow them to grow and expand their business services and market coverage."

New York Engineers provides engineering services including mechanical, electrical, plumbing, sprinkler, and fire protection, as well as building condition assessments & commissioning, LEED consulting, energy modeling, and engineering design reviews. They operate nationwide and internationally and count a significant number of recognizable New York City structures among their clients. Solar Energy Systems offers clients custom-made solar programs, streamlining complex processes from financing and integration, to operations and maintenance. SES is one of the leading turnkey solar energy services providers in the northeast U.S., with projects at New York landmarks including the Brooklyn Navy Yard and the United Nations Headquarters.

David Buckner, President of Solar Energy Systems said, "This joining of forces couldn't be a better fit for Solar Energy Systems. Eaglestone provides strong financial resources along with a very successful, proven method of executing complex construction and engineering projects in the built environment. Through twenty years of hard work SES has gained a deep knowledge of all aspects of the solar photovoltaic space and we'll continue to flourish with our new partners."

Michael Tobias, Principal of New York Engineers said, "Together we're bringing New York Engineers to the next level, where sustainability is the focus of all of our projects. We are very excited to now have the resources needed to go deeper into the NYC metro market, simplify the design-build process, and offer affordable ways for building owners to save energy."

Eaglestone, LLC is a holding company comprised of best-in-class MEP/F sub-contractors on the east coast providing superior workmanship and project management services across all commercial and residential construction platforms. Its growing family of affiliated companies, which also includes Lotus Biosecurity, PJ Mechanical, PACE Companies, and Delta Sheet Metal, reflects a commitment to energy strategies & solutions, service & maintenance programs, and biosecurity initiatives.

About Aterian Investment Partners

Aterian manages over $700 million of committed capital investing in industry-leading, middle-market businesses. We support investments throughout an organization, from people to processes, equipment, technology, and social governance, among others. For more information, please visit www.aterianpartners.com

About Eaglestone

Eaglestone, LLC is a holding company comprised of the best-in-class MEP/F sub-contractors providing superior workmanship and project management services across all commercial and residential construction platforms. Eaglestone, LLC is committed to companies that focus on energy strategies & solutions, service & maintenance programs, and biosecurity initiatives. Our focus currently is the NY Metro area and the state of Florida, from Orlando to Miami. For more information visit eaglestoneny.com

About New York Engineers

New York Engineers operates nationwide and internationally out of our New York office, offering Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing, Sprinkler, and Fire Protection Engineering services, as well as Building Condition Assessments & Commissioning, LEED Consulting, Energy Modeling, Engineering Design Reviews, and much more. Our Manhattan engineering firm takes pride in being accurate, responsive, and easy to work with. We have expertise with a wide range of projects, from private residences to large industrial warehouses, and we possess a particular finesse with New York City construction. For more information visit ny-engineers.com

About Solar Energy Systems

Solar Energy Systems, LLC (SES) is a leading integrator of commercial solar electric systems in the Northeastern United States. Services include financing, design, engineering, construction, performance monitoring, and maintenance. For more information visit solaresystems.com

SOURCE Eaglestone, LLC

Related Links

https://www.eaglestoneny.com


VANCOUVER, BC, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Nexii Building Solutions (Nexii) has been recognized by the Reuters Events 12th Annual Responsible Business Awards, celebrating international leadership in sustainable business.

Nexii was selected as the winner in a new, highly competitive category, Product or Service Innovation, for its revolutionary green building products. Fellow finalists in this category included Chipotle Mexican Grill, Walgreens and Moody's, while Nexii's partner, Trane Technologies, took home the Business Transformation Award.

This year, over 600 entrants applied for the Reuters Awards, including submissions from Amazon, Samsung, Coca-Cola, Virgin, Burberry, Nestle, Deloitte and many other global brands. In choosing Nexii for this prestigious award, judges commented they were "impressed to see such scalable innovation...for a key sector where impact is important, and there is a lot of opportunity ahead."

The construction industry is the world's largest contributor to solid waste, and buildings are the No. 1 source of climate pollution, accounting for 39 percent of emissions globally. Yet new construction continues apace: 1Over the next four decades, the equivalent of 500 New York Cities will be built around the world as cities grow dramatically. Nexii's sustainable concrete alternative, Nexiite, significantly improves on the construction industry's status quo.

Nexiite is used to create sustainable, disaster-resilient buildings and retrofits with reduced emissions, up to 75 percent shorter build times and near-zero on-site waste. Nexiite is used to create Nexii Panels for use in airtight, non-toxic commercial, industrial and residential buildings, resulting in up to 33 percent less embodied carbon. Nexii products are precision manufactured off-site and rapidly assembled on-site, reducing build times and construction costs.

"I am absolutely thrilled and humbled to accept the Reuters Responsible Business Award for Product and Service Innovation on behalf of the Nexii team," said Stephen Sidwell, Nexii CEO. "It's an honor to be in this category with some truly incredible companies. We are proud of our accomplishments in the area of sustainable building products, our work to change the construction industry and our mission to build a vibrant future for people and the planet."

Nexii is growing rapidly as it aims to revolutionize the construction industry; last month, it became the fastest Canadian company to ever reach unicorn status. Nexiite has recently been used for a first-of-its-kind sustainably built Starbucks, in which the outer walls and roof were constructed in six days and reduced the store's emissions by 30 percent; and in projects for clients including Popeyes and A&W Restaurants.

About Nexii

Nexii Building Solutions Inc. (Nexii) is a green construction technology company that is committed to building a vibrant future for people and the planet. Nexii designs and manufactures high-performance buildings and green building products that are sustainable, cost-efficient and resilient in the face of climate change. The Nexii System also significantly reduces construction timelines, enabling the rapid development of green buildings across North America. Nexii is suited for industrial / commercial / institutional, mixed-use, multi-family residential and single-family homes, as well as for the green retrofit market.

For more information, visit www.nexii.com , or connect with us on Instagram (@NexiiBuilds), Twitter ( @NexiiBuilds ) or on LinkedIn ( Nexii Building Solutions ).

1 According to an article published by the UN News in 2017, "Time running out for construction sector to cut energy use, meet climate goals  UN"

SOURCE Nexii
BELLEVUE, Wash., Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Nintex, the global standard for process management and automation, announced the company is hiring more than 50 new team members for its award-winning organization behind growing market demand for automation. Today's announcement follows recent investor news, TPG Capital agrees to make a majority investment in digital process automation leader Nintex. Nintex generates more than $250 million in sales with more than 850 employees serving 10,000 customers in nearly every major industry like healthcare, financial services, high tech, manufacturing, and state and local governments.

To view worldwide job openings at Nintex, visit www.nintex.com/careers/ and to learn more about the Nintex engineering team, visit www.nintex.com/careers/engineering/

Nintex has consistently maintained its stature as a great place to work with product innovation and a track-record of growth and numerous successful acquisitions including that of process automation provider K2 Software, Inc. in October 2020 and eSignature provider AssureSign in June 2021, to further complement workflow automation, application development, and eSignature capabilities of its complete process platform.

"It's an exciting time to be part of Nintex as the market demand for automation software continually accelerates," said Nintex Chief Executive Officer Eric Johnson. "We're looking for talented professionals to join our engineering, product, sales and customer support teams to ensure organizations digitally transform their business processes with our powerful and easy-to-use solution technologies."

Recent accolades for Nintex as a company and its products include: SD Times' 100 Best in Show in Software Development; TSR's Top 100 Software Companies 2021; Digital.com's Best Business Process Management Software Companies; Puget Sound Business Journal's Best Places to Work; Great Place to Work's UK Best Workplaces; Top 10 GeekWire 200; and Singapore Business Review's Technology Excellence Awards 2021. Additionally, independent research and advisory company Aragon Research named Nintex a leader in the Aragon Research Globe for Digital Transaction Management, 2021, as well as in the Aragon Research Globe for Digital Business Platforms, 2021 and Nintex RPA was featured in the 2021 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Robotic Process Automation.

Strong talent is the backbone of Nintex's collaborative workplace

Nintex embraces flexible work models and remote working, especially since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 while maintaining office locations in 20 cities across North America, Asia Pacific, and Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Pulse surveys indicate that Nintex's employee engagement score ranked 8.2 out of 10, which is more than double the engagement score of average US-based employees, according to a recent Gallup Poll.

"We're committed to ensuring everyone who joins us has rewarding and inclusive work experiences," said Nintex Chief People Officer Nellie Thompson. "It's the passion of our people that makes Nintex such a great, fun place to work."

Employees at Nintex enjoy comprehensive health, wellness and flexible time off benefits, recognition programs, and opportunities for career development. In fact, the company has an average employee tenure of 4.9 years, with 11 percent of its team members celebrating more than 10 years with the organization. The recent winner of the 2021 Reseller News Women in Information Technology Awards, Nintex Automation Test Engineer Maria Alcantara, is passionate about her work and workplace, stating, "I like making sure we build quality technology. As a test engineer, quality is not just work. It's a way of life. We apply it every single day."

To explore a new career at Nintex and search open roles, visit www.nintex.com/careers.

Media Contact

Kristin Treat

Nintex

[email protected]

cell: +1 (215) 317-9091

About Nintex

Nintex is the global standard for process management and automation. Today more than 10,000 public and private sector organizations across 90 countries turn to the Nintex Platform to accelerate progress on their digital transformation journeys by quickly and easily managing, automating and optimizing business processes. Learn more by visiting www.nintex.com and experience how Nintex and its global partner network are shaping the future of Intelligent Process Automation (IPA).

Product or service names mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

SOURCE Nintex

Related Links

http://www.nintex.com


TUSTIN, Calif., Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Too many retailers and brands suffer from "Amazon Stockholm Syndrome"the unquestioning effort to compete with the world's most dominant ecommerce company on its own asymmetrical terms, writes Jan-Christopher Nugent, CEO of Nogin, in an opinion piece for multichannelmerchant.com.

"If the Stockholm Syndrome theory were correct, you'd expect to see long-enduring captives parroting the propaganda of their captors and engaging in behavior that was not in their long-term interest," Nugent writes. "This is exactly what we see."

Nugent: "While a healthy brand's average discount should be no higher than 26%, we routinely see brands with average discounts of 50% once you factor in shipping and return costs."

Indeed, companies routinely give up sizable chunks of their margins by trying in vain to play Amazon's game, he contends. "While a healthy brand's average discount should be no higher than 26%, we routinely see brands with average discounts of 50% once you factor in shipping and return costs," Nugent writes.

In the Oct. 11 piece ("How to Snap Out of Amazon 'Stockholm Syndrome'"), the ecommerce sector veteran describes Amazon's success in training consumers to expect free (or seemingly so) shipping and nearly instantaneous delivery. Amazon has also been able to drop prices and force competitors to cut their margins.

While going head-to-head with Amazon may be viable for a tiny number of true giants, for others the rapidly evolving commerce-as-a-service (CaaS) model creates new possibilities, Nugent writes. "In the CaaS model, specialty firms create, maintain and operate ecommerce stores on behalf of retailers and brands. These platforms can deliver superior ecommerce and increase sales, profits and conversion rates using advanced algorithms, data-driven intelligent promotions and discounts, and cloud-based R&D upgrades."

But before retailers or brands can take full advantage of these gains, they may need to face some captor-induced fears. That could include reconsidering whether there's truly only one way to please the customer, Nugent notes, and being open to using tech and analytics to win back the respect they have given away by selling at a loss.

For example, CaaS methodologies can reveal which customers are loyal enough to buy even without receiving free shipping, notes the executive, whose firm has delivered CaaS for such major brands as Kenneth Cole, Honeywell, Hurley, Bebe, Lululemon, True Religion, Yeezy and Charming Charlie.

Generally, the mid-tier "is where CaaS has capabilities and services that bolster competitiveness, including higher-order AI and predictive analytics," Nugent explains. By running intelligent algorithms and multivariate tests, CaaS providers can ferret out which customers will balk at the removal of shipping, delivery and price giveaways, and which ones will keep shopping and stay loyal.

"When CaaS technology is carefully applied across an entire ecommerce store, intelligent segmentation can result in a drop in the average discount from 50% to 25%, or even as low as 4.5%-6% in some cases," he writes. "Most importantly, it can also help bring you to a cash-neutral position when it comes to returns  That's what it takes to keep pace with big retail, drive predictable profitabilityand snap out of the Amazon trance."

The full column is available at:

https://multichannelmerchant.com/ecommerce/how-to-snap-out-of-amazon-stockholm-syndrome/

About Nogin

Nogin delivers Commerce as a Service to leading brands in the fashion, CPG, beauty, health, and wellness industries. The company's Intelligent Commerce product is a full-stack ecommerce platform that includes R&D, sales optimization, and machine learning, along with artificial intelligence-driven marketing and fulfillment. Known for helping global brands keep pace with big retail and drive predictable profitability, Nogin partners with clients to take the ecommerce operation, team, and data from the ground uptypically in less than 90 days. For more information on the company's services, visit www.nogin.com.

Press Contacts: At Jaffe Communications (908-789-0700), Bill Parness or Elisa Krantz, [email protected].

NOTE TO MEDIA: Jan-Christopher Nugent and other execs at Nogin are available as resources for your coverage of the ecommerce market. Please contact Jaffe Communications to arrange interviews.

SOURCE Nogin

Related Links

https://nogin.com


NAPPC has only given out its Business for Bees Sustainability Award once before. It is given in years when there is a business taking extra special steps to protect bees and all pollinators and to advance sustainability and innovation.

"ABC's name is on this award, but it really goes to the 7,600 almond farmers in California," said Josette Lewis, ABC's chief scientific officer. "Farmers understand how important pollinators are to growing almonds and to all of agriculture and the environment. They want to be part of the solution."

The reasons for the award, Rourke said, include ABC's leadership in founding the California Pollinator Coalition, its work promoting on-farm pollinator habitat and its support of years of research and education about the best practices for providing hospitable environments for pollinators in almond orchards and in other habitats.

ABC worked with Pollinator Partnership and the California Department of Food and Agriculture last spring to create the California Pollinator Coalition (CPC) which brought together a broad array of grower organizations across the state's ag and environmental landscape to help promote the health of wild and managed pollinators.

"The formation of the California Pollinator Coalition was such a big step," said Laurie Davies Adams, Pollinator Partnership's Director of Programs, who helped found the CPC. "This is a unique statewide coalition that brings together every grower, farmer and rancher group. I don't think that's ever happened before. It's going to make a real difference on the ground."

NAPPC is a collaboration of diverse partners from the U.S., Mexico and Canada. It includes respected scientists, researchers, business people, conservationists and government officials. NAPPC works to promote awareness and scientific understanding of pollinators, to find common ground for solutions and to create innovative initiatives that benefit pollinators.

NAPPC is administered and supported by Pollinator Partnership, a non-profit headquartered in San Francisco with a mission to promote the health of pollinators through education, conservation and research.

The award was announced during NAPPC's 21st Annual International Conference, held virtually this year for the second time and hosted by the Pollinator Partnership and the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. The conference and award ceremony were planned for the Smithsonian before being forced to remain virtual because of COVID-19.

Rourke and Adams said they would have liked to have given the honor in person to show how much they appreciate ABC's work.

"The strong effort that the Almond Board of California has mounted with the support of the almond industry to engage farmers and the entire agricultural community far beyond almond orchards is really impressive," Adams said. "Bringing every grower group together to have an agriculturally-led coalition for pollinators is significant. It will provide building blocks for even more engagement and large results. It's a pioneering effort that other states are seeking to emulate."

"This is an outstanding honor for our farmers," Lewis said, "especially considering all the good work that NAPPC and the Pollinator Partnership do. As much as anyone, almond farmers are tuned in to the importance of pollinators to their crops and our ecosystem. That's why they work so hard to make their orchards healthy places for pollinators."

Almond farmers across California's Central Valley sit in what is essentially a flyway for pollinators. In recent years, almond farmers have applied to certify more than 110,000 acres of Bee Friendly Farming, providing pollinator habitat and integrated pest management across the valley to keep that flyway healthy and create badly needed floral resources that compliment and expand beyond the annual almond bloom.

"Almond farmers have doubled the number of acres of bee friendly habit in California and in that pollinator flyway," Lewis said. "We're proud to help lead a broad coalition of agriculture and conservation groups to work together to promote and preserve habitat for pollinators."

About the Almond Board of California

ABC is a Federal Marketing Order dedicated to promoting California almonds to domestic and international audiences through marketing efforts and by funding and promoting research about almonds' health benefits, efficient and sustainable farming, food safety and more. ABC works on behalf of the more than 7,600 almond farmers and processors in California, many of whom are multi-generational family operations.

About The North American Pollinator Protection Campaign

For over 20 years, NAPPC has brought together stakeholders from all sectors of the pollinator issue in a collaborative partnership to support pollinator health across the North American continent. More than any other single organization, the collective effort of these 180 plus organizations has made pollinator health a feature in conservation landscape management. From its many Task Forces, NAPPC affects change and moves solid science into real progress on the ground. Managed by the Pollinator Partnership, more can be found about NAPPC at NAPPC | Pollinator.org.

For more information:

Rick Kushman

Manager, Media Relations

Almond Board of California

[email protected]

(916) 716-9909

SOURCE Almond Board of California; Pollinator Partnership
MILWAUKEE, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Northwestern Mutual advisors represent more than one quarter of the honorees within Forbes's newly released "Top Financial Security Professionals 2021" ranking, significantly outpacing all other wealth management and financial services firms.

The Forbes list honors the nation's top-performing wealth advisors who provide holistic planning focusing on highly skilled financial guidance and risk mitigation. Honorees are selected based on a set of key criteria including industry experience, revenue, assets under management, client loyalty  also known as persistence rate  as well as qualitative factors like compliance record and the exhibition of best practices.

"We are thrilled to have such strong, industry-leading representation in this year's ranking, with more than a quarter of the honorees affiliated with Northwestern Mutual," said Tim Gerend, the company's chief distribution officer and a member of the Forbes/SHOOK Financial Security Professionals Leadership Advisory Board. "As more Americans seek financial advice during these times of uncertainty, our field force, the largest, most productive and most diverse in company history, is exceptionally well-positioned to serve their clients through their expertise and more sophisticated, comprehensive financial strategies."

America's Top Financial Security Professionals Ranking follows the recognition of five Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management advisors on Working Mother and SHOOK Research's 2021 Top Wealth Advisor Moms list and three advisors on Forbes Top Next-Gen Wealth Advisors list. Leading industry publications including Financial Planning, Financial Advisor, ThinkAdvisor and InvestmentNews consistently rank Northwestern Mutual Investment Services as a top independent broker-dealer by total revenue.

"No one delivers financial security to clients like Northwestern Mutual wealth advisors  and this list proves it," said Aditi Javeri Gokhale, the company's chief commercial officer and president of its investment products and services business. "Given the uncertainty of the last 18 months, many Americans' sense of financial anxiety is higher than ever. But when they have a comprehensive plan that grows and protects wealth, they can live more and worry less."

Those Northwestern Mutual advisors recognized in America's Top Financial Security Professionals Ranking 2021 are:

John Adams Matt Carothers Matthew Greene Delynn Alexander Justin Charise Loren Hsiao Scott Ashline Michael D'Aquila Rick Hu Michael Bartenhagen Jerry David John Iezzi Rebecca Bast Scott DeSantis Mike Jones Bradley Baune James DiNardo John Kilch Douglas Benson Benjamin Feldman Mark Kull Art Blick Jim Fitzgerald Sam Laorenza Steve Braun Howard Goldman III Tyler Layne Zach Burton Daniel Gould Randy Lehman Lou Cannataro Todd Grandy Paul Ludacka Mark Lupton Michael Ryan Raul Tavdy Todd Marschall Theodore Sangalis Gary Taylor Todd McClure Ryan Saunders E. Peter Tiboris Ed McGill David Schimberg Peter Tillinghast Mike McGinley Stephen Schwartz Craig Volk Harry J. Mentonis Mike Sedjo Keith Wagner David Miller Michael Smith Adam Waitzman James Munder Kevin Spahn Thomas R. Wilmink William Newman Scott Sparks Mark Wise Shawn W. Phelps Keith Spengel William D. Yancey Andrew Rasmussen Brian Stanley Royce Zimmerman Adam Riegel John Sterner

Bob Roth Todd Tauzin



About Northwestern Mutual

Northwestern Mutual has been helping people and businesses achieve financial security for more than 160 years. Through a holistic planning approach, Northwestern Mutual combines the expertise of its financial professionals with a personalized digital experience and industry-leading products to help its clients plan for what's most important. With $308.8 billion in total assets, $31.1 billion in revenues, and $2 trillion worth of life insurance protection in force, Northwestern Mutual delivers financial security to more than 4.75 million people with life, disability income and long-term care insurance, annuities, and brokerage and advisory services. The company manages more than $200 billion of investments owned by its clients and held or managed through its wealth management and investment services businesses. Northwestern Mutual ranks 102 on the 2020 FORTUNE 500 and is recognized by FORTUNE as one of the "World's Most Admired" life insurance companies in 2021.

Northwestern Mutual is the marketing name for The Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company (NM), Milwaukee, WI (life and disability insurance, annuities, and life insurance with long-term care benefits) and its subsidiaries. Subsidiaries include Northwestern Mutual Investment Services, LLC (NMIS) (securities), broker-dealer, registered investment adviser, member FINRA and SIPC; the Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Company (NMWMC) (fiduciary and fee-based financial planning services), federal savings bank; and Northwestern Long Term Care Insurance Company (NLTC) (long-term care insurance).

SOURCE Northwestern Mutual
DENVER, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- As part of its ongoing commitment to diversity within the cyber and information security fields, Optiv, the cyber advisory and solutions leader, is accepting applications for its second annual $40,000 scholarship for Black, African American identifying STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) students.

Awarded by Optiv's Black Employee Network, the scholarship is paid out over four years. Last year's inaugural recipient, Lauren Harris, is a freshman at Princeton University.

Applicants must meet the following qualifications to apply:

Be a graduating high school senior.

Verify acceptance into an eligible degree program in a STEM related field (including but not limited to computer science, electrical engineering, math, etc.)

Minimum cumulative high school GPA is 3.5 on 4.0 scale.

Must maintain a cumulative undergraduate GPA of at least 3.2 on 4.0 scale to remain eligible for the scholarship over the course of four years.

Be planning a career in cybersecurity/information security.

Complete the scholarship application, including a one-page essay and two letters of reference.

Identify as Black and/or African American (African, African American, Caribbean , for example) and be a U.S. Citizen, U.S. national or permanent resident.

Qualified candidates are encouraged to apply and learn more about the scholarship program here. Optiv is accepting applications until Jan. 7, 2022.

"Diversity is instrumental to the success of any organization, allowing for creative, inclusive and thought-provoking conversations and outcomes," says Heather Strbiak, Optiv's chief human resources officer. "Optiv is investing resources to help improve diversity within our industry, while also focusing on creating equitable practices to ensure a path for young people of color as future leaders in cybersecurity."

Optiv's Black Employee Network is entirely employee-driven and part of the company's Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiative (DE&I). According to The CyberWire, research continues to show that people of color are underrepresented in cybersecurity.

"I've been at Optiv for 10 years, and we not only profess our value of diversity and inclusivity but have put it into practice by establishing this scholarship, which creates an opportunity for success," said Keyana Jones, Optiv's Black Employee Network committee co-chair. "This effort provides an avenue for people of color to get the support they need to make an impact in cybersecurity in the future."

Optiv honors and embraces the diverse perspectives, ideas, backgrounds and experiences of its people. The company's approach to DE&I is grounded in listening, learning and growing.

Learn more about Optiv at www.optiv.com.

Follow Optiv

Twitter: www.twitter.com/optiv

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/optiv-inc

Facebook: www.facebook.com/optivinc

YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/OptivInc

Blog: www.optiv.com/explore-optiv-insights/blog

Optiv Security: Secure greatness

Optiv is the cyber advisory and solutions leader, delivering strategic and technical expertise to more than 7,000 companies across every major industry. We partner with organizations to advise, deploy and operate complete cybersecurity programs from strategy and managed security services to risk, integration and technology solutions. With clients at the center of our unmatched ecosystem of people, products, partners and programs, we accelerate business progress like no other company can. At Optiv, we manage cyber risk so you can secure your full potential. For more information, visit www.optiv.com .

SOURCE Optiv Security Inc.

Related Links

www.optiv.com


Juan Gavidia, CEO of Orvana stated: "The Orvana Team is glad to have delivered another strong operating year, allowing our strategic developments in Argentina and Bolivia to advance. The minor production pause resulting from the temporary suspension of the TSF pumping circuit in Orovalle was dealt with in an efficient and expeditious manner, and we anticipate that we will recoup the delayed production volume in the following months. We look forward to a successful fiscal year 2022, both, with a reliable Orovalle operation, and with positive developments in our two other international assets".

FY 2021 Production Highlights:

Consolidated production of 63,108 gold equivalent ounces (47,413 gold ounces, 6.3 million copper pounds and 166,427 silver ounces).

Metal production was slightly below Guidance mainly due to the mid-August Plant stoppage caused by the assessment of corrective measures to the tailings pumping circuits, in turn, impacted by the failure of a legacy open-pit wall. Underground mining continued operating throughout the plant stoppage, generating a stockpile that will be the basis to catch-up FY2021 delayed production into FY2022.

Q4 FY2021 Operational Results:

Metal production: 8,621 gold ounces, 1.3 million copper pounds and 32,563 silver ounces.

Q4 FY2021 metal production was negatively impacted by the temporary stoppage of activities at the plant in August 2021 .

. 5,351m of diamond drilling, pursuant to aggressive resources annual program. Highlights:

of diamond drilling, pursuant to aggressive resources annual program. Highlights: 28.22 g/t Au over 11.00 meters in East Breccia.



13.86 g/t Au, 129 g/t Ag and 3.00 % Cu over 3.30 meters in Boinas South.



9.35 g/t Au and 0.83% Cu over 5.1 meters in Carles West .

FY2022 Outlook :

Orovalle: Strong cash flow generation based on stable production plan. Continue exploration drive to keep replenishing, and expanding, the resource base. Renew 5-Year Life of Mine Plan , as has been the case for the last five years.

Strong cash flow generation based on stable production plan. Continue exploration drive to keep replenishing, and expanding, the resource base. Renew 5-Year Life of , as has been the case for the last five years. Taguas: Issue new PEA in Q1 FY2022. Start Infill Drilling Program, required to develop Pre-Feasibility Study, in Q1 FY2022, subject to financing completion.

Issue new PEA in Q1 FY2022. Start Infill Drilling Program, required to develop Pre-Feasibility Study, in Q1 FY2022, subject to financing completion. EMIPA: Make decision on Oxides Stockpile Project in FY2022. Subject to approval and financing, construction planned for FY2023; with a 3-year production life between 2024 and 2026. Scoping studies for a subsequent project regarding reprocessing tailings will be underway in FY2022. Comprehensive exploration program started in FY2021 to continue throughout FY2022, with non-drilling field and cabinet work.

Make decision on Oxides Stockpile Project in FY2022. Subject to approval and financing, construction planned for FY2023; with a 3-year production life between 2024 and 2026. Scoping studies for a subsequent project regarding reprocessing tailings will be underway in FY2022. Comprehensive exploration program started in FY2021 to continue throughout FY2022, with non-drilling field and cabinet work. FY2022 guidance will be released with FY2021 year-end financials.

Production Results



Q4

FY2021 Q3

FY2021 FY2021 FY2020 FY 2021

Guidance











Ore milled (tones) 134,626 181,258 655,866 698,640

Gold Equivalent (oz) 12,042 18,471 63,108 63,937

Gold









Grade (g/t) 2.18 2.60 2.45 2.56

Recovery (%) 91.3 91.5 91.9 93.1

Production (oz) 8,621 13,879 47,413 53,421 50,000 - 55,000 Copper









Grade (%) 0.52 0.48 0.53 0.45

Recovery (%) 80.9 84.6 82.3 80.8

Production (K lbs) 1,253 1,630 6,283 5,611 7,000 - 8,500

El Valle Boinas  Carles Q4 FY2021 Drilling Update

Q4 FY2021 drilling program focus continued on Inferred material conversion with a total of 5,351 m drilled (see Figure 1). Detail of areas and drilled metres are in Table 1 below and full detail of the drill program can be found in Table 2:



Infill (m) Brownfield (m) TOTAL (m) East Breccia (BX) 1,342 - 1,342 Boinas South (SB) 1,261 - 1,261 Carles West (CW) 1,489 - 1,489 Boinas East (BE) 535 - 535 A208 East (E2) - 724 724 TOTAL 4,627 724 5,351

Table 1. Orovalle Drilling Q4 FY2021

Highlights per Area (see detailed assays in Table 2):

East Breccia: 11.00 meters with 28.22 g/t Au . Drilling advancing to the North converting Inferred resources into M&I, and getting better grades, as part of the objectives set for FY2021.

. Drilling advancing to the North converting Inferred resources into M&I, and getting better grades, as part of the objectives set for FY2021. Boinas South: 3.30 meters with 13.86 g/t Au, 129 g/t Ag and 3.00% Cu . Mineral expansion is open upwards with copper mineralization at depth and to the North.

. Mineral expansion is open upwards with copper mineralization at depth and to the North. Carles West : 5.05 meters with 9.35 g/t Au and 0.83% Cu . Drilling campaign will be completed in Q1FY2022 targeting Inferred resources conversion.

. Drilling campaign will be completed in Q1FY2022 targeting Inferred resources conversion. Boinas East : Stope definition drilling was executed according to mine production plan.

: Stope definition drilling was executed according to mine production plan. A208 East: 724 meters of exploration drilling were completed in the quarter. Results are under review and will be disclosed shortly.

East Breccia (BX)

Infill drilling program advancing to the North converting Inferred resources into M&I resources. Mineralization consist of zones with high gold grades and variable copper content in a shear zone which is verticalized towards the north. Structure is open at depth.

Boinas South (SB)

Drilling campaign continue focused on the down dip open area, targeting skarn material with higher gold and copper grades. The structure remains open at depth and to the North. An infill drilling program will be completed in FY2022, connecting the Black Skarn area around the intrusive contour.

Carles West (CW)

Carles West is formed by several skarn bands between 2 and 10 meters width, with an extension of 100 meters NW-SE and dipping 65 NE. It is located in the west part of the Carles deposit where the mineralization is developed in the contact between a granodioritic intrusive, sandstones (Furada Formation Upper Silurian) and limestone (Raneces Formation  Devonian).

4,409 meters in 28 drill holes were completed before 2007. In the second half of FY 2021 an infill drilling campaign was started in order to convert Inferred resources into Measured and Indicated. Up to end of September 2021, 2,738 meter of 4,000 planned were executed in 13 drill holes. Several parallel calcic skarn bands (pyroxene and garnet skarn) were intersected, mineralized with Magnetite, Arsenopyrite, Chalcopyrite and Bornite. It is expected that drilling program will be concluded in Q1 FY2022.

Quality Control

The analytical work for the brownfield and infill drilling programs are being performed by the Orovalle laboratory, which is ISO 9001:2015 certified. Sample preparation was carried out at the El Valle facility. All diamond core samples have been prepared using the following procedure, once split:

The core samples are dried at a temperature of 105C and then crushed through a jaw crusher to 95%<6 mm. The coarse-crushed sample is further reduced to 95%<425 microns using an LM5 bowl-and-puck pulverizer. An Essa rotary splitter is used to take a 450 g to 550 g sub-sample of each split for pulverizing. The remaining reject portion is bagged and stored. The sample is reduced to a nominal -200 mesh using an LM2 bowl-and-puck pulverizer. 140 g sub-samples are split using a special vertical-sided scoop to cut channels through the sample which has been spread into a pancake on a sampling mat. Samples are then sent to the laboratory for gold and base metal analysis. Leftover pulp is bagged and stored.

After sample preparation, 30g samples are analyzed for Au by fire assay with an atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) finish and two-gram samples for Ag, As, Bi, Cu, Hg, Pb, Sb, Se, and Zn by ICP-optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES) after an aqua regia digestion.

The reported work has been completed using industry standard procedures, including a quality assurance/quality control ("QA/QC") program consisting of the insertion of certified reference material, blanks and duplicates samples into the sample stream.

The exploration update was prepared under the supervision of Guadalupe Collar Menendez, a qualified person for the purposes of NI 43-101 and an employee of Orovalle Minerals S.L., a subsidiary of Orvana.

Q4 FY2021 Intercepts from BX, SB and CW

Zone DDH From (m) To (m) Thick (m) Au(gpt) Ag(g/t) Cu(%) BX 21BX1042 69.30 77.00 7.7 6.36 0.5 0.22 BX Including 74.40 75.50 1.1 34.56 0.5 0.09















BX 21BX1043 No intercepts Au >2 g/t



















BX 21BX1044 97.30 103.65 6.4 2.56 1.9 0.39 BX 21BX1044 106.70 107.85 1.2 2.19 1.5 1.21 BX 21BX1044 123.30 125.30 2.0 2.42 0.5 0.13 BX 21BX1044 179.15 181.15 2.0 3.87 0.5 0.01 **BX 21BX1044 103.65 120.10 16.5 0.55 1.6 1.17















BX 21BX1045 47.85 48.80 0.9 3.57 4.7 0.11 BX 21BX1045 51.10 51.70 0.6 3.32 1.3 0.11 **BX 21BX1045 51.10 56.95 5.3 0.08 0.6 0.62















BX 21BX1046 115.95 129.10 13.2 19.33 1.5 0.35 BX 21BX1046 134.70 136.70 2.0 8.31 0.5 0.08 **BX 21BX1046 129.10 133.75 4.7 0.12 0.7 0.74















BX 21BX1047 58.90 60.35 1.5 17.86 2.2 0.08 BX 21BX1047 66.55 77.55 11.0 28.22 1.5 0.25 BX 21BX1047 97.25 101.25 4.0 3.25 0.5 0.07 **BX 21BX1047 76.50 92.35 15.9 0.66 2.0 0.88















SB 21SB027 46.90 56.20 9.3 3.20 28.1 0.92















SB 21SB028 No intercepts Au >2 g/t



















SB 21SB029 73.55 76.85 3.3 13.86 129.0 3.00















SB 21SB030 70.65 72.25 1.6 4.08 1.1 0.01 SB 21SB030 76.55 77.45 0.9 2.32 0.5 0.01















SB 21SB031 No intercepts Au >2 g/t



















SB 21SB032 85.75 89.00 3.3 4.29 7.6 0.23















SB 21SB033 No intercepts Au >2 g/t



















CW 21CW1007 106.15 11.20 5.1 9.35 8.2 0.84 CW 21CW1007 133.70 136.00 2.3 3.62 1.2 0.16 CW 21CW1007 141.95 142.45 0.5 4.03 0.5 0.01 CW 21CW1007 152.55 154.85 2.3 5.53 4.1 0.59 CW 21CW1007 159.70 164.30 4.6 3.82 8.6 0.98 CW 21CW1007 171.40 177.40 6.0 3.35 1.1 0.09















CW 21CW1008 103.00 111.55 8.6 3.73 9.8 0.63 CW 21CW1008 144.75 146.50 1.8 8.05 8.2 0.50 CW 21CW1008 148.95 153.60 4.7 4.92 3.1 0.43 CW 21CW1008 157.50 161.20 3.7 3.67 0.6 0.06















CW 21CW1009 139.10 147.60 8.5 3.70 5.9 0.49 CW 21CW1009 153.60 155.15 1.6 4.19 0.5 0.03















CW 21CW1010 135.90 137.00 1.1 2.83 0.5 0.01 CW 21CW1010 139.15 139.55 0.4 4.43 2.8 0.16 CW 21CW1010 141.85 143.30 1.5 2.67 1.0 0.09 CW 21CW1010 147.70 148.20 0.5 5.51 0.5 0.04















CW 21CW1011 No intercepts Au >2 g/t





















* Not true widths

**Copper intersections with Cu > 0.6 % in Breccia East.

Financial Performance

Q4 FY2021 financial highlights will be released with the year-end financials, expected mid-December, 2021.

ABOUT ORVANA - Orvana is a multi-mine gold-copper-silver company. Orvana's assets consist of the producing El Valle and Carles gold-copper-silver mines in northern Spain, the Don Mario gold-silver property in Bolivia, currently in care and maintenance, and the Taguas property located in Argentina. Additional information is available at Orvana's website (www.orvana.com).

Cautionary Statements - Forward-Looking Information

Certain statements in this presentation constitute forward-looking statements or forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws ("forward-looking statements"). Any statements that express or involve discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions, potentials, future events or performance (often, but not always, using words or phrases such as "believes", "expects", "plans", "estimates" or "intends" or stating that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might", "will" or "are projected to" be taken or achieved) are not statements of historical fact, but are forward-looking statements.

The forward-looking statements herein relate to, among other things, Orvana's ability to achieve improvement in free cash flow; the ability to maintain expected mining rates and expected throughput rates at El Valle Plant; the potential to extend the mine life of El Valle and Don Mario beyond their current life-of-mine estimates including specifically, but not limited to, in the case of Don Mario, the processing of the mineral stockpiles and the reprocessing of the tailings material; Orvana's ability to optimize its assets to deliver shareholder value; the Company's ability to optimize productivity at Don Mario and El Valle; estimates of future production, operating costs and capital expenditures; mineral resource and reserve estimates; statements and information regarding future feasibility studies and their results; future transactions; future metal prices; the ability to achieve additional growth and geographic diversification; future financial performance, including the ability to increase cash flow and profits; future financing requirements; and mine development plans.

Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by the Company as of the date of such statements, are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies, which includes, without limitation, as particularly set out in the notes accompanying the Company's most recently filed financial statements. The estimates and assumptions of the Company contained or incorporated by reference in this information, which may prove to be incorrect, include, but are not limited to the various assumptions set forth herein and in Orvana's most recently filed Management's Discussion & Analysis and Annual Information Form in respect of the Company's most recently completed fiscal year (the "Company Disclosures") or as otherwise expressly incorporated herein by reference as well as: there being no significant disruptions affecting operations, whether due to labour disruptions, supply disruptions, power disruptions, damage to equipment or otherwise; permitting, development, operations, expansion and acquisitions at El Valle and Don Mario being consistent with the Company's current expectations; political developments in any jurisdiction in which the Company operates being consistent with its current expectations; certain price assumptions for gold, copper and silver; prices for key supplies being approximately consistent with current levels; production and cost of sales forecasts meeting expectations; the accuracy of the Company's current mineral reserve and mineral resource estimates; labour and materials costs increasing on a basis consistent with Orvana's current expectations; and the availability of necessary funds to execute the Company's plan. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, this presentation also contains certain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable securities legislation, including, without limitation, statements with respect to the results of the preliminary economic assessment, including but not limited to the mineral resource estimation, conceptual mine plan and operations, internal rate of return, sensitivities, taxes, net present value, potential recoveries, design parameters, operating costs, capital costs, production data and economic potential; the timing and costs for production decisions; permitting timelines and requirements; exploration and planned exploration programs; the potential for discovery of additional mineral resources; timing for completion of a feasibility study; timing for first gold production; processing the stockpile at El Valle in connection with the metal production catch-up program; identifying additional resources beyond the replenishment of annual depletion rates at El Valle for the extension of mine life; issuing an expanded resource PEA for Taguas in a timely manner; completion of the infill drilling program at Taguas; making a decision on the oxides stockpile at Don Mario in a timely manner; and the Company's general objectives and strategies.

A variety of inherent risks, uncertainties and factors, many of which are beyond the Company's control, affect the operations, performance and results of the Company and its business, and could cause actual events or results to differ materially from estimated or anticipated events or results expressed or implied by forward looking statements. Some of these risks, uncertainties and factors include: the potential impact of the COVID-19 on the Company's business and operations, including: our ability to continue operations; our ability to manage challenges presented by COVID-19; the accounting treatment of COVID-19 related matters; Orvana's ability to prevent and/or mitigate the impact of COVID-19 and other infectious diseases at or near our mines; our ability to support the sustainability of our business including through the development of crisis management plans, increasing stock levels for key supplies, monitoring of guidance from the medical community, and engagement with local communities and authorities; fluctuations in the price of gold, silver and copper; the need to recalculate estimates of resources based on actual production experience; the failure to achieve production estimates; variations in the grade of ore mined; variations in the cost of operations; the availability of qualified personnel; the Company's ability to obtain and maintain all necessary regulatory approvals and licenses; the Company's ability to use cyanide in its mining operations; risks generally associated with mineral exploration and development, including the Company's ability to continue to operate the El Valle and/or ability to resume long-term operations at the Carles Mine; the Company's ability to successfully implement a sulphidization circuit and ancillary facilities to process the current oxides stockpiles at Don Mario; the Company's ability to successfully carry out development plans at Taguas; sufficient funding to carry out development plans at Taguas and to process the oxides stockpiles at Don Mario; the Company's ability to acquire and develop mineral properties and to successfully integrate such acquisitions; the Company's ability to execute on its strategy; the Company's ability to obtain financing when required on terms that are acceptable to the Company; challenges to the Company's interests in its property and mineral rights; current, pending and proposed legislative or regulatory developments or changes in political, social or economic conditions in the countries in which the Company operates; general economic conditions worldwide; current and future environmental matters; and the risks identified in the Company's disclosures. This list is not exhaustive of the factors that may affect any of the Company's forward-looking statements and reference should also be made to the Company's Disclosures for a description of additional risk factors.

Any forward-looking statements made herein with respect to the anticipated development and exploration of the Company's mineral projects are intended to provide an overview of management's expectations with respect to certain future activities of the Company and may not be appropriate for other purposes. Forward-looking statements are based on management's current plans, estimates, projections, beliefs and opinions and, except as required by law, the Company does not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements should assumptions related to these plans, estimates, projections, beliefs and opinions change. Readers are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements made in this information are intended to provide an overview of management's expectations with respect to certain future operating activities of the Company and may not be appropriate for other purposes.

SOURCE Orvana Minerals Corp.

Related Links

www.orvana.com


AUSTIN, Texas, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Vyopta, the Collaboration Intelligence Company, today released the final wave of results from a study on the real-life consequences of remote and hybrid work. Conducted by Wakefield Research, the study surveyed 200 U.S. executives at companies of 500 or more employees between July 30 and August 10, when Covid numbers began again to rise and return to office plans were yet again put on hold.

Virtual and hybrid meetings may be the new normal, but they're still not meeting executives' expectations. More than three in four (77%) say that participants who join meetings remotely are at a disadvantage compared to those who join in-person, including 23% who say they are very or extremely disadvantaged.

"Business leaders at large organizations spend about 75% of their professional time in meetings or meeting-related work," said Dr. Joe Allen, meeting scientist and professor at University of Utah Health and author of Suddenly Virtual: Making Remote Meetings Work and the upcoming Suddenly Hybrid.

To counteract the gap between in-person and online, executives are taking action to make virtual meetings as effective as being there. The most commonly taken measures include prompting feedback from remote participants (66%), encouraging remote participants to join using video (65%) and keeping meeting links open until all or almost all participants have left the room (65%).

When participants can't get their cameras or mics working, the online chat function can be their lifeline. Yet 43% of companies are not having someone monitor the chat for contributions from remote participants, which is done by only 57% of companies.

The effort to make hybrid work all it can be means executives need to believe in their employees. Survey respondents said that confidence in a staff member's ability to navigate remote collaboration technology is very or extremely important (89%) when it comes to making decisions about allowing staff members to work remotely.

It's not just money being invested in collaborative tools, but employees' time as well. 64% of executives say employees at their company receive formal training on how to collaborate with remote co-workers. The remaining 37% offer informal training or no training at all.

"This survey has surfaced a trust issue between management and employees -- the expectations for remote and hybrid work are not clear and the lack of training on how to manage this new way of working is hurting everyone," said Alfredo Ramirez, CEO of Vyopta. "While our company actually works in the collaboration space and is very familiar with the technology, we are now taking a hard look at our own processes, and have started new company-wide training this quarter on optimizing hybrid and remote work and employee engagement as a result."

View the survey report here .

Methodology

The Vyopta Survey was conducted by Wakefield Research ( www.wakefieldresearch.com ) among 200 U.S. executives with a minimum seniority of VP, at companies of 500+ employees, between July 30th and August 10th, 2021, using an email invitation and an online survey. Results of any sample are subject to sampling variation. The magnitude of the variation is measurable and is affected by the number of interviews and the level of the percentages expressing the results. For the interviews conducted in this particular study, the chances are 95 in 100 that a survey result does not vary, plus or minus, by more than 6.9 percentage points from the result that would be obtained if interviews had been conducted with all persons in the universe represented by the sample.

Related:

About Vyopta Incorporated

Vyopta , the Collaboration Intelligence company, is a global leader in comprehensive monitoring and analytics for Collaboration Performance Management and Workspace Insights. By integrating insights from multi-vendor Unified Communications & Collaboration vendors and IOT devices, Vyopta helps organizations deliver the best UC user experience and optimize their UC and real estate investments. Vyopta helps hundreds of organizations worldwide spanning 20+ industries monitor 6 million endpoints and over 20 billion meeting minutes a year.

SOURCE Vyopta Inc

Related Links

http://www.vyopta.com


DUBLIN, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Global Agriculture Sensors Market: Focus on Product, Application, and Country - Analysis and Forecast, 2020-2026" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

This provides market analysis for the years 2021-2026 in terms of value. The report would also provide qualitative insights on emerging technologies related to agriculture sensors. The market information has been segmented by application, and product across the global, region, and country levels.

Agriculture sensors are deployed in the field to enable the farmers to manage the crop at a micro scale, conserve resources, reduce impact on the environment, and increase agricultural production. These sensors are connected via cellular or via wi-fi network and provide real-time data to the farmers, which aid them in their decision-making processes.

The report also provides information on industry outlook, business dynamics, product benchmarking, patent analysis, and supply chain analysis, among others. We have considered various regions and countries in the market study which include North America, Europe, U.K., Rest-of-the-World, China, Asia-Pacific and Japan.

The report provides information with regards to competitive benchmarking, market share analysis for key companies, and 15 company profiles.

Key Topics Covered:

1 Markets



2 Application

2.1 Global Agriculture Sensor Market (by Applications)

2.1.1 Yield Mapping and Monitoring

2.1.2 Disease Detection and Control

2.1.3 Soil Monitoring

2.1.4 Irrigation and Water Management

2.1.5 Others

2.2 Demand Analysis of Global Agriculture Sensor Market (by Applications)

2.2.1 Yield Mapping and Monitoring

2.2.2 Disease Detection and Control

2.2.3 Soil Monitoring

2.2.4 Irrigation and Water Management

2.2.5 Others



3 Products

3.1 Global Agriculture Sensor Market (by Product)

3.1.1 Optical sensors

3.1.2 Location sensors

3.1.3 Ground sensors

3.1.4 Airflow sensors

3.1.5 Others

3.2 Demand Analysis of Global Agriculture Sensor Market (by Product)

3.2.1 Optical sensors

3.2.2 Location sensors

3.2.3 Ground sensors

3.2.4 Airflow sensors

3.2.5 Others



4 Region



5 Markets - Competitive Benchmarking & Company Profiles

5.1 Competitive Benchmarking

5.2 Company Profile

5.2.1 Acclima Inc.

5.2.1.1 Company Overview

5.2.1.1.1 Product Portfolio

5.2.1.2 Business Strategies

5.2.1.2.1 Product Developments

5.2.1.2.2 Market Developments

5.2.1.3 Corporate Strategies

5.2.1.3.1 Mergers & Acquisitions

5.2.1.3.2 Partnerships & Joint Ventures

5.2.1.3.3 Collaborations & Alliances

5.2.1.4 Strength and Weakness of Acclima Inc.

5.2.1.5 R&D Analysis

5.2.2 AgEagle LLC

5.2.2.1 Company Overview

5.2.2.1.1 Product Portfolio

5.2.2.2 Business Strategies

5.2.2.2.1 Product Developments

5.2.2.2.2 Market Developments

5.2.2.3 Corporate Strategies

5.2.2.3.1 Mergers & Acquisitions

5.2.2.3.2 Partnerships & Joint Ventures

5.2.2.3.3 Collaborations & Alliances

5.2.2.4 Strength and Weakness of AgEagle LLC

5.2.2.5 R&D Analysis

5.2.3 Auroras s.r.l

5.2.3.1 Company Overview

5.2.3.1.1 Product Portfolio

5.2.3.2 Business Strategies

5.2.3.2.1 Product Developments

5.2.3.2.2 Market Developments

5.2.3.3 Corporate Strategies

5.2.3.3.1 Mergers & Acquisitions

5.2.3.3.2 Partnerships & Joint Ventures

5.2.3.3.3 Collaborations & Alliances

5.2.3.4 Strength and Weakness of Auroras s.r.l

5.2.3.5 R&D Analysis

5.2.4 Avidor High Tech

5.2.4.1 Company Overview

5.2.4.1.1 Product Portfolio

5.2.4.2 Business Strategies

5.2.4.2.1 Product Developments

5.2.4.2.2 Market Developments

5.2.4.3 Corporate Strategies

5.2.4.3.1 Mergers & Acquisitions

5.2.4.3.2 Partnerships & Joint Ventures

5.2.4.3.3 Collaborations & Alliances

5.2.4.4 Strength and Weakness of Avidor High Tech

5.2.4.5 R&D Analysis

5.2.5 Acquity Agriculture

5.2.5.1 Company Overview

5.2.5.1.1 Product Portfolio

5.2.5.2 Business Strategies

5.2.5.2.1 Product Developments

5.2.5.2.2 Market Developments

5.2.5.3 Corporate Strategies

5.2.5.3.1 Mergers & Acquisitions

5.2.5.3.2 Partnerships & Joint Ventures

5.2.5.3.3 Collaborations & Alliances

5.2.5.4 Strength and Weakness of Acquity Agriculture

5.2.5.5 R&D Analysis

5.2.6 AgriData

5.2.6.1 Company Overview

5.2.6.1.1 Product Portfolio

5.2.6.2 Business Strategies

5.2.6.2.1 Product Developments

5.2.6.2.2 Market Developments

5.2.6.3 Corporate Strategies

5.2.6.3.1 Mergers & Acquisitions

5.2.6.3.2 Partnerships & Joint Ventures

5.2.6.3.3 Collaborations & Alliances

5.2.6.4 Strength and Weakness of AgriData

5.2.6.5 R&D Analysis

5.2.7 Bosch

5.2.7.1 Company Overview

5.2.7.1.1 Product Portfolio

5.2.7.2 Business Strategies

5.2.7.2.1 Product Developments

5.2.7.2.2 Market Developments

5.2.7.3 Corporate Strategies

5.2.7.3.1 Mergers & Acquisitions

5.2.7.3.2 Partnerships & Joint Ventures

5.2.7.3.3 Collaborations & Alliances

5.2.7.4 Strength and Weakness of Bosch

5.2.7.5 R&D Analysis

5.2.8 CropX

5.2.8.1 Company Overview

5.2.8.1.1 Product Portfolio

5.2.8.2 Business Strategies

5.2.8.2.1 Product Developments

5.2.8.2.2 Market Developments

5.2.8.3 Corporate Strategies

5.2.8.3.1 Mergers & Acquisitions

5.2.8.3.2 Partnerships & Joint Ventures

5.2.8.3.3 Collaborations & Alliances

5.2.8.4 Strength and Weakness of CropX

5.2.8.5 R&D Analysis

5.2.9 Ceres Imaging

5.2.9.1 Company Overview

5.2.9.1.1 Product Portfolio

5.2.9.2 Business Strategies

5.2.9.2.1 Product Developments

5.2.9.2.2 Market Developments

5.2.9.3 Corporate Strategies

5.2.9.3.1 Mergers & Acquisitions

5.2.9.3.2 Partnerships & Joint Ventures

5.2.9.3.3 Collaborations & Alliances

5.2.9.4 Strength and Weakness of Ceres Imaging

5.2.9.5 R&D Analysis

5.2.10 Edyn

5.2.10.1 Company Overview

5.2.10.1.1 Product Portfolio

5.2.10.2 Business Strategies

5.2.10.2.1 Product Developments

5.2.10.2.2 Market Developments

5.2.10.3 Corporate Strategies

5.2.10.3.1 Mergers & Acquisitions

5.2.10.3.2 Partnerships & Joint Ventures

5.2.10.3.3 Collaborations & Alliances

5.2.10.4 Strength and Weakness of Edyn

5.2.10.5 R&D Analysis

5.2.11 PrecisionHawk

5.2.11.1 Company Overview

5.2.11.1.1 Product Portfolio

5.2.11.2 Business Strategies

5.2.11.2.1 Product Developments

5.2.11.2.2 Market Developments

5.2.11.3 Corporate Strategies

5.2.11.3.1 Mergers & Acquisitions

5.2.11.3.2 Partnerships & Joint Ventures

5.2.11.3.3 Collaborations & Alliances

5.2.11.4 Strength and Weakness of PrecisionHawk

5.2.11.5 R&D Analysis

5.2.12 Pycno

5.2.12.1 Company Overview

5.2.12.1.1 Product Portfolio

5.2.12.2 Business Strategies

5.2.12.2.1 Product Developments

5.2.12.2.2 Market Developments

5.2.12.3 Corporate Strategies

5.2.12.3.1 Mergers & Acquisitions

5.2.12.3.2 Partnerships & Joint Ventures

5.2.12.3.3 Collaborations & Alliances

5.2.12.4 Strength and Weakness of Pycno

5.2.12.5 R&D Analysis

5.2.13 Sentera LLC

5.2.13.1 Company Overview

5.2.13.1.1 Product Portfolio

5.2.13.2 Business Strategies

5.2.13.2.1 Product Developments

5.2.13.2.2 Market Developments

5.2.13.3 Corporate Strategies

5.2.13.3.1 Mergers & Acquisitions

5.2.13.3.2 Partnerships & Joint Ventures

5.2.13.3.3 Collaborations & Alliances

5.2.13.4 Strength and Weakness of Sentera LLC

5.2.13.5 R&D Analysis

5.2.14 Trimble Inc.

5.2.14.1 Company Overview

5.2.14.1.1 Product Portfolio

5.2.14.2 Business Strategies

5.2.14.2.1 Product Developments

5.2.14.2.2 Market Developments

5.2.14.3 Corporate Strategies

5.2.14.3.1 Mergers & Acquisitions

5.2.14.3.2 Partnerships & Joint Ventures

5.2.14.3.3 Collaborations & Alliances

5.2.14.4 Strength and Weakness of Trimble Inc.

5.2.14.5 R&D Analysis

5.2.15 The Yield Pty Ltd

5.2.15.1 Company Overview

5.2.15.1.1 Product Portfolio

5.2.15.2 Business Strategies

5.2.15.2.1 Product Developments

5.2.15.2.2 Market Developments

5.2.15.3 Corporate Strategies

5.2.15.3.1 Mergers & Acquisitions

5.2.15.3.2 Partnerships & Joint Ventures

5.2.15.3.3 Collaborations & Alliances

5.2.15.4 Strength and Weakness of The Yield Pty Ltd

5.2.15.5 R&D Analysis



6 Research Methodology

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/if25eu

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

[email protected]



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SOURCE Research and Markets

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HOVE, England, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- A new survey by SME insurance broker Hooray Health & Protection reveals that start-up employees place health and wellbeing at the top of their workplace benefits needs.

The What Workers Want 2021 survey polled 641 start-up employees across a range of issues related to their experience of workplace benefits.

When asked to choose their most desired benefits, health insurance was the most popular with more than half (57%) placing it in their top three, closely followed by life insurance (45%).

But when quizzed specifically about which benefits would help most with their mental wellbeing, over half (57%) earmarked access to mental health services. This suggests that above and beyond more holiday time and flexible working arrangements, employees would benefit most from the formal assistance of mental health professionals.

"It's clear from our survey of 641 start-up employees that health and wellbeing is uppermost in people's minds and there are no prizes for guessing why this might be," said Charlie Cousins, MD of Hooray Health & Protection. "But I don't expect this to be a short-lived trend as the general issue of physical and mental wellbeing was already rising in prominence prior to the pandemic."

The good news, however, is that start-up companies are going some way to meeting the needs of their employees. Almost nine out of ten (88%) of the survey's respondents said that the benefits they received aided their sense of wellbeing.

"It appears that the UK's vibrant community of start-up leaders are taking the issue of employee wellbeing very seriously," said Charlie. "In my experience of working with ambitious young businesses, this doesn't surprise me.

"However, the job is never done, and businesses of all sizes must continue to seek out the wants and needs of their employees in order to provide them with the benefits they value most."

The upbeat narrative is further reinforced by other key findings from the 'What Workers Want 2021' survey of start-up employees:

More than nine out of ten (93%) of start-up employees surveyed, said that they received benefits from their employer. Meanwhile, more than three-quarters (77%) said they were happy with the benefits they receive.

More than half (55%) of respondents believe their benefits package is better than the average persons, with 23% suspecting it's about the same and a fifth (20%) believing it's worse.

Over three-quarters (78%) of workers say their employer has sought their feedback on employee benefits.

Access the full report here: https://hoorayinsurance.co.uk/start-up-employee-benefits-survey-2021/

About the report

Hooray Health & Protection surveyed 641 start-up employees across 51 industries ranging from accountancy to farming between July and August 2021. A start-up company was defined as any company less than 5 years old.

The report also features contributions and analysis from Canada Life, Unmind, Xcede and Thanks Ben.

About Hooray Health & Protection

Hooray Health & Protection is a digital insurance & benefits broker dedicated to serving the SME community in new and improved ways.

Founded in 2019, the company is continually committed to changing the values of the health insurance industry by making insurance easy and affordable for businesses which have traditionally been underserved.

The company was founded by Charlie Cousins CII, previously a business development consultant at MetLife insurance where he managed relationships with the company's key employee benefit consultancies.

Hooray Health & Protection has helped a wide variety of SME's and start-ups secure the right benefits for their employees by working across the whole market as an independent advisor. It was through his experience of working across the industry that Charlie realised many small businesses were struggling to get the health insurance packages they needed. In establishing Hooray Health & Protection, he sought to change that.

For more information

Contact Charlie Cousins

Telephone: 01273 222805

Email: [email protected]

Web: www.hoorayinsurance.co.uk

SOURCE Hooray Health & Protection
DALLAS, Texas, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Simmons Bank, as Trustee of the Permian Basin Royalty Trust (NYSE: PBT) ("Permian") today declared a cash distribution to the holders of its units of beneficial interest of $0.022354 per unit, payable on November 15, 2021, to unit holders of record on October 29, 2021.

This month's distribution decreased slightly from the previous month as the result of a slight decrease in the pricing for oil and gas for the Texas Royalty Properties during the month of August. Currently, only the Texas Royalty Properties are contributing to the monthly distribution.

Since the Waddell Ranch is in current deficit for the foreseeable future, any increase or decrease of the distribution by revenues received, will only be reflective of the activity of the Texas Royalty Properties. The activity of the Waddell Ranch will be discussed with the following narrative until it contributes back to the distribution. This reflects the production month of August.

WADDELL RANCH

In reporting August production of the Underlying Properties for this month's press release, production for oil volumes was 108,522 bbls (gross) and was priced at about $66.66 per bbl. Production for gas volumes (including gas liquids) was 257,857 mcf (gross) and was priced at about $3.44 per mcf, which now includes the value received from plant products and natural gas liquids. Net revenue for the underlying properties of the Waddell ranch was $8,506,010 (gross) for August. Lease Operating Expenses were $2,320,259 (gross) and Capital Expenditures were $6,019,731 (gross) for August. This would put the Trust's proceeds as a positive $124,515 (net) for the month of August, leaving an excess cost deficit cumulative of $18.1 million (net).

There have been a lot of questions and requests for clarification of the activity of the 2021 budget regarding the Waddell Ranch. The Trustee would like to simplify the understanding of the impact of that activity on the unitholders of the Trust. First, Blackbeard is the majority operator the Waddell Ranch. They have approximately 51% ownership while other partners have the remaining 49% of working interest ownership. Of Blackbeard's 51% ownership, it is burden by the Trust's net profit interest (NPI) of 75% of Blackbeard's ownership, resulting in the Trust's net ownership of approximately 38% in the certain properties in the Waddell Ranch. So, when the Gross Budget are numbers are discussed they are speaking of the entire project. However, for the relevancy to the unitholder's understanding, only the numbers net to the Trust will be presented going forward.

The original 2021 budget for Waddell Ranch, net to the Trust, was conservatively projected to be $32.5 million, with approximately 34.1 new drill wells, 9 recompletions and 32.6 plug and abandonments for the year. However, Blackbeard, after reviewing the various potential of the Waddell Ranch, has increased the 2021 budget to $51 million for the year, with 32.25 drill wells and 52.5 recompletions on properties relating to the Trust's ownership, along with the projected 32.6 plugged and abandonment wells. In their view, there was lot of potential production behind pipe and the recompletions program would be very cost effective. As of October reporting, approximately $39.4 million has been spent along this new budget.

Resulting producing well count relating to activity on the Waddell Ranch properties (net to the Trust) through the month of August reflects 32.3 recompletion wells that are producing and with first sales. New producing drill well count (net to the Trust) through the month of August were 15.4 new drill wells that are producing and with first sales. As of August, there are 16.9 new drill wells waiting on completion along with 25.6 recompletions that are in progress, all net to the Trust.

As of the end of August, approximately $28.8 million of revenue has been generated by the 2020-2021 budgeted projects.

TEXAS ROYALTY PROPERTIES

Production for the underlying properties at the Texas Royalties was 17,941 of oil and 9,871 Mcf of gas. The production for the Trust's allocated portion of the Texas Royalties was 15,927 barrels of oil and 8,757 of gas. The average price for oil was $66.39 per bbl and for gas was $8.01 per Mcf. This would primarily reflect production and pricing for the month of August for oil and the month of July for gas. These allocated volumes were impacted by the pricing of both oil and gas. This production and pricing for the underlying properties resulted in revenues for the Texas Royalties of $1,270,201. Deducted from these were taxes of $130,650 resulting in a Net Profit of $1,139,551 for the month of August. With the Trust's Net Profit Interest (NPI) of 95% of the Underlying Properties, this would result in net contribution by the Texas Royalties of $1,082,574 to this month's distribution.



Underlying Properties Net to Trust Sales





Volumes Volumes Average Price

Oil (bbls) Gas (Mcf) Oil (bbls) Gas (Mcf) Oil (per bbl) Gas (per Mcf) Current Month











Waddell Ranch 108,522 257,857 81,392 193,393* $66.66 $3.44** Texas Royalties 17,941 9,871 15,927 8,757* $66.39 $8.01**













Prior Month











Waddell Ranch 102,735 249,359 77,051 187,019* $71.32 $3.45** Texas Royalties 17,690 11,870 15,772 10,570* $71.11 $8.09**

*These volumes are the net to the trust, after allocation of expenses to Trust's net profit interest, including any prior period adjustments.

**This pricing includes sales of gas liquid products.

General and Administrative Expenses deducted for the month were $41,079 resulting in a distribution of $1,041,927 to 46,608,796 units outstanding, or $0.022354 per unit.

The worldwide market conditions continue to affect the pricing for domestic production. It is difficult to predict what effect these conditions will have on future distributions.

The 2020 Annual Report with Form 10-K and the January 1, 2021 Reserve Summary are now available on Permian's website. Permian's cash distribution history, current and prior year financial reports, tax information booklets, and a link to filings made with the Securities and Exchange Commission, all can be found on Permian's website at http://www.pbt-permian.com/. Additionally, printed reports can be requested and are mailed free of charge.

SOURCE Permian Basin Royalty Trust
"As the preferred partner for leading global customers, we continually invest in new talent and technologies that increase the capacity and capabilities of Phillips-Medisize across the entire value chain," said Paul Chaffin, president, Medical and Pharmaceutical Solutions, Molex. "Our expanded global reach and resources will enable us to solve complex development and manufacturing challenges while meeting escalating customer demands for more localized production, supply chain management and accelerated go-to-market strategies."

Growing Footprint for Local Support, Global Scale

To address growing production demands from customers in continental Europe, Phillips-Medisize is building a state-of-the-art medical manufacturing facility in Katowice, Poland. Slated to open in 2022, the site will complement production sites and innovation centers in Asia, Europe, India, Mexico and North America. Phillips-Medisize also is expanding production capacity in Suzhou, China to serve both global and regional pharmaceutical and MedTech customers. Additionally, the transformation of an existing Molex production facility in Little Rock, Ark., is underway, enabling Phillips-Medisize to keep pace with ever-increasing requirements in the U.S. for high-volume, diagnostic device manufacturing.

Once these expansions are complete, Phillips-Medisize will offer nearly three million square feet/280,000 square meters of country- and region-specific manufacturing space and R&D capabilities worldwide. The company also will support 600,000 square feet/55,000 square meters of Class 7 and 8 cleanrooms, which complement existing tool building sites as well as global quality and regulatory systems. In 2020, Phillips-Medisize completed a new facility in St. Croix Meadows, Wisc., with 285,000 square feet/26,000 square meters supporting production of molded components for medical diagnostic customers requiring high-volume assembly and packaging of regulated products. The facility also includes a nearly 64,000 square-foot/6,000 square-meter ISO 14644-1 Class 8 cleanroom.

Extending End-to-End Capabilities

As part of its one-stop shop of medical-device manufacturing solutions, Phillips-Medisize focuses on design for manufacturability and assembly excellence. Proven front-end innovation, human-factors engineering, and quality are integrated with regulatory adherence to reduce go-to-market risk and cost. Expanded capabilities in complex molding, drug and reagent handling, as well as final packaging and serialization, enable customers to consolidate global supply chains while optimizing go-to-market strategies.

Phillips-Medisize's combined expertise in plastics, metals, electronics and connectivity ease the development of different solutions, including combination devices such as needle-based injection systems and wearable injection technologies. An unwavering commitment to rigorous quality management is reinforced by dedicated New Product Introduction (NPI) teams at every site. Strategic investments in talent acquisition to support Phillips-Medisize's continued growth are expected to add at least 1,000 employees worldwide over the next couple of years.

Optimizing Industry-Leading Collaborations

A strong track record of collaboration ensures Phillips-Medisize is at the forefront of the latest advancements in drug delivery, diagnostic and MedTech devices. Today, Credence MedSystems announced a strategic initiative with Phillips-Medisize that includes ramping production of the Credence Companion and Dual Chamber Reconstitution Systems at the Phillips-Medisize Letterkenny, Ireland site and the new facility in Poland.

"We're excited to leverage Phillips-Medisize's world-class manufacturing as we scale toward high-volume automation at the new state-of-the-art facility in Poland," said Jeff Tillack, COO at Credence MedSystems. "The opportunity to scale production in close proximity to our operations and European customers will accelerate market delivery of our innovative solutions to meet the needs of our pharma customers and their end-users."

In September, GlucoModicum entered into a design and development program with Phillips-Medisize for the rapid scale-up of manufacturing for its Talisman needle-free continuous glucose monitor, which uses unique magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) technology. Also last month, Paris-based Eyevensys announced an engagement with Phillips-Medisize to optimize the design, development and high-volume manufacturing of its ocular device component that powers the delivery of novel gene therapies for treating various eye diseases.

Phillips-Medisize Brings Possibilities to Life

Phillips-Medisize, a Molex company, brings decades of innovation to leading healthcare and life science companies to develop groundbreaking solutions that help people live healthier, more productive lives. On average, the company commercializes 50 new products a year for customers, including the first-to-market FDA-registered drug-delivery device utilizing a connected health system. Molex brings decades of experience in advanced electronics, connectivity and sensor technologies to help transform medical and pharmaceutical solutions.

About Molex

Molex is a global electronics leader committed to making the world a better, more-connected place. With presence in more than 40 countries, Molex enables transformative technology innovation in the automotive, data center, industrial automation, healthcare, 5G, cloud and consumer device industries. Through trusted customer and industry relationships, unrivaled engineering expertise, and product quality and reliability, Molex realizes the infinite potential of Creating Connections for Life. For more information, visit www.molex.com.

SOURCE Molex
BOCA RATON, Fla., Oct. 18, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Phoenix Tower International ("Phoenix") and Outremer Telecom today announced they have entered into an exclusivity agreement regarding the acquisition by Phoenix of 203 wireless towers, together with newly constructed wireless towers over 10 years across the French West Indies through a build-to-suit program. The foregoing transaction would expand and solidify Phoenix's leadership position as the largest tower infrastructure provider in the market with over 437 towers and grow its footprint across Europe and the Caribbean. The transaction will be subject to customary conditions precedents for this type of transaction. It would result in Phoenix and Outremer Telecom establishing a long-term partnership whereby Outremer Telecom would occupy the sites for at least twenty years.

"With this transaction, PTI would continue to expand its presence across European territories and its disciplined investment strategy. The increased presence of PTI, a neutral host independent tower company, in the region would facilitate increased coverage expansion for all wireless operators and ultimately enhanced connectivity for the population of French West Indies. PTI is proud to be working with the mobile network operators across the world and is pleased to have entered into advanced discussions with the Altice Group on this transaction", stated Dagan Kasavana, Chief Executive Officer of Phoenix Tower International.

"I am enthusiastic about the prospect of creating a new tower partnership in the French West Indies. Phoenix Tower International would be a long-term partner of the highest quality who shares our vision to invest in leading infrastructure", stated Mathieu Cocq, Chief Executive Officer of Outremer Telecom.

About Phoenix Tower International

Phoenix, through its subsidiaries, owns and operates over 14,000 towers, 986 km of fiber and over 80,000 other wireless infrastructure and related sites throughout Europe, the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean.

Phoenix was founded in 2013 with a mission to be a premier site provider to wireless operators across the Americas in high-growth markets. Phoenix's investors include funds managed by Blackstone Tactical Opportunities and John Hancock, as well as various members of the management team. For more information, please visit www.phoenixintnl.com.

Choate Hall & Stewart and Dentons acted as legal advisors to PTI.

About Outremer Telecom

Outremer Telecom provides integrated fixed telephony, mobile telephony, and Internet access services for residential and business customers in Martinique, Guadeloupe and French Guiana.

Created in 1986 under the name Infotel, the group was renamed with its current name in 2000. The group was listed on the Paris stock exchange in 2007. The Altice group acquired Outremer Telecom in 2013. Following the acquisition of SFR by Altice, Outremer Telecom now operates under the SFR brand.

SOURCE Phoenix Tower International

Related Links

http://www.phoenixintnl.com


PITTSBURGH, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- University of Pittsburgh faculty members are looking forward to bargaining their first union contract with the school's administration following the faculty's successful vote to become members of the United Steelworkers (USW).

"This result has been a long time coming, but it was worth the wait," said Tyler Bickford, an associate professor in the university's English department. "It's a good feeling to know that we as faculty members have finally achieved what all workers deserve  a voice in the decision-making process that affects our lives on the job."

The Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board held a mail ballot election over the past several weeks for faculty members, following more than two years of delays as a result of legal challenges from the administration. Preliminary results today showed that more than 71 percent of the workers who voted cast votes to join the union.

"Simply put, this will make Pitt a better institution," said Bickford. "The result will be greater security for workers, better educational outcomes for students, and increased transparency across the university."

The 3,300 workers at Pitt will become part of the 850,000-member USW, one of the largest labor unions in North America, which has its headquarters in downtown Pittsburgh. Adjunct instructors at Point Park University and Robert Morris University also are members of the USW.

"This vote was successful because these workers know that this decision will make the university a better place for the entire community," said USW International President Tom Conway. "When academic workers have a seat at the table, it results in a better environment for teachers, for students, and for everyone who calls Pitt home."

The USW represents 850,000 workers employed in metals, mining, pulp and paper, rubber, chemicals, glass, auto supply and the energy-producing industries, along with a growing number of workers in health care, public sector, higher education, tech and service occupations.

Contact: R.J. Hufnagel, 412-562-2450, [email protected]

SOURCE United Steelworkers (USW)

Related Links

http://www.usw.org


For those taking advantage of this special discounted offer, verification of current professional status through Sheer ID, a digital verification form, is accessible at https://www.princess.com/cruise-deals-promotions/first-responder-medical-offer . First responder and medical professional information will be collected from 10/18 -10/31 and then validated with offers emailed on 11/3. The discount offer booking deadline is December 31, 2021.

"We wish to express our sincere gratitude to the first responders and medical professionals who have been our heroes caring for people in need day in and day out and continue to inspire everyone around them," said Shelley Wise, Princess Cruises vice president integrated marketing. "We hope this special offer affords the opportunity to get away with their loved ones to reconnect and relax on a real vacation."

Select cruises departing from Los Angeles and San Francisco to Mexico and the California Coast, plus Caribbean cruises sailing from Ft. Lauderdale, can be redeemed at 50 percent off, subject to terms and conditions.

In addition, active first responders and medical professionals can enter a sweepstakes between October 18-31, 2021, for a chance-to-win a cruise for two people. The entry link can be found https://www.princess.com/cruise-deals-promotions/first-responder-medical-offer/. One grand-prize winner will be randomly drawn and notified on Nov. 1, 2021. The grand prize value of the sweepstakes is $2,500.00, based on a 7-day Eastern Caribbean cruise, balcony stateroom for two with drinks, wifi and crew incentive included with Princess Plus. The discount and sweepstakes is only available to U.S.-based first responders and medical professionals.

Princess offers MedallionClass vacations, delivering the ultimate in effortless, personalized cruising. It begins with Medallion, a quarter-sized, wearable device that enables everything from touch-free boarding to locating loved ones anywhere on the ship, as well as enhanced service like having whatever guests need, delivered directly to them, wherever they are on the ship.

Princess Cruises sailings are available for guests who have received their final dose of an approved COVID-19 vaccine at least 14 days prior to the beginning of the cruise and have proof of vaccination. All fully vaccinated guests must also produce a negative, medically-observed COVID-19 test (PCR or antigen) taken within two days of their embarkation on all Princess sailings. Crew vaccinations are in accordance with CDC guidelines.

For the latest Princess COVID-19 health protocols, please visit https://www.princess.com/plan/cruise-with-confidence/cruise-health/covid-19-guest-protocols/.

Additional information about Princess Cruises is available through a professional travel advisor, by calling 1-800-PRINCESS (1-800-774-6237), or by visiting the company's website at http://www.princess.com/.

About Princess Cruises :

One of the best-known names in cruising, Princess Cruises is the world's leading international premium cruise line and tour company operating a fleet of 14 modern cruise ships, carrying two million guests each year to 380 destinations around the globe, including the Caribbean, Alaska, Panama Canal, Mexican Riviera, Europe, South America, Australia/New Zealand, the South Pacific, Hawaii, Asia, Canada/New England, Antarctica, and World Cruises. A team of professional destination experts have curated 170 itineraries, ranging in length from three to 111 days and Princess Cruises is continuously recognized as "Best Cruise Line for Itineraries." In 2017 Princess Cruises, with parent company Carnival Corporation, introduced MedallionClass Vacations enabled by the Medallion device, the vacation industry's most advanced wearable device, provided free to each guest sailing on a MedallionClass ship. The award-winning innovation offers the fastest way to an effortless personalized vacation giving guests more time to do the things they love most. The company is part of Carnival Corporation & plc (NYSE/LSE: CCL; NYSE:CUK).

In line with the latest advice from health officials about COVID-19, Princess Cruises is currently enhancing health and safety protocols with input from medical experts and government bodies and assessing how they may impact future itineraries. Actual offerings may vary from what is displayed in marketing materials. Click on the following links to stay updated on current Cruise Updates and Health & Safety protocols .

SOURCE Princess Cruises

Related Links

www.princess.com


The innovation is something anglers can use year-round. Whether it is wading or walking, kayak or canoe, or ice fishing, Bait Up meets every angler's needs. There are three basic components of the Bait Up container: the floating basket, dual lid design, and the durable clear container. The floating basket lifts the bait out of the container. The dual lid allows for quick and dry bait selection.

No net.

No cold hands.

No losing bait.

Bait Up is sold in two different sizes. Bait Up 20 is 7" tall x 3" round and Bait Up 35 is 8.5 tall x 3.625 round.

This product will be available in-stores and online on October, 12 2021. Productive Alternatives has an extensive history of supporting the needs of businesses by delivering high-quality products at a more affordable price point. Manufacturing of products like Bait Up is done through Productive Alternatives' Fergus Falls facility. Since 1959 they have been creating jobs for individuals with unique circumstances.

Every product that is included in the product line at Productive Alternatives is produced and distributed by their own employees. Visit, https://productivemn.org/about-pa/ to support our mission.

About Productive Alternatives

Productive Alternatives, Inc . is committed to providing services of the highest quality. A non-profit social services agency, they have been serving Minnesotans since 1959 and have since been offering many different opportunities to individuals in our community. They create a work environment that is open and welcoming to all different types of people, from all different backgrounds. Productive Alternatives works together to transform lives.

Media Contact: Tiffanie Honeyman

(701) 630- 1324

[email protected]

SOURCE Productive Alternatives

Related Links

https://productivemn.org/about-pa/


Breaking corporate conventions of branding in the research field, PRS IN VIVO's new identity was designed to make it look and feel like a modern brand while also capturing the company's legacy as a pioneer in Behavior First market research. Led by co-CEOs Karen Gombault and Olivier Blanchet , PRS IN VIVO works with many of the largest global retail and FMCG brands, applying sophisticated behavioral science, advanced biometrics and AI/machine learning to help them understand, predict and influence consumer choice.

Over the last decade, market research has been heavily impacted by digital technologies. While this has made gathering consumer insights faster and easier, it has also made the amount of data feel overwhelming to organizations often lacking the infrastructure and expertise to interrogate and truly understand it. By combining decades of experience in behavioral science with the latest digital research techniques, PRS IN VIVO helps companies see through all that data to gain a deeper understanding of authentic consumer behavior. They call this approach "The Human Advantage".

"PRS IN VIVO has been unlocking the potential of behavioral science in market research for decades," said Olivier Blanchet, co-CEO at PRS IN VIVO. "While much of the research world has focused on providing cheap and quick data to brands, we have always prioritized the need to go deeper and empower companies with real shopper insights."

PRS IN VIVO's new brand embodies these qualities. It dynamically forms a focusing lens that gives clarity to a circular cluster of dots, representing the company's ability to see through complexity and provide clear direction in a world of messy data. The vibrant color palette and style guide encapsulate the diversity of people and the company's rich behavioral knowledge, while two new typefaces balance humanity and elegance with future-facing innovation and precision.

"The beauty of working with Elmwood was that they quickly homed in on our pioneering roots as a springboard for challenging the cold and corporate look and feel of branding in our industry," said Matt Michaud, Chief Creative Officer at PRS IN VIVO. "They did what they do best: pushed us to be bold and go further. I think the results really speak for themselves."

"There are very few, if any, companies in research today that look and act like a modern brand," said Greg Taylor, Chief Provocation Officer at Elmwood. "PRS IN VIVO's new identity challenges this convention, bringing the world of brand to the world of insight, and perfectly capturing their ability to bridge the tension between automation and human experience."

About PRS IN VIVO Group

PRS IN VIVO Group (a BVA Group Company) is a global shopper and product experience consultancy with offices in New York, London, Paris, Geneva, Milan, Shanghai, and Singapore, working in over 50 countries around the world. We specialize in the application of behavioral science to help companies predict and influence consumer choice and drive brand growth.

We conduct consumer research right across the globe, utilizing best in class technology to draw on our decades of experience, our category and product expertise, and our behavioral framework, to help clients improve their brand and product marketing, and achieve better business outcomes.

We are dedicated to helping clients succeed through the passion and engagement of our teams, our commitment to partnership, and our trusted, proven, innovative and agile solutions.



About Elmwood

Elmwood is a global design consultancy working locally in London, New York and Singapore. We have over 30 years of experience and our clients include GSK, Heineken, Danone and Mars. We believe tension is at the heart of powerful brands. We harness its energyturning its potential into transformative design.

Media Contacts

Global Contact:

Ginger Hsu, +33 6 19 36 66 68, [email protected]

UK Contact:

Will Hurrell, +44 755 192 7321, [email protected]

US Contact:

Toni Lee, +1 203-246-7524, [email protected]

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Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1663484/PRS_IN_VIVO_1.jpg

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SOURCE PRS IN VIVO
LONDON, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Qualitest ( https://qualitestgroup.com ), the world's leading AI-powered quality engineering company, announces today the acquisition of telexiom GmbH, a Cologne-based specialist in IT consulting and services. This is Qualitest's fourth strategic acquisition in 2021 and gives the company a strong base in Germany, Europe's largest and fastest-growing IT market at nearly 41 billion.

This acquisition not only extends Qualitest's geographic footprint into the DACH market, but also provides expanded capabilities in digital engineering and cyber security. Telexiom adds an impressive customer base, including a number of Fortune 100 companies, and establishes a strong position in Continental Europe with five locations in Germany. Through this acquisition, Qualitest will add telexiom's 224 employees to its ranks, along with a top leadership team with a track record of success in the DACH region.

Founded in 2008, telexiom offers a wide range of professional IT consulting services and solutions with key competences in the areas of quality engineering, IT security, software development, and project management. The deal broadens Qualitest's services beyond quality assurance to support customers through their entire digital assurance journey. Additionally, telexiom's Cologne-based operation spearheads Qualitest's entry into Germany and the wider DACH region, expanding the company's global reach.

"The leadership team at telexiom has done an amazing job at building the company. We're looking forward to making our customers' businesses stronger," said Anbu Muppidathi, Qualitest President and CEO (Designate). "Qualitest and telexiom have a shared commitment to customers and employees. The union of our two companies accelerates the realization of Qualitest's aspirations to become the trusted digital engineering service provider."

"Telexiom's dedication to customer trust and delivery excellence aligns well with Qualitest's vision. We're thrilled to take our services global with Qualitest and see them as the perfect partner for us," said Masod Karimi, CEO at telexiom GmbH. "At the same time, Qualitest is ambitiously expanding its footprint and services to clients, so it makes perfect sense to join forces to create a stronghold in the fastest-growing IT market in Europe."

About Qualitest:

Founded in 1997, Qualitest offers a wide range of AI-powered quality engineering solutions, designed to mitigate the business risk associated with digital adoption. Qualitest achieves this by deploying engagement models tailored to the precise quality engineering needs of technology platforms in the financial services, telecom, healthcare, insurance, tech, media, and utilities industries. It has operations in the US, UK, Germany, Romania, Israel, Argentina, Mexico, and Portugal, and serves over 250 blue-chip customers worldwide. Qualitest is majority-owned by international private equity group Bridgepoint, which acquired the company in October 2019 via its 5.7 billion flagship fund BE VI. To learn more about Qualitest, visit www.qualitestgroup.com .

Qualitest Media Contact

Lauren Perry

SlicedBrand for Qualitest

[email protected]

SOURCE Qualitest

Related Links

http://www.qualitestgroup.com


BROOKINGS, S.D., Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Query.AI , the provider of the market's only security investigations control plane for modern enterprises, today announced the successful close of an oversubscribed $15 million Series A financing round. The round, which was led by new investor SYN Ventures with participation from existing investors ClearSky Security and South Dakota Equity Partners, follows a recent seed round of $4.6 million , bringing the total funding this year to nearly $20 million. Patrick Heim, managing partner of SYN Ventures, is joining the Query.AI board of directors as part of the transaction. Query.AI will use the new funding to scale up its product development to meet rapidly increasing market demand and support its exponential customer growth.

"Cybersecurity data no longer lives in just one place," said Heim. "It lives in the cloud, with third-party providers, and on-prem. Companies everywhere are struggling to figure out how they can bring security operations capabilities to these disparate environments, and they're seeing that it's extremely difficult, costly, inefficient and ineffective to send information in and out of these silos. Query.AI offers the only solution on the market that solves this pervasive problem by leaving the data where it lives, connecting to disparate data sources with APIs, and serving up the ability to access, investigate and respond to the threats in real-time, from one, unified browser interface. The Query.AI offering is truly unique and delivers critical value for security operations teams in every industry."

The market need for a technology that can bridge disparate security systems is very real. The universal data centralization approach doesn't work, and companies are urgently seeking out other alternatives. According to the Ponemon Institute, the average organization spends $2.7 million per year on engineering work used to integrate disparate security data, build out rules and content and automate processes. Further, only 23 percent of organizations rate their security engineering efforts as very effective.

"Enterprises have found that SOAR tools require time-consuming software engineering efforts to build playbooks and manage API integrations, and they are still unable to provide analysts with the ability to investigate interactively. And, XDR still relies on a single technology provider to do all the collecting, aggregating, correlating, and analyzing," said Dhiraj Sharan, Query.AI founder and chief executive officer. "Our platform is a lightweight solution that doesn't require organizations to centralize data, assign a dedicated engineer for management, or rip and replace any existing, best-of-breed technologies. It is an XDR-enabling connective layer that serves as a data hub to provide direct access to data, where it lives, and helps SOC teams understand data relationships and initiate response actions."

Sharan continued, "Having cybersecurity luminaries including Jay Leek, Patrick Heim and Dan Burns on our board demonstrates the industry's recognition of the value of our platform. We will continue to benefit from their advice and experience as we help more companies and industries accelerate cybersecurity investigations and efficiently respond to threats."

Earlier this year, Query.AI was named a 2021 Gartner Cool Vendor in Security Operations and was included in the Forrester Research , Inc. "New Tech: Extended Detection and Response (XDR) Providers, Q3 2021" report. The company was also recognized by CRN magazine as one of the "10 Hottest Cloud Security Startups of 2021 ."

Please visit the Query.AI website for more information about Query.AI and its innovative security investigations platform.

About Query.AI

Query.AI provides the market's only security investigations control plane for modern enterprises. Its patented browser-based platform delivers real-time access and centralized insights across on-premises, multi-cloud, and SaaS applications, without duplicating data from its native locations. For more information, please visit http://www.query.ai .

Query.AI Social Media Resources

Blog: Query.AI

LinkedIn: Query.AI

Twitter: @Query_AI

CONTACT:

Meghan Locke

Three Rings for Query.AI

[email protected]

SOURCE Query.AI
SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- RangeMe, the industry standard online product sourcing platform for retailers and suppliers, is working with Qurate Retail Group to expand its Small Business Spotlight program.

"The Small Business Spotlight program aligns with our mission of providing new opportunities to emerging brands across the industry. Qurate Retail Group is streamlining their process through RangeMe so that diverse, underrepresented, and emerging brands are given an opportunity to reach new customers that can help change the trajectory of their business. We are excited to be a part of a program that truly highlights the diversity within our industry." - Nicky Jackson, CEO and Founder of RangeMe

"As we enter our third year of the Small Business Spotlight program, we are pleased to be working with the RangeMe team to reach a new group of diverse small businesses," said Ian Bailey, Senior Vice President, Communications and Community of Qurate Retail Group. "Given the success that small business participants have experienced from the program the past two years, we look forward to offering at least 100 more entrepreneurs the chance to connect with our passionate customer base."

Qurate Retail Group's Small Business Spotlight provides entrepreneurs from underrepresented groups the opportunity to showcase their products on a national stage. By the end of 2021, roughly 160 brands will have been part of the program and have gained exposure on QVC, HSN, and Zulily. At least 100 more brands will join these ranks in 2022 and go live on-air with QVC, HSN, or QVC2 during one of seven recognition months, including Black History Month, Women's History Month, Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, National Military Appreciation Month, Pride Month, Hispanic Heritage Month, and National Disability Employment Awareness Month.

"The Small Business Spotlight program aligns with our mission of providing new opportunities to emerging brands across the industry," says Nicky Jackson, CEO and Founder of RangeMe. "Qurate Retail Group is streamlining their process through RangeMe so that diverse, underrepresented, and emerging brands are given an opportunity to reach new customers that can help change the trajectory of their business. We are excited to be a part of a program that truly highlights the diversity within our industry."

Qurate Retail Group's platforms have a broad reach, with QVC and HSN serving 11.6 million customers and broadcasting into nearly 100 million homes, and connecting with millions of consumers on digital, streaming, and social platforms.

Brands interested in being considered for the Small Business Spotlight are invited to apply throughout the year. Currently, Qurate Retail Group is reviewing brands to feature during Black History Month (February 2022) and Women's History Month (March 2022). Interested applicants for those two months are encouraged to apply by October 25, 2021.

To learn more about Qurate Retail's Small Business Spotlight program and submit your products for review, visit: https://www.rangeme.com/quratesmallbusinessspotlight

About RangeMe

RangeMe , an ECRM company, is the leading online platform that streamlines new product discovery between suppliers and retailers. The platform empowers retail buyers to efficiently discover innovative and emerging products, while streamlining the inbound product submission process. For product suppliers, RangeMe enables them to grow their retail relationships with a platform that gives them the tools to manage their products, market their brand, and build awareness. Now integrated into the ECRM product offering, RangeMe adds increased breadth and depth to the industry's most complete sourcing solution for top retailers and product suppliers in the US.

Press Contacts:

QVC and HSN: [email protected]

RangeMe: Dan Dyer, [email protected], (513) 478-7818

SOURCE RangeMe

Related Links

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STERLING, Va., Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- REI Systems is pleased to announce a partnership with the South Carolina Department of Education (SCDE). SCDE oversees K-12 public education in South Carolina, with a mission to provide leadership and support so that all students graduate prepared for success.

Through a competitive process, SCDE awarded a contract to REI Systems to streamline and consolidate its grants management process using GovGrants. Specifically, SCDE sought to modernize its grants management approach with a comprehensive system that aligned to major federal and state funding sources and had the capabilities to support this initiative plus other support services the agency deems beneficial. GovGrants is a configurable system built on the Salesforce cloud technology platform, making it reliable, secure, and easy to use for both internal and external stakeholders. Perhaps most importantly, GovGrants provides SCDE with accountability mechanisms to ensure funding is sent to the right places while showing the programmatic results from the use of grant monies.

This is REI Systems' fifth customer in the education market, including the state of Washington, the state of Texas, the state of Louisiana, and the state of Utah.

REI Systems Vice President Wagish Bhartiya said, "As the nation continues to heal from the COVID-19 pandemic, we are honored to support SCDE in creating efficient technology solutions. We hope to help them focus on what matters most: successfully getting students back into classrooms and recouping any lost learning as soon as possible."

About REI Systems

REI Systems has delivered innovative solutions that empower people and impact millions of lives since 1989. Our 700 problem-solving technologists and consultants are passionate about modernizing the government to fulfill its missions more effectively. Our customers include healthcare, national security, science and technology, and government operations in the federal, state, local, and nonprofit sectors. We take a Mindful Modernization approach in providing Application Modernization, Government Data Analytics, Grants Management Systems and Products, and Advisory Services. Delivering domain expertise, best-fit technologies through agile execution, and a commitment to customer service is the REI Way. To learn more, visit www.reisystems.com.

Contact

Wagish Bhartiya

Vice President

[email protected]

SOURCE REI Systems

Related Links

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FREMONT, Calif., Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Northwestern Polytechnic University (NPU) professor Ahmed Banafa, author of Blockchain Technology and Applications, gave his thoughts recently on the Blockchain global landscape.

What do you view as the primary hurdles to more mainstream adoption of Bitcoin (or other cryptocurrencies) as a form of payment?

The top four challenges facing Blockchain Technology are:

Regulations: There are currently no clear guidelines or laws that govern it  the main governmental concerns are anti-money laundering and consumer protection issues and solutions to prevent abuse of cryptocurrency by illegal organizations. Public Perception: The public can view cryptocurrency as a risky or shady way of investment or payment. There is also a negative stigma surrounding cryptocurrency because many cybersecurity experts believe it "gave the kiss of life to ransomware attacks." Understanding: A barrier to using cryptocurrency is that much of the public does not understand "digital money" and there is a fear of using it. I offered multiple seminars and workshops at Northwestern Polytechnic University to educate the public about Blockchain applications including cryptocurrency, in addition to the classes of Blockchain we teach at NPU. It is one of the few universities in the nation that offers such classes in a new technology like Blockchain. Volatility: The wild swings of prices of cryptocurrency are too much for an average person to tolerate and incorporate into their daily life.

If someone were interested in learning about, starting to invest in, and/or utilizing cryptocurrency, is there any advice you have? Should people who would like to get started now feel intimidated by the current value of Bitcoin?

I am not in any position to recommend investments, but I want interested individuals to know that it's very risky and can defy logic when it comes to the ups and downs of the value of Bitcoin. We only can create 21 million Bitcoin because of the way it was invented, and we already have around 18.8 million in the market so you can see why we have this wild swing of Bitcoin price. To me, Bitcoin is "Vegas Money"  don't get mad if you lose it and if you are successful, it's extra cash.

What are other applications of Blockchain that are being discussed? What implications might they have on a global scale?



Information is immutable with Blockchain.

Technically speaking, if you need security and trust, then use Blockchain.

A few relevant applications include:

Supply Chain Management

Authentication of Documents

Crowdsourcing

Fighting COVID-19

Quantum Computing

ID Verification

Degree Verification

Real Estate

Much like El Salvador, several nations have considered adopting Bitcoin as their national currency. Given the volatility of cryptocurrency, do you consider this a good idea?

Digital money is the future. The El Salvador idea was good but the execution was bad as the app used to save Bitcoin crashed many times under demand. Once El Salvador and other countries can solve that issue, digital money can be a powerful tool for them.

The European Central Bank has discussed a "digital euro"  does this defeat the original intended purpose of cryptocurrency?

There are three types of digital money, Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), Stable Coins, and Cryptocurrency. The European Central Bank is creating their own digital currency which will be under their control as another form of payment. For example, this approach is very similar to a gift card with points at a large company such as Amazon.

Founded in 1984, Northwestern Polytechnic University (NPU) is a WASC-accredited non-profit private university in Fremont, California that awards bachelor's and master's degrees in computer science, engineering, technology, and management programs. Learn more at https://www.npu.edu/.

SOURCE Northwestern Polytechnic University

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HOUSTON, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- RepeatMD, a B2B technology company based in Houston, Texas has won the prestigious 2021 Aesthetic Award for Technology Innovation by The Aesthetic Guide . The Aesthetic Guide honors various businesses, doctors and sectors of the cosmetic industry each year.

"The other nominees are amazing companies with a rich history in the Aesthetics industry. For us to win this award in our first year in business really shows our momentum as a company and the level of satisfaction our clients experience with our service," Philipp Sitter, founder and CEO of RepeatMD.

The industry awards honor product manufacturers and management companies that are shaping the future of aesthetic medicine through innovation, new devices and techniques that advance the industry. RepeatMD sells more high-margin services for aesthetic practices by building their own private label rewards app exclusively for plastic surgeons, medical spas, and dermatologists.

The platform allows patients to be introduced to various treatments they may have not known about otherwise. The software provides a suite of patient engagements that includes rewarding a patient for visiting, educating patients on treatments, driving more referrals, financing treatments, and automating patient retention.

The honor was published in the September/October issue of The Aesthetic Guide. The distinguished award is a major indication of the success for the new software company, established in December 2020.

ABOUT REPEATMD

RepeatMD is a B2B software company founded in December 2020 by serial entrepreneur, Philipp Sitter. The Houston based technology company is present in 48 states and has hundreds of thousands of users. The software specializes in creating mobile rewards programs for the healthcare industry. The company sells more high-margin services for aesthetic practices by building their own private label rewards app exclusively for plastic surgeons, medical spas, and dermatologists. Sitter has been featured on a variety of national platforms including the Travel Channel, Forbes, Bloomberg, and won awards such as the Top 150 Best Workplaces and the Innovative Leadership Award by the Houston Chronicle. For more information on RepeatMD, visit www.repeatmd.com .

SOURCE RepeatMD

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"Despite the unprecedented and ongoing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, our team of trainees, care providers, and scientists demonstrated personal resilience, scholarly excellence, and unprecedented scientific ingenuity," stated Dr. Alan B. Copperman, Co-Director of RMA of New York, Vice Chairman of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Director of the Division of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York.

COVID-19 and its effects on fertility and pregnancy were a focus of this year's academic congress. In a highly anticipated study led by Dr. Devora Aharon and co-authors at RMA of New York, the team explored whether there was any evidence of correlation between the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines and the implantation rate of euploid embryos, and determined that vaccinated patients did not demonstrate compromised implantation rates or live birth rates. Further expanding on COVID-19 and fertility, a study by RMA of NY and Generate Life Science (Los Angeles, CA) demonstrated that sperm counts are not affected in healthy donors who test positive for COVID-19.

Dr. Jenna Friedenthal presented novel research focused on gaining greater insights into the development of mosaic embryos. Her research on single cell sequencing of whole human blastocysts expands our current understanding of the genetic composition of human embryos. Exploring early development, the results demonstrate that some degree of embryonic mosaicism may be part of normal human embryonic blastocyst development.

Additionally, Dr. Alan Copperman and RMA of New York's Clinical Embryology Associate Laboratory Director, Richard Slifkin, were selected to host a symposium highlighting the future of fertility with artificial intelligence in the IVF laboratory. Dr. Copperman added, "This is the year we really were able to leverage big data and create personalized predictive models that provide clinical decision support to help patients make more informed decisions. From the molecular to the personal to the community level, we are making tremendous strides towards preventing and treating infertility and enhancing access to care for all."

About Reproductive Medicine Associates of New York, LLP

Reproductive Medicine Associates of New York (RMA of New York) is widely recognized as a global leader in state-of-the-art reproductive medicine. Led by an integrated team of doctors and scientists with extensive reproductive endocrinology, fertility and urology experience and training, RMA of New York consistently reports high success rates in the treatment of infertility to the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology (SART) and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). RMA of New York is committed to increasing access to care by helping patients optimize their insurance coverage and access financing options for treatment. RMA of New York is sensitive to the needs of the LGBTQ+ community, women choosing single-parent motherhood, and women pursuing fertility preservation for elective indications as well as those in need of oncofertility services. Headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, RMA of New York has six patient care facilities in New York, including four facilities in Manhattan, as well as sites in Brooklyn, White Plains, Mount Kisco, throughout Long Island, and abroad in Mexico City. For more information, please visit www.rmany.com .

Media Contact: Agnes Stachnik, [email protected]

SOURCE Reproductive Medicine Associates of New York

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LOS ANGELES, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Rixon Technology is thrilled to announce that it achieved Platinum recognition on the Pepperdine Graziadio Business School's fourth annual Most Fundable Companies List. Rixon competed against over 3,300 of early-stage US companies to be named one of 16 companies in total. The Most Fundable Companies initiative aims to educate founders on the investor diligence process and recognize exceptional entrepreneurs who are solving today's problems with inventive solutions and are also seeking investment capital to fuel their company's growth. Watch our pitch video, here.

Rixon Technology Rixon Technology

"We are a small company, but we have big ambitions. Recognition as a highly investable startup helps improve our funding prospects and brings us one step closer to achieving market leadership," said Dave Johnson, Rixon's Chief Executive Officer. "The Most Fundable Companies initiative provides us with a roadmap to secure private investment. We are excited that the Pepperdine Graziadio Business School is giving us a platform to showcase our business and set us up for success with investors."

Established in 2019, Rixon is a data security provider using vaultless tokenization with complete data owner rights capabilities. Unlike others on the market, Rixon's cloud-native solution empowers companies with a proactive and fully customizable approach to data security; one that allows them to serve markets across the globe, in any language, and for any type of regulatory requirement.

As a winner on the Most Fundable Companies List, Rixon will be profiled on Entrepreneur.com and will be featured in the December print issue of the magazine. For a complete list of the winners, visit www.pepperdine.edu/mfc-list , where you can also vote for Rixon as the "crowd favorite" through November 1.

About Most Fundable Companies

The Most Fundable Companies List is an annual program hosted by the Pepperdine Graziadio Business School aimed to promote startup business development by providing pathways for startup funding and inspiring entrepreneurial spirit across the nation. More than 3,300 companies across all 50 states applied for the 2021 program. The Pepperdine Graziadio Business School's Most Fundable Companies Showcase presented by the Singleton Foundation for Financial Literacy and Entrepreneurship took place on October 14, 2021, virtually at Pepperdine University.

The Most Fundable Companies program was launched by the Pepperdine Graziadio Business School in 2018 as a free resource to help entrepreneurs assess their readiness for private investment. The initiative involves a multi-phase assessment that evaluates several company variables, including financial projections, market opportunity, intellectual property, and the strength of the management team, all of which are used to generate objective and customized feedback and scoring to improve readiness for funding. Pepperdine Graziadio Business School's Most Fundable Companies is powered by The Venture Alliance.

About Rixon Technology

Rixon Technology is a data security solutions provider. Rixon's cloud-native data security solutions use an approach that empowers customers to control when and how their data is accessed. This helps Rixon's clients protect their clients, giving them the power of freedom to focus on their business while their data remains secure. For more information, go to rixontechnology.com or visit Rixon Technology on LinkedIn .

Contact:

Dave Johnson, CEO ([email protected])

Doug Lambert, CMO ([email protected])

813-545-0471

Disclaimers: The Pepperdine Most Fundable Companies list does not represent an offer to sell securities. It does not constitute investment advice, nor is it an endorsement of any particular product or service. Pepperdine University is not a broker-dealer and does not perform services provided by a broker-dealer, including but not limited to any financial or investment advising.

SOURCE Rixon Technology
COLUMBUS, Ohio, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Safecor Health, the market leader of pharmaceutical unit-dose packaging services for hospitals and health systems owned by Vesey Street Capital Partners, LLC ("VSCP"), a New York-based lower middle-market healthcare services private equity firm, today announced the addition of Sean Henderson as its newly-appointed Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Henderson will join the Safecor Health team after over two decades as a financial leader in the healthcare distribution and service industries.

Safecor Health

"We are very excited to add Sean's vast experience and insight to the Safecor team," said Steve Fischbach, CEO. "Sean will be instrumental in our goal to build a world class company focused on providing unique packaging and supply chain solutions to health care providers, pharmaceutical manufacturers, and telehealth businesses." Added Adam Feinstein, Managing Partner at VSCP, "Vesey Street Capital Partners is excited to add someone with Sean's healthcare background and strong CFO leadership history to Safecor Health, a platform that we believe has tremendous opportunity to have a material impact on the cost and quality of care." "This is a great example of our commitment to further support a management team that can deliver on its important mission," noted Larry Marsh, General Partner at VSCP.

Mr. Henderson joins Safecor Health with a diverse background spanning multiple industries, including healthcare and pharmaceuticals, most recently serving as the Chief Financial Officer in animal healthcare of Covetrus North America, the largest business unit of Covetrus, Inc. Prior to that role, he served in increasing roles of finance leadership as VP and CFO in various business units at McKesson Corporation.

Sean received his MBA in Finance from Cornell University Johnson Graduate School of Management and his B.S. in Finance from Bentley University. He is a member of the Dublin Chamber of Commerce and currently serves as treasurer on the board of directors.

"I am excited to partner with VSCP and the leadership team at Safecor Health," highlighted Mr. Henderson. "The opportunity in the market and the enthusiasm within the organization and from VSCP was compelling. I look forward to further building the finance function and working with the team to contribute to the company's future growth."

About Safecor Health

Founded in 2008, Safecor Health is the national leader committed to providing unit-dose drug packaging services for hospitals, long term care providers, pharmaceutical manufacturers, and retail and digital health companies. Safecor Health also markets a rapidly growing line of commercial unit-dose products for use in institutions.

Today, Safecor Health services over 1,000 hospitals across the country and repackages for more than 75% of the U.S. News & World Report "Honor Roll" Hospitals. Safecor Health has a track record of quality and for delivering significant cost savings to hospitals and health systems. Operating out of two state-of-the-art packaging centers, the Safecor Health team has expertise in pharmaceutical packaging, pharmaceutical distribution and supply chain, and healthcare information technology. For more information, please visit www.safecorhealth.com.

ABOUT VESEY STREET CAPITAL PARTNERS

Vesey Street Capital Partners is a private equity firm with substantial and differentiated expertise, specializing in buyouts of lower middle-market healthcare services businesses. VSCP invests on behalf of a wide array of Limited Partners, including asset management firms, family offices, pension funds, and other institutional investors. With over 100 combined years of analyzing and investing in healthcare services companies, VSCP possesses unparalleled industry knowledge and extensive relationships with industry executives and luminaries. Specifically, VSCP invests in lower middle-market businesses that provide services to hospitals, physician groups, payors, and life sciences companies and are focused on reducing costs, enhancing efficiency, and driving quality of care. Since its inception, VSCP has consummated 23 transactions across eight platform businesses and has deployed over $600 million of equity capital. For more information, please visit www.vscpllc.com.

Media Contact:

Bryan Sekino, CFO

Vesey Street Capital Partners

The Pearline House

428 Greenwich Street

New York, NY 10013

Email: [email protected]

(646) 847-2438

SOURCE Vesey Street Capital Partners, LLC
DALLAS, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- SeaLights, developer of the Software Quality Governance platform, announced today that it has secured a $30 million funding round led by Red Dot Capital Partners with the participation of Deutsche Bank, Translink Capital, and Shasta Ventures, as well as existing investors Blumberg Capital, Cisco Investments, TLV Partners and Wipro Ventures. This latest investment brings SeaLights' total funding to $50 million. As part of this round, Barak Salomon and Atad Peled of Red Dot Capital Partners will join the board of directors.

Right: Eran Sher, CEO & Co-Founder, and Alon Eizenman, CTO & Co-Founder

"We are very excited to join SeaLights on their mission to revolutionize software quality for DevOps teams in fast-paced environments," said Barak Salomon, Managing Partner at Red Dot. "We are confident that with this experienced team and advanced technology, SeaLights will soon become one of the fastest-growing tech companies in the software, DevOps, and QA markets."

SeaLights has innovated a radically new approach known as Software Quality Governance to underscore the enormous demand by organizations developing software to deliver quality at speed. "SeaLights is solving a real problem that has challenged companies for years," said Gil Perez, Deutsche Bank Chief Innovation Officer and Head of Corporate Ventures Capital Group. "We look forward to collaborating with SeaLights to advance their product roadmap while catering to targeted needs of specific industries such as financial services."

Powered by advanced Machine Learning, SeaLights' cloud-based solution provides customers with full visibility into every potential quality risk associated with their software changes in real-time, enabling them to make faster data-driven release decisions.

"With the widespread adoption of DevOps, traditional software quality management is no longer fit for purpose. This is something we witnessed first-hand with customers from diverse industries, including finance, retail, insurance, telecommunications, and computer software," said company CEO and co-founder, Eran Sher. "These organizations have been modernizing their engineering toolsets, cloud infrastructures, and microservices architectures, and require a new approach that includes data analytics and actionable insights to deliver quality at speed."

This round of funding will dramatically accelerate SeaLights' growth, enabling global expansion of its team while continuing the development and release of new features and products to address software quality risks.

About SeaLights

The SeaLights Software Quality Governance platform revolutionizes the way software teams deliver software changes. It protects the integrity of production and ensures that quality risks are mitigated as early as possible in the process. With SeaLights, software and QA teams can focus their testing efforts where it matters, and deliver quality software at scale.

About Red Dot Capital Partners

Red Dot Capital Partners is an Israel-based expansion and early growth venture fund investing in breakout technology companies. Red Dot supports its portfolio companies in identifying and navigating expansion opportunities in fast-developing markets and within its LP's networks and businesses - with a focus on SE Asia and Japan.

For more information, visit https://www.sealights.io/

Media Contact:

Bar Kofman

[email protected]

SOURCE SeaLights

Related Links

https://www.sealights.io


NEW YORK, Oct. 18, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Juan Monteverde, founder and managing partner at Monteverde & Associates PC, a national securities firm rated Top 50 in the 2018-2020 ISS Securities Class Action Services Report and headquartered at the Empire State Building in New York City, is investigating Novus Capital Corp. II (NXU) relating to its proposed merger with Energy Vault. Under the terms of the agreement, NXU shareholders are expected to own approximately 18% of the combined company.

The investigation focuses on whether Novus Capital Corp. II and its Board of Directors violated securities laws and/or breached their fiduciary duties to the Company by 1) failing to conduct a fair process, and 2) whether the transaction is properly valued.

Click here for more information: https://www.monteverdelaw.com/case/novus-capital-corp-ii. It is free and there is no cost or obligation to you.

About Monteverde & Associates PC

We are a national class action securities litigation law firm that has recovered millions of dollars and is committed to protecting shareholders from corporate wrongdoing. We were listed in the Top 50 in the 2018-2020 ISS Securities Class Action Services Report. Our lawyers have significant experience litigating Mergers & Acquisitions and Securities Class Actions. Mr. Monteverde is recognized by Super Lawyers as a Rising Star in Securities Litigation in 2013, 2017-2019, an award given to less than 2.5% of attorneys in a particular field. He has also been selected by Martindale-Hubbell as a 2017-2020 Top Rated Lawyer. Our firm's recent successes include changing the law in a significant victory that lowered the standard of liability under Section 14(e) of the Exchange Act in the Ninth Circuit. Thereafter, our firm successfully preserved this victory by obtaining dismissal of a writ of certiorari as improvidently granted at the United States Supreme Court. Emulex Corp. v. Varjabedian, 139 S. Ct. 1407 (2019). Also, over the years the firm has recovered or secured over a dozen cash common funds for shareholders in mergers & acquisitions class action cases.

If you owned common stock in the Company and wish to obtain additional information and protect your investments free of charge, please visit our website or contact Juan E. Monteverde, Esq. either via e-mail at [email protected] or by telephone at (212) 971-1341.

Contact:

Juan E. Monteverde, Esq.

MONTEVERDE & ASSOCIATES PC

The Empire State Building

350 Fifth Ave. Suite 4405

New York, NY 10118

United States of America

[email protected]

Tel: (212) 971-1341

Attorney Advertising. (C) 2021 Monteverde & Associates PC. The law firm responsible for this advertisement is Monteverde & Associates PC (www.monteverdelaw.com). Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome with respect to any future matter.

SOURCE Monteverde & Associates PC

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SEATTLE, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Shield Compliance (https://www.shieldbanking.com/) announced the appointment of three new hires who will support the ongoing development of the company's comprehensive AML/BSA compliance management platform for banking legal cannabis-related businesses (CRBs).

Based in Southern California, Cami Cantrell was appointed Executive Vice President, Payments and Strategic Alliances at Shield Compliance.

"As more states legalize adult-use cannabis, a growing number of banks and credit unions are entering the cannabis banking space to serve a critical public safety role while gaining the financial rewards of this line of business," said Tony Repanich, President and Chief Operating Officer of Shield Compliance. "We are very excited to be in a position to expand our team and benefit from the expertise of these talented individuals."

The new hires include:

Cami Cantrell , Executive Vice President, Payments and Strategic Alliances. Cami has over two decades of experience in product and business development roles in the banking industry and corporate world. She specializes in developing deal structures and third-party risk management programs that assist financial institutions with oversight of products delivered through external program managers and independent sales organizations (ISOs). Prior to joining Shield, Cami was an executive at an Illinois state-based community bank where she was responsible for issuing and acquiring sponsorship business lines that process billions of dollars in payments annually.

Cami has over two decades of experience in product and business development roles in the banking industry and corporate world. She specializes in developing deal structures and third-party risk management programs that assist financial institutions with oversight of products delivered through external program managers and independent sales organizations (ISOs). Prior to joining Shield, Cami was an executive at an state-based community bank where she was responsible for issuing and acquiring sponsorship business lines that process billions of dollars in payments annually. Melissa Timmer , Client Success Project Manager. Melissa uses the knowledge and insights gained from her 20 years of banking experience to help financial institutions onboard and monitor cannabis-related business customers. Melissa earned her Certified Regulatory Compliance Manager (CRCM) and Certified AML and Fraud Professional (CAFP) Certificates from the American Bankers Association and the Institute of Certified Bankers.

Melissa uses the knowledge and insights gained from her 20 years of banking experience to help financial institutions onboard and monitor cannabis-related business customers. Melissa earned her Certified Regulatory Compliance Manager (CRCM) and Certified AML and Fraud Professional (CAFP) Certificates from the American Bankers Association and the Institute of Certified Bankers. Lauren Potts , Business Analyst. Lauren has deep experience helping organizations create efficiencies and streamline business processes. At Shield, Lauren works with the development team to improve its processes, products, services, and software through data analysis and sprint planning. She previously worked as a cannabis examiner for the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board.

Earlier this month, Shield released a cannabis banking playbook detailing how financial institutions can serve CRBs compliantly while gaining the financial rewards of this market. Based on the experiences of pioneering bankers, the playbook outlines the risks, operational impacts, and go-to-market solutions available to financial institutions interested in serving the legal cannabis industry.

Learn more about Shield Compliance at www.shieldbanking.com and download the Cannabis Banking Playbook.

About Shield Compliance

Shield Compliance transforms how financial institutions manage risk, comply with regulations, and satisfy operational demands associated with serving the legal cannabis market across the U.S. Its purpose-built AML/BSA compliance management software solution sits behind the financial institution to simplify compliance, automate processes across multiple data sources, create efficiencies, unlock new revenue, and scale operations. For more information and to schedule a demo, please visit https://www.shieldbanking.com or contact [email protected].

Media Contact

Samara Villasenor

425-255-0890

[email protected]

SOURCE Shield Compliance

Related Links

https://www.shieldbanking.com


In One of the Largest Industry Commitments, Spotter's Funding will Fuel BBTV Creator Growth and Monetization Opportunities

VANCOUVER, BC, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - BBTV Holdings Inc. (TSX: BBTV) (OTCQX: BBTVF) ("BBTV" or the "Company"), the leading creator monetization company with a mission to help creators become more successful, and Spotter, the platform providing upfront cash to creators by acquiring rights to their content, today announced a commercial partnership to dedicate up to US$125 million to BBTV creators to further scale creator growth and monetization opportunities for the Company's existing library of creator content.

BBTV and Spotter enter into a strategic deal for Spotter to deploy up to US$125 million to BBTV creators to help them make more money from their existing content.

to BBTV creators to help them make more money from their existing content. Spotter has already deployed approximately US$18 million to BBTV creators.

to BBTV creators. The commercial partnership helps BBTV creators grow and make more money from their existing content.

Spotter is delivering game changing non-dilutive capital to creators, empowering them to grow their businesses and brands.

This represents a 100% gross margin Plus Solutions revenue stream for BBTV which is expected to total in the single digit millions.

BBTV has an extensive library of existing content spanning thousands of creators and watched by more than 600 million unique viewers every month.

"We're excited about this deal with Spotter, as it's a great illustration of how we can empower creator growth while driving new revenue opportunities from our massive high-quality content library," commented Shahrzad Rafati, Chairperson and CEO, BBTV. "BBTV has cemented itself as an industry-leader in 12 languages and 30 countries with a resilient and re-occurring revenue model spanning thousands of creators and tens of millions of videos. As I've said before, as we continue to drive success for our content creators, we'll continue to gain momentum across all revenue streams."

Through this partnership with Spotter, BBTV is expanding on its end-to-end solutions to help creators grow their viewership and make more money. The partnership provides BBTV and its creators higher immediate revenue on content, providing up-front cash that can be leveraged for further growth in exchange for Spotter's right to receive revenue generated from existing content.

"This partnership was formed on the shared value of providing creators the resources they need to grow their businesses and brands and ultimately, reach their full potential," said Aaron DeBevoise, Founder and CEO of Spotter. "We are proud to provide impactful capital to BBTV's creators."

A reflection of Spotter's dedication to empowering creators to grow their businesses and brands, Spotter's commitment to BBTV creators is one of the largest financial allocations so far in the creator economy space.

For more information visit www.bbtv.com .

About BBTV

BBTV is a global media and technology company headquartered in Vancouver, Canada. The Company's mission is to help content creators become more successful. With creators ranging from individuals to global media brands, BBTV provides comprehensive, end-to-end Solutions to increase viewership and drive revenue powered by its innovative technology, while allowing creators to focus on their core competency  content creation. In January 2021, BBTV had the second most unique monthly viewers among digital platforms with more than 600 million globally, who consumed more than 50 billion minutes of video content, the most among media companies [1]. ( www.bbtv.com )

[1] Calculations and classifications made by BBTV based on data from Comscore's "Top 12 Countries = January 2021 comScore Video Metrix Media Trend  Multi-Platform  Top 100 Video Properties Report"; Top 12 countries represent ~50% of world's digital population.

About Spotter

Spotter is the platform and provider for fueling innovative and integrated value-creation in the Creator Economy. A data-driven business with proprietary technology that enables unique financial and creative outcomes for our partners across the YouTube ecosystem, Spotter delivers upfront cash to Creators by acquiring rights to their content. Spotter is dedicated to providing game changing non-dilutive capital to Creators, empowering them to grow their businesses and brands while retaining their freedom. Spotter is one of the largest independent owners of premium, brand-safe YouTube content that delivers over 9.4 billion views per month and 35 billion monthly watch time minutes across all content categories. For more information, please visit https://www.spotter.la/.

Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable securities laws (collectively, "forward-looking information"). Forward-looking information is not information about historical facts but instead represents the Company's intentions, beliefs, plans, goals, objectives and strategies regarding future events and results and includes certain financial outlooks. Financial outlooks, in particular, are provided to aid in understanding management's goals and expectations regarding future financial matters, and, for all the reasons set out below, may not be achieved. Such financial outlooks may not be appropriate for other purposes. Forward-looking information contained in this press release includes statements that the partnership with Spotter will fuel BBTV creator growth and monetization opportunities; the strategic deal is for Spotter to deploy up to US$125 million to BBTV creators to grow and help them make more money from their existing content and to further scale creator growth and monetization opportunities for the Company's existing library of creator content; this represents a 100% gross margin Plus Solutions revenue stream for BBTV which is expected to total in the single digit millions; as the Company continues to drive success for its content creators, it will continue to gain momentum across all revenue streams; and that the deal provides BBTV and its creators higher immediate revenue on content, providing up-front cash that can be leveraged for further growth. Forward-looking information is necessarily based on a number of estimates and assumptions that the Company considered appropriate and reasonable as of the date such information is given, including but not limited to the Company's assumptions that Spotter will deploy all or most of the $125M to the Company's creators under the strategic deal; that the Company's creators will use such funds to grow their content within BBTV's network; that BBTV will realize its anticipated revenue from the strategic deal; that BBTV will continue to drive success for its creators; that the creator economy will continue to be massive and fast-growing; that the Company will continue to grow its content library; and that the Company will continue to gain momentum across all revenue streams. Forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors, many of which are beyond the Company's control, that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including but not limited to the risk that the Company's assumptions on which its forward-looking information is based may not be accurate; the Company's dependence on performance by Spotter and the risk that Spotter may not deploy any or all of the $125M contemplated; the risk that the Company's creators may not accept funding from Spotter or continue to grow their businesses or brands; that the Company's agreements with platforms, studios, creators or others, may terminate early or not be renewed either on similar terms or at all; that the creator economy may not continue to grow either quickly or at all; that Company's Solutions may not continue to be attractive to its creators and may not continue to gain traction; intellectual property risks; the effect of competition, including without limitation, possible competition from other creator funding entities; the risk of changes in government regulation which may be adverse to the Company's business; the Company's significant reliance on its relationship with one digital platform; litigation risk; that the Company has a history of losses and negative cash flow; and the impact of the continuing COVID-19 pandemic; as well as the factors discussed under "Risk Factors" in the final prospectus of the Company dated October 22, 2020, and in its Annual Information Form dated March 28, 2021 filed on sedar at www.sedar.com and in the Company's other filings with the Canadian securities regulatory authorities at www.sedar.com. The Company does not undertake any obligation to update any forwardlooking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as expressly required by applicable law.

BBTV has relied solely on Spotter for the information in this press release regarding Spotter and its business, and does not accept any responsibility for verifying, or the accuracy of, such information, nor any forward-looking information contained therein.

For further information please contact:

Media Relations: [email protected]

Investor Relations: [email protected]

Spotter: [email protected]

BBTV-C

SOURCE BBTV Holdings Inc.
SANDY, Utah, Oct. 18, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Sunder Energy employees and sales representatives donated over $30,000 to help the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan. In only a few weeks of fundraising within the company, Sunder Energy employees and sales reps from across the country contributed from their own funds to help with the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan. The company itself also donated to the cause. Working with the National Peace Corps and Friends of Afghanistan, the funds are intended to secure safe passage for individuals out of Afghanistan, as well as relocation and resettlement costs of Afghan refugees.

Sunder Energy is a veteran owned and operated company. The Utah-based company has quickly grown to become one of the top solar sales companies in the country. Sunder currently operates in 25 states with over one thousand active sales reps.

"While I was deployed in the early 2000's, I saw firsthand how a chance at freedom can change an entire family tree for generations," Chief Executive Officer and Army Veteran, Max Britton said. "We are so happy to have the chance to help give some of the Afghan refugees the power to change their future."

"The goal was to help alleviate the very real and heartbreaking humanitarian crisis occurring in Afghanistan and resulting in the resettlement of refugees," Sunder Energy President, Eric Nielsen said. "I am proud of the small part we have been able to play to help those in need."

The fundraising initiative was motivated and spearheaded by former Afghan refugee and current District Manager at Sunder, Khalid Ibrahimi. "In 1996, the Taliban took over Afghanistan, and everything we had was looted. It was over two years of chaos. By 1999, multiple family members had been killed before we finally escaped and were offered asylum to the U.S. and a second chance at life. The humanitarian crisis that is unfolding in Afghanistan today is similar and very difficult for most Americans to comprehend," Khalid said. "I am beyond proud and thankful for Max Britton and everyone at Sunder Energy. I am grateful to work for a veteran owned company with so many selfless and caring people. What truly makes America the greatest nation in the world is its people. I love the American people!"

The mission of the National Peace Corp affiliate, Friends of Afghanistan, is to build and sustain an information exchange about Afghanistan and its people, and to network for their peace and prosperity. Find more about the organization and donate with the following link:

https://www.peacecorpsconnect.org/companies/friends-of-afghanistan

SOURCE Sunder Energy

Related Links

https://www.peacecorpsconnect.org/companies/friends-of-afghanistan


DOVER, Del., Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- SupraFin provides an intelligent app with institutional-like investment algorithms in the background that assess the relative value of hundreds of cryptocurrencies and recommends the most appropriate as part of a diversified portfolio based on the client's risk profile preferences.

The app allows any individual interested in cryptocurrencies to invest with as little as $100 but still benefit from a sophisticated investing solution. The SupraFin iOS app, launched in the US in mid-September 2021, is available for download via the Apple App Store.

The SupraFin app (iOS)

Based in Dover, Delaware, SupraFin was established by professionals with more than 15+ years of experience in cryptocurrencies, risk models, complex investment products, portfolio management, trading, quantitative analysis, and software development.

SupraFin was founded by Liliana Reasor, who spent over 20 years in big finance as an executive at JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, Deutsche Bank, and Moody's Analytics. She is a thought leader in cryptocurrencies and Fintech and has participated in more than 30 crypto/blockchain events as a speaker globally. She has an MBA from UCLA Anderson and an MS in Computational Finance from Carnegie Mellon University.

SupraFin has attracted top advisors and investors from the finance industry. Joachim Sonne, the former co-Head of EMEA Technology, Media and Telecoms Investment Banking at JP Morgan, joined two years ago as a Board Advisor and investor at SupraFin. Craig Dewar, a Fintech serial entrepreneur and ex-investment banking professional from JP Morgan, among others, joined this year as Board Advisor and investor at SupraFin.

SupraFin's unique proposition: helping individuals invest like professionals.

There are many risks to consider when it comes to investing in cryptocurrencies. Most people are familiar with market risk; risk derived from losses due to adverse market movements. However, there are other risks to consider in an investment process because of market inefficiencies.

The SupraFin app helps its clients get greater exposure to higher long-term returns while minimizing risk. The investment algorithms behind the SupraFin app consider all types of risks, bring diversification, and target an investment horizon of one year or more.

The SupraFin app is easy to use and, in the background, uses tier-one crypto exchanges to do the trading.

The app shows customers a recommended portfolio, which they can modify or buy at a click of a button. So, it's simple to use. In the background, the trading of cryptocurrencies gets done by the application programming interfaces of tier one-crypto exchanges. One of those exchanges is Gemini, which acts not only as an exchange but also as a custody provider for SupraFin's clients.

Founded in 2014 by two of the best-known names in crypto, twin brothers Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, Gemini is a New York trust company regulated by the New York State Department of Financial Services.

Dave Abner, Global Head of Business Development, Gemini, commented on the SupraFin launch:

"We're excited to be powering SupraFin's vision to offer diversified crypto portfolios based on risk profile preferences. As part of our mission to empower the individual through crypto, Gemini is the leading provider of institutional solutions for those who want to offer innovative digital asset investment offerings."

The SupraFin app recommends crypto portfolios based on the client's risk preferences and constantly monitors the client's portfolio risk.

Not all people investing in cryptocurrencies have the same risk tolerance. Hence, the SupraFin app recommends portfolios that offer different risk exposures.

Once clients have created a portfolio, the app constantly monitors the portfolio risk and alerts them to rebalance.

Other benefits of using the app are liquidity and transparency. Customers can withdraw their cryptocurrencies and liquidate their portfolios at any time. Also, customers can see the actual cryptocurrencies in their portfolios.

SupraFin's investment models have had a great start.

SupraFin's beta users have seen their portfolio value rise by 700%* since November 2020.

iOS app users in the US interested in using the SupraFin app can download the app via the Apple App Store.

Notes: *Past performance is no guarantee of future performance.

Media Contact:

Liliana Reasor

+447500928801

[email protected]

SOURCE SupraFin USA, Inc.
MIAMI, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Sweet Paris Creperie & Cafe , the Houston hot spot famous for its crepes and brunch, is expanding to the state of Florida for the first time ever with four new locations. The franchise announced it has signed leases for two new restaurants in the Miami area, and has two more in development.

While Sweet Paris is widely known in Texas with 10 locations throughout the state, and 1 in Mexico, Ivette Escobar, Chief Development Officer for the brand for nearly a decade, saw an opportunity for growth in Miami and decided to relocate to the area to become a Sweet Paris strategic partner herself in two stores.

Sweet Paris will open their first location in Florida in Downtown Doral at 5335 NW 87th Ave. C101, 33178, with a second location opening at the Plaza at Coral Gables at 2901 Ponce de Leon, 33134.

"We are so excited to transport guests in Miami to our beautiful and delicious world of crepes," said Allison Chavez, Co-Founder of Sweet Paris.

"Miami is the perfect market with its wonderful people and vibrant restaurant scene. We look forward to opening many Sweet Paris stores and to revive the art of eating crepes in Florida," said Ivette Escobar, Chief Development Officer.

"Coral Gables is honored to welcome Sweet Paris to our city," said Julian Perez, the City's director of Economic Development. "It's always great to have new companies join us and am sure that residents are in for a treat."

"We are confident Sweet Paris is going to be a staple for years to come in Downtown Doral," said Ana-Marie Codina Barlick, CEO of Codina Partners, master developer of Downtown Doral. "Allison and Ivan have created an amazing restaurant brand that is going to resonate with our diverse locals as well as visitors from out of town seeking an incredible dining experience."

Founded in 2012 by Allison and her husband Ivan Chavez, Sweet Paris has been profiled by Forbes magazine and has been recognized by QSR Magazine as one the nation's top 40 emerging fast-casual restaurant concepts with under 40 locations across the country.

Sweet Paris is one of the hottest restaurant brands in Texas and is now expanding nationwide with its French-inspired interiors and delicious food and drinks made with high-quality ingredients and bold flavors. Allison and Ivan met as undergraduate students at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania and bonded over a love for crepes, soon making it their mission to "revive the art of eating crepes" and traveling the world in search of flavors and new ways to bring this popular street food to market.

Beyond both sweet and savory crepes, Sweet Paris' menu features a variety of mouth-watering items, including waffles, salads, paninis, soups, milkshakes, mimosas and hot espresso and Nutella drinks. Families, friends and couples can enjoy artful and tasty food in a decadent setting for breakfast, lunch, snacks, dinner or dessert.

For more information on Sweet Paris, visit www.sweetparis.com , and for more information on Strategic Partnership opportunities, please visit www.sweetparisfranchise.com .

ABOUT SWEET PARIS:

Founded in Houston, TX in 2012 by Ivan and Allison Chavez, Sweet Paris Creperie & Cafe is a fast-growing restaurant franchise specializing in sweet and savory crepes, waffles, salads, hot drinks and more. With its Instagram-worthy interiors and menu items made from the highest quality ingredients and bold flavors, Sweet Paris crafts dishes that are as delicious as they are beautiful. On a mission to "revive the art of eating crepes," Sweet Paris is seeking qualified Strategic Partners, especially those with a background in hospitality, to expand the concept in new markets. For more information about the brand, please visit www.sweetparis.com , @sweetparis on Instagram and https://www.facebook.com/SweetParisCrepes . For more information on Strategic Partnership opportunities, please visit www.sweetparisfranchise.com .

SOURCE Sweet Paris
LONDON, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Long-term shareholders CIFF Capital UK LP and The Children's Investment Master Fund, acting by their investment manager TCI Fund Management Limited (CIFF Capital UK LP, The Children's Investment Master Fund and TCI Fund Management Limited, together, "TCI"), comments on the resignation of Canadian National Railway Company's (TSX: CNR) (NYSE: CNI) ("CN" or "the Company") CEO, J.J. Ruest.

"We appreciate CN's Board of Directors listening to the concerns of its shareholders, recognizing it has created a problem for the Company and taking TCI's advice to implement change. Dismissing the same CEO that the Board put in place just three short years ago is a good start, but it does not address the fundamental problem of a lack of leadership, failed strategic oversight, and the vacuum of operational expertise at the Board level. Putting a new plan out a month ago without having the CEO needed to implement it is a massive corporate governance failure and puts the future of the Company at risk. The good news is TCI has a clear plan and the right people available now to fix that," said Chris Hohn, TCI Founder and Portfolio Manager.

"This announcement is a clear admission by the Board that change is needed, and we are here to help usher in that needed change as quickly as possible. We have already identified an excellent CEO candidate in Jim Vena, who is available now, and we encourage the Board to meet with him immediately to secure his leadership. In addition, to solve the governance crisis the Board has created for itself, the Board should meet with the four independent nominees TCI has put forward and expedite their appointment to the Board, effective immediately. We also expect that given the history of failed CEO appointments, the Board would welcome the advice, expertise and participation of TCI's nominees on the search committee. As the Board has demonstrated with this announcement change cannot wait."

About CEO Candidate Jim Vena

Mr. Vena has a proven 40+ year track record as an exceptional railroad operator. He spent 40 years at CN, where he started as a unionized employee in 1976 and worked his way up to become Chief Operating Officer from 2013 until his retirement in 2016. Most recently, during his 2.5 years as Chief Operating Officer and Senior Advisor to the Chairman at Union Pacific, Mr. Vena drove a huge improvement in the company's operations, service, efficiency and profitability, resulting in a 650bps improvement in the operating ratio, US$1.4 billion in efficiency savings and the best service metrics in the company's history. Mr. Vena is a Canadian citizen who was raised in Jasper, Alberta.

Read TCI's strategic plan to strengthen CN's governance, leadership and network, and about the independent, highly-skilled board candidates at www.CNBackOnTrack.com.

Advisors

Kingsdale Advisors is acting as strategic shareholder and communications advisor to TCI. ASC Advisors is acting as communications advisor to TCI. Allen McDonald Swartz LLP, Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP and Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP are acting as legal counsel to TCI.

About TCI Fund Management

Founded in 2003 by Sir Christopher Hohn, TCI Fund Management Limited, the investment manager of CIFF Capital UK LP and The Children's Investment Master Fund, is a value-oriented, fundamental investor which invests globally in strong businesses with sustainable competitive advantages. Using a private equity approach, TCI Fund Management Limited conducts deep fundamental research, constructively engages with management and adopts a long-term investment horizon. For more information on TCI Fund Management Limited and its ESG policy, visit www.tcifund.com/ESG. TCI Fund Management Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

Disclosures

TCI has been a CN shareholder since 2018. TCI currently owns more than 5% of the shares outstanding (valued at US$4.3 billion) and is committed to the long-term success of CN.

Contacts

Kingsdale Advisors:

Ian Robertson

President, Canada

Direct: 416-867-2333

Cell: 647-621-2646

Email: [email protected]

Hyunjoo Kim

Director, Communications, Marketing & Digital Strategy

Direct: 416-867-2357

Cell: 416-899-6463

Email: [email protected]

TCI Media Contacts:

ASC Advisors, New York

Steve Bruce: [email protected]

Taylor Ingraham: [email protected]

203-992-1230

Information in Support of Public Broadcast Solicitation

Shareholders are not being asked at this time to execute a proxy in favour of TCI's nominees for election to the Board or any other resolutions set forth in TCI's requisition for the Special Meeting. In connection with the Special Meeting, TCI has filed a preliminary information circular dated September 27, 2021 (the "Circular") and expects to issue a supplement thereto or amendment and restatement thereof (the "Final TCI Circular") containing further disclosure concerning TCI's proposals, together with additional details concerning the completion and return of forms of proxy and voting information forms ("VIFs") to be provided by TCI for use at the Special Meeting.

This press release and any solicitation made by TCI in advance of the Special Meeting is, or will be, as applicable, made by TCI and not by or on behalf of the management of CN.

Shareholders of CN are not being asked at this time to execute proxies in favour of TCI's nominees (in respect of the Special Meeting) or any other resolution set forth in the requisition. TCI intends to make its solicitation primarily by mail, but proxies may also be solicited personally by telephone, email or other electronic means, as well as by newspaper or other media advertising or in person, by TCI, certain of its members, partners, directors, officers and employees, TCI's nominees or TCI's agents, including Kingsdale Advisors, who has been retained by TCI as its strategic shareholder advisor and proxy solicitation agent. Pursuant to the agreement between Kingsdale Advisors and TCI Fund Management Limited, Kingsdale Advisors will receive a fee of up to $3.5 million, plus customary fees for each call to or from shareholders of CN, and will be reimbursed for certain out-of-pocket expenses, with all such costs to be borne by TCI. In addition, TCI may solicit proxies in reliance upon the public broadcast exemption to the solicitation requirements under applicable Canadian corporate and securities laws, by way of public broadcast, including press release, speech or publication, and in any other manner permitted under applicable Canadian laws. Any members, partners, directors, officers or employees of TCI and their affiliates or other persons who solicit proxies on behalf of TCI will do so for no additional compensation. The costs incurred in the preparation and mailing of the Circular and the Final TCI Circular, and the solicitation of proxies by TCI will be borne by TCI, provided that, subject to applicable law, TCI may seek reimbursement from CN of TCI's out-of-pocket expenses, including proxy solicitation expenses and legal fees, incurred in connection with a successful reconstitution of the Board.

A registered shareholder of CN who has given a proxy may revoke the proxy at any time prior to use by:

(a) depositing an instrument or act in writing revoking the proxy, executed or, in Quebec, signed by such registered shareholder or by his, her or its personal representative authorized in writing or by electronic signature or, if the registered shareholder is a corporation, by an officer or attorney thereof properly authorized, either: (i) at the registered office of CN at any time up to and including the last business day preceding the day of the Special Meeting or any postponement(s) or adjournment(s) thereof, at 935, rue de La Gauchetiere ouest, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, H3B 2M9; or (ii) with the chairman of the Special Meeting prior to commencement of the Special Meeting on the day of the Special Meeting or any postponement(s) or adjournment(s) thereof; or

(b) revoking the proxy in any other manner permitted by law.

A non-registered shareholder may revoke a form of proxy or VIF given to an intermediary or Broadridge Investor Communications (or any such other service company) at any time by submitting another properly completed form of proxy or VIF, as the latest form of proxy or VIF will automatically revoke any previous one already submitted, or by written notice to the intermediary in accordance with the instructions given to the non-registered shareholder by its intermediary.

Based on information provided to TCI by each respective nominee, none of TCI's nominees, nor any of their associates or affiliates, has had any material interest, direct or indirect, in any transaction since the commencement of CN's most recently completed financial year or in any proposed transaction which has materially affected or would materially affect CN or any of its subsidiaries.

Based on information provided to TCI by each respective nominee, none of TCI nor any member, partner, director or officer of TCI, nor any of TCI's nominees, nor any associates or affiliates of the foregoing, has any material interest, direct or indirect, by way of beneficial ownership of securities or otherwise, in the matters currently known to be acted upon at the Special Meeting, other than in respect of TCI's ownership, control or direction of an aggregate of 36,699,825 common shares of CN, and the removal of certain incumbent directors and the election of the nominees as directors of CN.

CN's registered office address is 935, rue de La Gauchetiere ouest, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, H3B 2M9. A copy of the Circular which contains the information required in respect of each of TCI's nominees may be obtained on CN's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com.

SOURCE TCI Fund Management Limited
FREMONT, Calif. and CLEARWATER, Fla., Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Tech Data Capital has partnered with Cohesity, a leader in next-gen data management, to offer Cohesity customers smart payment options that enable growth. Tech Data Capital is a wholly owned subsidiary of Tech Data Corporation, and a part of the TD SYNNEX family, a leading global distributor and solutions aggregator for the IT ecosystem.

"We are proud to partner with Cohesity to bring best in class financing tools, programs and solutions to the channel," said Wayne Peters, vice president of Financial Solutions, TD SYNNEX.

"By leveraging Tech Data Capital financing, our customers will be provided with additional flexibility to help consume Cohesity's software based on their individual needs. We believe this type of program can further support the modernization of software buying; where customers are deploying software either on prem or in the cloud and may have different budget and payment requirements," said Robert O'Donovan, CFO at Cohesity.

The benefits to Cohesity customers include:

Financing can be used to spread the payments over time, allowing the customer to avoid a large upfront expenditure and stay within budget

Not having to reduce the quote due to cost. The customer stays within budget without sacrificing important components of the solution.

Tech Data Capital can help determine the right financing option based on each customer's need.

To learn more about Tech Data Capital, email [email protected] or call 800-307-4588.

About TD SYNNEX

TD SYNNEX (NYSE: SNX) is a leading global distributor and solutions aggregator for the IT ecosystem. We're an innovative partner helping more than 150,000 customers in 100+ countries to maximize the value of technology investments, demonstrate business outcomes and unlock growth opportunities. Headquartered in Clearwater, Florida, and Fremont, California, TD SYNNEX' 22,000 co-workers are dedicated to uniting compelling IT products, services and solutions from 1,500+ best-in-class technology vendors. Our edge-to-cloud portfolio is anchored in some of the highest-growth technology segments including cloud, cybersecurity, big data/analytics, IoT, mobility and everything as a service. TD SYNNEX is committed to serving customers and communities, and we believe we can have a positive impact on our people and our planet, intentionally acting as a respected corporate citizen. We aspire to be a diverse and inclusive employer of choice for talent across the IT ecosystem. For more information, visit www.TDSYNNEX.com or follow us on Twitter , LinkedIn , Facebook and Instagram .

Safe Harbor Statement

Statements in this news release that are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties which may cause the Company's actual results in future periods to be materially different from any future performance that may be suggested in this release. The Company assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this release.

 2021 SYNNEX Corporation. TD SYNNEX, the TD SYNNEX Logo, and all other TD SYNNEX company, product and services names and slogans are trademarks of SYNNEX Corporation. Other names and trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

About Cohesity

Cohesity radically simplifies data management. We make it easy to protect, manage, and derive value from data  across the data center, edge and cloud. We offer a full suite of services consolidated on one multicloud data platform: backup and recovery, disaster recovery, file and object services, dev/test, and data compliance, security, and analytics  reducing complexity and eliminating mass data fragmentation . Cohesity can be delivered as a service, self-managed, or provided by a Cohesity-powered partner.

 2021 Cohesity, Inc. All rights reserved. Cohesity, the Cohesity logo, Helios, and other Cohesity marks are trademarks or registered trademarks of Cohesity, Inc. in the US and/or internationally. Other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated.

Media Contacts

Robyn Itule

Director, Americas Communications

TD SYNNEX, Americas

(727) 275-5236

[email protected]

SOURCE TD SYNNEX
CHICAGO, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Technology Advisors, Inc. (TAI), a digital transformation and CRM consultancy, is pleased to announce its membership in the Illinois Bankers Association (IBA). TAI hopes to use this partnership to help IBA members achieve their omnichannel initiatives and scale for future growth. With more than 30 years of experience and a diverse financial client base, TAI offers a strong track record of successful CRM and software implementations.

"We've seen the tangible benefits financial institutions gain through strategic process automation, omnichannel enablement, and marketing automation," says Technology Advisors CEO, Sam Biardo. "Our fintech, banking, and credit union customers have vastly improved CX and sales experiences through the right technology mix, and we look forward to helping IBA members do the same."

"We are extremely excited to have Technology Advisors as an Associate Member. The IBA's vision is to connect member banks with industry partners who will advance banking opportunities in their respective communities. We look forward to introducing TAI to our members," stated Randy Hultgren, IBA's President and CEO.

The Illinois Bankers Association is a full-service trade association committed to providing a positive atmosphere for its communities. IBA was founded in 1891 and currently serves banks representing over 4,500 offices across the state of Illinois. The IBA is proud of its diverse membership, serving financial institutions of all sizes.

Technology Advisors is a software consultancy focused on digital transformation initiatives and CRM optimization. The goal of TAI is to help customers drive more revenue by successfully utilizing their software mix for automation, departmental alignment, and streamlined services. To learn more about banking software with Technology Advisors, please visit here.

CONTACT

Danine Midura, Technology Advisors, Inc., Director of Marketing

[email protected] | 847.655.3415

About Technology Advisors

Technology Advisors Inc. (TAI) is a business software consulting company out of Chicago that specializes in custom software integrations and enterprise-level CRM projects. The company helps businesses in various industries select and implement CRM, marketing automation, business intelligence tools, customer service solutions and other business software. TAI is uniquely positioned to personalize CRMs through its internal team of developers who customize the platform for clients' individual needs. The company continues to expand its software offerings and development to create tailored software experiences for its customers.

Press Contact

Danine Midura

847.655.3415

https://www.techadv.com

SOURCE Technology Advisors

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Furthering both Teva and Cotopaxi's commitment to creating equity in the outdoors, the brands will be donating a total of $30,000 to the Boys and Girls Club of Denver and Hollywood, in support of youth leadership, education, and access to the outdoors. These specific chapters were chosen to provide extra help to those facing systemic issues.

"The Boys and Girls Club of Hollywood is thrilled to partner with Teva and Cotopaxi", said Mel Culpepper, Executive Director, "Together, we will continue to address the root causes of inequality in our country while also improving access to wellness and the outdoors. We aspire to create meaningful programs to elevate all young people. This grant will help us meet that goal."

The earth friendly Teva x Cotopaxi collection features two standout styles from each brand, the multicolored ReEmber slip-on shoe from Teva and the Teca Calido Jacket from Cotopaxi, both containing recycled materials, color blocked details, and abstract mountain silhouettes that draw inspiration from the great outdoors. The two notable silhouettes complement each other in style and functionality, while echoing the sustainability missions of both brands.

Taking inspiration from Cotopaxi's light-hearted, colorful apparel and marrying it with one of Teva's fan favorite styles is the men's and women's ReEmber (MSRP $85), a sleeping bag for your feet. The style is a slip-on meets sneaker silhouette, making it versatile for around the campsite or cozying up by the fire. Featuring a 100% recycled ripstop upper that provides a rugged outdoor look with a topographic printed internal liner, a 50% recycled EVA midsole, 100% recycled collar and collapsible heel, and a 50% recycled outsole - the ReEmber provides top of the line comfort and versatility.

"We are thrilled to partner with Cotopaxi for a second time, this time outfitting our fans for all of their cold-weather adventures," says Sarah Carter, Marketing Director at Teva. "In addition to a shared dedication to bettering our environmental practices, Cotopaxi shares our passion for increasing equity in the outdoors, especially amongst youth, and we're honored to help support the Boys and Girls Clubs of Hollywood and Denver through our partnership."

Rounding out the collaboration with the exclusive Teva x Cotopaxi Teca Calido Hooded Jackets (MSRP $150), these co-branded, core-warming jackets combine recycled polyester insulation and repurposed taffeta to keep you warm in the chiller months. Ready for fall road trips and outdoor adventures, the fully reversible jacket comes in two autumnal colorways, featuring a color blocked outer shell and a topographic pattern on the inside. The jacket features two zipper-secure hand pockets on the main side, a two-way drop-in patch, hand pockets on the reverse side, and a chest pocket that the jacket can be packed neatly into.

"At Cotopaxi, we believe in using our business to do good, which is why we continue to partner with a like-minded brand in Teva," said Davis Smith, CEO and co-founder of Cotopaxi. "We are joining forces both to launch a collaboration that helps empower consumers to shop sustainably, but also to increase our impact on education and outdoor access through grants to the Boys and Girls Clubs of Hollywood and Denver."

The Teva x Cotopaxi collection is available for purchase at Teva.com, and REI.com, and in-store at REI, beginning October 19, 2021. For more information on the collection, please visit, Teva x Cotopaxi: Sustainable Sandals & More | Teva.

About Teva:

In 1984, Teva created the world's first sport sandal on the banks of the Grand Canyon. The brand outfits free-spirited adventure-seekers all over the world with versatile, modern outdoor footwear. In 2020, Teva committed to reducing the brand's environmental impact by ensuring 100% of its iconic straps are made with recycled plastic, so future generations can continue exploring the wild world around them. Learn more about Teva, a division of Deckers Brands, at Teva.com or follow @Teva.

About Cotopaxi

Cotopaxi is an outdoor gear brand founded to create sustainably designed products that fight extreme poverty, inspire adventure, and move people to do good. As a certified B Corporation, we believe in using the power of business as a force for social, environmental, and economic good. Our creed, Gear for Good, touches every aspect of our company. Cotopaxi is committed to making all of our gear using recycled, repurposed, or responsible materials by 2025. We allocate 1% of our annual revenue to the Cotopaxi Foundation which awards grants to outstanding nonprofit partners carefully selected for their track records at improving the human condition and alleviating poverty. In 2020, Cotopaxi aided 822,000 people through poverty alleviation programs, and in 2021, we hope to assist 1 million people experiencing extreme poverty. For more information please visit Cotopaxi.com.

SOURCE Teva

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"With the continuous development of China's advanced manufacturing and product innovation, we are glad to present game-changing products and technologies from our exhibitors. As an important platform for boosting global trade cooperation, the Canton Fair has reached top level internationally", said Quandong Liu, Deputy Director General of the Foreign Affairs Office of the Canton Fair.

Guangzhou EHang Intelligent Technology Co. Ltd has attracted a lot of attention at the 130th Canton Fair. Xue Peng from the company said that they have been contacted by civil management departments and landmark operators.

The company has brought its autonomous aerial vehicle (AAV) to the fair, which can be used in different scenarios such as transportation, tourism, logistics and medical treatment.

"We have come to the Canton Fair for the first time to utilize this platform, which enables buying and selling to the world, to raise our brand awareness and open up cooperation channels for trade and business opportunities," said Xue.

Visit https://fbuyer.cantonfair.org.cn/en/account/new-buyer/register for more opportunities.

China's new energy vehicles are also constantly changing and innovating. According to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM), the penetration rate of new energy vehicles reached 17.3 percent this September.

BYD, also a first-time exhibitor, has brought its signature model Han EV to the stage, reflecting the accelerated rate of China's new energy vehicle penetration of domestic and foreign markets.

According to Wang Chuanfu, Chairman and President of BYD Co., Ltd., with new energy vehicles currently a huge trend in global markets, BYD is at the forefront of the industry. In the first 9 months of this year, it has 150,000 orders to deliver, an increase of 204 percent year-on-year.

"The Canton Fair has resumed its offline exhibition at the right time," Wang said. By showcasing a series of innovative technologies such as blade batteries, DM-i super hybrid technology and its e-Platform 3.0, its presence at the Fair will help raise the company's awareness and influence, further facilitating its business overseas.

Bai Ming, deputy director of the Chinese Ministry of Commerce's International Market Research Institute, said that new participants to the Fair not only contribute to Chinese manufacturing but are also key players in the export market. With strong independent research and development capabilities and self-developed brands, these companies, after setting up a solid foundation in the domestic market, have made their presence known in international markets, which has empowered China's innovative development in international trade.

Visit https://fbuyer.cantonfair.org.cn/en/account/new-buyer/register for more opportunities.

SOURCE Canton Fair

Related Links

https://www.cantonfair.org.cn/en/


DAYTON, Ohio, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Bestselling author Amy Ephron calls Sisters! Bonded by Love and Laughter "a tribute to the love, laughter and closeness of family that Erma Bombeck so brilliantly inhabited."

Published by the University of Dayton's Erma Bombeck Writers' Workshop, the book explores the humorous, nobody-else-could-ever-understand, special world of sister relationships  and friends in your life who are just like sisters. It's available on Amazon, with proceeds benefitting the workshop's endowment fund.

Austin book designer Drue Wagner's playful, whimsical illustrations capture the book's joyful spirit. Sisters! Bonded by Love and Laughter features Nickie's Prize for Humor Writing winners, bestselling authors, Saturday Night Live legends - and more.

Sisters! features 21 original, hilarious stories by the winners of Nickie's Prize for Humor Writing, plus sister stories from and interviews with New York Times bestselling authors Kelly Corrigan, Annabelle Gurwitch, Jenny Lawson, Peggy Rowe, Gretchen Rubin, Carol Saline, Deborah Tannen and Adriana Trigiani; Saturday Night Live legends Laraine Newman and Alan Zweibel; prolific essayists Westina Matthews and Marion Winik; stand-up comic Wendy Liebman; songwriter Stella Parton; and a variety of diverse voices of all ages.

There's something for Bombeck fans, too  an Erma Bombeck column about her best friend and sister by choice, Mayva, and celebrity writer Nancy Berk's interview with Andy and Matt Bombeck about their heartwarming memories growing up with older sister, Betsy.

With Q&As with famous sisters, poems and songs about sisters, quotes from and lists of trivia about real and fictional sisters in books, television and film, Sisters! is the definitive guide on the bonds of sisterhood and the perfect book for every sister.

Sisters! is co-edited by Marcia Stewart, a Bay Area writer and editor, and Teri Rizvi, director of the Erma Bombeck Writers' Workshop. Austin book designer Drue Wagner's playful, whimsical illustrations capture the book's joyful spirit.

The book fulfills Stewart's dream of honoring her beloved sister, Nickie, an aspiring humor writer, who died eight weeks after being diagnosed with lung cancer in 2018. She partnered with the workshop to create Nickie's Prize for Humor Writing, a contest that drew hundreds of humorous and touching essays about sisters (and sisters of the heart) from writers worldwide. Those pieces make up the heart of the book.

"Sisters! achieves the workshop's mission of encouraging and supporting writers," Rizvi said. "When we approached famous writers about contributing pieces for the collection, they embraced that spirit and added immeasurably to the book. The result  a showcase of so many funny, gifted writers in celebration of sisterhood."

A virtual book launch is slated for 7 p.m. (EST), Nov. 1. Free, but registration required.

Media Contact

Teri Rizvi

937-367-2878

[email protected]

SOURCE University of Dayton
DAYTONA BEACH SHORES, Fla., Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The beachfront Shores Resort & Spa will offer its largest Cyber Sale in 2021. The Shores Resort & Spa's Seaside Cyber Celebration will offer 50% off room rates to subscribers to their email list. Anyone subscribed before November 1 will receive the email offer. To sign up, visit https://www.shoresresort.com/email-offers. The public sale will offer 40% off room rates and will be announced on the hotels social media pages including Facebook (@TheShoresResort) and Instagram (@shoresresort).

The Shores Resort & Spa is located directly on the beach in sunny Florida. Offering 212 hotel rooms, a full-service spa, two bars, a restaurant, and the best spot on the beach, the hotel has extensive meeting and event space including rooftop and outdoor venues with spectacular views. Photo by Jimmy Chirillo The beachfront Shores Resort & Spa features daily morning yoga, a fitness center, nightly s'mores by the fire pits, an outdoor poolside tiki bar, a full service spa, and easy access to the best the area has to offer including surfing, biking, fishing, shopping, live music, spectator sports and more. Photo by @KPFusion

The 2021 Shores Resort & Spa's Seaside Cyber Celebration offer will be sent early to subscribers of the resorts email newsletter on November 9 as a private sale will offer 50% off room rates. The public sale, open to non-subscribers, will start November 16 and offer 40% off room rates. Reservations can be booked for travel anytime between November 16, 2021 and May 31, 2022 (restrictions apply). To sign up for the email newsletter, which will send alerts on both sales, visit https://www.shoresresort.com/email-offers.

"Simply planning a trip has been shown to improve ones state of mind. Taking a trip has even more benefits to your mood and health," said Robert Burnetti, General Manager of The Shores Resort & Spa, "Having a vacation to look forward to can really lift spirits and these special rates make a beach vacation all the more irresistible."

The 2021 cyber sales (Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Travel Tuesday) at The Shores Resort & Spa include a private sale and a public sale. The private sale offers 50% off room rates and the public sale offers 40% in savings. To gain access, travelers are encouraged to sign up for the email newsletter before November 1. The private sale email newsletter will be sent November 9 and the sale ends December 4. The public sale starts November 16 and ends December 4. Reservations can be booked for travel anytime between November 16, 2021 and May 31, 2022. Bookings are subject to availability and black-out dates. While travelers can cancel their stay 72-hours before arrival for a full refund, travel cannot be rebooked at the same rate.

For more information about The Shores Resort & Spa, visit www.shoresresort.com or to make a reservation, contact a reservations' agent at (866) 934-7467, or via email at [email protected].

About The Shores Resort & Spa

Situated on a quiet stretch of Atlantic shoreline, The Shores Resort & Spa gracefully blends luxury, comfort, service, and style into an extraordinary beachfront retreat. From private balconies or terraces, the resort's guest rooms and suites offer captivating views of the blue-green Atlantic or Florida's Intracoastal Waterway. The Shores offers a long list of luxurious guest services and amenities, including private poolside cabanas, oceanside fire pits with signature s'mores, exceptional dining, and an intimate spa. In addition, there are more than 20,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor adaptable function space for meetings of up to 400 guests. Both pet-friendly and eco-friendly, The Shores Resort & Spa is also a certified Florida Green Lodging resort. For more information on The Shores Resort & Spa, visit www.ShoresResort.com or call (866) 934-Shores.

Media Contact

Jane Watkins

386-767-7350

[email protected]

SOURCE Shores Resort & Spa
TAIPEI, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- At the 2021 Taiwan Innotech Expo, the Future Tech Theme Pavilion (FUTEX) held by Taiwan's Ministry of Science and Technology with the support of Academia Sinica, the Ministry of Health and Welfare, and various other partners, Taiwanese and global leaders of smart healthcare industry convened to discuss the synergy between AI and healthcare as well as the challenges facing the industry. Fusionmedium served as the media partner of the event.

Interdisciplinary integration a priority

As the superintendent of National Taiwan University Hospital, Dr. Ming-Shiang Wu, pointed out, Taiwan's highly competent technology industry as well as its vibrant healthcare sector has given it an edge in developing precision medicine. However, it requires a high degree of integration among various previously unrelated sectors to ensure competence. According to Wu, it is necessary to find talents with interdisciplinary skills and to overcome the differences in organizational cultures. Huey-Herng Sheu, the superintendent of Taipei Veterans General Hospital, also echoes the necessity for interdisciplinary integration in addressing unmet clinical demands as well as speeding up product development.

"A mindset adjustment is needed as the high-tech industry deepens its engagement with the medical industry," said Chris Kuo, the executive director of medical business development under Wistron Corp., a leading Taiwanese ODM. Chris noted that the tech industry thinks in terms of products, especially development speed and quantity. In contrast, the medical industry thinks in terms of patient demand. "Technology commercialization is the weak link in Taiwan's precision medicine industry," observed Johnsee Lee, the chairman of Taiwan Precision Medicine & Molecular Diagnostic Industry Association. The biotech veteran believed that Taiwan's large collection of biomedical data, in combination with its tech prowess, has given it a significant advantage. Nevertheless, it is not sufficient to merely commercialise the data, but to commercialize the relevant technologies as well.

Cloud and edge computing

Wilson To, the head of worldwide healthcare, life sciences and genomics at Amazon Web Services (AWS), also participated in the Expo, and shared Amazon's experiences in smart healthcare. According to To, AWS believes that the digital innovations in healthcare should come from all enterprises regardless of sizes, and Amazon aspires to enable such development. Through its cloud service that can process a tremendous amount of medical data, AWS has already partnered with many leading biomedical companies in drug development, especially with AstraZeneca in the fight against COVID-19, and with Grail in the fight against cancer.

When it comes to processing the growing load of data related to the biomedical industry, Nvidia has also become a key player. At the Innotech Expo, Nvidia's global head of medical AI, Mona Flores, indicated that Nvidia had leveraged deep learning to come up with customized data processing and analytics for medical AI applications. Above all, Nvidia has ridden on the convergence of edge computing and federated learning: for example, Nvidia's GPUs have been embedded in edge medical devices, such as mobile MRI scanners. Through federated learning, Nvidia has for example cooperated with 20 medical institutions around the world to collect data for model training, without compromising patient privacy. The resulted model can predict a patient's need for respirator within 24 hours of emergency room arrival, with an accuracy of 95%.

Taiwan Innotech Expo 2021

2021 FUTEX Trend Forum-Precision Health

SOURCE Fusionmedium
DUBLIN, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Organic Baby Food Market Global Forecast 2021-2027, Industry Trends, Share, Insight, Growth, Impact of COVID-19, Opportunity Company Analysis" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

This report provides a detailed analysis of Global Organic Baby Food Industry.

Globally, babies are tender and sensitive; they respond differently to every stimulus. Babies are particularly vulnerable to foodborne illness because their immune systems are not developed enough to fight off infections. Hence, the reasons above have given rise to the organic baby food industry as it's prepared with extra care. Organic baby foods are food grown or processed without synthetic fertilizers or pesticides. The global demand for organic baby food is continuously increasing due to rising awareness among parents who adequately fulfil their babies' nutritional requirements. According to the publisher analysis, Global Organic Baby Food Market is projected to reach US$ 12.65 Billion by 2027.



Furthermore, in recent years the business of feeding babies with organic foods has developed into a multi-billion-dollar industry. Indeed, organic baby food is playing an ever more significant role in meeting the nutritional demands of infants and toddlers worldwide. Moreover, recently, the industry saw several transformations, primarily fuelled by parents' lifestyles and their growing interest in organic food. In addition, the professionally designed organic baby foods fill the kitchen shelves globally in various flavours of liquid and solid forms for customers. Hence, the global market for organic baby food by age group has food for 1-6 month babies, 7-9 month babies and 10-12 month babies since infants might be more susceptible to harm potentially caused by pesticides than are adults.



By Type: Dried Baby Food, either Refrigerated or Powdered inform products, is preferred on a Large Scale

Global Organic Baby Food Market comprises Prepared Baby Food, Dried Baby Food and Infant Milk Formula. Amongst all the dried baby food, either refrigerated or powdered inform products, is preferred on a large scale, having a comparatively higher shelf life than traditional packaged food. Moreover, dried baby food is easy to carry and consume.



On the other hand, prepared baby food also represents a widely consumed type because it can be served instantly without the hassle of cooking. Nowadays, the population of working women and nuclear families is growing, and preparation of baby food needs lots of hard labour and time. This, in turn, is increasing the growth of prepared baby food products. As per the analysis, the Worldwide Organic Baby Food Market Size was valued at US$ 5.97 Billion in 2020.



By Distribution Channel: Rise of E-Commerce Companies Increases the Demand for Organic Baby Food Products through Online Purchases

The Global Organic Baby Food Market circulates its products through hypermarkets, supermarkets, pharmacy medical stores, speciality stores, hard discount stores and online. As per the analysis, the rising emergence of e-commerce companies and innovative strategies adopted by major players such as channel expansion increases the demand for organic baby food products through online purchases. Moreover, online channels are set to be the highest growing segment owing to the ease and hassle more minor nature of online service. Moreover, in the forthcoming years, the online channel for organic baby food holds massive potential for growth due to the increasing popularity of internet services and technological advancements.



Regional Analysis: North America and Europe have a higher demand for Organic Baby Food compared to the Rest of the World

Geographically, the Global Organic Baby Food Market revolves around North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific. Globally, the demand for organic baby food is comparatively higher in developed regions like North America and Europe than developing regions like Asia-Pacific. In North America, the market for organic baby food is enormous, owing to the enhanced awareness of the significance of proper nutrition for babies. Moreover, as per the analysis, the organic baby food market is expected to witness increasing demand in Asia-Pacific with an emerging economy such as India and China rapidly expanding witnessing intensifying demand for organic baby food. the research suggests that Global Organic Baby Food Industry is expected to grow at a CAGR of 11.32% from 2020-2027.



COVID-19 Impact on the Industry:

The global health crises and food scares have a long-term impact on consumer demand for organic baby food during COVID-19. COVID-19 has boosted consumer awareness of the relationship between nutrition and health. This has resulted in a surge in interest in organic baby food that benefits from a 'health halo', including functional foods. Initially, there was a global sales spike for organic baby food, as consumers fear food safety, and personal health drives product purchases. In addition, the fast pace recovery of developing economies leading to increased disposable income will further support the Organic Baby Food Market demand in the coming years.



Key Players Performance in Organic Baby Food Industry

The Global Organic Baby Food Market is profoundly organized and predominantly dominated by players, like Abbott Laboratories, Kraft Heinz, Nestle S.A., Danone SA and Kewpie Corporation. Meanwhile, the global organic baby food market companies focus on uncovering innovative marketing strategies and launching new products based on value-added ingredients to compete in the market. For instance, in June 2020, Heinz reinvented its baby food line with the launch of HEINZ BY NATURET baby food, a new line-up of baby food, including options that are organic and made with natural ingredients and acerola cherry.

Key Topics Covered:



1. Introduction



2. Research& Methodology



3. Executive Summary



4. Market Dynamics

4.1 Growth Drivers

4.2 Challenges



5. Global Organic Baby Food Market



6. Market Share Analysis

6.1 By Types

6.2 By Age Group

6.3 By Distribution Channel

6.4 By Region



7. Type - Global Organic Baby Food Market

7.1 Prepared Baby Food

7.2 Dried Baby Food

7.3 Infant Milk Formula

7.4 Others



8. Age Group- Global Organic Baby Food Market

8.1 1-6 Month Baby

8.2 7-9 Month Baby

8.3 10-12 Month Baby

8.4 Others



9. Distribution Channel -Global Organic Baby Food Market

9.1 Hyper Market

9.2 Super Market

9.3 Pharmacy Medical Store

9.4 Specialty Stores

9.5 Hard Discount Store

9.6 Online



10. Region -Global Organic Baby Food Market

10.1 North America

10.2 Europe

10.3 Asia-Pacific

10.4 ROW



11. Key Players

11.1 Abbott Laboratories

11.1.1 Overview

11.1.2 Recent Development

11.1.3 Revenue

11.2 Kraft Heinz

11.2.1 Overview

11.2.2 Recent Development

11.2.3 Revenue

11.3 Nestle S.A.

11.3.1 Overview

11.3.2 Recent Development

11.3.3 Revenue

11.4 Danone SA

11.4.1 Overview

11.4.2 Recent Development

11.4.3 Revenue

11.5 Kewpie Corporation

11.5.1 Overview

11.5.2 Recent Development

11.5.3 Revenue



For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/osfozm

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

[email protected]



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SOURCE Research and Markets

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JERUSALEM, Israel, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Yoffi is hosting an exclusive opening party for the postcard exhibition 'Yoffi Shel Israel'.

Yoffi, a family-owned Israeli gastronomic souvenir business, in conjunction with the Jerusalem Post and Roman Abramovich, has invited thirty-six Soviet-born Israeli artists to illustrate postcards reflecting the country through their eyes and present their work at today's event being held at the Jerusalem House of Quality.

VIP guests at the exclusive event will include Anri Amir David, cyber security expert, entrepreneur, and the founder of global cyber-defence company Black Wall Global, along with Arkady Volozh, the founder and CEO of Yandex, the largest Russian technology firm. The event is expected to bring together numerous tech sector VIPs from both Israel & Russia.

David has said regarding the event that: "I will be happy to meet such a technology giant like Arkady and share views & ideas on our industry. I think that Russian-speaking Israelis lead the cyber security sector, and not only in Israel  the effect of their hard work is being seen globally. I'm looking forward to the future and some exciting developments for my new company, Black Wall Global."

Further information can be found at the at the website of the exhibition: https://congress.jpost.com/yoffi

Please RSVP at [email protected]

The event will be held according to the Green Pass System

About Anri Amir David:

Anri Amir David is a cyber-defence expert, entrepreneur, and the founder of Black Wall Global. He is a well-known personality in the tech sector, with over 20 years of experience in artificial intelligence and cyber security.

About Black Wall Global:

Black Wall Global is a cyber-Intelligence & security company that provides solutions for high level intelligence, cyber defence, and the protection of critical infrastructure facilities & big data services to global enterprises with the highest level of safety and security.

SOURCE Anri Amir David
Company Seeks to Enhance Profile and Investor Reach

NEW YORK, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Tingo, Inc., OTC Markets (IWBB) ("Tingo" or the "Company") announced today that it has submitted an application to list its shares for trading with the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). The application to the NYSE is part of the Company's efforts to broaden its appeal to U.S. and international investors.

Following unanimous approval at a meeting of the Tingo Board of Directors on Oct. 18, the Company submitted an application to list its shares on the NYSE. Although there can be no guarantees that its listing application will be accepted, the Company believes that it will satisfy the NYSE's initial listing criteria.

Tingo is a leading agri-fintech business in Africa and has delivered significant impact with its unique rural communities-based business model. Our goal is to become Africa's leading agri-fintech business delivering significant social impact to many rural communities, providing a unique platform to enable financial inclusion, social upliftment, wealth creation and a sophisticated marketplace to promote its produce to markets both domestic and international. Tingo has over 4,000 women agents that support the rollout of our services in Nigeria alone. The Company remains very active in promoting women entrepreneurs to support gender equality and opportunity to this underserved segment of the market. As of Dec. 31, 2020, Tingo had 9,344,000 subscribers. The Company is confident that these figures will grow through its planned expansion across Africa and natural progression of business in Nigeria.

The Company believes that an uplisting on the NYSE will provide a platform to enhance the Tingo brand and provide the market with a unique opportunity to invest in an enterprise that will deliver significant social change and impact across Africa. Tingo's optimal market model goes a long way towards solutions to Food Security  a major challenge in Africa and beyond  through its agri-fintech marketplace powered through use of smartphones known as NWASSA. This strategy of 'device as a service' allows millions of people to gain access to multiple social, financial and agri-services the Company intends to roll out over time.

The Company's goals are aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and ESG principles, creating true impact for people across Africa. Tingo is a unique market offering with its fintech solutions which will deliver significant value and is arguably at the top of its competitors having proven a fair but very profitable business model with significant recurring revenues already established.

Dozy Mmobuosi, Tingo CEO, remarked that, "I have dedicated the past 20 years, leading Tingo to become a highly profitable company that focuses on making a genuine impact to people in rural communities. My vision has always been to bring technology and opportunity to our customers through financial inclusion, poverty reduction and food security.

I am delighted to announce our plans to uplist on the NYSE. This is an important step forward for Tingo. The NYSE is the premier exchange in the United States and one that will raise our profile to the broader investment community. The uplist will both increase liquidity in our shares, and ultimately create shareholder value in line with our international peer groups.

I am excited to announce expansion plans and partnerships that will further highlight our commitment to UN SDG's which will deliver greater returns for our investors."

Also commenting on the listing application, John J. Brown, Co-Chairman of Tingo stated: "Tingo is a company that is bringing the future into the present in the African marketplace. It is now time for the rest of the investing world to discover this unique company. There is no better place to do this than the New York Stock Exchange."

Christope Charlier, Co-Chairman of Tingo highlighted: "I am delighted to be part of Tingo and this is a landmark transaction for an African company on international capital markets. I believe this will pave the way for this and other African technology companies to attract global investors and the valuations they deserve."

About Tingo

Tingo is the leading agri-fintech company operating in Africa, with a marketplace platform that empowers social upliftment through mobile, technology and financial access for rural farming communities. Our unique 'device as a service' model allows us to add market leading applications to enable customers to trade, buy top ups, pay bills, access insurance and lending services. With approximately 9 million customers and over 30 million mobile devices sold, Tingo is seeking to expand its operations across select markets in Africa. The Company's strategic plan is to become the eminent Pan-African agri-fintech business delivering social upliftment and financial inclusion to millions of SME farmers and women-led businesses. Additional information about the Company can be found at www.tingoinc.com.



Safe Harbor and Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements regarding possible future circumstances. These forward-looking statements are based upon the Company's current expectations and assumptions and are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated in such forward-looking statements including, in particular, any risks and uncertainties with respect to the Company's operations, as well as those contained in the Company's quarterly, annual, and periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Actual results, events and performance may differ. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. The Company undertakes no obligation to release publicly any revisions to these forward-looking statements that may be made to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. The inclusion of any statement in this release does not constitute an admission by the Company or any other person that the events or circumstances described in such statements are material.

SOURCE Tingo, Inc.
This first edition of the initiative, which aims to promote authentic Italian ingredients and cooking methods in the United States, will see participation from 23 Italian restaurants in 19 different American states. After two sessions of a Masterclass, the chefs will be asked to replicate the signature dish created by Michelin Starred Chef Silvia Baracchi and feature it on their menu during the promotional week of October 18-25.

The signature dish, Stuffed Pasta Rings with Pork Ragu in a Cannellini Bean Soup, stands as a tribute to the autumn season and to Chef Baracchi's native land of Tuscany, Italy.

Antonino Laspina, Italian Trade Commissioner for the United States commented, "We are very proud to launch this initiative today and involve so many great Italian restaurants across the United States. We are aware of the importance the use of authentic Italian products holds in order to promote our beloved cuisine and culture, as well as educating the American public about it. This is why we're thrilled to have these restaurants stand as ambassadors for this mission. Involving a cohort of outstanding chefs in America that pride their work on authentic Italian ingredients, leaves us proud to launch the program with such a skilled and esteemed group."

The initiative's Italian head chef, Silvia Baracchi is the One Michelin-starred Chef of "Il Falconiere" Restaurant which she opened in 1989 in Cortona. Baracchi's menu of Tuscan dishes are all created with high-quality, authentic ingredients and a respect for tradition. Baracchi, who was born in Perugia and grew up in Tuscany in a restaurant-owning family, credits them for her passion for their native cuisine.

Participating Restaurants & Talent (in alphabetical order by state):

Thanks to the collaboration of the above-mentioned restaurants, this project is a one of its kind endeavor. By connecting the 23 restaurants from 19 states, the ITA hopes to offer valuable cultural exchange and culinary education across the nation. The is the latest promotional initiative from The Extraordinary Taste.

Follow the ITA's social media channels at @ItalianCrafted as Chef Baracchi's Stuffed Pasta Rings with Pork Ragu makes its way onto menus across America during the week of October 18-25. Italian culinary enthusiasts can also share their own beautiful creations and discover more with #ItalianCrafted.

SOURCE Italian Trade Agency
Consumer Electronics Retailer Sees At-Home Fitness Market Growing Rapidly

Key Highlights:

TUT Fitness Group signs Vendor Master Agreement with Best Buy Canada Ltd.

The agreement will promote TUT Trainer  and TUT Rower  on top-ranked BestBuy.ca ecommerce store

  Best Buy operates 160 stores across Canada and attracts 250 million visits annually to its stores and ecommerce website

VANCOUVER, BC, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - TUT Fitness Group Inc . (TSXV: GYM) ("TUT") announces today that it has signed a Vendor Master Agreement with Best Buy Canada Ltd ("Best Buy").

Per the terms of the agreement, Best Buy will feature TUT Fitness Group's patented TUT Trainer and TUT Rower exercise equipment on its top-ranked online stores. Best Buy Canada is the most-visited multichannel retailer in the country, with over 250 million visits in-store and on BestBuy.ca each year. 80% of Canadians live within 25 km of a Best Buy store.

"As Canada's largest consumer electronics retailer, Best Buy is a fantastic retail partner for TUT Fitness Group. They can expose our brand to a large number of shoppers each year. We especially appreciate the enthusiasm that Best Buy has shown for our ground-breaking exercise products," said Mark Addison, Director of Strategic Sales & Partnerships at TUT Fitness Group.

LICENSING, SALES & DISTRIBUTION:

TUT Fitness products feature internationally patented, stackable TUT Plates resistance bands as the core element in both its TUT Trainer Tower and TUT Rower, which are being marketed and sold into the $10.7 billion market for home gym equipment. TUT Fitness Group intends to further revolutionize the home gym market by licensing its stackable resistance band technology to other equipment manufacturers.

Parties interested in resale, wholesale, regional and international distribution and licensing should contact Mark Addison at: [email protected].

Please see our Corporate Video or our social channels: Instagram , Facebook , Twitter , LinkedIn , TUT Highlights (YouTube) .

ABOUT TUT FITNESS GROUP:

TUT is a Vancouver-based Canadian manufacturer of high-performance fitness products. The company has designed, patented, and manufactured one of the world's smallest (11.6 lbs), and most affordable high-performance home gyms. Incorporated in 2018, TUT is an emerging player in the connected Home Gym and Fit Tech hardware space, targeting the US$10.7B Global Home Exercise Equipment Market1 and Online Fitness Market, expected to be US$30B by 20262.

TUT's patented, industry-first, stackable resistance bands (TUT Plates) allow the user to increase or decrease resistance loads with up to 200 lbs of resistance. Utilized in both the TUT Trainer Tower and TUT Rower, this new breakthrough in functional strength and cardio training incorporates Time Under Tension to target every muscle group without the added pressure to joints or tendons, optimizing workouts, and raising the bar for personal home gyms.

For further information please contact:

[email protected]

Rob Smith

CEO, TUT Fitness Group Inc.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements in this release are forward-looking statements or information, which include the outcomes and expectations from the Vendor Master Agreement with Best Buy, TUT Fitness Group licensing its technology, expectations and outcomes from the TUT Fitness Group's patented technology, development of technologies, customer demand for TUT Fitness Group's products, the updates to TUT products, future plans, regulatory approvals and other matters. Forward-looking statements consist of statements that are not purely historical, including any statements regarding beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions regarding the future. Such information can generally be identified by the use of forwarding-looking wording such as "may", "expect", "estimate", "anticipate", "intend", "believe" and "continue" or the negative thereof or similar variations. The reader is cautioned that assumptions used in the preparation of any forward-looking information may prove to be incorrect. Events or circumstances may cause actual results to differ materially from those predicted, as a result of numerous known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors, many of which are beyond the control of the Company, including but not limited to, business, economic and capital market conditions, the ability to manage operating expenses, security threats, and dependence on key personnel and including those other risks filed under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. 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 demand for its products, anticipated costs, and the ability to achieve goals. Factors that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include, failure to obtain regulatory approval, the continued availability of capital and financing, equipment and technology failures, litigation, increase in operating costs, the impact of COVID-19 or other viruses and diseases on the Company's ability to operate, competition, failure of counterparties to perform their contractual obligations, exchange rate fluctuations, government regulations, loss of key employees and consultants, and general economic, market or business conditions. Forward-looking statements contained in this news release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking information.

The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made as of the date of this news release. Except as required by law, the Company disclaims any intention and assumes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Additionally, the Company undertakes no obligation to comment on the expectations of, or statements made by, third parties in respect of the matters discussed above.

__________________________ 1 Source: Fortune Business Insights https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2021/04/15/2210905/0/en/Home-Fitness-Equipment-Market-to-Reach-USD-14-74-Billion-in-2028-Introduction-of-Smart-Treadmills-to-Boost-Growth-reports-Fortune-Business-Insights.html

2 Source: Global Market Insights, Inc. https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2020/09/24/2098446/0/en/Online-Fitness-Market-growth-predicted-at-30-through-2026-Global-Market-Insights-Inc.html

SOURCE TUT Fitness Group Limited
WASHINGTON, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, the U.S. Department of Commerce (the "Commerce Department") announced its final determinations that imports of polyester textured yarn from Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam are being unfairly sold below their fair value in the United States.

In the final determinations announced today, the Commerce Department calculated antidumping duty ("AD") cash deposit rates that ranged from 2.58 percent to over 56 percent. As a result of the final determinations, U.S. Customs and Border Protection will continue to collect antidumping duties in the amount equal to the final dumping cash deposits rates for imports from each producer or country (i.e., the "all others rate"). Importers will be required to post duty deposits at these AD rates on the date the final determinations are published in the Federal Register, in approximately one week.

The next step in the trade cases will be the U.S. International Trade Commission's (the "USITC") final determination of whether imports from the four countries are a cause of material injury to or threaten to materially injure domestic polyester textured yarn producers. The USITC is currently scheduled to announce its final determination on November 30, 2021.

The lead counsel for the domestic industry, Paul Rosenthal of Kelley, Drye & Warren, LLP, commented, "The Commerce Department's decisions are a big step in the right direction for the U.S. companies and workers who are now closer to getting relief from the unfairly traded imports that have jeopardized the industry. The companies and workers are grateful for the hard work of the Commerce Department. We hope for a similarly favorable decision from the USITC so that more workers can return to their jobs in this important industry."

The complete list of duties to be imposed is as follows:

Polyester Textured Yarn Imports from Indonesia

Producer/Exporter Dumping Rate (%) PT. Asia Pacific Fibers Tbk 26.07 PT Polyfin Canggih 26.07 Mutu Gading 7.47 All Others 7.47

Polyester Textured Yarn Imports from Malaysia

Producer/Exporter Dumping Rate (%) Recron (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd. 8.50 All Others 8.50

Polyester Textured Yarn Imports from Thailand

Producer/Exporter Dumping Rate (%) Jong Stit Co., Ltd. 56.08 Sunflag Thailand Ltd. 14.47 All Others 14.47

Polyester Textured Yarn Imports from Vietnam

Producer/Exporter Dumping Rate (%) Century Synthetic Fiber Corporation 2.58 Nam Viet Produce Polyester Co., Ltd. 22.36 Vietnam-wide/All Others Rate 22.36

Background:

In October 2020, two major U.S. synthetic yarn producers  Unifi Manufacturing, Inc. and Nan Ya Plastics Corporation, America  filed petitions with the Commerce Department and the USITC alleging that dumped imports of polyester textured yarn from Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam were causing material injury to the domestic industry. The Commerce Department initiated the investigations in November 2020, and the USITC preliminarily determined in December 2020 that imports from the four countries are causing injury to the U.S. domestic industry.

Imports of polyester textured yarn from China and India are currently subject to significant double- and triple-digit AD and countervailing duties as a result of prior investigations that concluded in January 2020.

The product covered by the investigation, polyester textured yarn, is synthetic multifilament yarn that is manufactured from polyester (polyethylene terephthalate). Polyester textured yarn is produced through a texturing process, which imparts special properties to the filaments of the yarn, including stretch, bulk, strength, moisture absorption, insulation, and the appearance of a natural fiber. This scope includes all forms of polyester textured yarn, regardless of surface texture or appearance, yarn density and thickness (as measured in denier), number of filaments, number of plies, finish (luster), cross section, color, dye method, texturing method, or packing method (such as spindles, tubes, or beams). Polyester textured yarn is used in many applications including apparel, automotive, furniture, bedding, carpet, fabric, and sock.

The petitioning companies are represented by Kelley Drye & Warren LLP.

SOURCE Kelley Drye & Warren
PALO ALTO, Calif., Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Varian, a Siemens Healthineers company, a leading provider of cancer care technologies and solutions, will demonstrate the power of intelligent cancer care to shape the future of oncology during the 2021 American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) taking place in Chicago, Illinois, October 24-27. The company will showcase how its combination with Siemens Healthineers will accelerate the fight against cancer and increase the impact on healthcare.

During this year's show, Varian will also be highlighting the following and more:

Upcoming release of TrueBeam 3.0 radiotherapy system*, which includes image quality and workflow improvements as well as cybersecurity enhancements

Meet the Expert session with a clinical expert to share the breadth of cases being treated with Varian's Ethos therapy Adaptive Intelligence solution, built to provide patient-centric and personalized care

Smart Services solutions designed to provide comprehensive support services and proactive maintenance for clinical systems and practices

Progress in bringing human-centered artificial intelligence (AI) to the clinic. Within Varian's software portfolio, Eclipse TPS and AI Rad Companion Organs RT are empowering clinicians to define high-quality OAR (organs at risk) contours more efficiently with AI-based auto-contouring.

Our technology-enabled solutions and clinical partnerships with our Advanced Oncology Solutions

Within our Innovation Hub, Varian will present advancements in its FLASH therapy research, an experimental treatment modality, including an update on the FAST-01 clinical trial. Attendees will also see a preview of upcoming products including advancements in ARIA, Eclipse and Halcyon.

"After the past year and a half, our global Varian team is looking forward to the opportunity to meet in person with ASTRO 2021 attendees and highlight the strength of our combination with Siemens Healthineers," said Chris Toth, Chief Executive Officer of Varian. "Together, we will create the most comprehensive cancer care portfolio in the industry and address the entire care continuum. At this year's show, attendees will learn more about our innovative technologies, AI-based solutions, and the many ways we are a trusted partner to help our customers deliver patient centric, personalized care."

At this year's event, Varian will participate with a dynamic booth presence highlighting the combination with Siemens Healthineers. The company will also provide one-on-one product demonstrations as well as host hybrid Users' Meeting events over four separate dates. Varian is also this year's official sponsor of ARRO, ASTRO's resident program, and will host the first annual ARRO quiz bowl. In addition, Varian will have a presence at the American Society of Radiologic Technologists (ASRT) and Society of Radiation Oncology Administrators (SROA) concurrent meetings. Attendees can register for Varian demo sessions at https://www.varian.com/virtual2021.

*Not available for sale. 510(k) to be submitted soon.

About Varian

At Varian, a Siemens Healthineers company, we envision a world without fear of cancer. For more than 70 years, we have developed, built and delivered innovative cancer care technologies and solutions for our clinical partners around the globe to help them treat millions of patients each year. With an Intelligent Cancer Care approach, we are harnessing advanced technologies like artificial intelligence, machine learning and data analytics to enhance cancer treatment and expand access to care. Our 11,000 employees across 70 locations keep the patient and our clinical partners at the center of our thinking as we power new victories in cancer care. Because, for cancer patients everywhere, their fight is our fight. For more information, visit http://www.varian.com and follow @VarianMedSys on Twitter.

Press Contact

Lynne Tran

Corporate Communications

[email protected]

Investor Relations Contact

Siemens Healthineers Investor Relations

SOURCE Varian

Related Links

http://www.varian.com


NEW YORK, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Wheels Up (NYSE:UP), the leading brand in private aviation, today, announced that Srikanth Satya has joined the Company as Chief Technology and Development Officer. This latest announcement is the third noteworthy technology appointment in the past month for the Company. Satya joins Wheels Up at a pivotal time, with its ongoing digital and marketplace transformation strategy accelerating the overall growth strategy for the organization.

Satya comes to Wheels Up after two decades of experience leading technology innovation at Amazon, Microsoft, and Dell EMC. He brings over 20 years of technology leadership experience, including co-formulating strategies and launching company- and industry-first products in big data analytics, object storage, real-time streaming, messaging systems and container platforms. He is recognized for building large scale distributed cloud services and products for Global Fortune 100 companies. In addition, Satya's vision to set new business directions resulted in the release of foundational products for Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Dell EMC moving from a storage provider to a modern data platform supplier.

"I am pleased to welcome Srikanth to Wheels Up. We are on the verge of an exciting new era of IT advancements that will enhance the customer experience through new products and services that will strengthen our business operations," said Vinayak Hegde, President of Wheels Up. "Srikanth is recognized as a technology visionary with a passion for developing and launching innovative technologies and products. His desire to foster innovation and entrepreneurial mindset coupled with his ability to build strong business partnerships will be instrumental in driving our mission to create enduring stakeholder value."

"We are incredibly fortunate to have Srikanth joining us," said Kenny Dichter, Chairman and CEO of Wheels Up. "We are having tremendous success building our executive team with world-class talent. Srikanth's leadership and technical depth will allow us to fulfill our vision of building the industry's leading marketplace."

"Wheels Up has an enormous opportunity to deliver cutting-edge experiences and service to its Members and customers," said Srikanth Satya, Chief Technology and Development Officer at Wheels Up. "I am excited to be leading and developing the tools and systems to drive large scale growth and expansion in an industry that has not yet been tapped to its full potential. I could not be more excited to be joining the company and this extraordinary team."

About Wheels Up

Wheels Up Experience Inc. ("Wheels Up"), a leading demand generator in private aviation, offers a total private aviation solution that includes world-class safety, service, and flexibility through on-demand flights, membership programs, corporate solutions, aircraft management, whole aircraft sales, and commercial travel benefits through a strategic partnership with Delta Air Lines. Wheels Up is uniquely positioned to offer its Customers and Members access to over 1,500 safety-vetted and verified aircraft.

Through the Wheels Up App anyone can search, book, and fly. Wheels Up Connect, Core, and Business memberships provide enhancements such as flight sharing, empty-leg Hot Flights, Shuttle Flights, Shared Flights, signature Wheels Down events, and exclusive member benefits from preeminent lifestyle brands. The Company's ongoing Wheels Up Cares program aligns with philanthropic organizations and initiatives that affect and matter to the Company and its customers, members, stakeholders, families, and friends. The Wheels Up Cares fleet is comprised of five custom painted Beechcraft King Air 350i aircraft; each plane serves as a flying symbol for a specific cause.

All Wheels Up flights are operated by the Company's DOT/FAA-authorized air carrier subsidiaries (Wheels Up Private Jets LLC, Gama Aviation LLC, Mountain Aviation LLC, Sterling Aviation LLC, and TWC Aviation LLC) or by an approved vendor air carrier that has undergone a comprehensive safety assessment.

Wheels Up Media Contact:

JONESWORKS

[email protected]

SOURCE Wheels Up
Through the program, scholarships of $2,500 will be awarded twice-yearly to college students based in the USA, UK and EU. The program is open to students who are currently enrolled in technical, IT, or non-technical (e.g. marketing or business) programs with a minimum GPA of 3.5.

Having taught himself to code in his bedroom as a teenager, Mr. Petrovic created the first of many software products as a college student, before launching Workpuls in his early twenties. Workpuls has since grown to 100,000-plus users and a team of more than 50 employees.

Mr. Petrovic said his own experience as a college student trying to break into the tech industry helped inspire the scholarship program.

"I built my first market-ready software while in college, so I know firsthand the importance of supporting and giving students a head start," Mr. Petrovic said.

"Between the late nights spent coding, my studies, part-time work, and trying to get my foot in the door in the tech industry, I wish I'd more support as a college student. The aim of this scholarship is to provide a level of extra support.

"Many of tomorrow's leaders, builders and innovators are today's college students, and we're excited to help contribute to the early stages of their journeys."

The scholarship selection process requires applicants to submit an essay detailing their ambitions and vision for the tech industry. Applications are judged based on merit, academic performance, financial need, community involvement, extracurricular contribution, and essay quality.

Applications for the current scholarship close on November 31, 2021.

For more information about the Workpuls Scholarship Program, or to apply, visit: https://www.workpuls.com/scholarship

About Workpuls

Workpuls is a privacy-first employee monitoring software and time tracking software that helps organizations understand how their teams do their best work and build better work environments.

Workpuls' monitoring software for employees is used by 1,300+ global companies and 100,000+ users daily. Through immediate visibility and valuable insights, major companies like Office Depot, Grammarly and Allstate depend on Workpuls to drive productivity, benchmark performance, and improve efficiency.

Contact:

Sebastian Kipman

[email protected]

+1 (415) 704 3737

SOURCE Workpuls

Related Links

www.workpuls.com


DUBLIN, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Greenhouse Horticulture Market: Global Industry Trends, Share, Size, Growth, Opportunity and Forecast 2021-2026" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The global greenhouse horticulture market reached a value of US$ 25.2 Billion in 2020. Looking forward, the market is expected to grow at a CAGR of around 5% during 2021-2026. Keeping in mind the uncertainties of COVID-19, the analyst is continuously tracking and evaluating the direct as well as the indirect influence of the pandemic. These insights are included in the report as a major market contributor.



Greenhouse horticulture refers to the process of growing crops in a transparent structure to provide a customized growth environment to the plants. Greenhouses can alter environmental parameters, such as light, humidity, temperature and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and protect the crops against pests. They are constructed with various materials, such as glass, hard acrylic plastic, polyvinyl chloride and polycarbonate. The interior of the greenhouse is exposed to sunlight and is maintained at a slightly warmer temperature than the outside, thereby protecting the crops in cold weather. Some of the crops that are commonly grown in greenhouses include pepper, tomato, cucumber, lettuce, herbs and strawberry.



Significant growth in the agriculture industry, along with the increasing adoption of sustainable horticulture practices, is one of the key factors creating a positive impact on the market. Furthermore, the development of the Internet of Things (IoT)-enabled lighting systems is also driving the market growth. Horticulture lighting solutions induce photosynthesis in plants with photoperiodic and supplemental lighting. Apart from this, these LED-based solutions can be remotely adjusted, can collect data using machine learning (ML) algorithms and have a longer operational life. Additionally, various technological advancements, such as the utilization of innovative robotic scouting systems, and the increasing need for protected crop cultivation, are acting as other growth-inducing factors. Farmers and other horticulture workers use sensor technologies and artificial intelligence (AI)-based solutions to detect diseases and pests in the produce. Other factors, including extensive research and development (R&D) activities, along with the implementation of favorable government policies to promote greenhouse horticulture, are expected to drive the market further.



Competitive Landscape

The competitive landscape of the industry has also been examined with some of the key players being Agra Tech Inc., Argus Control System Ltd., Certhon, Dalsem, Industries Harnois Inc., Heliospectra AB, Hort Americas, Keder Greenhouse, Logiqs BV, Lumigrow, Netafim Ltd. (Orbia), Priva Holding BV, Richel Group, Ridder Holding Harderwijk BV, Rough Brothers Inc., Top Greenhouses Ltd. and Van der Hoeven Horticultural Projects BV.



Key Topics Covered:



1 Preface



2 Scope and Methodology

3 Executive Summary



4 Introduction

4.1 Overview

4.2 Key Industry Trends



5 Global Greenhouse Horticulture Market

5.1 Market Overview

5.2 Market Performance

5.3 Impact of COVID-19

5.4 Market Forecast



6 Market Breakup by Material Type

6.1 Glass

6.1.1 Market Trends

6.1.2 Market Forecast

6.2 Plastic

6.2.1 Market Trends

6.2.2 Market Forecast



7 Market Breakup by Crop Type

7.1 Fruits and Vegetables

7.1.1 Market Trends

7.1.2 Market Forecast

7.2 Flowers and Ornamentals

7.2.1 Market Trends

7.2.2 Market Forecast

7.3 Nursery Crops

7.3.1 Market Trends

7.3.2 Market Forecast

7.4 Others

7.4.1 Market Trends

7.4.2 Market Forecast



8 Market Breakup by Technology

8.1 Heating System

8.1.1 Market Trends

8.1.2 Market Forecast

8.2 Cooling System

8.2.1 Market Trends

8.2.2 Market Forecast

8.3 Others

8.3.1 Market Trends

8.3.2 Market Forecast



9 Market Breakup by Region



10 SWOT Analysis

11 Value Chain Analysis



12 Porters Five Forces Analysis



13 Price Analysis



14 Competitive Landscape

14.1 Market Structure

14.2 Key Players

14.3 Profiles of Key Players

14.3.1 Agra Tech Inc.

14.3.1.1 Company Overview

14.3.1.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.1.3 Financials

14.3.2 Argus Control System Ltd.

14.3.2.1 Company Overview

14.3.2.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.3 Certhon

14.3.3.1 Company Overview

14.3.3.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.3.3 Financials

14.3.4 Dalsem

14.3.4.1 Company Overview

14.3.4.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.5 Industries Harnois Inc.

14.3.5.1 Company Overview

14.3.5.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.6 Heliospectra AB

14.3.6.1 Company Overview

14.3.6.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.7 Hort Americas

14.3.7.1 Company Overview

14.3.7.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.8 Keder Greenhouse

14.3.8.1 Company Overview

14.3.8.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.8.3 Financials

14.3.9 Logiqs BV

14.3.9.1 Company Overview

14.3.9.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.9.3 Financials

14.3.10 Lumigrow

14.3.10.1 Company Overview

14.3.10.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.10.3 Financials

14.3.11 Netafim Ltd. (Orbia)

14.3.11.1 Company Overview

14.3.11.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.12 Priva Holding BV

14.3.12.1 Company Overview

14.3.12.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.12.3 Financials

14.3.13 Richel Group

14.3.13.1 Company Overview

14.3.13.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.13.3 Financials

14.3.14 Ridder Holding Harderwijk BV

14.3.14.1 Company Overview

14.3.14.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.14.3 Financials

14.3.15 Rough Brothers Inc.

14.3.15.1 Company Overview

14.3.15.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.16 Top Greenhouses Ltd.

14.3.16.1 Company Overview

14.3.16.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.17 Van der Hoeven Horticultural Projects BV

14.3.17.1 Company Overview

14.3.17.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.17.3 Financials

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/nkvyfg

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


VANCOUVER, BC, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - Xebra Brands Ltd. ("Xebra"), a cannabis company, is pleased to announce that it has completed construction and equipment outfitting of its indoor cannabis growing facility, located approximately 100 km east of Amsterdam, in the Netherlands.

Progress on commissioning the facility has been swift, with high hygiene standards and standard operating procedures (SOPs) already implemented.

Rodrigo Gallardo, President of Xebra, commented "We are encouraged to have completed our facility ahead of schedule. Cannabis varieties with the specific THC and CBD ratios will arrive at the facility imminently".

The 2,000 ft2 (185 m2) facility is purpose built for medicinal cannabis cultivation trials, and provides for exceptional and efficient scalability, up to 100,000 ft2 (9,300 m2).

The facility features four smart automated cells; three for production, and one for propagation, with new state of the art equipment, including computer-controlled HVAC for heating, cooling, humidification and dehumidification. In addition, irrigation in each cell is also computer controlled.

On July 2, 2021, Xebra received a preliminary cannabis license from the Dutch Ministry of Health, which provides for the possession, cultivation, processing, and transportation of cannabis.

As 1 of only 5 companies to be selected by the Dutch government to participate in trial medicinal cannabis cultivation, Xebra is endeavoring to be awarded 1 of 2 licenses, with a contract for up to 6 years, providing for revenues of up to 70.5 million, to co-supply all pharma-grade cannabis to be sold in the Netherlands; and additional crops can be grown for export to other European countries. Not including export crops, the contract would provide for annual volumes of 5,000 kg of cannabis flower, to be sold to the Dutch government, at a fixed price of 2,350/kg under an initial four-year term, with an optional two-year extension, for each of the two successful companies, and would be guaranteed by the Dutch government. The final two license holders will be selected based on the strength of their business plans, and on the product quality and consistency of three trial crops.

Xebra has assembled an experienced team in Holland, led by Harry von Duijne, formerly of Bedrocan, where he was responsible for managing every aspect of operations of a state-of-the-art cannabis facility, from construction through cultivation and processing, quality management, and GMP certification; Bedrocan presently is, and has been the only licensed producer in the Netherlands for more than a decade.

Certain information contained in this press release constitutes forward-looking statements under applicable securities laws. Any statements that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements, these include, without limitation, statements regarding Xebra Brands Ltd.'s expectations in respect of its ability to successfully execute its business plan or business model; its ability to provide economic, environmental, social, or any benefits of any type, in the communities it operates in or may operate it in the future; its ability to be a first mover in a country, or to obtain or retain government licenses, permits or authorizations in general, or specifically in Mexico, Colombia, Canada, the Netherlands, or elsewhere; its ability to successfully apply for and obtain trademarks and other intellectual property in any jurisdiction; its ability to be cost competitive; its ability to cultivate, grow, or process hemp or cannabis in Mexico, Colombia, Canada, the Netherlands, or elsewhere and related plans; financial, operational, or any other term relating to the Company's participation in the Dutch trial medicinal cannabis cultivation; its ability to manufacture cannabis beverages, wellness products, or other products; its ability to commercialize or sell cannabis beverages, wellness products, or other products, in Mexico, Colombia, Canada, the Netherlands, or elsewhere; its ability to commercialize or to sell Vicious Citrus Lemonade in 2022 or at any time, in any jurisdiction; its ability to commercialize or to sell Elements wellness products in any jurisdiction at any time; its ability to create wellness products that have a therapeutic effect or benefit; plans for future growth and the direction of the business; financial projections including expected revenues, gross profits, and EBITDA (which is a non-GAAP financial measure); plans to increase product volumes, the capacity of existing facilities, supplies from third party growers and contractors; expected growth of the cannabis industry generally; management's expectations, beliefs and assumptions; events or developments that XEBRA expects to take place in the future; general economic conditions; and other risk factors described in the prospectus of the Company dated September 30, 2021. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, are forward-looking information and statements. The words "aim", "believe", "expect", "anticipate", "contemplate", "target", "intends", "continue", "plans", "budget", "estimate", "may", "will", and similar expressions identify forward-looking information and statements. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by XEBRA as of the dates of such statements, are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies. Known and unknown factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Such factors include, but are not limited to, the inability of XEBRA to generate sufficient revenues or to raise sufficient funds to carry out its business plan; changes in government legislation, taxation, controls, regulations and political or economic developments in various countries; risks associated with agriculture and cultivation activities generally, including inclement weather, access to supply of seeds, poor crop yields, and spoilage; compliance with import and export laws of various countries; significant fluctuations in cannabis prices and transportation costs; the risk of obtaining necessary licenses and permits; inability to identify, negotiate and complete a potential acquisition for any reason; the ability to retain key employees; dependence on third parties for services and supplies; non-performance by contractual counter-parties; general economic conditions; and the continued growth in global demand for cannabis products and the continued increase in jurisdictions legalizing cannabis; and the timely receipt of regulatory approval for license applications. The foregoing list is not exhaustive and XEBRA undertakes no obligation to update or revise any of the foregoing except as required by law. Many of these uncertainties and contingencies could affect XEBRA's actual performance and cause its actual performance to differ materially from what has been expressed or implied in any forward-looking statements made by, or on behalf of, XEBRA. Readers are cautioned that forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and readers should not place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those set out in such statements.

SOURCE Xebra Brands Ltd.
Tehran, Oct 19 : Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has expressed concern about the presence of the Islamic State (IS) militants in Afghanistan, state TV reported.

"The increasing number of terrorist acts, which are conducted in line with Washington's destabilising strategy in Afghanistan, indicate the expansion of the circle of terrorist measures in this country," Raisi made the remarks in the cabinet meeting on Monday.

He referred to recent terrorist bombings at a mosque in Afghanistan's southern city of Kandahar, saying that "such attacks are carried out with the purpose of creating discord, war and religious bloodshed", Xinhua news agency reported.

The rulers of Afghanistan are expected to fulfill their responsibility to ensure the nation's security, Raisi was quoted as saying.

Iran's Foreign Ministry announced on Monday that Tehran will host a ministerial meeting on the situation of Afghanistan in near future.
New York, Oct 19 : Five members of a US congressional committee have told Amazon Inc that it led them on the wrong road during a probe on business practices.

Following up on a Reuters report from New Delhi, the lawmakers shot off a blunt six-page letter as well as a press statement.

"At best, this (Reuters) reporting confirms that Amazon's representatives misled the Committee. At worst, it demonstrates that they may have lied to Congress in possible violation of federal criminal law.AIn light of the serious nature of this matter, we are providing you with a final opportunity to provide exculpatory evidence to corroborate the prior testimony and statements on behalf of Amazon to the Committee.

"We strongly encourage you to make use of this opportunity to correct the record and provide the Committee with sworn, truthful, and accurate responses to this request as we consider whether a referral of this matter to the Department of Justice for criminal investigation is appropriate," both documents reviewed by IANS said.

In this letter, addressed to Amazon CEO Andy Jassy on Sunday, the lawmakers asked Amazon to provide "exculpatory evidence" to corroborate the sworn testimony that several leaders, including then CEO, Jeff Bezos, provided to the antitrust subcommittee in 2019 and 2020.

Exculpatory evidence is evidence favourable to the defendant in a criminal trial that exonerates or tends to exonerate guilt. It is the opposite of inculpatory evidence, which tends to present guilt.

In the US, police and prosecutors are required to disclose to the defendant exculpatory evidence they possess before the defendant enters a plea (guilty or not guilty).

Signatories included Representatives David Cicilline (Democrat, Rhode Island), Ken Buck (Republic, Colorado), Pramila Jayapal (D, Washinton), Jerrold Nadler (D, New York.) and Matt Gaetz (R, Florida). Some have spoken independently too.

"We're giving Amazon one last chance to come clean about how they abuse other seller's data and unfairly advantage their own products. We cannot continue to allow Big Tech to destroy small businesses," Cicilline tweeted.

The sub-committee investigated Amazon's use of data from third-party sellers even as it developed private-label products.

An Amazon spokesman was quoted countering Athat its executives didn't mislead and said the company has an internal policy on use of individual seller data to develop Amazon products. Amazon also said it investigates allegations that the policy may have been violated and designs the search function on its site to feature products that customers want.

At issue is how Amazon responded to accusations that it uses the data of third-party sellers on its site when creating private-label products. Amazon executives are on record telling members of the subcommittee in testimony and in written responses that the company doesn't use the data of individual third-party sellers to inform its own brands.

The letter names Bezos, Nate Sutton, Amazon's associate general counsel, who testified in July of 2019, and David Zapolsky, the company's general counsel, and Brian Huseman, Vice President for Public Policy. The letter states that the committee is considering "whether a referral of this matter to the Department of Justice for criminal investigation is appropriate".

The committee gave Jassy until November 1 to provide a sworn response to clarify "how Amazon uses non-public individual seller data to develop and market its own line of products", and how Amazon's search rankings favour those products.

Last week, another group of lawmakers, comprising both sides of the US political aisle, led by Senators Amy Klobuchar, Democrat, and Chuck Grassley, Republican, announced plans to float legislation to bar Big Tech platforms like Amazon and Alphabet's Google from favouring their own stuff.

The Klobuchar-Grassley measure aims at reining in tech firms, including industry leaders Facebook and Apple. Past attempts on these lines have failed although one, a broader measure to increase resources for antitrust enforcers, has passed the Senate.

Amazon, as per a Reuters investigation, is accused of using data from third-party sellers to determine products it would create.

Reuters said it reviewed "thousands of internal Amazon documents, that the US company's India operations ran a systematic campaign of creating knockoffs and manipulating search results to boost its own private brands in the country, one of the company's largest growth markets".

Jassy, 53, a Harvard MBA is a classic insider. His Amazon journey began in 1997 as a marketing manager alongside others from his class. By 2020 he had turned AWS, his baby, into a $45 billion milch cow. Jassy succeeded Bezos July 5.

(Nikhila Natarajan tweets @byniknat)
Lakhimpur Kheri, Oct 19 : Four more persons, including a BJP leader who was seen inside the SUV that mowed down protesting farmers in Lakhimpur Kheri on October 3, have been arrested.

A statement released by Prashant Kumar, ADG (law and order) late on Monday night, said: "The accused Sumit Jaiswal, Shishupal, Nandan Singh Bisht and Satya Prakash Tripathi have been arrested by Lakhimpur Kheri Police and SWAT team of Crime branch. Licensed revolver and three bullets were recovered from Satya Prakash Tripathi and seized." Local BJP leader Sumit Jaiswal, who was seen in a viral video escaping from the lead SUV in the convoy of vehicles that crushed the farmers, had earlier filed a murder FIR against unnamed farmers, claiming that his driver, friend and two BJP workers were beaten to death after their vehicles lost control due to heavy stone pelting and accidentally hit farmers

In the viral video, Jaiswal was seen running from the Thar SUV that drove into protesters from behind.

It may be recalled that four farmers and a journalist were run over on October 3 by a convoy of three vehicles, one of which belongs to Union Minister of state for home, Ajay Mishra Teni.

Mishra's son Ashish was arrested on October 9, five days after he was named in the FIR related to the incident on charges of murder.

The families of farmers who died in the incident, had alleged in their complaint to the police that Ashish was inside the lead SUV that crushed the farmers .

An FIR was lodged at the Tikunia police station on October 3 over the episode. Later, a counter-FIR was lodged at the same police station on the basis of a complaint by Sumit Jaiswal, who has now been arrested.

Sumit Jaiswal had also claimed that the protesters attacked Ashish Mishra's convoy, not the other way round. He also claimed the car was not moving, and it was the protesters that attacked the convoy.

"We were at the programme venue. There was an atmosphere of fear. They were armed with sticks and rocks and they kept attacking us, abusing us. They also shouted 'Khalistan Zindabad' and they climbed the car," he said.

Ashish Mishra has also denied the charge that he was at the crime scene when the murders took place. He stated that he was in his paternal village, around two km away, and stayed there all day.
Lakhimpur Kheri : , Oct 19 (IANS) The Special Investigation Team (SIT), probing the Lakhimpur Kheri incident, has started zeroing in on local farmers.

Over 50 farmers have been summoned by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) in connection with an FIR on the alleged lynching of three BJP workers during the violence that broke out in Lakhimpur Kheri on October 3.

Fifteen farmers appeared before the SIT on Monday to record their statements in the alleged lynching case after notices were issued to them under sections of the Code Of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).

An SIT official said, "We have been investigating both the FIRs and the farmers were summoned in connection to the second FIR." Every farmer was questioned for over 15 minutes in the presence of their advocate Mohammed Amaan, sources said.

Jasbir Singh Virk, president of Bhartiya Sikh Sangathan told reporters that of the 15 farmers who appeared before the SIT, only 11 recorded their statement.

"The SIT asked questions related to the incident and the same statement was recorded for both the FIRs. They were asked questions such as how did they realise they were in danger and what did they do after farmers were mowed down. We have told the SIT members that farmers will cooperate with them," he said.

The SIT, on Monday, had also arrested four aides of Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Misra's son Ashish. The accused include Sumit Jaiswal, who got the cross FIR lodged against the farmers. He had been absconding after their convoy allegedly mowed down four farmers and a journalist.

In a video that went viral, purportedly from the Lakhimpur Kheri violence, Jaiswal, in a blue kurta, was seen coming out of the Thar, the SUV that ran farmers over. He gave multiple interviews to news channels thereafter. The day the SIT was formed, he suddenly went missing.

Jaiswal is a BJP worker and a ward member from Lakhimpur city.

A total of 10 arrests have been made by the SIT in the case.

Special prosecution officer S.P. Yadav said the four accused will be produced in front of a remand magistrate on Tuesday since the regular court will be closed on account of a holiday. "SIT is questioning the accused and may seek remand custody if needed," he said.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Panaji, Oct 19 : Amid a raging debate on the alleged denigration of indigenous deity Shantadurga in the politically charged atmosphere in Goa, a BJP leader has said that God has already decided who will be the victor and the vanquished in the upcoming 2022 state Assembly polls.

Goa BJP general secretary and spokesperson Damu Naik's comments come at a time when politicians across party lines in the state, have been debating controversial utterances made by working president of the Goa Forward party Kiran Kandolkar, who recently compared West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to both Durga and her indigenous avataar Shantadurga.

"I urge them to not involve God in (politics). God will decide on whom it will save or sink. You will see it after the Assembly elections," Naik said on Monday.

The BJP official also condemned Kandolkar's statement.

"We condemn the statement made by the working president of the Goa Forward party. Every Goan woman worships Shantadurga. She is not calm, as people are being led to believe. Go to any temple, you will see Shantadurga with a sword and a shield," Naik also said.

Earlier, Kandolkar, in an obvious, but unnamed reference to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had said that the 'real Durga' from Kolkata needed to be brought to Goa to destroy a government run by bhasmasura (demon).

"Anything can happen in the coming days. Navaratris are going on...I feel that we will have to get Durga to Goa. The Durga in Goa is referred to as Shantadurga. She is calm. We will have to get the real Durga from Kolkata to Goa to destroy this bhasmasur-like government.," Kandolkar said.

Kandolkar's party Goa Forward, is in talks with Banerjee's Trinamool Congress for an alliance for the 2022 Assembly polls, with the sources even suggesting that the Goa-based party may even merge into the Trinamool Congress ahead of the polls.

Chief Minister Pramod Sawant has also weighed into the debate criticising Kandolkar.

"Devi Shantadurga is our prime deity. We worship Devi Shantadurga. Goans will not like Shantadurga being compared to someone, especially a human being. No one will accept it. Goans will not tolerate comparing Devi Shantadurga to a human being," the Chief Minister said.

Another BJP MLA Nilkanth Halarnkar said while it was unfair to compare Banerjee with Shantadurga, he also said that the comparison of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Lord Rama was also incorrect, when asked about former Uttarakhand's BJP Chief Minister Tirath Singh Rawat's comparison of Modi with Lord Rama.

"In Hindu mythology Ram is the avatar of God. Ram is not a man. So we cannot compare him with anyone," Halarnkar said.

According to BJP's Ports Minister Michael Lobo however, every woman in Goa resembles Durga.

"Every lady in Goa is a Durga. Every woman is a Durga in Goa. I believe in that way. When they want to stand for their rights, they can become Durga.

"Otherwise they are all calm, all peaceful, very loving and they take care of this beautiful state of Goa very well. We do not want a special Durga. I do not believe in that," Lobo also added.
Washington, Oct 19 : Some northern US states are starting to witness a Covid-19 resurgence as the weather is getting colder amid the onset of the winter season, raising concerns over a "twindemic" of the flu and coronavirus.

The five states that are reporting most of the new daily Covid-19 cases per capita are Alaska, Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota and Idaho, Xinhua news agency quoted data by The New York Times published on Monday as saying.

Alaska is logging the highest daily average of 125 cases per 100,000 people.

Meanwhile, the other states with the fastest rising Covid-19 caseloads are Vermont, Colorado, New Hampshire, Michigan and Minnesota, the data revealed.

The country is currently witnessing a downward trend in the pandemic situation, and the wave driven by the Delta variant is also receding.

Though health experts do not expect another catastrophic winter wave like last year, they have warned the public not to let their guard down as a large portion of the population is still unvaccinated, and the flu season may bring complications.

Americans have built up less natural immunity against influenza because so few were infected in 2020, experts say.

As Covid-19 and the flu share many of the same symptoms, such as fever, cough and chills, it will be hard to determine without a test.

"The weather drives people indoors into poorly ventilated spaces, and when either academic activities or social activities occur without masks in indoor, poorly ventilated spaces, that's when transmission occurs," Natasha Bagdasarian, chief medical executive of Michigan said on Monday The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends the public to get flu shots by the end of this month.

The agency has also called on all eligible people, including adolescents ages 12 to 17 years, to get vaccinated to help stop the pandemic.

Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, said Sunday that even as the most recent pandemic surge wanes, and case and hospitalisation numbers drop, any progress could plateau if vaccination numbers do not improve and the virus continues to circulate.

Till date, 189.1 million people have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19, making up 57 per cent of the entire US population, according to CDC data.

As of Tuesday morning, the country's overall Covid-19 caseload and death toll stood at 45,050,219 and 726,196.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Prague, Oct 19 : Czech President Milos Zeman is "currently unable to perform any work duties due to health reasons", Senate Speaker Milos Vystrcilhas announced.

According to the Czech News Agency (CTK), the leadership of the country's Senate will meet on Tuesday with the chairs of the parliamentary parties to discuss the procedure for transferring the powers of the President during Zeman's indisposition.

In a statement on Monday, Vystrcil also said that the long-term prognosis of the 77-year-old leader's health condition was extremely uncertain, reports Xinhua news agency.

Zeman is unlikely to return to his work duties in the weeks to come, Vystrcil said, referring to the Central Military Hospital's (UVN) statement.

Zeman has been hospitalised in the intensive care unit at the UVN in Prague since October 10.

No details have been released except that he had complications related to an undisclosed chronic illness.

Zeman, the third President of the Czech Republic, has been in office since March 2013.

He had previously served as the Prime Minister from 1998 to 2002.
Lucknow, Oct 19 : All important guests, including Ambassadors of various countries, Sri Lankan president, 25 representatives and 100 Buddha Bhikshu (pilgrims) who will attend the inauguration of Kushinagar international airport on Wednesday (October 20), will be given packets of 'Kala Namak' rice as 'prasad'.

The 'prasad' will be distributed by the Participatory Rural Development Foundation (PDRF) with the consent of the administration.

Ram Chet Chaudhary, chairman of PDRF, said, "Siddharth Nagar district is related to Lord Buddha's birth place area and Kala Namak rice of the district is known for its taste, aroma and nutritional properties.

"The Yogi Adityanath government has ensured global recognition for the rice by making it ODOP of Siddharth Nagar. When the gift of Kala Namak rice will be distributed among the Buddha followers and VVIP guests its global branding will be strengthened." Chaudhary said, "The prasad will be given on 'Purnima' (full moon) which is important for Sanatan and Buddha religion followers from spiritual and religious point of view. It is believed that Lord Buddha broke his fast by consuming kheer of Kala Namak rice at the bank of Hiranyavati river and also distributed it among his disciples. Lord Buddha advised farmers to grow Kala Namak rice.

However, over the years the farming of the rice decreased to less than 10,000 hectares, but now with the efforts of the state government it has increased to more than 50,000 hectares, he added.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had declared Kala Namak rice as ODOP for Siddharth Nagar and the state government is also making a common facility centre with Rs 12 crore.
Seoul, Oct 19 : US special representative for North Korea, Sung Kim announced that he will visit Seoul this week for talks with his South Korean counterpart on ways to restart dialogue with Pyongyang.

Kim's trip to Seoul will follow his meeting with his South Korean and Japanese counterparts, Noh Kyu-duk and Takehiro Funakoshi, respectively, in Washington this week, reports Yonhap News Agency.

"Special Representative Noh and I had an excellent meeting this afternoon in advance of tomorrow's (Tuesday) trilateral meeting with Japanese Director-General Funakoshi," the US diplomat told reporters after his meeting with Noh at the State Department on Monday.

Kim explained the two discussed ways to bring North Korea back to the dialogue table, including a possible declaration of the end of the Korean War, which was proposed last month by South Korean President Moon Jae-in.

"Special Representative Noh and I also discussed the end of war proposal, and I look forward to continuing those discussions and other issues of mutual concern when I'm in Seoul later this week," he said.

North Korea remains unresponsive to US overtures for dialogue and has stayed away from denuclearization talks with Washington since 2019.

Noh said he and Kim discussed ways to build trust with North Korea.

"(We) discussed various ways of engagement, such as humanitarian assistance for the North and other trust-building measures to help quickly restart dialogue and diplomacy," the South Korean official said in a joint press event with his US counterpart.

Kim said the US remains open to dialogue with North Korea.
Prayagraj : , Oct 19 (IANS) The Bar Council of UP has asked lawyers across the state to abstain from judicial work on Wednesday in protest against the killing of a lawyer in the court premises of Shahjahanpur district.

The lawyer, Bhupendra Pratap Singh, was shot dead inside the Shahjahanpur civil court on Monday.

All the presidents and secretaries of the Bar associations across the state will hand over a representation to the district magistrate concerned to register their protest. The lawyers belonging to tehsil will hand over the representation to the sub-divisional magistrate concerned in this connection.

The Bar Council of UP has expressed its deep anguish over the recent killings of the lawyers in the state.

According to member secretary of Bar Council of UP, Prashant Singh Atal, the Council has decided to ask the state government to implement Advocates' Protection Act in order to protect the lawyers across the state. Further, it has demanded a compensation of Rs 50 lakh for the dependents of the deceased lawyer and also a government job to one of the family members of the deceased.

It has also urged the state government to develop a mechanism across the state to restrain the entry of any person with a firearm in the court premises, so that such criminal activity be checked in future.
Mumbai, Oct 19 : 'Thalaivi' is still alive in public memory and expectations are high from 'Tejas', Kangana Ranaut's upcoming film on a woman pilot in the Indian Air Force, but there's no stopping the actress. She has announced on social media that her action-packed spy thriller, 'Dhaakad', is releasing on April 8, 2022.

Fans have been eagerly awaiting the film since last January, when the first posters from it surfaced online. To announce 'Dhaakad', Kangana took to Instagram to share a symmetrical collage of her four looks from the film as she gave a sneak peek into the world of 'Dhaakad' and what to expect from the action flick.

Kangana captioned the image with this description of her character: "She is fierce, feisty and fearless. #AgentAgni is all geared up to set the big screen on fire. Bringing to you the action spy thriller #Dhaakad that will hit theatres on 8th April 2022!"
Chennai, Oct 19 : Tamil Nadu Law Minister S. Regupathy's statement that the central prisons in the state would be converted into open-air jails has met with stiff opposition with former police officers, political parties, and social organisations opposing the minister.

The law minister on Monday while addressing media persons after inspecting Coimbatore central prison, stated that plans were afloat to convert central prisons with space into open-air jails after conducting a feasibility study.

The minister also said the plan will be implemented soon once the fund position of the department is cleared. However, retired police officers and social workers have come out against the suggestion.

R. Natarajan, former DGP (Prisons), Government of Tamil Nadu while speaking to IANS said, "It is not possible to house all prisoners in open jails. The department will not be able to monitor different categories of prisoners who are presently lodged in high-security jails. There is no rationale for this thinking.

"Generally, prisoners are transferred to open-air jails after three years in regular prison on the basis of good conduct, but hardened criminals lodged in high-security prisons are not given this benefit. If all jails are converted into open one's the department will not be able to monitor prisoners." Social organisations have also voiced similar concerns on the statement of the law minister

R. Padmanabhan of Socio-Economic Development Foundation, a think tank based out of Madurai while speaking to IANS said, "How can this be possible. The minister seems to be cut out of reality. It is fine to lodge political prisoners and those who have a good track record to be lodged in open prisons but hardened criminals in open jails are a perfect no. This will create problems for other prisoners and the whole system will have to face the consequences." The People's Union of Civil Liberties (PUCL) has also raised its concern over the suggestion of the minister. M. Balachandran, leader of PUCL told IANS, "The government should contemplate lodging women prisoners, those with a good record in jails and political prisoners in open jails. However, the suggestion to lodge every prisoner in an open jail is not good for society and it will be dangerous." Sources in the DMK told IANS that the government is yet to formulate such a policy decision and that a decision would be taken only after eliciting views from all sections of the society.
Seoul, Oct 19 : North Korea fired a ballistic missile towards the East Sea on Tuesday, the South Korean military said, as Seoul, Washington and Tokyo are cranking up diplomacy to resume dialogue with Pyongyang.

The missile was launched eastward from a site in the vicinity of Sinpo, South Hamgyong province, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS).

It said the launch was detected at 10.17 a.m. but gave no other details, reports Yonhap News Agency.

"The intelligence authorities of South Korea and the US are currently conducting a thorough analysis regarding additional information," the JCS said in a text message sent to reporters.

The launch came as the top nuclear envoys of the South, the US and Japan are in Washington to discuss joint efforts to bring the North back to dialogue through humanitarian aid and other incentives.

The North has been seen pushing for a military build-up as witnessed in a series of recent missile tests, including last month's launches of a new type of long-range cruise missile and a hypersonic missile.

Pyongyang's continued saber-rattling tempered cautious optimism that has emerged since the reactivation of inter-Korean communication channels earlier this month.

In Washington on Tuesday, Seoul's top nuclear envoy, Noh Kyu-duk, and his US and Japanese counterparts, Sung Kim and Takehiro Funakoshi, plan to meet trilaterally to discuss a joint strategy on the North.

On Monday, Noh and Kim met bilaterally and discussed President Moon Jae-in's recent proposal for the declaration of a formal end to the 1950-53 Korean War, which Seoul believes is an effective measure to build confidence with Pyongyang.

The US envoy plans to visit Seoul later this week to further discuss diplomacy toward the North.
Moscow, Oct 19 : The procedure for filling the first string of the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline was completed on Monday, the project's operating company owned by Russia's gas industry giant Gazprom announced.

"In accordance with the plan and design requirements, the line is filled with so-called technical gas in a volume of approximately 177 million cubic meters, which provides a pressure level of 103 bars in the pipeline," Nord Stream 2 AG said in a statement on Monday.

This pressure is sufficient to start transporting gas in the future, Xinhua news agency quoted the statement as saying.

The gas-in procedure for the first string of the Nord Stream 2 started on October 4.

Pre-commissioning steps for the second string remain underway.

Gazprom had announced on September 10 the completion of the flagship energy project despite US opposition.

The 1,230-km pipeline is expected to transport 55 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually from Russia to Germany via the Baltic Sea.

Gazprom intends to put it into operation before this year's end.

The Nord Stream 2 pipeline is approaching its operation as Moscow has repeatedly voiced its readiness to help ease the current energy crunch in Europe.

In a meeting with President Vladimir Putin earlier this month, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak proposed prioritising the launch of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline among other options.
New Delhi, Oct 19 : The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast 'mainly clear sky' in the national capital on Tuesday, with the maximum temperature likely to hover around 29 degrees Celsius and the minimum at 19.9 degrees Celsius.

As per the morning update, a temperature of 22.4 degrees Celsius was recorded at 8.30 a.m. with a relative humidity of 91 per cent. The wind was blowing in the southwest direction at a speed of 12.9 km per hour.

The city observed sunrise at 6.25 a.m. and the sun is likely to set at 5.48 p.m.

In the past 24 hours, the maximum temperature was recorded at 23.9 degrees Celsius, nine notches departure from normal, and the minimum was at 19.9 degrees Celsius. The city witnessed heavy rainfall on Monday that plummeted the temperature.

According to the IMD, the national capital has received 94.6 mm of rain in October so far the highest in 65 years, when 236.2 mm of rain was received in the whole month in 1956. The 24-hour accumulated rainfall is also the highest since then.

System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR) said Delhi-NCR's Air Quality Index (AQI) improved to "good" towards Monday evening with PM 2.5 pollutant recorded at 43 and PM 10 at 25.

Usually, the air quality is categorised as "good" when AQI is between 0 to 50, "satisfactory" between 51-100, "moderate" between 101-200, "poor" between 201-300, "very poor" between 301-400, "severe" between 401-500, or "hazardous" at 500+.

Delhi, generally, has good to satisfactory air quality. However, the pollution levels during October to February due to various factors including stubble burning, road dust, vehicle pollution, and cold weather lead to a deterioration in the AQI.

Notably, Delhi has 36 monitoring stations that accurately record the levels of both particulate matters. As per the latest update at 9.45 a.m., the other pollutants Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and ozone (O3) were recorded at 12 and 76, respectively. The data for carbon monoxide (CO) was not available.
Chennai, Oct 19 : The Tamil Nadu Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowment (HR&CE) department has begun the paperwork to retrieve 62 acres of encroached land of Arulmigu Trisoolanathar temple in Tirusulam.

The Madras High Court (HC) on Monday ordered the HR&CE department to immediately take steps to retrieve the 62 acre temple land, which was encroached upon. The first-judge bench of the Madras HC comprising Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice P.D. Adikesavalu had ordered the authorities concerned to report in six weeks time against the action taken to retrieve the encroached land.

The court order said, "The report should also indicate how and under what circumstances a part of the land belonging to the temple may have been given to a third party." The action of the Madras HC came after a plea filed by Advocate S. Xavier Felix that a substantial part of the land belonging to the temple was encroached upon and that the authorities concerned had not taken appropriate steps to retrieve the land.

The lawyer representing the DMK government, P. Muthukumar told the court that 83.26 acre of land belonging to the temple was in possession of a third party, of which the temple was receiving rent for nearly 21 acre of land.

The government counsel informed the court that the 62-acre temple land was encroached upon and forged documents were used by the encroachers to usurp the land. He said action was being taken against the encroachers to retrieve the land.

The court has directed the Chennai District Collector and revenue officials to lend all support to the HR&CE department for measuring the land and enable an appropriate report to be filed.

The HR&CE department has directed the temple Executive Officer to coordinate with the revenue officials for measuring the land and to get documentation for the property.

The HR&CE Commissioner has communicated to the Chennai District Collector to provide adequate support to the Executive Officer of the temple to retrieve the lost land following the Madras HC order.
Tehran, Oct 19 : Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said that Tehran and the European Union (EU) will discuss nuclear topics in Brussels in the coming days.

Making the remarks during his weekly press conference, Khatibzadeh said recent talks between Ali Bagheri, Deputy Foreign Minister, and Enrique Mora, Deputy Secretary-General of the European External Action Service, in Tehran were "good and constructive", reports Xinhua news agency Bagheri noted that both sides agreed to continue negotiations in Brussels in the next few days.

"For sure, the issues, challenges and obstacles which have not been resolved in Vienna, should be discussed in Brussels," said Khatibzadeh.

"Our demand is unconditional return (of Washington) to its obligations under the (JCPOA) agreement from which the US withdrew. (Besides), lifting of oppressive, illegal and extraterritorial sanctions against the Islamic Republic" is another demand of Iran, he noted.

Bagheri said on Thursday after meeting with Mora that taking "practical" steps with "tangible" outcomes should be the purpose of upcoming nuclear talks between Iran and the remaining parties to the JCPOA.

According to media reports, talks between the EU coordinator and the Iranian officials aimed to bring Washington and Tehran back to compliance with the deal.

After six rounds of talks in Vienna between Iran and other parties to the deal, with the US indirectly involved, Iranian officials said recently that Iran's current administration, which assumed office in August, needed a "reasonable amount of time" to prepare its negotiating team and strategy.

The nuclear talks that began in April sought to bring Washington back to the deal and persuade Iran to assume compliance with some of its commitments dropped after former resident Donald Trump unilaterally abandoned the accord in 2018 and reimposed sanctions on Iran.
Hyderabad, Oct 19 : Governors and chief ministers of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh on Tuesday greeted Muslims on Eid Milad-un-Nabi, the birthday of Prophet Muhammad.

Telangana Governor Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan conveyed her warm greetings on the occasion. "The teachings of compassion, tolerance, unity, harmony and universal brotherhood may continue to inspire us all in working for the well-being of all. May there be peace and prosperity all around," she said in her message.

"The most venerable Prophet's mission is fulfilled when we serve our fellowmen with faith, trust, care, kindness and compassion," the Governor said.

"On this occasion, let us all resolve to promote unity, harmony, peace, universal brotherhood and prosperity in the society," she added and called for celebrating Milad-un-Nabi in its true spirit, in a safe manner by adhering to the Covid-19 preventive norms.

Andhra Pradesh Governor Biswa Bhusan Harichandan conveyed his greetings to Muslim brethren on the occasion. "The life of the Prophet has been an inspiring saga of love, brotherhood and virtue to mankind," he said.

Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao also greeted Muslims. He called for following the teachings of the Prophet based on love, brotherhood and moral values.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy also conveyed his greetings to Muslims. He said in his message that the Prophet's message of compassion, charity, morality, equality and unity will always continue to guide humanity. He called for celebrating the festival with devotion.
Seoul, Oct 19 : The South Korean Cabinet on Tuesday approved a revision to the immigration law to grant long-term residency to Afghan evacuees airlifted in August after the Taliban takeover and allow them to get jobs here.

"In order for them to live independently in our society, getting jobs must be a priority," Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum said during the Cabinet meeting in Sejong.

"Ministries should review ways that can utilize their careers in Afghanistan in South Korea." In August, the government airlifted more than 390 Afghan co-workers and their family members under a military mission as they faced possible Taliban retaliation for having supported foreign operations, reports Yonhap News Agency.

Theevacuees include medical professionals, vocational trainers, IT experts and interpreters who worked for South Korea's embassy in Kabul and its humanitarian and relief facilities in Afghanistan, as well as their family members.

They have been staying at the National Human Resources Development Institute in the central county of Jinchon, 91 km south of Seoul, taking assimilation programs provided by the government.

Kim said the Afghan evacuees will move to the Korea Coast Guard Academy in Yeosu, 450 km south of Seoul, later this month to continue their assimilation programs that are designed to help them get familiar to the Korean culture and society.
New Delhi, Oct 19 : Zalmay Khalilzad, who served as the US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation since September 2018, has stepped down, Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced.

Taking to Twitter on Monday night, Blinken said: "Thank you to Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad for decades of tireless service to the United States. Pleased to welcome Thomas West to the role of Special Representative for Afghanistan." TOLO News shared Khalilzad's resignation letter to Blinken, in which the former diplomat wrote: "Today, our forces are out, the war is finally over for the United States and the very high financial costs of this engagement can now be directed to other vital needs. However, the political arrangement between the Afghan government and the Taliban did not go forward as envisaged.

"The reasons for this are too complex and I will share my thoughts in the coming days and weeks, after leaving government service." The move came two months after the hasty withdrawal of American forces from Afghanistan.

"I am of course saddened on behalf of the Afghan people that, despite our best efforts and extensive shuttle diplomacy on my part and that of the team as well as much urging from the international community, the Afghans failed to make use of this opportunity to end their 40-year conflict in a constructive spirit and with a fair compromise," Khalilzad added in the leader.

Khalilzad, a leading US diplomat of Afghan-origin, has long been a controversial figure for his involvement in Washington's 'War on Terror'.

He also led Washington's talks with the Taliban, which many see as the main precursor to the Pashtun-dominated group's lightning victory in Afghanistan, TRT World reported.

After the Taliban's surprisingly quick victory against the US-trained Afghan army, many government operators and experts can't help but speculate on Washington's role, particularly that of Khalilzad, in the Afghan group's return to power.

Some other experts further believe that Khalilzad pursued a "special political agenda" to promote his personal and family interests.

"One man responsible for the chaos and destruction raging across Afghanistan is Zalmay Khalilzad. He should be investigated for alleged financial corruption," says Kamal Alam, a non-resident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council.

In 2014, Khalilzad's finances were subject to an Austrian investigation which froze his wife's accounts in the European country based on information from the US Department of Justice that he was suspected of money laundering related to business activities in Iraq and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

"This man wanted to be the president of Afghanistan. He ran to be the president of Afghanistan. No one likes him. Everyone hates him," Alam tells TRT World.
Mumbai, Oct 19 : Procter & Gamble (P&G) India has announced a Rs 500 crore 'P&G Rural Growth Fund' to accelerate inclusive growth in the Indian rural market.

The fund will provide external partners of the company an opportunity to collaborate with P&G on business solutions customised for meeting the needs of rural consumers. This will include solutions on communication, media outreach and go-to-market solutions like tech-enabled selling, increasing distribution and last-mile delivery.

The rural market is a significant contributor to the growth of the FMCG industry. The opportunities of the rural market are unique and require solutions that are tailor-made to meet the needs and consumer habits of the rural consumer. This new fund is a part of P&G India's 'vGROW' program that focuses on identifying and collaborating with start-ups, small businesses, individuals, and large organisations offering innovative industry-leading business solutions.

Madhusudan Gopalan, CEO, P&G Indian Subcontinent said, "Rural India has a pivotal role to play in India's road to recovery from the pandemic. We have already seen the rural segment deliver a resilient performance during the last few months and will continue to be a key driver of growth for the FMCG industry.

"For P&G, accelerating our growth in the rural market is a strategic priority. With this, we set up P&G's 'Rural Growth Fund' to collaborate with external partners who understand the rural DNA and can enable us to deliver our superior products, communication, retail execution and value to our rural consumers." "We also want to invest in empowering rural kiranas with tech-enabled solutions and best practices on inventory and store management that will help them build their businesses further. We are confident that through these partnerships we will be able to contribute towards the inclusive growth of the rural economy." P&G launched its vGROW programme four years ago with a vision to create an active collaboration platform for external partners and suppliers across India. Over the years, the company has invested more than Rs 680 crore in business solutions through this platform.
New Delhi, Oct 19 : In a significant academic development, Jindal Institute of Behavioural Sciences (JIBS) has been awarded the Global Engagement Seed Grant from the prestigious International Brain Research Organisation (IBRO). The grant provides monetary, logistical and human resources' support to JIBS to further its trans-disciplinary research in neurosciences and also expand the community outreach initiatives of the institute in disseminating information about Neurodevelopmental Disorders (NDDs).

The grant also covers a week-long event- Neurodevelopmental disorders and Society: A Neuroscience Engagement and Outreach Event- which will be organised by JIBS in May next year, with a primary focus on enhancing research on NDDs.

"It is a very significant academic progress for JIBS and in line with our vision of applying the behavioural and social science research and evaluation towards improving people's lives, with a special emphasis on the underprivileged," said Dr. Sanjeev P. Sahni, Principal Director of the Jindal Institute of Behavioural Sciences. "I hope it will expand and strengthen our interdisciplinary research in neurosciences," he added.

The grant -- awarded by the IBRO worldwide since 2015 to encourage engagement, outreach and advocacy activities in the field of Brain Sciences- was secured by Dr. Divya Bhatia, Assistant Professor at JIBS.

IBRO is the global association of neuroscience societies established in 1961 that aims to promote and support neuroscience around the world through training, education, research, outreach and engagement activities. IBRO specifically aims to develop, coordinate, support and promote scientific research in all fields concerning Brain.

Expressing happiness over receiving the grant, Dr. Bhatia hoped that it would pave the path for supplementing neurosciences' research and awareness across the country.

"It is a huge leap for us and I hope it would encourage more engagement in disseminating information and awareness about Neurodevelopmental disorders," Dr. Bhatia said.

The grant would also help JIBS to reach to specific societal groups such as parents and school educators particularly from rural areas to educate them about common NDDs, risk factors, prevention methods and the importance of early diagnosis as well as government support and guidelines.
Kochi, Oct 19 : Already in trouble and under judicial custody, a case under the POCSO Act has been filed against fake antique dealer Monson Mavunkal, police said on Tuesday.

The Ernakulam North Police following a complaint from a mother and her daughter registered the case against Mavunkal on Monday for violating the then 17-year-old girl in 2019 at two places.

The mother of the girl was working at Monson's house (which also doubled up as his antique museum) here and promising to take care of her young daughter's education needs, he is alleged to have violated her, according to the complaint.

Until last month since he was arrested by the Crime Branch after a Rs six crore cheating case was filed by six people, Mavunkal was among the high profile VIP's in the state. His museum was even frequented by the top brass of the Kerala Police besides other top people from various sectors.

It was only after his arrest last month, that skeletons from his cupboard started to fall and by now it has now been proved that all the antiques which he showcased, including the "staff of Moses" and "two of the 30 silver coins that were taken by Judas to cheat Jesus Christ", were all fake.

Police said he had showcased these "rare" items -- a throne said to be used by Tipu Sultan, as well as a huge collection of old Qurans, Bibles (Old Testament and New Testament), and old handwritten copies of Bhagavad Gita.

Even the Kerala high court slammed the authorities for falling into the conman's trap and even raised doubts, whether the ongoing police probe would yield appropriate results.
Dhaka, Oct 19 : The death toll in the communal violence in Bangladesh has increased to six, while at least 70 Hindu temples were vandalised across the country, said Rana Dasgupta, General Secretary of the Bangladesh Hindu-Buddha Christian Oikya Parishad.

The spate of atrocities started on October 13 in Cumilla district, which quickly spread to other parts of the country including Chandpur, Noakhali, Kishoreganj, Chittagong, Feni and Rangpur.

So far, seven police officials of Rangpur and Feni were withdrawn on an instant order issued by President Abdul Hamid.

But the Responsible officer in charge of Kotwali, Chittagong, is still in his charge.

Sixty-six families in Rangpur's Boro Karimpur fishing village have been displaced after their homes were destroyed in the violence.

The perpetrators also vandalised two shops and two temples in the area, looted all valuables and cashes.

The Hindu fishermen on Monday said their neighbourhood was attacked from all sides.

Meanwhile, the country has also witnessed continued protests against the violence.

On Sunday, thousands of people blocked the Shahbagh intersection in Dhaka for around three hours.

Joydeep Datta, a Dhaka University student, placed a seven-point demand in the protest programme.

The demands include highest punishment of the attackers, renovation of the affected temples, establishing a separate ministry or commission for the minorities and compensation for the looted shops and houses of Hindus.

A five-member representative of the protesters went to the Prime Minister's Office to place a memorandum with the demands.

The protesters later withdrew their blockade setting a 24-hour ultimatum to fulfil their demands.

"If the government doesn't fulfil the demands, we will block the Shahbagh intersection again and continue our protest," said Joydeep.

"We want exemplary punishment for those involved in these attacks," demanded Prof Mihir Lal Saha, provost of DU's Jagannath Hall, during the protest.

In a separate programme on Monday eveving, the Progressive Student Alliance staged a demonstration in front of the National Museum and demanded punishment of the attackers, ensuring safety of minorities and resignation of the home minister for "his failure to provide security to minorities".

In Chittagong, different organisations staged protest programmes demanding arrest and exemplary punishment of the attackers.

Members of the Chattogram Mahanagar Puja Udjapan Parishad formed a human chain in front of Chattogram Press Club.

"If the attacks are not stopped, we would be compelled to declare tougher programmes," they said.

In Cumilla, a 20-member delegation of Dhaka University Teachers' Association (DUTA) on Monday visited puja mandaps of Nanua Dighirpar area, which came under attack on October 13.

In Tangail, members Hindu community formed a human chain and staged demonstration in front of the Tangail Press Club and Shaheed Minar.

At Rajshahi University, several hundred students and teachers formed a human chain at the university's Paris Road.

In Munshiganj, a human chain and protest rally was held at noon.

In Narayanganj, hundreds of people under the banner of ISKCON and Sree Sree Radhagovinda Temple brought out processions and marched through different streets.

In Lalmonirhat, several thousand people staged a demonstration and brought out a protest procession in the town.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Mumbai, Oct 19 : Actress and social media influencer Sambhavna Seth says that stardom doesn't work inside the house. A star has to leave her ego and attitude outside for a relationship to work.

Sambhavna Seth is collaborating with her husband Avinash Dwivedi for the first time on a music video titled 'Chand' dedicated to Karva Chauth, which falls on October 24 this year.

When asked if Bollywood actresses makes good wives, Sambhavna said, "One should be a wife in the house; stardom doesn't work there. One must act appropriately as a wife, then only will the relationship work out, but it won't if you throw your weight around, or show your attitude. After marriage, actresses must also lead their lives the same way as regular people do." Talking about her first music video with husband, Sambhavna said, "I was scared as Avinash is an amazing actor; he is quite a perfectionist and professional. He does his homework, he works on his look and other elements, but I am quite spontaneous, so I was scared to work with him." Avinash turned out to be just as she had expected. Sambhavna said: "Avinash was composed during the shoot and I was nervous because emoting on-screen is difficult for me. I can dance easily, but emotional stuff is tough for me." Suresh Bhanushali and Photofit Music Company have produced the video for Karva Chauth. Talking about the timing, Sambhavna said, "It may be releasing on Karva Chauth, but let me assure you, the song will come in handy on any occasion." Striking a personal note, Sambhavna said she planned to pamper herself on Karva Chauth. "I observe Karva Chauth every year without fail. I do the whole nine yards that day, get mehndi done and organise the right outfit. I pamper myself properly, I think I look like the full moon of Karva Chauth. It's one day in the year when girls get to dress up properly. Husbands must appreciate it because we keep the fast of them."
Sanaa, Oct 19 : The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen has intensified the airstrikes against positions of the Houthi militia in the country's oil-rich province of Marib, a military official said.

"Scores of air strikes precisely destroyed several military vehicles of the Houthi militia near the Abdiya district in Marib and other surrounding areas," the official told Xinhua news agency on Monday.

Earlier in the day, the Saudi military coalition announced that its air operations killed 150 Houthis in Marib, particularly near the turbulent district of Abdiya.

During the past few days, hundreds of Houthi fighters were killed or injured as a result of the Saudi aerial shelling, said the source.

The Iran-backed Houthi militia launched in February a major offensive toward Marib in an attempt to seize control of the province, the last northern stronghold of the Saudi-backed Yemeni government.

Yemen has been mired in civil war since September 2014 when the Houthi militia forced the internationally recognized government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi out of the capital Sanaa.
New Delhi, Oct 19 : The Science Museum in London has announced a landmark new gallery, with Adani Green Energy Limited as the title funder, examining how the world can undergo the fastest energy transition in history to curb climate change. The announcement was made as delegates arrived for a Global Investment Summit hosted at the museum by the Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

The gallery will explore the latest climate science and the energy revolution needed to cut global dependence on fossil fuels and achieve the Paris targets to limit global warming to around 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

Visitors to the new gallery will see how data visualisations and future projections are key to generating knowledge, informing decisions about how we live and stimulating creative and innovative solutions.

"Imagining our collective future, as this gallery will encourage, provides us all with a powerful action programme," says Mary Archer, Chair of the Science Museum Group.

"This gallery will take a truly global perspective on the world's most urgent challenge. We face a grave threat, but the future is not predestined - it is still in our hands if we can build the coalition required for urgent and far-reaching action." The gallery will highlight moments from the past when energy futures were imagined. For example, it was by imagining a world powered through electricity that American inventor Thomas Edison created the world's first public electricity network in 1882.

Mains cables known as Edison tubes connected the first coal-fired electricity power station to nearby homes and businesses in London. This revolutionary network established how electricity is supplied today. A rare surviving Edison tube, on display for the first time after recently joining the Science Museum Group Collection, will enable visitors to marvel at this engineering feat when the new gallery opens in 2023.

The gallery will draw on the Science Museum Group Collection and loans, deploying a range of interactive and digital storytelling techniques to reveal the latest science as well as exploring energy revolutions of the past and future.

Energy Revolution is supported by Adani Green Energy, the leading solar power developer which aims to be the world's largest renewable power generating company by 2030, as Title Funder.

"We're hugely grateful to Adani Green Energy for the significant financial support they are providing for this gallery," Archer said.

"We are delighted to support the Energy Revolution gallery, which will explore how society can power the future through low carbon technologies," said Gautam Adani, Chairman of the Adani Green Energy.

"The Renewable Energy revolution to get to this point has been remarkable. The limitless power of the wind and sun is awe inspiring and our ability to harness that power is finally within reach. There is so much to learn from the history of this journey as the world writes a cleaner future and who better than the Science Museum team to depict this inspiration." As inventors and engineers sought to establish future modes of transport over the past 200 years, electric cars were imagined many times.

One early example, the Bersey electric cab, was envisioned as an improvement to horse-drawn taxis. Designed by Walter Bersey and built by the Great Horseless Carriage Company in 1897, it could reach 9 mph and cover up to 30 miles. However, this electric taxi was an idea ahead of its time, with breakdowns and expensive batteries making its operation unprofitable. It is only in the last few years that the dream of mass-produced electric vehicles has become a reality.

Our understanding of climate change is founded on projections of how Earth's systems will change in the future. These projections are made possible because of long-term global observations that show how our planet is already changing. One fundamental series of observations was initiated in 1958 by Charles David Keeling, who began measuring carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere. One of the air-sampling flasks he used will be on display in the new gallery. These measurements continue around the world and provide crucial information about the relentless rise of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere, so this flask provides a stark visual reminder of human influence on our planet.

Energy Revolution: The Adani Green Energy Gallery is being developed around four thematic sections, each providing a different lens on this century's defining challenge: Alternative Futures uses examples from history to scrutinize the moments when people have imagined different kinds of energy futures - often at times of crisis - and the story of the energy shifts that have shaped our world. Past visions of the future remind us that our current energy system was not inevitable - and that many futures were possible.

Future Planet considers present day projections of the future, looking at how climate scientists use complex climate models to understand Earth's systems, and what these tell us about the scale and nature of future climate impacts.

Future Energy and Power focuses on the technologies with potential to support a global shift to a low carbon future and explores how trajectories of change are influenced by local geographical, social and political factors.

In Future Living we look at how everyone's lives are entangled with energy systems that determine how we live, work and get around. This section explores people's ability to influence our energy future and the prospect of a "just energy transition" that allows better living standards in developing nations.

The new gallery will replace Atmosphere, which has welcomed more than six million visitors since it opened a decade ago.
Bengaluru, Oct 19 : As India reopens after a long spell of pandemic and lockdowns, job postings in the country were improved by 9 per cent year-on-year (YoY) in September this year, a report said on Tuesday.

According to Monster.com, compared to August, the month of September saw a stable monthly growth of 1 per cent in job posting activity this year.

"As we approach the end of the quarter, it is promising to see that we have witnessed 6 per cent growth in hiring activity over the last three months," Sekhar Garisa, CEO - Monster.com, a Quess company said in a statement.

"With imminent festive sales and significant increase in e-commerce activities, it is notable that job roles for logistics and supply chain are well in demand," Garisa added.

In September 2021, printing/packaging (11 per cent) grew at a considerable pace, while a positive month-over-month (MoM) uptick was also witnessed in industries such as BPO/ITES (5 per cent), import/export (4 per cent), retail (2 per cent) and travel and tourism (2 per cent).

Cities such as Baroda (3 per cent) and Ahmedabad (1 per cent) noted the highest job posting activity in the country in September 2021 as compared to August 2021.

Hiring activity in metropolitan cities such as Bengaluru (38 per cent), Pune (22 per cent), Hyderabad (20 per cent) and Chennai (18 per cent) indicates a strong rise in recruitment activity as compared to the previous year.

Hiring for professionals in software, hardware, telecom (35 per cent), senior management (23 per cent), HR and admin (11 per cent) and finance and accounts (7 per cent) continued to flourish on a year-on-year basis.

Interestingly, HR and admin roles have seen a marked positive incline across all metropolitan cities, while software, hardware, telecom and finance and accounts also witnessed significant growth across almost all cities tracked by the Index.

Industries such as banking/financial services, insurance, retail and travel and tourism also saw positive uptick at 2 per cent each in September 2021 as compared to August 2021.

However, garments/ textiles/leather, gems and jewellery (-17) per cent which saw significant improvement last month due to peak festive hiring, witnessed a decline along with Production and manufacturing (-9) per cent, telecom/ISP (-3) per cent and oil/gas/petroleum and power (-3) per cent, which also saw decline in job postings in September 2021.
New Delhi, Oct 19: The failed Pakistan and IMF talks on Sunday, before the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Plenary session which is scheduled to be held from October 19, is not good news for the Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan who has been at loggerheads with the powerful military establishment over the issue of appointment of the spy Chief. As per the 2019 IMF deal, the Imran Khan government had agreed to the formal mention of money laundering in the document, thus linking IMF tranches directly to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). Pakistan, which is on the grey list of the FATF since 2018, was given three months time in June this year to fulfil the remaining conditions by October. The FATF plenary will be held in Paris from October 19-21.

The latest US Congressional report on terrorism "Terrorist and Other Militant Groups in Pakistan", says that at least 12 groups designated as "foreign terrorist organizations" by the US are based in Pakistan, including five that are India-centric. As per the US administration, Islamabad continues to remain a base of operations for numerous non-state militant groups, many with global reach.

Quoting the report, the US State Department had pointed out that Pakistan remained a safe haven for terrorism despite claims to the contrary. Despite promises made to the international community about taking action against terrorist groups, Pakistan has not taken any action against terrorist groups and their sanctuaries. Last week, the Biden administration downgraded the bilateral relationship with Pakistan for playing a double game in the fight against terrorism. On the one hand Pakistan was supposed an ally of the US in the "war on terror". But simultaneously, it was helping the Taliban takeover Afghanistan. Since the Taliban came into power in mid-August, Pakistan has been publicly talking about the future recognition of the Taliban government, which has close ties to Pakistan's powerful military intelligence services, the ISI.

As the report suggests Pakistan has become a classic hybrid state with the military and militants influencing the state and its actions.

The former US National Security Advisor H R McMaster told a US congressional hearing that the US should hold Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan accountable for some of his comments after the fall of Kabul in August and that Pakistan should be confronted broadly with international isolation because of its "support for jihadist terrorists".

"Given that Washington has always seen Pakistan as the key sponsor of the Taliban, its insistence on asking Pakistan to control the Haqqanis has created a lot of complications for Islamabad," says one Pakistani journalist adding sanctions are looming large on Pakistan.

Citing the report, Fabien Baussart, the founder and President of the think-tank Centre of Political and Foreign Affairs wrote on Times of Israel, that FATF must also put on record evidence collated by various countries of Pakistan's role in helping a militant group, the Taliban, from overthrowing an elected government in Afghanistan. Pakistan's association with global terrorist outfits such as the Haqqani Network, known for hosting groups like Al Qaeda, needs to be brought on record.

"FATF will fail in its duty if it delays blacklisting Pakistan for its terrorist sponsorship," warns Baussart.

In the last meeting held in June, the FATF decided to continue keeping Pakistan on its grey list and asked it to prosecute and target senior leaders of UN-designated terrorist groups.

(The content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com) --indianarrative

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Jaipur, Oct 19 : A video has gone viral on social media in which Rajasthan Congress MLA Meena Kanwar along with her husband Ummed Singh Rathore are seen staging a protest at Jodhpur-based police station asking police to release their relatives, saying children usually drink.

"Bacche to sable pete hain (Everyone's children drink)," she can be heard saying in the video.

Meena Kanwar can be seen in verbal duel with police, saying, "We have requested police that kids, usually everybody's kids drink. It should not matter. You have arrested our children," she said.

Meena Kunwar is MLA from Shergarh and the chaos, as per the sources, started on Sunday night around 10.30 p.m. when police arrested her relatives and issued challan to them for drunken driving under MVI Act while seizing their vehicle.

Both husband and wife staged dharma at the police station and their video went viral when they were seen arguing with cops insisting that everybody's children drink. What went wrong if they were drunk, she asked the cops.

As the couple were seen sitting on the floor, the husband of Meena is also seen questioning the cops why the police officer is sitting on a chair when the MLA is sitting on ground.

He is seen in the video fighting with cops threatening them to face consequences if his relatives are not released.
Mandi : , Oct 19 (IANS) It's a battle between the past performance of an erstwhile political stalwart and the new achievements of a first-time Chief Minister in Himachal Pradesh, literally! Congress veteran and six-time Chief Minister late Virbhadra Singh's legacy will be put to test against BJP's Chief Minister Jairam Thakur's credibility during the parliamentary bypoll of Mandi, one of country's toughest and sprawling constituencies.

The saffron party has pitted Brigadier Khushal Thakur (retired), a decorated officer who played a crucial role in the 1999 Kargil war, against Congress' Pratibha Singh, a two-time MP from Mandi.

The seat -- a prestige for Chief Minister Thakur as it falls in his home district -- fell vacant with the death of two-time BJP MP Ram Swaroop Sharma, who defeated Congress candidate Ashray Sharma, the grandson of former Telecommunications Minister Sukh Ram in his electoral debut, with a record margin.

Eyeing sympathy votes, Pratibha Singh, who is banking largely on her first-time legislator son Vikramaditya Singh for campaigning, is seeking votes on development carried out by her husband during his three stints as an MP from Mandi and six terms as the Chief Minister.

Pratibha Singh, who lost the Mandi seat in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, is missing no opportunity to remind the electorates that the victory in Mandi by-election "will be a tribute to him (Virbhadra Singh)".

Hitting out at the Chief Minister in his Seraj Assembly constituency, she reminded the people that Virbhadra Singh had contributed a lot to the development of this area.

"I am saddened to see the poor condition of roads. It appears that BJP pays no attention towards the problem of the common man," she said, adding the state needed 'majboot' (strong) Lok Sabha members, not 'majboor' (helpless) leaders.

Countering the Congress candidate, Chief Minister Thakur replied: "People want a 'majboot' candidate as their MP, not a 'majboor' candidate." "The Congress candidate says that she did not want to contest the election. If she was not keen, she should not contest it," he said, while seeking votes for party candidate Brigadier Khushal Thakur, a Kargil War hero.

Facing criticism over his purported remark with Congress woman legislator Asha Kumari saying the women are stronger, not helpless, Chief Minister Thakur defended himself by saying he has high respect for the Congress candidate and for all women.

"Asha Kumari misconstrued my words," Thakur told the media.

Even the Congress candidate has courted controversy by taking a jibe at her political rival by saying Kargil "was a small battle, not a full-scale war", which the Chief Minister said "saddening".

"Everybody knows about the valour of Brigadier Khushal Thakur. He fought the Kargil battle valiantly. It is saddening that Pratibha Singh described the battle with Pakistan a minor one," said the Chief Minister, who misses no opportunity to remind the voters that the credit for popularising Mandi as Chotti Kashi went to the late MP. Even in the Prime Minister's speeches had a mention of Chotti Kashi.

For the five-time legislator Thakur, development, welfare and no witch hunting are the mantras of success. He says his government is working without any vendetta and vengeance even towards the political opponents.

Pratibha Singh is hoping to make a comeback from the margins after she failed to retain the Mandi seat in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

She believes she has an edge owing to sympathy. She's also banking on this month's results in the Panchayati Raj Institutions elections in which the Congress-supported candidates did particularly well in the tribal-dominated areas that fall in the Mandi constituency.

The main contest in Mandi is between the BJP and the Congress.

Her husband, Virbhadra Singh, who devoted over 50 years for the common people despite being born in royalty, had travelled across the state, both as an MP and the Chief Minister.

The veteran leader passed away on July 8 in Shimla at the age of 87, leaving behind a rich political legacy.

Her husband was elected from Mandi in 1971, 1980 and 2009. However, Virbhadra Singh lost the Mandi seat in 1977. At the time of his death, he was representing the Arki Assembly seat that is going for bypoll along with two other Assembly seats -- Fatehpur (in Kangra district) and Jubbal-Kotkhai (Shimla district) -- on October 30.

However, BJP candidate Brigadier Thakur in his maiden contest is banking on his integrity and connect with voters.

The Mandi constituency, which includes Kullu, Mandi and some areas of Chamba and Shimla districts, besides the tribal-dominated Kinnaur and Lahaul and Spiti, is one of the biggest in the country.

(Vishal Gulati can be contacted at vishal.g@ians.in)
Gaza, Oct 19 : The Islamic Hamas Movement said that the Israeli captives in the Gaza Strip will only be exchanged for the release of Palestinians prisoners.

Hamas, which has been ruling the Gaza Strip, home for more than 2 million Palestinians, since 2007, said that Israel "must understand that a prisoners' swap deal is the only way that can bring its captive soldiers back", reports Xinhua news agency.

In 2011, Egypt brokered a prisoner swap deal between Israel and Hamas, in which Israel released more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in return for the release of soldier Gilad Shalit.

This was the first and only prisoners' swap deal between Israel and Hamas in 10 years.

"The issue of releasing Palestinian prisoners stands on top of the priorities of the Palestinian factions, including Hamas," the Movement said in a statement issued on Monday, markingthe 10th anniversary of the swap deal.

In 2017, Hamas militants said that they hold four Israeli captives in the Gaza Strip, without giving any detail about them.

"We will not get rest until the prisoners are freed. We are close to reaching a new swap deal after compelling the Israeli government to submit to the demands of the Palestinian factions because Israel has no choice but to meet our demands," it added.

Two weeks ago, a high-ranking Hamas delegation headed by the movement's politburo chief Ismail Haniyeh held a series of talks with senior Egyptian security intelligence officials on the situation in Gaza and a possible swap deal with Israel.

According to official Palestinian figures, Israel is holding more than 4,000 Palestinian prisoners in 23 jails and detention camps.
Lucknow, Oct 19 : Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday visited the residence of former Speaker, Sukhdev Rajbhar to pay last respects to the departed leader.

Rajbhar passed away on Monday evening after prolonged illness.

Bahujan Samaj Party President Mayawati tweeted her condolences to the bereaved family.

A large number of legislators, cutting across party lines visited the late leader's Gomti Nagar residence to pay their tributes.

The body of the late leader, according to family sources, will be taken to his home in Azamgarh and cremated in Varanasi on Wednesday.
Chennai, Oct 19 : A medical aspirant from Tamil Nadu, Muppudathi S. from Kadayam in Tenkasi district has petitioned Chief Minister M.K. Stalin and state Health Minister Ma Subramanian, alleging that her Optical Mark Reader (OMR) answer sheet of the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) was "doctored".

She had filed a case in the Madurai bench of the Madras High Court in 2020 for the same.

In the petition, Maduppathi said: "My OMR sheet has been doctored, either to pass someone or to fail me as I had brought to light the shortcomings in NEET during 2020".

It may be noted that the National Testing Agency (NTA) which conducts the NEET exam had released the scanned copy of the OMR sheets of the candidates on October 15.

In the complaint, she said that while she was writing the NEET on September 12, an observer had come to the examination hall at 4.55 p.m. just before the end of the exam and collected her OMR sheet and took its photocopies.

Maduppathi, in her complaint, said that the observer had promised to hand over her answer sheet to the invigilator and before that, she had put her thumb impression in the answer sheet and added that in the uploaded answer sheet by the NTA, her thumb impression was missing.

The girl student also complained that she had left 15 questions unanswered in the OMR sheet but in the NTA released sheet, it was seen that all those questions were answered.

Tirunelveli junction police is investigating the case and when contacted the SHO said that the probe is on.
Bengaluru, Oct 19 : Karnataka Police has formed a special team to probe the attack on a police officer on duty in Kadugondanahalli police station.

Police sub-inspector, Imran Khan Ali, attached to Govindapura police station, was attacked by a gang of miscreants on Sunday night.

He was attacked by a gang of four to five persons while he was checking the movement of suspicious vehicles during his night duty.

They got down from a car stopped by the sub-inspector, and suddenly attacked him.

Deputy Comissioner of Police (DCP)(East), S.D. Sharanappa, said that the search is on for the accused persons and the special team formed will arrest the culprits soon.

However, the reason for the attack is not known yet.

Ali suffered injuries on his face and other parts of his body and is undergoing treatment in a hospital.

A few years ago, some miscreants had stabbed a lady sub-inspector while she was inspecting vehicles in the same area.

Further investigation is underway.
Washington, Oct 19 : After endorsing both Moderna and Johnson & Johnson's Covid booster doses last week, the US Food and Drug Administration is now planning to grant a go ahead for 'mix-and-match' approach for the third jab.

The FDA is expected to allow the mix-and-match approach by Wednesday evening, which will then be handed to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and its vaccine advisory committee, who will make their own decision, New York Times reported.

The CDC's next vaccine advisory meeting is scheduled for October 20-21 where it is expected to discuss the boosters. By the end of the week, more Americans could be eligible for extra shots, the report said.

Last week, FDA's Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee conducted a two-day meeting to discuss data on the safety and effectiveness of Moderna and Johnson & Johnson's booster shot in adults and approved them.

The US regulators had, earlier this month, authorised Covid booster shots of Pfizer. However, unlike for Pfizer, Moderna has been recommended for only half-dose booster to bolster protection against the virus.

The mix-and-match approach may help those who got the first Covid jab of Johnson & Johnson vaccine and provide flexibility to doctors and other vaccinators, NYT reported.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government's top infectious disease expert, publicly suggested Sunday that the government was headed toward granting greater leeway, at least for Johnson & Johnson recipients. "I believe there's going to be a degree of flexibility of what a person who got the J&J originally can do, either with J&J or with the mix-and-match from other products," he said on Fox News Sunday.

In the two-day meeting, the FDA panel also discussed the results of a preliminary study of a US trial on mixing Covid-19 vaccines as part of a booster programme -- a practice that some experts believe could boost a person's immune response and ease logistical challenges in rolling out boosters.

According to people familiar with the agency's planning, while the government will not recommend one shot over another, vaccine providers could use their discretion to offer a different brand, a freedom that state health officials have been requesting for weeks, it added.

A study led by the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) presented to the FDA's advisory panel last week, showed that people who have taken Johnson and Johnson's Covid vaccine will have better results with a booster shot of either Pfizer or Moderna, more than the same vaccine.

Officials have noted that the federal government will cover the cost of a different vaccine as a booster only if the FDA authorises the approach, the report said.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Addis Ababa, Oct 19 : The Ethiopian federal government has refuted the alleged airstrike targeting civilian areas in the Tigray region's capital Mekelle and its surroundings.

The accusation was made by Getachew Reda, executive committee member and spokesperson for the outlawed the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), in a Twitter post that the alleged airstrike on Monday attacked "civilian targets in and outside Mekelle", reports Xinhua news agency The Ethiopian federal government, however, refuted the accusation.

Legesse Tulu, Ethiopian government spokesperson said the federal government would not attack its own city.

Meanwhile, the Ethiopian government on Monday disclosed that at least 30 civilians were killed due to an attack by rebel forces.

According to a statement by the Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, forces loyal to the TPLF had recently launched fresh attacks on Amhara and Afar regions, neighbouring the Tigray region, "plundering property and starving children, mothers, and the elderly to death".

"They have indiscriminately targeted and shelled civilian villages namely Chifra and Wuchale lately and killed more than 30 civilians at Wuchale alone," the statement read.

The government also expressed its concern over lack of response from the international community in condemning the perpetuated atrocities of the TPLF.

The House of People's Representatives, the lower house of Parliament, had previously designated the TPLF as a terrorist organization.

Since the early hours of November 4, 2020, the Ethiopian government has been undertaking military operations against the TPLF.

The Ethiopian government had previously assigned an interim administration in Tigray after the ouster of the TPLF, which used to rule the region.

However, the government in late June announced a unilateral ceasefire in the country's conflict-affected northernmost Tigray regional state.

Forces loyal to the TPLF soon took control of much of the area in the region, including Mekelle.
Tehran, Oct 19 : Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said that Washington should show its seriousness on the revival of the Iran nuclear deal by lifting anti-Iran sanctions.

"We are serious about outcome-oriented negotiations, and there must be a sign on the other side that is serious about lifting the sanctions," Raisi said in an interview with Iran's state TV.

In the negotiations that took place a few days ago in Tehran with the representatives of the European Union (EU), the Iranian side said that the Islamic republic is serious, and that seriousness should be seen in the other side, he said, stressing that "these oppressive sanctions must be lifted", reports Xinhua news agency.

"We are committed to what we said," Raisi referred to his administration's pledges to resume nuclear talks aimed at the restoration of 2015 nuclear deal, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

"We had said that when the government is established, work (on nuclear talks) will be maintained and now work is pursued through the Foreign Ministry," he noted.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh, said on Monday that Iran and the EU will continue discussions on JCPOA topics in Brussels in the coming days.

According to western media, the recent talks between the EU and Iran are aimed to bring Washington and Tehran back to compliance with the accord.

The nuclear talks, which began in April in Vienna and continued for six rounds until June, sought to persuade Washington back into the deal and urge Iran to assume compliance with some of its commitments dropped after former U. President Donald Trump unilaterally abandoned the accord in 2018 and reimposed sanctions on Iran.
Seoul, Oct 19 : The intelligence chiefs of South Korea, the US and Japan met here on Tuesday and discussed North Korea's firing of what appeared to be a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) toward the East Sea earlier in the day, Seoul's state spy agency said.

On Tuesday morning, North Korea fired the short-range missile from the vicinity of Sinpo, where its main submarine shipyard is located, according to the South Korean military.

It marked the North's eighth known major missile test this year, Yonhap News Agency reported.

The North's latest show of force came as Avril Haines, the US director of national intelligence, and Hiroaki Takizawa, Japan's Cabinet intelligence director, were in Seoul for trilateral talks with Park Jie-won, the head of South Korea's National Intelligence Service.

"During the meeting, they had a candid conversation on issues of common interest, including the security situation surrounding the Korean Peninsula," the spy agency said in a statement.

"The top intel officials also shared information on North Korea's short-range missile launch and assessed the situation." On Monday, Park held bilateral talks with his US and Japanese counterparts.

The firing came amid a flurry of diplomatic activities to resume the long-stalled denuclearization talks, with top nuclear envoys of South Korea, the US and Japan in Washington to discuss ways for the resumption of dialogue.

During Tuesday's meeting, the three intel chiefs also discussed economic security issues, such as the global supply chain disruptions and tech leakage, and vowed to strengthen their trilateral intelligence cooperation, according to the agency.

The trilateral meeting also drew attention to Tokyo's new policy direction on North Korea, as Takizawa's Seoul visit was his first since Japan's new Prime Minister Fumio Kishida took office earlier this month.

The three last held such a trilateral meeting in May in Tokyo.
Hyderabad, Oct 19 : Samantha Ruth Prabhu is in demand. After signing up for two films, she is said to be in talks with the Telugu OTT platform Aha for an upcoming venture.

Earlier, Aha had Samantha host a celebrity talk show titled 'Sam Jam', where the actress engaged with her celebrity guests in conversations that became instant hits. Reports now suggest that is planning a bigger association with Samantha.

The plan is to roll out a web series with the actress playing a central role in it. She was last seen playing Tamil Eelam militant in the popular web series, The Family Man 2, where she impressed audiences with both her acting skills and her action sequences.

Samantha's upcoming movies include a love story under Shantharuban's direction. She has also signed for another movie to be made by director duo Hari and Harish. And now, if the makers of Aha's untitled web series get a nod from Samantha, they propose to start shooting as early as possible.

The actress, meanwhile, has wrapped up shooting for the talkie part of Gunasekhar's mythological magnum opus, 'Shaakunthalam'. The dubbing of the film has been wrapped up and the makers are now busy with the post-production formalities.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Patna, Oct 19 : The Begusarai Police have booked four minors on the charge of looting a polling booth during the district panchayat elections, a police official said.

The four minors appeared before the Begusarai Additional Sessions Judge Court on Monday. All are said to be natives of Rajaura village panchayat under the Sadar block in Begusarai district.

The four are aged from 7 to 9 years. They are facing charges of looting the booth, threatening people to vote for a particular candidate and physically assaulting villagers of Rajaura panchayat. The officials of Mufassil police station served a notice to the families of the children to appear before a local court.

The families of the four claimed that some officials deliberately booked their children for looting a polling booth to help their neighbours.

"We have a dispute with our neighbours who influenced some officials of Mufassil police station to book my son. They want to ruin the future of our children. Hence, they have conspired against us using their contacts with police officials," said Manan Rai, father of one of the children.

When contacted, Awakash Kumar, Begusarai Superintendent of Police, told IANS, "The police officials have registered an FIR against the minors. As the matter came to our knowledge, we immediately directed senior officials to investigate this case. After the investigation, the names of the minors were removed from the FIR." "We have initiated an enquiry against the officials involved in wrongdoing and dragging the names of minors in the FIR," the SP said.
Agartala/Guwahati, Oct 19 : Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb on Tuesday urged the Bangladesh government to protect the lives, properties and religious places of the minorities in that country.

While addressing the media, the Chief Minister said that it seems like the fundamentalist forces as part of their pre-planned conspiracies, have attacked the minorities and vandalised the idols and pandals of Durga Puja festivities, which ended last week.

"The recent incidents are very shameful. I trust the Bangladesh administration. They will deal with the situation effectively. The friendship between India and Bangladesh is very old. We should keep it up. Fundamentalist or any other forces should not be allowed to destroy these relations," he said.

Deb spoke to the Indian High Commissioner in Bangladesh, Vikram K. Doraiswami, last week.

Talking about their conversation, a source close to the CM told IANS, "Doraiswami informed Deb that he and other Indian officials in various diplomatic missions in Bangladesh have visited different places to know the details of the incidents at the ground level." Many other organisations, intellectuals, political parties and NGOs in Assam and Tripura have condemned and organised protest rallies against the violent incidents in Bangladesh.

Different organisations and intellectuals met Bangladesh Assistant High Commissioners in Agartala and Guwahati and urged them to request their government to ensure action against those who attacked the minorities, vandalised Durga Puja pandals and properties belonging to the non-Muslim families.

As per media reports, the mob violence erupted in Comilla earlier last week, after unconfirmed posts went viral on social media about the alleged desecration of the Quran at a Durga Puja venue, following which Hindu temples were vandalised.

A large number of people have been detained in Chandpur, Chittagong and other places in connection with the cases filed over the attacks on Durga Puja pandals and clashes between the police and a mob in Chandpur's Hajiganj sub-district which left four persons dead.

Incidents of violence were also reported from Hajiganj, Chandpur, Noakhali, Cox's Bazaar, Chattogram, Chapainawabganj, Pabna, Moulvibazara, Kurigram and several other places.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has promised strong action against those involved in provoking communal disturbances by spreading fake photos of the Quran being placed at the feet of a Hindu deity at a Comilla temple during Durga Puja.
Congress party will give 40% ticket to women in UP Vidhan Sabha elections, Thousands of women jumped on hearing this announcement. Image Source: IANS News

Congress party will give 40% ticket to women in UP Vidhan Sabha elections, Thousands of women jumped on hearing this announcement. Image Source: IANS News

Congress party will give 40% ticket to women in UP Vidhan Sabha elections, Thousands of women jumped on hearing this announcement. Image Source: IANS News

Congress party will give 40% ticket to women in UP Vidhan Sabha elections, Thousands of women jumped on hearing this announcement. Image Source: IANS News

Congress party will give 40% ticket to women in UP Vidhan Sabha elections, Thousands of women jumped on hearing this announcement. Image Source: IANS News

Congress party will give 40% ticket to women in UP Vidhan Sabha elections, Thousands of women jumped on hearing this announcement. Image Source: IANS News

Congress party will give 40% ticket to women in UP Vidhan Sabha elections, Thousands of women jumped on hearing this announcement. Image Source: IANS News

Congress party will give 40% ticket to women in UP Vidhan Sabha elections, Thousands of women jumped on hearing this announcement. Image Source: IANS News

Congress party will give 40% ticket to women in UP Vidhan Sabha elections, Thousands of women jumped on hearing this announcement. Image Source: IANS News

Lucknow, Oct 19 : In a major decision that could prove to be a game-changer for the Congress, in particular and, Indian politics, in general, Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, on Tuesday, announced that her party would give 40 per cent tickets to women in the upcoming Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh.

She said that all women who want to bring about a change in the system, are welcome to come forward and contest elections.

"Any woman who wants to contest can give an application till October 15," she announced at a press conference.

Priyanka said the decision was for the woman named Paro, who had held her hand in Prayagraj and had said that she wanted to join politics.

"This decision is for Vaishnavi in Chandauli and the sisters-in-law of two rape victims of Hathras and Unnao, who are fighting for justice and against the system.

"This is for every woman who wants to be heard -- whether it is Laxmi Valmiki of Lucknow who wants to be a doctor, the daughter of journalist Raman Kashyap who was killed in Lakhimpur Kheri violence.

"This is also for two women constables -- Madhu and Pooja, who arrested me in Sitapur and were with me till 4.a.m. Power today amounts to trampling over the weaker sections of society, primarily women," Priyanka said.

She said that women were not only stronger but more compassionate and sensitive and could bring a change in the political system.

Asked whether the same formula of 40 per cent reservation for women would be extended to the Congress-ruled states, including Punjab, Priyanka said, "I am in charge of UP and we have taken this decision here. If they (Punjab), they are welcome to implement the formula." She said that women were being divided on the basis of caste which weakened their battle for justice.

"A woman's struggle is not limited to a gas cylinder or Rs 2,000. It goes beyond that. We have to rise above the shackles of casteism and communalism and come together as a group," she said.

Priyanka, when asked whether wives and daughters of leaders would not take advantage of this reservation, said, "What is wrong with that if it leads to empowerment. In Amethi, a village pradhan's wife contested and won elections. After some months, he met me and said that his wife has started making decisions in the house as well. This is empowerment." She said the Congress would help women fight elections and next time, they will be stronger. She further said that the candidates would be decided on the basis of merit.

Priyanka, however, parried questions about the chief ministerial candidate of the Congress in Uttar Pradesh and whether she would contest elections.

"These issues will be decided later and we will let you know," she stated.

Talking about the opposition onslaught on her, Priyanka said, "The other parties should get more creative when they attack me. Political tourist and Twitter leader have become stale," she said.
Seoul, Oct 19 : North Korea fired what appears to be a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) toward the East Sea on Tuesday, the South Korean military said, in yet another setback to Seoul's efforts for peace with Pyongyang.

The short-range missile was launched from waters east of Sinpo, a city on the North's east coast, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS).

The launch was detected at 10.17 a.m., Yonhap News Agency reported.

The missile travelled about 590 km at a top altitude of around 60 km, an informed source said, noting the possibility that the North might have used a submarine as a launch platform this time.

The North previously conducted an SLBM test in 2015 and 2019. The South's military believes that it used a barge rather than a submarine during the past tests.

Officials said that Tuesday's launch came after South Korean and US intelligence authorities had detected signs of a possible weapons test near Sinpo, where the North has been pushing to build a 3,200-tonne submarine capable of SLBM operations.

"The intelligence authorities of South Korea and the US are currently conducting a thorough analysis regarding additional details on the missile," the JCS said.

The North's latest missile test marks its eighth known projectile launch this year.

It previously fired a new hypersonic missile, called the Hwasong-8, on September 28.

The US Indo-Pacific Command condemned the missile launch, calling on the North to refrain from "any further destabilising acts".

China called for concerned countries to exert "restraint", saying the situation on the Korean Peninsula stands at a critical period.

North Korea watchers cited a possibility that a new, small-sized SLBM, capable of striking targets in the South or Japan, might have been fired from a 2,000-tonne submarine on Tuesday.

The North displayed a mini-SLBM at a defence exhibition in Pyongyang last week.

In recent years, Pyongyang has boasted its development of various SLBMs, including the "Pukguksong-4" and the "Pukguksong-5", which were unveiled during military parades in October last year and January, respectively.
Hyderabad, Oct 19 : Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) Working President K.T. Rama Rao on Tuesday alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress are colluding in the upcoming by-elections in Huzurabad Assembly constituency.

He claimed that the Congress party fielded a 'dummy' candidate, who is a non-local, only to benefit the BJP.

While speaking to the media, Rao said the two parties had joined hands in Huzurabad like they had done in Nizamabad and Karimnagar Lok Sabha constituencies during the 2019 elections.

The BJP and the Congress had colluded in these two constituencies leading to the defeat of the TRS. Both the Lok Sabha constituencies were won by the BJP, he added.

KTR, as Rama Rao is popularly known, exuded confidence that despite the conspiracy of the Congress and the BJP, the TRS would win the Huzurabad bypoll scheduled on October 30.

He challenged state Congress President A. Revanth Reddy to save the deposit of his party candidate in Huzurabad. He wondered why the Congress leader was not campaigning in the bypoll.

KTR also announced that he would not campaign for the bypoll and said he had not campaigned in Dubbaka and Nagarjuna Sagar bypolls. He said Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao's tour to the Assembly constituency was not yet finalised.

KTR reiterated that Huzurabad bypoll is a minor election for the TRS. He said the victory of TRS was not news for the media as it was accustomed to the series of election victories of the TRS since 2018 Assembly polls.

he said the TRS would clearly win the Huzurabad seat. "We defeated a senior leader like Congress veteran Jana Reddy in Nagarjuna Sagar bypoll. Is BJP's Eatala Rajender a bigger leader than Jana Reddy," he asked.

Rajender is contesting the bypoll as a BJP candidate. He resigned from the TRS and the Huzurabad Assembly seat after he was dropped from state Cabinet following allegations of land grabbing.

KTR said Rajender was not telling people why he resigned. He also claimed that Rajender and the BJP have not accepted each other.
Canberra, Oct 19 : Coronavirus restrictions in the Australian capital will be further eased after it reached the 80 per cent vaccine milestone, authorities said on Tuesday.

The Australian Capital Territory (ACT) became the country's first jurisdiction to hit 80 perc ent double-dose vaccination coverage among those aged above 12, reports Xinhua news agency.

As a result, non-essential retail in Canberra will be allowed to open on Friday for the first time since August 12 in a major boost for the ACT's economy.

"Reaching the 80 per cent milestone is a significant achievement," the ACT government said in a statement on Tuesday.

"Canberrans should be really proud of how our community has worked together and given us the best opportunity to manage the expected increase in cases as the nation starts to reopen.

"We are now well on our way to having close to 99 per cent of the eligible population fully vaccinated by the end of November," the statement added.

Under further changes to the ACT's reopening roadmap, hospitality venues will be allowed to have up to 300 patrons from October 29 and face masks will no longer be mandatory outdoors.

Quarantine-free travel between the ACT and New South Wales (NSW) will resume from November 1.

"This means that ACT residents will not have quarantine when they return to the territory from any part of NSW, including Greater Sydney," ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr said.

On Tuesday morning, 2,046 new cases and 15 deaths were reported in Australia as the country continues to battle the third wave of infections.

So far, about 84.8 per cent of Australians aged 16 and over had received one coronavirus vaccine dose and 68.3 per cent were fully inoculated, according to the latest data released by the Department of Health.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Islamabad, Oct 19 : Pakistani Nobel Laureate Malala Yousafzai has called on the Taliban leadership in Afghanistan to re-open secondary schools for girls with immediate affect. She put forward this demand in an open letter addressed to the new rulers of the war-torn nation.

"To the Taliban authorities.. reverse the de factor ban on girls' education and re-open girls' secondary schools immediately," Yousafzai and other Afghan women rights activists wrote in the open letter.

The Pakistani activist was shot in the head by Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants in her hometown of Swat Valley in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in 2012 for being the promoter and supporter of female education.

Her open letter comes after a month since the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan. Since then, the Taliban leaders have maintained that they will be allowing girl education in the country.

However, the Taliban have allowed only boys education institutions to open and have ignored re-opening of girls' schools.

Even though the Taliban leadership promises to provide all rights to education to females in the country including education, many are unsure if this promise would be met.

Yousafzai's demand may have global recognition, and value but it is highly likely that the Taliban may simply ignore it.

The Taliban had also repeatedly threatened Yousafzai and her family and vowed to kill her when possible, accusing her for pushing females to go out of their homes for education, which they claimed was against the teachings of Islam.

The future of female education in Afghanistan remains as one of the prime matters of concerns that the world holds against the Taliban-led government set-up.

The global powers have demanded the Taliban to ensure provision of complete rights to the female including their basic human rights, freedom and education.

The Taliban may have met the global demand in commitments, but no such reflection can be witnessed on ground, as the country remains strict and rigid against allowance of females to leave their homes.

The Afghan government seeks global recognition in order to reopen financial aids to cater to its worsening catastrophic financial and economic situation.

However, the global community has maintained that no recognition can be provided until the Taliban-led government walks the talks and fulfils its commitments, which includes free access to education and basic rights to females in Afghanistan.
Chennai, Oct 19 : DMK MP Kanimozhi and others on Tuesday roasted food delivery company Zomato after one of its customer care agents told a complainant that Hindi is the "national language" and everybody should know a bit of it.

"The customer care of some companies operate only in select languages. It should be made mandatory for companies to serve their customers in their local language. A customer doesn't necessarily need to know Hindi or English. Hindi_Theriyathu_Poda," Kanimozhi tweeted without naming the listed company Zomato.

The controversy began after one Vikash with twitter handle @Vikash67456607 tweeted on Monday: "Ordered food in zomato and an item was missed. Customer care says amount can't be refunded as I didn't know Hindi. Also takes lesson that being an Indian I should know Hindi. Tagged me a liar as he didn't know Tamil. @zomato not the way you talk to a customer. @zomatocare." Posting the screen shots of his conversation with the Zomato's customer care agent, Vikash had also tagged Kanimozhi and others.

The Zomato's customer care agent, who had conversed with Vikash in a polite manner, said there was a language barrier and said, "For your kind information Hindi is our national language. So it is very common that everybody should know Hindi little bit." Several others too roasted Zomato and said they have uninstalled the app while some also took potshots at DMK pointing out that many of its leaders run schools that teach Hindi.

Be that as it may, Zomato on its part apologising to Vikash, said it had fired that agent and added that it is building a Tamil app and in the process of setting up a Tamil call/support centre in Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu.

"We understand food and language are core to any local culture and we take both of them seriously," Zomato tweeted in reply to Vikash.
Canberra, Oct 19 : Plastic waste accounts for more tha 80 per cent of all rubbish found across Australian beaches, A study based on one of the largest marine debris databases in the southern hemisphere revealed on Tuesday.

More than 2,000 organizations and 150,000 volunteer rubbish beachcombers helped compile the Australian Marine Debris Initiative (AMDI) based on collecting and sifting through almost 20 million pieces of discarded plastic, glass, rubber, metal, and paper, reports Xinhua news agency.

The Tangaroa Blue Foundation (TBF), an environmental organisation dedicated to the removal of marine debris, began the massive database in 2004.

Now researchers from the Centre for Marine Science and Innovation at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) have worked with TBF to analyse 10 years of the database to create a national map of patterns in marine debris.

Their findings unveiled on Tuesday and published in Science of the Total Environment, noted that almost half the debris was from sources such as general litter while 7 percent was from rubbish dumped at sea washing back onto the shore.

The researchers also noted the mountainous presence of plastic dwarfed other waste items, and said about 42 per cent of the plastic debris could not even be traced back to its source due to having broken down into minute fragments, known as microplastics.

TBF chief executive officer Heidi Tait, who co-authored the study, said the findings would be an effective way to monitor if international efforts to reduce plastic were working.

"We need to be really targeted in what changes are put in place to mitigate marine debris, and we need to monitor to make sure we are actually solving the problem," Tait said.
New Delhi, Oct 19 : To effectively curb the attacks on civilians in Kashmir, a specialised group of central police agencies will now lead the counter terror operations in coordination with the Indian Army and state police, government sources said here on Tuesday.

This group will consist of officials from the Intelligence agency, National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the officials from the central security forces, who have started working on a plan to nab the terrorists who killed 11 civilians in the last 16 days.

According to sources, this team will scan all the FIRs lodged earlier against the local youths and who were involved in the incidents like stone pelting and over ground workers or groups of local Kashmiris who had links with the terror cadres or sympathisers.

The intelligence inputs and preliminary enquiries of these killings have revealed that these incidents were carried out in the lone wolf attack manner, therefore, the team will scan the details of those youths who were pardoned in stone pelting incidents in the past.

During 2014 - 2018 over 4,000 youths, who were first-time offenders in the stone pelting cases were pardoned by the Jammu and Kashmir government. Sleuths from the central agencies are now seeking details of their whereabouts and are tracking their activities in the last six weeks, the sources added.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) is most likely to hand over the probe of recent civilian killings in Kashmir to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) as the probe so far indicates a definite pattern which is leading to the terror angle.

The killing of civilians in the valley was also discussed threadbare in the National Security Strategy Conference held on Monday wherein Union Home Minister Amit Shah deliberated on the issues with all security stakeholders of J&K.

The civilian killings in Kashmir have sent wrong signals in the valley and most of the migrant labourers and non-Kashmiris are leaving the valley, which has led to a general sense of fear even among the local residents also.

These terror attacks have also spread fear among the Kashmiris Pandits who were willing to return to Kashmir after government initiatives.

"The NIA will take over the probe in cases of Kashmiri Pandit and Pharmaceutical dealer Makhan Lal Bindroo, a Bihari street vendor Virendra Paswan and the other labourers," the officials further added.

The Union Home Minister Amit Shah is likely to visit J&K from October 23 to 25 to review the security and developmental projects and the killings of the innocent civilians would be raised during his proposed meeting with local delegations.
Chennai, Oct 19 : A fisherman from Pudukottai district went missing after falling into the sea, while two others were arrested when their boat was intercepted by a Sri Lankan naval vessel at mid-sea.

Officials said that the incident occurred on Monday when the three fishermen, Rajkiran (30), Suganthan (23), Arockia Xavier (32) ventured into the sea near the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) at Katchatheevu.

Spotting the Sri Lankan naval vessel, the fishermen tried to escape. However, two fishermen were detained by the Sri Lankan Navy while Rajkiran fell into the sea.

A statement from the Sri Lankan Navy said that it has "rescued" two Indian fishermen from a sinking vessel while they were "poaching" in Sri Lankan waters, but a third fisherman had gone missing following the incident and the Navy is searching for him.

The statement said that the Navy was engaged in "chasing away" Indian trawlers, and one vessel with "aggressive manoeuvres" resisted the chase which resulted in a collision with the naval vessel.

The statement added that the two "rescued" fishermen were in naval custody and were detained in Kankesanthurai in Jaffna.

Tensions between Indian and Sri Lankan fishermen and Indian fishermen and the Sri Lankan Navy have been on the rise for the past one year in the Palk Straits.

Northern Sri Lankan fishermen had complained against Indian fishermen "poaching" in Sri Lankan waters and had written a letter to the Indian government to take immediate action against those venturing into Sri Lankan waters crossing the IMBL.

Earlier, in January, four fishermen from Tamil Nadu, Samson Darwin (28), A. Mesiya (30), V. Nagaraj (52) and S. Senthilkumar (32), who had set sail from Pudukottai on January 18, 2021, died allegedly after their boat sank when the Sri Lankan Navy tried to arrest them.

Fishermen of the hamlet alleged that they were beaten to death by the Sri Lankan Navy for crossing the IMBL.

The then AIADMK government had announced a compensation of Rs 10 lakh to the families of each of the fishermen who died.
Kolkata, Oct 19 : Considering the crucial Municipal Corporation elections likely at the end of this year, the BJP in West Bengal might go through a major organisational reshuffle just after the festive season. Preference is likely to be given to youth and pro-RSS leaders.

There are strong indications that the party which is struggling to hold back its own members particularly in South Bengal is likely to give more importance to the leadership from North Bengal where the saffron brigade has performed better.

Sources in the party indicated that the high command is not at all happy with the present performance of the arty and so they are willing to bring in young leaders which might give a different look to the party and so leaders who are close to RSS like Debojit Sarkar, Dr Indranil Khan, Loknath Chattopadhyay and Debtanu Bhattacharya might get important positions in the state committee.

Speculations are also rife that all the four state secretaries except Jyotirmoy Singh Mahato, who is from North Bengal, might be replaced.

Highly placed sources in the party indicated that leaders like Tushar Ghosh, Debasree Chowdhury who have long association with RSS might come to the state committee.

The new state president of the BJP, Sukanta Majumdar will start extensive visits across districts after October 20, 2021. In the first round, he will conduct organisational meetings in 20 districts. Sources said that more than 50 per cent of district presidents will be changed.

Not only at the state level but the party is likely to make major changes in the district level too. There are 39 organisational districts which are headed by a district presidents. Sources said that after the posts of the general secretaries, the posts of branch organisations of the party youth wing, peasants' wing, women's wing and minority wings, are extremely crucial. Sources said that the defunct district president will surely be replaced. And new faces from the young generation will be roped in there.

"All the changes will be as per the constitutional provisions. The new committee will be formed according to the advice of our central leadership. The final decision of the changes will be taken by the central leadership of the party only," a senior party leader said.

As the corporation election is round the corner and so the party is concentrating on Howrah and Kolkata. The focus will be on Howrah and Kolkata, which are heading for municipal corporation elections. Sources said that the North Kolkata district president, Shibaji Sinharoy might be replaced by Sajal Ghosh and Indrajit Khatik might become the new south Kolkata district president.
Patna, Oct 19 : By-elections for the Kusheshwar Asthan and Tarapur Assembly seats may turn to be a cakewalk for Bihar's ruling Janata Dal-United JD-U as the opposition RJD and Congress are more busy fighting each other.

Congress' Bihar in-charge Bhakta Charan Das accused the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) of having an "undisclosed pact" with the BJP in the by-election.

"Tejashwi Yadav, the son of Lalu Prasad, has taken away the right of Congress by fielding RJD candidates from both Kusheshwar Asthan and Tarapur. He has violated the coalition pact with us. We demanded one seat of Kusheshwar Asthan where we have strong ground support but he denied us," he said.

"As he has not conceded one seat to the Congress, it means that he does not want the 19 seats of Congress to form the government. It clearly indicates that RJD has an undisclosed alliance with the BJP to form the government in Bihar. We have fought against the BJP but they (RJD) are compromising their ideology to come into power," he added.

Hitting back, RJD Rajya Sabha member Manoj K. Jha accused Das of "not knowing the ground reality of Bihar".

"Das is a drawing room politician who has no knowledge of the sacrifices of Lalu Prasad and Rabri Devi. He has made unacceptable comments against the RJD. He has given statement without being briefed by other leaders of the state," he said.

"There were so many Chief Ministers of Congress in Bihar but no one had taken strong decisions like Lalu ji by arresting L.K. Advani (during his Ayodhya Rathyatra)," Jha added.
Washington, Oct 19 : NASA telescopes have captured the colourful blast of a stellar explosion thousands of years ago, shedding new light on the evolution of such cosmic remains.

The stellar remnant -- formally known as G344.7-0.1 -- that is located roughly 19,600 light years from Earth, is believed to be between 3,000 and 6,000 years old, according to a statement from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory.

Data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and Spitzer Space Telescope, along with the National Science Foundation's Very Large Array and the Australia Telescope Compact Array, captured views of the stellar remnant in X-ray, infrared and radio wavelengths, Space.com reported.

The new view of G344.7-0.1 shows that stellar debris expands outward after the initial stellar explosion, then encounters resistance from surrounding gas. This resistance slows down the debris, creating a reverse shock wave that travels back towards the centre of the explosion, heating the surrounding debris in its path, according to the statement.

"This process is analogous to a traffic jam on a highway, where as time passes an increasing number of cars will stop or slow down behind the accident, causing the traffic jam to travel backwards," Chandra personnel wrote in the statement.

"The reverse shock heats the debris to millions of degrees, causing it to glow in X-rays." In addition, the Chandra X-ray data revealed the supernova remnant contains iron near its core, which is surrounded by arc-like structures containing silicon.

The data, published in The Astrophysical Journal, shows that the regions containing iron were more recently heated by the reverse shock wave, supporting Type Ia supernova models that predict heavier elements, like iron, are produced at the centre of these stellar explosions.
Amaravati, Oct 19 : Telugu Desam Party (TDP) supremo N. Chandrababu Naidu on Tuesday shot off a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking the inclusion of caste data in the census.

In his letter, the former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister noted that such a census is essential for the progress of the Backward Castes (BCs).

The BCs comprise the majority of India's population but are not receiving benefits proportional to their numbers, he said.

The first BC commission, in 1953, and subsequently several other national and state BC commissions had recommended enumeration of BCs in the national census, he noted.

"There is speculation that a caste census would further deepen the social divisions and promote discrimination. However, the exclusion of caste data can be as unjust as caste-based discrimination. Lack of data will only result in inefficient policies and weak implementation of schemes meant for the welfare and development of BCs," he said.

Naidu said that BCs remain in poverty due to lack of sufficient data, although several government policies have been formulated for their welfare.
Visakhapatnam, Oct 19 : As the protest against the central government's move to divest its stake in the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant entered the 250th day on Tuesday, the plant protection committee representatives and trade union leaders embarked on a 25-hour hunger strike.

Around 250 persons gathered at the plant's Kummanapalem Gate around 8 a.m. to participate in the strike. The move is aimed at communicating the employees' sentiments to the union government.

The Centre's move has been opposed by employees as well as political parties in the state. The state government had passed a resolution opposing it in the Assembly.

The anti-privatisation protest by employees and trade unions was launched in February, and has been continuing ever since. Representatives of the steel plant protection committee have stated that they will continue the agitation till the government withdraws the privatisation plans.
New Delhi, Oct 19 : US politicians warned they are on course to lose a 'new Cold War' following reports China secretly flew a nuclear-capable missile around the world, Daily Mail reported.

The Long March hypersonic rocket, which can travel at five times the speed of sound, is said to have touched down 24 miles from its target during a test flight in August. Beijing has played down the row, claiming the launch was just a 'routine test' of a new 'space vehicle'.

Yet US disarmament ambassador Robert Wood on Monday said they were 'very concerned', adding: "We don't know how we can defend against that type of technology", the report said.

Congressman Mike Gallagher blasted the US government for 'complacency', saying: "This test should serve as a call to action. If we stick to our current course... we will lose the new Cold War." "This test should serve as a call to action. If we stick to our current complacent course -- or place our hopes in bankrupt buzzwords like "integrated deterrence" -- we will lose the New Cold War with Communist China within the decade", he added.

"The People's Liberation Army now has an increasingly credible capability to undermine our missile defenses and threaten the American homeland with both conventional and nuclear strikes. Even more disturbing is the fact that American technology has contributed to the PLA's hypersonic missile program", he said.

Gallagher said the US government has long failed to apply maximum pressure against the Chinese Communist Party's Military-Civil Fusion strategy. With our homeland now exposed, in part, by advanced technology derived from Military-Civil Fusion, we need to aggressively decouple from anything associated with Military-Civil Fusion.

"We must end joint ventures, investments, and research collaborations that involve areas associated with Military-Civil Fusion. We also need to stop the flow of Wall Street capital into Chinese tech.

"American entities have a clear choice: they can side with our country, or they can side with the genocidal communist regime that now threatens our cities. They can't do both. It is time to choose", he added.

Until Monday morning, few people outside of the military, intelligence and security services, and the defence industry had heard of hypersonic missiles or had a clue as to what they were or their significance.

The revelation that China has tested such a missile - and that it was nuclear-capable - has sent shock waves around the world, Daily Mail reported.

"China is not alone but it has shown it is far more advanced than the West suspected. Now Washington and other world capitals are waking up to the implications of Beijing possessing a missile that can circle the globe at five times the speed of sound - and can sneak under the radar of US anti-missile defences", the report said.

In the space of a week that complacency has been rocked to its core. Even before the news of the Chinese hypersonic test, Nicolas Chaillan, the Pentagon's former chief software officer, warned that Beijing is heading for global dominance because of its advances in artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning and cyber capabilities - and that gap was growing, the report said.

Global Times reported that Chinese experts said that the West is getting nervous as they have underestimated China's space capability for a very long time. So when China shows its advanced space technology - even though it's for peaceful use - some Western media will try to hype the "China threat theory," because they believe that as long as non-Western countries acquire advanced space technology, the US' hegemony in using space for non-peaceful purposes will be threatened.

"If the US launches a space arms race, non-Western powers like China and Russia would be forced to turn their advanced capabilities into military use for strategic deterrence and self-defense, experts said", Global Times reported.

(Sanjeev Sharma can be reached at Sanjeev.s@ians.in)
New York, Oct 19 : Former US President Donald Trump's presidential website was hacked and defaced, media reports said.

According to Newsweek, website visitors were brought to a page that had been taken over by Turkish hacktivist group RootAyyildiz on Monday morning.

"Do not be like those who forgot Allah, so Ally made them forget themselves. Here they really went astray," the site read.

The message was also written in Turkish.

Links to the hackers' Instagram and Facebook accounts were also listed on the webpage.

The report mentioned that RootAyyildiz has claimed responsibility for a number of other cyberattacks targeting politicians around the world.

A declassified report released by the National Intelligence Council in March listed the group's hack on the Biden-Harris presidential campaign website, which lasted more than a day.

"In November, hackers promoting Turkish nationalist themes breached and defaced a website previously established for a candidate in the US presidential campaign, according to US cybersecurity press," the NIC stated in the report.

Biden's website displayed a message in Turkish with the country's flag and a photo of the 34th Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, Abdul Hamid II.

Trump's "about" section of his website was also hacked back in October 2020, the report said.

The page was replaced with one that claimed the site had been "seized" and listed a series of allegations claiming his administration was responsible for the coronavirus pandemic and foreign interference in the 2020 elections.
New Delhi, Oct 19 : A man allegedly stabbed a woman to death on Matiala Road in Delhi's Dwarka area, official sources said on Tuesday.

According to sources, the accused was a former boyfriend of the 22-year-old victim. The incident occurred on Monday evening when the suspect contacted the victim through common friends and called her to meet him.

Family sources said the victim left the house before 12 a.m, informing her parents that she will stay at her friend's place.

As she met the accused, in a fit of anger he allegedly stabbed the woman multiple times. She was rushed to a nearby hospital where she was declared brought dead due to excessive blood loss.

Sources said the woman and the accused were earlier in a relationship, however, they broke up some time ago. Preliminary investigation revealed that the suspect committed the murder after facing rejection by the woman. "More angles to the crime are being investigated," they added.

Family sources said that three youth had been harassing the girl for some time. "A manhunt has been launched to nab all accused," official sources added.

According to recent data released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), the national capital recorded the highest number of crimes against women among all metropolitan cities in the country.
Colombo, Oct 19 : Aiming to attract investment from India and other neighbouring countries, Sri Lanka has decided to remove prevailing monopoly which allows only one heavy industry in a specific field to be established in Sri Lanka's North-eastern Trincomalee port.

The Cabinet approval has been given to the Trincomalee Harbour Development Plan which was prepared to develop one of world's largest natural harbours as a centre port in the proximity of the Bay of Bengal. The Sri Lankan government said on Tuesday the move was designed with the accelerated development of eastern costal area of India, Bangladesh and Myanmar.

"At present, there is a policy to implement only one heavy industry in a specific field in one harbour. The natural situation of Trincomalee harbour, the land area of 2,000 hectares belonging to the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) and in the proximity to the harbour as well as the developed infrastructure facilities to supply services -- these factors have been taken into consideration while preparing this plan," the Cabinet stated.

"It has been recognized that it is appropriate to make available opportunities to investors for establishing industries without special restrictions for the sake of the development of the harbour. The Cabinet granted approval for the proposal submitted by the Minister of Ports and Shipping to amend the policy of one heavy industry to one harbour which is existing at present, with the objective of attracting interested investors to start heavy industries in the harbour," it added.

At present closer to the harbour there are nearly 100 World War-era oil tanks leased out to the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC). Additionally there are also a wheat flour mill run by Singapore-based Prima and a cement grinding plants owned by local and foreign partners.

Situated in the heart of the Indian Ocean, Trincomalee Port had been strategically important. Different nations including the Portuguese, Dutch, French, and the British have held it and in 1942 three British warships, anchored at the harbour, sunk after the attacks by the Imperial Japanese Navy.
New Delhi, Oct 19 : The Delhi High Court has held that default bail is a fundamental right under Article 21 of the Constitution and an undertrial's custody cannot be extended mechanically, even during pandemic times.

Justice Manoj Kumar Ohri, who was hearing the bail plea of a dowry death accused on Sunday, also issued few guidelines considering the seriousness of the issue.

The court concerned shall not mechanically extend the period of custody for a maximum period of 15 days as prescribed under Section 167(2) of the CrPC, he said.

The custody shall be extended while keeping in mind the 60th, 90th or 180th day (depending on the nature of offence and applicability of any Special Act) of completing the investigation and submission of the charge sheet. If these days fall before the maximum extension period of 15 days, then the custody shall be extended only up to the 60th, 90th or 180th day, as may be applicable, another guideline said.

The ruling came in a dowry death case, in which the accused and his family members were booked under the Indian Penal Code's Sections 304B (dowry death) 498A (husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty), 406 (criminal breach of trust), 34 (common intention) on January 16, 2020.

As per the plea, the petitioner was arrested on January 18, 2020 and on being produced before a court the next day, was sent to judicial custody.

His custody was extended from time to time and went beyond the maximum period of his judicial custody which was 90 days.

The plea stated that from March 24 2020, when the Covid-19 lockdown was imposed, the undertrials in judicial custody could not be produced before the courts concerned, and their custody was extended by the Jail Visiting Magistrate.

However, no charge sheet was filed against the accused during these times, advocate Rajesh Anand, who represented the petitioner, argued.

The court also asked the Registrar General of the High Court as well the Director General, Prisons, on the steps undertaken so that an undertrial is informed of his right to seek "default bail" and that such right is not defeated but rather timely exercised.

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-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
October 19 : Vicky Kaushal, who has been getting appreciations for his performance in Sardar Udham, is leaving no stone unturned to promote the film further and instil interest among the viewers. In continuation with that, the actor shared a picture on social media, giving a glimpse of the prosthetic make-up he had undergone for the film.

Taking to his Instagram handle, the Uri: The Surgical Strike actor share a picture of the prosthetic scars on his back and called it cuts that didnt make the cut. Giving credit to the prosthetic make-up artist Peter Gorshenin, Vicky tagged him to the post. The behind-the-scenes picture was from his prep for Sardar Udham, wherein the actor played the revolutionary freedom fighter, Sardar Udham Singh. Sharing the picture, Vicky wrote, Cuts that didnt make the cut. #SardarUdham @pgorshenin. While the post went viral in no time, garnering more than 5 lakh likes, fans poured in comments. Sardar Udham director Shoojit Sircar also commented and wrote, Cuts by @pgorshenin. Many fans believed that the wounds were real. Many fans praised Vickys performance in the film, and wrote, @vickykaushal09 smashed it. Another user wrote, This movie is a rage and a revolution, totally!!! Another netizen was concerned about Vickys rumoured girlfriend Katrina Kaif, and wrote, Katrina ko dukh hoga (Katrina will feel sad).

Image Source: Instagram/vickykaushal09 Vicky Kaushal shows cuts that didnt make the cut

After attending the special screening of the film, Katrina took to Instagram and heaped praises on Vicky. Sharing a picture from the film, Katrina wrote, @shoojitsircar what a vision, such a gripping beautiful film, pure, unadalerated storytelling. @vickykaushal09 is just pure talent, raw, honest, heartbreaking."

Sardar Udham is based on the life of Udham Singh, a revolutionary freedom fighter, known for assassinating Michael O'Dwyer in London to avenge the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre in Amritsar. The film is directed by Shoojit Sircar and produced by Rising Sun Films in collaboration with Kino Works. The film premiered on October 16, 2021 on Amazon Prime Video.

Meanwhile, on the work front, Vicky Kaushal will be seen in Meghna Gulzar's upcoming biopic on Sam Manekshaw titled Sam Bahadur. The actor will also be seen in the comedy-drama Mr Lele.
In a daring catch, the Gadchiroli Police nabbed a most wanted dreaded Maoist MANGARU MADAVI, with a bounty of Rs.2-Lakhs on his head from the Permili jungles. Image Source: IANS News

In a daring catch, the Gadchiroli Police nabbed a most wanted dreaded Maoist MANGARU MADAVI, with a bounty of Rs.2-Lakhs on his head from the Permili jungles. Image Source: IANS News

Nagpur, Oct 19 : In a huge success, the Maharashtra Police has arrested a most wanted Maoist carrying a bounty of Rs 200,000 on his head from the forests of Permilli in the Aheri region of Gadchiroli, an official said on Tuesday.

The apprehended ultra has been identified as banned CPI-Maoist's Action Team Member Mangaru Madavi, a resident of Visamundi village in Bhamragad.

Following an intel input, the anti-Maoist operation was launched late on Monday in the forests and the security forces managed to trap and arrest Madavi early on Tuesday.

A history-sheeter in Gadchiroli Police records, he was directly involved in at least 3 murders, one encounter, attacks on police posts or security forces, the brutal killing of a Vice Sarpanch and other serious offences.

Besides serving as Action Team Member engaged in various terror activities, he was a senior cadre of the Dandakaranya Adivasi Kisan Mazdoor Sanghatana, said Gadchiroli police.

The officials involved in the operation in different capacities included Additional SPs Sameer Shaikh, Anuj Tare, SP Ankit Goyal and their teams, and the police have renewed their appeal to other Maoists to give up violence and return to the social mainstream.
Mirzapur : , Oct 19 (IANS) Apna Dal MP Pakodi Lal Kol has been caught on camera abusing upper castes at a function.

A video of the incident is going viral on social media, evoking a strong reaction from various sections of society.

While Thakurs in Ballia district burnt effigies of Kol, the MP from Robertsganj in Sonbhadra district, Apna Dal President and Union Minister Anupriya Patel put out a video message strongly condemning the incident.

She said that she has directed the MP to apologise for the statements.

The viral video is said to be from a college in Mirzapur where Kol was addressing the meeting of his caste members on Monday evening.
Chandigarh, Oct 19 : Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhjinder Randhawa on Tuesday said there appeared to be a deep-rooted conspiracy to defame the farmers' stir on the Singhu border dividing Haryana and Delhi.

Referring to the killing on October 15 of a Dalit labourer from Tarn Taran in Punjab, and latest disclosures in the media, the Deputy Chief Minister, who also holds the Home portfolio, promised complete justice, saying the government will reach to the bottom of the case and expose the conspirators behind the incident.

Randhawa said in view of the recent disclosures about one of the Nihang leaders having been in touch with Union Minister for Agriculture N. S. Tomar, the killing has taken an entirely different turn.

The same Nihang leader is now defending the main accused in the killing of Lakhbir Singh.

"Lakhbir Singh, the Dalit victim, belonged to village Cheema Kalan and was poor. We need to find out who lured him to the Singhu border and who paid for his travel as he could not even afford his meals," the Deputy Chief Minister said, while adding that he had instructed the local administration to find out under what circumstances he was taken from his home to the Singhu border.

He said in view of the recent photographic evidence, the Nihang leader will also need to explain in what capacity he had met the Union Agriculture Minister and whether he was mandated to do so by the farmers' organisations spearheading the campaign against the three new farm laws.

Randhawa said given the place the Nihang leader was camping at and staging the 'dharna' at the Singhu border, it was mandatory on his part to keep the farmers' unions informed about his meetings with the Union minister.

"This has raised genuine doubts and suspicion in the minds of people which will need to be cleared and the Punjab government will do everything to reach to the root of the conspiracy and expose and punish the culprits," he said in a statement.
Jammu, Oct 19 : Jammu and Kashmir Police on Tuesday asked people not to move towards the forest area in J&K's Poonch district where an encounter is going on between the army and the militants for the last 8 days.

Police made appeals to people through public address systems in mosques in Bahatdhurian area of Poonch, urging them not to move towards jungle and keep their livestock inside their premises.

"These announcements were made after some people were seen moving towards jungle along with livestock amid ongoing encounter in the area.

"People can contact police any time and we are in the service of public 24*7. We will ensure home delivery of anything needed by them urgently," a police officer said.

Police did not agree that these announcements were being made because the army was preparing a major offensive against the militants hiding in the jungle area.

Defence sources said six militants have been killed in the 8-day-long operation against the militants in the area.

Nine soldiers, including two JCOs, have also been killed in this operation.

Army chief, M.M. Naravane visited the area on Tuesday along with senior field commanders.
Paris, Oct 19 : With less than six months to go, the picture in the double-leg French presidential election, scheduled on April 10 and 24, is beginning to unfold enigmatically.

Five years ago, Emmanuel Macron, a former minister in the Parti Socialiste President Francois Hollande's cabinet, sensationally created a centrist political movement 'En Marche' from scratch to subdue the long established Left and Right wing parties. It was a phenomenon almost unprecedented in a long-standing, mature western democracy.

In the electoral system in France, the two leading vote catchers in the first ballot qualify for the deciding vote. Recent opinion polls indicate that in the final head-to-head, a Far Right candidate could figure again. In effect, traditional Rightists inspired by Charles de Gaulle, who founded the country's Fifth Republic and was its President from 1959 to 1969, consequently known as Gaullists, and the socialists are forecast to be eliminated in the preliminary stage, unless there's a dramatic churn.

Eminent political scientist Pascal Perrineau was quoted as saying that the Gaullists, officially Les Republicains, "remains traumatised by the 2017 Presidential election and weakened by its divisions".

Yet, their base of supporters exists. It still controls a majority of French urban areas. The contestant for the Parti Socialiste, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, though, is faring poorly in opinion polls.

The French Far Right under the banner of the National Front party has for decades developed under the Le Pen family - the father Jean-Marie giving way to daughter Marine, who contested last time, finishing second.

Now, though, she is encountering a stiff challenge in the extreme sphere from a 63-year-old journalist and TV pundit Eric Zemmour, described by the French Le Monde newspaper as a "Far Right polemicist". In 2018, he was convicted of provoking hate against Muslim; and in 2011 had been found guilty of racial discrimination.

On October 13, a Harris Interactive survey reflected voting intentions of 17 per cent in Zemmour's favour, second to Macron with 24 per cent support. What the figures, if true, reflect is a 32 per cent wave in the direction of the Far Right, since Le Pen was sad to attract 15 per cent endorsement.

The Les Republicains candidate will be chosen at a party congress on December 8. The three current aspirants being Xavier Bertrand (14/15 per cent), Valerie Pecresse (11 per cent) and Michel Barnier (7/9 per cent), who shot to fame as the European Union's Brexit negotiator.

Bertrand is perceived to be popular. If he emerges as the contender for his party and they unite behind him, he could benefit from the split between Le Pen and Zemmour in the hard Right segment. As of the present, it appears Zemmour has eaten into the mainstream right constituency with his charge that today's Les Republicains have betrayed de Gaulle.

A Politico poll of polls projects 25 per cent for Macron, 17 per cent for Le Pen, 15 per cent for Zemmour and 14 per cent for Bertrand in the opening heat; and 57 per cent for Macron and 43 per cent for Le Pen in the run-off. The inference from this is, Covid, terrorism and other debilitating factors notwithstanding, the incumbent is the man to beat.

Besides, Macron, despite his "neither Left nor Right" stance, is expected to target the Gaullists to expand his middle-of-the-road embrace. The Left is meanwhile impressed by the success of Macron's roll-out of the Covid booster dose.

Immigration, identity and Islam have surfaced as major issues. It is not just Le Pen and Zemmour raising these, but Barnier seems to have turned his back on Europeanism by advocating a limited jurisdiction for European courts and a freeze on immigration, which is mainly from non-white nations.

However, for the moment it's Zemmour who's doing the running; and the other Right wingers the catching up. His softness for French Nazi collaborators during German occupation of France in the Second World War and intolerance towards feminists, blacks and Muslims has shattered the serenity of the French who pride their inclusive image.

There are some 40 candidates in the fray. Most of course will fall by the wayside as campaigning gathers steam.
New Delhi, Oct 19 : The Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) has imposed penalties to the tune of Rs 90 lakh after finding violations at 286 construction sites under the government's anti-dust campaign.

"DPCC teams have visited 1,105 construction sites till now. The teams have imposed penalties to the tune of Rs 90 lakh after finding violations at 286 sites across the state and has warned them of serious repercussions if norms are not complied with," Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai said, adding that there are clear instructions to the pollution control body teams to take strict action against violators and submit reports daily to keep us aware of the on-ground situation.

The Delhi government is running an anti-dust campaign from October 7 to control air pollution in Delhi, under which 31 teams comprising 17 DPCC engineers and 14 Green Marshals have been set up to monitor which construction agencies are following the 14-point guidelines issued by the state government.

One team each will be deployed in east Delhi, north-east Delhi, Shahdara, south-east and south-west region and two teams in north-west, New Delhi, south, north, west and central Delhi, Rai informed, adding that one team each of Green Marshals will be assigned for each district of the national capital.

"All agencies must take up construction work following the guidelines issued by the Delhi government related to construction work so that the fight against pollution can be carried forward strongly," he said.

In the past, the Delhi government has come up with many measures, mostly campaigns to keep dust pollution in check in Delhi. These measures range from installing smog towers, launching a green war room, formulating 14-points anti-dust guidelines to a 10-point winter action plan and the latest 'Red Light On, Gadi Off' campaign.
Rabat, Oct 19 : Moroccan authorities foiled an attempt to smuggle 1,355 kg of cocaine transiting from South America to Europe, official RIM radio reported on Tuesday.

The operation occurred on Monday at Tanger Med port, and the large quantity of cocaine was found concealed in a cargo ship, which had departed from a Brazilian port and was heading to the ports of Antwerp and Portbury, it quoted a statement by the Moroccan police, Xinhua news agency reported.

This security operation is part of the North African country's efforts to fight against international cocaine trafficking operations, it added.

Given its position at the crossroad of Africa, Europe and the Middle East, Morocco is considered a key route in international drug trafficking.
Chennai, Oct 19 : After the resounding success of the five mega vaccination camps against Covid-19, Tamil Nadu is gearing up for the sixth camp. However, instead of the customary Sunday camps -- all five mega vaccination camps were held on Sundays, the sixth camp will be held on Saturday, October 23.

The state health department is preparing to make it the biggest vaccination camp spread across 50,000 centres.

Tamil Nadu Health Minister Ma Subramanian told IANS, "Many people are of the belief that they will not be able to eat or drink what they like and to encourage this group we are conducting the vaccination camp on Saturday." Subramanian appealed to the people to take the vaccine as the state has adequate doses. He said 30 lakh people will be taking the second dose of the vaccine on Monday, adding that with the vaccines available in sufficient numbers, people must take the jab at the earliest.

At least one in four people across the state has taken both doses of the vaccine, the Minister added.

The state has already vaccinated more than 5.1 crore people with at least one dose of the vaccine but the vaccination is not evenly done.

The health department in a statement said only 45 per cent of those above 60 years have taken a single dose of the vaccine and the department is conducting awareness programmes among this section of the population to inoculate themselves as early as possible.

People above 60 years are more vulnerable to Covid-19 and hence the low percentage of inoculation in this community is a matter of worry.

Suchitra V. Menon, virologist at a private hospital in Chennai who is closely monitoring the vaccination in the state, told IANS, "The vaccination drive should focus more on those above 60 years as they are the most vulnerable to hospitalisation and contracting the infection. There has to be an attempt to accelerate the vaccination among those above 60 years." According to a statement of the health department, 61 per cent people in the 18-44 age group have taken at least one dose of the vaccine and 74 per cent people in the 45-59 age group but only 45 per cent of the people above 60 years which is a cause of concern for the department.

Geographically, the vaccination is not uniform with Chennai, Kancheepuram, Nilgiris and Coimbatore vaccinating more people while there are districts where the vaccination is less than 20 per cent.
Islamabad, Oct 19 : Pakistans military establishment has reiterated its desire to maintain the tradition of bilateral engagement for enduring relationship with the United States.

The desire was shared by Pakistan's Chief of Army Staff (COAS), General Qamar Javed Bajwa, during his meeting with US Charge d'Affaires Angela Aggeler at the General Headquarters in Rawalpindi.

As per the details, Afghanistan remained the prime focus of the discussions. It was emphasised that Afghanistan is in dire need for a global convergence and "coordinated efforts for the economic uplift of the Afghan people".

The visit of Aggeler carried importance in the context of the security situation in Afghanistan, after the withdrawal of the US and NATO forces in haste, followed by a Taliban takeover within 20 days, which shocked the world and started a critical scrutiny of the two-decade-long war against terrorism in Afghanistan.

What was interesting in Aggeler's visit to Pakistan was the fact that there no meeting was held with Prime Minister Imran Khan. It is believed that the reason for this was in reaction to US President Joe Biden's ignorance towards Khan and reluctance in having even a telephonic contact with him, since the time Biden has assumed office.

Pakistan's deliberate stretch from the Biden administration is evident since it refused Washington for providing its airspace and bases to operate drones and surveillance level activities in Afghanistan.

Pakistan's stand didn't seem to go down well with the Biden administration, which many believe is the reason why Biden has opted not to initiate any contact with the Pakistani premier.

It is also believed that Pakistan's civil and military level relationships have been on the same page in terms of decision making, and the decision to maintain a distance with the US is part of the country's diplomatic policy.

However, the situation in Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover has given Pakistan a much greater importance, especially for Washington, which is clearly trying to offer intelligence-level connections with Pakistan with incentives over bilateral collaborations in different fields of cooperation.

Pakistan, on the other hand, has been asking the US and the global community to engage with the Taliban-led government in Afghanistan and work towards saving the country from what seems like an inevitable humanitarian and economic crisis.
Washington, Oct 19 : Two microphones aboard the six-wheeled Perseverance rover have captured nearly five hours of Martian wind gusts, rover wheels crunching over gravel, and motors whirring as the spacecraft moves its arm.

These sounds allow scientists and engineers to experience the Red Planet in new ways, NASA said.

"It's like you're really standing there," said Baptiste Chide, a planetary scientist who studies data from the microphones at L'Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planetologie in France, in a statement.

"Martian sounds have strong bass vibrations, so when you put on headphones, you can really feel it. I think microphones will be an important asset to future Mars and solar system science," he added.

NASA's Perseverance Mars rover carries two microphones which are directly recording sounds on the Red Planet, including the Ingenuity helicopter and the rover itself at work.

It is the first spacecraft to record the sound of the Red Planet using dedicated microphones -- both of which were commercially available, off-the-shelf devices. One rides on the side of the rover's chassis. The second mic sits on Perseverance's mast as a complement to the SuperCam laser instrument's investigations of rocks and the atmosphere.

The body mic was provided by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, while the SuperCam instrument and its microphone were provided by the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in New Mexico and a consortium of French research laboratories under the auspices of the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES).

The rover's chassis mic is well-positioned to listen to its wheels and other internal systems.

SuperCam studies rocks and soil by zapping them with a laser, then analysing the resulting vapour with a camera. Because the laser pulses up to hundreds of times per target, opportunities to capture the sound of those zaps quickly add up: the microphone has already recorded more than 25,000 laser shots.

Some of those recordings are teaching scientists about changes in the planet's atmosphere.

An audio dimension can also aid in spacecraft maintenance. Engineers use cameras to monitor the wheel wear on Curiosity rover and dust accumulating on InSight's solar panels. With microphones, they could also check a spacecraft's performance the way mechanics might listen to a car engine, NASA said.

The Perseverance team is amassing loads of recordings from the rover's chassis mic, which is well-positioned to listen to its wheels and other internal systems. While there aren't enough recordings yet to detect any changes, over time, engineers may be able to pore over that data and discern subtle differences, like additional electric current going to a particular wheel. This would add to the ways they already monitor the spacecraft's health.
London, Oct 19 : In a bid to expand competition in digital markets, the the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) in the UK on Tuesday announced to launch a probe into the music streaming market.

The British anti-trust regulator will carry out work to consider and develop the final scope of the market study, before formally launching it as soon as possible.

In a statement, the CMA said it has written to the government and the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee to outline its intended next steps.

"The UK has a love affair with music and is home to many of the world's most popular artists. We want to do everything we can to ensure that this sector is competitive, thriving and works in the interests of music lovers," the UK watchdog said in a statement.

On the music streaming front, European Union regulators are a little ahead of their counterparts in the UK - back in April the Competition Commission charged Apple with an antitrust breach related to competition in the music streaming services market.

On the music streaming front, the European Commission in April issued a formal 'statement of objections' against Apple, saying that Apple's app store rules distort competition in the market for music streaming services.

Swedish music streaming giant Spotify had long complained about Apple's terms and conditions being 'unfair'.

According to the British watchdog, over the past decade, the music industry has evolved almost beyond recognition, with streaming now accounting for more than 80 per cent of all music listened to in this country.

"A market study will help us to understand these radical changes and build a view as to whether competition in this sector is working well or whether further action needs to be taken," said Andrea Coscelli, CEO of CMA.

The CMA has a number of ongoing probes promoting competition in digital markets. These include investigating Google's 'privacy sandbox', Facebook's use of ad data and Apple's App Store.
Betul, Oct 19 : Miscreants allegedly raised a flag resembling that of Pakistan at the BJP office in Betul district of Madhya Pradesh. The flag was later removed after several photos and videos went viral on the social media.

On Monday evening, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Praveen Gugnani lodged a written complaint with the Betul Superintendent of Police through e-mail saying that a Pakistani flag was installed at the BJP office.

"Some anti-national elements have tied an Islamic flag resembling that of Pakistan at the BJP office in Betul district on one side without permission," the complaint added.

The BJP leader in his complaint said on the basis of the pictures which went viral he initially thought it was fake but later the same day in the evening, he sent a BJP worker to the spot where it was confirmed that the flag was installed at the BJP office till late night. The accused must be booked under a criminal case.

As the videos went viral, the Police removed the flag the same evening. It is not yet known who installed the flag. A police investigation is on.
Ranchi, Oct 19 : Nine persons accused of raping two minor sisters have been arrested in Bishnupur block of Gumla district by the police, while one accused committed suicide by hanging.

The gang rape took place when the two sisters were returning after visiting the Dussehra fair with their brother on Friday evening (October 15). Ten youths intercepted them and passed lewd comments. The accused then beat up the brother, took both the girls to a nearby forest and took turns to rape them.

A case of gang rape was registered on Saturday after which police raided a house where one of the accused hanged himself fearing arrest. On Tuesday, seven accused were arrested by the police when they reached the house of a lawyer in Gumla.

Gumla police said that the seven accused were preparing to surrender in the court, but the police arrested them as soon as the lawyer left the house. Two accused had already been arrested by the police.

In another incident, an FIR was lodged on Sunday by a deaf-mute woman alleging gang rape by two home guards posted at Mehrma block office in Godda district of Jharkhand. She told the police through sign language that she had gone to the block office to graze her goat, when the two home guards raped her. Police have arrested both the accused.
New Delhi, Oct 19 : President Ram Nath Kovind will attend the centenary celebrations of the Bihar Assembly and address the members of the state legislature on Thursday.

The President will visit Bihar from October 20 to 22, a communique from Rashtrapati Bhavan said.

Bihar is currently celebrating the centenary year for its legislative assembly since February.

Carved out from the Bengal Presidency, a separate province combining present day Bihar, Jharkand and Orissa with Patna as its headquarters was notified on March 22, 1912 by the British. The provincial legislature's building came up in 1920.
New Delhi, Oct 19 : In the third quarter, tech giant Microsoft stayed as leader of the most imitated brands at 29 per cent of all phishing attacks globally, albeit at a slower rate, down from 45 per cent in the second quarter of 2021, a report said on Tuesday.

According to Check Point Research (CPR), for the first time this year, social was among the top three sectors to be imitated in phishing attempts, with WhatsApp, LinkedIn and Facebook all appearing in the top 10 list of most imitated brands.

"For the first time this year, social channels have become one of the top three categories exploited by cyber criminals, no doubt in an attempt to take advantage of the increasing number of people working and communicating remotely in the wake of the pandemic," Omer Dembinsky, Data Research Group Manager at Check Point Software, said in a statement.

"Following the data from Q3, we'd also urge users to be vigilant when it comes to any emails or other communications that appear to be from social media channels such as Facebook or WhatsApp," Dembinsky added.

Amazon has replaced DHL in second position, accounting for 13 per cent of all phishing attempts versus 11 per cent in the previous quarter, as criminals look to take advantage of online shopping in the run-up to the holiday season.

The report highlights the brands which were most frequently imitated by criminals in their attempts to steal individuals' personal information or payment credentials during July, August and September.

In a brand phishing attack, criminals try to imitate the official website of a well-known brand by using a similar domain name or URL and web-page design to the genuine site.

The link to the fake website can be sent to targeted individuals by email or text message, a user can be redirected during web browsing, or it may be triggered from a fraudulent mobile application. The fake website often contains a form intended to steal users' credentials, payment details or other personal information.
New Delhi, Oct 19 : A Delhi-based lawyer on Monday wrote to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh demanding a judicial probe into the recent attacks on Hindus and Hindu temples in the neighbouring country.

In the letter, advocate Vineet Jindal urged the Bangladesh Supreme Court to direct the government to conduct an independent inquiry by a sitting SC judge into the communal attacks.

Jindal told IANS that his office was trying to reach Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain, but couldn't get a response due to the holiday there on account of Milad-un-Nabi, the birthday of Prophet Muhammad.

Jindal urged the Chief Justice to direct the Bangladesh government to ensure the safety and security of minority Hindus, as provided under Article 11 of the Constitution of Bangladesh.

Demanding to take suo motu cognizance of the matter, the advocate said that there have been many reports relating to human rights violations against Hindu minorities in Bangladesh, including looting, grabbing of land, forceful conversion and sexual harassment of women.

Hindu minorities are not allowed to perform their religious activities and even Hindu temples are being damaged by anti-social elements and these illegal and unconstitutional acts are going on without any obstruction, the letter contended.

Recently during Durga Puja, some Hindu temples in Bangladesh were vandalised by anti-social elements belonging to the Muslim community, which enjoy majority in Bangladesh.

A large number of Hindu temples and Durga Puja pandals were targeted by the miscreants who vandalised the idols in them. The attacks have even claimed the lives of people belonging to the minority community in Bangladesh.

The recent attacks point at the miserable condition of Hindu minorities in Bangladesh, the letter said. It also sought financial compensation for the victims of the recent attacks.

Hindus are the largest minority in Bangladesh, accounting for about 8 per cent of the total population, the letter said.
New Delhi, Oct 19 : After the Congress announced that it will give 40 per cent tickets to women in the upcoming assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh, the party leaders termed it as a game changer. The Congress party seeks to target the other half of the population by this announcement.

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said, "The announcement by Priyanka Gandhi that the Congress will put up 40 per cent women candidates in forthcoming assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh is truly unprecedented and historic. It is a turning point in Indian politics!" The Congress is battling to position itself in the Uttar Pradesh politics and has decided to present 11 'sankalp' (resolves) ahead of the assembly polls and 40 per cent tickets to women is one of them.

Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate said, "the issue will resonate everywhere as the politics should go beyond religion and caste and the Congress will empower women in the state politically." The Congress has given example how Priyanka Gandhi has been raising the issue of women in the state, be it Hathras or meeting SP candidate Ritu Singh who was a victim of misbehaviour by the BJP during block parmukh polls, she said.

Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, on Tuesday, announced that her party would give 40 per cent tickets to women in the upcoming Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh. She said that all women who want to bring about a change in the system, are welcome to come forward and contest elections.

"Any woman who wants to contest can give an application till October 15," she announced at a press conference.

The party is out of power since 1989 in the state and is trying to make its presence felt in the state politics where the BJP and the SP are said to be in direct contest in the upcoming polls. The party thinks that through its promises it will be able to divert people's attention towards the party which will do good in the next polls.
New Delhi, Oct 19 : Google has told its suppliers to double the production of its upcoming Pixel 6 smartphones from last year to more than 7 million units, the media reported on Tuesday.

The tech giant has also asked suppliers to build over 5 million of its budget Pixel 5A phones, reports Nikkei Asia, citing sources.

US-based search engine giant was set to launch Pixel 6 series smartphones late on Tuesday, The Pixel smartphone shipments last year came to just 3.7 million, according to the IDC.

"Google has been telling suppliers since earlier this year that its position as the only US maker of Android smartphones will help it boost business at home, in Europe and Japan," the report mentioned.

Apart from smartphones, Google is working on a new generation of the Pixelbook notebook computer that runs on Google's ChromeOS, it added.

According to reports, the new Pixel handsets will be updated all the way up to Android 16 in 2025 and receive security updates until October 2026.

In terms of specifications, both Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro may share the same main, ultrawide camera. The devices is likely to come with a 50MP Samsung GN1 main camera and a 12MP Sony IMX286 ultrawide camera.

The Pro model may have a 48MP Sony IMX586 telephoto camera sensor with 4x zoom support.

For selfies, the vanilla Pixel 6 will have an 8MP sensor, whereas the Pro model will come with a 12mp Sony IMX663 sensor. The Pro model's front camera will offer two zoom levels: 0.7x and 1x.

The Pixel 6 Pro is tipped to feature a display panel with a resolution of 1,440x3,120 pixels and 120Hz refresh rate. The smartphone is expected to come preinstalled with a digital car key application.

Under the hood, the smartphone will come with a Tensor chipset, paired with Mali-G78 GPU, and up to 512GB of storage.
New Delhi, Oct 19 : Bajrang Dal activists protested over a viral Ramlila skit which created much controversy at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences here on Tuesday. The right wing activists have demanded immediate action against those who mocked the characters of the Ramayana.

The activists entered the AIIMS premises raising slogans for immediate action against the students who performed the Ramlila skit. They tried to break into the AIIMS hostel, but were stopped by the police who took them outside the AIIMS premises.

A Bajrang Dal leader said that 24 hours after registering a FIR, no action has been taken against those students who mocked the Ramlila characters and hurt Hindu sentiments. The activists asked how long do they have to wait for action against these students, adding that action must be taken against them. The activists will meet AIIMS Director Randeep Guleria on Wednesday to register their complaint in writing against those students who mocked the Ramayana. They will also submit a memorandum to the AIIMS Director.

The skit performed by the AIIMS students sparked outrage as it depicted Ravan's sister Shrupanakha singing a Hindi song to Lakshman. After Lakshman cuts off Shrupanakha's nose, she is heard saying, "Tu janta nahi mera bhai kaun hai." A first-year MBBS student and an education app jointly hosted the show.

As the clip went viral on social media, saying that students have insulted Hindu religion, AIIMS issued a warning addressed to all student bodies and employee unions, threatening disciplinary action if they continue such acts.

The AIIMS students body also issued an apology on social media, saying that the act 'did not mean to hurt anyone's sentiments.' In its statement on Twitter, the AIIMS students association said that such acts would not be repeated in the future.
New Delhi, Oct 19 : The Special Cell of Delhi Police have arrested four members of the Manjit Mahal gang wanted in Monday's firing incident in Kishangarh, an official said here on Tuesday.

On Monday, shots were fired on a Fortuner car, in the city's Kishanganj area, in which the driver of the car identified as Shafiq suffered injuries. The car was carrying two more people -- Somraj alias Dhami and his personal security officer who was sitting on the rear seat.

All three were returning from Patiala house court after attending a hearing in a murder case of one person named Ashok Mann, registered in the year 2020 in which Dhami along with his brothers are accused.

Dhami is the Cousin of gangster Vijay Pehlwan. The bullets were fired towards Dhami but he was unharmed, however, two bullets hit his driver.

The Special Cell received information that the attack was carried out by the shooters of Gangster Manjit Mahal on the directions of one Harender Maan, resident of Kishangarh Delhi.

It was further revealed that one suspect identified as Abhishek alias Mota, resident of Bahadurgarh, was involved in firing incident and had jumped the parole and that he would be coming to Dwarka area on Tuesday along with his associate and they are planning to commit some other offences in the area on the direction of their Gang leader Mahal.

Based on this specific information, the police conducted a raid and apprehended Abhishek along with three others identified as Wazir alias Jhota and Annu Gilodia, both residents of Jhajjar, Haryana and Kapil Kumar of Delhi. From the cursory search of the accused persons, three sophisticated pistols along with 75 live cartridges and three empty cartridges and one ID card of PRESS of Harender Maan have been recovered.

During the interrogation accused Abhishek disclosed that he came in touch with Gangster Mahal through one of his associates Deepak and after that Mahal became his mentor in the crime world. He started to work according to the direction of his gang-leader Mahal, who is presently lodged in Yamuna Nagar Jail, Haryana.

Furnishing more details about the case, the Special cell said that Manjit Mahal and deceased Ashok Maan were very close and in February 2020, Somraj alias Dhami Pahalwan along with his associate murdered Maan. Since then Harender Maan (nephew of Ashok Maan) were seeking a chance to take revenge from Dhami Pahalwan. Therefore, Manjit Mahal had directed his gang members to work along with Harender and to eliminate Dhami Pahalwan.

They had committed the recce of the route of Dhami Pahalwan on various occasions and this Monday, they received the specific tip-off about the movement of Dhami Pahalwan and they fired on his car.

The Special Cell has informed the concerned police station about the arrest of accused Abhishek Malik and his associates. "Further investigation is in progress," the official added.
New Delhi, Oct 19 : Bharatiya Janata Party national vice president Dilip Ghosh on Tuesday lashed out at West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for keeping silent on the communal violence in Bangladesh where houses of Hindus were set on fire and temples were vandalised. So far six persons have died in one of the worst communal flare ups in decades in the country.

Ghosh made this comment while participating at an event organised to protest the violence against Hindus in Bangladesh, at Jantar Mantar in Delhi.

"These kinds of incidents have happened earlier also and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has taken strong steps. The numbers of such incidents have definitely come down but need to be stopped completely," Ghosh said.

Questioning Mamata Banerjee's silence over the Bangladesh violence, Ghosh said, "The so called 'secular' government of West Bengal, which runs to Tripura and Assam at the spur of the moment when something happens there, is totally silent on the issue of Bangladesh violence. Are there not Hindus in Bangladesh? They are being attacked by fanatics, maths and temples have been vandalised, women are being attacked, but the West Bengal Chief Minister is maintaining silence." "Why the spokesperson of the party doesn't say anything? Are they worried about their vote bank? They only care about their vote bank, that's why she keeps quiet," he added.

According to Dilip Ghosh, more than 3,600 incidents of attacks on Hindus have taken place in Bangladesh since 2013, in which Hindu women were raped and temples were desecrated. "When the Ram temple movement took place in India, minorities in Bangladesh were attacked, lakhs of Hindus had to flee from their country and to take shelter in India," he said.

He said, "The Bangladesh incident is a well thought out conspiracy against Hindus and is very agonising." Appealing to Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Dilip Ghosh said, "Hindus are also the citizens of your country, they have chosen you as prime minister and they are contributing to the progress of your country. Ensure security to Hindus so that they can live in peace in that country." Speaking to IANS, Ghosh said, "Everyone knows that Hindu society is under attack in Bangladesh for a week, during Durga Puja. Durga temples were demolished, seers have been murdered, against which protests are taking place all over the world." "Lakhs of Hindus have taken to the streets in Bangladesh, this is not the first time this is happening. Our demand is to ensure the safety of Hindus there. The Government should take responsibility for this and should not allow such incidents to happen again," he said.

He added, "The Indian government has issued a statement on the incident and is in constant touch with the Bangladesh government, which is a friendly country, but we want Hindu citizens to be safe there." On the question if he is satisfied with the action taken by the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Ghosh said, "The incidents have not stopped, the violence should stop, then action should be taken."
Panaji, Oct 19 : Why are schools in Goa still closed, but casinos are allowed to start operations in the coastal state, the Youth Congress in Goa asked in a memorandum to Governor P.S. Sreedharan Pillai on Tuesday, demanding immediate cancellation of a poker tournament scheduled to commence in one of the offshore casinos on Wednesday.

Goa Youth Congress President Varad Mardolkar said that a poker tournament would create chaos in the state and may serve as a catalyst for the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.

"At a time when schools are not fully allowed to start functioning in the state, the government is allowing these casinos to organise tournaments of large magnitude, which may cause mass transmission of Covid as our state as well as our country has still not completely overcome the pandemic," Mardolkar said in the memorandum to the Governor.

"The Youth Congress appeals to you to direct the government authorities to immediately cancel this 'ORBIT' poker tournament to safeguard the interests of Goa and Goans as it is not in the interest of the state. The Youth Congress will not allow these casinos to play with the lives of innocent Goans by taking undue advantage of government's lethargy," he added.

Hosted by the Deltin Royale casino, the ORBIT-Poker Cash Festival has been billed as India's largest poker cash festival, which is scheduled to be held in Goa from October 20-24.
Mumbai, Oct 19 : Dreaded absconding gangster Suresh Pujari, who was active in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region areas, has been nabbed in the Philippines, official sources said here on Tuesday.

He was taken into custody at least four days ago by the Paranaque local police's Fugitive Search Unit in southern Manila metropolitan region.

The Philippines authorities have informed the Indian government about the developments and the latter is preparing to get him extradited here to face the law.

Soon after Pujari escaped from the country, the Mumbai Police had shared a detailed dossier on him with the Centre a few years ago, said officials.

A former close associate of mafioso Ravi Pujari - who was arrested in west Africa's Senegal in early 2019 and later brought to India, Suresh Pujari had fallen out with him over territorial differences.

Along with a few other ruffians, he launched his independent mafia operations in the early 2000s, with activities in parts of Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and Thane regions.

Living in Asalpha area of Ghatkopar suburb in north-east Mumbai, he managed to slip out of India in 2007 even as an InterPol notice was issued for him and the Maharashtra Police was closely monitoring his movements in different countries.

He faces at least 10 major cases of extortion, threats to murder, killings, etc in Mumbai and more offences elsewhere the MMR region, other cities and the Mumbai Police CID, the CBI and the FBI were on the lookout for him in the past nearly 15 years.

Going by aliases like Suresh Pai, he and his associates had allegedly made extortion-cum-threat calls to several top builders, contractors, and glamour world celebs in the early 2000s, organised or ordered gangland killings, etc.
Kolkata, Oct 19 : West Bengal's State Election Commission is looking for the state government's permission to conduct pending elections to 112 urban civic bodies, including two Municipal Corporations of Kolkata and Howrah, in December and once they get the green signal, a notification might be issued after the October 30 Assembly bypolls.

"The civic body elections are pending for more than 18 months because of the pandemic situation and the subsequent lockdown. We want to complete the polls as soon as possible. We need the financial sanction from the Finance Department. Once the state government gives us the clearance, we will be in a position to announce the dates," a senior SEC official said.

A senior Finance Department official said: "The Commission has asked for Rs 185 crore to complete the polls in 112 municipalities. That is almost double the cost of the previous poll five years ago. We are working on it. It will be sent to the Chief Minister for clearance soon." Sources in the SEC indicated that the poll body is likely to conduct the elections in three phases where the election in Kolkata and Howrah Municipal Corporations will be held in the first phase, for municipalities in south Bengal in the second phase and the rest of the municipalities in north Bengal in the third phase. Sources also indicated that though the dates of the elections are yet to be finalised, the poll body is likely to conduct the election in the two corporations on or after the third week of December.

Apart from the financial sanction, the poll body will also have to look into the police arrangements and maintain the Covid protocol before the announcement of the polls.

"We will have to conduct elections in almost 22,000 booths in 112 municipalities and because of Covid, we need more election personnel and police arrangements. We have already spoken to the state government regarding this. We are fully prepared to conduct the polls," an election official said.

Before the Durga Puja holiday, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee herself had hinted that the pending election of the civic bodies will be completed after the completion of the four Assembly bypolls in the state.

Meanwhile, Minister of State for Urban Development Chandrima Bhattacharya on Monday said: "Whenever the State Election Commission announces the votes of 112 municipalities, we are fully prepared."
New Delhi, Oct 19 : As the world is witnessing a revolution in the communication industry, several tools and techniques have emerged that assist brands to drive their brand recall among the audience using creative branding methods, communication campaigns and effective PR strategies.

The festive season is the time to prioritise public relations and branding approaches over anything else. The coming months are known to be the cornerstone for brands and business owners for effective market positioning as their respective target audiences utilise this time to scout and connect with new names in the market.

Therefore, it brings the perfect and unique opportunity to boost business' brand awareness.

Catering to this revolution, Savin Communication, India's first PR-Tech company, has shared the most effective PR tools that all brands could deploy this festive season and level up their festive outreach to establish a beneficial foothold in the industry.

The PR Tree, a PR intelligence platform Automating the process of public relations, The PR Tree has revolutionised the industry with the concept of self-help PR.

Entrepreneurs, businesses and brands can now log in to www.theprtree.com, select premium publications and get published within a few clicks.

The platform also offers 24x7 professional guidance and consultation. The team works on the principle to convey experiences that educate, thoughts that move, and the effect that affects!

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Kathmandu, Oct 19 : China on Tuesday announced that it is providing an additional grant of two million Covid-19 vaccines to Nepal.

During a telephone conversation with his Nepali counterpart Dr Narayan Khadka on Tuesday, Chinese State Councillor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi made the announcement to provide the Vero Cell vaccines manufactured in China.

China, so far, is the largest provider of vaccines to Nepal - both as grants and commercial deals.

As of now, Nepal has administered 8.3 million China-made Vero Cell Covid vaccines manufactured by Sinopharm. Out of this, half were gifted by the Chinese government.

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Wang and Khadka held an hour-long telephone conversation on Tuesday morning, where they discussed the entire gamut of the bilateral relations including Covid-19 vaccine cooperation, trade and commerce, development cooperation, and border management.

According to Nepal's Health Ministry, at least 28.2 per cent of the total population of 30.3 million have received their first doses of Covid vaccines while 21.4 per cent have received both doses.

The two ministers also talked about progress of different development projects, return of Nepali students to China for continuation of their studies, increasing the number of containers of fertilisers and other goods and their shipment through Tatopani/Zhangmu and Rasuwagadhi/Kerung border ports and resumption of regular air services between Nepal and China.

The two border points between Nepal and China - Tatopani and Rawuwagadhi - were closed since Covid pandemic began. On Nepal's request, China has agreed to allow some movement of goods but very minimal.

Wang and Khadka agreed to work closely on issues of common interest and to further promote friendly and long-standing bilateral relations and cooperation.

Khadka reiterated Nepal's 'One China' policy and appreciated China's continuous support for Nepal's economic development.

Wang also extended an invitation to him to visit China at a mutually convenient date.
New Delhi, Oct 19 : A teenaged girl was allegedly raped in the national capital for the past one year, an official said here on Tuesday.

According to the official, the victim had lodged a complaint against a boy identified as Himanshu at the Barakhamba Road police station in the city.

The victim alleged that the accused repeatedly raped her for the past one year starting from August 2020.

In her complaint, the 15-year-old girl said that accused Himanshu raped her for the first time at the Kohli Frame Art Gallery in Connaught Place, which is located at the centre of Delhi. The victim said that she was in an intoxicated state at that time and the accused took advantage of it to commit the crime.

After that, accused Himanshu committed the crime on several occasions at different places in the city. The victim alleged that she was raped several times at Dwarka, located in west Delhi and Badarpur which is adjacent to the border touching Haryana.

The police has registered an FIR under sections 376 of the Indian Penal Code and under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) act.

"After investigating the case, the police arrested the accused Himanshu and have produced him in the Court which sent him to police custody," the official added.

According to recent data released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), the national capital recorded the highest number of crimes against women among all the metropolitan cities of the country.
Los Angeles, Oct 19 : For a generation that has grown up watching the ageless American sitcom 'I Love Lucy' in black-and-white on Doordarshan, there's an opportunity coming to relive those days of innocent laughter.

Nicole Kidman will play the comedienne Lucille Ball and Javier Bardem will reprise her husband and co-star Desi Arnez in Aaron Sorkin's Amazon Studios movie 'Being the Ricardos'.

On Tuesday, the production house dropped the movie's trailer, which pans through a week in the life of the couple who kept audiences, both live in the studio and in their living rooms, in splits in 180 episodes aired on the American network, CBS, between 1951 and 1957.

In the trailer, according to 'Variety', quick glimpses of the couple's whirlwind life are shown accompanied by Kidman's voiceover, with the first clear look at Kidman coming via the recreation of Lucille Ball's iconic grape stomping scene.

'Variety' quotes Kidman as stating that the biopic will not be a remake of 'I Love Lucy'. "The strange thing about Lucille Ball is that everyone thinks we're remaking the 'I Love Lucy' show, and it's so not that," the actress said. "It's about Lucy and Desi and their relationship and their marriage. It's very deep, actually." 'Being the Ricardos' also navigates the racial barriers the couple had to face, with Desi being discriminated against for being Cuban, and Lucille fighting for him to remain on the show. The film has been penciled in for a December 10 theatrical release and a Prime Video release date of December 21.
Chennai, Oct 19 : An upright sanitation worker of the Greater Chennai Corporation is in news for her deed of restoring a gold coin that she found in collected waste to its rightful owners, through the police.

Mary was sorting out the garbage collected from various domestic households at Thiruvattiyur street when she heard a tinkle. She thought that it would be some metallic object or a coin but found that it was a gold coin.

Meanwhile, Ganesh Raman had lodged a complaint with Sathangadu police station that he had lost the 100 gram gold coin that he had packed in an old polythene cover and kept under his bed. He said that it had somehow it landed up in the waste bin of his home and would have found its way to the corporation's garbage bin.

Police searched the visuals in the CCTV cameras installed but to no avail as the packed coin was flung into the waste bin during the cleaning for Ayudha Pooja celebrations.

Raman and his family had also approached the local conservancy supervisor but to no avail.

However, police and Raman were surprised when Mary walked into the police station to hand over the gold coin, which was eventually returned to its rightful owner.

Interacting with media persons, Mary, who is striving hard to make two ends meet, said: "When I found the gold coin, I did not have any second thoughts and went straight to the nearby police station and handed it over to the station in charge."
Amaravati, Oct 19 : The YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) said on Tuesday that it has nothing to do with the attacks on the offices of opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP).

The ruling party issued a statement denying its involvement after a series of attacks on TDP offices, including its central office at Mangalagiri.

The attackers were apparently provoked by some unparliamentary words allegedly used by TDP spokesman Pattabhi Ram against Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy.

"The party condemns the outrightly abusive statements made by the TDP spokesperson against the CM. Such statements were never made against any leader in the history of our great nation. This is a new low," said a statement by YSRCP.

"The party categorically denies any links to the attacks. Making such abusive statements against a loved CM and leader could've provoked fans of our beloved leader who have nothing to do with the party, and the party has absolutely nothing to do with what unfolded," it added.

Meanwhile, YSRCP MLA Sudhakar Babu lashed out at TDP President N. Chandrababu Naidu and his son Nara Lokesh for venting their frustration on the state government by using abusive language against the Chief Minister.

The MLA said that Chandrababu Naidu is ashamed of his son for being incompetant, and is unable to digest his party's defeat, so he is entertaining his men to speak ill of the Chief Minister.

The MLA said that YSRCP is looking for a strong opposition, who pushes the government to do more for the people and work for the weaker sections. He stated that TDP has utterly failed to be a responsible opposition party and there is no match to compete with the government.
Kolkata, Oct 19 : The Darjeeling district administration on Tuesday had to stop trekking and close some roads as sudden heavy rainfall led to landslides in several areas of the hilly north West Bengal.

Trekking routes will be opened only after the improvement of the weather, it said.

According to the Met Department, torrential rain was experienced in many places in north Bengal from Monday night, leading to several landslides in the area. The sudden rains also led to the collapse of roads and snapping of power supply.

Many tourists who went to Darjeeling during the puja were stuck.

"Many people go trekking during Puja holidays. However, due to the bad weather, it has been cancelled for the time being. The trek to Rimbik and Sandakan is closed. The road connecting Tagda-Tinchuley and Kalijhora-Rangpo has been closed. Tourist cars were stopped at these places from Tuesday noon," a senior district official said.

There was a sudden downpour at Gorubathan near Dowers in Jalpaiguri district on Tuesday afternoon, while large clouds over the mountains cut down visibility.

Apart from hilly areas like Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Tajdar and plains of Siliguri were also affected by rains. The road near Rimbick's Palmajua Bridge collapsed and the road was closed. With road repairs not so easy in this area and to avoid danger, trekking to Rimbik and Sandakpur has been kept closed for the next 12 hours.

Meanwhile, a road in Kalimpong also collapsed due to landslide, and communications with Sikkim was been cut off, forcing tourists to return midway.

There were some accidents due to the rain.

A house collapsed in Takda, but no member of the household were injured. A car hit a rock and fell straight into the ditch, injuring its passengers. They were taken to hospital but were released after initial treatment.

According to the meteorological office, the rain is likely to continue in north Bengal. Apart from Darjeeling, heavy to very heavy rainfall is predicted in Alipurduar and North and South Dinajpur districts in the next 24 hours. The rain is likely to decrease from Thursday onwards.
New Delhi, Oct 19 : A multi-disciplinary 10-member team from Jal Shakti Ministry is visiting Rajasthan from October 18 to 21 to review the progress of National Jal Jeevan Mission (NJJM) in five districts of Baran, Dausa, Jodhpur, Bhilwara, and Jaipur, an official statement said on Tuesday.

The NJJM team will daily visit 3-5 villages in each district, and discuss various aspects of programme implementation and progress made under the mission by the state to understand the ground situation and assess the state's preparedness to meet the saturation deadline for ensuring 100 per cent tap water supply to all rural households.

"During the visit, the team will interact with district officials, local village community, members of Gram Panchayat and Pani Samitis. Thereafter, the team will debrief and share their observations with the district officials as well as senior officers of the state government," the Jal Shakti Ministry release said.

Rajasthan plans 100 per cent tap water connections to all rural households by 2024. However, out of its 1.01 crore rural households, only 11.74 lakh (11.59 per cent) had tap water supply as on August 15, 2019, when the Jal Jeevan Mission was announced.

Despite lockdown and disruptions due to Covid-19 pandemic, in last two years, 9.48 lakh households (9.36 per cent) have been provided tap water connections. Today, 21.22 lakh rural homes (20.95 per cent) in the state have tap water supply.

Rajasthan faces extreme water scarcity in many parts of the state as the desert and desert-prone areas receive scanty rainfall. The need for providing safe drinking water therefore becomes very important in the state.

In 2020-21, Rs 2,522.03 crore Central grant was allocated to Rajasthan, but it could draw only Rs 630.51 crore due to slow pace of implementation. To assist the state, Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, who hails from the state, has increased the Central allocation four-fold to the tune of Rs 10,180.50 crore for the mission's implementation in the state during 2021-22.

With enhanced Central allocation and matching state share, Rajasthan has no dearth of funds for water supply works, but is yet to draw the first tranche of Central allocation due to slow physical and financial progress.

In addition, in 2021-22, Rs 1,712 crore has been allocated to Rajasthan as 15th Finance Commission tied grant for water and sanitation to rural local bodies/PRIs, and there is assured funding of Rs 9,032 crore up to 2025-26.

Shekhawat has written to Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot emphasising that the work of providing tap water connection should start in all the villages to achieve the goal in a time-bound manner, and urged all out efforts be made to receive and utilise the entire Central grant-in-aid available.
Hyderabad, Oct 19 : Hetero Group Chairman B. Parthasaradhi Reddy on Tuesday announced donation of 5 kg gold for Yadadri temple in Telangana.

He announced the donation on behalf of his family soon after Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao declared that the renovated temple needs 125 kg gold for gold plating works.

According to a statement from the Chief Minister's Office (CMO), the Hetero chief said that he is feeling happy to be a part of the temple renovation work which will go down in the history as the greatest work.

Parthasaradhi Reddy was recently ranked second richest man from Hyderabad.

According to Hurun India Rich List 2021, Parthasaradhi Reddy and family of Hetero Labs ranks 58 in the list of wealthiest Indians. His wealth grew by 88 per cent in a year to Rs.26,100 crore. Last year, he was ranked 81.

Hetero was also in news recently due to the searches by the Income Tax Department at about 50 locations in six states, including Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

The department reportedly unearthed unaccounted income of around Rs 550 crore and seized unexplained cash amounting to Rs 142.87 crore during the searches at the offices of Hetero Drugs and its promoters.

The Chief Minister, who visited the temple on Tuesday, announced first donation of 1 kg 16 tolas to the temple on behalf of his family.

Following into his footsteps, several leaders of the TRS including a minister, a MP and six legislators together announced a donation of 14 kg gold.
Guwahati, Oct 19 : After returning to power in Assam for the second straight term six months ago, the ruling BJP will face its first acid test when five Assembly seats in the state go to the bypolls on October 30.

In the March-April polls to the 126-member Assam Assembly, the BJP had secured 60 seats, similar to what it managed when it first came to power in Assam in 2016.

Political pundits are saying that the October 30 by-elections to five Assembly seats will be a litmus test for both the ruling party and the state government led by Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.

The BJP has fielded candidates in three out of the five seats going to the bypolls, and all three are deserters of opposition parties -- the Congress and the Muslim dominated All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF).

The BJP has fielded Phanidhar Talukdar in Bhabanipur, Rupjyoti Kurmi in Mariani and Sushanta Borgohain in Thowra, while its ally United People's Party Liberal (UPPL) has nominated Jiron Basumatary and Jolen Daimary in Gossaigaon and Tamulpur, respectively.

The by-elections were necessitated due to the Covid-related deaths of two sitting MLAs belonging to UPPL and Bodoland Peoples Front (BPF), while two Congress (Kurmi and Borgohain) and one AIUDF legislator (Talukdar) joined the BJP after quitting their Assembly membership.

The main opposition Congress, which bagged 29 seats in the recent Assembly polls, has been trying hard to retain their seats -- Thowra and Mariani -- where the party won in the March-April Assembly polls.

While campaigning for the party candidates, Chief Minister Sarma has expressed confidence that the BJP and UPPL will win all the five seats.

Assam Assembly Deputy Speaker Numal Momin, also a BJP MLA, said on Tuesday that his party and the UPPL would win all the five seats to further increase their tally in the House.

"People now understand that the BJP is the only party that can turn Assam into the real growth path and do welfare for the people," said physician-tuned-politician Momin.

The AIUDF has fielded candidates in Bhabanipur and Gossaigaon, Akhil Gogoi-led Raijor Dal is contesting in Thowra and Mariani while Hagrama Mahilary-led BPF iss contesting in Gossaigaon.

The AIUDF and the BPF were partners of the Congress-led 10-party 'Mahajot' (grand alliance) in the March-April Assembly polls.

According to the Election Commission, a total of 31 candidates will contest in the by-polls to the five Assembly constituencies.

The poll panel on Tuesday said that in all, 7,96,456 electors, including 3,93,078 female voters, are eligible to exercise their franchise in the bypolls.
Agartala, Oct 19 : In view of the violence trageting minorities across the border, a three-day film festival of the Bangladesh government in Agartala, which was scheduled to commence on Thursday, has been postponed, official sources said on Tuesday night.

A senior official of the Bangladesh Assistant High Commission in Agartala said that the festival has been postponed "due to unavoidable circumstances".

"In the proposed film festival, 34 films, mostly on 'Mukti Yuddha' (1971 Liberation War of Bangladesh), were planned to be screened from October 21 to 23 in the Rabindra Satabarshiki Auditorium," the official told IANS, refusing to be named.

Meanwhile, Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb on Tuesday urged the Bangladesh government to protect the lives, properties and religious places of the minorities in that country.

Many organisations, intellectuals, political parties and NGOs in Assam and Tripura have condemned the recent attacks on people belonging to the Hindu community in Bangladesh, besides organising protest rallies against the communal violence in the neighbouring country.

They have met the Bangladesh Assistant High Commissioners in Agartala and Guwahati and urged them to request their government to ensure action against those who attacked the minorities, vandalised Durga Puja pandals and properties belonging to the non-Muslim families.

As per media reports, the mob violence erupted in Comilla earlier last week, after unconfirmed posts went viral on social media about the alleged desecration of the Quran at a Durga Puja venue, following which Hindu temples were vandalised.

A large number of people have been detained in Chandpur, Chittagong and other places in connection with the cases filed over the attacks on Durga Puja pandals.

Incidents of violence were also reported from Hajiganj, Chandpur, Noakhali, Cox's Bazaar, Chattogram, Chapainawabganj, Pabna, Moulvibazara, Kurigram and several other places.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has promised strong action against those involved in provoking communal disturbances by spreading fake photos of the Quran being placed at the feet of a Durga idol at a Comilla temple during Durga Puja.
New Oct 20 : In a case that turns on its head the common perception of foreigners suffering bias in the US, Facebook is to pay a fine of $4.75 million for discriminating in favour of foreign workers on H1-B visas and against American citizens and permanent residents, according to the Justice Department.

The Department said on Tuesday that Facebook will also pay up to $9.75 million to the workers it had discriminated against under a settlement it made with it and the Labour Department.

"This settlement is an important step forward and means that US workers will have a fair chance to learn about and apply for Facebook's job opportunities," Labour Department Solicitor Seema Nanda said.

The Justice Department said that the fine and the backpay were the largest "that the Division ever has recovered in the 35-year history of the INA's (Immigration and Naturalisation Act) anti-discrimination provision." The voluntary settlement by Facebook closes the case launched in December by the Justice Department in the final days of former President Donald Trump's administration.

The Department had charged Facebook with routinely reserving jobs for H1-B visa holders, using recruiting methods designed to deter US workers from applying for certain positions, and hiring only temporary visa holders in 2018 and 2019.

The foreign workers were hired under the permanent labour certification programme (PERM) that would make them eligible for permanent resident status or green cards, the Department said.

"Companies cannot set aside certain positions for temporary visa holders because of their citizenship or immigration status. This settlement reflects the Civil Rights Division's commitment to holding employers accountable and eradicating discriminatory employment practices," said Kristen Clarke, the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division Assistant Attorney General.

The Division comes under Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta.

Facebook said that although it strongly believed that it met the federal government standards for the PERM programme, "We've reached agreements to end the ongoing litigation and move forward with our PERM program, which is an important part of our overall immigration program." About 65 per cent of all H1-B visa holders are from India.

The Justice Department said that Facebook had made it difficult for US citizens and others with the right to work here by requiring them to apply only by mail for those positions while the foreigners were allowed to apply electronically.

Under the settlements, Facebook, whose PERM programme was audited by the Labour Department this year will also be required to advertise jobs more widely, and accept electronic resumes and applications from all.

(Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in and followed @arulouis)
One of Sestra System's Connected Taps Onboard The Scarlet Lady When two companies that are re-imagining their respective industries come together, the process is fun, and the outcome is sure to turn heads. This is not your average cruise, and were proud to sail with Scarlett Lady and her sisters. said Lev Volftsun, CEO of Sestra Systems.

Virgin Voyages, the new lifestyle travel brand focused on delivering irresistible cruise vacations, and Sestra Systems, the industry leader in smart dispensing, welcome Sailors back to sea with a beverage experience as innovative as Scarlet Lady.

Sestras unique IoT-connected dispensing solutions and sophisticated analytics platform are essential on-board systems and a key component of Virgin Voyages beverage strategy and sustainability initiatives. Working together, the companies are driving their shared vision of creating positive change for people and for the planet.

Virgin Voyages has committed to integrating sustainability into every part of the Sailor experience. Scarlet Lady has been outfitted with the latest state-of-the-art equipment and innovative food concepts throughout. Virgin Voyages eliminated buffets, serves sustainable seafood and direct trade coffee, and uses many techniques and technologies to source responsibly and reduce waste, a key benefit of Sestras technology. Additionally, Virgin has banned single-use plastic, and Sestras TapWise draft solution enables the use of recyclable and reusable materials across the ship.

Virgin Voyages created the first cruise line that is carbon neutral for its direct emissions footprint. In addition to shaking up how drinks are served, the Crew on-board Scarlet Lady use data directly from Sestras platform to transform their entire beverage operation. Sestras impressive solution keeps beverage taps cloud connected, even when out at sea, delivering actionable data and providing significant value to Virgin Voyages Sailors and Crew. This value includes:



Controlled beverage dispensing that significantly reduces waste while preserving the water that feeds our seas

In-service monitoring and alerts that streamlines operations so the Crew can worry less about the bar and focus on giving Sailors the voyage of a lifetime

Faster service so Sailors spend less time waiting for beverages and more time deciding which deck to explore next

Full integration with Scarlet Ladys smart wearables so Sailors can pour themselves a drink in The Galley

Charles Steadman, Senior Manager of Virgin Voyages Beverage and Bar Development and Operations said, Sestra's innovative dispensing solution is unlike anything else in the industry. Working with their team and their solution helps us deliver on our promises of sustainability and Sailor experience in a smart way. And, we use Sestras analytics and insights to pinpoint inventory needs of every bar, and drive faster turnarounds. They are a true partner in every sense of the word, we couldn't be more excited to work with them."

Scarlet Lady arrived in the United States from London in mid-September and set sail on her MerMaiden voyage from her home port of Miami on October 6th.

When two companies that are re-imagining their respective industries come together, the process is fun, and the outcome is sure to turn heads. This is not your average cruise, and were proud to sail with Scarlett Lady and her sisters, said Lev Volftsun, CEO of Sestra Systems.
Its really an honor to congratulate Ava, Susan and Juliet on a job well-done. In each record-breaking instance, these award-winning agents shared their considerable knowledge of the neighborhoods and communities and assisted their clients through to a successful purchase of their dream home.

Chicago real estate brokerage Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Chicago is pleased to announce that three brokers recently participated in record sale transactions. Ava Gizzo, of the Pattie Murray Team in the firms Glen Ellyn office, brought the buyer to Wiesbrook Road in South Wheaton for the highest closed residential re-sale on record for the city of Wheaton, Illinois on August 13th at $2.89 million.* Clients of Susan OConnor Davis, of the firms Michigan Avenue office, bought the home that was built for William Owen Goodman who helped found the Goodman Theatre. The sale closed on August 16th and, at $3.96 million, was the highest priced closed single family detached residential property sale on record for the south side of Chicago.** Juliet Mills of The Mills Group in the Elmhurst office, participated in the sale of the residence at 207 E. South Street in Elmhurst, Illinois. Closing on September 17th for $3.3 million, it was the highest closed residential sale on record for the city of Elmhurst.*** Juliets clients were the buyers.

Diane Glass, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Chicago, said, Its really an honor to congratulate Ava, Susan and Juliet on a job well-done. In each record-breaking instance, these award-winning agents shared their considerable knowledge of the neighborhoods and communities and assisted their clients through to a successful purchase of their dream home. Knowing these agents, though, its really no surprise. They are amazing professionals who work tirelessly on behalf of their clients to achieve their goals. I wish them continued success.

For more information or to reach Ava Gizzo, please call 630.205.2452 or email her at agizzo@bhhschicago.com. For more information or to reach Susan OConnor Davis, please call 312.893.8144 or email her at soconnor@bhhschicago.com. For more information or to reach Juliet Mills, please call 630.712.5047 or email her at JulietMills@bhhschicago.com.

ABOUT BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY HOMESERVICES CHICAGO

Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Chicago is a full-service real estate firm with more than 1,400 real estate professionals and staff in 25 offices serving customers throughout the Chicago metropolitan area, the North Shore, West and Southwest communities, Southern Wisconsin, Northwest Indiana and Harbor Country, Michigan. Recognized as a Top Workplace in Chicago, their local roots are complemented by the extensive global reach of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices, one of the nations leading real estate brands. Clients can experience all-inclusive homeownership services from their affiliated companies: Prosperity Home Mortgage, Fort Dearborn Title, and HomeServices Insurance. Visit BHHSChicago.com.

*MRED MLS, Sold, Residential Single Family Detached, Wheaton

**MRED MLS, Closed 8/16/21, Sell Side, Residential, Detached Single Family, All CAR-South MLS areas).

***MRED MLS, Sold, Residential Single Family Detached, Elmhurst
We are thrilled to be working with Central Access to support increased communication between students schools and families, said Sohit Wadhwa, CEO of ParentSquare.

Central Access Corporation, provider of the leading student information system (SIS) in the state of Mississippi, is replacing the Active Instant Messenger (AIM) school-to-home communications system in its SAM Spectra SIS with AIM 3.0 powered by ParentSquare. The 130 school districts currently using the SAM Spectra Student Administrator Manager will have seamless access to the new integrated system, featuring the award-winning ParentSquare unified school-home communications platform, starting in 2022.

When we saw what the ParentSquare platform could do, we promptly reached out, said Jay Milam, President of Central Access. Our mission is to provide Mississippi schools and districts with a powerful all-in-one package for managing administrative tasks, including communication with students families. This integration of ParentSquare gives educators a system thats still streamlined and offers greater communications functionality.

With the new ParentSquare-SAM Spectra integration, districts can engage every family with school communications and communications-based servicesall the way from the district office to the classroom teacher, and all in one place. Families can receive alert notifications of news, activities, and events; complete forms and permission slips; sign up for parent-teacher conferences; check grades and attendance; RSVP for events; and more. School staff and parents can also participate in one-to-one or group messaging, with real-time, two-way translation for more than 100 languages.

Providing educators with an all-in-one solution is at the core of Central Access mission. The companys SAM Spectra SIS keeps daily attendance, a gradebook, and all student history until the student graduates. All the student information is available via the internet, allowing parents, students, teachers, and administrators to access information at their convenience.

Founded in 1954, Central Access Corporation (CAC) has transitioned from a school supply and equipment company into a software development and support company serving the majority of Mississippis public schools. SAM Spectra currently serves approximately 310,000 Mississippi students and 87% of the districts in the state.

We are thrilled to be working with Central Access to support increased communication between students schools and families, said Sohit Wadhwa, CEO of ParentSquare. With ParentSquares extensive capacity for integrations with student information and other critical administrative systems, we believe this is an exciting beginning in the state of Mississippi. Were deeply appreciative of Central Access taking this step with us.

About ParentSquare

ParentSquare is relied upon by millions of educators and families in 44 states for unified, effective school communications. ParentSquare provides parent engagement tools that work from the district office to the individual classroom, supported by powerful metrics and reporting. ParentSquares technology platform features extensive integrations with student information and other critical administrative systems, translation to more than 100 languages, and app, email, text, voice, and web portal access for equitable communication. ParentSquare (http://www.parentsquare.com), founded in 2011, is based in Santa Barbara, CA.

About Central Access Corporation

The mission of Central Access Corporation is to provide those in the K-12 education community with tools to assist them in doing their jobs through the development and delivery of quality computer software products and top-notch support services. Established in 1954, Central Access has been servicing the K-12 education community every day since. What began with school supplies evolved into all-encompassing software solutions that cater to the needs of all aspects of the school district. Central Access works hand-in-hand with the Mississippi Department of Education as well other K-12 service partners to ensure they offer the best solutions possible to Mississippi public schools.
Chicago Attorney George J. Skuros has been named an Illinois Elite Lawyer and has launched a new website for his law firm. George Skuros has been practicing law for over 35 years, providing guidance to families to address divorce, child support, parenting time, and other complex family matters.

Within a few short summer months, Chicago Attorney George J. Skuros has been named an Illinois Elite Lawyer and has launched a new website for his law firm.

George Skuros has been practicing law for over 35 years, providing guidance to families to address divorce, child support, parenting time, and other complex family matters. From his office in Downtown Chicago, Mr. Skuros provides legal help to clients, handling cases both inside and outside the courtroom.

Due to a history of consistently providing high-quality service to clients, Attorney Skuros has been named an Elite Lawyer in the area of Family Law. Elite Lawyer is a rating system and attorney directory that showcases lawyers across the United States who have been nominated by other legal professionals for their proficient capabilities in their field.

The Law Office of George J. Skuros found a new digital home this summer. The new site includes detailed pages describing the firm and providing information about the services that Mr. Skuros offers. Visitors can find a thorough list of the practice areas that Attorney Skuros and his team focus on. The website also showcases the scholarship offered by the firm to current or aspiring law students (currently accepting applications for Fall 2021). Additionally, visitors can also find the firms blog page, testimonials, and contact information through the sites user-friendly interface.

Now a member of the Illinois State Bar Association, Attorney Skuros is a graduate of John Marshall Law School, where he earned his J.D. after graduating from Loyola University with a Bachelor of Arts degree.

About The Law Office of George J. Skuros

George Skuros started his Chicago law firm in 1984 with a commitment to helping clients address an abundance of family matters such as separation, divorce, child custody, spousal maintenance, and marital property division. This firm also helps those who require guidance with the buying, selling, or refinancing of homes or real estate property, as well as estate planning concerns such as powers of attorney and guardianship. Beyond Chicago, The Law Office of George J. Skuros serves numerous surrounding areas, including Cook County, DuPage County, and Lake County. Clients of the firm receive a hands-on, personal approach to their cases.

To learn more about The Law Office of George J. Skuros, visit https://www.skuroslaw.com/ or call 312-884-1222 for a free consultation.

To learn more about Elite Lawyer, visit https://www.elitelawyer.com/ or call 833-403-5483.
X of Pentacles is disrupting the fashion world with its ode to tradition in a world of mass production, said Andrew DSouza, CEO and co-founder, Clearco. This latest ClearAngel funding reflects ClearAngels mission to support up-and-coming companies that go against the grain.

Clearco, the worlds largest e-commerce investor revolutionizing the way founders grow their businesses, today announced that its ClearAngel program is funding X of Pentacles, designer of bespoke and limited-run clothing from Richmond, Virginia. ClearAngel gives early-stage founders access to revenue share capital, data-driven advice, and Clearcos extensive network of apps, agencies, and investors.

Founded in 2016 by Marcel Ames, X of Pentacles designs all of its clothing in house and produces it in limited batches to maximize uniqueness. When Ames was forced to put his police officer career aside due to a training injury in 2014, he started sketching and eventually taught himself graphic design and sewing. In a world where everything is mass produced, X of Pentacles ready-to-wear, made-to-order and bespoke tailoring collections are handcrafted in Naples, Italy - fulfilling the companys insistence upon quality, originality, and sustainability. As much as X of Pentacles has accomplished, the company strives to continue its growth via larger inventory and the development of new SEO and e-commerce platforms, which ClearAngel will help them to do.

ClearAngel is one of a few equity-free, flexible capital options for early-stage founders who would benefit from raising an angel round or joining exclusive accelerators, but dont have the network to do so. In the short time since February 2021, the program has already funded over 350 companies.

X of Pentacles is disrupting the fashion world with its ode to tradition in a world of mass production, said Andrew DSouza, CEO and co-founder, Clearco. This latest ClearAngel funding reflects ClearAngels mission to support up-and-coming companies that go against the grain.

In addition to $10,000 of flexible capital, X of Pentacles will also get access to a network of more than 500 investors, growth teams, agencies, apps, lawyers, and buyers; and data-driven advice designed to help scale and hit new revenue milestones. Ames will use this network to establish relationships with retailers and other outlets that he would not otherwise be likely to get introductions to. He also plans to use the ClearAngel platform to better define measurable objectives to meet goals for the brand.

The story of my life and the brand reflect resilience, escape via creativity and a quest to provide the best there is to offer in the name of clothing, said Ames. Our mission is to deliver products that take an unconventional and soulful approach to sartorialism thanks to the transference of personality by the hands that create our pieces. The pieces embody beauty through slight imperfections that can only be created by hand.

To learn more about X of Pentacles and experience the soulful pieces for yourself, visit xofpentacles.com.

ClearAngel is currently onboarding E-commerce and product companies. There are limited spots available for SaaS, Apps, marketplace and stealth companies. To learn more, visit angel.clearbanc.com.

About Clearco:

Co-founded as Clearbanc in 2015 by Michele Romanow from Canadas Shark Tank (Dragons Den), Andrew DSouza, Ivan Gritsiniak, Charlie Feng, and Tanay Delima, Clearco offers the most founder-friendly capital solutions for e-commerce, mobile apps, and SaaS founders as well as a full suite of products and access to a powerful global network, insights and data, and recommendations. Clearco has invested over $2 Billion in over 4,500 companies to date, including Leesa Sleep, fashion-rental service Le Tote, home goods company Public Goods, shirtmaker UNTUCKit, online speech therapy practice Expressable, and digital real estate marketplace SetSchedule. For more information visit clear.co and @getClearco.
The most comfortable, waterproof, and machine-washable Beach Chair Pillow. Were excited to fund Beach Goers Inc. and support its mission to provide essential travel products that can help people achieve ultimate relaxation on vacation. - Andrew DSouza, CEO and co-founder, Clearco.

Clearco, the worlds largest e-commerce investor and the company revolutionizing the way founders grow their businesses, today announced that its ClearAngel program is investing $10,000 in Beach Goers Inc., a Canadian one-stop-shop travel store. The ClearAngel program provides early-stage founders with access to revenue share capital, data-driven advice, and Clearcos extensive network of apps, agencies, and investors.

Beach Goers Inc. was established by Anika Wallace, who was an aircraft maintenance engineer and inspired to start the business after her trip to Cuba in 2019. While lounging on a beach chair, Wallace noticed that many guests including herself were rolling up beach towels as pillows, which did not aid in her comfort at all. After her trip, she created her flagship product, the most comfortable, waterproof, and machine-washable Beach Chair Pillow. Now, Beach Goers provides a wide variety of essential travel products, ranging from travel kits, travel accessories, to apparel. With ClearAngels support, the company will be able to optimize inventory, expand wholesale channels, increase brand awareness through marketing campaigns, as well as launch a new line of beach chair pillows.

Were excited to fund Beach Goers Inc. and support its mission to provide essential travel products that can help people achieve ultimate relaxation on vacation, said Andrew DSouza, CEO and co-founder, Clearco. This latest investment reflects ClearAngels long-term commitment to supporting aspiring entrepreneurs who are overlooked by traditional investors.

ClearAngel is one of a few equity-free, flexible capital options for early-stage founders who dont have the network to raise an angel round or join exclusive accelerators. The program has already funded over 350 companies since its February 2021 launch.

I believe everyone needs a vacation from time to time to unwind, recover, relax and relieve stress, said Wallace. Im thrilled that ClearAngel understands the value in providing consumers with the best products that relax the mind and body on vacation.

Supplementary to the flexible capital, Beach Goers Inc. will also get access to a network of more than 500 investors, growth teams, agencies, apps, lawyers, and buyers; and data-driven advice designed to help scale and hit new revenue milestones.

To learn more about Beach Goers Inc., visit beachgoers.ca.

ClearAngel is currently onboarding e-commerce and product companies, and has limited spots available for SaaS, Apps, marketplace and stealth companies. To learn more about applying, visit angel.clearbanc.com.

About Clearco:

Co-founded as Clearbanc in 2015 by Michele Romanow from Canadas Shark Tank (Dragons Den), Andrew DSouza, Ivan Gritsiniak, Charlie Feng, and Tanay Delima, Clearco offers the most founder-friendly capital solutions for e-commerce, mobile apps, and SaaS founders as well as a full suite of products and access to a powerful global network, insights and data, and recommendations. Clearco has invested over $2 Billion in over 4,500 companies to date, including Leesa Sleep, fashion-rental service Le Tote, home goods company Public Goods, shirtmaker UNTUCKit, online speech therapy practice Expressable, and digital real estate marketplace SetSchedule. For more information visit clear.co and @getClearco.


Dave Quast Daves experience providing senior counsel to clients in nearly every sector, particularly in highly regulated and often misunderstood industries, will be invaluable to fuel our expansion on the West Coast and internationally as well, said Red Banyan CEO and Founder Evan Nierman.

Red Banyan, a top international crisis communications agency, has hired veteran crisis management and public affairs expert Dave Quast as Senior Vice President. Quast will guide high-profile clients from across the globe from the firms recently opened Los Angeles office.

Dave provides strategic counsel to organizations and executives around crisis management, corporate reputation, and public affairs. Dave has led communications initiatives on Capitol Hill, at a Fortune 10 consumer products company, and at an AmLaw 100 law firm. He has also worked at some of the countrys leading corporate advisories, including most recently as senior vice president in the Corporate Reputation practice at FTI Consulting.

Daves experience providing senior counsel to clients in nearly every sector, particularly in highly regulated and often misunderstood industries, will be invaluable to fuel our expansion on the West Coast and internationally as well, said Red Banyan CEO and Founder Evan Nierman. We are thrilled to welcome Dave Quast to the team and know that he will be an asset to the companies who partner with Red Banyan for exceptional crisis PR support.

Since its launch in late 2010, Red Banyan has continued to grow, establishing itself as one of the leading crisis PR agencies in the United States. Red Banyan provides crisis management, litigation support, media relations, and other strategic communications services to a variety of national and global clients.

Red Banyan is one of the most sought-after crisis communications consultancies in the country because Evan Nierman is a visionary who leads with integrity, Quast said. I am proud to join this world-class team and look forward to expanding the agencys crisis and reputation management capabilities and presence on the West Coast.

Dave Quast is also a long-time adjunct professor at the University of Southern Californias Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. He holds a bachelors degree from the University of Puget Sound, a masters degree from the University of Essex (UK), and he attended the Georgetown University Law Center.

About Red Banyan

Red Banyan is a top crisis management firm focused on solving complex, highly sensitive and mission-critical communications challenges. Specializing in crisis communications, corporate public relations, government relations, and legal PR, Red Banyan provides an integrated approach to communications rooted in strategy. Learn more at http://www.redbanyan.com.
Cybereason, the leader in operation-centric attack protection, today announced that Lior Div, CEO and Co-founder, will be a featured speaker at CNBCs 2021 Disruptor 50 Summit, Thursday, October 21, 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm ET. The two hour summit will feature the CEOs and founders of the Disruptor 50 companies, the top privately held technology companies in the U.S.

Div will be joined in a panel discussion titled Disruption in Action: AI Accelerated by Ali Ghodsi, Databricks CEO and Co-founder, from 3:10-3:30 pm ET. Panel Moderator Kate Rooney, CNBC, Technology Reporter, will engage the CEOs in a conversation about how Cybereason and Databricks are driving the accelerated adoption of AIs many promising applications, from supercharging software development to stopping ransomware attacks.

In May, 2021, Cybereason was named to CNBCs 2021 Disruptor 50 list of the most disruptive private global companies. Cybereason landed in the #32 spot and is one of only two cybersecurity companies on the list. Cybereason was chosen from a record number of nearly 1,600 nominations.

The past 12 months have been record setting for Cybereason with the company recently announcing a strategic partnership with Google Cloud to bring a joint XDR solution to market later this quarter. Also, Cybereason was recently named a Contender in the debut of the Forrester New Wave: Extended Detection And Response (XDR) Providers, Q4 2021. Earlier this year, Cybereason was named a Visionary in the 2021 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Endpoint Protection Platforms.

To register for the CNBC Disruptor 50 Summit, visit: https://www.cnbcevents.com/disruptor-50-summit/?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=Post&utm_campaign=D50

About Cybereason

Cybereason is the champion for todays cyber defenders, providing operation-centric attack protection that unifies security from the endpoint, to the enterprise, to everywhere the battle moves. The Cybereason Defense Platform combines the industrys top-rated AI-powered detection and response (EDR and XDR), next-gen antivirus (NGAV), Anti-Ransomware Protection and Proactive Threat Hunting to deliver context-rich analysis of every stage of a MalOp (malicious operation). Cybereason is a privately held, international company headquartered in Boston with customers in more than 50 countries.

Learn more: https://www.cybereason.com/

Follow us: Blog | Twitter | Facebook

Media Contacts:

Bill Keeler

Senior Director, Global Public Relations

Cybereason

bill.keeler@cybereason.com

(929) 259-3261
The combination of Caron Engineering and Datanomix delivers more real-time data for production than any other solution, providing incredible opportunities to apply data science to an industry segment in need of contextualized production intelligence."

Datanomix, the leading automated production intelligence platform, and Caron Engineering, the leader in manufacturing tool optimization technologies, today announced a partnership to jointly develop data-driven solutions that leverage the companies manufacturing domain expertise in real-time production monitoring and machine tool optimization. This integration adds a new dashboard in the Datanomix platform that aggregates and displays the metrics for all Caron devices deployed in a factory. At Eastec they will show a single visualization for the job performance data from Caron Engineerings adaptive tool monitoring system, TMAC, helping accelerate continuous improvement efforts across all jobs.

The data generated by todays manufacturing machines offers tremendous opportunities to drive production insights, and Datanomix is using advanced analytics and machine learning to empower manufacturers to understand the state of their production in real-time. Caron Engineering uses advanced sensors and signal processing techniques to improve machine performance, optimizing how CNC machines produce parts and measure tool usage to track tool wear and prevent costly repairs. This partnership and its resulting technology will help manufacturers proactively optimize whole-factory performance and profitability.

Manufacturers are demanding an integrated solution that delivers a rich visual experience around real-time job performance, predictive machine parameters, and cutting tool behavior over time, said John Joseph, CEO and co-founder of Datanomix. The combination of Caron Engineering and Datanomix delivers more real-time data for production than any other solution, providing incredible opportunities to apply data science to an industry segment in need of contextualized production intelligence. Together we will build the next generation of analytics solutions for precision manufacturers that covers the entire machine and production workflow.

There is a symbiotic fit between the tooling expertise at Caron and the data science capabilities at Datanomix, said Rob Caron, founder and president of Caron Engineering. This partnership lets us offer our installed base of thousands of customers worldwide an analytics and intelligence solution that spans from the cutting tools and machine health all the way to the executive suite. Data is at the heart of Carons strategy, and with Datanomix, we will be able to leverage our combined data into actionable insights that will help transform manufacturing at a practical level.

Development efforts have been focused on integrating data from Caron systems for analysis and visualization through the Datanomix platform in the following ways:



TMAC (Tool Monitoring Adaptive Control): A new Datanomix dashboard will display the status of every TMAC-enabled machine in the factory for a consolidated view of performance that accelerates job-level continuous improvement. Datanomix will present Caron performance parameters, including horsepower, vibration, pressure, strain, and coolant information for each TMAC machine. Users will be able to create alerts for out-of-tolerance conditions for rapid responses. Other Datanomix production charts and graphs for associated machines will include an active Caron Engineering icon that will let users drill down to Caron tool performance for that machine.

DTect-IT (Machine Condition Monitoring): DTect-IT combines high-precision sensor technology with advanced analysis to monitor, detect, and correct anomalies in the machining process. Datanomix enables customers who need deeper analytics and optimization strategies for cutting unique parts to visualize DTect-IT data in the Datanomix platform. Existing Datanomix customers will be able to schedule installation of DTect-IT on any machine by clicking a purchase button in the Datanomix platform.

AutoComp (Automatic Tool Wear Compensation Software): AutoComp processes measurement data from any electronic gauging device and automatically calculates and compensates tool offsets in the control, without any operator intervention. Datanomix can compare this part quality data with cutting data from the above systems.

ToolConnect: (Tool Data Management System): ToolConnect automates the process of loading tools into the machine by automatically transferring tool offset data directly from the presetter to the CNC control, via RFID tags embedded in tool holders and 2D presetter-printed barcodes. The system is completely customizable to meet the users tool load specifications and records every step, action, and data exchange. This data is valuable as Datanomix analyzes how variations in tool geometry affect cutting data.

With Carons focus on data, it was a natural fit to collaborate on advanced analytics and visualizations, said Greg McHale, CTO and co-founder of Datanomix. Customers who implement Caron or Datanomix are looking to understand exactly whats happening with every part they manufacture. We envision a data-driven future that visualizes production starting with raw materials, to machining, to the finished part, leaving manufacturers with insights into productivity, continuous improvement, maintenance, and business optimization. We couldnt ask for a better partner than Rob Caron and his team to accelerate this future for our customers and theirs.

Both Caron and Datanomix put customers first, and feedback and suggestions from customers have been a critical aspect of designing and developing solutions that deliver added value for users of both companies solutions.

At Nikel Precision Group, data and analytics are core value drivers, helping us meet our customers exacting requirements and demanding production schedules, said James Bell, vice president of operations at Nikel Precision Group LLC. As a customer of both Caron and Datanomix, Nikel Precision Group is getting tremendous value from the real-time data driven by each of their solutions. Were excited about the potential enabled by the depth of experience in manufacturing and data science of these two teams.

Existing customers for both companies will have the opportunity to purchase these software tools through existing sales channels. The companies have worked out a reciprocal support network to route customer requests to the technical experts at each company providing the highest level of quality in their support experience. This partnership has created career openings at both companies across engineering, customer support, and sales.

Datanomix and Caron Engineering are exhibiting at the 2021 Eastec Conference in West Springfield, Massachusetts from October 1921. Product demonstrations will be available in booth 5519 with Datanomix and booth 5432 with Caron Engineering.

About Datanomix

Based in New Hampshire, Datanomix provides real-time production monitoring and performance analytics for CNC machines, without the need for operator inputs or links to ERP systems. Datanomixs mission is to level the data analytics playing field for industrial manufacturers by giving them robust decision-making tools so they can proudly build world-class products. Learn more at http://www.datanomix.io.

About Caron Engineering

Founded in 1986, Caron Engineering develops advanced sensor and monitoring technology for CNC machines that interface directly with almost any control on the market to optimize and automate manufacturing processes. Their smart factory solutions focus on unattended operation, machine health and process diagnostics, tool wear and breakage detection, automatic tool offsetting, cycle time reduction, and eliminating operator error. Learn more at http://www.caroneng.com
Individuals who have bought a new Hyundai vehicle can benefit from this complimentary maintenance offer and enjoy three years of free maintenance

Dickson City Hyundai is offering a Complimentary Maintenance Program for new Hyundai vehicles in the Scranton, PA, area. Individuals who have bought a new Hyundai vehicle can benefit from this complimentary maintenance offer and enjoy three years of free maintenance. Interested drivers can save a lot of money on the basic maintenance of their new Hyundai vehicle, so owners of a new Hyundai vehicle may be interested in exploring this offer.

The advantages of the Hyundai Complimentary Maintenance Program include tire rotation, engine oil and engine filter changes (except for fuel cell electric vehicles and electric vehicles), standard and factory-scheduled maintenance for three years or 36,000 miles (whichever comes first), Quaker State oil, Hyundai filters, and supplemented or extended Hyundai Protection Plans. The offer applies to all 2022 Hyundai vehicles purchased or leased after Feb. 1, 2020.

Interested individuals who have Hyundai vehicles can visit dicksoncityhyundai.com and learn more about Hyundais three-year Complimentary Maintenance program. If interested parties have any questions, then they can directly call the dealership at 507-487-5000. The dealership, Dickson City Hyundai, is open from Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays. The dealership is located at 1519 Scranton Carbondale Highway, Scranton, Pennsylvania.
Dr. Joseph Webb, D.Sc., MSHA, FACHE

Nashville General Hospital (NGH), a leading provider of quality care for more than 58,000 patients each year, announced today that Joseph Webb, D.Sc., FACHE, CEO was honored with the Tennessee Hospital Association (THA) 2021 Diversity Champion Award.

Through its Diversity Champion Award designation, THA annually recognizes leaders who have made outstanding contributions in fostering leadership, workplace diversity and inclusion, and demonstrating his or her commitment to a diverse workforce. Dr. Webb received the 2021 THA Diversity Champion Award at the THA Annual Meeting's closing keynote session on Friday, October 15. He also participated as a panelist on the THA/American College of Healthcare Executives of Middle Tennessees Equity of Care panel during the conference.

When Dr. Webb inherited Nashville General Hospital as the CEO in 2015 he took on a huge challenge, and he has worked tirelessly in making Nashville General Hospital the premier hospital that it should be, said Dr. Shindana Feagins, chair of Metro Hospital Authority Board. The community Nashville General serves deserves to have quality healthcare, so its very important putting the right people in the right places to accomplish that goal. The way that he uses his knowledge to bring in opportunities for the hospital and for the patients is phenomenal.

Dr. Webb is a key leader at NGH and in the community affecting real change in health equity, health literacy, and the impact of social determinants of health on healthcare variations. Since joining the hospital, Dr. Webb has successfully led efforts to improve patient outcomes, enhance the patient experience and grow revenues. In fulfilling the hospitals mission to improve health and wellness, Webb has been laser-focused on implementing evidence-based measures and practices to ensure that every patient, regardless of their ability to pay, receives high-quality care at Nashville General Hospital. Dr. Webb formerly served as a chief executive officer within the Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare System in Memphis, Tennessee and Healthcare Services of America at Coastal Carolina Hospital and chief operations officer at Northwest Mississippi Regional Medical Center.

My leadership style is just strictly in pursuit of identifying good talent. If you are looking for talent, talent tends to come to you in a diverse way. Its not homogeneous, said Joseph Webb, chief executive officer at NGH. Dr. Webbs approach to a diverse workforce and evidence-based healthcare management can be used as a model to assist other communities addressing health equity issues. When speaking about applying the hospitals mission, Webb said, It just doesnt matter what an individuals socioeconomic status is. When they come into this environment, they are going to get excellent care. I come in here every day looking for an opportunity to continue to move towards achieving that goal.

About Nashville General Hospital

Founded in 1890 as City Hospital, the areas original community hospital, Nashville General Hospital provides quality care for more than 58,000 patients each year, regardless of their ability to pay. Accredited by the Joint Commission, Nashville General Hospitals mission is to improve the health and wellness of Nashville by providing equitable access to coordinated patient-centered care - including specialty care through the 24 clinics of the Nashville Healthcare Center - and training tomorrows caregivers. For more information, visit NashvilleGeneral.org or follow us on facebook.com/nashvillegeneral, instagram.com/nashvillegeneral and twitter.com/NashGenHospital.
Denise Westenfield A seasoned CFO ready to take on the demands of our growing company, Denise has expertly dealt with the expected as well as the unexpected in her two years with us, said EMC CEO and Chairman Jerry Johnson.

Leading-edge LED Lighting + Technology conversion systems and service solutions provider EMC is pleased to announce that Twin Cities Business magazine has named CFO Denise Westenfield a 2021 Notable Women in Construction, Architecture + Engineering and is featured in the magazines October/November issue.

A seasoned CFO ready to take on the demands of our growing company, Denise has expertly dealt with the expected as well as the unexpected in her two years with us, said EMC CEO and Chairman Board Jerry Johnson. She delivered on improved reporting and processes as plannedand did it while helping the company successfully navigate the unexpected with COVID-19.

Westenfields leadership in process improvements included applying new procedures to improve reporting quality for the Leadership Team and help implement a new ERP system. These efforts bolstered efficiencies that contributed to a 150% Gross Margin improvement and a significant improvement in company profitability.

As for the unexpected, Westenfield was eight months on the job as CFO when she assumed responsibility for EMCs HR function. This happened just days before the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. While she had worked closely with HR teams in the past, she had never led one. However, she and her new HR team quickly got to work, closely monitoring changing health and safety requirements.

Westenfield played a pivotal role in EMCs merger and acquisition activities. In December 2020, EMC acquired L70 Technologies, a leading innovative product development engineering firm focused on IoT and UV-C disinfectant solutions. On top of this, she also directed 35% space expansion of the company's Headquarters spotlighting many of the new technologies being developed by the business.

For more than two decades Westenfield has provided leadership for organizations that support families dealing with Prader-Willi Syndrome, a genetic disorder that affects her youngest son, causing a loss of function of specific genes on chromosome 15. Westenfield most recently served from 2016-2019 as Treasurer for Prader-Willi Syndrome Association USA, is currently serving as Treasurer for Friends of International Prader-Willi Syndrome Organisation. She is also presently Treasurer and Board Member for the Prader-Willi Syndrome Association MN.

Westenfield has served as Head of Delegation from 2008 to present for the Minnesota-based Western Wings Special Olympics Team. This organization relies exclusively on fundraising to support 150 athlete participants in the Twin Cities metro area.

Its an honor to be part of such a collaborative and committed team at EMC and to reflect on all that weve accomplished in a short amount of time, said Westenfield. I also appreciate the opportunity this award gives to spotlight efforts to support Special Olympics and Prader-Willi Syndrome families here and abroad.

About EMC

EMC provides leading-edge LED Lighting + Technology conversion systems and service solutions to a broad range of multinational retail, commercial, industrial and specialized customers. Since 2003, the company has used its total project management approach, EnergyMAXX, to successfully implement thousands of lighting upgrade projects, saving clients across industries billions of kilowatt-hours of energy. EMC has since expanded beyond lighting into smart buildings and IoT devices, system integration, custom product development, energy analytics and disinfection technologies.
Aquiline Drones now offers Smart Farming with Drones, an online course that teaches farmers & drone operators how to better manage all ag business operations using drones and artificial intelligence. "Our Smart Farming with Drones online course covers all key aspects of the agricultural industry, including crop, orchard and livestock operations. It offers our drone pilot students a short runway to monetize their $99 investment," said Barry Alexander, Founder & CEO of Aquiline Drones.

American farms increasingly rely on technology to manage the unpredictable aspects of crop and herd operations. However, many farming tasks are still done manually, wasting valuable time and money. Aquiline Drones (AD), a drone and cloud solutions company, has an immediate solution  Smart Farming with Drones, an online training course. For an introductory price of $99, any drone operator or farmer can now learn how to better manage agricultural business operations through data using drones and artificial intelligence (AI) for immense analysis and revenue-maximizing forecasting.

A synopsis of the new, innovative instruction module can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-DIjTlN8Sk&t=2s

AD now offers this insightful and industry-specific course as part of its Flight-to-the-Future (F2F) series of online drone pilot training with more training modules currently being developed. The Smart Farming module sits amongst a collection of advanced ground training courses, tailored for different industries and available to all students after they have completed the basic F2F program and received their FAA Part 107 drone pilot certification. It can also be purchased a-la-carte directly by anyone who has already obtained their Part 107 license.

The educational journey offered here takes the user through the ever-expanding world of drone-based smart farming solutions covering crop, orchard and livestock operations. The course provides a thorough treatment, covering all key topics that one needs to know before becoming a specialized drone service provider within the agricultural industry, said Barry Alexander, Founder and CEO of AD. Thought leadership in our industry carries the responsibility of creating vibrant marketplaces where technology can be applied to benefit society, and AD takes this very seriously.

With approximately 215,000 Part 107 commercial drone pilots in the U.S., and the growing trend of integrating artificial intelligence into commercial drone operations, AD has recognized that there exists a market of professionals that are looking for ways to monetize their licenses. Priced at $99, Smart Farming with Drones presents a short runway for gaining powerful skills to address an industry segment thats growing at 13% annually, according to Grand View Research.

Formally designated as 402 Agriculture: Smart Farming with Drones, highlights of the course include:



Defining smart farming and explaining how people, drones and specialized sensors are used to enhance the efficiency of farming activities.

Describing how AI capabilities are effectively used to analyze farming data and further optimize outcomes.

Exploring the wide range of drone-based solutions for farm surveying purposes and learning how RGB, LiDAR and multispectral sensors are used as drone payloads to scan large expanses of agricultural land in extreme detail.

Understanding how these capabilities come together to constitute specialized drone solutions that can provide key outcomes. Examples include accurate fruit counts for orchard operations, large scale scans to obtain yield estimates, identifying replanting opportunities and ultimately making accurate revenue predictions.

Studying crop health applications - how spectral reflectance properties of vegetation are leveraged to help farmers early-detect crop stress factors and mitigate losses.

Immersion in livestock operations, like cattle counting, animal health and herd management and how drones are being used to support animal farming activities, reduce costs, and significantly improve results.

Delving into the benefits of drone-based crop spraying - how fertilizers and pesticides are applied strategically and safely, and how AI determines the exact areas that need to be watered, sprayed for insects or thinned, thus saving time and money.

Investigating how advanced drone solutions can create smart irrigation systems, essentially a multivariate exercise in data-driven optimization.

Learning how drone-based sowing and damage assessments can become powerful operational enhancements, empowering farmers to leverage increasing value from smart farming operations.

Alexander notes that many agricultural businesses already understand the importance of using technology to improve revenue as some have already incorporated sensing systems into their land-based farming equipment. This has generated substantial amounts of data that now require analysis so that farmers can project critical yield. In other words, the world of big data is coming to farms with the use of increasingly sophisticated sensors and drones. As a U.S.-based drone manufacturer and provider of industry-specific cloud support, AD provides a complete ecosystem of customizable drone and cloud solutions for multiple industries including farming, oil and gas, energy and utilities, border security, asset inspections, and others.

Due to the depletion of finite natural resources, the need to enhance farm yield has become critical. Drones infused with AI capabilities become exceptional equipment that can perform many necessary tasks from the air, adds Alexander. Drones are leading the next revolutionary phase of smart farming by providing remote surveillance, extensive data collection, analysis and modeling to reduce the costs of resources and labor, while ensuring higher crop yield. We are convinced that cloud-connected drones - connected to The AD Cloud - will transform the farming industry in the 21st century.

402 Agriculture: Smart Farming with Drones is now available as part of the F2F program.

Anyone can register for the course at: shop.aquilinedrones.com/product/f2f-smart-farming/

Within 48 hours of purchasing the module, students will be provided with login credentials to begin their training and may access the course at: portal.aquiline.io/smart-farming/.

About Aquiline Drones

Aquiline Drones Corporation (AD) is a progressive American drone manufacturer and cloud solutions company located in the financial district of Hartford, Connecticut. Founded by CEO Barry Alexander, AD's core management comprises highly experienced aviators, systems engineers, IT gurus, military personnel (including veterans), and business strategists. AD delivers a vertically integrated blend of products and services. These include an aviation cloud for commercial drones, U.S.-based drone manufacturing, drone "maintenance-repair-overhaul" (MRO) services, unmanned aerial systems (UAS) solutions for large enterprises and governments, a superior line of Spartacus drone products, a robust UAS training academy, and the country's first 'drone-on-demand' service enabling customers to order drone services through a proprietary mobile app. AD's full spectrum of technological solutions is widely applicable across countless industries and environments for superior, real-time data processing and insights. Visit http://www.AquilineDrones.com for more information.
DSR Corporation announces that Espressif, a multinational, fabless semiconductor company focused on developing cutting-edge wireless communication, low-power, AIoT solutions, has joined the ZBOSS Open Initiative (ZOI). This is a community of companies with a shared understanding about the value of community, when it comes to building and maintaining a Zigbee PRO software platform. The aim of this community is to jointly overcome the challenges surrounding interoperability, security, testing, and optimization of Zigbee-enabled products and solutions. ZOIs member-driven, non-open-source approach helps maintain performance and quality over time, while providing its members with access to the latest developments in Zigbee features and improvements.

DSR Corporation's CEO, Anatoli Pechkov, said about Espressif joining ZOI: We are very excited to welcome Espressif into the ZOI fold and to support Espressifs first Zigbee chipset offering. The ZOI membership continues to grow quickly, to the benefit of all members, with each additional member company contributing their unique expertise to the community and the future of the ZBOSS stack. ZOIs unique, community approach to stack maintenance and development is ever stronger with industry leaders like Espressif. We know that ZBOSS and the ZOI community are a perfect fit for bringing Espressifs first Zigbee offering to their global customer base.

Espressifs Founder and CEO, Teo Swee Ann, said on this occasion: Espressif is looking forward to joining the ZOI community, and building an interoperable Zigbee ecosystem with other ZOI member companies. By leveraging the strengths of the market-tested ZBOSS platform, Espressif will provide its customers with reliable AIoT solutions that will accelerate their Zigbee product development. Through our continuous dedication to developing fast, secure and green AIoT technology, we, at Espressif, aim to create a smart-connected world for everyone.

ZOI continues to grow at a steady pace. The combined efforts of ZOI members continues to further the development of a unified software platform for Zigbee-enabled smart devices, making it the most interoperable solution on the market. ZOI member companies benefit from focusing on their product features, rather than focusing on supporting new feature development for the underlying protocol stack. Instead, the stack-related needs and concerns of ZOI member companies help to steer the development roadmap for ZBOSS.

For additional information on The ZBOSS Open Initiative, including membership details and frequently asked questions, visit http://www.dsr-zoi.com.

About Espressif

Espressif Systems (688018.SH) is a public multinational, fabless semiconductor company established in 2008, with offices in China, the Czech Republic, India, Singapore and Brazil. We have a passionate team of engineers and scientists from all over the world, focused on developing cutting-edge wireless communication, low-power, AIoT solutions. We have created the popular ESP8266, ESP32, ESP32-S, ESP32-C and ESP32-H series of chips, modules and development boards. By leveraging wireless computing, we provide green, versatile and cost-effective chipsets. We are committed to offering solutions that are secure, robust and power-efficient. At the same time, by open-sourcing our technology and solutions, we aim to enable developers to use Espressif's solutions globally and build their own smart-connected devices.

https://www.espressif.com/

About DSR Corporation

DSR Corporation (DSR) is a professional software development company, providing products and services for a variety of industries, headquartered in Denver, Colorado. DSR Corporation has been developing wireless products since 2001, releasing cloud and Internet of Things (IoT) systems since 2006. DSR is the ultimate end-to-end IoT partner for many companies around the world and within different IoT verticals. DSR has delivered solutions in enabling wireless communications in products, embedded software for gateways and sensors, application integration layer, cloud backend, end-user apps (mobile and web), and general technology consulting with niche expertise. DSR is one of a handful of companies around the world that develops solutions covering the entire product spectrum - from the lowest level (hardware layer) to the top-level user apps. DSR is a big supporter of open standards and flexible development, making us technology and vendor agnostic, because we understand that not all solutions fit all use cases and business models. We are able to do this because of our extensive experience in different areas and our commitment to quality, recognized by our work in the Japanese market.

http://www.dsr-iot.com | http://www.dsr-corporation.com

About ZBOSS

ZBOSS is a Connectivity Standards Alliance, formerly Zigbee Alliance, certified, hardware agnostic, cross-platform, high-performance Zigbee software protocol stack developed by DSR Corporation. ZBOSS features cross-platform support, multi-tasking, fixed memory footprint, OS-less configuration, and easy-to-use API. It is an official Zigbee stack for Nordic Semiconductor and ON Semiconductor and also supports multiple SoCs, MCUs and transceivers from Texas Instruments, Silicon Labs, Qorvo, ARM, Telink, UBEC, Microchip, and other chip vendors. Moreover, multiple Zigbee 3.0 certified products are powered by ZBOSS. Over 200 smart devices from more than 40 vendors have been tested successfully for interoperability with ZBOSS.

https://dsr-zboss.com
"The Middle East is undergoing a cultural, social, and economic transformation, with a focus on developing human capital. So, the launch of this edition is well-timed," said Eric Schurenberg, CEO, Fast Company

Business and innovation media brand Fast Company announced that it recently signed a new foreign licensee, Vibe Projects for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). The license will include producing web and special print issues and events focused on the future of technology and business in the English language.

Vibe Projects is the Middle East's only media company focused on emerging technology like CX, AI, Cloud, Data, and Analytics. Its focus is to drive tomorrow's technology agenda by creating insightful content and virtual and in-person events.

Eric Schurenberg, the CEO of Fast Company said "The Middle East is undergoing a cultural, social, and economic transformation, with a focus on developing human capital. So, the launch of this edition is well-timed. Vibe Projects brings a unique mix of leadership with strong publishing experience and technology backbone with millions of first-party data. Fast Company already enjoys a strong following and brand recognition in the region, which will be further augmented with the digital, print, and experiential platforms."

Vibe Projects joins publisher Mansueto Ventures' growing portfolio of foreign licensees, including South Africa, Turkey, Brazil, Russia, Israel, and sister U.S. publication Inc.

Ravi Raman, the publisher of Fast Company Middle East said The regions leadership and businesses have proved that innovation and creativity power modern and robust economies. Fast Companys unique blend of technology, design and business content fills the huge gap in the region. Moreover, launching the edition in a post COVID scenario gives us a unique opportunity to deliver result-oriented content and experiential solutions to brands. Including respected and coveted lists and awards like The Most Creative People in Business, Most Innovative Companies, World Changing Ideas and Innovation by Design.

The launch of the partnership is expected at the end of 2021.

About Fast Company

Fast Company is the only media brand fully dedicated to the vital intersection of business, innovation, and design, engaging the most influential leaders, companies, and thinkers on the future of business. Headquartered in New York City, Fast Company's editor-in-chief is Stephanie Mehta. It is published by Mansueto Ventures LLC and sister publication Inc. and can be found online at http://www.fastcompany.com.

About Vibe Projects

Vibe Projects is a media group focused on emerging technology. Bringing together three core pillars of Content, Experiential and business generation, combining the art of storytelling with the science of audience targeting to deliver meaningful engagement. It is Headquartered in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates with offices in India, United Kingdom and Singapore.
Without a doubt, the quality of every single FirstService Residential team member we have interacted with has validated what we initially intuited. We can already feel the positive vibes, said Rolando Gutierrez, President at Sapphire Tower Owners Association.

FirstService Residential, North Americas leading association management company, was awarded the management contract for Sapphire Tower Owners Association in San Diego, California. FirstService Residential began managing the 100-unit high-rise condominium on October 1, 2021.

Sapphire Tower Owners Association is a 32-story high-rise comprised of three-floor plans, all of which feature their distinct floor-to-ceiling walls of blue glass and dual glazed windows for noise reduction. Residents have access to amenities such as a heated pool and spa, the sundeck, barbeque area, club room and a fitness center with attached steam rooms. Sapphire Tower also features concierge service with underground parking and 24-hour surveillance.

I think my wife and I were the fourth or fifth homeowners to move into a brand-new Sapphire Tower in early 2009. We chose it because we liked the layout, the ceiling heights, the few homes within it and its great location. Despite a decade with the same management company and long-standing ties, we switched over to FirstService Residential on the promise of a superior homeowner experience and the guaranteed stewardship of our assets, said Rolando Gutierrez, President at Sapphire Tower Owners Association. Without a doubt, the quality of every single FirstService Residential team member we have interacted with has validated what we initially intuited. We can already feel the positive vibes.

Sapphire Tower was built in 2008 and had a one-of-a-kind late modernist architectural design with units that range from 505 to 1,772 square feet. The high-rise is located in the Columbia District, the heart of downtown San Diego, near the Gaslamp Quarter. Its also neighbor to Smart Corner Owners Association, another newly managed luxurious high-rise by FirstService Residential.

About FirstService Residential

FirstService Residential is North Americas property management leader, partnering with 8,500 communities across the U.S. and Canada, including low-, mid- and high-rise condominiums and cooperatives; single-family communities; master-planned, lifestyle and active adult communities; and mixed-use and rental properties. HOAs, community associations, condos and strata corporations rely on their extensive experience, resources and local expertise to maximize property values and enhance their residents lifestyles. Dedicated to making a difference, every day, FirstService Residential goes above and beyond to deliver exceptional service. FirstService Residential is a subsidiary of FirstService Corporation (FSV), a North American leader in the property services sector.

For more information, visit http://www.fsresidential.com/california.
Fleri Inc. Fleri has a massive opportunity to grow its products beyond funding healthcare via remittances into full empowerment of immigrants to take control of their financial lives, says Sunil Sharma, Managing Director of Techstars Toronto.

Fleri Inc., a personal finance company for immigrants known widely for the FleriHealth product which enables immigrants to buy affordable healthcare plans for their loved ones back home, will join the Techstars Toronto Accelerator Program starting this October.

Techstars is a seed accelerator that runs an intensive mentorship-driven program for founders and early-stage startups and entrepreneurs. Fleri will join 10 other startups in the Techstars Toronto 2021 cohort as it sets its sights on global expansion. The Techstars Toronto Accelerator Program is designed to provide mentorship, funding, and access to its network, beginning with a Demo Day at the end of the guided program. When selected, startups will be able to pitch to a carefully curated group of investors.

Since it launched in 2020, Fleri, which was founded by Ghanaian-born entrepreneur Samuel Baddoo, has kept the immigrant experience at the forefront of its mission. The company focuses on providing solutions and products that uniquely empower immigrants to take control of their financial lives. Knowing that 83% of the time, immigrants will send money to cover a health emergency faced by a dependent relative back home, Fleri released its first product: FleriHealth.

FleriHealth enables immigrants, beginning with those from Africa, to directly sponsor healthcare plans for their loved ones and families back home rather than sending traditional money transfers. In their pilot year, FleriHealth has enabled more than 220 family members to access quality healthcare in Ghana and Nigeria. Fleri partnered with five health insurance companies and other healthcare providers in its pilot markets giving the beneficiaries of immigrants access to healthcare benefits such as traditional health insurance coverage and more personalized care options. The company also provides a concierge care service powered by 400 nurses for families of immigrants from Nigeria.

According to Baddoo, Fleri enhances peace of mind for immigrants, given the knowledge that their loved ones have healthcare coverage around the clock and by eliminating most of the fees and transaction costs paid through traditional money transfer services. Fleris digital platform enables immigrant users to protect their loved ones back home without sacrificing their own financial wellness. Fleri customers and beneficiaries also receive health alerts and wellness reports to track the care given underscoring the platform's ability to enhance access to life saving information.

Fleri, which means to Flourish in Haitian Creole was born out of Baddoos own experiences as an immigrant in the United States. After losing his Grandmother last year due to the challenges within the healthcare system in his country of birth, Ghana, he set out to create a solution that will help fellow migrants avoid the same pain - one that immigrants in Canada know so well.

Toronto is regarded as the most immigrant-concentrated city in the world, with 52 percent of our population being foreign-born, says Sunil Sharma, Managing Director of Techstars Toronto. When we met the team at Fleri it became clear to us that they are solving such a fundamental problem in the minds of immigrants, how to ensure the health of their loved ones back home, no matter where they live.

Although Fleris first focus is in providing healthcare coverage for families of migrants living in the diaspora, Sharma acknowledges that Fleris potential goes beyond healthcare.

Fleri has a massive opportunity to grow its products beyond funding healthcare via remittances into full empowerment of immigrants to take control of their financial lives, says Sharma. Immigrants in Toronto constantly think about their loved ones back home and always want to do more to support them. Fleri finally allows them to take action and make an immediate difference in their lives.

As for expanding its operations, Baddoo says, Fleris focus on empowering immigrants to flourish financially will be matched in turn by Torontos vibrant diversity and Canadas reputation for being immigrant-friendly. This combination will create the perfect catalyst for Fleris growth, enabling us to develop relevant financial products with which immigrants will support their loved ones back home and enhance their own financial wellness.

For media inquiries about Fleri Inc., or for advance interviews with Founder Samuel Baddoo, please contact Fleri at +1 614-569-1158 or via email communications@joinfleri.com
Many of our competitors tout 20+ years of experience in healthcare. We're lucky not to have that problem.

In McKinney, Texas, just north of Dallas, a 2-year-old custom software development company called Invene is breaking all the traditional rules of how a startup company launches and scales. The company has taken no outside investment capital, yet its adding 1-2 employees per month. It has doubled in size during 2021 while remaining profitable, and now it has added a COO years before most companies would make that decision. Its worth noting that the CEO began his B.S. in Computer Science at age 16 on a full ride academic scholarship, so this is bound to be a young team with fresh ideas and innovative thinking. Those are exactly the skills that the healthcare industry desperately seeks, and is finding with Invene.

Today, Invene revealed that veteran technology executive Ted Lindsley has joined the company as Chief Operating Officer. Lindsley will lead the companys strategic planning, go-to-market processes, and growth trajectory. He will also be tasked with finding those hundreds of new employees over the next five years who fit into the company's culture, to serve a growing base of customers.

Im thrilled to welcome Ted Lindsley to the team as our new COO, said James Griffin, Founding CEO of Invene. Ted is a serial startup veteran who has built and sold multiple technology companies as a Founder/CEO. This gives him a unique perspective on our business and how to avoid scaling mistakes. By leveraging his experience early in our growth curve, Invene can better position to be a long-term leader in custom healthcare software.

Lindsley has spent the past twenty years building successful technology startups that integrated software, web and cloud architecture, hardware, machine learning, AI, robotics and embedded systems. Prior to this he spent 13 years in headhunting and talent acquisition, building dozens of teams for technology startups in Dallas and Silicon Valley. That combination of experience will be helpful for Invene to scale effectively. Currently, the majority of the team members are young Millennials and Zoomers (Gen Z flyers) under the age of 32. This is partly because the technologies they utilize are often so new that younger engineers tend to have the most experience. However, the young CEO wisely recognized the need to add a seasoned COO early, who could help execute his growth strategy while avoiding the scaling mistakes and pitfalls that can curtail expansion later.

Invene is positioning for rapid growth over the next five years and Im excited to be a part of that., said Ted Lindsley, COO. Many of our competitors tout 20+ years of healthcare experience, mired in outdated thinking, and their solutions reflect this. We're lucky not to have that problem. Im surrounded by a motivated team of young professionals who grew up in a socially networked, app/cloud/phone-connected world. Who better to transform healthcare?! Our clients want an engaging user experience with feature rich solutions to positively impact their bottom line. Healthcare automation is a lot more than just coding software and Invene uniquely understands this."

Impressively, Invene has declined multiple offers for venture capital investment and opted to scale organically. This gives the founding team control over their destiny and corporate culture, so they can focus on the needs of customers, rather than a VC's valuation agenda. The company also has no near shore or offshore employees which prominent healthcare clients like. All of Invene's employees are U.S. based, which eliminates translation headaches and cross-culture confusion about U.S. healthcare regulations and compliance protocols.

The company is currently completing its core team additions to solidify the internal culture, values and ethics. Then it plans to scale to 500 employees over the coming 5 years, all working in a virtual team environment from home. Yes, you read that right. A 'virtual team' of distributed employees working collaboratively yet exclusively from home. They utilize a dozen apps like Zoom, Teams, Slack, Calendly and Google to interact in real time, instantly chatting as if you were popping your head over to the next cubicle. No pens, no paper, no copy machines, no memos. In our post-Covid world where 'efficiency-meets-social-distancing' is the new normal, and work/home life balance rules, this is the blueprint that other technology companies will be copying.

About Invene

Headquartered just north of Dallas in McKinney, Texas, Invene is a rapidly growing custom software development firm specializing in healthcare solutions. HL7, HIPAA, HITRUST, FHIR, EMR, EHR, and PHI are part of our everyday vocabulary, creating web and mobile apps to increase revenue, data integrations to enhance reporting, and machine learning to improve operations. We help our clients build competitive advantages using technologies like JavaScript, C#, Microsoft Azure, SQL and many more. Our specialty is taking a clients vision and turning it into a reality: You Dream it. We Develop it. You Own it. is our mantra. We are entirely USA based with no near shore of offshore team members. The company received an innovation grant from the McKinney Economic Development Center due to its rapid growth.
We are excited to partner with a Black-owned business and a product aligned with what we do best, said Nicole Martinelli, Senior Marketing Manager at Ingenio Media

The first-ever Hustle & Hope x Horoscope.com collection will include a dozen bright and bold celestial-inspired cards, one for each sign. Every card comes complete with a QR code that will take recipients to the dedicated Hustle & Hope x Horoscope.com website where they can unlock their horoscope, get Zodiac-based affirmations, and listen to a curated zodiac playlist on Spotify. The collection is available exclusively at HustleandHopeCards.com. Each card retails for $6.

As longtime lover of stationery, I had a vision to create a product with purpose that would spark joy and bring motivation to women in a time we need it the most, said Hustle & Hope founder Ashley Sutton. Our exciting partnership with Horoscope.com for this beautiful brand-new collection that brings this passion to life in a whole new way is truly a dream come true.

We are excited to partner with a Black-owned business and a product aligned with what we do best, said Nicole Martinelli, Senior Marketing Manager at Ingenio Media

Hustle & Hope has been featured in Katie Couric Media, Essence, Bella Magazine, Houston Chronicle, and Career Contessa and the company was recognized as a finalist in the 2021 Ally Bank Daring to Disrupt competition.

# # #

About Horoscope.com

Horoscope.com Inc. is based in San Francisco and is the Media division of Ingenio, a curated collection of online destinations where women find spiritual guidance on love, relationships, and life. Horoscope.com Inc. operates four lifestyle sites Astrology.com, Horoscope.com, Astrocenter.com and Horoscopo.com. Featured content includes personalized, positive messaging on zodiac signs, love compatibility, career, money and more. For more information, visit Astrology.com or Horoscope.com or download their available apps on the App Store or Google Play. Follow Astrology.com on Facebook (facebook.com/astrologycom), Instagram (@astrologydotcom) and Twitter (@astrology_com). Follow Horoscope.com on Facebook (facebook.com/horoscopedotcom), Instagram (@horoscopedotcom) and Twitter (@horoscopedotcom).

About Hustle & Hope

Founded by Black, female entrepreneur Ashley Sutton, Hustle & Hope is the first inspirational greeting card company to embed digital guides with topics ranging from self-care, job search, budgeting, and more, to help you level up in your career, mindset, & spirit! Buy a card. Scan the back. Unlock a free guide. Visit Hustle & Hope at http://www.hustleandhopecards.com, follow Hustle & Hope on Instagram @HustleAndHope (https://www.instagram.com/hustleandhope).
Were thrilled to be recognized as the best fund administrator for ESG globally,

JTC Group, the parent company of JTC Americas, beat out all other fund administrators for a coveted prize at this years Drawdown Awards, taking home the Service Provider award for Fund Administration: ESG. This is a welcome recognition of JTCs industry-leading technology, services solutions and practices for ESG.

The Drawdown Awards celebrate excellence and innovation within private capital fund operations and are rigorously judged by a panel of leading industry practitioners with the goal of acting as a catalyst to drive up service standards and operations across the sector.

Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) investing is the fastest-growing category in the private equity investment industry, with 75% of firms incorporating ESG factors into their investing strategies. This growth is being fueled by above average returns as investors put their money toward climate sustainability and social impact investing.

JTC offers a full suite of ESG consultancy services, including policy creation, training, and carbon footprint analysis. Adding real-time impact monitoring to industry-leading security, transparency, and compliance solutions, JTC Americas proprietary eSTAC platform offers unsurpassed customer support for impact investment categories like Opportunity Zones and EB-5.

Were thrilled to be recognized as the best fund administrator for ESG globally, said Michael Halloran, CEO of JTC Americas. As an extension of our shared ownership culture at JTC, weve worked hard to build the first purpose-built technology-based fund administration solution specifically geared toward ESG by making ESG-related impact tracking and reporting central to our operations. With our suite of capabilities, our clients can be confident we can meet their ESG needs around the world.

About JTC Americas

JTC Americas, formerly NES Financial, is the North American division of JTC. A leader in specialty financial administration, JTC has decades of experience serving US markets characterized by high administrative complexity, elevated transaction security needs and challenging compliance requirements.

JTC acquired NES Financial in 2020, positioning JTC Americas as the leading provider of third-party administrative solutions to US impact investment sectors, including the Opportunity Zones initiative and the EB-5 Program, as well as to private equity fund managers and 1031 exchange participants. The companys technology-driven solutions streamline best practices in these markets by simplifying specialized financial transactions, reducing back-office overhead, curtailing fraud and abuse, and offering security, transparency and regulatory compliance through each step of an investments life cycle.

For more information, visit jtcamericas.com

About JTC Group

JTC is a publicly listed, global professional services business with deep expertise in fund, corporate and private client services. Every JTC person is an owner of the business and this fundamental part of our culture aligns us with the best interests of all of our stakeholders. Our purpose is to maximize potential and our success is built on service excellence, long-term relationships and technology capabilities that drive efficiency and add value.

For more information, visit jtcgroup.com
The Supreme Pontiff of Hinduism Jagatguru Mahasannidhanam Bhagavan Nithyananda Paramashivam Vijayadashami Live Satsang October 15, 2021 Whether youre just an ordinary clerk doing the regular job or a beggar on the street, a homeless person or a statesman ruling a nation - Understanding these 5 forces will enrich, empower your life, enlighten you. ~ The SPH ~

On October 15, 2021, The Sovereign State of SHRIKAILASA celebrated Vijayadashami, marking the end of the grand 9-day Navaratri celebrations dedicated to the worship of the Divine Cosmic Mother, Parashakti. During these 9 nights, Parashakti is worshipped in nine forms - Shailaputri, Brahmacharini, Chandraghanta, Kushmanda, Skandamata, Katyayani, Kaalaratri, Mahagauri, and Durga. Navaratri is one of the most intensely celebrated Hindu festivals of the year and it is the most powerful period to connect with the Divine Cosmic Mother.

Through the 9 days, KAILASA ecosystems worldwide joined in the celebrations by offering a variety of ancient sacred rituals. Chandi Homas, Dharba (a traditional dance and music), and other rare pujas were offered, some of which, as per Hindu scriptures, can only be offered to a living incarnation of Paramashiva, such as The Supreme Pontiff of Hinduism (The SPH) Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam. Pratyaksha Pada Puja and Thulabharam, which awaken the deepening of Bhakti, pure devotion, and which are unique aspects of worship in Hinduism were also offered to the SPH. Thousands of people worldwide participated in the Pratyaksha Pada puja and several families offered Thulabharam.

Pratyaksha Pada Puja symbolizes surrendering to the feet of the Guru (Master) and is a rare opportunity to express gratitude directly at the feet of a living Avatar who in this era is The SPH Nithyananda Paramashivam, the 1008th Incarnation of Paramashiva as per Hinduism. Thulabharam in Hinduism is the traditional way of the sacred act of offering items equal in weight to the Deity or Guru or God. Various items are offered like flowers, bilva, tulsi, oil, bananas, rice, silver and gold. Today, one could experience this sacred and rare offering as the last time Thulabharam was offered to an Avatar was when Bhagavan Sri Krishna was in the body.

Annadan (organic food donations) by KAILASA ecosystems worldwide was also an important aspect of this celebration. More than 130,095 meals were donated to communities and more than 15,262 Naivedyams (consecrated food) were offered, prepared and coordinated by a team of 1,581 volunteers from across the globe. Thousands of viewers participated in the celebrations which were live streamed on thousands of digital handles on 27 social media platforms.

The grandeur of the celebrations concluded with Nithya Satsang (spiritual discourse) revealed by the SPH and new releases of contributions made by disciples across the world.

The SPH revealed sacred and powerful understandings about modern-day science and mapping its fundamental discoveries to what the Hindu Vedic scriptures, the Upanishads reveal about Consciousness. The SPH further expounded on the principles of mapping it as the macrocosm of the forces to what we experience in our lives the microcosm; Gravitational force (greed), Electromagnetic force (fear), Weak Nuclear Force (powerful cognitions), Strong Nuclear Force (initiations), and Power of Consciousness (consciousness).

Map all those principles related to the 5 forces to the experience of fear. Youll have so much clarity about fear. Youll know how to use fear, how not to get fear, how not to get affected by insecurities, how not to become life negative with fear. The SPH

Whether youre just an ordinary clerk doing the regular job or a beggar on the street, a homeless person or a statesman ruling a nation - Understanding these 5 forces will enrich, empower your life, enlighten you. Everything science decoded to gravitation, the gravity, using the human mind, map it to your microcosmic level. The SPH

Through these revelations, the SPH is making the science of Hinduism useful for the entire universe. Knowing how to map the principle of the 5 forces revealed by modern-day science into your microcosmic level is something that Hinduism solely teaches and will lead to more breakthroughs, manifesting more sciences, enlightenment, and raising your living quality.

The special Nithyananda Satsang concluded with a powerful initiation to experience the Power of Consciousness, Paramashiva as reality. Today, the SPH has inspired millions to experience the consciously enlightening principles and thousands have expressed their gratitude through Proclamations and Commendations. The program showcased new releases by KAILASA ecosystems:

New Releases and offerings at the divine lotus feet of The SPH by KAILASA ecosystems around the globe include:

KAILASA Slovakia - Released the book [Arunachala The Giver Of Nithyananda in Slovak

KAILASA Singapore - Launched eGurukul Singapore for 108 eGurukul kids.

KAILASA Global Chinese - Released Paramashiva's Pakashastra Vol 1. - the cookbook for Enlightened Living in simplified Chinese

In total, 143 proclamations and commendation letters, honoring the SPH were received from Belgium Canada, China, Colombia, Germany, India, Italy, Jamaica, Lebanon, Malaysia, Mexico, Pakistan, Palau, Singapore, Slovakia, South Sudan, Taiwan, Tanzania, the Netherlands, Trinidad & Tobago, Uganda, USA and Zimbabwe.

YOUTUBE VIDEO LINK TO VIJAYADASHAMI MESSAGE: https://youtu.be/cryRYfS55O4
Level Access logo We are honored to be recognized as one of the Leading Disability Employers, said Colleen Wood, Chief People Officer at Level Access. Our mission is to empower people with disabilities through access to technology. We couldnt call ourselves mission-driven if we didnt include people with disabili

At the National Organization on Disability (NOD)s Annual Forum, entitled Disability Inclusion in the Next Normal, Level Access was honored as a 2021 NOD Leading Disability Employer. Now in its seventh year, the NOD Leading Disability Employer Seal recognizes companies for measuring and achieving strong talent outcomes for people with disabilities. With this recognition, NOD endeavors to shine a light on employers, like Level Access, that are committed to building an inclusive workforce by adopting exemplary employment practices for people with disabilities.

Congratulations to all the 2021 Leading Disability Employers for creating an inclusive and diverse workplace that allows people with disabilities to be successful, said NOD President Carol Glazer. NODs mission is to ensure that no ability is wasted, that all Americans, including those of us with disabilities, have an opportunity for enterprise, achievement, and earnings and that corporate America knows how to put our talents to work. These winning organizations have stepped up and are doing just that. We want to applaud their leadership and thank them for their commitment to hiring and retaining people with disabilities.

We are honored to be recognized as one of the Leading Disability Employers, said Colleen Wood, Chief People Officer at Level Access. Our mission is to empower people with disabilities through access to technology. We couldnt call ourselves mission-driven if we didnt include people with disabilities in roles across our organization. That diversity of experiences is what makes our team so strong.

The announcement was made before an audience of hundreds of diversity and inclusion leaders from global companies at NODs two-hour virtual Forum. Academy Award winner Marlee Matlin kicked off the event with an inspiring keynote address, while comedian and actress Santina Muha served up glitz and glamour as the emcee. An executive panel discussion, featuring DiversityInc CEO Carolynn Johnson, Hilton CEO Christopher J. Nassetta, and Eli Lilly & Company CEO David A. Ricks, addressed the emerging workforce challenges in the COVID era and was moderated by Rhonda Nesmith Crichlow, Senior Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer, Charter Communications and NOD board member. The impactful discussion examined new opportunities the global pandemic has afforded employees with disabilities, including remote working, increased digital accessibility, better access to mental health programs and more flexibility.

The 2021 NOD Leading Disability Employers are:

AbbVie

Accenture

American Heart Association

Anthem

AT&T

BellTextron

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan

Blue Shield of California

The Boeing Company

Capital One

Centene

Cerner Corporation

Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia

Comcast NBCUniversal

Dow

Eli Lilly and Company

Endeavors Unlimited

EY

Financial Industry Regulatory Authority

GDIT

The Hershey Company

Hilton Worldwide

Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey

HSBC

Humana

Huntington Bank

Idaho National Laboratory

Independence Care System

Kaiser Permanente

KeyBank

KPMG U.S.

Leidos

Level Access

Lockheed Martin

LOreal USA

M&T Bank

Marriott International

Martinsburg Veterans Affairs Medical Center

Mayo Clinic

National Grid USA

National Security Agency

Nautilus Hyosung America

New Editions Consulting

New York Life

Northrop Grumman

PRIDE Industries

Prudential Financial

PSEG

Puerto Rico Industries for the Blind

PwC

Randstad US

Reed Smith

RespectAbility

SEI

Skookum Contract Services

Sodexo

Sony Corporation of America

TD Bank

TIAA

T-Mobile, USA

U.S. Bank

United Airlines

Unum Group

The Viscardi Center

W.W. Grainger, Inc.

WeCo Accessibility Services

Wells Fargo & Company

About Level Access

Level Access provides industry-leading and award-winning digital accessibility solutions to over 2,000 corporations, government agencies, and educational institutions. Level Accesss mission is to achieve digital equality for all users by ensuring technology is accessible to people with disabilities and the growing aging population. Founded in 1997, Level Access has an unparalleled history in helping customers achieve and maintain compliance with the full scope of accessible technology regulations and standards including the ADA, WCAG, CVAA, AODA, EU directives on digital accessibility, and Section 508. Delivered through a comprehensive suite of software, consulting services, and training solutions, the companys solutions ensure customers web, desktop, mobile, and electronic document systems are accessible to everyone. Level Access is endorsed by the American Banking Association, is a multi-year repeat winner on the Inc. 5000 list of fast-growing companies, and CEO Tim Springer was named a White House Champion of Change in 2014. To learn more, please visit http://www.levelaccess.com.

About the NOD Leading Disability Employer Seal + Employment Tracker

The NOD Leading Disability Employer Seal is a selective award given to companies demonstrating the positive outcomes in recruiting, hiring, retaining and advancing people with disabilities in their workforces. To see current and past winners of the NOD Leading Disability Employer seal, visit http://www.NOD.org/seal.

Winners are determined based on data provided by companies on the NOD Employment Tracker, the only assessment tool available that focuses on the workforce, to help companies evaluate their disability inclusion policies and practices. Organizations wanting to compete for the NOD Leading Disability Employer Seal voluntarily opt in to be considered. Those companies responses are scored, taking into account both disability employment practices and performance. Scoring prioritizes practices that are associated with increased disability employment outcomes over time, and companies receive additional points based on the percentage of people with disabilities in their workforce. At NODs Annual Forum, the cohort of winners are revealed by name; no specific scoring or ranking is disclosed.

About National Organization on Disability (NOD)

The National Organization on Disability (NOD) is a private, non-profit organization that seeks to increase employment opportunities for the millions of working age Americans with disabilities who are not employed. To achieve this goal, NOD offers a suite of employment solutions, tailored to meet leading companies workforce needs. NOD has helped some of the worlds most recognized brands be more competitive in todays global economy by building or enriching their disability inclusion programs. For more information about NOD and how its professional services, Leadership Council and Employment Tracker can help your business, visit http://www.NOD.org.
The opportunity to expand access to critically-important, potentially life-saving care is always a priority for Memorial, and Solis Mammography will help facilitate that through easily accessible locations.

Memorial Healthcare System has joined forces with Solis Mammography, the nations largest independent provider of breast screening and diagnostic services, to expand access to high-quality, patient-focused breast health care, while providing added convenience to patients. Through this innovative partnership, Solis Mammography, a breast wellness leader, will manage Memorials comprehensive womens breast imaging services, as well as bone density testing at Memorials four womens imaging centers in Hollywood, Pembroke Pines, and Miramar. The collaboration includes plans to expand access through multiple, community-based locations throughout South Florida.

The opportunity to expand access to critically-important, potentially life-saving care is always a priority for Memorial, and Solis Mammography will help facilitate that through easily accessible locations, said Aurelio M. Fernandez, III, FACHE, president and CEO, Memorial Healthcare System. There are also synergies with some of our other women-focused services and a joint commitment to combining the latest technology with a patient-centered approach to care.

Early breast cancer detection saves lives, yet nationally only about 54% of women get regular screening mammograms. According to the American Cancer Society, one in eight women will develop breast cancer in their lifetime. Memorial and Solis Mammography are aligned around a shared mission of promoting and preserving womens breast health and overall wellness by providing an exceptional patient experience that encourages annual mammography compliance.

We know that providing greater access to advanced mammography services changes lives, said Grant Davies, president and CEO of Solis Mammography. Through our relationship with Memorial Healthcare System, were looking forward to serving the women of South Florida with our specialized approach to breast health  an approach that marries an innovation-driven early cancer detection platform with an unparalleled patient experience.

The relationship was recently approved by the South Broward Hospital Districts Board of Commissioners, and it is Solis Mammographys first hospital-based relationship in Florida. Solis Mammography operates more than 90 centers across the nation and serves more than one million patients each year. The 35-year-old company is known for its compassionate, patient-focused approach to breast health and its robust advancements in screening, including 3D mammography with AI software integration, and SmartCurve comfort technology.

Under the terms of the agreement, breast studies at all locations, including existing sites at Memorial Regional Hospital, Memorial Regional Hospital South, Memorial Hospital West, and Memorial Hospital Miramar, will be read by the same radiologists Memorial patients have come to trust.

About Memorial Healthcare System:

Memorial Healthcare System http://www.mhs.net is one of the largest public healthcare systems in the U.S. and a national leader in quality care and patient, physician, and employee satisfaction. A South Florida- based academic medical center, it is highly regarded for a patient and family-centered approach that prioritizes multi-disciplinary collaboration, research, innovation, and transparency.

About Solis Mammography:

Solis Mammography http://www.solismammo.com is a specialized healthcare provider that has been dedicated to helping women achieve and maintain breast health and peace of mind for more than 35 years and more than 5 million procedures. Headquartered in Addison, Texas, Solis Mammography operates more than 90 centers in 11 major markets, including North Texas, Houston, Denver, Phoenix, Chicago, Philadelphia, Columbus, Nashville, Greensboro, Washington, DC and Miami, and, through its affiliated brands Washington Radiology and Progressive Radiology, Washington D.C., Maryland, and Virginia. The company operates both wholly owned centers and multiple successful joint venture partnerships with large hospital systems, physician practices and prominent medical and academic institutions.
The MOLLI Wand detects the MOLLI Marker and visualizes its location on a tablet, helping surgeons locate lesions more efficiently with improved accuracy. Female breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in the world, said Fazila Seker, PhD, President and CEO of MOLLI Surgical Inc. Thats why were committed to developing medical devices that help radiologists and surgeons to be more efficient and effective in treating the disease.

The Coordinated Accessible National (CAN) Health Network is proud to announce that Toronto-based MOLLI Surgical is joining the network to scale and market its patient-first solution across Canada. CAN Health will help MOLLI Surgicals wire-free and radiation-free marker technology for breast cancer surgery lesion localization become more accessible to their integrated health care market across Canada.

Female breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in the world, said Fazila Seker, PhD, President and CEO of MOLLI Surgical Inc. Thats why were committed to developing medical devices that help radiologists and surgeons to be more efficient and effective in treating the disease. Were delighted to be working with the CAN Health Network to leverage its scale and ingenuity.

We are excited to further explore the use of this surgical solution and study its impact on workflow for our teams and experiences of our patients, said Dr. Frances Wright, Temerty Chair of Breast Surgery, Louise Temerty Breast Cancer Centre, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre. The partnership between MOLLI Surgical and CAN Health will provide Sunnybrook with support and expertise as we move forward with this innovative tool.

Breast Cancer Awareness Month is an opportunity to both recognize and address the added challenges faced by breast cancer patients through the pandemic, said Dr. Dante Morra, Chair, CAN Health Network. MOLLI Surgical is doing exactly that by disrupting existing treatment approaches with their innovative marker technology  and CAN Health is leveraging their ingenuity as we support the growth of this made-in-Canada solution.

MOLLI Surgicals Health Canada approved and FDA-cleared MOLLI features a 3.2 mm marker designed to put the breast cancer patient first by providing a better experience over traditional wire and other localization options. The MOLLI Wand detects the MOLLI Marker and visualizes its location on a tablet, helping surgeons locate lesions more efficiently with improved accuracy. The magnetic marker is implanted by a radiologist within 30 days before surgery and creates scheduling flexibility for the patient and hospital, which has become of paramount importance in an unpredictable pandemic environment.

There are around 17,000 breast-conserving surgeries (BCS) performed on patients across Canada every year to treat breast cancer. This process involves implanting a marker to locate the breast cancer lesion before undergoing surgery, said Ananth Ravi, Chief Science Officer at MOLLI Surgical. The most common markers currently in use are wired-guided localization or radioactive seed localization. Both have demonstrated disadvantages, including sub-optimal patient experience, inaccuracy, and an increase in the logistical and financial burden on health care operators.

The implementation of MOLLI is being further explored by Sunnybrooks Louise Temerty Breast Cancer Centre, one of the largest, highly specialized breast cancer care teams in Canada. This made-in-Canada collaboration between MOLLI Surgical and Sunnybrook is supported by the CAN Health Network, a federally funded program focused on growing Canadian solutions, and supporting companies to scale across the Canadian marketplace, while strengthening the health care system. As part of the network, health operators, or Edges, in the CAN Health ecosystem will now have easier access to MOLLI, as it also supports MOLLI Surgicals continued growth across the country.

ABOUT MOLLI SURGICAL

MOLLI Surgical started in the operating room, where surgeons were using dated tools to treat cancer patients  and we knew we could do better. Our surgical wand is precise, easy-to-use and built with the realities of the operating room in mind. More importantly, it is built with patients in mind. Our technology replaces procedures to mark tumors with one that is not only kinder  but more accurate, efficient and cost-effective. MOLLI Surgical is proud to build the advanced equipment that patients prefer to have and that physicians prefer to use. For more information, visit mollisurgical.com.

Follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube.

ABOUT CAN HEALTH NETWORK

The CAN Health Network is a Canada-first approach to technology adoption. It helps break down barriers to scaling in the health care system and provides an environment for companies to scale to their full potential. Currently operating in Ontario, Western and Atlantic Canada, the CAN Health Network plans to expand into Quebec and the North. The Network has received a total of $12.45 million in funding from the Government of Canada to build a national platform that harnesses the purchasing power of health care organizations. To learn more about the CAN Health Network, visit canhealthnetwork.ca.

Follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

For more information:

Cecely Roy

Senior Communications Advisor (Bilingual), CAN Health Network

437-881-8541

cecely.roy@thp.ca

Kristin Jones

Jones PR, for MOLLI Surgical

314-537-8187

kristinjones@jonespr.net


Setex Technologies New Logo As we continue to grow, we saw the opportunity to leverage our technology to build the Setex brand into a household name.

nanoGriptech, Inc., the first commercial manufacturer of gecko-inspired micro-structured dry adhesives and surfaces for a wide range of consumer and industrial applications, announced today its name change to Setex Technologies, Inc.

The company developed its patented technology by biomimicking the hairs, called setae, on geckos toes which allow the lizards to climb and grip to many surfaces. They are currently working with a number of Fortune 500 companies to develop solutions for a range of applications, including wearable consumer products, semiconductor and glass handling, and automotive upholstery fastening. Under the Setex brand name, the company has been marketing a variety of grip pad products for eyeglasses, earbuds, game controllers and other devices directly to consumers since 2020. Like the underlying technology, the brand name Setex is also inspired by the geckos setae.

We have built a strong following on Amazon with our Setex brand and have a leading market share in the eyeglass nose pads category, comments CEO Nicholas Kuhn As we continue to grow, we saw the opportunity to leverage our technology to build the Setex brand into a household name.

The goal of the transition to Setex Technologies for the corporate and B2B name is to share and leverage the equity on the Setex B2C name, maintaining a stronger and more coherent brand architecture to better serve both business models. The firm has also introduced a new tagline, Stay in control. Our product solves everyday issues of keeping things in place, where they are intended to be, explains Kuhn, therefore helping people stay in control of their daily tasks which can range from improving your game all the way to safety at work. The new branding was the work of Pittsburgh-based brand consultancy, The Machine.

The company has relaunched two new websites reflecting the B2B brand at setextechnologies.com and the B2C brand at setexgrip.com.

About nanoGriptech, Inc. a.k.a. Setex Technologies, Inc.

Setex Technologies, Inc. is a privately held developer and manufacturer of gecko-inspired dry adhesive technology used in applications ranging from wearable consumer goods to semiconductor and glass handling to automotive upholstery fastening. The company was spun out of Carnegie Mellon University in 2009 by its founder, Dr. Metin Sitti. It occupies over 12,000 square feet of space in a former chocolate factory in Pittsburghs Lawrenceville neighborhood. For more information about nanoGriptech and Setex gecko-inspired adhesives, contact John Kearney at 412.224.2136 or jkearney@nanogriptech.com or visit http://www.setextechnologies.com
For 36 years, NCBW has held one of the largest gatherings of chapter members, supporters, and friends for its annual brunch in Washington, DC, during the Congressional Black Caucus Legislative Conference. With the many challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, this event was held as a virtual experience connected from around the world. The honorees were selected in part because of their efforts to protect voting rights and for their steadfast work in continuing to wage the fight against ignorance, injustice and blatant prejudices like never before. This year, the organization celebrated those who are on the front lines of the fight for social justice, voting rights and civil rights.

Virtual Awards Ceremony was held on Sunday, September 19, 2021 ( 3:00PM EDT, 2:00PM CDT, 12:00PM PDT)

Honorees were :



Congresswoman Marilyn Strickland (WA-10)

Congresswoman Nikema Williams (GA-05)

Congresswoman Cori Bush (MO-01)

Rebecca Pringle: National Education Association President

Mayor Muriel Bowser: Mayor of Washington, DC

Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett: virologist whose work contributed to Modernas COVID-19 vaccine development

LaTosha Brown: co-founder of the Black Voters Matter Fund

Renee Montgomery: VP and co-owner of the Atlanta Dream and former WNBA player

B. Michael: Fashion Designer and the first African American designer to dress an Oscar winner

The late Michael K Williams: Award winning actor and activist best known for his role as Omar on The Wire. Michael passed away just days before this virtual event. His acceptance speech was pre-recorded and was likely one of his final speeches, and a prescient epitaph for his life.

The event featured a special performance by music icons and civil rights and human rights activists Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr., who performed Blackbird from their new #1 album Blackbird: Lennon-McCartney Icons. This couple, known as the First Couple of Pop and Soul, showed us that their album is more than music, it's a movement. A movement that makes a powerful human rights statement. Throughout their career, including by releasing this incredible album, they have turned their art into activism, says Dr. Theresa Buckson, NCBW Chair. This Summer, Marilyn & Billy starred in Questloves directorial debut, Summer of Soul (...Or, when the Revolution Could Not Be Televised), a documentary on the Harlem Cultural Festival which premiered at this years Sundance Film Festival, winning the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award and breaking festival records.

This Christmas season, Marilyn & Billy make a special guest appearance in The Waltons Homecoming, executive produced by Emmy-winning luminary and former Chairman of the Academy of Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame Selection Committee, Sam Haskell of Magnolia Hill Productions at Warner Bros., on The CW network. The couple also lent their talents to the accompanying The Waltons Homecoming Christmas album for Warner Bros. imprint, Watertower Records. Marilyn & Billys vocals were produced by Nic Mendoza.

Mzuri, an NCBW member, performed her new song Soulin, a song she says is of hope for redeeming the soul of this nation.

Activist Tamika Mallory served as the events emcee. She is the author of the recently released The STATE OF EMERGENCY.

(NCBW) is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to the educational, political, economic and cultural development of African American women and their families. NCBW also serves as a non-partisan voice and instrument on issues pertaining to the appointment of African American women at all levels of government, and to increase African American women's participation in the educational, political, economic and social arenas. Currently, NCBW provides opportunities for women for leadership and decision-making positions in government, non-profit organizations and the private sector.

Our mission is to educate youth on the responsibilities of good citizenship and the importance of engaging the political process, while also providing opportunities for internships and other learning experiences at the local, state, national and global levels.

The National Congress of Black Women's founding chairs were Shirley Chisholm and Dr. C. Delores Tucker. Shirley Chisholm was an educator, author, and politician. She became the first African American woman elected in Congress in 1968 and in 1972, became the first African American woman to make a serious bid to run for President of the United States. Dr. C. Delores Tucker was the first African American woman to serve as Pennsylvania Secretary of the Commonwealth, and the first African-American woman to serve as secretary of a U.S. State government.

The National Congress of Black Women, President and CEO is Dr. E. Faye Williams a former Counsel to the US Congress District of Columbia Sub-Committee on the Judiciary and Education. She is a former Professor of International Law at Southern University Law Center in Baton Rouge, LA. She previously served as Legislative Counsel and Chief of Staff for a District of Columbia Council member. She is a former teacher in the Los Angeles Unified Schools.

She is an appointee by former President Barack Obama to the Presidential Scholars Commission and host a popular radio show called Wake Up and Stay Woke WPFW/Pacifica Radio, 89.3FM every Wednesday 10:00AM EST.

Contact E-mail Website NCBW (http://www.nationalcongressbw.org ) For additional information regarding this event please call (202) 678-6788

We are the organization that brought TRUTH to the Capitol

CONTACT: Dr. E. Faye Williams/National Congress of Black Women

PHONE: (202) 678-6788

EMAIL: drefayewilliams@gmail.com

Dr. Theresa Buckson, Chair

tbuckson@msn.com
Capital City Lighthouse Elementary Academy announced today the launch of a pilot program for Life Hub Jobs, an online Financial Literacy, Entrepreneurship and Career Development (FLEC) platform for children. Utilizing a $10,000 grant awarded by the 100 Black Men of Greater Little Rock, nearly 20 fifth-grade scholars at the school will have the opportunity to earn nearly $40 per week as they participate in this unique innovative education program. "Financial literacy is a crucial part of providing our scholars resources to develop social and educational skills, said LaShawnDa Noel, executive director, and superintendent of Arkansas Lighthouse Academies (ALA). Were thankful for partners like 100 Black Men of Greater Little Rock who invest in our vital work and enable us to bring a unique learning experience to our scholars within their day-to-day classroom structure.

Capital City Lighthouse Elementary Academy is an affiliate of ALA, a network of charter schools whose mission is to engage, embrace and empower scholars, families, and community members to create a vibrant, supportive local ecosystem for all through education. During the pilot, Capital City scholars will partake in FLEC modules and receive weekly cash awards upon completion of each microtask. This gives scholars both an educational experience and real-world experiences with finance, money management, and earning.

We are passionate about improving our youth's economic development and educating and empowering them through financial literacy, said Muskie Harris, president of 100 Black Men of Greater Little Rock. Thats why we support the great work that Arkansas Lighthouse Academies is doing in our community. With the pandemic changing the dynamics of household incomes, Life Hub Jobs will be transformative as participants are able to earn real income during such a difficult time. This new partnership furthers the organizations mission to incorporate resources from community stakeholders that are vital for scholars to develop educational and life skills and innovate how they learn in the classroom.

Life Hub is the first AI-powered transitional FLEC platform that empowers children aged 3 to 18 to learn these vital skills and behaviors. Life Hub Jobs is part of Life Hub that enables children to learn how to earn by performing edu-tasks, jobs, and projects online at home and in the community. Created by Electus Global Education Co, Inc. (Electus), Life Hub Jobs enables children to build valuable learning and income-generation skills, a critical part of financial education. The grant to fuel this initiative was powered by the Arkansas Community Foundations Building Black Communities Fund. To learn more about Arkansas Lighthouse Academies, visit arkansas.lha.net.

About Arkansas Lighthouse Academies

Arkansas Lighthouse Academies is an affiliate of the national nonprofit network of charter schools known as Lighthouse Academies. This network encompasses more than 6,000 scholars and families, in addition to 605 teachers, principals, and staff members. ALA has four campuses: two in Jacksonville, one in North Little Rock and one in Pine Bluff. Each of its schools follows a unique, civic-minded program emphasizing social development designed to give its scholars an edge and prepare them for college, career, and life in an ever-changing world. Scholars are prepared to activate their hopes and dreams and to affect positive change and a significant impact on the community around them. ALA educators inspire and empower scholars to think curiously, creatively, critically, and collaboratively about the human experience and to explore answers to open-ended questions. Scholars ability to critically listen, think, evaluate, generate new ideas and understand their own learning process are the organic products of the Purpose of School. This development of scholar agency is an indicator of success as it enhances the ways scholars think, solve, and communicate about the complexities of the world around them. Visit http://www.LHA.net/Arkansas to learn more.

About 100 Black Men of Greater Little Rock of Arkansas

An affiliate of the 100 Black Men of America, the 100 Black Men of Greater Little Rock is a men's civic organization and service club focused on economic development and educating and empowering Black children and teens. The mission of the 100 Black Men of Greater Little Rock Chapter is to improve the quality of life within Little Rocks communities through mentoring, education, health and wellness and economic development. Learn more at http://www.100BlackMenGreaterLR.org.

About Electus Global Education Co, Inc.

Electus Global Education Co, Inc. is a social enterprise based in Tampa, Florida that provides globally patented education and financial technologies for financial literacy, entrepreneurship, and career development (FLEC) education for children aged 3 to 18 called Life Hub. Life Hub is the first of its kind A.I. powered, transitional FLEC platform and is specifically designed for youth to form positive behaviors around money management. Our experiential learning model is delivered through a suite of software modules pared with age-appropriate financial products. Life Hub empowers children to engage and learn experientially every day in the classroom and at home which is vital to effective and lasting outcomes. Learn more at http://www.lifehubjobs.com.
This certification allows us to support our Federal government and the constituents they serve by modernizing and simplifying business processes through technology, which empowers the Federal workforce to do more engaging, effective, and satisfying work

NPS, which is also an SBA-certified Woman-Owned Small Business (WOSB), is a technology consulting and services firm specializing in business process automation and data management. The 8(a) designation expands NPSs ability to serve the federal government more efficiently.

Next Phase Solutions was accepted into the 8(a) Business Development Program after a rigorous application process that included analysis of the companys operations, management, and financials. The program allows NPS to pursue sole source federal and state government projects up to $4.5 million per contract and to compete for contracts set-aside for competent small businesses. This allows procurements to be streamlined and reduces the contract award timeline to as few as five days.

In announcing the news to the team, Mary McKnight, CEO of NPS, said, This certification allows us to support our Federal government and the constituents they serve by modernizing and simplifying business processes through technology, which empowers the Federal workforce to do more engaging, effective, and satisfying work. She continued, The 8(a) certification, combined with our exceptional past performance and partnerships with key vendors, provides a unique opportunity to introduce modern content management platforms to a federal audience.

About Next Phase Solutions

Next Phase Solutions is a consulting and services firm serving public and private organizations. Streamlining business processes, ensuring compliance, and managing and securing data using content management and RPA technology are core competencies. They provide end-to-end services including business analysis, project management, development, data conversions, training, and help desk support. Focus on a solution-oriented approach results in predictable costs and a reliable schedule for clients rather than the never-ending staffing model often utilized by federal contractors. Headquartered in Oviedo, Florida, NPS uses best practices in project management and a client-oriented approach to ensure projects meet requirements and exceed expectations. NPS is currently a subcontractor with clearances for Department of Defense (DoD) contracts, GSA contract holder, and has delivered several prototypes as a prime contractor.

https://npsols.com/

If you would like more information about Next Phase Solutions LLC, its 8(a) certification, or any of its services, please contact Vince Hanson at 407-440-1411 or vince.hanson@npsols.com.
Overline, an Atlanta-based seed-stage venture capital firm, today announced the closing of its second fund, Overline Opportunity Fund I, and the addition of Sara Saxner-Coughlin as Head of Platforma key component of Overlines investment strategy, differentiation, and commitment to the regions startup ecosystem. The company also announced the addition of Michael Davis as a Venture Partner.

Established in 2019 by Atlanta-based founder-operators, Michael Cohn and Sean OBrien, Overline was built to support founders in the Southeast region of the United States. The firm closed its first fund, Overline Seed Fund I, in March 2020, with the goal of eliminating the seed stage institutional funding gap that previously existed in the region. Its new fund expands Overlines investment mandate to also include later rounds of financing. With commitments of over $13 million from existing partners, the Opportunity Fund targets $1 million investments in breakout companies, both in the Overline portfolio and across the region.

We are thrilled to announce the closing of our second fund and the expansion of our teamkey milestones in the transition of Overline from a fund to a firm, and part of our vision from the outset, said Sean OBrien, Managing Partner of Overline. While our primary focus continues to be leading first round financings, we now have the flexibility to invest in the later rounds of companies that are well on their way to becoming unicorns.

Overlines support of founders building in the region has formalized through the hiring of senior leader, Sara Saxner-Coughlin, who has joined the firm as Head of Platform. Sara has dedicated her career to working with entrepreneurs and communities. In her new role, Sara will create value for Overline portfolio companies, partners, and the regional startup ecosystem by establishing and amplifying the Overline Platform.

From our very first conversation, Sean and I wanted Overline to stand for more than just a capital source, said Michael Cohn, Managing Partner of Overline. As a founder, I benefited from having an engaged and experienced community supporting meit was a key accelerant to the success of our business at the earliest stages. We are thrilled to welcome Sara to the team to lead the expansion of the Overline Platform, and we see her as a critical part of our success in delivering this same value to founders in our community.

There is tremendous talent in the Overline network, said Saxner-Coughlin. I am excited to support founders in the portfolio through our Platform focused on connection, community, and content, while at the same time elevating the impact Overline makes on the startup ecosystem throughout the Southeast.

Having Overline in our corner has been invaluable, said Sean Warner, CEO and co-founder of Grubbly Farms. Michael and Sean are always just a phone call or text message away. And their strong network of Operating Partners, with expertise in go-to-market, finance, supply chain, and talent continues to directly impact our growth. Were thrilled to see them make an investment in further developing the Overline Platform and know that it will drive value for the portfolio and the ecosystem at large.

Overline further expanded its team by naming its first Venture Partner, Michael Davis. Davis is Head of Strategic & Operational Services at Ally.io, where he works across the companys various functional areas to help launch new offerings. Prior to joining Ally.io, Davis was with Deloitte, where he worked closely with the CEO and led corporate strategy and business design projects at Monitor Deloitte. Davis has provided strategic support and tactical know-how to founders in the Overline portfolio as an Overline Operating Partner. In his expanded role as a Venture Partner, Davis will also assist in sourcing new investment opportunities and supporting the firms strategic planning and growth initiatives.

About Overline

Overline is a founder/operator-led seed-stage venture capital firm, based in Atlanta, that invests in exceptional founders building in the Southeast. The firm is industry-agnostic and leads pre-seed and seed rounds with investments ranging from $250,000 to $1.5 million. Overline takes a highly engaged, platform-centered approach to supporting its founding teams, providing insights into key areas like product, technology, finance, go-to-market, and talent that help create an unfair advantage for its portfolio companies.

-----------------------------

Media inquiries, contact: inquiries@overline.vc

To submit your company for investment consideration, visit: http://overline.vc/
PANZERA Timed to become Global Watch Industry Leader

While the COVID-19 pandemic has adversely affected businesses worldwide, particularly those in the retail industry, one Australian watch brand has achieved the seemingly impossible. PANZERA, a digital direct-to-consumer business, has doubled both its revenue and profit figures over the last financial year as it continues its climb to become one of the most recognized and trusted names in the time-telling space.

With statistics showing that the overall luxury watch market has declined in size more than 21% since the start of 2021, its been business as usual for PANZERA. While many competitors have always relied heavily on sales from their brick-and-mortar stores, the brands e-commerce strategy has fallen in line with the pandemics safety protocols, making it now the norm to order a high-end watch piece online from overseas. Additionally, with many people finding themselves on sudden budgets due to job cuts and other financial restraints, PANZERAs wallet-friendly price point means a high-quality product thats actually affordable.

Since the pandemic began, weve seen a large number of people holding back on buying their next Rolex or Omega and purchasing a PANZERA instead and then writing to compliment us on the quality, said Roger Cooper, founder and CEO of PANZERA. Before COVID, most of our marketing was focused on finding new customers with the belief that a watch was a one-time purchase, however, after taking a closer look, we found that at our price point, many of our customers have comfortably bought two, three or even six pieces, something thats further encouraged the growing catalog of our models.

PANZERA watches are categorized by land, air and sea collections. Among its standout pieces over the past year include the Aquamarine Pro Diver collection, designed to serve as a dependable and professional dive watch but with a style that is equally appealing to non-divers as well. Likewise, changing from mechanical-only watches to quartz models like the Flieger 46 Quartz Chronograph Pilot collection has also been well received by the companys customer base.

Established in 2009, PANZERA categorizes its watches as modern vintage and neo classic, pushing past the traditional into a new wave of contemporary elegance. Each watch is fully designed in Australia from parts manufactured in Germany, Switzerland, Japan, and Italy, and assembled in Sydney by master watchmakers. Direct 7-day shipping is available worldwide from its Sydney workshop. PANZERA is expected to double both its revenue and profit again this financial year, with new collections also being launched. For more information, visit http://www.panzera.shop.

About PANZERA

PANZERA is a leading Australian watch brand specializing in the production of classic designed automatic watch collections, enhanced with a new and unique contemporary feel. Established in 2009, PANZERA offers styles that bring pieces from yesteryear alive again with modern interpretations that can be appreciated by new generations of watch owners. For more information on PANZERA, visit http://www.panzera.shop.
The Pan African Sanctuary Alliance (PASA)the largest alliance of wildlife centers in Africais proud to announce that it has been awarded a grant of $758,459 to fund its Action for Chimpanzees program. The program, started in 2020, addresses trafficking of chimpanzees, an endangered species, in West African nations. The U.S. Department of State Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs is funding the program for two years.

This grant will be a game changer in the fight against wildlife crime in West Africa, said Gregg Tully, CEO of PASA. Chimpanzees are highly trafficked and on the brink of extinction. This grant provides critical support to drive regional solutions to the challenge.

Wildlife crime is considered the fourth largest form of organized crime and valued at an estimated 7- 23 billion dollars. Building on established partnerships between sanctuaries and security agencies, Action for Chimpanzees will combine community engagement, training and technology to increase interdiction levels, strengthen law enforcement, and expand collaboration to fight the illegal wildlife trade. The program will focus on four countries that are ground zero in this ongoing struggle: Sierra Leone, Guinea, Cote DIvoire, and Liberia.

The project focuses on chimpanzees  one of the species most sought after by wildlife crime syndicates. By focusing on this endangered species, this project will build regional capacity to tackle wildlife crime in general and disrupt a wide network of wildlife crime activities.

Objectives of the program are to:



Provide training and technology that helps law enforcement detect and disrupt illegal trade in chimpanzees.

Work with governments to improve prosecutions against wildlife crimes and increase sentencing.

Strengthen anti-corruption efforts to increase transparency around wildlife crime.

Forging effective partnerships with governments and law enforcement has always been important to our work, continued Tully. At the same time, PASA member sanctuaries have decades of direct experience dealing with traffickers. With the support of this grant, we can scale this critical body of knowledge to help stop these crimes.

Genetic mapping of poaching and trafficking hotspots will be an essential part of the program. DNA from chimpanzees living at African wildlife centers can be used to pinpoint wildlife trafficking hotspots and established trade routes. PASA will work with partners to sequence the genomes of chimpanzees confiscated from the illegal wildlife trade. This information will help create a genetic map showing where the animals originated and where they have been confiscated  a diagram of trafficking activity which can be shared with stakeholders in each country.

With endangered species like chimpanzees, said Tully, there is simply no time to lose. Action for Chimpanzees will allow us to bring new tools to the fight to protect these remarkable animals. Were incredibly grateful for the support from the U.S. Department of States Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs.
This year at MJBizCon 2021  the premier medical and recreational cannabis industry convention in America  Paybotic is excited to host two booths for interested cannabis business professionals to meet with in-house industry experts on payment processing. The show will take place from October 19th through the 22nd, and several Paybotic executives will be in attendance at booths C3811 and N2617.

Paybotic will also participate in several pre-show events on the first day of the conference and maintain a significant presence the entire week. As a leading payment processing services provider in the cannabis and other high-risk industries, Paybotics attendees look forward to meeting with any curious cannabusiness representatives seeking to learn more about what the company can offer.

The full list of Paybotic representatives in attendance includes the following:



Max Miller, Co-founder and President

Tom Wondra, Director of Strategic Initiatives

Mahlon James, Senior VP of Partner Relations

Brett Granat, Director of Business Development

Sarah Kowarski, Marketing and Events Manager

Brian O'Connor, Account Executive

Eric Bold, Account Executive

Michael Cecere, Account Executive

Rebecca Rodstrom, Executive Assistant

MJBizCon will host over a thousand medical and recreational cannabis business-related exhibits across a 250K square foot event hall. The event will run four days including the pre-conference event, with sessions on each day commencing at 9:00 a.m. Cannabis business operators, executives, and other professionals seeking opportunities for partnerships, council, financing, and networking will have plenty of chances to do so at MJBizCon 2021.

Events included on the agenda range in topics such as a fiscal forum, science , an open floor for company exhibits, small group discussions, networking sessions with relevant themes, and many other events. MJBizCon 2021 also will welcome over 80 keynote speakers  including co-star of ABCs Shark Tank and Founder/CEO of Fubu, Daymond John.

Cannabis professionals interested in attending the Paybotic's booths should contact a Paybotic representative for additional information. Guests interested in visiting MJBizCon 2021 directly or virtually can visit the conference website for further details on the agenda, subjects, booths, travel arrangements, and costs for registration.

More About Paybotic

Paybotic is one of the largest payment processing solution providers for high-risk merchants in the United States. The company specializes in helping cannabis and other high-risk industry businesses process customer payments and maintain compliance amid evolving regulation.

As innovators in the FinTech space, products such as the Cashless ATM have been obvious solutions for Paybotic to implement across the cannabis industry. The company actively works with a variety of sizes of businessesfrom single store locations to multi-state operators and even publicly-traded companies.

Cannabis business owners or decision makers with interest in one or several of Paybotics full suite of modern payment processing services can call 844-420-4729 for more information. Those interested can also visit the Paybotic website to speak with a live agent.
To compete for this business, hotels are looking for guest experience differentiators that will also help them generate much needed revenue. ROOMDEX presents a simple and effective solution that will make an immediate impact. said Martin Stilman, Director at GuestEyes

ROOMDEX, the leader in hotel upselling automation, is happy to announce a partnership with GuestEyes, the Latin American leader in hotel technology delivery. GuestEyes will provide sales, local customer service and account management from its headquarters in Argentina.

GuestEyes is a specialist in helping hotels enhance the guest journey through innovative technology solutions. For more than a decade, the company has delivered flexible solutions that generate revenue for some of the most recognizable international hotel brands in the region such as The Ritz-Carlton, One&Only, Four Seasons and Melia.

ROOMDEXs core product is Upgrade Optimizer, an automated hotel upsell tool that intelligently calculates the best upgrade offer price and timing to maximize upsell conversion. ROOMDEX hotels generate easy revenue from automated room upgrade and stay extension (early check-in and late check-out) upsell offers. With the new Guest Services Automation, hotels also now have the ability to automatically market, sell and manage the upsell transactions of guest services such as (but not limited to) parking, breakfast, premium access areas, etc.

"Like elsewhere, the leisure transient business for our hotel customers is starting to come back nicely, said Martin Stilman, Director at GuestEyes. To compete for this business, hotels are looking for guest experience differentiators that will also help them generate much needed revenue. ROOMDEX presents a simple and effective solution that will make an immediate impact.

"We see the Latin American market recovering quickly over the next 12 months," says Jos Schaap, CEO and Co-Founder at ROOMDEX. GuestEyes positions ROOMDEX well to help hotels in the region. We are fortunate that Martin and his colleagues bring a hoteliers perspective to their engagements and understand the critical importance of automated upselling in the current market conditions.

About ROOMDEX

ROOMDEXs hotel upsell software, Upgrade Optimizer, automates, monetizes and ultimately simplifies the hotel room upgrade and guest service upsell process by putting the power of choice in the hotel guests hands. Automation is the cornerstone of our pioneering hotel optimization platform. ROOMDEX uses hotel reservation, guest data and its proprietary persona and price algorithms to deliver personalized digital offers, greatly enhancing the guest experience. The hotel upsell tool relieves hoteliers of the labor time required by other upselling solutions while delivering high margin revenue and a substantial ROI.

The company was founded by Jos Schaap, Pierre Boettner and Denis Bajet, three industry veterans (Ex. MICROS-OPERA (now Oracle Hospitality), StayNTouch, Shiji and Nor1) who together bring over 90 years of hotel software innovation experience in PMS, integrations, revenue management, BI, mobile, self-service and upgrade optimization software. Since founding in spring of 2020, ROOMDEX has signed on more than 85 hotels with 7,500+ rooms across the U.S., U.K. and Europe.

Twitter: @ROOMDEX

Facebook: facebook.com/roomdexinc

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/roomdex

About GuestEyes

GuestEyes offers hotels in Latin America, solutions to engage with their guests in every step of the guest journey. Digital solutions that are easy to implement, affordable, flexible and above all, solutions that work and generate ROI for the hotels. We are hoteliers providing solutions for hoteliers. Martin Stilman, GuestEyes Founder and Director has a Hospitality degree. With more than 25 years of experience in the travel and hospitality industries, working with boutique hotels to regional and global brands in Latin America and Spain. More information at http://www.guesteyes.com

Twitter: @GuestEyes1

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GuestEyes

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/guesteyes/
Jorge Verdugo, Founder of Seller's Corner Im excited to take advantage of Sides offerings to set Sellers Corner apart from other San Diego brands with next-level capabilities.

Sellers Corner today announced its partnership with Side, the only real estate technology company that exclusively partners with high-performing agents, teams, and independent brokerages to transform them into market-leading boutique brands and businesses. The alliance will ensure that Sellers Corner, a firm that focuses exclusively on serving home sellers in San Diego, is powered by the most advanced platform in the industry.

Sellers Corner was founded by Jorge Verdugo, who became a real estate professional in 2003 after purchasing his first condo in San Diegos Little Italy. Since 2011, Verdugo has successfully closed more than 300 residential transactions, and he elevates his services through his expertise as a developer and prolific interior designer. In addition to sales, Verdugo has experience in growth strategy, project management, and client relations. Hes also a passionate agent mentor.

Partnering with Side will ensure Sellers Corner remains on the cutting edge of the evolving real estate market while continuing to deliver premium services to its clients. Side works behind the scenes, supporting Sellers Corner with a one-of-a-kind brokerage platform that includes proprietary technology, transaction management, branding and marketing services, public relations, legal support, lead generation, vendor management, infrastructure solutions, and more. Additionally, Sellers Corner will join an exclusive group of Side partners, tapping into an expansive network from coast to coast.

Im excited to take advantage of Sides offerings to set Sellers Corner apart from other San Diego brands with next-level capabilities, said Verdugo, and I look forward to employing these innovative tactics to sell my clients homes.

Side is led by experienced industry professionals and world-class engineers who develop technology designed to improve agent productivity and enhance the client experience. Based on its belief that homeownership is a fundamental human right, Side is on a mission to improve the public good by providing top-performing real estate agents, teams, and indie brokerages with the best system, support, service, experience, and results.

About Sellers Corner

Sellers Corners team of agents shares more than 20 years of combined industry experience, but its their amassed knowledge, deep regional insights, investment savvy, extensive sales history, and  most of all  hyper-niched seller focus that easily sets them apart from other local real estate companies. The result is a client experience and outcome that are also one-of-a-kind. To learn more, visit http://sellerscorner.com/.

About Side

Side transforms high-performing agents, teams, and independent brokerages into successful businesses and boutique brands that are 100% agent-owned. Side exclusively partners with the best agents, empowering them with proprietary technology and a premier support team so they can be more productive, grow their business, and focus on serving their clients. Side is headquartered in San Francisco. For more information, visit http://www.sideinc.com.
SEOblog.com, a fast-growing website providing the latest SEO news, tips and resources and helping business owners connect with leading digital marketing and SEO agencies, has released its exclusive 2021 ratings naming the best Houston SEO companies in the United States.

SEOblog analysts determined the 15 best Houston SEO companies based on dozens of key quantitative and qualitative factors. SEOblog industry experts examined each digital marketing agencys website, social media experience, market presence, client list, portfolio, expert certifications and authorship, among other factors in its ranking system.

SEOblog has provided an in-depth view of companies in a particular city or focus area on various directory pages to help business owners find the expert help they need to grow. This was a new, free offer added by SEOblog in 2019.

The U.S. boasts several top Houston SEO agencies that contribute to a highly competitive digital marketing landscape.

"Although known as the leading oil and petrochemical center of the world, Houston is made up of many businesses across various industries, said Tony Joh, senior digital strategist at Versa Creative. This presents SEO opportunities for professionals and agencies."

SEOblog.com rankings are updated regularly as the market shifts and new players emerge. SEOblog.com has published more than 2,300 agency listings, with more added every day. There is no fee to participate, and the website welcomes all qualified agencies to apply.

SEOblog.coms 15 Best Houston SEO Companies in 2021:

TopSpot Internet Marketing, EWR Digital, ITVibes, ASTOUNDZ, Adit, TuiSpace, Regex SEO, True Digital Marketing, Versa Creative, Informatics Commerce, All Day Web Design & Hosting, Authority Solutions LLC, GBC Digital Marketing, MARION Integrated Marketing and Adhere Creative.

Link: https://www.seoblog.com/best-seo-companies/houston/

About SEOblog.com

SEOblog.com is a leading thought leadership site with a rich history of publishing educational and informative articles about SEO and digital marketing topics. In early 2019, SEOblog.com answered the call from buyers of digital marketing services that lacked unbiased, informative online resources and launched a comprehensive directory to highlight the best SEO companies in the United States -- https://www.seoblog.com/best-seo-companies/.

SEOblogs mission is to connect businesses with qualified digital marketing agencies while also offering further SEO education, best practices and industry trends.

SEOblog.com is a one-stop shop for educational SEO and digital marketing content, research, ratings and reviews for the best agencies in each local market across the United States. The website will be increasing its coverage of U.S. SEO agencies and accepting more guest blog posts in the coming months. Contact SEOblog if youre interested in getting involved.
SONAX We are pleased to continue our partnership with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum and honored that they trust SONAX products with their valued collection.

Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum is pleased to announce a renewed partnership with SONAX USA and has named the company Official Car Care Product of the IMS Museum.

SONAX is a global leader in premium car care products. Founded in Germany in 1950, SONAX is distributed in more than 100 countries today and has participated in motorsports for 30 years.

SONAX USA, based in Westfield, Indiana, has partnered with IMS Museum on several initiatives in recent years and has been designated Official Car Care Product since 2017.

We are pleased to continue our partnership with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum and honored that they trust SONAX products with their valued collection, said Rob McCrary, Managing Director for Vision Investments (the US importer of SONAX products).

Under the new agreement, SONAX USA will play an active role with the IMS Museum Restoration staff to preserve and maintain the hard surfaces on the Museums vast and priceless vintage automotive and motorsports collection.

In addition to providing premium car care products, SONAX USA will conduct training sessions for the Museums detailing team and provide consultation and process recommendations to complete the most delicate and challenging IMS Museum Restoration projects. SONAX USA staff will also provide support upon request for IMS Museum events and workshops.

In 2019, SONAX USA and the museums Restoration team collaborated on a preservation project, which saw the group take historic vehicles with compromised finishes and restore them to the IMS Museums extremely high standards. SONAX USA has also prepared IMS Museum-owned vehicles for high-profile events such as the Pebble Beach Concours dElegance and the Museums featured exhibits.

Learn more about SONAX USA and quality SONAX products by visiting their website, sonaxusa.com.

For information on IMS Museum ticket prices, memberships, current and permanent exhibits and news, visit imsmuseum.org or call the Museum at 317-492-6784 between 9 a.m.-5 p.m. daily.

***

About SONAX USA: Through intensive research and development, SONAX constantly improves and expands its product portfolio. Since 1950, the brand has been synonymous with the highest standard and constant advancement in the car care sector. SONAX is the #1 brand in Germany and a leading brand in Europe. SONAX is an official sponsor of Hoonigan Racing Division and Ken Block. Innovation, keen feel for market demands and excellent product performance have played a major role in the success of SONAX. All SONAX products are developed and manufactured in Neuburg, Germany. For more information, visit http://www.sonaxusa.com.

About the IMS Museum: The Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum is home to one of the worlds premier motorsports and automobile collections, with interpretive emphasis on the Indianapolis 500 and its role as an American icon of sporting tradition and innovation.

Located inside the famed 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval, the IMS Museum is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization which relies on the support of visitors, members, donors and corporate partners, who make possible our daily operations, exhibits, educational programming, and restoration and preservation initiatives.

For more information about the IMS Museum, please visit http://www.imsmuseum.org, contact the Museum at 317-492-6784, or find us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn.

Media Contact: Eric Powell, Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum, 317-492-6748, epowell@brickyard.com
U.S.A Fraudulent Education Exposed: an impassioned plea for change. U.S.A Fraudulent Education Exposed is the creation of published author Stan Robbins, a native of Ohio born in 1934 who left a career in the electric generation field to enter the ministry. After twenty-nine years of ministering and teaching, Robbins retired to find a passion for writing.

Robbins shares, The book you have in your hand is for the purpose of exposing the U.S.A. Fraudulent Education in our U.S.A. schools, colleges and country. It is also to expose the communist goals of taking over the U.S.A.

Unless we the citizens of the U.S.A. act as we should be doing, we are facing a very real threat of having a socialistic, communist controlled government to leave our children and grandchildren.

Published by Christian Faith Publishing, Stan Robbinss new book is a compelling look at trends the author has noted in relation to cultural shifts in values.

Robbins presents an ardent call to action for an awareness of what he has observed over the years in political, cultural, and educational shifts.

View a synopsis of U.S.A Fraudulent Education Exposed on YouTube.

Consumers can purchase U.S.A Fraudulent Education Exposed at traditional brick & mortar bookstores, or online at Amazon.com, Apple iTunes store, or Barnes and Noble.

For additional information or inquiries about U.S.A Fraudulent Education Exposed, contact the Christian Faith Publishing media department at 866-554-0919.
Summit Packaging Solutions

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Summit Packaging Solutions, an award-winning supply chain partner providing end-to-end contract packaging solutions for brands known around the world, announced today plans to expand its footprint with a new 276,000-sq.-ft. Operations Center of Excellence located in Northern Kentucky, a move that will create nearly 70 full-time positions in assembly, production, and maintenance, as well as management and supervisor roles, and 185 contracted production line jobs.

The Company cited the Northern Kentucky transportation network which can move products easily and efficiently by air, rail, road, and water to all points of the globe, the availability of skilled talent, and strong community relationships as key drivers of its decision to expand in the area.

"We appreciate the highly competitive and attractive combination of location, infrastructure, logistics, and workforce in the Northern Kentucky region," said Summit Packaging CEO Adam C. Walker. "Summit has built a strong team and community relationships in Northern Kentucky, and we look forward to maintaining our leadership in the areas of manufacturing, customization, innovation, supply chain, co-packing, transportation and overall environmental stewardship."

Summit will expand operations by modernizing and moving into an existing facility located at 2481 Wright Blvd., in Unincorporated Boone County. Summits Operations Center of Excellence will support contract manufacturing for consumer products customers, from leading global brands.

We are excited to be part of the community and have appreciated the local leaderships partnership. The expansion was fueled by the continued growth we have witnessed in recent years, said Walker. We are committed to investing in the area by creating a wide variety of high-quality jobs, including personnel to support operations. We believe there is significant opportunity for Kentuckians to have great careers with us as we expand.

The Companys expansion plans are connected to approval of its application for a 10-year incentive agreement with the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority (KEDFA) under the Kentucky Business Incentive program.

As our economy continues to surge ahead despite the challenges of the pandemic, Summits decision to expand into Northern Kentucky is great news for our state and the citizens of Boone County, Gov. Andy Beshear said. The creation of more than 250 high-quality jobs means new opportunities for area residents, and I appreciate Summit for its investment in Northern Kentucky.

The performance-based agreement can provide up to $750,000 in tax incentives based on the Companys investment of $18.3 million and annual targets of creating and maintaining 69 full-time jobs for Kentucky residents across 10 years and paying a competitive hourly wage and benefits across those jobs.

We view this expansion of our manufacturing and transportation capabilities as an investment in both our business and in the satisfaction of our customers. As they increasingly demand service on their terms, our new Operations Center of Excellence in Boone County provides a great opportunity for us to exceed their expectations, said Walker. We need to put ourselves in the best possible situation to continue supporting that growth. Additionally, were proud that the new facility will offer a major benefit to the surrounding area through high-quality jobs and training opportunities.

The Company expects the Operations Center of Excellence to be operational by November.

ABOUT SUMMIT PACKAGING SOLUTIONS

Summit Packaging Solutions was established in 2014 and has built a reputation as a trusted global supply chain partner providing end-to-end contract packaging solutions for brands known around the world. An industry leader in leveraging todays most innovative integrated services, Summit Packaging specializes in turn-key solutions in program management, design, materials, customization, co-packing, e-commerce, distribution, and transportation.

Summit serves Fortune 500 clients in the CPG, retail, pharma, electronics, automotive, beverage and general manufacturing industries. With headquarters in Alpharetta, GA, Summit has additional facilities in Union City, GA; Shippensburg, PA; and Monroe TWP, NJ. Summit is a Corporate Plus Member of the National Minority Supplier Development Council. The Company is FDA and DEA registered and OSHA, Bioterrorism certified. For more information, visit http://www.1teamsummit.com.

ABOUT KENTUCKY

From single-employee startups to century-old brands, Team Kentucky helps businesses of all sizes select, grow and succeed in the Bluegrass State. Team Kentucky includes state agencies, local economic developers and utilities working together on site selection, planning, permitting, workforce sourcing, training and more to help companies quickly establish, open and operate successfully for the long term.

Kentuckys borders lie within 1,000 km of two-thirds of the U.S. population, making the state a gateway between the U.S. South and Midwest, and providing easy access to the Northeast and Atlantic Seaboard. Low costs of conducting business  including among the lowest prices nationally for industrial electricity  help make Kentucky a top choice for corporate expansions and new-business locations. Join Team Kentucky at ced.ky.gov.
Over the past year, McDonalds has solidified their approach to quantifying their impact to DEI. We have become a trusted partner and continue to manage their vendors and now we will help them measure their entire network under the MCDEI commitment.

SupplyHive, an innovative provider of Supplier Performance Management (SPM) technology, is gearing up to become a new McDonalds Corp. trusted partner to help further diversify the restaurant corporations vendor supply chain and to open doors for businesses owned by women and/or Black, Hispanic, Asian, Indigenous, Veteran, LGBTQ+, and disabled persons.

As an example of its commitment to McDonalds Mutual Commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (MCDEI) pledge, SupplyHives signed the document and further solidified its commitment to the restaurant giant as well as with minorities in the supply chain.

Twenty U.S.-based suppliers are also signatories that are working together with the shared goals of supporting and empowering diverse-owned businesses, creating new pipelines of talent, driving greater innovation and competition, and building economic growth in diverse communities. The McDonalds U.S. System spent around $14 billion throughout its U.S. supply chain in 2020, including 23% with diverse-owned suppliers. McDonalds also said in July that it expects to increase purchases of goods and services from diverse-owned suppliers by nearly 10% by 2025.

Over the past year, McDonalds has solidified their approach to quantifying their impact to DEI, says SupplyHive President and CEO Lou Sandoval. We have become a trusted partner and continue to manage their vendors and now we will help them measure their entire network under the MCDEI commitment.

Becoming a trusted partner shows that McDonalds sees SupplyHive as a mover and shaker in the U.S. marketplace, says Sandoval.

We have worked with McDonalds on the vendor management side, and now they are taking us on as a partner to help them measure some of the promises they made regarding diversity, equity and inclusion, says Sandoval. While we continue as a vendor, we are now a partner and will be providing them with guidance and advice on how it can grow and make its supply chains more equitable to all groups.

SupplyHives relationship with McDonalds started in December 2020 as the SPM provider was contracted to implement its software to help the global restaurant corporation centralize, standardize, scale, and automate its vendor performance process and to receive insightful reporting. SupplyHive now will help diverse companies step up and expand their own roles with McDonalds with the future goal of helping them all grow with a well-recognized global corporation.

Collaboration is the key to the future, and SupplyHive, along with our other MCDEI partners will help us to create more equitable opportunities in our supply chain and to ensure that all communities are served, says McDonalds Senior Director, Global Supplier Diversity and Inclusion B2B Diversity Supply Chain Karmetria Dunham Burton.

Besides McDonalds, SupplyHive works with Abbott, Box, Mars, Facebook, Eaton, First Energy and others. SupplyHives customers are large global corporations that already measure and believe in supplier performance but are seeking digital technology that will allow them to scale and provide insightful reporting. The company prides itself in its solutions ease of use, in turn, drive engagement and participation within the organization. The greater the participation, the more useful data becomes available to bear actionable insights.

Launched in Chicago in 2018, SupplyHive was the brainchild of Latino founder and entrepreneur Mike Anguiano who wanted to help underserved communities. The company provides Supplier Performance Management (SPM) software designed to help corporations centralize, standardize, scale, and automate the supplier performance process. The company uses the latest innovations of Artificial Intelligence (Al), Machine Learning (ML), and Natural Language Processing (NLP) to analyze the aggregated quantitative and qualitative data.

About SupplyHive

Headquartered in Chicago, SupplyHive is a technology company that provides Supplier Performance Management (SPM) software designed to help corporations improve efficiency by centralizing, standardize, scale, and automate the supplier performance process. SupplyHive uses the latest innovations of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), and Natural Language Processing (NLP) to analyze the aggregated quantitative and qualitative data. Our user-friendly interface helps organizations hold suppliers accountable and deliver enhanced partnerships by measuring KPIs, analyzing trends and identifies disparities, automating action plans, and providing predictive analytics. For more information visit https://supplyhive.com/.
IBM is excited about the deep knowledge, insights and expertise that JTF mentors can bring to IBMs global STEM initiatives, said Arvind Krishna, Chairman and CEO of IBM

Global tech and business leaders from Silicon Valley to Benguluru came together to launch the Joy Thomas Foundation (JTF). The Foundation, a USA 501c(3) non-profit, was created in 2020 to honor the life and memory of Joy Thomas, an Indian-American STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) genius, technologist, entrepreneur and researcher. Joys stellar career spanned world renowned universities, Fortune 100 firms and successful startups - IIT Madras, Stanford University, IBM, Google, Stratify, and InsightsOne until his passing in September 2020.

JTF brings together a global network of over 1,000 STEM alumni and tech leaders from IITs, Stanford, IBM, Google, and other tech companies and institutions. The Foundations core mission is to positively impact STEM education, careers and research world-wide.

The Foundation Launch on October 17th, 2021 saw strong support from leading tech executives and business leaders including Arun Kumar, CEO of KPMG India and Pandu Nayak, VP of Search, Google.

IBM Chairman and CEO Arvind Krishna delivered the opening Keynote, in a conversation with M R Rangaswami, Founder of Indiaspora. Arvind talked about Joys contributions at IBM Research, and IBMs SkillsBuild program and other STEM initiatives to provide 30 million people of all ages with new skills needed for the jobs of tomorrow by 2030.

JTFs strong network of senior technology leaders will help develop the next generation of students seeking rewarding tech careers, said Arvind Krishna, Chairman and CEO of IBM. IBM is excited about the deep knowledge, insights and expertise that JTF mentors can bring to IBMs global STEM initiatives.

In his closing keynote, Zoho CEO Sridhar Vembu was in conversation with Rohini Chakravarthy, Board Member, Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IITM) Foundation. He shared his own personal life journey in STEMfrom being a technologist to a global business leader. Sridhar shared insights from his unique initiatives set in rural southern India where he currently resides. Sridhar also founded Zoho Schools of Learning (previously called Zoho University), an alternative to college, where bright children who have completed school can enroll. At the end of the 18-month program, they are hired as employees. 10% of Zoho's workforce is from Zoho Schools of Learning.

The Launch event attendees learned about key JTF STEM programs that target women, and economically disadvantaged high school and college students, both in the USA and in India, promoting and nurturing excellence, and supporting budding STEM careers.

The Foundation CEO, Shyam Pillalamarri and the JTF team provided an update on a range of newly instituted programs including the following:



The Joy Thomas Best Tutorial Paper Award approved by the IEEE Information Theory Society

The Joy Thomas Prize for the woman securing the highest rank in the Joint Entrance Exam (JEE) for admission to the prestigious IITs (leading STEM institutions in India) in partnership with the Pan-IIT Alumni, India.

Partnership with the Foundation for Excellence to support deserving, underprivileged STEM undergraduates with 4-year scholarships and career placements

JTF welcomes the participation of global STEM alumni, tech leaders and professionals as donors, mentors and volunteers for the various JTFs programs.

About the Joy Thomas Foundation

The Joy Thomas Foundation brings together a global network of STEM mentors, who are dedicated to inspiring the next generation of STEM students, researchers and entrepreneurs. The Foundations core mission is to positively impact STEM education, careers and research world-wide.

For more information, visit http://www.joythomasfoundation.org, write to: info@joythomasfoundation.org
Phoenix is the ideal market as Chapter grows our team of licensed Medicare advisors and operations executives. With more than 20 institutions of higher education and hundreds of experienced Medicare leaders in the region, we can't imagine a better location or richer talent pool for our expansion.

Chapter, the leading technology-driven Medicare Advisor that aligns incentives in Medicare plan selection and guides beneficiaries through the enrollment and renewal process, will open a new office in Phoenix creating 50 new jobs and further accelerating the companys growth just as the Annual Enrollment Period begins. Chapter is currently hiring 20 Medicare advisors and team members in operations, marketing, and finance. Individuals interested in career opportunities with Chapter are encouraged to visit Chapter's career page to learn more, including that Chapter will cover the cost of licensing and advisor education for those hired. The Phoenix office announcement follows Chapters $17 million Series A Round in September led by Narya Capital and Peter Thiel.

Phoenix is the ideal market as Chapter grows our team of licensed Medicare advisors and operations executives, said Corey Metzman, Chapter co-founder and chief operating officer. With more than 20 institutions of higher education and hundreds of experienced Medicare leaders in the region, we can't imagine a better location or richer talent pool for our expansion.

Chapter, a National Council on Aging (NCOA) partner that meets NCOAs Standards of Excellence, has built and maintains a proprietary technology platform used by its advisors to search every Medicare plan nationwide, including Medicare Advantage, Medicare Supplements, and standalone Part D prescription plans. The compensation earned by Chapters licensed advisors does not vary based on specific plan recommendations or selections. As a result of its unique model, Chapter not only supports Americans directly, but also the types of organizations they trust most, including non-profits, religious institutions, community groups, financial advisors, employers and employee benefits organizations. Chapters licensed advisors lead educational seminars across the country with these organizations to help Americans receive comprehensive coverage while maximizing their savings.

Healthcare and financial services roles are in high demand in our city, and Chapters decision to select Phoenix supplies them with top talent and a pipeline of quality colleagues, said Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego. Joining a growing roster of healthcare and retirement organizations, we welcome Chapter and know it will grow and thrive in the remarkable Phoenix business environment. Increasing the range of these roles available is key to strengthening this important sector and to providing quality care for families throughout our region and nationwide.

The strategic geographic expansion to Phoenix, the first for the New York-based company, further enables Chapter to serve West Coast customers and widen its customer and client base. Chapter intends to hire top local talent, grow its footprint in Greater Phoenix, and establish a long-term partnership with local leaders. Chapter will occupy 6,200 square feet of office space at 501 N. 44th Street, Suite 450, Phoenix, AZ 85008.

Chapters expansion to Phoenix is an exciting addition to the regions thriving technology ecosystem and the latest example of innovative and venture-backed companies choosing Greater Phoenix to scale operations, said Chris Camacho, president & CEO of the Greater Phoenix Economic Council. We look forward to being a partner in Chapters continued growth and success.

Michael Achtman with Orion Investment Real Estate assisted Chapter with its real estate transaction, and CBRE's Corey Hawley and Bryan Taute represented the building owner.

About Chapter

Chapter is a Medicare Advisor with a simple commitment: its impossible to find a better Medicare recommendation or better support anywhere else. Chapters team and technology search every Medicare option nationwide -- more than 24,000 -- at an unprecedented level of detail. Chapters licensed advisors provide personalized, end-to-end guidance to Americans navigating Medicare. The advisory team earns identical compensation irrespective of the selected plan or carrier, ensuring that each Chapter member receives recommendations tailored solely for their needs. Additionally, Chapters tools support older Americans in deciding when and how to sign up for Medicare and whether they can improve existing coverage to get better benefits for less. Chapter also hosts hundreds of educational events every year and partners with employers, benefits professionals, non-profits, religious institutions, financial advisors, and community leaders.

About City of Phoenix

Phoenix is Americas fifth largest city and Arizonas state capital. For the last five years, more people have chosen the city of Phoenix as their new home than any other U.S. city, according to U.S. Census Bureau annual population estimates. Phoenix offers a stable business environment, exceptional speed-to-market, a high quality of life and affordable living. The city is home to three of the five largest city parks in the world. Phoenix has been cited by major national studies as a top five emerging life sciences market and a top five city for technology job opportunities. With a vibrant foreign trade zone and as the largest city in the Arizona-Sonora megaregion, Phoenix is a leading global logistics center. The citys noteworthy business ecosystem provides an environment in which businesses are able to rapidly grow to scale.

About Greater Phoenix Economic Council

The Greater Phoenix Economic Council (GPEC), named the top economic development organization (EDO) globally in 2021 by the International Economic Development Council, works to attract and grow quality businesses and advocate for the competitiveness of Greater Phoenix. A data-driven regional EDO, GPEC works with 22 member communities, Maricopa County and more than 200 private investors to accomplish its mission and serve as a strategic partner to companies across the world as they expand or relocate to Greater Phoenix. Over the past 32 years GPEC has fueled the regional economy by helping 895 companies, creating nearly 164,000 jobs and $33.4 billion in capital investment. Greater Phoenix is in a relentless pursuit of innovative and entrepreneurial-focused companies looking to thrive and scale in a vibrant, dynamic region. There is an undeniable spirit about Greater Phoenix; one rooted in strength, collaboration and resilience. Greater Phoenix is Greater Together. For more information about GPEC and how we can assist your businesses, visit http://www.gpec.org.
It is great to see so much energy, excitement, and real growth in the IoT market due to the changing dynamics in the workforce, with remote operations, and the need to have complete visibility into business operations

As the market shifts and adjusts, Internet of Things innovation has continued to soar and take advantage of the need for remote operations, automation, and real-time visibility and analytics into operations, infrastructure, and assets. Each fall Compass Intelligence honors and recognizes the best of the best IoT innovative companies, organizations, products, platforms, and solutions. Compass Intelligence recognizes 21 companies in distinct IoT categories specific to industry, in addition to this years 5 awards selected solely by Compass Intelligence. Nominations come in from analysts, companies, partners, press relations and corporate communications contacts followed by a voting process completed in early October. The 2021 IoT Innovator award recipients include the following companies and organizations (in order of the award listings): Cognition World, Vigilent, Ericsson, Eseye and Armis, Beep, UST, Peachtree Corners, Georgia, Siemens, National Energy Center, CDW-G and Cradlepoint, EZVIZ, Fleetio, Spireon, Pedigree Technologies, ClearBlade, BMC Software, Sony Semiconductor IL, Eseye and Alcuris, Green Cubes Technology Siemens and University of Birmingham, ORBCOMM, Zebra Technologies, HaulSuite, Precise Software Solutions, Comcasts MachineQ, and Wiliot.

It is great to see so much energy, excitement, and real growth in the IoT market due to the changing dynamics in the workforce, with remote operations, and the need to have complete visibility into business operations, says Stephanie Atkinson, CEO of Compass Intelligence. The IoT Innovator Awards program builds on existing research, market studies, custom advisory, and insight reports made available on CompassIntel.com. These 26 innovative companies and organizations showcase excellence and innovation with new IoT products/solutions, processes, and methods that support in IoT growth.

--The 2021 CompassIntel IoT Innovator Award recipients are as follows:--

Utility & Water Metering - CONNECT360 by Cognition World

Facilities/Building Management - Vigilent

Agriculture & Farming - Thunderstruck by Ericsson

IoT Device Security - Eseye and Armis, Agentless Security for IoT and Edge Computing Devices

Driverless Vehicles - Beep

Retail & Customer Experiences - Cold Truth by UST

Smart Roads - Peachtree Corners, Georgia

Intelligent Transportation - Sitraffic portfolio by Siemens

Energy Management  National Energy Center

Public Safety - CDW-G and Cradlepoint

Home Automation - C6W Camera by EZVIZ

Agriculture Fleet Management - Fleetio

Auto Dealership Management - GoldStar Enterprise by Spireon

Trucking Fleet Management - Pedigree Technologies

IoT for Good - ClearBlade

Machine Vision Technologies - BMC Helix by BMC Software

IoT Chipset Technologies - Altair ALT1250 by Sony Semiconductor IL

Medical Devices - Alcuris Memo Digital Telecare Solution Powered by Eseyes AnyNet+ SIM

Aviation/Airport - Maestro IoT by Green Cubes Technology

Colleges/Universities - Siemens and University of Birmingham

Asset Monitoring - ST 6100 by ORBCOMM

--Compass Intelligence Selected:--

Connected Hospital Leadership - Zebra Technologies

LTL Carrier Innovation - HaulSuite

Supply Chain Food Safety - Precise Software Solutions

Inventory Management & Tracking - Machine Q, a Comcast Company

Radio Frequency Energy Harvesting - IoT Pixels by Wiliot

For more information about Compass Intelligence, please visit compassintel.com

###

About The CompassIntel IoT Innovator Awards

The 4th Annual CompassIntel IoT Innovator Awards honors companies and vendors demonstrating innovation in Internet of Things solutions, products, applications, and technology. Compass Intelligence has been recognizing companies for more than 9 years, after initially launching the A-List in M2M Awards back in 2012. The Innovator award categories run across 21 IoT innovation categories. In addition, Compass Intelligence also recognizes startups, stand-out products, and emerging and established IoT companies annually that have made an impact to the market and demonstrate superior innovation to elevate IoT.

Note: Brand or product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

Media Contact:

awards@compassintelligence.com
Get the 2021 Toyota RAV4 Hybrid at 1.9% APR at the Toyota of Lompoc dealership

Interested customers can now avail of the offer of 1.9% APR on the 2021 Toyota RAV4 Hybrid in Lompoc, California, at the Toyota of Lompoc dealership. The offer entails that the customer will get 1.9% APR on the new 2021 Toyota RAV4 Hybrid purchase and will have to make 72 monthly payments of $14.71 for every $1,000 financed.

Please note that the offer cannot be availed by those who do not qualify for the offer. For the customers who fail to be eligible for the offer, the percentage and amount of down payments may vary according to their credit qualification. Interested customers are encouraged to visit the Toyota of Lompoc dealership sooner than later as the offer of 1.9% APR for 72 months on the 2021 Toyota RAV4 Hybrid will expire on 1st November 2021.

Customers interested in purchasing the new 2021 Toyota RAV4 Hybrid can visit the Toyota of Lompoc website. Customers can also contact the dealership by calling (805) 736-1295 or by visiting the dealership in person at 203 East Ocean Avenue, Lompoc, CA 93436.
"With the direct integration of the RevSpring IVR solution with Epic, were excited about receiving moreand more accuratepatient payment data in real-time, said TriHealth vice president of revenue cycle Emily Seitz-Pawlak.

RevSpring, the leading provider of healthcare financial engagement and payment solutions, today announced that TriHealth will utilize its IVR Advantage product leveraging Epic App Orchard Integration. TriHealth, the Cincinnati regions nationally recognized integrated health system and a long-time RevSpring IVR customer, will leverage RevSpring's enhanced integration with Epic to provide a more seamless experience for patients while adding real-time balance and posting capabilities.

TriHealth has been a RevSpring payment client for more than fifteen years. As their payment technology needs have evolved, RevSpring has responded with flexible alternatives to further enable their Epic-centric strategy. Earlier this year, TriHealth implemented RevSpring's External Payment Page (EPP) capabilities within the Epic App Orchard environment, enabling patients to enter credit card and ACH information seamlessly within the Epic MyChart workflow, while minimizing the PCI scope for TriHealth.

Were delighted to be continuing our long-term relationship with RevSpring as we seek to leverage TriHealths Epic investment, said TriHealth vice president of revenue cycle Emily Seitz-Pawlak. Epic and RevSpring are both essential platforms for us as we work to maximize our revenue cycle success, and the financial health and satisfaction of our patients. With every new innovation that RevSpring brings forward to bolster patient experience and payment results, the greater the advantage for our organization and our patients."

With the EPP capabilities TriHealth uses today, patients can make PCI-compliant payments in MyChart using RevSpring's integrated page, without sensitive payment data ever crossing TriHealth's network. Patient payments post directly into MyChart.

"With the direct integration of the RevSpring IVR solution with Epic, were excited about receiving moreand more accuratepatient payment data in real-time. All of this supports our goals of increasing revenue collections, reducing administrative work, and providing the best patient payment experience possible, Seitz-Pawlak added. "We are excited as we look forward to the next phase of our payment engagement strategy, providing RevSprings integrated payment capabilities within Hyperspace.

IVR Advantage integration with Epic provides point-to-point encryption and direct integration of balance and posting information into the same IVR call flow previously used at TriHealth. Real-time data and postings improves data accuracy for both providers and patients.

"RevSpring's objective is to provide the best, broadest, and most highly preferred payment app available today in the Epic App Orchard, said RevSpring CEO Scott MacKenzie. "Working with visionary customers like TriHealth, we're thrilled to see how our innovations impact our clients and their patients by making each patient payment experience even better."

RevSprings IVR Advantage product, with seamless Epic integration, is available as a stand-alone solution, or fully integrated with any or all of RevSprings comprehensive portfolio of products, including RevSpring Analytics, Talksoft pre-service messaging, OmniChannel digital engagement, PersonaPay payment solutions, IVR Advantage outbound call automation, and print and mail capabilities.

Averaging more than 50 million minutes in transactions each year, RevSprings IVR leads the market in payment automation that saves healthcare organizations time and money, while adding payment convenience for patients.

The Epic App Orchard is a marketplace for apps that are developed by third-party vendors using Epics APIs. To learn more and to access any of the RevSpring apps for Epic, please visit Epic App Orchard.

About RevSpring

RevSpring leads the market in financial engagement and payment solutions that inspire patients to participate in and pay for their healthcare. The company has built the industrys most comprehensive and impactful suite of patient engagement, OmniChannel communications and payment solutions backed by behavior analysis, propensity-to-pay scoring, contextual messaging, and user experience best practices. Using proprietary data analytics to tailor the engagement from pre-service to post-service, RevSpring improves the financial experience and outcomes for providers and their patients. To learn more, visit revspringinc.com/healthcare.

About TriHealth

TriHealth is hospitals, physicians and the community working together to help people live better. We provide clinical, educational, preventive and social programs through Bethesda North, Bethesda Butler, TriHealth Evendale, Good Samaritan and McCullough-Hyde hospitals and more than 140 other locations throughout Greater Cincinnati. This includes an ambulatory network, physician practices, research division, employer-based health services, hospice care, and fitness and health facilities. Learn more at trihealth.com, Facebook.com/TriHealth, @TriHealth on Twitter, and at YouTube.com/TriHealth.


Erica Clayton, Senior Director, Client Success, TuneCore "Erica is that rare music executive who not only possesses the necessary business acumen to operationalize an artist support department but who also understands artists and their needs, because as an active member of the DIY/ indie music community for over 15 years, shes lived it," Andreea Gleeson

Leading independent DIY digital music distributor TuneCore has named Erica Clayton to the newly created position of Senior Director, Client Success for the company. The announcement was made today by Andreea Gleeson, Chief Executive Officer, TuneCore. The company is owned by global digital music company Believe, based in Paris.

Clayton joined the company in 2019 and was tasked with improving the companys artist support department. She quickly went to work on the teams operational processes, significantly increasing client satisfaction rates, and reducing wait times to less than four hours.

She then grew the department from a small team of local specialists in NYC to a global organization across three continents, utlizing both native speakers as well as cutting-edge AI translations in 29 languages. The company also expanded its methods of communications with artstis to include not only email, but also direct messages and comments on TuneCores social media accounts.

Clayton also took over the legal administration support team in 2020, reorganizing it into Copyright Administration, implementing efficient DMCA and other claim handling processes that reduced reply times from a few months (or longer) to two days.

The newly created role gives her oversight of both the Artist Support and Artist & Partner Relations teams. Clayton will work closely with respected industry executive Amy Lombardi who currently heads the Artist & Partner Relations team. Together, they will develop enhanced VIP sessions and educational opportunities for artists, while connecting creators with access to tools to help them grow their audiences. The Artist & Partner Relations team will work directly with store partners to develop new creator and artist-centric features, providing early access to TuneCore artists whenever possible. Further, leveraging the companys relationship with Believe, the team will find and create growth opportunities for high potential artists with store partners as well as upstream opportunities with parent company, Believe.

Said Gleeson, In the relatively short amount of time that Erica has been with TuneCore, she has wasted no time in building a global best in class artist support team. She is that rare music executive who not only possesses the necessary business acumen to operationalize an artist support department but who also understands artists and their needs, because as an active member of the DIY/ indie music community for over 15 years, shes lived it.

Clayton commented, Im truly proud of the work Ive done thus far at TuneCore and have to commend my hard-working teams across the world  in Paris, Mexico City, Nashville and Brooklyn, for helping me build the most efficient and most effective artist support system among DIY digtital music distributors. The work we do impacts so many artists & labels, and as a musician myself, I deeply appreciate the opportunity to be part of their journeys.

Claytons background sits solidly with support management, as a User Support Manager at Paperless Post and a Customer Service and Quality Manager at Shapeways, the global leader in on-demand 3D printing with operations in New York, New York and Eindhoven, the Netherlands. In 2017, Clayton earned the Six Sigma Yellow Belt, which was awarded to her by the American Society for Quality for Excellence in Process Improvement/Management.

About TuneCore

TuneCore is the global platform for independent musicians to build audiences and careers  with technology and services across distribution, publishing administration and a range of promotional services. TuneCore Music Distribution services help artists, labels and managers sell their music through Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, Deezer, TikTok, Tencent and more than 150 download and streaming stores worldwide, while retaining 100 percent of their sales revenue and rights for a low annual flat fee. TuneCore Music Publishing Administration assists songwriters by administering their compositions through licensing, registration, worldwide royalty collections, and placement opportunities in film, TV, commercials, video games and more. The TuneCore Artist Services portal offers a suite of tools and services that enable artists to promote their craft, connect with fans, and get their music heard. TuneCore, part of Believe, is headquartered in Brooklyn, NY, with offices in Los Angeles, Nashville, Atlanta, and Austin, and operates globally through local teams based in the UK, Germany, France, Belgium, Italy, Russia, Brazil, Mexico, Nigeria, South Africa, India, Japan and Singapore across 4 continents. http://www.tunecore.com

About Believe

Believe is one of the worlds leading digital music companies. Believes mission is to develop independent artists and labels in the digital world by providing them the solutions they need to grow their audience at each stage of their career and development. Believes passionate team of digital music experts around the world leverages the Groups global technology platform to advise artists and labels, distribute and promote their music. Its 1,270 employees in more than 50 countries aim to support independent artists and labels with a unique digital expertise, respect, fairness and transparency. Believe offers its various solutions through a portfolio of brands including TuneCore, Believe, Nuclear Blast, Naive, Groove Attack and AllPoints.

Believe is listed on compartment A of the Euronext Paris stock exchange (Ticker: BLV.PA, ISIN : FR0014003FE9) http://www.believe.com
TwelveStone Health Partners, a leading provider of comprehensive care medication services, today announced that it has been named a 2020 Top 10 Overall Performer in URACs Leaders in Performance Measurement Recognition Awards.

Through the introduction of the Leaders in Performance Measurement program, URAC is recognizing the commitment of URAC-accredited organizations who are promoting trust in the quality of care delivered through performance measurement activities. URACs awards program recognizes accredited organizations in two categories: Top Performer and Pioneer. Top Performer recognition, which Twelve Stone achieved, honors organizations with high performance in measures submitted to the Specialty Pharmacy and Mail Service Pharmacy programs. Measurement-based care is a critical requirement in healthcare delivery and pharmacy services.

Im so proud of our amazing pharmacy team at TwelveStone, said Shane Reeves, chief executive officer at Twelve Stone. The care and concern they pour into every medication they prepare is evident when an industry leader like URAC acknowledges their excellence.

We are honored to be recognized by URAC for excellence in terms of measurement-based care delivery, said Lee Golden, chief pharmacy officer at TwelveStone. Out of 490 URAC accredited specialty pharmacies nationwide, to be named a Top 10 Performer is truly humbling.

URACs Quality, Research and Measurement team reviewed the 2019 measurement results for all URAC-accredited organizations and identified TwelveStone Health Partners, accredited in the Specialty Pharmacy program, as a Top 10 Overall Performer. This award applies to data submitted in 2020 (collected during January 1  December 31, 2019). URAC relies on a multidisciplinary advisory group to guide standards development, establish benchmarks and inform revisions. This group includes payers, physicians, hospitals, our Board of Directors, URAC's Standards Committees and other industry experts. The standards are then circulated for public comment and beta-tested before their release. This broad, inclusive process assures that URACs standards promote industry best practices.

About TwelveStone Health Partners

TwelveStone Health Partners incorporates the objective of glorifying God into its mission by delivering a higher level of service to partners and patients. As an organization, TwelveStone supports the transition from acute to post-acute care environments and the transition from sickness to health. This is the third evolution in the companys history, beginning in 1980 when Richard Reeves and Ronald Powell created a single retail pharmacy location then called Reeves Powell Saveway Drug Store. In 1994 Shane Reeves and Rick Sain launched Reeves-Sain and over 20 years grew the organization to include seven companies. In 2015 Reeves Sain Drug Store, Inc., a retail pharmacy, and its specialty pharmacy, EntrustRx were sold to Freds, Inc. In 2016 Shane Reeves launched TwelveStone Health Partners with the objective of continuing to pursue the highest professional, business and community goals set forth by its founders. For more information visit http://www.12stonehealth.com.

About URAC

Founded in 1990 as a non-profit organization, URAC is the independent leader in promoting health care quality and patient safety through renowned accreditation programs. URAC develops its evidence-based standards in collaboration with a wide array of stakeholders and industry experts. The companys portfolio of accreditation and certification programs span the health care industry, addressing health care management and operations, pharmacies, telehealth, health plans, medical practices and more. URAC accreditation is a symbol of excellence for organizations to showcase their validated commitment to quality and accountability.
"[Under slab insulation can] improve your home environment and reduce the air conditioning bills and number of warranty calls. - Jonathan Barber, CEO at Insulation4Less

Heating and air conditioning account for more than half of the energy consumption in U.S. homes. Insulation4Less, an online store for insulation solutions with 18 years of industry expertise, explained how under slab insulation can save up to 15% on energy bills.

The experts explained how heat and cold enter the building through its floor.

Concrete has the ability to hold heat and is more conductive compared to other building materials, like wood for example. This means that the differences in outside and inside temperatures can penetrate through the uninsulated concrete slab and slab edges. Uninsulated foundation can, therefore, result in moisture, mold, nesting of pests and more, Insulation4Less team explained.

Insulation4Less experts concluded that high-quality under slab insulation can both protect homes from uninvited guests and help improve their energy efficiency.

Among other benefits of under slab insulation, the experts listed:



Prevention of toxic gases like radon from entering the home through the soil

Additional support to the foundation against the load of heavy equipment and systems

And more

Insulation4Less Founder Jonathan Barber recommended polystyrene, extruded polystyrene, reflective bubble white poly and Prodex as the most effective options for under slab insulation.

Under slab insulation can serve as a strong barrier against everything that may come into your home through the soil underneath, he added. Laying foam around the perimeter of the foundation to level it with the concrete and applying additional insulation along the slab edges can further improve your home environment and reduce the air conditioning bills and number of warranty calls.

Users can find more thoughts on under slab insulation and a guide to applying it on Insulation4Less' website.

About Insulation4Less:

Headquartered in Houston, TX, Insulation4Less is an online store for insulation solutions for metal and non-metal buildings, pole barns and home structures such as walls, floors and roofs.
Rate Overall Customer Satisfaction Over Time Survey, analyze, track and score customer satisfaction across all stages of the customer journey over a period of time using CSATS.

OnviSource announced today that one of its long-term customers, a leading provider of nationwide wireless services, has successfully deployed OnviSources new Customer Satisfaction Analytics, Tracking and Scoring (CSATS) solution delivered as Cloud/SaaS. The service provider has achieved its desired outcome in understanding true customer satisfaction through actionable knowledge and systematic scoring. Added to analytics and automation solutions previously provided by OnviSource, CSATS empowers the service provider to holistically analyze and manage the customer journey before, during and after service.

Enterprises are rapidly recognizing that customer sentiment analysis conducted during customer interactions is inadequate to demonstrate holistic and accurate customer satisfaction over time. Though customers might be satisfied with the outcome of a given interaction with an enterprise, their overall experience extended over time may not be positive. A true understanding of customer satisfaction can be obtained through surveys, analysis, tracking and scoring the voice-of-customer (VoC). In other words, while customer interaction analysis during a given interaction can determine customer satisfaction for an isolated interaction, the addition of CSATS can provide an overall rating and understanding of customer satisfaction throughout their total experience with an enterprise.

CSATS focuses on accurately grading the level of customer satisfaction related to whether or not a customer would recommend and promote the company (measured by Net Promoter Score or NPS), the level of effort they experienced in order to receive services (measured by Customer Effort Score or CES), their overall level of satisfaction from the beginning of interaction with the company (measured by Customer Satisfaction score or CSAT); as well as other measurements such as First Call Resolution (FCR).

CSATS goes beyond interaction analytics and employs additional intelligently automated solutions such as surveys, response management, data analytics, decision-making engines, and process automation.

As customer satisfaction and experience management is becoming ever more critical for businesses of all sizes, enterprises are required to add yet another intelligently automated solution to their customer journey analytics to survey, analyze, track and score customer satisfaction across all stages of the customer journey over a period of time, said Francisca Alegria, Executive Vice President at OnviSource. The latest deployment of our CSATS solution and its addition to our customer journey solutions already in use is a testimony of our customers confidence and trust in our ability to respond to their growing needs, from workforce optimization and customer experience management to process automation and advanced customer satisfaction analytics.

OnviSource CSATS, an advanced and automated analytical feature offered as part of Companys Intellecta suite of multichannel analytics, is available as both on-premise software and SaaS. It uses the OnviSource Inspecta customer survey solution or a 3rd party product to conduct advanced data analytics against a user-defined scoring system for NPS, CES, CSAT, FCR, etc. Its automated tracking and trend analysis capabilities offer a holistic and true measure of customer satisfaction systematically scored and organized as actionable knowledge. Users are provided with drill-down features to review the actual and relevant surveys, key performance indicators or calls.

Driven by a strategy of Intelligent Automation Everywhere in Your Enterprise, CSATS is a new addition to OnviSource ia.Enterprise Intelligent Automation solutions that are powered by the companys proprietary hyperautomation platform consisting of Artificial Intelligence (AI), conversational AI/intelligent virtual agent, analytics and robotic process automation. It offers intelligently automated solutions to optimize the performance of the workforce, improve contact center productivity and compliance, manage customer experience and satisfaction, and automate both workflows and end-to-end business processes.

About OnviSource

For more than a decade, OnviSource has enabled several hundred small-to-large companies across a broad range of industries to cost-effectively manage, automate and improve their customer experience and business processes by offering advanced solutions in multichannel data and media capture, unification, analysis, decision making and automation for their entire enterprise, including their contact centers, back offices and IT organizations.

OnviSource ia.Enterprise Intelligently Automated (IA) solutions offer Workforce Optimization and Workforce Management (WFO/WFM), inclusive Teleservice Customer Engagement Management, Multichannel Customer Engagement Analytics, intelligently automated Customer Survey, Process Automation through Robotic Process Automation (RPA) and Intelligent Process Automation (IPA) and Intelligent Virtual Agent (IVA). The Company delivers its solutions as software products, cloud or Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), managed services, or any combination. OnviSources special Advantage Platinum program assures that solutions work for customers specific needs by offering a series of customer assistance programs with no obligations. These programs include consultation, proof-of-concept and hands-on operation assistance. OnviSource is headquartered in Plano, Texas (North Dallas area), with an additional operation center in Oklahoma.

Media Contact

Deborah Cromwell, Marketing Manager

OnviSource, Inc.

580.249.9405

deborah.cromwell@onvisource.com
The Virginia Ready Initiative (VA Ready), a 501(c)(3) public-private partnership dedicated to reskilling Virginians and helping them qualify for in-demand positions, today achieves an enrollment milestone with the participation of 3,000 Scholars across the state.

Reaching 3,000 Virginians and providing them with the opportunity to change their lives has been inspiring to everyone here at VA Ready, said Caren Merrick, chief executive officer of VA Ready. We could never have imagined that the pandemic would not only impact Virginians employment, but also negatively impact businesses with an unfolding labor shortage. The work were doing is helping Virginians throughout the Commonwealth qualify for jobs that will ensure their financial stability, and helping businesses find the skilled talent they need to grow.

VA Ready was founded with a mission of helping VA residents gain new skills and find careers for in-demand industries like healthcare, technology, cybersecurity, manufacturing, and skilled trades.

The initiative provides many incentives for people to gain new skills in accelerated training courses when they enroll in any VA Ready-approved FastForward course with the Virginia Community College System. After completing their course and credential, Scholars will receive a $1,000 Credential Achievement Award. And, due to a variety of funding opportunities through the FastForward program, the courses are often entirely free of charge.

VA Ready Scholars are motivated, passionate, and bold, and they are challenging outdated notions that assume a college degree is a necessary key to success. VA Ready Scholars have the grit and work ethic to complete rigorous, accelerated training. All VA Ready Scholars have work experience, and with their new credentials, they are ready to work.

The pandemic forced me out of my administrative role and now that Im in IT technical support, I feel like Ive really found my niche. VA Ready was key to getting my foot in the door for the career that I ultimately wanted, said Anthony Geraci, a VA Ready Scholar.

Once they complete their credentials, Scholars have the unique opportunity to interview with VA Readys 24 business partners, including EY, Bank of America, Genworth Financial, Dominion Energy, Sentara, PwC, Huntington Ingalls, Carilion Clinic, SAIC, Northrop Grumman, BAE Systems and many others.

Verisign is proud to partner with VA Ready to provide education and employment opportunities for individuals impacted by COVID-19, said Ellen Petrocci, senior vice president of human resources at Verisign. We congratulate them and the 3,000 scholars who have been accepted into the program since its inception. This significant milestone is a great achievement for a program which not only enhances the lives of the participants, but also benefits employers and the Virginia economy as a whole.

Helping 3,000 Virginians change their lives and reskill into in-demand industries has been the highlight of VA Readys work so far. Businesses looking to increase diversity in their hiring will find a pool of skilled talent. Of those Scholars currently enrolled, 44% are Black, and 55% are women, and there are many more Virginians ready to reskill and qualify for in-demand jobs. With that in mind, VA Ready recently announced that the eligibility criteria for credentialing programs has expanded to include any Virginian willing and ready to make a change and reskill into an in-demand industry, regardless of employment status. VA Ready is also expanding eligibility to transitioning veterans and their spouses.

For more information about VA Ready, to apply for the program, and companies looking for skilled, credentialed workers in healthcare, manufacturing and skilled trades, and IT and cybersecurity, visit http://www.vaready.org.

About the Virginia Ready Initiative (VA Ready)

VA Ready is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that launched in June 2020 with a mission to help thousands of Virginians access the short-term training needed to find jobs in todays most in-demand industries. With its Public-Private-Partnership design, VA Ready brings together the Virginia Community College System's (VCCS) 23 colleges, the Commonwealth's FastForward program, and more than 20 business partners who employ millions of Virginians. VA Ready Scholars have access to 34 healthcare, technology and other skilled training programs; learn the skills needed to secure one of today's most in-demand positions; receive $1,000 upon credential completion; and are connected to VA Ready's business partners for employment opportunities. Learn more at http://www.vaready.org.
During the pandemic, we saw an increase in housing demand, and with the shortage of affordable homes in the valley, we see a tremendous opportunity to develop in the area.

Vermaland, a leading Phoenix-based land banking and development company, is developing Verma Vistas III, an 1100-acre master plan community located in Tonopah, Ariz. Properties of this size are very difficult to come by, so this makes the parcel the largest piece of privately owned land in the area.

Vermaland acquired this parcel due to its strategic location and is located at 427th Avenue and Narramore Road. Mountain ranges three miles south of the property offer spectacular views.

Other properties in the area that are 100 acres or more have been developed into solar farms by large energy companies. A number of one-acre residential lots can also be found in the area. Unfinished one-acre lots are in high demand in this part of Tonopah, with the average selling price being $50,000 per acre.

During the pandemic, we saw an increase in housing demand, and with the shortage of affordable homes in the valley, we see a tremendous opportunity to develop in the area, says Kuldip Verma, CEO of Vermaland. There is a big shortage of finished lots, so we are getting ready for zone changes and pre-plat.

The plans include 2,500 single-family homes, 500 multi-family units, and commercial and industrial complexes. Once the zoning is finished, Verma plans to either sell or partner with a builder to develop the community.

In addition to several Solar projects, Vermalands most recent residential project was a gated subdivision located in the foothills of the White Tank Mountains at Highway 303 and Northern Avenue. The 246 lot development was sold in late 2019.

Vermaland has been in the land business as a wholesale buyer and seller for 20 years, starting the company in 2001. The company owns thousands of acres of land in the Metro Phoenix area. Verma and his team have also donated $5 million in land and cash to the Vermaland Charity Foundation, to be used for residential and commercial development.

For more information on Vermaland, please visit http://www.vermaland.com or call 602-274-0700.

ABOUT VERMALAND

Vermaland is a leading land banking and land development company in Phoenix, founded by Kuldip Verma, P.E. in 2001. The firm owns thousands of acres of land, in Buckeye, Tonopah, Casa Grande, Gila Bend, Hyder, and others. Currently, Vermaland has the largest holdings of 50-1,200 acre parcels in Metro Phoenix and offers land for residential, commercial, agricultural, solar and other renewable projects. Please visit http://www.vermaland.com.
Visiting Angels, a national leader in the in-home senior care industry, celebrates its record setting position on one of the franchise industrys most prestigious lists. The Franchise Times Top 400 is an annual ranking of the largest U.S. franchise brands based on global systemwide sales.

Visiting Angles ranks number 101 on the list for 2021, climbing 17 spots since last years ranking was published. It is the companys highest ranking on the list to date.

We are thrilled to reach a new milestone on the Franchise Times Top 400. This new ranking demonstrates Visiting Angels persistent growth as a company, and it reflects our role, especially in such an unprecedented year, as an essential business, says Larry Meigs, CEO of Visiting Angels. We also recognize the hard work, dedication, and resiliency of our rapidly expanding family of franchise owners.

Previously the Top 200+, Franchise Times renamed its annual ranking of the 400 largest U.S.-based franchise systems by global systemwide sales to better encompass the biggest brands in franchising, along with promising young concepts in growth mode. The rigorous approach to research remains the same, said Franchise Times Editor-in-Chief Laura Michaels. The project is the result of a five-month research and reporting effort that leads to the most credible and objective franchise ranking available.

The research involved builds upon a database that was established in 1999, the Franchise Times reports about the yearly undertaking. The research team uses a combination of companies voluntary reports and publicly available data, including the franchises most recent franchise disclosure documents and Securities and Exchange Commission filings.

The Franchise Times Top 400ranking and full report are available at https://www.franchisetimes.com/top-400-2021/.

To learn more about franchising opportunities with Visiting Angels, visit https://www.livingassistance.com/.

About Visiting Angels Living Assistance Services:

Visiting Angels began franchising in 1998 in the Philadelphia, PA area. Today, Visiting Angels has 600 private duty agencies throughout the United States. Visiting Angels agencies employ only experienced caregivers and conduct the most comprehensive background screenings to ensure that their caregivers meet or exceed the companys high standards. For companion care, Alzheimers care, dementia care, and the countrys best palliative care program, make Visiting Angels your choice in senior home care. For more information on Visiting Angels or to find a location near you, please visit http://www.visitingangels.com.
Walsh University Center for Analytical Excellence Laboratory

Walsh University (North Canton, Ohio) and Shimadzu Scientific Instruments (SSI) will dedicate the Center for Analytical Excellence Laboratory, a collaborative project that includes the installation of nearly $1.2 million worth of new analytical equipment. This ongoing partnership was developed through the Shimadzu Partnership for Academics, Research and Quality of Life (SPARQ) program, which is designed to build long-term relationships between Shimadzu and academic institutions.

The dedication will celebrate enhancing the quality of life through the advancement of science. Attendees will include Walsh University and local high school students and faculty, Yoshiaki Maeda, president of SSI, and other company representatives, members of the business community and elected officials. The event will feature distinguished speakers, a celebration luncheon, a ribbon-cutting ceremony, science activities in the laboratory, student and faculty research presentations and a science career fair. It will begin at 9:00 a.m. on November 16, 2021, in the Barrette Business and Community Center at Walsh University in North Canton, Ohio.

The Center for Analytical Excellence Laboratory positions Walsh University as the premier school of its size in the region for performing analytical chemistry. Shimadzu provided cutting-edge analytical solutions covering a range of techniques, including liquid and gas chromatography instruments for analyzing volatile and nonvolatile organic compounds, an inductively coupled plasma instrument for metals analysis, and equipment for a materials analysis lab. Supporting Walsh faculty and student research, the Center for Analytical Excellence Laboratory will also serve as a resource for collaborative projects within the business community and for local companies that need to analyze samples but may not be able to make the investment in such instrumentation.

The Center for Analytical Excellence Laboratory creates an opportunity for faculty and students that is unparalleled in the region, said Dr. Tim Collins, Walsh University president. Shimadzus generous donation will help position Walsh as a university that rivals the capabilities found at large research institutionsbut with the benefits of the personal touch of a teaching campus. Staying true to our mission and being of service to others means being adaptable and able to innovate and transform to the needs of our students. In turn, we can provide our local community with graduates who are on the cutting edge of technology and ready to meet the challenges of the changing business landscape. This partnership helps us to do just that.

Walsh University received contributions for the lab from several benefactors in the region including a grant from Shimadzu of more than $550,000 toward the state-of-the art instrumentation. In addition, Shimadzu will provide internship opportunities and unlimited access for faculty, staff and students to consult with Shimadzu scientists and industry experts on projects for the life of the partnership.

Walsh Universitys proven dedication to drive scientific research for the betterment of students, the local community and organizations around the country reflects a true commitment to education. Were proud to award this grant and excited about the prospects this relationship provides both Walsh and Shimadzu, said Yoshiaki Maeda, president of Shimadzu Scientific Instruments.

Dr. Michael Dunphy, vice president for academic affairs, added, In a year of unprecedented global change, our countrys need for some of the best scientists, professionals, entrepreneurs that the nationin some cases the worldcan produce has never been greater. The Shimadzu-Walsh partnership aims to solve this by attracting the next generation of innovators and enhancing the capabilities of our local scientific and business communities. This sophisticated research lab puts Walsh University at the forefront of innovation and makes a place for itself on a national level.

To read more about the partnership between Shimadzu Scientific Instruments and Walsh University, visit https://www.ssi.shimadzu.com/news/2020/ssi-and-walsh-university-partner-to-enhance-science-program-with-an-analytical-technology-infusion.html.

About Walsh University

Walsh University is an independent, co-educational, Catholic, liberal arts and sciences institution that promotes academic excellence and diversity and provides close faculty-student interaction. It is dedicated to teaching its 2,450 students from 46 states and 35 countries to become leaders in service to others through a values-based education with an international perspective in the Judeo-Christian tradition. https://www.walsh.edu/

About Shimadzu Scientific Instruments Inc.

Shimadzu Scientific Instruments (SSI) is the North American subsidiary of Shimadzu Corporations Analytical and Measuring Division. Headquartered in Columbia, Maryland, SSI offers a comprehensive portfolio of analytical and testing solutions for a broad range of applications in science and industry. SSI maintains a network of ten regional offices strategically located across the United States, with experienced technical specialists, service providers and sales engineers situated throughout the country. In addition, SSI operates a Solution Center, designed to enable applications development, and an Innovation Center that houses a team of scientists whose goal is to develop close collaborations with universities, government agencies and industry centers. Visit https://www.ssi.shimadzu.com for more information.
Q Hydrogen Commercialization (http://www.qhydrogen.com), a company that has developed a new technology for turning water into clean, efficient and renewable hydrogen for use in energy and electricity production, transportation and industry; has announced its President & CEO, Whitaker Irvin, Jr., will be speaking on a panel at Experience Power  HydrogeNext. The conference will be in San Antonio, TX from October 18-21, with Mr. Irvins panel meeting on the 20th at 9 am CST. The panel showcases companies poised to be leaders in green energy as hydrogen-generated power matures.

The panel, entitled Hydrogen Production Technologies, will analyze the different ways to produce hydrogen from water, also known as Green Hydrogen which is the cleanest form of hydrogen because it is made from the electrolysis of water through renewable energy.

Q Hydrogen has developed a new process to create power that is less energy-intensive than other hydrogen solutions, said Irvin. We use machined plates with special metallurgy and a dynamic proprietary turbine to create hydrogen. We will hint at what is to come with this technology to HydrogeNext attendees and preview the first power plant in the U.S. to be fueled by this method.

Irvin, a member of the prestigious Forbes Business Council and the Salt Lake Chamber Board of Governors, is a pioneer in the field of alternative energy. He is responsible for the commercialization of the companys innovative hydrogen technology, and his background includes technology deployment and program management at the aerospace and defense firm Raytheon Company.

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About Q Hydrogen Commercialization

Q Hydrogen Commercialization (Q Hydrogen; http://www.qhydrogen.com) is poised to become a dominant player in the renewable energy market. Its proprietary technology generates hydrogen from water using hydrodynamic forces created within a turbine featuring a unique design and metallurgy. This allows for hydrogen production at a lower cost and without the carbon impact of conventional methods that utilize natural gas and other fossil fuel sources. The technologys economic viability is well-suited for use in energy, electricity production, transportation and industry. The company aims to further develop and commercialize hydrogen as a low-cost fuel source that is readily available to the world.
We understand how that imagery is being used at all levels of government, since we work with those agencies daily in multiple AEG markets across the firm.

Woolpert has been selected by the state of Michigan to provide third-party imagery, also known as satellite imagery, and oblique imagery and related services under two separate, three-year contracts. The imagery will support general infrastructure applications by agencies throughout the state, including but not limited to change detection, feature extraction, building assessment and impervious surface mapping.

For the first contract, Woolpert partnered with Planet to provide satellite imagery services and products for continuous mapping coverage. Woolpert and Planet, a leading global provider of satellite imagery and data, recently expanded their long-standing partnership to provide high-frequency satellite data and high-resolution aerial data and imagery to federal, state and local governments around the world.

Woolpert Associate and Program Director Kent Park said the vertical dataset of satellite imagery being collected for Michigan also will be used for applications like emergency response, as was needed when two dams broke last year in Midland, Mich.

Imagery was collected the day after the Midland breaches to view the extent of the flooding, Park said. When this immediate imagery is compared to existing data and imagery, change detection is used to outline the precise impact of the disaster. That information can then be shared with officials, the public and most importantly with emergency responders to develop recovery strategies, allocate resources, and facilitate search and rescue efforts.

Under the second contract, Woolpert is working with EagleView to deliver 3- to 9-inch-resolution oblique imagery, whose applications include building and tax assessments by county auditors. The firms also are utilizing software that will enable the efficient access and display of that imagery and provide horizontal and vertical measurement tools. EagleView, which has partnered with Woolpert to deliver oblique imagery for close to a decade, has been a dominant force in oblique imagery capture for almost 20 years.

Since we are an architecture, engineering and geospatial firm, our approach to imagery and data collection is greater than the sum of its parts. We understand how that imagery is being used at all levels of government, since we work with those agencies daily in multiple AEG markets across the firm, Park said. The recent acquisition of firms like Data Cloud Solutions, an industry leader in CAMA solutions utilized by auditors, and our strategic partnerships with leaders like Planet and EagleView deepens that knowledge base further. Were honored to work alongside these valued firms and to comprehensively support the great state of Michigan however we can.

About Woolpert

Woolpert is the premier architecture, engineering, geospatial (AEG) and strategic consulting firm, with a vision to become one of the best companies in the world. We innovate within and across markets to effectively serve public, private and government clients worldwide. Woolpert is an ENR Top 150 Global Design Firm, recently earned its sixth-straight Great Place to Work certification, and actively nurtures a culture of growth, inclusion, diversity and respect. Founded in 1911 in Dayton, Ohio, Woolpert has been Americas fastest-growing AEG firm since 2015. The firm has more than 1,600 employees and 60 offices on four continents. For more, visit woolpert.com.
The Universitys growth trajectory is evident, and we very much look forward to mapping the bright future of the institution, stated, Brian Riordan, Managing Director and Head of Zieglers Higher Education Finance Practice.

Ziegler, a specialty investment bank, is pleased to announce the successful closing of the $35,740,000 Series 2021 Bonds for Palm Beach Atlantic University. The bonds are issued through Palm Beach County Educational Facilities Authority and are rated BBB+ with a Stable Outlook by Fitch. Bond proceeds will be used primarily to refinance privately placed bank loans and finance capital projects.

The University is a comprehensive, interdenominational Christian university founded in 1968. The Universitys main campus is located in the city of West Palm Beach, Florida. The University is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges to award bachelors degrees, masters degrees, a Ph.D. in Practical Theology, a doctor of pharmacy degree, and a doctor of nursing practice degree.

The University offers the opportunity to study in various academic disciplines, both on campus and online. The college/schools at the University include the School of Arts and Sciences, College of the Arts, School of Nursing, Rinker School of Business, School of Education and Behavioral Studies, the Gregory School of Pharmacy and the MacArthur School of Leadership. The University enrolls over 3,600 undergraduate and graduate students on its West Palm Beach and Orlando campuses, as well as online.

This is the first time the University has accessed the public capital markets. We are thrilled with the results of this financing, Dr. Debra Schwinn, President of the University stated. After a thorough review of all of options available to us, Ziegler helped guide us into the public capital markets. We stressed the importance of our mission as a leading Christian University, and it was well received in the marketplace.

It was an absolute pleasure working with Dr. Schwinn and the entire Palm Beach Atlantic leadership team. The Universitys growth trajectory is evident, and we very much look forward to mapping the bright future of the institution, stated, Brian Riordan, Managing Director and Head of Zieglers Higher Education Finance Practice.

Ziegler is one of the nations leading underwriters of financing not-for-profit borrowers. Ziegler offers creative, tailored solutions to its higher education clients, including investment banking, financial risk management, merger and acquisition services, private placement services, USDA financing, capital and strategic planning as well as higher education research, education and communication.

For further information on the structure and use of this issue, please see the Official Statement located on the Electronic Municipal Market Access systems Document Archive.

For more information about Ziegler, please visit us at http://www.ziegler.com.

About Ziegler:

Ziegler is a privately held, national boutique investment bank, capital markets and proprietary investments firm. It has a unique focus on healthcare, senior living and education sectors, as well as general municipal and structured finance. Headquartered in Chicago with regional and branch offices throughout the U.S., Ziegler provides its clients with capital raising, strategic advisory services, fixed income sales, underwriting and trading as well as Ziegler Credit, Surveillance and Analytics. To learn more, visit http://www.ziegler.com.

Certain comments in this news release represent forward-looking statements made pursuant to the provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. This clients experience may not be representative of the experience of other clients, nor is it indicative of future performance or success. The forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, in particular, the overall financial health of the securities industry, the strength of the healthcare sector of the U.S. economy and the municipal securities marketplace, the ability of the Company to underwrite and distribute securities, the market value of mutual fund portfolios and separate account portfolios advised by the Company, the volume of sales by its retail brokers, the outcome of pending litigation, and the ability to attract and retain qualified employees.

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Independent bookselling in America has long been among the most precarious sectors of the publishing trade, buffeted by the impact of publisher consolidation, rising commercial real estate costs, and the unregulated growth of Amazon. But for the first time in years, booksellers seem poised to take collective steps to tackle the challenges they face in a systematic way and secure the future of the nations 2,500 indies.

On October 18, nearly 600 indie booksellers and publishing industry professionals gathered online from 49 states and 12 countries for a two-day brainstorming session called Reimagining Bookstores. The effort is being led by Praveen Madan, CEO of Keplers Books in Menlo Park, Calif., along with a team of publishing, journalism, and business experts. Among them are authors and former board members of the Berkeley, Calif.-based Barret-Koehler Publishers.

Madan opened the gathering with a question for attendees: How can we reimagine bookstores to deepen literacy, strengthen our communities, and pay decent, living wages to our employees?

Madan said that their efforts should be geared toward trying to unleash the generosity that exists already, in their communities. To do it, attendees developed key questions and challenges to address in small breakout sessions, with note takers gathering information from each meeting to inform future steps.

Is it possible to create some kind of Real Estate Trust to insure longevity and cost of tenancy, asked bookseller Brad Jones, as the opening premise for a breakout session. In another session, bookseller Stephanie Heinz asked, How can we create an on-going sense of mentorship, especially for newer booksellers to help them create sustainable careers?

By the end of the days three hours of sessions, booksellers were beginning to transition from less structured conversations to more concrete proposals, some of which would mark a radical shift in the business of bookselling if taken up. For instance, River Dog Book Co. owner Broche-Aroe Fabian pushed for the creation of a fund that would help booksellers access capital that banks are currently unwilling to provide.

For that to happen, E.R. Anderson, executive director of Decatur, Ga.-based Charis Books & More, suggested that booksellers begin informally organizing outside of traditional bookselling advocacy associations. Those non-profits, which include regional bookseller associations and the American Booksellers Association, are legally required to prohibit members from using their organizations as a forum for discussing many of the financial issues creating pressure for booksellers today.

Booksellers also targeted the need to raise wages as a major priority. Keplers store manager Amanda Hall said the store is poised to pilot a new 2% surcharge on all sales, beginning in a few weeks. Hall said the program is based on similar initiatives underway at Bay Area restaurants, intended to support cost of living wage increases for booksellers. This is a critical, critical need for us, Madan said. The rising cost of living threatens to outpace our ability to raise wages. As you all know theres a direct link between paying decent, living wages and our ability to have a diverse work force.

Attendees expressed a sense of optimism that the events second day would begin to draw together the threads of conversation that were opened during the first days sessions. Their excitement was tempered by a sober sense of the challenges at hand.

I think today I am even more aware that our future is precarious and we need to step up to make it financially viable to be bookstore owners for the future, and one of the threats that was addressed in a couple of the sessions were the escalating prices of just being in business, said veteran book industry trainer Donna Paz Kaufman, partner at Paz & Associates. The challenge is there to make the numbers work and the numbers are getting tighter.

For more coverage of Reimagining Bookstores, click here.

Editor's Note: Publishers Weekly is one of more than two dozen co-hosts of Reimagining Bookstores. The author of this piece made an informational comment during one session.
What book trends and what will be the big book of the fair are key questions that one always asks at the beginning of any Frankfurt Book Fair. On October 11 and 12, the Frankfurt Book Fair launched its virtual conference program, dubbed the Frankfurt Conference, which sought to give a preview of the hottest topics for discussion.

The general topic of discussion was industry trends and, in particular, best practices for selling a variety of translation around the world. In general the market for translated fiction is buoyant, Francois von Hurter, co-founder of Bitter Lemon Press, a U.K. publishing house focused on translated crime novels, said. The old saw about only 3% of the books in the U.K. and U.S. are from translation is no longer accurate and that changed in the last few years, influenced, obviously, by sales of people like Elena Ferrante and Karl Ove Knausgard.

Hurter added that the market seems to be more open and more receptive than in the past and that publishers should feel confident offering rights to titles for translation. Sure, there's still a bit of a bias if people saying if it's a translation, its a bit esoteric or elitist  and we have to overcome that. But in general, I think were well on our way.

He cited continued interest, especially in the U.K., for translated crime fiction, and in particular, books in series. He added that when it comes to successful series, readers dont remember the name of an author, but rather, the name of hero or protagonist. The silly example are the James Bond books, he said, citing the example of Stieg Larssons Lisbeth Salander or Andrea Camilleris Inspector Montalbano as two other examples. Its the characters name that you want to build up as the brand, not the author or publisher.

The English-language markets prefer books that are approximately 300 pages long, as any longer and the cost of translation becomes onerous, and any shorter, the book may be viewed as being less substantial. Hurter also balked at the idea of publishers providing full translation on spec since it takes more time to fix a text than to start from scratch it the translation is not up to par. So I think the old means of providing a translation sample and a very good synopsis is probably better than commissioning a translation by someone who may not do such a good job, he said.

As for trendy topics, Hurter said that misery memoirs continue to be popular as are books confronting domestic abuse, violence against women and child trafficking. He sees a return to more urban oriented crime fiction, away from novels set in the countryside. As for whats getting tired, he sees interest in Scandinavian crime fiction fading while books that circle back to World War II for a big twist or plot reveal are too ubiquitous. The hottest rights market to buy books from, in Hurters view, is Japan, which he says is producing literature that is absolutely astounding.

For would be authors, he had several pieces of advice. The best books these days are those that teach you about interesting people and interesting societies. When it comes to crime fiction, for example, what is important is that the book explains to you about local politics, corruption and police work. And books about serial killers are out: Absolute evil is less interesting than more ambiguous evil, Hurter said.
A flyer attached to the window of Lafayette's Planned Parenthood noted that only patients could come inside due to safety concerns over the coronavirus.
Author Kao Kalia Yang gestures while speaking about her time at Carleton College and how she was studying to become a doctor before deciding to get into writing.
Blythe, CA (92225)

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A mix of clouds and sun early followed by cloudy skies this afternoon. High 81F. Winds light and variable..

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By Elizabeth Kwiatkowski, 10/19/2021



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Elizabeth Kwiatkowski is Associate Editor of Reality TV World and has been covering the reality TV genre for more than a decade.

star Katie Thurston has clapped back at speculation her engagement to Blake Moynes has ended and the couple broke up.Katie, 30, took to Twitter on Friday and posted a screenshot of one of her recent Instagram comments that read, "You and Blake are not liking each other's posts. Is all OK?"The screenshot showed that Katie immediately responded to the fan, "Yes," with a tears-of-joy emoji.Katie tweeted alongside the image, "Imagine your fiance has been on his [Instagram] stories for weeks in Kenya working his ass off and yet this is what some people notice," in addition to another tears-of-joy emoji.One of Katie's followers wrote, "But 'liking' posts = love I thought," to which Katie replied in a snarky manner, "I guess that's love in 2021."Katie went on to interact with a couple Twitter users who thought her post was funny."Sh-t, my husband hasn't even made an instagram to like my posts... is he cheating? Should I ask him to get an instagram and divorce him if he says no??" one person joked."Sounds like he doesn't love you," Katie responded sarcastically. "The least he could do is a reshare on Facebook."And another person tweeted, "[Reddit] noticed a few weeks ago [ Dean Unglert ] and [ Caelynn Miller-Keyes ] didn't follow each other but fun fact... they've never followed each other lmao."Katie replied, "Hahahahaha amazing."Katie has insisted she is happily engaged to Blake after the Canadian wildlife specialist popped the question during 's seventeenth-season finale, which aired this past summer.Katie admitted to Us Weekly in August that she was totally shocked by Blake's marriage proposal but is so glad he chose to commit to her at the end of her season."It's hard to say the impact of that in the real world, [if he didn't propose], because you go through so much and you want to take this very seriously -- and a proposal and engagement is very serious," Katie told the magazine."I didn't come here to find a boyfriend. I can do that on a dating app," she added. "So it's hard to say if we would have survived just as a dating couple."Katie said her relationship with Blake is incredibly strong now that they've promised each other forever."The fact that we're both committed to each other as future husband and wife, it just says a lot about our confidence in our relationship," Katie said.Shortly after the show wrapped on TV, Katie visited Blake's hometown in Toronto, Canada and then moved into a new apartment in San Diego, CA, in August.The former bank marketing manager and Blake also spent time together in New York City in September.Once Blake left for Africa to continue his endangered-animal conservation efforts, Katie reportedly wrote last week on Instagram, "It can feel lonely moving to a new state... I've had trouble sleeping lately... I'm still trying to navigate this new life and city while seeking normalcy."Katie and Blake have told multiple press outlets they are in no rush to wed and intend to travel together and learn more about each other's backgrounds, interests, hobbies and hometowns before deciding on a city in which to settle down as a couple.Interested in more The Bachelor news? Join our The Bachelor Facebook Group
Local hospitals continue to be pushed to the limit by COVID
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1st, 2nd and 3rd grade students from Windham Elementary School get a surprise visit from the plow truck they named as part of the Vermont Agency of Transportation's Name a Plow program on Wednesday, 11/17/21.
Brattleboro, VT (05301)

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People look at the new historic site marker that honors Lucy Terry Prince, considered the nations first African American poet, and her husband Abijah Prince, at the Vermont Welcome Center, in Guilford, on Tuesday.
John McClaughry is vice president of the Ethan Allen Institute. He was vice chair of the Senate Education Committee and has been Kirby town moderator for 55 years. The opinions expressed by columnists do not necessarily reflect the views of the Brattleboro Reformer.
Connecticut has the highest vaccination rate for its youngest children in the nation, according to a recent CDC report.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention used data from the National Immunization Survey-Child to assess vaccine coverage among children born in 2017 and 2018 before they turned 2 years old.

Federal guidelines suggest children be vaccinated within their first 24 months of life against several diseases, including polio, hepatitis B, and measles, mumps and rubella.

The report found Connecticuts coverage rate hovered around 80.2 percent for the recommended vaccine series, Gov. Ned Lamont announced on Monday. The national average was about 70.5 percent.

This report reveals that once again, Connecticut is a national leader in childhood immunization, Lamont said. That is in large part due to the efforts of many professional, community-based and private partnerships that have worked diligently with the state to raise awareness of this issue.

The average for New England was an estimated 79.7 percent.

The report noted, however, that the survey reflects vaccines mostly administered before the COVID-19 pandemic was declared a national emergency in March 2020.

Extra efforts are needed to ensure that children who missed vaccinations, including those attributable to the COVID-19 pandemic, receive them as soon as possible to maintain protection against vaccine-preventable illnesses, the researchers wrote.

Media coverage over the last year and a half has highlighted a drop in routine child vaccinations during the pandemic. Data showed 39,140 fewer vaccine doses were distributed by the state public health department to medical providers in April 2020  a 43 percent decrease over that of the same month in 2019, the Connecticut Mirror reported.

Connecticut officials said this June that child vaccinations in the state were mostly bouncing back.

And in recent months, children ages 12 and above also became eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine. The latest state public health department data shows 69 percent of children ages 12 to 15, and 79 percent of children 16 to 17, have received at least one dose of the vaccine.

As the COVID-19 pandemic vaccination response has demonstrated, vaccinations are a vital part of our public health strategy, protecting individuals from disease and communities from outbreaks, said Dr. Manisha Juthani, commissioner of the state public health department.

Connecticut has made widespread youth immunizations a priority, including an end to religious exemptions from vaccine requirements for schools, colleges and child care facilities this spring. At the time, the Nutmeg State was the sixth state to do so, the AP reported.

And as federal regulators consider approving COVID-19 vaccines for children ages 5 to 11, some state officials  including Juthani  have indicated they would support a mandate for K-12 students once the shot receives full authorization, the Connecticut Mirror reported recently.

Todays announcement is the result of years of hard work and collaboration among all of our partners, whose results protect us all, Juthani said. When its harder for disease to get a hold and run unchecked, all of our communities are safer.
BRISTOL  A former Bristol resident was sentenced Monday to six years in federal prison for trafficking cocaine from Puerto Rico to Connecticut, according to prosecutors.

Judge Victor A. Bolder in Bridgeport sentenced 31-year-old Marcos Mendez, a former Bristol resident who most recently lived in Kissimmee, Fla., to 72 months in prison, followed by four years of supervised release.

Mendez, who is released on a $500,000 bond, was ordered to report to prison on Jan. 3, 2022.

A federal grand jury returned an indictment on Jan. 23, 2019, charging Mendez and five others with conspiracy to distribute cocaine and other related offenses. On May 18, Mendez pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute 500 grams or more of cocaine.

The Drug Enforcement Administrations Hartford Task Force and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service learned of a drug trafficking operation that was sending parcels with kilogram quantities of cocaine from Puerto Rico to Connecticut and Massachusetts, prosecutors said.

Between July and December 2018, prosecutors said, authorities intercepted and seized five parcels being mailed to addresses in Bristol, Meriden and Burlington, as well as one en route to Worcester, Mass. Each parcel had multiple kilogram-sized bricks of cocaine, prosecutors said.

Investigators set up surveillance for the delivery of suspect parcels and the scheduled delivery for the five seized parcels. Prosecutors said during surveillance that investigators saw Mendez and other individuals picking up  or trying to pick up  parcels that had been seized.

On Jan. 9, 2019, investigators arrested Mendez and other members of the drug trafficking organization, prosecutors said. When investigators searched Mendezs Bristol home, they found more than a kilogram of cocaine, numerous bags of marijuana packaged for sale and $146,712 in cash.
Contributed Photo / Hartford Police Department

HARTFORD  A man in his 50s is in stable condition after being shot earlier Monday evening, police said in a press release.

Hartford Police officers were dispatched to the area of 131 Martin St. at approximately 6:35 p.m. Monday on a Shot Spotter activation, police said.
NORWALK  The Republican mayoral candidate called out Norwalk Public Schools for making a meeting private on the districts YouTube channel.

Candidate Jonathan Riddle submitted three-pronged Freedom of Information request after noticing the recording of a public Board of Education meeting was not made available online.

The kickoff meeting of the four-part public forum, A Community Conversation on Equity Literacy, was held in person at Marvin Elementary School on Oct. 14 with a livestreaming of the event.

I went on YouTube today to rewatch it but found this video has been made private, Riddle said in the FOI request he filed Saturday. This was a public BOE meeting workshop and is subject to public access rights.

Riddle also noted similar meetings were posted almost immediately and links for recordings of past meetings were posted on the districts online calendar.

A similar BOE workshop was held by livestream on Oct. 5, NPS posted the replay the same day, and is currently available on YouTube, Riddle said. Im looking at the calendar and if you highlight every other meeting theres a source, calendar details and YouTube link for every single one.

The conversation is one of four events focused on defining equity in schools that will take place over the next six months. Participants were asked to register in advance, but walk-ins were welcome and a virtual option provided.

Riddle said he believes the meeting may have been withheld from posting online due to controversial comments.

This was the equity parent workshop, and I dont think it went as well as they wanted it to, Riddle said. One parent, about hour in, stopped the presentation to ask a question. ... He said, Why are we doing this? Who made the decision to put the focus on this? This is racist on its face and divisive, why are we trying to divide our children this way?

As of early Monday afternoon, the district had not responded to or commented on the FOI request, Riddle said. According spokesperson Brenda Wilcox-Williams, the FOI administrator for the school district, was not working Monday.

The three documents called for in Riddles FOI request are the full, unredacted video from the BOE meeting at Marvin Elementary School livestreamed to YouTube; an explanation why the video was made private; and all BOE emails received and sent regarding this event, the livestream, pre- and post-discussion objectives/results, directives with regards to the access rights of the video to be made public versus private, and any planning letters, emails, and notes about the event.

Every Board of Ed meeting is public, and this is a public workshop. They should be able to see what theyre thinking about implementing, Riddle said.

When selected, the link to the meeting in question leads to a YouTube page with a message reading, Video unavailable. This video is private.

The meeting was not a Board of Education specific event but a public conversation, Wilcox-Williams said.

It was livestreamed via our YouTube channel, as well as available on Zoom and in person, but it wasnt a Board of Ed meeting, Wilcox-Williams said. Board of Ed meetings are typically posted a business day or two after the meeting concludes. I expect this parent session to be back online shortly.

Dr. Edward Fergus, an associate professor of urban education and policy at Temple University, led the workshop that aims to normalize diversity and inclusion, and what benefits it brings to individuals, society and the school environment.

The community conversations build off discussions already occurring among school leaders to identify disparities between groups of students. The goal is to include parents in those same discussions and not have the conversations isolated to the school administrators.

We want to identify the cause and build support plans. That will yield a reduction, particularly among Black and brown students, who are more frequently identified for suspension and expulsion. Why is that happening? I dont believe its a product of the child, Superintendent Alexandra Estrella has said about the effort.

abigail.brone@hearstmediact.com
NORWALK  The citys schools will keep a heightened police presence at its buildings on Tuesday as the investigation into the source of threatening messages found over the weekend at Brien McMahon High School continues.

To ensure that all students and staff feel safe, the district and the (Norwalk Police Department) will continue taking extra precautions with school security tomorrow and throughout the week, read an email sent to parents from the school district on Monday.

On Sunday evening, a student notified a school administrator about a possible threatening message at the high school. The district immediately notified police and decided to implement additional protocols at all school buildings on Monday out of an abundance of caution, according to a post on the districts Facebook page.

Norwalk schools and the police department are working together to conduct a collaborative threat assessment process to determine whether a threat is credible, the email read. The assessment was ongoing as of Monday afternoon.

As always, safety and security are our primary concern. It is important that we remember to See Something, Say Something, the district wrote.

The district encouraged students and parents to contact a school administrator or teacher if they are worried about a fellow student or something they have seen. Secondary students and their parents can also share these tips on the Anonymous Alerts app.

The threatening message at Brien McMahon was the second safety concern reported at the schools in less than a week.

Local police received a call last Thursday reporting shots fired at Roton Middle School. The department later determined the call was a hoax. The person responsible was identified, and an investigation is underway with the school district, according to the department.

The district encouraged families to reach out to their childs school principal if they feed in need of extra support. Principals will work to connect children and their families to a school or district counselor.

We know that news like this can be distressing for students, particularly after the past year of COVID-related issues, the email read.

emily.morgan@hearstmediact.com
Actor Parineeti Chopra is in Nepal these days, shooting for her upcoming film Uunchai. The actor who has been admiring the beauty of the Himalayas is often seen sharing pictures of the natural beauty from the shooting sets. Recently, Parineeti Chopra took to Instagram and shared a beautiful picture while revealing her secret of staying happy and fresh.

In the picture, the Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar actor can be seen meditating at the mountain top with several cloud-clad mountains in the background adding charm to her picture. The breath-holding scenery is sure to leave her fans spellbound. While captioning the post, Parineeti revealed that Daily meditation is her secret.

Parineeti Chopra shares her secret with a scenic picture

In the picture, the Ishaqzaade actor can be seen wearing a black high-neck with a pink sweatshirt, tights, and winter boots, meditating while sitting on a rock. The actor seemed at peace as she sat in yoga's Sukhasana. Earlier, she even shared a series of pictures where she can be seen looking at the snow-clad Mt Everest while thanking them for teaching her the lesson of humility.

The actor who joined the shoot recently even penned a heartfelt post for the director Sooraj Barjatya. Thrilled and honoured to be a part of the iconic cinematic universe of Sooraj Barjatya sir. Sooraj sir has defined and is the torchbearer of Indias family entertainers and I cant wait to work under his tutelage; alongside this stellar and incredible cast. Mr. Bachchan, happy birthday sir! This is a special day and a special moment. @amitabhbachchan. Especially excited to be working once again with Anupam sir @anupampkher, Boman sir @boman_irani, and Neena mam @neena_gupta. And for the first time with Sarika maam and Danny sir. Let this magical journey begin. #Uunchai #SoorajBarjatya (sic), she wrote then.

The film is currently under production at Mount Everest in Nepal. Helmed by Sooraj Barjatya, the upcoming film is touted as one based on friendship. Apart from Anupam, the film will reportedly also feature Parineeti Chopra, Boman Irani, megastar Amitabh Bachchan, Neena Gupta, Sarika, and Danny Denzongpa in key roles.

IMAGE: Instagram/@parineetichopra
Eternals is among the ventures that audience across the world are waiting for. The movie is just over two weeks away from release and the makers raised the excitement around the venture by holding a special world premiere at Hollywood in Los Angeles on Monday. The stars, who are blessed with superpowers in the movie, looked like superheroes in the style department, on the red carpet.

The cast members came out in their stylish gowns and suits at the grand event. One of the stars who stood out from the rest was Kumail Nanjiani. The Pakistan-born actor stuck to his roots by donning a sherwani at the event.

Kumail Nanjiani dons Pakistani sherwani for Eternals premiere

Kumail was dressed in a purple and gold sherwani at the premiere, as he posed with his wife Emily V Gordon on the red carpet. When asked about his choice of attire, the actor told The Hollywood Reporter that one of the reasons he chose the sherwani was because they 'look awesome'. He added that his costumer designer in Eternals always kept reminding him about sherwanis.

The 43-year-old added that he wanted to approach a designer in Pakistan and not a Pakistani designer in the USA. Hence, Kumail called his mother in Pakistan and she gave him names of 'three amazing designers in Pakistan.'

Kumail contacted a Karachi-based designer named Umar Sayeed and shared that he wanted his outfit to be similar in colour to that of his outfit in the movie. Hence, he chose to go with purple and gold, which he feels, is a 'beautiful combination.'

Some of the highlights of the outfit was that it was 'hand-beaded' with palsey pattern on the front and threading at the back, the report said.

Meanwhile, Kumail plays the character of 'Kingo' in the movie. He is an Eternal who can release cosmic energy proectiles from his hands.

Eternals is directed by Chloe Zhao. The movie is gearing up for release on November 5.

The film als stars Angelina Jolie, Kit Harington, Salma Hayek, Gemma Chan, Richard Madden, Lia McHugh, Brian Tyree Henry, Lauren Ridloff, Barry Keoghan, Don Lee, Harish Patel, among others.
Jitendra Singh, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science and Technology, stated on Monday, October 18, that the North East, which has abundant bio-resources, will be a new engine for post-COVID economic development in the country. Dr Jitendra, speaking at the inaugural function of a national seminar on "Developing Bioeconomy from Bioresources of North Eastern Region of India," organised by the Institute of Bioresources and Sustainable Development (IBSD), Takyelpat at the auditorium of the Manipur State Film Development Society, said that the COVID-19 pandemic has had a negative impact on economic activities around the world.

MoS Singh stated that contributions from many sections of the economy are required to create a viable economy and stay on course. According to the Union Minister, the North East, which has abundant bio-resources, has a critical role to play in the country's economic restoration. The minister stated that bioresources should be the fuel for a new engine for economic development in a state like Manipur, which has abundant bio-resources.

Jitendra Singh says North East to be new engine for economic development

"Integrated farming activities should also be encouraged to ensure economic growth and to achieve the target of "Doubling Farmers Income by 2022". IBSD has a key role in research and reaching out technologies to the farmers as well," he added.

Singh went on to say that peace and development are mutually beneficial and that both goals have been attained over time. He went on to say that the North East has received special attention under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership and that several development initiatives have begun in the region. He also announced the creation of a collaborative programme called "Capacity Building and Training for Young Researchers in the North East Region on Bioresources Management and Advanced Biotechnology." He also gave Manipur farmers high-quality sweet mandarin (Citrus strawberry Mabhog) planting material.

Today , Dr Jitendra Singh, MoS (Ind Charge) for Science & Technology and Earth Science and MoS in PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space. pic.twitter.com/X1tImBm7zj  Governor of Manipur (@manipurgovernor) October 19, 2021

Rajkumar Ranjan Singh says possibility for economic development through bio-resources in Manipur

Rajkumar Ranjan Singh, Union Minister of State for External Affairs and Education remarked that because Manipur is located in the Indo-Burma Biodiversity Hotspots, there is a possibility for economic development through bio-resources. The opening celebration was attended by IBSD Director Professor Kumar Mukherjee, scientists, delegates, and farmers. The Institute of Bioresources and Sustainable Development (IBSD) was established in April 2001 under the Manipur Societies Registration Act, 1989, with the goal of developing bioresources and ensuring their long-term use through biotechnological interventions for the region's socio-economic development.

Extended my sincere gratitude to Shri @DrJitendraSingh ji, Honble MoS, I/C Science & Technology, GoI for his august presence on the National Seminar on Developing Bioeconomy from Bioresources of North Eastern Region of India held at Imphal @PMOIndia @JPNadda @BJP4India pic.twitter.com/YdR5XZqCp5  Dr. Rajkumar Ranjan Singh (@RanjanRajkuma11) October 18, 2021

With inputs from ANI

IMAGE: PTI
In a major development, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday took to Twitter and announced that the Kushinagar International Airport in Uttar Pradesh is all set to be inaugurated for facilitating the requirements of international Buddhist pilgrims in the country.

The inauguration, which will be done by PM Modi on Wednesday, will mark the presence of many other important leaders including Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, Governor Anandiben Patel, and others.

PM Modi tweeted:

Tomorrow, 20th October, I would be in the sacred land of Kushinagar to inaugurate various development works that further Ease of Living and mark the special Abhidhamma Day. https://t.co/O8xKrixjco  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) October 19, 2021

Tomorrow is a special day for our infrastructure and civil aviation sector. The Kushinagar International Airport will be inaugurated, with the inaugural flight landing from Colombo, whose passengers include a group of respected monks. This airport will benefit UP and Bihar. pic.twitter.com/ZPraanod1o  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) October 19, 2021

"It is our constant endeavour to boost medical related infrastructure across the nation. In Kushinagar tomorrow, 9 medical colleges will be either dedicated to the nation or their foundation stones would be laid," PM Modi added in a following tweet.

Kushinagar International Airport

The airport, which aims to increase the tourist influx in the state, spans over 3,600 sqm and has been built at a cost of Rs 260 crores. The airport will serve nearby districts of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, and is an important step in boosting the investment and employment opportunities in the region.

By enhancing the development of a Buddhist theme based circuit, the airport will cut short the journey in Lumbini, Bodhgaya, Sarnath, Kushinagar, Shravasti, Rajgir, Sankisa and Vaishali circuit. Direct air routes with South Asian countries will make it easier for tourists coming from Sri Lanka, Japa, Taiwan, South Korea, China, Thailand, Vietnam and Singapore etc., to reach the rich heritage.

The airport will give a boost to the economic development of the state and the region by throwing a multiplier effect on the hotel industry, tourism agencies, local industry and products, eateries etc.

PM Modi to visit Uttar Pradesh on October 20

PM Modi, who will be visiting Uttar Pradesh on October 20, will start his day by inaugurating the Kushinagar International Airport, following which he will be addressing a program at the Buddhist site in Mahaparinirvana stupa and temple.

He will be also visiting the exhibition of Paintings of Ajanta frescos, Buddhist Sutra Calligraphy, and Buddhist artefacts. After that, he will lay the foundation stone of Rajkiya Medical College followed by the foundation stone of 12 other development projects worth Rs 180 crore. Meanwhile, on the occasion of Abhidhamma Day, the tourism department will be also organising a tourism promotional event at Kushinagar.
The war of words between Congress and RJD escalated on Monday after AICC Bihar in-charge Bhakt Charan Das hinted that the latter had struck a deal with BJP. Speaking to the media, he said, "If RJD would have withdrawn their candidate in Kusheshwar Asthan, the electoral arrangement would have continued. We would have contested in one seat each and the Mahagatbandhan would have won both seats. Now, Congress is fighting alone and will win both seats".

Predicting that the Lalu Prasad Yadav-led party will join hands with the saffron party after the Bihar bypolls, Das added, "The Left, RJD and Congress were united on the secular ideology. Now you have moved away from this ideology. Whom have you struck a deal with? If you don't need our 19 MLAs, whose support have you secured? You required the support of our 19 MLAs to form a government."

Ridiculing this charge, RJD Rajya Sabha MP Manoj Jha remarked, "I found his statement funny and unfortunate at the same time. He neither understands the social and economic condition of Bihar nor the emerging situation after 1990. He also doesn't understand the cheating endured by RJD and its national president because he did not compromise on his fundamental principles of social justice and secularism. Why couldn't your CM arrest Advani Ji during the Rath Yatra?"

According to him, RJD was still following the coalition dharma as its candidate was well placed to defeat the BJP-JD(U) alliance. Jha opined, "I want to tell the Congress top leadership that the foundation of this relationship is very deep. If Bhakt Charan Das is spreading confusion by making some foolish statement, then it is your loss".

Cracks in Mahagatbandhan

The differences between RJD and Congress came to the fore after ex-JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar switched allegiance to the Sonia Gandhi-led party. RJD has been at odds with Kanhaiya Kumar over his decision to contest from Begusarai in the 2019 General election despite the former fielding a strong candidate in Tanveer Hassan. Ultimately, Union Minister Giriraj Singh was re-elected from the constituency whereas Hassan and Kumar stood second and third respectively.

The Assembly seats of Kusheshwar Asthan and Tarapur will go to the polls on October 30 whereas the counting of votes will take place on November 2. After RJD refused to let Congress contest from Kusheshwar Asthan, the latter fielded its candidates on both seats going to the polls. Speaking to the media on October 10, AICC Bihar in-charge Bhakt Charan Das exuded confidence in his party's candidates Atirek Kumar and Rajesh Kumar Mishra defeating RJD's Ganesh Bharti and Arun Kumar Sah from KusheshwarAsthan and Tarapur respectively. He also indicated that a split in the Mahagatbandhan is imminent.
Astronomers have now claimed that a new study about Saturn's moon Titan could majorly help NASA's upcoming Dragonfly mission as new observations have revealed that rivers on Titan are deeper than earlier thought. Examined by researchers at Cornell University, the findings emerged after analysing the images beamed back from the Cassini spacecraft, as per Daily Mail. Scheduled for launch in 2026, the Dragonfly mission will advance NASA's search for the building blocks of life in an alien world.

Titan's River Maps May Advise Dragonfly's Sedimental Journeyhttps://t.co/L2RsHi9sAK

With future space exploration in mind, a Cornell-led team of astronomers has published the final maps of Titans liquid methane rivers and tributaries  as seen by NASAs late Cassini mission... pic.twitter.com/oFFsQVKCrJ  Eurasia Review (@EurasiaReview) October 18, 2021

What are the new findings?

Published in the Planetary Science Journal, the findings in the study suggest that the scientists had earlier underestimated the drainage density of the rivers and tributaries that once existed on Titan. Moreover, the study authors reported that the new maps of Titan's rivers extracted from Cassini images can provide new insights into how deep the rivers were and what really happened in the wetlands.

According to Daily Mail, the researchers arrived at the new conclusion after comparing Earth-based radar images of rivers in Alaska and Western Australia with the images collected by NASA's Cassini spacecraft before 2017. The Cassini spacecraft ended its mission in 2017 when it plunged into Saturn's gaseous atmosphere. Whatever data that was beamed back by the spacecraft can be used to understand Titan's landscape at a fundamental level, the experts believe as per Daily Mail.

As for Titan, the moon has a rich and organic surrounding and has a nitrogen-based atmosphere like Earth. Moreover, Titan also has liquids in form of methane and ethane and their lakes can reach as deep as 300 feet. Besides, Titan is larger than the planet Mercury and is the second-largest moon in our solar system.

Our new #Dragonfly mission will be the first time we will fly a drone for science on another planet!  Join our experts on @Reddit to ask questions about our plans to explore Saturn's icy moon Titan.



Details:

 Monday, July 1

 3pm ET

 https://t.co/VfU31LPmQX pic.twitter.com/Zo6YOASdVS  NASA (@NASA) June 29, 2019

NASA's Dragonfly mission

NASA will be sending a spacecraft to Saturn's Titan in 2026 that will land on the moon in 2034. The rotorcraft, which will be the agnecy's first multi-rotor vehicle will fly to dozens of promising locations on Titan looking for prebiotic chemical processes common on both Titan and Earth, NASA noted.

In a 2019 release, the agency informed that "Dragonfly will explore diverse environments from organic dunes to the floor of an impact crater where liquid water and complex organic materials key to life once existed together for possibly tens of thousands of years".

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine was also quoted saying, "Visiting this mysterious ocean world could revolutionize what we know about life in the universe. This cutting-edge mission would have been unthinkable even just a few years ago, but were now ready for Dragonflys amazing flight.

Image: Twitter/@TheMarsSociety
Prime Minister of the Republic of the Congo, Anatole Collinet Makosso informed on October 18, Monday that the third wave of the COVID-19 outbreak has hit the country. He even announced that the capital of Congo, Brazzaville has been considered to be the epicentre of the disease. Citing the Prime Minister, the Xinhua website reported, "I officially announce the occurrence of the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Republic of Congo, with Brazzaville as the epicentre."

PM Makosso went on to say that the more infectious Delta strain has largely driven the emergence of the third wave in the country. He further added that this new wave is marked by an increase in transmission counts, rapid progression of the severe form of the variant, and a significant number of fatalities. The Prime Minister even stated that 32 deaths were recorded during the first two weeks of October 2021, considerably surpassing the average monthly death total seen since the COVID wave commenced in March 2020.

COVID cases in Congo

Furthermore, the latest COVID numbers provided by the Worldometer suggest that the total number of confirmed cases in the country is 15,962 whereas the total number of fatalities due to COVID is 231. More than 12,421 have been recovered from the disease. To combat the outbreak, the Congolese government has pledged to increase diagnostic capacity from 1,000 to nearly 3,000 tests each day.

Six in seven COVID-19 cases go undetected in Africa

Meanwhile, this announcement came days after when the UN informed that six in seven COVID-19 cases go undetected in Africa. According to a new WHO report, just 14.2% of COVID-19 infections or one in every seven cases, are found in Africa. Burundi, Cote d'Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, the Republic of the Congo, Senegal, and Zambia are among the nations that took part in the research work.

The WHO Regional Office for Africa introduced a new program on October 14 to improve public testing for COVID-19 in the eight countries in order to halt the spread of the virus. In the coming year, the initiative hopes to approach over 7 million people with quick diagnostic testing.

WHO had utilised the COVID-19 calculator, which was created by Resolve to Save Lives to assesses infections primarily on cases reported and fatalities, as well as an infection mortality rate depending on population-based studies. It was discovered that till October 10, 2021, the total number of COVID-19 illnesses in Africa was projected to reach 59 million, which really is seven times more than 8 million cases recorded.

Since the time the disease emerged, African nations have recorded over 70 million COVID-19 tests, which represents a small proportion of the African continent's 1.3 billion inhabitants. Further, in comparison, the United States, which has roughly a third of the world's population, is said to have administered over 550 million tests, while the United Kingdom, which has less than 10% of Africa's population, is said to have conducted over 280 million tests. Thus, the introduction of the new program by WHO in the eight countries will provide assistance to nations in their efforts to stop disease spread.

(Image: Twitter/ @AnatoleMakosso/Pixabay)
Nigerian Government spokesperson revealed on Monday that the number of fatalities from a gunmen attack on a community in northwestern Nigeria's Sokoto state has increased to 43 as more bodies have been recovered from the area. The governor of Sokoto State, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal confirmed in an updated statement on Monday evening that a bunch of bandits invaded the Goronyo town where the headquarters of the Goronyo local government in the state.

After the gunmen ravaged the area, the governor Aminu Waziri estimated the number of casualties were around 30 in his previous statement. Quoting the current statement of Tambuwal, the Xinhua website reported, We just finished a meeting with some stakeholders and I have confirmed that we unfortunately lost 43 people to that incident."

The Bandits are dwelling in "the fool's paradise of invincibility": Nigerian President

In a statement released on Monday, the President of Nigeria Muhammadu Buhari denounced the brutal assault by gunmen in Sokoto state, warning that the perpetrators' days are "numbered." The president further believes that the perpetrators are dwelling in "the fool's paradise of invincibility" while urging the people of the area to be tolerant and patient as the army is planning strategies on how to strike them, severely.

President Muhammadu Buhari went on to say that the bandits are now under extreme stress as a result of Nigerian security services' intensive and persistent air and ground strikes against them in their hiding places.

Gunmen Attacks in the Nigeria

As per AP, militant groups have continued to target villages despite efforts and severe measures like telecommunications barricades and curfews. In regions where there is minimal protection, the shooters frequently kill dozens of civilians. Furthermore, people in the Sokoto area have informed AP that Sokoto is among the most impacted areas where bandits took advantage of wide swaths of terrain along the frontier with neighbouring Niger which are not monitored. They further informed that some assaults are not even reported for days or weeks after they happen. Recently, state lawmaker Amina Al-Mustapha reported to AP, We are under bandits now, no single village has not been attacked.

Meanwhile, earlier on October 4, another gunmen assault in northwest Nigeria had taken several lives. According to news agency Xinhua, which cited a local official, the death toll from gunmen assaults in NW Nigeria's Kaduna state has risen to 50, when several unidentified gunmen carried out the fatal strikes.

(Image: AP/ Representative Image)
The commander of the Polisario liberation front in Western Sahara, Brahim Ghali, has declared that the Saharawi army, who is seeking independence, will keep on fighting against the Moroccan administration over the northwestern African territory until the United Nations (UN) delivers its prolonged pledge for an independence vote.

The 72-year-old Ghali informed reporters on October 16, Saturday, that the appointment of new UN officials is a good development during the military war, which was reignited over a year ago. Citing Ghalis statement in Camp Rabouni, Sputnik reported, "The appointment of the Personal Envoy of the UN Secretary-General Staffan de Mistura, which we have taken note of, should not be an end in itself."

Ghali told reporters that he asked the United Nations Security Council members to create a mandate for the decolonisation of Western Sahara and the organising of a vote on self-determination during the council meeting on October 28.

The UN deems Western Sahara to be Africa's last uncolonised region, but ever since a cease-fire was established 30 years ago between Morocco and the independence-seeking Polisario Front which annexed it in 1975, UN envoys have failed to lay the ground for a vote on its existence.

The resurgence of conflicts between Morocco and the Polisario liberation front

Further, violence has resurfaced due to rising dissatisfaction among Saharawi people in Algerian refugee centers, who have supported the return of combat since November last year. Morocco erected a "berm" throughout the former Spanish colony's land, separating Moroccan-held parts from a narrower stretch controlled by the Polisario.

Meanwhile, on November 13, 2020, one month after the Polisario proclaimed that the 1991 cease-fire has ended, the US ignored UN's efforts to find a settlement by endorsing Morocco's assertion to get control of the whole disputed region.

However, Polisario authorities told The Associated Press that recently, nearly 8 of their militants had perished in fighting th0e attacks conducted on Moroccan army posts, while confrontations have continued on a limited scale. According to Ghali, the war might grow and destabilise the whole North African area.

Since Morocco conquered their territory, Algeria have taken in the Saharawi refugees. However, because of policies that incite Moroccans to reside in the Moroccan-controlled section of Western Sahara, the Saharawi who did not escape are becoming a minority in that region.

Additionally, both Morocco, as well as the Polisario, have attempted to win diplomatic fights at the United Nations and with a persistent search for allies.

Meanwhile, a high European Union court has recently stood by the Polisario, recognising Morocco to be an illegal entity with which the EU may not negotiate fisheries and agricultural contracts in Western Sahara, AP reported.

(Image: AP)
The foreign ministers of the European Union (EU) have discussed methods to prevent undocumented migrant influx from Belarus into the 27-nation bloc. As a preventive method, the EU has prohibited companies from leasing planes to Belarusian airline Belavia, Xinhua reported. Justifying the EU sanctions against the national airline, the EU has blamed the President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko's administration of aiding immigration into the bloc.

During a news conference following a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg, a spokesperson for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell stated that the EU is attempting to persuade the nationalities that people who comes to the EU from Belarus are not tourists who have unexpectedly decided to visit Minsk, but rather individuals who have been deceived with an indication that there is a path into Europe via Latvia, Lithuania, or Poland, the EU countries bordering Belarus.

Following the meeting, Borrell stated that the EU is prepared to impose measures on Belavia. He went on to say that the immigrants were transported from "a long list of countries". Citing Borrell, Xinhua reported, "That is a situation we have to denounce and fight."

After the EU imposed sanctions on Lukashenko's administration from the August 2020 presidential election and the subsequent security crackdown on the Belarusian opposition and non-violent demonstrators, the number of migrants in the EU had surged from a year ago.

EU countries urging to curb migrant flow

Furthermore, Lithuania's foreign affairs minister, Gabrielius Landsbergis stated that the inflows of immigrants are not reducing, although the situation appears to be under control. Landsbergis also said that the EU must devise a method to prevent additional planes from North Africa and the Middle East from going to Minsk. As per AP, Landsbergis demanded sanctions against Lukashenko and Belavia for abusing vulnerable people. He also asked the EU to clearly informs the firms transporting individuals to Belarus with the purpose of migrating.

Additionally, Foreign Affairs Minister of Ireland Simon Coveney, whose nation is a centre for aircraft leasing, indicated that they are open to a new wave of penalties against Belarusians. However, Coveney stated that terminating current lease agreements might be challenging legally.

While, on the other hand, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko earlier denied any wrongdoing in the case of refugees fleeing the Middle East and entering the EU through Belarus.

(Image: AP)
The Afghan National Resistance Front urged the United States on Monday to investigate its former top ambassador to Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, over alleged "dealings" with the Taliban. This comes nearly two months after the United States withdrew from the war-torn country in a "chaotic" manner. Khalilzad was in charge of talks with the Taliban in Qatar, which resulted in the Doha Agreement with the US troops to leave by May 2021.

Ali Nazary, the foreign relations chief of the National Resistance Front, took to Twitter and said, "The US gov't should conduct a thorough investigation of Zalmay Khalilzad's backdoor deals w/ the Taliban crime syndicate. For the past 3 years he betrayed both Afghanistan & the US by legitimizing a terrorist group & giving too many concessions without anything tangible in return [sic]."

The US gov't should conduct a thorough investigation of Zalmay Khalilzad's backdoor deals w/ the Taliban crime syndicate. For the past 3 years he betrayed both Afghanistan & the US by legitimizing a terrorist group & giving too many concessions without anything tangible in return  Ali Maisam Nazary (@alinazary) October 19, 2021

In a letter to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Khalilzad allegedly conceded that the political agreement between the Taliban and the Afghan government "did not go forward as planned." "The reasons behind this are far too complicated to discuss here, but I shall do so in the coming days and weeks," he wrote in the letter as reported by BBC News. Meanwhile, on Monday, Khalilzad stepped down from his role and his deputy Tomas West will be the Special Representative for Afghanistan, stated US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. 70-year-old Khalilzad was born and brought up in Kabul. He is a seasoned US diplomat who served in different capacities under former Presidents George W Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump.

Blinken expresses gratitude to Khalilzad for services

Blinken also thanked Khalilzad for his "decades of tireless service to the United States." It should be mentioned here that Khalilzad had opted to resign in May after President Joe Biden announced the withdrawal of forces from Afghanistan. His resignation comes amid the State Department Inspector General's announcement to launch a series of investigations into the US' "chaotic" withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, Khalilzad's successor West formerly worked with Biden's national security team when the latter was Vice President under Obama's administration. According to the official release, West will now oversee diplomatic operations, advise the Secretary and Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, and work closely with the US Embassy in Kabul.

Thank you to Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad for decades of tireless service to the United States. Pleased to welcome Thomas West to the role of Special Representative for Afghanistan. @US4AfghanPeace  Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) October 18, 2021

(With ANI inputs)

Image: AP/ Twitter/ @ Ali Maisam Nazary
Two weeks after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau skipped invitations by First Nations to mark Truth and Reconciliation Day, he apologised for his non-responsive behaviour on Monday when he was addressing the press during his current visit. "It was a mistake, and I understand that it made a very difficult day even harder," AA.com reported quoting Trudeau. The PM admitted his error on Monday, October 18, in-person during a meet with Tk'emlups te Secwepemc Chief Rosanne Casimir.

As per reports, Trudeau flew to Tofino in British Columbia with his family instead of attending the ceremony of September 30, which his government stipulated as a federal holiday to mourn the death of the children and honour the survivors of the so-called residential schools. According to the BBC, the letters to the PM initially went unanswered who was supposed to be holding "private meetings" in Ottawa around September 30. However, later he was snapped on a countryside beach in Tofino.

What happened to Indigenous children in residential schools was, and is, inexcusable. Today in Tkemlups te Secwepemc, we came together to pay respects to Le Estcwey - the children who went missing - and to honour the survivors who are committed to building a better future. pic.twitter.com/HEHZJqwFmw  Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) October 19, 2021

PM Trudeau called First Nations' Chief to apologise

In June, Justin Trudeau's government announced September 30 to be observed as a federal holiday to commemorate the history and legacy of the indigenous residential schools in Tk'emlups te Secwepemc first nation in British Columbia. On missing the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation after he was re-elected as the PM, Trudeau subsequently called Chief Casimir to apologise for not standing by the community on the day, The Guardian reported. He also expressed regret for his choice to travel and pledged to "make things right."

National Day for Truth and Reconciliation

According to the Canadian Council, the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation is a day to honor the survivors of the residential school system, their families and communities. The day was adopted by Canadian PM Justin Trudeau's government to address the oppression, exclusion and anti-indigenous racism that has perpetuated as a colonial institution.

It is especially marked in Canada as a holiday after the remains of 215 children and 1000 unmarked graves from two former residential schools were unearthed in British Columbia. The bodies, believed to be of indigenous children, brought back the "shameful history" of racism. The schools mostly operated between 1831 and 1996 were called to perform "cultural genocide."

Image: AP
External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar, who is on a five-day visit to Israel, visited the Ovda airfield in southern Israel on Tuesday and spoke with servicemen of the Indian Air Force who are taking part in the Blue Flag 2021 international exercise. He expressed his delight at witnessing the mutual respect and chemistry between Indian and Israeli forces. He also emphasised the importance of defence and security in India-Israel relations.

In a tweet, EAM announced that he went to Ovda Airbase to meet the Indian Air Force, who are participating in the Blue Flag exercise. According to him, he was pleasantly surprised to discover the mutual respect and synergy between Indian and Israeli Air Force personnel. Along with the tweet, he also shared four pictures of himself with the Indian Air Force.

Visited the Ovda airbase to meet the @IAF_MCC participants at Ex Blue Flag - No 1 Sqn TIGERS.



Delighted to see the mutual respect and chemistry between Indian and Israeli Air Force professionals. Defense and security are key pillars of our relationship. pic.twitter.com/4CcrzNKklR  Dr. S. Jaishankar (@DrSJaishankar) October 19, 2021

Blue Flag 2021 began on Sunday

The Mirage 2000 aircraft squadron of the Indian Air Force took part in the Blue Flag 2021 international exercise, which began on Sunday. The exercise will involve eight countries - Israel, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, France, India, Greece and the United States. For the first time, Indian Mirages and French Rafale fighter jets are taking part in the drill.

On Saturday, EAM S Jaishankar landed in Israel. The minister stated that during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Israel in July 2017, India and Israel elevated bilateral relations to a strategic partnership. The two nations' relationship has centred on strengthening their knowledge-based partnership, which includes collaboration in innovation and research, as well as bolstering the 'Make in India' effort, according to the MEA.

Jaishankar and his counterparts from Israel, the US and UAE had a virtual meeting

Dr Jaishankar, along with his Israeli counterpart, conducted a virtual meeting with their colleagues from the United States and the United Arab Emirates, on Monday. The EAM was joined by Israel's Foreign Minister, Yair Lapid, while US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan participated digitally.

In the meeting, they agreed to use complementary capabilities to address overlapping objectives and expand the quadrilateral strategic alliance. During the quadrilateral discussion, Israel, the United Arab Emirates and India were three of Blinken's "most strategic partners" in his remarks.

A fruitful first meeting with Israeli APM and FM @YairLapid, UAE FM @ABZayed and US Secretary of State @SecBlinken this evening.



Discussed working together more closely on economic growth and global issues. Agreed on expeditious follow-up. pic.twitter.com/kVgFM0r6hs  Dr. S. Jaishankar (@DrSJaishankar) October 18, 2021

(Inputs from ANI/ PTI)

Image: Twitter/@DrSJaishankar
Wanted gangster Suresh Pujari has been arrested in the Philippines. The criminal, wanted for several extortion cases in Maharashtra, will be deported to India. According to sources, Pujari was caught on October 15 and is now under police custody. Mumbai Police and CBI have been tracking the gangsters movements for years now. He was arrested by the Philippines fugitive search unit. Having previously worked with Don Ravi Pujari, Suresh Pujari had built a gang of his own. After aggregating multiple FIRs against his name, Pujari fled India and has been living under fake identities in different countries. Pujari is wanted for several cases including multiple extortions of hotel and bar owners. The Mumbai police are now working on the extradition procedure of Pujari from the Philippines.

Earlier this year, fugitive gangster Ravi Pujari was arrested and brought to Mumbai. The 59-year-old gangster was on the run since 1994 before he was arrested in Senegal last year. Mumbai Police sought the custody of gangster Pujari in connection with the 2016 Ghazali Hotel firing case. Ravi Pujari is wanted in 49 cases, which includes charges of murder, attempt to murder and extortion. The 59-year-old gangster was on the run since 1994 before he was arrested in Senegal last year. He was extradited to India from Senegal in February 2020 was kept in Karnataka jail, as he was being tried in the state. He has the most number of cases registered against him in Karnataka. Special MCOCA court had earlier convicted 10 members from his gang in 2018 for threatening to kill producer-director Mahesh Bhatt and his family members.

Mumbai Crime Branch is on the lookout for Riyaz Bhati

Meanwhile, in a key update in the Mumbai extortion case, the Mumbai Police Crime Branch is now searching for Riyaz Bhati, who is underworld don Dawood Ibrahims aide and a co-accused of Param Bir Singh. The extortion case which was registered against Bhati at Goregaon police station was transferred to the Mumbai Crime Branch. Therefore, the Crime Branch wanted to interrogate Riyaz Bhati. However, Bhati who is considered an important link in the case is now absconding. The co-accused in the extortion case had earlier filed an Anticipatory Bail Application (ABA). However, the ABA was later rejected by the Mumbai Sessions Court which observed that Bhatis custodial interrogation is necessary in the case, considering Bhati's criminal antecedents. In addition, an FIR that was lodged also mentions Riyaz Bhati's role wherein he used to extort money from the bars and restaurants and give it to now suspended API Sachin Vaze.

Image: PTI
A group of missionaries from the United States and Canada were kidnapped in Haiti on Saturday. According to the Wall Street Journal, the gang that kidnapped them is demanding $1 million in ransom for each of the 17 people held captive, making the total amount of $17 million. The 400 Mazowo gang is known for kidnapping large groups of individuals and holding them for ransom. In April, they kidnapped a group of Catholic clerics.

Five men, seven women and five children are among those kidnapped and except for one Canadian, all of them are US citizens. The youngest is barely two years old. According to the BBC, the kidnapped people worked with Christian Aid Ministries, a non-profit missionary organisation established in the state of Ohio that provides shelter, food and clothes to Haitian children. One of those kidnapped, according to the Washington Post, had sent a WhatsApp message requesting assistance.

The missionaries were on their way back from a visit to an orphanage

The missionaries were on their way back from a visit to an orphanage when their bus was hijacked by gang members on a prominent road near Ganthier, east of the capital, Port-au-Prince, according to BBC. Ganthier is in the Croix-des-Bouquets neighbourhood, which is under the authority of the 400 Mazowo gang.

The US Department of State and the FBI are both supporting Haitian authorities with the investigation. The kidnappers had already made contact with Christian Aid Ministries in Haiti, according to a former field director. Republican congressman Adam Kinzinger of Illinois told CNN that the US should negotiate with the kidnappers rather than paying a ransom. He said that they need to track them down and see if they can negotiate a release without paying a ransom.

Kidnapping is a problem in Haiti

Local unions in Haiti organised a strike on Monday in protest of rising crime rates. As public transit employees stayed at home during the strike, businesses in Port-au-Prince and other cities were closed. According to BBC, in certain areas, barricades were erected to prevent workers from crossing picket lines. Kidnapping is a problem in Haiti, which has one of the world's highest rates. According to a local civil society organisation, this year has been especially severe, with over 600 kidnappings reported in the first three quarters of 2021, compared to 231 in the same period last year.

Image: AP
Baghdad, Oct 18 (AP) For many Iraqis, the name Colin Powell conjures up one image: the man who as U.S. secretary of state went before the U.N. Security Council in 2003 to make the case for war against their country.

Word of his death Monday at age 84 dredged up feelings of anger in Iraq toward the former general and diplomat, one of several Bush administration officials whom they hold responsible for a disastrous U.S.-led invasion that led to decades of death, chaos and violence in Iraq.

His U.N. testimony was a key part of events that they say had a heavy cost for Iraqis and others in the Middle East.

He lied, lied and lied, said Maryam, a 51-year-old Iraqi writer and mother of two in northern Iraq who spoke on condition her last name not be used because one of her children is studying in the United States.

He lied, and we are the ones who got stuck with never-ending wars, she added.

As chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Powell oversaw the Persian Gulf war to oust the Iraqi army in 1991 after Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait.

But Iraqis remember Powell more for his U.N. presentation justifying the invasion of their country more than a decade later by casting Saddam as a major global threat who possessed weapons of mass destruction, even displaying a vial of what he said could have been a biological weapon. Powell had called Iraq's claims that it had no such weapons a web of lies. No WMD were ever found, however, and the speech was later derided as a low point in his career.

I am saddened by the death of Colin Powell without being tried for his crimes in Iraq. ... But I am sure that the court of God will be waiting for him, tweeted Muntadher al-Zaidi, an Iraqi journalist who vented his outrage at the U.S. by throwing his shoes at then-President George W. Bush during a 2008 news conference in Baghdad.

In 2011, Powell told Al Jazeera he regretted providing misleading intelligence that led the U.S. invasion, calling it a  blot on my record. He said a lot of sources cited by the intelligence community were wrong.

But in a in a 2012 interview with The Associated Press, Powell maintained that on balance, the U.S. had a lot of successes because Iraq's terrible dictator is gone. Saddam was captured by U.S. forces while hiding in northern Iraq in December 2003 and later executed by the Iraqi government.

But the insurgency that emerged from the U.S. occupation grew into deadly sectarian violence that killed countless Iraqi civilians, and the war dragged on far longer than had been predicted by the Bush administration and eventually helped give rise to the Islamic State group. President Barack Obama pulled U.S. troops out of Iraq in 2011 but sent advisers back in three years later after the Islamic State group swept in from Syria and captured large swaths of both countries.

Powell's U.N. testimony "resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of Iraqis. This blood is on his hands, said Muayad al-Jashami, a 37-year old Iraqi who works with nongovernmental organizations.

While he did not suffer direct losses, al-Jashami said he continues to struggle with stress and panic attacks as a result of growing up with war, displacement, and years of terrorist bombings in the country.

Aqeel al-Rubai, 42, who owns a clothes and cosmetics shop in Baghdad, said he doesn't care if Powell regretted the faulty information he gave on WMD.

Al-Rubai, who lost his cousin in the war, also blames the U.S. for the death of his father, who had a close call during the sectarian blood-letting that followed the U.S. invasion, and later had a fatal heart attack.

What does that remorse do for us? A whole country was destroyed, and we continue to pay the price, he said. But I say may God have mercy on him.' Elsewhere, Powell was remembered as a towering figure in American military and political leadership over many years, someone of immense capability and integrity, by former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who backed the U.S. campaign and invasion.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas tweeted that Powell was a straight-talking foreign policy official and a trans-Atlantic bridge-builder. The Israeli Embassy in Washington praised Powell for his commitment to Israel and his deep personal connection to the Jewish community. Mary Robinson, the former president of Ireland, said Powell was "a wonderful, moral man who was misled terribly in the context of the Iraq war before the Security Council. Robinson heads The Elders, a group of retired world leaders.

But Maryam, the writer from northern Iraq, refuses to accept the idea that Powell may have been misled on Iraq.

I don't believe that, she added. And anyway, when lives are at stake, you do not have that luxury. (AP) IND

(Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com)
As the price of gas soars at a record high, newly appointed Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida held an emergency meeting with his cabinet ministers including, Industry Minister Koichi Hagiuda, on October 18, Monday, Sputnik reported. According to the reports, Japan would urge the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to boost oil production. OPEC is an intergovernmental organisation or cartel of 13 countries responsible for maintaining fair and stable prices for petroleum. "We are closely watching movements in the crude oil market as well as the impact on domestic industry and households," Sputnik quoted Kishida as saying to the reporters after the meeting.

During the press briefing, the newly appointed Prime Minister said he directed the concerned ministers and department to work with the International Energy Agencies to increase their production. Further, Kishida said he has directed the officials to take necessary actions swiftly in order to deal with the situation before it "went beyond their control". He stressed how the surge in energy prices has impacted the dependent industries negatively in the last two months. "We will take concrete steps in our respective roles," Sputnik quoted Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno, as saying. However, he did not disclose further details discussed during the meeting with the Prime Minister. The same was also confirmed by the industry minister Koichi Hagiuda.

Further, the reports of Mainichi claimed that Japan Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi held phone talks with his Kuwaiti counterpart Ahmad Nasser Al-Mohammed Al-Sabah and raised concern over the rising fuel prices. The minister also urged the Middle Eastern country to help stabilize prices by increasing output. The reports also claimed that OPEC and its allies would conduct a meeting over the price rise on November 4 in which Japan would also attend the ministerial level meet and would urge the countries to increase the production, reported Mainichi.

Several Asian and European countries facing a surge in oil and gas prices

It is worth mentioning the prices of oil witnessed a steep rise over the past two months. According to the experts familiar with the recent price surge, the industries which have been closed after the COVID-19 pandemic has started to resume, resulting in a sudden increase in demand. Notably, not only Japan, various countries of Asia including Indian and Pakistan and Europe have been reeling under the surge in oil prices. According to the media reports, the prices have risen to 250% since the beginning of this year in the United Kingdom. Since August, the prices have towered nearly 70% in the UK. Some reports also alleged Russia behind the ongoing crisis as it is a major gas supplier.

Image: AP/Pixabay
Iran is expected to convene a joint military commission with Russia within three months in Tehran, Iranian Chief of General Staff (CGS) Major General Mohammad Bagheri said on Monday. The Iranian and Russian counterparts are expected to discuss defence and security cooperation during high-level military talks, the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported, citing Bagheri.

"A joint Iranian-Russian military Commission will meet in Tehran in 3 months. The commission will discuss cooperation between the two countries in defence, security, military training (of troops) and other issues," IRNA quoted Gen Bagheri as saying.

Currently, General Bagheri is in Moscow as a part of a visit to enhance defence ties. On Monday, the top-ranking Iranian defence official met his Russian counterpart, General Valery Gerasimov. Both the diplomats laid the groundwork for the joint military meeting expected to be held in three months.

According to IRNA, the two generals discussed the military contract between Tehran and Russia that seeks Iran to procure a number of training jets and combat helicopters after the US relaxes sanctions, Bagheri said. Additionally, they also shed light on outlining areas of cooperation in the field of military training besides exchanging views on the Afghan crisis.

Tehran hopes to host Russian President Vladimir Putin

It is to be noted that Russia is a "strategic partner" of Iran. For several years the former has reportedly contributed to consolidating Iran's nuclear power plant in Bushehr. Owing to the friendliness, Iranian Foreign Minister (FM) Hossein Amirabdollahian, on October 6, expressed Tehran's hope to engage in a meeting between the presidents of both countries.

"We hope that in the near future (the Russian) President can hold a meeting in one of our capitals," Russian News Agency TASS reported quoting Amirabdollahian. "In our foreign policy, Moscow is a priority and we consider Russia as a strategic partner," he had said.

Iranian CGS meets Pak General for high-level talks

Notably, Gen. Bagheri was a part of a "high-level delegation" meet in Pakistan just ahead of his current meeting in Moscow. As per a series of Twitter posts by the Pakistan Armed Forces (PAF), the officials exchanged views on a wide range of issues including Afghanistan, and regional security and border management, particularly fencing on the Pak-Iran border.

#COAS General Qamar Javed Bajwa was called on by, Major General Mohammad Bagheri, Chief of General Staff (CGS) of Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of #Iran accompanied by a high level delegation visited #GHQ today#PakistanArmy #Pakistan #ISPR

1/5 pic.twitter.com/3BJdVyFrH0  Pakistan Armed Forces  (@PakistanFauj) October 13, 2021

Both the countries also agreed on further enhancing defence cooperation and to work together for regional peace and unified response to terrorism which is a common enemy, PAF mentioned. Gen. Bagheri also "expressed his desire" for further strengthening military to military ties particularly in counter-terrorism and training, PAF added.

(Image: AP)
A recent study by researchers from the University of Copenhagen revealed that examination of a specific protein on the cell surface can identify who is at risk of a major illness from the coronavirus. The research, published in the journal, EMBO Molecular Medicine, promises to provide a much-needed boost to fight against COVID-19.

News agency ANI quoted assistant professor Rajan Gogna, the main author of the study, as saying, "Cells have a so-called fitness status, and by analysing it we could predict hospitalisation or death in COVID-19 patients, potentially making such a biomarker an earlier prediction tool, especially because it can be detected from the common nasal swap COVID-19 tests."

Gogna went on to explain that whenever a cell's fitness status is low, it means the cell is not developing properly, either because it is old, unreliable, have a malfunctioning metabolism, or is disease-prone. The study team had observed earlier in 2021 that the fitness status of the cell is represented in proteins known as flower proteins. These flower proteins are found on the cell surface and are produced in two forms.

Researchers explain importance of 'flower proteins' in fight against COVID-19

While talking about the two forms of the protein, Gogna said that one signals the neighbouring cells, indicating that this cell is performing well in one way or another. while the other signals the surrounding tissue that this specific cell is not functioning properly and has a low fitness rating. If a cell's fitness isn't high enough, it will be phased out and destroyed by the surrounding cells.

The flower protein expression may reliably predict hospitalisation or death risks of COVID patients, as well as understand whether a patient will have a less severe infection or not. The researchers believe that this could be especially useful in the early stages of the COVID-19 disease.

With an efficiency of 78.7%, this technique could predict who required hospitalisation. The forecast was 93.9% correct with COVID-19 patients who would not have a major illness, says associate professor and group leader Kyoung Jae Won, who used machine learning to examine the data.

Further, the researchers used a post-mortem study of diseased lung tissue from deceased COVID-19 patients to identify the flower proteins' biological function in acute lung damage, which is the most common cause of death from the disease. They also conducted observational research utilising nasal swab specimens to see if protein expression could correctly predict hospitalisation or mortality.

Rajan Gogna further revealed that the flower protein's expression of cell fitness might potentially explain why some individuals do not respond well to COVID-19 and give away to identify high-risk persons ahead of time. This finding has the ability to save their lives by warning them to take extra precautions to protect themselves.

Gogna further added that cell fitness is influenced by a variety of factors in human bodies and does not always change with age. Although age has an influence, the researchers have witnessed many examples in their database where patients as old as 80 have a very high lung fitness profile, which is the key location wherein cell fitness is assessed to predict COVID-19 infection results. Due to the sheer persistence of COVID-19 and growing incidence and mortality in countries around the world despite vaccinations, the researchers believe their finding is relevant and will help battle the disease in the future.

(Image: Pixabay)
A businessman who prosecutors say was the main conduit for massive corruption by Nicolas Maduro's inner circle was to make an initial court appearance in Miami federal court Monday after a weekend extradition that has further strained relations between the U.S. and Venezuela's socialist government.

Alex Saab's extradition to the U.S. from Cape Verde, where he was arrested 16 months ago, has already ricocheted far and wide.

Only hours after Saab was placed on a Department of Justice aircraft on Saturday, Maduro's government suspended negotiations with Venezuela's U.S.-backed opposition. It also threw back into jail six American oil executives it accuses of corruption. They had been under house arrest in another politically charged case marked by allegations of wrongful detention.

The Maduro government has labelled Saab a diplomatic envoy and has spared no effort to free the Colombian-born businessman, who was arrested on a U.S. warrant in the African archipelago while making a fuel stop en route to Iran.

On Monday, it was joined by ally Russia, whose ambassador in Caracas tweeted his most energetic and categorical protest against the kidnapping of Saab.

Saab, 49, was indicted in 2019 on money-laundering charges for allegedly bribing Venezuelan officials and falsifying import documents to pocket more than $350 million from a low-income housing project. On the same day as his indictment, he was sanctioned by the Trump administration for allegedly utilizing a network of shell companies spanning the globe  Turkey, Hong Kong, Mexico and the United Arab Emirates  to hide windfall profits from overvalued food contracts.

But Saab's connections extend much deeper.

Among those the U.S. claims he paid to win government contracts are Maduro's stepsons. Commonly known in Venezuela as Los Chamos, slang for the kids, the three adult children of first lady Cilia Flores from a previous relationship have themselves been under investigation by prosecutors in Miami for several years, two people familiar with the U.S. investigation told The Associated Press.

Michael Penfold, a Venezuelan political analyst, said that Saab's extradition is likely to freeze all attempts to bridge deep distrust between the Maduro government and its opponents. The two sides have been meeting since August in a bid to jointly address the country's ongoing humanitarian crisis, which has led more than 5 million people to flee the country in recent years, and pave the way for a democratic opening starting with next month's regional elections.

The Biden administration, which has tried to downplay the political impact of Saab's extradition, is key to the success of those talks. After years of cracking down on its opponents, Venezuela's cash-starved government is considering granting more freedoms in exchange for the U.S. reversing crippling sanctions put in place on one of the world's largest oil producers by the Trump administration, which was hellbent on ousting Maduro.

Saab's extradition restarts the bad blood between Venezuela and the U.S., said Penfold, a global fellow at the Wilson Center in Washington. Were going back to the old dynamic of mutual recrimination that the negotiations had started to ease, but with the difference that now these indictments are part of that dynamic.

Norway, which is sponsoring the fledgling talks, urged restraint after Maduro's government said it would not travel to Mexico City for the next round of talks, which were scheduled to take place this week.

We will keep working for the parties to, as soon as possible, continue their important effort at the negotiating table for an inclusive political solution for the benefit of the Venezuelan people, Norway's foreign ministry said in a statement

In Caracas' historic Plaza Bolivar, Saab's wife, a former Italian model, led a small rally Sunday of a few dozen government supporters protesting what they see as Saab's kidnapping.

I don't plan to lie to favor the U.S., said a nervous-sounding Camilla Fabri, reading a letter she said was penned by her husband. I've not committed any crime, in the U.S. or in any country.

Hours later, Maduro himself entered the fray, saying the U.S.  not his government  delivered a mortal blow to the dialogue effort and next month's gubernatorial elections, which pits a bitterly divided opposition against a slate of pro-Maduro candidates supported by the central government.

He also asserted, with no evidence, that interrogators in Cape Verde used electric shocks to torture Saab and extract a false confession that in the end never came.

They wanted to force him into becoming a monster, a false accuser against Venezuela, against me and against the Bolivarian revolution  something he never allowed, Maduro said on state TV.

The out-of-court maneuvers have been especially troubling to the families of nine Americans jailed in Caracas. Over the weekend, they published an open letter appealing to the White House to remain engaged on Venezuela.

Mr. President, we are frustrated by the lack of action by your administration, the families said in the letter, which was written just prior to Saab's extradition. "The people in charge of protecting and returning wrongfully detained Americans have not even taken the basic first step of directly engaging with the Venezuelans that are holding our loved ones.

Those jailed include six oil executives who had been working for the Houston subsidiary of Venezuela's state-owned oil giant PDVSA who were convicted and sentenced last year to long prison sentences for embezzling funds from a never-executed plan to refinance Citgo's bonds. The families of the so-called Citgo 6 and the U.S. government have vehemently rejected the accusations and consider the men wrongfully detained.

Within hours of Saab's extradition, security forces returned the oil executives to the infamous Helicoide jail where they've been held on and off since being lured to Caracas in 2017 for a meeting at which they were arrested by masked police who stormed a conference room where they were gathered. Also at the prison is former U.S. Marine Matthew Heath, who is awaiting trial on weapons charges tied to a supposed plan to sabotage refineries, and two former Green Berets Caracas has tied to a failed cross-border raid from Colombia to overthrow Maduro.

IMAGE: AP

(Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com)
The United States envoy to Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad has stepped down from his position, just two months after the Taliban's swift annexation of Kabul. The decision was announced by the US State Department on Monday, adding that Khalilzad will be replaced by his Deputy Special Representative Tom West. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a statement asserted that the West will work closely with the US embassy, which is now based in Doha, on US interests in Afghanistan.

It is to mention that West has earlier served on Biden's national security when the latter was the Vice President in former US president Barack Obama's regime. He is now expected to lead diplomatic efforts, advise the Secretary and Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of South and Central Asian affairs and coordinate closely with the US Embassy in Kabul, as per the official statement.

According to CNN, Khalilzad's decision to step down came after he wrote a letter to US State Secretary Antony Blinken seeking release from government service. Blinken expressed his gratitude to the special envoy for his "decades of service to the American people." It is to be noted that Khalilzad had decided to step down in May after Biden announced a complete troop withdrawal by the US from Afghanistan. His stepping down also comes amid the State Department Inspector General's announcement of opening a series of investigations into the US' "hasty" withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Thank you to Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad for decades of tireless service to the United States. Pleased to welcome Thomas West to the role of Special Representative for Afghanistan. @US4AfghanPeace  Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) October 18, 2021

Khalilzad led the Doha Agreements

The Afghanistan-born diplomatic veteran Zalmay Khalilzad is well-known for his contributions during the talks with the Taliban in Qatar that resulted in the Doha Agreement under the Donald Trump administration. As known, the agreement was executed by Biden leading to a chaotic evacuation of US forces and American citizens and a humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan. In interviews and in his resignation letter described to The AP, Khalilzad lamented that the withdrawal process was far from as planned and was conducted in haste. As per New York Times, Khalilzad was a part of the ex-President George W. Bush administration that planned to eliminate the Taliban in 2002.

"Political arrangement between the Afghan Government and the Taliban did not go forward as envisaged. The reasons for this are too complex and I will share my thoughts in the coming days and weeks, after leaving the government service," Khalilzad stated in a letter to Blinken as per BBC.

(With inputs from AP)

(Image: AP)
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of the United States has now termed the "fully vaccinated" people as those who have been injected with AstraZeneca and Novavax doses during clinical trials. The CDC declared on October 18, Monday that a person should be deemed completely immunised even if they will receive mix-and-match vaccinations.

Individuals are regarded completely inoculated two weeks after receiving the second dosage of a two-dose series vaccination, like the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines, or two weeks after receiving a single-dose vaccine, including Johnson & Johnson's shot. As per the new guidelines, the COVID-19 vaccines which are presently licensed or permitted for emergency usage by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are the Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson. While AstraZeneca and Oxford vaccines were designated for emergency use by the World Health Organization.

Meanwhile, The CDC does not promote vaccinations that have not been approved by the FDA, and it has not yet decided on formal standards for combining doses. According to the CDC, the new guideline on evaluating vaccine data has no bearing on CDC recommendations for primary series of immunisation and will not be used to guide clinical practice.

COVID-19 rates are progressively declining throughout the US

The number of COVID-19 cases had gradually increased in the United States due to the transmission of the highly infectious delta strain. As per real-time statistics provided by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University, over 722,000 Americans have perished due to the COVID-19 disease, while more than 4.8 million individuals have died globally. According to CDC data, only 66.5 per cent of Americans aged 12 and older are completely inoculated against COVID-19.

Furthermore, Coronavirus rates are progressively declining throughout the nation, due to the enormous decreases in densely populated states like Florida, Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. Starting from September 1, the total number of daily instances in the US has decreased by 50%, with a 43% decrease in hospitalizations and a 21% decline in daily fatalities.

Yet, an increase in instances in Northern states, on the other hand, is generating some alarm. Coronavirus illnesses have been spreading throughout many states in the Upper Midwest and Northeast over the past weeks. Eight states have witnessed significant increases in their case averages which include Alaska, Colorado, Idaho, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Mexico, and Vermont.

Alaska is still witnessing the highest infection rate in the US, joined by Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, West Virginia, and North Dakota, all of which had infection rates over 400 per 100,000 people. Nearly 113.5 million people in the United States are still unvaccinated. Sixty-two million of them persons are above the age of twelve. Whereas, children under the age of 12 make up the remaining 48 million unvaccinated persons.

(Image: AP/ Pixabay/ Representative Image)
Washington, Oct 19 (PTI) The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has been roped in to investigate last year's attack on a popular Indian restaurant in Santa Fe, capital of the southern US state of New Mexico.

In June 2020, unknown vandals damaged the kitchen, dining room, storage area and spray-painted walls of the premises of the 'India Palace' with the words Trump 2020 and racist remarks directed at the restaurants Sikh owners, causing damage to the tune of $100,000, media reports said.

The restaurant was purchased in 2013 by Baljit Singh, and run by his son Baljot, according to Santafenewmexican.com.

Santa Fe Police had labelled the incident as a hate crime directed towards the Indian community in the vicinity.

However, more than 16 months later, they are yet to press charges. Last week, the FBI said that they were determined to bring to justice the culprits behind the attack on the India Palace restaurant.

This crime has attracted considerable local and national attention, Special Agent in Charge Raul Bujanda of Albuquerque FBI Division said.

I want to thank the Santa Fe Police Department for all the work they have done on this case. We are determined to find whoever is responsible for what happened at the India Palace and bring them to justice, he added.

The Santa Fe Police Department is grateful for all of the assistance weve received from the FBI throughout the course of this investigation, Deputy Chief Paul Joye said.

We are committed to continuing our work with the FBI, to ensure that the person or persons responsible for this vandalism are brought to justice, he said.

Based upon information gathered during the investigation, the Santa Fe Police have not ruled out that persons associated with the restaurant may have been involved in the damage that occurred, the FBI said in a news release.

The India Palace attack has been widely condemned across the US, and it had come amid a wave of racial attacks and protests in the country last year, following the death of George Floyd, a Black man who died in police custody in Minneapolis. PTI LKJ RDK VM AKJ VM VM

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On Monday, October 18, the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the State Department issued travel advisories to Americans, warning them not to visit Singapore citing a "very high level of COVID-19" in the country. This comes after Singapore decided to lift quarantine restrictions for vaccinated visitors from the United States. The State Department also advised Americans to postpone travel to Cyprus, Poland, Angola, Hungary, and Tunisia because of the "increased risk" of COVID-19 in those countries, according to a report by the USA Today.

Singapore issued a new guideline allowing travellers from the US to visit the country starting from Tuesday on October 19. The guideline stated that visitors will require to show proof of vaccination and will also have to test negative on two PCR tests - one 48 hours before departure and another upon arrival. According to data from Johns Hopkins University, the Southeast Asian country has reported a total of 70,374 COVID-19 cases in the last 28 days, which is a new high. Meanwhile, the US has had more than 2.8 million cases during the same time span. In Singapore, little over 82% of the population is completely inoculated so far.

Meanwhile, last week, the White House stated that from November 8, the United States will open its borders to overseas travellers who are completely vaccinated against COVID-19. The new statement will apply to both international air travel and land border crossings. Kevin Munoz, White House Assistant Press Secretary, had tweeted, "The US new travel policy that requires vaccination for foreign national travellers to the US will begin on Nov 8. This announcement & date applies to both int'l air travel & land travel [sic]."

US first imposed travel restrictions in January 2020

It should be mentioned here that the travel restrictions in the US were first imposed in January 2020 by then President Donald Trump. The first country to put under restriction was China, however, after the move failed to stem the spread of COVID in the United States, more nations were added to the list of countries with high COVID cases. Meanwhile, the United States top infectious disease expert Dr Anthony Fauci believes that the number of COVID-19 deaths will decrease during the winter season. However, he also advised people not to lower their guards and urged them to continue using masks when attending outdoor events, regardless of whether they are vaccinated or not, claiming some communities have a high COVID-19 prevalence, reported The Hill.

Image: Pixabay/Representative
More than a dozen rights activists in the Chinese capital have said they will apply to stand as candidates in elections for the Beijing Municipal People's Congress next month, after ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Xi Jinping vowed to improve citizen participation in elections that are still controlled by the ruling party.



Fourteen activists, many of whom campaigned on behalf of family members detained in a nationwide operation targeting human rights lawyers that began on , 2015, said in an Oct. 15 declaration that they now want to put that experience to further use.



"We have spent several years fighting for people's rights since , 2015, visiting government departments and agencies, the police, the courts, the prosecution," would-be election candidate Li Wenzu, who fought for years to find the whereabouts of her rights lawyer husband Wang Quanzhang, told RFA.

"Yet we found that it was extremely difficult to get any resolution for our demands. On many occasions, we couldn't even find our local [People's Congress] representatives," Li said.



She said she and Wang Qiaoling, wife of rights lawyer Li Heping, also been targeted and harassed by the authorities in retaliation for their advocacy.



"We have been evicted, had our kids excluded from schools on four occasions, and have been denied passports when we went to apply for them," Li said. "When we tried to turn to our People's Congress representatives for help, they were nowhere to be found."



The declaration said the 14 would-be candidates "are now filled with a strong desire to become People's Congress representatives ourselves."



"We want communities and neighborhoods, and every single voter, to be able to find us at any time," it said. "We want to speak on behalf of ordinary people, to help them get things done: please vote for us!"



Many of those who signed have been contacted by police, or had their phone signals blocked by the authorities, Li said.



"Many of the 14 have gotten threatening calls from officers at the local police station or state security police," Li said.



"Liu Ermin [who wants to stand in Shijingshan district] ... and her husband [Zhai Yanmin] got a call from the state security police, while lawyer Li Heping also received a call saying that ... one of the [activists] associated with the , 2015 crackdown is suspected of collusion with a foreign power," she said.



Xi told an Oct. 13 meeting of the People's Congress work conference in Beijing that more work was needed to "improve the People's Congress system ... [and] continuously develop people's democracy."



But while Xi has made much of China's own-brand of "whole process" democracy, drawing a distinction with Western democratic systems, state media have warned that there is "no such thing" as an independent candidate, with candidates all needing the prior approval of the CCP.



In a post to social media, Wang Qiaoling wrote: "In the six years [of my advocacy for the detained lawyers] I was forced to move house, my child was excluded from school, and our passport application was rejected."



"I wanted to ask my Peoples Congress representatives to report the situation to the relevant departments, but they were nowhere to be found," wrote Wang, who will seek candidacy in the Shunyi District People's Congress election.



"So I have a strong desire to be a People's Congress representative that people can actually find."



But sources said many of the 14 have now had their phones blocked by the authorities.



Repeated calls to Wang Qiaoling, Liu Ermin and Shibalidian township hopeful Li Hairong rang unanswered on .



Zhang Shangen, who wants to run in Beijing's Dongcheng district, said he has already been contacted by police.



"I have felt the pressure already," Zhang told RFA on . "Police called me to ask if my independent candidacy had been registered at the neighborhood committee, and I said not yet; whether I can register depends on recommendations [for my nomination] from voters."



"I will be canvassing for recommendations in our community on , Oct. 25."



Local elections will be held across the Beijing municipal area on Nov. 5 to return nearly five thousand district People's Congress representatives and more than 10,000 township People's Congress representatives.



But apart from a token group of "democratic parties" which never oppose or criticize the ruling Communist Party, opposition political parties are banned in China, and those who set them up are frequently handed lengthy jail terms.



Constitutional expert Yao Lifa once succeeded in being elected to the Qianjiang municipal People's Congress in 1998, where he used his platform to criticize government policy.



But after a 10-year struggle to get elected, he was shunted aside five years later and has been subjected to official retaliation ever since, including secret detention, torture and starvation, according to his wife.



Neighborhood committees in China have long been tasked with monitoring the activities of ordinary people in urban areas, and the implementation of a "grid management" system will turbo-charge the capacity of officials even in rural areas to monitor what local people are doing, saying, and thinking.



According to a recruitment advertisement posted online in 2018, the task of a grid monitor for a neighborhood committee is to fully understand the residents of their grid, including exactly who lives where, which organizations they belong to, and the sort of lives they lead.



They mediate in family conflicts and other disputes and carry out "psychological intervention" when required, as well as reporting back on "hidden dangers" in all aspects of residents' lives, political opinions, and complaints, the advertisement said.



Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
A court in Hong Kong on handed down jail terms of nearly five years to five students in connection with the siege by riot police of the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) in .



Lau Chun-yuk, Ko Chi-pan, Chan Lik-sik and Hui Yi-chuen, aged 20 to 23, were sentenced to four years and nine months' imprisonment by the District Court, which jailed Foo Hoi-ching for four years and eleven months, government broadcaster RTHK reported on .



The court found them guilty of rioting and breaching a face mask ban in place at the time, while Foo and Hui were also convicted of possess offensive weapons or items that could be used in such a way.



Deputy district judge Kathie Cheung said she had handed down the heavy sentences as a deterrent, because the students had engaged in violence against law enforcement officers, RTHK said.



The students had been wearing the black clothing of the 2019 protest movement, including gear to protect them against the tear gas, pepper spray, rubber bullets and police beatings that characterized that year's protests.



Cheung said this showed they had intended to join in, and likened the scene to a "battlefield."



CUHK students put up an organized defense when police tried to enter the CUHK campus, setting up makeshift barricades with furniture, trash cans and umbrellas, and throwing Molotov cocktails and other projectiles at police, as police rained tear gas and other "non-lethal" munitions down on them, leaving the entire campus wreathed with CS gas.



'Pillar of Shame'

Riot police went on to lay siege to the Polytechnic University, meeting with similar levels of resistance, later in the month.



Meanwhile, the row over the University of Hong Kong (HKU)'s plan to remove the "Pillar of Shame" sculpture commemorating the victims of the 1989 Tiananmen massacre has intensified with the withdrawal of Chicago-based law firm Mayer Brown from its representation of the university after an international outcry.



The firm had written to the now-disbanded Tiananmen vigil organizers, the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, requesting the sculpture's removal by 5.00 p.m. on Oct. 13, sparking the anger of its creator Jens Galschit, who said he has hired a lawyer to protect his property, which was only on loan to the Alliance.



Following Mayer Brown's withdrawal, former Hong Kong leader Leung Chun-ying took to his Facebook account on Oct. 18 to denounce the firm as having been "infiltrated by foreign foreign powers" and calling on all "Chinese" clients to withdraw their business. It was unclear whether he meant people of Chinese descent or citizens of the People's Republic of China.



Leung, now a high-ranking official in a ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) political advisory body, said the firm had abandoned HKU and bowed to political pressure coming from the U.S., and called for an investigation by the Hong Kong Law Society.



Political denunciations by Chinese officials and CCP-backed media have often preceded investigations by the authorities in Hong Kong, where the imposition of a draconian national security law by Beijing from , 2020 has ushered in a citywide crackdown on public dissent and democratic political opposition.



Mayer Brown has declined to comment further since announcing its withdrawal as HKU's representative on Oct. 15.



Ethical conflicts

Danish sculptor Jens Galschit welcomed Mayer Brown's withdrawal, which came after more than 20 groups wrote an open letter protesting its involvement, and said Leung's diatribe was "completely crazy," and had pushed the incident to a whole new level.



He said it was important to keep alive the memory of the massacre by the People's Liberation Army that ended weeks of student-led protests, hunger-strikes and calls for democracy and the rule of law, and for the world to continue to pay tribute to those who died.



Benedict Rogers, founder of the U.K.-based rights group Hong Kong Watch, which signed the letter, said the campaign had been successful, and said Leung's call for a boycott of Mayer Brown showed how companies that do business with China are increasingly being forced to face up to ethical conflicts.



Zhou Fengsuo, a former 1989 student leader and founder of the U.S.-based rights group Humanitarian China, which also signed, said China is now openly trying to manipulate foreign companies and change the rules of doing business internationally.



"The CCP has made a deliberate choice to stand in opposition to the international community," Zhou told RFA. "It's actually a kind of decoupling."



"International companies, including lawyers, have a tendency to cave in to Beijing for profit, but now that this kind of confrontation is getting more and more direct, they may be forced to make a choice in the end," he said.



"These law firms that sit on the fence need to be more vigilant about the risks of doing business in China," Zhou said. "U.S. companies need to pick a side; they can't be on both."



Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
The top diplomats of Indonesia and Malaysia together amplified their nations concerns Monday about Australias plans to acquire nuclear-powered submarines, warning this could draw other powers into disputes over the South China Sea and provoke a regional arms race.

Under the so-called AUKUS pact signed last month the United Kingdom and the United States will provide Australia with technology needed to build such submarines.

After holding bilateral talks in Jakarta on Monday, the Malaysian and Indonesian foreign ministers reiterated concerns about the pact that they had articulated in recent weeks.

Although the country [Australia] stated that these are nuclear-powered submarines and not nuclear-armed ones, both our governments expressed concern and disturbance, Malaysian Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah told a joint news conference after meeting with his host and Indonesian counterpart, Retno Marsudi.

This could attract the involvement of more powers in the ASEAN region and the South China Sea, he said.

Retno said Indonesia and Malaysia were committed to maintaining peace and stability in the region.

Both of us dont want the current dynamics to lead to tensions caused by an arms race and power projection, she told reporters. Such a situation will not benefit anyone.

The AUKUS pact has, however, led to a regional schism.

At least two other members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are backing AUKUS. The Philippines and Singapore say it will help restore a regional imbalance  a clear reference to Chinas growing military might  and contribute to stability.

In early October, Malaysian Defense Minister Hishammuddin Hussein told parliament that both Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta believed that strong military cooperation among ASEAN members would ensure greater security in Southeast Asia.

Security analysts say AUKUS aims to help Australia develop nuclear-powered submarines as well as deter Chinas aggressive military posturing in the contested South China Sea. Beijing, which has sweeping claims in the strategic waterway, has denounced the pact.

Malaysia, a claimant to waters in the South China Sea, meanwhile, is also a member of the Five Powers Defense Arrangement (FPDA)  along with Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, and the United Kingdom.

As Saifuddin and Retno were warning about the potential negative consequences of AUKUS, Malaysia, Australia, the U.K. and the other members of FPDA were marking that pacts 50th anniversary with a large-scale aerial and naval display in Singapore, according to news reports.

Myanmar

During their news conference on Monday, the Indonesian and Malaysian foreign ministers also talked about a decision made by ASEANs top diplomats last week not to invite Myanmars junta chief, Min Aung Hlaing, to the regional blocs summit later this month.

The decision, based on the Burmese militarys failure to take steps to restore democracy after it ousted a civilian government in a coup on Feb. 1, was the right thing to do, Retno said.

Our efforts as a family have not been met with a good response from the Myanmar military, Retno said during the press conference, referring to the 10-member regional bloc.

This decision will not get in the way of ASEANs commitment to helping Myanmar, including sending humanitarian aid.

On Saturday, ASEAN chair Brunei said that the bloc would invite a non-political representative from Myanmar to its summit, scheduled for Oct. 26-28.

[S]ome ASEAN member states recommended that ASEAN give space to Myanmar to restore its internal affairs and return to normalcy in accordance with the will of the people of Myanmar, Bruneian Foreign Minister Erywan Yusof said in a statement.

In response, the Burmese junta issued a statement the same day alleging that the decision to exclude Min Aung Hlaing from the summit was taken without all members agreement  ASEAN decides on issues and actions based on consensus.

Myanmar is extremely disappointed and strongly objected [to] the outcomes of the emergency foreign ministers meeting as the discussions and decision on Myanmars representation issue was done without consensus and was against the objectives of ASEAN, the ASEAN charter and its principles, the junta said.
Chinese ships often show up uninvited in disputed waters in the South China Sea, especially when there are maritime activities by neighboring countries and their allies.

Chinese survey vessel Da Yang Hao has left Malaysias waters, two weeks after the Malaysian Foreign Ministry summoned the Chinese ambassador to protest.

Ship tracking data on Monday showed the 4,600-ton vessel is now on its way northward, more than 200 nautical miles west of the Philippines.

Its hard to have any certainty as to Chinas decision-making, said Sharihman Lockman, a senior analyst at Malaysias Institute of Strategic and International Studies (ISIS).

Da Yang Hao was obviously there as a form of protest against Malaysias oil and gas activities so China has probably calculated that theyve made their point and left, he told BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service.

Since late September, the Da Yang Hao had been operating in an area that runs through the exclusive economic zones (EEZs) of three countries: Brunei, Malaysia and the Philippines.

At one point it was only 40 nautical miles from Philippines' Balabac Island and 60 nautical miles from Malaysia's coast.

On Oct. 4, Malaysias Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that it had summoned Chinese Ambassador Ouyang Yujing to protest against the presence and activities of Chinese vessels in Malaysian waters.

Among them was the survey ship Da Yang Hao, which was running back and forth off the coasts of the eastern states of Sabah and Sarawak. The ship first appeared in the area around Sept. 25-26.

Kuala Lumpur called its activity "inconsistent with Malaysias Exclusive Economic Zone Act 1984, as well as the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)."

UNCLOS defines an EEZ as extending 200 nautical miles (370 kilometers) from shore, and grants the coastal state the sole right to explore and exploit the natural resources.

The statement from the foreign ministry added that Malaysia had also protested against the previous encroachments by other foreign vessels into our waters.

Malaysia had always been cautious in dealing with China, its biggest trading partner, but the strong wording this time suggested that the Malaysian leadership was under pressure to show a firmer attitude against Beijings increasing assertiveness in the South China Sea.

The analyst Lockman said he doubted that Malaysias protest was decisive in this regard, but it probably helped by further publicizing Chinas actions.

In a similar incident last year, another Chinese survey ship, Haiyang Dizhi 8, only left after a month-long standoff with a Malaysian drill ship contracted by the state-run firm Petronas.

Another Chinese survey vessel, the Haiyang Dizhi 10, has been operating in an oil field in Indonesia's EEZ since the end of August and was still there on Monday.

Chinese ships often show up uninvited in disputed waters in the South China Sea, especially when there are maritime activities by neighboring countries and their allies.

Naval ships from the U.S., U.K. and other nations have been conducting exercises and port calls in the Indo-Pacific, most recently in a two-week drill called Bersama Gold 2021.

China claims historic rights to almost 90 percent of the resource-rich South China Sea which is also claimed in parts by Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam.

Southeast Asian countries and China are discussing a so-called Code of Conduct for the South China Sea in order to resolve disputes peacefully and in accordance to the international law. Experts say it is unlikely an agreement would be achieved in the foreseeable future due to the parties conflicting interests.
Police operation was the second major  and deadly  counter-narcotics raid since last month.

Philippine police and soldiers killed four Chinese drug suspects in a shootout during a sting operation outside Manila on Monday, the countrys police chief said of the second deadly counter-narcotics raid since September targeting suspected traffickers from China.

Agents from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, backed by soldiers and police intelligence officers, traded fire with the Chinese in a residential area near the city of Angeles, north of Manila, National Police chief Gen. Guillermo Eleazar said.

The suspects got wind of the sting and engaged law enforcement agents in a shootout just as they were about to be arrested, he said, adding that The shootout resulted in the death of the suspects.

The suspects were known distributors of illegal drugs in the National Capital Region and Region 4-A, Eleazar said, referring to heavily populated suburban areas south of Metropolitan Manila.

During the raid, the authorities seized 38 kilograms of crystal meth, worth some 262.2 million pesos (5.2 million dollars), he said. They also recovered four handguns from the slain suspects, who ranged from 29 to 43 years old, and came from Fujian and Shanxi provinces, officials said.

Mondays drug confiscation was the second biggest since last month when government operatives also killed four Chinese drug suspects and seized 500 kg (1,100 lbs) of crystal meth valued at some 67.7 million dollars  the biggest haul so far in the Philippines in 2021.

Since taking office in 2016, President Rodrigo Duterte has launched a deadly war on illegal drugs, vowing to eradicate them from the country.

Under his administration, the police have killed about 8,000 suspected drug addicts and dealers whose markets are primarily located in the sprawling slums of Manila. The number could be as high as 30,000, according to human rights advocates and drug-war survivors.

Duterte now faces the prospect of being prosecuted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) as he ends his six-year term and loses presidential immunity next year.
Were not sure whether theyll pay us or not, says one resident displaced by the US $6 billion project.

The first bullet train to serve the high-speed Laos-China railway sits in a rail station in the Lao capital Vientiane, Oct. 16, 2021.

The first bullet train to serve the Laos-China high-speed railway was delivered to the Lao capital Vientiane at the weekend, but six weeks before the line is set to open, villagers who lost land to the project say they are still waiting for promised compensation.

The nine-car bullet train capable of carrying 720 passengers was towed to Vientiane and handed over to Viengsavath Siphandone, the Lao minister of public works and transport, by Jiang Zaidong, China's ambassador to Laos.

The U.S. $6 billion railway, whose construction began in December 2016, is part of a longer rail line that will link China to mainland Southeast Asia under Chinese President Xi Jinpings massive Belt and Road Initiative of infrastructure projects linking nations to China.

The project has been touted as a boon for Laos, an impoverished, landlocked nation of 7 million people, because it is expected to lower the cost of exports and consumer goods, while boosting development and tourism.

China is Laos largest foreign investor and aid provider, and its second-largest trade partner after Thailand.

Just six weeks before the route is slated to open in early December, however, villagers who were forced to forfeit land to the project are still waiting for compensation  a problem that has plagued many mega-projects in Laos.

In the Hatxayphong district of Vientiane, nearly 100 families living were promised two years ago they would be paid for their land, and a district official told them they finally would be paid this September, residents told RFA in an earlier report.

At the time, the displaced residents of Dong Phosy and Dong Phonhae villages also complained that the 105,000 kip (U.S. $11) per square meter promised to them for the lost land was below the lands real value.

Villagers from Hatxayphong district told RFA on Monday that they fear they may never receive the money owed to them.

We would like to receive the compensation as soon as possible because were in the most difficult time right now, said one resident. They lied to us. They said they would pay us in September.

Another resident said that the villagers have not received any official notice from the authorities about their payments.

Were not sure whether theyll pay us or not, he told RFA. Were waiting for it.

A third villager suggested that if the authorities dont pay those who had to give up land, then they should give them replacement land equivalent to what they had.

We just need land to farm and make a living, he said.

When asked about the compensation, a Hatxayphong district official said he had no further information.

About the compensation for those who are affected by the railway project, we dont have any details, he said. We havent seen any notice from the government.

Under Lao Decree 84, issued in April 2016, people who lose land to development projects must be compensated for lost income, property, crops, and plants. Project owners are required to guarantee that living conditions for those displaced will be as good as, or better than, they were before the project was started.

The first bullet train to serve the high-speed Laos-China railway passes through a tunnel at the China-Laos border, Oct. 15, 2021. Credit: Citizen journalist

Railway to transport mainly goods

Lao Prime Minister Phankham Viphavanh and other officials say the 260-mile Laos section of the railway will start running as scheduled on Dec. 2, but it will be used only to transport cargo until the coronavirus pandemic eases to avoid outbreaks of the virus on the train.

The train will certainly be operational on Dec. 2, 2021. an official of the Laos Ministry of Public Works and Transport told RFA last week.

However, the train will used to transport goods first, not passengers yet, because the number of COVID-19 cases is still high, most of the country is still under strict lockdown, and borders are still closed, said the official.

A railway project official told RFA that provincial authorities are urging the central government to open the railway on time.

Ideally, we would like to see full services including goods and passenger transportation.  Right now, were waiting for the order from the central government on when the service for passengers will be ready.

The owner of a guesthouse in Vang Vieng in Vientiane province said the area is not ready for visitors yet because of the high number of infections in the tourist town, where the district governor has extended a lockdown restricting traffic and travel.

If there were no COVID-19, of course, we would like the train to be open for passengers as well, he said. When that time comes, Ill have my hotel and restaurant ready for tourists.

A resident of Luang Prabang, an ancient capital that is the countrys main tourist attraction, agreed.

I see the authorities are planning the grand opening of the railway, but it will be open only for freight not for passengers because the COVID-19 situation is still dire, he said. I hope tourism will resume when the lockdown is lifted. As for now, no travel is allowed.

In the meantime, Laos is planning to export more agricultural products by train to China, said a Lao agriculture expert.

Laos is planning to produce more crops for export to China [by train], and more Chinese will come down and invest in agriculture in Laos, he said. The concerns are that they [growers] will take over a lot of land and use a lot of chemicals.

Reported by RFAs Lao Service. Translated by Max Avary. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.
But the release does not include NLD leaders and includes strict conditions for those freed.

Myanmars military freed thousands of people arrested for protesting its February coup under strict conditions on Monday, prompting observers to dismiss the move as a bid to appease the international community at a time when the junta is facing both global and domestic pressure to step down.

The government announced the release of 1,316 prisoners from various facilities throughout the country as well as 4,320 detainees who faced ongoing cases for anti-junta activities, including well-known politicians, celebrities, film actors and journalists. The military also revoked charges against 34 artists and celebrities who are in hiding.

Some of the more recognizable names of those freed included Monywa Aung Shin from the information team of the deposed National League for Democracy (NLD) party, La Raw from the Kachin Wave News Agency, Saing Nu Pan from 74-Media, Thin Thin Aung and James Aung Khant from Mizzima News, and Kyaw Myint from Modern Image Media.

The release was ordered under Section 401 sub-section (1) of the Criminal Procedure Code, which states that if a detainee commits another offense after their release, they will be made to serve the remainder of punishment as well as any sentence related to the new crime.

It marked the second announced by the junta following a June 30 general amnesty that saw 200 detainees freed from detention across the country.

On Monday evening, crowds gathered around the entrance to Yangons notorious Insein Prison, waving as a bus packed with freed detainees exited the facility.

A 31-year-old woman named Ngu Wah Khine, who last month was sentenced to three years in the prison for donating money to the anti-junta Peoples Defense Force (PDF) militia, told RFAs Myanmar Service she and her fellow detainees only learned they would be released moments before wardens had them line up to leave.

Three or four days ago, we heard about the possible release but no one inside the prison took it as certain, she said.

We saw a news announcement about the release around 10:00 a.m. or 11:00 a.m., but we still couldnt be sure and assumed the information might be wrong.

Junta Deputy Information Minister Zaw Min Tun told RFA that the release was aimed at giving those in the countrys prisons a chance to take part in nation-building work, but he acknowledged that they had been released with certain restrictions.

The fact is that they were involved [in protests against the coup], he said. But for now, as they are our citizens, we made the decision to enable them to participate in nation building.

Zaw Min Tun claimed that the release was not due to internal or external pressure and noted that some people had been similarly freed when investigations of their cases had concluded.

Notably absent from the list of freed prisoners were former State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and former President Win Myint of the NLD, both of whom were placed under arrest when the military orchestrated a power grab on Feb. 1.

The pair face the charge of defamation of the state under Article 505 (b) of Myanmars Penal Code related to two statements issued by the NLD Central Executive Committee on Feb. 7 and 13 that prosecutors say were meant to disrupt public order and instigate against the state.

The Central Executive Committees Feb. 7 statement urged foreign governments, diplomatic missions, United Nations agencies, and international organizations not to recognize the junta and claimed the military had violated Myanmars 2008 constitution by staging a coup against elected government leaders.

The Feb. 13 statement, which was released while the junta was circulating a restrictive bill on cyber security, claimed that all regulations, rules, and laws enacted by the military government were illegal.

Zaw Min Tun told RFA Win Myint and Aung San Suu Kyi still face trial and their release would depend on the outcome of their cases.

A woman waits for detainees to be released from Insein Prison in Yangon, Oct. 18, 2021. RFA Under pressure

Myanmars military overthrew the democratically elected NLD government on Feb. 1, claiming the party had stolen the countrys November 2020 ballot through voter fraud.

The junta has yet to provide evidence of its claims and has violently repressed anti-coup protests, killing at least 1,181 people and arresting 7,355 others, according to the Bangkok-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. More than 3,000 remain behind bars in various jails after Mondays amnesty.

Amid nationwide turmoil, the military has stepped up offensives in remote parts of the country, triggering fierce battles with local PDF militias and some of the dozens of ethnic armies that control large swathes of territory along Myanmars periphery. On Sept. 7, Myanmars shadow National Unity Government (NUG) declared a nationwide state of emergency and called for open rebellion against junta rule, prompting an escalation of attacks on military targets.

The junta has also faced pressure to end its repressive rule from the international community, including sanctions by Western governments and condemnation from Myanmars fellow Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) members and the United Nations human rights agency.

Aung Kyi Nyunt, a leading NLD official, told RFA that the junta should release all those involved in anti-coup protest without conditionincluding the countrys deposed leadersif it is sincere about nation-building.

The international community and ASEAN have long called for their unconditional release, he said.

If [the junta is] being sincere, all those detained for their involvement in politics and protests must be released unconditionally. Even then, it will be beneficial only if the countrys stakeholders can all participate freely in politics. If they are doing this now with the aim of prolonging their rule and their system, the political problem will never be solved completely.

Ngu Wah Khine (L) is embraced by her mother following her release from Insein Prison in Yangon, Oct. 18, 2021. RFA Political hostages

Thura Aung, the leader of an anti-junta boycott movement in Mandalay, called the release a face-saving act for the international arena and ASEAN.

Its just lip-servicethey are only freeing 10 out of every 100, and we cant trust them, he said.

Our leaders werent released and only a handful of those they arrested during the crackdown were freed. They hit people with cars, shot people and made arrests using brutal force. Though they are doing this to save face, I dont believe they will succeed.

Tun Kyi, a spokesman for the Ex-Political Prisoner Society, told RFA that detainees who are freed but can be rearrested at any time are merely political hostages.

Since the release was made under Section 401 Article 1 of the Criminal Procedure Code, these people were not released through good will, he said.

These prisoners have been held as political hostages and were freed due to international pressure. We have seen this kind of action many times from military dictatorships in the past.

Reported by RFAs Myanmar Service. Translated by Khin Maung Nyane. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.
The announcement follows the blocs decision to bar junta chief Min Aung Hlaing, citing a lack of cooperation.

Myanmar will send a non-political, high-level envoy to next weeks Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit, an official said Tuesday, after the bloc barred junta chief Snr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing from attending, citing a lack of cooperation by the military regime.

Junta spokesman Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun told RFAs Myanmar Service that an official from the foreign ministry will attend the three-day summit, which kicks off on Oct. 26 in Brunei, after getting the green light from ASEAN representatives. He declined to provide the name and position of the envoy.

The announcement follows a decision by ASEAN foreign ministers at an emergency meeting on Oct. 15 to deny Min Aung Hlaing a seat at the table for next weeks gathering because he had reneged on implementing steps to restore peace and democracy following the militarys Feb. 1 coup, as reported by BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service.

The bloc also cited the juntas refusal to allow ASEAN special envoy Erywan Yusof access to detained former State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and other leaders of the deposed National League for Democracy (NLD) government.

Min Aung Hlaing had agreed to allow the special envoy meet with all stakeholders as part of a five-point consensus reached at an ASEAN meeting in April that was called to discuss the post-coup situation in Myanmar. Yusof, who was appointed on Aug. 4, canceled his trip to Myanmar this week after being refused the meetings.

In response to last weeks decision, Myanmars junta issued a statement alleging the decision was taken without all members agreementASEAN decides on issues and actions based on consensus.

On Monday, in an emergency address, Min Aung Hlaing said Yusufs demands were a not negotiable, but that his government would cooperate as much as possible.

The ASEAN special envoys visit to Myanmar is still under discussion due to various proposals, he said.

A country is governed jointly by the legislature and the judiciary. Apart from special laws issued as required, the two bodies must make everything work in unison. The demands of the ASEAN envoy are not negotiable. In any case, our country is a member of ASEAN, and we will do our best.

Min Aung Hlaing blamed the international community for pressuring the military, while remaining silent about violence committed by the shadow National Unity Government (NUG), Parliaments Pyidaungsu Hluttaw Committee of Representatives (CRPH), and the anti-junta Peoples Defense Force militia.

Ruined credibility

In the more than eight months since the coup, security forces have killed 1,181 civilians and arrested at least 7,190, according to the Bangkok-based Assistance Association for Political Prisonersmostly during crackdowns on anti-junta protests.

The junta says it unseated the NLD government because, they claimed, the party had engineered a landslide victory in Myanmars November 2020 election through widespread voter fraud. It has yet to present evidence of its claims and public unrest is at an all-time high.

On Monday, the junta released 5,636 political prisoners in what observers said was a bid to ease pressure from ASEAN and the international communityclaims Zaw Min Tun denied.

Speaking to RFA on Tuesday, political analyst Dr. Sai Kyi Zin Soe said it would be best for the junta to comply with ASEAN demands after ruining its credibility by going back on its promises.

I dont think it will be easy now for the junta to act as it wants while trying to make the international community accept it, so now things depend on how many international requests it will accept, he said.

It hasn't accepted any yet. If it continues to refuse to agree to implement the five points previously agreed upon, ASEAN might impose some kind of action or punishment, which it has never done before.

Supporters greet a bus carrying detainees out of Insein Prison in Yangon on the second day of a prisoner amnesty, Oct. 19, 2021. RFA Call for dialogue

Moe Thuzar, an expert on ASEAN affairs, said the bloc had stepped up its diplomatic pressure because it wants to give a stern warning to the junta not to take advantage of its cooperation, despite a long-standing relationship with the military.

ASEAN has led the international community to support recommendations in the hope of bringing about a positive outcome in Myanmar, she said.

In this situation, ASEAN will not decide on an excessive action that might break mutual ties. But ASEAN might take a firmer stand to make sure its constructive approach is not taken advantage of.

However, she added that pressure was unlikely to result in the junta making any immediate changes to its attitude or holding a meaningful political dialogue anytime soon. She said ASEAN and the international community still need to do more to push the junta on holding talks.

Kyaw Htwe, a member of the NLD Central Committee and a former member of parliament for Zabu Thiri township, said it is imperative that all political prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi, be released before meaningful political talks could be held.

A positive and open dialogue for the good of the country needs to be inclusive, he said.

For the talks to be truly meaningful, all current detainees must be released unconditionally, and all legitimate political parties must be able to function without disrupting the political process.

Reported by RFAs Myanmar Service. Translated by Khin Maung Nyane. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.
French street artist Mahn Kloix has painted a portrait of Tursunay Ziyawudun on the wall of a building in Marseille to raise awareness about the Uyghur crisis.

A mural painted by French street artist Mahn Kloix depicts Tursunay Ziawudun, a former Uyghur detainee who has left China and spoken publicly about her experience in an internment camp, in the southern French port city of Marseille, October 2021.

A mural artist who champions the oppressed has painted a portrait of a former Uyghur survivor of an internment camp on a building in Frances second-largest city to raise awareness of the plight of the persecuted Muslim minority group in northwestern Chinas Xinjiang region.

French street artist Mahn Kloixs portrait of Tursunay Ziyawudun, who has spoken publicly and testified about her experience in a Chinese internment camp, adorns the side of a building that is the regional headquarters of national telecom operator Orange in Marseille, a major port city in southern France.

I was aware of whats happening in China about your Uyghurs, and I was hoping to be able to speak about that, Kloix, who is also a human rights activist, told RFA this month.

China has held up to 1.8 million Uyghurs and others in the camps since 2017, while dismissing widely documented evidence of the internment program, including testimony from former detainees and guards describing widespread in interviews with RFA and other media outlets.

China has said that the camps are vocational training facilities where Uyghurs and other Turkic ethnic minorities learn skills under a program aimed at to preventing religious extremism in the region, where about 12 million mostly Muslim Uyghurs live.

RFA and other international outlets have reported extensively abuses endured by Tursunay and other camp detainees, including being beaten and forcibly sterilized.

The U.S., other Western government and legislatures, and human rights groups have declared that the abuses amount to genocide and crimes against humanity.

Kloix told RFA that he chose to replicate a profile of Tursunay with her hand against the side of her face.

Ive been looking on the internet, and there are too many pictures, he said. I chose this one because there was something soft in the look, something sad about looking away.

And then I read an article by the BBC about Tursunay Ziyawudun, and after that I was convinced that this portrait was something relevant to the situation, he said.

As a rights activist, most of Kloixs paintings are of those who have endured injustices.

I paint portraits of people who are fighting for their freedom and fighting for equality, justice, and a better world, he said.

And each time I read stories about people who are locked up or beaten or things like this because of their sexual choices or political point of view or because of their free speech, I feel like this is urging me [on], he said.

French street artist Mahn Kloix paints a mural depicting Tursunay Ziawudun, a former Uyghur detainee who has left China and spoken publicly about her experience in an internment camp, in the southern French port city of Marseille, October 2021. Credit: Mahn Kloix/Instagram





'Mural has had a great impact'

Dilnur Reyhan, president of the European Uyghur Institute, told RFA that Kloixs portrait of Tursunay has drawn greater attention in France to the Uyghur crisis.

It is significant that the portrait of Uyghur camp witness Tursunay Ziyawudun has being drawn by renowned French artist Mahn Kloix, she said. It has had a great impact on reaching out and letting the world know what is happening to the Uyghurs.

In remarks at the opening of human rights center at the University of Connecticut on Friday, U.S. President Joe Biden raised the Uyghur issue among priority concerns.

We see today the patterns, the choices playing out around the world even as we speak: the oppression and use of forced labor of the Uyghurs in Xinjiang; the treatment of the Rohingya

by the military junta in Burma; the rampant abuses, including the use of starvation and sexual violence, to terrorize civilian populations in Northern Ethiopia, he said.

Tursunay, who has lived in the United States since September 2020, has been denounced by China for speaking publicly and to the media about systematic rape in the camps.

The 43-year-old Uyghur woman from Kunes (in Chinese, Xinyuan) county in Xinjiang Ili Kazakh (Yili Hasake) Autonomous Prefecture was first detained on March 8, 2018, and spent a total of nine months at one of camps.

Tursunay said that looking at her portrait, which was taken by the BBC earlier this year, makes her feel sad, but seeing it in a mural is exciting because it can help the world know more about what is happening to the Uyghurs.

This at least gives me some hope that men and women and my sisters in the camps in East Turkistan have a voice through that portrait display, she said, using the Uyghurs preferred name for Xinjiang.

Tursunay married an ethnic Kazakh doctor from Kunes in June 2008, and five years later the couple relocated to Kazakhstan, where they had a son and set up a medical clinic. Her husband was granted Kazakh citizenship, but authorities repeatedly refused Tursunays applications because she was Uyghur, she told RFA in a report two years ago.

Tursunay returned to Kunes in November 2016 to stay with her family at a time when authorities were implementing tough new policies targeting Uyghurs, including the confiscation of their passports and the criminalization of those who had traveled abroad.

In April 2017, authorities took Tursunay to an internment camp without giving a reason amid the rollout of the mass incarceration campaign in the region, but she was released after one month in part due to poor health.

But Tursunay was unable to get a passport and could not join her husband in Kazakhstan. In March 2018, she was again sent to a camp, where she reported that many of the dozen women she shared quarters with endured torture and poor treatment, including forced sterilization.

Tursunay was taken to a hospital to undergo forced sterilization, but doctors spared her because she suffered from a gynecological condition that could be complicated by the surgery or lead to her death. She was released in December 2018, later given her passport, and allowed to return to Kazakhstan to join her husband and their son.

Reported by Mihray Abdilim for RFAs Uyghur Service. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.
The COVID-19 pandemic forced Lehel Ruzsa to close down his shop in Romania's Transylvania region for an extended period. But after taking a big economic hit, the ethnic Hungarian cobbler is back at work now, making his unique, handmade leather shoes. He learned his shoemaking skills from master craftsmen.
SOFIA  Bulgarian health authorities have reported 4,979 new coronavirus cases over the previous day, the highest daily total since late March, as the poorest European Union member state battles the more contagious Delta variant of the virus.

A total of 214 people died from COVID-19 over the past 24 hours, Health Ministry data showed on October 19, bringing the death toll for the country since the start of the pandemic to 22,488.

According to the figures, 84 percent of the new infections were reported among unvaccinated people; 94 percent of those who died were unvaccinated.

More than 6,200 people were in hospitals, with 537 in intensive-care units, overwhelming the country's health system.

Bulgaria has seen a rise in new infections since the start of September.

Only one-quarter of its adult population is fully inoculated, compared with three-quarters in the whole EU.
KAZAN, Russia -- Several men in police uniforms have forcibly entered a shelter in Russia's Republic of Tatarstan, taking away two young women from the North Caucasus region of Daghestan.



Aliya Bainazarova, the head of the charity foundation Good Deeds in Tatarstans capital, Kazan, said on October 18 that the men did not introduce themselves as they entered the Mother's House shelter in the city, nor did they give any information as to where the two women were being taken.



Bainazarova said the two women, one of whom had a two-year-old daughter, had recently arrived at the shelter.



"They had to flee their city. They had a plan to start a new life. We know that the father of one of the girls is an Islamic preacher. The girls asked us to help them. They were forced to marry at home," Bainazarova said.



Daghestan-based human rights activist Svetlana Anokhina told the Novaya Gazeta newspaper that the two young women contacted her about one hour after they were taken away from the shelter and asked her "not to make a fuss" as they are doing fine.



"I do not believe at all that the girls' statements were made of their own free will. We have been in contact with them for one year and the whole year they have confirmed their intention to seek assistance," Anokhina said.



Tatarstan's Interior Ministry told Novaya Gazeta that it does not have any information concerning the situation.

In July, a police officer rushed into a shelter in the capital of Daghestan, Makhachkala, and forcibly took away a young Chechen woman who had fled Chechnya with the intention of living with her girlfriend.



Later, Chechen authorities issued a video in which Khalimat Taramova says that she is doing fine. Anokhina said at the time that Taramova was most likely forced to record the video. Taramova's current situation remains unknown.

Rights groups have accused predominantly Muslim Chechnya of targeting sexual minorities, including the use of abductions, torture, and extrajudicial killings.



Chechen authorities have rejected the accusations.

With reporting by Novaya Gazeta
FBI agents have been conducting "court-authorized law enforcement activity" at properties in Washington and New York linked to Oleg Deripaska, a U.S.-blacklisted Russian oligarch with ties to the Kremlin, news agencies reported on October 19, citing a spokesperson for the law enforcement agency.



FBI agents were seen carrying boxes out of a house that had yellow police tape across the front yard in one of the U.S. capital's wealthiest districts. They were also seen towing away a vehicle.



The FBI, however, didnt confirm whether the residence on 30th Street in the U.S. capital was Deripaska's home. A 2017 Washington Post report tied a property on that street to Deripaska, who has been subjected to U.S. sanctions since 2018.



A spokesperson for the FBI's New York office confirmed that "law enforcement activity" at a property in the Greenwich Village neighborhood situated in the New York borough of Manhattan but did not give further details.



Deripaska's representative told Reuters that the FBI was conducting searches at two houses belonging to relatives of the tycoon in New York and Washington, adding that Deripaska was not the owner of the houses.



The representative said the searches were being carried out based on two court warrants related to U.S. sanctions.

The United States sanctioned Deripaska and six other Russian oligarchs in 2018 for supporting Russias "malign activity around the globe," including the Kremlin's aggression against Ukraine and because of their ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin afterMoscow's alleged interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential elections.



The U.S. Treasury Department also sanctioned three companies -- Russian aluminum giant Rusal, its parent company En+, and power firm EuroSibEnergo -- which are linked to Deripaska. Given Rusal's size and importance, the sanctions roiled global metal markets, unnerving businesses in the United States and Europe.



The U.S. administration later reached a deal with the three Russian firms to end Deripaska's control in return for the lifting of the sanctions, forcing the oligarch to divest much of his holdings.

Based on reporting by AP, Reuters, and TASS
Payam Derafshan was confined in a dark, windowless room inside a safe house run by the feared intelligence branch of Iran's powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).

The human rights lawyer was then transferred to Tehran's notorious Evin prison, where he was drugged with unknown substances that triggered violent convulsions. During one seizure, Derafshan bit part of his tongue off.

Derafshan was then subjected to electric shocks after he was forcibly transferred to a psychiatric hospital.

These are the allegations made by Saeid Dehghan, an Iranian human rights lawyer who represents Derafshan, who is currently out on parole and receiving medical treatment.

Derafshan, who has represented several high-profile political prisoners, is the latest victim of Iran's crackdown on human rights lawyers, activists say. Prominent lawyers who have defended dissidents, women's rights defenders, and political activists have been subject to state harassment, imprisonment, and forced into exile in recent years, they say.

In many cases, the lawyers have faced the same charges that the authorities have brought against their clients. "The goal is to scare others and warn them not to be the voice of the voiceless," Dehghan, who is currently based in Canada, told RFE/RL's Radio Farda in a telephone interview.

Derafshan was arrested in June 2020 and sentenced weeks later to 2 1/2 years in prison on charges of "propaganda against the state," "spreading falsehoods," and "unauthorized disclosure." The sentence was upheld by an appeals court in July 2020.

Earlier, in May 2020, Derafshan was sentenced to two years in prison for "insulting the supreme leader" and suspended from practicing law for a further two years. On appeal, the prison sentence was reduced to one year and two months, and then suspended.

Derafshan has denied the charges. Activists say he is being targeted for his role in highlighting human rights abuses in the Islamic republic and defending prominent political prisoners.

Derafshan represented Iranian-Canadian sociology professor Kavous Seyed Emami, who died in prison under disputed circumstances in 2018, and jailed human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, who in 2019 was sentenced to a combined 38 1/2 years in prison.

Sleep Deprivation, Electric Shocks

In a series of tweets on October 17, Dehghan accused the authorities of attempting to silence his client by subjecting him to "maximum psychological and physical pressure."

When Derafshan was arrested in Tehran in June 2020, over a dozen intelligence agents stormed his offices and confiscated his case files, Dehghan said. Following his arrest, Derafshan was held for days at a secret detention facility run by the IRGC, Dehghan said, before he was transferred to Evin prison.

At an IRGC-run ward at Evin prison, Derafshan was subjected to sleep deprivation, Dehghan said, detailing how interrogators used "bright lamps" and "loud noises from ventilators" to keep him awake for hours on end. Dehghan also said his former client was exposed to unbearable "stench" from the "dirty" toilet in the room.

When Derafshan protested, the prison guards first threatened him and then injected him with an unknown substance that they said would help him sleep, Dehghan said. Instead, he suffered violent seizures. During one seizure, he bit off "half" of his tongue, he added.

Derafshan was hospitalized at Tehran's Baghiatollah hospital, where he underwent surgery and stayed in the facility's psychiatric ward, Dehghan said. He was then forcibly taken to the Razi psychiatric hospital in handcuffs and with an ankle bracelet, Dehghan said.

During his one-month stay at the facility, Derafshan suffered electric shocks that worsened his condition, Dehghan said. He was then sent back to Evin prison.

"Derafshan was lucky to be freed from Razi psychiatric hospital and sent back to prison where, with the help of other political prisoners, he could [improve] his condition," Dehghan told Radio Farda.

Dehghan said Derafshan was released on parole after serving one-third of his prison sentence and was undergoing unspecified medical treatment.

Crackdown On Lawyers

Derafshan is not the only Iranian human rights lawyer in prison. According to the New York-based Center for Human Rights In Iran, four lawyers are currently serving prison terms in the country on what it calls bogus charges.

In August, four lawyers and two rights activists were arrested. The group had reportedly planned to lodge an official complaint against the authorities for what they said was their mismanagement of the coronavirus pandemic.

In a growing trend, activists say the authorities are forcibly incarcerating political prisoners in psychiatric hospitals. Among them was Kianush Sanjari, a civil rights activist and journalist. "Their goal is to break the prisoners," Sanjari said, adding that the move could be an attempt by Iran's clerical establishment to portray political detainees as unstable.
BISHKEK -- The Supreme Court of Kyrgyzstan has reinstated former President Almazbek Atambaev's 11-year prison sentence over the illegal release of a notorious crime boss in 2013.

Atambaev's lawyer, Zamir Zhooshev, told RFE/RL that Atambaev's defense team received the Supreme Court decision on October 19, a week after the actual ruling was made.

In June 2020, Atambaev, 65, was sentenced to 11 years and two months in prison for his role in the release of Aziz Batukaev.

Batukaev, who was unexpectedly freed from prison in 2013 and immediately left the Central Asian nation for Russia, was convicted of several notorious crimes, including the murders of a Kyrgyz lawmaker and an Interior Ministry official.

In November 2020, the Supreme Court sent the case back to a Bishkek district court for retrial. It gave no reason for the decision. The Kyrgyz Prosecutor-General's Office appealed the move.

Atambaev, who has long denied any wrongdoing, was arrested in August 2019 after he surrendered to police following a deadly two-day standoff between security forces and his supporters.

The move to detain Atambaev was sparked by his refusal to obey three summons to appear at the Interior Ministry for questioning involving Batukaevs release.

The standoff between security forces and his supporters resulted in the death of a top security officer and more than 170 injuries -- 79 of them sustained by law enforcement officers.

Atambaev is currently on trial in another case linked to the 2019 violence. He and 13 others are charged with murder, attempted murder, threatening or assaulting representatives of the authorities, hostage-taking, and the forcible seizure of power.
SARATOV, Russia -- A Russian court has sentenced a member of an outlawed nationalist opposition group from the city of Saratov to six years in prison after finding him guilty of plotting a terrorist act and the illegal possession of explosives in a case linked to rallies ahead of the centennial of the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution.



The Central District Military Court in Samara, sentenced Sergei Ryzhov on October 19, falling short of the prosecutor's call for 10 1/2 years in prison



Ryzhov, a supporter of the Artpodgotovka (Artillery Bombardment) movement, reiterated his innocence during the trial, insisting that explosives found on his property and used as evidence against him were planted there by police.

Hundreds of members of the movement were detained on November 5, 2017, at demonstrations in Moscow and other Russian cities ahead of the 100th anniversary of the revolution.

Vyacheslav Maltsev, an outspoken Kremlin critic and leader of the group, said at the time that the day would mark the start of a "new revolution" to topple President Vladimir Putin's government.

Maltsev, who has described himself as a nationalist and an anarchist, told RFE/RL in November 2018 that he had received political asylum in France.

In May 2017, Maltsev was charged in absentia with publicly calling for extremist activities. Artpodgotovka was banned in October 2017 by court order.
KAZAN, Russia -- One of the first bills to be submitted to Russia's newly elected State Duma, even before the lower house of parliament convened for its first session on October 12, is a measure that would unify the titles of the executive-branch heads of all Russia's regions.

Instead of presidents, governors, mayors, and the like, all of Russia's 83 regions -- plus the Russian-occupied Ukrainian region of Crimea and city of Sevastopol -- will be run by a "regional head" if the measure passes. And, although the bill was submitted jointly by Duma Deputy Pavel Krasheninnikov and Andrei Klishas of the Federation Council, the upper house, it is widely believed to have been authored inside President Vladimir Putin's administration -- meaning that its passage would be certain.

Many in the Tatarstan region view the bill as aimed directly at them, as Moscow strives to shore up the so-called "power vertical" in the interval between the September Duma elections -- in which official results gave the ruling United Russia party a constitutional majority -- and the end of Putin's fourth presidential term in 2024. Another key stage in that process came when a massive package of constitutional amendments was adopted in 2020, including a provision allowing Putin to seek two more presidential terms, potentially keeping him in the Kremlin until 2036.

"The order to change the 'president' to 'head' is coming from the Russian president's administration," Kazan State University political-science professor Midkhat Farukshin told RFE/RL's Tatar-Bashkir Service. "There is nothing Tatarstan can do about it."

Neither the regional legislature nor Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov have commented on the draft legislation. In response to a query from RFE/RL, the regional parliament's press service wrote that "it isn't in the Tatarstan parliament's competence" to state whether abolishing the title "president" is legal or not.

With a population of some 3.8 million, the mid-Volga region of Tatarstan has long had a reputation as one of the Russian regions that takes federalism -- the distribution of power between the country's central government and its constituent parts -- most seriously. Tatars form the second-largest ethnic group in the country after Russians. In March 1992, three months after the Soviet Union ceased to exist, the region passed by nearly a two-thirds vote a referendum approving Tatarstan as "a sovereign state...building its relations with the Russian Federation and other republics on an equal basis."

Russia's first president, Boris Yeltsin, once urged the regions to "take as much sovereignty as you can stomach."

Under Putin, federalism has been seriously eroded, notably with the creation of the Kremlin-overseen federal districts in 2000, changes to the way the Federation Council is formed, and modifications to the ways regional heads are selected. In 2015, a law was passed prohibiting regions from using the term "president" for its executive leader, with the Kremlin arguing Russia can have only one president. However, pressure from Tatarstan prompted Putin to grant the republic an exception to the law.

In response to the latest bill, the nationalist World Tatar Youth Forum appealed to Moscow and Kazan to allow Tatarstan to retain the post of president, arguing that it symbolized "political status, the image of the republic, and Russian federalism."

"The post of president in Tatarstan is not only the post of the head of the republic, but also a symbol of leadership for the 7 million Tatars around the world, a symbol of unity of Tatars living in other Russian regions and more than 30 countries around the world," the group's October 4 appeal reads.

That could be exactly why the Kremlin wants to see the title abolished, argued Vadim Sidorov, a Prague-based expert on regional and ethnic relations, in an essay on October 4.

The Putin government, Sidorov wrote, fears "a synthesis of liberal institutional reforms and republic nationalism," which it views as the driving force behind Georgia's 2003 Rose Revolution and Ukraine's 2013-14 Euromaidan uprising.

In what may be a reflection of such fears, political blogger Valery Kaplenkov argued in an October 7 column that the bill before the Duma does not go far enough to "strengthen the state unity of the country." He argued that Russia also needs a single term for all regional legislatures to eliminate words like the Turkic "kurultai" -- meaning "assembly," a form of which is used in Bashkir, Tatar, Buryat, and other languages of Russia -- and what he called "other hard-to-pronounce popular assemblies."

"The authority of the federal center is restricted by the national [constitution] and by republican constitutions, according to which the titular nationalities have -- check it out! -- state sovereignty," Kaplenkov wrote. "In terms of its national-territorial structure, Russia is a real patchwork: at the constitutional level there are more than 20 quasi-states!"

"We are now reaping the consequences of the 1990s," he concluded, warning -- without providing evidence -- of "creeping separatist tendencies" and power-hungry "ethnocrats" in the regions.

For some advocates of Tatarstan's sovereignty, the bill before the Duma is an existential threat.

"Without the post of 'president,' the republic itself will cease to be a republic," Rafis Kashapov, a Tatar activist who emigrated to London after being released from prison in 2018, told RFE/RL. "There will be no need for a coat of arms or an anthem or a flag. People who support Tatarstan will have no choice other than to join us, activists in exile. But, frankly, I don't think most people care."

Kazan politics professor Farukshin agrees that it is likely too late for Tatarstan to resist the erosion of federalism, saying that the adoption of a new Tatarstan Constitution in 2002 -- which enshrined restrictions on the region's sovereignty and power-sharing -- made the current developments inevitable.

"Tatarstan will swallow this again," he predicted. "There might be small rallies, but activists have no ability to influence what is happening. 2002 was much more dangerous for Tatarstan -- that was the time to cry out. What is happening today is just follow-up. The [president] title will be lost, and it will only be possible to get it back if politics in Russia change."

On October 10, former State Duma Deputy from Tatarstan and pro-autonomy figure Fandas Safiullin died of COVID-19 in Kazan at the age of 85. On August 30, 1990, Safiullin read out a declaration of Tatarstan's sovereignty from the tribune of the republican Supreme Soviet. From 1999-2003, he represented Tatarstan in the State Duma and led the ultimately unsuccessful fight to keep the Latin-based alphabet for Tatar.

At his funeral in Kazan on October 11, eulogists quoted him as saying shortly before he died: "I am leaving, but the nation remains. What will become of it? Are there young people to replace us?"

Written by Robert Coalson based on reporting from Kazan by RFE/RL's Tatar-Bashkir Service
Rare photographs show the construction and unveiling of some of the famous monuments built during Yugoslavia's socialist era. The unearthly memorials known as "Spomeniks" (the Serbo-Croatian word for "monument") dotted throughout the former Yugoslavia are some of the most distinctive remnants of the Balkans' authoritarian past. The public artworks shot to fame around a decade ago when a Belgian photographer captured dozens of them as eerie remnants of a vanished nation. In the Archives of Yugoslavia, hundreds of photographs capture the Spomeniks when they were bustling with life, either as they were being built, while being opened, or during memorial events. The photos below were made available to RFE/RL thanks to the staff at the Belgrade archives.

The construction of the Kadinjaca memorial complex on a hilltop near Uzice, in today's Serbia, in 1979. The memorial marks the ridge where partisans and armed workers fought advancing Nazi troops in November 1941. The battle ended in the deaths of nearly all of the 400 workers, but gave the civilians in Uzice time to flee the German advance.

Scaffolding surrounds the iconic "bullet hole" of the Kadinjaca monument, which can be seen from dozens of kilometers away.

A view to the modest centerpiece of the 1979 monument. The steeple-shaped memorial was already in place when the decision to expand the memorial site around it was made by the Yugoslav authorities.

A crowd gathers at the completed Kadinjaca monument spomenik shortly after its unveiling in 1979.

Workers hammer at the walkway leading through the nearly completed Monument to the Bosanska Krajina Partisan Hospital in today's Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1979.

The clam-shaped memorial was built to honor a secret hospital that treated wounded fighters and other members of the anti-Nazi underground on the flanks of Grmec Mountain. The spomenik now lies abandoned and largely ruined.

Workers put the finishing touches on a monument atop the Makljen Pass commemorating a major 1943 battle between Yugoslav partisan and fascist forces. The photo was probably taken in 1978, the year it was completed. The monument was known colloquially as "The Fist" but its designer later said it was intended to resemble a flower "laid along the path" of the heroes who fought the fascist advance.

The Makljen Spomenik shortly after completion. The monument ended up on the front lines during much of the ethnically-charged fighting that tore through the Balkans in the 1990s. In the winter of 2000 an unidentified group destroyed the spomenik. Today, all that remains is a tangle of concrete and rebar. Researchers believe the striking, abstract designs of the Yugoslavian monuments served two purposes. Firstly, they helped to create a sharply different aesthetic to the socialist-realist art mandated in the Soviet Union. Yugoslavia's authoritarian ruler, Josep Tito, fell out with Josef Stalin and their two countries remained at odds for years. Tito famously warned Stalin he would have him killed if the Georgian didn't stop sending assassins to Belgrade. The abstract designs of spomeniks also attempted to deal with the political land mines that many of the historic sites represented. Some of the monuments mark sites where horrifying slaughters were carried out by one Balkan ethnic group against another. Any clear representation of those crimes could have stoked tensions in a multiethnic police state where "brotherhood and unity" was rigidly enforced by the authorities.

Crowds gather on a rainy day in 1980 to mark the anniversary of the liberation of the Jasenovac death camp in which tens of thousands of Serbs, Roma, and Jews were slaughtered by Nazi-aligned Croats during World War II. The concrete "flower" built to commemorate the dead was completed in 1966.

The opening ceremony of the Jajinci Memorial Park in Belgrade in October 1989. The park was the scene of mass killings by Nazi forces who occupied the city through much of World War II.

Workers during construction of the Vraca Memorial Park, on a hill above Sarajevo in 1981. The workers are emplacing the names of the local victims of fascist repressions onto the stone of an old fortress. Today the site is largely ruined and the name plates have been lost or stolen.

A collection of field guns from World War II lies inside the massive, saucer-shaped memorial to the Sremski Front, a final battle that helped push Nazi-led forces out of the Balkans.

Young men put the finishing touches on the Sremski Front memorial in 1988. The memorial complex lies near the border of today's Serbia and Croatia.
DUSHANBE -- The jailed deputy chairman of the opposition Social Democratic Party of Tajikistan, Mahmurod Odinaev, has refused to sign papers that would shorten his prison term under a mass amnesty, saying he will only accept his immediate release and full exoneration.

Odinaev's son, Habibullo Rizoev, told RFE/RL on October 18 that the mass amnesty marking the 30th anniversary of the Central Asian nation's independence meant his father would see his 14-year prison term cut by three years.

"My father refused to sign papers offered to him by the state commission for the implementation of the law on amnesty. He stated that he is innocent and demanded to be released at once. By signing the paper, my father would indirectly accept the guilt. But he said earlier that he will never plead guilty to an act he never committed," Rizoev said.

Meanwhile, an official of Tajikistan's State Penitentiary Service told RFE/RL on condition of anonymity that Odinaev's prison term will be shortened by three years, even if he refuses to sign the papers.

Odinaev, 59, was sentenced in January to 14 years in prison on charges of hooliganism and "calling for extremism," which he and his supporters have denied.

He went missing in November 2020 after he asked Dushanbe Mayor Rustam Emomali in a Facebook post to allow him and supporters of the Social Democratic Party -- the only opposition party functioning in Tajikistan -- to stage a demonstration over food-price hikes.

On December 5, the Tajik Prosecutor-General's Office acknowledged that Odinaev had been arrested in Dushanbe.

In February, one of Odinaev's sons, Shaikhmuslihiddin Rizoev, was sentenced to six years in prison after he was found guilty of hooliganism and attempted rape, charges Rizoev, his relatives, and friends have rejected as politically motivated.
DUSHANBE -- When the Taliban captured a strategically important security checkpoint near Afghanistan's border with Tajikistan last month, it assigned a Tajik militant to raise the Taliban flag on the site.

The militant goes by the alias Mahdi Arsalon and has a group of fighters from Tajikistan under his command, an eyewitness to the flag-raising and other sources told RFE/RL.

The Taliban also put Arsalon and his group in charge of security in five districts the Taliban seized near the Tajik border in recent months, the sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity due to personal security concerns.

The districts are Kuf Ab, Khwahan, Maimay, Nusay, and Shekay -- all parts of Afghanistans Badakhshan Province.

In Afghanistan, Arsalon and other Tajik militants are known as the Tajik Taliban. But in reality they are members of Jamaat Ansarullah, which is banned in Tajikistan as a terrorist group.

Jamaat Ansarullah -- also known as Ansarullah or Ansorullo -- was founded by a rogue former Tajik opposition commander a decade ago with the ultimate goal of overthrowing the government in Dushanbe.

According to several sources in Tajikistan, Mahdi Arsalons real name is Muhammad Sharifov. Sharifov, 25, was born in the village of Sherbegiyon in Tajikistans eastern Rasht Valley.

An officer in the Tajik border guard services told RFE/RL that they received information about two years ago that there was a group of Tajik fighters led by Sharifov fighting alongside the Taliban on the other side of the border. Their number is unknown.

The officer confirmed claims that Arsalon is now in charge of security in the five Afghan districts bordering Tajikistan currently controlled by the Taliban. The official spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak to the media.

He also said Arsalon has introduced about 200 Tajik militants to the Taliban. They are thought to have taken part in Taliban offensives in Afghanistan's northern Badakhshan Province in recent months where the militant group captured large swaths of territory.

Tajik fighters in Badakhshan caught the Afghan authorities attention in November 2020 when footage appeared on social media showing insurgents brutally killing men in Afghan Army uniforms. Some of the militants spoke with a distinct Tajik accent. The video purportedly showed the fall of the Maimay district to the Taliban.

Authorities in Tajikistan identified at least 10 of the insurgents as Tajik citizens. Tajik Interior Ministry officials confirmed that Sharifov was among the group.

Qadir Safa, the head of Afghanistans Darwaz district, confirmed to RFE/RL that Ansarullah members are active in the fighting in Afghanistan in support of the Taliban.

Several of them were killed in fighting in our area and we were able to establish their identities, Safa said. They had married local women.

Safa also claimed that Ansarullah recruits fighters from Tajikistan.

We had information in the spring that nine Tajik nationals entered Afghanistan through Tajikistans Rushon and Shughnon districts. They joined the Taliban, Safa said. In the winter and spring, many new fighters came from Tajikistan.

He added that Tajik diplomats in Kabul have been informed about Ansarullahs activities in Afghanistan.

Ansarullah was founded in 2010 by Amriddin Tabarov, who had been a field commander for anti-government Islamist forces during Tajikistan's 1992-97 civil war. Tabarov, also known as Mullah Amriddin, was killed by Afghan government forces in 2015.

Initially, Ansarullahs members were former Tajik opposition fighters who refused to accept a 1997 peace agreement between the government in Dushanbe and the Islamist-led opposition.

The so-called new generation -- children and relatives of the initial members and supporters -- have since joined the group.

Since its creation, Ansarullah has had links with other militant groups in Afghanistan and Pakistan, including the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, Al-Qaeda, and the Taliban.

In 2019, two of Tabarov's sons were detained by U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan and extradited to Tajikistan.

In August 2019, they were sentenced to lengthy prison terms after being convicted of organizing a criminal group, seeking to overthrow the government, and illegal weapons possession.

Taliban Refutes Claims

Taliban representatives reject the claims that Tajik nationals have joined the militant groups ranks in Afghanistan.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told RFE/RL that the Taliban is in favor of good relations with Tajikistan and wouldnt allow any group in Afghanistan to attack the neighboring Central Asian country.

Mujahid even claimed the Taliban prevented its fighters from firing towards Afghan Army soldiers fleeing to Tajikistan in recent weeks because it didnt want the bullets to land in Tajikistan.

But residents of Tajik villages near the border tell a different story.

Amirjon Emomalizoda, a resident of the Panji Poyon area, told RFE/RL on June 24 that stray bullets were flying overhead from the other side of the border.

Hundreds of Afghan soldiers have fled to Tajikistan in the past two months. Several were treated for their wounds and hundreds were later flown back by Tajikistan to Kabul.

The Taliban spokesman was equivocal about reports indicating the Taliban has deployed armed Tajik citizens in areas near the Tajik border.

It needs to be investigated. Well look into this, Mujahid said. Weve only recently got these areas under our control. We wont allow foreign nationals to use our name. If we find them, well expel them from our country.

Skepticism In Dushanbe

But Tajik authorities dont believe the Talibans promises.

President Emomali Rahmon ordered the deployment of 20,000 additional troops on the border with Afghanistan. Tajikistan also conducted a nationwide military drill involving some 230,000 troops.

Dushanbe also sought assistance from its ally, Russia, in defending its southern borders.

Indeed, there weren't any hostile acts from the Taliban toward Tajikistan so far. The Taliban has said it wont harm Tajikistan, a Tajik government official said on condition of anonymity.

But we know from our experiences that Ansarullah -- which currently is serving the Taliban -- has many times changed its stance and objectives. No one can guarantee that in the future Ansarullah wont turn its back to the Taliban and attack Tajikistan, the official said.

WATCH: Tajikistan Tense As Fighting In Afghanistan Approaches Border

According to sources in Tajikistan, Sharifov -- aka Arsalon -- joined Ansarullah about seven years ago.

His father, Mirkhoja, was said to be an associate of Ansarullah founder Tabarov, who also hails from the Nurobod district in the Rasht Valley.

Officials say Mirkhoja and his eldest son were killed by Tajik security forces during a 2011 raid against local militants in Rasht.

That operation targeted and killed local militant leader Abdullo Rahimov, also known as Mullo Abdullo.

Sharifov went on to follow his father and elder brothers path. One official source described Sharifov as dangerous and ruthless.

According to information we obtained, he can make homemade bombs, can use many types of weapons, and he leads armed groups during operations. Hes taken part in several Taliban offensive in Afghanistans Badakhshan [Province], the source told RFE/RL.

In the village of Sherbegiyon in Nurobod, many people remember Sharifovs family.

The director of the local school -- who only gave his first name, Aminjon -- told RFE/RL that Mirkhoja didnt allow his six children to go to school. Instead, they received a religious education, he said.

Mirkhoja's children only went to regular schools after he died.

According to Aminjon, Sharifov was accepted into the seventh grade because of his age, even though he had not ever attended state schools before.

After graduating in 2015, he disappeared from the village and no one in Nurobod ever saw him again.

Sharifovs mother, Zulqada Yunusova, told RFE/RL that her son went to Russia as a migrant worker in 2015.

Six months later, Sharifov told his mother by phone that he was getting a job in a forest where there is no mobile phone reception.

"He told me that I shouldnt worry if he doesnt call for some time," Yunusova said. "Nearly seven months passed and I wasnt worried, thinking that hell call me when he finishes his work in the forest.

Then, [Tajik] officials came to my house and told me that my son had lied to me and that he had gone to Afghanistan, she told RFE/RL.

Yunusova said she last spoke to her son on July 20. She said he is based in Afghanistan, near the Tajik border.

RFE/RL also spoke with a former friend of Sharifov who claims Sharifov tried to convince him to join the jihad in Afghanistan. The Tajik man spoke on condition of anonymity for security reasons.

The man said he first met Sharifov when they worked in Russia and they stayed in contact on WhatsApp until about two months ago.

In the beginning, I used to listen to him. He would tell me that there is jihad going on in Afghanistan and that I should join the jihad, he said.

"I told him that [Tajik militants] were wrong and that they were wasting their lives for other peoples interests," the man added. "We argued and he then blocked me on WhatsApp."

Written by Farangis Najibullah in Prague based on reporting Mumin Ahmadi, Mullorajab Yusufi, and Nigorai Fazliddin
KAZAN, Russia -- The prosecutor in a high-profile trial in Russia's Republic of Tatarstan has asked a court to sentence a noted Islamic scholar to 8 years and 5 months on a charge of creating and running a branch of a banned Islamic group.



Gabdrakhman Naumov's lawyer, Ruslan Nagiyev, told RFE/RL that the prosecutor's request was made at the Privolzhye district court in Tatarstan's capital, Kazan, on October 19.



Nagiyev added that his client pleaded not guilty and rejected all the charges.



Naumov was arrested in March last year and charged with being the leader of the Nurcular Islamic group.



Naumov is well-known in Tatarstan as a teacher at the Russian Islamic University and the former Imam of a mosque in Kazan.



Nagiyev told RFE/RL last year that law enforcement authorities in Tatarstan had added Naumov to their list of extremists long before the trial.



Since 2013, several alleged members of Nurcular have been arrested across Russia.



Nurcular was founded in Turkey by Islamic scholar Said Nursi, who died in 1960.



The Nurcular movement, which has millions of followers around the globe, especially in Turkey, has been banned in Russia since 2008.



Russian authorities have said the group promotes the creation of an Islamic state that encompasses all Turkic-speaking areas and countries in the Middle East, the Caucasus, Central Asia, and Russia's Turkic-speaking regions in the North Caucasus, Volga region, and Siberia.
Turkmenistan is home to one of the most repressive governments in the world.

Anti-government sentiment inside the country is not tolerated and those whose comments are perceived as being even slightly critical of President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov's regime are quickly silenced.

Some are never heard from again.

In recent years, however, Turkmen living outside Turkmenistan have been increasingly vocal, with some demonstrating publicly against Berdymukhammedov's government in the United States, several European countries, Russia, Turkey, and in Northern Cyprus.

But according to some of those activists in Turkey, the Turkmen government is now trying to silence them.

Dursoltan Taganova, 30, who is originally from Turkmenistan's western Lebap Province, has emerged as one of the most recognizable of the Turkmen anti-government activists in Turkey, and that fame has come at a price.

On September 26, "[the Turkish police] came to my flat at [5:15 a.m.] and asked where I was. On that day I was not at home," Taganova told RFE/RL's Turkmen Service, known locally as Azatlyk. "Then they summoned me to the police station...and I realized something was wrong."

When she arrived, Taganova was informed she was on a list of people who were to be detained and sent to a deportation holding center.

It was not the first time that had happened to Taganova, and once again she had to worry that she might be sent back to Turkmenistan. Fortunately for her, she was released on September 29.

Taganova belongs to the Democratic Choice of Turkmenistan (TDS), an opposition group formed in the summer of 2020 by Turkmen businessman Murad Kurbanov, who now resides in France. The TDS is composed of Turkmen living abroad, mainly migrant laborers.

Taganova told Azatlyk she was one of 25 people who were on a list of people who were to be taken into custody by police and sent to the deportation center. "All of [the Turkmen] activists, the most active of them, who often speak out, [were detained]," she said.

Taganova told Azatlyk she and other dissidents had organized a daily online meeting on social networks to discuss the situation in Turkmenistan. "We express our opinion about what changes are needed, talk about persecution, lawlessness, and corruption in Turkmenistan," she said.

Taganova said she had 20,000-25,000 subscribers to her program and that every day some 6,000 to 7,000 watch and listen to what she and other Turkmen activists have to say about their home country.

It is the sort of public commentary that Turkmen officials detest.

The Turkmen government carefully controls information inside the country, telling its citizens about what it deems the wonderful achievements under Berdymukhammedov's wise leadership and how the world envies the Central Asian country.

Such flattering portrayals rarely reflect the reality in Turkmenistan, where people stand in long lines outside stores for bread, cooking oil, and for cash outside ATMs.

All in a country where unemployment is estimated to be around 60 percent and Berdymukhammedov's family is alleged to be stealing billions of dollars while some people in Turkmenistan are forced to forage in garbage dumpsters to find something to sell or eat.

It is the lack of meaningful employment that has led hundreds of thousands of Turkmenistan's citizens to leave for other countries as migrant laborers. And while Turkmen authorities can keep a lid on the opposition inside the country, dissension among migrant laborers has been growing as conditions in Turkmenistan have sharply deteriorated in recent years.

Taganova's vocal opposition to the Turkmen government started shortly after the global spread of the coronavirus and was sparked by the authorities' bizarre insistence that the country did not have any COVID-19 cases.

She was detained outside the Turkmen Consulate in Istanbul along with 80 other activists for violating coronavirus quarantine rules on July 19, 2020, as the group protested the Turkmen government's claim about the coronavirus not being in Turkmenistan.

All those detained were released later the same day except Taganova, whose passport had expired.

She spent nearly three months in a deportation center, and ironically may have only been saved from being sent to Turkmenistan because the government had suspended all flights to or from the country because of the pandemic.

Human rights organizations learned of Taganova's predicament and on October 12, 2020, Human Rights Watch (HRW) issued a statement from 11 rights groups calling on Turkish authorities not to extradite Taganova to Turkmenistan.

The HRW's Hugh Williamson said in the statement that "Turkmenistan is known to severely harass and punish peaceful critics of the government. To return Dursoltan Taganova to Turkmenistan would place her at grave risk of persecution and torture."

Taganova was freed that same day and was able to apply for asylum in Turkey while at the deportation center.

She is now living legally in Turkey, but since her detainment in 2020 there have been many changes in her life.

Taganova has been vilified by Turkmen authorities in her native Lebap Province. Local representatives of social organizations, women's councils, the National Security Ministry, the Interior Ministry, and the prosecutor's office have held public meetings in Lebap's capital, Turkmenabat, and other towns to denounce Taganova after she was released from detention in Turkey.

In her recent interview with Azatlyk she said: "Several months ago they called me to the [Turkish] migration service and warned me that 'relations between Turkey and Turkmenistan are somewhat complicated, so stop the protests and meetings.'"

Taganova explained at the migration service that she had not been organizing any protests but did go on social media with others to discuss politics in Turkmenistan.

"They forbid me to speak out online," she said, but adding that she continued to speak on social networks about injustice and corruption in Turkmenistan and that when she was detained in September, "there were no such warnings [from Turkish officials about online discussions]."

Taganova is not the only Turkmen opposition activist facing problems in Turkey. On October 11, three Turkmen activists were assaulted in Istanbul. Aziz Mamedov, Nurmukhammed Annaev, and a third person named only as Bakhtiyar were followed and then surrounded by five men who attacked and beat them.

The three are sure the Turkmen Security Ministry is behind the incident. Annaev told Azatlyk, "One of the attackers cursed at me in a Lebap accent."

Mamedov suffered cuts and bruises to his face as well as a broken nose. Annaev had injuries to his left arm and Bakhtiyar to his head after being hit with an object and kicked after falling to the ground.

Annaev said the three had met with journalists from a Western publication earlier in the day to talk about their work and had done a live program on the Internet. Annaev was also scheduled to go to Warsaw for the OSCE's annual Human Dimension Implementation Meeting, where he planned to criticize the Turkmen government.

In another incident, a small group of activists protesting outside the Turkmen Consulate on August 1 were suddenly attacked by unknown men who the activists claim were hired by consulate officials.

One activist suffered stab wounds to the arm and stomach while another had injuries to his ribs. Ten of the activists were taken to Istanbul's deportation center and later released.

Turkmen activist Farhad Durdyyev was on his way to the protest on August 1, but he was intercepted by two Turkmen men about 400 meters from the consulate and put into a car "with license plates [including] LB," as used in Lebap, and driven onto the consulate grounds. Durdyyev told Azatlyk he was beaten and threatened inside the consulate.

Meanwhile, bloggers in Turkmenistan who appear to be supported by the state have posted interviews with the family members of opposition activists living abroad. In Durdyyev's case, one of these so-called bloggers interviewed his mother, who lamented the "errant course" her son had taken in being a dissident.

The reasons for this sudden attention being paid to Turkmen activists in Turkey are not difficult to guess. Turkmenistan is in a state of serious decay due to the avarice and mismanagement of a select few close to Berdymukhammedov. It is a situation that activists outside Turkmenistan -- including those in Turkey -- are accurately describing to the outside world.

Radio Azatlyk contributed to this report
KYIV -- U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has reiterated Washington's "unwavering" support for Ukraine's territorial integrity during a visit to Kyiv as Russia continues to be an "obstacle" to the peaceful resolution of the deadly conflict in eastern Ukraine.



Austin made the comments on October 19 on the second leg of his three-nation tour to the Black Sea region aimed at underlining the White House's support for allies and partner states in the face of what he called Russia's aggression.



The visit comes amid continued fighting between Ukrainian government forces and Russia-backed separatists in a conflict that has claimed more than 13,200 lives since April 2014.



The war in eastern Ukraine erupted after Moscow's annexation of Ukraines Crimean Peninsula in March 2014 -- a move condemned by the international community.



"Russia started this war and Russia is the obstacle to a peaceful resolution," Austin said at a joint press conference with Ukrainian Defense Minister Andriy Taran, adding: "We will continue to do everything we can to support Ukraine's efforts to develop a capability to defend itself and protect its sovereign territory."



Asked about Moscow's fierce objections to Ukraine's entry into NATO, Austin said "no third country has a veto over NATO's membership decisions."



Ukraine has a right to decide its own future foreign policy and we expect that they will be able to do that without any outside interference," he added.



Taran said that Kyiv expects the United States will "continue to support our independence, our territorial integrity, and will prevent Russia from further aggression with all possible means."



Earlier in the day, Austin said he and Taran discussed "how we plan to implement the U.S.-Ukraine Strategic Defense Framework" signed when the defense minister and President Volodymyr Zelenskiy traveled to Washington less than two months ago.



The Biden administration also pledged to provide Ukraine with an additional $60 million in military aid, which would bring the total U.S. aid for this year alone to more than $400 million.



Austin's visit aims at underlining Washington's support of Kyiv in the conflict in eastern Ukraine, and will also serve as "an opportunity to discuss Ukraines progress with the implementation of defense and defense industry reforms needed to advance its Euro-Atlantic aspirations," according to the Pentagon.

We are encouraging their defense reforms to enable their resilience in the face of this Russian aggression," a senior U.S. defense official said, according to AFP.

"We need to enhance Ukraine's civilian control of the military," the official also said.

On October 18 in Tbilisi, Austin signed a preliminary agreement to continue U.S. backing for Georgias military.

The current support agreement started in May 2018 and is to expire at the end of the year.

Russia and Georgia fought a brief war in 2008 and Russian troops have remained in Georgia's regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Moscow opposes any effort to increase Georgias status within NATO.

After Ukraine, Austin will travel to Romania before heading to the NATO defense ministerial meeting in Brussels on October 21-22.
KYIV -- Ukrainian lawmakers have approved a bill to strengthen the independence of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU), a move that will move it toward securing more loans from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) under a $5 billion loan deal.



In the vote on October 19, 304 members of the country's parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, supported the bill that regulates leadership appointments at NABU, while 12 were against and 23 abstained.



The legislation must now be signed by President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to take effect.



Ukraine's government established NABU in 2015 in the wake of pro-European political and economic reforms with the intention of fighting corruption among Ukrainian officials and political groups.



The country has long been plagued by graft, ranking 117th out of 180 countries globally in the 2020 Corruption Perception Index published by watchdog Transparency International.



The European Union's ambassador to Ukraine, Matti Maasikas, hailed the approval of the bill, calling it "a positive step on Ukraine's anti-corruption reform agenda."



"[The EU delegation to Ukraine] stands ready to support a transparent, merit-based selection process for a new NABU director," Maasikas wrote on Twitter.



According to the bill, a commission consisting of three government delegates and three people nominated by international donors will select two candidates to lead NABU. The government would appoint the other candidate to the post.



A day earlier, Ukraine secured a provisional agreement with the IMF that could pave the way for a $700 million loan disbursement.

With reporting by Reuters
Staff members of RFE/RL's Uzbek Service, known in Uzbekistan as Ozodlik, have received numerous online death threats in recent days as Central Asia's most populous nation gets ready for presidential elections next week.



On a single day, October 16, dozens of posts threatening RFE/RL's journalists appeared in the Uzbek Service's Telegram channel in just 30 minutes.



The vulgar posts carried threats of beheadings and sexual assaults and were accompanied by images with pornographic elements and an identical caption reading: "Ozodlik's real goal is to marshal a mutiny in Uzbekistan, to disrupt peace, to discredit our president." The posts also hurled insults at RFE/RL's Uzbek Service staff members and their mothers.



Most of the posts came from anonymous accounts. However, the Uzbek Service's Telegram communication managers found out that at least two threats came from accounts associated with users promoting the Uzbek governments policies related to armed forces.



RFE/RL President Jamie Fly called the threats "disgusting" and urged the Tashkent government to immediately end its intimidating tactics against independent media.



Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoev has positioned himself as a democratic reformer after he took over the country of some 34 million people following the death of his authoritarian predecessor, Islam Karimov, in September 2016.



However, in the run-up to presidential elections scheduled for October 24, arrests and attacks on bloggers and journalists have been on rise across the country.



Also, the website of RFE/RL's Uzbek Service was blocked several times and RFE/RL's requests for official accreditation of its correspondents in the country have remained unanswered.



Uzbekistan ranked 157th out of 180 countries in Reporters Without Borders' 2021 World Press Freedom Index.
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Joe Schulz served as the reporter of the Green Laker in 2019 and 2020, before being hired as a reporter for the Commonwealth in October 2020. He is from Oshkosh and graduated from UW-Oshkosh in December with a bachelor's degree in journalism.

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(jingdaily.com) - The holiday season could look a lot more crowded this year. Starting in November, the Biden administration will lift restrictions on foreign travelers entering the US provided that they are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and test negative within three days of entry. The decision, announced on September 20, ends the 18-month ban on travel from 33 countries, which includes members of the EU, UK, and China. This comes after the EU eased travel restrictions on Americans in June and put pressure on Washington to reciprocate.
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Salem - Joanne E. (Roulier) Bomarsi, 81, of Salem, passed away Tuesday morning, November 16, 2021 in Peabody. Born in Salem, MA, Joanne was the daughter of the late Lionel E. and Alice (Frasier) Roulier. A graduate of the former St. Chretienne Academy in Salem, Joanne worked for many years a
Former Poway Superintendent John Collins agreed to pay $185,000 to the school district, and struck a plea bargain that reduced four felony charges of misusing public funds to a misdemeanor charge of failing to disclose outside income.

Collins was accused of inappropriately taking more than $345,000 from the Poway Unified School District, and faced a potential maximum of seven years in custody, through criminal and civil cases against him. The agreement on Wednesday, overseen by Superior Court Judge Frederic Link, settled both cases.

Our hope is that this really puts it to closure for the district and Mr. Collins, as well, so they can go forward with educating students and not prosecuting Mr. Collins, said Deputy District Attorney Leon Schorr.

Collinss defense attorney, former San Diego County District Attorney Paul Pfingst, said the agreement cleared the former superintendent of the most serious charges against him.

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The vast number of criminal accusations against him have disappeared, and have boiled down to the failure to file one form, in a year, Pfingst said. Thats a far cry from the very exaggerated accusations that were made against him by the district.

Collins must pay the district $185,000 within 18 months, and will remain on probation for five years. If he defaults on payment or violates probation he must appear in court again, and could face additional penalties.

His teaching and administrative credentials were revoked, said attorney Maribel Medina, who represented the school district in its civil litigation against him. However, he continues to draw pension payments; according to the state compensation website Transparent California, he received $175,200 in 2017 and $187,511 in 2016 through CalSTRS, the state educators pension fund.

After two years of personnel disputes and litigation with Collins, Poway school board President T.J. Zane said officials are relieved to reach a settlement.

I was pleased to learn that its finally coming to a close, Zane said. It was a difficult period for everybody involved, and Im looking forward to being able to focus on moving the district forward in the right direction.

Collins started in Poway schools in 1989, rising through the ranks from a teacher, to principal, deputy superintendent and ultimately the highest-paid school superintendent in San Diego County, earning $308,900 per year, with total compensation of $457,347, including extra pay, benefits and retirement.

He was fired in July 2016 after the district commissioned an audit of his compensation that concluded he improperly collected more than $345,000 from the school district and obstructed an investigation of his pay. The audit painted a picture of severe financial distress that seemed at odds with Collins elite salary.

Texts between Collins and his wife described depleted bank accounts, and property records showed that the couple purchased a $1.25 million home in 2005, but sold it on short sale in 2013, narrowly avoiding foreclosure. The audit concluded that he had misused school funds by taking improper vacation payouts, inflating his salary and vacation balance and using a district purchasing card for personal expenses, in attempts to cover those shortfalls.

Poway school officials filed civil charges against him to recoup that money, while the district attorney launched its own investigation and charged him with four felony counts of misusing vacation and sick time and illegally using a district purchasing card between 2012 and 2016.

The case had been postponed twice as Collins grappled with health problems related to hearing loss, and finally went to preliminary hearings last week. Collins uses a cochlear implant, and wore a headset to listen to the court deliberations, which covered detailed accounting of his expenses, vacation balance and contract provisions.

Over three days of hearings, Judge Link heard testimony from the forensic accountant who prepared the audit that led to Collins firing, school officials responsible for administering the funds and the district attorneys investigator. They detailed discrepancies between the amount of vacation pay the district believed Collins was owed and what he collected, and explained how he used a district purchasing card for airline tickets and other personal expenses, but then repaid those funds.

Throughout testimony over those financial nuances, Pfingst argued that the case boiled down to a contract dispute, which the school district exploited in an effort to fire Collins for cause.

On Wednesday, prosecutors accepted a plea bargain on a government code misdemeanor in which Collins admitted to failing to disclose consulting pay he received while serving as superintendent.

Link acknowledged that the case, mired in fuzzy contractual language and bookkeeping discrepancies, was a difficult call, but said at the sentencing that Poway and other school districts need to be more vigilant about enforcing clear policy and safeguarding public education funds. Schorr agreed that holes in the contract complicated the case, but argued that as superintendent, Collins was ultimately liable for those shortfalls.

The defense had some very good arguments that these are contractual disputes and that there isnt a strong enough policy in place, Schorr said. Our position is that hes the one responsible for putting that policy in place, and has knowledge of that contract, and is liable criminally.

Zane said the school board has worked to close the loopholes that led to the disputes with Collins, by commissioning an internal audit and tightening its payroll and accounting procedures. A presentation to the school board last month detailed steps the district is taking to increase oversight of its revolving cash fund, accurately track vacation balances, and prevent waste, fraud and abuse of district resources.

Although the settlement ends a troubled chapter for the district, parties on both sides described it as a bitter compromise.

Chris Garnier, a former student of Collins who helped press for the investigation, said he was disappointed that the plea bargain did not include a felony charge, but said Collins will pay a price far beyond the $185,000.

Part of me also feels that justice has been served to an extent, because at the end of the day, his reputation will be forever tattered, Garnier said.

Facing ongoing health issues and escalating legal bills, Collins accepted the settlement, Pfingst said. But the once esteemed educator is disappointed that it came to that.

His choice is to spend an equal amount of money on lawyers, or to put this behind him, Pfingst said. He has enormous affection for the staff and students at the school, but believes after many years of service he was treated badly. The results of this plea deal show that.

deborah.brennan@sduniontribune.com Twitter@deborahsbrennan
Del Mar cannot limit short-term vacation rentals to just 28 days a year, the California Coastal Commission has decided.

The commission has rejected the citys proposed short-term rental ordinance, saying Del Mar should let residents rent out their homes for as many as 100 days a year. The commission also said the city should allow minimum stays of only three days, not the one-week minimum Del Mar had proposed.

It was kind of half a loaf, Del Mar Mayor Dwight Worden said Thursday. Its not what we asked for, but we are going to be evaluating all our options.

The commissions staff had recommended a cap of 180 days, but after a brief discussion at its June 7 meeting in Chula Vista, the commissioners settled on 100 days. The city has six months to revise its proposal and return to the state agency, which oversees coastal access and development.

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The Coastal Commission has said repeatedly over the years that restricting short-term rentals limits access to the beach by making it harder for people with average incomes to vacation on the coast.

Steve Padilla, a Chula Vista councilman and one of the 12 voting members appointed to the commission, said at their meeting that he was deeply concerned by assertions by some Del Mar residents that short-term rentals will never be affordable in Del Mar. The state Coastal Act requires beach access for all segments of the population.

Im not aware that there is an exemption to the statute for wealthier communities, Padilla said. Thats a real problem for me.

Powerhouse Park is a popular destination in Del Mar, which has proposed an ordinance to limit short-term vacation rentals. (Union-Tribune file photo by Eduardo Contreras )

Few people are happy with Del Mars proposed short-term rental ordinance. For decades, the city has allowed the rentals to continue unregulated.

Now, with the rise of online rental services, such as Airbnb and VRBO, Del Mar and other coastal and resort communities are trying to develop new rules for vacation rentals.

Short-term rentals often bring noise, trash and crime to older, quiet neighborhoods, some residents say. However, owners who offer short-term rentals say their tenants tend to be vacationing families who are peaceful and neat, and are familiar faces who often return year after year..

Some residents say the advent of online rentals has not increased the number of rooms available in Del Mar, only moved the rentals into more established neighborhoods where the long-time residents oppose them.

We have obligations to protect our residential neighborhoods, Worden said.

Also, Worden and others have said that switching from long-term occupants to short-term renters sacrifices much-needed housing that otherwise would be available to permanent residents.

Commission staffers said the issue of affordable,ong-term housing should be kept separate from short-term rentals.

The Coastal Commission had received more than 150 letters opposed to the citys ordinance and only two letters supporting it, a staffer said.

Why have a cap on it at all? resident Lory Trombly said Thursday. People want to come here all year long. One hundred days is not enough in a city thats a resort town, that has all kinds of activities going on all year long.

Resident Betty Wheeler spoke to the commission in support of the citys proposal, saying the short-term rentals often turn out to be more expensive than advertised. Many of them are booked at rates higher than those displayed, which are often per bedroom for a rental with multiple rooms.

It is a pipe dream that these STRs are providing affordable overnight services for visitors, Wheeler said.

Renting any room in Del Mar is not cheap. The city has six hotels with a total of 355 rooms, where the average rate is $314 a night, according to a city staff presentation. A recent survey showed about 280 short-term rentals in the city, with an average nightly rate of $331.

And the demand is high. With the San Diego County Fair and the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club races, the city sees about 4 million visitors annually.

Del Mar has the countys smallest population, about 4,200 residents, but it also has the highest property values. The average home in Del Mar is worth more than $2 million, and many residents use the short-term rentals to supplement their income.

Any limits on rentals will hurt residents, said Kimberly Jackson, who runs a small vacation rental business specializing in North County coastal homes.

Its devastating for people who rely on this type of income, she said. Before this ordinance, the general public could vacation rent up to 365 days a year.

The citys proposal was in effect a ban on short-term rentals, she said, and the commissions proposed modifications were not much better.

This is not a win for us, Jackson said of the commissions recommendation. This is a violation of property rights.

Del Mar has six months to decide whether to accept the commissions recommendation, and the council could take up the issue again as early as July. To become effective, the ordinance must be certified by the Coastal Commission and included in the citys Local Coastal Program, a general guideline for development in the city.

Del Mar has been working for years to strike a balance between the rights of residents who want short-term rentals and those who dont.

In 2016, the city placed a moratorium on any new short-term rentals in residential zones until a new ordinance is approved.

Unlimited short-term rentals area allowed in the citys commercial zones, which is a small area downtown with few homes.

philip.diehl@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @phildiehl
The Chula Vista City Council last week approved a deal to work with a local private and nonprofit university to develop plans for a satellite campus in the eastern region of the city.

The exclusive negotiating agreement between Chula Vista and the University of Saint Katherine marks a promising step in the citys long-standing desire to attract a four-year university.

Founded in 2010, Saint Katherine provides bachelors degrees in the liberal arts and sciences. An Orthodox Christian-affiliated university, it became accredited by the WASC Senior College and University Commission in 2016.

The university has grown in enrollment since its 2011 inaugural class of about a dozen students to more than 200.

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Chula Vista and university leaders envision a 10-acre satellite campus to serve 1,000 full-time students, with facilities including housing for about 400 students.

The proposed campus would fall within city leaders hopes to develop a multi-institutional university center on 375 acres that Chula Vista has acquired over the years. The site  in the Otay Ranch area  would serve as many as 20,000 students, according to city staff.

Saint Katherines proposed campus is a small portion of what could happen on this site, Chula Vista Mayor Mary Casillas Salas said Tuesday.

City Manager Gary Halbert noted that the satellite campus, which would be located near High Tech High Chula Vista, would still leave plenty of space  365 acres  for the citys more ambitious desire: a large public university.

Ideas for a UC Chula Vista or a San Diego State University satellite campus have not gained much traction over the years.

Salas said there has been no lack of effort from the city to attract a public university. She said staff has met with higher education state committees and chancellors.

I really wish SDSU would look south a little  to look at the opportunity that is here, the mayor said

Councilman John McCann said approval of the proposed Saint Katherine campus would represent a significant breakthrough for our region.

He added: I think if we show a university being successful, that will spark other universities to look down here.

Councilman Steve Padilla said he sees Saint Katherine as a new and young university that shows promise. However, he expressed some reservations about its religious affiliation.

Whether a religious university has ever occupied city-owned land in other regions is among the information he seeks, Padilla said.

I have a lot of questions that have not been answered, he said. Im not completely sold.

He and other council members agreed that city staff needs to exercise due diligence in evaluating Saint Katherine and any proposed plans for its campus.

The City Council unanimously approved the exclusive negotiating agreement, which gives city staff and the university three months to come up with a master plan and negotiate the terms of a development agreement.

In that time, the city plans to assess the universitys academic standards and financial ability to build and operate the proposed campus.

The agreement allows for two three-month extension periods. Councilwoman Patricia Aguilar asked city staff to report back to the City Council after the first three months.

A final development agreement would require approval from the City Council.
When Gov. Jay Inslee made vaccination against COVID-19 a condition of employment for hundreds of thousands of Washington workers, the immediate response from critics was that the requirement would lead to crippling employee shortages across the state.



Its too early to tell definitively what effect the mandate will have on Washingtons workforce, but initial reports from the state indicate those critics were likely wrong.



The mandate applies to most employees in the states government agencies, schools, universities and health care facilities. They had until yesterday to be fully vaccinated. Those who arent could soon be fired.



Last week, Inslee said 92% of state employees are fully vaccinated. When the mandate was first announced, the number of state employees fully vaccinated was 48%, he said.



This is extremely gratifying, Inslee said at a news conference on Thursday. It is gratifying because we now know there will not be a mass exodus of state employees, and we will be able to continue essential state services for people in Washington.



A recent report from state Office of Financial Management shows varying rates of vaccination between the states largest agencies: 94% among Department of Social and Health Services employees; 93% among Department of Transportation employees; 89% of Department of Children, Youth, and Families employees; 92% of Department of Labor & Industries employees; and 90% of Washington State Patrol employees.



The state allowed exemptions to the mandates for medical and religious reasons. According to the OFM report, the state had received 6,077 exemption requests  4,849 religious and 1,228 medical  from state employees as of Oct. 4. The state had approved 5,085 of them by that date.



The mandate did not include state workers employed by an agency under the direction of an elected leader thats not the governor, such as the Department of Natural Resources and the Secretary of States office.



With regard to health care workers, a recent survey from the Washington State Hospital Association found 88% of the states hospital workers are fully vaccinated, with 94% of hospitals reporting. The survey did not include workers in other types of health care facilities, such as independent physicians offices and nursing homes.



The survey said the remaining 12% of unvaccinated hospital workers are a mix of staff who are partially vaccinated, have an approved exemption and accommodation, have applied or plan to apply for an exemption that has not yet been reviewed, have not yet provided verification, or are choosing not to be vaccinated.



Officials estimate that 2% to 5% of hospital staff statewide  between 3,000 and 7,500 employees  could leave the workforce because of the mandate, the survey said.



The most unknown element in this discussion is what effect the mandate will have on school staff. Employees in the states public and private K-12 schools, universities, colleges and childcare centers are all subject.



The Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction will begin collecting data from school districts and higher ed institutions on Tuesday, said Katy Payne, an OSPI spokesperson. That data will be publicly shared at the end of the month, she said.



While state leaders are optimistic that the mandate wont create widespread worker shortages, some local institutions  King County and the City of Seattle also have vaccine requirements in place for their county and city workers  are worried the requirement will exacerbate already existing shortages.



Seattle Public Schools  the largest school district in the state  suspended 142 school bus routes Monday, while King County Metro cancelled more than 100 bus trips between Thursday and Friday. More than 140 sailings were recently canceled by Washington State Ferries.



Workers who werent fully vaccinated by Monday wont be fired immediately in many cases. Labor unions throughout the state have negotiated extensions and accommodations for thousands of workers in recent weeks.



For example, in September, the Washington Federation of State Employees came to a deal with Inslees administration to allow thousands of non-union-represented state employees extra time to get vaccinated before they lose their jobs.



Under the deal, state employees who got a late start on getting vaccinated can use 30 days of unpaid leave to complete the process. Additionally, workers whose exemption applications were denied by the state can use 45 days of unpaid leave to get vaccinated.



Those who had their exemption applications approved, but whose employer couldnt make an accommodation in which they would interact with fewer people, can also take advantage of that 45-day grace period.



The Washington State Hospital Association also said it expects its member facilities will also grant extra time to workers who had initiated the vaccination process but werent fully vaccinated by Monday.


Its an ideal time to plan fall and winter travel, as Alaska and Delta each have fare sales on adventurous leisure destinations.

This weeks airlines news also includes an announcement for "seasonal" service with Singapore Airlines, and the start of low-fare service in the Tri-Cities.

Keep reading to discover the latest airline news for Seattle and beyond.

Aha! Airlines begins Pasco/Tri-Cities service this weekend

New leisure airline Aha! begins service between Pasco/Tri-Cities (PSC) and Reno-Tahoe International Airport (RNO) this Saturday, Oct. 24. The airline is initially offering service three days per week, with flights on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Nonstop flights between Pasco/Tri-Cities and Reno-Tahoe start at $49 each way.

Alaska Airlines fares starting at $49

Now through Oct. 18, guests will find an assortment of low Alaska fares starting at $49 each way. Tickets must be booked by 11:59 p.m. on October 18, though applicable travel dates extend to March 9, 2022.

Sample Seattle (SEA) fares include one-way service to Redding (RDD) from $49, one-way service to Los Angeles (LAX) or San Francisco (SFO) for $59, and one-way service to Denver (DEN) for $69.

Sample Everett (PAE) fares include one-way service to Boise (BOI) or Spokane (GEG) for $69.

On all flights flown now through Dec. 31, 2021, guests will qualify for Alaskas Fast Track to Status promotion, earning 50% more elite-qualifying miles.

courtesy of JetBlue

American Airlines and JetBlue offer new alliance benefits

Flyers with Americans AAdvantage or JetBlues TrueBlue Mosaic elite status will now receive reciprocal benefits when flying on either carrier.

Shared status benefits currently include priority check-in, priority baggage, and priority boarding when traveling on either airline. Preferred seat selections will be implemented in the coming months, while AAdvantage members will be able to redeem miles on JetBlue flights beginning in November.

Delta deals on Pacific Northwest destinations

Delta is celebrating winter adventure with a number of fare sales within the Pacific Northwest. Deals are available to book now for travel dates Nov. 30 through Dec. 6, 2021.

Sample airfare deals include Seattle (SEA) to Oregon destinations like Eugene (EUG), Medford (MFR) and Redmond (RDM) for $167 roundtrip. Seattle to Boise (BOI) fares also start at $167 roundtrip.

Singapore Airlines adds new seasonal service from Seattle

Singapore Airlines (SIA) has announced new seasonal service in Seattle, Dec. 3 through Feb. 15, 2022.

Flights aboard an Airbus A350-900 aircraft will offer eligible customers quarantine-free entry to Singapore with the Seattle-Vancouver-Singapore routing. Flights depart Seattle (SEA) at 11:00 a.m., arrive in Vancouver at 11:45 a.m., and then depart at 1:15 p.m. for arrival in Singapore at 10:05 p.m. the following day.
Power shortages are turning out streetlights and shutting down factories in China. The poor in Brazil are choosing between paying for food or electricity. German corn and wheat farmers can't find fertilizer, made using natural gas. And fears are rising that Europe will have to ration electricity if it's a cold winter.

The world is gripped by an energy crunch  a fierce squeeze on some of the key markets for natural gas, oil and other fuels that keep the global economy running and the lights and heat on in homes. Heading into winter, that has meant higher utility bills, more expensive products and growing concern about how energy-consuming Europe and China will recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Rising energy costs are another pressure point on businesses and consumers already feeling the pinch of higher prices from supply chain and labor constraints.

The biggest squeeze is on natural gas in Europe, which imports 90% of its supply  largely from Russia  and where prices have risen to five times what they were at the start of the year, to 95 euros from about 19 euros per megawatt hour.

It's hitting the Italian food chain hard, with methane prices expected to increase sixfold and push up the cost of drying grains. That could eventually raise the price of bread and pasta at supermarkets, but meat and dairy aisles are more vulnerable as beef and dairy farmers are forced to pay more for grain to feed their animals and pass the cost along to customers.

From October we are starting to suffer a lot, said Valentino Miotto of the AIRES association that represents the grain sector.

Analysts blame a confluence of events for the gas crunch: Demand rose sharply as the economy rebounded from the pandemic. A cold winter depleted reserves, then the summer was less windy than usual, so wind turbines didnt generate as much energy as expected. Europe's chief supplier, Russia's Gazprom, held back extra summer supplies beyond its long-term contracts to fill reserves at home for winter. China's electricity demand has come roaring back, vacuuming up limited supplies of liquid natural gas, which moves by ship, not pipeline. There also are limited facilities to export natural gas from the United States.

Costlier natural gas has even pushed up oil prices because some power generators in Asia can switch from using gas to oil-based products. U.S. crude is over $83 per barrel, the highest in seven years, while international benchmark Brent is around $85, with oil cartel OPEC and allied countries cautious about restoring production cuts made during the pandemic.

The crunch is likely short term but it's difficult to say how long higher fossil fuel prices will last, said Claudia Kemfert, an energy economics expert at the German Institute for Economic Research in Berlin.

But the long-term answer that has to be taken out of this is to invest in renewables and energy saving, she said.

The European Unions executive commission urged member nations last week to speed up approvals for renewable energy projects like wind and solar, saying the clean energy transition is the best insurance against price shocks in the future and needs to be accelerated."

In the meantime, some gas-dependent European industries are throttling back production. German chemical companies BASF and SKW Piesteritz have cut output of ammonia, a key ingredient in fertilizer.

That left Hermann Greif, a farmer in the village of Pinzberg in Germany's southern Bavaria region, unexpectedly emptyhanded when he tried to order fertilizer for next year.

There's no product, no price, not even a contract," he said. It's a situation we've never seen before. One thing is certain: If I don't give the crops the food they need, they react with lower yields. It's as simple as that.

High energy prices already were hitting the region's farmers, who need diesel to operate machinery and heat to keep animals warm, said Greif, who grows corn to feed a bioenergy power facility that feeds emission-free energy into the power grid.

Likewise in Italy, the cost of energy to process wheat and corn is expected to go up more than 600% for the three months ending Dec. 31, according to the grain association. That includes turning wheat into flour, and corn into feed for cows and pigs.

Giampietro Scusato, an energy consultant who negotiates contracts for the AIRES association and others, expects the volatility and high prices to persist for the coming year.

High energy prices also seep into bread and pasta production through transport costs and electricity use, which could eventually affect store prices. Dairy and meat sections are especially exposed because prices are low now and farmers may be forced to pass along the higher cost of animal feed to shoppers.

People worldwide also are facing higher utility bills this winter, including in the U.S., where officials have warned home heating prices could jump as much as 54%. Governments in Spain, France, Italy and Greece have announced measures to help low-income households, while the European Union has urged similar aid.

Much depends on the weather. Europe's gas reserves, usually replenished in summer, are at unusually low levels.

A cold winter in both Europe and Asia would risk European storage levels dropping to zero, says Massimo Di Odoardo at research firm Wood Mackenzie.

That would leave Europe dependent on additional natural gas from a just-completed Russian pipeline or on Russian willingness to send more through pipelines across Ukraine. But the new Nord Stream 2 pipeline has not passed regulatory approval in Europe and may not be contributing gas until next year.

Russian suppliers' decision to sell less gas on spot markets reflects an intention to put pressure on the early certification of Nord Stream 2, said Kemfert, the energy economics expert.

In China, outages have followed high prices for coal and gas as electric companies power down amid limits in passing costs to customers or government orders to stay under emission thresholds.

Factories in Jiangsu province, northwest of Shanghai, and Zhejiang in the southeast shut down in mid-September, and dozens warned deliveries might be delayed ahead of the Christmas shopping season.

Chenchen Jewelry Factory in Dongyang, a city in Zhejiang, faced power cuts over 10 days, general manager Joanna Lan said. The factory makes hairbands, stationery and promotional gifts and exports 80% to 90% of its goods to the U.S., Europe and other markets.

Deliveries were delayed by at least a week, Lan said. We had to buy generators.

The biggest city in the northeast, Shenyang, shut down streetlights and elevators and cut power to restaurants and shops a few hours a day.

Chinas gas imports have jumped, but surging demand in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan also helped push up global prices, said Jenny Yang, research manager for the gas, power and energy futures team for China at IHS Markit.

In Brazil, higher gas and oil prices have been compounded by the worst drought in 91 years, which has left hydropower plants unable to supply electricity and more expensive bills.

Rosa Benta, a 67-year-old from a Sao Paulo working-class neighborhood, fears she will no longer be able to provide for her unemployed children and grandkids.

Several times, (energy company) Enel called me saying I had debt. I told them: Im not going to stop feeding my son to pay you,' Benta said outside her concrete house on a steep, narrow street. If they want to cut the electricity, they can come.

Benta lives on 1,400 reais (about $250) a month and says she often has to choose between buying gas for cooking or rice and beans.

I dont know what we are going to do with our lives, she said.

___

McHugh reported from Frankfurt, Germany, Barry from Milan, McDonald from Beijing and Pollastri from Sao Paulo.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP)  North Korea on Tuesday fired at least one ballistic missile, which South Koreas military said was likely designed to be launched from a submarine, in what is possibly the most significant demonstration of the Norths military might since U.S. President Joe Biden took office.

The launch of the missile into the sea came hours after the U.S. reaffirmed an offer to resume talks on North Koreas nuclear weapons program. It underscored how North Korea has continued to expand its military capabilities during the pause in diplomacy.

South Koreas Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement it detected that North Korea fired one short-range missile it believed was a submarine-launched ballistic missile from waters near the eastern port of Sinpo, and that the South Korean and U.S. militaries were closely analyzing the launch.

The South Korean military said the launch was made at sea, but it didnt say whether it was fired from a vessel underwater or another launch platform above the seas surface.

Japans military said its initial analysis suggested that North Korea fired two ballistic missiles. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said officials were examining whether they were submarine-launched.

Kishida interrupted a campaign trip ahead of Japanese legislative elections later this month and returned to Tokyo because of the launch. He ordered his government to start revising the countrys national security strategy to adapt to growing North Korean threats, including the possible development of the ability to pre-emptively strike North Korean military targets.

We cannot overlook North Koreas recent development in missile technology and its impact on the security of Japan and in the region, he said.

Japanese Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi said one of the North Korean missiles reached a maximum altitude of 50 kilometers (30 miles) and flew on an irregular trajectory while traveling as far as 600 kilometers (360 miles). He said the missile didnt breach Japans exclusive economic zone set outside its territorial waters.

South Korean officials held a national security council meeting and expressed deep regret over the launch occurring despite efforts to revive diplomacy. A strong South Korean response could anger North Korea, which has accused Seoul of hypocrisy for criticizing the Norths weapons tests while expanding its own conventional military capabilities.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is concerned at the latest reported launches and again calls on North Koreas leaders to comply with their obligations under U.N. Security Council resolutions and swiftly resume diplomatic efforts towards sustainable peace and the complete and verifiable denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.

The apparent site of the missile firing  a shipyard in Sinpo  is a major defense industry hub where North Korea focuses its submarine production. In recent years, North Korea has also used Sinpo to develop ballistic weapons systems designed to be fired from submarines.

North Korea last tested a submarine-launched ballistic missile, or SLBM, in October 2019.

Analysts had expected North Korea to resume tests of such weapons after it rolled out at least two new submarine-launched missiles during military parades in 2020 and 2021. There have also been signs that North Korea is trying to build a larger submarine that would be capable of carrying and firing multiple missiles.

Japanese Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihiko Isozaki said Tokyo lodged a strong protest to North Korea through the usual channels, meaning their embassies in Beijing. Japan and North Korea have no diplomatic ties.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said tensions on the Korean Peninsula were at a critical stage and called for a renewed commitment to a diplomatic resolution of the issue.

Ending a monthslong lull in September, North Korea has been ramping up its weapons tests while making conditional peace offers to Seoul, reviving a pattern of pressuring South Korea to try to get what it wants from the United States.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is developing submarine-launched ballistic missiles because he wants a more survivable nuclear deterrent able to blackmail his neighbors and the United States, said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor of international studies at Ewha Womans University in Seoul.

Easley said North Korea cannot politically afford appearing to fall behind in a regional arms race with its southern neighbor.

North Koreas SLBM is probably far from being operationally deployed with a nuclear warhead, he added.

North Korea has been pushing hard for years to acquire an ability to fire nuclear-armed missiles from submarines, the next key piece in Kim Jong Uns arsenal that includes a broad range of mobile missiles and ICBMs with the potential range to reach the American homeland.

Still, experts say it would take years, large amounts of resources and major technological improvements for the heavily sanctioned nation to build at least several submarines that could travel quietly in seas and reliably execute strikes.

Within days, Bidens special envoy for North Korea, Sung Kim, is scheduled to meet with U.S. allies in Seoul over the prospects of reviving talks with North Korea.

Nuclear negotiations between the U.S. and North Korea have stalled for more than two years because of disagreements over an easing of crippling U.S.-led sanctions against North Korea in exchange for denuclearization steps by the North.

While North Korea is apparently trying to use South Koreas desire for inter-Korean engagement to extract concessions from Washington, analysts say Seoul has little wiggle room because the Biden administration is intent on keeping sanctions in place until North Korea takes concrete steps toward denuclearization.

The U.S. continues to reach out to Pyongyang to restart dialogue. Our intent remains the same. We harbor no hostile intent toward (North Korea) and we are open to meeting without preconditions, Sung Kim told reporters on Monday.

Last week, Kim Jong Un reviewed powerful missiles designed to launch nuclear strikes on the U.S. mainland during a military exhibition and vowed to build an invincible military to cope with what he called persistent U.S. hostility. Earlier, Kim dismissed U.S. offers to resume talks without preconditions as a cunning attempt to conceal its hostile policy toward the North.

The country has tested various weapons over the past month, including a new cruise missile that could potentially carry nuclear warheads, and a developmental hypersonic missile.

The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said North Koreas latest launch did not pose an immediate threat to U.S. personnel, territory, or that of its allies.

___

Yamaguchi reported from Tokyo. AP writer Matthew Lee in Washington and AP video producer Liu Zheng in Beijing contributed to this report.
WASHINGTON (AP)  A Maryland couple arrested earlier this month on charges of trying to sell information about nuclear-powered warships to a foreign country have been indicted, the Justice Department said Tuesday.

Federal prosecutors say Jonathan and Diana Toebbe are each charged with one count of conspiracy to communicate restricted data and two counts of communication of restricted data.
Kyle Soucy (left) wanted to send her kids back to public school this year, but when the school board made masks optional, she opted to homeschool again.
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Mother of missing boy and companion arrested in NY, search still on for 5-year-old last seen 6 months ago
SACRAMENTO  As hundreds of demonstrators gathered in Sacramento on Monday and parents across the country held their kids out of schools to protest COVID-19 vaccine mandates for students, the politically active Bay Area appeared to be sitting this one out.

The political action at the state Capitol followed school district decisions across the state in recent weeks to require students to be vaccinated against the coronavirus, and Gov. Gavin Newsoms Oct. 1 announcement that all students would have to get the vaccine once federal officials fully approve it for their age group.

Oakland, Hayward, Piedmont and West Contra Costa are among the local districts that will require COVID-19 vaccinations for students in the coming months, joining Los Angeles, San Diego and others. But the Bay Area school districts have seen little organized opposition.

Amber Faddis, a 38-year-old stay-at-home mother from Lincoln (Placer County), helped organize the Sacramento event online.

She said she never had been to a protest before in her life, but had recently become involved in opposing Newsoms student vaccine mandate.

Constanza Hevia

Faddis said her two children, ages 10 and 2, were up to date on their other required immunizations and she did not consider herself anti-vaccine, but she was concerned about the comparatively speedy development and approval of the COVID-19 shot, without time yet to observe long-term effects. She does not plan to take it herself, either. The vaccines have been found safe and effective in multiple clinical trials, and have now been given to billions of people worldwide. Still Faddis asserted, They were made so quickly, we just dont know.

The Sacramento event included mostly families from districts outside the Bay Area, where there hasnt been the level of outcry against vaccine mandates thats seen in other locations, including in Marin County, which once was known for its pockets of anti-vaccination groups.

We have not heard about any walkout or similar activity in Marin, said county Superintendent Mary Jane Burke. Currently, 84% of eligible youth 12 years and up are vaccinated in Marin County, without any mandates in place. We are hoping for similar success in the next roll out of vaccinations.

Marin Countys anti-vaccination cohort was much smaller than it used to be, even before the coronavirus pandemic arrived, county Health Officer Dr. Matt Willis said Monday. We still have pockets of very vocal vaccine refusers, he said, but with the countys vaccination rates among the nations highest, its clear the community culture has shifted.

In Hayward, officials said that after the school board in late September mandated vaccines for students 12 and older, starting on Dec. 17, some parents said they would leave the district.

That seemed to quiet down after news that vaccines will be required statewide, said Hayward Unified spokesperson Dionicia Ramos, adding Mondays protest was not felt locally. We heard about the activity expected statewide, but have not heard anything specifically about students in our district participating in walkouts.

San Francisco officials said they were also unaware of anyone participating locally. Early attendance numbers showed no evidence of abnormal absenteeism.

A grassroots organization called Moms on the Ground helped organize the Our Children, Our Choice! protest, which also included a call for teachers and students to stay home Monday.

In Sacramento, hundreds of parents and children gathered on the steps of the state Capitol, at one point marching around the building carrying signs that called for vaccine choice and ridiculed President Biden in profane terms.

The demonstration largely appeared to draw from the Sacramento suburbs and other communities to the north of the capital, a more conservative region of the state.

Hector Amezcua/Sacramento Bee

Liz Ritchie, 67, a retired biology teacher from Knightsen in Contra Costa County, said she had found it difficult to get people from the Bay Area active in pandemic causes such as fighting mask mandates, because it was not socially acceptable in their communities. But she said she believed the issue of school access could shift the debate for many parents.

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.

They will defend their children, said Ritchie, a grandmother of three who wore a sparkly red, white and blue Trump cowboy hat. Were bubbling up.

At least a few Bay Area residents made the trip to demand that they retain parental authority over whether their children are vaccinated.

Ted, a construction worker from Hayward who declined to provide his last name, said he has religious objections, citing the erroneous belief that the vaccine contains aborted fetal cells. No major religion has urged its followers not to get COVID-19 shots, and many religious leaders have been active in promoting the life-saving vaccine.

Sporting a black Stanford hoodie as he carried a My kids my choice! sign, Ted said he would pull his son, 12, from class and homeschool him or even leave California if the student vaccine mandate takes effect.

I feel like were on the brink of civil war, he said. When you mess with our kids, mama and papa bear fight back.

District officials in many parts of the state urged families who opposed Newsoms vaccine mandate to contact state officials rather than keep children home, which would impact their education rather than any political policy.

The COVID-19 vaccine will be added to the list of 10 vaccinations required for children to attend school, with the mandate likely to go into effect in January or July, depending on when full federal approval is granted, Newsom announced earlier this month. Currently, the Pfizer vaccine is fully approved for those 16 and older. The other U.S.-approved vaccines, including those available for 12 and older, are under emergency use authorization.

Jill Tucker and Alexei Koseff are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: jtucker@sfchronicle.com, alexei.koseff@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @jilltucker, @akoseff
"Right: Scott Strazzante/The Chronicle; Middle: Michael Short/Special to The Chronicle; Right: Gabrielle Lurie/The Chronicle"/Th

Good morning, Bay Area. Its Tuesday, Oct. 19, and Californias redistricting plans could reshape the S.F., East Bay and South Bay vote. Heres what you need to know to start your day.

For the first time in nearly 40 years, San Francisco will vote in a local recall election.

Organizers collected 80,000 signatures to recall S.F. school board President Gabriela Lopez, Vice President Faauuga Moliga and commissioner Alison Collins.

The district has been embroiled in controversy over the past year, including the attempt to rename 44 schools, controversial comments from Collins and a $116 million budget shortfall.

After months of strife over how the district handled the pandemic, recall supporters said the mid-February election cant come soon enough. Critics of the recall say families dont realize whats at stake.

Read more from Jill Tucker.

Hunted

Bronte Wittpenn/The Chronicle

After U.S. troops withdrew in August, thousands of families in Afghanistan have pinned their hopes for getting out of the country on far-flung relatives. Those who worked directly for or with Americans are more likely to make it out; the ones whose ties to servicemen are murkier arent as lucky.

That dread is palpable for Sayed, a doctor in Sacramento whose last name The Chronicle is withholding because of threats to his family abroad. His niece and her husband, a judge and prosecutor respectively, are still trapped in Afghanistan, terrified of retribution from the criminals they helped sentence to prison.

To get their family out, Sayed is betting on a humanitarian parole visa application, which costs thousands of dollars and does not guarantee they will be able to immigrate to America. Others are appealing directly to legislators to evacuate U.S. citizens and green card holders stuck there. They are desperate to find a solution before its too late.

Read more from Deepa Fernandes and Tal Kopan.

Around the Bay

Lea Suzuki / The Chronicle

 Supportive housing: For years a Mid-Market development known as the Panoramic was home for students. Now, the city wants to turn it into housing for homeless people.

 Delta descendant: Theres a new substrain of the delta variant, but S.F.s vaccination rates could likely keep it at bay.

 From Joe Garofoli: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is a Catholic who supports abortion. That doesnt sit well with the Archbishop of San Francisco.

 Waterworks: Storms bring three more chances for rain this week to the Bay Area. Follow the forecast and live updates on the coming downpour here.

 Setting boundaries: California is about to redraw its district lines. Whats at stake? A majority Asian American Pacific Islander district in Fremont and where the state loses its congressional seat.

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.

 Qualified immunity: The U.S. Supreme Court ruled an Alameda County man cannot sue a police officer for kneeling on his back under a rule protecting cops from liability.

 Seemingly inconsolable: One person died and another was severely injured during a Phish concert at Chase Center.

 School shots: Bay Area school districts have seen little backlash against COVID-19 vaccinations as parents across the state take their protests to Sacramento.

Culinary wanderlust

Provided by Big Boi Mochi

Check social media and youll see an unending stream of travelers flocking to Hawaii for R&R after a stressful year and a half of pandemic isolation. For a handful of culinary creatives, though, the plan was to bring a little bit of Hawaii to the Bay Area.

From butter mochi to spam musubi, haupia to curry katsu, four pop-ups show how Filipino, Japanese, Chinese and Portuguese food have influenced Hawaiis multicultural food scene.

Read more from Elena Kadnavy.

Bay Briefing is written by Gwendolyn Wu and sent to readers email inboxes on weekday mornings. Sign up for the newsletter here, and contact the writer at gwendolyn.wu@sfchronicle.com.
Officials at San Franciscos Chase Center, the home of the Golden State Warriors, are assuring fans that the venue is safe after one man died and at least two people were injured in separate incidents during a Phish concert Sunday.

Though details about how and why the injuries occurred are still under investigation, the San Francisco Police Department on Tuesday said there is no evidence of foul play and that the death, which occurred about 8:55 p.m., may have occurred after a man intentionally jumped from a balcony.

The investigation has evidence to believe the victim leapt from an elevated area of the arena causing him to fall a significant distance, which caused his injuries, said Officer Robert Rueca, public information officer for San Francisco Police Department. Immediately before the victim leapt, he did not appear to have any physical contact with any person or barrier/railing.

The San Francisco Medical Examiner identified the man who died as 47-year-old Ryan Prosser of Athens, N.Y.

More for you One dead, two injured during Phish concert at S.F.s Chase Center

The second incident was likely accidental and occurred when a man fell from the venues upper levels at about 9:45 p.m., according to multiple accounts of the episodes that were posted to social media by other concertgoers.

The rows are so steep that when he began to fall, there was no stopping, said Dan Fitzsimmons of Kelseyville (Lake County), who was among concert attendees witnessing the second incident.

Warriors and Chase Center spokesperson Kimberly Veale told The Chronicle that officials at the venue are awaiting the findings of proper authorities to determine what happened before commenting on the incidents.

Chase Center was built and is operated in accordance with all safety standards and requirements governing facilities of its kind in the state of California and the city and county of San Francisco, Veale said.

A concert headlined by the country music duo Dan + Shay is scheduled for Wednesday, followed by the Warriors home opener on Thursday and a two-night stint by the Eagles on Friday and Saturday.

Johnny Greavu had gotten tickets in the upper deck for the sold out Dead and Co. show at Chase Center on New Years Eve 2019, but left that concert early because I was so freaked out at how steep it was, he said Tuesday. Those railings are only waist high.

Vowing to never again buy upper-deck tickets at Chase, he was in section 116, the lower level, mid-row, mid-court, with seven friends at Phish. It was 8:50 p.m., almost an hour into the first set. The band was playing Destiny Unbound.

We heard a large thump, a big bang, said Greavu, 29. We thought someone fell from a few rows behind us. We were all looking around. Then we look and there is a body in front of us.

The victim had clipped the shoulders of two friends sitting in front of Greavu.

He fell on seats that were  thank god  unoccupied, Greavu said. He covered at least two of them and one was broken. Im struggling to get the image out of my head. I think he died on impact because he didnt move at all.

Someone ran up the steps to the concourse and came back with two police officers followed by a medic. The band played on and the light show stayed on through the next song. Soon the body was removed and a tarp placed over the landing spot. Greavu and his seven friends left section 116.

We were walking around at intermission and most people werent aware of it, Greavu said. I debated leaving but ended up staying though I couldnt really enjoy the show.

Fitzsimmons, who sat in the 219 section of the arena during Sundays concert, said he saw a man  in the second incident  fall through a large opening in the section and plummet down. Describing the steep seating, he called the arena a death trap, and said the barriers designed to protect the audience in the upper tiers are too low.

When I first got the arena, my seat was up against the safety plexiglass, Fitzsimmons said. I did not feel safe as I am 6 foot and the safety glass came below my hip. One bad move, I could go over. So we moved up a row. Even there, I did not feel safe dancing as the seats on the downslope barely reach over your ankles.

Venue Solutions Group, which assisted in the development of safety and engineering at Chase Center, declined to comment.

Incidents such as these are rare but do happen, said journalist Don Muret, who has reported extensively about the construction and operation of arenas and stadiums as senior editor of the industry journal VenuesNow.

Nick Otto/Special to The Chronicle

Everybody is trying to design the most intimate bowl, he said, referring to the seating area inside the arena that wraps around the stage. When youre squeezing the bowl, youre going to have that very steep incline, especially in the upper decks. That appears to be the general trend.

In August, a man fell from a balcony to his death at a Dead & Company concert at Citi Field in New York. Another man suffered serious injuries after falling off the upper level of the Hollywood Palladium during a Blink-182 concert in 2013.

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.

Closer to home, a San Jose man jumped to his death from the roof of the stage at Saratogas Mountain Winery during a concert by the Swell Season in 2008.

Muret said he had seen speculation online that the initial fall at Chase Center on Sunday was intentional.

In circumstances like that, Im not sure theres much the venue operators could do, he said.

Evan Reeves, a 44-year-old Oakland man who was struck by the victim in the second of Sundays incidents at Chase, told KPIX that he suffered a broken leg but received consent from the venues on-site doctor to finish watching the show in a wheelchair before being taken to the hospital.

A representative for the band Phish, which played at the venue on Saturday as well as Sunday, directed requests for comment to Chase Center officials.

Especially when alcohol or other substances are involved, Muret said, it can be difficult for fans to navigate venues that are already tough to get around.

When the lights go down, sometimes you dont see everything thats going on, Muret said. People are up and dancing and having a good time. People are looking down at their phones. Sometimes theyre not paying attention.

The arena in Mission Bay, which has a listed capacity of 18,064, premiered to great fanfare in September 2019 with a run of joint concerts featuring Metallica and the San Francisco Symphony. It was open to audiences for about six months before it closed due to state and local coronavirus mandates.

Chase Center reopened to live audiences for Warriors games in the spring, and concerts resumed in September.

Chronicle staff writers Sam Whiting and Annie Vainshtein contributed to this report.

Aidin Vaziri is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: avaziri@sfchronicle.com
In an increasingly online world, Maria Guadalupe Siordia-Ortiz worries about her future. At 67 years old and in the midst of a pandemic that has changed the way the world works, she has quickly learned that if youre not online, youre left out.

Since the arrival of COVID-19 last year, Siordia-Ortiz, a San Francisco resident, has seen her friends  many of them older, some of them disabled  lose access to many of the things they now need the most, such as social connections and access to their doctors. Late in life, with limited means, many of them cannot afford reliable high-speed internet access.

These times caught us. For us, it was something so sudden, Siordia-Ortiz said. The children are growing up with all this, but not us, and we feel kind of left out.

On Monday, Siordia-Ortiz, eager to support her struggling friends and hoping to avoid these challenges in her own future, was one of more than 50 older and disabled people who marched to and occupied the San Francisco AT&T store at 1 Powell St. demanding free, accessible and reliable internet access.

For many, the request for reliable broadband has become about more than just digital gatekeeping in a digital world, according to Senior and Disability Action, the San Francisco-based advocacy organization that organized the protest. These days, protesters said, when so many things are done online, access to the internet has become a matter of survival.

We need to be connected. We need to have the opportunity, the chance to be part of this world, said Siordia-Ortiz, who has been unable to schedule telemedicine appointments because of her unreliable internet connection.

Protesters walked into the AT&T store chanting phrases such as, AT&T, have some respect. We cant afford the internet. They were asking for free, fast  at least 200 Mbps  and reliable internet service for older, disabled and low-income residents of the nine Bay Area counties.

Senior and Disability Action chose to hold the protest at the AT&T store because AT&T is among the most widely used internet service providers in the Bay Area and across the country. AT&T and other internet service providers have been making large profits during the pandemic while many people, including the elderly and disabled, have faced unprecedented financial hardship, organizers said.

Jessica Lehman, an organizer with Senior and Disability Action, said at the protest that AT&T declined to speak to the protesters. Jim Kimberly, AT&Ts director of corporate communications, countered later that his office had not been contacted about the protest or by its participants.

The company said it awarded $100,000 last year to Give2SF in support of seniors and adults with disabilities and $20,000 to Community Tech Network for tablets and digital literacy training for 100 seniors through that organizations Home Connect program.

We support the right to assemble and protest on public property and understand the importance of reliable internet access, especially for senior and disabled communities, AT&T said in a statement. We encourage customers to stay connected and explore low-cost home internet service options through Access from AT&T and the Emergency Broadband Benefit.

For Cora McCoy, 80, a poor internet connection presents problems for family members, too. Her 13-year-old grandson who lives with her has had trouble connecting to the internet to do homework, and often had connectivity issues when he attended school online last year. Her Wi-Fi signal is not strong enough to reach all the rooms in her home, she said.

Its ridiculous; Im very disturbed, McCoy said. Its time that something be done.  Were dealing with companies that could help us if they would.

Efforts to help the elderly, disabled and poor get online often are not enough or do not attack the most pressing issues, Senior and Disability Action organizers said.

Organizations such as Community Tech Network, which was founded in the Bay Area, provide people with devices and training to improve digital access and literacy. While helpful, those resources cannot be used to their full potential if the people they are meant to serve do not have a reliable high-speed internet connection, protesters 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.

Federal programs such as the Emergency Broadband Benefit program, approved by Congress this year, offer eligible households monthly discounts on broadband internet service and a one-time discount for a computer or tablet. But the program is temporary, and participants have complained that the internet plans available are too slow for todays needs.

Rey LaChaux, digital equity manager in the San Francisco Mayors Office of Housing and Community Development, recently told The Chronicle that the city has considered using $5 million of its American Rescue Plan funding to provide 42 affordable housing sites with Wi-Fi access.

Free Wi-Fi would help our pocketbooks and improve our connection, said McCoy, who said she needs the internet to talk to family and friends, attend online religious services, and look up information.

Employees at the AT&T store, one of them wearing a branded shirt that read Equality, asked protest organizers to take the rally outside the store and said they would relay the groups concerns to their supervisors, who were not present.

Protest leaders presented them with a letter listing their demands, signed by dozens of Senior and Disability Action members.

We know that AT&T has the means, Siordia-Ortiz said. This is very important for us to get in touch with our family now, in COVID. Its very important for us to get in touch with our friends now because we are so lonely.

Andy Picon is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: andy.picon@hearst.com Twitter: @andpicon
A new radar system coming to the Bay Area promises to greatly improve weather predictions, providing additional warning time to prevent flooding damage and more accurate forecasts of where heavy rainfall will hit, down to a specific low-lying highway or neighborhood.

The new forecasting system was originally geared to give emergency planners more time to prepare before a sewage plant overflowed or a BART station flooded during an atmospheric river, the often-dramatic weather events responsible for up to half of the regions rainfall. Paid for in part with a $20 million grant from the California Department of Water Resources and implemented by local water districts, the $31 million system began rolling out in 2018 with the installation of a new weather radar station in Sonoma County, followed by one in San Jose. By 2024, five more will come to the Bay Area, including one in the East Bay by Thanksgiving. An additional radar station will also be installed in Santa Cruz.

The new tools also hold promise for mitigating effects of global warming besides atmospheric rivers. More accurate forecasts could help water managers strategize reservoir storage to better prepare for drought, and the higher-resolution images could monitor heavy rain that might hit wildfire burn zones and cause mudslides.

Atmospheric rivers, huge airborne bands of water that travel thousands of miles across the Pacific to dump rain and snow as they hit land, are estimated to inflict $1.1 billion in damage annually in California, Oregon and Washington. The forecasting system, called Advanced Quantitative Precipitation Information, or AQPI, could reduce the annual cost of flood damage in the Bay Area by $60 million, said Robert Cifelli, research meteorologist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and AQPI technical lead.

We can actually see these atmospheric rivers coming many days in advance, Cifelli said. The question is exactly where is it going to hit and how intense is it going to be. And thats where the devils in the details.

Now Playing: The new X-band radar that was installed in San Jose produces a more high-resolution image of precipitation (right) and is updated more often than the NEXRAD radar (left), in this sped-up video of radar readings from February 2019. Video: San Francisco Chronicle

The forecasting system aims to provide those details, as the new radar stations will cover more ground and provide higher-resolution images and quicker updates. It will especially improve what is called nowcasting  updates on what is happening in the next 30 to 60 minutes  which can be vital in an emergency.

One scenario: AQPI could predict that heavy precipitation will fall around the east entrance to the Bay Bridge during the evening commute  perhaps when there is also a king tide, raising the chance of intense flooding. In that case, an emergency text message could be blasted out, urging people to avoid the bridge.

With climate change and sea level rise, a lot of the impacts are going to be felt on our interior highways around bridges, said John Coleman, CEO of the Bay Planning Coalition, an organization that represents the economic interests of governments and businesses in the region. AQPI can really direct down to almost the neighborhood what the impact of the storm will be.

The Bay Area has particular weather forecasting challenges. Since precipitation generally moves west to east, its difficult to get close enough to storms that are coming from the Pacific. Also, the radar system we have is limited by the areas hilly topography, Cifelli said.

The Bay Area also has pockets that get hit hard by atmospheric rivers, particularly the Russian River Valley in Sonoma County, which experienced flooding most recently in early 2019. On the flip side, the county has been heavily impacted by drought. Both are reasons that Sonoma Countys water agency took the lead on bringing the state-funded AQPI project to the Bay Area.

In February of 19, we had 2 or 3 feet of water running down the middle of Guerneville, and seemingly it hasnt rained since, Sonoma County supervisor and water director David Rabbitt said. Its really important to have a better handle (on that). Technology can offer a lot.

Weather radar works by sending out radio signals that hit raindrops and then bounce back. That data is used to map the location, intensity and direction of the rainfall. That real-time information, along with weather data from other sources  satellites, rain gauges, even buoys at sea  is used for nowcasting and is fed into algorithms that meteorologists use to forecast precipitation. The more information that goes into the models, the better they work during future storms.

Currently, most Bay Area weather forecasting is handled by four main radar stations, called Nexrad, which have some gaps in coverage. The signals from the Nexrad radar station on Mount Umunhum in the Santa Cruz Mountains is at 3,500 feet and can miss rainfall from an atmospheric river heading over San Francisco, for example, because its beams often skirt over the city at too high an elevation because of the curvature of the Earth. Another, in Davis, misses much of southern Sonoma County because mountains block its signals.

Were trying to fill in as many gaps as we can where those radars are blind, Cifelli said.

Six of the new radar stations being rolled out are being placed close to dense urban areas. Theyre all X-band radar, which has a smaller range than the Nexrad S-band radar but captures a crisper image, down to 200 feet of resolution compared with 0.6 of a mile. X-band radar also updates every two minutes compared with six minutes for the Nexrad, and because the stations will be located at a lower elevation, where precipitation from atmospheric rivers tends to occur, they can also provide a more accurate assessment of where the rain is falling, Cifelli 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.

Yet meteorologist Jan Null of Golden Gate Weather Services, a 47-year veteran of Bay Area forecasting, is doubtful about the impact the new X-band radar will have because of its limited range. He said he doesnt think the stations will provide enough lead time to prepare for an emergency, unless additional meteorologists were hired to interpret the data.

With a storm system coming in thats moving at 30 miles an hour, you dont see very far into the future, he said, adding that the new system will not be a big value add.

Its not going to make a significant difference in the way forecasts are issued, he said.

However, one of the new radar stations is C-band radar, which has a larger range than X-band, and will be installed on the Sonoma coast to capture atmospheric rivers as they head toward the region.

That new C-band radar station is the one that meteorologist Brian Garcia of the National Weather Service is most excited about. Currently there are only two radar stations that face the ocean without being beam blocked by mountains, he said  the one on Mount Umunhum and another in Eureka in Northern California. The new radar station will help forecast weather heading toward Marin, Sonoma and Mendocino, he said.

Even after theyre up and running, Garcia said it will take a while for the new AQPI radar stations to improve weather forecasting, but once they do, it will be a big improvement.

People should not expect this to be like an app on your phone thats going to tell you when its going to rain and how hard its going to rain and that you need to evacuate, he said. What this is is a huge leap forward in the quantity and quality of data that we are getting on the environment during critical weather situations.

Tara Duggan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: tduggan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @taraduggan
Authorities have seized 12 pounds of fentanyl  enough to purportedly kill more than 2.5 million people  in a bust that ensnared 18 suspected drug traffickers accused of fueling a massive distribution network in the Tenderloin, San Francisco police said Tuesday.

The joint operation with federal agencies secured 6 pounds of other drugs, three guns, $27,000, and two 30-round high-capacity magazines.

Eight of the defendants face federal charges of conspiracy in connection with one of two drug trafficking organizations that funnel copious amounts of narcotics, including several varieties of fentanyl, into the Tenderloin, according to a statement from federal officials.

Long known as an epicenter for drug use and dealing, the Tenderloin neighborhood has grown in recent years to resemble an Amazon center for narcotics, law enforcement officials say.

Acting U.S. Attorney Stephanie Hinds called the fentanyl trade a triple threat, in that it attracts violent offenders, causes death and devastates neighborhoods. San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott called rising overdose rates a public health calamity rivaling the height of the AIDS crisis.

During their investigation, officers found that traffickers based in Southern California were shipping fentanyl in bulk to mid-level sellers in Oakland, who in turn sold to street-level dealers in the Tenderloin  a supply chain causing a deadly plague that has so far outpaced the COVID-19 pandemic in San Francisco.

On Oct. 14 the U.S. Attorney filed two criminal complaints which were unsealed Tuesday. The first describes a conspiracy allegedly led by two brothers, one in Alameda and the other in Berkeley.

Since at least May 2021, they allegedly worked with three co-conspirators in a business network that focused primarily on fentanyl distribution, according to the complaint. The organization allegedly provided narcotics to multiple dealers, and some conspirators are accused of street sales.

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 complaint went on to outline a color-coded branding system by the suspects, in which they sold fentanyl that either burned a specific color or bore a particular shade of dye.

Law enforcement agents seized roughly four pounds of fentanyl  nearly a third of the entire haul  along with other items, during the arrest of one of the alleged conspiracy leaders.

The second complaint centered on a separate drug distribution organization led by a suspected mid-level trafficker in Oakland accused of supplying narcotics to resellers and street dealers working in the Tenderloin. In addition to fentanyl, law enforcement uncovered heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine and cocaine base during transactions described in the complaint.

Additionally, two suspects will face federal ATF charges, and the Alameda County District Attorney will charge the eight others.

Rachel Swan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: rswan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @rachelswan
Have violent crimes gone up or down in San Francisco during the pandemic? How about shoplifting rates? Is progressive San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin really charging fewer people arrested for violent felonies than previous D.A.s?

These questions are relevant to San Franciscans, but they can be hard to answer without knowing how to access updated, high-quality crime data. With this in mind, the Chronicle data team is publishing a guide to the data we use when reporting on crime in San Francisco, California and the U.S. Our goal is to explain what data can and cannot tell us about crime, and to empower reporters and readers to access the data themselves.

Before diving in, we want to emphasize that while crime data can be a useful tool, its fraught with issues and biases. In addition to using the data correctly from a statistical perspective, its important to understand it in context  by examining its limitations, comparing it to other data sources and including information that numbers cannot capture, like stories from people in crime-affected communities.

The aftermath of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade ... those incidents shouldve shown us that narrative-based inquiry is very important, Jason Williams, a criminologist and professor at Montclair State University, told The Chronicle. When you have all these individuals taking to the streets and exclaiming something needs to be done, that represents a kind of knowledge that ought to be taken seriously.

This guide will highlight eight different data resources for understanding crime in San Francisco, along with an insight we can glean from that data. We will start with local resources and then move onto state and national data. Finally, we describe three principles we follow when analyzing crime data. Many of the data resources come with simple tools that allow anyone to analyze the data, even if you dont have advanced skills.

(1) The San Francisco Police Department crime incident reports

The SFPD police departments incident report data is the closest the department provides to raw counts of reported crimes citywide. The dataset contains all incident reports once theyve been approved by a sergeant or lieutenant, with some exceptions, including reports that have been removed to comply with court orders or to keep records private during internal investigations.

The incident report data includes the cross streets where each crime occurred, whether multiple crimes occurred in the same incident and whether a report was filed by an officer or a civilian. This makes it useful for more detailed analyses, like where crimes occur in the city.

Limitations: The data could include some inaccurate or baseless reports, which may make it less reliable than other data sources for crimes with smaller counts, like homicides and arsons. Its also harder to analyze than the SFPDs other products, and requires skills with spreadsheet software like Excel or another other data analysis tool. The data goes back to 2003.

Williams, the Montclair State criminologist, added that all law enforcement data is racially biased in two major ways. First, police disproportionately arrest people of color, especially Black people. Second, communities of color tend to trust law enforcement less than white people overall and so are less likely to report certain types of crimes. Comparing FBI data to data collected from crime victims, for example, suggests that just 41% of violent crimes were reported to police in 2019.

Especially with immigrant populations, [distrust] increased more during the Trump administration because of the rhetoric, Williams said. Now you have immigrant communities really not wanting anything to do with law enforcement.

(2) The San Francisco Police Departments crime data dashboard

In addition to its crime incident reports data, the SFPD publishes an interactive crime dashboard. This dashboard is based on the incident data, but has gone through several layers of analysis and filtering. The biggest change is that it reports crimes based on the FBIs Universal Crime Reporting (UCR) program, which is a national crime data collection system we will discuss in detail below.

The SFPDs crime dashboard is most useful if youre looking to quickly compare rates of certain major crimes in recent months, whether citywide or by police district. The data in the dashboard goes back to January 2017.

Limitations: The SFPD dashboard uses the FBI UCR reporting system, which counts crimes according to a hierarchy rule. Under the rule, certain crimes are deemed more or less serious, and if one incident has multiple crimes associated with it, only the most serious one counts. For example, if someone burglarizes a house and shoots its inhabitant, the burglary wouldnt be counted. The one exception to this rule is arson: Incidents with an arson and a more serious crime, such as murder, are counted as both.

Additionally, the UCR program only counts eight crime types: homicide, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny theft, motor vehicle theft and arson. Crimes like shoplifting, a subset of larceny theft, or drug crimes, which dont fall into any of the above categories, are not broken down in the dashboard.

(3) The San Francisco Police Departments clearance rates dashboard

The SFPD also publishes data on the number of crimes that it clears, which usually means crimes that end in an arrest. A case can also be cleared by exceptional means, however, such as when the perpetrator is identified after passing away.

The California Department of Justice also collects clearance data, as we will discuss later, but the SFPDs clearance data is more current and can break down clearance rates by both crime and police precinct.

Limitations: The clearance data doesnt specify what types of alternatives the department takes to exceptionally clear cases. As a recent ProPublica investigation laid out, some departments misuse the exceptional clearance option to close difficult cases like rapes.

(4) The San Francisco district attorneys data dashboard (DA STAT)

When a crime ends in arrest, the SFPD usually presents the arrestees case to the San Francisco District Attorneys office. The D.A.s office will then decide whether theres enough evidence to file charges against the arrestee, a process called rebooking. The office might also take a different action like revoking probation or parole.

The office releases data on the total number of cases presented by law enforcement, the total number of actions it takes (basically if it does anything besides immediately dismissing the case), and the total number of charges filed (the most common action taken). They also break down this data by crime type.

The DAs office also provides data on the types of cases it has decided to prosecute  namely, what share are misdemeanors, felonies or probation/parole violations.

Limitations: The data does not include information on the outcomes of trials or convictions. It also doesnt break down charging rates by specific crime type.

(5) The California Department of Justices crimes and clearances data

The California Department of Justice collects data on dozens of topics related to California crime, policing and incarceration by county. It publishes this data in its raw form on its data portal, and through more accessible tables and charts in its data exploration and stories sections.

For a statewide look at reported crimes, the California Justice Department publishes a Crimes and Clearances dataset. The data, which the department collects from local law enforcement agencies, includes the number and type of crimes reported by agency annually, plus each crime types clearance rate.

Limitations: The California DOJ collects data from local law enforcement agencies using the UCR system, so the weaknesses of UCR and law enforcement reporting apply to this data too. Also, not every agency reports to the DOJ every year; the agency keeps a list of agencies that did not report data for a given period.

(6) The FBIs Uniform Crime Reporting data

The FBI collects crime and clearance data from nearly 18,000 local law enforcement agencies on a monthly basis, which it uses to track crime trends and generate an annual report called Crime in the United States.

The Uniform Crime Reporting system has been in place since 1930, which is probably the biggest point in its favor  its the most consistent source of U.S. crime data over time. Its best used to track overall crime rates over longer periods, and to compare changes to regional crime rates.

Limitations: The UCR system has several major issues. The first, outlined above, is the hierarchy rule, which means many lower-level crimes arent counted correctly. Because homicides are considered the most serious crime, its thought that the UCR data tends to count them most accurately, with less-accurate counts for lower-hierarchy crimes like larcenies. However, studies have documented undercounts in UCR homicide estimates too.

UCR data is also voluntary for agencies to report. Thus, many agencies do not report data on all crime types every month, and the FBI uses an algorithm to fill in the gaps. John Pfaff, a criminologist and law professor at Fordham University, says that algorithm is fairly crude and outdated.

Additionally, UCR data for a given year typically gets published nine months into the next year, making timely analysis impossible. The agency is switching to a more detailed crime data collection system this year, called the National Incident-Based Reporting system or NIBRS (pronounced Nye-burrs). This transition has caused delays in the agencys quarterly crime updates.

If NIBRS is ever fully implemented, it will provide crime data analysts with much more information on individual crimes, including victim demographics and whether the suspect knew the victim. However, many states and agencies are having trouble transitioning to NIBRS data, including California and the SFPD. For more information on the NIBRS data, see this guide by Princeton criminologist Jacob Kaplan.

(7) The Bureau of Justice Statistics National Crime Victim Survey (NCVS)

Every year, the NCVS surveys a representative sample of the U.S. population  about 160,000 people from about 95,000 households  about their experiences with crime. Survey takers provide information about themselves including race, sex, age and whether they were the victim of one or more crimes.

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.

According to Pfaff, the NCVS is generally considered more reliable at tracking crime trends over time than the UCR. Thats because it interviews victims directly rather than relying on police data.

Charis Kubrin, a criminologist at UC Irvine, added that the NCVS is particularly useful for crimes that are rarely reported to police or that police dont often arrest people for, such as rape and domestic violence. I dont even use [UCR] rape data because its so problematic, Kubrin said.

Limitations: The NCVS doesnt include information on homicides, because homicide victims cant answer surveys. It also isnt available for specific geographies like cities and states.

The NCVS also has its own reporting biases because its a government survey that is sent to peoples homes, Pfaff added. Thus, it generally underreports data from crime victims who are unhoused, or who are unlikely to trust the government or law enforcement, like immigrants and people of color. Finally, its self-reported, so data may be missing or incomplete.

Like the UCR system, NCVS data is often delayed. The data for 2020 was just released this week, more than nine months into 2021.

(8) AH Datalytics murder comparison dashboard

AH Datalytics is a crime research think tank run by criminologist Jeff Asher. The firm collects data directly from law enforcement agency reports to create a dashboard that lists the number of murders reported by each major city agency, along with the date each agencys murder count was last updated. The dashboard also shows roughly how much total murders in major cities have gone up or down by the most recent date, and the share of cities where murders are up (this year, murders are up in almost 70% of the cities the firm tracks).

The data is most useful for comparing murder rates across U.S. cities in a more timely way than the FBI website allows. AH Datalytics also publishes a table that lays out FBI UCR crime data on a yearly basis for major U.S. cities in an easy-to-read format.

Limitations: Many agencies update their homicide counts infrequently, so the year-to-date figures on AH Datalytics website often lag. For instance, while data for Oakland was last updated on October 10, San Diego was last updated on June 30. Such discrepancies mean its not accurate to directly compare each citys year-to-date murder count.

Three golden rules to follow when analyzing this data:

Use rates, not raw numbers.

California had more homicides than any other U.S. state in 2019  nearly 1,800 people killed  but 27 states had higher homicide rates than the Golden State, according to the CDC. Why the discrepancy? Because California has the largest number of people. This might seem basic, but many journalists have made the mistake of using raw crime numbers to compare different regions rather than rates.

You can calculate a crime rate by dividing the number of crimes by that regions population, then multiplying by some other number to give a sense of scale. For instance, because murders are very uncommon, generally we multiply the rate by 100,000 to give murders per 100,000 residents.

Kubrin noted that sometimes its good to use more detailed denominators to capture crime rates among more vulnerable populations; for instance, Oaklands homicide rate is far higher in the eastern section of the city than in the hills area, so it makes sense to calculate separate homicide rates for each part of the city to get a better sense of who is actually at risk of being killed.

Avoid drawing conclusions from short-term trends.

Crime can be idiosyncratic, Kubrin said, meaning it can fluctuate randomly month to month for a lot of reasons that criminologists dont fully understand or cannot pinpoint.

For instance, data from the SFPD shows that reported car break-ins spiked slightly in June and July of 2018. But then the monthly break-ins decreased again. The two months with elevated numbers werent indicative of a longer-term trend; in the words of Kubrin, theyre just noise in the data.

However, San Franciscos crime rates over the last several decades do show a few definitive trends in the city. For one, it has consistently high property crime rates relative to other cities in California. Secondly, violent crime has declined steadily since the 1990s.

Use crime rate changes, not crime rates, when comparing different regions.

Cities that include sprawling suburbs, like Houston, tend to have lower overall crime rates than cities with no suburbs, like San Francisco, because suburbs generally have less crime. But that doesnt tell you much about how crime looks in each citys urban core, said the criminologist Pfaff.

Instead, compare changes to cities crime rates to look at how crime is changing year over year. For example, Oaklands homicide rate is up by 37% so far this year compared to last, while San Franciscos homicide rate is up by 9%. This comparison works because youre measuring each citys increase relative to its own earlier crime rate, and thus accounting for differences in their geography and makeup.

Susie Neilson is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: susie.neilson@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @susieneilson
For the past 11 years, at an historic park in Oaklands Fruitvale district, Laura Cedillo has taken part in a ceremony with the Mexica group Calpulli Coatlicue to celebrate Indigenous communities in the Bay Area and across California.

The ceremony begins at sunrise and features dances by a number of different Indigenous tribes.

Over the years, Peralta Hacienda Historical Park became a second home for Cedillo: She has volunteered at its museum, participated in free programs with her 7-year-old daughter and visits the park at least once a week where her dance group meets to practice.

Its welcoming, said Cedillo, who is of the Pame del Norte tribe of Mexico, referring to the park. She works at the Native American Health Center and is co-founder of the Indigenous Womens Arts and Wellness Circle.

The parks programs are centered on the local community, and the park is part of California Native history, so I continue to take my daughter to all of their programming and wildlife curriculum.

The park and its historic Peralta House, which is now a museum, has served Oakland residents  specifically Fruitvales immigrant and communities of color  with free programs, tours and an annual Cambodian New Year celebration, among other events, since it opened to the public in 1996.

But as more California and U.S. institutions re-examine their controversial histories, the East Bay park finds itself at a crossroads.

Park officials said theyre working on decolonizing the park by changing its name to reflect the lands Indigenous history and the various communities it serves, said Holly Alonso, executive director of the nonprofit Friends of Peralta Hacienda Historical Park, which operates the park and historic house. The city of Oakland owns both. If park officials decide on a name change, it would go to the Oakland City Council for a vote. Its unclear when that could happen.

For some, the Peralta name represents the regions history of colonizing the Ohlone people. The park was named after Luis Maria Peralta, a Spanish soldier who was granted the 44,800-acre land by Don Pablo Vicente de Sola, the last Spanish governor of Alta California, a Spanish province, in 1820.

Cedillo said a name change would empower her daughter, who is half Ohlone, and other Native Americans in the Bay Area. Theres power in names, said Cedillo. A name change is part of justice. Its about acknowledging the truth and also being inclusive.

While the parks announcement was celebrated by many, its also raising complex issues around identity, history and appropriation.

And some of Peraltas descendants are urging park officials to keep Peralta in the parks name.

Alonso said her team was affected and heartened by the national move towards a more accurate representation of history, referring to the protests against racial injustice last summer after the murder of George Floyd. Ohlone history is woven into everything. We want to bring it more into view as equally important, she said.

Alonso said that the Spanish word hacienda, a large plantation with a home, also has a negative connotation.

Don Feria/Special to The Chronicle

When Fruitvale neighbors joined together in the 1970s to create the park for the community, Hacienda came to mind as evocative of Mexico and sounding like place of hospitality, Alonso wrote in an email newsletter announcing the name change last year. It was not their intention to glorify forced labor. But now we know better.

The park plans to continue discussions with Indigenous leaders, Peraltas descendants, historians and community members at the museums reopening in January 2022.

Name changes get people thinking. They get folks asking questions who otherwise would never have thought to do so, said Albert D. Gonzalez, professor of anthropology at California State University, East Bay, in an email.

The Ohlone people have lived in the Bay Area for thousands of years. They were colonized, enslaved and killed under the Spanish mission system in the 1700s, the Mexican rancho period in the mid-1800s and during the California Gold Rush in the late 1840s, when state laws legalized killing Native Americans.

Corrina Gould, a prominent activist and the tribal spokesperson for the Confederated Villages of Lisjan/Ohlone, said the park has an opportunity to teach visitors about the history of the Ohlone before, during and after colonization, as well as the Peralta family history.

Why not be able to tell both of those stories? We can ... grapple with that history on both sides, because if we dont do that, we cant come to a place where there is a reconciliation (where) we can begin to talk about a healing process. There needs to be dignity and humanity in the stories that are told on both sides, she said.

Some park members urged Alonso not to change the name at all.

If you change the name, you change the whole park. Its no longer historical, one person wrote in an email in response to the announcement. Use the opportunity to teach. Dont hide the truth.

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.

Others, including some Peralta descendants, suggested taking out Hacienda but keeping Peralta.

David Peralta, an eighth-generation descendant of Peralta and resident of Folsom (Sacramento County), said educating people about the lands history can be done without a name change.

Changing the name is not going to bring people together, he said. At the same time, the Peraltas would wholly welcome educating folks on the real history of what was there before the Peraltas were there, what happened during while the Peraltas were there and whats going on in the communities in this day and age right now.

Lance Beeson, a descendant of Maria Gertrudis Peralta, sister of Luis, and founder of the California Fandango Project, an arts organization that performs music and dances of the Spanish and Mexican era, said he supports a name change as long as Peralta remains.

We need to strike a balance, and not completely cancel our Hispanic forbears. They were not perfect people but they were here, and as descendants, we wish to honor their memory and their lives, said Beeson.

Gould emphasized the importance of Oakland residents knowing the territorys history.

These are difficult conversations to have because Oakland is now inclusive of so many different people and so many different go to (the park) and use it, she said.

But its really important for us to also be visible so people that now live in our territory understand that theres a history here.

Jessica Flores is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jessica.flores@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @jesssmflores
When Hilda and Jesse debuts in North Beach on Nov. 1, the restaurant will serve what is perhaps the Bay Areas only brunch tasting menu.

Located at 701 Union St., the restaurant is co-owners Kristina Compton and Rachel Sillcocks tribute to breakfast food, the focus of their popular pop-up of the same name. On weekends there will be a $45 three-course tasting menu, which is meant to deliver as much of an elevated experience as a fine dining dinner  just with pancakes and avocado toast.

The two longtime chefs are still coming up with most of the dishes, but dont expect eggs Benedict drenched in hollandaise sauce or bottomless mimosas. Their popular, super fluffy buttermilk pancakes are topped with seasonal fruits, such as cranberries or strawberries, that are grilled over mesquite wood and steeped in maple syrup. Unlike the sometimes saccharine sweetness of typical pancakes, the mesquite imparts a smoky, savory flavor, Compton said. If white truffles are in season, theyll get shaved atop the pancake stack.

Their take on avocado toast is also unconventional, and a bit of a jab at the maligned dish. Theres actually no toast involved at all. Instead, thinly sliced, tempura-fried sweet potato gets topped with a sour cream and onion dip, slices of avocado and grated horseradish. Past pop-up dishes have included porridge topped with fermented onion or oatmeal in fritter form, served with rye ice cream. Latvian dishes like bacon-filled piragi pastries sometimes make an appearance, a nod to Comptons heritage.

Courtesy Timofei Osipenko

The drinks menu, developed by beverage director James Butler, will feature lots of sparkling wine and low-ABV cocktails. For the latter, think a play on an espresso martini made with cold brew and Madeira wine.

Their goal, Compton said, is to redefine what breakfast is and go outside of the box.

The Union Street space is meant to evoke a retro American diner, with banquettes, pops of pastel colors and a checkerboard linoleum floor. They also built a corner bar where customers can grab a cup of coffee. The dining room features two murals, and one wall is decorated with family portraits of the restaurants two namesakes: Hilda, Comptons grandmother, and Jesse, Sillcocks grandfather. Hilda and Jesse will be open initially for indoor dining only, with plans to add takeout later.

Food Guide Top 25 Restaurants Where to eat in the Bay Area. Find spots near you, create a dining wishlist, and more.

Hilda and Jesse will be primarily a daytime restaurant, so at night they plan to turn the space over to community events, art shows and food pop-ups. Customers will be able to get breakfast for dinner, on Monday nights only, an ode to when the pop-up used to operate (and a night most restaurant workers have off). The restaurant will be tipless, opening instead with a 20% service charge.

Compton and Sillcocks started Hilda and Jesse in 2019. They met while working at the now-closed Range in San Francisco, where they developed a tradition of making and eating breakfast together after shopping at the farmers market most mornings. Sillcocks previously worked at Nopa, Piccino and Marla Bakery in San Francisco. Compton comes with fine-dining experience at Atelier Crenn and Avery. Their creative takes on breakfast fare grew popular  enough so that Bi-Rite Market in San Francisco started selling their buttermilk pancakes last year.

Hilda and Jesse. Opening Nov. 1. 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday-Sunday, 5:30-9:30 p.m. Monday. 701 Union St., San Francisco. hildaandjessesf.com
One San Francisco university is dangling the prospect of four years of free tuition for 10 prospective students ages 12 to 17 for getting vaccinated. One San Francisco high school has turned to bird-watching to help students readjust to school after social distancing for so long. The coming federal vaccine mandate could result in a wave of firings of employees reluctant to get the life-saving shots. That has many companies nervous that those jobs will be difficult to fill.

Resources on COVID-19 and Californias reopening: For detailed maps and new city-by-city Bay Area data, check The Chronicles Coronavirus Tracker. To get regular updates on our coverage, sign up for our coronavirus newsletter.

Latest updates:

Official who was near Biden tests positive: Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, tested positive for the coronavirus Tuesday, the agency said. He was near President Biden in an outdoor setting on Saturday at the annual National Peace Officers Memorial Service. Outdoor transmission is far less common than it is in indoor settings. Mayorkas is vaccinated. He was experiencing only mild congestion, department spokeswoman Marsha Espinosa said. He learned of his infection during routine testing ahead of a foreign trip. He now will isolate and work at home per CDC protocols and medical advice, the agency said.

S.Fs only In-N-Out temporarily shuttered after defying vaccine rules: San Franciscos Department of Public Health temporarily shut down the California burger chains Fishermans Wharf location on Oct. 14 after it found out that In-N-Out employees were letting customers into the restaurant without checking their vaccination status, despite multiple warnings from health officials. In-N-Out acknowledged the enforcement violation, calling San Franciscos indoor vaccination requirement intrusive, improper, and offensive governmental overreach. Read more here.

Maines vaccination mandate upheld in high court: The U.S. Supreme Court declined Tuesday to block a vaccination requirement for Maine health care workers, the latest defeat for opponents of vaccine mandates. It was the first time the Supreme Court weighed in on a statewide vaccine mandate, following rejecting challenges to vaccination rules for New York City teachers and Indiana University staff and students. Maines Gov. Janet Mills imposed the rule requiring hospital and nursing home workers to get vaccinated or risk losing their jobs.

Wednesday vaccination deadline for L.A. city workers could be extended: Los Angeles city workers may get more time to meet the citys COVID-19 vaccination requirement or request an exemption. Under a plan proposed by city officials, they could have until Dec.18, an extension of the Wednesday deadline, to get shots or seek exemptions, the Los Angeles Times reports. If that happens, theyd have to undergo COVID-19 testing twice weekly, with a $65 per test cost deducted from their paychecks. After Dec. 18, those not following the vaccination rules would face corrective action. The City Council first has to approve the proposed plan. As of Monday, more than 70% of city workers said they were fully vaccinated, the Times reported. Some police and fire employees are suing over the requirement.

California back in second-worst transmission tier: In what has become a weekly ping-pong, the state on Tuesday was once again was back in the second-worst, substantial, COVID-19 transmission category, marked orange on the CDC color-coded map, after advancing to the coveted yellow tier on Monday. Mondays short-lived spell in the moderate yellow level was due to a customary lag in reporting data over the weekend. But the state does continue to show improvement as the average rate of new weekly cases has fallen to 60.7 per 100,000 residents, second only to Hawaiis 59.9 cases per 100,000 residents.

More than 130,000 childrens COVID cases last week in U.S.: There were 130,575 child COVID-19 cases reported in the United States for the week ending Oct. 14, with children representing 25.5% of the weeks total cases, according to data fromthe American Academy of Pediatrics. The number marks a slight decrease from the 148,000 cases reported the previous week and continues a downward trend from a peak of nearly 252,000 reported childrens COVID cases for the week ending Sep. 9. On Tuesday, the organization  along with the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and the Childrens Hospital Association  declared a national state of emergency for childrens mental health. The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a serious toll on childrens mental health as young people continue to face physical isolation, ongoing uncertainty, fear and grief, the groups said in a statement. Even before the pandemic, mental health challenges facing children were of great concern, and COVID-19 has only exacerbated them.

Berkeley school buses stop running due to virus exposure: Berkeley Unified parents are on their own to carpool or otherwise get their kids to elementary school this week after many district drivers and transportation employees were exposed to COVID-19 in three separate instances last week. On Monday, the district stoopped running the buses, through Thursday, following last weeks exposure. Based on the length of the quarantine, we expect all student transportation to be running on a normal schedule on Friday, October 22, district Superintendent Brent Stephens wrote to parents. A district spokesperson told Berkleyside that the cases did not appear due to transmission at the school district.

Uptick of older residents without boosters in Marin County hospitals: Marin County health officials and health care organizations are urging older adults to get COVID-19 booster shots, as more residents over 65 are being hospitalized who were vaccinated more than six months ago. People who got Pfizer shots more than six months ago are eligible for boosters, and similar authorization is expected for Moderna and Johnson & Johnson boosters within days. Nearly 95% of Marin residents over age 65 have been fully vaccinated, compared to 92.5% of all residents 12 and older, and local COVID-19 deaths rates have fallen dramatically, a county news release noted: To maintain this protection, Marin County Public Health has set a goal for at least half of all residents over age 65 to receive their booster within the next month. Currently, only 25% of residents in that age group have received a booster dose. Among those hospitalized with COVID-19 since June, close to 8 in 10 were 65 or older. Said county Public Health Officer Dr. Matt Willis: The tragic death of Colin Powell highlights the vulnerability of vaccinated people with weakened immune systems. An additional booster shot can help keep you healthy.

Pfizer vaccine highly effective in keeping kids out of hospital: In a study adding real-world data to vaccine knowledge regarding teens, the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine was found to be 93% effective against hospitalization for 12-18-year-olds, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday. The CDC-published research looked at hospitalized teens between June and September, when the ferocious delta variant of the coronavirus was predominant. Among COVID-19 patients, just 3% were vaccinated. Among those not infected with COVID, 33% had been vaccinated.

California has just 1% of COVID school closures: California, set to require vaccination for all schoolchildren when federal authorites approve the shots for younger kids,so far accounts for a tiny share of the nations school outbreaks, the New York Times reports. Of the 2,321 COVID-related school closures across the U.S. since August, about 1% have been in California, although the state accounts for 12% of the nations K-12 students, according to data the Times cited from technology company Burbio, which monitors outbreaks. California has one of the nations highest vaccination rates, and strict mask requirements for schools. Children have made up a larger portion of infections even as the fall school semester has coincided with a steady drop in infection rates statewide. Public health experts say the vaccine mandate for kids makes since cases could climb again with new variants afoot and winter months seeing more inside activity. Additionally, infection and vaccination rates vary across the state, with numerous COVID-related school closures occurring in regions that have less vaccine uptake.

Vaccine mandate at Napa Valley College for spring term: Napa Valley College will require students, employees and volunteers to be vaccinated against the coronavirus as a condition of going on campus in spring semester, the Napa Valley Register reports. The community colleges board in a Zoom meeting last week decided students attending classes or taking part in other on-campus activities will need to show proof of inoculation against COVID-19, before Jan. 18, and the staff and volunteer mandate will be effective Jan. 1. Exemptions for medical or sincerely held religious beliefs will be allowed, and those exempted will have to take weekly COVID-19 tests. The UC and Cal State systems and many other community colleges also require vaccination.

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.

All Bay Area counties advance out of CDCs worst transmission category: Bay Area counties continue to show declining coronavirus transmission levels, as Napa County on Tuesday became the last in the region to advance out of the worst high transmission category on the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions color-coded map. Solano County made the move last week, becoming one of 6 Bay Area counties that are now considered to have substantial transmission. Three counties  Marin, Alameda, and San Mateo  are in the moderate transmission category, the second best level, ticking off at least one of the benchmarks for loosening COVID-19 restrictions instituted to contain the delta COVID-19 surge of the summer.

Transgender trailblazer earns 4-star admiral rank in Biden administration: Dr. Rachel Levine, the first openly transgender federal official confirmed by the Senate and a key Biden administration official on the pandemic frontlines, has been named a four-star admiral, the federal Health and Human Services Department announced Tuesday. Levine is assistant secretary for health and leads the U.S. Public Health Service commissioned corps. She is the first female four-star admiral in the history of the 6,000-plus-member corps of federal health and science professionals. She is the first openly transgender person to become a four-star officer in any of the nations eight uniformed services.

Russian Cabinet seeks national week of not working as infections soar: Russia, beset by lagging vaccination rates, registered another daily record of coronavirus deaths Tuesday as rapidly surging infection rates prompted the government to suggest declaring a nonworking week. The government task force reported 1,015 coronavirus deaths over the past 24 hours, the highest number since the start of the pandemic. That brought the total death toll to 225,325  by far the highest in Europe. Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova said the Cabinet will ask President Valdimir Putin to approvea weeklong nonworking period starting Oct. 30, similar to one early on in the pandemic that hammered the economy and sapped Putins popularity.

Bay Area largely sits out protests over vaccine mandates for students: As hundreds of demonstrators gathered in Sacramento on Monday and parents across the country held their kids out of schools to protest COVID-19 vaccine mandates for students, the politically active Bay Area appeared to be sitting this one out. Read the full story here.

What we know about AY.4.2, a delta subvariant thats spiking cases in the U.K.: The delta variant is still the overwhelmingly dominant coronavirus strain in California and the U.S., but one of its descendants is starting to gain traction overseas. Known as AY.4.2, its on the rise in the United Kingdom. Dr. Scott Gottlieb, former U.S. Food and Drug Administration commissioner, in a tweet Sunday noted that it now accounts for 8% of sequenced coronavirus cases in that country and said urgent research is needed. Read the full story here.

NHL suspends Sharks player for submitting fake vaccine card: San Jose Sharks forward Evander Kane was suspended for 21 games after he submitted a fake vaccination card, the Associated Press reported.

Protesters against vaccine mandate for kids throng Sacramento: More than a thousand people crowded the front steps of the California Capitol on Monday to protest Gov. Gavin Newsoms decision to require all school children to get the coronavirus vaccine. Newsoms mandate, announced earlier this month, made California the first state in the country to say it will require the shots for schoolchildren once full federal approval is in place.

Stanford restricting post-Thanksgiving campus activities: Stanford University announced it will restrict campus activities after Thanksgiving break for unvaccinated students and all students returning from international travel. A message to students from the dean of students and health services director stated: Restricted activity means you cannot attend in-person class. There will be no special arrangements in place to accommodate students who cannot attend class because of Thanksgiving travel. For this reason, we discourage international travel during the Thanksgiving Break so that you can continue your studies in week 10.

Public health agencies in crisis mode across U.S.: Local public health across the country is less equipped to deal with another pandemic than it was at the start of 2020, the New York Times concluded after a nationwide survey of public health departments and interviews with more than 140 local health officials, public health experts and lawmakers, and a review of laws and documents. Already underfunded, public health departments have been further undermined with a staggering exodus of personnel, many exhausted and demoralized, in part because of abuse and threats as public support for their work has waned. Among 300 public health agencies that responded, about 130 said they did not have enough people to do contact tracing, one of the most important tools for limiting the spread of a virus. The Times identified more than 500 top health officials who left their jobs in the past 19 months. State legislators have approved more than 100 new laws  with hundreds more under consideration  that limit state and local health powers.
When Walgreens said it would close five stores in San Francisco, the reaction was a firestorm.

Why? Because the company blamed shoplifting, reigniting a polarizing debate over whether the city is tough enough on property crimes.

On this episode of the Fifth & Mission podcast, reporters Shwanika Narayan and Susie Neilson join host Demian Bulwa to discuss the Chronicle's findings: that statistics on reported shoplifting cases from the SFPD do not support Walgreens' explanation.
San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone isnt giving up on his public campaign to convince House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a fellow Catholic, to renounce her support of abortion rights.

In fact, the archbishop just intensified it with something familiar to Pelosi: a national media campaign against her.

Well, its more like a mini-national campaign. The archbishop is trying to punch up in the political world at a time when the national conversation over abortion is reaching a fever pitch. The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear a Mississippi abortion case on Dec. 1 that could effectively cripple the landmark Roe vs. Wade decision.

On Monday, the Department of Justice asked the Supreme Court to temporarily block enforcement of a Texas law that bans nearly all abortions after an embryonic heartbeat is detected  usually around six weeks  and makes no exceptions for rape, sexual abuse or incest. The new law also enables private citizens to sue anyone who either performs an abortion or aids and abets one  and collect $10,000 plus their legal fees if they win the case. Texas has until Thursday to respond.

Yet even in this intensified atmosphere, Cordileones challenge is that hes playing on Pelosis political turf: She eats mini-ad campaigns like this with her morning cappuccino. And there is less than zero chance she budges on an issue  a womans right to control her body  that is sacrosanct to her, the vast majority of her fellow Democrats and even a majority of Catholics.

Cordileones religious jurisdiction may overlap with Pelosis political district, but on this issue, shes got the votes on their shared turf.

But Cordileone is looking at this nationally, focusing on Pelosis support of the Womens Health Protection Act of 2021, which was a response to the new Texas law. The bill, which passed the House 218-211 last month, prohibits restrictive state laws that interfere with womens ability to seek abortions.

Nevertheless, Cordileone is starring in what supporters say will be a $50,000 digital ad in which he asks viewers to pray and fast (eat only one meal on Fridays) as a sign of support. Its name: the Rose and Rosary for Nancy Campaign.

There is also a 30-second radio spot, airing on Catholic radio stations nationally that doesnt specifically mention Pelosi but asks Catholics to commit to pray and fast for conversion of hearts of members of Congress.

As of Friday, 12,170 people had signed the pledge. For every pledge received, the conservative Catholic organization Benedict XVI Institute  which is funding the ad  will send a rose to Pelosi. Earlier this month, supporters delivered 1,000 roses to her San Francisco office.

A Pelosi spokesman declined to comment. Last month, Pelosi acknowledged that she and Cordileone have a disagreement about who should decide this. ... I believe that God has given us a free will to honor our responsibilities.

Politically, this seems like a mismatch. Cordileone has long waded into political issues, and was a key fundraiser for Proposition 8, the 2008 ballot measure that banned same-sex marriage in California. At the time, Cordileone said, the ultimate attack of the evil one is the attack on marriage.

Ultimately, he lost. Same-sex marriage is legal nationally and even few Republicans mention the issue for fear of being on the wrong side of public opinion: 55% of Republicans support same-sex nuptials, according to a June survey by Gallup.

He was also a prominent national leader on the bishops campaign against the contraceptive mandate in the Affordable Care Act. At the time, he said he was outraged that our religious liberties are violated by this mandate. He lost that battle, too, and the health care law is now seen favorably by 58% of all adults, according a survey this month by the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation.

Cordileone has also been critical of COVID-related restrictions on holding religious gatherings.

On the abortion issue, however, the archbishop is underfunded. A $50,000 digital ad campaign in political terms is like tossing a quarter in the collection basket. (From experience: Make sure its not a metal collection plate: That way everybody wont know you didnt drop a paper bill inside when they hear that clang!) For perspective : A 2015 study found that winning California Assembly candidates raised an average of $837,000.

While Cordileone may find support in some Catholic circles and conservative media for his abortion campaign, hes going to find it harder broadening his support beyond that  even among many in his flock. According to a Pew Research survey from this year, 55% of Catholics think abortion should be legal in all or most cases. Two-thirds of Catholics who attend Mass weekly believe abortion should be illegal, according to a 2019 Pew study.

Then again, this is all about drawing attention to the issue by politically punching up. If Cordileone calls out one of the most powerful politicians in the country, it can shine a much brighter spotlight on abortion than just talking about the issue generally would. So far, the results are slim.

And as for the speaker, Pelosi has stared down way bigger adversaries  see Trump, Donald. In 2018, conservatives spent tens of millions of dollars invoking her name in 1 of every 5 Republican-made ads run in that cycle. The result: Democrats flipped the House.

While Pelosis 36% approval rating in a Morning Consult poll last week isnt great, it was far higher than those for Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (28%), Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell (22%) and Bakersfields own GOP House Leader Kevin McCarthy (22%).

Cordileone said this is not about politics.

First of all, Im not a politician; Im a pastor of souls, Cordileone told me in an email. My one concern in life is the spiritual well-being and eternal salvation of those who have been entrusted to my pastoral care. I believe Speaker Pelosi has a sincere attachment to her faith, and I believe our shared faith is really true, which means I believe in the power of prayer and fasting to change human hearts.

A larger obstacle for Cordileone could be that Pelosi recently had a very friendly meeting this month with Cordileones de facto boss, Pope Francis. The meeting between the pope, the speaker and her husband, Paul, seemed friendly, with the three laughing and the pope warmly holding Pelosis hand at times, according to a video Pelosis staff posted of their meeting.

Cordileone dismissed Pelosis papal visit during an interview last week on the conservative Newsmax TV network, saying, the popes meet with everyone ... no matter who they are even if there are these problematic things in their background.

Soon, Cordileone will see another pro-abortion rights Catholic politician visit the pope. President Biden is scheduled to visit Pope Francis later this month. If Cordileone broadens his campaign, the president might be receiving some flowers in the mail from San Francisco.

Joe Garofoli is The San Francisco Chronicles senior political writer. Email: jgarofoli@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @joegarofoli
When developer Patrick Kennedy opened the Panoramic apartment complex at Mission and Ninth streets in 2015, the building was celebrated as a solution to San Franciscos lack of student housing.

A handsome structure with a retro-looking blade sign, it was half pre-leased to the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and half to the California College of the Arts, both institutions that were struggling to find housing for their students amid a housing market with the nations fastest-rising rents.

Now both those schools have built their own new student housing  the conservatory on Van Ness Avenue and College of the Arts near its Dogpatch campus  and Kennedy has its sights on a new use for the complex at 1321 Mission St.: apartments for formerly homeless people.

On Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors will vote on whether to spend $86.6 million to acquire the property with state funds made available through Project Roomkey, an initiative launched in the early days of the pandemic to convert empty hotel rooms into housing for medically vulnerable homeless people. So far 10,952 rooms have been secured, including 2,059 in San Francisco.

While the 160-unit Panoramic is an atypical Roomkey candidate  because it was built as a dorm, not a hotel  it is especially useful because it includes 40 three-bedroom suites that can accommodate families with children, according to Mary Kate Bacalao, director of external affairs and policy at Compass Family Services.

Its more than just a safe place to sleep for these families  many of whom are living in their cars right now, she said.

The acquisition is facing resistance by some SoMa residents who feel that the stretch of Mission Street between Fifth Street and Van Ness, already heavy with social services and subsidized housing for the formerly unhoused, has deteriorated in recent years. While that part of Mission Street attracted new restaurants and businesses during the boom years of 2014 through 2018, those places have largely gone belly up.

There are more than a dozen vacant storefronts, and the lack of commerce and foot traffic has been a magnet to drug addicts and dealers, who frequently block the sidewalk and leave behind mounds of windblown trash, according to residents.

At a Board of Supervisors committee meeting, several west SoMa residents said the building is the wrong place to put formerly homeless people, some of whom have struggled with drug addiction. Its hard to walk down the street without being offered narcotics, said one resident, adding that her family has had to grow used to going to sleep with fentanyl wafting through our childrens windows.

Supervisor Matt Haney responded that he empathizes with those concerns of residents who feel that the neighborhood has become a dumping ground for services that other neighborhoods wouldnt allow.

SoMA and the Tenderloin take more than our fair share of the responsibility of housing people who are formerly homeless, he said. To me, that does not mean that we stop doing what we need to do.

He said the city needs to create supportive housing as fast as possible, especially as some of the hotels that housed homeless people are repopulated with tourists and business travelers.

The worst possible thing we could do is put these folks back on the street, he said. We have to keep these people housed.

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.

He said he took solace in the fact that the city is also approving Project Roomkey projects in the Sunset and Excelsior districts. The city is looking to acquire 1,500 units through Project Roomkey and received 85 proposals from hotels.

During the pandemic the Panoramic had already become home to about 50 tenants who are formerly homeless, several of whom spoke at last weeks Board of Supervisors Land Use and Transportation Committee hearing.

One resident said that living there has put a positive pressure toward normal thinking and behavior.

Another tenant, Jarvis Carpenter, said without the Panoramic he would likely still be on the streets.

I have mental health issues and depression issues, and (living at the Panoramic has) done nothing but help me, he said.

State Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, who wrote the legislation that provided incentives for developers of student housing, including the Panoramic, said he doesnt have a problem with the change.

As long as it is being used to house someone who needs housing, that is a good thing, he said.

J.K. Dineen is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jdineen@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @sfjkdineen
San Francisco could sell up to a whopping 1.2 million square feet in unused development rights tied to City Hall, allowing developers to increase the size of other projects in downtown.

The Board of Supervisors will vote Tuesday on whether to authorize the sale, which is expected to take four to five years to complete.

The base price would be $37.50 per square foot, subject to future increases if there is enough demand, according to a city memo. If all the rights are sold, the city would receive $45 million or more in revenue.

The amount of development rights is around twice as much as the size of City Hall itself, which contains 540,127 square feet across four floors, plus a mezzanine and attic. The rights are almost as large as the citys tallest building, Salesforce Tower, which is 1.4 million square feet, though they would likely be sold to numerous separate projects.

The effort faces hurdles, as development activity has fallen during the pandemic, office vacancy has shot up to 20% and the rights are limited to C-3, or downtown zones, where few suitable parcels are available for new buildings.

The citys real estate division is handling the sale and didnt immediately respond to a request for comment.

An additional 117,840 square feet of rights will be kept off market on the off chance City Hall needs to expand.

All of the funds would be restricted to City Hall renovations, and the city has identified four projects costing around $46.1 million that do not have funding: roof and dome leak repairs, dome revitalization, exterior stone refurbishments and interior preservation.

The sale of transferable development rights began in the mid-1980s in San Francisco as a way for shorter historic buildings to sell their unused building rights and fund maintenance and preservation.

The sale of what is also known as air rights  essentially transferring the development potential of unused air above a building  is also common in New York. In 2018, the owners of Grand Central Terminal sold 680,000 square feet of air rights for $240 million to JPMorgan Chase for a new headquarters tower nearby. Thats over $352 per square foot, or nearly 10 times what San Francisco is seeking.

In 2014, the Board of Supervisors approved the sale of up to 1.1 million square feet in rights tied to the San Francisco War Memorial, and 1.07 million square feet in rights has been sold, raising more than $32 million to fund repairs.

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.

Runde and Partners, a real estate appraisal company, determined the fair market value of the City Hall rights was $32.50 per square foot, but the city is seeking $37.50 per square foot because the War Memorial was able to achieve that price. The price could be lowered if nothing is sold for a year.

The city has discussed the opportunity with potential buyers, but there have been no commitments to date.

Although the pandemic has battered San Franciscos real estate market following a boom in the 2010s, some large-scale projects are moving forward. Developer Hines and National Pension Service of Korea bought the former PG&E headquarters for $800 million as part of a $2.5 billion renovation and proposed residential project nearby.

Hines and Goldman Sachs are also developing a $1 billion, 806-foot tower at 542-550 Howard St., with construction planned to start despite Salesforce canceling a lease for the office portion of the project.

Roland Li is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: roland.li@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @rolandlisf
A tourist hotel in Japantown will not turn into desperately needed homeless housing in San Francisco, after the owner backed out of selling the property to the city amid fierce neighborhood backlash.

The investment group that owns the 131-room Kimpton Buchanan Hotel, KHP Capital Partners, said in a Tuesday statement that it will no longer sell the building to the city after a lot of consideration and feedback from the community.

We will move forward with operating the Buchanan as a tourist hotel, and we look forward to continuing being an important part of the community for years to come as San Franciscos economy recovers, the statement said.

The news ends a months-long back-and-forth between the Japantown community and city leaders over whether the tourist hotel should turn into permanent supportive housing for formerly homeless people. Mayor London Breed is attempting to spread homeless housing beyond the Tenderloin and SoMa  areas where such housing is concentrated  but Tuesdays decision could set a precedent for other neighborhoods resistant to housing homeless people in their communities.

The boutique hotel at 1800 Sutter St. is currently being used as an emergency shelter-in-place hotel for unhoused people during the pandemic.

Jennifer Friedenbach, executive director of the Coalition on Homelessness, said she was extremely disappointed in the owners decision to table the sale. She would like the city to continue to look for housing in Japantown and the surrounding areas.

For unhoused people, many of whom are African American and have been displaced out of the same district, its a big loss, she said.

The Kimpton Buchanan was one of four properties that the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing hoped to purchase with competitive state funds and turn into homeless housing. The city said it still plans to apply for those funds to buy and rehab three other properties, as well as continuing to look for others.

The Board of Supervisors approved the purchase of one of those properties two weeks ago and two others on Tuesday.

Once converted, the three buildings  an Outer Mission motel, a student apartment building in SoMa and a single-room-occupancy hotel in the Mission  will add a combined 185 new permanent supportive housing units to the citys portfolio.

Some SoMa residents pushed back on the student housing conversion over the past few weeks, but  unlike in Japantown  didnt prevail.

The Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing argued that acquiring homeless housing in neighborhoods outside the Tenderloin and SoMa is important  especially for residents who are trying to live in areas where crime and drug dealing is less common.

But in a series of hours-long community meetings, many Japantown residents and businesses said they werent against the idea of having homeless people in their neighborhood. Instead, they said, they were concerned about how losing one of two tourist hotels in the neighborhood would hurt merchants and hotel workers.

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.

Our concern has everything to do with saving our communitys economy and the survival of Japantowns small businesses, Paul Osaki, a resident for 60 years and executive director of the Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California, previously told The Chronicle.

Osaki could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

In a letter last month, Supervisor Dean Preston, whose district includes Japantown, urged city officials to slow down its process for buying the Buchanan. He suggested two other tourist hotels in his district whose owners were willing to sell.

In a Tuesday statement, Preston said, The mayors office botched this one from the start.

Andy Lynch, a spokesman for Breed, did not respond directly to Prestons statement. But he said the mayor respects the decision of the owners not to move forward with a sale of the Buchanan.

Trisha Thadani is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: tthadani@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @TrishaThadani
Former San Francisco Supervisor Jane Kim publicly apologized for bringing a former aide accused of rape to a political event last month.

The former aide, Jon Jacobo, is a Mission District organizer who was considered a rising political star until two months ago when tenant rights activist Sasha Perigo went public with accusations that Jacobo had sexually assaulted her in April.

Perigo, 26, did not file a police report, and Jacobo, 33, has denied the charges on the grounds that the sex was consensual. But he resigned from his seat on the citys Building Inspection Commission, and took a leave of absence from his job as policy director for the South of Market nonprofit Tenants and Owners Development Corp., known as TODCO.

Kim was among politicos seen as trying to support Jacobo, and perhaps resuscitate his career by inviting him to the Rose Pak Community Fund event, for which she was condemned by the San Francisco Womens Political Committee.

I am relieved to see Jane Kim commit to the SFWPCs call to action, Perigo said in a statement, adding that those who commit sexual assault and abuse should be cast out of public life.

In a tweet, Kim wrote Jon should be 100% held accountable for his actions. Sexual assault is a serious criminal action and we rightly should have zero tolerance for this. In that light it was a mistake for Jon to attend the Rose Pak Community Fund dinner and I take ownership for his attendance.

Reached by phone Monday, Kim declined to elaborate on her tweet but said that she heard concerns over the past week that Jacobos attendance at public events was part of a return to public life.

Jon is not thinking of running for office. That is not on the table. Kim said. Jon is being asked to take accountability for the harm and trauma he has caused, and to rehabilitate. Kim also tweeted that she had reached out to both Perigo and the SFWPC to apologize.

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.

Reached by phone, SFWPC President Nadia Rahman declined to comment specifically on Kims tweet pending a follow-up conversation with her. Rahman told The Chronicle that SFWPC was contacted by multiple victims, claiming theyd also been sexually assaulted by Jacobo.

The fact that there have been multiple survivors has been overlooked in all of this, Rahman said. That indicates that violence against women who participate in San Francisco politics is pervasive on every level. To me, the behavior behind the scenes does not match the words that have been publicly stated.

Sam Whiting is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: swhiting@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @samwhitingsf
The history of the Riptide, a San Francisco oceanside bar, is like learning about reincarnation: how one space can be reinvented, over and over.

David Quinby and Les James are the latest in a line of bar owners at 3639 Taraval St. in the Outer Sunset. For a building thats existed since 1941, the stories out of the space are plentiful, with a wild and raucous lore that includes fires, murder, drugs and, now, a pandemic.

At first, the building stood alone, surrounded by nothing but empty streets and sand dunes from the ocean to about 19th Avenue, wrote San Francisco Chronicle columnist Carl Nolte. (SFGATE and the San Francisco Chronicle are both owned by Hearst but operate independently of one another.) The homes of the neighborhood rose around the building just after World War II.

The property was owned by two brothers, according to Quinby. One owned the bar side, known as the Oar House, where patrons could grab a sandwich or a drink. The other brother owned the adjacent shop and sold bait, lures and fishing poles to those fishing at Ocean Beach under the moniker  again, if this is to be believed  Master Bait Shop. (The two business names are perhaps an example of the brothers sense of humor, although most local newspapers at the time referred to the store as the Oar House Bait Shop, whether out of prudeness or that being the actual name of the business is unknown.)

Quinby and James recounted some of the more salacious stories theyve heard over the years; as they heard it, the old bar by the ocean was the perfect spot for debauchery and affairs, a drinking spot to carry on in, away from the rest of the city. In the 1960s, the Oar House became, as one writer put it, a grimly dangerous place, its tenure punctuated by no small number of murders and shootings. One such murder was recounted in a March 17, 1973 newspaper, where a mans beaten body was found in a tunnel at the west end of Taraval Street, under the Great Highway following some drinks with another man at the Oar House.

The next iteration of the bar was the Sand Bar in the 1980s. It too carried on the venues debauched legacy. What would ultimately force the closure of the bar in the early 2000s was that it was a hotbed for cocaine, openly sold under the presence of the Sand Bars bartenders, according to documents from the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control.

Quinby and James took over the space in 2002, turning it into the Riptide. While their time at the bar has been less eventful in some ways than the past  no murders, no drugs  they have nonetheless shepherded at least three versions of the space during their tenure. Theres the first version they built up following the Sand Bars forced closure, the reopened version after a devastating 2015 fire, and now theyre working through the mechanics of owning a bar during a pandemic.

What attracted Quinby and James to the location was music. As musicians, they frequented the bar to watch The Mermen, who used the bar as a rehearsal space. Following the closure of the Sand Bar, Quinby and James tracked down the person who held the lease for the space, Leonard Iffla, and talked out their ideas for the bar with him. Ultimately, Iffla liked their plans, Quinby said, and walked them through the finer points of bartending and bar ownership before gifting the lease to the duo.

As some regulars say ... the interesting thing about the Riptide is you built a bar  you didn't buy a bar, you built a bar, Quinby said. So [Iffla] gifted us the shell.

And we took over the lease, James chimed in.

Kevin Kelleher/Special to SFGATE

They rebuilt the bar as the Riptide, and since Quinby and James liked the music element of the bar prior to their ownership, they kept the music as central to their opening plans.

It already had this rustic kind of vibe, and of course the fireplace and the music  that's why we originally started coming here, Quinby said, noting the lack of music venues west of Twin Peaks. So Les and I both really wanted to keep ... the music going, inspired by The Mermen, and some blues, we saw here.

Quinby and James spent time building up their roster of bands and themed nights for bar patrons and music lovers, like themselves. A devastating fire in 2015, however, brought them back to the start; the fire, which started in the business adjacent to the bar, took everything back down to the studs, along with the decor and knick knacks collected over the 11 years since the bar opened under Quinby and James.

Kevin Kelleher/Special to SFGATE

The fire happened on Riptide general manager Alisha Liscinskys birthday and preliminary estimates clocked the damage at roughly $600,000. When asked about the damage, Quinby and James point to a single light bulb in the ceiling as the only thing that survived the fire.

Despite the catastrophic damage, the bar reopened in just 364 days  a point they both note with some pride  throwing open the doors the day before Liscinskys next birthday.

We didn't tell anybody we were open, we just opened the doors and whoever walked by just floated in, Quinby recalled. And [customers] see Alisha standing there and it's her birthday again  just like [when] we started the original, the first time we just opened the doors, nothing on the walls.

Kevin Kelleher/Special to SFGATE

Today, theyre 99% settled in  It was really starting to feel like we were coming back about three to four years after the rebuild, Quinby said  having slowly gathered back some decor on the walls, making the place feel like home again. Part of the reason they havent fully felt back in the swing of things has been the pandemic; just as they were adding antique items and improving things at the bar, the shelter-in-place order knocked them back again.

Closing for a brief three weeks, they reopened for to-go cocktails, teaming up with nearby Brothers Pizza to provide food alongside their alcohol offerings. Eventually they worked up to some weekend performances on the street out of the back of Quinbys pickup truck. They eventually built a parklet (nicknamed the corral) made of pallets from a regulars business, which they hope to keep up for as long as theyre allowed to.

Kevin Kelleher/Special to SFGATE

The interesting thing about this is nobody can really relate to the fire, so they like to hear that story  but everybody on the globe can relate to the pandemic, Quinby acknowledged. So it's really weird because you can share a story [and] somebody in Thailand or China can share a story, or Brazil, and they know, Yep, I had to just close my shop and just sit at my house, slowly I opened and [the pandemic] got worse, and we closed again; so [this experience is] really interesting.

Kevin Kelleher/Special to SFGATE

Having gone through (near) back-to-back issues with the business, the focus (again) is to build up the music. Its been a challenge, James acknowledged, as not all bands have felt comfortable performing yet, even with proof of vaccination being required at indoor venues. Music has come back to the Riptide, it just isnt quite like the pre-pandemic days  but they expect that to change soon enough.

Just as we get away from this [pandemic], people will really respect small businesses and try to support them as much as possible, Quinby predicted. I think this has shone a light on how difficult it is to have a small business, especially in San Francisco, and a lot of people probably didn't realize how difficult it is to survive ... hopefully people will come back and really support them.

Editors note: This story was updated at 12:05 p.m., October 19, to correct the date of Riptide's opening and include Jean Fontana's role as manager.

Kevin Kelleher/Special to SFGATE

Kevin Kelleher/Special to SFGATE

Kevin Kelleher/Special to SFGATE

Kevin Kelleher/Special to SFGATE

Kevin Kelleher/Special to SFGATE
On Tuesday morning, Mayor London Breed announced a new, privately funded reward of up to $100,000 leading to the arrest and conviction of individuals involved in organized crime rings, which the mayor's office says fuels automobile burglaries.

The reward is funded by "private donors in the hospitality and tourism industry," per a press release. The mayor's office did not immediately return a request for more information about these "private donors."

According to the release, the San Francisco Police Department and other regional law enforcement agencies have identified "fewer than a dozen regular auto burglary crews responsible for the large majority of auto burglaries that have plagued Bay Area cities in recent years."

More than $225,000 in reward money has been raised, the mayor's office said. Only those that "provide accurate and transparent information will be compensated up to $100,000."

The frequent auto burglaries in San Francisco are not victimless crimes, they have real financial and emotional consequences for the victims and were continuing to work to hold people who commit these crimes accountable, said Breed in a statement. These break-ins hurt our residents, especially working families who do not have the time or money to deal with the effects, as well as visitors to our City whose experiences are too often tarnished after an otherwise positive experience."

Breed said "good progress" has been made "in recent months" since the announcement of the Tourism Deployment Plan, which deploys additional police officers around San Francisco to protect tourists, but acknowledged that "there's still more work to do."

In recent years, San Francisco residents and visitors have been plagued by seemingly relentless car smash-and-grabs, in which perpetrators break the victims' windows and grab the items inside.

For the week ending in July 4 alone, 566 auto burglaries were reported throughout the city  a 2021 high point, the mayor's office said.

The most recently available data, for the week ending Oct. 17, shows 358 auto burglaries were reported in San Francisco  a 37% drop from the week ending on July 4.

In addition to its Tourism Deployment Plan, SFPD has "stepped up" its "Park Smart" public awareness campaign, the mayor's office said. The Park Smart campaign, which is a collaboration among multiple agencies in San Francisco, seeks to educate drivers and visitors and the prevalence of auto burglaries and advises them to take the necessary precautions, such as leaving items in the trunk, removing valuables from view and parking in lots with attendants when possible.
Two weeks after the debut of Dave Chappelles standup special The Closer on Netflix, the streaming giant is still grappling with internal backlash as a group of staffers prepare to stage a virtual walkout Wednesday.

The walkout is the latest episode of employee unrest surrounding the special, leading to the kind of tough news coverage normally aimed at other tech companies like Facebook and Google.

Many Netflix staffers were angered by Chappelles special, criticizing it as transphobic and harmful to transgender people. Reed Hastings and Ted Sarandos, Netflixs chief executives, have been steadfast in their support of Chappelle in multiple communications with staff, and have argued that his special has been popular with subscribers and would not lead to real world harm.

On Wednesday morning, a rally is scheduled for outside Netflixs Los Angeles headquarters, as a kickoff to the walkout, according to a social media post announcing the protest. The rally will include activists and public figures, and a list of firm asks will be sent to Sarandos, according to the post.

One Netflix staffer, Terra Field, a software engineer who has been outspoken in her opposition to The Closer, wrote a blog post on Medium on Monday detailing her whirlwind experience since posting a viral thread on Oct. 6 that said Chappelles special attacks the trans community, and the very validity of transness.

In the post, Field, who is transgender, said she was not asking that The Closer be removed from Netflix. Rather, she hoped executives would take concrete actions, including to stop pretending that transphobia in media has no effect on society. Field said she hoped Netflix would attach a warning to The Closer and other series on the streaming service that have been criticized as transphobic, and to promote other queer and trans content after people consume that content.

Of The Closer, Field wrote: It doesnt feel good to have been working at the company that put it out there. Especially when weve spent years building out the companys policies and benefits so that it would be a great place for trans people to work.

A place cant be a great place to work if someone has to betray their community to do so, she added.

There have already been several moments of tension between rank-and-file Netflix employees and top executives in recent days. At an emotional companywide meeting on Friday, several staffers asked tough and persistent questions of Sarandos about the special and the companys response to the criticism of it. After the meeting ended, Netflix said that it fired a staffer for leaking documents to the news media.

We understand this employee may have been motivated by disappointment and hurt with Netflix, a company representative said, but maintaining a culture of trust and transparency is core to our company.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
This article, FDA will reportedly allow mixing different COVID shots, originally appeared on CNET.com.

Members of an advisory panel to the US Food and Drug Administration voted unanimously on Friday to recommend boosters for everyone who received Johnson & Johnson's one-dose COVID-19 vaccine, one day after the committee recommended boosters for some Moderna recipients. Later in the meeting, members addressed the question of whether people need to stick to their original vaccine for boosters, especially in light of preliminary data that suggests mixing COVID-19 vaccines, or "heterologous priming," is effective or even beneficial in some cases.

There wasn't a vote by the advisory committee, but the FDA is now set to allow Americans to mix vaccine brands when they become eligible for boosters, sources familiar with the situation told The New York Times. The agency may suggest people stick with their original vaccine brand if possible, but will allow health care providers and patients the freedom to get a different brand of vaccine.

The official thumbs-up for combining coronavirus shots will reportedly happen this week, when the FDA is expected to officially authorize booster doses of Moderna and Johnson & Johnson. On Thursday, advisers to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are meeting and are expected to issue guidance on boosters and mixing vaccine brands. Before shots go into arms, both the FDA and CDC need to weigh in.

The only one-dose vaccine available in the US, Johnson & Johnson, has been a catalyst in the mixing COVID-19 vaccines discussion, as early research suggests people who received the one-dose vaccine have a higher antibody response to an mRNA booster compared to a boost with Johnson & Johnson (though antibody response is only part of the picture of immunity).

As the Times reported, allowing a mix-and-match approach may further reduce the appeal of Johnson & Johnson's vaccine, which isn't as widely available as Moderna's or Pfizer's in the US to begin with.

Some adults who initially received Pfizer are now eligible for a booster shot of Pfizer already, including adults who are at risk of severe COVID-19 because of a health condition and folks whose jobs put them at high risk of transmission. (Immunocompromised people who received an mRNA vaccine have been eligible for a third dose of Moderna or Pfizer for a while.) Moderna's and Johnson & Johnson's booster doses have recently received recommendations for authorization by the FDA's advisory committee, but are waiting on official authorization by the FDA and recommendations for use and distribution by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Mixing COVID-19 vaccines is being done in other countries, and it's also being done unofficially in medical offices as some people seek out COVID-19 boosters for themselves.

The mix-and-match allowance will be the newest layer to the booster rollout in the US, which some have criticized as a premature promise by the Biden administration to get all US adults a booster. Additionally, some officials with the World Health Organization have called on countries including the US to stop giving boosters to vaccinated people, when as few as 2.8% of people in lower-income countries have received a coronavirus shot, per Our World in Data.

As booster news continues to unfold, here's what to know right now about mixing COVID-19 vaccine brands.

Why is mixing vaccine brands such a big deal?

It's possible that it isn't a big deal, but before they make an official recommendation or give any sort of green light, scientists in the US need to determine whether the benefits of mixing different vaccine types outweigh the potential risks, and consider the differences between the vaccines.

For starters, while all three vaccines have the same effect, the way they function is a little different. Pfizer and Moderna are mRNA vaccines, which teach our cells to make a specific protein and build immunity against a virus. Johnson & Johnson is a viral vector vaccine, which uses a harmless virus to activate an immune response and tell our bodies what to fight in future infections. Both vaccine types prepare our immune systems for COVID-19 infection, and none of the coronavirus vaccines infects us with the actual coronavirus.

I qualify for an extra shot right now. Do I have to get the same one?

The newest CDC recommendation for some adults who received Pfizer only applies to those who got Pfizer for their initial coronavirus vaccine series. So if you qualify, you'll get another shot of Pfizer at least six months after your second dose.

If you're "moderately or severely immunocompromised," according to the CDC, and received Pfizer or Moderna as your COVID-19 vaccine, it's recommended that you receive another dose at least four weeks after your second shot. If you got Pfizer for your initial vaccine shot, you should get a third dose of Pfizer, and the same goes for Moderna. However, the CDC says that if you don't know what brand you received or if that brand isn't available to you, you could get the other mRNA vaccine. (Johnson & Johnson recipients who are immunocompromised aren't included in this recommendation by the CDC.)

So right now, the only CDC-endorsed "mix and match" approach is for immunocompromised people who received Moderna or Pfizer and can't receive the same mRNA vaccine for whatever reason (you lost your vaccine card and can't remember, the first one isn't available in your area, etc.) But this flexibility could carry over to booster recipients in the future, including during mass vaccination efforts in places like nursing homes where providers will only need to carry one type of mRNA vaccine for all residents, an advisory committee member noted Friday, or when people who can't receive their original vaccine for whatever reason.

What if I got a different shot by accident?

Generally, the CDC says that because data on people who've received two different vaccines (called a "mixed series") is limited, it's preferable to get your second dose of the same vaccine, even if it means waiting longer than the recommended time. But if there was a mix-up at the clinic or you accidentally received Pfizer for the second dose when your first shot was Moderna, you don't need a third dose of either vaccine and you're still considered fully vaccinated two weeks after your second dose of an mRNA vaccine, according to the CDC.

If you got Pfizer or Moderna for the first shot, then Johnson & Johnson for the second dose because you have a contraindication (an allergic reaction to your first dose or another medical reason you shouldn't get another dose of your first shot), you're considered fully vaccinated two weeks after your Johnson & Johnson shot, per the CDC.

Picture Alliance/Getty Images

Is it safe to mix and match?

The fact that guidance allows immunocompromised people currently eligible for an extra COVID-19 shot to get a dose of Pfizer if Moderna isn't available, and vice versa, is likely because scientists determined that the benefits of a third dose of coronavirus vaccine (protection against severe disease) for some people outweigh the unknown risks that may come from receiving another kind of shot.

"There are theoretical advantages to receiving different vaccine types, in that different parts of the immune system can be impacted for protection," says Dr. Margaret Day, physician and vaccine co-chair at University of Missouri Health Care. "But medical research is ongoing about antibody responses and T cell responses as well as safety and efficacy in trials."

At the latest FDA advisory committee meeting, some members pointed out that while official data on mixing COVID-19 vaccines is still sparse, it's being done, and there's a need for scientists to give the public some guidance. Preliminary data from the US also suggests that mixing a viral vector vaccine (Johnson & Johnson) with an mRNA vaccine produces a stronger antibody response than receiving a second dose of Johnson & Johnson, with Moderna as a booster especially.

Information from outside the US is also promising, and other countries have been officially allowing people to receive two different vaccines, including Germany, Canada, Sweden, France, Spain and Italy, per The New York Times. (In some cases, mixing vaccine types comes down to what's available.) In a study published in the journal Nature, researchers in Spain found that people who received one dose of AstraZeneca (a similar vaccine to Johnson & Johnson) and then received a dose of Pfizer seem to produce a higher antibody response than people who receive two doses of AstraZeneca. It isn't clear whether this group had a higher immune response than people who received two doses of Pfizer.

When or if public health officials determine that a mixed vaccine regimen is safe and effective, it may prompt US public health officials to make certain vaccine recommendations for specific groups. In the United Kingdom, for example, the National Health Service says that for people under age 40 who don't have a health condition, it's "preferable for you to have the Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna vaccine instead of Oxford/AstraZeneca," because of AstraZeneca's link to a very rare but serious blood-clotting disorder in younger people. Germany issued a similar recommendation about mixing AstraZeneca with an mRNA vaccine.

Johnson & Johnson's shot in the US has also been linked to the same rare-but-serious blood-clotting disorder, and the CDC says, "Women younger than 50 years old especially should be aware of the rare but increased risk of this adverse event, and they should know about other available COVID-19 vaccine options for which this risk has not been seen." If a mixed series is authorized, people in the US who originally received Johnson & Johnson but are at higher risk for a rare side effect would be able to opt for a different booster.

But isn't mixing vaccines already being done in the US?

In San Francisco, some Johnson & Johnson recipients have gone ahead and received an mRNA shot after the city made an "accommodation" for those asking for one, though it hasn't changed health policy in San Francisco.

The vaccine for Ebola, made by Johnson & Johnson, uses a mixed-dose approach. According to the EU Research and Innovation Magazine, the two-part vaccine is made up of two slightly different technologies and was developed this way because of the immune response it could produce.

Day says that while sometimes different vaccine brands are used, "a major difference is having years' worth of data available for review for those."

While research for everything else is underway, Day says the best thing you can do is to complete a COVID-19 vaccine series as currently reviewed.

In the US, 68.5% of adults are fully vaccinated, according to CDC data.

The information contained in this article is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as health or medical advice. Always consult a physician or other qualified health provider regarding any questions you may have about a medical condition or health objectives.
Black smoke billowed from the Kuhio Beach surfboard lockers along Waikiki Beach in Honolulu late Sunday morning. The two-alarm fire destroyed close to 600 surfboards and was deemed intentional after an initial investigation by the Honolulu Fire Department.

This is the second time this exact city surf rack, which stores surfboards for locals and the adjacent Moana Surfrider Hotel, has been set ablaze in less than two years.

According to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, a 43-year old man was arrested Sunday on suspicion of arson but was released later that night.

In February 2020, an arsonist set fire to the surf rack, but no suspect was ever arrested. It is unknown if the fires were started by the same person.

There was almost $650,000 in damage due to the fires destruction. The surfboard lockers stored surfboards that were used by Ocean Safety and Lifeguard Services, part of the City and County of Honolulu Emergency Services department, in case of emergency, and some were collectors items that were handmade by people over 30 years ago. There was also damage to the neighboring buildings, which included the Moana hotel, the Waikiki Beachside Bistro and the Waikiki police station. The police station is located directly next to an alley where the surfboards were stored. Reports say this fire escalated more quickly than in 2020 and the adjacent buildings seem to have suffered more damage this time.

Someone had to dump something on it. Gasoline. Lighter fluid. Not even 10 minutes, this whole place was engulfed, resident Markiss Flathau told Hawaii News Now. Its traumatizing, he said after losing surfboards in both fires.

The fire department responded quickly enough to evacuate people from the nearby establishments. No injuries were reported, according to the HFD.

The investigation into the fires is still ongoing.
KITAKYUSHU, Japan - Noodle chef Takashi Nakamoto moves so deftly as he boils, strains and arranges his signature plates of udon that it's easy to overlook the brutal reminder of his former life: his missing left pinkie.

Over three decades, Nakamoto rose through the ranks of the Kudo-kai, a violent syndicate of the once-powerful yakuza, a Japanese criminal network whose membership has been chipped away by more-aggressive law enforcement.

That effort has also led to a greater number of defectors like Nakamoto, who are trying to reinvent themselves after a life within the family-like hierarchies of the yakuza, ruled by a strict code of loyalty. Members are often conspicuous, with full-body tattoos and pinkies amputated by the mob as punishment for wrongdoing.

For years, the yakuza operated somewhat openly. It was monitored by police with the understanding that the yakuza would take care of petty crime on its turf and leave ordinary citizens alone. But now, Japanese authorities are applying more pressure as the yakuza's power begins to erode.

In 2015, while serving his last prison sentence, Nakamoto reflected on where he was going. He had lost faith in the organization and its future. It was time to leave.

"Even though I left the yakuza world, there is a lot I learned. And some of what is at the core is still the same," said Nakamoto, 55, sitting in his udon restaurant in Kitakyushu, a city in southern Japan that is home to the Kudo-kai.

"I was willing to do everything and die for my organization," he said, "and now I am just switching gears with that same mentality and putting that determination into living and working in normal society."

But finding normalcy does not come easy for former yakuza members, who face social stigma and significant legal barriers. Some government programs offer financial support as members transition from mob life, but many doors remain closed.

Yakuza membership is plummeting - the result of a decade of intensifying crackdowns targeting organized crime and the yakuza's reach into illegal activities including drug trafficking, money laundering and gambling.

There were about 70,300 known yakuza members in 2011, but that number had dropped to 25,900 by 2020, according to the National Center for Removal of Criminal Organizations. The exodus has made it feasible for longtime members like Nakamoto to leave the organization without fear of retribution for breaking the code of loyalty.

On Aug. 24, a Japanese court handed down what is believed to be the first death sentence of a yakuza boss, Kudo-kai leader Satoru Nomura, who was convicted of having a role in attacks on four civilians, including one who was murdered.

The verdict sent a wider message that times were changing for the yakuza.

After his sentencing, Nomura yelled at the judge: "You will regret this for the rest of your life." (The verdict is now under appeal. Nomura's lawyers later said the statement was not intended as a threat.)

"I think that the sentence has an impact on the yakuza world in that restrictions and regulations for yakuza as a whole will continue to become stricter," said Garyo Okita, a former yakuza member who now writes semiautobiographical books and oversees film projects about Japanese crime groups. "Now that there's a precedent of a death sentence, Kudo-kai won't be seen as some extreme case, but all yakuza will be seen as the same threat."

- - -

About a decade ago, yakuza groups had become so brazen and financially powerful that authorities across Japan enacted ordinances prohibiting any business or person from being associated with a yakuza member or activity.

The laws were designed to isolate the yakuza from society, said Noboru Hirosue, a prominent expert on criminal sociology and the yakuza.

That meant yakuza members could no longer open bank accounts, rent homes, get insurance or obtain cellphones. Okita, who left the largest syndicate, Yamaguchi-gumi, in 2014, said the crackdowns also restricted families of yakuza members and others in their social circles.

These changes led to the early retirements of elder yakuza leaders, and many underlings also stepped aside.

"The law had a huge impact on the yakuza world," Okita said.

But Hirosue, who works as a probation officer at the Justice Ministry, said the changes have led to a rise in other criminal networks outside the yakuza. These groups have now moved into new schemes, including elderly fraud, cybercrime and ways to profit off legal drugs such as sleeping pills and morphine, he said.

"Now, the Japanese underworld has entered a new phase," Hirosue said.

- - -

Motohisa Nakamizo, who left the Kudo-kai in 2011 when his boss retired, was hired at his parents' real estate company. It was his first legitimate employment after about 30 years handling Kudo-kai drug trafficking.

But such opportunities are rare.

Local regulations bar former members from activities such as opening a bank account or signing a lease for at least five years after they leave the network.

According to Hirosue's analysis of Justice Ministry employment figures for former yakuza members who register their defections with police, as few as 3% who left between 2010 and 2018 found jobs. Some who can't find jobs return to their yakuza organization, but others join new gangs, he said.

"Coming out of prison or a yakuza organization, you have to think that for the first five years you're not the same as everyone else. People often talk about starting from zero, but we are starting from minus, working toward zero," said Nakamizo, 56, sitting in his office in Hakata, a city near Kitakyushu.

Nakamizo now hires former members at his real estate company as a part of a Justice Ministry program. Yet only about 10% of them make it through the first five years. The rest usually end up returning to crime.

"I wish society as a whole wouldn't make prejudgments and [would] give these people a chance," he said. "Otherwise, it will leave them with nowhere to go, and will make them take the wrong path."

Many face an education gap that is difficult to overcome. For example, Ryuichi Komura left the Yamaguchi-gumi at age 38. His formal education ended at middle school, and he had served four prison sentences.

"I wanted to turn my life around," he said. But his chances of finding a stable job were poor. He was interested in law, but as a former yakuza member, it was next to impossible for him to become an attorney.

Instead, he decided to take the test to become a judicial scrivener, a job similar to being a paralegal that has a 3% acceptance rate. It took him eight years of study, and on his seventh try, he passed. He was 46.

- - -

Twenty years ago, Kudo-kai members rammed a car into a tea shop in Kitakyushu. It was an act of revenge against the shop owner, Toshiyuki Tsuji, who, to prevent the gang from settling in the neighborhood, had bought a building the Kudo-kai wanted.

So when Nakamoto, the udon chef, tried to open up his restaurant in Tsuji's shopping district - while he was still under the five-year ban - the cards seemed stacked against him.

But Nakamoto built individual relationships with other vendors, was honest about his time with the Kudo-kai, picked up trash from the street and volunteered for the shopping district's festivals and events.

"Nothing will change if you just wait for the five years to pass just because there are restrictions," he said. "You can't just wait for people to come to you and help you, but you need to be the one to reach out first."

Tsuji was impressed, and took a chance. As the head of the shopping district, Tsuji accepted Nakamoto's request to open his udon restaurant.

"Even if someone is ex-yakuza, if someone comes to me, I would first talk with them, looking into their eyes to see if they genuinely want to start over, and their seriousness," Tsuji said. "Everyone deserves the basic freedom to work."

On a recent weekday, a steady flow of customers ate lunch at Nakamoto's 13-seat restaurant, tucked in an alley between a hair salon and a laundromat. He still volunteers for festivals and sweeps the street without being asked.

His black long-sleeve shirt covers up his tattoos while he works. But he doesn't hide his past: A newspaper article featuring his story is framed on the wall, and in the restaurant bathroom are Japanese comic books about an ex-yakuza boss turned devoted house husband.
After California Gov. Gavin Newsom imposed the nations first COVID-19 vaccination mandate for schoolchildren, parents unhappy with the move converged at the state Capitol on Monday to protest.

Parents against the mandate were also expected to keep their kids home from school as part of the protest.



The mandate requires that all elementary through high school students get the shots once the vaccine gains final approval from the U.S. government for different age groups. So far, that approval only has come for those 16 and up. Newsom has said the mandate is expected to apply to grades 7 through 12 on July 1, 2022.

Video from sister station KCRA showed a large crowd at the state Capitol in Sacramento Monday. Organizers of the event say children should not be forced to get the COVID-19 vaccine to attend school, according to the event permit for 2,500 people that was approved by the California Highway Patrol.

"Im not against anyone getting vaccinated," student Maddox Smith said. "Im against being forced to get vaccinated. I think its about power more than anything, not public health."

Asked what would happen if her kids werent allowed in school for defying the mandate, parent Mariah Jones said, Then we would have to homeschool them. How are we supposed to work and provide for our children? So its really not a choice.

How governments can impose vaccine requirements

Leslie Gielow Jacobs, a professor at the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law, said that even though COVID-19 is a new illness, the process for requiring vaccines for students is not.

"Governments imposing vaccine requirements have been held consistent with the Constitution a number of times," Gielow Jacobs said.

Instead of a mandate by legislation, the COVID-19 vaccine mandate is by regulation through the California Department of Public Health. That means that, in addition to accommodating medical exemptions, the mandate must include personal belief exemptions.

"But I do want to point out that the Legislature can choose to pass COVID as another required vaccine, in which case it would be up to the Legislature to decide what exemptions to apply and perhaps only allow a medical exemption as it does for all the other vaccines," Gielow Jacobs explained.

The mandate takes effect the semester after the federal government grants final approval. A student who refuses to take the vaccine would be forced to complete an independent study course at home.

Students can opt out of the COVID-19 vaccine for "medical reasons and personal beliefs," but the rules for how the state would apply them are not yet clear.



Newsom has said the state won't stop districts that want to move more quickly than the state mandate.

California has required student vaccinations for a slew of diseases, from measles to chickenpox, for years.

Newsom's office, asked for a response to the protest, said that "vaccines are how we end this pandemic."

"The state already requires that students are vaccinated against a range of viruses such as measles, mumps, and rubella  theres no reason why we wouldnt do the same for COVID-19," a spokesperson in the governor's office said. "This is about protecting our children and school staff, and keeping them in the classroom  these measures are why California leads national trends in preventing school closures and achieving the lowest case rates in the country."

 The Associated Press contributed reporting.
Former president Donald Trump is suing to block the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol from receiving records for its inquiry into the events of that day as well as Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election results.

Trump and his attorneys argue that the records requests are overly broad and have no legislative purpose, and they criticize President Joe Biden for not asserting executive privilege to block the handover of those documents.

"The Committee's request amounts to nothing less than a vexatious, illegal fishing expedition openly endorsed by Biden and designed to unconstitutionally investigate President Trump and his administration," the lawsuit reads. "Our laws do not permit such an impulsive, egregious action against a former president and his close advisors."

The suit against the committee and the National Archives was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

The committee has signaled in recent days that it plans to be aggressive in its effort to secure information from Trump and his top aides. On Tuesday evening, the panel is expected to approve a criminal complaint against former Trump aide Steve Bannon, who has declined to comply with a committee subpoena.

Trump's office put out a statement saying that its legal arguments rest on three "pillars": that the committee's request serves no useful legislative purpose, such as informing the writing of a bill; that it undermines Trump's executive privilege rights; and that the committee is not providing the former president's team with sufficient time to review its records requests.

In florid terms, the 26-page complaint alleges that the committee seeks "to harass President Trump and senior members of his administration (among others) by sending an illegal, unfounded, and overbroad records request to the Archivist."

The suit claims that the records requested have "no reasonable connection to the events of that day" and accuses Biden of refusing to assert executive privilege as "a political ploy" intended to injure Trump.

The suit was filed by Jesse R. Binnall, who worked on Trump's failed attempts to contest the 2020 election results and who, along with attorney Sidney Powell, represented former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who was prosecuted by special counsel Robert Mueller.

"The former President's clear objective is to stop the Select Committee from getting to the facts about January 6th and his lawsuit is nothing more than an attempt to delay and obstruct our probe," committee Chair Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., and Vice Chair Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., said in a statement Monday evening. "Precedent and law are on our side."

It has subpoenaed several former Trump aides and has said some are "engaging" with its investigators so the panel has not yet sought to file complaints against them as it plans to with Bannon. Trump has urged those aides not to cooperate with the committee.

Some Trump aides have scrambled in recent days to find lawyers to represent them, expecting protracted battles with the committee, according to people familiar with matter who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private conversations. Others have begun considering the option of testifying but not commenting on any interactions with Trump.

Several Trump advisers described the suit as an opening gambit in an effort they expected to last many months, if not years.

New York University law professor Stephen Gillers called Trump's lawsuit "a naked effort to delay the work of the Jan. 6 committee until the 2022 election."

He noted that if Republicans take control of the House, they will disband the committee.

"How much longer will the courts tolerate such abuse without serious sanctions against Trump and his lawyers?" Gillers asked. "The credibility of the federal judiciary is at stake."

Laurence Tribe, a constitutional law professor at Harvard, called the suit a "very weak complaint" and scoffed at a key argument in the lawsuit.

"The idea that Congress has no legitimate purpose in making this request is almost insane. In fact, no purpose could be higher on the totem pole than protecting the Republic from a coup," he said.

Tribe said that there was one part of the lawsuit that did not seem frivolous: The complaint about overbroad requests for documents. He predicted that a judge might agree to narrow the scope of requested documents.

Trump's suit references in several spots the Mazars case, in which congressional Democrats were seeking personal financial information about Trump from his longtime accounting firm.

In July 2020, the Supreme Court ruled that the restrictions Trump proposed on congressional demands for private, nonprivileged information "risk seriously impeding Congress in carrying out its responsibilities."

Still, the court put a hold on the congressional subpoenas, suggesting overreach on the part of the lawmakers, and sent the case back to a lower court.

In the Mazars decision, which was 7 to 2, Chief Justice John Roberts lamented that it had to get involved in the first place, calling it "the first of its kind to reach this Court" and arguing the legislative and executive branches "managed for over two centuries to resolve such disputes among themselves without the benefit of guidance from us."

The Supreme Court could soon find itself embroiled in a similarly unprecedented case of Congress seeking information from a former president.

- - -

The Washington Post's Robert Barnes contributed to this report.
FilmMagic

Oakland-based Belcampo Meat Co., lauded for its sustainability practices, has closed all of its restaurants following a May scandal that revealed the company sold meat cuts by other purveyors and labeled them as their own.

The closures came Monday, according to Eater, which also pointed out that all of its social media accounts have subsequently been deleted. Calls made by SFGATE to Bay Area locations in Oakland and San Mateo went unanswered.
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What happens when two serial killers in recovery move to an idyllic Bay Area neighborhood, attempting to start a new life sans bloodshed for the sake of their newborn son?

Thats what Netflixs hit series You aims to explore in its latest and greatest third season, once again following Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley) and Love Quinn (Victoria Pedretti) as they settle into the fictional town of Madre Linda, which Joe illustrates via voiceover as a soulless, wealthy suburb of San Francisco replete with manicured lawns, influencers on keto diets who are afraid to feed their children fruit because of the sugar content, and tech billionaires next door who make their fortunes on surveillance software (which does not bode well for the couple with a penchant for manslaughter).

It doesnt take long for Joe to find a new obsession  and presumed victim  real estate agent Natalie (Michaela McManus,) who he creepily ogles through a hole in his fence while she sunbathes by the pool. She falls into the bored housewife trope and shows fleeting interest, but theres a snag in their pending affair: her husband Matthew (Scott Speedman) runs the security camera company that monitors the neighborhoods every move. I wish this Big Brother-like scrutiny felt dystopian  instead, its not too far off from something my coworker recently experienced at an Airbnb.

Natalie digs up Joes phone number online and invites him over for wine, which he gleefully accepts  for once, hes not the one who has to do the stalking, after all. Her home is even more closely watched than the rest of Madre Linda, with cameras in every room. She turns them off for Joes visit  knowing it will make her husband suspicious  and they share a steamy kiss. Joe returns home and confesses to his wife where hes been, but omits the details of the rendezvous.

Big mistake.

As one might expect, the neighborhood is filled with wealthy and insufferable neighbors who all fit well-worn Bay Area stereotypes. Of course theres another vague tech entrepreneur, Cary, married to a mommy blogger, Sherry, who calls the shots when it comes to social standing in Madre Linda. Brilliantly portrayed by Travis Van Winkle (Friday the 13th) and Shalita Grant (Search Party), they embody the Bay Area influencer culture thats ruining everything from pumpkin patches to local landmarks and might even go as far as to lie about the attempted kidnapping of their children to go viral. Cary fawns over Sherrys knack of hacking everything, from childbirth to finding a good school for their kids to their sex life. They document all of their do-goodery on social media and subtly condescend everyone around them.

John P. Fleenor/Netflix

If youve seen the first two seasons of You, you know that this party likely leads to a murder. And another murder, with Joe cleaning up the mess as the body count rises, and Love pursues her own affair with Matthews stepson Theo (Dylan Arnold).

People often think of the Bay Area as a hub for innovation and creativity, not to mention prosperity for the privileged few. But with that comes an underbelly, one that You toys with in an interesting way. Sherrys egocentric nature takes a dark turn when she coordinates a search party for one of the murdered characters, contacting the media so she can detail through crocodile tears how theyre the best of friends  on live television, of course  when in reality she had socially exiled this individual. Matthews paranoia comes to a head as he hacks the neighborhoods security cameras, scouring them for a trace of the same character and uncovering some disturbing secrets along the way. No privacy exists in Madre Linda, which is mirrored in the fishbowl-like cell in the basement of Loves bakery, where the couple hides some of their still-alive victims.

Netflix

Though the third season was actually filmed in Los Angeles, there are some undeniably Bay Area-centric moments that provide a bit of comic relief. At one point, Theo gets a DUI on an electric scooter. In another episode, Joe purchases Love a box of donuts from an Instagrammable bakery in Berkeley (theres no way they taste as good as they look). Later, Sherry and Cary lament the fact that they cant host a party at their home, which is currently under renovation.

Elons decorator is brilliant, but hes so slow, Sherry whines, referring to the Tesla CEO.

And one episode is fittingly titled So I Married an Axe Murderer in a nod to the North Beach-shot comedy.

John P. Fleenor/Netflix

Im not here to glorify our societys morbid captivation with true crime or explain why we dont need another Ted Bundy biopic starring The Marvelous Mrs. Maisels Luke Kirby, but theres something about Yous plot that is undeniably compelling and completely bonkers, balancing eroticism with warped, wry humor and a good dose of slasher horror. It also exposes the anxiety of becoming a parent  will my child like me?  and takes it to the nth degree  does my son know Im a sociopath? Not only do we get to see the plot of a thriller play out through the distorted eyes of an unreliable narrator, but we also get to see him meet his match  his wife  with their suspicions of each other looming over each chaotic episode.

Fans of You will know that previous seasons of the show have ended on a rather messy note. Its a minor spoiler, but shouldn't be a surprise that  like so many other residents  Joe and Loves days in the Bay Area are numbered.
Note: This story originally ran on July 28, 2019. After a 20-month absence due to the pandemic, SFOs Wag Brigade is finally returning to the airport this week. All volunteers working with the animals will comply with SFOs mask and vaccination mandate.

Pure joy is not something you come across often in an airport.

Flights are delayed, security lines are long, and more often than not travelers are grumpy and stressed. But what if during the midst of a sullen march down a moving walkway, you met eyes with not another poor schmuck hauling an overstuffed carry-on, but instead, a fluffy golden retriever?

Enter the Wag Brigade, San Francisco International Airport's very own fleet of volunteer therapy dogs.

Douglas Zimmerman/SFGate

Whereas petting most dogs working at airports is strictly forbidden, members of the Wag Brigade wear blue vests that urge "pet me!" SFO has 22 dogs on the squad, plus the world's first-ever airport therapy pig (more on the pig later).

Therapy dogs originated in the wake of 9/11 at the Mineta San Jose International Airport as a way to alleviate passengers' anxieties. A program at LAX called "PUP" launched in 2013; SFO quickly took notice.

Douglas Zimmerman/SFGate

"We launched as a pilot program in late 2013 with six dogs to gauge the reaction from passengers," said Jennifer Kazarian, an SFO employee who manages and trains the Wag Brigade. "The engagement was just amazing. So from then on we were like okay  send more dogs!"

All participating pets are graduates of the SF SPCA's Animal Assisted Interactions (AAI) training program. Becoming a therapy dog isn't easy  according to the SPCA, said Kazarian, "It takes a unicorn therapy dog to become an airport therapy dog because of the large crowds."

On a Tuesday afternoon, a few of these "unicorns" filed in for duty at SFO: Benga, a pekingese-shih tzu mix, Brixton, a golden retriever, and Jagger and Toby, both goldendoodles. Accompanied by their handlers, they went through security. Then, they headed to the Flight Information Display Screen to look for delays. Where delays are, stressed out passengers follow  and thus, the dogs are called to do their thing.

Douglas Zimmerman/SFGate

Usually, this means Terminal 3, where United Airlines flights are located.

Once the dogs parked themselves in the terminal, the crowds didn't take long to form. Young and old alike stopped in their tracks when they spotted the four friendly canine faces, gasping, giggling, or letting out quiet "aww"s. Some asked for pictures; others were satisfied with pets.

Each dog had a different approach: Brixton rolled onto his back to accept bellyrubs; Jagger excitedly wove through peoples' legs, his comically poofy hairdo delighting travelers; the owner of Benga, the smallest of the crew, encouraged passengers to hold her. When children approached the dogs, their handlers passed out trading cards featuring the dogs' faces and bios.

"We often hear people say things like: 'I miss my dog more than my wife' or 'I just got back from a two-week vacation and this is the best part of my trip,'" recalled Kazarian.

Douglas Zimmerman/SFGate

But then, it was time for the real star of the show. A text announced her arrival: "The eagle has landed."

Minutes later, a pig with red-painted nails joined the dogs on the terminal. If people had been starting to lose it over the dogs, they were absolutely toast now.

LiLou, a whip-smart performer who lives in an apartment in Nob Hill, is the program's first certified therapy pig. Doing tricks such as twirling, playing a toy piano, and taking a bow, LiLou is obviously a huge hit whenever she makes an SFO appearance.

Douglas Zimmerman/SFGate

"Beauty, brains, and talent," announced owner Tatyana Danilov, fondly introducing LiLou to the now huge, mildly hysterical crowd forming in Terminal 3.

Accepting attention and pets from a crowd of adoring fans seems like a pretty easy job, but it's not always a walk in the park for the Wag Brigade.

"An airport is a much more dynamic setting compared to other types of locations that animals and handlers might volunteer at," explained Kazarian. "Travelers may be experiencing a wide range of emotions, and Wag Brigade members need to be able to respond to this."

To combat this, animals undergo an airport familiarization experience before they start volunteering. They shadow a current therapy dog, learn about areas to avoid in the airport (i.e. the food court), and get a feel for whether the airport environment is a good fit for them.

Douglas Zimmerman/SFGate

But sometimes, meeting airport-goers on the less joyful side of the emotional spectrum is where the animals really shine. Linda Gordon, Brixton's owner, described instances of travelers heading to or from funerals, or of a woman who got stuck at SFO en route to Mexico petting Brixton for 30 minutes straight with tears streaming down her face.

"That helped get her through," Gordon recalled.

An hour and a half later, it was finally time for the animals to go home. It was difficult to get the crowd to disperse, as travelers kept approaching the squad for final pets. Really makes you wonder if people actually do miss their flights due to Wag Brigade sightings.

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Madeline Wells is an SFGate reporter. Email: madeline.wells@sfgate.com | Twitter: @madwells22
Party: Democratic

Are you an incumbent?: No

Current job: Adjunct Professor University of Connecticut, owner KWB Consulting, LLC

Volunteering background, if any: Corporator Griffin Hospital

Education: MBA University of Connecticut , BS Management Central Connecticut State University

Previous offices held: Board of Apportionment and Taxation

What promoted you to run for office? I decided to run for Alderman because the mayor and the Board of Aldermen have deliberately sidelined the Board of Apportionment and Taxation (A&T). As a former member of A&T and controller of Sikorsky Aircraft, I have years of experience managing a team-based budgeting oversight process. I feel that A&Ts role must be enhanced to make it more effective, not eliminated. The mayor states that A&T is no longer relevant because they are not able to produce a budget. As the ex-officio member of A&T, shouldnt he be assisting A&T members in completing their task, not criticizing them? As an Alderman, I will use my voice and experience to improve the budget process, engage A&T, and find new ways to save money.

What are the major issues/changes you are focused on if elected? a) We must first restore A&Ts authority to monitor the budget and independent oversight role that provides checks and balances and basic spending controls. Most towns, with a mayoral form of government, have a separate finance board. We need more control not less! I would work towards establishing a more cooperative and working relationship between A&T and the BOA finance committee with defined budget-related duties that would strengthen control of the citys finances using best financial practices, such as implementing new policies and procedures for controlling the surplus.

b) The chronic underfunding of the schools must stop. The first step is a more collaborative strategic process that recognizes the relationship between the Superintendent of Schools, the Board of Education, and the Board of Aldermen and realistically aligns the resources with the school systems needs. Since the BOA has the final say in school funding, they should be brought into the budget process as a partner and share budget responsibility for meeting student achievement goals. Therefore, all education spending decisions must address the impact on student and academic success.

c) In business, companies ensure that they operate productively and efficiently using performance measures. The city must do the same. The budget must manage results by measuring the quality, cost effectiveness, and outcomes of all the services it delivers and hold departments accountable for achieving their goals and objectives. Without these, citizens have no confidence that public funds are being spent wisely and effectively. The bus company is a perfect example of why these metrics are needed.

How can you make any proposed improvements yet keep taxes at the stable level they are at present? These changes will bring increased transparency and accountability not increased taxes. We need a budget process that aligns available resources to the needs of infrastructure, education, and vital public services. By instituting a system of results-based financial management with accurate accounting and reporting of how funds have been used, we will have better oversight and citizens will be assured that their tax dollars are spent responsibly and effectively.

Thoughts on BOE spending, city-run bus company? a. Do you agree with the spending levels set forth in the past for the BOE: Chronic underfunding of the school system has caused our per-pupil spending to be among the lowest in the state. We have seen flat budgets that do not recognize the increasing costs of education or even cover teacher salary contracts. Teacher layoffs and increased class sizes have become the norm. Spending levels should be determined through a strategic evaluation of instructional priorities and needs of the school system. Budgeting is about prioritizing resources and being able to assess how student performance is affected when funding is not adequate. This requires better information, analysis, and new levels of communication to build confidence among all education stakeholders.

b. is running a bus company (and the costs associated) worth it to the city? To answer the question, we would need to see the business case that shows the citys and BOEs overall cost to run the bus company compared to the bids from outside companies. The problem is the city deflects this question by pointing to the fact that the BOE is only charged $3.15 million for bus service. That is not the answer to the question of what the total cost is to run the bus company. The analysis must consider the companys total actual and budgeted costs of school transportation (buses, drivers, monitors, insurance, systems, depreciation, facilities, training, fuel, maintenance, etc.). Without such an analysis, there is no way to reasonably evaluate the validity of this decision, let alone the savings declared. If this study exists, why hasnt it been made public?
Party: Democratic Party

Are you an incumbent? No

Current job: Senior Manager, Edgewell Personal Care; Regional Leader, Primerica Financial Service; Real Estate, Investor

Volunteering background, if any: Board of Directors, CT United Way (2021 - Current); Connecticut Cancer Foundation (2020 - Current); Board of Directors, Boys & Girls Club of Lower Naugatuck Valley (2018 - current); Shelton High School Advisory Board (2019 - current); FUEL Advisory Board, Greater Valley Chamber of Commerce (2019-2020); Exchange Club of Shelton (2018-2019); Board of Directors, Rutgers University Alumni Association (2015-2018); Valley United Way (2017-2020).

Education: Saint Marys College of California, Executive Master of Business Administration, May 2014; Rutgers University-Rutgers Business School, Bachelor of Science - Finance, May 2008; Lackawanna College, Associates Degree, Business Science, May 2005; Bucknell University (2001 - 2003), civil engineering.

Previous offices held: Commissioner, City of Shelton, Water Pollution Control Authority (WPCA)

What prompted you to run for office?

a. I have lived in Shelton for six years and serving the people of Shelton is what prompted me to run for office! I have a track record of giving back and helping the local communities as a commissioner of the Water Pollution Commission Authority (WPCA), volunteering and serving on the Board of Directors for several non-profits. It would be my honor to serve the people of Shelton and provide them with a better quality of life.

What sets me apart from the group is my ability to build relationships, and get the job done while considering all variables and outcomes.

What are the major issues/changes you are focused on if elected?

a. Bringing the people of Shelton together to talk and compromise. Like the nation, the city of Shelton is divided. We need to remember that we are all in this together and we all want the same things.

b. Keep Taxes Low. Everyone in Shelton wants to keep taxes low to ensure we can sustain and maintain a proper quality of life for all including our seniors.

c. Properly funding our schools. Our schools are not properly funded, and properly funding our schools will ensure that we have the proper resources to educate and develop our children.

d. Downtown Revitalization. The majority of Shelton residents are concerned about the development, parking and traffic. We need to listen to the people of Shelton and ensure we keep Shelton, Shelton.

How can you make any proposed improvements yet keep taxes at the stable level they are at present?

a. Improvements to the city of Shelton can take place while keeping taxes low by applying and lobbying for both state/federal grants that are available to the people of Shelton. Working together, at all levels of government and regardless of party lines, to bring home tax dollars that have already been paid. Also, finding efficiencies within the current budget, as the Board of Appropriations & Taxation has identified line items that have opportunities in spending. The hard-working people of Shelton deserve and need more funding.

Thoughts on BOE spending, city-run bus company? Do you agree with the spending levels set forth in the past for the BOE, and is running a bus company (and the costs associated) worth it to the city?

a. The current BOE budget and city-run bus company needs further evaluation. The current city-run bus company has a lot of complaints and child safety issues. I believe they can be resolved but removing the city-run bus company during the school year could cause more issues. A full review and evaluation of funding, processes, and complaints with a priority of child safety should take place immediately.
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In early August, California's Department of Public Health (CDPH) issued a mandate for health care workers to be vaccinated by Sept. 30. Local government agencies within California, like the County of Los Angeles Department of Public Health, passed similar orders that expanded the CDPH mandate to, for example, nonmedical in-home healthcare workers.

Then, on Sept. 28, the CDPH expanded its mandate when it issued a new vaccine requirement, adding adult care facilities and direct care workers.

Under its new mandate, the CDPH now requires covered workers to be fully vaccinated by Nov. 30.

Featured Resource Center

COVID-19 Vaccination Resources



Covered Workers

The following workers are covered by the order:

All workers who provide services or work in adult and senior care facilities licensed by the California Department of Social Services.

All in-home direct care services workers, including registered home care aides and certified home health aides except for those workers who only provide services to a recipient with whom they live or who are a family member of the recipient for whom they provide services.

All waiver personal care services (WPCS) providers, as defined by the California Department of Health Care Services, and in-home supportive services (IHSS) providers, as defined by the California Department of Social Services, except for those workers who only provide services to a recipient with whom they live or who are a family member of the recipient for whom they provide services.

All hospice workers who are providing services in the home or a licensed facility.

All regional center employees, as well as service provider workers, who provide services to a consumer through the network of regional centers serving individuals with developmental and intellectual disabilities, except for those workers who only provide services to a recipient with whom they live or who are a family member of the recipient for whom they provide services.

Exemptions

The exceptions for those who work in-home, WPCS, and hospice, as detailed above, only apply if the workers provide services to a single household. If the workers provide services across multiple households, the exceptions do not apply, and the worker must comply with the order.

Workers may also be exempt from the vaccination requirements due to closely held religious beliefs or qualifying medical reasons. Workers who believe they are covered by either of these exemptions must provide their employer with a declination form signed by the worker.

Requirements for Unvaccinated Workers

If a worker is exempted from the vaccination requirements, either due to religious beliefs or qualifying medical reasons, the worker must comply with the following requirements:



Test for COVID-19 with either PCR or antigen test once weekly.

Wear a surgical mask or higher-level respirator, such as an N95 filtering facepiece respirator, at all times while in the facility or home.

Record-Keeping

Employers of covered workers will be required to maintain records of workers' vaccination or exemption status. Employers must also keep records regarding worker testing for those employees who are exempt from vaccination. These records must be kept confidential pursuant to applicable privacy laws and regulations.

Elizabeth H. Murphy and Reem Blaik are attorneys with Jackson Lewis in Los Angeles.  2021 Jackson Lewis. All rights reserved. Reposted with permission.
"At around 10 AM, the Prime Minister will inaugurate the Kushinagar International Airport. Subsequently, at around 11:30 AM, he will participate in an event marking Abhidhamma Day at Mahaparinirvana Temple. Thereafter, at around 1:15 PM, the Prime Minister will attend a public function to inaugurate and lay the foundation stone of various development projects in Kushinagar," read a release by the Prime Minister's office.The inauguration of the Kushinagar International Airport will be marked by the landing of the inaugural flight at the airport from Colombo, Sri Lanka, carrying a Sri Lankan delegation of over hundreds of Buddhist monks and dignitaries including the 12-member holy relic entourage bringing the holy Buddha relics for exposition.The delegation also comprises Anunayakas (deputy heads) of all four Nikatas (orders) of Buddhism in Sri Lanka, that is, Asgiriya, Amarapura, Ramanya, Malwatta as well as five ministers of the Sri Lanka government led by Cabinet Minister Namal Rajapakshe.The Kushinagar International Airport has been built at an estimated cost of Rs 260 crore. It will facilitate domestic and international pilgrims to visit the Mahaparinirvana sthal of Lord Buddha and is an endeavour in connecting the Buddhist pilgrimage holy sites around the world. The airport will serve nearby districts of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar and is an important step in boosting the investment and employment opportunities in the region, the official statement said.The prime minister will visit the Mahaparinirvana temple, offer Archana and Chivar to the reclining statue of Lord Buddha and also plant a Bodhi tree sapling.PM Modi will also participate in an event, organised to mark Abhidhamma Day. The day symbolises the end of a three-month rainy retreat-Varshavaas or Vassa-for the Buddhist Monks, during which they stay at one place in vihara and monastery and pray. The event will also be attended by eminent monks from Sri Lanka, Thailand, Myanmar, South Korea, Nepal, Bhutan and Cambodia, as well as ambassadors of various countries.The prime minister will walk through the exhibition of paintings of Ajanta frescos, Buddhist Sutra calligraphy and Buddhist artefacts excavated from Vadnagar and other sites in Gujarat.He will also participate in a public function at Barwa Jangal, Kushinagar. In the event, he will lay the foundation stone of Rajkiya Medical College, Kushinagar which will be built at a cost of over Rs 280 crore, informed the PMO release.The medical college will have a 500-bed hospital and provide admissions to 100 students in the MBBS course in academic session 2022-2023. Prime Minister will also inaugurate and lay the foundation stone of 12 development projects in Kushinagar worth over Rs 180 crores. (ANI)
On Tuesday morning, North Korea fired the short-range missile from the vicinity of Sinpo, where its main submarine shipyard is located, according to the South Korean military.

Seoul, Oct 19 (IANS) The intelligence chiefs of South Korea, the US and Japan met here on Tuesday and discussed North Korea's firing of what appeared to be a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) toward the East Sea earlier in the day, Seoul's state spy agency said.

It marked the North's eighth known major missile test this year, Yonhap News Agency reported.

The North's latest show of force came as Avril Haines, the US director of national intelligence, and Hiroaki Takizawa, Japan's Cabinet intelligence director, were in Seoul for trilateral talks with Park Jie-won, the head of South Korea's National Intelligence Service.

"During the meeting, they had a candid conversation on issues of common interest, including the security situation surrounding the Korean Peninsula," the spy agency said in a statement.

"The top intel officials also shared information on North Korea's short-range missile launch and assessed the situation."

On Monday, Park held bilateral talks with his US and Japanese counterparts.

The firing came amid a flurry of diplomatic activities to resume the long-stalled denuclearization talks, with top nuclear envoys of South Korea, the US and Japan in Washington to discuss ways for the resumption of dialogue.

During Tuesday's meeting, the three intel chiefs also discussed economic security issues, such as the global supply chain disruptions and tech leakage, and vowed to strengthen their trilateral intelligence cooperation, according to the agency.

The trilateral meeting also drew attention to Tokyo's new policy direction on North Korea, as Takizawa's Seoul visit was his first since Japan's new Prime Minister Fumio Kishida took office earlier this month.

The three last held such a trilateral meeting in May in Tokyo.

--IANS

ksk/
Rupifi, SME lender and fintech has associated with non-banking financial company Muthoot Finance aim to power 15 million small and medium-sized enterprises with access to instant credit in the next few years.

Anubhav Jain, co-founder and CEO, Rupifi says, We have been at the forefront of enabling frictionless and cash-flow linked credit to MSMEs for the past 12 months. We are currently working with B2B marketplaces across FMCG, pharma, fashion, agriculture and food domains, providing the SMEs transacting on these platforms with instant credit for their purchases. We have SME customers in more than 230 small towns and cities across the country, and we have analyzed more than a million data points over the past few months in building a robust cash-flow based underwriting framework. Muthoot Finance, with its pan-India presence and decades of experience, is the perfect partner for us to build a large portfolio over the next few years.

The companies started this partnership earlier this year and are now looking to scale this across different industry verticals in the country.

Jayachandran B, chief operating officer  business loans, Muthoot Finance says, "Indian SMEs are going through a difficult phase especially post Covid. At Muthoot Finance, we are building products and driving various initiatives to provide them working capital support. Rupifi has built strong B2B embedded infrastructure and Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) is the need of the hour product for Indian SMEs, especially driven by increasing digitisation post Covid-19. Our partnership with Rupifi strengthens our offerings and helps us drive growth in the fast-evolving B2B space.
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When Dustin Moskovitz stepped away from Facebook four years after helping start the company, the 24-year-old owned a piece of the social-media giant that today would be worth about $US18 billion ($24.2 billion).

Now he has another fortune to rival the first. Moskovitz has been vacuuming up shares of Asana, the task-management company he left Facebook to create. Asana shares have skyrocketed more than 250 per cent since mid-May, giving Moskovitz a stake valued at almost $US8 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Dustin Moskovitz co-created Facebook in 2004 from the Harvard University dorm room he shared with Zuckerberg. Credit:Bloomberg

Moskovitzs second act is a demonstration of Facebooks power to mint new fortunes. Another co-founder, Eduardo Saverin, used part of his winnings to create venture capital firm B Capital Group, which has reported about $US1.8 billion in assets.

Moskowitz, who turned 37 in May, began buying additional Asana stock in June, and by the end of September his holding had increased by more than a third to 76.6 million shares. Hes now worth $US26 billion, and is the fourth-richest person under 40 globally on Bloombergs index. At the top of the list is Mark Zuckerberg, whose 15 per cent ownership of Facebook makes him the worlds fourth-richest person with $US126.5 billion.
Lisa Davies has resigned as editor of The Sydney Morning Herald and will leave the masthead after almost a decade.

Davies has led The Herald since 2017, helping the countrys oldest masthead grow its audience to more than eight million readers.

The Sydney Morning Heralds editor Lisa Davies has resigned. Credit:Jessica Hromas

After almost five years in the best job in journalism, I have decided its time to move on, Davies said. It has been an immense privilege to lead this newsroom, which is full of talented and passionate individuals wholly committed to delivering news our readers can trust - day in, day out.

The last two years in particular have tested us all in ways we couldnt have imagined so as things return to a more even keel, the time feels right for me to look towards whats next.
Melbournes population will keep shrinking until late 2022 as the city continues to suffer from the effects of the pandemic while sectors of the economy that rely on large gatherings or international travel will struggle until 2024, according to the latest official forecast by the City of Melbourne.

But the councils latest 20-year-forecast for jobs, population and building in central Melbourne, the first to try to model the post-COVID years, expects the city to roar back, with precincts such as Docklands and North Melbourne to almost double their populations by 2040.

Melbourne is expected to bounce back after COVID. Credit:Eddie Jim

The City of Melbourne Population and Jobs Forecasts 2020-2040, by respected consultants SGS Economics, also predicts another 60,000 dwellings will be built to support 144,000 new residents in the local government area in the next 19 years, bringing its population to about 328,000 in 2040.

The report tips nearly 230,000 jobs to be added to the local government area by 2040 amid a changing economic mix, with retail to diminish in importance as an employment option, as shopping continues to migrate online.
Emma Watkins has announced that shes hanging up her yellow skivvy and unclipping her bow, leaving The Wiggles after more than a decade of performing with the band.

The 32-year-old, who grew up with the Wiggles as a child before coming to know the performers as adults, colleagues, and mentors, said she was very grateful to have been a Wiggle and will miss the popular childrens entertainment group.

Emma Watkins has quit the group.

I am so grateful to the fans and I have received so many messages this morning which I didnt realise would happen, she told Nines Today show.

I am incredibly grateful for the Wiggles for giving me an opportunity, she added, crying.
If it feels like years since the last season of Succession, thats probably because it has been. Two years have passed since that breathless finale for the second season  two years since Kendall Roy (Jeremy Strong) went from patsy to pariah in one stunning mic drop.

Kendall Roy (Jeremy Strong) may have finally toppled his father in season three of Succession. Credit:HBO

Having been cast as the scapegoat in Waystar RoyCos long-running sexual assault scandal, Kendall flipped the script at the last moment, placing all the blame on his father, Logan (Brian Cox).

Given the long break between seasons, it was half-expected that Succession creator Jesse Armstrong might shake things up. Maybe Logan had discovered mindfulness, or Kendall had grown his beard out?

Instead, the return of Succession played it straight, picking up precisely where season two left off, the blast from Kendalls hand grenade still ringing in Logans ears. Despite the pairs apparent differences, we are soon reminded they are cut from the same ruthless corporate cloth.
Some weeks later he wrote a letter as part of his visa proceedings stating he used drugs to help with stomach pains, was disappointed in himself for relapsing, and that he wanted to undergo rehabilitation. A coronial inquest is investigating the death of Sarwan Al Jhelie. On August 29, a GP diagnosed Mr Al Jhelie with ulcerative colitis and recommended a colonoscopy, but he wasnt transferred to Northam Hospital until several days later, after a nurse saw him in pain. He disclosed ongoing intermittent abdominal pain for the past two years. It was noted that Mr Al Jhelie had been booked for a colonoscopy twice in Sydney, but the procedures were cancelled as he had moved to Perth, Ms Collins said. He was discharged for GP follow-up ... there was no documentation about any mental health.

Mr Al Jhelie was still in the process of trying to see a suitably qualified psychiatrist in the hope of reviving his visa challenge when he hung himself the day after being discharged from hospital. The court on Tuesday heard from a former senior Serco security officer who ran Yongah Hill facility the day Mr Al Jhelie died and who escorted him to an on-site pharmacy after he superficially cut his wrists in the hours leading up to his suicide on Sunday, September 2. Dion Goodall blamed consistent short-staffing and undertraining by his company Serco for under-preparing him, and he left it to the two nurses working at the medical dispensary that day to make the assessment over Mr Al Jhelie. Mr Goodall told the court that it had been raised on several occasions that Serco ran very few staff and had ongoing shortages, which had been an issue for many years at Yongah Hill and training was extremely minimal. A riot had also broken out when his security officers found Mr Al Jhelie, so Mr Goodall said he was very busy that day and likely didnt prepare a detailed incident report as part of his handover to the night manager.

He rejected claims from another Serco officer that he brushed aside concerns over Mr Al Jhelies wellbeing earlier that day, saying he went the extra length to speak to the nurses at the pharmacy when a lot of other managers wouldnt have. He also said that irrespective of rules or policies, he would have physically stepped in and ordered 24/7 monitoring of Mr Al Jhelie if he showed any signs crying and banging his head on the wall, which was asserted in court. Yongah Hill Detention Centre in Western Australia. Credit:Hannah Jenkins Sercos lawyer Dan Johnson tried to put it to Mr Goodall that every year there was a refresher course on Psychological Support Programs, and he had completed 40 pages of training programs. But Mr Goodall scoffed that the programs took 10 minutes on a computer, and he didnt get a great deal out of them.

Serco officer Scott Walker, who was with Mr Al Jhelie when he was on his dying breaths, testified that while he retook CPR courses each year he left it to another officer who was an ex-paramedic to perform it. He also said it was common for officers to be told by those on a medical call line which was operated on weekends to seek medical help from nurses on site, and for nurses on site to refer them back to the medical hotline: that happened constantly. The only two nurses working that Sunday had recently been contracted to work at Yongah Hill and they were told that one-on-one clinical meetings with detainees on the weekend were not allowed, with one of the nurses telling the court that she was under pressure to simply keep up with the medication dispensing the afternoon Mr Al Jhelie visited. Mental health nurse Bernadette Paterson said when Mr Al Jhelie was brought to the pharmacy it was for a dressing to his arm. She repeatedly tried to persuade him to speak to her privately away from security about his mental health issues, but he declined. Anybody who has self-harmed will always be a concern, it was very superficial from my understanding and I felt something had triggered that and I wanted it followed up, she told the court.

She told the officer to keep an eye on him and assumed that they had more insight into his social history and would keep him safe. The officers previously told the court they had never had any interaction with Mr Al Jhelie before being alerted to his self-harming. Loading I sensed there was no imminent risk, he wasnt verbalising that he was going to hurt himself, he was actually denying he was going to hurt himself, she said. But Ms Paterson still made a note for a nurse to check in with him the following Monday morning. She also checked his medical records but only found that he had asthma and had suffered an accidental drug overdose and had not meant self harm.

When it was put to her that there were two overdoses referred for mental health checks, and had that information been recorded would it have changed her attempts to speak with Mr Al Jhelie, that day, she replied: Something such as that would have made a difference, definitely. Ms Paterson had worked for years at the Manus Island detention facility where a medical clinic ran seven days a week for 10 hours each day. She said it was very different at Yongah Hill, where the clinic only ran business days and had no mental health team leader, with psychologists and psychiatrists only coming once a fortnight, with consultations sometimes only being by video. Mr Johnson clarified in court that Manus Island housed almost five times the 150 detainees kept at Yongah Hill. It will be up to the corner to decide if the interaction between service providers while in detention was adequate, including if his primary and mental health care was comparable to the public health system provided to the Australian community and if emergency procedures and training were adequate, as well as information and record keeping.
A bold plan to turn Sydney Harbour into a swimmers paradise with a string of floating pools and swimming spots is a case of old is new again for the City of Sydney.

As Potts Point and Elizabeth Bay residents pointed out to CBD this morning, the Citys brainwave is not the first time a pool has been proposed for the popular Beare Park which sits on Elizabeth Bay next to a council-owned marina in Potts Point.

Recall in 2016 when the City of Sydney put the rights to redevelop the Elizabeth Bay Marina out to tender. Wealthy businessmen including transport boss Lindsay Fox, retail landlord and stud boss Theo Onisforou and scion of the famous pearling family Nick Paspaley all indicated they would submit a tender, valiantly claiming a desire to protect the bay from overdevelopment.

Imagine that: a render of an earlier pool proposed for Elizabeth Bay.

Ultimately, Fox and Paspaley dropped out leaving Onisforou to team up with Rose Bay and Point Piper Marina owner Denis ONeil. They proposed a crescent shaped $5 million marina. And the cherry on top? A $1 million Euro-style floating pool built alongside and open to the public for free.
Imperfect British machine

Mr. Walter Marks M.P. met with the Board of Trade president in London, who was gratified at Australias excellent quota plan to help British films. Mr Marks said that British studios for the current year were preparing 100 films, on which 3,500,000 was being spent, but that the British talking films machine had not been perfected yet. He understood that only American films could be used with the American machine.

Amsterdam Olympics athletic suicide

Upon his return to Sydney, Australian Olympic team manager Mr Les Duff, said that it had been athletic suicide to send athletes to Amsterdam under such conditions. The team had to travel 36 kilometres to and from the training ground and were without coaches or masseurs. Mr Duff said that had he not engaged Mr Harry Hay as coach in London goodness knows whether Boy Charlton would have been able to swim at all.

Bird lovers united
The elderly owner of a popular tourist attraction in the NSW opal mining town of Lightning Ridge has been charged with the murder of 39-year-old Christine Neilan more than 18 months ago.

Ms Neilans body was found in bushland near Amigos Castle on January 9, 2020, with serious head injuries that police revealed on Tuesday were caused by [a] gunshot wound.

Christine Neimans body was found on January 9, 2020.

Detectives from the State Crime Commands Homicide Squad and Central North Police District established Strike Force Bullarook to investigate the circumstances of her death.

When a year passed without a result, Ms Neilans family issued a plea for assistance from the public.
When secondary students complain that schools are like prisons, they arent entirely wrong. Most high schools have an occupant density that exceeds the typical workplace, comparable to commercial airplanes and  yes  prisons. But while classrooms may be populated like an economy class cabin, most school spaces arent equipped with the same ventilation systems found on a standard Qantas flight.

Reimagined campuses, like this award-winning design at Hillbrook Anglican School in Enoggera, Queensland have significant benefits.

Issues of air circulation and crowding loom large as students return to school with COVID-19 lurking in the background. But there is one way to find more breathing room for our students. We just need to think outside the box. Or, in this case, the classroom.

One year ago, schools in the US faced the prospect of students returning at a time when COVID-19 cases were surging and vaccines werent yet available. To create learning environments that were safe and socially distanced, many schools pivoted to outdoor learning for large portions of the day. For some this meant clustering picnic tables together, building shade structures, adding trees, gardens, even yoga circles and mountain bike trails.

The impact was tangible. Parents reported students coming home happy and tired. Teachers acknowledged students were more engaged. With more wriggle room, classroom conflicts seemed to recede. When US students returned to school this past September, what were set up as temporary pilot programs at many schools are now being incorporated as permanent structures.
Urgent monitoring of cracks in a Sydney apartment tower will be needed to work out whether they are growing after emergency inspections by government engineers revealed visible signs of cracking in its basement car park.

Almost a week after an emergency inspection, government engineers have recommended that monitoring of the 10-storey apartment building at Canterbury begin immediately, and focus on its so-called transfer structure, which shifts loads to other structures in the building.

Senior officials from Public Works Advisory said the monitoring of the building should include all cracking in the transfer structure, as well as other major structural locations where cracking is apparent, to establish if the cracks are active (still growing) or have stabilised.

Building engineers inspect the Vicinity apartment complex. Credit:Janie Barrett

Should monitoring show further evolution and development of cracking and deflection in these areas, appropriate temporary propping should be installed until full remediation of the issues has been completed, they said in a report.
The destruction of the 46,000-year-old Juukan Gorge rock shelters in Western Australias remote Pilbara region last year exposed the critical need for tighter national protection of our Indigenous heritage sites.

A federal inquiry into mining giant Rio Tintos destruction of the shelters in May last year has revealed glaring gaps in state and national laws. It calls for a new national legal framework and powers for traditional owners to reject similar projects from threatening other significant sites on ancestral land in the future.

The rock shelters were destroyed on permissions granted under state legislation and in a system plagued by a deep-rooted power imbalance between traditional owners and the nations resources giants. Gag clauses, for instance, have been routinely included in land-use agreements, prohibiting traditional owners from formally objecting to development projects or speaking out publicly about heritage concerns.

The chairman of the Joint Standing Committee on Northern Australia, Warren Entsch, said the destruction of the Juukan Gorge shelters was the result of Rio Tintos failures, but also highlighted the inadequate protections afforded by state legislation in the form of the Western Australian Aboriginal Heritage Act.

The Committee calls for the federal government to introduce a legal framework that sets new minimum standards for states and territories cultural heritage protections. The proposed laws would empower the Commonwealth to override decisions made under state laws. They would also empower traditional owners to enforce those Commonwealth protections through civil legal action.
There have been three sleepless nights for the family of missing four-year-old Cleo Smith, as her mother Ellie opened up about the nightmare of not knowing where her little girl had gone.

But the Carnarvon local, who remains at the campground where Cleo was last seen, was also resolute her daughter would be able to overcome the circumstances of her disappearance.

I know shes strong. Cleo was born eight weeks early, she was premature and shes been strong since the day she was born, Ms Smith said.

I know she can get through whatever she is going through.
Supreme Court Justice Rene Le Miere has passed the baton to Justice Jennifer Smith in a decades-long multibillion-dollar mining dispute between two of Western Australias wealthiest families, just as its much-anticipated trial is under threat of being derailed.

Hancock Prospecting, owned by Australias wealthiest magnate Gina Rinehart, and Wright Prospecting, belonging to WA billionaire heiress Angela Bennett and her two nieces, are due to go to trial over Lang Hancocks iron ore legacy, Hope Downs mines, in April 2022.

War of the Rineharts: Bianca Rinehart is challenging her mother Gina to Hancock Prospectings Pilbara assets. Credit:Fairfax Media

Lang and business partner Peter Wright etched out much of the Pilbaras iron ore mining landscape in the 1960s and 70s and their tenements and partnership deals have been the subject of litigation between their warring children, and even between family members internally, ever since.

In July, Justice Le Miere delivered three significant decisions, two of which left open a door to Mrs Rineharts children  Bianca Rinehart and John Hancock  in their claim of being unfairly prohibited from their rightful inheritance to own Hope Downs via a family trust.
The University of Western Australias detailed preparation in targeting specific staff to axe from its School of Molecular Sciences and the predicted impact of its cuts was exposed in a huge public leak on Monday.

In a move reminiscent of the Panama Papers drop, about 409 pages of confidential documents produced by UWAs executive have been publicly disseminated via a QR code posted in the Molecular Sciences building elevator.

A leaked tranche of documents have provided a behind-the-scenes picture of decisions leading to cuts at the University of Western Australias School of Molecular Sciences. Credit:UWA

UWA has reported the leak to WA Police for investigation.

The documents, seen by WAtoday, include the original change proposal to the School of Molecular Sciences  including the forecasted budget and financials behind the decision  as well as a list of academics with arrows alongside certain names set to be axed by the proposal, and notes on an email suggesting those in higher positions (level E) will be kept as a bargaining chip.
Deputy Premier Roger Cooks department exempted a Texan oil and gas company from Western Australias onshore gas ban in the hope it will build a pipeline to open up the region to more gas production.

The decision came just months before the WA government plans to make public its process to develop interim greenhouse gas emissions targets towards net-zero by 2050.

Paths of cleared vegetation for seismic testing to find oil and gas in the Kimberley. Credit:Lock the Gate

In early October, Black Mountain Oil and Gas Valhalla field became the second project allowed to export onshore gas from WA since a ban was introduced in August 2020.

Black Mountain subsidiary Bennett Resources wants to drill up to 20 exploration wells as deep as four kilometres over seven years, according to its submission to the WA Environmental Protection Authority.
In an unexpected development, the ICAC has gone into a private session after former NSW premier Mike Baird said there were concerns about the then NSW Liberal MP for Wagga Wagga, Daryl Maguire, even before he quit state Parliament in July 2018 during an earlier corruption inquiry.

Mr Baird was asked by Gladys Berejiklians barrister, Sophie Callan, SC, about how Mr Maguire was regarded in the party room. The former premier replied that there were concerns about him.

Former NSW premier Mike Baird outside the ICAC on Wednesday. Credit:Louise Kennerley

This has prompted counsel assisting the ICAC, Scott Robertson, to ask the head of this inquiry, Assistant Commissioner Ruth McColl, SC, to convene a private hearing to allow him to ask Mr Baird further questions about that statement and whether it relates to matters beyond the current scope of this investigation.

Ms Berejiklian announced on July 21, 2018, that Mr Maguire would quit State Parliament after an earlier corruption inquiry into the former Canterbury Council heard he discussed potential commissions with a local councillor from property deals with a wealthy Chinese developer.

In its report in March this year, the ICAC did not make a corruption finding against Mr Maguire in relation to that earlier inquiry but did recommend the NSW Director of Public Prosecutions consider prosecuting him for giving false and misleading evidence at the public inquiry on July 13, 2018.
An ex-political staffer who had worked for both Gladys Berejiklian and Daryl Maguire told the corruption watchdog he was so shocked upon learning the pair were in a romantic relationship that he literally spat out his water.

Zach Bentley worked for Ms Berejiklian when she was NSW transport minister, treasurer and later premier, and earlier in 2013 worked as an intern for then-government whip Mr Maguire.

An ex-staffer who worked for both Daryl Maguire, left, and Gladys Berejiklian, right, said he had no idea about their romantic relationship. Credit:Rhett Wymann, Brook Mitchell

Mr Bentley, who claims to be one of only two people to have worked for both Ms Berejiklian and Mr Maguire, told the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) in April he always knew the pair had an old relationship as colleagues, but never suspected they were romantically involved.

I literally spat my water out, Mr Bentley said, upon learning last year about the secret five-year relationship between Ms Berejiklian and the disgraced former member for Wagga Wagga.
Voluntary assisted dying will not go to a final vote in NSW until next year after the state government and Labor agreed to send the bill to an upper house inquiry, delaying any potential reform for months.

The move has angered Sydney MP Alex Greenwich and fellow independent Greg Piper, who hoped Mr Greenwichs bill would pass both houses of parliament this year and bring NSW in line with all other states.

Sydney MP Alex Greenwich expressed his frustration at the bills delay. Credit:Dominic Lorrimer

Mr Greenwich warned that dragging debate will only prolong peoples suffering while Mr Piper said he suspected that there are members of parliament who would prefer this is not ... debated right now.

Mr Piper, one of the key crossbenchers who the minority government relies on for confidence and supply, said assisted dying had to be addressed through a proper, thoughtful and respectful debate and not be delayed.
Brisbane Airport fears it will lose domestic and international flights to other states because Queensland will be among the last to reopen its borders.

Brisbane Airport Corporations executive general manager of aviation, Jim Parashos, said the Queensland COVID-19 road map released on Monday was much appreciated after months of border closures and restrictions.

Transport Minister Barnaby Joyce says the Commonwealth expects states to reduce barriers to travel as vaccination rates increase. Credit:Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images

However, he said, the airport was still at a competitive disadvantage compared with other state hubs, despite Queensland traditionally being a major tourist destination.

Queenslands 80 per cent vaccination target will be reached well after New South Wales and Victoria, with some lingering travel restrictions on the road map, and Mr Parashos said this could see airlines focus on other capital-city routes instead.
A respected community leader accused of pocketing almost $75,000 in taxpayer funds has been handed a temporary medical exemption that deems him unfit to give evidence the day before he was to appear before an anti-corruption commission.

Hussein Haraco, who founded the Somali Australian Council of Victoria, was due to appear before the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission on Wednesday and Thursday over his alleged involvement in branch stacking on behalf of former minister Adem Somyureks Moderate Labor group.

Hussein Haraco has been accused of pocketing thousands of dollars in taxpayer grants. Credit:Chris Hopkins

The news came on Tuesday as IBAC was told of the Moderate Labor factions media strategy to confect allegations of racism, invoking the Black Lives Matter movement, when journalists from The Age asked questions last year about the awarding of taxpayer grants to Dr Haracos community organisation.

Banyule City Council mayor Rick Garotti testified during Tuesdays hearings he had been lobbying the government  namely Moderate Labor ministers Mr Somyurek, Marlene Kairouz and Robin Scott  on behalf of Dr Haracos organisation.
London: Car manufacturers will be financially punished unless they sell a minimum number of electric vehicles each year under fresh plans to drive down prices and speed up Britains transition to a net zero economy.

However, government analysis concedes the goal of carbon neutrality by 2050 will saddle taxpayers with bigger bills and warns a huge hole will be blown in the budget as revenue from fuel consumption plummets.

The United Kingdom will ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars and vans by 2030 - one of the worlds most ambitious targets. With pure electric cars accounting for 15 per cent of new car registrations last month, the UK needs to rapidly stimulate uptake to meet the end-of-decade goal.

The United Kingdom wants to ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by 2030. Credit:Bloomberg

Shunning the approach of Norway, which has become the world leader in electric vehicles by offering buyers a suite of tax breaks, the United Kingdom will instead impose a new scheme on the car industry.
Washington: FBI agents raided homes in Washington and New York City linked to Oleg Deripaska, a Russian billionaire with ties to the Kremlin and to Paul Manafort, the onetime chairman of Donald Trumps 2016 US presidential campaign.

The agents carried boxes out of a mansion in one of Washingtons wealthiest neighbourhoods, with yellow CRIME SCENE DO NOT ENTER tape across the front yard and towed away a vehicle.

A federal agent walks boxes to a home of Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska in Washington, DC. Credit:AP

A spokesperson for the US Federal Bureau of Investigation confirmed on Tuesday (Wednesday AEDT) the agency was conducting a court-authorised law enforcement activity at the home, which the Washington Post has previously reported was linked to the Russian oligarch.

The specific reason for sealing off and searching the Washington mansion was not immediately clear, and the FBI spokesperson did not provide details.
We quickly switched to defence issues and foreign policy. I asked him about President Joe Bidens decision to withdraw all US troops completely from Afghanistan. President Ronald Reagan, right, and national security adviser Colin Powell leave the White House in 1988. Credit:AP I thought we had to get out of there eventually, Powell said. [We] cant beat these guys. Well, lets get it over with. Afghanistan, youre never going to win. Afghans are going to win. They have hundreds willing to fight and die for this country of theirs. Thats why I dont have any problem with us getting out of there. We cant go from 100,000 [US troops] down to a few hundred and think thatll prevail. At one point during our phone call, Alma Powell, his wife, called to him.

Hang on a minute, he told me. Im on the phone, Alma! he said shouting back to her, and then in a whisper he added, She never liked me talking to you, but here we are. In Powells memoir, My American Journey, he recounted how he and I had talked in 1989. He wrote in his book that my story in The Washington Post the next day was not inaccurate, but neither was it helpful. He added, I continued dealing with Woodward, though Alma warned me to handle with care. His thoughts on Afghanistan were among several ruminations on current foreign policy issues. How does anybody think that North Korea would find a way to attack us without us destroying them the next morning, he said, How can anyone think equally of Iran. Iran and North Korea cannot be our enemies because they cannot stand the results of such a conflict. Were going to be terrified of these people? No. Would they dare?

But sometimes you get a leader whos suicidal, I said. Loading True. True ... The Chinese are not going to let us start a war with North Korea. They love North Korea. They want North Korea. I dont. North Korea doesnt bother me. Let the little jerk [Kim Jong -un] have his parades and whatnot. Hell never try to attack us because he knows it would be assisted suicide. And I felt the same way about Iran. I felt the same way for the most part about Russia. They cant afford it. Theyve got [145] million people. Weve got 330 million people. We returned to one of the defining moments in his life and discussed how the first Gulf War in 1990 had taken only 42 days. The ground war component lasted only four days before president George HW Bush declared a cease-fire. The US and coalition forces overran Kuwait and Southern Iraq, destroyed Saddam Husseins army, routed the Iraqi Republican Guard, dictated the terms of peace and killed tens of thousands of Iraqis. Kuwait was liberated. American casualties were 137 killed in action and seven missing in action.

Thats close to it, Powell said. Had another couple hundred killed in accidents. Overall, given the low American casualties, he said of the war, Im so proud of that I cant see straight. North Korea doesnt bother me. Let the little jerk have his parades and whatnot. Powell continued, Before the ground war started, I went to a White House meeting and pulled [secretary of defence Dick] Cheney and the president aside. And I said, You know, I got to tell you about something, the ground [war] is about to start.  And I need to warn you a little bit, that when we lose an airplane, it crashes and I lose one guy. If they hit a tank, youll see four burning guys come out of it and you will see terrible things in ground war that you will never see in air war. So be prepared for that and be prepared to respond to it and defend us when were in ground war. I didnt know it was going to be as easy as it was or as well-prepared as it was. And they took that seriously.

I mentioned that in a journalism class I teach, one of the students asked, What does the truth accomplish? This is scary, Powell said. You just scared the hell out of me if this is what our kids are saying and thinking. Where are they getting it from? Media? He sighed. Its a strange time. Its a strange time. Its a time thats rattled a lot of cages and I dont, you know. In this September 3, 2014 file photo, former Secretary of State Colin Powell says he will vote for Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump. Credit:AP President Donald Trump was not re-elected, he noted, but Trump refuses to acknowledge that he wasnt re-elected. He has people who go along with him on that. What about the January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol?
PHILIPSBURG:--- Having taken note of the senseless act of violence carried out by bikers on Friday, October 15, 2021, on a family, whereby a four-month-old baby suffered serious injuries to her head and eyes, after a group of bikers threw a rock through the rear window of the vehicle that she was in, Minister of Justice Anna E. Richardson has renewed her call on the Public Prosecutors Office of Sint Maarten to take serious and swift action against all reckless behavior exhibited by riders of motorcycles and scooters on the island.

As a point of the first action, Minister Richardson sent a communication to the Attorney General of Sint Maarten and Curacao; Mr. Ton Maan, calling for his attention to prioritizing this matter.

Minister Richardson also contacted the parents of the four-month-old baby on Monday, October 18, 2021, to offer her apology for the unfortunate experience and expressed that her thoughts were with the family during this time. Im grateful the baby is recovering well and that shes said to be in good spirit, said Minister Richardson.

It was in April 2020, soon after taking office, that Minister Richardson, because of the numerous complaints received from residents about the unabated nuisance experienced from bike riders while driving in traffic and residing in their neighborhoods, that Minister indicated that a crackdown would be set in place to combat bikers illegal activities.

Despite efforts from the Sint Maarten Police Force since then to address this matter, which have resulted in a number of successful confiscations of motorbikes and scooters, the problem remains. Minister Richardson finds it unfortunate to note that further activity to maintain consistency in this area is lacking.

The illegal behavior of riders of motorbikes and scooters continues to be a safety hazard for not only the law-abiding persons living in Sint Maarten but also for the illegal operators of said vehicles and it is for this reason that Minister Richardson is taking immediate steps to put a zero-tolerance policy in place to combat all illegal activities by riders of motorbikes, scooters, dirt bikes, etc. along with the unauthorized street races organized for these bikes.

In addition, the Sint Maarten police force has been requested to seek the cooperation of the authorities on the French side of the island, who themselves are familiar with the bodily harm that illegal riders can inflict on innocent persons as a result of their behavior, to discuss a joint approach to get illegal bikes off the roads.

Minister Richardson would like to reiterate that all persons making use of the public roads on Sint Maarten must adhere to the rules and regulations noted in our national traffic ordinance.

Far too many persons in the community have had the unfortunate experience of these riders who demonstrate an outlaw attitude toward motorists and despite being in violation of countless traffic laws, the reckless riders are quick to violently react to drivers despite being in the wrong. They constantly ride on the wrong side of the road. There is video footage circulating on social media of wheeling through and moving through traffic as these riders ensure to exhibit an attitude of being untouchable.

The community of Sint Maarten has been calling for action to be taken to deal with this matter and Minister Richardson has escalated the call to the Attorney-General to see to it that the Police Force of Sint Maarten receives the needed support to execute a joint action plan to address these lawbreakers.
Robert Syphax, passed away Thursday, November 18, 2021 in Somerset, Kentucky. Arrangements are pending and will be announced later by Pulaski Funeral Home. Pulaski Funeral Home is Honored to assist the family with arrangements.
News

spotlight

Lonsdale Area Food Shelf welcomes community to new location

The Lonsdale Area Food Shelf is more than a place to distribute food, its a place that brings comfort and support to those in need, and provides an outlet for those who want to give.

Mark Sibenaller, Lonsdale Area Food Shelf executive director, speaks to those in attendance of the Oct. 12 open house, just minutes before the Chamber of Commerces ribbon cutting ceremony takes place. (Michelle Vlasak/southernminn.com)

Operating out of its 130 Delaware St. SE location since 2011, LAFS this summer signed a lease agreement with Trondhjem Lutheran Church, where the food shelf will operate from. LAFS staff moved into the new space July 30, with the help of Mindak Commercial Construction employees, who shut down for the day.

An open house and ribbon cutting ceremony was held by the Lonsdale Chamber of Commerce Oct. 12. Members of the community were invited to check out the new space, enjoy free cookies and apple cider, and get supper from the food trucks that were onsite special for the celebration.

Prior to the ribbon cutting ceremony, LAFS Executive Director Mark Sibenaller said over the last 10 years, the community has been outstanding with providing everything they were in need of.

Im thankful for everyones attendance of the open house, because we dont have a food shelf if we dont have a community that supports it, Sibenaller told the crowd gathered outside the new location.

Ten years ago, Sibenaller said the food shelf began as a project among the three church in town: Trondjem Lutheran, Immaculate Conception and Triumphant Life. He was also appreciative that pastors from all three churches were present at the celebratory event.

Sibenaller thanked representatives from the city of Lonsdale for attending, Mayor Tim Rud and Council members Scott Pelava and Cindy Furrer. Relatively new to the executive director role at LAFS, Sibenaller also took a few moments to recognize his predecessor: Tami Heimer.

She started here when it was nothing. If you take a stroll and see what we have today, theres many people that are responsible for that, but none more than her, said Sibenaller. The amount of hours she put in over those 10 years, 100% volunteer, is amazing.

Sibenaller also commended Kathy Vosejpka for her role in leading the transition and moving from the old space to the new. Vosejpka added that she also had a lot of help in doing so.

Last, but not least, Sibenaller thanked volunteers who stepped up to continue providing for these in need. Scrambling to make adjustments amid the pandemic, Sibenaller said a large number of their volunteers are over 65+ years old, the most at-risk group for COVID. Despite that, Sibenaller was proud to say they never missed a delivery date, and nobody was turned down because they didnt have the help.

We got that done because of your courage and because of your love, said Sibenaller.

The Lonsdale Area Food Shelf ribbon cutting ceremony takes place outside the new space Tuesday evening. (Michelle Vlasak/southernminn.com)

Another thank you was delivered to Trondjem Lutheran Church, as Pastor Sue Leibnitz and the Church Council were generous in opening up the four rooms needed for the food shelf.

On behalf of the board, we promise to treat clients with respect, dignity and confidentiality, said Sibenaller. If any of you know someone whos having to choose between putting gas in their car or buying groceries, please give them our name. We want to help. Please encourage them to look us up.

Before Vosejpka cut the ribbon, Lonsdale Chamber Director Shanna Gutzke-Kupp congratulated LAFS staff and volunteers.

We are truly blessed to have a food shelf in our community, one thats completely volunteer based, said Gutzke-Kupp.

Food trucks were also onsite for open house attendees to make an evening out of. (Michelle Vlasak/southernminn.com)

Mayor Rud added that its unique how the Lonsdale Area Food Shelf has evolved over the years, reminding attendees that it used to be located in City Hall, and not as easily accessible to the community.

Look at what we have now, what a great job, Rud told LAFS staff and volunteers.

A different layout

While the church essentially provides the same amount of space as the former LAFS building, the new location comes with a new layout.

Lonsdale Area Food Shelf President Kathy Vosejpka was one of several staff members giving tours of the new space Tuesday evening. Pictured is the room where clients shop for items they are in need of. (Michelle Vlasak/southernminn.com)

Vosejpka said the Foundation For Essential Needs, a food shelf resource based in Minneapolis, helped LAFS decide how to lay out the rooms for a positive client experience. A capital fund drive was kicked off earlier in the summer to help the food shelf cover updated appliances, upgraded electrical software and painting.

New commercial grade appliances were installed, allowing volunteers and clients to grab items from freezers and refrigerators without having to bend down.

The new space consists of four rooms, one for volunteers and staff to have things like meetings, and one for clients to check in. Since clients shop once every four weeks, Vosejpka says some items like fruits, vegetables and cereals are available for clients to pick up in between shopping periods to get them through that certain time frame. Those items are located in the check in room.

Down the hallway from the volunteer and check in rooms, which are both located right by the entrance, are the stock room and client shopping rooms. Vosejpka said they wanted to stick with the bright colors on the former preschool room walls, to make the space more inviting.

From staple foods like canned fruits, sauces and soup to peanut butter, and macaroni and cheese, Vosejpka says they strive to keep the food shelf stocked with the same products. This way, clients can depend on picking up those products up at the food shelf every four weeks. Personal care items are also available for clients to take, as Vosejpka says those extra costs take away from a persons food budget.

Most of the LAFSs food is purchased through Channel One Food Bank at a reduced price, and a majority of LAFSs financial resources come from the generosity of the Lonsdale community. Only a small percentage of funding comes from federal or state resources, according to the LAFS.

Along with providing food and personal care items to those in need, Vosejpka says LAFS also orchestrates several other programs like Christmas gifts, Thanksgiving meals and school supplies.

LAFS is located at 7525 Garfield Ave., Lonsdale. It is open Thursdays from 12:30 to 5 p.m. by appointment. Learn more at lonsdaleareafoodshelf.com or by calling 507-744-5399.
OTHER PROJECTS

Projects MnDOT District 6 has scheduled in the next two years:

2022

 Lighting projects on Hwy. 3 from the north side of Northfield to central Dundas, on the northern edge of Faribault and central Faribault.

 Resurfacing of Hwy. 21 from Hwy. 99 west.

 Construct roundabout at Hwy. 3 and 30th Street in Faribault.

2023

 Resurface all I-35 lanes from County Road 48 to Hwy. 21

 Concrete repaving of I-35 northbound from County Road 9 to the Heath Creek rest area.
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Dakhla (Occupied Territories)- Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR)'s oil and mines authority has denounced the signing by Rabat, represented by the Moroccan National Office for Hydrocarbons and Mines, of an agreement with Israeli oil company Ratio Petroleum on the exploration of the Atlantic block of the occupied Sahrawi city of Dakhla.



"The agreement is a new step in the series of economic crimes perpetrated by Morocco in the occupied Saharawi territories," the Saharawi oil and mining authority said in a statement.



The authority recalls the legal status of Western Sahara as a territory pending a decolonization process, as it is illegally occupied by Morocco.



"The agreement has no legal value because Morocco has no sovereignty over Western Sahara, as affirmed by the International Court of Justice in its advisory opinion in 1975, and reiterated by the Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ) in 2016 and 2018, and recently by the Court of the European Union on 29 September 2021."



The agreement signed late September is considered to be doubly political, taking place nine months after the signing of the agreement on the normalization of relations between the Zionist entity and Morocco.



The total area of the Atlantic block of Dakhla is more than 129,000 square kilometres.



It is located in the southern part of Western Sahara and extends to the border with Mauritania.



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STAMFORD  The American Red Cross held a blood drive at First Presbyterian Church in Stamford on Monday.

The next blood drive in the city will be held at Archangels Greek Orthodox Church on Saturday.
Kathryn Jean Lopez is senior fellow at the National Review Institute, editor-at-large of National Review magazine and author of the new book A Year With the Mystics: Visionary Wisdom for Daily Living. She is also chair of Cardinal Dolans pro-life commission in New York. She can be contacted at klopez@nationalreview.com.
The Starkville Rotary Club recognized Starkville Christian School teacher Rebecca Stegal ( left) as Educator of the Year and SCS students Lisa Smith (middle) and Denton Jenkins (right) as students of the year.
Two Afghan families consisting of four adults and five minors, including a one-year-old baby, were caught by the Moldova Veche border police on the Romanian side of the Danube, as they crossed the river in an inflatable boat from Serbia, the Timisoara Border Police informs in a release on Tuesday.

After the epidemiological checkup at the Moldova Noua City Hospital, the migrants were taken to the sector precincts for verifications which determined that they are two families from Afghanistan - four adults aged between 26 and 49, and five minors ages 1 to 16. The adults declared that they crossed the border illegally with the intention to reach Western Europe, Agerpres informs.
The chairman of PNL (National Liberal Party), Florin Citu, declared on Tuesday that liberals will try to form a majority after the vote on Wednesday in the plenum of Parliament for the Government formula proposed by Dacian Ciolos.

"PNL will try to make a majority around PNL after the vote of tomorrow. We will put all options on the table, solutions for this winter, we will see then what the answer will be. (...) The protocol, if you look at it, is simple: PNL has the position of PM in this coalition," Citu said, in Parliament, after a meeting with the elected liberals.

According to him, negotiations take place all the time.

Asked if he is willing to take a step back for forming the coalition, Citu replied: "I do not understand this 'one step behind'. We all must go forward here, now. We all need to take responsibility for this governing. PNL has some decisions of PNL, they are PNL's decisions. No other party can censor PNL's decisions."

He was also asked if he estimates that this crisis will be extended and he will remain PM until spring.

"I hope not, but if this will be the political decision, you will see that we will be able to manage this period. We have the resources, we also have this plan on the table in order to make sure that Romanians do not suffer because of the irresponsible political class," the PNL chairman said, Agerpres informs.
Dr. Hans Kluge, regional director of the World Health Organisation for Europe, emphasized on Tuesday that no healthcare system was ready when COVID-19 hit and that the biggest mistake was of states who didn't invest in public healthcare and didn't elaborate policies in the sector.

The WHO Regional Office for Europe will organize next month a meeting with European observers regarding policies. It will thus analyze what each country is doing in order to resume services, in order to not postpone anymore and, for that reason, to learn from one another in order to move forward in a coordinated manner. When COVID-19 hit, no healthcare system was ready. The biggest mistake - not to invest in public healthcare, although it was known that there is need in the countries that didn't formulate policies on the basis of proof, there's where problems were. But where everything was well-done and solid, those countries managed to overcome the problems better, said the WHO official in a video message sent to the tenth edition of the 2021 Aspen Healthcare Forum, event organized by the Aspen Institute in Romania, at the Palace of the Parliament and online.

He added that the continuation of health services for other patients is in view.

The price paid meant the loss of lots of lives, but the price could be higher if we don't learn. Many countries needed urgent reforms of the healthcare system. These reforms should now integrate the state of preparation and intervention in healthcare systems. Thus, all investments in the healthcare system must be reoriented. Universal access to healthcare and to health security are two sides of the same coin. Now, the lessons learnt must be put into practice, said the WHO regional director.

According to him, due to COVID-19, people with other health issue, such as mental health issues, received far less treatment.

Prof. Dr. Alexandru Rafila, Romania's representative to the WHO, emphasized that the resilience of the healthcare system needs to be built.

"We now have a somewhat complete picture of the performance of healthcare in 2020 and, obviously, after such information - and this has been valid for a long time, there's information that we have had for several months - I am thinking of one thing: the resilience of the healthcare system. The resilience of the healthcare system is something that must be built, it mustn't be declared and the building of it (...) must take into account one thing: the healthcare system in Romania doesn't work only in the interest of professionals in healthcare, of administrators in the healthcare system, it's a system which must function in the interest of patients in Romania. We are producing a lot of discussions that do not have the patient at the center of attention. (...) Unfortunately, no strategy in Romania has brought the patient to the center of the system and we are in a difficult situation," showed Alexandru Rafila, Agerpres informs.
The statue of King Mihai I will be unveiled in central Sinaia on the 25th of October, on the anniversary of one hundred years since the birth of the sovereign, the Royal House of Romania announced on its Facebook page.

According to the cited source, the author of the statue, which is made in bronze, in natural size, representing King Mihai in the uniform of marshal of the Romanian Army, is the sculptor Bogdan Ioan. He won the national competition launched in this regard a year ago.

The project is carried out through a partnership of the Association for Peles Royal Patrimony with the Ministry of Culture and with the City Hall of Sinaia.

The ceremony will take place in the park in front of Sinaia City Hall, and the event will be attended by representatives of central, local authorities, members of the civil society, of the Romanian Army and of the Romanian Orthodox Church, the quoted source said.

"Together with the statues of King Carol I and Queen Elizabeta, placed on the terrace of Peles Castle, the monument of King Mihai is a new landmark of the national identity and of the history of the community in Sinaia," shows the Royal House of Romania, Agerpres informs.
The police has applied 2,203 fines, in the last 24 hours, with a total value of 430,000 lei, for those that did not respect the norms of sanitary protection for preventing and countering the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.

There have been 99,129 verifications and 492 actions organized in the field, especially in crowded areas, at economic entities and in public transportation, according to the General Inspectorate of the Romanian Police, in a press release sent to AGERPRES on Tuesday.

Following the law enforcement activities, one crime was identified, for thwarting the fight against the disease.The Police has acted along with the Gendarmerie, border police, ISU (Emergency Situations Inspectorate) personnel, local police, representatives of ANSVSA (National Sanitary Veterinary and Food Safety Authority), ANPC (National Authority for Consumer Protection), the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Labor and Social Protection, the Ministry of Transport and local public authorities, for protecting the public health.
The medical team from the Republic of Moldova that will operate in the Letcani Mobile Hospital was welcomed by Romanian authorities on Monday evening, in northeastern Iasi, informs the Department for Emergency Situations (DSU), agerpres reports.

"Today took place the welcoming of the medical team from the Republic of Moldova, formed of 22 doctors and nurses with the Health Ministry, but also 8 paramedics and 1 SMURD [Mobile Emergency Resuscitation and Extrication Service] doctor with the Republic of Moldova IGSU [Emergency Situations General Inspectorate], responsible of coordinating the entire support activity. Furthermore, an officer with the Republic of Moldova IGSU will support the mission logistically," shows a DSU release.

According to the quoted source, the medical team from the Republic of Moldova will support Romanian colleagues in view of granting specialty medical assistance to patients positive for SARS-CoV-2, admitted to the Letcani Modular Hospital."The close bilateral relations between Romania and the Republic of Moldova continue to follow in a priority manner the granting of support, in need, in the spirit of the special relation based on the community of language, history and culture," shows the release.DSU mentions that the support mission is taking place under the aegis of the European Union, through the Emergency Support Instrument (ESI).The National Committee for Emergency Situations has approved, on Monday, through a decision, the offer for international assistance by which the Republic of Moldova is offering a medical team to support the hospital units in Romania in view of treating patients with COVID-19.
ST. LOUIS  Rodney LaRue waited for an ambulance while in pain on a south St. Louis street for 38 minutes last month. Now, his family wants to know why help took so long to arrive.

LaRue, 60, was riding his motor scooter on the afternoon of Sept. 27 when he collided with a minivan and was flung across the pavement at the intersection of Arsenal Street and Ivanhoe Avenue.

A nearby St. Louis traffic patrol officer who saw the crash about 3:40 p.m. arrived almost immediately, and a firetruck was on scene within a few minutes, according to a video of the crash and police records provided through a public records request to the Post-Dispatch.

But it would be 38 minutes before an EMS ambulance arrived to get LaRue off the street and nearly an hour before LaRue arrived at Barnes-Jewish Hospital.

He eventually died from his injuries, which included severe internal bleeding.

Its the what ifs? that are killing us, Rodneys sister Sharon LaRue told the Post-Dispatch this month. What if the ambulance had gotten there sooner? Would my brother be alive?

Police said it wasnt immediately clear after the crash just how serious LaRues injuries were.
ST. LOUIS  One of two men charged in a 2018 homicide in the city's Grove district was sentenced Tuesday to 15 years in prison.

Donald Willis, 30, of Bellefontaine Neighbors, pleaded guilty in the Jan. 29, 2018, shooting death of Ollie Coleman outside the ShiSha Restaurant & Lounge, 4229 Manchester Avenue. Police said Coleman, 27, of Florissant, was found fatally shot about 1 a.m. A woman was shot in the leg in the incident.

Willis avoided trial Tuesday by taking the plea deal after lawyers selected jurors for trial the day before. Circuit Judge Paula Perkins Bryant accepted the agreement and sentenced Willis to concurrent 15-year terms of second-degree murder and first-degree assault

Willis admitted driving while another man pointed a rifle from inside their vehicle and fired multiple times, killing Coleman. Police and prosecutors say the shooter was Richard E. Moore, 29, of Northwoods, who is set to stand trial next week in the case.
Prior to the 2020 election, Parson, 66, told reporters that he would not run again for any office after having served as a county sheriff, a member of the Missouri House, a state senator, lieutenant governor and, currently, governor.

Yeah. I dont see that in my future, Parson said at the time. Ive been around long enough to say, Never say never. But Id say the first lady might say never.

Along with the Uniting Missouri account, Parson also has his individual campaign committee, known as Parson for Missouri.

That account has $179,000, but the governor does not appear to be raising any money for it. At one point, the committee raised more than $6 million.

His personal account also isnt being tapped for any large expenses. Among the few made during the third quarter was a $200 bill for McDonalds in Kansas City.

Hancock said there are no plans to use any of the money in the Uniting Missouri account thats been raised to support a different candidate in future elections.

We dont exist any longer to support any particular candidate, Hancock said.
The first black bear hunted in the state of Missouri was shot in the southwest part of the state on Monday.

The bear, a female weighing about 250 pounds, was hunted on private land, said Missouri Department of Conservation communications manager Lucas Bond.

A second bear was also hunted Monday on public land in the same area of Missouri, Bond said.

Bond didnt release the full name of the hunter who shot the first bear. In a video posted to the departments Facebook page, the hunter said he knew he had bears on his property.

Very exciting. Ive hunted my entire life, the man said. As far as the hunt, this was probably the most thrilling, exciting thing that Ive ever done ... Bear come in, couldnt really believe it and couldnt believe that I actually seen one ... I didnt hesitate very long to be honest with you.

Looking forward to taking it to the taxidermist, the hunter said, adding that hes also excited to try the meat.

The area of the state where both bears were shot is south of Springfield and Joplin, and west of West Plains.
WASHINGTON  The fatal police shooting of a Black teen in Chicago seven years ago is looming large over the citys former mayor, Rahm Emanuel, as he looks to win confirmation as President Joe Bidens ambassador to Japan.

Several liberal House lawmakers and activists complain that Emanuels handling of the death of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald, who was shot 16 times as he ran away from police, should have disqualified him for consideration for a coveted role. They see the nomination as out of sync with the values of an administration that says comprehensive and meaningful police reform is a priority.

Emanuels administration refused to make public police dash cam video of the killing for more than a year and not until being compelled to do so by a state court. He later apologized for his handling of the situation, which sparked weeks of mostly peaceful protests in the nations third-largest city after the videos release.

Emanuel is set to appear before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday for his confirmation hearing, which is occurring on the seventh anniversary of McDonalds murder.
"Europe is Opening." So proclaim postings from travel mavens and destination advocates, and it probably is accurate. But "opening" is kind of a loose concept  and, in the case of European travel  a moving target. Chances are that many of you may want to visit Europe over the holidays, and probably even more are thinking about visiting in spring or summer of 2022. Right now, that looks feasible, but COVID-19 can still stage its own reopening, so caution remains the watchword. Although requirements will probably change, current rules are still reasonably strict.

1. No Jab, No Journey. Yes, unvaccinated folks can enter many countries, at a cost of lots of testing and possible quarantines. Even if you can get into a country without having proof of vaccination, however, you'll need it for many domestic visitor activities  from attending theaters, shopping at major stores, eating in restaurants, and getting into the big museums to riding public transport, high-speed trains, and local flights.

2. Stay Current. Make sure your vaccination is current. Volume vaccinations started early this year, and lots of you will have passed the one-year mark before a spring trip. Get a booster if you need it.
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FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Joe Biden delivers an update on the administration's coronavirus disease (COVID-19) response and the vaccination program during remarks at the White House in Washington, U.S., October 14, 2021. REUTERS/Leah Millis

By Jarrett Renshaw, Andrea Shalal, Trevor Hunnicutt and Steve Holland

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden and Democratic lawmakers are edging toward a deal on the scope of their cornerstone economic revival package and hope to reach a compromise as soon as this week, people briefed on the negotiations said on Tuesday.

Scrambling to broker an agreement, Biden met with 19 lawmakers on Tuesday in an unusually busy day of legislative negotiations. He aimed to secure what may be the signature effort of his administration, a multitrillion-dollar, two-bill legislative package that expands social safety net programs and infrastructure spending.

One source said a deal could be announced midweek if things go well; two others said the White House was hoping for an announcement in coming days.

"After a day of constructive meetings, the President is more confident this evening about the path forward to delivering for the American people on strong, sustained economic growth that benefits everyone," White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in a written statement issued on Tuesday evening.

The talks centered on a "shared commitment to the care economy, ensuring working families have more breathing room, addressing the climate crisis, and investing in industries of the future so that we can compete globally," Psaki said.

"There was broad agreement that there is urgency in moving forward over the next several days and that the window for finalizing a package is closing," she said.

A spending package that was originally estimated at $3.5 trillion over a decade could be reduced to $1.9 trillion to $2.2 trillion, said Representative Pramila Jayapal, chair of the Progressive Caucus in the House of Representatives, after meeting with Biden.

Biden told Democrats in a private meeting that he believed a deal could be reached between $1.75 trillion and $1.9 trillion, the Washington Post reported on Tuesday evening.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer also said Democrats aim to reach a framework deal this week. Speaking to reporters following a closed-door lunch with fellow Democrats, he said: "There was universal agreement in that room that we have to come to an agreement, and we want to get it done this week."

A deal is likely to be far less ambitious than Biden's original plan. Initiatives in that proposal that may see cuts include $322 billion for affordable housing, money for paid family leave and some $400 billion earmarked to increase home-based care for the elderly and disabled, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Biden has told lawmakers that a program providing free community college is on the chopping block and a child tax credit may be extended for fewer years than planned, according to people familiar with the discussions.

All of the people who spoke to Reuters warned that negotiations were fragile, still under way and that a deal could still collapse.

U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi has set Oct. 31 as the deadline for the House to pass a $1.2 trillion infrastructure deal that the Senate has already approved and has broad bipartisan support.

Biden met on Tuesday with House progressives, who have been unwilling to pass the infrastructure bill unless it is coupled with the larger budget bill that would fund Biden's campaign pledges on climate, inequality and social programs.

"We all feel still even more optimistic about getting to an agreement," to get a large measure of what they wanted months ago, Jayapal said.

She said there still weren't "final" details on major portions of the initiative, including on climate change. Another progressive, Representative Ro Khanna, said Biden's plan for universal preschool remained a priority.

The president also met Tuesday with moderate Democratic senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, who have voiced concern about the size of the bill and pushed Biden to reduce the original cost. They have a virtual veto over his agenda because both chambers of Congress are controlled only narrowly by Democrats. Republicans largely oppose the larger social-spending bill.

Asked about the size of the spending bill, Manchin yelled, "I'm at $1.5" trillion to reporters in Congress on Tuesday evening.

Democratic Senator Jon Tester, who attended a White House meeting with another group of moderates, said afterward, "I think we're making really good progress, better progress than I ever thought we were making."

One of Biden's major selling points in last year's presidential campaign was his ability to find a middle ground at a time of deep political polarization, touting his 36 years as a moderate Democratic U.S. senator from Delaware.

Weeks of negotiations nonetheless failed to bridge the gap on the spending bill. Biden said on Oct. 1 that he would find an agreement "whether it's in six minutes, six days or in six weeks," but White House officials were increasingly concerned as the weeks ticked by.

(Additional reporting by Richard Cowan, Timothy Gardner and Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Heather Timmons, Alistair Bell, Cynthia Osterman and Richard Pullin)
NORTHFIELD, Ill., Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Medline today announced it has awarded grants to 14 non-profit organizations through its annual Community Impact Grant Program. This year's recipients support programs focused on family health, health equity, domestic violence, and fighting breast cancer.

"As the pandemic continues to impact and influence our daily lives, vulnerable communities are facing even more uncertainty," said Karen Frey, senior philanthropy manager at Medline. "By providing grants directly to organizations serving the community we hope to have a direct impact on improving health equity and population health in under-served communities."

Medline's Community Impact Grant Program helps organizations address the pressing needs of vulnerable communities. This year's recipients include organizations that are helping communities by improving access to health care, increasing community support, and helping people find economic stability to allow them to meet their health needs.

Here is a list of this year's grant recipients:

A Safe Place of Zion, Ill.

CASA Lake County, Inc. of Vernon Hills, Ill.

Zacharias Sexual Abuse Center of Gurnee, Ill.

Women's Center-Youth & Family Services of Stockton, Calif.

Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies Coalition Of Georgia Inc of Atlanta

Riverview Center Inc of Galena, Ill.

Atlanta Ronald McDonald House Charities Inc of Atlanta

Mothers Trust Foundation of Lake Forest, Ill.

South Texas Food Bank of Laredo, Texas

Midhudson Chocolate Milk of Middletown, N.Y.

Northern Illinois Food Bank of Geneva, Ill.

"During the shelter in place order, our organization saw the number of children needing protective services increase dramatically," said Terri Zenner Greenberg, executive director of CASA. "This made the recruitment and training of new court advocates more critical than ever. The Medline grant we received in 2020 enabled us to hire and train 64 new CASA volunteers and the 2021 grant will enable us to help even more children in need of court-appointed advocates."

This year's grant recipients represent diverse communities and will leverage their grants to meet the needs of the communities they serve. Recipients serving the domestic violence needs of communities are planning on leveraging their grants to provide direct services to victims and their children, support shelter programs, and establish new programs. For recipients striving to solve complex food insecurity needs, the grant funding will be used to launch new programs, support existing programs, and provide nutritious food options to those most in need.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month and three of the organizations receiving funding this year through the Community Impact Grant will apply their funds to assist the fight against breast cancer:

Michelle's Place of Temecula, Calif.

Equal Hope of Chicago

Gilda's Club Chicago Of Chicago

With the funding from the Community Impact Grant program, these organizations will raise awareness around breast cancer detection, provide access to free care, free resources to breast cancer patients, and launch new models for program delivery and engagement.

Learn more about how Medline's Community Impact Grants are making a difference in the communities where we live and work by visiting us here.

About Medline:Medline is a healthcare company: a manufacturer, distributor and solutions provider focused on improving the overall operating performance of healthcare. Medline works with both the country's largest healthcare systems and independent facilities across the continuum of care to provide the clinical and supply chain resources required for long-term financial viability in delivering high quality care. With the size of one of the country's largest companies and the agility of a family-owned business, Medline is able to invest in its customers for the long-term and rapidly respond with customized solutions. Headquartered in Northfield, Ill., Medline has 27,000+ employees worldwide, a fleet of nearly, 1,200 trucks and does business in more than 125 countries. Learn more about Medline at www.medline.com.

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Spc. Enrique Roman-Martinezs partial remains were found near Cape Lookout National Seashore after he was reported missing near his campsite on May 23, 2020. (U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command)

(Tribune News Service)  The U.S. Army has closed an investigation into the killing of a paratrooper from California whose head was found severed from his body, according to Rep. Norma Torres, who is asking the Pentagons inspector general to examine whether the militarys probe was flawed.

Enrique Roman-Martinez, 21, was stationed at Fort Bragg in North Carolina when he went missing in May 2020. Roman-Martinez, of Chino, had gone camping during the Memorial Day weekend with seven fellow soldiers on an island off the North Carolina coast. His partial remains later washed ashore near the camp.

In a letter Tuesday to Sean ODonnell, acting inspector general of the Defense Department, Torres (D- Pomona) said the Army regrettably closed the investigation this summer with no justice for Roman-Martinez or his family. She requested a full and independent examination of the response to and investigation of Roman-Martinezs murder.

As we look forward to the holiday season, Spc. Roman-Martinez should be with his family. He should have been already discharged from the military and settling into his new life, Torres wrote. Instead, his family has spent over 16 months painfully waiting for justice with no end in sight. During this time, the family has lost all confidence in the Army Criminal Investigation Command.

In a phone interview, Torres raised questions about the other soldiers on the camping trip, who waited 19 hours to report Roman-Martinez missing.

When they came across a park ranger, who approached them because they were parked illegally on the campground, that wouldve been the time for them to say: Hey, theres a soldier thats missing. One of the campers, one of our friends, is missing,  Torres said.

But they didnt say that, she said. They didnt say that because they said they believed that he was suicidal and they were afraid to bring attention to that. Well, if he was suicidal, I think that is the bigger reason to ask for help and to say that your friend and colleague is missing. But they didnt do any of that.

Torres wants a review of how the military communicated with the family and addressed language barriers; the Armys treatment of any people of interest; requirements for soldiers to report a missing member or co-worker; the timeline of the investigation; and whether the pace of the probe was affected by any logistical or jurisdictional hurdles.

In August, the Army Criminal Investigation Command began offering up to $50,000 for credible information on the circumstances of Roman-Martinezs death. The Army said it had created a specialized task force comprised of special agents and FBI personnel to investigate it.

The task force said it executed more than 100 warrants and subpoenas, conducted over 400 interviews across several states and went to the island seven times for air, land and sea searches. Agents also reported examining more than five terabytes of digital data  including from cellphones  and inspecting vehicles and more than 130 other items, but none revealed any trace of blood or DNA.

CID Special Agent Steve Chancellor said in the Aug. 2 statement that the task force hadnt recovered any physical, forensic or testimonial evidence linking anyone to Roman-Martinezs death.

I have been a criminal investigator for more than 40 years and have worked hundreds of death investigations, Chancellor said. This tragic death is a real mystery on what exactly happened. All logical theories or suspicions that were developed to date have been investigated and either discounted or disproven. We have and are still looking at all possibilities, but need the publics help.

Torres criticized the Army for failing to revoke the seven soldiers privileges to leave the base on weekends and after hours. While theres no reported evidence that they were involved in his death, Torres said the Armys inaction could have allowed them to return to the site.

I just think that a lot of the things that I have brought before them shouldve been done automatically. They shouldnt have taken a member of Congress to ask for those things, she said. I hate to have to tell the Army how to conduct their day-to-day business when it comes to missing and murdered enlisted members of our military, but at this point I feel that I have no other choice.

An Army spokesman could not be reached for comment.

2021 Los Angeles Times.

Visit at latimes.com.

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Navy Lt. Tasha Gallegos, right, talks to a patient about contraceptive options during an office visit at Naval Hospital Pensacola, Fla. While resources and the availability of walk-in clinics for contraception counseling have increased across the Defense Department, a recent study found significant barriers for service womens health care and family planning. (Jason Bortz/U.S. Navy)

The days of Love Boat ridicule for the Navy over unplanned pregnancies are a distant memory now.

The destroyer tender USS Arcadia gained the nickname during the Gulf War when at least 36 of its service women had to be transferred off the ship while deployed to the Persian Gulf due to pregnancies.

In the years since, the Navy has surpassed the other services in providing access to contraceptives, including those considered the most foolproof and effective.

Nearly 30% of Navy and Marine women were using long-acting reversible contraceptives, or LARCs, by 2019, according to a study in the current issue of the Defense Health Agencys monthly medical journal.

By contrast, less than a quarter of Air Force women were using the intrauterine devices and hormonal implants, which are nearly 100% effective in preventing pregnancy, and fewer than 20% of Army women were.

Navy medicine continues to prioritize both contraception education and contraception access for sailors and Marines, Navy spokeswoman Angela Steadman said in an email. We recognize that contraception is not only for family planning purposes, but is also incredibly important to our active duty women for menstrual management and operational readiness should they desire it.

Navy Lt. Cmdr. Stacey Hamlett removes Nexplanon, a long-acting birth control implant, from a patients arm at a walk-in contraception clinic April 25, 2017, at Naval Station Norfolk, Va. The Navy began offering same-day, no-appointment-necessary contraception clinics in 2016 to increase access to counseling and prescriptions for sailors, a practice the Defense Health Agency is now considering expanding to all military treatment facilities. (Terah L. Bryant/U.S. Navy)

The study showed increases in LARC use since 2016, when the Navy opened walk-in contraceptive clinics offering same-day services without an appointment to increase access to contraceptive counseling and prescriptions.

As of February, the Navy had more than 22 such clinics, usually held once weekly, including at bases in Europe. The Army had five, including a monthly clinic at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, and the Air Force had one.

The Defense Health Agency is now considering whether to mandate them at all military treatment facilities.

The Navy has done a really great job with those clinics, said Army Lt. Col. Erin Keyser, the director of the gynecologic surgery and obstetrics program at Brooke Army Medical Center.

Keyser said that after the walk-in clinics patterned on the Navys were launched at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, it took on average two hours for a patient to be provided with a LARC or other contraception.

That was compared with the average of eight hours it took when troops had to make appointments, often with different providers.

Especially for young service women, it was a struggle, needing two or three appointments, and the delays that caused, Keyser said.

Overall LARC use in the services increased from 21.9% to 23.9% between 2016 and 2019, the study found, while usage of short-acting contraceptive use, such as hormonal rings, patches and oral contraceptives, decreased from 28.3% to 24.9%.

LARCs are more effective than other types of birth control because theyre not reliant on the user, medical officials said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommend LARCs as the most effective means for preventing unintended pregnancy in women and adolescents. Some are also helpful in menstrual suppression, which can be welcome for service members during deployment.

But obstetrician Dr. Nisha Verma said it is important that providers discuss values and preferences with patients to decide together on the best contraceptive.

Its really very individual, she said. Im always cautious about making sure were not pushing it on people. Condoms might be the best for one person.

Barriers remain for servicewomens health care, however.

Many female troops have said they received no contraceptive briefing before deployment, studies have shown, and fears of being reprimanded for sexual activity during deployment have caused some to forgo contraceptives.

Expert recommendations mandating pre-deployment womens health visits, ideally three months in advance so that any problems with contraceptives could be remedied, have been rejected, Keyser said.

But one of the most glaring omissions in service womens health care, according to clinicians, is the absence of abortion services.

The military does not perform abortions, and it pays for them only in cases of rape, incest or life endangerment. It also has no data pertaining to abortions.

A study by the research organization Ibis Reproductive Health found that service women with unplanned, unwanted pregnancies often avoided military treatment facilities because they feared stigma, lack of confidentiality and career impacts.

The study also found that some of those who did visit a military clinic reported feeling upset or abandoned by the lack of options, counseling and referral for abortion care.

Texas, which is home to numerous military bases, recently banned nearly all abortions, including in rape and incest cases. The ban challenges the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Roe v. Wade that legalized abortion nationwide.

Were still in discussions whether we follow state or federal law, Keyser said, referring to abortions for rape, incest or life endangerment.
From right, Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colo., Rep. Jason Crow and Sen. Michael Bennet, both D-Colo., speak outside of Peterson Space Force Base, Colo., on Thursday after touring the base and meeting with officials. The lawmakers oppose the move of U.S. Space Command from Peterson to Redstone Arsenal, Ala., which was announced in January under former President Donald Trump. (Photo provided by Rep. Jason Crows office)

Two reviews into the Air Forces decision to move U.S. Space Command from Colorado to Alabama should be out by spring 2022, but Colorado lawmakers are asking for the investigations to be expedited before taxpayer money is spent on the relocation.

Sen. Michael Bennet and Rep. Jason Crow, both D-Colo., told reporters Monday that moving Space Command would jeopardize national security because of the buildup of resources and personnel already located at bases in their state.

It is the nexus of national security space operations for the intelligence community and the Department of Defense, and it's why, from a national security perspective, Colorado is the most strategic choice by far for U.S. Space Command, Bennet said after he and Crow visited several military bases across Colorado.

Peterson Space Force Base, formerly Peterson Air Force Base, in Colorado is also home to North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, and U.S. Northern Command.

Former Air Force Secretary Barbara Barrett announced in January  as former President Donald Trumps time in office waned  the decision to move Space Command from its temporary headquarters at Peterson to a permanent home at Redstone Arsenal in Alabama.

Space Command, which operated from 1985 to 2002, was reestablished in 2019 just months before the newest military service branch, Space Force, was founded. It is a joint, combatant command that oversees the militarys various space-based infrastructure and operations.

Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colo., has joined in the effort to review the decision, which has since been called politically motivated. Trump was elected as a Republican, and Alabama is traditionally a stronghold for the party.

The lawmakers requests to review the decision were accepted by the Government Accountability Office and the Defense Department inspector general. Both offices said the reviews are ongoing. GAO officials confirmed the agencys report is scheduled to be completed by spring and they said they continue to keep lawmakers informed of their progress.

The Defense Department Inspector Generals Office said they have not received a request from Crow to expedite their work. However, Crow said he has made his requests through private meetings and public testimony with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Air Force officials.

There are many indications that then President Trump overrode [the Air Force] process and put his thumb on the scale in favor of one location, which of course would be inconsistent with our national security and inconsistent with long-standing Department of Defense protocol, Crow said. That's what these two investigations are intended to do, to determine whether or not that occurred, and if it did, of course we need to revisit that process and go through it the right way.

Crow and Lamborn also had an amendment added to the House version of the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act that would postpone any efforts to move Space Command until the two reviews are complete. The Senate has yet to pass its draft of the NDAA, which is annual legislation that creates a budget and updates policies for the Defense Department.

The amendment is designed to further encourage expedited movement of that investigation because the command cannot spend money for a move until those investigations are complete, Crow said.

As Crow and Bennet toured military bases in Colorado during the last week, including Peterson, Schriever Space Force Base and Buckley Space Force Base, they said military officials did not offer opinions on the move to Alabama but did answer questions about what is needed for the success of Space Commands mission.

One of the themes that came up is human capital, Crow said. Colorado has that talent. We have that ecosystem. The people live here, they have families here, they have their homes here.

The Air Force has said the move to Alabama is contingent on a required environmental impact study, which could take until about 2023 to complete.
Buy Photo Service members and families exit the Patriot Express after arriving at Osan Air Base, South Korea, July 14, 2020. (Stars and Stripes)

U.S. Forces Korea has trimmed its coronavirus quarantine period and reduced movement restrictions for vaccinated new arrivals to the peninsula.

The command cited increasing vaccination rates among its population and that of South Korea.

Vaccinated individuals must quarantine until the mandatory test required upon arrival comes back negative, USFK announced Monday on its official Facebook page. Anyone living with that person must also restrict their movements until the result is available.

However, the rules for working quarantine, restricted movement while in quarantine, have changed for vaccinated individuals. For example, food and clothing purchases, public transportation, dining-in and outdoor physical activity are authorized if South Korean laws and directives are followed, according to the announcement.

Other conditions apply: Day one and day six or seven PCR tests for COVID-19, the coronavirus respiratory disease, are still mandatory and wearing a mask is also required until the day six or seven result is negative.

For unvaccinated new arrivals, the full 14-day quarantine protocol still applies, according to USFK.

Individuals arriving on orders to USKF commands continue to test positive upon arrival in South Korea.

On Monday, the command reported another 23 new arrivals tested positive for COVID-19 during the three weeks ending Thursday.

Seven service members and eight family members arrived at Osan Air Base on the Patriot Express, a government-chartered air service, between Sept. 22 and Oct. 11, according to a USFK news release Monday.

Six service members, a Defense Department civilian employee and a family member arrived on commercial flights at Incheon International Airport between Oct. 1 and Thursday.

Seven tested positive on the test required upon arrival; three came up positive while in quarantine and 13 tested positive on the test required before exiting quarantine. All were quarantined at either Osan or Camp Humphreys, according to USFK.

South Korea reported 1,030 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday, according to the Korea Center for Disease Control and Prevention Agencys Monday update. Of those, Seoul accounted for 352 and Gyeonggi province, where Osan and Humphreys are located, reported 358.

South Korea has fully vaccinated nearly 65% of its population; another 79% has received the first of a two-shot regimen.

Stars and Stripes reporter Yoo Kyong Chang contributed to this report.
Women Airforce Service Pilots. (U.S. Air Force)

(Tribune News Service)  The Air Force Museum Foundation and the National Aviation Hall of Fame will honor the legacy of the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) Nov. 11, 2021 at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force.

Three ticket levels are available, the foundation and the hall of fame said in a release. All include admission to a special presentation starting at 7 p.m. that evening.

The presentation will feature author Erin Miller sharing stories about her grandmother, WASP World War II pilot Elaine Danforth Harmon, and discussing her book What Grandma Did.

According to a description of the book, What Grandma Did is a story that teaches history, leadership, and courage through intergenerational learning.

Then filmmakers Adam and Kara White will have a screening of their film RISE ABOVE: WASP. A panel discussion, with a question-and-answer period, will follow.

According to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, WASP pilots flew 60 million miles in a variety of military aircraft, including fighters and B-17 and B-29 bombers. These women ferried aircraft, cargo and personnel; tested aircraft; and towed targets throughout the 48 states, filling in gaps left by male pilots who had been sent to war, said a May 2020 Smithsonian article.

The presentation will be held in the museums second building.

Event Ticket #1: Admittance to a VIP reception held from 5:30 p.m.  6:45 p.m. in the Museums World War II Gallery, plus a signed copy of What Grandma Did and preferred seating for the special presentation for $75

Event Ticket #2: A signed copy of What Grandma Did and admittance to the special presentation, $30 members/$32 general admission.

Event Ticket #3: Admittance to the special presentation, $10 members/$12 general admission

Tickets are available online at afmuseum.com/livinghistory .

(c)2021 the Dayton Daily News (Dayton, Ohio)

Visit the Dayton Daily News (Dayton, Ohio) at www.daytondailynews.com
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and other officials watch a ballistic missile launch in this undated photo from the state-run Korean Central News Agency. (KCNA)

CAMP HUMPHREYS, South Korea  North Korea launched at least one missile into the sea off its eastern coast, the Souths Joint Chiefs of Staff announced on Tuesday morning.

The short-range projectile is believed to have been a submarine-launched ballistic missile, according to a military official who spoke to Stars and Stripes on the condition of anonymity because he was not allowed to discuss the details.

The official said an initial assessment indicated the missile flew over 360 miles at a maximum altitude of 37 miles.

No reports of injuries or damages from the 10:17 a.m. launch were reported by the Japan Coast Guard, according to an agency spokesman. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told reporters his military detected two ballistic missiles and called it extremely regrettable.

South Korean military officials believe the missile was fired from Sinpo, home to a North Korean shipyard where analysts say the communist regime has been developing a ballistic missile submarine.

North Korea has been testing SLBMs for several years. In 2019, the regime tested an SLBM from an underwater platform that flew nearly 280 miles. South Korean military officials on Tuesday did not confirm whether the North's latest test originated from a newly developed submarine or a launch platform. North Korea did not release any announcement about its launch by Tuesday afternoon.

The South Korean presidential Blue House convened with its National Security Council in response to the launch and in a joint statement expressed deep regret over the North's latest weapons test.

The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command in a statement condemned the launch and called on North Korea to refrain from any further destabilizing acts.

While we have assessed that this event does not pose an immediate threat to U.S. personnel, territory, or that of our allies, we will continue to monitor the situation, the command said Tuesday afternoon.

The launch comes as several high-level discussions between Washington and Seoul about North Korea are expected this week.

The U.S. special representative for North Korea policy, Sung Kim, will be traveling to Seoul to discuss the possibility of declaring a formal end to the 1950-53 Korean War, a move that South Korean President Moon Jae-in has advocated for since his presidential campaign.

North Koreas latest launch comes as Avril Haines, the U.S. director of national intelligence, is scheduled to speak with South Korean and Japanese intelligence leaders throughout the week.

The U.S. has continued to offer North Korea a venue to hold discussions without preconditions. State Department spokesman Ned Price in September said the U.S. held no hostile intent toward the regime and that we hope [North Korea] will respond positively to our outreach.

North Korea addressed the recent overtures Tuesday and described the talks of formally ending the Korean War as untimely.

The U.S. has not hesitated to make provocative remarks and actions toward North Korea, the countrys state-run Echo of Unification news outlet said in an announcement.

Soo Kim, a policy analyst for Rand Corp. and an adjunct instructor at American University, said the recent launches amid the U.S. allies diplomatic meetings was one way for North Korea to gain attention.

Perhaps Pyongyang wants to shape the outcome of the high-level talks, Kim told Stars and Stripes in an interview Tuesday. Or at the very least make sure that there is a fresh reminder for the U.S. as our senior officials discuss the North Korea issue with their counterparts this week.

Kim added that the missile launches were behavior we expect from North Korea.

Pyongyang in recent weeks fired a barrage of missiles that has concerned analysts. It launched four between September and October, including a new anti-aircraft missile , a ballistic missile from a train, long-range cruise missiles capable of reaching Japan, and a hypersonic short-range missile.

Stars and Stripes reporter Yoo Kyong Chang contributed to this report.
A Chinese navy guided-missile destroyer sails through the Tsugaru Strait between Japans Honshu and Hokkaido islands, Monday, Oct. 18, 2021. (Joint Staff Office)

TOKYO  A flotilla of Russian and Chinese warships transited a narrow waterway separating the major Japanese islands of Honshu and Hokkaido for the first time on record Monday, according to the Japanese government.

Five Russian and five Chinese vessels, including destroyers and frigates, passed through the Tsugaru Strait  12 miles wide at its narrowest point  from the Sea of Japan to the Pacific Ocean, Japans deputy chief cabinet secretary Yoshihiko Isozaki said during a news conference Tuesday.

A Russian navy destroyer sails through the Tsugaru Strait between Japans Honshu and Hokkaido islands, Monday, Oct. 18, 2021. (Joint Staff Office)

The transit is the first involving warships from Russia and China at the same time, Isozaki said.

The Japanese government pays close attention with great interest to such activities of Chinese and Russian navies in the region, he said.

The vessels were first spotted by the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force around 8 a.m. Monday about 68 miles southwest of Okushiri Island in the Sea of Japan, which is known as the East Sea in Korea, according to news release that day from Japans Joint Staff.

Japan will take all possible measures to continue monitoring the surrounding waters and airspace, Isozaki told reporters.

The strait is one of the few passageways through the chain of islands, including the Japanese archipelago, that separates continental Asia from the Pacific Ocean. It is considered an international waterway, according to public broadcaster NHK.

The Chinese and Russian navies held an exercise in the Sea of Japan this month that included communications, sea mine countermeasures, air defense, live-fire shooting at maritime targets, joint maneuvering and joint anti-submarine missions, according to an Oct. 14 report in Chinas state-run Global Times newspaper that cited the Chinese navy.

Not only did they do the exercise, but they did a joint transit at the end to catch Japans attention, James Brown, an international affairs expert at Temple Universitys Japan campus, said in a telephone interview Tuesday.

Russian and Chinese forces have been training together since 2005 but the latest drills are sending messages about the Quad grouping involving the U.S., Japan, Australia and India, he said.

Naval forces from the four nations kicked off the second phase of Exercise Malabar in the Bay of Bengal Oct. 11 with an armada led by the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson.

Russia and China dont like the Quad grouping, Brown said.

The Sea of Japan training and transit of the Tsugaru Strait sends a message that involvement in the group has consequences for Japan, he said.

Cooperation between Russia and China is happening at a tense time in Europe with Russia shuttering its permanent mission to NATO and suspending the alliances liaison office Monday in Moscow.

The move came less than two weeks after NATO expelled eight members of the Russian delegation, accusing them of working as undercover spies.

I dont think anyone thinks China is going to come to Russias defense over issues in Europe, Brown said. Likewise, I dont think Russia would see it in their interest to support China if there was a conflict over Taiwan.

The two countries security relationship is not on par with the U.S.-Japan alliance but its more than just a partnership, he said.

Moscow and Beijing have a security relationship that has involved transfer of advanced weapons technology such as jet engines from Russia to China, Brown said.

The Russian navy may be helping the Chinese develop skills such as anti-submarine warfare, he said.

For the Russians, its mainly symbolic and showing they are close partners with a rising China, he said.

Stars and Stripes reporter Hana Kusumoto contributed to this report.
Buy Photo Fun-seekers wear masks on a ride at the historic Hanayashiki amusement park in Asakusa, Tokyo, Saturday, Oct. 16, 2021. (Aaron Kidd/Stars and Stripes)

TOKYO  Japans capital city, which passed through the worst phase of the coronavirus pandemic over the summer, registered its lowest daily new case count in more than a year on Monday.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government reported 29 people newly infected with the virus, according to metro government data online. The city last reported fewer than 30 new cases on June 15, 2020, when it confirmed 28, according to online data.

The count on Tuesday was 41, according to public broadcaster NHK, which cited the metro government.

The pandemic peaked in Tokyo on Aug. 13 at 5,773 new infections during the fifth and most extreme wave of COVID-19 in the city.

New cases across Japan are down, too, to 230 on Monday, a fraction of the pandemic high, 25,892, on Aug. 20, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. More than 67% of Japans population, or 85 million people, are fully vaccinated.

One U.S. military installation in Japan reported two new cases since Friday of COVID-19, the coronavirus respiratory disease.

Yokosuka Naval Base, the homeport of the U.S. 7th Fleet south of Tokyo, in a news release Tuesday said the two unimmunized individuals turned up positive during a medical screening. The base has four COVID-19 patients under observation.

Yokosuka so far this month has reported 13 new COVID-19 cases. In August, it reported 119 and in January, 293, the most of any month this year. In 2020, the base reported at least 289 positive test results for the coronavirus, though its public reporting was incomplete.
Patrons wait for the opening of the commissary at Camp Humphreys, South Korea, Feb. 6, 2018. Gerald Leon Ray III, a former commissary agency employee, faces one charge of assault resulting in serious bodily injury for what prosecutors say involved him striking a U.S. soldier in the head on July 26, 2020, in Pyeongtaek, a South Korean city near Camp Humphreys. (Rick Brink)

A former Defense Commissary Agency employee who was arrested in Germany faces prosecution for assault in the U.S. over a 2020 attack in South Korea that seriously injured a U.S. soldier.

Gerald Leon Ray III, 25, of Lathrop, Calif., is charged with one count of assault resulting in serious bodily injury, the Justice Department announced Monday. He faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted.

Ray was indicted in June, but authorities didnt know where he was. He found part-time civilian work at a club on a U.S. military base in the Kaiserslautern area, according to court documents.

Rays Facebook page indicates he arrived at Ramstein on March 2, a little more than three months before the indictment, which was sealed by the court.

Military law enforcement arrested him Wednesday and took him to the jail at the Armys Sembach Kaserne, according to court documents.

The following day, a judge ordered that Ray be flown from Germany to the United States.

Ray was released Monday from the Sacramento County jail on $50,000 bail, according to court documents.

The charge against Ray stems from an attack July 26, 2020, in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, which is near Osan Air Base and the U.S. Armys Camp Humphreys. An American soldier was struck in the head during the attack, court documents said.

A Justice Department statement on Rays arrest did not say what happened to the soldier who was attacked.

The charge was brought under the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act, which establishes U.S. jurisdiction over certain offenses committed overseas. The act allows for the prosecution of Defense Department civilians in federal court.

The next court proceedings are scheduled for Jan. 31, 2022.
Vladimir Putin, Russias president, at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Russia, on Sept. 5, 2019. Russia hosts Taliban envoys for multination talks on Wednesday, Oct. 20, 2021, to discuss the security and political situation in Afghanistan. Putin has cautioned there should be no hurry to officially recognize their governance of Afghanistan. (Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg)

MOSCOW  Since the return of Taliban rule in Afghanistan, the calculus for Moscow has been tricky: how to reassert its regional influence after the U.S. military exit while also keeping some distance from internal Afghan struggles.

Afghanistan itself is not of interest to Russia, said Andrei Serenko, the head of the Moscow-based Center of Contemporary Afghan Studies. Russia wants to use Afghanistan without getting involved in Afghanistan.

Russias gambit will be tested Wednesday as it hosts Taliban envoys for multination talks to discuss the security and political situation in Afghanistan. Russian President Vladimir Putin has cautioned there should be no hurry to officially recognize their governance of Afghanistan.

But the meeting offers another stage for the Taliban to open international channels as the West and others struggle over diplomatic recognition and aid, citing the Talibans past human rights abuses and severe limits imposed on girls and women. Earlier this month, U.S. officials held talks with a Taliban delegation in Doha, Qatar, to discuss security issues and safe passage for those seeking to leave the country.

The so-called Moscow format is far broader. It is expected to include representatives from China, Pakistan, India, Iran and other countries. The United States, though invited, is not attending, State Department spokesman Ned Price said Monday.

No potential breakthroughs are on the agenda, Russias presidential representative for Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov said Friday, but added there will be a candid conversation behind closed doors.

In talks between representatives of Russia, China and Pakistan on Tuesday, the countries expressed joint interest in providing urgent humanitarian and economic assistance for Afghanistan, according to a statement by the Russian foreign ministry.

Perhaps more important for Russia than the substance of the meeting is that its happening at Russias initiative, analysts said.

Moscow wants to appear as mediator that must have a seat at the table in matters that concern Afghanistan, said Serenko, noting that Russia still feels the sting from the humiliating withdrawal of Soviet troops in 1989 after a 10-year occupation of Afghanistan.

He said that Russias top priority, however, is using the new regional security concerns to increase influence in Central Asia, an area where Moscow competes for influence with Beijing.

As the Taliban swept into Kabul in August with U.S.-backed Afghan forces in disarray, Russian armored vehicles were at the Afghanistan border with Tajikistan for military exercises  a signal from Moscow that it can fill the security void in the region with the Americans now gone.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said earlier this month that Russias Central Asian friends have assured Russia that they do not want U.S. military units stationed on their territory. The U.S. military maintains partnerships with some Central Asian nations, but no longer has the temporary footholds in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan established after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

Russia initially took a warmer tone after the Taliban regained power. It was one of four countries that did not immediately evacuate its Kabul embassy staff. Russias ambassador to Afghanistan, Dmitry Zhirnov, said at the time that the current situation in Kabul is better than under Ashraf Ghani, the Afghan president who fled the country.

Putin encouraged other countries to establish good-neighbor relations with Afghanistans new leaders in the days after the Taliban takeover. But last week, he expressed skepticism that the Taliban will stanch drug production and said the threat of terrorism in the region has increased. Recent bombings in Afghanistan have raised concerns that the Taliban are unable to curb other militant and terrorist groups, mainly the Islamic State.

Russian officials have said theyre preparing to send humanitarian aid to Afghanistan, but its expected to be modest compared to other countries financial support. The Taliban remain on the list of a banned terrorist organizations in Russia.

As for diplomatically recognizing the Taliban, Putin told a virtual summit of ex-Soviet countries on Friday, We realize that we have to interact with them, but there is no need to jump the gun.

Though Russia has hosted Taliban officials several times in recent years, Serenko said Moscow doesnt hold much sway with the group, especially with the Haqqani network, considered one of the Talibans most influential and feared factions.

The Taliban were invited to Moscow for Wednesdays talks two weeks ago, they didnt accept until Friday.

This conference is not about Afghanistan, Serenko said. Its all about Russia. Russia wants to show the Americans that without Russia, the Afghanistan problem wont be solved.
Taliban militants stop and check cars in eastern Kabul on Oct. 5, 2021. (Lorenzo Tugnoli/for The Washington Post)

KABUL, Afghanistan  Inside the 25-foot-high, barbed-wire-topped walls of Pul-e-Charkhi prison, a thin line divides the Taliban of the past and what the militants claim they have become.

To Afghanistans new rulers, the inmates are evidence of their ability to effectively police the capital in a law-abiding manner. But on a recent day, when scores of prisoners gathered outside their cells to soak in the sun, some said they were arrested on flimsy accusations. Others described being treated violently, reminiscent of the harsh justice doled out by the militants when they ruled in mid-1990s. None of the inmates had lawyers.

They beat me up badly, said Haji Hussein, a taxi driver who said he was arrested at a Taliban checkpoint because two of his passengers were drunk.

My son killed a person and escaped, but they put me in jail instead, said Timur Shah, speaking from behind a chain-link fence.

In the vacuum left by the sudden fall of the U.S.-backed Afghan government, the Taliban have stepped in to provide much-needed security to Kabul and other cities.

Long-haired, bearded militants oversee checkpoints to net criminals. District police chiefs, mostly commanders from the al-Qaida-linked Haqqani network, solve local disagreements. Community judges informally deliver verdicts on land, money and family disputes, as the militants have done for years in rural areas.

But transforming a village-based guerrilla insurgency  accustomed to war for the past two decades  into a national security force capable of protecting vulnerable urban areas is proving challenging for the militants.

The Islamic State-Khorasan, the Syria- and Iraq-based terrorist groups branch in Afghanistan and Pakistan, has emerged as the most significant threat to the Talibans dominion as well as to public safety. So far, the Taliban have failed to contain the terrorists, who have staged numerous attacks nationwide since the militants takeover of the country two months ago, including two bombings of Shiite mosques within a week in Kandahar and Kunduz that killed scores of worshipers. That raises questions about whether the Taliban have the appropriate expertise, training and intelligence capabilities to take down ISIS-K cells in Kabul and other urban areas, despite orchestrating similar assaults before the group overran the country.

Inside the Talibans own ranks, many fighters remain undisciplined and have committed crimes. People are often sent to prison on the slightest suspicion of illegal activity. They have no legal counsel and are languishing in cells until a formal judicial system is put in place.

As he listened to the grievances of his prisoners, Qari Zaki, a Taliban prison official, laughed, even as he acknowledged the questionable tactics.

Who will accept the crimes they commit? he said. Everyone believes they are innocent. The people made complaints about them, so we captured them.

When the Taliban took control of Kabul, all of the inmates at Pul-e-Charkhi prison were released. The new prisoners have been captured by Taliban police since the Aug. 15 takeover. (Lorenzo Tugnoli/for The Washington Post)

The militants are also showing signs of a return to the brutal methods they used to impose order under their previous rule. In the western city of Herat, fighters have executed suspected kidnappers and hung their bodies on tall cranes in public view. Videos of Taliban fighters whipping alleged criminals have emerged on social media.

Even in the capital, where the worlds spotlight is on the militants, reports have emerged of accused thieves being paraded in public, their faces smeared with black grease. One captured narcotics dealer had his product stuffed into his mouth and his picture posted on social media as a warning.

In interviews around Kabul, police chiefs and fighters openly said they want their leadership to impose the kinds of strict Islamic punishments that were in place from 1996 to 2001, until the Taliban were ousted following the Sept. 11 attacks. All supported the hangings in Herat.

If a court decides to cut the hand of a thief, we will support it, said Qari Mohammed Ashraf, 43, the police chief of the capitals District 12. God willing, the punishment will be carried out publicly. The people will learn from it, and the thieves will stop thefts. And God willing, if a married woman commits adultery, she shall be stoned to death in public.

Ashraf acknowledged that it was his men who nabbed the dealer.

We sent a message by putting the drugs in the mouth of a seller, he said. If anyone does such things, he will face the same punishment.

For now, the Taliban have more pressing concerns. Maulavi Zubair Mutmaen understands.

Burly with a black beard that matches his turban, he is in charge of Kabuls District 9, the largest police district in the country, which makes him quite possibly the citys most powerful law enforcer.

His experience, he said, comes from controlling a large area in the mountains of Logar province with three fighters and a network of informants. He was also a member of a Taliban shadow military commission that oversaw the capital during the previous government, he said, adding that other shadow commissions dealt with courts, prisons and other aspects of governance.

We had a complete government set up before taking control of Kabul, said Mutmaen, smiling. The main difference now, he said, is that urban people feel using alcohol is democratic, adultery is democratic, and robbing and kidnapping are their rights under the previous regime.

It will take time to bring these people back to normal life, he added.

Among his fighters are some who know Kabul from an alternate angle: They were Taliban spies in the capital for years.

But Mutmaens tenure so far has been marked by failure in one particular area: stopping the Islamic State-Khorasan.

It was his fighters who were securing Kabuls airport in the waning days of the American military withdrawal when an ISIS-K suicide bomber killed 13 U.S. service members and at least 170 Afghans.

When the Taliban took control of Kabul, all of the inmates at Pul-e-Charkhi prison were released. (Lorenzo Tugnoli/for The Washington Post)

Since then, Taliban commanders and fighters say they have been hunting for ISIS-K cells. Ashraf, the District 12 police chief, said his men recently captured six suspected terrorists in a night raid, based on their intelligence gathering. In August, shortly after the airport bombing, a senior Taliban commander said the militants were monitoring phone calls, emails and other forms of communication to combat ISIS-K.

But its unclear how much coordination exists among police districts in a capital where Taliban fighters have come from different parts of the country, each beholden to their immediate commanders, allowing ISIS-K to stage attacks easily. The U.S. military, the CIA and their Afghan counterparts also found it difficult to prevent suicide bombings and other urban attacks by both the Taliban and ISIS-K.

Adding to the obstacles is a sense of denial. Ashraf said that ISIS-K poses no major threat. And Mutmaen said the threat has been reduced. He also blamed American troops for the airport attack, saying the explosion occurred on the U.S. side of the gate.

Five days after the interview, ISIS-K claimed responsibility for a bombing outside a mosque in Kabul that killed at least five civilians; it happened during a memorial service for the mother of the Talibans acting deputy information minister.

On the night of Oct. 5, Ashrafs forces were on the hunt for a notorious criminal kingpin named Mustafa. A Taliban national security intelligence team had traced his cellphone but was able to track his whereabouts only to the general vicinity of a neighborhood, said Murtaza Ahmadzai, a Taliban police official.

So his units erected eight checkpoints in the area, hoping to find Mustafa through a search of passing vehicles.

We have our own way of intelligence, Ahmadzai said.

He nodded toward nearby stores with lights on.

Ask anyone here how great the security is now, he said. In the previous government those shops would be closed at this time.

During the Talibans previous rule, many Afghans initially embraced the militants for bringing law and order after years under the grip of corrupt warlords and their militias. Improving security is again paramount to establishing the Talibans legitimacy, and to convincing foreign powers, donors and potential investors that it has changed and can run a government based on the rule of law.

This is the biggest test from Allah, to serve the people and resolve the problems of the people, said Ibrahim Haideri, a Taliban fighter, minutes after arresting two men for selling fake visas to Tajikistan in another area of the capital.

On the surface, at least, many Afghans have welcomed the newfound security. Under the previous government, robberies, kidnappings and other crimes, aided by corrupt police departments and local officials, plagued the capital and ripped its social fabric. Now, the night is no longer as fearsome, many Kabul residents said in interviews.

We would avoid going out after 7 p.m., said Sayed Razak, a shopkeeper. There were a lot of robberies, kidnappings and killings. But its better now.

A man arrested at a Taliban checkpoint in Kabul on Sept. 30, 2021 is tied to a police vehicle while the unit commander decides his case. (Lorenzo Tugnoli/for The Washington Post)

Others painted a more complex picture.

There are a lot of people with weapons now, said Mohammed Sadeq, a grocery store owner. Weve heard a lot of reports of robbers entering homes and taking things. They dont wear formal uniforms. We dont know who they are.

Many are Taliban fighters. Senior commanders acknowledge cases of bad behavior and say there have been consequences. At least 60 militants are being held in a section of Pul-e-Charkhi prison for crimes such as raiding homes at night and robbery, said a Taliban prison official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he wasnt authorized to talk to journalists. A second prison official confirmed that there were Taliban inmates but did not know how many.

Mutmaen, the District 9 police chief, said that there have been cases in which police officers misused their powers and that some officers were removed from their posts. They include fighters who took the law into their hands, he added, such as by publicly shaming suspected criminals.

There are some scattered incidents of blackfacing by a mujahid, but this is not the policy of the leadership, said Mutmaen, using a word for a Taliban fighter. This may have been the mujahids personal decision.

Taliban police chiefs are also facing high expectations to address the wrongs of the past. On a recent day, dozens of Afghans waited to meet Ashraf in his spacious office, a ritual that occurs every day in virtually every police district.

They hoped he could resolve disputes within their communities or with neighbors that had lasted for years, including arguments over money and over land. Some had languished in the former governments courts; others remained unresolved because of official graft, said some plaintiffs.

Ashraf, who also served on the Talibans shadow military council, said the militants held similar sessions in areas they controlled over the past 20 years. The previous regime could not solve the problems of the people as there was corruption and influence peddling, he said. We decided cases through a swift justice system. Therefore, the people preferred to come to us.

He listened patiently to a years-old dispute over water. A man explained that he had dug a well about 100 feet into the ground, deeper than those around him. So the neighbors complained that he was getting all the water. Both sides were in his office. It was up to Ashraf to make a decision. He said he would have an answer for them in a few days.

In another part of the city, the future of Afghanistans jurisprudence was on display.

The district police chief had sent a dispute between a husband and wife to an informal community court, similar to what the militants convened in their mountain villages.

Two Taliban religious legal scholars sat on red floor cushions in a small office. Addressing them, the wife, Kamila, explained that for the past five months she had been living in fear of her husband, Ali. He had beaten her several times, and denied her food and medication. She was five months pregnant.

Now, she wanted a divorce.

Without evidence, Ali accused her of stealing jewelry. He said she always wanted to visit her mothers home, over his objections. But he refused to agree to a divorce.

It was immediately clear whom the judges favored.

In Islamic sharia law, a wife always listens to her husband, said one judge. If he says you cant go to your mothers house, you should not go.

They declined her request. In their interpretation, only her husband could divorce her.

Nobody wants to destroy her life with an unborn baby, said Kamila, a pained look sweeping across her face. But I cannot go to him. He can either keep the baby, or I will raise my kid myself.

Multiple times, he pointed a gun at me and threatened to kill me.

Calling her rebellious, one judge said that if she refused to accept the decision of the Islamic emirate and your husband, she would be publicly ostracized as a nonbeliever of sharia.

Then the judges ordered the pair to go outside and work out their problems.

The Taliban head of the Pul-e-Charkhi prison also has a glimpse of the future. And hes worried.

As the militants seek to establish security in the capital, more Afghans accused of crimes are arriving at the facility to await trial when the courts are created. But employees havent been paid their salaries in two months or longer. Many have quit, leaving the prison short-staffed.

We are asking them to return to their jobs, said Maulavi Abdullah Haqeeq, the director. God willing, they will get salaries.

One future inmate, though, has yet to arrive.

As of Friday, the Taliban police had not captured Mustafa, the robber kingpin.

The Washington Posts Haq Nawaz Khan in Peshawar and Ezzatullah Mehrdad in Islamabad, Pakistan, and Mohammadullah Aryen in Kabul contributed to this report.
A defense contractor accused of slipping envelopes stuffed with more than $30,000 in cash to a U.S. Navy official appeared Monday in federal court in Washington and pleaded not guilty to a charge of bribery.

Frank Rafaraci, 69, the chief executive of Multinational Logistics Services (MLS), a major U.S. Navy contractor, was arrested Sept. 27 on the Mediterranean island of Malta in an operation jointly planned by U.S. and Maltese authorities. He voluntarily returned to the United States on Monday to face the charge against him and was released on $5 million bond.

Until recently, MLS played a key role in U.S. Navy operations worldwide, having been awarded about $1.3 billion in contracts to service U.S. warships in foreign ports since 2010. The Navy stopped doing business with MLS after Rafaracis arrest last month.

In an affidavit filed as part of a warrant for Rafaracis arrest, a federal agent for the Defense Criminal Investigative Service accused MLS of defrauding the Navy of at least $50 million by inflating invoices for port services between 2011 and 2018.

The allegations against Rafaraci and MLS resemble the Fat Leonard scandal that has rocked the Navy since 2013. In that case, a rotund Malaysian defense contractor, Leonard Glenn Francis, pleaded guilty to bribing scores of Navy officials with cash, prostitutes and extravagant meals so he could overcharge the Navy for port services in Asia.

According to court records and interviews, federal authorities have been scrutinizing MLS for the past five years. One of the lead investigators is also a senior agent in the Fat Leonard case. The Navy relies on private contractors to resupply and refuel its vessels in ports around the globe.

Much of the investigation into MLS remains under wraps. According to court papers, an unnamed U.S. Navy official pleaded guilty in June to taking bribes from Rafaraci. But the officials identity and his criminal case file remain under seal because he is cooperating with the government.

Court papers allege that Rafaraci met with the unidentified Navy official at the Diplomat Hotel in the Persian Gulf kingdom of Bahrain in August 2015, handed over an envelope stuffed with $20,000 in cash and told the official to keep up the good work. The official worked as a liaison officer for the U.S. 5th Fleet, which is headquartered in Bahrain.

In 2018, Rafaraci met the same Navy official at a Miami hotel and passed him another envelope that contained $13,500, court records show.

Rafaraci, a dual U.S.-Italian citizen, voluntarily arrived in the United States for his court appearance after the Justice Departments efforts to extradite him from Malta hit a wall. U.S. officials had sought to keep him in custody after his Sept. 27 arrest, arguing that he was a flight risk. But judges in Malta released him and ruled that U.S. and Maltese law-enforcement authorities had not followed proper legal procedures.

Michael R. Sherwin, an attorney for Rafaraci, said the businessman was arrested in Malta as a result of a lure operation. Although Rafaraci could have continued to contest the U.S. extradition request, Sherwin said his client has been cooperative.

He told me he wanted to face and interface with the Department of Justice to answer all these questions, Sherwin said Monday in federal court. He wanted to talk to the United States and resolve this matter.

U.S. Magistrate Judge G. Michael Harvey approved Rafaracis release Monday on $5 million bond on the condition that he surrender his passports, not leave Washington, stay away from the Italian Embassy and submit to electronic monitoring.

Federal authorities had originally charged Rafaraci with conspiracy to commit bribery, wire fraud and money laundering, as well as one count of bribery. But the indictment unsealed Monday charged him only with bribery.

During Rafaracis hearing, U.S. prosecutor Justin D. Weitz said the decision to drop three of the charges reflected some things that have happened over the last few weeks, but did not elaborate.

A set of handcuffs sit on a bedside table inside a Muncie, Ind., hotel on Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2018. (Mykal McEldowney, IndyStar/TNS)
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (Tribune News Service)  A certified nursing assistant in Eastern North Carolina is accused of moving a disabled veteran with dementia into her home only to steal his retirement benefits.

Now shes going to prison.

Tracey McNeill was sentenced to one year and one day in federal prison on Friday after she pleaded guilty to wire fraud earlier this year, prosecutors in the Eastern District of North Carolina said. The 51-year-old was also ordered to pay $90,003 in restitution.

A defense attorney representing McNeill, who is from Raeford, did not immediately respond to McClatchy News request for comment on Monday.

Raeford is in Hoke County, about 88 miles south of Raleigh.

Prosecutors said the case dates to February 2015, when McNeill got durable power of attorney over financial and health care matters for an individual identified in court filings as W.R.

W.R. was a disabled veteran who served in the U.S. Army and worked for the U.S. Postal Service for 41 years, prosecutors said.

As such, he received thousands of dollars a month in disability benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs as well as retirement benefits from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, which manages retirement benefits for federal employees.

W.R. was diagnosed with dementia, prosecutors said, and his medical records showed an inability to recall recent events and impaired decision making. It was around this time that McNeill took over as power of attorney, according to an indictment filed in October 2020.

Prosecutors said McNeill moved W.R. into her house and signed forms allowing for his VA and retirement benefits to be deposited into bank accounts in her name. She added W.R. to the accounts in March 2015, and she started receiving his benefits in April, the indictment states. By June of the same year, prosecutors said, McNeill had also filled out forms identifying herself as the sole beneficiary of his retirement funds and life insurance.

Over the next year and a half, McNeill reportedly received $90,003 worth of benefits on W.R.s behalf. Prosecutors said she spent the money on rent, utilities, credit card payments and personal expenses.

W.R. died in December 2016. According to the indictment, he was 68 years old.

The following day, McNeill is accused of contacting his life insurance provider to notify them of his death and request paperwork to file a claim for death benefits, which she submitted in January 2017, the indictment states.

Minus the cost of W.R.s funeral, McNeill reportedly received about $17,533 in life insurance proceeds.

It wasnt immediately clear how investigators discovered the alleged fraud, but court filings show McNeill was arrested on Oct. 29, 2020. She was released the same day.

McNeill pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud in July.

A federal judge recommended she serve her time at FCI Alderson, a minimum security prison in West Virginia. A date for her surrender has not been set.

2021 The Charlotte Observer

Visit charlotteobserver.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Buy Photo A wooden gavel and block is seen inside the Senate Hart Building in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, March 3, 2015. (Carlos Bongioanni/Stars and Stripes)
Marine veteran Bob Koenig in West Point, Neb., on Monday, Oct. 19, 2021. (Facebook)

(Tribune News Service)  When Marine Corps Capt. Bob Koenig served in Afghanistan, he credited Sarasota County Sheriffs Deputy Mubarak as repeatedly saving his life.

So Koenig, 45, and honorably discharged in 2005, wanted to do something in to help his fellow officer who is in need.

On Saturday, he started a 145-mile walk to raise awareness about Afghan refugees and funds to help with the relocation of Mubaraks family from Fort Bliss, Texas, to the Sarasota area.

The distance mirrors that traveled by the family to arrive at the airport in Kabul.

He supported me in talking to locals who had something to share with us about something going on in their village or someplace we might need to look, Koenig said Monday morning of their shared experience in Afghanistan. He spoke by phone about three miles outside of West Point, Nebraska  which is about 59 miles along his journey between his current residence near Omaha, Nebraska, and his hometown of Hartington, Nebraska.

In addition to raising awareness, Koenig said the trek is a spiritual journey where he can experience the backcountry where he grew up and stop to pay tribute at veterans memorials in communities along the way.

Every Nebraska town has some way they honor their veterans, he said. Ive been finding all of these veterans monuments and plaques.

Its a very uplifting and rewarding thing for me, even beyond the fundraising were doing, Koenig said.

The trek is dubbed a Ruck for Refugees. Information can be found at https://www.ruckforrefugees.com or for frequent daily updates through https://www.facebook.com/RuckForRefugees .

Mubarak, who is only identified by his last name for security reasons, brought 33 of 34 members of his family to the U.S. from Afghanistan just prior to the Aug. 31 U.S. troop withdrawal deadline.

The family, which had been living in Texas while securing their Special Immigrant Visas, is now in the process of moving to the Sarasota area, with a rough target date of Oct. 31.

Koenig said Mubarak saved his life and the life of other Marines countless times, just by being an alert interpreter.

Hes the guy who grew up there, he would be out on missions with us, out beyond the wire, Koenig said If he sensed something was wrong, if something seemed off, theres cultural cues we as Americans dont pick up on.

Or hed spot something in the road that might be out of place.

Mubarak could also communicate with residents who wanted to help and inform them about a potential ambush or newly buried improvised explosive device.

One rock is out of place in the mountainside next to their village, they know about it, Koenig added.

He got us out of situations or helped us to avoid situations that had we proceeded, the likelihood that it could have resulted in a gunfight with someone killed or wounded was high.

Koenig, who works in commercial real estate in Nebraska, hopes to help Mubarak find long-term housing for his family in the Sarasota area.

With that in mind, he has a goal of purchasing a multifamily home or small apartment complex.

The GoFundMe page affiliated to Ruck for Refugees  Afghan Family Resettle Housing has a $250,000 goal, which Koenig figures should be enough for a down payment on a complex. As of Monday afternoon, he has raised a little more than $9,000  mostly from people in Nebraska, who only know about Mubarak and his family through the walk.

Koenig was in Sarasota County prior to starting his fundraiser and is working with a local broker in hopes of finding a suitable location.

My understanding is the community there in Sarasota has been very supportive, Koenig said.

In addition to a GoFundMe page started by Sarasota County Sheriff Kurt Hoffman, area residents have donated clothing, furniture and other items to help the families once they arrive.

Hoffmans GoFundMe effort, which includes offline donations, is within $10,000 of its goal of $200,000.

The two biggest needs left unmet for the family, Koenig noted, are transportation and housing.

Koenig echoed previous observations from Mubarak, Sheriff Hoffman and his cousin Col. Randy Hoffman, USMC Ret., that once settled, the 33 people should quickly fit in with the community.

All adults are eager to work and a few are trained professionals. One of Mubaraks sisters is a physician and a brother in law is a lab tech.

Koenig pointed to Mubaraks sisters achievement as validation for the U.S. efforts in Afghanistan.

Had we not come into Afghanistan in 2001, his sister would not have had an education, Koenig said. She got that training and now shes bringing it here to the U.S. in a place where we need doctors.

(c)2021 Sarasota Herald-Tribune, Fla.

Visit Sarasota Herald-Tribune, Fla. at www.heraldtribune.com
(Tribune News Service)  Around 3:30 p.m. on today, the remains of U.S. Army Sgt. Stanley Lee DeWitt will return home to Cass County, Indiana, almost 71 years after he was listed missing in action.

DeWitts remains were among 55 bodies repatriated from North Korea, where the Royal Center native died at the age of 18. This happened after the 2018 Singapore summit between President Donald J. Trump and North Koreas leader Kim Jong-un.

The plane carrying DeWitts remains from Honolulu is expected to touch down in Indianapolis at 1:26 p.m. Members of his family plan to be there, and DeWitt will be driven up Indiana 29/421 with the Indiana Patriot Guard and the POW/MIA Rolling Thunder providing a motorcycle escort.

In DeWitts obituary, the family asked that people who wish to pay their respects line the streets safely. The Indiana State Police will oversee the last leg of the journey.

This is probably beyond our wildest dreams, said DeWitts nephew, Eddie DeWitt Sr. Thank God we can bring him home where he belongs, and its just a relief.

He said that he wishes his father, Raymond, and Uncle Charles couldve been here to see it.

They were the ones who gave DNA in 2001 to be able to identify any remains that couldve been their brother, and Raymond did a lot of research on the matter.

The last of the DeWitt siblings, Walter, died in 2020.

Some family members recall Sgt. DeWitt, although they were young.

Jerry Reynolds was 3 when he last saw Sgt. DeWitt, his uncle, and Wendell DeWitt said he was 10 when the family received the news of his cousin as MIA.

The Army contacted Reynolds first about the positive identification of Sgt. DeWitts remains.

I had some mixed feelings, Reynolds said. The parents and all the siblings are gone, and they have no idea this is happening.

At the same time, I feel good about it, Reynolds continued. Were bringing him home.

Reynolds mostly remembers what he heard from the family: that DeWitt was a great guy.

Wendell DeWitt recalls seeing him at family reunions, but Wendells older brother, who died recently, was the one DeWitt hung around with.

The DeWitt family has always been involved in the military.

Eddie DeWitt Jr., whos served 21 years in the U.S. Marines, said, its a family tradition.

I grew up with Uncle Stanleys picture on the wall, he said. He was definitely someone who inspired us.

One of his sisters has been in the Marines eight years, and another is retiring from the U.S. Navy Seabees.

Reynolds was nine years in the National Guard, and his brother was a Marine.

With that kind of family history, it kind of puts a special meaning to it, Eddie DeWitt Sr. said.

Sgt. DeWitt was a medic with the Medical Detachment 57th Field Artillery Battalion, 7th Infantry Division. He enlisted on Jan. 17, 1949, about a year and six months before the Korean War began.

Stanley was ready for a change and joined the Army, Eddie DeWitt Sr. said.

Sgt. DeWitt visited home in July 1950 on a 26-day furlough before going on to Japan. It was the last time his family and friends in Indiana would see him alive.

The Army sent him to Korea in August, and from Nov. 28 to Dec. 2, he was part of a medical attachment in enemy territory near Chosin Reservoir.

He was a corporal during the battle, but based on his actions during the fighting, but the Army posthumously promoted him to sergeant based on the circumstances of his death and his distinguishing himself heroically.

According to a Pharos-Tribune article shortly after his death, During this period, elements of a field artillery battalion were attacked and surrounded by numerically superior enemy forces, but Sgt. DeWitt performed his duties efficiently and courageously despite many handicaps.

With complete disregard for his own safety, he exposed himself repeatedly to render first aid to the wounded, the article continued. While in full view of the enemy and exposed to small arms fire, he removed the wounded to a private house to protect them from the sub-zero weather. He inspired renewed confidence to the wounded and helped minimize the effect of the enemy action on the casualties.

The Department of Defense records set Dec. 6, 1950, as the day Sgt. DeWitt died and notified his family by telegraph on Jan. 3, 1951, that he was missing in action.

Its like you really didnt have any closure, Eddie DeWitt Sr. said.

After the remains of the 55 soldiers went to Honolulu to be tested, the box that held Sgt. DeWitt was the 54th one that scientists and Army personnel opened.

Wendell DeWitt said that after a while, the family had wondered if theyve ever have Sgt. DeWitt back.

Its been something thats been going on for a long while, he said. Im sure therell be closure in the family.

That includes among the younger ones who just knew Sgt. DeWitts story and his photo.

Reynolds said, The whole family feels itll be a big relief to have him home where he belongs, with his family.

Sgt. DeWitt will be buried in the Royal Center Cemetery, near his parents, George Raymond DeWitt and Hazel Katherine DeWitt.

On Saturday, a public visitation will happen from noon to 2 p.m. at Fisher Funeral Chapel, 1801 Chase Road, Logansport, Indiana. The funeral service will be at 2 p.m.

The Rev. Carolyn DeWitt, married to Wendell, will officiate at the service.

People may view the livestream of the service at www.fisherfuneralchapel.com .

Eddie DeWitt Jr. said hes waiting to hear from people in congressional offices about who will attend.

DeWitt will receive full military honors, as accorded by the U.S. Army, including the Armys caisson unit.

The Cass County Honor Guard will assist as the Color Guard. Members of the Indiana Patriot Guard and the POW/MIA Rolling Thunder will provide a motorcycle escort.

During a private service for the family, the Army will posthumously award Sgt. DeWitt with medals, which include the Bronze Star, Purple Heart, Combat Medical Badge, Korean Service Medal, United Nations Service Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Korean Presidential Unit Citation and the Republic of Korea War Service Medal.

Itll all be a sense of relief more than sorrow.

I think congratulations at this point, Eddie DeWitt Sr. said. The condolences were years ago. I think now its more of a homecoming.

People can also honor Sgt. DeWitts memory by making a contribution to the Royal Center Alumni Association Scholarship Fund.

(c)2021 the Pharos-Tribune (Logansport, Ind.)

Visit the Pharos-Tribune (Logansport, Ind.) at www.pharostribune.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Jerry Glenn Howell, 88, passed away on Monday, November 15, 2021 at his home in Stillwater, Oklahoma. Visitation will be held on Friday, November 19, 2021 from 5-7pm at Dighton Marler Funeral Home in Stillwater. www.dightonmarler.com.
With Labour Weekend fast approaching, police are looking ahead and putting plans in place to make sure roads are safe with the increased long weekend traffic.

Inspector Matt Scoles, is urging motorists to play their part too.

"Road safety is everyones responsibility and Labour Weekend is a very busy time for our roads, so people should expect traffic.

"Were urging people to keep calm and be patient.

How you behave on the road impacts everyone around you, says Scoles.

"Speeding, distractions, and bad-decision making on the road can have devastating consequences.

"We want everyone to enjoy their long weekend and return home safely, thats why its so important to slow down, phone down, buckle up, and drive sober."

Motorists can expect a concerted effort by police to keep the roads safe, with increased presence and visibility planned over the upcoming holiday weekend.

There will be checkpoints across the district anytime, anywhere, targeting and preventing unsafe behaviour.

"We cant be everywhere 24/7, but we will be putting extra effort into deterring unsafe behaviour."

Motorists can also play their part by reporting unsafe driving they witness on their travels - If you see any dangerous driving behaviour or immediate risks on the road when you are travelling please call 111 and report it to police.

Otherwise, if you witness inconsiderate driving, or want to report a non-life threatening driving incident, call 105 or go online www.police.govt.nz/105support.
New Zealand can expect a major spike in dementia cases particularly among Maori, Pasifika and Asian communities, according to a new study.

Existing dementia support services are already struggling to cope with the increasing demand and are genuinely concerned about the sizeable dementia challenge facing New Zealand, Dementia NZ chief executive Scott Arrol says.

Dementia will cost New Zealand nearly $6 billion a year by 2050 and one in four New Zealanders will die with the condition.

The World Health Organisation has made an appeal for renewed commitment from governments around the planet to have a plan for dealing with dementia, says Scott.

Our government is among those countries without a plan but they have indicated support for the updated dementia (mate wareware) action plan.

It has been delivered to Associate Health Minister Ayesha Verral by the lead dementia (mate wareware) organisations who have collaboratively developed the plan for the sector.

The sector groups who jointly developed the updated Plan were Dementia NZ, Alzheimers NZ, NZ Dementia Foundation and the mate wareware Advisory Ropu. Mate refers to being unwell while wareware means to forget or be forgotten.

Kaiwhakarite of the Mate Wareware Advisory Ropu, Dr Makarena Dudley acknowledges the partnership with Maori in the development of the plan.

This plan addresses the inequities experienced by Maori as well as other cultural groups living with mate wareware in Aotearoa New Zealand, Makarena says.

Scott says they are calling on health minister Andrew Little and the associate minister to deliver on the dementia mate wareware action plan without further delay.

By working together, the sector groups have shown the way on how plans for the provision of these crucial health services can be developed with a firm focus on what is best for those who require these services now and into the future.

We have invested our own resources, commitment and vision for how people with dementia mate wareware and their whanau must be supported. In doing so, the plan has strengthened its Kaupapa Maori, equity provisions and to reflect the reforms to the countrys health and disability system.

Scott says there are about 70,000 Kiwis currently living with dementia mate wareware and this is projected to grow to 170,000 in the next 25 years.

This includes sharp increases in the percentage of people in Maori, Pasifika and Asian communities developing the disease as identified in the dementia economic impact report 2021.

With immense pressure already being felt by the providers of dementia mate wareware community support services there also must be an urgent review of funding levels for the provision of these services.

Things are on a knife edge currently with a big gap between government funded services and the sharp growth in demand, which is forcing providers such as Dementia NZ and Alzheimers NZ to increasingly bridge the funding gap with fundraising activities, grants, donations and events.

We are having to rattle tins on street corners and rely on the generosity of fellow Kiwis and money from gambling proceeds to make ends meet while the demand on our services grows exponentially.

Many people are missing support due to the lack of government funding and delays in delivering on the plan.
Costa del Sol organised crime squad officer in ICU after drug-trafficking pursuit The Malaga-based National Police officer is in a stable condition in an intensive care unit with multiple injuries after his car was forced off the road and it rolled

The state of the vehicle after the crash. / SUR

A National Police officer, attached to the drugs and organised crime squad (Udyco) on the Costa del Sol, is in a hospital intensive care unit with multiple injuries after his vehicle was forced off the road by suspected drug traffickers.

The incident happened at around 9.15pm on Monday on the A-45 road when the officer was tracking two vehicles that had aroused his suspicions in what appeared to be a drug transportation operation.

The unmarked police vehicle started a pursuit that crossed into Cordoba province, before it was rammed off the road close to the small town of Monturque, near Lucena.

Intensive care unit

According to sources consulted, the police car rolled and the suspects fled the scene, with no arrests being made or drugs recovered.

The police officer was transferred to a Cordoba hospital in a serious condition and was admitted directly to the intensive care unit, although according to SUR sources there is no fear for his life. "It was a miracle," the source added.
Spain fails to stop the imported cases of Covid from foreign travellers Some 163 passengers from the UK have tested coronavirus positive after arriving in Spain in the last month, second only behind Romania with 196

Spain has a new 'Achilles heel' in its fight against the coronavirus: imported cases of the disease from international travellers.

Despite the impressive regression of Covid-19 in the Spain in the last two months, which has led to the country having one of the lowest incidence rates in the world, the country has hardly seen any reduction in the number of positive cases arriving from third countries compared to the peak of the fifth wave at the end of July.

And the latest statistics from the Ministry of Health have sounded alarm bells among the experts at the Centre for the Coordination of Health Alerts and Emergencies (CCAES).

Last week, Spain notified 229 new imported cases diagnosed in the last seven days, only 20 per cent less positives than on Wednesday, 27 July, at the peak of the fifth wave when Spain counted 286 positives coming from abroad. That was when the national incidence rate reached 701 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in 14 days, a rate 17 times higher than the current one, which is around 40 cases.

5,668 imported positives

Since then the Ministry of Health has detected 5,668 imported positives. That is, an average of 71 daily cases. The added problem  the CCAES explains - is twofold: the current origin of infections is from countries with very high levels of incidence with which Spain not only has very strong ties, but also large numbers of foreign residents and an important flow of tourists.

Currently, the country where most coronavirus positive cases are coming from is Romania, with 196 positives detected in the last four weeks. With more than 1,079,726 residents, Romanian is the nationality with the largest stable presence in Spain. But the problem is that Romania, with more than 16,000 daily cases, is the country in the EU and in the entire West with the highest cumulative incidence, with about 850 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, more than 20 times the rate in Spain.

Infected travellers from the UK

The second state that is currently importing the most infected travellers into Spain is the United Kingdom, with 163 positives from British newcomers in the last month. The United Kingdom, with 381,448 stable residents and tens of thousands of tourists is reporting around 45,000 new infections daily and has an incidence rate close to 750, 18 times higher than the Spanish rate.

Morocco is currently the third largest importer of infections despite the fact that the tourist movement between the two countries is practically nil and the land borders of Ceuta and Melilla remain closed due to the diplomatic crisis. And even so, in the last four weeks, 104 cases from this country have been detected, especially among members of the legal residents, which in Spain reaches 811,530. The data on incidence rate in Morocco is uncertain and the Ministry of Health avoids including them in its official statistics.

The current prevalence of imported cases from these three countries with a large presence of legal residents and tourists is unprecedented. On 29 June, a week after the take-off of the fifth wave in Spain, the Ministry of Health began to publish reports on the country of origin of imported cases detected in the national territory during the previous four weeks, something that had not been done until then. The ranking was led by Colombia (85 cases), Mexico (84), Morocco (63), the Dominican Republic (46) and the United Kingdom (41).

Portugese cases

But the situation changed radically in just two weeks, the average incubation period of the virus. By 13 July, Portugal, hit by the Delta variant before the rest of continental Europe, was leading the list of importing countries of cases to Spain with 120 positives. In just a fortnight, the neighbouring country had quadrupled the number of infected people travelling to Spain.

By the end of July, the cases imported from Portugal were already around 450 a month, rates that have never been exceeded. The cases of the Delta variant imported from Portugal since the beginning of July led to the fifth wave in Spain being unleashed due to the still low vaccination rates. But now, the massive arrival of cases from Romania, the United Kingdom and Morocco, where the Delta variant is also already predominant, is not having such serious effects due to the current high levels of vaccination, the Public Health Commission explains.
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SRLC chairman Steve Fair speaks during the first day of the Souther Republican Leadership Conference at the Cox Convention Center in Oklahoma City, Okla. on Thursday, May 21, 2015. Photo by Chris Landsberger, The Oklahoman
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anjan_c2007 Distinguished - BHPian



Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: India Posts: 6,838 Thanked: 11,573 Times

View My Garage





Brands of spare parts, accessories, oil, lubricants etc from the Vintage & Classic era



By 1974-78 all the foreign oil companies Burmah Shell, Esso, Caltex and Mobiloil (a smaller player) operating in India were nationalised. Apart from Indian Oil Corporation (estd 1959) that was the only Indian government owned oil company as a PSU, we saw Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum getting established after the takeover by our government of the then operating, foreign oil companies operations in India. Indian Oil Corporation was earlier known as Indian Oil Company, but in 1964 after the Indian Refineries merger with the former, the name got changed to Indian Oil Corporation.











Above- a 1941 Burmah Shell logo







The Burmah Oil Company was a leading British oil company. In 1966, Castrol was acquired by Burmah, which was renamed as "Burmah-Castrol". It operated as a joint venture named Burmah-Shell with Shell in the rest of India, but in Assam, Burma and in the then East Pakistan it operated under the name BOC (Burmah Oil Company). At the international level, BP Amoco (now British Petroleum (BP)) purchased the company in 2000. In India on 24 January 1976, Burmah Shell was taken over by the Government of India to form Bharat Refineries Limited as a PSU. We know it better as Bharat Petroleum now.







Esso's predecessor was Standard Oil of New Jersey after the breakup of the original Standard Oil company in 1911. The company adopted the "Esso" (the phonetic pronunciation of the company's initials, "Standard Oil", S.O.), which was later objected to by the other Standard Oil companies. Standard Oil of New Jersey started marketing its products under the Esso brand in 1926. In 1972, the name Esso was largely replaced in the U.S. by the Exxon brand after the Standard Oil of New Jersey bought Humble Oil, while the Esso name remained widely used elsewhere. In most of the world, the Esso brand and the Mobil brand are the primary brand names of ExxonMobil, with the Exxon brand name in use only in the United States alongside Mobil.







In India we have seen the first two Caltex logos only as the last one came into being in 1997



Caltex is an American oil company, which was formed in 1936 in Texas, and today operates in the Middle East and Asia-Pacific region, being one of the largest players in the market. Despite the fact, that the Caltex brand is widely known as the most popular petroleum company of the Middle East, it was born in America and its visual identity is a tribute to the companys roots and history.



The redesign of 1947 kept the red star and black lettering but emboldened and modernized their contours. The new structure was placed on a white background and enclosed into a thin black circular frame. The inscription was now executed in a stylized Extra Bold sans-serif with massive heavy shapes of the letters. The star, as well as the brands color palette  red, white and blue  is a celebration of the companys heritage and a tribute to the USA and to the forming company Texaco.



HPCL was incorporated in 1974 after the takeover and merger of erstwhile Esso Standard and Lube India Limited by the Esso (Acquisition of Undertakings in India) Act 1974. Caltex Oil Refining (India) Ltd viz. (CORIL) was also taken over by the Government of India in 1976 and merged with HPCL in 1978.











The 1959 logo







Mobil SAE 30 lubricant







Mobil TT oil for motor cycles and racing cars



In 1955, Socony-Vacuum was renamed Socony Mobil Oil Company. Socony stands for Standard Oil Company of New York, formed in 1911 from Standard Oil after its break-up. In 1963, it changed its trade name from "Mobiloil" to simply "Mobil", introducing a new logo. To celebrate its 100th anniversary in 1966, "Socony" was dropped from the corporate name. Mobil continues to operate as a major brandname of ExxonMobil within the ExxonMobil Fuels, Lubricants & Specialties division.



Mobiloil had a lesser number of petrol and diesel dispensing units in India as compared to Burmah Shell and Esso, but nevertheless was a dominant player in the motor oils or lubricants market. It was so dominant as a player that many old generation drivers or chauffeurs referred to engine oil as mobil oil. So for example, "Sir, we need to fill up the mobil oil in our car", was too common to hear from them. Its akin to the word "Jeep" as we know, which has become a synonym for 4 WD light motor vehicles.



As a common feature, the foreign oil companies were liberal with gifts to their customers in the form of penstands, desk and wall calendars, desk diaries , pens, yo-yo's (I may still have one of these from Esso) and so on. To start with the thread, information about the erstwhile oil companies operating in India collected from either their respective websites or from Wikipedia or from personal knowledge is provided in a nutshell.By 1974-78 all the foreign oil companies Burmah Shell, Esso, Caltex and Mobiloil (a smaller player) operating in India were nationalised. Apart from Indian Oil Corporation (estd 1959) that was the only Indian government owned oil company as a PSU, we saw Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum getting established after the takeover by our government of the then operating, foreign oil companies operations in India. Indian Oil Corporation was earlier known as Indian Oil Company, but in 1964 after the Indian Refineries merger with the former, the name got changed to Indian Oil Corporation.Above- a 1941 Burmah Shell logoThe Burmah Oil Company was a leading British oil company. In 1966, Castrol was acquired by Burmah, which was renamed as "Burmah-Castrol". It operated as a joint venture named Burmah-Shell with Shell in the rest of India, but in Assam, Burma and in the then East Pakistan it operated under the name BOC (Burmah Oil Company). At the international level, BP Amoco (now British Petroleum (BP)) purchased the company in 2000. In India on 24 January 1976, Burmah Shell was taken over by the Government of India to form Bharat Refineries Limited as a PSU. We know it better as Bharat Petroleum now.Esso's predecessor was Standard Oil of New Jersey after the breakup of the original Standard Oil company in 1911. The company adopted the "Esso" (the phonetic pronunciation of the company's initials, "Standard Oil", S.O.), which was later objected to by the other Standard Oil companies. Standard Oil of New Jersey started marketing its products under the Esso brand in 1926. In 1972, the name Esso was largely replaced in the U.S. by the Exxon brand after the Standard Oil of New Jersey bought Humble Oil, while the Esso name remained widely used elsewhere. In most of the world, the Esso brand and the Mobil brand are the primary brand names of ExxonMobil, with the Exxon brand name in use only in the United States alongside Mobil.In India we have seen the first two Caltex logos only as the last one came into being in 1997Caltex is an American oil company, which was formed in 1936 in Texas, and today operates in the Middle East and Asia-Pacific region, being one of the largest players in the market. Despite the fact, that the Caltex brand is widely known as the most popular petroleum company of the Middle East, it was born in America and its visual identity is a tribute to the companys roots and history.The redesign of 1947 kept the red star and black lettering but emboldened and modernized their contours. The new structure was placed on a white background and enclosed into a thin black circular frame. The inscription was now executed in a stylized Extra Bold sans-serif with massive heavy shapes of the letters. The star, as well as the brands color palette  red, white and blue  is a celebration of the companys heritage and a tribute to the USA and to the forming company Texaco.HPCL was incorporated in 1974 after the takeover and merger of erstwhile Esso Standard and Lube India Limited by the Esso (Acquisition of Undertakings in India) Act 1974. Caltex Oil Refining (India) Ltd viz. (CORIL) was also taken over by the Government of India in 1976 and merged with HPCL in 1978.The 1959 logoMobil SAE 30 lubricantMobil TT oil for motor cycles and racing carsIn 1955, Socony-Vacuum was renamed Socony Mobil Oil Company. Socony stands for Standard Oil Company of New York, formed in 1911 from Standard Oil after its break-up. In 1963, it changed its trade name from "Mobiloil" to simply "Mobil", introducing a new logo. To celebrate its 100th anniversary in 1966, "Socony" was dropped from the corporate name. Mobil continues to operate as a major brandname of ExxonMobil within the ExxonMobil Fuels, Lubricants & Specialties division.Mobiloil had a lesser number of petrol and diesel dispensing units in India as compared to Burmah Shell and Esso, but nevertheless was a dominant player in the motor oils or lubricants market. It was so dominant as a player that many old generation drivers or chauffeurs referred to engine oil as mobil oil. So for example, "Sir, we need to fill up the mobil oil in our car", was too common to hear from them. Its akin to the word "Jeep" as we know, which has become a synonym for 4 WD light motor vehicles.As a common feature, the foreign oil companies were liberal with gifts to their customers in the form of penstands, desk and wall calendars, desk diaries , pens, yo-yo's (I may still have one of these from Esso) and so on. Last edited by anjan_c2007 : 16th October 2021 at 19:36 .
As featured in:

AIDA64 Extreme Edition is a streamlined Windows diagnostic and benchmarking software for home users. AIDA64 Extreme Edition provides a wide range of features to assist in overclocking, hadware error diagnosis, stress testing, and sensor monitoring. It has unique capabilities to assess the performance of the processor, system memory, and disk drives. AIDA64 is compatible with all current 32-bit and 64-bit Microsoft Windows operating systems, including Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2.

CPU, memory and disk benchmarks

AIDA64 implements a set of 64-bit benchmarks to measure how fast the computer performs various data processing tasks and mathematical calculations. Memory and cache benchmarks are available to analyze system RAM bandwidth and latency. Processor benchmarks utilize MMX, 3DNow! and SSE instructions, and scale up to 32 processor cores. For legacy processors all benchmarks are available in 32-bit version as well. AIDA64 Disk Benchmark determines the data transfer speed of hard disk drives, solid-state drives, optical drives, and flash memory based devices.

Temperature, voltage and cooling fan monitoring

AIDA64 supports over 150 various sensor devices to measure temperatures, voltages, fan speeds, and power draw. Measured values can be displayed on System Tray icons, OSD panel, Sidebar Gadget, and Logitech G15/G19 Gaming Keyboard LCD. The values can also be logged to file or exported to external applications such as RivaTuner or Samurai. AIDA64 can also alarm the user when it detects overheating, over-voltage, or cooling fan failure.

Hardware diagnostics

AIDA64 has the most accurate hardware detection capabilities in its class, to provide detailed information on the computer internals without the need to open it up. The hardware detection module is strengthened by an exhaustive hardware database holding over 115,000 entries. Additional modules are available to overview processor frequencies, check CRT and LCD display status, and stress the system to reveal potential hardware failures and thermal issues.

Software and operating system analysis

AIDA64 provides over 50 pages of information on installed programs, software licenses, security applications, and Windows settings. List of started processes, services, DLL files, startup programs, and visited web pages is also available.

Download notes: Alternatively you can download the latest beta version of this software.

New features & improvements:

Optimized 64-bit benchmarks for AMD Ryzen 5000 Series

AIDA64 CPUID Panel, Cache & Memory Benchmark panel, GPGPU Benchmark panel, System Stability Test, and all cache, memory and processor benchmarks are fully optimized for AMD Zen 3 based Ryzen 5000 Series desktop and mobile processors, utilizing AVX2, FMA3, AES-NI and SHA instructions. Detailed chipset information for the integrated memory controllers and integrated south bridges of various AMD Zen 3 processors. Support for PCI Express 4.0 controllers and devices.

Support for the latest hardware technologies

Multi-threaded OpenCL GPGPU benchmarks, graphics processor, OpenGL and GPGPU details, temperature and cooling fan monitoring for the latest GPUs: AMD Radeon RX 6000 Series; nVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050, GeForce RTX 3060, GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile, GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile, GeForce RTX 3070 Ti, GeForce RTX 3080 Ti, Quadro T500, RTX A40, RTX A6000. EVGA iCX3 sensor support.

Whats New:
Tor is a network of virtual tunnels that allows people and groups to improve their privacy and security on the Internet. It also enables software developers to create new communication tools with built-in privacy features. Tor provides the foundation for a range of applications that allow organizations and individuals to share information over public networks without compromising their privacy.

Note: You can also download the latest final version of Tor Browser here.

Individuals use Tor to keep websites from tracking them and their family members, or to connect to news sites, instant messaging services, or the like when these are blocked by their local Internet providers. Tor's hidden services let users publish web sites and other services without needing to reveal the location of the site. Individuals also use Tor for socially sensitive communication: chat rooms and web forums for rape and abuse survivors, or people with illnesses.

Journalists use Tor to communicate more safely with whistleblowers and dissidents. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) use Tor to allow their workers to connect to their home website while they're in a foreign country, without notifying everybody nearby that they're working with that organization.

Groups such as Indymedia recommend Tor for safeguarding their members' online privacy and security. Activist groups like the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) recommend Tor as a mechanism for maintaining civil liberties online. Corporations use Tor as a safe way to conduct competitive analysis, and to protect sensitive procurement patterns from eavesdroppers. They also use it to replace traditional VPNs, which reveal the exact amount and timing of communication. Which locations have employees working late? Which locations have employees consulting job-hunting websites? Which research divisions are communicating with the company's patent lawyers?

A branch of the U.S. Navy uses Tor for open source intelligence gathering, and one of its teams used Tor while deployed in the Middle East recently. Law enforcement uses Tor for visiting or surveilling web sites without leaving government IP addresses in their web logs, and for security during sting operations.

Welcome Screen

Our old screen had way too much information for the users, leading many of them to spend great time confused about what to do. Some users at the paper experiment spent up to 40min confused about what they needed to be doing here. Besides simplifying the screen and the message, to make it easier for the user to know if they need to configure anything or not, we also did a 'brand refresh' bringing our logo to the launcher.

Censorship circumvention configuration

This is one of the most important steps for a user who is trying to connect to Tor while their network is censoring Tor. We also worked really hard to make sure the UI text would make it easy for the user to understand what a bridge is for and how to configure to use one. Another update was a little tip we added at the drop-down menu (as you can see below) for which bridge to use in countries that have very sophisticated censorship methods.

Proxy help information

The proxy settings at our Tor Launcher configuration wizard is an important feature for users who are under a network that demands such configuration. But it can also lead to a lot of confusion if the user has no idea what a proxy is. Since it is a very important feature for users, we decided to keep it in the main configuration screen and introduced a help prompt with an explanation of when someone would need such configuration.

As part of our work with the UX team, we will also be coordinating user testing of this new UI to continue iterating and make sure we are always improving our users' experience. We are also planning a series of improvements not only for the Tor Launcher flow but for the whole browser experience (once you are connected to Tor) including a new user onboarding flow. And last but not least we are streamlining both our mobile and desktop experience: Tor Browser 7.5 adapted the security slider design we did for mobile bringing the improved user experience to the desktop as well.

What's New:

All Platforms

Update Firefox to 68.11.0esr

Update NoScript to 11.0.34

Update Tor to 0.4.4.2-alpha

Windows + OS X + Linux
It can even upscale textures that would otherwise be too blurry as they were made for the small screen of the original PSP.

Even on modern Android phones and tablets, you can often run at double the original resolution.

Features:

Play in HD resolutions and more

Play on a tablet for big-screen mobile gaming

Customize on-screen touch controls or use an external controller or keyboard

Save and restore game state anywhere, anytime

Crank up the anisotropic filtering and texture scaling

Continue where you left off by transferring saves from your real PSP

PPSSPP is an open source project, licensed under the GPL 2.0 (or later). Anyone is welcome to contribute improvements to the code. Partly thanks to such contributions, PPSSPP's compatibility is steadily increasing, letting us all play our PSP games on the devices of our choice.

What's New:
In context: The modern world is rapidly becoming more interconnected than ever, largely thanks to the rising popularity of Internet of Things (IoT) devices; ranging from smart home appliances to connected security cameras and medical equipment. Now, chipmaking giant Arm wants to speed this growth up even more by offering new tools to companies looking to streamline their product development process.

Arm's tools come in the form of "Total Solutions for IoT," which the company calls a "full stack" solution aimed at significantly boosting development time. With Total Solutions, Arm hopes IoT device makers will see increased ROI and efficiency across the board.

So, what are these tools, and how will they help developers? One of the key focuses for Arm with its new IoT push is what it calls "Virtual Hardware." Virtual Hardware lets IoT software designers create code for a product's chip without waiting for said chip to be fabricated and installed at a physical hardware farm. As Arm notes, the average product design lifecycle is typically around five years, with a sizable chunk of that time dedicated to chip fabrication.

Courtesy of Virtual Hardware, Arm hopes to slice that figure almost in half, reducing development time to just three years. Virtual Hardware can simulate "memory, peripherals, and more," so software teams won't be left wanting. It can handle both general compute and machine learning workloads running on the Arm Cortex-M55 processor and Arm Ethos-U55 microNPU. You can see some Virtual Hardware configurations above.

In other words, silicon availability might no longer be the bottleneck in IoT development -- at least, in theory. We'll just have to wait and see how revolutionary (or not) Virtual Hardware will be in practice, but the idea is sound.

Arm Virtual Hardware is available for developers to test now in the form of a public beta on the AWS marketplace, but the cost will vary by AWS tier and company-specific needs. If you're a decision-maker at an IoT device company, AWS is currently offering 100 hours of EC2 CPU credits for the first 1,000 "qualified users."
Forward-looking: The service department can seem like the slowest part of a dealership, especially when it's your car getting worked on. But Mercedes-Benz is infusing its dealerships with AR technology to speed up the diagnosis and repair of tricky and complex issues with its Virtual Remote Support, powered by Microsoft's HoloLens 2 and Dynamics 365 Remote Assist. I visited one of Mercedes' showcases last week to check out the implementation and get some hands-on time with the HoloLens 2.

For customers that bring in a hard-to-solve problem, it was common for Mercedes-Benz to call in a flying doctor, an expert from HQ that would fly in and get hands-on with an issue. That could take days to arrange, not to mention the costs and environmental impacts associated with flying in these technical specialists from all over the country. All the while, the customer is left without their luxury automobile.

While many shoppers go with a Mercedes for the styling and performance, it's the service experience that impacts their future purchases. Long waits could see someone changing brands in the future.

Mercedes is arming all 383 dealerships across the U.S. with this Virtual Remote Assistant, hoping to improve the efficiency of their service bays and keep customers happy.

It all starts with the HoloLens 2, an augmented reality headset with four visible light cameras for head tracking, two infrared cameras for eye tracking, a depth sensor, a five-channel microphone array, and built-in speakers.

The local technician puts on the HoloLens and can then pull up wiring diagrams, schematics, and other details on the headset, so they can refer to them while they're working on the customer's vehicle.

If the problem needs assistance from one of the experts, they can call them and even provide them a visual feed from his headset. The experts see what the technician does, and their face is broadcast in a small portion of the screen. Its like a futuristic Zoom or Teams meeting call happening in your eyeglasses. Ever helpful, those experts can add arrows, circles, and other notes to help point out important issues.

Using the headset requires little orientation. All you do is put it on and do a short calibration. It follows your eyes and can recognize your hands. You look down and tap your wrist to bring up a menu that allows you to start your work or teleconference. Its projected onto the glass of the headset but looks like its floating in front of you. You can reach out and interact and manipulate the windows with a variety of gestures. It all feels similar to the movie Minority Report and was pretty intuitive to use.

When I was finished goofing around with the headset, Mercedes-Benz representatives explained that the technology has the potential to completely change the service industry. A career that is typically associated with trades work, can now become more digital and high-tech, attracting a whole new demographic of students and employees.

Mercedes boasts that their cars today have more lines of software code than the Space Shuttle, an F-35 fighter jet, and a pacemaker combined. This much functionality means more complexity. So to chase down and resolve any complex issues, the automaker has turned to the HoloLens. Referencing a wiring diagram or schematic thats projected in 3D space onto the car youre working on, will help cut down on wasted time.

Furthermore, while automakers boast that electric vehicles will feature fewer moving parts and require less maintenance, these advanced vehicles may still have issues, likely with wiring and digital components. Technicians using HoloLens can chase down these issues quicker than those having to go back and forth between the computer and the car.

Ready for the next level of displays? The augmented reality head-up display (AR-HUD) of the new #SClass provides loads of #augmentedreality content for #drivingassistance systems and navigation information. #MercedesBenz #MBUX pic.twitter.com/HNmkOHMTJM  Mercedes-Benz (@MercedesBenz) July 28, 2020

Mercedes-Benz isnt a newbie to AR. The automaker offers an augmented reality navigation system, which broadcasts navigation instructions on top of a video feed from a front-facing camera, all on the dashboard to make it difficult to get lost. With the new S-Class, that information is overlaid right on the windshield with an augmented reality windshield. The automaker sees more opportunities for HoloLens 2. It can be used for sales training or even with customers on the showroom floor, customizing their car before their eyes.

Since the introduction of augmented reality, it seemed destined for this kind of application -- infusing hands-on work and know-how with data to make complex tasks easier. Now that Mercedes is putting it into action, we're looking forward to see just how effective it can be.
Recap: If you were a company being threatened with legal action by a multi-national corporation such as Sony, what course of action would you choose? For PS5 faceplate maker Dbrand, the answer is to mock the Japanese giant and its lawyers while releasing a new version of the product that landed it in trouble.

The story began back in February when Dbrand's Darkplatesmatt black faceplates for the PS5 that gave the console a more classic PlayStation lookwent on pre-sale. Confident that Sony wouldn't target the company in the same way it had others selling similar products, Dbrand told it to "go ahead, sue us."

It looked as if Dbrand was about to get its wish last week when Sony sent it a cease-and-desist letter. The Darkplates were pulled from sale, and Dbrand declared them "dead." The Canadian firm used Reddit to explain what happened and the reason behind its initial hubris.

"You can't successfully sue someone over an alleged 'design infringement' without a registered design patent. Sony did not have a registered design patent for the PS5's side panels when we launched Darkplates (or for many, many months following the release)."

"We didn't think they'd ever get one. They did. Here we are."

But Dbrand isn't backing down: check out Darkplates 2.0. It says the new product has a revamped design with several features that differentiate it from the PS5, including a vent that it says improves the console's stock performance. "Checkmate, lawyers," it confidently states.

The new versions are available in more than just black. Darkplates 2.0 also come in the PS5's standard white as well as grey, the latter of which is described as "color-matched to a retro console which shall remain nameless, it's perfect for those among you who miss the old Sony."

You have to admire Dbrand's cojones. It still believes Sony will "probably" sue the company, but adds that "the difference this time is that we've created an original design for which they have no basis to allege infringement. If they want to try, they'd better be ready to pay our legal fees."
In brief: Google is finally pulling the covers off its new line of Pixel phones, the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro, later today. Theres a lot of excitement surrounding its Tensor SoCunless youre Qualcommand you can watch the whole thing right here at 10 am PT / 1 pm ET.

As is so often the case in the runup to a new Pixel event, leaks have been hitting the internet thick and fast. But it was Google who confirmed in August that the next-generation Pixel family would be powered by a custom System on a Chip called Tensor, which is manufactured by Samsung on its 5nm LPE fab process.

Moving to Tensor means Google is abandoning Snapdragon, something Qualcomm isnt too pleased about. The official Snapdragon account threw some shade at Google earlier this week for its decision.

"We've decided to make our own smartphone SoC instead of using Snapdragon"   Snapdragon (@Snapdragon) October 13, 2021

As for the rest of the Pixel 6 line's specs, we know it comes in a variety of colors, features an M2 security chip, an in-display fingerprint reader, and has a heavy focus on AI and machine learning to unlock specific experiences for users.

We also know that the standard Pixel 6 will feature a 6.4-inch FHD+ display with a 90Hz refresh rate, while the Pro will pack a 6.7-inch QHD+ panel with a 120Hz refresh rate. Both have wide and ultrawide cameras, while the Pro also has an additional 4x optical zoom periscope lens.

In addition to the phones, we can expect Google to reveal more details about Android 12 during the event. We might also see the rumored Pixel Pass subscription service that may offer yearly phone upgrades. Theres the possibility of some refreshed Google Pixel Buds, and perhaps Google will finally confirm the Pixel Fold and Pixel Watchbut dont hold your breath for those.

Make sure to come back at 10 am PT / 1 pm ET to see what Google has in store
Why it matters: The dark web is still alive and kicking, and it's become more dangerous than ever. New research highlights how the value of stolen data and general cybercriminal behavior has evolved over the past six years.

Cloud security firm, Bitglass, recreated a data tracking experiment from 2015 by inventing a fictional identity selling login and password data. Researchers then posted the information in several dark web marketplaces, enticing users by offering access to fake files that would allow access to organizations in retail, government, gaming, and media sectors.

Watermarking technology inserted into the files allowed Bitglass to trace data from the users who accessed it and thus gather current trends on the dark web. The findings were interesting. Overall, stolen data spreads 11 times faster on the dark web today compared to six years ago.

Breach data received over 13,200 views in 2021, a dramatic increase from 1,100 views in 2015. The surge represents a growth of 1,100 percent, clearly demonstrating how the underground platform has become an even more popular destination for cybercriminals.

The time it took to reach 1,100 link views in 2015 was 12 days. In 2021, the targets were markedly faster in accessing the sham data as it took them less than 24 hours to view the links.

Locations from where the downloads of the stolen data occurred revealed the United States as the second-most frequent region from where cybercriminals originate. The top three included Kenya, America, and Romania.

The research also found that targets showed a keen interest in retail and U.S. government networks data. These two categories received the most clicks37% and 32%, respectively. That's not a surprising revelation as the potential ransoms can yield enormous profits for those fields.

Retail networks are naturally a top priority for attackers as they can distribute ransomware and extract payouts from large businesses. Likewise, U.S. government data is equally valuable since hackersstate-sponsored or individualscan then sell this information to other nations.

In addition, activity within the dark web has become busier. According to the study, the total number of anonymous viewers on the Dark Web in 2021 reached 93 percent, a notable rise from 2015 when it was 67 percent.

Cybercriminals have largely evaded laws that prosecute cybercrime as they've become more effective in covering their tracks, Bitglass stressed.

Cybersecurity efforts from businesses and organizations have not adequately been able to prevent attacks. Furthermore, because of the increased attention from law enforcement to track down malicious actors, the firm expects them to continue to utilize anonymous VPNs and proxies to evade authorities.

"In comparing the results of this latest experiment to that of 2015, it is clear that data on the Dark Web is spreading farther, faster," said Mike Schuricht, head of the Bitglass Threat Research Group. "We expect that the increasing volume of data breaches as well as more avenues for cybercriminals to monetize exfiltrated data has led to this increased interest and activity surrounding stolen data on the Dark Web."

According to data posted by Microsoft, Dark Web denizens can acquire most cybercrime services for less than $500. Atlas VPN discovered that underground marketplaces offer a single ransomware kit for as low as $66, while hackers only charge about $311 to deliver a sustained DDoS attack against a target for as long as a month.

Data breaches are commonplace nowadays, so it's not surprising that stolen usernames and passwords are offered for as little as 97 cents per 1,000 accounts. Additionally, hackers perform custom jobs such as credit card scams or identity theft for as little as $250.

Image credit: Freepik
(Photo : Image from Commons.Wikipedia.com) Ex-Theranos Project Manager Reveals Elizabeth Holmes Urged Him to Hide Parts of Testing Lab to Investors and Visitors

The case against Elizabeth Holmes gets thicker and thicker as Daniel Edlin, a former Theranos project manager who was actually friends with the brother of Elizabth Holmes, testifies that she told him to conceal certain parts of the company's lab to visiting potential investors as well as some other important visitors.

Edlin Worked at Theranos in Sep 2011 to Dec 2016

According to CNBC, Edlin reportedly worked at Theranos from September 2011 all the way to December 2016. Edlin also attended Duke University and this is where he became friends with Christian Holmes who is the younger brother of Elizabeth Holmes, Theranos founder.

He reportedly told jurors in the criminal trial of Elizabeth Holmes that during the tours at Theranos, visitors would actually be shown a demo room along with the company's MiniLab which is its blood-testing technology. Both Holmes as well as Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani, the former president of Theranos, would decide where their guests would go.

Edlin Reveals Concealment of Parts During Tour

Edlin noted that he recalls that in advance of the tour, there would actually be certain parts of the lab that were hidden by a particular partition. It was noted that oftentimes, it was actually the areas where there were Theranos devices. This was done to make sure that whoever was touring wouldn't be able to see them.

Holmes' trial just recently and prosecutors are now continually calling witnesses. The Theranos founder faces charges of 12 counts of wire fraud as well as conspiracy after her very own blood-testing start-up, which at one point was valued at $9 billion, collapsed back in 2015. Elizabeth Holmes has questioned the credibility of other witnesses like ex-Theranos lab director.

Read Also: Lexington Medical Center's Robot Assists Surgeons? | Interesting Facts About Robotic Surgery

Edlin Left Theranos

Holmes and Balwani pleaded not guilty and will be tried separately. Edlin noted to jurors that his own job at the company was actually to focus on supporting relationships with certain business partners just like Walgreens. Safeway ex-CEO is now acknowledging the risk they took when partnering with Theranos noting that the company actually did at least 100 hours of due diligence before the said deal.

He noted that he had left the company in order to attend business school and noted that at the time, he no longer believed on what he was seeing that the company was capable of standing behind the said claims it was making regarding its skill. His departure actually came about a year after the Wall Street Journal released a series of articles that exposed the company's massive tech flas and business shortcomings.

Edlin noted that he just no longer wanted to be a part of that particular type of environment. He noted that he didn't learn until 2016 that MiniLabs was not actually used on patients. Edlin was noted to be one of many friends of Duke Holmes, the brother of Elizabeth Holmes, who went to work for Theranos.

Related Article: Google AI Department Gets Class-Action Lawsuit for 1.6 Million Confidential Medical Records of NHS Patients

This article is owned by Tech Times

Written by Urian B.

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) for breast cancer detection is not a new thing anymore, but for the United Kingdom, it is a new path to take, especially as it has a shortage of Radiologists for detecting it. The problem of breast cancer can affect almost anyone, and there are no exact preventions for it, as women can only lower their risk of developing it.

Breast cancer has been a massive focus of the latest health tech solutions, and it is to help doctors detect and interpret results, data, and observations from tools and machines. Artificial Intelligence has been long used for health technology which is intended to make the daily process of addressing concerns easier and better.

AI for Breast Cancer

AI for breast cancer has been a focus by scholars, developers, researchers, and others who contribute to the field. The Imperial College of London, among other partners, has helped in developing the AI, and their research for breast cancer has gained funding from the NHS or National Health Service of the country.

The focus of AI is not to replace doctors from their jobs, rather to help them detect the disease earlier or first hand. Sometimes looking at x-rays and feeling the organ for any signs of the condition may be vague or not reveal a lot to the doctor, but there already is something going on.

The purpose of the AI is to show the data and interpret it, as well as making either a prognosis or diagnosis with regards to the lab tests taken by the patient. This means that it would be more likely that it can be understood by health professionals, as these AIs may help in bringing new things to be discovered by those in the field.

Read Also: Can Health Tech 'Extend' Life Through Anti-Aging Solutions and Products? What Are They?

AI for Radiologist Shortage in the UK

The Royal College of Radiologists has mentioned that in the UK, there is a massive shortage of experts and professionals in the industry of radiology. This means that several labs and data that need processing gets backed up or has a hard time releasing to patients as they have no one to attend to for it.

This means that the AI would be a massive help in making sure that the interpretations or results of the test would be read and understood by the doctors. It only shows that AI is evolving, but not necessarily here to replace the humans that gave them purpose and jobs to do.

The shortage of Radiologists may be answered by AI, but it is only so much that the tech can do and still needs their human counterparts for the job.

AI a Massive Health in Modern Tech

Artificial Intelligence has a long history and list for the innovations it has brought for health and other concerns that have now been helping the society for better integration. The focus of AI is to help human lives to be better and easier and not necessarily "phasing" them out of their jobs.

Related Article: Open-Source Cane Borrows Autonomous Vehicle Tech for Visually-Impaired and Costs $400 to Build

This article is owned by Tech Times

Written by Isaiah Richard

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
"Mean Men," a collection of 11,111 NFTs that aim to promote mental health and self-love, is set to be released for minting on October 18.

Three more NFT launches can also be expected by those interested to be a holder of the NFTs: "Mean Wives," "Mean Kids," and "Mean Pets."

A portion of the sales of all four NFT collections will be used to put up a non-profit, non-governmental organization (NGO) called Self-Love Foundation. The main goal of the NGO is to set up physical clinics for those struggling with mental health problems.

"Mean Men" NFT Collect Drops on October 18

"Mean Men," a collection of 11,111 NFTs, is set to drop on October 18 at 5 p.m. UTC. According to the "Mean Men" website, the collection "aims to display the diversity and uniqueness among men."

Each NFT in the "Mean Men" collection can be minted for 0.07 Ethereum (ETH).

"Mean Men" joins other NFT collections that will be released on the aforementioned date. According to a list put together by Rarity Tools, other NFT collections that will be released on October 18 include "Bearseum," "Daimon Slayers," and "BrokeBoyz."

The "Mean Men" NFTs incorporate over 500 different attributes and, like every NFT out there in the market, are 1/1. This means that no two "Mean Men" NFTs are alike.

The developers behind the NFTs are planning three more collections to be launched in the future: "Mean Wives," "Mean Kids," and "Mean Pets."

Mental Health and the Self-Love Foundation

The "Mean Men" NFT collection has a strong mental health theme to it. According to the collection's website, "Mean Men is focused on mental health because of the number of people affected and the negative stigma often ascribed to mental health related issues."

A portion of the funds of all four NFT collections will be used to put up an NGO called the Self-Love Foundation. Self-Love Foundation will be a non-profit organization whose "first goal of the Self-Love Foundation is to create and set-up online portals where people in need can speak with mental health professionals."

The main goal of the NGO is to set up physical clinic locations for those struggling with mental health issues.

Related Article: Number Of Children Facing Mental Health Problems Continues To Grow

People-Inspired NFT Collections

"Mean Men" is the latest example of NFT collections that are inspired by people. It is, however, not the first NFT collection to have a cause related to mental health.

"Outlaw Girls Motorcycle Club," a collection of biker girl NFTs that dropped on September 30, will be donating 10% of their mint sales to charities that are focused on mental health care and women.

Another example of people-inspired NFT collections is "ONE Shogun," which is a collection of ninja and samurai NFTs that went on public sale on September 17. A total of 10,000 NFTs are part of the "ONE Shogun" NFT collection.

Also Read: Crypto.Chicks, an NFT Collection About Women, Goes on Sale on Sept. 23

This article is owned by Tech Times

Written by Isabella James

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
One of the Lucy spacecraft's solar arrays "may not be fully latched," according to a tweet from an associate administrator from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

NASA's Associate Administrator for Science, Thomas Zubuchen, has assured everyone that the spacecraft, which is on a 12-year mission, is "safe and stable."

The Lucy spacecraft was successfully launched to space on October 16 to begin its mission to study the Trojan asteroids in Jupiter. The spacecraft will first do two flybys of Earth in order to build its momentum for the trip to Jupiter.

The first of Lucy's eight asteroid flybys will take place in April 2025, and the last flyby will happen in March 2033.

Lucy Spacecraft's Solar Array Not Fully Latched

After the Lucy spacecraft was successfully launched on October 16, NASA discovered that one of its solar arrays was not able to secure itself fully.

While assuring that the spacecraft is safe and also stable, NASA's Associate Administrator for Science Thomas Zubuchen said in a tweet posted on his personal Twitter account that its "two solar arrays have deployed, but one may not be fully latched."

Zurbuchen also said that the team behind the Lucy spacecraft is identifying what should be done next.

According to a report by Space, NASA has emphasized that Lucy is not in "any immediate danger." The space agency has also said that both solar arrays are able to produce power, and the spacecraft's battery is also charging.

The Lucy Spacecraft

The Lucy spacecraft is currently on a 12-year journey to study the Trojan asteroids in Jupiter to help scientists understand how the solar system came to be.

Its main task is to study a total of eight asteroids, seven of which are Trojan asteroids. The Lucy spacecraft will do its first asteroid flyby in April 2025, but the first Trojan asteroid will not take place until August 2027. The last asteroid flyby will take place in March 2033.

Before all of that, the Lucy spacecraft's first task is to do two flybys of Earth to build up its momentum before heading for Jupiter.

Related Article: Lockheed Martin Spacecraft Set to Go on a 12-Year Journey to Study Trojan Asteroids Near Jupiter

Lucy Spacecraft's Successful Launch

The Lucy spacecraft was successfully launched to space on October 16 at 5:34 a.m. ET. The spacecraft was launched atop the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket.

Per a previous Tech Times report, the spacecraft is actually carrying a disc made from lab-grown diamonds as a nod to the song by The Beatles, "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds."

The spacecraft actually got its name from a 3.2 million-year-old skeletal remains scientists named Lucy. The skeletal remains were found in Ethiopia almost 50 years ago. The skeletal remains were in fact actually named after The Beatles' song.

Also Read: NASA Lucy Mission's Saturday Launch: Facts That You Might Not Know About the Space Activity

This article is owned by Tech Times

Written by Isabella James

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.




During the pandemic, many banks again took up immersive technologies  some train employees on 360 video, and some sell mortgage apartments through VR tours. Biometrics has found a new application, but citizens still dont want to use it.

3D cash collection

Virtual and augmented reality have not yet become a mass product and for many remain a lot of gamers and geeks. But when offices closed due to the pandemic, and employees switched to remote mode, many companies saw several uses in immersive technologies at once  for internal communication, marketing, and working with customers.

Technologies of virtual and augmented reality are called solutions that allow you to immerse the user in an alternative space. This can be a complete or partial replacement of the environment.

According to Deloitte, about 19% of UK companies invested in virtual and augmented reality last year, with another 31% going to invest next year. For example, the management company Fidelity said that this year, spending on VR and AR increased by 100-200% compared to 2020. The organization doesnt plan to reduce costs and, most likely, not in vain: according to PwC, by 2030, thanks to augmented reality technologies, banks will be able to save up to $1.5 trillion.

Fidelity has its own laboratory that deals with solutions in the field of augmented and virtual reality. Thanks to the development, employees now communicate with each other in VR meetings, and the company expects to use AR technology to present products to customers.

Its the next-generation financial solution. Any ideas based on this technology can be realized by a fintech software development company.

VR glasses

With the transition to remote work, many brokerage companies have faced difficulties: not every trader at home has several monitors, a fast computer, and convenient access to trading terminals. To solve this problem, Swiss bank UBS distributed Microsoft HoloLens mixed reality glasses to its employees, turning the home office into a workstation with augmented reality, 3D holograms, and pseudo-screens.





VR mortgage

Experts believe that virtual reality has great potential, in particular for the mortgage business. It will allow developers to create a virtual space with a choice of apartment configurations, a mortgage calculator, and the connection of a consultant.

New uses for biometrics

Some banks are already introducing face recognition at the entrance to the premises. If a visitor passed biometrics, the system will recognize him and transfer information about the client and possible reasons for the visit to employees, as well as update the electronic queue. In addition, it helps banks to immediately recognize fraudsters and defaulters from the black list.

Whether market participants want it or not, biometrics will soon become the norm. It will not only make "casts" mandatory for delivery but also expand the possibilities of the use. For example, to perform any operations on biometrics, as well as to massively apply for payment on the face in retail outlets and public catering.

Despite this, people are still reluctant to use biometric identification. According to a Visa survey, only 17% of respondents said they use a face instead of traditional passwords, and only 12% use voice casts. At the same time, 48% said they trust the storage of biometric data to banks and payment systems.

However, in Sweden, according to another study, it turned out that about 70% of local consumers are interested in using biometric payment cards. Almost 60% intend to pay for it, and 48% are ready to change banks if competitors offer biometrics. The main reason for this enthusiasm is that the respondents are afraid of the transmission of viruses through payment terminals.

Output

To use virtual and augmented reality technologies, both employees and customers of banks need VR devices. This is one of the main limitations of VR and AR, which doesnt yet allow their full use in mass services.

It's not only about computing power and graphics, but also the high cost of the devices themselves  for example, one pair of Microsoft HoloLens glasses will cost almost $5,500.

Moreover, VR devices are quite bulky: from 447g (HoloLens) to 500 and 800g (Sony, Valve, Oculus). Carrying a pound of excess weight on your head is inconvenient, especially during the whole working day.

But one way or another, VR is no longer a fantasy, but a very real and working technology today. There is no doubt that it will continue to develop and integrate into many areas of our life.
Judy Muller and members of COLab presented Storm Lake: A Newspaper, a Community, a Family Monday night at the Sheridan Opera House. (Photo by Eva Thomas/Telluride Daily Planet)
Ten days after Matthew Mire was arrested following a shooting rampage that crisscrossed the Baton Rouge area and left a Louisiana state trooper and another person dead, he was transferred from the East Baton Rouge jail to a detention facility in Livingston Parish, then booked in Ascension Parish and finally shipped to Angola to await trial in a maximum security environment, officials said.

Mire was booked into the Livingston jail Tuesday morning. By late afternoon, he had arrived at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola, his home for the foreseeable future.

Mire faces the following charges in Livingston: two counts of attempted first-degree murder and one count each of home invasion, vehicle theft and vehicle burglary.

Those counts refer to the series of events that started the shooting rampage, which unfolded in the early morning hours of Oct. 9 and then morphed into a massive multi-parish manhunt that lasted throughout the day, ending after 10 p.m. when police finally took Mire into custody.

Mire is accused of barging into a trailer home on La. 444 in French Settlement and shooting his neighbors around midnight. He then proceeded on foot through a nearby wooded area and stole a truck from another house, according to law enforcement.

+13 It took 15 hours to find Louisiana trooper dead; agency on 'radio silence' during manhunt A Louisiana state trooper was shot to death while typing reports inside his patrol car early Saturday morning in Prairieville, but another 15 

He drove the truck to Ascension Parish, where he ambushed Master Trooper Adam Gaubert, who was sitting in his patrol car writing reports near the intersection of Airline and Jefferson highways in Prairieville, officials said. Moments after killing the trooper, Mire arrived at a house less than a mile away and allegedly shot two of his relatives, leaving one dead.

The manhunt started after he shot at another trooper a couple hours later during an attempted traffic stop. He was ultimately arrested that night near Bayou Manchac in the southeastern corner of East Baton Rouge Parish.

+12 Trooper found dead close to Prairieville double shooting linked to gunman, sources say Several hours after Louisiana State Police launched a massive search for a man suspected in two overnight shootings, a trooper was found dead 

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After his arrest, Mire was initially booked into East Baton Rouge jail on counts of aggravated flight from an officer and attempted first-degree murder of a police officer. He was rebooked a few days later on illegal possession of stolen firearms, obstruction of justice and misdemeanor resisting an officer after detectives uncovered new evidence.

An East Baton Rouge judge ordered him held without bond.

Shortly after being booked in Livingston on Tuesday, Mire was transferred to Ascension Parish jail. He faces the most serious charges there, so the Ascension case will likely move forward first.

He was booked Tuesday on the following: two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of attempted first-degree murder and one count each of armed robbery, home invasion, aggravated flight from an officer, illegal use of weapons and illegal possession of stolen things.

Not long after arriving in Ascension, Mire was transported to Angola, the notorious maximum security facility in West Feliciana Parish that houses thousands of state prisoners serving life and other long sentences.

Officials said Mire was sent there because of the severity of his charges, a relatively unusual move since most defendants are housed in local jails until their cases are adjudicated.

Department of Corrections spokesman Ken Pastorick said the agency is holding Mire at the request of Ascension Parish Sheriff Bobby Webre. High-profile defendants will sometimes be sent to DOC facilities pretrial for extra security, Pastorick said.

He said Mire is being housed in a cell alone.
A coalition of major civil rights organizations demanded Monday that Louisiana legislators redraw election districts to increase the chance that a second Black person can be elected to Congress.

The groups, led by the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund Inc., targeted Congressional District 5, currently represented by Congresswoman Julia Letlow, R-Start. The letter attached seven different ideas of how some minor alterations would switch the Monroe-based district from one with a substantial White and conservative majority to one where Black people hold a bare majority and thereby have a better chance of electing a less conservative candidate.

Louisiana legislators begin a statewide tour this week to hear from voters in preparation for their February redistricting session.

We want to make it clear that it is not only possible to create a second (Black majority) district, its easy," said Michael Pernick, redistricting counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund Inc. in New York City.

The letter points out that about a third of Louisianas population is Black, but only one of the states six members of the U.S. House of Representatives is Black. U.S. Rep. Troy Carter is elected from the 2nd District that packs in as many Black voters as possible, sometimes only one precinct wide, from New Orleans East up the Mississippi River and into north Baton Rouge.

Mark Ballard: Legislature readies to pack and crack new districts, but should they? The exercise is as old as the Republic, but the first thing you need to understand about redistricting is that hot-water cornbread is as ubiqu

"The state has had only four Black Congresspeople since Reconstruction," the letter said. "This is a direct consequence of the configuration of Louisiana's congressional districts: Black voters are packed into District 2, the state's only majority-minority opportunity district, and Black communities are cracked among the state's five majority White districts (Districts 1, 3, 4, 5, 6)." The majority White congressional districts have never elected a Black candidate. Since 1965, when the Voting Rights Act passed, Louisiana voters have sent 45 Whites to Congress.

The groups sent the letter to state Rep. John Stefanski, R-Crowley, and state Sen. Sharon Hewitt, R-Slidell, who as chairs of each chambers governmental affairs committees are in charge of redrawing maps of districts from which voters elect state representatives and senators, members of congress, as well as the Public Service Commission and the Board of Elementary & Secondary Education, and other prominent positions in government.

"We urge the state to fully consider and adopt a congressional map that ensures non-dilution of Black voting strength in Louisiana. Failure to do so may lead to costly litigation," the letter stated.

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While welcoming the input, Stefanski said Monday a shot-across-the-bow letter is kind of early as the process is just beginning. "We havent done any drawing, any nuts and bolts. Now, were just wanting to hear from the public, he said. Hes a part of a statewide legislative road show that begins Wednesday in Monroe to hear what voters think about redistricting. A forum in Shreveport is scheduled for later in the week. Only after talking to voters and his colleagues will the committees seriously start looking at drawing maps.

The 2020 Census catalogued a significant shift of population from rural areas, mostly in north Louisiana, to urban areas, mostly in the south. The north Louisiana Congressional seats  Letlows 5th District and the Shreveport-based 4th District, currently represented by U.S. Rep. Mike Johnson, R-Bossier City  are being eyed closely. Both north Louisiana districts will need to each find 5% to 7% more registered voters for the six congressional districts to be representing roughly the same numbers of people.

In 2011, redistricting analysts added parishes and parts of towns to keep the percentage of Black voters at about 33%, while extending district lines enough to take in enough population to be roughly equal the other five districts.

Letlows sprawling district, which covers all or parts of 24 parishes, includes Monroe in northeast Louisiana, Alexandria in the central part of the state, Opelousas in Acadiana, Amite in the Florida parishes, and Bogalusa at the far eastern part of the state. About 68% of the districts voters backed Donald Trump in the November 2020 presidential election. Today, 33% of the 5th Congressional District's voters are Black and 63% are White.

In their seven alternatives, the civil rights advocates recommended moving a handful of precincts in parishes, such as Washington and Tangipahoa into nearby districts based in New Orleans and Baton Rouge. Those changes would increase Black voters to about 53% or 54%, depending on the plan.

If you look across our region, it is the thread of the rural way of life and concerns about issues such as agriculture and education that ties us all together, said Mitch Rabalais, Letlows spokesman. We hope that the Legislature will keep these ties in mind as they begin this process."

The letter was signed by 32 officials, including former New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu, representing 17 national and local organizations. The groups included: the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund in New York City, the American Civil Liberties Foundation and Campaign Legal Center, both in Washington, D.C.; the Southern Poverty Law Center; the League of Women Voters; the Urban League; Voice of the Experienced, VOTE, the New Orleans-based group that has successfully changed many of the states harsh criminal justice laws; the Louisiana Budget Project, the Baton Rouge-based group that advocates for low- and middle-income residents; the Power Coalition for Equity and Justice, a grassroots organization focusing on voting rights; Louisiana Progress; and others.
Louisiana collected enough business taxes during the last budget year to deposit the first $205 million into a never-used, five-year-old trust fund created to curb the state's boom-and-bust cycles of budgeting.

The money may not be spent for years.

Fifty-four percent of voters in 2016 agreed to set up the Revenue Stabilization Trust Fund, to siphon off a portion of the state's oil and gas revenue and corporate taxes when those collections are higher than usual.

The trust fund was designed to help Louisiana respond to the wide fluctuations it's seen in those two sources of state income, seeking to sock away some of the money for infrastructure investments  rather than let it be used for ongoing expenses that might not be affordable in future budget years if those income sources fall again.

"Two of Louisiana government's most volatile sources of funding are mineral revenue and corporate taxes. Unlike steadier sources of revenue like individual income or sales taxes, mineral revenue and corporate taxes can vary wildly," the nonpartisan Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana wrote in an explanation of the proposal when it went before voters.

But lawmakers and economists suggested it could be many years before Louisiana would reach the revenue collections needed to trigger use of the fund that was created through a constitutional amendment sponsored by then-Rep. Walt Leger III, a New Orleans Democrat.

Instead, it took only five years.

Gov. John Bel Edwards' Division of Administration said more than $205 million from the budget year that ended June 30 was sent to the trust fund.

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"The provisions of the Revenue Stabilization Trust Fund have been triggered," said Commissioner of Administration Jay Dardenne, the Democratic governor's chief budget adviser.

Under the constitutional provision enacted by voters, if the state receives corporate tax collections above $600 million annually, any additional dollars are socked away in the trust fund. A portion of any oil and gas revenue above $660 million each year also will flow into the account.

Louisiana exceeded the corporate tax figure, collecting more than $805 million in corporate income and franchise tax collections, according to Dardenne's office. That's why more than $205 million went to the trust fund.

Once the fund reaches $5 billion, up to 10% can be spent on construction projects and roadwork. It's likely to be many years before Louisiana fills up the trust fund to the level that allows lawmakers to spend any of the cash. But the law setting up the mechanics of the trust fund also allows lawmakers, by a two-thirds vote, to use the money in an undefined emergency.

Louisiana will allocate $40 million in stimulus money to tackle state's dismal reading problem While well below what friends of the late Steve Carter are aiming for, state Superintendent of Education Cade Brumley said he plans to use $40

Louisiana had about $1 billion in unspent cash when the books were closed on the last budget year, Dardenne said. After sending the $205 million to the trust fund and slicing off other dedications, the state will have a $651 million surplus, according to the Division of Administration.

Under the Louisiana Constitution, about $163 million of that surplus will have to go to the state's "rainy day" fund, while $65 million must be used to pay down retirement debt. The remaining $423 million will be left for lawmakers to spend on one-time items, such as debt payments and construction work.

Dardenne said the governor will recommend spending the money on deferred maintenance work at state buildings, primarily on university campuses, along with road, bridge and coastal protection projects.
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Mr Morrison moved on to the Labor Partys ideological, pathological fear of coal as an important part of our sustainable and more certain energy future. The stunt had served its purpose.

For while Mr Morrisons lump of coal may not have hurt anyone, what we should all realise by now is that other lumps of coal  the ones we burn for fuel  are hurting our planet and all those who live on it. The evidence for that is indisputable, as it was in 2017.

More than any other moment in our recent history, Scott Morrisons February 2017 appearance at the parliamentary dispatch box in Canberra toting a lump of coal summarised the triumph of optics over substance in this countrys debate around human-generated climate change.

The strange and ritual dance between the Liberal and National parties over what Mr Morrison can take with him to the Glasgow climate summit has again left the nations future hostage to the politics of spectacle, a game that everyone knows is being played. It is, of course, welcome that Mr Morrison is going to Glasgow and will commit to net zero emissions by 2050, but it is barely worth congratulations, coming so late. He has been dragged kicking and screaming by diplomatic and business pressure he can resist no longer.

But anyone following along even half closely knows the debate is not about 2050  that is a given  but about cutting emissions fast enough by 2030 to have any hope of keeping global warming below 2 degrees above pre-industrial levels, and possibly at 1.5 degrees, to try to avoid climate catastrophe. That is the central purpose of the Glasgow summit, which begins on October 31.

Mr Morrison used Parliament this week to confirm he would not raise the governments 2030 target, seen by climate scientists as inadequate if the world is to limit climate change. That goal to reduce emissions by 26 to 28 per cent on 2005 levels is all-but redundant because pledges by the states, which have led the way on taking global warming seriously and in sensing the economic benefits of a green future, would mean the target is exceeded without the Commonwealth making any new commitments. For context, United States President Joe Biden has promised at least 50 per cent reduction by 2030 and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is aiming for 68 per cent.

Australias debate about climate change has had an element of farce about it for more than a decade, and that it continues in the weeks before the Glasgow meeting is no surprise.

The whiplash is painful, though. Again, it is welcome that the Business Council of Australia is pushing the government to cut emissions by between 46 per cent and 50 per cent on 2005 levels within the decade to help drive investment. The country needed to move forward, not engage in an endless debate about issues the nation and the world has moved past, council president Tim Reed said. Far from ruining our standards of living, the council said modelling showed accelerating emissions cuts would leave Australians better off by an average of $5000 per person each year by 2050.
Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size Western Australias northern coastline is among the most remote in the country, its sparse landscape and endless horizons making it seem the perfect place for a person to disappear without a trace. But the region has its own unique set of eyes and ears in unlikely places. Cleo Smith went missing from the Quobba Blowholes campsite along WAs remote northern coast on the weekend. Credit:Peter de Kruijff As the search for missing four-year-old girl Cleo Smith enters its fifth day, investigators are methodically painting a picture of who was in the area the weekend the young girl was feared to be snatched from her familys tent while camping north of Carnarvon. Along the one sealed road and smaller limestone tracks out of the Quobba Blowholes campsite where Cleo was last seen are dozens of cattle grids, designed to stop station cattle from straying onto another section of land. As a vehicle passes over the grids, some take an automated photo of the cars number plate  an initiative station owners use to deter cattle theft. The images could form an unlikely part in the police investigation into whether someone took Cleo, or whether she wandered off in the middle of the night without a trace.

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The Minilya Roadhouse, 170 kilometres north of Quobba, also records every vehicle which passes along the North West Coastal Highway, the only road north out of the region. Police seized CCTV from the roadhouse on Monday, and investigators have been in touch with renowned Perth criminologist David Keatley to assist with whether someone could have taken Cleo. Cleos mother Ellie Smith pleaded on Tuesday for anyone with information about where her daughter was to come forward. She and her partner Jake Gliddon have remained at the campsite since Cleo vanished, helplessly watching the massive land, sea and air search for their little girl return no clues to her whereabouts. We cant do anything, its out of our hands, we just feel hopeless and out of control, Ms Smith said. She would never leave us, she would never leave the tent, when she left she was wearing a jumpsuit and she cant go to the toilet without my help unzipping it ... she would never leave the tent alone.

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If I think of her being taken a million other things cross my mind. I know shes strong. Cleo was born eight weeks early, she was premature and shes been strong since the day she was born. I know she can get through whatever she is going through. The family, who are Carnarvon locals, often camped at the Blowholes, and had arrived at the site at 6.30pm Friday with a new tent for their first trip as a family of four with younger daughter, Isla. Cleo Smiths mother Ellie Smith and partner Jake Gliddon. Cleo woke and asked for water at 1.30am that night, and then returned to sleep. When Ms Smith woke at 6.30am to give Isla a bottle, her oldest daughter and the sleeping bag she was in were missing. Cleo was on a mattress, our little baby was in a cot right next to her, we had a divide and then we were on a blow up mattress as well, she said. [In the morning] I went into the other room, the zipper was open and Cleo was gone ... the tent was completely open, it was about 30 centimetres from being open.

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Murdoch University forensic scientist Paola Magni said it would be likely, if Cleo was taken, her abductor would have left forensic clues inside the tent. In the situation of a missing person, or a missing child, everything has to be considered as a potential crime against a person, she said. If an adult has to come into a tent, there is a chance the person will touch the tent somewhere, so will leave some traces somewhere in the tent. Technology allows us to take fingerprints even if they are not visible, and if we want to go even further, if someone wears a glove, if the glove is not completely sterile, you can leave part of your DNA in a certain place. A cattle grid near Quobba. Credit:Peter de Kruijff Dr Magni said police would likely be overloaded with information in the first few days of the search, with the hopes of finding Cleo alive fading with each day that passes. Digital forensic work, such as retrieving all the phone numbers which pinged the Point Quobba mobile phone tower, would also be crucial to the case and determining who was in the area.

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Its conclusion: 91 per cent of US mainstream news articles were negative, compared with 54 per cent of mainstream articles from international publications. (a metric that included The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald). That would be fine. COVID-19 has killed more than 700,000 Americans. But the study also looked at five top scientific and medical journals: just 65 per cent of COVID-19 publications were negative. Mainstream journalists were more negative than scientists. Intriguingly, the tone of the articles did not change even as Americas case load rose and fell. Other, broader studies find similar negative skews across international media. Does this mean the media has done a poor job of reporting on the realities of COVID-19? Im not convinced. Much of the role the media played has been in persuading the public that COVID-19 is serious and they need to protect themselves. Without that, more people may have died. A pill every day: Former US president Donald Trump said he was taking hydroxychloroquine. Credit:AP

But there have been glimmers of hope in the darkness: the development of vaccines, for example. Have we emphasised these enough? President Donald Trumps embrace of hydroxychloroquine received more coverage than the development of vaccines, the study found - despite one story having far more effect than the other. Lets turn to local coverage. Has it been too negative? A thought experiment: imagine you were managing a global newspaper. Australia, which has suffered just 1448 deaths in this pandemic so far, would surely receive acres of glowing coverage. Former federal deputy chief medical officer Nick Coatsworth compares Australias COVID-19 response to a swimming race. The vaccine rollout has been far from smooth  but overall, Australia remains a pandemic world-beater, he says. We were miles ahead  and now were just winning. Were not winning by a lap. And its really difficult to convey that to the community. It hasnt been inaccurate reporting. But the focus has been on voices that have taken a more risk-averse approach. I would have loved to have seen more questioning of that.

Not everyone shares that view. Lyndal Byford, director of news at the Australian Science Media Centre  shes been as close to this as anyone  says the coverage has fairly reflected the risk. Australian news reporting, especially in the early stages of the outbreak, reflected the scientific experts views that this virus needed to be taken seriously. It focused on the health messages over conflict and Im sure it was a key part of us all pulling together for the good of the nation, she says. Children arrive at school wearing masks in Florida. Credit:AP Kids and COVID-19 Lets consider the case of children and COVID-19. There are few issues that scare parents more. They fret their children will catch COVID-19 at school and end up in hospital, or with long COVID. Teachers, even though they are fully vaccinated, worry they will catch the virus from kids.

But heres the thing. The evidence strongly suggests children are the pandemics miracle. For reasons poorly understood, they appear to have incredibly robust innate immunity to COVID-19. Everyone seems to gloss over this, yet it is amazing. Children generally fare more poorly than adults when it comes to respiratory diseases; in developing countries, influenza and RSV claim between 94,000 and 300,000 lives a year. Not with COVID-19. A pandemic that has killed millions has left children almost untouched. Has the reporting reflected this? Some scientists working in the area dont think so. There have been many alarming assertions regarding COVID and children which are just not true, says Professor Fiona Russell, a paediatric infectious diseases epidemiologist and vaccinologist at the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute. This has caused alarm to my paediatric colleagues from the Australian and New Zealand

Paediatric Infectious Diseases Society ... and caused a lot of distress for families who are already highly stressed.

Some have said 1 to 3 per cent of unvaccinated children will be hospitalised for treatment of COVID. This is not true. Weve also heard some people say that there will be up to 80 deaths in children with COVID over the next six months. This will not happen. The indirect effects of school closures on the wellbeing of children and adolescents has been so large that schools closures should never happen again. Lockdown fatigue What about lockdown fatigue? The science of this is contested; Victorias Chief Health Officer, Brett Sutton, partly blames it for the states inability to control its latest outbreak, while Professor James McCaws modelling team sees no evidence for it.

By repeatedly writing about it, one scientist argued to me, the media created a self-fulfilling prophecy. normalising feelings of fatigue (and non-compliance) among readers. Could this be true? Therapeutics Therapeutics are another interesting example. Take my coverage of the antibody sotrovimab. Australia snapped up 7700 doses  before there was enough evidence for the countrys top COVID-19 clinical advisory group to support its use. That was my lead. In isolation, I think I made the right call. What role is there for a science journalist if hes not scrutinising the evidence behind a government decision? However, I ponder the storys role in the wider coverage of the issue. Perhaps people should know that better drugs are coming? Negativity bias

Why is news so often negative? Journalists and editors are trained to focus on negativity. Often this is good. Journalism should focus on the problems in society. I dont think this is unique to COVID coverage by any means. It is absolutely consistent with how the media cover anything, says Denis Muller, senior research fellow at the University of Melbournes Centre for Advancing Journalism. Part of it is readers. During negative events, like pandemics, news demand dramatically increases. News organisations respond to the desires of their audience. Empirically, we know media outlets that concentrate on positive news dont last very long, Dr Muller says.

Whats going on? Negativity bias. People are much more drawn to, and more affected by, negative events than positive ones. Losing money hurts more than winning money feels good. Being abandoned by a friend is much more painful than the joy that comes from making a new one. Our brains are wired to pay more attention to risks than benefits. It may be a gift from our evolution. A person who ignores a positive outcome lives with some regret. A person who ignores a negative one  say, a lion  does not get to have those same regrets! Whats all this negativity doing to us? It is clear COVID-19 has not been good for our mental health. High-level evidence suggests cases of major depressive disorder and anxiety disorder have risen by about 25 per cent globally due to the pandemic. I dont think we can pin this on negative media coverage. Scientifically, its almost impossible to disentangle the effects of negative news coverage from the effects of people dying and things being bad.

But there is some evidence the more news we consume during a crisis, the more likely we are to later develop PTSD symptoms afterwards. When people perceive news as negative, they feel worse. Perhaps the biggest effect of negativity, argues Dr Muller, was the focus on AstraZenecas rare clotting issues. The extent of the exposure made the incidence of clotting look far greater than it was. This almost certainly contributed to vaccine hesitancy and to the creation of a stereotype about AZ as the vaccine of last resort, he says. What can we do? In the spirit of not being negative about negativity, lets ask: if there is a negative bias, what can we do about it?

One solution: constructive journalism. Journalism that is calm in tone, being less focused on scandals, conflicts and outrage. It remains critical and balanced and focussed on the problems faced by society, but offers both problem and solution in the same breath. Reading about these ideas brought to mind a story I wrote a few weeks ago, on the Burnet Institutes modelling of Victorias reopening. I led with the fact the modelling forecast the very real possibility of an overwhelmed healthcare system. I still think that was the right call. But  could the story have made more of our ability to act to avoid those worst-case outcomes? Perhaps. Just going, its all terrible is not much help, Professor Margaret Hellard co-author of that modelling told me.



We have agency - we can change the outcome.
Bars and restaurant owners have been left puzzled and angry after the Victorian government issued a last-minute clarification that all hospitality staff must be fully vaccinated before venues can reopen from Friday.

Premier Daniel Andrews confirmed on Tuesday that cooks, waiters and all other staff in places where one sits down for a meal would need to have two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine under the road map announced on Sunday, after contradictory information was provided by the Department of Justice and Community Safety.

Industry bodies told The Age they had been advised, incorrectly, earlier in the day that staff would only need to have had one dose by Friday and their second shot booked in before November 26, in line with the governments vaccine mandate for authorised workers.

Staff need to be double vaccinated, Mr Andrews confirmed on Tuesday.
Major Labor Party unions and figures aligned with former leader Bill Shorten are considering an appeal against a Supreme Court decision to throw out challenges to the federal intervention into the Victorian branch.

Supreme Court judge Justice Tim Ginnane said on Tuesday that the partys national executive acted lawfully when it took over the Victorian branch in June last year amid branch-stacking allegations revolving around the faction led by former minister Adem Somyurek.

Labor leader Anthony Albanese, former party leader Bill Shorten and deputy leader Richard Marles. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

Sections of the party aligned with Mr Somyurek  including the Australian Workers Union, CFMEU and MP Marlene Kairouz  launched court action to prove the national executive did not have the power to strip Victorian members of voting rights and take over preselections.

However, Justice Ginnane determined the rarely used plenary power of the Australian Labor Party allowed it to seize control of state branches when it deemed there were sufficient grounds. Crucially, the court determined the Victorian branch was not a separate legal entity to the federal one.
Richmond football club president Peggy ONeal has been named chancellor of RMIT University and will replace high-profile businessman Ziggy Switkowski, who resigned from the role last month as staff called on him to step down due to his links with Crown.

Ms ONeal will assume the role in January and is set to take over during a turbulent time for Victorias third largest university.

Peggy ONeal, Richmond football club president, has been named chancellor of RMIT University. Credit:Wayne Taylor

RMIT posted a $78.7 million deficit last year  the biggest financial loss of any university in Australia  and attributed the poor result to international border closures due to the global pandemic.

It is also under investigation by the Fair Work Ombudsman over allegations of underpayment of casual staff over several years, an issue that has snared several Australian universities in recent months.
Federal MPs have been urged to continue working with their communities undeterred despite concerns for their safety following the murder of British MP Sir David Amess during a regular public meeting with his voters at the weekend.

Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews met with the Australian Federal Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw on Tuesday after half a dozen Coalition members raised concerns about the safety of their colleagues and staff members in their weekly party room meeting.

Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews has discussed the security arrangements for parliamentarians with the AFP Commissioner. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

Aggressive and violent incidents involving federal MPs have led to a spike in referrals to national security agencies in the past few years, with parliamentarians from all sides of politics warning Australias increasingly toxic political debate could lead to tragic consequences.

Ms Andrews said the pair discussed the security arrangements for parliamentarians, especially in their electorates, and opportunities for MPs to improve their understanding of risks and strategies while working in the community.
Drug and alcohol experts are calling for a harm minimisation approach to users at risk of contracting and spreading COVID-19, warning that stigma is putting a vulnerable population at risk.

St Vincents Hospital Sydneys alcohol and drug service clinical director Nadine Ezard said a fear of being forced to isolate  and have their supply cut off  was behind some drug users hesitancy about getting tested for coronavirus.

Advocates say illicit drug users have been left behind in the pandemic. Credit:Jason South

We need to be really aware of stigmatising and pushing people underground, Professor Ezard said, saying isolation was an extra burden on drug-dependent people, who could go into severe withdrawal at home.

Were already seeing fear about people being detected as COVID-positive, she said.
Former NSW treasurer Gladys Berejiklian wanted a multimillion-dollar grant request for her boyfriends Wagga Wagga electorate accelerated and planned to back the proposal before it was presented to the governments expenditure committee, a corruption inquiry has heard.

A 2016 email tendered to the Independent Commission Against Corruption has suggested Ms Berejiklian indicated she would support funding the Australian Clay Target Association and wanted the grant process to be brought forward.

In the December 6 email, NSW Treasury director Yogi Savania wrote to a fellow department colleague, Could you try and get her hands on this from [Office of Sport]?

Paul Doorn leaves the ICAC after giving evidence on Tuesday. He is not accused of wrongdoing. Credit:Janie Barrett

The treasurer has requested this be brought forward and has indicated an inclination to support the proposal.
The public hearings running this week are part of an inquiry called Operation Watts into allegations of corrupt conduct involving Victorian public officers, including members of parliament.

Its being run jointly by the Victorian Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission and the Victorian Ombudsman and its remit includes allegations of branch stacking in the Victorian Labor Party, as first revealed in an investigation by The Age and 60 Minutes last year.

Branch stacking is an organised method of accumulating internal power in a party by recruiting, and usually paying the fees for, new members.

But its much more pointed than just that. The real question is whether public officers, including Victorian members of parliament, are engaging in corrupt conduct by directing ministerial or electorate office staff to perform partypolitical work when they should instead be doing ministerial or electorate work.

It will also look at whether public money given by the Victorian government as grants to community associations, has been redirected and misused to fund partypolitical activities, or for any other improper purposes. It will ask if ministers or others involved in granting the funds have dishonestly performed their functions or knowingly or recklessly breached public trust.

The inquiry will look into whether any public officer, their families or their associates, received a personal benefit from these things, and looks at what systems and controls are in place to monitor these money flows.

The hearing is expected to go for at least four weeks. Its overseen by IBAC Commissioner Robert Redlich, QC, and run by counsel assisting Chris Carr, SC.
Port-au-Prince: A gang that kidnapped 17 members of a US-based missionary group has demanded a $US17 million ($22.7 million) ransom for them, according to Haitis justice minister, as quoted by the Wall Street Journal.

Justice Minister Liszt Quitel said the gang was demanding $US1 million per person. The Journal said he identified the ages of the abducted children as 8 months and 3, 6, 14 and 15 years.

A wave of kidnappings prompted a protest strike that shuttered businesses, schools and public transportation in a new blow to Haitis anaemic economy, and unions and other groups vowed to continue the shutdown on Tuesday.

A protester takes a selfie at a burning barricade in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on Monday. Credit:AP

FBI agents and other US officials are helping Haitian authorities hunt for the 12 adults and five children linked to the Christian Aid Ministries in Ohio who were kidnapped on Saturday during a trip to visit an orphanage.
Toyota Makes $3.4 billion Investment In Battery Electrification For US Market

Investment to bring new American plant, production, jobs with focus on carbon neutrality

PLANO, Texas (Oct. 18, 2021)  Toyota announced today that it will invest approximately $3.4 billion (380 billion yen) in automotive batteries in the United States through 2030. Specifically, the investment is for developing and localizing automotive battery production, including those for battery electric vehicles, and is part of the global total of approx. $13.5 billion (1.5 trillion yen) set aside for investment in battery development and production announced last month by Toyota Motor Corporation.

To drive battery production localization, Toyota Motor North America also announced today that it will establish a new company and build an automotive battery plant together with Toyota Tsusho in the U.S. Aiming to start production in 2025, the project includes an investment of approximately $1.29 billion until 2031, which includes funds that will be used to develop land and build facilities, resulting in the creation of 1,750 new American jobs.

Toyotas commitment to electrification is about achieving long-term sustainability for the environment, American jobs and consumers, said Ted Ogawa, chief executive officer, Toyota Motor North America. This investment will help usher in more affordable electrified vehicles for U.S. consumers, significantly reduce carbon emissions, and importantly, create even more American jobs tied to the future of mobility.

Part of the new companys activities will include helping Toyota to further develop and expand its local supply chain and production knowledge related to Lithium-ion automotive batteries. The venture will first focus on producing batteries for hybrid electric vehicles. Additionally, the move is expected to help further the companys goals to create a net positive impact on the planet and society, including advancing its efforts towards carbon neutrality in a sustainable and practical way. Further details of the project, including details on a site, production capacity, business structure, etc. will be shared at a future time.

Quick facts about Toyotas electrification efforts:
Nissan Wins Spanish Radio Awards at Miami Auto Show

2022 Nissan Pathfinder: Sobre Ruedas Best SUV. All-new from the ground up, the 2022 Pathfinder combines rugged capability with family-focused versatility. With an all-new design inspired by the original 1987 Pathfinder, the exterior combines reimagined proportions with truck-like brawn. The interior provides seating for up to eight passengers  the first time ever for Pathfinder  and more space and comfort for the family. It is available in four well-equipped grade levels: S, SV, SL and Platinum and in a choice of two-wheel drive or Intelligent All-Wheel Drive.

2022 Nissan Frontier: Sobre Ruedas Best Medium Pick-Up Truck. The all-new 2022 Frontier builds on Nissans six-plus decades of mid-size truck leadership with a bold new exterior, adventure-oriented interior and the latest driver assistance and connectivity technologies. It is an authentic midsize truck with a range of body, drivetrain and equipment configurations carefully selected to fit customer needs. The 2022 Frontier is available in King Cab and Crew Cab body configurations, 4x2 and 4x4 drive and choice of S, SV PRO-4X (4x4 only) and new-for-2022 PRO-X (4x2 only).

We are delighted to bestow two important Sobre Ruedas Awards to two Nissan products this year. This is a testimony of the great quality of both the Pathfinder and the Frontier, but also of the preference they have conquered in the market, particularly among Hispanic consumers, said Jaime Florez, director, Sobre Ruedas.

For almost two decades, Sobre Ruedas has established a very sound criteria to choose the nominees in 12 categories. The vehicles have been  or are scheduled to be in the market  before the last day of the current year, must have proven standards of quality, high levels of popularity among Hispanics, and certainly provide good value for the money. A group of journalists, well known in the automotive industry and the Hispanic community, assisted the Editorial Board with the task of making the final decisions.

Along with the all-new Nissan Pathfinder and Frontier, the revolutionary 2023 Nissan Z1 makes its U.S. auto show debut in Miami.

The 2021 Miami International Auto Show runs October 16  24, 2021 at the Miami Beach Convention Center.

About Sobre Ruedas

Sobre Ruedas is the leading automotive radio show in Spanish in the United States, broadcasted live for more than 15 years on ESPN Deportes Radio, and now on Unan1mo Deportes, a network of radio stations and on-line audio platforms. Every weekend, thousands of Hispanics all over the country tune their radios and devices on Unan1mo Sports, to listen to Jaime Florez and Niky Pauli and share with them their common passions: cars, engines, anything on wheels and the latest information on automotive sports.



1. 2023 Nissan Z is not yet available for purchase. Expected availability Spring of 2022
Nissan is happy to continue its partnership with the Midwest Automotive Media Association at their member-only events, said Wendy Payne, Nissan Midwest Regional Communications Manager. Their solid media group offers us the opportunity to showcase newly launched vehicles such as the all-new 2022 Frontier to this important audience in order to help us get the messages out on new products.

The 2022 Frontier arrived at dealerships last month. Pricing begins at $27,840 for the Frontier S King Cab 4x2.

After the track closed and street drives concluded for the day, a dozen MAMA members took part in the inaugural 4 Miles of Fitness, sponsored by Kia, a new on-track fitness event where attendees had the chance to run, bike, or walk a shortened two, or all four miles of the Road America racetrack that they drove on just moments earlier.

Later that evening, Lexus hosted the dinner presentation to showcase the 2022 NX 350 and 2022 IS 500. The NX 350 expands to four powertrains, including a 2.4-liter turbo and Lexus first-ever 2.5-liter plug-in hybrid, and is the first vehicle with Lexus Safety System+ 3.0 and digital latch with safe exit assist. As the first model in the new Lexus F SPORT Performance line, the IS 500 engine provides a boost in displacement and performance over the IS 350s 3.5-liter V6. It expands the IS family and ushers in a new era of F SPORT Performance models that are geared towards passionate driving enthusiasts who desire higher levels of performance over the standard F SPORT Design and Handling models.

The MAMA Rally continues to be one of the premier events for automotive media in the country, said Curt McAllister, Midwest Public Relations Manager for Toyota/Lexus, and a 24-year MAMA member. Road America is the perfect backdrop to showcase our vehicles on and off the track. The dinner sponsorship provided Lexus a tremendous opportunity to do a deep dive on two of our newest products, the 2022 NX and 2022 IS 500.

Jeep opened the second morning of the MAMA Rally with a breakfast presentation on the 2022 Jeep Grand Wagoneer and the 2021 Grand Cherokee L, both of which were available for test drives during the Rally.
In her latest piece, opinion writer Kaelin Connor addresses the need for Texas A&M to make a change when it comes to handling excused absences as stated in Student Rule 7.2.2.2.
Up for debate:

Live legislation tracker

Check out the latest developments on bills pending before state lawmakers in four key topics.
Associate Editor

Brent Addleman is an Associate Editor and a veteran journalist with more than 25 years of experience. He has served as editor of newspapers in Pennsylvania and Texas, and has also worked at newspapers in Delaware, Maryland, New York, and Kentucky.
Nurse Maritza Beniquez (right) receives the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine Dec. 15, 2020, at University Hospital, in Newark, New Jersey. Beniquez was the first person in New Jersey to receive the vaccination.
Staff Reporter

Nyamekye Daniel has been a journalist for five years. She was the managing editor for the South Florida Media Network and a staff writer for The Miami Times. Daniel's work has also appeared in the Sun-Sentinel, Miami Herald and The New York Times.
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Highland Park - Police sealed off Avenue 57 for much of the day as they investigated the fatal shooting of a man early this morning.

The shooting was reported at 3 am on Avenue 57 near Figueroa Street, said Mike Lopez with LAPD Media Relations.

A Latino in his 20s or 30s was found with a gunshot wound, Lopez said. The shooting may have been gang related, he said.

No further details were available about the victim and there was information about the suspect or suspects.

One man who lives nearby said that Avenue 57 near the public parking lots to Figueroa has been closed since this early this morning.
Squid Game is the title that's all over the internet right now, but Netflix's most-watched show was almost named something completely different.

The hit Korean survival series was almost renamed until the director insisted on keeping the original title.

In an interview with THR, Netflix's VP of Content for the Asia Pacific, Minyoung Kim, explained the story behind the hit show's name.

Squid Game, or ojingeo in Korean, is a real kids game here, but not all Koreans know it. My generation knows it, but my nieces generation probably wouldnt. So, initially, we knew we wanted this show to travel but we were worried the title Squid Game wouldnt resonate because not many people would get it, she explained.

So we went with the title Round Six instead, wanting it to be more general and helpful for telling people what the show is about.

However, Hwang Dong-hyuk, the show's writer and director, fought for the original title because its a unique show and this game is the essence.

Minyoung Kim continued, The title, Squid Game, together with the eye-catching artwork, really capture interest within our service  especially for audiences who have never watched a Korean show before but are looking for fun things to watch.

I think we tend to underestimate the curiosity that a lot of our members and audience have. In trying to make it really easy to understand what the show is, we could have made a big mistake. Im so glad director Hwang steered us back to Squid Game  it sparks curiosity and captures the story so well.

After watching the impact that Squid Game has had on the internet we wonder how much a title change couldve had on its popularity?!

Either way its interesting to know the show could have had a completely different title!
127 Washington State Patrol Employees Terminated Over COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate

Over 100 workers were terminated because they didnt comply with a COVID-19 vaccine mandate, the Washington State Patrol announced Tuesday.

The 127 workers include 53 civil servants and 67 troopers.

The workers failed to provide proof that they had received a COVID-19 vaccine or an exemption for religious or medical reasons.

We will miss every one of them, Washington State Patrol Chief John Batiste said in a statement.

I extend a hardy thanks to those who are leaving the agency. I truly wish that you were staying with us, he added.

The number of exceptions granted was not disclosed and the patrol did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Washington State Patrol Troopers Association, a union that represents troopers, declined to comment.

The patrol indicated there may be a short-term impact from the losses but said it would look to shift resources where necessary to address that. It also plans on vigorously recruiting to fill three new academy classes while looking to fill vacancies on the civilian side as soon as possible.

As for the more than 2,000 individuals who elected to stay with our agency, I am forever thankful. We have the responsibilities of the agency to carry forward and I am not going to ask you to do more with less. We shall do our very best to keep our remaining staff from becoming overburdened by these temporary losses, Batiste said. We must now turn our attention to making sure we deploy our resources in a manner that continues to keep our roadways safe and meets the other core law enforcement responsibilities this agency has met with honor for over 100 years.

The mandate for most state workers, including troopers, was announced by Gov. Jay Inslee, a Democrat, in August. The mandate required workers to be fully vaccinated by Oct. 18. Fully vaccinated means a person has gotten two shots of the Pfizer or Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, or the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine, and that at least two weeks have elapsed since their final shot.

It is the mission of public servants and those providing health care to serve our fellow Washingtonians. These workers live in every community in our state, working together and with the public every day to deliver services, Inslee said at the time. We have a duty to protect them from the virus, they have the right to be protected, and the communities they serve and live in deserve protection as well.

Inslee said last week that over 91 percent of state employees had been fully vaccinated against the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, which causes COVID-19. Approximately 800,000 workers are covered by the mandate.

The mandate has drawn some pushback, including from the top Republicans in the state legislature.

We are already experiencing higher prices and empty shelves partially as a result of COVIDs shutdowns and workforce shortages, Senate Republican Leader John Braun and House Republican Leader J.T. Wilcox said in a joint statement. Todays deadline, with its unnecessarily hardline consequences, will only make that worse when hundreds, if not thousands, lose their jobs and are denied unemployment benefits. It also threatens public safety by reducing our police forces at a time when crime is already rising.

Other departments have yet to report how many workers were fired, though some have started or are preparing to operate at reduced staffing levels. Washington State Ferries, for instance, began a reduced schedule over the weekend because of a lack of enough workers for normal operations.
66,000 Australians on Surgery Waiting List In Victoria, As Hospital Capacity Stretched During Pandemic

Urgent surgeries are being postponed because of major hospital bed shortages in the Australian state of Victoria, according to medical experts, who say patients will have to make way for COVID-19 cases.

Last week, Victorian Health Minister Martin Foley announced that non-urgent surgeries would be postponed due to the COVID-19 caseload, meaning only Category 1 surgeries (those that must be treated within 30 days) or Category 2A surgeries (90 days) would be performed.

However, Jill Tomlinson, board member of the Australian Medical Association in Victoria, said even the most critical surgeries were being postponed because of a lack of intensive care or general ward beds.

We can certainly predict in the coming weeks that there will be a much greater number of patients, who there would have been a bed for the Category One surgery, will be postponed and rescheduled, she told The Age newspaper.

We just have to hope as a community that does not mean that these surgeries go over time and that adverse outcomes result because of that.

The number of Victorians on the elective surgery waiting list had swelled from 49,341 in 2019, to 66,700 this year.

Last week, the Victorian government also announced it would spend $2.5 million recruiting around 1,000 healthcare workers from overseas to help ease pressure on the system.

Approximately 60 percent of those will be returning Australians. Nurses, doctors, midwives, and allied health workers will arrive from November to March 2022.

Long Term Issues in Health System Exposed

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed and exacerbated long-term issues with the health systems of various Australian states.

In particular, ambulance rampingwhen patients are forced to wait outside hospitals until there is the capacity for them to be transported insidehas become an increasingly prominent issue, even in states with low COVID-19 case numbers.

Ambulance ramping is what the public see and hear about via news reports. They might be less aware of bed shortages or access blocks in the aged care sector, which flows back to the hospital bed availability, according to Malcolm Boyle, academic lead in Paramedic Education and director of Paramedicine Programs at Griffith University.

As with many aspects of health care, COVID has highlighted and worsened existing problems and pressures, he wrote in The Conversation on Oct. 11.
Police tape is seen in this stock photo. (Carl Ballou/Shutterstock)

A Dozen Men Arrested in Tennessee Undercover Operation to Stop Human Trafficking

An undercover operation in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, resulted in the arrests of 12 men for allegedly seeking illicit sex from minors.

The operation included Immigration and Customs Enforcements (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Human Trafficking Unit, the Murfreesboro Police Department, the Tennessee Human Trafficking Task Force, and the office of the 16th Judicial District Attorney General.

HSI is proud to have partnered with our state and local partners in this successful human trafficking operation involving multiple arrests, HSI Nashville Special Agent in Charge Jerry Templet Jr. said in a statement.

Using our victim centered approach to these types of investigations, HSI will continue to target and investigate individuals and networks that engage in crimes that target our most vulnerable populations, he added.

The ICE statement reported that for a two-day period beginning Oct. 13, the investigators placed several decoy advertisements on websites linked to prostitution and commercial sex cases.

The arrested included 12 men, ranging in ages from 22 to 59, according to the arrest report. The suspects were arrested and booked in the Rutherford Country Jail.

Twelve men were arrested following a two-day undercover investigation aimed at addressing human trafficking in Middle Tennessee. NEWS RELEASE: https://t.co/7DVIViMa7Y  Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (@TBInvestigation) October 18, 2021

Those arrested and booked included Terrance Deshun Becton, 27, of Mason; Edilberto Nataren-Aguilar, 32, of Murfreesboro; Colin Patrick Hamilton, 26, of Tullahoma; Javier Urbina Leija, 31, of Smyrna; Alasfour Abdullah Hassan, 22, of Murfreesboro; John Darrell Schulze, 59, of Murfreesboro; Garrett Robert Zabloudil, 41, of China Grove, North Carolina; Edward Pope, 32, of Murfreesboro; Lucas Javier Diaz-Hernandez, 23, of Murfreesboro; Francisco Ruiz-Diaz, 29, of Murfreesboro; Michael Lee Sovern, 20, of Smithville; and William DeJesus Morales-Garcia, 46, of Murfreesboro.

A September undercover investigation also resulted in seven men being arrested in Cookeville, Tennessee, following a similar approach in another part of Middle Tennessee.

An August undercover operation in Jackson, Tennessee, netted 11 men being arrested who were accused of seeking illicit sex from minors. One man arrested who was 78 years old was charged with patronizing prostitution of a minor.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is committed to understanding and fighting Human Trafficking, the agency reported.

Our state has consistently been ranked among the best in the nation for its approach to this crime, as a growing number of advocatesfrom law enforcement to nonprofits to government agencieshave stepped up to play a part in the solution.

The operation occurred during National Cybersecurity Awareness Month. The campaign is an effort to increase the protection of children from online exploitation.
A new study links low doses of antibiotics around birth to significant changes in the infant microbiome and gene expression responsible for neurodevelopment. (karnavalfoto/Shutterstock)

Antibiotics May Alter Infant Brain Development: Study

New research adds to growing evidence that antibiotics damage infant neurological development

A new study published in a special issue of the journal iScience links low doses of antibiotics around birth to significant changes in the infant microbiome. The study, conducted on mice, also linked antibiotic exposure to important changes in gene expression in parts of the brain responsible for neurodevelopment.

This research, Effects of Early-Life Penicillin Exposure on the Gut Microbiome and Front Cortex and Amygdala Gene Expression, may help explain the disturbing rise in neurodevelopmental disorders that were seeing in children in the United States and other industrialized countries around the world.

A team of scientists from the New York University Grossman School of Medicine divided the mice into three groups. One group of pregnant mice was exposed to penicillin the week leading up to birth. The second group of mice was exposed to penicillin during the week following birth. The third group of mice, the control group, had no antibiotic exposure.

The scientists dosed the mice with penicillin at amounts that would be on par with what humans would receive. The research team then compared the composition of microbes in the pups of the two exposed groups to that in pups in the control group.

Low-Dose Penicillin Exposure Disrupts the Microbiome

The scientists found that exposure to even low doses of penicillin changed the composition of the microbiome in the mice. More specifically, the antibiotic-exposed pups had notably decreased numbers of the beneficial bacteria, lactobacillus, among other species of bacteria and notably increased numbers of Enterococcus, Enterobacteriales, and Pseudomonas, among others.

The scientists further found that these changes were linked to changes in gene expression in the brains of the exposed mice. Most disturbingly, perhaps, this experiment showed that multiple pathways crucial for normal neurodevelopment were negatively affected in the antibiotic-exposed mice.

Because the doses of penicillin were so low, the researchers argued that its unlikely that the brain effects they observed were a direct result of the antibiotics themselves. Instead, they hypothesized that its more likely that the brain changes observed in the mice were due to the changes in their microbiomes.

In other words, due to antibiotic exposure, the gut-brain axis is perturbed leading to organizational effects that permanently alter the structure and function of the brain, according to the scientists.

They go on to conclude that early-life antibiotic exposure may harm the developing brains of human infants similarly.

These results provide evidence that early-life antibiotic exposure in humans may have effects not only on the infant microbiome but also on gene expression within critical brain structures, including the frontal cortex and amygdala, which are vulnerable to perinatal insults, the scientists wrote.

These initial findings require further validation but suggest a paradigm shift in early-life antibiotic use should be considered. Although not considered a potentially severe CNS [central nervous system] teratogen such as alcohol, cocaine, or toxoplasmosis  early-life antibiotic use may have unexpected consequences.

Dr. Robert Zajac, a pediatrician based in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, who wasnt involved in the study, finds these results to be concerning, but not surprising. Zajac said that he and his medical team try to not use antibiotics unless theyre absolutely necessary.

Occasionally we recommend antibiotics when harmful bacteria grow beyond our immune systems ability to self-correct. But that same antibiotic (or worse, other antibiotics that are used without a benefit that justifies the risk) can wreak havoc on our healthy and helpful microbiome, disrupting our gut flora for months or even years, Zajac said.

Exposed Before Birth

For many babies, antibiotic exposure usually begins before birth. In fact, theres evidence that a large percentageperhaps as much as one-thirdof the 3.75 million babies born in the United States each year are getting dosed with antibiotics before, during, or just after birth.

One review article, published in 2015 in the journal Pharmacotherapy, found that antibiotics account for nearly 80 percent of all medications a woman might be prescribed during pregnancy and that between 20 to 25 percent of pregnant women will use antibiotics to treat urinary tract infections, sexually transmitted disease, and upper respiratory infections.

At the same time, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) now recommends that prophylactic antibiotics be given to all laboring women who test positive for Group B strep. Illness due to Group B strep remains relatively rare (approximately 1 in 600 live births). But another study, of more than 7,500 pregnant women, revealed that nearly one-third of pregnant women were given antibiotics. In that study, published in March 2013 in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology, only 13 percent of pregnant women showed risk factors for Group B strep, but 31 percent of the participants received prophylactic antibiotics anyway.

While the 2013 study emphasized the success of the prenatal use of antibiotics to avoid Group B strep infections, which can be dangerous or even deadly for newborns, the data within it suggests that were prescribing antibiotics to pregnant women far more often than necessary.

According to the CDC, 31.7 percent of all births in the United States are via Cesarean sections. For surgical birth, intravenous prophylactic antibiotics are almost always prescribed, ostensibly to prevent maternal infection. If these antibiotics are started during labor or any time before the infants cord is clamped, the baby will be exposed as well. The baby will also be exposed to antibiotics via the mothers milk, as many antibiotics are secreted in detectable amounts in breast milk.

Falsely Assumed Safe

Antibiotic use before or around the time of birth has long been considered to have minimal adverse effects on babies. However, studies that suggest theyre safe have only looked for the most obvious, short-term consequences of antibiotic over-use, such as increased thrush infections (an overgrowth of yeast usually kept in check by a healthy microbiome). These older studies havent examined longer-term health consequences.

But in recent years, peer-reviewed scientific research has linked antibiotic exposure to an increased risk of obesity, an increased risk of asthma, and higher incidents of bowel diseases and even juvenile arthritis.

At the same time, a growing body of studies has shown the importance of a healthy infant microbiome. And though it may seem counterintuitive, the microbiome is particularly important to brain function. The brain contains around 100 billion neurons. These neurons communicate with each other via electrical and chemical signaling. As a babys brain develops, the neurons form connections with thousands of other neurons. This process continues at a decreasing rate throughout our lifetime. And scientists are increasingly realizing that a healthy gut microbiome is necessary for our brains to signal properly.

Experts now believe that the communication between the central nervous system and the intrinsic nervous system of the gastrointestinal tract, which has come to be known as the gut-brain axis, is crucial not only for proper digestion and proper brain functioning, but also for overall health.

Theres clear evidence that the gut can have profound effects on the brain, and gut flora is part of that process, said Dr. Elizabeth Mumper, a pediatrician in private practice in Lynchburg, Virginia, who specializes in brain disorders. So we know that certain flora in the gut can produce metabolic products that give chemical messages to the brain that can alter feelings, emotions, and potentially alter cognition.

It seems that early antibiotic exposure affects metabolism and inflammation, which can in turn affect brain structure, function, and gene expression. A September 2020 study conducted by a team of researchers in Minnesota found that, compared to the control group, infants exposed to antibiotics after birth had both hearing and memory issues at 1 month of age.

We also know that the gut flora thats developed in the first thousand days of life has a profound impact on the childs chances of having chronic illness later in life, Mumper said. In general, the more diverse gut flora, the less the child is likely to have chronic illness later on, and antibiotics have the effect of killing off some of that good gut flora, therefore leading to less diversity.

My friend and colleague, Zoey OToole, a health advocate with an undergraduate degree in physics who has worked as an electrical engineer and a computer programmer, has long suspected that over-exposure to antibiotics played a role in her childrens speech and neurological issues.

I had two children who were exposed to substantial amounts of antibiotic near birthI got two rounds before my daughter Kalea was born and at least one round after she was born and possibly two, to treat mastitis, said OToole, who lives in upstate New York. I also had antibiotics in labor with my son, and then Beckett himself had two rounds at 5 months and 15 months. Both my children have ADHD, speech issues, dyslexic tendencies, and high anxiety.

Better Outcomes

In a research study published in 2013 in the North American Journal of Medicine and Science, Mumper herself found a clear association between antibiotic use and autism.

In the study, she identified the best practices that lead to a cohort of 294 children in which there were zero autism diagnoses (when at least six would be expected, based on CDC autism rates at the time).

These best practices included minimizing exposure to environmental toxins (pesticides and herbicides), maximizing breastfeeding, using probiotics in infancy, nutritional counseling, limiting the use of antibiotics, avoiding acetaminophen (the main ingredient in infant Tylenol), and vaccinating children on an evidence-based, but less aggressive vaccine schedule.

Changing Clinical Practice

According to the New York University research, prior to 1945, no children were exposed to antibiotics during childhood. Today, the average U.S. child receives nearly three rounds of antibiotics before the age of 2. If early antibiotic exposure is indeed causing altered brain function in a high percentage of U.S. children, we must find ways to mitigate those effects.



Our present findings should trigger re-examining widespread antibiotic prescriptions when their use is not directly indicated, the study authors wrote.

How? Some clinicians recommend that we do a better job of screening mothers for Group B strep risk factors, so that thousands of babies arent needlessly exposed to antibiotics to prevent just one or two cases of illness.

Others say reducing the number of unnecessary Cesarean births will also help reduce antibiotic over-use. The WHO recommends that Cesarean births be limited to the 10 to 15 percent of births that are truly high risk, yet at some U.S. hospitals, the C-section rate is as high as 70 percent, according to a study from the University of Minnesota. These excess surgeries can cause many health complications for both the mother and the baby, in addition to problems resulting from antibiotic exposure to the infants.

And pediatricians recommend that we find effective interventions to treat the guts of those babies who truly need early antibiotics. In Mumpers practice, new moms are given support and encouragement to help them exclusively breastfeed which helps establish beneficial bacteria in their babies guts, she said. Mumper also recommended a multi-strain infant-formulated probiotic for infants exposed to antibiotics.

But, perhaps the most important tactic is a combination of prevention and nutrition.

Its really important not to over-medicate kids in the first thousand days of life, Mumper said. And also to really work on their nutrition, so [that] when you first start to feed them, they become used to bitter tastes and fermented foods. Sugar is an enemy of healthy gut flora, so its important to help your baby develop a palate that wont just prefer sweet foods.

Jennifer Margulis, Ph.D., is a science journalist and the author of Your Baby, Your Way: Taking Charge of Your Pregnancy, Childbirth, and Parenting Decisions for a Happier, Healthier Family (Scribner, 2015). Learn more about her work and sign up for her free weekly email at JenniferMargulis.net
Governor of the Bank of France Francois Villeroy de Galhau attends a news conference at the G7 finance ministers and central bank governors meeting in Chantilly, near Paris, France on July 18, 2019. (Pascal Rossignol/Reuters)

Bank of France Head Does Not Expect Evergrande Contagion

LONDONFrancois Villeroy de Galhau, head of the Bank of France and a member of the European Central Bank (ECB), on Tuesday played down concerns that problems for China Evergrande Group could lead to broader contagion.

Asked if Evergrande could spark effects similar to the 2008 collapse of Lehman Brothers, Villeroy told France Info radio that history is not in the process of being repeated.

I think that Evergrande is mainly a Chinese problem, he added.

Evergrande last week missed its third round of bond payments in three weeks.
The China Evergrande Center building sign is seen in Hong Kong on Sept. 23, 2021. (Tyrone Siu/Reuters)

Before Debt Woes, China Evergrandes Ambitious Car Making Goals Stunned Industry

SHANGHAI/HONG KONGAt the Shanghai Auto Show in April, the booth for China Evergrande Groups new energy vehicle (NEV) was hard to miss.

One of the largest exhibits at the event, in a prime spot opposite BMW, the property developer-backed unit showed off nine concept vehicle models under its brand Hengchi, which translates to eternally speeding.

There has never been a car company that has been able to deliver such a diversified product line in such a short amount of time, Daniel Kirchert, who joined Evergrande NEV days before the auto show as vice president, told industry executives and reporters in a speech at the event.

Analysts and industry executives say there have long been questions about how Evergrande NEV, founded in 2019, would meet its ambitious goals. Chairman Hui Ka Yan had declared that the company wanted to sell one million EVs a year by 2025, a level Tesla Inc. is only expected to hit this year after 18 years of operation.

Six months after the auto show, doubts are stronger than ever as the companys parent wrestles with more than $300 billion in debts.

Those targets would be really aggressive, nearly impossible to achieve, even for established, well-managed automotive companies because of the capital and human resources required to even attempt executing the plan, said Tu Le, an auto analyst at Sino Auto Insights.

From 2019 to 2021, Evergrandes NEV arm raised more than $7.78 billion from its parent, as well as investors such as Sequoia Capital China, ride-hailing giant Didi Global Inc., and Alibaba-linked fund Yunfeng Capital.

It has announced 14 models and plans to have 10 factories across China and Sweden. So far, it has built or is constructing six plants, including one in Shanghai. A recent Reuters visit there found about 20 Hengchi electric vehicles for testing parked outside. But the company has yet to reveal a production model or sell a single vehicle.

In comparison, Nio and Xpeng, two of Chinas most successful NEV startups according to sales, struggled to raise money in their early years, and raised a combined $7.3 billion through stock market listings and pre-IPO fundraising.

Nio has four models and is building its second factory. Xpeng has three models and is expanding production sites to four from its current two. Tesla sells four models and has four car plants.

Evergrande NEV did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Make Cars on Paper

Lofty goals and investor bullishness in March helped push Evergrande NEVs market capitalization to over $89.99 billiona value greater than that of Ford Motor Co. Its market capitalization has since slumped to about $4.9 billion.

The company has managed to lure top executives from auto giants, such as designer Walter De Silva and battery scientist Junesoo Lee from SK Innovation. Danial Kirchert was chief executive at Byton, another Chinese EV startup struggling in a crowded sector. He did not respond to a request for comment.

But the rapid expansion also prompted criticism from Beijing, including Chinese state news agency Xinhua, which in March singled the company out as an example of the problems with the industry.

The vast market potential has given birth to some powerpoint car companies that make cars on paper, Xinhua said in a report on the high valuations of electric carmakers.

Evergrande NEV warned in stock exchange filings last month that it was still seeking new investors and asset sales, and that without either it might struggle to pay salaries and cover other expenses.

It also ended plans to issue shares in Chinas mainland and said in an exchange filing that it had failed to pay some plant construction suppliers. A memo seen by Reuters also showed that it has instructed contract workers to stop working at the Shanghai factory from September.

But three sources familiar with the matter say the company is not abandoning the project, and is in talks with external investors to pay for the project, and leverage precious production licenses it obtained through an acquisition and land linked to the auto projects.

On Monday, the company told suppliers and local authorities in the coastal city of Tianjin, where it is building a car plant, that management would make sure it began mass production next year.

Last week, its Swedish vehicle unit, National Electric Vehicle Sweden AB, told Reuters it is in talks with U.S. and European venture capital firms and industrial partners to find new owners. A source familiar with the situation told Reuters the unit could be valued at as much as $1 billion.

By Yilei Sun and Zhang Yan in Shanghai, Julie Zhu and Kane Wu in Hong Kong
President Joe Biden speaks at the dedication of the Dodd Center for Human Rights at the University of Connecticut in Storrs, Conn., on Oct. 15, 2021. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images)

Biden Says Democrats Unlikely to Fully Fund His Free Community College Plan

President Joe Biden said Friday that his plan for two-years-free community college education will probably not make it into the Democrats multi-trillion dollar social spending bill.

Biden, pursuing his presidential campaign promise to make two years of community college tuition-free, called for a 10-year program that would cost $109 billion. The House Democrats, however, are proposing a much smaller program with a $45.5 billion price tag over five years.

When asked during a trip to Connecticut whether he would sign a budget reconciliation package that doesnt include his proposal, Biden said that his program is unlikely to get fully funded because of the coming cuts to the $3.5 trillion package.

Its clear that its not going to be $3.5 trillion, he said in remarks before leaving Connecticut. So, the question is: How much of what is important do we get into the legislation? Im of the view that its important to establish the principle on a whole range of issues without guaranteeing you get the whole 10 years.

I doubt whether well get the entire funding for community colleges, but Im not going to give up on community colleges as long as Im president, he added.

Meanwhile, Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said over the weekend that he doesnt recommend cutting any education programs.

I dont recommend any of them being cut, Cardona said in an interview with Axios, when he was asked which education items he would recommend to be put on the chopping block.

For far too long, its been predictable which students are going to be successful or not based on place and race, he said. The education package is an honest approach to level the playing field and lift our country.

The presidents remark comes as Congressional Democrats and the White House try to figure out which spending programs should be cut out of the spending bill in order to secure enough votes to pass. Party leaders have said they might have to reduce the price tag of their $3.5 trillion proposal by $1 trillion or more, while the progressives seek to keep programs like housing aid and child care assistance.

Were having important discussions about what a package that is smaller than $3.5 trillion would look like, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said last week.

What we have to do is work with a range of members who have a range of views about what should be included in the package; what is a priority to them so that we can make some fundamental changes, she added.
Thousands of illegal immigrants, mostly Haitians, live in a primitive, makeshift camp under the international bridge that spans the Rio Grande between the United States and Mexico while waiting to be detained and processed by Border Patrol, in Del Rio, Texas, on Sept. 21, 2021. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)

Bidens Nominee for CBP Commissioner Refuses to Say Theres a Crisis at the USMexico Border

President Joe Bidens pick to lead Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Chris Magnus, faced a confirmation hearing Tuesday, in which he refused to call the record high surge of illegal migrants entering the United States at the southern border a crisis but did acknowledge it was an urgent matter.

Senator, let me assure you that no one believes there is greater urgency to this matter than I do, said Magnus when asked by Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.) if he thinks the situation at the southern border is a crisis. Young continued to press Magnus to acknowledge that the situation was a crisis, but Magnus would not.

DHS tells us that weve already seen over 1.3 million illegal border crossings so far this year. Thats about 1.5 times the population of Indianapolis, Indiana. Id say thats a crisis. What number of illegal crossings would you consider to be a crisis? What if we were to quintuple that number? Would you then call it a crisis? pressed Young.

Meanwhile, the two U.S. senators from Arizona, Krysten Sinema (D-Ariz.) and Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) praised Magnus as experienced and capable of handling challenges presented at the border.

Chief Magnus has built great relationships through Arizona, and Im certain hell bring that same consensus-building common-sense approach to CBP, said Sinema, adding that collaboration is his strength. Chief Magnus has shown the tenacity and the ability to do exactly that [working together] at every step of his career,  as hes moved up from a police officer in Michigan to a police chief in Arizona, and I have no doubt that he will step up again when he is confirmed as commissioner of CBP.

However, Young and other GOP members of the committee wanted some practical and immediate solutions to the southern border crisis. Young asked Magnus if he would commit to reinstating the contracts to have the border wall completed, to which Magnus said he was not familiar so could not commit.

What I will tell you, sir, is that I think there is a place for infrastructure. And I think that includes, in certain sections, completion of barriers, walls, other things, said Magnus.

Magnus has been critical of former President Donald Trumps border policies. Testifying to a Senate committee in 2018, Magnus said he agrees with law enforcement officials in his state, who say spending billions on the border wall is a waste of resources that would be better spent on hiring more officers.

Directing federal resources into improving staffing and infrastructure around ports of entry would be far more effective in halting the movement of drugs and guns across the border than simply constructing new barriers between these ports, said Magnus at the 2018 hearing.

Tucson Police Chief Chris Magnus speaks during a press conference in Tucson, Ariz., on June 24, 2020. (Josh Galemore/Arizona Daily Star via AP)

Later Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mt.) asked Magnus if he would support the policies from the Trump era that helped to stem the surge of illegal immigrants.

You were publicly critical of the Trump administration policies, notably the efforts to crack down on sanctuary cities. Chief Magnus, as you look at the crisis were seeing now at the southern border, wouldnt you agree  that we should take a step back and relook at some of the common-sense measures that were working during the previous administration? asked Daines.

Daines was referring to Magnuss 2017 New York Times op-ed.

As the police chief here, Im deeply troubled by the Trump administrations campaign against sanctuary cities, which refuse to turn over undocumented immigrants to federal authorities, Magnus wrote in the op-ed. He further clarified his position at the hearing Tuesday.

I do appreciate the opportunity to clarify, since my first priority as a chief throughout my career has been around public safety, that my advocacy that youre referring to in an op-ed was never political. It was a recognition that every community deserves to receive Byrne grant funding. This is critical funding that helps communities with their crime-fighting efforts  so my criticism was simply that any city should be able to have these resources so that the local residents dont suffer, said Magnus.

Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) said that if confirmed, Magnus would be walking into a chaotic situation with record numbers of drugs entering the United States and asked him to outline his plan to stop the influx of narcotics.

Of course, if there was a ready-to-go plan to address all the problems that youve just described, my guess is that not only CBP, but you all as a body would have seen to it that it was implemented, Magnus responded. He then said that a key part of his strategy would be to build relationships and collaborate with those who make the policy decisions.

If Magnus becomes commissioner of CBP, he would lead 60,000 employees and a budget of over $15 billion.
A Chinese worker looks on as he walks along a street after work in Beijing on Dec. 28, 2015. (Wang Zhao/AFP via Getty Images)

Brutal Work Conditions See a Chinese Man Prefer to Lie Flat

For many youths around the world, the dream of wealth and ease is commonplace. While opportunities still exist in some countries, many Chinese youth are abandoning hope of upward social mobility and opting for a passive lifestyle, fulfilling basic personal needsa social trend that has come to be known as lying flat.

A 23-year-old man, using the pseudonym Jiang, recounted his tribulations in pursuit of the idealized Chinese life by taking jobs as a migrant worker, and ultimately abandoning the unobtainable hopes and dreams. If you get wounded or disabled, money means nothing and it all goes to the hospital, Jiang told the Chinese-language edition of The Epoch Times on Oct. 1.

Jiangs wound was a steel bar puncturing his abdomen after it was launched from machinery in a factory he worked at early in the summer. While I laid in the hospital after the work injury, I asked myself, Whats the meaning of our life?

He now lives in his hometown village in the mountainous Sichuan province, still recovering from his injury, and focusing on working his familys fields and tending to livestock. Now, back in the countryside, I live in my own humble farmhouse. I do not need a car, Jiang said. I do not have a wife, but I do not owe the bank or anyone. I dont have any worries at the moment.

Villagers dig for Chinese caterpillar fungus on a mountain in Yongchuan district of Chongqing Municipality, China, on May 17, 2005. (China Photos/Getty Images)

All of Jiangs peers have already left the village, many as migrant workers, some following similar pipe dreams. He recounted what made him leave his village at the age of 16, and the turmoil he went through before finally returning home.

His school teacher referred him as a worker to a local processing plant, but the job was short-lived. He continued on to part-time jobs near his village for the next two years, until his father was injured. With their limited income, Jiangs family could do little for his father, and he remained disabled for the rest of his life.

Family income became Jiangs sole responsibility. Though his family easily survives on their yearly harvest, Jiang needed money to purchase a car and a housestandard prerequisites for finding a wife in China.

Jiang then migrated to Guangdong in search of work. He listed exploitation, long hours, strict rules, and injury as commonplace experiences for these types of workers.

Workers make pods for the e-cigarette company Mystlabs on the production line at First Union, one of Chinas leading manufacturers of vaping products in Shenzhen city, Guangdong province, China, on Sept. 25, 2019. (Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

Jiang said he had previously worked in factories in his province, as well as Guangdong province, along Chinas southern coast. He found work through recruitment agencies, which assigned him to various medium- and large-sized factories.

The agencies, however, function heavily on deception, according to Jiang. For example, they agree to almost all your conditions, Jiang said.

Five dollars an hour? Okay, they say  but once you start to work, they tell you that youll get the money after you work for certain hours. Then you work for that long, but then they come up with other excuses.

A factory is seen in Datangzhen, Guangdong province, China, on Sept. 9, 2017. (Fred Dufour/AFP via Getty Images)

Jiang said that the payments simply never come as promised. He said one electronic assembly plant promised him compensation of between $460 to $620 per month. However, after three months of work, he had only been paid just under $390.

I lost all my motivation just as I started, the feeling of one young man versus those experienced black agencies, Jiang said. He added that the agencies thrived on the naivety of young workers.

The days are usually broken into two twelve-hour shifts, according to Jiang: from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., and vice versa. During that time, bathroom breaks are limited, verbal abuse from supervisors is common, and Jiang compares the meals to animal feed.

Workers eat lunch in the cafeteria of a shoe factory in Dongguan, in Chinas southern Guangdong province on September 14, 2016. (Greg Baker/AFP via Getty Images)

Due to long hours of working, my hands trembled all the time, Jiang said. My hands were not able to hold a rice bowl or chopsticks.

Jiang said he saw his friends working hard to get a local resident permit, and then pay high mortgages for houses they barely had time to live in because they spent all their time working. He saw homeless peopleold and young, children, married couplesstaying under footbridges, and outside bus stations and closed shops at night time.

He also saw children of rich Chinese Communist Party officials showing off their villas, luxury vehicles, brand watches, and grand parties.

I really dont understand this society; there is such a huge gap between the rich and the poor, Jiang said. We work so hard, and we cant afford a decent dwelling.

He now focuses on the farm and sharing his lifestyle through social media.

Gu Xiaohua and Sophia Lam contributed to the article.
A person walks on the California State University Long Beach campus before the return of students for fall classes in Long Beach, Calif. on Aug. 11, 2021. (Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)

California Student Sues School for Partial Refund Due to Lack of In-Person Learning

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in March 2020, many colleges and universities sent their students home for online learning. For many college seniors, this meant not only the loss of on-campus resources, but also the loss of their final months of the college experience.

Now students across the country are suing their universities to seek reimbursement for the months they spent learning online during the spring 2020 semester.

A California Lutheran University student is suing the school for not partially refunding tuition and fees after students were denied in-person instruction due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

Angeleno Nicolas Montalvos proposed class-action lawsuit was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Oct. 15, alleging a breach of contract, unjust enrichment, and theft of property.

We filed this case on behalf of all the students at Cal Lutheran who, during the spring 2020 semester, paid the full amount of tuition and fees for access to campus facilities, labs, libraries, technologies, and all the other benefits that campus-based in-person educational experience provides. At the same time, Cal Lutheran was unable to provide the full amount of services and yet decided to keep the full amount of tuition and fees, Jon Tostrud, the plaintiffs attorney, told The Epoch Times.

The lawsuit states that Montalvo and other students were deprived of access to libraries, laboratories, computer labs, study rooms, and other valuable components of the university, such as classroom dialogue, collaboration, and feedback.

Tostrud says the universitys decision to keep the full amount of tuition and fees while not providing the full amount of services violated contract law in California.

The suit requests that the university reimburse tuition for prorated tuition and mandatory fees, adjusted to the amount of time when classes switched to online learning on March 13, 2020, for all students enrolled during the spring 2020 semester.

The potential [opposition] is that the COVID-19 pandemic was not the universitys fault, obviously, but it was also equally obviously not the students fault, Tostrud said. So the university [does not have] the right to keep the full amount of tuition and fees when the students did not get what they signed up for, in terms of services.

Tostrud didnt provide the approximate amount that Montalvo would receive should he win the lawsuit, but said it was in the thousands.

According to the lawsuit, Cal Lutheran charged Montalvo approximately $11,360 in tuition and more than $1,400 in fees for the spring 2020 semester.

Cal Lutherans tuition is about $45,500 per year for full-time undergraduate students, with an approximate addition of $512 in fees, according to the schools website.

A Cal Lutheran University spokesperson verified to The Epoch Times that the institution had received the lawsuit, but declined to comment further.

Cal Lutheran began offering some in-person outdoor classrooms in fall 2020. The Thousand Oaks campus returned to in-person learning for the fall 2021 semester.
Then-Liberal MP Irwin Cotler rises during question period in the House of Commons in Ottawa, on Dec. 15, 2011. (The Canadian Press/Adrian Wyld)

Canada Must Exclude Huawei From 5G Networks and Align With Allies: Former Liberal Justice Minister

Canada should align with its allies to exclude Chinese telecom giant Huawei Technologies from its 5G network, says former Liberal justice minister Irwin Cotler.

We should be in the company of our democratic partners in the 5G, and not take a different position where that different position is in no instance warranted here, Cotler said in an interview.

Canada remains the only country among the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance that hasnt made a decision regarding Huawei and 5G, despite the intelligence communitys warnings about the companys threats to national security. The other four countriesthe United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealandhave banned or taken steps to ban Huawei from their 5G networks.

Huawei was founded by a former officer of the Peoples Liberation Army and has close ties to Beijing. The U.S. government has urged its allies to exclude the company from the Wests next-generation communications, saying Beijing could use it for spying.

Surveillance cameras are seen in front of a Huawei logo in Belgrade, Serbia, on Aug. 11, 2020. (Reuters/Marko Djurica)

In late September, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his cabinet will decide whether to ban Huawei in the coming weeks.

We continue to weigh and look at different options, but we will be no doubt making announcements in the coming weeks, Trudeau told reporters on Sept. 28.

While the federal government has been sitting on the fence on the Huawei decision for years, Canadians mistrust of the company appears to be on the rise. A recent poll conducted by Nanos Research found that 76 percent of Canadians are against Huawei joining the countrys 5G networkan increase from 53 percent who supported a ban in 2019.

As well as potential espionage, another controversy surrounding Huawei is its CFO Meng Wanzhou, who was detained in Canada on U.S. extradition charges until last month when she signed a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) with the United States and returned to China.

Cotler said the fact that Meng signed the DPA shows she acknowledged her role in Huaweis criminal charges in relation to violation of U.S. sanctions on Iran.

I think this should make the decision [to ban] clear for Canada after Meng Wanzhou has herself acknowledged, in her statement of facts, the misdeeds with respect to Huawei, he said.

At this point, we need to explore alternate technologies.

Meng was arrested in Vancouver on Dec. 1, 2018, on a U.S. extradition request related to fraud charges for allegedly misleading HSBC in 2013 about Huaweis business dealings in Iran, in violation of U.S. sanctions.

Days later, Canadian citizens Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor were detained in China in what was widely seen as a case of hostage diplomacy by Beijing. The two Michaels, who were imprisoned in China for almost three years, were released back to Canada on the same day Meng returned to China last month.

Other Canadians Still Held in China

Cotler said the arbitrary detention of Kovrig, Spavor, and other Canadians shows the Chinese regime is willing to flout the rules-based international order to get what it wants, including engaging in retaliatory and vile hostage diplomacy.

Though the saga of the two Michaels is over, he says its important to remember the Canadians who remain detained in China and the ongoing threat Beijing poses.

Cotler cited the case of Huseyin Celil, a Canadian citizen and Uyghur human rights activist who has been imprisoned by the Chinese authorities since 2006.

Sun Qian, a Falun Dafa adherent who has been illegally detained in China since February 2017, in an undated photo. (The Epoch Times/Handout)

He also mentioned Canadian citizen Sun Qian, a Vancouver-based businesswoman who was arrested while visiting China in 2017 because she practises Falun Gong, a self-cultivation discipline that includes meditative exercises and moral teachings based on the tenets of truthfulness, compassion, forbearance.

Suns lawyers and family members said she was subjected to torture and brainwashing sessions while in police custody. A Beijing court sentenced her to eight years in prison on June 30, 2020, and she reportedly renounced her Canadian citizenship in the process.

According to Global Affairs, there are approximately 115 Canadians currently in custody in China, with little information on when or if they will be able to return home. At least four of them have been sentenced to death.

Cotler said engagement with China should only be done if it upholds universal values and adherence to the rule of law.

Yes, we will engage with China and should engage with China, but not if that engagement is done at the cost of not only our values, but done at the cost of universal values, which China itself has committed itself to, he said.

Not if its done at the cost of the protection of a rules-based international order. Not if its done at the cost of the punishing of our citizens, or even the punishing of Chinas citizens.

With reporting by Limin Zhou
Russian Navy's Marshal Nedelin-class missile range instrumentation ship No.331 sails on the sea near Japan on Oct. 18, 2021 (Joint Staff Office of the Defense Ministry of Japan/Handout via Reuters)

China, Russia Navy Ships Jointly Sail Through Japan Strait

TOKYOA group of 10 naval vessels from China and Russia sailed through a strait separating Japans main island and its northern island of Hokkaido on Monday, the Japanese government said, adding that it is closely watching such activities.

It was the first time Japan has confirmed the passage of Chinese and Russian naval vessels sailing together through the Tsugaru Strait, which separates the Sea of Japan from the Pacific.

While the strait is regarded as international waters, Japans ties with China have long been plagued by conflicting claims over a group of tiny East China Sea islets. Tokyo has a territorial dispute with Moscow, as well.

The government is closely watching Chinese and Russian naval vessels activities around Japan like this one with high interest, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihiko Isozaki told a regular news conference on Tuesday.

We will continue to do our utmost in our surveillance activity in waters and airspace around Japan.

A Japanese Defense Ministry spokesperson said there had been no violation of Japanese territorial waters and no international rules were broken by the passage of the vessels.

Russia and China held joint naval drills in the Sea of Japan as part of naval cooperation between the two countries from Oct. 1417 involving warships and support vessels from Russias Pacific Fleet.

Moscow and Beijing have cultivated closer military and diplomatic ties in recent years at a time when their relations with the West have soured.

By Kiyoshi Takenaka
Chinese-North Korean Defectors Face Hardship in South Korea

GWANGYANG, South KoreaAbandoned, he feels, by three countries, Cho Guk-gyeong shows a visitor his South Korean alien registration card, which describes him as stateless. Its an apt description of what his life is like in South Korea, 15 years after he fled North Korea.

Most North Korean defectors to the South are ethnically Korean, but Cho, 53, is a third-generation Chinese immigrant. While ethnically Korean defectors are entitled by law to a package of benefits designed to help their resettlement in South Korea, Cho cant receive that support because he maintained his Chinese nationality, even though his family has lived in North Korea for generations.

I dont need a state subsidy or other assistance. I just want South Korean citizenship so I can work diligently until I die, Cho said during an interview in the southern port city of Gwangyang, where he recently worked as a temporary manual laborerhis first job in eight years.

Its unclear how many Chinese-North Koreans have come to South Korea over the years. Activists say about 30 have been designated as stateless, after unsuccessful attempts to pose as North Korean nationals landed them in prison or detention facilities in South Korea.

That stateless designation makes it extremely difficult for them to find jobs and enjoy basic rights and services in the South, and, while their numbers may be relatively small, their campaign for better treatment illuminates a little-known but important human rights issue.

They are probably the most pitiful overseas Chinese in the world, as theyve been abandoned by North Korea, China, and South Korea, said Yi Junghee, a professor at the Academy of Chinese Studies at Incheon National University. They dont get help from any country.

Returning to North Korea would mean lengthy imprisonment, or worse. Settling in China is often a problem because many dont speak Chinese and have lost touch with relatives there. It could take years to get local residence cards in China.

In 2019, Cho and three others applied for refugee status in the first known such joint effort by ethnic Chinese from North Korea. They had their long-awaited first interviews with immigration officials this June. Prospects for getting approval arent good. South Koreas acceptance rate for refugee status applications has been less than 2 percent in recent years.

In a response to queries posed by The Associated Press, the Justice Ministry said it will review the likelihood of Cho and three other Chinese-North Koreans facing persecution if they leave South Korea, the consistency of their testimony, and the documents theyve submitted, before it determines whether to grant refugee status. The ministry refused to disclose the contents of the June interviews but said its review may take a long time.

The ministry said the four, and some other Chinese-North Koreans, are still likely legally Chinese but are unable to prove their nationality. It said authorities view them as de facto stateless people and are allowing them to stay in South Korea.

Major Chinese settlement on the Korean Peninsula dates back to the early 19th century. An estimated 3,000 to 5,000 ethnic Chinese now live in North Korea. They are the only foreigners with permanent resident rights among North Koreas 26 million people, analysts say.

A Chinese-North Korean refugee who wished to be identified only as Yoon speaks in front of a map of the Korean peninsula during an interview in Seoul, South Korea, September 13, 2021. (Lee Jin-man/AP Photo)

They can maintain Chinese nationality, visit China once or twice a year, and engage in cross-border business. Men are exempt from the 10-year mandatory military service. But their ethnic background also often makes them the subject of greater state surveillance, bars them from joining the ruling Workers Party, and limits their political opportunities.

In general, they consider themselves North Koreans.

Cho said that in his youth he was taught to worship the ruling Kim family with his North Korean friends at school. He worked for a state-run factory and lived as a naturalized North Korean citizen for two years.

My ancestral roots have dried up, and, quite honestly, I feel like North Korea is my home, said Cho, whose grandfather moved to the northeastern city of Chongjin in the mid-1920s.

About 34,000 North Koreans have moved to South Korea to avoid economic hardship and political suppression since the late 1990s. That includes some Chinese-North Koreans like Cho. Without Beijing-issued passports, they often hire brokers who guide them to South Korea via Southeast Asian countries like Thailand, the same route used by North Koreans.

Upon arrival in South Korea in 2008, when questioned by intelligence officials, Cho posed as a former best friends in North Korea who had died in a traffic accident. He said he wanted to make a fresh start by hiding his Chinese background, which he sees as a disadvantage in both Koreas. Cho said he wasnt aware of the seriousness of his deceit.

He was given South Korean citizenship, an apartment, and other financial assistance under a law that protects North Korean defectors because South Korea legally regards North Korea as part of its territory. But in 2012 his lying was detected by authorities who thought initially that he was a North Korean spy. Cho was cleared of the spying charges, but was stripped of his citizenship and other benefits and sentenced to one year in prison for immigration and other offenses.

Another Chinese-North Korean refugee, surnamed Yoon, said he was held in a government facility for about 20 months for a similar attempt to pose as a North Korean national. The 60-year-old avoided conviction because his lying was detected soon after his arrival and before his release into society.

I sometimes think I shouldnt have come here. I dont know how many more years I will live. But I want to die after getting nationality, said the man, who wished to be identified only by his family name because of safety worries about relatives in the North.

Kim Yong-hwa, a North Korean defector-turned-activist, speaks during an interview in Seoul, South Korea, on September 13, 2021. (Lee Jin-man/AP Photo)

During their June interviews, the four Chinese-North Koreans told officials that returning to North Korea would expose them to punishment and that they could face difficulties in China because of a lack of residential cards, no relatives, and the language barrier, according to Kim Yong-hwa, a North Korean defector-turned-activist who has helped them with their refugee applications.

For South Korea, embracing Chinese-North Koreans is a delicate matter because it could prompt other ethnic Chinese in the North to come to South Korea, which would anger Pyongyangs leadership and complicate Seouls efforts to seek reconciliation, Kim said.

We lived and suffered together in North Korea  so it doesnt make sense to decide that they arent North Korean defectors, said Noh Hyun-jeong, a North Korean defector in Seoul who has Chinese-North Korean friends in the North who came to South Korea.

Unlike Noh, many other North Korean defectors often ignore stateless Chinese-North Koreans, who also often fail to get along with other ethnic Chinese who have lived in South Korea for generations, Kim said.

Yoon said he relies on financial assistance from Kim and from a church. Cho, who lives with a North Korean woman defector, said he hasnt told his defector friends in South Korea about his ethnic background and legal status.

I dont think we would become estranged, but Im scared about people who arent close to me learning about my background and status. I just dont know how they would react, Cho said.

By Hyung-jin Kim
Former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell pays his respects as the remains of former President George H.W. Bush lie in state at the Capitol rotunda in Washington on Dec. 4, 2018. (Alex Edelman/AFP via Getty Images)

Colin Powells Death the Latest Sign of the COVID Scam

Commentary

Colin Powell, a good man and a great American, has died. He had been suffering for years from multiple myeloma, a blood cancer, as well as Parkinsons disease, but according to the media (citing his family), the real cause of death was complications fromyou guessed itCOVID-19, despite the fact that he was fully vaccinated and indeed was about to get a booster shot when his compromised immune system finally failed.

There will be accolades aplenty forthcoming for General Powell, a former secretary of state, who ably served both presidents Bush in various military and civilian capacities. But his death, coming as it does in the midst of our long political and biomedical wrangle over the severity of the threat posed by the CCP virus that causes COVID-19, once again focuses attention on the social and economic destruction the panic over the pandemic continues to cause.

Indeed, the generals death from COVIDdespite his vaccination statusindicates one thing very plainly: the vaccines dont work. If they did, if they really prevented anyone from contracting the disease, Powell might still be alive while his doctors battled his other ailments. But they dont, he didnt, and its high time everyone admitted it.

Dont wait for the media, those thoroughly corrupt handmaidens of the Democrat Party and, latterly, of the U.S. government, to admit that. Indeed, just hours after Powells death, various outlets hastily rushed onto the air and into print with assurances that just because the vaccines dont work doesnt mean they dont work.

USA Today: Colin Powells death the exception among vaccinated, not proof inoculations dont work.

CNN: Why vaccinated people dying from COVID-19 doesnt mean the vaccines are ineffective.

WUSA9: Gen. Colin Powells death does not prove COVID vaccines dont work.

Media Campaign

Who are you going to believethe media or your lying eyes and your gift of reason? For nearly 18 months we have been subject to an increasingly manic media campaign, at the behest of political operatives, to convince the world that the still-experimental vaccines from Pfizer and Modernawhich are more akin to gene therapy than conventional vaccinesand the more conventional one from Johnson & Johnson, are the key to stopping COVID.

That they vastly increase the revenues and balance sheets of the pharmaceutical companies as well as aiding and abetting the governments appropriation of unconstitutional powers has nothing to do with the official enthusiasm for them, of course.

The medias been parroting the party line practically since the outbreak of COVID, from two weeks to slow the spread and fifteen days to flatten the curve to social distancing of six feet, and wash your hands ten times a day, and wear a mask, and dont overwhelm the hospitals, and get your shot, then get your second shot, then get a booster shot, and now it doesnt matter which shots you get, just keep getting shots until Joe Biden tells you to stop.

If a vaccine that was touted as nearly 100 percent effective when it was first introduced now needs a series of booster shots ad infinitum for it to have the remotest effect, what does that tell you?

Ask Washington. The government has been pushing the panic button from the jumpanother of Donald Trumps many and manifest personnel misjudgments was giving Dr. Anthony Fauci a national platform and thus elevating the nations neurotic obsession with health into national policydemanding unconstitutional lockdowns, quarantines, travel restrictions, mandatory vaccines, vaccine passports and other naked displays of power-grabbing, all meant to punish the innocent. And for what?

In the process, Fauci, a career civil servant and superannuated bureaucrat who has seized the reins of power and continues to talk out of both sides of his mouth because its clear he has no idea what hes talking about, no longer cares whether what he says makes any sense. He should have been forcibly retiredfiredlong ago, but his usefulness to the forces behind Bidens throne ensures theyll keep trotting him out no matter how wrong he proves to be.

Gaslighting

The real question is why? Why this hysterical insistence keeping COVID in the headlines, day after day, inflating the threat of a relatively minor respiratory illness with a 98+ percent survival rate into the second coming of the Black Plague? Why the constant moving of the goal posts from deaths to cases?

Why the various road maps out of COVID lockdowns that were unnecessary in the first place? Why the press-gang enlistment of the media to keep the public in line with increasingly implausible claims about an illness that, left to its own devices, would have vanished into the woodwork long ago?

The unspoken, false premise, which has by now been thoroughly inculcated in our population, is that absent the Dreaded COVID, we would all live forever. And that the unvaccinated, by radiating death spores at their vaccinated neighbors, are tantamount to murderers, even though the nearly 100 percent effective vaccines are supposed to prevent exactly that.

After all, via the political-medical machinations of our betters, we have stopped caring about heart disease, strokes, cancer, and even the common coldhey, even the flu has disappeared! Weve also stopped caring about Thanksgiving and Christmas, our kids childhoods, classroom instruction, civic virtue, national history, verities like sex differences, full employment, the movies, most sports, religious worship and just about everything else that used to make America, America.

In their place we now have armed police clobbering protestors when theyre not actually being fired or defunded, cities burning over the deaths of petty criminals in police custody, statues toppling, and the collapse of public order as crime has been effectively decriminalized in the name of racial justice.

Meanwhile, with a populace confined to quarters, unregulated tech giants like Twitter, Google, and Facebook run rampant, stifling speech, hijacking personal information to sell to the highest bidder, de-platforming ideological opponents (even while maintaining possession of their personal information), and pushing disinformation such as the Russian collusion farce and now COVID.

Why are they so desperate? Why are they gaslighting us with tales of implacable viral bogeymen? What is it that they arent telling us?

It might be something, it might be nothing. I suspect its this: They like it.

Without the phantom menace of COVID, they could never have changed election laws, mandated arbitrary and capricious punishment of their enemies, destroyed the Trump administration, wrecked the economy, harmed our national defense, crippled our police department, suborned our legal system, destroyed childhood, instilled fear and obedience, encouraged neighbors to rat each other out, scapegoated those they despise, eliminated the southern border, and moved the nation steadily away from sovereignty and toward the New World Order of the Great Reset, whose motto is: youll own nothing and youll like it.

How do you like that? And what are you going to do about it?

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Police tell supporters to leave during the court hearing of Tong Ying-kit, the first person charged under a new national security law near the High Court, in Hong Kong, on July 30, 2021. (Tyrone Siu/Reuters)

Court Rulings Free Hong Kong Police to Probe Older Offences Under Security Law

HONG KONGRecent court judgements have freed Hong Kong authorities to use national security powers to deploy tough colonial-era laws in a clampdown against opposition groups, alarming activists and lawyers in the city.

Police have launched investigations into acts that took place before the national security law was imposed a year ago, despite assurances by Beijing and Hong Kong that the financial hubs legislation would not be retroactive.

The recent probes have unnerved pro-democracy campaigners across the city, leaving some to fear they face prosecution for acts they believed to be legal at the time.

The past is the future, said Simon Young, a professor at the University of Hong Kongs law school. We are starting to see a fuller evolution of the national security law, and the way it allows the authorities to look at older laws and past events through a new lens.

We can see it gives them new powers and confidence to use laws that were perhaps overlooked, or seen as previously unenforceable.

Several groups, including veteran protest organiser Civil Human Rights Front, are under investigation for acts that pre-date the security law, according to statements by senior police and reports in pro-Beijing media.

Asked about statements from Police Commissioner Raymond Siu that the Front was being investigated over marches that predate the law, a force spokesman told Reuters last month that police will continue to investigate if any organization and person have violated the  security law and other Hong Kong regulations.

Some legal scholars and lawyers say the situation reveals the full sweep of the lawincluding its ability to effectively reboot laws from the British colonial era that touch on national security.

Two paragraphs in recent court judgements appear to clear the path for security probes into past actions, they warn.

One February ruling in the Court of Final Appeal suggested that the national security laws reference to acts endangering national security included violations of older laws.

And a District Court ruling in April noted that under the security law, the older offence of sedition was now classified as a more serious crime, potentially removing its previous statute of limitations of six months.

Authoritarian Goldmine

A protester (R) is searched by police as Hong Kong began selecting a powerful committee under a new patriots only system imposed by Beijing, in Hong Kong, on September 19, 2021. (Peter Parks/AFP via Getty Images)

Beijing imposed the national security law on Hong Kong last year, seeking to punish what it sees as subversion, secession, terrorism, and collusion with foreign forces.

But fresh police investigations into acts that predate the laws imposition appear to be triggering sometimes overlooked legislation on crimes such as sedition, a law governing private groups, and even legislation against espionage, criminal lawyers say.

Those powers include the right for national security police to conduct searches and electronic surveillance, such as phone tapping, without going to court or obtaining a warrant.

Asked about investigations into older offences and the impact of the court rulings, a police spokesperson said they would not comment on specific cases.

In conducting any operation, the police will act on the basis of actual circumstances and according to the law, the spokesperson said.

When the law was passed, senior Chinese and Hong Kong officials repeatedly stressed it would not be retroactively applied.

Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam told the UN Human Rights Council in June 2020 that the law was urgently needed to tackle a gaping hole in national security but the presumption of innocence would be maintained and the law would have no retrospective effect.

Lam also told the UN it would only affect an extremely small minority of Hong Kong.

Zhang Xiaoming, deputy director of the State Councils Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, said on July 1 last year that the law is not retroactive. Security provisions in the older laws would be used to punish crimes that have already been committed, which endanger national security, he said.

The intensifying clampdown is forcing some prominent groups to disband, including the Civil Human Rights Front. Others are urgently shredding files, and deleting photos and online material, saying they fear even once-innocuous details could be used against them under Hong Kongs evolving security regime.

The recent past is an authoritarian goldmine, said one private investigator who has been assisting some groups to protect themselves. Essential rights and protections will count for little as the national security police build their cases by going backwards as well as forwards.

By Greg Torode
A COVID-19 intensive care unit is shown at the Health Sciences Centre in Winnipeg, Canada, on Dec. 8, 2020. (Mikaela MacKenzie/The Canadian Press)

COVID-19 Delays Treatment, Worsens Outcomes for Heart and Stroke Patients: Survey

Canadians suffering from heart disease and stroke are facing delays in diagnosis and treatment due to the ongoing disruptive impacts of the pandemic on Canadas health care system, according to a new survey of health care professionals and researchers.

The national survey, sponsored by the Heart & Stroke Foundation and released Oct. 19, found that 9 out of 10 medical professionals and researchers worried that the health of people living with heart disease or stroke has worsened because needed medical care was not always available during the pandemic.

Eight of out 10 respondents say that their greatest concern is a delay in diagnosis and treatment while over half expected that mental health issues stemming from the pandemic are going to be significant.

The study surveyed a total of 370 health professionalsincluding heart and brain health researchers, neurologists, cardiologists, family physicians, emergency physicians, and nursesbetween Aug. 16 to Sept. 7.

Earlier in the pandemic I had multiple shifts in the emergency department where I didnt see any heart and stroke patients and I wondered, where are you? It was like they disappeared, said Clare Atzema, a Heart & Stroke funded researcher and an emergency medicine physician at the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto, in a news release.

But those patients needed care, they needed to be seen. Now I am afraid we are going to see a wave of patients who are going to need both more care and more intense care, and we will need new research to figure out how we manage these diseases better.

An earlier survey carried out by the foundation found that heart and stroke patients are increasingly seeking out virtual healthcare, with over 8 in 10 people living with a heart condition, stroke, or vascular cognitive impairment, reported making a virtual appointment.

The latest survey also found that the COVID-19 pandemic is posing significant challenges for heart and brain health research, including slowing or stopping ongoing trials.

Going forward, respondents identified three major challenges facing Canadas healthcare system: exhausted healthcare providers, longer wait times for appointments and procedures, and an increasing number of patients.

Health professionals and researchers who participated in the survey say they expect substantial changes to their work in the future, with support for heart and stroke patients through rehabilitation and community services a key area of focus.

Heart disease and stroke are the top cause of death globally and are two out of the three leading causes of death in Canada. Roughly 1.6 million people in Canada currently are living with heart disease or stroke, according to Heart & Stroke.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping virtually addresses the 76th Session of the U.N. General Assembly in New York on Sept. 21, 2021. (Spencer Platt/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Defeat the CCP Before Strengthening the UN

Commentary

A British conservative advocates increased investigatory power for the United Nations WHO to defeat the next pandemic, but fails to account for Beijings growing influence over the U.N. itself.

Tom Tugendhat, a Conservative Party member of the British parliament and who is normally tough on authoritarianism, is advocating more power for the World Health Organization (WHO) to mitigate the risk of another pandemic, which he likens to a nuclear weapon. To contain the remarkably destructive power of viruses, he proposes greater investigatory power for the WHO.

As the British parliaments foreign affairs committee recommends in a report, we could give the WHO the power to launch their own investigations, the right of access and the right to report, as the IAEA has today, Tugendhat, chair of the UK foreign affairs committee, wrote in the Financial Times.

Such investigatory powers would be useful to discover the likely origin of COVID-19 in China, and fix whatever procedural, regulatory, or other practices that allowed the virus release into the human population. Beijing has been notoriously lacking in transparency and refused to cooperate with international inspectors.

So the WHO is more likely to turn its increased power against Beijings enemies, rather than be an effective tool to hold the CCP accountable for COVID-19s origin and its failures during the initial outbreak.

Peter Ben Embarek (right), one of the World Health Organization team members, shakes hands with his Chinese counterpart, Liang Wannian, after a WHO-China Joint Study Press Conference held at the end of the WHO mission in Wuhan, China, on Feb. 9, 2021. (Ng Han Guan/AP Photo)

In June, Chinas ambassador to France proposed that the WHO investigate Fort Detrick in the United States as the origin of the virus. The British committees proposal to strengthen the WHOs investigatory power is, therefore, at least as likely to be the UK shooting its ally the United States in the foot, as a tougher measure against Beijing.

Xi Jinping himself wants more power given to the U.N. and the WHO, but dont expect him and his many allies, bought on the cheap, to cooperate with international institutions when they do not serve the CCPs interests. Given the CCPs outsized influence at the U.N., Xi can ignore international organizations at will, or use them against his adversaries just as readily and for the same reason.

Advocating for a more powerful weapon, when not taking into account who has the preponderance of control over the weapon, is irresponsible.

That Xi sees the U.N. as an extension of Beijings power was indicated when he told the U.N. General Assembly in September 2020 that multilateralism with the U.N. at its core was essential. He argued, We should follow the guidance of science, give full play to the leading role of the World Health Organization (WHO) and launch an international response to beat this pandemic.

The CCP is already attempting to use U.N. organizations against the worlds democratic bulwarks, including the United States and its closest allies. In June, for example, Beijing called for a U.N. investigation of Canada for alleged crimes against indigenous people. It used the call to deflect attention from its own proven genocide against Uyghurs, not to mention Tibetans and Falun Gong.

As Chinas global influence grows, it acquires more leadership over the U.N. Currently, it leads four of the international institutions 15 specialized agencies and groups: the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), the Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), and most recently, the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO). A Chinese national led Interpol as well, until the CCP detained him in 2018 and convicted him of corruption.

Meng Hongwei delivers a campaign speech at the 85th session of the general assembly of the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) in Bali, Indonesia, on Nov. 10, 2016. In a statement posted on a government website on Oct. 8, 2018, Chinese authorities said Meng, Chinas vice minister for public security, was being investigated due to his own willfulness and for bringing trouble upon himself. (Du Yu/Xinhua via AP)

Approximately 30 U.N. institutions signed memoranda that support Chinas Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which is essentially Chinese export promotion, checkbook diplomacy, and debt trap financing wrapped into one and masquerading as international development. China can then present BRI as positive U.N.-approved development.

Which U.N. agencies Beijing does not control directly, it influences mediately through trade threats, trade sanctions, trade inducements, development grants, development loans, and outright bribery of elected and non-elected officials, as well as their closest associates and family members through, for example, sweetheart business deals or outright gifts in the form of stacks of cash or precious stones.

Beijing ensures the commitments it receives from those it influences by spying on them. In 2019, the CCP sent a delegation of approximately 80 to 100 people to a Rome vote for the director general of the FAO. They recorded, including with video cameras and high-powered telephoto lenses, what was supposed to be a secret ballot. The Chinese candidate won.

After Beijing violated its treaty with Britain and sacked Hong Kong, two rival declarations on the subject circulated at the U.N. Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in 2020. The one by Cuba supporting Beijings violent illiberality in Hong Kong won the votes of 53 nations. The British declaration expressing concern won only 27.

Gaining influence at the U.N. permits China to stifle international scrutiny of its behavior at home and abroad, according to Yaroslav Trofimov, Drew Hinshaw, and Kate OKeeffe in the Wall Street Journal. In March [2020], Beijing won a seat on a five-member panel that selects U.N. rapporteurs on human-rights abusesofficials who used to target Beijing for imprisoning more than a million Uighurs at so-called re-education camps in Xinjiang.

Ashok Malik, a senior adviser to Indias foreign ministry, got it right when he told the Journal, If you control important levers of these [international] institutions, you influence norms, you influence ways of thinking, you influence international policy, you inject your way of thinking.

Beijing buys its influence at the U.N. on the cheap, contributing only $1.3 billion to the U.N. system in 2018, compared with the $10 billion annual cost to the United States.

Given Beijings inordinate influence at the U.N., unrealistic proposals for more U.N. power to counter the CCPs problems, such as frequent viral outbreaks in China, is unconscionably naive.

The CCPs pirating of the U.N., which is supposed to support democracy, human rights, and territorial integrity around the world, even as Beijing commits genocide, avoids accountability for COVID-19, and threatens to invade democratic Taiwan, should be a wake up call.

What is additionally outrageous is that the worlds political leaders, including conservatives, continue to countenance mainland Chinas membership in the U.N., while advocating more power to the organization. They thereby put the CCP cart before the horse of democracy on a crumbling precipice of globalization.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
In a still image from video, former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin tells the judge that he waived his right to testify to the jury, next to his defense attorney Eric Nelson, on the fourteenth day of Chauvin's trial for second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in the death of George Floyd, in Minneapolis, Minn., on April 15, 2021. (Pool via Reuters)

Derek Chauvin Hires Lawyer to Represent Him on Appeal

MINNEAPOLISDerek Chauvin has hired an attorney to represent him as he appeals his murder conviction in the death of George Floyd, according to court documents made public Monday.

Attorney William Mohrman filed a document with the court Friday saying he would represent Chauvin in his appeal. Chauvin was convicted in April on state charges of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in Floyds 2020 death. He was sentenced to 22 1/2 years in prison.

Chauvin filed documents last month saying he intends to appeal his conviction and sentence on 14 grounds, including that he believes his trial should have been moved from Hennepin County and that the jury should have been sequestered.

He asked for a public defender to represent him on appeal, but the state Supreme Court denied that request this month, saying a review of his assets and debts showed he was ineligible. When Chauvin made the request, he said he had no income aside from nominal prison wages and that the Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Associations legal defense fund, which paid for his initial attorney, told him its obligation to fund his legal representation ended when he was convicted and sentenced.

Mohrman, a partner at Minneapolis-based Mohrman, Kaardal & Erickson, did not immediately reply to messages seeking comment.

Separately, Chauvin is also charged in federal court with violating Floyds civil rights when he knelt on the Floyds neck for about 9 1/2 minutes. He has pleaded not guilty to those charges.
E-cigarettes Dont Help Smokers Kick the Habit, UCSD Study Finds

SAN DIEGOE-cigarettes dont help smokers stay off cigarettes, despite U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidance suggesting they can be an effective path to quitting, a report published Oct. 19 with research from the University of California San Diego (UCSD) found.

The CDC has previously suggested that smokers who are unable to quit smoking may benefit by switching to vaping e-cigarettes if they switch completely and are able to avoid relapsing to cigarette smoking.

In a report published in Tuesdays online issue of JAMA Network Open, an analysis by the Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science at UCSD and UCSD Moores Cancer Center reports that e-cigarette useeven on a daily basisdid not help smokers successfully stay off cigarettes.

Our findings suggest that individuals who quit smoking and switched to e-cigarettes or other tobacco products actually increased their risk of a relapse back to smoking over the next year by 8.5 percentage points compared to those who quit using all tobacco products, said first author John Pierce, professor at the Wertheim School of Public Health and Moores Cancer Center.

Quitting is the most important thing a smoker can do to improve their health, but the evidence indicates that switching to e-cigarettes made it less likely, not more likely, to stay off of cigarettes.

A team of researchers identified 13,604 smokers between 2013 and 2015 who were followed over two sequential annual surveys to explore changes in the use of 12 tobacco products.

At the first annual follow-up, 9.4 percent of the established smokers had quit. Now considered former smokers, 62.9 percent of these individuals remained tobacco-free, while 37.1 percent had switched to another form of tobacco use.

Of the recent smokers who switched to another product, 22.8 percent used e-cigarettes, with 17.6 percent of switchers using e-cigarettes daily.

Our goal in this study was to assess whether recent former smokers who had switched to e-cigarettes or another tobacco product were less likely to relapse to cigarette smoking compared to those who remained tobacco-free, said senior author Karen Messer, professor and chief of the division of biostatistics at the Wertheim School of Public Health.

At the second annual follow-up, the authors compared the former smokers who were tobacco-free to those who had switched to e-cigarettes or other tobacco products. Individuals who switched to any other form of tobacco use, including e-cigarettes, were 8.5 percent more likely to relapse compared to former smokers who had quit all tobacco.

Among recent former smokers who abstained from all tobacco products, 50 percent were 12 or more months off cigarettes at the second follow-up and were considered to have successfully quit smoking; this compared to 41.5 percent of recent former smokers who switched to any other form of tobacco use, including e-cigarettes.

While people who switched were more likely to relapse to smoking, they were also more likely to attempt to quit again and be off cigarettes for at least three months at the second follow-up.

A further follow-up survey is needed to identify whether this is evidence of a pattern of chronic quitting and relapsing to cigarette smoking, or whether it is part of progress toward successful quitting, the researchers said.

This is the first study to take a deep look at whether switching to a less harmful nicotine source can be maintained over time without relapsing to cigarette smoking, Pierce said. If switching to e-cigarettes was a viable way to quit cigarette smoking, then those who switched to e-cigarettes should have much lower relapse rates to cigarette smoking. We found no evidence of this.
Eight Chinese Diagnosed With COVID-19 in Region Claimed by Authorities to Be Virus-Free

Chinas Shaanxi, Inner Mongolia, Gansu, Ningxia, and a dozen other provinces ordered residents to self-report if they have visited cities where eight newly diagnosed COVID-19 patients have been in the past 10 days.

In Shaanxis Xian city, where seven of the eight patients were diagnosed, the city government closed tourist sites, locked down several neighborhoods, tested over 30,000 people within hours after the new diagnosis, and will test all residents in the following days.

The lockdown and testing stirred up panic and threw the region into chaos.

All venues that they [the diagnosed patients] have visited [in Xian] are closed now. All of us, the residents who live near the venues, started to be tested [on Monday], Wen Bing (pseudonym), a resident close to a restaurant the diagnosed patients had visited, told the Chinese-language Epoch Times on Oct. 18.

A store owner who doesnt want to expose his name complained in the interview that the whole business area where his store is located was suddenly closed, but the government wont help him to pay the rent and employees salaries. Its tourist season now, when we should be earning profit. Instead, we are suffering the losses.

All tourist sites are closed! a tourist site employee of Jiayuguan city in Gansu Province said in a phone interview. We are disinfecting everywhere.

The eight newly diagnosed patients had visited Gansu, Inner Mongolia, Shanxi, and Ningxia from Oct. 9 to Oct. 17. All these provinces claimed that they were free of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, commonly known as novel coronavirus. Its unclear where they contracted the virus.

Panic

On Oct. 18, the Xian government announced the new outbreak and ordered all residents in the city to be tested as soon as possible. The citys health commission then banned unnecessary travel outside the city, get-togethers, and outdoor group activities.

After Xians announcement, different provincial and city governments across the country ordered their residents who recently visited another city to test for the CCP virus, and asked visitors on arrival to be tested if they hadnt been tested in the past 48 hours.

Meanwhile, Haikou city in Hainan Province announced that two of the newly diagnosed patients are residents of the city, but havent lived in the city since early September. In the announcement, the government clarified that the patients didnt contract the CCP virus there.

According to the Chinese regime, seven people in their 60s went to Zhangye in Gansu Province from Shanghai, via Xian on Oct. 9. The eighth person joined them in Zhangye from Yinchuan city in Ningxia Province. They are classmates and friends.

From Oct. 10 to Oct. 15, the eight people rented two cars and visited tourist sites in Zhangye and Jiuquan in Gansu Province, Ejin Banner in Inner Mongolia, and Jiayuguan in Gansu, where the eighth person went back to Yinchuan directly.

The other seven were tested several times for COVID-19 during the trip due to the Chinese regimes request on tourists who take public transportation, and tested positive in Xian on Oct. 17.

The Chinese regime didnt take action when the COVID-19 outbreak first started in late 2019, since the regime wanted to make sure the partys annual meetings could perform smoothly and the economy could boost during the new year holiday season.

After the CCP virus had spread all around the world, the regime launched a strict lockdown policy all around the country in February 2020, without giving necessary support to the people who were quarantined at different venues or locked at home.
Elected Officials, Environmental Activists Advocate for a Ban on Offshore Oil Drilling

Elected officials, environmental advocates, and actress Jane Fonda gathered in Laguna Beach, California, on Oct. 18 in a joint effort to support state Sen. Dave Mins (D-Irvine) promise to ban all offshore oil drilling off the coast of California following the recent oil spill near Huntington Beach.

After the oil spill off the coast of Huntington Beach in early October, which released thousands of gallons of oil into the ocean due to a broken pipeline, the overall message at the event was, No Drilling, No Spilling.

Here in Laguna Beach, we have taken for granted our pristine coast, but sadly, our bubble has burst by this horrific and inevitable oil spill, Judie Mancuso, president of Social Compassion in Legislation, said. There is so much at stake already for our threatened marine and wildlife.

Officials and environmental advocates gather to support banning offshore oil drilling in Laguna Beach, Calif., on Oct. 18, 2021. (Drew Van Voorhis/The Epoch Times)

In attendance included the entire Laguna Beach city councilwho signed a letter urging for the ban of off-shore drillingOrange County Supervisor Katrina Foley, Min, Assemblymember Cottie Petrie-Norris, actress Jane Fonda, and more.

[We have] 1,230 miles of beautiful splendor of coastline in California, some of the most spectacular in the world. But unfortunately, every day this irreplaceable ocean environment, this natural beauty is threatened by the possibility of another oil spill off our coast, Mayor Whelan said.

Just over two weeks ago, Orange County was hit by the latest spill, he said. The easy path would be to complete the cleanup and move on. We could rationalize this path by saying that the latest spill wasnt as bad as we feared, or that spills dont happen that often, or eventually these leases will come to an end. But the easy path is not the right path, this time.

Min claim that banning off-shore drilling is the only way to fix the problem of oil spills.

He also said he is committed to finding out who is responsible for the oil spill and holding them accountable.

But holding responsible parties accountable is not enough, Min said. We need to make sure that our beautiful coastlines are never terrorized in another oil spill. And theres only one way to do thatby ending all oil drilling off the coast of California.

Min said that his bill, which starts its process when the legislature commences in January, will do justice for the states water by completely banning oil drillingnot just banning new leases on oil drilling which he said had been proposed to him a number of times.

I just want to point out that [a moratorium on new drilling] is not enough, he added. A lot of people dont know the facts around this, but weve actually not had a new lease granted for oil drilling or extraction off the coast in federal waters since 1982 and in state waters since 1969. So a moratorium on new drilling sounds great, but it wouldnt have actually stopped this oil spill or any of the oil spills weve experienced in the last 40 years.

A moratorium on future drilling is necessary but not sufficient to stop future oil spills.

Officials and environmental advocates gather to support banning offshore oil drilling in Laguna Beach, Calif., on Oct. 18, 2021. (Drew Van Voorhis/The Epoch Times)

Fonda, an environmental activist, also took to the stage where her speech was soon interrupted by protestors with a loudspeaker, who called her a traitor to the country.

Prior to the protesting starting, Fonda said she supports Mins legislation, but wants President Biden to do the same with federally-controlled waters, and warned about other ecological issues.

In addition to the press conference, federal lawmakers held a hearing today that sought to better determine the impact of the oil spill and create an investigation into how it occurred.

During the investigation, Rep. Katie Porter (D-Irvine) pledged a full and fair and complete investigation of the circumstances of this leak, but said she wanted to ensure the regulatory and law enforcement agencies complete their investigations before talking about accountability.
Chinese military radar equipment on display at a Beijing museum in December 2013. China is developing technology intended to disable or destroy U.S. military communication systems. (Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty Images)

Espionage Is a Fundamental Engine Behind Chinas Economic Growth

Theft of foreign secrets powers Chinas economy

News Analysis

The Chinese economy has benefited from decades of purposeful economic espionage focused on acquiring Western technology, intellectual property, and general economic know-how.

Communist Chinas long-term economic strategy is aimed at replacing the U.S.-dominated post-World War II order, which was established by the United Nations and the Bretton Woods international monetary framework, with an authoritarian capitalist system controlled by Beijing. A key characteristic of authoritarian capitalism is defined here as the presence of a capitalist economy on one hand along with the absence or erosion of democracy and civil liberties on the other hand.

The strategy involves penetrating, co-opting, and leveraging international institutions in order to gain access to resources, foreign direct investment, advanced technology, and Western methods so that Chinese industry can leap ahead of all foreign competition in the race for next-generation technologies and production capabilitiesin short, to achieve world economic dominance over the long haul. To carry out this strategy, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has devoted enormous resources, including manpower and money, to the conduct of economic espionage.

Economic espionage involves the theft of trade secrets, proprietary information, and/or intellectual property in order to advantage domestic companies while disadvantaging foreign competitors. For China, this meant replacing science and technology investments that were deferred due to the liquidation of many scientists, engineers, and innovators during the devastating decade of Mao Zedongs Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), given that Chinese industry and technical capabilities were far behind the West before its end.

According to an unclassified report from the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, the Chinese strategic goals of modernizing its military, evolving a technology-driven economic model, and obtaining a comprehensive capability to dominate geopolitics worldwide are heavily dependent upon extensive ongoing economic espionage activities.

Intelligence Services

Operatives, spies, and analysts within and/or controlled by the Ministry for State Security (MSS) and all service elements of the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) are dedicated to round-the-clock intelligence collection activities. The MSS is answerable to both Chinas State Councilthe chief administrative authority of the Chinese regimeand the CCP Politburo Standing Committee in conducting worldwide intelligence collection operations. PLA intelligence directorates report to Chinas Central Military Commission (CMC) in conducting HUMINT, technical intelligence collection, and cyber operations.

According to Chinese billionaire Guo Wengui, there are over 25,000 Chinese intelligence officers and over 15,000 recruited Americans operating on Chinas behalf in the United States alone.

Cyber espionage is an important mission in gaining economic secrets. According to a report from the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, Cyberintrusions allow Chinese businessesin some cases acting at the CCPs direction or with government assistanceto access information about U.S. firms proprietary operations and project-financing information, as well as steal IP and technology.

This wanted poster is displayed at the U.S. Justice Department in Washington on May 19, 2014. A U.S. grand jury has charged five Chinese hackers with economic espionage and trade secret theft, the first-of-its-kind criminal charges against Chinese military officials in an international cyber espionage case. (AP Photo)

Non-Traditional Collectors

The MSS exploits/coerces Chinese businessmen and scientists to steal and report secrets gained in their business dealings with foreigners. Since 2015, non-traditional collection efforts have increasingly been controlled by the United Front Work Department (UFWD), which reports to the MSS for intelligence collection coordination. Mao labeled the united front as one of the three magic weapons in the CCP arsenal. Its original domestic mission was to penetrate and control social groups and individuals to persuade them to support the CCP and its objectives.

The new additional foreign mission involves the co-optation of elites, information management, persuasion, and accessing strategic information and resources  as a means of facilitating espionage, according to the blog Power 3.0.

The UFWD uses the Chinese Communist (ChiCom) version of Dale Carnegies classic book How to Win Friends and Influence People, including corruption, bribery, spying, and coercion. The UFWD provides cover for intelligence agents (spies) operating under the Ministry of State Security. UFWD tentacles reach into the Confucius Institutes, Thousand Talents program, Chinese news services, Overseas Chinese Affairs Offices, and the Cyberspace Administration of China. All of these are tightly controlled operations aimed at influencing foreign opinion and winning friends for CCP policies.

Legal and Regulatory Exploitation

Chinese laws and regulations frequently facilitate technology theft as a price for foreign company operations in China. The CCP has also been trying to get control of the international standards certification process by replacing the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) with China Standards 2035. In controlling the standards and the technology, this would make it much easier for the Chinese regime to access foreign-developed technology.

Front Companies

Front companies are set up in foreign countries to obfuscate the direct involvement of the Chinese regime in obtaining export-controlled technologies. Front companies could be a misleading term, as virtually all Chinese-owned companies have an obligation to conduct economic espionage on behalf of Beijing.

There is only one degree of separation between many Chinese companies and the PLA, as the CCP has developed and implemented a strategy of maximizing linkages between the military and the civilian sector to build Chinas economic and military strength, according to the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.

Joint Ventures

Joint ventures are used to entice foreign companies to operate in China. Part of the joint venture agreements involve technology transfer to the Chinese partners. In essence, Chinese joint venture regulations ultimately require foreign partners to essentially sign over their IP and technology in order to access the Chinese market.

Research Partnerships

Collaborating with foreign scientists on research projects provides direct access to advanced technologies. One good example was Chinas establishment of the Alliance of Industrial Internet for internet and collaborative manufacturing initiatives, which is focused on leveraging and integrating domestic and especially foreign technologies in order to accelerate the development of industrial internetnot uncoincidentally to lead the world in IPv6 development. The partnerships are two-fers when the U.S. government funds the research grants! For example, the collaboration between Peter Daszaks EcoHealth Alliance and the Wuhan Institute of Virology used funds provided by the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

The P4 laboratory (left) on the campus of the Wuhan Institute of Virology in Wuhan in Chinas central Hubei Province on May 27, 2020. (Hector Retamal/AFP via Getty Images)

Academic Collaborations

Reciprocal relationships with foreign universities are encouraged in order to obtain access to foreign technologies. One key aspect is the promotion of international professor and student exchanges, intertwined with the Thousand Talents program, which is aimed at attracting foreign scientists, engineers, and instructors for exploitation by the Ministry of Education and Ministry of State Security for espionage purposes.

Other aspects involve credit transfer and qualifications recognition to encourage deeper academic exchange and scientific cooperation between Chinese and foreign colleges and universities.

Science and Technology Investments

The Chinese regime invests in foreign S&T development as a mechanism to fill technology holes in Chinese technical sectors. S&T targets include the following: information technology, cyber security, advanced manufacturing techniques, defense technologies of all kinds, and energy technologies (especially of the green variety). A good summary of Chinese S&T investments and the CCPs associated strategy can be found in this report.

Mergers and Acquisitions

The Chinese regime uses foreign direct investment funding to invest in and acquire Western companies for the purpose of acquiring cutting-edge technologies and intellectual property. The ChiComs have made strategic acquisitions in key foreign companies in order to gain market share and access to key technologies, as well as to influence the culture.

Talent Recruitment Programs

Foreign scientists and engineers are offered research scholarships and paid sabbaticals in order to obtain their intellectual capital and technology innovations. The ChiCom objective is to recruit overseas Chinese and foreign experts and entrepreneurs in key economic sectors to teach and work in China.

Conclusion

The CCP has a robust, well-coordinated and ongoing economic espionage effort that targets U.S.-developed intellectual property, technologies, and industries. This campaign is an important element of Beijings ongoing pursuit of world economic domination and is the key engine that powers the continuing growth of the Chinese economyfrequently at the direct expense of foreign competition.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Fargo Man Finds 180 Pounds of Walnuts Stashed by Red Squirrel Inside His Chevy Avalanche

When life hands you lemons, make lemonade. When life hands you walnuts, just laugh.

Thats one North Dakota mans philosophy trying to keep up with a tiny, furry friend stashing piles of black walnuts in every nook and cranny of his Chevy Avalanche.

That furry friend happens to be a red squirrel.

Bill Fischer, 56, from Fargo cant clear out the nuts fast enough; in just days, the industrious red squirrel, who lives in the luxurious walnut tree in Fischers yard, has the truck brimming.

When the red squirrel is under the Avalanche, I know I need to start looking under the hood, Fischer told The Epoch Times. This has been occurring since 2013.

Its become a tradition. Every other year, he opens up his Chevy to find the yellow-shelled fruit the size of a small lime overflowing. Removing the fender, he finds more stores.

There are still walnuts inside the frame that cannot be reached for removal and can be heard rolling around while driving, he added.

This year, Fischers cleanup/harvest yielded a whopping 42 gallons of black walnuts, filling seven large pails and weighing over 180 pounds.

He snapped photos of the whole stash and posted them on Facebook where they garnered media attention for the homeowner and his furry friend.

The amused Fargo man captioned:

Hurry as these may have a limited availability as l hear the the hard working furry tree dweller might be retiring soon due to health reasons! Also, the squirrel is dealing with a caustic work environment due to a relentless micromanaging supervisor of the canine type.

But there is no use in holding a grudge. Fischer added, At this point, I just have to find the humor and laugh.

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
Vials of Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine are seen in Culver City, Calif., on Aug. 5, 2021. (Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)

FDA Panels Endorsement of COVID-19 Vaccine Boosters Makes Sense, Experts Say

The recent advisory panel endorsement of boosters of the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines was a good decision, experts told The Epoch Times.

The recommendations are following the evidence that we have and Im pretty comfortable with what theyre moving forward with. It makes sense, said Dr. Michael Saag, professor of medicine and infectious diseases at the University of Alabama Birmingham.

For the most part, I think their recommendations are reasonable, added Dr. Tom Russo, professor and chief of infectious disease at the University at Buffalo Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. The boosters are going to be beneficial.

The Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee, which advises the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), last week recommended the agency allow tens of millions of Americans to get a Moderna booster and approximately 15 million others get a second shot of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

Both votes were unanimous.

They came after the same panel advised the FDA to widen the emergency use authorization (EUA) for Pfizers vaccine to allow more people to get a booster. The agency took up that recommendation. When the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Sept. 24 agreed, some 20 million Americans could get a booster if they received a primary Pfizer regimen and at least six months had elapsed.

Some panel members expressed concern about the scant data presented by FDA scientists and the vaccine makers and the fact that much of the Johnson & Johnson data was not independently analyzed by the FDA.

But even they ultimately said it was sufficient to signal a need for boosters, particularly since the pandemic has not ended.

The data itself is not strong but it is certainly going in a direction that is supportable of this vote, said Dr. Patrick Moore, a temporary voting member and a professor at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute.

The data are not perfect but these are extraordinary times and we have to work with imperfect data, said Dr. Eric Rubin, a temporary voting member who is the editor-in-chief of the New England Journal of Medicine.

Booster supporters point to evidence showing waning protection among many against infection by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, which causes COVID-19, and waning protection against hospitalization among the elderly. The FDA says that drop in protection could portend a similar drop in younger people.

The agency authorized Pfizer and Moderna boosters for the immunocompromised, or about 2.7 percent of U.S. adults, in August and such boosters are now recommended by the CDC. That population largely did not see a detectable antibody response to two doses, according to some studies.

For the wider EUA, Pfizer presented data on just 318 booster recipients while Modernas data centered on just 171 participants. Johnson & Johnson shared data primarily from one clinical trial, which saw over 8,500 participants get a booster dose and about 6,000 monitored more closely for safety effects.

Vials of the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines are seen in Jackson, Miss., on Sept. 21, 2021. (Rogelio V. Solis/AP Photo)

Moderna and Pfizer boosters are now authorized or set to be authorized for everybody over age 65 and people between the ages of 18 and 64 who are deemed at high risk of severe COVID-19 or whose frequent institutional or occupational exposure to SARS-CoV-2 puts them at high risk of serious complications of COVID-19.

A second dose of Johnson & Johnsons vaccine should be made available to anybody, regardless of age or underlying conditions, who got or gets an initial dose, the panel said.

I think theres clear evidence that that will boost the immune response and provide better protection against infection, and probably serious COVID-19 infections, with acceptable risks, Dr. Michael Carome, director of Public Citizens Health Research Group, told The Epoch Times.

The data generated in trials was somewhat limited and likely not sufficient for approval but was sufficient for a wider emergency use authorization, Carome added. Thats the nature of emergency authorizations, he said. We do ultimately think its going to be important to collect more safety information.

Caromes group was against allowing anybody to get a Pfizer booster, which was pushed for by top Biden administration officials before the panel rejected the proposal, leading to the more narrow set of recommendations.

Whether everybody should get a third dose of a Pfizer or Moderna vaccine remains unclear, Dr. Peter Gulick, an associate professor of Medicine at the College of Osteopathic Medicine at Michigan State University, told The Epoch Times.

Thats a good question. I dont have any real answer for that, Gulick said.

Many experts say that while boosters may be beneficial in select cases, what remains most important is getting COVID-19 vaccines to people who are still unvaccinated. Although there are experts who argue that includes people with prior infectionthat group enjoys some immunity against the CCP virusothers dont agree and point to studies that indicate natural immunity often provides protection similar to or better than vaccination.

Moving forward, there remains a strong possibility that COVID-19 shots will become annual, similar to the influenza vaccines.

Boosters are going to become the norm, Saag said, and well probably be dealing with this for the next five to 10 years.
Pharmacist Colleen Teevan reconstitutes the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine before having it administered to people at the Hartford Convention Center in Hartford, Conn., on Jan. 4, 2021. (Joseph Prezioso/AFP via Getty Images)

Federal Judge Refuses to Block Oregon Vaccine Mandate

A federal judge declined to halt Oregons COVID-19 vaccine mandates on Monday, greenlighting the mandates to kick in for health care workers, school employees, and some state workers.

U.S. District Judge Michael Simon denied a motion for a temporary restraining order, becoming the first federal judges ruling in Oregon following at least three similar state court decisions, the Oregonian/OregonLive reported.

All of these Plaintiffs fail to show a likelihood of imminent irreparable injury, Simon, a Barack Obama appointee, wrote in his decision. Their fear of future harm is too speculative to support a claim for imminent irreparable injury.

The plaintiffs are 42 individuals including healthcare workers, school employees and a volunteer, and a state agency employee.

Plaintiffs filed a motion on Oct. 12 to stop the enforcement of the vaccine mandate, claiming they are facing imminent irreparable harm because their constitutional rights are being violated, and they would lose employment.

Plaintiffs allege the temporary harm to their jobs, income, and benefits. They do not allege discrimination, psychological or emotional harm, or other extraordinary circumstances. Most do not allege any circumstances other than that they face the risk of losing their jobs, Simon wrote. These, however, are the types of concerns the Supreme Court states are routine. They are compensable by money damages.

On Aug. 13, Governor Kate Brown issued Executive Order 21-29, requiring state executive-branch employees to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by the later of Oct. 18, 2021, or six weeks after the date that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approves a COVID-19 vaccine.

Oregon Gov. Kate Brown speaks in Portland, Oregon, on Nov. 10, 2020. (Cathy Cheney/Pool Photo via AP)

On Aug. 25, the Oregon Health Authority adopted an education order and a health care order, requiring school and health care workers to be vaccinated by Oct. 18.

Simon also said the court does not find that plaintiffs are likely to succeed in their constitutional claims.

The decision to require vaccination among state executive agency employees, and critical populations such as healthcare workers and providers and education workers and volunteers, is a rational way to further the states interest in protecting health and safety during the COVID-19 pandemic, Simon wrote.

Plaintiffs are not likely to succeed in showing that the mandates shock the conscience and thus violate the plaintiffs rights under the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, Simon pointed out.

Plaintiffs attorney Stephen Joncus argued in the motion that the vaccine mandates violate plaintiffs due process rights because they force plaintiffs to take experimental vaccines without plaintiffs consent. Joncus said the FDA-approved Comirnaty vaccine is not available yet.

Plaintiffs have shown no scientific, biological, or formulaic difference between the actual drug in the vial of the Pfizer-BioNTech Vaccine and the one in the vial of the Comirnaty vaccine. They have the same formulation and are interchangeable, the ruling reads.

Simon said the plaintiffs remain free to choose whether to get the vaccine. They can either get a vaccine, apply for a religious or medical exception, or find a job elsewhere.

This simply is nowhere near the same as Nazi doctors performing experiments on victims held against their will in concentration camps, as was the subject of a portion of the Nuremberg Trials, Simon wrote in his ruling.

Joncus told The Epoch Times via email that he disagrees with the courts opinion. At this point, plaintiffs are evaluating their options in the case.

Recently, many lawsuits have been brought across the nation to stop the federal and local vaccine mandates.

In August, Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett declined to block Indiana Universitys COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

On Oct. 1, Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor also denied an emergency request without explanation to block New York Citys school COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

On Oct. 12, a federal judge ruled in favor of 17 New York state healthcare workers who objected to getting a COVID-19 vaccine due to religious reasons, saying state officials failed to adequately explain why workers were denied religious exemptions to a vaccine mandate imposed in August.
A student walks through the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in Chapel Hill, N.C., on Aug. 18, 2020. (Melissa Sue Gerrits/Getty Images)

Judge Rules University of North Carolina Admissions Do Not Discriminate Against White and Asian People

A federal judge on Monday ruled that the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill does not discriminate against white and Asian American applicants in its student admissions process after a lawsuit was filed claiming its policies favor black, Hispanic, and Native Americans over white and Asian American candidates.

The plaintiff, a group called Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA), initiated the lawsuit against the university in November 2014, alleging that its undergraduate admissions process violates multiple rights, including equal protection under the law.

Specifically, SFFA alleges that the university had intentionally discriminated against certain of its members on the basis of their race, color, or ethnicity, and had been utilizing an undergraduate admissions policy that does not merely use race as a plus factor in admissions decisions in order to achieve student body diversity, rather it uses race as a factor in admissions.

But UNC argued that their admissions process was constitutionally permissible in that it withstands strict scrutiny, arguing that the Universitys compelling interest in the educational benefits that flow from a diverse student body is clear and uncontested.

Defendants said that the university takes an individualized, holistic review of each application for admission and considers race flexibly as only one factor while evaluating students. The university also argued that it has demonstrated a serious, good-faith consideration of race-neutral alternatives but has found none that would allow it to achieve its compelling interest about as well and at tolerable administrative expense.

U.S. District Judge Loretta Biggs in Winston-Salem on Monday ruled that the universitys admissions process did not discriminate against white and Asian American applicants, noting that while the institute still continues to have much work to do in its effort to improve diversity and inclusion, it had been consistent with Supreme Court guidance regarding the consideration of race in admissions.

While no student can or should be admitted to this university, or any other, based solely on race, because race is so interwoven in every aspect of the lived experience of minority students, to ignore it, reduce its importance and measure it only by statistical models as SFFA has done, misses important context to include obscuring racial barriers and obstacles that have been faced, overcome and are yet to be overcome, Biggs said in a 161-page ruling (pdf) on Monday.

Biggs noted that 70 years after the first black students were admitted to UNC, the minority students at the university still report being confronted with racial epithets, as well as feeling isolated, ostracized, stereotyped, and viewed as tokens.

While the judge noted that the university has made numerous efforts to consider race-neutral alternatives, such as boosting financial aid to students of low income families, increasing diversity through accepting more transfer students, and changing the admissions evaluation process, it still had a long way to go.

As a whole, underrepresented minorities are admitted at lower rates than their white and Asian American counterparts, she wrote.

The university is far from creating the diverse environment described in its Mission Statement and other foundational documents submitted into evidence in this case, Biggs said.

This decision makes clear that the universitys holistic admissions approach is lawful, University of North Carolina spokesperson Beth Keith told The New York Times in response to the ruling. We evaluate each student in a deliberate and thoughtful way, appreciating individual strengths, talents, and contributions to a vibrant campus community where students from all backgrounds can excel and thrive.

SFFA founder Edward Blum said the group would appeal the ruling to a federal appeals court and potentially turn to the Supreme Court, saying documents and data presented at trial revealed UNCs systematic discrimination against non-minority applicants.

SFFA is currently appealing to the Supreme Court in a similar lawsuit against Harvard Universitys race conscious admissions policies. A federal appeals court ruled in November last year that the universitys admissions process did not violate civil rights law.

Reuters contributed to this report.
Rescuers search for bodies of victims amid the debris of a landslide following heavy rains at Koottickal in Kottayam district, southern Kerala state, India, on Oct. 17, 2021. (AP Photo)

Floods, Landslides Kill at Least 28 People in Southern India

NEW DELHIOfficials predicted more rain as the death toll from floods and landslides in the southern Indian state of Kerala rose to 28 on Monday.

Since the ferocious downpours began last week, swollen rivers have decimated bridges, and vehicles and homes have been swept away. Several dams were nearing full capacity.

Screenshot of a house damaged in the heavy rains received in Kottayam, Kerala, India, on Oct. 17, 2021. (Screenshot via ANI/Kerala Government Public Relations Office/Handout via Reuters)

K.J. Ramesh, one of Indias top meteorologists and the former chief of the weather agency, said the increased rainfall was linked to climate change and warmer oceans.

This is definitely a sign of things to come, he said.

At least 23 people died in Kottayam and Idukki districts, among the worst hit. More than 9,000 people have taken shelter in over 200 camps across the state, officials said.

The heavy rainfall resulted from a low-pressure area that formed over the southeastern Arabian Sea and Kerala. It was expected to ease Monday, but the Meteorological Department warned that new rain-bearing winds would hit the region starting Wednesday, bringing more precipitation.

Heavy rainfall is also predicted across several northern and eastern Indian states.

Rescue workers carry the body of a victim after recovering it from the debris of a residential house following a landslide caused by heavy rainfall at Kokkayar village in Idukki district in the southern state of Kerala, India, on Oct. 17, 2021. (Stringer/Reuters)

The National Disaster Response Force and the Indian army deployed teams in Kerala to help rescue efforts.

I pray for everyones safety and well-being, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Twitter.

By Aniruddha Ghosal
Mark Ridley-Thomas attends the opening of the Helen Keller Park Screening Room in Los Angeles on Dec. 10, 2014. (David Buchan/Getty Images)

Following Indictment, Ridley-Thomas to Step Back from Council Meetings

LOS ANGELESLos Angeles City Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas, who was indicted last week on federal bribery and conspiracy charges stemming from his time on the county Board of Supervisors, sent a letter to his colleagues Oct. 18 saying he will immediately step back from council and committee meetings, but he intends to remain in office and resume participating at the earliest appropriate time.

The Los Angeles city council is scheduled to meet at 10 a.m. Tuesday, its first meeting since the charges against Ridley-Thomas were announced.

I fully appreciate the importance of the council being able to conduct its business with minimal distractions. With that in mind, and with deep respect for each of you, I write to let you know of my intention to immediately step back from participating in both full council and committee

meetings, Ridley-Thomas wrote in the letter.

On Friday afternoon, Ridley-Thomas, 66, announced in his first public statement following the indictment that he has no intention of resigning his seat and is focused on fighting the allegations.

Going forward, I intend to do two things: disprove the allegations leveled at me and continue the work I was elected to domost importantly, addressing the homeless and housing crisis, he said.

The 20-count indictment filed in Los Angeles federal court on Wednesday alleges that Ridley-Thomas conspired with Marilyn Louise Flynn, 83, former dean of University of Southern Californias School of Social Work, who prosecutors claim agreed to provide Ridley-Thomass son with graduate school admission, a full-tuition scholarship and a paid professorship at the university.

She also allegedly arranged to funnel a $100,000 donation from Ridley-Thomass campaign funds through the university to a nonprofit to be operated by his son.

In exchange, the indictment alleges, Ridley-Thomas, who was at the time a Los Angeles County Supervisor, supported contracts involving the School of Social Work, including contracts to provide services to the county Department of Children and Family Services and Probation Department, as well as an amendment to a contract with the Department of Mental Health that would bring the school millions of dollars in new revenue.

Attorneys for both have denied any wrongdoing.

On Tuesday, the county Board of Supervisors will consider a proposal by Supervisors Hilda Solis and Kathryn Barger to hire an outside law firm to investigate the allegations against Ridley-Thomas and examine the associated county processes and policies in place.

Over the years, we have sought to prevent corruption by controlling opportunity, incentive and risk through robust processes and policies that provided transparency and accountability, according to the motion. We recommit ourselves to these principles and to a renewed assessment of further process and policy improvements.

Councilman Joe Buscaino, who serves on the Homelessness and Poverty Committee, called for Ridley-Thomas to surrender his council seat.

City Council President Nury Martinez, meanwhile, said the council will need to take appropriate action against Ridley-Thomas, although she did not provide specifics.
Former Chicago College Student Convicted of Trying to Help ISIS

A former college student from the Chicago area was convicted Monday by a federal jury of attempting to provide material assistance to ISIS, the U.S. Department of Justice said.

Thomas Osadzinski, a 22-year-old former student at DePaul University, was accused of designing a computer script that would make it easier for the terrorist organization to spread its message on social media, according to a DOJ press release.

While many social media platforms remove ISIS propaganda materials dues to the contents violent nature, the script developed by Osadzinski would automatically copy and preserve ISIS media postings in an organized format, allowing users to continue to conveniently access and share the content.

Osadzinski, a Chicago local residing in the city when he was arrested in 2019, shared his script with individuals whom he believed to be ISIS supporters and members of pro-ISIS media organizations, but who were in fact FBI personnel running a sting operation, the prosecutor said.

At various points during his conversations with FBI employees disguised as ISIS sympathizers, Osadzinski lauded his computer skills and the ability to speak very limited Arabic, and suggested he was ready to use a gun or explosives if needed.

Osadzinskis defense attorneys argued that their client possessed only rudimentary, college-level computer skill, and that his online behavior, despite the radical content in his messages, could be more accurately described as that of an internet troll desperately seeking acceptance from others.

The young man did not provide funds to ISIS, plan violent activity, acquire weapons, or take any tangible steps to causing real-world harm, the attorneys said, according to Chicago Sun-Times. They also noted that Osadzinski failed a computer class at DePaul.

The judge did not immediately set Osadzinskis sentence, but the charge of attempting to provide material support and resources to a foreign terrorist organization is punishable by up to 20 years in federal prison.

Osadzinskis conviction comes months after an Illinois man was sentenced to 12 years in prison for conspiring to provide material support to ISIS.

Joseph D. Jones, 38, was convicted in March by a federal jury on one count of conspiring to provide material support and resources to ISIS in 2019. According to DOJ, Jones began meeting with undercover FBI personnel and discussed commitment to ISIS principles. In 2017, Jones furnished cellular phones to one of the cooperating individuals, with the understanding that the phones would be used to detonate explosive devices in ISIS attacks. He also drove that individual to OHare International Airport in Chicago, believing that the person would travel to Syria to join ISIS.
French Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian attends a session at the French National Assembly in Paris, France, on Oct. 12, 2021. (Alain Jocard/AFP via Getty Images)

French Ambassador Ordered out of Belarus in Diplomatic Spat

PARISFrance says that its ambassador to Belarus has been ordered out of the country.

In a communique Monday, Frances Foreign Minister said that Ambassador Nicolas de Lacostes departure on Sunday was due to the unilateral decision of Belarusian authorities.

Local media say the move to kick the ambassador out is linked to fallout over the non-recognition by France, and other European Union countries, of Lukashenkos re-election in August 2020.

The Belarusian Foreign Ministry said that the emergency departure of the French ambassador from the country is connected with his unwillingness to present his credentials to Lukashenko.

The head of the French diplomatic mission did not express readiness to complete the procedure for assuming office as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Republic of Belarus, which is stipulated by international law and generally recognized practice, said Anatoly Glaz, press secretary of the Belarusian Foreign Ministry.

Frances Foreign Ministry explained that de Lacoste did not present his credentials to Lukashenko because it was in line with the common European position of not recognizing the legitimacy of the outcome of the August 2020 presidential election.

Lukashenko claimed victory in a sixth presidential term but the election was marred by claims of widespread voter fraud. More than 35,000 people were arrested and thousands beaten by police for protesting against Lukashenkos sixth term after an election in August 2020 that the opposition condemned as fraudulent and many Western countries refused to recognize as valid.

The French ambassador arrived in Minsk after the controversial presidential election. In December, he handed copies of his credentials to the Belarusian foreign minister, but did not want to meet with Lukashenko.

De Lacoste actively met with representatives of civil society and politicians in Belarus. Among the latest meetings were negotiations in Minsk with activists of the opposition Tell the Truth movement, which was closed by the authorities. And also a meeting on Oct. 16 with the ex-leader of Belarus Stanislav Shushkevich, who sharply criticizes the current government.

Belarusian opposition figure Pavel Latushkoa former Belarusian ambassador to Francecalled on the French ambassador to continue his mission from Lithuania.

The French Ambassador may continue his mission in the interests of developing relations between France and Belarusian society from Vilnius, Latushko said. The regime is entering open conflict both with neighboring countries and with the leading states in world politics.

Calling it an unjustified decision, France said it has taken proportionate measures regarding Belarusian diplomats in France. Belarusian Ambassador to France Igor Fisenko was recalled to Minsk for consultations, the Belarusian Foreign Ministry said.

By Thomas Adamson
Federal police officers check air passengers arriving from Britain at Frankfurt Airport, as the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues, in Frankfurt, Germany, on Jan. 30, 2021. (Ralph Orlowski/Reuters)

Germanys COVID-19 State of Emergency to Likely End Soon: Health Minister

Germanys minister of health, Jens Spahn, said the COVID-19 state of emergency that was implemented last year could soon end next month, although several states have moved to implement stricter vaccine mandates in recent days.

Specifically, he said that the special rules relating to the pandemic could end on Nov. 25 when they were slated to expire. The decision on whether to extend the federal emergency powers lies with Germanys Parliament, known as the Bundestag.

This means the state of emergency that has been in place for almost 19 months since March 28, 2020 will end, Spahn told Bild on Monday.

Without elaborating more, the minister added that Germany is moving from a state of emergency to a state of special caution. Certain rules and regulations that were implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic wont be used by the spring of 2022, he said.

The Robert Koch Institute, Spahn continued, now classifies the risk for vaccinated people as well as the risk of overburdening the health system as moderate.

But some other German officials suggested that the emergency could be extended or re-implemented later.

Determining the epidemic situation is a matter for the new Bundestag, Bavarias health minister Klaus Holetschek was quoted as saying by The Local. Among colleagues of the health ministers of the states we agree thatregardless of the determination of the epidemic situationit would be important to have a uniform legal framework in order to continue to take targeted measures.

Germanys COVID-19 state of emergency was first approved by the Bundestag in March 2020.

In recent weeks, some German states have begun to tighten rules around vaccinations. The government of Hesse confirmed to The Epoch Times on Monday that after a recent Frankfurt court ruling, all retail shopsincluding food stores and supermarketshave the option of mandating vaccine passports.

However, the spokesperson with the Hesse government noted that the move is a purely voluntary option regulation, and the government does not expect comprehensive implementation in practice  especially not in grocery stores or shops for everyday needs.

The government, the spokesperson continued, will always keep an eye on the question of necessary basic supplies for all people, according to a translation.

Elsewhere in Europe, both Sweden and Norway moved to rescind their COVID-19 restrictions in September.

It is 561 days since we introduced the toughest measures in Norway in peacetime  Now the time has come to return to a normal daily life, Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg told a news conference in late September.
Greens Leader Adam Bandt, Senator Nick McKim and Senator Mehreen Faruqi during a press conference in the Senate Courtyard at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, on May 12, 2021. (Sam Mooy/Getty Images)

Greens Pledge to Cancel AUKUS, Cut Australian Defence Spending Amid China Tensions

The Australian Greens have pledged to push for sweeping changes to the Australian Defence Force (ADF) if they hold the balance of power at the next election, including cuts to defence spending and cancellation of the AUKUS alliance.

However, such a pledge would come amid ongoing tensions in the Indo-Pacific region, including Beijings militarisation in the South China Sea.

Western Australian Greens Senator Jordan Steele-John said the party would push for the defence budget to be cut by one percent of GDP by 2026 to ensure Australia had a light and highly mobile force commensurate to the size of the country.

Further, the left-leaning party would close all foreign military bases in Australia and renegotiate the ANZUS alliance with New Zealand and the United States, while prioritising peaceful efforts in the region to tackle climate change.

The Greens are committed to reducing defence spending; this will make $312 billion available over the next decade for essential services our community needs, Steele-John said in a statement on Oct. 19. We can build one million homes, ending homelessness. We could improve ventilation in schools, making our kids safe.

We could get dental and mental health into Medicare. We could increase income support, so no one in the country needs to live in poverty, he added.

Our community does not want our future to be at the behest of the United States of America, he said. The Australian Greens are committed to re-negotiating the ANZUS alliance, we will not proceed with the AUKUS nuclear-powered submarine deal, and we will close all foreign military bases across Australia.

The party also pledged to push for a ban on the development of lethal autonomous weapons.

The Greens have gained an increasing foothold over the years across Australias state and federal parliamentsboasting nine federal senators following the most recent 2019 election. The federal Senate holds 76 seats.

Greens MPs have for years been strong advocates for environmental policy and human rights issues, speaking out against the Chinese Communist Partys (CCP) persecution of the Uyghurs and Falun Gong practitioners.

However, the comments from the Greens party come as relations between the CCP and Australia soured last year after calls by Foreign Minister Marise Payne for an independent investigation into the origins of COVID-19 in April.

In the following months, the CCP implemented a series of bans, suspensions, and regulatory hurdles on Australian coal, wine, beef, barley, lobster, timber, lamb, and cotton exports to the country.

Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg estimated that trade exports saw a drop of $5.4 billion in the year to June 2021. However, during the same period, exports of those goods to the rest of the world have increased by $4.4 billion, he told the Australian National Universitys Crawford Leadership Forum on Sept. 6.

At the same time, Prime Minister Scott Morrison and his federal counterparts have toughened their stance against CCP aggression in the Indo-Pacific, warning the region is the epicentre of rising strategic competition.

Beijing has increased its weapons development, built military bases in the South China Sea, and launched frequent incursions into Taiwanese airspace.

The government has been shoring up foreign alliances to counteract the CCPs hegemony with the ongoing Quadrilateral Security Alliance and the recently announced AUKUS alliance with the United Kingdom and the United States.

NSW Senator Jim Molan has previously warned that the ADF was underprepared for any potential outbreak of conflict saying that despite increased defence spending from the federal government, it still left Australia with a defence force that is not lethal enough.

Its not sustainable enough, and it cant fight for a long period of time  A lot of people say they are a one-shot defence force, he told Emeritus Professor of Law David Flint in an episode of Australia Calling.

Meanwhile, the AUKUS pact will not only see the U.S. and UK governments assist Australia with acquiring nuclear-powered submarinesa move that will significantly change the power balance in the Indo-Pacificit will also spur greater collaboration on development in cyber, artificial intelligence, quantum technologies, and undersea capabilities.

The U.S. and UK militaries will also look at stationing more troops and military forces permanently in Australia.
Hacking Group Is Stealing Personal Data, Communications From Telecom Carriers, Researchers Find

A group of hackers has gained access to telecommunications infrastructure and is retrieving personal information and communications records, according to a report released Tuesday by cybersecurity company CrowdStrike.

The group, known as LightBasin, has operated since at least 2016 and is utilizing scanning/packet-capture tools to retrieve highly specific information from mobile communication infrastructure, such as subscriber information and call metadata, according to a report written by Jamie Harris and Dan Mayer at CrowdStrike.

Rather than hacking individual devices, the hackers are infiltrating global telecommunications networks to access personal data, according to the report. The researchers identified 13 telecommunications companies that LightBasin hacked since 2019.

They dont need to deploy the malware onto your phone if theyre owning the network that your phone is riding on, Adam Meyers, senior vice president of intelligence at CrowdStrike, told CyberScoop. Meyers said that the hackers were able to intercept text messages, as where this is happening, and the scale that its happening, theres still quite a bit of text message traffic that occurs.

The researchers also noticed that the hackers used tools that required knowledge of the Chinese language, but they did not assert a direct connection between the hacking group and China.

This report reflects the ongoing cybersecurity risks facing organizations large and small and the need to take concerted action, a spokesperson for the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency told Reuters. Common sense steps include implementing multifactor authentication, patching, updating software, deploying threat detection capabilities, and maintaining an incident response plan.

By Ailan Evans

From The Daily Caller News Foundation

Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.
Armed police ride in the back of a truck after the streets of the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince were deserted following a call for a general strike launched by several professional associations and companies to denounce insecurity in Port-au-Prince on Oct. 18, 2021. (Richard Pierrin/AFP via Getty Images)

Haiti Gang Demands $17 Million to Release US and Canadian Missionaries

A notorious Haitian gang accused of abducting 17 missionaries, most of them Americans, demanded $17 million in ransom for the kidnapped individuals release, according to multiple reports.

Haitian Justice Minister Liszt Quitel said the gang dubbed 400 Mawozo demands $1 million per person in order to set the missionaries free, the Wall Street Journal reported, which quoted Quitel as saying.

The gang kidnapped the groupseven women, five men, five children, all U.S. citizens except one Canadianon Oct. 16 in Ganthier, a commune that lies east of the capital of Port-au-Prince, Haitian police inspector Frantz Champagne told The Associated Press.

The missionaries were on their way home from building an orphanage when the incident occurred, Ohio-based Christian Aid Ministries said in a message. The ages of the abducted children reportedly range between just 8 months and 15 years. The missionaries are affiliated with the Christian Aid Ministries.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said during a press briefing on Monday that the U.S. government is helping with the rescue efforts.

The FBI is part of a coordinated U.S. government effort to get the U.S. citizens involved to safety, Psaki said. Due to operational considerations, were not going to go into too much detail on that, but can confirm their engagement.

Psaki noted that President Joe Biden also had been briefed on the audacious abduction and is receiving regular updates on the investigation conducted by FBI and U.S. State Department officials to bring the missionaries back home safely.

In recent years, the Oct. 16 abduction is the largest reported incident of its kind in the Caribbean country, with Haitian gangs growing more brazen and abductions spiking as the country is attempting to recover from a magnitude 7.2 earthquake that struck southern Haiti on Aug. 14 and killed more than 2,200 people.

In April, a man who claimed to be the gangs leader told a radio station that it was responsible for abducting five priests, two nuns, and three relatives of one of the priests that month. They were all later released again.

At least 328 kidnappings were reported to Haitis National Police in the first eight months of 2021, compared with a total of 234 for all of 2020, said a report last month by the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti.

The Department of State currently lists Haiti as a do not travel country, noting high crime, kidnappings, civil unrest, and COVID-19.

Kidnapping is widespread and victims regularly include U.S. citizens, the agency warns on its website. Kidnappers may use sophisticated planning or take advantage of unplanned opportunities, and even convoys have been attacked.

Kidnapping cases often involve ransom negotiations and U.S. citizen victims have been physically harmed during kidnappings. Victims families have paid thousands of dollars to rescue their family members.

Jack Phillips and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

From NTD News
Passengers arrive back in the UK at Heathrow Terminal 2, during England's third national lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus, on Jan. 29, 2021. (Yui Mok/PA)

Heathrow to Raise Passenger Charges by up to 76 Percent

Heathrow airport has been given the go-ahead to hike passenger charges by up to 76 percent.

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) announced its plan to raise the cap on the west London airports average charge per passenger from the current level of 19.60 ($26.80) to between 24.50 and 34.40 ($33.60 and $47.20).

The airline industry branded Heathrow a monopoly-abusing hub airport.

Under the proposals, the exact charge will depend on factors such as passenger demand and commercial revenue, with prices higher if Heathrow continues to struggle in those areas.

The range is planned to come in effect from summer 2022, with an interim cap of 30 ($41) being introduced on January 1.

Charges are paid by airlines but are generally passed on to passengers in airfares.

Luis Gallego, chief executive of British Airways parent company IAG, said Heathrow is already the worlds most expensive hub airport and the disproportionate increase in passenger fees compared with other European hubs will undermine its competitiveness even further and UK consumers will be losing out.

His counterpart at Virgin Atlantic, Shai Weiss, claimed the CAAs proposals fail to protect the British consumer, paving the way for Heathrow Airport to introduce unacceptable charges.

He accused the airports owners of seeking to secure hundreds of millions in dividends to shareholders.

He added: We will oppose these proposals in the strongest terms to protect passengers.

Tim Alderslade, chief executive of trade body Airlines UK, said the CAA is the industrys last line of defence against a monopoly-abusing hub airport.

He continued: Monopolies will always try it on and thats why we need a strong regulator to clamp down on what is blatant gouging.

CAA chief executive Richard Moriarty said: Our principal objective is to further the interests of consumers while recognizing the challenges the industry has faced throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

These initial proposals seek to protect consumers against unfair charges, and will allow Heathrow to continue to appropriately invest in keeping the airport resilient, efficient, and one that provides a good experience for passengers.

Heathrow had called for the cap to range from 3243 ($44$59) for the five-year period being consulted on.

The airport said in July that its losses from the COVID-19 pandemic had hit 2.9 billion ($3.98 billion).

Passenger numbers in September were just 38 percent of pre-pandemic levels.

A Heathrow spokesman said: While it is right the CAA protect consumers against excessive profits and waste, the settlement is not designed to shield airlines from legitimate cost increases or the impacts of fewer people travelling.

He added that the power of private investment has led to the airport being ranked by passengers as one of the best in the world, and for this to continue the settlement should safeguard a fair return for investors.

Heathrows owners include sovereign wealth funds from China and Qatar, Spanish construction firm Ferrovial, and large infrastructure funds.

The airport has reportedly paid out nearly 4 billion ($5.49 billion) in dividends to shareholders since 2012.

The CAAs consultations on the interim price cap and the wider proposals will run until Nov. 17 and Dec. 17 respectively.

By Neil Lancefield
(L to R) President Joe Biden, First Lady Jill Biden, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, FBI Director Christopher Wray, and others attend the Annual National Police Officers' Memorial Service at the U.S. Capitol. (DHS Photo/Benjamin Applebaum)

Homeland Security Secretary Tests Positive for COVID-19 Two Days After Event With Bidens

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday although he is fully vaccinated, according to a spokesperson for the agency.

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokesperson Marsha Espinosa said Mayorkas tested positive this morning for the COVID-19 virus after taking a test as part of routine pre-travel protocols.

Mayorkas is experiencing only mild congestion; he is fully vaccinated and will isolate and work at home per [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] protocols and medical advice. Contact tracing is underway, Espinosa added.

The diagnosis came after Mayorkas attended the Annual National Peace Officers Memorial Service at the Capitol alongside President Joe Biden on Sunday. Its not clear if the two came into close contact with one another.

To Secretary of Homeland Security Mayorkas, thank you for being here and for the great job youre doing for us, Biden said during the event. Thank you very, very much. And its a tough job.

Photos published by the Department of Homeland Security online show Mayorkas standing less than one foot away from First Lady Jill Biden, who is standing next to the president. Mayorkas, according to the photos, was also seen standing next to FBI Director Christopher Wray.

The Bidens are vaccinated against COVID-19, the disease caused by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus. President Biden, 78, received his third COVID-19 vaccine dose several weeks ago.

Mayorkas, 61, was scheduled to travel with Secretary of State Antony Blinken to Colombia but is now at home.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) describes COVID-19 breakthrough cases as fully inoculated individuals who test positive.

Former Secretary of State and Army Gen. Colin Powell, 84, died earlier this week of complications from COVID-19, according to his family. He was vaccinated but was also being treated for blood cancer.

Several other high-profile Washington officials who have reported breakthrough CCP virus cases include State Department spokesman Ned Price and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.). Graham became the first vaccinated senator to test positive earlier in August.

Reps. Joseph Morelle (D-N.Y.) and Darren Soto (D-Fla.), who are also vaccinated, tested positive in recent days.

Mayorkas last month came under considerable fire after thousands of mostly Haitian illegal immigrants gathered and camped underneath a bridge in Del Rio, Texas. In late September, the secretary confirmed that about 12,000 Haitians were released into the interior of the United States.

And last week, the Texas Department of Public Safety and DHS confirmed to Border Report that both agencies are anticipating a possible surge of thousands of more illegal immigrants who reportedly are gathering to form a caravan in Mexico and are heading north.
Ralph Baric is often referred to as the godfather of gain-of-function experiments. His lab at the University of North Carolina has pioneered groundbreaking techniques in virus manipulation and reconstruction.

Those techniques were used on bat viruses at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, with whom Baric has cooperated since at least 2015.

More recently, Baric has downplayed his association with the Wuhan lab, going so far as to suggest the labs notably lax safety standards may have caused the pandemic.

Barics statements have set him on a collision course with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), who denounced him in two recent statements.

We look at the history between Baric and the Wuhan lab and assess the CCPs new fixation on Baric.

Welcome to Truth over News with Jeff Carlson and Hans Mahncke.

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Hundreds of parents, teachers, and students rallied nearby the Huntington Beach pier as part of the state-wide "walk-out" to denounce Californias COVID-19 vaccine mandate for K-12 students in Huntington Beach, Calif., on Oct. 18, 2021. (Mei Li/The Epoch Times)

Hundreds Rally Against Student COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate in Huntington Beach

HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif.Hundreds of parents, teachers, and students rallied near the Huntington Beach pier Oct. 18 as part of the state-wide walk-out to denounce Californias COVID-19 vaccine mandate for K-12 students.

Protesters gathered along the Pacific Coast Highway and Main Street for the planned statewide school walkout with signs stating my body, my choice, respect my choice, and I cant breathe.

Lets go Brandon! was chanted, referencing a joke regarding President Joe Biden as drivers passed by honking and cheering in support.

Judy Booker, a special education teacher at Westminster High School arrived at the pier shortly after being escorted out of her classroom by school officials for not complying with weekly COVID-19 testing and refusing to receive the vaccine.

I didnt plan to leave, Booker told The Epoch Times. Im not sick. I have no symptoms, and Ive already had to take 10 days off from someone who had COVID, had the vaccine, [and] came in with COVID and infected 130 of us who had to be taken off-campus.

According to Booker and her colleague Landey Jordanwho was also present at the rallyunvaccinated staff who refuse to be tested will receive eight days of personal pay, followed by unpaid time off.

The testing policy for unvaccinated staff requires all school personnel to show proof of full vaccination or be tested weekly as of Oct. 15.

Both Brooker and Jordan left behind their classrooms without lesson plans for temporary substitute teachers since they were forced to take a leave of absence.

Hundreds of parents, teachers, and students rallied nearby the Huntington Beach pier as part of the state-wide walk-out to denounce Californias COVID-19 vaccine mandate for K-12 students in Huntington Beach, Calif., on Oct. 18, 2021. (Vanessa Serna/The Epoch Times)

During Mondays walk-outs, Many California parents did not take their children to school in protest of the mandate.

Nena Lopez, a special education teacher in Los Angeles County, said she intentionally scheduled time off to attend the protest alongside her husband and two children.

We are making a stand and showing our schools, our employers that when and if they impose these mandates, this is what their schools will look like, Lopez told The Epoch Times. It will look like an empty classroom for my special ed students. It will look like fewer students in their school because they will be homeschooled.

Lopez is prepared to pull both her children out of their Orange County school if the vaccine mandate is enforced.

Another parent rallied with her three sons, in favor of allowing for the choice to choose whether or not to receive the vaccine.

Its crazy how people can scream my body my choice, but it doesnt apply to our kids, Cathlene Echen told The Epoch Times. Parents are going to take their kids out of school if they mandate this. Hopefully, school districts will stand up and fight for our kids.

Hundreds of parents, teachers, and students rallied nearby the Huntington Beach pier as part of the state-wide walk-out to denounce Californias COVID-19 vaccine mandate for K-12 students in Huntington Beach, Calif., on Oct. 18, 2021. (Vanessa Serna/The Epoch Times)

In response to the walkout, Ian Hanigan, a spokesman for the Orange County Department of Education, told The Epoch Times the rules they implement follow directives from the California Department of Public Health, the governors office, and the Orange County Health Officer.

Despite disagreement from opposing staff, parents, and students regarding the school vaccine mandate, Hanigan stated the county is not authorized to create independent health policies that impact public safety.

Parents are within their right to protest any state policies or laws with which they disagree, Hanigan said. At the same time, we strongly believe students should be at school with their peers and teachers during the day.

The statewide school walkout comes weeks after Gov. Gavin Newson announced the requirement for students to receive the jab once the U.S. Food and Drug Administration fully approves the vaccine for each age group.

While there continues to be encouraging signs and were continuing to see progress with more and more people who maybe were on the fence that are now getting the vaccine  theres still a struggle to get to where we need to go, and that means we need to do more and we need to do better, Gov. Gavin Newsom said when he announced the mandate.

Pfizers vaccine has full FDA approval for those 16 years and up and is offered to those as young as age 5 under an emergency use authorization.

Newsom said depending on when full authorizations for the vaccines are granted by the FDA, the mandate would take effect on Jan. 1, or July 1, 2022.
Husband Arrested 10 Months After California Mother Disappears

A California man was arrested following a SWAT team raid for the alleged murder of his wife, who disappeared from their home nine months ago, officials and a lawyer said.

The Chula Vista Police Department confirmed that Larry Millete was arrested in the death of Maya Millete, a mother of three. She disappeared at the start of 2021, family members have said.

Today, the Chula Vista Police Department is announcing the arrest of Larry Millete for the murder of his wife, May, Chula Vista Police said in a news release on Tuesday.

Billy Little, a lawyer representing the family of Maya Millete, told Fox News that a SWAT team stormed the residence of her husband in Chula Vista. He was named as a person of interest in the case in July, and a restraining order was served against him two months before that.

Detectives have shared leads and evidence regarding Mays disappearance with the multi-agency working group. The investigators have conducted numerous search warrants on physical locations, digital evidence, and social media content as well as conducted interviews of witnesses to generate new leads and obtain evidence, the police department said.

More than 85 interviews have been carried out with friends, family members, neighbors, and witnesses, the department said. Meanwhile, the department said it obtained more than 130 tips in Mayas possible location.

On the day she disappeared, the woman reportedly made an appointment with a divorce lawyer, according to her sister. Maya Millete had worked as a defense contractor at the Naval Base in San Diego.

But Larry Millete claimed in September that he believes his wife voluntarily left him and their three children voluntarily.

My wife May voluntarily left me and our three children We do not know her whereabouts. Her disappearance is considered suspicious or criminal. The Chula Vista Police Department stated that I am not a suspect and there is no evidence of foul play, he said in a court declaration last month.

Its not clear if Larry Millete has an attorney.
People wait in line at a mass vaccination and testing clinic at the Moncton Coliseum in Moncton, N.B., on Sept. 22, 2021. (The Canadian Press/Christopher Katsarov)

Ideology of Mandated Consent Pushed by Media Doesnt Keep People Informed

Commentary

Looking at the phrase informed consent on a page, its obvious it contains two interdependent words. Theres the noun consent, which means, well, agreement. And theres the adjective informed, which means you know everything possibly necessary about what youre agreeing to.

As phrases go, its not that complex. So why, when it comes to the medical-political matrix of COVID-19, has the Canadian and U.S. mainstream media apparently decided that the informed part of the two-word binary is pretty much dispensable?

Put another way, why are so many otherwise fine and fully functional journalists furiously fixated on pushing the ideology of mandated consent when their actual job is to provide the informed part?

Put another way still, why do I have to get behind the paywall of a tiny Ottawa-based subscription news service to learn what should be top of the newsfeeds from now until COVID no longer overwhelms water-cooler conversation?

Last week, for example, I discovered, thanks to the indefatigable folks at Blacklocks Reporter, that my federal government has budgeted $75 million as compensation fund including burial expenses for victims of extreme adverse COVID vaccine reactions. Citing Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) data, the news service detailed just how many of those extreme adverse reactions there have been.

A total 29,091,447 Canadians have received at least one COVID shot, it reported. The Agency said it was aware of 4,675 adverse events following immunization reports that were serious including 545 cases of temporary facial paralysis, 148 strokes, 126 heart attacks, 83 cases of Guillain-Barre Syndrome, a rare autoimmune disorder that can cause paralysis, and 37 expectant mothers who lost their babies due to spontaneous abortion.

Blacklocks also reported that the PHAC is investigating up to 195 Canadian deaths that mightits not yet certainbe the direct result of COVID vaccination.

Now, you can play those numbers any way you wish in the great vaccination debate of 2021 (on which I am partially on no side and all sides, by the way). One friend to whom I mentioned them, an unwavering vaccine opponent, said word is that those numbers are way too low. Another friend took out his trusty calculator and noted the possible cases of death represent 0.00067 percent of vaccinations.

Fair enough all around. Thats what information does. It gives you the means to develop an informed opinion, if only as a form of practice in case you should ever be faced with the need for giving informed consent. It lets you make your judgments rather than having someone else arbitrarily make them for you.

Its opposite is what the linguist, cognitive scientist, and celebrated left-wing agitator Noam Chomsky called manufactured consent in a book that came out just before the Gulf War fiascos of the 1990s and early 2000s.

Those wars were, of course, the first and only time in human history that a government was caught convincing an entire population to go along with utterly wrong-headed policy by deliberately refusing to provide essential information so that peopleincluding wholly co-opted journalistscould make judgments for themselves. OK, I made that part up. Lying by omission is what governments have done for millennia. They cant help themselves. As in the famous story of the scorpion that stings to death the frog carrying it across the lake, its their nature.

But it is supposed to be the nature of journalism, most emphatically in democratic countries, to provide the antidote for the toxin of government lying and information obfuscation.

So, again, why did I have to rely on tiny paywalled subscription service Blacklocks to learn that one of my federal governments own websites featured a legal opinion dating from 1996 (the entry apparently has been removed) that mandatory vaccination is unconstitutional in Canada?

Unlike some countries, immunization is not mandatory in Canada; it cannot be made mandatory because of the Canadian Constitution, states Health Canadas Canadian National Report on Immunization, Blacklocks reported, adding that health officials would not comment on their own websites content.

Wasnt there a popular phrase last year that silence is violence? Well, whether it is or not, its obviously a go-to move in the political violation of informed consent.

And moving beyond COVID, why must I read The Epoch Times to feel Im getting the full picture of what is going on with Canada-China relations, for example? Why must I feel like so much of the mainstream media information I get on that issue is filtered through a sock puppets mouth? I guess the simplest answer is that I must because I must. Otherwise, I wouldnt be informed.

The good news is that through the proliferation of independent outlets such as The Epoch Times, Blacklocks, Substack newsletters, and so on, I need just accept the half-offerings of institutional journalism that seems to have decided its job is to help manufacture consent.

In a phrase, I can dissent from that redefinition of consent and inform my judgments for myself.

Editors note: This article was updated to reflect the correct ratio of the number of deaths that could be related to vaccination, to the total number of vaccinations.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
A crowd at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021. (Jose Luis Magana/AP Photo)

In Jan. 6 Footage, Either Officers Stand Aside, or Riotous Mob Breaches the Capitol

Federal prosecutors say previously undisclosed Jan. 6 videos show a riotous mob forcibly breaching the U.S. Capitol and endangering the lives of all those inside, while defense attorneys contend that the footage reveals law enforcement facilitating the entrance of protestors.

Viewers can decide for themselves, since the videos are no longer secret.

The newly released evidence stems from the case of alleged Proud Boys member Ethan Nordean, who is accused of obstructing or impeding an official proceeding, among other crimes. Buzzfeed first published the videos on Oct. 18 following Judge Timothy Kellys order a week prior for them to be made publicly available.

The evidence consists of two 40-minute videos taken from cameras inside the Upper West Terraceone camera pointed toward an outside door and the other surveilling an inside door.

Most of the initial action comes from the camera pointing toward the inside. Around 2:33 p.m., the camera reveals Jan. 6 participants already inside, with what appears to be a police officer holding the inner door open for people to enter and exit.

As an increasing number of Trump supporters enter the area, four additional police officers arrived on the scene around 2:36 p.m. The five officers moved toward the outside door around 2:42 p.m. to stop more people from entering.

The camera pointing toward the outside door captured what seem to be the most contentious moments, starting around 2:42 p.m., when some protestors appeared to be in a heated conversation with police as the number of people outside swelled.

Tensions eased for a moment when two women in winter parkas appeared from the inside and eased past both the officers and the protestors to exit the building. Less than a minute later, the police officers went back inside, followed by the crowd.

But by around 2:46 p.m., numerous other officers came from the chaotic outside, and law enforcement appeared to have the inside area back under their control.

According to defense attorney Dave Smith, his client, Nordean, entered the Capitol building between 2:37 and 2:38 p.m.around the time footage showed a stream of Trump supporters filing between officers, before those officers attempted to stop additional people from entering.

[The video] depicts Nordean passing through a Capitol Building entryway hall, Smith said in his July 29 motion to make the footage public. Two law enforcement officers stand aside as Nordean and others proceed into the building.

The Department of Justice disagreed with Smiths characterization.

In actuality, the video as a whole depicts a riotous mob forcibly breaching the Capitol and endangering the lives of, among others, law enforcement who swore to protect the Capitol, the public servants who work there, and private citizens who, unlike Defendant, lawfully and peacefully petition the Legislative Branch, the DOJ said in a July 29 response.

The DOJ filed another motion on Aug. 13, arguing that releasing the videos would compromise the security of the Capitol building. Prosecutors argued that the footage is particularly sensitive because it depicts the interior of Capitol Hill, revealing information less likely to be obtained through other means.

But on Sept. 9, a group of media outletsincluding Buzzfeed, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journalfiled its own brief in support of making the videos public. The outlets argued that government lacked justification for keeping the videos secret, given that footage from the exact same location had already been made public.

Prosecutors filed a notice on Oct. 8 that they no longer opposed the videos being made public. They didnt say why they changed their position.

Judge Kellys Oct. 11 order is for government to remove the sensitivity designation of the footage in question, and to make the videos public via the courts drop box technical solution, which allows credentialed media to view video exhibits.

Kellys decision follows a similar decision on Sept. 21, when U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell ordered Jan. 6 footage to be made public in the case of defendant Eric Torrens.

Meanwhile, defense attorney Smith has also filed a motion for Nordeans bail application to be reconsidered in light of a federal judge finding that the D.C. Department of Corrections violated the rights of Jan. 6 detainees.

Nordean is currently in a Seattle jail, but Smith said the government plans to transfer his client to the D.C. jail if his application for bail fails again.

Nordean faces up to 20 years imprisonment for obstructing or impeding an official proceeding. He was also charged with aiding and abetting, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison; as well as knowingly entering or remaining in restricted building or grounds, and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, which each carry a maximum penalty of one year in prison.

A status hearing for this matter is scheduled for Oct. 26, with Nordeans trial set for next May.
Is It Time to Rethink Supremacy of EU Law Over Member States?

Commentary

A major constitutional crisis is currently brewing in the European Union (EU).

The cause of the crisis is the recent decision by the Polish Constitutional Court that some European laws and decisions of the Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ) conflict with Polands constitution. Therefore, the court has considered whether Polish membership in the EU necessarily results in the supremacy of European law whenever there is a perceived or actual conflict with national law.

Specifically, the Polish court decided that articles 1 and 19 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU) diminish Polish sovereignty.

Article 1 of the TEU stipulates that the Member States confer competences on the EU to attain objectives they have in common. While Article 19 establishes that the ECJ shall ensure that in the interpretation and application of the treaties, the law is observed.

The Polish Constitutional Court decided that the TEU and its associated treaty on the functioning of the EU are merely international treaties that a later, incompatible national law can override.

There is no doubt that the judgment of the Polish Constitutional Court, in concluding that national law prevails over incompatible provisions of European law, is legally defective.

Indeed, the ECJ decided long ago that EU laws take precedence over all national laws and that the supremacy of European Law principle is essential to maintain the EU as a supranational legal system.

The principle of the supremacy of European law has been well-understood since the early days of the Unions predecessor, the European Community. Thus, for example, in Costa v Enel (1964), the ECJ declared that the transfer by the States from their domestic legal system to the Community legal system carries with it a permanent limitation of their sovereign rights.

In a subsequent case, Amministrazione delle Finanze dello Stato v Simmenthal SpA (1978), the ECJ also held that:

A national court which is called upon  to apply provisions of community law is under a duty to give full effect to those provisions, if necessary refusing of its own motion to apply any conflicting provision of national legislation.

Following the release of the judgment of the Polish Constitutional Court, members of the European Parliament have demanded that regular payments to Poland be frozen with daily financial penalties imposed on it. In implementing this demand, the EU has now made it, so EU funding is contingent upon respect for the rule of law.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki arrives for a European Union leaders meeting in Brussels, Belgium, on June 24, 2021. (Johanna Geron/Pool/Reuters)

However, a misinterpretation or even disregard by a national court of EU law does not violate the rule of law because courts occasionally decide cases before them wrongly. If so, the freezing of funds may itself be an egregious violation of EU membership because the failure to disburse funds to Poland would constitute that of a punishment.

Surely, then the threat of withholding funds functions as a sword to scare member states into submission, and this is a breach of the rule of law which is unacceptable from a legal point of view.

Rather than threatening Poland with the withholding of regular payments, the EU should instead use Article 258 of the EU treaty on the Functioning of the EU to seek redress. This article, known as an infringement procedure, declares that if the Commission considers a member state has failed to fulfil an obligation under the Treaties, it shall deliver a reasoned opinion on the matter after giving the State concerned the opportunity to submit its observations.

As the principle of the precedence of European law is a cornerstone, it becomes imperative to look for other reasons which may have precipitated the judgment of the Polish Constitutional Court. Primarily is it possible that the bureaucratic machinery of the EU in Brussels disregards the expectations of the more conservative member states in the union, including Poland and Hungary?

An honest examination of conservative-leaning EU member states may result in a reconsideration of the legitimate expectations of the people of the union.

Such examination aligns with article 1 of the TEU which promises that EU decisions will be taken as openly and as closely as possible to the citizen.

Indeed, suppose one considers the judgment of the Polish Constitutional Court that EU decisions do adversely affect the lives of Polish people and the sovereignty of the nation. In that case, the EU administration in Brussels should be abundantly aware of the discontent currently existing in Poland.

Furthermore, the burgeoning crisis should serve as an invitation for the EU members to revisit the present arrangements regarding the relationship between the EU and its member states. It should ideally be based on the idea that sovereignty resides in the peoplenot the bureaucracy.

The alternative is the further disintegration of the European Union, with Polexit a real outcome if Brussels does not understand the brewing controversy.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Jury Selection Begins in Trial Over Ahmaud Arberys Death

BRUNSWICK, Ga.As jury selection got slowly underway Monday in the trial of three men charged with fatally shooting Ahmaud Arbery as he was running in their Georgia neighborhood.

Father and son Greg and Travis McMichael and their neighbor William Roddie Bryan are charged with murder and other crimes in Arberys death on Feb. 23, 2020, just outside the port city of Brunswick.

With hundreds called, jury selection could last two weeks or more. Arberys father said he was praying for an impartial panel and a fair trial.

The first panel of 20 jurors was sworn in and questioned Monday afternoon.

When Judge Timothy Walmsley asked the group if their minds were neutral regarding both sides of the case, only one raised a hand. Asked if they were already leaning toward either side, about half raised their hands to indicate yes.

Please raise your card if you would like to serve on this jury, prosecutor Linda Dunikoski instructed as she wrapped up her questions for the group.

At first, nobody did. Finally, one young man raised his hand.

Jason Sheffield, one of Travis McMichaels attorneys, asked the group whether they had any negative feelings about the three defendants. More than half raised their hands.

After being questioned as a group, the potential jurors were questioned individually. Their answers reflected the intense attention the case has attracted, their existing ideas about the case, and their apprehensions about being involved in such a high-profile case.

An Air Force veteran and gun owner who was the first to be questioned said he had a negative impression of Greg McMichael but not the other defendants.

I got the impression he was stalking, the man said, saying he based that on news coverage and from seeing the video of the shooting fewer than five times.

From what I observed, he appeared to be the lead dog, the panel member said of Greg McMichael, a retired investigator for the local district attorneys office. Still, he said he had not made up his mind about innocence or guilt.

Another panelist said he had seen so much about the slaying in the news and on social media that Im sick of it.

He said he shared the video of Arberys shooting on social media and discussed the case with his brothersone of whom was also among the 1,000 people mailed a jury summons in the case.

A retired accountant said she had negative feelings about the defendants but tried to avoid an opinion on guilt or innocence. She also expressed misgivings about sitting on the jury.

How would I feel if I was asked to render a verdict that was unpopular? she said. Any verdict, guilty or innocent, is going to be unpopular with some people.

Maybe Id even feel unsafe, she added.

Prosecutors say Arbery was merely jogging when the McMichaels grabbed guns and chased him in a pickup truck. Bryan joined the pursuit in his own truck and recorded the now-infamous cellphone video of Travis McMichael shooting Arbery three times at close range with a shotgun.

As she was questioned by defense attorneys, one potential jurora young woman whos a teacherhad harsh words for Bryan.

His videotaping the scene was disgusting and vicious, she said. However, at the same time Im thankful that he did, because we are able to see what happened.

Defense attorneys insist the three men committed no crimes. Greg McMichael told police they believed Arbery was a burglar after security cameras previously recorded him entering a nearby home under construction. He said Travis McMichael fired in self-defense after Arbery punched him and tried to grab his weapon.

Investigators have testified that they found no evidence of crimes by Arbery, who was unarmed, in the Satilla Shores subdivision.

As a precaution against the coronavirus, 600 jury pool members were ordered to report to a gymnasium to provide room for social distancing. They were summoned to the courthouse in groups of 20, Glynn County Superior Court Clerk Ronald Adams said.

Ultimately, 12 jurors will be seated plus four alternates to fill in for any jurors who get sick or are dismissed before the trial ends.

The judge dismissed eight total potential jurors before adjourning Monday evening. Four others were individually interviewed but no final decision was made on their status. Jury selection was to resume Tuesday morning.

Once a jury is seated, the trial itself could take more than two weeks, Adams said.
Media, Govt Misinformation Affect Thousands of Western Australians Against Vaccine Mandates

Western Australians angry over the states vaccine mandates for around 100,000 health and mining workers have grown increasingly frustrated about the misrepresentation of them from both the state government and local media.

This comes as thousands of West Australians took to the city centre in the states capital, Perth, on Oct. 16 to protest government directives that will force WAs health, construction and mining workers to either get vaccinated or lose their livelihoods.

Currently, the decision to mandate vaccines has evoked increasing criticism of the McGowan government, particularly from nurses, midwives, health sector administrative staff, miners, and construction workers, among others who have protested for the third time in the past month to argue that vaccination should be a choice.

But the crowd also expressed irritation towards the portrayal of protestors from state media and government as anti-vaxxers.

A nurse speaking at the event stated that rally goers who had stood up against mandatory vaccination requirements were not against vaccines in generalin contrast to claims from WA Premier Mark McGowan and some media reports.

We are not anti-vaxxers. As a nurse, I had all vaccinations that were required, she said. What were about, Mr. McGowan, is we are anti-mandatory medical treatments.

West Australian Premier Mark McGowan addresses the media at a press conference at Dumas House in Perth, Australia, on Apr. 27, 2021. (Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images)

Other grievances included allegations of underrepresentation of attendee numbers across the protests, as well as portrayal from media of far-right extremists within the crowd.

Do we look like Nazis? Do we look like fascists? the nurse said.

A regular speaker at the anti-mandate events, Judy Wilyman, said that reports had falsely painted a handful of individuals as representative of the overall crowd.

Why does the media present biased information when two people out of 6,000 are not a representation of the type of people that are at the protest, Wilyman told The Epoch Times.

Any journalist that turns up and decides that its satisfactory to interview two extreme looking people when the majority of people there are parents and grandparents trying to be heard regarding their childrens health  you know, I find that mind-blowing.

Wilyman, who is a social science researcher specialising in critiquing Australias immunisation policy, is best known in Australia for her PhD Thesis, A critical analysis of the Australian governments rationale for its vaccination policy, which received heavy criticism from the scientific community.

Speaking at the event, Wilyman said that such actions from the government and media had worked to divide and significantly undermine relations between family and friends.

With terms such as vaccinated and unvaccinated people, we now have a toxic discriminatory society where family and friends have been divided due to the false information being provided by Mark McGowans government and by the [media].

The crowd also expressed growing discontent towards McGowan after he said last month that protestors attending the rallies should grow a brain.

This is a real low point in history where a premier thinks its acceptable to tell us to grow a brain, Wilyman told The Epoch Times. He is showing contempt for the citizens that he is meant to represent.

The Epoch Times reached out to the McGowan government for a response but did not receive a reply.
The GM logo is seen on the facade of the General Motors headquarters in Detroit, Mich., on March 16, 2021. (Rebecca Cook/Reuters)

Michigan Judge Tosses GM Lawsuit Against Fiat Chrysler

WASHINGTONA Michigan judge has thrown out a lawsuit that General Motors filed against Stellantiss Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) that accused its rival of fraud and unfair competition.

GM sued FCA in 2019, alleging it bribed United Auto Workers (UAW) union officials over many years to corrupt the bargaining process and gain advantages, costing GM billions of dollars.

Wayne County Circuit Judge David Allen on Friday dismissed GMs state court lawsuit, which also named two former FCA executives who previously pleaded guilty in a Justice Department bribery probe.

The judge said that GM failed to adequately demonstrate that FCA caused it any actual, legally recognizable harm through its bribery scheme.

Allen noted that GMs allegations against FCA spanned more than a decade, dating back to 2009, adding: Even the most enthralling drama must eventually reach a conclusion. This one is no exception.

GMs lawsuit had sought damages in an amount to be determined at trial, including but not limited to the billions of dollars in damages GM suffered.

Stellantis spokeswoman Shawn Morgan said on Sunday: As we have said from the date the original lawsuit was filed, it is meritless. The courts once again agreed and dismissed GMs complaint.

A GM spokesman said on Sunday, We respectfully disagree with the ruling and are considering our legal options.

In July 2020, U.S. District Judge Paul Borman rejected GMs federal racketeering lawsuit that made parallel bribery claims against FCA. GMs appeal of Bormans ruling is pending.

In August, Stellantiss North American operating subsidiary known as FCA US LLC was sentenced in federal court after pleading guilty to conspiracy to violate the Labor Management Relations Act.

FCA was convicted of making $3.5 million in illegal payments to UAW officers between 2009 and 2016. FCA paid a $30 million fine and faces three years of oversight by an independent monitor.

To date, 14 have been convicted in the probe, including three former FCA executives and two former UAW presidents.

By David Shepardson
Pharmacist Colleen Teevan reconstitutes the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine before having it administered to people at the Hartford Convention Center in Hartford, Connecticut, on Jan. 4, 2021. (Joseph Prezioso/AFP via Getty Images)

Nearly 100 Unvaccinated Workers at Yale New Haven Health Fired: Officials

Nearly 100 workers at Yale New Haven Health have been fired for refusing to comply with the health systems COVID-19 vaccine mandate, officials confirmed on Monday.

Yale New Haven Health has so far moved to terminate 94 employees, a spokesperson told FOX 61, adding that the figure could change as we track where each employee is in the process of receiving their first and second vaccination.

On June 30, Yale New Haven Health, along with other hospital-based health systems in Connecticut, mandated all members of its workforce, including employees, medical staff, volunteers, students, contractors, and traveling staff, to be vaccinated against COVID-19 by Monday as a condition of employment. Exceptions have been made for medical or religious reasons in some cases.

We continue to work with our employees to provide convenient options for vaccination, as well as education to assist with their decision making, the spokesperson said, adding that a number of the companys employees will in the coming weeks become eligible to receive their second dose of the vaccine against COVID-19, the disease caused by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus.

As long as they receive that second dose, they will not be terminated and they are not included in the aforementioned number, the spokesperson added. We are working with leaders and employees to ensure compliance with our policy in an effort to provide safest environment for patients and staff.

Associate Chief Clinical Officer Dr. Ohm Deshpande told the New Haven Register that the employees were notified on Monday that theyre being separated from the organization.

According to the news outlet, just last week officials expected 225 employees out of more than 28,000 to be terminated for refusing to comply with the requirement.

I think in the last few days, people either got vaccinated or extremely delayed sent in their proof of vaccination, Deshpande said, noting that more than 700 employees were granted exemptions.

Many more applied but not all of them received them, Deshpande added. Theyre the only ones who will get weekly testing.

Deshpande said that those who have been fired will be welcomed back with open arms if they decide to get their vaccination.

Yale New Haven Health officials say the majority of employees who havent complied are in food services, environmental services, and finance departments.

The Epoch Times has reached out to Yale New Haven Health for comment.
Reuben Sunday, killed by terrorists in Nkiedoro, Nigeria, on the anniversary of a massacre there in 2017. (Lawrence Zongo/The Epoch Times)

Nigeria: Truth-Telling Event Marred by Murders

Warning: This article contains graphic photos.

JOS, NigeriaBefore a celebration of conflict reporting could even begin, the tragedy of conflict intruded.

Unknown gunmen killed a man who has supported journalists in Nigeria, just hours before a press conference aimed at commemorating victims of a massacre and celebrating breakthroughs in coverage of the little-noticed war in the country against Christians.

Reuben Sunday, 28, was ferrying attendees on his motorcycle to the event when unknown terrorists sprayed him and his three passengers with automatic rifle fire. Killed along with Sunday were David Amos, 42, and his son Abednego Amos, 8, while 12-year-old Emma Amos is recovering in a hospital in Miango.

He was ambushed while transporting the other victims to the conference venue, said Lawrence Zongo, a freelance reporter who contributes to The Epoch Times. He appeared distraught throughout the press conference that he spearheaded.

The victims were on their way to Nkiedoro village, and Reuben offered them a free ride. He could have been targeted for his role in exposing the activities of terrorists, Zongo said.

Reuben was my beloved brother in the struggle for justice for our people. He was a counselor and friend, my driver. He traveled with me to horrible places to reveal high-level terrorism by Fulani militants. He took many risks for me and my partners, not worrying about his life or family.

Lawrence Zongo mourns his slain friend Reuben Sunday. (Courtesy Lawrence Zongo)

The Fulani are a Muslim tribe that is accused of conducting a campaign against Christians in Nigeria.

The press conference on Oct. 16 was to commemorate the Oct. 15, 2017, massacre of 29 unarmed civilians in a classroom at a military-occupied elementary school in Nkiedoro village west of Jos, the capital of Plateau state.

At the same press event, Zongo presented a TV documentary that credited reports written for The Epoch Times by freelance conflict reporters for raising awareness about what some call a Christian genocide.

29 Murdered

The day of Oct. 15, according to survivors, revives traumatizing memories of the 2017 murder of 29 defenseless women and children in full view of Nigerian soldiers who stood by and watched.

No one has been held accountable for the murders, according to war correspondent Lara Logan, who featured Zongos account in her Nigeria documentary for Fox Nation. Excerpts of the documentary are available on the YouTube channel of the International Committee on Nigeria.

The attack on Reuben Sunday and his three friends, the second in a week in the same district, is one more in a continuing series of violent acts, said Mallison Davidson, a spokesperson for a tribal association.

Every day, we are faced with one attack or the other by the Fulani marauders. If its not destruction of ripe farm crops, its killing, or looting of household items, Davidson told The Epoch Times.

This is coming barely a week after we buried another three killed in this same district by the same terrorists, without any action by the government or its security forces.

Armed attacks by Fulani terrorists in Plateau state over the past two decades have left close to 30,000 Christians dead, according to Solomon Maren, a representative in Nigerias national legislative body.

The attacks happened even under the watch of a large military task force, Maren told The Epoch Times.

Governments failure to protect citizens is leading to calls for self-help, he said. It is becoming clearer that the people we thought would be there for us are either not ready, or they seem to have instructions from other quarters not to be there.

As leaders, we must stand with the people and speak for the people. Unfortunately, very few leaders are willing and are ready to do that. This is very worrisome, but most importantly a call for us as citizens to heal ourselves, talk to ourselves, and help ourselves, said Maren, who represents the Mangu/Bokkos constituency at the Nigerian House of Representatives.

Marens views are shared by other thought leaders, including former defense chief Gen. Theophilus Danjuma, who has urged citizens to take up arms and defend themselves against attacks.

Complicity Claimed

Kyle Abts, executive director of the International Committee on Nigeria (ICON), has accused President Muhammadu Buhari and Plateau state Gov. Simon Lalong of complicity with terrorists.

Buhari and  Lalong are to blame for the persisting attacks in the State, Abs said in a goodwill message at the school shooting anniversary. We can debate all day on who is to blame but let us be clear. There is an organized group that we term Fulani militants who are well-equipped and orchestrated to carry out brutal attacks and commit genocide in strategic locations. They are to blame.

Yet, despite not being able to directly implicate President Buhari or Governor Lalong, they are complicit, because they have failed to protect citizens nor have they brought a single perpetrator to book, Abts said.

According to survivors, Allahu Akbar (Allah is greatest) chanting terrorists speaking Fulani dialect attacked Nkiedoro village with AK-47s and petrol bombs on Oct. 15, 2017, shooting and burning houses. Residents sought to flee until they were ushered by the military into a classroom in the Nkiedoro government primary school located on the outskirts of town, with a promise of protection.

Corpses on a classroom floor after a massacre on Oct. 15, 2017, in Nkiedoro, Nigeria. (Lawrence Zongo/The Epoch Times)

They seized our phones and asked us to go into the classroom, said Adamu Wuh, who recalled sighting a soldier having a conversation with armed men in civilian clothes minutes before the shooting.

Around 5:30 p.m., we heard gunshots. I was running behind some children who went and hid behind the school. I was going to do the same when one of the soldiers ordered me to go into the classroom. He asked me to hand him my phone, and I did. They locked the door behind me when I entered the classroom to join about 30 others already seated.

When I entered, I did not sit like the others. I just wandered around in the classroom, restless, Wuh told The Epoch Times. I went to peep from the door to see if I could get an idea of what was happening, and I saw one of the soldiers talking with the Fulani and pointing to the classroom. I instantly rushed to open a window, but before I succeeded, the Fulani had opened the door and entered. I managed to jump out before they started shooting.

The military was complicit during the attack, says Ezekiel Bini, president of the Irigwe Youth Movement.

They betrayed us and failed us for no reason, Bini said at the anniversary event.

The Nigerian military promised them safety from the attackers. They were locked in the classroom and killed by Muslim Fulani terrorists. We cant forget the memory of this injustice done to us.
NSW Extends Tutoring Program and Invests Into Improving Air Quality in Schools

The New South Wales (NSW) government has announced additional funding into the states education system as students begin returning to classrooms.

The COVID-19 Intensive Learning Support Program will be extended to help any students who need help catching up, and funding will be invested into the indoor air quality in schools.

Premier Dominic Perrottet said following the positive reception and uptake of the learning program; the government would commit an additional $383 million to continue supporting students into next year.

We know our students are resilient, but theres no doubt that 2021 has been a tough year, with many students learning from home for twice as long as last year, Perrottet said.

Early insights from the ongoing evaluation of the program show that students are bouncing back thanks to the intensive tutoring delivered through the program, and we are committed to helping them do so again next year.

Treasurer Matt Kean said the program had exceeded its employment goal by providing more than 7,500 employment opportunities to educators around the state. He said the extension of the program would only further build on this success.

Education Minister Sarah Mitchell said the program that was introduced in Term 1 of this year has been highly effective at helping students get back on track.

Principals and teachers I have spoken with over the last few months have been unanimous in their support for the program in meeting their individual school and student needs, Mitchell said.

Our additional investment for 2022 will continue the focus on literacy and numeracy and enable us to strengthen the provision of online tuition, ensuring greater accessibility to meet student need.

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet speaks during a press conference in Sydney, Australia, on Oct. 18, 2021. (Brendon Thorne/Getty Images)

The state government will also invest $100 million into assuring the indoor air quality in classrooms. Perrottet said it was part of the governments commitment to keeping the community safe as the community adapts to living with COVID-19.

The funding will enable us to support ongoing improvements to air quality in public schools, making schools some of the best ventilated spaces in the community, he said.

Works will include installing automatic fresh air ventilation systems, replacing windows, ceiling, and exhaust fans, and providing air purifiers where necessary.

Mitchell said it should give parents confidence when sending their children back to school.

What this program does is leverage the insights from our comprehensive audit and expert advice to future-proof our learning spaces not just for COVID-19, but for bushfires and other air quality issues, she said.
People gather at the scene of a massive car bomb attack in the Karradah district of Baghdad, Iraq, on July 4, 2016. (Hadi Mizban/AP Photo)

Officials: Iraq Arrests Mastermind of Deadly 2016 Bombing

BAGHDADIraq said Monday it has detained the mastermind behind a deadly 2016 bombing in a Baghdad shopping center, which killed around 300 people and wounded 250.

The suicide car bombing in the central Karradah district was the deadliest attack by a single bomber in the Iraqi capital after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that toppled Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

Two Iraqi intelligence officials said the man identified as Ghazwan al-Zobai, an Iraqi, was detained during a complex operation that was carried out with the cooperation of a neighboring country they did not name. He had been tracked by authorities for months.

They told The Associated Press that al-Zobai was detained in an unidentified foreign country and transported to Iraq two days ago. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak of the operation on the record.

The 29-year-old al-Zobai was an al-Qaida militant when he was imprisoned by the Americans in Iraq at Cropper prison until 2008, and then escaped from Abu Ghraib prison in 2013. He joined the ISIS terrorist group after that.

Iraqi women wait to hear about family members who went missing after a bomb hit Karradah, a busy shopping district in the center of Baghdad, Iraq, on July 3, 2016. (Hadi Mizban/AP Photo)

The officials said al-Zobai plotted many attacks in Iraq, the most infamous of which was the 2016 bombing in Karrada in 2016. He operated under the Alias Abu Obaida.

At least 292 people died from the bombing, most of them from an ensuing fire that turned the Hadi shopping center into an inferno. The blaze was fed by a tinderbox of shops filled with clothing and oil-based perfumes for sale and lined with flammable panels.

Al-Zobais arrest came in the second such operation conducted by the Iraqi National Intelligence Service since Iraqs federal elections on Oct. 10.

Iraqi officials said they captured Sami Jasim, an ISIS leader last Monday in a similar operation abroad. Jasim had a $5 million bounty on his head from the U.S. State Departments Rewards for Justice program, which describes him as having been instrumental in managing finances for IS terrorist operations.

By Qassim Abdul-Zahra
Weapons that were surrendered due to the National Firearm Amnesty are seen at the Victoria Police Forensic Services Centre in Melbourne, Australia, on Aug. 11, 2017. (Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)

Over 100,000 Guns Registered in Australian State Declared Missing

Victoria Police have told the Coroners Court of Victoria that an estimated 101,821 guns are currently reported by police as either lost, stolen, or destroyed without record in the Australian state.

The figures were released by Victorias coroner, Judge John Cain, as part of his findings from the inquest into the death of Marilyn Burdon, 70, who was shot and killed by her partner, lawyer Charles Bisucci, in August 2017. Bisucci then fatally turned the gun on himself.

Despite the high number of guns with unknown whereabouts in Victoria, The Epoch Times understands that poor administration has led to thousands of duplications on record.

Additionally, thousands more firearms were recorded as historic due to the firearms reconfirmation list only having minimal entries since 2006.

Victoria Polices Licensing and Regulation Division are currently undertaking a review, due to conclude at the end of the year, called Operation Ravelings, to verify the correct status and location of all firearms on this list.

Acting Superintendent John Cahill, LRD, said in a statement to The Epoch Times that while there was a significant number of guns on the reconfirmation list, each record didnt equate to a firearm in the community.

Historical data shortfalls and administrative errors are expected to have significantly contributed to the overall number of firearm records on the reconfirmation list, with all duplicate and incorrect entries currently in the process of being identified and removed, Cahill said.

We also expect a sizable portion of these firearm records will have either been previously destroyed or are now registered in other jurisdictions, including interstate and overseas, he said.

Cahill said that Victoria Polices review had already confirmed 11,000 firearm records as either being destroyed or a duplicate record.

A further 11,000 are thought to be low risk to the community because they are air rifles or antique firearms, which did not require registration in Victoria prior to 1996.

They are also either low powered or do not have available ammunition.

Victoria Police remains steadfast in its commitment to keeping the community safe by reducing the number of unregistered and illegal firearms in the community, Cahill said.

The review also looks into how many firearms on the reconfirmation list were destroyed during the 1996 to 1997 Australian Firearms Buyback and other subsequent firearm amnesties.

Police suspect that many firearms were also destroyed prior to 1996 when there was no requirement for them to be taken to Victoria Polices Forensic Services Centre for destruction.
A nurse holds a syringe with Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine in Los Angeles, Calif., on Aug. 22, 2021. (Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images)

Pennsylvania Hospital System Mitigates Worker Shortage With Bonuses, Vaccine Deferrals

As a worker shortage plagues most businesses, St. Lukes University Health Network is using several strategies to mitigate employee loss, including how it administers the federal vaccine mandate, and large sign-on bonuses for new workers.

St. Lukes operates 12 hospitals and more than 300 outpatient locations in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The health system recently issued a press release announcing that it has achieved its vaccine mandate goal.

Natural immunity and health impacts have been considered at St. Lukes University Health Network as it navigates President Joe Bidens employee vaccine mandate requiring vaccination or termination.

While some companies are only now announcing vaccine policies, St. Lukes announced a vaccine mandate on Aug. 9, requiring that all employees without exemptions or deferrals be vaccinated by Sept. 25. Ultimately 668 workers skipped the vaccine, receiving exemptions or deferrals from St. Lukes.

By the Sept. 25 deadline, 68 full-time employees and 87 part-time/per diem employees chose not to become vaccinated and resigned, the press release said.

Of workers who did not get vaccinated, 46 received a medical exemption, 406 were granted a religious exemption, and 216 were granted a temporary deferral for pregnancy or a positive COVID-19 test within the last year.

Those with exemptions or temporary deferrals will undergo weekly COVID-19 tests as a condition of continued employment.

Dr. Jeffrey Jahre, a St. Lukes infectious disease and internal medicine specialist, stressed during an appearance on FOX News that the deferrals for pregnancy or a positive COVID-19 test within the last year are temporary and that the health system is committed to employees getting the COVID-19 vaccine. The deferral allows more time to make a decision and is not a permanent exemption.

Natural immunity can provide protection that is equal or superior to the vaccine, Jahre said.

To attract and retain new employees, St. Lukes is offering registered nurse and graduate nurse bonuses of $20,000 for all acute care and $15,000 for all specialty areas, in exchange for a 2-year commitment, according to its website. New time-off benefits are also being offered.
Polish Army soldiers are seen in front of the Border Guard headquarters in Michalowo, Poland, on Oct. 11, 2021. (Kacper Pempel/Retuers)

Poland Deploys Thousands More Soldiers on Belarus Border

Poland strengthened its border with neighboring Belarus by adding nearly 3,000 soldiers as the country recently reported record-high migration levels, prompting stepped-up security measures, the defense minister said on Tuesday.

Almost 6,000 soldiers from the 16th, 18th, and 12th divisions are serving on the Polish-Belarusian border, Polish Defence Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said in a statement on social media.

The soldiers provide support to the Border Guard by protecting the countrys border and not allowing it to be illegally crossed, he added.

On Oct. 16, prior to Tuesdays additional troop deployment, Blaszczak said more than 3,000 Polish soldiers are protecting the border. With the fresh troops, the Polish-Belarusian border will have a significant expansion of military presence as nearly 6,000 troops are now operating in the border region.

The temporary fence, which we started to build in July, limited its illegal crossing. If it werent for the fence and the great cooperation of soldiers and the Border Guard, we would have had a migration crisis comparable to that of 2015, Blaszczak said.

In late August, shortly after the Taliban terrorist group took control over the Afghan capital, Poland started the construction of an 8.2-foot (2.5-meter) high fence along its 260-mile (418-kilometer) border to halt the flow of illegal immigrants.

Last week, Polish officials announced plans to spend more than $400 million on further improving its border defense by building a solid barrier along the countries border with Belarus.

Polish border patrol officers guard a group of migrants who attempted to cross the border between Belarus and Poland near the village of Usnarz Gorny, Poland, on Aug. 18, 2021. (Grzegorz Dabrowski/Agencja Gazeta/via Reuters)

Jarosaw Kaczynski, leader of the Law and Justice party and the deputy prime minister of Poland, said that the new wall should replace the temporary fence and protective measures now in place.

As of Oct. 17, there had been around a total of 9,600 attempts to illegally cross the border this month alone, the Border Guard said, adding that on Oct. 18, there were 612 attempts to cross the border illegally.

In early September, Poland declared a state of emergency as thousands of illegal immigrants, mostly from Iraq and Afghanistan, tried to unlawfully enter the country. The Border Guard also said in a statement in August that illegal border crossings have reached record heights.

The European Commission and Warsaw say the flow of illegal immigrants has been orchestrated by Belarus as a form of hybrid warfare designed to put pressure on the European Union over sanctions it imposed on Minsk, a move the Belarusian regime has denied.

Reuters contributed to this report.

From NTD News
A container terminal is seen in the port of Rotterdam, the Netherlands on March 21, 2016. (Michael Kooren/Reuters)

Port of Rotterdam Freight Volumes Rise 15 Percent as Economy Recovers

AMSTERDAMFreight volumes in the port of Rotterdam increased 15 percent on a yearly basis in the third quarter as international trade continued to recover from its COVID-19 slump, Europes largest sea port said on Tuesday.

Trade flows to and from Rotterdam have been almost 9 percent higher in the first nine months of the year, with strong growth in almost all segments, the port said.

These figures show that the economy is continuing its upward path. Factories, businesses and logistics are operating flat out again to meet increased demand, the ports Chief Executive Allard Castelein said.

Strong consumer spending has pushed container freight back to pre-pandemic levels, the port said, while transport prices rose sharply.

As a consequence, the number of containers arriving in Rotterdam increased faster than the total amount of goods shipped, as transport of relatively heavy, low-value goods declined.

The economic recovery also pushed up demand for bulk goods such as iron ore, used to make steel, crude oil, and oil products.

Transport of coal almost doubled in the first nine months of the year, as the supply of wind power and gas was not nearly enough to cover Europes increasing energy needs.
A Tibetan monk walks past ruins at the Gedan Songzan Monastery at Zhongdian, in China's Yunnan Province, on April 23, 1998. Much of the 300 year-old monastery was destroyed by radical communists during China's Cultural Revolution. (Greg Baker/AP Photo)

Religious Freedom in China Is a CCP Myth

The CCPs tight control of religious expression since 1949 is actually increasing in recent years

Commentary

Religious expression is tightly managed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in order to propagate socialist policies in support of state objectives.

The agitprop in communist Chinas state-run media never stops, but sometimes the lies are beyond the absurd. This is especially true as it relates to the discussion of religionor, rather, its suppression. For example, here is a headline from the English version of state-run China Daily: Religious freedom, ethnic unity highlighted. Note the first sentence from that trash article (emphasis added): Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, has underlined the importance of fully implementing the Partys theories and policies concerning ethnic groups in order to further promote equality, unity, mutual assistance and harmony among all of them. The reality is that those laudable goals are arbitrarily determined by the CCP, not through free religious expression by a free people.

Let us examine the reality of religious freedom in China because that China Daily article masks decades of communist persecution of the religious in the country.

Like Marxists everywhere throughout history, the CCP since its founding in 1921 has practiced thought control by ruthlessly persecuting religious people. Except for five state-recognized religions, the CCP through the Religious Affairs Bureau (RAB) banned the practice of other religions when it seized power in 1949. RAB measures over the years have involved thought control, persecution, and the squelching of any religious thought that is not in line with CCP policies.

All religious organizations and practices were further constrained during the madness of Mao Zedongs Cultural Revolution (19661976). Millions of religious Chinese were persecuted, tortured, and killed during this period.

Chinese Catholic worshippers kneel and pray during Palm Sunday Mass during the Easter Holy Week at an underground or unofficial church near Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province, China, on April 9, 2017. China, an officially atheist country, places a number of restrictions on Christians, allowing legal practice of the faith only at state-approved churches. The policy has driven an increasing number of Christians and Christian converts underground to secret congregations in private homes and other venues. (Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

Since 1949, there are five religions formally recognized by the Chinese Communists (ChiComs): Buddhism, Taoism, Protestantism, Catholicism, and Islam. Formal recognition equates to government permission given to central churches to operate legally under the watchful eyes of local municipal public security bureaus and the United Front Work Department.

Religious persecution accelerated in China after the elevation of CCP leader Xi Jinping in 2012. A 2016 report from the Christian charity China Aid called the religious persecution by the CCP to be the worst since the Cultural Revolution.

The religious persecution in Xis China is comprehensive and pervasive. According to a Freedom House report in 2020:

 All religious leaders are vetted for political reliability, for example, adherence to CCP policies.

 Limits are placed on the number of priests, pastors, and other religious leaders.

 At least 100 million Protestant Christians, Tibetan Buddhists, Uyghur Muslims, and Falun Gong practitioners face persecution in some form.

 Especially targeted are Muslims in Xinjiang where the coercion has suppressed the wearing of traditional religious attire, mosque attendance, and even the choice of names for newborns.

 The state-run reeducation camps in Xinjiang use a points-based system for measuring the effectiveness of ideological reeducation efforts and determining detainees eligibility for release.

Pressure on religions in China was dramatically increased with the implementation of new rules for religious groups in early 2020. Six chapters and 41 articles detailing the new administrative measures govern the organization, functions, supervision, and management of religious groups. Article 3 states that religious clergy should love the motherland, support the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and support the socialist system. One of the objectives of these new measures is to reinterpret Christian teaching according to socialist doctrine as interpreted by the CCP. All religions are coerced to highlight Chinese culture and support the leadership of the CCP in their religious practices.

The pressures on so-called illegal religions have been accelerating in 2021, too, as reported by Chinascope. Illegal religions refer to Christian house churches, Catholic underground churches, or some Buddhist, Taoist, Islamic or other religious organizations that do not participate in official religious activities, according to Chinascope. Only the five tightly controlled and corrupted state-approved religions are allowed to practice perverted versions of their religious activities in China. The ability of people to freely express their religious faith is simply not permitted in the country.

The purpose of religious persecution is to control the very private thoughts and beliefs of the Chinese people: It is all about control of all religious activities and expression to ensure conformity of state-approved thought among all citizens. It is also a form of psychological warfare against Chinese citizensa constant pressure to conform to CCP policies in thought, word, and deed. The free exchange of religious ideas, especially those pointing to a spiritual power higher than the government, is antithetical to the Chinese regime and cannot be tolerated, as such concepts undermine CCP control and authority.

Official religious activities is a typical Marxist euphemism that refers to organized churches that can be easily monitored and controlled by the government and its informers, especially Beijings United Front Work Department. As reported by Chinascope, Pastor Liu Yi, who fled CCP persecution to establish the Chinese Christian Fellowship of Righteousness in California, made this statement based on direct personal experience: The [CCP] have used the pulpit of the church to become the mouthpiece for propagating the policies of the Chinese Communist Party. For example, the sermons from a church in Zhejiang circulating online are very telling. They are not preaching the Bible, but rather, the propaganda of the Communist Party.

So much for official religious activities approved by the communists! Official churches in China are neutered just like the Russian Orthodox Church was during the Soviet era (and since).

Falun Gong adherents are also persecuted mercilessly by the CCP, who view them as a direct threat to CCP legitimacy because they are an indigenous religious movement outside of government control, compared to the five heavily-regulated official foreign religions. The three tenets of Falun Gong are truth, compassion, and tolerance, which are completely antithetical to ChiComs. The CCP often leverages traditional Chinese cultural xenophobia to control the masses and stir up animosity against foreign religious practices. That doesnt work well with the homegrown Falun Gong, whose adherents practice large-scale civil disobedience and propagate underground anti-CCP literature with impunity, making them a top priority for suppression by the CCP.

Falun Gong practitioners in a vigil commemorating the 22nd anniversary of the persecution in China, in Los Angeles, Calif., on July 18, 2021. (Courtesy of Debora Cheng)

In mature communist societies where the communist party has maintained control for decades, religious persecution generally waxes and wanes as the communists feel moreor lesssecure in their political control. Despite that cheery agitprop article from China Daily, religious persecution in China is increasingespecially of ethnic Uyghurs, Tibetans, and the Falun Gong. This just might be an indication that Xi and the Central Committee feel threatened by world events and seek to ensure domestic tranquility in order to better focus on foreign affairs. A docile citizenry is critical to CCP pursuit of interests beyond the mainland, not the least of which include Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Afghanistan.

Conclusion

Religious freedom in Chinalike virtually all of the narratives propagated by Chinese state-run mediais a myth. In fact, the obverse is true. Religious persecution is ratcheted up whenever CCP control is determined to be threatened. As the world finally discovers the true origins of the CCP virus (commonly known as the novel coronavirus), as well as the extreme measures taken by the Chinese regime to destroy and withhold medical data from other countries, the pressure for accountability and restitution will continue to build.

Despite the frantic efforts from the CCP-controlled state media to shift the blame to others, increased religious persecution in communist China might well be a harbinger of grim times aheadfor the Chinese people themselves and very likely the rest of the world, too, as the CCP regime faces mounting pressures.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
The logo of Russia's state communications regulator, Roskomnadzor, is reflected in a laptop screen showing Google start page, in this picture illustration taken on May 27, 2021. (Maxim Shemetov/Illustration/File Photo/Reuters)

Russia May Fine Google up to $240 Million Over Content Deemed Illegal

Russia said on Tuesday it is seeking to fine Google more than $200 million after the U.S. tech giant repeatedly failed to remove content deemed illegal by Moscow.

Communications regulator Roskomnadzor said Google had failed to pay 32.5 million roubles ($458,100) in penalties levied so far this year and that it would now seek a fine of 5 to 20 percent of Googles Russian turnover, which could reach as much as $240 million.

Roskomnadzor, Russias Federal Supervision Agency for Information Technologies and Communications, is the countrys service responsible for censorship in media and telecommunications.

Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Russia has increasingly penalized technology firms that fail to comply with Russian laws for a number of months.

In September, Russia urged Google and Apple to remove a tactical voting app from its online store that was linked to Kremlin critic and jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny as polls opened across the country for three days of voting in a parliamentary election.

The Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalnys Smart Voting app is seen on a phone, in Moscow, Russia, on Sept. 16, 2021. (Shamil Zhumatov/Reuters)

The app is part of the Smart Voting project, which was created by a team of Navalny supporters. It was designed to organize a tactical voting campaign to channel votes opposing United RussiaPresident Vladimir Putins ruling political party.

That same month, Russian authorities also blocked access to the Smart Voting website, which aims to identify candidates who are in the strongest position in the Sept. 19 election in order to channel opposition votes. Some internet users were still able to access it.

Opposition activists have accused both tech firms of caving to Kremlin pressure after they removed the anti-government tactical voting app from their stores.

In early October, Roskomnadzor said it would ask a Russian court to impose a fine on Facebook of up to 10 percent of its annual turnover, citing legislation signed by President Vladimir Putin in December 2020.

The regulator told news agency Reuters in a statement on Oct. 19 that a similar case will be put together against Google.

Reuters contributed to this report.

From NTD News
Work is done on a new border wall being constructed in Jacumba, Calif., on Jan. 22, 2021. (Sandy Huffaker/Getty Images)

Senate Democrats Bill Shifts Border Patrol Funds to Remove Border Wall

President Joe Biden pledged during the 2020 campaign that he would not build another foot of the wall his predecessor began on the U.S. border with Mexico, but Senate Democrats appear to be setting the stage to tear it down, at least in places.

Senate Budget Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) on Oct. 18 made public nine proposed spending bills, including one for the Department of Homeland Security, regarding Customs and Border Protection, stating: Provided further, That not to exceed $50,000,000 may be transferred to the Department of the Interior for mitigation activities, including land acquisition, related to construction of border barriers on federal lands.

The $50 million would be shifted from the nearly $2 billion Congress provided on a bipartisan basis during the Trump administration for the construction of a border wall to slow or stop the flow of illegal immigrants entering the country from Mexico.

Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) issued a statement on Oct. 18 saying the Democrats bill would also allow Border Patrol funding to be transferred to remove border wall on public lands.

A Republican committee aide told The Epoch Times that there is nothing in the language that would limit mitigation from including removal/deconstruction of the Trump wall on public lands.

Jay Tilton, Leahys spokesman on the appropriations panel, told The Epoch Times the provision refers only to environmental mitigation efforts.

The committee report on the Interior funding bill notes that portions of the new wall erected under President Donald Trump have caused permanent destruction of ecological and cultural resources. Portions of these barriers were built on 625 acres of public lands, home to sensitive and protected species of plants and animals, which were transferred to the United States Army from the Department of the Interior.

The report stated that while immediate construction has ceased, the associated disturbances of the barriers themselves, plus associated utility corridors and road networks, continue to disrupt wildlife movement and habitat, watersheds, and land conservation activities.

In addition, the report stated that a commission is to be established to convene a multi-agency process to identify harm inflicted by construction of border barriers and recommend a data-driven plan to develop mitigation strategies in response to border barrier related construction. This strategy shall ensure that any actions taken maintain security along the border.

The bill report also requires the commission to include in its deliberations non-governmental organizations with environmental and cultural preservation expertise. In a Democratic administration, such organizations typically include liberal nonprofit activist groups that opposed the construction of the border wall.

Because all human activities on protected federal lands are strictly regulated and because, according to the bill report, construction of the barrier sections did not include the completion of typically required environmental reviews, the commission to be established could define mitigation as requiring deconstruction of some sections of the wall.

Shelby also noted in his statement that in the midst of the worst border crisis in decades, Senate Democrats bills will:

Cut funding for the Department of Homeland Securitys core border security activities.

Reduce (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) ICEs detention capacity and hobble its enforcement and removal capabilities for those who are in the country unlawfully.

Implement policies that will allow certain criminal aliens to be turned free in the United States.

Rewrite immigration law to change the way visas are distributed, including to allow visas for persons from countries where vetting processes are substandard.

Allow the federal government to employ non-citizens participating in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program (FSGG, Leg Branch).

In a related development on Oct. 19, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) introduced the Stop the SURGE Act to address the surge in illegal border crossings along the southwest border by establishing new ports of entry for processing migrants in accordance with the Immigration and Nationality Act and section 362 of the Public Health Service Act.

The Cruz proposal, according to a statement issued by his office, is to demand President Biden, his administration, and congressional Democrats address the unprecedented man-made crisis on the South Texas border and their political decisions that directly created it.

This legislation would establish new ports of entry in 13 communities across the country and mandate that all illegal aliens encountered at Border Patrol Sectors in Texas be transferred to these new ports for processing.

Cruz added in the statement that for the past ten months, President Biden and his administration have willingly surrendered the United States southern border to dangerous criminal cartels, with no thought given to the South Texas border communities like McAllen and Del Rio, which are running low on resources from dealing with this massive influx of illegal immigrants.

If Washington Democrats had to endure even a fraction of the suffering South Texas families, farmers, ranchers, and small businesses have had to face, our nations immigration laws would be enforced, the wall would be built, and the Remain in Mexico policy would be re-implemented.

The new ports of entry would include Block Island and Newport, Rhode Island; Marthas Vineyard, Cambridge, and Nantucket, Massachusetts; Governors Island and Scarsdale, New York; Palo Alto, Yountville, and St. Helena, California; Rehoboth Beach, Delaware; Greenwich, Connecticut; and North Hero, Vermont.
Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) speaks during the Senate Judiciary Committee on the fourth day of hearings on Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett, on Oct. 15, 2020. (Susan Walsh / POOL / AFP via Getty Images)

Senators Introduce Bill Aimed at Controlling Big Tech and Restoring Competition

A dozen Republican and Democratic senators on Oct. 18 introduced a bill aimed at stopping Big Tech from limiting consumer choice and restoring competition online.

Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) joined Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) in introducing the bill, known as the American Innovation and Choice Online Act.

It is cosponsored by Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Mark Warner (D-Va.), Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), and Steve Daines (R-Mont.).

The bill would help to restore competition online by establishing commonsense rules of the road for dominant digital platforms to prevent them from abusing their market power to harm competition, online businesses and consumers and from reducing incentives to innovate, according to a statement issued by Kennedy.

Big Tech has a track record of unfairly limiting consumer choices and thwarting free-market competition. The American Innovation and Choice Online Act would help offer consumers more options at competitive prices from businesses online, which is what the American economy is supposed to do best, said Kennedy.

The American Innovation and Choice Online Act, which is similar to a bill introduced earlier this year by House Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust Chairman David Cicilline (D-R.I.), would make it illegal for large tech companies to engage in discriminatory behavior, including disadvantaging rivals.

Specifically, it would prohibit dominant Big Tech platforms like Amazon and Alphabets Google from abusing their power by favoring their own products and services, disadvantaging rivals, or discriminating among businesses that use their platforms in a way that harms competition on the platform.

It would also prohibit certain harmful conduct, such as misusing a businesss data to gain a competitive advantage, requiring a business to buy a dominant platforms goods or services for preferred placement on its platform, preventing another businesss product or service from interoperating with the dominant platform or another business, and banning them from biasing search results to favor the platform.

The bill would also give antitrust enforcers the power to hold large tech companies accountable for illegal behavior by giving them a range of tools to deter such violations.

Last week, Klobuchar doubled down on the need for such a bill, stating a lack of opportunity for smaller businesses due to fierce competition.

As dominant digital platformssome of the biggest companies our world has ever seenincreasingly give preference to their own products and services, we must put policies in place to ensure small businesses and entrepreneurs still have the opportunity to succeed in the digital marketplace, Klobuchar said in an Oct. 14 statement.

The Google app is seen on a smartphone in this illustration taken on July 13, 2021. (Dado Ruvic/Reuters)

An illustration file photograph shows the logos of Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft displayed on a mobile phone and a laptop screen. (Justin Tallis/AFP via Getty Images)

However, the bill would have dramatic implications for companies such as Google, Apple, and Amazon, which have been suspected of positioning their own products above their competitors in order to generate higher profits.

The giant tech companies have denied any wrongdoing.

Amazon said it fears the bill could harm consumers and small businesses that utilize its online store. It urged Congress to consider these consequences before rushing through the ambiguously worded bill.

Prior to the bills announcement, Brian Huseman, vice president of Amazons Public Policy, said in a statement that, if it were to became law, the bill would harm consumers and the more than 500,000 U.S. small and medium-sized businesses that sell in the Amazon store, and it would put at risk the more than 1 million jobs created by those businesses.

It would also jeopardize Amazons ability to operate a marketplace for sellers, and it would significantly degrade the benefits of Amazon Prime that customers love, Amazon said.

Google said that the measure would make it more difficult for companies to offer free servicessuch as Googles own maps and searchand would make those services less safe, less private and less secure.

Meanwhile, Facebook, which said that it competes with a range of social media, including TikTok and Twitter, said antitrust laws should not attempt to dismantle the products and services people depend on.

The bill would not break up the companies or force them to drop services but bars some bad behaviors that affect businesses that rely on their platforms, said Stacy Mitchell with the Institute for Local Self-Reliance who said that she would prefer a more aggressive bill.

Klobuchar said companies including Spotify, Roku, Match Group, and DuckDuckGo have endorsed the bill.

The bill is one of several that a bipartisan group of 30 U.S. state attorneys general are urging lawmakers to pass in an effort to tighten antitrust laws aimed at Big Tech companies.

They include the Ending Platform Monopolies Act, the Platform Competition and Opportunity Act, the Augmenting Compatibility and Competition by Enabling Service Switching (ACCESS) Act, the Merger Filing Fee Modernization Act, and the State Antitrust Enforcement Venue Act.

Reuters contributed to this report.
Protesters march against Quebecs decision to impose a vaccine passport system across the province starting Sept. 1, in Montreal on Aug. 14, 2021. (The Canadian Press/Peter McCabe)

Silencing Open Debate on Vaccines Fuels Mistrust

Commentary

A new poll confirms that Canadians distrust their unvaccinated fellows. Whatever happened to faith in one another? Or skepticism about authority? Do we expect to flourish as a nation of angry sheep? Baaaa humbug.

I probably must repeat the disclaimer that I am vaccinated. Despite qualms about the massive use of untested mRNA technology and skepticism about the wisdom or honesty of those in power, I figured the risk was probably lower than from COVID. But it doesnt mean I think the vaccines are magic.

Indeed, while I was writing, newswires reported that former U.S. secretary of state Colin Powell died from COVID complications. The stories hurried to assure us he was fully vaccinated, not some angry loser kook who didnt believe the science and then died. That COVID killed him anyway was apparently not relevant.

Not to me. My second thought, after RIP, was I guess the vaccines dont work very well. As I also wonder whether wearing T-shirts over our faces is medically sound. And whether asking intelligent questions is not merely a permitted luxury but a civic duty.

Again, I grant that in the initial crisis it made sense to comply first and question second. But surely second has arrived.

Recently a friend sent a video of an immunology professor denouncing these vaccines for their largely unknown hazards and as garbage that doesnt protect you. And no, thinking vaccines should work does not make me an anti-vaxxer, something now routinely linked with being a climate denier (and a misogynist, to hear former Canadian Minister of Climate Change Being the Worst Thing Ever Catherine McKenna tell it.) But nowadays a host of issues, including Albertas equalization referendum, are liable to provoke sneers, not syllogisms.

Such an attitude worsens the problem it seeks to address. Widespread resistance to COVID vaccination is driven partly by a pervasive breakdown in trust that will not be repaired by the authorities and a fairly sizeable mob trying to teach their fellows a sharp lesson about not being team players.

If people are genuinely deranged about vaccines, from non-existent side effects to non-existent conspiracies, it is important to refute their arguments. You may even scoff. But it is not important to silence debate over whether some unorthodox treatments for COVID might work, whether some orthodox treatments are dubious, whether we must sacrifice our rights in this permanent crisis, etc.

Remember, weak arguments will not prevail in open debate.

Remember, weak arguments will not prevail in open debate.

No, its not a typo. I wrote it twice because of Orwells We have now sunk to a depth at which restatement of the obvious is the first duty of intelligent men. Except nowadays, the first duty of persons of intelligence is to Google that they restated it accurately.

I did. But Id forgotten that this passage leads right into another Orwell zinger: If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.

Not the right to force them to listen, of course. Let alone compel speech, I remind a certain Canadian court. But to benefit from free speech we must be able to hear and also willing to listen, and if we end up not agreeing, to explain why instead of hurling insults or asking the government to shut or lock them up.

For instance, Im actually not a big fan of the religious exemption argument. So heres my reason: Broadly speaking, conscience rights let you avoid certain activities at the cost of foregoing their benefits. But if God tells you to burn tires in your yard, Caesar rightly tells you not to.

In return I claim the right to ask whether the mandates violate our liberties and, if so, whether its justified by some real and pressing need. In Canada instead, under Section 1 of our charter, we routinely say sure, our freedom was infringed, but the authorities felt like it so its OK. And its remarkable how, although our founding myth now seems to revolve around Galileo, we erupt with fury if anyone challenges prevailing wisdom. Could it be guilty conscience?

If not, try asking why we force waitpersons to mask to serve unmasked customers. Or make everyone prove vaccination before boarding a plane then wear non-medical masks anyway. And why just COVID? Why not whooping cough or polio? Or this business of using hand sanitizer until our skin bleeds despite minimal surface transmission risk.

To some extent the idea seems to be that as soon as we slap those clods around hard enough that they comply, we can go back to being free-thinking individualists, so stop asking questions and start hitting. But this plan strikes me as highly dubious, as counterproductive in the short run as it is ominous for the future.

Moreover, I trust you agree.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
South Poles Cold Season Was Coldest on Record

While the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) called July 2021 Earths hottest July in 142 years of recordkeeping, recent temperatures on Antarctica, the planets coldest continent, have been frostier than ever. In fact, the 2021 polar darkness period from April through September was the coldest on record near the South Pole.

Dr. David Bromwich of Ohio State Universitys Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center told The Epoch Times that the record is based on direct temperature readings at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station.

The satellite measurements started in the late 1970s so this is not a source that can be consulted, he wrote in an email.

We havent consulted any other stations.

The temperatures dipped to a record-breaking average of almost minus 78 degrees Fahrenheit between April and September, according to the National Snow & Ice Data Center (NSIDC).

On Oct. 9, CNN released a story headlined, Antarcticas last 6 months were the coldest on record.

This headline, which overstated the geographic scope of the record cold, may have been based on an earlier version of NSIDCs statement, which claimed that temperatures on the Antarctic continent were among the coldest on record this Antarctic winter (June, July, and August) and the coldest on record for April through September.

The NSIDC released clarification on that point on Oct. 13, changing on the Antarctic continent to for the interior of the Antarctic continent, specifically the region near the South Pole.

The unusual cold was attributed to two extended periods of stronger-than-average encircling winds around the continent, which tend to isolate the ice sheet from warmer conditions, the NSIDC statement reads. A strong upper-atmosphere polar vortex was observed as well, leading to a significant ozone hole.

The extremely cold winter comes just a year and a half after one Antarctic research station, Argentinas year-round Esperanza Base on the continents northernmost peninsula, hit a new high temperature record for the continent: 18.3 degrees Celsius, or almost 65 degrees Fahrenheit, on Feb. 6, 2020.

That record was formally recognized by the World Meteorological Association (WMO) in July 2021.

Other commentators have highlighted a broader cooling trend on the Antarctic continent, including its peninsula, in recent decades.

At WattsUpWithThat, Pierre L. Gosselin drew attention to several recent scientific papers that mentioned or analyzed a cooling trend in that region since the 1990s, which followed a sharp warming trend earlier in the 20th century.

One of the papers Gosselin mentioned, published in Nature in 2017, tracked the growth of multiple lichen species, finding that their growth declined or their numbers collapsed during recent, cooler Antarctic summers.

Scientists interviewed in the media about the record cold at the South Pole emphasized that it didnt negate or disprove the effects of global warming, including in Antarctica.

One cold winter is interesting, but doesnt change the long-term trend, which is warming, Eric Steig, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Washington, told The Washington Post.

While the globe may be warmer than average as a whole, some areas will still observe colder temperatures and even severe cold outbreaks, Zachary Labe, a climate scientist at Colorado State University, told CNN.

By contrast, scientists didnt hesitate to link the record warmth at Esperanza Base in 2020 to climate change.

Its a sign of the warming that has been happening there thats much faster than the global average, James Renwick, a climate scientist at Victoria University of Wellington, told The Guardian Australia in 2020.

This is a record from only a single station, but it is in the context of whats happening elsewhere and is more evidence that as the planet warms, we get more warm records and fewer cold records, Steve Rintoul, of Australias Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, told The Guardian as part of that same article.

On social media, users cited the record cold near the South Pole as reason for skepticism about the way climate change, or global warming, has been popularly presented.

Err.is this why global warming has been rebadged as climate change? Thinking face South Pole froze over in coldest winter on record wrote one anonymous user on Twitter.
Southwest Airlines Backs Off Plan to Put Unvaccinated Employees on Unpaid Leave

Southwest Airlines told its employees that it will delay a plan to place workers who are not vaccinated against COVID-19 on unpaid leave if they havent yet obtained a medical or religious exemption.

The Dallas-based carrier confirmed reports about the memo to news outlets on Tuesday, saying it will drop the plan.

If an accommodation has not been reviewed or approved by December 8, the Employee will continue to work, while following all COVID mask and distancing guidelines applicable to their position, until the accommodation has been processed, said Southwest in a statement.

The company stressed it will approve all valid requests for religious or medical accommodations. If it is not granted, Southwest said it will provide adequate time for an employee to become fully vaccinated while continuing to work and adhering to safety protocols.

Earlier this month, Southwest courted controversy when it announced all its employees have to be vaccinated by Dec. 8. On Monday, hundreds of demonstrators massed outside the carriers headquarters in Dallas, demanding the firm drop its vaccine requirement.

Let your voice be heard, a protest flyer says. Please join your Southwest Cohearts, vaccinated or not, in exercising your first amendment right to a peaceful protest of the recent COVID-19 vaccination mandate. COVID-19 is the illness caused by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus.

Southwest also faces a lawsuit from its main pilots union, the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association, known as SWAPA, who asked a court to halt the companys vaccine requirement. SWAPA argued that pilots face a unique risk from any potential vaccine side-effects because of the medical standards pilots need to clear before working.

Over the weekend, Southwests lawyers urged the court to reject SWAPAs legal challenge, arguing that it would unduly harm its business and employees.

More than a week ago, thousands of Southwest flight cancellations and delays triggered speculation and rumors that pilots and other staff called in sick en masse to protest the vaccine mandate. SWAPA, Southwest, and the Federal Aviation Administration denied those claims, although its not exactly clear why Southwest was the only major U.S. airline to suffer so many cancelations.

CEO Greg Kelly told CNBC last week that while he doesnt agree with vaccine mandates, his company has to require the shot because Southwest is considered a federal contractor. President Joe Biden on Sept. 9 announced that federal workers and contractors would have to receive the vaccine.

Ive never been in favor of corporations imposing that kind of a mandate. Im not in favor of that. Never have been, Kelly said in the interview. But the executive order from President Biden mandates that all federal employees and then all federal contractors, which covers all the major airlines, have to have a [vaccine] mandate  in place by Dec. 8, so were working through that.

United Airlines, American Airlines, JetBlue, Alaska Airlines, and Hawaiian Airlines are other major airlines that have announced similar vaccine mandates. Delta Air Lines appears to be the only carrier that has not but instead charges unvaccinated employees $200 per month for healthcare.

The Epoch Times has contacted Southwest for comment.
Seated from left: Associate Justice Samuel Alito, Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, Chief Justice John Roberts, Associate Justice Stephen Breyer and Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor, standing from left: Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh, Associate Justice Elena Kagan, Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch and Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett pose during a group photo of the Justices at the Supreme Court in Washington on April 23, 2021. (Erin Schaff/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)

Supreme Court Declines to Stop COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates for Maine Health Workers

The Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to stop a COVID-19 vaccine mandate for Maine healthcare workers, continuing a trend where the high court has declined to hear challenges in other regions.

Justice Stephen Breyer, who rejected the emergency appeal, left the door open for opponents of vaccine mandates to try again. Maine will now start enforcing its vaccine mandate on Oct. 29.

Maine Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat, implemented the order requiring healthcare workers and nursing home staff to get the vaccine or risk losing their employment.

Breyer wrote that the Liberty Counsel, the organization that sued Mills over her mandate, can seek another emergency injunction if the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rules in the states favor or doesnt make a decision by Oct. 29.

Unlike other states, Millss order does not allow for religious exemptions, only medical exemptions. The Liberty Council filed a lawsuit on behalf of nurses with religious objections to the vaccine.

Two years ago, the state removed religious exemptions from mandated vaccines after voters rejected a referendum challenging the law last year.

Last week, the U.S. District Court of Maine and the 1st Circuit Court, based in Boston, declined to grant a preliminary injunction.

We are pleased with the decision and will continue to vigorously defend the requirement that health care workers in Maine be vaccinated against COVID-19, Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey said in a statement last week after the ruling.

Dozens of health care workers have opted to quit over the mandate, and Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston already curtailed some procedures due to an acute shortage of nurses. State agencies have vowed to work with individual hospitals and nursing homes to address individual workforce issues.

In recent weeks, Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett refused to give an injunction to Indiana University students and employees who challenged the schools mandate. And earlier this month, Justice Sonia Sotomayor earlier this month rejected a request to block a vaccine requirement in New York.

The Epoch Times has contacted Liberty Council, which is representing some 2,000 Maine healthcare workers, for comment.

Mat Staver, the founder of Liberty Counsel, said that Maine healthcare workers have a legal right to request a reasonable accommodation from the shot.

Forcing COVID shots without exemptions is unlawful, he told The Washington Times. The governor cannot override federal law and force health care workers to violate their sincerely held religious beliefs by forcing them to inject an experimental substance.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Terry McAuliffe Says His Comments About Parents Role in Education Taken out of Context

Virginias Democratic gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe is trying to clarify a previous comment, in which he said that parents should not tell schools what to teach.

The comment in question came on Sept. 28 during the final debate before the upcoming Nov. 2 election. When Republican candidate Glenn Youngkin pointed out that McAuliffe in 2016 vetoed a bill which would have given parents more control over what kind of books their kids are exposed to at school, the former governor responded that parents shouldnt have the right to veto books.

Im not going to let parents come into schools and actually take books out and make their own decisions, he said. I stopped the bill and I dont think parents should be telling schools what they should teach.

The statement has since faced much criticism, including from Youngkin, who launched a Parents Matter campaign to mobilize families and parents to reject Terry McAuliffes attempts to silence parents and stand between them and their childrens education.

In a new campaign ad released this week, McAuliffe appeared to distance himself from the stance that parents shouldnt have a say in what schools teach, saying that he always valued the concerns of parents. He also accused Youngkin of taking his words out of context.

As parents, Dorothy and I have always been involved in our kids education, McAuliffe said. We know good schools depend on involved parents.

Thats why I want you to hear this from me: Glenn Youngkins taking my words out of context, he continued. Ive always valued the concerns of parents. Its why as governor, we scaled back standardized testing, expanded pre-K, and invested a billion dollars in public schools.

In response, the Youngkin campaign alleged in a statement that McAuliffe actually meant what he said during the debate, and that it is too late for him to backtrack on that controversial statement.

Two weeks before Election Day, Terry McAuliffe is struggling to save his campaign, said Youngkin spokesman Macaulay Porter, noting that McAuliffe has repeatedly doubled down on his initial remarks over the past three weeks. But its too lateTerry showed us his heart. This is what he believes.

Home to some of the nations highest-achieving schools, Virginia has recently made national headlines because of controversies around education, including the incorporation of critical race theory (CRT) in classrooms, and the new model policies encouraging school districts to allow transgender students to use restrooms and locker rooms that align with their gender identity.

In an Oct. 8 interview with local TV station WAVY News, McAuliffe said that CRT has never been taught in Virginia and is used as a dog whistle by Republicans like Youngkin and Donald Trump. Meanwhile, Youngkin said CRT is an actual issue.

Virginia schools are in a state of chaos because of the left-liberal, progressive agenda that is being ramrodded across the Commonwealth of Virginia, Youngkin told The Epoch Times earlier this summer. We kept our schools closed so unnecessarily and damaged kids across Virginia. We have infused a political agenda of critical race theory into the curriculum, and we are seeing parents stand up across Virginia, and acutely in Loudon County.
The Texas State Capitol is seen in Austin, Texas, on Sept. 20, 2021. (Tamir Kalifa/Getty Images)

Texas Republicans Advance New Congressional Map That Bolsters GOP Power

Texas Republicans have advanced new maps for political districts that could bolster the GOPs dominance and reduce the number of competitive districts statewide.

The maps, which incorporate the two additional seats gained by the House, were approved late on Monday night. It followed criticism from Democrats that the redrawn maps are discriminatory and reduce minority opportunity districts, although Republican state Rep. Todd Hunter has defended the changes and said they comply with the law.

A negotiated final version of the congressional map was signed off by both the Senate and House on Monday, and it now heads to Gov. Greg Abbotts desk for his signature. The map was approved by the Senate on a 1813 vote, followed by the House with an 8459 vote.

Abbott, a Republican, is expected to sign the maps into law. The Epoch Times has contacted his office for comment.

The redrawn congressional districts would make it easier for many incumbents to hold their seats, but critics say they also threaten black and Hispanic communities political influence, even as those voters drive Texass growth. The new lines, the product of a once-in-a-decade redistricting process, create two new districts and make several less competitive for Republican lawmakers.

Texas was the only state to gain two congressional seats following the 2020 census, which showed that people of color accounted for more than 9 of 10 new residents in Texas.

Race is clearly the factor here, Democratic state Rep. Rafael Anchia said of how the maps were drawn. Not partisanship, but rather race.

Republicans who control both chambers of the legislature have nearly complete control of the mapmaking process.

Republican state Sen. Joan Huffman, who authored the maps and leads the Senate Redistricting Committee, has told lawmakers they were drawn blind to race. She said her legal team ensured the proposal followed the Voting Rights Act.

Most states have had to delay their redistricting efforts because of the U.S. Census Bureaus pandemic-related challenges. The Bureaus 2020 census data, which was officially released on Aug. 12, showed overall population growth, allowing some states to add congressional seats.

The redistricting process centers on how the districts of each states representativesstate legislators, members of Congress, and othersare drawn. Redistricting has become increasingly politicized, especially every 10 years when the Census Bureau releases its data from the national census.

Masooma Haq and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Theyre Getting Desperate: Bank Group Executive Pushes Back on Psakis Characterization of Opponents of IRS Proposal

The White House on Monday claimed that opposition to a proposal to dramatically widen the powers of the IRS is being driven by large banks and the wealthiest Americans, drawing fresh pushback from critics.

Theyre getting desperate now that average customers and consumers found out about this IRS snooping proposal on all bank accounts, and theyre trying to deflect and focus in on banks and the so-called wealthy and billionaires, Paul Merski, group executive vice president, congressional relations and strategy for the Independent Community Bankers of America, told The Epoch Times.

Theyve gotten caught and were busted. This is going to be a dragnet on virtually everyones bank accounts in the United States, he added.

The plan is designed to pay for President Joe Bidens spending package for childcare and healthcare, and has not been approved by Congress. It would force banks and other financial service companies to track and report to the government on all business and personal accounts that have $600 or more in transactions in a year.

Merski was speaking after White House press secretary Jen Psaki claimed that opposition to the proposal is driven, in part, by banks that do not want to deal with more onerous requirements.

It should not be lost on anyone that the loudest opposition to these proposals and the biggest ad spending against them is from the biggest banks, who simply do not want to be bothered by additional reporting on inflows and outflows, Psaki told reporters in Washington during a press conference on Monday.

I would note that the top 1 percent is responsible for $163 billion a year in owed but unpaid taxes. Lets be clear what this is about: its about big banks deciding to protect the wealthiest Americans, she said.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki speaks to reporters at the White House in Washington on Oct. 18, 2021. (Nicholas Kamm/AFP via Getty Images)

While big banks and some wealthy Americans do oppose the plan, among the opponents are people with fewer assets and smaller financial institutions.

Over 40 trade groups wrote to the leaders of the House of Representatives earlier this year, arguing that the plan raises significant privacy concerns and would create tremendous liability for all affected parties by requiring the collection of financial information for nearly every American without proper explanation of how the IRS will store, protect, and use this enormous trove of personal financial information.

The proposal has also drawn widespread criticism from Republicans, who note the IRS was weaponized during the Obama administration to spy on conservative groups.

Defenders, on the other hand, say the tax compliance proposals would close the gap between taxes owed to the government and taxes actually paid. They also note that the IRS already gets lots of information and claim more wouldnt be a big deal.

The Independent Community Bankers of America represents thousands of community banks that collectively hold trillions in assets and deposits, but individually do business on a much smaller scale than larger banks.

We dont have multi-millionaires or billionaires banking at small town mainstream community banks, but yet, all these banks are going to be forced to report to the IRS on the customers transactions, regardless of their tax liability, Merski said. So the key point is this has nothing to do with your tax liability. This is just the Treasury, the federal government, the Biden administration, assuming everyone is a tax cheat, so then we have to profile your financial transactions. Its a dragnet thats going to sweep up everyone, and thats why weve sounded the alarm on this.

Tom Ozimek contributed to this report.
Wang Quanzhang's wife Li Wenzu (2nd R) and wives of 3 other Chinese human rights lawyers criticize the police of Linyi city in front of the police station on Aug. 31, 2019. (Screenshot/Li Wenzus Twitter)

Speak for the People: 14 Chinese Activists Thwarted by Authorities in Their Bid to Run in District Elections

Fourteen Chinese activists in Beijing are presenting themselves as independent candidates in the local Peoples Congress election, posing a challenge to the ruling Communist Party that has long kept a tight grip over the twice-a-decade event.

Most of them have had firsthand experience of the harshness of authoritarian control, but say they hope to channel their frustration for the greater public good.

As grassroots citizens, the 14 of us have deeply felt the challenges in communicating with the government, Peoples Congress, courts, and procuratorates, they said in a statement. We have often looked for Peoples Congress representatives through all different channels, hoping they could help us to convey our concerns to the government, but we have no hopes of meeting with them.

We want to let all our neighbors and all our voters contact us at any time. We are willing to speak up for ordinary citizens and work for them, the statement said.

Seeking A Voice

The election for the Beijing Municipal Peoples Congress, scheduled for next month, will determine the representatives for urban districts and rural counties in the region. Such local elections are the only opportunity for citizens to cast their votes in the communist-ruled country.

While Chinese law allows independent candidates to run, trying to get their names on the ballot could prove a difficult exercise. Independent candidates in China often face harassment and detention by the police, on top of procedural roadblocks.

Activist Ye Jinghuan is running for the election her third time despite receiving police threats in the past.

After she announced her first candidacy in 2011, she was quickly targeted and was beaten by uniformed police. The second time, in 2016, local neighborhood committee members and plain-clothed police tried to block her from campaigning.

They surrounded our house, surrounded our courtyard so as to stop us to go to populous places to campaign for votes, she told The Epoch Times, adding that the police also tried to prevent Western media reporters from interviewing her.

Ye became a petitioner after she and her sister became victims of a futures investment scam in 1998, where hundreds lost their life savings.

We wanted to explain our situation to the Peoples Congress representatives because they have some power, they can at least talk to government authorities, she said.

In reality, though, they could get detained for trying to air their grievances to the delegates, according to Ye. They are becoming farther apart from us, she said.

So Ye decided to run herself.

Li Hairong, a farmer living in Beijings Chaoyang district, has sought justice for the past decade after authorities forcibly tore down her house in 2011.

I really want to become a Peoples Congress representative who can be found by other people, he told The Epoch Times.

Most candidates were no longer contactable as of Oct. 17.

These People Are the Future

Wives of two prominent human rights lawyers previously detained during the 709 Incident, a wave of arrests in 2015 targeting hundreds of the countrys defense lawyers and dissidents, also announced their bid.

Li Wenzu, who only reunited with her husband Wang Quanzhang last year, was denied visitation rights during nearly four years of Wangs detention. During her years advocating for her husbands release, authorities pressured her landlords to evict Li and her son. Lis son, now eight years old, was forced out of school four times, she said.

Li Wenzu, the wife of detained Chinese rights lawyer Wang Quanzhang, is followed by reporters and friends as she walks away from a Supreme Peoples Court complaints office in Beijing on April 4, 2018. (Damir Sagolj/Reuters)

The Peoples Congress representatives only exist on TV, Li told The Epoch Times. The absence of lawful representatives who can speak up for her husband during those difficult years gave rise to her strong desire to step in to fill the void, she said.

Yang Sen-hong, head of human rights group Taiwan Association for China Human Rights, said the 14 candidates represent Chinas hope for greater freedoms.

These people are the future, he told The Epoch Times. He was confident that they would win in a normal election.

But pressure from authorities has been intensifying.

Candidate Guo Qizeng suspects that authorities have tapped his phone. Calls from the United States would prompt a warning or get hung up automatically, he told The Epoch Times.

Liu Xiuzhen, who has already received multiple police visits, said that Beijing will likely use two review processes to screen unfavorable candidates out.

They never wanted us to participate in the elections, she told The Epoch Times.

Chinese people have long sought, and failed, to secure democracy from the authoritarian Chinese Communist Party.

The student-led democracy movement in 1989 ended with tanks rolling onto Beijings Tiananmen Square, killing hundreds, if not thousands.

Residents of Wukan, a fishing village in the southern province of Guangdong, rally to demand the government take action over illegal land grabs and the death in custody of a local leader on December 15, 2011. (Peter Parks/AFP/Getty Images)

In September 2011, Wukana small fishing village in southern Guangdong Province with a population of 20,000showed glimmers of grassroots democracy. For a short period, the villagers rebelled over officials corruption and land grabbing efforts and drove them out.

Thousands then elected their own representatives and set up organizations such as a provisional council and a womens union to coordinate mediation with the Party. But authorities soon announced that their organizations were illegal and began to make arrests.

On Dec. 11, 2011, one of the five arrested representatives, Xue Jinbo, died in police custody. All of those arrested were tortured, reported The Epoch Times.

More than 1,000 police in antiriot gear entered Wukan village in Lufeng county, Guangdong Province, before dawn on Dec. 11, 2011. Police fired more than 50 rounds of tear gas and other ammunition. Wukan villagers have staged several large-scale, well-organized protests during the last few months against illegal land grabs and corruption by officials. (Courtesy of Wukan villagers)

It is unclear whether the 14 candidates will be allowed to persist in their runs. But Cheng Hai, a China-based civil rights lawyer who had defended his peers arrested during the 709 crackdown, believes the Chinese people need to persist.

Abandoning your ballot is the same as abandoning your rights to political decision making, he told The Epoch Times. Its equivalent to acquiescence, he said.

Li Bei and Hong Ning contributed to the article.
Hundreds of parents, teachers, and students rallied nearby the Huntington Beach pier as part of the state-wide "walk-out" to denounce Californias COVID-19 vaccine mandate for K-12 students in Huntington Beach, Calif., on Oct. 18, 2021. (Vanessa Serna/The Epoch Times)

Thousands of California Parents Join in Statewide Walkout Against Vaccine Mandate for Students

Thousands of California parents, students, and teachers on Monday participated in a statewide walkout to protest Gov. Gavin Newsoms decision to mandate COVID-19 vaccinations for all students in both public and private schools.

Newsom, a Democrat, earlier this month announced the vaccine mandate for schoolchildren in grades 7 through 12 once the vaccines have received full approval by the Federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA), making California the first state to implement such requirements.

So far, the FDA has only granted emergency authorization for anyone aged 12 to 15. Newsoms latest vaccine requirement is expected to take effect in January 2022 or the start of the 2022 school year.

Crowds of Californians opposed to the measures swarmed the steps of the California Capitol, carrying signs that read My body, my choice, and My children wont be a science experiment to make you feel safe.

Many parents statewide pulled their children from school to participate in the rallies, in hopes their absences from class would send a message to state officials.

One Sacramento mother, Kendall Ramer, 32, told the Associated Press that she pulled her two children out of elementary school to attend a rally, adding that she and her husband plan to shift to homeschooling once Newsoms vaccine mandate comes into effect.

Everybody should be able to make their own choice for whats good for them, she said.

Los Angeles Unified School District employee Hovik Saponghian told SkyFOX that schoolchildren shouldnt be forced to take something without all the data.

Im here protesting the mandate because we dont believe that we should take it religiously, ethically or morally, said Saponghian.

Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) parent Rima Mkhitran told the news outlet that she was participating in the rally because we want our children and our teachers to have a choice.

As a parent, I think I have the right with other parents to stand up for our children, she said.

I dont want to get the vaccine for my child because they are too young. There are no studies showing the long-term effects. We should wait for a couple of years, added LAUSD parent Nara Vardaresyan.

Hundreds of parents and students also gathered at a recent Placentia Yorba Linda Unified School District (PYLUSD) board meeting to voice their opposition to the COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

This is way too new to be injecting 100 percent of our kids, and we need to have a choice, Kristen Mortensen of Placentia told The Epoch Times.

Im here to stand up for my childrens rights and all kids in our district in our county. They do not deserve to be injected with something that has no long-term studies yet, added Rick, a father of two students within the district.

Newsoms plan to mandate COVID-19 vaccinations for schoolchildren has received mixed feedback, with West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice announcing on Oct. 3 that theres no chance he would do the same.

From the standpoint of mandates, I dont believe in imposing upon our freedoms, over and over and over. And Ive said that over, I dont know how many times I gotta say it, Justice, a Republican, told CBSs Face The Nation.

But from the standpoint of our children, Im going to still encourage in every way, because I truly believe that the more people that we get vaccinated, the less people will die. But at the same time, we still got to stand up for who we are.

John Fredricks contributed to this report.
Rep. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, is seen in Washington on April 21, 2021. (Stefani Reynolds/Getty Images)

Top Republican Senator Calls on Pentagon to Suspend COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate

A top Republican senator is urging the Department of Defense to suspend its COVID-19 vaccine mandate, asserting there could be a devastating cost with enforcing the requirement.

This haphazardly implemented and politically motivated vaccine mandate must be immediately suspended or risk irrevocable damage to our national security, Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), the ranking GOP member on the Senate Armed Services Committee, wrote in an Oct. 18 letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.

Austin in late August ordered the heads of each branch to develop COVID-19 vaccine mandates, including deadlines. The earliest deadline is Nov. 2. The latest numbers show hundreds of thousands of troops, primarily in the Army, remain unvaccinated.

Inhofe said the Biden administrations imposition of mandates on the military and civilians risks readiness and morale.

At a time when our adversaries continue to increase their quantitative and qualitative advantage against our forces, we should seek to ensure that no policy, even unintentionally, hinders military readiness, he said, adding that he was troubled with the lack of clarity and consistency across the services as leaders try to implement the hasty mandate.

Responses from the Pentagon to the Senate panel on the impacts of the mandate on the military have been unsatisfactory, according to Inhofe.

The Pentagon told The Epoch Times it will respond to Inhofe but does not plan on suspending the mandate.

Republicans have spoken out before about the military mandate and others like it but Inhofe is the highest-profile GOP member to push for a suspension of the vaccination requirements.

A spokesperson for Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), who chairs the panel, did not return an inquiry, nor did a spokesperson for Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), the top Republican on the House Armed Services Committee.

Representatives for Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), the chair of that committee, declined to comment on Inhofes letter, pointing instead to Smiths previous statements on vaccines for service members and civilians who work for the Pentagon.

Smith in August said he backed Austins mandate, alleging that vaccination is the only way to beat this virus.

COVID-19 is the disease caused by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus.

Protecting those who serve the United States in uniform from COVID-19 is far too important for partisan games or anti-science misinformation. COVID-19 vaccination across the U.S. military is a national security and military readiness issue. I applaud the Biden-Harris Administration for trusting science and prioritizing the health of service members, their families, and our communities, Smith said at the time.

He later offered a similar statement in support of the Pentagons vaccine mandate for civilians.
UK Government Announces Subsidy to Incentivise Heat Pump Installation

UK taxpayers will foot half of the bills for replacing gas boilers with heat pumps in households as the government announced new subsidies on Monday.

From April 2022, those who wish to install low carbon heating systems such as heat pumps will have their installation costs slashed by 5,000 ($6,913) through a 450 million ($622 million) 3-year Boiler Upgrade Scheme.

Its part of a 3.9 billion ($5.4 billion) package, also announced on Monday, to decarbonise heat and buildings.

The government said the grant would make the price of installing heat pumps similar to that of gas boiler installations.

Currently, heat pumpswhich run on electricity and work like a fridge in reverse to extract energy from the air or groundcost 10,000 ($13,800) to install on average, with prices varying from 6,000 ($8,300) to 18,000 ($25,000), depending on the type of pump and the size of the home.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in a statement that the subsidy will help homeowners make the switch sooner, without costing them extra, so that going green is the better choice when their boiler needs an upgrade.

The government said no-one will be forced to remove their existing fossil fuel boilers. It also confirmed its target to phase out new installations of fossil fuel boilers from 2035.

Its not clear at the moment whether it will be cheaper to run heat pumps than gas boilers because the efficient running of most domestic heat pumps requires good insulation and because green levies are higher on electricity than on gas.

The government said it will launch a consultation on shifting levies away from electricity to gas before making a decision in 2022.

It will also invest 60 million ($83 million) into technological innovation in order to make the heat pumps smaller, easier to install, and cheaper to run over the coming years.

According to the government, industry leaders expect the cost of heat pumps will be reduced by between a quarter and a half by 2025, and match the cost of buying and running fossil fuel boilers by 2030.

Other fundings include investments in other trials and the development of new heating systems such as hydrogen-ready boilers.

Business and Energy Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said the pivot to low-carbon heating systems would protect consumers in long term as recent volatile global gas prices have highlighted the need to double down on our efforts to reduce Britains reliance on fossil fuels.

The government also said the plan will support up to 240,000 jobs across the UK by 2035.

It will take time to train enough engineers to install and maintain new heating systems.

Greg Jackson, CEO and founder of Octopus Energy, said the company has begun training engineers at the rate of 1,000 per year.

Jan Rosenow, Europe director at the Regulatory Assistance Projectwhich aims to accelerate the shift from fossil fuel energy, suggested the announcement would boost the UKs green credentials ahead of the the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conferenceotherwise known as the COP26in Glasgow, Scotland.

The UK would be the first country in the world banning the installation of new fossil heating systems which will set an example to others. This is an important signal in the run-up to Cop26 in Glasgow, Rosenow said, adding that its essential to subsidise heat pump installations as they are more expensive.

PA contributed to this report.
UK Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing, and Communities Michael Gove at the Science Museum in London, on Oct. 19, 2021, England. (Rob Pinney/Getty Images)

UK Minister Escorted by Police After Being Surrounded by Anti-Lockdown Protesters

A senior British Cabinet minister had to be escorted by police away from a protest on Tuesday after he was surrounded by a group of anti-lockdown demonstrators in central London.

Communities Secretary Michael Gove was approached by a number of people with video cameras when he was walking in Westminster.

Footage shared on social media showed several police officers encircling Gove and moving the protesters back.

One protester who approached Gove asked him how he justified illegal lockdowns. Another man appeared to shout Arrest Michael Gove.

Gove, who was carrying a bag, a file, and a drink at the time, was asked by an officer where he was going.

Gove pointed down the street and officers then put themselves between the minister and the protesters and guided him into a nearby building.

The Metropolitan Police reported the incident on Twitter: Were aware of a protest in Westminster today which is marching to a number of locations.

During this protest, a group attempted to surround a Member of Parliament on Horseferry Road. Our officers were immediately on scene where they safely escorted him to a nearby building.

The incident took place amid concerns over security for members of Parliament following the fatal stabbing of Conservative MP Sir David Amess last Friday by a suspected terrorist.

Downing Street reacted by saying the actions of the protesters were completely unacceptable.

The prime ministers official spokesman said: The approach we have taken, particularly on issues such as vaccination, is to provide clarity and information to provide reassurance to those who have legitimate questions.

What is completely unacceptable is for those who disagree with our approach to try and target individuals, be they ministers or schools or parents and children. That sort of behaviour is abhorrent and will never be tolerated in a democratic society.

The UK government lifted most of its remaining COVID-19 restrictions on July 19 in what was dubbed Freedom Day.

The government had planned to introduce vaccine passports for nightclubs and crowded events, but dropped the plan on Sept. 12 after it came under pressure from industry leaders and its own backbench MPs.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Sept. 14 that he hoped the UK could remain one of the most free societies in Europe, but he stressed the government stood ready with a plan B if COVID-19 took off again over the coming months, which could include vaccine passports and the return of masks in public places.

Downing Street said on Tuesday that it is keeping a very close eye on CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus case rates and acknowledged there are indications that hospital admissions and deaths are rising.

But the prime ministers official spokesman said there were no plans to use the contingency measures set out in the governments strategy to contain the virus this winter.

PA contributed to this report.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaks during the Global Investment Summit at the Science Museum in London, on Oct. 19, 2021. (Leon Neal - WPA Pool /Getty Images)

UK Will Not Pitchfork Away Chinese Investment: Boris Johnson

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he will not pitchfork away investment from China despite a long list of ongoing rows with the communist regime over issues such as Hong Kong, the Uyghur persecution, and the South China Sea.

Im not going to tell you the UK government is going to pitchfork away every overture from China, Johnson said in an interview with Bloomberg ahead of the Global Investment Summit in London. China is a gigantic part of our economic life and will be for a long timefor our lifetime.

But he said that does not mean that Britain should be naive about the Chinese regimes involvement in the UKs critical natural infrastructure such as nuclear power and 5G technology.

Johnson said Britain should be cautious about how it handles its critical infrastructure and foreign direct investment from China, and that is why we have brought in some of the legislation that we have.

I am no Sinophobe, very far from it, he said, adding, China is a great country, a great civilisation.

In spite of all the difficulties, in spite of all the difficult conversations about the Dalai Lama or Hong Kong or the Uyghurswhere we will continue to stick to our viewstrade with China has continued to expand for a very long time.

UKChina relations are at the lowest point in years due to disputes over a long list of issues, most prominently the regimes violation of the SinoBritish Joint Declaration on Hong Kong and its alleged genocidal policies in Xinjiang.

In response to these abuses, the UK government has imposed sanctions on Chinese officials responsible for the persecution of Uyghurs in Xinjiang, and has offered Hong Kong residents with British National (Overseas) status a pathway to British citizenship.

Last month, the UK further irked Beijing by joining AUKUS, a new trilateral security partnership with the United States and Australia for the IndoPacific region.

But Johnson has been eager to maintain positive economic relations with Beijing. In January 2020, he offered Chinese telecom giant Huawei a limited role in the non-sensitive parts of the UKs 5G networks, a decision that was reversed in July 2020 under intense pressure from the Trump administration.

According to Australian scholar Clive Hamilton, Britain and Germany are most severely affected by CCP infiltration because of their role in the world and because of the naivety of the top elites in those countries in politics, business, academia, culture, and media.

Hamilton, coauthor of Hidden Hand: Exposing How the Chinese Communist Party Is Reshaping the World, told The Epoch Times last September that there had been an awakening within the British Parliament in regard to the threat posed by the Chinese regime.

But he warned that it was far too early to start celebrating.

Sharon Hsu and PA contributed to this report.
FILE PHOTO: Zalmay Khalilzad, U.S. envoy for peace in Afghanistan is seen during talks between the Afghan government and Taliban insurgents in Doha, Qatar September 12, 2020. REUTERS/Ibraheem al Omari

US Envoy to Afghanistan Resigns Less Than 2 Months After Withdrawal

The chief U.S. envoy to the Taliban is stepping down from his role, Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced on Monday.

U.S. ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad tendered his resignation on Monday in a letter sent to Blinken. He will be replaced by Thomas West, who previously served as the deputy special representative.

As Special Representative for Afghan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad steps down from his role, I extend my gratitude for his decades of service to the American people, Blinken said in a statement.

 Special Representative West, who served on then-Vice President Bidens national security team and on the National Security Council staff, will lead diplomatic efforts, advise the Secretary and Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, and coordinate closely with the U.S. Embassy Kabul presence in Doha on Americas interests in Afghanistan, Blinken said.

The secretary did not state a reason for Khalilzads decision to leave his post.

Khalilzads departure comes less than two months since the United States withdrew its troops from the country in mid-August, and the Taliban terrorist group subsequently took over.

The U.S. withdrawal was marred by the Aug. 26 bombings at Kabul airport that killed 13 U.S. service members.

The soldiers were leading an evacuation mission and screening people at the Abbey Gate of the airport, as thousands of Americans, Afghans, and other foreign nationals attempted to flee Afghanistan. ISIS-K later claimed responsibility for the attack, which also claimed the lives of more than 160 Afghans.

In his resignation letter dated Oct. 18 and obtained by multiple media outlets, Khalilzad said his decision to step down comes at a juncture when we are entering a new phase in our Afghanistan policy.

He noted that he had returned to government after the decision had been made to substantially reduce or end the military and economic burden of the Afghan engagement on the U.S., which he said was supposed to free those resources for vital priorities, including domestic needs and the challenge of dealing with issues related to China.

However, he noted that despite his and his teams efforts to negotiate with the Taliban and the Afghan government on a four-part framework and a road to peace and prevent the country from once again becoming a haven for terrorists, things did not go forward as envisaged.

Khalilzad explained that the reasons for this are too complex and I will share my thoughts in the coming days and weeks, after leaving government service.

The Epoch Times has reached out to Khalilzad for comment.

Taliban extremists stand guard inside the Hamid Karzai International Airport after the U.S. withdrawal in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Aug. 31, 2021. (Kathy Gannon/AP Photo)

This handout image shows a Marine with the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit passing out water to Afghan evacuees at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Aug. 22, 2021. (Sgt. Isaiah Campbell/U.S. Marine Corps via Getty Images)

Khalilzad served under both Presidents Donald Trump and Joe Biden as the special representative for Afghanistan reconciliation. Prior to that, he served as U.S. permanent representative to the United Nations from 20072009, ambassador to Iraq from 20052007, and ambassador to Afghanistan from 20032005.

Khalilzads resignation comes after Politico reported that the State Departments acting Inspector General Diana Shaw is launching a review of the end of the Biden administrations diplomatic operations in Afghanistan, citing State Department and congressional officials as well as documents obtained by Politico.

The Epoch Times has not been able to verify an alleged letter written by Shaw, quoted by Politico, or the inspector generals intended reviews and has contacted the State Department for comment.

State inspector general spokesperson Ryan Holden confirmed to Politico that Shaw had notified committees of the planned projects, which will be conducted in coordination with other members of the IG community.

The U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan has been criticized by both Democrats and Republicans, as well as military personnel, including Marine Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller for being poorly planned and executed.

Scheller was issued a letter of reprimand and ordered to forfeit $5,000 worth of pay over one month by U.S. Marine Corps Judge Glen Hines last week after criticizing senior military officials over the withdrawal.

President Joe Biden has 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 ISIS terrorist group and its leader, Osama bin Laden.
US Tariffs and Trade Restrictions Biting the Chinese Economy

News Analysis

Former President Donald Trumps tariffs and sanctions had the Chinese economy on the ropes. The new administration is enforcing these tariffs and restrictions.

In the first 10 months in office, the Biden administration has banned imports of some materials from Xinjiang and sanctioned Beijing over human rights abuses in the region, supported NATO in shifting its focus to China, declared the Chinese regime a global security threat, expanded Trump-era bans on American investment in Chinese companies, blocked 59 Chinese firms with alleged ties to Chinas defense sector, moved against Chinese telecom firms over national security concerns, and it seems that more is on the way.

U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen said the Trump-era tariffs stay for now; meanwhile, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai may be launching a Section 301 investigation into China, which could result in more tariffs.

When the tariffs were originally imposed by the Trump administration, they were meant to drive U.S. and foreign manufacturers out of China, which would have a negative impact on the Chinese economy. It was hoped that either this would bring Beijing to the negotiating table so that Tai and other officials could negotiate fairer terms of trade with China, or that the exodus of U.S. and foreign firms would end Chinas reign as the worlds factory.

Tariffs have become a politically polarized topic in the United States. Many prominent politicians and media have tried to condemn the tariffs, saying that they have not worked. The evidence, however, is that in spite of rising consumer costs in the United States, the tariffs are having the desired negative effect on the Chinese economy.

A working paper by the Washington Post found that new U.S. tariffs in 2018 and 2019 caused more than 1,800 U.S.-funded subsidiaries to close their China operations, a 46 percent increase over the previous year. And this figure only includes U.S. firms. Foreign firms are also shifting their U.S.-bound manufacturing away from China, including South Koreas Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics, as well as German shoemakers Puma and Adidas, to name just a few.

The U.S. tariffs have punched a tremendous hole in the Chinese economy. As China struggles with a pandemic economy, shipping problems, credit crisis, power shortages, real estate defaults, and Chinese leader Xi Jinpings crackdown on everything, the tariffs stand in the way of China relying on exports to pull themselves out of an economic quagmire.

Workers are producing face masks that will be exported at a factory in Nanchang in Chinas central Jiangxi Province on April 8, 2020. (STR/AFP via Getty Images)

Tariffs are one of many tools in the U.S. arsenal to defend American trade, the American economy, and ultimately, the American worker. Many U.S. presidents have ignored reprimands from the World Trade Organization (WTO) or international actors for the imposition of trade tariffs, seeing the defense of U.S. interests as being a domestic affair. Previous administrations believed the United States had the right to defend itself, and it seems that Yellen and Tai hold similar beliefs.

When the WTO ruled that the United States had no right to impose tariffs on China for forced technology transfer, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) rejoiced. The WTO arrived at this decision, despite the fact that Chinas foreign investment law clearly states that foreign entities are required to transfer technology to their Chinese partners. Then-U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer protested that the United States had the right to defend its trade interests. Meanwhile, the CCP has repeatedly stated that the United States should bring its grievances to the WTO, rather than taking matters into its own hands.

Since China joined the WTO in 2001, the United States has seen 60,000 factories close, taking 4 million jobs with them. In 2001, the United States imported $102 billion worth of goods from China. By 2020, this number had increased to nearly $435 billion.

Apart from lost jobs, there are national security implications of relying on foreign producers. The pandemic has demonstrated the importance of rebuilding the U.S. industrial base, rather than relying on others. Tariffs increase the price of the Chinese imported goods, encouraging Americans to buy domestic. The more U.S. products Americans buy, the more factories and jobs will be created, decreasing U.S. dependence on overseas suppliers.

Tariffs have protected American interests in previous administrations. Former President Barack Obama brought twice as many WTO cases against China as the previous administration. Along with a Made-in-America policy, he imposed tariffs on China, which increased U.S. production and U.S. exports. The Trump-era aluminum tariffs saved the U.S. aluminum industry, reviving manufacturing, creating jobs, and attracting investment. Tariffs can also send a signal to U.S. trade partners. U.S. tariffs on South Korean steel caused South Korea to voluntarily reduce exports to the United States.

Trade with China is not free. Even before the trade war, the average Chinese tariff on U.S. imports was 8 percent, more than double the 3.1 percent the United States imposed on Chinese imports.

Trade with China is also not fair. U.S. companies are forced to compete in a market of state subsidies and high tariffs on U.S. imports, which average about 20 percent. U.S. companies in China are also plagued by market access restrictions and forced technology transfer.

Tariffs and other restrictions against China will deny the CCP the money it needs to modernize its military, while also protecting U.S. jobs and securing U.S. national defense by reducing U.S. dependence on foreign supply chains.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Why America Should Defend Taiwan From China; Malcolm Davis Discusses AUKUS in Space

The next phone you buy may cost double if China invades Taiwan because Taiwans semiconductor business would be under the Communist Partys control. They could then leverage economic deals against the United Stateswith cars, laptops, and others costing way more. Its not just consumers who would be impactedthe global economy, Americas credibility, and the freedom of the world are on the line.

Next, we are joined by Dr. Malcolm Davis, a defense expert from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, discussing his push for AUKUS in space. AUKUS, an agreement by the UK, the United States, and Australia, is the latest alliance and technology-sharing deal with the three countriesincluding a new nuclear-powered submarine deal for Australia. But Davis argues that the scope of AUKUS could expand into the extraterrestrial, where a brewing threat over satellites, moon missions, and space weapons could soon become the focus.
Wyoming Lawmakers to Hold Special Session to Push Back Against Bidens Vaccine Mandates

Wyoming lawmakers say they will next week hold a special session in Cheyenne to push back against the COVID-19 vaccine mandate announced by President Joe Biden last month.

According to the Casper Star-Tribune, a majority of the state House and Senate voted in favor of adding the rare special session to the legislative calendar. Republican lawmakers Rep. Chuck Gray, Rep. Landon Brown, and Rachel Rodriguez-Williams said that the necessary majorities for both houses had approved of convening the meeting, scheduled for Oct. 26 to Oct. 28.

Two bills being drafted as part of efforts to push against the presidents proposed vaccine mandate are sponsored by Republican Rep. Chuck Gray, of Casper, and would ban vaccine passports, and impose a $500,000 fine for firing, demoting, promoting, compensating, or refusing to hire employees based on vaccination status.

Another measure, sponsored by Republican Sen. Tom James, of Rock Springs, would impose fines and could result in a prison sentence for public servants who tried to enforce federal vaccine mandates.

It remains to be seen whether the session will proceed to discuss the legislation, as disagreement over rules could lead to adjournment at the outset, the Casper Star-Tribune reports.

A two-thirds majority vote in each chamber must be reached in order to approve rules for the sessionsomething that has not been achieved by past votes, according to the news outlet.

We will ask the respective majority floor leader to move for an immediate adjournment of the special session without considering any legislation, Senate President Dan Dockstader, and Speaker of the House Eric Barlow, both Republicans, reportedly wrote in a memo dated Oct. 12.

Even if approved and signed into law by Gov. Mark Gordon, a Republican, such bills may lack legal force. The U.S. Constitution prohibits state statutes from superseding federal law.

Each day of the special session will reportedly cost the state roughly $25,000.

The president is yet to outline the specifics of his plan to mandate COVID-19 vaccination for federal workers, health care workers, contractors, and workers at businesses with over 100 employees, however, at least 19 governors, including Gordon, have publicly issued statements disagreeing with the administrations move, with several vowing to defy it.

I have asked the Attorney General to stand prepared to take all actions to oppose this administrations unconstitutional overreach of executive power, Gordon said previously of Bidens vaccine mandate. It has no place in America. Not now, and not ever.

The president has defended his decision, saying that it is not about freedom or personal choice. Its about protecting yourself and those around youthe people you work with, the people you care about, the people you love.

Officials for the White House didnt immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Yellen Backs Down on IRS Snooping on Americans Bank Accounts

Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen has relented in response to backlash over a controversial proposal by Democrats that would have allowed the IRS to gain information from any American bank account with more than $600 of activity in a year.

The measure initially came to light as a part of Democrats $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill. Trying to head off concerns from moderates, Democratic leaders and rank-and-file lawmakers have desperately marketed the bill as being completely paid for with no substantial effect on the deficit or national debt.

One proposal to achieve that end was the IRS measure.

Critics of the plan originally presented it as allowing the IRS to gain information on individual transactions totaling more than $600, which Yellen has called a mischaracterization.

She indicated that the plan has a much larger scope. According to Yellen, the measure would have allowed the IRS to retrieve all information from bank accounts with more than $600 total activity per year, rather than information on individual transactions. In the face of sharp backlash from citizens and corporate entities, Yellen has announced that the threshold will be raised to $10,000, but that the program will remain in the bill.

Despite immediate backlash, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Yellen have adamantly defended the planned IRS overhaul.

Yellen, the former Chairwoman of the Federal Reserve who took control of the Treasury in January, said the measure is designed to target wealthy Americans who hide income from the IRS. Because of the measure, Yellen said the IRS will be able to collect more taxes from the wealthy and close the tax gap.

We have a tax gap that over the next decade is estimated at $7 trillion, namely a shortfall in the amount that IRS is collecting due to a failure of individuals to report the income that they have earned, Yellen said.

Now, Yellen has somewhat changed course, supporting a raise in the reporting threshold from $600 to $10,000.

While still supporting the broad goal of closing the so-called tax gap, she relented on key aspects of the program.

Under the current system, American workers pay virtually all their tax bills while many top earners avoid paying billions in the taxes they owe by exploiting the system, she said. At the core of the problem is a discrepancy in the ways types of income are reported to the IRS: opaque income sources frequently avoid scrutiny while wages and federal benefits are typically subject to nearly full compliance.

This two-tiered tax system is unfair and deprives the country of resources to fund core priorities.

However, responding to concerns that the program would target middle class and low-income Americans, Yellen announced several changes to the original measure.

Foremost, the reporting threshold will be raised to $10,000, addressing a key concern from critics who considered $600 to be too low to merit IRS snooping.

Yellen also announced an exemption from the measure for wage earners like teachers and firefighters. It is not yet clear whether this exemption will extend to other middle class wage earners in the private sector.

Yellen applauded these new proposals for protecting American workers.

Todays new proposal reflects the Administrations strong belief that we should zero in on those at the top of the income scale who dont pay the taxes they owe, Yellen said.

She concluded, We will continue to work with leaders in Congress to enact this important measure to level the playing field for workers and small businesses, and raise revenue to build our economy back better.

Republicans have criticized the proposal since it became public.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said, This surveillance program crosses a line, calling the program un-American.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said that Democrats want to finance their spending spree by effectively treating every ordinary American as if they were under IRS audit.

I must have forgotten when the president campaigned on giving everybody their own audit, McConnell quipped.

Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) decried the plan in a statement as [violating] the liberty of every freedom-loving American who values their financial privacy.
NORWALK  Two Norwalk officers accused of drinking while on the duty and ignoring calls for service resigned from the police department last week, nearly a year after police said they were caught together in a city hotel instead of on the job.

Norwalk Police Chief Thomas Kulhawik said Michael DiMeglio, 39, and Sara Laudano, 31, both resigned from the department on Oct. 15, marking the close of one chapter of a nine-month saga that began when the two were arrested on Jan. 5.

Im glad that this incident is now behind us from a department perspective, Kulhawik said on Tuesday.

Attorneys Raymond Hassett and Jessica Kordas, who represent Laudano and DiMeglio respectively, did not respond to requests for comment Tuesday.

Norwalk Police Union President Dave OConnor, who has attended many court hearings alongside DiMeglio and Laudano, declined to comment as well.

Mayor Harry Rilling said that he believes both former officers made the right decision in resigning from the force.

As I have said previously, this incident was truly shocking and disappointing. However, as court cases are pending, it would be inappropriate for me to comment further at this time, he said.

While their resignations mark the end of the local police departments disciplinary process, DiMeglio and Laudano both still face second-degree larceny and second-degree reckless endangerment charges. Laudano also faces an additional risk of injury to a minor charge.

Over the past month, DiMeglio and Laudano were each denied a chance at wiping their records clean when a Stamford judge decided the allegations against them were too serious to grant them a pretrial probation program.

Arrest warrants show a 12-hour period between Oct. 8 and 9 in which DiMeglio and Laudano, 31, are accused of drinking in their police cruisers in a Norwalk school parking lot and not responding to service calls before they were found in a hotel room together.

Laudano was accused of driving with a baby and a civilian in the cruiser after she consumed alcohol, and also using a THC vape pen, according to the warrants.

A department investigation was launched and both officers were placed on administrative leave.

During the investigation, police determined the conduct went beyond department violations, and criminal charges were filed.

Both are next scheduled to appear in court on Dec. 3.

States Attorney Paul Ferencek said both defendants will be extended a plea deal prior to their appearances.
We are just beginning to heal. Many of us, in one way or another, are still suffering under the weight of the pandemic. Many of us had family members affected. Many of us had our lives disrupted. We lost jobs. We lost business. How do begin to pick ourselves up? Do we focus on putting things back the way they wereor lean forward and build the region, communities, and life we want?

The pandemic of 2020 brought the tourism and service industry to its knees with an impact that was nine times more powerful than the tragedy of 9/11. Local businesses and attractions in southwest Illinois, which relied on tourism lost employees, income, and were faced with unprecedented choices: close their doors or pivot to online sales and/or delivery services. From one day to the next, we all rode a roller coaster of uncertainty and fear.

Visitor spending and tax revenues were down more than 50% across Illinois. Locally, that meant a loss of nearly $40 million in local and state tax revenues that would have been generated from visitor spending. Prior to the pandemic, tourism was the third largest industry in our six-county region. Everyone has been impacted by those losses.

Combining losses of tax revenues, jobs and the impact on the workforce in the service industry, the pandemic triggered awareness that we are one of the top regional destinations in the Midwest and we need to focus on building a resilient tourism destination for years to come.

And now? The final months of 2021 have provided glimmers of hope for the tourism industry  both statewide and locally.

People are increasingly open to travel but they dont want to visit the big cities and crowded attractions that once called out to them. Travelers are choosing rivers and roads over skyscrapers. Now they are planning visits to the smaller destinations with a focus on nature and outdoor activities. And guess what? Thats the Great Rivers & Routes region in southwest Illinois! We are home to four national scenic byways  The National Road, Route 66, the Great River Road and the Meeting of the Great Rivers National Scenic Byway. We are home to the largest state park in Illinois, the Lewis & Clark National Trail and the National Mississippi Water Trail and we are located at the confluence of Americas three great rivers  the Mississippi, Illinois, and Missouri.

But there is so much more to our region. There are the people, the businesses, the attractions that have been the bedrock of the local tourism industry.

State and Federal assistance is timely, but we need to build capacity as a region; we need to focus, come together, and build our region back better. Together!

The Federal government is currently distributing funds from the American Rescue Plan Act to state and local governments across the country. These funds can be used to help industries negatively impacted by the pandemic. And tourism is one of those impacted industries.

It will take bold and transformational thinking to use these funds for tourism development. It will take counties and cities determining how they want to embrace the future of tourism in our region.

We have a once in a lifetime opportunity to build the destination we want to see and cement our place as a world-class destination for travelers from around the world.

We encourage regional mayors, economic development officials and community leaders to be courageous when it comes to determining how to spend ARPA funds. Custodial thinking is not enough. These funds can and should be a game changer for the tourism industry in our region.

The Great Rivers & Routes Tourism Bureau has worked hard over the past years and especially the last 18 months to make our destination top of mind with travelers. We are welcoming back road trippers and regional travelers after a 12-month absence. But we must continue to be relevant and viable to those looking for their next travel destination whether it be for leisure activity, attending a meeting, conference, or a youth sporting event. Just marketing the destination we have is not enough anymore.and it never really was. We have to build and then steward the destination we need and could have. A destination not only for leisure travelers but also for young families, retirees, start-ups, remote workers, etc.

We need to work together to embrace tourism as the economic recovery engine for the region. To be bold thinkers. To be transformational in our planning and development along our rivers and byways. Together. Our main streets and our rivers are economic corridors that can contribute to the livability of our region. We need to be creative and innovative. We can not expect to do the same things and expect different results.

Do we, as a region, have the determination to give our local businesses and the tourism industry in general, a much-needed boost? Are we ready to be bold thinkers and invest in tourism in unprecedented ways?

Are we ready to build the destination we want by creating a livable destination for young families, active retirees, and entrepreneurs? If you dont think we are a regional destination for tourism, then why was more than $1.4 billion spent on travel in 2018 and 2019 combined? We have a destination that people want to visit.

Local leaders, its up to you. We challenge you to be transformational!

Cory Jobe is President/CEO of the Great Rivers & Routes Tourism Bureau
Missouri Congresspeople are attempting to get President Ulysses S. Grant promoted in the military more than 150 years after his commanding the Union Army to victory in the Civil War.

Both U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt and U.S. Rep. Ann Wagner, both Republicans, as well as U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, have introduced legislation to promote Grant to the highest rank in the U.S. Army: General of the Armies, a rank so far only attained by George Washington and World War I chief John "Black Jack" Pershing, also a Missouri native.

The legislators aim for Congress to adopt the measure in time for Grant's 200th birthday on April 27, 2022.

"Despite the personal setbacks he faced in his life, when Ulysses S. Grant was called to serve he did so with courage, integrity, and determination that led his troops  and our nation  to victory," Blunt said in a statement. "As we approach the bicentennial of Grants birth early next year, this is a fitting moment to reflect on his fight for a more perfect Union, and honor his legacy and the legacy of all of the service members who have fought for this nation and the values we stand for."

Grant, who was born in Ohio, lived his life in and around Illinois, including homes in Galena and St. Louis County. He was president of the United States from 1869 to 1877, the 18th president. Grant led the Vicksburg campaign during the Civil War in 1863, which gained control of the Mississippi River for the Union. President Abraham Lincoln promoted Grant to lieutenant general after his victory at Chattanooga and for 13 months Grant fought Robert E. Lee of the Confederacy during the Overland Campaign and at Petersburg.

On April 9, 1865, Lee formally surrendered to Grant. After Lincoln was assassinated, President Andrew Johnson promoted Grant to General of the Army in 1866. Grant later openly broke with Johnson over Reconstruction policies and used the Reconstruction Acts, passed over Johnson's veto, to enforce civil rights for recently freed African Americans.

"At a time when our nation was the most divided it has ever been, Ulysses S. Grant not only answered the call of duty, but also helped recruit volunteers to protect our union," Wagner said in a statement. "He rose through the ranks of the Army with incredible speed due to his tenacity, grit, and unwavering resolve to keep our nation united. The brave soldiers under his command achieved numerous victories and suffered painful defeats; but Grant kept marching and kept fighting, because he knew failure was not an option. Without Grants leadership and perseverance, the very fabric of our nation may have been lost."
EDWARDSVILLE  A Worden man was charged Friday with violating an order of protection.

Johnathan C. Trebing, 27, of the 7400 block of W. Frontage Road, Worden, was charged with unlawful violation of an order of protection (second subsequent offense), a Class 4 felony.

The case was presented by the Madison County Sheriffs Department.

According to court documents, on Oct. 14 Trebing violated an order of protection by staying at a prohibited residence.

It was noted he has a prior conviction for domestic battery out of Macoupin County in 2020.

Bail was set at $15,000.

Other felony charges filed Oct. 15 by the Madison County States Attorneys Office include:

 Barbara A. Gates, 38, of the 1200 block of Pearl Street, Alton, and Lander D. Holeman, 58, of Joliet, Illinois, were both charged with retail theft (second subsequent offense), both Class 4 felonies. The cases were presented by the Alton Police Department. According to court documents, on Oct. 6 the two took beer from Walgreens at 2610 State Street. It was noted that Holeman has a previous conviction for theft out of Will County, Illinois in 2020; and Gates has a prior conviction for theft out of Madison County in 2017. Bail was set at $15,000 each.

 Laura C. Robbins, 41, of St. Ann, Missouri, was charged with theft under $500 (second subsequent offense), a Class 4 felony. The case was presented by the East Alton Police Department. According to court documents, on Oct. 14 Robbins took an Apple watch valued at less than $500 from another person. It was noted she has a prior conviction for theft out of St. Charles County, Missouri, in 2013. Bail was set at $15,000.
No need to halt boosters for Sinovac, says Anutin

BANGKOK: There currently is no reason for not giving a booster dose to someone already fully inoculated with the Sinovac vaccine, Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul.

CoronavirusCOVID-19healthVaccine

By Bangkok Post

Tuesday 19 October 2021, 09:05AM

Anutin said he doesnt want people who have received the Sinovac vaccine to lose the chance to protect themselves from the outbreak. Photo: Bangkok Post

His comments yesterday (Oct 18) came as the head of the Department of Disease Control (DDC) confirmed that Thailand will stop using the Sinovac vaccine once the current stock runs out, expected to be within this month.

Anutin was reacting to a complaint that the booster dose isnt necessary because many people have yet to even receive the first dose, reports the Bangkok Post.

Anutin said he was unhappy with a DDC report that some of its advisers suggested that the booster dose is not necessary now for two-dose inactivated Sinovac vaccine recipient because the limited number of vaccines should be given to non-vaccine recipients first.

If there are any questions, please tell them that this is the ministers order. I have seen no reason for not giving them the booster vaccine, Anutin said.

All Thai people must get a vaccine if they want to get it. We have enough vaccines for all in need. Moreover, I dont want to see this group [those who received two doses of Sinovac] losing the chance to protect themselves from the outbreak, he told his nationwide public health officials at a teleconference focused on the ministrys policies for next year.

Around 10 million people have received two doses of the Sinovac vaccine since early this year. The Sinovac vaccine is an inactivated vaccine known to have less capacity to fight against the dominated Delta variant, so its now advised that a booster dose is required, largely from AstraZeneca, to increase immunity.

The DDC said that the last lot of Sinovac will be sent to hospitals this week from a total of 31.5mn doses shipped to the country since February.

Thailand is expected to get 152.9mn vaccine doses this year, of which 62.9mn doses are from AstraZeneca and 31.5mn doses are from Pfizer. Yesterday (Oct 18), the ministry also received 470,000 doses of AstraZeneca provided by the South Korean government.

Based on the departments information, it is believed that 85% of the population will have had the first dose of a vaccine by the years end. Some 70% will be considered fully inoculated.

Dr Opas Karnkawinpong, the departments chief, said next month the ministry is switching to an AstraZeneca and Pfizer mixed-use vaccine strategy which many international studies have confirmed is a safe measure.

He added that Thailand will cease to use the Sinovac vaccine when its current stock finishes.

We expect to have distributed all Sinovac doses this week, he commented.

Dr Opas said that the department is going to speed up vaccination to cover the majority in each province, especially senior citizens, people living with chronic diseases and three-month pregnant women so to reduce critical illness and death cases.

Were doing our best to provide the vaccines under the governments policy to reopen the country, especially in the blue zones for tourism, which need an additional 700,000 doses of vaccine to reach set targets, he said while adding that lockdowns will still be necessary but only in areas where outbreaks occur.
Online bank fraud faces probe

BANGKOK: Police are stepping up their investigations after it was revealed about 40,000 people had lost at least B10 million as a result of unauthorised online transactions.

crime

By Bangkok Post

Tuesday 19 October 2021, 09:21AM

Kornchai: Vows to step up inquiry. Photo: Bangkok Post

The commissioner of the Cyber Crime Investigation Bureau (CCIB), Pol Lt Gen Kornchai Klaiklung, said the police are in talks with the Bank of Thailand and the Thai Bankers Association to find a solution, reports the Bangkok Post.

Initial checks found around 40,000 people have lost their money through such transactions, Pol Lt Gen Kornchai said, before adding the majority of victims didnt realise their money were being withdrawn as the perpetrators generally charged small amounts - albeit repeatedly.

Pol Lt Gen Kornchai said such withdrawals are possible if the perpetrators managed to get their hands on customers bank card details, which are often stored by online retailers and websites for the convenience of customers.

He said the police suspect multiple gangs are responsible for the crimes, using a variety of methods to commit offences.

Some gangs phish for their victims details by sending out text messages which asked them to fill in their personal details in exchange of discounts and other perks, he said. As such, he warned the public to not fill in their personal details into online forms that came from links from suspicious and/or unknown senders.

Meanwhile, some charges and withdrawals were made by store employees who stole their customers card details when their victims were completing a transaction, he said.

The commander of CCIBs cyber crime analysis division, Pol Maj Gen Niwet Apawasin, said that some of the charges were initiated by online gaming platforms. He added that it would be easier to investigate applications registered in Thailand than those registered outside the country.

Police will hold discussions with the Bank of Thailand and online vendors to find ways to prevent such fraud - for example, by making the registration of online shops mandatory or issuing alerts when suspicious withdrawals are made, he said.

Government spokesman Thanakorn Wangboonkongchana said Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has instructed all agencies to take urgent action to put an end to the problem.

The Bank of Thailand and Thai Bankers Association issued a joint statement on Sunday (Oct 17) saying banks would accept responsibility for unauthorised withdrawals. It did list the names of the banks, however.

The statement said no commercial banks systems had been hacked, adding the irregular transactions were for payment to online shops registered outside Thailand.

Many victims are sharing their experiences on a Facebook page called Sharing Experience on Unaware Cash Withdrawals.

They questioned the security and reliability of Thai banks because they received no alerts at all when the unauthorised withdrawals were made. Most victims, in fact, only found out when they went to a bank to update their passbook.

One victim posted her passbook, which showed 13 withdrawals on Oct 11, each for B34.15.

The total number of victims remained unclear, but the aforementioned Facebook account had more than 57,000 followers as of yesterday.

Deputy police spokesman Pol Col Kissana Phathanacharoen said victims should ask banks to freeze their account and check their balance on their accounts once they suspect an unauthorised withdrawal has been made, before gathering all the evidence to file a police report.

He also said that those who misuse or abuse others electronic cards will face a jail term of up to five years and/or a fine of no more than B100,000 under the Criminal Code.

Paiboon Amornpinyokiat, a cyber security expert, told a television programme the unauthorised withdrawals were made possible by the failure of banks alert systems.

Alerts were usually supposed to be issued, but they were not, he said.

He also said some victims voluntarily gave up their personal information because they werent digitally literate, adding that agencies involved should investigate whether the withdrawals were the banks fault.
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On Tuesday, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike announced a statewide effort to raise uptake rates among senior citizens and those eligible for vaccines, as 1.5 million residents of the state are currently eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccination booster shot and millions more are set to become eligible in the coming weeks.

IDPH is partnering with the Illinois Emergency Management Agency, and Illinois Department on Aging to increase education around boosters and provide support to skilled nursing facilities as they work to administer boosters to residents. Currently, Illinois residents 65 or older, anyone 18 and older with underlying medical conditions or who work or live in high-risk settings, such as educators and first responders, are eligible to receive a booster shot of the Pfizer vaccine.

The CDC is set to review booster recommendations for the Moderna and Johnson and Johnson vaccines on Oct. 20 and 21, with final CDC authorization coming at the end of the week.

"We know that COVID-19 vaccines are life-saving. For our seniors, youre 29 times more likely to end up in the hospital if youre unvaccinated. Boosters will extend that life-saving protection," Pritzker said in a statement. "So lets do what we can to save lives: roll up your sleeve. Get the COVID-19 vaccine if you havent yet  you might just save a life. Get your booster shot  so you can be even better protected. And lets get out of this pandemic  we can do it by continuing to work together for the common good."

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended a booster shot for the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine on Sept. 23. Eligible residents who previously received two doses of the Pfizer vaccine can receive a booster shot at a pharmacy, their primary care provider, local health department, and other locations offering Pfizer vaccinations. IDPH is spearheading the administrations effort to get booster shots into the arms of residents at long-term care facilities, approximately 85% of which administered the Pfizer vaccine to its residents.

According to IDPH, 96.8% of Illinois residents aged 65 and older have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 78.9% of that population is fully vaccinated.

As of Oct. 12, only 18% of Illinois residents aged 65 and older had received a booster. To increase that figure, IDPH is working with staff and administrators at skilled nursing facilities to increase booster rates and identify potential barriers. Using incidents of large outbreaks and the CDCs social vulnerability index as a basis for outreach, IDPH is surveying facilities to ensure they have a plan in place to administer booster shots.

"We know that advanced age is a significant factor in COVID-19 breakthrough hospitalizations and deaths, but a booster dose can help provide continued protection," Ezike said in a statement. "While COVID-19 vaccines continue to be effective in reducing the risk of severe disease, hospitalization, and death, scientists and medical experts continue to watch for signs of waning immunity, how well the vaccines protect against variants, and how that data differs across age groups and risk factors. Booster doses recommended for those 65 years and older, and for long-term care residents, can combat waning immunity and help protect those at higher risk of severe illness."

If additional assistance is requested, IEMA will mobilize its community partners vaccination program to ensure facilities receive support. In collaboration with local health departments and pharmacy partners, the administration is encouraging all skilled nursing facilities to host an onsite booster clinic by Thanksgiving.

In anticipation of the CDC authorizing booster shots for both the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines in the coming days, the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs is preparing to provide booster shots to residents at the state-run veterans homes, the majority of whom administered the Moderna vaccine. IDVA has already hosted a Pfizer booster clinic for staff and residents who received the Pfizer vaccine and the department is preparing additional clinics for residents once the CDC recommends boosters for all COVID-19 vaccines.
JERSEYVILLE  A Jerseyville man was charged recently with attacking a Jerseyville police officer.

Blake I. Thompson, 31, of the 200 block of Goodrich, Jerseyville, was charged Oct. 12 with aggravated battery, a Class 2 felony.

According to court documents, on Oct. 10 Thompson attacked a Jerseyville police officer, hitting him in the face and kicking him in the face and arm.

Bail was set at $50,000.

Other felony charges filed recently by the Jersey County States Attorneys Office include:

 Travis M. Johnson, 32, of Nilwood, Illinois, was charged Oct. 15 with burglary without causing damage, a Class 3 felony; and criminal damage to property, a Class A misdemeanor. According to court documents, on Oct. 15 Johnson entered Ruebel Adventures, 600 Timber Ridge, Grafton, to commit theft; while there he damaged a safe, causing more than $500 in damage. Bail was set at $30,000.

 Zachary A. Axsom, 21, of the 100 block of Echo Lane, Bethalto, was charged Oct. 12 with unlawful possession of controlled substance, a Class 4 felony. According to court documents, on Oct. 11 Axsom was found to be in possession of less than 15 grams of LSD. Bail was set at $10,000.
Milton School House is supposedly one of multiple haunted locations across Alton. Some have said they have heard children running through the building long after it was functional as a school and some have said they have encountered a ghost named Charlie.

Doug Mattingly, now the owner of the building, said he has yet to see anything that makes him believe in those stories.

"It is probably most accurate to say I'm agnostic," Mattingly wrote in an email. "I haven't seen anything to make me believe it is actually haunted. But then again, I haven't seen anything to make me think it isn't."

While Mattingly said he did buy the schoolhouse on a Friday the 13th a few months before the global pandemic, "so I'm feeling a little guilty about that," he has experienced nothing else outside the norm. Instead, Mattingly is attempting to rejuvenate the building, a process he calls "overwhelmingly and deeply satisfying."

"We have built out and rented a couple residential apartments to complete the north wing, we put a new roof on the entire building, installed solar panels and have started construction on the south wing which will be more commercial studios," Mattingly wrote. "I am hoping to start renovation on the gym next year to develop a community venue for weddings, receptions, concerts, etc."

One of Mattingly's first tenants is the coffee shop Maeva's Coffee, where an employee said she, too, has experienced nothing that would hint towards the paranormal.

"There are currently multiple commercial and residential tenants in the building including Maeva's. Some have been there for six or seven years and yes, we will be placing several more tenants as we complete more space," Mattingly wrote.

Instead of a creeping sense of dread, as some haunted locations in Alton might offer, Mattingly wrote that finding the Milton School House has been a pleasant experience.

"I had been casually looking for a coffee shop that included the real estate for a few years (I am a small real estate developer and investor with an interest in coffee). When I found Maeva's and the Milton Schoolhouse, it was love at first sight," Mattingly wrote. "Some people find the haunted thing interesting. For me, it's the history. Starting as a small school building in the early 1900s, adding the 2 wings, a gym and warehouse over the years, it's been used as a school, art glass factory and now a community gathering place. I just find it fascinating!"

Milton School House had been featured in an episode of "Ghost Hunters" in 2010 and has plenty of local lore surrounding it, but as Haunted Illinois says, the stories of murder, torture and suicide don't stem from historical fact but from the imaginations of those who have experienced strange happenings in the building, "which aren't in short supply."

The real story of the Milton School House is that it functioned as a school from its founding in 1904 before being closed in 1986, standing abandoned until the early 1990s when it was reopened as a decorative glass factory and now functions as a potential hangout spot.
On Tuesday, the Humane Society of Missouris Animal Cruelty Task Force conducted a rescue of 97 dogs, including many puppies as young as 10-weeks-old, from the facility of a formerly licensed breeder in Urbana, Mo.

The rescue was coordinated in conjunction with the Missouri Department of Agriculture and the Missouri Attorney Generals office.



The formerly licensed breeder, operating as Cridder Creek Kennel and later Little Miracles Kennel in Hickory County, has been ordered to close for violating a consent judgment entered in the Hickory County Circuit Court in June of 2021. The original lawsuit was filed after the owner had been cited for multiple violations of the Animal Care Facilities Act and for operating without a license since January 2021. After a show cause hearing, MDA officials swiftly contacted HSMO to arrange the rescue of the remaining dogs. The rescue breeds include multiple breeds. The ages and conditions of the dogs differ greatly.



"The severe neglect that these poor animals suffered is abhorrent and inexcusable," HSMO President Kathy Warnick said. "We will do everything in our power to ensure the rescued dogs are rehabilitated and given a second chance at a happier life."


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SAM MONTALTO, Stonington, Boys Soccer, Senior; Montalto scored three goals including the 100th of his career in the Bears 4-0 victory over Plainville in the Class M state tournament. Montalto, who missed the first three games of the season, has 32 goals and nine assists this season.

GIRLS & BOYS Soccer Team, Chariho; It wouldnt be fair to single out a player from either team, both of which captured Division II titles over the weekend of Nov. 12. The girls tied their game with Prout with 1:02 left in regulation and prevailed in penalty kicks. The boys scored the winning goal in the final two minutes of the second overtime to beat North Smithfield.

ZACK TUCK, Westerly, Football; Tuck rushed for 150 yards on 29 carries in a loss to unbeaten St. Raphael in the Division II semifinals. Tuck has rushed for 1,533 yards and scored 19 touchdowns this season for the 7-3 Bulldogs.

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Our car broke down on July 26 as my wife and I were travelling home with friends.

When negotiating the busy Canford Bottom roundabout on the A31 there was a bang and I was unable to get the car to move.

We pushed it to the outer lane and I called RAC just before 8pm. For hours I was told it was exceptionally busy and was promised updates in 30 minutes. At 12.23am I was told our case would be escalated.

Police attended in the evening and returned at 3am  they could not believe we were still there.

Stranded: AA took more than 8 hours to get to an elderly couple after the car broke down on the busy A31 at night

They helped us move the car to a safer location and drove us to a friends' house. Our friends then drove us home to Bournemouth.

As we walked through the door at 3.40am a breakdown driver called, so we went out again to take the car key to him.

He told us he had been available for the past five hours but had only recently received a request from RAC.

A. G., Bournemouth, Dorset.

Tony Hazell replies: What a nightmare! It must have been particularly galling to learn that your ordeal could have been curtailed by five hours and you might have been tucked up in bed by midnight.

This was during the pingdemic when staff absence at RAC would have been high.

But you had an awful experience, and its offer of reparation was pathetic  a 50 per cent renewal discount. You were a long-standing customer who had been badly let down.

I pointed this out to RAC and you then received an appropriately grovelling apology: 'Ultimately, we should have attended much sooner than we did and we should have called when we said we would. There is no excuse for how long you waited.'

You were offered 15 months of free breakdown cover, which you happily accepted.

RAC told me: 'The impact of unprecedented UK staycation travel, together with many staff having to self-isolate, put extreme pressure on all breakdown service providers, meaning a small number of customers had to wait longer than usual.

'We're pleased Mr G has accepted our gesture of goodwill.'

A broken gas meter turned of a customer's supply that then hiked their bills by hundreds

Broken gas meter hiked bill by 800

On May 29 our gas boiler stopped working. A central heating engineer traced the problem to the outside gas meter which had somehow turned off the gas supply.

Our supplier, Utility Warehouse, said the meter was irreparable and arranged to change it the following week. We switched off the boiler so no gas was entering our home.

My husband took 15 meter readings over the next three days, and the reading increased from 15,610 to 16,094.

We told the engineer who changed the meter, but he did not pass this on to the firm. Our bills were increasing rapidly so we told Utility Warehouse about the fault.

The provider said our next bill would be adjusted, but we were charged 800 for July.

This meant our debt had risen from 300.19 to 1,328.91 between April and July. Utility Warehouse has closed our complaint and told us to wait until January to see what our usage is on the new meter.

We have been with the firm for three years, so why can't it look at our previous readings?

B. C., Watton, Norfolk.

Tony Hazell replies: That increase in gas usage over the summer should ring alarm bells. I am surprised there was no search for a leak.

You are both in your 80s and had become scared to use gas because of the rising bills. This is no way to treat potentially vulnerable customers.

Your payments from February to August 2020 came to 1,109.08, but over the same period this year you were charged 1,592.78.

Your old meter was faulty, but how long had it been malfunctioning for? After I made contact, Utility Warehouse re-estimated your bills with previous usage details, resulting in a credit of 1,068.67.

This leaves your account clear of any debt. It has also apologised and made a 75 goodwill payment. You are very happy with this outcome.

A former AA employee joined a sharesave scheme but has now been told there is no trace of it

What happened to my AA employee savings?

I joined a three-year sharesave scheme as an employee with the AA. I left the company in 2003, went to live in France and forgot about this.

I have now returned to the UK. I wrote to the AA, Centrica (which owned the AA) and the share service Equiniti. I have been told there is no trace of the account.

P. W., Evesham, Worcs.

Tony Hazell replies: Equiniti has searched microfiche records.

It says you left the AA employee share scheme and cashed a cheque for 900. You can't recall doing this, but it is easy to forget something from nearly two decades ago.

You have approached your bank, but it has told you it can only go back through your transfers from up to three years ago.

Isn't it good to know that, in the age of computerisation, banks are claiming their records are hopeless?

I say 'claiming' because I don't believe what your bank has told you, though whether it could go as far back as 2003 is another matter.
Teletext Holidays and its sister firm, Alpharooms, are facing court action after failing to return refunds to its package holiday customers who had trips cancelled during the pandemic.

The two companies have previously been warned by the Competition and Markets Authority to pay back their customers after many said they were still waiting for their money back.

The CMA said it has requested a court order stating that package holiday customers with outstanding refunds are repaid immediately and those entitled to a refund in future are paid within the 14 days required by law.

Thousands of customers are still waiting to get a refund from Teletext Holidays, years on

It comes after Truly Holidays, the company that operates Teletext Holidays and Alpharooms, formally agreed in May to address failures to issue timely refunds.

After reviewing Truly Holdings' final report on progress with repayments, the CMA wrote to the firm on 16 September stating it would take the company to court unless it took urgent action to improve how it handles refunds to package holiday customers.

A month on, the regulator said it does not consider that Truly Holdings has done enough to provide refunds to package holiday customers with outstanding claims, including recent cancellations, or to make sure that it pays all future refunds that are due within the 14 days.

The CMA will be asking the court to order that Truly Holdings puts in place appropriate processes to ensure it complies with the law in the future.

It added that as it considers Truly Holdings is in breach of the law and that harm to consumers is ongoing, it is seeking that the claim be expedited, so that the case can be heard more quickly.

However, it is for the court to determine a date for the hearing.

Andrea Coscelli, Chief Executive of the CMA, said: 'Companies must abide by consumer protection law and treat their customers fairly.

'After engaging with Teletext Holidays extensively, we are now requesting a court order to make sure that the company immediately pays back the money it still owes to customers and refunds people within 14 days, going forward.'

The CMA is taking the firms to court after it failed to deliver the refunds to all of its customers

Since the CMA initially called out Teletext in May, hordes of readers have got in touch with This is Money to say they are still waiting on a pay out.

We previously reported on the number of customers that are still waiting for refunds for holidays that were often due to take place well over a year ago.

Many are waiting on hundreds and even thousands of pounds to be returned.

However, Teletext said it has been refunding customers as much as possible.

A spokeswoman for Teletext Holidays said: 'The company is working as hard as it can and continues to process the remaining refunds due under the Package Travel Regulations to our remaining customers, and as such is very disappointed by the latest action by the CMA.

'As at 11 October 2021, we owe 1.2million towards historic and ongoing cancellations and have refunded over 10.8million.

'We have engaged in constructive dialogue with the CMA and continue to vigorously pursue any strategy agreed with the CMA.'

Agreements from LoveHolidays, Lastminute.com, Virgin Holidays and Tui UK were previously secured by the CMA after thousands of customers complained the companies had failed to refund them for cancelled trips.

The travel sector has been one of the hardest hit during the pandemic and has faced the most scrutiny from the watchdog, which wrote to more than 100 firms reminding them of their responsibility to process all refunds within 14 days by law for any cancellations.
Despite cries of outrage from Westminster, the City and the farming community, Morrisons investors are expected to give their approval today for the 122-year-old supermarket to be sold to a US private equity giant for 7billion.

Clayton, Dubilier & Rice recently edged out rival Fortress with a bid of 287p per share, taking the price to its highest level since 2013.

Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng has slammed the brakes on the sale of Meggitt to a US rival by instructing the Competition and Markets Authority to investigate the takeover of the British defence giant and produce a report before 18 March next year.

Clarks's private equity owners have been accused of betraying the shoemaker's Quaker roots by threatening staff with the sack if they do not accept pay cuts.

Workers at Clarks's Westway warehouse in Street, Somerset, have gone on strike for the first time since 1880 claiming Lion Rock Capital is using 'despicable tactics straight from the private equity handbook' to force them to accept a 3,000 wage cut.

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Housebuilding giant Bellway has hiked its proposed dividend payouts to investors following a massive increase in profits and home completions.

The FTSE 250 firm said it is recommending a 117.5p dividend per share payment after its latest annual results showed pre-tax profits more than doubled to 479million in the year to the end of July.

Revenues also climbed by around 900million to 3.13billion as the group benefited from the stamp duty holiday and substantial pent-up demand that arose after coronavirus forced the UK to enter a lockdown and property freeze in spring last year.

Sales growth: Bellway's forward order book in early October has climbed since 2019 from 1.31billion and 4,878 homes to nearly 2billion and over 7,000 homes earlier this month

It achieved a weekly private reservation rate of 169 per week, which was a 20 per cent increase on the previous year and a higher rate than recorded in pre-pandemic.

This was not the case for housing completions, even though they soared by over a third to 10,138 last year. Total revenues were also 2.3 per cent below their pre-Covid levels despite rising 40.3 per cent.

However, the company saw its forward order book in early October climb above 2019, from 1.31billion and 4,878 homes, to nearly 2billion and more than 7,000 homes.

Bellway has also used the pandemic to buy a record quantity of land and, primarily because of this investment, expects to finish over 11,000 houses this year and 12,200 the year after.

'Our front-footed and opportunistic, yet disciplined approach towards land acquisition, at a time when there was less pronounced competition, has led to a record investment in new sites since our re-entry into the market in early summer 2020,' the group stated.

'This is driven by market opportunity and the strong, structural demand for good quality housing. It has resulted in a strengthened land bank, providing a solid platform for ongoing growth and margin recovery in the years ahead.'

Expansion: Bellway has bought a record quantity of land and, primarily because of this investment, expects to finish over 11,000 houses this year and 12,200 the year after

The Newcastle-based company admitted that it had been affected by various supply chain problems that have struck the wider construction industry, such as a rise in steel and timber prices, and a shortage of labourers.

It added that the UK's shortage of HGV drivers and recent disruption to fuel supplies to petrol stations had negatively impacted the availability of building materials.

But it said the rising cost of building materials was being offset by growing house prices, especially in regions far outside London, including Scotland, Yorkshire and the East Midlands.

Property prices have gone up across the whole country. But in the capital, they have only tipped up slightly due to a fall in immigration, higher taxes on purchases by overseas buyers, and the desire among Britons for more spacious housing.

Shortage issues: Bellway said UK's shortage of HGV drivers and recent disruption of fuel supplies to petrol stations had negatively impacted the availability of building materials

During the last financial year, Bellway said the average selling price of homes from its London brand was around 408,000, a fall of more than 100,000 on the prior 12 months and more than 150,000 less than in 2019.

It expects annual average selling prices across the country to dip to 295,000 from 306,479 a year earlier, as it focuses on more affordable properties ahead of the March 2023 end of the Government's Help to Buy incentive scheme.

The firm also revealed a further 51.8million charge for fire safety work on high-rise buildings, which comes in the wake of the Grenfell Tower tragedy, taking its total bill for fire safety work on cladding to 164.7million since 2017.

Adam Vettese, an analyst at investment platform eToro, said the company's trading update showed it was 'in a very healthy financial position indeed.'

But he warned that the end of the stamp duty holiday, which exempted homebuyers in England and Northern Ireland from paying the tax on property purchases worth at least 250,000, may lead to fewer sales in the medium-term.

'While that hasn't happened yet,' he remarked, 'we are seeing supply and labour shortages lead to slower production and rising costs for housebuilders.

'For now those added costs are being absorbed by rising house prices, but prolonged shortages and an extended period of lower demand could eventually act as a drag on housebuilders' profits.'

Shares in Bellway closed trading 1.6 per cent higher at 3,405.5p on Tuesday.
Roseanna Lane has found it almost impossible get a two-bedroom property in her price range

Roseanna Lane thought she had plenty of time to find a new flat to rent when she gave notice to her landlord two months ago.

But despite registering with eight estate agents in Richmond, South-West London, Roseanna and her partner Nick have found it almost impossible to nail down a two-bedroom property in their price range.

Even after raising their budget from 1,500 to 2,000 a month and considering properties farther afield, the couple, both 24, were repeatedly outbid by tenants willing to pay more.

And they are not alone. Experts warn that the rental market is in chaos following a spike in demand after lockdown  particularly in big cities where workers are returning to the office, and student towns now that universities have reopened.

Agents say properties are being snatched up in as little as 24 hours  in which time applicants are registered, vetted, shown the flat and have their paperwork processed  before tenants move in a few days later.

Renters also complain of being gazumped by others offering more money at the last minute.

Nervous landlords are desperate for financial security after the Covid-crisis ban on evictions, which only ended in May.

As a result, many are increasing rents, carrying out stricter income checks and demanding that tenants commit to longer contracts.

So even those who manage to find somewhere to live now face paying hundreds of pounds more per month, forking out a year's rent upfront and locking into three-year tenancies for a property that likely doesn't tick all their boxes.

Supply has also been hit by reforms to the buy-to-let sector, which has left landlords struggling to make a profit after losing lucrative tax breaks.

Many have sold up to take advantage of the stamp duty holiday and rising house prices. Others have converted their properties to holiday lets.

Picky landlords and huge fee hikes

Roseanna, who works in technology PR, says: 'We'd look at a property that was not quite right but before we could make an offer, it was gone. We were refreshing websites such as Rightmove constantly.

'Some of the prices were ridiculous  I found it sickening. Before lockdown, I was renting a two-bed flat in Richmond with a friend for 1,500 a month, but we were seeing some for as much as 2,250 a month that were just not worth the money.'

The couple were warned about a shortage of properties but thought the agents were just trying to get them to move quickly.

They were also told that landlords wanted more security and were becoming far fussier about tenants.

Hot property: Agents say properties are being snatched up in as little as 24 hours - in which time applicants are registered, vetted, shown the flat and have their paperwork processed

Roseanna says: 'We made sure to emphasise that we are a tidy, professional couple with stable jobs.'

She also found that landlords were unwilling to negotiate on rent. For one flat, the couple offered 1,800  100 below the asking price  and it was rejected straight away.

The pair later learnt that the person who secured the tenancy offered more than the price advertised.

They eventually settled on a two-bed flat outside Richmond because they were running out of time. They offered 1,600 a month  25 more than what was asked.

They had to pay a holding deposit of a week's rent to secure the property and agree to a three-year contract with a one-year break clause.

Pounce first thing or there's no hope

Ida Amegbey, who works for an investment platform, is struggling to find somewhere to live in Bristol.

She says the first hurdle is price. Over the past few years she has seen rent soar. Before the pandemic, a room in a shared house cost between 300 and 500 a month. Now, the starting price is 500. Meanwhile, the cost of a one-bed flat has risen from 600 to about 900.

And with a small pool of eligible properties, securing a viewing, let alone the chance to put your name on a list, is difficult.

Ida, 30, says estate agents are no longer taking your details to let you know when something suitable crops up.

'You now need to check the various websites first thing in the morning when new accommodation is listed, accept the earliest available viewing, then hope that by the time you view the flat, someone else hasn't been for a viewing and requested to take up the listing,' she says.

'It's not a case of finding a place you can afford or you like, or making sure the people you'll be living with are compatible. You just take what you can get. It is frantic and stressful.'

Ida says she has heard of people sleeping on friends' couches because they haven't found a place to live after hunting for months on end.

She adds that tenants are also so worried about the rental market, they are putting up with more unfair treatment by landlords.

'People I know are less likely to contest unfair charges or report too many repairs,' says Ida.

'We feel we are tiptoeing around our landlords. Ours put the rent up by 100 a month at the start of the pandemic when two of my housemates had been furloughed and elsewhere people were losing their jobs. We just paid it.'

Stuck in limbo with time running out

Bethan Howe has been looking for a four-bed house in Bristol with three other young professionals since June, when their landlord told them he wanted to sell their flat.

He gave them until the end of September to find something but they have had no luck.

Bethan Howe has been looking for a four-bed house in Bristol with three other young professionals since June

Bethan, 23, says: 'There are so few houses available for sharers  and when one does appear, we hardly even get the chance to arrange a viewing before they are booked up or people put in an offer without seeing the house.

'Also, one of the people I'm trying to rent with is doing a PhD and although she is salaried, landlords often consider her a student and reject us on that basis.'

Their landlord has now given them until November to move out, but Bethan says she is still not confident they will find somewhere.

Another tenant, who wishes to remain anonymous, told Money Mail she is currently battling her landlord's demand for an extra 150 a month for a new tenancy once her existing one ends.

The 29-year-old pays 800 a month for a one-bed flat in Manchester, but has been told this will rise to 950. She says: 'The justification has simply been 'the market'. It's crazy this is happening just before Christmas.'

Some pay a year's rent up front

There were nearly half (46 per cent) as many homes available to rent across Britain in August compared with the same month last year, according to estate agents Hamptons.

At the same time, the firm saw an 8 per cent increase in people looking to rent.

The average monthly rent on a new let increased by 7.4 per cent across the country, from 1,010 to 1,085.

Tenants in the South West of England saw the biggest hikes, with the average rent rising by 13.9 per cent, from 868 to 989, while those in the South East faced rises of 12.8 per cent  138 more a month.

Along with Wales, Scotland has seen the sharpest drop in rental properties in Britain. As a result, the average rent in Wales has risen by 12.9 per cent while in Scotland it has gone up by 10.8 per cent, according to HomeLet.

Trade body ARLA Propertymark, which represents lettings agents, says the number of tenants being hit by rent increases jumped significantly for the second month in a row in August, with 79 per cent of agents saying landlords were raising rents, compared with 71 per cent in July.

It also reported record high numbers of new prospective tenants, with 107 per branch.

The house-share site Spareroom currently has more 'room wanted' adverts than it has postings for rooms available. This is only the third time this has happened in the UK in the past six years (the last was in 2019).

Lucy Devine, lettings consultant at Hamptons in Haywards Heath, West Sussex, says 27 per cent of properties have gone for over the asking price in the past year.

This means an extra 194 a month for landlords, on average.

Tenants hoping to make themselves more appealing to landlords have been offering as much as six months' rent upfront.

Ms Devine says: 'I had to block out a whole day for viewings of a four-bed home because the interest poured in. We usually spread viewings over a few weeks.

'That day we had six offers, with tenants offering above the asking price, longer tenancy agreements and advance rent.'

Tenants who earn average salaries spend almost a quarter of their income on rent, according to the Office for National Statistics  in hotspot London you would have to spend 37.7 per cent of a typical income on rent.

Adam Stone, lettings manager at Winkworth's Clerkenwell and City office, says: 'We have been getting dozens of enquiries for all our properties and generally receive up to five or six offers, some well over the asking price.'

Joseph Cooper, from The Keel, a development of 240 apartments in Liverpool, says flats are being snapped up unviewed within an hour of being listed online.

Enquiries were up 1,650 per cent last month compared with the year before, he adds, as young people returned to the city after moving in with their parents during lockdown.

Amelia Greene, director in the prime lettings team at Savills, says the return of international travel, combined with full easing of lockdown restrictions, has sent the market into a frenzy.

She adds: 'Demand is up across the board, but hotspots in North and East London have been particularly popular.

In some instances, tenants are ensuring that they are the most appealing candidate by paying for a full year upfront, or by committing to properties unseen.'

Sarah Coles, from investment firm Hargreaves Lansdown, says: 'Generation rent has been hit hard during the crisis. They were more likely to have borrowed money to make ends meet, and those already in debt were more likely to have borrowed more.

'The pandemic pushed the finances of many of them to breaking point, so a hike in rental costs is the last thing they need.'

a.murray@dailymail.co.uk
BETHLEHEM - Around the clock, every day of the year, pilots and medical professionals with LifeNet of New York are standing by at the South Albany Airport ready to jump in their Eurocopter EC135 helicopter to pick up trauma patients.

They pick them up from area hospitals and bring them to Albany Medical Center Hospital, the Burn Center at Westchester Medical Center - or perhaps Boston, depending on their medical emergency.

Most Capital Region residents likely have never even heard of the South Albany Airport, where the LifeNet flight teams have been based since 2013. Previously stationed on the roof of Albany Med, the pilots and medical teams have an apartment where they live during 24-hour shifts, and a dedicated hangar at the airport where they can do maintenance work, which used to be done on the roof of the hospital.

On Monday, the state Department of Transportation announced it was giving out $20.7 million in grants to airports across the state - of which $1 million is going to the South Albany Airport.

The grant will allow the privately-owned airport to upgrade its facilities so that its snow-plowing and other vehicles can be stored indoors for the first time, a move that will allow the LifeNet teams to get in and out of the airport much more quickly in the future during inclement weather.

The grant will also go toward a new solar-electric generation system and a new septic system, ensuring that the airport, and others like it across the state, have state-of-the-art facilities at a time when air travel is becoming more important than ever.

New York State DOT Commissioner Marie Therese Dominguez was at the airport, located on Creble Road in the town of Bethlehem, to make the announcement Monday.

The projects, including the one in Bethlehem, are being paid for by the DOT's Aviation Capital Investment Program that seeks to ensure that infrastructure in New York stays competitive with neighboring states.

"New York continues to make targeted investments in all transportation infrastructure that will enhance safety, strengthen communities and create and sustain new and existing, well-paying jobs," Therese Dominguez said. "These aviation grants specifically support projects that will serve to make our local communities more economically competitive (both) regionally and globally."

Small private airports, like South Albany Airport, may not be well-known, but they are more than just oddities that serve the wealthy and amateur pilots.

The South Albany Airport is owned and operated by Ted Zabinski and his wife. But because of LifeNet, the facility is a critical piece of the medical safety net in the state, with similar stations across the state. The Army National Guard and the State Police also use the airport for training as well.



"Local and regional airports are the gateway to communities across New York State, attracting tourists and business from around the world," Governor Kathy Hochul said in a statement after the announcement. "These investments will continue to transform New York's airports into world-class facilities that will further boost economic development and growth."

Therese Dominguez said that another $600,000 grant is going to the Saratoga County Airport to buy service equipment to make the airport safe during bad weather.

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Mike Hall, president of the New York Aviation Management Association , told the Times Union after the event that small airports like South Albany may be huge economic development centers in the future as electric-powered planes become more mainstream and delivery of consumer products by drones become more commonplace.

Hall said larger airports like Albany International Airport that the general public uses are so busy, they will leave those new services like drone delivery to the smaller ones.
Landlords filed a total of 1,957 evictions across Putnam, Orange, Ulster, Dutchess, Columbia, Greene and Sullivan counties in 2020, according to data published by the New York Unified Court System.

The number is about one third of the pre-pandemic volume of 6,020 eviction filings in 2019, but still significant given the government-mandated eviction moratorium.

The eviction moratorium has been in place since the start of the pandemic. In New York, tenants will be shielded until Jan. 15, 2022. Across the state, landlords filed 113,807 eviction cases from March 1, 2020, to October 4, 2021, including more than 4,000 in the Capital Region. In the Hudson Valley, Dutchess County had the highest number of eviction filings in 2020, with 749 cases, followed by 683 eviction filings in Orange County.

Slightly fewer than half of the number of eviction filings end with a warrant for an eviction, according to Justin Haines, Attorney in Charge for Legal Services of the Hudson Valleys Dutchess County branch.

Still, even with a smaller percentage of cases going to court, there is often confusion among tenants regarding their options, such as the Emergency Rent Assistance Program (ERAP), established in the pandemic to provide assistance to tenants to cover back rent owed. By mid-September, New York distributed $399 million in rental assistance to tenants. Last month, Gov. Kathy Hochul asked the U.S. Treasury for more money for the program due to high demand.

Legal Services of the Hudson Valley has been picking up all those cases that have been falling through the cracks, said Haines, and helping those who have been issued warrants for eviction understand their rights.

We saw people who would come to us the day before theyre about to be evicted by the sheriff, said Haines. They didnt know anything about the ERAP program or their right to be protected from eviction. We would do emergency motions to stop eviction and give them time to apply for those kinds of programs.

Related: Three locals open up about their search for housing

Legal Services of the Hudson Valley has also filed cases for tenants who have experienced landlords locking them out, turning off essential services and using other techniques to encourage the tenant to leave.

Despite what seems like an increased need for Legal Services of the Hudson Valley, the nonprofit organization said it has seen fewer people during the pandemic at the Dutchess County location, according to Haines.

The reason? People arent always aware the availability of the services until they actually go to court, where the judge or clerk explains that they may contact Legal Services of the Hudson Valley for free legal counseling and an attorney.

Without a lot of cases moving through the court system, they may not have been aware of our services and contacted us, said Haines. We encourage anyone who has a case against them to reach out to us.

Despite Dutchess Countys high number of eviction filings relative to other counties in the Hudson Valley, cases are down overall in the pandemic. The New York State Unified Court System data showed that Dutchess County had 1,997 eviction filings in 2019, with a vast majority  1,641 cases  of those taking place in Poughkeepsie and Beacon. In 2020, eviction filings in those two courts dropped by 60 percent, with 598 cases filed and 246 warrants issued, according to Haines.

Theres lots of reasons [for the filing to not end with an eviction warrant], like maybe someone came up with the money, or the person voluntarily left, said Haines.

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But while tenants are protected from eviction if they can prove they cannot pay rent due to a hardship related to COVID-19, landlords can challenge these claims.

Were seeing a lot of that now, said Haines. Landlords are wanting to challenge the declarations so they can move the case forward and move towards eviction.

Some tenants have not yet been evicted despite a filing being made, because of backlogged courts. For example, cases that entered the courts in early 2020 have been prolonged due to the pandemic.

Those cases are still unresolved, and its almost two years later, said Haines.

Landlords are receiving government assistance during the eviction moratorium, too. They have access to the Landlord Rental Assistance Program (LRAP) for economic relief, which was announced in early October. Through this program, landlords must prove they tried to get tenants to participate in the ERAP program for rental arrears; if tenants have left their property without paying rent or are unwilling to apply for ERAP, landlords can receive assistance through LRAP. Between the two programs, Haines predicts some of the backlogged will be cleared.

However, he warns that rental arrears money for tenants wont be a long-term solution. When someones lease expires, or when the rental moratorium is up, tenants will compete with many others for apartments.

I dont think the average person understands how changed the rental and home sale market has been as a result to the pandemic, said Haines. Weve seen a tremendous impact of people moving out of New York City and to the Hudson Valley.

Haines suspects locals will have a harder time finding affordable housing as rental rates continue to increase in the region.
ALBANY  A 29-year-old Albany man has been charged with felony assault in the Friday stabbing of a 35-year-old man who remains in critical condition, city police said Monday.

The suspect was arrested Monday morning in the area of Second Street and North Lake Avenue by detectives and charged with first-degree assault.
3 1 of 3 Kenneth C. Crowe II / Times Union Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Kenneth C. Crowe II / Times Union Show More Show Less 3 of 3





RENSSELAER  A man shot his roommate - and then drove him to the hospital Tuesday morning, police said.

The alleged gunman was taken into custody shortly after he arrived at Albany Medical Center Hospital, Rensselaer Police Chief James Frankoski said.
NORTH GREENBUSH  A pizza deliveryman who crashed into a mailbox and left the scene is charged with drunken driving, State Police said Tuesday.

Troopers from Sand Lake arrested the 35-year-old Nassau man after a witness to the collision on West Sand Lake Road in North Greenbush took down his license plate and called police.
Lori Van Buren/Albany Times Union

ALBANY  Add the Texas Roadhouse casual dining chain to the list of businesses that are offering a tuition reimbursement program for team members interested in pursuing a college degree. The announcement coincides with the companys National Hiring Day event on Monday, October 25. Albany, Queensbury and Kingston locations will host events to fill both full- and part-time positions.



Any team member working 30 hours or more weekly that qualifies for benefits will now be eligible for $5,250 in annual reimbursement for classes at an accredited university when a C average is maintained.

Several large employers have been offering tuition reimbursements to lure workers in an economy in which many jobs have gone unfilled. Amazon recently announced it would spend $1.2 billion for a program that includes tuition funding for its more than 750,000 U.S. employees starting in January.
ALBANY  Two constitutional amendments on the ballot in next month's general election have the potential to transform New Yorks voting laws.

The proposals, if approved, would expand absentee voting and enact same-day voter registration, although not immediately since the Legislature would need to pass additional legislation for the latter measure to be implemented.

In order for the amendments to appear on the ballot, they needed to pass in both the state Senate and Assembly twice during two different sessions. Democrats and Republicans in the Legislature continue to remain divided on the issues.

"Proposal 3" would allow same-day voter registration. The state Constitution doesnt allow for voters to register less than 10 days before an election. Additionally, a law passed in 1981 established a 25-day voter registration deadline.

If the measure passes, the 10-day deadline in the Constitution would no longer be applicable, but the Legislature would need to pass an additional law overturning the 25-day deadline, which would remain in effect until that happens. Leaders in both chambers, each with a Democratic majority, have indicated they are likely to do so.

The District of Columbia and 20 states allow for same-day registration in some regard, meaning that eligible voters can register and vote on the day of an election or during early voting.

Supporters of same-day registration say the change would increase voter turnout, as witnessed in states that already have it. They also contend more voters would be able to participate in elections since they would be able to register up until the last minute.

The move would be particularly beneficial to voters that turned 18 or became naturalized during the 25-day period, supporters say, in addition to creating accurate voter rolls.

Those expressing opposition to the proposal say it will give election officials less time to confirm a voters eligibility and create administrative burdens. They say that would also require additional staffing and resources.

In recent years, the state has made voting more accessible. Last year, former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo signed a bill creating automatic voter registration options integrated with designated agency applications. Voters are also now able to register online.

A fourth proposal on the ballot next month would expand access to absentee voting. For voters to qualify for an absentee ballot, they must be away from their home county, ill or physically unable to vote in-person. Roughly 3 to 5 percent of New York residents currently qualify for absentee voting.

For last year's presidential election, however, Cuomo issued an executive order during the pandemic allowing New Yorkers to vote absentee if they cited a temporary illness on their application. The amendment would codify that decision and no longer require that voters provide an excuse for obtaining an absentee ballot.

Brianna Cea, CEO and founder of Generation Vote, said absentee voting is favored particularly within the Asian American community, especially among older voters, who worry about concerns regarding their health and physical safety at the polls.

The pandemic definitely showed the importance of having an accessible absentee process for New Yorkers, Cea said. Because at this point, between the hate crimes and the pandemic, I think voters would definitely feel more comfortable having a system in which they have multiple ways to cast their ballot without being forced to just show up in person."

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The District of Columbia and 34 states do not require residents to provide an explanation to vote with an absentee ballot.

Unpredictable work schedules, care giving duties and a desire to avoid large crowds are among the reasons many voters would prefer to vote by absentee ballot, supporters say.

Opponents suggest that no-excuse absentee voting would make verifying a voters identity more difficult, put more pressure on state and local boards of elections and drag out the tallying of results.

The opponents' claims are meritless and seem to come from those who see political benefit in fewer people voting, said state Senate Deputy Majority Leader Michael Gianaris, who sponsored a bill that would remove the 10-day clause from the Constitution.

The arguments against it are completely false and mimic the national conversation where Republicans are crying about voter fraud that doesnt exist, Gianaris added. "They seem intent to continue to take pages out of Donald Trumps playbook, but that doesnt work in New York.

State Senate Minority Leader Robert Ortt disagrees with that assumption.

In Albany, somewhere we got into this sort of false choice that youre either for making it easier to vote or youre for voter suppression, Ortt said. "My colleagues in the Democratic side of the aisle, in the Legislature, have made it seem as though its either one or the other. Youre either for these measures or youre somehow for disenfranchisement and thats just a false narrative that I think not only do we reject, but I think a lot of New Yorkers reject that as well.

On Sunday, New York Republican Party Chairman Nick Langworthy announced he was launching a Just Say No tour across the state to promote the partys opposition against the voting law changes. He made stops Monday in Staten Island, Brooklyn and Queens.
ALBANY  A strong majority of New York ethics commissioners present for a vote on Tuesday favored revoking approval of former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's lucrative book deal. Yet the motion still went down by one vote because so many other commissioners had departed the meeting by the time the vote occurred late Tuesday afternoon.

By a 7-2 margin in favor, commissioners overseeing the Joint Commission on Public Ethics failed to pass the motion undoing its own staffs approval for Cuomo to write last year's book, American Crisis: Leadership Lessons From the COVID-19 Pandemic." Eight votes in favor were needed to pass the motion.

And by the time it took place  five hours after the meeting had kicked off  five of 14 JCOPE commissioners were not present. The commission had held an unusually long, closed-door executive session, where the motion and other matters were discussed, before taking the vote in public.

The two votes against the motion were from William Fisher  appointed to the commission by Cuomo  and Jose Nieves, the panel's new chairman, who was recently appointed by Gov. Kathy Hochul.

Commissioner Gary Lavine agreed to have a vote on the motion after the executive session concluded. It's one of several times this year a matter has been pushed into executive session, and then failed to receive eight votes due to early departures.

The five commissioners not present at the end of Tuesday's meeting were Colleen DiPirro, an appointee of Cuomo; James McCarthy, the Assembly Republican appointee; David McNamara, a Senate Republican appointee; Juanita Bing Newton, the Senate Democratic appointee; and Terryl Brown, who was just appointed to JCOPE on Monday by Hochul.

If the approval is ultimately rescinded, that could begin the process of commissioners seeking to claw back the millions in book proceeds Cuomo collected from the publisher. After Tuesday's vote, Lavine told the Times Union he plans to ask for a special meeting where another vote could be taken on the same motion.

After gaining national praise for his early handling of the pandemic, Cuomo reached a $5.1 million book deal with Crown, a subsidiary of Penguin Random House. Cuomo resigned from office in August while facing impeachment.

As with other state employees, JCOPE had to issue an approval for Cuomo to earn outside income. In the motion on Tuesday, Lavine argued that a top JCOPE staffer did not have the authority to make the approval in Cuomo's case, and that the July 2020 decision should be revoked for additional reasons.

In 2012, the panel's commissioners passed a resolution allowing the executive director of the staff to take certain actions between monthly commissioner meetings. Its staff argues that resolution gave the authority for them to approve Cuomo's book deal.

But Lavine notes that JCOPE had no executive director when that approval took place.

In the absence of an executive director, JCOPE had passed another resolution in 2019 that granted power to exercise authority between meetings jointly to two people: general counsel Monica Stamm and deputy general counsel Martin Levine. Under the resolution, if the two staffers could not agree on a decision, then-JCOPE chairman Michael Rozen would be the tie-breaking vote.

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But in the Cuomo book matter, Stamm had recused herself due to a possible conflict of interest. That meant that Levine, without Stamm's consent, issued the approval to Cuomo.

Lavine has been a commissioner with JCOPE since it was created in 2011, except for three weeks in December 2018 when he was not reappointed by Cuomo. Three weeks later, he was put back on the commission in an appointment by then-Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan. Lavine argues that under the 2019 resolution Levine, the staffer, was not allowed to make the approval without the consent of Stamm.

Lavine also contended that Cuomo's attorney made a materially false statement in seeking the original book approval. In a letter to JCOPE, Cuomo's then-counsel Judith Mogul had stated his staff would not be used to produce "American Crisis." In fact, by the time Mogul sought the approval, Executive Chamber staff was already deeply involved in tasks such as editing.

Cuomo has acknowledged using government staff on the book, but says that because they "volunteered" it was not a misuse of state resources.

At a special meeting earlier in October, JCOPE commissioners also voted to hire an outside law firm to investigate other circumstances of the staff's approval of the Cuomo book deal.
ALBANY  Republican leaders in New York's Senate are calling for Gov. Kathy Hochul to suspend the state's tax on fuel as prices soar at the gas pump and experts are expecting home heating bills this winter to be financially devastating for many residents and business owners.

New York Senate Minority Leader Robert Ortt and Deputy Minority Leader Andrew Lanza wrote a letter to Hochul, dated Tuesday, that said by "suspending our state's gas tax, we can work to recover economically from the pandemic, helping businesses and families across the state."

Ortt, along with Sens. Pam Helming, R-Ontario County, and Edward A. Rath III, R-Erie County, held a news conference at a Rochester gas station Tuesday afternoon to draw support for their request and noting they expect auto fuel prices to rise to as much as $5 per gallon.

The soaring prices, they said, come as Democratic lawmakers are advancing a proposal to impose a carbon tax of $55 per ton of fossil fuel emissions to meet renewable energy mandates under the Climate and Community Investment Act that was passed by the state Legislature two years ago.

But the financing portion of the legislation was still not resolved at the end of this year's legislative session, when the Assembly declined to pass a bill that would have created a de facto 55-cent tax on gasoline. A second measure that failed in the Assembly would have mandated higher energy efficiency standards for items like home appliances.

"As prices at the pump and on our home heating bills rise, its critical that elected officials find ways to alleviate what will surely be a dark cold winter for lower-and-middle-class New Yorkers," Ortt said. "I am disappointed that my Democrat colleagues continue to foolishly push an increased, out-of-touch gas tax that will only harm those struggling to fill their tanks and pay their heating bills."

Ortt noted the state is projecting a $7 billion budget surplus that would help offset the tax relief and still fund highway, bridge and other infrastructure projects.

Suspending the states gas tax would provide some immediate relief to people who right now, are paying more to get to work, to bring their kids to school or daycare, to heat their homes, and to power their businesses," Helming said. "And we can work together on long-term solutions to protect the environment that dont raise significant costs for taxpayers and job creators."

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Rath characterized the imposition of a 55-cents-per-gallon tax on gasoline with a 25 percent tax on natural gas and home heating oil as "unconscionable."

Ortt and Senate Deputy Leader Andrew Lanza said they wrote a letter earlier this year to former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo urging him to suspend the gas tax. Senate Republicans have since waged a petition drive and collected what they said are thousand of signatures from people seeking to "pump the brakes" on any gas tax.

Senate Republicans, citing data from the Tax Foundation, said that New York currently has the ninth-highest gas tax in the nation at 46.19 cents per gallon. If the proposed gas tax of 55 cents is added the state would have the highest gas tax in the nation, at 101.2 cents per gallon, far above the second-highest, California, which has a gas tax of 66.9 cents per gallon.

According to AAA, the Republicans said, New Yorks latest average gas price is $3.46 per gallon, up from $2.25 a year ago.
October 19, 2021





Back in January of this year, Adobe (News - Alert) discontinued support for Flash player, which had already been replaced in many market sectors by HTML5 technologies. Outside of certain international markets as well as online gaming, few of the clearnet's major sites were still using Flash, so this created relatively little buzz compared to the sun-setting of many other comparable technologies. Flash Player, however, is still available in China due to the healthy amount of use it continues to see on the Mandarin-language web, and some have sought to use this loophole to keep it alive.







Clean Flash project developers were using a third-party version of the player from Zhong Cheng Network, who was authorized on behalf of Adobe to distribute Flash in Chinese-language markets. However, their attempts to make the software more safe in the face of its discontinuation have now been met with legal challenges as Adobe used a DMCA request to cancel the project.

This has left some web developers unsure of how to proceed considering that they still rely on the technology for whatever reason.

Why Some Designers are Replacing Flash

In most cases, people had a long amount of lead time when it came to warnings about the future demise of Flash technology. Some were starting to switch over as early as 2012, when HTML5 technology became widespread several years after its introduction. Independent game developers from Singapore have now raised $8.6 million to help bring video game designers up to speed if they were still using Flash or other Web 2.0 technologies as late as early this year. Upgrading their technology should prove to be far more cost-effective than attempting to develop an outright alternative to Flash.

Those who only used Flash objects to create rich content on their sites are instead looking for the best website builder software that doesn't rely on this dated standard. Once again, this is more affordable than trying to simply skirt the end of life for the venerable web technology. It's also far more safe, considering that Flash had a certain reputation for security problems even during its life time.

Steve Jobs (News - Alert) famously banned Adobe Flash technology on the iPhone in one of the rare few public engineering decisions he ever made. That sent ripples through the computer industry that still impact users today. As a result, developers who primarily worked with iOS and OS X sought to retire Flash objects long before the rest of the industry did.

On the other hand, there are those who are continuing to work hard to ensure that Flash technology has a new life. Some of the most vehement of these are archivists, who might have found a way around Adobe's landmark DMCA claim.

Developing an Open-source Alternative to Flash

Rather than focusing on new development, the FOSS community is increasingly concerned with preserving Internet history. As many classic sites go down every day, they're taking years' worth of Flash games with them. Many of these objects could be stored on a place like the Internet Archive, but there would be no way to safely activate them due to the fact that the safety concerns that spooked Jobs and company a decade ago are even far more concerning today.

That's where Ruffle comes in, which is an emulator for Flash that allows objects to run in a relatively sandboxed environment. It attracted the attention of noted archivist Jason Scott, who opted for its use at the Archive, while others have suggested that it could be used to continue to preserve operating sites in markets where Flash is still rather common.

This second use case might still be unwise, but there's no reason why archival technologists shouldn't flock to it.

Saving a Dying Internet Culture

Flash animations and games were a big part of many current netizen's youth, and quite a few titles deployed as Flash objects couldn't reasonably exist in any other format. Digital card game developers have tried to replicate the experience, but so far it can be very difficult to do so with modern development tools. By making sure to save as many safe Flash objects as possible, these archivists can provide future gamers with a look into the past.

Meanwhile, web developers are unlikely to know what they were ever missing.
October 19, 2021

Crime prevention is the epitome of good police work and is the overarching goal of law enforcement agencies around the world. Read on to find out more about the different types of technologies used to fight crime.

Crime prevention is no easy task for law enforcement, which is why they need the help of various technologies to do it. These technologies can help police in a number of ways, most notably by stopping criminals from committing acts of burglary, violence towards others or dealings concerned in the supply of class A drugs.







In this post, were going to detail the different types of detection technologies law enforcement use to prevent these crimes from happening.

What Detection Technologies Does Law Enforcement Use to Prevent Crimes?

Some of these technologies will be familiar to you and some youll have never heard of. Either way, here are the various detection technologies used by police forces every day to prevent crime:

Tablets

Believe it or not, the tablet computers we all have access to are some of the most useful pieces of detection technology for law enforcement. Tablets allow police officers to look up photos of suspects and access other information from the crime database while on the go, helping them to prevent crime quickly.

These conveniences not only allow officers to easily detect criminals, but they also allow them to spend more time away from their desks and on the streets preventing crime.

Drones

Drone technology has become a cheaper alternative to using helicopters and helps to keep law enforcement officers out of harms way.

Police forces around the world use drones to:

Search for suspects

Obtain information and survey disaster areas

Track suspects in firearm incidents & counter-terrorism operations

This drone technology isnt yet a staple of all law enforcement units but is being used actively in Devon and Cornwall in the UK and in Larimer County, Colorado to monitor crime and investigate fatal and serious accident scenes.

Telecoms Data

Telecom companies actively record data on all their users, making them a useful database for police forces to access.

Depending on the country, telecom companies could have customers call detail records, mobile phone usage, network equipment, server logs, billing, and social network activity logged. All this information can be used by police forces to map and track the connections and activities of a suspect.

In some countries such as Sweden, they even have guidelines and obligations for telecoms companies to work with police forces to help them stop crime.

Gunshot Detection Systems

New gunshot detection systems (GDS) are being implemented in some US cities to show police officers exactly where and when a gunshot was fired.

One GDS system, ShotSpotter, requires audio sensors to be placed around a neighbourhood to pinpoint and present the exact location of a gunshot.

This technology helps law enforcement officers respond quicker to gunshots, locate the scene of the crime, and track down suspects easily. Subsequently, it helps to improve neighbourhood safety in areas where there arent enough police on patrol.

Automatic License Plate Recognition

Automatic license plate recognition (ALPR) is helping law enforcement determine if vehicles are stolen and helps to catch the owners if theyre wanted.

ALPR consists of an integrated camera database technology that takes a picture of a cars license plate. It processes the letters and numbers, compares them to license plate numbers in the police database, and alerts officers if that vehicle is wanted in any crimes.

Instead of a police officer having to manually check license plates themselves, ALPR can log and analyse license plates in record time. It takes a fraction of the time it would take an entire squad to manually complete and prevents countless crimes from ever taking place.

AI Remote Monitoring

ALPR systems have been around for a long time and have prevented a lot of criminal activity. However, new advancements in AI have pushed the boundaries of image recognition technology to detect much more than license plates.

Thanks to these recent advancements, its now possible to monitor camera footage remotely, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. AI technologies can detect and report suspicious activity that it has learned through the absorption of images of similar crimes.

Whats more, AI such as HunchLab can create a picture of crime patterns and trends and predict how likely a particular crime is to occur at various locations across a specific time period.

Essentially, these new AI technologies allow law enforcement to prevent crimes before they even happen.

Facial Recognition

Facial recognition is a more advanced version of license plate recognition except its able to detect a persons face instead of just a few letters and numbers. The technology is by no means new, but machine learning has made it much more effective.

As with license plate recognition, AI software for facial recognition can instantaneously search databases of faces and compare them to one or multiple faces detected in a scene, making it incredibly easy to detect suspects in video footage.

These systems work at a 99.5% accuracy rate on public standard data sets, which means they can almost perfectly identify a criminal in footage of them committing a crime.

On top of this, facial recognition shows promise as a lie detector, using eye detection software and motion sensor technology to identify suspicious physical behaviour.

The Canadian Border Service Agency (CBSA) is already trialling recognition technology known as Automated Virtual Agent for Truth Assessments in Real-Time (AVATAR) to help them determine whether travellers are entering the country legally.

Are These the Only Crime Detection Technologies Used by Law Enforcement?

In this post, weve shared many of the different types of detection technologies that law enforcement use to prevent crimes.

There are more technologies used in law enforcement, but most of the ones that show real promise are in the Artificial Intelligence sector. As the technology industry grows in complexity, so too will the technologies used to prevent crimes.

Written by Henry Roberts

Henry Roberts is a freelance writer specialising in corporate technology, with a particular interest in technological innovations in crime prevention and policing.
[October 19, 2021] 5N Plus Announces Long Term Supply Agreement with Samsung for Engineered Substrates for the Next Generation of Medical Imaging Systems

Multi-year joint development program has yielded disruptive X-ray imaging technology All amounts expressed in U.S. dollars. MONTREAL, Oct. 19, 2021 /CNW Telbec/ - 5N Plus Inc. ("5N Plus" or the "Company") (TSX: VNP), a leading global producer of specialty semiconductors and performance materials, today announced a long-term agreement with Samsung Electronics Co. ("Samsung") to supply engineered substrates based on II-VI semiconductor materials for the detector core of the next generation of medical imaging devices. The detector is based on Photon Counting Detector ("PCD") technology, and will be incorporated into computed tomography ("CT") by Samsung's subsidiary NeuroLogica Corp., located in Danvers, Massachusetts. Market driver for PCD technology

The global market for medical imaging based on CT is estimated to over five billion dollars in revenue. The detector element comprises 5 to 10% of the cost associated with the device. Over 95% of the CT imaging devices produced today are non-PCD-based. The increased demand for enhanced diagnostics, radiation reduction and cost efficacy have made this market ripe for innovation. PCD technology is at the forefront of addressing the latent demands associated with this market. In recent years, the advancements in product and process technologies have delivered PCD-based imaging systems with superior image quality and reduced radiation levels not achievable with the current mainstream technology. Collaborative innovation delivering breakthrough technology

Over the last several years, 5N Plus has been developing engineered substrates for high-performance detectors essential for applications in medical and security markets. These efforts have recently yielded a family of semiconductor substrates facilitating unrivalled performance in both PCD-based CT imaging and various applications within the security market. Through its close collaboration with Samsung and NeuroLogica, 5N Plus has developed an engineered substrate product optimized to uniquely fulfill requirements for PCD-based CT medical imaging devices. The success of this program has prompted both parties to engage in a long-term supply relationship. "We are very pleased by the outcome of this project and believe 5N Plus is uniquely positioned to become the leading global supplier of engineered substrates for PCD-based medical imaging applications," said Arjang Roshan, President and Chief Executive Officer of 5N Plus. "We would like to thank Samsung and NeuroLogica for cultivating a collaborative ecosystem which not only fostered innovation but enabled its expedient implementation." Expansion of specialty semiconductor vale-chain and product portfolio





5N Plus continues to expand its value-chain for specialty semiconductor materials. With over 20 years of experience in the development and manufacturing of ultra-high purity II-VI semiconductor compounds, the Company is the leading global supplier of these products. Over the past several years, 5N Plus has expanded its value-chain through its site in St. George, Utah, utilizing these compounds to develop engineered substrates. These efforts have resulted in an array of engineered substrates facilitating unsurpassed performance in customer applications ranging from PCD-based solutions in medical imaging to engineered substrates for infrared imaging and other applications within the security industry. Recently, the Company announced that it is investing $8.5 million in its Montreal campus to expand the development and manufacturing of critical and strategic materials, including those containing tellurium, for advanced II-VI semiconductor compounds and engineered powders. The investment is supported and has received funding from governmental agencies for about a third of the total investment.

Strategic alignment with AZUR acquisition

While 5N Plus has organically expanded its II-VI semiconductor value-chain, its III-V semiconductor value-chain has required a combination of organic growth initiatives and strategic investments. The Company is in the last stage of the regulatory approval process to acquire AZUR SPACE Solar Power GmbH ("AZUR"). This acquisition is expected to be transformational for 5N Plus. AZUR brings established businesses within III-V semiconductor materials which are complementary to 5N Plus's current activities. This, in combination with 5N Plus's expanding business in II-VI semiconductor materials, serve as a unique source of competitive distinction and a substantial catalyst for future growth. The synergies of AZUR and 5N Plus will result in a higher total addressable market beyond space and enable entry into larger markets such as high-power electronics, electrification, advanced communication and other areas within the security market. About 5N Plus Inc.

5N Plus is a leading global producer of specialty semiconductors and performance materials. The Company's ultra-pure materials often form the core element of its customer products. These customers rely on 5N Plus's products to enable performance and sustainability in their own products. 5N Plus deploys a range of proprietary and proven technologies to develop and manufacture its products. The Company's products enable various applications in a number of key industries including renewable energy, security, space, pharmaceutical, medical imaging, and industrial and additive manufacturing. Headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, 5N Plus operates R&D, manufacturing and commercial centers in strategically located facilities around the world including Europe, North America and Asia. The Company's mission is to be critical to its customers, valued by its employees and trusted by its shareholders. The Company's core values focus on integrity, commitment and customer development along with emphasis on sustainable development, continuous improvement, health and safety. www.5nplus.com. ForwardLooking Statements and Disclaimer

Certain statements in this press release may be forwardlooking within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forwardlooking information and statements are based on the best estimates available to the Company at the time and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties or other factors that may cause the Company's actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forwardlooking statements. A description of the risks affecting the Company's business and activities appears under the heading "Risk and Uncertainties" of the 5N Plus 2020 MD&A dated February 23, 2021, available on www.sedar.com. Forwardlooking statements can generally be identified by the use of terms such as "may", "should", "would", "believe", "expect", the negative of these terms, variations of them or any similar terms. No assurance can be given that any events anticipated by the forwardlooking information in this press release will transpire or occur, or if any of them do so, what benefits that 5N Plus will derive therefrom. In particular, no assurance can be given as to the future financial performance of 5N Plus. The forwardlooking information contained in this press release is made as of the date hereof and the Company has no obligation to publicly update such forwardlooking information to reflect new information, subsequent or otherwise, unless required by applicable securities laws. The reader is warned against placing undue reliance on these forwardlooking statements. SOURCE 5N Plus Inc.

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[October 19, 2021] AIR Unveils AIR ONE: The eVTOL Empowering Consumers with the Freedom to Fly

PARDES HANNA, Israel, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Today AIR , creator of personal eVTOLs for the consumer market, unveiled its debut vehicle, AIR ONE, and announced it is now accepting pre-orders. AIR ONE is a sporty, easy-to-operate electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft designed for individual consumer ownership. As the eVTOL industry gains traction with a primary focus on air taxis and other urban use cases, AIR puts the freedom to fly directly in the hands of consumers with its sleek and playful AIR ONE vehicle intended for adventure, fun, and day-to-day flying by consumers. Infused with a spirit of adventure, AIR's inaugural vehicle will feature aerospace innovation alongside cutting-edge automotive manufacturing techniques and product maturity to enable mass production of vehicles and accelerated integration of advanced air mobility into society on both a commercial and personal level. "The future of mobility is in the sky, but to get there we need to build consumer confidence in eVTOLs as a legitimate mode of everyday transport and develop vehicles on a mass-scale to bring that vision to life," said AIR's CEO and Co-Founder Rani Plaut. "AIR ONE is our hat in the ring, simultaneously showing consumers the first in a line of diversified, playful models fr personal flight and demonstrating cutting-edge technology that will enable high-volume production and scalability."



The company's inaugural vehicle is an all-electric two-seater eVTOL that offers a range of 110 miles on a single charge at speeds up to 155 miles per hour, with a flight time of one hour. AIR ONE prioritizes everyday practicality for consumers with collapsible wings for easy parking and its ability to take off from or land on any flat surface. At the heart of AIR ONE is the company's 'fly by intent' software, which manages complex functions and navigation, so that usage isn't restricted to highly skilled pilots and trained professionals. Additional safety features include an AI-enabled monitoring system which does frequent inspections of the vehicle and eliminates checklists for riders to ensure paramount safety, even for riders with minimal training.

Based on technology and manufacturing techniques from the automotive and aerospace industries, AIR ONE is designed from inception to be a fun, safe and practical vehicle that adheres to aerospace standards and regulations. To this end, AIR is currently working with the FAA to obtain G1 certification. AIR has begun taking preorders for AIR ONE on its website, www.airev.aero . Pricing information will be announced in early 2022. About AIR AIR is revolutionizing everyday mobility for everyday people, empowering individuals to seize the power of personal flight. Combining aerospace innovation with the maturity of automotive technology and uncompromising safety standards, AIR's first-of-its-kind airEVs offers the ground-breaking opportunity to easily "drive the sky". Founded by Chen Rosen and later joined by Netanel Goldberg and Rani Plaut, based in the green fields of Pardes Hanna, near Tel Aviv, AIR is paving the way for a cleaner, more thrilling future of mobility, affording everyone the freedom to fly. For more information check out: https://www.airev.aero/ Press Contact: Tamara Raynor-Cote

tamara@headline.media

IL: +972 58 676 6793

US: +1 914 336 4557 View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/air-unveils-air-one-the-evtol-empowering-consumers-with-the-freedom-to-fly-301403319.html SOURCE AIR

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[October 19, 2021] Americaneagle.com Receives Three 2021 Sitecore Experience Honorable Mentions

DES PLAINES, Ill., Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Americaneagle.com announced today it has received three Sitecore Experience Award (SEA) honorable mentions; two in the Best Innovation with Emerging Technologies category for its work with customers Renown Health and Nashville Electric Service, and one in the Best Digital Experience category for its work with customer Deublin. The entries were selected from more than 140 submissions, each recognized for its own unique digital experience. The Sitecore Experience Awards 2021 recognize brands that have built truly customer-centric digital experiences with Sitecore technology. The SEAs are awarded to Sitecore customers and their partners whose entries clearly demonstrate their Sitecore solution is delivering ground-breaking customer experiences and great overall value to their business. The SEAs highlight best-in-class brands from four specialized categories. "We are thrilled to have received not one, but three 2021 Sitecore Experience Award honorable mentions," said Americaneagle.com's Vice President of Strategic Alliances Jerry Boduch. "It's rewarding to be able to partner with Renown Health, Nashville Electric Service, and Deublin as they successfully create unique digital customer experiences with the help of Sitecore's expertise." Renown Health is Nevada's leading healthcare organization and Reno's only locally owned, non-profit health system. The project Americaneagle.com completed for the company consisted of a consolidation of multiple web properties hosted on WordPress into a redesigned, single website on the Sitecore platform. The new site was built entirely on Sitecore's Experience Accelerator and included various systems integrations. Nashville Electric Service is one of the 12 largest public electric utilities in the U.S. with more than 370,000 customes within 700-square-miles. The company came to Americaneagle.com for a redesign with system integrations and a fresh user interface. Implemented on Sitecore 9.3, the new design simplified their business users' interactions within the CMS, thus making the overall website much easier to utilize.



Deublin, a global manufacturer of rotary unions and long-time customer of Americaneagle.com, needed a Sitecore rescue. Their intention was to create a new website with an updated design and a rich user experience to search for and purchase their products online. In just over four months, Americaneagle.com provided an updated design with a fully-functional ecommerce experience. "The latest Sitecore Experience Awards for Renown Health, Nashville Electric Services, and Deublin are a testament to Americaneagle.com's ability to plan and execute digital transformations on the Sitecore ecosystem," said Jonathan Price, Americaneagle.com's Sitecore Practice Director. "Each project came with its own set of business and technical challenges. We partnered with each client to come up with an optimal solution for their customers and internal stakeholders."

Sitecore's Chief Customer Success Officer Lee Miles commented: "We have some of the most innovative customers and partners in the world leveraging our platform to implement digital-first strategies that dramatically enhance the consumer experience. They recognize that digital has become ingrained at every level of the customer experience. It is more than a key component for organizations that want to move beyond the status quo  it is absolutely essential to any brand that wants to make those experiences even more immersive and impactful. We are proud to honor their achievements with this year's Sitecore Experience Awards." Through the rigorous selection process, each entry was judged by a panel consisting of Sitecore leadership from that entry's region. There are three regions that evaluated and approved all regional selections based on specific selection and scoring criteria. About Americaneagle.com

Americaneagle.com is a full-service, global digital agency based in Des Plaines, Illinois that provides best-in-class web design, development, hosting, post-launch support, and digital marketing services. Currently, Americaneagle.com employs 600+ professionals in offices around the world including Chicago, Cleveland, Dubai, Dallas, London, Los Angeles, New York, Nashville, Washington DC, Switzerland, and Bulgaria. Some of their 2,000+ clients include Dairy Queen, FASTSIGNS, Soletrader, WeatherTech, and the American Management Association. For additional information, visit www.americaneagle.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. Contact

Mike Svanascini, President

press@americaneagle.com

847-699-0300 View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/americaneaglecom-receives-three-2021-sitecore-experience-honorable-mentions-301403358.html SOURCE Americaneagle.com

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[October 19, 2021] Argon releases its Software Integrity Gates and SBOM to enhance software supply chain security and improve applications' release quality

TEL AVIV, Israel and NEW YORK, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Argon Security announced at the CyberTech conference the release of its Software Integrity Gates that enhances its software supply chain security solution and enables organizations to improve their application security and quality. The Integrity Gates help resolve supply chain risks from misconfigurations, vulnerabilities and dependencies in the CI/CD pipeline, proactively detect and block software supply chain attacks, improve software quality and security, and reduce run time issues. The release of Argon's Integrity gates solidifies its leadership position in driving software supply chain security innovation for the SRE and DevOps-led software development process. Given the significant increase in software supply chain attacks in recent months, organizations are being required to shift to proactive security measures over their software supply chain to identify and stop supply chain risks and maintain customers' confidence in their software. Argon Integrity Gates enables Security and DevOps teams to improve their software release quality and security. Argon's Integrity Gates run on each step of the supply chain process - the source code management, build agent, and deployment tools - ensuring process integrity and detecting and alerting on issues and risks regarding the software to be released. This includes code and dependencies issues such as vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, and secrets. Together with its infrastructure hardening and CI/CD pipeline security, Argon is the only solution in the market that provides holistic, multi-layered prevention of supply chain threats. "In the last year we have seen a massive rise in the number of software supply chain attacks via software dependencies such as open-source packages, containrs and artifacts that are part of your code," said Eran Orzel, Argon's chief revenue and customer officer. "Argon's integrity Gates enable DevOps and Security teams to mitigate such risks and get the visibility and control needed over their software's quality and security"



"Attackers are targeting the source code and its dependencies as a way to inject vulnerabilities and backdoors to applications. Argon's Integrity gates apply proactive security on your software supply chain process and its outcome, identifying and mitigating such risks," said Joseph Elbaz, Head of Application Security at Grubhub. "This is exactly what is needed to ensure your release quality." Argon's Integrity Gates enable companies to enforce strong security measures and checks on their CI/CD pipeline and its output to improve quality and reduce run time security issues. You can define proactively which are your security requirements and which checks you want to enable on each gate. Then for every pipeline run, the gates will enforce your policies, alert on any critical issues, and enable you to take actions based on the findings. As part of the process, Argon is generating a software bill of materials (SBOM) for each artifact that allows reviewing of its components and helps Argon assign a security score as part of every release process.

"Our solution enables customers to enforce security best practices over their application development process, providing visibility into the software components and build process," said Eilon Elhadad, CEO, Argon. "Argon enables governance over the software release process. Orchestrating the security levels of each deployed artifact by leveraging cutting-edge technology together with the concepts of SBOM and Provenance." According to The European Union Agency for Cybersecurity, ENISA, software supply chain attacks grew by 400% compared to 2020. Attackers are proactively targeting software companies and public code repositories used by the software industry and then exploiting them to launch their attacks. This high growth emphasizes the importance of the Integrity gates process aimed at improving the software quality and security and eliminating focused supply chain attacks. About Argon Argon enables security and DevOps teams to protect their software supply chain against vulnerabilities, security risks, and supply chain attacks. Argon's first-to-market security solution delivers visibility, security, and integrity to your CI/CD pipeline, ensuring trust in your software releases. At Argon, we believe that the fast release of code should not come at the expense of security. We are here to secure the new world of software development enabling our customers to build, test and deploy software securely. For more information, visit: www.argon.io

info@argon.io

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/argon-releases-its-software-integrity-gates-and-sbom-to-enhance-software-supply-chain-security-and-improve-applications-release-quality-301403335.html SOURCE Argon

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[October 19, 2021] Bitglass Study Reveals Stolen Data Spreads 11 Times Faster on Dark Web Today Compared to Six Years Ago

Bitglass, the Total Cloud Security company, today announced new research that shows how the Dark Web, the value of stolen data and cybercriminal behaviors have dramatically evolved in recent years. In 2015, Bitglass conducted the world's first data tracking experiment to better understand how data is viewed and accessed on the Dark Web. Today, with the world becoming more digital and the increasing number of data breaches, the Bitglass Threat Research Group recreated this experiment and compared this year's findings to those of six years ago and found the following: Stolen Data Has a Wider Reach and Moves More Quickly Breach data received over 13,200 views in 2021 vs. 1,100 views in 2015 - a 1,100% increase.

In 2015, it took 12 days to reach 1,100 link views - in 2021, it took less than 24 hours to surpass that milestone.

Breach data was downloaded from entities across 5 different continents. "We expect that the increasing volume of data breaches as well as more avenues for cybercriminals to monetize exfiltrated data has led to this increased interest and activity surrounding stolen data on the Dark Web," said Mike Schuricht, leader of the Bitglass Threat Research Group. Dark Web Activity Has Become Darker The number of anonymous viewers on the DarkWeb in 2021 (93%) outnumber those in 2015 (67%).

This year's experiment indicates particular interest in retail and government data from anonymous viewers; 36% and 31%, respectively.



Cybercriminals are Particularly Interested in Retail and U.S. Government Data

Of all of the types of data Bitglass researchers seeded on the Dark Web, data to access retail and U.S. Government networks received the most clicks, 37% and 32%, respectively. "Gaining access to large retailers' networks remains a top priority for many cybercriminals wishing to deploy ransomware and extort payouts from large and profitable organizations," said Schuricht. "Similarly, interest in the U.S. Government information is likely either from state-sponsored hackers or independent hackers looking to sell this information to nation-states." Cybercriminals are Closer Than You Think Cybercriminals may be more of a "homegrown" threat than many believe, with downloads of the stolen data originating from the United States as the second-most frequent location. The top three were: Kenya, United States, and Romania. "In comparing the results of this latest experiment to that of 2015, it is clear that data on the Dark Web is spreading farther, faster," said Schuricht. "Not only that, but cybercriminals are getting better at covering their tracks and taking steps to evade law enforcement efforts to prosecute cybercrime. Unfortunately, organizations' cybersecurity efforts to protect data have not kept pace, as evident by the continuous onslaught of headlines reporting on the latest data breaches. As we advised organizations six years ago, it is vital they use best practices and new technologies to protect their data." Methodology The Bitglass Threat Research Group created a fictional identity claiming to have a list of vetted login and password data originating from the RockYou2021 password compilation leak. Researchers posted in various Dark Web marketplaces also known as "pastebins" with links to faux files with credentials that would allow access inside organizations in retail, government, gaming and media. The files were embedded with Bitglass' proprietary watermarking technology, which traced the data after users on the Dark Web accessed it. This allowed the Bitglass Threat Research Group to draw the curtain back on current Dark Web trends and reveal the value of stolen data in today's world. To access the full report with additional findings and ways that organizations can protect their data, visit here. About Bitglass Bitglass' Total Cloud Security Platform is the only secure access service edge offering that combines a Gartner (News - Alert) -MQ-Leading cloud access security broker, the world's only on-device secure web gateway, and zero trust network access to secure any interaction. Its Polyscale Architecture boasts an industry-leading uptime of 99.99% and delivers unrivaled performance and real-time scalability to any location in the world. Based in Silicon Valley with offices worldwide, the company is backed by Tier 1 investors and was founded in 2013 by a team of industry veterans with a proven track record of innovation and execution. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211019005036/en/

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[October 19, 2021] Booz Allen Hires Retired Astronaut and Former USGS Director Dr. Jim Reilly to Advise Aerospace Account

Booz Allen Hamilton (News - Alert) (NYSE: BAH) announced that Dr. James F. Reilly II, PhD, a retired NASA astronaut and the former Director of the United States Geological Survey (USGS), has joined the firm as an executive advisor. In this role, he will collaborate with a wide range of partners-the Department of Defense, National Oceanic (News - Alert) and Atmospheric Administration, NASA, intelligence community agencies, universities, and the commercial space industry-on innovative solutions for space-related services and applications. Reilly brings a unique blend of executive leadership, technical expertise, and space domain experience to Booz Allen. During his tenure as USGS Director, he oversaw an operating budget of roughly $1.8 billion and initiated modernization efforts to accelerate the delivery of critical information, an effort that involved the implementation and use of artificial intelligence, machine learning, and high-performance computing. As an astronaut at NASA, Reilly flew three spaceflight missions and conducted five spacewalks. He also supported the space program in several roles as a mission specialist where he developed requirements, testing systems, conducted space shuttle training, and more. "As someone who has managed teams, critical systems, and projects in space and on the ground, Jim provides strategic guidance that will prove invaluable as we advance our space business forward," said Andrea Inserra, Booz Allen executie vice president and leader of the firm's aerospace account, inclusive of clients like the U.S. Air Force, Space Force, and NASA. "Moreover, his extensive multi-disciplinary background-encompassing engineering, operations, testing, system requirements, human factors, and beyond-will make him an unparalleled resource for both the firm and our partners as the space revolution accelerates."



Booz Allen is working to bring new capabilities like artificial intelligence, machine learning, data analytics, human performance, and visualization to space organizations to help them innovate in this increasingly complex and connected domain. "As government space initiatives merge with those in the commercial sector, we'll have essentially unlimited potential in areas like microgravity research, earth characterization, transportation, and manufacturing," Reilly said. "But we will need to be able to adapt and respond at ever-increasing rates. I'm excited to join a team with the ability to recognize, scope, and respond to future needs in this evolving market."

Reilly's background also includes forging collaborative partnerships for the University of Alabama's In-Space Manufacturing Initiative, managing higher education and professional development programs in STEM and space sciences, and providing space operations training to joint U.S. and allied forces as the lead curriculum developer for the U.S. Air Force National Security Space Institute. He has been involved in R&D, quality control, technical services, and new product development with private sector technology companies as well. Reilly began his career as a geologist, participating in exploration missions across North America and Antarctica and applying new imaging technology to deep water engineering products and biological research. He also served honorably in the U.S. Navy Reserve. Learn more about how Booz Allen supports NASA and brings the latest technology solutions to space missions. BAHPR-CO About Booz Allen For more than 100 years, military, government, and business leaders have turned to Booz Allen Hamilton to solve their most complex problems. As a consulting firm with experts in analytics, digital, engineering, and cyber, we help organizations transform. We are a key partner on some of the most innovative programs for governments worldwide and trusted by its most sensitive agencies. We work shoulder-to-shoulder with clients, using a mission-first approach to choose the right strategy and technology to help them realize their vision. With global headquarters in McLean, Virginia, our firm employs more than 27,700 people globally, and had revenue of $7.9 billion for the 12 months ended March 31, 2021. To learn more, visit www.boozallen.com. (NYSE: BAH) View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211019005150/en/

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[October 19, 2021] Endpoint Secures $150 Million in Additional Funding as It Continues to Simplify the Real Estate Closing Process

Endpoint, a digital title and settlement services company that provides a re-imagined closing experience for buyers, sellers, and their real estate agents, today announced that it has secured an additional $150 million in funding from its parent company, First American Financial Corporation, a leading provider of title insurance, settlement services and risk solutions for real estate transactions. This latest investment, which brings the total capital raised by the company to $220 million, will allow Endpoint to augment its technology team, further invest in title and settlement automation, and expand its capabilities for proptech companies and real estate professionals focused on delivering a re-imagined home closing process to their customers. "Endpoint's impressive growth reflects First American's commitment to leading the digital transformation of title and settlement," said Dennis Gilmore, CEO of First American Financial Corporation. "This next phase of investment will further accelerate our overall efforts to improve the process of transacting real estate." Since its launch in 2018, Endpoint has continued to surpass its growth targets, teaming with real estate agents, brokerage firms and proptech companies to close more than $2.5 billion in transactions. In 2021, Endpoint doubled its employee base as it expanded into Northern California and Texas, and continued to grow its existing operations in Washington, Arizona and Southern California. In addition, Endpoint has been a leader in executing remote online notarizations at scale. Endpoint continues to enhance its platform, introduce new proprietary features, and increase automation tha helps enable an increasingly efficient closing experience. Enhancements include leveraging artificial intelligence to expedite processes and reduce the time needed to complete tasks, allowing title and settlement services professionals to spend more time supporting buyers and sellers. Additionally, the recent release of a completely revamped application programming interface (API) will broaden integration capabilities with proptech companies and brokerages.



"The additional investment from First American supports our mission to deliver a fully digital closing experience to even more buyers, sellers and real estate professionals," said Scott Martino, CEO of Endpoint. "The capital will fuel enhancements designed to further our position as the go-to company for agents and proptech companies focused on providing a purchase experience that integrates state-of-the-art technology and superior customer service." Endpoint's technology and processes were built from the ground up to deliver a seamless purchase transaction and empower all parties throughout the closing process. Its human-driven, technology-enabled approach provides a digital and mobile solution for tech-forward real estate professionals and proptech companies eager to provide a re-imagined buying and selling process from start to finish.

About Endpoint Endpoint is a digital title and settlement services company built from the ground up to deliver a re-imagined closing experience for real estate agents, proptech companies and their buyers and sellers. Through its digital platform, Endpoint keeps everyone effortlessly and securely in the know throughout the transaction, while providing a simplified real estate closing from start to finish. Endpoint was founded in 2018 by a diverse team of digital natives and industry veterans. The company is headquartered in El Segundo, Calif., with offices and operations in Washington, California, Arizona and Texas. For more information, please visit www.endpointclosing.com. About First American First American Financial Corporation (NYSE: FAF) is a leading provider of title insurance, settlement services and risk solutions for real estate transactions that traces its heritage back to 1889. First American also provides title plant management services; title and other real property records and images; valuation products and services; home warranty products; banking, trust and wealth management services; and other related products and services. With total revenue of $7.1 billion in 2020, the company offers its products and services directly and through its agents throughout the United States and abroad. In 2021, First American was named to the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For list for the sixth consecutive year. More information about the company can be found at www.firstam.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211019005343/en/

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[October 19, 2021] French Wine Maker Chooses Infor to Ferment New Business Process Management

RUEL MALMAISON, France, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Infor, the industry cloud company, today announced that French wine company Sieur d'Arques has chosen to deploy Infor M3. The integration of this enterprise resource planning (ERP) software is part of a project to transform the information systems of Sieur d'Arques, which wants to benefit from the many advantages of a solution designed to respond precisely to the requirements of the wine business and its relationships with its producers, distributors, and resellers. Learn more about Infor Food & Beverage: https://www.infor.com/products/cloudsuite-food-and-beverage Founded in 1946 in Limoux in the Languedoc region of France, a land with ideal conditions to produce great wines, Sieur d'Arques is a true pioneer in the field of wine production and techniques. It has inherited a tradition of producing sparkling wines that goes back to the 16th century. Today, the company is gathered around a cooperative of 188 wine-grower members that produces around 9 million bottles each year, 45% of which are dedicated to export. At its headquarters, it employs 117 people and generated a turnover of 32.3 million euros in 2020. The IT overhaul project initiated with Infor and its partner Hetic3 was born from the increasing demand on the system from the winery's growing commercial activities, which require each day more agility, flexibility, visibility, and integration of exploitable data. "We wanted to standardize our business processes by capitalizing on a technological solution that would allow us to avoid continually developing specific functionalities and that would allow us to communicate, exchange and analyze crucial data within the framework of our growth in France and internationally," comments Pascal Vigata, Sieur d'Arques management controller and project manager. "From the very beginning of the project, we had established precise specifications. One of the conditions was to be able to count on a vendor and systems integrator pairing that was perfectly accustomed to working together. Then, it was essential for us that the chosen solution could offer simple and efficient answers to all of our challenges and standardize our practices related to commercial and financial aspects, production itself, quality control and traceability, logistics aspects (storage and shipping) ... The positive feedback from our ecosystem regarding the Infor M3 solution and its functionalites dedicated to our wine business also weighed in our final decision," Vigata says.



The integration of the Infor M3 solution will be spread over two phases of 12 months each, one devoted to the commercial management part, the other to all activities involving the cooperative. It will occupy a team of nine people within the Maison Sieur d'Arques accompanied from start to finish by the Infor and Hetic3 teams. Christophe Pino, Hetic3 sales manager, said: "The project entrusted to us by Sieur d'Arques is typical of the expectations of our customers in the wine and spirits industry who are looking to improve and accelerate their operations without sacrificing the quality of their products and services. With Infor M3 integrated by Hetic3, Sieur d'Arques has acquired a solution specifically dedicated to the industry. The functional business processes and the high level of parameterization of Infor M3 will allow Sieur d'Arques to efficiently manage its production activities as well as its relations with all of the company's distribution channels, which are as numerous as they are varied."

This new signature validates, once again, the relevance and constant innovation of Infor's solution dedicated to the food & beverage industry. "We are very happy to accompany Sieur d'Arques in a large-scale project at a particularly difficult time for the wine industry," said Philippe Maillet, Infor sales director for France SMB & channels. "Infor's vision, Hetic3's support and the customer's resilience allow us to look forward to the coming months with optimism thanks to the implementation of Infor M3, our high value-added solution that is particularly well suited to Sieur d'Arques' ambitions in France and internationally." About Sieur d'Arques

Sieur d'Arques is a wine cooperative group created in 1946. A recognized specialist in sparkling wines and leader in the Limoux appellation, Sieur d'Arques benefits from a local heritage and 75 years of experience in the production of traditional and ancestral method wines, and still white, red, and rose wines. With a turnover of 32.3 million, the Limoux winery employs 117 people and represents 188 members exploiting a surface of nearly 1,600 hectares. The company  with production of approximately 6 million bottles of sparkling wines and 3 million bottles of still wines  has a vast multi-channel sales network enabling it to address mass distribution, the traditional sector (restaurants, wine shops) and individuals, both in France and for export. Visit https://www.sieurdarques.com About Hetic3

A subsidiary of the HELIOS Group, Hetic3 brings more than 15 years of combined expertise and experience. A recognized player in the integration of ERP solutions, Hetic3's ambition is to position itself as a major partner of Infor for the distribution and implementation of the Infor M3 solution. Hetic3's activities are based on three main areas: distribution, integration and third-party application maintenance. Hetic3 has nearly 70 consultants in four agencies in France and works with more than 100 customers in the food, trade/distribution, industry and fashion sectors. Its functional knowledge of the business, combined with its expertise in ERP M3, brings real added value and a guarantee to its customers' projects. Hetic3 offers a preconfigured Infor M3 solution for the wine and spirits industry. https://www.hetic3.fr/ About Infor

Infor is a global leader in business cloud software specialized by industry. Providing mission-critical enterprise applications to 65,000 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. For more information:

Richard Moore

Infor PR Manager, EMEA

+447976111243

Richard.Moore@infor.com Copyright 2021 Infor. All rights reserved. The word and design marks set forth herein are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Infor and/or related affiliates and subsidiaries. All other trademarks listed herein are the property of their respective owners. www.infor.com View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/french-wine-maker-chooses-infor-to-ferment-new-business-process-management-301403367.html SOURCE Infor

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[October 19, 2021] The General Awards $25,000 NAACP Powershift Entrepreneur Grant as Part of Second Annual Black Entrepreneurs Day Event

NASHVILLE, Tenn., Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- On October 14, amid Black Entrepreneurs Day celebrations and speakers, The General Insurance awarded its second annual $25,000 NAACP Powershift Entrepreneur Grant to rising Black entrepreneur Phil Terrill, CEO and founder of Minnesota-based company SoleSafe, a company dedicated to providing quality insurance for shoes. This grant was awarded in partnership with the NAACP and was announced during the live-streamed Black Entrepreneurs Day event, curated by Daymond John. In addition to the monetary grant, Terrill will also receive professional one-on-one mentoring sessions with Shaquille O'Neal and Elicia Azali, enterprise chief marketing officer at American Family Insurance, parent company of The General. "It's been our honor to support Black Entrepreneurs Day and the NAACP Powershift Entrepreneur Grant again this year," said Azali. "The mission to support Black entrepreneurs is something The General believes in wholeheartedly  and Phil Terrill and his company SoleSafe are the embodiment of an outstanding and rising Black entrepreneur and company in not only the Black community, but in the insurance space as well. Our hope is that this grant and education helps Phil reach not only his goals, but those of SoleSafe, and empowers him to be the extraordinary entrepreneur he is." A true entrepreneur, Terrill continues to think outside of the box and is capitalizing on the massive trend of people spending money on shoes now more than ever, especially those that are innovative or one-of-a-kind sneakers. Coined as "the first sneaker insurance for the culture," SoleSafe prides itself on being real-time, dynamic insurance coverage built by sneakerheads for sneakerheads to protect their soles. To further that, the primary sneaker market is worth $24B today with an ever-expanding resale market growing rapidly year over yar. With Terrill's invention of SoleSafe, customers are able to feel safe when it comes to purchasing expensive and rare kicks.



"I am honored and beyond grateful to The General and the NAACP for selecting me and SoleSafe as a 2021 grant recipient," said Terrill. "I have a vision for SoleSafe and what it will end up being and this grant and the kindness of all involved is guaranteed to catapult me and my brand beyond what I could have ever imagined." Terrill will be able to use his $25,000 grant and mentorship sessions from The General to improve the company's operations and ensure that SoleSafe becomes the best sneaker insurance brand to insure remarkable sneakers and collections.

"We believe in SoleSafe and that Phil will move mountains," said Azali. "And the team at The General is excited to be a part of Phil and SoleSafe's story." In addition to presenting Terrill with the NAACP Powershift Entrepreneur Grant and mentorship sessions, Azali also participated in the first ever Black LeadHERship - A Black Women's Roundtable presented by The General in honor of National Women's Small Business Month. The roundtable discussion featured Azali alongside other business leaders from the American Family Insurance Enterprise Telisa Yancy, President, American Family Direct; Sherina Smith, Vice President, Head of Marketing, American Family Insurance; and, Lauren Powell, Corporate legal Vice President, American Family Insurance  discussing their own career journeys while offering advice to other Black women looking to form their own entrepreneurial paths. As a further extension of this event, The General also engaged its Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) partners  Morehouse College and Tennessee State University  by awarding six Black business students and student entrepreneurs with one-on-one mentoring sessions with Shaquille O'Neal and Elicia Azali, along with a Surface Laptop Pro, a signed book from Daymond John and more. Since 2020, The General has partnered with HBCUs to support their students and graduates by offering career development and employment opportunities. This opportunity equips these six students with resources and tools to take the next step in their entrepreneurial careers and continues to demonstrate The General's commitment to supporting their customers when they need it the most. The free virtual event brought in over 6 million viewers across 20+ social platforms, including Facebook Watch, LiveXLive, YouTube and Twitch. To learn more about The General, visit www.thegeneral.com . About The General Insurance

The General Automobile Insurance Services, Inc. (The General) is a licensed insurance agency and subsidiary of PGC Holdings Corp. (PGC), which is wholly owned by American Family Mutual Insurance Company. Through its insurance company subsidiaries and their predecessors, PGC has been writing automobile insurance since 1963, serving customers who may find it difficult to obtain insurance from other carriers at a reasonable rate. Visit www.thegeneral.com or follow The General on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Media Contacts: Megan Snodsmith, megan.snodsmith@spoolmarketing.com View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-general-awards-25-000-naacp-powershift-entrepreneur-grant-as-part-of-second-annual-black-entrepreneurs-day-event-301402757.html SOURCE The General Insurance

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[October 19, 2021] Harris Williams Advises Agape Care Group on its Sale to Ridgemont Equity Partners

Harris Williams, a global investment bank specializing in M&A advisory services, announces it advised Agape Care Group (Agape Care), a portfolio company of The Vistria Group (Vistria), on its sale to Ridgemont Equity Partners (Ridgemont). Agape Care is a leader in hospice and palliative care in the Southeast. The transaction was led by James Clark, Taylor Will and Jonathan Ferrell of the Harris Williams Healthcare & Life Sciences (HCLS) Group. "The quality of hospice and palliative care services Agape Care provides, its extensive coverage and density in South Carolina and Georgia, and its investments in best-in-class centralized systems that drive quality and compliance have enabled it to become a provider of choice in its markets. Investors continue to be highly interested in the sector given favorable macro industry trends that include an aging population, increased hospice utilization, patients' preference to age in place and the cost advantage of care in the home relative to alternative settings," said James Clark, a managing director at Harris Williams. "It was a pleasure working with the teams at AgapeCare and Vistria on this transaction and we look forward to watching the company continue to thrive in partnership with Ridgemont."



As a leader in hospice and palliative care, Agape Care proudly serves over 2,100 patients across South Carolina and Georgia. The company has around 1,000 employees who are committed to serving with love those touched by an advanced illness, providing comfort and support through compassionate care and meaningful experiences. Agape Care offers hospice and palliative services across multiple settings and is renowned for its superior patient-family experience and expertly trained professionals. Vistria is a Chicago-based private investment firm focused on investing in middle market companies in the healthcare, education and financial services sectors. Vistria's team is comprised of highly experienced operating partners and private equity executives with proven track records of working with management teams in building innovative, market-leading companies.

Ridgemont is a Charlotte, North Carolina-based middle market buyout and growth equity investor. Since 1993, the principals of Ridgemont have invested over $5.5 billion. The firm focuses on equity investments up to $250 million and utilizes a proven, industry-focused investment approach and repeatable value creation strategies. Ridgemont's most recent flagship fund, REP III, was formed in 2018 and has $1.65 billion of committed capital. 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 HCLS Group has experience across a broad range of sectors, including healthcare providers; payors and payor services; outsourced pharmaceutical services; medical device supply chain; healthcare IT; and pharmacy. For more information on the HCLS Group and other recent transactions, visit the HCLS 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. For media inquiries, please contact Julia Moore at media@harriswilliams.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211019005756/en/

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[October 19, 2021] Heliox and The Mobility House Integration Advances Charge Management for Electric Fleets

The Mobility House and Heliox announced that Heliox will integrate its latest smart chargers with The Mobility House's Charging and Energy management solution ChargePilot, which intelligently optimizes charging schedules at the lowest utility electricity rate, to offer a coordinated charge management solution for large scale e-bus installations. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211019005314/en/ Heliox's smart chargers and The Mobility House's Charging and Energy management solution combine in coordinated offering for electric bus fleet operators. (Photo: Business Wire) Using The Mobility House's charging management solution, fleets powered by Heliox rapid chargers can lower charging energy costs by intelligently distributing available grid power and preventing expensive load peaks. The integration also provides a holistic view of all charging operations. Most recently, the combined solution is being leveraged for the Brookville Smart Energy Bus Depot in Maryland, a first-of-its-kind electrification project with more than 44 electric transit buses. "Heliox is focused on supporting our transit and fleet customers from implementing their first chargers to installing and maintaining charging infrastructure as their e-fleet grows," said David Aspinwall, President, Heliox North America. "The integration with The Mobility House will expand Heliox's charge management options and can help customers lower both energy costs and the total cost of ownership of their fleets." Heliox is the global market leader in fast charging systems within public transport, e-trucks, marine, mining and port equipment. The company prodces a range of chargers from 25kW mobile units up to 450kW en-route charging in the U.S. for the local market. All U.S. made products are UL certified and comply with the Buy America Act.



Designed to be hardware-agnostic and interface with a myriad of charging providers, The Mobility House's ChargePilot successfully manages hundreds of global projects, including one of the largest U.S. electric fleets as well as the entire Austrian Postal Service fleet. Through ChargePilot, The Mobility House also supports vehicle-to-grid (V2G) integration to reduce strain of electric vehicle charging on the electricity grid and enable grid stabilizing services, a solution already deployed in Europe and Southeast Asia. "Creating a cleaner, emissions-free climate is a global initiative. Through Heliox and The Mobility House's combined expertise, and commitment to technological innovations, we are on a path to reshaping the transportation industry not only in Europe but across the U.S.," said The Mobility House U.S. Managing Director Gregor Hintler.

The Mobility House and Heliox powerful smart charging technology has also been successfully deployed to Europe's largest electric fleet of over 100 buses at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, the Avinor Airport in Oslo and for public transit operator Rhein-Neckar-Verkehr GmbH. About Heliox Founded in 2009, Heliox is the market leader in fast charging systems within public transport, e-trucks, marine, mining and port equipment. The premium quality and highly efficient chargers enable operators to improve their performance while lowering environmental impact. Heliox serves rapid charging needs for Volvo, Transdev-Connexxion and Arriva e-busses as well as MAN trucks. In 2017, the company installed one of Europe's first and largest rapid charging networks for the e-bus fleet in Eindhoven, The Netherlands; in 2018, the world's largest rapid charging network for e-bus depot at Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam; and recently launched a new e-bus project in Montgomery County, Maryland which will debut in Spring 2022. Heliox operates globally with headquarters in the Netherlands and the United States. For more information about Heliox, go to: https://www.heliox-energy.com. About The Mobility House The Mobility House's mission is to create an emissions-free energy and mobility future. Since 2009, the company has developed an expansive partner ecosystem to intelligently integrate electric vehicles into the power grid, including electric vehicle charger manufacturers, 750+ installation companies, 65+ energy suppliers, and automotive manufacturers ranging from Audi to Tesla. The intelligent Charging and Energy Management system ChargePilot and underlying EV Aggregation Platform enable customers and partners to integrate electric vehicles into the grid for optimized and future proof operations. The Mobility House's unique vendor-neutral and interoperable technology approach to smart charging and energy management has been successful at over 500 commercial installations around the world. The Mobility House has more than 160 employees across its operations in Munich, Zurich and Belmont, Calif. For more information visit mobilityhouse.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211019005314/en/

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[October 19, 2021] Inspired by Wes Anderson's color palette, Angry Miao releases CYBERBOARD R3

ZHUHAI, China, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- On October 19, 2021, Angry Miao officially launched its next generation of custom mechanical keyboards, the CYBERBORAD R3. It will be available in Budapest Pink, Aquatic Green, Cloud White and Basalt Black, inspired by the color palette of Wes Anderson. CYBERBOARD R3 is priced at 570 USD for Budapest Pink, Aquatic Green and Basalt Black and 620 USD for the Cloud White variant. "CYBERBOARD is a product for nerds in the know. Many of its early supporters came from tech companies like Google, Tesla and Facebook." said Li Nan, founder of Angry Miao. "However, street fashion and unique sub-cultures are something we're truly interested in. Hypebeast's coverage on our AM HATSU keyboard only further strengthened this interest. Thus, Wes Anderson inspired this generation of CYBERBOARD. We hope that the striking shades of his color palette - pink in particular - would interest new female users. Although we may find out that buyers are still the hardcore geeks afterall." Inspired by Wes Anderson The new colors of CYBERBOARD R3 were inspired by the color palette of talented director Wes Anderson. This palette stands out with its soft pastels and low saturation. Supplemented by symmetrical compositions, elegant settings, and a memorable soundtrack, it rings a true sense of exquisite wonder. Those who have watched Wes Anderson movies will find a sense of familiarity with CYBERBOARD R3.



To transplant this high-level and understated color palette onto CYBERBOARD, Angry Miao experimented with hundreds of different color adjustments and decided to use electrophoresis with a higher level of color saturation, creating its unique color shade. The aluminum frame on the front of CYBERBOARD is formed through CNC processing, sandblasting and anodizing electrophoresis. Afterwards, a unique matte ceramic texture with its stylish and delicate color shade is formed. This form of metal processing also ensures a higher level of scratch resistance.

In addition, Angry Miao has also prepared Basalt Black for our most hardcore fans. This profound and restrained black color is the perfect cure for undecided. A familiar Gasket Mount CYBERBOARD R3 adopts the latest generation of Gasket Mount. Carefully optimized according to the feedback from our fans, this generation of CYBERBOARD feels and sounds even better. The default plate once again adopts hollow processing with leaf spring-like structure, reducing resonance and allowing for a purer typing sound. Besides the default plates matching CYBERBOARD's colors, Brushed Brass, Golden Black FR-4, 1.5mm Translucent PC and Black Aluminum plates are also available for the true OGs. Show Off Your Creativity When it comes to custom lighting effects, CYBERBOARD R3 has got you covered with three DIY lighting effect slots and key light linkage functionality. Brand-new RGB hardware and 256-level DC dimming bring a higher refresh rate and stronger color performance. To meet the needs of individual users, a DIY Wes Anderson color scheme is included. Combining an elegant and advanced color scheme with a hardcore shape is yet another bold effort by Angry Miao. Worried that this combo won't work? Seeing it in real life will instantly take away your doubts. Whether you're a mechanical keyboard lover or Wes Anderson fan, this is a product that's worth your while. About Angry Miao Established in 2019, Angry Miao is committed to bringing future technology to consumers through close community interaction, while at the same time providing advanced futuristic product designs. This towards building a Future Art Community. Products include TWS and revolutionary wireless desktop products, as well as IP-centric products, in order to enhance the emotional brand connection. Angry Miao founder Li Nan believes that through the Community Driven and D2C sales model, Angry Miao is capable of creating a high-end trendy hi-tech brand widely recognized by global consumers. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/inspired-by-wes-andersons-color-palette-angry-miao-releases-cyberboard-r3-301403027.html SOURCE Angry Miao

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[October 19, 2021] IP Infusion Partners with Horsebridge Network Systems to Transform Networking for UK's Internet Service Providers

IP Infusion, a leading provider of network disaggregation solutions for telecom and data communications operators, today announced a partnership with Horsebridge Network Systems, a builder of innovative networks in the UK, to bring the benefits of disaggregated networking to Internet Service Providers (ISP). IP Infusion's (News - Alert) disaggregated networking solutions, based on the OcNOS network operating system, offer service providers an alternative to traditional legacy network vendors. Horsebridge's significant experience in the telecom market brings innovation to their customers with its best-in-class systems with crucial protection against DDoS attacks. The partnership aims to grow the customer base within the UK's Altnet community, a growing sector of independent digital infrastructure providers who are working together to create cohesive interconnected next generation networks. These network operators are challenging the traditional networking approaches with disaggregated networking which enable them to achieve unprecedented agility, choice and drive down the cost of their infrastructure. IP Infusion's carrier-grade disaggregated networking solutions allow network operators to create innovative services and accelerate new revenue streams. Its validated network operating system, combined with the choice of best-of-breed hardware, supports a diverse range of networking use cases. With IP Infusion's advanced support services, network operators can migrate seamlessly to an end-to-end disaggregated networking solution that delivers lower Total Cost of Ownership. Since 2000, Horsebridge has supported the development of critical ntwork within the Altnet, corporate and public sector markets by building, operating and managing networks for its customers. Through this partnership, IP Infusion and Horsebridge will provide choice of best-of-breed platforms, operational services, and help design, build and operate the customer networks with cost efficiency, enabling customers to focus on their core business.



"We are delighted to add IP Infusion into our partnership program and look forward to working with them to offer a valued alternative in network provision for both our existing and new clients," said Neil Woolerton, CRO of Horsebridge Network Systems. "With the extensive network competency in designing, deploying and supporting complex networks, Horsebridge's local team of experts can help to eliminate end-user concerns and pain points of migrating to new systems and help accelerate their network disaggregation," said Atsushi Ogata, President and CEO of IP Infusion.

OcNOS is the industry's first full-featured modular extensible network OS for white box open networking solutions offering advanced capabilities that include extensive switching and routing support ranging from MPLS (Multiprotocol Label Switching), PTP (Precision Timing Protocol) and APIs/protocols for SDN (Software Defined Networking). OcNOS features hybrid, centralized or distributed network support; scalable, modular high-performance network; and a robust data plane built on merchant silicon. About IP Infusion IP Infusion enables disaggregated networking solutions for carriers, service providers and data center operators. We provide network OS solutions for today's networks to allow network operators to reduce network costs, increase flexibility, and to deploy new features and services quickly. IP Infusion is a solution provider of the OcNOS and ZebOS network operating systems to our more than 300 customers and is an integrator and customer service provider for DANOS- Vyatta (News - Alert) edition and Commercial SONiC Distribution. IP Infusion is headquartered in Santa Clara, Calif., and is a wholly owned and independently operated subsidiary of ACCESS CO., LTD. Additional information can be found at http://www.ipinfusion.com About Horsebridge Network Systems Founded in 2000, Horsebridge has supported the development of critical networks within the Altnet, Corporates and Public Sector Markets. As one of the UK's leading network infrastructure providers, our mission is to build, operate and manage innovative networks for innovative customers. At the heart of our organisations is a team of experts that are focused on delivering customer value and work with the very best industry partners. IP Infusion, ZebOS, and OcNOS are trademarks or registered trademarks of IP Infusion. ACCESS is registered trademarks or trademarks of ACCESS CO., LTD. in the United States, Japan and/or other countries. Northforge Innovations is a registered trademark of Northforge Innovations, Inc. All other trademarks, service marks, registered trademarks, or registered service marks mentioned are the property of their respective owners. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211019005018/en/

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[October 19, 2021] IPAX-1 Late Breaking Oral Presentation at the Congress of Neurological Surgeons (CNS) Meeting

MELBOURNE, Australia and INDIANAPOLIS, Oct. 19, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Telix Pharmaceuticals Limited (ASX: TLX, Telix, the Company) is pleased to announce the first set of peer-reviewed results from the IPAX-1 Ph I/II study of TLX101 (4-L-[131I] iodo-phenylalanine, or 131I-IPA) in combination with external beam radiation therapy (XRT) in recurrent glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) has been delivered as a late breaking oral presentation at the Congress of Neurological Surgeons (CNS) Annual Meeting currently taking place in Austin, Texas. The data confirms the study has met its primary objective, demonstrating safety and tolerability of TLX101 at doses tested. The results also show overall survival (OS) of 15.97 months, to date, in the second line (recurrent) GBM setting. Six (6) out of 10 patients in the study are still alive and will be followed until one (1) year after dosing for the final OS calculation (May 2022). The primary objective of the study was to evaluate the safety and tolerability of intravenous 131I-IPA administered concurrently with second line XRT in patients with recurrent GBM. Secondary objectives were to determine optimal dosing, biodistribution and radiation absorption into the tumour, as well as assess preliminary efficacy through clinical and imaging-based assessment of tumour response. Based on these encouraging results, Telix confirms it intends to progress to a follow-on Phase II study and is currently finalizing the protocol in frontline post-surgery in combination with standard of care and using Telixs TLX101-CDx (18F-FET) investigational agent as a companion diagnostic. Safety Summary and Conclusions All patients evaluated received similar total activity dose of ~2GBq (2000 MBq) of TLX101, either in a single administration or a triple-fractionated regime. The results demonstrated both dosing regimens, in combination with XRT, were well tolerated: Dosimetric analysis demonstrates that radiation exposure to key organs is well within prescribed safety limits.

The most frequent treatment emergent adverse event (TEAE) was fatigue, which occurred in three patients, followed by diarrhea, decreased lymphocyte count, headache, and cerebral oedema, all of which occurred in two patients.

With the exception of cerebral oedema (swelling), a common side-effect of radiotherapy to the brain, adverse events typically had an intensity of grade 1 or grade 2. The therapy was generally well tolerated by patients.

Preliminary Overall Survival 10 patients have now completed therapy.

Overall survival (OS) on this interim analysis shows median 15.97 months to date, with three patients exhibiting stable disease at day 135 and two with stable disease at day 180. Figure 1: Overall survival (to date) indicates a median 15.97 months OS, with three patients exhibiting stable disease at day 135 and two with stable disease at day 180. A photo acompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/fa71c8e9-45c9-47a4-a0b2-77aae56896be



Dr. Colin Hayward, Chief Medical Officer at Telix said, Whilst a single arm study, the overall survival demonstrated in this initial patient population is encouraging. GBM has a median survival from initial diagnosis of 12-15 months, so the prospect of potentially improved OS in the second line setting warrants further investigation in a larger patient cohort, including earlier stage patients. Dr. Josef Pichler, Kepler University Hospital, Austria, Principal Investigator in the study added, These peer-reviewed data confirm that TLX101 in combination with XRT is safe and well-tolerated in patients with recurrent GBM, for whom there is an extremely poor prognosis and few treatment options. I look forward to evaluating this investigational asset in front-line therapy, to accelerate development in this underserved disease area with such high unmet medical need.

Dr. Arthur Braat, UMC Utrecht, The Netherlands continued, The results of the IPAX-1 study of TLX101 in combination with XRT are encouraging both in terms of confirming safety and tolerability, and initial signs of efficacy in patients with recurrent GBM. The promising overall survival and anti-tumour response we observe in longitudinal imaging supports the decision to progress this candidate into study in an earlier line of therapy. About TLX101

TLX101 is a systemically administered molecularly-targeted radiation (MTR) investigational therapeutic product that targets L-type amino acid transporter 1 (LAT-1), which is typically highly expressed in GBM. TLX101 has been granted orphan drug designation in the US and Europe. 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, Switzerland, 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,1 and is under priority evaluation by the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA).2 Telix is also progressing marketing authorisation applications for Illuccix in the European Union3 and Canada.4 None of Telixs products have received a marketing authorisation in any jurisdiction. Telix Investor Relations Ms. Kyahn Williamson

Telix Pharmaceuticals Limited

SVP Corporate Communications and Investor Relations

Email: kyahn.williamson@telixpharma.com Important Information This announcement does not constitute an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, securities in the United States, or in any other jurisdiction in which such an offer would be illegal. The securities referred to herein have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933 (the U.S. Securities Act), or under the securities laws of any state or other jurisdiction of the United States and may not be offered or sold within the United States, unless the securities have been registered under the U.S. Securities Act or an exemption from the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act is available. None of the technologies or products described in this document have received a marketing authorisation in any jurisdiction. This announcement has been authorised for release by Dr Christian Behrenbruch, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer. The Telix Pharmaceuticals name and logo are trademarks of Telix Pharmaceuticals Limited and its affiliates (all rights reserved). ____________________________________

1 ASX disclosure 24/11/20.

2 ASX disclosure 14/04/21.

3 ASX disclosure 1/05/20.

4 ASX disclosure 16/12/20.



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[October 19, 2021] ISW Holdings Announces Phase 1 of 200 MW Southeastern US Cryptocurrency Mining Project Nears Completion

LAS VEGAS, Oct. 19, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via InvestorWire -- ISW Holdings, Inc. (OTC: ISWH) (ISW Holdings or the Company, transitioning to BlockQuarry, pending name change), a Nevada-based portfolio company with primary commercial-stage operations in Cryptocurrency Mining, is pleased to announce that the first phase of its Southeastern U.S. project to pair 56,000 mining rigs with 200 megawatts (MW) of power is now nearing completion, which constitutes the infrastructure build-out to deploy 20 MW of power to self-contained cryptocurrency mining Pods. Larry Sossamon, President, and Chic Blanton, Vice President of Sossamon Construction Co., Inc., commented, We are very excited to be working with the Bit5ive team, a leading pioneer in the crypto mining space, on this exciting project. We have made excellent progress as we near completion of the first phase of over 200MW of crypto mining parks in South and North Carolina. These projects represent some of the most innovative of their kind, and stand to create many new jobs and new opportunities in the area. Company management also notes that Bit5ive will begin delivering the first tranche of new mining Pods to the site over coming weeks. Even with supply chain issues, we have managed to manufacture in record time, noted Alonzo Pierce, Chair and President of ISW Holdings. We will continue to do our best to hit our schedule objectives despite difficult market conditions, and we are thrilled to start deploying our Gen4 Pods to the site as the project ramps up. We are also excited to report that engineering and planning have gotten underway on the next sites to be developed starting in early 2022.



About ISW/BlockQuarry ISW/BlockQuarry Corp is quickly becoming one of the largest Mining and Hosting providers in the digital currency space in North America, as we seek to trnsform the financial markets of the future. Our complement of cutting-edge technologies has enhanced the Bitcoin/Cryptocurrency ecosystem, enabling our customers to take advantage of real-time cost savings. At the same time, our customers can feel confident that their digital transactions and assets are entirely secure. Our company utilizes a scalable blockchain infrastructure to convert unique identifiable assets (UIAs) into interchangeable digital assets such as Bitcoin and other fungible digital assets. We offer immediate liquidity in the form of fast, confidential transactions, as well as the issuance of assets in the traditional capital markets.







Forward Looking Statements

This press release may contain forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. These statements relate to future events or our future financial performance. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology including "could," "may," "will," "should," "expect," "plan," "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "predict," "potential" and the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology. While these forward-looking statements, and any assumptions upon which they are based, are made in good faith and reflect our current judgment regarding the direction of our business, actual results will almost always vary, sometimes materially, from any estimates, predictions, projections, assumptions or other future performance suggested in this report. Except as required by applicable law, we do not intend to update any of the forward-looking statements so as to conform these statements to actual results. Investors should refer to the risks disclosed in the Company's reports filed from time to time with OTC Markets ( www.otcmarkets.com ). Company Contact:

info@ISWHoldings.com

Public Relations

EDM Media, LLC

https://edm.media

Corporate Communications:

InvestorBrandNetwork (IBN)

Los Angeles, California

www.InvestorBrandNetwork.com

310.299.1717 Office

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[October 19, 2021] Kofax 2022 Intelligent Automation Benchmark Study Reveals Companies' Automation Priorities in the Race to Digital Transformation

When virtually any business workflow can be automated, which do enterprise executives say are the most important and deliver the greatest value? That's the focus of the Kofax 2022 Intelligent Automation Benchmark Study just published by Kofax, a leading supplier of intelligent automation software for digital workflow transformation. First published in 2019, the annual global report has become the insider study by detailing companies' intelligent automation ambitions, challenges and outcomes. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211019005492/en/ Kofax 2022 Intelligent Automation Benchmark Study Reveals Companies' Automation Priorities in the Race to Digital Transformation (Graphic: Business Wire) "This year, as companies navigate a drastically altered business landscape, they face myriad new challenges, from supply chain disruptions to workforce shortages. Yet the 'New Normal' is old news-customers, prospects and other constituents are not accepting excuses for falling short of objectives," says Kathleen Delaney, Chief Marketing Officer at Kofax. "At a moment when virtually all companies agree digital workflow transformation is key, we wanted to understand where they're focusing their riorities, and what types of automation yield the greatest benefit. Having these insights will help executives apply their limited time and resources more intelligently."



According to the study, organizations are focused on the following high-value customer, operational and financial workflows: 85% - Accounts payable automation

84% - Transaction processing

83% - Bank statement processing

83% - Document security management

82% - Invoice processing automation

78% - Onboarding

78% - Other

77% - Digital mailroom automation

77% - Claims processing "One of our early projects was related to the transfer of patients between facilities and then documenting it," says Robert Duber, Process Automation Manager at University Hospitals, headquartered in Shaker Heights, Ohio. "Patient transfer was a manual activity and we saved quite a bit of time by automating it. As the pandemic took hold, we started to look into capacity issues and found that automation freed up staff and yielded the time needed to improve the quality of patient care."

Enterprises are prioritizing these workflows for a variety of reasons, from improving the customer experience to driving better decision making. Specifically, executives say automating these functions are providing the greatest benefits: 94% - Optimizing customer acquisition and retention

93% - Running the business

93% - Maximizing the value of IT investments

93% - Improving customer engagement across multiple channels

83% - Ensuring compliance, data management and security

82% - Enhancing employee productivity and satisfaction

77% - Transforming back-office operations

77% - Gaining customer insights through data analysis The study also details the high-value workflows that yield the greatest ROI, the challenges organizations need to overcome to automate these high-value processes, and the progress enterprises are making in their digital transformation efforts. "The digital-first business environment has exposed a chasm between companies that have transformed through automation and AI and those companies that have underinvested and find themselves weighed down by an analog business culture," says Chris Huff, Chief Strategy Officer at Kofax. "Leveraging intelligent automation to digitally transform how work gets done is the opportunity of our generation. Companies across every industry are winning by focusing on delivering frictionless and delightful experiences for their customers, while at the same time creating productive and purposeful experiences for their employees so they can engage in more meaningful activities." About Kofax Kofax enables organizations to Work Like Tomorrow-today. Our Intelligent Automation software platform and solutions digitally transform content-intensive workflows. Customers realize faster time-to-value and increased competitiveness, growth and profitability by combining Kofax's cognitive capture, RPA, process orchestration, analytics and mobile capabilities while increasing business resiliency and mitigating compliance risk. For more information, visit www.kofax.com. Read more on the Kofax Blog and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.  2021 Kofax, Inc. Kofax is a registered trademark of Kofax Limited. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211019005492/en/

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[October 19, 2021] Lumendi Announces CMS HCPCS Code for Reimbursement of ESD Procedures Performed in Hospital Outpatient Facilities

Lumendi-- Effective October 1, 2021, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) established C9779 as a new Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System (HCPCS) code to describe the endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) procedure,1 including endoscopy or colonoscopy and mucosal closure, when performed by hospital outpatient departments. The APC (News - Alert) payment is only for lower gastrointestinal and complex procedures. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211019005664/en/ ESD is an emerging endoscopic procedure that uses special tools to dissect and remove pre-cancerous and early-stage cancerous polyps from the colon as a single specimen (en bloc). Over the last five years, ESD has gained greater acceptance within the GI medical community, which considers it a curative procedure that avoids conventional surgery. "This is an important milestone in the broader acceptance and treatment of endoluminal procedures in the lower GI for complex polyps. Lumendi has been at the forefront of widespread adoption of endoluminal procedures, where many US patients are currently overtreated, and, therefore, underserved," said Dr. Peter Johann, CEO of Lumendi. In 2017, Lumendi launched its DiLumen Endoluminal Interventional Platform (EIP), which enables endoscopic treatment of colonic lesions such as polyps, a common condition that affects millions worldwide. These endoscopic procedures may replace open surgical or laparoscopic procedures for the same condition, reduce healthcare costs, and better serve patients. DiLumen has been proven effective in lower GI procedures and aids physicians performing EMR and ESD procedures for removal of complex polyps. It also benefits patients who have undergone difficult or incomplete screening colonoscopies, due to a challenging or tortuous colon. In the United States alone, more than 20 million screening colonoscopies are performed annually. In an estimated 4 to 11 percent of cases, a large colorectal polyp (2cm or greater) is identified, many of which are benign and can be removed endoscopically. Despite this, a disproportionate number of these patients ar referred for surgical hemicolectomy (the removal of a portion of the colon and subsequent reconnection) despite a pronounced likelihood of benign, or non-cancerous, polyps present. Experts estimate that 20,000-30,000 similar surgeries for benign polyps are performed annually in the US. The effect of this trend is that patients may be overtreated with a riskier procedure with far-longer hospitalizations and recoveries, compared to a typical single-day, colon-preserving, endoluminal procedure.



About Lumendi, LLC (Lumendi) Headquartered in Westport, Connecticut, Lumendi, LLC is a wholly owned subsidiary of Lumendi Ltd., a privately held innovative, medical device company based in Buckinghamshire, UK. Lumendi focuses on developing, marketing, and distributing surgical tools and devices that provide safe, cost-effective solutions for minimally invasive gastrointestinal interventions. Follow us on

YouTube (News - Alert) Lumendi YouTube

Twitter (News - Alert) Lumendi USA

* Disclaimer: Lumendi provides this billing guide for informational purposes only. This guide is not an affirmative instruction as to which codes and modifiers to use for a particular service, supply, procedure, or treatment, nor is it exhaustive. It is the provider's/facility's responsibility to determine and submit the appropriate codes and modifiers for any service, supply, procedure, or treatment rendered. Actual codes and/or modifiers used are at the sole discretion of the treating provider and/or facility. Contact your local payer for specific coding and coverage guidelines. Lumendi cannot guarantee medical benefit coverage or reimbursement with the codes listed in this guide. Information included in this material was obtained from third-party sources and is accurate as of the time of its publication but is subject to change without notice. 1 October 2021 Alpha-Numeric HCPCS File, CMS.gov, available at https://www.cms.gov/files/zip/october-2021-alpha-numeric-hcpcs-file.zip-0.

2 CPT only copyright 2020 American Medical Association. All rights reserved. Applicable FARS/HHSARS apply.

3 OPPS Addendum B Update, October 2021, CMS.gov, available at https://www.cms.gov/medicaremedicare-fee-service-paymenthospitaloutpatientppsaddendum-and-addendum-b-updates/october-2021-0.

4 See October 2021 ASC (News - Alert) Approved HCPCS Code and Payment Rates, CMS.gov, available at https://www.cms.gov/apps/ama/license.asp?file=/files/zip/oct-2021-asc-approved-hcpcs-payment-rates.zip. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211019005664/en/

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[October 19, 2021] Lydia AI Raises $8 Million in Series A+ Funding Round to Insure the Next Billion People

Lydia AI, formerly known as Knowtions Research, has announced the closing of $8 million USD in a Series A+ funding round. Led by existing investor, Information Venture Partners, and with participation from new investors, including 500 Global, this round brings Lydia AI's total funding to $14 million USD. Lydia AI is a deep learning risk scoring engine trained on global health data to generate precise health benchmarks. Insurers use Lydia AI to personalize experience, accelerate underwriting practices and develop new products. The company has partnered with a leading insurer to launch the first series of digital Lydia AI health score products. "We believe that new sources of alternative data and AI will create digital insurance products that are easier to buy and can protect more people, especially those underserved by the industry today," said Anthony Lee, CEO of Lydia AI. "In Asia alone, non-treatment due to lack of affordability amounted to $92 billion USD. With more data and improved predictive accuracy, we can help insurers make better risk decisions that transform customer experience for the next billion people." Lydia AI will be using the funding to establish itself as the new industry standard for health risk scoring, using digital medical data, by expanding the health score's applicability to different types of health and life insurance products. The company selected Taiwan, Asia's 4th largest insurance market, a its pilot market and plans to use its funding to expand into Japan, South Korea and South East Asia.



David Unsworth, the lead investor of the round and General Partner at Information Venture Partners, commented, "with Covid-19 shutting down face-to-face channels, we saw Lydia AI being poised to help insurers transform customer experience for the remote world. We believe Lydia AI is able to become the backbone of new digital health insurance products." Tony Wang, Managing Director at 500 Global, commented, "we believe in companies that solve challenging global problems, and that's why we invested in Lydia AI. The next frontier of customers are digital-first citizens, and they have radically different needs than those who are insured today. We believe Lydia AI has the team and the technology to solve this problem."

Lydia AI currently employs 42 people and plans to add 25 new hires to strengthen and grow a strong global presence in the next year. To learn more about Lydia AI and how the company is making health insurance accessible and inclusive, click here. About Lydia AI Lydia AI is a health AI insurtech startup on a mission to insure the next billion people by making insurance personalized, easier to buy and more inclusive. Insurers work with Lydia AI to leverage new sources of data to make risk predictions which are used to personalize individual experiences, accelerate underwriting practices and develop new inclusive digital products with innovative Pay How You Live Benefits. The company has launched the first series of digital Lydia AI health score insurance products in Taiwan and plans to expand across Asia. Established in 2015, Lydia AI, formerly known as Knowtions Research, is backed by Alibaba Entrepreneurs Fund, Information Venture Partners and 500 Global with offices in Toronto and Taiwan. For more information, visit www.lydia.ai. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211019005380/en/

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[October 19, 2021] Moet Hennessy Breaks New Ground For Innovation: The Robert-Jean De Vogue Research Center

EPERNAY, France, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Moet Hennessy, world leader of high-quality wine and spirits, inaugurates its new Robert-Jean de Vogue Research Center dedicated to advancing knowledge and evolving practices. Today, climate change and biodiversity loss for more environmentally friendly products have highlighted the limits of the current viticultural model and reinforced the need to evolve. With this new Center, representing an investment of 20 million euros, the Group's research and development ecosystem is now equipped with a powerful new lever to understand and anticipate the major challenges of the decades ahead. Moet Hennessy has chosen Champagne which reflects our commitment to our terroir and to the entire Champagne category. To view the Multimedia News Release, please click: https://www.multivu.com/players/uk/8969551-moet-hennessy-breaks-new-ground-for-innovation-robert-jean-de-vogue-research-center/ "Closely aligned with the Living Soils, Living Together program we launched last year, our new state-of-the-art research infrastructure will support all Moet Hennessy Houses as they continue to transform their businesses through sustainability," said Philippe Schaus, CEO of Moet Hennessy. "Named in honor of Robert-Jean de Vogue, one of the Group's historic leaders who worked tirelessly for the common good in Champagne and beyond, the Research Center will be a hub for sharing knowledge both between the Houses and with public sector researchers and will also embrace collaboration with other external structures." ACCELERATING A HERITAGE OF INNOVATION Innovation has always been at the heart of Moet Hennessy, with many of its R&D innovations continuing to shape the vision for sustainable and resilient viticulture. Moet Hennessy has been advancing this approach for more than 20 years, and in 2020 made official its commitment to sustainable viticulture with "Living Soils" which aims to unite its communities across the world and develop a global social responsibility program. The new Center, with its focus on addressing environmental and industry challenges, will allow Moet Hennessy to continue making important contributions to sustaiable winemaking practices.



AREAS OF RESEARCH The Center will cover four major research areas:

Innovating to understand: microbiology and biotechnology. Observing and analyzing micro-organisms to better understand their impact on vineyards.

Observing and analyzing micro-organisms to better understand their impact on vineyards. Innovating to protect the climate: plant physiology. Conducting experiments on vines and grapes to meet the challenges of global warming.

Conducting experiments on vines and grapes to meet the challenges of global warming. Innovating to improve production: process engineering. Analyzing every step in winemaking to optimize processes and promote recyclability.

Analyzing every step in winemaking to optimize processes and promote recyclability. Innovating for the experience: sensory analysis and formulation. Analyzing the sensory profile of our products at different stages of production, to continue our Houses' quests for excellence. THE FACILITY Designed by architect Giovanni Pace, the 4,000 m2 Robert Jean de Vogue Research Center represents a commitment to eco-responsibility, shared ideas and collective work. The Research Center is located in the immediate vicinity of Moet Hennessy's ultra-modern Mont Aigu production site. The building was created with a clear understanding of its connections to the outside world. Integrated into the surrounding landscape, it is embedded in a gently sloping earthen embankment guaranteeing natural insulation. All materials used meet the strictest standards in thermal performance and energy consumption. THE VISIONARY : ROBERT JEAN DE VOGUE The new Research Center bears the name Robert-Jean de Vogue in honor of this avant-garde thinker in Moet Hennessy history. As President of Moet & Chandon, de Vogue innovated for the common good of the Group, as well as for different wine regions. Notably, in the 1930s, Robert-Jean de Vogue determined a "contrat collectif" (collective agreement) with employees, a precursor to the social status of employees in France today. And in 1941 he helped create the CIVC Comite Interprofessionnel du Vin de Champagne, a model which has since been replicated by other French wine regions. About Moet Hennessy Moet Hennessy, the wines and spirits division of LVMH, regroups twenty-five Maisons, recognized internationally for the richness of their terroirs, the quality of their products and the craftsmanship with which they are created. For many years, Moet Hennessy has been committed to its environmental and social program, Living Soils Living Together. The LVMH Group also holds renowned wine estates through "LVMH Vins d'Exceptions" Contact presse internationale :

Jean-Christophe LAIZEAU

jc.laizeau@moethennessy.com Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1664069/Moet_Hennessy_Innovation.jpg

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1388256/Moet_Hennessy_Logo.jpg View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/moet-hennessy-breaks-new-ground-for-innovation--the-robert-jean-de-vogue-research-center-301403348.html SOURCE Moet Hennessy

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[October 19, 2021] MRI Software Honors Real Estate Technology Leaders with 2021 RE:Visionary Awards

CLEVELAND, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- MRI Software, a global leader in real estate software solutions, announced the recipients of the third annual RE:Visionary Awards at its MRI Ascend 2021 North American users conference, held in Cleveland on October 17-20. The awards, which were revealed in the general session on the second day of Ascend, address four categories: Lifetime Achievement, Innovation, Ambassador of the Year and Partner of the Year. The RE:Visionary Awards, formerly known as the MRI Innovation Awards, honor MRI clients and partners that have leveraged the company's open and connected software and extensive partner network to elevate their business and gain a competitive advantage. This year's awards were announced as the company celebrates its 50th anniversary. "I'm thrilled to honor our community of clients and partners for their incredible work and dedication to transforming the way communities live, work and play, particularly during the challenges of the past year," said Patrick Ghilani, MRI Software's Chief Executive Officer. "These awards exemplify how collaboration and open software can exponentially drive innovation, not just for our mutual clients, but for the industry as a whole." 2021 RE:Visionary Awards recipients: Lifetime Achievement: Goldberg

Goldberg Companies and its affiliates (collectively known as GCI) is a national developer, general contractor and property manager of residential and commercial real estate. GCI, founded in 1952 and headquartered in Cleveland, was MRI's first client when it launched in 1971 and remains actively involved with the company. As a pioneer in the industry, GCI has continued to evolve and innovate throughout the decades, constantly looking for new and better ways to create thriving communities. GCI relies on MRI Residential and Commercial Management and Accounting solutions to support its daily operations. Fueled by its desire to be on the cutting-edge, GCI Residential has embraced advanced AI technologies, including CheckpointID, MRI's fraud and identity verification product, and MRI Resident Screening to further its risk management initiatives across their nationwide portfolio of more than 9,000 units. Innovation: IRGRA

IRG Realty Advisors (IRGRA) has been an MRI client for almost 20 years and is currently one of the largest real estate services companies headquartered in Ohio with a portfolio of nearly 100 million square feet of assets in 30 states. IRGRA uses MRI Commercial Management, Residential Management, Fixed Assets, Analytix and Financials in MRI's cloud platform. Currently, it leverages the flexibility of MRI's open ecosystem by integrating with other software packages, automating manual tasks, adding custom tables, screens and reports, which all support the ever-changing business needs and the strategic goals of IRGRA. The company uses self-service capabilities of Analytix to configure dashboards and reports that provide actionable insights to help make profitable, data-driven decisions for customers, investors, and owners.



Ambassador of the Year: Robb Napolitano, The Brooksville Company

Robb Napolitano is CIO of The Brooksville Company, a vertically integrated real estate investment and management firm that deals in large, complex multifamily properties throughout the New York Metropolitan area. MRI recognized Napolitano as its Ambassador of the Year because he was instrumental in driving technology transformation for affordable housing (AH). Under Napolitano's leadership, Brooksville collaborated with MRI on a large-scale property management system migration for Spring Creek Towers, a 5,881-unit complex in Brooklyn, New York, and the largest HUD-financed development in the country. The partnership between MRI and Brooksville enabled the site to execute this transition 100% remotely due to COVID, which has never been done before. The partnership provided MRI an opportunity to apply enhancements from Spring Creek that will help other affordable housing providers automate property management activities, operate with greater transparency, improve efficiency and manage government compliance. Napolitano's work is driving strategic initiatives that will bring long-term improvements for affordable housing portfolios nationwide. Partner of the Year: RealFoundations

RealFoundations, a professional services firm focused on the real estate industry, was selected as an outstanding member of MRI's Partner Connect program. A strategically influential partner, RealFoundations continues to pioneer revolutionary practices that help real estate organizations achieve business goals through technology, process improvement and systems planning and integration. The firm proactively identified opportunities to collaborate with the MRI team on projects covering system migrations, data conversions and implementations to drive success for clients, including an extensive project with a large, complex retail business. The partnership exemplifies how a shared commitment to providing flexibility and choice through an open approach to software benefits MRI partners and clients, while influencing future product development at MRI. The mutually beneficial partnership is strengthened by the close collaboration between staff at both companies and the strategic expertise and knowledge of the RealFoundations team.

The RE:Visionary Awards and MRI Ascend took place in the Huntington Convention Center in Cleveland. Ascend brought together MRI staff and users  more than 60 partners were represented  for four days of keynotes, presentations, networking events, seminars, workshops and exhibits on MRI and its real estate ecosystem. About MRI Software

MRI Software is a leading provider of real estate software solutions that transform the way communities live, work and play. MRI's comprehensive, flexible, open and connected platform empowers owners, operators and occupiers in commercial and residential property organizations to innovate in rapidly changing markets. MRI has been a trailblazer in the PropTech industry for over five decades, serving more than two million users worldwide. Through leading solutions and a rich partner ecosystem, MRI gives real estate companies the freedom to elevate their business and gain a competitive edge. For more information, please visit mrisoftware.com. MEDIA CONTACTS: (US for MRI)

Rachel Antman (+1 212-362-5837)

rachel@saygency.com (EMEA for MRI)

Platform Communications

Hugh Filman (+44 7905 044850)

or Zoe Mumba (+44 7725 832393)

mri@platformcomms.com (ANZ for MRI)

Heather Jones (+61 400 394 669)

heather@hjconsulting.com.au View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/mri-software-honors-real-estate-technology-leaders-with-2021-revisionary-awards-301403464.html SOURCE MRI Software

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[October 19, 2021] New Research Shows Global Confidence Among Expats, as Nearly Two Thirds Feel Optimistic About the Next 12 Months

The 14th annual Expat Explorer study - a global survey of over 20,000 people who live and work abroad - indicates that almost two thirds (65%) of expats feel optimistic about the year ahead despite the volatility of the past 18 months. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211019005540/en/ HSBC Expat Explorer 2021 (Photo: Business Wire) The key reason driving optimism is their hope to live 'normally' again (75%), but six in ten (61%) are also feeling positive because of the quality of life they will be able to enjoy. Expats in Taiwan are the most optimistic (85%), closely followed by those in Australia, New Zealand, and Vietnam (all 83%). As the world has been in a state of flux during the pandemic, the study suggests that locations where a sense of stability has been maintained ranked highly. Nearly all expats based in Australia, Switzerland, and Jersey (in the Channel Islands) would recommend their location as a 'stable' place to live in the next 12 months - Australia (92%), Switzerland (92%), Jersey (90%). Expats' desire to live and work abroad has not been diminished by the pandemic - the majority plan to stay in their host location for the foreseeable future, with 80% intending to continue living in their host country for the next year at least, and only 7% planning to move. The findings suggest expats are prioritising personal lifestyle choices rather than traditional relocation drivers - such as career progression (34%) or expanding professional network (31%). The top five goals that expats look forward to achieving in the next 12 months are: Getting to know the local area (50%) Travelling (47%) Understanding and exploring local culture (47%) Making new friends (45%) Going out more (41%) Over two thrds (67%) of expats also believe their quality of life is better in their current location; those based in Indonesia and UAE feel the most fulfilled - 51% say they feel a stronger sense of fulfilment since moving there. Furthermore, globally, over two in five (46%) expats feel that their host communities have changed to be more supportive during the pandemic.



However, the study also highlights some of the challenges that expats have faced during the pandemic. Over half (63%) have been stopped from travelling abroad for business, and the majority (90%) were unable to see family or friends in their home countries. Yet it also points to the resilience of the global expat community, as two in five (42%) say they were able to continue to manage their physical health, and over a third (36%) continued to spend time outside. Cameron Senior, Interim Head of HSBC Expat, said: "Despite incredibly challenging times, I am encouraged to see sparks of optimism among global expats. Our study confirms that expats continue to thrive in their host countries and many are looking forward to remaining there for the foreseeable future. Following many months of uncertainty, I'm heartened to hear how expats are benefitting from relocating - over two-thirds told us they feel their quality of life is better now, albeit with a lot of changes.

"Despite their positivity, I'm very mindful of the disruption they have experienced (which remains ongoing in certain locations) including their ability to see family or friends in their home countries, and travel for business. This reality puts their optimism in even sharper focus, and makes me more determined to fully support our expat customers as they navigate life away from home. "So much has changed for global expats but I'm impressed by their resilience and optimism for the future. As the world begins to adjust, HSBC Expat is committed to opening up a world of opportunity for our customers who relocate overseas. We are dedicated to offering support to help them navigate and succeed in an increasingly globalised world." The study also shines light on expats' financial lives, to gauge their financial goals in 2021. Three fifths (60%) wish to save for their retirement, almost a third are looking to build up an emergency savings fund (31%) and saving to purchase a property (30%). Over a fifth (23%) are saving or investing money for their children's education. Overall, expats ranked the following locations as the top 10 places to live and work in 2021: Switzerland Australia New Zealand UAE Guernsey Jersey Isle of Man Bahrain Singapore Qatar For more information about the findings, and HSBC Expat products, visit: www.expat.hsbc.com/expat-explorer-results/ -Ends- Notes to Editors About Expat Explorer

Expat Explorer is a comprehensive and in-depth global survey of expats. The 2021 survey is HSBC's broadest look at expat living to date, with expats from 46 countries and territories sharing their views. YouGov surveyed 20,460 adults aged 18+ currently living away from their country of origin/home country, in 143 countries, territories and markets, through an online questionnaire between March and May 2021. A minimum sample of 100 respondents was required for a location to qualify for inclusion; this year, 46 locations qualified. HSBC Holdings plc

HSBC Holdings plc, the parent company of HSBC, is headquartered in London. HSBC serves customers worldwide from offices in 64 countries and territories in its geographical regions: Europe, Asia, North America, Latin America, and Middle East and North Africa. With assets of US$2,976bn at 30 June 2021, HSBC is one of the world's largest banking and financial services organisations. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211019005540/en/

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[October 19, 2021] Pitney Bowes Launches ParcelPoint Smart Lockers in Canada

Pitney Bowes Inc. (NYSE: PBI), a global shipping and mailing company that provides technology, logistics, and financial services, today announced the expansion of its lockers portfolio to the Canadian market with the launch of ParcelPoint Smart Lockers, a suite of robust, secure contactless locker solutions unique to Pitney Bowes. The Canadian launch of ParcelPoint lockers comes as the Pitney Bowes Shipping Index reports record parcel growth in Canada, with 1.6 billion parcels shipped in 2020, equating to 50 parcels per second. Canada's increase in parcel revenue was one of the highest in the study at 29 percent, reaching $11.5 billion, up from $8.9 billion. Ideal for organizations planning the safe reopening of offices, college campuses and government agencies, ParcelPoint smart lockers provide the confidence that every package and asset moving across a location will be delivered safely and securely. Powered by proprietary SaaS (News - Alert) software, organizations can remotely manage a single locker or a fleet of lockers across locations, backed up with unrivalled local Pitney Bowes service, support and detailed analytics. Building on its successful launch in the US earlier this year, the ParcelPoint Smart Locker portfolio augments existing Pitney Bowes locker technologies and utilizes a century of expertise in shipping and mailing, offering Canadian organizations a choice of smart locker solutions which best fit their requirements and budget. Express Series smart lockers provide a sophisticated, pre-configured, easy-to-use solution built to meet evolving package and mail volume demands, delivered and installed quickly and efficiently*. With SendSuite Tracking Online - Pitney Bowes SaaS parcel tracking and processing software - already integrated into the solution, Express Series lockers simplify the end-to-end package and mail management processes. Plus Series smart lockers are modular and scalable, perfect for organizations with more complex workflows. Plus Series lockers are individually customized to meet the unique needs of organizations with more extensive parcel workflow, asset management, or with specific space or volume requirements. They can operate standalone, without a tracking software or seamlessly integrate with SendSuite racking, SendSuite Tracking Online or with an organization's existing tracking software.



Kerry Caylor, Vice President, SendTech Parcel and Locker Innovation, Pitney Bowes said, "We're seeing ongoing demand for ParcelPoint lockers in North America so we're delighted to be able to extend this rollout to organizations in Canada, particularly as the Canadian parcel shipping industry is showing signs of continued growth. Our Parcel Shipping Index reports an average of 42 parcels generated per person in Canada in 2020, an increase of almost 30 percent from 2019. ParcelPoint Smart Lockers make it easy for organizations to automate, streamline and digitize their parcel and mail management and deliver a user-friendly contactless pickup experience. By providing both pre-configured and customized options, we're giving Canadian organizations the choice and flexibility to select the smart locker solution that exactly matches their requirements and the needs of the clients they serve." A study of 2,200 consumers in North America carried out by Morning Consult for Pitney Bowes found that one in two consumers are nervous about packages being stolen from their doorsteps and 66 percent are looking for a more secure way to receive their packages. Millennials, urban dwellers and office workers showed strong preferences for smart lockers. With 53 percent of all respondents nervous their packages will get stolen from their doorstep and 30 percent willing to pay more for delivery to a locker, the results highlight growing demand for the smart locker as a secure, convenient, contactless alternative to doorstep delivery - particularly as workers head back to the office and are unable to receive deliveries at home.

The global automated parcel locker market is expected to exceed $1.4 billion by 2027, driven by organizations looking for ways to manage the exponential growth in ecommerce and parcel volume. As they reopen safely organizations are looking to bring in new safety and security standards, with requirements to limit direct contact and minimize the time parcels are left unclaimed. Pitney Bowes ParcelPoint Smart Lockers solve these challenges, providing a streamlined digital experience, sophisticated functionality and accurate tracking, while meeting growing user expectations. The locker solutions are ideal for organizations with centralized mail centers which manage high volumes of parcels and physical documents, tasked with their safe, secure, effective delivery. Real-time reporting and analytics ensure absolute visibility of the package's journey throughout the process. The State of Louisiana Office of Technology Services (OTS) is tasked with the timely and accurate delivery of mail and parcels to 120 branch state agencies and quasi-agency locations across the Capital area. Prior to the pandemic, a team consisting of six drivers and five operators hand-delivered mail to approximately 1800 delivery points across the state buildings complex. In 2020, the need to avoid direct contact and enable employees to access their mail without entering the building became a priority. Processing more than 2.5 million mail pieces every month, the OTS accelerated its transition from in-person mail delivery to smart locker technology from Pitney Bowes. OTS said, "Now, we have security, accountability and tracking. Tenants love the service and the convenience of the locker system, and we love the ease-of-use, generous screen size, quick configuration and installation." * Delivery and installation may take longer for organizations outside main urban areas About Pitney Bowes Pitney Bowes (NYSE:PBI) is a global shipping and mailing company that provides technology, logistics, and financial services to more than 90 percent of the Fortune 500. Small business, retail, enterprise, and government clients around the world rely on Pitney Bowes to remove the complexity of sending mail and parcels. For additional information visit Pitney Bowes at www.pitneybowes.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211019005448/en/

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[October 19, 2021] Seafair raises $5.7M to build the future of maritime recruitment

NEW YORK, Oct. 19, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Maritime tech company Seafair today announced its $5.7M financing round led by General Catalyst with participation from FirstMinute Capital, Signal Ventures, TA Ventures, SV Angel, Speedinvest and previous investors FJ Labs. The new financing fuels Seafairs plans to build additional technology for seafarer vetting; broaden the scope of its software; and expand in new and current markets such as Western and Eastern Europe, the Philippines, and the United States. Seafair brings transparency & innovation to maritime recruitment, a $60B market globally. The company provides a digital platform that matches seafarers with shipping companies, as well as software that shipping companies use to vet, manage & retain seafarers. Seafarers perform one of the most demanding jobs in the world, said Agapitos Diakogiannis, Founder and CEO of Seafair. We want to ensure they are offered the opportunities they deserve and are given sufficient guidance from employers on how to become more effective onboard vessels. We envision a world where exceptional seafarers can shine onboard vessels and shipping companies have incentives to pay a premium to retain them. Through its software and proprietary technology, Seafair collects data on seafarer backgrounds, skills and performance onboard a vessel, which are then used as inputs in its matching algorithm, allowing shipping companies to match them to the most relevant vacancy. The companys vision is to leverage data to help shipping companies understand how seafarers can become more effective in their day-to-day work. The maritime industry is one of the last untapped frontiers, said Niko Bonatsos, Managing Director at General Catalyst. One needs deep industry insights, an ambitious vision and a determined team to succeed in a market like this. We saw all the above in Seafair and are excited to be part of this journey. eve always been fans of verticalized, B2B, SaaS enabled marketplaces at FJ Labs, said Fabrice Grinda, Partner at FJ Labs. The recruitment and management of seafarers is a complex process. It involves assets with complicated specs & conditions, several specializations, numerous certifications, multiple source countries. Data and technology can create a unique competitive advantage for such a marketplace. We are honored to work towards this vision with Seafair.



Seafair, which launched in late 2020, has already acquired several paying clients, including a top-100 shipping company globally. The company has 5 active locations: NYC (USA), Berlin (Germany), Athens (Greece), Odessa (Ukraine), and Manila (Philippines), but most of its employees work remotely  a culture that the company plans to maintain post-COVID. The company puts a lot of effort into building a diverse, inclusive and transparent culture. For example, everybody at Seafair knows the comp structure of each member of the team. The only way to disrupt an opaque industry is to first promote internally all the values we want to bring to the industry, said Agapitos. About Seafair

Seafair is a tech company providing crew software and digital manning services through their owned licensed agencies in Ukraine and the Philippines. Seafair's tech & services are already used by leading maritime companies, who partner with Seafair to optimize maritime crewing operations post COVID.

About General Catalyst General Catalyst is a venture capital firm that invests in powerful, positive change that endures  for our entrepreneurs, our investors, our people, and society. We support founders with a long-term view who challenge the status quo, partnering with them from seed to growth stage to build companies that withstand the test of time. With offices in San Francisco, Palo Alto, New York City, and Boston, the firm has helped support the growth of businesses, such as: Airbnb, Canva, Datto, Demandware, Grammarly, Gitlab, Guild, Gusto, Hubspot, Kayak, Lemonade, Livongo, Monzo, Oscar, Samsara, Stripe, and Warby Parker. For more: www.generalcatalyst.com . About FJ Labs FJ Labs is an early-stage venture firm/startup studio focused on online marketplaces and consumer Internet companies. Founded by serial entrepreneurs Fabrice Grinda (OLX, Aucland, Zingy) and Jose Marin (Deremate, IG Expansion), FJ Labs has backed over 500 companies including Alibaba, Betterment, Delivery Hero, FanDuel, and Flexport and has been directly engaged in building companies such as Adore Me, Properly, Letgo, and Rebag. More about FJ Labs: https://www.fjlabs.com Contact press@seafair.io



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[October 19, 2021] Super Broadens Southeast Footprint with Launch in North Carolina

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Super , an insurtech company that provides subscription care for the home, today announced its plans are now available to homeowners and home buyers in North Carolina's five largest cities: Charlotte, Raleigh, Greensboro, Durham, and Winston-Salem. This quickly follows the company's launch in Atlanta in August, and the closing of a Series C funding earlier this year. Cities like Charlotte and Raleigh are regularly cited in "Best Places to Live" lists, and the entire state of North Carolina has become a popular destination for first-time homeowners and for relocation, particularly for those wanting to move out of more densely populated cities. It's no wonder that the real estate market in North Carolina is thriving. Super takes the hassle and expense out of maintaining a home. A subscription from Super includes coverage for appliance and system breakdowns as well as maintenance services. Technology drives everything the company does to make caring for a home easier from a mobile app to easily request and schedule services, maintaining a digital record of all the work done to a home, to a cashless transaction system that offers a seamless payment process and detects fraud. "The homeownershipexperience isn't the same for everyonewhether you're a first-time homeowner, or a city-dwelling condo owner that moves to a new house on acres of land," said Jorey Ramer, co-founder and CEO, Super. "But what rings true for all homeowners is the responsibility of caring for your home and protecting your investment. That's where we come in."



To help customers with their breakdown and maintenance needs, Super has built a network of top-quality service providers in each of its local marketsfrom general appliance repair to specialized services like dryer vent cleaning. Super partners with business owners in the home services industry that understand great customer service is key to running a successful business. "As a family-owned company that's been operating for over 35 years, it's important for us to do business with companies that are just as committed to offering high quality service and have a genuine respect for their customers," said Farhan Hanphy, owner at T&T Heating & Air Conditioning. "Working with Super is one of the easiest things we've done to continue to grow our business."

Strategic partnerships in the real estate industry continue to contribute to Super's growth. Brokers and agents seek to bring value to their clients and Super offers a data-driven solution that addresses their clients' needs when it comes to maintaining their most valuable investment. Super has also developed a first-of-its-kind solution to support real estate agents and their clients during the home buying process with its recently announced In the Clear program. "As a real estate agent, aligning with the right industry partners can help me grow my business," said John Barrera, licensed real estate salesperson, San Antonio Portfolio Real Estate, a luxury extension of Keller Williams Realty. "A great partner is one with a shared commitment to client service and a collaborative approach to working together. That's what I've found with Super. They're proactive about getting feedback directly from real estate agents. That's a huge plus!" Super is also available in Atlanta, Washington DC, Chicago, Phoenix, Baltimore, Austin, Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio. For more information on joining Super's network of service providers, visit hellosuper.com/servicer. To learn more about how to partner with Super as an agent or broker, visit hellosuper.com/realestate. About Super

Super is a San Francisco-based insurtech company. Powered by a proprietary data platform and backed by leading investors, Super offers subscription-based care for your home. Partnering with the best local servicers to deliver quick and effective home repair and maintenance at a predictable cost, Super's vision is to make caring for a home carefree. Visit www.hellosuper.com for more information. Media Contacts

Market Street Group for Super

Angela Baldwin / Bill Donlan

super@marketstreetgrp.com View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/super-broadens-southeast-footprint-with-launch-in-north-carolina-301402951.html SOURCE Super

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[October 19, 2021] Taiwan's Government-backed AI Company iKala Supports Japanese Brands Succeed in Taiwan with Data-driven Influencer Marketing

TAIPEI, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- iKala , Asia's leading Human-Centered AI company headquartered in Taiwan, announced plans to expand its footprint in Japan at today's Taiwan NEXT BIG Award Ceremony while receiving the honour from President Tsai Ing-Wen. With its data-driven AI influencer marketing service KOL Radar , iKala aims to enable Japanese brands and D2C companies to accelerate their cross-border marketing efforts in the Taiwan market. The ability to innovate through digital technologies and reinvent socal marketing strategies with influencers reached a new level of urgency in Japan and Taiwan after COVID-19. According to Influencer MarketingHub, the influencer marketing industry is set to grow to approximately $13.8 Billion in 2021, and 75% of companies with a standalone budget for content marketing will dedicate a portion to influencer marketing this year.



"Japan has long been one of Taiwan's most important trade and investment partners. With high cultural familiarity and social media penetration, hiring influencers is a great way to help Japanese brands take off their marketing efforts and build trust with Taiwanese consumers," said Sega Cheng, Co-Founder & CEO, iKala. "Our vision is to organize the world's influencer information with AI and use a data-driven approach to help businesses make an impact with effective influencer marketing. We're thrilled to open our Tokyo office and dedicate ourselves to helping more Japanese brands succeed in Taiwan." According to Nielsen, almost 75% of Taiwanese consumers' buying decisions will be influenced by KOLs. iKala KOL Radar's data shows that the top five popular social content types in Taiwan are Food, Travel, Makeup, Gaming and Outfit & Fashion. Consumers want to see these services and products every day when browsing through their social media accounts. It offers an excellent opportunity for brands to start the conversation and build trust with influencer marketing.

With the rise of micro and nano influencers in these two years, influencer marketing has evolved and became more complex in finding the right KOLs, developing effective content and evaluating the results. iKala's KOL Radar is Taiwan's first AI KOL data marketing platform that integrated real-time data analysis, a recommendation engine, and a full-scale service team to smoothly help brands land in Taiwan. KOL Radar now has over 55,000 Taiwanese influencer data. iKala has established an office in Tokyo with the launch of iKala KOL Radar in Japan. The company is committed to reinventing how Japanese brands and companies use KOLs and boost their cross-border marketing efforts and sales performance with effective influencer marketing programs for awareness building and sales conversion. iKala will roll out more consumer analytic and MarTech solutions to Japan in the near future. Media Contact: Patricia Lu

+886963260185 SOURCE iKala

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[October 19, 2021] Talkwalker and HubSpot define top social media trends for a successful 2022

NEW YORK, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Talkwalker, the #1 consumer intelligence company , and HubSpot , the customer relationship management (CRM) platform for scaling companies, have published their latest Social Media Trends Report in 7 languages, tailored for markets worldwide. The pandemic has accelerated The Age of the Consumer, and for brands to survive, they need to anticipate and respond to consumer demands. The current global situation is challenging but also offers opportunities for certain companies to get ahead. The top trends and consumer insights included in this report will help marketers and top global brands plan successful strategies for 2022. Trends include: How TikTok will take over social media, leaving other platforms to adapt.

Why brand inclusivity will be brand critical.

How metaverses will be the next consumer connection. "Consumers have taken control, with more demands, more urgency, more unpredictability," said Elena Melnikova, Talkwalker CMO. "They're driving this year's trends, but we're giving brands the power to take back control. By revealing the trends for 2022 using accelerated consumer intelligence, and inspiring actions, Talkwalker is enabling rands to drive business value next year, and beyond."



"The tumultuous events of the last 18 months have created widespread uncertainty for marketers across all industries. Although we have started to see the light at the end of the tunnel with some of the biggest brands showing signs of recovery from the impact of the pandemic, knowing the trends most likely to define the coming year is one of the best ways marketing leaders can combat the ongoing unpredictability and set their teams up for success in 2022," said Susanne Ronqvist Ahmadi, VP of international marketing at HubSpot. Additional resources:

Read the full report here: Social media trends 2022 - How to drive success in the accelerated age of the 'now' consumer

Check out the Talkwalker Careers page for open positions.

for open positions. Contact us to learn more about Talkwalker's consumer intelligence platform. About Talkwalker Talkwalker is the #1 Consumer Intelligence Acceleration platform for brands to drive business impact. Recognized by Forrester as a Leader in Consumer Intelligence and Social Listening, the platform combines a multitude of internal and external data sources with AI powered by Blue Silk technology, for the most expansive view of consumers. Talkwalker Activate professional services team can augment, accelerate, or fully service brands' insights needs to increase their ROI from the Talkwalker platform. With offices around the globe, Talkwalker helps over 2,500 brands to maximize profits with actionable consumer intelligence. To discover more about Talkwalker, please visit www.talkwalker.com . About HubSpot HubSpot is a leading customer relationship management (CRM) platform that provides software and support to help companies grow better. The platform includes marketing, sales, service, operations, and website management products that start free and scale to meet our customers' needs at any stage of growth. Today, more than 121,000 customers across more than 120 countries use HubSpot's powerful and easy-to-use tools and integrations to attract, engage, and delight customers. Named Glassdoor's #4 Best Place to Work in 2021, HubSpot has been recognized for its award-winning culture by Great Place to Work, Comparably, Fortune, Entrepreneur, Inc., and more. HubSpot was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The company's thousands of employees work across the globe in HubSpot offices and remotely. Learn more at www.hubspot.com . Contact:

Milena Schmidt

m.schmidt@talkwalker.com View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/talkwalker-and-hubspot-define-top-social-media-trends-for-a-successful-2022-301403332.html SOURCE Talkwalker

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[October 19, 2021] Tauriga Sciences Inc. Enters into Strategic Alliance with Psychedelic Water

LAS VEGAS, Oct. 19, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NewMediaWire -- Tauriga Sciences, Inc. (OTCQB: TAUG) (Tauriga or the Company), a New York based diversified Life Sciences Company, today announced that it has entered into a Strategic Alliance with Psychedelic Water to help drive brand awareness, increase sales, and expand distribution networks for both Companies respective products.

Psychedelic Water has created the worlds first legal psychedelic blend of kava root, damiana leaf and green tea leaf extract for a mild mood-boosting experience. Please Visit Website:

https://psychedelicwater.com Taurigas CEO Seth M. Shaw stated, We are excited to partner with another novel and innovative Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) brand that has high visibility on social media and a wide distribution reach that has the potential to materially enhance Taurigas rapidly growing sales channels. The opportunities that arise from this Strategic Alliance, for both Companies, are domestic and international. Our mutual vision of bringing innovative products to market brought us together, to collaborate with each other on driving sales growth across online and retail distribution. I look forward to beginning this relationship at the MJBizCon Tradeshow." To commence the initial agreement, Tauriga and Psychedelic Water will jointly operate an Exhibitor Booth (# C-3057) at the upcoming MJBizCon Tradeshow, which will take place in Las Vegas, Nevada  October 19-22, 2021. Prospective buyers, investors, and interested parties are invited to Booth # C-3057 to sample the wide assortment of products available from both companies. ABOUT TAURIGA SCIENCES INC. Tauriga Sciences, Inc. (TAUG) is a revenue generating, diversified life sciences company, engaged in several major business activities and initiatives. The company manufactures and distributes several proprietary retail products and product lines, mainly focused on the Cannabidiol (CBD) and Cannabigerol (CBG) Edibles market segment. The main product line, branded as Turi-Gum, consists of a proprietary supplement chewing gum that is Kosher certified, Halal certified, and Vegan Formulated (CBD Infused Tauri-Gum Flavors: Mint, Blood Orange, Pomegranate), (CBG Infused Tauri-Gum Flavors: Peach-Lemon, Black Currant), (DELTA 8 THC Infused Tauri-Gum Flavor: Evergreen Mint), (Vitamin C + Zinc Infused Tauri-Gum Flavor: Pear Bellini), (Caffeine Infused Tauri-Gum Flavor: Cherry Lime Rickey), & (Vitamin D3 Infused Tauri-Gum Flavor: Golden Raspberry). The Companys commercialization strategy consists of a broad array of retail customers, distributors, and a fast-growing E-Commerce business segment (E-Commerce website: www.taurigum.com). Please visit our corporate website, for additional information, as well as inquiries, at http://www.tauriga.com



Complementary to the Companys retail business, is its ongoing Pharmaceutical Development initiative. This relates to the development of a proposed Pharmaceutical grade version of Tauri-Gum, for nausea regulation (specifically designed for the following indication: Patients Subjected to Ongoing Chemotherapy Treatment). On March 22, 2021, the Company announced that it had Converted its U.S. Provisional Patent Application (filed on March 17, 2020) into a U.S. Non-Provisional Patent Application. The Patent, filed with the U.S.P.T.O. is Titled MEDICATED CBD COMPOSITIONS, METHODS OF MANUFACTURING, AND METHODS OF TREATMENT. On December 18, 2020 the Company disclosed that it had entered into a Master Services Agreement with CSTI to lead the Company's clinical development efforts. The Company is headquartered in Wappingers Falls, New York. In addition, the Company operates two full time E-Commerce fulfillment centers: one located in Montgomery, Texas and the other in Brooklyn, New York.

DISCLAIMER -- Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains certain forward-looking statements as defined by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 which represent managements beliefs and assumptions concerning future events. These forward-looking statements are often indicated by using words such as may, will, expects, anticipates, believes, hopes, believes, or plans, and may include statements regarding corporate objectives as well as the attainment of certain corporate goals and milestones. Forward-looking statements are based on present circumstances and on managements present beliefs with respect to events that have not occurred, that may not occur, or that may occur with different consequences or timing than those now assumed or anticipated. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed in forward looking statements due to known and unknown risks and uncertainties, such as are not guarantees of general economic and business conditions, the ability to successfully develop and market products, consumer and business consumption habits, the ability to consummate successful acquisition and licensing transactions, fluctuations in exchange rates, and other factors over which Tauriga has little or no control. Many of these risks and uncertainties are discussed in greater detail in the Risk Factors section of Taurigas Form 10-K and other periodic filings made from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Such forward-looking statements are made only as of the date of this release, and Tauriga assumes no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Contact: Tauriga Sciences, Inc.

4 Nancy Court, Suite 4

Wappingers Falls, NY 12590

Chief Executive Officer

Mr. Seth M. Shaw

Email: sshaw@tauriga.com

cell # (917) 796 9926

Company Instagram: @taurigum

Personal Instagram: @sethsms47

Twitter: @SethMShaw

Corp. Website: www.tauriga.com

E-Commerce Website: www.taurigum.com Attachment Tauriga 10-19-2021



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[October 19, 2021] Tetra Trust Partners with Global Leader Ledger Enterprise Solutions To Secure Digital Assets for Institutional Clients

CALGARY, Alberta, Oct. 19, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Tetra Trust Company, Canadas only qualified custodian for digital assets, announced today that it has entered into an agreement with digital asset security firm, Ledger Enterprise Solutions, to secure digital assets for institutional clients.

Tetra will benefit from Ledger Vaults end-to-end hardware, firmware and software security technology while being in complete control of its digital assets without ever compromising speed, flexibility, and governance. One of Ledgers core advantages is the ability to combine instant access to digital assets stored in institutional-grade hardware storage with the most secure, multi-signature asset management technology. Ledgers commitment in providing the highest level of security and comfort for its enterprise clients can also be highlighted by insurance and certification efforts. Ledger Vaults platform is a SOC 3 certified solution backed by leading insurance firms with a custom $150 million pooled crime insurance. The market for a trusted, secure custody provider for cryptocurrency is growing fast and Tetra is uniquely positioned as the first and only qualified Canadian custodian to leverage our experience in digital asset custody across various technology solutions. Partnering with Ledger Enterprise Solutions, the world leader in custody security technology, allows us to bring the most trusted name in custody to the Canadian market, while being operated by an experienced Canadian eam said Eric Richmond, CEO of Tetra Trust.



By being the first licensed custodian in Canada, Tetra Trust is living proof that the third-party custody segment is growing fast. A growth that highlights the need for every professional custodian to offer their clients security and ease of use, said Alexandre Lemarchand, Vice President of Global Sales & Partnerships at Ledger Enterprise Solutions. We are proud to build trusting partnerships with leaders that are at the forefront of digital assets institutionalization. About Tetra Trust Company

Founded in 2019, Tetra Trust Company is Canadas First Qualified Custodian for digital assets. Tetra received its Certificate of Registration from the Ministry of Alberta on July 5, 2021 and is qualified custodian to act as a custodian under National Instrument 31-103 Registration Requirements, Exemptions, and Ongoing Registrant Obligations. Tetra Trust is backed by Coinsquare, Canadas premier crypto exchange digital asset trading platform, Coinbase Ventures, an investment arm of Coinbase the largest publicly traded crypto exchange in the world, the Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE), Mogo Financial Inc., Caldwell Securities, and others. For further information visit www.tetratrust.com . About Ledger Enterprise Solutions

Founded in 2021, Ledger Enterprise Solutions is a division of Ledger, the global leader in security and infrastructure solutions for safeguarding critical digital assets. The mission of Ledger Enterprise Solutions is to enable the digital assets industry to become a multi-trillion dollar industry globally. Ledger Enterprise Solutions provides enterprise-grade security technology solutions and services for custodians, exchanges, banks, and traditional financial institutions. For more information: please visit https://enterprise.ledger.com . Contact Tetra Trust Company

Eric Richmond, CEO, Tetra Trust Company

Email: press@tetratrust.com



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[October 19, 2021] Tyler Technologies and Subsidiary NIC Maine Recognized as Best Places to Work in Maine

Tyler Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: TYL) and subsidiary NIC (News - Alert) Maine have been named as two of the 2021 Best Places to Work in Maine, with NIC Maine named as the top best place to work in the "Small Employer Category," which includes companies that have between 15-49 U.S. employees. This year marks the 14th time that Tyler has been included on the list and NIC Maine's fifth time on the list. Tyler was ranked in the "Large Employer Category," which includes companies with more than 250 U.S. employees. Tyler announced the pending acquisition of NIC in February 2021 and completed the acquisition in April 2021. Because of this, Tyler and NIC were considered separate companies during part of this year, leading them to be assessed as individual entities. "Tyler is honored to once again be named as a best place to work in Maine," said Kelley Shimansky, chief human resources officer for Tyler. "We are proud of the continued growth of our team in Maine and especiall the strength of our culture, maintained so well by our team as many worked remotely during the pandemic."



"NIC Maine is thrilled to be recognized as the top small employer in the state," said Dan Andrews, general manager of NIC Maine. "Like Tyler, NIC Maine has had a strong presence in the state for many years. We have quite a bit of local pride, which is underscored by the technology we provide within the state of Maine." This year, 100 companies met the criteria of a best place to work. Tyler and NIC Maine joined leading Maine employers representing industries including technology, healthcare, banking, and construction. Tyler has more than 1,200 employees in Maine across its offices in Bangor, Falmouth, and Yarmouth, where the company's ERP Division is based. NIC Maine is located in Augusta (News - Alert) and has 23 employees. Since 1999, the office has developed 200 digital government solutions which process more than 4 million transactions annually for the state of Maine.

Companies from across Maine entered the two-part process to determine the best places to work list. The first part consisted of a third-party evaluation of each company's workplace policies, practices, and demographics. The second part consisted of an employee survey to measure the overall employee experience. Best Companies Group managed the survey process and analyzed the data to determine the final rankings. The Best Places to Work in Maine awards program was created in 2006 and is a project of the Society for Human Resource Management - Maine State Council and Best Companies Group. About Tyler Technologies (News - Alert) and NIC Acquired by Tyler Technologies (NYSE: TYL) on April 21, 2021, NIC is a leader in digital government solutions and payments, partnering with government to deliver user-friendly digital services that make it easier and more efficient to interact with government. NIC and Tyler are united in their mission to empower public sector entities to operate more efficiently and connect more transparently with their constituents and with each other. Tyler has more than 37,000 successful installations across more than 12,000 locations, 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/20211019005083/en/

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[October 18, 2021] UP.Partners Launches $230M Venture Fund to Transform the Moving World

SANTA MONICA, Calif., Oct. 18, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- UP.Partners today announced the final close of its inaugural $230M early stage venture capital fund dedicated to supporting companies that are transforming the moving world. UP.Partners Announces $230M Venture Capital Fund to Transform the Moving World The movement of people and goods is the underlying fabric of society. Transportation and logistics represent 10% of global GDP , which is approximately $10T annually. With transportation responsible for 29% of global CO2 emissions , emerging technologies are creating opportunities for fundamental reinvention of mobility solutions that are cleaner, faster, safer and lower cost. Examples include package delivery drones, electric vertical aircraft for urban air mobility, software for precise positioning, hydrogen powered airliners, sustainable aviation fuel, ultra low cost LIDAR sensors, micro-mobility scooters and e-bikes, advanced manufacturing techniques, electricity grid enhancement for recharging, and more. Building a Virtuous Ecosystem Focused on Mobility's Future

UP.Partners has assembled a world class consortium of leaders in aerospace, automotive, maritime, hardware, software, telecom, finance and media to harness the movement of electrons, atoms and capital to help humanity go UP. Investors include Alaska Air Group (NYSE: ALK); ARK Invest Founder and CEO Cathie Wood, Woven Capital, the investment arm of the Woven Planet Group, a Toyota Motor Corporation subsidiary; privately-held industrial company Stndard Industries; global real estate developer Hillwood, a Perot Company; leading ship management company OSM Maritime, and more.



"Our investment in UP.Partners demonstrates Alaska Air Group's continued commitment to supporting a cleaner and more accessible world of transport," says Alaska Air Group CEO Ben Minicuccui. "The UP.Partners team, portfolio and ecosystem of corporate partners and investors is truly world class, and we are proud to partner with UP.Partners on this journey of supporting early stage technology companies that are transforming the moving world." "Transforming mobility through technology is central to the mission of Woven Planet, and UP.Partners' investment strategy is in complete lockstep," said Betty Bryant, Principal, Woven Capital. "Woven Capital is excited to team up with UP.Partners as they encourage entrepreneurs who are focused on wide-ranging solutions that allow people, goods and information to move more seamlessly, cost-effectively, and sustainably than ever before, benefiting humanity and the health of the planet for all."

The Davos of Mobility

A critical element of the UP.Partners strategy is the annual UP.Summit which brings together entrepreneurs, executives, and investors with the common goal of improving mobility. The UP.Summit is hosted in alternating years in Bentonville, Arkansas and Dallas, Texas, co-hosted by Steuart and Tom Walton, and Ross Perot Jr, respectively. From the time of its inception in 2017, the UP.Summit has grown into the most important annual gathering for mobility's boldest innovators, investors and corporations. The impact of the UP.Summit has been significant, resulting in direct investments exceeding $450M into companies that have participated to date. Chairman of the Perot Group, Ross Perot Jr. said, "UP.Partners has created the Davos of mobility with the UP.Summit, bringing the best ideas and minds together to help humanity go UP. We are proud to partner in moving this revolution in transportation forward." UP.Partners has already made 10 investments in companies including leading flight autonomy company Skydio, manufacturing quality assurance leader UnitX, and electric vertical aircraft developer Beta Technologies to name a few. Kyle Clark, CEO of Beta Technologies, which recently closed a $400M investment round led by Amazon Climate Pledge Fund and Fidelity said, "UP.Partners uniquely understands the potential and scale of new air mobility and brings visionaries together to realize that potential unmatched by other venture investors - the industry is fortunate to have this team leading the way." Managing Partners Putting Booster Rockets on a Mission to Help More Founders Go UP

UP.Partners was co-founded by serial aviation and technology entrepreneurs Ben Marcus and Cyrus Sigari. Marcus and Sigari co-founded jetAVIVA in 2006, which today is the leading seller of business aircraft worldwide, and AirMap in 2014, which is the leading digital, automated air traffic management platform for drones and flying cars. Joining Marcus and Sigari as co-managing partner and chairman of the firm is four time Forbes Midas List investor, Adam Grosser. Prior to joining UP.Partners, Grosser has enjoyed a diverse career as an engineer, successful founder, and long-time investor. Most recently, he led Silver Lake Kraftwerk, the Impact Strategy of Silver Lake Partners for a decade. He has invested in numerous top performing climate-focused companies including Tesla, Solar City, EnerNoc, Control4 and Silver Spring Networks. Ally Warson, formerly of ACME Capital, also joins the UP team as Principal. UP.Partners' Venture Partner ecosystem includes the co-creator of Google Earth Brian McClendon, former CEO of Activision Eric Hirshberg, co-founder & CEO of startup air carrier Aero Uma Subramanian, and more. About UP.Partners

Transportation is the underlying fabric of society. UP.Partners invests in the pioneering entrepreneurs who are creating the key enabling technologies that help move people and goods cleaner, faster, safer, and more efficiently in a multi-dimensional world. UP.Partners with some of the world's most innovative investors and companies including Alaska Airlines, ARK Invest, and Woven Capital, the investment arm of Toyota subsidiary Woven Planet Group. UP.Summit convenes the mobility community's brightest minds each year to help humanity go UP. Together, the UP community is transforming the moving world. For more information, visit UP.Partners or follow on Twitter @UpPartnersVC or LinkedIn . View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/uppartners-launches-230m-venture-fund-to-transform-the-moving-world-301402621.html SOURCE UP Partners Management Company, LLC

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[October 19, 2021] Weizmann Institute of Science Joins Giant Magellan Telescope, a Top Priority for Science Worldwide

On September 14, 2021, the GMTO Corporation welcomed the Weizmann Institute of Science into its international consortium of distinguished universities and research institutions building the Giant Magellan (News - Alert) Telescope. The new partnership reinforces that completing the largest and most powerful Gregorian optical-infrared telescope ever engineered is a top priority for the global scientific community. The unprecedented abilities of the Giant Magellan Telescope coupled with the Weizmann Institute of Science's world-leading scientific expertise and resources in astrophysics will revolutionize the way humanity understands the universe and our place in it. "The addition of the Weizmann Institute of Science is a giant win for our international consortium," said Walter Massey, board chair of the GMTO Corporation and former director of the National Science Foundation. "We just became stronger and more capable. We are now one step closer to pointing the world's largest mirrors toward the heavens and unlocking its many cosmic secrets." The Weizmann Institute of Science is a distinguished multidisciplinary research institution from Israel. Their Nella and Leon Benoziyo Center for Astrophysics promotes research in nearly all aspects of astronomy, expanding the Giant Magellan Telescope's research capabilities by capitalizing on the Center's outstanding team of astrophysicists and benefiting from renowned Israeli innovation. Before officially joining the GMTO Corporation, faculty at the Weizmann Institute of Science helped develop one of the first scientific instruments for the telescope, a spectrograph that is designed to study Earth-like planets around solar-type stars. Based on the institute's leadership in astrophysics, particle physics and space mission design, the Weizmann Institute of Science, through its flagshp initiative, aims to provide new levels of insight into the central questions of fundamental physics, while contributing to wide-ranging practical applications. The Giant Magellan Telescope is critical to the initiative.



"Joining the GMTO consortium is a huge leap forward for the Weizmann Institute of Science," said Professor Avishay Gal-Yam, head of the Deloro Center for Space and Optics at the Weizmann Institute. "It is a privilege to join a global team on the forefront of astrophysics research, which will allow us to accelerate our own observatory capabilities, develop instruments that will elevate the way the world's leading astrophysics teams explore the universe and share expertise with the top partners in the field of astrophysics." Construction of the next-generation telescope is well underway on Las Campanas Peak at the southern edge of Chile's Atacama Desert, one of the best locations on Earth to explore the universe. It will use seven of the world's largest mirrors and the most advanced adaptive optics technology to see billions of lightyears into the universe with ten times the resolution of the famed Hubble Space Telescope. This extraordinary image clarity will enable scientists around the world to obtain new clues to the fundamental nature and evolution of the universe - including the search for life on distant exoplanets.

The Weizmann Institute of Science is the thirteenth member of the GMTO Corporation, joining the Arizona State University, Astronomy Australia Ltd., Australian National University, Carnegie Institution for Science, Fundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Sao Paulo - FAPESP, Harvard University, Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute, Smithsonian Institution, Texas A&M University, The University of Texas at Austin, University of Arizona, and University of Chicago. The international consortium anticipates commissioning the Giant Magellan Telescope in the late 2020s. To learn more about the Weizmann Institute for Science, visit weizmann.ac.il. To learn more about the GMTO Corporation, the nonprofit organization building the Giant Magellan Telescope, visit gmto.org. Multimedia Multimedia assets and media usage statement [available here] until November 1, 2021. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211019005713/en/

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Wolters Kluwer ELM Solutions experts share change management strategy expertise in new podcast

Keeping legal operations programs up to date necessitates the implementation of new technologies and processes. But it is how firms handle those transitions that makes or breaks a new initiative designed to improve corporate legal department performance. That's according to experts from Wolters Kluwer ELM Solutions, sharing their insights in the second episode of the company's recently launched podcast series, Legal Leaders Exchange.

In this episode Alyza Tarmohamed, ELM Solutions' General Manager for LegalVIEW BillAnalyzer, and Vince Venturella, Associate Director of Technology Product Management, examine strategies to effectively work through change in the legal department. Topics up for debate include:

Why change management is so critical to success and why it can be difficult

The key best practices of change management

How to maximize the effectiveness and efficiency of your team throughout a transition

Overcoming resistance to changing the way things have always been done

Establishing trust among users and leaders

Legal Leaders Exchange was created to deliver insights on optimizing legal operations for corporate legal and insurance claims professionals. Listeners can subscribe to Legal Leaders Exchange episodes from the leading podcast platforms, including Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google Podcast, Amazon / Audible.com and iHeart Radio. The podcast show is the latest in a series of 2021 thought leadership media including blogs, webinars and other platforms leveraging information from ELM Solutions' LegalVIEW Data Warehouse - the most comprehensive legal spend database in the world with more than $140 billion in invoices.







ELM Solutions, part of Wolters Kluwer's Governance, Risk & Compliance division, is the market-leading global provider of enterprise legal spend and matter management, contract lifecycle management and legal analytics solutions. The company provides a comprehensive suite of tools that address the growing needs of corporate legal operations departments to increase operational efficiency and reduce costs. Corporate legal and insurance claims departments trust its innovative technology and end-to-end customer experience to drive world-class business outcomes. The other legal solutions business of Wolters Kluwer GRC is CT Corporation.

Wolters Kluwer ELM Solutions was named a leader in both the IDC (News - Alert) MarketScape: Worldwide Enterprise Legal Spend Management 2020 Vendor Assessment and IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Enterprise Matter Management 2020 Vendor Assessment. The company's award-winning products include Passport, one of the highest rated ELM solutions in the latest Hyperion MarketView Legal Market Intelligence Report and TyMetrix 360, the industry's leading SaaS (News - Alert) -based e-billing and matter management solution. CLM Matrix, meanwhile, was named a "strong performer" in The Forrester (News - Alert) Wave: Contract Lifecycle Management For All Contracts, Q1 2021 report. ELM Solutions' LegalVIEW portfolio of legal analytics solutions is based upon the industry's largest and most comprehensive legal spend database, with more than $140 billion in invoices

About Wolters Kluwer Governance, Risk & Compliance

Governance, Risk & Compliance is a division of Wolters Kluwer, which provides legal and banking professionals with solutions to help ensure compliance with ever-changing regulatory and legal obligations, manage risk, increase efficiency, and produce better business outcomes. GRC offers a portfolio of technology-enabled expert services and solutions focused on legal entity compliance, legal operations management, banking product compliance, and banking regulatory compliance.

Wolters Kluwer (AEX: WKL) is a global leader in information services and solutions for professionals in the health, tax and accounting, risk and compliance, finance and legal sectors. Wolters Kluwer reported 2020 annual revenues of 4.6 billion. The company, headquartered in Alphen aan den Rijn, the Netherlands, serves customers in over 180 countries, maintains operations in over 40 countries and employs 19,200 people worldwide.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211019005095/en/
[October 18, 2021] Parus Files Second Patent Lawsuit Against Samsung for Infringement of its Proprietary Voice-Browsing and Device Control Technology

CHICAGO, Oct. 18, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Parus Holdings, Inc. , a pioneer in voice-enabled technologies, announced today that it has filed a second patent infringement lawsuit in the U.S. Federal District Court for the Western District of Texas against Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd and Samsung Electronics America, Inc. The lawsuit alleges that Samsung infringes on Parus' patents for voice-browsing and device control technology. The lawsuit is based on U.S. Patent No. 6,721,705, U.S. Patent No. 8,185,402, and U.S Patent No. 7,386,455. Parus is seeking all available remedies, including damages against Samsung for all of its infringing sales. The lawsuit asserts that the infringement has been "willful," and requests that the defendant be ordered to pay treble damages and Parus' attorneys' fees, and be permanently enjoined from infringing the Parus Patents.



This is the second lawsuit Parus has filed against Samsung relating to its use of Parus' voice-user interface technologies for retrieving information. The '431 and '084 Patents are asserted in the district court cases against Apple, Google, and Samsung (6-19-cv-00432, 6-19-vc-00433, 6-19-vc-00438) in the Western District of Texas and the case against LG (3-20-cv-05896) in the Northern District of California, all initially filed in 2019. These district court cases have been stayed pending the results of various IPRs. Parus also has asserted different patents in other district court cases currently pending in the Western District of Texas against Microsoft, Apple and Google.

"Parus has a responsibility to its customers and shareholders to protect the investments Parus has made in its innovative technologies. Parus intends to vigorously defend its valuable patent portfolio and other intellectual property," said Taj Reneau, Chairman and CEO. "We look forward to presenting our case in court and prevailing in this matter." About Parus Holdings, Inc.

Parus Holdings, Inc. is a pioneer of voice-enabled unified communications and voice assistant solutions, including messaging, voice search, collaboration, video and real-time communications for mobile communities and over 50,000 business customers. Our patented solutions, our deep understanding of the needs and challenges of the customers we serve, and our passion for outstanding customer service have kept Parus at the forefront of the voice communications industry for more than twenty years. Parus brands include Webley, WebleyMD, ScreenSight, Parus Interactive, and Obai. Parus Holdings, Inc., founded in 1997, is a venture-backed, privately held company headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/parus-files-second-patent-lawsuit-against-samsung-for-infringement-of-its-proprietary-voice-browsing-and-device-control-technology-301402556.html SOURCE Parus Holdings Inc.

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[October 18, 2021] Rebooting a Part of Tech History: Rare, Hand-Built Apple-1 Computer Will Hit Auction Block on November 9th

MONROVIA, Calif., Oct. 18, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The year 2021 marks the 45th birthday for Apple. The world's largest technology company is currently valued in the trillion-dollar range, and it all began with two Steve's, one garage, and Apple Computer 1, more commonly referred to as Apple-1. The company was created in 1976 when electronic engineer Steve Wozniak (b. 1950) teamed up with marketing guru and industrial designer Steve Jobs (1955-2011). John Moran Auctioneers is thrilled to give tech lovers the opportunity to own The Chaffey College Apple-1 estimated at $400,000-600,000. This fascinating piece of technological history is in mint condition, featuring many period-correct and original parts (motherboard, monitor, keyboard, 2 cassette tapes, 3 wires, and a period xerox-copy of the original owner's manual) and it is in working order! Experience the interactive Multichannel News Release here: https://www.multivu.com/players/English/8965551-john-moran-auctioneers-rare-hand-built-apple-1-computer/ Moran's flew in the foremost expert the field to conduct an extensive authentication, restoration, inspection, and generate a full condition report for The Chaffey College Apple-1 so that buyers can bid with confidence on November 9, 2021, during the Post-war & Contemporary Art + Design Sale. Join us one week before the sale during preview or contact us directly for a private viewing. Bidding is now available online via Moran's new mobile app, Moran Mobile, available on both iOS and Android operating systms. Live bidding on a desktop is available through our website; bidding is also supported by telephone or absentee.



The first version of the company's personal computer built by Steve Wozniak was essentially a motherboard and a manual with instructions on which components needed to be purchased in order to assemble and use the machine. Wozniak contemplated making instructions available on how to build the computer he designed from start to finish for free to anyone who had the patience to create one on their own. Steve Jobs convinced him to instead combine the motherboard and its connections into a magazine box and sell them as a kit. 200 Apple-1 computers were hand-built by Wozniak, Jobs, and a skeleton crew in the garage that belonged to Jobs' parents. 175 of them were sold for $666.66, a figure that catered to Wozniak's love of repeating numbers. 50 of the 175 computers were sold to Paul Terrell, owner of Byte Shop in Mountain View, California. When Jobs delivered the 50 Magazine boxes each containing an Apple-1 kit, Paul Terrell was not happy. He anticipated 50 all-in-one units that could simply be plugged in by the consumer, an unheard-of concept at the time. Jobs defended his delivery by pointing out that each box included all necessary elements to compose the machine and further convinced Terrell that Byte Shop could make a profit by selling keyboards, monitors, and power supplies within their store as an opportunity to upsell the product.

The wooden case that houses this computer is made from Koa wood and is in very good condition. In the 1970s Koa wood (native to Hawaii) was abundant on the west coast, but due to cattle grazing and extensive logging, the Koa tree is rare and more expensive. There are only six known examples of the Koa wooden case in existence, and this unit is one of them. The Chaffey College Apple-1 on offer has only had two owners. It was originally purchased by an electronics professor who then sold it to his student: "I purchased this used from the original owner in 1977. He was a teacher at Chaffey College, and I was taking his programming course. He was excited to buy the Apple-II and sold me this for about $650. Of course, nobody knew it would become a collector's item..." - Angela Bryant John Moran Auctioneers

Questions and Comments: 626.628.9341

Angela Bryant and Nathan Martinez

angela@johnmoran.com and nathan@johnmoran.com View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/rebooting-a-part-of-tech-history-rare-hand-built-apple-1-computer-will-hit-auction-block-on-november-9th-301402559.html SOURCE John Moran Auctioneers

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[October 18, 2021] Guerrilla RF Makes Inc. Magazine's Top 500 Cut for the Second Year in Row, Earning Recognition as One of America's Fastest-Growing Private Companies

Inc. magazine revealed Guerrilla RF is No. 489 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. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211018006031/en/ Guerrilla RF Makes Inc. Magazine's Top 500 Cut for the Second Year in Row, Earning Recognition as One of America's Fastest-Growing Private Companies (Photo: Business Wire) Ryan Pratt, founder and CEO of Guerrilla RF, offered the following perspective on how the company was able to reach this prestigious milestone. "Despite the disruption caused by COVID, GRF continued to thrive with sales increasing dramatically in 2020. Our business has grown by 990 percent over the past three years, and we continue to gain market share in critical markets like wireless infrastructure, cellular repeaters/boosters, and automotive telematics. I am extremely proud of how well we were able to execute during the pandemic; our impressive growth is a direct reflection of the tireless contributions of our Engineering, Operations and Sales teams." 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. Complete results of the Inc. 5000, including company profiles and an interactive database that can be sorted by industry, region, and other criteria, can be found at www.inc.com/inc5000. The top 500 companies are featred in the September issue of Inc., which is available now on newsstands.



"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 Guerrilla RF

Guerrilla RF provides high performance monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs) to wireless OEMs in multiple market segments - including 5G/4G macro and small cell base stations, cellular repeaters/DAS, automotive telematics such as SDARS/V2X/GPS/DAB, mission-critical military communications, navigation and high-fidelity wireless audio. For more information, please visit https://guerrilla-rf.com/inc500 or follow the company on LinkedIn. Forward Looking Language This release contains certain forward-looking statements with respect to the financial condition, results of operations and business of Guerrilla RF, Inc. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties and are based on the beliefs and assumptions of management of Guerrilla RF and on the information available to management at the time that these statements were prepared. These statements can be identified by the use of words like "expect," "anticipate," "estimate" and "believe," variations of these words and other similar expressions. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements as a number of important factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Guerrilla RF undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements. More about Inc. and 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 independent-not subsidiaries or divisions of other companies-as of December 31, 2020. (Since then, some on the list may have gone public or been acquired.) The minimum revenue required for 2017 is $100,000; the minimum for 2020 is $2 million. As always, Inc. reserves the right to decline applicants for subjective reasons. Growth rates used to determine company rankings were calculated to three decimal places. There was one tie on this year's Inc. 5000. Companies on the Inc. 500 are featured in Inc.'s September issue. They represent the top tier of the Inc. 5000, which can be found at http://www.inc.com/inc5000. 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/20211018006031/en/

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[October 18, 2021] Creaform Introduces Three New Solutions to the R-Series Suite of Automated Dimensional Quality Control Solutions

The company continues to drive the future of at-line and in-line inspection solutions by unveiling a new model of MetraSCAN-R BLACK, a new edition of the software platform specifically designed for long-term support and a now fully customizable layout of the CUBE-R turnkey 3D scanning CMM to better serve the needs of QC in production. LEVIS, QC, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Creaform, the worldwide leader in portable 3D measurement solutions and engineering services, announced today the latest additions to its R-Series lineup, including a new MetraSCAN-R BLACK | Elite HD with improved performance as well as a new edition of VXelements designed for long-term support (LTS). This state-of-the-art set of solutions also includes a new version of VXscan-R module specially made to accommodate custom automated 3D scanning cell layouts, while keeping the ease of use of its digital twin programming software.



Discover Creaform's high speed and highly repeatable automated quality control solutions. Speed and repeatability : MetraSCAN-R BLACK ? Elite HD offers an optimized field of view for increased performance levels during challenging applications, such as 3D measurements on sheet metal parts.

: MetraSCAN-R BLACK ? Elite HD offers an optimized field of view for increased performance levels during challenging applications, such as 3D measurements on sheet metal parts. Ideal for the automotive market : With its 69 laser lines and 3,000,000 measurements/s, this specialized 3D scanner is perfect for parts with many edges, trims, and boundaries.

: With its 69 laser lines and 3,000,000 measurements/s, this specialized 3D scanner is perfect for parts with many edges, trims, and boundaries. Personalized solution : The intuitive VXscan-R software module makes it possible to include the custom features of your 3D scanning CMM (enclosure, robot base, turntable, etc.) for fast and easy programming.

: The intuitive VXscan-R software module makes it possible to include the custom features of your 3D scanning CMM (enclosure, robot base, turntable, etc.) for fast and easy programming. Long-term support : Exclusive to the R-series products, the new VXelements LTS version extends the period of software maintenance while also increasing software robustness and dependability by limiting the number of new feature releases.

: Exclusive to the R-series products, the new VXelements LTS version extends the period of software maintenance while also increasing software robustness and dependability by limiting the number of new feature releases. Operational simplicity: With its compatibility with major 3D metrology software, off-line programming, and seamless integration within any production workflow, the R-Series is accessible to all, regardless of the expertise or experience level. "In the quest to gain efficiency, manufacturers require QC solutions that can adapt to their workflow and environment, while being easy to use. For better decision-making to get better quality parts, they also need fast and precise data," explains Jerome-Alexandre Lavoie, Product Manager at Creaform. "With these latest innovations, there has never been a better time to easily move to automation."

About Creaform Creaform develops, manufactures, and sells 3D portable and automated measurement technologies. The company offers innovative solutions for 3D scanning, reverse engineering, quality control, NDT, and product development. Its products cater to a variety of industries, including automotive, aerospace, consumer products, heavy industries, manufacturing, oil and gas, and power generation. With headquarters and manufacturing operations in Levis, Quebec, Creaform operates innovation centers in Levis, Grenoble, France, and Texas, with direct sales operations in Canada, USA, Mexico, Brazil, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, China, Japan, Korea, Thailand and Singapore. Creaform is part of the Ultra Precision Technologies, a division of AMETEK Inc., a leading global manufacturer of electronic instruments and electromechanical devices with annualized sales of approximately $5.5 billion. www.creaform3d.com SOURCE Creaform

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[October 18, 2021] Huawei: the Fastest Growing Leader in the 2021 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Primary Storage

SHENZHEN, China, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Huawei is positioned as a leader in the 2021 Magic Quadrant for Primary Storage by Gartner, the world's leading research and consulting company. This report indicates how Huawei primary storage has gone from strength to strength, surpassing the benchmark set in 2020. What's more, Huawei is the only vendor in the Leaders Quadrant that has achieved rapid improvements in both criteria (ability to execute and completeness of vision). Already listed as a leader for 6 consecutive years, Huawi's fast growth is the result of its outstanding OceanStor all-flash storage offerings.



Gartner lists the following competitive advantages offered by Huawei primary storage: Huawei's three-layer, AI-powered data management system provides cross-stack management, visualization, workload simulation and analysis to simplify infrastructure operations.

Huawei has made enhancements to its product capabilities that have resulted in accelerated growth and market adoption outside its base Asia/Pacific (APAC) region.

(APAC) region. Clients' decisions to select Huawei over competitive products tend to favor its focus on pricing, high performance and investments in roadmap initiatives. Huawei has started storage technology research and development since 2002 and has deployed 12 R&D centers around the world. With more than 4,000 R&D engineers and over 1,000 storage patents, Huawei has led and actively participated in more than 30 international industry organizations, in order to continuously enhance its innovation capabilities and core competitiveness.

Huawei OceanStor storage has been deployed in more than 150 countries and regions for more than 15,000 customers in a variety of industries, including carrier, finance, government, energy, healthcare, manufacturing, and transportation sectors. Huawei OceanStor storage is an ideal choice for global customers looking to store and process their service data.

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[October 18, 2021] Alibaba Cloud Unveils New Server Chips to Optimize Cloud Computing Services

HANGZHOU, China, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Alibaba Cloud, the digital technology and intelligence backbone of Alibaba Group, today unveiled a new in-house processor design for use in its data centers. The server chips, named Yitian 710, are custom-built by Alibaba Group's chip development business, T-Head. Powered by these chips, Alibaba Cloud also announced the development of its proprietary servers, called Panjiu. The combination is set to enhance the company's leading cloud services by optimizing computing performance and energy efficiency. "Customizing our own server chips is consistent with our ongoing efforts toward boosting our computing capabilities with better performance and improved energy efficiency," said Jeff Zhang, President of Alibaba Cloud Intelligence and Head of Alibaba DAMO Academy during the Apsara Conference, Alibaba's annual technology flagship event. "We plan to use the chips to support current and future businesses across the Alibaba Group ecosystem. We will also offer our clients next-generation computing services powered by the new chip-powered servers in the near future." "Together with our global partners including Intel, Nvidia, AMD and Arm, we will continue to innovate our compute infrastructure and offer diverse computing services for our global customers," Zhang added. Built upon advanced 5nm process technology, Yitian 710 is powered by 128 Arm cores with 3.2GHz top clock speed to deliver exceptional perfrmance and excellent energy efficiency. Each processor chip has 60 billion integrated transistors. Yitian 710 is the first server processor that is compatible with the latest Armv9 architecture and includes 8 DDR5 channels and 96-lane PCIe 5.0, providing high memory and I/O bandwidth.



Yitian 710 achieved a score of 440 in SPECint2017 (a standard benchmark to measure CPU integer processing power), surpassing that of the current state-of-the-art Arm server processor by 20% in performance and 50% in energy efficiency. Panjiu was developed for the next-generation of cloud-native infrastructure. By separating computing from storage, the servers are optimized for both general-purpose and specialized AI computing, as well as high-performance storage. With a modular design approach for large-scale data center deployment, these servers are expected to deliver exceptional economic value for a wide variety of cloud-native workloads, such as containerized applications and computed optimized workloads.

Furthering open-source initiatives During the same keynote, Alibaba also announced that it will open the source code of the XuanTie IP core series, among other upcoming cores. The XuanTie series are Alibaba's custom-built processors based on RISC-V instruction-set architecture. Developers can now access the source code of the XuanTie series IP cores on Github and Open Chip Community to build prototype chips of their own, which can be customized for IoT applications such as networking, gateway and edge servers. In addition, XuanTie-related software stacks, which support multiple operating systems, including Linux, Android, RTOS and Alibaba's own AliOS, will also be opened. Alibaba will provide more services and support for development tools, SDKs and customized cores in the future. "By opening up the IP cores of our in-house IoT processors as well as related software stacks and development tools, we aim to assist global developers to build their own RISC-V-based chips in a much more cost-effective way," Zhang added. "We hope this move can encourage more innovation among the thriving RISC-V software community, and as a result help people enjoy the benefits of a connected world in the digital era." "Alibaba supports the RISC-V community through their continuous contributions, technical leadership, and deep collaboration with RISC-V stakeholders," said Calista Redmond, CEO of RISC-V International. "Alibaba leads by example and has inspired the global RISC-V community to increase innovation in chip development with benefits to the entire RISC-V ecosystem." Alibaba released its first AI inference chip Hanguang 800 in 2019. The AI chip has been deployed in Alibaba Cloud's data centers to power businesses in areas such as search, recommendation and live streaming. About Alibaba Cloud Established in 2009, Alibaba Cloud (www.alibabacloud.com) is the digital technology and intelligence backbone of Alibaba Group. It offers a complete suite of cloud services to customers worldwide, including elastic computing, database, storage, network virtualization services, large-scale computing, security, management and application services, big data analytics, a machine learning platform and IoT services. Alibaba Cloud is China's leading provider of public cloud services by revenue in 2019, including PaaS and IaaS services, according to IDC. Alibaba Group is the world's third leading and Asia Pacific's leading IaaS provider by revenue in 2020 in U.S. dollars, according to Gartner's April 2021 report. SOURCE Alibaba Cloud

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[October 19, 2021] Sofinnova Partners Raises 472 ($548) Million to Form Largest Early-Stage Healthcare VC Fund in Europe

Sofinnova Partners, a leading European life sciences venture capital firm based in Paris, London and Milan, announced today the close of its latest early-stage healthcare venture capital fund, Sofinnova Capital X, oversubscribed at 472 ($548) million. This brings the total amount the VC has raised to 1 billion in the last 12 months across its multi-fund platform, and the total AUM to over 2.5 billion. Capital X, the 10th iteration of Sofinnova Partners' flagship fund, is the largest healthcare fund dedicated to early-stage investments and company creation in Europe. Sofinnova Capital X will invest in the most promising biopharmaceutical and medical device start-ups that address pressing unmet clinical needs and aim to transform patients' lives. In keeping with the current strategy, the team will source and create value across a portfolio of groundbreaking innovations in healthcare, supporting entrepreneurs globally in the creation and growth of their companies. Capital X was successfully raised with institutional investors including pension funds, insurance companies, foundations, endowments, corporate investors, and prominent family offices from across Europe, Asia, and North America. The Fund welcomed back existing investors and attracted new blue chip limited partners, rflecting sustained confidence in the firm's capacity to generate strong financial returns.



Antoine Papiernik, Managing Partner and Chairman of Sofinnova Partners, said: "The close of Capital X, significantly oversubscribed and raised in record time, comes at a pivotal moment as the importance of healthcare innovation has become exceedingly clear to all. The fact we have been able to raise 1 billion across our platform over the past 12 months is a tribute to our investors and their conviction in our ability to bolster our leading position in Europe." Henrijette Richter, Managing Partner of Sofinnova Partners, said: "We are thrilled to have raised the largest fund dedicated to early-stage healthcare investments in Europe. This is an important milestone for Sofinnova Partners. Capital X will allow us to leverage over 30 years of cumulative experience perfecting this strategy. We now have more capital than ever to support leading entrepreneurs as they launch new companies to develop groundbreaking therapies that have the potential to change peoples' lives."

Clifford Chance acted as legal counsel and Triago as placement agent. About Sofinnova Partners Sofinnova Partners is a leading European venture capital firm in life sciences, specializing in healthcare and sustainability. Based in Paris, London and Milan, the firm brings together a team of professionals from all over the world with strong scientific, medical and business expertise. Sofinnova Partners is a hands-on company builder across the entire value chain of life sciences investments, from seed to later-stage. The firm actively partners with ambitious entrepreneurs as a lead or cornerstone investor to develop transformative innovations that have the potential to positively impact our collective future. Founded in 1972, Sofinnova Partners is a deeply-established venture capital firm in Europe, with 50 years of experience backing over 500 companies and creating market leaders around the globe. Today, Sofinnova Partners has over 2.5 billion under management. For more information, please visit: www.sofinnovapartners.com View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211018006050/en/

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[October 19, 2021] DeFi Yield Protocol (DYP): A Low Cap Gem with High Potential

VALLETTA, Malta, Oct. 19, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The DeFi Yield Protocol (DYP) is proud to announce that its iDYP token will facilitate users to earn more returns in the platform's new smart contracts. The token is currently available on Binance Smart Chain, Ethereum and Avalanche.

DYP is touted by some crypto proponents as a low cap gem with 1000x potential . The protocol's new smart contract strategies for farm, stake, buyback, and governance will utilize iDYP to boost rewards for anyone using DYP products. iDYP will work in the background of the new smart contracts, delivering several benefits to users without them having to interact with the token. Besides boosting yield for users, the iDYP will put constant buying pressure on DYP tokens for every deposit on the new contracts. It will also introduce new functions in community governance and facilitate the launch of lending and borrowing, among other products. The reward types and delivery under the new smart contracts will remain the same as in the old contracts. That means anyone using DYP farming pools will continue to earn rewards in ETH, BNB, AVAX, or DYP, while those on stake and buyback will earn DYP rewards. In less than one year, the Defi Yield Protocol has paid out 892 ETH, 7641 BNB, and 12902 AVAX worth a whooping $37,787,844 to users. The leader in DeFi solutions will list its iDYP token on top DEX exchanges such as PancakeSwap, Uniswap and Pangolin. Earn 100% APR with iDYP! iDYP, the new smart contracts child, is a brilliant investment for DYP holders looking to generate more passive income earning streams. Every DeFi Yield Protocol address holding at least 1000 DYP or Uniswap LP tokens can claim iDYP bonuses. Moreover, Crypto enthusiasts using various DYP products are also eligible to receive iDYP. Users on farming, vault, buyback and staking contracts will get 10% in iDYP bonuses based on the total value of their crypto funds in DYP.



Anyone holding DYP tokens on TrustWallet, Trezor, Metamask or any other private wallet is also eligible to claim 10% in iDYP. The project team plans to airdrop tokens automatically to eligible wallets before the launch of the new smart contracts. The airdropped iDYP has a maturation period of 1 year. However, users can start earning 100% APR immediately by staking their tokens on DeFi Yield Protocol.

The DYP Protocol Snapshot DYP protocol will take a snapshot of each wallet to assess the available DYP balance. The snapshot cycle will take place from October 18th to 24th. During this week-long snapshot cycle, the daily average DYP holdings will determine which contracts and addresses qualify for iDYP distribution. Wallets that fail to meet the minimum 1000 DYP or LP token threshold aren't eligible for iDYP. Moreover, DYP tokens on exchange addresses, locked for vesting, or managed by the protocol aren't eligible. A total of 300 million iDYP tokens is available for distribution to eligible wallets and the larger DYP community under a ten-year allocation plan. The exact amount the protocol will airdrop to eligible addresses will be determined after the snapshot cycle is complete. iDYP holders can sell their airdrop tokens on PancakeSwap, Uniswap, Pangolin and other DEX exchanges based on the vesting distribution. iDYP Allocation to the Community The DYP team plans to hold a special iDYP token allocation for the community. Crypto users holding DYP or using any of the platform's DeFi solutions can apply for the whitelist to participate in the community allocation. The whitelisting process is scheduled to take place from October 18th to 24th. Community members from Ethereum, Avalanche and BSC chains can participate in the sale using any supported tokens (ETH, BNB, AVAX, USDC, USDT, and BUSD). Eligible addresses will receive iDYP at a discounted rate from the token's listing price. All tokens sold in the community sale will be vested and released after three months. Accepted wallets can stake iDYP immediately to start earning 100% APR or sell their holdings during a three month period. The DYP protocol team will use all raised funds in the community allocation to increase liquidity on DEXes for iDYP and DYP tokens. Some of the funds will go into project development and team expansion. 50% of the token supply will be reserved for offering eligible pool rewards to users of DYP products. After the airdrop and community sale, the remaining tokens will serve various purposes, such as providing initial liquidity on DEX exchanges and compensating team members. The DYP ecosystem has reached yet another significant milestone with the rollout of iDYP for its new smart contracts. To learn more about the project and interact with community members, please check out the resources below: Website | Announcements | Discord | Twitter | Telegram | GitHub | YouTube Media Contacts - Company: DYP Finance Email: contact@dyp.finance Website URL: https://dyp.finance



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[October 19, 2021] Dragos Continues Global Expansion Into the UK to Meet Demand for Industrial Cybersecurity Customers in High Growth Markets

Dragos, Inc., the global leader in cybersecurity for industrial control systems (ICS)/operational technology (OT) environments, today announced it is expanding its global presence into the UK to provide organisations in this growth market more direct access to its industrial cybersecurity technology and services and to develop and train ICS/OT cybersecurity talent across the region to ensure world-wide customer success. This follows an announcement earlier this year of the company's plan to grow its presence in Australia and New Zealand to support industrial cybersecurity customers across those regions. The company's expansion will bolster its EMEA presence and support an expanding set of UK customers across a diverse set of industries-including electric, oil & gas, manufacturing, chemical, food and beverage, and transportation-as the company continues to grow its worldwide operations to address the burgeoning global market for ICS/OT cybersecurity solutions and meet the cybersecurity needs of critical infrastructure for organizations in all regions at any level of size or complexity. National Grid plc., one of the world's largest investor-owned utility companies, invested in Dragos in 2018 after subscribing to Dragos's industrial threat intelligence srvice to monitor industry-wide ICS threats. London-based National Grid focuses on transmission and distribution of electricity and gas across Great Britain and parts of the U.S. "We invested in Dragos because we saw the value their visibility into ICS threats brought for both our UK and US businesses," said Lisa Lambert, Chief Technology and Innovation Officer at National Grid and Founder and President of National Grid Partners. "Since then, the threats to critical infrastructure have continued to grow in scale, complexity, and severity. We are glad to see Dragos extend its global footprint and be able to provide more customers in the UK with the operational technology protection they need to stay ahead of adversaries and protect critical assets."



"The cybersecurity challenges that industrial organizations face are global in nature but local in practice; there's no one-size-fits-all approach to industrial cybersecurity. To achieve our broader company mission, we have to be where our customers are to ensure we are taking every effort to make ICS/OT-specific cybersecurity expertise and technology more accessible to organizations across the globe," said Robert M. Lee, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Dragos, Inc. "This expansion reflects the incredible demand for ICS/OT cybersecurity solutions we are seeing throughout the major markets and will better position us to partner more closely with companies in the UK to ensure that they are successful in each of their distinct industrial cybersecurity journeys. Our presence will also make it easier for us to connect directly with local ICS/OT cybersecurity practitioner communities to help foster and support their growth. The rapid growth in the OT cybersecurity market and demand for skilled OT cybersecurity professionals has far outstripped the available talent so every person we can expose to and welcome into the ICS/OT cybersecurity community is a win for the industry." About Dragos, Inc.

Dragos has a global mission: to safeguard civilization from those trying to disrupt the industrial infrastructure we depend on every day. The practitioners who founded Dragos were drawn to this mission through decades of government and private sector experience. Dragos codifies the knowledge of our cybersecurity experts into an integrated software platform that provides customers critical visibility into ICS and OT networks so that threats are identified and can be addressed before they become significant events. Our solutions protect organizations across a range of industries, including power and water utilities, energy, and manufacturing, and are optimized for emerging applications like the Industrial Internet of Things (IIOT). Dragos is privately held and headquartered in the Washington, DC area with regional presence around the world, including Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Europe, and the Middle East. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211019005470/en/

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[October 19, 2021] MESI, Ltd. selected to join the Google for Startups Accelerator: Europe as a top actor in the healthcare industry

LJUBLJANA, Slovenia, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Slovenian company MESI, Ltd. was selected to join the Google for Startups Accelerator: Europe. The current three-month Google Accelerator programme brings together 15 of the most promising European tech startups in healthcare and well-being. As one of the top diagnostic innovators, MESI, Ltd. will focus on enhancing their solutions with AI, marketplace management, Big Data as well as inputs into their strategy and growth. MESI, Ltd. is a company creating digital diagnostic solutions for effective medical assessment in less time. Their innovative focus on predictive medical devices has landed them a place in the Google for Startups Accelerator: Europe. This virtual mentoring, education and training programme was created by Google for Europe's startups that provide technological answers tothe challenges of our age. The Accelerator started on 5 October 2021, with 6 MESI staff members participating.



MESI, Ltd. see their focus over the next five years on all-round diagnostic solutions and smart data. The data collected on their MESI mTABLET multi-diagnostic tool will eventually serve the creation of predictive medical assessment (PMA) by means of artificial intelligence. Based on digital data from patient history and diagnostic apps, PMA will help detect conditions early, predict future outcomes based on past data, and recommend actions. All this will help medical professionals make diagnoses and decisions in less time. "We are proud that our innovations and vision have resulted in our participation in the Google Accelerator programme. It shows that we are on the right path to serve the healthcare system with valuable diagnostic solutions," stated Jakob Susteric, CEO of MESI, Ltd.

About the company: MESI, Ltd. is an innovative company located in Europe that develops and produces medical devices for diagnostic purpose. It is focussed on simplifying diagnostics, helping clinicians discover diseases in early stages. One of their solutions is the MESI mTABLET  a system combining 1-minute smart wireless ABI, a flexible pulse oximeter, fully digital ECG, wireless TBI, a blood pressure monitor for immediate readings, and a spirometer with real-time animated flow-volume curve. In this, ABI and TBI are considered crucial for timely detection of fatal cardiovascular conditions while the spirometer and ECG can help monitor the effects of long COVID at primary care level. Contact:

Manca Ursic Rosas

+386 1 620 34 87

manca@mesimedical.com Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1662647/MESI_CEO.jpg

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1470860/MESI_Logo.jpg

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[October 19, 2021] Autolomous and Vineti form strategic partnership to deliver end to end supply chain management solutions for cell and gene therapy sector

LONDON and SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 19, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Autolomous LTD, the market leading developer of critical manufacturing management systems for cell and gene therapies, and Vineti, a provider of leading digital enterprise platforms for cell and gene therapy supply chains, today announce a non-exclusive collaborative partnership.

The collaboration will integrate Autolomous critical manufacturing management systems with Vinetis Personalized Therapy Management (PTM) platform. This will enable both parties to create a seamless end-to-end cell and gene therapy (CGT) delivery pathway including critical inbound and outbound manufacturing value processes. The result will be an increase in the visibility and dynamic exchange of information to and from stakeholders across the cell & gene therapy value chain. This will ensure they can react to unpredictable variables related to working on biological processes. Furthermore, the integration of the technologies will enable scaling up of manufacturing by increasing transparency, compliance & auditability whilst delivering significant savings in time and resources from efficiency gains. Vineti has developed its Chain of Identity (CoI) and Chain of Custody (CoC) systems to be vital elements of the cell and gene therapy value-chain. The critical nature of these systems specifically within this sector is because visibility and security of value and supply chains must be maintained throughout, from the procurement of patient material to the delivery of drug products. These supply chains will become more complex as the number of available therapies and treated patients continues to increase. This will be the first time Autolomous manufacturing focused platform will be integrated with a Cell Orchestration Platform (COP), which is an integral part of Autolomous long-term strategy to provide support across the entire CGT value chain. This collaboration follows the receipt by Autolomous and partners of a joint 1 million project grant from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) to enhance the scheduling and manufacturing of advanced therapies within the UKs NHS, for the UKs Midlands-Wales Advanced Therapy Treatment Centre (MW-ATTC). As part of the project Autolomous will provide an industry-first demonstration of an electronic Batch Manufacturing Record (eBMR) solution integrating with a dedicated NHS advanced therapies ordering system. It also follows Autolomous receipt of a loan from UK Research and Innovation (UKI) to expedite development of AutoloMATE-Assist, its digital batch verification technology for cell and gene therapies. Once completed, Autolomous will take this UK healthcare provision model and expand this to the US and other major national healthcare networks globally.



The first stage of the integration between Autolomous and Vineti will be a live implementation of Vinetis notifications API. This implementation will enable users of Autolomous AutoloMATE service platform to action orders as soon as they are created and throughout the entire lifecycle of the order. The integration will allow manufacturing teams to optimize the manufacturing capacity. Unplanned and unexpected changes within the supply chain, such as cancellations, rescheduling and manufacturing delays will be seamlessly communicated across technology and systems from Autolomous and Vineti. Once this first stage is completed, Autolomous and Vineti will demonstrate a technical proof of concept in Q3 2021 and implement this integration with an existing customer of both organizations in 2022. Autolomous is now building strategic value-add collaborations across the cell and gene therapy industry to provide solutions to critical needs within value chains. This will result in a holistic platform that specifically targets critical ecosystem partners, including healthcare providers, such as the UKs NHS, personalized therapy management platform providers including Vineti and those involved in the manufacturing component of supply chains, such as Autolomous, said Alexander Seyf, CEO and Co-founder, Autolomous LTD. We have selected to collaborate with Vineti to provide a unified single digital solution that can be used from the collection of patient starting material, manufacturing, through to the delivery of therapies. The seamless integration between Autolomous and VInetis solutions will ensure scalability when cell and gene therapies become standard of care, and involve a plethora of supply chain partners and patient samples.

Partnering with Autolomous will allow Vineti to expand its provision across the CGT value chain. The integration of both organizations technologies will give Vineti additional tools to satisfy the rising procurement and delivery demands of the CGT sector, said Amy DuRoss, CEO and Co-founder, Vineti Inc. Both companies are specialized within the heart of the CGT value chain and have delivered outputs that have made considerable and tangible cross-sector enhancements. The collaboration between Autolomous and Vineti will enable the provision of solutions required by the industry as it reaches a much larger scale. A video about the Autolomous-Vineti partnership is also available. About Autolomous

Autolomous LTD is the market leading developer of critical manufacturing management systems for cell and gene therapies. Autolomous internationally deploys fully integrated, digitized and automated supply chain software solutions. These solutions utilize emerging technologies such as Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) and Internet of Things (IoT) to ensure compliance with current and future regulatory requirements. As a result, Autolomous enables manufacturers to reduce costs and deliver cell and gene therapies to more patients.

Autolomous platform, AutoloMATETM is a business-critical robust digital solution increasing efficiency, scalability and process streamlining of the GMP manufacturing and product release of cell and gene therapies.

Autolomous LTD is headquartered in London. The company was founded in 2019 by four professionals with combined experience covering fifty years in advanced therapies and medical practice and thirty-five years in technology, software and business. About Vineti

Vineti offers the first commercial, configurable cloud-based platform to expand patient access to life-saving cell and gene therapies. Vineti was co-founded by GE and the Mayo Clinic to solve the key challenges that patients, medical providers, biopharmaceutical companies, and regulators face in the delivery and commercialization of individualized therapies. Now a fully independent company, Vineti offers a digital platform of record to integrate logistics, supply chain management, manufacturing, and clinical data for personalized therapies. The Vineti Personalized Therapy Management (PTM) platform aligns and orchestrates the advanced therapy process and improves product performance overall, supporting the full continuum of patient-specific therapies, including personalized cancer vaccines and autologous and allogeneic cell and gene therapies. Vineti is currently serving patients, healthcare providers, and researchers in hundreds of leading medical centers and manufacturing centers world-wide on behalf of a growing number of biopharmaceutical partners. In 2019, the World Economic Forum honored Vineti as a World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer. Vineti is headquartered in San Francisco, California, with teams based in the Washington, D.C. area and Yerevan, Armenia. For more information, please visit http://vineti.com . Autolomous contact information:

Image Box PR

Neil Hunter / Michelle Boxall

Tel: +44 (0) 20 8943 4685

neil@ibcomms.agency / michelle@ibcomms.agency Vineti contact information:

1AB Media

Dan Budwick

dan@1abmedia.com



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[October 19, 2021] Scout Bio Closes $33 Million Series B2 Financing to Advance its Portfolio of Single Injection Gene Therapy Technology for the Treatment of Chronic Diseases in Pets

- Proceeds to support advancing single injection Adeno-Associated Viral (AAV) vector therapeutics targeting chronic companion animal diseases including diabetes, pain, and anemia associated with chronic kidney disease (CKD)

- New investors to the syndicate include leading healthcare investment firm OrbiMed PHILADELPHIA, Oct. 19, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Scout Bio, a biotechnology company focused on revolutionizing pet medicine by delivering a pipeline of one-time AAV gene therapies for major chronic pet health conditions, today announced the closing of a Series B2 financing, which raised a total of $33.0 million. This financing round included new investors, including OrbiMed and a major animal health company, along with existing Series B1 investors: Digitalis Ventures, Frazier Healthcare Partners, RiverVest Venture Partners, Greenspring Associates, Adage Capital Management and Correlation Ventures. Proceeds from the financing will advance the clinical development of Scout Bios lead product candidates targeting diabetes, feline pain associated with osteoarthritis and CKD-associated anemia, in addition to research efforts in further indications.



We are pleased to welcome the validating support of world-class investors who share our excitement for innovation in veterinary medicine. The financial commitment from our broadened investor base will enable us to further deliver on the clinical development of our programs in a number of conditions, such as diabetes and chronic pain, said Mark Heffernan Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer at Scout Bio. We are very excited to have recently generated meaningful clinical data in patients with CKD-associated anemia, proving that AAV gene therapy can be efficacious in client owned animals with chronic diseases. Scout Bio is on target to deliver on our platform over the next twelve months, making single-shot therapies expressing validated protein therapeutics a reality in veterinary medicine. About Scout Bio

Scout Bio is a biotechnology company revolutionizing pet medicine by delivering a pipeline of one-time gene therapies for major chronic pet health conditions. Scout Bios therapeutics are designed to induce long-term expression of therapeutic proteins in pet patients using AAV vector technology. Scout Bio has a research and development collaboration with the University of Pennsylvanias Gene Therapy Program, a leader in the field of genetic medicine research. Scout Bio is a private company headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. For more information, see? www.scoutbio.co

About OrbiMed

OrbiMed is a leading healthcare investment firm, with $19 billion in assets under management. OrbiMed invests globally across the healthcare industry, from start-ups to large multinational corporations, utilizing a range of private equity funds, public equity funds, and royalty/credit funds. OrbiMed maintains offices in New York City, San Francisco, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Mumbai and Herzliya. OrbiMed seeks to be a capital provider of choice, providing tailored financing solutions and global team resources and support to help build world-class healthcare companies. For further information, please contact:

Fran Gaconnier

Scout Bio

214.417.4142

fran.gaconnier@scoutbio.co



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[October 19, 2021] Metawave Joins Pioneering Technology Companies and Global Innovators at Future Investment Initiative (FII)

Metawave Corporation, world leader in high-end sensing and perception for Terrestrial and Aerospace mobility, will be joining the Future Investment Initiative (FII) Institute "Invest in Humanity" celebration on its 5th anniversary, October 26-28, 2021, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The world is witnessing the realization of futuristic technologies from flying cars to autonomous vehicles, democratizing mobility across various transportation sectors and social classes. Metawave's disruptive imaging radar technologies on the ground and in the air ensure safety on the ground and in the air, in severe weather conditions and over unpredictable terrains, including during vertical takeoff and landing. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211019005228/en/ Bringing Intelligent Sensing and Perception for Safe Ground and Air Mobility (Graphic: Business Wire) Armed with over 250 patent filings and 25 issued patents, Metawave has successfully transitioned the electronically steerable RADAR from large, bulky and expensive sensors developed for the Defense sector into low-cost sensors for automotive and aerial applications by reducing sizes to cell phone footprints and training its brain using its patented Machine Learning Neural Network algorithms. FII Institute is a global nonprofit foundation with an investment arm and one agenda: Impact on Humanity. Committed to Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) principles, we foster the brightest minds and transform ideas into real-world solutions in five focus areas: AI and Robotics, Education, Healthcare and Sustainability. At its 5th Anniversary, FII is expected to see the announcement of a fresh round of agreements and investments, atop a total of US$125 billion in agreements that have been announced since the debut of FII in 2017. "Metawave is not just a young tech comment with a bright future. It's a game changer, which will reinvent the automotive and aerial ecosystem to the benefit of citizen. We are very happy at the Institute, to give more opportunities to Metawave to grow and succeed" - Richard Attias, Executive Chairman, Richard Attias & Associates. Last summer, Metawave delivered the automotive industry's first 76-81 GHz beamformer chip alpha samples and evaluation boards to MIRISE Technologies, the joint venture between DENSO and Toyota Motor Corporation ( TMC (News - Alert) ), which launched last year to focus on next-generation in-vehicle semiconductors. Also, in early 2021 Metawave also demonstrated its proprietary artificial intelligence (AI) AWARE platform that enables SPEKTRA radars to perform real-time object classification and labeling for more efficient and faster Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) processing with over 94% labeling accuracy. Because of its machine-learning sensor fusion, the AWARE platform enables SPEKTRA radar to deliver accuracy in storms, darkness, and dense fog, even as vehicles travel at high speeds. SPEKTRA radar's ability to detect and classify objects beyond 300 meters is due to its unique ability to focus its beams along a specific field of view (FoV) direction to reach faster frame rates when combined with virtual MIMO array techniques in the back-end. Metawave's SPEKTRA radar and AWARE platform videos can be viewed on the company's YouTube (News - Alert) channel.



"Delivering sensing and perception capabilities that surpass a human's driving ability is critical to meet safety requirements in autonomous flying and ground cars" - Metawave CEO and founder, Maha Achour. "It is an honor and privilege to be leading a world class team to deliver the future in both mobility and 5G connectivity, and to share our success with the Future Investment Initiative audience." About Metawave Corporation - Metawave is pioneering disruptive millimeter wave technologies that accelerate the transition to highly automated and fully autonomous ground and aerial vehicle operation meeting safety and emerging services goals. With its patented high-resolution all-weather imaging SPEKTRA radar modules, and associated software stacks, Metawave is delivering the missing sensor with unmatched long-range sensing and perception based on novel machine learning and AI to automotive, tracking, trains, aerial and drone customers. Its SPEKTRA radar is the first automotive analog beamsteering radar with resolution capable of distinguishing objects close to each other, in difficult driving scenarios and in all-weather conditions, making cars safer and smarter. Metawave TURBO active repeaters and KLONE passive reflectors enable faster, more efficient, and lower cost 5G deployments, bringing connectivity to billions of users both indoors and out. Metawave's AWAREAI object classification platform is the first demonstration of real-time radar object classification. Founded in 2017, Metawave is headquartered in Carlsbad, CA (News - Alert) . Visit us at www.metawave.co, email us at info@metawave.co, and follow us on Twitter (News - Alert) @metawavecorp, LinkedIn, and YouTube.

Metawave, the Metawave logo, and all Metawave product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of Metawave in the U.S. and other countries. The company names, product names, system names, etc. described in this article are registered trademarks and trademarks of each company and each organization. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211019005228/en/

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[October 19, 2021] Delta Data's 2021 Bank Trust Survey Finds Industry Struggling with Asset Transfer Practices Established in the 1990s

TAMPA, Fla., Oct. 19, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- A recent Delta Data survey of nearly 40 US banks, including two of the top twenty-five banks by total assets, found a common thread: Many banks (nearly 60%) are still employing approaches to asset transfers within their trust/wealth management groups that are heavily manual, typically relying on paper processing and email or telephone communications, and not tools that their customers would expect in the digital age. Delta Data is a fintech company providing infrastructure technology for the pooled investment industry, servicing bank trust, wealth management, retirement, and broker-dealer firms.

We found the biggest reported issue concerning customer expectations, with 55% of banks indicating that their customers expect a fast and timely turnaround, and 52% admitting that they dont deliver, primarily due to their failure to upgrade the solutions that would meet their customers expectations, observes Whitfield Athey, CEO, Delta Data. The survey points out the larger opportunity for banks of all sizes to address customer interactions at all points of connection between the customer and their bank. When asked specifically about pain points associated with account transfers, 62% told Delta Data that timing was a problem, and 52% indicated that automating account transfers would be a significant benefit to customers as well as staff. 90% of responses to the study were from bank trust operations and administrators, representing banks with 1B to over 30B in trust assets under management. 58% of respondents inicated that account transfer management was fully manual, and a mere 8% reported it was fully automated. 95% reported that the staff must manually post updates to multiple systems to process transactions for customers. In this type of highly manual environment, it is no surprise that more than 80% of respondents stated that improving the account transfer experience for its valuable customer base is a significant concern.



The data sends a pretty clear message that banks, of all shapes and sizes, are struggling with time-consuming manual processes that place the burden of timely delivery on small teams with no technical support. The adoption of automated technologies is an opportunity for banks to meet customer expectations in the digital age. Delta Data is one fintech provider that has developed a product specifically to assist banks in their quest to enable automation that satisfies key customer needs: our Asset Transfer Manager. When 87% of respondents tell us that transfers dont meet front office and end beneficiary expectations, its worth considering how these missed client expectations affect the bottom line and how many accounts are lost during the onboarding process. Not to mention the first impression that client interactions not enhanced by automation tools deliver to new customers, adds Athey. Register now for a Nov 10, 2021, webinar analyzing results from the study. Our expert guest will include participants from major banks. Register here.

About Delta Data: Delta Data provides back-end solutions processing trillions of dollars in assets for the mutual fund industry, supporting four of the top 10 US banks, four of the top five US retirement recordkeepers, and four of the top five US investment managers. Delta Datas industry-vetted SaaS integrated technology suite enables financial companies to control the dynamic environment of regulatory change and risk associated with internal and external data management. Delta Datas unique position within the financial industry allows for the maximum effective application of the latest technologies such as Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to provide a turnkey solution for financial services companies seeking to stay ahead of the change. www.deltadata.com Media Contact:

BIGfrontier for Delta Data

Slundin@bigfrontier.com



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[October 19, 2021] Safechaintoken ($SCT) Presale is Set for October 23 on DxSale

Stuttgart, Germany, Oct. 19, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- (via Blockchain Wire) Using Safechainswap, anyone can easily swap tokens on the Binance Smart Chain. The swap platform offers low transaction costs and is backed by its hyper deflationary utility token, $SCT, which facilitates many use cases in the ecosystem. One of the imminent products is a dApp for staking and farming Safechaintoken, allowing investors to earn more $SCT and expand their portfolio. The platform is also building an NFT marketplace that will feature unique digital artwork from top artists. Users can purchase and trade these special NFTs on the market using $SCT. The creative and dedicated team behind this project boasts years of experience in the blockchain and Fintech sectors. They are working on adding more contracts and use cases to the decentralized platform. The Safechaintoken Swap integration will occur in Q4 of 2021, offering investors an independent platform where they can instantly swap any token or trade NFTs. The Safechaintoken Presale Starts Soon! The $SCT presale is scheduled to start on October 23, 2021, offering early-bird investors a chance to acquire a deflationary token with massive potential for growth. The Safechainswap team will host the event on the leading DeFi launchpad platform DxSale, ensuring the fundraiser runs seamlessly and safely. Interested investors can participate in the presale using BNB tokens and grab their share of the 62,500,000 $SCT on offer. The maximum contributionis capped at 5 BNB (1 BNB = 250,000 $SCT).



The swap platform plans to submit its smart contract for review by leading blockchain auditor SolidProof to guarantee investors that their funds are safe. The audit company will also conduct a KYC check of the team, further boosting community trust in the project. Presale participants will get the token at a discounted rate. After the event is complete, the team will announce the $SCT listing on top exchanges such as PancakeSwap, Coingecko, Binance and CoinMarketCap.

Join the upcoming presale via this link and get a 1000x gem that promises to deliver the highest possible return on investment. The First Decentralized Utility Token with Diminishing Supply Safechaintoken is a hyper-deflationary token with a low supply. The Safechainswap protocol puts deflationary pressure on $SCT via its burn mechanism that is crucial to ensuring the growth of the token. The team burned over 27M $SCT from the total 250M supply before the token launch. They also locked 25M $SCT in a burn wallet; the platform plans to destroy these tokens over time gradually. As Safechainswap integrates more products and use-cases to its ecosystem, demand for its utility token could likely skyrocket amid diminishing supply. Investors expect these market forces to facilitate the token's appreciation over time and attract more investors in the future. Earn More on Safechainswap! Besides offering users lucrative staking and farming contracts that generate passive income, Safechainswap also gives token holders opportunities to earn more via static reflections and weekly giveaways. Smart contracts will deduct a 10% tax on every transaction on the protocol. 5% of the amount will go to $SCT holders, while the other 5% will enhance the project's liquidity pool. The Safechainswap community can also earn rewards from weekly token giveaways offered to the most active members. The project founders have set up a bounty wallet to hold funds for these community token giveaways. Some funds from the bounty wallet will also go into financing trading competitions once the $SCT is listed on exchanges. To learn more about Safechainswap, its native $SCT token and the upcoming presale, check out the resources below: Website | Twitter | Telegram | GitHub



Fabian Wunn CEO & Founder admin@safechaintoken.com https://www.safechaintoken.com

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[October 19, 2021] Hapbee Expands Leadership Team

-Former senior growth executives from prominent wellness brands such as Peloton and Therabody joining Hapbee- MONTREAL, Oct. 19, 2021 /CNW/ - Hapbee Technologies, Inc. (TSXV: HAPB) (OTCQB: HAPBF) (FSE: HA1) ("Hapbee" or the "Company"), the Canadian-based wearable, wellness technology company and creator of the Hapbee headband is pleased to announce the expansion of its leadership team. In pursuit of growth initiatives, the Company has appointed Jordan Neville as Director, Customer Growth & Retention and Iggy Rodriguez as VP, Business Development & Partnerships. They will be responsible for contributing to Hapbee's sales expansion and increasing the Company's brand outreach to a wider customer base. Profile of Newly Appointed Growth Executives Jordan Neville  Director, Customer Growth & Retention Jordan Neville has built a 10-year career in sales leadership roles and entrepreneurship. Jordan served as the Director of Sales at Peloton, a U.S. exercise equipment and media giant for five years. During his tenure at Peloton, he oversaw Peloton's sales growth from one bike a week to over 10,000 bikes per day and achieved a 97% retention rate in monthly subscriptions. Prior to joining Peloton, he has founded two startups, namely Giv and Fit4Purpose. With an educational background in Economics and Mathematics from Loughborough University, England, he implements a number-based approach with a focus on growth, strategy and execution based around data and analytics in every role that he has held in his career. In 2020, Jordan launched the first social commerce platform called cartrev. Iggy Rodriguez  VP, Business Developments & Partnerships Iggy has a 12-year track record of fostering key client relationships and executing effective marketing campaigns in a number of different fields. Iggy entered the health and wellness space as the Head of Global Partnerships at Therabody, curating deals with some of the world's largest brands, teams and influencers. He started his career in sponsorships with the Los Angeles Dodgers and was the Director of Advertising and Partnerships for the Detroit Pistons before getting his EMBA at The University of Chicago, Booth. Additionally, Iggy served as the National Partnerships Director for an events marketplace called Kapow nd played an integral part in its initial fundraising and eventual sale to Vista Capital in 2015.



"The addition of both Jordan and Iggy brings years of growth expertise and leadership experience in consumer-focused companies within the wellness industry to Hapbee," said Yona Shtern, CEO of Hapbee. "The appointment of two senior growth executives, coupled with our strong proprietary technology enables us to advance growth strategies in delivering a unique product to the marketplace. That said, we look forward to working with Jordan and Iggy in scaling up the distribution of our Hapbee devices to a broad audience." About Hapbee

Canadian-based Hapbee is a wearable wellness technology company that aims to help people enhance how they feel. Powered by patented ultra-low radio frequency energy (ulRFE) technology, Hapbee delivers low-power electromagnetic signals designed to produce sensations such as Happy, Alert, Focus, Relax, and others. The Company has offices in Montreal, Vancouver, Seattle and Phoenix. Hapbee is available for purchase at Hapbee.com. Forward-Looking Information Disclaimer Certain statements included in this news release constitute forward-looking information or statements (collectively, "forward-looking statements"), including those identified by the expressions "anticipate", "believe", "plan", "estimate", "expect", "intend", "may", "should" and similar expressions to the extent they relate to the Company or its management. The forward-looking statements are not historical facts but reflect current expectations regarding future results or events. This news release contains forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and various estimates, factors and assumptions and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors. Any statements about Hapbee's product marketing and development initiatives; and the introduction of new products or services; are all forward-looking information. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions which are difficult to predict. Such statements and information are based on numerous assumptions regarding the Company's ability to meet its planned product marketing and development initiatives and the Company's ability to achieve its e-commerce rollout and full-scale commercial launch as anticipated. Factors that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements include, delays in design, production, manufacturing, development or releases of signal blends, collection of data from customer use, or the Company may not be able to achieve its targets as anticipated or at all; changes in legislation and regulations; increase in operating costs; equipment failures; failure of counterparties to perform their contractual obligations; litigation; the loss of key directors, employees, advisors or consultants and fees charged by service providers. Forward-looking statements contained in this news release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. These risks, uncertainties and assumptions include, but are not limited to, those described in Hapbee's annual information form dated January 27, 2021, a copy of which is available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com , and could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in any 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. The Company assumes no responsibility to update or revise forward-looking information to reflect new events or circumstances unless required by law. Readers should not place undue reliance on the Company's forward-looking statements. 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. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/hapbee-expands-leadership-team-301402899.html SOURCE Hapbee Technologies Inc.

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[October 19, 2021] Challenge Testing of Kraig Biocraft Laboratories' Disease Resistant Silkworms Underway

Immunity enhanced silkworms provide licensing opportunities into the broader $14B1 silk industry ANN ARBOR, Mich., Oct. 19, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Kraig Biocraft Laboratories, Inc. (OTCQB: KBLB) (Company or Kraig Labs), the biotechnology company focused on the development and commercialization of spider silk, announces today that it has begun challenge testing on of its immunity enhanced silkworms. These silkworms were developed by Kraig Labs to combat viral and fungal infections that result in significant losses in global silk production.

As much as 50% of losses in global silk production are the result of a single virus. Up to 75% of all silk producers have reported losses from this virus, according to a 2020 research paper. These losses account for millions and potentially billions of dollars of lost economic production each year. Often found in soil and plants  quickly spread and with no effective treatment  this virus can be devastating to small and large producers alike. With this announcement, Kraig Labs is creating a solution for the global $14B silk market. By adapting its genetic engineering technologies, used to produce recombinant spider silk, Kraig Labs has developed multiple lines of silkworms that incorporate a genetic defense against this virus and other prominent silkworm diseases. As designed, the silkworm's immune system will target and eliminate any copy of the virus DNA, preventing the spread of infection and loss. Having built a sizeable colony of these immunity-enhanced silkworms, the Company is now undergoing challenge testing at a controlled offsite test location. This remote offsite location was selected to prevent the potential introduction and spread of the virus into Kraig Labs R&D headquarters. These new disease-resistant silkworms are intended for licensing into the global market for mundane silks to combat key pathogenic viruses and fngi. The Company expects to make these lines of resilient silkworms available for commercial licensing upon the conclusion of successful challenge testing and intends to incorporate this technology into all of its lines of spider silk transgenics.



With testing now underway, we are excited to see the potential that these new silkworm strains can bring to the broader sericulture industry, said the Companys COO, Jon Rice. Combating these silkworm diseases is an industry-wide challenge. Bringing licensable, immunity-enhanced silkworms to the global silk market advances our business model and aligns with our core focus in commercializing cost-effective and environmentally responsible recombinant spider silk. To view the most recent news from Kraig Labs and/or to sign up for Company alerts, please go to www.KraigLabs.com/news .

About Kraig Biocraft Laboratories, Inc. Kraig Biocraft Laboratories, Inc. ( www.KraigLabs.com ), a fully reporting biotechnology company, is a developer of genetically engineered spider silk based fiber technologies. Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward Looking Information Statements in this press release about the Companys future and expectations other than historical facts are forward-looking statements. These statements are made on the basis of managements current views and assumptions. As a result, there can be no assurance that managements expectations will necessarily come to pass. These forward-looking statements generally can be identified by phrases such as believes, plans, expects, anticipates, foresees, estimated, hopes, if, develops, researching, research, pilot, potential, could or other words or phrases of similar import. Forward looking statements include descriptions of the Companys business strategy, outlook, objectives, plans, intentions and goals. All such forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements. This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any security. Ben Hansel, Hansel Capital, LLC

(720) 288-8495

ir@KraigLabs.com 1 From New Analysis from Global Industry Analysts Reveals Steady Growth for Silk, with the Market to Reach $21 Billion Worldwide by 2026, read more at: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-analysis-from-global-industry-analysts-reveals-steady-growth-for-silk-with-the-market-to-reach-21-billion-worldwide-by-2026-301377060.html



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[October 19, 2021] CyberCube Launches New Edition of Account Manager to Address Ransomware and Pricing Challenges

Cyber risk analytics leader CyberCube has launched Version 3 of Account Manager - its software-as-a-service application designed for underwriters. Cyber underwriters face many challenges when evaluating, selecting, and pricing risks for long-term profitability. Account Manager enables underwriters to make efficient, data-driven risk selection decisions. This new version of Account Manager addresses many pressing needs in today's market. Over the past two years, losses have been on the rise due to ransomware, phishing, business email compromise, and other types of cyber threats. Account Manager Version 3 equips underwriters to make astute underwriting risk decisions by providing a host of new risk indicators including ransomware-specific insights. In addition, Version 3 offers a financial loss model that helps underwriters make more informed pricing decisions through an objective analysis of the loss potential of a company. Designed by CyberCube's underwriting and cybersecurity specialists, Account Manager insights are easy to understand and actionable for both generalist and cyber specialist underwriters. All of the insights in Account Manager are derived from a rich data lake of millions of firmographic, technographic, and cyber security data points which are curated and transformed into relevant and statistically significant risk indicators of cyber incidents. Judy Chow, CyberCube's Director of Produc, said: "We recognize that timely and relevant insights are imperative to the success of a cyber underwriting practice. To win, underwriters need information that they can understand and act upon. Our investments in Account Manager Version 3 were laser-focused on the areas that matter most to underwriters - ransomware-specific indicators, actionable insights, and loss quantification. Making these insights available in one place through our application and flexibly through APIs ensures that we're empowering our clients to easily customize their strategies."



Ashwin Kashyap, Co-founder of CyberCube and Chief Product Officer, said: "In a hardening cyber insurance market, Account Manager helps underwriters generate alpha by helping select and price risks appropriately through targeted risk-specific insights. CyberCube's experts have curated risk factors, such as evidence of infrastructure abuse, that can help boost underwriting performance significantly. In addition, we have connected these risk factors to loss, enabling market participants to price risks adequately and achieve sustainable growth." Account Manager is among a suite of end-to-end solutions in CyberCube's portfolio of products including Portfolio Manager and Broking Manager. Portfolio Manager is used by insurers to manage portfolios of cyber risks against dozens of cyber-based scenarios. Broking Manager is designed to help brokers quantify, understand, and explain to their clients, the sources and financial impact of cyber risk exposure.

ENDS About CyberCube CyberCube delivers the world's leading cyber risk analytics for the insurance industry. With best-in-class data access and advanced multi-disciplinary analytics, the company's cloud-based platform helps insurance organizations make better decisions when placing insurance, underwriting cyber risk and managing cyber risk aggregation. CyberCube's enterprise intelligence layer provides insights on millions of companies globally and includes modeling on thousands of points of technology failure. The CyberCube platform was established in 2015 within Symantec (News - Alert) and now operates as a standalone company exclusively focused on the insurance industry, with access to an unparalleled ecosystem of data partners and backing from ForgePoint Capital, HSCM Bermuda, MTech Capital and individuals from Stone Point Capital. For more information, please visit www.cybcube.com or email info@cybcube.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211019005565/en/

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[October 19, 2021] Golden Star Enterprises Ltd. Advances Plans to Acquire Tech Companies

Claymont, Delaware, Oct. 19, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NewMediaWire -- Golden Star Enterprises Ltd. (OTCPink: GSPT), a holding and acquisition company interested in acquiring technology start-ups and taking them to the next level, updates investors on near term plans to acquire ownership interests in additional companies operating in the Tech space.

In November 2020, Golden Star Enterprises Ltd. changed its business purpose and determined to focus on the acquisition of promising companies in the Tech sector, helping them to grow and realize their potential. Our first acquisition was a company operating in the Workforce Management space called Enigmai. Since acquiring Enigmai, the Golden Star team has been working to enhance their product offerings and marketing opportunities, positioning the Company to attract a global customer base, with plans to expand operations and revenue in fiscal 2022. Mr. Eliav Kling, CEO, stated, After a year of working with our first target and having developed a focused expansion plan, we are now actively looking for our next opportunity in the Tech space. We have had several acquisition opportunities under review over the past several weeks, all of which offer unique solutions or products needing financing or management expertise to move to the next stage ofdevelopment. GSPT is positioned to help those companies to take the leap and meet their expansion goals. GSPT management will continue to evaluate acquisition targets over the coming weeks with a goal of finding our next exciting project.



If you have a company operating in the Tech Sector that offers unique products or has a market-ready concept ready to expand or enter the marketplace, please contact GSPT management at info@goldenstarenterprisesltd.com to schedule an initial project assessment. About Golden Star Enterprises Ltd.

Golden Star Enterprises Ltd. (GSPT) is a publicly-traded holding and acquisition company interested in taking technology start-ups and growing them to the next level. We actively search for exceptional investment opportunities in the technology vertical. We leverage managements extensive experience in the marketplace and tech industry connections to create opportunities for companies in our portfolio. Email: info@goldenstarenterprisesltd.com www.goldenstarenterprisesltd.com About Enigmai Enigmai was founded in Israel in 2009. As an Israeli tech company, Enigmai developed a unique and advanced solution to address the challenges large contact centers face with workforce management. Our solution supports the entire workflow cycle, from managing shifts and employee breaks to forecasting every days HR needs. Our system offers numerous advantages like integration with other organization systems in use, real-time information update, easy access reports, and a web-based solution. Leading financial and insurance companies in Israel currently use our system, supporting the operation of hundreds of employees daily. Email: info@enigmai.com www.enigmai.com This press release contains forward-looking statements that reflect the Company's current beliefs, expectations or intentions regarding future events. Any statements contained in this press release that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed forward-looking statements. Words such as "will," "will be," "anticipate," "predict," expect "continue," "future," and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. The Company anticipates that subsequent events and developments may cause views and expectations to change. The Company assumes no obligation, and specifically disclaims any intention or obligation, to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.



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[October 19, 2021] Maryland State Dental Association Selects iCoreVerify Real-Time Insurance

WINDERMERE, FL, Oct. 19, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NewMediaWire  iCoreConnect, Inc. (OTCQB: ICCT), a cloud-based, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform for healthcare business workflow, announces the Maryland State Dental Associations selection of iCoreVerify. iCoreVerify automatically checks insurance for all scheduled patients, up to a week in advance of their appointment, significantly reducing insurance claim denials. We are thrilled to partner with the Maryland State Dental Association. iCoreVerify eliminates manual insurance calls regarding 80%-90% of patients. Staff members are able to immediately know, well ahead of the appointment, which patient accounts might require an information correction, explains Robert McDermott, President and CEO of iCoreConnect. Insurance is a major pain point for all practices. We are pleased to endorse iCoreConnects iCoreVerify cloud-based software, with direct access to 2,100 insurers. It will help our members substantially replace staff hours lost to insurance phone calls, providing dental offices real-time, trackable coverage information accessible in a single click, states Chrys Bell, Director of Membership & MSDA Member Perks (DAC). iCoreConnects entire platform of enterprise software solutions is cloud-based, designed to solve specific business problems and drive revenue. iCoreConnect builds and improves all its software based on the feedback of currently engaged healthcare providers. iCoreConnect has more than 40 agreements with state associations across the country and 15 SaaS products in its platform. About iCoreConnect iCoreConnect is a cloud-based software and technology company focused on increasing profit and operational speed in high-compliance industries. iCreConnect is most notably known for its innovation in solving healthcare business problems. The companys philosophy places a high value on customer feedback, allowing iCoreConnect to respond to the markets needs. iCoreConnect touts a platform of more than a dozen SaaS enterprise solutions and more than 40 agreements with state or regional healthcare associations across the U.S. iCoreConnect is a member of the prestigious StartUp Health accelerator.



About the Maryland Dental Association The Maryland State Dental Association represents the dental profession's efforts to provide high-quality and ethical oral health care to the public. It is the professional association for dentists in the state of Maryland, and a constituent of the American Dental Association. There are twelve component dental societies located throughout Maryland. These three entities make up the tripartite membership system of the ADA; the national level, state level, and local level.

iCoreConnect recognitions include: - Top 10 Dental Special Solution Companies 2020 by Healthcare Tech Outlook - Top 25 IoT Solution Providers 2019 by CIO Applications Magazine - Top 10 Encryption Solution Providers 2018 by Enterprise Security Magazine - Top 10 Dental Solutions 2018 by Healthcare Tech Outlook - Top 50 Products of 2017 by Dental Products Report Magazine iCoreConnects unequivocal commitment to responding to the market has resulted in agreements with the following organizations: - Arizona Dental Association (iCoreExchange, iCoreRx) - Colorado Dental Association (iCoreExchange, iCoreRx) - Florida Dental Association Crown Services (iCoreExchange, iCoreDental) - Georgia Dental Association (iCoreExchange) - Kansas Dental Association (iCoreRx) - Louisiana Dental Association (iCoreExchange) - Maine Medical Association (iCoreExchange, iCoreMD) - Maryland State Dental Association (iCoreVerify) - Michigan Dental Association (iCoreExchange, iCoreRx, iCoreHuddle, iCoreIT, iCoreCloud, iCoreDental, iCoreVerify, Complete Dental IT-Michigan specific program) - Mississippi Dental Association (iCoreRx) - Missouri Dental Association (iCoreRx, iCoreExchange, iCoreDental, iCoreHuddle, iCoreIT, iCoreCodeGenius) - Montana Dental Association (iCoreRx, iCoreDental, iCoreExchange, iCoreHuddle) - New York State Dental Association (iCoreExchange) - North Carolina Dental Society (iCoreRx, iCoreExchange) - Oklahoma Dental Association (iCoreRx) - Oregon Dental Association (iCoreRx) - South Carolina Dental Association (iCoreExchange, iCoreRx) - StartUp Health (iCoreExchange, iCoreMD, iCoreDental, iCoreCodeGenius, iCoreHuddle, iCoreFlex, iCoreRx, iCoreIT) - Texas Dental Association Perks Program (iCoreExchange, iCoreDental, iCoreHuddle, iCoreRx) - Virginia Dental Association/VDA Services (iCoreExchange, iCoreRx) - Wyoming Medical Society (iCoreExchange, iCoreMD, iCoreCodeGenius, iCoreRx) Forward-Looking Statements In this news release, the use of the words "believe," "could," "expect," "may," "positioned," "project," "projected," "should," "will," "would" or similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements that represent the Company's current judgment about possible future events. The Company believes these judgments are reasonable, but these statements are not guarantees of any events or financial results, and actual results may differ materially due to a variety of important factors. Contact:

Rich Cockrell

icct@cg.capital.com SOURCE iCoreConnect, Inc.

PUB NO. 2000.060.101521



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[October 19, 2021] Total Construction Starts Rebound in September

Total construction starts rose 10% in September to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $889.7 billion, according to Dodge Construction Network. All three sectors improved: nonresidential building starts rose 15%, residential starts moved 9% higher, and nonbuilding starts increased by 6%. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211019005206/en/ September 2021 Construction Starts ( Source (News - Alert) : Dodge Data & Analytics) "Construction starts have struggled over the last three months as concerns over rising prices, shortages of materials, and scarce labor led to declines in activity," stated Richard Branch, Chief Economist for Dodge Construction Network. "The increase in September, however, partially allays the fear that construction is headed for a free-fall and shows that owners and developers are still ready to move ahead with projects. Starts are likely to continue to trend in a positive but sawtooth fashion in the coming months until a more balanced recovery takes hold next year." Below is the full breakdown: Nonbuilding construction starts rose 6% in September to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $177.9 billion. Miscellaneous nonbuilding starts (pipelines, site work, etc.) and environmental public works (water, sewers, etc.) each gained 29%, while highway and bridge starts gained less than 1%. On the downside, utility/gas plant starts dropped 53%. Year-to-date, total nonbuilding starts were essentially unchanged through September. Environmental public works were 24% higher, while highway and bridge stats were 2% lower. Miscellaneous nonbuilding fell 14% and utility/gas plant starts fell 10% during the first nine months of the year.







For the 12 months ending in September 2021, total nonbuilding starts were 1% lower than the 12 months ending in September 2020. Environmental public works starts were 22% higher and highway and bridge starts were up 3%, while utility and gas plant starts were down 20% and miscellaneous nonbuilding starts were 16% lower on a 12-month rolling basis.



The largest nonbuilding projects to break ground in September were the $500 million Whale offshore oil field pipeline near Houston, TX, the $485 million Chimney Hollow Reservoir Dam in Berthoud, CO, and the $450 million repairs to docks at the United States Coast Guard Station in Fort Macon, NC. Nonresidential building starts rebounded in September, gaining 15% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $281.8 billion. Commercial buildings rose 13% as starts improved for the hotel, warehouse, and retail sectors. Office building starts fell. Institutional building starts rose 13% with all sectors but public buildings improving over the month. Manufacturing starts jumped 47% following a particularly weak August. In the first nine months of 2021, nonresidential building starts were 7% higher. Commercial starts increased 8%, manufacturing starts were 38% higher, while institutional starts were up just 2%.





For the 12 months ending in September 2021, nonresidential building starts were 1% lower than in the 12 months ending in September 2020. Commercial starts were down 1%, institutional starts rose 1% and manufacturing starts dropped 12% in the 12 months ending September 2021.



The largest nonresidential building projects to break ground in September were the $670 million modernization program at Pittsburgh International Airport in Pittsburgh, PA, the $658 million Irvine Campus Medical Complex in Irvine, CA (News - Alert) , and the $495 million Phillips 66 Sweeny Hub Fractionator in Sweeny, TX. Residential building starts rose 9% in September to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $430 billion. Single family starts gained 9% in September, while multifamily starts increased by 24%. Through nine months, residential starts were 25% higher than in the same period one year ago. Single family starts gained 26%, and multifamily starts grew 20%.



For the 12 months ending in September 2021, total residential starts were 22% higher than the 12 months ending in September 2020. Single family starts gained 26%, and multifamily starts were up 10% on a 12-month sum basis.



The largest multifamily structures to break ground in September were the $300 million Islablue Apartments in Long Beach, NY, the $256 million Station Square Apartments (phase 2A) in Ronkonkoma, NY, and the $215 million 906 W. Randolph mixed-use project in Chicago, IL. Regionally, total construction starts improved in all five regions during September. About Dodge Construction Network Dodge Construction Network leverages an unmatched offering of data, analytics, and industry-spanning relationships to generate the most powerful source of information, knowledge, insights, and connections in the commercial construction industry. The company powers four longstanding and trusted industry solutions-Dodge Data & Analytics, The Blue Book Network, Sweets, and IMS-to connect the dots across the entire commercial construction ecosystem. Together, these solutions provide clear and actionable opportunities for both small teams and enterprise firms. Purpose-built to streamline the complicated, Dodge Construction Network ensures that construction professionals have the information they need to build successful businesses and thriving communities. With over a century of industry experience, Dodge Construction Network is the catalyst for modern commercial construction. To learn more, visit construction.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211019005206/en/

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[October 19, 2021] Combat Networks Rebrands as Netagen

Combat Networks (News - Alert) Inc., a leader in the design, implementation and maintenance of state-of-the-art high-performance networks, announced today the launch of its new corporate name and brand identity. Rechristened Netagen with a new logo, tagline, and website, the exciting rebrand symbolizes the company's continued evolution as one of Canada's leading independent network-solutions providers. "Netagen brings a new face and name to our IT services, unified communications and data networking portfolio while leveraging our combined 20+ years of expertise, customer relationships, and reputation for quality and value," Christopher Emery, Netagen CEO, said. The rebrand follows Combat Networks' recent acquisitions of Duologik and GDL -- complementary IT infrastructure and service solutions that expand Netagen's capabilities and reach. "What the enterprise network looks like today is dramatically different to what it was just a few short years ago," Emery continued. "Software-defined networking, cloud-based infrastructure, expanded security, greater flexibility, and new consumption models are redefining not only our industry but every industry. Netagen will help shape where those industries go." Netagen will continue Combat Networks' legacy of world-class unified communicationsand data networks services and will represent technology manufacturers with the same dedication under the new brand. All existing design, installation, and maintenance services for unified communications systems and data networks will remain in place.



Our new name and image reflect our drive to deliver networks that are a generation ahead. We are committed to being the most innovative and complete premium solutions provider in Unified Communications (News - Alert) , Wireless & Data Networking, as well as Managed Services. Netagen's new tagline: "Connecting at the speed of change" reflects the future of the business and the company's commitment to innovation across all service lines. The company welcomes everyone to explore the all-new corporate website at www.netagen.com

About Netagen Since July 2001, Netagen (formerly Combat Networks) has assisted its customers by designing, implementing and maintaining state-of-the-art high-performance networks. The company provides turnkey deployments of UC and networking solutions and ongoing management, maintenance, monitoring ( NOC (News - Alert) ), and troubleshooting. Headquartered in Ottawa with offices across Canada, Netagen services many of the country's largest federal and provincial government departments, municipalities, healthcare providers, police forces, education institutions, and Fortune 1000 companies. Netagen's corporate mission is to be recognized by its customers as the most knowledgeable, responsive, and valuable external resource for network infrastructures where security, performance, and reliability are vital requirements. Visit us at www.netagen.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211019005729/en/

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[October 19, 2021] UPSTACK Acquires IT Channel Advisory Firm Global Communication Networks

NEW YORK, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- UPSTACK, a profitable, fast-growing platform that transforms the architecture and sourcing experience for businesses seeking cloud and internet infrastructure solutions, announced today that it has acquired Global Communication Networks, Inc. (GCN), a leading advisory firm in the IT Channel, that provides enterprises with vendor-neutral colocation, networking, cloud computing, voice and project management services. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. GCN Founder and CEO Chris Palermo will join UPSTACK's executive leadership team as President as well as a true equity stakeholder in one of the technology industry's most innovative companies. Palermo has more than 30 years of cloud and telecom infrastructure experience, including 25 years spent building GCN into a thriving global data center and connectivity advisory firm. "I'm happy to welcome the entire GCN team to UPSTACK. Under Chris Palermo's leadership, GCN has become one of the most successful technology agencies in the world," said Christopher Trapp, Founder and CEO of UPSTACK. "Bringing Chris onto the team is a big win for our organization. I have no doubt that he will help lead our organization to meet and exceed our ambitious growth goals." As President, Palermo will work closely with Trapp to advance the company's partner investment strategy and accelerate the growth of its industry-transforming platform, which combines leading internet infrastructure advisors with proprietary software and support resources. UPSTACK's growth strategy is supported by a $50 million equity investment from Berkshire Partners , announced in April, which will enable the company to continue to scale its platform through technology expansion and partner acquisitions.



GCN was formed by Palermo in 1997 after he spent six years working in direct sales for Allnet, AT&T and Cable & Wireless. Palermo's vision for GCN was to deliver complete, multivendor solutions tailored to customers' specific needs. The Florida-based company's business grew quickly by providing connectivity to data centers in the Miami area, earning GCN a reputation as the go-to advisor for helping data centers bring in multicarrier connectivity to attract tenants. GCN's experience working with data centers was a springboard into becoming one of the first consultants to help enterprises find data center space worldwide. Today, GCN works with more than 300 customers worldwide, including leading Global 100 and Fortune 500 companies. The advisory firm delivers best-of-breed solutions spanning IaaS, data center colocation, hybrid cloud, network and unified communication services. In 25 years of business, GCN has seen revenue growth every year and landed on Inc. Magazine's annual list of the fastest-growing U.S. firms three times.

Due to its track record, GCN was approached by several companies for acquisition before discussions with UPSTACK, but Palermo shied away because he felt GCN would ultimately be "just a cog in the wheel," he said. "Selecting UPSTACK as our growth partner means that the entire GCN team would transition under the UPSTACK umbrella and would become a material component of its account management, delivery and customer success organization," said Palermo. "I've always had a passion for growing our firm and making it stand out from all the others in service and offerings. Now, with all the resources UPSTACK has, we can look internally to find the best advisors in UCaaS, CCaaS, cybersecurity, connectivity, data center  you name it  to create optimal solutions for our clients." "Chris Palermo is one of the pioneers of our industry and a model of what it means to be successful. Tapping into his expertise and network will help us accelerate the building of UPSTACK's most comprehensive product and service offering yet," said Trapp. "I am honored that he selected UPSTACK as his go-to-market partner and can't wait to both work with and learn from him." For more information about the UPSTACK Advisory Partnership, visit upstack.com/for-advisors or contact partners@upstack.com . About Global Communication Networks Inc.

Founded in 1997, Global Communication Networks Inc. is a connectivity integrator that provides businesses with vendor-neutral colocation, networking, cloud computing, voice, and project management services from more than 300 partner providers globally. Working with small-to-mid-sized businesses and Fortune 500 companies alike, GCN specializes in finding solutions for their clients' most pressing domestic and international technology needs. With its diverse professional toolkit, GCN saves clients time and effort by efficiently managing the right service providers to leverage the best solutions at the most effective price. For more information, visit www.gcnsolutions.com . About UPSTACK

Launched in 2017 in New York, N.Y., UPSTACK is transforming the way cloud and internet infrastructure is sourced and sold. The company uses advanced technology to enable an extensive team of cloud infrastructure advisors to architect customized solutions for businesses of all sizes. With UPSTACK, business buyers streamline IT procurement by tapping into a single source for mission-critical technology services from hundreds of proven providers along with the professional guidance to identify and evaluate the best solutions. UPSTACK's service portfolio includes colocation and data center, network connectivity, SD-WAN, unified communications, cloud contact center, private and public cloud, security, mobile, business continuity and IoT. For more information, visit us at upstack.com . View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/upstack-acquires-it-channel-advisory-firm-global-communication-networks-301402529.html SOURCE UPSTACK

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[October 19, 2021] New Dialing Procedure Becomes Mandatory On October 24, 2021 For All Customers In 82 Area Codes

EAST BRUNSWICK, N.J., Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Somos, Inc., a leading registry management and data solutions company serving as the North American Plan Administrator (NANPA) today announces, on behalf of the FCC, a new dialing procedure for customers in 36 states and 82 area codes. On July 16, 2020, the FCC adopted an Order (FCC 20-100) approving 988 as the three-digit abbreviated dialing code to reach the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline starting July 16, 2022. The Order requires all telecommunications carriers, interconnected Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) providers, and one-way VoIP providers (covered providers) to make any network changes necessary to ensure that users can dial 988 to reach the existing National Suicide Prevention Lifeline by July 16, 2022. To ensure everyone is able to reach the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline using the three-digit 988 code in the 82 area codes in 36 states below, every customer with a number in those area codes with seven-digit local dialing must be transitioned to 10-digit (area code + telephone number) local dialing (or 1+10-digit local dialing in CA and parts of IL).







State Area Code(s) State Area Code(s) Alaska 907 Minnesota 218,952 Alabama 251 Mississippi 662 Arkansas 501 Missouri 314,417,660,816 Arizona 480,520,928 Montana 406 California 209*,530*,562*,626*,650*,707*,925* 949*,951* Nevada 775 New Hampshire 603 Colorado 719,970 New Jersey 856,908 Delaware 302 New Mexico 505,575 Florida 321(Brevard County only), 352,561, 941 New York 516,607,716,845,914 Georgia 478,912 North Carolina 910 Guam 671 Ohio 440,513 Hawaii 808 South Dakota 605 Illinois 309,618,708* Tennessee 731,865 Indiana 219,574 Texas 254,361,409,806,830,915,940 Iowa 319,515 Vermont 802 Kansas 620,785 Virginia 276,804 Kentucky 859 Washington 509 Louisiana 337,504 Wisconsin 262,414,608,920 Michigan 616,810,906,989





* 1 + 10-digit dialing is required Beginning October 24, 2021, all consumers with numbers in the area codes above must dial 10 digits (area code + telephone number) or 1+10-digits (1+ area code + telephone number in CA and parts of IL) for all local calls. On and after this date, local calls dialed with only seven digits may not be completed, and a recording may inform you that your call cannot be completed as dialed. If you get this recording, you must hang up and dial again using the area code with the seven-digit telephone number. What other changes need to be made?

Important safety and security equipment, such as medical alert devices, and alarm and security systems must be reprogrammed to use 10-digit (or 1+10-digit) dialing by October 24, 2021. Many systems operate on 10-digit (or 1+10-digit) dialing by default, but some older equipment may still use seven-digit dialing. Please contact your medical alert or security provider if you are not sure whether your equipment needs to be reprogrammed to accommodate the upcoming change to 10-digit (or 1+10-digit) local dialing in order to avoid interruption of services. Some other examples of services that may need to be re-programmed are: life safety systems or medical monitoring devices

PBXs

fax machines

Internet dial-up numbers

fire or burglar alarm and security systems or gates

speed dialers

mobile or other wireless phone contact lists

call forwarding settings

voicemail services and other similar functions Be sure to check your website, personal and business stationery, advertising materials, personal and business checks, contact information, your personal or pet ID tags, and other such items to ensure the area code is included. What will remain the same? Your telephone number, including current area code, will not change

The price of a call, coverage area, or other rates and services will not change due to the dialing change

What is a local call now will remain a local call regardless of the number of digits dialed

You will continue to dial 1+ the area code + telephone number for all long-distance calls

You will continue to dial a prefix (such as "9") when dialing from a multi-line telephone system (e.g., in a hotel, office building, etc.) as required

You can still dial just three digits to reach 711 (relay services) and 911 (emergency services)

If 211, 311, 411, 511, 611, or 811 are currently available in your community, continue to dial these codes with just three digits

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline can still be reached by dialing 1-800-273-TALK (8255) even after the 988 code is in effect Beginning July 16, 2022, dialing "988" will route your call to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. Customers must continue to dial 1-800-273-8255 (TALK) to reach the Lifeline until July 16, 2022 . For questions about the dialing procedure change, email the North American Numbering Plan Administrator (NANPA) at 988@nanpa.com. For additional information, visit the NANPA website and the FCC website. About Somos, Inc.

As the world becomes more interconnected, Somos enables brands, consumers, and communities to communicate in an environment of greater trust and convenience. Somos is a global source of number administration, routing data, identity verification, and identity management services for the telecommunications ecosystem. As the trusted administrator of the North American Numbering Plan (NANPA), Toll-Free Numbering (TFNA), and the Reassigned Number Database (RNDA), we support over 1,400 service providers in North America and manage over 3 billion numbers to enable seamless communications between enterprises and consumers.

Through our portfolio of products and services, and a collaborative approach in everything we do, Somos helps ensure trust in an increasingly digital world while delivering value, innovation, and results to consumers. To learn more about Somos, please visit?www.somos.com. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-dialing-procedure-becomes-mandatory-on-october-24-2021-for-all-customers-in-82-area-codes-301402755.html SOURCE Somos, Inc.

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[October 19, 2021] ZeroFox Announces Physical Security Intelligence to Provide Enterprise Organizations with Real-time Situational Awareness

ZeroFox, the leader in External Cybersecurity, announces a new Physical Security Intelligence solution, delivering visibility and intelligence on supply chain disruption, major events and public safety incidents that may impact worksites, locations, employees, customers and the general public. The solution delivers high-relevancy alerts on natural disasters, major disruptions and other health and safety concerns. Corporate security teams receive timely, high-fidelity notifications of events that may pose public safety risks to their sites and locations and the people they are protecting. For security professionals charged with protecting worksites and people - corporate security, public safety officers, operations security - it is very challenging to process all of the inputs that may alert them to threats. Digital platforms have provided new ways for people to report sudden events. It is difficult for security teams to constantly monitor the right feeds, identify threats relevant to them and get that information quickly to the right people. "Today's digital world has created a unique challenge and opportunity for enterprise organizations dedicated to public safety," said Bill Chase, Retired FBI Special Agent in Charge. "The rise in global connectivity requires security teams to have situational awareness and early warning of incidents that could impact citizens, employees and agencies themselves." ZeroFox's AI-driven platform identifies potential incidents, sorting through massive amounts of data over digital platforms, including the deep and dark web and social media. Expert analysts validate physical alerts, locate the impact areas and stream timely geolocation-specific alerts to the right place. "Physial Security Intelligence is another example of how ZeroFox is committed to providing security teams full-spectrum threat intelligence," said AJ Nash, Vice President of Intelligence, ZeroFox. "The combination of our AI-powered platform and global physical security analyst team allows us to get the right information to the right people to protect their worksites, employees, customers and the public."



The ZeroFox Physical Security Intelligence solution delivers: High-relevancy public safety alerts for worksites, major events or general geographic areas that matter to you, AI processed and vetted by our team of expert physical security analysts

for worksites, major events or general geographic areas that matter to you, AI processed and vetted by our team of expert physical security analysts Timely notifications of public safety incidents, providing time to act and avoid risk

of public safety incidents, providing time to act and avoid risk Critical information and context to understand the nature of the events and their potential impact on the organization and their people

to understand the nature of the events and their potential impact on the organization and their people Protection of executive or VIP locations and travel sites

locations and travel sites Advanced intelligence services available for customized escalations, hotline notifications and expert threat analysis of events According to The Forrester (News - Alert) Tech Tide: Digital Physical Security And Employee Safety, Q2 2020, "The increasing severity and scope of potential security attacks require organizations to reevaluate and reassess their current physical security posture to determine if existing plans and policies are appropriate for dealing with today's myriad of physical threats."

"Providing a safe and secure environment for employees is priority number one. The sheer volume of global incident data makes it challenging for any security team to collect, analyze and prioritize specific threats to the safety of work locations and personnel," said Rob Gray, Vice President of Operations & Executive Security. "Having immediate visibility into relevant events is invaluable for protecting assets and all stakeholders." As the physical and digital world continues to merge, security teams must incorporate physical security intelligence into their broader cyber threat intelligence strategy to ensure the comprehensive safety of locations, assets and people. For more information about ZeroFox's Physical Security Intelligence solution, visit: https://www.zerofox.com/products/physical-security-intelligence About ZeroFox - ZeroFox, the leader in External Cybersecurity, provides enterprises with protection and intelligence to disrupt threats to brands, people, assets and data across the public attack surface in one, comprehensive platform. With complete global coverage across the surface, deep and dark web and an Intel (News - Alert) -backed artificial intelligence-based analysis engine, the ZeroFox Platform identifies and remediates targeted phishing attacks, credential compromise, data exfiltration, brand hijacking, executive and location threats and more. The patented ZeroFox Platform technology processes and protects millions of posts, messages and accounts daily across the social and digital landscape, spanning LinkedIn, Facebook (News - Alert) , Slack, Instagram, Pastebin, YouTube, mobile app stores, domains, cloud-based email and more. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211019005279/en/

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[October 19, 2021] The Overlooked Frontier: Solving Poor Indoor Air Quality

A group of healthcare professionals and ventilation experts today called for various groups, including the Center for Disease Control, the U.S. Department of Education, and the leading ventilation standards-making organization (ASHRAE), to focus on new approaches to improving indoor air quality for decreasing the risk of COVID and influenza outbreaks in schools, offices, and other indoor environments. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211019005412/en/ The Air-Clenz system can be used in a variety of office and educational settings. (Photo: Business Wire) Existing methods, including upgrades to existing ventilation systems, have proven somewhat ineffective as COVID outbreaks continue to create disruptions in school systems throughout the United States. The U.S. Dept. of Education announced this summer that $120 billion is available through the American Rescue Plan for K-12 schools to spend on improvements in various areas, one of which is ventilation to reduce the risk of airborne pathogen transmission. Despite these efforts, COVID outbreaks have been reported in school systems from California to Michigan to New Jersey, creating school disruptions and in some cases forcing students into remote learning environments once again. The August 2020 Harvard 5 Step Guide for Checking Ventilation Rates in Classrooms recommends five or more room air turns per hour for schools, however, as stated in the JAMA April 16, 2021, paper Indoor Air Changes and Potential Implications for SARS-CoV-2 Transmission, many schools in the U.S. average far less than three air turns per hour. "For sure, some school HVAC systems are below standard, but even those that are working correctly do not remove pathogens from exhaled air prior to becoming dispersed within the room's air flow in order to prevent COVID outbreaks," said Larry Schoen, P.E., Fellow ASHRAE, Principal Engineer for Schoen Engineering Inc. "Existing ventilation systems in schools, offices and elsewhere were not built for virus control. Not only does better ventilation decrease the risk of catching COVID, it has been shown to also improve work productivity and/or school performance. And even after upgrading a traditional HVAC ventilation system with better filters it still allows virus-laden air to affect others in a room, creating the potential for contagion." Instead, according to Schoen, Dr. Rama Rao Amara, Emory University School of Medicine, and Dr. Kevin Karem, a former CDC director who now works with the FDA, new ventilation approaches are needed. One extremely effective approach is to capture exhaled air closer to a person's face. Amara, Karem and Schoen are members of the Air-Clenz scientific advisory board. "We know that COVID, as well as many other viruses, are airborne, meaning they spread through the air in microscopic, aerosolized particles," said Dr. Amara. "So, it makes sense that these particles can be easily pulled by the room's HAC system and/or larger air purifier. To stop COVID and other pathogens, such as influenza or even the common cold from spreading in indoor environments, it is vital to capture an exhaled breath before these aerosols have a chance to journey around a room. We need to re-evaluate how indoor air quality is managed."



ASHRAE guidelines -- which are recommended by the CDC and other government agencies -- center around ensuring good air flow, and improved filters. These are important steps, according to Schoen and others, but they only address the removal of virus-laden particles after they've travelled perhaps 10-25 feet or more across a room. To date, there is only one technology that addresses the need for a "quick capture and clean" approach. Air-Clenz Systems, LLC (Air-Clenz) recently announced the only known system in the world that can capture and clean an estimated 85 percent of individuals' exhaled breaths within the range of 2 inches to three feet of their face, and within approximately three seconds, lowering the risk of COVID-19 transmission in indoor environments in school classrooms and cafeterias, and offices. The company recently provided video proof, illustrating its system's ability.

The patent pending Air-Clenz unit consists of two main parts: an exhaled air collector, which effectively corrals a person's exhaled air, and a small, exhaled air purification chamber -- which includes medical-grade HEPA filters -- that is attached to the air collector. This innovative breakthrough is designed for classrooms so that teachers can always see students as they did in pre-COVID settings. The size and positioning of the unit on the desk or cafeteria tabletop permit the student or worker to place their computer, textbook, or lunch tray within the air collection unit, so that a student's or worker's exhaled air is being captured and cleaned of viruses or other pathogens while they study, eat or work. In addition, by having multiple Air-Clenz systems present within a room (one on each of the student's or worker's desks), air circulation in the room is increased significantly, resulting in substantially more room air turns of cleaned air per hour. Air-Clenz's technology is additive to that of any venue's HVAC system, providing for even cleaner indoor air, more cleaned room air turns per hour and potentially speeding up the removal of masks. "Capturing exhaled air close to the face before it becomes dispersed has been totally overlooked," said Stuart Sheldon, CEO of Air-Clenz Systems. "Except for a face mask, which most individuals would not want to wear for the rest of their lives, there is no known system in the world that captures even 50 percent of one's exhaled air without also cleaning 100 percent of the air in a room or enclosed space. There are literally hundreds of different commercial air purifiers and HVAC system options, but none come close to achieving what Air-Clenz can achieve." The call by Schoen, Amara, Karem and others is not totally new. Improving indoor air quality via improved ventilation is now recognized as one of the keys to stopping the spread of COVID-19 and other airborne pathogens, especially among those too young to be vaccinated, according to a May 2021 Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security report, School Ventilation: A Vital Tool to Reduce COVID-19 Spread. Science Galley also recently reported that improved indoor ventilation is key to combat indoor respiratory infection. Dr. Anita Broach, Air-Clenz's Chief Scientist, states: "Research demonstrates that Air-Clenz' technology typically captures and cleans more than an estimated 85 percent of a seated person's exhaled breath in approximately three seconds. The captured air is then cleaned to a 99.9 percent level within an air purification chamber before being recirculated back into the venue. And by utilizing one Air-Clenz unit for each seated person in a room the number of room air turns per hour can be increased substantially. By way of example, an average size classroom in the U.S. having 20 or more students each using Air-Clenz can increase the room's cleaned air turns per hour to 6 or more, which meets or exceeds the Harvard recommended number of room air turns per hour for a classroom." About Air-Clenz Systems and its Scientific Advisory Board Air-Clenz Systems (www.air-clenz.com), based in Atlanta, Ga., was launched by success-proven inventors, scientists, and collaboration partners attempting to solve major global challenges caused by the coronavirus pandemic, with an eye to benefiting the global population at large. The management team at Air-Clenz has a substantial track record of identifying global needs, inventing solutions to satisfy such needs, protecting intellectual property, developing technology, and selling or licensing the inventions to Fortune 500 companies. Air-Clenz Systems developed its proprietary technology for the collection, isolation, and removal of pathogens (such as viruses) from exhaled air before they have a chance to disperse and be transmitted to others. The technology can be adapted to fit most any environment where individuals are seated, including schools, offices, houses of worship, offices, learning institutions, theaters, and vehicles. In addition, Air-Clenz has adapted its technology to work in elevators. Air-Clenz' Scientific Advisory Board includes Rama Rao Amara, PhD and professor, Emory Vaccine Center, Professor Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Emory University School of Medicine; Kevin Karem, PhD, Director of one of FDAs laboratories and former Global Health Associate Director for Laboratory Science at the CDC; Victoria Cerami, Chief Executive Officer, Cerami & Associates an acoustic engineering firm of 80+ engineers; Chengzhi Shi, PhD, Assistant professor of Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Tech specializing in acoustics; Lawrence J. Schoen, P.E., Fellow ASHRAE, Principal Engineer for Schoen Engineering Inc.; Ernest Conrad, P.E., BOMA Fellow, principal in charge of Conrad Engineers, a professional engineering consulting firm; and Anita T. Broach, PhD, Material Scientist, Chemical Engineer and Air-Clenz Chief Scientist. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211019005412/en/

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[October 19, 2021] School Districts Across the U.S. Deploy Remind Two-Way Communication to Close the Relationship Gap Between Educators and Students

Remind, the leading two-way digital communication platform in education, today announced that several large school districts across the United States have selected Remind to improve personalized learning and strengthen engagement between teachers and students. Additionally, many others have extended their agreements with the company to further their use of Remind's enterprise communication solution. "As our district customers across the country embark on another challenging school year, we are proud to be a key part of their journey in helping to strengthen the ongoing communication between their educators, students, and families," said Brian Grey, Executive Chairman of Remind. "These districts are demonstrating how schools can truly build an innovative communication program to improve access to resources and help guide families and students through the changing education landscape." Remind serves over 7 million students across the country with Remind Hub, its integrated enterprise solution for districts and schools. Education organizations leveraging the Remind platform have set out to keep families engaged and help close the learning and relationship gaps that have widened exponentially during the pandemic. New and returning customers with Remind can also reach everyone in their communities in any language, which is often a major barrier contributing to the increase in learning loss. Scaling Two-Way Communication Many districts have found Remind's two-way communication platform widely beneficial for their specific engagement needs, particularly on a large scale. Districts like Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District in Texas, which serves approximately 117,000 students, have renewed their agreements with Remind to enable more two-way communication between educators and students. While districts may be able to reach families with one-way mass communication, more administrators are citing a need for two-way communication with families to help keep parents and students engaged. Similarly, both Manteca Unified School District in California and Elmont Unin Free School District in the state of New York extended their agreements with Remind because of the benefits they experienced from implementing a text-first approach to engaging families and students. Kennewick School District in Washington also renewed Remind to continue building two-way engagement with students and families.



District-wide Messaging for Meaningful Engagement From school closures to power outages and weather delays, districts can use Remind to easily manage and simplify district-wide updates to students and families. Barrow County School System in Georgia, Eagle Pass Independent School District in Texas, Pennsbury School District in Pennsylvania, and Iron County School District in Utah have all extended their agreements with Remind to continue using the platform's district-wide messaging capabilities.

"Families across the nation are inundated with school information, but it's often shared in various ways that make it difficult to follow. With Remind, districts can simplify their approach to communication and ensure they are providing meaningful messages to families to help keep their child's education experience positive and on track," added Grey. Family Engagement to Personalize the Student Learning Journey The Remind platform was built to help forge stronger relationships not only between educators and students, but with families as well. School districts including Williamsburg-James City Public Schools in Virginia, Downey Unified School District and Escondido Union High School District in California, and Leander Independent School District in Texas all rely on Remind to keep their families engaged in their child's learning journey. A recent update to Remind Hub has also added capabilities for automatic two-way translation, which is increasingly important to schools and districts with large multilingual populations. "Many of our district customers saw a huge benefit in engaging families via digital channels during the pandemic," said Grey. "Now, they're also recognizing how these channels can benefit their organizations beyond the pandemic by offering a simple, direct way to communicate with families about their child's education and provide updates from the school community." To learn more about the Remind platform and how its easy-to-use tools allow districts and administrators the ability to oversee two-way communication, make district-wide and classroom text messaging more effective and meaningful, and keep families engaged in their child's learning journey, please visit www.remind.com. About Remind

Remind, the leading communication platform in education, helps educators reach students and parents where they are. With easy-to-use features that allow schools, districts and other educational organizations to activate engagement across their communities, Remind connects the people and resources that help give every student the opportunity to succeed. Founded in 2011, Remind is backed by GSV Ventures, Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers, Owl Ventures and Social Capital. For more information, visit www.remind.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211019005435/en/

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[October 19, 2021] Virginia Nurses' Association Names Dr. Sherri Wilson President-Elect

Dr. Sherri Wilson, Director of Health Career Programs at Stride, Inc., was recently elected President-elect of the Virginia Nurses Association (VNA), an affiliate of the American Nurses Association. During her one-year term as President-elect, Dr. Wilson will work closely with Linda Shepherd, current VNA President, to ensure a smooth transition of presidential duties. Dr. Wilson will succeed to the office of the President in September 2022. "Dr. Wilson brings a unique cross-sector approach to the VNA leadership team that combines more than two decades of nursing expertise across multiple roles and settings," said Linda Shepherd, current VNA President. "Her background and combined experiences distinctly position her to lead us, through an equity lens, in meeting our mission as the leading professional organization for Virginia's registered nurses." As Director of Health Career Programs at Stride (NYSE: LRN) - the nation's leading provider of tech-enabled education programs in primary, secondary, and post-secondary settings - Dr. Wilson oversees the development and implementation of curriculum and partnerships in the healthcare fields across the company's expanding career learning programs. Prior to joining Stride, Dr. Wilson served as a Public Health Administrator with the Fairfax County Government, with an expertise in maternal-child health issues. She earned her Doctorate of Nursing Practice from Johns Hopkins University, a Master of Arts degree in public administration from Seton Hall University, and a Bachelor of Science degree in nursing from Hampton University. VNA represents the interests of almost 115,000 registered nurses in the Commonwealth of Virginia, inclusive of all areas of specialization, clinical settings, and work environments. VNA's mission is to promote education, advocacy, and mentoring for registered nurses to advance professional practice and influence the delivery of quality care. Stride is a leader in providing career learning solutions, delivering skills training to students in middle and high school, as well as adult learners. Through Stride Career Prep schools and programs, students receive access to high quality education in high demand career fields, discovering a pathway to lifelong learning and career success. Stride Career Prep's healthcare career learning offerings include high school courses and opportunities to earn degree-eligible credits, with the goal of reducing ime-to-completion of a Bachelor of Nursing degree. Stride's recent collaboration with Chamberlain University launched this summer with a Nursing Exploration Camp led by Chamberlain faculty, and will include online courses and Stride's Nursing Club for high school students.



About Stride, Inc. At Stride, Inc. (NYSE: LRN) we are reimagining learning - where learning is lifelong, deeply personal, and prepares learners for tomorrow. The company has transformed the teaching and learning experience for millions of people by providing innovative, high-quality, tech-enabled education solutions, curriculum, and programs directly to students, schools, the military, and enterprises in primary, secondary, and post-secondary settings. Stride is a premier provider of K-12 education for students, schools, and districts, including career learning services through middle and high school curriculum. For adult learners, Stride delivers professional skills training in healthcare and technology, as well as staffing and talent development for Fortune 500 companies. Stride has delivered millions of courses over the past decade and serves learners in all 50 states and more than 100 countries. The company is a proud sponsor of the Future of School, a nonprofit organization dedicated to closing the gap between the pace of technology and the pace of change in education. More information can be found at stridelearning.com, K12.com, galvanize.com, techelevator.com, and medcerts.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211019005791/en/

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[October 19, 2021] Bad Bots Significantly Threaten the Profitability of Retail E-commerce Businesses, According to New Report from PerimeterX and Aberdeen

SAN MATEO, Calif., Oct. 19, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- PerimeterX, the leading provider of solutions that secure digital businesses against automated fraud and client-side threats, today announced the release of a definitive study on the financial impact of malicious bots in retail e-commerce, Quantifying the Impact of Bad Bots on E-commerce Merchant Profitability .

Conducted by Aberdeen Strategy & Research, the analysis estimates that 75-80% of e-commerce operational costs  e.g., the cost of website infrastructure, website marketing and the total cost of checkout fraud  are negatively impacted by malicious bots, which equates to between 18-23% of net revenue across the six popular e-commerce retail categories that were the focus of this study. Bad bots represent a material and growing problem for e-commerce merchant profitability, and currently their negative business impact is not that well understood, noted Derek Brink, CISSP, vice president and research fellow for Aerdeen Strategy & Research. We found, however, that advanced bot detection and mitigation services can reduce this negative impact by more than 50% at times of peak bad bot traffic, which contributes directly to protecting the bottom line, Brink said.



The research was conducted with e-commerce merchants in popular retail categories involving physical goods including consumer electronics; fashion and beauty; food and beverage; furniture, appliances and home improvement; general merchandise; and health and leisure. Respondents generated between $50M and $2.5B in annual revenue from their primary e-commerce segment, the majority of which was from online shoppers in the United States. Heading into the years biggest shopping season, it is critical that retailers fully understand the significant impact that bad bots pose to websites and mobile apps. It has gone beyond security and brand protection to become material to their overall financial performance. Quantifying the impact of bot-related attacks is a challenge. Our goal with this report is to shine a light on this murky problem, and help the industry find the right solutions, said Kim DeCarlis, CMO, PerimeterX.

For more information, read the full report from Aberdeen Strategy & Research here . About PerimeterX

PerimeterX is the leading provider of solutions that secure digital businesses against automated fraud and client-side attacks. Delivered as a service, the companys solutions detect risks to your web applications and proactively manage them, freeing you to focus on growth and innovation. The worlds largest and most reputable websites and mobile applications count on PerimeterX to safeguard their consumers digital experience. PerimeterX is headquartered in San Mateo, California, and at www.perimeterx.com .

Media contact: Paula Brici Eskenzi PR (949) 677-6527 paula@eskenzipr.com

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Private Equity/M&A Partner Elisia M. Klinka Joins Kramer Levin

Kramer Levin is pleased to announce that Elisia M. Klinka is joining the firm's New York office as a partner in its Private Equity/M&A practice.

Ms. Klinka's practice focuses on private equity and mergers and acquisitions, and she represents several private equity sponsors and strategic acquirers.

Kramer Levin co-managing partners Howard T. Spilko and Paul H. Schoeman said, "We are pleased to welcome Elisia to the firm. We have been growing our Corporate practice dramatically in recent years, particularly our private equity and M&A capabilities, and that growth continues to be a strategic priority for the firm."

"We are experiencing extraordinarily high demand for our group's services on private equity and M&A transactions," added Ernest S. Wechsler, chair of Kramer Levin's Corporate department. "We see an excellent fit between Elisia's talents and experience and our clients' needs, and we couldn't be happier to have her on board."

"I amvery excited to join Kramer Levin's dynamic Corporate team," said Ms. Klinka. "I look forward to helping the firm's clients find creative, practical solutions that enable them to execute their strategic plans as efficiently as possible."







Throughout her career, Ms. Klinka has also been committed to pro bono work involving political asylum petitions, disabled veterans' claims and nonprofit corporate governance matters. Pro bono and community service are integral to Kramer Levin's practice and culture. The firm's Veterans Assistance Project and Small Business Clinic, among other projects, are advancing its Racial Justice Initiative, which was established in June 2020.

Ms. Klinka received her J.D., cum laude, from Fordham University School of Law. She received her B.A. from Cornell University and is a member of Phi Beta Kappa.

About Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP

Kramer Levin provides its clients proactive, creative and pragmatic solutions that address today's most challenging legal issues. The firm is headquartered in New York with offices in Silicon Valley and Paris and fosters a strong culture of involvement in public and community service. For more information, visit www.kramerlevin.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211019005817/en/
[October 19, 2021] Insurity Sponsors Community Housing Advocates' Annual Fundraiser, Joins Pledge to End Homelessness

Insurity, a leading provider of cloud-based software for property and casualty (P&C) carriers, brokers, and MGAs today announced that it is a Silver Sponsor for Community Housing Advocates' annual Hope & Home Celebration fundraiser on October 21, 2021, in Hartford, Connecticut. The Community House Advocates is a nonprofit made up of two organizations, Mercy Housing & Shelter Corporation and My Sisters' Place. Together, these organizations are the largest providers of housing assistance, support services, and financial resources to those in need in the greater Hartford region. Insurity is one of the leading businesses with headquarters in the Hartford area and pledges to join Community Housing Advocates in its goal of ending homelessness. Insurity's vision of empowering insurance organizations to quickly capitalize on new opportunities aligns with Community Housing Advocates' mission of empowering its clients to become independent and develop the skills necessary to support themselves. The Hope & Home Celebration fundraiser highlights the progress made by Community Housing Advocates in the past year. For example, in 2020, Mercy Housing met almost 5,000 requests for care services, provided more than 43,000 meals to those in need, served more than 2,500 people who were homeless or at risk, and helped close to 1,000 families and individuals obtain and maintain permanent housing. "The generosity of sponsors like Insurity, who provide financial assistance and in-kind donations, allow us to continue to assist homeless men, women, and children and those at immediate risk of being homeless," said Kara Capone, Chief Executive Offier of Community Housing Advocates. "Mercy Housing along with My Sisters' Place both advocate for changes in the social systems that perpetuate homelessness. We work to empower our clients to become independent, so they may live and work with dignity and respect. We are deeply grateful to local business leaders, like Insurity, that help make this a reality."



"Insurity is honored to be able to partner and work with Community Housing Advocates, an organization that is providing hope and transforming lives every day," said Chris Lafond, Chief Executive Officer at Insurity. "We have a close connection to the Hartford community and are committed to helping provide the support, resources, and assistance necessary for individuals to have a place to call home." To learn more about Insurity's corporate social responsibility initiatives, please contact Laura Krause at Laura.Krause@insurity.com. To learn more about the 3rd Annual Hope and Home fundraiser, please visit https://www.hopeandhomect.com/.

About Insurity Insurity is a leading provider of cloud-based software and analytics for insurance carriers, brokers, and MGAs. Insurity is trusted by 15 of the top 25 P&C Carriers in the US and has over 275 cloud-based deployments. Through its best-in-class digital platform and with unrivaled industry experience and thought leadership, Insurity is uniquely positioned to deliver exceptional value, empowering customers to focus on their core businesses, optimize their operations, and provide superior policyholder experiences. Insurity is a portfolio company of GI Partners. For more information, visit www.insurity.com. About Community Housing Advocates, Inc Community Housing Advocates, Inc., the umbrella organization for My Sisters' Place, Inc. and Mercy Housing and Shelter Corp., was formed in 2018 and is dedicated to providing at-risk populations with emergency shelters, transitional living and supportive housing options. CHA serves 6,000 individuals and families annually in Hartford and Middlesex counties. For more information, visit www.sistersplacect.org and www.mercyhousingct.org. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211019005826/en/

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[October 19, 2021] Reproductive Medicine Associates of New York Presents Innovative Research at ASRM's 77th Annual Meeting

BALTIMORE, Md., Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Physicians and scientists at Reproductive Medicine Associates of New York (RMA of New York) and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York presented a record 35 original scientific abstracts at the 77th annual meeting of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) in Baltimore, Maryland. Research topics included single cell DNA sequencing, disparities in health care outcomes, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the patient journey. "Despite the unprecedented and ongoing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, our team of trainees, care providers, and scientists demonstrated personal resilience, scholarly excellence, and unprecedented scientific ingenuity," stated Dr. Alan B. Copperman, Co-Director of RMA of New York, Vice Chairman of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Director of the Division of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York. COVID-19 and its effects on fertility and pregnancy were a focus of this year's academic congress. In a highly anticipated study led by Dr. Devora Aharon and co-authors at RMA of New York, the team explored whether there was any evidence of correlation between the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines and the implantation rate of euploid embryos, and determined that vaccinated patients did ot demonstrate compromised implantation rates or live birth rates. Further expanding on COVID-19 and fertility, a study by RMA of NY and Generate Life Science (Los Angeles, CA) demonstrated that sperm counts are not affected in healthy donors who test positive for COVID-19.



Dr. Jenna Friedenthal presented novel research focused on gaining greater insights into the development of mosaic embryos. Her research on single cell sequencing of whole human blastocysts expands our current understanding of the genetic composition of human embryos. Exploring early development, the results demonstrate that some degree of embryonic mosaicism may be part of normal human embryonic blastocyst development. Additionally, Dr. Alan Copperman and RMA of New York's Clinical Embryology Associate Laboratory Director, Richard Slifkin, were selected to host a symposium highlighting the future of fertility with artificial intelligence in the IVF laboratory. Dr. Copperman added, "This is the year we really were able to leverage big data and create personalized predictive models that provide clinical decision support to help patients make more informed decisions. From the molecular to the personal to the community level, we are making tremendous strides towards preventing and treating infertility and enhancing access to care for all."

About Reproductive Medicine Associates of New York, LLP Reproductive Medicine Associates of New York (RMA of New York) is widely recognized as a global leader in state-of-the-art reproductive medicine. Led by an integrated team of doctors and scientists with extensive reproductive endocrinology, fertility and urology experience and training, RMA of New York consistently reports high success rates in the treatment of infertility to the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology (SART) and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). RMA of New York is committed to increasing access to care by helping patients optimize their insurance coverage and access financing options for treatment. RMA of New York is sensitive to the needs of the LGBTQ+ community, women choosing single-parent motherhood, and women pursuing fertility preservation for elective indications as well as those in need of oncofertility services. Headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, RMA of New York has six patient care facilities in New York, including four facilities in Manhattan, as well as sites in Brooklyn, White Plains, Mount Kisco, throughout Long Island, and abroad in Mexico City. For more information, please visit www.rmany.com . Media Contact: Agnes Stachnik, astachnik@rmany.com View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/reproductive-medicine-associates-of-new-york-presents-innovative-research-at-asrms-77th-annual-meeting-301401473.html SOURCE Reproductive Medicine Associates of New York

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[October 19, 2021] Chamberlain University and Emory Healthcare Launch Initiative to Offer Nurses New Pathway to Earn Bachelor's Degree in Nursing (BSN)

Chamberlain University, which has the largest school of nursing in the U.S., and Emory Healthcare, the most comprehensive academic healthcare system in Georgia with 11 hospitals and 250 clinics, announced today the launch of an initiative designed to address a nationwide workforce need for more registered nurses to continue their education and attain their Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN). This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211019005814/en/ The collaborative effort encourages eligible nurses employed by Emory Healthcare to pursue their BSN degree by utilizing a combination of Emory's Employee Education Plan, which reimburses qualified Emory Healthcare employees annually for tuition costs, and the Chamberlain University Advancing Care Together (ACT) Grant. The Chamberlain University ACT Grant is designed to cover the remaining cost of BSN tuition at Chamberlain for eligible individuals once Emory Healthcare employees reach their annual tuition reimbursement cap. "Chamberlain University is committed to addressing workforce needs through access to high-quality education, and we are pleased to launch this initiative with Emory Healthcare that encourages a culture of lifelong learning for all nurses," said Chamberlain President Karen Cox (News - Alert) , PhD, RN, FACHE, FAAN. "This collaborative effort is designed to ensure a more streamlined pathway for nurses to attain their BSN degree, which in turn supports advanced quality of patient care for the communities they serve." The initiative further advances the mission of Adtalem Global Education (NYSE: ATGE), the parent company of Chamberlain University, as the nation's leading workforce solutions provider for the healthcare industry. It also offers a model to increase the number of baccalaureate-prepared nurses in the workforce nationally to 80 percent from its current level of approximately 56 percent. This goal is being monitored by The Campaign for Nursing's Future, an initiative of the Center to Champion Nursing in America. "At Emory Healthcare, we are dedicated to providing superior patient care, and that means ensuring that our healthcare team has access to quality lifelong learning opportunities," says Sharon Pappas, PhD, RN, FAAN, chief nurse executive for Emory Healthcare. "Through this collaboration with Chamberlain University, we are pleased to enhance our community impact as we do our part to increase the number of nurses who attain their BSNs." The societal benefits of continuing to educate the nursing workforce have been outlined by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing. Chamberlain University, which has a 130-year history of excellence in healthcare education and has more than 1,000 healthcare and educational institution, college and association partners across the country, is actively expanding initiatives such as this one to meet workforce needs in nursing.



"We are committed to advancing talent-focused solutions that strengthen healthcare organizations and the communities they serve, and we are proud that Emory Healthcare selected Chamberlain to support expanded access to high-quality education for their nurses," said James Bartholomew, Adtalem senior vice president, Chamberlain University and Institutional Shared Services. Participating students earn their BSN degree through the RN to BSN online option, which has been awarded exemplary online program status by Quality Matters. Quality Matters is an international leader for quality assurance in online and innovative digital teaching and learning environments that involves a rigorous faculty-driven, peer-reviewed process.

Chamberlain University's other recent collaborations with healthcare systems include a student loan reimbursement program launched with LCMC Health in Louisiana to increase nurses serving the region, and a specialty badge in perioperative nursing that is being developed in partnership with the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses and three healthcare systems including Emory. About Emory Healthcare

Emory Healthcare, with more than 24,000 employees and 11 hospitals, is the most comprehensive academic health system in Georgia. System-wide, it has 2,701 licensed patient beds, more than 2,800 physicians practicing in more than 70 specialties, serving metro Atlanta with 250 locations. It also provides services to greater Georgia through a joint venture at St. Francis-Emory Healthcare Hospital in Columbus, 10 regional affiliate hospitals, and its clinically integrated physician network. About Chamberlain University

Chamberlain University is a part of Adtalem Global Education (NYSE: ATGE). Chamberlain University's mission is to educate, empower and embolden diverse healthcare professionals who advance the health of people, families, communities and nations. Chamberlain is comprised of the College of Nursing, which offers a three-year Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree program and flexible post-licensure programs such as the RN to BSN option, Master of Science in Nursing degree program, Doctor of Nursing Practice degree program and graduate certificates, and the College of Health Professions, which offers Master of Public Health and Master of Social Work degree programs. Chamberlain University is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission www.hlcommission.org, an institutional accreditation agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. For the most updated accreditation information, visit chamberlain.edu/accreditation. To learn more, visit chamberlain.edu. About Adtalem Global Education

Adtalem Global Education (NYSE: ATGE), a leading workforce solutions provider, partners with organizations in the healthcare and financial services industries to solve critical workforce talent needs by expanding access to education, certifications and upskilling programs at scale. With a dedicated focus on driving strong outcomes that increase workforce preparedness, Adtalem empowers a diverse learner population to achieve their goals and make inspiring contributions to the global community. Adtalem is the parent organization of ACAMS, American University of the Caribbean School of Medicine, Becker Professional Education, Chamberlain University, EduPristine, OnCourse Learning, Ross University School of Medicine, Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine and Walden University. Adtalem has more than 10,000 employees, a network of more than 275,000 alumni and serves over 82,000 members across 200 countries and territories. Adtalem was named one of America's Most Responsible Companies 2021 by Newsweek and one of America's Best Employers for Diversity 2021 by Forbes. Follow Adtalem on Twitter (@adtalemglobal), LinkedIn (News - Alert) or visit adtalem.com for more information. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211019005814/en/

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[October 19, 2021] KDD 2021 Celebrates Winning Teams of 25th Annual KDD Cup

Across Three Competition Tracks, KDD Cup 2021 Tackled Multi-Datasets in a Time Series, Large-Scale Graph Machine Learning Challenge Solutions, and Intelligent Algorithms to Strategize Vehicle Traffic Demand SAN DIEGO, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Special Interest Group on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining (SIGKDD) today recognized the winning teams of this year's KDD Cup, the annual competition held at KDD 2021, the premier interdisciplinary conference in data science. KDD Cup 2021, which took place virtually Aug. 14-18, 2021, crowdsourced participants who are helping to solve challenges within the knowledge discovery and data mining industry, providing a platform for aspiring and experienced data scientists alike to build their professional profiles and network with leading professionals in the field during KDD 2021. "Every year, the KDD Cup attracts the brightest data science talent across the globe, and competitors in this year's competition did not hold back. All entries demonstrated ingenuity, impact, and impeccable teamwork. I thank all of the teams this year and congratulate those that rose to the topteams that fundamentally challenged themselves and the way the world thinks when it comes to data science," said Wei Wang, SIGKDD chair and professor in computer science at the University of California, Los Angeles. This year's competition was supported by several companies and universities who support the data science ecosystem including Facebook AI, TU Dortmund, Intel, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Yunqi Academy of Engineering, Stanford University, Hexagon-ML, and Tianrang. More than 1,100 teams competed in the City Brain Challenge, 193 teams in the Time Series, and 143 teams in the Open Graph Benchmark (OGB) Large Scale Challenge (LSC), with competition winners selected by an entirely automated process. KDD Cup 2021 winners include: KDD Cup Track 1: Multi-Dataset Time Series Anomaly Detection  C reating New Benchmarks for Time Series Anomaly Detection

First place went to DeepBlueAI, which included Zhixing He , Xu Zhang , and Jin Wang .

, , and .

Second place went to Huawei Noah's Ark Lab, which included Marcus Kalander and Sixiao Yang.

Ark Lab, which included and Sixiao Yang.



Third plae went to Hitchi America R&D, which included Qiyao Wang , Wei Huang , Ahmed Farahat , and Haiyan Wang .

, , , and . KDD Cup Track 2: Open Graph Benchmark (OGB) Large Scale Challenge (LSC) for Graph Machine Learning  Developing a State-of-the-Art Machine Learning Graph Model for Massive Modern Datasets

First place in adopted recent advanced technique for predicting papers' subject areas in a heterogeneous academic graph went to BD-PGL, which included Yunsheng Shi , Zhengjie Huang , Weibin Li , Weiyue Su, and Shikun Feng .

, , , Weiyue Su, and .

Second place went to Academic, which included Petar Velickovic , Peter Battaglia , Jonathan Godwin , Alvaro Sanchez , David Budden , Shantanu Thakoor , Jacklynn Stott , Ravichandra Addanki , Thomas Keck , and Andreea Deac .

, , , , , , , , , and .



Third place went to Synerise AI, which included Michal Daniluk , Jacek Dabrowski , Konrad Goluchowski, and Barbara Rychalska .

, , Konrad Goluchowski, and .

First place for better performance and use for predicting missing facts in a knowledge graph went to BD-PGL, which included Weiyue Su, Shikun Feng , Zeyang Fang, Huijuan Wang , Siming Dai , Hui Zhong , Yunsheng Shi , and Zhengjie Huang .

, Zeyang Fang, , , , , and .

Second place went to OhMyGod, which included Weihua Peng .

.



Third place went to GraphMIRAcles, which included Jianyu Cai , Jiajun Chen , Taoxing Pan, Zhanqiu Zhang, and Jie Wang .

, , Taoxing Pan, Zhanqiu Zhang, and .

First place for predicting a quantum property of molecular graphsdataset and prediction task went to MachineLearning, which included Chengxuan Ying, Mingqi Yang , Shengjie Luo , Tianle Cai, Guolin Ke , Di He , Shuxin Zheng , Chenglin Wu , Yuxin Wang , and Yanming Shen .

, , Tianle Cai, , , , , , and .

Second place went to SuperHelix, which included Shanzhuo Zhang, Lihang Liu , Sheng Gao , Donglong He, Weibin Li , Zhengjie Huang , Weiyue Su, and Wenjin Wang .

, , Donglong He, , , Weiyue Su, and .



Third place went to Quantum, which included Peter Velickovic , Peter Battaglia , Jonathan Godwin , Alvaro Sanchez , David Budden , Shantanu Thakoor , Jaclynn Stott , Ravichandra Addanki , Sibon Li, and Andreea Deac .

, , , , , , , , Sibon Li, and . KDD Cup Track 3: City Brain Challenge  Providing a City-Scale Road Network and its Traffic Demand

First place went to IntelligentLight, which included Gang Song, Zheng Zhang , Chufan Wang, Yucheng Gu , and Zeyu Sun .

, Chufan Wang, , and .

Second place went to GoodGoodStudy, which included Zhenzhe Ying, Zhuoer Xu, Hui Li , Haotian Wang , and Shiwen Cui .

, , and .



Third place went to 4QC_team, which included Chuan Qin .



Aug. 14-18, 2022 in Washington, D.C. For additional information on this year's cup and winners, please contact kddcup2021@kdd.org. About ACM SIGKDD:

ACM is the premier global professional organization for researchers and professionals dedicated to the advancement of science and the practice of knowledge discovery and data mining. SIGKDD is ACM's Special Interest Group on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining. The annual KDD International Conference on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining is the premier interdisciplinary conference for data mining, data science and analytics.

For more information on KDD, please visit: https://www.kdd.org/ . Follow KDD on:

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/SIGKDD

Twitterhttps://twitter.com/kdd_news

LinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/groups/160888/ Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/890716/KDD_Logo.jpg SOURCE ACM SIGKDD

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[October 19, 2021] HashiCorp to Collaborate with Microsoft on Secure Remote Access Solution for Azure Active Directory

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 19, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- HashiCorp, a leader in multi-cloud infrastructure automation software, today announced it has expanded its collaboration with Microsoft to deliver a solution to make it easy to securely access services, applications, and hosts anywhere, as part of a zero trust security framework using HashiCorp Boundary and Microsoft Azure Active Directory (Azure AD).

Combining HashiCorps secure remote access solution, Boundary, with Microsofts enterprise identity platform, Azure AD, will enable easy access to applications and critical systems. The solution will enable the use of fine-grained authorization policies based on an organizations trusted identities. HashiCorp and Microsoft are delivering a tight integration between Boundary and Azure AD to offer seamless, automated onboarding for Azure identities, targets, roles, and permissions into a Boundary environment. Security attacks are increasing and becoming more disruptive and costly every year. Compounding this is a growing remote workforce making it more difficult to know who and what to trust, said Armon Dadgar, co-founder & CTO, HashiCorp. Perimeter based security and traditional privileged access management tools are no longer sufficient in increasingly dynamic cloud environments. The time for zero trust security is now and in collaboration with Microsoft, we are building a secure remote access solution that is at the forefront of cloud security and zero trust. The need for secure remote access to dynamic environments is growing rapidly and legacy solutions built around securing access to an organizations private network are not built to scale effectively in ephemeral, multi-cloud environments. The overhead to manage configurations and access across highly manual security workflows impedes employee productivity and increases the risk of credential sprawl and the likelihood of a breach. This collaboration unites HashiCorps modern, simple secure remte access solution with Microsofts enterprise identity platform to empower users to quickly and easily access applications and critical systems with fine-grained authorization.



HashiCorp and Microsoft share a vision about how to improve security posture while expanding access to critical resources and infrastructure in a multi-cloud, remote world. We place a strong emphasis on our relationship with HashiCorp since both companies embrace multi-cloud automation and security with such rigor, said Sue Bohn, vice president, Identity and Network Access division, Microsoft. This next stage in this collaborationfocused on secure remote accessexpands our commitment to meeting customers where they are and bringing zero trust security to bear in constantly evolving, heterogeneous environments. Across clouds, local datacenters, and low-trust networks, Boundary provides an easy solution to protect and safeguard access to applications and critical systems by leveraging trusted identities without exposing the underlying network. Boundary integrates with trusted identity platforms, such as Azure Active Directory, Okta, Ping, and many others that support OpenID Connect.

Supporting Materials

HashiCorp Boundary: boundaryproject.io/

Microsoft Azure Active Directory: azure.microsoft.com/en-us/services/active-directory/ About HashiCorp

HashiCorp is a leader in multi-cloud infrastructure automation software. The HashiCorp software suite enables organizations to adopt consistent workflows and a standardized approach to automating the critical process involved in delivering applications in the cloud: infrastructure provisioning, security, networking, and application deployment. HashiCorps open source tools Vagrant, Packer, Terraform, Vault, Consul, Nomad, Boundary, and Waypoint were downloaded approximately 100 million times during the fiscal year ended January 31, 2021. Enterprise and managed service versions of these products enhance the open source tools with features that promote collaboration, operations, governance, and multi-datacenter functionality. The company is headquartered in San Francisco, though 90 percent of HashiCorp employees work remotely, strategically distributed around the globe. HashiCorp is backed by Bessemer Venture Partners, Franklin Templeton, Geodesic Capital, GGV Capital, IVP, Mayfield, Redpoint Ventures, T. Rowe Price funds and accounts, and True Ventures. For more information, visit hashicorp.com or follow HashiCorp on Twitter @HashiCorp . All product and company names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders. Media & Analyst Contact

Kate Lehman

media@hashicorp.com



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[October 19, 2021] Two School Divisions in Southwest Virginia Go Solar

STAUNTON, Va., Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Secure Futures Solar has signed an agreement with school divisions in Wise and Lee Counties in Southwest Virginia to intall solar power systems on site at nine campuses across both counties. Both school divisions will receive solar power equipment at no upfront cost financed by power purchase agreements. All solar projects will also include, at no additional cost, services to support workforce development and to add lessons on clean energy to classroom curricula. In Wise County, solar power systems will be installed at four elementary and middle school campuses under a 20-year PPA, which is expected to save the school division $7.5 million over the lifetime of the solar equipment by helping reduce demand for power from the local electric utility. In Lee County, five elementary, middle and high schools will host solar power systems under a 25-year PPA, expected to save $4 million in avoided energy costs. Three campuses of Lee County Schools will also receive roof restoration services under the school division's solar power purchase agreement. Wise County represents the first "ambassador" project in a campaign known as Securing Solar for Southwest Virginia founded to install solar power, create well-paying clean energy jobs and establish a local solar power industry in the coalfield region of Southwest Virginia. The initiative, a partnership between Secure Futures and the Solar Workgroup of Southwest Virginia, has committed to install five solar ambassador projects over a two-year period with a total generating capacity of ten megawatts. "We are pleased that the campaign has just booked its first two projects within days of each other," said Secure Futures President Anthony Smith. "Going solar will help schools in Wise and Lee Counties save money on power that they can invest in their core educational mission. Both projects will also provide an on-ramp for local workers to the solar industry, the fastest-growing job creator in the United States today."



The Securing Solar campaign supports economic development for the coalfield region that is sustainable both financially and environmentally through a unique approach to seeding a solar industry based locally in Southwest Virginia. First, the campaign offers job training to help local workers qualify as certified solar installers through a partnership between Mountain Empire Community College and local vocational technology and high schools. But, unlike other workforce development efforts that train workers but do not offer them any immediate employment (an approach known as "push and pray"), Securing Solar will graduate newly trained solar installers directly into work on live projects in the local area (an approach called "demand-pull").

Second, the campaign has founded a locally based solar installation company, Lonesome Pine Solar, to employ the newly trained workers on projects developed by the Securing Solar campaign. Starting with Wise and Lee County Schools, the start-up company will continue to employ workers to complete future projects from Securing Solar. Once the campaign is completed, Lonesome Pine will remain to provide on-site solar power to commercial and residential solar customers in Southwest Virginia. "We hope that momentum from our ambassador projects will stimulate demand for additional schools, hospitals, businesses and homeowners to go solar in Southwest Virginia and to consider Lonesome Pine as their first choice," said Smith. "With enough activity, this locally based effort can generate more solar jobs and ripple out into local spending and investment that benefits the whole community." Recent changes to state law covering utility territories of Appalachian Power and Old Dominion Power have made distributed solar projects more viable in Southwest Virginia. Bills passed by the Virginia General Assembly and sponsored by Sen. John Edwards of Roanoke, Del. Chris Hurst of Blacksburg and Del. Terry Kilgore of Gate City lifted restrictions on net metering and made clear that public entities such as schools, town halls, libraries and landfills are allowed to finance solar projects through power purchase agreements. About Secure Futures, LLC

As a market and policy leader, Secure Futures builds, owns, manages and funds affordable Resilient Solar Solutions for colleges and universities, schools, hospitals and businesses. Based in Staunton, Va., with offices in Richmond, Va, Wise, Va, and Charlotte, NC, the company combines state-ofthe-art solar technology with an innovative business model to make commercial scale solar readily affordable in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast, helping customers to realize the economic, environmental, and community benefits of solar energy. As a Certified B Corp, Secure Futures has met the exacting standards for social and environmental performance, transparency and accountability established by the nonprofit B Lab. For more information: www.securefutures.solar. Media Contact: Erik Curren

Marketing Advisor

Secure Futures Solar

(540) 466-6128

erik@securefutures.solar View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/two-school-divisions-in-southwest-virginia-go-solar-301403668.html SOURCE Secure Futures LLC

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[October 19, 2021]

Sikich expands digital transformation capabilities with acquisition of enterprise software and cloud services consultancy

CHICAGO, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Sikich announced today the acquisition of PA Group USA, an enterprise software and cloud services firm that implements and optimizes enterprise resource planning, customer relationship management and manufacturing execution systems.

"As we continue to support manufacturers in their digital transformation journeys, PA Group USA will help us strengthen our capabilities in this key industry," said Jim Drumm, head of Sikich's technology team. "The adition of PA Group USA is another important step in our ongoing growth efforts, which, in the end, enhance our ability to address clients' evolving business needs."







A Microsoft Dynamics Gold Certified Partner and Cloud Solutions Provider, PA Group USA offers ERP, CRM and MES consulting, alongside business intelligence, marketing automation and cloud and IT infrastructure services.

"We're excited to join forces with a major industry player like Sikich," said Bradley Hanon, CEO of PA Group USA, who will join Sikich as a partner. "Our team and our clients will benefit from access to Sikich's deep bench of experts and wide range of digital transformation capabilities."

Sikich's national technology consultancy helps companies across industries  including?life sciences, finance, manufacturing, distribution, and professional services  improve productivity and performance with innovative digital strategies and technology solutions. Sikich is a leader in? digital transformation , which includes cloud and emerging technologies, and has one of the deepest, most diverse solution portfolios in the middle market. Sikich's solutions include business applications and workplace productivity, security and compliance, artificial intelligence, machine learning, blockchain?and robotic process automation.????

Approximately 20 employees from PA Group USA will join Sikich and continue to work from their office in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The transaction is scheduled to close on Oct. 31.

About Sikich

Sikich LLP is a global company specializing in technology-enabled professional services. With more than 1,000 employees, Sikich draws on a diverse portfolio of technology solutions to deliver transformative digital strategies and ranks as one of the largest CPA firms in the United States. From corporations and not-for-profits to state and local governments, Sikich clients utilize a broad spectrum of services* and products to help them improve performance and achieve long-term, strategic goals.

*Securities offered through Sikich Corporate Finance LLC, member FINRA/SIPC. Investment advisory services offered through Sikich Financial, an SEC Registered Investment Advisor.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/sikich-expands-digital-transformation-capabilities-with-acquisition-of-enterprise-software-and-cloud-services-consultancy-301403694.html

SOURCE Sikich
[October 19, 2021] Report Finds "Americans Further Behind in all Walks of Life"-- How Fair Neobank Founder Khalid Parekh Aims to Solve This Disparity with Wealth Building Opportunities

HOUSTON, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Khalid Parekh's recent article in Fast Company magazine explains how his membership-driven bank Fair is offering solutions for underserved communities that usually pay excessive bank fees or even get completely pushed out of traditional banking services. He also explains how mission-driven neobanks like his are working to make real change for the better. With more than half of Americans lacking an adequate emergency fund, improved banking solutions could be a game changer for many. Many are still struggling despite billions of dollars in relief money from federal and state governments, according to the new research from NPR, the Robert Wood Foundation and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. "What we have here is a lot of people who are still one step from drowning financially," said Robert Blendon, emeritus professor of health policy and political analysis at the Harvard Chan School. Findings from the NPR study include: Thirty-eight percent of households across the nation report facing serious financial problems in the past few months.

Among Latino, Black and Native American households, more than 50% had serious financial problems, while 29% of white households did.

This disparity is echoed in many other poll findings, with the minority families bearing a disproportionate share of the pandemics' socio-economic impact. In his Fast Company article Parekh cites a Bankrate survey showing that Black and Hispanic respondents pay twice as much in banking fees as white respondents. He also explains how a 2019 Pew Research Center study shows that about 25% of Hispanic and Black Americans can only access the internet at home with their smartphones. Only 12% of white Americans are in the same situation. Parekh also lists additional ways that Fair bank is designed to lift up underserved populations by offering: Transparent membership with no overdraft fees, no balance minimums and no additional fees at a network of over 55,000 ATMs

A newwealth building investment feature that can return annual dividends of up to 4%

International money transfers with no additional fees

Debit cards for children included with membership



Membership enrollment is available at bankwithfair.com , and the Fair mobile app can be downloaded in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. Fair membership can be completed with a social security number or a government-issued ID, such as a valid passport or driver's license. Memberships are $69 a year or $6.99 a month. Fair is also offering a lifetime membership for a one-time fee of $99 until Dec. 31, 2021.

ABOUT FAIR

Fair is an ethical, socially responsible neobank and digital financial services platform. Fair offers halal-certified, membership-based services to eliminate surprise fees that can prevent financial freedom and savings opportunities. Dedicated to values that place people over profit, Fair practices socially responsible investing (SRI), environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) investing and is halal-certified through AAOIFI. Fair donates 2.5% of its profits to global refugee causes and racial economic empowerment initiatives. Fair banking services are provided by Coastal Community Bank, member FDIC. Investment and retirement services will be provided by Fair Invest, LLC. Terms and conditions apply and can be found at bankwithfair.com . Connect with @bankwithfair on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn. Disclaimers: Investment and lending products are provided by Fair Invest, LLC, a registered investment advisory firm with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Custodial and brokerage services are provided by Apex Clearing Corporation, a member of the New York Stock Exchange ( https://www.nyse.com/ ), FINRA ( https://www.finra.org/ ), and SIPC ( http://www.sipc.org/ ). Please note that these products are: Protected by SIPC insurance for Fair Invest, LLC accounts on APEX Platform, not insured by FDIC insurance. SIPC insurance covers customer claims up to $500,000, with a maximum of $250,000 for cash claims. For details, see www.sipc.org

Not a deposit or other obligation of, or guaranteed by Coastal Community Bank, Member FDIC, or any bank affiliate

Subject to risk including possible loss of invested principal. This risk is assumed by Fair Invest, LLC so member's invested principal will not be impacted by such losses. For details, see https://bankwithfair.com/terms-conditions/ View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/report-finds-americans-further-behind-in-all-walks-of-life-how-fair-neobank-founder-khalid-parekh-aims-to-solve-this-disparity-with-wealth-building-opportunities-301403711.html SOURCE Fair

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[October 19, 2021] Bellwether Housing and Amazon Team Up to Preserve Affordable Housing

Bellwether Housing, King County, Washington's largest nonprofit affordable housing provider, has acquired 213 affordable homes at two locations: The BLVD, a 136-unit apartment complex in Kent and The Marina Club, a 77-unit in Des Moines. This acquisition is part of Bellwether's strategy to preserve existing affordability levels in lower-cost rental housing in locations highly vulnerable to steep rent increases. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211019005851/en/ The BLVD Apartment Community in Kent, Washington (Photo: Business Wire) These acquisitions were made possible by the Amazon Housing Equity Fund, a $2 billion commitment to preserve and create more than 20,000 affordable housing units by offering low-rate loans and grants to housing patners, traditional and non-traditional public agencies, and minority-led organizations. The low-cost financing allows Bellwether to compete with commercial-rate buyers who would acquire these units with the goal of significantly increasing existing rents.



Bellwether's CEO, Susan Boyd, explained, "The Amazon Housing Equity Fund could not have come at a better time. Our goal has been to preserve as much affordability in King County as we can before it's too late. Public funding sources are severely constrained and have not prioritized this kind of strategy. As we were preparing our hunt for low-cost capital, Amazon announced its Fund. We anticipate this tool will allow us to bring hundreds more units into permanent affordability and prevent hundreds of lower income families from being displaced from their homes." "We are so pleased to be a part of the solution by addressing housing shortages in our region," said Catherine Buell, Director of the Amazon Housing Equity Fund. "By teaming up with organizations such as Bellwether Housing, we are able to help grow the housing stock for households making moderate- to low-incomes. These households may include teachers, transit workers and firefighters -- people whose jobs may pay a modest income, but whose contributions are invaluable."

The Amazon Housing Equity Fund has made prior investments in Puget Sound including funding $185.5 million in low-rate loans and grants to King County Housing Authority to preserve affordability for 1,000 apartment homes and committing $100 million in low-rate funding to developers to help create and expedite the development of Sound Transit property offered for affordable housing. These latest commitments bring that figure to more than $310 million in loans and grants in the region to date. Bellwether's preservation strategy has targeted South King County, where the development of light rail and other commercial growth are pushing rents up faster than other parts of the region, and where immigrants, refugees and other lower income families are particularly vulnerable to displacement. The financing for these acquisitions also included tax-exempt financing from CitiBank and equity investments from Bellwether Housing. About Bellwether Housing: Bellwether Housing is the largest private, nonprofit affordable housing provider in Seattle. Bellwether has developed and operated housing for low-income individuals, families, seniors and households transitioning out of homelessness since 1980. We currently serve over 3500 residents in 2,100 apartments and intend to serve 4600 residents in 47 buildings by 2025. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211019005851/en/

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[October 19, 2021] D. Jeremy DeMar joins NGA 911 Team

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif., Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- NGA 911, LLC, a leading provider of Next Generation Core Services (NGCS) and Advanced 911 Call Handling announced Monday the appointment of D. Jeremy DeMar, MA, CPE, ENP as Director of Engagement and Outreach. A thought leader and advocate for the emergency communications profession, Mr. DeMar brings close to nineteen years of operational and administrative experience from the 9-1-1 sector to the NGA 911 team. Mr. DeMar first served as a Police Dispatcher at the Emergency Communications Department (ECD) in Rochester, New York. Later, he would be promoted to the position of Dispatcher II (Police, Fire, EMS), and finally, to the position of Shift Supervisor. In January 2018, Mr. DeMar accepted an appointment as Director of Emergency Communications for the City of Springfield, Massachusetts, a position he would hold until April 2020, at which time he would accept an appointment to Executive Director of the Mountain Valley Emergency Communications Center (MVECC) in New Providence, New Jersey. Mr. DeMar holds undergraduate degrees in Fire Science and Emergency Management, and in March of 2017, he completd graduate studies with the Naval Postgraduate School (Monterey, California), authoring and publishing a Master's Thesis titled "Next Generation 9-1-1: Policy Implications of Incident Related Imagery on the Public Safety Answering Point". His research has been cited in a number of graduate level works, and the term he coined during his graduate studies, Incident Related Imagery, appears in a variety of public safety publications, most recently in a DHS/CISA white paper titled "Next Generation 911 Incident-Related Imagery Impacts 101". In September 2021, Mr. DeMar was selected to provide the keynote address at the Missouri Public Safety Communications Conference, where he delivered a graduate level overview of his thesis research.



Mr. DeMar's service to the 9-1-1 profession extends far beyond his work in the emergency communications center. Previously, he served as the co-chair of the National Joint TERT Initiative (NJTI) representing APCO; on APCO's Atlantic Chapter as a Board Member; on NENA's Education Advisory Board, and as a Board Member of the NG 9-1-1 Institute. Currently he serves on SAFECOM as a member of the NG 9-1-1 Working Group; on APCO's Cybersecurity Committee and on APCO's Standards Development Group for Career Progression in the PSAP. "It is critical for industry partners and solution providers serving the 9-1-1 community to fully understand the needs of their clients and frontline team members. This is absolutely the case when it comes to proposing, deploying, and supporting cutting-edge technologies designed to improve emergency communications center operations," DeMar said. "In conversations with NGA 911's leadership team prior to my appointment, it became clear to me how committed this group and this organization were not only to furthering the advancement of Next Generation 9-1-1 technologies, but more importantly, doing so only after understanding the needs of the client and its public safety partners. I am extremely proud to be joining the NGA 911 team and excited to see what the future holds for this organization and for the 9-1-1 profession."

"As Director of Outreach and Engagement, Mr. DeMar will focus on creating a welcoming and informative conduit between NGA 911 and the emergency communications community. His expertise in PSAP/ECC administration and operation coupled with his passion for furthering awareness and understanding of emerging technologies in the 9-1-1 space make him a wonderful addition to the NGA911 team," said Don Ferguson, CEO NGA 911. CONTACT: NGA 911, marketing@nga911.com View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/d-jeremy-demar-joins-nga-911-team-301403767.html SOURCE NGA 911

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[October 19, 2021] Tauriga Sciences Inc.'s Advertising Campaign in Times Square Goes Live

This Campaign is Focused on the Companys Flagship Brand: Tauri-Gum NEW YORK, NY, Oct. 19, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NewMediaWire -- Tauriga Sciences, Inc. (OTCQB: TAUG) (Tauriga or the Company), a New York based diversified Life Sciences Company, today announced that its Advertising Campaign in Times Square (New York City), has Gone Live! This Advertising Campaign is expected to run through January 5, 2022. The Company expects for its flagship brand, Tauri-Gum, to benefit from the substantial exposure and constant eyeballs.

Additionally, the Companys Advertisement will be running during New Years Eve 2021 (December 31, 2021). Times Square is always a popular location during New Years Eve. The Campaign itself consists of a large digital billboard platform, located within the following Venue: The 1500 Broadway Spectacular, strategically positioned in the heart of the Times Square Plaza, The Gateway to New York. The actual digital billboard, itself, is 56 feet wide by 29 feet tall, for a total of 1,624 square feet of viewing space. Over the course of this 83-day advertising campaign (the campaign), the airtime package guarantees a minimum of five 15 second Tauri-Gum advertisements per hour / airing 20 hours per day. Over the course of the campaign, there will be a minimum of 8,300 of the above-referenced 15 second Tauri-Gum advertisements. This Advertising Campaign is Titled: 83 Days in the Big Apple ABOUT TAURIGA SCIENCES INC. Tauriga Sciences, Inc. (TAUG) is a revenue generating, diversified life sciences company, engaged in several major business activities and initiatives. The company manufactures and distributes several proprietary retail products and product lines, mainly focused on the Cannabidiol (CBD) and Cannabigerol (CBG) Edibles market segment. The main product line, branded as Tauri-Gum, consists of a proprietary supplement chewing gum that is Kosher certified, Halal certified, and Vegan Formulated (CBD Infused Tauri-Gum Flavors: Mint, Blood Orange, Pomegranate), (CBG Infused Tauri-Gum Flavors: Peach-Lemon, Black Currant), (DELTA 8 THC Infsed Tauri-Gum Flavor: Evergreen Mint), (Vitamin C + Zinc Infused Tauri-Gum Flavor: Pear Bellini), (Caffeine Infused Tauri-Gum Flavor: Cherry Lime Rickey), & (Vitamin D3 Infused Tauri-Gum Flavor: Golden Raspberry). The Companys commercialization strategy consists of a broad array of retail customers, distributors, and a fast-growing E-Commerce business segment (E-Commerce website: www.taurigum.com). Please visit our corporate website, for additional information, as well as inquiries, at http://www.tauriga.com



Complementary to the Companys retail business, is its ongoing Pharmaceutical Development initiative. This relates to the development of a proposed Pharmaceutical grade version of Tauri-Gum, for nausea regulation (specifically designed for the following indication: Patients Subjected to Ongoing Chemotherapy Treatment). On March 22, 2021, the Company announced that it had Converted its U.S. Provisional Patent Application (filed on March 17, 2020) into a U.S. Non-Provisional Patent Application. The Patent, filed with the U.S.P.T.O. is Titled MEDICATED CBD COMPOSITIONS, METHODS OF MANUFACTURING, AND METHODS OF TREATMENT. On December 18, 2020 the Company disclosed that it had entered into a Master Services Agreement with CSTI to lead the Company's clinical development efforts. The Company is headquartered in Wappingers Falls, New York. In addition, the Company operates two full time E-Commerce fulfillment centers: one located in Montgomery, Texas and the other in Brooklyn, New York.

DISCLAIMER -- Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains certain forward-looking statements as defined by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 which represent managements beliefs and assumptions concerning future events. These forward-looking statements are often indicated by using words such as may, will, expects, anticipates, believes, hopes, believes, or plans, and may include statements regarding corporate objectives as well as the attainment of certain corporate goals and milestones. Forward-looking statements are based on present circumstances and on managements present beliefs with respect to events that have not occurred, that may not occur, or that may occur with different consequences or timing than those now assumed or anticipated. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed in forward looking statements due to known and unknown risks and uncertainties, such as are not guarantees of general economic and business conditions, the ability to successfully develop and market products, consumer and business consumption habits, the ability to consummate successful acquisition and licensing transactions, fluctuations in exchange rates, and other factors over which Tauriga has little or no control. Many of these risks and uncertainties are discussed in greater detail in the Risk Factors section of Taurigas Form 10-K and other periodic filings made from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Such forward-looking statements are made only as of the date of this release, and Tauriga assumes no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Contact: Tauriga Sciences, Inc. 4 Nancy Court, Suite 4 Wappingers Falls, NY 12590 Chief Executive Officer Mr. Seth M. Shaw Email: sshaw@tauriga.com cell # (917) 796 9926 Company Instagram: @taurigum Personal Instagram: @sethsms47 Twitter: @SethMShaw Corp. Website: www.tauriga.com E-Commerce Website: www.taurigum.com Attachment 1) Layout Ad Image for Oct 19 PR



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[October 19, 2021] New Aim High CEO to Focus on Fighting Systemic Barriers to Education and Northern California's Growing Teacher Shortage

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Aim High announced today it has selected its next chief executive officer, Julia Chih. Alec Lee, Aim High's co-founder and executive director, is retiring after 35 years of leadership and commitment to Aim High. Chih has nearly two decades of experience in education, equity and advocacy-focused roles. She is currently serving as Interim CEO at College Track, an equity-focused education nonprofit. During her time with College Track, Chih built the operational infrastructure that grew the organization from $10 million to $40 million, tripling the number of students served and equipping more students with skills to pursue a college degree. At Aim High, Chih plans to expand Aim High's reach by offering more middle school students free summer learning experiences that propel them through high school to college, while also deepening Aim High's work with aspiring and professional educators. "Aim High inspires me with the promise of what is possible when we equip middle school scholars to build academic confidence, discover a love of learning and develop the skills they need to live a life aligned to their passions," Chih said. Aim High's multi-year middle school program is the ideal vehicle to help students recover from summer and pandemic learning loss. A recent Stanford study found that Aim High programs reduce chronic absenteeism by 22 percent and suspension by 37 percent for participants. On average, it also improves students' English language arts scores by six points. The study estimated that if students across California accessed Aim High programs, 12,403 fewer students would be chronically absent, 9,745 fewer students would be suspended and 13,184 6th and 7th graders would meet important benchmarks per year.



As teachers resign and retire in record numbers, Chih is deeply committed to focusing on Aim High's teacher workforce as well. She wants to serve even more aspiring teachers, ensuring California has a diverse, talented teaching workforce to serve the state's children well. In her role as CEO, she will build on Aim High's success78% of Aim High-trained teachers remain in the teaching field for at least five years. Chih's experience as a first-generation college graduate fuels her commitment to equity in education. She has dedicated her career to breaking down hurdles standing in the way of college access and has made creating life-changing opportunities for students her life's work.

"I learned about taking the PSATs by accident when I overheard my friends talking about it, so I signed up, too. Too much is still determined by zip code, by socioeconomic status and by chance. The status quo is unacceptable," Chih said. "The systemic injustices that stand in the way of equal opportunities for all fuel my fervent discontent, and it is why I have devoted my career to educational equity." Chih holds a Master's in Public Affairs and Urban and Regional Planning from Princeton University and a Bachelor's of Science in Social Welfare from the University of California at Berkeley. Her first day as Aim High's CEO is January 17. About Aim High

At Aim High, students with limited options unlock their limitless potential. Grounded in a welcoming community where every kid feels seen and supported, Aim High's multi-year summer enrichment program gives students from low-income neighborhoods the confidence to succeed in high school and beyond, while offering its alumni a pathway into the field of education. Aim High operates in San Francisco, Oakland, Richmond, Novato, Redwood City, East Palo Alto, Napa, San Rafael and Tahoe/Truckee. To learn more, visit www.aimhigh.org View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-aim-high-ceo-to-focus-on-fighting-systemic-barriers-to-education-and-northern-californias-growing-teacher-shortage-301403801.html SOURCE Aim High

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[October 19, 2021] Medical Mutual Chairman, President and CEO, Rick Chiricosta, Announces Plan to Retire

Rick Chiricosta today announced his plan to retire as Chairman, President and CEO of Medical Mutual of Ohio, a role he has held since January 2009. Mr. Chiricosta will remain with Medical Mutual through the end of 2022 to provide a smooth and seamless leadership transition. The board has selected executive search firm Spencer Stuart to assist with the search for Mr. Chiricosta's successor. "On behalf of our board of directors and the Medical Mutual family, I want to thank Rick for his visionary leadership and unwavering dedication to the communities we serve," said Lead Director Bob King. "He has been the heart and soul of our company, fiercely dedicated to its customers and its employees, for more than a decade. I couldn't be happier with the positive momentum he and his team have created in a very challenging environment. One of the greatest legacies Rick will leave behind is an extraordinarily engaged employee culture of service and excellence." Mr. Chiricosta began his career with Medical Mutual in 1986 as Controller of the company's western division in Toledo. In 1989, he became Chief Financial Officer for Medical Life Insurance Company, then a wholly owned subsidiary of Medical Mutual. After a brief departure in 1998, Mr. Chiricosta returned to Medical Mutual in 1999 to serve as Vice President of Finance. In 2006, he was named to the dual roles of President, Consumers Life Insurance Company, and Executive Vice President, Mergers & Acquisitions. He was then named President and Chief Executive Officer in 2009 following the untimely death of Kent Clapp. In 2013, he was named Chairman of Medical Mutual's board of directors. During his tenure with Medical Mutual, Mr. Chiricosta had numerous accomplishments that greatly contributed to the company's success. Helped build Medical Life into one of the country's most successful group life and disability carriers before it was sold by Medical Mutual in 1997. Ten years later, Mr. Chiricosta led the company's re-entry into the life insurance business, which continues to represent an important component of Medica Mutual's product offerings.

At a time when the company's future was in jeopardy, completed several major financial transactions, collectively raising more than $100 million in cash and much-needed equity.

Led Medical Mutual through the adoption and implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which expanded access to health insurance for thousands of Ohioans.

Significantly broadened access to healthcare through the expansion of Medical Mutual's Northeast Ohio provider network; established a comprehensive national network to better serve our members across the country.

Was behind Medical Mutual's entry into Medicare Advantage in 2016, with the company earning the highest enrollment of any new plan in the United States that year; and most recently, earning the coveted 5-Star designation for the Medicare Advantage PPO plans.

Doubled the company's surplus, ensuring the company's financial stability and availability of capital required to fund future investments necessary to focus on the long-term betterment of Ohioans.

Oversaw key acquisitions, including Superior Dental Care, HealthSpan, Bravo Wellness and ESI (News - Alert) Employee Assistance Group, helping Medical Mutual grow and diversify its product lines and geographic footprint.

Created Mutual Appreciation, an employee-engagement and customer-retention program that rewards employees when they patronize Medical Mutual customers, helping to generate more than $210 million for Ohio businesses.



"It has been an honor of a lifetime to serve Medical Mutual's members and employees," said Mr. Chiricosta. "This company, and the amazing people who work here, are so important to Ohio's communities. I'm forever grateful for the time I have spent here and the impact it has had on my life."

About Medical Mutual of Ohio Founded in 1934, Medical Mutual is the oldest and one of the largest health insurance companies based in Ohio. We provide peace of mind to more than 1.5 million Ohioans through our high-quality health, life, disability, dental, vision and indemnity plans. We offer fully insured and self-funded group coverage, including stop loss, as well as Medicare Advantage, Medicare Supplement and individual plans. Medical Mutual's status as a mutual company means we are owned by our members, not stockholders, so we don't answer to Wall Street analysts or pay dividends to investors. Instead, we focus on developing products and services that allow us to better serve our customers and the communities around us and help our members achieve their best possible health and quality of life. For more information, visit the company's website at MedMutual.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211019006113/en/

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[October 19, 2021] Browser Isolation Cybersecurity Vendor WEBGAP Receives Department of Defense Approval

Remote browser isolation (RBI) cybersecurity vendor WEBGAP today announced that they had been awarded a CAGE (Commercial and Government Entity) code by the Department of Defense's combat logistics support agency DLA.mil (Defense Logistics Agency). The DLA authorized WEBGAP as a vendor on SAM.gov, making them an approved US federal government vendor, shortly after the company won an annual contract with the US Army. WEBGAP CEO Guise Bule said today "I am thrilled that we have received approval from the DoD/DLA in the form of a CAGE code. There are many different cybersecurity contracting opportunities to pursue within the federal government, this is great news for our shareholders and fantastic news for the future of WEBGAP. There are very large ongoing needs for browser isolation within all levels of the federal government and we look to bid competitively on contract opportunities as an approved vendor on the federal procurement system."



WEBGAP spent several months engaged in proof-of-concept deployments before winning an annual contract with the US Army following their extensive testing of competitive solutions. CEO Guise Bule commented "I obviously cannot discuss any details of our work, but a high-ranking officer recently told me that our technology is significantly faster and significantly more stable than our competitors which made me really happy, their feedback undoubtedly helped our cause within the Department of Defense." He went on to say "I am proud of the whole team at WEBGAP, and I am deeply grateful for the work of our CISO Ryan Miller, a former US Army veteran and Purple Heart recipient, who led the initiative which resulted in our approval." About WEBGAP INC

WEBGAP INC. is a remote browser isolation (RBI) cybersecurity vendor, founded in 2019 by Jun Yang (CTO) and Guise Bule (CEO), and the developer of the patent-pending WEBGAP cybersecurity isolation platform. Prior to forming WEBGAP the co-founders previously built browser isolation platforms for the US federal government and led the team behind the world's first remote browser deployments for the NNSA.gov at LLNL.gov and Sandia.gov. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211019006143/en/

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[October 19, 2021] Workpuls Announces $2,500 Scholarship Program for College Students

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Fast-growing workforce and productivity software company Workpuls today announced a new scholarship program for college students who have ambitions to break into the tech industry. The motivation behind the scholarship program is to help support college students who want to work in the tech industry or launch their own start-up. A cause inspired by Workpuls founder and CEO Ivan Petrovic's personal experience launching software as a teenager in college. Through the program, scholarships of $2,500 will be awarded twice-yearly to college students based in the USA, UK and EU. The program is open to students who are currently enrolled in technical, IT, or non-technical (e.g. marketing or business) programs with a minimum GPA of 3.5. Having taught himself to code in his bedroom as a teenager, Mr. Petrovic created the first of many software products as a college student, before launching Workpuls in his early twenties. Workpuls has since grown to 100,000-plus users and a team of more than 50 employees. Mr. Petrovic said his own experience as a college student trying to break into the tech industry helped inspire the scholarship program. "I built my first market-ready software while in college, soI know firsthand the importance of supporting and giving students a head start," Mr. Petrovic said.



"Between the late nights spent coding, my studies, part-time work, and trying to get my foot in the door in the tech industry, I wish I'd more support as a college student. The aim of this scholarship is to provide a level of extra support. "Many of tomorrow's leaders, builders and innovators are today's college students, and we're excited to help contribute to the early stages of their journeys."

The scholarship selection process requires applicants to submit an essay detailing their ambitions and vision for the tech industry. Applications are judged based on merit, academic performance, financial need, community involvement, extracurricular contribution, and essay quality. Applications for the current scholarship close on November 31, 2021. For more information about the Workpuls Scholarship Program, or to apply, visit: https://www.workpuls.com/scholarship About Workpuls

Workpuls is a privacy-first employee monitoring software and time tracking software that helps organizations understand how their teams do their best work and build better work environments. Workpuls' monitoring software for employees is used by 1,300+ global companies and 100,000+ users daily. Through immediate visibility and valuable insights, major companies like Office Depot, Grammarly and Allstate depend on Workpuls to drive productivity, benchmark performance, and improve efficiency. Contact:

Sebastian Kipman

sebastian.kipman@workpuls.com

+1 (415) 704 3737 View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/workpuls-announces-2-500-scholarship-program-for-college-students-301403879.html SOURCE Workpuls

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[October 19, 2021] Press Ganey Names Rick Boothman, JD as Partner and Strategic Consultant

Press Ganey today announced the appointment of Rick Boothman, JD as a Partner in its growing Strategic Consulting Group. Boothman comes to Press Ganey with more than 40 years' experience at the intersection of patient safety issues and healthcare organizations. He most recently was principal and founder of Michigan-based Boothman Consulting Group and will be responsible for developing strategic roadmaps that improve patient safety and clinical excellence at health systems across the nation. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211019006148/en/ Rick Boothman, JD (Photo: Business Wire) "Rick is a world-renowned leader who has garnered international attention for his equitable, compassionate approach to resolving unanticipated medical errors," said Charles Hagood, president, strategic consulting and transformational services, Press Ganey. "We are confident his expertise will help health systems achieve and sustain zero har results for years to come, especially as health care organizations continue to see increases in safety-related incidents during the ongoing pandemic."



Prior to Boothman Consulting Group, Boothman served as chief risk officer at the University of Michigan Health System where he developed and refined The Michigan Model: Communication and Resolution Program (CRP)-an approach where clinicians confront causes of safety events and near-miss occurrences in a principled way and learn from them to prevent harm from happening again. Hagood added, "Our ability to bring this expertise and offering to our health system clients allows us to advance our safety and high reliability offering in a manner unlike anyone else in the industry today."

"My preference has always been to normalize an honest and principled response to unplanned outcomes, instead of regarding it as some new, discrete program," said Boothman. "I look forward to building on Press Ganey's high reliability principles and see communication and resolution programs as entirely complementary to high reliability organizations." In addition to his consulting work, Boothman serves on multiple boards, advises legislators on state and national healthcare policy and authors findings in prominent professional journals. He maintains a faculty position as assistant adjunct professor at the University of Michigan Medical School and is a visiting scholar at Vanderbilt University. Boothman holds his Doctor of Law from University of Detroit School of Law and completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Michigan. To learn more about Boothman and Press Ganey's strategic consulting services, visit PressGaney.com. About Press Ganey Press Ganey pioneered the health care performance improvement movement 35 years ago. Today Press Ganey offers an integrated suite of solutions that enable enterprise transformation across the patient journey. Delivered through a cutting-edge digital platform built on a foundation of data security, Press Ganey solutions address safety, clinical excellence, patient experience and workforce engagement. The company works with more than 41,000 health care facilities in its mission to reduce patient suffering and enhance caregiver resilience to improve the overall safety, quality and experience of care. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211019006148/en/

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[October 19, 2021] Inaugural Concordia Lexington Summit postponed to April 7-8, 2022

NEW YORK, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Concordia , the New York-based membership organization working to strengthen the partnering ecosystem, has postponed its inaugural Lexington Summit, which will now take place April 7-8, 2022 in Lexington, KY and digitally. The decision to move the Summit is due to enhanced COVID-19 protocols and in order to keep in-person attendees as safe as possible. Concordia's first-ever U.S.-focused summit, the 2022 Lexington Summit will convene a variety of voices across the political spectrum and across sectors to advance civil discourse and understanding between the different socioeconomic worlds present in the U.S.. In line with Concordia's mission, we'll be creating impactful partnerships that not only address drivers of division and improve economic empowerment for all, but that also address the future of technology, trade, environmental sustainability, and much more. Matthew Swift, Concordia's Co-Founder & CEO, commented: "At Concordia we are committed to prioritizing the healt and safety of our community. By moving this inaugural summit to April 2022, we'll be able to ensure the highest level of COVID-19 in-person protocols, and look forward to a great convening in Lexington to discuss some of the most critical issues facing the U.S. heartland."



Concordia has announced a partnership with three academic units of the University of Kentucky : the J. David Rosenberg College of Law, the Gatton College of Business and Economics, and the College of Education. Concordia is also continuing its collaboration with Programming Sponsor Rubicon . Speakers will be announced over the coming weeks. To be the first to receive updates, fill out this form . For press enquiries contact Rita Lockheart: rlockheart@concordia.net

About Concordia: Concordia is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that builds meaningful partnerships for positive social impact. As equal parts convener, campaigner, and idea incubator, Concordia is actively fostering cross-sector collaboration to create a more prosperous and sustainable future. Concordia was founded in 2011 by Matthew A. Swift and Nicholas M. Logothetis. View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/inaugural-concordia-lexington-summit-postponed-to-april-7-8-2022-301403895.html SOURCE Concordia

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[October 19, 2021] Fondation Matrimoine is holding its first event at the Palais des congres de Montreal to give women their rightful due in the online world

MONTREAL, Oct. 19, 2021 /CNW Telbec/ - Fondation Matrimoine will host its first ever Wikipedia edit-a-thon this October 23. The goal is to give Quebec creative women their due place in the online encyclopedia. Several dozen people will meet up at the Palais and virtually to edit and update pages on female Quebec artists. This event organized by Fondation Matrimoine was born out of a telling statistic that puts the number of Wikipedia biographical pages dedicated to women at just under 20%. What's more, most of the entries are either incomplete or primarily focused on the artist's family life. That's a lot of art being overlooked. This first Matrimoine edit-a-thon will mainly centre on the lives and works of two photographers and businesswomen: Elise L'Heureux Livernois (1827-1896) and Sally Elizabeth Wood (1857-1928). These two artists left us a rich body of photographic works, a vital and little knownlittle-known record of our collective history, chronicling, among other things, the struggles of married women who aspired toward individual recognition, and of single women who strove for acceptance at reputable artistic institutions. For its inaugural edition, this edit-a-thon will be held at the Palais des congres de Montreal, which will make its hybrid studios available to accommodate the biggest possible turnout. The Palais actively promotes the arts in the city through artist residencies, festivals, concerts and exhibitions. An event like the Fondation Matrimoine edit-a-thon is therefore very much in line with the Palais' eforts to support the artistic community and advocate for the equitable representation of artists.



Women at the helm of the Palais 2021 marks the first year the Palais des congres is led by two women: CEO Emmanuelle Legault and Board Chair Josee Noiseux. A noteworthy coincidence as it underlines the central role women play in society, and also speaks to how important inclusion and diversity are at the Palais.

Fondation Matrimoine plans to organize two edit-a-thons a year, so they become staple events  one in October for Women's History Month in Canada, and one in March for International Women's Day. Their regular recurrence will give women a proper voice by ensuring the Wikipedia articles about them are current and relevant. Quotes "It is paramount that we take concrete steps toward social progress and sustainability. This initiative enables us to duly acknowledge women and their heritage in the online world. It represents an essential milestone in efforts to move the yardsticks. I am proud of the roles women are assuming today; self-assured, they are taking their rightful place in society." Emmanuelle Legault, CEO, Palais des congres de Montreal "Although a novel word on the surface, 'matrimoine' reflects both the evolution and chronicling of women's roles in western society. Its resurgence points to the increasingly assertive, confident, welcome and inspiring presence of creative women in the public sphere. Taking part in efforts to recognize the cultural heritage engendered by women by abetting its discoverability in the online world, is contributing to how we relate to History." Luce Vallieres, Founding President, Fondation Matrimoine About Fondation Matrimoine Founded in October 2021, Fondation Matrimoine is tasked with helping sustain the recognition of women, creatives in particular, and their heritage through various actions: Wikipedia edit-a-thons, book clubs, concerted initiatives aimed at greater acknowledgement of women on place names, and advocating for parity in museum collections. About the Palais des congres The recipient of the highest quality standards certification in the industry, the Palais is regularly praised for its excellent customer satisfaction rating within the international convention industry. The Palais hosts several hundred events each year. It generates significant economic and cultural benefits for the tourism, business and research sectors. An absolute trailblazer, the Palais operates its own events lab, CITE, where it works hand-in-hand with companies that are among the most innovative in the industry on redefining how conferences are held. A leader in sustainability and impact practices and solutions, the Palais is among the first convention centres in the world to operate a carbon neutral building. Widely known as a proud supporter of emerging talent, the arts and communities, the Palais is home to a dynamic environment that is resolutely forward-looking. Visit congresmtl.com. Event partners: Art + Feminism

Wikimedia Canada

Palais des congres de Montreal Content partners: Archives nationales

Musee national des beaux-arts du Quebec

Lac-Brome Museum Link to download copyright-free images: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/vumhvvk8lvexdc5/AABlw5zp7oD2O0KfYWe59Uqua?dl=0 SOURCE Palais des congres de Montreal

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[October 19, 2021] Capital Senior Living Issues Letter to Shareholders Urging Them to Vote on the White Card and Support a Sustainable Future for the Company

Capital Senior Living Corporation ("Capital Senior Living" or the "Company") (NYSE: CSU), a leading owner-operator of senior living communities across the United States, today issued a letter to its shareholders in connection to its Special Meeting of Stockholders (the "Special Meeting") on October 22, 2021. The full text of the letter is below. October 19, 2021 Dear Capital Senior Living Shareholders, You have an important decision to make at the upcoming Special Meeting of Stockholders (the "Special Meeting"), on October 22, 2021, regarding our plan to raise up to $154.8 million through a series of financing transactions with Conversant Capital ("Conversant") (collectively, the "Amended Transactions"). You, our shareholders, will have the option to vote FOR a sustainable future for the Company. The alternative is to take a chance on an uncertain path forward that might put the survival of CSU (and your investment) in jeopardy. The Board of Directors (the "Board") and senior management have carefully outlined, with concrete, factual support, the Company's current financial condition and the reasons why the Amended Transactions remain in the best interests of the Company and its stockholders. The leading, independent proxy advisor Institutional Shareholder Services ("ISS") agreed, recommending that stockholders vote FOR all of the Company's proposals at Friday's Special Meeting. One of the Company's stockholders, Ortelius Advisors, L.P. ("Ortelius"), disagrees and does not support the transaction. That is, of course, every shareholder's right. Ortelius has publicly issued more than a dozen communications urging you to vote against the original and Amended Transactions. In each of those communications they have - dangerously - misrepresented the Company's current financial condition. Notably, they have not provided an actionable alternative to the Amended Transactions with Conversant, free of the same due diligence conditions that doomed prior discussions between the Company and other financing sources. And we note that Ortelius, while suggesting they are concerned about your investment, chose not to engage with the Company and Conversant (despite being invited to do so) during the renegotiation of the deal, instead choosing to wait until the Amended Transactions were announced and then attack them publicly. As you make your decision, we ask you to consider the following: The reality of the situation is simple: CSU is over-levered with no unencumbered assets and an urgent need for new capital. Based on current cash burn and near-term liabilities the Company will likely run out of cash by year end. The Amended Transactions will provide immediate liquidity to address working capital deficits, fund greatly needed capital expenditures, resolve near-term debt maturities, and stabilize the Company as we work to improve our financial positioning and drive shareholder value. The Amended Transactions with Conversant are the best, and only, deal available to us. After undergoing two strategic alternative reviews over the span of two years, the Board, management and the Company's advisors firmly believe this was a well-conducted and sound process that resulted in the best path forward for the Company. Again, ISS agreed. There are no credible, actionable and immediate alternatives to the Amended Transactions that will resolve the Company's urgent need for significant capital. The proposal outlined by Invictus Global Management ("Invictus") not only is highly conditional, but also is solely in the form of debt, which would compound the already significant financial challenges of the Company. Despite its vocal opposition to the Amended Transactions, activist investor Ortelius has shared nothing more than vague points about its own financing plan for the Company. In its report,1 ISS recognized the financial condition of the Company and agreed that the Amended Transactions "provid[e] certainty of capital that neither Ortelius nor Invictus can offer at this time." A vote against the Amended Transactions is not a vote FOR anything - other than a gamble on an uncertain future. The Amended Transactions make strategic and financial sense for the Company and will position CSU for increased shareholder value and long-term success. We urge you to vote FOR the Amended Transactions to protect your investment in the Company. Vote FOR the Amended Transactions and a sustainable future for Capital Senior Living at the upcoming Special Meeing.



Sincerely, The Capital Senior Living Board of Directors

No Offer or Solicitation / Additional Information and Where to Find It This letter does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities, nor will there be any sale of any securities in any state or other 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 amended rights offering will be made pursuant to the Company's shelf registration statement on Form S-3, which became effective on May 6, 2020, a prospectus supplement containing the detailed terms of the rights offering filed with the SEC (News - Alert) on September 10, 2021, and an amendment to the prospectus supplement filed with the SEC on October 4, 2021. Any offer will be made only by means of a prospectus and prospectus supplement forming part of the registration statement. Investors should read the prospectus and prospectus supplement and consider the investment objective, risks, fees and expenses of the Company carefully before investing. Copies of the prospectus and prospectus supplement may be obtained at the website maintained by the SEC at www.sec.gov. In connection with the proposed transaction with Conversant, the Company filed a proxy statement with the SEC on August 31, 2021 and filed an amendment to the proxy statement with the SEC on October 4, 2021. The Company may also file other relevant documents with the SEC regarding the proposed transaction. The proxy statement, and any amendments thereto, have been delivered to stockholders of the Company. This communication is not a substitute for the proxy statement or any other document that may be filed with the SEC in connection with the proposed transaction. INVESTORS AND STOCKHOLDERS OF THE COMPANY ARE URGED TO READ THE PROXY STATEMENT, AS AMENDED, AND ANY OTHER RELEVANT DOCUMENTS THAT MAY BE FILED WITH THE SEC, AS WELL AS ANY AMENDMENTS OR SUPPLEMENTS TO THESE DOCUMENTS, CAREFULLY AND IN THEIR ENTIRETY IF AND WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE BECAUSE THEY CONTAIN OR WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THE PROPOSED TRANSACTION. Investors and security holders are able to obtain free copies of the definitive proxy statement and the amendment to the proxy statement and other documents containing important information about the Company and the proposed transaction through the website maintained by the SEC at www.sec.gov. Participants in the Solicitation The Company and its executive officers and directors and certain other members of management and employees may, under the rules of the SEC, be deemed to be "participants" in the solicitation of proxies in connection with the proposed transaction. Information regarding the Company's directors and executive officers is available in its Proxy Statement on Schedule 14A for its 2020 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, filed with the SEC on November 3, 2020, and in its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020, filed with the SEC on March 31, 2021, as amended on April 30, 2021. These documents may be obtained free of charge from the sources indicated above. Other information regarding the participants in the proxy solicitation and a description of their direct and indirect interests, by security holdings or otherwise, is contained in the proxy statement and other relevant materials relating to the proposed transaction filed with the SEC. About Capital Senior Living Dallas-based Capital Senior Living Corporation is one of the nation's leading operators of independent living, assisted living and memory care communities for senior adults. The Company operates 75 communities that are home to nearly 7,000 residents across 18 states providing compassionate, resident-centric services and care and engaging programming. The Company offers seniors the freedom and opportunity to successfully, comfortably and happily age in place. For more information, visit http://www.capitalsenior.com or connect with the Company on Facebook or Twitter (News - Alert) . About Conversant Conversant Capital LLC is a private investment adviser founded in 2020. The firm pursues credit and equity investments in the real estate, digital infrastructure and hospitality sectors in both the public and private markets. Further information is available at www.conversantcap.com. Safe Harbor The forward-looking statements in this letter are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause the Company's actual results and financial condition to differ materially, including, but not limited to, the Company's ability to obtain stockholder approval for the proposed transaction; the satisfaction of all conditions to the closing of the proposed transaction; other risks related to the consummation of the proposed transaction, including the risk that the transaction will not be consummated within the expected time period or at all; the costs related to the proposed transaction; the impact of the proposed transaction on the Company's business; any legal proceedings that may be brought related to the proposed transaction; the continued spread of COVID-19, including the speed, depth, geographic reach and duration of such spread; new information that may emerge concerning the severity of COVID-19; the actions taken to prevent or contain the spread of COVID-19 or treat its impact; the legal, regulatory and administrative developments that occur at the federal, state and local levels in response to the COVID-19 pandemic; the frequency and magnitude of legal actions and liability claims that may arise due to COVID-19 or the Company's response efforts; the impact of COVID-19 and the Company's near-term debt maturities on the Company's ability to continue as a going concern; the Company's ability to generate sufficient cash flows from operations, additional proceeds from debt refinancings, and proceeds from the sale of assets to satisfy its short and long-term debt obligations and to fund the Company's capital improvement projects to expand, redevelop, and/or reposition its senior living communities; the Company's ability to obtain additional capital on terms acceptable to it; the Company's ability to extend or refinance its existing debt as such debt matures; the Company's compliance with its debt agreements, including certain financial covenants, and the risk of cross-default in the event such non-compliance occurs; the Company's ability to complete acquisitions and dispositions upon favorable terms or at all, including the transfer of certain communities managed by the Company on behalf of other owners; the Company's ability to improve and maintain adequate controls over financial reporting and remediate the identified material weakness; the risk of oversupply and increased competition in the markets which the Company operates; the risk of increased competition for skilled workers due to wage pressure and changes in regulatory requirements; the departure of the Company's key officers and personnel; the cost and difficulty of complying with applicable licensure, legislative oversight, or regulatory changes; the risks associated with a decline in economic conditions generally; the adequacy and continued availability of the Company's insurance policies and the Company's ability to recover any losses it sustains under such policies; changes in accounting principles and interpretations; and the other risks and factors identified from time to time in the Company's reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. 1 Permission to quote from the ISS report was neither sought nor received. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211019006183/en/

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[October 19, 2021] Advance Auto Parts Names Gilmore 2021 Vendor of the Year

Advance Auto Parts, Inc. (NYSE: AAP), a leading automotive aftermarket parts retailer, presented its 2021 Vendor of the Year awards during the company's annual Partner Growth Summit, held virtually in Raleigh, N.C. During the event, Advance honored numerous vendors for their partnership and performance and helped raise $1.5 million for Building Homes for Heroes through vendor contributions. Since 2009, Advance has helped raise more than $16 million for Building Homes for Heroes, which gifts mortgage-free homes to wounded service members. The 2021 Vendor of the Year award was presented to Gilmore, an expert in flow control solutions. A partner of Advance for over 20 years, Gilmore was recognized for its exemplary product quality standards, partnership on major company initiatives and consistently proven dedication and loyalty. "Our vendor partners consistently show passion and dedication to provide DIYers and professional customers with the best parts selection in the industry," said Jason McDonell, Advance's executive vice president of merchandising, marketing and eCommerce. "These partnerships are crucial to our success and the ability to meet our customer's needs would not be possible without them. On behalf of Advance, we thank those that attended this year's Partner Growth Summit and congratulate Gilmre and all of our award winners."



Advance awarded the 2021 New Vendor of the Year to Solmark International Inc., and Action Sales & Marketing. Facing unprecedented demand, these partners delivered over 12 million masks for Advance team members at a time of critical need. Their partnership, speed and execution played a key role in providing PPE material to Advance's distribution centers and stores to keep team members and customers safe. Amalie Oil Company was named Strategic Initiative Vendor of the Year for their high level of service, availability and contribution toward sales growth. As the lead supplier in a major company initiative transitioning private label fluids from Carquest to FRAM, their innovative solutions allowed Advance to become a leader in private label lubricants, achieving growth in sales and market share.

Clarios was named the co-winner of the Strategic Initiative Vendor of the Year award for taking on a large product changeover with no impact to supply. While creating a project strategy around the changeover, they provided dedicated customer support to Advance's store teams. Anchor Industries was named the Superior Availability Vendor of the Year for providing excellent support to Advance and its customers. A partner for over 30 years, Anchor consistently sets the standard for order fill and on-time delivery. The Professional Excellence Vendor of the Year was awarded to Motorcar Parts of America (MPA). A leader in the automotive aftermarket, MPA collaborated with several Advance teams and was a partner on major initiatives such as margin expansions and new store openings. Their partnership included a brand changeover to Carquest Premium, a product that provided Advance a distinct competitive position in the aftermarket industry. About Advance Auto Parts Advance Auto Parts, Inc. is a leading automotive aftermarket parts provider that serves both professional installer and do-it-yourself customers. As of July 17, 2021, Advance operated 4,748 stores and 215 Worldpac branches in the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The company also serves 1,306 independently owned Carquest branded stores across these locations in addition to Mexico and various Caribbean islands. Additional information about Advance, including employment opportunities, customer services, and online shopping for parts, accessories and other offerings can be found at www.AdvanceAutoParts.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211019006186/en/

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[October 19, 2021] Houston Trust Company Announces New Chief Fiduciary Officer

Houston Trust Company is pleased to announce that Frances R. Marshall has joined the Company's leadership team as Executive Vice President and Chief Fiduciary Officer. In this role, Frances will focus on establishing best and consistent fiduciary practices across the Company, managing fiduciary risk, and providing support, guidance, and training to Houston Trust Company's team of 12 trust administrators. She will also chair the Trust Committee. "We are so pleased and fortunate to have someone with Frances' experience and ability to lead our fiduciary staff at Houston Trust," said President and CEO David R. Lummis. "We conducted a nationwide search for this position and enthusiastically welcome Frances to Houston." Frances has more than 15 years of fiduciary management experience. Most recently, she served as Chief Fiduciary Officer at Wealthgate Trust in Las Vegas, Nevada where she oversaw all fiduciary activity as well as operations, finance, and compliance. A former practicing trusts and estates attorney, Frances also held leadership roles for U.S. Trust's (now Bank of America Private Bank) Western Division and at Charles Schwab Trust Company in Henderson, Nevada. Frnces holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Northwestern University and a Juris Doctorate degree from the University of San Diego School of Law.



About Houston Trust Company Houston Trust Company is the largest private, independent, full-service trust company in the state of Texas. Founded in 1994 by eight Houston families, the company has grown to serve approximately 350 relationships worldwide, all with roots in and ties to Texas, with more than $8 billion in assets under management.

As a true fiduciary, Houston Trust Company specializes in the transition of assets across generations, assisting families and individuals with estate and trust administration, management of multiple asset and property interests, and centralized management of their business affairs. Houston Trust Company focuses on four highly personalized service areas: fiduciary administration of trusts and estates; independent, third-party investment and asset management; support services for charitable trusts, endowments, and foundations; and family office services. For more information on Houston Trust Company, please visit the company's website at http://www.houstontrust.com. Houston Trust Company | 3737 Buffalo Speedway, Suite 200 | Houston, Texas 77098 www.houstontrust.com View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211019006188/en/

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[October 19, 2021] ACLU, ACLU of Oklahoma, Lawyers Committee File Lawsuit Challenging Oklahoma Classroom Censorship Bill Banning Race and Gender Discourse

A multiracial group of students and educators filed a lawsuit today challenging an Oklahoma classroom censorship bill, HB 1775, which they allege severely restricts public school teachers and students from learning and talking about race and gender in the classroom. The lawsuit was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of Oklahoma, the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, and pro bono counsel Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP on behalf of plaintiffs the Black Emergency Response Team (BERT); the University of Oklahoma Chapter of the American Association of University Professors (OU-AAUP); the Oklahoma State Conference of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP-OK); the American Indian Movement (AIM) Indian Territory on behalf of itself and its members who are public school students and teachers, a high school student, and Oklahoma public high school teachers Anthony Crawford and Regan Killackey. Oklahoma is one of eight states across the country that have passed similar laws aimed at censoring discussions around race and gender in the classroom, and this is the first federal lawsuit facially challenging one of these statewide bans. The lawsuit argues HB 1775 not only chills students' and educators' First Amendment right to learn and talk about these issues, but it also prevents students from having an open and complete dialogue about American history - one that includes the experiences and viewpoints of all historically marginalized communities in this country. "All young people deserve to learn an inclusive and accurate history in schools, free from censorship or discrimination," said Emerson (News - Alert) Sykes, staff attorney with the ACLU Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project. "HB 1775 is so poorly drafted - in places it is literally indecipherable - that districts and teachers have no way of knowing what concepts and ideas are prohibited. The bill was intended to inflame a political reaction, not further a legitimate educational interest. These infirmities in the law are all the more troubling because the bill applies to public colleges and universities, where the First Amendment is especially protective of academic freedom." "H.B. 1775 is an unvarnished attempt to silence the experiences and perspectives of Black, Indigenous, and LGBTQ+ people, and other groups who have long faced exclusion and marginalization in our institutions, including in our schools," said Genevieve Bonadies Torres, associate director of the Educational Opportunities Project with the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. "The law directly violates the Fourteenth Amendment's command that governmental actors do not engage in racial discrimination. Every student in Oklahoma deserves an equitable education that reflects the rich diversity of the state and provides a full, fact-based discussion of the state's checkered history of racism, sexism, discrimination." The Oklahoma bill's lead authors in the state House and Senate declared the bill's intent was to prohibit conversations related to "implicit bias," "systemic racism" and "intersectionality," among other concepts. The "banned concepts" were directly excerpted from President Donald Trump's failed Executive Order 13950 that similarly sought to restrict speech of government contractors. The lawsuit argues HB 1775 is an unlawful restraint on freedom of xpression by silencing students' and educators' speech through its vague and overbroad terms. It also intentionally targets and denies access to equitable, culturally relevant teaching and ideas that reflect the history and lived experiences of Black, Indigenous, and other people of color; women and girls; and LGBTQ+ students.



"The Black Emergency Response Team (BERT) is a collective comprised of Black student leaders whose mission is to confront racism and various oppressive structures, including this bill that is a direct attack on the education experience of the Black community specifically, and marginalized communities at large on campus," said Lilly Amechi, plaintiff and representative for BERT. "We believe all students deserve to have a free and open exchange about our history - not one that erases the legacy of discrimination and lived experiences of Black and Brown people, women and girls, and LGBTQ+ individuals." As a result of the bill's passage, school districts in Oklahoma have instructed teachers to no longer use certain terms, including "diversity" and "white privilege" in their classrooms, and have removed seminal works of literature such as "To Kill a Mockingbird" and "Raisin in the Sun" from its list of "anchor texts." Multiple Oklahoma public schools have also scaled back or eliminated their diversity, equity, and inclusion trainings for teachers and strategic plans. Plaintiff Regan Killackey was instructed to avoid certain concepts, phrases, and books in his curriculum related to race and is no longer able to lead his students in educational conversations about race and gender.

"As someone who has experienced an incredibly privileged teaching career in Edmond, I am acutely aware of the need this community, and all communities, have for healthy analysis, critical conversations, and effective communication," said Regan Killacky, Edmond Public Schools teacher. "H.B. 1775 limits my ability to teach an inclusive and complete history within the walls of my classroom, ultimately restricting the exact type of learning environment all young people deserve - one free from censorship or discrimination." The ability for educators and students to have honest conversations around race, gender, and our country's history in schools carry particular importance in Oklahoma, whose history includes the 1889 Land Runs, "Indian" boarding schools, the 1921 Tulsa Massacre, and racially segregated schools. "Education is a tool of empowerment put to its highest use when teachers and students are afforded the full scope of their constitutional rights to engage in comprehensive, meaningful, and sometimes difficult conversations," said Megan Lambert, ACLU of Oklahoma legal director. "HB 1775 is a direct affront to the constitutional rights of teachers and students across Oklahoma by restricting conversations around race and gender at all levels of education. We bring this case to vindicate the rights of Oklahoma teachers and students and to protect the integrity of our educational institutions." The groups are asking the court to declare the bill unconstitutional under the First and 14th Amendments and are urging the court to issue a preliminary injunction that would put an immediate stop to the bill and immediately allow students and educators to have full and truthful discussions around race and gender in the classroom. Below are additional comments from: Anthony R. Douglas, president of the Oklahoma State Conference NAACP: "H.B. 1775 censors and chills the way Oklahoma teachers and students discuss fraught topics in state and U.S. history, particularly regarding racial mistreatment and injustice. Educators cannot adequately teach students about the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, the Trail of Tears, the Civil War, World War II, the Holocaust, or any other cultural issue throughout U.S. history by silencing courageous classroom conversations that depict a more inclusive perspective of U.S. History." Mary Topaum, director of the American Indian Movement Indian Territory: "Denying Oklahoma students access to a diversity of experience and ideas that includes Indigenous perspectives inhibits future generations from developing the cross-cultural understanding, compassion, and mutual respect that is necessary to build bridges and thrive in our increasingly diverse state. H.B. 1775 seeks to further sanitize the few voices of historically marginalized communities that exist within the curricula and to discourage students and educators from engaging in courageous and urgently needed conversations around race, inequity, and systemic oppression." Michael Givel, OU-AAUP president: "The wording of this H.B. 1775 directly curtails academic freedom in public universities in Oklahoma. It has a chilling effect on academic freedom as it can and has purposely targeted Oklahoma public school teachers and administrators from imparting a complete history in our schools, free from censorship or discrimination. Curriculum decisions and what is taught in a college classroom for the promotion of a balanced education is unequivocally protected from outside political requirements and interference. University professors are not sock puppets for the biased ideological agendas of elected politicians." Sara Solfanelli, special counsel for pro bono initiatives, Schulte Roth & Zabel: "Schulte Roth & Zabel is proud to partner with the ACLU, ACLU-OK, and Lawyers' Committee to defend academic freedom, protect the fundamental right of students to learn, and ensure that schools have the freedom to create an inclusive curriculum and environment. The state-sanctioned censorship that H.B. 1775 represents was wrong a century ago when directed against the teaching of evolution, and it is just as wrong today." This lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma. The complaint can be found here. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211019006190/en/

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[October 19, 2021] Swedish-American Life Science Summit, SALSS 2021, takes place in Stockholm, Sweden, on October 20 to 22 - an exciting return to a physical summit with topnotch International Covid-19 experts and leaders within Cell & Gene therapy!

STOCKHOLM, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- With the mission to stimulate new business ideas and investment opportunities, the Swedish American Life Science Summit, SALSS, combines the worlds of business and science in Stockholm, Sweden. "Over the years SALSS has evolved to a widely recognized Summit, gathering a diverse community with representatives challenging the boundaries of technology and business. It has made Stockholm into a deal making hub for Life Science, which makes us very proud," says Barbro C. Ehnbom, Founder and Chairman of SALSS. The focus of SALSS this year is Cell & Gene Therapy and lessons learned from Covid-19 with a wide range of panel discussions and presentations. It will also include Company Presentations, a Rising Star exhibit and announcement of the winner of the SALSS Rising Star Award 2021. Gathering an impressive presence of Investors, Private Equity, Academia and Life Science companies this year's program features among other Dr. Lars Ekman Executive Partner, Sofinnova Investments, Dr. Mathias Uhlen Professor KTH, Dr. William A. Haseltine, President, Access International, Dr. Robert Langer, Koch Institute Professor, MIT and Co-founder Moderna, Dr. Daniel Kraft Chair, Medicine, Singularity University, Mr. Richard Bergstrom, Vaccine Coordinator, Government Offices of Sweden and Dr. Anders Tegnell, State Epidemiologist of Sweden. After a formal opening of the Summit in the Stockholm City Hall by the Mayor, Anna Konig Jerlmyr and Stafan Ingvarsson, CEO Stockholm Business Region, the conference will be held as a physical meeting with virtual elements in Stockholm. The full SALSS 2021 Program, Speakers and Company bios can be found at www.salss.com



Presenting companies this year include Anocca, BICO, BioArctic, Devyser, Orexo, RohVac, Symcel, Ultimovacs and Vironova. Rising Star Award  Some of the best new life science companies will be rated by world famous jury members for the Rising Star Award! The candidates are Amniotics, Atrogi, EpiEndo Pharmecuticals, Ilya Pharma, Iaterion, Mobius Biomedical, SAGA Diagnostics, Sigrid Therapeutics and Vironova Bioanalytics. Regardless of who wins, they all deserve attention!

Jury Members: Dr. Mikael Dolsten, Dr. Robert Langer, Dr. Eugen Steiner and Dr. Mathias Uhlen. "This year the ongoing Pandemic and its imprints on the industry and human lives will be explored. There is an incredible amount of scientific research going into new diagnostics, therapeutics, vaccines, and medical devices that have been crucial to combating this pandemic. This, put in the frame of SALSS - enhancing interaction between academia, industry, politics and financing - will hopefully lead to new ideas and collaborations, as it has many times in the past." Says Professor Robert Langer, David H. Koch Institute, MIT and Co-founder Moderna. For more information on SALSS, visit www.salss.com or please contact: Linda Akesson, Communications, SALSS, +46 (0)70 916 94 16, linda.v.akesson@gmail.com Barbro Ehnbom, Founder & Chairman, SALSS, +46 (0) 705 93 83 35 barbro@salss.com View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/swedish-american-life-science-summit-salss-2021-takes-place-in-stockholm-sweden-on-october-20-to-22--an-exciting-return-to-a-physical-summit-with-topnotch-international-covid-19-experts-and-leaders-within-cell--gene-therapy-301403955.html SOURCE Swedish-American Life Science Summit

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[October 19, 2021] Aadi Bioscience to Participate in H.C. Wainwright's 2nd Annual Precision Oncology Conference 2021

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 19, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Aadi Bioscience, Inc. (Aadi), a privately-held clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focusing on precision therapies for genetically-defined cancers with alterations in mTOR pathway genes, today announced that Founder, Chief Executive Officer and President, Neil Desai, Ph.D., will present at H.C. Wainwrights 2nd Annual Precision Oncology Conference, which will be held virtually. Presentation Information: Date: Wednesday, October 20, 2021 Time: 1 pm ET To Listen to the Presentation: The live webcast can be accessed here: https://journey.ct.events/view/ceb3457a-5338-4644-94da-75d0fb24b8f0. A replay will also be available at this link for 90 days and posted on Aadis website within the Investors & News/Events & Presentations section. About Aadi Bioscience and FYARRO Aadi is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing precision therapies for genetically-defined cancers. Aadis primary goal is to bring transformational therapies to cancer patients with mTOR pathway driver alterations such as alterations in TSC1 or TSC2 genes, where other mTOR inhibitors have not or cannot be effectively exploited due to problems of pharmacology, effective drug delivery, safety, or effective targeting to the disease site. Aadis lead product candidate is FYARROTM (sirolimus albumin-bound nanoparticles for injectable suspension; nab-sirolimus; ABI-009), an mTOR inhibitor bound to human albumin that has demonstrated significantly higher tumor accumulation, greater mTOR target suppression, and increased tumor growth inhibition over other mTOR inhibitors in preclinical models1. Aadis registration trial of FYARRO in advanced malignant PEComa (the AMPECT trial) demonstrated meaningful clinical efficacy in malignant PEComa2, a type of cancer with the highest known alteration rate of TSC1 or TSC2 genes. FYARRO has received Breakthrough Therapy, Fast-Track and Orphan Designations from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). A rolling New Drug Application (NDA) submission was completed in May 2021 for this indication and the FDA accepted the NDA in July 2021 and granted Aadi Priority Review status with a Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) target action date of November 26, 2021. Based on the AMPECT trial and emerging data for FYARRO in other solid tumors with TSC1 or TSC2 inactivating alterations3, and following discussions with the FDA, Aadi plas to initiate a tumor-agnostic registrational trial in mTOR inhibitor-naive solid tumors harboring TSC1 or TSC2 inactivating alterations by the end of 2021. Aadi also has ongoing studies to evaluate dosing of FYARRO in combination regimens. FYARRO is an investigational drug that has not been approved by the FDA for commercial distribution in the United States. More information is available on the Aadi website at www.aadibio.com.



Forward-Looking Statements Aadi Bioscience, Inc. (Aadi, The Company) cautions you that certain statements included in this press release that are not a description of historical facts are forward-looking statements. These statements are based on Aadis current beliefs and expectations. Forward-looking statements include statements regarding: FYARRO, including expectations regarding the clinical responses and safety profile, regulatory approval and commercialization, and the timing of the initiation of additional clinical trials. Actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements as a result of these risks and uncertainties, which include, without limitation: risks related to Aadis ability to obtain, or the timeline to obtain, regulatory approval from the FDA and other regulatory authorities for FYARRO in advanced malignant PEComa; risks related to Aadis ability to successfully commercialize, including the timing of a commercial launch of FYARRO in advanced malignant PEComa; uncertainties associated with the clinical development and regulatory approval of FYARRO, including potential delays in the commencement, enrollment and completion of clinical trials; the risk that interim results of clinical trials may not be reproduced and do not necessarily predict final results; the risk that one or more of the clinical outcomes may materially change as patient enrollment continues, following more comprehensive reviews of the data, and as more patient data become available; the risk that unforeseen adverse reactions or side effects may occur in the course of developing and testing FYARRO; risks associated with the failure to realize any value from FYARRO in light of inherent risks and difficulties involved in successfully bringing product candidates to market; risks related to Aadis estimates regarding future expenses, capital requirements and need for additional financing; and risks related to the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on Aadis operations, the biotechnology industry and the economy generally.

Additional risks and uncertainties that could cause actual outcomes and results to differ materially from those contemplated by the forward-looking statements are included under the caption "Risk Factors" and elsewhere in Aadis reports and other documents that Aadi has filed, or will file, with the SEC from time to time and available at www.sec.gov. All forward-looking statements in this press release are current only as of the date hereof and, except as required by applicable law, Aadi undertakes no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statement, or to make any other forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. All forward-looking statements are qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. This caution is made under the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. FYARRO is a trademark of Aadi Bioscience, Inc. References: 1 AACR-NCI-EORTC Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics 2021 Abstract: https://aadibio.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/ABI-009-Poster-091321-Final-Oral.pdf 2 ASCO 2020 Abstract: https://ascopubs.org/doi/abs/10.1200/JCO.2020.38.15_suppl.11516?af=R 3 ASCO 2021 Abstract: https://meetings.asco.org/abstracts-presentations/197602 Contacts Investors:



Irina Koffler

ikoffler@lifesciadvisors.com



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[October 19, 2021] InvenTrust Properties Corp. to Host Third Quarter 2021 Earnings Conference Call

InvenTrust Properties Corp. ("InvenTrust" or the "Company") (NYSE: IVT) today announced that it will report its third quarter 2021 financial results on Monday, November 1, 2021, after the market closes. The Company's earnings release and any supplemental information will be posted on the Investor Relations section of the Company's website - inventrustproperties.com/investor-relations/. InvenTrust will host an earnings conference call to discuss the Company's results and business highlights on Tuesday, November 2, 2021, at 11:00 a.m. ET. An archive of the webcast will be available on the Company's website.







Third Quarter 2021 Earnings Conference Call Date: Tuesday, November 2, 2021 Time: 11:00 a.m. ET Webcast: https://services.choruscall.com/links/ivt211102.html

Replay Webcast Archive: inventrustproperties.com/investor-relations/ About InvenTrust Properties Corp. InvenTrust Properties Corp. (IVT) is a premier Sun Belt multi-tenant essential retail REIT that owns, leases, redevelops, acquires and manages grocery-anchored neighborhood and community centers as well as high-quality power centers. A trusted, local operator bringing real estate expertise to its tenant relationships, IVT has built a strong reputation with market participants across its portfolio. IVT is also committed to leadership in environmental, social and governance (ESG) practices and has been a Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark ("GRESB") member since 2018. As of June 30, 2021, the Company is an owner and manager of 65 retail properties, representing 10.8 million square feet of retail space. For more information, please visit www.inventrustproperties.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211019006215/en/

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Misdirection seems to be the theme of today's local stories . . .



Here's a brilliant explanation of a taxpayer scare tactic and switcheroo . . .



County Chair Ed Eilert warned the Shawnee Mission School Board a few years ago that a similar decision in a Target store tax appeal caused the retailers tax liability to plummet by 30%.



Thats a lot of money thats not collected, he told the board. And if its not collected from that class of property, who pays? All of us that are left, and that means residential properties.



Eilert is essentially saying the county will make homeowners pay more if the county isnt allowed to steal from retailers.

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com news link . . .
For late night denizens of our blog community we offer up this collection of pop culture, community news and top headlines . . .

Check the www.TonysKansasCity.com collection . . .

Kansas City Fights Vaxx Hesitancy

After Colin Powell's death, metro health experts stress increasing vaccination rate KANSAS CITY, Kan. - Medical experts say that former Secretary of State Colin Powell had what is commonly referred to as a breakthrough case of COVID-19. The virus penetrated his vaccine and caused severe illness because the general had health issues that made him more susceptible a bad outcome from COVID-19.

Po'Folk Stay Renting

Smart Money Experts say the dream of home ownership may be too pricey The current market has people rethinking the dream of owning a home and, instead, exploring the tradeoffs between renting and buying a home. Even in the current environment, financial advisor David Jackson thinks that despite the risks of the real estate market a house can be a positive in the long term.

Sad KC Doggy Story Shared

Local man searching for missing dog who's been on run for days after owners died KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Dog lovers know the heartbreak of losing a pet, but recently a German Shepherd named Sophie lost its family. Now the scared pup has been on the run for nearly two weeks. Sophie was last seen around 9:30 a.m. Monday near Southwest High School.

Support For Prez Shipping Out

The incredible, disappearing - incompetent - Team Biden Last week was another bad one for the continually disappearing Biden administration. As Americans took to social media to post pictures of bare Dunkin' Donuts shelves, sold-out milk at big-box stores and other signs of an America in trouble, we learned that Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has been on paternity leave since August.

MAGA Moves Amid Inquiry

Trump sues to keep White House records secret, claiming executive privilege Former President Donald Trump has filed a lawsuit in DC District Court against the House select committee investigating the January 6 insurrection and the National Archives in an effort to keep records from his presidency secret by claiming executive privilege.

Hip-Hop Challenges White House

'Let's Go Brandon!' goes from social media meme to the top of the iTunes charts An anti- President Biden rap song inspired by the viral "Let's go Brandon!" trend is now sitting at the top of the iTunes hip-hop chart. The song, performed by rapper Loza Alexander and entitled "Let's Go Brandon," first went viral on TikTok before making a fast rise up the iTunes hip-hop chart to clinch the number one spot.

Right-Wing Questions Vaxx

Colin Powell dies of COVID-19 complications despite vaccine: Medical experts weigh in Gen. Colin Powell, former secretary of state, died Monday at 84 from COVID-related complications, though he was fully vaccinated, his family announced. His death, medical experts say, underscore the need for COVID-19 vaccine booster shots among older adults and high-risk populations to shore up protection.

Progressives Double Down On COVID Vaxx Defense

Right-wing media figures dishonestly use Colin Powell's death to question Covid vaccines Some prominent conservative media figures on Monday dishonestly used the death of former US Secretary of State Colin Powell, who died of Covid-19 complications, to cast doubt on the effectiveness of the coronavirus vaccines.

Pundit Turns Bug Chaser

Dennis Prager Announces He Has COVID After Hugging 'Thousands' to Get It The right-wing personality offered dangerous advice to his audience about achieving natural immunity, which can kill a person in the process. Right-wing personality and talk radio host Dennis Prager, who once "proved" COVID was nothing to worry about by describing his habit of eating with dirty utensils in restaurants, has now contracted COVID.

B-List Push Back

How Scott Disick Really Feels About Ex Kourtney Kardashian's Engagement to Travis Barker - E! Online Watch: Kourtney Kardashian & Travis Barker Spotted After Engagement For Scott Disick , Kourtney Kardashian will always be the one that got away. A source exclusively tells E! News the Keeping Up With the Kardashians alum is "beside himself" following the news that Kourtney is engaged to Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker , who popped the question at the Rosewood Miramar hotel on Sunday, Oct.

Kansas City Drinking Game Bites Back

Minibar will host a festival dedicated to notoriously bitter Malort If you've tried Malort, you know it's comparable to chewing the pages of a two-hundred-year-old library book. Or, as local food writer and Pitch restaurant critic Liz Cook says, "The shot tastes like asphalt and citronella, like licking the floor of a shop that sells tires."

The Dotte Haunted By Cost Of Historic Vacant Home

Wyandotte County residents voice frustrations, ideas for Sauer Castle as fines pile up KANSAS CITY, Kan. - Neighbors continue to voice concerns over a Wyandotte County landmark. Local leaders are paying attention too, and fines are adding up. The discord continues while historic Sauer Castle sits in disrepair.

Overnight Kansas City Forecast

Tuesday will be slightly warmer, sunny Hide Transcript Show Transcript RIGHT NOW IN LAWRENCE HEADING THROUGH THE REST OF YOUR EVENING IF YOU'RE GONNAE B OUT THIS EVENING. MAYBE JUST TAKE A LIGHT JACKET WITH YOU LOW 70S AND UPPER 60S THE NEXT .HOURS, WE'LL START COOLING BACK INTO THE LOWER 60S A LITTLE LATER ON THIS EVENING WITH JUST A FEW PATCHY CLOSUD DRIFTING IN LATER ON THIS EVENING LOADS BY TOMORROW MORNING LOWER TO MIDDLE 50.

And this is the OPEN THREAD for fight now . . . Hopefully, we'll have more for the morning update . . . STAY TUNED!!!
Don't be naive . . . Money reliably predicts elections more than any other factor.



Moreover . . .

When an INCUMBENT HOLDS MORE THAN DOUBLE THAN HER CHALLENGER . . . Without the help of redistricting, there's very little practical hope of our JoCo GOP friends pulling off an upset victory.

Here's the money line . . .



U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids, D-Kan., maintained a fundraising advantage over Republican challenger Amanda Adkins in what is expected to be a competitive race for the 3rd Congressional District.



Davids pulled in $828,547 last quarter, with $1.7 million cash on hand. Adkins, meanwhile, raised $286,380, with her cash on hand at $749,000.

However . . .



Overall the GOP looks to maintain their red state hegemony in the Sunflower State . . . Despite the spirited resistance of progressive white women in the Johnson County golden ghetto.



Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com news link . . .
Tonight we notice that the Superintendent is delaying inevitable consolidation efforts as the embattled district continues to shrink over the course of generations.

Money line . . .

In a virtual session Monday, Superintendent Mark Bedell said the number of schools in the district doesnt add up with enrollment numbers, but assured listeners decisions wont be made without community input.

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com news links . . .

Kansas City Public Schools won't make decisions about closures until at least February, superintendent says Kansas City Public Schools are considering closing some schools due to declining enrollment. The school district's multi-year master plan, called Blueprint 2030 , will bring many changes. But Superintendent Mark Bedell said Monday in a virtual session that decisions will not be made on school closings before the district's board of directors meets on Feb.

KCPS considers plan for future that could include consolidating high schools KANSAS CITY, MO (KCTV) -- Parents and school district leaders in Kansas City are discussing the future of KCPS at open house events throughout the week. The plan they're discussing could include closing or consolidating some high schools. In an Instagram live on Monday afternoon, Superintendent Mark Bedell said there isn't a concrete plan.

Kansas City Public Schools meets with parents, asks for input on district's future KANSAS CITY, Mo. - A decline in enrollment has Kansas City Public School leaders wanting input from parents on decisions over the district's future. The district has a plan called Blueprint 2030 that examines proposals for the district's future. Enrollment numbers from the district show a decline since 2016.

Developing . . .
Kelly Urich is one of Kansas City's nices people even though he's seen here tempting fate and standing within sniffing distance to Paris Hilton during her glory days . . .

Accordingly . . .

Whilst terrestrial is quickly becoming a thing of the past, the adventures of the last remaining players deserve consideration . . .



Here's a peak at a well-deserved honor given to the radio jock . . .



"Kelly Urich, host of Kansas City's #1 Morning Show on 94.9 KCMO-FM, received the first-ever Media Mix Above and Beyond Award. The criteria for the award included: exceptional initiative, perseverance, accountability and commitment; rallies for the good of the company, co-workers and community; sustained excellence in overall job performance; and consistent demonstration of a cooperative and positive attitude."

Truth be told . . . Everybody who knows Mr. Urich likes him and he's one of the top reasons that many people still tune into radio . . .



Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com news link . . .
At the ITS World Congress in Hamburg last week (October 11-15) Dutch smart mobility specialists Monotch and Belgiums Be-Mobile have signed a partnership agreement for the realization and upscaling of C-ITS services in the Netherlands, Flanders, France and the rest of Europe.

With this collaboration, both parties underline the importance of a fully operational C-ITS ecosystem which provides many benefits for the stakeholders in the C-ITS ecosystem such as improving traffic flows and road safety, prioritizing road users and reducing emissions. Together they are able to serve the entire mobility ecosystem and offer cities, road authorities and road users excellent opportunities to deploy C-ITS services to their fullest potential.

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By teaming up for the Dutch, Flemish and French market Monotch and Be-Mobile are able to further promote the benefits of V2X platforms. Monotch provides data flows via the TLEX I2V platform by connecting traffic light controllers and other roadside equipment to service providers, the automotive industry, road authorities, emergency services and ultimately road users.

This perfectly matches Be-Mobiles C-ITS platform that enables drivers to instantaneously receive local traffic information and to anticipate traffic conditions beyond the windshield and has gained a lot of knowledge when it comes to C-ITS use case aggregation. Time-to-red, time-to-green, informing road users about hazardous situations, traffic light priority, to name but a few.

Be-Mobile and Monotch not only share the vision of C-ITS, but also have the drive to provide high-quality and scalable services that directly benefit cities, road authorities and road users, says Menno Malta, CEO of Monotch. Well, this is a partnership between Be-mobile and Monotch. We have a complimentary solution and connect to each other. Now we have agreed that Be-mobile integrates our solution into their solutions, especially in Belgium, France and Luxembourg, and also to explore opportunities besides those countries together.

Now more governments can move beyond the pilot stage  we have this live on a large scale in the Netherlands on a large scale. Now well also do that in Belgium.

Tangible benefits and countless C-ITS services

The data flows exchanged by connecting traffic light controllers and other road-side equipment to road operators and service providers has an enormous potential to improve traffic flows and road safety, prioritize certain road users and reduce emissions.

Road authorities can get realtime insights into the traffic situation, guide traffic and implement and analyse traffic policies without implementing expensive roadside communication systems. System integrators can leverage the data to develop innovative solutions.

The collected data can be turned into services which offer travellers a seamless driving experience based on personalized advice, making the interaction between driver and roadside systems a tangible reality.

Ready to serve the entire value chain

Both parties continue building on the successful cooperation and realization of C-ITS use cases in the Netherlands and their joint submission for the Mobilidata program in Flanders. The Be-Mobile C-ITS data and use case aggregation for emergency vehicles, traffic lights and variable message signs, the Flitsmeister traffic information and payments services and the Monotch data aggregation of the TLEX I2V platform will clearly reinforce each other.

The partnership not only prepares the infrastructure for connected and automated mobility but it also enables a large-scale roll-out of C-ITS services in Europe. The services can make a significant contribution to more sustainable driving, traffic prioritization, traffic optimization and realtime traffic information to road users. Road users will directly benefit from the combined market-ready C-ITS solutions such as in-car signage and hazardous situation notifications.

Jorn de Vries, CCO at Be-Mobile, adds, Together we can serve the entire value chain. This makes us the ideal partner for cities, road operators and other stakeholders to let C-ITS come to life everywhere in Europe.

We are the part of the ecosystem that brings information into the car. By signing this partnership we are helping provide all the building blocks to road operators and cities, making it easy for them to step into C-ITS  so they can start tomorrow.
DISTINGUISHED HOTEL REISEN REOPENS AS PART OF THE EXCLUSIVE UNBOUND COLLECTION BY HYATT

The 144-room property in Stockholms historic Old Town marks the debut of the Unbound Collection by Hyatt in Scandinavia

Today marks the official UK announcement of the reopening of the 144-room 5-star Hotel Reisen, now as part of the exclusive Unbound Collection by Hyatt. The reopening represents a significant milestone for Hyatt as the debut of the Unbound Collection in Scandinavia and will join the planned Grand Hansa Hotel in Helsinki, Finland and Hyatt Centric Reykjavik, Iceland.

Hyatt's Unbound Collection demands the highest in quality, atmosphere and uniqueness, and Hotel Reisen exceeds these expectations; its an historic gem which brings the spirit of The Unbound Collection by Hyatt to life in the capital of Sweden.

We have always been very proud of our hotel and now we are so excited to welcome both our regular guests back to an even better hotel experience, as well as new guests and travellers from all over the world. As part of Hyatt, we can promise a unique and exclusive hotel with fantastic location, food and drink and world-class service says Tomas Tegfors, Hotel Director at Hotel Reisen.

Hotel Reisen is centrally located in the Old Town on Stockholm's scenic waterfront. Dating back to the 17th century, Hotel Reisen is one of the capital citys oldest hotels, it began as a meeting place for sea captains, merchants and sailors, and staying true to its origin the refurbished hotel pays homage to the buildings extraordinary past as a destination for travellers from all around the globe. Decorated with ornaments from centuries-past including a 350-year-old footprint in the bricks of the hotel lobby, the building offers guests the opportunity to discover the hotels rich history and experience a one-of-a-kind stay.

More than 850,000 British nationals visit Sweden from the UK each year, with many flocking to Stockholm for its rich cultural experiences and its leading business scene. Guests to Hotel Reisen have the citys many museums located just a short ride away, including the refurbished National Museum boasting premier art and design and the Nobel Prize Museum. Just a short walk away, guests can revel in the grandeur of one of the largest, historic palaces in Europe, The Royal Palace, which remains the official residence of His Majesty the King of Sweden.

It is an exciting and challenging time for the entire industry and we are very happy that we can now relaunch Hotel Reisen as part of The Unbound Collection by Hyatt, says Anders Moe, CEO of the owner company Host Hotelleiendom.

Guestrooms

Each of the 144 newly renovated, spacious guestrooms feature outstanding views of the sea and islands of Stockholm. There are 12 room types, all have walk-in showers, while many also include private saunas. Commonly known as bastu, the sauna has a long tradition in Scandinavia and is a great way to relax after an eventful day in the city.

Food and Drink

The new Restaurant Reiss serves classic Swedish cuisine with a modern twist and exceptional drinks to the hotels restaurant for guests who are looking to make memories and tell their tale afterwards.

Meeting and Event Space

Hotel Reisins pristine location in the heart of Stockholms Old Town offers the perfect venue for beautiful wedding day celebrations or bespoke meetings and events. The Per Brahe conference room features the original interior of a 1908 steam ship. Whilst the Banquet Hall in Inre Baren is perfect for mingle, party, presentation or dinners for up to 80 persons.

Wellbeing

The hotel boasts a 24-hour fitness center, offering a range of equipment, a state of the art exercise bike, treadmill, multi-gym system, free weights and kettle bells, allowing guests to stick to their daily routines. Alternatively, guests can take a memorable running journey through Stockholm. Excitingly, guests can now take their beloved pet on their advetures, with the hotel offering a doggie care package.

The hotel is now open for reservations at Hyatt.com.

For more information about the hotels, please visit: Hotel Reisen - In the Unbound Collection by Hyatt

Guided by its purpose of care, Hyatts multi-layered Global Care & Cleanliness Commitment further enhances its operational guidance and resources around colleague and guest safety and peace of mind. More information on Hyatts commitment can be found here: hyatt.com/care-and-cleanliness

*About The Unbound Collection

More than a compilation of independent, one-of-a-kind hotels, The Unbound Collection by Hyatt is a thoughtful curation of stories worth collecting. Whether its a modern marvel, a historic gem or a revitalizing retreat, each property provides thought-provoking environments and experiences that inspire for guests seeking elevated yet unscripted service when they travel. For a full list of hotels in the collection, visit unboundcollection.hyatt.com. Follow @UnboundxHyatt on Facebook and Instagram and tag your photos with #UnboundxHyatt.

About Hyatt Hotels Corporation

Hyatt Hotels Corporation, headquartered in Chicago, is a leading global hospitality company offering 20 premier brands. As of June 30, 2021, the Company's portfolio included more than 1,000 hotel and all-inclusive properties in 68 countries across six continents. The Company's purpose to care for people so they can be their best informs its business decisions and growth strategy and is intended to attract and retain top employees, build relationships with guests and create value for shareholders.

The Company's subsidiaries operate, manage, franchise, own, lease, develop, license, or provide services to hotels, resorts, branded residences, and vacation ownership properties, including under the Park Hyatt, Miraval, Grand Hyatt, Alila, Andaz, The Unbound Collection by Hyatt, Destination by Hyatt, Hyatt Regency, Hyatt, Hyatt Ziva, Hyatt Zilara, Thompson Hotels, Hyatt Centric, Caption by Hyatt, JdV by Hyatt, Hyatt House, Hyatt Place, tommie, UrCove, and Hyatt Residence Club brand names, and operates the World of Hyatt loyalty program that provides distinct benefits and exclusive experiences to its valued members. For more information, please visit www.hyatt.com.

The term Hyatt is used in this release for convenience to refer to Hyatt Hotels Corporation and/or one or more of its affiliates.

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Host travel agency holds unique, in-person event focused on education and networking



(TRAVPR.COM) UNITED STATES - October 18th, 2021 - After nearly 600 days of virtual education and networking events, KHM Travel Group welcomed agents back at KHM Together Again. 158 travel agents and 34 suppliers joined the KHM Travel Group team for the in-person event on October 10-12 in Cleveland, Ohio. Highlights included agent and supplier-led panels, training sessions, a supplier tradeshow, and multiple networking opportunities.

In the panels, agents shared business strategies that helped them successfully navigate the pandemic. Land and cruise panels with top executives gave insights into their updates and plans to better serve independent contractors and the host agency model in the future. ASTA and CLIA were also present to educate and inspire agents.

Agents heard firsthand from suppliers about the new programs and policies in place during presentations from Carnival Cruise Line, ALG Vacations, and Allianz. At the afternoon trade show, agents were able to re-connect with key suppliers, ask questions, and learn whats in store for 2022.

During breakout sessions on compliance, groups, marketing, and supplier relations, attendees mixed education and funplaying games like Agent Feud and "Cover it All" Compliance Bingo. Over the course of the event, 24 total prizes were given away from suppliers including free 7-day cruises, complimentary all-inclusive stays, and supplier-branded gear.

"Our industry thrives on supporting one another. It's essential to develop strong partnerships  whether it's with fellow travel agents, your host agency, suppliers, or consultants. One of our Core Values is teamwork and KHM Together Again was the best example of that concept coming to life," said KHM Travel Group President and CEO Rick Zimmerman. "Our goal was to reflect on the past year, but also to share knowledge to pave a way to the future. It was amazing to witness the camaraderie at this event."

Attendees walked away from KHM Together Again with new confidence, inspiration, and friendships. Given the positive response, KHM Travel Group is already hard at work planning a full schedule of in-person events in 2022.

To view photos from the event, visit KHM Travel Group's Flickr account: www.flickr.com/photos/khmtravel

For more information about becoming a travel agent with KHM Travel Group and gaining access to educational events like KHM Together Again, visit www.KHMTravel.com.

ABOUT KHM TRAVEL GROUP  KHM Travel Group is an award-winning host travel agency, currently supporting over 4,000 independent travel advisors across the United States. With an innovative education and support program, the KHM Travel Group team works to empower, educate, support, and promote independent travel agents in their journey to build successful businesses. KHM Travel Group is driven by a passion for sharing knowledge and helping others experience the world. Sign up to receive the Travel Advisor Today newsletter at https://khm.io/newsletter.

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As part of City Week celebrations in San Fernando, the Nalis West Indian Reference Library was launched at Harris Promenade today.

It signals the library's partial move back to Library Corner since its relocation six years ago. The Library will open to the public in less than a month.
In the history of English classical literature, the tragedy of Hamlet written by William Shakespeare has been considering as one of the most significant among the masters works. In the main character, Hamlet is a representation of the human souls complexity. This complexity is further worked into the theme of the play by use of other minor characters. In this paper, I will discuss the minor character of the ghost of King Hamlet and his particular significance to the overall themes of the play.

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When Hamlet sees the ghost of his father, King Hamlet in Act 1:4, this event influences a great deal of what subsequently happened in the play, and ultimately what will be the result of Hamlet's destiny. At the point when Hamlet encounters the ghost of his father, he reveals to Hamlet how he was murdered and uncovers that Claudius poisoned him. The spirit of King Hamlet then requests that Hamlet avenge his death and deliver retribution on Claudius. Hamlet, whom at this point in the play becomes enraged then seeks to honor the request of his father and vindicate his death by killing Claudius. The ghost of King Lear, who is a minor character, then subsequently has a major impact in the play when the mystery of his death is uncovered, in that he plants the seed of vengeance in Hamlet. In this manner, the ghost becomes essential to the plot of the play, and sets in motion all the events that follow.

Shakespeares Hamlet depicts the themes of vengeance, duty, loyalty, and family love and bonds. These themes are demonstrated in the play through the characters and their reactions to certain situations and circumstances. Regarding focal themes of the play, it is possible to argue that the concept of revenge is at the forefront of all the themes considered in the play. The idea of revenge is the very thing that drove Hamlet to the extreme, and pushed him beyond his mental limits. In the character of Hamlet, murder was depicted as the primary way to avenge King Hamlets death, and the route in which consciously Hamlet outwear the sorrow he felt due to the murder of his father. At the same time, Hamlet seemed bound by social obligations of the royal court and loyalty to what his father King Hamlet represented. This may have contributed to the points in the play where Hamlet demonstrated a struggle with the desire to obey the will and power of King Claudius and his mother, the Queen. This inner battle of Hamlet is illustrated in Act 1, Scene 2 of the play, when Hamlet is being requested by Claudius and his mother to remain in Denmark, but he only acknowledges the desires of his mother when he says, I shall in all my best obey you, madam (Shakespeare, 40). He does not acknowledge the King in his reasoning for deciding to stay. For Hamlet, seemingly his father remained the true King, and the person whom in which he submitted to his authority. In this sense, I perceive the demands of the ghost of King Hamlet that his son get revenge and avenge his death with the same sense of Hamlet submitting to the will of the true King and his authority.

To further examine the idea that Hamlet was facing an inner battle regarding honoring the same family he felt betrayed by, we can look at the lines in which he attempts to share the shame he felt about his mothers new marriage. Hamlet says, Or ere those shoes were old with which she followd my poor fathers body, like Niobe, all tears; - why she, even she, - O God!.. married with my uncle, my fathers brother, but no more like my father, than I to Hercules(Shakespeare, 44-45). For him, his mother misbehavior could only be avenged by blood. In this case, only the personal amnesty given by his father, King Hamlet can forgive her sin. Hamlet is clearly portrayed as subordinate and passive to his father, and that point is made clear from the beginning acts of the play. I believe this is one reason why it took Hamlet so much time to settle on killing Claudius; because he had to go against his mother and disobey the order of the kingdom.

In the play, Hamlet seemingly struggled mentally with dismissing the temptation not to destroy what was left of the family. The ghost of King Hamlet was the figure in the play that would persuade Hamlet that his real obligation is in fact to kill Claudius. In this father and son relationship, Shakespeare created both an external and internal circumstance that would create motive and desire to carry out the plot of the play. In the play, we see that the only person the ghost communicates with is his son Hamlet. This point is made clear in Act 1, Scene One, when Horatio tells Marcellus, And, by my advice, let us impart what we have seen to-night unto young Hamlet; for, upon my life, this spirit, dumb to us, will speak to him (Shakespeare, 25-26). Except for the concept of duty, the appearance of the ghost of King Hamlet involves the idea of family love and bonds as one of the moral struggles Hamlet battled. Hamlet is conflicted in being a good son to his father in the Renaissances understanding of the notion.

Shakespeares Hamlet touched upon the importance of the devotion to family and asking oneself does this devotion justify the motive to murder. For Hamlet, obeying the will of his father to commit murder is seemingly the only way. It is also necessary to mention, that the tragedy of Hamlet was allegedly rooted in the medieval stories. According to Davies, the Danish legend about Amleth, became the main source of William Shakespeares tragedy (69). It this sense, Shakespeares Hamlet kept the medieval tradition of loyalty to kin and the duty to family ties important. Therefore, the idea of killing in order to do justice seems to be a logical behavior for the character of Hamlet. This also explains the presence of the ghost of his father and his meaning in the plays plot.

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The relations between parents and children were often the object of William Shakespeares interest. Sometimes his characters were not quite ready to obey their parents will. The play Romeo and Juliet is perhaps the most demonstrative and famous examples disobedience children in Shakespeares works. This theme of disobedient children in Shakespeare works can also be seen in the majority of our reading this semester A Midnight Summers Dream, As You Like It, King Lear, and Cymbeline, just to name a few. As Cristaudo mentioned, Shakespeares Romeo and Juliet provides a compellingly powerful observation of the collision course between the fragility and fickleness of the individuals will and the sturdiness of families (138). In many of Shakespeares plays, the characters seem tortured by the necessity to obey their kin, in who they see the highest authority, while at the same time battling the choice between their personal happiness and the well-being of their families. Therefore, in the development of his Shakespeares writings, the idea of love, kinship, and vengeance consistently dictates the way in which the characters evolve and act.

In Hamlet, the importance of family relations and the complexity of parent/ child conflicts finds its incarnation in the character of the ghost of King Hamlet. The ghost was essential to the psychological evolution of the main character in the play. The ghost serves as the guide for Hamlet and is essential in the theme of revenge throughout the play. The ghost of King Hamlet is the main character that defines the future development of the story. Without this character, Hamlet would never know of his uncle and his mothers guilt. Without the ghost, Hamlet would never have felt there was an authoritative request that required him to fulfill such a murderous request. Perhaps, Hamlet would not have had motive strong enough to cause him to desire to commit the act of murder. His fathers ghost is the one whom put the idea of the revenge into his sons head; and the one to give him the evidence the vengeance was actually needed. His presence allows the author to use the themes of vengeance, duty, loyalty, and family love and bonds as an important motivation for Hamlets action. Therefore, I consider the ghost of King Hamlet as one of the most significant roles of minor figures in the play Hamlet. In this sense, the ghosts role in the story should not simple be acknowledged as a minor one, but rather as a main device in fulfilling the overall plot of the play.

Works Cited
Russian occupation forces over the past 24 hours seven times breached the ceasefire, including one time with the use of weaponry proscribed by the Minsk Agreements.

Thats according to Ukraines Defense Ministry, Ukrinform reports.

The enemy fired at the positions of Ukrainian troops near Pisky, using large-caliber machine guns and MANPADs.

Near Novoluhanske, the invaders fired large-caliber machine guns and automatic easel-mounted grenade launchers.

In the Avdiyivka area, the enemy fired 82 mm mortars and large-caliber machine guns.

The mercenaries employed MANPADs and automatic easel-mounted anti-tank grenade launchers, as well as small arms, firing toward Vodiane in the Sea of Azov littoral.

Not far from Krymske, enemy armed groups twice opened fire using grenade launchers of various systems and large-caliber machine guns.

In addition, an enemy unmanned aerial vehicle, likely an Orlan-10, was spotted crossing the contact line in Luhansk region in breach of the ceasefire deal.

The past day brought no casualties, the defense ministry reports.

As of 7:00 Kyiv time on October 19, no new ceasefire violations were reported.

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At the level of defense ministers, Ukraine and the United States coordinated the steps of practical implementation of agreements to ensure Ukraine's defense on land, in the air, at sea, and in cyberspace from existing and potential threats.

During today's talks, we discussed the procedure for the practical implementation of the agreements reached, as well as the prospects for our cooperation. In particular, we agreed to develop a roadmap for the implementation of the provisions of the Framework Agreement on the Strategic Foundations of the Defense Partnership signed in Washington. We considered specific, the most critical projects on the development of the fundamental capabilities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which are important for the defense of our country on land, in the air, at sea, and in cyberspace. The practical implementation of these projects will enable the Armed Forces of Ukraine to effectively counter existing and potential threats in the field of defense, establish close cooperation with the United States in the spirit of strategic partnership, especially in maintaining regional stability and peace, and will contribute to achieving full-fledged NATO membership, Defense Minister of Ukraine Andriy Taran said following the talks with U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

It will be possible to see the real results of the implementation of the agreements reached between the governments of Ukraine and the United States already next year, Taran added.

He also stressed that the visit of the U.S. Secretary of Defense to Ukraine could be called a great event without exaggeration as a continuation of the dialogue launched during the visit of President Volodymyr Zelensky to Washington in August this year when a new stage of strategic defense partnership between Ukraine and the US was established.

The defense minister thanked the U.S. Government for its comprehensive support to Ukraine in counteracting the hybrid aggression of the Russian Federation, for assistance in implementing the tasks of defense reform, and promoting the Euro-Atlantic aspirations of our country.

In early September, a number of important documents were signed during President Volodymyr Zelensky's working visit to the United States, including a Memorandum of Understanding between the governments of Ukraine and the United States on commercial cooperation. The State Concern Ukroboronprom signed three deals totaling $2.5 billion on the cooperation with U.S. defense companies. In addition, Minister of Health Viktor Liashko signed cooperation agreements with world market leaders, in particular, General Electric, Medtronic, and MSD.

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The United States intends to strengthen its strategic defense partnership with Ukraine, according to U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.

He said this at a joint briefing with Ukrainian Defense Minister Andrii Taran in Kyiv on Tuesday, October 19, according to an Ukrinform correspondent.

Austin said that he met with Taran a few weeks ago at the Pentagon and today they had a productive discussion on the U.S.-Ukraine Strategic Defense Framework that they signed in Washington in August. He said the U.S. and Ukraine intended to strengthen their strategic partnership.

In this context, he recalled that during President Volodymyr Zelensky's visit to Washington, President Joe Biden noted that U.S. support for Ukraine's sovereignty is unwavering.

The United States condemns the occupation of Crimea and calls on Russia to end the war in eastern Ukraine, to end destabilizing actions in the Black Sea and along its border with Ukraine, and to stop cyberattacks against the United States and its allies and partners, Austin said.

He also recalled that the United States has allocated more than $2.5 billion since 2014 to strengthen the Ukrainian Armed Forces and ensure the protection of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine.

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Russia, which unleashed the war in eastern Ukraine, obstructs a peaceful settlement of this armed conflict.

"Let's make it clear that Russia started this war [in eastern Ukraine] and Russia is the [stumbling] block that obstructs a peaceful settlement. They violated the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine. For our part, we will do everything possible to support Ukraine and strengthen its capacity to protect its territorial integrity," U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said at a joint briefing with Minister of Defense of Ukraine Andriy Taran in Kyiv, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

He also assured that the United States would continue to uphold security in the Black Sea region.

"This region is very important to us, and we will continue to support our partners in upholding security in this region," the Pentagon chief said.

According to Defense Minister Andriy Taran, Ukraine expects the United States to support its independence, territorial integrity, and deter Russia from further expanding the armed conflict and escalating it into a full-scale war.

"What do we have to stop Russian aggression? We have the main thing  the Armed Forces, which are trained, which have gained rigorous experience during the war with the Russian occupiers, and we are ready to continue to defend our homeland. What do we expect from the United States? We expect that the United States will continue to support our independence, territorial integrity and in every possible way, by all available methods, to deter Russia from further expanding aggression, from further expanding the armed conflict, from escalating into a full-scale war," Taran said.

He also clarified that the means of influence that the United States could use for this purpose were primarily diplomatic efforts and military-technical assistance to Ukraine.

When asked whether Ukraine fears that the United States is not a reliable partner, Taran said: "Ukraine is a country that is fighting for its independence, its territorial integrity. And we have no doubt about the support of our strategic partner. The United States understands the importance of Ukraine's struggle for independence, for deterring Russian aggression. The United States is well aware that Ukraine is at the forefront of the fight against Russian expansion, Russia's desire to revive its imperial ambitions thus posing a threat to the entire European region. We have no doubt that the United States is committed to supporting Ukraine."

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After the Government of Ukraine and the International Monetary Funds team reached a staff-level agreement, the first revision of the Stand-By Arrangement is set to start.

Thats according to Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, Ukrinform reports referring to the Government portal.

It is noted that following the first review, Ukraine will receive from the IMF a tranche in the amount of approximately US$700 million.

"Ukraine's cooperation with the IMF is one of the markers for the international community that our country is moving in the right direction. Today's assessment by the Fund shows Ukraine is actively implementing reform to build a modern state with a developed market economy. The new projects with the World Bank agreed recently, the second tranche of macrofinancial assistance from the EU, and now positive agreements with the IMF  they all testify to the effectiveness of our joint work toward Ukraines successful future," said Shmyhal.

The IMF Executive Board is expected to approve the staff-level agreement in November this year and extend the Stand-By Arrangement until the end of June 2022.

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Ukraine will export breeding cattle to Libya, according to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine.

It is noted that the competent authorities of Ukraine and Libya have agreed on a bilateral form of a veterinary certificate for the exports of breeding cattle from Ukraine to Libya.

We continue to open new opportunities for Ukrainian exporters in foreign markets. In particular, we are promoting Ukrainian economic interests in the large consumer market of African countries. Consistent efforts bring certain results for Ukrainian business, Minister for Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba said.

According to him, this is an additional access for Ukrainian companies of the livestock industry to the Libyan market.

Libya is the country with which we cooperate on many commodity items. Now Ukrainian entrepreneurs have the opportunity to export to Libya breeding cattle, which is an important item of Ukrainian agricultural exports. Moreover, this means that the business has received new opportunities for growth, Head of the State Service on Food Safety and Consumer Protection Vladyslava Mahaletska said.

As Ukrinform reported, in April 2021, the competent agencies of Ukraine and Libya agreed on a bilateral form of a veterinary certificate for the exports of milk and dairy products from Ukraine to Libya.

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Ukraine's State Bureau of Investigation is checking reports on the supply of diesel fuel from Russia to Ukraine at reduced prices by entities affiliated with Ukrainian MP Viktor Medvedchuk, the SBI's press service has reported.

"Employees of the SBI's territorial directorate in Mykolaiv are checking information on the delivery of diesel fuel from Russia to Ukraine at reduced prices by entities affiliated with Ukrainian MP Viktor Medvedchuk," the report reads.

According to the investigation, a foreign ship flying the flag of Panama arrived at a Mykolaiv seaport terminal in early October. A few days later, the same terminal received another foreign vessel flying the flag of an EU country.

"According to the documents, each vessel delivered oil products weighing more than 30,000 tonnes to a Ukrainian limited liability company associated with the people's deputy," the SBI said.

The preliminary investigation established that the vessels had entered Russian ports in the last year and that the goods were produced in Russia.

In addition, the price declared by suppliers was almost twice lower than the market price, which allowed dealers to minimize the payment of mandatory customs duties worth millions of hryvnias.

As part of criminal proceedings launched under Part 2 of Article 364 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (abuse of power or office), SBI employees and experts from the regional chamber of commerce and industry and the State Customs Service again inspected the detained vessels and the goods declared for customs clearance.

During the inspections, fuel samples were taken and sent for research to confirm the declared quality and the code of the Ukrainian classification of goods of foreign economic activity.

"Based on the results of the examination, SBI investigators will take appropriate procedural action. The possible involvement of officials and the issue of bringing them to justice will also be checked during the investigation," the SBI said.

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For three days (18-20 Oct.) 400 guests will discuss issues relating to the general topic From crisis to opportunity  How can philanthropy accelerate sustainable change?

Vienna, 18 October 2021  The city of Vienna is currently the European capital of philanthropy: for three days some 400 representatives of philanthropic foundations and organisations operating across Europe are meeting to discuss emerging trends and possible solutions to the climate crisis, democracy development, philanthropy, and society. The conference kicked off on Monday (18 Oct.) at Gartenbaukino cinema with a short trailer specially produced for the conference, featuring Austrian artist and musician Andre Heller.

In his capacity as chairman of the supervisory board of ERSTE Foundation, Andreas Treichl welcomed the guests and introduced them to Kenan al Barede, a student who had come to Vienna as a refugee and talked about his experiences. EFC president Angel Font (la Caixa Foundation) stressed: The current huge challenges  the climate crisis, democracy development, global inequality  can only be solved together in and with society. The coronavirus crisis and the rapid development of vaccines have impressively demonstrated this.

Delphine Moralis, CEO of the European Foundation Centre since 2020, explained in her introduction to the opening plenary: Everyone is connected to everyone else, and as philanthropic foundations we can build the bridges for solutions  from crisis to opportunity. Currently, every foundation should also be a climate foundation, that is to say putting a climate lens on all its activities.

Treichl urged his guests: The philanthropic world and the corporate world need to take the same line and call for decisive action from politics  this trend will grow. Anne-Birgitte Albrectsen (LEGO Foundation) addressed the issue of the young generation and the responsibility of adults: Creativity is not limited to children; adults should allow themselves to be inspired by them. What we do now will determine what will become of the world for them. Foundations can take more risks here, moving ahead of governments and administrations and leading the way. Activist Kumi Naidoo also appealed: The philanthropic sector now needs to get more involved in solving the interconnected crises. We cannot simply address the symptoms, but we have to be addressing the root causes of the crisis: whats needed now is system innovation, system redesign and system transformation. This requires the creativity of foundations and fresh perspectives from young people, he added.

The round of experts from civil society and philanthropy was followed by representatives from politics. Mayor of Budapest Gergely Karacsony, who only recently announced his withdrawal from next years parliamentary elections in Hungary, stated in his speech how civic councils in Budapest had discussed environmental projects and prepared them for a vote; these had then been adopted and implemented by the city council. The Mayors Forum, which is also supported by ERSTE Foundation, demonstrates how philanthropy can collaborate with politics. Progress and reform from the top down is not enough. Direct democracy and representative democracy must work together, Karacsony is convinced.

The last speaker was Martins Stakis, mayor of Latvian capital Riga since 2020. In his speech, he explained that the purpose of cities is not limited to cleaning its sidewalks. They also have a global responsibility. Only cities that actively encourage and support civic engagement will be successful in the future, Stakis explained. To this end, a digital discussion platform was also implemented in Riga.

The recording of the event is available at https://streaming.ots.at/streaming/efc-conference-opening/ (from 18 Oct./approx. 5 p.m.).

The event also features showcases, discussions, keynote speeches  Wednesdays closing plenary is available via live stream

The conference programme is generally divided into four thematic tracks. On Tuesday afternoon mainly Austrian foundations will discuss their work in Viennese coffee houses and special locations such as magdas Hotel, the Wiener Zentralfriedhof (Viennas largest cemetery), the Burgtheater, the Steinhofgrunde area, the Erste Financial Life Park and the Turkis Rosa Lila Villa LGBTIQ community centre. On Wednesday, 20 October, the closing plenary will be streamed from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., featuring a keynote speech by Laurence Tubiana, CEO of the European Climate Foundation. (Link: https://streaming.ots.at/streaming/efc-conference-closing/)

General information on the event in German and English is available at: https://science.apa.at/medienkooperation/erste-stiftung/

About the conference: This years annual conference of the European Foundation Centre (initially planned for early 2020) takes place in Vienna for the first time. The event in the Austrian capital is organised by a host committee chaired by ERSTE Foundation and including the Verband fur gemeinnutziges Stiften (Association of Public Benefit Foundations), Caritas Foundation Austria, the Central European University Budapest Foundation, the Essl Foundation, the European Forum Alpbach non-profit private foundation, the Katharina Turnauer Private Foundation, Nadace Ceske sporitelny, Nadacia Slovenskej sporitelne, Porticus, the Robert Bosch Stiftung and the Stiftung Mercator. Guests represent the entire spectrum of philanthropic activity across Europe and the world with institutions including Bertelsmann Stiftung, IKEA Foundation, LEGO Foundation, Porticus, Stiftung Mercator, Open Society Foundations, ZEIT-Stiftung Ebelin und Gerd Bucerius, Fondation de France, and la Caixa" Foundation.

Further inquiries & contact:

Thomas Goiser

M: +43 664 2410268

thomas@goiser.at

ERSTE Stiftung  Communications

Maribel Koniger

M: +43 664 8385341

maribel.koeniger@erstestiftung.org
President Volodymyr Zelensky says that Ukraine may soon sign bilateral declarations on the European prospects with three more EU Member States.

Four countries have already signed such documents, the Head of State said in an interview with ICTV, Ukrinform reports.

"Four [countries] have already signed such declarations, I will sign three more now, so we have already seven. The total number is 27, we will do this step by step," the President said.

He noted that bilateral declarations with the EU Member States in support of Ukraine's European prospects began to be prepared this year.

"When Ukraine and the EU Member States decide that Ukraine can be a member of the EU, the country with which we sign this declaration will definitely vote for us," the Head of State explained.

At the same time, Zelensky assured that President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and President of the European Council Charles Michel supported our country on the path towards EU membership and took note of the progress in the implementation of reforms.

"However, we understand that Ukraine's membership in the European Union must be endorsed by 27 EU Member States," the President added.

As reported, the 23rd UkraineEU Summit took place in Kyiv on October 12. Following the Summit, President Volodymyr Zelensky stated that giving Ukraine a European prospect was a logical and expected step.

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The ratification of the Rome Statute will speed up the investigation of crimes in Crimea and Donbas and allow Ukraine to seize the opportunities of the International Criminal Court (ICC), in particular, to accelerate the prosecution of perpetrators of crimes in the occupied Crimea and Donbas.

The ratification of the Rome Statute is crucial. First, it will demonstrate that we trust the justice we seek. Second, we will get the tools. We need not only to ratify but also to embed the ICC prosecutors investigation tools in the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine. It will also give us opportunities, Prosecutor General of Ukraine Iryna Venediktova told journalists after a meeting with new chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Karim Khan on October 18, an Ukrinform correspondent in The Hague reported.

The Prosecutor General noted that the meeting with Karim Khan was very frank and professional. It took place behind closed doors. In particular, the parties discussed continuous effective cooperation and 24 communications over war crimes and crimes against humanity in the occupied Crimea and Donbas.

In December 2020, the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court endorsed the completion of the preliminary examination of the events in Ukraine related to the international armed conflict in Donbas and Crimea. Completion of the preliminary examination means that the crimes committed in Crimea and Donbas can be fully investigated. The decision to open a full-fledged investigation into the commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity amid the armed conflict is to be made by the Judges of the Pre-Trial Chamber of the Court.

The International Criminal Court was established on the basis of the Rome Statute.

On January 20, 2000, Ukraine signed the Rome Statute of the ICC but did not ratify it. Although Ukraine is not a member state of the Statute, it had the right to apply to the ICC as the Statute signatory.

At the same time, Russia withdrew its signature from the Rome Statute. However, this does not prevent Russian citizens from being prosecuted for crimes committed in the territory of Ukraine.

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It is about consolidating an informal coalition of the Black Sea states capable to deter Russian aggression in the regions of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov

On October 17, U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin embarked on a week-long European tour, including visiting the Black Sea region countries  Georgia, Romania, and Ukraine  to reassure allies and partners that the U.S. steadfastly supports them in the face of Russias destabilizing actions. His trip will wrap up in Brussels where Austin will take part in a NATO defense ministerial.

Mr. Austin arrived in Kyiv on Tuesday, October 19.

During the visit, he is scheduled to meet with the country's top political and military leaders, President Volodymyr Zelensky and Defense Minister Andriy Taran, to discuss progress in implementing defense industry reforms needed to advance Ukraines Euro-Atlantic aspirations, as well as bilateral cooperation and security in the Black Sea.

Pentagon chiefs visit seen as an extraordinary event

On August 23, 2017, the U.S. secretary of defense, James Mattis, visited Ukraine for the first time in ten years.

"He took part in the celebrations on our countrys Independence Day and also met with President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko and his Ukrainian counterpart Stepan Poltorak," recalls Mykhailo Samus, deputy chief of the Center for Army Research, Conversion and Disarmament, who spoke with Ukrinform.

Mattis's visit was no breakthrough event, however it "[l]aid foundations for the launch of lethal aid supplies to Ukraine to repel Russian aggression," said Pavlo Lakiychuk, chief of military programs at the Center for Global Studies Strategy XXI.

"And then the United States made the final decision on handing over their Javelin anti-tank systems," added Samus.

As for Lloyd Austin's current visit, experts say it is taking place in a different geopolitical context, therefore the expectations also differ.

General Austin is not just an American government official. He is a former commander of USCENTCOM, a hotspot expert. And the current visit is part of his wider "Black Sea" trip.

"As reported, General Austin will be visiting Romania, Georgia, and Ukraine before meeting NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in Brussels. It seems that the United States and NATO have finally decided on their strategy to confront Russia on its southern flank. And an informal coalition is being formed to implement the Black Sea Strategy. Determining specific measures to deter Russia is beyond the responsibility of the defense secretary. This will be determined by the U.S. European Command (USEUCOM) in cooperation with the relevant bodies of NATO and Black Sea Allies. Lloyd Austin's task is to bring a political impetus to these changes," said the chief of military programs at the Center for Global Studies Strategy XXI.

"Ukraine, Georgia, Romania These countries are Black Sea partners and allies of the United States. Obviously, it is on them, not on Bulgaria or Turkey, that the United States hopes to rely in the region, said the deputy director of the Center for Army Research, Conversion and Disarmament. He adds that this visit is strategically important: "I hope that the United States and NATO will finally form their own strategy in the Black Sea. Because, unfortunately, they still have no such strategy in place."

This is a general perspective. As for Ukraine

"Of course, this is a signal for Ukraine: on the one hand, its a signal of apology for what Ukrainian and U.S. experts believe was an inappropriate U.S. representation at the Crimea Platform Summit, and on the other  its a message in support of Ukraine's Euro-Atlantic aspirations," Pavlo Lakiychuk suggests.

Lloyd Austin's meeting with President Zelensky and Defense Minister Taran, he continues, will have both a military-political and military-technical dimension.

"U.S. security aid to Ukraine has reached a certain median and needs a revision on further direction to move to. The result will probably come in the form of agreements on areas of military-technical cooperation, assistance under the USAI Security Assistance Initiative, etc., the military expert said.

"Recently, in August-September, we saw very important contacts and visits, where Ukroboronprom and the Ministry of Strategic Industry officials discussed with their American counterparts some promising projects in various fields, including anti-missile defense, aircraft and shipbuilding, etc. Therefore, I think that the Pentagon chief, among other things, is coming to record whats been achieved, as well as to launch specific projects. Whats it about? It will all depend on how and what the parties agree on, says Mykhailo Samus.

"The visit of the Pentagon chief is a landmark event. Its positive for us both in terms of image (support) and in material terms (assistance). What kind of assistance could this be? The Biden administration is loyal to us when it comes to arms supply. I dont rule out that the issue of the possible handover of the two batteries of the Iron Dome missile defense system may be agreed upon, said military expert Oleh Zhdanov.

Another dimension is Ukraine's Euro-Atlantic aspirations. The United States supports Ukraine's membership in NATO, while insisting on Kyiv doing its "homework" by pursuing reforms.

"At the meeting of high-ranking officials, the parties will discuss security sector reforms. It is possible that Ukraine's participation in NATO operations and the expansion of the participation of Ukrainian units in the NATO Response Force will be on the agenda," Mr. Lakiychuk stressed.

Russia realizes the significance and consequences of Lloyd Austin's trip. Will they react?

According to Oleh Zhdanov, the Kremlin may well throw tantrums about the visit: "It is possible that Russia will increase the intensity of shellings in Donbas. But the aggressor power will not be able to do anything beyond that."

Pavlo Lakiychuk shared the opinion, saying that Moscow, which, playing the contradictions between the Black Sea states, has long skillfully "shuffled the cards" in shaping the regional security system in the Black Sea region, also understands the significance of Austins visit and its possible implications.

"The Kremlin is likely to raise stakes, going for some escalation, trying to sow a split between the Black Sea Allies and partners. However, the visit of the U.S. secretary of defense is not about the beginning of the Black Sea security process, it is about its structuring. And it will be quite difficult to hinder the process at this stage," said the expert with the Center for Global Studies Strategy XXI.

In turn, Mykhailo Samus said we should not be considering the Kremlin's reaction at all: "Today we have our own tasks and mission to fulfill, which is to restore our territorial integrity and sovereignty."

We must do all this by increasing economic prowess, implementing reforms, maximizing the work to develop our armed forces, and further developing contacts with global powers, primarily with the United States

"As for the reaction on the part of the Russian Federation Well, if they intensify the shellings of Ukrainian positions, let me remind you that now there is a clear command from the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces that each commander is allowed to decide on how to respond. So if they open fire, they will get the mirror response, which can also be even harsher, said the military expert.

However, he went on, the Kremlin is unlikely to escalate: "Now Putin is enjoying another win in the gas market. They expect that when the energy industry halts in Europe and in Ukraine, Mother Russia will be able to come to the rescue immediately."

And this is what all this hybrid effort was precisely designed for. And, despite all its obviousness, the Biden administration and the German leadership for some reason fell for it.

"We are yet to see what this will lead to. However, Im sure Ukraine will come out of this with dignity, but the question of how Europe will come out of this remains open, Mykhailo Samus concluded.

Myroslav Liskovych. Kyiv

First photo: Carlos Bongioanni / Stars and Stripes
U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin arrived on a working visit to Ukraine on Tuesday, according to the Twitter account of the Pentagon chief.

"Wheels down in Kyiv. I'm here to reaffirm our unwavering support for Ukraine's sovereignty, territorial integrity, and Euro-Atlantic aspirations  and to express our commitment to build Ukraine's capacity to deter further Russian aggression," the tweet reads.

Wheels down in Kyiv. I'm here to reaffirm our unwavering support for Ukraines sovereignty, territorial integrity, and Euro-Atlantic aspirations  and to express our commitment to build Ukraines capacity to deter further Russian aggression. pic.twitter.com/IUTnQpumfT  Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III (@SecDef) October 19, 2021

Austin is expected to meet with President Volodymyr Zelensky and Minister of Defense Andrii Taran to discuss Ukraine's progress with the implementation of defense and defense industry reforms needed to advance its Euro-Atlantic aspirations as well as regional cooperation among Black Sea allies and partners.

Distinguished U.S. guests will also take part in a ceremony to honor the defenders of Ukraine who died for the freedom, independence and territorial integrity of their homeland and during international operations on maintaining peace and security.

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On Tuesday, October 19, the fourth special operation to evacuate Ukrainian citizens from Syria ended.

"This morning, another special operation to evacuate Ukrainian citizens from Syria was successfully completed. The life of every Ukrainian and their security is the highest value for our state," Deputy Defense Minister of Ukraine Hanna Malyar posted on Facebook.

In 2017, it became known that citizens of Ukraine (women and children) stayed in the closed-off al-Hawl and Roj refugee camps in northeastern Syria ("Syrian Kurdistan").

In late 2020, the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine together with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs began to conduct special operations to evacuate Ukrainian citizens from Syria.

On October 19, the fourth such operation was carried out with the help of Honorary Consul of Ukraine in Erbil, Dr. Farhan.

"The final 5th evacuation operation is planned. After that, all citizens of Ukraine will be completely evacuated from northeastern Syria ("Syrian Kurdistan"). Currently, 11 families of Ukrainian citizens remain there. All of them were taken out of the al-Hawl camp, prepared for evacuation, but now stay in quarantine," said the Deputy Defense Minister.

ol
Ambassador of Ukraine to Spain Serhiy Pohoreltsev met with representatives of the Ukrainian community in Spain, according to the website of the Ukrainian Embassy.

The ambassador informed those present about the current state and prospects of Ukrainian-Spanish relations, the role and place of the diplomatic mission in this process, and thanked the Ukrainian community for its assistance in preserving and spreading Ukrainian culture in Spain," the report says.

At the meeting, important issues of the Ukrainian communitys life and consular services were discussed, as well as holding of joint events, in particular in the context of the Days of Ukraine in Spain next year.

"Special attention was paid to promoting the development of trade and economic relations between Ukraine and Spain," the report says.

iy
The two things about her native Afghanistan that Zohra remembers most vividly are the snow and the fear.

Zohra has not seen snow since 2016, when her family made the journey to the Ecuadorian capital of Quito, but she frequently dreams of the icy white landscapes of her hometown in northern Afghanistan. Those dreams are tinged with the overwhelming sense of dread that overshadowed her life back home.

Zohras father worked as a government official in Afghanistan, a position that made the entire family a target for Taliban fighters. One of Zohras brothers had to drop out of medical school because the commute to and from the university became too dangerous, while another, Hasibullah, fled to India.

Whenever I think of my country, I feel fear.

Little Zohra and her sisters saw their world shrink as they too were taken out of school and kept indoors.

The only place we could go was the home of my late grandma, said Zohra, seated in the living room of the small apartment in Quito she shares with her parents and four of her five siblings. Whenever I think of my country, I feel fear. I remember the fear.

The familys journey to safety was a long and harrowing one. While he was in India, Zohras brother Hasibullah found help securing the family visas to Ecuador. Their father sold all their belongings, including their house and car, to raise the money for airfares to the South American nation  some US$3,600 per ticket. The 44-hour-long journey involved changing planes nearly half a dozen times, and although their visas were in order, they were stopped and questioned by immigration authorities several times along the way.

Zohra and her brother Hasibullah (both centre) revel in the Quito sunset, surrounded by additional members of their immediate family.  UNHCR/Jaime Gimenez

Zohra gets ready to paint a mural on the walls of Quito's Centre for Equality and Justice, where both locals and displaced people receive legal support.  UNHCR/Diana Diaz

The artists at work. Zohra and her fellow painters making progress on the mural at the Centre for Equality and Justice.  UNHCR/Diana Diaz

Zohra shows off her work to UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi during a visit to the Centre for Equality and Justice in Quito.  UNHCR/Santiago Escobar-Jaramillo

Ecuador currently hosts over 70,000 refugees  the largest population of recognized refugees in Latin America  the vast majority of them from neighbouring Colombia. The country is also playing host to more than 450,000 Venezuelans who have fled insecurity and food and medicine shortages in recent years.

While recent events in Afghanistan have seen a surge in the number of Afghans fleeing their country, when they arrived in 2016, Zohras family were among just over two dozen Afghan refugees in the Andean nation.

Through painting, I can create my own world.

Adapting was difficult at first. None of the family spoke Spanish. That made keeping up with school a challenge and pushed Zohra to turn to art as a way of expressing herself. Back in Afghanistan, she had relied on art to imagine a life beyond the confines of her family home.

Art is another world, a parallel universe. Its hard to explain because its all about a different kind of feeling that you cant express in words, she said. Through painting, I can create my own world.

An after-school programme helped turn what had been a private way of dealing with all the changes of a young life marked by tumult into a very public way of bridging the divide between her native and adopted cultures. The programme, implemented by an NGO called Fudela, with the support of UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, provides young people like Zohra with art lessons, as well as a kit to allow participants to paint at home.

Thanks to the programme, Zohra ended up painting several murals on buildings in Quito, including one outside the Centre for Justice and Equality depicting the emotional rollercoaster that many who are forced to flee their homes go through.

I feel their sadness, I feel their pain, I feel their joy, Zohra said. I want those who see it to say to themselves, Someone is thinking about us, someone is worried about us, and someone wants better things for us.

While school continues to be an uphill battle for Zohra, she is determined to lay down strong foundations upon which to build her dreams.

My teachers assign lots of homework, and I dont see the usefulness of much of it, she said. Thats why I do my homework as quickly as possible, so that I can do the things that I enjoy, which is learning languages and painting.

In addition to her native Farsi, Zohra is now fluent in Spanish and is teaching herself Japanese, English and French. She dreams of studying international relations at a university in Canada.

But in the meanwhile, Zohra intends to continue with her art.

I want to paint and paint and paint and paint, she said with a smile.
Governor Pete Ricketts, in accordance with a proclamation from the White House, announced that all U.S. and Nebraska flags are to be flown at half-staff to honor General Colin Powell, who passed away earlier today. General Powell was a four-star general, recipient of the Bronze Star and Purple Heart, U.S. Secretary of State from 2001-2005, and advisor to four U.S. Presidents.

Secretary Powell was a great American whose legacy will live on for generations, said Gov. Ricketts. As a soldier in the United States Army, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, and Secretary of State he served our country with honor and distinction. Susanne and I are thinking of the Powell family, and keeping them in our prayers during this difficult time.

Flags will be flown at half-staff immediately until sunset on October 22, 2021.

A copy of the full proclamation can be found on the White House website.
Communication and transparency are vital elements to the success of any organization, especially a university like ours.

It is also important, in supporting these factors, we take the time to listen.

Since July, Chancellor Joanne Li, Ph.D., CFA, has held dozens of listening sessions for a variety of campus and community groups. To ensure everyone's voice can be heard, a number of future sessions have been scheduled and can be participated in.

These sessions, which will be available for in-person and virtual attendance, are an opportunity for the Maverick community to share what is important to them about UNO and for Chancellor Li to listen and learn.

We encourage all attendees to come with shared goal of finding ways to advance UNO as a premier metropolitan university and academic leader in Nebraska and across the region.

Those who would like to attend a session with ties to their academic unit are encouraged to do so; however, for those who cannot make the scheduled time, each of these sessions can be attended by anyone in the campus community.

Please RSVP for your spot at any of these upcoming sessions by using this form. Details about where and how to attend will be shared with registrants a few days before their chosen session.





Listening Session Dates and Times

Tuesday, Nov. 23 | 1 - 2:30 P.M.

Staff Listening Session

RSVP







Monday, Nov. 29 | 1 - 2:30 P.M.

College of Business Administration Listening Session

RSVP







Thursday, Dec. 9 | 1 - 2:30 P.M.

Faculty Session

RSVP
DUBAI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News / WAM - 19th Oct, 2021) Master-developer Dubai South Properties has announced the launch of "The Avenue," a limited number of freehold plots that can be purchased on a payment plan and developed by investors for commercial use.

The new launch follows the vast development of Dubai South, the successful sell-out of several freehold projects as well as sales of residential plots at the Residential District that were launched earlier by the company.

The Avenue will vary in size, with plots ranging from 30,000 to 55,000 square feet, while built-up areas ranging from 50,000 to 90,000 square feet. Dubai South Properties will also offer a payment plan of up to three years. Interested investors will benefit from the dual licencing system whereby, they could obtain all required licenses directly from Dubai South Freezone, saving them time and giving them an abundance of facilities.

A spokesperson from Dubai South Properties said, "We are also confident that Expo 2020 will play a pivotal role in attracting investors, who will be keen to explore investment opportunities in Dubai. We at Dubai South Properties are committed to cater to the aspirations of potential and existing clientele as well as support the governments initiatives and plans in attracting foreign direct investments to the emirate."

Dubai South is home to a community of freehold as well as leasehold residential, commercial, office, and retail properties.
Strasbourg, France, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 19th Oct, 2021 ) :Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki accused the EU of "blackmail" on Tuesday in a public clash with European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen over his country's rejection of parts of EU law.

The row, played out in the European Parliament, underlined the seriousness of the issue which both Brussels and Warsaw say threatens the cohesion of the 27-nation bloc.

Von der Leyen, speaking just before Morawiecki took the podium, warned that her Commission -- tasked as guardian of the EU treaties -- "will act" to rein Poland in.

"We cannot and we will not allow our common values to be put at risk," she said, enumerating legal, financial and political options being considered.

Morawiecki, in a speech running over his allotted time, hit back by saying "it is unacceptable to talk about financial penalties.

.. I will not have EU politicians blackmail Poland".

A ruling by the Polish Constitutional Court this month questioning parts of EU law ratcheted up tensions with Brussels that have been festering for years.

The European Commission and European Parliament have taken Warsaw to task for moves to scrap judges' independence and other policies seen as rolling back democratic norms.

Analysts said the ruling could be a first step towards Poland one day leaving the EU.

But Morawiecki insisted that Poland's place was in the EU and that EU law derived from its treaties only applied in specified areas, with Poland's national constitution supreme in all other aspects.
Yangon, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 19th Oct, 2021 ) :Newly released anti-coup protesters in Myanmar were reunited with their families outside a Yangon prison Tuesday in tearful scenes on the second day of a junta amnesty as international pressure mounts on the regime.

The Southeast Asian country has been in chaos since a coup in February, with more than 1,100 civilians killed in a bloody crackdown on dissent and more than 8,000 arrested, according to a local monitoring group.

On Monday, the military said it would free more than 5,000 people to mark the three-day Buddhist Thadingyut festival, sending anxious families rushing to prisons, joyful at the prospect of reunions after months apart.

"I've missed you so much," a mother wept over her newly released son, as he cradled his young child. "I'm so proud of you." She was among hundreds who had gathered again Tuesday morning outside the colonial-era Insein prison in Yangon, some carrying flowers and placards bearing the Names of their relatives.

Buses pulled out, with former detainees inside giving the thumbs up gesture through the windows to the cheering crowd, some of whom flashed the three-fingered salute -- a sign adopted by the democracy movement.

Than Toe Aung Was -- imprisoned for around six months -- was greeted by his jubilant sister outside.

"I would not say why I was arrested," he said, urging people to "move forward for the future".

"I'm happy for my release. But I will have to try for those who are not released," he added, flashing the crowd a three-fingered salute.

Meanwhile, Nwet Nwet San said he was hoping his son, a soldier who had run away from the army, would be freed.

"He's been in prison for eight months," he told AFP, adding that although he had heard it was mostly protesters being released, others would be set free too.

"That's why I'm waiting.

" The amnesty was "a tactical response to a pretty hostile domestic and international environment," Richard Horsey of the International Crisis Group told AFP.

"These kinds of cynical moves may have worked 20 years ago... but it will do nothing to improve the standing of this regime." Myanmar authorities released more than 2,000 anti-coup protesters from prisons across the country in June, including journalists critical of the military government.

Those still in custody include the American journalist Danny Fenster, who has been held since being arrested on May 24.

The amnesty over Thadingyut comes with the military under increasing pressure to engage with its opponents, nearly nine months after seizing power.

On Friday, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) decided to exclude junta leader Min Aung Hlaing from an upcoming summit of the 10-country bloc over doubts about his commitment to defusing the bloody crisis.

Often criticised as toothless, ASEAN took a stand after the government rebuffed requests for a special envoy to meet "all stakeholders" in Myanmar -- a phrase seen to include ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

The coup snuffed out the country's short-lived experiment with democracy and the 76-year-old Suu Kyi now faces a raft of charges in a junta court that could see her jailed for decades.

Last week, her chief lawyer said he had been banned by the military from speaking to journalists, diplomats or international organisations.

The other lawyers on her legal team also face a similar ban -- effectively muzzling the key sources of information on court proceedings, from which journalists are barred.

Nobel laureate Suu Kyi, who has spent much of her life resisting Myanmar's generals, is scheduled to testify in court for the first time later this month.
Mexico City, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 19th Oct, 2021 ) :US special climate envoy John Kerry on Monday praised Mexico's efforts to fight global warming.

Visiting a reforestation program in the southern state of Chiapas together with Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, Kerry said that combatting climate change "cannot be achieved without reforestation and dealing with deforestation." "All of us in the world need to focus in what Lopez Obrador is trying to do," Kerry added.

One million hectares of trees have been replanted as part of the "Sembrando Vida" ("Sowing Life") program, according to the Mexican government.

Kerry praised the program, saying that it focuses "on people, on people lives, on work, on the ability to be able of stay where you live, on the ability of stay connected to the land as part of the future".

The Mexican president said Sembrando Vida, which has been replicated in El Salvador and Honduras, creates jobs and thus helps contain migration to the United States through Mexico.

Kerry visited Mexico before flying to London ahead of the COP26 UN climate summit which begins on October 31 in Glasgow.
ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 19th Oct, 2021 ) :Minister for Interior, Sheikh Rashid Ahmed Tuesday commended the Pakistan Navy (PN) on prematurely detecting the entering of Indian Naval submarine into Pakistani waters.

In a statement, the minister praised the professional skills, commitment, and resolve of the Pakistan Navy to defend the maritime frontiers of the motherland.

He said, "I salute Pakistan Navy on detecting an Indian submarine due to its unremitting vigilance and professional competence.

" He said, "I am already an admirer of high-level specialized skills of Pakistan Navy to ensure country's security." He said, "My sureness on professional capabilities of Pakistan Navy had further strengthened during the visit of Hamza submarine in the current month."It seems India was totally unaware of the readiness and alertness of all-time proficient and prepared Pakistan Navy, he added.

He said that the world must take notice of India's anti-Pakistan aggression.
(@FahadShabbir)

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 19th October, 2021) FBI raids in the homes of relatives of businessman Oleg Deripaska in Washington and New York are linked to US sanctions, the businessman's spokesperson told Sputnik.

"The FBI is indeed currently conducting raids in the houses belonging to relatives of Oleg Deripaska.

The raids are carried out on the basis of two court orders related to US sanctions. The aforementioned houses are located in New York and Washington, Oleg Deripaska himself does not own them," he said.
(@FahadShabbir)

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 19th October, 2021) Leaders of Greece, Cyprus and Egypt have jointly condemned Turkey's policies in the Eastern Mediterranean, according to a joint statement released on Tuesday following a trilateral summit in Athens.

"We condemned the illegal drilling and seismic operations by Turkish vessels in Cyprus EEZ/continental shelf, in maritime areas already delimited in accordance with international law. We also reiterated our condemnation of the continuous violations of Greek national airspace and territorial waters in the Aegean Sea and all other illegal activities in areas falling within Greece's continental shelf, in contravention of international law," Cypriot presidency said in a statement published after the meeting of Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Sisi.

The leaders further urged Ankara to abstain "in a consistent and sincere manner" from provocations and other actions that violate international law and called for a productive dialogue, which "cannot be conducted in an aggressive environment or under the threat of the use of force."

On the issue of Cyprus, the three sides reaffirmed their support of the relevant UN Security Council resolutions that call for a "bizonal, bicommunal federation with a single sovereignty, a single international personality and a single citizenship" and prompted Ankara to also abide by them.

The leaders criticized Turkey's decision to further open up areas of the buffer town of Varosha and demanded a return to negotiations to arrive at "a just, comprehensive and viable settlement" of the issue.

Cyprus has been de facto divided since 1974, and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus was declared in 1983, recognized only by Turkey.

Negotiations on the reunification of Cyprus have been conducted almost from the moment of its division. The UN has attempted brokering reunification talks, but the negotiation has reached an impasse.

In July, the self-proclaimed Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, backed by Ankara, unilaterally demilitarized the UN-protected quarter of Varosha, a town in the buffer zone that separates the Greek and Turkish communities on the island. The UN Security Council condemned the move, saying it violates all previous UN resolutions on Cyprus.
TOKYO (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 19th October, 2021) The Japanese government is still analyzing the type of missiles that North Korea launched earlier on Tuesday, and believes this could be submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBM), Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said.

"The National Security Council convened for a meeting. We are currently analyzing details, including the possibility that it could be a SLMB," Kishida told reporters.

If this is confirmed, this will be the first SLBM launch since October 2019.
(@FahadShabbir)

The head of Health Center 4, which bills itself as Latvia's largest private ambulatory medical institution, warned Monday that a surge in COVID-19 cases had pushed the healthcare sector to the breaking point

RIGA (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 18th October, 2021) The head of Health Center 4, which bills itself as Latvia's largest private ambulatory medical institution, warned Monday that a surge in COVID-19 cases had pushed the healthcare sector to the breaking point.

"There is a week left until a catastrophe in the healthcare sphere," Maris Revalds told reporters.

Revalds said medical services could soon be reduced to the bare minimum, putting the lives of people in need of time-critical medical care at risk. He said a nationwide lockdown was needed.

The small Baltic nation of 1.8 million has been recording new cases in excess of 2,000 every day.

The Johns Hopkins University said on Sunday that Latvia saw the world's highest number of weekly cases per million people in the previous week. Yuri Perevoshchikov, the chief epidemiologist at Latvia's CDC, called it an "anti-record."
(@ChaudhryMAli88)

TOKYO (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 19th October, 2021) Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said two projectiles were fired from North Korea towards the Sea of Japan, which are most likely ballistic missiles.

"The fact that North Korea has been carrying out a series of missile launches since last month is very regrettable.

Currently, there has been no confirmation of damage or injuries after the launches," the head of the Japanese government said, commenting on North Korea's missile launches.

Japan expressed its protest to North Korea over the launches, a senior cabinet official said.
(@FahadShabbir)

WARSAW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 19th October, 2021) Warsaw deployed nearly 6,000 Polish soldiers to guard the border with Belarus amid the ongoing migration crisis, Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said on Tuesday.

"Almost 6,000 soldiers from the 16th, 18th, and 120th divisions are already stationed at the Polish-Belarusian border," Blaszczak tweeted, adding that they assist the border guards with preventing any illegal crossings.

The Polish border guard reported 612 such attempts at the border with Belarus over the past day.

This month, some 10,000 attempts to illegally cross the border were detected, following 20,000 cases in September.

In recent months, Poland along with neighboring Latvia and Lithuania have reported an influx of migrants trying to cross into the European Union from Belarus and accused Minsk of facilitating illegal migration to destabilize the bloc in retaliation for sweeping sanctions.

Minsk rejected the claims, maintaining that it has been unable to curb the migration crisis due to Western sanctions.
MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 19th October, 2021) Russia is ready to maintain dynamic and multifaceted military cooperation with Iran, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu told Iranian Armed Forces Chief of Staff Mohammad Bagheri at their meeting in Moscow.

"Our relations are developing very dynamically and are multifaceted, which is confirmed by our large-scale joint fight against international terrorism.

We are ready to continue to make every effort to maintain this momentum," Shoigu said.

Russia and Iran are actively countering international terrorism in Syria, the minister noted.

"We can continue this effort in different regions, taking into account that the situation is not getting easier. I am talking about Afghanistan and the threats emanating from this region: drug trafficking and the emergence of ISIS (Islamic State terrorist organization, banned in Russia) on the territory of neighboring countries," Shoigu continued.
(@FahadShabbir)

MONTEVIDEO (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 19th October, 2021) The second batch of Russia's Sputnik Light coronavirus vaccine may arrive in Nicaragua by the end of October, Pyotr Pankratov, the Russian trade representative in the country, told Sputnik.

"Perhaps it will arrive this month," Pankratov said, without naming a specific date.

The first consignment of Sputnik Light was delivered to Nicaragua on October 15.

Nicaragua began vaccinating its population in March. In addition to the Russian vaccine, Covishield and AstraZeneca medicines obtained through the Covax mechanism are used.

The Sputnik Light single-component COVID-19 vaccine (the first component of the Sputnik V vaccine) is not only being used independently, but is also being studied in combination with medicines from other manufacturers.
(@FahadShabbir)

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 19th October, 2021) Median approval of the United States' global leadership has rebounded under President Joe Biden, rising 19 percentage points from ratings at the end of the Donald Trump presidency, a Gallup report said on Tuesday.

"As of early August 2021, across 46 countries and territories, median approval of US leadership stood at 49%. This rating is up from the 30% median approval at the end of Donald Trump's presidency and matches the rating during former President Barack Obama's first year in office in 2009," a press release explaining the report said.

Biden's a 36 percent disapproval rating is also higher than any of those under former President Barack Obama, but seven percentage points below the final disapproval rating under Trump - a record high 44 percent, the release added.

The report credited Biden's decision to rejoin the Paris Climate Accord and halt Trump's decision to leave the World Health Organization for much of the improved image.

The report also noted that Biden vowed to repair US alliances through diplomacy and restore the United States' image in his first foreign policy speech as president.

"These words and actions likely reassured many longtime US allies and the international community at large and may have contributed to the surge in approval ratings across most of the 46 countries and territories surveyed through the first half of 2021," the release said.

At the same time, the report warned that what happens in the next six months - and in the aftermath of the quick US withdrawal from Afghanistan - may set the tone and position of the US for the rest of the Biden presidency.

Results for the 2021 approval ratings are based on nationally representative, probability-based samples among the adult populations, aged 15 and older, in 46 countries surveyed between April and August 2021. Surveys were conducted either through telephone or face-to-face interviews, according to the release.
ANKARA (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 19th October, 2021) The ambassadors of 10 countries, who called for the release of human rights defender Osman Kavala, were summoned to the Turkish Foreign Ministry and reminded of the need to observe the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday.

On Monday, the embassies of 10 countries - Canada, France, Finland, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden and the United States - called on Turkey to release Kavala after four years under arrest.

"A group of Ambassadors, who released a joint statement last night in violation of diplomatic customs, regarding an ongoing legal case, have been summoned this morning to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It was conveyed to the Ambassadors / charge d'affaires of these countries that the impertinent statement via social media regarding a legal proceeding conducted by independent judiciary was unacceptable, that the statement attempting to politicize judicial proceedings and put pressure on Turkish judiciary was rejected, and that the statement was also against the rule of law, democracy and independence of the judiciary, as allegedly defended by the Ambassadors," the ministry said.

The ministry noted that such concern over litigation involving Turkey, and in particular the judgment regarding Kavala, points to an "insincere and double standard approach."

The ministry said it advised the ambassadors to "act within the scope of their responsibilities originating from their duties in line with the Vienna Convention." In international practice, the perceived breach of this convention can lead to the expulsion of foreign diplomats from their host country.

Kavala is a well-known Turkish businessman and human rights activist. He is the founder of the Anadolu Kultur foundation, promoting ethnic and religious minority projects, particularly the reconciliation between the Turkish and Armenian populations and the peaceful resolution of the Kurdish issue.

In February 2020, a Turkish court acquitted Kavala on the charge of ties to the anti-government Gezi Park protests in 2013. However, on the same day, the Istanbul prosecutor's office issued a new warrant which re-arrested Kavala on charges of ties to the failed 2016 coup. Kavala has denied all charges brought against him.
MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 19th October, 2021) A joint Iran-Russia military commission will meet in Tehran in three months, Iranian General Staff Chief Maj. Gen. Mohammad Bagheri said.

Maj. Gen. Bagheri arrived in Moscow on Sunday, where he intended to hold talks with his Russian counterpart Gen. of the Army Valery Gerasimov. On Monday, the head of the Iranian General Staff also said that Tehran is holding talks with Moscow on the purchase of fighters and helicopters.

"A joint Iranian-Russian military commission will meet in Tehran in three months. The commission will discuss cooperation between the two countries in defense, security, military training (of troops) and other issues," the IRNA news agency quoted Maj. Gen. Bagheri as saying.

Russia is a strategic ally of Iran. The countries engage in extensive trade, economic, military and political cooperation. Russia has been building Iran's nuclear power plant in Bushehr for several years. Recently, due to the spread of COVID-19, Russia has been sending batches of Sputnik V vaccines to the country.

Tehran and Moscow maintain close military cooperation and participate in joint military exercises. In the second half of September, member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), which includes Russia, approved Iran's application to join the organization a few years later, which, according to many experts, will increase Iran's regional positions, as well as expand cooperation with the SCO countries, including Russia.
WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 19th October, 2021) The United States condemns North Korea's latest ballistic missile launch and urges Pyongyang to stop provocative actions and to engage in diplomacy with Washington, the Department of State said on Tuesday.

"Special Representative (Sung) Kim emphasized US condemnation of the (North Korea) DPRK's October 19 ballistic missile launch, which violates multiple UN Security Council resolutions, and called on the DPRK to refrain from further provocations and engage in sustained and substantive dialogue," the State Department said in a press release.

North Korea's missile launch took place during Kim's trilateral meeting with Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs Director General for Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau Funakoshi Takehiro and South Korean Special Representative for Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs Noh Kyu-duk to discuss cooperation on the denuclearization the Korean peninsula, the release said.
(UroToday.com) The ANZUP annual scientific meetings clinical trials session included an update in bladder and penile cancer provided by Dr. Dickon Hayne. Dr. Hayne notes that bladder cancer survival is poor in Australia (and has been getting worse over time) with a 5-year survival rate of 69% for males and 66% for females between 1982-1987, compared to 60% for males and 50% for females from 2006 to 2010. With regards to penile cancer, there is little centralization of penile cancer services or quaternary multi-disciplinary teams, no major clinical trials in Australia, little meaningful data, and worse outcomes for rural and indigenous men.

Dr. Hayne highlighted that there are several opportunities to improve urothelial cancer outcomes:

Prevention: smoking

Early diagnosis: physician education, patient education, and rapid access diagnostics

Better treatment: peri-operatively, timely surgery, quality surgery (TURBT and cystectomy), and improved adjuvant therapy (systemic chemotherapy, immunotherapy, and intravesical treatment)

Measure outcomes: surgical audit data, quality of life data, and stage specific recurrence free survival

Additionally, there are several ways to improve penile cancer outcomes:

Prevention: Gardasil

Early diagnosis: physician education, patient education, and early referrals

Better treatment: quaternary multi-disciplinary teams, quality surgery (penile preservation and lymph node management, ie. sentinel node biopsy)

Adjuvant therapy: systemic chemotherapy and radiotherapy, immunotherapy? Theranostics?

Measure outcomes: surgical audit data, quality of life data, and stage specific recurrence free survival

ANZUP is currently involved in several ongoing clinical trials. First, the BCG + Mitomycin (BCGMM) trial is assessing the addition of mitomycin C to BCG as adjuvant intravesical therapy for high-risk, non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (ANZUP 1301). Adult patients with resected, high-risk NMIBC suitable for intravesical chemotherapy are randomized to Arm A (standard) intravesical BCG induction plus maintenance or Arm B (experimental) intravesical BCG plus mitomycin C induction plus maintenance. As of September 2021, 372 patients have been recruited; the trial schema is as follows:

Meta-analyzed data suggest that sequential combination therapy may be superior to BCG alone, but this trial will be the first to provide high-quality data assessing the effect of combination intravesical therapy. This is the largest Australian initiated bladder cancer trial, with 372 of 500 patients accrued, including across 15 Australian sites and now recruiting in the UK. If combination chemo-immunotherapy is more effective (or equally effective) with less toxicity, it has the potential to change the paradigm for high-risk NMIBC treatment. Additionally, this trial will be a rich source of biomaterial for meaningful translational research.

The PCR-MIB trial is a multi-center single arm phase II trial evaluating the safety of adding pembrolizumab to chemoradiation in muscle-invasive bladder cancer (ANZUP 1502). Within six weeks of maximal TURBT, patients will receive chemoradiation (weekly cisplatin 35 mg/m2 x 6 doses) plus pembrolizumab (7 doses) followed by restaging cystoscopy. The trial design for PCR-MIB is as follows:

The primary outcome is feasibility measured by low rate of unacceptable toxicity and secondary outcomes include overall survival, metastatic disease-free survival, and locoregional progression free survival. The target accrual for this trial is 30 patients, with 27 patients already included.

The WATIP trial is a post-TURBT water irrigation (as a hypotonic tumor lytic agent) pilot trial with a target of 30 patients (28 accrued to date). The median age is 68 years, 23 of 28 patients are male, the median irrigation time is 3.1 hours (range 3-5 hours), with irrigation being tolerated by all patients. No adverse events have been noted, with no significant changes in serum sodium or hemoglobin. At 3 months the recurrence rate is 37%, and at 12 months the recurrence rate is 36%. This pilot trial has led to the WATER stage 1 trial, randomizing patients 1:1 to post-TURBT intravesical chemotherapy versus post-TURBT intravesical water. The target accrual for this trial is 150 patients with the following trial schema:

Dr. Hayne then discussed ACCEPT, the ANZUP Multi-Center Cystectomy Audit, an initiative to collect high-quality data from centers of excellence, including Fiona Stanley Hospital, Nepean Public Hospital, St. George Hospital, Hurstville Private Hospital, Royal Melbourne Hospital, Eastern Health, Royal Adelaide Hospital, Lywell McEwan Hospital, Princess Alexandra Hospital, The Canberra Hospital, and John Hunter Hospital. To date, 189 patients have been added to the registry.

The Exercyst Trial is a 20 patient (fully recruited) trial examining the efficacy and feasibility of a pre-cystectomy exercise intervention, including 12 weeks of supervised aerobic and anaerobic training. Outcomes include: recruitment and completion rates, patient safety, program adherence and compliance, length of hospital stay, 90-day complication rate, quality of life, physical functioning, and return to usual activities.

The SUBDUE-1 trial is a phase 1b open label dose-escalation trial to evaluate the tolerability, safety, and immunological efficacy of sub-urothelial durvalumab injections in adults with muscle invasive or high-risk NMIBC. To date, 9 patients have been recruited with dose escalation to 150 mg x 3 doses complete. There have been no dose limiting toxicities, all patients have proceeded to planned cystectomy, with an abstract recently submitted to GU ASCO detailing patient safety, patient reported adverse events, PROMS, and relative changes in immune cell infiltrates (CD3, CD8, CD68, and CD168). Finally, ZipUp is evaluating zirconium-girentuximab PET in urothelial cancer patients, which is a new PET scan for bladder cancer patients. ZipUp PET does not have the active agent excreted in the urine, thus allowing better visualization of the urinary tract.

Dr. Hayne notes that on the horizon is translational studies using data from the BCGMM and SUBDUE-1 studies. This will allow biomarkers predictive of response to BCG or mitomycin C, as well as mechanisms of resistance to BCG + mitomycin C that could potentially be targeted for future drug development. Results from this translational work, in combination with currently active translational work related to the SUBDUE-1 trial, may be hypothesis-generating in regard to more personalized treatment of BCG-naive and BCG-refractory NMIBC.



Dr. Hayne concluded with several areas that ANZUP should be looking at moving forward:

What intervention to test in high-risk NMIBC after BCGMM reads out

Interventional trials in upper tract urothelial carcinoma: POUT-2? A surgical trial?

Accruing to the InPACT trial for penile cancer

Adjuvant MIBC/advanced disease, where ANZUP can impact a mostly industry-dominated disease space

Presented by: Dickon Hayne, MBBS, MD, FRCS, FRACS, Professor of Urology, The University of Western Australia Head of Urology, Fiona Stanley Hospital, Perth, Australia

Written by: Zachary Klaassen, MD, MSc  Urologic Oncologist, Assistant Professor of Urology, Georgia Cancer Center, Augusta University/Medical College of Georgia, @zklaassen_md on Twitter during the 2021 Australian and New Zealand Urogenital and Prostate (ANZUP) Cancer Trials Group Annual Scientific Meeting (ASM), Sunday, Oct 17  Monday, Oct 18, 2021.
The Australian Religious Response to Climate Change (ARRCC) has organized a two-day initiative calling on the Australian Government to act urgently against climate change.

By Lisa Zengarini

As COP-26 approaches, faith communities in Australia are urging the Australian government to take swift and effective action against climate change to protect Creation. Australia is a large producer of coal and gas and its climate policies and emissions reductions are ranked among the worst in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

On October 17 and 18 the Australian Religious Response to Climate Change (ARRCC), a multi-faith organisation committed in promoting climate justice, organized two days of action calling on Prime Minister Scott Morrison to act urgently to combat global warming. Mr. Morrison drew strong criticism when he indicated in September that he might not attend COP-26. After weeks of initial hesitation, a few days ago he announced that he will take part in the Climate Conference taking place in Glasgow from October 31 to November 12.

The Faiths 4 Climate Justice events

On Sunday, faith communities across the country were invited to sound the climate alarm either by ringing bells, singing, praying, meditating, calling the Azan (the call to prayer in the Islamic tradition), playing the Jewish shofar, or celebrating other religious rituals. The following day participants in the Faiths 4 Climate Justice events showed up outside federal MPs offices to make their voices heard by Australian political leaders. ARRCC also sent a letter to Prime Minister Scott Morrison calling to present a strong climate policy platform to the UN Climate Summit.

The urgent need for action against climate change

More than 110 faith communities across Australia, including Christians, Muslims and Jews, took part in the initiative. Among them, many Catholics. Father Robert Riedling, dean of St Patricks Cathedral in Parramatta, explained to Australian Bishops Cathnews that while much is being done about net-zero emissions by 2050, organisers are calling for targets by 2030: The Catholic Church has an evolved tradition of social justice, father Riedling said. We know that those most affected by climate change tend to be the marginalised and disenfranchised, so we as a Church, along with other churches and other faith traditions, are hoping that we can highlight what needs to be done and demand that the Government takes action on this issue.

Preserving the gift of creation

The Sisters of St Joseph also called for Australia to make a commitment to put the protection of the planet at the forefront . How can we not take action? asked congregational leader Sister Monica Cavanagh in a statement. The IPCC findings warn of a catastrophic future if we dont act. Our Pacific neighbours watch as their lands are disappearing. We know that it is those who are most defenseless who are most immediately affected by the devastation we are causing. Both our religious faith and the call to us as humans, propel us to do all we can to preserve the gift of creation, Sister Monica said.
Iraqis protest against results in last week's elections (AFP or licensors)

In the wake of Iraqs parliamentary elections, the Chaldean Catholic Patriarch urges Iraqi politicians to be rational and calm tensions in order to break the political gridlock as parties jockey for influence.

By Devin Watkins

Iraqis voted in nationwide parliamentary elections on 10 October, leaving no party with an outright majority.

The Sadrist Movement, a coalition of parties led by Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, won around 73 seats in the 329-member parliament. That gives the bloc a decisive vote in choosing the next Iraqi prime minister.

Mr. al-Sadr said the Movement would seek to form a non-sectarian and non-ethnic national coalition under the umbrella of reform.

Plethora of parties

There were at least 167 parties backing over 3,200 candidates for parliamentary seats.

The Kurdistan Democratic Party ran independently and won 33 seats, making it the single largest political party.

The Fatah Alliance, a Shiite bloc with links to Iran, took only 14 seats, down 34 from the last election in 2018.

Supporters of a pro-Iran alliance protest elections results

Political gridlock and wrangling

As the results rolled in, political wrangling has begun, with each party jockeying for influence in deciding the next prime minister.

The current PM, Mustafa al-Kadhimi, is not seeking re-election but could still return for a second term if a majority backs him.

With this background, the Patriarch of the Chaldeans has launched an appeal to all Iraqis and their politicians out of his concern and love to our citizens and the homeland.

Cardinal Louis Raphael Sako lamented the political blockage which, he said, serves no ones interests.

Justice, not weapons

In a statement on the Chaldean Patriarchates website, he urged Iraqs politicians to return to the dialogue of the brave, by adopting rationality, calming down, and not intensification.

The Cardinal reminded them that Iraq is entrusted to you.

Winners have the right to rejoice, he said, but they do not have the right to break the losers.

Those who feel they have been unfairly treated, added Cardinal Sako, should turn to the judiciary rather than weapons.

Patriarch Sako at a press conference ahead of the Pope's visit in March 2021

Disappointed electorate

In its final tally, the Electoral Commission announced that around 43 percent of the electorate cast ballots, or 9.6 million people, down around 2 percentage points from the last election in 2018.

Cardinal Sako called on Iraqi politicians to take note of this slump in voter turnout, saying that the reluctance of the majority of citizens to vote expresses their disappointment.

He repeated his call to calm, recalling that ignoring civil peace, national unity, and the safety of civilians is a major sin.

In these difficult days, concluded the Iraqi Cardinal, I invite everyone to pray that God might have mercy on Iraq and clear the storm.
A new and updated version of the Popes prayer app helps the faithful pray for a synodal Church.

By Linda Bordoni

"Click To Pray" 2.0 is an updated digital proposal that can be downloaded on iOS and Android platforms. Launched by the Popes Worldwide Prayer Network, the app offers users a variety of specific propositions to pray together with Pope Francis on a daily basis, and support the synodal process.

Launched on Tuesday in the Holy See Press Office by the Network itself, in collaboration with the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops and the International Union of Superiors General, "Click To Pray" proposes new content for prayer and accompaniment of the synodal itinerary.

The International Director of the Popes Worldwide Prayer Network, Father Frederic Fornos, SJ, noted that as, Pope Francis says, the heart of the Churchs mission is prayer; and for this reason, Click to Pray intends to become a place of personal encounter with the Lord and to build a worldwide community of digital prayer.

Monsignor Lucio Ruiz, the Secretary of the Dicastery for Communication, added that one of the lessons learned from the Covid-19 pandemic is that the digital culture has much to offer, also in its capacity to reach and accompany men and women wherever they may be, including those who may find themselves in geographical and existential peripheries. He stressed that the Popes social media platforms have increased enormously in followers in the past couple of years.

In her presentation, Bettina Raed, International Coordinator of Click To Pray, explained that users will now be able to organise their own personal prayer planner, configuring their moments of prayer for each day.

For those who are not familiar with the app, it features the option of receiving notifications and a wide choice of content for prayer at any moment of the day, in order to inspire people to commit fully to the intentions of the Pope and pray for the challenges facing humanity and the mission of the Church.

Available in seven languages, Click To Pray aims to provide a bridge between generations by promoting interaction among users by offering the chance to generate a shared community space, where each user can publish his or her intentions and share prayers throughout the entire network. It also includes a teaching tool for experiencing prayer at a more profound level.

Click to Pray has so far reached over 2.5 million users on all continents, allowing more than 400,000 users to pray together with Pope Francis for his prayer intentions.

As Cardinal Mario Grech, Secretary-General of the Synod of Bishops, has had occasion to point out, The Popes Worldwide Prayer Network is at the service of the spiritual process, which invites us to be available for the encounter, listening from the heart and the discernment of the Holy Spirit.

"Synodality," he notes, "requires both personal and community conversion which originates in and is sustained by prayer. Our prayer, which springs from silence and contemplation, can be of immense help to the entire Church.
The Vatican Secretary for Relations with States was among the speakers at the opening of the event, hosted by the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome.

By Lisa Zengarini

To mark the 100th anniversary of the Holy See establishing diplomatic relations with the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenians, in 1920, the Embassy of the Republic of Serbia to the Holy See has organized the Exhibition Serbia and Vatican 1878-1914.

The event opened on Monday at the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome. Attending the inauguration were Vatican Secretary for Relations with States, Archbishop Paul Gallagher, and Serbian Foreign Affairs Minister Nikola Selakovic.

The documents presented at the exposition

The exhibition presents a number of documents, most of which are unknown to the greater public. These documents reveal the pre-existing diplomatic relations between Serbia and Vatican starting from 1878 when the Kingdom of Serbia was recognized as an independent state at the Congress of Berlin until the beginning of World War I when the two parts signed a Concordat. Though this was not implemented, it contributed significantly to the later establishment of diplomatic relations between the Vatican and the then Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenians in 1920, when the Apostolic Nunciature was also inaugurated in Belgrade.

Archbishop Gallagher's remarks

In his brief remarks, Archbishop Gallagher noted that the often delicate and challenging issue of the relations between the Vatican and the peoples of the Balkans "has never ceased to be of continual and considerable significance within the complex political framework of that region". He highlighted the perseverant work carried out during those 36 years by diplomats from both sides to facilitate a mutual dialogue. Hence the Vatican prelate expressed hope that the ongoing study of the history of international relations "will inspire new generations so that they may contribute to building a society increasingly characterized by mutual cooperation and the search for the common good".
Marking 100 years since the re-establishment of diplomatic relations between France and the Holy See, the French Prime Minister and the Secretary of State of the Holy See meet for a roundtable discussion, in which they emphasise the good relations between Paris and the Vatican despite the crises and misunderstandings that have marked their history, not only during the last century, but also, and above all, before.

By Xavier Sartre

On the occasion of the centenary of the re-establishment of diplomatic relations between France and the Holy See, French Prime Minister Jean Castex, and the Vatican's Secretary of State met at the Villa Bonaparte for a roundtable discussion.

100 years later

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, decorated with the Commander's Cross of the Legion of Honour, recalled the centenary of the re-establishment of diplomatic relations between France and the Holy See in May 1921, after an interruption of 17 years. "This is the last straight line in a very long history," he began, recalling the tumultuous history of these relations at the turn of the 20th century until the First World War.

Cardinal Parolin noted that since 1921, "a climate of cordiality" has characterised relations between the two. This, he said, is proof of the "constant and undoubtedly reciprocal esteem over time" between the Holy See and the French Republic. It is also a different approach by the Church in France towards the State and its secularity. Without wishing to go into further detail on this issue, Cardinal Parolin preferred to insist on the many "consequences of our relations, today": respect for human rights, promotion of peace and stability, protection of religious minorities, and promotion of inter-religious dialogue. Not forgetting the environment, Cardinal Parolin noted that the encyclical Laudato si' had done much to support France's efforts during COP 21.

On Middle East relations

But it is perhaps in the Middle East that collaboration between the Vatican and French diplomacy is most fruitful, with France and the Holy See sharing "the same desire to contribute to peace and stability in a multi-faith Middle East, respectful of religious freedoms and the fundamental rights of the human person. "Each of us, operating in our own field of competence, wants to make our contribution to the reconstruction of the countries of the region, sorely tried by war and violence, where various religious communities have lived together for centuries," said the Cardinal, underlining the special place that Lebanon holds in this context. "Basically, France and the Holy See share global responsibilities in the world, even if we exercise them by different means and with different objectives," he added.

On abuse

The roundtable discussion did not ignore the issue of abuse, in the wake of the publication of the Sauve Commission's report. Cardinal Parolin affirmed that the Church's commitment in France "will be even stronger and more determined, in full collaboration with the civil authorities, respecting the nature, the mission and the sacramental structure of the Church which are proper to it". To this, the French Prime Minister replied that it is now up to the Church "to find the necessary answers. But the separation of Church and State is in no way the separation of Church and Law".

Jean Castex, who met Pope Francis in the morning, nevertheless stressed how much the Holy See for more than a century, has consistently avoided fostering, "even indirectly, in France the seeds of hatred and division". He also recalled Leo XIII's 1892 invitation to French Catholics to join the Republic.

On secularism

While Cardinal Parolin did not wish to go into the question of secularism in-depth, referring instead to the words of Pope Francis, who dreams of "a soundly secular Europe, where God and Caesar are distinct but not opposed".

The head of the French government, however, returned to the issue at length, explaining that the 1905 law had in fact put an end to seven centuries of Gallicanism, thus restoring the Church's total freedom. For Jean Castex, "secularism does not need any qualifiers. Far from being, as some people pretend to believe, a means of excluding religion from the social space and public debate, it simply delimits the areas of intervention of the State on the one hand and religion on the other. There is no question of a conflict of transcendence but simply of giving back to the Republic what belongs to the Republic and to God what belongs to God". He was also keen to reassure his interlocutor about the consequences of the law on the principles of the Republic, affirming that the status of religious and diocesan associations has been modernised and strengthened.
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The environment for foreign media in communist China is getting worse. Officials in Bijie, Guizhou, China, say a local official was honored and rewarded by his superiors for reporting negative news about foreign media entering the region to report on poverty eradication. A state-backed media outlet then attacked the foreign media reporter involved in the incident. However, official media has also reported that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has falsified its poverty reduction efforts.

China News Network and other official media reported that several local officials were praised for reporting important clues involving national security. That was according to an article published on Sept. 9 on the public WeChat Bijie Release of the Propaganda Department of the CCP Bijie Municipal Committee.

One of the officials this year reported negative news about the so-called foreign anti-Chinese media continuing to illegally cover the area of poverty eradication in Bijie and hyped it up outside the country. The official was later awarded spiritual recognition and material rewards by the CCPs Ministry of State Security and the Guizhou Provincial Department of State Security.

The article does not name the foreign media involved. The original posting is no longer available.

In recent years, the CCP has frequently disclosed so-called endangering national security cases. With strained relations between Beijing and the West in recent years, the reporting environment for foreign media in communist China has become even tighter. Beijing has continually claimed that foreign reporting has threatened national security.

On Oct. 10, the CCP-backed Shanghai Observer revealed that NPR had sent a Chinese-American reporter, Emily Feng, to visit some of the communities in Bijie last April. The article claimed that the Chinese reporter took some of the residents speeches out of context to smear the achievements of Chinas national poverty eradication efforts.

The Observer then attacked Feng Zhenyun. In addition to NPR, the Observer alleged that the New York Times, the Associated Press, The Washington Post, the BBC, CNN, and Agence France-Presse published articles to smear Chinas achievements in poverty alleviation.

Then the Observer articles lauded the Communist Partys efforts to combat poverty.

CCTV also exposes falsification of poverty eradication

On Feb. 25, Xi Jinping announced a comprehensive victory in the battle against poverty, calling it another human miracle under his leadership. On July 1, the centenary of the CCP, Xi also declared that communist China had built a prosperous society. However, these claims have been questioned by outsiders and the public; even CCTV, the regimes mouthpiece, questioned the claims.

On April 24, the Chinese Central Television (CCTV) exposed the falsification of the removal of poverty in Luonan County, Shaanxi Province, which was declared to be out of poverty in Feb. 2020.

The report targeted the poverty alleviation in Lingkou Township, Luonan County, Shaanxi Province. The poverty alleviation officials gathered each villages five poorest households to the resettlement site, which was not even connected to water. After the acceptance, no one cared about the life of the five poor households anymore.

Since most of the village labor force had gone out to work, the villagers had to pay workers to transport water into the site. The extra labor cost made the water too expensive.

After the scandal of falsification of poverty was exposed, Shaanxi authorities immediately dispelled the rumors.

The Epoch Times reported that the CCPs standard for poverty eradication is that once individuals earn an annual income of 4,000 yuan (RMB), they are considered to be out of poverty. However, according to the data released by the World Bank in 2018, each person living on less than USD$5.50 per day is classified as under the poverty line; there are also extreme poverty lines of less than $3.20 and $1.90 per day. At the lowest end of the scale$1.90 per dayit would cost $693.50 a year or 4,500 RMB. Thats 12% above the poverty line set by the Communist Party.

In late May 2020, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang told a press conference at the National Peoples Congress that 600 million people in communist China earn less than 1,000 yuan a month. This was seen as proof of the authorities failure to alleviate poverty.
A delegation from the European Union (EU) is reportedly planning a visit to Taiwan in November. The European Parliaments Special Committee on Foreign Interference in all Democratic Processes in the EU (INGE) will visit Taiwan and will aim to share experiences on countering internet interference and false information from China.

On Oct. 6, the European Parliament called on member states to boost spending on staff dedicated to cyber defense. A report adopted by the Parliament highlighted that the EU was engaged in hybrid conflicts with adversaries like China. The Parliament considered such conflicts as destabilizing for democracies.

The report also called on EU member states to step up cooperation with Taiwan, Australia, India, Japan, South Korea, and the U.S., as well as other like-minded democracies in the Indo-Pacific region, and to share their knowledge and experiences to respond to cyberthreats together, the Taipei Times reported.

The proposed plan to send a committee to Taiwan follows a virtual meeting held between top diplomats from China and the EU on Sept. 28, the first such meeting in more than a year. The EU had said that it intends to boost coordination with Taiwan while maintaining its one China policy and not recognizing the statehood of the island.

A statement issued by Beijing after the meeting claims that the EU side promised not to conduct official exchanges with Taiwan. Foreign Minister Wang Yi stated that the Taiwan issue forms the political foundations on which China has built relations with the EU and its member states. Beijing sees Taiwan as part of its territory even though it has never governed the region. A weak foundation makes for shaky relations, Wang added.

The EU has been increasingly courting Taiwan as of late, seeking to attract the islands chip manufacturers to invest in the bloc. Taiwan dominates the outsourcing of semiconductor manufacturing, with its contract manufacturers making up almost 60 percent of global revenues in 2020. EU nations like Germany have reached out to Taiwan to help alleviate a supply crunch in chips triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic.

With the European Chips Act, Europe will step up its efforts to increase production, but we also want to cooperate with our like-minded partners including Taiwan Not only because Taiwan excels in the production of semiconductors, but also because technology is ultimately a question of security. We want the EUs digital agenda to be shaped together with our like-minded partners and according to our common values, Sabine Weyand, director-general of the European Commissions trade section, said in a statement on Oct. 14.

Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen has welcomed partnering with the EU and is pushing to sign a bilateral investment agreement. Calling the EU a natural partner for Taiwan, Tsai indicated that signing the agreement can be the start of a more concrete partnership for democracies like us.

The EU was Taiwans largest foreign investor in 2020, accounting for 38.8 percent of the total foreign investment received by the island. The EU is also Taiwans fifth-largest trading partner.

Some experts think the EU is waiting to see how its relationship with Beijing plays out before taking a firm decision regarding Taiwan. The EU Commission will not engage in any negotiations on Taiwan until the situation with the CAI (EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment) with China is more clear I think the EU parliament, or at least parts of it, might be keen, but the commission needs to be fully engaged in such negotiations, Alicia Garcia-Herrero, Asia-Pacific chief economist at Natixis, told Nikkei Asia.

CAI was concluded in December last year. In May, the European Parliament had put the deal in a limbo, insisting that it cannot ratify the agreement unless China lifts certain sanctions.
Most analyses of the Chinese economy belong to one of two types: those that come from the venture capital industry and those created by think tanks. The venture capitalists are pessimistic about the Chinese economys short-term prospects: as Lu Wang & Elaine Chen note in a Bloomberg article published Sept. 4, data compiled by Goldman Sachs Group Inc. shows that U.S. hedge funds are reducing their exposure to U.S. companies that rely heavily on China for their business.

Hedge funds that make both bullish and bearish wagers on stocks are slashing their exposure to American companies that lean heavily on China for businesses, such as Las Vegas Sands Corp. and General Motors Co., Wang and Chen wrote per information from Goldman Sachs Group Inc.s prime brokerage unit.

Though Wang and Chen emphasized that the rapid withdrawal of hedge funds from China is more a reflection of immediate concerns about blanket regulatory suppression by leaders in Beijing, observers and reporters predicting gloom may have cast premature judgment on Chinas economic prospects.

Those looking at the Chinese economy often neglect the political factors at play, and in this case, they have ignored the Biden administrations tendency to learn from and imitate the China model of economic policy.

Learning from Beijing

In terms of the governments investment in infrastructure and economic intervention, the Biden administration has been emulating Beijing. As I pointed out in my April 7 article in The Epoch Times, Bidens Great Leap Forward Will Encounter an Impassable Barrier, the total $4.3 trillion announced by the Biden administration  including an $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan over eight years and a $2-trillion economic stimulus plan  all follow the Chinese pattern.

But at that time, the U.S. media and economic circles were mainly considering the scale of debt. More than four months have passed and Bidens industrial policies and directions have become increasingly clear. The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) finally discovered that the Biden administration was copying Chinas operations. Starting in July, numerous articles published by the WSJ analyzed the United States mirroring of the China model, especially the Chinese governments industrial policy and funding support methods.

In the WSJs article Chinas Industrial Planning Evolves, Stirring US Concerns published on Sept. 5, the main point is that China and the United States are taking turns copying each others operations;

Chinese central planning once highlighted targets for farm and factory production, Soviet-style. Beijing still uses five-year plans but now directs resources into basic scientific research with industrial applications, the Journal reported, adding that Chinas foray into areas like artificial intelligence and robotics once dominated by the U.S. helps explain the Biden administrations tilt toward industrial development policies, like spending government money to reassert competitiveness in semiconductor production.

U.S. President Joe Biden holds a semiconductor during his remarks before signing an Executive Order on the economy in the State Dining Room of the White House on February 24, 2021 in Washington, DC. (Image: Doug Mills/Pool/Getty Images)

The Biden administration feels the crisis and is now copying Chinas methods, such as using government funds to consolidate its competitiveness in semiconductor production. The article reads: Decades of neglect and disinvestment, with President Joe Biden lamenting in June that current operations have left us at a competitive disadvantage as countries across the globe, like China, have poured money and focus into new technologies and industries, leaving us at real risk of being left behind.

In the Wall Street Journals July 24 column, What the U.S. Can Learn From Chinas Industrial Policy Mistakesand Successes, the author admits that the Biden administrations huge investment in infrastructure and the increase in government investment in the semiconductor industry are all copying Chinas operations, but he still gives it a high degree of affirmation: Whatever Washington decides about directly supporting specific industries, getting the basics right cant hurt, and it could make all the difference in the long run.

Chinas industrial subsidy policy: defects from the past become the focus of todays operations

China hopes that the manufacturing industry will provoke the backbone of the economy, rather than the Internet and various related service industries. Its the transformation from the virtual to the real I said in my article, The immediate goal of the rectification of the Chinese industry: from the virtual to the real, published in The Epoch Times on Aug. 13. This makes Western countries feel in crisis.

In the WSJs article Industrial Policy Is Back: The West Dusts Off Old Idea to Counter China published on July 29, The WSJ clearly stated one point at the very beginning: The U.S. and its allies have long pressed China to stop helping favored industries with subsidies, government preferences and other interventions.

Now they are beginning to copy it. Last month, the U.S. Senate voted for direct industry subsidies with little precedent. The Senate approved $52 billion for new semiconductor fabrication plants, called fabs.

Democratic Senator Mark Warner, a former venture capitalist and former governor of Virginia, is the proponent and main promoter of the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act. Warner said, Ive been impressed with the Chinese model.

He believes that the Chinese government ensures that Chinese companies, rather than foreign companies, become the dominant role in the domestic market, effectively ensuring that Chinese companies occupy a large market share in the global market. He also said, Its hard to see how a company in America or any normal, traditional market-based economy can compete against that kind of juggernaut and win.

Meanwhile, the White House has proposed a series of tools to promote domestic production in four industries deemed critical to the supply chain, which are semiconductors, batteries, specialty minerals, and pharmaceutical raw materials.

Some other developed countries have also introduced similar practices. The European Union (EU) is committed to nearly doubling its share of global semiconductor manufacturing capacity to 20 percent. South Korea has approved a semiconductor industry support measure of up to $65 billion; Japan has promised to support the semiconductor industry comparable to that of other countries, and plans to turn Japan into a datacenter hub in Asia.

What is more interesting is that while state-owned enterprises have been seen as a flaw in the Chinese model, the WSJ article above finds advantages, one of which is government ownership of industrial enterprises: Western governments are reluctant to take ownership of industrial enterprises, and doing so is critical to Chinas industrial policy. According to a study by Georgetown Universitys Center for Security and Emerging Technologies, not only are many large Chinese companies state-owned, but Chinese governments at all levels have established 1,741 industry-led funds  actually government-backed private equity funds  with a planned deployment of $1.6 trillion.

Although often uncoordinated and duplicative, this type of ownership gives the Chinese authorities significant influence over corporate decisions, blurring the lines between public and private ownership. Government investors have also tolerated losses for much longer than Western shareholders.

State-owned enterprises have been criticized by Western economics circles and reformed Chinese economists because of their inefficient operation, high input and low output. In 2001, when the U.S.-led WTO recruited China as a member, the excessive proportion of state-owned enterprises and government intervention in the economy  such as industrial subsidies  were shortcomings that the WTO required China to reform. China promised to make corresponding reforms. Only after the World Bank experts inspection was China allowed to join the WTO. Now, 20 years later, the shortcomings have become the advantages for the United States to learn. This is really ironic.

Political connotations of the China model

What is the China model? The core is the general goal set by Deng Xiaoping for Chinas reform: an authoritarian regime (the government allocates resources) plus a market economy under administrative control. In short, it is a market economy of imperfect competition under administrative control. Western political scientists regard it as a kind of authoritarian modernization or legitimizing authoritarianism.

The first to affirm the China model was Joshua Cooper Ramo, a senior consultant at Goldman Sachs. In 2004, he published an investigative paper, The Beijing Consensus at the Foreign Policy Centre in London, UK.

He pointed out that through hard work, initiative, innovation, and bold practice, China has found a development model suitable for its own national conditions. He called this model the Beijing Consensus and highly affirmed it.

The Beijing Consensus has characteristics such as hard work, initiative, innovation and bold experiments, such as the establishment of special economic zones. It resolutely defends national sovereignty and interests, such as how Beijing handles the Taiwan issue. Implements gradual progress such as crossing the river by feeling the stones, and accumulating energy and having tools with asymmetric power, such as accumulating huge foreign exchange reserves of U.S. dollars.

It not only pays attention to economic development and social change, but also involves politics, quality of life, and global balance of power, etc. It embodies a development idea of seeking just and high-quality growth.

In Joshua Coopers view, Chinas experience based on the Beijing Consensus is of universal value, and many of them can be used for reference by other developing countries. It can be regarded as a model for some backward countries to seek economic growth and improve peoples lives.

At that time, the Beijing Consensus attracted great attention from the international community, but Western society thought that it had nothing to do with developed countries and at best could probably become a learning model for developing countries.

New Leftist scholars in China, such as Cui Zhiyuan and others have written monographs, believing that the Beijing Consensus would replace the Washington Consensus. Scholars in China on average believed that it was a work to flatter the Beijing authorities, and Beijing high-level officials regarded it more as propaganda rather than a goal. At that time, no one could have expected that in less than 20 years, there would be a Biden administration in the United States that would copy Chinas operation and learn the China model.

However, the China model itself is authoritarian politics plus market economy under administrative control, which has very strong political connotations. In the process of controlling the distribution of resources, the government will continue to strengthen social control from all aspects, which will result in the United States politics converging to the political control of the China model. This concern is not an unreasonable worry, but a political trend that is bound to happen.
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This October 23 marks 30 years after four Cambodian warring factions agreed to end their conflicts and bring peace, development, and respect for human rights to their war-torn country. But in the last four years, the Cambodian government has violated the core principles of democracy. Prime Minister Hun Sen, with a strong backing from China, has taken advantage of the shaky foundation of democracy and turned the country into a one-party rule after banning the only viable opposition party. Former Australian Foreign Minister Gareth Evans, a key initiator of the 1991 Paris Peace Agreement, has urged Cambodian people to remain optimistic and educate young people about the countrys past and the way forward. VOA Khmer reporter Men Kimseng interviewed Gareth Evans via Skype on the challenges ahead for Cambodia.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin says no third country has a veto on Ukraine's aspirations to join the NATO military alliance.

Ukrainehas a right to decide its own future foreign policy, and we expect that they will be able to do that without any outside interference," Austin said during a visit to Kyiv on Tuesday, when asked about Russian objections to Ukraine's entry into NATO.

Tensions have risen between Russia and the U.S.-led alliance, with Moscow announcing on Monday it is suspending its permanent mission to NATO in response to the alliance's expulsion of eight Russians diplomats earlier this month.

Austin also called Russia an obstacle to any peaceful resolution to the war raging in Ukraines east.

"We again call on Russia to end its occupation of Crimea, to stop perpetuating the war in eastern Ukraine, to end its destabilizing activities in the Black Sea and along Ukraine's borders," Austin said.

We will continue to do everything we can to support Ukraine's efforts to develop the capability to defend itself," he added.

Earlier this year, Russia massed the largest concentration of its troops near the Ukrainian border since it annexed Crimea in 2014. The troops pulled back after conducting exercises near Ukraines border.

Austin's visit to Ukraine is his second stop in Europe this week. He visited Georgia on Monday.

Bradley Bowman, a defense expert with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, called the stops in Georgia and Ukraine an important and positive signal.

They're important partners, and theyre partners that are literally, not metaphorically, literally on the front line against Russian aggression and invasion and continued occupation, Bowman told VOA.

Russia still occupies about one-fifth of Georgia.

During his press conference Tuesday with his Ukrainian counterpart, Austin also urged Moscow to stop its "persistent cyberattacks and other malign activities" against the United States and its partners.

A White House official said last week Russia had taken "some steps" against ransomware groups operating from the country after President Joe Biden urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to tackle the groups in June.

Russian hackers were accused of being behind last year's massive breach of several U.S. federal agencies through exploiting SolarWinds software and a string of ransomware attacks on U.S. infrastructure and businesses, including the Colonial Pipeline attack in May.

On Wednesday, Austin plans to visit Romania ahead of his participation at a NATO defense ministerial in Brussels.
Lebanons defense minister says no one should jump to conclusions about the deadly sectarian violence that erupted last Thursday in the capital, Beirut. However, the leader of the powerful Shiite faction Hezbollah lashed out Monday, accusing the Christian Lebanese Forces of stoking civil war.

Lebanese Defense Minister Maurice Slim said the demonstration Thursday by followers of Hezbollah deviated from its course and clashes erupted.

The protesters were demanding that Judge Tarek Bitar be removed from the investigation into the giant explosion at the Beirut port that rocked the entire city last year.

Thursdays confrontation sparked fears of a possible sectarian conflict along the lines of the 1975 to 1990 civil war.

The clashes killed seven people and wounded 32. So far, 20 people from Hezbollah and the Lebanese Forces have been arrested.

Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, in a speech on Monday, accused the Lebanese Forces of killing its supporters and inciting civil war. He boasted that his group had 100,000 fighters, but said they were meant to defend Lebanon from external enemies not to engage in an internal conflict.

Political analyst Dania Koleilat Khatib with the Issam Fares Institute at the American University of Beirut told VOA both sides need to bring the tensions down and for the probe into the 2020 port explosion to continue.

Hezbollah put themselves in a corner, she expressed; adding its in their own self-interest, if they back down. The best thing for them is to lay low. If they are intelligent, they should accept the investigation and even if it leads to them. What we see from them is the arrogance of power. And its not only Hezbollah.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea, an adversary of Hezbollah, meanwhile, has denied organizing last weeks violence. He said Nasrallah and other political leaders need to focus on getting the country and the citizens out of the tragic situation Lebanon faces, including economic collapse and an energy crisis.

Many Lebanese also say they want to see justice achieved for those who lost their lives, were injured or made homeless by the Beirut port blast, one of the biggest non-nuclear explosions in history.

Observers say that lead investigator Judge Tarek Bitar must not be hampered by any party, otherwise they say the probe will go nowhere.

Meanwhile, analysts say Lebanons new government, formed last month, could be paralyzed by divisions, including objections by Hezbollah, over Bitar.

By trying to question three former ministers about the blast who have links to Hezbollah, the judge has found himself in a political battle that once again brings Lebanon to the brink.
Radio reporter Khut Sokun says he is doing less reporting this year. The reason: fear of Cambodia's national internet gateway, which he and others say allows the government to monitor all online activity.

Internet service providers in Cambodia have until February 2022 to redirect all their traffic through a regulatory body, or gateway, known as the NIG.

But since Prime Minister Hun Sen's government issued a regulation, known in Cambodia as a sub-decree, earlier this year, Sokun says he has adopted a "more cautious approach" to his reporting and comments posted online.

Sokun is not alone. Other journalists and rights groups who spoke with VOA say the regulation, which allows for punishment "in accordance with relevant laws," has increased the fear of arrest among media, critics and ordinary citizens.

In a country with limited media freedom, the broad powers outlined in the NIG, including the power to monitor activity and block or disconnect the internet, are seen by many as another tool to suppress voices and increase fear.

Some have highlighted privacy concerns and the possibility of surveillance. Under the decree, operators must store data, share status reports and request that users verify their identities.

For Sokun, who reports for Voice of Democracy, one of Cambodia's few remaining independent broadcasters, the regulation has had a direct impact on how he works.

He has avoided reporting on protests and other events, saying, "The NIG did not help with my professional work; instead, it made it harder for me to report."

The journalist says his online activity and communications with sources risk being monitored and his reporting has angered authorities.

Local officials threaten him while he is working, Sokun said, and authorities have confiscated his equipment and taken his photo as he covers news events.

"I'm concerned about my personal safety and rather scared," Sokun told VOA in a phone interview. "If we express something (online), the government knows everything."

Suppression and eavesdropping

Cambodia has taken action against critical or independent reporting, including revoking the licenses of media organizations, arresting journalists for online reporting and ordering the blocking of content on news websites.

The government suppressed critical reporting in the run-up to the 2018 elections and during the coronavirus pandemic.

During the pandemic, Sovann Rithy, founder of the Facebook-based outlet TVFB, was charged with incitement after reporting on comments made by Prime Minister Hun Sen. Rithy was sentenced to 18 months in prison.

The prime minister himself recently entered a Zoom video call uninvited during a meeting of the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party. Hun Sen said at a later event shared on Facebook that he had listened in on about 20 opposition calls without revealing himself, The Associated Press reported.

The incident has added to fears over internet privacy.

In an already controlled environment "the fear has risen," Robin Ramcharan, executive director of Asia Centre, told VOA in an interview about the internet gateway. "The capacity for internet control has increased dramatically, and it might be possible for the government, when it wishes, to simply turn off the switch."

"People are reluctant to speak openly and to express themselves now openly on the internet platforms, on the social media," Ramcharan said.

His Bangkok-based think tank found in August that critics and human rights defenders have "retreated into self-censorship and withdrawal from political engagement to ensure their survival."

Chhan Sokunthea, media development director of The Cambodian Center for Independent Media, parent organization of the Voice of Democracy, shared a similar view.

"Since the sub-decree on the NIG came out, social media users have been more fearful; they are more cautious when they use the internet," she told VOA.

Cybercrime protection

The Cambodian government has defended the need for the gateway, saying it will help manage cybercrime and make it easier to collect revenue.

"This is every government's obligation; which country does not control the internet or online (space)?" government spokesperson Phay Siphan asked VOA, adding that authorities have "no intention" of using the gateway to restrict rights or freedom.

But media and digital rights analysts are not convinced. Under the regulation, officials can limit, suspend, and revoke the licenses of internet operators and service providers and "prevent and cut off all connections affecting security, social order, morality, culture, tradition, and custom."

"The sub-decree allows government officials to surveil and monitor and even to shut down (the internet) when they see or suspect that the internet is being used in a way they deem inappropriate or affecting national security," said Nop Vy, executive director of Cambodian Journalists Alliance Association, an independent media organization based in Phnom Penh.

Ngeth Moses, a Phnom Penh-based freelance internet security consultant, said although part of the NIG was aimed at collecting national revenue lost to tax evasion, some clauses restricted people's rights and freedom, especially their online privacy.

"The government should ensure the application of the new regulation not cause fear to the internet and social media users so that journalists and the general public can get back to their active roles in performing their duties and free expression in political and social matters," he said.

Cambodia has around 8.8 million internet uses among its population of 16 million, according to Statista.

And surpassing the country's population are its 17 million mobile internet subscribers, according to statistics from the government's Telecommunication Regulator of Cambodia. The difference is attributed to some people owning more than one phone.

Despite wide internet use, rights groups, including Freedom House, have said that digital freedom in Cambodia remains under threat.

The country is listed as only partly free in the rights group's Freedom on the Net report, scoring 43 out of a possible 100. The group cited the internet gateway and other legislation that limits access to information online as reasons for the poor score.


Cameroons French-speaking towns on the border with the English-speaking western regions are creating militias to stop separatist incursions. The militias say separatists are entering French-speaking towns to steal food and weapons for their movement or acting independently as armed criminals.

Cameroons military on Monday said it held several top security meetings in the capital, Yaounde, to examine the spillover of the separatist crisis from the English-speaking western regions to French-speaking areas.

Cameroons defense minister Joseph Beti Assomo said the military will never allow fighters to transfer the peril they cause in the English-speaking Southwest and Northwest regions to French-speaking border localities. He said he is reinforcing the military presence and increasing financial and material means to stop the separatists from entering French-speaking towns and villages.

Speaking on state radio, Assomo did not disclose the number of troops deployed to stop the separatists.

The military says French-speaking regions infiltrated by separatists include Mbouda, Galim, Babadjou, Babisenge, Foumban, Foumbot and Bafoussam. Two of these places, Foumbot and Bafoussam, are large commercial areas.

The military says there have been at least 60 attacks by separatist fighters in French-speaking localities with dozens of lives lost.

On social media, separatist groups have denied that fighters are looting. But they acknowledge attacks on several military positions, saying that they do so to seize weapons.

Rigobert Nchinda, a cattle rancher who relocated from Galim to Mbouda, said last week that suspected separatists seized five cows and money from him.

Nchinda said civilians live in total fear. He says many people are deserting border villages because of the recent frequent attacks and looting by suspected separatists. Business is at a standstill. To speak the truth, those of us remaining in border localities with English-speaking regions are not comfortable with rising insecurity caused by separatists who are infiltrating, Nchinda adds.

Defense Minister Assomo said civilians should assist the military by reporting suspects and strangers in their localities.

Francois Franklin Etapa is the most senior government official in Bamboutos, the district where Galim is located.

Etapa said militia groups have been created in all villages and towns on the border with the English-speaking Northwest to stop the incursions.

Etapa said Bamboutos is facing repeated assaults from secessionists because of its geographical location, near English-speaking regions. He said separatist attacks have dampened the spirits of civilians. He said he has decided to create vigilantes in all villages to help fight separatists who cross over from the English-speaking areas to commit atrocities in French-speaking border areas.

Etapa said people should not think that by promoting vigilantes, the country is handing over its duty of protecting citizens to militias. He said the militias should collaborate with traditional rulers, community leaders, the administration and the military by reporting strangers and armed men in the towns and villages.

Civilians and NGOs already contribute food and money to assist the militias. Many of the militiamen go out with locally made guns, machetes and bows and arrows to face intruders.

The military also says vigilantes should signal troops when armed men are spotted in the towns and villages.

Cameroons separatists have been fighting since 2017 to create an independent English-speaking state in the majority French-speaking countrys western regions.

The conflict has cost more than 3,000 lives and forced 550,000 people to flee to French-speaking regions of Cameroon or into neighboring Nigeria, according to the United Nations.
For the past 15 and a half years, Kamila Talendibaeva has been longing to hear her husband's voice and waiting for news of him.

Her husband, Huseyin Celil, is in a Chinese prison.

Last month, when she and her four sons saw Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Twitter post about the release of two Canadian men, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, from a Chinese prison, they were happy the "two Michaels" would reunite with their families.

"My heartfelt hope is that the Canadian government would now focus its attention on my husband Huseyin Celil's case and do whatever is needed to also achieve his freedom and return him to us in Canada," Talendibaeva told VOA.

The two Canadians were arrested just days after the arrest in Canada of Meng Wanzhou, an executive of the Chinese telecommunications firm Huawei, on a U.S. warrant. Kovrig and Spavor's release took place shortly after the announcement of Meng's release. The U.S. struck a deferred prosecution agreement deal with Meng in the bank fraud case against her, allowing her to return to China. China has denied that the two Canadians' case is linked to Meng's arrest.

Celil's arrest

Celil, a naturalized Canadian citizen and a Uyghur, has four Canadian sons. He was arrested by Uzbek authorities on March 23, 2006, while traveling to Uzbekistan to visit his wife's family. Later that year, Celil was transported to China, according to Talendibaeva.

"My three kids, Huseyin, and I as a pregnant woman, all entered with Canadian passports into Uzbekistan with a 20-day visa in early March 2006," Talendibaeva told VOA from her residence in Burlington, Ontario, in Canada.

As a Uyghur, an ethnic minority in northwest China, Celil had left China in the mid-1990s for Uzbekistan, where he met his Uzbek wife. They married in 1999 and later moved to Turkey, where Celil was recognized as a refugee to Canada by the United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, in 2001, said his family lawyer, Chris MacLeod.

He had been promoting the Uyghur language, culture and faith while in China, MacLeod told VOA.

According to the website of human rights watchdog Amnesty International, Celil fled China after being jailed for supporting the religious and political rights of the Uyghur people.

As for his 2006 arrest in Uzbekistan, "the Chinese authorities accused Huseyin of offenses related to his activities in support of Uyghur rights," Amnesty International stated. "Huseyin has spent much of his time in solitary confinement. He lacks healthy food and is in poor health."

China sentenced him to life imprisonment in a secret trial. It was later commuted to a 20-year sentence, according to his wife.

A Canadian citizen

Celil and his wife received their Canadian citizenship in or around 2005, said MacLeod.

"In the process, he renounces his Chinese citizenship by calling the (Chinese) embassy and telling them," the lawyer said. "While in Canada, he spoke up and out in favor of the Uyghur community in China (and) expressed concern about the abuse."

MacLeod said that while in Uzbekistan, one of the children became ill, so Celil and Talendibaeva overstayed their visa. When they tried to renew the Uzbek visa, they came under the radar of the Chinese government, which issued a "red notice" to Uzbekistan to force his Celil's return.

"He was detained for about 90 days as Uzbekistan tried to determine what to do with him," MacLeod said. "Canada was not as on the ball as it should have been, and ultimately, sometime in June or July of 2006, Hussein was picked up and transported back to China."

After the arrest of Celil, Uzbek authorities never allowed Talendibaeva to see her husband.

"I visited (the) Canadian embassy in Uzbekistan and told them what happened. I didn't hear anything from them after that," she said. "Their inaction was also a reason why my husband was handed to China by Uzbekistan secretly at the time."

Canada's response

Celil's ongoing detention is deeply concerning, and Canada continues to engage with China to verify his health and well-being, said Patricia Skinner, a spokesperson for Global Affairs Canada, the government department that manages the country's diplomatic relations.

"While the Chinese government has refused to recognize Mr. Celil's Canadian citizenship, Canadian officials continue to raise his case with Chinese officials at senior levels and press for consular access," Skinner told VOA.

According to Guy Saint-Jacques, Canadian ambassador to China from 2012 to 2016, Prime Ministers Stephen Harper and Trudeau raised Celil's case with Chinese leaders during official visits to China in 2014 and 2016, respectively.

"Each time, Canada asked for consular access as called for in the bilateral Consular Agreement," Saint-Jacques told VOA in an email. "I also raised his case myself with Chinese officials, including during a visit to Xinjiang; I also met with the family of Mr. Celil when I was in Kashgar to discuss his case and hear their views."

While Celil renounced his Chinese citizenship, Beijing did not recognize it.

Chinese officials always claimed that Celil was Chinese, and they did not recognize his Canadian citizenship, according to Saint-Jacques.

"Celil was abducted in a foreign country. He was obviously not asked whether he wanted to enter China on his Canadian passport, which would have guaranteed consular access," Saint-Jacques said. "I recalled telling the Chinese that it was not for them to decide whether this was the case, and for us, he was clearly a Canadian citizen," Saint-Jacques said.

According to Saint-Jacques, Canada on its own would not have been able to secure Kovrig and Spavor's release while Meng was in Canada had not U.S. President Joe Biden intervened with President Xi Jinping, therefore guaranteeing that the men would be released at the same time Meng, after agreeing to a deferred prosecution, returned to China.

"Their case was also an example of hostage diplomacy as they were arrested in retaliation to the arrest of Meng Wanzhou by Canada at the request of US authorities," Saint-Jacques wrote.

According to Wilf Ruland, Amnesty International member and coordinator of the Huseyin Celil Action Network, despite Canadian government efforts to free Celil, he remains in prison and more needs to be done.

"We had hoped that the Canadian government would include Mr. Celil in this deal, but we expect them to learn from this recent success and do the same for Mr. Celil," Ruland told VOA.

The Chinese Embassy in Washington did not respond to VOA's emailed requests for comment on Celil's case.

Talendibaeva has raised her and Celil's sons on her own since her husband's arrest.

"Our oldest is (has) global development delay. He fully depends on me. I have to be around him 24/7," she said. "(Our) second one is 18. He is at Toronto University, majoring (in) engineering. (Our) third one is 17. He is in (the) 12th grade. The youngest one is 15. He was not even born when his father was abducted."

She added: "They can bring anyone from China if they want, but the question is, do they want to bring a father of four Canadian sons and a husband of a Canadian?"
Chinese state-run media says a high-ranking official sanctioned by the West for alleged human rights abuses in the countrys far northwestern Xinjiang province has been selected by the ruling Communist Party to oversee Tibet.

Wang Junzheng is taking over the Tibetan portfolio after serving as deputy party secretary and security chief in the remote northwest territory.

The 58-year-old Wang is one of several Chinese officials sanctioned by the United States, European Union, Britain and Canada for human rights abuses against the Muslim Uyghur minority in Chinas Xinjiang province, a move that prompted retaliation from Beijing.

Human rights advocates say about 1 million Uyghurs are being held in camps. Some accuse Beijing of torture, forced sterilization and forced labor.

China maintains its actions in Xinjiang are to root out Islamic extremism.

Beijing has controlled the majority-Buddhist Tibetan region since 1950 when its forces entered the region under what it calls a peaceful liberation.

VOAs Tibetan Service contributed to this report.
With Washington and Beijing agreeing in principle that their two top leaders will meet virtually before the end of 2021, analysts are divided on whether a meeting between President Joe Biden and President Xi Jinping is the only way to repair strained U.S.-China relations.

Some analysts believe a meeting will ease tensions. Others who spoke to VOA Mandarin argued that even with a meeting between the top leaders, restarting bilateral relations will be challenging given the complexity of the issues and the long-term tension between the nations.

Evan Medeiros, a professor at the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University and former President Barack Obamas top Asia-Pacific adviser, suggested that only the top leaders can restart a dialogue between the two countries.

Theres really no other approach at this time that has as great a chance of working as that, because of the way the Chinese system is structured, because of how powerful Xi Jinping is, because of how centralized decision-making is, he told CNBC.

I think the Biden administration is right to say not that they want to cut out the middlemen, but they want to use that top-level engagement between Biden and Xi to sort of set the overall tone and direction of the relationship, he added.

On October 6, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan and his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi, a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and director of the Office of the Central Commission for Foreign Affairs, held a six-hour meeting in Zurich, Switzerland.

This was their first in-person meeting since two days of talks in March. That encounter touched on China's actions in Xinjiang, Hong Kong, Tibet, Taiwan and cyberspace.

The recent talks included discussion of similar issues, according to a White House statement.

Both sides called the Zurich meeting candid and productive. They announced that Biden and Xi would, in principle, hold a virtual meeting by years end. The last time the heads of the two nations met formally was in 2017, when then-President Donald Trump visited Xi in Beijing in November. The two met informally on the sidelines of the 2019 G-20 summit in Osaka, Japan.

Carla Freeman, a senior China expert at the Washington-based United States Institute for Peace, told VOA Mandarin that a reset of the bilateral relationship seems unlikely.

Relations between the U.S. and China are fraught across a range of issues. Highly sensitive issues including Taiwan and maritime issues involving US allies and partners appear particularly at risk of escalating, but of course there are other issues involving trade and technology that are areas of ongoing friction, she told VOA in an email.

According to Freeman, the best route now is engaging in diplomatic efforts directed toward economic recoupling to help provide some positive momentum in the bilateral relationship.

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai used recoupling at the Q & A session after a recent speech on the Biden administrations China trade policy at CSIS, a Washington think tank. The term means reducing the U.S. dependency on China by creating a trade relationship with China where we are occupying strong and robust positions in the supply chain. Tai did not use the term in her speech.

Drew Thompson, visiting senior research fellow at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore and a former defense official in charge of U.S.-China military-to-military relations, told VOA Mandarin that he hasnt seen signs that either side is seeking to recalibrate relations.

Both sides are pursuing their interests, and the majority of their interests and political priorities do not appear to overlap, he said.

Thompson pointed out that Xi is focused on achieving China's national rejuvenation, not improving the U.S.-China relationship. Many of Chinas policy concepts, such as dual circulation, are designed to achieve Beijing's overall objective without the support of the United States, he said.

Dual circulation is part of Chinas plan to become self-reliant in terms of resources and technology and in terms of demand through its domestic market and markets developed in tandem with its global infrastructure programs under the Belt and Road Initiative, according to Bruegel, a think tank in Brussels, Belgium.

Beijing is not interested or open to discussing any of the long-standing differences in the bilateral relationship and uses dialogues for the purpose of stating their resolve not to change or accommodate the U.S. on these intractable issues, Thompson added.

According to Thompson, Washington is more focused on preventing the relationship with China from becoming dangerously unstable and building the U.S. society and economy.

Bilateral talks on security issues, trade and climate change show few signs of productivity, he added.

Thompson said it is telling that Xi is not participating at the upcoming G-20 economic forum and COP26, the United Nations climate change conference. His absence underscores Beijing's inward focus and the low priority placed on improving China's foreign relations, he added.

Some Chinese experts are warning that Beijing is overly optimistic about U.S.-China relations. Shi Yinhong, a professor at Chinas Renmin University and an adviser to Chinas Cabinet, said at a book launch on October 12 in Beijing that the relationship between the two nations remains strained.

"The relationship between China and the U.S. is now in a situation where tensions are still high but it is frozen or suspended there, compared with the past eight months, and it will not significantly ease in the foreseeable future," he was quoted as saying in the South China Morning Post. "China is a bit overly optimistic now, Chinese people always have a short memory  if the U.S. president smiles or something, they get excited."

Freeman said that the Biden administration has made clear it shares the Trump administrations strategic concerns about China.

She added that although the relationship is characterized on the U.S. side as strategic competition, if the two nations find some areas to work together on, it could become a competitive stakeholder relationship, which would involve a mutual commitment to working constructively on global issues.

Yet Freeman told VOA Mandarin that Taiwan, Hong Kong and Xinjiang are issues that might lead to increasing friction between the two. Yang spoke of a red line on the topics in a February speech.

These issues are going to continue to be areas of discord in the relationship because they are where the two countries clash ideologically, China asserts the non-interference principle against the U.S. critique and has sought to paint U.S. criticisms about its actions in Xinjiang and Hong Kong as part of a broader effort to destabilize China, Freeman said. The Biden administration for its part has made promoting democracy and human rights a central element of its diplomacy, making what is happening in China, as an increasingly globally influential actor, a core concern.
FBI agents raided homes Thursday in Washington and New York City linked to Oleg Deripaska, a Russian billionaire with ties to the Kremlin and to Paul Manafort, the onetime chairman of Donald Trump's 2016 U.S. presidential campaign.

The agents carried boxes out of a mansion in one of Washington's wealthiest neighborhoods, with yellow "CRIME SCENE DO NOT ENTER" tape across the front yard, and towed away a vehicle.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation confirmed the agency was conducting a court-authorized law enforcement activity at the home, which The Washington Post has previously reported was linked to the Russian oligarch.

The specific reason for sealing off and searching the Washington mansion was not immediately clear, and the FBI spokesperson did not provide details.

A representative for Deripaska said the home, as well as the one in New York, belong to relatives of the oligarch. Reuters could not immediately determine Deripaska's whereabouts.

A spokesperson for the FBI's New York field office confirmed "law enforcement activity" at the home in New York City's Greenwich Village neighborhood but declined further comment.

Deripaska, 53, has been under U.S. sanctions since 2018. Washington imposed sanctions on him and other influential Russians because of their ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin after alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Deripaska once employed Manafort, who was convicted in 2018 on tax evasion and bank fraud charges and was among the central figures scrutinized under investigations of alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 election, which Moscow denies.

Russia used Manafort and the WikiLeaks website to try to help Trump win that election, a Republican-led Senate committee said in its final review of the matter released last year. While still president last December, Trump pardoned Manafort.

The Senate report found Putin personally directed the Russian efforts to hack computer networks and accounts affiliated with the Democratic Party and leak information damaging to Trump's opponent, Hillary Clinton.

The report also alleged Manafort collaborated with Russians, including Deripaska and a Russian intelligence officer, before, during and after the election.

Deripaska owns part of Rusal via his stake in the giant aluminum producer's parent company En+ Group.

Washington previously dropped sanctions against both companies but kept them on Deripaska. Rusal's Moscow-listed shares extended losses after the report of the raid on the Washington home, falling 6%.

The representative for Deripaska, who declined to give their name because of company policy, confirmed the raid on both homes and said they belong to Deripaska's family rather than the executive himself.

The representative said the searches were carried out on the basis of two court warrants related to the U.S. sanctions but provided no further details.


Hopes are fading fast of coaxing Tehran back into serious nuclear talks. EU officials failed last week to persuade Irans new hardline administration to agree on a date to resume negotiations in Vienna over reviving a 2015 pact President Barack Obama struck with Tehran.



Since the election four months ago of ultra-conservative cleric Ebrahim Raisi to the Iranian presidency, Tehran has said it is ready to restart talks soon but has avoided picking an actual date. In the meantime, Western officials are becoming increasingly alarmed about Irans nuclear activities.



Security analysts reckon Iran is just a month away from being able to produce a bombs worth of highly enriched uranium. The clock is ticking, and Israel behind-the-scenes has been urging the Biden administration to formulate a Plan B to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear-armed nation.



Some EU officials remain bewildered by an announcement earlier this week by Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson who said the country's lead nuclear negotiator and deputy foreign minister, Ali Bagheri Kani, would be heading on Thursday to Brussels for substantive nuclear discussions. I think they are running the clock, a senior EU diplomat told VOA.



The blocs foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, cautioned Monday that any talks that did take place in Brussels will be preparatory meetings as a prelude to Vienna talks recommencing. Unlike some of his officials, Borrell remains hopeful of progress, though. He told Reuters: You never know. I am more optimistic today than yesterday. No confirmation yet, but things are getting better, and I hope we will have preparatory meetings in Brussels in the days to come.



The EU is the official coordinator for the 2015 pact, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, JCPOA, and has been pushing for nuclear talks to resume.

Negotiations got under way in Vienna in April after President Joe Biden signaled a willingness to revive the pact, which Iran signed with six international powers that saw some Western sanctions on Iran lifted in return for the curtailment of Tehrans nuclear program.



During the six rounds of talks that took place in the Austrian capital before Raisis election, the Iranians refused to meet American officials face-to-face and talked directly only with European, Russian and Chinese negotiators.



President Donald Trump withdrew the US from the international agreement in May 2018 and reinstalled sanctions, saying he wanted an agreement that would place indefinite, as opposed to temporary, curbs on Irans nuclear program and halt Iranian development of ballistic missiles. Last year, Tehran announced it would no longer observe any nuclear restrictions after the targeted killing of Qassem Soleimani, Irans top general, in Baghdad in an American drone attack. 



Stalling



EU diplomat Enrique Mora flew to Tehran last week to meet with top Iranian officials for the first time since Raisis election. Last week, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken indicated he thought Iran was stalling. We are getting close to a point at which returning to compliance with the JCPOA will not in and of itself recapture the benefits of the JCPOA, and thats because Iran has been using this time to advance its nuclear program in a variety of ways.

Speaking after meeting Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid in Washington, Blinken warned that the runway is getting shorter and cautioned other options might have to be explored. Western officials say Iran has accelerated its nuclear program by enriching uranium to higher levels and close to bomb-grade sufficiency.



In September two security analysts, David Albright and Sarah Burkhard of the Institute for Science and International Security, ISIS, warned Iran has continued to advance its sensitive nuclear programs.



They added: In many ways, Irans nuclear capabilities now greatly exceed their status in early 2016, when the JCPOA was implemented. Its breakout time, namely the time needed to produce enough weapon-grade uranium for a single nuclear weapon or explosive device, is on order of one month.



They said in a paper for ISIS: Although Iran would need more time to build a nuclear explosive device or even longer to build a deliverable nuclear weapon, it has extensive experience in developing and manufacturing nuclear weapons and is ready to build its first one on short order.



David Albright is a former United Nations nuclear weapons inspector.



Israeli politicians and security officials fear Iran is purposely delaying resuming serious talks and using the time to continue enriching uranium. In a speech to the UN General Assembly in September Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said Irans nuclear program had hit a watershed moment and so has our tolerance.



He added: Words do not stop centrifuges from spinning. The chief of staff of Israels defense forces, Aviv Kohavi, said last month Israel had greatly accelerated operational preparations for action against Irans nuclear program.
The Israeli Antiquities Authority said Tuesday that a diver swimming in the Mediterranean Sea has recovered a large sword that experts believe to be about 900 years old, dating back to the Crusades.

The antiquities authoritys Director of Marine Archaeology, Kobi Sharvit, said the amateur diver was swimming about 150 meters offshore near the Israeli port of Haifa a few days ago when he spotted the sword lying on the ocean floor, four to five meters below the surface.

Sharvit said the diver recovered the sword and immediately took it to the antiquities authority. Sharvit said the sword -- encrusted with marine organisms when discovered is the most complete and well preserved he has seen in 31 years. He described the sword as large, heavy and made of iron.

He added that the one-meter-long blade, hilt and handle were distinctive and highly noticeable after undercurrents apparently shifted sands that had concealed it.

Sharvit said because the sword was found in a cove, not far from the Crusader castle of Atlit on the northern coast of Israel, it is being assumed the sword belonged to a solder in the Crusades.

The Crusades were a series of medieval European Christian-led military expeditions to recover the Holy Land from the Muslims in the 11th, 12th, and 13th centuries.

Sharvit said that from an historical perspective, the handle of the sword may be the most important part of the weapon as that is where decorations, and perhaps, even names or initials are often found that will help identify the sword.

He said once it cleaned, examined, and restored, the antiquities authority will put the sword on display.

Some information for this report came from the Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
On Monday, as thousands of demonstrators aligned with the Sudan military remain outside the presidential palace for a third day, analysts warn that the civilian-led interim government is facing a growing crisis that could topple its rule.

With upheaval escalating nationwide, government leaders must find a way to "defuse the polarization" and "reach a compromise," said political analyst Hassan Haj Ali.

Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok should "make a partial reshuffle of his Cabinet and appoint new ministers" or expand the number of ministers in the transitional government, Ali said.

Sudan is facing its most trying political challenges since it formed an interim government among rival factions after the fall of ex-president Omar al-Bashir in 2019.

After a political coup attempt was thwarted in September, al-Bashir loyalists have upped their dissent and are demanding changes to the civilian Cabinet and the shaky coalition co-running the government.

"The essence of this crisis  is the inability to reach a consensus on a national project among the revolutionary and change forces," Hamdok said in a televised address last week.

People participating in the massive sit-in outside the presidential palace in Khartoum are demanding the government be dissolved and replaced with technocrats.

Sudan will never have a stable government if only a small group of people continue to make the decisions, said protester Ibrahim Ishaaq Yousif.

"The situation is deteriorating every day, people are unable to find bread, and life has become hard for everyone in this country," he told South Sudan in Focus. "The government has been dominated by only four political parties, and they are unable to do something to change the situation."

Interim government supporters say members of the military and security forces are driving the latest protests, which involve counterrevolutionary sympathizers of al-Bashir.

Some protesters accuse political parties within the Forces of Freedom and Change (FFC) alliance of excluding them from the country's political processes and say the government is not doing enough to achieve the objectives of Sudanese revolutionaries who sacrificed their lives for the cause.

Hamdok should consider dissolving the Cabinet and expanding the political participation in the FFC coalition, said protester Omer Yousif.

Hamdok should "change this Cabinet not from the parties but from the professionals among the common people," he told South Sudan in Focus. "All the infrastructures will be damaged soon. That is why we focus on changing this regime for the better."

Khartoum-based analyst Ali said the government must quickly institute changes.

"Now the trend or the compromise probably is that the prime minister would perform a partial change in his government in order to please those who are demanding change and at the same time keep his own coalition intact by letting members stay in the council of ministers," Ali told South Sudan in Focus.

Ali also recommends setting a timetable for the composition of the legislative assembly and taking steps toward organizing a general election, which is tentatively slated for late 2023.

The protesters began the sit-in on Saturday by chanting "one people, one army" and setting up tents in front of the presidential palace. They say they will not leave until their demands are met.

"The country is striving, and the people are tired," said protester Muhiddeen Adam Juma, a member of the Sudan Liberation Movement faction. "People need to move to real democracy and prosperity.

"But few political forces want to drive the policy of this county by the same policies of the previous administration," Juma told South Sudan in Focus. "And these policies will never take us anywhere."

Hamdok, in his televised address, reiterated the government's commitment to dialogue and to seeking a solution to any political disputes. He also guaranteed the safety and security of people who take part in peaceful protests.

"We respect the right of our people for a peaceful democratic expression," he said. "They got this right through their continuous struggle, and we shall work to safeguard this right."

VOA's Nabeel Biajo contributed to this report from Washington.
Every morning, Wilson Ovwiroro leaves home early to paddle a wooden canoe into thick rainforest in southern Nigeria, where he taps raffia trees, making palm wine from their fermented sap.

The 50-year-old tapper also distils the alcoholic juice into a kind of gin known locally as "ogogoro" or "Sapele water," named after the nearby town where it reputedly originated.

Once the delight of traditional ceremonies, the local beverage is suffering a decline in popularity, battered by modern breweries.

With more than 200 million people, Nigeria is Africa's most populous nation and a huge market for beer.

Deep-pocketed players are vying for Nigerians' drinking money, including local giants International Breweries and Nigerian Breweries, as well as Ireland's Guinness.

The competition may seem unequal, but small-scale tappers and brewers like Ovwiroro still hope to keep their local beverages alive.

"I have been doing this work for 30 years. I started in Ondo state, came to Edo and spent 10 years before coming to Sapele here where I have now spent 15 years," Ovwiroro told AFP inside a wooden shed, which also serves as a mill for the father of eight.

The tapper learnt the skill from his father, and said his wife and brothers assist him in the job.

"I produce original ogorogo here. When you drink it, you know it is original. I don't mix it with ethanol. My own is the real special one. When I cook it, even rich people buy from me," he said.

The alcoholic content of ogorogo is unknown, although one glass, say those who drink it, is enough to make you feel intoxicated.

Ovwiroro also claimed the drink, which is often infused with herbs, had medicinal properties although he offered no evidence.

"When you drink it, you don't get infections. It cures malaria and fever," he claimed, sipping from a cup of fresh palm wine.

Stepping on snakes

Ovwiroro said that he boils palm wine over firewood and distils it to make ogorogo, letting it cool before pouring it into jerry cans.

"I have many customers that buy from me. I have up to 15 customers. I sell (a) 25 kg (55-pound) jerry can for 15,000 naira ($38). I can produce two in a day if I get enough palm wine," he said.

But he admitted that the job was "strong"  tough work  adding that he usually climbs at least 30 trees every day.

"I come here as early as 6:00 a.m. every day. Most times, I don't go home. I sleep in this bush. At times, you will step on snakes. The work is not easy. I work every day. On Sundays, I don't go to church," he said.

"I won't allow my children to do the work because it is too strong."

Ovwiroro wants the government to assist local tappers and brewers to expand their business, adding that the plantation from where he taps was on lease.

"I acquired this place last year. I pay 3,000 naira monthly to the community. I used to tap from another forest but the trees are no longer producing."

Ovwiroro said the government should encourage investments in local gins.

And locals agree.

"This is what we take to clear all our sicknesses and diseases away," claimed Kingdown Arugbo, a 66-year-old businessman who said he had been taking the local specialty since he was born.

He added that lovers of good and strong spirits should come to Sapele to taste local brews.

"If any company from abroad wants it they should come to us and we will give them the well-brewed original ogogoro from the source."
North Korea test-fired a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) Tuesday, South Koreas military reported, just a month after Seoul conducted its own SLBM test.

South Koreas military, which monitors North Korean launches, said the North fired a short-range ballistic missile, presumed to be an SLBM, from an area off its east coast at about 10:17 a.m. local time.

The missile flew about 430-450 kilometers, reaching a maximum height of 60 kilometers, according to South Koreas Yonhap news agency.

The timing of the launch is notable. Last month, South Korea became just the eighth country to successfully test an SLBM. Two days from now, South Korea will try to launch its first homegrown space rocket.

South Korea is undertaking an ambitious defense modernization plan, which includes several new missiles, domestically produced fighter jets, and even plans for its first aircraft carrier. South Korea, which hosts over 28,000 U.S. troops, is trying to take more responsibility for its own defense, as well as take a bigger role in regional affairs, analysts say.

However, North Korea has slammed the South Korean moves as provocative and destabilizing, even while vowing to continue its own weapons testing. It accuses the United States and its allies of employing double standards.

North Korea is banned from any ballistic missile activity  short or long-range  by a series of United Nations Security Council resolutions put in place to punish Pyongyang for its illicit nuclear weapons program.

A more survivable deterrent

SLBMs would add an unpredictable component to North Koreas arsenal. They are mobile, potentially increasing the range of North Korea's ballistic missile arsenal. They are also easier to hide.

North Korea has tested SLBMs before  most recently in October 2019, when it fired the Pukguksong-3 missile from an underwater platform. But the country has yet to demonstrate it can fire an SLBM from an actual ballistic missile submarine.

Earlier in 2019, North Korea unveiled photos of a gigantic ballistic missile submarine being built at a shipyard in Sinpo. But it is not clear whether it has been completed.

North Koreas SLBM is probably far from being operationally deployed with a nuclear warhead, but Kim cannot politically afford appearing to fall behind in a regional arms race, said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul.

Talks stalled

The Norths test comes as the intelligence chiefs of the United States, Japan, and South Korea meet in Seoul, according to South Koreas Yonhap news agency.

South Korea and the United States have repeatedly offered to resume talks with North Korea, also known as the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea, in order to reduce tensions and make progress on denuclearization.

To reach this objective, we will seek diplomacy with the DPRK to make tangible progress that increases the security of the United States and our allies. This includes considering potential engagement with the DPRK to reduce tensions, Sung Kim, the U.S. envoy for North Korea, said late Monday.

We harbor no hostile intent towards the DPRK, and we are open to meeting with them without preconditions, he added.

In a speech last week, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un rejected those offers.

Recently, the United States has frequently sent signals that it is not hostile to our state, but its behaviors provide us with no reason why we should believe them, Kim said, according to state media.

In recent weeks, North Korea has released statements objecting both to U.S.-South Korea military exercises, as well as the U.S. military presence in the wider region.
Barely conscious, 70-year-old Abbas yanks on the tube piping oxygen into his lungs.

His son, Mohammad Haitham, leans down and gently tightens the dirty cotton strips that bind his fathers arms to the bed.

The strips prevent Abbas from hitting himself or staff members when he convulses, Haitham says, or from pulling out the tube through which he is breathing. Abbas has been sick with COVID-19 for nearly three weeks, and his condition has worsened every day, says Haitham, who asked that his fathers last name not be disclosed.

At first he wasnt very ill but then he got a strong fever, the son explains over the rhythmic beeping of machines helping dozens of patients breathe. We brought a doctor and medicine to our home, but he didnt get better. It was hard for him to breathe.

Northeastern Syria is a semi-autonomous region of about 5 million people, tucked between Turkey, Iraq and government-controlled Syria. The region has been reeling from civil war, terrorist attacks and border conflicts with Turkey for years.

It now is suffering its worst wave of COVID-19 yet, with infection and death rates soaring. Medicines, oxygen and tests are in short supply, and vaccines are almost nowhere to be found.

Vaccine shortage

Haitham and his father spend long days in a specialized hospital in Qameshli, a beleaguered border city. Other family members are not permitted to visit. Mohammad wears a thin blue mask and douses his hands with sanitizer from time to time. He is unvaccinated and says there is little else he can do to protect himself.

Around the world, many hospitals do not let families visit COVID-19 patients, but here, some members are permitted to do so.

There are still a lot of people here alone, says Haitham.

More people inside the hospitals, however, could be disastrous, as most of the population in northeastern Syria is not vaccinated, according to doctors.

The vaccination rate is very, very small, says Dr. Rawan Hassan, downstairs from the intensive care unit. He has been treating people at the Jiyan Center for COVID-19 for about a month, and he has had only one dose of a two-shot vaccine. No one who has come here for treatment has been vaccinated.



Northeast Syria has enough vaccines for about 2% of its population, and the death rate has risen by 50% over the past two months, according to Dr. Juan Mustafa, who co-chairs the regional health department.

During new waves of the disease, like now, there is a shortage of oxygen, and the whole process of providing oxygen doesnt work, he tells VOA in his Qameshli office. If the wave is heavy, some hospitals have to turn patients away.

Concerns for the future

In the markets, however, many people are either unconcerned about this new wave, or unaware that it is happening.

Some sellers say they will not get vaccinated because they cannot afford to take time off from work. Others fear the shots could make them sick. For Essam Hassan, a 28-year-old vegetable salesman, missing even a few hours of work also could mean missing meals.

I work from early morning to late at night, he says. And I just have enough to feed my family.

Unvaccinated and unmasked, Hassan says he isnt worried about getting COVID-19, but he, like many others in the market, is deeply concerned about the economic crisis the pandemic has caused.

Health officials say the best tool they have to combat the disease caused by the coronavirus is periodic lockdowns, or curfews that force businesses to open for only limited hours and people to stay home. These lockdowns, says Abdullah Omar, 25, who owns a small childrens clothing store, are in some ways more frightening than the infection. The region is already desperately poor, isolated and physically difficult to leave in a crisis.

Last time we had a lockdown, I couldnt pay rent, utilities or salaries, he said. Hunger is more frightening than coronavirus.
Iraq said Monday it had detained the mastermind behind a deadly 2016 bombing in a Baghdad shopping center that killed around 300 people and wounded 250.

The suicide car bombing in the central Karradah district was the deadliest attack by a single bomber in the Iraqi capital since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that toppled Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

Two Iraqi intelligence officials said the man identified as Ghazwan al-Zobai, an Iraqi, was detained during a complex operation that had been carried out with the cooperation of a neighboring country they did not name. He had been tracked by authorities for months.

They told The Associated Press that al-Zobai was detained in an unidentified foreign country and transported to Iraq two days ago. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak of the operation on the record.



The 29-year-old al-Zobai was an al-Qaida militant when he was imprisoned by the Americans in Iraq at Cropper prison until 2008, and then he escaped from Abu Ghraib prison in 2013. He joined the Islamic State group after that.

The officials said al-Zobai plotted many attacks in Iraq, the most infamous of which was the 2016 bombing in Karrada. He operated under the alias Abu Obaida.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi tweeted news of the arrest later Monday, describing al-Zobai as the "primary culprit behind the Karrada atrocity and many others."

At least 292 people died from the bombing, most of them from an ensuing fire that turned the Hadi shopping center into an inferno. The blaze was fed by a tinderbox of shops filled with clothing and oil-based perfumes for sale and lined with flammable panels.

Al-Zobai's arrest came in the second such operation conducted by the Iraqi National Intelligence Service since Iraq's federal elections October 10.

Iraqi officials said they captured Sami Jasim, an IS leader, October 11 in a similar operation abroad. Jasim had a $5 million bounty on his head from the U.S. State Department's Rewards for Justice program, which describes him as having been "instrumental in managing finances for IS terrorist operations."


Pakistan said Tuesday its naval forces had detected and blocked an Indian submarine from entering Pakistani territorial waters.

A military statement alleged the incident took place last Saturday.

It is the third incident of its kind wherein an Indian Naval Submarine has been prematurely detected and tracked by PN (Pakistan Navy) long range maritime patrol aircraft, said the militarys media wing known as the Inter-Services Public Relations or ISPR.

There was no immediate response from neighboring India to the Pakistani allegations.

The two nuclear-armed South Asian nations routinely accuse the others military of committing border violations, but sea encounters are rare.

Pakistans tensions with India remain high over the disputed Kashmir region. Both nations claim Kashmir in its entirety and have fought two of their three wars over the region since gaining independence from Britain in 1947.

During the prevailing security milieu, a strict monitoring watch has been kept by Pakistan Navy to safeguard maritime frontiers of Pakistan, said Tuesdays statement.

Pakistan last reported such intrusions by the Indian navy in March 2019 and November 2016.
Former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, who died Monday at age 84, used his decades-long governmental and military career to defend traditional U.S. alliances with European nations, some analysts say.

Family members say Powell died of COVID-19 complications. Doctors say he also suffered from multiple myeloma, a type of blood cancer that suppresses the bodys immune response, as well as Parkinsons, a disease that, among other things, weakens the muscles.

He first exerted influence over U.S. policy toward Europe as deputy national security advisor and then national security advisor to President Ronald Reagan from 1987 to 1989, and later as the top U.S. military officer under President George H.W. Bush from 1989 to 1993.

He was a key player in helping to shape U.S. policies in the 1980s and the early 90s, during which we were able to put an end to the Cold War and erase some of the dividing lines across Europe, said Alexander Vershbow, a former U.S. ambassador to NATO and Russia, in an interview with VOAs Russian Service. Vershbow, who later served as NATO deputy secretary general, is an analyst at the Atlantic Council, a Washington-based think tank.

Some of the policy-making in which Powell was involved in the 1980s and early 90s included U.S. planning for the defense of U.S. allies in western Europe from a potential land assault by the Soviet Union.

Charles Ries is a former U.S. ambassador to Greece and an analyst with RAND Corporation, a California-based policy research organization. Ries told VOA in a separate interview that he recalled Powell reflecting upon the U.S. plans for a possible Soviet tank invasion of the Fulda Gap, a lowland corridor between then-Soviet-occupied East Germany and U.S.-allied and occupied West Germany.

What the planning gave Powell was quite a deep appreciation for what the alliance with the Europeans and NATO was all about, said Ries, who also served under Powell as principal deputy assistant secretary of State for European Affairs from 2000 to 2004. Powell was appointed Secretary of State by President George W. Bush in 2001 and served in the post until 2005.

As the top U.S. diplomat, Powell saw U.S. relations with some European allies fray in 2003 when Bush planned and authorized a U.S.-led invasion of Iraq against the advice of leaders in Paris and Berlin. Bushs Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld further angered France and Germany in January 2003 by labeling them old Europe in contrast to what at the time were new eastern European NATO members from the former Soviet bloc, whom he said were on the side of the U.S.

Powell didnt directly take on that quote in public, but he showed in the way that he engaged with, listened to, operated with [then-]French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin that he wasnt going to let U.S.-European relations get ruined by this very important disagreement about what to do about [Iraq], Ries said.

Bush sought to heal the Iraq war dispute with some of his European allies at a U.S.-EU summit in Ireland in June 2004. It was clear from the summit that the U.S. still had the respect and engagement of the Europeans, despite a very troubled first year of the war, Ries said. I think that is very much a tribute to Powells engagement and personal diplomacy, he added.

Vershbow, who served as the U.S. ambassador to Russia from 2001-2005, said Powell faced another challenge as Secretary of State in trying to maintain the momentum of Russian overtures toward NATO in the years after the Soviet Unions 1991 demise.

Vladimir Putin, who began his first term as Russian president in May 2000, appeared to extend the overtures in June 2002 when he attended a Rome summit with Bush and other NATO leaders and agreed to the creation of a NATO-Russia Council as a forum for cooperation.

But Vershbow said the positive signals from Putins first term were short-lived, as the Russian leader evolved into one of the U.S.s chief international adversaries.

Secretary Powell, like I did as ambassador to Russia, shared the frustration that the trends in that period were heading in the wrong direction, Vershbow said. Current U.S.-Russia tensions reflect some of the missed opportunities which we were trying to seize back at the time when Secretary Powell was the U.S. chief diplomat, he added.

Vershbow said Powell and the Bush administration missed opportunities for cooperating with Putin on missile defense, adapting the 1990 Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) Treaty, and preventing terrorism.

This article originated in VOAs Russian Service.
Russian government officials Tuesday recommended closing workplaces after the nation again set a daily record for COVID-19 deaths and nearly 34,000 new infections.

Russias government coronavirus task force reported 1,015 deaths over the past 24 hours, the highest number since the pandemic began. That brought the total death toll to 225,325  by far the highest in Europe. It also registered 33,740 new infections in the past day.

Speaking Tuesday at a government coronavirus meeting, Deputy Prime Minister Tatiana Golikova proposed closing workplaces from October 30 to November 7. She proposed that those days be deemed non-working days to combat rising coronavirus infections.

Russia took similar steps early the pandemic, notably locking down for about a month, when COVID-19 first struck in March of last year. But the Kremlin has been resisting a new nationwide lockdown because the first one dealt a heavy blow to the economy and hurt President Vladimir Putin's popularity.

Golikova recommends that all Russian regions immediately make decisions about whether unvaccinated pensioners should be told to self-isolate at home and go out only for emergencies.

She also suggested incentives to get people vaccinated, such as special codes for those who have received shots, allowing them access to public events or places.

Some in formation for this report came from the Associated Press and Reuters.


COVID-19 deaths in Somalia were at least 32 times higher than the figures reported by the government during the early months of the pandemic, according to a new study.

The study, published by the International Journal of Infectious Diseases, estimates that between 3,200 to 11,800 people died from the effects of COVID-19 between March and September 2020 in the capital, Mogadishu.

In that period, the Somali government reported 99 deaths and 3,864 positive cases throughout the country.

Somalia reported its first case of COVID-19 on March 16, 2020. To date, the overall death toll given by the Somali government stands at 1,180, and the number of positive cases is at 21,269 in the country.

Researchers say there has been a considerable undercount in cases among the Somali population.

"It was not sufficient to assume, as many people had, that Somalia has just been a very lucky country," said Abdihamid Warsame, a research fellow at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine who was among the researchers.

Researchers used satellite images of graves from 2016 to September 2020, as well as interviews and other data collected on the ground to reach the conclusion.

Looking at information, there was a substantial increase after COVID-19 arrived in Somalia, Warsame told VOA Somali.

"Having looked at other potential sources of deaths, for example other outbreaks or any other event, we could not find anything else that could account for a large increase in deaths," he said.

But not everyone in Somalia fully supports the results of the research.

Somalia country representative for the World Health Organization Dr. Mamunur Rahman Malik says the study lacks some degree of precision.

"I think this number is fine, it is a scientific way of doing things, but may not be truly representative of what deaths or what number of deaths that have actually occurred during this pandemic," he told VOA Somali.

He says the truth might be in between the low fatality number given by the government and the higher figures from the research.

Warsame says he is not arguing all new burials from March to September 2020 translate into deaths and a direct result of COVID-19, but says the pandemic had an impact on the population, which accounted for other deaths.

"During COVID-19 the usage of health services declined, the vaccination decreased, the use of maternal child services decreased, so these could all potentially lead to spike in deaths," he said. "Therefore, COVID-19 could have both direct and indirect impact on deaths."

Malik says the death toll figure given by the government is only based on people who have died of COVID-19 in health facilities. He said the registration system to capture deaths among the community does not exist in Somalia.

"The problem is that there is no definitive registration system for deaths in Somalia, and that is the biggest limitation that we are dealing with," he said.


Witnesses in Ethiopias Tigray region said at least two people were killed and several others were injured in two airstrikes Monday carried out by government forces on the regional capital, Mekelle.

Residents who spoke to VOAs Tigrigna Service said the airstrikes hit two areas: the Enderta district in the morning and near the Adi Haki market, later in the day.

The Ethiopian government initially denied launching the attacks, but the state-run Ethiopian Press Agency later acknowledged the airstrikes and said they targeted communications infrastructure.

Action [was taken] against media and equipment used by the TPLF [Tigray Peoples Liberation Front] terrorists in Mekelle, the press statement said. The TPLF is a former member of the coalition that ruled Ethiopia for more than 30 years. In May, Ethiopia designated the group a terrorist organization.

Dr. Cherinet Gebru works at Mekelles flagship Ayder Referral Hospital. He told VOA there were nine victims admitted Monday after the first airstrike.

From the three people who were initially admitted, two were already dead. One was 12 years old. He was a child, and the other one was 14 years old, and we couldnt help save them, he said.

The doctor said the staff at the hospital is monitoring other victims who survived. However, the doctor added, the hospital lacks the medical equipment and medicine to provide proper care, especially for helping those admitted with serious injuries.

Gebremedhin Haylay, a Mekelle resident, said he was on his way to an area called Enda Gabriel, walking with friends when the airstrike hit near the Adi Haki market. There were the three of us and I was hit. My left hand and both my legs are injured, he told a VOA reporter who visited Ayder Hospital.

Another witness, who says he saw injured people in the area, Jemal Kedir, said the bombardment hit an area no more than 30 meters from the market.

When they [the Ethiopias federal government] say we are targeting leadership [the TPLF], it is a lie, he said.

Getachew Reda, a TPLF spokesperson, accused Ethiopias prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, of being unwilling to end the conflict. He has never been for peace, only the appropriate use of sticks can prod him into considering such path. The #AirStrikeonCivilians in #Mekelle is proof positive that he will do everything to terrorize our people, especially when his forces are losing on the battlefield, he said in a Twitter post Tuesday. If people had illusions he could keep his promise to resolve the conflict peacefully, yesterdays attack should make it clear that only sticks are effective.

The Ethiopian federal government has been engaged in an armed conflict with fighters from the northern Tigray region for nearly a year.

Mekelle has not seen large-scale fighting since June, when Ethiopian forces withdrew from the area and Tigray forces retook control of most of the region. Following that, the conflict continued to spill into the neighboring regions of Amhara and Afar.

Last week, Tigray forces said the Ethiopian military had launched a ground offensive to push them out of Amhara.

VOA Tigrigna Services Mulugeta Atsbeha contributed to the report from Mekelle.

Editor's note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly said a strike directly hit the Adi Hadi market. It hit near the area.
A former Chicago college student was convicted Monday of attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State group.

Thomas Osadzinski, 22, wrote a computer code to help IS bypass programs designed to block the group's propaganda, prosecutors said. The former DePaul University student, who was born in a Chicago suburb, was living in the city when he was arrested in 2019 during an FBI sting. He faces up to 20 years in prison.

His attorney, Joshua Herman, said during closing arguments that the case centered on the right to free speech and that Osadzinski had the right to watch and share the videos.

"Liking ISIS is not illegal," Herman said in court.

But prosecutors alleged Osadzinski worked in coordination or at the direction of IS. Authorities said Osadzinski boasted in communications about his computer skills and ability to speak Arabic, and he bragged that he would use a gun and explosives to elude authorities if need be.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Melody Wells said Osadzinski was responding to the group's directives to support it "on the digital front."

"There is nothing independent about this," Wells said.

The jury, which deliberated for four hours starting Friday, returned its verdict Monday at Chicago's federal court. The trial lasted two weeks.
The Ugandan government is known for cracking down on writers who express strong dissent to President Yoweri Museveni, who has ruled the African country for 35 years. Despite the risks, two writers recently composed deliberately provocative pieces criticizing the president.

Early this month, Ashaba Annah wrote an erotic poem on Facebook to Museveni, titled "I want to be Museveni's side chic."

The poem reads in part, "I want to be Museveni's side chick so that when after reading a poem for him, I tell him that censorship, arrest, torture and imprisonment of writers is inhumane, cowardly an act and violation of rights."

Speaking to VOA, Ashaba said she decided to write the poem after a long observation and listening to several of Museveni's addresses. She said it was clear the government's response to the concerns of citizens was relaxed.

"Someone needs to tell this person that we are tired," she said. "First of all, the education crisis; schools are closed. Teachers are not working. I said, 'If he asks me the kind of car I want, I will ask him to give me an ambulance, and I donate it to hospitals.'"

The Ugandan government has previously come down hard on writers who pen opinions on how the current regime is handling citizen's concerns. This has included arrests, imprisonment and torture.

Twenty-three-year-old Ashaba did not face any of these, but she, too, caught the eye of the authorities and was summoned by the deputy director of the Internal Security Organization.

"He called and said, 'I want to have a chat with you.' I was scared. And he said, 'We just want to have a chat.' So, they asked me this one important question: 'So, what do you want?' And I gave them the answer, that as a writer, I'd gotten what I wanted  the fact that the message had reached the powers that be," she said.

While officiating at the World Teachers Day, celebrated on October 12, Museveni, when asked by teachers to increase pay for all teachers, insisted only science teachers' pay should be increased and not the pay of those teaching arts.

"Don't mix up salary with authority," Museveni said. "Saying that if the administrators get less pay than the scientists that it will spoil administration. I am the president of Uganda. If you want to check my power, you try it."

'Someone tell the life President to shut up'

Danson Kahyana, a senior lecturer at Makerere University, said he was angered by Museveni's comments, and took to Facebook to express his disappointment. In a post titled "Someone tell the life President to shut up," he says, "Someone tell the life-president that it is okay to have the parliament and the judiciary and the army and the police safely in his armpit; but there is a species of people, the arts scholars, who know how smelly every armpit gets."

Kahyana said, "My Facebook post was a form of challenge to him to say, 'Well, I think if you don't have something to say about the arts and how important they are to the country, maybe you should just shut up and listen to people educate you about this. Being a president doesn't mean that you know everything.'"

In a text message to VOA, government spokesperson Ofwono Opondo said these writers are seeking a moment in the spotlight. He said Museveni does not need to be insulted to be heard.


The U.N. childrens fund reports 10,000 children in Yemen have been killed or maimed since conflict erupted in March 2015 between the Saudi Arabia-backed government and Iranian-supported Houthi rebels.

UNICEF calls this a shameful milestone. Since the war began, it says four children caught in the fighting have been killed or maimed every day. While the figure of 10,000 deaths and injuries is a lot, the childrens agency says the number is much higher.

UNICEF spokesman James Elder said only cases verified by the United Nations are listed in this latest tally. He said many more child deaths and injuries go unrecorded.

As high as these numbers are, he said many more children die from indirect, preventable causes than from the fighting itself. He said children are at risk of dying or falling seriously ill from diseases such as cholera and measles, as well as acute malnutrition and hunger.

A child dies in Yemen of something that is preventable every 10 minutes. And that is certainly a number that unfortunately has not changed in the last couple of yearsYemen is the most difficult place in the world to be a child. Incredulously, it is getting worse, said the spokesman.

Elder, who has just returned from a mission to Yemen, said children are exposed to many dangers. He said four out of every five children, or more than 11 million children, need humanitarian assistance. He said 400,000 children suffer from severe acute malnutrition and millions more lack clean drinking water. He said more than two million children are out of school.

The UNICEF spokesman said Yemens economy is collapsing and people are struggling to survive.

But people like this are simply out of options. They are selling their jewelry. They are selling their cooking pots. They are doing this to feed their own children. The bottom line is children in Yemen are starving because adults continue to wage a war in which children are the biggest losers, said Elder.

UNICEF says it urgently needs more than $235 million to continue its lifesaving work in Yemen until mid-2022. Otherwise, it warns it will be forced to reduce or stop its vital assistance for vulnerable children.

What this means is crucial therapeutic feeding for thousands of severely acutely malnourished children will be scaled down or stopped.

UNICEF says other lifesaving measures also will be affected. If the money dries up, it says survivors of this brutal war may no longer have access to safe drinking water, to COVID-19 vaccination programs, to psychosocial support to help people deal with trauma, and other essential relief.
The U.S. congressional committee investigating the deadly January 6 attack on the Capitol said Monday that it rejected Steve Bannon's arguments for failing to cooperate with the inquiry, as the panel pursues a contempt of Congress charge against the longtime adviser to former President Donald Trump.

Trump has claimed that materials and testimony sought by the House of Representatives Select Committee are covered by executive privilege, a legal doctrine that protects the confidentially of some White House communications.

Bannon, through his lawyer, has said he will not cooperate with the committee until Trump's executive privilege claim is resolved by a court or through a settlement agreement.

In its report released Monday making the case for criminal contempt charges against Bannon, the committee said Bannon "relied on no legal authority to support his refusal to comply in any fashion," and said his testimony is critical because he appears to have "had some foreknowledge about extreme events that would occur" on January 6.

According to the report, Bannon in a podcast on January 5 told his listeners, "All hell is going to break loose tomorrow. ... So many people said, 'Man, if I was in a revolution, I would be in Washington.' Well, this is your time in history."

The Select Committee is scheduled to meet Tuesday evening to vote on the report recommending that the House cite Bannon for criminal contempt of Congress and refer him to the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia for prosecution.

The U.S. Justice Department has not said whether it plans to prosecute Bannon for contempt of Congress, a crime that carries a maximum penalty of one year in prison and a $100,000 fine.

Bannon's attorney, Robert Costello, did not respond to a request for comment on the committee's argument.

The attack on the Capitol by thousands of Trump supporters took place as Congress met to certify Democrat Joe Biden's election victory over Trump, delaying that process for several hours as then-Vice President Mike Pence, members of Congress, staff and journalists fled. More than 600 people face criminal charges stemming from the event.

The committee also said that Bannon has "had multiple roles" relevant to its investigation, including helping to construct and participate in the "stop the steal" public relations effort that helped motivate the January 6 attack.

"Stop the steal" refers to Trump's false claims that Biden's victory was the result of widespread fraud. Multiple courts, state election officials and members of Trump's own administration rejected those claims as false.


The House of Representatives committee investigating the rioting at the U.S. Capitol on January 6 voted Tuesday to initiate contempt of Congress charges against Steve Bannon, one of former President Donald Trump's longest-standing advisers, for refusing to cooperate with the inquiry.

The Democratic-controlled panel is investigating how and why hundreds of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol building as lawmakers were certifying that Democrat Joe Biden had defeated Trump in last year's presidential election.

The panel approved the contempt citation against the Bannon, sending it to the full House for a vote, likely to be held Thursday.

If the House also votes to hold Bannon in contempt, the citation would be sent to the federal prosecutor in Washington for presentation to a grand jury for possible indictment of Bannon. He could, if convicted, be sentenced to up to a years imprisonment, but such contempt of Congress charges are unusual and rarely result in prison time.

Trump, in the waning days of his presidency, urged supporters at a rally near the White House to fight like hell to block certification of Bidens victory. Soon afterward, more than 800 Trump supporters stormed into the Capitol, some of them vandalizing the building and fighting with police. More than 600 have been charged with an array of offenses. The incident left five people dead.

Trump has sought to stymie the committees investigation of what precipitated the rioting and his role in it. He has urged Bannon and other former aides subpoenaed by the committee to reject its requests, claiming executive privilege for White House documents, even though he left office January 20. Bannon was Trumps chief strategist at the White House through the first seven months of 2017 and has remained as one of his most vocal supporters.

Trump filed a lawsuit Monday alleging the committee made an illegal, unfounded and overly broad request for his White House records.

Bidens White House has argued that Trump has no legitimate privilege claim.

"The former president's actions represented a unique  and existential  threat to our democracy that can't be swept under the rug," said spokesman Michael Gwin. "The constitutional protections of executive privilege should not be used to shield information that reflects a clear and apparent effort to subvert the Constitution itself."

Senate Republicans blocked the creation of an independent commission to probe the mayhem that would have been modeled on the one that investigated the 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States.

In response, the Democratic-controlled House then created the nine-member investigative panel, which includes two Republican lawmakers who have been vocal Trump critics.

In July, the panel heard vivid, detailed accounts from four police officers who encountered the rioters inside the Capitol on January 6 but has not heard more public testimony since then.
The Taliban's acting interior minister, listed as a global terrorist by the United States, has hosted a ceremony in Kabul to honor suicide bombers responsible for the killings of thousands of U.S. and allied troops in Afghanistan.

Sirajuddin Haqqani, who carries a $10 million U.S. bounty for any information leading to his arrest, met with families of some of the attackers at Monday's event in an upscale hotel in the Afghan capital, Interior Ministry spokesman Qari Saeed Khosty said.

Khosty tweeted blurred images of Haqqani praying and embracing the family members of dead suicide bombers and said the minister later hailed the suicide bombers as "heroes of Islam and the country." Haqqani has not been seen in public in recent years, including since the Taliban returned to power.

The Taliban regained control of the country in August after waging a deadly insurgency against the Western-backed Afghan government and U.S-led coalition forces for almost 20 years. The global community, however, has ignored the Islamist group's calls for recognizing its interim government in Kabul, citing human rights and other concerns.

"The advent of the Islamic system is the result of the blood of our martyrs," said Haqqani, who is better known for leading the Haqqani network of militants that Washington blames for high-profile suicide attacks against foreign troops during the last two decades.

"Now, you and I must refrain from betraying the aspirations of our martyrs," Haqqani stressed. He distributed $125 to the families of the "martyred" and promised a plot of land for each family, Khosty said.

Khosty later spoke to an Afghan television network and defended Haqqani for praising suicide bombers. He argued that the attacks were part of the Taliban's "jihad" against the occupation of Afghanistan by U.S. and allied troops. He also defended blurring the images of Haqqani, citing security reasons for the minister to remain in the shadows.

The Haqqani network's financial and military strength are believed to have played a key role in helping the Taliban sustain and expand their insurgency.

Taliban officials reject as Western propaganda the existence of the network, saying Haqqani serves as a deputy to Hibatullah Akhundzada, the reclusive Taliban chief.

Critics say Monday's ceremony in Kabul won't help the Taliban's quest for international recognition of their government, already under fire for lacking inclusiveness.

"The appointment of Siraj Haqqani to the acting minister of interior already made it hard for countries, the U.S. especially, to engage with the Taliban government," said Jonathan Schroden, a military operations analyst at the U.S.-based Center for Naval Analyses.

"His (Monday's) actions will make it even harder and likely push any chances of formal government recognition further into the future," Schroden told VOA.

"The international community will likely continue engaging with some non-Haqqani members of the Taliban in order to get humanitarian aid directly to the Afghan people, but there's no question that actions like these will make it less palatable for those countries to consider formalizing relations with the Taliban government," he said.

Analyst Torek Farhadi, a former Afghan government adviser, said the key challenge facing the group is to "sensitize" [convince] all Taliban ranks that the war with America has ended, and "they must all pivot to win the economic war" to prevent poverty from spreading in the country.

The Taliban "are composed of fringes and groups, some of which want to constantly remind others the deep sacrifices they have gone through in order to get to this point where they control the state," Farhadi noted.

"Other fringes know in order to get recognized internationally, they must lower the rhetoric. But to forget about how intense the two decades of war was might cause some disgruntled fighters to leave their ranks and join violent groups such as ISIS-K," Farhadi told VOA, using an acronym for the Afghan branch of Islamic State, or IS-Khorasan.

Taliban delegates are due to attend a multilayer meeting in Moscow on Wednesday with envoys from Russia, China and Pakistan  the latter two countries each share a border with Afghanistan. The issue of granting recognition to the new government in Kabul is expected to be raised by the Taliban.

Russian, Chinese and Pakistani delegates held trilateral talks Tuesday ahead of the meeting with the Taliban and agreed to provide humanitarian and economic aid to Afghanistan.

A U.S. delegation was also invited to the meeting, but State Department spokesman Ned Price on Monday cited "logistical reasons" for not attending the Moscow-hosted talks and said a delegation would join such a sitting in the future.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Tuesday that Moscow was withholding recognition from the Taliban while waiting for them to fulfill promises they made when they took power, including on the political and ethnic inclusivity of the new government.

"Official recognition of the Taliban is not under discussion for now," Lavrov told reporters. "Like most of other influential countries in the region, we are in contact with them. We are prodding them to fulfill the promises they made when they came to power," he said.

Washington has frozen nearly $10 billion in Afghan assets, mostly parked in the U.S. Federal Reserve, since the Taliban takeover of the country.

The U.S. administration maintains it wants to hold the group accountable to pledges that they will protect the rights of all Afghans, specifically those of women, and install an inclusive government to govern the turmoil-hit country.


The United States called for political talks to resume between Venezuela's government and the country's opposition, saying the extradition of a close ally of President Nicolas Maduro to the U.S. is a matter separate from the negotiations.

Venezuela is said to be high on the agenda as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken heads to Ecuador and Colombia this week, his first visit to South America as the top U.S. diplomat.

Maduro's government announced last weekend it would halt the talks after Alex Saab, a Colombian businessman accused of money laundering on behalf of Venezuela's government, had been extradited to the United States from Cape Verde to face charges.

On Monday, a senior State Department official said the Maduro regime could demonstrate its seriousness about forging a better future for the Venezuelan people and alleviating the humanitarian crisis "by returning to the table" to continue talks with the Unitary Platform, an opposition political alliance.

"If (the) Maduro regime was serious about its stated concerns of the Venezuelan people, they would actually sit down with their fellow countrymen and work towards solutions. And if they make progress in that regard, the United States will welcome it," Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Brian Nichols said during a call briefing.

On Tuesday, Blinken will meet in Quito with Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso and Foreign Minister Mauricio Montalvo to continue discussions on democratic governance and issues such as counternarcotics and migration.

On Wednesday, Blinken will deliver a speech on the importance of democracy. The State Department said the top U.S. diplomat will showcase "how inclusive and responsive democratic institutions" can implement economic policies that emphasize "inclusive growth and environmental protection."

In Bogota, the top U.S. diplomat will meet with Colombian President Ivan Duque and Vice President and Foreign Minister Marta Lucia Ramirez to advocate for "strong democratic governments" in the region. Later this week, Blinken will open the U.S.-Colombia High-Level Dialogue.

"The secretary's visit to both Colombia and Ecuador sends a clear signal that we support a vibrant and inclusive democracy that respects the rights of their citizens," Nichols told reporters during the telephone briefing.

Another focus of Blinken's trip to Ecuador and Colombia is tackling irregular migration as Colombia hosts nearly 2 million Venezuelan migrants. Ecuador also hosts a large number.

"That will certainly be something that we discussed in our bilateral conversations" with Ecuador and Colombia, Nichols said.

Saab's extradition to the U.S. is seen to further complicate relations between Washington and Caracas as Maduro's government fiercely rejected prosecution against Saab, claiming it was a concealed attempt by the U.S. to oust the regime in Venezuela.

"The criminal charges against Alex Saab long predate and have no relation to the political negotiations between the Unitary Platform and the Maduro regime. These operate on a second track," State Department spokesperson Ned Price said during a briefing on Monday.

"It is often difficult for undemocratic, autocratic, repressive governments to understand a simple and fundamental truth about how we operate in this country, and that is that our law enforcement is independent of politics, of policy," Price added.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visits Latin America this week to discuss ways to tackle irregular migration, as Colombia hosts nearly 2 million Venezuelan migrants and Ecuador also hosts a large number.

U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price said in a statement Tuesday that Blinken spoke Tuesday with Chiles foreign minister and Colombias vice president and thanked them for co-hosting Wednesdays Migration Ministerial in Bogota and for granting Temporary Protective Status to nearly 2 million Venezuelan migrants.

In a separate statement, Price said Blinken spoke with Chiles foreign minister and expressed his appreciation for participating in Wednesdays meeting and for Chiles ongoing support for refugees and migrants from the region, particularly from Venezuela and Haiti.

They touched on shared goals in the bilateral relationship, including immediate actions to collaboratively support orderly, safe, and humane migration in the region, and halt the uncontrolled flow of irregular migrants through the hemisphere, the statement added.

Venezuela is said to be high on the agenda as Blinken visits Ecuador and Colombia this week, his first visit to South America as the top U.S. diplomat.

On Tuesday, Blinken meets in Quito with Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso and Foreign Minister Mauricio Montalvo to continue discussions on democratic governance and issues such as counternarcotics and migration.

The U.S. called for political talks to resume between Venezuela's government and the country's opposition, saying the extradition of a close ally of President Nicolas Maduro to the U.S. is a matter separate from the negotiations.

Maduro's government announced last weekend it would halt the talks after Alex Saab, a Colombian businessman accused of money laundering on behalf of Venezuela's government, had been extradited to the United States from Cape Verde to face charges.



On Monday, a senior State Department official said the Maduro regime could demonstrate its seriousness about forging a better future for the Venezuelan people and alleviating the humanitarian crisis "by returning to the table" to continue talks with the Unitary Platform, an opposition political alliance.

"If [the] Maduro regime was serious about its stated concerns of the Venezuelan people, they would actually sit down with their fellow countrymen and work toward solutions. And if they make progress in that regard, the United States will welcome it," Brian Nichols, assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, said during a call briefing.

On Wednesday, Blinken will deliver a speech on the importance of democracy. The State Department said he will showcase "how inclusive and responsive democratic institutions" can implement economic policies that emphasize "inclusive growth and environmental protection."

In Bogota, Blinken will meet with Colombian President Ivan Duque and Vice President and Foreign Minister Marta Lucia Ramirez to advocate for "strong democratic governments" in the region. Later this week, he will open the U.S.-Colombia High-Level Dialogue.

"The secretary's visit to both Colombia and Ecuador sends a clear signal that we support a vibrant and inclusive democracy that respects the rights of their citizens," Nichols told reporters during the telephone briefing.

Saab's extradition to the U.S. is seen to further complicate relations between Washington and Caracas, as Maduro's government fiercely rejected prosecution against Saab, claiming it was a concealed attempt by the U.S. to oust the regime in Venezuela.

"The criminal charges against Alex Saab long predate and have no relation to the political negotiations between the Unitary Platform and the Maduro regime. These operate on a second track," State Department spokesperson Ned Price said during a briefing on Monday.

"It is often difficult for undemocratic, autocratic, repressive governments to understand a simple and fundamental truth about how we operate in this country, and that is that our law enforcement is independent of politics, of policy," Price added.
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the Haitian gang that claimed responsibility for abducting members of a U.S.-based missionary group is demanding $17 million for the missionaries release.



According to the Journal, Haitian Justice Minister Liszt Quitel says the gang, which calls itself 400 Mawozo, has set a ransom of $1 million for each of the 16 Americans and one Canadian kidnapped last Saturday outside the capital Port-au-Prince while working for the Ohio-based Christian Aid Ministries. The Journal quotes Minister Quitel as saying the group includes five children, ranging in age from eight months to 15 years of age. He says they are being held in a safe house in a Port-au-Prince suburb.

Quitel says they are negotiating for release of the 17 missionaries without paying any ransom, telling the Journal that when we give them that money, that money is going to be used for more guns and more munitions. He says 400 Mawozo released five Catholic priests and two nuns they had kidnapped in April of this year after a ransom was paid for just two of the priests.



The White House said Monday the FBI is working to find the missionaries and deliver them to safety.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said President Joe Biden was receiving regular updates on the efforts by the FBI and the State Department.



The State Department said Monday it had a small team on the ground working closely with Haitian authorities to find the missionaries.

State Department spokesperson Ned Price said the U.S. Embassy team is coordinating with Haiti's national police, the missionary group, family members of the victims, and the Canadian government.

The abduction of the missionaries reflects a kidnapping problem in Haiti that has plagued the nation for years but that has grown more prevalent in recent months.

Haitian workers went on strike Monday to protest the security situation in the country.

Streets in the capital were mostly quiet as workers stayed home to denounce the nation's lack of security.

Officials in Haiti's transportation industry, a sector whose workers are often kidnapping targets, initially called for a strike last week. Monday's strike, which other business groups joined, took on additional significance after the kidnapping of the missionaries.

Most businesses and schools were closed Monday, and public transportation came to a halt.

The Associated Press reported that protesters burned tires in Port-au-Prince and other cities, including Les Cayes in the south.

The United Nations said Monday that a recent surge in gang violence in Haiti, including kidnappings, is affecting relief operations.

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said gang violence in the capital has displaced at least 19,000 people since June and affected more than 1.5 million people.

A U.N. report last month said at least 328 kidnappings were reported to Haitian police in the first eight months of 2021. That is up from 234 kidnappings in all of 2020.



In August, the United States issued a travel warning for Haiti, urging Americans not to visit the nation because of the kidnappings and crime.



Haiti's security situation has been hampered by the country's political crisis following the July assassination of President Jovenel Moise. The country is also suffering from an economic crisis and the aftermath of an August earthquake that killed more than 2,000 people.

Some information in this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
Five hundred years after Hernan Cortes conquered Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Aztec empire, a Spanish mayor is demanding the return of the conquistador's remains to his birthplace because of what he says are anti-Spanish sentiments in modern-day Mexico.

Valentin Pozo Torres, mayor of Medellin, the village in western Spains Extremadura region where Cortes was born, sent a letter to the Mexican ambassador in Madrid expressing his deep concern about the anti-Spanish drift of the current Mexican government.

Pozo, who represents the ruling Socialist Workers Party, said he feared that Cortes' remains, which lie in Mexico, may be desecrated and demanded his repatriation to the people who saw him born.

Cortes was born in Medellin in 1485 and died in 1547, six years after returning to Spain. His remains were re-buried in Mexico City at his own wish. They lie in a chapel in an ancient hospital  the oldest in the Americas  that he founded and that is not generally accessible to tourists.

It is the latest chapter of an ongoing dispute between the two countries which revolves around their shared past.

After the conquest, Spain governed Mexico not as a colony like those held by England or France but as a viceroyalty, or separate kingdom and an overseas territory known as New Spain. Its war for independence began in 1810 and was led by descendants of Spaniards, or criollos.

Interpretations of history

In 2019, Mexico's populist President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who is known by the acronym AMLO, demanded that Spain's King Felipe VI and Pope Francis should apologize for abuses committed during the Spanish conquest.

Modern historians say that conquest was marked by violence, subjugation, cultural suppression, and plunder.

Spain rejected this interpretation of history and instead said the conquest cannot be judged in the light of contemporary considerations.

Historical accounts, notably "The True History of the Conquest of New Spain" by Captain Bernal Diaz del Castillo, counter claims of cruelty but are also critical of Cortes campaign. Diaz del Castillo accompanied Cortes and notes that, with a force of 600 Spanish soldiers, defeated the Aztecs only by enlisting thousands of fighters among other indigenous people who were resentful of their Aztec oppressors and eager to cast them off.

Among their tributaries, the Aztecs were notorious for their brutality, enslaving the populations they conquered and practicing human sacrifice, including of children, as part of their religion, according to historical accounts.

Spain's government has refuted Mexico's demand for an apology for the conquest while praising the support Mexico gave Spanish leftist Republican exiles during and after the Spanish Civil War in the late 1930s.

Mexico and Spain have a relationship with a long past, a very rich past which obviously on occasions we cannot agree on. But what we have is an extraordinary future, Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said in an interview with CNN in June.

However, conservatives in Spain have been irritated by the Mexican president's insistence that Madrid apologize for the past.

Spain's former conservative Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, who is still an important player in current politics, ridiculed AMLO at a recent party conference.

Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. Andres for the Aztec part, Manuel for the Mayan part, Lopez is a mixture of Aztecs and Mayans and Obrador from Santander, he said, referring to Lopez Obradors Spanish roots that extend to his maternal grandfather. A biography based on accounts from relatives says Jose Obrador was born in northern Spains Cantabria region and immigrated to Mexico in 1917.

Lopez Obrador responded to Aznars remarks saying It is an act of humility to offer forgiveness, it is an act that dignifies both the one who offers it and the one who receives it.

2021 marks both the 500th anniversary of the Conquest and the 200th anniversary of the end of Mexicos 11-year war of independence.

As Mexico celebrated the anniversary of the consummation of its independence last month, Pope Francis sent a message to Mexican bishops saying this moment necessarily includes a process of purifying memory, that is, recognizing the very painful errors committed in the past.

However, Isabel Diaz Ayuso, the president of Madrid's regional government and a rising star on the Spanish right, questioned the pope's words, saying the conquest of Mexico brought the Spanish language and Catholicism that ended human sacrifice and enslavement. Mexico is the worlds largest Spanish-speaking country with a population of 130 million compared to Spains 47 million.

Complex relationship

Tomas Perez Vejo, a professor at the National School for Anthropology and History in Mexico, said the relationship between Spain and Mexico is singularly important because of Mexican claims that it was a nation before the 16th century conquest.

The relationship with Mexico is without doubt the most important (among former colonies) because one line of thought is that is was a nation before the Spanish conquest. An alternative argument is that Mexico was born because of the Spanish Conquest. It is an identity civil war which has never been resolved. he told VOA.

Unlike the British colonies where Native American populations were annihilated and their survivors pushed into reservations, Spanish colonists intermarried with indigenous Mexicans and multiplied. The result is that Mexicos population today is overwhelmingly mestizo, of mixed Spanish and native North American ancestry and its culture is a hybrid of European and ancient Mexican traditions.

Despite political disputes, analysts say ties between Spain and Mexico run deep.

Carlos Malamud, an expert in Latin America at the Real Elcano Institute think tank in Madrid, said despite the recent confrontational style of Lopez Obrador, the relationship between Mexico and Spain remained strong.

Thousands of Spanish firms have invested in Mexico and there are constant intellectual exchanges between both countries. In the other direction, Mexican companies have invested in Spanish media companies, he told VOA.

Spanish investment in Mexico over the past six years totaled $5.5 billion, according to the Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Mexico.

Mexico is Spains top trading partner in Latin America.

The relationship between the two Spanish-speaking nations prompts comparison with that of the US and its former colonial ruler, Britain.

The relationships are so different between both sets of countries. The Atlantic friends have remained in a strong relationship despite the colonial past. In contrast, Spain and Mexico have an uneasy relationship, Eduardo Garrigas, a former Spanish consul general in Los Angeles and writer, told VOA.
Zimbabwes opposition MDC Alliance claims that a bullet hit Nelson Chamisas vehicle in Manicaland province today where he was expected to hold meetings with traditional leaders and locals as part of his nationwide meet the people tour.

In a series of tweets, the party said, A bullet flew through one window of the vehicle carrying President Nelson Chamisa & out through the other. This attempted assassination & use of gunshots on President Chamisas vehicle & another that is part of his convoy are cause for grave concern.

There has been another attempted assassination on President Nelson Chamisa. Armed thugs threw large boulders at his vehicle which has been badly damaged. The Presidents vehicle sped off & continues to be trailed by more than 12 unmarked cars.

Party spokesperson, Fadzayi Mahere, also in a tweet, said, Violence of the sort experienced in Masvingo has broken out in Mutare where President @nelsonchamisa is set to meet community leaders.

Mahare claimed that a number of vehicles carrying armed, rowdy thugs were trailing Chamisas convoy.

According to the MDC Alliance, party activists accompanying Chamisa, have reported that the Mutare Road has been barricaded with stones and thugs carrying knives and knobkerries are causing havoc. Some of them are reportedly armed.

A video posted by the MDC Alliance on its social media platforms shows a vehicle with what looks like two bullet holes in Chamisas vehicle.

The party is in the process of reporting the violent attack of MDC Alliance actisits to the police in Manicaland.

Police spokesperson Senior Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi was unreachable for comment as he was not responding to calls on his mobile phone.

Zanu PF officials were unreachable for comment. Last week, senior party member Patrick Chinamasa aknowledged that Zanu PF supporters blocked Chamisa from attending meetings in Masvingo.

Chinamasa said the villagers in Chief Charumbira area did not want to be addressed by the opposition leader.

Suspected Zanu PF supporters waiving anti-sanctions placards stoned Chamisas advance party in Masvingo last week.

No person has been arrested in connection with the incident.
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LaVon Rapp, age 95, of Alexandria, died on Tuesday, November 16, 2021. Funeral Service will be held on Saturday, November 20, 2021, 11:00 a.m. at Zion Lutheran Church in Alexandria with visitation one hour prior to the service at the church.
Already in the 18th century, British economists of the nascent capitalism were questioning the sustainability of this system around David Ricardo. What was initially very profitable would eventually become commonplace and no longer enrich its owner. Consumption could not eternally justify mass production. Later on, socialists, around Karl Marx [1], predicted the inevitable end of the capitalist system.

This system should have died in 1929, but to everyones surprise, it survived. We are approaching a similar moment: production no longer makes money, only finance does. All over the West, we see the standard of living of the mass of people falling, while the wealth of a few individuals is soaring. The system is once again threatening to collapse and never rise again. Can the super-capitalists still save their assets or will there be a random redistribution of wealth following a generalized clash?

The 1929 crisis and the survival of capitalism

When the 1929 crisis hit the United States, the entire Western elite was convinced that the goose that laid the golden eggs was dead; that a new system had to be found immediately, or else humanity would perish from hunger. It is particularly instructive to read the US and European press of the time to understand the anguish that gripped the West. Huge fortunes had disappeared in a day. Millions of workers were out of work and experiencing not only misery, but often starvation. The people revolted. The police fired live ammunition at the angry crowds. No one thought that capitalism could be amended and reborn. Two new models were proposed: Stalinism and fascism.

Contrary to the image we have a century later, at that time everyone was aware of the flaws in these ideologies, but the most important, vital problem was who would best be able to feed their population. There was no longer any right or left, just a general "sauve-qui-peut". Benito Mussolini, who had been the editor of Italys leading socialist newspaper before the First World War and then an agent of British MI5 during the war, became the leader of Fascism, then seen as the ideology that would give bread to the workers. Joseph Stalin, who had been a Bolshevik during the Russian revolution, liquidated almost all of his partys delegates and renewed them to build the USSR, which was then seen as the embodiment of modernity.

Neither leader was able to bring his model to fruition: in the end, economists must always give way to the military. Arms always have the last word. So it was the Second World War, the victory of the USSR and the Anglo-Saxons on the one hand, the fall of fascism on the other. It so happened that only the United States was not devastated by the war and that President Franklin Roosevelt, by organising the banking sector, gave capitalism a second chance. The US rebuilt Europe without crushing the working class for fear that it would turn to the USSR.

The crisis after the disappearance of the USSR

However, when the USSR disappeared at the end of 1991, capitalism, deprived of a rival, found its old demons. Within a few years, the same causes caused the same effects, production began to decline in the US and jobs were relocated to China. The middle class began its slow decline. US capital owners felt threatened. They tried several approaches to save their country and maintain the system.

 The first was to transform the US economy into an arms exporter and to use the US armed forces to control the raw materials and energy sources of the non-globalised part of the planet used by the rest of the world. It was this project, the adaptation to financial capitalism (if this oxymoron makes sense), the Rumsfeld/Cebrowski doctrine [2], that led the US Deep State to organise the 9/11 attacks and the endless war in the wider Middle East. This episode gave capitalism a twenty-year respite, but the domestic consequences were disastrous for the middle classes.

 The second attempt was Donald Trumps curbing of international trade and return to US production. But he had declared war on the men of 9/11 and no one would let him try to save the US.

 A third development was considered. It would have involved ditching the Western populations and moving the few multi-billionaires to a robotic state from where they could fearlessly direct their investments. This is the Neom project that Prince Mohamed bin Salmane began building in the Saudi desert with the blessing of Nato. After a period of intense activity, the work has now stalled.

 Donald Rumsfelds former team (including Dr Richard Hatchett [3] and Dr Anthony Fauci [4]) decided to launch a fourth option during the Covid-19 pandemic. The idea is to continue and generalise in the developed states what was initiated in 2001. The massive containment of healthy populations has pushed states into debt. The use of teleworking has prepared the relocation of tens of millions of jobs. The health pass has legalised a society of mass surveillance.

Klaus Schwab and the Great Reset

It is in this context that the president of the Davos Forum, Klaus Schwab, published Covid-19: The Great Reset. It is not a programme, but an analysis of the situation and a forecast of possible developments. This book was written for the members of the Forum and gives an idea of their lamentable intellectual level. The author uses cliches, quoting great authors and the abracadabratic figures of Neil Ferguson (Imperial College) [5].

In the 1970s and 1980s, Klaus Schwab was one of the directors of Escher-Wyss (absorbed by Sulzer AG), which played an important role in apartheid South Africas atomic research programme, a contribution that took place in violation of UN Security Council Resolution 418. So he has no morals and is afraid of nothing. Later he created a circle of business leaders which became the World Economic Forum. This name change was done with the help of the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE); the business arm of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED/CIA). This is why he was registered in 2016 with the Bilderberg Group (Natos influence body) as an international civil servant, which he was never officially.

In his book, Klaus Schwab prepares his audience for an Orwellian society. He envisages anything and everything up to the death of 40% of the worlds population by Covid-19. He proposes nothing concrete and does not seem to prefer any option. We just understand that he and his audience will not decide anything, but they are willing to accept anything to keep their privileges.

Conclusion

We are clearly on the threshold of a huge upheaval that will sweep away all Western institutions. This cataclysm could be avoided in a simple way, by changing the balance of remuneration between labour and capital. This solution is unlikely, however, because it would mean the end of super fortunes.

With these facts in mind, the West-East rivalry is only superficial. Not only because Asians do not think in terms of competition, but mainly because they see the West dying.

This is why Russia and China are slowly building their world, with no hope of integrating the West, which they see as a wounded predator. They do not want to confront it, but to reassure it, to give it palliative care and to accompany it without forcing it to commit suicide.
The family of Jamal Sutherland and their attorney are calling for criminal charges to be brought against the former detention officers they say are responsible for his death.

Sutherland died while in custody on January 5, 2021, at the Sheriff Al Cannon Detention Center in North Charleston, South Carolina. Footage released in May by the Charleston County Sheriff's Office shows deputies pepper spraying and using stun guns Sutherland, 31, multiple times after he appeared to resist leaving his cell for a bail hearing. After the footage was released, the Charleston County sheriff announced the two deputies involved in Sutherland's death were fired.

In June, the Charleston County coroner amended Sutherland's manner of death from "undetermined" to "homicide."

"We all know what the truth is that they unjustly killed this young black man who was having a mental health crisis," Ben Crump, the family's attorney, said during a press conference Tuesday in Charleston. "It wasn't like this was a hardened criminal. This was a child who needed a helping hand but yet he got tasers, and pepper spray, and knees in the back, and a spit mask when he could not breathe."

The attorney later added he believed the detention officers to be "reckless."

In July, Ninth Circuit Solicitor Scarlett Wilson announced no charges would be filed against the two former Charleston County detention officers who used stun guns and pepper-sprayed Sutherland before his death, saying at the time, "Ethically, I can't bring a case forward that I know I can't prove beyond a reasonable doubt, and I cannot prove criminal intent beyond a reasonable doubt in this case."

"My anxiety is so bad right now, I'm not sleeping," Sutherland's mother, Amy Sutherland, said in Tuesday's press conference. "Haven't slept that well since the death of my child."

"Scarlett Wilson could have done so much more," she added.

Crump said he hopes a charge of Involuntary Manslaughter will be brought against the officers and vowed to continue calling for action.

Sutherland's family submitted a letter to South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson on September 7 requesting the state appoint a special prosecutor to look into the case, the National Action Network's Vice President of Religious Affairs and External Relations, Reverend Nelson B. Rivers, III said during the press conference.

The family requested an investigation by the US Department of Justice as well, Rivers said, adding they have not received a reply to either letter. CNN has reached out to the Justice Department.

The Charleston County Council unanimously approved a $10 million settlement in May, but Crump said the settlement is not enough "full justice."

"Jamal is more deserving of just a few civil coins thrown on the ground," the attorney said.

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A potential end to a years-long lawsuit involving the company 3M, the City of Decatur, Morgan County and environmentalist groups came Tuesday.

Approximately $99 million is what 3M has agreed to give the parties involved in this settlement. They said the money offered will be used to clean up the mess they made when they disposed of waste that contained cancer-causing chemicals in many locations across the city, county and Tennessee River.

"It's an important first step in making sure that these responsible parties clean up the Tennessee River," David Whiteside, founder of the Tennessee Riverkeeper, said.

For six years, the Tennessee Riverkeeper has been in litigation with 3M over the illegal dumping of dangerous chemicals into the Tennessee river. The group was the first to file a lawsuit against the company, and Whiteside said Tuesday they settled it. He said it's a victory for them and the citizens of Decatur.

"It gives us a critical seat at the table to make sure that 3M and the other polluting parties clean up their mess expeditiously," he said. "We will be there every step of the way to make sure that gets done properly."

Back in 2019, 3M admitted to illegally dumping cancer-causing PFA and PFO chemicals into the Tennessee River. They also admitted to having former dumping sites around Morgan County that could include the toxic chemicals. The Aquadome Recreation Center and former Brookhaven Middle School were built on top of such sites.

In the settlement with the Riverkeeper, 3M has agreed to a remediation plan for any of the dumping sites and to allow the Riverkeeper to view it and check for any discrepancies.

Included in the proposed settlement with the city, county and Decatur Utilities, the company is offering to pay more than $9 million to reimburse the city and county for PFAS cost; $7 million to Decatur Utilities for future sludge disposal costs; $25 million to the city, county and Decatur Utilities; $22.2 million to cap Cells 211 of the Decatur-Morgan County Regional Landfill; and $35 million for a new recreational facility at the Aquadome in Decatur, as well as replacement costs for the fields at the complex.

The company has also agreed to pay for any additional costs to treat and investigate for PFAS in the groundwater at the Decatur-Morgan County Regional Landfill.

"There's a settlement that our clients have just with 3M, and the other settlements in the two cases which we are also parties to are monumental as it relates to our environment and addressing the issues in our environment, which is very important, which includes our river," said Barney Lovelace, who has been representing the City of Decatur, Decatur Utilities and Morgan County in three different lawsuits against 3M.

After being in litigation for more than five years, he's happy it's almost come to an end.

"Just glad to have this all in writing and sort of signed and sealed and hopefully getting approvals next week," he said. "So we can continue on in getting our environment cleaned up and getting a new recreational facility built for the citizens of Decatur."

The city, county and Decatur Utilities all have to agree on what is being offered. A joint special meeting is set for 6 p.m. Oct. 26 to consider the settlement.
The City of Decatur, Morgan County and Decatur Utilities are set to receive a $98.4-million settlement as the result of mediation regarding two lawsuits dealing with PFAS.

The two governments and the utility must approve the settlement tied to lawsuits that include 3M, Daikin, Toray, BFI and Synagro.

Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl compounds, or PFAS, refers to more than 4,000 manmade chemicals that are often called forever chemicals because they dont break down in the environment. Exposure to the chemicals has been linked to certain cancers, weakened immunity, thyroid disease and other health effects, according to the New York Times. (Read more HERE)

A public meeting to consider accepting the settlement is set for 6 p.m. Oct. 26 at Ingalls Harbor Pavillion, 802-A Wilson St. NW, Decatur. Below is more from a news release from the city of Decatur. Below that is a news release from 3M.

The Cases and Settlements

The St. John case is a civil action pending before the Circuit Court of Morgan County, Alabama. Lead attorney for the plaintiffs is Leon Ashford of Hare, Wynn, Newell & Newton.

The Tennessee Riverkeeper case is pending before the U.S. District Court, with Bill Matsikoudis of Matsikoudis & Fanciullo as lead attorney for the plaintiffs. Barney Lovelace and David Langston of Harris, Caddell & Shanks represent Decatur, Morgan County, and Decatur Utilities.

In an unusual move, the two cases were ordered into mediation together, resulting in settlements that work together for the good of the residents of Decatur and Morgan County, as well as the other plaintiffs in both cases - under the laws that govern each type of case.

The settlement of $98.4 million includes the following:

 $9.2 Million Reimbursement for past PFAS costs

 $7.0 Million for Future sludge disposal costs for DU

 $25.0 Million Payment to Decatur, Morgan County and Decatur Utilities

 $22.2 Million Payment to cap Cells 2-11 of the Decatur Morgan County Regional Landfill (DMCRL)

 $35.0 Million for a New recreational facility and ball fields to replace the Aquadome complex

In addition to the defined settlement amounts, key terms of the agreement require that 3M will pay the entire cost to investigate the extent, if any, of contamination of PFAS in groundwater at the Decatur Morgan County Regional Landfill; to treat groundwater contaminated with PFAS at DMCRL, if required by the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM); and for any remediation work related to contamination by PFAS required by ADEM or the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for the City of Decaturs three closed landfill sites. Today, 3M is working under an Interim Consent Order with ADEM which requires 3M to investigate and remediate any site where PFAS waste from the 3M plant site was disposed.

The Path Forward

Decatur Mayor Tab Bowling stated, I appreciate the work of all parties to bring these lawsuits to a close. We are ready now to look to the future. 3M has long been an involved corporate citizen here and we appreciate how theyve stepped up to help remedy issues related to chemicals no longer produced in the U.S. This settlement will fund improvements that will make the environment in Decatur and Morgan County healthier. We are pleased that 3M is funding the development of a replacement rec center that adds a quality of life benefit for the whole city.

Decatur Water Quality

The proposed settlement amounts for Decatur Utilities are related to the disposal of sludge from the wastewater treatment plant. They are not related to drinking water supplied by Decatur Utilities to its retail customers within the City of Decatur or its resale customers.

DU takes great pride in the quality of water provided to our retail and resale customers and wants to ensure all customers that they can have great confidence in its safety. Over the last decade, DUs Water Treatment Plant has consistently been recognized as one of the best-operated plants in Alabama, stated DU General Manager & CEO Ray Hardin.

Identifying Sites

In addition to capping Cells 2 through 11 at the Decatur Morgan County Regional Landfill, 3M is working with ADEM to identify other locations in Morgan and Lawrence Counties that might have received waste with PFAS and to determine next steps, stated Morgan County Commission Chairman Ray Long. We are all working together to ensure solutions for a healthier future for our citizens.

One of the impacted sites is the old city landfill that was closed in the 1950s. That site is the home of the current Aquadome complex. 3M has agreed to pay $35 million to the City of Decatur to build a replacement recreation facility that will include an indoor pool and ball fields at an as-yet -undetermined site.

Significant Settlements

Barney Lovelace said, We are very pleased with the outcome. The significant monetary settlement and the substantial remediation work to be performed will ensure that our environment is preserved for all to enjoy.

Public Meeting

The City Council of the City of Decatur, AL, and the Morgan County Commission will each hold a special meeting on Tuesday, October 26, 2021, at 6:00 P.M. at Ingalls Harbor Pavilion, 802-A Wilson Street NW, Decatur, AL 35601.

The purpose of the meeting is to consider the settlement with the 3M Company and settlements in the pending cases of James St. John, et al. vs. 3M Company, et al., Case No. CV-2002-000408, in the Circuit Court of Morgan County, Alabama and Tennessee Riverkeeper, Inc. vs. 3M Company, et al., Case No. CV-16-HGD-1029-NE, in the United States District Court, Northern District of Alabama, Northeastern Division. Information about these settlements will be presented at this meeting and information also can be found at www.decaturpfas.info, which will go live after 2:00 p.m. CST today.

From 3M:

3M has reached a collaborative agreement to resolve ongoing litigation and negotiations related to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) near 3Ms Decatur, Ala. facility with parties including The City of Decatur and Morgan County, the plaintiffs in St. John, and the Tennessee Riverkeeper organization.

Through these agreements, subject to final approval, 3M will support activities to address PFAS that 3M manufactured or disposed of, as well as to enhance the quality of life for Decatur residents. 3M's contribution to the total amount is reflected in the company's previously disclosed financial reserves for litigation contingent liabilities.

We appreciate the importance of our relationship with our neighbors in Decatur. Through this agreement, we can resolve these matters and take action that will strengthen Decatur for the future  a great thing for 3M and this community. said Michelle Howell, Decatur Site Director. We will continue to take collaborative action for communities where we live and work, our employees, and their friends and families.

City of Decatur, Decatur Utilities, Morgan County

The parties are pleased to have reached this agreement, through which 3M will contribute approximately $99M to support initiatives that will build a stronger environment and community in Decatur and the surrounding area. Key provisions of the agreement include:

 Investing in the future for the Decatur community. 3M will support several initiatives that will improve the quality of life and the overall environment for Decatur.

This includes community redevelopment and recreation projects by the City, County, and Decatur Utilities to develop and construct a new public recreational facility, ball fields, and other projects in the City of Decatur.

 Addressing legacy production. 3M will continue to address PFAS at sites where 3M disposed of PFAS, including the Morgan County, Brookhaven, Old Moulton Road and Deer Springs landfills.

This will include funding the installation of a synthetic liner and cap in portions of the Morgan County Landfill, as has been done effectively at other locations in Decatur. Furthermore, 3M will pay the City and County to reimburse costs previously incurred related to PFAS remediation.

Tennessee Riverkeeper, St. John et al.

In addition, 3M is resolving litigation between 3M and the Tennessee Riverkeeper organization, as well as the plaintiffs in the St. John matter. The agreements complement the Interim Consent Order that 3M entered with the Alabama Department of Environmental Management in 2020. Key provisions of these settlement agreements include:

Continuing to improve the local environment. Through its agreement with the Tennessee Riverkeeper and St. John plaintiffs, 3M will continue environmental characterization. This work will include sampling of environmental media, such as soil, ground water, and sediment regarding the potential presence of PFAS at the 3M Decatur facility and legacy disposal sites. Once this sampling has been completed, 3M will submit a report on its findings and plans to appropriately address these materials to ADEM in accordance with the Interim Consent Order. Plaintiffs will have the opportunity for input. 3M will then work with ADEM to support execution of any appropriate remedial actions.

The parties worked cooperatively over many months to reach this negotiated agreement without resorting to additional lengthy and expensive litigation, under the leadership of, Mayor Bowling, Morgan County Commission Chairman Ray Long, Decatur Utilities General Manager and Chief Executive Officer Ray Hardin, and many others.
An accused killer arrested for severely beating a Morgan County jailer has pleaded guilty on the federal assault charges.

Lemond Lawrence Burns, 22, pleaded guilty in federal court Tuesday. WAAY 31 reported last week that he was changing his plea.

Burns was an inmate in the Morgan County Jail when he was seen on jail security video punching a female jailer April 19. According to Morgan County Sheriffs Office at the time, the jailer was delivering meals when Burns asked for a smoke break.

She told him to wait until after meal time, and Burns responded by attacking her and punching her twice, knocking her to the ground. The sheriff's office said the jailer suffered multiple injuries, including a concussion, facial swelling and bruising on the face and body.

Burns' sentencing hearing is Jan. 6 but could happen sooner. He faces a maximum of 20 years in federal prison.

Burns was in the jail following arrests on a capital murder charge related to the shooting death of an Alabama A&M student and federal charges related to a fraud scheme.
Plans for a three-day detour of southbound traffic on Interstate 65 was reduced to one day after crews completed their project early. Now, the Alabama Department of Transportation is advising it will detour northbound traffic Thursday.

ALDOT said, weather permitting, all northbound motorists between I-565 and Athens will be rerouted from I-65 North to the Huntsville-Browns Ferry Road (Exit 347) ramps and back to the interstate. The detour is expected to last from 6:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday so workers can remove temporary safety measures that had been placed over the northbound side of the interstate.

Drivers are encouraged to expect delays and plan accordingly, as they will be asked to reduce speed, merge and exit the interstate. Alabama State Troopers will assist with traffic control.

The ongoing Rebuild Alabama project aims to widen the Huntsville-Browns Ferry Road overpass. Other projects will add lanes to the road east and west of the overpass.
An Elkmont man has been arrested in Alaska on charges related to the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection, records show.

Christian Matthew Manley, 26, faces federal charges of assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers using a dangerous weapon or inflicting bodily injury; civil disorder; entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon; engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds; disorderly conduct in a Capitol building; and parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.

According to an FBI agent with the Birmingham field office, the FBI spoke with an individual in July who said they knew Manley and knew that he had attended the Jan. 6 riot. The person later identified Manley from photos taken at the U.S. Capitol that day.

The FBI then confirmed a cellphone connected to Manley was in the same area that day and spoke with a relative of Manleys who said theyd heard him talk about going to the rally, according to the criminal complaint filed Oct. 15. Video footage shows Manley at the riots, spraying pepper spray at officers and eventually throwing empty canisters and at one point a metal rod at them.

Records show Manley is being held at the Anchorage Correctional Complex. Anchorage (Alaska) Daily News reported it was unknown as of Tuesday why Manley was in Alaska and that his last known residence was Elkmont.
A federal judge dismissed a wrongful death lawsuit over a fatal shooting by the Huntsville Police Department.

Crystal Ragland's sister filed the lawsuit earlier this year.

Her lawsuit alleged excessive force and wrongful death for Ragland's shooting death in 2019.

The federal judge granted defense motions to dismiss the lawsuit against the City of Huntsville and two police officers.

Martin Weinberg, the attorney for Ragland's sister, said they will appeal the ruling to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.
A Huntsville businessman, Purple Heart recipient and former prisoner of war announced his plans to run for U.S. Senate in Alabama in 2022.

Mike Durant joins an already crowded field of Republicans seeking the seat being vacated by long-time Sen. Richard Shelby. Durant, who was captured in Somalia in 1993 after his Black Hawk helicopter was shot down, released a campaign video on YouTube called "God Made a Soldier."

Courtesy: Mike Durant Campaign Courtesy: Mike Durant Campaign

Durant's 11 days as a POW were featured in the movie "Black Hawk Down."

The campaign video released Tuesday featured Durant's time as a captive, his career as a businessman and his aspirations to take over as an Alabama senator. Durant is seen piloting a helicopter in the video as he asks "the good people of Alabama to make me their next senator."

The field of Republicans running for the Senate seat includes former diplomat Lynda Blanchard; Katie Britt, a former chief of staff for Shelby; Congressman Mo Brooks; Mike Dunn; Jake Schafer; and Montgomery businesswoman Jessica Taylor.

Alabama's primary is set for May 24, 2022.
The Limestone County Health Department will hold a drive-thru flu shot clinic Wednesday at the Athens Sportsplex.

Participants can get a free flu shot from 9 a.m.2 p.m. with Medicaid, Medicare Part B or Blue Cross/Blue Shield insurance. All others can get their shot for $2.

The Sportsplex is at 4301 U.S. 31 in Athens. Participants are asked to enter at the southeast entrance and exit at the traffic light.

For more information, call 256-232-3200.
Cleanup and a search for answers continued Monday at St. Johns Missionary Baptist Church in Somerville.

This weekend, parishioners discovered their church had been vandalized so horribly they couldn't even hold Sunday services there this week.

Amos Burton, a longtime member of the church, was devastated by the damage.

I was in a state of shock. The last thing I expected to see, to be honest with you. I didnt have any idea it was as bad as it was until we actually walked in, said Burton.

Burton says his brother was on his way to clean the church, as he does every Saturday, and that led him to discover their church had been vandalized.

Inside the church, paint is splattered on the walls and the pews. Doors have become unhinged, shattered glass covers the floor and much more.

Church members say they are grateful for all the support they are receiving from the community.

"We definitely appreciate all of the concern," said Burton.

Even in the midst of living in a nightmare, Burton and his fellow members continue to display resiliency.

"Im a firm believer in God, and even though I dont understand what happened, I guess there is a reason for it that I cant explain," he said. "But I think in the end we will all be satisfied. We will see what it was all about."

Burton's advice to fellow believers is to respond with love and not hate.

"I would say dont give up. Keep the faith, and keep on moving in the right direction, and you will be all right in the end. No anger, no hatred. Just keep on moving," said Burton.

Investigators with the Morgan County Sheriff's Office have identified four juvenile suspects connected to the incident: an 11-year-old girl, a 13-year-old girl and two 14-year-old boys.

They face burglary and criminal mischief charges.

Authorities said the juveniles are not in custody, and that others may face charges, too.

If you would like to help the church, you can donate here.
The City of Huntsville has scheduled five public hearings, including one Tuesday, for citizens to tell city council members how they think Huntsville should be redistricted.

The city redraws voting districts every 10 years, when new census data is released. Huntsville, now the most populous city in Alabama, grew significantly in the last decade. According to the City, each district had about 36,000 residents in 2010.

Districts will now be drawn to include about 43,000 residents in each district.

The City has released a free software tool for residents to draw their own district and present to the Council.

Im grateful to our redistricting team for their thorough research in developing this draft plan, Mayor Tommy Battle said. We look forward to hearing the communitys thoughts and ideas before Council approves a final plan in December.

Meetings will be held at Huntsville City Hall, 308 Fountain Circle, on the following dates:

 4 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 19;

 5:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 25;

 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 9;

 4 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 16; and

 5:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 22.

The final redistricting plan will be presented by the City Ccouncil at its meeting Dec. 2. A plan will be adopted Dec. 16.
A Russellville attorney has been appointed to defend the suspect charged with murdering a Sheffield Police sergeant and another man.

Rebecca Green Thomason will represent Brian Lansing Martin, who faces 10 charges, including four counts of capital murder, in the deaths of Sgt. Nick Risner and William Mealback. (Read more here)

This comes after the first two lawyers appointed last week to represent Martin asked to be removed.

In his order appointing Thomason on Tuesday, Colbert County District Court Judge Chad Coker said other lawyers in the county on the list to possibly represent Martin also had conflicts.

Martin has a preliminary hearing Oct. 25.

He is being held in the Morgan County Jail.
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In the meantime, there are reasons to be bullish on Mexico right now. One is that economic globalization has been somewhat halted, and in some areas even reversed. To the extent Americans do not trust Chinese supply chains, the Mexican economy will pick up some of the slack. Mexico is also the natural lower-wage supplier to North American industry. (Its main problem in this regard is that its wages are no longer so low, but that too reflects its progress.)
An array of ballistic missiles of various ranges as well as cruise missiles said to be able to hit Japan. (Ballistic missiles fly in an arched trajectory and are unpowered on descent. Cruise missiles can fly at low altitudes and are maneuverable, making them harder to detect and intercept.) Kim has rolled out new solid-fuel ballistic missiles that are easier to move, hide and fire than many liquid-fuel versions. Hes launched more than two dozen since May 2019, including nuclear-capable, super-fast KN-23 missiles that can strike all of South Korea -- and U.S. forces stationed there -- within a matter of minutes. He has also launched KN-25 short-range missiles designed to be fired in rapid succession from a single launcher to overwhelm interceptors. The new ballistic Pukguksong-3 missile -- the biggest of the bunch tested in the past two years -- is designed to be fired from a submarine and has an estimated range of 1,900 kilometers, or 1,200 miles. (As of late 2021, North Korea has deployed one submarine that is capable of firing missiles. A second one has been under construction for more than a year.) The country also showed off what it said was a new delivery system to fire missiles off a train, making them harder for prying eyes to track, and appears to have test-fired a short-range, submarine-launched ballistic missile in October for the first time in two years.
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NASA via The Associated Press

NASA's Hubble telescope orbits the Earth while facing space and taking photos that scientists use to learn more about the universe. How long as the telescope been taking photos?
Rafaraci, a dual U.S.-Italian citizen, voluntarily arrived in the United States for his court appearance after the Justice Departments efforts to extradite him from Malta hit a wall. U.S. officials had sought to keep him in custody after his Sept. 27 arrest, arguing that he was a flight risk. But judges in Malta released him and ruled that U.S. and Maltese law enforcement authorities had not followed proper legal procedures.
It isnt the first time that Harris has said people should be able to use an unproven treatment for covid-19. Last year, Harris said during a town hall that people should be able to go to the grocery store and get hydroxychloroquine if their physician prescribed it, a month after the FDA revoked emergency use authorization of the drug as a covid-19 treatment, saying the risks of using it far outweighed the potential benefits. But in that case Harris did not specifically endorse the drug or encourage people to take it, saying the jury is still out on its effectiveness.
Despite McAuliffes effort to tie Youngkin to Trump  especially on opposition to vaccination and mask mandates and on the former presidents false allegations of election fraud  an analysis by Kyle Kondik and J. Miles Coleman of the University of Virginias Center for Politics last week concluded that Youngkin has done at least a passable job of straddling the various wings of the Republican Party, giving clear nods to the Trumpier wing by talking about so-called election integrity while emphasizing less hot-button issues in his advertising, like repealing a state grocery tax.
By 2035, China wants to reach near parity with the U.S. military, he said. In the most recent five-year plan, Beijing has said it wants to speed up select parts of the modernization program for completion by 2027. By 2049, the centenary of the founding of the Peoples Republic of China, they want to challenge the United States for global leadership, he said.
The Washington Post has previously reported that Deripaska was known to neighbors on the street as the owner of the home and that he directed major renovations and has visited the house several times since 2010. A New York-based company called Gracetown that oversaw the property in 2017 was run by a business associate of Deripaskas, according to corporate filings.
 And I need to warn you a little bit, that when we lose an airplane, it crashes and I lose one guy. If they hit a tank, youll see four burning guys come out of it and you will see terrible things in ground war that you will never see in air war. So be prepared for that and be prepared to respond to it and defend us when were in ground war. I didnt know it was going to be as easy as it was or as well-prepared as it was. And they took that seriously.
His reform efforts would be directed primarily at CBPs best-known component, the U.S. Border Patrol, which is responsible for securing border areas between ports of entry. The Border Patrols union, which backed President Donald Trump in last years election, has been fiercely critical of the Biden administration, most recently after the president said the horse-mounted agents who charged at Haitian migrants at the Del Rio migrant camp last month will pay. The incident is under DHS investigation.
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It still may take a serious amount of time, said Abbe Lowell, a top D.C. lawyer whose practice includes representing people in front of Congress and who is teaching a course on congressional oversight and investigation at Columbia Law School. Maybe this is the way it has to be, but theres no really rapid way to cause somebody to testify and produce documents to Congress when they dont want to in a very rapid, efficient system since the days that the sergeant-at-arms went and arrested people.
If Senator Grassley is going to be more consistent with that in the future, then I think that would be important for him to do as a leader in his party, Wilburn said of Grassleys condemnation of the threats, adding that he appreciated those and other messages of support hes received, but that it should not be the norm for officials to receive hateful messages.
My statement today on the mayors race in Buffalo has obviously caused an uproar that I did not intend, Jacobs said in the statement, which was first reported by NY1. He added: Using an extreme example of David Duke winning a primary, to make a logical point  even with stating twice the specific qualification that India Walton, was in a different category  was wrong. I should have used a different example, and for that, I apologize.
Since May 2020, the Guru Nanak Foundation of America has held a food drive every Sunday in Silver Spring. (GNFA Food Drive Team)

Although demand has dipped since 2020, it remains higher than pre-pandemic levels. And new economic pressures  such as inflation and gas costs  are again squeezing families.
A recent Washington Post analysis showed that since Floyds death, seven state qualified-immunity bills have been enacted. Colorado is the only state that has completely barred the legal defense of qualified immunity for officers. Four states passed bills that restrict the use of qualified immunity in the most egregious cases. And two states  Iowa and Arkansas  strengthened the qualified-immunity rights of its officers.
When Washingtons grand Haft mansion near Embassy Row changed hands in 2006, it was one of the most expensive home sales in the history of the city  and one of its most mysterious.

The 23,000-square-foot, seven-bedroom home  featuring Italian marble floors and a chandelier that had once hung in the Paris Opera House  was sold by discount retail magnate Herbert Hafts widow for $15 million in cash to a company incorporated in Delaware, according to filings. The buyer was never identified.

But interviews and documents reveal for the first time that the mansion is connected to a Russian billionaire who is a key ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin and a longtime business associate of Paul Manafort, the recently indicted former chairman of President Trump's campaign.

The Washington Post found that for more than a decade, Russian aluminum magnate Oleg Deripaska has secretly held ties to one of Washingtons most prestigious addresses, a property in the heart of the city that is surrounded by powerful political figures and foreign embassies.

In May, White House counselor Kellyanne Conway and her family purchased the home next door for $7.7 million. Vernon Jordan, a close adviser to President Bill Clinton, lives across the street.



Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, and Russian metals magnate Oleg Deripaska walk to attend the APEC Business Advisory Council dialogue in Danang, Vietnam, on Nov. 10. (Mikhail Klimentyev/Sputnik/AP)

Several people familiar with the mansion told The Washington Post that Deripaska was known to them as the propertys owner. He directed major renovations and has visited the house several times since 2010, they said. A New York-based company called Gracetown that oversees the property is run by a business associate of Deripaskas, corporate filings show.

The stone edifice, ringed with security cameras, is located on less than an acre behind a high gate on a winding street near Embassy Row. It is less than half a mile from the Naval Observatory, the home of Vice President Pence, and about a mile from the Russian Embassy.

Some of the citys most prominent figures live just on the other side of Rock Creek, including former president Barack Obama and Trumps daughter and son-in-law, White House aides Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner.

Charles Davidson, executive director of the Kleptocracy Initiative at the Hudson Institute, said the mansion is a striking example of how the world's uber-wealthy can quietly invest in high-end real estate, obscuring their identities through front companies.

This could be the most spectacular example of it yet  right in our midst, he said.

Lawyers for Deripaska in New York and London and his spokeswoman in Moscow did not respond to requests for comment.

With a net worth recently estimated by Forbes at $5.2 billion, Deripaska, 49, is one of Russias richest men and considered part of Putins inner circle. A U.S. diplomatic cable from 2006, published by WikiLeaks, referred to Deripaska as among the 2-3 oligarchs Putin turns to on a regular basis.

News photographers captured images of Deripaska conferring with Putin earlier this month during trade meetings in Vietnam that were also attended by President Trump.

Deripaska is known to own a luxury yacht and a private plane and has held property in various cities such as Tokyo and London, according to news reports.

But he has fought to keep secret details of his assets in the United States. In a pending lawsuit in New York related to another Russian-born businessmans claims that Deripaska owes him money, Deripaska has argued that his contact with the United States is too minimal for the states courts to assert jurisdiction over him. His lawyers successfully argued that hundreds of pages of documents that detail his business and his footprint in this country should be kept under seal, asserting they contain no information that is of public interest or concern.

However, public portions of the filings show that Deripaska said that he established a trust in the British Virgin Islands that purchased two homes in Manhattan  a $4.5 million townhouse in the West Village in 2006 and a $42.5 million house on the Upper East Side in 2008. Each was purchased by separate companies controlled by the billionaire.

The Haft home was not mentioned in the public court documents. D.C. property records show it was purchased in 2006 by yet another entity: a limited liability company incorporated that year in Delaware called Hestia International, named for the Greek goddess of home and hearth.

The seller was Myrna Ruben Haft, whose marriage to discount retail magnate Herbert Haft two weeks before his 2004 death had sparked headlines and legal action by his children. She had put the home on the market for $20 million.

In an interview, Haft said she did not know the identity of the buyer and had simply been thankful at the time that the sale was conducted quickly and discreetly. The whole process was done very confidentially, she said.

A man who answered the buzzer at the houses gate last week referred questions about the property to a New York company called Gracetown Inc. A SUV parked in the homes driveway is registered to Gracetown, public records show.

According to New York corporate records, Gracetowns chief executive is a Graham Bonham-Carter, a second cousin to the actress Helena Bonham Carter. He lives in London and, according to his LinkedIn profile, works for a company called Terra Services, which British regulatory filings show is owned by Deripaska. He did not respond to requests for comment sent through Facebook and LinkedIn.

People who have seen the mansion since the 2006 sale said the interior has been largely gutted and refurbished. D.C. construction permits show that the kitchen was remodeled and some of the house's 11.5 bathrooms were overhauled in the past decade. In addition, the basement was redone, a rear terrace was reconstructed and a new pool and elevator were installed.

The mansion includes a cinema in the basement, a commercial-grade kitchen and a dining room that seats 16.

Deripaska got his start in the aluminum business, thriving in the Wild West days of 1990s post-Soviet capitalism. Since then, he has expanded his business empire into energy, agriculture and aviation.

He also has been a business associate of Manaforts, paying the U.S. political operative to serve as an investment consultant after Manafort began work as a consultant in Ukraine in 2005.

In 2014, Deripaska filed suit in the Cayman Islands, alleging that Manafort had disappeared after taking nearly $19 million intended for investments and failing to account for the funds.

It is not clear how that dispute was settled, but last year, while serving as Trumps campaign chairman, Manafort wrote emails to a Russian former employee indicating he would be willing to conduct private briefings about the campaign for Deripaska. Manaforts spokesman has said the emails were an innocuous effort to collect past debts, and Deripaskas spokeswoman has said he never got the message and received no briefings. Deripaska has denied any involvement with the U.S. presidential election.

[Manafort offered to give Russian billionaire private briefings on 2016 campaign]

Deripaska's lawyers said in court documents that he has been generally barred from visiting the United States because the U.S. government has refused to extend him visas  meaning he has not been able to visit his Washington home at will.

The Wall Street Journal reported in 2007 that Deripaskas visa struggles stem from suspicions that he had been involved in organized crime, an allegation he has long denied.

Putin has publicly bemoaned Deripaskas visa problems and top Russian officials have routinely raised the matter in private meetings with their U.S. counterparts, according to former U.S. officials familiar with the appeals.

Deripaska did enter the United States a handful of times using a diplomatic passport, issued to him by the Russian government so he could help assist at summit meetings and other trade missions, according to documents filed in the New York court case.

People traveling on a diplomatic visa are generally barred from conducting personal business, said David Leopold, a former president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association.

Deripaska said in a 2016 court filing that he has had difficulty getting a visa to travel to the United States but used his diplomatic passport to visit New York 10 times since 2009.

People familiar with the D.C. home said that, on some of those trips, he also visited Washington, staying at the house and reviewing renovations.

It is unclear when Deripaska most recently visited  and whether any of his neighbors know of his tie to the property.

Conway did not respond to requests for comment.

Jordan said he did not know who owned the home.

I get to look at it when Im turning onto my street, he said. Nobodys ever there. It seems like its abandoned. But they do a good job with the trees and the shrubbery.

Carol D. Leonnig, Tom Hamburger and Juliet Eilperin contributed to this report.
Since leaving the White House, Trump has faced a raft of civil lawsuits and state-level investigations. Some relate to his actions on Jan. 6, when his supporters stormed the Capitol. Others focus on his actions before taking office. Many of those cases were delayed during Trumps term, as he insisted that the presidency shielded him from state-court procedures and state investigations.
The launch came as envoys from the United States, South Korea and Japan gathered Tuesday in Seoul to discuss how to jump-start dialogue with Pyongyang after nuclear talks collapsed in 2019. Officials in Japan also confirmed the ballistic missile test, which occurred while the countrys new prime minister was campaigning ahead of the Oct. 31 general election.
The Islamic State-Khorasan, the Syria- and Iraq-based terrorist groups branch in Afghanistan and Pakistan, has emerged as the most significant threat to the Talibans dominion as well as to public safety. So far, the Taliban has failed to contain the terrorists, who have staged numerous attacks nationwide since the militants takeover of the country two months ago, including two bombings of Shiite mosques within a week in Kandahar and Kunduz that killed scores of worshipers. That raises questions about whether the Taliban has the appropriate expertise, training and intelligence capabilities to take down ISIS-K cells in Kabul and other urban areas, despite orchestrating similar assaults before the group overran the country.
Putin encouraged other countries to establish good-neighbor relations with Afghanistans new leaders in the days after the Taliban takeover. But last week, he expressed skepticism that the Taliban will stanch drug production and said the threat of terrorism in the region has increased. Recent bombings in Afghanistan have raised concerns that the Taliban is unable to curb other militant and terrorist groups, mainly the Islamic State.
Comparing Iran to North Korea  a case where he first threatened fire and fury and then sat down for summit meetings with leader Kim Jong Un  Trump said of Iran, I think its going to work out. He described Rouhani as a great negotiator and said that if the circumstances were right, he and others would be willing to lend Iran the money to quickly get back on its feet.
The chair of the parliamentary committee that investigated the destruction of the 46,000-year-old Juukan Gorge rock shelters has said every Aboriginal heritage site in the country remains at risk as long as the current state-based heritage protection regime stays in place.

Liberal backbencher Warren Entsch, whose committee report tabled on Monday proposed a wholesale rethinking of Australias cultural heritage laws, said: We struggled to find any Indigenous cultural sites that are actually being adequately protected.

Clearly the system as it is, isnt working. Its not doing what its supposed to do.

Rio Tinto had WA government approval to destroy Juukan Gorge rock shelters as part of an iron ore mine expansion. Credit:PKKP and PKKP Aboriginal Corporation

Under changes proposed in the 315-page report, the federal government would create a new national framework to set minimum standards for states and territories cultural heritage protections, in line with international best practice.
BROOKFIELD  High School Principal Marc Balanda is taking a temporary leave of absence as of Monday, Oct. 18.

Balanda sent an email to Brookfield High School parents Monday morning announcing the decision.

Effective immediately, for personal reasons, I will be taking a short-term leave from Brookfield High School, the email read.

Jules Scheithe, the high schools assistant principal, will serve as acting principal during Balandas time off, according to the email.

She has previous experience as an acting Principal and will work closely with Mrs. Griffin to maintain continuity, Balanda wrote.

Superintendent John Barile did not divulge any further details to Hearst Connecticut, except to confirm that Balanda is on leave and that Scheithe would be serving as interim principal. He clarified that Balandas leave of absence was not disciplinary in nature.

In his email, Balanda said that he would not be regularly checking his school email, but to reach out to the main office or building administration in his absence.

Neither Balanda nor Scheithe could be reached for comment Monday afternoon.

Balanda has served as principal since 2015, when he moved over to Brookfield High School from his previous position as assistant principal at New Milford High School.
On Thursday, the Salvation Army Indiana Division says it will announce a major donation to Operation Allies Welcome and the families temporarily housed at Camp Atterbury.

Each year, The Salvation Army teams up with other organizations to host the Coats for Kids Campaign to keep families warm in the winter.

This year, they plan to extend the cause to young Afghan evacuees currently staying in Indiana.

Related: Afghan Evacuees Arrive in Indiana, Head to Camp Atterbury

The Salvation Army says the donation announcement will be made at 9:00 a.m. on Thursday. Salvation Army representatives will be joined by leaders from the Indiana Department of Homeland Security and the Indiana National Guard.
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The British songwriter and playwright Leslie Bricusse has died. He was 90.

Best known for the songs he wrote for major motion pictures, Bricusse helped to write "Goldfinger," "You Only Live Twice," and "Two For the Road."

His songs for the 1971 cult classic Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory include "Candy Man," "Pure Imagination," and "(I've Got A) Golden Ticket"  instantly recognisable to musical theater fans and anyone who owned a television in the 80s and 90s.

The songs from Willy Wonka were the result of a long collaboration with Anthony Newley, with whom Bricusse composed two Broadway musicals: the major hit Stop the World  I Want to Get Off (1962) and the more modest success The Roar of the Greasepaint  The Smell of the Crowd (1965). Their 1972 musical, The Good Old Bad Old Days, played in London.

Bricusse contributed lyrics to the 1995 musical Victor/Victoria (an adaptation of the 1982 film) and the 1997 musical Jekyll & Hyde, for which he also penned the book. Several of his songs with Newley were transplanted into the 2017 Broadway musical Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which featured a mostly new score by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman.

Bricusse won a Grammy in 1963 for "What Kind of Fool Am I" from Stop The World - I Want To Get Off. He earned two Academy Awards during his long career: First in 1968 for the original song "Talk to the Animals" from Doctor Dolittle; then again in 1982 for the song score of Victor/Victoria. In 1989 he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Even if a play set in late 1980s Moscow as the Cold War thaws and novelist Graham Greene reacquaints with former friend and colleague, Soviet spy Kim Philby, is unlikely to have much appeal to a younger generation of theatregoers, one thing that never goes out of fashion is great acting. Ben Brown's meticulously researched piece is so exquisitely performed that every drama student in the capital should get themselves down Jermyn Street's subterranean staircase to witness this world-class trio of actors up close.

Making up in craftsmanship and intelligence for what it lacks in dynamism, Alan Strachan and Alastair Whatley's low-key but immaculate production is a masterclass in restraint and detail, the kind of thing that might have flourished on Shaftesbury Avenue 40 years ago. Seen in 2021 though, it feels, for all the craft and intimations of espionage, like a bit of a throwback, an old-fashioned talk piece couched in reminiscence and anecdote but almost zero action or even plot.

The premise is straightforward: celebrated novelist and onetime MI6 agent Greene (Oliver Ford Davies), in the Soviet capital for a Peace Conference, visits the home of his former MI6 boss, and now high profile defector Kim Philby and his Russian wife Rufa (Stephen Boxer and Karen Ascoe respectively): Michael Pavelka's set nicely contrasts the down-at-heel charm of the Philby's home with the grandeur of iconic Muscovite architecture. Greene hasn't seen his estranged friend for 35 years and what drama there is derives from a certain ambiguity about how much he'd previously known of Philby's treacherous activities, and an underlying resentment between the two men. If the stakes don't feel particularly high, there are a pair of curveballs  both in connection with Philby  thrown in the second act that up the ante somewhat, and raise the theatrical temperature above tepid.

Brown's dialogue is witty and civilised but the play as a whole is saved from inertia by the performances. To see an actor of the calibre of Oliver Ford Davies (his Lear for the Almeida remains the finest account of that role I've ever seen) in the intimate confines of a studio theatre is an absolute privilege. His Greene is affable but steely with a gentle air of forlorn bewilderment, a man never fully comfortable in his own skin despite all the acclaim and success. Even watching him listen to the other characters talking is an object lesson in stagecraft and mastery of subtext.

In the showier role, Stephen Boxer gives Philby a garrulous charm that suddenly and unsettlingly shuts down into a brutal, blank-eyed stare. He entirely convinces as a clubbable fellow fully capable of precipitating the deaths of younger colleagues because they don't fit into the master plan. Karen Ascoe delivers a really beautiful performance (with a flawless Russian accent) as his selfless, watchful wife, her devotion subtly shaded with ambivalence and despair. Her rueful recounting, at the top of act two, of their first meeting is exquisitely handled.

The title derives from Greene's point that, to be a ruthless observer of mankind, a writer possesses "a splinter of ice" in their heart, while going on to opine that a spy needs a full icicle at their very core in order to carry out their missions.

All in all, this is a feast of fine acting atop a decent, if occasionally uninspired, script. Graham Greene fans will get an additional kick out of spotting the allusions to the writer's oeuvre, and even the beloved theme tune from The Third Man movie gets a look in!
Value Engineering: Scenes from the Grenfell Inquiry, a not-for-profit verbatim dramatisation of the Grenfell Inquiry, does not start at the beginning, nor at the end (can there be an end for the bereaved?) but with the tragedy itself  which took 72 lives and changed others forever on June 14 2017. Covering the Phase two evidence section of the Inquiry between January 2020 and July 2021, elliptical scenes delve into history, tracing the moments  there are many  when this horrific fire could have been prevented and wasn't.

Instead, the 800,000 of savings that building contractor Rydon were asked to find by the Kensington and Chelsea tenant management organisation (KCTMO) for Grenfell's disastrous refurbishment were left unchecked. This led to replacing the fire-resistant external zinc cladding with the cheaper flammable aluminium polyethylene kind. Dubbed Value Engineering, this is the decision that the inquiry and this play returns to again and again.

But what is really on trial here? Theatre director Nicholas Kent and journalist Richard Norton-Taylor play with this idea and our empathies. An early account by witness Fireman David Badillo (Daniel Betts) for example, recalls a failed rescue attempt, drawing empathy from the audience even when he admits being unable to communicate with his commanders because his radio battery ran out.

Similarly, we sigh over the failure of a Fire Brigade Control Room Officer to advise someone to leave the building because of London Fire Brigade's Stay-Put Policy. When we get to the builders, the architects and the building inspectors, who signed off on the refurbishment without checking fire regulations, whose hostile arrogance makes us quicken to anger, our empathies are stretched. There are lies, cover-ups  we are tempted to focus on blaming. But when Richard Millet QC ( Ron Cook, who brings a little light comedy) is forced to ask the core participants "not to indulge in a merry-go-round of buck-passing" something shifts. It shifts even further when Derek Elroy as Leslie Thomas QC, a Black barrister for the bereaved victims, takes centre stage and addresses the audience thus, "What does Covid 19 have in common with Grenfell? Race and poverty." He adds, racism is the elephant in the room. As Thomas stares us down in direct address, we realise it's not just those who were involved with Grenfell's refurbishment who are on trial  it's British society as a whole.

The format is unfamiliar, the staging clinical, but it allows for directness. Some audience members cried. Others laughed mockingly as witnesses' lies were undone. For most of the time, you could have heard a pin drop. When it was first announced, the play (with a mostly white cast) drew criticism for sidelining Black and brown communities who were affected by the fire, but the focus is on the villains and here they are all white. There is a payoff, which shocks to the core.

There's nothing like seeing this evidence live, it conveys how easily bureaucratic incompetence, prejudice, corruption and lies in our society crystallises into evil. And sometimes in banal ways, if the email evidence is anything to go by.
The Royal Shakespeare Company has unveiled its spring 2022 plans including new productions of Much Ado About Nothing.

Roy Alexander Weise, co-artistic director of the Royal Exchange in Manchester, will direct a new production of Much Ado About Nothing, with a cast led by Michael Balogun and Akiya Henry as Benedick and Beatrice.

A futuristic take on Shakespeare's comedy, the piece runs in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre from 4 February to 12 March 2022.

The piece has set Design by Jemima Robinson, lighting design by Azusa Ono, sound design by Claire Windsor and dramaturgy by Anthony Simpson-Pike. Simon-Hartman owner Melissa Simon-Hartman will provide costume design, while MOBO award-nominated musician Femi Temowo will provide music.

Weise explained: "Shakespeare was all too aware of the creative potential that came with setting his plays in imagined worldsor at least worlds unfamiliar to his audience at the time. Far off landscapes like Antium, Ephesus, Syria, Venice and Verona were as far removed from the world of 16th century England as the future feels to us today, providing Shakespeare with the perfect canvas on which to paint.

"Living in a 21st Century global society, our world is much smaller and more connected, which is why I wanted to explore what a futuristic vision of society might look like; what has the potential to be different, what potential is there for change, and equally what fundamental aspects of the human condition remain unchanged?"

From 1 April to 4 June 2022, the venue will mount Henry VI: Rebellion (directed by artistic director Gregory Doran and Owen Horsley), followed by Wars of the Roses (directed by Horsley).

Based on the trilogy of Shakespeare's Henry VI plays, the pieces will also feature participants from six Shakespeare Nation adult community groups plus young members of Next Generation Act.

Set Design will be by Stephen Brimson Lewis, with costume design by Hannah Clark, lighting design by Matt Daw and sound design by Steven Atkinson.

RSC associate artist Paul Englishby returns to compose the music with fights by Rachel Bown-Williams and Ruth Cooper-Brown.

The RSC will also launch a new writing initiative titled 37 Plays alongside a variety of venues across the UK.

Erica Whyman, acting artistic director of the RSC said: "One of the many reasons that Shakespeare's plays continue to endure is down to his ability to write about his own time in ways that still mean something to us today. Despite the centuries that have passed, we still recognise something of ourselves in his writings. Now, more than ever, there are new and urgent stories to tell about who we think we are and who might become.

"We know that as a nation we have a lot to say, and with 37 Plays we have the opportunity to surface those stories whether comic, tragic, historical, supernatural, real or imagined, unearthing new voices for different platforms whether that's on our stages, on our streets, in schools, online or in new locations and spaces we haven't explored yet."
Wilma Derksen wants people to know shes not dead.

Wilma Derksen wants people to know shes not dead.

Thats the message circulating in local and national church and author circles these days, coming from a woman in Australia who is harassing the well-known Canadian author, victims' rights activist, and mother of a murdered child.

"Its such a mess," said Derksen, who is also a pastor along with her husband, Cliff, at Maplecrest Church in Winnipeg. "I never expected what I thought was a plea for help to turn into this."

It started in August, when she received a text from a pastor in Australia asking if she would work with "Teri" (not her real name), a woman experiencing trauma due to a murder in her family and years of abuse and neglect.

"I said yes immediately," said Derksen, whose daughter Candace, 13, was killed in 1984. The tragedy pushed her to become an advocate, developing programs and training increasing awareness in trauma experienced by victims of crime, as well as writing several books about healing.

She contacted Teri and began to listen to her story.

MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS "I never expected what I thought was a plea for help to turn into this," Wilma Derksen said.

While in listening mode, "I never question," said Derksen. "I just want to listen and validate, listen to the pain in peoples hearts."

The deeper Derksen went with Teri, the worse the story got  getting pregnant, then a miscarriage, suicidal thoughts, troubles with a partner, a suicide attempt, a trip to the hospital with no vital signs, on and on and then back to health again.

By the end of August, Derksen was exhausted and felt the need to step away.

"My own personal life was so busy," she said. "Things were falling on the wayside."

She tried to close the door gently, suggesting Teri find professional help closer to home. Thats when the harassment started.

"Things went really crazy," Derksen said.

She started getting e-mails from people in the United States who wanted to make movies and books about her life. When Derksen responded, she would get an email from Teri saying: "'You responded to them, why arent you responding to me?"

MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS By the end of August, Derksen was exhausted and felt the need to step away.

Thats when Derksen caught on to what she calls a "catfishing" scheme  where someone creates a fake online persona and targets a victim, often a celebrity, as a way to harass them.

"It was all a ploy, all fake, a lie," Derksen said. "The pastor who referred me to her, the partner, the pregnancy, the miscarriage, the murder in the family, all of it."

In September, she cut off all contact with Teri. Thats when the messages about Derksen's death started.

"She knew my life and started to contact my friends with misinformation trying to discredit me, harass my family," said Derksen, adding: "Thats where the nightmare really began."

Reflecting on the situation, Derksen realizes Teri is ill. But it also shows how vulnerable people in the public eye are to social media slander, threats, lies and harassment.

"I never knew how invasive and upsetting this all could be," Derksen said. "I was cowering from her, almost afraid."

She also feels "embarrassed, stupid and humiliated that I let herself be drawn in so deeply." But as a pastor, and someone cares for victims of trauma, Derksen also knows how easy it can be for someone to be drawn into such a scheme.

MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS "Im alive and doing fine, really good, actually, given the circumstances," Derksen said.

"Its what I am called to do," she said. "Its a fine line."

Gerry Michalski is a long-time friend of Derksen and lead pastor at Soul Sanctuary Church.

"I was in shock when I got the message about her death," he said. "I immediately phoned Cliff to see what was going on."

What happened to Derksen is extreme, but versions of that kind of harassment happen to other clergy, too, he said.

Do you appreciate the extensive faith coverage by the Free Press? Become a supporter of the Religion in the News project! Your contribution of $10, $25 or more can help us keep offering trusted coverage of faith in Manitoba. Become a supporter Click here to learn more about the project.

"People need to know it happens," Michalski said, noting he is currently getting angry messages from anti-vaxxers who take issue with his pro-vaccine stance.

"This is a burden for faith leaders when, for whatever reason, people decide to get mean and nasty over something weve done or said."

This is especially true online, where "nameless people" can "say whatever they want."

As for Derksen, she just hopes the harassment will end.

"I just need for people to know Im not dead," she said. "Im alive and doing fine, really good, actually, given the circumstances."

faith@freepress.mb.ca
FREDERICTON - Public health officials in New Brunswick are today reporting three more deaths related to COVID-19, along with 50 new cases of the disease.

People leave a mass vaccination and testing clinic at the Moncton Coliseum, in Moncton, N.B., on Wednesday, September, 22, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christopher Katsarov

FREDERICTON - Public health officials in New Brunswick are today reporting three more deaths related to COVID-19, along with 50 new cases of the disease.

A resident in their 80s from the Campbellton region and two people 90 or older in the Moncton and Edmundston regions have died.

Officials have also announced that starting Oct. 25, health-care workers and residents of First Nations communities will be able to receive an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine booster dose if six months have passed since their second shot.

Officials say 82.7 per cent of eligible residents are fully vaccinated against the disease, while nearly 92 per cent have received at least one dose.

The province is also reporting a drop in the number of active cases to 774, as 122 recoveries have been reported.

Fifty-seven people are in hospital due to the virus in the province, including 18 in intensive care.

Premier Blaine Higgs said he was saddened to learn of the latest deaths.

It is important we continue to follow the rules, to protect ourselves and our loved ones," he said in a statement. "This is the fifth consecutive day we have seen a decline in the number of new cases, and we all must do our part if we want this trend to continue.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 19, 2021.

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This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Facebook and Canadian Press News Fellowship.
HALIFAX - Nova Scotia is continuing to handle the fourth wave of COVID-19 well, officials say, despite the recent closure of some schools in the Halifax area and a small outbreak reported at a hospital in the Annapolis Valley.

Premier Tim Houston, left, attends his first COVID-19 briefing in Halifax on Monday, Aug. 23, 2021, with Dr. Robert Strang, chief medical officer of health, after the Progressive Conservatives won the provincial election. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan

HALIFAX - Nova Scotia is continuing to handle the fourth wave of COVID-19 well, officials say, despite the recent closure of some schools in the Halifax area and a small outbreak reported at a hospital in the Annapolis Valley.

The province reported 12 new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday, with eight in the Halifax area and four in the province's western zone. There are a total of 187 active cases of novel coronavirus in the province.

"There are some pockets of COVID-19, but we are seeing moderate transmission that is not becoming widespread," said Dr. Robert Strang, chief medical officer of health. "We do need to expect to see some cases in places like schools, hospitals and other group settings. If COVID is in our communities, it is going to get into these settings."

Strang said a small outbreak at the Valley Regional Hospital in Kentville, N.S., started with some cases in the community.

Officials said three patients in a non-COVID unit have tested positive for the virus. Two of the three cases are asymptomatic, while one patient is in intensive care.

Alyson Lamb, the provincial health authority's executive director for the western zone, said one case was identified on Friday and the other two on Monday. She said so far, precautionary testing has been carried out on 50 patients and staff.

"All other patients, staff and visitors identified as close contacts will be tested," Lamb said. "The outbreak at Valley Regional Hospital is limited as it stands."

Meanwhile, Strang said some community spread of the virus remains in the Halifax area, related to families and close social groups.

"It is in these same pockets of community transmission where we are also seeing cases in schools, and in a few of those schools we are seeing limited spread of the virus," he said.

Three schools are temporarily closed for the rest of the week in the Halifax area including Joseph Howe Elementary and Ecole Mer et Monde in Halifax and Dartmouth South Academy. Duc d'Anville Elementary in Halifax was closed last week but reopened Monday.

Strang said while he realizes the school closures are a concern for parents, he pointed out that only 44  or about 10 per cent of the province's 370 public schools  have had a COVID-19 case. Of those, only four have had to close to prevent further spread.

"The benefits of being in school continue to far outweigh the risks of disrupting school because of COVID-19," Strang said.

On the vaccine front, he said booster doses would begin to be administered to long-term care residents across the province next week. Strang said it's recommended that those in long-term care receive a booster at least six months after the primary vaccine series.

And as of Tuesday, bookings opened for booster doses for those who are moderately or severely immunocompromised.

According to provincial data, 82.5 per cent of the province's population have had at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine while 77.1 per cent are fully vaccinated.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 19, 2021.
CHARLOTTETOWN - Prince Edward Island is once again holding off on moving into the last stage of its COVID-19 recovery plan based on the epidemiology of the pandemic, chief medical officer Dr. Heather Morrison said Tuesday.

Dr. Heather Morrison, chief medical officer for Prince Edward Island, speaks to the media after she watched three medical staff receive the first COVID-19 vaccines on the island, Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2020 at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Charlottetown. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Brian McInnis

CHARLOTTETOWN - Prince Edward Island is once again holding off on moving into the last stage of its COVID-19 recovery plan based on the epidemiology of the pandemic, chief medical officer Dr. Heather Morrison said Tuesday.

Morrison told a briefing the reasoning is similar to the decision made in early September, when officials announced that the final step of its plan would be delayed from mid-September to at least mid-October.

The last measures slated to fall include border and travel measures, as well as rules around screening, testing and self-isolation, but the province is maintaining those public health protections without providing a date when they might be lifted.

"Based on the epidemiology in Atlantic Canada and the country, these travel measures and other public health measures, including gathering limits and public health guidance, will remain in place as additional layers of protection as we continue to navigate this fourth wave of the global pandemic," she said.

Morrison also announced that pharmacists will now be able to vaccinate eligible Islanders aged 12 and older. Previously, pharmacists were only able to administer COVID-19 vaccines to eligible adult residents.

The province is also reporting three new cases of COVID-19.

Two of the new cases involve residents in their 50s who have a history of travel outside the province.

The other case involves a person in their 20s and is currently under investigation.

As of Oct. 16, more than 92 per cent of eligible Islanders have received at least one dose of a vaccine, while nearly 87 per cent are fully vaccinated.

Despite some of the highest vaccination rates in the country, Morrison said she had some concerns about rates in younger groups, especially with 20- to 29-year-olds, where the rate of full vaccination is 74 per cent, "well below the provincial average."

The province now has seven active infections.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 19, 2021.

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This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Facebook and Canadian Press News Fellowship.
The Manitoba Law Court building is shown in downtown Winnipeg, Monday, Aug. 18, 2014. THE CANADIAN PRESS/John Woods

WINNIPEG - A Manitoba pastor accused of openly violating COVID-19 public health orders has been arrested.

RCMP said officers arrested Tobias Tissen on an outstanding warrant for contravening public health orders during a traffic stop in Steinbach, 60 kilometres southeast of Winnipeg, on Monday.

Tissen is a pastor at the Church of God Restoration in the Rural Municipality of Hanover.

He has spoken at anti-restriction protests and held church services in defiance of public health orders put in place to curb the spread of COVID-19.

"This arrest is an egregious violation of his constitutional rights. Canada is on a dangerous path," the Church of God Restoration said in an emailed statement.

A video of the arrest was posted on a social media account under Tissen's name. In it, Tissen is asked to step out of his car due to the outstanding warrant. In the video, a couple bystanders tell Tissen to be strong.

Tissen and his church have been fined numerous times for violating the restrictions. The pastor posted on social media in May that he was told an arrest warrant had been issued for him.

In a video posted on Rebel News last week, Tissen said Manitoba police were not eager to arrest him.

"This whole court system makes me laugh because it's turning out to be more and more of a joke," he said in the video.

Pastor Henry Hildebrandt, who is with the Church of God Restoration in Aylmer, Ont., posted a video on social media in response to Tissen's arrest saying it was a "shame on Canada."

He sent a message to police adding, "today it's the pastors, tomorrow it's you."

Tissen is also part of a court challenge by seven Manitoba churches fighting the province's public health restrictions.

Throughout the pandemic, there have been times when Manitoba's health orders restricted worship services. A significant surge of infections in the second wave clogged hospitals and prompted all in-person and drive-in services to be banned.

Restrictions have been loosened significantly in Manitoba since the spring, as cases of COVID-19 dropped and there was less pressure on the health-care system.

Currently, places of worship have to choose between requiring people to be vaccinated or restricting in-person attendance to 33 per cent capacity or 25 people  whichever is more.

The seven churches, represented by the Calgary-based Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms, argued in court in May that the restrictions were unjustified violations of charter-protected freedoms.

"We have no authority scripturally based and based on Christian convictions to limit anyone from coming to hear the word of God," Tissen told court at the time.

He said it was "God's jurisdiction."

The decision over the constitutionality of public health orders is expected later this week.

There have been attempts by churches across the country to quash COVID-19 restrictions on religious gatherings. Controversial Alberta pastor Artur Pawlowski has also been arrested more than once for breaking rules.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 19, 2021.

Note to readers: This is a corrected story. A previous version said places of worship that restrict attendance are limited to 33 per cent capacity or 25 people  whichever is less.
NEW YORK (AP)  Love cryptocurrencies or hate the very idea of them, theyre becoming more mainstream by the day.

FILE - This May 12, 2021, file photo shows an advertisement for the cryptocurrency Bitcoin displayed on a tram in Hong Kong. Cryptocurrencies have surged to nearly $2.5 trillion in total value, rivaling the size of G7 economies like Canadas and Italys, with more than 200 million users. At that size, its simply too large for the financial establishment to ignore. Firms that cater to the worlds wealthiest families are increasingly putting some of their fortunes into crypto. Hedge funds are trading Bitcoin, which has big-name banks starting to offer them services around it. And in the latest milestone for the industry, an easy-to-trade fund tied to Bitcoin began trading on Tuesday, Oct. 19, 2021. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung, File)

NEW YORK (AP)  Love cryptocurrencies or hate the very idea of them, theyre becoming more mainstream by the day.

Cryptocurrencies have surged so much that their total value has reached nearly $2.5 trillion, rivaling the world's most valuable company, Apple, and have amassed more than 200 million users. At that size, its simply too big for the financial establishment to ignore.

Firms that cater to the world's wealthiest families are increasingly putting some of their fortunes into crypto. Hedge funds are trading Bitcoin, which has big-name banks starting to offer them services around it. PayPal lets users buy crypto on its app, while Twitter helps people show appreciation for tweets by tipping their creators with Bitcoin.

And in the latest milestone for the industry, an easy-to-trade fund tied to Bitcoin began trading on Tuesday. Investors can buy the exchange-traded fund from ProShares through an old-school brokerage account, without having to learn what a hot or cold wallet is.

It's all part of a movement across big businesses that see a chance to profit on the fervor around the world of crypto, as a new ecosystem further builds up around it, whether they believe in it or not.

The one thing you can say for certain is that the advent of the era of the Bitcoin ETF opens up the opportunity for Wall Street to make money on Bitcoin in a way that it hadnt been able to previously, said Ben Johnson, director of global ETF research at Morningstar. The winners in all of this are the exchanges and the asset managers and the custodians. Whether investors win or not is a big, bold question mark.

Bitcoin has come a long way since someone or a group of someones under the name Satoshi Nakamoto wrote a paper in 2008 about how to harness computing power around the world to create a digital currency that cant be double-spent. The price has more than doubled this year alone to roughly $62,000. It was at only $635 five years ago.

Supporters of cryptocurrencies say they offer an ultra-important benefit for any investor: something whose price moves independently of the economy, rather than tracking it like so many other investments do. More high-minded fans say digital assets are simply the future of finance, allowing transactions to sidestep middlemen and fees with a currency thats not beholden to any government.

Critics, meanwhile, question whether crypto is just a fad, say it uses too much energy and point to all the stiff regulatory scrutiny shining on it. China last month declared Bitcoin transactions illegal, for example. The chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Gary Gensler, said in August that the world of crypto doesnt have enough investor protection and its more like the Wild West.

That hasn't been enough to halt the immense momentum for crypto, as it's gone from an online curiosity to a bigger part of the cultural and corporate landscape.

U.S. Bank earlier this month said it has begun offering a cryptocurrency custody service for big investment managers. That means it essentially holds their Bitcoin in safekeeping for them, and it expects to offer support for other coins soon.

Other name-brand banks have also announced intentions to offer custodial services for crypto.

Its not just in the fringes and dark corners of the Web that its happening, said Kashif Ahmed, president of American Private Wealth in Bedford, Massachusetts.

Ahmed doesnt recommend his clients invest in crypto. Before then, he said hell need to be able to go to my local supermarket and buy things for my family and offer crypto and not be laughed out of the store.

But others are more willing to try it.

In a survey by Citi Private Bank of family offices around the world that manage money for wealthy people, roughly 23% said they have made some investments in crypto. Another 25% said they are researching it.

The growing acceptance of crypto on Wall Street has created a new crop of darlings that help people buy it. Crypto trading platform Coinbase has a market value of roughly $64 billion, for example, putting it on par with such established companies as Colgate-Palmolive, FedEx and Ford Motor.

At Robinhood Markets, meanwhile, the company that became famous for getting a new generation of investors into the stock market is increasingly becoming a place for crypto trading. This spring was the first time when new Robinhood customers were more likely to make their first trade in cryptocurrencies rather than in stocks.

In the end, what many on Wall Street see lasting may not be as much Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as the technology that underlies them.

Called the blockchain, it allows for a public ledger that everyone can check and trust, and many expect it to lead to a wealth of innovations. It's akin to today's Netflix, Facebook and other services that sprung out of the infrastructure built during the boom and bust of the dot-com bubble.

The applications built on this new software architecture appear to be growing more quickly than past technologies, Bank of America strategists Alkesh Shah and Andrew Moss wrote in a recent research report positing digital assets are only in their first inning of growth. New companies are likely to emerge and poorly positioned companies will exit, creating significant upside potential for some and downside for others.

JPMorgan Chase, for example, is already using blockchain technology to improve fund transfers between global banks. Thats the same JPMorgan Chase run by CEO Jamie Dimon, who said in an interview with Axios this month that bitcoin has got no intrinsic value.
LONDON (AP)  Wall Street giant BlackRock announced Tuesday that it is backing a new London-based research hub which will provide asset managers with information on how the companies they invest in are addressing risks from climate change.

LONDON (AP)  Wall Street giant BlackRock announced Tuesday that it is backing a new London-based research hub which will provide asset managers with information on how the companies they invest in are addressing risks from climate change.

BlackRock said it is joining the Transition Pathway Initiative, or TPI, a London-based group that is already supported by dozens of major institutional investors, from banks to public retirement funds.

It is BlackRocks investment conviction that climate risk is investment risk," the company's global head of investment stewardship, Sandy Boss, said in a statement.

BlackRock's chief executive announced a shift toward more sustainable investments almost two years ago.

The TPI, which says it now has the backing of investors with a combined $40 trillion of assets under management or advisement, said it will significantly expand from 400 the number of companies it reports on.

Its new Global Climate Transition Centre, based at the London School of Economics, will provide free and publicly available in-depth data on how 10,000 companies are aligning with a net zero pathway" and also assess government bonds and corporate debt issuers, the TPI said.

The announcement comes days before the start of a U.N. climate summit in Glasgow at which government, business and civic leaders will discuss how to tackle global warming.

Scientists say this requires drastically reducing emissions of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, which is released from burning fossil fuels.

This means investments in the manufacture of fossil fuels and related products could soon become worthless, while companies with large carbon footprints will increasingly have to pay for those emissions, reducing their bottom line.

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Follow all AP stories on climate change issues at https://apnews.com/hub/climate-change.
LOS ANGELES (AP)  A massive cargo ship that was supposed to be at anchor was buffeted by high winds during a January storm and repeatedly crossed over an undersea oil pipeline that later ruptured off the Southern California coast, according to vessel monitoring data.

FILE - In this Thursday, Oct 7, 2021 file photo, Workers in protective suits clean the contaminated beach in Corona Del Mar after an oil spill in Newport Beach, Calif. California's uneasy relationship with the oil industry is being tested again by the latest spill to foul beaches and kill birds and fish off Orange County. (AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu, File)

LOS ANGELES (AP)  A massive cargo ship that was supposed to be at anchor was buffeted by high winds during a January storm and repeatedly crossed over an undersea oil pipeline that later ruptured off the Southern California coast, according to vessel monitoring data.

Federal investigators are examining whether on Jan. 25, the anchor from the Panama-registered container ship MSC DANIT caught the pipe and pulled it across the seafloor, Coast Guard Lt. j.g. SondraKay Kneen said. Tracking data analyzed by the environmental group Skytruth showed that on that date the MSC DANIT drifted several times over the pipeline that is about 100 feet (30 meters) below the surface.

The storm came as an overflow of vessels was backed up outside the Los Angles-Long Beach ports complex, which has experienced huge delays as shipping volumes surge amid the pandemic. It had winds up to 63 mph (101 kph) and 17-foot (5.2-meter) seas, prompting 24 vessels to go to deeper waters to ride it out, according to a report by the Marine Exchange of Southern California, which oversees vessel traffic at the ports.

The tracking data is looking very consistent with a vessel that is in trouble and getting knocked around out there, Skytruth President John Amos said Monday. He said other ships also could have dragged anchor over the pipeline, and Kneen acknowledged the Coast Guard is still looking at multiple vessels and scenarios.

The Skytruth data is based on automatic broadcasts from the DANIT showing its location and status. It remained around its anchor point from Jan. 18 until early on Jan. 25, then began drifting erratically while still broadcasting that it was at anchor, the data showed.

The ship crossed over the pipeline at 5:47 a.m., then three more times over the next three hours, before its status changed to under way and it moved farther offshore and behind an island, presumably to shelter from the storm, Amos said.

The data doesnt explain the long delay between the anchor dragging and the sudden appearance of oil in the water off Huntington Beach in early October.

FILE - In this Oct. 11, 2021, file photo, a family, background, is under an umbrella as workers continue to clean the contaminated beach in Huntington Beach, Calif. California's uneasy relationship with the oil industry is being tested again by the latest spill to foul beaches and kill birds and fish off Orange County. (AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu, File)

The bigger question is how is responsibility going to be determined? Amos said. If it turns out a ship in distress did snag this pipeline and pull it out of place, does that explain an oil spill that happened many months later?

The Coast Guard is trying to determine if the DANIT's anchor drag caused the leak, if the line was hit by something else at a later date, or if it failed due to a preexisting problem, Kneen said, adding the investigation could take a year.

The accident just a few miles offshore sent about 25,000 gallons (94,635 liters) of crude into the water and then onto the sands of Huntington Beach and several other communities. While not as bad as initially feared, it has reignited the debate over offshore drilling in federal waters in the Pacific, where hundreds of miles of pipelines were installed decades ago.

A crack was found in the steel pipeline that sits exposed on the seafloor and is owned by Houston-based Amplify Energy. Video of the site showed the lines concrete coating  meant to weigh it down to the seafloor  had broken off, suggesting it was hit by a large object such as an anchor.

The U.S. House Natural Resources Committee held a meeting Monday in Orange County to hear about the spill's impact on wildlife and businesses. Dr. Michael Ziccardi, director of the Oiled Wildlife Care Network, said nearly 100 oiled birds were found, two-thirds of which died. Five mammals and more than a dozen fish were also recovered.

Scott Breneman, a fourth-generation commercial fisherman who has a retail and wholesale business and owns a seafood restaurant, said his business crashed after the spill. He said it reminded him of what his father dealt with after the oil tanker American Trader pierced its hull with its anchor off the coast in 1990, spilling over 400,000 gallons (1.5 million liters) of oil in the same area.

I watched my father struggle for months, Breneman said. Ive seen the same exact thing happen here.

Rep. Katie Porter, D-Calif., said the spill should provide support for President Joe Bidens proposed budget that would ban new offshore oil and gas leases in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and the eastern Gulf of Mexico. She also called for an end to outdated subsidies for oil and gas companies.

These subsidies and so many others are the reasons that oil wells like the ones behind this leak are still active, Porter said. Getting rid of the subsidies is the first step to get rid of the problem.

The investigation into what caused the spill could lead to criminal charges or civil penalties.

A team of federal investigators boarded the DANIT on Saturday, hours after the 1,200-foot (366-meter) ship arrived at the Port of Long Beach from China. Kneen declined to say if any damage was found to an anchor on the DANIT.

The Coast Guard has designated the ships owner and operator as parties of interest in its investigation.

The DANITs operator, MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company, is headquartered in Switzerland and has a fleet of 600 vessels and more than 100,000 workers, according to the company. MSC spokesperson Giles Broom said Monday the company had no comment on the investigation.

The vessels owner, identified by the Coast Guard as the Dordellas Finance Corporation, could not be reached for comment.

At least two other vessels were previously boarded by investigators, who are examining logs kept by the ships' captains, officers and engineers and voyage data recorders  equivalent to the so-called black box on airplanes.

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Brown reported from Billings, Montana.
ATHENS, Greece (AP)  Greece pledged Tuesday to link Egypt to the European Unions energy market with an undersea cable that would carry electricity across the Mediterranean.

Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi makes statements during a joint news briefing with Greece's Prime Minister Kyriakos MItsotakis and Cyprus' President Nicos Anastasiades, not pictured, in Athens, Greece, Tuesday, Oct. 19, 2021. Athens hosts the 9th trilateral meeting between the three countries. (AP Photo/Yorgos Karahalis)

ATHENS, Greece (AP)  Greece pledged Tuesday to link Egypt to the European Unions energy market with an undersea cable that would carry electricity across the Mediterranean.

(Egypts) link to Europe will be Greece, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said after talks in Athens with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi. We are seeking diversification of energy sources, and Egypt can also become a provider of electricity, which will be produced mainly by the sun.

It comes during a global energy crunch, which has raised the cost of natural gas, oil and other fuels and led to pain for businesses and everyday people. Mitsotakis said the project would be a bridge between Egypt to Europe, allowing (Cairo) to take on a key role in energy security at a time of major turbulence in the energy market.

Egypt last week signed separate agreements with Greece and Cyprus to set up undersea interconnectors, though details of the proposed ventures have not been worked out.

Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades also joined the Athens meeting, marking the ninth round of talks between the three countries leaders.

Greece is seeking to expand energy cooperation across the Mediterranean with Egypt and Israel as it remains at odds with neighbor Turkey over sea boundaries and seabed mineral rights.

Mitsotakis accused Turkey of continuing a hostile policy toward Athens over the dispute.

Turkeys aspirations at the expense of its neighbors in the eastern Mediterranean obviously represent a threat to peace in the wider region, he said.

Turkey accuses Greece of making unreasonable demands for maritime exploitation, asserting jurisdiction in areas surrounding multiple islands near its coastline. Athens says it wants to resolve the dispute at an international court.

Earlier this year, Greece completed an energy link by undersea cable between its southern Peloponnese region and the island of Crete.
SALEM, Ore. (AP)  On the same day last week that a southern Oregon county declared a state of emergency amid a sharp increase in illegal cannabis farms, police raided a site that had about 2 tons of processed marijuana and 17,500 pot plants.

FILE - In this Sept. 30, 2016, file photo, a marijuana bud is seen before harvest at a rural area near Corvallis, Ore. On Wednesday, Oct. 13, 2021, the same day that Jackson County declared a state of emergency amid a sharp increase in illegal cannabis farms, police raided a site that had about two tons of processed marijuana and 17,500 pot plants. (AP Photo/Andrew Selsky, File)

SALEM, Ore. (AP)  On the same day last week that a southern Oregon county declared a state of emergency amid a sharp increase in illegal cannabis farms, police raided a site that had about 2 tons of processed marijuana and 17,500 pot plants.

The raid illustrates that the proliferation of industrial-scale marijuana farms has gotten so bad and so brazen that Jackson County Commissioners asked Gov. Kate Brown to send in the Oregon National Guard to assist, as able, in the enforcement of laws related to the production of cannabis. They also directly appealed to Oregon Senate President Peter Courtney and House Speaker Tina Kotek for help getting additional funding to tackle the problem.

During last Wednesday's raid in Medford, near the California border, police found a vast outdoor growing operation, plus harvested plants hanging upside down on drying racks and 3,900 pounds (1,800 kilograms) of resinous buds stashed in huge bags and in stacks of plastic storage containers.

The officers took 26 migrant workers into custody, interviewed them and then released them. An arrest warrant was issued for the primary suspect, the Jackson County Sheriff's Office said.

Courtney said he is so concerned about the surge in illegal marijuana farms in Jackson and neighboring Josephine counties that he agrees the Oregon National Guard should be sent in. Many of the illegal growers are armed.

You cant solve it just at the local level, and you cannot solve it, Im afraid, just at the usual state level and have some more state troopers down there, the Democrat said. The National Guard, theyre going to have to get deployed down there some way or other.

Brown, also a Democrat, is holding off on a deployment for now but could reconsider next year, her office said.

The Josephine County commissioners wrote to Courtney in August to describe how migrant workers are being exploited and subjected to appalling conditions, while living in tents with no toilets, no running water or bathing facilities, unrefrigerated food and unsanitary cooking facilities.

Jackson and Josephine counties are considered the northern extension of the Emerald Triangle, a fabled marijuana-growing epicenter, of which Californias Humboldt, Mendocino and Trinity counties form the major part.

The increasing calls for National Guard intervention recalls the drug wars of the 1990s, when the citizen-soldiers were used, including in Missouri and California.

In California's Humboldt County back then, some 200 Army soldiers, National Guardsmen and federal agents raided clandestine pot farms in rugged terrain. Residents responded with protests.

Both Oregon and California in recent years legalized the cultivation, processing and sale of marijuana, so long as those involved enter the regulated systems in each state and abide by the rules. While many have done so, with Oregon in particular reaping a bonanza in marijuana taxes, some growers have resisted.

California has also been hit by industrial-scale illegal marijuana growing operations, with eradication left to local authorities, and in federal territory, to federal officers.

In southern Oregon, the problem has gotten worse recently, law enforcement officials say.

Perhaps recognizing that local law enforcement is stretched thin, foreign cartels began setting up hundreds of unlicensed marijuana growing operations last spring, authorities say.

Josephine County Sheriff Dave Daniel said he believes the cartel masterminds expect to lose a few growing operations, but the sheer number of them means many will remain untouched until the marijuana is sold on the black market outside Oregon.

However, Daniel said Monday he doesn't believe the National Guard is the answer.

If you want some National Guard troops to help you cut down plants, great, but you've got to realize theres a lot of investigation that goes into these operations, to get the search warrants," Daniel said. "Youre going to have National Guard people sitting on their hands for a number of days at a time.

The sheriff said he'd prefer having investigators from agencies like the Internal Revenue Service follow the money trail, and having the Drug Enforcement Administration involved.

This is a billion-dollar industry or a multibillion-dollar industry," he said. Where are they?

The DEA declined to commnent.

In California, the growing operations are increasing beyond the Emerald Triangle. In July, the largest illegal marijuana bust in Los Angeles County history netted 373,000 plants that authorities say would have been worth $1 billion on the street.

The raid in the Antelope Valley of Southern California's high desert resulted in 131 arrests and the seizure of more than 33,000 pounds (14,969 kilograms) of harvested marijuana plants. That represented only a fraction of the region's illicit growing operations, authorities said.

Officials said the wide-ranging problem has grown tremendously during the coronavirus pandemic. Armed cartel members run massive growing operations, some spanning dozens of greenhouses, that are undermining California's legal marijuana market.

Amid a megadrought across the U.S. West, illegal growers are stealing water, depriving legal users including farmers and homeowners of the increasingly precious resource.

In Oregon, the Illinois Valley Soil and Water Conservation District in Josephine County has held town halls about the issue recently.

The people of the Illinois Valley are experiencing an existential threat for the first time in local history, said Christopher Hall, the conservation districts community organizer.

Asked if Brown was considering deploying the Oregon National Guard, her spokeswoman, Elizabeth Merah, said the Oregon Military Department already has a full-time National Guard service member embedded in each of three law enforcement teams in southern Oregon.

She said the situation would be reexamined next year.

Because the current growing season is drawing to a close, we are not considering deploying additional resources this year, Merah said in an email. The governor remains concerned about the situation and will continue to monitor what resources might be needed for the 2022 growing season.

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Associated Press writer Juliet Williams in San Francisco contributed to this report.

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Follow Andrew Selsky on Twitter at https://twitter.com/andrewselsky
LONDON (AP)  Life has returned to normal for millions in Britain since coronavirus restrictions were lifted over the summer. But while the rules have vanished, the virus hasn't.

FILE - In this Oct. 4, 2021 file photo, people traveling in a tube underground train carriage wear face masks to curb the spread of coronavirus on the Bakerloo Line in London. Many scientists are pressing the British government to re-impose social restrictions and speed up booster vaccinations as coronavirus infection rates, already Europes highest, rise once more. The U.K. recorded 49,156 new COVID-19 cases on Monday, Oct. 18, 2021, the largest number since mid-July. New infections averaged 43,000 a day over the past week, a 15% increase on the week before. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham, file)

LONDON (AP)  Life has returned to normal for millions in Britain since coronavirus restrictions were lifted over the summer. But while the rules have vanished, the virus hasn't.

Many scientists are now calling on the government to reimpose social restrictions and speed up booster vaccinations as coronavirus infection rates, already Europes highest, rise still further.

The U.K. recorded 43,738 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, slightly down from the 49,156 reported Monday, which was the largest number since mid-July. New infections have averaged more than 44,000 a day over the past week, a 16% increase on the week before.

Last week, the Office for National Statistics estimated that one in 60 people in England had the virus, one of the highest levels seen in Britain during the pandemic.

In July, Prime Minister Boris Johnsons government lifted all the legal restrictions that had been imposed more than a year earlier to slow the spread of the virus, including face coverings indoors and social distancing rules. Nightclubs and other crowded venues were allowed to open at full capacity, and people were no longer advised to work from home if they could.

Some modelers feared a big spike in cases after the opening-up. That didn't occur, but infections remained high, and recently have begun to increase  especially among children, who largely remain unvaccinated.

A homeless person rests on a bench near the National COVID Memorial Wall on the South Bank in front of St Thomas' Hospital in London Tuesday Oct. 19, 2021. Many scientists are pressing the British government to re-impose social restrictions and speed up booster vaccinations as coronavirus infection rates, already Europe's highest, rise once more. The U.K. recorded 49,156 new COVID-19 cases on Monday, Oct. 18, the largest number since mid-July. New infections averaged 43,000 a day over the past week, a 15% increase on the week before. (AP Photo/Tony Hicks)

Also rising are hospitalizations and deaths, which have averaged 130 a day over the past week, with 223 reported Tuesday alone. That is far lower than when cases were last this high, before much of the population was vaccinated, but still too high, critics of the government say. Britain has recorded more than 138,000 coronavirus deaths, the highest total in Europe after Russia.

Against that backdrop, some feel Britons have been too quick to return to pre-pandemic behavior. Masks and social distancing have all but vanished in most settings in England, including schools, though Scotland and other parts of the U.K. remain a bit more strict. Even in shops, where masks are recommended, and on the London transit network, where they are mandatory, adherence is patchy.

A plan to require proof of vaccination to attend nightclubs, concerts and other mass events in England was dropped by the Conservative government amid opposition from lawmakers, though Scotland introduced a vaccine pass program this month.

Some scientists say a bigger factor is waning immunity. Britains vaccination program got off to a quick start, with shots given to the elderly and vulnerable beginning in December 2020, and so far almost 80% of eligible people have received two doses. The early start means millions of people have been vaccinated for more than six months, and studies have suggested vaccines protection gradually wanes over time.

Millions of people in Britain are being offered booster shots, but critics say the program is moving too slowly, at about 180,000 doses a day. More than half of the people eligible for a booster dose haven't yet received one.

The U.K. also waited longer than the U.S. and many European nations to vaccinate children ages 12-15, and only about 15% in that age group in England have had a shot since they became eligible last month.

Its critical we accelerate the booster program, said epidemiologist Neil Ferguson, a member of the governments Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies.

A man wears a face mask as he walks in Piccadilly Circus, in London, Tuesday, Oct. 19, 2021. Many scientists are pressing the British government to re-impose social restrictions and speed up booster vaccinations as coronavirus infection rates, already Europe's highest, rise once more. The U.K. recorded 49,156 new COVID-19 cases on Monday, Oct. 18, the largest number since mid-July. New infections averaged 43,000 a day over the past week, a 15% increase on the week before.(AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)

Ferguson said one factor influencing the U.K.'s high case numbers was that it has relied heavily on the AstraZeneca vaccine, and, while that protects very well against very severe outcomes of COVID, it protects slightly less well than Pfizer against infection and transmission, particularly in the face of the delta variant.

He also noted that most Western European countries have kept in place more control measures, vaccine mandates, mask-wearing mandates, and tend to have lower case numbers and certainly not case numbers which are going up as fast as weve got.

But at the end of the day this is a policy decision for government to make, he told the BBC.

Scientists in the U.K. are also keeping an eye on a new subvariant of the dominant delta strain of the virus. The mutation, known as AY4.2, accounts for a small but growing number of cases in Britain.

Francois Balloux, director of the University College London Genetics Institute, said the subvariant might be slightly more transmissible and was being closely monitored." But he said evidence suggested it hasnt been driving the recent increase in case numbers in the U.K.

A report by lawmakers released last week concluded that the British government waited too long to impose a lockdown in the early days of the pandemic, missing a chance to contain the disease and leading to thousands of unnecessary deaths. Critics say it is repeating that mistake.

Last month, the prime minister said the country might need to move to a Plan B  reintroducing measures such as mandatory masks and bringing in vaccine passes  if cases rose so high in the fall and winter that the health system came under unsustainable strain.

For now, the government says it wont change course, but will try to boost vaccination rates, with a new ad campaign and an increased number of sites outside of schools where kids can receive their shots.

Johnsons spokesman, Max Blain, said we always knew the next few months would be challenging. But he said the government was trying to protect both lives and livelihoods.

Clearly we are keeping a very close eye on rising case rates, Blain said. The most important message for the public to understand is the vital importance of the booster program.

But, he added: There are no plans to move to Plan B.

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Follow APs pandemic coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic

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This story has been corrected to show that the daily death toll is 223, not 211.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP)  Federal health officials are rethinking their approach to controlling salmonella in poultry plants in the hope of reducing the number of illnesses linked to the bacteria each year, and on Tuesday the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced several steps it plans to take to achieve that goal.

FILE - In this Dec. 12, 2019, file photo workers process chickens at a poultry plant, in Fremont, Neb. Federal health officials are rethinking their approach to controlling salmonella in poultry plants in the hope of reducing the number of illnesses linked to the bacteria each year. The USDA says the industry has succeeded in reducing the level of salmonella contamination found in poultry plants in recent years, but that hasnt translated into a significant reduction in the 1.35 million salmonella illnesses reported each year.(AP Photo/Nati Harnik, File)

OMAHA, Neb. (AP)  Federal health officials are rethinking their approach to controlling salmonella in poultry plants in the hope of reducing the number of illnesses linked to the bacteria each year, and on Tuesday the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced several steps it plans to take to achieve that goal.

The USDA says the industry has succeeded in reducing the level of salmonella contamination found in poultry plants in recent years, but that hasn't translated into the reduction in illnesses the agency wants to see.

Poultry is linked to roughly 23% of the 1.35 million salmonella infections in the U.S. each year that lead to roughly 26,500 hospitalizations and 420 deaths, and those numbers haven't changed much. Salmonella typically causes diarrhea, fever and stomach cramps, and severe cases require hospital care.

So the U.S. Department of Agriculture plans to set up pilot projects to try changing the way it tests for salmonella in plants and to try encouraging the industry to do more on the farm to reduce the amount of bacteria on chickens before they enter the plant. The agency also plans to hold a series of meetings with industry officials and interested groups to discuss other ways to reduce the risk of salmonella illnesses.

This is deeper, more targeted and more system-based approach than in the past, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said. The hope is that we can significantly reduce the risk of these serious cases and its certainly worth the effort.

Currently, the USDA tests for the presence of salmonella on poultry at processing plants. One of the proposed pilot projects would add tests for the quantity of bacteria present and tests for the specific strains of salmonella that cause the most illnesses.

The agency also wants to encourage farmers to take a combination of steps proven to reduce bacteria in their chickens, including using more vaccinations, adding probiotics to feed and doing more to ensure that the birds' bedding, food and water remain clean.

The National Chicken Council trade group has said the industry has already invested millions of dollars in efforts to reduce salmonella contamination, including spraying germ-killing solutions on raw chicken during processing, improving sanitation and using more vaccines. Spokesman Tom Super said many chicken farmers are already taking steps recommended by the USDA.

We pledge to continue to do our part  the industry will remain committed to investing significant resources  at the hatchery, feed mill, farm and plant  to further enhance the safety profile of chicken products. But there is no law, regulation or silver bullet that will make raw chicken a 100% sterile product, said Ashley Peterson, the trade group's senior vice president of scientific and regulatory affairs.

The USDA said 89% of the nation's poultry processing plants are now meeting the agency's performance standard for limiting salmonella in chicken parts. That is up from three years ago when only 71% of the plants met the standard.

National Turkey Federation President Joel Brandenberger said the industry already shares ideas about the best ways to control salmonella so the companies look forward to participating in the USDA roundtables.

Because there are no simple solutions, improving food safety requires the type of collaborative approach USDA is advocating, Brandenberger said.

Zach Corrigan of Food and Water Watch, an advocacy group that supports stricter food safety regulations, said it sounds like the USDAs new efforts are a move in the right direction but he still hopes the agency will do more to control salmonella by declaring that meat found to have the bacteria can't be sold to consumers.

Currently, it is legal to sell raw chicken with salmonella bacteria on it, which is why health officials stress the need for safe handling of raw poultry, including thoroughly cooking the meat to kill potential germs. They also warn people should not rinse raw chicken, which can spray bacteria everywhere.

Brian Ronholm, a former USDA under secretary for food safety who now oversees food policy for Consumer Reports, praised the federal agency's comprehensive approach to reducing salmonella illnesses.

Some consumers have told us they feel like they have to handle chicken like its toxic waste, and thats not how anyone wants to cook in the kitchen. Were hopeful that these steps laid out by USDA will result in more consumer confidence about the safety of the poultry products they bring into their homes, Ronholm said.

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Follow Josh Funk on Twitter: https://twitter.com/funkwrite
VANCOUVER - A lawyer representing British Columbia government workers has urged a public inquiry into money laundering to call for better protection for whistleblowers, saying had those been in place, illegal cash may not have ended up in provincial casinos.

In this June 23, 2021 photo a gambler picks up chips at a roulette table at Bally's casino in Atlantic City N.J. Lawyers representing operators of British Columbia's largest gaming companies say compliance with provincial regulations to combat money laundering is and always has been a top priority at provincial casinos.THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP/Wayne Parry

VANCOUVER - A lawyer representing British Columbia government workers has urged a public inquiry into money laundering to call for better protection for whistleblowers, saying had those been in place, illegal cash may not have ended up in provincial casinos.

Jitesh Mistry told the Cullen commission Monday that front-line casino workers often observe suspicious activities but fear harassing, intimidating and dangerous behaviours by coming forward.

"We say if such a regime had existed during the period of inaction and wilful blindness, it is quite possible that many of the adverse effects of money laundering would have been mitigated," said Mistry, who represents the B.C. General Workers Union.

The inquiry, which concluded testimony last month and is hearing final submissions, has heard that investigators raised concerns with gaming and government officials more than a decade ago that increasing amounts of suspicious cash was being used at Vancouver-area casinos.

The inquiry has heard from about 200 witnesses, including former premier Christy Clark, cabinet ministers, police officers, gaming officials, financial crime experts and academics.

Austin Cullen, who's also a B.C. Supreme Court justice, was appointed by the provincial government in 2019 to lead the inquiry after several reports said the flow of hundreds of millions of dollars in illegal cash linked to organized crime affected the province's real estate, luxury vehicle and gaming sectors.

The inquiry's mandate includes making findings of fact on the extent, growth and methods of money laundering in B.C., and whether the acts or omissions of responsible regulatory agencies and individuals "contributed to money laundering in the province or amount to corruption," the commission's website says.

Mistry said the suspicious activities associated with illegal cash at casinos grew during the former B.C. Liberal government when programs sustained deep cuts to support tax reductions.

The union believes a comprehensive whistleblower regime for casino workers would better protect the integrity of the industry and the public interest, Mistry said.

B.C. has whistleblower protections but there are gaps, said Mistry, calling for enhanced protections in the gaming industry, private sector and the media. He said Saskatchewan and New Brunswick are jurisdictions with broad whistleblower protections.

Earlier Monday, lawyers for B.C.'s largest gaming companies said compliance with provincial regulations to combat money laundering is and always has been a top priority at provincial casinos.

Great Canadian Casino lawyer Mark Skwarok told the commission that the company went beyond its reporting obligations to the Crown-owned B.C. Lottery Corp., including installing a surveillance system that extended to parking areas near the River Rock casino in Richmond.

Videos showing people carrying large bags full of cash at the casino were cited as examples of suspicious activity with likely links to organized crime and money laundering ahead of the provincial government's decision to launch the public inquiry.

Lawyer David Gruber, representing Gateway Casinos, told the inquiry its a myth that large cash transactions are casino money makers because data shows the high-limit tables are not important revenue drivers.

Closing submissions were scheduled to conclude Tuesday. Cullen's final report is due Dec. 15.

 By Dirk Meissner in Victoria.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 18, 2021.
ST. JOHN'S, N.L. - The Newfoundland and Labrador government has launched an independent review of the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary after a growing number of sexual assault allegations surfaced against police officers.

Newfoundland and Labrador Minister of Justice and Public Safety and Attorney General John Hogan speaks to media following the government's swearing in ceremony, at Government House in St. John's, Thursday, April 8, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Daly

ST. JOHN'S, N.L. - The Newfoundland and Labrador government has launched an independent review of the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary after a growing number of sexual assault allegations surfaced against police officers.

Justice Minister John Hogan issued a statement Tuesday saying the review will examine the workplace culture and governance practices of the provincial police service.

In August, lawyer Lynn Moore said 15 women had approached her with allegations against nine RNC officers  eight of whom have since retired. Moore has said the women were not interested in presenting their claims to police.

Last month, a provincial Crown prosecutor asked a judge to sentence an RNC officer to five years in prison for sexually assaulting a young woman. A jury convicted Const. Carl Douglas Snelgrove in May of sexually assaulting the woman in her home after he gave her a ride home from a St. John's nightclub in December 2014.

And in July, RNC Supt. Tom Warren confirmed the force was looking into sexual assault allegations against four officers.

On Tuesday, Hogan stressed the review will not constitute a formal investigation and is expected to take six months to complete. The minister, however, said the process will involve the "candid participation" of uniformed officers of all ranks and civilian employees.

"We are committed to continuous organizational improvement across all government departments and agencies, including the RNC," Hogan said in a statement.

"This review will ensure a healthy workplace at the RNC to allow the delivery and enhancement of policing services."

The review will be led by Harriet Lewis, a lawyer with more than 25 years' experience in mediation and governance.

The Royal Newfoundland Constabulary employs about 400 officers. They serve the eastern Avalon region, which includes St. John's, as well as Corner Brook in western Newfoundland and the western part of Labrador. The RCMP cover the rest of the province.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 19, 2021.
An Indigenous woman is accusing BMO of using reconciliation as a sales gimmick after she said she was harassed and asked to leave by security at the Portage and Main branch twice in a month.

An Indigenous woman is accusing BMO of using reconciliation as a "sales gimmick" after she said she was harassed and asked to leave by security at the Portage and Main branch twice in a month.

Vivian Ketchum, a 57-year-old residential school survivor, said it was, ironically, a poster outside the bank's main branch at 201 Portage Ave., promoting reconciliation that inspired her to enter in the first place on Sept. 27 following a dentist appointment.

JESSICA LEE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Vivian Ketchum has been repeatedly removed from the BMO bank at Portage and Main.

Almost immediately, Ketchum said, she was approached by security, who asked if she was there to do any banking. When she replied that she wasn't, but was considering switching banks, they asked her to leave.

"He maybe thought I was drunk, because I was slurring my words that first time, and I was staggering a little, but Ive got issues with my leg and my mouth was frozen," she said. "I was not drunk. Id just sold my condo and I was thinking about switching banks I didnt deserve to be treated that way."

She was upset after leaving and went back inside, where she said she attempted to speak with an employee, but a security guard interfered, and she left.

In an attempt to rectify the situation, she scheduled a meeting about 10 days later to discuss the incident with the branch manager. While sitting on a couch in the lobby waiting for her appointment on Oct. 9, she was shocked when the same security guard approached and asked her to leave again.

He maybe thought I was drunk, because I was slurring my words that first time, and I was staggering a little, but Ive got issues with my leg and my mouth was frozen."  Vivian Ketchum

Ketchum said the branch manager called her while she was walking away from the building, asked her to return and apologized, but she did not receive an apology from the security guard.

She received a cup of coffee and a BMO goody bag with candy inside.

"How many times do I have to be thrown out before (the security guard) is let go? And if hes behaved this way to me, how many times has he done this to other Indigenous people who dont have a voice?" she said.

"Im angry that they use healing reconciliation as a sales gimmick. Thats all it is, a sales gimmick  not working toward a better relationship with Indigenous people."

Last year, BMO apologized for an incident in B.C. after an Indigenous 12-year-old girl and her grandfather were handcuffed while trying to open an account at a Vancouver branch. At the time, a human-rights complaint was filed and BMO Financial Group established an Indigenous advisory council in response.

Im angry that they use healing reconciliation as a sales gimmick. Thats all it is, a sales gimmick  not working toward a better relationship with Indigenous people.  Vivian Ketchum

Academic and research director for the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation Brenda Gunn said while the process of education and changing peoples attitudes is going to take time, accountability needs to come from Canadian companies' leadership to ensure the process is a consistent top priority.

"Its important for corporations to not only do cultural competency training with their staff and employees, but to really ensure theyre changing the systems within their business to really take anti-racism seriously," she said.

"By this, I mean we need to make sure that cultural competency is viewed as a hard skill, in job applications we need to make sure that performance evaluations include these competencies and make sure that complaints are taken seriously."

Ketchum said shes speaking out about what happened in hopes that BMO will make changes and to spread awareness that regardless of what efforts a company promotes, its actions can be harmful to people they claim to support.

"Im a residential school survivor, and the words draw me in. And the security guards actions, unfortunately, put the walls back up," she said.

"Were listening; theres a big poster about how theyre going to listen and everything, but they dont walk the talk."

The incident occurred three days before thousands took to the streets in Winnipeg and across Canada on the first national Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

"I thought there was going to be a push forward, a healing reconciliation push forward, and I was so disappointed," she said.

"Im not hurt, Im angry. Im angry that this happened. Reconciliation means a lot to me  its not just a word."

"We are committed to treating all our customers with fairness, dignity, sensitivity and respect. We regret that this experience has happened."  BMO Financial Group spokesperson email

A spokesperson from BMO Financial Group said the bank first learned of the incident from the Free Press Monday.

"We are committed to treating all our customers with fairness, dignity, sensitivity and respect," he wrote in an email.

"We regret that this experience has happened."

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: malakabas_
Firefighters brought in two aerial ladders to help battle a stubborn fire at the former Nygard warehouse on Notre Dame Avenue Tuesday.

Firefighters brought in two aerial ladders to help battle a stubborn fire at the former Nygard warehouse on Notre Dame Avenue Tuesday.

"Weve got some of the heavy hitters here, the ladders, and weve still got fire inside of the building," said Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service district chief Dick Vlaming outside 1340 Notre Dame Ave. hours after the fire began at 6 a.m.

"The building is compromised right now, and it could collapse, so we have a collapse zone around it."

Notre Dame was closed in both directions between Weston and Flint streets for much of the day and reopened for the afternoon rush hour.

No one was hurt in the fire, and the cause was under investigation. No damage estimate was available, but the city said the building sustained major structural damage, including parts that collapsed and were brought down by heavy equipment.

Fire crews worked with a private company to demolish part of the building to extinguish the blaze. The fire was declared under control early Tuesday afternoon.

Vlaming said crews were worried about large propane tanks that had fallen into the building. The tanks had been set up by workers who were repairing the roof. It is possible they broke through the roof after the blaze began, Vlaming said.

"It sounds like the tanks went inside. They didnt explode or anything. It sounds like were keeping them cool by the water," he said.

The fire at the former Nygard warehouse on Notre Dame Avenue is expected to take all day to put out. (Mike Deal / Winnipeg Free Press)

Fire crews were expected to remain at the scene to monitor any flare-ups Tuesday night, the City of Winnipeg said in a news release that evening.

The property was listed for sale in 2020 after fashion mogul Peter Nygard was charged with sex crimes by U.S. authorities. The property is one of several owned by the Nygard companies that were approved for sale under receivership.

Nygard consented to being extradited to the U.S. earlier this month. He remains in custody in Manitoba and is facing sex charges in Toronto.

In June 2020, Nygards lawyer claimed the Notre Dame warehouse contained an apartment that was his primary Winnipeg residence, and thus protected by COVID-19 legislation that prohibited landlords from evicting tenants at the time, in an attempt to halt its sale to Mist Holdings Inc.

However, a judge approved the sale, saying there was no evidence Nygard lived there and that the property was not zoned for residential use.

Nygard said he had attempted to buy or rent the property from the receiver, but the judge called his offer "not reasonable or practical under the circumstances."

The space, which includes the 69,000 square foot warehouse and two smaller buildings, originally went on the market for $5.2 million.

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: malakabas_
OTTAWA  Manitoba Sen. Marilou McPhedran has quit her Senate faction, saying the group created to reform the Red Chamber is only perpetuating issues that give it a bad rap.

OTTAWA  Manitoba Sen. Marilou McPhedran has quit her Senate faction, saying the group created to reform the Red Chamber is only perpetuating issues that give it a bad rap.

"Im completely dismayed by how little progress has been made in modernizing the Senate," McPhedran told the Free Press.

DAVID LIPNOWSKI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Manitoba Senator Marilou McPhedran has resigned from the Independent Senators Group, saying the caucus is denying her due process in an expulsion hearing that was scheduled for Monday.

"Obviously, I have to learn a whole lot more about how the levers and the mechanisms truly operate."

McPhedran was to face a closed-door hearing Monday on whether she should be removed by the Independent Senators Group, through a voting process she deemed to not be transparent.

The group accused McPhedran of undermining its charter by dissenting from some of its policies, and over the way she approached disagreements.

Yet, McPhedran said shes being sidelined after years of riling up her colleagues over what she deems to be inadequate policies to prevent harassment and abuse of expenses.

Since taking office in 2015, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made all his Senate appointments non-partisan, breaching with decades of senators being members of parties whose votes could be dictated by the party leadership.

The Red Chamber is still sorting out how to fulfil its mandate to represent regions and minorities outside of a party system. Senators have formed groups that allocate research resources and committee seats, but arent caucuses that co-ordinate votes.

Since joining the Senate in 2016, McPhedran has been a member of the Independent Senators Group, which was founded on a pledge to improve the relevance and reputation of the Red Chamber.

Yet, she had clashed with the group multiple times, as described in an open letter Monday from McPhedran.

She described five incidents the group had raised as justifying an expulsion vote, arguing she didnt balance her "freedom of action with the needs of the group, in a collaborative spirit."

One incident involved making a spontaneous seven-minute speech on a bill, without scheduling that through the group, which maintains a list to ensure the flow of debate on legislation.

Another surrounded McPhedran emailing her peers last month with concerns about another senator doing consulting work for the federal finance department, suggesting it may have breached ethics rules, though the ombudsman had already approved of the arrangement.

McPhedran said she apologized for these mistakes.

"Asking difficult questions without easy answers  I didn't anticipate that triggering the backlash that we've seen in the last while, that's resulted in this expulsion hearing," she said.

The group also accused McPhedran of being provocative in her criticism about speaking rules.

It also disputed her interpretation of the Senates new harassment policy, that it lacked teeth, was factually inaccurate  though McPhedran noted her career has focused on anti-harassment policies.

On Monday, the group did not dispute the examples McPhedran raised but refused to comment on any of the specifics.

McPhedran also accused the groups leader, Sen. Yuen Pau Woo, of setting up "a kangaroo court," by being the person to launch the vote process and also the main person providing evidence in support of booting her. She questioned why he pursued a permanent expulsion, instead of a temporary suspension.

Woo declined multiple interview requests, with his office instead providing a statement attributed to him.

"Senator McPhedran was offered an opportunity to defend herself through a fair and impartial hearing," the statement reads, arguing she her letter raised "issues that are not relevant to the expulsion hearing."

McPhedran resigned from the group Monday, after learning senators would be able to vote for expelling her without actually attending the hearing, and could vote yes/no, instead of registering their displeasure with a formal abstention vote.

Woos office noted the groups charter requires expulsion hearings to be held in private, and argued it would have been a more fair process than McPhedrans public letter.

McPhedrans exit means shell have to represent Manitobas interests outside of the sway of a formal group. But she said shell have more time to focus on those issues, instead of the drama with her colleagues.

"Im feeling optimistic and I'm also feeling some genuine relief. And I'm feeling sad, and I'm feeling angry," she said.

dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca
A Winnipeg man has been sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 13 years for the 2017 fatal attack on a friend and stabbing his own sister.

A Winnipeg man has been sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 13 years for the 2017 fatal attack on a friend and stabbing his own sister.

Edmond Wayne Chartrand, 34, received his sentence Monday, after being convicted by a jury in April of second-degree murder and attempted murder.

Edmond Wayne Chartrand has been sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 13 years for the 2017 fatal attack on a friend and stabbing his own sister.

Rohn Conan Abraham, 29, was fatally stabbed in the heart inside his home in the North Point Douglas neighbourhood July 27, 2017. Angel Chartrand was stabbed three times in the chest and abdomen.

There has never been any explanation for the slaying; Edmond Chartrand said he was drunk at the time and told the judge he can't recall anything that happened that day.

On Monday, Court of Queen's Bench Justice Chris Martin handed down a nine-year sentence for the attempted murder charge  to be served at the same time as the life sentence for murder.

The second-degree murder conviction carries a minimum 10-year parole ineligibility. The Crown asked the judge to impose a period of 13 to 15 years before Chartrand is allowed to apply for parole. Martin imposed the 13-year ineligibility, while noting seven of 12 jurors who heard the case wanted Chartrand to have to serve 14 years or more before he can apply for parole.

Abraham's parents were present in court for the sentencing.

In a series of emails to Crown prosecutors that served as her victim-impact statement, Abraham's mother wrote her son's death made her want to take her own life and had lasting repercussions for the family. Showing up throughout the court process was like reliving a nightmare, she wrote, as she remembered her youngest son's dream of owning a hot dog stand he wanted to name Rohn's Dogs.

When he addressed court Monday, Chartrand said he wants to appeal his convictions, indicating he doesn't agree with the jury's conclusion he had the necessary intent to commit murder. He also suggested he should have been found not guilty.

"I have no indicators that I did it," Chartrand said, saying that doesn't mean he's not remorseful for Abraham's family. "I would trade places with him if I could."

The case, which Martin described as "tragically straightforward," unfolded after Abraham and his girlfriend, Chartrand's sister, allowed Chartrand to stay with them in their Euclid Avenue rooming-house suite.

Chartrand was addicted to methamphetamine and the couple would take him in when he had nowhere else to go. Several people had been drinking at the home that day, and it's not known what prompted the stabbings. There was no evidence of an argument or altercation beforehand.

Chartrand's sister, who court heard was lucky to be alive after being stabbed three times, didn't respond to a subpoena to testify and didn't participate in the court process.

Abraham was found dead in the suite, and Chartrand was seen running away from the residence. He later shaved his head and fled to Edmonton, where he was arrested about four months later.

On Monday, Chartrand said he doesn't remember cutting his hair and only recalls what happened starting from the day after the stabbings.

"At the end of the day, Mr. Chartrand, what you did was reprehensible," Martin said.

katie.may@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @thatkatiemay
WINKLER  After bracing for staffing shortages Monday  as those who work with vulnerable Manitobans had to either show proof of vaccination, take a COVID-19 test or leave without pay  just 30 out of more than 42,000 opted for unpaid leave by midday.

WINKLER  After bracing for staffing shortages Monday  as those who work with vulnerable Manitobans had to either show proof of vaccination, take a COVID-19 test or leave without pay  just 30 out of more than 42,000 opted for unpaid leave by midday.

There were "no significant issues reported and no service disruptions experienced," a Shared Health spokesman said Monday.

MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Salem Home Personal Care in Winkler, Manitoba, Monday: business as usual.

In the southern pocket of the province that has some lowest rates of COVID-19 vaccination and the most active opposition to pandemic health restrictions, there was no sign of trouble at two personal care homes and an area hospital that had been bracing for the worst.

In Winkler and Morden, personal care homes last week had warned family members of residents there may be staffing shortages; with Boundary Trails Health Centre waiting to see what Monday would bring.

Vaccination validations For the past several weeks, Manitoba's health system been attempting to validate the vaccination status of all direct care workers, either through one-on-one discussions between individuals and managers, an online portal, and  for those who consent  use of an automated validation process involving use of their personal health identification number. click to read more For the past several weeks, Manitoba's health system been attempting to validate the vaccination status of all direct care workers, either through one-on-one discussions between individuals and managers, an online portal, and  for those who consent  use of an automated validation process involving use of their personal health identification number. Shared Health provided an update, as of noon Monday:  Of the approximately 42,000 identified direct care workers, about 36,500 have completed the disclosure process. Additional disclosures continue to be received. A "significant" number of sites and managers have collected paper forms that will be manually entered over the coming days and weeks. Managers remain responsible for confirming the vaccination status of direct care workers as they present for work. Those who are not confirmed to be fully vaccinated will be required to undergo testing.  Of the disclosures received, just under 35,000 have indicated they are fully vaccinated. This represents more than 95.9 per cent of received submissions.  As of noon Monday, 29,389 had been validated as being fully vaccinated. Manual and auto-verification for the outstanding submissions are ongoing.  source: Shared Health Close

"Very happy to see minimal disruptions at work this morning," respiratory therapist Craig Doell tweeted early Monday. "I hope it will continue to be this way moving forward."

A woman waiting for her husband following a procedure at the hospital said there was a delay but it wasn't major and she wasn't sure if it had anything to do with staffing. A health-care worker at the site said she wasn't ware of staffing shortage impacting facility functions.

Outside the Salem Home in Winkler, it was business as usual, said one visitor Monday morning.

At the Tabor Home in Morden, visitors in the early afternoon said they weren't seeing any disruption.

On Monday, the Interfaith Health Care Association of Manitoba was waiting to get a better idea of what the situation is at its homes, executive director Julie Turenne-Maynard said.

MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Tabor Home in Morden, Manitoba.

Outside the community health centre in Altona, a few people gathered bearing signs saying they're forced to go on unpaid leave because they're not vaccinated and won't get tested, the CBC reported.

Winkler Mayor Martin Harder said he understands and respects that for some, there are reasons of conscience and conviction for not getting vaccinated. He wishes they would separate their belief in not getting vaccinated from their belief in not getting tested.

"When I look at the testing side of it, it's one of convenience  it's is not an invasion of your personal beliefs, it's just simply to make sure you're not a carrier of COVID," Harder said in an interview in his office Monday.

Many of the health-care workers refusing to be vaccinated or tested have been devoted to providing compassionate care to patients for many years  including one who cared for his wife before she died in 2014, the mayor said.

MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Winkler mayor Martin Harder at Winkler City Hall, Monday.

"It tugs at the heart strings to hear them say, 'Now I could lose my job,'" said Harder.

As of Monday afternoon, Shared Health was aware of about 30 direct care workers across the province who refused rapid testing and were subsequently sent home, a spokesman said.

That number may climb Tuesday once employers take into account those who work evening and night shifts Monday, he said in an email.

"Redeployment of staff to areas where a staffing impact is expected to continue," the spokesman said. "However, the number of individuals refusing testing and being sent home remains a very small minority."

"When I look at the testing side of it, it's one of convenience  it's is not an invasion of your personal beliefs, it's just simply to make sure you're not a carrier of COVID."  Winkler Mayor Martin Harder

So far, 1,801 health-care staff, who work across the province in a variety of roles and professions, have disclosed they arent fully vaccinated and will have to undergo regular testing, Shared Health said.

On Monday, Health Minister Audrey Gordon said Manitoba is not requiring those who won't disclose their vaccine status to pay for their testing.

"Manitoba is one of the only provinces offering the choice of testing and we want to give our health-care workers time to become familiar with the test and the science behind the test and the effectiveness of it," she said when asked why Manitoba employees aren't required to pay for their tests.

"So we have decided to offer the tests free of charge and we stated that will continue until we exhaust the supply," she said at a news conference in Winnipeg. The province isn't ready to give up just yet on those unwilling to get vaccinated or tested, Gordon added.

"I say to them... were still here for them. Were still here to continue communications. Were still here to educate. Were still here to dispel the myths around the vaccine and the effectiveness and the safety of the vaccine  and that at the end of the day, its about protecting patient safety and the safety of the individuals... when they come in on their shifts."

 with files from Danielle Da Silva

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca
Six students from Red River College Polytechnics digital film and media production program sat in their new classroom for just the second time Monday morning.

Six students from Red River College Polytechnics digital film and media production program sat in their new classroom for just the second time Monday morning.

The Winnipeg colleges new $95.4-million innovation centre has been five years in the making and is almost ready to open to the general public.

The 100,000-square-foot facility has polished concrete floors, stretches four flights high, and can hold up to 1,200 people.

Kirk Johnson, dean of business, information technology and creative arts, couldnt help but get animated while talking about the state-of-the-art facility.

"Its a full-circle moment for me," he said Monday. "To say we had the opportunity to do something amazing, and to be at this point now, its a heartwarming feeling."

Its a historic time for the college as it launched eight new programs this year, including video and motion graphics, game development, and full-stack web development.

The innovation centres 18 classrooms and five labs will serve as learning spaces for new and existing programs at the Exchange District campus downtown.

One of the facilitys main attractions will be the applied computer education (ACE) project space  an area with 18 offices that surround a commons area.

MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Student Fawnda Neckoway (left) and instructor Rylaan Gimby set up a gimbal in the Digital Film and Media Production program freelance video class at RRC Polytechs new Innovation Centre in Winnipeg on Monday. This program is the first to be learning in the new space.

Johnson said the space will be used to provide students with a "reverse-practicum."

Offices will be given to entrepreneurs in sectors such as health, community and government to use for four months. The college will give the incumbent up to five students to help with their idea.

The practicum will be available to students in ACE, with the college hoping to involve students from other programs at a later date.

Margi Chauhan, a second-year digital film and media production student, said the innovation centre is giving her an opportunity to pursue her dream. Chauhan completed her first year of the program in India before moving to Canada.

"The college has offered me everything I wanted," she said. "The facilities Im provided have made all of the sacrifices when moving here worth it."

The full-circle feeling stretched to Rylaan Gimby, an instructor in the digital film and media program. Gimby was an RRC student 10 years ago at the polytechnics Princess Street campus.

"Film is an inherently collaborative medium and now Im in a building built for collaboration," he said.

As construction crews work to finish the final details of the centre, the college anticipates being done by the beginning of December.

Johnson said RRC hopes to have more students on campus in January, providing public health guidelines allow them.

fpcity@freepress.mb.ca
A Winnipeg high school teacher has been put on leave after her use of the N-word sparked a heated debate during a class at College Louis-Riel last week and later, a physical altercation between two students.

A Winnipeg high school teacher has been put on leave after her use of the N-word sparked a heated debate during a class at College Louis-Riel last week and later, a physical altercation between two students.

The Division scolaire franco-manitobaine is investigating a series of incidents, which began Oct. 14, when "students were offended by language used by one of our teachers," said Louise Legal-Perrin, assistant superintendent.

Calling the events "unfortunate," Legal-Perrin said the French-language division condemns the use of the N-word in all of its buildings; she said the term can be discussed without saying it in its entirety since it may be present in some educational materials.

A video of the initial incident, which was posted on Snapchat, shows a Black student calling out a white teacher for saying the racial slur during a lesson.

"The minute that word came out of your mouth, you did not respect us at all," says the Grade 10 student in the clip.

Julie Tuelenake witnessed the situation play out; the 15-year-old was recorded while speaking up when her teacher articulated the word.

The 10th grader indicated her teacher  whom she refers to and knows only as "madame"  was talking about and defending a colleague of hers who had used the N-word in an academic context. Julie said her teacher said the N-word multiple times in describing the situation and refused to acknowledge how inappropriate her behaviour was.

"When a white person says it, theyre insulting me. I felt betrayed. I felt hurt," said Julie, while on her way to catch the bus home after school Monday.

Not long after the discriminatory term was said, school administration was informed about a conflict that broke out between students inside the St Jean Baptiste Street building.

Parents Contre le Racisme issued a news release late last week to condemn both the teachers conduct and the use of the slur in all contexts, citing the terms ties to a violent and dehumanizing history of slavery, segregation and anti-Black racism in Canada.

"The fact that such an incident is taking place for the umpteenth time at this institution reflects the image of a very comfortable and normalized culture of racism that hurts African-Canadian students, their families and our community," states the release, which is in French.

Beydi Traore, a father involved with Parents Contre le Racisme, said he worries about the trickle-down impact of teachers using the N-word and how it could result in bullying.

"Its not good for the well-being of Black students," said Traore. "This student shouldnt have to defend herself in front of a teacher."

Grade 12 student Perlissia Mahoungou said she has witnessed a different high school teacher say the N-word in an academic context in the past.

"Were kids. Were supposed to learn from our teachers, our principals. We look up to them, but I dont see a role model here. I see someone who doesnt take time to understand what we go through," said Perlissia, adding she felt hurt when she heard about the latest event.

In her view, Black students should be able to use the N-word at their discretion, but the 17-year-old said it is completely unacceptable for teachers at College Louis-Riel  the majority of whom are white  to be vocalizing it.

In order to remedy the situation, she said the staff at her school need to learn it is not acceptable to use the N-word, the principal and teacher involved in the latest situation need to issue an apology to students, and there needs to be better Black history education.

A team of student services personnel, including counsellors, social workers and clinicians, were made available to students Monday.

Legal-Perrin said the DSFMs hope is to hear out students who were hurt, ensure they feel emotionally and physically safe at school, and ensure they know how-to access resources in the aftermath.

Parents Contre le Racisme is calling for the creation of an anti-racism policy, but the assistant superintendent said its too early to commit to doing so since community consultations in the wake of the incident are in the early stages.

"These are very large social issues that we do need to address and we do need to be sensitive to language that we use and that can sometimes be perceived as aggression," she said. "Theres a lot of learning that we will take away from this situation."

Legal-Perrin would not say whether the teacher who said the N-word is on paid or unpaid leave.

Roland Deleurme, president of the local teachers union, LAssociation des educatrices et educateurs franco-manitobains, declined to comment.

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @macintoshmaggie
Two Manitoba cabinet ministers have apologized for not wearing masks while posing for photos at a Winnipeg Art Gallery event.

Two Manitoba cabinet ministers have apologized for not wearing masks while posing for photos at a Winnipeg Art Gallery event.

Health Minister Audrey Gordon and Families Minister Rochelle Squires both apologized Monday after photos from the Winnipeg Art Gallerys Qaumajuq Ball on Saturday were posted to social media, including Squires' Facebook profile, showing them standing with a group of attendees without face masks.

Current public health orders require anyone attending an indoor, public event to wear a face mask with few exceptions. Masks can be removed when consuming food or drinks, according to the order. Attendees of the gala had to be fully vaccinated.

Gordon said she had removed her mask while seated at the table where food and drinks were being served. She said she was then asked to pose for a photo with other members of her table and did not put her mask back on.

"At that one particular time I do regret that. I didnt think much deeper about my decision to pose for the photo and for that I ask for forgiveness. I feel very badly about it today," Gordon said.

RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Families Minister Rochelle Squires apologized for failing to wear a mask while away from her table at a Winnipeg Art Gallery event on the weekend.

As health minister, Gordon said she is held to a higher standard and should be a role model for public-health order compliance.

"Its unfortunate, it was wrong and that should not have happened, and for that I deeply apologize," she continued. "I want Manitobans to know that the restrictions are there to protect all of us, regardless of where we are, and what the event might be, and that this is not going to happen again."

Gordon said she would pay a fine for failing to wear a mask at an indoor public place if she receives one. Such tickets are $298 in Manitoba.

"If it is levied, it should be paid and I will," she said.

Squires also apologized for failing to wear a mask while away from her table. She acknowledged that her mask was off more than it was on during the event, which included a sit-down dinner and cocktail reception.

"I certainly will address the concerns by apologizing and being accountable for not setting the right example and taking accountability," she said.

danielle.dasilva@freepress.mb.ca
OTTAWA  The federal Liberals say theyll make sure Indigenous groups get the funding they need to research residential school burial sites, despite Manitoba bands struggling to access that cash.

OTTAWA  The federal Liberals say theyll make sure Indigenous groups get the funding they need to research residential school burial sites, despite Manitoba bands struggling to access that cash.

"We will be there, with as much as is necessary, to be able to get closure," Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Monday, in response to a question from the Free Press.

In August, the Liberals pledged $321 million for Indigenous groups to conduct searches and commemorations for unmarked graves at residential schools, on top of $27 million Ottawa reallocated in June.

Yet, last Friday, the federal Crown-Indigenous Relations department said just nine groups have accessed that funding  even though 58 had submitted applications, and another 117 inquired about the funds.

On Monday, Trudeau visited the Tk'emlups te Secwepemc band in Kamloops, B.C., to apologize for eschewing its invitation to visit on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

Trudeau was on vacation in B.C. on Sept. 30, despite the band asking him to visit its community, which got global attention in May for uncovering evidence of some 200 potential unmarked gravesites at the former residential school site.

Since then, Manitoba bands have complained the process to access funding is cumbersome and unclear. A handful of First Nations complained they feel triggered by constant news of unmarked graves, while waiting months for the cash they need to either conduct searches or do so in a way that could preserve evidence for possible criminal trials.

Trudeau would not say whether he feels the funding is flowing fast enough. The prime minister instead said the bureaucracy "has been working extremely hard to deliver those necessary resources" for communities "to identify, to recover, to grieve and to heal."

The prime minister similarly would not specify any specific actions his government plans to take ahead of the Nov. 22 return of Parliament, to stop the disproportionately high number of foster care apprehensions, which Indigenous communities argue are similar to residential schools.

Trudeau instead said work is continuing on devolution agreements, under a law passed in June 2019.

On Monday, NDP MP Niki Ashton wrote to Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Carolyn Bennett, saying she "has failed to show leadership" by offering "pretty words but ultimately broken promises."

Manitoba also pledged $2.5 million in funds in June for searches and commemorations, and only recently started consultations on how to best use that funding.

However, sources involved in that process say the lack of clarity on who can access the federal funding has made it difficult to know how to target the provincial funds. The NDP objected to that contention Monday.

"Instead of waiting for the federal government to make a move, Manitoba should be a leader on this issue," wrote NDP Indigenous affairs critic Ian Bushie.

"We have a responsibility to do everything possible to identify, mark and honour these children."

dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca
Academics at the University of Manitoba have handed their union a strong mandate to take strike action amid contentious wage negotiations with their employer.

Academics at the University of Manitoba have handed their union a strong mandate to take strike action amid contentious wage negotiations with their employer.

Union president Orvie Dingwall indicated Tuesday the association has broken two internal records, for both membership turnout during a strike vote and the percentage of people who cast a ballot in favour of strike action.

Of the 1,092 employees  86 per cent of the unions eligible voting members  who participated in the vote held Saturday through Monday, 85 per cent indicated they are in favour of going on strike.

"Its a clear call to administration to exercise its autonomy from the government," said Dingwall, who represents professors, instructors and academic librarians at Manitobas largest post-secondary institute.

In recent weeks, the union has voiced concerns about the province providing U of M with another mandate regarding staff wage increases.

While the provincial government suggests such mandates are ordinary, citing its role as a steward of public funds, the union claims the move amounts to interference.

In 2016, months into bargaining talks, the province secretly provided the U of M with salary mandates in its negotiations with the faculty association and then threatened "financial consequences" if the Winnipeg-based school did not follow through with the terms.

Last week, a panel of Manitoba Court of Appeal judges upheld a 2020 ruling that concluded the provinces behaviour five years ago had violated academics rights to freedom of association.

Dingwall said the union is working with its legal team to figure out next steps regarding the recent ruling. As for current negotiations, she said the union knows U of M has enough funds to come to the table and address the fact staff salaries have fallen behind.

She added employees recognize the pressure that calling a strike vote puts on students, but indicated the protection of quality education is at the heart of the call for compensation.

Several academics have spoken up this month about their concerns regarding recruitment and retention in faculties ranging from nursing to computer science at the university, owing to U of Ms noncompetitive wages with other comprehensive research schools.

"The university will continue to bargain in good faith with UMFA, with the intention of concluding a collective agreement without a labour disruption," wrote Michael Benarroch, president of the U of M, in a community update Tuesday.

Benarroch said both parties continue to work together to conclude an agreement that supports stability in operations, an outstanding educational experience, fairness to faculty and sustainability for the school. He indicated "meaningful progress" has been made on many proposals since bargaining began Aug 5.

The schools latest proposal includes: structural changes to boost pay scales for first- and second-year employees; the continued use of market supplements; and a four-year contract with annual increases of one per cent, one per cent, 1.25 per cent and 1.25 per cent.

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @macintoshmaggie
Its possible that the tide which brought hard-right populist governments to power in a number of central European countries is starting to go out again.

Opinion

Its possible that the tide which brought hard-right populist governments to power in a number of central European countries is starting to go out again.

In the Czech Republic, billionaire oligarch Andrej Babis suffered a surprise defeat last week in his bid to be re-elected prime minister. The last straw may have been the revelation in the "Pandora Papers" only days before that he had set up an offshore company to secretly buy a US$17.6-million mansion in southern France.

In Hungary, Jew-baiting, Muslim-hating, ultra-nationalist President Viktor Orban suddenly has to worry about winning re-election next year. The perennially split opposition parties managed to unite last October and made their candidate mayor of Budapest, Hungarys capital. If they can manage to stay united, they might even bring Orban down next year.

And in Poland, which has twice the population of the other two combined, the populist Law and Justice Party (PiS) is drifting into troubled waters, too. It doesnt face re-election until 2023, but by then it may have managed to get Poland expelled from the European Union. A "Polexit" would greatly upset the 88 per cent of Poles who want to stay in the EU.

All right, thats a slight exaggeration. Things never move that fast in the EU. But the PiS could well find itself standing on the windowledge and threatening to jump by 2023, which is not a good place to be if you are trying to win an election.

The PiS is a deeply conservative party in the Catholic tradition, with populist trimmings such as a government subsidy of US$150 per month for each child under 18. Its voters are mostly rural and small town, deeply religious, older and poorly educated,. They respond well to racist, xenophobic and antisemitic rhetoric. Donald Trump would feel right at home.

The PiS has been in power since 2015, but almost every recent election has been a hairs-breadth victory: it is as unpopular in the liberal cities as it is beloved in the deeply religious villages. So it set itself the task of improving its chances in future elections.

One obvious measure was to take control of the media. That was easy with the state-owned media: they were supposed to be impartial, but the government controls their budgets. However, it proved impossible to take over or freeze out the independent media, especially the foreign-owned ones, because EU law defends free speech.

Polish courts upheld the EU laws, because every member country had to pledge when it joined that on such matters, EU law takes precedence over national laws and constitutions. So the PiS decided to get around this roadblock by "reforming" the Polish courts: if you dont like the judgments, change the judges.

First the PiS government forced a lot of judges out by lowering the retirement age, and replaced them with PiS supporters. When the EU objected to this blatantly political tampering with the courts, it packed the Constitutional Tribunal with its own people  and on Oct. 8 they declared Polish law is superior to EU law. At that point, the Play-Doh hit the fan.

The European Commission declared rulings by the European Court of Justice are "binding on all member states authorities, including national courts." Frances Europe minister was even more blunt: "There is the risk of a de facto exit." Hes right.

The PiS is playing a game of chicken with the EU, of course, and has no intention of actually leaving the EU. As the streets of Warsaw and other Polish big cities filled with young people chanting "Zostajemy" (Were staying), Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki declared "The place of Poland is and will be in the European family of nations"  but he is already in over his head.

Reason and instinct both argue that this storm will blow itself out. Poland has benefited enormously from 17 years of grants and loans from the richer EU countries to the poorer ones: the whole country looks different already.

Right now, Poland is awaiting approval of a US$65 billion transfer from Brussels as its share of the EUs US$865-billion post-COVID-19 "stimulus package." But that and much else might not come if Poland is in revolt against the EUs rules.

Russia is still close, and although nobody is expecting a Russian invasion at the moment, all of Polish history is shouting that you dont want to be alone out there.

And nine out of 10 Poles want to stay in the EU.

So it really should all blow over, but games of chicken are tricky. You have to drive as if you have a death wish, and then turn away at the last second  but just after the other guy did. Its really hard to get the timing right, and if you get it wrong, you drive off the cliff. Polexit.

Gwynne Dyers new book is The Shortest History of War.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is sadly mistaken if he thinks joining the United States-Mexico-Canada (USMCA) trade agreement is in the cards. To steal a phrase from former U.S. president Bill Clinton: Thats a dog that wont hunt.

Opinion

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is sadly mistaken if he thinks joining the United States-Mexico-Canada (USMCA) trade agreement is in the cards. To steal a phrase from former U.S. president Bill Clinton: "Thats a dog that wont hunt."

President Joe Biden, comparatively more circumspect, has merely informed Johnson that a United States-United Kingdom deal is not a top priority for his White House. So with hopes essentially dashed on concluding a bilateral trade pact with the U.S., Johnson has now set his sights on joining the "new NAFTA." That sounds a tad wonky to me.

Speaking to journalists in Washington in late September, though, Johnson tried to put a positive spin on the bilateral trade issue. "There is every prospect of a free trade deal with the United States," he said confidently. He then went on to add, "The Biden administration is not doing free trade deals around the world right now, but Ive got absolutely every confidence that a great deal is there to be done."

Needless to say, Biden has to focus most of his energy, and all of his political capital, on his wide-ranging domestic agenda. The deadly pandemic continues to rage in parts of the country, his legislative priorities in the U.S. Congress are sputtering and his favourability ratings in the polls are on the decline.

There is just no way Biden wants to complicate matters domestically with a likely divisive trade arrangement with the U.S. (and its troublesome Northern Ireland border protocol).

It may be possible for the U.K. to negotiate sectoral free trade with the U.S. in specific areas such as high-tech goods/digital services, agricultural and luxury products and financial services, to name a few. In the past, however, the Americans have tended to shy away from this more limited trade agenda.

There is also the possibility of the U.K. seeking to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTTP) pact  a free trade arrangement involving a host of countries such as Canada, Mexico, Australia and Japan. But I find it hard to believe the 11 parties to the CPTTP would be enthusiastic about the U.K.s entry, given that the overall trade value appears to be minimal.

The truth is Johnson was trying to dangle a possible USMCA partnership as a means of diverting attention away from Britains post-Brexit economic troubles. Indeed, it was mostly a symbolic gesture to back up his governments pledge to have 80 per cent of U.K. trade  much of it diminished by its departure from the European Union  covered by negotiating new trade deals with other countries by the end of 2022.

More to the point, there is actually no accession clause in the USMCA to allow for other countries to join.

Lets be honest: the Mexicans are not exactly thrilled about the idea of the U.K. joining the USMCA. Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has made it clear that extensive consultations with Mexico would have to happen before it would even entertain the thought. As Lopez Obrador remarked recently: "This must be taken up with all actors, we cannot anticipate. I am in favour of maintaining this agreement (as is)."

Like the Mexican government, Canadian officials are trying to figure out a polite way of saying no thanks to the Brits. After enduring a tumultuous negotiating environment during the erratic Donald Trump years, there is little appetite in Ottawa to reopen the USMCA to the U.K.s trade demands. The prospective benefits here hardly seem to outweigh the potential risks for Canada.

More importantly, both countries have serious reservations about how the U.K.s membership would impact the highly-coveted USMCA dispute settlement process. They worry the U.K. will invariably side with the U.S. in any trade dispute that may arise among the four parties (and thus tilting the panel system advantage toward Washington).

The fact of the matter is the USMCA is specifically tailored for the North American marketplace and related supply chains (not to mention that all three NAFTA partners would have to sign off on the U.K.s membership bid). Furthermore, the pacts strict rules around automobile origins of production, the absence of provisions on financial services (a U.K. advantage) and restrictions on intellectual property and agri-food trade all make the trilateral arrangement incompatible with U.K. commercial interests.

Lastly, the U.K. has already concluded free trade agreements with both Canada and Mexico.

The reality, then, is that both a U.S.-U.K. bilateral deal and a partnership in the USMCA are just not on. Nor do Canada and Mexico, for their own narrow interests, want the U.K. anywhere near the hard-fought NAFTA 2.0. If this was a patented Johnson trial balloon being floated, it is safe to say that the political hot air has already dissipated.

Peter McKenna is professor of political science at the University of Prince Edward Island in Charlottetown.
Albertas referendum on equalization was not actually about equalization, according to Premier Jason Kenney. Rather, the vote held Monday was about laying the groundwork for constitutional negotiations aimed at a reform of Canadas fiscal federalism, as Mr. Kenney has said in recent days.

Albertas referendum on equalization was not actually about equalization, according to Premier Jason Kenney. Rather, the vote held Monday was about laying the groundwork for constitutional negotiations aimed at a reform of Canadas fiscal federalism, as Mr. Kenney has said in recent days.

Or maybe its about provincial governments in Quebec and British Columbia and their opposition to pipeline projects that would help export of Alberta oil. Mr. Kenney has also brought those pipeline disputes into the equalization argument.

For Albertans in an anti-Ottawa frame of mind, the equalization referendum was a chance to blow off a little steam. For Mr. Kenney, it was a welcome chance to talk about something other than his own administration, which has made him the least popular provincial premier in Canada, according to one recent poll.

The referendum question asked Alberta voters whether the section of the Canadian Constitution enshrining the principle of equalization payments should be removed. Their voting "yes" or "no" makes no difference, because the federal and provincial governments that have the power to change the Constitution have not even begun to discuss any such thing.

Equalization is a program of the federal government, funded entirely from federal revenues, which pays subsidies to have-not provinces to make up for weaknesses in their capacity to raise revenue from their own sources. Quebec, Manitoba and each of the three Maritime provinces receive these subsidies every year.

Ontario received subsidies during the recession that reduced its revenues in the years 2010 to 2016. British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Newfoundland typically get nothing from the program, though they all receive federal payments in other ways.

Politically, a program that benefits half the provinces all the time and Ontario occasionally is unlikely to be abolished. Now that the oil industry is in decline, the oil-producing provinces will also be thinking more and more about a future in which they will welcome occasional federal subsidies.

For Manitoba specifically, equalization payments will be worth $2.7 billion this fiscal year in a provincial budget with total spending of $20 billion. No Manitoba government of any political stripe is going to challenge a federal program that covers 14 per cent of the provincial budget. They occasionally complain it should have been more.

JASON FRANSON / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES Alberta Premier Jason Kenney

Manitoba governments, like those of Quebec and the Maritimes, love to dream out loud about a day when their provincial economies will be so strong that they will no longer qualify for equalization handouts from Ottawa. In the meantime, however, their hands remain outstretched and Ottawa keeps topping up their treasuries in bad times and in good.

In these circumstances, Albertas threat to equalization and to Manitobas finances is more an abstraction than an actuality. Alberta does not operate the program, does not finance it and has no power to prevent Ottawa from continuing it.

Alberta is free to join in debate about the equalization formula. As an equal partner in a confederation of 10 provinces and three territories, Alberta deserves to have its views heard and respected. A discussion that begins with lopping off 14 per cent of Manitobas provincial revenue, however, is unlikely to win support in this neck of the woods.

Once Alberta comes forward with a plan most Canadians can agree with, Manitobans should start to pay attention. For the time being, however, Alberta is just engaging in grievance politics for local consumption.
It could have gone a lot worse.

On Day 1 of Manitoba's vaccine mandate for health-care workers, about 30 individuals provincewide were sent home because they had not been vaccinated and refused the option to be tested.

At first blush, less than three dozen dissidents out of a workforce that numbers in the tens of thousands seems a pretty good result.

Appearances in this situation, however, can be deceiving.

Although small in number, the 30 holdouts are withdrawing their services from a system that, in many ways, needs them more than they may need the work. If additional staff are encouraged to join their ranks, we could very well see the health-care system brought to its knees.

Years of miserly contracts, government austerity and value engineering masquerading as reform have battered and demoralized many.

How could such a small group have that kind of impact on a system that big?

Canada's health-care system was already chronically short-staffed in many key professional and non-professional groups before COVID-19 struck. Years of miserly contracts, government austerity and value engineering masquerading as reform have battered and demoralized many.

Think back to the beginning of the pandemic, which carved a remorseless swath through the resident populations of hospitals and long-term care facilities.

The virus struck particularly hard in these places because patients had underlying health problems that made them particularly vulnerable. But a shortage of support staff, aides, nurses and physicians made a bad situation much worse.

In other words, COVID-19 did not cause the staff shortages. But the disease was allowed to thrive in an environment where there simply weren't enough people to care for the vulnerable.

In a classic labour market scenario such as this, where demand for human resource outstrips supply, those working in the health-care system should find themselves in a position of power. However, this is no normal situation.

It is those five per cent left unvaccinated that pose a real threat, both to patients and to the viability of the healthcare system.

For the most part, people working within the system have answered the call, working longer and more stressful hours, putting themselves in harms way. While there is some variance in most jurisdictions, it appears more than 95 per cent of health-care staff in most provinces have been vaccinated.

It is those five per cent left unvaccinated that pose a real threat, both to patients and to the viability of the health-care system.

Mandates have been somewhat successful in boosting those promising vaccination rates even higher. But again, with such a slim margin for error in staffing, even a handful of holdouts can have a huge impact on service delivery.

You can see this dynamic playing out all across Canada as governments attempt to force all health-care workers to get vaccinated to help protect vulnerable patients and stop new surges in infections.

British Columbia set a hard deadline of Oct. 12, and reports indicate there are only handfuls across the province holding out. Even so, some private personal care home operators are already predicting reductions in service for residents.

Quebec was forced to postpone its health-care vaccine deadline (originally set for Oct. 15) for at least a month, after it was clear several thousand workers were going to accept suspension rather than get vaccinated. Quebec said 94 per cent of all front-line health-care staff had been vaccinated but the system could not operate without the remaining six per cent showing up to work.

Part of the solution may be to drop the option to get tested in lieu of full vaccinations.

Many facilities have, in fact, ramped up hiring so they can make vaccine status a condition of employment and avoid the conflict that comes from forcing an existing employee to get vaccinated. However, while that may work as a solution in some of the non-skilled job classifications, it isnt going to help in others.

Part of the solution may be to drop the option to get tested in lieu of full vaccinations. Canadas five biggest private personal care home operators currently require full vaccination and do not offer a testing option. To date, they have not reported many holdouts.

Vaccine-hesitant health-care workers have felt bullied by the combined pressure of government and a public that has overwhelmingly embraced the vaccine. So, it is to be expected some will see the opportunity to hold their ground to see if their employers are bluffing.

Ask the 30 people who were sent home Monday; the employers are not bluffing. Whether that convinces the holdouts, and the larger group of health-care workers who are choosing the testing option, to get vaccinated is another matter altogether.

That tiny group of holdouts may not want to do any harm, but at some point, they may realize what they lack in numbers, they make up for in potential to hurt an already weakened health-care system.

dan.lett@freepress.mb.ca
Travellers who need a rapid COVID-19 test can now book a swab at a nearby pharmacy.

Travellers who need a rapid COVID-19 test can now book a swab at a nearby pharmacy.

On Monday, Manitoba Health Minister Audrey Gordon announced pharmacists can now perform, interpret and provide test results from rapid COVID-19 antigen or molecular tests to travellers, under a new emergency order.

"A lot of individuals are looking at their options in terms of testing and we want to broaden their ability to get tests closer to home," Gordon said during a media availability at Prairie Health Apothecary in the Meadowood neighbourhood of Winnipeg.

Gordon said expanding the scope of practice for pharmacists and allowing them to offer rapid tests will especially benefit travellers looking to head to the United States who require a COVID-19 test. Previously, pharmacists were not permitted by Manitoba Health to administer and interpret rapid antigen or molecular tests, which can produce a result in 15 minutes.

Pharmacies across Manitoba will be responsible for acquiring the rapid tests, setting their own testing rates and advertising services to clients.

Ashley Hart, president of Pharmacists Manitoba, said the rates for rapid tests will be comparable to other Canadian provinces that have permitted pharmacies to offer the service. The cost for rapid antigen testing can range between $50 and $100, she said.

"We are pleased that we are now able to offer rapid testing similar to that of other provinces across the country. Rapid testing in pharmacies is another small step towards bringing Manitoba in line with the advanced pharmacy practices seen in other provinces across Canada," Hart said.

Hart said pharmacies will be working over the coming days and weeks to be able to offer rapid testing services in communities across the province.

Rapid tests for travel purposes are only recommended for people who are not experiencing any symptoms of COVID-19. In order to get a rapid test, travellers will have to present proof of upcoming travel.

The onus is also on travellers to ensure the test they are taking meets the entry requirements of their destination. Some destinations may require a PCR molecular test for entry, which are not available at pharmacies in Manitoba.

Pharmacists will also be able provide documentation of a negative test result for travel purposes. At this time, the documentation would not be considered government issued, Hart said.

Travellers entering or returning to Canada from an international destination are required to show proof of a negative PCR test upon re-entry.

Gordon said the provincial government is not subsidizing the cost of the asymptomatic, rapid antigen tests for travellers.

Meanwhile, the cost to receive a PCR test for travel purposes at a private laboratory is determined by the private sector, she noted. Advertised rates in Manitoba for PCR testing can be up to $450.

danielle.dasilva@freepress.mb.ca
OTTAWA - The federal government is sending more help to the Northwest Territories to deal with a spike in COVID-19 cases.

Liberal candidate for Scarborough Southwest Bill Blair speaks during a campaign event in Ottawa, Tuesday, Sept. 7, 2021. Blair says Ottawa has approved a request from the Northwest Territories to provide "surge capacity support" for infection prevention and control, contact tracing and testing amid a spike of COVID-19 cases. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang

OTTAWA - The federal government is sending more help to the Northwest Territories to deal with a spike in COVID-19 cases.

Public Safety Minister Bill Blair says Ottawa has approved a request from the territory to provide "surge capacity support" for infection prevention and control, contact tracing and testing.

The support  10 specialists from the Canadian Red Cross  will be effective until Nov. 14, with the possibility of a two-week extension.

That's on top of previous help provided through the Public Health Agency of Canada and Statistics Canada for infection control and contact tracing.

After months of zero new cases of COVID-19, the territory began seeing a spike in cases in mid-August.

As of Monday, there were 263 active cases in the Northwest Territories, which last week extended a territory-wide public health emergency until Oct. 26.

The NWT government earlier on Monday announced that as of November 30th, all of its employees will need to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

Previously, the policy only applied to government employees working with vulnerable populations.

The territory's finance minister, Caroline Wawzonek, explained in a news release that the change was necessary because of the impact the outbreak has had since the policy was initially considered.

The release noted that accommodations to the policy will be considered on a case-by-case basis for medical reasons or based on protected grounds under the Human Rights Act.

It also noted that unions, Indigenous governments and others were consulted in the drafting of the policy.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 18, 2021.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP)  North Korea on Tuesday fired at least one ballistic missile into the sea in what South Koreas military described as a weapon likely designed for submarine-based launches, marking possibly the most significant demonstration of the Norths military might since President Joe Biden took office.

FILE - In this Oct. 11, 2021, photo provided by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un speaks during an exhibition of weapons systems in Pyongyang, South Koreas military said Tuesday, Oct. 19, 2021, North Korea fired an unidentified projectile to its eastern waters as it continued a recent streak of weapons tests apparently aimed at pressuring Washington and Seoul over a stalled nuclear diplomacy. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP, File)

SEOUL, South Korea (AP)  North Korea on Tuesday fired at least one ballistic missile into the sea in what South Koreas military described as a weapon likely designed for submarine-based launches, marking possibly the most significant demonstration of the Norths military might since President Joe Biden took office.

The launch came hours after the U.S. reaffirmed its offer to resume diplomacy on North Koreas nuclear weapons program. It underscored how the North continues to expand its military capabilities amid a pause in diplomacy.

The Souths Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement it detected the North firing one short-range missile it believed was a submarine-launched ballistic missile from waters near the eastern port of Sinpo, and that the South Korean and U.S. militaries were closely analyzing the launch.

The South Korean military said the launch was made at sea, but it didnt elaborate whether it was fired from a vessel submerged underwater or another launch platform above the seas surface.

South Korea's Special Representative for Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs Noh Kyu-duk, back right, listens as U.S. Special Representative for North Korea, Sung Kim, speaks after holding a meeting, Monday, Oct. 18, 2021, at the U.S. State Department in Washington. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

Japans military said its initial analysis suggested the North fired two ballistic missiles and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said officials were examining whether they were SLBMs.

After the launch, Kishida interrupted a campaign trip ahead of Japanese legislative elections later this month, returning to Tokyo. The leader ordered his government to start revising the countrys national security strategy to adapt to North Koreas growing threats.

We cannot overlook North Koreas recent development in missile technology and its impact on the security of Japan and in the region, he said.

South Korean officials held a national security council meeting and expressed deep regret over the launch that came despite efforts to revive diplomacy. A strong South Korean response could anger North Korea, which has accused Seoul of hypocrisy for criticizing the Norths weapons tests while expanding its own conventional military capabilities.

The apparent site of the missile firing  a shipyard in Sinpo  is a major defense industry hub where North Korea focuses its submarine production. In recent years, the North has also used Sinpo to develop ballistic weapons systems designed to be fired from submarines.

A passerby watches a TV screen showing a news program reporting about North Korea's missile launch with file footage, in Tokyo, Tuesday, Oct. 19, 2021, North Korea fired a ballistic missile into the sea on Tuesday in a continuation of its recent weapons tests, the South Korean and Japanese militaries said, hours after the U.S. reaffirmed its offer to resume diplomacy on the Norths nuclear weapons program. The Japanese letters partially seen read: "Possible intercontinental ballistic missile." (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)

North Korea had last tested an SLBM in October 2019.

Analysts had expected the North to resume tests of such weapons after it rolled out at least two new SLBMs during military parades in 2020 and 2021. There have also been signs that the North is trying to build a larger submarine that would be capable of carrying and firing multiple missiles.

Japans Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihiko Isozaki said Tokyo has lodged a strong protest to North Korea through the usual channels, meaning their embassies in Beijing. Japan and North Korea have no diplomatic ties.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said the tensions on the Korean Peninsula were at a critical stage and called for a renewed commitment to diplomatically resolving the issue.

Ending a monthslong lull in September, North Korea has been ramping up its weapons tests while making conditional peace offers to Seoul, reviving a pattern of pressuring South Korea to try to get what it wants from the United States.

ADDS FILE FOOTAGE - A woman walks past a TV screen showing a file footage of a North Korean missile, in a news program in Tokyo, Tuesday, Oct. 19, 2021. North Korea fired a ballistic missile into the sea on Tuesday in a continuation of its recent weapons tests, the South Korean and Japanese militaries said, hours after the U.S. reaffirmed its offer to resume diplomacy on the Norths nuclear weapons program.(AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is developing submarine-launched ballistic missiles because he wants a more survivable nuclear deterrent able to blackmail his neighbors and the United States, said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor of international studies at Ewha Womans University in Seoul.

Easley added that North Korea cannot politically afford appearing to fall behind in a regional arms race with its southern neighbor.

North Koreas SLBM is probably far from being operationally deployed with a nuclear warhead, he added.

North Korea has been pushing hard for years to acquire an ability to fire nuclear-armed missiles from submarines, the next key piece in Kim Jong Uns arsenal that includes a broad range of road mobile missiles and ICBMs with potential range to reach the American homeland.

Still, experts say it would take years, resources and major technological improvements for the heavily sanctioned nation to build a fleet of at least several submarines that could travel quietly in seas and reliably execute strikes.

Within days, Bidens special envoy for North Korea, Sung Kim, is scheduled to meet with U.S. allies in Seoul over the prospects of reviving talks with North Korea.

Nuclear negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang have stalled for more than two years over disagreements in exchanging the release of crippling U.S.-led sanctions against North Korea and the Norths denuclearization steps.

But while North Korea is apparently trying to use South Koreas desire for inter-Korean engagement to extract concessions from Washington, analysts say Seoul has little wiggle room as the Biden administration is intent on keeping sanctions in place until the North makes concrete steps toward denuclearization.

The U.S. continues to reach out to Pyongyang to restart dialogue. Our intent remains the same. We harbor no hostile intent toward the DPRK and we are open to meeting without preconditions, Sung Kim told reporters on Monday.

Last week, Kim Jong Un reviewed powerful missiles designed to launch nuclear strikes on the U.S. mainland during a military exhibition and vowed to build an invincible military to cope with what he called persistent U.S. hostility. Earlier, Kim dismissed U.S. offers for resuming talks without preconditions as a cunning attempt to conceal its hostile policy on the North.

The country has tested various weapons over the past month, including a new cruise missile that could potentially carry nuclear warheads, and a developmental hypersonic missile.

The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said North Koreas latest launch did not pose an immediate threat to U.S. personnel, territory, or that of its allies.

___

AP writers Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo, Matthew Lee in Washington and AP video producer Liu Zheng in Beijing contributed to this report.
UTICA, N.Y. -- Sen. Joseph Griffo, R-47, is urging New Yorkers to vote no on one of the proposals that will appear on the ballot this November that could change the redistricting process.

In 2014, voters approved a referendum to allow redistricting to be conducted by an independent, bipartisan commission. Griffo says this proposal could lead to gerrymandering, which would favor the party in control.

New Yorkers previously supported a fair and independent redistricting process and having an independent commission free of political influence redraw legislative district lines, Sen. Griffo said. Now, the majorities have egregiously put forth modifications to the redistricting process that only serve to sustain their political superiority and will ultimately lead to perpetual power, which is not in the best interest of the state of New York.

A "yes" vote on the proposal would amend the state constitution to do the following:

Change the vote thresholds for adopting redistricting plans when one political party controls both legislative chambers;

Require that incarcerated persons be counted at the place of their last residence for redistricting;

Require the state to count residents, including people who are residents but not citizens, should the federal census fail to do so;

Remove the block-on-border requirement for Senate districts;

Cap the number of state senators at 63; and

Move up the timeline for redistricting and repeal inoperative language.

Dianne DiMeo, of the League of Women Voters of Utica/Rome, agrees with Griffo that the proposal would make redistricting a partisan process.

The current redistricting amendment ensures fair representation of the majority and minority parties by including a special voting process if the Assembly and Senate are both controlled by a single party. This proposition removes those fail-safe procedures so that maps only need to be approved by just a simple majority of Commissioners and Legislators, said DiMeo. The League is strictly nonpartisan and believes that all New Yorkers must be equally represented regardless of their party affiliation or non-affiliation. If a single party has the ability to control the approval of new legislative district lines, there is a much greater risk of gerrymandering.

The proposals for this year are located on the back of the paper ballots.
UTICA, N.Y. -- Assemblywoman Marianne Buttenschon invited the Assembly Chair of Puerto Rican and Hispanic Task Force, Assemblywoman Maritza Davila to the State Office building Monday.

Davila travels across New York state to meet with Hispanic and Latino communities to identify challenges they may face.

Members of the community were in attendance like Mayor Palmeri and the Mohawk Valley Latino Association.

The discussion was focused on community members voicing their struggles and concerns within the Hispanic and Latino communities.

It is so important to include everyone in the community in regards to what our needs are. My colleague, Assemblywoman Davila,by bringing her to Utica to see from a different lens, the different concerns, challenges and strides we have made within the Latino/Hispanic community says Buttenschon.

After Davilas visit to Utica, Buttenschon is hopeful that her colleagues will continue to show their support for upstate.
NEW HARTFORD, N.Y. -- A Utica man was charged after allegedly stealing clothes from Boscovs in Sangertown Square and then trying to steal a vehicle to flee from police.

New Hartford police were called to the store on Oct. 15 for a larceny report, but while on their way, they were notified that the suspect ran from the store down Commercial Drive to the parking lot of another business.

Police say the suspect, later identified as 34-year-old Matthew Linke, jumped into a parked vehicle with a 14-year-old waiting inside for the vehicle owner, who was inside the store. As Linke backed the vehicle out of the parking space, the teen jumped out.

Officers were able to stop Linke from leaving the parking lot and take him into custody.

He was charged with grand larceny, petit larceny and endangering the welfare of a child. Police say the grand larceny charge is for attempting to steal the vehicle.

Linke also had multiple outstanding warrants out of Utica, so he was turned over to the Utica Police Department.
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI)A new committee at Purdue aims at helping the university address sexual assault and misconduct. Students hope it will push larger systemic change.

Purdue's Student Government is working to help the university address safety issues taking place on campus. The group is creating a Safety, Accountability, and Fostering an Environment of Respect or SAFER committee.

"I love that. It's called an ad-hoc committee so the senate approved the creation of an ad-hoc committee in order to include students who aren't in student government so anyone on campus can join," said President for Purdue Student Government, Shannon Kang.

This formation follows the cancellation of several frat events due to a number of reported sexual assaults at fraternities back in September. Kang said fostering an environment of respect is critical on a college campus.

"You have to live and we all have fun but it has to be done in a respectful way and thinking about a boilermaker being harassed in that manner is really disheartening to me. It's disheartening to a lot of us," said Kang.

Kang said Purdue Student Government wants students to feel protected mentally physically with support from the campus community and Purdue Administration.

Purdue Junior, Chad Smitson said creating the committee is a step in the right direction.

"Obviously in everything diversity is important especially in protecting those who are you know in danger are usually minorities we need more representation on the people doing the protecting as well," said Smitson.

Chad is a part of the Political Discourse Club that aims at having open and safe discussions about taboo topics.

"Even though I know that I love Purdue I love the people who go here and I have lots of friends and I feel safe that's not true for everyone and that's awful," said Smitson.

The university senate is proposing a requirement for all students to pass a consent and misconduct module at the beginning of each academic year. Students will also complete a contract affirming Purdue's standards for consent and sexual misconduct.

To read the full proposal click here.
ATTICA, Ind. (WLFI)  A community radio station in Attica had its tower destroyed during a strong storm last week. Now, those who have worked at the station for over two decades are trying to figure out how to move forward. The founder of the station says they will continue their efforts to cover the community, regardless of what the future holds.

"That's why it's community radio because it's about the kids," said John Dill the President of WFWR 91.5.

For over 20 years, Jon Dill has been broadcasting to the Attica community out of a shed in his back yard and is 100 percent community-supported.

"We don't get paid we've never taken a dime none of our helpers or any of the other broadcast crew," said Dill. "They have all done it volunteer and that's just what we do."

The 72-year old's passion project has become a huge part of the Attica community. Last week. A nasty storm destroyed the tower the station broadcast from leaving WFWR off the air.

"By law, we have to file that we are what is called 'black' which means you are off the air and then you have six months to stay that way before your license comes up for retail."

At this time, Dill isn't sure if the station will ever be back on the air. Since the town of Attica isn't getting reimbursements from FEMA for damage caused by the storm, the owners of the tower aren't interested in re-building it.

"The owner doesn't want to rebuild the tower," said Dill. "So if we can't come up with something we will just stay streaming and still do our live sports."

Dill says without the internet, WFWR would no longer be able to serve the community.

"With the invention of the internet, it's going to help us," said Dill. "Normally if something like this would have happened 20 years ago we would have just had to lock the door."

Dill says if they can't find another broadcast tower, or if the tower they currently use isn't fixed, they will likely sell their FCC license and just continue to broadcast online and on Facebook. To listen to the station click here.
W&M alumna oversees quality control for Pfizers COVID-19 vaccine development

A sense of urgency: While working on clinical trials for Pfizer's vaccine, Gorman was facing a health challenge of her own that made her even more mindful of the pressing need for medical therapies from a patients perspective. Courtesy photo Photo - of - Hide Caption

Editors note: This article previews a feature in the Winter 2022 issue of W&M Alumni Magazine about alumni who have been involved in developing the COVID-19 vaccines produced by Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson.

As the world anxiously awaited the first COVID-19 vaccine, Colleen Gorman 95 played a crucial role at Pfizer in ensuring that correct practices were being followed during clinical trials and preventing any issues that arose from being repeated.

Gorman was facing a health challenge of her own in 2020 that made her even more mindful of the urgency of medical therapies from a patients perspective. She had been diagnosed with breast cancer after the onset of the pandemic and was undergoing treatment as clinical trials for the vaccine progressed.

Those two experiences paralleled each other, she says. It made me very aware that patients are waiting for these innovations and medicines that we're bringing to the market. So, when I go to work now, Im a little more conscious of how critical our timelines are, and how being able to shorten the timeline really does have a meaningful impact to a patient on the other end.

After producing the first vaccine to receive emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in December 2020 (and then full approval in August 2021), Pfizer and BioNTech received emergency use approval in May 2021 for their vaccine among adolescents between 12 and 15 years old. The FDA then amended the Pfizer-BioNTech emergency use authorization on Sept. 22 to allow a COVID-19 booster shot.

A few days later, Pfizer submitted to the agency initial results for clinical trials of its vaccine among children ages 5-11. After an FDA panel considers emergency use authorization on Oct. 26, the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine could become available for children in that age range in November.

The head of quality events and investigation for global product development at Pfizer, Gorman leads a team that conducts investigations when problems emerge and proposes corrective actions. A quality event, she explains, is an incident that occurs while a trial is being conducted that could affect the integrity of the data or infringe on a participants rights, such as an error in dosing or an incorrect version of an informed consent being signed.

We promptly investigate and perform root-cause analysis on these errors so that we can remediate the single instance and also ensure it is addressed more broadly to prevent recurrence at other sites or with other participants, she says.

For each incident, Gormans team analyzes the situation and develops corrective and preventive actions (known as CAPAs) and tracks them to completion. Given the fast pace of patient enrollment during the COVID-19 vaccine trials, it was especially important to intervene quickly and prevent any issues from reoccurring and having a bigger impact on the integrity of the trial or on patient safety, she says. For the COVID-19 trials, the timeline for managing a quality event was shortened from the typical 75 days to within 35 days.

Because so many subjects were enrolling so quickly, we wanted to make sure if there was an issue we identified it, resolved it and tried to prevent it before there were a lot more subjects enrolling in this study, Gorman says. So we modified our process to be as efficient as possible.

In addition to the COVID-19 vaccine, her team works on clinical trials for a variety of products in development, including therapies such as Palbociclib for breast cancer. But because of the size of the COVID-19 trials  involving over 44,000 patients at sites around the world  and the importance of working quickly, Pfizer assigned a group to focus solely on the vaccine.

It allowed them to get really familiar with the study and be able to move through their work much more quickly than if they were learning lots of different protocols, she says. People worked night and day on this program, especially leading up to the emergency use authorization, to get the studies finished as quickly as possible.

One challenge was to maintain the necessary quality controls during such a large trial in a compressed time frame.

As much as we were being very, very efficient and trying to look for opportunities to go faster and to do things in parallel, we also had to be careful not to cut corners in places that would jeopardize the safety of the subjects in the trial or the reliability of the results, so it was a fine line, Gorman says.

While working on the COVID-19 vaccine trials, Gorman took part in a clinical trial of her own related to her breast cancer treatment at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Coincidentally, Gorman had worked on managing clinical trials related to breast cancer as a research assistant at MSKCC after graduating from William & Mary in 1995.

It was an unusual coming full circle, she says. For me to be on the other side of it as a patient was also unique, since I'd always been on the side of managing the trial from the institutions perspective.

Because Gorman has worked on clinical trials for most of her career, she had decided that if she ever had a chance to enroll in a trial as a patient and saw a potential benefit, she would do it.

It was a nice opportunity to see it from the other side and feel like you are getting access to the newest care, while also providing information that will be valuable for future patients, she says.

As she underwent surgery and radiation, Gorman was out on medical leave for some of the time when Pfizers COVID-19 studies were being finalized in the fall of 2020.

Fortunately, the team was in a good position in terms of having processes in place and I had colleagues that were willing to step up for me, she says.

Because of restrictions related to the pandemic, Gorman was not able to have visitors when she was in the hospital for surgery. She now has completed active treatment and will be on oral therapy for the next five years.

My friends and family were great about supporting me from afar in any way they could, including lots of my friends from William & Mary that Im still very close with, she says. They checked on me on a regular basis and really sustained me.

Among Gormans closest friends are women she met in her freshman dorm, Yates Hall, and members of her sorority, Gamma Phi Beta.

Even though I left Williamsburg and came back to New York and have been in New York ever since, I still feel like that experience was so formative and that these people I met are still so much a part of my life, she says.

Gorman, who is from New York Citys Queens borough, says that when she was deciding where to apply to college, she wanted to go somewhere very different from the urban environment where she grew up. She was drawn to William & Marys beautiful, relatively small campus and top-notch academic reputation. She majored in biology and English, a combination that has served her well.

Certainly the biology major prepares you for the hard science component of going into a career in health care, but health care is also about how you interact with people, how you communicate and how you solve problems, she says. I think that the liberal arts education background at William & Mary lends itself well to those kinds of skills.

Gorman went on to earn a master of public health in health policy and management from Columbia Universitys Mailman School of Public Health. She began her career at Pfizer in 1998 as a clinical study manager and took on roles of increasing responsibility in study management and clinical operations. After leaving for a little over a year in 2007 to join PricewaterhouseCoopers as a management consultant in pharmaceutical research and development, she returned to Pfizer as a clinical protocol manager. Shes been in her current position since 2016.

Her advice to students majoring in biology or another science field is to think outside of a traditional career path such as working in a laboratory.

There are lots of different ways that you can work within science and apply your skills, she says. As a biology major, I didnt know that this world of clinical trials existed. I sort of fell into it through a summer job that I had at Sloan Kettering. I also think that having a liberal arts degree allows you to flex and apply those skills in different places.

Since graduating from William & Mary, Gorman has remained connected to her alma mater through the New York City Alumni Network, including serving a term as a board member. On June 30, Gorman participated in a panel discussion about vaccine development, boosters and preparing children for the school year and beyond with Dr. Lee Savio Beers 92, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, and Melissa J. Moore 84, chief scientific officer of platform research at Moderna Inc. Dr. David Dafashy, medical director and staff physician at the W&M Student Health Center, moderated the discussion.

Asked what lasting lessons can be learned from the pandemic, Gorman says, I hope it has taught us that we have to be more prepared. In the beginning, it seemed like there was a lack of preparedness, which created a lot of challenges for us as we were trying as a nation to figure out how to navigate this. I think it has strengthened a respect for science and a respect for the contributions that science can make.
Screen image captured at Beijing Aerospace Control Center in Beijing, capital of China, Oct 16, 2021 shows China's Shenzhou XIII crewed spaceship having successfully docked with the radial port of the space station core module Tianhe. [Xinhua]

China's landmark six-month journey in space has left many curious about the differences between men and women astronauts.

Wang Yaping, a 41-year-old woman astronaut from Shandong Province in East China, became the first Chinese woman to enter China's space station after the trio settled inside the Tianhe core module last week.

"Astronauts need to meet high physical and emotional standards, so women astronauts will not be exempt from this expectation," said Pang Zhihao, a spaceflight researcher in Beijing and a former analyst at the China Academy of Space Technology.

"Contrary to many people's opinion that it is inconvenient for women to take part in lengthy spaceflights, women astronauts actually have many advantages over their men counterparts in extended missions," Pang said.

"Research and previous missions with women crew members have found many physiological indices in women such as hormonal levels and trace elements are better than those in men. They are less susceptible to negative conditions such as iron poisoning, thrombus, vasospasm and arrhythmia.

"Women are usually more sensitive, attentive and careful in many regards, and normally are better at communicating. These traits are useful assets in extended flights. The presence of a woman astronaut brings more to a demanding mission," Pang said, noting he looks forward to Wang's success.

Wang was selected for the Shenzhou XIII mission in December 2019. The selection process and training for both men and women astronauts are the same, because spaceflight missions are arduous. The assessments take into account each candidate's physical fitness, flight experience, willpower and mental conditions.

The mission will also see Wang become China's first woman spacewalker, conducting multiple extravehicular activities outside the station during her stay.

"This is not only an honor, but is also an opportunity for us to research the various advantages women astronauts have when walking outside the vehicle," Pang said. "Their generally smaller size is an advantage, as they'll be able to control their weight better and thus perform a wider variety of tasks."

In addition, astronauts frequently conduct indoor experiments, and Wang Yaping is no different there.

"She plans to study aerospace medicine and space life to prepare future women astronauts for long-term stays in space," Pang said.

In June 2013, Wang took part in the Shenzhou X mission, which lasted nearly 15 days, and gave China's first space-based lecture to Chinese students from inside the Tiangong I experimental module.

As part of her mission, she is expecting to give her second space-based lecture during her stay.

In order to better accommodate Wang for her journey, Tianzhou 3, a cargo spacecraft carrying supplies to the China space station, has sent her sanitary supplies and a few non-toxic cosmetics.

A tailor-made spacesuit was also prepared for Wang's extravehicular activities, lighter than the man's variant.

(Source: chinadaily.com.cn)
The Democratic-controlled Senate voted Monday to confirm the fifth circuit court judge with a background as a public defender on President Joe Bidens watch.
Face coverings back in lessons for some pupils due to upturn in confirmed cases

A school in Wrexham has adjusted its face covering policy  with another recovering from an exceptional few days that saw 17 staff off for various reasons.

On Monday the Maelor School in Penley wrote to parents and students explaining that due to an upturn in the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the school, most notably in Years 8, 10 and 11 changes were being made to the face cover policy.

The school said, However, following consultation with the local authority, we are recommending that face coverings should be worn around school and in lessons.

We asked Wrexham Council about that discussion and if the face covering guidance was being rolled out across all schools in Wrexham or if it was a decision for schools to make.

The council told us, Where the number of cases hits certain triggers, heads are being advised to temporarily re-instate some of the safeguards that they may have previously relaxed. Its the expected approach across all schools and LAs in Wales.

Officially the Welsh Government advice on face coverings in schools states:

We no longer recommend the routine use of face coverings in the classroom for staff or learners. Schools may wish to encourage their use in areas where there is likely to be more social mixing, such as in communal areas. As part of their risk assessment process, schools will be able to decide whether the use of face coverings for staff or secondary learners is appropriate based on their own circumstances, supported by public health officials, and in discussion with local authorities. Face coverings should continue to be worn by learners in secondary schools when travelling on dedicated school transport. This aligns with the continuing requirement for all passengers aged 11 years and over to wear face coverings on public transport. This does not apply to younger children in primary schools and in early years settings. If anyone wishes to wear a face covering for personal reasons anywhere in the school they should be permitted to do so. This may help support their wider well-being, reduce anxiety and provide additional reassurance for some individuals alongside other mitigating measures.

In the letter the school detailed the symptoms of coronavirus, and reiterated that parents should arrange for a PCR test immediately for the pupil and not send them to school, Anyone else in your household with any of these three key symptoms should also isolate and take a PCR test. If any member of your household has tested positive for COVID-19, we also recommend that your child should undertake a daily lateral flow test every day for seven days in addition to PCR tests on Day 2 and Day 8. This should start on the day a member of your household is confirmed positive from a lateral flow or PCR test result.

Anyone with a positive test result should follow the rules set out at gov.wales/self isolation. If the test is negative, your child can return to school as soon as they feel better.

Simon Ellis the Headteacher, added, We know how disruptive the last year has been for everyone. This year we want to keep your child in school as much as possible, but we also want to keep our schools and communities safe from the effects of COVID-19

Yesterday Ysgol Clywedog announced a full return for the entire school, after announcing a exceptional measures and a partial closure last week after explaining on the 14th that they had 17 members of staff absent due to general absences, general illness and illness related to Covid-19

At the time they noted, We have attempted to secure the services of supply teachers to address the above shortfall but the growing impact of the spread of the Covid-19 virus means that the demand from all secondary schools in the region for these temporary cover teachers has dramatically increased in recent days. 

You can read the Welsh Government guidance for schools on https://gov.wales/schools-coronavirus-guidance but check with schools for more local policies.
Local councillor hits out over secret talks on Wrexhams city status bid

A local councillor has hit out at talks over Wrexhams city status being held in secret.

Wrexham Council revealed in July it was considering entering a competition for UK towns to upgrade their status as part of plans to mark the Queens Platinum Jubilee next year.

Senior councillors have argued Wrexham has a strong case as the largest town in North Wales, despite missing out on city status in 2000, 2002 and 2012.

However, the local authoritys ruling executive board has been accused of keeping councillors and members of the public in the dark over the process.

It follows an update recently being provided to members of Wrexhams Civic Leadership Group, which Wrexham.com noted, concerned whether or not a bid would deliver economic benefits for the area.

Plaid Cymru group leader Marc Jones said the information was supplied as a report during the private meeting but the councils chief executive stressed only a verbal update was given.

Cllr Jones said: The Tory-independent coalition running Wrexham Council has started a process to bid for city status.

Part one of that process was to commission consultants to assess the benefits and disbenefits of city status.

That report has, Im told, been presented to the civic leadership group  an unelected body that meets in secret and does not publish minutes.

I can only guess that the consultants report doesnt provide the necessary evidence to back a case for city status. Surely if it did, wed have been told by now.

This is a council that is making decisions without involving elected members, without sharing important information and failing to engage with the people on an important issue such as city status.

The civic leadership group is made up of figureheads from a number public and voluntary organisations across Wrexham, along with local businesses.

Cllr Jones said backbench politicians were due to receive an update on the bid during a confidential meeting being held today.

He added he had asked for information to be supplied in advance but his request was denied.

The councils chief executive said members of the public would be consulted before a bid is made.

Ian Bancroft said: No report has been shared with the civic leadership group.

They have received a verbal update as we have been trying to keep all stakeholders updated.

There is a member workshop on Tuesday where councillors will have all the up to date information made available to them for work so far at the start of the public engagement exercise.

The last time Wrexham went for city status in 2012, it was pipped to the post by St Asaph, despite the Denbighshire towns much smaller population.

The latest potential application has been welcomed by business leaders, who described it as a once-in-a-generation opportunity.

And Wrexhams chances were recently boosted by the news that Merthyr Tydfil, the only other Welsh town in the running, had pulled out.

However, Plaid Cymru councillors have blasted the bid as a daft idea following a negative reaction from some residents on social media.

By Liam Randall  BBC Local Democracy Reporter
Minister hits back at claims that plans to boost the Welsh economy are an admission of a quarter of a century of failure

Wales economy minister has hit back at claims that proposals to pursue a progressive economic policy are an admission of a quarter of a century of failure by the Welsh Government.

It comes after plans for a Team Wales approach to helping the Welsh economy recover from the coronavirus pandemic were unveiled on Tuesday by Economy Minister Vaughan Gething.

At a hybrid Economic Summit, the minister invited businesses, trades unions and local government leaders to discuss how Wales can create a stronger, fairer, greener economic future.

Mr Gething said the Welsh Government will also start a conversation about the long term demographic challenge facing the Welsh economy, with the proportion of the population aged 16 to 64 years old in Wales has decreasing year-on-year since mid-2008.

It is feared the demographic would make up just 58% of the population by 2043.

In response, Welsh Government say their approach will be geared towards creating an economy where more young people feel confident about planning their future in Wales thus supporting job creation and more dynamic local economies.

However the plans have been criticised by the Welsh Conservatives, who have described the Welsh Governments vision as amounting to an admission of a quarter of a century of failure.

Commenting, Welsh Conservative and Shadow Economy Minister Paul Davies MS said: After running health, education, and economic development in Wales for a quarter of a century, it is refreshing to see Labour finally admit the problems they have failed to address like the brain drain that has left our businesses and public services falling behind elsewhere in the UK.

Sadly, they still do not have a plan to stop young people leaving as we see good jobs remain concentrated in Cardiff or outside Wales altogether and road building put indefinitely on hold rather than give workers the infrastructure they need to grow the economy.

At the same time, Mr Gething is obsessed with shoehorning Brexit into the conversation as a negative, but his governments failure to translate its addiction to EU money into substantive and valued change demands the new approach for which people voted.

If Labour were actually interested in creating a strong Welsh economy, the least they can do is stop obsessing about the constitution, focus on priorities by engaging in levelling up through road improvements, cut outdated business rates, and strengthen cross-border economic links.

During this afternoons Welsh Government press conference Mr Gething criticised the Welsh Conservatives comments, describing the response as typical of the party.

He said: It doesnt really reflect the reality of where we are in the history of devolution, productivity has risen, wages have risen.

Our challenge is that we still need to do more and to travel faster. If you look at employment rates in Wales today, theyre better than the UK average, that wasnt the case 20 years ago at the start with the devolution journey.

At the start of each term its important that you look again at where you are and consider what to do. If we hadnt set out at this point in time at the tail end of the pandemic, hopefully, what we want to do about recovery and resilience, the Welsh economy than the Welsh conservatives would have simply issued a different press release criticising us for not having a plan.

Whats important is we have set out what were going to do, we need to see choices made in the UK spending review and budget that enable us to make those choices here in Wales.

But we have a really firm base to build on with businesses, trade unions and local government, as active and trusted partners.

And that team Wales approach will be the basis upon which we build the fairer, greener transition that we all want to see here in Wales.

He also called on the UK Government to ensure that decisions over how replacement EU funding for Wales will be spent are made in Wales.

Mr Gething added that that the Welsh Governments plans for the Welsh economy will be made significantly more difficult if the UK does not honour its promises made on EU successive funds for Wales.

He said: Our framework for investing replacement EU funds builds on years of partner engagement and is based on evidence and agreement with clear priorities for Wales. This is what a Team Wales approach looks like.

Instead, we remain in the dark about funding for Wales and what we will received from the UK government that has so far been missing in action.

The upcoming spending review is an opportunity for the UK Government to demonstrate its ambition for Wales.

So I call on the chancellor and on Michael Gove to ensure that Wales will make decisions about how our EU replacement funds are spent.
MP calls roundtable discussion on town centre issues  MS disputes claim ASB is on the rise

Wrexham MP Sarah Atherton has written to Lesley Griffiths MS, Leader of Wrexham Council Cllr Mark Pritchard, and Police Inspector Luke Hughes to invite them to a meeting to discuss the ongoing crime and anti-social behaviour issues in the town centre.

In her invitation, Ms Atherton said that it was an opportune time when the profile of Wrexham is on the rise and we emerge from the Covid-19 pandemic. She added that she hoped all involved could sit down together and work closely for the benefit of all Wrexham residents, businesses and the future of the town.

Commenting on the invitations, Ms Atherton said, Anti-social behaviour and crime have long been prevalent issues in Wrexham, but with the Covid-19 pandemic and the support measures in place, many residents, including myself, saw distinct improvements across the town. However, residents and businesses are now telling me that they worried that anti-social behaviour and crime are rising once again, which needs direct and rapid action.

I have already spoken out about a number of recent issues, such as the lack of public toilet facilities in the town centre, which many view as a cause of the public urination issues, and I now want to bring those that have the power to make the changes together. I hope that all those invited will look upon my invitation positively because, after all, we are all working for the betterment of Wrexham.

Significantly, North Wales Police have now been awarded 339,000 under the UK Governments Safer Streets Fund, which is good news for Wrexham and will be a first step towards making Wrexham a safer and more welcoming town. Going forward, I also want to make sure that this funding is used wisely to ensure that those communities in Wrexham affected by increased anti-social behaviour and crime feel the benefit as soon as possible.

We asked Wrexham Council and Lesley Griffiths MS if they intend to attend the summit, and if they were aware of any increase in ASB/crime as referenced, and if so what form that had taken and what response is underway.

Lesley Griffiths MS said, Due to diary commitments, I am unable to attend Mrs Athertons proposed meeting.

Personally, however, I have seen little evidence to suggest anti-social behaviour is on the rise in Wrexham town centre, with no constituents raising such concerns with me in recent months.

Earlier this month, I accompanied Inspector Hughes on a walkabout in the town centre and as I regularly meet with the police, I am able to raise any concerns I or my constituents have directly.

We are told Wrexham Council intend to attend.

Later, Council Leader Pritchard told us he had received the invitation, I have altered my diary, and will be attending as it is so important we work together to improve the town centre, and Wrexham as a whole.
Royal Logistic Corp starts to drive ambulances in Wales from today

The Armed Forces will begin to support the Welsh Ambulance Service from today.

Fifty troops from 4 Regiment Royal Logistic Corp will drive ambulances across Wales from today having undergone training at Newports Raglan Barracks on the weekend.

They will be joined in the next week by a further 50 personnel from the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force.

A 29-strong team of supporting personnel will make a total of 129 soldiers, sailors and airmen supporting the Trust until the end of November.

Lee Brooks, the Trusts Director of Operations, said: Were proud and grateful to have the military working alongside us once again, who did a superb job of assisting us on two occasions previously last year.

Having our Armed Forces colleagues back on board will help us put more ambulances on duty so we can get to more patients, more quickly, while the extreme pressure continues.

Essentially, theyll work with one of our clinicians on an emergency ambulance responding to the full range of emergency calls.

The winter period is our busiest time, and having military support will bolster our capacity and put us in the best possible position to provide a safe service to the people of Wales.

Major Alex Wilson, Officer Commanding 60 Close Support Squadron, Queens Own Gurkha Logistic Regiment, 4 Regiment Royal Logistic Corps, said: Over the weekend we spent time training with the paramedics and emergency medical technicians to familiarise ourselves with the ambulances, equipment and processes to make sure we can assist in the best way we can.

The soldiers are ready to begin the task we have been deployed to do in Wales.

Its a privilege to be working with our Welsh Ambulance Service colleagues in supporting the NHS in Wales to ease the pressures that currently exist.

It is the third time that the military have supported the service through the pandemic as part of the Military Aid to the Civil Authorities (MACA) arrangement.

More than 200 British Army soldiers have already assisted the Trusts Covid-19 effort by driving and decontaminating ambulance vehicles as part of Operation Rescript.

Among them were 90 soldiers from 9 Regiment Royal Logistic Corps, who were enlisted on Christmas Eve at the height of the second wave of the pandemic.

More broadly, more than 20,000 military personnel have been supporting public services across the UK during the pandemic as part of a COVID Support Force.

Secretary of State for Wales, Simon Hart, proactively wrote to Eluned Morgan on 13th September offering similar help to Wales as in parts of England that had seen Armed Forces personnel to assist ambulance services  with a spokesperson telling us last month the UK government is supportive of the Welsh Ambulance Services request, alongside the Welsh Government  the outcome of which is presumably seen today.
This past Saturday in front of the US Capitol, President Joe Biden, flanked by dozens of police officers, gave remarks hailing the US Capitol Police as saviors of democracy, while memorializing police officers lost in the line of duty.

Because of you, democracy survived, said Biden, while he avoided the obvious question posed in his remarks: what is the state of American democracy that a few hundred deliberately ill-equipped and unprepared Capitol Police officers were all that stood between the US Congress and a fascist mob.

Philadelphia police restrain a man during the Justice for George Floyd Philadelphia Protest, May 30, 2020. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

While memorializing the 491 police who were killed in the line of duty in 2019-2020, Biden failed to mention the more than 2,000 civilians killed by police during that same period of time. That disparity is even greater considering that in 2020, a large majority of police officer deaths on duty were caused by COVID-19, and many others were due to traffic accidents and heart attacks during strenuous physical activity. Contrary to the media depiction, occupations like commercial fishing, truck driving, farming, lumber and construction are far more dangerous than policing.

Biden did not bother to explain the contradiction between the threat to democracy revealed on January 6, and the indifference and unwillingness of his administration and the Democratic Party to fight back against those responsible, or even conduct a serious investigation.

Nor did he address the fact that the vast majority of policemenon whom, according to him, democracy dependsgave their political support to the would-be Fuhrer Donald Trump, who has deliberately pitched his appeals to policemen, Border Patrol and immigration agents, prison guards and other repressive personnel.

The event Biden was addressing was organized by the far-right Fraternal Order of Police, which endorsed Trump in 2016 and 2020, and would undoubtedly do so again in 2024, despite his effort to overthrow the Constitution on January 6.

Only the day before Bidens appearance, Capitol Police officer Michael Riley was arrested. He was indicted by a federal grand jury on two counts of obstruction for attempting to help a January 6 insurrectionist obscure his involvement in the coup attempt. The charging papers allege that Riley, through social media, contacted and advised the coup participant to delete his incriminating social media posts, which showed him storming the Capitol and smoking marijuana inside the building.

In the indictment, the grand jury alleges that on January 1, 2021 Riley, through a Facebook fishing group, became friends with a Person 1, who while unnamed in the indictment is believe to be Jacob Hiles, a Virginia Beach-based boat captain who was arrested on January 19 and pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor offense for his actions, according to Politico. The charging papers allege that after becoming friends with Person 1 on January 7, Riley sent him a Facebook message in response to a selfie-style photograph Person 1 posted, along with video and other commentary in which Person 1 established they participated in the attempted coup, including storming the Capitol building.

Hey [Person 1], im a capitol police officer who agrees with your political stance, Riley allegedly wrote. Take down the part about being in the building they are currently investigating and everyone who was in the building is going to [be] charged.

Just looking out! Riley added.

The indictment alleges Riley and the insurrectionists exchanged dozens of direct messages following Rileys initial outreach and at least one phone call. In one exchange, Riley invited Person 1 to stay at my house ... for free the next time he was in Washington D.C. and that: If you want to see the capitol building, lets do it legally next time  I know a guy who can get you a tour  lol. Its behind you now  lesson learned! Just ask your attorney whats next.

While Riley, it appears at this time, did not actively engage in Trumps attempted coup, his attempts to protect this particular insurrectionist speaks to the wider sympathy Trumps fascist politics have within not only the Capitol Police, many of whom were witnessed assisting or offering only limp resistance to the mob on January 6.

Trump, and the Republican Party as a whole, are specifically and deliberately cultivating a base of support among petty-bourgeois elements, the police and military. It was these forces, which included neo-Nazis, militia members, and current and former police and military members, who stormed the Capitol on January 6. An April analysis from ABC News identified 52 police as having participated in the attack on the Capitol.

The overlap between police and fascist militias was further brought to light with the hack of far-right web hosting service Epik by the Anonymous hacking collective last month. The hack included roughly five gigabytes of data from the Oath Keepers militia group. The data includes archived messages from members, state chapter leaders, as well as an email list containing more than 38,000 email addresses. Some of these addresses are tied to names, physical addresses, phone numbers, IP addresses and donation amounts. Official US military email accounts are also listed in the breach according to the Daily Dot.

As of this writing, at least 22 Oath Keepers have been charged for their role in the January 6 attack, with at least 18 Oath Keepers facing conspiracy charges for attempting to thwart the certification of the Electoral College vote.

On Friday, an analysis from Oregon Public Broadcasting found that dozens of current and former police officers, sheriffs deputies, corrections officers, and members of the military police have been members of the Oath Keepers since its founding in 2009.

In September, online publication Gothamist , analyzing the same data, found dozens of email addresses linked to the New York Police Department. Last week, Gothamist reported that it linked emails in the Epik leak to Oath Keeper members whose data matched the names, phone area codes and addresses of roughly 20 police and corrections officers who were active within the last two years. The same investigation found roughly 15 people who identified themselves as having prior military experiences while three other people appear in a payroll database of federal government employees from 2020, including one listed with the Department of Homeland Security, according to Gothamist . The fascist Oath Keeper militia was founded by Yale-educated lawyer and former Army paratrooper Elmer Stewart Rhodes and former sheriff and fascist, Richard Mack. Mack is also the founder of the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association, a fascist network of sheriffs that upholds a false reading of the constitution that promotes the notion that local sheriffs are the ultimate constitutional authority granted unlimited power to enforce laws as they see fit.

Last week, The LAist reported that Riverside Sheriff Chad Bianco was among those identified in the Epik leak as having been a member of the Oath Keepers. In an interview with the publication, Bianco defended the fascist group and claimed that the leading role the Oath Keepers played on January 6 was just the result of a few fringe people.

They certainly dont promote violence and government overthrow. They stand for protecting the Constitution, Bianco claimed. When questioned by LAist if there was election fraud in the 2020 election, Bianco responded, Do I know there is election fraud? Yes I do, and anybody that says there isnt is naive or politically motivated. Do I know whether or not there was enough of it to affect the outcome? That I do not know.

In the months following Trumps coup, far from going after Trump and his accomplices or bolstering the democratic rights of the population through aggressive legislation meant to curtail Republican assaults on voting rights, the Democratic Party and Biden have pleaded for unity with their Republican colleagues, abandoned voting rights legislation entirely and any attempts at reforming the police, responsible for over 1,000 deaths a year.

Instead, Biden, pledged and encouraged more funding for the police, including, as he explained to the assembled cops on Saturday, his American Rescue Plan, supposedly to fight the COVID emergency, which included $350 billion in aid to cities, states, counties, Tribes, to hire and retain officers.
Facing deepening working-class opposition to the corporate-driven assault on jobs, working conditions and public health, in the global COVID-19 pandemic, Australias parliament rushed through blatantly anti-democratic electoral laws in late August.

Bob Hawke, 1982 [WSWS Media]

These laws suddenly escalate legislation that was first introduced by a Labor government in 1983amid convulsive working-class unrestto compel political parties to register with the electoral authorities, in order to have their party names on ballot papers.

By trebling, from 500 to 1,500, the number of members previously required to be officially recognised, the latest laws seek to strip party registration from all political parties, including the Socialist Equality Party (SEP), that do not currently have parliamentary representation.

The 500-member rule was itself an anti-democratic provision, introduced by the Hawke-Keating Labor government, to try to prop up the parliamentary establishment, for which popular support was already crumbling, due to growing social inequality and declining working and living conditions.

The March 1983 election was a turning point in the breakup of the post-World War II, two-party duopoly, of Labor and the Liberal-National Coalition. Labor won office in a landslide, but only because of the virtual disintegration of the previous Fraser Liberal government, which had been unable to contain workers struggles since being installed via the 1975 governor-generals dismissal of the Whitlam Labor government.

The primary vote for the two major parties collectively slumped to 93 percent in the House of Representatives (from 96 percent in 1949) and to 85 percent in the Senate, where smaller parties had a greater chance of winning seats. In the Senate, 10 percent went to the Australian Democratsa third party breakawayand 5 percent to 15 other parties, including the first-ever appearance of the Greens, who postured as a progressive alternative.

A few months earlier, in October 1982, amid a global economic slump, thousands of miners and steelworkers had demonstrated outside Canberras parliament house, eventually bursting through the doors, in a protest against mass sackings.

In February 1983, with the election looming, Bob Hawke was installed as Labor Party leader, via a party-room coup. His essential task was to end such working-class resistance to global corporate restructuring by implementing a tripartist partnership between the unions, big business and the government.

Then, as now, the party registration scheme was designed to shore up the two-party system, by placing obstacles to the formation of new parties, and was aimed in particular at preventing a political break by the working class with the Labor Party.

It was accompanied by the Labor governments swift signing of a corporatist Prices and Incomes Accord with the trade unions. The unions then began to enforce a ruthless further onslaught on workers jobs, conditions and basic rights, provoking widespread disaffection and opposition among workers.

Throughout the 1980s, workers entered into struggles to defend their wages and conditions, only to be isolated and betrayed by the unionsfrom the 1985-86 dismantling of the Builders Labourers Federation and the sacking of the SEQEB workers in Brisbane, to the 1986 Robe River mining dispute in Western Australia, and the use of the armed forces to break the national pilots strike in 1989.

The unions shut down workers factory committees or turned them into pliant instruments of management. Militant workers were victimised, ending any semblance of democracy inside the unions. Meanwhile, Labors privatisation program handed over public assets, including the Commonwealth Bank, to corporate owners, echoing the brutal program initiated in the US by Reagan and in Britain under Thatcher.

Because of these bitter experiences by working people, the 1983 legislation proved unsuccessful in bolstering the parliamentary order. The share of votes going to Labor and the Coalition continued to fallto 75 percent in 2019with Labors vote dropping to a new-record low of 33 percent.

This decline reflected mounting hostility to the bipartisan pro-business program. And it has continued, despite the 1983 laws also providing for state funding of political parties, in a bid to prop up the flagging finances of the old parties, due to the disintegration of their memberships.

From a total of $12 million in the 1984 election, these government payments soared to $70 million in 2019, with the vast bulk going to Labor and the Coalition.

This was on top of huge, officially-reported big business donations in 2019, totalling $109 million for Labor and the Coalition. Most came from corporate entities, including mining companies and banks, which often gave to both parties.

Fees to stand candidates have also sky-rocketed, deliberately adding barriers to parties that lack this corporate underwriting. For a party to nominate candidates for all House of Representative and Senate seats, in a double dissolution election, would cost $454,000.

State funding serves another purpose. It gives the authorities broad powers to pry into the affairs of all parties. On the pretext of checking financial disclosures, the AEC can require parties to provide financial reports and statements irrespective of their receipt of state funding.

The SEP has never applied for, nor accepted, state funding but is still compelled to provide detailed financial records on all aspects of the party's funds. In addition, the Electoral Commission can obtain search and seizure orders, demand the production of documents, and require evidence to be given under oath.

Why now, after nearly 40 years, have these measures, aimed at shoring up the political order, been dramatically escalated?

Even more than in the 1980s, the ruling class and its political servants face intensifying resistance to this accelerating corporate offensive. The drive to reopen the economy and force the population to live with the virus, for the sake of business profitsdespite the certainty of widespread infections, hospitalisations and deathsis producing a new upsurge of the global class struggle, combined with profound political disaffection.

In 1983, the Socialist Labour League, the forerunner of the SEP, took a principled stand in opposing the party registration laws. Now, against an ongoing blackout in the corporate media, the SEP is conducting a concerted campaign to demand the repeal of these laws and all restrictions on the democratic right of parties and individuals to stand in elections.

At the same time, we appeal to workers and youth: Become an electoral member of the SEP to help us retain our registration, and take the fight for a socialist program to the widest possible audience.
Nurses at an Allina Health facility in Plymouth, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis, launched a three-day strike October 17 over pay and benefits. The 48 nurses, who work at a WestHealth emergency department and urgent care facility, recently joined the Minnesota Nurses Association (MNA) but are part of a separate bargaining unit from Allinas 4,000 nurses, leading to a disparity in pay between the groups of workers.

Picket line in Plymouth, MN (Source: Minnesota Nurses Association via Twitter)

Workers rejected a previous agreement and voted by a supermajority on October 6 to authorize a strike. In a press release, Allina declared, We previously reached a contract settlement that was unanimously recommended by the unions bargaining team. Unfortunately, the union could not finalize that agreement.

One of the issues that helped trigger the strike was the refusal of Allina to grant additional pay for summer holidays and Thanksgiving. Currently, unlike other Allina nurses, the WestHealth nurses do not receive this. In an interview with WCCO News, WestHealth nurse Sonya Worner said, Theyre telling us if these 48 nurses were to receive summer holiday pay, that Allina somehow feels committed, that theyll also have to provide that to the noncontract employees. And frankly, we think they should.

Nurses have been working understaffed, leading to grueling conditions as patients flood the hospital due to the pandemic. More than half of the hospitals across the state are at 95 percent capacity or higher, and there are only 8 unused ICU beds remaining in the entire Minneapolis-Saint Paul metro area, home to more than 3.6 million people.

With contracts for 4,000 Allina nurses and an additional 10,000 nurses at other healthcare systems coming up in 2022, the MNA has not given any indication that the WestHealth nurses will be incorporated into a broader bargaining unit.

For years, this has been the hallmark of the MNA union, which has worked to divide nurses and bar the way to a unified struggle against the companies. In the 2016 contract negotiations, the MNA signed contracts with the other healthcare systems and left the Allina nurses to strike alone. Nurses rejected the same contract three times before the MNA finally wore down their resistance and forced through a concessionary contract.

In the 2019 contract struggle, while nurses sought a united front against the hospitals, the MNA dribbled out separate agreements one by one, leaving Allina nurses to be the last unit to settle.

Allina has shut down its emergency department and urgent care facilities at WestHealth and is directing traffic to its other facilities, where the MNA is essentially forcing nurses to act as strikebreakers.

This demonstrates that the MNA functions not as an organization to advance the interests of nurses, but as a junior partner of Allina management. The healthcare unions throughout the country have played the same role. In Massachusetts, the Massachusetts Nurses Association has isolated nurses at St. Vincent Hospital in Worcester on the picket line for 8 months, even as hospital management hires hundreds of permanent replacements and is moving to unilaterally impose the contract.

All nurses and workers in general must come to the defense of the WestHealth nurses. City workers in Minneapolis and St. Paul have issued strike authorizations indicating that the WestHealth nurses are not alone.

We call on workers to look to the example of autoworkers, educators and other workers who have begun to establish rank-and-file committees to take the direction of their struggles out of the hands of the pro-company labor bureaucracies.
Speaking yesterday to the Financial Times of London, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg demanded that the military alliance intensify its threats against China. His remarks highlighted both the extremely aggressive policy pursued by the NATO alliance and explosive divisions emerging among the NATO imperialist powers.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg addresses the Annual Session of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly at a hotel in Lisbon, Monday, Oct. 11, 2021. (AP Photo/Armando Franca)

Stoltenberg spoke as tensions mount between Washington and the European Union (EU), especially France, after the sudden signing of the Australia-UK-US (AUKUS) alliance against China. The alliance, which Washington negotiated for months without notifying the EU powers, led Australia to repudiate a 56 billion submarine contract with France. Paris briefly withdrew its ambassador to the United States in protest, and top French officials, echoed by several EU foreign ministers, criticized AUKUS.

Stoltenberg was returning from a meeting with Biden in Washington, where he also spoke at Georgetown University, provocatively demanding that NATO step up and do more to allow countries on Russias borders to join the NATO alliance. His Financial Times interview was a barely disguised message from the White House calling for the EU powers to fall in line with the mounting US war drive targeting China.

NATO, Stoltenberg insisted, should target not only Russia but China as well. He criticized this whole idea of in a way distinguishing so much between China, Russia, either Asia-Pacific or Europe, adding, its one big security environment, and we have to address it all together.  Its about strengthening our alliance to face any potential threat.

He denounced China, claiming it was a major security threat in Europe. China is coming closer to us, for instance, in Africa. We see them in the Arctic. We see them in cyber space. We see China investing heavily in critical infrastructure in our countries. Of course, the fact that they have more and more longer-range weapons that can reach all NATO allied countries.  They are building many, many silos for long-range intercontinental ballistic missiles.

He announced that at next years NATO summit in Madrid, NATO would directly target China and discuss China potentially overtaking the United States as the worlds largest economy. I expect that when we meet in Madrid the rise of China, the impact of China and the shifting the balance of power has on NATO will be thoroughly addressed in the new strategic concept, among other topics. China is not mentioned in one single word in NATOs current strategic concept, he complained.

Turning to the EU, Stoltenberg insisted that as they spend billions more on their armed forces, EU powers should avoid any competition with NATO. NATO and the EU are working together, and we should not create any kind of contradiction, he said.

Asked about plans for an independent EU army championed by Berlin and Paris since the election of Donald Trump in 2016, Stoltenberg described them as potential threats to NATO security: There are different interpretations of what [a European army] means.  If this means more European soldiers, battleships, drones, fighter jets, then its something we strongly welcome and urge. If it means new structures competing for the same capabilities, then it will undermine our security. But I have been assured that is not the plan. So, we dont need new structures.

He also dismissed concerns in Paris over AUKUS. I understand that France is disappointed.  But at the same time, this is an agreement which is not directed against Europe or NATO.

Stoltenbergs brief for military confrontation with China is a pack of lies and cynical evasions. First, the threat of war, including nuclear war, comes above all from NATO, not China or Russia. Since the Soviet bureaucracy dissolved the Soviet Union in 1991, NATO has constantly expanded its reach, waging bloody wars in Iraq, Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Syria, Libya, and beyond that cost millions of lives and left these countries shattered. NATO deploys troops on Russias and Chinas bordersin the Baltics, Ukraine and Afghanistannot the other way around.

Chinas vast growth over this period, based on providing cheap labor to transnational corporations from imperialist countries, exposes by contrast the stagnation and corruption of imperialism. This has emerged in a devastating fashion by the COVID-19 pandemic. NATO powers reacted with bank bailouts of trillions of dollars to the super-rich but called for living with the virus, leading to mass infections and nearly 2 million deaths from COVID-19. China, which sought to eliminate the COVID-19 virus, suffered far less economic dislocation and kept deaths below 5,000.

Workers must be warned: NATOs warmongering threatens not only to trigger conflict with Russia and China, which are nuclear-armed powers, but conflicts between America and the European powers that twice in the 20th century erupted into world war. Indeed, Stoltenbergs warnings to the EU are simply more polite versions of US threats against the EU over its military plans. In 2019, US officials sent a letter denouncing an EU army as a dramatic step back for NATO, threatening the EU with trade war tariffs if it did not abandon the project.

While Washington threatens China most aggressively, workers cannot support any of the rival imperialist factions in NATO. All these powers pursue their own profit and strategic interests via the same methods: war abroad and police-state rule at home to impose the policy of living with the virus and intensified exploitation of the working class. This emerges very clearly in remarks of European foreign policy strategists.

Before Stoltenberg spoke to the Financial Times, Thierry de Montbrial, the head of the French Institute for International Relations (IFRI) think-tank, spoke to French financial daily Les Echos on US-EU tensions over China. Montbrial said, US foreign policy has entered a new phase at least since Obama, for objective reasons: they need to pivot to Asia. Those who believed Joe Bidens election would bring back the good old days were wrong. The White House is now a bit more polite, but just as brutal.

He said this created a lasting divergence of interests between America and Europe. We have no reason to leave the Atlantic alliance, but we have no interest in seeing it transformed into an anti-Chinese alliance.  French or European interests are far from identical with American interests, he said, adding, On China, its the same old story. The Germans have commercial interests there and do everything to protect them, like in Russia. No European country wants to be forced into a brutal confrontation with China. The issue is: How to deal with US pressure?

He also dismissed comparisons between the Soviet military presence in Europe after World War II and a new cold war supposedly emerging between China and NATO. The issues posed by China today are very different. Where is the Chinese threat in Europe today? Europeans have interests to defend. We must first identify them correctly. But we do not need a military alliance for that.

What Montbrial proposes is not peace, however, but only the pursuit of rival imperialist interests. He demanded economic reforms, such as French President Emmanuel Macrons cuts to pensions and unemployment insurance, to free up more money for the military. As France wages war in Mali with EU assistance and keeps troops across francophone Africa and the Baltic republics, Montbrial insisted, [o]ur neighborhood to the south and east should be our main focus.

Such remarks underscore the need to politically mobilize and unify workers in an international movement against war and the politically criminal official mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic and for socialism.
There have now been 53 confirmed cases of right-wing extremist activities in the police force of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germanys most populous state. This was announced by the state interior ministry in Dusseldorf following enquiries by Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa).

Riot police in action (Image: Montecruz Foto/CC BY-SA 2.0)

A year ago, far-right chat groups and images found on the cell phones of police officers in Mulheim an der Ruhr/Essen had shocked the public.

In one video, which was then sent to colleagues, a police officer lays out the bullets of his service weapon into a swastika. Another shared snapshots via WhatsApp of Christmas decorations with SS runes and the inscription Sieg Heil. One patrol officer stood with his legs wide apart on the roofs of two service vehicles and gave the Hitler salute. Another video shows the same policeman and others singing the forbidden first verse of the Deutschlandlied during a trip in their police vehicle.

In the following months, the scandal about right-wing extremist police chat groups increasingly grew. For example, the forbidden Horst Wessel Lied, the battle song of Hitlers SA and the later party anthem of the NSDAP (Nazi party), was found on seized data storage devices.

During the investigations, more and more suspicious cases were added. In early November 2020, 147 police officers and four employees of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution (as the secret service is called) in North Rhine-Westphalia were under investigation. By the end of September this year, the number of suspicious cases reported had risen to 275.

Evaluation of extensive data seized during the search of the suspects revealed the most vile criminal images and films. On September 18, 2020, the World Socialist Web Site commented on this, saying, their content is inadequately described as agitating against refugees, fascist filth, and the trivialisation of the Nazis.

Images included refugees screaming in a gas chamber and a man on a bicycle pointing a gun at a black youth trying to escape from him.

Since then, the North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) state government, a coalition led by failed Christian Democratic Union (CDU) chancellor candidate Armin Laschet along with the Free Democratic Party (FDP), has sought to downplay the extent of the far-right networks. When asked by dpa, the state Interior Ministry, led by Herbert Reul (CDU), responded with the following assessment: Suspicion of right-wing extremism had been confirmed in 53 of the investigated cases, which had already been conclusively investigated and punished. Suspicions had not been confirmed in 84 cases. These cases have also been conclusively investigated. In 138 cases, the investigation was still ongoing.

The consequences for the police officers concerned are negligible. Six police trainees have been dismissed. Two dismissals and three warnings were issued in the course of labour law proceedings.

The decisions also show that the cases of right-wing extremism among police officers and in the state apparatus that have been discovered and potentially breach criminal law are being systematically downplayed and covered up. The police officers concerned generally got off scot-free under the criminal law because the judiciary classified the WhatsApp chats as private communications. Relevant criminal offences, such as the dissemination of illegal symbols (e.g., the swastika), thus did not apply, the dpa reports.

Last year, a female police officer from Mulheim/Essen had successfully sued against her suspension. In her case, the court had concluded that the Hitler video on her cell phone was a parody.

The cases of right-wing extremism that have come to light among the police in NRW, the extent of which is now being concealed, are just the tip of the iceberg. The same is true of many similar cases in Hesse, Berlin and other German states.

If particularly blatant cases come to light, there are brief hypocritical expressions of indignation on the part of the state. Then they are played down as individual cases and to get over them as quickly as possible. Nevertheless, new cases continue to come to light.

For example, almost at the same time that the results of the investigation into the right-wing extremist chat groups were announced by the NRW police, there was a raid in Aldenhoven, in the district of Duren. A huge cache of weapons, including firearms, explosives, hand grenades and mines, was discovered at the home of a 32-year-old man, who is said to be a senior officer and explosives expert in the Bundeswehr (Armed Forces).

The man had originally only been investigated for violating the Foreign Trade and Payments Act because he had shipped a package containing silencers. Now, the charge of violating the War Weapons Control Act has been added and he has been remanded in custody. So far, nothing is known about his political motivation. Since unknown chemicals were also discovered in the house, experts from the Federal Office for Radiation Protection were called in to assess the situation. Some of the explosives found were detonated on site.

At the beginning of October, it became known that right-wing extremist incidents were also said to have occurred in the Bundeswehrs elite Guard of the Federal Republic. This battalion stands guard during state visits, among other things. At the centre, is a grouping within the 2nd Company that calls itself the Wolf Pack. It involves right-wing extremist incidents, repulsive initiation rituals, sexualized violence and assault.

Even before this, one soldiers contact with the fascistic Identitarian movement had attracted attention. Also, a soldier in the battalion is said to have had himself photographed in the uniform of Hitlers Wehrmacht (army). Both had been banned from performing their duties.

Before a more detailed investigation could even take place, federal Defence Commissioner Eva Hogl (Social Democratic Party, SPD) said after a visit to the guard battalion that she had a good impression of the investigation. So far, there is no confirmation of an entrenched far-right group within the Guard Battalion.

This month, Mediendienst Integration published research on the topic of right-wing extremists within the security agencies, which showed that the number of investigations into suspected right-wing extremist cases inside the security agencies has increased sharply in recent years.

For example, since the beginning of 2017, there have been 319 investigations into suspected right-wing extremism in the authorities at state level (police, state criminal investigation offices, secret service). At the federal level (including the Federal Police, Federal Criminal Police Office, BKA and Customs), there were 58 cases of suspicion, and 1,064 at the Military Counter-intelligence Service (MAD). Investigations by MAD were mainly related to the Bundeswehr, where the number of suspected right-wing extremist cases increased by a third between 2018 and 2019.

The report by Mediendienst Integration cites numerous racist and right-wing extremist incidents in the security agencies between 2017 and October 2021. Again and again, it involves right-wing extremist chat groups in the police. Apart from the cases in NRW, similar groups came to light in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Hesse and Berlin and almost all other federal states. Racist incidents are also mentioned again and again.

Links between police officers and the Reichsburger (groups that reject the legitimacy of the post-war German state), Q-Anon types, the Alternative fur Deutschland (AfD) and other right-wing extremist and fascist parties, right-wing extremist and right-wing terrorist networks in the Bundeswehr, connections to the neo-fascist Nordkreuz group as well as to the Hannibal Network and the Uniter association of ex-military and police are cited. Some of these groups are preparing for a so-called Day X, maintain enemy lists and have organized stocks of body bags for their political opponents.

Mediendienst Integration writes, one reads little in the official situation reports about some networks reported in media.

The compilation of known right-wing extremist and right-wing terrorist incidents related to the security agencies alone shows that these are not isolated cases. The right-wing extremist groups within the NRW police are part of a far-right extremist network that extends across all the security agencies and is promoted and covered up by the intelligence services.

These right-wing extremist structures are being used to prepare the state to suppress the growing resistance of the working class against mass layoffs, social cuts, herd immunity policies and militarism. Workers must prepare politically and build the Sozialistische Gleichheitspartei (Socialist Equality Party).
New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) data revealed the death of a school-age child last week from COVID-19. The parents of the child have not come forward and their name has not been made public.

Students write and draw positive affirmations on poster board at P.S. 5 Port Morris, an elementary school in The Bronx borough of New York. (AP Photo/Brittainy Newman, File)

Last weeks death was the first pediatric death in New York City since the reopening of K-12 schools this academic year and the 30th child death in the city since the beginning of the pandemic. The DOHMH report stated that children ages 5-12 have been the leading demographic in positive COVID-19 cases in New York City this week, the first time this has taken place during the pandemic. By official figures, nearly a quarter of all positive cases reported in the city in the past week have occurred in schools.

It is unclear whether the child who died contracted COVID-19 while in school because all details have been withheld by the administration of Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio. In an interview on WNYC, de Blasio responded to the tragedy by downplaying the death and whitewashing the spread of coronavirus among children, saying, Thank god our youngest kids have been the least affected by COVID throughout [the pandemic].

Educators and parents took to social media to voice sympathy to the family of the child as well as their disgust with and opposition to the response of the New York City political establishment. One educator wrote, As a teacher I am appalled by the unrealistic belief that kids dont get COVID. Last year we shut schools just as [the pandemic] was revving up.  [B]ut media blindly push rhetoric that kids werent impacted. I call B.S. on all of them who said it[doctors,] media and politicians.

Another user wrote, There is no excuse for any of this to be happening. Shame on the Mayor & School Chancellor.

[W]hy are the lies about schools being safe still circulating? [W]hy is nobody doing anything? [W]ere crying behind the curtain but on stage is no act, wrote another person.

Another commented, If that child got COVID in school, then the Mayor and DOE Chancellor are the [murderers].

The reopening of K-12 schools in New York City, the largest school district in the US, with roughly 1.1 million students, takes place amid a bipartisan back-to-school push by the American ruling class, which has been accompanied by a surge in childhood infections, hospitalizations and deaths throughout the country.

The latest data from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), released Monday, shows that since mid-August there have been 180 child deaths across the US, with the total number of child deaths due to COVID since the start of the pandemic now standing at 558. This means that roughly one-third of all such fatalities have occurred in the past two months of the pandemic alone, which has lasted approximately 18 months. Compared with total COVID-19 deaths of all ages nationally, pediatric deaths are now the highest proportion that they have been since May of 2020, at approximately .09 percent.

In the week ending October 14, 130,575 new pediatric infections occurred, representing a decline from a recent high of 251,781 new pediatric cases in early-September. While the corporate media as well as state and local governments across the country, including the de Blasio administration, have seized upon declines in numbers to justify the lie that schools are safe, the stark reality is that the full reopening of schools throughout the country has led to a significant increase in children dying due to COVID-19.

The Democratic Party in New York City, like its counterparts in cities and states across the US, has deployed a two-pronged strategy to stifle opposition to its reckless school reopening policies. First, it has promoted the lie that vaccinations alone can end the pandemic. Secondly, it touts the falsehood that schools can be opened safely with limited mitigation measures such as social distancing, masking and testing.

Even the second strategy of mitigations for hundreds of thousands of unvaccinated children is a fairy tale. In fact, DOE officials have revealed that the recently updated policy of COVID-19 testing in K-12 schools renders its regimen all but ineffective due to the requirement of testing consent forms for every unvaccinated student.

When outbreaks among students or staff in schools is detected, the DOE withholds the information from educators, parents and the public. Currently, no one besides the DOE bureaucrats has any notion of how many students who were exposed to the virus by infected classmates are quarantined, if any. Social distancing is nearly impossible in New Yorks decrepit school buildings, which have suffered from overcrowding because of decades of budget cuts by Democratic and Republican politicians.

Last week, officials from the citys COVID-19 Test & Trace Corps admitted that they are not tracking information on breakthrough COVID-19 infections among vaccinated individuals, following the practice of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Any reports of positive cases coming from the city must now be taken as a severe under-count.

Regarding whether or not he would implement mandates for children ages 5-11 once vaccinations are approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), de Blasio admitted that he would not enforce this life-saving practice, stating, I feel very strongly, and our healthcare team feels strongly that our kids need to be in school. It is absolutely crucial.  And school has been incredibly safe.

In a bizarre twisting of reality, De Blasio said on October 13, We cant, in my opinion, hold against our kids the decisions of adults, because the kids cant get vaccinated without the adult consent.  There are still, unfortunately in my mind, too many adults who are not ready to give that consent. I want those kids in school no matter what.

New York City teachers and parents have joined the wave of global opposition to austerity and the sacrifice of workers health and lives to COVID-19 by governments worldwide. This has included two global school strikes initiated by British parent Lisa Diaz, as well as strike action by over 10,000 John Deere workers in the US, nearly 170,000 steel workers in South Africa, and more.

In New York state, hospital workers in Buffalo have entered a bitter struggle against horrific working conditions as well as cuts to their wages and benefits. Students, faculty and academic workers have spoken out against COVID-19 outbreaks in New York Citys colleges and universities. In these struggles, workers have not only come into direct conflict with their employers, but also the corporatist trade unions.

Across the US and globally, workers have created rank-and-file committees which exist independently of the union apparatus, and are affiliated to the International Workers Alliance of Rank-and-File Committees (IWA-RFC). On October 16, the New York City Educators Rank-and-File Safety Committee held a meeting to discuss the demands and strategy necessary for the saving of lives and the eradication of the pandemic.

One Brooklyn teacher told the meeting, My school administration has been actively withholding information from the faculty, students and parents. Kids are reporting that they arent even given their own test results. Its like a dystopian nightmare.  We have responded by forming a chat group and distributing news about whats going on, since the school and the union wont tell us anything.

She continued, Theres power in numbers. If we get together, even just for sharing information, we can get things done. We need to educate people about the science.

The WSWS urges parents, educators, school workers and students who oppose the unsafe reopening of schools in New York City, as well as the homicidal cover-up surrounding its effects, to register for the upcoming October 24 webinar hosted by the WSWS, How to end the pandemic: The case for eradication, and sign up to become involved with the New York City Educators Rank-and-File Safety Committee today.
Investigators are still looking into the causes of the October 1 pipeline spill that released tens of thousands of gallons of oil across the coast of Southern California. Initial estimates of the spill were as high as 131,000 gallons although this has been downgraded to a little over 25,000 gallons. This latest estimate, however, cannot be taken at face value as favorable ocean currents prevented much of the toxic effluent from reaching the coastline where most of the cleanup and measurement activities took place.

This Oct. 4, 2021, aerial file photo shows floating barriers known as booms set up to try to stop further incursion into the Wetlands Talbert Marsh after an oil spill in Huntington Beach, Calif. (AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu, File)

Even the lowered estimate, however, is more than 10 times larger than what regulators had predicted when designing the offshore oil rigs in the late 1970s. Regulators had predicted in 1978 that a spill emanating from the Elly rig, the site of the October 1 disaster, would result in a spill of only 50 barrels of oil or 2,100 gallons.

An actual determination of the amount of oil released in the current disaster, however, has been complicated by the public disclosures of Amplify Energy which thus far have been less than credible.

According to Amplify, which owns the Elly rig, a low-pressure alarm went off in the early morning hours of Saturday, October 2, prompting operators to shut down the pipeline only a few hours late. The day before, however, multiple coastal residents and ships noted huge oil slicks across the surface of the water, indicating that the spill actually occurred a day earlier than the company reported.

Amplify, which owns more than 1,000 oil wells and 1,500 natural gas wells across the world, is now the subject of multiple lawsuits and investigations as a result of the spill. The companys offshore subsidiary, Beta, also runs the two rigs connected to EllyEllen and Eureka. The subsidiary has been cited a total of 125 times for safety violations since 1981 but has only been fined a total of $85,000 for infractions involving just three of the violations.

Based on current findings, it appears that, while Amplify Energy was likely negligent in its response to the spill, it was a ships anchor that likely either directly caused the leak or created the most favorable conditions for it. Why ships are allowed to travel through areas in which their heavy anchors can strike such pipelines remains an unanswered question.

After the spill was reported in early October, investigators found that an approximately 4,000-foot section of the pipeline had been displaced in a bow-shaped pattern. The maximally displaced portion measured 105 feet with clear indications that the pipelines outer concrete casing had been ripped away. Such damage is consistent with the pipeline being dragged along the ocean floor by a ships anchor.

When investigating the latest incident, however, a significant amount of marine growth on the pipeline was found by divers indicating that it was initially struck months in advance of the disaster and that a second incident, either natural or human in origin, led to a 13-inch gash from whence the oil flowed out.

Concerns have been raised over a repeated occurrence with a record number of ships anchored off the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach due to an ongoing supply chain bottleneck. Each of the massive cargo container ships has anchors weighing over 60,000 pounds (approximately 9 metric tons). With an increasing number of ships indefinitely parked at sea the risk that an anchor will be dragged over another section of pipeline only increases.

On the basis of archived GPS data, investigators have narrowed down the list of ships that may have caused the incident and believe that the initial strike occurred on the pipeline in late January 2021. On Saturday, the Coast Guard designated the owner and operators of the cargo ship MSC DANIT as parties of interest in the spill, meaning that they are officially under investigation and have a right to obtain legal counsel in the matter. Federal investigators boarded the ship over the weekend off the Port of Long Beach after its voyage from China.

The DANITs owner is the MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company headquartered in Switzerland. The company has a fleet of 600 vessels and an international workforce of more than 100,000 employees. While it appears that the DANIT may be singled out as the main culprit in the pipeline displacement incident, Coast Guard Lt. SondraKay Keen pointed out last weekend that the investigation was still ongoing. Were still looking at multiple vessels and scenarios, she said.

A congressional committee started hearings on Monday to determine responsibility for the disaster. The hearing was held in the Orange County city of Irvine and was co-chaired by U.S. Representative Katie Porter, an Orange County Democrat and chair of the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, and Representative Alan Lowenthal, a Long Beach Democrat who chairs the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources. Said Porter, I want to assure the public, this committee will do oversight to make sure there is a full, fair and complete investigation of the circumstances surround the leak.

Regardless of the degrees of responsibility assigned by investigators, the disaster as a whole is a profound indictment of capitalism and its inability to adopt environmentally sustainable means of energy production even though such technology has existed for decades.

Such disasters are now being facilitated by the Biden administration which during the course of the 2020 presidential campaign positioned itself as the antidote to the anti-scientific policies of Trump. The Biden administration has overseen the approval of the largest number of permits to drill on federal land in a single year since the days of the George W. Bush administration.

Similar to its response to the deadly coronavirus pandemic which it falsely asserts is something that population will just have to learn to live with, the capitalist ruling elite has increasingly contended that fossil fuel and climate change are facts of life for which the population will simply have to adapt. According to Deb Haaland, Bidens Interior Secretary, Gas and oil production will continue well into the future, and we believe that is the reality of our economy and the world were living in.

The overwhelming consensus of environmental scientists, however, is that the effects of climate change can be mitigated and even reversed. This will not be possible, however, if left in the hands of the profit interests of capitalism. This task, and the tasks of preventing oil pipeline disasters like October 1 or the BP oil spill of 2010, falls to the international working class.
On October 5 an Oklahoma woman was found guilty of first-degree manslaughter of a non-viable fetus, after suffering a miscarriage at 17 weeks, and sentenced to four years in prison.

Brittney Poolaw (Source: Comanche County Detention Center)

Brittney Poolaw, 21, was charged with manslaughter on March 17, 2020 after she went to the Comanche County Hospital to seek help. She has remained incarcerated since her arrest over 18 months ago, not being able to pay the $20,000 bail set by the court.

The fetus tested positive for methamphetamine, amphetamine, and another drug in the liver and brain, according to an obstetrician-gynecologist. According to the US National Institute of Healths National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), research indicates methamphetamine is associated with significant pregnancy complications such as increased rates of premature delivery [and] placental abruption (separation of the placental lining from the uterus).

However, the doctor who did the autopsy on the fetus says the drugs may not have killed the fetus. A medical examiner found a congenital abnormality, placental abruption and chorioamnionitis, where bacteria infect the membranes that surround the fetus, and did not list the use of controlled substances as the cause of the miscarriage.

Notably, Oklahomas murder and manslaughter laws do not apply to miscarriages that occur before 20 weeks, nor does Oklahoma law outlaw abortions. Medical viability of a fetus, where its survival rate is above 50 percent, is at around 25-26 weeks, according to the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology, while the Supreme Court in Roe v.Wade established legal viability at 28 weeks. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines fetuses delivered before 20 weeks as miscarriages.

In direct contradiction to the medical and legal facts, prosecutors nonetheless filed manslaughter charges against Poolaw. The jury found her guilty after less than three hours of deliberation.

The detective in the case stated that when she found out she was pregnant she didnt know if she wanted the baby or not. She said she wasnt familiar with how or where to get an abortion.

It is unknown whether or not Poolaw in fact took methamphetamine in order to induce an abortion, and her own statement to police indicated she was unsure whether or not she wanted to keep the pregnancy.

According to the National Advocates for Pregnant Women, In recent years, Oklahoma prosecutors, especially in Comanche and Kay Counties but also in Craig, Garfield, Jackson, Pontotoc, Payne, Rogers, and Tulsa counties, have been using the States felony child neglect law to police pregnant women and to seek severe penalties for those who experience pregnancy losses.

Medical organizations, including the American Medical Association, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, National Perinatal Association, American Academy of Family Physicians, American Society of Addiction Medicine and others, have roundly denounced this use of prosecutorial discretion to prosecute women for having miscarriages.

The American Medical Association stated in its Policy Statement Oppose the Criminalization of Self-Induced Abortion, that Our AMA: (1) opposes the criminalization of self-induced abortion as it increases patients medical risks and deters patients from seeking medically necessary services. This is exactly what the result of the prosecution of Poolaw will be, as more and more women will avoid medical care for fear of potential prison sentences for miscarriages.

The political context for this reactionary and barbaric case is a full-fledged assault on abortion rights. Oklahoma and 13 other states have recently adopted fetal heartbeat abortion laws, with Oklahoma Republican Governor Kevin Stitt signing the law on April 26 of this year. While the enforcement of this law was temporarily blocked by an Oklahoma county judge on October 4, along with another defining abortions as unprofessional conduct by doctors, two other laws restricting access to abortions and two restricting access to abortion pills have gone into effect, according to the Oklahoman.

The extreme-right US Supreme Court has allowed an abortion ban in Texas to go into effect even though it clearly contradicts the Supreme Courts 1973 Roe v.Wade ruling which established abortion as a constitutional right. The Texas law deputizes anti-abortion activists to sue those providing abortions, and anyone connected to assisting an abortion financially or otherwise.

According to a study by the National Advocates for Pregnant women, from 1973 to 2005 there were 413 cases of women being prosecuted or deprived of liberty for miscarriages. Since then, the number has skyrocketed to 1,254 cases between 2006 and 2020.

In the face of this escalating assault, the Democrats have done nothing to defend abortion rights, in stark contrast to their campaigns to inject racial and gender politics into every aspect of political and social life.

Poolaws prosecution is part of a full-scale assault on basic democratic rights by a ruling elite which finds that it is increasingly unable to control social opposition and maintain massive levels of social inequality with bourgeois-democratic means, and as a result turns to authoritarian and fascistic means, epitomized above all by Trumps January 6 coup detat. Both the Democrats and Republicans stand exposed for their role in this process.
New York City will remove from City Hall a nearly two-hundred-year-old statue of Thomas Jefferson, allegedly on the grounds that the author of the immortal phrase, We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, owned slaves.

In this July 14, 2010 photo, a statue of Thomas Jefferson, right, stands in New York's City Hall Council Chamber. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)

The removal of the Jefferson statue was ratified unanimously Monday afternoon at a hastily scheduled hearing of an 11-person committee called the Public Design Commission. The hitherto obscure committee is hand-picked and appointed by Mayor Bill de Blasio.

The so-called hearing was a sham. The decision had already been taken. A wooden crate had even been constructed especially for the purpose of remanding Jefferson to the New York Historical Society on long term loan, an Orwellian expression for mothballing. The Commission did not formally commit to that destination at its Monday hearing, and there are also calls to junk the sculpture outright. I think it should be put in storage somewhere, destroyed or whatever, said Democratic State Assemblyman Charles Barron in testimony to the commission.

The Jefferson statue, which has stood at New York City Hall since 1834, is the original plaster model used for the bronze sculpture Thomas Jefferson in the Capitol Rotunda, in Washington D.C., created by the world-renowned French sculptor, David DAngers (1788-1856). Both statues were donated to the American people by Uriah Phillips Levy (1792-1862), the countrys first Jewish naval officer. With his gifts, Levy wished to recognize Jefferson, who had died seven years earlier, for his role in preventing the establishment of a state religion in the young republic.

A government web site describes the sculpture, which sums up in artistic form Jeffersons greatest achievement:

Thomas Jefferson is depicted in his best known role as author of the Declaration of Independence. He stands in a dynamic contrapposto pose with his right hand holding a quill pen. The pens tip points to Jefferson's left hand, which holds the Declaration of Independence. Jefferson's famous words, which are readable, were created by pressing type into the statues clay model. Two bound booksperhaps representing the collection that he donated to the Library of Congressand a wreath, a symbol of victory, lie at his feet. The statues pedestal is composed of marble and granite, in contrasting colors. The front inscription reads JEFFERSON.

New York Citys Democratic Party has been moving against the Jefferson statue for some time. Barron first raised the proposal as a city council member in 2001. In 2019, the Black, Latino and Asian Caucus, which comprises about half the city council, put forward the reactionary claim that the author of the Declaration of Independence symbolizes the disgusting and racist basis on which America was founded. Then, in June 2020, de Blasio launched a Commission on Racial Justice and Reconciliation tasked with considering the removal of offensive monuments, including those to Jefferson and George Washington.

But the New York Democrats are only following the cue from the national party leadership and its leading news organ, the New York Times. In 2019, the Times rolled out its 1619 Project, which promotes the lie that the American Revolution was a counterrevolutionary plot waged to defend slavery against the British Empire. The Democratic Party, joined by leading corporations, ramped up the attack on the American Revolution in response to nationwide demonstrations against state violence that erupted after the police murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25, 2020, primarily by equating Jefferson and Washington with the southern insurrectionists who launched the Civil War in 1861.

It is not accidental that the attack on Jefferson, the figure most closely associated with equality in American history, comes in the midst of a pandemic that has killed 750,000 Americans and a gathering strike wave emerging in the working class. The Democrats aim is to divert social anger into a racial reckoning that leaves untouched capitalism and the staggering social inequality it upholds.

It must be stressed that this is not an attack on Jefferson the individual, who has been dead for 195 years and will not be disturbed by the machination of de Blasio and the New York Democrats. It is an attack on the principles that Jefferson represented, above all else the Declaration of Independences proclamation of universal human equality. In this sense, the attack on Jefferson only undermines the foundations on which the defense of democracy depends in the face of the growing threat of fascism, while simultaneously providing political cover for Trump and the Republican Party, who posture as the defenders of the legacy of 1776, even as they plot democracys overthrow.

As historian Sean Wilentz put in a comment submitted to Mondays hearing, To disown Jefferson now, with despotism on the rise in our country as never before in our lifetimes, would be a symbolic blow, especially to the most vulnerable among us, for whom Jeffersons cry of equality remains the last best hope.

The racialist interpretation finds nothing particularly edifying in the study of history. It reduces history to a morality play in which the dramatis personae are placed into good and bad roles based on the standards of the present. An event as enormously important as the American Revolution had huge causes, and even bigger effects. But in the hands of the racialists, all facets of the broad sweep of historythe intellectual, political, cultural, social, and economicare cut out, replaced by an appraisal of the personal shortcomings of the individual. If the historical actor in question fails to meet their selective subjective criteria, then he or she is to be denounced.

Jefferson embodies some of the most shameful parts of our countrys history, said Adrienne Adams, a councilwoman from Queens at Mondays hearing. For his part, Barron has repeatedly called Jefferson a slaveholding pedophile, because he had a lifelong relationship with one of his slaves, Sally Hemings. Other council members said that Jeffersons statue made them feel uncomfortable. De Blasio, struggling to find the right words, said that Jefferson profoundly bothers people.

The New York Times, predictably enough, joined in. In an editorial disguised as a news article, it wrote approvingly of the removal, portraying it as part of a broad, nationwide reckoning over racial inequality connected to the debate over whether Confederate monuments should be toppled and discarded. After grotesquely implying an identity between the Revolution of 1776 and the Confederate counterrevolution of 1861, the Times lent credence to the portrayal of Jefferson as a mere hypocrite, stating that while he wrote about equality in the Declaration of Independence, he enslaved more than 600 people and fathered six children with one of them, Sally Hemings. [emphasis added]

Jefferson did more than write about equality. The Declarations last phrase, We Mutually Pledge To Each Other Our Lives, Our Fortunes, And Our Sacred Honor, was not a mere rhetorical flourish. Jefferson and the other signatories knew they were signing their own death warrants should the revolution fail. Benjamin Franklin meant it when he said, We must all hang together, or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately. The well-heeled editors and the writers of the Times have never risked anything.

In any case, had Jefferson done nothing else in his life but write about equality in the Declaration of Independenceat the ripe old age of 33this alone would establish him as a figure of world-historic stature. It is among the most powerful revolutionary manifestos ever written. The preambles simple but audacious assertion of equality must surely rank as the most famous sentence in the history of American letters. This is true not only because of its style, but because it revealed to a candid world something that had been hidden in plain sight: the self-evident truth, that all men are created equal.

The revolutionary content of this statement rests, then as now, in its objective truth. All people are indeed created equal. The Declarations proclamation of human equality, which emerged out of the Enlightenment and was asserted in the context of an insurrectionary war against the British crown, has torn through subsequent American and world history with terrible force. Equality has been inscribed on the banner of every subsequent progressive cause, including by the French and Haitian revolutions of 1789 and 1791, the socialist movement, and every anticolonial struggle the world over. In America, the Declaration has been invoked by the abolitionists and Frederick Douglass; the civil rights movement and Martin Luther King, Jr.; the womens suffrage movement; the labor movement; and today by the life-and-death struggle of the working class for its own political independence. Not a single step forward can be taken that does not begin from the premise that human beings are equal.

Jefferson embodied the contradictions of his time. Universal human equality was unknown when he was born in colonial Virginia in 1743, the child of a slaveholding family. It was a world that, as historian Peter Kolchin put it, took for granted natural human inequality and the routine use of force necessary to maintain it. The ancient institution of slavery did not arouse any considerable opposition prior to the Revolution. As Gordon Wood has explained, it was seen as a particularly debased form of exploitation in an age that still depended on various kinds of unfree labor, including chattel slavery throughout the Atlantic world, indentured servitude in the northern colonies, and serfdom in Russia.

The American Revolution raised the problem of slavery for the first time as a fundamental political problem. The founding fathers recognized that slavery contradicted their assertion of equality. They even took some measures against it, including the exclusion of slavery from the northwestern territories acquired in the victory over Britain and the banning of the transatlantic slave trademeasures both associated with Jefferson.

The exhilaration of the revolution made a great many believe that slavery would end. Jefferson could say in 1781 that he hoped for a total emancipation, and that this is disposed, in the order of events, to be with the consent of the masters, rather than by their extirpation. But neither he nor the southern planters, as a class, could extricate themselves from dependency on slavery. This conforms to historical law. Social classes do not relinquish the bases of their wealth, nor do they voluntarily exit the stage of history. Fed by the bonanza of slave-based cotton production, the slaveowners went from condemning slavery as a necessary evil that they hoped would wither away, in the days of Washington and Jefferson, to embracing it as a positive good in the days of John C. Calhoun, a half century later. Jefferson did not live to see his fears realized. The masters, as a class, were ultimately extirpated in the Civil War.

But while Jefferson, as a slaveowner, was a forerunner of the masters vanquished in the Second American Revolution of the 1860s, his greater, even overriding, contribution was to the cause of freedom, as Calhoun and the other fire-eating advocates of slavery recognized. They condemned Jefferson as a hypocrite and the Declaration of Independence as a lie, just as the Democrats of the present do. Lincoln also knew that Jeffersons legacy was on the side of freedom, as he said so well at the dedication of the national cemetery to the Union dead at Gettysburg, in 1863:

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure

In any case, Jefferson is not remarkable because he was a slaveownerthere were many thousands of masters in American historybut in spite of that fact. He may well have been the most outstanding figure in a generation that also produced Washington, Franklin, Adams, Madison, Paine, Rush and Hamilton, to name a few. Together with Tom Paine he represented the far-left wing of the American Revolution. Jefferson was the first ambassador to France and there contributed to the drafting of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. With Madison, he created the wall of separation doctrine detaching church from state and pushed for a Bill of Rights to the American Constitution. Like Franklin, his only equal as a figure of the American Enlightenment, Jefferson was a man of science as well as letters, the founder of the Library of Congress and the University of Virginia.

There can be little doubt that he was the most intellectually gifted of all the American presidents. John Kennedy hardly exaggerated when he told a gathering of Nobel laureates in 1962 that it was the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge, that has ever been gathered together at the White House, with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone.

The American ruling class produces no one today that can occupy even the tiniest speck of Jeffersons shadow. Not the New York City Democrats who serve the citys billionaires while promoting racial division in the working class. Not the careerist political hack Bill de Blasio, who has neither an original thought nor a political principle in his brain. Not 1619 Project creator Nikole Hannah-Jones, who is willing to accept sponsorship from the oil firm drenched in the blood of Africa, Royal Dutch Shell. And certainly not Barack Obama, who as president oversaw the greatest transfer of wealth to the rich in American history and arrogated to the White House the right to assassinate anyone anywhere on the presidents say-so.

In the end, what the American ruling class hates about Jefferson is what distinguishes him most: his authorship of the Declaration of Independence, the very subject of the DAngers statue. They hate not only the Declarations assertion of equality, but its insistence on the right of people to revolution. Governments, Jefferson said, derive their just powers from the consent of the governed[W]hen a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

The American ruling class of 2021 cannot forgive Jeffersons assertion of human equality and the right to revolution under conditions in which one million Americans have been sacrificed at the altar of profit, excess deaths to the COVID-19 pandemic; and in a city, New York, where 99 billionaires hoard wealth that would have put the Hanover and Capetian dynasties of old England and France to shame, and in which 1.1 million men, women, and children do not have enough to eat. This is the New York that would remove the memory of Thomas Jefferson.

For the working class, it is another matter. Jefferson is not an idol, but a contributor to the revolutionary patrimony which it alone upholds. The movement of workers into struggle and the revival of genuine left-wing politics, processes that are already underway, will see the restoration of Thomas Jefferson to his rightful place in world history.
Coronavirus cases remain high across the United States, including more than 78,000 new cases a day and at least 1,300 daily deaths. Cases have, in particular, been surging in Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Oregon and Washington since August, with a corresponding rise in hospitalizations and deaths.

In this Aug. 31, 2021 photo medical professionals pronate a 39 year old unvaccinated COVID-19 patient in the Medical Intensive care unit (MICU) at St. Luke's Boise Medical Center in Boise, Idaho. (AP Photo/Kyle Green, File)

Similar to the growth in cases nationally, Northwest US has been hit by a combination of the emergence of the Delta variant of the coronavirus and the reckless policies of school and workplace reopenings by the Biden administration. There were less than 750 new cases per day in the region as a whole at the beginning of July, and now the five states collectively report more than 5,600 new cases a day, a more than seven-fold increase.

There have been more than 1,000 new cases each day reported in Idaho since September 12, a sharp rise which follows a nadir at the beginning of July when cases dropped below 70 a day. Daily deaths also stand at about 20 a day, a record exceeding the daily death tolls suffered last winter.

The state also continues to set record-high hospitalizations, with a daily average of 661 on October 14 and a peak starting in September that reached 761 the first week of October. The New York Times has reported that Idaho officials have activated crisis standards of care, allowing packed facilities to ration treatment. We are being absolutely crushed by COVID, said Chris Roth, the president and chief executive of St. Lukes Health System, a network of hospitals across Idaho. Sandee Gehrke, the chief operating officer for St. Lukes Health System, reports, We are out of actual hospital beds.

With a vaccination rate of just 42 percent across the state, some of Idahos coronavirus vaccines are expiring because they have sat unused for so long. Idahos Republican Governor Brad Little has refused to set mask mandates in the state since the start of the pandemic. In addition, amidst the current crisis, Lt. Governor Janice McGeachin tried to ban local mask mandates the first week of October.

Montana has seen higher seven-day averages this month than in January of 2021. The week of October 11 had the highest number of cases reported in a single day, 2,200. Hospitals in Montana reached a new high of 510 patients with COVID-19, four more than the previous high in November 2020. Hospitals in Bozeman and Helena reached capacity multiple times over the past month.

Blaine County in Montana, with a population of just 23,000, saw a 464 percent increase of daily cases this week from the average two weeks ago, the highest since the start of the pandemic. Since the pandemics beginning, 1 in 6 residents have been infected in Blaine County. Located in Park County, the Livingston Public Schools board voted to hold middle and high school classes virtually starting this coming Wednesday due to a spike in cases at the schools.

Wyoming saw a similar rise, with new cases peaking at an average of more than 500 a day in September before dropping to just over 400 now. The surge has also claimed more than 300 lives in the state since the beginning of July. Similar to Idaho and Montana, hospitalizations have risen since September. The most recent 14-day average was at 228, the highest since winter 2020, when the 14-day average was at nearly identical rates. Despite such high rates of infections, Republican Governor Mark Gordon has also refused even basic public health measures such as mask mandates.

Oregon currently suffers more than 1,000 new cases each day, and last week saw a record 188 deaths in the state. There are also a record 72,000 active cases throughout the state, more than at any time previously in the pandemic. The sharp rise in cases has taxed the states health care system to its limits. As of Friday, only 8 percent of intensive care unit beds and 7 percent of non-ICU beds were available.

In Washington, where the first case of COVID-19 was detected in the US, there has also been a sharp rise in cases since the summer. After falling to less than 350 daily cases, the number of new infections rose to 3,500 in early September and has since dipped to 2,500 now. The daily death toll similar climbed, peaking at an average of 42 lost lives per day and now still at 32, still higher than last winters surge.

Meanwhile President Biden openly acknowledges that his administrations plans to combat COVID-19, first and foremost, are meant to protect the economy. Referencing the six-pronged program Biden promises to use every available tool to combat COVID-19 and save even more lives in the months ahead, while also keeping schools open and safe, and protecting our economy from lockdowns and damage. At the current rate of death, with an average of 1,200 people dying each day, more than 200,000 people will die in the next six months, bringing the official US death toll to about one million.

The current conditions in the US Northwest, along with other states that continue to face high numbers of cases, make it clear that the only viable method for ending the pandemic is eradication. While vaccination is an effective tool, it is not enough to end the spread of the virus. Vaccination is most effective when combined with aggressive public health measures, including the shutdown of nonessential production and schools, along with mass testing, contact tracing and isolation of infected individuals.

In order to fight for eradication, an intervention by the working class to force a change in policy is essential. The working class must be aided with science and understand the strategy for eradication. The WSWS is holding an online webinar on October 24, that will present to a global audience the scientific case for eradication. We call on all of our readers to register for the webinar today, speak to your co-workers about it, and promote the event as widely as possible on social media.

As schools across the country reopen for in-person learning, COVID-19 cases remain high. In the Pacific Northwest (PNW), Idaho, Montana and Wyoming have seen continued rising rates of cases and hospitalizations since August. Regional data is consistent with the rise in cases nationally. Although both Democratic and Republican politicians promised that vaccinations would end the pandemic, most states are seeing case rates as high as the winter months of 2021.
No one individual is so closely identified with so many of the crimes committed by American imperialism over more than four decades as Colin Powell. No one held so many high-ranking positions in the national security apparatus: general, national security advisor, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, secretary of state.

Secretary of State Colin Powell holds up a vial he says could contain anthrax as he makes the case for war against Iraq at the United Nations Security Council in this Feb. 5, 2003 photo. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola, File)

That explains why, when he died early Monday morning at the age of 84 of complications of COVID-19, the American media, and much of the world media, was swamped with laudatory coverage and effusive tributes from presidents, congressional leaders and media pundits.

President Joe Biden ordered American flags to fly at half-staff for the rest of the week, while issuing a statement hailing Powell as a patriot of unmatched honor and dignity who rose to the highest ranks of the United States military and to advise four Presidents. He cited Powells personal commitment to the democratic values that make our country strong, while he repeatedly broke racial barriers.

Much of the Democratic Party adulation focused on Powells role as the first African American to rise to the commanding heights of the US military machine. Congressman Jamaal Bowman, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, tweeted that as a Black man just trying to figure out the world, Colin Powell was an inspiration to him.

He did not elaborate on which Colin Powell was his inspiration: General Colin Powell helping rescue Ronald Reagan in the Iran-Contra scandal, or Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Colin Powell overseeing the incineration of Iraqi conscripts in 1991, or Secretary of State Colin Powell justifying the impending US invasion of Iraq in 2003. His speech at the United Nations Security Council, claiming Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction, has gone down in history as a byword for the big lie.

There is not a single major instance of US military aggression over four decades in which Colin Powell did not play a significant role. After enlisting in the ROTC (Reserve Officers Training Corps) at City College of New York, Powell entered the U.S. Army as a second lieutenant and was dispatched to Vietnam, first as an advisor for a South Vietnamese battalion in 1963, then as an operations officer in a US division in 1968, in the wake of the Tet Offensive.

After returning to the Pentagon and going back to school for an MBA, he was talent-spotted by the Nixon White House and selected as a White House fellow at the Office of Management and Budget. There he met Caspar Weinberger and Frank Carlucci, Nixon aides who would bring him into top positions when they returned to power under Republican Ronald Reagan in 1981. Weinberger was Secretary of Defense and named now-Brigadier General Powell as his chief military assistant in 1983.

Powell first came to public notice in the Iran-Contra scandal. As the Bulletin, the US predecessor to the WSWS, reported at the time on the testimony of Lt. Col. Oliver North, the deputy national security advisor: North said that he discussed the secret arms shipments to Iran with at least four Pentagon officials: Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger, his aide Gen. Colin Powell, Noel Koch, Pentagon chief for special operations, and [assistant secretary of defense Richard] Armitage. Powell has since been elevated to the No. 2 position at the National Security Council.

In other words, Powell replaced Oliver North after the exposure of the secret arms sales to Iran to finance the illegal arming of the Nicaraguan Contras. Within a year, the scandal also forced the resignation of Adm. John Poindexter, the national security advisor who had overseen the illegal operation. Powell was promoted to replace him as Reagans last national security advisor.

The incoming administration of George H.W. Bush was not ungrateful for this political service. In August 1989, Bush named Powell chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the top uniformed position in the US military, jumping over 14 more senior generals. In that capacity, Powell was the presidents chief military adviser during the US invasion and occupation of Panama in December 1989, in which US forces rapidly overran the small country and seized its leader, Manuel Noriega, a bloody military ruler and longtime US intelligence asset who had fallen afoul of Washington.

This served as something of a dress rehearsal for a much larger and more consequential act of aggression: the Persian Gulf War, in which the US military deployed 500,000 troops to the Middle East in response to the seizure of Kuwait by Iraqi President Saddam Hussein (an action he had been led to believe had US approval). Powell and Secretary of Defense Richard Cheney played the main roles in engineering the US military slaughter of an ill-trained and poorly equipped Iraqi army, which had no ability to defend itself against an all-out aerial bombardment, followed by a full-scale ground war with the most modern weaponry.

In the course of this one-sided bloodbath, Powell declared, Our strategy in going after this army is very simple. First, were going to cut it off, and then were going to kill it. His blunt advocacy of mass killing became known as the Powell doctrine, and the antithesis of the supposedly gradual warfare that characterized Vietnam: apply overwhelming force, annihilate the enemy quickly, then pull out.

This was easier to apply against Saddam Husseins conscript army trapped in the desert than against highly motivated Vietnamese liberation fighters operating in the jungle, but the military victory was proclaimed proof of Powells genius. After overseeing one final act of aggression under the Bush administration, the 1992 US invasion of Somalia, he retired to media accolades and pleas from both capitalist parties that he run for high office. Powell declared himself publicly as a Republican but decided against seeking elective office, preferring to bide his time until the next Republican president.

George W. Bush named Powell his secretary of state in December 2000. It came at a critical time: only days after the U.S. Supreme Court, in its infamous Bush v. Gore decision, halted vote-counting in Florida and awarded the states electoral votes, and with it the presidency, to the Republican candidate. Gore conceded, telling advisers that he could not become president over the wishes of the military. Bushs selection of a former general as his first appointment was a further indication of the decisive role of the military in the US political crisis.

Powell was Secretary of State throughout Bushs first term in office, which encompassed the 9/11 attacks, the US invasion of Afghanistan, and the US invasion and occupation of Iraq. It says something about the drastic shift to the right in the American ruling class that Powell, the combat soldier and advocate of overwhelming force, ended up as the last advocate of diplomacy in an administration wedded to aggression and military conquest as the axis of its foreign policy.

The infighting within the Bush administration seemed to take the form of a good cop, bad cop routine, with Powell clashing sometimes with Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, at other times with Vice President Dick Cheney. Almost invariably this would end with a right-wing militarist policy being carried out. On occasion, if Powell had his way, there would be a bit of diplomatic sophistry, but more frequently Bush chose brazen arrogance.

The most notorious episode in Powells four years heading the State Department came in February 2003, when he was dispatched to the United Nations to plead the Bush administrations case that Saddam Hussein was in possession of weapons of mass destruction and that he had secretly allied himself with Al Qaeda, and therefore was ultimately responsible for the 9/11 attacks. There is no question that Bush preferred that Powell make the case, since he had been built up by the media as the reasonable face of the administration, even something of a dove, who refrained from the bloodcurdling rhetoric of Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

Every statement I make today, Powell told the Security Council, is backed up by sources, solid sources. These are not assertions. What we are giving you are facts and conclusions based on solid evidence. As would be proven in a few months, after the US invasion and conquest of Iraq, the facts and evidence were a pack of lies. There were no weapons of mass destruction. Al Qaeda was a bitter enemy of the secular Baathist regime in Baghdad, not an ally. American imperialism plunged the country, and the Middle East as a whole, into a cauldron of war, mass suffering and society-wide destruction from which it has yet to emerge. And Colin Powell was one of the principal instigators.

Powells speech was aimed primarily at intimidating public opinion in the United States. The Democratic Party immediately jumped to support the war, including, as the WSWS pointed out at the time, Senator Joe Biden of Delaware, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

For Powell, however, it was the beginning of the end of his political usefulness to the Bush war cabinet. He lingered in office until after Bush won reelection and then was shoved out the door unceremoniously, replaced by Bushs national security advisor Condoleezza Rice. He continued to defend the Iraq war, telling the Associated Press in 2012, I think we had a lot of successes, adding Iraqs terrible dictator is gone. And so are one million Iraqis, and 5,000 American soldiers, and hundreds of thousands more wounded and mentally crippled.

Thereafter, Powell made a few waves in capitalist politics, breaking with the Republican Party to endorse Barack Obama for president in 2008, and then appearing at the Democratic National Convention as a featured speaker in August 2020, on behalf of Biden and Kamala Harris.

The most important characteristic of Powells rise is also its most ominous for the future. He was the prototype of the political general, a man who made his career not because of success in waras gloomy as that would bebut because of success in backroom infighting within the Pentagon and White House. He was not so high up that he suffered ignominy from the US defeat in Vietnam. Thereafter, he profited from the sponsorship of powerful patrons like Weinberger, Carlucci, and George H. W. Bush. Their investment proved highly advantageous for both sides.

Today, such military-political figures abound. Some, like David Petraeus, have flamed out. Others, like Mark Milley, have acquired media notoriety and are acclaimed as saviors of democracy for resisting Trumps drive for fascist rule. Although, as the WSWS has pointed out, a democracy that depends on the sufferance of top generals is not really a democracy at all: It is merely waiting for the right dictator. More insidiously, lower-ranking military officers and intelligence agents now comprise a sizeable portion of the congressional Democratic Party and exercise a virtual veto power over the policies of the Biden administration.

In the death of Colin Powell, the US ruling elite extracts one last service: perfuming the decay of American democracy with hosannas about his life as a role model for minority youth. Using the rhetoric of identity politics, American imperialism seeks to disguise its predatory nature.
Alex Saab, a Venezuelan-Colombian businessman and diplomat, was dragged before a Miami federal court judge Monday in handcuffs and an orange jumpsuit to hear that he is being charged with eight counts of money laundering that could put him in a US prison for 20 years.

Alex Saab appearing from prison on Zoom before US judge in Miami (Twitter)

The appearance follows an extra-legal extradition, more akin to a rendition, that took place Saturday afternoon after police in the West African island nation of Cabo Verde stormed the house where Saab was being held and forced him onto a US Justice Department plane that flew him to Miami and a federal lockup.

Saab was detained after his plane landed in Cabo Verde in June 2020 for refueling. He was en route to Iran to negotiate an agreement to secure food and fuel for Venezuela, which has been starved for both, as well as for medicine, due to the maximum pressure economic blockade imposed by the Trump administration against the country. US President Joe Biden has continued these punitive measures, which are aimed at starving the Venezuelan people in order to secure regime change and the imposition of a US puppet in Caracas. Venezuela boasts the largest known oil reserves in the world.

The extraditionor renditionwas carried out on the day before national elections in Cabo Verde, a date no doubt selected to dull the impact of the news within the country. The ruling party was defeated in Sundays election. The opposition party, the African Party for the Independence of Cape Verde (PAICV)the bourgeois party that was the successor to the PAIGC, which led an armed struggle to overthrow Portuguese colonialismmade little issue over the fate of Saab. Nonetheless, polls indicated that Cabo Verdeans were overwhelmingly hostile to the governments bowing to Washingtons extra-legal demands, contributing to the defeat of the ruling Movement for Democracy (MpD).

The Trump administration had used bribes and threats to compel Cabo Verde to hand over Saab. At one point, a US Navy warship was dispatched to the coastal waters of Cabo Verde in a show of force over the issue.

Saab, who holds both Colombian and Venezuelan citizenship, had negotiated numerous deals to secure food, fuel, medicine and other basic goods for Venezuela by circumventing US sanctions. This included an agreement reached with Iran last year, just before he was detained, to ship emergency supplies of gasoline and other petroleum products to Venezuela.

Other deals negotiated by Saab secured food for Venezuelan supermarkets and the governments subsidized food program, known as CLAP. He traveled to Turkey, China, Dubai, Eastern Europe, Serbia and other regions, making complex deals that would funnel badly needed supplies and foreign currency into Venezuela in exchange for gold, petroleum and other products. These agreements were in defiance of US sanctions, which criminalize any trade in Venezuelan oil and any access by Venezuela to the US-dominated world financial system.

The money-laundering allegations against Saab reportedly involve his having set up numerous shell corporations for the purpose of moving assets in and out of Venezuela. Given the unilateral US sanctions regime, which punishes third parties daring to engage in internationally legal trade with Venezuela, the creation of such companies and so-called money-laundering were necessary means of evading Washingtons retribution.

In any case, as the recently released Pandora Papers revealed, the United States is the global center for the creation of shell companies aimed at protecting the assets of the worlds billionaires and multi-millionaires from taxation.

The US has alleged that Saab has skimmed money off of deals made to supply subsidized housing and food to the Venezuelan population. While no evidence has been presented to support these claims, the obvious question is, what gives Washington the right to pursue allegations of corruption in Venezuela?

While there is no doubt that the government of President Nicolas Maduro and its key constituencies, the so-called boliburguesia made up of speculators and business figures with close ties to the government and the military, have engaged in corruption, the same can be said for any number of regimes backed by Washington, from the recently ousted puppet government in Afghanistan, to the dictatorship in Egypt, the right-wing governments of Central America and the regime in Ukraine.

The persecution of Saab has been carried out on an extra-legal basis in pursuit of nakedly imperialist political aims. There exists no extradition treaty between Cabo Verde and the US and there was no international arrest order for him when he was detained.

The Cabo Verdean government, meekly bowing to Washingtons demands, overrode the decisions of the countrys own courts and bundled Saab onto the US-bound plane before he had exhausted his appeals and with no legal order and no notification to either Saabs lawyers or his family, who had been barred from entering Cabo Verde.

The government ignored a ruling by the regional Economic Community of West Africa (ECOWAS) Court, which ordered Cabo Verde to release Saab and pay him $200,000 in damages. The courts decisions are legally binding on countries, including Cabo Verde, which signed the treaty creating it.

The Cabo Verde government likewise ignored the demands made by four United Nations special rapporteurs and one UN Working Group. They demanded that the government account for the factual grounds and legal basis for the arrest, detention and possible extradition of Ambassador Alex Saab Moran to the United States, including the exact nature of the charges against him and the facts supporting those charges; on the violation of judicial, consular and other fair trial guarantees; on the allegations of torture and ill-treatment of Ambassador Saab; on the violation of his right to physical integrity and the deterioration of his health attributable to the authorities; on the risk of torture in the event of extradition; and on the violation of the diplomatic immunity of Ambassador Alex Saab.

Venezuela has insisted that Saab is the countrys ambassador and was flying on a diplomatic passport, making his arrest and extradition illegal and a gross violation of the Vienna convention protecting diplomatic immunity. A challenge filed in a US court to the extradition on these grounds was rejected on the basis that the case could not be heard until Saab was under arrest. The US State Department, meanwhile, asserted that Saabs diplomatic status had not been registered with or accepted by the department. Saabs defense team countered that there is no process by which a Special Envoy or Ambassador of a foreign country to another country is obliged to procure any kind of registration or acceptance from the US State Department.  In this case, the nomination of Alex Saab is strictly a matter between Venezuela and Iran and nobody else.

In response to Saabs arrest, the Maduro government in Venezuela ordered the re-imprisonment of six former executivesfive of them US citizensof the US-based, Venezuelan-owned refining company CITGO, who were charged with corruption. The six had been released to house arrest last April in an apparent gesture aimed at furthering rapprochement with Washington. The Biden administration, however, has shown no intention of loosening the US economic stranglehold on Venezuela.

The Maduro government also suspended talks in Mexico with the right-wing US-backed Venezuelan opposition. Caracas had demanded that Saab be included in its delegation participating in this dialogue with Washingtons puppets.

Given that an agreement reached through these talks constituted a pre-condition for easing sanctions imposed by both Washington and the European Union, the extradition of Saab may well be a deliberate provocation aimed at blowing up this process and keeping the blockade in place. The Biden administration, like those of Trump and Obama before it, views Venezuela through the prism of the struggle against China and Beijings influence in what US imperialists have described as their own backyard.

The rendition of Saab to Miami is of a piece with the persecution of and attempt to extradite Huawei Technologies executive Meng Wanzhou from Canada for allegedly violating US sanctions against Iran, and most infamously, the ongoing attempt to extradite WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange from the UK to the US to face charges under the Espionage Act with a potential life sentence for revealing Washingtons war crimes, torture, surveillance, corruption and coup plots.

Everywhere, US imperialism pursues a policy of gangsterism, wantonly violating international law, while insisting on its right to carry out the extra-territorial enforcement of US laws and the unilateral imposition of secondary sanctions.

At a rally in Caracas on Sunday, Saabs wife, Camila Fabri Saab, read a letter he had written just before his extradition in which he insisted that he had committed no crime in the United States or any other country and that he had no intention of lying to help the United States.

Saab also warned that if they kill me and say it was suicide, this is something that I would never do.
This week is the 20th anniversary of the sinking of a refugee boat designated by the Australian government as SIEV X, in which 353 asylum seekers, mainly from Iraq and Afghanistan and including 146 children, tragically drowned in international waters between Indonesia and Australia. Most of the boats passengers were attempting to re-join their husbands and fathers on Temporary Protection Visas in Australia.

Photograph of sinking SIEV-4 taken from HMAS Adelaide early October 2001, eleven days before SIEV X disaster [Source: SIEVX.com]

SIEV stands for Suspected Illegal Entry Vessel. The X means no tracking number was ever assigned by the Australian authorities, in accordance with government orders.

The article below from the World Socialist Web Site archives was originally published as a four-part series from August 13 to 16, 2002. Written by Linda Tenenbaum, it provides a detailed examination of the political circumstances surrounding the sinking of SIEV X, the official cover up that followed and the Labor Partys role in blocking any serious investigation.

Canberras response to SIEV X, and the scores of anti-refugee measures enacted by Australian governments since, constituted a brutal benchmark that governments around the world have emulated in an escalating two-decade global assault on refugees and asylum-seekers.

Like the SIEV X victims, tens of thousands have drowned in the Mediterranean trying to reach Europe or any peaceful sanctuary in which to live and work. The US maintains a network of immigrant concentration camps inside the country and along the US-Mexico border, placing children in conditions so abusive that one doctor told the media they were more akin to torture facilities.

Capitalist governments everywhere have waged a war against the most vulnerable and exploited people on the planet, shredding the right to asylum, incarcerating men, women and children in massive refugee camps or using the military and border protection agencies to block or turn back refugee boats.

Part of the SIEV X Memorial, Sunday 15 October 2006 [Source Wikimedia]

As of May 2020, 177 countries have either fully or partially closed their borders, embracing policies pioneered by the Australian government and abrogating the right to asylum. In June last year, US President Donald Trump hailed Australias anti-immigrant policies, publicly declaring that much could be learned, from them.

SIEV X, a dangerously overcrowded boat, sank mid-afternoon on October 19, 2001 about 130 kilometres south of the Sunda Strait while trying to reach Christmas Island, an Australian territorial outpost in the Indian Ocean. It was the countrys worst maritime disaster and its highest-ever loss of civilian lives at sea.

When news began to emerge about the disaster, Prime Minister John Howards Liberal-National Coalition government claimed it knew nothing about the boat. This boat sank in Indonesian waters. We are not responsible, Howard said.

Chillingly, Philip Ruddock, the immigration minister, told the media that the disaster may have an upside by discouraging refugees from attempting to sail to Australia.

Government claims of ignorance were outright lies, as subsequent information began to reveal. The Australian Federal Police, its agents and their local Indonesian operatives were fully aware of the planned departure of SIEV X and its unseaworthy state. The boat sank in waters that were under heavy surveillance by the Australian air force and navy under Canberras Operation Relex, established to detect and repulse so-called SIEVs.

US President Bush with Australian Prime Minister John Howard in Washington 2006 [Source: Wikimedia]

In late August, Howards government, backed by the Labor Party, had deployed the navy and Special Air Service commandos to block the entry of the Tampa, a Norwegian freighter, carrying 433 Afghan refugees it had rescued from a sinking boat in the same area. Ten days before the SIEV X disaster, HMAS Adelaide intercepted another refugee boat and rescued its passengers after it sank.

The SIEV X tragedy occurred a few weeks after the September 11 terrorist attacks on the US. The Howard government, with unwavering bipartisan support from the Labor Party, became a vociferous supporter and participant in Washingtons criminal invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, and the associated assault, at home and abroad, on fundamental democratic rights.

Fully embracing the US-led war on terror, Australias political establishment unleashed, and has maintained, a drum beat of hysterical claims that asylum seekers could be Islamic terrorists and other bogus allegations.

Two decades on, Australian governments, Liberal-National and Labor alike, and the corporate media maintain a conspiracy of silence about the SIEV X disaster. Despite evidence implicating Howard government ministers for refusing to mount a rescue operation of the SIEV X and allowing its passengers to drown, no senior government official, let alone any minister has been investigated or held responsible for the tragedy.

In 2002, this series of articles warned that the whipping up of nationalism and anti-immigration chauvinism, and repudiation of the right to asylum and other international human rights conventions, were being used to divert attention from the developing social crisis. It said the capitalist parties, unable to address the fears and insecurities created by their own policies turn on the most vulnerable sections of society.

That warning has been confirmed ever since, and its message stands more urgent than ever. The reactionary agenda of capitalist governments must be opposed by a global movement of the working class, based on a socialist and internationalist program.

* * *

The tragedy of SIEV X: Did the Australian government deliberately allow 353 refugees to drown?

From evidence presented to a Senate inquiry during the past four months, it appears that the Australian government may have been directly implicated in the deaths of 353 asylum seekers, including 146 children, as a result of its anti-refugee campaign aimed at winning last years November 10 general election.

On October 19, 2001 the Iraqi, Afghan, Palestinian and Algerian refugees drowned after their grossly over-crowded boat sank in the Indian Ocean, between Indonesia and Australias Christmas Island. Some died immediately. Others were unable to hold on for the 21 hours they were left in the ocean, without help. Of the more than 400 passengers who set out from southern Sumatra for Australia in a rickety Indonesian fishing vessel, equipped to carry less than half that number, only 44 survived, including an eight-year-old boy, who lost 21 members of his family.

Top figures in the Australian political and military establishment, including Prime Minister John Howard and senior naval commanders, repeatedly insisted after October 23, the day the shocking tragedy first came to light, that Australian authorities had no clear information as to the boats whereabouts, no ships or aircraft were therefore in a position to mount a rescue and, anyway, the victims drowned in Indonesian territorial waters.

Submissions and evidence presented to the inquiry directly contradict these claims. The drownings occurred in the midst of an unprecedented anti-refugee scare campaign, orchestrated by Howard to boost his chances of winning the upcoming federal election. The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) had been directed to conduct ongoing surveillance of the international waters between Australias northwest coast and Indonesia in order to intercept the few refugee boats trying to reach Australian territory. It is now well established that this is precisely where the ill-fated boat sank. Moreover, the RAN received repeated intelligence reports about the boats movements, as well as its unseaworthy condition, and passed the reports every day to the special interdepartmental committee set up in Canberra by Howard to direct the governments border protection operation.

Why were these intelligence reports apparently ignored? Why did the navy not intercept this boat, like every other refugee boat sailing from Indonesia to Christmas Island at the time? It certainly had the capability. Operation Relex, launched by the government to intercept Suspected Illegal Entry Vessels (SIEVs) and force them back to Indonesia, was in full swing. Several ships were on round-the-clock patrol, backed up by daily flyovers conducted by Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) PC3 Orion surveillance aircraft, as well as Coastwatch aircraft. Indeed, the entire operation had become the central focus of the governments re-election strategy.

What, then, was different about this boat (SIEV X as it was later to be called)? How did it slip through the naval cordon and air surveillance without detection? Most importantly, why the litany of lies? What has the government been trying to conceal?

So explosive has the issue become, that the Howard government has repeatedly intervened to bar witnesses from testifying to the Senate inquiry and the opposition Labor party, which, along with the Democrats and Greens, set up the investigation in the first place, moved early this month to effectively shut it down.

The children overboard inquiry

The Senate inquiry into A Certain Maritime Incident began hearings nearly four months ago after the parliamentary opposition parties voted to investigate government lies about another asylum-seeker incident that occurred during last years election campaignthe so-called children overboard affair. In early October, government ministers, on the advice of Howards People Smuggling Taskforce (PST)a handpicked committee of top public servants and defence personnelcirculated false claims that refugees on a boat bound for Australia had thrown young children overboard, endangering their lives, in order to force navy ships patrolling the area to rescue them and take them to Australian territory. The refugee boat was code-named SIEV 4 (Suspected Illegal Entry Vessel Number 4).

SIEV 4 had been intercepted by HMAS Adelaide on the evening of October 6 just inside Australias contiguous zone. When the vessel failed to respond to demands to turn back to Indonesia, the Adelaide fired several rounds of cannon and machine-gun fire at it, some at extremely close range. At least one parent held a child up highapparently fearful (with good reason) that the boat was about to be attackedto indicate that children were on board. This took place in the early hours of October 7. Not long after, heavily armed military personnel boarded SIEV 4.

Under control of the Adelaides crew, SIEV 4 was steered back into international waters and warned not to re-enter Australias contiguous zone. After the boarding party left, the boats engine was apparently disabled by passengers in a final, desperate attempt to pressure the Adelaide into picking them up. In line with its obligations under the International Law of the Sea, the Adelaide responded to SIEV 4s distress signal and took the boat in tow. When SIEV 4 sank the next day, October 8, the Adelaides crew jumped into the water and rescued all the passengers.

The whole affair was conducted under aggressive new Rules of Engagement (ROE), introduced by the government in the aftermath of the Tampa affair in late August, when a Norwegian freighter rescued hundreds of asylum seekers from their sinking boat and tried to bring them to Australia. The prime minister responded by introducing emergency measures to prohibit the ships captain from landing. Eventually the refugees were dumped on Manus Island, a remote Pacific outpost, under the governments so-called Pacific Solution. On September 3, the government launched Operation Relex, deploying the navy to chase away refugee boats and authorising the use of significant force to intimidate those asylum seekers who persevered into turning back. Directly flouting United Nations refugee conventions, the governments aim was to prevent any refugees from reaching Australian territory and applying for asylum.

In the course of the election campaign, government ministers misrepresented photographs of sailors retrieving the SIEV 4 refugees from the water on October 8 as children flailing about in the ocean after being thrown in by their parents on October 7. These lies became a key element in the xenophobic climate consciously fomented by the government, backed by a compliant media and Labor opposition, prior to the November 10 poll.

Even before the election, rumours started to circulate that sailors aboard the Adelaide had complained to Christmas Island residents that Howard and Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock were lying about the incident, that eye-witnesses had been gagged and that media coverage was completely false. After the election, as internal recriminations about their own filthy role in stoking up anti-refugee sentiment began to mount, the Labor party and the Democrats joined with the Greens to instigate a Senate inquiry into how the lies were circulated, who was responsible and how many government officials were involved in the cover-up.

By early April, it was clear that the lies went all the way to the top. Chief of the Defence Forces, Admiral Barrie (a Howard appointee), was forced to retract his initial testimony after being humiliatingly contradicted by subordinates. It turned out that dozens of government and military personnel knew, within days of the incident, that children were not thrown off SIEV 4. And the governments guilt only became more obvious when it started prohibiting its own advisers from appearing before the inquiry. Howard continued to vigorously deny any wrongdoing, claiming the problem was simply one of communication.

The children overboard inquiry received several submissions from individuals and organisations attacking various aspects of Operation Relexin particular, its racist character and its defiance of international conventions. One submission from a number of journalists raised serious concerns about the governments unprecedented censorship of information regarding the navys activities off the north-west coast. The most significant critique was lodged by a former senior diplomat, Tony Kevin, who suggested a possible causative link between the events involving SIEV 4 on October 6-8 and the subsequent sinking 11 days later of SIEV X and the loss of 353 lives.

A former ambassador to Poland (1991-94), to Cambodia (1994-97) and currently a Visiting Fellow in the Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies at the Australian National University in Canberra, Kevin argued there was compelling circumstantial evidence that the Australian government acted in such a way as to bring about or make more probable the sinking of the boat. Moreover, he argued, there was both a strong Australian motive and an available Australian capability.

Tony Kevins submission

In an article in the Canberra Times in May, explaining why he had begun his own investigation into the SIEV X drownings, Kevin wrote: From the beginning, I had a strange foreboding about this dreadful event. Somehow it seemed too conveniently timed. Elsewhere, he commented: I felt that the drowned people had not been treated with decency. I felt the Australian government had treated them like rubbish, reflecting its cruelty and callousness during the election.

In his first submission to the inquiry in March, Kevin pointed out that the Adelaides encounter with SIEV 4 was the first major test of the [navys] new ROE. From the standpoint of the Howard government, the encounter was a dismal failure. SIEV 4 was not forced back to Indonesia. Its passengers had disabled the boat, successfully relying upon the Adelaides crew to obey international protocols and rescue them. Once on board the Adelaide, the refugees became the responsibility of the Australian governmentprecisely the outcome Howard was intent on preventing.

Referring to the public responses of the prime minister and the foreign affairs minister, Alexander Downer, to the SIEV 4 incident, including the lie that the passengers had thrown their children overboard, Kevin wrote: I believe that Ministers anger reflected their intense disappointment that what was intended to beand clearly wasa very forceful and frightening interception under the new ROE, finally failed to deter the passengers of this SIEV. This was because the people on SIEV 4 trusted that in the end, the Australian navy would not sail away from their disabled or sinking boat and leave its passengers to die.

From the governments standpoint, Kevin argued, there were two basic flaws in its strategy. In the first place, it had underestimated the preparedness of the asylum seekers to risk their lives, to the point of disabling their boat, to get to Australia. Secondly, it could not get round the navys obligations under international law to rescue them. While the new rules of engagement legitimised force, they did not permit the navy to sink a boat or place passengers lives in jeopardy.

How, then, to avoid a repetition of the SIEV 4 incident? Howard and his minders were adamant that any further breach of the navys cordon sanitaire would severely undermine the governments key electoral pitch: that it was strong on border protection. A minute of a meeting of the prime ministers interdepartmental PST, held in Canberra on October 7, 2001 in the midst of the SIEV 4 incident, reveals the level of concern. Entitled Options for handling unauthorised arrivals: Christmas Island boat the minute states: A strong signal that the people smugglers have succeeded in transporting a group to the mainland [Australia] could have disastrous consequences. There are in the order of 2,500 PUAs [potential unauthorised arrivals] in the pipeline in Indonesia awaiting transport, therefore this should be avoided at all costs  (cited in Kevins second submission to the Senate inquiry, dated April 11. Emphasis added).

One possible solution for the government would be if a boatload of refugees were to sink under conditions where the navy was not in a position to rescue them. If no RAN or Coastwatch patrols were anywhere near a vessel that was foundering, then neither the navy nor the government would be responsible under the International Law of the Sea for any resulting deaths.

In other words, a boat, already known to be too unseaworthy to make the distance, could simply be allowed to founder, without the government appearing to have any involvement whatsoever. Government ministers could publicly express their sorrow, while at the same time blaming the victims for their own misfortune. As Kevin pointed out, only such a major loss of life would overcome the limitations of the ROE and successfully send a strong deterrent signal against further attempted asylum-seeker boat voyages to Australia in the pre-election period.

The fateful voyage of SIEV X

There is compelling evidence that the scenario suggested by Tony Kevin in his submissions to the Senate inquiry on A Certain Maritime Incident formed the backdrop to the sinking of SIEV X. From Indonesian and Australian media reports at the time of the tragedy, as well as testimony from survivors, recounted by Kevin in his two submissions, the following appears to be what happened.

On October 18, 2001 SIEV Xa 19-metre wooden boat, grossly overloaded with more than 400 asylum seekersset sail from Bandar Lampung at the southern tip of Sumatra, the largest island in the Indonesian archipelago. Its destination was Christmas Island, an Australian territorial outpost, about 300 nautical miles due south of Sumatra.

Intelligence about the boats movements was being forwarded to Australian authorities by a large network of paid informers in Indonesia who had infiltrated the people smuggling industry operating out of Indonesia. Their task was not only to follow the people smugglers activities, but to try and disrupt them. For some unexplained reason, there was no attempt to disrupt SIEV Xs journey.

Many of the passengers were reluctant to board when they saw the boats unseaworthy condition. They were falsely informed that this was just a transit vessel and they would soon be transferred to a larger boat. Some nevertheless took fright and paid bribes to be let off by the armed and uniformed officers who were at the dock. The rest were herded onto the vessel at gunpoint. Another 24 alighted when the boat stopped briefly at an island in the Sunda Strait (the strip of water between Sumatra and Java), convinced it was about to sink. The vessel was leaking, its engine failing and there was a large crack in the hull.

The boat set out for the open sea on the morning of October 19. In the early afternoon, one of its two engines failed. Within minutes the vessel capsized, about 80 miles south of the Sunda Strait, breaking up into planks almost immediately. Of the 397 refugees still on board, 353including 146 childrenperished. The boat was carrying only 70 life vests.

Around 21 hours later, what appeared to be an Indonesian fishing boat happened by, rescuing the 44 who were still alive, clinging to life vests or pieces of wood. According to survivor accounts, two large ships passed them during the night, shining floodlights onto the terrible scene. Aircraft were seen and heard flying above. But none of them stopped or mounted a rescue.

The fishing boat took the traumatised survivors to Jakarta, about 300km away (although the south coast of Java was only 80km away). The journey lasted nearly two days. On October 22, the refugees were met at the pier by Indonesian immigration police.

The next day CNN broke the news of the tragedy. An Egyptian, Abu Qussey, was arrested as the people smuggler responsible, but charged only with document fraud. Two police officers were arrested in northern Indonesia for their part in the armed duress at the port of embarkation.

Responding to questions on October 23-24 as to why the victims had not been rescued by Australian naval vessels patrolling the area, Prime Minister Howard stressed: This boat sank in Indonesian waters. We are not responsible.

None of the media questioned Howards position. The election campaign was well underway. Both the media and the Labor opposition had fallen in behind the governments vilification of asylum seekers and its attempts to paint them as possible terrorists in the wake of September 11. The drownings were depicted as an unfortunate accident. No assessment was made of exactly where the boat sank or how much the government knew about its movements and overloaded condition. The unstated premise was that, by virtue of the fact that they were refugees, the lives of these people were expendable. After a few days in the headlines, the issue all but disappeared from the public arena.

It did have the effect, however, of deterring any further voyages. On October 25, one boatload of refugees arrived at Ashmore Reef, but that was to be the last. Between then and the start of the Senate inquiry in late March, none of the 2,500 asylum seekers alleged by the Australian government to be waiting in Indonesia to travel to Australia embarked on the journey.

On election night, Prime Minister Howard, triumphant at his third consecutive electoral victory, was asked in an interview on ABC TV whether he expected the number of refugee boats to diminish.

The advice is that the flow of people into the pipeline has slowed, he answered. Its a bit hard to know how quickly the people who have accumulated in Indonesia are going to try and come here. Obviously the more difficult we make it, the less likely they are to come  (quoted in Kevins second submission. Emphasis added).

The Senate inquiry

When Kevins allegations about possible government involvement in the SIEV X tragedy were first raised in the inquiry, they were attacked by witnesses as unfounded and offensive and dismissed out of hand. The government and media, publicly at least, chose to ignore them.

In early April, the maritime commander in charge of Operation Relex, Rear Admiral Geoffrey Smith, testified to the Senate that the RAN had no information about SIEV X, its likely departure from Indonesia or due date in Australian territory. At no time under the auspices of Operation Relex were we aware of the sailing of that vessel until we were told that it had in fact foundered, he declared. He told the senators that when SIEV X sank on October 19, the closest ship, HMAS Arunta, was 150 nautical miles away, patrolling the waters close to Christmas Island. (At that distance, Aruntas helicopter could have been at the accident scene in less than an hour and the ship itself in four or five hours.)

Under questioning, Smith admitted that normal practice since September 3 when Operation Relex was launched, was to respond to any information regarding the possible departure of an SIEV for Australia by sending ships to intercept it. Every one of the 12 other SIEVs that set out from Indonesia for Australia between September 3 and October 25 was intercepted and boarded by the navy. The reason this did not happen in the case of SIEV X, according to Smith, was that the navy simply received no intelligence about it.

This appeared to be the end of the matter. Kevin, however, responded to Smiths testimony with a second submission, highlighting a number of inconsistencies. Smith had testified that the navy knew nothing about SIEV X. But according to media reports in October, Australian search and rescue authorities had issued an overdue notice about SIEV X on the morning of October 22. Kevin wrote: In order to be able to put out a boat overdue notice on 22 October, the Australian search and rescue authorities must have had some previous information that this boat had set out for Christmas Island, when it had set out, and from where.

That the overdue notice was issued on October 22 suggested that Australian authorities might have expected it to arrive at the Christmas Island contiguous zone by 21 or 22 October, on the basis of a presumed knowledge that it had set out from Bandar Lampung on around 18 or 19 October.

Kevin posed the obvious question: From where did Australian search and rescue authorities obtain such information and when did they receive it?

Smith had told the Senate inquiry that unlike the situation prior to Operation Relex, the Australian Defence Force (ADF) had full operational control of all surveillance, monitoring and interception of SIEVs, and that intelligence sat behind these activities. It was a government decision that the ADF would take the lead. Prior to 3 September, we were a supporting agency; after 3 September, we were the lead agency, he said.

Smith also outlined just how closely involved the prime ministerial taskforce was: Once these vessels were intercepted in the early stages of Operation Relex, every decision that was taken in terms of what to do with that particular vessel and the people on it was in fact directed from Canberra. It is my understanding that that came out of the interdepartmental committee process and therefore, from our perspective, it was a government direction.

Under these conditions, whatever information had been received by search and rescue leading it to issue an overdue notice on October 22 would, as a matter of course, have been relayed both to the navy and to the government. Yet Smith had forcefully insisted, on three separate occasions in the course of his testimony, that the navy knew nothing about SIEV X prior to its sinking.

Smiths clarification of evidence

On April 16, Rear Admiral Smith decided to publicise his repudiation of Kevins allegations in a letter to the Canberra Times. In it, he repeated his claim that the navy had no information and was thus unable to rescue SIEV Xs 353 victims.

Rear Admiral Marcus Bonser, director general of Coastwatch and the man responsible for coordinating his organisations relations with Defence under Operation Relex, was due to testify before the Senate inquiry on May 22. After reading Smiths Canberra Times letter, he immediately phoned Smiths office to let him know that the evidence he, Bonser, would be presenting directly contradicted Smiths claims.

Smith was overseas at the time, so Bonser left a message. On April 22, having received no response from Smith, Bonser met with Admiral Gates, head of the defence taskforce on people smuggling. On May 10 and still no response, he advised navy chief Vice-Admiral David Shackleton that there would be inconsistencies between Admiral Smiths evidence and mine when I appear at the Senate committee, and he should be aware of that.

On May 16, one month after Bonsers first attempt to contact him, Smith finally phoned Bonser to say he would be sending a letter to the Senate to clarify his evidence.

On May 22, the day of Bonsers appearance before the inquiry, Rear Admiral Smiths letter was delivered. Entitled clarification of evidence, its contents were astonishing. Far from clarifying his earlier evidence, Smith was now openly contradicting it. The rear admiral admitted that the navy had received no less than six intelligence reports between October 14 and October 22 about SIEV X and its intended or actual departure from Indonesia. The reports had been passed on by Coastwatch and contained such details as the name of the people smuggler organising the voyage, Abu Qussey.

Smith cited a dispatch on October 18 in which Coastwatch assessed SIEV Xs possible arrival at Christmas Island on October 18 or 19. Another, on October 19, reported that the vessel had departed. On October 20, the boat was described in considerable detail as being small and with 400 passengers on board, with some passengers not embarking because the vessel was overcrowded. The purpose of the reports, according to Smith, was to indicate a possible SIEV arrival in an area within a probable time window. Amazingly, and despite the navys receipt of detailed and precise information as to the unseaworthy condition of the boat, it considered the reports too inconclusive to warrant an aerial search. Smith added that when the boat sank on October 19, surveillance aircraft were flying near Christmas Island (not in the area south of the Sunda Strait where the boat sank).

Smiths letterwhich amounted to an admission that he had lied under oathshould have led, at the very least, to his immediate recall before the inquiry. Why had he not been forthcoming with this information in April? Either the navy had made a terrible miscalculation, a fatal error of judgement, in its assessment of the SIEV X intelligenceremoving any possibility of rescue for the 353 refugees when their boat sankor a conscious decision had been taken to simply let them drown. At the very least, the navy was guilty of breathtaking callousness concerning the lives of the men, women and children aboard SIEV X.

Most importantly, the inquiry should have immediately posed the question: who made the final decisions in relation to the quality and status of the SIEV X intelligence? What role did the government and its People Smuggling Taskforce play? Was a decision made at the highest level to allow this particular boat to pass through the Operation Relex dragnet precisely because it had no chance of making the distance? Were surveillance aircraft and RAN ships deliberately kept away?

Remarkably, Smith was not recalled and very little was made, in the inquiry and the press, of his admissions. Even more remarkably, when the ADF insisted that Smiths letter be returned on the basis that it contained confidential information, the senators presiding over the inquiry dutifully obliged.

Marcus Bonsers testimony

Rear Admiral Bonser, a serving officer of the RAN, became director general of Coastwatch, a division of the Australian Customs Service, in August 2001. In his testimony of May 22, 2002 to the Senate inquiry he declared that the primary function of Coastwatch was to conduct coastal and offshore surveillance in order to generate information on potential or actual breaches of legislation as they relate to Australias maritime zones. Coastwatch passed that information, including signals traffic, on to relevant client agencies, including Defence, enabling them to make informed decisions on whether further action is warranted and, if so, the nature and extent of that action. Under Operation Relex, Bonser explained, Coastwatch operated in support of Defencea reversal of the arrangements that normally apply to civil surveillance matters in Australias maritime zones.

In his opening statement to the inquiry, Bonser not only confirmed the six intelligence reports about SIEV X mentioned in Smiths letter of clarification. He declared that Coastwatch had received information as early as August 2001 that Abu Qussey was allegedly in the process of arranging a boat departure of illegal immigrants, probably to Christmas Island. In the ensuing period, Coastwatch received information that the vessel was expected to depart, or had departed, Indonesia on four different dates in August, anywhere within a seven-day block in September and on five separate dates in October. He said that information in relation to possible boat departures from Indonesia is often imprecise and subject to frequent change.

What his testimony did, however, was provide conclusive evidence that SIEV X had been under constant surveillance for nearly three months. He also revealed that the source of the intelligence was the Australian Federal Police, and that the information received by Coastwatch was routinely passed on to Operation Relex, accompanied by a precis of the relevant information in its daily operation summary message.

Bonser explained that Coastwatch had issued the overdue notice on October 22 on the basis of previous advice from the Australian Federal Police as to when the boat had departed.

Questioned about whether it would be standard practice to send a plane to where a boat was reported to be leaving, Bonser replied: The whole general area is being covered by what is probably the most comprehensive surveillance that I have seen in some 30 years of service  (emphasis added).

Despite this comprehensive surveillance, and the constant flow of information specifically about SIEV X, Bonser was unable to explain why it dried up right at the time the SIEV X sank.

After Bonsers opening statement came the following extraordinary exchange. Senator Bartlett (Democrats): I noticed in your statementin paragraph 43that you said you got advice on the 22nd [October, 2001] that [SIEV X] was overdue and you notified Search and Rescue. On the 23rd, you got advice from Australian Theatre Joint Intelligence Centre that a SIEV had sunk. Later that day, CNN reported the sinking and the rescue of survivors. Was that the first time you or any of the Australian operations were aware of survivors being locatedhearing it through CNN? Rear Adm Bonser: Yes, it was. Bartlett: So we have got a comprehensive surveillance operation, the strongest we have ever had, and CNN could find out what was happening before we could? Bonser: In this case the vessel clearly was not detected prior to its sinking. Senator Faulkner (Australian Labor Party): Do you know why not? Bonser: No, I do not. Faulkner: Have there been any inquiries at allinternal Commonwealth inquiriesinto this issue since the sinking that you are aware of? Bonser: I do not know of any.

Bonser also testified that the most probable location of the sinking was somewhere between the Sunda Strait and perhaps 80 miles south of Sunda Strait, or 80 miles south of Javaan area, he said, that was under surveillance from Defence and not Coastwatch during Operation Relex. They had ships with helicopters and aircraft there, he added.

Later, he told the senators that the limit of Defence (ADF) surveillance was about 30 miles south of Indonesian territory and that Tony Kevins estimation of where the boat foundered would be within the surveillance area.

Despite this, Bonser maintained throughout that there was no course of action that any Australian authority could have taken that would have prevented the sinking of the vessel. He said he disagreed with Kevins allegations.

In response to further questions, Bonser admitted that Coastwatch had made no requests of any of the agencies with the capacity to detect radio communications from boats or aircraft in the area at the time to check to see if anything they retain indicates that messages or broadcasts were intercepted by them.

In other words, despite the greatest loss of life at sea in the immediate vicinity of Australian territorial waters in living memory, (approximately equivalent to the crashing of a jumbo jet full of passengers) not a single government agency or department conducted an investigation into how it happened or who was responsible. No review was made of the information available at the time, or why it was that the 353 victims were not rescued. In recent years, drownings of fishermen and yachtsmen have, correctly, triggered coronial inquests and Senate inquiries. Extensive and costly searches have, also correctly, been mounted for a single missing yachtsman. At the very least, Bonsers astonishing admission meant that the lives of 353 asylum seekers were considered to be simply not worth the effort of an investigation. The only other conclusion was that the government and the navy had something even worse to hide.

Admiral Chris Ritchie contradicts Smith and Bonser

Two weeks later, on June 4, the incoming chief of the navy, Admiral Chris Ritchie, appeared before the inquiry to attempt to save the day for the government. With Smiths initial testimony shot to pieces by Bonser, the navys top official tried to smooth over the contradictions.

At the outset, Ritchie disclosed that, during the month of October, there was actually a great deal more intelligence reporting on SIEV X than either Smith or Bonser had divulged. Other agencies had also sent messages to the navy about the boat on October 10, 11, 12 and 14. Like Smith and Bonser, Ritchie was at pains to emphasise that the information was, nevertheless, inconclusive.

Unlike Smith, however, Ritchie testified that under Operation Relex the navy did not send out ships to intercept SIEVs once reliable information about their departure had been received. We put ourselves between the archipelago and Christmas Island, he said, and we waited for these people to come through those particular areas. All of the boats that we detected, that is how we detect [sic] them; they came through the area that we sat in. Therefore, he told the senators, there was no reason, no cause, nor, indeed, no right for Admiral Smith to send ADF assets into the area where the boat subsequently foundered and disappeared (emphasis added).

Ritchie went even further. Directly contradicting the evidence of both Smith and Bonser, he said that Operation Relex does not specifically trigger surveillance activity because surveillance activity is there. According to Ritchie, ongoing surveillance took place, irrespective of the intelligence forwarded to the ADF. Aircraft were not sent to specific areas to look for SIEVs, they simply conducted general surveillance. Moreover, he testifiedagain contradicting Bonserthat air surveillance was not conducted in the area south of the Sunda Strait. That made it impossible, he said, for anyone involved in Operation Relex to have detected SIEV X. He went so far as to declare that SIEV X is not a SIEV, as far as we are concerned.

Ritchie also informed the Senate that, contrary to Bonsers evidence, there had, indeed, been an inquiry into the sinking of SIEV X and the intelligence surrounding it. There has been a review of all the intelligence that was received in a chronological order. All it shows is that there was considerable confusion as to where this boat departed from, when it departed, how many people were in it and whatever.

Butstrangelywhen asked when the review was launched, Ritchie replied: I do not know the answer to your question as to when it was done.

How to account for this? Indeed, how to account for the totally contradictory evidence supplied by three leading naval officers? In this relation, it is noteworthy that Ritchie had only recently been appointed by Prime Minister Howard as the navys new chief. Was Ritchies evidence which, taken together, placed the navys role in the best possible light, just another high level cover-up? Was this an attempt at damage control in the face of potentially explosive admissions by Smith and Bonser?

What Howards PST knew

Asked in the course of his testimony on May 22 whether the matter of SIEV X had been discussed at meetings of the Howard governments People Smuggling Taskforce prior to October 22, when Coastwatch issued the overdue notice, Rear Admiral Bonser replied: No, I am not aware of that at all. At the same time, he confirmed that Coastwatch was represented at all PST meetings.

Bonsers evidence dovetailed with that of Jane Halton, Howards handpicked head of the PST. On April 16, Halton indicatedwithout going into the matter in any detailthat the committee knew nothing about SIEV X until October 22, three days after it sank and two days after its survivors were rescued. But on June 15 the PSTs minutes were published, after the Senate ordered their release. They revealed that the interdepartmental committee discussed SIEV X at six successive meetings between October 18 and October 23. At the very first discussion on October 18, the minutes show that the committee had information that SIEV X had departed for Christmas Island and that there was some risk of vessels in poor condition and rescue at sea. The intelligence was described as multi-source information with high confidence level.

The PST was set up in September for the specific purpose of monitoring and directing Operation Relex. It was charged with making all operational decisions concerning the interception and boarding of SIEVs. The revelation that the taskforce was in receipt of high level intelligence about SIEV Xs departure and its unseaworthy condition on the day it departed raises the obvious question: why was the navy not instructed to intercept the boat? Why was no aerial surveillance ordered?

The answer is not that information about the boat was simply passed over. On October 20 the minutes note that SIEV X was expected to arrive the next day. On October 21 there is a very odd entry: Check Defence P3 [Orion aircraft] is maintaining surveillance over Christmas Island  (emphasis added). So the PST, it seems, had directed that surveillance be carried outperhaps the day beforebut why near Christmas Island? Since the boat was known to be in poor condition and potentially in need of rescue at sea why was surveillance not ordered further back, closer to the Sunda Strait, which was still well within the ADFs general surveillance area?

By October 22 the minutes indicate that the PST assumed the boat had sunk. The chilling minute reads: SIEV 8: not spotted yet, missing, grossly overloaded, no jetsam spotted, no reports from relatives.

Clearly, the committee expected jetsam and reports from relatives. The obvious question is: if Halton and her colleagues were anticipating a disaster, why didnt they take action to avert it? Who made the decision not to? There is no question but that Howard and his closest political allies would have regarded a rescue at sea of 400 refugees, three weeks before the November 10 poll, as an electoral disaster. Did the committee (or someone outside it) therefore decide to simply ignore SIEV X?

Significantly, in the October 22 minute, the boat was referred to as SIEV-8as opposed to Ritchies evidence that it was not a SIEV, as far as we were concerned. This further confirmed that the boat had been clearly identified and was being tracked by the PST.

The next PST minute on SIEV X was dated October 23. It reported the committee receiving an account of the testimony of SIEV Xs survivors (the same testimony accessed by Tony Kevin). The minutes conclude: Vessel likely to have been in international waters south of Java when it went down.

It is inconceivable that the PST would have failed to immediately brief Howard on the details it had gathered of the boats fate. The PSTs October 23 meeting took place a few hours before CNNs first public report of the drownings. Yet, contrary to the information contained in the PST minute, the prime minister declared on that very day: This boat sank in Indonesian waters. We are not responsible.

The publication of the PST minutes exposed the extent to which virtually every witness called before the Senate inquiry up to then had consciously withheld evidence or lied outright. As Kevin pointed out in an article in the Australian Financial Review on June 21: These minutes show that such information was available in the defence system, and to the AFP and departments such as immigration and foreign affairs [all of whom had representatives on the PSTLT]. Many officials in member agencies, briefed by their departmental representatives at PST meetings, must have known since April that false testimony was being furnished to the committee. With the exception of Bonser, none came forward. Even after Bonser, the system tried to sustain the claim that not enough had been known about SIEV X to warrant a search

A further clarification from Bonser

One week after the release of the PST minutes, Rear Admiral Bonser appeared again before the Senate inquiry to expand upon his May 22 evidence. In his first appearance, he had confirmed the six intelligence reports outlined in Rear Admiral Smiths letter of clarification. Included among them was the intelligence received by Coastwatch at 9.30 a.m. on October 20: that SIEV X had set sail and that it was small and with 400 passengers on board, with some passengers not embarking because the vessel was overcrowded. At that time9.30 a.m.SIEV Xs survivors had been desperately clinging to life vests and planks in the ocean for some 18 hours, after witnessing hundreds of their co-passengers, including their children, other family members, friends and colleagues lose the battle to stay alive.

Bonser now testified that an Australian Federal Police officer (later identified as Kylie Pratt) had personally warned Coastwatch that the boat was grossly overloaded and feared it was in grave danger of sinking. Moreover, Coastwatch relayed this information on to Defence before 10 a.m. on October 20.

Yet, with highly reliable information that hundreds of refugees lives were immediately at risk, both Coastwatch and the navy concluded there was no definitive assessment that the vessel had departed Indonesia. Coastwatch therefore decided not to alert the search and rescue authorities and the navy decided not to alert the HMAS Arunta, lying 150 nautical miles south, (about four hours away) or any of its helicopters or P3 Orion surveillance aircraft. Moreover, as we already know, the PSTs minute of October 21 made clear that Howards committee itself had already directed that aerial surveillance be kept to Christmas Island and was adamantly insisting that it remain there.

More incriminating evidence

Having maintained a stony silence on the fate of SIEV X and its 353 victims once the Senate inquiry began, by June 20, Prime Minister Howard felt obliged to speak. This attempt being made to besmirch the Royal Australian Navy in relation to this incident is appalling. To suggest that the navy stood by and allowed people to die is appalling. The navy had no way of acting, on the information it had, to prevent the sinking or to provide assistance to those who drowned.

Notwithstanding Howards belated protestations, the contradictions and unanswered questions continued to mount. On June 21, Rear Admiral Raydon Gates, head of the defence taskforce on the inquiry, was scheduled to testify. In the wake of the debacle of Rear Admiral Smiths testimony, Gates had been asked by Defence Minister Robert Hill to prepare a full review of all intelligence material related to SIEV X. But when the Senate called upon Gates to appear, Hill intervened to ban him from giving evidence. Another seven requests for Gates to testify were turned down by Hill. His justification? Well, I dont see that he has got any relevant information. Ive written to the committee four times actually asking them what they want him for, and they wont say I cant see that theres anything hes got to offer.

Not until mid-July did the government release Gates report. It included information that on the morning of October 19, just before SIEV X sank, a surveillance aircraft had flown directly above the area where the boat was travelling. The vessel foundered at around 3 p.m. but, unusually, the plane failed to conduct the scheduled afternoon flight. Instead it had been diverted further south, apparently to substitute for the Aruntas helicopter, which was being repaired. According to the report, bad weather then prevented the normal evening flight. The next morning, the plane again flew directly above the now shattered SIEV X (the boats survivors heard and saw it) but reported no abnormal sightings.

A former senior defence official, Allan Behm, was asked by SBS TVs Dateline program of July 17 to comment on the failure of the surveillance aircraft to spot the survivors. He replied: Had the maritime patrol group of the Air Force been asked either to find that particular boat or, particularly, to have found the survivors of that vessel once it had foundered, they would have had a better-than-90% chance of finding them, I think.

He added: If they could find that yachtsman Bullimore [a British yachtsman competing in a round-the-world race whose boat capsized in the Southern Ocean] 1,000 nautical miles to the south-west of Australia, then I think they could have found a few hundred people floating in the water. But the fact is that they werent tasked to do it so far as Im able to understand, and thats where I think the problem actually lies.

In other words, neither the PST nor the navy issued a directive to the surveillance aircrafts pilot to search for a boat they all knew to be in imminent danger of sinking.

The same Dateline program obtained a set of coordinates from the Harbour Master in the port in north Jakarta, where the survivors were taken. The coordinatesalmost identical to those worked out by Tony Kevinwere given to the Harbour Master by the fishermen who rescued the SIEV X passengers. They established that the boat sank 51.5 nautical miles south of Indonesia, well into international waters and right in the surveillance area of Operation Relex (Dateline transcript, July 17, 2002).

Finally, in late July, Colonel Patrick Gallagher commander of the Australian Theatre of Joint Intelligence Centre, the defence forces joint intelligence centre, testified to the inquiry that defence intelligence specifically advised Admiral Geoffrey Smith, in his capacity as head of Operation Relex, on October 20 that SIEV X was a confirmed departure. Smith had insisted that no such confirmation had ever taken place. While the boat had already sunk by this time, several of its passengers were still struggling to stay alive in the sea and an emergency rescue, even at this late stage, could well have saved several more lives.

Some political conclusions

Despite the enormity of the SIEV X tragedy and the political implications of the evidence that has emerged, it has been largely ignored by the Australian media. Until mid-June there was almost no coverage. When the extent of the lies and cover-up could be suppressed no longer, the few articles and features that did appear dismissed any possibility of criminal intent on the part of the government as exaggerated, unsubstantiated and offensive.

Cameron Stewart, writing in Murdochs Australian of June 22-23 declared, for example, that the Senate inquirys investigation of SIEV X was driven initially by sensational suggestions by a former diplomat, Tony Kevin, who said the government, in seeking to deter would-be asylum seekers, had encouraged the navy to turn a blind eye to the fate of SIEV X.

It is a grave claim, and one that is not supported by the available public evidence. Neither does any evidence support the equally grave implication that the navy knew SIEV X was sinking and refused to help.

Likewise, the very SBS Dateline program that went to considerable lengths to expose the governments lies came up with the conclusion that the problem was the structure and focus of Operation Relex. Other articles have commented that what was involved was a fiasco, a cock-up of immense proportions and a communication breakdown.

But there is no innocent explanation for the vast edifice of lies, distortions and misinformation constructed by the Howard government, its top advisers and key military personnel about the fate of SIEV X.

Four months ago Rear Admiral Smith appeared before the Senate inquiry and informed it, under oath, that At no time under the auspices of Operation Relex were we aware of the sailing of that vessel until we were told that it had in fact foundered. Not one government minister or advisor came forward to expose Smiths blatant falsification. When Admiral Bonser did contradict it, the navy and the inquiry senators themselves worked to minimise the damage and shove the issue under the carpet. Since then, the various pieces of evidence that have been slowly extracted in the course of the investigation point to a monstrous conspiracy, carried out behind the backs of the Australian people, to deny available resources to 397 refugees, in the full knowledge that the majority would consequently drown.

The cynical argumentstill advanced by senior naval figuresthat the reason the refugees drowned without so much as an attempt by the navy to mount a search and rescue operation was the lack of confirmed intelligence, does not hold water.

If it were true, why would so many witnesses feel the need to lie and cover-up the information that was received? Moreover, how to account for the fact that the other 12 SIEVs travelling between Indonesia and Australia in September and October were aggressively intercepted on the basis of intelligence of no better quality.

In a July session, one of the senators put a hypothetical question to Commissioner Mick Keelty, head of the Australian Federal Police: A 20-odd metre length vessel with some 400 people on board rather than the standard 200-odd, that we know over time had historically been put on such a vessel, would the AFP regard that as a safety of life at sea situation?

Keelty replied, If we knew those things that you said, the answer is yes.

In other words, the intelligence that the navy did receive should have immediately sparked a rescue operation.

Any objective reading of the evidence leads inexorably to the conclusion that all of those who knew about SIEV X at the time of the drownings, including Prime Minister Howard, his ministers of Immigration, Defence and Foreign Affairs, the members of the People Smuggling Taskforce and the military leaders of Operation Relex, have a compelling case to answer for the deaths of its 353 passengers.

But anyone expecting the Senate inquiry to issue such a finding should think again. Late last month, the Labor party indicated that the investigation had concluded and that the results would be handed down later this month. Despite having the power to subpoena witnesses and force them to testify, the inquiry senators have dutifully accommodated themselves to the governments continued stonewalling. Admiral Smith has not been obliged to reappear to explain his falsifications under oath, while Admiral Gates, author of the only review by defence of all the communications and intelligence associated with SIEV X, never appeared at all, along with many public servants and government advisers who were similarly barred by the Howard government.

Even more importantly, not one of the government ministers who spread the children overboard lies during the election campaign, and who closely monitored and directed the workings of the People Smuggling Taskforce in relation to all boat movements prior to the November election, has been called to account for their own role in the SIEV X debacle. Immediately after the drownings, Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock told SBS TV that the sinking of the boat and the deaths of its 353 passengers may have an upside ... In the sense that some people may see the dangers inherent in it. That such a statement, from a minister directly responsible for the governments treatment of refugees and immigrants, could remain unchallenged, let alone investigated, speaks volumes about the utter prostration of the Labor party to the Howard government.

Denouncing Labors role in shutting the inquiry down, the Sydney Morning Herald s Margo Kingston pointedly wrote: Courtesy of Labor, a black hole of accountability has been opened which will swallow future attempts to force the buck to stop somewhere in government. Ministers staffers can order public servants to do anything, keep anything from their ministers, tell their ministers and not have to tell that to the public, in fact destroy any reasonable chance for the public to get near the truth of scandals.

There is no question but that Labors cowardly decision makes a mockery of the inquiry as anything remotely resembling an independent investigation. From start to finish, the Howard government has operated with complete impunity. The Labor party backed its response to the Tampa episode and the introduction of legislation directing the navy to forcibly turn back boats. Labor then supported Operation Relex, a campaign specifically launched to victimise, intimidate, and ultimately assault defenceless refugees to prevent them from exercising their fundamental democratic right to seek asylum.

It is now becoming clearer just how far the government was prepared to go to block the entry of asylum-seekers and, thereby, lift its prospects in the forthcoming election. But, had Tony Kevin not conducted his own investigation into the SIEV X drownings and submitted his conclusions to the Senate inquiry, the whole matter would have been completely ignored.

Behind the Howard governments vicious methods, and Labors abject capitulation to them, lies a political system that is rotten to the core. As the Socialist Equality Party pointed out on October 31 in its 2001 election statement, the election campaign marked a fundamental turning point: In their unified descent into open state thuggery against thousands of desperate boat people, both parties have revealed their true colours. Neither Howard nor [former Labor leader] Beazley has any solution to the economic and social crisis facing working people. Unable to address the fears and insecurities created by their own policies, they turn on the most vulnerable sections of society. The most recent drowning tragedy, which was obscenely welcomed by Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock as a salutary lesson to other potential arrivals, is a direct outcome of their bipartisan refugee policy. It will not be the last.

With the complicity of the media and the Labor party, the Howard government has been allowed to flout the most basic democratic norms and procedures behind the backs of the Australian population. The children overboard inquiry provides a glimpse into the extent to which it has utilised the state apparatusthe military, military intelligence, the federal police and associated agencies, as well as top public servantsto achieve its sordid political ends.

This must sound a sharp warning. While the government has been able to thumb its nose at any genuine investigation into the circumstances surrounding the SIEV X tragedy, and politicians from both sides of parliament prepare to sweep under the carpet the critical issues it has raised, the working class cannot afford to do likewise.
Stellantis, the global auto giant and parent company of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Canada, announced Friday evening that it will indefinitely lay off 1,800 workers at the companys Windsor Assembly Plant in Windsor, Ontario, just across the international border from Detroit, Michigan. The layoffs will be accompanied by the elimination of the plants second shift effective April 17, 2022.

Shift change at the FCA Windsor plant, March 2020. [WSWS Media]

The global automotive industry continues to face significant headwinds such as the persisting semiconductor shortage and the extended effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the company stated in justifying the jobs massacre. In response to these factors, Stellantis will adjust production operations at its Windsor Assembly Plant.

The statement went on to declare that the companys promised $1.3 billion to $1.5 billion investment to move production to electric vehicle models in Windsor by 2024 was unaffected by their layoff announcement.

Certainly, the global shortage of semiconductors has temporarily affected auto production. In Canada, volumes have dropped by almost 7 percent over the past year. Many of the remaining assembly plants in the country have produced only sporadically since last February. Windsor Assembly, for instance, has operated for only 3 months in 2021. Stellantis Brampton Assembly Plant has seen significant downtime as well. Ford, General Motors, Toyota and Honda operations have been similarly impacted. GMs CAMI assembly plant near London, Ontarioone of the hardest hithas only operated for three weeks in the past 9 months.

That being said, Stellantis attempt to sell the layoffs in Windsor as a mere response to unexpected supplier issues is a cynical fraud. The reality is that well before last Januarys merger of FCA with the PSA group, which includes Peugeot, Opel, and Vauxhall, that formed Stellantis, corporate management were plotting a massive onslaught on workers jobs and conditions around the world.

Noting that Stellantis employed some 410,000 workers on almost every continent when it was formed, the World Socialist Web Siteexplained, The merger of FCA and PSA has been driven by the ferocious struggle among the auto giants to dominate both new technologies, including electric and autonomous vehicles, and markets. The tie-up will itself push other companies to seek out further consolidation and cost savings. The major banks and investors have exerted relentless pressure on automakers in recent years to accelerate cuts and restructuring plans, with the aim of squeezing out every drop of profits possible from the working class.

Carlos Tavares, who heads the Stellantis group, is notorious as a cost-cutting restructurer. He is responsible for the destruction of thousands of auto jobs across PSAs European operations in France, Germany, and Britain, and he is now imposing similar attacks globally to ensure Stellantis can make bumper shareholder payouts and outcompete its rivals in the rapidly expanding EV market.

The job cuts at the Windsor plant, which builds the Chrysler Pacifica minivan, Pacifica Hybrid, Grand Caravan, and Chrysler Voyager, will reduce the workforce to around 2,200 this coming spring. The plant has for years been the largest employer in Windsor, which has been devastated by a steady reduction of auto production in the city, once called the automotive capital of Canada. As late as 2020, the plant employed almost 6,000 autoworkers over three shifts. About 1,500 workers were then axed with the elimination of the third shift.

At that time, officials from Unifor, the union which represents workers at the plant, refused to mobilize autoworkers to oppose the layoffs. Talking like a corporate executive, Unifor Local 444 President Dave Cassidy said the destruction of the third shift was strictly a business decision based on the Pacifica.

On Friday, Unifor National President Jerry Dias justified the layoffs in much the same way Stellantis did. The computer chip fiasco has caused all kinds of turmoil, he said. It leaves all of the companies evaluating their priorities. The unfortunate reality is that pickup trucks, SUVS are where theyre hanging their hat. And its a disaster for us because we bargained something much different (minivans). But you cant control where the market is at as the result of the computer chips. Its a mess. Im frankly so disappointed.

This is nothing but a pathetic apologia for Unifors central role in blocking any opposition by autoworkers in Canada to the global restructuring plans of the major automakers. During last years round of collective bargaining with the Detroit Three, Dias and his teams of negotiators facilitated the massive onslaught on jobs and working conditions by campaigning for the provincial and federal governments to fork over hundreds of millions of dollars in subsidies to FCA, Ford, and GM to ensure Canadas competitiveness as a destination for new investments. They combined this with a doubling down on their promotion of rotten Canadian nationalism, telling autoworkers in Windsor, Oakville, and Brampton that their jobs could only be secured by competing in a race to the bottom with their class brothers and sisters in the United States, Mexico, and internationally.

When bargaining concluded last fall, Dias postured as the savior of the Canadian auto industry, claiming that the Detroit Threes commitment of around $5 billion in future investments to manufacture electric vehicles in Ontario guaranteed secure, decent-paying jobs for autoworkers. The elimination of the second shift at Windsor, coming little more than a year after the third shift was axed, puts paid to such bluster. Insofar as the auto industry in Canada is being saved it is at the expense of auto workers and the communities in which they work and live. The only ones to profit from this are the automakers and their super-rich shareholders along with their advisers and co-managers in the Unifor bureaucracy.

Last years collective agreement between FCA and Unifor, which Dias described as the best deal in 25 years, sought to fool the membership into accepting sweeping retrenchment with headline promises of large investments. Managements promise to invest up to $1.5 billion to re-tool Windsor Assembly for electric car production projected about 2,000 jobs slowly coming back on stream over several years.

But as the WSWS warned workers, FCAs letter of intent to Unifor sums up the uncertainty that remains over the automakers plans. FCA asserted that any investments would be predicated on competitive operational practices and appropriate government financial support to build a strong viable business case for future investments. The letter then continued by stating that all investments are subject to the two key conditions in the preceding paragraph and, as always, to market demand, consumer preferences, company business plan requirements, group executive committee approval and economic conditions.

The key clause to draw attention to here, as the WSWS did at the time, is the need for group executive committee approval for any job guarantees. Under conditions where the Stellantis group was emerging, it proves that Unifor knowingly reached an agreement that created the perfect conditions for the auto giant to launch its long-planned onslaught on jobs and conditions, all the while lulling its members to sleep with bogus propaganda about how their future employment was secure.

To oppose this corporate-union conspiracy and defend their jobs, autoworkers at the Windsor plant and across Canada must take matters into their own hands. They need to establish rank-and-file committees to oppose Unifors nationalist, pro-corporate agenda, and unify their struggle for decent-paying, secure jobs with their international colleagues at auto plants across the United States, Mexico, Europe, and elsewhere.

Autoworkers in Canada can draw on the powerful example set by tens of thousands of workers in the United States who are in open revolt against the corporations and the bosses junior partners in the unions. The brutal working conditions and rotten contract offers that are policed by the UAW and USW have been rejected in recent months by workers at Volvo Trucks, Dana auto parts, and John Deere. The rebellion by over 10,000 workers at Deere has led to the first strike at the agricultural equipment manufacturer in 35 years. It is the largest of a series of job actions by workers across the country that is developing into the biggest strike wave of the American working class in decades.

Workers at these companies have established rank-and-file committees independently of the corrupt unions to mobilize the most powerful force in the world on a global scale, the working class. We strongly encourage Stellantis workers in Windsor to contact the World Socialist Web Site today to learn more about how to start a rank-and-file committee at your workplace.
In another belligerent operation, the US Navy last week sent a warship through the Taiwan Strait, for the tenth time this year. The guided-missile destroyer USS Dewey, accompanied by the Canadian frigate HMCS Winnipeg, sailed through the narrow waterway separating mainland China from the island of Taiwan on Thursday and Friday.

Guided-missile destroyer USS Dewey (right) [Wikimedia Commons]

The US military absurdly declared that the transit demonstrated the commitment of the United States and our allies and partners to a free and open Indo-Pacific. Such naval operations, thousands of kilometres from North America, are part of a decade-long US military build-up against China in Asia and are calculated to inflame tensions with Chinain this case, over the particularly dangerous flashpoint of Taiwan.

Over the past year, under Trump and now Biden, the US has been undermining longstanding arrangements with China over the status of Taiwan that formed the basis for the establishment of US-Chinese diplomatic relations in 1979. At that time, the US de facto recognised that Beijing was the legitimate government of all China, including Taiwan, by ending diplomatic ties and a military pact with Taipei, and withdrawing all military forces from the island.

Washington clearly understands the sensitivity of this issue in Beijing, which insists that Taiwan is an inalienable part of China and has warned for the past two decades that it would resort to military force if Taipei ever declared formal independence. Yet, the Biden administration is deliberately goading China by continuing Trumps high-level contact with Taiwanese officials, increased arms sales to Taipei and frequent naval transits of the Taiwan Strait.

In a particularly inflammatory step, the Wall Street Journal, in what amounted to a semi-official leak, recently revealed that US Special Forces troops had been on Taiwan for the past year, training Taiwanese soldiers. The US military presence on Taiwan for the first time in four decades will have sounded alarm bells in Beijing because the island occupies a strategic position in the so-called First Island Chain running from Japan through to the Philippines that the US could use to blockade China in the event of war.

Beijing condemned the latest Taiwan Strait transit. The Eastern Theatre Command of the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) declared that Taiwan was part of Chinese territory and accused the US and Canada of colluding to provoke and stir up trouble ... seriously jeopardising peace and the stability of the Taiwan Strait.

The presence of a Canadian warship is significant. The Biden administration has been trying to enlist the military support of allies in its confrontation with China. Canadas participation is part of its ever-more complete integration into the US economic and military-strategic offensive against China. The Canadian Armed Forces now routinely deploys warships off Chinas shores and has declared the Malacca Straits, between Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, of vital strategic significance to Canada.

Just hours before dissolving parliament and calling a national election for September 20, Canadas Trudeau Liberal government signed an agreement with Washington to modernise NORAD, the joint Canada-US aerospace and maritime defence command in order to wage strategic competition with China and Russia.

Last month the British warship HMS Richmond, a frigate deployed with a British aircraft carrier strike group, sailed through the Taiwan Strait for the first time in more than a decade. In early October, British warships joined a huge naval exercise with two US aircraft carrier strike groups and Japanese, New Zealand and Dutch naval vessels in a show of force in waters to the east of Taiwan.

The US pretext for its naval provocations is completely hypocritical. While it asserts the right to sail its warships and fly its warplanes close the Chinese coast, the US brands the intrusion of Chinese military aircraft into Taiwans Air Defence Identification Zone (ADIZ) as aggressive and menacing. ADIZs have no standing in international law. Chinese aircraft can only fly beyond the First Island Chain into the Pacific by breaching the various ADIZs of Taiwan, the Philippines, Japan and South Korea.

Moreover, Taiwans ADIZ not only covers airspace around the island but extends over the Chinese mainland by up to 300 kilometres! If this were observed, Chinese aircraft in significant areas of eastern China could not even take off without notifying Taiwanese authorities.

By stirring up tensions with China over Taiwan, the Biden administration is playing with fire. The danger of a war with China is recognised in American military and intelligence circles, where concerns are being raised about the ability of the US to win such a war. Earlier this month, retired US Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Davis warned that the US faced almost certain defeat in a conflict with China over Taiwan and risked stumbling into a nuclear war.

The Financial Times on Sunday featured an article on the reaction of US intelligence officials to Chinas test of a nuclear-capable hypersonic missile capable of evading American anti-missile systems. The article reported that officials said the test showed that China had made astounding progress on hypersonic weapons and was far more advanced than US officials realised. The comments reflect broader concerns that the US military edge over China is being eroded.

A Financial Times editorial on October 12 entitled The acute dangers of a conflict over Taiwan warned that a US military conflict with China would be a disaster for the world. Beijing and Washington would emerge from such a conflict to a world riven into hostile blocs. Whoever the winner, all would lose. The choice across the Taiwan Strait is between a tolerable status quo and a disastrous conflict. That will not change.

The editorial concluded with an impotent appeal for all sides to show common sense, calm and cool heads. However, the escalating US confrontation under Obama, Trump and now Biden against China is not driven by subjective intentions but the determination to arrest Americas historic decline at all costs and prevent China from undermining US global hegemony.

Moreover, Chinas economic and military advances, far from causing the US to pause, become an argument for greater US military spending and for a resort to war sooner rather than later. At the same time, the American political establishment as a whole is seeking to project acute social tensions at home outward against an external enemy. The focus on Taiwanthe most sensitive of Chinas core issuesis a warning that the US is actively preparing for war in the not-too-distant future.
The World Socialist Web Site invites workers and other readers to contribute to this regular feature.

Latin America

Mexican construction workers clash with police outside PEMEX refinery

About 5,000 workers at a PEMEX refinery construction site in Dos Bocas, in the southern Mexican state of Tabasco, went on strike October 12. The workers are employed by construction company ICA Fluor, which they denounce for poor pay and conditions. In addition to the pay being low, they do not receive extra pay for overtime.

Other demands are better security, personal protective equipment and benefits. Moreover, the workers complain of the company union, which extorts kickbacks from them under threat of firing.

Strikebreakers, military units and police attacked the striking workers with tear gas and rubber bullets, injuring at least three and workers hold the company union responsible for the shooting death of one worker. Videos of clashes between security forces and workers have circulated on social media.

The refinery, part of Petroleros Mexicanos (Pemex), is a pet project of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, aka AMLO, who has touted it as a means to reach energy self-sufficiency. Pemex is notorious for its corruption and inefficiency. Originally scheduled to open in 2022, the project has been plagued by cost overruns, delays and environmental problems. AMLO has pushed for work to continue during the pandemic.

Dominican Republic app-based drivers protest spike in fuel prices

Members of the Application Taxi Drivers Association in the city of Santiago de los Caballeros in the Dominican Republic held a protest October 11 against the rise in fuel prices. The protesters, about 500 strong, gathered at the esplanade of a famous monument downtown, then held a caravan parade down various streets in the city.

Drivers not only have to deal with the rise in fuel prices. Uber drivers complain that their pay is discounted by their employers by up to 45 percent. One driver told reporters at the protest that just to pay for the gas for a days work, he must serve 10 riders.

Paraguayan teachers continue strike for raise

Members of the Federation of Educators of Paraguay (FEP) are continuing the strike they began October 1 to press their demand for a 16 percent salary increase. The teachers walked out in rejection of the unilateral 8 percent raise announced by the Finance Ministry.

Since then, the ministry has raised its offer to 11 percent, but teachers are adamant that they get the 16 percent raise, especially amid a surge in prices for the basic food basket and fuels. The National Union of Student Centers of Paraguay (Unepy) declared itself in solidarity with the teachers and has joined it in mobilizations, including marches and roadblocks.

The FEP called a meeting of delegates of the unions for October 16 to discuss the strike and decide on the direction to take.

Argentine bus drivers strike for overdue pay

Drivers for the El Cacique bus company in Rosario, in Argentinas Santa Fe province, struck October 13. Service on ten routes was affected.

The UTA transportation workers union said in a statement that the walkout, which began at noon, would continue until the enterprise gives a response to the union demand and pays the salaries of 30 workers to whom it ignores their licenses [i.e., medical leave] for duly justified infirmities.

The strike was a short one. At around 3:00 p.m., a local UTA official told reporters that EL Cacique had offered a partial payment of the debt, but that the union did not accept the offer because they demand a solution for all and not just for some. An hour and a half later their positions got closer, and they arrived at an agreement, reported radio.unr.edu.ar. Service was restored shortly afterward.

United States

Contract extension for Rhode Island school bus drivers puts off strike for a week

The union representing school bus drivers and monitors for Warwick, Rhode Island schools refused to call a walkout October 15, after some 200 union members voted to strike the previous night. Instead, Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 618 agreed to a contract extension through October 22.

First Student, the largest provider of school bus services in the United States, says it is offering a 30 percent wage increase, but clearly the issues separating the workers and the company run deeper.

Starting wages for bus drivers are $16 an hour and wage increases are no doubt an issue. But the ATU revealed that workers are insisting on a guaranteed workweek of 20 hours.

ATU business agent Nick DeCristofaro admitted that back in September, First Student offered school bus drivers five cents. At a September 27 demonstration, one sign held up by a worker berated First Student, saying, 50 cents is not a raise. Another sign raised the issue of the pandemic, saying, Packed buses? What about COVID? and 200 workers, 2 bathrooms.

On October 1, a small number of bus drivers called in sick and the school district recalled all buses for the day.

Canada

Quebec nurses refuse mandatory overtime

More than 30,000 nurses, organized in the Federation interprofessionnelle de la sante du Quebec (FIQ), refused forced overtime this past weekend in the provinces hospitals and health care centers. Citing total exhaustion from 18 months at the front lines of the response to the coronavirus pandemic and pointing to an abusive and inhumane system of constant understaffing that affects not only nurses but patient care, the FIQ appealed to health officials in the governments workplace safety board and human rights commission.

With little action taken by the rightwing government of Premier Francois Legault, nurses sent formal notice that they would be refusing mandatory overtime over the weekend. Health authorities also received formal notice that unless the practice of assigning compulsory overtime was discontinued by November 15, nurses would take further action.
This Sunday, October 24, the World Socialist Web Site will host an online event featuring a panel of scientists, to explain how COVID-19 can be eradicated and the pandemic finally brought to an end. Register today.

***

Ten-year-old Zyrin Foots from Huntsville, Texas died on October 13 after contracting COVID-19. He was one of the more than 5,000 US children since the beginning of the pandemic to develop Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children or MIS-C, a condition only found among children who are exposed to the deadly coronavirus.

Zyrin Foots (3/3/2011-10/13/2021) [Family photo]

The effects of MIS-C are horrific. The childs brain, kidneys, eyes and other organs swell up and malfunction. Children with MIS-C may have fever and various symptoms, including abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhea, neck pain, rash, bloodshot eyes, or feeling extra tired, writes the Texas Department of State Health Services.

For Zyrin, the inflammation was worst in his heart. As blood ceased to flow through his arms and legs, he developed a severe case of gangrene, rotting the flesh on all four of his limbs.

He was placed on life support on September 30, but continued to deteriorate. Photos on the familys GoFundMe page show that the gangrene in Zyrins legs became extremely severe, with multiple gaping wounds that appear to be several inches across.

Zyrins mother Amber faced an unfathomable decision: either have doctors amputate her sons arms and legs, winning Zyrin a 25 percent chance of survival as a quadruple amputee; or allow him to be taken off life support.

Amber had already lost one child. As her sister Ashley Engmann explained in a fund appeal, Amber was in an accident 8 years ago. She was hit by a truck when she was 6 months pregnant, lost her 3rd son, Zekiah, and nearly died. She was in a coma for 4 months and took a couple of years to recover. Zyrin is her eldest son. Her second son, Zaiden, is the only one left. I am reaching out because we have no way of paying for everything that is to come. My sister is permanently disabled and there isnt any life insurance.

Zyrin's hand with gangrene, as he lay in the hospital with COVID-19/MIS-C [family photo]

Zyrins family was not the only one to face such a tragic situation. Daeshun Jamison from Michigan, another ten-year-old with MIS-C, also developed gangrene in all four limbs. He is recovering from a quadruple amputation performed in February of this year.

Nor will they be the last. The state of Michigan warned in a report on MIS-C earlier this month, Expect cases to rise in future because higher community transmission is followed by higher incidence of MIS-C cases nationally.

Ashley Engmann wrote of Ambers painful experience on Facebook, Watching her today in the hospital room, agonizing over a decision about her firstborn son was the most gut wrenching and unbelievable thing Ive ever been a witness to. My heart is shattered into a million pieces for her and for the loss of another son my heart breaks for all of us for the life of a child that had so much more of a life to live. The absolute horror of how this all occurred is mind baffling. I cant wrap my head around this.

Zyrins family believes he caught the virus at Huntsville Intermediate School, where he was a student. The school is open for full in-person learning, with no virtual learning, and like almost all Texas schools it does not require students or teachers to wear masks or socially distance.

Zyrin's schoolmates at Huntsville Intermediate School. This photo was posted to the school's Facebook page on October 4, while Zyrin was in the hospital on life support. (Photo: Hunstville Intermediate School)

The virus is still spreading in Texas schools. Last week, there were 4,643 reported new cases of COVID-19 among students and 907 among staff at public schools in Texas. As schools fully reopened across the country, child hospitalizations hit at an all-time high in September, when there were more than 200,000 children infected with COVID-19 in the US for five consecutive weeks.

Huntsville is a town of 46,000 people, located about an hours drive north of Houston in eastern Texas. It is a company town for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) the state prison systemwhich employs over 6,000 peoplemore than 13 percent of the citys population. Thats more than double the size of the next largest employer, Sam Houston State University, which boasts the largest criminal justice academic program in the US.

The town is also the location of the most active execution chamber in the United States, the Walls Unit, where 573 men and women have been executed since 1982, when Texas reinstated the death penalty. One-thousand and seven-hundred people are currently imprisoned there, 197 are on death row and four are scheduled to be executed before the end of the year.

At least 13 TDCJ staff members died of COVID-19 last month, including a cook at the Walls Unit. The Dallas Morning News called September the deadliest month for employees of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice since the pandemic began.

Science has shown that a virus as contagious and deadly as the Delta variant, which is currently responsible for 99 percent of new COVID-19 infections and killing more than 1,600 people in the US every day, can only be eliminated and eventually eradicated by a comprehensive program of public health measures, which includes vaccines, masks, contact tracing and, crucially, the closure of schools and non-essential workplaces.
SULLIVAN COUNTY, Ind. (WTHI) - The Coats for Kids project will provide over 270 kids in Sullivan County with new coats, gloves, and hats.

This was made possible through help from the community.

Wabash Valley Correctional Facility employees donated over 80 coats.

The winter clothing items will be distributed to kids this weekend.

You can still donate at the Sullivan County Library. You can also lend a hand by donating to the Sullivan County Salvation Army.
VINCENNES, Ind. (WTHI) - In September, Matt Bowman had just days to live when News 10 visited him in the ICU. He was still fighting for himself and others. But talking to a reporter wasn't the only way he was getting his message out.

Male breast cancer activist Pat Washburn explains, "Pat called me, and she said, 'I am in matt's room, can you facetime?' now I'm driving, and I said yup! Let me get to an intersection and I'll pull over and facetime with you."

LINK | Knox County firefighter in ICU with breast cancer receives his nursing degree

Washburn lost her husband to breast cancer in 2017. Since then, she's been driving her car all around the country to spread awareness. Her next stop was Vincennes but the trip came too late. Bowman passed away on September 22nd.

Washburn says, "I said you know what, I'd still like to come and meet you. Because I knew how matt was with wanting to get the word out there about male breast cancer."

Washburn met up with Bowman's mom, Pat Buntrock. Over the last few days, they've been traveling around the community. Continuing to spread the word.

Buntrock says, "They should be checking themselves, making their doctor aware if there is a family history. So that another family doesn't have to go through what we've had to go through."

Bowmans friend Miranda Newberry says, "We want to continue that fight for him and carry that on. Spread awareness to men so this doesn't have to happen again."

That message appears to be resonating.

Washburn says, "The city is so open to hearing about male breast cancer because of matt. I said lets go ahead and jump on this bandwagon and do everything we can to get the word out."

For more information on male breast cancer: Click Here
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTHI) - A teacher shortage is impacting school districts across the Hoosier state.

That is according to a seven-year-long study done at Indiana State University.

Studies at the Bayh College of Education suggest that more teachers are leaving the classroom while more students are coming in.

Experts say this is causing problems that need to be fixed.

Nearly 97 % of Indiana schools reported teacher shortages, according to a study at Indiana State University led by professor emeritus Terry McDaniel.

He says standardized testing, low pay, and mistreatment from parents are the driving forces behind the shortage.

McDaniel also says teachers are not getting the credit they deserve and have not been for quite some time.

"They're pretty much essential workers too because everybody needs an education to go on and do what they need to in their career. So I consider teachers heroes just like I do a lot of the essential workers," said McDaniel.

McDaniel says because of these, over half of Indiana teachers could leave the industry in the next five years.

He does not feel the money spent on education is being spent as well as it could be.

"When half of your budget goes to education, I would think they would try to make it more agreeable to teachers and education to do the job that they need to do, rather than continue to put restrictions and guidelines that make it more difficult," said McDaniel.

To fix this problem, McDaniel says they need to give benefits and work with teachers to make the job more appealing to younger people.

"Part of that has to be the extrinsic reward of money, figuring ways to get those salaries more competitive with four-year degrees, but also assist them where young people coming into the profession are going to have a better opportunity," said McDaniel.

McDaniel tells News 10 he expects the same trend here locally.
WABASH VALLEY, Ill. (WTHI) - Illinois Governor JB Pritzker is urging people to get their COVID-19 booster shots.

In a Tuesday press conference, Pritzker announced his plan to roll out booster shots state-wide.

Pritzker says anyone who is eligible to get a booster shot should get it.

As of right now, 1.5 million Illinois residents are currently able to get the booster shot - with more expected to become eligible in the coming weeks.

To be eligible for the Pfizer booster, you must be 65 or older, 18 or older with an underlying medical condition, or those who live and work in high-risk settings.
INDIANA (WTHI)- For years, the state has used test scores as a way to determine student readiness. Still, many thought students should be graded on more than just that. Holly Lawson, the deputy director of communications with the Department of Education, recognizes this.

"For a long time, we have focused on a single test score to say how our students were doing," she said. "But, we really know that our students are far more than a single test score."

Since January, the State has been working to change the test score-centered curriculum. After months of research, they have announced five new GPS requirements. GPS stands for Graduates Prepared to Succeed. The characteristics are:

Academic Mastery

Career Readiness

Communication and Collaboration

Work Ethic

Civic and Financial Digital Literacy

Lawson says these characteristics were chosen because they give a better picture of a student's readiness for life after high school.

"Their future can be determined by a lot of different measures and a lot of different factors," she said. "So, we want to make sure that we have a holistic measure here."

Lawson said these requirements will be in place by 2024. These requirements will not just affect high schoolers. Lawson said these characteristics will be implemented in lower grades as well.

"That can't start in high school," she said. "That starts really in early childhood education, elementary, middle, high school. Students are building these skills across all grades."

Indicators for these characteristics will be presented at next month's board meeting. At the December meeting, the indicators will be voted on.

Lawson said these changes were not to punish the schools. They were implemented to create a better relationship between schools, parents, communities and others who have a stake in Indiana education.

"This is meant to be a transparent tool," She said. "So that parents and communities can look and very easily see how their schools are doing and take action to make sure that our students are getting the best education that they can."
(CNN) -- About 4,500 Chicago police officers didn't report their vaccination status by October 15 as mandated by the city, officials said Monday.

That means roughly 35 percent of the city's 12,770 officers could be placed on no-pay status in the foreseeable future.

The Chicago Police Department had the lowest response rate of any department in the city, but of the about 64 percent who did report, the majority of officers say they are vaccinated, according to data released by the city. Specifically, 6,894 indicated being vaccinated while 1,333 reported they have not.

Those who said they are not vaccinated are required to opt into twice weekly testing for Covid-19 until the end of the year to remain in compliance with the city policy.

The city required employees to be either vaccinated or test two times a week by October 15, and then report their status by that same deadline. Those who did not report their status risk being put on unpaid leave.

City officials said the disciplinary process will be ongoing and likely happen on a rolling basis, but that this also "starts the process" of trying to get a final number of employees into compliance. The vaccine reporting portal is still open.

One city official said, "It's not going to be an immediate 'we're firing you.' "

The first step is employees will be sent home in a no-pay disciplinary status, as the city vaccine policy is a condition of employment. As of Monday afternoon, no one has been disciplined but that process can now begin at any time.

"It'll hopefully wake them up quickly," that city official said.

Most Chicago departments had at or near a 100% response rate to the vaccine reporting requirement.

A memo obtained by CNN states any civilian or sworn employee who disobeys a direct order to comply with the city's vaccination policy "will become the subject of a disciplinary investigation that could result in a penalty up to and including separation from the Chicago Police Department. Furthermore, sworn members who retire while under disciplinary investigations may be denied retirement credentials."

A separate memo issued Saturday informed officers their elective time off would be restricted.

"Until further notice, the use of elective time by sworn CPD members is restricted. Furthermore, the use of elective time will require prior approval from the Deputy chief or above within the requesting member's chain of command," the memo obtained by CNN said.

The memos were issued as the police union and Mayor Lori Lightfoot clash over the city's requirement that city employees be vaccinated and disclose their vaccine status. The deadline to do so was Friday.

The union -- the Chicago Fraternal Order of Police -- filed a lawsuit Friday in Cook County Circuit Court last week alleging Lightfoot, Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown, the city and the police department have failed "to comply with the collective bargaining agreement's status quo."

Union president has spoken out against mandate

Negotiations over the police department's Covid-19 policy were underway when the city "implemented their unilateral changes" to the policy while "there were several collective bargaining issues that remained unresolved on the bargaining table," the lawsuit states.

Lightfoot said the same day that the city filed a lawsuit against the police union and union President John Catanzara because her office believes the union is encouraging an "illegal work stoppage to strike, pure and simple ... and we're not having that."

The mayor said then that she doesn't want young officers to destroy their careers over bad advice.

"Over what? Going to a website, clicking yes or no, and if no, saying that you're going to sign up for testing? Really, that's worth it?" Lightfoot said.

Catanzara had spoken out against the mandate to report vaccine status, telling officers they are not required to comply, and the police department has its own Covid-19 policy.

He said city officials should have negotiated about vaccinations with the union.

"All of those things are a change in your employment policies. You have to negotiate with us what that looks like. The city has refused to do that," Catanzara said Monday.

Covid-19 is the leading cause of death for officers across the country, according to the Officer Down Memorial Page.

Citywide, 25,015 out of 31,483 total employees reported their vaccine status as required by the mandate -- a total response rate of roughly 80%. A total of 21,088 employees marked they were vaccinated while 3,927 said they were not.

The Chicago Fire Department had the second-lowest response rate of any department with 72%, despite most of that percentage indicating they were vaccinated.

One city official noted those who indicated "no" on being vaccinated include those who have only gotten one dose or who are not fully vaccinated. These numbers are as of Monday morning, but could fluctuate in the coming weeks.

The-CNN-Wire

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OXFORD, Miss. (WTVA) - A man from Missouri is accused of reporting a false bomb threat in Oxford.

The incident happened on Sunday, Oct. 17 around midnight in the 100 block of Courthouse Square.

Law enforcement officers later declared the area safe.

Investigators identified the alleged caller as Blake Portnoy, 23, and charged him with false reporting of a bomb.
JACKSON, Miss. (AP)  Police have released the names of three people who were shot to death at a nightclub in Mississippis capital city.

The shootings happened early Sunday at Club Rain in west Jackson.

Jackson police say the body of 24-year-old Alicia Brown of McComb was found inside the club near the front entrance.

The bodies of 20-year-old Deanne Bell and 22-year-old Elijah Bridges of Vicksburg were found near the back of the club.

All three were shot multiple times.

Police say three other people at the club were shot.

Their wounds were not life-threatening.
STARKVILLE, Miss. (WTVA) - City leaders in Starkville met with a company on Friday to discuss a redesign plan for downtown.

According to Starkville mayor Lynn Spruill, the plan will make life easier for pedestrians.

City leaders debate design plan for Main Street. Photo taken: Oct. 10, 2021. City leaders debate design plan for Main Street. Photo taken: Oct. 10, 2021.

The proposal depicts wider sidewalks to add benches and tables.

It also will take away left turn lanes down Main Street.

The most controversial aspect of the plan is that it eliminates some parking spots.

This new model takes out around 40 parking spaces from City Hall to Montgomery Street, some of which will be replaced with parallel parking.

A worker at Tokros, a salon in downtown Starkville, expressed that she is worried these changes to Main Street could impact the salon.

She said the business can't lose anymore parking spaces. The woman also believes that less parking could stop people from coming to downtown.

However, Spruill doesn't feel that way at all.

She said their focus is not on parking, but on bringing the community to retail stores and businesses in downtown by making it a more "park-like" environment.

The mayor said the handicap parking areas will be left untouched.

Her goal behind the redesign project is to, "make us proud to be an SEC town and not be the town that people say Why would you go to Starkville?," she explained. "You go to Starkville because its a great place to be and thats the message and thats the vision that I think everyone should have for our city.

The board has not approved the redesign plan yet. It is just one option for tweaking the downtown area.
Into the Pit Weaves First-Person Roguelite Magic on Xbox Game Pass This October
For Scott Disick, Kourtney Kardashian will always be the one that got away.

A source exclusively tells E! News the Keeping Up With the Kardashians alum is "beside himself" following the news that Kourtney is engaged to Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker, who popped the question at the Rosewood Miramar hotel on Sunday, Oct. 18.

According to a second source close to Scott, the Flip It Like Disick star "knew it was coming," as the Kardashian-Jenner family had "mentioned it to him before." Nonetheless, the warning did little to soften the blow, with the source sharing that Scott is "still really sad about it and is feeling low."

Scott and Kourtney's on-again, off-again relationship began in 2006. They dated for more than 10 years, during which they welcomed Mason, Penelope and Reign, but never married.

But Kourtney broke up with Scott for the final time over the Fourth of July weekend in 2015. At the time, a source explained the Poosh guru was upset with Scott's behavior, saying, "Kourtney has always taken Scott back and been by his side, but now with three kids it has gotten old."

Kourtney Kardashian and Scott Disick's Family Pics

Fast forward to present day and the second source says, "He will always care for Kourtney. She is the mother of his children and no one else will compare to that."

Instagram

For now though, the first source says Scott "can't speak to Kourtney," with the second insider saying that Amelia Hamlin's ex is avoiding the newly-engaged couple.

"He will always be a part of the Kardashian family but it is hard for him to be around Kourtney and Travis," the second source explains.

Scott's apparent disapproval of Kourtney and Travis was made evident when he allegedly DM'd her ex-boyfriend Younes Bendjima in late August. Younes shared a photo of the message, in which Scott allegedly wrote, "Yo is this chick ok!???? Broooo like what is this. In the middle of Italy."

Story continues

A separate source told E! News that Kourtney knew Scott had "issues accepting her love with Travis."

E!

"She just wishes he would know better than to reach out to Younes of all people," the insider said.

"Scott Disick is still very bitter about Kourtney and Travis' relationship. He wants her to be happy, but behind closed doors, he will always have regrets about their relationship and why it didn't work out," another source close to Scott later told E! News. "He is bitter because he's never seen Kourtney this serious about someone."

Even so, the insider said that Scott "regrets" speaking to Younes about Kourtney.

Then, on Oct. 7, E! News reported the Flip It Like Disick star was moving on from the ordeal and shifting his focus from his relationships to his kids. The source said, "That's his priority right now."

Amelia, who split with Scott last month, has already made it known how she feels about Kourtney's engagement by liking Khloe Kardashian's Instagram post about the rosy proposal.

For the latest breaking news updates, click here to download the E! News App
Donald Trump issued a statement on the death of Colin Powell Tuesday, using the opportunity to insult the former secretary of state.

Wonderful to see Colin Powell, who made big mistakes on Iraq and famously, so-called weapons of mass destruction, be treated in death so beautifully by the Fake News Media. Hope that happens to me someday, Trump wrote in the statement, which was sent to his email subscribers, as all of his statements have been since he was banned from major social media platforms in January.

The former president went on, He was a classic RINO, if even that, always being the first to attack other Republicans. He made plenty of mistakes, but anyway, may he rest in peace!

Powell, a former top military officer who rose to become the first Black secretary of state under President George W. Bush, died Monday at age 84 of complications from COVID-19.

We have lost a remarkable and loving husband, father, grandfather and a great American, said his family, who added he was fully vaccinated and thanked the staff at Walter Reed National Medical Center for treating him. Powell is survived by a wife and three children.

Powells career was full of firsts and he served in four Republican administrations. He started his career on combat duty in Vietnam, then became the first Black national security adviser at the end of former President Ronald Reagans administration. He was also the youngest and first African American chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in former President George H.W. Bushs administration. As secretary of state under former President George W. Bush, he brought faulty intelligence to the United States in his advocacy for the Iraq War, which stalled his political momentum.

Though he served under Republicans through his career, Powell ultimately endorsed and helped elect Democrats. He endorsed former President Barack Obama in the final stretch of the 2008 campaign season, using his strong reputation among Republicans and Americans of color to help Obama become the first Black president  which was a fate many political observers envisioned for Powell himself. He voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016 and called Republican candidate and eventual president Donald Trump a national disgrace and international pariah. Powell supported President Joe Biden in his ultimately successful run against Trump in 2020, and left the Republican party completely after the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex has had millions of headlines written about her since meeting and marrying Prince Harry, yet misconceptions remain, according to royal biographer Andrew Morton.

The biggest, says Morton, is the image of Meghan as the one controlling the narrative in her relationship with Harry.

"I think people think that she was more in control of their lives inside the royal family, when really the one who was the expert was Prince Harry," Morton said in an interview that aired Tuesday on "Good Morning America." "So she has deferred to him and often got the blame for things that have gone wrong."

Morton has updated his 2018 bestselling book, "Meghan: A Hollywood Princess," with three new chapters that focus on Meghan's life since marrying Harry on May 19, 2018.

In those three years since their star-studded wedding, Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, have had two children, stepped down from their roles as senior members of the royal family, moved from the U.K. to California and restarted their lives as philanthropists, investors and TV and film producers.

During that time, Meghan has also faced intense media scrutiny and backlash for her perceived role in the Sussexes' exit from the royal family.

PHOTO: The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Prince Harry and Meghan visit One World Observatory on 102nd floor of One World Trade Center in New York, Sept. 23, 2021. (Lev Radin/Pacific Press via ZUMA Wire, FILE)

Morton said he sees a similar "trajectory" in the public spotlight between Meghan and her late mother-in-law Princess Diana, who died in 1997, when Harry was 12.

"Meghan's gone from 'Duchess Dazzling' to 'Duchess Difficult,' exactly the same trajectory happened with Diana," said Morton, whose biography of Princess Diana, "Diana: Her True Story," was a New York Times-bestseller when it was first published in 1992. "And both of them at the same time were struggling emotionally and mentally to cope with, first of all, being pregnant, but also with life inside this goldfish bowl of the royal family."

Harry and Meghan made headlines in March when they sat down for a very candid interview with Oprah Winfrey, during which Meghan revealed she considered suicide before she and Harry stepped down from their royal duties.

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MORE: Prince Harry, Meghan call for COVID-19 vaccine equity at star-studded Global Citizen Live

The jaw-dropping interview was watched by more than 17 million people around the world and "gave the royal family a wake-up call," according to Morton.

The author said his reporting found it was Harry, not Meghan, who pushed to do the interview with Winfrey.

PHOTO: This image provided by Harpo Productions shows Prince Harry, from left, and Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex, in conversation with Oprah Winfrey. (Joe Pugliese/Harpo Productions via AP)

"Meghan Markle is blamed for Harry coming to Hollywood," said Morton. "When ironically, it was Harry who was very keen to do an interview with Oprah."

"Sadly for Meghan, there's a narrative that's built up that's wholly negative towards her," he said.

MORE: Harry, Meghan pay tribute to Queen Elizabeth and Princess Diana with daughter's name

Now that they are settled in their home in Montecito, California, with their two children, Archie and Lilibet, Morton said he believes they are "thrilled" to be "in command of their lives."

"They don't have to ask anybody," said Morton. "The next act in their lives is as Hollywood producers, and also as advocates for the causes that they hold dear."

Morton's book, "Meghan and the Unmasking of the Monarchy: A Hollywood Princess," is available now everywhere books are sold.

Meghan, Princess Diana share 'same trajectory,' author says originally appeared on goodmorningamerica.com
Season 30 of Dancing With the Stars is almost halfway through and the competition is quickly narrowing down thanks to Tuesday nights surprise double elimination. But it wasnt who left the show thats upsetting DWTS fans, but rather how their elimination was decided.

In honor of Disney Villains Night, the Real Housewives of Atlanta star Kenya Moore channeled her inner Evil Queen from Snow White. Set to Ariana Grandes Dangerous Woman, the TV personality performed the Viennese Waltz with her pro partner Brandon Armstrong and she was praised for her effort. Next, Bachelor star Matt James and pro Lindsay Arnold hit the dance floor to do the Paso Doble inspired by The Jungle Book.

When it came time for the double elimination, Brian Austin Green and pro Sharna Burgess were automatically sent home after getting the lowest combined total of judges scores and viewer votes. Host Tyra Banks then went on to explain it all came down to judge Len Goodman. Its going to be up to the judges to save one of the bottom two couples and keep them in this competition. If the first three judges are divided, then Len, as our head judge, will cast the deciding vote, she said.

In other words, Lens vote had the most weight and whoever he chose, would stay. Bruno Tonoli and Carrie Ann Inaba chose to save Matt and Lindsey while Derek Hough chose to save Kenya and Brandon. Two votes to one that means the judges are divided. Both of these couples are still in the running. We turn to our head judge Len making this final decision, Tyra said.

After deliberating out loud, Len ultimately chose to save Kenya, prompting her to fall to her knees in shock. While she and Brandon celebrated, folks watching at home werent as ecstatic about the news. Many took to Twitter to voice their opinion about how the show made the elimination process confusing with Lens vote and argued that it should have been a tie instead.

So understanding the rules on DWTS, how is it fair that Len ultimately decides who goes home and it wasn't even like 2-2 vote, it was just up to him basically. What is this, the Len show? one person wrote.

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But not everyone was on the same page, and some folks broke down the rule detail by detail. People are still confused about how a 2-1 vote is split? There are 3 other judges besides Len so 2/3 is a SPLIT decision. They also said if the other 3 judges' decision isn't unanimous Len decides. So, you can say the vote was split OR the vote was not unanimous, a different fan said. Yall really cannot do simple math. How could the vote be 2-1 with 4 judges it was 2-2. Bruno and Carrie picked Matt and Len and Derek picked Kenya. Since Len is the head judge his vote overrides the tie, another added. Why is everyone confused about Len's vote. If he voted Matt, then it would be 3-1. If he voted Kenya, its 2-2 but his vote is the deciding vote - so Kenya stays. Not complicated, a follower commented.

Well, there you have it. Len had the final say and his notes for the celebrity contestants foreshadowed this moment. He told Matt he was looking for posture, passion and performance in the Paso and he saw a little bit of that. But the judge emphasized that Matt could give so much more. Meanwhile, Len told Kenya that it was a lovely dance in three-four time and it was done very, very well.

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LONDON  Swarovski is on the hunt for a new chief executive officer and chief financial officer, and the roles could be filled by executives from outside the founding family for the first time in the companys 126-year history.

Swarovski has confirmed that Robert Buchbauer, who took up the CEO role last year following a company-wide shakeup, and Mathias Margreiter, are resigning this month, and the search for their respective replacements has begun.

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The company, which is based in Wattens, Austria, said it has been working toward separating control and management roles at the company, which has historically been run by the descendants of founder Daniel Swarovski.

As a result of the new strategy, Buchbauer and Margreiter, who is also a family member, are withdrawing from day-to-day operations, but will continue to help shape the future of the company as members of the board of directors, the company confirmed.

Swarovski added that it will open up the possibility for the non-family management of the company, and that it plans to reorganize and expand the various boards of the company to qualified, independent persons.

The family interests, meanwhile, will be bundled in the newly established family holding company.

Buchbauers departure was unexpected: He took over as CEO last April in a major reshuffle that saw his relative Nadja Swarovski leave the day-to-day operations of the company.

The London-based Nadia Swarovski immediately turned her attention to the Swarovski Foundation, which she created in 2013 and which has sustainability, environmental and social issues at its core. She remains a member of the Swarovski executive board.

Shortly after taking up the top role, Buchbauer culled some 600 positions as part of his restructuring plan, with the COVID-19 crisis adding urgency to his efforts at the family-owned crystal-maker.

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As reported, he merged marketing and sales activities, streamlined distribution channels and shut the London-based Atelier jewelry line, which had been run by Nadja Swarovski.

As part of his efforts to nudge the brand into a more premium jewelry segment, he named Giovanna Engelbert creative director, and she has since overseen the creation of a new line of colorful jewelry for the brands new Instant Wonder stores.

Swarovskis owning families said they are seeking fresh impetus for company growth by bringing in new expertise, and said the reorganized board of directors will carry forward the already initiated process for reappointing the CEO and CFO roles.

Swarovski described the changes as ushering in a new era for the company that will allow it to manage the groups affairs worldwide in a more unified manner and according to best practice. The moves are also meant to professionalize Swarovskis various boards with talent and expertise from outside the family.

The CEO and CFO roles will be temporarily occupied by members of the existing management team until successors are found, and Swarovski said they will continue the current strategy and the repositioning of the Swarovski brand in the affordable luxury segment.

The company added that the owner families stand by their responsibility to Swarovski, the Wattens location and the employees and they are confident that they have initiated the return to a profitable and growing company with their chosen path.

The company was founded in 1895 in Austria, and the group is comprised of Swarovski Optik, which makes optical devices; Tyrolit, which produces abrasives materials, and the Swarovski Crystal Business.

In an interview late last year, Buchbauer spoke to WWD about the companys evolution. In all challenges lie opportunities, and with the COVID-19 crisis, weve had the opportunity to further develop our strategy, he said.

Im really working on making the company one Swarovski and abandoning the divisional approach that weve had over many years and leading everything with one team, one functional team that takes care of all aspects of the business.

Sign up for WWD's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
Port-au-Prince, Haiti  Desperate efforts continued on Tuesday to save a group of missionaries, most of them Americans, being held for ransom by a criminal gang in Haiti. FBI agents were working with local authorities in the tiny Caribbean nation to find the 16 U.S. nationals and one Canadian who were kidnapped on Saturday.

The gang was asking for $1 million for each hostage  $17 million total  to release the missionaries, a high-ranking government source confirmed to CBS News. The dollar amount was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

The missionaries, from an Ohio-based Christian organization, were abducted just outside the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince. CBS News' Manuel Bojorquez and his team in the city were able to obtain a phone number for the leader of the "400 Mawozo" gang, which authorities believe is behind the kidnappings. CBS News dialed the number and a man picked up, but he hung up after hearing who was on the other end of the line.

A man is seen in front of burning tires during a general strike launched by several professional associations and companies to denounce insecurity in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, October 18, 2021. / Credit: RICHARD PIERRIN/AFP/Getty

On Monday, Haitians took to the streets of Port-au-Prince to protest over the multiple crises facing their nation, including a surge in violent kidnappings, a deadly earthquake and the assassination of their president over the summer.

There is so much frustration in the country that Haitians come out pretty much every day to protest the dire political and economic situation, where overwhelming poverty has created a fertile breeding ground for criminal gangs like 400 Mawozo. There are simply far too many young men without jobs who can be easily recruited. A family of five from Oceana, Michigan, are among the Americans being held by the kidnappers. "To have it hit that close to home is extremely heartbreaking, but what about the other families?" Todd Dueling, the pastor at a local church in Oceana, told CBS News.

Bojorquez met Linda, who works with Haitian children in Port-au-Prince. She asked that her last name not be mentioned for fear of retaliation. Linda said the children she works with offer a special prayer before leaving their homes: "'Please pray that we will be invisible so that when we walk the streets, we won't be taken.' And yet they are."

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FBI tactical teams were assisting as Haitian authorities try to negotiate the missionaries' safe return.

"You're trying to do two things at the same time  maintain open lines of communication, and prepare for the worst," James Gagliano, a former special agent with the FBI's hostage rescue team, told CBS News about what was likely going on behind the scenes.

Gagliano said that if it became clear the gang was killing or threatening to kill hostages, the U.S. law enforcement agency would likely have a strike team on hand to attempt a rescue operation.

To underscore the extent to which nationwide poverty is at the root of not only this hostage taking, but the plague of abductions in Haiti, Linda told CBS News that the No. 1 thing gangs have asked her organization for during previous negotiations is food.

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Microsoft founder Bill Gates. Mike Cohen/Getty Images for The New York Times

Microsoft President Brad Smith reportedly once told Bill Gates to stop emailing a female employee.

Sources told The Wall Street Journal that Smith confronted Gates more than a decade ago.

A spokesperson for Gates called the report "false, recycled rumors."

Two top executives at Microsoft told the company's billionaire founder Bill Gates more than a decade ago to stop emailing a female employee, The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday, citing unnamed sources.

In 2008, the company became aware that Gates had sent "inappropriate" messages to the employee a year earlier, a Microsoft spokesman, Frank Shaw, told The Journal.

Sources told The Journal that two top Microsoft executives - Brad Smith, the current president, and Lisa Brummel, then the human-resources chief - met with Gates and asked him to stop. Gates reportedly acknowledged that the emails were not a good idea and said he would stop.

"These claims are false, recycled rumors from sources who have no direct knowledge, and in some cases have significant conflicts of interest," a spokesperson for Gates told Insider.

After Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates announced their divorce this summer, publications including The New York Times and The Journal described allegations that the Microsoft founder had behaved inappropriately with women at the company.

Microsoft told The Journal in May that its board hired a law firm in 2019 to investigate accusations that Gates had an affair with an engineer in 2000. Six former and current Microsoft employees told The Times that Gates created an uncomfortable workplace by making suggestive comments toward women.

Gates met with the financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein multiple times starting in 2011, various news reports have said.

Gates stepped down as the CEO of Microsoft in 2000 and left the boards of Microsoft and Berkshire Hathaway in 2020.

Satya Nadella, the current top executive, took credit for overhauling the company's culture as a cutthroat environment while increasing its bottom line.

Microsoft did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Read the original article on Business Insider
A Haitian gang is demanding a $17 million ransom for kidnapped missionaries. Alex Murdaugh has been denied bond as he faces charges of taking $3 million from his housekeeper's death settlement. And what's more effective: COVID-19 vaccine or natural infection?

 Helloooo! It's Laura. It's Tuesday. So here's Tuesday's news!

But first, ring ring! It's your childhood calling.  Remember that classic Fisher-Price toy rotary phone? It's getting a modern upgrade as a real working phone, and you can buy one soon.

 Listen: Civil rights battles, told by those who fought them. Hear from people who risked it all to fight for freedom in the Seven Days of 1961 podcast.

The Short List is a snappy USA TODAY news roundup. Subscribe to the newsletter here or text messages here.

Haitian gang seeks $17 million ransom

A wide-ranging strike in protest of the abductions, violence and lawlessness consuming battered Haiti stretched into a second day Tuesday amid reports that a powerful gang was demanding a $17 million ransom for 16 Americans and a Canadian kidnapped three days ago. The streets of Port-au-Prince were oddly quiet and largely empty Monday as the protest shuttered businesses, schools and public transportation. Bold criminal activity was rampant even before the July assassination of President Jovenel Moise at his home. That crisis, along with an August earthquake that killed more than 2,200 and destroyed more than 130,000 homes, has fueled a near-total collapse of civil order. Haiti's turmoil reached the global spotlight Saturday when 17 people  seven women, five men, five children, all Americans except one Canadian  were seized in the community of Ganthier east of the capital after they visited an orphanage.

FBI part of 'coordinated US government effort' to free missionaries.

A man walks by tires set on fire after a general strike launched by several professional associations and companies to denounce insecurity in Port-au-Prince on October 18, 2021.

Jan. 6 committee to vote on holding Bannon in contempt

The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol is set to vote Tuesday to advance a contempt citation against former President Donald Trump's adviser Steve Bannon. Bannon, who has been subpoenaed by the committee, has refused to comply. Trump's lawyers have directed witnesses not to cooperate with congressional investigators, invoking executive privilege. But the Biden administration has rejected the former president's attempt to withhold documents from the investigating panel. Still, Bannon's legal team cited executive privilege when formally notifying the committee of his intention to refuse investigators' requests. However, the committee is ramping up its efforts to compel him to testify and deter others they have subpoenaed from not cooperating.

Story continues

Jan. 6: Here's what we know about holding Bannon in contempt.

Former White House strategist Steve Bannon speaks during a rally for U.S. Senate hopeful Roy Moore, Tuesday in Fairhope, Ala.

What everyone's talking about

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Alex Murdaugh denied bond

Alex Murdaugh, the embattled South Carolina attorney at the center of multiple investigations following the deaths of his wife and son in June, was ordered held without bond pending a psychiatric evaluation as he faces charges related to mishandling funds in a former housekeeper's wrongful death lawsuit. Judge Clifton Newman said he was not considering a personal recognizance bond for Murdaugh after prosecutors and attorneys for Gloria Satterfield's family made their case that the lawyer had violated the family's trust. Murdaugh faces two felony counts of obtaining property by false pretenses tied to a suit filed by Satterfield's sons. Murdaugh was arrested last week in Orlando after his release from a drug rehabilitation center. Murdaugh already faces multiple charges in an alleged plot to arrange his own murder in order for his $10 million life insurance policy to be paid out to his surviving son.

Police say Murdaugh had man shoot him in $10M life insurance scheme.

Murdaugh turned self in last month, amid botched murder, insurance fraud plot.

Alex Murdaugh awaits the beginning of his bond hearing in the Richland Judicial Center in Columbia, S.C., Tuesday, Oct. 19, 2021.

Natural immunity is good, but also getting vaccinated is better

Had COVID-19? Get vaccinated anyway, says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Data is starting to emerge about how much protection people who had COVID-19 may have against another infection, but the CDC still recommends those people get vaccinated. A growing body of research suggests infection plus vaccination provides the strongest protection against a wide range of variants, possibly for a long time. People who were infected and then vaccinated some months later have "what's called 'hybrid immunity,' which is like super-immunity," said Warner Greene, a virologist. However, Greene warns against seeking out infection to get protection given the risk of severe disease. Dr. Monica Gandhi, an infectious disease expert, said getting vaccinated three months  or even better, six months  after infection provides the best possible protection.

In this May 19, 2021, file photo, a licensed practical nurse draws a Moderna COVID-19 vaccine into a syringe at a mass vaccination clinic at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass.

Real quick

Ancient sword discovered in underwater treasure trove

Sounds like this guy stumbled on Ariel's cave from "The Little Mermaid." A 900-year-old iron sword found off Israel by an amateur diver is believed to be a relic from the Crusades. Shlomi Katzin found the sword on the floor of the Mediterranean Sea along with other artifacts, including stone anchors and pottery fragments. The sword weighed 4 pounds, measured 4 feet long and dates to the Third Crusade, which was launched when three European monarchs tried to retake Jerusalem after its fall to the Muslims. Since the sword was found underwater, it was able to be preserved, and will be cleaned and put on display at a museum.

Photos: Diver finds 900-year-old iron sword off Israel.

How did artifacts, thousands of years old, turn up in a gator's stomach?

Jacob Sharvit, director of the Marine Archaeology Unit of the Israel Antiquities Authority holds a yard-long sword, one that experts say dates back to the Crusaders, that is on display in the Mediterranean seaport of Cesarea, Israel. Israel's Antiquities Authority said on Oct. 18, 2021, that a scuba diver was on a weekend dive in northern Israel over the weekend when he spotted a trove of ancient artifacts that included anchors, pottery and the sword.

A break from the news

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This is a compilation of stories from across the USA TODAY Network. Want this news roundup in your inbox every night? Sign up for The Short List newsletter here.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Missionaries kidnapped in Haiti, Alex Murdaugh, COVID-19 vaccine, Jan. 6 committee. It's Tuesday's news.
Faculty from Villanova Universitys Department of Geography and the Environment were recently awarded four grants, totaling more than $1.1 million. In all, three grants were received from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and one from the National Science Foundation (NSF). The total award amount for the projects, including funding received by other institutions, is nearly $3 million.

The projects include creating environmental justice and place-based learning experiences for high school students, the impact of marine debris in Puerto Ricos waterways, reducing tornado impact in the Southeastern United States and measuring the impact of sea level rise on coastal ecosystems along the East Coast. These grants will allow several undergraduate and graduate students research opportunities with faculty throughout the duration of the projects.

More information about the research can be found below.
New Delhi: Royal Enfield, one of the most loved motorcycle brands in India is one again gearing up to stoke fierce competition in 350cc segment with its upcoming bike the Royal Enfield Hunter 350.

The affordable and light bike Royal Enfield Hunter 350 will be pitted against the likes of theHonda HNess CB350 and the upcoming Yezdi Roadking.

As has been widely reported in the media, Royal Enfield has been looking to launch a Scrambler style bike for a long time, and the focus will be a lot on its affordability and light design.

A couple of leaked images of the Hunter 350, been circulated by some auto portals, it seems that the bike is going to get retro style circular headlamps, round view mirrors and tear drop fuel tank a feature that is most common in the Royal Enfield bikes.

Among the other specs are going to be a different exhaust, seat, taillamp and indicators that gives it a unique design.

As the name goes, the bike will be powered by a 350cc single cylinder engine generating 20.2bhp power and 27Nm peak torque. The bike will come with a 5-speed manual gearbox, Telescopic forks. Media reports have pegged the price of this bike at around Rs 1.7 lakh.

The legendary bike maker Royal Enfield has plans to launch 4 new bikes or updated models of its market leading motorcycles for the next 7 years.

The company this year created a lot of buzz with its 2021 Royal Enfield Classic 350. Amidst a heightened anticipation among motorcycle enthusiasts, Royal Enfield launched the Royal Enfield Classic 350 in the country in September this year.

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Mumbai: Kareena Kapoor Khan says working on Laal Singh Chaddha was a memorable experience as the film reunites her with one of her most favourite co-stars Aamir Khan.

Laal Singh Chadha, the official remake of Tom Hanks' Hollywood blockbuster Forrest Gump, marks the two Bollywood stars' third collaboration after 3 Idiots (2009) and Talaash (2012).

Kareena said everyone in the team, especially Aamir, has gone through a lot in the past two years during the making of the movie.

"I'm extremely excited as Aamir and I are coming together after '3 Idiots' and 'Talaash'. It's very special and we have worked very hard. Especially Aamir, he has gone through a lot. It's a brilliant script and I'm hoping it will come on the screen the same way and everyone is going to like it," the actor told PTI in an interview.

Advait Chandan, who made his directorial debut with the 2017 musical drama Secret Superstar produced by Aamir, has directed the movie.

Actor-writer Atul Kulkarni shares the screenplay credit for the film along with Eric Roth, who had adapted the 1986 Winston Groom novel of the same name for Hanks' 1994 movie.

"Laal Singh Chadha" is backed by Aamir Khan Productions, Viacom18 Studios and Paramount Pictures.

The team wrapped the film last month and for Kareena, shooting amid the coronavirus pandemic was a new yet fulfilling experience.

"We finished my portions during the COVID wave in Delhi. That was the first time I went on a set amid the pandemic and we followed all the protocols.

"It gave me the confidence that I can actually do really well when shooting films with fewer people," said the actor, adding that she was five months pregnant with her second child Jeh when she shot her major portions for the film.

Kareena, who recently walked the ramp at the Lakme Absolute grand finale of the FDCI X Lakme Fashion Week 'phygital' edition, believes working with lesser people on set turns out to be more productive.

"Working with less people is better because when there are fewer people one can concentrate more. It's better than when there are 200 people around, when they are really not required at the time. Working hours have also become stricter now," she added.

Laal Singh Chadha is scheduled to be released on Valentine's Day next year. The film, also starring Naga Chaitanya and Mona Singh, was originally slated for a Christmas 2021 premiere.
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New Delhi: Union Home Minister Amit Shah will flag off Modi Van on Tuesday under the Seva hi Sangathan programme to commemorate Prime Minister Narendra Modi completing 20 years as an elected representative.

Modi Van will operate under the aegis of Kaushambi Vikas Parishad, which is run by BJP`s National Secretary Vinod Sonkar.

Speaking to ANI, Sonkar said, "Five Modi Van will be operated in the five Vidhan Sabha constituencies across the Uttar Pradesh`s Kaushambi district. There is a control office for the vans. It will be operated from these control offices."

The van will consist of a 32-inch television and a high-speed internet service which will broadcast PM Modi`s monthly radio broadcast Mann Ki Baat.

The public rallies and speeches of the leaders will also be broadcasted. The van will also consist of telemedicine. The van has is equipped with a machine that can test 39 blood samples in one go.

The van will also release a weekly medical bulletin. This van will administer the oath to the people of the village for cleanliness and plastic-free.

It will administer a pledge that will be taken for the conservation of water and for the cleanliness of the river pond of the village. The Modi Van will help in promoting vaccination against COVID-19 in the remote village.

The machines attached in the van can provide prescriptions to the villagers with the help of telemedicine and the health volunteers appointed by the party in the remote village.

The van will further help in the registration of the labours and different sections of people under several schemes of the Centre.

The van will help in the 100 per cent registration under widow pension, disability pension and PM Kisan Samman Nidhi. The villagers will also be taught about the government schemes.

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New Delhi: Amid the recent killing of civilians in Jammu and Kashmir, former Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi on Monday (October 18, 2021) said that Biharis can settle the Kashmir issue if it's left to them. The statement comes after two labourers from Bihar were gunned down by terrorists in Kulgam district on Sunday, taking the total number of civilians killed in targeted attacks in the union territory this month to 11.

Manjhi said, "There is no doubt that the government is making all efforts... Still, incidents are taking place. So I say that if the situation is getting out of control, we Biharis will settle the Kashmir issue if it`s left to us."

ALSO READ | Lord Ram not real, Ramayan not a true story: Jitan Ram Manjhi sparks row

When asked how he would sort out the issue, he said, "We will form a strategy. We will talk to people. We have excellent officers in Bihar. With their help, we will sort out the issue."

#WATCH | "There's no doubt on the Govt. Still incidents are taking place. So I said that if situation is getting out of control, we Biharis will settle the Kashmir issue if it's left to us. We'll form strategy: Ex-Bihar CM Jitan Ram Manjhi on his tweet on civilian killings in J&K pic.twitter.com/gtsw7Q94qu  ANI (@ANI) October 18, 2021

Earlier, incumbent Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar also condemned the targeted killing of Bihari migrant workers in Jammu and Kashmir and said that the incidents have created an "environment of fear".

Kumar said he has spoken to Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha and senior Bihar officials are in touch with their counterparts in the union territory over the incidents.

"It's a matter of serious concern that people who have gone for work are being deliberately targeted in J&K. Authorities concerned must remain alert to check such incidents there," he said.

"Every citizen is free to go to any corner of the country for work. The latest incident in which two labourers from Bihar were killed in J&K is quite serious as militants barged into the accommodation of the victims and fired on them. Their bodies are being brought back to Bihar," the Janata Dal (United) leader said.

"I hope that J&K authorities will now be alert and make adequate security arrangements to ensure that no one, especially migrant workers, is attacked there. They should obtain information about migrant workers and the place where they are residing," Kumar added.

Meanwhile, the Bihar government has announced an ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh for the next of kin of the deceased, and issued instructions to the department of labour and social welfare to ensure that benefits under relevant schemes reach the bereaved families.

(With agency inputs)

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Beijing: Amid the ongoing discussion between two neighbours on the border issue, Indian Ambassador to China Vikram Misri on Tuesday (October 18) expressed hope that both countries can resolve the border issue which is "casting a shadow" on bilateral relations.

In an interview with Global Times, the India ambassador added that both India and China are two large countries in the world and have historical records of engagement and cooperation, which "have been largely positive for the last 30 years."

"The discussions are going on and we hope that both sides can resolve this (border) issue because it is casting a shadow on bilateral relations," Misri said on the sidelines of the 1st BFA Global Economic Development and Security Forum in Changsha.

During the 13th commander-level talks earlier this month, India had put forward constructive suggestions but the Chinese side was not agreeable.

At the media briefing last week, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said that India expects the Chinese side to work towards early resolution of all the remaining issues on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh.

"We had put forward constructive suggestions during the 13th round of the India-China Corps Commander-level meeting, for resolving the remaining areas but the Chinese side was not agreeable. I would not like to characterise it any particular way except to say that two sides have agreed to maintain communications, and to maintain stability on the ground," he said.

He had said that resolution of the remaining areas and restoration of peace and tranquillity would facilitate progress in overall bilateral relations. Last month, Vikram Misri had said that "shifting of goalposts" should be avoided in bilateral relations as they serve as an obstacle that could block progress.

Speaking at a virtual dialogue organised by a Chinese university, Misri argued that challenges like the COVID-19 pandemic, reviving economies and sweeping technological transformations, have only served to amplify the importance of India-China relations.

He had said the recent experience between the two countries suggests that at the ground level, when managing a difficult situation, finding a resolution hinges on mature minds, and consistency between words and actions.

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Patna: BJP MLA Gyanendra Singh Gyanu on Tuesday (October 19) said that the Centre should provide arms to non-local civilians in Jammu and Kashmir so that they can defend themselves from terrorists.

"The Centre should provide arms to the non-local residents so that they can defend themselves from terrorists and teach them a lesson. When terrorism was prevalent in Punjab, people were being given licences to own AK-47 rifles. The same can be done with people in Jammu and Kashmir. Government should unite these non-local civilians, settle them in a particular area, provide them individual security as well as government security besides employment," he said.

Gyanu said that the terrorists were trying to establish an atmosphere of terror by attacking poor, underprivileged people.

"These terrorists are cowards. They are making the poor and underprivileged their target. Will they dare fight the Border Security Force (BSF) or our Army like that? It is the Pakistani terrorists or those influenced or paid by Pakistan who are killing the people," he added.

Over the past few days, several civilians have been killed by terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir, sparking fear in the Valley. Three non-Kashmiri labourers were fired upon by terrorists in the Kulgam district of Jammu and Kashmir. As per CID sources, all three labourers are residents of Bihar.

Earlier a gol-gappa hawker from Bihar and a carpenter from Uttar Pradesh were shot dead by terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir on Friday.

The hawker, Arbind Kumar Sah, and another Sagir Ahmad from UP, were shot dead by terrorists in Srinagar and Pulwama.

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New Delhi: The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Tuesday (October 19, 2021) morning informed that India recorded 13,058 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, which is the lowest one-day rise in 231 days. The Health Ministry also stated that the country's active caseload has now declined to the lowest in 227 days and currently stands at 1,83,118. Active case count accounts for less than 1% of the total cases and is presently at 0.54%.

The country also recorded 164 coronavirus-related fatalities and with this, the death toll has increased to 4,52,454.

#Unite2FightCorona  India's Active Caseload (1,83,118) constitute 0.54% of Total Cases.  The Active caseload is now lowest in 227 days. pic.twitter.com/P8kI1mvhx3  Ministry of Health (@MoHFW_INDIA) October 19, 2021

Kerala, however, continues to be the worst hit and reported 6,676 new infections and 60 deaths. The state currently has 83,184 active coronavirus cases and among the 14 districts, Ernakulam saw the highest number of cases with 1,199, followed by Thiruvananthapuram (869) and Kozhikode (761). There are currently 3,02,818 people under surveillance in various districts, of whom, 2,92,736 are in home or institutional quarantine and 10,082 are in hospitals.

Meanwhile, 19,470 people also recovered in the last 24 hours across the country and took the total number of recoveries to 3,34,58,801. India's recovery rate has now improved to 98.14% and is currently at its highest peak since March 2020.

On the other hand, more than 87 lakh vaccine doses were administered in the last 24 hours and India's COVID-19 vaccination coverage has now crossed 99 crores. This, according to Health Ministry, has been achieved through 97,44,653 sessions.

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Mumbai: With coronavirus cases dipping in the state, the Maharashtra government announced further easing of COVID-19 related restrictions. Eateries and restaurants can now stay open till minight while shops and other establishments can operate till 11pm. So far, these were open till 10 pm.

Maharashtra chief secretary Sitaram Kunte issued the government notification and said that while curbs are being relaxed, restros and shops must continue to strictly adhere to COVID appropriate behaviour. It is necessary for restaurant staff to be fully vaccinated.

Restaurants & eateries can now remain open till 12 midnight, while shops and establishments can stay open till 11 pm with immediate effect. pic.twitter.com/HqPXctl620  CMO Maharashtra (@CMOMaharashtra) October 19, 2021

As per the order, the time restrictions and other curbs that were so far in place, are expected to lead to further crowding in the festive season. The shorter duration of operation can lead to people flocking to these places during operation hours, just causing crowds. So the government has decided to do away with the curbs.

The government also allowed the amusement parks to reopen in the state from October 22, however, water rides in amusement parks will remain suspended, for now.

Meanwhile,the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Tuesday (October 19, 2021) morning informed that India recorded 13,058 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, which is the lowest one-day rise in 231 days. Also, notching an achievement, the financial capital of India, Mumbai on Sunday (October 17, 2021) did not report even a single death due to COVID-19 for the first time nearly since the coornavirus pandemic broke out in March last year. According to Mumbai civic commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal, the city reported zero death due to the virus during the day for the first time since March 26, 2020. "This is great news for all of us in Mumbai," the top official said. The metropolis had reported its first coronavirus positive case on March 11, 2020, and its first death six days later on March 17 that year.

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New Delhi: Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra made a big announcement today saying that her party will give 40 per cent of tickets to women in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections 2022. The party hopes the new strategy would yield benefits.

Zee News Editor-in-Chief Sudhir Chaudhary on Tuesday (October 19) discussed if Priyanka Gandhi's bet on women voters will be a game-changer for Congress in UP Assembly polls.

Priyanka Gandhi kicked off the campaign for the elections by unveiling a poster that revealed the partys strategy. The poster read: Ladki hu, lad sakti hu (I am a girl and I can fight). It was in contrast with the slogan Congress used in the last polls which said: Apne UP ke ladke (Our UP boys). The boys referred to here were Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav.

But the boys could only manage to win 15 percent of the 403 seats in Uttar Pradesh. Congress fought on 105 seats and won just seven seats, while the Samajwadi Party contested 298 seats and own just 47 seats. BJP formed the government with a thumping majority by winning 312 seats.

Now, Congress hopes that what the boys could not do in the last election, the girls of UP will do. Hence, Priyanka Gandhi made the big announcement.

So far, this has not happened in any state election, when a party has given tickets to women candidates only in about half the seats. That's why we appreciate this effort of Priyanka Gandhi and we believe that she is working hard to strengthen the Congress. But there is a catch.

In Gandhis press conference, there were a total of 10 people on the stage. Of these, seven were men and only three women including her. This makes the slogan seem inconsistent with the partys conduct.

This type of politics in the name of women empowerment is not new in our country. Women are given tickets by the parties in the elections, but it is also true that these tickets are given to only those women whose family members are already active in politics. For example, 33 percent of the seats in the Panchayati Raj elections in Uttar Pradesh are reserved for women. And in the last election, about three lakh women won. But according to a report, 77 percent of these women representatives believe that they do not have the right to make decisions. The decisions are taken by either her husband or other male members of their family.

The question is: Can women voters prove to be a game-changer in Uttar Pradesh elections?

There are a total of 14 crore 12 lakh voters in the state, out of which 6 crore 44 lakh are female voters while 7 crore 68 lakh are male voters. If any party gets even half of the six and a half crore women votes, it will easily win the election. Perhaps, this is the reason why the trend of giving tickets to women candidates in Uttar Pradesh has emerged lately.

For the first time in the 2017 UP elections, as many as 38 women candidates had won. Out of this two belonged to the Congress. However, Priyanka Gandhi hopes that the tally will improve this time.

Congress has always indulged in the politics of appeasement. First, they did appeasement in the name of religion, then in the name of caste and now in the name of women, the Congress party is doing it. However, unlike old times, the political atmosphere does not seem to be in favour of the party.

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New Delhi: Bharatiya Janata Party national vice president Dilip Ghosh on Tuesday (October 19) lashed out at West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for keeping silent on the communal violence in Bangladesh where houses of Hindus were set on fire and temples were vandalised. So far six persons have died in one of the worst communal flare ups in decades in the country.

Ghosh made this comment while participating at an event organised to protest the violence against Hindus in Bangladesh, at Jantar Mantar in Delhi.

"These kinds of incidents have happened earlier also and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has taken strong steps. The numbers of such incidents have definitely come down but need to be stopped completely," Ghosh said.

Questioning Mamata Banerjee's silence over the Bangladesh violence, Ghosh said, "The so called 'secular' government of West Bengal, which runs to Tripura and Assam at the spur of the moment when something happens there, is totally silent on the issue of Bangladesh violence. Are there not Hindus in Bangladesh? They are being attacked by fanatics, maths and temples have been vandalised, women are being attacked, but the West Bengal Chief Minister is maintaining silence."

"Why the spokesperson of the party doesn't say anything? Are they worried about their vote bank? They only care about their vote bank, that's why she keeps quiet," he added.

According to Dilip Ghosh, more than 3,600 incidents of attacks on Hindus have taken place in Bangladesh since 2013, in which Hindu women were raped and temples were desecrated. "When the Ram temple movement took place in India, minorities in Bangladesh were attacked, lakhs of Hindus had to flee from their country and to take shelter in India," he said.

He said, "The Bangladesh incident is a well thought out conspiracy against Hindus and is very agonising." Appealing to Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Dilip Ghosh said, "Hindus are also the citizens of your country, they have chosen you as prime minister and they are contributing to the progress of your country. Ensure security to Hindus so that they can live in peace in that country."

Speaking to IANS, Ghosh said, "Everyone knows that Hindu society is under attack in Bangladesh for a week, during Durga Puja. Durga temples were demolished, seers have been murdered, against which protests are taking place all over the world."

"Lakhs of Hindus have taken to the streets in Bangladesh, this is not the first time this is happening. Our demand is to ensure the safety of Hindus there. The Government should take responsibility for this and should not allow such incidents to happen again," he said.

He added, "The Indian government has issued a statement on the incident and is in constant touch with the Bangladesh government, which is a friendly country, but we want Hindu citizens to be safe there."

On the question if he is satisfied with the action taken by the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Ghosh said, "The incidents have not stopped, the violence should stop, then action should be taken."

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Jerusalem/Washington: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had a "fruitful" first quadrilateral meeting with his counterparts from the US, Israel and the UAE on ways to expand economic and political cooperation in the Middle East and Asia, including through trade, infrastructure and enhancing maritime security.

Jaishankar, who is currently on a five-day visit to Israel, was accompanied by the home nation's Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, during the virtual meeting on Monday. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan participated virtually as the four leaders also exchanged views on shared issues of concern in the region.

"A fruitful first meeting with Israeli APM and FM @YairLapid, UAE FM @ABZayed and US Secretary of State @SecBlinken this evening," Jaishankar said in a tweet.

"Discussed working together more closely on economic growth and global issues. Agreed on expeditious follow-up," he said.

A fruitful first meeting with Israeli APM and FM @YairLapid, UAE FM @ABZayed and US Secretary of State @SecBlinken this evening. Discussed working together more closely on economic growth and global issues. Agreed on expeditious follow-up. pic.twitter.com/kVgFM0r6hs  Dr. S. Jaishankar (@DrSJaishankar) October 18, 2021

Jaishankar, in his brief comment, said, "the three of you are among the closest relationships we have, if not the closest".

He agreed with Blinken that this kind of forum could work much better than three different bilateral engagements, citing the fight against COVID-19 as an example of the benefits of such cooperative mechanisms where bilateral ties tend to fail.

"I think it is very clear that on the big issues of our times we all think very similarly and what would be helpful would be if we could agree on some practical things to work upon," Jaishankar said.

State Department Spokesperson Ned Price in a statement said that Blinken and his three counterparts "discussed expanding economic and political cooperation" in the Middle East and Asia, including through trade, combating climate change, energy cooperation, and increasing maritime security.

The foreign ministers also discussed people-to-people ties in technology and science, and how to support global public health in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic, he said.

Blinken in a tweet said that the meeting discussed "shared issues of concern in the region and globally, and the importance of expanding our economic and political collaboration."

In his remarks, Blinken described Israel, the UAE and India as three of "our most strategic partners".

Today, I met with Israeli Foreign Minister @yairlapid, Indian Foreign Minister @DrSJaishankar, and Emirati Foreign Minister @ABZayed about shared issues of concern in the region and globally, and the importance of expanding our economic and political collaboration. pic.twitter.com/imEIM1Cv5d  Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) October 18, 2021

He said by "bringing friends together in new ways, we are making these partnerships even greater than the sum of their parts".

"I think that is what this gathering is about. Sitting here in Washington I can say very simply that with Israel, the UAE and India we have three of our most strategic partners. And given so many overlapping interests -- energy, climate, trade, regional security -- this seems like a really interesting and good idea to try and use this new format and very complementary capabilities in very many areas to just see many more things get done. That's the idea," Blinken said.

Lapid, who is also Israel's Alternate Prime Minister, noted that "one of the things we are looking for is synergy, and that is what we will try and create after this meeting."

"Synergy which will help us work together in all the areas that preoccupies us. Around this table we have a unique set of capabilities, knowledge and experiences that can be used to create a network that we all want to create," Lapid said, adding it will help in working together on infrastructure, digital infrastructure, transport, maritime security and other things.

The Israeli leader felt that the key to achieving what they were aiming at was quickly moving from government-to-government to business-to-business.

He emphasised on the need for this quadrilateral grouping to quickly put adequate mechanisms in place to translate efforts into real businesses around the globe.

"We decided to establish an international forum for economic cooperation and discussed possibilities for joint infrastructure projects in a wide range of fields," Lapid tweeted on Tuesday.

Last night, I participated in a virtual meeting with @SecBlinken, @DrSJaishankar, and @ABZayed. We decided to establish an international forum for economic cooperation and discussed possibilities for joint infrastructure projects in a wide range of fields. pic.twitter.com/luDmR1NW4Q  (@yairlapid) October 19, 2021

According to a statement issued by the Israeli Foreign Ministry, the four ministers held a discussion on possibilities for joint infrastructure projects in the fields of transportation, technology, maritime security, and economics and trade, as well as for additional joint projects.

At the end of the conversation, it was decided that each minister will appoint senior-level professionals to a joint working group that will formulate options for cooperation in the areas identified by the ministers.

The intention is to hold an in-person meeting of the ministers in the coming months at Expo 2020 in Dubai, the statement said.

UAE's Al Nahyan thanked Blinken and Lapid for graciously "proposing the idea" of creating this kind of a forum to boost cooperation.

Talking about India, the UAE minister said, "Minister Jaishankar is an old friend, I could say, but also India and UAE have such a strong and diverse relationship."

Touching upon bureaucratic hurdles that often slow down such initiatives, Al Nahyan suggested businesses should be surprised by opportunities and then it should be observed how the trading community responds, in terms of putting a robust plan forward.

Later, the four foreign ministers entered a closed discussion to draw a strategy to make this quadrilateral cooperative plan a reality.

Price said that Blinken reiterated the Biden Administration's support for the Abraham Accords and normalisation agreements and discussed future opportunities for collaboration in the region and globally.

Reports have indicated a new quad post the Abraham accords being inked last year.

In August 2020, Israel, the UAE and the US signed Abraham Accords. The accord helped Israel and the UAE normalise their ties.

India had welcomed the agreement, saying it "has always supported peace and stability in West Asia which is our extended neighbourhood."

India and Israel elevated bilateral relations to a strategic partnership during the historic visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Israel in July 2017.

Visited the Indian Hospice renovated with Government of India's support. Represents another historical connect with Jerusalem. pic.twitter.com/D7RW3YnPLg  Dr. S. Jaishankar (@DrSJaishankar) October 18, 2021

Since then, the relationship between the two countries has focused on expanding knowledge-based partnership, which includes collaboration in innovation and research, including boosting the 'Make in India' initiative.

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New Delhi: India has delayed committing supplies of vaccine to the COVAX global sharing platform, two sources told Reuters on Tuesday (October 19), a day after one of its key backers, the WHO, said the agency could not "cut corners" to approve a domestically developed vaccine.

The world`s biggest vaccine maker resumed exports of COVID-19 doses this month for the first time since April. It has sent about 4 million to countries such as neighbouring Bangladesh and Iran, but none to COVAX.

On Monday, in the run-up to an Oct. 26 meeting on Covaxin, India`s first domestically developed COIVD-19 vaccine, the World Health Organization (WHO) said it could not "cut corners" in the approval decision.

One of the sources said it was "frustrating" that India had yet to confirm any supply to COVAX, despite a promise last month by the health minister to meet the commitment to COVAX and others during the quarter to December.

The sources, who have been briefed on the export talks, declined to be identified as they were not authorised to speak on the subject.

The Serum Institute of India (SII), the world`s biggest vaccine manufacturer, has contracts to supply hundreds of millions of doses of a licensed version of the AstraZeneca vaccine to COVAX and countries such as Bangladesh.

Its output of the vaccine has more than tripled since April, to reach 220 million doses a month now. India`s health ministry, SII and COVAX co-leads, the WHO and GAVI, did not respond to requests for comment.

Delayed supplies to COVAX could disrupt inoculation drives in many African nations that rely on it for vaccine supplies.

Indian government officials have said they are confident the WHO will soon approve an emergency-use listing for

Covaxin, which makes up 11% of the 990 million vaccine doses given in India, with the rest mostly from AstraZeneca.

A few weeks ago, Adar Poonawalla, the chief executive of SII, told the Telegraph newspaper that his company would recommence exports to COVAX in October.

"Initially these supplies will be small, but by January 2022, once we have satisfied domestic demands ... we will see large volumes go to COVAX," he added.

Before India halted overseas vaccine shipments in April so as to meet domestic demand, it donated or sold more than 66 million COVID-19 doses, including Covaxin.

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NEW DELHI: The Karnataka Congress has now deleted an insulting tweet against Prime Minister Narendra Modi after a bitter political slugfest erupted over the same and has blamed a novice social media manager for the "uncivil tweet."

It may be noted that the Karnataka Congress had launched a bitter attack on PM Modi and labelled him as "angootha-chhaap" or illiterate.



"Congress built schools but Modi never went to study. Congress even set up schemes for adults to learn, Modi didn't learn there too. People who chose to beg for a living despite beggary being prohibited are today pushing citizens to beggary. Country is suffering because of "#angoothachhaap modi," the Karnataka Congress had said in a tweet in Kannada which has now been deleted.

The controversial tweet was seen by many as a personal attack on the Prime Minister and a war of words erupted between Congress and the BJP.

In response, BJP Karnatakas spokesperson Malavika Avinash said, Only the Congress could stoop so low. She added that the comment did not even merit a response.

Lavanya Ballal, Karnataka Congress spokesperson, admitted that the tone of the tweet was unfortunate and that an inquiry would be conducted. However, she said she saw no reason to retract the tweet or apologise for it.

Hours later, Karnataka Congress deleted the controversial tweet labelling Prime Minister Narendra Modi as an "angootha-chhaap" or illiterate. It also expressed regret for what it called an "uncivil tweet" posted by a "novice social media manager".

Withdrawing the controversial post, Karnataka Congress chief DK Shivakumar admitted last night that it fell short of the standards of "civil and parliamentary language" in political discourse.

"I have always believed that civil and parliamentary language is a non-negotiable pre-requisite for political discourse. An uncivil tweet made by a novice social media manager through the Karnataka Congress official Twitter handle is regretted and stands withdrawn," Shivakumar tweeted.

I have always believed that civil and parliamentary language is a non-negotiable pre-requisite for political discourse. An uncivil tweet made by a novice social media manager through the Karnataka Congress official Twitter handle is regretted and stands withdrawn.  DK Shivakumar (@DKShivakumar) October 18, 2021

The controversial tweet came just ahead of the bypolls to two constituencies in Karnataka on October 30. Bypolls will be held in the Assembly constituencies of Sindagi and Hangal in Karnataka on October 30.

The seats fell vacant after the deaths of senior Janata Dal (Secular) leader M C ManagulI and BJPs C M Udasi respectively. The bypolls will be seen as a litmus test for Basavaraj Bommai who recently replaced BS Yediyurappa as the state's chief minister.

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New Delhi: A two-day coordination meeting of the ruling BJP and its parent body, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) will be held in New Delhi from Tuesday. According to sources, the two-day meeting will deliberate on policy-related issues, the ongoing farmers protest and the upcoming polls in several states.

Top leaders of the BJP, including its secretary-general (organisation) BL Santhosh, other officer-bearers and several Union Ministers are expected to attend the meeting, they said.

RSS-affiliated organisations related to various sectors like education, culture and economy are expected to attend the closed-door meeting. Top office-bearers of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) are also likely to be there in the meeting, the sources said.

Such meetings between the RSS and representatives of the BJP and its government at the Centre keep taking place for sharing of ideas and giving feedback on government policies.

The meeting holds significance in the wake of upcoming assembly elections in five states, including Uttar Pradesh and Punjab. The RSS held a four-day-long session last month to discuss the elections due next year. The meeting was aimed at assessing the preparedness of the Sangh's cadres and ensuring a smooth road to victory for the BJP.

This time, the two-day meeting has been called at a time when farmers' agitation is about to complete an year. The farmers have been protesting against the three farm laws passed by Parliament. They want the laws withdrawn.

Interestingly, Meghalaya Governor Satya Pal Malik had on Sunday said that if the Centre would provide a Minimum Support Price (MSP) guarantee through a law, they can resolve the farmers' agitation against the farm laws.

Pointing out that the agitating farmer would not compromise on less than the MSP guarantee law, Malik said that it is the only thing that farmers need.

The RSS held a meeting in June to take stock of its activities and draw up a roadmap for the preparations affiliated organisations should make in anticipation of a possible third COVID-19 wave.

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Chennai: The Sri Lankan Navy on Monday claimed that they rescued two Indian fishermen from a sinking fishing boat that was poaching in Sri Lankan waters across the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL). They added the search and rescue operations were underway to find a third fisherman who was on-board the fishing boat.

The Lankan Navy maintains that while they were chasing away Indian fishing boats, a boat that was attempting to evade had collided with a Navy craft, which eventually led to the sinking of the Indian boat.

As the said task being put into practice, one of the Indian fishing trawlers, with aggressive maneuvers, in resistance of chase away, was on an attempt to evade from the scene making it collided with SLN Craft in operation. In the process, it ultimately descended having lost its stability as well as due to the rough sea condition, read the Lankan Navy statement on Mondays incident.

Pics of #Indian fishermen from #tamilnadu who were involved in an incident with SL navy while fishing near Delft island SL Navy says 2 of them were saved,1 missing ; fishers assn allege that SL navy rammed into them and sank their boat, missing fisherman is dead #fishing pic.twitter.com/aMO3ia1tcv  Sidharth.M.P (@sdhrthmp) October 19, 2021

However, Indian fishermen allege that the Sri Lankan Navy vessel had deliberately crashed into the Indian fishing boat, with the intention of sinking it. They are of the impression that the third person (Rajkiran), whom they say was steering the boat from within the wheelhouse was trapped and sank along with the boat. It is said that the three fishermen who belonged to Kottapattinam in Tamil Nadus Pudukottai district, were fishing in the areas adjoining the Delft Island in the Palk Strait, which lay between India and Sri Lanka. The two fishermen who were rescued and are in Sri Lankan custody were identified as Xavier and Sakunthran.

According to Indias National Traditional Fishermen Federation, this incident involving the Sri Lankan Navy is seen as deliberate retribution for another recent untoward incident, which involved an Indian boat. A few weeks back, a large Indian fishing trawler from Tamil Nadu had collided with and sunk a smaller Lankan fishing boat. While the Lankan boat was fully damaged and lost, the Lankan fishermen survived and returned to the shore. It is believed that, had the Indian Government or Tamil Nadu government taken some action against the errant Indian boat and offered compensation to the Lankan fishermen, things would have been amicably resolved.

The local fishermen also see an unfortunate similarity between Mondays incident and one that took place in January this year. They allege that the Lankan Navy had rammed their vessels into the Indian boat, following which dead bodies of the four fishermen were returned, in January. The fishermen believe that holding talks between Indian and Sri Lankan fishermen would help resolve some of the misunderstandings that are based on the recent collision and alleged trespass.

In recent times, Northern Sri Lankan fishermen have been protesting against Indian boats that were venturing into their waters, carrying out alleged illegal fishing activity. They made attempts to pressure the Indian and Sri Lankan authorities to act against those involved in illegal fishing.

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New Delhi: The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the Lakhimpur Kheri violence has released pictures of suspects who were involved in the incident. The police have sought the cooperation of the public in identifying the individuals through the photographs of the incident.

The SIT has announced rewards in exchange for information and promised to keep the identities of those who come forward to help a secret.

Earlier today, over 50 farmers were summoned by the SIT in connection with an FIR on the alleged lynching of three BJP workers during the violence.

Fifteen farmers appeared before the SIT on Monday to record their statements in the alleged lynching case after notices were issued to them under sections of the Code Of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).

An SIT official said, "We have been investigating both the FIRs and the farmers were summoned in connection to the second FIR."

The SIT had on Monday also arrested four aides of Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Misras son Ashish. The accused include Sumit Jaiswal, who got the cross FIR lodged against the farmers. He had been absconding after their convoy allegedly mowed down four farmers and a journalist.

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Chennai: Almost four days into captivity and treatment at the Mysore Zoo Rescue Centre, adult male tiger MDT-23 of the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve is showing considerable improvement in overall health. Quoting vets from the Zoo, Tamil Nadus Chief Wildlife Warden Dr. Shekhar Kumar Niraj elaborated on the various health parameters and observations that indicate positive signs.

It is significant to note that MDT-23, which was captured from the wild on October 15th, was injured and said to be starving when it was tranquilized, caged for transport and medical care.

Antibiotics have been started and seem to be working well as the front leg swelling is coming down. He Blood hemoglobin level is improving and has gone past 9 for the first time. Serum levels show mild liver inflammation Dr. Niraj said.

He added that the injections were being administered via blow darts or elongated jab sticks, instead of confining the tiger in a tiny squeeze cage or by sedating it.

Over the last couple of days, the caged predator has been fed chicken and beef meat and copious amounts of water, which it has consumed very well.

The tiger had been comfortably consuming up to 6kgs of beef and also eating the bones that are being offered, while refusing the bones on some occasions. It is also said to have passed normal-appearing fecal matter.

While the tiger is largely said to have been calm, it occasionally turns aggressive on seeing a doctor in the enclosure. By attempting to bite open an iron grill mesh, the tiger broke one of his Canines, which has been recorded and preserved.

On Wednesday (October 20), the caged predator is expected to be moved to a large open space that is surrounded with trees and a green fence. In case of captured wild animals, stress of capture and confinement causes dullness and discomfort.

According to the Tamil Nadu Forest Department, MDT-23 had been preying on livestock and had killed humans in the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve and adjoining areas, since July this year.

This predator is also said to have killed an individual on September 24th, following which efforts were underway to track, tranquilize and capture it. Earlier this month, the Chief Wildlife Warden of Tamil Nadu had issued a Hunting Order in adherence to Section 11(1)(a) of Indias Wildlife Protection Act 1972.

The successful capture of the wild tiger on Friday and the 3-weeklong effort that led to it, was hailed by the Tamil Nadu Forest Minister.

He said this capture operation was significant, given how the three prior attempts in the same region led to the killing of the tiger.

The Minister added that the 13-year-old tiger, a full-grown male, had sustained multiple injuries during territorial fights with younger tigers.

Chief Wildlife Warden, Dr. Shekhar Kumar Niraj said that the tiger had been darted only once with a tranquilizer and that the attempts to do so on Thursday night were unsuccessful.

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A married woman was allegedly gang-raped for a week by five men in Patna, an official said on Tuesday. All the accused have been arrested.

According to police, the woman left her house following an argument with her husband on October 10. She decided to go to Kolkata and reached Patna Junction to catch a train. The woman then went to a hotel where she asked the owner about the train bound to Kolkata.

Gopal, the hotel owner, told his friend Amit about the woman and the duo took her to another person named Ajay who arranged for a room in Karbigahiya locality where he asked her to wait till the train arrived at night," said K.P. Sharma, an investigating officer of Jakkanpur police station.

"A few hours later, all three accused went to the room and assaulted her sexually. Two more auto drivers joined them in the crime," the officer said.

The victim was held captive in that room till the night of October 17. One of the accused used to stay outside the room round the clock to keep an eye on her.

As the victim failed to reach Kolkata, her husband filed a missing complaint in Jakkanpur police station. Her mobile was put on surveillance which found Patna junction as her last location. Accordingly, a search operation was launched. "Based on local intelligence, we reached the house where the victim was held captive," he said.

The woman was rescued and Golu, one of the accused, arrested. On the basis of information given by him, the other accused -- Gopal Kumar, Amit Kumar, Ajay Kumar and Arun were also arrested.

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New Delhi: Amid the recent killing of civilians and heightened counter-terrorist operations in the Poonch-Rajouri sectors, Army Chief General Manoj Mukund Naravane will arrive in Jammu and Kashmir on a two-day visit to review the security situation and operational preparedness.

According to a statement issued by the Indian Army, Gen Naravane will arrive in the Jammu region where the General Officer Commanding (GOC) of White Knight Corps will give him an update on the security situation.

The Indian Army said on Twitter, "General MM Naravane, COAS (Chief of Army Staff) is on a two-day visit to Jammu Region wherein GOC White Knight Corps will give an update on the security situation and operational preparedness."

"COAS will visit forward areas and interact with troops and commanders on the ground," it added.

General MM Naravane #COAS is on a two day visit to Jammu Region wherein GOC White Knight Corps will give an update on security situation and operational preparedness. #COAS will visit forward areas and interact with troops and commanders on ground. pic.twitter.com/duufoKOCUT  ADG PI - INDIAN ARMY (@adgpi) October 18, 2021

The Poonch sector has seen heightened military activities in the last fortnight as nine Army soldiers have lost their lives there and operations are still on in the 16 Corps area to neutralise the terrorists.

The Army chief will be briefed about the security grid along the Line of Control and anti-militancy operations in the hinterland by senior army officers and local formation commanders.

After a lull of six months, terrorist activities have gone up in the hinterland and ceasefire violations attempts are also on the rise in the Jammu area.

Army Chiefs J&K visit comes days after terrorists shot dead two non-local labourers and injured another on Sunday in Kulgam district of Jammu and Kashmir, the latest in the series of attacks targeting civilians.

This is the third attack on non-local labourers in less than 24 hours. A street vendor from Bihar and a carpenter from Uttar Pradesh were shot dead by the ultras on Saturday evening.

Amid the spate of civilian killings, Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha had on Sunday vowed to avenge every drop of their blood by hunting down terrorists and their sympathisers.

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New Delhi: The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) is likely to hand over the probe of recent civilian killings in Kashmir to the National Investigation Agency (NIA), sources in the security set up said here on Tuesday.

According to sources, the investigation in these killings indicates a definite pattern leading to the terror angle, therefore, the investigation may be assigned to the national anti-terror probe agency.

Two cases of recent civilian killings in Jammu & Kashmir to be handed over to National Investigation Agency (NIA) soon: Official sources  ANI (@ANI) October 19, 2021

They also said that this issue was discussed threadbare in the National Security Strategy Conference held on Monday wherein Union Home Minister Amit Shah discussed it with all stakeholders in detail.

Another source in the government setup said that civilian killings in Kashmir have given a wrong signal and most of the migrant labourers and non-Kashmiris are leaving Kashmir leading to a sense of fear among the local residents too.

These gruesome incidents have also spread fear among the Kashmiris Pandits who were willing to go back to the valley on behest of the government initiatives.

The local NIA team has already been assisting the J&K Police in the killings probe and trying to identify the masterminds behind these killings. The sources also said that the central agencies have been scanning the old cases of stone pelters as targeted killings revealed that these killers are not from the regular terrorists` cadre.

"The probe agency will take over the cases of Kashmiri Pandit Pharmaceutical dealer Makhan Lal Bindroo; Virendra Paswan, a non-Kashmiri street vendor from Bihar and the other labourers," the senior officials added.

The NIA Director-General Kuldeep Singh visited Srinagar on Monday and reportedly discussed the situation with other security stakeholders.

Singh, who is also the DG of the CRPF which is playing a major counter-terror operation in the valley, has also directed the force to re-strategise the operation against the terror groups in the Kashmir Valley.

So far, 11 civilians have been killed in the last 16 days.

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New Delhi: Lyricist and scriptwriter Javed Akhtar on Tuesday, while addressing media during an event in Mumbai, gave a piece of his mind on the recent cruise drug bust by NCB in which actor Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan Khan has been taken into custody.

Referencing the September 13 Mundra port drug bust by the NIA where 2988.21 Kgs of Narcotics substance was seized in Gujrat, the 76-year-old veteran said, "I've not seen any headline on recovery of cocaine worth 1 billion dollars at a port but the recovery of charas or ganja worth 1.30 lakh, where only 1200 people were present, has become big national news."

Adding to this, Akhtar further spoke about the October 2 raid on the Cordelia Cruise ship, the lyricist said, "This is the price the film industry has to pay for being high profile because when you are so, people want to pull you down."

An NCB team had busted an alleged drugs party on the Cordelia Cruise ship which was on its way to Goa at mid-sea on October 2.

Along with Aryan, a total of 20 people, including two Nigerian nationals, have been arrested so far in the case related to the seizure of drugs following the raid at a party on the cruise ship off the Mumbai coast.

Separately, work-wise, Akhtar, who started his career through screenwriting later shifted to penning lyrics for some of the most loved Bollywood songs revolving around love, loss and life.

Honoured with the Sahitya Akademi Award (2013), Padma Shri (1999) and Padma Bhushan (2007), the renowned lyricist also has five National Film Awards to his credit. Last year, he received the Richard Dawkins Award.

Aryan Khan is currently lodged in Arthur Road jail following his alleged involvement in illegal drugs, tomorrow.
New Delhi: Actor Shilpa Shetty and her husband Raj Kundra filed a defamation suit of Rs 50 crore against Sherlyn Chopra on Tuesday.

Actor Shilpa Shetty & her husband Raj Kundra file a defamation suit of Rs 50 crores against Sherlyn Chopra Chopra had filed a complaint against Raj Kundra & Shilpa Shetty for allegedly committing sexual harassment, cheating & criminal intimidation (file photo) pic.twitter.com/giUuXbhI1a  ANI (@ANI) October 19, 2021

Five days ago, on October 14, Bollywood actor Sherlyn Chopra has filed a complaint against Raj Kundra and Shilpa Shetty for allegedly committing fraud against her and mental harassment.

While addressing the media at the Juhu police station, she said, "I have filed a complaint to register FIR against Raj Kundra for sexual harassment, cheating and criminal intimidation."

Businessman Raj Kundra was arrested by police on July 19 along with 11 other people on charges related to the alleged creation of pornographic films.

Raj was granted bail on September 20 by a Mumbai Court in the pornography case on a surety of Rs 50,000.
New Delhi: This week, public and private banks across the country will be closed on five of the seven days. Lenders close for at least 21 days in October to observe several holidays throughout the month, including Durga Puja, Navratri, and Dussehra. If you plan on visiting a bank branch this week, you should be aware of these holidays to avoid any inconveniences.

The Reserve Bank of India has announced three bank holidays: the Negotiable Instruments Act Holiday, Real Time Gross Settlement Holiday, and Banks' Closing of Accounts. On these specified holidays, all banks in the country, including the public sector, private sector, foreign banks, cooperative banks, and regional banks, will be closed.

All banks are closed on Republic Day (January 26), Independence Day (August 15), Gandhi Jayanti (October 2), and Christmas Day, according to the RBI list (December 25). Banks are also closed on holidays like Diwali, Christmas, Eid, Guru Nanak Jayanthi, and Good Friday. The private and public sector banks across the country are closed on the second and fourth Saturdays of each month. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has also mandated that banks remain closed on Sundays. Also Read: Volvo S90, XC60 unveiled in India; prices start at Rs 61.9 lakh

It should be noted, however, that bank holidays differ from one state to the next. In your state, bank holidays may not be observed on all days. As a result, bank customers are typically recommended to contact their local branch to obtain a complete list of bank holidays. Also Read: WhatsApp Tricks: Heres how to read deleted WhatsApp messages

Check the full list of bank holidays in October:

1) October 19  Id-E-Milad/Eid-e-Miladunnabi/Milad-i-Sherif (Prophet Mohammads Birthday)/Baravafat / (Ahmedabad, Belapur, Bhopal, Chennai, Dehradun, Hyderabad, Imphal, Jammu, Kanpur, Kochi, Lucknow, Mumbai, Nagpur, New Delhi, Raipur, Ranchi, Srinagar, Thiruvananthapuram)

2) October 20  Maharishi Valmikis Birthday/Lakshmi Puja/Id-E-Milad (Agartala, Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Kolkata, Shimla)

3) October 22  Friday following Eid-i-Milad-ul-Nabi (Jammu, Srinagar)

4) October 23  4th Saturday

5) October 24  Sunday

6) October 26  Accession Day (Jammu, Srinagar)

7) October 31 - Sunday

So, if you have any bank-related work pending or need to withdraw cash ahead of the holiday season, you should contact your nearest branch as soon as possible because banks will be closed due to a long string of bank holidays beginning on October 19. During the above-mentioned bank holidays, however, ATMs will operate normally.

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New Delhi: Property buyers can look forward to buying property at great prices during the upcoming e-auction of properties by India's largest public sector bank --State Bank of India (SBI)

The State Bank of India (SBI) has also informed via a tweet that the bank is going to auction different types of property. According to the SBI tweet, the auction will be done on October 25. The bank has informed regarding the same through advertisements in different newspapers as well. The properties offered by SBI e-auction includes all types of properties, securities and mortgaged assets.

Here are the list of documents that you will require for participating in the SBI Mega e-auction of properties, as mentioned by SBI website:

Documents for participating in SBI e-Auction of properties

- EMD for the particular property as mentioned in the e-Auction notice.

- KYC Documents - to be submitted to the concerned Branch.

- Valid Digital Signature -Bidders may approach e-auctioneers or any other authorised agency to obtain digital signature.

- Login Id and Password Will be sent to the email id of the bidders by e-auctioneers after the deposit of EMD and submission of KYC documents to the concerned branch.

- Bidders to login and bid during the auction hours on the date of e-Auction as per auction rules.

How to participate for the SBI e-Auction of properties

The bid for e-auction as the name suggests will be completely online. If you also want to bid in this digital auction, then for this you have to register first through your mobile number and email ID. After that you will have to upload papers for KYC. Once the verification is complete, online challan will be filled, only after which you will be able to bid online.

Usually, those properties whose loans could not be repaid i.e. properties on default, are placed in the auction by banks. Such properties are auctioned from time to time by banks through Indian Banks Auctions Mortgaged Properties Information (IBAPI) portal.

"Indian Banks Auctions Mortgaged Properties Information (IBAPI) portal is an initiative of Indian Banks Association (IBA) under the overarching policy of the Department of Financial Services (DFS), Ministry of Finance to provide a common platform to display details of mortgaged properties to be auctioned online by Banks, starting with Public Sector Banks. Prospective buyers may use this portal to search and view details of properties and participate in the auction process," the Ibapi website reads.

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New Delhi: Customers in India can now take advantage of Flipkart's latest Big Diwali Sale, which offers discounts and bargains on a variety of products. As usual, the e-commerce portal is giving steep discounts on smartphones from Apple, Samsung, Poco, and other popular companies.

The latest sale event follows the company's Big Billion Days sale, which took place just a few days ago. The Flipkart Big Diwali sale is still running in conjunction with Amazon's Great Indian Festival, which runs until the end of October. The Flipkart sale, on the other hand, will conclude on October 25. Customers who have SBI cards are eligible for further savings.

Apple, Xiaomi, Samsung, Poco, Realme, and more smartphone brands will be on sale with steep discounts. The iPhone 12, which is offered for Rs 53,999, is one of the most conspicuous devices that is getting a discount. During the Flipkart Big Diwali Sale, the iPhone 12 small model is presently available for Rs 42,099. The cost-effective iPhone SE (2020) has also been reduced, and is now available for Rs 30,099.

During the Flipkart Big Diwali Sale, the Google Pixel 4a was discounted to Rs 25,999 from its regular price of Rs 31,999. Customers who purchase the Pixel 4a will also receive a 50% discount on the Google Pixel Buds A-series, as well as a free Google Nest Mini smart speaker. Poco smartphones will also be heavily discounted. The Poco C31 is a new entry-level handset that starts at Rs 8,499, and the Poco F3 GT 5G starts at Rs 28,999 with exchange offers and no-cost EMI.

Customers may also have a look at the Samsung Galaxy F62, which is available for Rs 18,999 (down from Rs 29,999) during the Flipkart Big Diwali sale. The Galaxy F12, which has a 6,000mAh battery, is another Samsung gadget that costs Rs 9,499. The Galaxy F22, which has quad rear cameras and a 6,000mAh battery, is also available. It is now available for Rs 12,499, down from the original price of Rs 14,999.

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New Delhi: Google has finally launched the Pixel 6 series which comes with Tensor chipset that will improve AI functionalities, the company said. Google Tensor will improve speech recognition capabilities. It would also seek to enhance security.

A different camera bar will be included with the Google Pixel 6. It will have an AOD display and will be powered by Android 12. It's made to keep people safe and secure. 5G and quick charging are two other notable characteristics.

It is priced at $599. (approx. Rs 44,900). The Google Pixel 6 Pro will set you back $899. (approx Rs 67,500). It's currently available for pre-order. However, the specifics of its availability in India are unknown.

White, Black, and Light Gold are the three colours available for the Pixel 6 Pro. The Pixel 6 comes in three colours: black, red, and blue. The Pixel 6 features a 6.4-inch OLED display, while the Pixel 6 Pro features a 6.7-inch LTPO display with a variable refresh rate ranging from 10Hz to 120Hz.

The Google Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro both have a 50MP main camera and a 12MP ultra-wide-angle lens. A Telephoto lens with 4x optical zoom is also included with the Pixel 6 Pro. The Pixel 3 is the first smartphone with three cameras. Magic Eraser is a camera feature that removes undesired items from the backdrop.

Google Titan M2 is a new security feature for the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro. Security updates will be provided for five years on all Pixel 6 phones.

Snap Filters are coming to the Google Pixel 6 series thanks to a collaboration between Google and Snapchat. Snapchat users with Pixel 6 phones can use the Quick Tap to Snap camera feature to send Snaps rapidly.

This is a breaking news story. Check back for more details.

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New Delhi: Todays episode of Bigg Boss 15 was full of shocking twists that took place in the house. Earlier in the day, the housemates were seen breaking several rules. From sleeping in the house during daytime to stealing things from the main the house.

After several warnings when housemates continued their deeds, Bigg Boss took three major steps in order to make their life difficult in the house.

Firstly, Bigg Boss announces that all the housemates will now be Junglewasis and no one will stay in the main house. Secondly, he tells all the inmates about mid-week evictions and asks everyone to give names of two contestants, who they feel have made zero contribution to the house.

Everyone after aapsi sehmati chose Donal Bisht and Vidhi Pandyas name and they were asked to leave the house at that very moment.

Well, that wasnt the end, then Bigg Boss asked the captain Nishant Bhat to nominate 8 contestants for this weeks elimination. He nominates Shamita Shetty, Ieshaan Sehgal, Miesha Iyer, Umar Riaz amongst others.

The housemates got so furious with him and his decision that they had an heated argument with him and ended up calling him saap (Snake) for not keeping up his words of saving them.

Later, Bigg Boss announces among all the 8 nominated contestants, only 4 will be allowed to enter into the Room of Illusion where they will be exactly told what needs to be done next.

Out of all, Shamita Shetty becomes the first contestant to enter the room of illusion. In the room, she was given the power to nominate someone else on behalf of her from the ones who are saved and can safe herself from the nomination.

Well, what will Shamita do next? For more updates keep watching this space for all the content related to Bigg Boss 15.
Lakhimpur Kheri: The Special Investigation Team (SIT), probing the Lakhimpur Kheri violence, has started zeroing in on local farmers. Over 50 farmers have been summoned by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) in connection with an FIR on the alleged lynching of three BJP workers during the violence that broke out in Lakhimpur Kheri on October 3.

Fifteen farmers appeared before the SIT on Monday to record their statements in the alleged lynching case after notices were issued to them under sections of the Code Of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).

An SIT official said, "We have been investigating both the FIRs and the farmers were summoned in connection to the second FIR."

Every farmer was questioned for over 15 minutes in the presence of their advocate Mohammed Amaan, sources said. Jasbir Singh Virk, president of Bhartiya Sikh Sangathan told reporters that of the 15 farmers who appeared before the SIT, only 11 recorded their statement.

"The SIT asked questions related to the incident and the same statement was recorded for both the FIRs. They were asked questions such as how they realised they were in danger and what did they do after farmers were mowed down. We have told the SIT members that farmers will cooperate with them," he said.

The SIT had on Monday also arrested four aides of Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Misra`s son Ashish. The accused include Sumit Jaiswal, who got the cross FIR lodged against the farmers. He had been absconding after their convoy allegedly mowed down four farmers and a journalist.

In a video that went viral, purportedly from the Lakhimpur Kheri violence, Jaiswal, in a blue kurta, was seen coming out of the Thar, the SUV that ran farmers over. He gave multiple interviews to news channels thereafter. The day the SIT was formed, he suddenly went missing.

Jaiswal is a BJP worker and a ward member from Lakhimpur city. A total of 10 arrests have been made by the SIT in the case.

Special prosecution officer SP Yadav said the four accused will be produced in front of a remand magistrate on Tuesday since the regular court will be closed on account of a holiday. "SIT is questioning the accused and may seek remand custody if needed," he said.

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Lucknow: Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Tuesday made a big announcement saying that her party will give 40 per cent of tickets to women in the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections 2022.

The Congress general secretary made these remarks while addressing a press conference in Lucknow.

"We want women in politics to become a full-fledged partner in power," she told reporters here. "Today, I am going to talk about our first promise. We have decided that in the upcoming assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh, the Congress party will give 40 per cent of tickets to women," she added.

The Congress party has decided that it will give 40% of the total election tickets to women in the state: Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections pic.twitter.com/WGPTSLbDcx  ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) October 19, 2021

These tickets will be given on the basis of merit and not just on the basis of caste or religion. I have taken this decision for women`s empowerment. There is no other political motive, agenda behind this decision," she added.

Slamming the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Uttar Pradesh government in the state over the Lakhimpur Kheri incident, she said, "Unfortunately, those who mow down people in the state are protected by the Centre and those who get killed, mowed down plead for justice here."

"We all saw what happened in Hathras, Lakhimpur....what do you expect from such a BJP government," she said. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is the general secretary of the All India Congress Committee in charge of Uttar Pradesh.

In the 2017 Assembly elections, the BJP won a landslide victory winning 312 Assembly seats. The party secured a 39.67 per cent vote share in the elections for 403-member Assembly.

Samajwadi Party (SP) bagged 47 seats, BSP won 19 while Congress could manage to win only seven seats.

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Dehradun: The Uttarakhand government has temporarily suspended the Char Dham Yatra as heavy rainfall continued to lash the hill state for second consecutive day on Monday.

According to reports, at least five people, including three labourers from Nepal, were killed and two others were injured due to heavy rainfall in parts of Uttarakhand forcing the authorities to advice Chardham pilgrims not to proceed to the Himalayan temples till the weather improves.

The labourers were staying in a tent at Samkhal near Lansdowne in Pauri district when rubble flowing down from a field above due to the rains buried them alive, District Magistrate Vijay Kumar Jogdande said.

They were engaged in the construction of a hotel at Samkhal. Two labourers injured in the incident were admitted at the Kotdwar base hospital, he said. In another incident, two people were killed when their house collapsed, following a landslide in Selkhola in Champawat district, the State Emergency Operation Centre here said.

Chardham pilgrims, who had arrived in Haridwar and Rishikesh by Sunday, have been asked not to proceed further till the weather improves while operation of vehicles for the Himalayan temples has been suspended temporarily.

Passenger vehicles are not being allowed to cross the Chandrabhaga bridge, Tapovan, Lakshman Jhoola and Muni-ki-Reti Bhadrakali barriers in Rishikesh.

Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami visited the state disaster control room at the secretariat here to take weather updates and know the conditions of roads and highways. He appealed to the pilgrims to defer their further journey for two days until the weather normalises.

They are staying in safe locations spread over Haridwar, Rishikesh, Shrinagar, Tehri, Uttarkashi, Rudraprayag, Guptkashi, Ukhimath, Karnaprayag, Joshimath and Pandukeshwar.

Meanwhile, Union Home Minister Amit Shah spoke to Dhami on the phone to get an update on precautionary steps being taken by the state government in view of the heavy rain alert and assured him of all possible help.

It has been raining in Kedarnath since Sunday night but the Mandakini river is flowing at its normal level. A Devasthanam Board official said regular prayers at the four Himalayan temples are continuing and pilgrims staying there are safe.

Pilgrims headed for Yamunotri have been asked to stay in Badkot and Jankichatti, whereas those en route to Gangotri have been asked to stay in Harsil, Bhatwari and Maneri, Uttarkashi District Magistrate Mayur Dikshit said.

Kedarnath and Badrinath-bound pilgrims have also been requested not to proceed on their journey till the weather clears. Most of the pilgrims on way to Badrinath are staying in Joshimath and Chamoli, Chamoli district disaster management officer N K Joshi said.

Around 4,000 yatris out of a total of 6,000 in Kedarnath on Sunday have returned, while the remaining 2,000 are staying in safe locations. Many of them have been stopped in Linchauli and Bhimbali as a precautionary measure, Rudraprayag disaster management officer N S Singh said.

The Chardham Devasthanam Board said the yatra has been temporarily halted for the sake of safety of pilgrims in view of the heavy rain alert issued by the Uttarakhand meteorological department for October 17-19.

The peaks beyond Badrinath and Kedarnath received light snowfall, whereas the lower areas in Chamoli district were lashed by continuous showers. Rain continued in Uttarkashi and Dehradun as well.

Gangotri and Yamunotri dham in Uttarkashi district also received heavy snowfall on Monday. Two days of incessant rains coupled with heavy snowfall in the upper reaches led to a sharp fall in temperatures across the state.

Yamunotri highway remained blocked by landslide debris at Kisala and Kharadi for hours before being restored in the afternoon. The Badrinath national highway in Chamoli district was also blocked at several points.

Dhami has asked the district administrations to provide hourly updates on the weather and the condition of roads. He also asked them to keep a minimum response time in case of a disaster.

All schools across Uttarakhand from class 1 to 12 remained closed on Monday, while a ban was imposed on trekking, mountaineering and camping activities in the high-altitude areas of the state, including the Nanda Devi biosphere reserve and various forest divisions, till Tuesday as a precautionary measure.

(With Agency Inputs)

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New Delhi: As the country prepares to celebrate Diwali this year, a viral message claiming that China is sending special firecrackers and lights to India to cause asthma and eye diseases has gone viral on the Internet. The message, which is majorly being shared on WhatsApp, asks people to be aware and not use these Chinese products.

Issued in the name of Vishwajit Mukherjee, a Senior Investigating Officer of the Union Home Ministry, it reads, "According to intelligence, since Pakistan cannot attack India directly, it has demanded China to take revenge on India. China has filled firecrackers with special types of firecrackers, which are toxic to carbon monoxide gas, to spread asthma in India. Apart from this, in India, special lightning decorative lights are also being made for developing eye diseases. Paro has been used in large quantities, please be aware this Diwali."

However, the Press Information Bureau of India on Monday (October 18, 2021) dismissed the claims and said that the message is fake. The government's fact check handle also said that no such information has been issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs.

A message in circulation, allegedly issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs claims that China is sending special firecrackers & lights to India to cause asthma & eye diseases. #PIBFactcheck This message is #Fake

No such information is issued by MHA pic.twitter.com/1wpasaFRjz  PIB Fact Check (@PIBFactCheck) October 18, 2021

ALSO CHECK | Modi govt giving monthly allowance of Rs 3,500 to unemployed individuals under PM Berojgar Bhatta Yojana? Know truth behind viral post

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Textile company Fabindia, known for its ethnic wear, met with a furious boycott trend on Twitter after it put out its new campaign titled Jashn-e-Riwaaz. The social media users were quick to point out that the company should not give a spin to the theme of a Hindu festival Diwali assuming that the campaign was targeting the festive buying and was released after Dussehra.

The netizens were particularly unhappy with the company for attempting to give it an Urdu twist for something that comes from a Hindu tradition and Sanskrit lineage.

However, the company was quick to delete some of the campaign tweets after the uproar.

A company spokesperson, in a conversation with the Times of India, said, Our Diwali collection, called Jhilmil si Diwali is yet to be launched. We at Fabindia have always stood for celebration of India with its myriad traditions in all hues. In fact Fabindia  Celebrate India is our tagline and also a wordmark. Our current capsule of products under the name Jashn-e-Riwaaz is a celebration of Indian traditions. The phrase means that, literally.

Here are some of the tweets asking to boycott Fabindia:

#FabIndia didn't use the Term Diwali or Deepavali & wrote "Festival of Love and Light" and named the clothing collection - "Jashn-e-Riwaaz". Meanwhile Hindus to FabIndia - pic.twitter.com/oXtfywnqut  g0v!nD $#@mA (@rishu_1809) October 18, 2021

Wow @FabindiaNews great job at de-Hinduising Deepawali! Call it a festival of love and light, title the collection Jashn-e-Riwaaz, take Bindis off foreheads of models but expect Hindus to buy your overpriced, mass produced products in the name of homage to Indian culture! https://t.co/S47g1ArUbB  Shefali Vaidya (@ShefVaidya) October 18, 2021

Has a glass of Soda. Inspired by FabIndia, I named it Jal-e-Bulbula  Rahul Raj (@bhak_sala) October 18, 2021

I was too poor to buy FabIndia clothes when I first came to know about the brand. I am too informed to buy FabIndia clothes, now that I can afford it.  Atul Mishra (@TheAtulMishra) October 18, 2021
Food delivery app Zomato has been facing wrath of many Twitter users because of the language barrier between different areas of India.

Allegedly, a Zomato user in Tamil Nadu ordered through the app, but he didnt receive the exact things he wanted. In the quest of a refund, he contacted the apps customer care support, but encountered some problem due to the language gap.

Apparently, the customer wanted a chat support in Tamil, but the customer care person wanted to answer in Hindi.

This triggered a conversation which made the customer ask whether Hindi is Indias national language?

A Twitter handle by the name Vikash posted the alleged conversation between him and a Zomato executive on Twitter. It soon became viral and many other joined the conversation and started trending #RejectZomato.

Ordered food in zomato and an item was missed. Customer care says amount can't be refunded as I didn't know Hindi. Also takes lesson that being an Indian I should know Hindi. Tagged me a liar as he didn't know Tamil. @zomato not the way you talk to a customer. @zomatocare pic.twitter.com/gJ04DNKM7w  Vikash (@Vikash67456607) October 18, 2021

However, the company was quick to post its apology, but the damage was done till then.

Hi Vikash, this is unacceptable. We'd like to get this checked ASAP, could you please share your registered contact number via a private message? https://t.co/jcTFuGSv2G  zomato care (@zomatocare) October 18, 2021

Heres what the netizens wrote:

Team @zomato @zomatocare from when did Hindi become a National language. Why should the customer in Tamil Nadu know hindi and on what grounds did you advise your customer that he should atleast know a little of Hindi. Kindly address your customer's problem and apologize. https://t.co/KLYW7kRVXT  Dr.Senthilkumar.S (@DrSenthil_MDRD) October 18, 2021

Dear @zomato please ask your staffs to learn Tamil if you want to run your corporate business here.. this is atrocious to ask a customer to learn Hindi which is not even national language.. do apologize for this or soon you will face many uninstall of app @TRBRajaa @TThenarasu  sharan (@sharanthangavel) October 18, 2021

If zomato operate in Tamil nadu , he must appoint a language known staff, if u fo and work on foreign soil u should learn the language like wise the customer service should do service not the common people.  Charm Vijay (@CharmVijay1) October 19, 2021

How One can insist what the other people shd know and Talk? Is he an Customer care executive or Dictator?  Karthick KR (@Karthick01988) October 18, 2021

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New Delhi: Former BJP leader Babul Supriyo will formally resign as Lok Sabha Member of Parliament on Tuesday, weeks after he quit the saffron party to join the TMC led by Mamata Banerjee.

In a tweet, the former union minister thanked Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla for granting him an appointment to resign as Lok Sabha MP.

"Sincere Gratitude to Hon'ble Speaker Sir @ombirlakota for granting me his time tmrw at 11am to formally resign as a MP. I will not hold on to the Berth/Perks/Salary of a MP now that I am no longer a part of @BJP4India that I won the seat for. If I have it in me, will win it again," Supriyo tweeted on Monday.

Sincere Gratitude to Hon'ble Speaker Sir @ombirlakota for granting me his time tmrw at 11am to formally resign as a MPI will not hold on to the Berth/Perks/Salary of a MP now that I am no longer a part of @BJP4India that I won the seat forIf I have it in me, wil win it again  Babul Supriyo (@SuPriyoBabul) October 18, 2021

This comes after the two-term MP from Asansol had on September 20-- two days after joining West Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress party - wrote to Birla, seeking a 'brief' appointment with him to formally resign as a member of the house.

Hitting out at his detractors, Supriyo reminded them of his time with the saffron party.

"Just wish to ask one Ques (question) to the 'Employed Trolls' who am sure are attacking me frm (from) their homes. So where were u (you) guys when I fought for BJP since 2014? Ask your conscience as to who back-stabbed whom.. Unless needed I don't post anything on SM (social media). Just read the first two comments," he said.

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New Delhi: Bangladeshi police said on Tuesday that 450 people had been arrested in the Muslim-majority nation after attacks against Hindus in some of the worst such unrest for over a decade.

At least six people have died, local media reported, as police have fought to restrain angry mobs.

The violence began on Friday when hundreds of Muslims protested in the southeastern Noakhali district accusing Hindus of a blasphemous incident involving the Koran.

Several Hindu religious sites have been vandalised, and homes attacked.

Authorities have filed 71 cases in connection with the violence during the Hindu festival of Durga Puja, a Bangladesh police spokesman said. Investigations were ongoing after the arrest of 450 suspected culprits, he added.

Communal tensions have long simmered in Bangladesh, whose constitution designates Islam as the state religion but also upholds the principle of secularism.

Hindus make up around 10% of the population.

The unrest is among the worst in Bangladesh since Prime Minister Sheikh Hasinas Awami League party came to power in 2009.

"Recent attacks on Hindus of Bangladesh, fuelled by hate speech on social media, are against the values of the Constitution and need to stop," tweeted Mia Seppo, the United Nations` resident coordinator in Bangladesh.

Rights group Amnesty International called for an investigation and punishment for perpetrators.

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WASHINGTON: Colin Powell, the former first black US Secretary of State, died from the COVID-19 complications at the age of 84, Fox News reported citing his family members. In a Facebook post from Colin Powell`s account, his family said, "General Colin L Powell, former US Secretary of State and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, passed away this morning due to complications from Covid 19."

"He was fully vaccinated. We want to thank the medical staff at Walter Reed National Medical Center for their caring treatment. We have lost a remarkable and loving husband, father, grandfather and a great American," the post added.

Powell had served Democratic and Republican presidents in war and peace but his sterling reputation was forever stained when he went before the UN and made faulty claims to justify the US war in Iraq.

Vietnam War veteran

A veteran of the Vietnam War, Powell rose to the rank of four-star general and in 1989 became the first Black chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In that role, he oversaw the US invasion of Panama and later the US invasion of Kuwait to oust the Iraqi Army in 1991.

Faulty claims on Iraq War

But his legacy was marred when, in 2003, he went before the UN Security Council as secretary of state and made the case for US war against Iraq at a moment of great international skepticism.

He cited faulty information claiming Saddam Hussein had secretly stashed away weapons of mass destruction. Iraq's claims that it had no such weapons represented a web of lies, he told the world body.

First to blame al-Qaeda for 9/11 attacks

Powell was the first American official to publicly lay the blame for the 9/11 terrorist attacks on Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network and made a lightning trip to Pakistan in October 2001 to demand that then-Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf cooperate with the United States in going after the Afghanistan-based group, which also had a presence in Pakistan, where bin Laden was later killed.

As President George W Bush's first secretary of state, Powell led a State Department that was dubious of the military and intelligence communities' conviction that Saddam Hussein possessed or was developing weapons of mass destruction.

And yet, despite his reservations, he presented the administration's case that Saddam indeed posed a major regional and global threat in a speech to the UN Security Council in the run-up to the war.

That speech, replete with his display of a vial of what he said could have been a biological weapon, was later derided as a low-point in Powell's career, although he had removed some elements that he deemed to have been based on poor intelligence assessments.

Bush said on Monday that he and former first lady Laura Bush were deeply saddened by Powell's death. He was a great public servant and widely respected at home and abroad, Bush said.

And most important, Colin was a family man and a friend. Laura and I send Alma and their children our sincere condolences as they remember the life of a great man.

Rise to national prominence under Republicans

Powell rose to national prominence under Republican presidents and considered a presidential bid of his own, but ultimately moved away from the party. He endorsed Democrats in the last four presidential elections, starting with former President Barack Obama. He emerged as a vocal Donald Trump critic in recent years, describing Trump as a national disgrace who should have been removed from office through impeachment.

Following the January 6 storming of the US Capitol, Powell said he no longer considers himself a Republican.

Powell rose from a childhood in a fraying New York neighbourhood to become the nation's chief diplomat. Mine is the story of a black kid of no early promise from an immigrant family of limited means who was raised in the South Bronx, he wrote in his 1995 autobiography My American Journey.

At City College, Powell discovered the ROTC. When he put on his first uniform, I liked what I saw, he wrote. He joined the Army and in 1962 he was one of more than 16,000 military advisers sent to South Vietnam by President John F. Kennedy.

A series of promotions led to the Pentagon and assignment as a military assistant to Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger, who became his unofficial sponsor. He later became commander of the Army's 5th Corps in Germany and later was national security assistant to President Ronald Reagan.

As Joint Chiefs chairman

During his term as Joint Chiefs chairman, his approach to war became known as the Powell Doctrine, which held that the United States should only commit forces in a conflict if it has clear and achievable objectives with public support, sufficient firepower and a strategy for ending the war.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, a retired Army general, said the news of Powell's death left a hole in my heart. The world lost one of the greatest leaders that we have ever witnessed, Austin said while traveling in Europe.

Powell's appearances at the United Nations as secretary of state, including his Iraq speech, were often accompanied by fond reminiscing of his childhood in the city, where he grew up the child of Jamaican immigrants who got one of his first jobs at the Pepsi-Cola bottling plant directly across the East River from the UN headquarters.

A fan of calypso music, Powell was the subject of criticism from, among others, singing legend Harry Belafonte, who likened Powell to a house slave for going along with the decision to invade Iraq.

Powell declined to get into a public spat with Belafonte, but made it known that he was not a fan and much preferred the Trinidadian calypso star the Mighty Sparrow.

Powell maintained, in a 2012 interview with The Associated Press, that on balance, the US succeeded in Iraq. I think we had a lot of successes, Powell said. Iraq's terrible dictator is gone."

Saddam was captured by US forces while hiding out in northern Iraq in December 2003 and later executed by the Iraqi government. But the insurgency grew, and the war dragged on far longer than had been foreseen. Obama pulled US troops out of Iraq in 2011, but he sent advisers back in 2014 after the Islamic State group swept into the country from Syria and captured large swaths of Iraqi territory.

(With Agency Inputs)

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Washington: Former US President Donald Trump on Monday sought to block the release of documents related to the January 6 Capitol insurrection to a congressional committee investigating the attack, challenging President Joe Biden's initial decision to waive executive privilege.

In a federal lawsuit, Trump said the committee's request was almost limitless in scope, and sought records with no reasonable connection to that day. He called it a vexatious, illegal fishing expedition that was untethered from any legitimate legislative purpose, according to the papers filed in federal court in the District of Columbia.

Trump's lawsuit was expected, as he had said he would challenge the investigation and at least one ally, Steve Bannon, has defied a subpoena. But the legal challenge went beyond the initial 125 pages of records that Biden recently cleared for release to the committee.

The suit, which names the committee as well as the National Archives, seeks to invalidate the entirety of the congressional request, calling it overly broad, unduly burdensome and a challenge to separation of powers. It requests a court injunction to bar the archivist from producing the documents.

The Biden administration, in clearing the documents for release, said the violent siege of the Capitol was such an extraordinary circumstance that it merited waiving the privilege that usually protects White House communications.

In a letter obtained by The Associated Press, the White House worked to undercut Bannon's argument before a scheduled committee vote on whether recommend criminal contempt charges against him. Bannon is a onetime White House adviser who left the administration years before the insurrection.

Deputy Counsel Jonathan Su wrote that the president's decision on the documents applied to Bannon, too, and at this point we are not aware of any basis for your client's refusal to appear for a deposition.

President Biden's determination that an assertion of privilege is not justified with respect to these subjects applies to your client's deposition testimony and to any documents your client may possess concerning either subject, Su wrote to Bannon's lawyer.

Bannon's attorney said he had not yet seen the letter and could not comment on it. While Bannon has said he needs a court order before complying with his subpoena, former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and former White House and Pentagon aide Kashyap Patel are negotiating with the committee.

It is unclear whether a fourth former White House aide, Dan Scavino, will comply. The committee has also subpoenaed more than a dozen people who helped plan Trump rallies ahead of the siege, and some of them have already said they would turn over documents and give testimony.

Lawmakers want the documents as part of their investigation into how a mob of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol building on Jan. 6 in a violent effort to halt the certification of Biden's election win.

The committee demanded a broad range of executive branch papers related to intelligence gathered before the attack, security preparations during and before the siege, the pro-Trump rallies held that day and Trump's false claims that he won the election, among other matters.

Trump's lawsuit says the boundless requests included over fifty individual requests for documents and information, and mentioned more than thirty individuals, including those working inside and outside government.

The files must be withheld, the lawsuit says, because they could include conversations with (or about) foreign leaders, attorney work product, the most sensitive of national security secrets, along with any and all privileged communications among a pool of potentially hundreds of people.

The suit also challenges the legality of the Presidential Records Act, arguing that allowing an incumbent president to waive executive privilege of a predecessor just months after they left office is inherently unconstitutional.

Biden has said he would go through each request separately to determine whether that privilege should be waived.

While not spelled out in the Constitution, executive privilege has developed to protect a president's ability to obtain candid counsel from his advisers without fear of immediate public disclosure and to protect his confidential communications relating to official responsibilities.

But that privilege has its limitations in extraordinary situations, as exemplified during the Watergate scandal, when the Supreme Court ruled it could not be used to shield the release of secret Oval Office tapes sought in a criminal inquiry, and following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Monday's lawsuit was filed by Jesse Binnall, an attorney based in Alexandria, Virginia, who represented Trump in an unsuccessful lawsuit late last year seeking to overturn Biden's victory in Nevada.

Trump and his allies have continued to make baseless claims about voter fraud in the 2020 election.

Trump's suit quotes from the U.S. Supreme Court's 2020 ruling in a case by House committees seeking the then-sitting president's tax returns and other financial records. But that case involved courts enforcing a congressional subpoena.

The high court in that case directed lower courts to apply a balancing test to determine whether to turn over the records - it's still pending. Neither the White House nor the select committee had an immediate comment.

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The United States has condemned recent reports of attacks on the minority Hindu community in Bangladesh.

"Freedom of religion or belief is a human right. Every person around the world, regardless of their religious affiliation or belief, should feel safe and supported to celebrate important holidays," a State Department spokesperson said.

"The State Department condemns the recent reports of attacks on the Hindu community in Bangladesh," the spokesman said.

Meanwhile, Pranesh Halder, a member of the Bangladeshi Hindu community, in a statement urged the department "to ensure that no further harm comes to the beleaguered Hindus of Bangladesh."

He urged US-based watchdog groups and media houses to highlight the gravity of the violence in Bangladesh.

On Sunday, the Bangladeshi Hindu diaspora organised a protest in front of the Embassy of that country here to protest large-scale violence leading to the destruction of Hindu homes and temples during Durga Puja festivities across Bangladesh.

"It is especially horrifying to see the last remaining Hindus in Noakhali being attacked in this way, 75 years after Islamists demanding the creation of Pakistan, killed 12,000 Hindus and forcibly converted 50,000 to Islam in October 1946," said Utsav Chakrabarti, Executive Director of HinduPACT, a US-based Hindu advocacy group.

HinduPACT said indigenous Hindus continue to be the target of organised hate and discrimination in Bangladesh, a country where the minority population has steadily decreased from 28 per cent in the 1940s to nine per cent now.

"This recent wave of violence confirms the danger indigenous Hindus continue to face. Fifty years after nearly 2.8 million of them were killed and another 10 million of them turned destitute and made to become refugees by the Pakistan Army in 1971, during the independence struggle of Bangladesh, Hindus continue to be targeted for their faith," it said.

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New Delhi: Ahead of crucial Moscow format talks involving Taliban on Wednesday (October 20), the Indian envoy to Russia D B Venkatesh Varma has said both India and Russia "recognize common threats emanating from Afghanistan probably more than any other set of countries".

Moscow format of consultations on Afghanistan involves 10 countries, including India, Pakistan, China, and will focus on the humanitarian crisis emerging in the country and the formation of an inclusive government. A joint statement will be adopted after the meeting that starts around 12-noon local time.

Speaking to Russia's Kommersant newspaper, the Indian envoy pointed out that while, "India and Russia, I believe, may have travelled along different roads - we were not part of the Doha & Troika processes but our destination is common" when it comes to the ongoing developments in Afghanistan.

Both India and Russia have not recognized the govt announced by the Taliban as worries mount over humanitarian crisis emerging in the country with the onset of the winters.

Since the fall of the Afghan govt led by Ashraf Ghani and the Taliban's takeover of the country in August, both countries have had a number of conversations on the issues.

Russian President Putin spoke to Prime Minister Modi in August following which Secretary of the Russian Security Council Gen Patrushev visited India and had discussions with Indian National Security Advisor Ajit Doval.

Asked if the Taliban will wipe out terrorism from Afghan territory, envoy Varma said, "In the last several months, unfortunately, we have seen that Afghanistan is a story of broken promises. Whether the Taliban will stand by their commitments and back words with deeds - we will wait and see."

International concern has been mounting over Afghan territory being used by terror groups. United Nations Security Council Resolution 2593 passed under India's presidency of the security council in August specially mentioned that the country's territory should not be used to shelter and train terrorists among other things.

Interestingly, the Indian Envoy pointed out how, "India was not allowed to participate in" in Troika plus talks on Afghanistan involving Russia, US, China, plus Pakistan. It is well known that Islamabad was not keen on New Delhi to be present in the talks led by Russia.

He also highlighted while Troika plus talks and Doha process "pursued certain objectives" when it comes to Afghanistan "reality turned out to be quite different from what was originally envisaged", tangentially referring to their failure.

Meanwhile, in first official confirmation by the Indian side, the envoy said, "India will be hosting a high-level meeting of NSAs of regional countries in Afghanistan in November".

India has sent invites to Russia, China, Pakistan, Iran, Uzbekistan and other countries in the region for the talks which is seen as a significant outreach by New Delhi on the issue.



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Pakistan is in the throes of a deep economic crisis with the country requiring gross external financing of USD 51.6 billion within a two-year period (2021-2023) in order to fulfill its needs.

Despite placing very conservative estimates assessed by the IMF, Pakistan's gross external financing requirement stands at USD 23.6 billion in 2021-22 and USD 28 billion in 2022-23, reported The News International.

The Pakistani authorities are making last-ditch efforts to strike a staff-level agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to bridge the gap of external financing requirements. Without striking a deal with the IMF under the existing USD 6 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF) during the ongoing parleys in Washington, this massive gross external financing requirement will be at risk in the wake of the suspension of program loans from other multilateral creditors such as the World Bank (WB) and Asian Development Bank (ADB), reported The News International.

The WB and ADB will continue lending project loans but keeping in view the capacity to implement projects, the disbursement becomes dismally low.The credit rating agencies may further downgrade the country's ratings, so generating funds through the issuance of international bonds will become expensive, reported The News International.

The official sources said that the IMF was asking for the removal of distortions into the taxation system and pointed out that different GST exemptions and rates should be aligned with the standard rate of 17 per cent.

The standard GST rate of 17 per cent should be imposed on Petroleum Oil Lubricants (POL) products. The GST rate on fertilizer, tractors and other items should be brought at the standard rate of 17 per cent, reported The News International.

However, Pakistani authorities are opposing such proposals arguing that it would further marginalize the neglected Agri sector.

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